HISTOPvY 



OF 



OKTGOMERY COUNTY, 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



KDITED HV 

THEODORE W. KEAX. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
EVERTS cV PECK. 

1884. 



\ 




PREFACE. 



; The "History of Montgomery County" is presented to the public as a memorial of the first 
century of its corporate existence. Material facts have been diligently sought after and patient 
labor cheerfully bestowed upon the work. Events are chronicled in narrative rather than in 
controversial form, and truth, gleaned from a thousand sources, has been condensed in order to 
make it a valuable work of reference for the presenf and future generations. It has been 
prepared with care and liberality and a determination to make it as complete and accurate as 
possible. It is submitted to a generous and intelligent people, in the belief that it will meet 
their approval. 

The labor of the editor has been shared by William .J. Buck, who has devoted many 
years of his life to the collection of material for the history of the county. Although 
in enfeebled health, his contributions exceed in number those originally contemplated for the 
work. His chapter upon Bibliography, the first published in the county, is one of the most 
valuable contributions to the volume. For assistance furnished him in his jiresent labors, he 
expresses acknowledgments to John Jordan, Jr., and F. D. Stone, of the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania ; to Samuel L. Smcd'ey, Howard M. Jenkins, and Prof. O. Seidensticker, of 
Philadelphia; M. Auge, of Norristo\ n; Dr. George W. Holstein, of Bridgeport; Mark H. 
Richards ana B. M. Schmucker, P.D., of Pottstown ; William Henry Cresson, of Conshohocken ; 
Hon. William A. Yeakle, of Whitemarsh ; S. K. Griraley, of Upper Salford; A. H. Cassel and 
James Y. Heckler, of Lower Salford, and Charles Mather, of Jenkintown. 

The acknowledgments of tlie editor are due to Prof. Oscar C. S. Carter, for his contribution 
on Geology and Mineralogy; to Charles Z. Weber, M.D., for the history of the Medi<:\l 
Profession ; to P. Y. Eiseubci-g, M.D , for the chapter upon Botany ; to J. P. Hale Jenkins, Esq., 
for the history of Charitable and Benevolent Associations ; to Rev. J. S. Hughes, for the history 
of Methodism in Montgomery County ; to Hon, Jones Detwiler, for the history of Whitpain ; 
to Henry S. Dotterer, for the history of Frederick ; to F. G. Hobson, Esq., for the history of 
Providence, Upper and Lower; to Mrs. Anna M. Holstein and Mrs. Sarah S. Rex, for 
information concerning the Patrons of Husbandry; to Hon. Isaac F. Yost and Philip Super, 
Esq., for valuable information and suggestions concerning the early German settlements and 
church hietory "f the northern townships, and to Professors R. F. HoiFecker and J. K. Gotwals, 
for assistance in the collection of historical data of common schools. The thanks of the editor 
are gratefull ' adered to Hiram Corson^ M.D., Hon. Hiram C. Hoover, William M. Clift, E.sq., 
L. H. Davi .; ;.. George Vt . Holstein, M.D., Rev. Charles Collins, D. M. Casselberry, Esq., 
J. K. Har! : George Lower, Esq. To Moses Auge, author of "Biographies of Men of 



PREFACE. 



I 



Montgomer}- County," the eilitor and publishers return special acknowledgments for the free uf 
Tif the work tendered. To tlie editors and publishers of the local Press of the county our sens( 
(if obligation is herein expressed for their aid and encouragement in the work, and for the use ol 
their i-etained files, when in search of valuable material for township histories. To F. G. Hobson. 
William J. Buck and Henry S. Dotterer, committee on publieation of proceedings and antiquariac 
display of the County Centennial, acknowledgments are due and credit given for the arrangement 
and classification of the exhibits, the order of which is pre';erved in this work. 

And finally, to my daughter, I owe the deepest obligations for a careful and intelligem 
co-operation and cheerful assistance in the revision of both manuscript and proof, and for many 
suggestions and notations of important historical facts. 

T. W. B. 



• 




CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE I. 



(liy . 



PAGE 

1 



CHAPTER n. 

"rals, Geologj' and Lime , 



CHAPTER m. 
The Abuiigines 33 

CHAPTER IT. 
Early Voyagers and Traders — First Settlements on the Delaware 

aud Schuylkill RiTers 49 

CHAPTEE V. 
I'he First Swedish Settlements 57 



CHAPTER VI. 



William Penn— " The Holy E.\periment, a Free Colony for all Man- , Religious Denominations— Church History . 

kind" 82 



CHAPTER Vn. 
Penn'ti Arrival in_ America — His Colony Founded on the Delaware, 91 

CHAPTER Vni. 
9Iaterial Improvements 102 

CHAPTER IX. 
The Schuylkill 118 

CHAPTEE X. 
Stage Lines 129 

CHAPTER XI. 
The&'rmans 133 

CHAPTEE XII. 
The Welsh 139 

CHAPTER Xm. 
The Colonial Era • 143 

CHAPTER XTV. 
Tlie Eevolution 158 

CHAPTEE XV. 
The War of 1812 and the Mexican War 180 

CHAPTEE XVI. 
The Great Rebellion 195 

CHAPTER XVU. 
TheGi-and Army of the Republic 285 

CHAPTER XVLEI. 
' ji lioners, Slavery and the Underground Railway 297 

CHAPTER XIX. 
i.lii-ii.?8of the United Stat« Military and Naval Academies. . . 313 



CHAPTER XX. 

PAGE 

Montgomery County Established — Municipal Government — The 

"Country Squire," 317 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Bailroads 



CHAPTEE XXn. 
Manners and Customs — Sports and Pastimes —Local Superstitions — 



Inns, 



CHAPTEE XXin. 
Bibliography 348 

CHAPTEE XXrV. 
Early Poetry 360 

CHAPTER XXV, 



CH.KPTER XXVI, 
Educational • 392 

CHAPTER XX^TI, 
Flora of Montgomery County 423 

CHAPTER XXVIII, 
Zoology of Montgomer7 County 435 

CHAPTEE XXLS:. 
Agriculture 439 

CHAPTER XXX, 
Township and Borough Organization — Post-OflBces — Roads . , , . 447 

CHAPTEE XXXI. 
Journalism 458 

CH.vpTEu xxxn. 

Banks aud Banking 470 

CHAPTEE XXXm. 
Charitable and Benevolent Associations 488 

CHAPTEE XXXIV. 
The Insane Hospital and Poor-House 498 

CHAPTEE XXXV. 
Past and Present Politics of Montgomery County 502 

CHAPTEE XXX\a. 
The Bench and Bar • 528 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 
Manufacturing Industries 563 



CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 



The Medical Profession 



M 



VI 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

PAGE 

Abington Townebip 6V8 

CHAPTER XL. 
Borough of Bridgeport 707 

CHAPTER XLI. 
Borough of Conshohocken 713 

CHAPTER XLII. 
Borough of East Greenville 710 

CHAPTER XLIII. 
Borough of Green Lane 72i 

CHAPTER XLIV. 
Borough of Hatboro' 721 

CHAPTER XLV. 
Borough of Jenkintown 733 

CHAPTER XLVI. 
Borough of Lansdale 742 

CHAPTER XLVII. 
Borough of Norristown 747 

CHAPTER XLVIIL 
Borough of North Wales 777 

CHAPTER XLIX. 
Borough of Pottetown 784 

CHAPTER L. 
Borough of Royer'fi Ford ' 797 

CHAPTER LI. 
Borough of West Conshohocken 799 

CHAPTER LII. 
ClieltenhaDl Township 802 

CHAPTER Lin. 
Douglas Township 825 

CHAPTER LIV. 
Franconia Township 827 

CHAPTER LV. 
Frederick Township 831 

CHAPTER LVI. 
Gwynedii Township 853 



CHAPTER LXI. 



Lower Salford Township . 



CHAPTER LXII, 




Marlborough Township . 



CHAPTER LXIII. 



Montgomerj' Township 



CHAPTER LXIV. 



Moreland Township . 



CHAPTER LXV. 



New Hanover Township . 



CHAPTER LXVI. 



Non-iton Township 



CHAPTER LVII. 



Hatfield Township . 



CHAPTER LVIII. 
Horsham Township gy^ 

CHAPTER LIX. 
Limerick Township 915 

CHAPTER LX. 
Lower Merion Township 923 



CHAPTER LXVII. 
Perkiomen Township nog 

CHAPTER LXVIII. 
Plymouth Township i(i28 

CHAPTER LXIX. 
Pottsgrove Township 1041 

CHAPTER LXX. 
Providence Township 1044 

CHAPTER LXXI. 
Lower Providence Township ]iv]9 

CHAPTER LXXII. 
Upper Providence Township 105G 

CHAPTER LXXIII. 
Springfield Township 1071 

CHAPTER LXXI V. 
Towamencin Township iot4 

CHAPTER LXXY. 
Upper Dablln Township 1092 

CHAPTER LXXVI. 
Upper Hanover Township 1105 

CHAPTER LXXVII. 
Upper Merion Township mg 

CHAPTER LXXVIII. 
Upper Salford Township c . . . . lirtl 

CHAPTER LXXIX. 
Whitemarah Township 11:J7 

CHAPTER LXXX. 
Whitpain Township 1162 

CHAPTER LXXXL 



Worcester Township . 

Appendix — Centennial Celebration. 
Index 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAO£ 

Aaron, Samuel 404 

Albertson, J. M 477 

Ambler, David J 1102 

Antes, Col. Frederick, residence of 852 

Apple, JohnD..* 959 

Ashbridge, Joshua 940 

Ashbourne Presbyterian Church 803 

Auge, Moses 776 

Autographs Williain Penn and witnesses to charter 145 

Bank of Montgomery County 473 

Baldwin, Norman B , 965 

Barley Sheaf Barn 317 

Bate, William T 595 

Bean, Theodore W 554 

Beaver, D. R 6G7 

Bellows, H. M 670 

Berkhimer, Allen 867 

Betts, Sarah T 816 

Biddle, Thomas A., residence of 1162 

Binder, Samuel B 955 

Binder, W.J 464 

'X;; Bisson, James W 86G 

Blake, William 699 

Bomberger, J. H 411 

Boorse, John C 1091 

Bosler, Charles 634 

Bouquet, Henry 150 

Boyd, James 549 

Bradfield, Abner 704 

Branin, George 813 

British Stamp 151 

Brunner, S. U 4'22 

Brooke, William 1043 

Buckman, Thomas, Sr ; 702 

Buck, William J 351 

Bullock, George 601 

Bullock, George, residence of 800 

Burd-Wilson Mansion 405 

Cascadcn, Robert ." 677 

Casselberry, John W « 481 

Chadwick, Robert .: 615 

Chase, Thomas 418 

Clay, J. C 1128 

Conard, James P 1182 

Cleaver, Silas 1156 

Cleaver, John 1156 

Corson, Alan W 1034 



PAGE 

Corson, E. H... 1153 

Corson, Hiram 643 

Cotson, William 646 

Coulston, James M 1158 

County Court-House 326 

Cra^vford, John Y 937 

Custer, Anthony V 1071 

Custer, David 1191 

Custer, Jacob G 1055 

Davis, John J 739 

Davis, William 801 

Delaware Indian Fort 48 

Delaware Indian Family 4i> 

Delaware Indian 41 

De Vries, David Pielersen 56 

Diagram of Bone Cave, Port Kennedy 18 

Diagram of Transit of Venus 6 

Dismant, Benjamin F 673 

Dodd, Robert J - 641 

Ely, Gilbert W 911 

Engle, A. J 815 

Ervien, John A 034 

Evans, David 921 

Evans, Oliver 330 

Evans, Oliver, Steam-Carriage 331 

Evans, Thomas B ! 920 

Farmar, Edward, seal of 1139 

Fegely, Isaac 604 

Fenton, John M 814 

First National Bank, Norristown 478 

Flat Rock Dam 126 

Fort Casimir 68 

Fort Christiana 59 

Fort Mifflin 164 

Franklin, Benjamin 149 

Franklin's Press 458 

Freas, Jesse W 1155 

Freas, Joseph 1154 

Freedley, Samuel 640 

Friends' Meeting-House, Lower Merion 928 

Geatrell, Thomaa B 914 

Geller, Jacob S 743 

Geological Map 8 

Germantown, Map of Approaches to 165 

Germantown, Map of Battle of 166 

Godshall, A. C 622 

Goentner, William K 729 

vii 



vm 



ILLUSTEATIONS. 



Goshenhoppen Church, Old 

Graeme Coat of Arms 

Graeme, Elizabeth, Book-Plate of. 

Grieme Park 

Grmme Park, Vane at 

Gneme, Dr. Thomas 

Gresh, W. K 

Hallowell, Beiyamin T 

Hallowell, Israel 

Hallowell, Joho J 

Hallowell, Jonas W 

Hallowell, Joseph W 

Hallowell, William J 

Ilamel, George 

Hamer, James 

Hamilton, Andrew 

Hamilton, W. C 

Hamilton, W. C. & Sons, Paper-Mills.. 

Hancock, General Winfleld S 

Harley, Jonas M 

Harper, Smith 

Hartranft, General John F 

Harry, Benjamin 

Heobner, Christopher 

Heebner, Isaac D 

Heist, David 

Heller, G. K 

Henzey, W. P., residi-nce of. 

Hillegass, John G 

Ilobart, .lohn H....: 

Hobson, Frank M 

Hoffman, John 

Hood, John M 

Hooven, James 

Hoover, Hiram C 

Hudson, Henrj' 

Hughes, Benjamin B 

Humphry's, Seth 

llnnsicker, Abrajiam 

Hunsicker, Charles 

Hunsicker, Henry A 

Hunsicker, Henry G 

Hunsicker, Philip M 

Hunter, Joseph W 

Independence Bell 

Indian Signatures 

Iredell, Kobert 

Jarrett, Samuel F 

Jarrett, William L 

Jenkins, Charles Todd 

Johnson, B, K 

Jones, John 

Jones, John B 

Jones, .fohn L 

Jones, Jonathan 

Jones, Colonel Owen 

Jones, Colonel Owen, residence of. 

Keely, Ephraim P 

Keith, Sir WiUiam, Seal of. 

Keith, Sir William 



P.\GE 

, 1135 

892 

891 

901 

9(i0 

637 

689 

690 

989 

691 

988 

692 

909 

697 

649 

530 

624 

1148 

314 

783 

629 

196 

718 



\ 



T- , PAGE 

Kendall, Daniel „„_ 

Kennedy, John jjgg 

Kennedy, William E j^jg 

Kenderdine, Benjamin jj„. 

Kenworthy, James ^,. gg- 

Kepner, D. K 

Kinzie, Daniel 

Kirk, Jacob 

Kirk, Joseph ^^ 

'^"<""''' A 462 

Knipe, Jacob g.^ 

664 
1015 
540 



.. 620 
.. 812 
. 820 
.. 926 
. 655 
. 548 
. 1066 
. 1019 
. 922 
. 478 
. 1O07 
50 
712 
617 
1068 
552 
407 
1069 
1028 
738 
158 
40 
461 
1018 
908 
964 
663 
719 
731 
1103 
1039 
200 
930 
799 
900 
884 



793 
1131 

912 



Knipe, Jacob 0, 
Knight, William, Sr 

Krause, David 

Kratz, Henry W j^.^^ 

Krieble, Charles 

Kulp, Samuel N 

Larzelere, J. B 

Larzelere, N. H 

Leedom, E. C 

Lefferts, Simon V..., 
Lenhart, John F.... 
Livezey, Thomas.... 

Lloyd, John 

Lodge, Thomas G... 

Loller Academy 

Longaker, Daniel.... 

Longaker, R. B 

Loux, Hiram R 

Lowe, T. S. C 

Lukens, Abel 

Lnkens, Joshua P.... 

Lukens, Lewis A 

Map of New Sweden, 

Map of West Jereey and Penn^lvania, 1698 120 

Markley, A. D 

March, T. J 

May, Benjamin 

May, Selden T 

McDermott, William.. 
McFarland, Blbridgo.. 

McLane, A. W 

Meschter, G. K 

Meschianza Procession 

Meschianza Ticket 

Miles, William 

Miles, Samuel 

Miller, Charles T 

Miutzer, William 

Missimer, George .. _ 

Mitchell, Joseph, Jr 

Moir, James 

Monument Marking Site of Treaty Tree 

Moore, George W 

More, Nicholas, Seal of. 

Morgan, Andrew 

Morris, Oliver G 

Morison, William T 

Moorhead, J. Barlow 

Mowday, David Y 



1183 
698 
987 
557 
648 
990 
817 
1038 
992 
941 
728 
773 
795 
675 
579 
781 
904 
596 
70 



661 
609 
771 
770 

482 
611 
177 
672 
178 
178 
942 



651 
480 



970 
602 
144 
632 
978 
1193 
871 
693 
600 
772 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



IX 



PAGE 

Mud Island 162 

Muhlenberg, Henry M 1063 

Muhlenberg, Peter, Tomb of 1064 

Myers, Jacob 633 

Nace, Francis 1017 

Newberry, Milton 659 

New Hanover Lutheran Church 793 

Newport, David 694 

Noble, Samuel W 484 

Norrietowu High School 753 

Norristown Churches 750 

Norriton Presbyterian Church lOiJS 

North Wales Academy 421 

Oath of Allegiance I(i8 

O'Brien, Michael 598 

Outline Map of Montgomery County 1 

Paoli Monument 163 

PaxsoD, Charles X. ,. 1099 

Penrose, Abel 906 

Penrose, Jarrett 905 

Penn Coat of Arms 88 

Peon, John 150 

Penn's Treaty Tree 143 

Penn, William 82 

Pennsylvanische Geschicht Schreiber 136 

Perkiomen Bridge 1045 

Potts, Joseph D 605 

Potts, William C 1100 

Providence Friends' Meeting li 61 

Handle. William H 676 

Ratrliffe, Thomas 591 

Rea«i, L. W 657 

Reading, Edward 659 

Reed, Michael H lOU 

Reese, John L 1013 

Reese, William 1014 

Reid, John K 656 

Rennyson, William 468 

Rex, Sarah S 44G 

Rhoads, Jacob B 865 

Rice, Andrew J 703 

Richardson, William 746 

RittenhoTise, Christopher 578 

Rittenhouse, David Frontispiece 

Rittenhouse Observatory 4 

Rittenhouse, Samuel 1009 

Rittenhouse, William 1010 

Robeson, Samuel L 944 

Roberts. Enos 1184 

Roberts, Jesse 1012 

Roberts, Richard K 967 

Rogers, George W 550 

Rorer, Charles S 903 

Rosenberger, Isaac R 873 

Royer, J. Warren 654 

Royer, Lewis 522 

Rowland, Thomaa 635 

St. Peters Church, Barren Hill 1150 

Sanitary Fair Buildings 296 

Sargent, G. P 666 



Saylor, Andrew J 1195 

Scheetz, J. H 662 

Schlatter, Michael 1166 

SchoU, Seth L 745 

Schrack, David 668 

Schrack, John (;53 

Selser, John 968 

Shannon, George 479 

Shaw, James 554 

Shaw, Robert ggcj 

Shtarer, A. K 7^0 

Shearer, A, W 108O 

Shepard, Jesse 1040 

Shoemaker, Charles 651 

Shoemaker, C. K 1179 

Shoemaker, Enoch i083 

Shoemaker, Joseph A 741 

Shoemaker, Mathiaa 1177 

Shunk Monument 1065 

Sibley, William 94;j 

Singerly, William M 1175 

Singerly, William M., sheep farm of 858 

Singerly, William M., home farm « 1176 

Slingluff, John 475 

Slingluff, W. H 474 

Smith, Isaac W 592 

Smith, John 701 

Smith, John C o23 

Smith, Jonas 79t> 

Smith, Oliver P jo6() 

Soldiei-s' Monument 768 

Soldiers of 1812 187 

St. James' Episcopal Church, Perkiomen 1051 

Stabler, William 774 

State Hospital for the Insane 498 

State House, Philadelphia, 1744 154 

Steele, J. Button 606 

Stiles, George M 669 

Stineon, Mar>" H 674 

Stuj'vesant, Peter 67 

Super, Philip 1115 

Super, Henry W 414 

Sutton, W. Henry 5I8 

Swedes' Church "11 

Swedes' Ford 711 

Swedish Block-House 57 

Thomas, Allen 868 

Thomson, Charles 172 

Thomson, Charles, residence of 172 

Thropp, Joseph E 627 

Todd, John 660 

Trappe Church 1059 

Trappe Church (interior) 1059 

Tremper, Jacob 830 

Trucksess, David 1197 

Tyson, Jacob P 696 

Van Buskirk, Wilham A 650 

Upland Meeting-Place 101 

Van Pelt, John 732 

Walt, Henry S 922 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Wiiltou, John 984 

M'asliiiigtun's Headquarters, Worcester 164 

Washington's Headquarters, Valley Forge 170 

Washington Headquartere, "James Morris'" 1164 

Watt, William 683 

Weaver, C. P 575 

Weaver, Joseph K 671 

Weinberger, J. Shelly 415 

Weiser, Clement Z 1112 

Wentz Kcformed Church 1186 

Wentz, Abrara 1180 

Wertsner, Beiijamin P 485 

Wheeler, Charles 936 

White, Bishop William 1052 

Whitefield, G 373 

Williams, Anthony 824 

Williams, Charles 1160 

Williams, Henry J 1077 

Williams, John J 810 

Williams, Thomas 811 



PAGE 

Wills, Morgan R 460 

Wilson, S. M 819 

Wilson, Thomas 972 

Wood, James 594 

W^oodward, Evan M 985 

Wright, Charles B 822 

Yeakle, Chailes 1081 

Yeakle, Christopher, residence of. 1073 

Yeakel, Daniel 1078 

Teakle, Jacob 1079 

Yeakel, David W 1157 

Yeakle, Joseph 1080 

Yeakle, Samuel 775 

Yeakle, Thomas C 818 

Yeakle, William 1082 

Yeakle, William A 521 

Yost, D. M 277 

Yost, Isaac F 998 

Yost, Jacobs 52 



HISTORY 

OF 



MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER I. 



TOPOGRAPHY. 

MoNTGOMERF CouNTY, originally a part of Phil- 
adelphia County, was created by act of the General 
Assembly approved the 10th day of September, 1784.' 

^ As Act for erecting part of the County of PhUaeUIphia into a separate 
county. 

Sect. I. Wheeeas a great number of tbe iDhabitanta of the county 
of Philadelphia by their petition have humbly represented to the Aei> 
Bemblyof this State the great inconvenience they labor under by reason 
of their distance from the seat of judicature in the said county: For 
remedy whereof, 

Sect. II, Be it enacted, and it is hereby enacted by the Representativis 
of the Freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania^ in Gmt^ral Axifemiihi 
met, and btj the autJtorili/ of the same. That all and singular the lands 
lying within that part of Philadelphia County bounded as liereinafter 
described, beginning on the line of Byberry township and the township 
of the manor of Moreland where it intersects the line of Bucks County; 
thence westward along the northern lines of Byberry, Low^r Dublin, 
and Oxford townships to the line dividing the townships of Cheltenham 
and Bristol ; and thence along the said line dividing Germantown town- 
flhip from the township of Springfield; aud thence along said line to 
the line dividing the township of Springtield aforesaid frum the town- 
ship of Roxbury to the river Schuylkill ; thence down the said river to 
the line dividing the townships of Blockley and Lower Merion ; and 
thence along said line to the line of the county of Chester; thence by 
the line of Chester County to the line of Berks County ; thence hy the 
line of Berks County to the line of Northampton County ; thence by 
part of the line of Northampton County and the line of Bucks County ; 
thence along the said line of Bucks County to the place of beginning ; 
be, and hereby are, erected into a county, named, and hereafter to be 
called, "Montgomery County." 

Sect. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That the 
inhabitants of said county of Montgomery shall, at all times hereafter, 
have and enjoy all and singular the jurisdictions, powers, rights, liberties, 
and privileges whatsoever which the inhabitants of any other county 
in this State do, may, or ought to enjoy by any charter of privileges, or 
the lawB of this State, or by any other ways and means whatsoever. 

Sect. IV. A»d be it further etuicted by the authority aforesaid, That the 
inhabitants of each township or district within the said county quali- 
fied by law to elect shall meet at some convenient place within their 
respective townships or districts, at the same time the inhabitants of the 
several township? of the other counties within this State shall meet for 
like purposes, and choose inspectors ; aud at the time appointed by law 
the freemen of said county of Montgomery shall meet at the house of 
Hannah Thomson, innkeeper, in the township of Norriton,and there 
elect representatives; and the freemen of the county of Philadelphia 
shall meet at the State-House, in the city of Philadelphia, and there 
elect representatives to serve them in Assembly [one counselor], two fit 
persons for sheriffs, two fit persons for coroners, and three commis- 
eionere, as by the Constitution and laws of this State are directed in 
respect to other counties, which representatives so chosen shall be 
Euembens of the General Assembly of the Commoawealtb of Pennsyl- 
1 



It is bounded on the southeast by the line of the city 
of Philadelphia, on the northeast by Bucks, on the 
north and northwest by Lehigh and Berks, and on 
the west and southwest by Chester and Delaware 
Counties. It is thirty miles in length from the south- 
east to the northwest line, and about fifteen miles in 
breadth from the northeast to the southwest line. 

vania, and shall sit and act as such, as fully and as freely as any of the 
other representatives of this State do, may, can, or ought to do ; [and the 
said counselor, when so chosen, shall sit and act as fully aud as freely 
as any of the other members of tbe Supreme Executive Council of this 
State do, may, can, or ought to do. 

[Secf. V. And be it ftirlh^'r enacted hy the authoriiy aforesaid. That the 
county of Montgomery shall, until otherwise altered by the Legislature 
of the State, be represented in the General Assembly by four members, 
and the county of Philadelphia shall be represented in the General As- 
sembly by five members.] 

Sect. VII. And be U further enacted by the aulhority aforemid. That the 
justices of theSupreineCourt of this State shall have like powers, juris- 
dictions, and authorities within the said county of Montgomery as by 
law they are vested with and entitled unto in the other counties within 
this State; and are hereby authorized and empowered, from time to 
time, to deliver the goal of the said county of capital or other offenders, in 
like manner as they are authorized to do in other counties of this State. 

Sect. X. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, Tbatitsball 
and may be lawful to and for Henry Pawling, Jun., Jonathan Roberts, 
George Smith, Robert Shannon, and Henry Cunuard, of Whitpaine town- 
ship, all of the aforesaid county, yeomen, or any three of them, to pur- 
chase aud take assurance to them, aud Their heirs, in the name of the 
commonwealth, of a piece of land situated in some convenient place in 
the neighborhood of Stoney-run, contiguous to the river Schuylkill, in 
Norriton township, in trust and for the use of the inhabitants of the 
said county, and thereon to erect and build a court-house and prison 
sufficient to accommodate the public service of said county. 

Sect. XI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid. That such 
part of the money as shall arise from the sale of tlieoldjirison and work- 
house, and lot of ground thereto belonging, in the city of Philadelphia, 
as directed by an act of General Assembly of this commonwealth to be 
sold for the use of the city and county aforesaid, he apportioned for the 
defraying the charges of purchasing the land, building and erecting the 
court-house and prison aforesaid, in the ratio or proportion of taxes as 
paid between the said county of Montgomery and the county of Phila- 
delphia and this city ; but in case the same should not be sufficient, it 
shall and may be lawful to and for the commissioners and assessors of 
the said county, or a majority of them, to assess and levy, aud they are 
hereby required to assess and levy, in the same manner as is directed by 
the act for raising county rates and levies, so much money as the said 
trustees, or any three of them, shall judge necessary for purchasing the 
said land and finishing the said court-house and prison. 

Sect. XII. Provided, always. That the sum of money so to be raised 
does not exceed three thousand pounds current money of this State. 

Sect. XIII. Provided, aleo,and be it further enacted by the autiionty afore- 
«iid, That no action or suit now commenced or depending in Uie county 
of Philadelphia against any person living within the bounds of the said 
cmnty of Montgomery shall be stayed or discontinued, but that the 

1 



HISTORY OF MONTGOiMERY COUNTY. 



The lands are agreeably diversified by well-marked 
ranges of bills, and with beautiful and fertile valleys. 
In the southeastern portion of the county these ele- 
vations are known as the "Gulf Hills," "Barren 
Hills," and " Chelten Hills." In the centre of the 
county the " Providence" and " Skippack Hills" are 
most notable, and in the northern part the "Stone 
Hills" are prominent, rugged, and somewhat inoun- 
tainous in their character and appearance. All of 
these ranges of hills are habitable, and all but the 
Stone Hills are in a high state of cultivation. The 
latter are heavily timbered, and when cleared of trees 
and rocks respond liberally to the husbandmen who 
possess and till them. 

The valley lands of the county have been a source 
of perpetual wealth to agriculturists, who prize them 
not only for their surface products, but also for the 
useful minerals that abound in them. The Schuyl- 
kill, Plymouth, and Perkiomen Valleys are the most 
noted in the county, and present the most beautiful 
and picturesque scenery. But there is much to ad- 
mire in following the Wissahickon, Indian, Swamp, 
and Manatawny Creeks to their sources, draining as 
they do large areas of rolling country, improved by 
elegant and commodious residences and farm-houses, 
with barns and improvements unsurpassed by any 
agricultural people on the face of the globe. 

Montgomery County has an approximate area of 
four hundred and seventy-three square miles, or 
about three hundred and three thousand and eighty 
acres. It is divided into thirty townships and sixty 
election districts. There are twelve boroughs in the 
county, all of which will be referred to in subsequent 
chapters of this work. The Schuylkill River forms 
the southwestern boundary line between Montgomery 
and Chester Counties until it reaches the Merion 

Fame action or actions already commenced or depending may be prose- 
cnted and judgment tliereupon rendered, as if tliis act Imd not been 
made; and tliat it sliall and maybe lawful for the justices of the county 
of Pliiladeljiliia to issue any judicial process, to be directed to the sheriff 
or coroner of Philadelphia County, for carrying on and obtaining the 
effect of the aforesaid suits, which slierifF and coroner shall and are 
hereby obliged to yield obedience in executing the said writs, and make 
due return thereof before the justices of the said court for the said 
county of Pluladel|ihia, as if the parties were living and residing within 
the same. 

Sect. XXI. And whkreas it is represented, by petition to the General 
Assembly, that by the lines hereinbefore mentioned a long, narrow neck 
or point of land, beingpart of the manor of Moreland, and lying between 
the townships of Byberry and Lower Dublin, in the cunnty of Philadel- 
phia, would be included in the county of Montgomery, to the great in- 
convenience and injury of the inhabitants of the said neck of land, who 
have prayed that they may remain within the county of Philadelphia. 

Sect. XXII. Be it therefore enacted by the authoritij u/oremitl^ That the 
boundary line of the said county of Montgomery shall be as follows: 
that is to say, beginning in the line of Bucks Couuty where the same is 
intei'sected by the line which divides the townships of Byberry and the 
manor of Moreland; thence southwesterly along the last-mentioned 
line to the first corner or turning thereof; and thence on the sanio south- 
westerly course to the lino of Lower Dublin ; and thence westwardly 
along the uortherii line of Lower Dublin, and so on, as the lines of the 
said couuty of Montgomery are hereinbefore described, to the place of 
beginning; anything hereinbefore contained to the contrary in anywise 
notwithstanding. 

Passed Sept. 10, 1784. 



townships; from thence it passes through the country 
in a southeasterly course until it reaches the Phila- 
delphia line. The county is watered by many streams 
flowing into the Schuylkill River, — Wissahickon, 
Plymouth, Sandy Run, Mill, Rock Hill, Oulf, Valley, 
Indian, Stony, Skippack, Perkiomen, and Manatawny 
Creeks. The Pennypack and Neshaminy Creeks 
rise in Montgomery County, and pass through Bucks 
County to the Delaware River. The water-flow and 
fall of these streams and their tributaries, which 
form a network of irrigation, fed by thousands of 
perennial springs, rising in every part of the county, 
were early utilized by the settlers, who erected dams, 
and built on the shores grist-, saw-, fulling-, oil-, 
paper-, powder-, and rolling-mills, forges, factories, 
and tanneries. In 1795 there were reported ninety- 
six grist-mills, sixty-one saw-mills, four forges, six 
fulling-mills, and ten paper-mills. Many of these 
grist-mills existed prior to and during the Revolu- 
tionary war, doing active service for the contending 
armies while in occupancy of this section of the 
country. In the early era of public improvements 
Montgomery County was well marked by public 
roads leading from the city of Philadelphia to the 
interior settlements of the colony and State. The 
Lancaster road and similar highways leading to 
Reading and Bethlehem, with many parallel cart- 
ways, opened up the county settlements at a very 
early period. These great thoroughfares were soon 
intersected by public roads running from the Dela- 
ware to the Schuylkill Rivers, increasing in number 
and importance until the region now comprising the 
county was accessible from all points by well-graded 
roads leading in the direction of Philadelphia, then 
the capital of the couuty and of the State as late as 
1799, and the capital city of the nation as late as 1800. 
The general conformation of the face of tlje coun- 
try in Montgomery County repeats in miniature that 
which has rendered the natural scenery of New York, 
Pennsylvania, JIaryland, and West Virginia so nota- 
ble. The ranges of hills run uniformly northeast and 
southwest, as do the more distant line of the Cats- 
kills, Blue Ridge, and AUeghanies. As the Hudson 
River forces itself through the Narrows, the Dela- 
ware at the Water Gap, the Susquehanna between 
Harrisburg and Port Deposit, the Potomac at Har- 
per's Ferry, so the Schuylkill River in finding its way 
to the Delaware, in the same direction, cuts its way 
through rock-hills at Conshohocken and again at 
Fairmouut, Philadelphia. The primitive condition 
of the area of country now known as Montgomery 
County was land heavily timbered with oak, hickory, 
and chestnut. The consumption of wood for fuel 
prior to the introduction of anthracite and bitumi- 
nous coal, was very great in Eastern Pennsylvania. 
Large quantities were used in making charcoal for 
furnaces ; all lime was made by use of wood for fuel ; 
every household had its " wood-pile," while the sup- 
ply of Philadelphia City constituted a trade of vital 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



interest to those owning and residing upon lands 
within twenty and thirty miles of the great city. 
Time was, and possibly is within the remembrance of 
those still living among us, when it was the work of 
each succeeding year to clear one or more acres of 
woodland, and the wood sold counted as a part of the 
yearly profit of the farm. This wealth of primitive 
forest was the foundation of many substantial fortunes 
in years past, where, by means of judicious purchases 
made, the sale of the "wood-leaf" paid for the farm, 
and opened up an increasing acreage for the growtli 
of grass and cereals. Tradition says this stump or 
" new land" was a test point in the character of the 
owner. If he was a provident, industrious man, his 
"new land" would seasonably blossom with buck- 
wheat ; if thriftless, selling his wood to pay taxes and 
incidental expenses of his attendance upon militia 
trainings and horse-races, his new land would be left 
uncultivated and overgrown with briers and brush. 
Fifty years ago farms denuded of woodland were ex- 
ceptional, and their marketable value greatly depre- 
ciated. The old characteristic farmer of Montgom- 
ery County took a commendable pride in maintaining 
from ten to twenty acres of primitive forest. It was 
useful in many ways, for fuel, building, and fencing, 
and, whether deemed ornamental or not, had a rare 
charm for him. It was these parks of woodlands that 
preserved to hunters until within the last quarter of 
a century choice haunts for squirrel and bird; but 
the close of the first century of the county witnesses 
the final obliteration of all hunting-grounds lying 
between the Delaware and the Schuylkill. 

The surface soil varies greatly in different parts of 
the county. In passing inland from tide-water levels, 
alluvial flats, and submarine formations, rock-faced 
bluffs are found at Chestnut Hill, four hundred feet 
above tide-water mark. The northwestern slope of 
these hills descends to the basin of the Plymouth 
Valley, through which runs a belt of limestone some 
two miles in width, with rich beds of hematite iron 
ore, white and blue marble, limestone, soapstone, and 
large masses of gray rock, easily quarried, and largely 
used in heavy masonry. This limestone belt crosses 
the Schuylkill River between Conshohocken and 
Swedes' Ford, and extends in a westerly direction to 
Howeltown, in the Schuylkill Valley. The soil of 
this locality is very productive, and is considered by 
many the most valuable in the county for agricul- 
tural purposes. Contiguous to the Plymouth Valley 
are the Sandy Hills, a light, luminous soil, easily 
worked and productive, but often seriously affected 
by drought. The rolling lands northwest of the val- 
ley, drained by Indian, Skippack, Perkiomen, and 
Manatawny Creeks and their tributaries, are princi- 
pally of the red shales and sandstones of the " middle 
secondary" formation, with many intervening areas 
of clay soil. The primitive condition of this soil was 
unproductive as compared with that of the Schuyl- 
kill and Plymouth Valleys ; but under the skillful 



husbandry of the modern farmer, and a liberal use 
of lime, manure, and fertilizers, this vast region of 
country yields abundant harvests, and supports a 
prosperous population equal in numbers to the square 
mile with the more favored limestone or valley lands. 
The scenery abounding along the Schuylkill, Wissa- 
hickon, Perkiomen, and their tributaries is among the 
most picturesque in the Middle States, while the land- 
scape, from the successive ranges of hills, is extended, 
and conveys to the observing eye a vision of pastoral 
peace and plenty. The topography of the county, as 
shown by accompanying maps, — that of Holme's orig- 
inal survey and the recent one prepared for this work, 
— shows the progress of two centuries in the matter 
of public roads and highways, and the subdivisions 
of the county into townships and boroughs. In 1681 
it consisted of manors and large tracts, or proprietary 
grants, held by comparatively few persons, who lived 
a frontier life, in almost daily contact with native 
tribes of Indians. Since then its square miles and 
broad acres, under the equalizing operation of our 
laws of descent, have passed through at least six 
generations, and thousands of purchasers have ac- ' 
quired titles to soil that have always been a prize in 
the inventory of worldly possessions of those who 
lived and died on the hills and in the valleys of 
Montgomery. 

The first era of public improvement demanded 
macadamized highways from tide-water to the in- 
terior. These highways still exist, monuments of 
early engineering, traversing the hills and mountains 
of the State. The increased tonnage of merchandise 
on these roads, and the costly character of teams and 
means of transportation, — the old Conestoga wagon, — 
soon induced the bridging of all important streams, 
many of which crossed these highways, as surveyed 
northwest of Philadelphia, within the lines now con- 
stituting Montgomery County. The spirit of public 
improvement seized on the Schuylkill River, and by 
a system of dams, locks, and canals connected it with 
the Susquehanna, by means of which lumber, coal, 
and all manner of merchandise found its way through 
the county to Philadelphia. Many travelers sought 
the " fast packet line," pulled through at a trot, with 
frequent changes of horses, it being thought a far 
more luxurious way of reaching the interior than by 
stage. This system of navigation still exists on the 
Schuylkill, but is now confined to ooal, lumber, lime, 
and stone. It is no longer a rival for mail, fast freight, 
or passenger traffic. The use of steam opened up a 
new era of public improvement. The construction of 
railroads speedily followed. These modern highways 
of travel and traffic found easy grades and eligible 
locations on the shores of streams and over depres- 
sions upon the face of the country, sought out by 
skillful engineers. The topographical face of Mont- 
gomery County is traversed by three of the best-con- 
structed and most liberally equipped railroads in the 
country, with a number of lateral roads connecting 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



these parallel trunk lines. The Philadelphia and 
Reading Company drain the Schuylkill Valley, with 
branch roads in Plymouth, Stony Creek, Perkiomen, 
Pickering, and Oley Valleys. The North Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad, now under the management of the 
Philadelphia and Reading, crosses the " divide" 
between the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, and 
extends to Bethlehem, having connections with the 
Bound Brook, New Hope, and Doylestown Railroads, 
and with the Lehigh Valley system of railroads. The 
trunk line of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company 
passes through Lower Merion township. The Phila- 
delphia and Schuylkill Valley Railroad Company, 
now leased to the Pennsylvania Company, is con- 
structing a new line of road from their main track at 
Fifty-first Street, Philadelphia, thence up the Schuyl- 
kill Valley, leaving the county at the line opposite 
Phrenixville. When this road is completed, Mont- 
gomery County will be most advantageously traversed 
with these modern highways. 

There are accompaniments to these public improve- 
ments of novel and increasing interest to the popu- 
lous districts of country through which they pass, — 
the telegraph and, later, the telephone. No system of 
railroading is now deemed complete without these 
necessary adjuncts to the safety of public travel, the 
prompt movement of freights, and the methodical 
dispatch of business accumulating at centres of pro- 
duction, trade, and transatlantic shipment. These 
means of direct and rapid communication with all 
parts of the country, focalizing as they pass through 
the county and converging at the contiguous seaport 
city of Philadelphia, gives to the locality important 
topographical advantages. Lines of rapid transit, 
capable of transporting large bodies of men and cor- 
responding tonnage of freight, are now essential 
agencies in travel and in conducting the exchange of 
commodities of the continent in time of peace as well 
as in time of war. They are anchored in the capital- 
ized enterprise of the country, and are indispensabli 
to the success of the industrial pursuits in agriculture, 
manufacture, and commerce. Their adaptation to 
the necessities and exigencies of war was well illus- 
trated in the late Rebellion. The facility with which 
troops and supplies were transported to the line of 
the Susquehanna in the summer of 1863 was of great 
importance in connection with movements relied upon 
to check the invasion of Gen. Lee, and in making the 
great battle of Gettysburg the turning-point of the 
war. In the event of foreign war, hostile agencies 
would first be directed to the capture or destruction 
of our seaport towns and cities. In that event Phila- 
delphia and all the commercial advantages centring 
there would be a tempting prize to a maritime enemy. 
In such a contingency, one that may occur, all can 
readily see the importance that would be attached to 
the present topographical face of the county, check- 
ered as it is with a network of trunk and lateral lines 
of railroads. What our common roads were to Gen. 



Washington and Lord Howe in 1777-78 in the stra- 
tegical movement of troops from the Brandywine to 
the Delaware for the defense and capture of the City 
of Penn, our railroads in an enlarged sense would be 
in possible warlike movements, involving issues of 
greater importance than those referred to in the early 
history of the country. 

The surface elevations and topographical structure 
of Montgomery County has been heretofore made 
contributory to the growth and development of the 
region by utilizing its flowing waters for purposes of 
irrigation and propelling mills and factories. The 
sanitary requirements of Philadelphia demand a 
liberal extension of its water-works, and skillful en- 
gineers have ascertained, by levels made and in prog- 
ress, that the upper Perkiomen Valley has an eleva- 
tion with a volume of water and storage capacity suf- 
ficient to meet present and future wants of the great 
city for a century to come, and furnish a healthful 
and perpetual supply of pure water. 

The true latitude and longitude of Montgomery 
County appears to have been ascertained with great 
precision in 1769-70 by David Rittenhouse and his 
distinguished scientific contemporaries. The astro- 
nomical observations which preceded the terrestrial 
measurements were made, taking the " Norriton Ob- 
servatory" as a place of beginning. The extraor- 
dinary importance attached at the time to the work of 
these learned men, and the high standard of authority 
since conceded to them, renders of historical interest 
some account of their labors and the circumstances 
connected with the event. 

Latitude and Longitude, Norriton Observa- 
tory. — Norriton township, created by judicial pro- 
ceedings, 1730, then becoming a geographical subdi- 




l: ITTENHOUSE OBSERVATOKY. 

vision of Philadelphia, enjoys a world-wide celebrity 
in having had situated within its boundaries the 
"Norriton Observatory," at which place astronomical 
observations were made, and reported as " An Account 
of the Transitof Venus over the Sun's Disk, observed 
at Norriton, in the County of Philadelphia and Prov- 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



ince of Pennsylvania, June 3, 1769."^ It was at the 
point where then stood the "Norriton Observatory," 
about fifty feet north of the famous old residence, 

1 The following gentlemRn were appointed by the American Philo- 
aopliical Society, locatefl at Philadelphia, to make the observations and 
astronomical c;iIciilatious : William Smith, D.D., Provost of the College 
of Philadelphia; John Lukens, Esq., Surveyor-General of Pennsylvania; 
David Rittenhrmse, A.M., of Norriton ; and John Sellers, Esq., Repre- 
sentative in Assembly for Chester. Communicated to the society July 
20, 1769, by direction and in behalf of the committee, by Dr. Smith. 

"Gentlemen, — Among the various public-spirited designs that have 
engaged the attention of this society since its first institution none does 
them more honor than their early resolution to appoint committees of 
their own members to make as many observations, in different places, of 
the rare phenomenon, the transit of Venus over the sun's disk, as they 
had any probability of being able to defray the expense of, either from 
their own funds or the public assistance they expected. As the mt^m- 
bers of the Nurriton Committee live at some distance from each other, 
I am therefore, at their request, now to digest and lay before you in one 
view the whole of our observations in that place, distinguishing, how- 
ever, the part of each observer, and going back to the first preparations ; 
for I am persuaded that tlie dependence which the learned world may 
place on any particular transit account will be in proportion to the pre- 
vious and subsequent care which is found to have lieen taken in a series 
of accurate and well-conducted observations for ascertaining the going 
of the time-pieces, and fixing the latitude and longitude of the place of 
observations, etc. And I am the more desirous to be particular in these 
points in order to do justice to Mr. Rittenhouse, one of our committee, 
to whose extraordinary skill and diligence is owing whatever advantage 
maybe derived in these respects to our observation of the transit itself. 
It is further presumed that astronomers in distant countries will be de- 
sinms to have not only the work and reBults belonging to each particu- 
lar transit observation, but the materials also, that they may examine 
and conclude for themselves. And this may be more particularly requi- 
site in a new observatory, such as Norriti>n, the name of which has per- 
liaps never before been heard of by distant astroimmers, and therefore 
its latitude and longitude are to be once fixed from principles that may 
be satisfactory on the present as well as on any future occasion. 

" Our great discouragement at our first appointment was the want of 
proper apparatus, especially good telescopes with micrometers. The 
generosity of our Provincial Assemblysoun removed a great partof this 
discouragement, not only by their vote to purchase one of the best re- 
flecting telescopes, with a Dolland'a micrometer, but likewise by their 
subsequent donation of one hundred pounds for erecting observatories 
and defraying other incidental expenses. It was foreseen that on the 
arrival of this telescope, added tn such private ones as might be pro- 
cured in the city, together with fitting up the instruments belonging to 
the honorable the Proprietaries of the province, viz., the equal-alti- 
tude and transit instrument and the largo astronomical sector, nothing 
would be wanting for the city observatory in the State-House Square 
but a good time-piece, which was easily to be procured. We remained, 
however, still at a loss how to furnish the Norriton Observatory, but even 
this difficulty gradually vanished. Early in September, 17GS, soon after 
the nomination of our committee, I received a letter fi'oni that worthy 
and honorable gentleman, Thomas Penn, Esq., one of the Proprietaries 
of thisprovince, which he wrote at the desire of the Rev. Mr. Makelyne, 
Astronomer Royal, expressing their desire 'that we would exert ourselves 
in observing the transit, fi.ir which our situation would be so favorable,' 
and inclosing some copies of Mr. Makelyne's printed directions for that 
purpose. Tins gave me an opportunity, which I inmiediately embraced, 
of acquainting Mr. Penn what preparation we had already made, and 
what encouragement the Assembly had given in voting one hundred 
pounds sterling for the purchase of one reflecting telescope and mi- 
crometer for the city observatory ; but that we would be at a great loss 
for a telescope of the like construction for the Norriton Observatory, and 
requesting him to order a reflector of two or two and a half feet, with 
Dolland's micrometer, to be got ready as soon as possible in London. It 
was not long before I had the pleasure of hearing that Mr. Penn had 
ordered such a telescope, which came to hand about the middle of May, 
with a most obliging letter, expressing the satisfaction he had in hearing 
of the spirit shown at Philadelphia for observing this curious phenome- 
non when it should happen, and concluding as follows: * I have sent by 
Capt. Sparks a reflecting telescope, with Dolland's micrometer, exact to 
your request, which 1 hope will come safe to hand. After making your 
observations, I desire you will present it, in my name, to the college. 



still standing, that David Rittenhouse, assisted by 
Archibald McKean and Jesse Lukens, met on July 
2, 1770, to commence the work of surveying a line 

Messrs. Mason and Dixon tell me they never used a better than that 
which I formerly sent to the Library Company of Philadelphia, with 
which a good observation may be made, though it has no micrometer.* 
We were now enabled t) furnish the Norriton Observatory as follows, 
viz. : 

"1. A Gregorian reflector, about 2 f. focal length, with a Dolland's 
micrometer. This telescope has four different magnifying powers, viz. : 
55, 95, 130, and 200 times, by means of two tubes, containing eye-glasses 
that magnify differently, and two small speculuma of differeot focal 
distances. Made by Nairne; used by Dr. Smith. 

*' 2. A refractor of 42 f., its magnifying power about 140. The glasses 
were sent from London witli the large reflector, and belonged to Har- 
vard College, New England; but as they did not arrive time enough to 
be sent to that place before the transit, they were fitted up here by Mr. 
Rittenhouse and used by Mr. Lukens. 

"3. Mr. Rittonhouse's refractor, with an object-glass of 36 f. focus, 
and a convt-x eye-glasa of 3 inches, magnifying about 144 times. Used 
by himself. Bdth these refractors, as well as the reflector, were in most 
exquisite order. 

"4. An equal-altitude instrument, its telescope three and a half feet 
focal length, with two horizontal hairs, and a vertical one in its focus, 
firmly supported on a stone pedestal, and easily adjusted to a plummet 
wire 4 feet in length by 2 screws, one moving it in a north and south, 
the other in an east and west direction. 

"r». A transit telescope, fixed in the meridian on an axis with fine 
steel points, so that the hair in its focus can move in no other direction 
than along the meridian; in which are two marks, south and north, 
about 330 yards distance each, to which it can be readily adjusted in a 
horizontal position by one screw, as it can in a vertical position by another 
screw. 

"6. An excellent time-piece, having for its pendulum a flat steel bar, 
with a bob weighing about 12 pounds, and vibrating in a final arch. It 
goes eight days, does not flop when wound up, beats dead seconds, and 
is kept in motion by a weight of 5 pounds. These last three articles 
were also Mr, Rittenhouse 's property, and made by himself. 

*'7. An astronomical quadrant, two and a half f. radius, made by 
Sisson, the property of the East Jersey Proprietors, under the care of 
the Right Honorable Wiljiam Earl of Stirling surveyor-general of tliat 
province, from whom Mr. Lukens procured the use of it, and sent it up 
to Mr. Rittenhouse for ascertaining the latitu'le of the observatory. 
Thus we were at length completely furnished with every instnmient 
proper for our work. As Mr. Rittenhonse's dwelling at Norriton is 
about 20 miles nortliwest of Philadelpliia, our other engagements did 
not permit Mr. Lukens or myself to pay much attention to the neces- 
sary preparations. But vk knew that we had intrusted them to a gen- 
tleman on the spot, ^^UlO had, joined to a complete skill in mechanic8,8o 
extensive an astronomical and mathematical knowledge that the use, 
management, and even the construction of the necessary apparatus were 
perfectly familiar to him. Mr. Lukens and myself could not set out till 
Thursday, June 1st; but tfn our arrival there we found every prepara- 
tion so forward that we had little to do but to examine and adjust our 
respective telescopes to distinct vision. He had fitted up the different 
instruments', and made a great number of observations to ascertain the 
going of his time-piece, and so determined the latitude and longitude 
of the observatory. The laudable pains he had taken in these material 
articles will best appear from the work itself, which he has committed 
into my hands, with the following modest introduction, giving me a 
liberty which his own accuracy, care, and abilities leave no room to 
exercise : 

"' Norriton, July 18,1709. 
"'Dear Sir, — The inclosed is the best account I can give of the con- 
tacts as I observed them and of what I saw during the interval between 
them. I should be glad you would contract them, and also the other 
papers, into a smaller compass, as I would have done myself if I had 
known how, I beg you would not copy anything merely because I 
have written it, but leave out what you think superfluous. 

'" I am, with great esteem and affection, 

" ' Yours, etc., David Rittenhouse. 
'**To Rev. Dr. Smith.'" 

Exbyicl from David Rittenhomf'' 8 Report of the Transit of Venus, June 3^ 
1769, observed at the Nvrrilon Observatory.—" ' Early in November, 17*58, 1 
began to erect an observatory, agreeable to the resolutions of the Ameri- 



6 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



from the observatory to tlie State-House Square at 
Philadelphia. Mr. Rittenbouse having ascertained 
the latitude and longitude at the point with acknowl- 



cxn Philosophical Society, but, through various disappointnienta from 
■workmen and weather, could not complete it till the middle of April, 
1769. I had for some time expectpd the use of an equal-altitude instru- 
ment from Philadelphia ; hut finding Icunld not depend on having it, I 
felt to work and made one of as Kiini)lea construction as I could. March 
'2uth the instrument was finished and put up out of doors, the observa- 
tory not hL'ing yet ready. 

"'I had for some weeks before this, however, with my 36 f. re- 
fractor, observed eclipsea of Jupiter's satellites in such a manner that, 
though my equal-altitude instrument was not finished, and conse- 
«]nently I could not set my time-piece to the true noon, I should, never- 
theless, be able to tell the time of those eclipses afterwards when the 
instruments sliould be ready. Fur this purpose I observed almost every 
fair evening the time by the clock when the bright star in Orion disap- 
peared behind a fixeil obstacle, by applying my eye to a small sight-hole 
made through a piece of brass fastened to a strong post. From this 
time to May 20 the clock was altered several times, once taken down 
and cleaned, removed back to the observatory, and regulated anew. 
Care was taken, however, to observe equal altitudes of the sun on the 
days preceding and following any visible eclipse of the 1st satellite, when 
the weather would permit. May 20, in the morning, the clock was set 
up for the last time pretty near the mean time. It had no provision for 
preventing the irregularities arising from heat and cold, nor could I find 
leisure to apply any contrivance of this sort. This day I likewise put 
wires instead of hairs in the telescope of the equal-altitude instrument. 
Tlie ill state of my health would not permit me to sit up at nights to 
take equal altitudes of the stars. I was, therefore, obliged to content 
myself with those of the sun only.' 

*'It has been mentioned before that it was on Thursday afternoon, 
June 1, that Mr. Lnkena and myself arrived at Norriton, with a design 
to continue with Mr. Rittenhouse till the transit should be over. The 
prospect before us was very discouraging. That day and several pre- 
ceding had been generally overcast with clouds and frequent heavy 
rains, a thing not very common for so long a period at that season of the 
year in this part of America. But by one of those transitions which 
we often experience here, on Thursday evening the weather became per- 
fectly clear, and continued the day fi>llowing, as well as the day of the 
transit, in ench a state of serenity, splendor of sunshine, and purity of 
atmosphere that nut the least appearance of a cluud was to be seen. 
June 2 and the forenoon of June 3 were spent in making necessary 
preparations, such as examining and marking the foci of our several 
telescopes, particularly the reflector, with and without the micrometer. 
The reflector was also placed on a polar axis, and such supports con- 
trived for resisting the ends of the refractors as might give them a mo- 
tion as nearly parallel to the equator as such hasty preparations' would 
admit. Several diameters of the sun were taken, and the micrometer 
examined by such other methods as the shortness of the time would 
allow. The sun was so intensely bright on the day of the transit that, 
instead of using the colored glasses sent fi-oni England with the re- 
flector, I put on a deeply-smoked glass prepared by Mr. Lukens, which 
gave a much more beautiful, natural, and well-defined appearance of the 
Bun's disk. The smoked glass was fastened on the eye-tube with a 
little beeswax, and there wjis no occasion to change it the whole day, as 
there was not tho least cloud or intermission of the sun's splendor. 
Mr. Rittenhouse, in his previous projection, had made the first external 
contact to be June 3, 2 h. 11' for lat. 40° N., and long. 5'^ W. of Green- 
wich, on a supposition of the sun's parallitx being 8". He happened to 
be very near the truth, for at '.i'' 10'3:i", mean time, the fiist external 
contact was at Norriton, lat. 40° 9' 56" N., and long. S"" 1'31" West. 
Other calculations made it generally from C to 8' later for the latitude 
and longitude. Though this calculatiou was not given to be entirely 
dependedon.yetit was sufficient to make us keep what, in the sea phrase, 
would he called a good look-out ; and therefore at one o'clock we took 
off the micrometer, which had been fitted to the reflector with a power 
of 95, and adjusted it to distinct vision, with the sumo power to observe 
the contacts, and during thi* hour that was to intervene from one to two 
we resolved to keep an alternate watch tlirough the reflector on that half 
of the sun's limb where Venus was certainly expected totouch, while the 
uthera not thus employed were fixing what more remained to be done, 
as follows, viz. : First, That each uf us might the belter exercise our own 
judjiinent without being influenced or thrown into any agitation by the 



edged precision, and his reputation for exactness in 
all astronomical observations and calculations being 
duly credited in scientific and official circles in this 



others, it was agreed to transact everything by signals, and that one 

should not know what another was doing. The situation of the tele- 
scopes, the two refractors being at some distance without tho observa- 
tory, and the reflector within, favored this design. Secondly, two per- 
sons, Mr. Sellers, one of our committee, and Mr. Archibald McClean, 
both well accustomed to matters of this kind, were placed atone window 
of the observatory, to count the clock and take the signal from Mr. Ln- 
kens. Two of Mr. Rittenhonse's family, whom he had often employed 
to count the clock for him in his observations, were placed at another 
window to take his signal. My telescope was placed near the clock, 
and I was to count its beats and set down my own time. These prelim- 
inaries being settled, we prepared at two o'clock to sit down to our re- 
si>ective telescopes, or, I should rather say, lie down to the refractors, 
on account of the sun's greatheight. As there was a large concourse of 
the inhabitants of the county, and many from the city, we wore appre- 
hensive that our scheme for silence would be defeated by sume of them 
speaking when they should see any of the signals for the contacts, and 
therefore we found it necessary to tell them that the success of ourobser- 
vation would depend on their keeping a profound silence till the contacts 
were over. And, to do them justice, during the 12' that ensued there 
could not have been a more solemn pause of silence and expectation if 
each individual had been waiting for the sentence that was to give him 
life or death. So regular and quiet was the whole that, far from hear- 
ing a whisper or word spoken, I did not even hear the feet of tlie count, 
era who passed behind me from the windows to the clock, and was sur- 
prised, when I turned from my telescope to the clock, to find them all 
there before me, counting up their seconds to an even number, as 1 im- 
agined, froui the deep silence, that my associates had yet seen nothing 
of Venus. As the contacts are among the most essential articles rela- 
tive to this phenomenon, it is material, before we set down the times, to 
give a particular account of the manner in which they were observed 
and the circumstances attending them." 

Mr. Ititlenhouse^ a Account of the Contacts. — " At 2i» 11' 39" per clock, the 
Rev. Mr. Barton, of Lanca^^ter, who assisted me at the telescope, on re- 
ceiving my signal, as had been agreed, instantaneously communicated 
it to the counters at the window by waving a handkerchief, who, walk- 
ing softly to the clock, counting seconds as they went along, noted down 
their times separately, agreeing to the same second; and three seconds 
sooner than this, to tho best of my judgment, was the time when the 
least impression made by Venus on the sun's limb could be seen by my 
telescope. When the planet had advanced about one-third of its diam- 
eter on the Bun,as I was steadily viewing its progress, my sight was sud- 
denly attracted by a beam of light which broke through on that side of 
Venus yet off" the sun. Its figure was that of a broad-based pyramid, 
situated about 40 or 45 degrees on the limb of Venus, from a line passing 
through her centre and the sun's, and to the left hand of that line as 
seen through my telescope, which inverted. About the same time the 
sun's light began to spread round Venus on each side from the points 
where their limbs intei^ected each other. As Venus advanced the point 
of the pyramid still grew lower, its circular base wider,until it met the 
light which crept round from the points of intersection of the two limbs, 
80 that when half the planet appeared on the sun, the other half yet off 
the sun was entirely suriounded by a semicircular light, best defined on 
the side next to the body of Venus, which continually grew brighter till 
the time of the internal contact. Imagination caunot form anything 
more beautifully serene and quiet than was the air during the whole 
time, nor did I oversee the sun's limb more perfectly defined or more 
free from any tremulous motion, to which his great altitude undouht- 
odly contributed much. When the internal contact, as it is called.drew 
nigh, I foresaw that it would be very difficult to fix the time with any 
certainty, on account of the great breadth and brightness of the light 
which surrounded that part of Venus yet off the sun. After some con- 
sideration I r'esolved to judge as well as I could of the coincidence of the 
limbs, and accordingly gave the signal for the internal contact at 'l** 28' 
45" by the clock, and immediately began to count seconds, which any 
one who has been accustomed to it may do for a minute or two pretty 
near the truth. In this manner I counted no less than 1' 32" before the 
effect of the atmosphere of Venus on the sun's limb wholly disappeared, 
leaving that part of the limb as well defined as the rest. From this I 
concluded that I had given the internal contact too soon, and the times 
given by the other observers at Norriton confirm me in this opinion." 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



country and in Europe, he was selected to report the 

difference of latitude and longitude between the 
*'Norriton Observiitory" and the State-House Square 
at Philadelphia, and harmonize the work with that 
of Mason and Dixon's Observatory at the soutli point 
of said city. 

"ACCOUNT OF THE TERKESTRIAL MEASUREMENT OF THE 
DIFFERENCE OF LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE BETWEEN 
THE OBSERVATORIES OF NOBRITON AND PHILADELPHIA. 
** To thn American Philosophical Society, etc. : 

"Gkntlemen, — Agreeable to the appointment you made (at the request 
of the Astruuumer Ruyal), Mr. Lukens, Mr. Rilteuhouse, and myself, 
furnished with proper insirmuents, met at Norriton, early on Monday, 
July 2(1, for the above service, and took to our assistance two able and 
experienced surveyors, viz. : Mr. Archibald McClean and Mr. Jesso 
Lukens. ^ The first tiling we did was accurately to a^iceitain the varia- 
tiou of our compass, which we found 3° 8' by Mr. Ritteu house's meridian 
line. We then carefully measured our chain, and adjusted itto the exact 
standard of OG feet. In the execution of the work, whenever the in- 
Etruuient was duly set, each course was taken off and entered down sep- 
arately by three different peraons, who likewise kept separate accounts 
of all the distances, and superinteniled the stretching of every chain, 
and the leveling and plumbing it whenever there was any ascent or de- 
scent in the road. July 1th we tinished the survey, and Mr. McClean, 
Mr. Jesse Lukens, and myself then agreed to bring out the difference 
of latitude and departure separately on each cour^se and distance to four 
or five decimal places ; and theie was so great an agreement in this part 
of the work when executed th;it we had all tlie samo results to a few 
links, and the whole was at last brought to agree in every figure by 
comparing the few places whore there was any difference, which scarce 
ever went further than the last decimal place. Mr. McClean and Mr. 
Lukena took Ihe trouble to bring out their work by multiplying each 
distance by the natural sine of the course to tlie radius unity for the 
departure, and by the co-sine for the latitude. Mine was done by Rob- 
ertson's tables, and the following results obtained : 



Distances. 


Korthing. Southing. 


Easting. 


Wpsting. 


Chains, Links. 
1030.79 


00.1447 


1206.8095 
00.1447 


891.3616 
39.5180 


39.5180 


Total Southing 1205.0648 


851.8436 


Total Easting. 



Chains. 

"Then N A, dif. of lat 1205 0048 

To A E, depart 861.8435 

As rad 



To tang, of E N A, the course 35° 14' 33".08 

of the 

And sine of 35° 14' 33".08 

To rad 

As 861. 8436 



Tu N B. the distance in a straight line = 
1476.2330 chains 



Log. 
3.0812265 
2.9303699 
10 


9.8491334 
9.7612048 
10 
2.9303599 


3.1091551 




But the course of N E being 35° 14' 33"E., 

With respect only to N A, the magnetic fourth, add 
the variation 3° 8' 0" 

Which gives 38° 22' 33" E. 

for the course of N E with respect to N S, the true meridian. 

"So that the true course and distance from Norriton Observatory to 
Philadelphia Observatory in a straight line, N E, is S. 38° 22' 33" E. 
147G.2336 chains. 

"Then rad 10 

To co-sine of. 38*^ 22' 33" 9.S942913 

As N E 1476.2336 3.1b915ol 

To N S true diff. of lat 1157.3013 3.0634464 

And rad 10 

To sine of. 38° 22' 33" 9.7929G37 

As N E 1476.2336 3.1691551 

ToSE, true diff. of long 91G.4713 2 9621188 

"Thus we have — 

"Norriton Observatory from Philadelphia Observatory: 

Chains. Feet. 
North 1157.30 = 76381.8 =12'35".7 diff. of lat. 

West 916.47 = 60487.02 = 00' 52" of time = 13' diff. of longitude^ 
9'.95 of a great circle or geographical mile. 

"But the observatory in State-House Square, with respect to the 
fourth part of the city of Philadelphia (to which Messrs. Mason and Dixon 
refer their observation), is : 

Chains. Feet. 
N. 40.0685 = 2644.5 = 26".16diff. of lat. 
W. 28.7695 = 1898.8= 1".6 of time. 

"Therefore Norriton Observatory, with respect to the southernmost 
point of Philadelphia, is: 

Chains. Feet. 
North 1157.30 + 40.0685 =1197.3685 = 79,026.3 = 13' 01 ".86 diff. of lat 
West 916.47 + 28.7695= 945.2395 = 62,385.8 = 00' 53".6 of time. 

*' Hence by the above measurement and work we get Norriton Observa- 
tory 52" of time west of the observatory in the State-House Square, which 
is exactly what we got by that excellent element, the external contact of 
Mercury with the sun, Nov. 9, 1769. The internal contact gaveitsome- 
thing more, owing, no doubt, to the difference that will arise among ob- 
servers in determining the exact moment when the thread of light is 
completed ; and the mean of all our other observations gives the differ- 
ence of meridians between Norriton and Philadelphia only 4" of time 
more than the terrestrial measurement and the external contact of Mer- 
cury gave it, which may be taken as a very great degree of exactness 
for celestial observations, if we consider that the difference of meridians 
between the long-established observatories of Greenwich and Paris, as 
Mr. De La Lande writes, Nov. 18, 1762, was not then determined within 
20" of time ; fur he says, 'Some called it 9' 15", others 9' 40", hut that 
he himself commonly used 9' 20", though he could not tell from what- 
ubservations it was deduced.' And it may be needless to add that a 
short distance is as liable to the differences arising from the use of in- 
struments in celestial observations as a greater one. Nevertheless, if 
we apply the difference of meridians between Philadelphia and Norriton 
got by this nieasurement (viz., 52" instead of 56") to the Rev. Mr. 
Ewing's collection of Jupiter's satellites, rejecting those of the 2d sat., 
and also the immersions of May 5th, as too near the opposition, we shall 
get Philadelphia 5h.0'37" and Norriton 5h. 1' 29" west from Green- 
wich. This result is what ought to arise from a diminution of 4" of 
time in tlie difference of meridians by dividing that difference, and 
bringing the meridian 2" more west and the other 2" more east, and we 
ludieve future observations will confirm this as exceeding near the 
tmth." 

"The latitude of Norriton comes out by the meas- 
urement 25^^.09 less north, witli- respect to the south- 
ernmost point of the city of Philadelphia, than Mr. 
Rittenhouse's observations give it ; and if the latitude 
of that point of the city be taken, as fixed by Messrs. 
Mason and Dixon, at 39° 56' 29'' A, then the lat. of 
Norriton (neglecting fractions of seconds) will be 40° 
9' SV, instead of 40° 9' 5&'\ However, as both were 
fixed by celestial observations and experienced men. 



8 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the small difference ought perhaps to be divided; and 
31 a mean be taken to reconcile it with the terrestrial 
measurements, the lat. of the south point of Philadel- 
phia would be 39° 56' 42", and that of Norriton 40° 
9' 43". But as Mr. Rittenhouse had only Sisson's 
two and a half feet quadrant, and Messrs. Mason and 
Dixon were furnished with a complete astronomical 
sector, and did their work to fix the lines of two prov- 
inces, it may be thought that their determination is 
most to be relied upon. Nevertheless, the whole dif- 
ference of 25" in the celestial arc is so inconsidera- 
ble as not to give 40 chains on the surface of the 
earth. All the results in the above work are got 
without any sensible error, by plain trigonometry, as 
the different arcs are so very small. In estimating the 
length of a degree to deduce the difference of latitude 
between the two observations, the spheroidal figure 
of the earth was taken into consideration, and the 
degree measured by Messrs. Mason and Dixon, in 
mean latitude 39° 12', — 363,771 feet, — was made the 
standard, which being lengthened in the ratio of 
59.7866 to 59.8035, gave 363,874 for a degree of the 
meridian in the mean latitude between Philadelphia 
and Norriton, which is only 103 feet more than the 
deg. in lat. 39° 12', and makes but a fraction of a 
second difference in the latitude, so that it might have 
been disregarded. With respect to seconds of time 
in longitude, no sensible difference can be obtained 
in the small difference of about 11 miles, whether we 
consider the earth as a sphere or spheroid. In bring- 
ing out the 52" of time diff. of long., a degree of the 
equator was taken in proportion to Messrs. Mason and 
Dixon's degree of the merid. in lat. 39". 12, in the ratio 
of 60 to 59.7866 (agreeable to Mr. Simspon's table), 
which gave 365,070 for a degree of the equator. By 
taking a degree of longitude as fixed at the middle 
point by Mr. Maskelyne in lat. 38° 7' 35", and saying 
astheco-sineof that lat. is to co-sine of mean latitude 
between Philadelphia and Norriton, so is the length of 
adegree of long, at the middle point (viz., 284,869.5 feet) 
to the length of a degree in mean lat. between Norri- 
ton and Philadelphia, the result was got 52". 13, being 
only thirteen hundredth parts of a second more." 

Philadelphia, Aug. 17, 1770, William Smith, Nor- 
riton Observatory, N. Latitude, 40° 9' 43". 

Note. — The true latitude and longitude of Phila- 
delphia we give from a compilation made by Prof. B. 
A. Gould for one of the numbers of " The American 
Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac." The data are 
determined for the observatories in each case (Inde- 
pendence Hall being here taken) : 

Philadelphia, N. Latitude, 39° 57' 7.5". (MS. 
communication from Prof. Kendall) : Longitude E. 
from Washington (U. S. Coast Survey) : 

m. 8. 

By 5 sets Eastern clock-signals . . 7 33.66 
By " Western " . . 33.60 

Mean 7 33.68 



The mean, by comparison with the 

next East station (Jersey City), is 7 33.64 

Hence the longitude in arc is 358° 6' 35.4" from 
Washington, and from Greenwich, 75° 9' 23.4".' 



CHAPTER IL 

ORES, MINERALS, AND GEOLOGY OF MONTGOMERY 
COUNTY. 

BY PROFESSOR OSCAR C. S. CARTER, CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, PHILAD3LFH1A. 

Gold. — The precious metals have been found 
throughout Montgomery County, but in such small 
quantities that their occurrence is more of scientific 
interest than of any practical value. Gold occurs 
disseminated throughout the azoic rocks, the oldest 
rocks with which we are acquainted. It is also found 
in the sands of rivers or in alluvial deposits which 
have been formed by the weathering and disintegra- 
tion of the oldest formations. Southern Montgomery 
County, from Philadelphia as far north as Consho- 
hocken, is made up almost entirely of strata of the 
oldest rocks, but only traces of gold have been found, 

1 On July 5, 1773, the Right Honorable the Earl of Dartmouth, who 
waa at that time Colonial Secretary (he had succeeded Lord Hillebor^ 
ongh one year before) in the cabinet of George HI., wrote to the Deputy 
Governor of Pennsylvania (John Penn, the son of Richard Penn, who 
was the fifth child of William Penn by his second wife, Hannah Callow, 
hill) propounding certain " Heads of Enquiry relative to the present 
StHte and Condition"of Pennsylvania. The answers to these inquiries 
were transmitted to Lord Dartmouth under date of Jan. 30, 1775, Id 
the communication the following occurs: " The City of Philadelphia, sit, 
uated near the Conflux of Delaware and one of its chief Branches, the 
Schuylkill, is the most considerable Town in the Province, or indeed in 
North America. The State-House in this City lies in North Latitude, 
39^ 56' 53"; its Longitude from the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, 
computed "West, 75° S' 45"; or, in time, 5 hours and 35 seconds. This 
Latitude and Longitude were both fi.xed by accurate astronomical Ob- 
servation at the Transit of Venus, 17G9." In the Journal of Mason and 
Dixon, November, 1763, we learn tliat these surveyors established aa 
observatory in the southern part of Philadelphia, in order to find the 
starting-point of the parallel which they were to run off. Their point 
of departure was*' the most Southern part of Philadelphia," which they 
ascertained to be the north wall of a house on Cedar Street, occupied by 
Thomas Plunistead and Joseph Huddle, and their observatory must have 
been immediately adjacent to this. The latitude of this point they de- 
termined to be 390 50' 29" nortii. In 1845, when the northeast corner- 
stone of Maryland could not be found (it had been undermined by a 
freshet, and was then taken and built into the chimney of a neighbor- 
ing farm-house), the Legislatures of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Dela- 
ware appointed a joint commission, who employed Col. Graham, of the 
United States Topographical Engineers, to review Mason and Dixou'a 
woi k so far as was requisite in order to restore the displaced corner. 
Col. Graham, in thecourseof his measurements, determined thelatituda 
of the Cedar Street observatory to be 39° 66' 37.4" north. This is 8.3" 
more than the latitude given by Mason and Dixon. If we add the dis- 
tance from Cedar Street to Chestnut Street, 2650 feet, we have for Inde- 
pendence Hal 1 latitude as determined by Mason and Dixon, 39° 56' 55" ; 
as determined by Col. Graham, 39° 57' 03". Tlie slight variation id 
these calculations is surpiising. That reported by Governor Penn may 
have beeu based upon data differing from those of the surveys of 1761 
and of Mason and Dixon. The greatest variation, however, is only 
about 1260 feet, or less than the fourth of a mile ; the least is only 2(K1 
feet. — Schar/^a HiHtorij of Philadtljthia. 



CUES, MINERALS, AND GEOLOGY. 



notwithstanding frequent reports of rich deposits 
being discovered. 

Dr. Charles M. Wetherill found traces of gold on 
the property of Mr. Yoder, in Franconia township, 
Montgomery Co. The gold was found in quartz- 
rock and in iron pyrites. In the sand and gravel 
thrown out while digging a well he found brilliant 
scales of gold. From an analysis he found that every 
hundred pounds, of gravel contained a quantity of 
gold worth twenty-six and one-half cents. 

A workman who had washed the sands of the 
Bhine in his native country for gold found in the 
gravel of the Delaware River at Bridesburg native 
gold in scales. The gold was extracted from the 
sands by mercury and purified. It was estimated 
that one man could wash from the Delaware sands 
from twenty-five to sixty cents' worth of gold per day. 
From aipaper on the "Natural Dissemination of 
Gold," by Messrs. Dubois and Eckfeldt, the following 
is taken : " There is a deposit of clay underneath the 
city of Philadelphia ten miles square, with an average 
depth of fifteen feet. The inquiry was started whether 
gold was diffused in this earthy bed. From the cellar 
of a new market- house in Market Street, near Eleventh 
Street, we dug out some clay at the depth of four- 
teen feet, where it could not have been an artificial 
deposit. The weight of one hundred and thirty 
grammes was dried and duly treated, and yielded one- 
eighth of a milligramme of gold, a very decided quan- 
tity on a fine assay balance. It was afterwards as- 
certained that the clay in its natural moisture loses 
about fifteen per cent, by drying, so that as it lies in 
the ground the clay contains one part in one million 
two hundred and twenty-four thousand. This ex- 
periment was repeated upon clay taken from a brick- 
yard in the suburbs of the city with nearly the same 
result. In order to calculate with some accuracy the 
value of this body of wealth we cut out blocks of the 
clay, and found that on an average a cubic foot as it 
lies in the ground weighs one hundred and twenty 
pounds, as near as may be, making the specific grav- 
ity 1.92. The assay gives seven-tenths of a grain — 
say three cents' worth — of gold to the cubic foot. As- 
suming the data already given, we get four thousand 
one hundred aud eighty millions of cubic feet of clay 
under our streets and houses, in which securely lies 
one hundred and twenty-six millions of dollars. 
And if, as is pretty certain, the corporate limits of 
the city would afl'ord eight times this bulk of clay, 
we have more gold than has yet (18G1) been brought, 
according to the statistics, from California and Aus- 
tralia. The gravel which underlies this auriferous 
clay is always richer than the clay above it in gold, 
hence if the gravel were assayed instead of the clay 
it would yield still more gold, but be of no practical 
value." 

Silver. — Silver generally occurs associated with 
lead ores. The rich Leadville deposits of Colorado 
are found in carbonate of lead, and in most of the 



richest mining districts of the West the silver is con- 
tained in either sulphide of lead or carbonate of lead. 
In Montgomery County only traces of silver have 
been found, associated with a sulphide of lead which 
is known as argentiferous galenite. This lead ore 
holding silver was found at the Ecton mine, Shan- 
nonville, Montgomery Co., about four miles from 
Norristowu. This mine has not been worked since 
the war. 

Several beautiful lead minerals, now quite rare, 
were found at this mine. 

Professor Geuth has assayed nearly all the lead ores 
holding silver in Pennsylvania. According to his 
assays, the lead ores from the Pequea mines in Lan- 
caster County contain more silver than any in the 
State. The Lancaster County ores will yield from 
two hundred aud fifty to three hundred ounces of the 
metal silver per ton of ore. 

The Wheatley lead-mines of Chester County have 
these silver-bearing lead ores, which when assayed 
yield from ten to forty ounces of silver per ton. At 
the Wheatley mines silver has been found in its 
native state, — that is, as the pure metal. It has not 
been found native in Montgomery County. The 
Ecton mine, Montgomery County, yields silver in 
such exceedingly small quantities that it would not 
pay to extract the metal ; when assayed, the ores yield 
only from five to ten ounces of silver per ton. 

Copper. — Copper occurs native and in a variety of 
ores. Tlie only place in the United States where it 
has been found native in great quantities is in North- 
ern Michigan, near Lake Superior. The Michigan 
mines are vertical veins, mostly in trap-rock which 
intersect the red sandstone. The Clifi" mine in that 
locality has yielded great quantities of native copper. 
Que large mass was quarried out forty feet long, six 
feet deep, and averaged six inches in thickness. This 
copper contains mixed with it about three-tenths per 
cent, of silver. Copper occurs in crystalline azoic 
rocks, such as gneiss, mica-schist, and in chloritic 
formations. It is also found in the new red sand- 
stone. In the oldest rocks, such as the schists and 
gneisses, it does not occur in veins, but in beds which 
are parallel to the strata in which it is found. It 
might be regarded as an accessory constituent in those 
rocks. You may find chalcopyrite and magnetic 
iron ore disseminated throughout the rock, but always 
conformable. Such deposits are called lenticular de- 
posits, and are found in Tennessee and North Caro- 
lina. These deposits are very deceptive ; in one bed 
you may find a good deposit of copper ore, and in the 
next bed you may find only a few crystals. Surface 
indications in these deposits are not reliable ; the best 
way is to sink a shaft and run adits in the direction 
of the ore. Deposits like these are supposed to have 
formed at the same time the gneiss-rock which holds 
them formed. 

The two carbonates of copper known under the 
names of azurite and malachite are surface ores, nnd 



10 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



are generally found near the top. These ores are 
probably altered from other ores of copper by the 
action of the carbonic acid in the air. Copper ores 
are often found as true veins in quartz. Such are the 
extensive deposits found in Montgomery County, 
which occur in quartz veins which have been depos- 
ited in fissures in the shale by means of infiltrating 
thermal waters. These ores occur in the new red 
sandstone and shale. 

Montgomery County Deposits of Copper. — In the vi- 
cinity of Shannonville, Montgomery Co., indications 
of copper ore were discovered many years ago. As 
early as the year 1800 it was known that copper ore 
occurred in this locality. It is not known with cer- 
tainty who first discovered the ore, or who it was 
that sunk the first shaft or dug the ore from this 
neighborhood. On the property known as the Weth- 
erill estate ore was first discovered by some teamsters; 
it was turned up with the mud by the wheels of the 
wagons. Stephen Girard became interested in these 
surface indications, and he had a shaft sunk, with 
the hope of obtaining rich ore in abundance. His 
efforts proved fruitless. Some ore was taken out as- 
sociated with lead ores, but copper was not found in 
payingquantities. Samuel Wetherill sunk shafts along 
the Perkiomen Creek near WetheriU's mill, but ore 
was not yet found in paying quantities. From time 
to time copper ore had been found in considerable 
quantities at Shannonville, along the creek which 
empties into the Perkiomen. Several parties became 
interested at different times in these deposits. At 
last the ore was found in such abundance, and the 
indications were so promising, that the attention of 
practical miners was directed to this locality. About 
the year 1829, John and Robert Rowe, who were 
English miners from the Cornwall mines, became 
interested in these mines and sunk shafts. They ob- 
tained copper ore of a good quality. The mines 
changed hands several times during the next twenty 
years. The Ecton mine was managed by the Ecton 
Consolidated Mining Company, who sunk a shaft two 
hundred and forty feet deep, and drove a few levels. 
The Perkiomen mine was managed by the Perkiomen 
Mining Association, who sunk a shaft over three 
hundred feet deep, and mined much more success- 
fully and extensively than the Ecton Company. 
They erected Cornish pumping-engines of great 
value, and were provided with all the necessary run- 
ning machinery. These two companies were finally 
bought out by a new company, known as the Perki- 
omen Consolidated Mining Company. They pur- 
chased the real estate, mines, machinery, and other 
property of the Perkiomen Mining Association for 
the sum of one hundred and nine thousand dollars; 
and they purchased the property of the Ecton Asso- 
ciation for one hundred and eleven thousand dollars. 
This new company carried on mining operations very 
extensively. 

It was a stock company. George Cadwalader, of 



Philadelphia, was president, and Samuel Wilcox, 
secretary. The directors were George Cadwalader, 
Charles Macalester, David Longenecker, of Lancaster, 
and Samuel F. Tracy and Horatio Allen, of New York. 
This company was organized in 1852, and they issued 
fifty thousand shares of stock ; the par value of each 
share was six dollars. At the Perkiomen shaft there 
was some valuable machinery, — a fifty-inch cylinder 
Cornish pumping-engine of one hundred horse-power ; 
at the Ecton shaft, a one hundred horse-power high- 
pressure pumping-engine, twenty and a half inch 
cylinder. Besides these pumping-engines there was 
a whim-engine at both of the mines. Powerful crushers 
were on the mine, and other machinery at the surface, 
such as tram-roads and wagons, capstans and shears, 
whims and whim-chains, pulley-stands, etc. The 
value of the machinery at the surface was thirty thou- 
sand two hundred and twelve dollars. The value of the 
underground machinery — plungers and drawing lifts, 
main-rods, bobs, ladders, bucket-rods, etc. — was about 
nine thousand eight hundred and forty-two dollars. 
The Perkiomen mine was situated on low ground near 
the creek, while the Ecton mine was situated on high 
ground about eighteen hundred feet distant. The 
method of mining was to sink shafts, and then to drive 
levels in the direction of the ore. When a bed of ore 
was reached it would be taken out, and this would 
leave an open chamber of rock known as a stope, 
which is shown on the map. Levels were generally 
driven out from the main shaft at distances of ten, 
twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty fathoms from the sur- 
face of the mine, so that there would be no danger of 
caving in. This would leave a distance of sixty feet 
between each level. 

After the main shaft of the Perkiomen mine had 
been sunk two hundred and forty feet, and the main 
shaft of the Ecton mine had reached a depth of three 
hundi-ed and thirty feet, it was determined to connect 
these two shafts by a level or tunnel which would be 
eighteen hundred feet in length. This level was af- 
terwards completed and the mines were connected 
under ground. The extent of these levels and shafts 
and the position of the slopes are shown on the map. 
The various depths of the levels from the surface and 
the depths of the shafts are marked in fathoms. In the 
Perkiomen mine, at the ten-fathom level the lode 
varies from one to fifteen feet in width, and is com- 
posed of gossan, quartz, malachite, and heavy spar; 
at the twenty-fathom level the lode varies from two 
to fifteen feet in width, and is composed of gossan, 
quartz, malachite, and heavy spar; at the twenty- 
fathom level the lode varies from two to fifteen feet 
in width, and is composed of gossan, quartz, malachite, 
chalcopyrite, and heavy spar; at the forty-fathom 
level the lode varies from four to twelve feet in width, 
and is composed of quartz, chalcopyrite, and heavy 
spar ; at the fifty-fathom level the lode varies from four 
to nine feet in width, and is composed of quartz, gos- 
san, heavy spar, malachite, and chalcopyrite. But 



ORES, MINERALS, AND GEOLOGY. 



11 



few lodes or mineral Teins were found at the Ecton 
mine. The miners were Englishmen who had been 
brought over from the Cornwall mines in England. 
In 1852 about two hundred men were employed at the 
mines. The miners were not under a regular sa:lary by 
the week or month, but a number of them would club 
together and agree to extend a level or a stope so 
many feet for a certain sum. This method of work- 
ing sometimes proved profitable to the men, but occa- 
sionall}' they would be losers by the contract. The 
men went to work in the mines with candles in their 
hats, which is a rather primitive mode of illumination. 

One great difficulty they had to contend with was 
the water which accumulated in the shafts and inter- 
fered with their mining. The pumping-engines at 
both shafts were kept at work draining the mines. 
The farmers in the vicinity, also, were sorely tried, as 
their well3*(vere drained dry, and no water could be 
procured unless it was pumped from the mines. 
Charles M. Wheatley, who was manager in 1851, says 
"that all persons acquainted with mining opera- 
ions that have examined the workings at Perkiomen 
have expressed astonishment at the regularity, size, 
strength, and productiveness of the veins, and the 
high percentage of the copper ore obtained from 
them. The Perkiomen is the first regular copper lode 
opened in this country, and bears a true resemblance 
to the Cornish system." Professor H. D. Rogers, 
former State Geologist, in speaking of the mines, says, 
'"I hesitate not to declare that I entertain a very firm 
belief that your region is destined to become an im- 
portant mining district, and that the ores of lead and 
copper will return remunerative profits upon the ex- 
ercise of skill and prudence. The remarkable regu- 
larity and parallelism of the lodes is an excellent 
indication of their consistency. Another fact is the 
exceedingly well-defined character of these mineral 
lodes, which do not spread and lose themselves or 
their ores in the adjoining strata, but insulate them- 
selves from the rocks of the country by plainly-marked 
parallel walls, between which all the metallic ores of 
the region and associated gangue-stones are found. 
The veins are true and regular metalliferous lodes. 
A very important feature is the gradation in passing 
downwards from the outcrops of these veins. First 
we have only the vein-stones, the metals being weath- 
ered out or dissolved; then at a few fathoms below 
the surface we find mingled with these vein-stones 
those metallic ores of lead, copper, and zinc which 
are readily vaporized by heat; and deeper still the 
same vein-stones contain the sulphurets and other 
permanent ores of copper." There were no smelting- 
furnaces at the mines, and none of the copper ores 
were smelted in the neighborhood, but were sent to 
New York and Baltimore for reduction. The ore 
was first sent to Umpstead's Landing, at Green Tree, 
and then to Philadelphia by canal-boats, and from 
there to New York. 

The following table, taken from the annual report 



of the directors, shows the amount, percentage, and 
value of the ores mined : 

OKE SOLD BT PERKIOMEN CONSOLIDATED MINES FKOM 
AUGUST, 1851, TO APRIL, 1S52. 



To Whom Sold. 



1851. 1 
Aug. 5.... Samuel F. Tracy.. 



Company.. 
Oct. 28... Snuiuel F. Tracy., 



65."*« 
25.1129 
Sept. 24.. Baltimore Copper Smelting 

Compauy j 75.'=' 

Baltimore Copper Smeltiugi i 

18.14111 

18.«ia I 
59.l»i!> 
40." 
97. 2M 



Dec. 16.. Baltimore Copper Smeitiog 

Compaoy 

Baltimore Copper Smelting 
Company 



1852. 
AprillT. 



Samuel F. Tracy.. 



Tone.. 



21 
7 

20i% 
8l% 



S19.10 
85.10 



17.50 
64.25 
2;s.2S 

68.68 

22.94 



23/^5^ 84.00 
lOjVol 30.00 



52i.mi.. 



82,767.86 
2,190.39 



325 08 

4,870.24 

425.11 

4,103.86 

917.92 

8,156.21 
l,7oi.02 



$30,573.80 



During the year 1853 one hundred and forty-three 
tons were raised and sold for nine thousand nine hun- 
dred and eighty-nine dollars and thirty-nine cents. 

The principal copper ores and minerals which have 
been mined at this locality are chalcopyrite, covellite, 
cuprite, nielaconite, chrysocolla, libethenite, mala- 
chite, and azurite. The most abundant ores were 
chalcopyrite and malachite ; of these two ores of 
copper the sulphide was the more abundant. These 
ores of copper were mixed with an ore of zinc known 
as zincblende, or sulphide of zinc, which made the 
metallurgy of the ores more difficult and expensive. 
The ores were crushed and freed from zincblende by 
mechanical means as much as possible before ship- 
ment. 

The mines were worked until the year 1858, when 
they were closed, — not enough ore was taken out to 
meet the running expenses. The shafts had been 
sunk much deeper, that of the Perkiomen mine being 
over four hundred and eighty feet in depth, while 
thatof the Ecton was oversix hundred feetdeep. The 
mines from the time they were opened until they were 
closed never paid the amount of money invested in 
them. Many interested in the mines were heavy 
losers. It is said that George Cadwalader, of Phila- 
delphia, who was president of the company in 1851, 
invested one hundred thousand dollars, and many 
others invested large sums in the enterprise. It 
seems to be the general opinion that the mines were 
managed extravagantly and without prudence, and 
that there were too many needless officers drawing 
high salaries. In 18G5 a quantity of refuse ore was 
worked at a profit by C. M. Wheatley, of Phosnix- 
ville, and Capt. Cocking, of Cornwall, England. The 
property is now owned by Richard Ricard, of New 
York, who purchased it for forty thousand dollars. 
The shafts are now full of water, and the machinery 
and buildings are in a state of decay. 



12 



HISTORY OF iMONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Copper ore has been found and mined in Upper 
Salford township. Tliis vein of copper ore is found 
on Abraham Kober's farm, situated on the Ridge 
road, about four and a half miles west of Tylersport, 
and in the vicinity of Sumneytown. The ore was 
first discovered on the surface in a small outcrop, and 
these surface indications led to further developments. 
Excavations were immediately begun, and at a depth 
of fifteen feet a vein eight inches in thickness was 
discovered. The farm was afterwards leased by Mr. 
Samuel Milligan, of Phoenixville, who set a force of 
men digging deeper, and finally a rich vein of ore 
was reached, which at the beginning was only an 
inch in thickness, but which increased in width until 
a thickness of three feet was reached, when the rock 
was cleared away for several feet. About four tons 
of copper ore were taken out. The ore is found asso- 
ciated with quartz, which is characteristic of some 
copper deposits. It occurs in the new red sandstone 
belt. The ore appears to be chalcopyrite, or copper 
pyrites, which is a sulphide of copper and iron, 
CujS -\- FejSj, containing when pure 34.6 copper, 
30.5 iron, and sulphur 34.9 ; color, brass-yellow, 
often iridescent. The other ore is bornite, which 
varies in color from brown to copper-red, but is 
mostly tarnished to purplish color. This ore is purer 
than chalcopyrite, but is also a sulphide of copper 
and iron, SCu^S -)- Fe,S3. It contains when pure 
copper 55.58, iron lt>.37, and sulphur 28.05. This is 
a valuable copper ore. Mr. William F. Dannehower 
informs me that native copper was also taken from 
this mine. The mine was finally abandoned, as the 
process of mining was expensive, and ore in paying 
quantities was not found after a depth of thirty feet 
was reached. Mining operations were first begun in 
Upper Salford in 1878, and the mine was abandoned 
in 1880. The ore taken from this mine was of a very 
good quality, but it does not exist in paying quanti- 
ties. 

The next locality in the county where copper was 
found is about one and a half miles below Norris- 
town, along the line of the new Pennsylvania Schuyl- 
kill Valley Railroad. This very small deposit was 
found in the limestone belt, and was thrown out 
by a dynamite blast. It is unusual to find copper in 
limestone deposits. From an examination of the 
specimens I found them to be chalcopyrite, with very 
thin coatings of malachite. There is, however, no 
regular vein in this locality, but the mineral is dis- 
seminated through a vein of quartz which runs 
through bastard marble in the limestone. So far it 
has been found only in very small quantities. 

Tin. — Tin is generally found in rocks of the oldest 
formations, and very often in the same rocks and 
gravels in which gold is found. The Cornwall mines 
in England are the richest and most valuable in the 
world. But little tin has been found as yet in the 
United States. ' 

It is interesting to observe that this exceedingly 



rare metal is found in its native state of purity in the 
gravel of Franconia township, Montgomery Co. It 
occurs in the same gravel in which scales of native 
gold were found. The largest pieces of tin were found 
adhering to the gravel and forming a rounded mass 
of a white malleable metal, which was analyzed and 
found to be pure tin. By panning more spangles of 
native tin were obtained. Tin was first noticed in 
the county by Dr. C. M. Wetherill. 

These slight traces are the only instances on record 
of the occurrence of tin in Pennsylvania. 

Iron Ores. — The principal ores of iron are mag- 
netic oxide, known as magnetite ; red hematite, also 
called specular ore ; brown hematite, known under the 
name of limonite ; spathic iron ore, known as sider- 
ite ; titanic iron ore, which contains titanium ; and 
chromic iron ore, which contains chromium. Among 
the ores of iron might be included iron pyrites, a 
compound of iron and sulphur, which is quite worth- 
less for the manufacture of iron on account of the 
sulphur it contains. 

Magnetic Ikon Ore, FEjO,. — The purest and 
most important ore of iron is magnetite. Pure mag- 
netite is a combination of ferric and ferrous oxides, 
and is represented by the formula FcjO,. It contains 
when pure 72.4 per cent, of iron and 27.6 per cent, of 
oxygen. It is seldom found free from impurities, 
some of which influence its value as a source of iron. 
The minerals generally found with magnetite are 
feldspar, hornblende, quartz, sahlite, and apatite. 
This ore is strongly magnetic, attracting soft iron 
and the magnetic needle, and many masses of this 
ore are true native magnets, and from this interesting 
fact the ore derives its name. It occurs in crystals, 
the usual form being the octahedron ; it also occurs 
in dodecahedral crystals. The hardness is 5.5, and 
the specific gravity about 5. The color is iron-black, 
and the lustre metallic. 

The magnetic ores are found in the oldest rocks in 
the Huronian and Laurentian formations. The ore 
occurs in beds, which are often parallel, and they 
generally coincide with the inclination and direction 
of the crystalline strata between which they lie. They 
are generally found in beds of gneiss, schist, or in 
other granitic rocks that have been metamorphosed 
by heat. These ores are supposed to have reached 
their positions between layers of granitic rocks while 
they were in a melted state, their intrusion being due 
to a force which ruptured the earth's crust in the di- 
rection of the strata and pressed the liquid ore and 
other fused mineral matters into the open fissures. 
The way these ores are mined when the dip is not 
steep is to leave numerous solid pillars of ore stand- 
ing to prop up the rock and act as a support, and 
then remove by blasting the ore which intervenes. 
Another supposition in regard to these ores is that 
they were once hematite ores, and have taken up an 
extra supply of oxygen and been altered by heat into 
magnetite. Beds of magnetic ore are searched i'ur 



ORES, MINERALS, AND GEOLOGY. 



13 



by means of the magnetic compass. Whenever the 
compass is in the vicinity of a bed of magnetite the 
needle exhibits a strong disturbance. This, together 
with a geological clue and an inspection of the dip 
and direction of the adjoining gneiss, are necessary 
data for finding the outcrop of the ore. 

This ore is largely developed through Canada 
westward to Lake Huron. Extensive beds occur in 
New York, and a locality at Lake Champlain fur- 
nishes many puddling-furnaces in this State with 
large blocks of crystallized magnetite. It is found 
in some of the New England States, and in the 
mountainous districts of Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey. The world-renowned Swedish ore, which is 
so pure, is massive magnetite. No very important 
deposits of magnetic ore are found in Montgomery 
County. Fine octahedral crystals are found at the 
soapstone-quarries near Lafayette, and on the oppo- 
site side of the river, near the abandoned soapstone- 
quarry, I have noticed quite perfect crystals of the 
same form. In many of the creeks and brooks of 
the county, and in the Schuylkill River sometimes, is 
found a black sand which is composed mainly of fine 
particles of magnetite. Crystals are found at Chest- 
nut Hill. Although no large beds are found in the 
county, yet at Boyertown, which is but a few miles 
from the county line, several mines of magnetic ore 
are worked. These mines have been worked for 
many years, both by shaft and slope ; some of the 
veins are over twenty feet in thickness. The ore 
contains a high percentage of sulphur, and is roasted 
before using; many blast-furnaces in the county use 
the Boyertown ore. There are mines of magnetic 
ore at Lebanon, Reading, and on an island in the 
river near Reading. These mines contain impor- 
tant and valuable deposits of magnetite. 

Magnetic ore is indispensable in puddling opera- 
tions to burn the carbon out of the pig-iron. The large 
blocks of crystallized magnetite are arranged by the 
puddlers, who term the process " building the fur- 
nace." The Lake Champlain ore is used by many 
puddling-furnaces in this county. It is more diflicult 
to melt than the hematites, but is purer and richer 
in iron. The following analyses were made by Dr. 
Koenig, of the University of Pennsylvania, and 
show the composition of Lake Champlain magnetic 
ore : 

New Bfd Mine. 

Magnetic oxide of iron 98. "20 coiitaios 71.11 per cent, of iron. 

Phosphate of lime 104 contains .0208 pho8i)horus. 

Titanium oxide 46 

Silica, chlorite, etc 1.04 

99.804 
Old Bed Mine, ViOOftet below New Bed Mine. 

Magnetic oxide of iron 97.00 contains 70,24 per cent, of iron. 

Phosphate of lime 383 contains .076 phosphorus. 

Titjiniuir oxide 250 

Silica, chlorite, etc 2.45 

100.083 

The following analyses are of Boyertown magnetic 
ore, furnished by the Pottstown Iron Company, phos- 
phorus and sulphur not estimated : 



(1) (2) 

Iron 46.36 40.159 

Silica 11.90 9.09 

Alumina 5.22 15.173 

Lime 8.37 7.529 

Magnesia 1.18 Trace. 

Browx Hematite, 2FeX>3,3B.fi. — This wide- 
spread ore of iron occurs massive, and often occurs in 
botryoidal, stalactitic, fibrous, and radiating masses. 
The color varies from dark-brown to ochre-yellow; 
very often specimens have a black, lustrous appear- 
ance on the surface and are perfectly smooth, and 
sometimes they show a silky lustre ; this is noticeable 
in the fibrous varieties, which are often called fibrous 
hematite. The massive varieties have an earthy or 
clayey lustre. This ore contains when pure 85.6 
per cent, of Fefi^ (oxide of iron) and 14.4 per 
cent, of water ; this would be equivalent to about 
59.92 per cent, of metallic iron. Whenever brown 
hematite is heated in a glass tube it will give ofi" 
water, which will form in drops on the side of the 
tube. This fact distinguishes it from magnetic iron 
ore and red hematite, neither of which contain any 
water. Another peculiarity of this ore is it always 
contains phosphoric acid and manganese, besides the 
clay and sand which generally accompany it. It is 
much softer than the other iron ores ; its hardness is 
5 to 5.5, specific gravity 3.6 to 4. The stalactitic and 
botryoidal forms which it frequently assumes are 
characteristic, and serve to distinguish it from other 
ores of iron. It melts more readily in a blast-furnace 
than either of the preceding ores. Brown hematite is 
also known under the name of limonite. Brown ochre 
and yellow ochre are varieties of this ore ; they are 
clayej' and ochreous. Bog-iron ore occurs in swamps, 
bogs, and in low grounds. It is a porous, earthy ore, 
of a brownish-black color. It is supposed that this 
ore was deposited from water which was charged with 
iron in solution, and when exposed to oxidation by 
air and the reducing action of decomposing organic 
matter, it was thrown down in layers and formed 
bog-iron ore. When brown hematite occurs stalac- 
titic it forms what is commonly known as pipe-ore; 
the ore looks like a collection of little pipes, which 
sometimes are hollow ; sometimes it forms hollow 
spherical masses, commonly known as pot or bomb- 
shell ore. These hollow bombs often contain water 
or masses of soft clay. The interior often presents a 
varnish-like appearance which is quite lustrous ; this 
is due to a fine coating of oxide of mangane.se which 
covers the ore. This ore generally occurs in pieces, 
which have to be separated from the clay and quartz 
by washing. Brown hematite is a common ore in 
Montgomery County, and many thousand tons of this 
ore have been taken out. The ore occurs in the lime- 
stone belt from Edge Hill westward to the Chester 
County line. It is found in extensive deposits of clay. 
It is said the first ore ever dug in this valley east of 
the Schuylkill was near Spring Mill, on the farm of 
J. Kirkner; this was in the year 1828. 

From Hitner's mine, near Marble Hall, immense 



14 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



quantities of ore have been taken. In the year 1853 
about twelve thousand tons were taken from this 
mine. 

It is estimated that from the time iron ore was first 
mined in the county up to the year 1858, over sixty 
thousand tons of brown liematite ore were taken from 
the ore-pits which are situated in the limestone belt 
on the east side of the Schuylkill. The iron-ore belt 
begins in the neighborhood of Edge Hill and Oreland. 
In this vicinity there are quite a number of iron-ore 
pits, which furnish large quantities of ore ; many of the 
pits have been exhausted, but new ones are constantly 
started. The ore from this locality is a highly sili- 
cious brown hematite; the silica varies from 10 to 30 
per cent., and the average percentageof silica in these 
ores is about 24 per cent., which is high. These ores 
contain phosphorus; the percentage of this injurious 
impurity varies in different ores, but the average 
Edge Hill ore contains from .18 to .3 per cent, phos- 
phorus. The percentage of metallic iron in the ores 
of Edge Hill and vicinity varies from 35 to 50 per 
",eut. The following analysis will give an idea of the 
composition of the Edge Hill ores. This brown 
hematite is known as the Harvey ore, taken from 
Oreland : 

Silica 27.16 

Iron «.91 

Alumina 40 

Phospiiorua 25 

Lime and magnesia Traces. 

The extensive blast-furnace at Edge Hill uses this 
ore; they enrich on magnetic ore from Spain, which 
contains only .025 per cent, of phosphorus, and they 
also use a foreign hematite of great purity. This 
Edge Hill ore contains so much silica that a lime- 
stone must be used to flux the ore, which is as free as 
possible from silica. The next important deposits of 
hematite are in the vicinity of Marble Hall, and 
are owned by Daniel O. Hitner. The pits in this 
neighborhood have been worked for a great many 
years, and have furnished thousands of tons of 
ore. The mines at the present time are furnishing 
an excellent quality of ore, which is screened before 
using at Mr. Fulton's blast-furnace, in Coushohocken. 
This ore does not seem to contain as much phos- 
phorus as the ore from the extreme eastern part of 
the iron-ore belt. It is highly silicious, like the Edge 
Hill ores, and contains a high percentage of iron. 
The following analysis is of ore from Hitner's pit, 
above Marble Hall : 

Silica. 20.00 

Iron 45.00 

Pliosphorus 10 

Lime ami magnesia Traces. 

The next neighborhood in the limestone valley 
where brown hematite is dug is at Tracey's iron-ore 
pit. This locality is about one mile east of Consho- 
hocken. The ore was first dug there in 1860, and from 
that time until the present a great deal of ore has 
Deen taken out. There is one large open pit where 
the ore was formerly dug, which shows the rude way 



in which the ore was mined in former times. Shafts 
are now sunk vertically, and when a deposit of ore is 
found the opening is made in the direction in which 
the ore extends. The shaft is five feet square gener- 
ally, and sometimes extends down in a vertical direc- 
tion for one hundred feet, and then levels are driven 
in the direction of the ore. The ore, clay, etc., are 
drawn from the bottom of the shaft in buckets, which 
are attached to a windlass. There are two or three 
shafts at this deposit, one of which is ninety feet deep. 
They strike water ab a depth of about one hundred 
feet. This deposit yields about two thousand five 
hundred tons of ore per year. Hallman's mine ad- 
joins Tracey's and has not been worked quite as ex- 
tensively. It also is worked by shafts, one of which 
is over eighty-seven feet deep. They strike water 
sooner at this mine. As high iis sixteen hundred 
tons of ore per year have been taken from this mine. 
Neither of these two deposits are being worked exten- 
sively at present. The ores are brown hematites of 
good quality, which are screened before using. 

Red hematite is found here also, but not in such 
large quantities. In an adjoining field a new bed of 
ore has been opened, and is worked by Mr. Hitner. 
The next deposit of iron ore is between Potts' Land- 
ing and Harmanville. On Mr. Freedley's property, 
near Potts' Landing, a new mine was opened in Au- 
gust, 1883. The ore is found a few feet from the sur- 
face in the clay ; about two hundred and fifty tons of 
ore have been dug from this deposit during August 
and September. The ore is brown hematite, and is 
shipped to the Pottstown blast-furnaces. It is mixed 
with clay to a considerable extent, and has to be 
screened before using. An iron-ore mine was opened 
on the property of William Wills, situated near 
Ridge Road Station, on the Plymouth Railroad. Ore 
was dug here in 1872, and the mines were bought by 
the Phcenix Iron Company, who went to consider- 
able expense in erecting machinery and engines. It 
seems that the project was not a paying- one, and 
finally the machinery and engines were abandoned. 
In 1880 the mines were again worked. This ends 
the principal localities where ore is dug east of the 
Schuylkill River. West of the Schuylkill River, in 
Upper Merion township, are extensive deposits of 
brown hematite, which were worked years ago. Be- 
tween Henderson Station and Gulf Mills there are 
many abandoned ore- pits, which show the direction of 
the iron-ore belt. A short distance from Henderson's 
marble-quarries ore was mined quite extensively. 
Engines, washers, and screens were used, as the ore 
was mixed with a large amount of clay. It was 
screened and washed before it was sent to the blast- 
furnaces. Many of these pits are neglected, and some 
are exhausted. The amount of hematite ore dug in 
Upper Merion township at the present time is very 
small when compared with what was dug in former 
years. Throughout tlie Jlontgomery County limestone 
valley we find extensive deposits of clay, and ;t is in 



ORES, MINERALS, AND GEOLOGY. 



15 



these deposits of clay that the brown hematite ore 
occurs. lu fact, nearly all the beds which have been 
worked thus far occur in this clay. The deposits in the 
neighborhood of Marble Hall, Potts' Landing, and 
Gulf Mills are found in clay. Another noticeable fact 
is that both the clays and iron ores are generally found 
in the vicinity of the quartzose mica-schists or the 
slates. These rocks contain quartz, mica, and oxide 
of iron. They are especially rich in o.xide of iron 
(hematite), often containing as high as nine per cent. 
It is supposed that the iron-ore deposits and clay-beds 
have resulted from the decomposition of these mica- 
schists and mica-slates. This is extremely probable, 
because these hydro-mica schists and slates contain 
not only oxide of iron, but also hydro-mica, which 
contains the very elements clay is composed of, 
namely, silica, alumina, and potash. These schists and 
slates are generally of a grayish tint, and of a some- 
what silky lustre ; sometimes they are colored red by 
ferric oxide. They have an unctuous, soapy feel ; on 
exposure to weather they soon decompose, and are 
converted into a soft, unctuous clay. 

All of these slates contain free silica or sand, 
hence when these mica-slates decompose they yield 
clay, brown hematite, or oxide of iron, and free silica, 
or sand. Another fact which goes far to prove that 
this is the true origin of the ores and clays, is that 
near many of the clay deposits we find a pure white 
sand, composed of very fine grains, although some- 
times the sand has a faint brown or red tint. This 
sand bears no resemblance whatever to the new red 
sandstone, as it is often perfectly white, and is made 
up of exceedingly fine particles of silica, containing 
no admixture of feldspar. This is exactly the same 
kind of sand or free silica which these mica-slates 
contain, and it is extremely probable that these de- 
posits of fine white sand found near the clay have re- 
sulted from the rotting and decomposing of the slates. 
This fine sand cannot be melted, and it is mined and 
shipped to the iron-works, where it is used when a 
substance that will stand a high heat without melting 
is required; its principal use is to line puddling- fur- 
naces and heating-furnaces. I noticed a deposit of 
the sand back of Potts' marble-quarries; it is near 
the mica-slates, and is shipped to the furnaces at Con- 
shohocken. A deposit is also found at Lynch's clay- 
beds on the Ridge road. I have been informed that, 
on Mr. Freedley's property, near Potts' Landing, in 
the vicinity of the mica-.slates, a bed of this sand was 
worked. It will be noticed that these deposits are in 
the vicinity of mica-slates. 

Red Hematite, FcjOj. — -This important ore of iron 
is named from its red color. When pure it is ferric 
oxide, Fe^Oj, and contains seventy per cent, of iron 
and thirty per cent, of oxygen. It crystallizes in the 
hexagonal system, and the crystals are often thin and 
tabular. It also occurs massive, granular, foliated, 
micaceous, and sometimes botryoidal and stalactitic. 
It is of about the same hardness as magnetite, 5.5 to 



6.5, and its specific gravity is from 4.5 to 5.3. There 
are several varieties of red hematite. 

Specular iron is a variety of red hematite which has 
a highly brilliant lustre, showing the Spiegel or mir- 
ror ; color, dark steel-gray or iron-black ; composi- 
tion, FcoOs ; lustre, metallic. Notwithstanding the 
steel-gray color of this ore, when it is reduced to 
a powder the color of it is red. When specular iron 
has a foliated structure it is called micaceous iron. 
The finest specimens of crystallized specular ore 
come from the island of Elba. Red ochre and red 
chalk containing clay are varieties of red hematite. 
The fossil ores are the most interesting of red hema- 
tites. There are extensive deposits of fossil ore in 
Tioga, Bradford, Blair, Huntingdon, Juniata, and 
other counties in Pennsylvania. This ore is red, and 
is made of masses of little shells or bivalves, which 
are plainly visible, and the middle bed of this ore 
contains remains of fishes, which are visible in the 
ore. This bed is known as the fish-bed, and the ore 
is ground and used for paint. 

These shells are supposed to have lived in a mud 
which contained an abundance of iron in some form, 
and when they died the organic matter decomposed 
and set up a galvanic action, which precipitated the 
iron on the shells. The organic matter may have re- 
duced and precipitated the iron from solution. This 
ore occurs in layers, and is mined like a coal-bed. 
The deposits are generally thin, varying from a few 
inches to three feet or more in thickness, and run in a 
zigzag style for over one hundred miles. These ores 
contain sulphur and rather a high percentage of phos- 
phorus. Red hematite occurs both in the crystalline 
and stratified rocks, and is of all ages. The most ex- 
tensive beds, however, occur in the oldest rocks, while 
the clayey varieties occur in stratified rocks. It is 
found in the new red and also the old red sandstone, 
and is found also in the limestone belt near Consho- 
hocken. In Montgomery County red hematite has 
been found in several localities in the iron-ore belt. 
At Edge Hill, where the iron-ore belt begins in 
Montgomery County, a variety containing titanium 
oxide has been found. It has also been found at the 
Perkiomen copper-mine, near Shannonville, Mont- 
gomery Co. ; the variety found here is micaceous. Oa 
the road from Jarrettown to Camp Hill, in Upper Dub- 
lin township, I found several large blocks of an impure 
micaceous hematite mixed with an iron-black strati- 
fied rock. The ore has never been found here in 
large quantities, but these surfoce indications warrant 
further investigation. At Tracey's mine, near Con- 
shohocken, which is described under brown hematite, 
I noticed considerable red hematite interspersed with 
brown hematite, which had been thrown out. Mr. 
Hallman, whose mine adjoins this one, informed me 
that quite a considerable quantity had been taken 
from his mine. The samples secured were massive 
and compact, and of a bright red color all over. Tlie 
red sandstone which covers the northern and central 



16 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



jiortions of Montgomery County owes its color to the 
j)resence of red hematite. The red soils which are 
prevalent in many localities in the county contain a 
small amount of red hematite, which gives them their 
color, although in many cases, where the soil is de- 
rived from red shale, the percentage of hematite is 
considerable. The red shales of the county contain 
quite a high percentage of red hematite. Along the 
Stony Creek Railroad from Norristown to Lansdale 
are found beds of red shale, alternating with sand- 
stone. At Belfry and Acorn Stations particularly the 
district is very shaly. I secured a sample of shale on 
this road near Norristown, and found on analysis that 
ityielded ten per cent, of red hematite. In case of any 
scarcity of ore perhajjs these shales could be utilized. 
Red ochre has been found in the iron-ore pits which 
are south of Henderson's marble-quarry, in Upper 
Merion township, and red hematite associated with 
brown hematite is also noticed there. 

Impurities. — -The impurities in iron ores are those 
substances which tend to deteriorate or render unfit 
for use the iron made from the ore. The impurities 
often found in iron ores are phosphorus, sulphur, tita- 
nium oxide, copper, and zinc, all of which are injuri- 
ous constituents. Phosphorus is the worst impurity 
we have to deal with and the most difficult to elimi- 
nate. A high percentage of phosphorus in iron 
produces cold-shortne.ss, and makes both iron and 
steel exceedingly brittle. A pencil of cold-short iron 
containing one per cent, of phosphorus is so brittle that 
it will readily snap in pieces when dropped on a piece 
of metal. In the manufacture of steel, ores free from 
phosphorus must be used, as .030 of one per cent, 
phosphorus is the maximum amount allowed in a 
good steel. It is on this account that such large 
quantities of ore are shipped to this country from 
Spain, Africa, and Sweden, — these foreign ores con- 
taining but little phosphorus. Sulphur produces red- 
shortness in iron when heated to a red heat, and the 
iron has a tendency to crumble when passed through 
the rollers. Much of the sulphur in ores can be 
gotten rid of by roasting, and much is eliminated in 
the blast-furnace by the use of a basic slag like lime. 
Titanium oxide generally goes into the slag ; five or 
six per cent, of this impurity makes a very tough 
blue slag. It is apparently of no value to iron ores, 
notwithstanding the fact that for a while there was 
great excitement about titanium steel made from ores 
containing titanium oxide. The titanium oxide does 
not alloy with the iron but goes into the slag, as the 
oxide is not reduced to titanium very readily. There 
seems to be a difference of opinion about copper as an 
impurity. The Bessemer Steel-Works at Bethlehem 
prefer a magnetic ore from Lebanon which contains a 
considerable percentage of copper; but the Midvale 
Steel-Works at Nicetown prefer foreign ores free 
from copper. It is known that arsenic, antimony, 
and tin make iron cold-short and brittle; they act 
like phosphorus and are very injurious impurities. 



Sometimes iron ores contain vanadium and tungsten. 
These elements go into the slag a.nd color it ; they are 
not injurious, but make slags of a high fusing-point. 
Clay and sand are not regarded as impurities, as they 
go into the slag. The following analyses of Mont- 
gomery County ores, kindly furnished by the Potts- 
town Iron Company, and the analysis of African ore 
made by myself, are given for comparison : 





t 

o 

a 

1 


It 


III 


SB 


McGuire Ore, 

near 
Edge Hill. 




.18.24 
6.55 


44.62 
26.45 
1.30 
Trace. 
Trace. 

I .263 


40.682 

24.35 

4.326 

.277 

Trace. 

.137 


60.11 
10.85 
Trace. 
.405 
Trace. 


41 319 


Silica 


20 40 










0.10 






Trace. 




f .027 

{ .028 

1 .029 

0.265 

1.69 
















0.946 













Graphite. — Graphite, or plumbago, is one of the 
numerous forms of carbon. It is sometimes called 
black-lead, but this name is apt to mislead, as no lead 
enters into its composition. It is sometimes found 
crystallized in flat hexagonal tables, but usually oc- 
curs in black scales or flakes. Sometimes it occurs as a 
fine powder, which in the earth looks very much like 
black mud. It is very soft, and the scales can be 
readily cut with a knife. It has a soft, soapy feel, 
very much like soapstone ; color, iron-black to dark 
steel-gray ; lustre, metallic. Fire has very little 
effect on it, as it is infusible. It is rarely found pure, 
and when found thus consists entirely of pure car- 
bon. When mined it generally occurs mechanically 
mixed with mica-schist, quartz, clay, oxide of iron, 
and other earthy impurities. These impurities can 
be separated from graphite by washing. As graphite 
is very light and the earthy impurities heavy, the 
graphite floats away in the water, leaving the im- 
purities behind. No mention is made in the most 
recent geological survey of Montgomery County of 
the occurrence of this valuable mineral in the county. 
I have found several localities in the county where 
there are indications of this mineral ; I have also 
found two extensive deposits of it. In an abandoned 
iron-ore pit near Henderson's Station, near the Chester 
Valley Railroad, there occurs a deposit of graphite. 

In that locality the graphite is found as an impal- 
pable powder, which in rainy weather comes oozing 
out from the sides of the pit, resembling very much 
a deposit of black mud. One side of the pit for a 
distance of seventy-five feet is stained black by the 
graphite. Wishing to know whether the deposit ex- 
tended beyond the pit or whether it was simply a 
pocket, I determined to dig about twenty feet distant 
from the pit where there was no exposure. On clear- 
ing away the soil to a depth of about two feet tlie 
graphite was exposed, thus showing that the deposit 



ORES, MINERALS, AND GEOLOGY. 



17 



extended for some distance, and was very near the sur- 
face. I made an analysis of a surface sample which 
was mostly made up of earthy impurities ; it is prob- 
able if a sample were secured at a much greater 
depth that it would contain more graphite. The 
analysis gave the following result : Carbon, 7.50 per 
cent., the residue consisted of mica, oxide of iron, 
silica, and clay. Graphite in this form can be readily 
washed. Workmen from the neighboring quarries 
have used this material as a mineral paint in their 
houses, not knowing the nature of it. Another de- 
posit occurs in a field near Henderson Station, at 
about the junction of the small strip of Potsdam 
sandstone marked on the map and the limestone. 
This deposit is not visible, as it is covered with from 
four to six feet of soil ; it seems to cover almost the 
entire field. 

On digging,in ditferent parts of the field, graphite 
would always be found at a depth of a few feet. This 
deposit seems to be of the nature of a bed, and is 
mixed with sand, oxide of iron, and mica ; it occurs as 
a fine powder, and has a very soapy feel. The surface 
deposit of this bed is not pure. It is not known to what 
depth the bed extends ; it does not seem to extend 
beyond this field. At Henderson's marble-quarry, 
about two and a half miles from Bridgeport, theVe is 
a beautiful vein of highly crystalline black marble, 
susceptible of a high polish. This vein is on the 
south side of the quarry, and is said to be very pure, 
analyzing ninety-eight per cent, of carbonate of lime. 
It is very interesting to observe that this marble is 
colored black by graphite. I found, on dissolving the 
marble in hydrochloric acid, that very small specks 
of graphite were left as a residue. All the black 
marble in this vicinity owes its color to graphite. 
I found traces of graphite between Bridgeport and 
King of Prussia, in the small belt of Potsdam sand- 
stone marked on the geological map. On James 
Coulston's farm, near Chestnut Hill, in an iron-ore 
pit, graphite occurs. Several tons of it were thrown 
out. It is an impure variety, occurring in small 
scales and mixed with earthy impurities. 

The purest graphite is used in the manufacture of 
graphite pencils, commonly called lead-pencils. When 
it is in the form of a very fine powder, free from grit, 
it is mixed with oil, and makes a most excellent lubri- 
cator. Being very soft, its hardness only 2, there is 
no friction worth mentioning with the machinery. 
Hessian crucibles were formerly used in melting steel, 
but would soon melt away; now graphite crucibles 
are made from clay and graphite. They will stand 
several heats or fusions and very high temperatures 
without melting. Graphite is also used in the manu- 
facture of stove-polish and shoe-blacking. Rich de- 
posits of this mineral are valuable. 

Coal. — In the triassic formation, commonly known 

as the new red sandstone, small veins of coal from 

one to two inches in thickness have been found in 

several localities in Montgomery County. No large 

2 



workable veins have been discovered; only these ex- 
ceedingly small deposits are found in the new red 
sandstone, although in Virginia, near Richmond, and 
in the Deep River Region in North Carolina, in the 
same formation of new red sandstone that we find in 
Montgomery County, there are thick beds of good 
mineral coal. The triassic coals are exceedingly in- 
teresting from a geological stand-point, because they 
occur in more recent formations than the coals of the 
carboniferous period, and are of an earlier age. In 
Norristown, on Elm Street, near the Stony Creek Rail- 
road, a vein of coal was found about one inch thick 
in the new red sandstone; the vein extended only a 
few feet, and was not very wide. It was found during 
the grading of the sfreet, about twelve feet below the 
surface. I secured samples of this coal for Professor 
Genth, of the University of Pennsylvania, and found 
in the sandstone the stem of a fossil plant. This coal 
was of a deep black color, with a somewhat pitchy ap- 
pearance, was very brittle, with conchoidal fracture, 
and seemed to burn very well. 

At Gwynedd, in Montgomery County, in the same 
formation, is found a bed of carbonaceous shale col- 
ored black by traces of coal which it contains, and 
it is also said to contain vegetable remains. CoL, 
Bean mentions a vein of coal found in Lower Prov^ 
dence township, Montgomery Co., about one-half of 
a mile west of the Trooper. This vein, like the 
others, was found in the new red sandstone ; it was 
from two to three inches in thickness and from eigh- 
teen to twenty inches in length. During the summer 
of 1883 hands working upon the new tunnel near 
Phoenixville discovered a two-inch vein of coal in the 
sandstone. These triassic coals yield volatile mat- 
ters, which burn with a non-luminous flame, but they 
have not the slightest tendency to form a coherent 
coke. They contain sometimes as high as seventy- 
four per cent, of fixed carbon, eighteen per cent, of 
volatile matter, and about two per cent, of ash. 

Lignite. — Lignite, or brown coal, as it is sometimes 
called, has not been perfectly formed ; the lamellar or 
woody structure can be seen distinctly. In composi- 
tion it is more like wood than true coal. It yields a 
powdery coke in the form of the original lumps. It 
is brittle, burns easily, and often contains from thirty 
to forty per cent, of water. It is of recent geological 
origin, and was evidently not formed like true coal. 
Dr. Leidy mentions it as being found on Plymouth 
Creek near Norristown. 

Fossils and Organic Remains.— Fossils are found 
in stratified rocks, such as sandstones, limestones, and 
slates. These rocks were evidently in a soft state at 
one time, like the sand, mud, and gravel which form 
many of our river-beds, and they were also covered 
with water. Corals, crinoids, shells, and other organ- 
isms lived in these seas, and when they died their re- 
mains became imbedded in the soft mud and sand 
which formed the bottom of these seas and oceans. 
In the course of time, under the influence of press- 



18 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ure and other forces, the mud and sand were con- 
verted into stratified rocks, and it is in these rocks, 
which have at one time been ancient ocean-beds, that 
we find fossils. Tlie highest mountains have been at 
one time the ocean's bottom, for even their peaks con- 
tain fossils. On the Himalayas at the height of nearly 
three miles organic remains are found. 

In Montgomery County there are very extensive de- 
posits of igneous rocks, such as granites, gneisses, 
mica-schists, and syenites, and in rocks of this nature 
fossils are not found, because they are igneous rocks; 
and their structure shows that they have at one time 
been subjected to an intense heat, and it may be they 
were in a molten state, so that any traces of organic 
life that might have existed would be destroyed. The 
red shale and sandstone formations are the only strata 
in which organic remains are found in this county. 
This rock covers the upper and middle portions of 
the county, and although but few fossils have been 
found, yet these remains are very interesting and in- 
structive. The reptilian relics found in Montgomery 
County are the teeth and bones of large lizard-like 
animals which lived in the ancient seas. These re- 
mains have been found at the Phcenixville tunnel, 
Montgomery County. Specimens of coprolite have 
also been found imbedded in the same rock. The 
vertebral bones of these large lizard-like reptiles are 
slightly concave, or hollowed out, at their articulating 
surfaces. Mr. Lea has named this reptile the Chp- 
sisaunis Pennsyhanicus. 

Remains of fishes have been found in this tunnel 
which belong to the order known as ganoids. These 
are fishes which have a cartilaginous skeleton, and 
are covered with enameled scales or with bony plates. 
The sturgeons and gar-pikes are living representa- 
tives of this order. Batrachian remains, such as 
bones and teeth, are found in this locality. But few 
fossil plants have been found in the new red sand- 
stone in this county. Specimens of coniferous wood, 
either petrified or having the nature of coal, and still 
retaining the woody structure, have been found. 
This is termed lignite, and is mentioned by Dr. Leidy 
as being found on Plymouth Creek near Norristown. 
When the small coal vein was found at Norristown, on 
Elm Street, near the Stony Creek Railroad, I secured 
a piece of sandstone from the bottom of the vein, 
which bore the imprint of a fossil plant. Near 
Gwynedd is found a bed of carbonaceous shale which 
is said to contain vegetable remains. The oldest 
fossil yet discovered in Pennsylvania is the Scolithus 
linearis. This fossil is found in the Potsdam sand- 
stone at Edge Hill, and in the vicinity of Willow 
Grove and Rubicam Station. " It consists of a 
straight, cylindrical, stem-like impression in the 
sandstone, usually smooth, but sometimes grooved 
transversely to its axis. Its diameter varies from 
one-eighth to a half an inch, and its length from a 
few inches to two or three feet. Its position in the- 
rock is perpendicular to the bedding, and from this 



fact many think that the impression was produced by 
the boring of a marine worm. The end of the fossil 
terminates in a head, which is always found at the 
upper surface of the sandstone enclosing it. The im- 
pression looks like a large pin. These fossils are 
very abundant in the Potsdam sandstone in Mont- 
gomery County." 

Bone Cave of Port Kennedy. — The following 
account of the cave is taken from the American Journal 
of Science and Arts, vol. i. 1871, p. 235 : 

MESOZOIC RED SHALE. 




" Before the discovery of remains in the Port Ken- 
nedy Cave nearly the whole of the walls had been 
removed in quarrying. A tooth of a mastodon hav- 
ing been found by one of the workmen. Dr. Quick, 
of Phamixville, showed it to Mr. Charles Wheatley, 
and these two gentlemen immediately visited the cave 
and commenced the search for remains. They found 
one end of the cave still remaining, and having the 
form in transverse section shown by the figure. The 
width at the top is about twenty feet ; below it grad- 
ually expands to thirty feet, and then there is a 
rapid contraction downward until, at a depth of about 
forty feet, it is ten feet wide. The whole of the space 
above this level is filled with the debris of the ad- 
joining mesozoic red shale, with occasional angular 
fragments of auroral limestone, without any trace 
of organic remains. Where the cave narrows to ten 
feet the floor is composed entirely of a black clay 
eighteen inches thick, filled with leaves, stems, and 
seed-vessels of post-tertiary plants. Scattered all 
through this mass of vegetable remains, and also in 
a red tough clay underneath for six to eight inches 
in depth, are found the fossils. The vertebrate remains 
are as follows (taken from the proceedingsof the Amer- 
ican Philosophical Society for April 7, 1871, where 
Professor Cope describes the remains so far identified) : 

" Mammalia. — Megalonij.v loxodon, Cope ; M. Wlieat- 
leiji, C. ; M. dissimilis, Leidy ; M. sphenodon, C. ; M. 



ORES, MINERALS, AND GEOLOGY. 



19 



tortiUvt, C. ; Mylodon (?) Harlani, Owen ; Sdurus caly- 
cinus, C. ; Jacnlus (?) Hudsonius, Zimm. ; Hesperomys, 
Waterhouse; Arvicola speolhen,C.; A. ielradelta, C; 
A. didelta, C. ; A. involuta, C. ; A. sigmoides, C. ; A. 
hiaiidem, C. ; Erethizon chacinum, C. ; Lepus sylvaf- 
icus, Bachm.; Praotherium palatinum, C. ; Scalops ; 
Verpertilio (?)/ Mastodon A7nericanm,C\iv.; Tapirus 
Americanus, Auct. ; T. Haysii, Leidy ; Eqiius ; Bos; 
Uritis pristinm, Leidy ; Canis (?) ; Felis. 

" Aves. — Meleagris ; Scolopax. 

"Jlepfilia.— Crotahis (I); Coluber {1) ; Tropidonotus 
(?); Cistudo (•>) ; Emysl'!). 

" Batrachia. — Rana (?). 

"Dr. Horn has examined the insects, and gives a 
preliminary list of the coleoptera, as follows (orthop- 
tera were also found) : 

"Carabidce. — Cychrus Wfieafkyi; C. minor ; Cymindis 
aurora; Chlttnius punctatissimus ; Pterostichus Iwviya- 
tus ; Pt. longipennis ; Dicmlus alutaceus. 

" ScarabaeidiE. — Aphodius scuteHaris; A. micans; Pha- 
nceus antiquus; Coprk punctulatus. 

" Jlisterida'. — Saprimis (?) ebeninus. 

"The remains of mylodon, ursus, and tapirus have 
been mostly obtained from the tough red clay di- 
rectly under the plant-bed, but the remains of rodents, 
snakes, tortoises, birds, plants, and insects are mostly 
confined to the plant-bed." 

Minerals. — Minerals and fossils seldom occur to- 
gether, because many minerals are the result of fusion 
which would burn out any traces of organic remains, 
but occasionally remains of plants are preserved in 
rocks which contain minerals ; for example, mica-schist 
sometimes contains a mineral called made and the fos- 
sils orthis and spiriferes, but in this case the mica-schist 
is not an ancient igneous rock, but is of sedimentary 
origin, and has been formed of rocks of recent origin 
which contain fossils. Many minerals in nature have 
crystallized out of water which held them in solu- 
tion at a high temperature. Of recent years science 
has so imitated nature that many minerals are made 
artificially by fusion, and by the action of water at 
a high temperature. Marble has been made from 
limestone experimentally. A Frenchman, operating 
with the aid of water at a temperature of from one 
hundred and thirty to three hundred degrees centi- 
grade, succeeded in producing in a crystallized state 
the principal minerals found in metallic veins, among 
others quartz, spathic iron, carbonates of manganese 
and zinc, heavy spar, sulphide of antimony, mispickel, 
and red silver. He also produced some of the copper 
minerals found at Shannonville in the same way. 
Facts like these show how nature has formed these 
metallic veins. In France, during the last century, 
nearly all the mineral species have been reproduced 
artificially by various methods. When fusion was 
resorted to the apparatus was simple, consisting of a 
furnace, heated by a blow-pipe, supplied with illu- 
minating gas, and driven by a blast. The substances 
to be fused were put in platinum crucibles encased 



in fire-clay. Not only were minerals formed, but 
also lavas and trap-rocks. All attempts to make rocks 
containing quartz, feldspar, and mica, or hornblende 
(such as granite and syenite), by fusion, proved un- 
successful. 

Montgomery County contains a variety of minerals. 
But few specimens are found in the new red sandstone, 
except in the localities where metallic veins of copper 
are found. Here we not only find copper minerals 
but ores of zinc and lead. The copper-mines near 
Shannonville have yielded many mineral species, 
such as copper, mispickel, iron pyrites, covellite, 
cuprite, melaconite, hematite, quartz, chrysocolla, 
breunnerite, libethenite, malachite, copper pyrites, 
azurite, wulfenite, galenite, zincblende, calamine, 
pyromorphite, anglesite, cerussite. These species 
were found when the mines were in operation, and 
even at the present time many of them can be secured. 
At the copper-mine in Upper Salford township native 
copper and several copper minerals are found. At 
Henderson's marble-quarry, near Bridgeport, graphite 
and crystals of dolomite which are finely striated are 
found, and occasionally small pieces of malachite. 
At Conshohocken, quartz, flint, chalcedony, chlori- 
toid, and cacoxenite are found; at Bullock's quarry, 
fibrolite, calcite, and occasionally a small seam of iron 
pyrites are found. At O'Brien's quarry beautiful 
crystals of calcite, sometimes oearly transparent, are 
found. At the iron-ore mines near Conshohocken 
the hematite is sometimes coated with a manganese 
mineral called pyrolusite. Edge Hill furnishes speci- 
mens of hematite, braunite, pyrolusite, turgite, and 
gcethite. The soapstone-quarries at Lafayette have 
yielded many mineral species. The following copper 
minerals have been found there, bornite and chalcopy- 
rite. Iron minerals found there are magnetite, pyrrho- 
tite, and titanium iron ore. The silicates found there 
are asbestos, hornblende, garnet, zoisite, albite, talc, 
serpentine, staurolite, jefferisite, enstatite. The sul- 
phates found there are epsoraite and calcanthite. 
Phosphate of lime (apatite) and carbonate of lime 
and magnesia (dolomite) are found. 

On the other side of the river, at the abandoned 
soapstone-quarry, talc, asbestos, and very fine octa- 
hedral crystals of magnetite are found. At Hitner's 
marble-quarry calcite, strontianite, dolomite, heavy 
spar, and iron pyrites are found. 

Quartz. — Quartz is known under the names of 
silica, silex, sand, silicic acid, flint, etc. It crystal- 
lizes in the hexagonal system, mostly in the form of 
hexagonal prisms, terminated with hexagonal pyra- 
mids. It is one of the hardest of minerals, the point 
of a knife-blade or edge of a file making no im- 
pression on it. The highest heat of a furnace will 
not melt it ; the common acids have no action on 
it. It readily scratches glass. Its hardness is 7. 
Quartz occurs of various colors,— white, brown, yellow, 
blue, gray, green, black, violet, and often color- 
less. These colors are generally due to some mineral 



20 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



oxide whicb the quartz has taken up. The lustre is 
vitreous, the fracture is conchoidal and uneven. The 
composition of quartz when pure is silicic acid = Sioj. 
The mineral quartz occurs in many varieties. Rock 
crystal, smoky quartz, milky quartz, aventurine 
quartz, ferruginous quartz, and amethyst are the 
crystallized varieties. Chalcedony, carnelian, prase, 
agate, flint, hornstone, jasper, and opal are the 
varieties of quartz which do not exhibit a crystalline 
structure. The colorless variety known as rock crys- 
tal is found in many localities. I have noticed very 
fine crystals on Eastburn's Hill, Bridgeport. They 
have been found in abundance here, but the best 
specimens have been secured. Very large crystals, 
having a pyramid on each end, have been found at 
King of Prussia, and from this place to the Schuyl- 
kill River very fine crystals are found. I have no- 
ticed a peculiar variety of quartz crystals in Shain- 
line's marble-quarry, near Bridgeport. The crystals 
are three-quarters of an inch long, and taper from the 
base to the apex of the crystal. Quartz crystals are 
found in the limestone-quarries near by. Aventurine 
quartz has been found in Conshohocken. Ferruginous 
quartz, colored brown, red, or yellow by oxide of iron, 
I have noticed in the vicinity of Bridgeport. Chal- 
cedony has often been found as a coating on other 
rocks near Conshohocken and Bridgeport. The arrow- 
heads found in many localities are generally com- 
posed of jasper. There is a valuable deposit of sand 
near Valley Forge, which is used as a lining or covering 
for the bottom of the heating-furnaces in the pipe- 
mill, Reading, Pa. Most linings would not stand the 
heat of these furnaces, but this sand is infusible. I 
was requested to examine it, and found on analysis 
that it is composed of fine grains of very pure quartz, 
free from iron, and not a trace of feldspar or any mate- 
rial that would flux with it was found. 

Quartz is one of the most abundant minerals in 
nature, and the most common constituent of rocks. 
The granites and gneisses, which are composed of 
quartz, feldspar, and mica, often contain as high as 
forty per cent, of quartz. The mica-schists, garnetifer- 
ous schists, syenites, and granitic rocks, which com- 
prise the southern end of Montgomery County, from 
Philadelphia to the limestone belt, are made up to 
a great extent of quartz. Mica-schist contains from 
forty to seventy per cent, of quartz, and sometimes a 
still higher percentage of quartz is found in certain 
varieties; the other constituent is mica. The large 
belt of new red sandstone which is found north of 
the Montgomery County line stone belt, extending 
from the Delaware River as far westward as Valley 
Forge, is made up almost entirely of quartz colored 
red by oxide of iron. While existing in rocks abun- 
dantly as quartz, it also makes, on an average, a third 
of many other minerals ; that is, it is chemically com- 
bined with other substances making various common 
minerals. These minerals are known as silicates. 
Of recent years quartz has a new use in tlie arts : 



when found pure and white and free from impurities 
it is mined and made into sand-paper, and is used as 
a polisher of metals softer than steel. It has been 
mined at Bridgeport and Valley Forge for this pur- 
pose. The purest rock crystals are made into lenses. 
Amethysts of fine quality are used in jewelry. 

Suilding Stones of the County. — The best and 
most desirable building stones are those which are 
compact and yet can be readily cut into any desired 
shape. The stone must not be soluble in water, or 
must not be acted on or altered by the impurities 
which are found in the atmosphere. Building stones 
which meet the above requirements are exceedingly 
lasting. The most durable building stones now 
employed are granite, gneiss, basalt, porphyry, ser- 
pentine and compact sandstones. All of these 
rocks are highly silicious, and but little acted on 
by the weather. The hardness of the first four of 
these rocks is so great that it is diflicult to dress 
them, but even this obstacle does not prevent their 
general use. Besides the silicious building stones we 
have the calcareous stones, which are carbonate of 
lime principally. The difiierent colored varieties of 
marble and limestone come under this class ; they are 
much softer than the silicious stones. Of late years 
granite is much used, especially for public buildings ; 
the Masonic Temple and the new post-office building 
at Philadelphia are built of a variety of granite. The 
granites have been employed for too short a time as a 
building stone to measure approximately its rate of 
weathering. The feldspar in granite begins to weather 
first, while the quartz and mica are not so readily at- 
tacked. It has been found that a polished surface of 
granite will weather more rapidly than a rough one, 
but the decay of a polished granite surface is not ap- 
parent after exposure for twenty years or more ; 
there is no doubt but that the polish will finally dis- 
appear and the surface roughen when the weather 
begins to act on the crystals of feldspar. The pol- 
ished columns and surftices of granite, syenite, etc., 
in the new Public Buildings at Philadelphia will fur- 
nish points of observation for the future study of the 
weathering qualities of these stones. 

We have extensive beds of syenite and granitic 
rocks in Montgomery County, which have been little 
used as yet for building stones. They are very hard 
and compact, and are not the fine-grade building 
stone. The new red sandstone, which covers the 
greater portion of Montgomery County, is much used 
as a building stone, and nearly all the stone houses 
in the upper portion of the county are built of this 
rock. The finest silicious sandstones are more durable 
than granite. The best varieties are those which are 
nearly a pure, fine, silicious sand, as free as possible 
from iron or lime. Sandstones are composed of grains 
of sand, which are bound together by a cement. This 
cement, or matrix, may be clay, lime, oxide of iron, 
feldspar, or even gelatinous silica. The grains of 
sand in sandstone are not affected by weathering, but 



OKES, MliVERALS, AND GEOLOGY. 



21 



it is the weathering of the cement which binds the 
grains that causes sandstones to crumble. If the 
cement be at all soluble in water then the weather- 
ing commences. When a sandstone is composed of 
thin layers or planes of stratification, then it is very 
apt to split up along these planes under the action of 
the weather. This fact is well known to builders, who 
are always careful to lay the stone on its bed. The 
Potsdam sandstone, which is found in Moreland, 
Upper Dublin, Springfield, White Marsh, and Plym- 
outh townships, is a fine-grained white or gray sand- 
stone, with scales of a light-colored mica. It occurs 
in narrow belts, and is composed of thin layers as 
mentioned above. This fact unfits it for a good build- 
ing stone, and it is used but very little. It is the 
new red sandstone which is in such general use as a 
building stone in this county, particularly in the 
country. Quarries of this stone are worked in nearly 
every township in the northern and central portions 
of the county. In some localities the stone is white, 
and makes a beautiful building stone. This white 
stone is extensively quarried on Main Street, near 
the ea.stern limits of Xorristown. The red and the 
white sandstones are found in these quarries; the 
lower strata are white and the upper red, with an 
occasional layer of red shale. The white contains a 
pink feldspar and scales of a pearly mica, and is 
free from iron. This stone makes a very handsome 
building stone, and is much used. Although it con- 
tains the constituents of granite, it is not granite, 
but sandstone with a matrix of feldspar. Stone of 
the same nature is found in Bridgeport. In the 
northern part of Upper Dublin township there is a 
sandstone containing a feldspar, which weathers rap- 
idly and soon disintegrates. One of the best stones 
for bridge-building and foundations and heavy ma- 
sonry of all kinds is extensively quarried at Consho- 
hocken, on both sides of the river. The West Con- 
shohocken quarries were worked sixteen years ago, 
and now they daily average over one hundred tons 
of rock for shipment. The rock is blasted out in 
huge pieces, which are cut by steam drills, and after- 
wai-ds dressed. The shipment of stone from this 
quarry on Sept. 6, 1883, was one hundred and seventy- 
seven tons. Boyd, Stintson & O'Brien's quarry, in 
EastConshohocken, yields the same kind of stone, and 
is a continuation of the strata. This rock is a tough 
quartzose mica-schist, composed of quartz and mica 
mostly, and extends from the county line, in the 
southern portion of Upper Jlerion township, across 
the Schuylkill in a narrow belt and extends into 
White Marsh township. The handsome new railroad 
bridge across the Wissahickon was built of this Con- 
shohocken stone. The blasting at these quarries is 
done by dynamite. 

The most important building stone Montgomery 
County furnishes is marble. The many valuable 
marble-quarries in the county are described under 
limestone in the geology. Hitner's, Potts', Hender- 



son's, and Derr's marble-quarries are the principal 
ones in the county, and they furnish not only the 
county with marble but also Philadelphia. Nearly 
all the marble used in Philadelphia, with the excep- 
tion of the imported, is brought from these quarries. 
It is used principally in building. The handsome 
county court-house at Norristown is built of Mont- 
gomery County marble, and many handsome private 
residences are built of like marble. Notwithstanding 
the general use of marble as a building stone, it is more 
acted on by the weather than any stone in general use 
in large cities. When marble is used for building pur- 
poses it has, at first, a fine polished surface ; exposure 
of two years in a large city sufiices to remove this 
polish, and to give the surface a rough granular char- 
acter. The grains which have been bruised in pol- 
ishing are first attacked, and soon drop out of the 
stone. If the marble be not cared for it soon be- 
comes covered with a dirty crust, beneath which the 
stone seems to be a mass of loose, crumbling calcite 
granules. When this crust is broken the decay is 
rapid. The crust varies from the thickness of writ- 
ing paper to a millimetre, and is of a dirty gray or 
brownish-black color. When examined under the 
microscope it is found to consist of particles of coal 
and soot, grains of quartz sand, fragments of red 
brick or tile, and organic fibres, which are held to- 
gether by an amorphous cement of sulphate of lime. 
This decay and disintegration of marble in large 
cities is due to several causes. The most active de- 
stroyer is rain-water containing carbonic acid gas, 
which dissolves marble. Eain-water always con- 
tains carbonic acid, and in large cities, where com- 
bustion produces an extra amount of this gas, 
rain-water will have an extra amount in solution. 
When rain falls on marble it begins to dissolve very 
slowly, and the grains of marble lose their cohe- 
sion. Marble exposed to rain always weathers more 
rapidly than marble that is sheltered. Another very 
active destroying agent is the sulphuric acid that is 
always present in the air of cities where much coal 
is burned. All coal contains sulphur, mostly in the 
form of iron pyrites, and when it is burnt it is con- 
verted finally on oxidation into sulphuric acid. This 
acid is extremely corrosive. Sulphuric acid is present 
in the air in a considerable quantity in large cities, 
where thousands of chimneys and furnaces send forth 
their smoke. It acts on marble by dissolving it and 
forming sulphate of lime, which is the cement which 
binds the dirty outer crust together. Marble in the 
country, free from this destroyer, lasts much longer. 
The marble columns of the Philadelphia Mint had 
become so corroded and rotten that they were recently 
replaced by granite columns. The marble columns 
of the Custom-House show plainly the action of 
the weather. It is very evident that white marble 
in large cities is utterly unsuited for out-of-door use, 
and its employment for works of art which are meant 
to stand in the open air ought to be strenuously re- 



22 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



sisted. The tombstones in our graveyards are con- 
structed of white saccliaroid Italian marble. They 
are generally destroyed in less tlian a century, and 
very often the inscription becomes illegible inside of 
forty years. A walk through the cemeteries will show 
many examples. Granite and syenite are much used 
of late years. 

Soils. — Soil is formed by tlie decomposition and 
erosion of the underlying rocky strata. It is always 
mixed more or less with vegetable mould and decom- 
posing woody fibre which have resulted from the crops. 
When rocks under the soil are exposed, so that air, as 
well as moisture, has free access to them, they become 
changed, and begin to decompose and crumble to 
sand or clayey earth, and begin to form soil. Gneiss 
and mica-schist are very durable rocks, and yet much 
of the gneiss and mica-schist has undergone altera- 
tion, so that in some localities it has rotted down and 
decomposed so as to form soil of earth or gravel to 
the depth of one hundred feet, and in the tropical 
regions soils of much greater depth have been formed 
by the wearing away of rocky masses. It must not 
be supposed that this erosion is the work of a few 
years; centuries rather have elapsed before these rocky 
masses have been worn down and decomposed. Gran- 
ite is an enduring rock, and granite hills, it might be 
supposed, would last forever, and yet when the oxygen 
and moisture commence their work, and the heat of 
summer and the frost of winter lend a helping hand, 
the erosion begins, and the hillsides and plains below 
derive their soil from the constituents of the granite. 

Sandstone rock, in which the grains are cemented 
together by clay or some other binding material, also 
gradually wears away, and the grains of sand do their 
part in forming soils. The enormous beds and clifts 
of limestone also suffer erosion and form a soil un- 
surpassed for fertility. Limestone is readily worn 
away by water containing free carbonic acid gas, in 
which limestone is slightly soluble ; pure water has 
no action on limestone, but when rain-water derives 
carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere and other 
sources, then its action on limestone begins, and it will 
begin its dissolution, however slow it may be. It 
must not be supposed that air and moisture are the 
only agents at work on the rocks to form soils. Frost 
and ice are actively engaged year after year in splitting 
and breaking up rocks. When the crevices in a rock 
become filled with water and the water freezes, the 
tendency is to split the rock into fragments which in 
course of time form soil ; porous rocks, such as sand- 
stones, loose shales and schists, which readily absorb 
water, are often broken apart when the water con- 
geals, so that fresh surfaces are exposed to weather- 
ing. 

Heat also in a quiet way does its work in form- 
ing soil, — it hastens any chemical change which 
the rock may undergo, tending to its decomposition. 
During the day the rocks are exposed to the rays 
of the sun and become heated and expand; towards 



evening when it becomes cool they contract, and 
this alternate expansion and contraction has a tend- 
ency to loosen the grains of rock, and often splits 
off an outer layer when the rock has become weath- 
ered and softened. All of the above agencies are 
active in forming soils ; the action may be slow, yet 
it is none the less sure. Thus we see how soils are 
formed, and how they derive their mineral constitu- 
ents from the rocks. The vegetable matter of soils 
is derived from the decay of plant life which the soil 
has nourished. On the Western prairies the grass 
grows luxuriantly and then rots, and the next spring 
a new crop grows. This growth and decay has been 
going on for years, and every year furnishes the soil a 
supply of vegetable matter, until in many places the 
soil is twenty feet deep and of great richness and fer- 
tility. The vegetable matter in soil generally colors 
it black, which is due to the carbon it contains. The 
soil of the prairies is of a dark color. The Eastern 
soils which are cultivated yearly are being exhausted 
of vegetable mould, and its place is supplied by barn- 
yard manure. 

Why are some soils fertile and others barren 7 All 
grains and vegetables require for their growth certain 
mineral elements in the soil; when these elements are 
absent the plants cannot grow, but will wither and 
die ; but when the soil contains an abundance of tliese 
mineral substances, and in a soluble form so that the 
plants can feed on them, then the soil is fertile and 
will yield abundant crops. What mineral constitu- 
ents of soils are necessary to plants? All plants cul- 
tivated as food require for their healthy growth the 
alkalies, potash and ammonia, and the alkaline earths, 
lime and magnesia, each in a certain proportion. In 
addition to these, cereals or grains cannot attain a 
healthy growth unless silica is present in a soluble 
form suitable for assimilation. But of all the ele- 
ments furnished to plants by the soil, and offering 
nourishment of the richest kind, phosphate of lime 
and the alkaline phosphates generally are the most 
important. A field in which phosphate of lime or 
the alkaline phosphates form no part of the soil is 
totally incapable of raising grains, peas, or beans. 
Wheat especially cannot flourish without phosphates 
in the soil. We find these phosphates in the kernels 
of wheat and in the hulls surrounding the kernels. 
Nearly all vegetables contain phosphates to a greater 
or less degree, and scarcely any plants are wholly 
without them ; and tho.se parts of plants which ex- 
perience has taught us are the most nutritious con- 
tain the largest proportion of phosphates ; for example, 
seeds, grain, and especially the varieties of bread- 
corn, peas, beans, and lentils. And if we incinerate 
these and analyze the ashes we can dissolve the alka- 
line phosphates with water, and there will remain 
in the ashes the insoluble phosphates of lime and 
magnesia which are essential to the plant. The phos- 
phates are as necessary to man as to the plants, and a 
deficiency of them in the blood is accompanied al- 



ORES, MINERALS, AND GEOLOGY. 



23 



■ways with some form of debility or nervous pros- 
tration. They are much used in medicine. If we 
analyze the ashes of blood we will find phosphate of 
soda and potash present, and also the insoluble pho.s- 
phates of lime and magnesia, the very salts we find 
in wheat, etc. Hence we are brought to the conclu- 
sion that no seed suitable to become food for man or 
animals can be formed in any plant without the pres- 
ence and co-operation of the phosphates, and man 
derives his supply of this nourishing element from 
plants he uses for food. The cereal.9 require the alka- 
lies, potash and ammonia, and in addition the sili- 
cates of potash and soda; these silicates are derived 
from the rock which in a fine state of subdivision forms 
the soil. When the rock decomposes it yields these 
silicates of potash and soda, which are soluble in 
water and which are taken up by the plant. 

Some soils»contain silicates which are decomposed 
so easily that in every two years enough silicate 
or potash is set free to furnish nourishment for the 
leaves and straw of a crop of wheat. In Hungary 
there are extensive districts where wheat and tobacco 
are grown alternately on the same soil for centuries, 
and both of these plants rob the soil of immense 
quantities of potash, tobacco particularly; about 
twenty-five per cent, of the ashes of tobacco are 
composed of potash. But districts like this are the 
exception. In Virginia the tobacco-growing soils 
are exhausted, because tobacco cannot grow in a soil 
unless there is a plentiful supply of potash, and all 
the potash of these soils has been withdrawn. Silica, 
so necessary to wheat, is not required by potatoes or 
turnips, since these crops do not abstract a particle of 
silica. From what source does the soil derive its sup- 
ply of potash for the nourishment of plant-life? and 
what rocks contain potash ? The soil derives its 
supply of potash from minerals, such as feldspars 
and micas principally, and from many other silicates. 
The rocks containing potash are granite, gneiss, 
syenite, mica-schist, trap rock, mica-slate, and many 
others; in fact, nearly all micaceous and feldspathic 
rocks contain this important element. The feldspars 
contain potash, soda, and lime, combined with alumina 
and silicic acid. 

There are several varieties of feldspar,- — orthoclase, 
in which potash predominates ; albite, in which soda 
predominates; anorthite, having a base of lime ; and 
oligoclase and Labradorite, having bases of soda and 
lime. The above bases are always combined with 
silica and alumina, and form what are known as sili- 
cates. The variety known as orthoclase contains 
often as high as fifteen per cent, of potash ; a pure 
orthoclase will yield silica, 64.20; alumina, 18.40; 
potash, 16.95. Thus we see that these feldspars con- 
tain the very elements that the crops feed on ; but 
these elements are in an insoluble form, and are 
bound up in combination in such a form that the 
plant cannot feed on them unless they are decom- 
posed and rendered soluble in water. On long ex- 



posure to air, moisture, and heat these rocks become 
rotten and crumble and decompose ; silicate of pot- 
ash is formed, which tlie rain-water dissolves, and 
the roots of the plants absorb as food. Silicate of 
alumina is also formed which will not dissolve, and 
forms the familiar substance known as clay. The 
feldspars have a pearly lustre, are scratched by 
quartz, and cleave very readily; this property distin- 
guishes them from quartz. 

The other mineral mentioned as containing potash 
is mica. There are several varieties of mica, and in 
composition they are silicates of alumina and potash; 
sometimes part of the alumina is replaced by mag- 
nesia, iron, or soda. Certain rocks, such as granite, 
gneiss, syenite, etc., have been mentioned as contain- 
ing potash. This becomes evident when we consider 
that granite and gneiss are composed of quartz, feld- 
spar, and mica; syenite, of quartz, feldspar, and horn- 
blende ; and mica-schist is composed of quartz, mica, 
and a small proportion of feldspar. These rocks con- 
tain the very minerals that are necessary to form good 
soil. The soil derives its supply of phosphates from 
the rocks also. The Philadelphia and the Montgomery 
County granites aud mica-schists contain from one- 
tenth to four-tenths per cent, of phosphoric acid. 
The syenites, gneisses, trap rocks, and even the new 
red sandstone contain small quantities of phosphates. 
In order to get a correct understanding of the soils of 
Montgomery County we must study the rocks that 
underlie the soil and from which the soil has been 
formed ; we must know whether the minerals compos- 
ing the rock are such as contain plant-food. From 
this study we can get a most intelligent idea of the 
fertility of a soil. Montgomery County has a great 
variety of rocky strata, and hence a variety of soils. 
The limestone soils are generally the most fertile and 
productive. More wheat to the acre is raised on the 
limestone soils than on any other, and corn seems to 
attain a greater size. 

Many of the sandstone soils are productive, but 
this is probably due to the fact that they often contain 
feldspar and sometimes mica. These rocks often con- 
tain little white specks, which seem to be loose and 
crumbling, and are decomposed feldspar. When the 
soil is made up of pure sand it is not fertile, as the 
plants cannot live on silica alone. When the under- 
lying rock is red shale the soil does not amount to 
much, and small crops are raised. Quite a number of 
the townships abound with this red shale, which often 
contains as high as seven per cent of iron. A red shale 
along the Stony Creek, which I analyzed, yielded seven 
per cent, of iron. The red color of this shale is due to 
the oxide of iron it contains. When superphosphate 
is applied to a red shale soil, or one containing much 
oxide of iron, a great deal of the phosphoric acid 
is wasted ; it combines with the iron, forming phos- 
phate of iron, which is insoluble and not readily de- 
composed, so that it is of no use to the plant. The 
red shale generally accompanies the sandstone, and 



24 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the red soils are often derived from shale, although 
sometimes from sandstone. It must not be inferred 
that the soils in the sandstone district are not fertile, 
as they generally yield good crops. 

Some townships contain four different kinds of soil. 
The following is a list of townships and the. beds of 
rock that underlie them. The rocky strata mentioned 
first is the most abundant, and the others are men- 
tioned according to the extent of the deposit in the 
township. The townships not mentioned below are 
included in the sandstone district. 

Lower Merion. — Mica-schist, garnet-schist, syenite 
and granitic rocks. 

Upper Merion. — Limestone, sandstone, and slates. 

Sprinrjfiehl. — Limestone, mica-schist and gneisses, 
syenite and granitic rocks, and sandstone. 

Cheltenham. — Garnet- and mica-schist, syenite and 
granitic rocks, and sandstone. 

Ahincjion. — Mica- and garnet-schist, syenite and 
granitic rocks, sandstone and limestone. 

Moreland. — Syenite and granitic rocks, sandstone 
and mica-schist. 

Plymouth. — Limestone and new red sandstone. 

White Marsh. — Limestone, sandstone, syenite and 
granitic rocks, mica-schist. 

Upper Dublin. — Sandstone, limestone, syenite and 
granitic rocks. 

Horsham. — Red sandstone. 

Gwynedd. — Red sandstone and shale. 

Whitpain. — Red sandstone. 

Loioer Providence. — -Red sandstone. 

Norriton. — Red sandstone. 

Worcester. — Red sandstone. 

Clay and Kaolin Deposits. — The composition of 
kaolin is a hydrous silicate of alumina. It contains 
forty-five per cent, of silica, forty per cent, of alum- 
ina, and fifteen per cent, of water; when pure it is as 
infusible as sand. It is very plastic, and can be 
kneaded into almost any shape when mixed with 
water. It is seldom found pure ; it generally contains 
feldspar, mica, oxide of iron, or calcite, and any one 
of these impurities will make the clay melt. The 
best kinds of clay contain scarcely any of tliese sub- 
stances which tend to make the clay less refractory. 
The tests for a good refractory clay are : It must not 
effervesce when moistened with acid, as this shows 
the presence of carbonates which make it fusible; 
it must not contain more than two per cent, of iron ; 
it must be as free as possible from feldspar, which 
contains potash and makes it fusible. As a rule, the 
less alkali you find the more refractory the clay, and 
six-tenths of one per cent, of potash is the maximum 
amount allowed in a good refractory fire-clay. The 
best way, however, to test a fire-clay is to make a 
brick of it, and put it in a shaft-furnace supplied 
with a blast and fed with anthracite coal. In a fur- 
nace like this steel will melt. After the brick has 
been in the furnace about one hour take it out and 
examine it; if it has melted or crumbled or fused 



much on the edges it is not the kind of clay suitable 
for making fire-bricks. After a successful test of this 
kind an analysis is not necessary. 

The clay-beds of Montgomery County are found ia 
the limestone belt, generally in the vicinity of the 
mica-slates and schists, and it is in these deposits of 
clay that we find the extensive deposits of brown 
hematite ore. The principal clay-beds are found in 
Upper Merion, Plymouth, White Marsh, and Spring- 
field townships. The clay in all of these townships 
is found in the limestone. There seems to be a de- 
pression in the limestone, which may have been the 
former bed of a stream, and the clay is found resting 
on the limestone and filling up this depression or bed. 
Most of the clay, however, has been derived from the 
mica-slates and schists, and the beds are parallel to 
the limestone, and occupy the position of those rocks 
from which they have been derived. These are the 
old clays, while the clay which is found occupying 
the depressions of the limestone and is not parallel 
to it is said to be a more recent clay. The most im- 
portant bed of kaolin now worked in Montgomery 
County is found at Lynch's Kaolin Pit, situated in 
Plymouth township, on the Ridge pike, about two 
and a half miles from the borough of Conshohocken. 
This pit was opened in 1877, and Mr. Lynch informs 
me that over seven thousand tons of kaolin and clay 
have been mined ; the average yield at present is 
about fifteen hundred tons per year. This deposit is 
of local importance, as it supplies clay for the terra- 
cotta works at Spring Mill, owned by Mr. Morehead, 
and also the works owned by Mr. Scharff. At these 
works terra-cotta pipes of all sizes are made. Various 
clay ornaments and chimneys are manufactured here. 
There are several different kinds of clay at this pit: 
First a beautiful white kaolin, which is free from iron 
and is quite coherent ; this variety is used for making 
pottery and also for lining blast-furnaces and pud- 
dling-furnaces, where it has to stand a very high tem- 
perature without melting. This kaolin contains ex- 
ceedingly minute scales of mica, which are scarcely 
visible to the eye. The next clay is the red clay used 
in the manufacture of terra-cotta and also for lining 
and fixing puddling-furnaces. This clay contains a 
little oxide of iron. The next variety is a blue clay, 
and is known as the new clay, and makes most excel- 
lent fire-bricks. It is more coherent and plastic than 
any of the others. Formerly the clay used for making 
the large cylindrical pots in which glass is melted 
was imported from Germany, but recently this blue 
clay was tried, and served the purpose very well, 
standing the high temperature without crumbling or 
fusing. This clay is now used by J. M. Albertson 
& Sons at the Star Glass- Works, Norristown. The 
extent of this deposit is not known ; the bed is about 
seventy feet in thickness and extends over the entire 
field. The clay is shipped to Philadelphia, Norris- 
town, Pottstown, and Conshohocken. Near the clay 
is found a bed of fine white sand. 



ORES, MINERALS, AND GEOLOGY. 



25 



Limestone Valley of Montgomery County. — The 

great limestone belt of Montgomery County, which 
has furnished such immense quantities of marble and 
lime, commences in Abington township, about a mile 
and a half north of Abington ; at this point it is quite 
a narrow belt, but it widens as it extends westward, 
entering the northern corner of Cheltenham town- 
ship, aud becoming a. broad belt of limestone as it 
extends through White Marsh, Plymouth, and Upper 
Merion townships. In Montgomery County it extends 
as far south as Conshohocken and Spring Mill, and 
it extends to within a short distance of the towns of 
Barren Hill and Edge Hill. It extends along the 
Schuylkill River from Conshohocken to Norristown, 
and crosses the river, extending into Chester County, 
and forming the beautiful Chester Valley. But this 
limestone belt does not end here, it passes entirely 
through Chester County, and extends into Lancaster 
County as far as the -source of the Big Beaver Creek. 
The total length of this immense limestone belt from 
near Abington, Montgomery Co., its eastern ex- 
tremity, to the Big Beaver Creek, in Lancaster County, 
its western extremity, is fifty-eight miles. The widest 
portion of the belt is three miles, while the average 
width of limestone is two and a half miles. In 
Chester County, at Downingtown, the belt is not so 
wide, being only three-fourths of a mile in width. The 
greatest width of the limestone in Lancaster County is 
not much more than half a mile. The general struc- 
ture of this first main belt of limestone is that of a 
long slender basin or synclinal trough, the southern 
side of which is much steeper than the northern. 
From the neighborhood of the Gulf Mills, a little west 
of the Schuylkill, to its western end this oblique 
symmetry prevails with scarcely any interruption. 

The strata of the north side of the valley, or from 
the synclinal axis northward, dip at an average incli- 
nation of about 45° southward, or more strictly S. 
20° E. But this inclination is not constant east of 
the Schuylkill River. There are two well-defined 
synclinal basins, flanked by the Potsdam sandstone. 
West of the river a synclinal basin extends to the 
northwestward between Bridgeport and Henderson 
Station, and is also flanked on both sides by the 
Potsdam sandstone. The south side of the limestone 
belt between Spring Mill and its eastern extremity is 
bounded by the Potsdam sandstone. But from Spring 
Mill west to the Chester County line the South Valley 
Hill quartzose mica-schists form the remainder of the 
southern boundary in Montgomery County. The 
limestone belt is bounded on the north by the Pots- 
dam sandstone and by the new red sandstone. Folds 
of Potsdam sandstone extend in a diagonal direction 
across the main belt of limestone at Oreland, Cold 
Point, and Henderson. Here we find the Potsdam 
sandstone extending into the limestone. According 
to Professor Rogers, "The southern steeply upturned 
outcrop has been more metamorphosed by heat than 
the northern, aud this alteration is greater when they 



are in a nearly vertical position or inverted. It is 
chiefly within these limits that the blue and yellow 
limestone has been altered by heat and changed into 
crystalline and granular marble of different colors. 
Nearly all the marble-quarries opened are included 
within this steeply upturned or overturned outcrop. 
It is likewise along this convulsed and metamorphosed 
side of the trough that nearly all of the largest, deep- 
est, and richest deposits of brown hematite have been 
met with." The color of the limestone varies in dif- 
ferent localities, — pale grayish-blue, white, pale straw- 
yellow, and bluish-white. The marble is of various 
colors, — white, black, and often mottled. The thick- 
ness of the limestone belt is not known. Professor 
Hall says, " The probability is that it is not far from 
two thousand feet thick, but it may be much less." I 
have noticed that from Potts' Landing to Consho- 
liocken the prevailing color of the limestone is blue, 
and from Potts' to Norristown we have a variety of 
colors, — gray, white, yellow, and blue. Gray is the 
prevailing color. Between these two points there are 
two small veins of mica-schist which are very narrow. 
The limestone directly in contact with these I have 
found has been metamorphosed into a white marble. 
The color of limestones is generally due to organic 
matter which they contain, although not always; the 
black marbles are colored by graphite or carbona- 
ceous matter ; the yellow or brown limestones gen- 
erally contain iron as oxide or carbonate. Very 
often in the same quarry will be found several veins, 
each vein having a different color. The limestones 
of Montgomery County are highly magnesian ; many 
veins contain enough carbonate of magnesia to form 
what is known as dolomite. Dolomite contains about 
45 per cent, of carbonate of magnesia and 55 per 
cent, of carbonate of lime when pure, although the 
percentage of lime and magnesia may be less and 
still be dolomite. Dolomites are harder and tougher 
than limestone, and usually present a finer grain ; a 
true dolomite will not eflfervesce with acetic or hydro- 
chloric acid in the cold, while limestone, composed 
of carbonate of lime only, will effervesce at once with 
either of these acids. The hardness of limestone is 
about 2, while that of dolomite is about 3.5. The 
more magnesia carbonate enters into combination 
with carbonate of lime the more the nature changes; 
it will not effervesce so freely. From an examination 
of a large number of limestones from quarries in the 
county, I find that the. more carbonate of magnesia 
enters into their composition the less readily will 
they effervesce with hydrochloric acid in the cold; 
and when the percentage of carbonate of magnesia 
is small they will effervesce quite freely with hydro- 
chloric acid. This might be an approximate method 
of determining whether a limestone be highly mag- 
nesian. Most of the county limestones are highly 
magnesian, containing from 10 to 35 per cent, of car- 
bonate of magnesia, although many veins contain 
very little, if any, magnesia, and are mostly carbonate 



26 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of lime. The limestones of Port Kennedy are highly 
magnesian, containing as high as 42 per cent, car- 
bonate of magnesia. Another sample yielded 38.40 
per cent, of carbonate of magnesia. The first sample 
might be called a dolomite. The limestone near Con- 
shohocken does not contain so much carbonate of 
magnesia. A sample from O'Brien's quarry yielded 17 
per cent, carbonate of magnesia. The limestones from 
Norristown to Potts' Landing along the river are 
highly silicious, at least some veins are more so than 
in the vicinity of Conshohocken. No rule, however, 
can be laid down about this, for very often in the same 
quarry one vein will contain 3 per cent, of silica and 
the next vein 9 per cent, of silica. The variation 
is so great that it is a source of much trouble and in- 
convenience when the limestone is used as a flux in 
the blast-furnace. When so used it is advantageous to 
secure limestone as free from silica as possible, because 
the object of the limestone is to combine with thesilica 
and clay in the iron ore and form a slag, and if the 
limestone used contain a high percentage of silica it 
will necessitate the use of an extra amount of lime- 
stone. Marble is simply limestone which is changed 
in structure and rendered crystalline and granular; 
by this metamorphosis the organic matter of the lime- 
stone is burnt out and it become^ white, and changes 
from a morphous to a crystalline form. 

If limestone be broken into small pieces and ex- 
amined under the microscope the fragments will be 
found to be of irregular shape, and are not crystal- 
line; but when marble is examined it will be found 
to consist of a mass of crystals or grains, very often 
like loaf-sugar. Marble and limestone are both car- 
bonate of lime, but marble generally has less of for- 
eign impurities, such as silica, iron, and alumina. 
Nearly all the marble-quarries hitherto opened in 
Montgomery County are included within or near 
the southern edge of the limestone belt. The largest 
marble-quarries in Montgomery County are at Marble 
Hall. Marble was first quarried at this place one 
hundred years ago, and immense quantities have 
been shipped all over the country. It has furnished 
Philadelphia with a considerable quantity for build- 
ing and architectural purposes. The quarry is about 
four hundred feet long and nearly three hundred feet 
in depth. The beautiful white marble used to build 
the great monument at Washington was obtained 
from this quarry. It came from a vein about five 
feet in thickness near the bottom of the quarry. 
The present owner of these quarries is Mr. Daniel O. 
Hitner. This quarry is especially interesting, as it 
contains the only layer of statuary marble found in 
the county. It was found at a depth of one hundred 
and twenty feet, and is only six inches wide. It is of 
a. yellowish-white color. Nearly all marble dealers 
import the fine white statuary marble used for head- 
stones, etc., from Italy. This marble is very fine- 
grained and white, and can be readily cut and carved 
into ornamental figures. Our Montgomery County 



marble is too coarse-grained for this fine work. In 

the vicinity of Spring Mill there is a marble-quarry, 
next in position to the westward. This is owned by 
Mr. Channing Potts, and has been worked for many 
years, and has furnished an immense amount of 
marble. White, blue, and mottled marble have been 
mined from this quarry. The next quarry to the 
westward where marble is obtained is west of the 
Schuylkill, near Henderson Station, in Upper Merion 
township. This quarry is now worked by Daniel 
O. Hitner, and was opened about 1869. It is now in 
active operation, and is being extended. Both the 
gray and the blue varieties of marble are mined here. 

About two hundred yards from this quarry, on the 
opposite side of the road, there is Henderson's quarry. 
This is the next marble-quarry in order to the west- 
ward. It was opened about the year 1808. There are 
three kinds of marble mined here, — the blue and the 
gray varieties and a very interesting bed of black mar- 
ble. This black marble occupies the south side of the 
quarry, and is susceptible of a very fine polish. It is 
very coarse-grained and crystalline. On analysis I 
found the black color is due to graphite. When the 
marble is dissolved in muriatic acid these small specks 
of graphite can be readily seen. The amount of silica 
present in this marble is very small. It is quite pure, 
and when burned in a kiln turns white, the graphite 
being burned out. Tlie black marble of the limestone 
belt seems to be confined to this quarry and vicinity, 
where graphite is found. At the beginning of the 
belt in Abington township the limestone is very slaty 
and highly silicious, and where the surface has de- 
composed it looks like a white sand. As you proceed 
westward this is no longer noticed. Between the 
Schuylkill River and the eastern end of the lime- 
stone belt a great many limestone-quarries have been 
opened and are in active operation, supplying an ex- 
cellent quality of lime for building purposes. These 
quarries are located principally in Plymouth, White 
Marsh, and Springfield townships, and are owned by 
L. K. Graver & Co., George Corson & Brother, George 
Hagy & Brother, Daniel Williams, Joseph Smith, 
Thomas Phipps, C. A. Cox, Frank Ramsey, David 
Marple, Charles Marple, and D. M. Leedom. 

About one mile north from Conshohocken there is 
O'Brien's limestone and marble quarry. It was opened 
aljout fifty years ago, and is within a short distance 
of the stone-quarry. This limestone does not con- 
tain as much magnesia as many others. Mr. Fulton 
says the stone seldom contains under seventy per cent, 
of carbonate of lime. The silica varies from three to 
nine per cent., and the phosphorus generally runs 
below .01. On analysis the stone yields : 



Carbonate of lime 75,00= Lime, 42.00. 

Carbonate of magnesia 17.00^ Magnesia, 8.09* 

Ferric oxide and alumina 3.00 

Phogpborus 01 

Silicic acid 5.00 

Sulphur Trace. 

100.01 



ORES, MINERALS, AND GEOLOGY. 



2T 



This stone has been much used as a flux in the 
blast-furnaces of Conshohocl^en and vicinity. 

At Norristown is Mogee's quarry, situated between 
a small belt of Potsdam sandstone and the new red 
sandstone. This is the end of the limestone belt east 
of the Schuylkill. 

At Swedesburg are the most extensive quarries and 
limekilns in Montgomery County. They are owned 
by William Rambo. They have been operated for 
many years, and the stone is highly magnesian. 
Thomas Rambo and Nathan Rambo own valuable 
quarries near by. Mclnnes' limestone-quarry, near 
Bridgeport, is highly magnesian, and yields three 
varieties of stone. Derr's marble-quarries, near the 
Chester County line, furnished the marble of the Nor- 
ristown court-house. They are extensively worked. 
The following analyses of Montgomery County lime- 
stones were kindly furnished by the Pottstown Iron 
Company and the Phoenix Iron Company: 









i 




h 








S 


ES 


s 








<J 


as; 


tA 


Port Kennedy Lime- 


^ 






= -F 




atone, Phoenix Iron 







■§ 


= > s 


a 


€o.'8 Quarries. 


c 


g 


J ■ 


I'^.s 






M 


W 




ss-s 


?r 


, 


1 


n 


u 


til, 


t. *; 




p. 


P. 


a. 


?5 


9i 




(I) 


(2) 




(1) 


(2) 




4964 
42 00 


53.21 
38.40 


66.50 
30.00 


49.25 
41.72 


61.73 


Carbonate of magnesia... 


42.84 




.38 1 
1.02 J 


4.30 


0.18 


0.92 




Ferric oxide 






6.57 


4.22 


2.40 


4.22 


1.50 







The county limestones contain so much magnesia 
that at Ambler Station chemical -works manufacture 
Epsom salts and all other magnesia compounds from 
our county limestone. 

Trap Rock and Trap Dikes of Montgomery 
County. — Trap is an igneous rock that came to the 
surface in a melted state through a fissure or opening 
from a place where the rock was liquid. AVhen the 
opening becomes filled with the rock it is called a 
dike; these dikes vary in width from a few inches to 
many feet, or they may form immense masses of rock, 
like the Palisades along the Hudson River. Some- 
times the trap, when cooling from a molten state, has 
assumed a columnar structure instead of being in 
sharp, irregular masses. The Giant's Causeway, Ire- 
land, and Fingal's Cave, island of Staffa, are exam- 
ples of trap rock crystallizing in columns. Very 
often, when the fissure became full of liquid rock, it 
would overflow, and the rock would run out over 
the surface of the adjoining country; this accounts 
for the many bowlders of trap rock that are found 
some distance from the trap dike of Montgomery 
County. Trap dikes are of various lengths; some- 
times they extend across the country for several miles 
in a straight line, and very often the dikes are curved. 
Trap is commonly known under the name of mun- 



dock ; this term is applied to it at several localities 
throughout the county. In appearance it is a dark- 
colored rock, quite heavy, and exceedingly tough and 
difficult to break, and when broken splits into pieces 
of an irregular shape, very often rounded and curved. 
It may be broken by a hammer or by another piece 
of trap ; ordinary rock will not break it. It is com- 
posed of two minerals, feldspar and augite. The 
feldspar is the variety known as Labradorile, which 
is the lime and soda feldspar. Augite is a mineral 
resembling hornblende, and in composition is a sili- 
cate of lime, magnesia, iron, and alumina; it is of a 
black color. A great many lavas from volcanoes, 
and many other igneous rocks, although not of the 
same structure as trap, are similar in composition. 
Trap is a rock that weathers very slowly; the ele- 
ments seem to have but little action on it, yet many 
of the trap bowlders of the county are coated with a 
brown covering about one-sixteenth of an inch in 
thickness, which it has taken many years' exposure to 
form. The brown color of this coating is probably 
due to oxide of iron. When this coating is broken 
ofl" and a fresh fracture surface exposed, it is found 
to be granular and rather brilliant in appearance. 

Montgomery County has a trap dike running through 
the limestone belt for several miles. This exten- 
sive trap dike commences in Springfield township at 
Flourtown, in the limestone belt, and extends west- 
ward in a straight line through White Marsh town- 
ship ; it follows the southern end of the limestone 
belt through to Conshohocken, where it crosses the 
river, and can be seen in its bed. It outcrops again 
in West Conshohocken below the stone-quarries, and 
extends through Upper Merion township, where it 
can be traced without interruption to the Chester 
County line, being a short distance above the Gulf 
Creek. From the Chester County line to the Schuyl- 
kill at West Conshohocken there is no difficulty what- 
ever in finding excellent exposures of trap, especially 
along the river at West Conshohocken, where there 
is an abutment of trap and numerous weathered 
bowlders along the railroad. Between Conshohocken 
and Marble Hall the dike can be traced easily. It 
passes directly through Conshohocken, and crosses 
five of the county roads before it reaches Marble 
Hall ; between these two points there are many loose 
bowlders of this rock. From Marble Hall to the 
Wissahickon Creek the dike cannot be seen, as it is 
covered with a deposit of clay ; but there is a fine 
exposure on the Wissahickon Creek, where it cuts 
through the dike, and the creek is turned from its 
course at one point by contact with the dike. 

From Flourtown to Marble Hall the trap runs 
through limestone and clay ; from Marble Hall to 
Conshohocken it is found between the southern por- 
tion of the limestone belt and the mica-slates ; from 
Conshohocken through Mechanicsville to the Chester 
County line it extends through the mica-slates of the 
South Yallev Hill. The dike crosses the Bethlehem 



28 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



turnpike near the meeting-house. It also crosses the 
Perkiomen turnpike and the Norristown or Ridge 
turnpike. Tliis dike does not end in Chester County, 
but extends on into Delaware County, ending near a 
road leading from the Lancaster turnpike to the 
King of Prussia village.- This is the largest trap 
dike in the county. Where it crosses the Perkiomen 
turnpike, between Marble Hall and Barren Hill, this 
dike is thirty feet in width. Numerous bowlders and 
exposures of trap are found between Camp Hill and 
Jarrettown, and these probably mark the continua- 
tion of the dike. According to the most recent sur- 
vey, " there are exposures of trap in several locali- 
ties northeast of Flourtown, but it has not been traced 
continuously." During the summer of 1883 I found 
almost a continuous line of trap bowlders and expo- 
sures between Jarrettown and Camp Hill, which is 
about one and a quarter miles from Flourtown. The 
school-house at Jarrettown, Upper Dublin township, 
is situated on what is known as Mundoek Ridge. 
Trap rocks are scattered around in great abundance 
on this ridge. They are of various sizes, from quite 
small blocks up to large bowlders which are three 
and four feet in thickness. On the road through 
the ridge which leads to Camp Hill, especially in the 
woods near the school-house, there are many bowlders 
of immense size. In many places between Jarret- 
town and Camp Hill the fields are enclosed by walls 
which are made of trap bowlders of irregular size. 
Some of these blocks are weathered, but most of 
them have fresh black surfaces exposed, and are not 
browned by the weather. 

Between these two points trap bowlders are found 
along the road. Sometimes for a short distance no 
blocks are found ; for instance, at the north base of 
Camp Hill, and for a short distance beyond, we find 
no bowlders; but on the south side of the hill, where 
this road joins the road leading to Edge Hill, I found 
several large trap rocks. These exposures do not 
end at Jarrettown, butare found farther on along the 
road leading to Horshamville. I have since been in- 
formed that trap exposures are found at Horsham- 
ville, which is about two and a half miles northeast 
of Jarrettown. All of these exposures between 
Flourtown and Horshamville indicate that the dike, 
after leaving the limestone, enters the new red sand- 
stone, and probably extends in a northeasterly direc- 
tion as far as Horshamville, and it may be that the 
dike does not end here. Future investigation will 
prove whether the course indicated after the dike 
leaves Flourtown is the true one, but I believe that it 
is. The length of the trap dike from Flourtown to 
Mechanicsville is about eight miles, and if it be 
true that the dike continues as far as Horsham- 
ville, the entire length would be about fifteen miles. 
There are several smaller dikes in the county, but 
none of these compare in size to the dike of the lime- 
stone belt. In Marlborough township near Sumney- 
town there is a small trap dike. 



In Pottsgrove township a short distance from Potts- 
town is the natural curiosity known as the " Ringing 
Rocks." These rocks are widely known throughout 
the county, and are visited frequently by curiosity- 
seekers. Some of the rocks are small, while many are 
the size of a hogshead or larger. These bowlders are 
scattered around the surface for a considerable area ; 
some are weathered, and many have fresh surfaces 
exposed. When these rocks are struck with a ham- 
mer or a piece of metal they give forth a musical 
sound. Different tones are produced by striking dif- 
ferent rocks ; the sound seems to vary with the size of 
the rock. Hence the name Ringing Rocks. These 
rocks are sonorous, and when they are struck with a 
piece of metal the rock is set in vibration, and these 
vibrations are communicated to the air, and sound 
waves are formed. These rocks are trap rocks of the 
same kind as those which form the large dike. The 
popular idea is that this locality is the only one 
where these Ringing Rocks will produce sound. But 
any of the trap bowlders, no matter where found, 
when they rest on a good foundation (for example, 
another piece of trap), will produce musical tones. 
Those near Jarrettown give good tones when struck 
with a hammer. 

There are two or three small trap dikes near Potts- 
town, which extend through the new red sandstone, 
and the bowlders belonging to one of these dikes 
comprise the Ringing Rocks. There are several va- 
rieties of trap rock ; those of the county are known 
under the name of dolerite. This rock is defined 
as a granular mixture of a bluish-black or gray 
color, having a density of about 3, and con- 
taining Labradorite and augite, and sometimes a 
small amount of magnetic iron ore. This rock is 
studied sometimes under the microscope. In order 
to do this the rock is ground on an emery-wheel 
until a thin slice is obtained, and when this thin 
section of rock is examined under the microscope the 
minerals composing the rock can be seen and identi- 
fied. The augite occurs often in crystals of a bright 
black color, and the magnetic iron occurs in tlie form 
of irregular grains or crystals, arranged sometimes in 
regular rows or disposed in files. The Labradorite is 
also found in crystals. 

A sample of trap rock found near the " Bird-in- 
Hand" tavern, on the road from Gulf Mills to Bryn 
Mawr, which is near the end of the dike, was analyzed 
by F. A. Genth, Jr., of the University of Pennsylvania, 
who found 

Per cent 

Loss by ignition 2.15 

Silicic acid 51.56 

Titanic acid 1.63 

Phosplioiic acid 0.13 

Alumina IV-.'JS 

Ferric oxide 6.57 

Ferrous oxide 3.85 

Magnesia 3.42 

Lime 10.19 

Litbia Trace. 

Soda 2.19 

Potash 1.41) 

1C0.53 



ORES, MINERALS, AND GEOLOGY. 



29 



This analysis gives a good idea of the general com- 
position of trap. 

Serpentine and Soapstone Deposits. — Serpentine 
is a mineral which does not crystallize, but occurs 
massive in large rocks or beds. The rock is usually 
some shade of green, and is quite soft, being readily 
cut by a knife. It makes a very ornamental building 
stone, and many public buildings and handsome 
private residences are built of this rock. Serpentine 
is a magnesian rock; in composition it is a combina- 
tion of silicate and hj'drate of magnesia, containing 
from forty to forty-four per cent, of silica, thirty-three 
to forty-three per cent, of magnesia, ten to fifteen per 
cent, of water, one to ten per cent, of ferrous and 
ferric oxides, and from one to six per cent, of alumina, 
and sometimes a little chromium or nickel oxide. 
This rock is susceptible of a high polish, and presents 
a most beautiful appearance when finely polished. 
One peculiarity of serpentine is it yields up nothing 
nourishing or sustaining to plant life or vegetation, 
and nothing except moss and lichens seem to flourish 
on its surface. Near West Chester are the Serpentine 
Barrens, so called on account of their unproductive- 
ness ; these barrens are in the main composed of ser- 
pentine. In our own county in Lower Merion and 
Springfield townships, where the serpentine beds are 
found, we notice loose blocks of serpentine of enor- 
mous dimensions, and these are covered only by 
lichens and cryptogamous plants, which are low forms 
of vegetation. Nothing else seems to flourish on these 
rocks. 

In New Caledonia and among the Alps the natives 
apply the name Dead Mountains to hills of serpen- 
ti ne, because they can raise but little on them, and they 
are almost devoid of vegetation. Precious serpentine 
is of a rich oil-green color, and is much used for inlaid 
work. Verd antique is a clouded serpentine, used 
for ornamental purposes and tables. 

Soapstone. — Soapstone is also a magnesian rock, 
which contains about sixty-two per cent, of silica, 
thirty-two to thirty-three per cent, of magnesia, and 
about five per cent, of water. It has a very soapy or 
greasy feel, hence the name soapstone. It is of 
various colors ; white, green, and gray of various 
shades are the most common. It is very soft, and can 
be readily cut or carved. Soapstone is also known 
under the name of steatite. There is a mineral of a 
green color which separates into scales like mica and 
which occurs in soapstone; this mineral is called 
talc. It is of the same composition as soapstone, and 
is exceedingly soft ; its hardness is 1, being the first 
member of the scale of hardness. Soapstone occurs 
associated with serpentine ; very often it is found in 
the same belt or bed. Many serpentine beds in this 
State contain soapstone, and most always we find talc 
associated with serpentine. The deposits of serpen- 
tine in Montgomery County have yielded an abund- 
ance of soapstone and many specimens of talc. 

There are two extensive belts of serpentine in 



Montgomery County. The longest belt commences 
on the northern brow of Chestnut Hill, between the 
two turnpikes, and extends westward across the 
Wissahickon Creek. It passes through Springfield 
township; there is an exposure just north of Mana- 
tawna. This belt crosses the Schuylkill River between 
Lafayette and Princeton Stations. It extends through 
Lower Merion township to Bryn Mawr, which is at 
the county line. This deposit is a straight line of 
outcrop of steatite or serpentine from Chestnut Hill 
to Bryn Mawr. Along the eastern and central parts 
of its course the southern side of the belt consists 
chiefly of a talcose steatite, the northern side con- 
taining much serpentine in lumps dispersed through 
the steatite, but towards the western side this separa- 
tion seems to disappear. The serpentine belt is 
plainly seen from Chestnut Hill to Wissahickon 
Creek, where enormous blocks cover the surface of 
the bed. Near the Schuylkill the large blocks of 
serpentine and soapstone are again seen, and they 
choke the bed of the ravine next north of the soap- 
stone-quarry. On the west side of the Schuylkill 
this serpentine and steatite rock is still visible in 
large blocks a little above the soapstone of that bank 
of the river. Near Merion Square the exposure is 
prominent, the surface being strewn with large masses. 
These rocks may be distinguished from others by the 
enormous size of the loose blocks, and by the coating 
of lichens and mosses which flourish on them. The 
rock is visible in the Pennsylvania Railroad cut south 
of Bryn Mawr. It is not certain whether this belt 
from Chestnut Hill to Bryn Mawr is continuous; if 
this be proved, then the entire length of this serpen- 
tine belt would be six miles. It is found entirely 
within the mica-schist belt of rocks. The next ser- 
pentine belt is found near the Schuylkill River, about 
one-third of a mile north of Lafayette; it extends 
east to the brook which flows into the Schuylkill at 
Lafayette. This belt begins in White Marsh township, 
and extends westward across the Schuylkill, through 
Lower Merion township, to the Gulf road about one- 
third of a mile north of Bryn Mawr. This deposit 
occurs along the northern edge of the mica-schists, 
and runs almost parallel to the first belt described ; 
they are only about a mile apart. It is not known 
whether this belt is continuous, but if it be continuous 
the length of it would be about four miles. Another 
outcrop of serpentine is found south of Gulf Mills, 
within half a mile from Morgan's Corner. This 
deposit is found between the slates of the South 
Valley Hill and the syenite. This exposure has only 
a length of a few hundred feet, but it is at least three 
hundred feet wide. It is thought to belong to the 
belt of serpentines which extend through Delaware 
County and part of Chester County. 

The serpentine belt of Bryn Mawr, after leaving 
Lower Merion township, extends through Delaware 
County in a curve towards the city of Chester, on the 
Delaware River. About a mile east of Roxborough, 



30 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



near the mouth of Cresheim Creek, there is a small 
bed of serpentine, which seems to be confined to this 
locality only, as it has not been observed anywhere 
else in the neighborhood. There is a quarry near the 
Schuylkill River, and an abandoned quarry near 
Merion Square. The soapstone-quarry at Lafayette 
is owned by Mr. Prince. A great variety of minerals 
is found here. The soapstone is very soft, and is 
readily quarried in blocks, which are used for fire- 
stones in furnaces, and for jambs for fireplaces ; it 
will stand a high temperature. There is a mineral 
found in soapstone called pyrophyllite, which when 
heated will curl like a worm, and sometimes crack 
the stone. Before marble came into use in the county 
for door-steps soapstone was used, but was too soft. 

Mesozoic, or New Red Sandstone.— The familiar 
red sandstone rocks cover the northern and central 
portions of the county. They extend from Trenton to 
Norristown and Valley Forge, and the sandstone and 
red shale can be traced along the Schuylkill River 
from Norristown to Pottstown. All that portion of 
the county north of the limestone belt and north of 
the Potsdam sandstone and syenite is covered with 
new red sandstone and shale. The mesozoic forma- 
tion is composed of reddish-brown shale, sandstone, 
and in some localities of conglomerate. The shales 
and sandstones are generally of red color, which 
is due to the red oxide of iron which they con- 
tain. There are quite a variety of sandstones in the 
county belonging to this formation. In some locali- 
ties we find sandstone mixed with much clay. Else- 
where is found rock composed mostly of grains of 
sand, scarcely any clay or oxide of iron with it. At 
Norristown, Bridgeport, and other localities is found 
white sandstone, containing feldspar and mica, with 
not enough oxide of iron to color it red ; it makes an 
excellent building stone. The red sandstone is more 
abundant than those which contain feldspar. 

At Morgan's Mills and Fort Washington conglom- 
erate is found; A ride over the Stony Creek Railroad 
from Norristown to Lansdale will show an unusually 
shaly district, mentioued under soils. The rocks of 
the red sandstone formation are supposed to have 
been deposited in an inland sea which once covered 
this region, in the same way that gravel, sand, and 
mud are now forming rocks. This was the age of 
reptiles, and their footprints are preserved to this day. 
Immense frog-like creatures and bird-like reptiles, 
whose remains were found in this rock at the Phce- 
uixville tunnel (see Fossils, etc.), are supposed to have 
flourished during this age. Trap dikes traverse this 
formation, and occasionally small veins of coal and 
lignite are found. Red soils result from the rocks of 
this formation. The copper deposits at Shannonville 
and Upper Salford are found in the new red sand- 
stone. 

Potsdam Sandstone. — Professor Rogers called this 
rock the primal sandstone; it is often called the Edge 
Hill rock. It received the name Potsdam from its 



great development at Potsdam, N. Y. The principal 
exposures of this rock in the county are found flank- 
ing the limestone valley on the north, between Valley 
Forge and the eastern extremity of the limestone 
basin east of Fitzwatertown. It encircles the eastern 
end of the limestone belt, and extends westward as a 
narrow belt south of the limestone to Spring Mill. 
At Henderson's Station, Bridgeport, Hickorytown. 
Cold Point, and Oreland folds of this sandstone are 
found penetrating the limestone. The historic hills 
of Valley Forge are Potsdam sandstone. The forma- 
tion is well developed at Edge Hill, Rubicam Station, 
and Willow Grove; near the latter place there is a pic- 
turesque spot known as "The Rocks." They are cliffs 
of hard conglomerate with pebbles of blue quartz. 
This is supposed to represent the beach of an ancient 
sea, and the pebbles are among the first ever made. 
This Cambrian sea contained no fishes, but only 
the lowest forms of animal life. Any organic re- 
mains or fossils which may have belonged to this 
formation are either obliterated or so flattened that 
they cannot be recognized. One fossil found in 
abundance near Willow Grove is the Scolithus line- 
aris (see Fossils). 

The Potsdam sandstone does not much resemble 
the new red sandstone; it is more slaty, and readily 
broken up into layers, and contains scales of mica, 
which sometimes make it flexible. It is generally 
made up of a fine-grained quartz, and contains fine 
scales of mica, which give it a slaty structure. It is 
generally of a white or gray color, although some- 
times red. Occasional beds of conglomerate are met 
with. Very often this sandstone contains ripple- 
marks due to water; from this fact it is supposed 
that this sandstone was formed at the edge of an 
ancient sea. 

Bryn Mawr Gravel. — Upon the tops of some of 
the high hills north of Philadelphia, near Chestnut 
Hill and Bryn Mawr, there are curious patches of an 
ancient gravel, which has been studied by Professor 
H. C. Lewis, who names it the "Bryn Mawr Gravel." 
It is found at elevations of from three hundred and 
twenty-five to four hundred and fifty feet above the 
Schuylkill. It is supposed that these deposits of 
gravel are the remains of an ancient ocean beach and 
the remnants of a once continuous formation, and 
that erosion has swept away everything except these 
few isolated p.atches. The gravel consists of rounded 
or sharp pebbles of quartzite or grains of sand ce- 
mented by iron. Sometimes the gravel is covered 
with a brownish-black iron glaze. The pebbles are 
very hard. At Bryn Mawr the gravel is seen in the 
railroad cut below the station. It is about four hun- 
dred and thirty feet high and nine miles distant from 
the river. The gravel is ten feet deep, and rests upon 
the gneiss-rock, which is decomposed. Near Chestnut 
Hill, on the City Line road, at its highest elevation, 
'four hundred and twenty-five feet above the river, 
tliere is another deposit of gravel and conglomerate. 



ORES, MINERALS. AND GEOLOGY. 



31 



with numerous sharp fragments of quartzite. A sim- 
ilar gravel is found on some of the high hills of New 
Jersey and Delaware, and it continues through the 
Southern States in the same relative position. Pro- 
fessor Lewis assigns it to the tertiary age. It is the 
oldest surface formation in Pennsylvania. 

South Valley Hill Mica-Schists and Slates.— 
These rocks form a ridge which flanks the Chester 
Valley limestone on the south, hence the name. In 
Montgomery County these slates are found in the 
southern part of Upper Merion township. They 
cross the Schuylkill at Conshohocken, and extend 
into White Marsh township. Near the Gulf Mills 
the hill divides into two spurs. This is the rock of the 
Conshohocken stone-quarries, which is always in de- 
mand for bridge-building and heavy masonry. This 
rock is a quartzose mica-schist, and contains seven 
per cent, or more of oxide of iron. It is slaty in ap- 
pearance, and generally of a grayish tint and silky 
lustre. The deposits of clay in the county are found 
in the vicinity of the slates, and it is supposed that 
some of the clay-beds are derived from the decompo- 
sition of the mica in the slates. This seems prob- 
able, as beds of fine white sand sometimes accom- 
pany the clay ; this sand is the quartz of the schists 
and slates. The deposits of iron ore in the county 
are found near the mica-slates in the clay. It is 
thought that some of the brown hematite ores are 
derived from the slates, as they contain over s?ven 
per cent, of oxide of iron, and when they decom- 
pose and form clay the oxide of iron is dejiosited. 
The rocks of this formation rest on the limestone, and 
are of more recent age, according to Professor Hall, 
who assigns them to Hudson River age. 

Syenite and Granitic Rocks (Laurentian). — The 
hard crystalline rocks of this group in Montgomery 
County extend from Moreland township, at the Bucks 
County line, westward across the Schuylkill River to 
the Delaware County line. In Moreland and Upper 
Dublin townships the new red sandstone forms the 
northern boundary. Between Chestnut Hill and the 
Delaware County line the mica-schists form the 
southern boundary, and from the Schuylkill to the 
Delaware County line the limestone and mica-schists 
of the South Valley Hill tbrm the northern bound- 
ary. East of the Schuylkill the Potsdam forms the 
northern boundary to the vicinity of Willow Grove. 
These syenite rocks are exceedingly tough and hard, 
and but little acted on by the weather. Hills of 
softer rock were in the course of time worn down to 
the surface, but the syenite ridges remain as monu- 
ments of the past. The hills known as Spring Mill 
Heights are syenite. The cuts exposed by the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad in passing through the Schuylkill 
Valley offer an excellent opportunity for studying the 
syenite belt from Spring Mill to the serpentine rock. 
It was the hardest rock along the line to cut through. 
The Schuylkill River between West Conshohocken 
and Spring Mill is turned from its course by the re- 



sistance offered by the hard syenite rocks. It is the 
oldest rock in Montgomery County, and contains no 
fossils. 

Syenite is composed of quartz, feldspar, and horn- 
blende. It is composed of the same minerals as 
granite, only it contains hornblende instead of mica. 
It makes an excellent building stone. The quartz in 
this belt of syenite is characteristic, as it is of bluish 
tint. It is sometimes difficult to determine whether 
the other rocks of this belt are granites or granitic 
gneisses. The feldspar is both pinkish and white, 
and certain bands of this rock contain so much 
feldspar as to have a structure like porphyry. 

Philadelphia, Manayunk, and Chestnut Hill 
Mica-Schists and Gneisses. — The rocks exposed 
along the Schuylkill River from its mouth to a short 
distance above Lafayette Station on the Norris- 
town Branch of the Reading Railroad have been 
divided into three groups by Professor Hall : First, 
the Philadelphia group ; second, the Manayunk 
group ; and third, the Chestnut Hill group. The 
Philadelphia group underlies the other two, and 
the Chestnut Hill group is the highest. These 
rocks extend eastward as far as Trenton, and west- 
ward into Delaware County. These Schuylkill 
rocks are not visible in New Jersey, as they sink 
beneath the surface; but they come to the surface 
again on Staten Islaud and in New York. Accord- 
ing to Professor Lesley, these three groups of rock 
are between ten thousand and twenty thousand feet 
in thickness. They are known as the azoic rocks, and 
are the oldest rocks of which we have any knowledge ; 
most of the other rocks have been formed from them, 
as they are the foundation rocks of the old continents. 
They were formed when the lowest forms of animal 
life were introduced on our globe, and were the 
beds of the old oceans. Any trace of animal life 
that may have existed in these rocks has become ob- 
literated by the heat and pressure to which they were 
subjected. Many of the minerals of the county are 
found in these formations. These rocks are mica- 
schists and gneisses. Gneiss, like granite, is com- 
posed of quartz, feldspar, and mica ; but the gneiss 
is arranged in parallel layers, while granite is not. 
Mica-schist is a crystalline assemblage of mica and 
quartz, and sometimes feldspar, arranged in layers. 
The Philadelphia group extends from the Delaware 
River on the south to the vicinity of Falls of 
Schuylkill. The rocks of this group are different 
variety of gneisses and mica-schists. The Manayunk 
group extends from the vicinity of the Falls of Schuyl- 
kill to a point half-way between Manayunk and La- 
fayette Station ; it is exposed along the Schuylkill. 
The rocks of this belt are schists and gneisses, and 
are very much weathered, the feldspar especially is 
often white and chalky in appearance from decom- 
position ; this is noticeable at Wissahickon Station. 
The Chestnut Hill group extends from the vicinity 
of Chestnut Hill to the county line at Bryn Mawr. 



32 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Along the Schuylkill the rocks are exposed from a 
point between Manayunk and Lafayette to the syen- 
ite formation, Tlie schists and gneisses of this group 
contain an abundance of garnets. It is in this group 
that serpentine and soapstone occur. The division 
of these Schuylkill .rocks into groups is somewhat 
geographical and is not definite. It is often difficult 
to determine whether the rock is a gneiss or schist. 

Early Accounts of Lime.' — Among the extensive 
manufactures of Montgomery County can be men- 
tioned lime, the history of which we are not aware of 
having been attempted by any other writer. The 
quantity now used for agricultural, building, and 
manufacturing purposes has become immense. The 
annual production here in 1875 was estimated at fully 
two millions of bushels, and has probably reached 
now to nearly one-third more. The census of 1840 
gave the value of lime manufacture in this county at 
$236,162, and for Plymouth township, $45,218; White 
Marsh, S51,458 ; Upper Dublin, $20,275 ; Upper Mer- 
ion, $74,772; and in Abington township, $11,800. In 
18.58 the writer personally visited seventy-five lime- 
kilns in the township of Plymouth, said to contain 
the average capacity of fifteen hundred bushels each. 
This would alone make by one burning considerably 
over one hundred thousand bushels, and the number 
of kilns there has since been increased. 

The earliest mention we have been enabled to find of 
limestone, and of lime being made therefrom to be 
used for building purposes, is in a letter written by 
Robert Turner, of Philadelphia, dated 3d of 6th 
month, 1685, addressed to William Penn in England, 
from which we learn that " Samuel Carpenter is our 
limeburner on his wharf Brave limestone found 
here, as the workmen say, being proved." The next 
mention found is in another letter to Penn, written 
by Nicholas More, dated " Green Spring, the 13th of 
September, 1686," wherein he states that "Madam 
Farmer has found out as good limestone on the 
Schuylkill as any in the world, and is building with 
it; she offers to sell ten thousand bushels at sixpence 
the bushel upon her plantation, where there are sev- 
eral considerable hills, and near to your Manor of 
Springfield." The aforesaid was evidently the wife 
of Jasper Farmer, who had arrived here in Novem- 
ber, 1685, and had taken up in the present White 
Marsh township a tract of five thousand acres of 
land, but died soon thereafter. His son, Edward 
Farmer, subsequently became the owner of about 
three-fourths of this purchase. 

For building purposes the Swedes and other early 
settlers first used lime prepared from oyster shells, of 
which we find mention made by several writers. 
Thomas Budd, in his account of Pennsylvania, 
printed in 1685, says, " We make lime of oyster shells, 
which by the sea and bay-side are so plentiful that 
we may load ships with them." He further informs 
us that there is no limestone " as we yet know of," 

1 By Wm. J. Buck. 



from which we are led to infer that Samuel Carpenter 
and Madam Farmer, as has been mentioned, must 
have been among the earliest to convert limestone 
into lime. Even prior to the summer of 1685 con- 
siderable building had been done in Philadelphia and 
its vicinity, which required no small amount of the 
article as prepared from oyster shells. 

William Penn, in a letter to the Marquis of Hali- 
fax, dated 9th of 12th month, 1683, mentions that 
" about one hundred and fifty very tolerable houses 
for wooden ones" had been erected in Philadelphia. 
In his " Further Account of Pennsylvania," written 
in December, 1685, he states that the number had been 
increased to three hundred and fifty-seven houses, 
" divers of them large, well built, with good cellars, 
three stories, and some with balconies." He also 
mentions in the same of "divers brickeries going on, 
and some brick houses going up." Robert Turner, in 
a letter from Philadelphia, 3d of 6th month, 1685, 
states that "we are now laying the foundation of a 
plain brick meeting-house, sixty by forty feet," and 
that " Pastorius, the German Friend, with his people, 
are preparing to make brick next year." These state- 
ments show the necessity of lime, for which purpose 
no inconsiderable quantities must have been required, 
and that the discovery of limestone so near the city 
created at once a demand from its superior quality, 
ranking, as has since been proven, among the best 
found in the country. 

John Goodson wrote from Philadelphia, 24th of 
6th month, 1690, "that six carters have teams daily 
employed to carry and fetch timber, bricks, stone, 
and lime for building, which goeth on to admiration. 
We have rocks of limestone, where many hundreds, 
yea thousands of bushels of lime are made in one year 
fur this town." John Holme, one of the judges of 
the Philadelphia County Court, in his poem on "The 
Flourishing State of Pennsylvania," written in 1696, 
mentions therein that a few years previously lime had 
been burned from oyster shells, but since a " great 
store" of limestone had been discovered in the ground, 
from which "now is made good stone lime," which 
was not only superior but cheaper than the former 
article. He had arrived here from England in 1686, 
and died in 1701. 

At a meeting of the Provincial Council, held May 
19, 1698, a road was ordered to be laid out from White 
Marsh, for the purpose of hauling lime from the 
kilns there to the city, and to meet the Plymouth road 
near Cresheim, or the upper part of Germantown. 
In 1703, Nicholas Saul and others, at " Sandy Run," 
in the " Manor of Springfield," petition that they 
had formerly received the grant of a road from the 
limekilns to Philadelphia on the Germantown road, 
which the court now ordered should be speedily 
opened. This is evidently the road proposed by the 
Council aforesaid, and the present highway leading 
from the village of White Marsh through Chestnut 
Hill. In 1713 the road was opened from the afore- 



THE ABORIGINES. 



33 



said kilns to Skippack, over which also considerable 
lime was hauled. The Plymouth highway was laid 
out as "a cart road" in the spring of 1G87. This is 
tlie road leading from Plymouth to Philadelphia, and 
now known as the Germantowii and Perkiomen turn- 
pike, which was laid on its bed and finished in 1804. 
It is likely that this was the first road opened for the 
transportation of lime to the city. What is now 
known as the Limekiln road was laid out from Ger- 
mantown to Upper Dublin in 1693, and probably 
also first opened for the purpose of obtaining lime 
from the vicinity of the present Fitzwatertown. The 
road from the latter place to Abington meeting-house 
was confirmed in 1724, and opened the following year. 
From the petition it is ascertained that Thomas Fitz- 
water carried on there the business of lime-burning 
in 1705. 

Gabriel Thomas, who arrived here in 1683, in his 
accountof Pennsylvania, published at London in 1698, 
mentions that here " there is also very good limestone 
in great abundance plenty and cheap, of great use in 
buildings, also in manuring lands." The Manor of 
Mount Joy, containing seven thousand eight hun- 
dred acres, was granted by Penn to his daughter 
Letitia the 24th of 8th month, 1701. This tract was 
partly situated in Upper Merlon, and we have the 
authority of Oldmixon's " British Empire in Amer- 
ica," published in 1708, that it abounded in lime; 
stone, which had been made use of for some time. 
Edward Farmer, whose settlement in White Marsh 
was known in 1708 as " Farmer's Town," supplied 
lime at various times from there for the buildings at 
Springettsbury, erected by Thomas and Richard 
Penn, between the years 1732 to the time of his 
death, in 1745. Francis Rawle, who had settled 
in Plymouth about 1685, in his " Ways and Means," 
printed by S. Keimer, of Philadelphia, in 1725, and 
written the previous year, states on page 54 that of 
" limestone we have great plenty, of which stone 
lime is made, which gives the opportunity to the in- 
habitants to build good stone and brick houses in 
town and country." 

The lime used in building the State-House, from 
1729 to 17.35, was hauled from the kilns of Ryner 
Tyson, in Abington township, fourteen miles north 
of the city. Those kilns and quarries have ever 
since been in the family, and the business of lime- 
burning is still carried on by the descendants. The 
county commissioners in March, 1804, invite pro- 
posals for " hauling by the bushel a quantity of lime 
from Plymouth to Pottstown sufficient to complete 
the bridge" over the Manatawny, a distance of about 
twenty-three miles. In 1810, if not earlier, the lime- 
burners of the county formed themselves into an as- 
sociation, of which Alexander Crawford was presi- 
dent, and John Fitzwater secretary, meeting for 
several years, in January, at the house of Philip 
Sellers, White Marsh. In February, 1S24, they met 
at the house of Andrew Hart, Plymouth. The 



members at this time were George Tippen, Samuel 
Davis, John Shepherd, Daniel Fisher, Benjamin 
Marple, Eleazer Michener, Enoch Marple, John 
Hellings, George Egbert, George Lare, Henry John- 
son, Abraham Marple, William Sands, Joseph Har- 
mer, and Daniel Davis. It appears they soon after 
dissolved, their proceedings being deemed unlawful, 
but we presume no more so than any other combina- 
tion of a similar character. Among their objects 
was to fix the price of lime and the wood they either 
purchased or received in exchange. 

On so a great a business as the production of lime 
it is to be regretted that there are so few statistics. It 
would be interesting to possess a list of the several 
manufacturers, the number of kilns operated, and 
the amount respectively made. The quantity sent 
off by water must be considerable, especially to the 
States of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, 
as also by railroad to adjoining counties, Philadel- 
phia, and other places, for building, manufacturing, 
and agricultural purposes. The townships of Mont- 
gomery that possess limestone are Abington, Upper 
Dublin, Springfield, White Marsh, Plymouth, and 
Upper Merion. The limestone surface here may 
probably comprise about fifteen square miles. Plym- 
outh, no doubt, is now the greatest producer; next 
Upper Merion, followed by White Marsh and Upper 
Dublin. Norristown, Swedesburg, and Port Ken- 
nedy are extensive shipping-points of this material. 
The lime of Montgomery County for all building 
purposes possesses a high reputation, and is regarded 
among the very best produced. 



CHAPTER II L 

THE ABORIGINES. 

Three hundred and ninety-one years have elapsed 
since the commercial nations of the earth first learned 
of the existence of the North American Indians. 
From whence they came remains an archaeological 
problem. Their numbers' were the subject of con- 

> Robert Proud, historian, estimated the nnmber of fighting men of 
eighteen given tribes at 27,900, and total number, 139,500. 

Besides, in an iiistorical account, printed in Philadelphia, of tiie ex- 
pedition against tlio Oliio Indians in 1764, under command of Col. 
BuiKjuet, there is a list 4if tlie Indian nations of Canada and Louisiana, 
saiil to be from good autliority. .and tliat the account may be depended 
on, so far as a matter of this kind can lie brouglit near the truth, in 
which it is asserted that there are 50,580 figliting men of such Indians 
as the French were connected with in Canada and Louisiana. Assuming 
this number to be one-fifth of the population, tliey would have had at 
that date 282,000. 

According to the latest data in the possession of the Interior Depart- 
ment at Washington the number of Indians in the United States is 
202,000, It is claimed that with regard to all Indian tribes receiving 
supplies from the government reasonably accurate statistics have been 
cltained, as in making issues of goods to the Indians the individual 
receipt of each bead of a family is required. The accounts divisiou of 



34 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



jecture until after the Revolutionary war, when they 
became objects of governmental solicitude and care. 
As a race, they have displayed rare physical powers 
of endurance, they have shown indomitable courage 

the Indian Office therefore possesses a register of the names of all heads 
of families to whom goods, supplies, or annuities are issued Ijy the gov- 
ernment. Ill must iif the States there are remniningsmall communities 
of Indians, like the Six Nations in New York, the Eastern Cheiokees 
in North Carolina, the Miamis in Indiana, etc. Having tribal property 
they maintain a trihal organization. The Indian Office exercises a sort 
of guardianship over tliem in the protection of their lands, manage- 
ment of their funds, limiting the contracts they may make and the fees 
they may pay to attorneys, deciding questions of membership in the 
tribf, etc. ; but they are self-supporting, and receive no goods or supplies 
from the government. The same maybe said of the "five civilized 
tribes" of the Indian Territory, and of the Indians of the Pacific coast, 
although tiome of the latter receive about five per cent, of their sub- 
sistence from the Department. They are not dependent upon the gov- 
ernment for the supply of tlieir daily wants, and consequently the In- 
dian Department is not able to obtain from them such minute and 
detailed reports as are required from the seini-savage tribes. In some 
cases the government is therefore in possession of better statistics from 
the " wild" tribes than from such as are partially civilized, or at least 
self-supporting. 

Leaving the five civilized tribes of the Indian Territory' out of the 
question, these statistics show that the Indians are not now, and for sev- 
eral years past have not been, decreasing in numbers. The births re- 
ported in all the tribes last year aggregated 2998 ; the number of deaths 
was 2478. An examination of the reports from all the agencies in de- 
tail shows many iustancesof decrease, but the general result is as stated. 
It is not claimed that these figures are either complete or exact, but 
they are beyund reasonable duubt sufficient to establish the factthatthc 
Indian race, as a whole, in spite of disadvantageous circumstances, is not 
dying out. The niDrtnary customs of most of the tribes render it im- 
probable that many deaths should escape the knowledge of the agent. 
As regards the death of a relative or friend the Indian is not a stoic; 
mourning fur the deceased, whether slain in battle or dying from nat- 
ural causes, is usually loud and long continued, and accompanied with 
ceremonies likely to make every pei-son within the sound of beating 
tom-toms and Wailing Voices aware <)f the loss the tribe has sustained. 
Over births no such demonstrations are ma'le, so that the error in the 
figures given is probably that of reporting too small an incffease in the 
tribal numbera. 

It is easy to find reports from particular tribes showing a decided de- 
crease during the past year.. The Six Nations, New York, lost '2'ict by 
dealh, while there were only 187 births. There are 5116 Indians on the 
several reservaiinus in New York, — the Senecas, Oneidas. CayugJis, 
Onondagiis, Tonawandas, and Tuscaroras. Tliese Indians are second- 
rate farmers, as are the Pottawatomies, Kickapoos, and Munsees of 
Kansas, who al^so lust in numbers last year, the deaths among them ex- 
ceeding the births by 30 per cent. ; and tlie same is true of Indians sim- 
ilarly situated in Michigan,— the Chippewas, Ottawas, and Pottawato- 
mies of the Mackinac agency. In each of these remnants of tribes 
there was about the same per cent, of loss. These Indians nearly all 
wear civilized dress, and they are surrounderl by whites. 

In thelndian Territory, however, nearly all the tribes areincreasing. 
The agent of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes reports 324 births, 110 
deaths among 6769 Indians ; the Kiowa, Comanche, and Wishita agency 
reports 149 births, 96 deaths. Reports from the twenty-one other tribes 
in the Indian Territory indicate a small per cent, of increase in all ex- 
cept two. The ever unfortunate Poncas and the Senecas suffered a fur- 
ther loss in numbers last year. 

Outside of t lie Territory, without going into detail, it may be said gen- 
erally that thii Indians of the Northern plains, the great Sioux tribes 
and the Crows, are about stationary. There is perhaps a small increase, 
but reports are not full enough to show more than that there is no de- 
cided change. Citizens of the Southwest will particularly regret to 
know that the Utes and the IMescalero Aparhes are annually increasing 
in numbers. The fi-^heimen along the borders of Puget Sound, the 
Puyallup, Qiiillehute, Cteur d'Alene, O'Kanagans, etc., are slowly in- 
creasing, while the S'kokomish and Quinaielt Indians of the same re- 
gion report a decided loss last year. 

The generalization indicated by these reports is not a pleasant one. 
It will be iioriced that the uncivilized Indians, or at least those living 



and remarkable sagacity. The exceptional among 
them have been gifted with keen perceptive faculties, 
creating and preserving tribal relations among them- 
selves for centuries, recognizing the obligations of 
truth, virtue, and honor, the omnipotent power of a 
"Great Spirit," ' andagreat" future hunting-ground." 

away from the direct influences of the white race, are increasing, while 

those living in the midst of prosperous white settlements are gradually 
dying out. Thefivecivilized tribes of thelndian Territory, and especially 
the Cherokees, who are themselves prosperous, hold tlie theory that In- 
dians cannot thrive when immediately surrounded by commuuitiesof 
white men ; that, being unable to compete with their neighbors, the In- 
dians become hopelessly discouraged. The figures given above appear 
to confirm this doctrine. Fuller and more accurate statistirs may, how- 
ever, modify or reverse the conclusions based upon the official reports 
we have quoted, which afford the best data now obtainable. 

1 The following letter of Conra<i Weiser, written to a friend, on the 
subject of the Indians^ belief in a Supreme Being, is of more than usual 
interest : 

"Esteemed Friend, — I write this, in compliance with thy request, to 
give thee an account of what I have observed among the Indians in re- 
lation to their belief and confidence in a Divine Being, according to the 
observations I have made from 1714, in the time of my youth, to this 
day (about the year 1746). If, by the word religion, people mean an 
assent to certain creeds, or the observance of a set of religious duties, 
as appointed prayers, singing, preaching, baptism, Jkc.,or even heathen- 
ish worship, then, it may be said, the Five Nations and their neighbors 
have no religion. But if, by religion, we mean an attraction to the soul 
to God, whence proceeds a confidence in, and hunger after, the knowl- 
edge of him, then his people must be allowed to have some religion 
among tiiem, notwithstanding their sometimes savage deportment. For 
we find among them some tracts of a confidence in God alone, and even, 
sometimes, though but seldom, a vocal calling upon him. I shall give 
one or two instances of this that fell under my own otwervation. I^t 
the year 1737, 1 was sent, the first time, to Onondaga, at the desire of the 
Governor of Virginia. I departed in the latter end of February, very 
unexpectedly, for a journey of five hundred English miles, through a 
wilderness where there was neither road nor path, and at such a time 
of the year when creatures (animals) could not be met with tor food. 
There were with me a Dutchman and three Indians. After we had gone 
one hundred and fifty miles on our journey we came to a narrow valley, 
about half a mih^ broad and thirty long, both sides of which were en- 
compassed with high mountains, on which the snow laid about three 
feet deep, in it ran a stream of water also about three feet deep, which 
was 80 crooked that it kept a continued winding course from one 
side of the valley to the other. In order to avoid wading so often 
through the water, we endeavored to pass along the slope of the moun- 
tain, the snow being three feet deep, and so hard frozen on the top 
that we could walk iipon it; but we were obliged to make holes in the 
snow with our hatchets that our feet might not 8lip<lown the mountain, 
and thus we crept on. It happened that the old Indian's foot slipt, and 
the root of a tree, by which he hold, breaking, he slid down the moun- 
tain ns from the roof of a house; but, happily, he was stopped in his 
fall by the string which fastened his pack hitching on the stump of a 
small tree. The other two Indians could not go to his aid, but our Dutch 
fellow-traveller did, yet not without visible danger of his own life. I, 
also, could not put a foot forward till I was helped. After this we took 
the first opportunity to descend into the valley, which was not till we 
had labored hard for half an hour with hands and feet. Having ob* 
served a tree lying directly off from where the Indian fell, when we 
were got into the valley again, we went back about one hundred 
paces, where we saw that if the Indian had slipt four or five paces 
' further he would have fallen over a rock, one hundred feet perpen- 
dicular, upon craggy pieces of rock below. The Indian was a'-tonishod 
, and turned quite pale; then, with outstretched arms and great 
! earnestness he spoke these words: ' I thank the great Lord and gov- 
ernor of this world, in that he has had mercy upon me, and has been 
willing that I should livo longer.' Which words I at that time put 
down in my journal. This happened on the 25th of March, 1737. In 
the 9lh of April lollowing, while we were yet on our journey, I found 
myself t'xtromely weak through the fatigue of so long a joui-noy, with 
the cold and hunger which I had suffered. There having fallen a fresh 
snow, about twenty inches deep, and we being yet three days' journey 



THE ABORIGINES. 



35 



They have been, and still are, a subject of interesting 
study, and as the last of their tribes melt away before 
or are absorbed in the superior civilization that has 
dispossessed them of a continent, interest in their 

from Onondaga, in a frightful wilderness, my spirit fulled, my body 
trembled and shook ; T thought I shoukl full down and die. I stept 
aside and sat down under a tree, expecting there to die. My companions 
soon missed mo. The Indians came back and found me sitting there. 
They remained awhile silent; at last the old Indian said : ' My dear 
companion, thou hast hitlierto encuurageii us, wilt thou now quite give 
up? Remember that evil days are bettor than good days, for when we 
suffer much, we do not sin ; siti will be driven out of us by suffer- 
ing ; but good days will cause men to sin, and God cannot extend his 
jiiercy to them, but, contrawise, when it goeth evil with ua, God bath 
compassion upon us.' These words made me ashamed; I rose up and 
traveled as well as I could. The next day I went another journey to 
Onondaga in company witli Joseph Spanhenberg and two others. It 
happened that an Indian camo to ue in the evening who had neither 
shoes, stockings, sliirf, gun, knife, nor hatcliet ; iu a word, he had 
nothing but an old torn blanket and some nigs. Upon inquiring 
whither he was going, he answered, to Onondaga. I knew him, and 
asked him how he couUi undertake a journey of three hundred miles 
so naked and unprovided, having no provisions nor any arms to kill 
creatures for his subsistence ? He answered, he had been among ene- 
mies, and had been obliged to save himself by flight, and so had lost 
all. Tliis was true in part, for he had disposed of some of his things 
among the Irish for strong liquors. Upon further tilk, he told me very 
cheerfully, that 'Gud fed everything which had life, even the rattle- 
snake itself, though itwas a bad creature, and that God would also pro- 
vide in such a manner tliat he should get alive to Onondaga. He knew 
for certain that he should go thither ; that it was visible God was with 
the Indians in the wilderness, because they always cast their care upon 
him; but that, contrary to this, the Etiropi-ans always carried bread 
with them.' He was an Onondaga Indian ; his name was Onon- 
tagketa. The next day we traveled in company, and the day fol- 
lowing I provided him with a hatchet, knife, flint, and tinder, also 
shoes and stockings, and sent him before mo to give notice to the Coun- 
cil at Onondaga that I was coming, which he truly performed, being 
got thither three days before us. Two years ago I was sent by the 
Governor to Shamokin on accovint of the unhappy death uf John Artn- 
8(rong,the Indian trader (1744). After I had performed my errand, there 
was a feast prepared, to which the Governor's messengers wore itivited. 
There were about one hundred persons present, to whom, after we had 
in great silence devoured a fat bear, the eldest of tlie chiefs made a 
speech, in which he said, 'That by a great misfortune three of their 
brethren, the white men, had been killed by an Indian ; that neverthe- 
less the sun was not yet set (meaning there was no war); it had only 
been somewhat darkened by a small cloud, which was now done away. 
He that had done evil was like to bo punished, and the land to remain 
in peace ; therefore he exhorted his people to tiiankfulnesa to God, and 
thereupon he began to sing with an awful solemnity, but without ex- 
pressing any words. The others accompanied iiim with their voices. 
After they had done the same Indian, with great earnestness or fervor, 
spoke these words: 'Thanks, thanks, be to thee, thou great Lord of the 
world, in that thou hast again caused tlie sun to shine, and iiath dis- 
persed the dark cloud; tho Indians are thine.' One more instance 
may be mentioned on this subject, which has come under my own ob- 
servation and personal knowledge. In the summer of the year 1700 a 
niimber of religious Indians paid a visit to the Quakers in Philadelphia 
on a religious account. They were mostly of the Minusing tribe, and I 
came from a town called Mahackloosing or Wyalusing, on or near the ' 
Kiist Branch of the Susquehanna Uiver, in Pennsylvania, about two hun- i 
dred miles northwestward fiom the city. Tlieir chief man, whom the i 
rest of the company styled their minister, was named Papuneiiung or 
Papounan, and their interpreter, Job Chilloway, an Indian. On their 
arrival they waited on Governor Hamilton, to pay him their respects, ' 
and to deliver three prisoners whom they had reileemed, having them- ' 
selves absolutely refused to join with the other Indians in the savage 
war which niged about that time, though their visit was principally on 
a different account. They had a public conference with the Governor 
in the State-House on the occasion, in the presence of many citizens, 
wherein Papounan expressed the design of their visit was principally 
to the Quakei-8, on a religious account; that they desired to do justice, 
to love God, and to live in peace, requesting at tho same time that none 



origin, antiquity, habits, and customs seems unabated. 
Parkman. Campanius, Acrellus, Heckewelder, Peun, 
Gordon, Proud, and many others have written upon 
these red men of the forest and their occupancy of the 
country we now dwell upon. It is certainly true 
they have nowhere left a deep or lasting impression 
upon the face of the country occupied by them. To 
them the earth seems to have had no higher utilities 
than a vast hunting-ground. The future archaeolo- 
gist may yet find evidence of their origin and earlier 
conditions of life than those ascertained by writers 
of our age; to preserve all knowledge thus far ac- 
quired of them and, if possible, incite and facilitate 
further research concerning the remarkable race 
should induce writers of every century to carry for- 
ward their history. The time is not far distant when 
the remnant of this singular people will accept the 
inevitable and yield their wild and savage natures to 
the constant overtures of Christian civilization, when 
the descendants of chiefs and warriors will open mind 
and heart and take rank with educators of their 
generation. Their own race may yet furnish their 
arclueologists and true historians. 

We have reached a period in our history when In- 
dian training-schools are no longer experimental. 
The school at Carlisle, Pa., in successful operation 
with two hundred youthful inmates of both sexes, is 
in pleasing contrast with the former policy of the 
government, which maintained a military post at the 
same place for the training of " regulars" to slaughter 
the race on the plains of the West. It may well be 
that from the number of these people now in course 
of preparation for intellectual pursuits and a higher 
life there will come some one or more who will fulfill 

of bis company should be.permitted to have any spirituous liquors, etc. 
He refused the presents oflfered by the Governor, and gave him the rea- 
sons, further saying, 'I think on God, who madeua; I want to be in- 
structed in His worship and service. I am a great lover uf peace, and 
have never been concerned in war affairs. I have a sincere remem- 
brance of tho old friendship between the Indians and your forefathers, 
and shall ever observe it.' After mentioning some other things, and 
expressing himself further on the view or design of their visit on a 
religious account, he said, 'Though what he had mentioned respect- 
ing religious affairs might appear trivial to some who thought diff'eront 
from him, yi-t ho was fixed in his mind respecting them ; that their 
young men agreed with him, and wanted to love God, and to desist from 
their former bad course of life,' further declaring, ' I am glad to have 
an opportunity of mentioning these several afi'aira iu the presenceof 
such a large auditory of young and old people. The great God observes 
all that passes in our hearts, and hears all that we say one to an- 
other.' etc. The notes, etc., ou the occasion were taken from the in- 
terpreter by Secretary Peters. He then finished with a solemn act of 
public thanksgiving and prayer to God, with great devotion and energy, 
in the Indian language (not beingable to speak nor understand English). 
The unnsnaluess, force, and sovmd of the Indian language on suclt an 
occasion, with the manifest great sincerity, fervor, and concern of the 
speaker, seemed to strike the whole auditory in an uncommon manner, 
as well as the Indians themselves, who all the while behaved with a 
gravity and deportment becoming the occasion, and appeared to unite 
heartily with him in his devotion." 

Christian nations have always been zealous in missionary work, and 
veiy early in the history of this country pious and devoted men, often 
more eotbusiaatic than learned in their calling, came over from Euro- 
pean countries under special iiiatructious to convert the heathen Indians. 
The Swedes were uotublefor their efforts to "Christianize the savages." 



36 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the hope of Humboldt, who says, "I do not partici- 
pate in the rejecting spirit which has but too often 
thrown popular traditions into obscurity, but I am, on 
the contrary, firmly persuaded that by greater dili- 
gence and perseverance many of the historical prob- 
lems which relate to the maritime expeditions of the 
Middle Ages, to thestrikingidentity in religious tradi- 
tions, manner of dividing time, and works of art in 
America and Eastern Asia, to the migrations of the 
Mexican nations, to the ancient centres of dawning 
civilization in Aztlan, Quivira, and Upper Louisiana, 
as well as the elevated plateaux of Cundinamarca 
and Peru, will one day be cleared iij) by discoveries 
of facts with wliich we have hitherto been entirely 
unacquainted." Professor W. D. Whitney is not so 
prophetic as Humboldt, but in evident sympathy with 
him, and perhaps more practical : " What we have 
to do at present is simply to learn all we can of the 
Indian languages themselves, to settle their internal 
relations, elicit their laws of growth, reconstruct their 
older forms, and ascend toward their original condi- 
tion as far as the material within our reach and the 
state in which it is presented will allow ; if our studies 
shall at length put us in a position to deal with tlie 
questionof their Asiatic derivation, we will rejoice at it. 
I do not myself expect that valuable light will ever be 
shed upon the subject of linguistic evidence; others 
may be more sanguine, but all must at auy rate 
agree that, as things are, the subject is in no position 
to be taken up and discussed with profit." Never- 
theless, Professor Whitney insists that greater dili- 
gence should be devoted to the study of our antiqui- 
ties. **Our national duty and honor," he contends, 
"are peculiarly concerned in this matter of the study 
of aboriginal American languages as the most fertile 
and important branch of American archaeology. Eu- 
ropeans accuse us, with too much reason, of indiffer- 
ence and inefficieucy with regard to preserving me- 
morials of the races whom we have dispossessed and 
are dispossessing, and to promoting a thorough com- 
prehension of their history. Indian scholars and 
associations which devote themselves to gathering 
together and making public linguistic and other 
arch:£ological materials for construction of the proper 
ethnology of the continent are far rarer than they 
should be among us." 

A recent author ' has brought to notice in condensed 



1 Bancroft, in hja first edition, permits himself enough dalliance with 

the hypotbesia of a Ciilmnck or Mungoliiin immigration as to attempt 
to show that it was imt impossible, perhaps not improbahlc. Grotiiis, 
De Iiaet, etc., epecuhitcd with loss irifDrmntion ppihapg tlian our his- 
torian, and with more prejudices, but not more widuly from tlie purpose. 
Some writers luive assumed that the Plicciiicians and Carthaginians, be- 
cause they made adventurous voyages aud passed outsido the Straits of 
Hercules, must have como to America. Plati^'a myth of tiio AthuUidcs 
hafl been miulo (o do service in huuying up asunlcon continent out of 
Oie oozy depths of tho ocean and tlie niermaidcn grottoes of fintastic 
legend, Blcxicoand Peru, as has been iiifallibly shown limoaiid iigaiu, 
must Ijave got their monuments from E;;ypt or fri»m India,— Caniac, 
Luxor, Elephanta aro reprjduced at I'ali-ii(]iio and Uxritiil.at Cliolula 
and Cuzco. Aristullo is quoted to shuw that tho ancients muttt liavo 



form a number of references to the possible origin of 
the Indian races on this continent, which fully illus- 
trates the speculative theories indulged in by com- 
mentators upon the subject. The Indian tribes who 

had a knowledge of an intercuurse with America. Slight similarities 
of costume, face, and habits have been seized upon as eagerly as Penn 
seized upon the fact that the Indians counted time by moons (as if Penn 
himself did not do the same thing!) to establish relationship for our 
barbarians with the children of Israel, with tlie fugitive Canaanites, 
etc. The sons of Prince Bladoc of course liave not been neglected. 
White Indians in North Carolina spoke the purest sort of a Cymric dia- 
lect, and some of the Shawanese are reported tci have been seen carry iri^r 
around Welsh Bibles in tlie same belt along with their tomakawks and 
scalping-knives, Menassah Ben Israel concludes, upon the same snrt 
of data as those which convinced Penn, that the lost tribes emerged be- 
tween California and the Mississippi, but Spizelius and those who fol- 
lowed him in the last century were content to ascribe the origin of our 
Indians to a country less distant than the Levant. China, Tartary, Si- 
beria, and Kamtschatka, with the Aleutian archipelago, afforded a 
natur.il rnute for immigratinu. though no atiemiit is made to expUin 
how the hordes of savages were able to make their way through the 
frozen wastes of Alaska and British America. The fact that Leif, son 
of the Northman, ICric the Red, did discover America in the yearlOOO 
A.D, has make work for the pseudo-ethnologists as well as the poets in 
the scratchings on the Dighton rocks in Massachusetts, and the old mill 
at Newport, R. I., and has even led to the faciitious discovery of sup- 
posed inscriptions upon the face of the masses of Seneca sandstone at 
the falls of the Potomac. The Norsemen themselves encouraged the 
belief that on tlie Atlantic coast, between Virginia and Florida, a white 
nation existed, wiio clothed themselves in long, snowy robes, carried 
banners on lofty poles, and chanted songs and hymns. These were sup- 
posed to be the Irish immigrants, who replied in pure Gaelic when 
Raleigh's seamen accosted them, and spared Owen Chapebiin's life in 
1G69 because he spoke to them in Welsh, Alexander von Humboldt has 
condescended to listen to some of these fables, and to repeat them iu his 
Cosmos. The Chinese or Japanese settlement of our continent, by 
vessels coming over the Pacific Ocean, has found mauy advocates, Span- 
ish legends are adduced to confirm this view. M. de Guignes, in a 
memoir read before the French Academy of Inscriptions, contends that 
the Chinese penetrated to America A, D, 458, and adduces the description 
and chart of Fon Sang in proof. In our own day that ripe Philadelphia 
scholar, Charles G, Leland, has republished the story of the so-called 
island of Fou-Sang and its inhabitauts, De Guignee holds that the 
Chinese were familiar with the Straits of Magellan, and that theCoreans 
had a settlement on Terra del Fuego, Another Chinese immigration is 
assigned to xn. 1270, the time of the Tartar invasion of the " Ceutrat 
Flowery Kingdom." But there are other speculations still on this sub- 
ject, Thomas Morton, in his "New Canaan" (ad. 1037), argues for the 
Latin origin of the Indians, because he heard them use Latin words, 
and make allusions to the god Pan. Williamson thinks that the race 
unquestionably springs from a Hindoo or a Cingalese source, Thorow- 
good, Adair, and Coudinot agree with Penn and Rabbi hen Menasseh, 
Roger Williams also said, "Some taste of affinity with the Hebrew I 
have found." Cotton Mather thought that "probably tho Devil, seducing 
tho first inhabitants of America into it, therein aimed at the having of 
them and their posterity out of tlie sound of the silver trumpets of the 
gospel, then to bo heard throughout the Roman empire. If tho Devil 
had any expectation that by the peopling of America he should utterly 
deprive any Europeans of the two benefits, literature and religion, which 
dawned upon the miserable world (one just bef»re, tho other just after 
tho first Timed navigation hither), Uis to bo hoped ho will ho disap- 
pninted of tliat expectation," As for iho source of the Indians, Mather 
fancied them SL-ythians, because they answered Julius Cajsar's descrip- 
tion of "lUJfirVitts iiivenire qnam int^rficcre."^ But tho fact of idle aud 
comical opinions on this subject docs not destroy the interest in these 
speculations, nor tho utility of continuing our investigations, on a 
ratiiMial b;isis, into American nrchaiology, 

[Tho AlgonUiits, tho Lenni Lcnapes in Pennsylvania, were also vari- 
ously called irrtjjdiincti (European corruptions: Openaki, Ojjenagi, Abei^ 
agttis, ApcuaJcis). Tho Delaware regions appear to have boon their prin- 
cipal seat, though affiliated and derivative nations of their Rtocltwere 
found from Hudson's Bay to Florida, and from Lake Superior to Enat 
Tennessee, Forty tribes acknowledg'-d the Lonapes as grandfather or 
parout stock. Their ti'adltious, which arc not always authentic, relata 



THE ABORIGINES. 



37 



dwelt among the primitive forests of Pennsylvania, 

as well as those of Delaware, New Jersey, and a part 
of Maryland, called themselves the Lenni Lenape, or 
the original people. This general name compre- 



that the tribe once upon a time dwelt in the far distant wilds of the 
West, whence they moved eastward towards sunrise by slow stages, often 
passinK a year in a single camp, l.nt eventually reaching tht- bank of the 
Namesi Sipu, the River of Fish (Mississippi), where they found the 
Mengwes or Iroquois, migrating like themselves, but who had de- 
scended from the northwest. The Lenape scouts reported the country 
east of the river to be held by a people called tlie AlU'yewi (whence the 
name Allegheny Kiver and Jlouutains), who were numerous, tall, stout, 
some of them giants, all dwelling in intrenched or fortified towns. The 
Lenape were denied leave to settle among the Allegewi.hut obtained 
permission to pass through their country. When they were half over 
the river, however, the AUegewi attacked and drove thera back with 
great loss. The Lenape now formed an alliance with the Mengwe ; the 
two natiiMis united forces, crossed the river, attacked the AUegewi, and 
after a long and desperate war defeated them and expelled them from 
their country, thejf iieeing southward. The conquered country was ap- 
jiortioned between the conquerors, the Mengwes choosing the northern 
part, along the lakes, the Lenapes choosing the more southern section, 
binding on both sides of the Ohio. Moving eastward still, they came 
finally to the Delaware River and the ocean, and them e spread beyond 
the Hudson on the north and beyond the Potomac on the south. This 
legend, however, ia full of inconsistencies and incompatibilities, and 
hardly answers to what was known of the condition and location of the 
great Algonkin race at the time of the first settlement of the whites 
among them. As to their origin as members of the human family, they 
have divers legends. Tliey claim to have come out of a cave in the earth, 
like the woodchuckand the chipmuck; to have sprung from a snail that 
wiig transforuied into a hunuin being and taught to hunt by a kind 
."Manitou, after which it was received into the ludgo of the beaver and 
married the beaver's favorite daughter. In another myth a woman is 
tliscovered hovering in mid-air above the watery waste of chaos. She 
lias fallen or been expelled from heaven, and there is no earth to offer her 
a resting-place. The tortoise, however, rose from the depths and put his 
broad, shield-like back at her service, and she descended upon it and 
made it lier abode, for its doroe-like oval resembled the first emergence 
of dry land from the waters of the deluge. The tortoise slept upon the 
deep, and round the margin of his shell the barnacles gathered, the 
scum of the sea collected, and the floating fragments of the shredded 
sea-weed accumulated until the dry land grew apace, and by and by 
there was all that broad expanse of island which now constitutes North 
America. The woman, weary of watching, worn out with sighs for her 
lonesoinenes^, dropped off into a tranquil slumber, and in that sleep she 
dreamed of a spirit who came to her from her lost home above the skies, 
anil of that dream the fruits were sons and daugliters, from whom have 
descended the human race. Another legend personifies the Great Spirit 
under the form of a gigantic bird that descended upon the face of the 
waters, and brooded there until the earth arose. Tlien the Spirit, exer- 
cising its creative power, made the plants atid animals, and lastly man, 
who was formed out of the integuments of the dog, and endowed with 
a magic arrow that was to be preserved with great care, for it was at 
once a blessing and a safeguard. But the man carelessly lost the arrow, 
whereupon the Spirit soared away upon its bird-like wings and was no 
longer seen, and man had henceforth to hunt and struggle for his live- 
lihood. Manabozho, relates the general Algonkin tradition, created the 
different tribes of red men out of the carcasses of different animals, the 
beaver, the eagle, the wolf, the serpent, the tortoise, etc. Manabozho, 
Messon, Jlichahoo, or Nanabush is a demi-god who works the metamor- 
phoses of nature. He is the king of all the beasts; his father was the 
west wind, his mother the moon's great-grandfather, and sometimes he 
appears in the form of a wolf or a bird, but his usual shape is that of the 
Gigantic Hare. Often Manabozho masquerades in the figure of a man 
of great endowments and ninjeetic stature, when he is a magician after 
the order of Prospero ; but when he takes the form of some impish elf, 
then he is more tricksy than Ariel, and more full of hobgoblin devices 
than Puck. " His powers of transformation are without limit; his 
curitsity and malice are insatiable ;" he has inspired a tliousand 
legends; he is the central figure in the fairy realm of the Indian, 
which, indeed, is not very fully nor genially peopled. Manabozho is 
the restorer of the world, submerged by a deluge which the serpent- 
mauitous have caused. Manabozho climbs a tree, saves himself, and 



handed numerous distinct tribes, all speaking dialects 
of a common language (the Algonkin), and uniting 
around the same great council-fire. Their grand 
council-house, to use their own expressive figure, ex- 
tended from the eastern bank of the Hudson on the 
northeast to the Potomac on the southwest. Many 
of the tribes were directly descended from the com- 
mon stock; others, having sought their sympathy 
and protection, had been allotted a section of their 
territory. The surrounding tribes not of this confed- 
eracy, nor acknowledging allegiance to it, agreed in 
awarding to them the honor of being the grayidfatherf-; 
that is, the oldest residents in this region. There 
was an obscure tradition among the Lenni Lenape 
that in ages past their ancestors had emigrated east 
ward from the Mississippi, conquering or expelling 
on their route that great and apparently more civil- 
ized nation whose monuments, in the shape of 
mounds, are so profusely scattered over the great 
Western valley, and of which several also remain in 
Pennsylvania along the western slope of the Alle- 
ghany Mountains. The Lenni Lenape nation was 
divided into three principal divisions, — the Unamis, 
or Turtle tribes j the Unalachtgos, or Turkeys; and 
the Monseys, or Wolf tribes. The two former occu- 
pied the country along the coast between the sea and 
the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain, their settlement 
extending as far east as the Hudson and as far west as 
the Potomac. These were generally known among 
the whites as the Delaware Indians. The Monseys, 
or Wolf tribes, the most active and warlike of the 
whole, occupied the mountainous country between 
the Kittatinny Mountain and the sources of the Sus- 
quehanna and Delaware Rivers, kindling their coun- 
cil-fire at the Minisink flats on the Delaware above 
the Water Gap. A part of the tribe also dwelt on the 
Susquehanna, and they had also a village and a peach- 
orchard in the Forks of the Delaware, where Naza- 
reth is now situated. These three principal divisions 
were divided into various subordinate clans, who as- 
sumed names suited to their character or situation. 

The Shawanos, or Shawanees, a restless and fero- 
cious tribe, having been threatened with extermina- 
tion by a more powerful tribe at the South, sought 
protection among the friendly nations of the North, 
whose language was observed to bear a remarkable 
affinity with their own. A majority of them settled 
along the Ohio, from the Wabash to near Pittsburgh. 
A portion was received under the protection of the 
Lenni Lenapes, and permitted to settle near the Forks 
of the Delaware and on the flats below Philadelphia. 
But they soon became troublesome neighbors, and 
were removed by the Delawares (or possibly by the 



sends a loon to dive for mud from which he can make a new world. 
The loon fails to reach the bottom ; the muskrat, which next attempts 
the feat, returns lifeless to the surface, but with a little sand in the 
bottom of its paw, from which the Great Hare is able to recreate the 
world. In other legends the otter and beaver dive in vain, but the 
muskrat succeeds, losing his life in the attempt.]— Sc/i<«/'? History oj 
Fbihiihljjhia. 



38 



HISTOHY OF iMONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Six Nations) to the Susquehanna Valley, where they 
had a village at the Shawnee flats, below Wilkesbarre, 
on the west side of the river. During the Revolu- 
tion and the war of 1812 their name became con- 
spicuous in the history of the Northern frontier. 
The Lenni Leuape tribes consisted, at the first settle- 
ment of Pennsylvania, of the A.ssunpink, or Stony 
Creek Indians; the Rankokas (Lamikas or Chiche- 
quaas) ; Andastakas, at Christiana Creek, near Wil- 
mington; Neshaminies, in Bucks County; Shacka- 
maxons, about Kensington; Mantas, or Frogs, near 
Burlington; the Tuteloes and Nanticokes, in Mary- 
land and Virginia (the latter afterwards removed up 
the Susquehanna) ; the Monseys, or Minisinks, near 
the Forks of the Delaware; the Mandes and the Nar- 
riticongs, near the Raritan ; the Capitanasses, the 
Gacheos, the Monseys, and the Pomptons, in New 
Jersey. A few scattered clans or warlike hordes of 
the Mingoes were living here and there among the 
Lenapes. Another great Indian confederacy claims 
attention, whose acts have an important bearing upon 
the history of Pennsylvania. This confederacy was 
originally known in the annals of New York as the 
Five Nations, and subsequently, after they had been 
joined by the Tuscaroras, as the Six Nations. As 
confederates they called themselves Aquanuschioni, 
or United People. By the Lenapes they were called 
Mengue, or Mingoes, and by the French the Iroquois. 
The original Five Nations were the Onondagas, the 
Cayugas, the Oneidas, the Seuecas, and the Mohawks. 
In 1712 the Tuscaroras, being expelled from the in- 
terior of North Carolina and Virginia, were adopted 
as a sixth tribe. The language of all the tribes of 
the confederacy, except the Tuscaroras, was radically 
the same, and different from that of the Lenni Lenape. 
Their dominion stretched from the borders of Ver- 
mont to Lake Erie, and from Lake Ontario to the 
head-waters of the Allegheny, Susquehanna, and 
Delaware Rivers. This territory they styled their 
long house. The grand council-fire was held in the 
Onondaga Valley. The Seneeas guarded the western 
door of the house, the Mohawks the eastern, and the 
Cayugas the southern, or that which o])ened upon the 
Susquehanna. The Mohawk nation was the first in 
rank, and to it appertained the office of principal war 
chief; to the Onondagas, who guarded the grand 
council-fire, appertained in like manner the office of 
lirincipal civil chief, or chief sachem. The Seneeas, 
in numbers and military energy, were the most pow- 
erful. 

The peculiar location of the Iroquois gave them 
an immense advantage. On the great channels of 
water conveyance, to which their territories are con- 
tiguous, they were enabled in all directions to carry 
war and devastation to the neighboring or to the 
more distant nations. Nature had endowed them 
with a height, strength, and symmetry of person 
which distinguished them at a glance among the in- 
dividuals of other tribes. They were as brave as they 



were strong, but ferocious and cruel when excited in 
savage warfare; crafty, treacherous, and over-reach- 
ing when these qualities best suited their purpose. 
The proceedings of their grand council were marked 
with great decorum and solemnity. In eloquence, 
in dignity, and profound policy their speakers might 
well bear comparison with the statesmen of civilized 
assemblies. By an early alliance with the Dutch on 
the Hudson they secured the use of fire-arms, and 
were thus enabled not only to repel the encroach- 
ments of the French, but also to exterminate or re- 
duce to a state of vassalage many Indian nations. 
From these they exacted an annual tribute or ac- 
knowledgment of fealty, permitting them, however, 
on that condition to occupy their former hunting- 
grounds. " The humiliation of tributary nations 
was, however, tempered with a paternal regard for 
their interests in all negotiations with the whites, 
and care was taken that no trespasses should be com- 
mitted on their rights, and that they should be justly 
dealt with." To this condition of vassalage the Lenni 
Lenape or Delaware nation had been reduced by the 
Iroquois, as the latter asserted, by conquest. The 
Lenapes, however, smarting under the humiliation, 
invented for the whites a cunning tale in explanation, 
whicli they succeeded in imposing upon the worthy 
and venerable Mr. Heckewelder, the Moravian mis- 
sionary. Their story was that by treaty and by vol- 
untary consent they had agreed to act as mediators 
and peace-makers among the other great nations, 
and to this end they had consented to lay aside en- 
tirely the implements of war, and to hold and to keej) 
bright the chain of peace. This, among individual 
tribes, was the usual province of women. The Dela- 
wares therefore alleged that they were figuralivety 
termed women on this account; but the Iroquois 
evidently called them women in quite another sense. 
" They always alleged that the Delawares were con- 
quered by their arms, and were compelled to this 
humiliating concession as the only means of averting 
impending destruction." In the course of time, how- 
ever, the Delawares were enabled to throw off the 
galling yoke, and at Tioga, in the year 1756, Teedy- 
uscung e.xtorted from the Iroquois chiefs an acknowl- 
edgment of their independence. This peculiar rela- 
tion between the Indian nation that occupied, and 
that which claimed a paramount jurisdiction over, 
the soil of Pennsylvania tended greatly to embarrass 
and complicate the negotiations of the Proprietary 
government for the purchase of lands, and its influ- 
ence was seen and felt both in the civil and military 
history of Pennsylvania until after the close of the 
Revolution. 

George Alsop, in bis tract called '" A Character of 
the Province of Maryland" (London, 1666), devotes 
a chapter to " A Relation of the Customs, Manners, 
Absurdities, and Religion of the Susquehaunock In- 
dians in and near Maryland." These were the 
Mengwes of Campanius, and the Susquesahannoughs 



THE ABORIGINES. 



39 



of Capt. Smith. Alsop says they are regarded as " the 
most Noble and Heroick Nation of Indians that dwell 
upon the confines of America; also are so allowed 
and loolct U[)on by the rest of the Indians, by a sub- 
mission and tributary acknowledgment, being a people 
cast into the mould of a most large and warlike de- 
portment, the men being for the most part seven foot 
high in altitude and in magnitude and bulk suitable 
to so high a pitch ; their voyce large and hollow, as 
ascending out of a Cave, their gate and behavior 
straight, steady, and majestick, treading on the Earth 
with as much pride, contempt, and disdain to so sordid 
a Centre as can be imagined from a creature derived 
from the same mould and Earth." They go naked 
summer and winter, says Alsop, " only where shame 
leads them by a natural instinct to be reservedly 
modest, there they become cover'd. The formality of 
Jezabel's artificial Glory is much courted and followed 
by these Indians, only in matter of colours (I con- 
ceive) they differ." They paint tlieir faces in alter- 
nate streaks of different colors, and Alsop thinks, with 
other early writers, that their skins are naturally 
white but changed to red and cinnamon-brown by the 
use of pigments. Their hair is "black, long, and 
liarsh," and they do not permit it to grow anywhere 
except upon the head. Tiie Susquehannas tattooed 
their arms and breasts with their different totems, 
"the picture of the Devil, Bears, Tigers, and Pan- 
thers. They are great warriors, always at war, and 
keep their neighbors in subjection." Their govern- 
ernment is complex and hard to make out; "all that 
ever I could observe in them as to this matter is, that 
he that is most cruelly Valorous is accounted the most 
Noble," which is a very good approximation of the 
fact that the war-chief derives his rank or influence 
from his deeds. Our author adds that when they 
determine to go upon some Design that will and doth 
require a consideration, some six of them get into a 
Corner and sit in Juncto, and if thought fit their 
business is made popular and immediately put in ac- 
tion ; if not, they make a full stop to it, and are 
silently reserv'd. On the war-path they paint and 
adorn their persons, first well greased ; their arms, 
the hatchet and fusil, or bow and arrows. Their war 
parties are small; they march out from their fort 
singing and whooping; if they take prisoners they 
treat them well, but dress them and anoint them so 
that they may be ready for the stake and torture when 
their captors return home. Alsop gives a full account 
of the jirocess of torture, and declares that prisoners 
are hacked to pieces and eaten by the warriors. The 
religion of the Susquehannas Alsop regarded as an 
absurd and degrading superstition, they being devil- 
worshipers; but he admits that, "with a kind of 
wilde imaginary conjecture, they suppose from their 
groundless conceits that the World had a Maker." 
They sacrifice a child to the devil every four years, 
and their medicine-men have great influence among 
them. Their dead are buried sitting, face due west, 



and all their weapons, etc., around them. The houses 
of the Susquehannas "are low and long, built with 
the bark of trees arch-wise, standing thick and con- 
fusedly together." The hunters go on long winter 
liunts; the women are the menials and drudges, and 
yet they are commended for their beauty of form, and 
their husbands are said to be very constant to them. 
"Their marriages," says Alsop, in conclusion, "are 
short and authentique ; for after 'tis resolv'd upon by 
both parties, the Woman sends her intended Husband 
a kettle of boil'd Venison, or Bear, and lie returns in 
lieu thereof Beaver or Otter Skins, and so their Nup- 
tial Rites are concluded without other Ceremony." 

The Rev. John Campanius, Swedish chaplain of 
Governor Printz, and who resided on Tinicum Island, 
near tlio mouth of the Schuylkill, from 1642 to 16-18, 
gives us in his " NyaSwerige" an excellent account 
of the Indians, which contains information we have 
been unable to find in any other work. What adds 
to the interest of his description is, that he wrote 
it from his own actual observations, and that, too, at 
a period dating back nearly to the first landing of the 
Europeans in this part of the country. His arrival 
here was forty years previous to the first landing of 
Penn, or two years before the founder of the colony 
was born. On account of the rarity of Mr. Campa- 
nius' work and its appropriateness, we give place to 
the following extract : 

" Their way of living was very simple. With ar- 
rows, pointed with sharp stones, they killed the deer 
and other creatures. They made axes from stones, 
which they fastened to a stick, to kill the trees where 
they intended to plant. They cultivated the ground 
with a sort of hoe made from the shoulder-blade of a 
deer or a tortoise-shell, sharpened with stones and 
fastened to a stick. They made pots of clay, mixed 
with powdered mussel-shells burned in fire, to pre- 
pare their food in. By friction they made fire from 
two pieces of hard wood. The trees they burnt down 
and cut into pieces for firewood. On journeys they 
carried fire a great ways in spunk, or sponges found 
growing on tlie trees. They burned down great trees, 
and shaped them into canoes by fire and the help of 
sharp stones. Men and women were dressed in skins; 
the women made themselves under-garments of wild 
hemp, of which also they made twine to knit the 
feathers of turkeys, eagles, etc., into blankets. The 
earth, the woods, and the rivers were the provision 
stores of the Indians ; for they eat all kinds of wild 
animals and productions of the earth, fowls, birds, 
fishes, and fruits, which they find within their reach. 
They shoot deer, fowls, and birds with the bow and 
arrow; they take the fishes in the same manner; 
when the waters are high the fish run up the creeks 
and return at ebb-tide, so that the Indians can easily 
shoot them at low water and drag them ashore." 

"They eat, generally , but twice a day, morning 
and afternoon ; the earth serves them for tables and 
chairs. They sometimes broil their meat and their 



40 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY 



fish, other times dry them in the sun, or in the 
smoke, and thus eat them. They make bread out of 
the maize or Indian corn, which they prepare in a 
manner peculiar to themselves : they crush the grain 
between two great stones, or on a large piece of wood; 
they moisten it with water, and make it into small 
cakes, which they wrap up in corn-leaves, and thus 
bake them in the ashes. In this manner they make 
their bread. The Swedes made use of it when they 
first came. They can fast, when necessity compels 
them, for many days. When traveling, or lying in 
wait for their enemies, they take with them a kind 
of bread made of Indian corn and tobacco juice, to 
allay their hunger and quench their thirst in case 
they have nothing else at hand. The drink, before 
the Christians came into this country, was nothing 
but water, but now they are very fond of strong 
liquors. Both men and women smoke tobacco, 
which grows in their country in great abundance. 
They have, besides corn, beans, and pumpkins, a sort 
of original dogs with short pointed ears. 

" The American Indians had no towns or fixed 
places of habitation. They mostly wandered about 
from one place to another, and generally went to 
those places where they could find the most likely 
means of support. In spring and summer they pre- 
ferred the banks of rivers, where they found plenty 
offish ; but in winter they went up into the country, 
where they found abundance of venison. When they 
travel, they carry their game with them wherever 
they go, and fix it on poles, under which they dv^ell. 
When they want fire they strike it out of a piece of 
dry wood, of which they find plenty ; and in that 
manner they are never at a loss for fire to warm 
themselves, or to cook their meat. Their principal 
articles of furniture are a kettle, in which they boil 
their meat, and some dishes or plates of bark and 
cedar-wood, out of which they eat ; for drinking they 
use commonly the shell of the calabash. 

" When a Christian goes to visit them in their 
dwellings, they immediately spread on the ground 
pieces of cloth and fine mats or skins ; then they 
produce the best they have, as bread, deer, elk, or 
bear's meat, fresh fish and bear's fat, to serve in lieu 
of butter, which they generally broil upon the coals. 
These attentions must not be despised, but must be 
received with thankfulness, otherwise their friendship 
will turn to hatred. When an Indian visits his friend, 
a Christian, he must always uncover his table at the 
lower end, for the Indian will have his liberty ; and 
he will immediately jump upon the table, and sit on 
it with his legs crossed, for they are not accustomed 
to sit upon chairs ; he then asks for whatever he 
would like to eat of When the Swedes first arrived 
the Indians were in the habit of eating the fiesh of 
their enemies. Once on an occasion they invited a 
Swede to go with them to their habitation in the 
woods, where they treated him with the best the 
house afforded. Their entertainment was sumptuous ; 



there was broiled, boiled, and even hashed meat, all 
of which the Swede partook with them, but it seems 
it did not well agree with him. The Indians, how- 
ever, did not let him know what he had been eating; 
but it was told him some time after by some other 
Indians, who let him know that he had fed on the 
flesh of an Indian of a neighboring tribe with whom 
they were at war." 

The earliest purchase by Penn of any part of what 
now constitutes Montgomery County was made the 
25th of June, 1683, of Wingebone, for all his right to 
lands lying on the west side of the Schuylkill, begin- 
ning at the lower falls of the same, and so on up and 
backwards of said stream as far as his right goes. The 
next purchase was made the 14th of July of the same 
year, from Secane and Idquoquehan and others, for 
all the land lying between the Manayunk or Schuyl- 
kill River and Macopanackhan or Chester River, and 
up as far as the Conshohocken Hill, which is opposite 
the present borough of that name. On the same day 
another purchase was made of Neneshickan, Male- 
bore, Neshanocke, and Oscreneon for the lands lying 
between the Schuylkill and Pennepack streams, and 
extending as fiir northwest as Conshohocken, but now 
better known as Edge Hill. On the 3d of June, 1684, 
all the right of Maughhongsink to the land along the 
Perkiomen Creek was duly sold and conveyed. On 
the 7th of the same month and year, Mettamicont 
relinquished all his right to lands on both sides of 
the Pennepack. July 30, 1685, Shakhoppa, Secane, 
Malebore, and Tangoras conveyed all their right to 
lands situated between Chester and Pennepack Creeks, 
and extending up into the country, in a northwest 
direction from the sources of those streams, two full 
days' journey. This almost takes in the whole of the 
county, excepting only that portion lying east of the 
Pennepack Creek. July 5, 1697, another purchase 
was made from Tamany, Weheeland, Wehequeekhon, 
Yaqueekhon, and Quenamockquid for all their right 
to lands lying between the Pennepack and Neshaminy 
Creeks, and extending in a northwest direction from 
the Delaware as far as a horse could travel in two 
days. Thus was finally extinguished by purchase all 
the right and title of the Indians to any portion of 
the soil now embraced within the limits of Montgom- 
ery County. 

An Indian council was held by previous appoint- 
ment at the house of Edward Farmer, where is now 
the village of White Marsh, on the 19th of May, 1712. 
The Governor, Charles Gookin, was present, with the 
sheriff, John Budd, Conrad Richard Walker, and 
others. A delegation of eleven Delaware Indians 
was present, Sassunan being the principal chief, ac- 
companied by Ealochelan and Scholichy, the latter 
being speaker. Edward Farmer, who was quite fa- 
miliar with the Indian language, performed the duties 
of interpreter, ^cholichy, in his address to the Gov- 
ernor, mentioned that as the Delawares had been 
made tributary to the Mingoes, or Five Nations, many 



THE ABOIUGINES. 



41 



years ago, they had tliought proper to call on him 
previous to their seeing those tribes, and that they 
had brought their tribute along, wliich was duly pre- 
sented to the Governor, and consisted of thirty-two 
belts of wampum,^ of various figures, and a long In- 
dian pipe called the calumet, made of stone, the shaft 
of which was adorned with feathers resembling wings, 
besides other ornaments. Their business was amicably 
adjusted to the entire satisfaction of all parties. On 
this occasion the Governor and his friends, thirteen 
in number, came from Philadelphia on horseback. 

Of their true character, tribal relations, habits of 
daily life and customs, William Penn has given us 
graphic pictures. His colonial enterprise necessarily 
comprehended contact with the race possessing the 

1 Wampum passed as current money between the early whites ami 
Indians. There were two kinds of it, the white and purple. They 
were both workerfinto the form of heads, generally each iiboiit half an 
inch long, and one-eighth broad, with a hule drilled through them hi» as 
tu be strung on leather or hempen strings. The white was made out of 
the great couch or sea-shell, and the purple out of the inside of the 
Miussel-shell. These beads, we shall call them, after being strung, were 
next woven by the Indian women into belts, sometimes broader than a 
person's hand, and about two feet long. It was these that were given 
and received at their various treaties as seals of friendship ; in matters 
uf less importance only a single string was given. Two pieces of white 
wampum were considered to equal in value one of the purple. The 
calumel was a large smoking-pipe, made out of some soft stone, com- 
monly of a dark-red color, well polished, and shaped somewhat in the 
form of a hatchet, and ornamented with large feathers of several colors. 
It was used in all their treaties with the whites, and it was considered 
by them as a Hag of truce between contending parties, which it would 
be a liigh crime to violate. In fact, the calumet by them was consirl- 
ered as sacred and as serious an obligation as an oath among the Chris- 
tians. 

The value of Indian lauds at that time to the savages nmy be gath- 
ered from tlie price paid in 1677 for twenty miles square on the Dela- 
ware between Timber and Oldman's Creeks, to wit. : '-iO match-coats (made 
of hairy wool with the rough side out), 2U guns, 30 kettles.l great kettle, 
iJOpair of hose, 20 fathoms of duflfels (Duffield blanket cloth, of which 
match-coats were made), 30 petticoats, 30 narrow hoes, 30 bars of lead, 
15 smalt barrels of powder, 70 knives, 30 Indian axes, 70 combs. GO pair 
of tobacco tongs, 60 pair of scissors, 60 tinshaw looking-glasses, 12(< 
awl-blades, 120 fish-hooks, 2 grasps of red paint, 120 needles, fiO tobacco- 
lK)xe8, 120 pipes, 2U0 bells, 100 jews-harpa, and 6 anchors of rum. Tlio 
value of these articles probably did not exceed three hundred pounds 
bteiling. But, on the other hand, the Indian titles were really worth 
nothing, except so far as they served as a security against Indian hos- 
tility. It has been said that there is not an acre of larul in the eastern 
part of Pennsylvania the deeds of which cannot be traced up to an 
Indian title, but that in effect would he no title at all. Mr. Lawrence 
Lewis, in his learned and luminous " Essay on Original Land Titles in 
Philadelphia," denies this absolutely, and says that it is " impossible to 
trace with any accuracy" the titles to hind in Philadelphia derived from 
the iTidians. Nor is it necessary to trace a title which is nf no value. 
The Indians could not sell land to individuals and give valid title for it 
in any of the colonies; they could sell if they chose, but only U) the 
government. Upon this subject the lawyers are explicit. All good 
titles in the thirteen original colonies are derived from land-grants, 
made or accepted not by the Indians, but by the British crown. Thus 
Chalmers (Political Annals, 677) say*, "The law of nations sternly 
disregarded the ptjssession of the aborigines, because they had not been 
admitted into the society of nations." At the Declaration of Independ- 
ence (see Dallas' Reports, ii. 470) every acre of land in this country was 
held, mediately oi" immediately, by grants from the crown. All oiir 
institutions (Wheaton, viii. 588) recognize the absolute title of the 
crown, subject only to the Indian right of occupancy, and recognize 
The absolute title of the crown to extinguish that right. An Indian 
conveyance alone could give no title to an individual. (The references 
here given are quoted from the accurate Frothingham's *' Uise of the 
Uepublic") 



territory granted to him by his royal benefactor; his 
intercourse with them was studied to the extent of 
acquiring a knowledge of their language, hence his 
observations are of more than usual interest. 




DKLAWAUK INIHAN. 

" The natives are proper and shapely, very swift, 
their language lofty. They speak little, but fervently 
and with elegancy. I have never seen more naturall 
sagacity, considering them without y* help — I was 
going to say y^ spoyle — of tradition. The worst is 
that they are y'" wors for y* Christians who have propa- 
gated their views and yielded them tradition for y*^ 
wors & not for y^ better things, they believe a Deity 
and Immortality without y*" help of metaphysicks & 
some of them admirably sober, though y' Dutch & 
Sweed and English have by Brandy and Rum almost 
Debaucht y"* all and when Drunk ye most wretched 
of spectacles, often burning & sometimes murdering 
one another, at which times y^ Christians are not with- 
out danger as well as fear. Tho' for gain they will 
run the hazard both of y' and y* Law, they make their 
worshipp to consist of two parts, sacrifices w*" they offer 



42 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of their first fruits with marvellous fervency and la- 
bour of holy sweating as if iu a bath, the other is their 
Canticoes, as they call them, w"^*" is performed by round 
Dances, sometimes words, then songs, then shouts, two 
being in ye midle y' begin and direct y" chorus ; this 
they jierforme with equal fervency but great appear- 
ances of joy. In this I admire them, nobody shall 
want w' another has, yett they have propriety (prop- 
erty) but freely communicable, they want or care for 
little, no Bills of Exchange nor Bills of Lading, no 
Chaacery suits nor Exchequer Acct, have they to per- 
plex themselves with, they are soon satisfied, and 
their pleasure feeds them, — I mean hunting and fish- 
ing." 

This letter is made much more full in the one to 
the Free Society of Traders, written in August of the 
same year. The natives, Penn says, are generally 
tall, straight in their person, " well built, and of sin- 
gular proportion [/.c, of symmetry] ; they tread strong 
and clever, and mostly walk with a lofty chin.' Of 
complexion black, but by design, as the gipsies in 
England. They grease themselves with bear's fat 
clarified, and using no defence against sun and weather, 
their skins must needs be swarthy. Their eye is livid 
and black, not unlike a straight-looked Jew. The 
thick lips and flat nose, so frequent with the East 
Indians and black, are not common to them ; for I 
have seen as comely European-like faces among them, 
of both sexes, as on your side the sea ; and truly an 
Italian complexion hath not more of the white; and 
the noses of several of them have as much of the 
Roman. Their language is lofty, yet narrow ; but, 
like the Hebrew, in signification full. Like short- 
hand in writing, one word serveth in the place of 
three, and the rest are supplied by the understanding 
of the hearer; imperfect in their tenses, wanting in 
their moods, participles, adverbs, conjunctions, and 
interjections. I have made it my business to under- 
stand it, that I miglit not want an interpreter on any 
occasion ; and I must say that I know not a language 
spoken in Europe that hath words of more sweetness 
or greatness, in accent and emphasis, than theirs ; for 



1 Penn had noticed a singularity in the Indians' gait, yet did not detect 
what it was; yet it is so obvious tliat a few years back, in Kentucliy, 
where the people still walk like the Indians, even a school-boy would 
recognize a person from the E;i3t by differences in his way of walking 
from the way of those to the manner born. The Indian steps with a 
perfectly straight foot and without turning his toes out, so that if the 
sun were upon his back the shadow of bis shanks would entirely cover 
his feet. This tread U the antithesis of that of the sailor, who walks 
with his toes very much turnetl out, and the European and tlie Eastern 
man walks like him. In both cases convenience and propriety are suited: 
the sailor, by his mode oT locomotion, is enabled to tread more firmly and 
safely upon an uncertain deck that is always uneasy; the Indian, by 
his mode, is able to walk more safely the narrow forest path, and to step 
also with greater stealth and softness in pursuit of his enemy and his 
game where leaves to rustle and twigs to break are numerous. But the 
difference is that the sailor "rolls" in his gait and his slionlders swing 
from side to side, while the Indian's walk makes him carry himself sin- 
gularly straight, his shoulders never diverging frtim a i>erpendicular. 
This little circumstance added materially to the outward appearance of 
;jravity in the savage's general demeanor. 



instance, Octockekon, Rancocas, Oricton, Shak, Mar- 
ian, Poquesian, all which are names of places, and 
have grandeur in them. Of words of sweetness, anna 
is mother ; issimus, a brother ; nefeap, friend ; iw- 
qiieoret, very good ; pane, bread ; mefsa, eat ; mattu, 
no ; halta, to have ; payo, to come ; Sepassen, Passijon, 
the names of places ; Tamane, Secane, Menanse, Seca- 
tareus are the names of persons. If one ask them 
for anything they have not, they will answer, matta 
ne hatta, which, to translate, is 'not I have,' instead 
of ' I have not.' 

" Of their customs and manners there is much to be 
said. I will begin with children. So soon as they 
are born they wash them in water, and while very 
young and in cold weather to choose, they plunge 
them in the rivers to harden and embolden them. 
Having wrapt them in a clout, they lay them on a 
strait thin board a little more than the length and 
breadth of the child, and swaddle it fast upon the 
board to make it straight; wherefore all Indians have 
flat heads ; and thus they carry them at their backs. 
The children will go [walk] very young, at nine 
months commonly. They wear only a small clout 
around their waist till they are big. If boys, they go 
a-fishing till ripe for the woods, which is about fifteen. 
There they hunt; and having given some proofs of 
their manhood by a good return of skins, they marry; 
else it is a shame to think of a wife. The girls stay 
with their mothers, and help to hoe the ground, plant 
corn, and carry burthens; and they do well to use 
them to that, while young, which they must do when 
they are old; for the wives are the true servants of 
the husbands ; otherwise the men are very afl'ectionate 
to them. When the young women are fit for marriage 
they wear something upon their heads for an adver- 
tisement, but so as their faces are hardly to be seen 
but when they please. The age they marry at, if 
women, is about thirteen and fourteen ; if men, seven- 
teen and eighteen. They are rarely older. Their 
houses are mats or barks of trees, set on poles in the 
fashion of an English barn, but out of the power of 
the winds, for they are hardly higher than a man. 
They lie on reeds or grass. In travel they lodge in 
the woods about a great fire, with the mantle of duffils 
they wear by day wrapt about them and a few boughs 
stuck round them. Their diet is maize or Indian corn 
divers ways prepared, sometimes roasted in the aslies, 
sometimes beaten and boiled with water, which they 
call homine. They also make cakes not unpleasant to 
eat. They have likewise several sorts of beans and 
peas that are good nourishment, and the woods and 
rivers are their larder. If an European comes to see 
them, or calls for lodging at their house or wigwam, 
they give him the best place and first cut. If they 
come to visit us they salute us with an Itah .' which is 
as much as to say, ' Good be to you !' and set them 
down, which is mostly on the ground, close to their 
heels, their legs upright; it may be they speak not a 
word, but observe all passages [all that passes]. If 



THE ABORIGINES. 



43 



you give them anything to eat or drink, well, for they 
will not ask ; and, be it little or much, if it be with 
kindness, they are well pleased; else they go away 
sullen, but say nothing. They are great concealers 
of their own resentments, brought to it, I believe, by 
the revenge that hath been practiced among them. 
In either of these they are not exceeded by the 
Italians. A tragical instance fell out since I came 
into the country. A king's daughter, thinking her- 
self slighted by her husband in suffering another 
woman to lie down between them, rose up, went out, 
plucked a root out the ground, and ate it, upon which 
she immediately died ; and for which, last week, he 
made an ofl'ering to her kindred for atonement and 
liberty of marriage, as two others did to the kindred 
of their wives, who died a natural death ; for till 
widowers have done so they must not marry again. 
Some of the young women are said to take undue 
liberty before marriage for a portion ; but when mar- 
ried, chaste. When with child they know their 
husbands no more till delivered ; and during their 
month they touch no meat, they eat but with a stick, 
lest they should defile it; nor do their husbands fre- 
quent them till that time be expired. 

" But in liberality they e.xcel ; nothing is too good 
for their friend ; give them a fine gun, coat, or other 
thing, it may pass through twenty hands before it 
sticks; light of heart, strong affections, but soon 
spent. The most merry creatures that live, feast and 
dance perpetually ; they never have much, nor want 
much; wealth circulateth like the blood; all poets 
partake ; and though none shall want what another 
hath, yet exact observers of property. Some kings 
have sold, others presented me with several parcels 
of land ; the pay or presents I made them were not 
hoarded by the particular owners ; but the neigh- 
boring kings and their clans being present when the 
goods were brought out, the parties chiefly concerned 
consulted what and to whom they should give them. 
To every king then, by the hands of a person for that 
work appointed, is a proportion sent, so sorted and 
folded, and with that gravity that is admirable. Then 
that king subdivideth it in like manner among his 
dependants, they hardly leaving themselves an equal 
share with one of their subjects; and be it on such 
occasions as festivals, or at their common meals, the 
kings distribute, and to themselves last. They care 
for little, because they want but little ; and the reason 
is, a little contents them. In this they are sufficiently 
revenged on us; if they are ignorant of our pleasures, 
they are also free from our pains. . . . Since the 
Europeans came into these parts they are grown great 
lovers of strong liquors, rum especially, and for it 
they exchange the richest of their skins and furs. If 
they are heated with liquors they are restless till they 
have enough to sleep, — that is their cry. Some more 
and I will go to sleep ; but when drunk one of the most 
wretched spectacles in the world ! 
" In sickness, impatient to be cured ; and for it give 



anything, especially for their children, to whom they 
are extremely natural. They drink at these times a 
<is(in, or decoction of some roots in spring-water; and 
if they eat any flesh it must be of the female of any 
creature. If they die they bury them with their ap- 
parel, be they man or woman, and the nearest of kin 
fling in something precious with them as a token of 
their love. Their mourning is blacking of their faces, 
which they continue for a year. They are choice of 
the graves of their dead, for, lest they should be lost 
by time and fall to common use, they pick off the 
grass that grows upon them, and heap up the fallen 
earth with great care and exactness. These poor 
people are under a dark night in things relating to 
religion ; to be sure the tradition of it; yet they be- 
lieve a God and immortality without the help of 
metaphysics, for they say, 'There is a Great King 
that made them, who dwells in a glorious country to 
the southward of them, and that the souls of the good 
shall go thither where they shall live again.' Their 
worship consists of two parts, sacrifice and cantico. 
Their sacrifice is their first fruits; the first and fattest 
buck they kill goeth to the fire, where he is all burnt, 
with a mournful ditty of hini that performeth the 
ceremony, but with such marvellous fervency and 
labor of body that he will even sweat to a foam. The 
other part is their cantico, performed by round 
dances, sometimes words, sometimes songs, then 
shouts, two being in the middle that begin, and by 
singing and drumming on a board direct the chorus. 
Their postures in the dance are very antick and dif- 
ering, but all keep measure. This is done with equal 
earnestness and labor, but great appearance of joy. 
In the fall, when the corn cometh in, they begin to 
feast one another. There have been two great fes- 
tivals already, to which all come that will. I was at 
one myself; their entertainment was a great seat by 
a spring under some shady trees, and twenty bucks, 
with hot cakes of new corn, both wheat and beans, 
which they make up in a square form in the leaves 
of the stem and bake them in the ashes, and after 
that they fall to dance. But they that go must carry 
a small present in their money ; it may be sixpence, 
which is made of the bone of a fish ; the black is with 
them as gold, the white silver ; they call it all wampum. 
"Their government is Kings, which they call 
Sachama, and these by succession, but always on 
the mother's side.' For instance, the children of 

1 Notwithstanding this mode of succession of their kings, yet for ex- 
traordinary reasons it was sometimes altered, of which appears an in- 
stance in S.Smilli's" History of New Jersey," in the case of the old 
Iting Oclianiclcon, who died at Burlington, in that province, about the 
je:irl681. Before his death he altered the succession, and instead of 
' Sheopi)y and Swampis, who, in regular order, were to have succeeded 
him, lie, for reasons in his speech there given, appointed his brother's 
son, Fahkurfoe, to succeed him, giving him some excellent advice on 
the occasion. This king, as there related, soon after this made a good 
and pious exit, and his remains were interred in the Quakers' burying- 
j ground at that place, being aUended to the grave with solemnity by the 
I Indians, in their manncr.and with great respect by many ofthe English 
settlers, to whom be had been a true friend. 



44 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



him who is now king will not succeed, but his 
brother by the mother, or the children of his sister, 
whose sons (and after them the children of her 
daughters) will reign, for woman inherits. The 
reason they render for this way of descent is, that 
their issue may not be spurious. Every King hath 
his Council, and that consists of all the old and wise 
men of his nation, which, perhaps, is two hundred 
people. Nothing of moment is undertaken, be it 
war, peace, selling of land, or traffick, without ad- 
vising with them, and, which is more, with the young 
men too. It is admirable to consider how powerful 
the Kings are, and yet how they move by the breath 
of their people. I have had occasion to be in coun- 
cil with them upon treaties of land, and to adjust the 
terms of trade. Their order is thus : The king sits in 
the middle of an half moon, and hath his council, the 
old and wise, on each hand ; behind them, or at a lit- 
tle distance, sit the younger fry in the same figure. 
Having consulted and resolved their business, the 
King ordered one of them to speak to me ; he stood 
up, came to me, and, in the name of his King, saluted 
me ; then took me by the hand and told me, ' He was 
ordered by his King to speak to me, and that now it 
was not he, but the King that spoke; because what 
he should say was the King's mind.' He first prayed 
me ' to excuse them, that they had not complied with 
me the last time, he feared there might be some fault 
in the Interpreter, being neither Indian nor English ; 
besides, it was the Indian custom to deliberate and 
take up much time in council before they resolve, 
and that if the young people and owners of the land 
had been as ready as he, I had not met with so 
much delay.' Having thus introduced his matter, 
he fell to the bounds of the land they had agreed to 
dispose of and the price, which now is little and dear, 
that which would have bought twenty miles not buy- 
ing now two. During the time that this man spoke 
not a man of them was observed to whisper or smile, 
the old grave, the young reverent in their deport- 
ment. They speak little but fervently, and with ele- 
gance. I have never seen more natural sagacity, con- 
sidering them without the help (I was going to say 
the spoil) of tradition, and he will deserve the name 
of wise that outwits them in any treaty about a thing 
they understand. When the purchase was agreed 
great promises passed between us, ' of kindness and 
good neighborhood, and that the Indians and Eng- 
lish must live in love as long as the sun gave light,' 
which done, another made a speech to the Indians 
in the name of all the Sachemakers or Kings, first to 
tell what was done, next to charge and command 
them 'to love the Christians, and particularly live 
in peace with me and the people under my govern- 
ment; that many governors had been in the river, 
but that no Governor had come himself to live and 
stay here before, and having now such an one, that 
had treated them well, they should never do him or 
his any wrong,' at every sentence of which they 



shouted and said Amen in their way. The justice 
they have is pecuniary. In case of any wrong or evil 
fact, be it murder itself, they atone by feasts and 
presents of their wampum, which is proportioned to 
the quality of the offence, or the person injured, or 
of the sex they are of. For in case they kill a woman 
they pay double, and the reason they render is, 'that 
she breedeth children, which men cannot do.' It is 
rare they fall out if sober, and if drunk they forgive 
it, saying, 'It was the drink, and not the man, that 
abused them.' 

" We have agreed that in all differences between 
us six of each side shall end the matter. Do not 
abuse them, but let them have justice and you win 
them. The worst is that they are the worse for the 
Christians, who have propagated their vices and 
yielded their traditions for ill and not for good 
things. But as low an ebb as these people are at, 
and as inglorious as their own condition looks, the 
Christians have not outlived their sight, with all 
their pretensions to an higher manifestation. What 
good, then, might not a good people graft where there 
is so distinct a knowledge left between good and evil? 
I beseech God to incline the hearts of all that come 
into these parts, to outlive the knowledge of the na- 
tives, by a fixed obedience to their greater knowledge 
of the will of God, for it were miserable indeed for us 
to fall under the just censure of the poor Indians' 
conscience, while we make profession of things so far 
transcending. 

" For their original, I am ready to believe them of 
the Jewish race ; I mean, of the stock of the ten 
tribes, and that for the following reasons : First, they 
were to go to a ' land not planted nor known' ; which, 
to be sure, Asia and Africa were, if not Europe, and 
He that intended that extraordinary judgment upon 
them might make the passage not uneasy to them, as 
it is not impossible in itself, from the easternmost 
parts of Asia to the westernmost of America. In the 
next place, I find them of the like countenance, and 
their children of so lively resemblance that a man 
would think himself in Duke's Place, or Berry Street, 
in London, when he seeth them. But this is not all : 
they agree in rites; they reckon by moons ; they offer 
their first fruits ; they have a kind of feast of taber- 
nacles; they are said to lay their altar upou twelve 
stones; their mourning a year; customs of women, 
with many other things that do not now occur." 

The researches of John Gilmary Shea, Francis 
Parkman, and others who have given a 8{)ecial and 
intelligent attention to the subject, have established 
the fact that the tribe called Minquas or Minquosy 
by the Dutch (in the Latin of De Laet, Machoeretini), 
Mengwes by the Swedes (the English corruption of 
which was Mingoes.), Susquehannocks or Susquehan- 
noughs (Sasquesahannogh is the rendering by Capt. 
John Smith) by the Marylanders, and Andastes or 
Gandastogues (corrupted in Pennsylvania into Con- 
estogas) was a branch of the Iroquois nation, settled 



THE ABORIGINES. 



45 



above tide on the Susquehanna and Potomac Rivers. 
This ambitious race of savages, inspired with a con- 
quering instinct which put them on a par with the 
ancient Romans, not only consolidated its strength 
at home by a political and military confederacy, but 
extended its power and influence abroad by the es- 
lablishment of military colonies, just as republican 
Rome was in the habit of doing. One of these colo- 
nies constituted the tribe of the Tuscaroras, occupy- 
ing part of Nortli Carolina and Georgia, upon the 
Hanks of the Cherokee nation. Another was the 
Nottaways, south of the James River, in 
Virginia. A third colony was the tribe of 
the Nanticokes, afterwards (in Pennsyl- 
vania) known as the Conoys, who held the 
Delaware and Eastern Shore of Maryland 
peninsula from the Brandy wine southward 
They were joined on the north by the Min- 
quas or Susquehannas, whose " fort" was 
on the Susquehanna River at or near the 
mouth of Conestoga Creek. The Huron 
Iroquois of Canada were of this same na- 
tion, which thus occupied a belt of terri- 
tory from north to south extending from 
Lake Simcoe to the -southern limits of 
North Carolina, all in the country of the 
Algonkins, yet as distinctly separate from 
them by difference of language, character, 
and habit as a vein of trap rock in a body 
of gneiss or granite. The Andastes (to call 
them by their own tribal name, Andasta 
meaning a cabin-pole, and the tribe wish- 
ing to imply by it that they were house- 
i>uilders rather than dwellers in lodges), 
like the Lenapes, claimed a Western origin, 
and they were the most warlike race upon 
the continent, proud and haughty as the 
Romans whom they so closely resembled, 
and, like them, enabled to conquer by their 
compact military and civil organization. 
Other tribes were split into small bands, 
between which there was only a feeble and 
defective concert and unity of action. The 
Iroquois, on the other hand, were a nation, 
and wherever we find them we discover 
that they lived and acted together in co-operative 
union. In Pennsylvania, for example, in all the land 
purchases made by Dutch, Swedes, and English, we 
find the Minquas acting as one tribe, dealing as one 
people and one name, whereas with the Lenapes each 
petty chief seemed to do what was best in his own 
sight. Tamine or Tanianend was probably the great 
chief of the Lenapes in the time of Penn, and his 
supreme authority was manifest in the councils, but 
when it came to selling land he was no more than on 
a level with the twenty or thirty sachems who signed 
their marks to the deeds of conveyance for the various 
tracts. 
Their industrial arts were of the most primitive 



character. Their tools and implements were made 
of stone, many of which are models of proportion, 
design, and neatness of finish. Campanius says, — 

" They make their bows wMth the limb of a tree, of 
about a man's length, and their bow-strings out of 
the sinews of animals ; they make their arrows out 
of a reed a yard and a half long, and at one end they 
fix in a piece of hard wood of about a quarter's 
length, at the end of which they make a hole to fix 
in the head of the arrow, which is made of black flint- 
stone, or of hard bone or horn, or the teeth of large 




DELAWARE INDIAN EAMILY. 
[From Campanius* "New Sweden."] 

fishes or animals, which they fasten in with fish glue 
in such a manner that the water cannot penetrate; at 
the other end of the arrow they put feathers. They 
can also tan and prepare the skins of animals, which 
they paint afterwards in their own way. They make 
much use of painted feathers, with which they adorn 
their skins and bed-covers, binding them with a kind 
of network, which is very handsome, and fastens the 
feathers very well. With these they make light and 
warm clothing and covering for themselves; with the 
leaves of Indian corn and reeds they make purses, 
mats, and baskets, and everything else that they want. 
. . . They make very handsome and strong mats of 
fine roots, which they paint with all kinds of figures; 



46 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



they hang their walls with these mats, and make ex- 
cellent bed-clothes out of them. The women spin 
thread and yarn out of nettles, hemp, and some plants 
unknown to us. Governor Printz had a complete set 
of clothes, with coat, breeches, and belt, made by 
these barbarians with their wampum, which was 
curiously wrought with figures of all kinds of ani- 
mals. . . . They make tobacco-pipes out of reeds 




Koioyorkhukox, 
July 15, 1682. 



^ 




Allowkavi. 
Jul,/ 15, 1682. 




Tamanen. 
June 23, 1683. 

Tajiianen. 
Jnue 23, 1683. 

JS 

Tamaiten {Receipt for Mimey). 
June 23, 16S3. 

1 

Ncneahikkei,. 
hth Mo. 14, 1683. 

Wmtfcbnue. 

Jmif 25, 16S3. 



Mnlebone. 
bth Mo. 14, 1683. 



Secane. 
5th Mo. 14. 1683. 

jy 

Jrqnoquehnn. 
bth Mo. 14, 1683. 

C C 

Essepenaike. 
Jime 23, 1683. 

Okettarickvn. 
June 23, 1683. 



X 

wtnipet 
e 23, I 



tSictnipees. 
June 23, 1683. 



Wtasapoot. 
June 23, 1683. 



Kehelappaii . 
June 23, 1683. 



Pendatiouf/hah Neshnnnock. 
6th Mo. 14, 1683. 

Hekerapptin. 
Sept. 20, 1683. 

Malehoiie. 
bth Mo. 30, 1683. 




Mnnghhoughsin. 
Ath Mo. 3, 1684. 




Shtikakopptk. 
bth Mo. 30, 1685. 



King Tnmauent. 
June 15, 1692. 




Meltii niicon. 
June 7, 1684. 



June 15, 1692. 

« 



about a man's length ; the bowl is made of horn, and 
to contain a great quantity of tobacco. They gener- 
ally present these pipes to their good friends when 
they come to visit them at their houses and wish 
them to stay some time longer ; then the friends can- 
not go away without having first smoked out of the 
pipe. They make them, otherwise, of red, yellow, and 
blue clay, of which there is a great quantity in the 
country ; also of white, gray, green, brown, black, and 
blue stones, which are so soft that they can be cut 
with a knife. . . . Their boats are made of the bark 
of cedar and birch trees, bound 'together and lashed 
very strongly. They carry them along wherever they 
go, and when they come to some creek that they want 
to get over they launch them and go whither they 
please. They also used to make boats out of cedar 
trees, which they burnt inside and scraped off the 
coals with sharp stones, bones, or muscle shells." 

Charles Thompson,' who enjoyed the confidence of 
the Indians, and whose good offices in effecting pur- 
chases of land were often invoked, and who frequently 
spent days and weeks among them unattended, refers 
to their want of knowledge in the metallic arts. He 
says,— 

" They were perfect strangers to the use of iron. 
The instruments with which they dug up the ground 
were of wood, or a stone fastened to a handle of wood. 
Their hatchets for cutting were of stone, sharpened 
to an edge by rubbing, and fastened to a wooden 
handle. Their arrows were pointed with flint or bones. 
What clothing they wore was of the skins of animals 
took in hunting, and their ornaments were principally 
of feathers. They all painted or daubed their face 
with red. The men suffered only a tuft of hair to 
grow on the crown of their head ; the rest, whether 



1 He was in fact adopted by them. He touk minutes of the conference 

proceedings in shori-liantI,and tiiese were so uccurute as to be preferred 
by the coniniissioners to tlie official record, and so just to the Indiana 
as to win tlieir prorouiul gratitude. Tliey adopted liini into the Lenape 
nation, and gave him the name of Weg/t-wii-law-tco-tfnd, " the man wlio 
tells tire truth," 



THE ABORIGINES. 



47 



on their head or faces, they prevented from growing by 
constantly plucking it out by the roots, so that they 
always appeared as if they were bald and beardless. 

" Many were in the practice of marking their faces, 
arms, and breast by pricking the skin with thorns 
and rubbing the parts with a fine powder made of 
coal (charcoal), which, penetrating the punctures, 
left an indelible stain or mark, which remained as 
long as they lived. The punctures were made in 
figures according to their several fancies. The only 
part of the body which they covered was from the 
waist half-way down the thighs, and their feet they 
guarded with a kind of shoe made of hides of buffa- 
loes or deerskin, laced tight over the instep and up 
to the ankles with thongs. It was and still continues 
to be a common practice among the men to slit their 
ears, putting something into the hole to prevent its 
closing, and then by hanging weights to the lower 
part to stretch it out, so that it hangs down the cheek 
like a large ring. They had no knowledge of the use 
of silver or gold, though some of these metals were 
found among the Southern Indians. Instead of money 
they used a kind of beads made of conch-shell, manu- 
factured in a curious manner. These beads were 
made, some of the white, some of the black or col- 
ored parts of the shell. They were formed into cyl- 
inders about one-quarter of an inch long and a quarter 
of an inch in diameter. They were round and highly 
polished and perforated lengthwise with a small hole, 
by which they strung them together and wove them 
into belts, some of which, by a proper arrangement 
of the beads of different colors, were figured like 
carpeting with different figures, according to the vari- 
ous uses for which they were designed. These were 
made use of in their treaties and intercourse with 
each other, and served to assist their memory and 
preserve the remembrance of transactions. When 
different tribes or nations made peace or alliance 
with each other they exchanged belts of one sort; 
when they excited each other to war they used 
another sort. Hence they were distinguished by the 
name of peace belts or war belts. Every message 
sent from one tribe to another wa-s accompanied with 
a string of these beads or a belt, and the string or 
belt was smaller or greater according to the weight 
and importance of the subject. These beads were 
their riches. They were worn as bracelets on the 
arms and like chains around the neck by wayof orna- 
ments." 

When and how the Indians acquired the art of pro- 
ducing fire by friction, prior to the use of flint and 
steel, remains a great mystery. This element was 
absolutely essential to their existence in the northern 
latitudes, and must of necessity have been in use by 
them. Nature may have supplied them by volcanic 
eruptions, and once in their possession they may have 
retained perpetual fires. The discovery of heat, 
generated by friction, may have been accidental in 
fallen forest trees moved or swayed by the wind. 



" Gen. George Crook has described a fire-stick used 
by the Indians of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade 
ranges. ' The fire-stick,' he says, ' consists of two 
pieces. The horizontal stick is generally from one 
foot to a foot and a half long, a couple or three inches 
wide, and about one inch thick, of some soft, dry 
wood, frequently the sap of the juniper. The upright 
stick is usually some two feet long and from a quarter 
to half an inch in diameter, with the lower end round 
or elliptical, and of the hardest material they can 
find. In the sage-brush country it is made of " grease- 
wood." When they make fire they lay the first piece 
in a horizontal position with the flat side down, and 
place the round end of the upright near the edge of 
the other stick ; then taking the upright between the 
hands they give it a swift rotary motion, and as con- 
stant use wears a hole in the lower stick, they cut a 
nick in.its outer edge down to a level with the bottom 
of the hole. The motion of the upright works the 
ignited powder out of this nick, and it is there caught 
and applied to a piece of spunk or some other highly 
combustible substance, and from this the fire is 
started.' " 

Of their tribal relations and intercourse Mr. 
Thompson seems to have been a close observer : 

"Almost every nation being divided into tribes, 
and these tribes subdivided into families, who from 
relationship or friendship united together and formed 
towns or clans ; these several tribes, families, and 
towns have commonly each a particular name and 
chief, or head man, receive messages, and hold con- 
ferences with strangers and foreigners, and hence 
they are frequently considered by strangers and for- 
eigners as distinct and separate nations. Notwith- 
standing this, it is found upon closer examination and 
further inquiry that the nation is composed of several 
of these tribes, united together under a kind of federal 
government, with laws and customs by which they 
are ruled. Their governments, it is true, are verj' 
lax, except as to peace and war, each individual 
having in his own hand the power of revenging inju- 
ries, and when murder is committed the next relation 
having power to take revenge, by putting to death 
the murderer, unless he can convince the chiefs and 
head men that he had just cause, and by their means 
can pacify the family by a present, and thereby put 
an end to the feud. The matters which merely regard 
a town or family are settled by the chiefs and head 
men of the town ; those which regard the tribe, by a 
meeting of the chiefs from the several towns; and 
those that regard the nation, .such as the making war 
or concluding peace with the neighboring nations, 
are determined on in a national council, composed of 
the chiefs and head warriors from every tribe. Every 
tribe has a chief or head man, and there is one who 
presides over the nation. In every town they have a 
council-house, where the chief assembles the old men 
and advises what is best. In every tribe there is a 
place, which is commonly the town in which the 



48 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



chief resides, where the head men of the towns meet 
to consult on the business that concerns them ; and 
in every matter there is a grand council, or what they 
call a council-fire, where the heads of the tribes and 
chief warriors convene to determine on peace or war. 
In these several councils the greatest order and de- 
corum is observed. In a council of a town all the 
men of the town may attend, the chief opens the 
business, and either gives his opinion of what is best 
or takes the advice of such of the old men as are 
heads of families, or most remarkable for prudence and 
knowledge. None of the young men are allowed or 
])resume to speak, but the whole assembly at the end 
of every sentence or speech, if they approve it, express 
their approbation by a kind of hum or noise in unison 
with the speaker. The same order is observed in the 
meetings or councils of the tribes and in the national 
councils." 

Like all barbarous nations, the North American 
Indians were superstitious. Parkman says, " The 
sorcerer, by charms, magic songs, magic feats, and 
the beating of his drum, had power over the spirits 
and those occult influences inherent in animals and 
inanimate things. He could call to him the souls of 
his enemies. They appeared before him in the shape 
of stones. He chopped and bruised them with his 
hatchet ; blood and flesh issued forth ; and the in- 
tended victim, however distant, languished and died. 
Like the sorcerer of the Middle Ages, he made im- 
ages of those he wished to destroy, and muttering 
incantations, punctured them with an awl, whereupon 
the persons represented sickened and pined away." 

Subjects of fear as they were under the sorcerer's 
arts and magic when in health, and pliant patients 
in the hands of the conjurer when stricken with dis- 
ease, yet their ruling passion seems to have been that 
of hate and revenge in the redress of insults and in- 
juries. To gratify this passion of their savage souls 
time, distance, suffering, peril were but food to feed 
upon ; disappointment and delay only served to in- 
crease their thirst for blood when in pursuit of ven- 
geance. "The stealthy blow, the reeking scalp torn 
from the prostrate victim, the yell of triumph when 
the deed was done — this was compensation for all. 
Nor did death suffice; the enemy, public or private, 
must be tortured, and nothing but his agony and his 
groans could satiate the wolfish thirst of the savage 
for blood. His warfare was conducted by stealth and 
strategy and surprise; he imitated the panther, not 
the lion, in his assaults, and he lay by his victim and 
mangled him like the tiger. Sometimes he ate his 
victim if he was renowned, that all of the valor and 
virtue of the slain might not be lost, but some of it 
pass into the slayer's own person. If conquered or 
wounded to death his stoicism was indomitable; his 
enemy might see his back in flight, but never behold 
him flinch under torture; when his finger-nails were 
plucked out one by one, and the raw skull from which 
his scalp was torn seared with live coals, and red-hot 



gun-barrels thrust into the abdominal cavity after he 
had been disemboweled, he would still sing his death- 
song and gather breath to hurl a last yell of defiance 
at his enemy as he expired." 

It seems, however, that limitations were imposed 
upon this passion, at least among themselves, by rules 
or customs of restraint. Offenses were chiefly against 
the person, as there were but few property rights to 
be sinned against among them. Every crime could be 
condoned. This was possible in case of murder. If 
murderer and victim belonged to the same clan, it was 
looked upon as a family quarrel, to be settled by the 
immediate kin. As a rule, public opinion compelled 
the acceptance of the atonement in lieu of blood- 
shed. If the murderer and victim were of different 
clans, the whole tribe went to work to prevent a feud 
from arising and leading to more bloodshed. Every 
effort was made to get the victim's clan to accept the 
atonement offering. Thirty presents was the price of 
a man's life, forty for a woman. If the victim be- 
longed to a foreign tribe, the danger of war led to 
council meetings, formal embassies, and extensive 
making of actual and symbolical presents. 

That the Indians .should place a higher estimate 
upon the life of a woman than the man is in strange 
contrast with their general character, — perhaps it was 
because of her greater value to them as a drudge or 
laborer. 

A wild and singular people were the Indians who 
met our forefathers on the shores of the Delaware 
and Schuylkill Rivers. Evidences of friendship 
and comity towards our race they certainly mani- 
fested, as also a consciousness of our superior condi- 




I)Er,AWARE INDIAN' FORT. 
[From Campantiis' " New Sweden.*'] 

tion ; but, withal, their adult people, rulers and 
ruled, never yielded to the temptations of wealth, 
the greater power or higher enjoyments of life as 
seen in the line of civilization, before which they 
protestingly retreated, league by league, to the Ohio 
and Mississippi. For almost four centuries they 
have stolidly looked on the amazing progress and 
development of the continent over wiiich they 
roamed as its proud possessors. Eye-witnesses to 
the plain and simple forms of government cstab- 



EARLY VOYAGERS AND TRADERS. 



49 



lished in their very midst upon lands purchased from , 
them, in daily contact with a number of different Ian- i 
guages, all far superior to theirs, they remained un- ' 
affected; not even war, with all its potentialities, 
with all its destructive agencies, and in which they 
were used as factors by their cunning and adroit : 
allies, could wake them frona their barbarous inertia. 
One hope still remains ; it is for the youth of the 
race, who can beveducatedJ Through these there 
may be a final redemption of the tribes now on the 
Pacific Slope. 

Note. — About the year 1710 a Swedish missionary preached a sermon 
at an Indian treaty lield at Conestogoe, in Pennsylvania, in which ser- 
niuii he set forth original sin, the necessity of a mediator, and endeavored 
Iiy certain argnments to induce the Indians to embrace tlie Christian 
religion. After he bad ended his discourse one of the Indian chiefs 
made a speech in reply to the sermon, and the discourses on both sides 
wpre made known by interpreters. The missionary, upon his return to 
Sweden, published his sermon and the Indian's answer. Having written 
them in Latin, he dedicated them to the University of Upsal, and re- 
quested them to furnish him witli arguments to confute such strong 
reasoning of the Indians. The Indian speech, translated frum tlie Latin, 
is HS fullows : 

"Since the subject of his (the missionary's) errand is to persuade us 
to embrace a new doctrine, perhaps it may not be amiss, before we offer 
liim the reasons why we cannot comply with his request, to accjuaiut 
him with the grounds and principles of that religion which he would 
have iia abandon. Our forefathers were under a strong persna«iOTi, as 
we are, that those who act well in this life shall be rewarded in the next, 
according to the degree of their virtue; and, on the otLer hand, that 
those who behave wickedly here will undergo such punishments here- 
after as are proportionate to the crimes they were guilty of. This hath 
been constantly and invariably received and acknowledged fur a truth 
through every successive generation of our ancestors. It could not have 
tukL'U its rise from fable, for human fiction, however artfully and plau- 
sibly contrived, can never gain credit long among any people where free 
inquiry is allowed, which was never denied by our ancestoi-s, who, on 
the contrary, thouglit it the sacred, inviolable, natural right of every man 
to exnmine and judge for himself. Therefore we think it evident that 
our notion concerning future rewards and punishments was either re- 
vealed immediately from heaven to some of our forefathers, and from 
them descended to us, or that it was implanted in each of us at our 
creation by the Creator of all things. Whatever the methods might 
have been whereby God hath been pleased to make known to us His 
will, it is still in our sense a divine revelation. Now we desire to 
propose to him some few qtiestions. Does he believe that our fore- 
fathers, men eminent for their piety, constant and warm in the pursuit 
of virtue, hoping thereby to merit everlasting happiness, were all 
damned? Does he tlnnk that we, who are their zealous imitators in 
good works, and influenced by the same motives as they were, earnestly 
endeavoring with the greatest circumspection to tread the paths of in- 
tegrity, aie in a state of damnation ? If these be his sentimi-nts they 
are surely as impious as they are bold and daring. In the next place, 
we beg that he would explain himself more particularly concerning 
the n'velalion he talks of. If he admits no other than what is 
contained in his variUen hook, the contrary is evident from what 
has been shown before. But if he says God has revealed Him- 
self to us, but not suiEcient for our salvation, then we ask to 
what purpose should he have revealed Himself to us iu anywise? It 
is clear that a revelation insufficient to save cannot put ns iu a better 
condition than we should be in without any revelation at all. We can- 
not conceive that God should point out to us the end we ought to aim I 
at without opening to us the way to arrive at that end. But, supposing 
our understandings to be so far illuminated as to know it to be our iluty | 
to please God, who yet hath left us under an incapacity of doing it, will I 
this missionary, therefore, conclude that we shall be eternally damned ? j 
Will be take upon him to pronounce damnation against us for not doing I 
those things whicli he himself acknowledges were impossible by us to , 
be done? It is our opinion that every man is possessed of sufficient 
knowledge for his salvation. The Almighty, for anything we know, 
may have communicated the knowledge of Himself to a different race of 
people iu a different manner. Some say they have the will of God in 
writing: be it so; their revelation has no advantage above ours, since ' 



both must be equally sufficient to save, otherwise the end of the reve- 
lation would be frustrated. Besides, if they both be true they must be 
the same in substance, and the difference can only lie in the mode of 
communication. He tells us there are many precepts in his wriLlen reve- 
lation which we are entirely ignorant of. But these written commands 
can only be designed for those who have the writings; they cannot pos- 
sibly regard us. Had the Almighty tboughtso much knowledge neces- 
sary for our salvation His goodness would not long have deferred the 
communication of it to us ; and to say that in a manner so necessary 
he could not at one and the same time equally reveal Himself to all 
mankind is nothing less than an absolute denial of His omnipotence. 
Without doubt He can make his will manifest without the help of any 
book or the assistance of any bookish man whatever. We shall in the 
next place consider the arguments which arise from a consideration of 
providence. If we are the wurk of God (which I presume will not be 
denied), it follows from thence that we are under the care and protec- 
tion of God ; for it cannot be supposed that the Deity should abandon 
his own creatures and be utterly regardless of their welfare. Then to 
say that the Almighty hath permitted us to remain in a fatal error 
through so many ages is to represent Him as a tyrant. How is it consis- 
tent with His justice to force life upon a race of mortals without their 
consent and then damn Owm cttniKiV y . without ever opening to them 
the duor of salvation ? Our conceptions of the gracious God are more 
noble, and we think that those who teach otherwise do little less than 
blaspheme. Again, it is through the care and goodness of the Almighty 
that from the beginning of time, through many generations to this 
day, our name has been preserved, unblotted out by enemies, unreduced 
to nothing By that same care we now enjoy our lives, are served with 
the necessary means of preserving those lives. But all these things are 
trifling compared with our salvation. Therefore, since God hath been 
so careful of us iu matters of liltle consequence, it would be absurd to 
affirm that He has neglected us in cases of the greatest importance. 
Admit that He hath forsaken us, yet it could not have been without a 
just cause. Let us suppose that an henious crime was committed by 
one of our ancestors, like to that which we are told happened among 
another race of people. In auch case God would certainly punish the 
criminal, but would never involve us, who are innocent, in his guilt. 
Those who think otherwise must make the Almighty a very whimsical, 
ill-natured being. Once more, are the ChrislianH more virtuous, or, 
rather, are they not more vicious than we are ? If 8o, how came it to 
pass that they are tlie objects of God's beneficence, while we are neg- 
lected? Does the Deity confer His favors without reason, and with so 
much partiality? In a word, we find the Christians much more de- 
praved in their morals than ourselves, and we judge of their doctrine 
by the badness of their lives." 

The Loan's Prayer in the Lanou.vge of the Six Nation Inoians. 
Soungwiiuncha, caurounkj'augS, tehseetiiroiin, B."iulwL)neyoufta, 
esa, sawaneyou, 6k<^ttauhseia, ehn^auwoung, na, carounk5auga, 
nugh, wonshauga, neittewehnesaiauga, tjiugwaunautoronoantough- 
sick, tuantangweleewheyouftailng, cheneeyeut, chaqujitaiitaley whey 
ouftriuona, tough fan, tang waussarC-neh, ■ tawautOttenaugalought- 
oungga, nris.H,wu6, sacheautaugwasd, cuntehsalohaunzriikjtw, esa, 
silwauneyou, eei, sashautzta, esa, soungwaaoung, ch6nueauhaiingwa, 
auwen. 



CHAPTER IV. 



EARLY VOYAGERS AND TRADERS— FIRST SETTLE- 
MENTS ON THE DELAWARE AND SCHUYLKILL 
RIVERS. 

The events connected with and resulting from the 
discovery of the South and North Rivers' by Henry 
Hudson, from 1609 to 1638, are so interwoven with 
the settlements of the Swedes on the shores of the 
Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, as to render some 
account of the advent of the Dutch or Netherlanders 
a necessary prelude to the annals of the later settlers. 

1 Delaware and Hudson. 



50 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The writer has consulted numerous authorities upon 
the remarkable events of the period referred to, and 
has used them freely when deemed essential to a 
concise narrative of facts.' 

There is no subject associated with the history of 
our ancestry more replete with continuing interest 
than that which relates to the experience and 
achievements of the early voyagers, traders, and set- 
tlers who landed upon the shores of the Delaware 
Eiver. The splendid bay which joins river to ocean 
invited them to safe anchorage after their long and 
adventurous passage over a trackless and compara- 
tively unknown " waste of waters" between two con- 
tinents. The Delaware River and its confluents were 
unexplored to them, beyond what they could learn 
from the savages who met them many miles south of 
tide-water levels. The period of these early settle- 
ments, about 1620, was marked by great maritime 
activity, induced by the discovery of the North Amer- 
ican continent by Christopher Columbus and the 
many and remarkable voyagers who subsequently 
crossed the Atlantic Ocean on exploring expeditions, 
first and ostensibly to extend the dominion of their 
" Gracious Sovereigns," and second to gratify their 
professional ambition in opening up new avenues of 
trade and the accumulation of wealth.^ The return 
of these early voyagers and their flattering reports of 
climate, bays and harbors, rivers, soil, surface prod- 
ucts, and minerals, with imaginary possibilities and 
the wild and savage character of the native people, 
all tended to increase public interest in the New 
World and attract adventurous spirits vo its shores.' 



1 Bancroft, Hist. United States ; Proud, Hist. Pennsylvania; Colonial 
Archives; Sliernian Day, Hist. Pennsylvania; Davis, Hist. Bucks County; 
Brodhead, Hist. New York ; Mrs. Martlia J. Lamb, Hist. Nevf York ; 
Scliarf and Westcolt, Hist, of Pliiladelpliia. 

-There is no ground for reasonable doubt that John and Sebastian 
Cabot, natives of Venice, probably sailors almost from birth, but doing 
business in Bristol, England, at the time of their commission under 
King Henry VIT., were the iirst navigators, at least of historic times, to 
discover the actual coast-line of the North American continent, along 
which they sailed from Newfoundland to the parallel of Gibraltar, that 
is to say, to about the latitude of Cape Hatteras. John Cabot, tlie senior 
of these sailors and traders, excited by the news of the great discovery 
made by Christoplier Columbus, and with the certainty thus warranted 
of reaching land by sailing westward, obtained a commission under the 
great seal of Ejigland from King Henry VII., dated March 5, 149G, au- 
thorizing the navigator and his three sons, or either of them, their heirs 
or their deputies, to sail into the Eastern, Western, or Northern seas, 
with a fleet of five ships, at their own expense, in search of unknown 
lands, islands, or provinces; to plant the banner of England on these 
when found, and possess and occupy them as vassals of the English 
crown. Tlie provision that tlie explorers sliould voyage at their own 
expense was characteristic of tlie tlirilty monarch, but tlie commission 
of a king at that day was the only safeguard the navigator had to pro- 
tect him from suspicions of piracy, and the exclusive right of frequent- 
ing and trading to the new countries when found was a privilege for 
which nations were soon to contend. 

3" Every great European event affected the fortunes of America. Did 
a State prosper, it souglit an increase ot wealth by plantations in the 
West ; was a sect persecuted, it escaped to tlie New World. The Refor- 
mation, fcdlowed by collisions between English Dissenters and the 
Anglican hierarchy, colonized New England; the Reformation, eman- 
cipating the Low t^nntries, led to settlements on the Hudson. The 
Netherlands divide with England the glory of having planted the first 
colonies in the United States; they also divide the glory of having set 



This condition of things was suggestive to capitalized 
ambition, and led to the formation of corporations or 
companies for the encouragement of transatlantic 
commerce and the establishment of permanent colo- 
nies at or near convenient points of shipment on 
navigable rivers. 

In 1609, Henry Hudson, an English navigator of 
great experience and remarkable energy, then in the 
service of the Dutch East India Company, explored 
the coast from the Chesapeake Bay to Maine. The 
Delaware River was first explored by this bold mari- 
ner. His first officer, Robert Jewett (or Juet), kept 
a journal of the ship's experience, from which it 
appears that on Aug. 28, 1609 (new style), they en- 
tered the mouth of the river. It was on the strength 
of this discovery, and tliat of the Hudson River by 
the same officer, that the Dutch based their claim to 
the lands between the North and South Rivers, as the 
Hudson and Delaware Rivers were then called, as 
well as that which was contiguous to their shores. 

The accounts of this voyage and the discoveries 
made are said to be accurate, circumstantial, and 
satisfactory to all historians.' The Dutch did not 

the example of public freedom. If England gave our fathers the idea of 
a popular representation, the United Provinces were their model of a 
Federal Union. " 

< We know surprisingly little of Henry Hudson. He is said to have 
been the personal friend of Capt. John Smith, the founder of Virginia, 
and it is probable that he was of the family of that Henry Hudson who, 
in 1554, was one of the original incorporators of the English Muscovy 
Company. This man's son, Christopher, supposed to have been the 
father of the great navigat^ir, was as early as 15G0 and up to 1601 the 
factor and agent on the spot of the London Company trading to Russia, 
and it seems likely that the younger Hudson, from his familiarity with 
Arctic navigation, and his daring pertinacity in attempting to invade 
the ice-bound northern Wiistes.niay have served his apprenticeship as a 
navigator in trading, on behalf the Muscovy Company, from Bristol to 
Russia, as was then often 
done through the North 
Cliiinnel, and round the 
Hebrides, Orkneys, Shet- 
lands, and North Cape to 
the White Sea and Arch- 
angel. Atany ratewhen 
Hudson makes his first 
picturesque appearance 
before us, in the summer 
of 16u7, in the Church 
of St. Etlielliurge, Bish- 
opsgate Street, London, 
where he and his crew 
are present to partakeof 
the Holy Sacrament to- 
gether, it is preparatory 
to a voyage in the ser- 
vice of the newly-or- 
ganized " London Com- 
pany," in Jewetfs own worde,"for to discover a passage by the North 
Pole to Japan and China." The navigator was at that time a middle-aged 
man, experienced and trusted. He bad already explored the northeast 
and the north, and the region between the Chesapeake and Maine. 
There was no room for hope but to the north of Newfoundland. Pro- 
ceeding by way of Iceland, where " the famous Hecla" was casting out 
fire, passing Greenland and Frobisher's Straits, he sailed on the 2d of 
August, WW, into the straits which bear his name, and into which no 
one had gone before him. As he came out from the passage upon the 
wide giiir, he believed that lie beheld " a sea to Ihe westward, "so that the 
short way to the Pacific was found. How great was his disappoiutmenl 




HENRV IIUOSO 



FIRST SETTLEMENTS ON THE DELAWARE AND SCHUYLKILL RIVERS. 



51 



avail themselves at once of the great advantages of 
trade and commerce opened up by the wonderful dis- 
coveries of Hudson, who had ])enetrated the North 
or Hudson River as far as Albany, visiting the river 
tribes of Indians and ascertaining the vast resources 
of valuable furs and skins purchasable from the sav- 
ages at merely nominal prices.' Hudson's report of 
the South or Delaware River was that from obser- 
vations made. He found the land " to trend away 
towards the northwest, with a great bay and rivers, but 
the bay was shoal." It is evident that Hudson did not 
find the Delaware River as inviting in a navigable 
point of view as the North or Hudson River, and there- 
fore it was that the Dutch first settled upon the latter 
river. In 1611 two enterprising men, Hendricks 
Christiaensen, of Cleves, Holland, a West India 
trader, and Adrian Block, of Amsterdam, in company 
with Schipper Rysar, chartered and equipped a ship 
and made a successful voyage to and up the Hudson 
River, exchanging commodities with the Indian 
tribes, and returning with a profitable cargo of furs { 
and skins. They were also successful in securing two 
young Indians, said to be the sons of chiefs, whom 
they christened Valentine and Orson. These sav- 
ages, not less than the possibilities of large trade in 
the rude products of their tribes, excited popular in- : 
terest in the new country. These enterprising traders, 
joined by a number of merchants, memorialized the 
Provincial States of Holland and West Friesland 
by the importance of discoveries made, and it was 
judged of sufficient consequence to be formally com- 
municated to the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, 

when he found himself in a labyrinth without end. Still confident of 
ultimate succosb, the determined mariner resolved on wintering in the 
bay, that he might perfect his discovery in the spring. His crew mur- 
mured at the sufferings of a winter for which no preparations had been 
made. At length the late and an.xiousIy-expected spring burst forth; 
but it opened in vain for Hudson. Provisions were exhausted ; he di- 
vided the last bread among his men and prepared for them a bill of 
return, and "he wept as he gave it them," Believing himself almost 
on the point of succeeding, where Spaniards and English and Danes 
and Dutch bad failed, be left his anchoring-place to steer for Europe. 
For two days the ship was encompassed by fields of ice, and the discon- 
tent of the crew broke forth into mutiny. Hudson was seized, and, with 
his only son and seven others, four of whom were sick, were thrown 
into the shallop. Seeing his commander thus exposed, Philip Staife, 
the carpenter, demanded and gained leave to share his fate, and just as 
the ship made its way out of the ice, on a miilsunimer day, in a latitude 
where the sun In that season hardly goes down and evening twilight 
mingles with the dawn, the shallop was cut loose. What became of 
Hudson? Dill be die miserably of 8tarv:ttion ? Did he reach land to 
perish from the fury of the natives ? Was he crushed between ribs of 
ice? The returning ship encountered storms, by which she was proba- 
bly overwhelmed. The gloomy waste of waters which bears his name 
is bis tomb and bis monument. 

^ Hudson relates that he was taken to a bou.oe well constructed of 
oak-bark, circular in form, and arched in the ro.if, the granary of the 
beans and maize of tlio last year's harvest, while outside enough of 
them lay drying to load three ships. Two mats were spread out as seats 
for the strangers ; food was iumiediately served in neat red bowls; men 
who were sent at once with bows and arrows for game soon returned 
with pigeons ; a fat dog, too, was killed, and haste made to prepare a 
feast. When Hudson refused to wait, they supposed him to be afraid 
of Iheir weapons, and taking their arrows they broke them in pieces 
and threw Iheni into the fire. Of all binds on which I ever set my foot, 
says Hudson, this is the best for tillage. 



Hoorn, and Enckhuysen.^ On the 27th of March, 
1614, the States-General ordained " that private ad- 
venturers might enjoy an exclusive privilege for four 
successive voyages to any pa.ssage, haven, or country 
they should thereafter find." With such encourage- 
ment, a company of merchants in the same year sent 
five small vessels, of which the " Fortune," of Am- 
sterdam, had Christiaensen for its commander; the 
" Tiger," of the same port, Adrian Block ; the " For- 
tune," of Hoorn, Cornells Jacobsen Mey, to extend 
the discoveries of Hudson, as well as the trade with 
the natives. Upon the return of this merchant fleet 
the officers made report to the States-General, in 
conformity with the terms of the "ordinance" under 
which they sailed. This report embraced a detailed 
account of their exploring efforts on the coast, and 
entrance to harbors and rivers. Appended to the 
same were maps representing the topographical face 
of the country for some miles inland. Armed with 
this report and " figurative map" these navigators, 
supported and accompanied by the wealthy mer- 
chants in whose service they were really employed, 
proceeded to the Hague to obtain further conces.sions 
from the "twelve mighty Lords of the States-Gen- 
eral," presided over by John von Olden Barneveldt, 
the advocate of Holland. They presented an ad- 
mirable case, basing their claim for a further and en- 
larged extension of privileges upon the perils and 
hardships endured, misfortunes suffered, and advan- 
tages likely to accrue to the merchants of the Neth- 
erlands. Barneveldt and his associates were favora- 
bly impressed with the flattering report, and promptly 
granted to the united company of merchants and 
their adventurous Dutch captains a three years' 
monopoly of trade with the territory between Vir- 
ginia and New France, from forty to forty-five degrees 
of latitude. This grant was in the nature of a char- 
ter, executed on the 11th day of October, 1614, and 
named the extensive region of country embraced in 
it as the New Netherlands. 

While these early monopolists were paying court to 
the Netherland government, and adroitly laying plans 
for large acquisitions of lands which they claimed to 
have discovered between Virginia and the New Eng- 
land coast, Capt. Cornells Hendricksen manned and 
equipped the "Unrest," or " Restless," a yacht of six- 
teen tons, built by Capt. Block, to take the place of 
the "Tiger," burnt at Manhattan Island, and pro- 
ceeded to explore the Delaware Bay and River. He 
is reported to have landed at several places, made 
soundings, and prepared extensive charts of the shore 
line, and noting the entrance of many of the conflu- 
ent streams emptying into this navigable highway. 
As evidence of the thoroughness of the manner in 
which Hendricksen did his work on the Delaware, it 
is related that, while leaving the " Restless" at anchor 
at the mouth of Christiana Greek, he extended his 

2 lirodhe.id, i. p. 46. N. Y. Hist. Coll , 2d series, ii. 3o5. 



52 



HISTOJIY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY. 



observations inland for some distance, where he came 
in contact with a small party of Minqua Indians, and 
rescued three white men, Netherlanders, who had 
some months prior strayed away from the fort or 
trading-station at Castle Island, on the Hudson River. 
These men had lost their way in the forest and had 
reached the Mohawk Valley. Crossing from thence to 
the Delaware, they fell in with savages who proved 
friendly, and, by a providence of life deemed most for- 
tunate by them, met their friends on the shore of 
Christiana Creek. Having prepared himself to make 
an advantageous report, he returned to Holland, and 
on the 16th of August, 1016, appeared before the 
States-General, declaring "he had discovered a bay 
and three rivers, situated between thirty-eight and 
forty degrees, and did there trade with the Indians, 
said trade consisting of sables, furs, robes, and other 
skins. He hath found the said country full of trees, 
to wit: oak, hickory, and pines, which trees were in 
some places covered with vines. He hath seen in said 
country bucks and doe, turkeys and partridges. He 
hath found the climate of said country very temper- 
ate, judging it to be as temperate as Holland." On 
this report Hendricksen claimed further and exten- 
sive privileges and immunities. In this he was dis- 
appointed. The authorities refused him upon the 
ground that a change in their policy was expedient, 
looking to the permanent colonization of the country 
he claimed to have explored. This policy compre- 
hended the organization of a" West Indies Company." 
The growth, utility, and experience of this company 
for many subsequent years, resulting from the politi- 
cal agitation of the Netherlands, affords an interesting 
theme for comment, and is nowhere more graphically 
described than in the recently-published " History of 
New York," by Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. 

The spirit of religious persecution which prevailed 
in the seventeenth century was also a factor in the 
work of colonization. The Puritan exiles, led by 
John Robinson, William Brewster, and others, who 
had been living in the Netherlands in the enjoyment 
of their religious tenets, were looked upon as a migra- 
tory people, and by a certain class of political econ- 
omists thought available as colonists for the purpose 
of founding a flourishing settlement at some point on 
the Atlantic coast. To these people the New World 
was painted in glowing colors by the Dutch naviga- 
tors and capitalists, while they in turn were willing 
to make unusual sacrifices for the enjoyment of 
religious liberty. Here were conditions of society 
and policy which seemed to synchronize and promise 
the most desirable results to all parties concerned. 
These exiles had made overtures to the Virginia Col- 
ony and the Plymouth Company, but in both instances 
failed to effect arrangements deemed necessary for 
their permanent welfare as a colony, and therefore 
applied to the Netherlands through the Amsterdam 
merchants to settle at some point in the New World 
under the protection of the States-General. John 



Robinson prepared the memorial. He proposed to 
take four hundred families with him, provided they 
were assured of protection. " They desired to go to 
the New Netherlands, to plant there the true Christian 
religion, to convert the savages of those countries to the 
true knowledge and understanding of the Christian 
faith, and through the grace of the Lord, and to the 
glory of the Netherlands' government, to colonize and 
establish a new empire under the order and command 
of the Prince of Orange and the High Mighty Lords 
States-General." The company of merchants heart- 
ily co-operated with Robinson in his comprehensive 
purpose, pledging large sums of money to secure 
transportation for the four luindred families, and all 
the necessary supplies of stock, implements, seeds, 
provisions, etc., and when plans were well matured 
they sent their most influential men to submit the 
memorial to the Hague, with their endorsement of the 
project. The Prince of Orange referred the project 
to the States-General, who, after great consideration, 
refused to sanction the enterprise or grant them the 
protection deemed necessary by Robinson and his 
coadjutors for the success and permanency of the new 
colony in the wilds of America. It was this refusal 
of the Dutch to transplant the " Pilgrims" on the 
Hudson and Delaware Rivers that aroused the re- 
served energies of their restless souls, and led to their 
subsequent departure in the "Speedwell" and "May- 
flower" for Plymouth Rock.' 

About this time religious controversy was renewed 
with great vigor. The Calvinists and Puritans were 
arrayed against the Arminians, who were in control 
of the States and patronage of the country. The 
work of the Reformation was producing its j ust fruits, 
and the freedom of religious thought prevailed. In 
1619, after a bitter contest, the Calvinists triumphed, 
and soon after signalized their success by chartering 
the West India Company, granting to it extraordinary 
powers for the encouragement of maritime commerce 
and the extension of colonial dominion. This charter 
is dated June 3, 1621, and gave to the West India 
Company for the period of twenty-four years the ex- 
clusive monopoly of trade and navigation to the 
coasts of Africa, between the Cape of Good Hope 
and the Tropic of Cancer, and to the coasts of America 
and the West Indies, between the Straits of Magellan 
and Newfoundland. The company was invested with 
enormous powers. In the language of Brodhead, 
it might make in the name of the States-General 



I John Kobinson's fareweU blessing: 

'* I cbarge you before God and His blessed angels that you follow me 
no further than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ. The 
Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of His holy word. I cannot 
sufficiently bewail the condition of the Reformed Churches, who are to 
come to a period in religion, and will go at present no further than the 
instruments of their reformation. Luther and Calvin were great and 
shining lights in their times, yet they penetrated not into the whole 
counsel of God. I beseech you, remember it, — 'tie an article of your 
church covenant, — that you be ready to receive whatever truth shall be 
made known to you from the written word of God." 



FIRST SETTLEMENTS ON THE DELAWARE AND SCHUYLKILL RIVERS. 



53 



" contracts aud alliances with the princes and natives 
of the countries comprehended within the limits of 
its charter, build forts, appoint and discharge gov- 
ernors, soldiers, and public officers, administer justice, 
and promote trade. It was bound to advance the 
peopling of these fruitful and unsettled parts, and do 
all that the service of those countries and the profit 
and increase of trade shall require." The States- 
General had a sort of general supervision, with the 
privilege of confirming the appointment of superior 
officers, but no other powers over it. The govern- 
ment of the company was vested in five boards of 
managers, — one at Amsterdam, managing four-ninths 
of the whole ; one at Middleburg, iu Zealand, man- 
aging two-ninths; one at Dordrecht, oa the Maese, 
managing one-ninth ; one in North Holland, one- 
ninth ; and one in Friesland and Groningen, one- 
ninth. The general executive power for all purposes, 
the power to declare war only being reserved for the 
approval of the States, was confided to a board of 
nineteen delegates, of whom eight were to come from 
the Amsterdam chamber, and the rest from the other 
chambers in proportion to their shares, except that 
the States-General had one delegate. The States 
were pledged to defend the company against all 
comers, to advance to it a million guilders in money, 
and give it for its a.ssistance sixteen ships of war of 
three hundred tons each, and foi^r yachts of eighty 
tons, fully equipped. This fleet was to be main- 
tained, manned, and supported by the company, 
which besides was to provide an equal number of 
vessels on its own part, the whole to be under the 
command of an admiral selected by the States-Gen- 
era). Any inhabitant of the Netherlands or of other 
countries might become a stockholder during 1621, 
but after that year the subscription books were to be 
closed, and no new members admitted. Colonization 
was one object of this great monopoly, but what its 
chiefs looked to principally for profit was a vast 
system of legalized piracy against the commerce of 
Spain and Portugal in Africa and America. The 
company was not finally organized under the charter 
until June, 1623, when the subscription books were 
closed. 

In the interval between the lapse of the old United 
Company and the completion of the charter of the 
new monopoly, several ships were sent on trading 
ventures of a more or less private character to the 
North and South Rivers in the New Netherlands, 
among them vessels which had visited those regions 
before. King James I. having granted the charter 
of the Plymouth Company, complaints began to be 
heard about Dutch intrusions. Sir Samuel Argall, 
who is represented in the spurious Plantagenet pam- 
phlet as having forced a Dutch governor in Manhat- 
tan to yield allegiance to the British king in 1613, is 
found in 1621 as complaining, in a memorial signed 
by him. Sir Ferdinando Georges, the Earl of Arun- 
del, and Capt. John Mason, against the " Dutch in- 



truders," who are represented as having only settled 
on the Hudson in 1620. This was claimed by the 
Plymouth Company as proof of the British king's 
title to the whole country, j\ire primce occupationis. 
This led to a protest, in December, 1621, by the Brit- 
ish government, through Sir Dudley Carleton, ambas- 
sador at the Hague. The States professed ignorance, 
and promised to make inquiry, and with that answer, 
after some fretfulness, the British minister was forced 
to content himself In fact, the States-General, en- 
grossed in preparations for the war with Spain, sim- 
ply delayed matters until the West India Company 
was organized, when all such questions were referred 
to it for settlement. It thus became an issue between 
British Plymouth Company and Dutch West India 
Company, and the latter was the stronger of the two, 
both in men and argument. 

The ships of that company, even before the final 
ratification of the amended charter, were trading in 
all the Atlantic waters between Buzzard's Bay (within 
twenty miles of Plymouth) and the Delaware River, 
and a plan of colonization was already matured. A 
number of Walloons (Belgian Protestants of supposed 
Waelsche or Celtic origin), refugees in Holland from 
Spanish persecution, had applied to the British min- 
ister Carleton for leave to emigrate to Virginia. Tlie 
terms offered them do not seem to have been satisfac- 
tory. The Holland Provincials heard of the negotia- 
tions, and suggested to the Amsterdam chamber of 
the West India Company that these would be good 
immigrants with whom to begin the permanent set- 
tlement of the New Netherlands. The suggestion 
was seized upon, and provision made to carry the 
Walloons over in the company's ship then about to 
sail, the " New Netherlands," Capt. Cornells Jacob- 
.sen Mey, he who had first sailed into South River, 
and who was going out now as first resident director ' 
or governor of the colonies. Some thirty families, 
chiefly Walloons, were accordingly taken on board, 
and in the beginning of March, 1623, the " New Neth- 
erlands" sailed from the Texel, Capt. Mey in com- 
mand, the nest highest officer being Adriaen Joris, 
of Thienpoint. The course of the ship (and of nearly 
all vessels making the American voyage at that day) 
was southward from the British Channel to the Cana- 
ries, thence across the Atlantic with the trade-winds 
to Guiana and the Caribbees, then northwest between 
the Bermudas and Bahamas until the coastof Virginia 
came in sight. Mey's vessel reached the North River 
safely and in time to drive ofi' a French vessel which 
sought to set up the arms of France on Manhattan 
Island. The Frenchman was foiled in the same way 
on the Zuydt River. Mey distributed his colonists as 
far as he could. The greater part of the Walloons were 
sent up to Albany, several families went to the Dutch 
factory on the Connecticut; four couples, who had 
married during the voyage out, several sailors, and 
some other men were sent to the South River, now 
also called Prince Hendrick's River. Mey appears 



54 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



either to have accompanied them here or visited 
them soon after their arrival. He selected a site for 
their settlement, planting the Walloons on Verhulsten 
Island, near the present city of Trenton, N. J., and 
hastened the construction of a log fort or stockade 
for his sailors and soldiers at the mouth of the Tim- 
iner Kill, on the New Jersey bank of the Delaware, 
not far from where Gloucester now stands. This fort 
was called " Nassau." Its exact site is not deter- 
mined, nor can we decide the original Indian name 
of the spot, having such a variety to choose from.' 
This South River colony was soon given up. The 
men and women of the Walloons grew homesick and 
returned to New York, certainly within a year or so, 
the garrison also abandoning the fort to the Indians, 
who occasionally lodged there during several years, 
probably while waiting for trading vessels. Such a 
vessel was sent round to the South River at least once 
a year from Manhattan Island. Thus, it is supposed 
in 162.5, the first settlement on the Delaware came 
to naught.- Fort Nassau, to conclude its history, 
seems to have been alternately occupied and aban- 
doned by the Dutch until 1650 or 1651, when it was 
destroyed by the Dutch themselves, as being too high 
up the river and too much out of the way. The post 
was then transferred to the new Fort Casimir. In 
1633, De Vries found none but Indians there, but it 
seems to have been restored some time during the 
same year by Governor Van Twiller, who was ac- 
cused of incurring extravagant expense in connec- 
tion with its construction. Arent Corssen was then 
commissary; he had a clerk, and the Governor or- 
dered him to select the site for another structure of 
the same sort on the river. In 1635 an English party 
attempted but failed to capture this fort. They were 
thought to be Lord Baltimore's people, but were more 
likely New Englanders or Virginians. The Swedes 
repeatedly denied that there was any fort of the 
Dutch on the Delaware in 1638 ; but the Dutch ac- 
counts of expenditure for the maintenance of Fort 
Nassau charged against that year in the West India 
Company's books disprove this. There was certainly 
enough of a garrison in the fort to report at once and 
protest against the Swedish settlement at Christiana 

1 HermaomeBsiog, Tachaacbo, Armewamix, Arwames, Tekoke, Ar- 

menvereus, etc. The year in which the fort was Iiuilt is also disputed, 
hut ttie circiimstancea mentioned in tiie text niukc* it probable tliat its 
construction was undertaken very shortly after Capt. Mey's arrival out. 
- It is not possible to state satisfactorily in what year the settlement 
was Riven up nor why. The deposition of Peter Lawrenson before Gov- 
ernor Dongan, of New York, in March, 16S5, says that he came into this 
colony in 1C28, and in 1030 (actually 1131), by oi-der of the West India 
Company, he, with some others, was sent in a sloop to the Delaware, 
where the company had a trading-house, with ten or twelve servants 
belonging to it, which the deponent himself did see settled there. . . , 
"And the deponent further saith that upon an island near the falls of 
that river and near the west side thereof, tlie said company some thn'e or 
four years before had a trading-house, where there were three or four 
families of Walloons. The place of their settlement he saw ; and that 
they had been seated there he was informed by some of the said Wal- 
l)ons themselves when they were returned from Iheiice." Itisiuthis 
in i'-finite way that the beginnings of all bistoiy are written. 



in April, 1638. In 1642 the garrison comprised twenty 
men, and the fort was continually occupied from this 
time forth until the Dutch destroyed it. 

In 1624, Peter Minuet {the name is also spelled 
Minuit, Minnewit, or Minnewe) came out and suc- 
ceeded Mey as director of the New Netherlands colo- 
nies. He held this position until 1632, when he was 
recalled, and Van Twiller became Governor in his 
stead. Minuet, as will be seen further on, was a 
sagacious and enterprising man, but he had to pur- 
sue a conservative policy as director of the New 
Netherlands, for the welfare of the colony was neg- 
lected sadly by the West India Company. But few 
immigrants and colonists came out, the garrisons were 
not strengthened, nor was much effort made to ex- 
tend either the boundaries or the trade of the colony. 
Some negro slaves indeed were landed on Manhattan 
Island at least as early as 1628, but their labor was 
not esteemed. The chief business done was in trading 
with the Indians for peltries and furs. In fact the 
West India Company was so puffed with the arro- 
gance that proceeds from great successes and sudden 
wealth, that the directors despised the small and plod- 
ding colonial ways and the slow and meagre profits 
derived from such sources. It had won brilliant vic- 
tories at sea. It had taken in two years one hundred 
and four Spanish prizes. It had paid dividends of 
fifty per cent. It^had captured the Panama plate 
fleet. It frequently sent to sea single squadrons of 
seventy armed vessels. It had captured Bahia in 
1624, and Pernambuco in 1630, and it aspired to the 
conquest of Brazil. These brilliant performances cast 
the puny interests of the New Netherlands traders 
into the shade, and the company did not care to be 
bothered with the discharge of duties which were 
nevertheless particularly assigned to it in the char- 
ter. So obvious was this departure from the original 
purposes of the company that so early even as 1624 
we find that William Usselincx, the founder of the 
company, had abandoned it in disgust, and was seek- 
ing to persuade King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden 
to establish a Swedish West India Company, such 
as would be operated more in accordance with his 
original plan. 

There were still some very shrewd heads among the 
members of the Amsterdam chamber, men who while 
quite willing to take all the gold and silver and pre- 
cious stones they could get, yet were fully acquainted 
with the more abiding virtues of land. Of these were 
John De Laet, the historian, Killiaan Van Rensselaer, 
the diamond-cutter, Michael Pauw, Peter Evertsen 
Hulft, Jonas Witsen, Hendrick Hamel, Samuel Go- 
dyn, and Samuel Blommaert, all rich, all well in- 
formed, all interested in the support and develop- 
ment of the colonies on the North and South Rivers, 
especially if these could be effected in a w.ay further 
to enrich themselves. The secretary of Minuet and 
the colony, Isaac De Rasieres, a keen observer and 
skillful diplomatist, was devoted to the interests of 



FIRST SETTLEMENTS ON THE DELAWARE AND SCHUYLKILL RIVERS. 



55 



Godyn, Van Rensselaer, and Blommaert, and he prob- 
ably kept them apprised of all that w'as going on in 
the New Netherlands. While Minuet, with reduced 
forces, was compelled through fear of Indians to con- 
centrate his people at Manhattan, abandoning all ex- 
posed places, the Amsterdam directors, after consult- 
ing with De Rasieres, whom Minuet had sent home, 
procured a meeting of the Executive "College" of 
nineteen, and secured from it a Charter of Freedoms 
and Exemptions, which the States-General confirmed 
on June 7, 1629. This was a complete feudal consti- 
tution, adopted years before Lord Baltimore's charter. 
It created a landed aristocracy, and handed the State 
over pretty much to their control. The plan for the 
colonization of the territory was its subdivision into 
separate and independent settlements or estates, 
each to be under the control of a patroon, or feudal 
lord, who was tb settle it at his own expense in ex- 
change for many peculiar privileges. The charter 
provided that any member of the West India Com- 
pany (to none others were these privileges open) who 
should within four years plant a colony of fifty 
adults in any part of New Netherland (except the 
island of Manhattan, which the company, having 
bought it from the Indians, reserved to itself) should 
be acknowledged as a " patroon" or feudal chief of 
the territory he might thus colonize. The land se- 
lected for each colony might extend sixteen miles in 
length if confined to one side of a navigable river, or 
eight miles on each side if both banks were occupied ; 
but they might run as far into the country as the sit- 
uation of the occupiers should permit. More immi- 
grants entitled the patroon to proportionately more 
land. The colonists under the patroons were ex- 
empted from all taxes for ten years; they acquired 
their estates in fee-simple, with power of disposing by 
will ; they were magistrates within their own bounds, 
and each patroon had the exclusive privilege of fish- 
ing, fowling, and grinding corn within his own do- 
main ; they could also trade anywhere along the 
American coast, and to Holland by paying five per 
cent, duty to the company at its reservation of Man- 
hattan. The company reserved the fur trade to itself, 
and none of the colonists were to engage in any man- 
ufactures. 

A review of events and circumstances incident to 
the settlement of Eastern Pennsylvania without ref- 
erence to the speculative greed of men whose op)>or- 
tunities misled them would be incomplete. Ordinarj' 
foresight and sagacity induced the belief in the minds 
of these first voyagers that settlements would speedily 
follow the line of commerce, and lands eligibly located 
would soon have market value. Ambitious capi- 
talists, such as Samuel Godyn and Samuel Blom- 
maert, prompted by so keen and observing a resident 
as Isaac De Rasieres, whose official position gave him 
peculiar advantages in advising his friends, were not 
slow in concerting measures to advance their interest 
in large land enterprises. As early as 1629 they re- 



tained two purchasing agents to buy lands from the 
Indians on the south side of the Delaware Bay. Their 
purchase embraced a tract thirty-two miles in length, 
extending a distance of two miles into the country 
from the shore line, the patent thereof being duly reg- 
istered and confirmed June 1, 1630. Similar pur- 
chases were made on and near the Hudson River by 
William Van Rensselaer, Michael Pauw, and John 
De Laet. These extensive operations were viewed 
with disfavor, and led to general and unfriendly criti- 
cism, and naturally excited quarrels among the specu- 
lators and their retainers. To avoid scandal and ex- 
posure there seems to have been what was deemed an 
equitable division of advantages. In a word, there 
had been over-reaching and sharp practice. Explan- 
ations and restitution were discreetly made. Fortu- 
nately for Godyn and Blommaert, who were obliged 
to improve their land on the Delaware Bay, under 
the terms of confirmation of their purchase, they fell 
in with David Pietersen De Vries, who had just re- 
turned from the East Indies. He was a man of un- 
couth exterior, but of good heart, and from experience 
had become observant, not alone in nautical matters, 
but in all worldly affairs, and was on terms of great 
personal intimacy with Godyn. His services were 
deemed so important to the success of the enterprise 
that he was admitted to equal advantages, — i.e., his 
experience was deemed equivalent to the capital of 
those associated in the enterprise. 

De Vries became a patroon Oct. 16, 1630, and at 
once set to work to promote the designs of his asso- 
ciates. The ship " Walvis," or " Whale," of eighteen 
guns, and a yacht were immediately equipped. They 
carried out emigrants, cattle, food, and whaling im- 
plements, De Vries having heard that whales abounded 
in the Bay of South River (Godyn's Bay, or Newport 
May Bay, as it now also began to be called), and ex- 
pecting to establish profitable fisheries there. The 
expedition sailed from the Texel in December under 
the command of Pieter Heyes, of Edam. De Vries 
did not go out at this time, and the voyage was not 
profitable. De Vries accuses Heyes of incapacity 
and cowaidice, saying he would not sail through the 
West Indies in an eigbteen-gun ship. Still, Heyes 
did a large business for his employers. He reached 
South River in the spring of 1631, and established 
his colony on the Horekill, "a fine navigable stream, 
filled with islands, abounding in good oysters," and 
surrounded by fertile soil. The place was near the 
present site of Lewes, Del. Here a palisaded brick 
house was erected, and the colony of more than thirty 
souls was called Swaannendael, the Valley of Swans. 
The Dutch title was inscribed upon a pillar, on a 
plate of tin, surmounted by the arms of Holland. 
The fort, named " Oplandt," was given in the com- 
mand of Gilliss Hossett, Van Rensselaer's agent in 
buying lands around Albany. Heyes, after he had 
settled matters at Swaannendael, crossed to the Jer- 
sey shore and bought from ten chiefs there, on behalf 



56 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY 



of Godyn, Blommaert, and their associates, a tract of 
land extending from Cape May twelve miles north- 
ward along the bay and twelve miles inland. This 
purchase was registered at Manhattan June 3, 1631. 
The whale fishery having come to naught, in Sep- 
tember Heyes sailed for home to report to his em- 
ployers. 

De Vries now determined to go out to the South 
River himself, and preparations were made for him to 
take charge of another ship and yacht. Just as he 
was about to sail from the Texel, May 24, 1632, Gov- 
ernor Minuet arrived from New Amsterdam with 
intelligence of the massacre of the colony at Swaan- 
nendael. This was cold news for De Vries and his 
associates. The patroon sailed, however, and after a 
long and checkered voyage arrived off Swaannendael 
early in December. The site of the little settlement 
told a fearful tale; the house itself nearly ruined, 
the stockade burnt, and the adjacent land strewed 
with the skulls and bones of the colonists, the remains 
of cattle, etc. The valley was silent and desolate. 

De Vries returned 
on board his yacht 
and fired a gun to 
attract attention of 
the savages. After 
some mutual mis- 
trust, communica- 
tion was opened 
with tliem, and 
De Vries was told 
a cock-and-bull 
story of a chief 
having ignorantly 
removed the coat 
of arms from the 
pillar and been 
murdered by the colonists for doing it, whereupon 
his tribe, in revenge, massacred the colonists. De 
Vries knew too much about the Dutch cruelty and 
harshness to the Indians to believe any such story. 
He had before him all the evidences of the white 
man's cruelty and the savage's wild revenge. The 
fatal deed was irreparable, and De Vries, keeping his 
own counsel, did what he could to restore confidence 
and peace by making presents to the Indians of 
" duffles, bullets, hatchets, and Nuremberg toys," so 
as to get them to hunt beaver for him, instead of lying 
in ambush to murder more colonists. The result 
was a treaty of peace, the first ever made in Delaware 
waters. 

On Jan. 1, 1633, the navigation being open, De 
Vries proceeded up the bay and river in his yacht. 
At Fort Nassau he heard of the murder of the crew 
of an English sloop, and met some Indians wearing 
the Englishmen's jackets. These Indians also made a 
show of offering peace, but De Vries dealt with them 
very cautiously, as they greatly outnumbered his 
men. 




UAVID PIETERSEN DE VRIES. 



On January 10th, De Vries cast anchor at the bar 
of Jacques Eylandt, precisely opposite the present 
city of Philadelphia, somewhere over against Willow 
Street, near the site of what is now known as Wind- 
mill Island.' Thence he went down river again, an- 
choring half a mile above Minquas Kill, on the look- 
out for whales. He was finally twice frozen up, and 
in some danger from Indians, numerous war parties 
of whom he saw, there being some intestine feud 
among the adjacent tribes. Released from the ice, 
he reached Swaannendael on February 20th, and on 
March 6th sailed for Virginia, returning to South 
River only to break up the colony at Swaannendael 
and go home. Once more the Delaware River and 
Bay were abandoned to the Indians, and once more 
the attempt at settlement by white men had failed. 
There were no further efforts made to settle on South 
River until the Swedes came in 1638, but, as has been 
stated, there must have been a more or less intermit- 
tent occupancy at Fort Nassau, and possibly there 
may have been a permanent garrison from the begin- 
ning of Van Twiller's director-generalship.'' 

Note, — If the story of New Albion is other than an )u3torica! myth, 
tlie Englisli were among the earliest adventurers and settlers on the 
Delaware. Between 1G23 and 1634, for several dates are mentioned, 
Charles I. granted an extensive territory to Sir Edmund Plowden, 
which enihraced Long Island, all of New Jersey, Delaware, and parts of 
Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, who formed a company of noble- 

1 The bar of Jacques Eylandt embraces the spot where the city of 
Camden is now built. 

2 The 'list of June, 1634, is the alleged date of the probably spurious 
Sir Kdwurd Plowden or Ploydon's charter for impossible territory some- 
where between the Potomac and Newark Bay. 

Rev. Edward D. Neill, president of Macalester College, Minn., who has 
given considerable attention to Maryland history, though from a rather 
sectarian stand-point, contributed two papers on Plowden to the tifth vol- 
ume of the Pennsylvania MagaziiiCy conCvicted by the Historical Society of 
that State. He assumes Plowden's existence, and that he was the lineal 
descendant of Edmund Plowden, the commentator on English law, who 
earned Coke's encomiums and who died in 1584. Plowden, according to 
Neill, did obtain a grant in lG:j'.i, through King Charles I.'s request to 
the viceroy of Ireland for act-rtain " Isle Plowden" and forty leagues of 
the mainland, called " New Albion." The island lay between 39° and 
40° latitude. Capt. Young, commissioned by the king in September, 
1633, sent out an exploring expedition in 1634, which ascended the Del- 
aware as far as the Falls. ■ If this expedition ever sailed, it must have 
been the one mentioned by De Vries-as having been massacred by the 
Indians, There is no proof that Plowden sent out this party or had aught 
to do with it, Evelyn, who' commanded it, was in the service of Clay- 
bortie's London partners, Plowden, says Mr, Neill, was living at hisseat 
at Wanstead in Hampshire in 163.5, unhappy, heating his wife, quarrel- 
ing with his neighbors, and chatiging his relieion. His wife and his 
clergyman's wife both had him arrested for assault and battery, and his 
wife procured a divorce from him. In 1641, Evelyn wrote a pamphlet 
descriptive of New Albion, dedicated to Plowden's wife. The next year 
Plowden was on the Chesapeake, This was ten years after he is said to 
have procured this rich grant. No one can explain why he did not look 
after such an estate sooner. Plowden lived most of his time in Virginia, 
but waj* in Maryland, on Delaware Bay, at New York, and in New Eng- 
land. He was abroad just seven years, say his chroniclers, and then 
went home to return no more to " New Albion." It is conjectured that 
his seven years' residence was on account of being transported, and that 
his New Albion claim was trumped up after the time of his sentence 
was served out. Plowden is reputed to have died in 1665. Mr. Neill 
further says (hat in 163.5-40, Plowden was a prisoner in the Fleet Prison, 
London, fur refusing to jiay his wile's alimony, Mr, Neill must see that 
the dates of Plowden's adventures are as irreconcilable aa his adven- 
tures. 



THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 



57 



men and gentlemen under the title of "The AUdon Knights." The 
Delaware was the chosen ground to settle, and tlie company pledged 
itself to introduce tlireo tlionsand trained men into the colony. Colo- 
nists were actually introduced, and made their homea on the Delaware; 
but neither the number nor exact location ran be told. Plowden was 
iord proprietor and captain-general, while one Beauchamp Plantagenet 
was made agent of this company of knightly settlers. Tlie earl and 
Plantagenet were here seven years, and became well acquainted with 
the country and Indian tribes. A government was framed, and the 
machinery of civil administration put in operation, but its duration is 
unknown. A history of tlie colony was publisbed in 1048, which con- 
tained the letter of one "Master Robert Evelin," addressed to Lady 
Plowden after his return to England. He was four years on the Dela- 
ware, and i[i his letter he states that "Captain Claybnurn, fourteen 
years there trading," sustains wliat he says of the country. Evelyn evi- 
dently sailed up the river to the falls, for he mentions the streams which 
empty into it, names the tribes which live along it, with their strengtli, 
with some description of the country and the productions. Six leagues 
below the falls he speaks of" two fair, woody islands, very pleasant and 
fit for parks, one of one thousand acres, the other of fourteen hundred 
or thereabouts." Tliese were probatdy Burlington and Newbold's 
Islands. Near the falls, he says, " is an isle fit for a city ; all the m:i- 
teriala there to build, and above the river fair and navigable, as the In- 
dians informed me, for I went but ten miles higher." The "isle fit for 
a city" refere, doubtless, to Morris Island, or the one abreast of Morris- 
ville. It is barely possible that he fell into the popular error of some 
explorers of the period, that the Delaware branched at the falls, and 
that the two branches formed a large island above. He says that a ship 
of one hundred and forty tons can ascend to tlie falls, and that "ten 
leagues higher are lead mines in stony hills." At the falls he locates 
the Indian town of Kildorpy, with clear fields to plant and sow, and 
near it are sweet, large mendows of clover or honeysuckle." The letter 
speaks of the abundant store of fish in the river, of water-fowl that 
swim upon its surface, and the game, fruit, and nuts to be found in the 
woods that line its banks, and of the magnificent forest-trees. Evelyn 
must have traveled well into the interior,and through portions of Bucks 
County. He speaks of the new town of the Susquehannocks as a ** rare, 
healthy, and rich place, and with a crystal, broad river." This must 
refer to the Susquehanna River and the tribe from which it takes its 
name. 

What became of Plowden's colony would be an interesting inquiry if 
we had the leisure to pursue it or the data necessary to solve it. The 
late William Rawle, of Philadelphia, who gave the subject a careful 
and intelligent investigation, believed that some of those who welcomed 
Penn to the shores of the Delaware were the survivors of the Albion 
Knights. History offers no (Edipus to unravel the mystery. — Davis, 
History of Bucks Counti). 



CHAPTER V. 



THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 

The ineffectual efforts of the Dutch to secure a per- 
manent lodgment on the Delaware south of the 
Schuylkill River left their large landed interests in 
an unprofitable and precarious condition. It is not 
seriously pretended by commentators that the Dutcli 
pioneers had any higher motives than those prompted 
by commercial advantages and the hope of obtaining 
wealth. It seems reasonably clear that a tnuling- 
post was still maintained by them on the Delaware, 
known as Fort Nassau, but not permanently occupied. 
It was doubtless an outpost, and for some years after 
the colony at Swaannendael was broken up was vis- 
ited by them at seasonable periods of trade and ex- 
change with the Indians. Tliat they were vigilant in 
their watch upon the Delaware is proven by the fact 
that they sent an armed force to dislodge a small 



party of English who, under George Holmes, had 
taken possession of Fort Nassau. These adventurers, 
thirteen in number, were taken prisoners by the 
Dutch and sent to Virginia, from whence they came, 
as their captors believed, although it is said by some 
writers that they came to the fort from the New Eng- 
land colonies. Samuel Godyn died in the year 1634. 

, His heirs and legal representatives in adjusting his 
estate provoked contentions with those who had been 
engaged in land speculations, which led to discoveries 
bordering upon scandal. The West India Company 
came to the rescue of the litigants, and purchased 
from Godyn's heirs and associates all the territory 
owned by them on both sides of the Delaware River 
for the sum of fifteen thousand six hundred guilders. 
The wide-spread publicity which resulted from the 
operations of the enterprising Hollanders in estab- 
lishing trade with the Indians and possessing them- 
selves of large landed estates in the New World nat- 

I urally stimulated the ambitious princes of Europe to 
efforts for the extension of their power and dominion 




SWEDISH DLOCK-HODSE. 
[Used for Public Worship in 1677.] 

on the North American continent. Efforts to estab- 
lish colonies were always made by royal authority 
under liberal grants and chartered privileges. Large 
sums of money in many instances were expended in 
equipping these expeditions, and in capitalizing and 
controlling them and the commerce resulting from 
them. These investments were made upon the ex- 
pectation of a fair return, and when financial reverses 
and disappointments occurred changes in the man- 
agement ensued. Salaried officers were turned out 
at the home office or recalled from abroad, who be- 
came important factors in the formation of new pro- 
jects, and all the more useful by reason of their ex- 
perience. Such a person was William Usselincx,' a 
Hollander, born at Antwerp, in Brabant, who as early 
as 1624 presented himself to King Gustaf Adolph of 
Sweden, and laid before him a proposition for a 
trading company to be established in Sweden, and to 
extend its operations to Asia, Africa, and Magellan's 
Land (Terra Magellanica), with the assurance that 
this would be a great source of revenue to the king- 



58 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



dom. Full power was given him to carry out this 
important project, and thereupon a contract of trade 
was drawn up, to which the company was to agree 
and subscribe. Usselincx published explanations of 
this Contract, wherein he also particularly directed 
attention to the country on the Delaware, its fertility, 
convenience, and all its imaginable resources. 

To strengthen the matter a charter was secured to 
the company, and especially to Usselincx, who was to 
receive a royalty of one thousandth upon all articles 
bought or sold by the company. The powerful king, 
whose zeal for the honor of God was not less ardent 
than for the welfare of his subjects, availed himself 
of the opportunity to extend the doctrines of Christ 
among the heathen, as well as to establish his own 
power in other parts of the world.' To this end he 
sent forth letters patent, dated at Stockholm, on the 
2d of July, 1G26, wherein all, both high and low, were 
invited to contribute something to the company, ac- 
cording to their means. The work was completed in 
the Diet of the following year, 1627, when the estates 
of the realm gave their assent and confirmed the 
measure. Those who took part in this company were 
his Majesty's mother, the Queen Dowager, Christina, 
the princess, John Casimir, the Royal Council, the 
most distinguished of the nobility, the highest officers 
of the army, the bishops and other clergymen, to- 
gether with the burgomasters and aldermen of the 
cities, as well as a large number of the people gener- 
ally. The time fixed for paying in the subscriptions 
was the 1st of May of the following year (1628). For 
the management and working of the plan there were 
appointed an admiral, vice-admiral, chaplain, under- 
chaplain, assistants and commissaries, also a body 
of soldiers, duly officered. But when these arrange- 
ments were in full progress and duly provided for the 
German war and the king's death occurred, which 
caused this important work to be laid aside. The 
Trading Company was dissolved, its subscriptions 
nullified, and the whole project seemed about to die 

J The plans of GuBtavus were both deep and patriotic. "The year 

1624," says the historian Geijer, "wasoneof the few ye-irstliat the king 
vas able to devote to tlie iuternal development of the realm." He 
looked at the suhject of colonization in America, says Rev. Dr. W. M. 
Reynolds in the introduction to his translation of Acrelius, " with the 
eye of a statesman who understood the wants not onlyof liisown country 
but of the world, and was able with prophetic glance to penetrate into 
the distant ages of the future." He proposed there to found a free State, 
where the laborer should reap the fruit of his toil, where the rights of 
conscience should he inviolate, and which should he open to the whole 
Protestant world, then engaged in a struggle for existence with all the 
papal powers of Europe. All should be secure in their persons, their 
property, and their rights of conscience. It should be an asylum for the 
persecuted of all nations, a place of security for the honor of the wives 
and daughters of those who were flying from bloody battle-fields and from 
homes madedesolate by the fire and sword of the persecutor. No slaves 
should burden the soil; " for," said Gustavus, — and we realize the pro- 
found truth of his political economy after an experience of two centuries 
at the end of which slavery expired amid the death-throes ot our civil 
war, — "slaves cost a great deal, labor with reluctance, and soon perish 
from hard usage. But the Swedish nation is industrious and intelligent, 
and hereby we shall gain more by a free people with wives and cliil- 
di en." — Scharft History of Philadelphia. 



with the king. But just as it appeared to be at its 
end it received new life. Another Hollander, by the 
name of Peter Menewe, sometimes called Menuet," 
made his appearance in Sweden. He had been in 
the service of Holland in America, where he became 
involved in difficulties with the officers of the West 
India Company, in consequence of which he was re- 
called home and dismissed from their service. But 
he was not discouraged by this, and went over to 
Sweden, where he renewed the representations which 
Usselincx had formerly made in regard to the excel- 
lence of the country, and the advantages that Sweden 
might derive from it. 

Queen Christina,' who succeeded her royal father 
in the government, was glad to have the project thus 
renewed. The royal chancellor. Count A.xel Oxen- 
stierna, understood well how to put it in operation. 
He took the West India Trading Company into his 
own hands as its president, and encouraged other 
noblemen to take shares in it. King Charles I. of 
England had already, in the year 1634, upon repre- 
sentations made to him by John Oxenstierna, at that 
time Swedish ambassador in London, renounced in 
favor of the Swedes all claims and pretensions of the 
English to that countrj' growing out of their rights 
as its first discoverers. Hence everything seemed to 
be settled upon a firm foundation, and all earnestness 
was employed in the prosecution of the plans for a 
colony. As a good beginning the first colony was 
sent off,* and Peter Menewe was placed over it, as 
being best acquainted in those regions. 

They set sail from Gottenburg in a ship of war 
called the " Key of Calmar," followed by a smaller 
vessel bearing the name of " Bird Griffin," both laden 
with people, provisions, ammunition, and merchan- 
dise suitable for traffic and gifts to the Indians. 
These ships successfully reached their place of desti- 
nation. The high expectations which the emigrants 
had of that new land were well met by the first news 
which they had of it. They made their first landing 
on the bay or entrance to the river Poutaxat, which 
they called the river of New Sweden, and the place 
where they landed they called Paradise Point. A 
purchase of land was immediately made from the In- 
dians, and it was determined that all the land on the 
western side of the river, from the point called Cape 
Inlopen, or Henlopen, up to the fall called San- 
tickan,^ and all the country inland, as much as was 

- An autograph letter found in the royal archives in Stockholm gives 
the name as commonly written in English, Minuit, 

3 Christina succeeded her father, the great Gustaf Adolph, in 1632, 
when only six years of age, and the kingdom remained uiidera regency 
until she was ciglitecn,in 1G44. Consequently she was only eleven years 
of age in 1637, when the .\merican colony was established. 

* In August, 1637, although it did not reach the Delaware until 1638. 
' Se'Odhner, "Sveriges Inre Historia,' p. 302. He reached the Delaware 
in the middle of April. 

& Trenton Falls, which Campanius (p. 49 of Translation) calls "the 
Falls of Assinpink." On Visscher's map of Pennsylvania, given in Du- 
Iionceau's Translation of Campanius, to face p. 78, we find "SanhiecanV 
given as the most northern point. 



THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 



59 



ceded, should belong to the Swedish crown forever. 
Posts were driven in the ground as landmarks, which 
were still seen in their places sixty years afterwards. 
A deed was drawn up for the land thus purchased. 
This was written in Dutch, for no Swede was yet able 
to interpret the language of the heathen. The In- 
dians subscribed their hands and marks. The writ- 
ing was sent home to Sweden to be preserved in the 
royal archives. Mans Kling was the surveyor. He 
laid out the land, and made a map of the whole river, 
with its tributaries, islands, and points, which is still 
to be found in the royal archives in Sweden. Their 
clergyman was Reones Torkillus, of East Gothland. 

The first abode of the newly-arrived emigrants was 
at a place called, by the Indians, Hopokahacking. 
There, in the year 1G38, Peter llenuet built a fortre.ss 
which he named Fort Christina, after the reigning 




PLAN OF THE TOWN AND FORT OF CHRISTINA, BESIEGED 

BY THE DUTCH IN 1053. 

[Fiom Cainpaiiius' New Sweden.] 

A, Fort Chriatina. B, Chrislitm Creek. C, Town of Christina Hamn. 

D, TenneI<onp Land. E, Fish Kill. F.Slaugenborg. G, Myggenborg. 

H, Rottenborg. I, Flingenborg. K, Timber Island. L, Kitchen. M, 

Position of the besiegers. N, Harbor. 0, Mine. P. Swamp. 

queen of Sweden. The place, situated upon the west 
side of the river, was probably chosen so as to be out 
of the way of the Hollanders, who claimed the eastern 
side, — a measure of prudence until the arrival of a 
greater force from Sweden. The fort was built upon 
an eligible site, not far from the mouth of the creek, 
so as to secure them in the navigable waters of the 
Miniquas, which was afterwards called Christina 
Kihl or Creek. The country was wild and unin- 
habited by the Hollanders. They had two or three 
forts on the river, — Fort Nassau, where Gloucester 
now stands, and another at Horekihl, down on the 
bay. But both of these were entirely destroyed by 
the Americans, and their occupants driven away. 
The following extract from the " History of the New 



Netherlands," which Adrian van der Donck pub- 
lished in the year 1655, with the license and privilege 
as well of the States- General as of the West India 
Company, will serve as proof of what we have said: 
"The place is called Horekihl,' but why so called we 
know not. But this is certain, that some years back, 
before the English and Swedes came hither, it was 
taken up and settled as a colony by Hollanders, the 
arms of the States being at the same time set up in 
brass. These arms having been pulled down by the 
villainy of the Indians, the commissary there resident 
demanded that the head of the traitor should be de- 
livered to him. The Indians, unable to e.scape in any 
other way, brought him- the head, which was accepted 
as a sufficient atonement of their offense. But some 
time afterwards, when we were at work in the fields, 
and unsuspicious of danger, the Indians came as 
friends, surrounded the Hollanders with overwhelm- 
ing numbers, fell upon them, and completely exter- 
minated them. Thus was the colony destroyed, 
though sealed with blood and dearly enough pur- 
chased." 

Notwithstanding all this, the Hollanders believed 
that they had the best right to the Delaware River, 
yea, a better right than the Indians themselves. It 
was their object to secure at least all the land lying 
between said river and their city of New Amsterdam, 
where was their stronghold, and which country they 
once called "The New Netherlands." But as their 
forces were still weak, they always kept one or another 
of their people upon the east side of the river to watch 
those who might visit the country. As soon, there- 
fore, as Menuet lauded with his Swedish company 
notice of the fact was given to the Director-General 
of the Hollanders in New Amsterdam. He waited 
for some time until he could ascertain Menuet's pur- 
pose, but when it appeared that he was erecting a 
fortress for the Swedes he sent him the following pro- 
test:' 

* Horekill (variously written Horeskill, Hoarkill, Whorekill) is no 
doubt a corruption of Hoornkill, so called from Hoorn, a city in Hol- 
land, from which Captain Mey sailed upon his e.\jiedition to America 
when he discovered or made his first visit to the Delaware. The deri- 
Vrtliitn of the name suggested by Van Sweringen, in his "Account of 
the Settling of the Swedes and Dutcli at the Delaware" (contained in 
vol. iii., pp. 342-347, of " Documents Relating to the Colonial History of 
New York," etc.), is of a piece with the rest of his narrative, and enti- 
tled to no consideration. Horekill was about two leagues from Cape 
Henlopen, and is probably the stream now called Lewes Creek, in the 
State of Delaware. See also the note to p. 21 of Ferris' " Original Set- 
tlements on the Dfilaware." 

- New Yo^^ Office in the General Index to the Dutch Records, Lib. A. 
The Swedif'h annalists who have given any account of this Swedish 
colony in America have represented the tii"st emigration as taking place 
in the time of King Giistaf Adolph, about the year 1627. This was the 
opinion of Th. Camp, of Holm. (See his " Nya Swerige" (New Sweden), 
pages 57, 58, 72, 73, which others have followed.) (See the " Dissert, de 
I'lant. Ecclesiffi Swec. in America," p. 5,) But this was only a conjec- 
ture suggested by the great prepanitions which were made at that time, 
but which were suddenly broken off. It would undoubtedly have been 
all the better if the work had been taken hold of at that time with all 
earnestness. But this protest is proof to the contrary, and shows that 
the first arrival must have taken place some time in the year preceding 
the building of the fortress (ihat is to say, in 1638). 



60 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



" Thdrspay, May 6, 1638. 
" I, Williiun Kieft, Director-General of the New Netherlands, residing 
upon the islan-l Manhatlan, iu the Fort Amsterdam, under the govern- 
ment belonging to the High and Mighty States-General of the United 
Netherlands and the West India Company, chartered by the Council 
Chamber of Amsterdam, make known to you, Peter Menuet, who style 
yourself Commander in the service of her Royal Majesty, the Queen of 
Sweden ; that the whole South River of the New Netherlands, both 
above and below, hath already, for many years, been our property, oc- 
cupied by our forts, and sealed with our blood; which was also done 
when you were in the servicu of the New Netherlands, and you are, 
therefore, well aware of thin. But whereas you have now come among 
our forts to build a fortress to our injury and damage, which we shall 
never permit; as we are also assured that Her Royal Majesty of Sweden 
has never given you authority to build forts upon our rivers and coasts, 
nor to settle people on the land, nor to traffic in peltries, nor to under- 
take anything to our injury : We do, therefore, protest against all the 
disorder and injury, and all the evil consequences of bloodshed, uproar, 
and wrong which our Trading Company may thus suffer; and that we 
shall protect our rights in such manner as we may find most advisable." 
Then follows the usual conclusion. In the history of the New Nether- 
lands already cited, Adrian van der Donck likewise relates how protest 
was made against the building of Fort Christina, but there also he gives 
evidence of the weakness of the Hollanders in the river on the first 
arrival of the Swedes, and that their strength consisted almost entirely 
in great words, "On the river," he says, "lies, first, Maniqua's Kihl, 
where the Swedes have built Fort Christina, where the largest ships can 
load and unload at the shore. There is another place on the river called 
Schulkihl, which is also navigable. That, also, was formerly under the 
control of the Hollanders, but is now mostly under the government of 
the Swedes. In that River (Delaware) there are various islands and 
other places formerly belonging to the Hollanders, whose name they 
still bear, which sufficiently shows that the river belongs to the Hol- 
landers, and not to the Swedes. Their very commencement will con- 
vict them. Before the year 1638, one Minnewits, who had formerly 
acted as Director for the Trading Company at Manhattans, came into 
the river in the ship 'Key of CoImar,'and the yacht called the' Bird Grif- 
fin.' He gave out to the Hollander, Mr, Van der Nederhorst, the agent 
of the West India Company in the South River, that he was on a voyage 
to the West India Isles, and that he was staying there to take iu wood 
and water. Whereupon, said Hollander allowed him to go free. But 
some time after, some of our people going thither, found him still there, 
and be had planted a garden, and the plants were growing in it. In 
astonishment we asked the reasons for such procedure, and if he in- 
tended to stay there? To which he answered evasively, alleging vari- 
ous excuses for his conduct. The third time they found them settled 
and building a fort. Then we saw their purpose. As soon as he was 
informed of it. Director Kieft protested against it, but in vain." 

Thus Peter Menuet made a good beginning for the 
settlement of the Swedish colony in America. He 
guarded his little fort for over three years, and the 
Hollanders neither attempted nor were able to over- 
throw it. After some years of faithful service he died 
at Christina. In his place followed Peter Hollen- 
dare, a native Swede, who did not remain at the bead 
of its affairs more than a year and a half. He re- 
turned home to Sweden, and was a major at Skeps- 
holm, in Stockholm, in the year 1655. 

The second emigration took place under Lieut.-Col. 
John Printz, who went out with the aj)pointment of 
Governor of New Sweden. He had a grant of four 
hundred rix-dollars for his traveling expenses, and 
twelve hundred dollars silver as his annual salary. 
The company was invested with the exclusive priv- 
ilege of importing tobacco into Sweden, although that 
article even then was regarded as unnecessary and 
injurious, although indispensable since the establish- 
ment of the bad habit of its use.^ Upon the same 

1 riacat on tobacco for the yearlG4l. 



occasion was also sent out Magister John Campaniu? 
Holm,^ who was also called by their excellencies, the 
Royal Council and Admiral Claes Fleming, to become 
the government chaplain,, and watch over the Swedish 
congregation. The ship on which they sailed wa* 
called the " Fama." It went from Stockholm to 
Gotheborg, and there took its freight. Along with 
this went two other ships of the line, the ** Swan" 
and the " Charitas," laden with people and the neces- 
saries of life. Under Governor Frintz, ships came to 
the colony in three distinct voyages. The first ship 
was the " Black Cat," with ammunition and mer- 
chandise for the Indians. Next the ship " Swan," on 
a second voyage, with emigrants, in the year 1647. 
Afterwards two other ships, called the "Key" and 
the *' Lamp." During these times the clergymen, 
Mr. Lawrence Charles Lockenius and Mr. Israel 
Holgh, were sent out to the colony. The instructions 
for the Governor were as follows : 

"Instructions, according to which Her Royal Majesty, our Most Gra- 
cious Qneen, will have the Lieuteoant-Colouel, now also the appointed 
Governor over New Sweden, the noble an(> well-born John Printz, to 
regulate himself as well during bis voyage as upon hie arrival in that 
country. Given at Stockholm, the loth of August, 1642. 

" Inasmuch as some of the subjects of Her Royal Majesty and of the 
Crown of Sweden have, for some time past, undertaken to sail to the 
coast of the West Indies, and have already succeeded in conquering and 
purchasing a considerable tract of land, and in promoting commerce, 
with the especial object of extending the jurisdiction and greatness of 
Her Royal Majesty and of the Swedish crown, and have called the coun- 
try New Sweden ; wherefore and inasmuch as Her Royal Majesty ap- 
proves and finds this, their undertaking and voyaging, not only laud- 
able in itself, but reasonable, and likely, iu the courseof time, to benefit 
and strengthen Her Royal Majesty and the Swedish throne: So has Her 
Royal Majesty, for the promotion of that work and for the assistance of 
those who participate therein, furnished them for the making of that 
important voyage, and also for thecoi^rmingand strengthening of that 
important work thus begun in New Swedf^n, for said voyage, two ships, 
named the Tama' and the 'Swan,' as well as some other means neces- 
sary thereto, under a certain Governor, whom Her Majesty has provided 
with sufficient and necessary powers, having thereunto appointed and 
legitimated Lieutenant-Colonel John Printz, whom she has accordingly 
seen good to instruct upon the points following: 

**2. The ships above named liaving proceeded to Gittheborg, John 
Printz, the Governor of New Sweden, shall now, without any delay, take 
his departure to said place, so arranging his journey by land that he 
may reach there by the first opportunity. Going down to Giithehorg, 
he shall assist in ordering and arranging everything iu the best manner 
possible, and especially in accordance with the best regulations that the 
members of the company can have made ; and as concerns bis own per- 
son and that of his attendants, he shall 60 arrange bis aff.iira that he 
may immediately, in the month of September next following, set sail 
from this country and proceed to sea. 

":i. But either beCore or at the time the ships are about to set sail from 
Giithehorg, tlie Governor shall consult with the skippers and officers of 
the ships, considering and deciding, according to the state of the wind 
and other circumstances, whether he shall direct his course to the 
north of Scotland or through the channel between France and Eng- 
land. 

"4. Under way and on the journ£y,he must see to it that the officers 
and peoi)le of the ships perform their duties at sea truly and faithfully; 
and in all important and serious mutters he can always avail himself of 
tlie aid and coutiselof"the persons aforesaid who usually form thecoun- 
cilof asliip; he shall also have every important occurrence carefully 
noted, causing a correct log, or journal, thereof to be kept, of which 
also he shall, by every opportunity, send hither a correct copy. 

2 It was long a favorite usage in Sweden to designate clergymen by 
the name of the place or province in which they were horn, so that Holm 
may here be eriuivalent to "a native of Stockholm." 



THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 



61 



"5. The Governor, Gud willing, liaviiig arrived in New Sweden, he 
must, fur liis better iiiforniatioii, bear in miTjd that the boundaries of 
tlie country of wliich onr subjects Iiave taken possession extend, in 
virtvie of the articles of the contract entered into with the wild inhabit- 
ants of the country, as its rightful lords, from the sea-coast at Cape 
Uinlopen,^ upwards along the west side of Godin's Bay,- and so up the 
Great South River,^ onwards to Miugue's Kil,'* where Fort Christina is 
built, and tlience still farther along the South river, and up to a place 
which the wild inhabitants call Sankikans,^ where ttie farthest bounda- 
ries of New Sweden are to be found. This tract or district of couiitiy 
extends in length about thirty German miles, but in breadth, and into 
the interior, it is, in and by the contract, conditioned that Her Royal 
Majesty's subjects, and the participants in this Company of navigators, 
may hereafter occupy as much land as they may desire. 

"6. Recently, and in the year last past, vis., I64I, several English 
families, probably amounting to sixty persons in all, have settled, and 
begun to build and cultivate the land elsewhere, namely, upon the etist 
eide of the above mentiotied South river, on a little stream named Fer- 
ken's Kil ;« so also have the ahove-nam«d subjects of Her Maji-sty, and 
participants in the Company, purchased for themselves of the wild in- 
habitants of the country, the whole eastern side of the river, from the 
mouth of the aforesaid great river at Cape May np to a stream named 
Vr'arraticen's Kil,^ wliich tract extends about twelve German miles, in- 
cluding also the said Feiken's Kil, with the intention of thus drawing 
to themselves the English aforesaid. This jiurcbase the Governor shall 
always, with all his power, keep intact, and thus bring these families 
under the jurisdiction and government of Her Royal Majesty and the 
Swedish Crown; especially as we are informed that they themselves are 
not disposed thereto; and should they be induced, as a free people, 
voluntaiily to submit themselves to a government which can maintain 
and protect them, it is believed that they might shortly amount to some 
hundred strong. But however that may be, tlie Governor is to seek to 
bring these Englisli under the government of the Swedish Crown, inas- 
much as Her Royal Blajesty finds it to be thus better for herself ami the 
Crown as partners in tliis undertaking; and they might also, with good 
reason, be driven out and away from said place; therefore, Ht-r Royal 
Majesty aforesaid will most graciously leave it to the discretion of Gov- 
ernor Printz so to consider and act in the premises as can be done with 
propriety and success. 8 

"7. There is no douht that the Holland West India Company will 
seek to appropriate to tliemselvos the place aforesaid, and the large tract 
of land upon which the English havesettled,and the whole of the above- 
named east side of the Great South River, and that so much the rather 
as their fort or fortification of Nassau, which thry have manned witli 
about twenty men, is not very far tlierefrom,upon thesame eastern side 
of the river, just as tliey also make pretensions to the whole western 
side of the aforesaid South Eiver, and consequently to all that of which 
our subjects aforesaid have t;»ken possession, which they have seized, 
relying upon their Fort Nassau, whereby they would take possession of 
the whole South River, and of the whole country situated on both sides 
of the same river. It is for this that they have protested against the 
beginning wliich her before-mention(;d Majesty's subjects have made in 
settling and building, and, so far as they could, have always opposed and 
suiight to prevent our people from going up the South River aud past 
their Fort Nassau. Therefore shall the Governor take measures for 

1 ('ape Henlopen ; we follow the orthography of the text. 

2 Usually written "Godyn's"; Delaware Bay being so called by the 
Hollanders after Siimutl Godyn, who in 1G29 received a patent for a 
large tract of land there as its patroon. 

3 The river Delaware . 

4 Now Christiana Creek. 

s Trenton Falls, ninety miles from the mouth of Delaware Bay. 

^ Written also" Varken's Kil," i.e.," Hog's Creek," which is now called 
Salem Creek. The Indians called it Oitsessingh, or W(M)tses3ung8ing. 

''Raccoon Creek. The " Naraticongs" are nn^ntioued as an Indian 
tribe north of the Raritan. (See O'Callaghan, i. 49.) 

^ It is not known whence these English settlers came, or the precise 
time of their coming. According to the text above it was in 1641. 
Ferris, in his " History of the Original Settlements on the Delaware" 
(Wilmington, 1S46), p. 65, on what authority he does not tell us, says 
that it was in 1640, and adds, "Some have supposed they were squatters 
from New Haven; some, adventurers from Maryland; and others, the 
pioneers of Sir Edmund Ployden." In all probability they were the 
samo party of people from New Haven who, in the spring of 1642, set- 
tled on the Schuylkill. 



meeting the agents and participants of said Holland West India Com- 
pany in a proper manner, and with mildness, but firmly remonstrate ami 
make known to them the upright intentions of Her Roj'al Majesty and 
her subjects in the premises, that nothing liereJn has been sought, or is 
now Sought, other than a free opening for commerce ; that Her Royal 
Majesty's subjects have, in a just and regular manner, purchased of the 
jtroper owners and possessors of the country thai district of which they 
have taken possession, and which they have begun to cultivate, and that 
they cannot, therefore, without injustice oppose Her Royal Majesty or 
her subjects, or seek to disturb them in their possessions without doing 
them great injury. But should the same Holland Company, contrary 
to all better hopes, allow them-<elves to undertake any hostility, or make 
any attack, then, in such case, it will only he proper to be prepared with 
the best means that circumstances will allow, and to seek to repel force 
by force; therefore, as this, like everything else, is best judged of and 
decided on the ground, so does Her Royal Miij^^sty place it in the Gov- 
ernor's discrerion to meet such vexations in the first instance with kind 
admonitions, but if these are not eftective, then with severity, accord- 
ing to the best of his understauding, so as to arrange everything to the 
best advantage and honor alike of Her Royal Majesty aud the members 
of the Company. But if no such troubles arise, which it is hoped will 
be the case, and Her Royal Majesty and hersubjects remain undisturbed 
in that which they have rightfully brought into their possession, tlien 
shall the Governor hold good friendship and neighborhood with the 
aforesaid Hollandei's at Fort Nassau, and with tliose who dwell upon the 
north river at Mankatan's^ or New Amsterdam, as also with the English 
who dwell in the country of Virginia, and make no inroads upon any 
of them, nor interfere with that of which they are in the actual posses- 
sion. Especially, since the adjacent English in Virginia have already 
commenced to otfer Her Ruyal Majesty's subjects in New Sweden all 
kinds of useful assistance, and to let them procure upon reasonable pay- 
ment such cattle and seed-corn as they may desire ; therefore shall the 
Governor continually seek to give free and undisturbed course to the 
correspondence and commerce thus begun with the English to the use 
and benefit of Her Royal Majesty's subjects aforesaid. 

"8. Those Hollanders who have emigrated to New Sweden, and set- 
tled there under the protection of her royal Majesty and the Swedish 
crown, over whom -lost von deni Boyandh ^^ has command, the Governor 
shall treat according to the contents of the charter and privileges 11 cou- 
fened by her royal Majesty, of the principles whereof the Governor has 
been advised; but in other respects he shall show them all good will 
and kindness, yet so that he shall hold them also to the same, that they 
upon their side comply with the requisitions of their charter, which 
they have received. And inasmuch as notice has already been given 
them that they have settled too near to Fort Christina, and as houses 
are said to be built at the distance of almost three miles from that place, 
they should therefore leave that place and betake themselves to a some- 
what greater distance from the said fort. So also does her royal Maj- 
esty leave it to the good pleasure and prudence of the Governor, when 
on the ground, duly to consider the deportment of said Hollanders aud 
the situation of the place of which they have taken possession, and, ac- 
cording to his judgment, either let them remain there quietly or make 
such a disposition and settlement of the matter as he shall find must 
suitable and advantageous to her royal Blajesty and the participants in 
said company of navigation. 

'•9. The wild nations'- bordering upon all other sides the Governor 
shall understand to treat with all humanity and respect, that no vio- 
lence or wrong be done to them by her royal Majesty or her subjects 
aforesaid ; but he shall rather, at every opportunity, exert himself that 
the same wild people may gradually be instructed in the truths and 

9 Usually called "Manhattan's," also "Manhattoe," from an Indian 
tribe of that name. See O'Callaghan's " History of New Amsterdam," 
i. p. 47. 

i» O'Callaghan, in his *' History of New Netherland," i. p. 366-367, calls 
this person Joost de Bogaert, and (in his note on p. 367) says that'* In 
the translation in the new series of N. Y. Hist. Soc. Trans., p. 411, the 
name is misspelled." The spelling, however, is that of Acrelius, which 
we give above. 

11 "Octroy och privilegio." 

12 The Lenni Lenape, called by the elder Campanius "Renni Ren- 
napi)«"; by the English, Delawares. The Delawares were subdivided 
into the tribes of the Assinpinks, in the north; the Andastakas, on 
Christiana Creek, Del.; theRankokns, orChicheqnaas, and the Mingues, 
the Neshaminies, in Bucks Co., Pa.; the Schackamaxons, the Mantas, 
and the Minuesinks, above the forks of the Delaware. 



62 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



worship of the Christinn religion, and in other ways brought to civiliza- 
tiun and good government, and in this manner properly guided. Espe- 
cially shall he seek to gain their confidence and impress upon their 
minds that neithur he, the Governor, nor his people and subordinates 
are come into those parts to do them any wrong or injury, but much 
more for the purpose of furnisliing them with such things as they may 
need for the ordinary wants of life, and so also for such things as are 
found among them which they tlieniselves cannoi make for their own 
use, or buy or exchange. Therefore shall the Governor also see thereto 
that the people of her royal Majesty, or of the company who are engaged 
in trading in those parts, allow the wild people to obtain such things as 
they need at a price somewhat more moderate tlian they are getting 
them of tlie Hollanders at Fort Nassau or the adjacent English, so that 
said wild people may be withdrawn from them and be so much the 
more won to our people. 

" 10. In regard to the Governor's place of residence, Her Royal Maj- 
esty leaves it to him to prtjvide and choose the s;irao according as he 
finds the case to he in the place, or it can be continued where it now is, 
and the residence arranged and ordered in the most convenient manner 
possible; in like manner shall the Governor also provide a suitable place 
for a fortress either at Cape llinlopen, or the island called 'James' 
Island,'^ or wheiever else a good site for the same mny be found; 
wherein he has especially to keep in view these considerations above 
all others, namely, that by such a fortification it should be possible to 
close up the South River, having it commanded bj' the same fortress, 
and that there should also be found there, without great difficulty, a 
suitable harbor wherein tlte ships of Her Royal Slajesty and her sub- 
jects could be iu security, and, if need so were, coplinue to lie there 
over winter. 

*' II. And if theGoTerDordoesnotfindit necessary at once and hastily 
to fortify another new place, hut can for tlie present propetly defend 
himself by Fuit Cliristina, tlien shall he so much tlio more zealously at 
once arrange and urge forward agriculture and the improveinpTit of the 
land, setting and urging the people thereto with zeal and energy, exert- 
ing him elf above all other things that so much seed-corn may be com- 
mitted to the ground that the people may derive from it their necessary 
food. 

" 12. Next to tiiis, he shall pay the necessary attention to the culture 
of tobacco^ and appoint thereto a certain number of laborers, so ar" 
ranging that the produce may be large, more and more being set out 
and cultivated from time to time, so that he can send over a good quan- 
tity of tobacco on all ships coming hither, 

"13. That better arrangements may he made for the production of 
cattle, both great and small, the Governor shall at once exert himself to 
obtain a good breed of cattle of all kinds, and especially of that which 
is sent out from this country, and also seek to obtain a supply from the 
neighboring Etiglish, dividing everything with those who will use and 
employ it in aj^ricnlture in exchange for seed, and with such prudence 
as he shall find most serviceable to the members of tlie company. 

"14, Among and above all other things, he shall direct his attention 
to sheep, to obtain them of good kinds, and as soon as may he seek to 
arrange as many 8lieep-f<dd3 as he conveniently can, so that presently 
a considerable supply of wool of good quality may be sent over to this 
country. 

"15. The peltry trade with the natives he shall also, as far as possi- 
ble, seek to sustain in a good state, ^ exercise a careful in'^pection of all 
engaged in it, prevent all frauds in established conimisjiions, and take 
care that Her Royal Slajesty and her subjects, ami the members of the 
company, may have reason to expect gooil return fur their cargoes. In 
like manner he shall jirovide that no other persons whatever be per- 
mitted to traffic with the natives in peltries; but this trade shall be 
carried on only by persons thereto appointed in the name of the whole 
"company, and its ways. 

"lf>. Whatever el^e it may at present be necessary to do in tliat conn- 
try will be best committed to the handsof the Governor in the country, 
according to the time and circumstance of the place, more esfpecially a^ 
the same land of New Sweden is situated in the same climate with Por- 
tugal ;< so, apparently, it is to be expected lliat salt-works might be ar- 
ranged on the sea-coasts. But if the salt could not be perfectly evap- 

1 " Jaque's Eyland" was in the neighborhood of Fort Nassau, probably 
between that and where Philadelphia now i8. 

3 "Toback" is the Swedish spelling ; in modern Swedish it is" tobak." 

3 In the original, "i godt c^we." 

* Portugal is situated between 37° and 42° N. latitude, and New Swe- 
den was between 3S° and 41° of the sanie latitude. 



orated by the heat of the bud, yet, at the least, the salt water might be 
brought to such a grade that it might afterwards be perfectly condensed 
by means of fire, without great labor or expense, which the Governor 
must consider, and make such experiment, and if possible put it into 
ojieration and make effective. 

"17. And as almost everywhere in the forests wild grape-vines and 
grapes are found, and the climate seems to be favorable to the produc- 
tion of wine, so shall the Governor also direct his thoughts to the timely 
introduction of this culture, and what might herein be devised and 
effected. 

" 18. He can also have careful search made everywhere as to whether 
metals or minerals are to be found in the country, and if any are dis- 
covered, send hither correct information, and then await further orders 
from this place. 

" 19. Out Ci the abundant forests the Governor shall examine and con- 
sider how and in what manner profit may be derived from the country, 
especially what kind of advantages may be expected from oak-trees and 
walnut-trees, and whether a good quality of them might be sent over 
here as ballast. So, also, it might be examined whether oil might not 
be advantageously pressed out of the walnuts. 

".0. The Governor shall likewise take into consideration and cor- 
rectly inform himself how and where fisheries nn'ght be most profitably 
established, especially as it is 8:iid that at a certain season of the year 
the whale-finhery can be advantageously prosecuted in the aforesaid 
Godin's Bay^ and adjacently; lie shall, therefore, have an eye upon 
this, and send over hither all needed information as to what can be done 
in this and other matters connected with the country, and what further 
hopes may be entertained in reference thereto. 

"21. The Governor shall also carefully inquire and inform himself 
in regard to the food and convenience for keeping a great number of 
silk-wonns, wherewith a manufacture might be established, and if he 
discovers that something useful might thus be accomplished, he shall 
take measures for the same. 

"22. Whatever else could he done in connection with the successful 
cultivation of the land, but cannot be introduced just for the present, 
this Her Royal Majesty will graciously have entrusted to the fidelity, 
foresight, and zeal of the Governor, with the earnest command and ad- 
monition that he seek in all matters to uphold the service and dignity 
of Her Royal Majesty and the Crown of Sweden, as also to promote the 
advantage and interest of the members of the company in the conser- 
vation of the same land of New Sweden, its culture in every way possi- 
ble, and the increase of its profitable commerce. 

"23. But far above all this, as to what belongs to the political govern- 
ment and administration of jnstice, everything of this kind must he 
conducted under the name of Her Royal Majesty and the Crown of 
Sweden, for no less re:ison than the country enjoys the protection of 
Her Royal Majesty and of the crown, and that the interest of the crown 
isin the highest degree involved in the protection of that country, its 
cultivation and active trade and commerce. To give the Governor spe- 
cific information herein cannot so well and effectually be done at so 
great a distance; it must, therefore, be left to his own discretion and 
good sense that he, upon the ground, provide, arrange, and execute 
whatever conduces to bring matters into good order and a proper con- 
stitution, according as he finds the necessities of the lime and place to 
require. At first, and until matters can be brought into a better form, 
the Governor may use his own seal, but in a somewhat larger form, in 
briefs, contracts, correspondence, and other written documents of a 
public character, 

"24. He shall decide all matters i)f controversy which may arise ac- 
cording to Swedish law and right, custom, and usage ; but in all other 
matters also, so far as possible, he shall adopt and employ the laudable 
customs, habits, and usages of this most praiseworthy realm. 

"25, He shall also have power, through the necessary and proper 
means of compulsion, to bring to obedience and a quiet life the turbu- 
lent and disorderly, who will not live quietly and peacefully, and espe- 
cially gross offenders, who may possibly be found ; lie may punish not 
only with imprisonment and the like duly proportioned means of cor- 
rection, but also, according to their misdeeds or crimes, with the loss 
of life itself, yet not in ahy other than the usual manner, and after ihe 
l»roper hearing and consideration of the case, with the most respectable 
people and the most prudent associate judges who can be found in the 
country as his cuunsellurs. 

6 The Dutch under De Vries, in 1^30, tried to prosecute the whale- 
fishery in the Delaware, but found it unprofitable. (See New York Hist. 
Cullect,, New Series, vol. i p. 250 ) 



THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 



63 



"26. Above all tliiii;;s. shiill tlie Governor consider ami see to it that 
a true and due worBliij), becoming honor, laud, and praise be paid to the 
Most nigli God in all things, and to that end all proper care shall be 
tiiken that divine service be zealously performed according to the unal- 
tered Augsburg Confession, the Council of Upsala, and the ceremonies 
of the Swedish Church ; and all persons, especially the young, shall be 
duly instructed in the articles of their Clirislian faith ; and all good 
church discipline shall in like manner be duly exercised and received 
But so far as relates to the Holland colonists that live and settle under 
the government of Her Royal Majesty and the Swedish crown, the Gov- 
ernor shall not disturb them in the indulgence granted them as to the 
exercise of the Reformed religion according to the aforesaid royal 
charter. 

*'27. In all else which cannot here be set d<iwn in writing, the Gov- 
ernor shall conduct himself as is suitable and becoming to a faithful 
patriot, and take into due consideration whatever is correspondent to 
his office, according to the best of his understanding and with the great- 
est zeal and care, also regulating himself in accordance with that which 
may be here communicated to him by word of mouth ; and there is 
herewith given him a special list of the people who accompany him 
and of the means and equipment of his office. 

"28. Finally, Her Royal Majesty is also well satisfied that the said 
office of his government shall continue and exist for three years, after 
the lapse of which he, the said John Printz, shall be free to return 
hither again, after the necessary arrangements have been made in re- 
gard to his successor, or some substitute in the said service. Should he, 
the said John Printz, have a desire to continue longer in this charge he 
shall have the preference over others therefor, provided that the ad- 
vantage and service of Her Majesty and the crown, and of the com- 
pany, so demand. Given as above. 

"Paehr Beahe, Herm.in Wranoel, 

"Claes Flemmtno, Axel Oxen.stierna, 

"Grabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna,! And. Gyli.enki.ou."2 

The voyage to New Sweden was at that time quite 
long. The watery way to the West was not yet well 
discovered, and therefore, for fear of the sand-hanks 
off Newfoundland, they kept their course to the east 
and south as far as to what were then called the 
Brazates." The ships which went under the com- 
mand of Governor Printz sailed along the coast of 
Portugal and down the coast of Africa until they 
found the eastern passage, then directly over to 
America, leaving the Canaries high up to the north. 
They landed at Antigua, then continued their voyage 
northward, past Virginia and Maryland, to Cape 
Henlopen. Yet, in view of the astonishingly long 
route which they took, the voyage was quick enough 
in six months' time, from Stockholm on Aug. 16, 
1642, to the new fort of Christina, in New Sweden, 
on Feb. 15, 1643. 

The Swedes who emigrated to America belonged 
•partly to a trading company provided with a charter, 
who for their services, according to their condition or 
agreement, were to receive pay and monthly wages; 
a part of them also were at their own impulse to try 
their fortune. For these it was free to settle and live 



t These five names are historical. They formed at that time the 
Swedish Council of State, who carried on the government immediately 
after the death of Gustaf Adolph the Great, and during the minority of 
his daughter Christiana, who was not quite six years old at the timeof 
her father's death (November, 1632), and consequently in her seventeenth 
year at the date of this document. She ascended the throne as actual 
sovereign on her eighteenth birthday, viz., Dec. 6, 1644. Tlie Swedish 
cohiny in Aineiica was undoubtedly the work of the great Chancellor 
Axel Oxenstierna, though first suggested by Gustaf Adolph. 

2 Gyllenklou was secretary of the Council. 

5 The Azures. 



in the country as long as they pleased, or to leave it, 
and they were, therefore, by way of distinction from 
the others, called freemen. At first also malefactors 
and vicious people were sent over, who were used as 
slaves to labor upon the fortifications. They were 
kept in chains, and not allowed to have intercourse 
with the other settlers ; moreover, a separate place of 
abode was assigned to them. The neighboring people 
and country were dissatisfied that such wretches 
should come into the colony. It was also, in fact, 
very objectionable in regard to the heathen, who 
might be greatly offended by it. Whence it happened 
that when such persons came over in Governor 
Printz's time, it was not permitted that one of them 
should set foot on shore, but they had all to be carried 
back again, whereupon a great part of them died 
during the voyage, or perished in some other way. 
Afterwards it was forbidden at home in Sweden, under 
a penalty, to take for the American voyage any persons 
of bad fame, nor was there ever any lack of good 
people for the colony. 

Governor Printz was now in a position to put the 
government upon a safe footing, to maintain the 
rights of the Swedes, and to put down the attempts of 
the Hollanders. They had Lately, before his arrival, 
patched their little Fort Nassau. On this account he 
selected the island of Tenackong as his residence, which 
is sometimes also called Tutaeaenung and Tenicko, 
about three Swedish mile.s from Fort Christina. The 
convenient situation of the place suggested its selec- 
tion, as also the location of Fort Nassau,* which lay 
some miles over against it, to which he could thus 
command the passage by water. The new fort, which 
was erected and provided with considerable arma- 
ment, was called New Gotheborg. His place of resi- 
dence, which he adorned with orchards, gardens, a 
pleasure-house, etc., he named " Printz Hall." A 
handsome wooden church was also built at the same 
place, which Magister Campanius consecrated on the 
last great prayer-day which was celebrated in New- 
Sweden, on the 4th of September, 1646. Upon that 
place, also, all the most prominent freemen had their 
residences and plantations. 

The Hollanders intruded upon the Swedes in their 
traffic with the Indians, and Printz therefore sought 
to keep them under. In the name of the High and 
Mighty States-General and of the West India Com- 
pany, under which all their transactions were carried 
on, they had never bought so much as a foot's breadth 
of land ; but from time to time sent in some partic- 
ular persons, who treated with the heathen on their 
own account, and thus tried to find out what cour.se 

*Fort Nassau was built near the mouth of Timber Creek, below 

Gloucester Point, in New Jersey. It is said to have been built by Cor- 
nelius Mey in 1623 ; hut when visited by De Yries, ten years afterwards 
(Jan. 5, 1633), it was in the possession of the Indians, among whom he 
was afraid to land. We have no evidence that the fort was rcoccupied 
by the Dutcli before the establishment of the Swedish colony in 1638. 
(See Voyages of De Vries in New York Hist. Col., New Series, vol. i. p. 
263.) 



64 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the Swedes would pursue in consequence. In the 
year 1646 came one Thomas Broen with a permit from 
Peter Stuyvesant, the Holland Director at New Am- 
sterdam, to settle himself at Mantas Hack, on the 
other side of the bay, directly opposite Tenakongh. 
This permit he showed to Governor Printz, and de- 
sired his aid in the building of his abode. The Gov- 
ernor promised this upon condition that he would 
place himself under the Swedish government. But 
when he saw beneath this the trick of the Hollanders, 
he himself bought of the Indians the land from 
Mantas Huck to Narraticon's or Raccoon's Kihl, and 
raised upon it a post to which the Swedish coat of 
arms was affixed, whereby the plan of the Hollanders 
wa§ frustrated for the time. 

Andries Hudde, appointed commandant ad interim 
at Fort Nassau, on the 12th of October, 1645, pro- 
tested in writing against Printz's land purchase of the 
8th of September, 1646, and gave information of the 
same to the director, Peter Stuyvesant, namely, that 
Governor Printz sought to procure for himself all the 
land east of the river; that, if he could. make himself 
master of both sides, it was probaljle that he would 
export annually thirty or forty thousand beaver-skins. 
Now, as the Holland Company's treasury was entirely 
empty, and the Hollanders saw that they had no time 
to lose, they resorted to another plan. Some freemen 
—Simon Ruth, Cornelius Marizen, Peter Hermans- 
son, Andries Hudde, Alexander Boyer, and David 
Davids — united together and purchased of the In- 
dians a piece of land, extending from Ancocus Kihl 
to Tenakongh Island, another place higher up on 
the river than where the Governor had his residence, 
and also took a title therefor; but with the reserva- 
tion that if the company wished to purchase it for 
themselves they might do so by refunding their pur- 
chase-money to them. Governor Printz protested 
against this as an unbecoming proceeding, which 
protest also Hudde sent over to New Amsterdam. 
Peter Stuyvesant, in his answer, complains of their 
inability to maintain their rights, and promises 
money to buy all the land from Narraticon's Kihl to 
the bay, which, however, was never done. 

Governor Printz had blocked up the passage of the 
Hollanders to Fort Nassau by water, but they devised 
another method of evading his superior power. They 
entered into a treaty with the Indians for the land 
which lies between Maniqua's or Minqua's Kihl and 
the river, as far down as Bombe's Huck or Bambo 
Hook, and concluded the purchase on the 19th of 
July, 1651. That agreement was the only one which 
had yet been made in the name of the States-General 
and the West India Company. But by that they 
bought the land which the Minquesses had already, 
in Menewe's time, sold to the Swedes, and it is tliere- 
fore unreasonable to believe that the true owners of 
the land subscribed that bill of sale. Shortly after 
this Fort Casimir was built at Sandhuk. Governor 
Printz at once protested against it ; but either he had 



not the means of hindering it, or had not time for it, 
and so the matter rested. To remedy the injury which 
the Hollanders inflicted by Fort Casimir, Governor 
Printz erected upon the place called Wootsessung 
Sing another Swedish fort, which he called Elfsborg, 
one Swedish mile' below Sandhuk and two miles below 
Christina, but on the eastern shore, from which that 
district of country was in former times, and even now 
is called Elsingborg. From this was fired a Swedish 
salute upon the arrival of Swedish ships. But its 
principal object was to search the Holland ships 
which came before it, and (which stuck very hard in 
their maw) to make them lower their flag. The fort 
was afterwards abandoned by the Swedes and de- 
stroyed, as it was almost impossible to live there on 
account of the gnats (myggor),'' whence it was for 
some time called Myggenborg. Besides these there 
were Fort Korsholm, at Passayunk, where the com- 
mander, Sven Schute, had his residence. Manii- 
yungh, on the Skorkihl or Skulkihl,' was a fine lit- 
tle fort of logs, having sand and stones filled in 
between the wood-work, and surrounded by palisades, 
fourSwedish (twenty-seven English) miles fromChris- 
tina eastwardly. Mecoponacka (Upland) was two 
Swedish miles from Christina and one mile from 
Gotheborg, upon the river shore, on the same plan, 
with some houses and a fort. Other places were 
equally well known, though not fortified. Chinses- 
sing, a place upon the Schuylkill, where five families 
of freemen dwelt together in houses two stories high, 
built of white-nut-tree (hickory), which was at that 
time regarded as the best for building houses, but in 
later times was altogether disapproved of for such 
purposes. Karakung had a water-mill, which the 
Governor had built for the people, it being the 
first in the country. Chamassung was also called 
Finland, a district where the Fins dwelt by the 
waterside, and Neaman's Kihl, one and a quarter 
miles from Christina. Manathaan, or Cooper's 
Island, was an island opposite Fort Christina, so 
called from a cooper who dwelt there with two Hol- 
landers, and made casks or wooden vessels and small 
boats. Techoherassi was Olof Stillt-'s place. Grips- 
holm, Nya Wasa, etc., which are marked upon the 
oldest maps, were places laid out and occupied, but 
did not get established under the Swedish adminis- 
tration. 

The land on the west side of the river, which the 
Swedes had purchased of the heathen, first in Me- 
newe's time and afterwards under Governor Printz, 
or had acquired a right to by agreement, stretched 
from Cape Henlopen to the Falls of the Delaware, 
and thence westward to the great fall in the river 
Susquehanna, near the mouth of the Conewaga Creek. 



1 A Swedish mile is 6.648 English miles, or 11,7110 yards. 

2 No doubt mosquitoes, which are sometimes very troublesome in that 
part of New Jersey. Compare the English midge. 

3 Now Schuylkill, accordiug to tlie Dutch orthography. 



THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 



65 



These Indians were called by Europeans in general 
Delawares, but within a circle of eighteen miles 
around the Swedes there were ten or eleven separate 
tribes, each having its own sackkewan* or king. 
Among these were especially the Minesinkos, the 
Mynkusses or Mineguesses, upon the so-called Mani- 
quas or Minqua's Kihl (Christina), with whom the 
Swedes formed a special friendship. These extended 
twelve Swedish miles- into the interior of the country, 
on to the Conestoga and the Susquehanna, where they 
had a fort, which was a square surrounded by pali- 
sades, with some iron pieces, on a hill, and some 
Jiouses within it. But some of them were with the 
Swedes every day, who also once or twice in a year 
made a journey up into the country among the Mine- 
quesses with their wares for sale. 

The Swedes maintained friendly relations with the 
Indian tribes, and made extensive purchases of lands 
from them, extending to the Susquehanna River. 
Acrelius says, "The old Indians still tell of the 
treaties wliich their forefathers made with the Swedes, 
as also how far they were disposed to admit them into 
their country." Of this it may serve as evidence to 
introduce the following extract from the minutes of 
the treaty made in Lancaster : 

"The Court-House in Lancaster, 
"June 213, 1744, P.M. 
"Present, — Hon. George Thomas, Kt., Lieutenant-Governor of Penn- 
eylvania, etc., the Hon. Commissionera of Virginia, the Hon. Comniis- 
eioners of Maryland, the deputies of the Six Nations of Indiana, Conrad 
Weiser, interpreter. 
" Oanastego, the Indiana' spokesman, spoke as follows: 
'* ' Brother, the Governor of Maryland : When you spoke of the affair 
of the land yesterday, you went back to old times, and told us you had 
tieen in possession of the province of Maryland above onehundred years. 
But what is one hundred years in comparison to the length of time 
since our claim began, since we came up out of this ground ? For we 
must tell you that long before one hundred years our ancestors came 
forth out of this very ground, and their children have remained Iiere 
ever since. You came out of the ground in a country that lies beyond 
seas ; there you may have a just claim, but here you must allow us to 
be your elder brethren, and the lands to belong to us long before you 
knew anything of them. It is true that about one hundred years ago 
a German ship came hither and brought with them various articles, such 
as awls, knives, hatchets, kuus, and many other things, which they gave 
us. And when they had taught us to use these things, and we saw what 
kind of a people they were, we were so well pleased with them that we 
tied their ships to the bushes on the shore, and afterwards, liking them 
still better, and the more the longer tliey stayed with us, thinking that 
the buaheswere too weak, we changed the place of the rope, and fastened 
it to the trees, and as the trees might be overthrown by a storm, or fall 
down of themselves (so strong was our friendship for them), we again 
changed the place of the rope and bound it to a very strong rock. [Here 
the interpreter said, They mean the land of Onondaga.] There we 
fastened it very securely, and rolled wampum around it. For still greater 
security we stood upon the wampum and sat upon it to fasten it, and to 
prevent all injury, and we took the greatest care to keep it uninjured 
for all time. As long as that stood the newly-arrived Germans recog- 
nized our right to the country, and from time to time urged us to give 
them portions of our land, and that they might enter into a union and 
treaty with us, and become one people with us.' " 

That this is more correctly said of the Swedes than 
of the Hollanders can be inferred from this, that the 
Hollanders never made such a purchase from them 

1 Commonly written "sachem" by English writers. 

2 Ninety-three English miles. 



as to include their whole country, which the Swedes 
did. Yet the English are rather disposed to explain 
this in favor of the Hollanders. The savages re- 
garded both the Swedes and Hollanders, being Euro- 
peans, as one people, and looked upon their quarrels 
as disagreements between different families. 

Purchases of land from the wild tribes were made 
in this way : Both parties set their names and marks 
under the purchase contract f two witnesses also 
were taken by the Christians. When these made 
their oath that they were informed as to the transac- 
tion, and had seen the payment made, then the pur- 
chase was valid. If the kings or chiefs of the Indians 
signed such an agreement in the presence of a num- 
ber of their people, then it was legitimate on their 
side. In former times they were quite truthful, al- 
though oaths were not customary among them. But 
it was not so in later times, after they had more inter- 
course with Christians. Payments were made in awls, 
needles, scissors, knives, axes, guns, powder and balls, 
together with blankets of frieze or felt, which they 
wrap around them. One blanket sufficed for their 
dress. These wares they secured for themselves for 
their skins of beavers, raccoons, sables, gray foxes, 
wild-cats, lynxes, bears, and deer. 

Governor John Printz was the most rigorous and 
enterprising official that ruled on the Delaware Biver, 
and was perhaps the most zealous of all his country- 
men for the success and permanency of the New 
Sweden. He resisted the encroachments of the Eng- 
lish on the one hand and the Hollanders on the other, 
while he co-operated with his own people in extend- 
ing their settlements up the Schuylkill Valley and 
westward towards the Susquehanna. He was ap- 

3 Conrad Weiser, born in Germany, 1696, and come to this country in 

his fourteenth year, and present at Lancaster, as above stated, is the an- 
cestor of the Rev. C. Z. Weiser, now residing at Greenville, Montgomery 
Co., Pa. He was greatly beloved by the Indians, and possessed their con- 
fidence in all matters connected with the transfer of lands to thesettlei's. 
William M. Reynolds, I). D., the translator of Acrelius, referring to him 
says, " He stayed at one time in the Ephrata cloister, among the monks 
called Beiselians, Dunkards, or Dumplars, a kind of Anabaptists. Dur- 
ing that time he also let his beard grow, according to the law of the 
order. He was for many yeam an interpreter between the Indians and 
the English in tlieir councils. The former had the same confidence in 
him as one of their own race. They have given him the name of Ta- 
racliawagon. When a sale of land is made the Indians subscribe on the 
one side and the English commissioners upon the other. Then the inter- 
preter must write his name, Tarachawagon, first under those of the In- 
dians, and tlien ' Conrad Weiser' under the P'nglish, as a sign that each 
has an equal share in him. So it also went with his beard. At the meet- 
ing in Lancaster, in 1744 (June), when tliey came together, and before 
tbey began to consult, they first took half of his beard off {all Indians 
hate beards, possibly because they do not or cannot grow any them- 
selves) of him, as their own right. Next it was among their principal 
representations to the meeting, and especially to the Governor of Penn- 
sylvania, that he should take off the otiier part of Taracbawagon's 
beard, since he would otherwise scare their little children when he came 
among them. To give their speech the greater weight, they here deliv- 
ered a string of wampum, as is the custom. The Governor, before his 
departure, assured them that he would take oflF the other part of Weiser's 
beard, and that he had already given an order for this. In contirmatiou 
of his sincerity and good faith he also gave them a string of wampum, 
which was received with their usual exclamation of joy, * Yo-hah, yo- 
hah !' " 



66 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



pointed Governor at the instance of Axel Oxen- 
stierua, the most confidential adviser of the fallen 
Gustaf Adolph, and who was the central power 
during the regency of Christina, as well as the author 
of elaborate instructions. He held the Dutch in 
check, closed the mouth of the Schuylkill against 
them, and secured the Indian trade of that river for 
the Swedish West India Company. The thrift and 
business enterprise of the Swedisli colonists in com- 
manding the resources of the outlying country is 
evidenced by the extent of their shipment to the 
home government. In one year " thirty thousand 
skins" were brought in by the Indians, who procured 
them from the country between the Schuylkill and 
Susquehanna. The policy of Governor Printz in 
closing navigable rivers to his rivals was sagacious, 
and merited for him the confidence of his followers. 
Having secured the trade of the Schuylkill, he deter- 
mined to break up a Dutch trading-post on the Dela- 
ware River at a place called Santhickan, where Tren- 
ton is now located. At this point the Holland com- 
mander established himself and planted the arms of 
the States-General on the shore of the river, and ■ 
where large collections of skins were bartered for by 
the Dutcli traders. Printz ordered this national in- 
signia to be displaced, and dispatched a lieutenant 
and squad of men to carry out the order. The event 
took place on the 8th of September, 1646. The officer 
in charge of the expedition carried out his instruc- i 
tions to the letter, and when he was asked by the ' 
Hollanders in charge of the post, " How dare you do 
such a thing?" replied, " If the very standard of the 
States-General stood there I would treat it in the 
same manner." Printz is said to have been the first 
person to build a water-mill in New Swedeland. 
The site selected was on Water-Mill Stream, now 
Cobb's Creek. This was a great convenience to the 
Swedes, and Indian .squaws came for many miles in 
every direction to have their corn ground for domestic 
use. The successful administration of Governor 
Printz cast a shadow upon the Dutch commissary, 
Jan Jansson Iljiendam, who had charge of affairs on 
tlie east shore of the Delaware. Ilpendam was re- 
called, and one Andries Hudde was installed in his 
place. This change increased rather than allayed 
the frequency of contentions between the rival colo- 
nists. Hudde was directed by his superior officer to 
replant the arms of the States-General, which he did. 
Printz dispatched Lieut. Huygens to pull il down. 
Hudde was on the alert, and placed the ofi'ending 
officer in arrest, sending a messenger to Printz th.at 
he would punish him for his intended act of rash- 
ness. Printz replied that he would retaliate, and in- 
sisted upon his company's right to extend their trade 
and dominion; finally, he treated Hudde's messenger 
with indignity, hastening his departure from his pres- 
ence witli threats of violence. This episode ended 
the official correspondence between them, and Printz 
assumed an unfriendly attitude. He guarded tlie 



line of the Schuylkill with care, " persecuted or ex- 
pelled every Dutchman in New Sweden who would 
not take the oath of allegiance to Queen Christina,'' 
sold fire-arms and ammunition to the Indians, over- 
hauled Dutch vessels coming up the Delaware, and 
finally raided the premises of Hudde, despoiled his 
gardens and fruit-trees, and otherwise desolated the 
place and surroundings. His conduct seems to have 
excited public inquiry, and a committee of the High 
Council of the New Netherlands came from Manhat- 
tan to investigate the " outrages." These officials, 
hearing credentials, presented themselves to Gov- 
ernor Printz at Fort Gottenburg. The approaches 
heing duly guarded, the officer in charge kept them 
in waiting until he could communicate with his 
chief; meantime the rain descended in torrents, 
soaking these dignitaries to the skin, greatly to their 
displeasure. All preliminaries being arranged, they 
were finally admitted to an audience with the Gov- 
ernor. They delivered their protest against the con- 
duct of his Excellency, and insisted upon the right 
of their countrymen to make settlements on the 
Schuylkill. They retired without molestation, but 
their effort to secure favor was not reciprocated by 
the implacable Swede. 

A change in the director-generalship of the New 
Netherlands took place May 27, 1647. Peter Stuy- 
vesant succeeded William Kieft. Meantime the im- 
portance of securing titles to lands became a para- 
mount object to the most enterprising of the settlers, 
and trade with the Indians for peltries a secondary 
matter. Stuy vesant employed agents, who wen t among 
the Indians and bartered for large tracts on both sides 
of the Delaware, in many instances purchasing the 
same lands previously sold by the Indians to the 
Swedes, the natives being willing to repeat their sales 
if the "white man would buy," and the Dutch "white 
man" buying in some instances what he knew to have 
been previously sold to the Swedes, but whose evidence 
of purchase was not on record or susceptible of proof. 
As the Hollanders always preserved carefully;prepared 
evidences of their purchases, and had them duly re- 
corded at their pri ncipal office at Manhattan, it enabled 
Stuyvesant to greatly embarrass Printz in disputes 
arising between them. Stuyvesant sent to Printz ex- 
emplifications of his records, describing large tracts 
of land, and demanded of him an exhibition of his 
titles. " Printz could merely define the limits of his 
territory, and say that his papers were on file in the 
Chancellory of Sweden." Finding himself thus em- 
barrassed, Printz sought to make a new contract with 
the chief Waspang Zewan. Stuyvesant' became ap- 
prised of the secret negotiations, and personally dealt 



1 Peter Stviyvesaiit was appointed Governor of the New Netherlands 
July 28, 164G, and arrived at tlie Manhattans (now New York) on tlie 
11th of May, 1G47. His administration lasted nntil Sept. 8, 1604, when 
he snrrendcred to the Kiiglish nudcr Col. Nichols, and the name of New 
York was snbstitutetl fur that of New Amsterdam, and the New Neth- 
erlanils disappeared from the New World. — Aa'elius. 




THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 



67 



with the Indians, securing a title to lands on both 
sides of the Delaware River from Christiana Creek to 
Bombay Hook ; and, to make his triumph complete ^ 
over Governor Printz, induced the wily Indians to 
deny that they had ever sold any of the lands de- 
scribed to the Swedes. To protect this acquisition 
from possible loss, Stuy vesant located and constructed 
Fort Casimir on the Delaware River, at a point at or 
near the present town of New Castle. The rivalry 
between these officials continued from 1647 to 1651. 



GOVERNOR PETER STUYVESAXT. 

The increasing interest in their respective colonies 
led to personal interviews, induced by the increa-sing 
numbers and pretensions of the English, who were 
also crowding their way up the Delaware River. 
Finally " they mutually promised to cause no difficul- 
ties or hostility to each other, but to keep neighborly 
friendship and correspondence together and act as 
friends and allies." Two years of amity followed, 
when Printz returned to his native land. 

Before embarking, October, 1653, he committed the 
government of the colony to the official care of his 
son-in-law, John Pappegoya, who ruled till May, 
1654, when he was succeeded by John Claudius 
Rising. Of the advent of this officer and those who 
accompanied him Acrelius says, " In the year 1654 
the ship ' Eagle' arrived from Sweden. Upon it 
came John Claudius Rising, formerly secretary in the 
Royal College of Commerce, but now appointed com- 
missary and Governor's assistant councilor in New 
Sweden. In his company was the engineer, Peter 
Lindstrom, together with various officers, officials, 
and military. Their clergyman was one named Peter. 
The inhabitants of the country, submitting to the 




Swedish government, should enjoy free allodial grants 
for themselves and their heirs, have the liberty of 
trading with the natives at their pleasure, introduce 
their goods into New Sweden, export them at two per 
cent., and then be free from all duties in Sweden and 
its subject provinces. The special privileges given 
to certain participants in the tobacco trade in the 
year 1653 were also revoked, as they had fallen into 
disorder, while, on the other hand, the exclusive privi- 
lege of the American Company to the enjoyment of 
that trade was renewed. The inclination to emigrate 
from Sweden to America was so strong that when the 
ship set sail over one hundred families of good and 
respectable people, provided with good passports and 
recommendations, were compelled to remain inGothe- 
borg. They had sold house and home and all their 
goods in the expectation of becoming Americans, 
along with their wives and children, but could not 
get away for want of room on the ships. They ar- 
rived safely, and immediately came to Fort Casimir, 
the fort upon Sandhuk, which they first saluted with 
two guns. They then sent up to the commandant to 
ask whether he would surrender the fort, which had 
been so improperly erected upon the Swedes' ground 
and against their protests. But when the comman- 
dant required rather a long time for deliberation, 
Commissary Rising landed about thirty soldiers, 
against whom the fort was not strong enough to de- 
fend itself, yet the Hollanders did not at that time 
purchase any right to the land with their blood. A 
correct inventory was made of everything in the fort, 
and every one was allowed to carry off his property, 
whether belonging to the company or to private in- 
dividuals. The people were left at liberty either to 
go away or, after taking the oath of allegiance to the 
Swedish crown, to remain and be protected in all 
their rights. This was done upon Trinity Sunday, 
on which account the fort was called by the Swedes 
the Fort of the Holy Trinity. It was afterwards, ac- 
cording to the plans and measurements of the engi- 
neer, Peter Lindstrom, as good as built anew, and 
was at the same time improved with outworks. 

The Hollanders could not digest the affront put 
upon them when Director Rising captured Fort Casi- 
mir, and at the same time drove them out of New 
Sweden. From that day they began to collect their 
forces, but could not immediately show what they 
had in their mind. Meanwhile, to their great joy, it 
happened that Mr. Deswijk, captain and supercargo 
of a Swedish ship called " Golden Shark," which was 
sent to reinforce the Swedes, as well as to carry goods 
back again, had the misfortune to cast anchor close 
alongside of their coast, while he regarded the Hol- 
landers as old friends and neighbors, but was imme- 
diately seized by them and considered a good prize. 
The following extracts from the New York records 
will give the facts of this seizure : 

" Oct. 17-24, 1654. Capt. Deswijk declares that, by 
an oversight of the pilot, his ship was compelled to 



68 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



go up into the Raritan River, where the Hollanders 
forcibly seized them, and kept him a prisoner in New 
Amsterdam, whither he came to obtain a pilot who 
should conduct him to the South River, or the river 
of New Sweden. 'You now pretend,' says he, 'that 
Mr. John Rising, the Governor of New Sweden, had 
taken Fort Casimir from you, to which you pretend 
to have a right, which pretension has no ground nor 




FORT CA.iiMlK OK TKINITY FOKT. 
[From Campanius' " New Sweden."] 

certainty. That fortress was built by your general 
director in the year 1651, rather by force and violence 
than by right and justice, on the South River, a soil 
and country belonging to Her Royal Majesty of 
Sweden, my Most Gracious Queen, against which 
Governor Printz protested. Therefore said John 
Rising has not taken it from you, but has only taken 
back property which belongs to her Majesty of Sweden. 
It cannot be proved that he has taken a single penny 
of any of your subjects. But when the free people 
who lived there, and wished to remain permanently, 
had given their oath of allegiance, they were all pro- 
tected in their rights. Further, no man who lives on 
lands there has ever been detained, but has always 
been left at liberty to go where he pleased, and also 
to take his goods and chattels with him. But as con- 
cerns myself you treat me in a very diflerent way,'" 
etc. 

To this Governor Stuyvesant and his Council 
answered as follows : " To the unfounded protest 
presented by Mr. Deswijk, factor of the Swedish 
Company, it is answered that, although he pretends 
to have sailed into this river by the oversight of his 
pilot, and had sent his people to us as to good friends 
and neighbors, the facts do not so appear to us. Di- 
rector Rising's hostile conduct to us is well known 
when, under an appearance of friendship, he came 
before our Fortress Casimir, on the South River, in 
the New Netherlands, gave two salutes, and sent 



thirty men on shore, who were welcomed by our com- 
mandant and official as friends and neighbors. But 
when they saw the weakness of our garrison they did 
not treat our few soldiers as friends and neighbors of 
the crown of Sweden, but as declared enemies, though 
they belonged to the States-General and the West 
India Company. With force and arms they made 
themselves masters of Fort Casimir, with all its am- 
munition, houses, and other things belonging to the 
far-famed West India Company, in direct opposition 
to all rights and usages of war, and they still hold 
the same. They have also compelled some of our 
officers, together with other free people who repre- 
sented the States-General and the West India Com- 
pany, to renounce their oath of allegiance and submit 
to the crown of Sweden," etc. Other supposed in- 
juries and insults were also recounted, etc. 

What lame pretexts are here urged for that outrage 
all the world can see. What the Hollanders had, on 
various occasions before this, done to the English, 
compelling them to relinquish places which they had 
occupied, and allowing the people to depart with 
their property, or to remain in the country as their 
subjects, that they now determined to do to the 
Swedes, in conflict with all the laws and usages of na- 
tions, because this best pleased themselves, although 
it was an entirely different matter to take possession 
of one's own land from a foreign power and its gar- 
rison, which sought the injury of the country and its 
government, where all had liberty to go their way 
and take with them that which belonged to them, 
and to keep a ship with all its goods and people, 
which had of necessity come into their harbor, but 
was willing to leave it immediately and without cre- 
ating the least disturbance. Finally their hostilities 
burst forth in a full flame. On the 30th of August, 
1655, came the Holland Governoc Peter Stuyvesant, 
with seven vessels, great and small, and from six hun- 
dred to seven hundred men strong, from the North 
River and New Amsterdam up into the river of New 
Sweden, and fell violently upon the Swedes. He 
made his first night-camp in the abandoned and de- 
cayed Fort Elfsborg, where he arrayed his soldiers, 
and took some freemen prisoners. The following 
day he sailed past Fort Trinity, and landed upon a 
point which is now called Swanevik. There they be- 
gan to throw up some intrenchments, and with threats 
and arguments demanded the surrender of the fort. 
Sven Schute, the commander there, endeavored partly 
to dissuade and partly to hold out against their at- 
tack until he could receive reinforcements from 
Christina, but all in vain. The road to Christina 
had already been beset by the Hollanders, so that no 
one could either go or come from that place. Com- 
mander Schute's proceedings were entirely disap- 
proved by Director Rising, especially as he gave up 
the fort without the least resistance. But the excuse 
was that necessity knows no law. The commander 
was allowed to march out of the fort with some few 



THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 



69 



men, but the other officers were taken prisoners and 
kept within the fort, and the common soldiers were 
put on shipboard and sent over to New Amsterdam. 
That was, indeed, said to be done of their own good 
will, thus to submit to the power of the Hollanders, 
but their people's own words witnessed to the con- 
trary. As to the rest, all posts were filled with Hol- 
land soldiers. The Swedish flag was hauled down, 
and that of Holland put up in its place. The follow- 
ing document informs us more fully of these trans- 
actions : 

Extract from Governor StuyvesarU^s JourruiJy doted Sept. 10-17, 1655. 
"Tina day, eight days since, we came into the bay of the South Kiver, 
and weredehiyed dming Sunday by the ebb and flo'id tide. On Thurs- 
day following we came before the deserted Fort Elaingburg, and there 
held a review, and divided our troops into five companies. On Friday 
morning, the wind and tide being favorable, we passed Fort Ceisimir 
without any hostile demoHstratiou on either side, and cast anchor a little 
distance above the fort, put the people on shore, and sent Cajit Sniidt, 
with a drummer, to the fort to demand the surrender of our property. 
The commandant desired leave to consult Governor Rising, which was 
retuscd. In the mean time the road to Chris-tina was occupied by fifty 
men, and thecommandant.Sven Schute, sent a messenger to ask a parley 
with us. But we advised him not to wait for a salute from our guns, 
lest the shedding of blood should be charged upon him. He again de- 
sired to confer with us, which was granted, and took place in a valley 
about half-way between the battery which we were commencing and 
the fort. He insisted that he should send an open letter to his Governor, 
which was denied him. Tlien he went away dissatisfied. Our troops 
advanced down into the valley, and our works began to rise up above 
the bushes. The last summons was delivered, and then the commandant 
desired a delay until the next day, which was granted him, inasmuch as 
we could not have our batteries ready before that .time. On Saturday 
morning thecommandaut came out and capitulated at discretion. At 
noon our troops marched into the fort. Sunday. — To-day our first public 
divine service was held, and an imperfect thanksgiving. Yesterday 
came one Factor Elswyk from Christina, and in a polite manner, in the 
name of the Governor, asked for the reason of our coming, and pur 
superior's instructions. Our answer was, to take back that which was 
our own, and keep it. He suggested to us to be satisfieil with that 
which had been taken, and not go any farther, upon which he insisted 
with polite represeutatious and arguments, with the threat finally in- 
troduced, hodie viibi^ craf: tibi. 

"In one or two days our troops shall march hither; but we ehall 
march slowly, so that our people may not be fatigued, and that we may 
have time to receive your orders. In the meati time we shall advance, 
taking counsel with Mr. Sille and Capt. Couingh, according to the best 

of our understanding, etc. 

"Peter Stutvesant. 

"P. S. — There are thirty Swedes who have surrendered to us, and de- 
sire to settle in Manhataan, whom you may expect. It seems that 
many others may follow them." 

The following is the -capitulation^ made at Fort 

1 The capitulation was made between the brave and noble Director 
John Rising, Governor of New Sweden, on the one side, and the brave 
and noble Director Peter Stuyvesant, Governor-General of New Nether- 
lands, on the other side. 

"1. That all cannon, ammunition, provisions, and supplies, together 
with other things belonging to the Crown of Sweden, which are in and 
around the Fort Christina, shall belong to and be preserved as the prop- 
erty of the Swedish Crown and the Sourheru Company, and shall be 
under the power of said Governor to take it away or deliver it to Gov- 
ernor Stuyvesant, with the proviso that it shall be given up upon order. 

"2. Governor John Rising, his superior and inffrior officers, his offi- 
cials and soldiers, shall march out of the fort with drums and trumpets 
playing, flags flying, matches burning, with hand and side arms, and 
balls in their mouths. They shall first be conducted to Tecumseh Island, 
to which they shall be taken in safety, and placed in the fort which is 
there until Ihe Governor sets sail upon the ship 'Waegh,' upon wliich 
said Governor Kiting, his people aud property, shall be conducted to 



Casimir between the commandant, Sven Schute, and 
Director-General Peter Stuyvesant: 

" 1. The commandant shall have liberty, if he desires it, to take back to 
Sweden by ship, eitherof the Crown or others, the cannon which belong 
to the Crown, both small and great, which, according to said command- 
Sandy Buck, situated five Holland miles the other side of New York, 
under safe conduct, witiiin at least fourteen days. Also the Governor 
and Factor Elswyk shall in the.mean time have allowed them four or five 
servants for attending to their business, whilst the others are lodged in 
the fortress. 

"3. All writings, letters, instructions, and acts belonging to the Crown 
of Sweden, the Southern Company, or private persons, which are found 
in Fort Christina, shall remain in the Governor's hands, to take away 
at his pleasure without being searched or examined. 

"4. None of the crown's or company's officers, soldiers, officials, or 
private persona shall be detained here against their wishes, but shall be 
allowed to go, without molestation, along with the Governor if they so 
desire. 

•' 5. That all the officers, soldiers, and officials of the crown and of the 
Southern Company, and also all private persons, shall retain their goods 
unmolested. 

" T). If some officials and freemen desire to depart, but are not able to 
go with the Governor and his party, they shall be allowed the time of 
one year and six weeks in which to sell their land and goods, provided 
that they do not take the oath of allegiance for the period that they 
remain. 

" 7. If any of the Swedes or Finns are not disposed to go away, Gov- 
ernor Rising may take measures to induce them to do bo ; and if they 
are so persuaded, they shall not be forcibly detained. Those who choose 
to remain shall have the liberty of adhering to their own Augsburg Con- 
fession, as also to support a minister for their instruction. 

'* 8. Governor Rising, Factor Elswyk, and other superior and inferior 
officers, soldiers, and freemen, with all their property which they wish 
to take away, eliall be provided by the Governor-General with a sound 
ship, which shall receive them at Sandy Huck, and convey them to 
Texel,and thence immediately by a coaster.galliote, or other suitable 
vessel to Gotheborg, without charge; with the proviso that said coaster, 
galliote, or other vessel shall not be detained, for which the said Gov- 
ernor Rising shall be answerable. 

"9. In case Governor Rising, Factor Elswyk, or any other official be- 
longing to the Swedish Crown or the South Company has incurred any 
debts on account of the crown or of the company, they shall not be de- 
tained therefor within the jurisdiction of the Governor-General. 

"10. Governor Rising has full freedom to make himself acquainted 
with the conduct of Commandant Schute and that of his officers and 
soldiers in regard to the surrender of Sandhuk Fort (Fort Casimir). 

"11. Governor Rising promises that between the 15th and 25th of 
September he will withdraw his people from Fort Christina, and deliver 
it up to the Governor-General. 

" Done and signed the 15-2oth of September, 1655, on the parade be- 
tween Fort Christina and the Govemor-General'a camp. 
" Peter Stuyvesant. 
" John Rising, Director of New Streden." 

" It is further capitulated that the captain who is to convey Governor 
John Rising and the Factor Henry Elswyk shall be expressly ordered 
and commanded to put the aforesaid Governor Rising and the Factor 
Elswyk on shore, either in England or in France; and that the Direc- 
tor-General shall lend to Governor Rising, either in money or in bills 
of exchange, the sum of three hundred pounds Flemish, which the said 
Governor Rising engages to repay to the Governor-General or his order, 
in Amsterdam, within six months after the receipt. In the mean time 
he leaves as a pledge and equivalent the property of the crown and 
Southern Company now given up. Hereof we give two copies signed by 
the contracting parties. 

" Concluded September 15-2oth, on the parade between Fort Christina 

and Governor-General Stuyvesant's camp. 

" PETEn Stuyvesant. 

"John Rising." 

Thereupon all who had a desire to remain in the country were called 

together by a proclamation to lake the oath of allegiance, and be allowed 

to remain in the country as a free people. AUothers were to depart, with 

liberty either to carry off their property or to sell it. 

The form of the oath of allegiance was as follows : 

" I, the undersigned, do promise and swear, as in the presence of the 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ant's report, consist of four iron guns of fourteen lis-pounds and five 
field-pieces ; of tliese hitter, four large and one small one. 

"2. Ue shall also inarch out with twelve men fully armed as his life- 
guard, and with the flags of the Crown, the others with their side-arms 
only; the muskets(»f the Crown shall stand to the commandant's ac- 
count, but shall remain in the fort until they take them awrty or send 
an order for tlieui. 

"j. The Commandant shall be secure in his person and individual 
property, either to take it away or to let it remain until further orders. 
The same shall be the case in regard to the property of all the other 
officers. 

" 4. All this shall be kept inviolate, provided said commandant shall 
imniediiitely surrender into the Director-General's hands Fort Casimir, 
with all its piece.s, ammunition, materials, and other goods belonging to 
the aforesLiid West India Company. 

" Given, done, and signed by the contracting parties, Sept. IG, 1665, on 
the ship ' Waegh,' at Fort Casimir. 

" Peter Stuvvesant. 

" SVEN ScHUTE, Engineer" 

But the matter did not rest here. The evil under- 
taking was continued by a march to Fort Christina. 
The road taken was not directly overland from Sand- 
huk, which would have been about a Swedish mile, 
and would have brought them directly in front of the 
fort, but they marched around over the creek, where 
the Christina bridge now is, which was two and a half 
Swedish miles, and they thus attacked the fort in its 
rear, placing their camp in the field which fenced off 
in front of Christina harbor. No great trouble was 
taken in forming the siege. The time, which was 
only a few days, was mostly occupied with negotia- 
tions, without a single shot fired or a single Holland- 
er's blood shed. 

Commentators differ materially in their accounts 
of Governor Stuyvesant's administration subsequent 
to the submission of the Swedes. It seems certain 
that a sense of oppression was feared by some and 
experienced by others. Acrelius says, " The terrible 
tyranny to which the Swedes were at that time sub- 
jected cannot be fully described. The flower of the 
Swedish male population were at once torn away and 
sent over to New Amsterdam, though everything was 
done as though it was with their free consent. The 
men were taken by force and placed on shipboard ; 
the women at home in their houses were abused, 
their property carried off, and their cattle slaughtered. 
Then it was the right time to send out a proclamation 
and call the people to take the oath of allegiance. 
Those who withheld themselves were held in con- 
tinual disfavor." If the foregoing be correct, the 
sturdy and unwarlike Swedes were truly to be com- 
miserated with. It is undoubtedly true that some of 
their number keenly felt the loss of power resulting 
from the military incursion of the Dutch, and refused 
to take the oath of allegiance prescribed by the new 
ruler. These heroic men left the shores of the Dela- 

omniecient God, that I will remain faithful and obedient to the States- 
General of the United Netherlands, to the Director-General and his 
Council, now or hereafter appointed. And I will remain so without 
giving aid or assistance, by word or deed, to any hostile undertaking or 
commotion, but will conduct myself as an obedient and faithful subject 
BO long as I reniain in the country of the South River, iu the New Neth- 
erlands. So help me Almighty God." 



ware, moving to Maryland, where many of their de- 
scendants are still living. It is also quite certain 
that some of the incorrigible followers of Printz and 
Rising, having refused to take the oath of allegiance, 
were transported to Manhattan. It seems probable 
that Acrelius, who wrote in 1759, drew largely from 
the oflicial report ' made by Governor Rising on his 
return home in 165G, in which the Swedish Governor 
animadverts with great severity upon the conduct of 
the Dutch, and implores his government to send out 
a force of troops strong enough to recapture and forever 



llllliiiii' iriiimnr 



fP^^ $ 




MMSL 



protect and uphold the New Swedeland on the Dela- 
ware and Schuylkill Rivers. There are good grounds, 
however, to question the accuracy of Acrelius and 
Rising as to the treatment and experience of the 
Swedes under the administration of the Hollanders. 
It does not appear that a single life was lost iii the 
many quarrels and disputes which preceded or fol- 
lowed the Swedish submission, or that any outrages 
were committed upon their settlements by the In- 
dians, but that they were left to follow, in a general 
way, their own pursuits and inclinations, and main- 
tain their own habits and customs as a people. The 
following extract from a letter, signed by thirty per- 
sons of their number, dated May 31, 1693, and for- 
warded to John Thelin, his Majesty's loyal subject 

t Translation of Governor Rising's Report, by George P. Marsh : N. T. 
Hist. CollectiuuB, New Series, vol. i. p. 443. 



THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 



71 



and postmaster at Gottenburg, is suggestive of fru- 
gality and conteutment, and wbat seems significant 
under the circumstances is, tliat the entire letter is 
without complaint: "We rejoice that his JIajesty 
doth still bear unto us a tender and a Christian care. 
Therefore do we heartily desire, since it hath pleased 
his Majesty graciously to regard our wants, that there 
may be sent unto us two Swedish ministers who are 
well learned in the Holy Scriptures, and who may be 
able to defend them and us against all false oi)posers, 
so that we may preserve our true Lutheran faith, 
which, if called to sufl'er for our faith, we are ready 
to seal with our blood. We also request that those 
ministers may be men of good moral lives and char- 
acter, so that they may instruct our youth by their 
example, and lead them into a pious and virtuous 
way of life. Further it is our humble desire that you 
would be pleased to send us three books of sermons, 
twelve Bibles, forty-two psalm-books, one hundred 
tracts, with two hundred catechisms and as many 
primers ; for which, when received, we promise punc- 
tual payment at such place as you may think fit to 
order. We do promise also a proper maintenance to 
the ministers that may be sent to us, and when this 
our letter is gone, it is our intention to buy a piece of 
land that shall belong to the church, and upon which 
the ministers may live. As to what concerns our 
situation in this country, we are for the most part 
husbandmen. We plow and sow and till the ground; 
and as to our meat and drink, we live according 
to the old Swedish custom. This country is very 
rich and fruitful, and here grow all .sorts of grain 
in great plenty, so that we are richly supplied with 
meat and drink ; and we send out yearly to our 
neighbors on this continent and the neighboring 
islands bread, grain, flour, and oil. We liave here 
also all sorts of beasts, fowls, and fishes. Our wives 
and daughters employ themselves in spinning wool 
and flax and many of them in weaving ; so that 
we have great reason to thank the Almighty for his 
manifold mercies and benefits. God grant that we 
may also have good shepherds to feed us with his holy 
word and sacraments. We live also in peace and 
friendship with one another, and the Indians have not 
molested us for many years. Further, since this 
country has ceased to be under the government of 
Sweden, we are bound to acknowledge and declare 
for the sake of truth that we have been well and 
kindly treated, as well by the Dutch as by his Ma- 
jesty the King of England, our gracious sovereign ; 
on the other hand, we, the Swedes, have been and 
still are true to him in words and in deeds. We have 
always had over us good and gracious magistrates; 
and we live with one another in peace and quiet- 
ness." ' 

Pending the closing scenes of these contentions be- 
tween the Hollanders and Swedes for supremacy on 

1 Aunals of the Swedes on the Delaware: Rev. J. C. Clay, D.D. 



the upper Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, the " Mer- 
cury," with a large number of Swedish emigrants on 
their way to their friends, anchored near Fort Casi- 
mir. On their arrival, much to their surprise and 
chagrin, they were refused permission either to pass 
the fort or to land at all. Governor Stuyvesant insisted 
upon their return to their homes, and was unyielding 
to all importunities coming from those on shipboard, 
or their friends and countrymen among the settlers 
of New Sweden. It was in this emergency that John 
Pappegoya, the son-in-law of Governor Printz, went 
to the rescue of his waiting and discomfited friends 
aboard the " Mercury" at anchor at Fort Casimir. 
Engaging a small party of Indians who were fa- 
miliar with the channel of the river, they surrepti- 
tiously joined their friends in the vessel, and under 
cover of darkness passed the fort unobserved by the 
Dutch. Spreading all possible canvas, they sailed 
up the river to Tinnecum, and there hastily landed 
before Stuyvesant succeeded in concerting measures 
to compel their departure or prevent them from land- 
ing. There was great rejoicing among the Swedes 
over the success of Pappegoya,'' who evidently out- 
witted Stuyvesant. He was the hero of the hour, 
and his wife,' Lady Armegot Printz, daughter of 
Governor Printz, was assiduous in her efforts to 
make the new emigrants comfortable, and in pro- 
viding for their permanent welfare among them. 

The period from 1655 to the beginning of the Penn 
regime in 1682 witnessed many changes in the admin- 
istration of affairs of the early settlers, the details of 
which are too voluminous to be here particularized. 
Governors Paul Jacquet, Alrich, Beckman, and Hin- 
oyosa all left their impress on the history of the 
period, during which the identity of both Dutch and 
Swede was lost in the multitude of English emigrants 
and traders who then began the work of settlement 
on the Delaware River, hastened and encouraged by 
the administration of the Duke of York, who sub- 
stantially advanced the pretensions of the British 
government in claiming the whole line of Atlantic 
coast from Florida to Maine upon the discovery of 
Sebastian Cabot in 1497, and the charters granted by 
King Charles I. and Charles II.* 

2 Riidman does not mention Pappegoya in his account of this episode, 
but attributes the event to the good offices of friendly Indians, and in 
defense of the Dutch authority. 

3 Lady Armegot Printz (for although the wife of Pappegoya she 
always insisted upon being addressed by her maiden name) lived at 
Tenakongli, the residence of her father. Although the situation was 
fine and the soil rich, she was not able to gain her support from it. She 
could neither obtain servants nor rent the furm to any one, since every 
man who was able and willing to work owned more land than he needed. 
Whetlier from sympathy or on account of some debt owing to her, she 
received a support from the Holland government. This for some time 
consisted of " one fat ox, some fattened swine,and a sufticient supply 
of grain." She linaUy returned to Sweden. — Acrelim. 

^ Some Englishmen tiike to themselves the honor that the whole of 
America was discovered by them first of all Christian nations, initsmuch 
as Christopher Columbus did not go beyond the Gulf of Me.xico until 
the year !45>S to tjtke possession of the country, although he visited 
some of the islands in 119-2. — Acrelius. 



72 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Note.— The following drinks, according to Acreliua, were used in 
America during these early times: " French wine, Frontegnac, Pontac, 
Port a Port, Lisbon wine, phial wine, sherry, Madeira wine, which is al- 
together the most need. Siingaree is made of wine, water, sugar, a dash 
of nutmeg, with some leaves of balm put in. Hot wine, warmed wine, 
is drunk warm, witli sugar, cardamons, and cinnamon in it; sometimes 
also it has in it the yolks of eggs beaten up together and grains of all- 
spice, and then it is called mulled wine. Cherry wine: the berries are 
pressed, the juice strained from them ; Muscovado or raw sugar is put 
in; then it ferments, and after some months becomes clear. Currant 
wine, or black raspberry wine, is made in the same manner. Apple 
wine (cider): apples are ground up in a wooden mill, which is worked 
by ahorse. Then they are placed under a press until the juice runs off, 
which is then put in a barrel, where it ferments, and after some time 
becomes clear. When the apples are not of a good sort, decayed, or 
fallen off too soon, the cider is boiled, and a few poundsof ground ginger 
is put into it, and it becomes more wholesome and better for cooking; 
it keeps longer, and does not ferment so soon, but its taste is not so 
fresh as when it is unboiled. The fault with cider in that country is 
that, for the most part, the good and bad are mixed together. Tlie 
cider is drunk too fresh and too soon ; thus it has come into great dis- 
esteem, so that many persons refuse to taste it. The strong acid which 
it contains produces rust and verdigris, and frightens some from its use 
by the fear that it may liave the same effect upon the body. This liquor 
is usually unwholesome, causes ague when it is fresh, and colic when it 
is too old. The common people damask the drink, mix ground ginger 
with it, or heat it with a red-hot iron. Cider royal is so called when 
some quarts of brandy are thrown into a barrel of cider, along with sev- 
eral poundsof Muscovado sugar, whereby it becomes stronger and tastes 
better. If it is then left alone for a year or so, or taken over the sea, 
then drawn offinto bottles, with some raisins put in, it may deserve the 
name of apple wine. Cider royal of another kind is that in which one- 
half is cider and the other mead, both freshly fermented together. 
Mulled cider is warmed, with sugar in it, with yolks of eggs and grains 
of allspice ; sometimes, also, rum is put in to give it greater strength. 
Rum or sugar-brandy: this is made at the sugar plantations in the 
West India islands. It is in quality like French brandy, but has no un- 
pleasant odor. It makes up a large part of the English and French 
commerce with the West India islands. The strongest comes from 
Jamaica, is called Jamaica spirits, and is the favorite article for punch. 
Next in quality to this is the rum from Barbadoes, then that from An- 
tiquas, Monteerrat, Nevis, St. Christopher, etc. The heaviest consumption 
is in harvest-time, when the laborers most frequently take a sup, and then 
immediately a drink of water, from which the body performs its work 
more easily and perspires better than when rye whisky or malt liquors are 
used. Raw dram, raw rum, is a drink of rum unmixed with anything. 
Egg dram, egg nog: the yolk ofan egg is beaten up, and during the beating 
rum and sugar poured in. Cherry bounce is a drink made of the cherry 
juice with a quantity of rum in it. Bilberry dram is made in the same 
way. Punch is made of fresh spring-water, sugar, lemon-juice, and 
Jamaica spirits. Instead of lemons, a West India fruit called limes, or 
its juice, which is imported in flasks, is used. Punch is always drunk 
cold, but sometimes a slice of bread is toasted and placed in it warm to 
moderate the cold in winter-time, or it is heated with a red-hot iron. 
Punch is mostly used just before dinner, and is called a 'meridian.' 
Jtfajnm, made of water, sugar, and rum, is the most common drink in 
the interior of the country, and has set nj) many a tavern-keeper. 
Manathan\ is made of small beer, with rum and sugar. Tiff, or flip, ia 
made of small beer, rum, and sugar, with a slice of bread toasted and 
buttered. Hot rum,warmed with sugar and grainsof allspice, customary 
at funerals. Mulled rum, warmed with egg-yolks aud allspice. Hotch 
pot, warmed beer with rum in it. Sampson ia warmed cider with rum 
in it. Grog is water and rum. Sling, or long sup, half water and half 
rum, with sugar in it. Mint-water, distilled from mint, mixed in the 
rum, to make a drink for strengthening the stomach. Egg punch, of 
yolkaof eggs, rum, sugar, atid warm water. Milk punch, of milk, rum, 
sugar, and grated nutmeg over it ; it is much used in the summer-time, 
and is considered good for dysentery and loose bowels. Sillibul is made 
of lukewarm milk, wine, and sugar; it is used in Buramer-time as a 
cooling beverage. Milk and water is the common drink of the people. 
Still liquor, brandy made of peaches or apples without the addition of 
any grain, is not regarded as good as rum. Whiskey is brandy made of 
grain; it is used far up in the interior of the country, where rum is very 
dear, on account of tlie trausptutation. Beer is brewed in the towns; 
is brown, thick, and unpalatable; is drunk by the common people. 
Small beer, from mohisses. When the water is warmed, the molasses is 
poured in with a little malt or wheat-bran, and is well shaken together; 



afterwards a lay of bops and yeast is added, and then it is put in a keg, 

where it ferments, and the next day is clear and ready for use. It is 
more wholesome, pleasanter to the taste, and milder to the stomach than 
any small beer of malt. Spnice beer is a kind of small beer, which is 
called in Swedish "liirda tidningarne" (learned newspapers). The 
twigs of spruce-pine are boiled in the malt so as to give it a pleasant 
taste, and then molasses is used as in the preceding. The Swedish pine 
is thought to be serviceable in the same way. Table beer made of per- 
simmons. The persimmon is a fruit like our egg-plum. When these 
have been well frosted, they are pounded along with their seeds, mixed 
up with wheat-bran, made into large loaves, and baked in the oven; 
then, whenever desired, pieces of this are taken and moistened, and 
with these the drink is brewed. Mead is made of honey and water 
boiled together, which ferments of itself in the cask. The stronger it 
is of honey the longer it takes to ferment. Drunk in this country too 
soon it causes sickness of the stomach aud headache. Besides these 
tliey use tlie liquors called cordials, such as anise-water, cinnamon- 
water, appelcin-water, and others scarcely to be enumerated, as also 
drops to pour into wine and brandy almost without end. Tea is a drink 
very commonly used. No one is so high as to despise it, nor any one so 
low as not to think himself worthy of it. It is not drunk oftener than 
twice a day. It is always dnink by the common people with raw sugar 
in it. Brandy in tea is called Use. Coffee comes from Martinica, St. 
Dtimingo, and Surinam ; is sold in large quantities, and used for break- 
fast. Chocolate is in general use for breakfast and supper. It is drunk 
with a spoon ; sometimes prepared with a little milk, but mostly only 
with water." 

In reference to the trees in Pennsylvania, Acrelius continues, "White- 
oak grows in good soil; light bark, the leaves long, grass-green, blunt- 
pointed ; the acorn is small, long, with a short cup ; the wood white ; is 
used for ship-timber, planks, staves for hogsheads or wine-pipes for 
spirituous liquors, but not for molasses. There is a heavy exportation 
of it to Europe, Ireland, France, and the West Indies in the form of 
boards and staves. It is also used for posts, with boards and clap-hoards, 
around fields and gardens. It burns well, and makes good ashes. 
White-oak growing upon low land and in swamps is considered mure 
reliable for ship-building than that which is found upon high ground. 
Black -oak grows upon any kind of soil ; bark dark ; leaf dark green, 
very blunt-pointed; the acorn large, with short cup; the wood, when 
split green, is of a reddish-brown color, when dry, darker. It is used 
for staves of molasses-hogsheads or barrels for dry-goods, such as wheat- 
flour, sugar, Muscovado, also for piles or palings built in water, but rots 
on land within three or four years; does not burn well, but dissolves 
into smoke and poor ashes. The bark is used in tanning. Spanish oak 
also grows everywhere ; bark gray ; leaf small, sharp-pointed, and light 
green; the acorns, which are gall-nuts, are serviceable for ink; the 
wood whitish, with spots like the beech-tree, is nsed as black-oak, and 
is considered better; the bark is the best for tanning, and yields a yel- 
lowish color. There are several species of Spanish oak, which are dis- 
tinguished by their leaves, but are the same for fuel, hark, and use. 
Red-oak usually grows upon low land; bark gray; leaf broad, pointed, 
with saw-like teeth towards the stalk ; the wood, when fresh, reddish, 
when dry, whitish ; is used as black and Spanish oak. Black, Spanish,, 
and red-oaks are porous and loose in structure, so that if one takes a 
piece of their wood three feet long, wets the one end and blows into tho 
other, bubbles come out. All these species are usually spoken of under 
the name of black- or red-oak. Few natives of the country know how 
to distinguish them all correctly. Swamp-oak, water-oak, peach-leaf 
oak, live-oak grow in swHnipy places; not common ; high trees; bark 
dark gray ; leaf long as the fingers, narrow, with one point; wood gray, 
but the liardest of all oak ; id seldom nsed for anything but cog-stocks in 
cider-mills. Walnut-tree, black-walnut, grqws in dry ground; bark 
dark gray ; the leaf in pairs on a stalk ; a high tree ; the nuts black, 
large as apples, rough and sharp on the outside, covered witli a 
thick green skin ; the shell hard enough to break with a hammer, the 
kernel very oily, fit for oil for fine paintings; the wood brown, and quite 
firm when the tree grows in free air and good soil, also valuable, hut 
iiKignificant and of little value when it is surrounded by thick and closo 
woods. It is used for furniture of houses, — tables, chairs, bureaus, etc. 
Boards of it are exported in large quantities. Hickory grows in a rich 
soil; the leaves arranged in pairs along the branches, with teeth ser- 
rated at the edges; the nuts white, flat, pointed, large as the culti- 
vated walnuts ; grows within a thick green hull, which, when ripened 
in the month of October, opens itself in four clefts, and pushes out the 
nut; has a division within, as a walnut, but is hard as a bone. The 
Ivprnel has a pleasant taste, and from it the Indians, as it is said, press 
an oil for winter use. The wood is tough, white on the outside, brown ia 



THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 



the heart ; that of young trees is used for hoops, that of old ones for ag- 
ricultural implementa and wagons, but chiefly for fuel, and makes the 
best fires, with tho finest ashes. Chestnut-tree grows in dry soil, high, 
straight, and thick ; the bark ash-gray ; the leaf oblong, pointed, with 
serrated teeth at the points ; the shell double, llie outer one large as an 
apple, externally like a burdock-burr, internally with a woolly down ; 
when ripe, naturally opens itself in four clefts and throws out the nut, 
of which there are usually two, round upon one side and flat upon the 
other. If three grow together they are mostly poor, and the middle 
nut is flat on both sides, tlie other two of the ordinary shape. Some- 
times seven nuts are found together, then none of them are good. The 
chestnut-tree, surrounded by thick woods, bears neither large nor 
numerous nuts; but where they are found in abundance the swine have 
an excellent food. The wood is ash-gray, is used for posts or rails, but 
for nothing else except fuel. Poplar grows indiscriminately, high, 
straight, and rich in foliage ; bark of a greenish gray, the seed in pods, 
the leaf broad, single, scalloped ; the wood yellowish, brittle, but hard ; 
used in carpenters' work for door- and window-frames, also fur boards. 
It ia cut out for canoes, is turned for wooden vessels, such aa pails, 
dishes, boxes, and the like. Sassafras grows in rich soil ; low trees and 
bushes. The bark is dark-green, smooth, with a yellow juice; the 
leaves unlike, even on the same tree, oblong, with one, two, or three 
stumpy points; the wood yellowish, especially the root, which, as well 
as the bark, has the smell and taste of saffron. It is used for planks 
and gate-posts, also for palings on the Susquehanna. Cedar grows 
chiefly in swamps or low, sandy ground; in smell and bark like the 
juniper-tree. Its needle-shaped leaves are long and tender. Red- 
cedar is dark-red, hard ; used for planks and posts, and in New England 
for cabinet-work, on the Bermuda isles for ship-timber. White-cedar 
is a soft wood ; used for house-timber, — boards, palings, and shingles. 
Maple grows in dry ground, high and straight; the bark a gray-green; 
the leaf small, three-pointed, serrated at the points; the wood whitish, 
spotted ; used for furniture in houses, — tables, chairs, etc. ; is exported 
from the country in the form of boards. Sweet-gum grows in low 
lands; the bark gray, smooth ; the leaves five-pointed, with serrated 
edges; the wood yellowish, spotted, warps easily when wrought; used 
for furniture and cabinet-work. Sour-gum grows everywhere; the bark 
dark, sharp; theleaf oblong, one-pointed; the wood white, cross-grained, 
does not admit of any splitting, and is used for wheel-naves orliubs. 
Locust grows in dry , rich soil as a high tree ; the bark greenish ; the 
seed in long pods; the kernel large, sweet, edible ; the leaf upon a long 
stalk; the leaves long, one-pointed, in pairs, like the mountain-ash; the 
wood bright, hard, used for pegs in ship-building, for trundles and cogs 
in mills. The streets in New York are planted with locusts. Dogwood 
grows in dry ground, seldom more than four inches in diameter ; the 
flowers white ; the berries red and small; the wood yellowish, hard, like 
boxwood, does not burn well; it is used for little else than carpenters' 
tools. Wild cherry grows in good land, not high, but thick ; the bark 
and leaf like those of the cultivated cherry-tree, but the berry smaller, 
sweeter, with seed and no kernel; the wood reddish, is used for cabinet- 
work. Persimmon grows in good, dry ground, scarcely more thanafoot 
thick; thebark rough and sharp; the leaf single, oblong, one-pointed, 
dark'green; the berry like the wild plum ; when frosted it is used for 
brewing table beer. The fruit and its seed are pounded together, 
kneaded up with wheat-bran, baked in large loaves in a stove; pieces of 
it are then taken at pleasure, and from these the drink is brewed, which 
becomes quite palatable. The wood is white, hard, and used for carpen- 
ters' tools. The button-tree grows wild, but is planted before the doors 
of houses; the bark greenish-gray, smooth ; the seed-pods round and 
large as marbles, hang upon long stems, which when ripe, and one 
strikes them, all at once separate into small pieces, as if one were to 
throw a handful of down into the air; the leaf is quite large, broad, 
single, five-cornered, shari)-pointed; the wuod is brittle; its greatest use 
is for shading houses from the great heat of the sun. Spicewood grows 
in dry and sandy soil aa a bush; the flowers yellow ; the berry red, small, 
mostly single upon the stalks ; the leaves are oblong and one-pointed; 
the bark is green, has the taste of cinnamon when it is chewed, would 
probably serve as a medicine. Pine is planted near houses as an orna- 
ment; boards of it are introduced from other places, where it grows in a 
poor, sandy soil. Beech, hazel, and birch are rare. Alder is found abun- 
dantly in the marshes." 

Israel Acrelius and his translator, William M. 
Reynolds, D.D., have left a vivid picture of these 
early pioneers. It is at once quaint, truthful, and 
life-like, and seems to carry us back among the 



frugality and wealth of agricultural products that 
has always characterized the husbandmen of Eastern 
Pennsylvania. "The farms which were first culti- 
tivated/' Acrelius writes, "have by constant use be- 
come impoverished, so that they are now considered 
of but little value. The people cleared the land, 
which was new and strong, but did not think of 
manuring and clearing meadows until of later years. 
For those who do not keep their animals in stables 
have no other manure than this, that they place a 
few hay-stacks on a field, on which the animals are 
fed during the winter, when they trample as much 
under their feet as they eat, whereby the manure be- 
comes alike unequal and insufficient. That Pennsyl- 
vania is regarded as the best grain country in America 
arises more from the excellence of the climate than 
the fertility of the soil. Yet most of the farms are 
newly cleared. Some miles up in the country but 
few places are to be seen where the stumps do not 
still stand thick upon the ground. Not one-half of 
the forests are cleared off as they ought to be. The 
clearing is not made by the destructive burning of 
trees, whereby the fertile soil is converted into ashes 
and carried away by the winds. Some stocks or 
stumps may be thus burned, so as to put them almost 
entirely out of the way. As labor is very high, so 
sometimes only the bushes and undergrowth are re- 
moved, but the large trees are still left standing. 
But around these a score is cut, and they thus dry 
up within the first year, and thus soon fall down, so 
that one may often see the fields with dry trees and a 
heavy crop of grain growing under them. 

"Theimplementsof agriculture are the plow and the 
harrow. The plow is so made that from the share 
two pieces ascend with a handle upon each, about an 
ell and a half apart from each other. It is put to- 
gether with screws, light and easy to handle. The 
plowman holds each handle with one hand, and 
throws up the field into high * lands,' plowing first 
on the one side and then on the other side of a 
'land,' so that the earth is thrown up high. Im- 
mediately before the plow a pair of oxen draw, or a 
pair of horses, which are guided by some little boy 
either leading or riding on them. The harrow is 
three-cornered and heavy. The traces are fastened 
to it with a link, which makes a convenience in turn- 
ing a pair of horses before the harrow, and a boy on 
the horse's back smooths the field into fine and even 
pieces without any great trouble. Sometimes two 
harrows are fastened together after the same team. 
The beam of the plow does not come forward between 
the draught animals. Under the end of the beam is 
a strong clam with a link, on which is fastened a 
double-tree back of both the animals. At each end 
of this double-tree is another shorter one (single- 
tree), provided with a link for each animal. From 
these single-trees there go upon both sides of the 
draught animals ropes or chains forward to the hames. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



which are held together by a broad strap above and 
below. In place of ropes or chains, most farmers use 
straps of raw deerskins twined and twisted together 
and so dried, which do not chafe the sides of the 
horses. Out of these also the whole of the harness 
is made. 

. "Flax is sown in the beginning of March. The 
ground is plowed for it some days before, and new or 
good ground is required. It is pulled in July and 
much used. Oats are sown at the same time, mostly 
on good ground, which is plowed some days before; 
but if the plowing is done in the autumn before, iu 
November or December, and then again just before 
the sowing, the oats themselves pay for it, according 
to the common saying. It is cut in July. It is used 
a great deal, but only for horses, and is of the thin and 
white kind. Wheat is the land's chief product. It 
is sown in the beginning of September, after three 
plowings preceding, the first in May, then in July, 
and the last just before the sowing, but always accord- 
ing to the moisture and quality of the soil. As the 
autumn is long and warm, the sprouts grow so long 
that all kinds of cattle are fed on them during the 
winter. Strong ground is not required for wheat, the 
middling is good enough. Harvesting is performed 
in July, in the hottest season. Sickles are used, with 
the edge sharpened like a file. The stalk is cut just 
about half its length, so that the stubble is quite high. 
The sheaves, short and small, are counted in dozens, 
and a bushel is expected from each dozen. Eye is 
sown in November, mostly upon some field that has 
borne a crop during the same summer, and one plow- 
ing is usually regarded as sufiicient. If the shoots 
only come up before winter there is hope of a good 
harvest. Where the sowing is made early there is a 
supply for pasturage during the winter. It is cut at 
the same time and in the same manner as wheat. 
Buckwheat is sown at the end of July. For this is 
taken some ground which has just before borne rye or 
wheat. Poor ground and one plowing does very well 
for it. It ripens in October, and is mostly used for 
horses and swine. Turnips are not in general use. 
The seed is sown in the beginning of August. For 
this is taken either a piece of newly-cleared land or 
swamp. Those who have neither of these prefer let- 
ting it alone. The leaves are often exposed to the 
ravages of small flies, which destroy the whole crop. 
Maize is planted at the end of April or the beginning 
of May. Four furrows are placed close to one another, 
and then five or six steps from these four other fur- 
rows, and so over the whole field. The plowing is done 
in the month of March. For the planting is used a 
broad hoe, wherewith the earth is opened to the depth 
of three or four inches, into which are cast five grains 
of corn, which are then covered with the hoe. Some- 
times also they add two Turkish beans, which thrive 
very well with the maize and run up its stalks. Each 
place thus planted is called a hill. An equal distance 
is kept between each hill, so that the rows may be 



straight either lengthwise or crosswise. As soon as 
the young plant comes up it is plowed over, and even 
harrowed, that it may be free of weeds. When the 
plants are half an ell high the ground is hoed up 
around them, and again when they are two ells high. 
In the month of September, when the maize has at- 
tained its greatest growth, although not ripe, the 
strongest blades are cut off for fodder. They then 
plow between the rows of corn, sow wheat, and har- 
row it in, and this, in the next year, gives a full crop. 
By the end of October the ears are ripe, pulled oft" on 
the field, and carried home. The stocks and roots 
are torn up during the winter, when the ground is 
loose, to make the fields clean. Maize is the princi- 
pal food of the Indians, and it has hence been called 
'Indian corn.' 

" Potatoes are quite common, of two kinds, the Irish 
and the Maryland. The Irish are also of two kinds, 
the first round, knotty, whitish, mealy, somewhat 
porous. They are planted thus : upon a smooth and 
hard ground a bed of dung is formed ; portions of 
this are thrown upon the potatoes, which are then 
covered with ground of even the poorest kind. When 
the stalks have come up about a fourth of an ell high 
they are again hilled up with the same kind of earth, 
in order to strengthen the roots, which are thus con- 
siderably increased in number. The other kind is 
long, branching, thick, reddish, juicy, and more 
porous. For these a long ditch, the depth of a spade, 
is dug, the bottom of which is covered with manure, 
set with pieces of potatoes, and covered over with 
earth. When the stalks come up they are treated as 
those above mentioned. Maryland potatoes are long, 
thick, juicy, sweet, and yellow; they are planted 
from sprouts in hills or round heaps of good earth ; 
when the stalks come up they are hoed around. 
These are also wonderfully prolific, so that every- 
where around and between the hills the fruit is 
dug up. 

"Cabbage is planted two or three times a year, but 
seldom thrives well until towards autumn. Crisped 
colewart stands through the whole winter. On cab- 
bage stocks which stand through the winter new 
leaves come out in the spring, which are used for 
greens. Tobacco is planted in almost every garden, 
but not more than for domestic use. It is universal 
among the Indians. When the leaves are ripe they 
are cut, cured, and twined together like twists of flax, 
and are used without any further preparation by the 
country people for chewing and smoking. The trade 
in tobacco is permitted only for Maryland and Vir- 
ginia, although its importation is almost yearly di- 
minished, as its production is increased in Europe. 

"Vegetable gardens are kept for almost every 
house. There are generally cultivated beets, parsnips, 
onions, parsley, radishes, Turkish beans, large beans, 
pepper-grass, red peppers, lettuce, head-lettuce, Ger- 
man lettuce, and scurvy-grass; anything else is re- 
garded as a rarity. Common herbs for domestic 



THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 



75 



remedies are wormwood, rue, sage, thyme, chamomile, 
etc. Peas are also grown in gardens, as they can be 
eaten while still green. When dry, a worm grows 
in them, which comes out a fly in spring. And al- 
though the pea then seems destroyed, yet it still serves 
as seed for a new growth. That sort is like field peas. 
Sugar peas are also used, and are free from that evil. 
Orchards may be regarded as among the highest ad- 
vantages of the country, but the fruit consists mostly 
of three sorts, — cherries, peaches, and apples. Pears 
are rare. Cherry-trees are generally planted here 
and there around houses and roads, away from the 
gardens. The berries are generally of the common 
kind, bright and sour; some black and more juicy. 
The better sorts are rare, and lately introduced. They 
bloom in April and ripen in June. Peach-trees stand 
within an inclosure by themselves, grow even in the 
stoniest places without culture. The fruit is the most 
delightful that the mouth can taste, and is often allow- 
able in fevers. One kind, called clingstones, are con- 
sidered the best ; in these the stones are not loose from 
the fruit as in the others. Many have peach-orchards 
chiefly for the purpose of feeding their swine, which 
are not allowed to run at large. They first bloom in 
March, the flowers coming out before the leaves, and 
are often injured by the frosts; they are ripe to- 
wards the close of August. This fruit is regarded as 
indigenous, like maize and tobacco, for as far as any 
Indians have been seen in the interior of the country 
these plants are found to extend. Apple-trees make 
the finest orchards, planted in straight rows with in- 
tervals of twelve or fifteen paces. The best kind is 
called the Van der Veer, as a Hollander of that 
name introduced it ; it serves either for cider or apple 
brandy. Another sort is the house-apple, which is 
good for winter fruit. For apple-orchards not less 
than two or three acres are taken ; some have five or 
.six. The cultivation consists in grafting and pruning 
in the spring, and plowing the ground every five or 
six years, when either maize is planted or rye or oats 
sowed in the orchard." 

In reference to stock-raising, Acrelius continues: 
"The horses are real ponies, and are seldom found 
over sixteen hands high. He who has a good riding- 
horse never employs him for draught, which is also 
the less necessary, as journeys are for the most part 
made on horseback. It must be the result of this 
more than of any particular breed in the horses that 
the country excels in fast horses, so that horse-races 
are often made for very high stakes. A good horse 
will go more than a Swedish mile (six and three- 
quarters English miles) in an hour, and is not to be 
bought for less than six hundred dollars copper coin- 
age. The cattle are also of a middling sort, but 
whence they were first introduced no one can well 
tell. Where the pasture is fair a cow does not give 
less than two quarts of milk at a time, that is twice 
a day. The calf is not taken from the cow until it is 
four weeks old, — that is, as long as she can keep it 



fat, — in case it is to be slaughtered, otherwise two or 
three weeks are regarded as sufficient; and as animals 
are not kept in the house during winter, so it some- 
times happens that calves are sometimes caught in 
the snow, and are none the worse for it; there is no 
such thing heard of here as calves dying. 

"The sheep are of the large English sort. They 
are washed whenever convenient, and then immedi- 
ately shorn, once a year, towards the end of April; 
their wool is regarded as better for stockings than the 
English. The flesh is generally very strong in its 
taste, especially in old sheep; some persons are un- 
able to eat it. When the Christians first came to the 
country the grass was up to the flanks of the animals, 
and was good for pasture and hay-making, but as 
soon as the country has been settled the grass has 
died out from the roots, so that scarcely anything but 
black earth is left in the forests; back in the country, 
where the people have not yet settled, the same grass 
j is found, and is called wild rye. The pasture in the 
forests, therefore, consists mostly of leaves, but also 
I of the grass which grows along water-courses. Until 
pasture comes in the stubble-fields and meadows, the 
best is in the orchards. Early in the spring there 
springs up a strong grass-leek (wild garlic), especially 
on poor ground, which makes the milk and butter 
unpleasant to the taste, but afterwards the fields are 
covered with clover, red and white, and make excel- 
j lent pasture. Some sow clover-seed after they have 
harrowed in their wheat, to make the crop stronger. 
Back in the country, where horses and cattle are pas- 
tured in the wild woods, they become wild, and so 
live in great numbers. 

"The clearing for meadows has advanced very 
slowly, as there was so much new land suitable for 
cultivation. Upland pastures are scarcely advanta- 
geous unless they are frequently plowed, manured, 
sown with good grass-seed along with other seed, and 
j also irrigated. They conduct the water from streams 
; and ditche-s, so far as it is possible to do this with 
1 dams, to irrigate the meadows when the drought 
increases, which must be done in the night-time, 
when the air is cool. Along the Delaware River and 
the streams which fall into it there are large tracts of 
swamp, which within the last fifteen years, to the 
extent of many thousand acres, have been improved 
into good meadows, but at a very great expense. The 
mode of procedure is to inclose a certain amount of 
swamp with a bank thrown up quite high, so as to 
keep out the water (the ebh and the flood) or tides. 
The bank commonly rises as high as five feet, some- 
times ten feet. Also to make a ditch to carry off the 
water which comes on it from the land, and at the 
same time to place drains in the bank to let the water 
out; and then, again, by agate upon the drains, to 
prevent it from running. When dry the earth is 
plowed, some kind of grain is sown in it, and then 
it is afterwards sown with clover and other English 
hay-seeds. When people saw the success of such 



76 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUxXTY. 



work, their minds were so taken with it that in the 
year 1751 the price of an acre of swamp-meadow 
advanced to six hundred dollars copper coin. But 
just at the same time it also happened that some high 
tides came up from the sea and swept away the em- 
bankments. Numerous muskrats live in these em- 
bankments and make them leaky, also a kind of 
crabs, called ' fiddlers,' dig into them, and make the 
banks like a sieve. Then the ditches were found not 
to be rightly built so as to answer their purpose. 
Thus the grass and grain were destroyed, the land 
returning again to its wild nature, and there was 
no end of patching and mending. Then the price 
of the land fell to half its value, and he thought him- 
self best off who had none of it. Again, in 1755, 
there came a great drought ; no grass nor pasture was 
to be found, and as no other plan could be devised, 
then the price of these lands rose again. The con- 
clusion was that swampland as well as high land has 
its advantages as well as its disadvantages. Experi- 
ence has taught that upland earth improves the swamp 
land, and swamp land the upland ; also that the 
vermin flee from the embankments when upland earth 
is found in them. 

" Stables and cow-houses are seldom seen on a farm. 
The first Swedish inhabitants kept their animals under 
shelter during winter; but it was then said that they 
were then exposed to vermin and other diseases, which 
have not been heard of since. Then people went 
into another extreme, that of letting the animals en- 
dure the severity of the winter, which, along with the 
rain, frost, and snow, is sometimes intolerable. A 
good housekeeper has a stable with thin sides for the 
horses, and sheds for the cattle and sheep, built near 
the barn and standing out in the stable-yard, so that 
they may be protected there when the weather is 
severe. In milder weather all the cattle run out in 
the inclosure, and are foddered with hay or straw 
stacks which are set up there. They also graze on 
the land around, which is mostly used for young cat- 
tle. The sheep especially feed themselves on ferns 
and the young grass which grows up under the snow 
in warm weather. The lambs skip about in the snow, 
and stand in danger of being buried under it for want 
of proper care. The man-servant takes care of the 
foddering of the cattle, while the housewife and 
women folks roast themselves by the kitchen-fire, 
doubting if any one can do better than that them- 
selves. Hay alone, even of the best kind, is not suf- 
ficient to keep any horse or cow well ; a considerable 
amount of grain, such as oats, maize, and buckwheat, 
is used for horses and wheat-bran for milch cows. 

" The country is undeniably fruitful, as may be 
judged from the following examples •} Joseph Cobern, 

' Penu con-oboratea Acreliue. He 6uy8, " As they are a people proper 
and stroug of body, bo they have tine children, and almost every liouae 
full ; rare to find one of them without three or four boys and as uian.v 
j^irls, some six, seven, and eight sons. And I must do them tliat right, 
1 see few young men mure sober and industrious." — WUtitnn Ptfitn^s lit- 
/ormaliOH abovX Pennst/Uania^ Aug. 16, 1682. 



in Chester, twenty years ago had the blessing to have 
his wife have twins, his cow two calves, and his ewe 
two lambs, all in one night, in the month of March. 
All continued to live. Olle Tossa (Thoresson), in 
Brandywine Hundred, in 1742, had a cow which in 
the month of March had one calf; at her next calv- 
ing she had three; the third time, five; altogether, 
nine calves within two years. Three continued to 
live, but five died, — two males and three heifers. 
Thomas Bird, of the same place, had a ewe that 
yeaned four Iambs within as many days, only one 
dying. 

" The land is so settled that each one has his 
ground separate and, for the most part, fenced in. 
So far as was possible, the people have taken up their 
abode by navigable streams, so that the farms stretch 
from the water in small strips up into the land. No 
country in the world can be richer in rivers, creeks, 
rivulets, and good springs. The houses are built of 
bricks, after the English fashion, without coating, 
every other brick glazed ; or they are of sandstone, 
granite, etc., as is mostly the case in the country. 
Sometimes, also, they build of oak planks five inches 
thick. To build of wood is not regarded as economy, 
after everything is paid for. The roof is of cedar 
shingles. Within the walls and ceilings are plastered, 
and whitewashed once a year. Straw carpets have 
lately been introduced in the towns. But the incon- 
venience of this is that they must soon be cleansed 
from fly-spots and a multitude of vermin which har- 
bor in such things, and from the kitchen smoke which 
is universal. The windows are large, divided into . 
two pieces, the upper and lower; the latter is opened 
by raising and shut by lowering. The wood-work is 
painted or it does not last long. The furniture of the 
house is usually made of the woods of the country, 
and consists of a dining-table, tea-table, supper-table, 
bureaus, cabinets, and chairs, which are made of 
walnut, mahogany, maple, wild-cherry, or sweet-gum. 
All these trees are the growth of the country except 
mahogany, which is brought from South America. 

"The articles of dress are very little different 
among city and country people, except that the 
former procure them from the merchants' shops and 
the latter make them for themselves, and usually of 
coarser stuft'. Wool-, weaving-, and fulling-mills are 
not used for manufacturing broadcloth, camelot, and 
other woolen cloths, which might be finer if more 
carefully attended to. The coloring of certain stuffs 
is very inferior. Silks are rare even in the towns. 
Plush is general, and satin is very widely used all over 
the country. Calicoes and cottons are used for 
women's dresses. Handsome linen is the finest stuff 
sought by men, as the heat is great and of long con- 
tinuance. By their dress most people are known, 
whether of Irish or German birth. The meals are 
cleanly, and do not consist of a great variety of food. 
Ham, beef, tongue, roast beef, fowls, with cabbage 
set round about make one meal. Roast mutton or 



THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 



77 



veal with potatoes or'turnips form another. Another 
still is formed by a pastry of chickens, or partridges, 
or lamb. Beef-steak, veal-cutlets, mutton-chops, or 
turkey, goose, or fowls, with potatoes set around, with 
stewed green peas, or Turkish beans, or some other 
beans, are anotlier meal. Pies of apples, peaches, cher- 
ries, or cranberries, etc., form another course. When 
cheese and butter are added one has an ordinary meal. 
The breakfast is tea or coffee; along with these is eaten 
long and thin slicesof bread, with thin slices of smoked 
beef, in summer. In winter, bread roasted, soaked in 
milk and l)utter, and called toast, or pancakes of buck- 
wheat, so light that one can scarcely hold them be- 
tween his fingers, are also used. The afternoon meal 
(" four-o'clock piece"), taken at four o'clock, is usually 
the same. Suppers are not much in use. When one 
is so invited chocolate is the most reliable. Whole 
pots of it are sometimes made, but little or no milk 
in it, chiefly of water. Of these articles of food more 
or less is used in the country according to the ability 
or luxury of the people. Tea, coffee, and chocolate 
are so general as to be found in the most remote 
cabins, if not for daily use yet for visitors, mixed with j 
Muscovado or raw sugar. Fresh fish for a meal is 
found nowhere either with high or low. Of soup they 
think in the same manner. It serves only for ordi- 
nary household fare. Salt and dried fish are seldom 
seen ; as few have eaten them they are almost un- 
known. The arrangement of meals among country 
people is usually this: for breakfast, in summer, cold 
milk and bread, rice, milk-pudding, cheese and but- 
ter, cold meat; in winter, mush and milk and milk 
porridge, hominy and milk. The same also serves 
for supper if so desired. For noon, in summer, soup, 
fresh meat, dried beef, and bacon, with cabbage, 
apples, potatoes, Turkish beans, large beans, all kinds 
of roots, mashed turnips, pumpkins, cashaws, and 
squashes. One or more of these are distributed 
around the dish ; also boiled or baked pudding, dump- 
lings, bacon and eggs, pies of apples, cherries, peaches, 
etc. In winter hominy soup is cooked with salt beef 
and bacon. Then also pastries of lamb or chicken 
are used, and can keep cold a whole week ; also pan- 
cakes of wheat-flour or of buckwheat-meal. Bread 
is baked once a week or oftener. It is in large loaves, 
mostly of wheat-flour, seldom of rye. The wheat- 
flour which is used in the towns for bread or table 
use is beautiful, like the finest powder. The flour in 
the country is dark and coarse." 

A Condensed View of the Ministers who Suc- 
cessively Presided over the Swedish Churches in 
America. — l. Reorus Torkillus accompanied Peter 
Menewe, who brought over the first Swedish colony 
about the year 1636, and died here in 1643, aged 
thirty-five years. 

2. John Campanius Holm came over in 1642 with 
Governor Printz, and remained here six years. Cam- 
panius was his proper surname, Holm having been 
added because of Stockholm having been his place of 



residence. He translated Luther's Catechism into 
the language of the Indians. 

3. Laurence Lock came over in the time of Gov- 
ernor Printz. He preached at Tinicum and Chris- 
tina. He was for many years the only clergyman the 
Swedes had. He died in 1688. 

4. Israel Holg came about the year 1650, but did 
not remain long. 

5. With Governor Rising, in 1652, a chaplain came 
over, and returned after the conquest of the Dutch in 
1655. 

6. Another clergyman came over in the ship " Mer- 
cury" in the year 1656, and returned home two years 
afterwards. 

7. Jacob Fabritius, who had been preaching for 
the Dutch in New York, was induced to settle among 
the Swedes, and preached his first sermon at Wicaco 
in 1677. He officiated as their pastor fourteen years, 
nine of which he was blind. He died about 1692. 

Three clergymen arrived in 1697, from which pe- 
riod we may date the regular supply of the churches 
here with Swedish ministers. These were Andreas 
Rudman, Eric Biork, and Jonas Auren. The first 
.settled at Wicaco, the second at Christina, and the 
third at Raccoon and Penn's Neck. 

Wicaco Church. — 1. Andrew Rudman was the 
founder of the present church, which was built in 
1700. In 1702 he went to preach for the Dutch in 
New York; afterwards officiated at Oxford Church, 
n'ear Frankford; then in Christ Church, Philadel- 
phia, where he died in 1708. 

2. Andrew Sandel arrived in 1702 ; returned home 
in 1719. 

3. Jonas Lindman, sent over in 1719; recalled in 
1730. The Rev. J. Eneberg took charge of the church 
during the vacancy. 

4. Gabriel Falk, appointed rector in 1733 ; deposed 
the same year. 

5. John Dylander came over in 1737. He died, 
honored and beloved, in 1741. 

6. Gabriel Nesman, appointed rector in 1743 ; re- 
turned home in 1750. 

7. Olof Parlin arrived in 1750 ; died in 1757. 

8. Charles Magnus Wrangel came in 1759 ; returned 
in 1768 ; died 1786. 

9. Andrew Goeranson, sent over in 1766; became 
rector 1768; officiated until the close of 1779; re- 
turned home in 1785 ; died in 1800. 

10. Matthias Hultgren commenced his official du- 
ties in 1780 ; recalled in 1786. 

11. Nicholas Collin, of Upsal, sent over in 1770; 
appointed to Wicaco in 1786 ; died 1831, close of the 
Swedish mission. 

12. Rev. J. C. Clay, D.D., elected in December, 1831, 
entered upon his duties the January following. 

After the separation of the three churches, in 1843, 
the Rev. Samuel C. Brinkle was chosen rector of this 
church, and continued to officiate as such until 1850, 
when be was succeeded by the Rev. J. Brinton Smith. 



78 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The latter resigned in 1856, and was succeeded by 
Kev. Charles A. Maison. 

Upper Merion Church. — The first rector of this 
church, after it became separated from the others, 
was the Rev. Edward Lightner. He resigned the 
parish in 1855, and was succeeded by the Kev. Wil- 
liam H. Rees, D.D., who retained the charge till 
1861. The following clergymen have officiated at 
this church from 1861 to the present time : Revs. 
Thomas S. Yocum, 1861-70; Octavius Perinchief, 
1870-73; Edward A. Warriuer, 1873-76; Octavius 
Perinchief, 1876-77; A. A. Marple, 1877 to . 

Church at Christina. — 1. Eric Biork built a new 
church at Fort Christina, in 1698, in lieu of that at 
Traubrook. Returned home, 1714; died in 1740. 
■ 2. Andreas Hessefius, sent over in 1711 ; provost, 
1719; recalled in 1723; died in 1733. 

3. Samuel Hesselius, brother to the former, sent 
over in 1729; returned in 1731 ; died, 1755. 

4. John Eneberg, pastor, 1733 ; returned home in 
1742. 

5. Petrus Tranberg took charge of this church in 
1742, and died in 1748. 

6. Israel Acrelius, sent over in 1749; returned in 
1756; died in 1800, aged eighty-six. He was the 
author of the work on the Swedish congregations in 
America. 

7. Eric Unander, sent from Raccoon and Penn's 
Neck to Christina in 1756. 

8. Andreas Borell, sent to preside over the Swedish 
churches in 1757; arrived here in 1759; pastor in 
1762 ; received the king's diploma, constituting him 
provost over all the Swedish churches here, where 
he died in 1768. 

9. The Rev. Laurence Girelius entered upon his 
duties as assistant October, 1767; became provost of 
the churches in the place of the Rev. Mr. Borell in 
May, 1770. He continued in charge until 1791, when 
he returned to Sweden. He was the last of the 
Swedish ministers. 

After the departure of the Rev. Mr. Girelius the 
church at Christina became connected with the Prot- 
estant Episcopal Church. For the following details 
with regard to the succession of Episcopal clergymen 
who have officiated there I am indebted to my friend, 
the Rev. Charles Breck : Rev. Joseph Clarkson, 
1792-99; Rev. AVilliam Pryce, 1800-12; Rev. Mr. 
Wickes, 1814-17; Rev. L. Bull, D.D., 1818-19; Rev. 
Richard D. Hall, 1819-22; Rev. Ralph Williston, 
1822-26 ; Rev. Pierce Connelly, 1827-28 ; Rev. Mr. 
Pardee, 1828-35; Rev. Mr. Adams, 1835-38; Rev. 
Dr. McCullough, 1838-47; Rev. Dr. Van Dusen, 
1848-52 ; Rev. Charles Breck, 1853. 

Church at Raccoon and Penn's Neck. — The first min- 
ister was Polfladius. He was drowned in the Del- 
aware in 1706, and was succeeded by 

1. Jonas Auren, who came over with Rudman and 
Biork in 1697; appointed, 1706 ; died in the exercise 
of his functions, 1713. 



2. Abraham Lidenius, sent over in 1711 ; pastor, 
1714; returned home, 1724; died, 1728. 

3. Petrus Tranberg and Andreas Windrufua, sent 
over in 1726. They divided the churches between 
them, and so continued until 1728, when Windrufua 
died. Between the time of Tranberg going to Chris- 
tina and his death, in 1748, these churches had no 
pastor. 

4. John Sandin appointed pastor, 1748 ; died the 
same year. 

5. Professor Kalm, traveling through North Amer- 
ica under authority from the king of Sweden, sup- 
plied the church for a few months. He married the 
widow of Mr. Sandin, and returned to Sweden after a 
perilous voyage. 

6. Eric Unander, sent over in 1749, became pastor 
in 1751. 

7. John Lidenius (son of Abraham above men- 
tioned), appointed pastor in the place of Unander, 
1756 ; died in Pennsylvania. 

8. John Wicksell, sent over in 1760; arrived, 1762; 
returned home in 1774; died, 1800. 

9. Nicholas Collin, pastor 1778 ; appointed to Wic- 
aco in 1786. (See above.) 

The following clergymen have been at diffisrent 
times assistant ministers in the Swedish churches: 

The Rev. Charles Lute was appointed assistant to 
the Rev. Mr. Georgesen in 1774. 

While Dr. Collin was rector, he had for his first as- 
sistant the Rev. Joseph Clarkson, who was appointed 
in 1787, and continued to officiate until 1792. 

The Rev. Slater Clay was appointed in 1792, and 
officiated once a month in Upper Merion, and when 
there was a fifth Sunday in the month at Kingsessing. 
Only part of his time was given to the Swedes, for 
whom he continued to preach until the day of his 
death, in 1821. 

The Rev. Joseph Turner was appointed also in 
1792, and was for many years connected with the 
Swedes as one of their assistant ministers. 

The Rev. J. C. Clay, soon after his ordination, la 
1813, was called to the same churches, and officiated 
therein as an assistant for one year, when he was 
called to the churches at Norristown and German- 
town. 

The Rev. James Wiltbank was appointed to the 
same office in 1816, and performed its duties for four 
years, or until 1820. 

The Rev. M. B. Roche, in 1820, became an assist 
ant minister to the Swedes, in which situation he offi- 
ciated for a period of six months. 

The Rev. J. C. Clay became a second time con- 
nected with these churches in 1822, having been ap- 
pointed an assistant for Upper Merion Church, in 
connection with the Norristown and Perkiomen 
Churches. He also officiated every fifth Sunday, or 
four times a year, at Kingsessing. He continued to 
till tills station until called, in 1831, to the rectorship. 
i The Rev. Charles M. Diipuy was, in 1822, appointed 



THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 



79 



the assistant for Wicaco and Kingsessing, and was 
continued as such until 1828. 

The Rev. Pierce Connelly succeeded Mr. Dupuy 
and officiated chiefly at Kingsessing, though part of 
the time at Wicaco also, till the close of 1831, when 
he accepted a call to Natchez, Miss. 

The Rev. Raymond A. Henderson was chosen as- 
sistant to the Rev, J. C. Clay in 1832, and continued 
in the churches until the close of 1834, when he was 
called to the French Protestant Church in New Orleans. 

The Rev. John Reynolds was assistant for one year 
at Upper Merion, having been appointed about the 
same time with Mr. Henderson. 

After the last two mentioned, the Rev. William 
Diehl and the Rev. Samuel C. Brinckle acted as 
assistants until the churches were separated. — Annals 
of the Swedes : Rev. J. C. Clay. 

The following is a list of the Swedish families re- 
siding in New Sweden in the year 1693, with the 
number of individuals in each family: 



Namea. Number in/amUy. 

Hindrick Anderson 5 

Johiin Anderssen 9 

Julian Aiidersson 7 

JoFHU Andersen 5 

John Arian ti 

Joran Brtgnmn. 3 

Anders Deiitjstoti 9 

Bengt Hi-Dg6ton '-^ 

And-rsBotui-^ H 

Johiiu Bot.de 1 

Sven Bonde 5 

LaraBure 8 

Willmm Cobb 6 

Cfirisfiiin Chsaen 7 

Jacob Cliisson 6 

Jacob Clemsun 1 

Eric Cock 9 

Gabriel Cock 7 

JoUun Cock 7 

Capt. lAts»e Cock 11 \ 

Sloens Cock S : 

otto Ernst Cock 5 

Uindrick Coliman 1 

Conrad Constantine .'.. *> j 

Joliaii von Culen 5 I 

OlloDahlbo 7 I 

Peter Dahlbo 9 I 

Uindrick Danielsson 5 

Thurnas Dennis 6 

Ao'lefB Diedricksson 1 I 

Olle Diedricksson 7 ' 

Stcplian Ekhorn 5 \ 

El io EriosoD 1 

GOran Ericsson 1 , 

Matte Ericsson 3 

Hindrick Faske 5 

Cagpi>r Fisk li> 

Matthias do Foff If 

Andiira Frende 4 

Nils Fct-ndes (widow) .. 7 

Olle Fransson 7 

Eric Cristenberg 7 

Nils Gastenberg 3 

Eric Goran >3on 2 

Brita Go-tiifsson fi 

Gustal'Giistafsson S 

Hans Gostafsson 7 

J.ilin IJurttiifysun 3 

Mans (.Moens) Gostafsson 2 

Johan Grantrum 3 

Lar^ Hailing 1 

MoL-ns Halltou 9 

Israel ndiii 5 

Jolian HinderssoQ, Jr 3 

Aii(lfT9 Uiu'lricksaon 4 

Davi.i Hiiidricsson 7 

Jacob Jliii'lrickann 5 

Johiin Ilindricksson 6 

Johan sliiniricsson 5 

Matta Hollsten 7 

Anders II>mtnian 9 

An<lerfi Huppnianu 7 

Frederick Hoppmann 7 

Johan Hoj}pmatni 7 

Nicolas Huppiuana 5 



Names. Xamber infamUy. 

Hindrick Iwarsson 9 

Hindrick Jacob 1 

Matts Jacob 1 

Hindrick Jacobson 4 

Peti'r Joccom 9 

Diedrick Johansson 5 

Lars Johansson G 

Simon Johansson 10 

Anders Juuson 4 

Jon Jonfon 2 

Moem Jon»on 3 

Nils Jonson 6 

Thomas Jonson 1 

Christiorti Jiiraussou I 

Huns JiiraHSSOn 11 

Joran JUransfon 1 

Steplien Jiiransson 5 

Lasse Kempe G 

Frederick Konig 6 

Uliirten Knulsson 6 

Olle Kuckuw G 

Hans Kyas {widow) 5 

Jonas Kyn 8 

Matts Kyn 3 

Nils Laican ~ S 

And. Person Longaker 7 

Hindrick Larsson 6 

Lars Larsson 7 

Lars Lai-ssun 1 

Anders Lock 1 

MoensLock 1 

Antonij Long 3 

Robert Longhorn 4 

Hans Lncasson 1 

Lncas Lticosson 1 

Peter Lncasson 1 

Johan MiJnssoii 5 

Peter Miinsson 3 

Miirtcn MUrtensson, Jr 10 

Mitrten UliirtatsBon, Sr 3 

Mats Martenson 4 

Jolian Mattson » 11 

Nils MattJiOH 3 

Christopher Meyer. 7 

Panl Mink 5 

Eric Molica 8 

Anders Nilsson 3 

Jonaii Xil'mon 4 

Micharl Nihtson 11 

HnttH Oltison 5 

Johan Ommersson 5 

Lorenlz Ostersson 2 

Hindrick Parchen 4 

Bengst Panlssun 5 

GiJHtaf Panlsson G 

Olle Panlsson 9 

Peter Palson 5 

Lars Pehrsson 1 

Olie Pehrsson -. 6 

Brita Petersson 8 

Carl Petereson 5 

Hans Petersson 7 

Lars Petersson 1 

Paul Pi'tersson 3 

Peter Petersson 3 



Names. Number in family. 

Peter Stake {alias Petersson).... 3 

Reinier Peterson 2 

Anders Rambo 9 

Gumvtr Runibo 6 

Johan Rambo 6 

Peter Rambo, Sr 2 

Peter Rambo, Jr 6 

Mats Repott 3 

Nils Repott 3 

Olle Reese 6 

Anders Robertson 3 

Paul Sahlunge 3 

Isaac Savoy 7 1 

John Schrage 6 

Johan Scute 4 

Anders Seneca 5 

Broor Seneca 7 

Johas Scagge's (widow) 6 

Johan Skrika 1 

Matts Skrika 3 

Hindiic^'k Slobey 2 

Carl Springer 6 

MoemStaake 1 

Christian Stalcop 3 

Johan Stalcop 6 

Peter Stalcop G 

Israel Stark 6 

Matt5 Stjirk 1 

Adam Stedham 3 

Asnuind Stedham 8 

Benjamin Stedham 5 

Lncas Stedham 7 

Lyoff Stedham 9 

Johann StUb- 8 

Johann Stillman 5 

Jonas Stillman 4 

Peter Stillman 4 

OlleStobey 3 

Gunnar Svenson 5 

Johan Svenaon 9 

William Talley 7 

EHas Tay 4 

Chri8tii.>ni Thomas (widow) 6 

Olle Tliomaxnon 9 

Olle ThorRson 4 

Hindrick Tossa....' 6 

Johan Tos^<a 4 

Lars Tossa 1 

Matts Tossa 1 

Cornelius Van der Weer 7 

Jacob Van der Wear 7 



Najnes. Number in family. 

Jacob Van der Weer 3 

William Van der Weer i 

Jesper Wallraven 7 

Jonas Wallraven 1 

Anders Weinom 4 

Anders Wibler 4 



List of those still living who 
were born in Sweden ; 
Peter Rambo \ Fifty-four yeara ia 
Anders Bonde] New Sweden. 
A ndera Be}igt8Son. 
Si'en Svenson. 
Michael Nilsson. 
Moens Staake. 
Marten Maxtensson, Sr. 
Carl Xtopher Springer. 
Hindrick Jacobson. 
Jacob Clemsson. 
Olof Rosse. 
Hindrick Andersaon. 
Hindrick Iwarsson. 
Sinion Johaussen. 
Panl Mink. 
Olof Panlsson. 
Olof Petersson. 
Marten Martenson, Jr. 
Eric Mollica. 
Nils Mattson. 
Antony Long, 
larael Helm. 
Anders Homsn. 
Olle Dedrickeson. 
Hans Petersson. 
Hindrick Collraaa. 
Jtins Gostafsson. 
Moens Hailton. 
Hans Olofsson. 
Anders Seneca. 
Bronr Seneca. 
Eskil Anderson. 
Matts de Voss. 
Johan Hin<lrick88on. 
Anders Weinom. 
Stephan Joranseon. 
Olof Kinkovo. 
Anders Didrlcksaon. 
Anders Mink. 



Names of Taxablcs not included in above List. 



Oele Neelson and 2 sons 

Hans Moens 

Eric Poulsen 

Hans Jniian 

Michill Fredericks 

Justa Daniels and serv' 

Hendrick Jacolis (upon y" 

Island) 

Andreas Swean and father 

Oele Swansen andsert 

Swen Lorn 

OeleStille 

Diinck Williams 

Tho. Jacobs. 

Mattliias Claasen 

Jan Claasen imd 2 sons 

Frank Walcker 

Peter Matson 

Jan Bot'lHon 

Jan Schoeten 

Jan Justa and 2 sons 

Peter Andreas and son 

Lace Dalbo 

RiclidDuckett 

Mr. Jones y<= hatter 



Harmen Ennis 1 

Pelle Ericssen 1 

Benck Sailing 1 

Andiies Suliug 1 

Harmen Jansen 1 

Hendrick Holman 1 

Bertell Laereen 1 

Hendrick Tade 1 

Andries Bertelsen 1 

Jan Bertelsen 1 

Jan Cornelissen and eon 2 

Lace Mortens 1 

Antony Matson 1 

Claes Schram 1 

Robert Waede 1 

Neele Laersen and eons 2 

Will Orian 1 

Knoet Mortensen 1 

Oele Coeckoe I 

Carell Jansen 1 

Rich. Fredericx 1 

Jurian Hertsveder 1 

Juns .lustasse 1 

Hans Hofman and 2 eons 3 

Pouli Corvorn 1 



The reader will perceive how much the orthography of many of the 
above names has changed in the progress of time. Bengsten is now 
Bankson ; Bonde has become Boon; Svenson, Swanson; Cock, Cox; 
Gostasson, Justis; Jocum, Yocum ; Hollsten, Holatein ; Kyn, Keen ; 
Hoppman, Hoffman; Van Culen, Cnlin; Haling, Hulingsor Hewlingsj 
Whiler, Wlieeler, etc. "With regard to the Christian names many of 
them correspond with our own, and merely show a difference in spelling 
and pronunciation between two languages. Anders, therefore, among 
the Swedes naturally became Andrew among us; Johan, John; Mats, 
Matthias or Matthew; Carl, Charles; Bengt, Benjamin or Benedict; 
Nils, Nicholas; Staphan, Stephen ; Wilhelm, and also Olave, William; 
Hindrick, Henry ; Michel, Michael ; Jons, Jonathan, etc. 

Dr. George W. Holstein, a lineal descendant of 
Matts Holstein, in his response to a toast, *'The 



80 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Swedes," at the first annual banquet of the Mont- 
gomery County Historical Society, held at Norristown 
on the evening of Feb. 22, 1882, pays a beautiful 
tribute to an ancestry who pioneered Christian civili- 
zation up the Schuylkill Valley. The author is a 
true type of the Swedes who still dwell upon the 
heritage of their sturdy and illustrious fathers: 

" As a lineal descendant of tliose Swedes who crossed 
the ocean so early as 1636, I am deeply conscious of 
the compliment thus paid to their memory, and yet I 
feel that it is justly due, in view of the results accom- 
plished by them and their influence in moulding the 
destinies of this great country. 

" Trained at home in a love for the practical teach- 
ings of the 'Sermon on the Mount' and the general 
truths of revealed religion, they early planted the 
Cross of Calvary upon these shores, and in all their 
intercourse with the natives and others illustrated 
the principles heralded thereby. 

" By fair and honorable dealings they gained the 
confidence of the Indians, and lived among them upon 
the most amicable terms. Their influence over them 
was remarkable, as was evinced by many of the na- 
tives attaching themselves to the educational and 
religious institutions established by them, thus ren- 
dering much more easy the great work accomplished 
by William Penn, who came here over forty years 
later as the representative of the Englis"h Crown, sup- 
ported by all the vast influence of that powerful 
nation, commissioned by King Charles II. to act as 
Proprietary Governor of the province of Pennsyl- 
vania, having received a grant of land lying north 
of that occupied by Lord Baltimore, and west of the 
river Delaware. This was in lieu of a claim of six- 
teen thousand pounds due him for services rendered 
by his father, Rear-Admiral Penn, a distinguished 
ofiicer of the British navy. The charter for this grant 
still hangs in the office of the Secretary of the Com- 
monwealth at Harrisburg, dated March 4, 1681. 
William Penn reached here in October, 1682. And 
now, in this bi-centennial year of that event, when it 
is proposed to celebrate it with distinguished honors, 
while I would not for one moment detract from the 
glory to which I believe he is eminently entitled, yet 
I do not wish the fact to be lost sight of that the 
Swedes were among the first to establish friendly 
relations with the natives, that the first translation 
into the Indian dialect was the Swedish Catechism by 
Kev. John Campanius, a Swedish missionary. 

" In 1642, six years after their arrival. Col. John 
Printz, of the Swedish army, was sent over as Gov- 
ernor of the colony. His instructions, dated Stock- 
holm, Aug. 15, 1642, contain twenty-eight articles, 
embracing his duties, — first, in relation to the Swedes; 
secondly, to the Europeans living in the vicinity ; and 
thirdly, to the Indians. With respect to these latter, 
the Governor was directed to confirm, immediately 
after his arrival, the treaty with them, by which they 
had conveyed to the Swedes the western shore of the 



Delaware from Cape Henlopen to the Falls of San- 
hickan, since called Trenton, and as much inland as 
gradually should be wanted. Also to ratify the bar- 
gain for land on the east side, and in these and future 
purchases to regard them as the rightful owners of 
the country. 

" He was to treat all the neighboring tribes in the 
most equitable and humane manner, so that no injury, 
by violence or otherwise, should be done to them by 
any of his people. He had also in charge to accom- 
plish, as far as practicable, the embracing of Chris- 
tianity by them, and their adoption of the manners 
and customs of civilized life. 

" He was accompanied by Rev. John Campanius 
as chaplain of the colony. In 1653, Governor Printz 
was succeeded by Governor John Claudius Rising, 
who soon after invited ten of the leading Indian 
chiefs to a friendly conference. It was held at Tini- 
cum on the 17th of June, 1654. 

" He saluted them in the name of the Swedish 
queen, with assurances of her favor, put them in 
mind of the purchase of lands already made, and re- 
quested a continuation of their friendship. He dis- 
tributed various presents among them, and gave a 
good entertainment to them and their company. 
They were much pleased, and assured him of a faith- 
ful affection. 

" One of the chiefs, Naaman, made a speech, 
during which he remarked that ' the Swedes and the 
Indians had been as one body and one heart, and that 
thenceforward they should be as one head,' at the 
same time making a motion as if he were tying a 
strong knot, and then made this comparison, ' that as 
the calabash was round without any crack, so they 
should be a compact body without any fissure.' 

" Campanius represents the Indians as having been 
frequent visitors at his grandfather's house in Dela- 
ware County, which gave him an opporlunity of 
studying their language, in which he became quite 
proficient. 

" In the conversations he had there with them he 
succeeded in impressing upon their minds the great 
truths of Christianity and awakening a deep interest 
among them, hence his translation of Luther's Cate- 
chism. 

" They attached great value to this act, as evincing 
a deeper interest in their welfare than that indicated 
by mere lip-.service, and it thenceforward proved a 
bond of union, binding them in acts of devotion and 
fealty to the Swedes. 

" The Swedes gave the great and good Penn a most 
cordial welcome, and the benefit of their influence 
and experience, for which he was truly grateful, and 
which he kindly acknowledged in a letter to his 
friends at home in 1683.' 

"This society does itself credit in thus honoring 



1 He interceded in their behalf with the Swedish ambassador at Lon- 
don for Swedish books and ministers. 



THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 



81 



the memory of a people who were among the earliest 
to locate in this vicinity, and who established regu- 
lations and usages that have exercised a refining and 
elevating influence in shaping the morals and habits 
of the community around us. I thank you for the 
opportunity of saying thus much in their behalf." 

Note. — The Fatherland hna never lostsight of the Swedes in the Schuyl- 
kill VaUey. As late as 1876, duriug the Centennial period, the blood 
royal of the honie government, accompanied by a large number of dis- 
tinguished guests and citizens, paid a visit to the " Merion Swedes' 
Church." The event took place Sunday, the '2d of July of that year. 
The appearance of the royal party, nearly all of whom were dressed in 
uniform, seated in the sombre old church, was a novel sight. The 
prince occupied a front pew and was the magnet of observation. He was 
a boyish-looking lad, yet possessing a free and unassuming manner. 
Among his retinue were intelligent-looking faces and fine specimens of 
well-developed manhood. The party consisted of tlie following di.stin- 
guished persons: Prince Oscar, Duke of Gottland, second son of the 
King of Sweden ; Count Frederick Posse, Royal Swedish Commissioner 
for the Machinery Department; Le Comte C. Lewenhaupt, Envoy Ex- 
traordinaire and Minister Plenipotentiairo of Sweden and Norway; 
Baron M. D. Ruuth, Royal Swedish Navy Executive officer H.M.S. 
*'Norrkopiug" ; Baron 0. Hermelin, Commissioner for the Fine Art De- 
partment; and many other notables from the Swedish Commission. The 
occasion was memorable, and the following extract from the addre-*s of 
the Rev. 0. Perinchief forms an eventful chapter in the history of the 
day: 

"The best thing Europe had in it four or five hundred years ago was 
a deep satisfaction with ever5'thing as it was in church or state. The 
best particular thing was the Bible, hidden away, to be sure, but here 
and there mighty minds that dared all difficulties to get at it and other 
books of thought and learning, not only of the ancient times but of the 
outside nations. A new life began in a whole continent. Thousands 
of men and women felt they were men and women, and went out to tell 
it to all tribes in all tongues. ^V hat we call the Reformation began. 
That reformation was in opening sealed books, in independent thought, 
in new ideas. One of these ideas was tliat of Columbus, who conceived 
tliat over here was another world. At last he found it. That simple 
discovery in itself lent a wonderful impulse to everything in Europe. 
The news set the nations wild. Italy had furnished the man, and 
Spain liad furnished the means. A new world was discovered. Whose 
world was it? Not Spain's, not Italy's. God knew it was here. He 
had kept it for the nurture of all things old or new that were already 
good, and for the production of all things that were in any way belter. 
But though a new continent was discovered a new nation was not born. 
The work of discovery was only begun. Spain, England, Holland, France, 
all had their ships abroad to find out what the new world was. As each 
nation discovered, so each claimed the territory discovered. Nearly a 
century had passed before any attempt was made to settle the hind with 
Europeans, — Spain in the south, the French in the north, England and 
Holland in the middle territories. At last each of all these became suc- 
cessful, and Europe was transplanted in America. All nations took stock 
in the new venture, and from that day to this every American h.as been 
more or less a foreigner, and every foreigner who has been a true man, 
and in his nationality seeking the good of the human race, has been 
more or less an American. We all began, and from that day to this we all 
stand upon our own and greet each other as brothers. Vast is our debt 
to England, to Germany, to all Europe, but in particular we who are 
here to-day are more directly indebted to Sweden. In 16111, or from 
that to 1638, a colony of Swedes landed and settled upon this side of the 
Delaware, at or below the place where now stands the city of Wilming- 
ton. There is some uncertainty about the date. The probability ia that 
attempts had been made, or partial settlements, having for their object 
the necessary investigation preparatory to a permanent occupation, 
which at least did take effect in 1637 or '38. At any rate, we know the 
great Gustavus Adolphus had contemplated the enterprise for many 
years. The great struggle between Romanism and Protestantism was 
then at its bitterest, and the hope and purpose of founding here a Prot- 
estant colony entered largely into the enterprise. But with this was com- 
bined the evangelization of the Indians, and, more than all, the estab- 
lishment of the people — good, honest Swedes— in comfortable homes, 
upon lands they could look at and call their own. The persons who 
came over in that colony were of two classes, — a email class of govern- 
ment officials to administer order and, as occasion occurred, watch 
6 



their own individual chances, but a large class of sober and indnstriouB 
people truly seeking a home. It sometimes happened that persons were 
sent over partly as banishment and partly in hope of reform ; but the 
people not only of this but of sister colonies sent them back, for they 
were always worse than useless. Though bound to hard labor, it was a 
sort of slave labor, and the freemen would rather do their own work, 
because they could do it better and because they abhorred slavery. 
These settlers bought their lands from the Indians, and in later times 
erected substantial homes. Nearly all the men were husbandmen. 
They saw their wealth in the soil. Up tu 1700 the colony had grown 
to over a thousand, though they had been subjected to bitter discour- 
agement and sad vicissitudes. But their prosperity had not been ac- 
complished without great care and generosity on the part of their 
brethren at home. At the very outset the settlers were provided with 
ministers of the gospel — pious and learned men — to teach and admon- 
ish the people, and to preserve the spiritual privileges they had enjoyed 
in their native land. These ministers were supported by the funds of 
the mother-country. The colony was supplied with Bibles, catechisms, 
and books. On one single occasion ministers were sent, bearing books 
in plentiful supply, and encouraged by a donation of three thousand 
dollars from Charles XII. 

"The Swedes were reminded of the Indians around them, and 'Luther's 
Catechism' was translated into the Indian dialect at least as soon, and 
perhaps sooner, than the corresponding work of Eliot in regions farther 
north. The fault of these Swedes, if it may be permitted to speak of 
such a thing to-day, was a want of unity in purpose and harmony in 
action. Their plans lacked breadth and unselfishness. They looked a 
little ahead or not at all. Before their children they set no greatness, 
and made little provision for its creation. In narrowed endeavors to 
save they very frequently lost, and left us, instead of property and rich 
advantages, a legacy of sad reflection and bitter regrets. In the nature 
of things the settlement spread on the other side of the river iu New 
Jersey, and on this side of the Delaware and along the Schuylkill. The 
first settlement in this immediate neighborhood was in 1702. At that 
time the nearest church was at Wicaco, now Glora Dei, in Philadelphia. 
Gradually their numbers thickened, and in a few yeai-s we begin to hear 
of requests for occasional services up hero. In 1733 a lot was given and 
a ho!ise built for the double purpose of school and church. Upon the 
veiy ground within the present stone walls which inclose our yard a 
wooden building was constructed, though we know that prior to 1733 
the grounds had been used as a place of burial. No stated minister 
living nearer than Philadelphia, both religious and educational matters 
languished until 1759, when there arrived from Sweden a very remark- 
able man, whose memory is still green and deserves to be richly 
cherished, Dr. Charles M. Van Itfangel. Under him our church here* 
this very structure, was built in 1760, making this present its one hun- 
dred and sixteenth anniversary. The date '1760' was engraved on its 
walls, and stands there to-day. In 1765 a charter was obtained from the 
Proprietary government of John Penn, then at the head of afl"airs. The 
churches lying within the territorial limits of Pennsylvania were incor- 
poratpd under the name of the ' United Swedish Lutheran Churches of 
Wicaco, Kingsessing, and Upper Merion.' This charter continued until 
1787, when the new stateof things consequent upon the American Revo- 
lution rendered it needful to obtain a charter from the State government 
of Pennsylvania. The new charter was substantially the same as that 
of 17G.5, except that it gave the people the right to elect their own min- 
ister, and provided for the formal ending of the Swedish mission. Thus 
closed the long interval of nursing care which estatdished us here as a 
church, which through many years must have exerted a vast influence 
in shaping the destiny of this commonwealth and nation ; a period marked 
by ni'ble generosity, by many sacrifices, enshrined by many holy and ex- 
emplary lives; a period which left us stewards invested with no slight 
responsibility. The two churches (King.^easing and Upper Merion) con- 
tinued with Wicaco until 184'2, when each church obtained for itself a 
separate and independent charter. The other two churches passed into 
communion with the Protestant Episcopal Church. We remained, as 
we still remain, a separate organization, heir to all the traditions, in- 
vested, too, perhaps in that very fact, with the great responsibility, a 
witness still of a faith and kindness whicli never slumbered, a monu- 
ment of labor which blessed our fathers, still blesses us, and which we 
believe will go on to bless our children. For it all we lift up our hearts 
and praise God, who made man of one blood. We greet our brethren to- 
day from that Fatherland, and thank them, and through them the people 
to whom they belong, and assure them that of whatever things among 
us their ears may hear or their eyes behold, which at the same time 
their hearts approve, they have had their part in producing, and that 
this day as a people we would not be a selfish people taking credit to 



82 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



oarseWes, but gratefully acknowledging our debt, and praying God to 
return the blessing a thousandfold upon their own people, Msking in 
turn their prayers that we and the whole nation may be faithful in every 
trust, that we have freely received we niay freely give, until all 
nations, kindreds, tribes, and tongues be gathered into one grand king- 
dom, under one king, the common Redeemer and Saviour of all." 



CHAPTER VI. 



WILLIAM PENN.— "THE HOLY EXPERIMENT, A 
FREE COLONY FOR ALL MANKIND." 

The life, character, and purposes of William Penn, 
as disclosed prior to the period of his colonial enter- 
prise, rendered him a conspicuous personage in his 
native land. In his minority neither royal power nor 
parental displeasure could swerve him from or mate- 
rially modify his religious, political, or sociiil convic- 
tions of duty. Self-poised and self-reliant, a disciple 
of peace and peaceful methods, he was in strange con- 
trast with the warlike spirit of the age that produced 
him. The young and those of maturer years may 
study his example and the circumstances of his ad- 
vent with manifest advantage. As the founder of 
Pennsylvania and the author of that system of colo- 
nial government which prevailed previous to the in- 
stitution of the commonwealth, his life and public 
services are a part of our common history. The im- 
press which he left upon the laws and the religious 
thought of the period, hi.f love of personal liberty, his 
solicitude for the education of the poor, and his 
abiding faith in the wisdom of the " freemen of the 
province" were essential factors in preparing the pub- 
lic mind for the simple yet adequate forms of self-gov- 
ernment which he imposed in the organization of the 
colony. A pleasing sense of home-esteem insensibly 
associates itself with the memory of the illustrious 
man who gave to his generation characteristics that 
have made us Pennsylvanians in all generations 
since, whether at home or abroad. His boyhood was 
remarkable. He was born Oct. 14, 1644, in the city 
of London. His biographer says, " He was endowed 
with a good genius, and his father, Admiral and Sir 
William Penn,' improved the promising prospect 
which the son inherited by bestowing upon him the 
advantages of a liberal education. He acquired knowl- 
edge easily and rapidly, and in the fifteenth year of 
his age he was admitted a student in Christ's Church 
College, in Oxford. Prior to his admission to this in- 
stitution of learning he seems to have been impressed 

1 His father, Sir Williani Penn, was of eminent character, ani3 served 
botit under the Parliament and King Charles II. in" several of the liij;h- 
est maritime oftices. He was born in Bristol, anno lG".il,aiid married 
Margaret, daughter of John Jasper, of Rotterdam, in Holland, merchant, 
by whom he had his son, William Penn. He was himself the son of 
Capt. Giles Penn, several years consul for the English in the Mediterra- 
nean ; and of tlia Penns of Penn's Lodge, in the county of Wilts; and 
those Penns of Penn, in the county of Bucks; and by his mother frqpi 
the Gilberts, in the county of Somerset, originally from Yorkshire. — 
Proudf But. oj Pfjma., vol. i. 



with religious convictions, induced by the ministry of 
Thomas Loe, a preacher of the Friends. Imparting 
his views to his classmates, he found among them con- 
genial and sympathizing spirits, who withdrew from 
the "national way of worship," and "held private 
meetings for the exercise of religion, where they 
preached and prayed among themselves." This bold 
innovation upon the forms of state church by the 
young Quakers, as they were derisively called, gave 
marked ofl'ense to the professors of the university, and 
young Penn was subjected to a fine for " non-conform- 
ity," and, later, " for his persevering in like religious 
practices, was expelled from the college."'^ Young 
Penn returned to his home, greatly to the displeasure 
of his father, who regarded the expulsion of his son 
as a serious hindrance to the future career of wealth 
and influence in store for him. Still further compli- 
cating the situation, the son sought the society of the 
plain and sober people amofig the Friends, and mani- 
fested an utter disregard of and contempt for the con- 
ventional formalities to which his father was devoted, 
both by inclination and interest. His father sought 
in all proper ways to engage the confidence of the son 
and guide him in the way of public preferment, but 
all to no purpose ; " for, after having used both the 
force of persuasion upon his mind and the severity of 
stripes upon his body without success, he at length 
was so far incensed against him that, in great resent- 
ment of rage, he turned him out of his house," to 
choose between poverty with a pure conscience or for- 
tune and official favor with obedience. 

The virtue of patience, already possessed by the 
son, enabled him to calmly wait for the hour when 
the petulance and anger of a disappointed father 
would yield to the more natural feeling of parental 
love and affection. Results justified the expectation. 
The father relented, and the son was sent to France, 
in company with friends, who were to introduce him 
to persons of rank and distinction, and at the same 
time use all means in their power to break up the 
Quaker notions of the young man. While in France 
he applied himself to study, and acquired a knowl- 
edge of the French language. He subsequently vis- 
ited Italy, and was preparing for an extended tour of 
the Continent when his father was placed in com- 
mand of a British squadron in the naval war with 
Holland, in consequence of which he was obliged to 
return in haste and assume the care of his father's 
estates. The advantages of travel, and the discipline 
of the courtly society in which he was constrained to 
move gave him elegance and grace of manners, and 
" in London the traveled student of Lincoln's Inn, 
if diligent in acquiring a knowledge of English law, 
was also esteemed a most modish fine gentleman." 

This was a critical period in the early career of 
William Penn. He was in the bloom of youth, of 
engaging manners, and " so skilled in the use of the 

2 Proud, Hist, of Penna., vol. i. p. 23. 




amm///t 



WILLIAM PENN. 



83 



sword that he easily disarmed an antagonist," of great 
natural vivacity and gay good humor, and a career 
of wealth and preferment waiting his acceptance 
through the influence of his father and the favor of 
his sovereign. It was in 1664, when Penn was in his 
twentieth year, that his spiritual conflict or religious 
exercise of mind seems to have reached a climax. 
" His natural inclination, his lively and active dis- 
position, his accomplishments, his father's favor, the 
respect of his friends and acquaintances did strongly 
press him to embrace the glory and pleasures of this 
world, but his earnest supplication being to the Al- 
mighty for preservation, he w;is in due time favored 
witli resolution and ability to overcome all opposition 
and to pursue his religious prospects." It was a 
happy providence in the life of Penn when, in the 
twenty-second year of his age, his father committed 
to his care and management a large estate in Ireland. 
It withdrew him from the temptations of a great com- 
mercial centre, and gave him the freedom of a pas- 
toral life, which quickened the spiritual sensibilities 
of his nature. It opened anew visions of a future, 
which, however obscure and uncertain, was, never- 
theless, the hope of his benevolent soul. Removed 
from the conventional atmosphere of London, the 
watchful eye of parental solicitude and official favor, 
the struggle between conviction to self-imposed duty 
and obligations to friends and family became less se- 
vere, and he soon found himself in the society of his 
old spiritual guide and adviser, Thomas Loe, at Cork. 
He was in frequent attendance upon Friends' meet- 
ing in the town of Cork. Freedom of speech was 
indulged in, and this religious liberty, so consistent 
with the ideas of the Friends, was warmly espoused 
by the young and ardent Penn. These frequent meet- 
ings excited the hostile feelings of those in authority, 
and in the year 1667, Penn, with eighteen others, was 
arrested, and by the mayor of the city committed to 
prison. Upon the hearing the mayor observed that 
the dress of Penn was not the same as the other 
" Quakers," whereupon he directed that Penn should 
be discharged upon giving his own bond for his future 
good behavior. This Penn promptly refused to do, 
and with the others suffered imprisonment. While 
in jail he wrote to the Earl of Orrey, Lord President 
of Munster, stating his situation, declaring his inno- 
cence, and protesting against the outrage and perse- 
cution suffered by himself and friends. The earl 
immediately ordered his discharge from prison. 
Concealing with admirable tact his feelings of natural 
indignation, he became more than ever pronounced 
in his favor for the persecuted " Quakers." Those 
who had been his former friends now avoided him, 
and, as is said, " he became a by-word and the subject 
of scorn and contempt, both to the professor of re- 
ligion and to the profane." The facts and circum- 
stances of this episode were reported to his father, 
who immediately recalled him to London. The son 
was obedient, and manifested a profound respect for 



his honored and distinguished parent, but his studi- 
ous deportment and deep concern of mind upon the 
subject of religious controversy left no room to doubt 
the unalterable convictions resting upon his mind. 

" Here my pen," says his biographer, " is diffident 
of her abilities to describe that most pathetic and 
moving contest between his father, and him, — his 
father, by natural love, principally aiming at his 
son's temporal honor; he,guidedby a divine impulse, 
having chiefly in view his own eternal welfare ; his 
father grieved to see the well-accomplished son of his 
hope, now ripe for worldly promotion, voluntarily 
turn his back on it; he no less afflicted to think that 
a compliance with his earthly father's pleasure was in- 
consistent with an obedience to his heavenly one ; his 
father pressing his conformity to the customs and 
fashions of the times ; he modestly craving leave to 
refrain from what would hurt his conscience; his 
father earnestly entreating him and, almost on his 
knees, beseeching him to yield to his desire ; he, of a 
loving and tender disposition, in extreme agony of 
spirit to behold his father's concern and trouble; his 
father threatening to disinherit him ; he humbly sub- 
mitting to his father's will therein ; his father turn- 
ing his back on him in anger ; he lifting his heart to 
God for strength to support him in that time of trial." 

During this memorable conflict between the pas- 
sion of love and the mandates of duty, which scarcely 
finds a parallel in history, the following incident oc- 
curred, which fully attested the sincerity of the son, 
no less than the commanding character of the parent : 
" His father finding him too fixed to be brought to a 
general compliance with the customary compliments 
of the times, seemed willing to bear with him in 
other respects, provided he would be tmcovered in the 
presence of the king, the duke, and himself. This 
being proposed, the son desired time to consider it. 
This the father supposed to be an excuse to find time 
to consult with his Quaker friends ; to prevent this 
he directed him to retire to his chamber and there 
remain until he should answer Accordingly he 
withdrew, and having humbled himself before God, 
with fasting and supplication, he became so strength- 
ened in his resolution that, returning to his fiither, 
he humbly signified that he could not comply with 
his desire therein." All efforts to reach a compro- 
mising line of conduct between tlie haughty and 
commanding father and the remarkable son proved 
unavailing, and again the latter was " turned out of 
doors, having no substance except what his mother pri- 
vately sent him." While Admiral Penn keenly felt 
the disappointment resulting from the conduct of his 
only son, he seems to have been duly impressed with 
his perseverance and integrity of purpose, and in a 
few months thereafter, in deference to the wise and 
loving wife and mother, the son was permitted to re- 
turn and remain at home ; and when he was subse- 
quently imprisoned, the father privately used his 
influence for his liberation. 



84 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



William Penn was now in his twenty-fourth year, 
and fearless in the advocacy of the principles he 
cherished ; as a public speaker and author, he an- 
nounced to princes, priests, and people that " he ' 
was one of the despised, afflicted, and forsaken Qua- 
kers, and rejmiring to court with his hat on, he 
sought to engUge tlie Duke of Buckingham in favor 
of liberty of conscience, claimed from those in au- 
thority better ijuarters for Dissenters than stocks and 
whips and dungeons and banishments, and was 
urging the cause of freedom with imjjortunity, when 
he himself, in the heyday of youth, was consigned 
to a long and close imprisonment in the Tower. His 
offense was heresy ; the Bishop of Loudon menaced 
him with imprisonment for life unless he would re- 
cant. ' My prison shall be my grave,' answered Penn. 
The kind-hearted Charles II. sent the humane and 
candid Stillingfleet to calm the young enthusiast. 
' The Tower,' such was Penn's message to the king, 
' is to me the worst argument in the world.' In vain 
did Stillingfleet urge the motive of royal favor and 
preferment; the inflexible young man demanded 
freedom of Arlington, 'as the natural privilege of an 
Englishman.' Club-law, he argued with the minis- 
ter, may make hypocrites ; it can never make con- 
verts. Conscience needs no mark of public allowance. 
It is not like a bale of goods that is to be forfeited un- 
less it has the stamp of the custom-house. After lo.sing 
his freedom for about nine months, his prison-door was 
opened by the intercession of his father's friend, the 
Duke of York ; for his constancy had commanded the 
respect and recovered the favor of his father. The 
Quakers, exposed to judicial tyranny, were led by the 
sentiment of humanity to find a barrier against their 
oppressors by narrowing the application of the com- 
mon law and restricting the right of judgment to the 
jury. Scarcely had Penn been at lilterty a year when, 
after the intense intolerance of ' the Conventicle Act,' 
he was arraigned for having spoken at a Quaker meet- 
ing. ' Not all the powers on earth shall divert us 
from meeting to adore our God who made us.' Thus 
did the young man of five-and-twenty defy the Eng- 
lish Legislature, and he demanded on what law the 
indictment was founded. ' On the common law,' 
answered the recorder. ' Where is that law ?' de- 
manded Penn. 'The law which is not in being, far 
from being common, is no law at all.' Amidst angry 
exclamations and menaces he proceeded to plead 
earnestly for the fundamental laws of England, and 
as he was hurried out of court still reminded the 
jury that 'they were his judges.' Dissatisfied with 
the first verdict returned, the recorder heaped upon 
the jury every opprobrious epithet. ' We will have 
a verdict, by the help of God, or you shall starve for 
it!' 'You are Englishmen,' said Penn, who had 
been again brought to the bar, ' mind your privilege, 
give not away your right.' ' It never will be well 

1 Bancroft's Hist. U. S., vol. i. p. lH. 



with US,' said the recorder, 'till something like the 
Spanish Inquisition be in England.' At last the 
jury, who had received no refreshments for two days 
and two nights, on the third day gave their verdict, 
'Not guilty.' The recorder fined them forty marks 
apiece for their independence, and amercing Penn 
for contempt of court, sent him back to prison." 

The trial was an era injudicial history. The fines 
were soon afterwards discharged by his father, who 
was now approaching his end. " Son William," said 
the dying admiral, " if you and your friends keep to 
your plain way of preaching and living, you will 
make an end of the priests." Inheriting a large for- 
tune, he continued to defend publicly from the press 
the principles of intellectual liberty and moral equal- 
ity ; he remonstrated in unmeasured terras against 
the bigotry and intolerance, '' the hellish darkness 
and debauchery" of the University of Oxford ; he 
exposed the errors of the Roman Catholic Church, 
and in the same breath pleaded for a toleration of 
their worship ; and never fearing openly to address 
a Quaker meeting, he was soon on the road to New- 
gate, to suffer for his honesty by a six months' im- 
prisonment. " You are an ingenious gentleman," 
said the magistrate at the trial, " you have a plenti- 
ful estate, why should you render yourself unhappy by 
associating with such a simple people ''" " I prefer," 
said Penn, " the honestly simple to the ingeniously 
wicked." The magistrate rejoined by charging Penn 
with previous immoralities. The young man, with 
passionate vehemence, vindicated the spotlessness of 
his life. "I speak this," he adds, " to God's glory, 
who has ever preserved me from the power of these 
pollutions, and who from a child begot a hatred in 
me towards them. Thy words shall be thy burden. 
I trample thy slander as dirt under my feet!" From 
Newgate Penn addressed Parliament and the nation 
in the noblest plea for liberty of conscience, a liberty 
which he defended by arguments drawn from experi- 
ence, from religion, and from reason. If the efforts 
of the Quakers cannot obtain "the olive-branch of 
toleration, we bless the providence of God, resolving 
by patience to outweary persecution, and by our con- 
stant sufferings to obtain a victory more glorious than 
our adversaries can achieve by their cruelties." On 
his release from imprisonment a calmer season fol- 
lowed. Penn traveled in Holland and Germany, 
then returning to England, he married a woman of 
extraordinary beauty and sweetness of temper, whose 
noble spirit "chose him before many suitors," and 
honored him with " a deep and upright love." As 
persecution in England was suspended, he enjoyed 
for two years the delights of rural life and the ani- 
mating pursuit of letters, till the storm was renewed, 
and the imprisonment of George Fox on his return 
fi'om America demanded intercession. What need of 
narrating the severities which, like a .slow poison, 
brought the prisoner to the borders of the grave? 
Why enumerate the atrocities of petty tyrants in- 



WILLIAM PENN. 



85 



vested with village magistracies, the ferocious pas- 
sions of irresponsible jailers? The statute book of 
England contains the clearest impress of the bigotry 
which a national church could foster and a parliament 
avow; and Penn, in considering England's present 
interest, far from resting his appeal on the sentiment 
of mercy, merited the highest honors of a statesman 
by the profound sagacity and unbiased judgment with 
which he unfolded the question of the rights of con- 
science in its connection with the peace and happi- 
ness of the state. It was this love of freedom of 
conscience which gave interest to his exertions for 
New Jersey. 

The summer and autumn after the first considerable 
Quaker emigration to the eastern bank of the Dela- 
ware, George Fox and William Penn and Robert 
Barclay, with others, embarked for Holland to evan- 
gelize the continent, and Barclay and Penn went to 
and fro in Germany, from the Weser to the Main, 
the Rhine and the Neckar, distributing tracts, dis- 
coursing with men of every sect and every rank, 
preaching in palaces and among the peasants, rebuk- 
ing every attempt to enthrall the mind, and sending 
reproofs to kings and magistrates, to the princes and 
lawyers of all Christendom. The soul of William 
Penn was transported into fervors of devotion, and 
in the ecstasies of enthusiasm he explained " the 
universal principle" at Herford, in the court of the 
Princess Palatine, and to the few Quaker converts 
among the peasantry of Kirchheim. To the peas- 
antry of the highlands near Worms the visit of 
William Penn was an event never to be forgotten. 
The opportunity of observing the aristocratic institu- 
tions of Holland and the free commercial cities of 
Germany was valuable to a statesman. On his re- 
turn to England the new sufferings of the Quakers 
excited a direct appeal to the English Parliament. 
The special law against papists was turned against 
the Quakers. Penn explained the difference between 
his society and the papists, and yet, at a season when 
Protestant bigotry was become a frenzy, he appeared 
before a committee of the House of Commons' to plead 
for universal liberty of conscience. " We must give 
the liberty we ask," — such was the sublime language 
of the Quakers, — "we cannot be false to our princi- 
ples though it were to relieve ourselves, for we would 
have none to suffer for dissent on any hand." Wil- 
liam Penn was an enthusiast with a benevolent heart ; 
he despised the profligacy of the church that united 
the unholy offices of a subtle priestcraft with the 
despotic power of a warlike state. His study of 
English law intensified his love of tolerance and in- 
spired him with the hope of liberalizing the govern- 
ment that had persecuted him ; as late as 1679 he 
took a prominent part in the elections for that year. 
He was a persuasive speaker, and met with generous 
receptions in a canvass made especially in the interest 
of Algernon Sydney, who, he said, was now " em- 
barked with those that did seek, love, and choose the 



best things." He grew eloquent before the electors 
of England, invoking them to a consciousness of their 
own strength and authority. " Your well-being," he 
said, "depends upon your preservation of your rights 
in the government. You are free! God and nature 
and the constitution have made you trustees for pos- 
terity. Choose men who will by all just ways firmly 
keep and zealously promote your power." But the 
truly Christian patriot was doomed to bitter disap- 
pointment when confronted with the defeat of his 
favorite and the popular will by false and perverted 
election returns. It was in this discouraging period 
of his noble manhood that he conceived of the " Holy 
Experiment" and a " free colony for all mankind." 

The possibilities of the North American continent, 
and especially that portion watered by the Delaware' 



1 But the Proprietors of Western New Jersey being of the people 
called Quakers, their part of the province consequently, through their 
iofluence, tiecanie settled principally by the same kind of people; but 
to prevent any of their religious society from rashly or inadvertently re- 
moving into this new country, or without due consideration, and contrary 
to the mind of their parents and nearest relatives, three of the princi- 

' pal persons among the Proprietors, viz., \V. Penn, G. Lawrie, and N. 

I Lucjts, wrote an epistle of caution to their friends, the Quakers, which, 
as it further shows their rights to this part of the province, the care of 
that people over one another at that time, and their concern for an or- 
derly settlement in>t, that none might be deceived and have occasion to 
repent of such an important undertaking, is not unwoitby of the pe- 
rusal of the posterity and descendants of those early adventurers, set- 
tlers, and cultivators of the country. The epistle was as follows, viz. : 

"Dear Friends and Brethren: In the pure love and precious fellow- 
ship of our Lord Jesus Christ we very dearly salute you, forasmvich as 
there was a paper printed several months ago, entitled 'The description 
of New- West-Jersey,' in which our names were mentioned, as Trustees 
for one undivided moiety of the said province, and because it is alleged 
that some, partly on this account, and others apprehending that the 
paper, by the manner of its expression, came from the body of Friends 
as a religious society of people, and not from particulars, have, through 
these mistakes, weakly concluded that the said description, in matter 
and form, might be writ, printed, and recommended on purpose to prompt 

j and allure people to disgettlt; and plant themselves, as it is also by some 
alleged, and because we are informed that several have, on that account, 
taken encouragement and resolution to transplant themselves and fam- 
ilies to that province ; and lest any of them (as is feared by some) should 
goout of a curious and unsettled mind, and others to shun the testimony 
of the blessed Crois of JesWy of which several weighty friends have a 
godly jealousy upon their spirits, lest an unwarrantable forwardness 

' should act or hurry any beside or beyond the wisdom or counsel of the 
Lord, or tho freedom of his light and spirit in their own hearts, and not 
upon good and weighty grounds; it truly laid upon us to let friends 
know how the matter stands, which we shall endeavor to do with all 
clearness and fidelity. 
" 1. That there is such a place as New Jersey is certain. 

! "2. That it is reputed of those who have lived and traveled in that 

I country to be wholesome of air and fruitful of soil, and capable of sea- 
trade, is also certain, and it is not right in any to despise it or dissuade 
those that find freedom from the Lord and necessity put upon them ou 
going. 

"3. That the Duke of York sold it to those called Lord Berkeley, 
Baron of Stratton, and Sir George Carteret, equally to be divided between 
them, is also certain. 

" 4. One moiety, or half part, of the said province, being the right of 
the Lord Berkeley, was sold by him to John Fenwicke, in trust for Ed- 
ward Byllinge and his assigns. 

1 "5. Forasmuch as Edward Billinge (after William Penn had ended the 
difference between E. Byllinge and J. Fenwicke) was willing to present 
Ills interest in the said province to his creditors, as all that he had left; 
him, towards their satisfaction, he desired W. Penn (though every way 

; unconcerned" and Gawen Lawiie and Nicholas Lucas, two of his cred- 

' iters, to be trustees for performance of the same, and because several of 



86 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and its coufluents, were well known to him and bis 
associates, resulting in some measure from his official 
connection with the settlement of " West New Jer- 
sey'* and the division of that province in the year 

hia creditors particularly and very importunately pressed W. Penn to ac- 
cept of the trust, for their sakes and security we did all of us comply 
with these and the like requests and accepted of the trust. 

'* 6, Upou this we hecame trustees for one moiety of the said proTince, 
yet undivided, and after no longer labor, trouble, and costa division was 
obtained between the said Sir George Carteret and us, as trustees ; the 
country is situated and bounded as is expressed iu the printed descrip- 
tion. 

"7. This now divided moiety is to be cast into one liuudred parts, lots, 
or proprietaries, ten of wliich, upon the agreement made bet%YJxt E. 
Bellinge and J. Fenwick, his executors and assigns, with a consider- 
able sum of money by way of satisfaction, for what he became con- 
cerned in the purchase from the said Lord Berkeley, and by him after- 
wards conveyed to John Edridge and Edmund Warner, their heirs and 
assigns. 

" 8. The ninety parts remaining are exposed to sale, on behalf of the 
creditors of the said Edward Byllinge. And forasmuch several friends 
are concerned as creditors, as well as others, and the disposal of so great 
apart of this country being iu our bands, we did in real tenderness and 
regard to friends, and especially to the poor and necessitbus, make friends 
the first offer ; that if any of them,thougli particularly those, who being 
low iu the world, and under trials about a comfortable liveliiiood for 
themselves and families, should be desirous of dealing for any part or 
parcel thereof, that they might have the refusal. 

'*9. This was the real and honest intent of our hearts, and not to 
prompt or allure any out of their places, either by tho credit our names 
might have with our people throughout the nation,^r by representing 
the thing otherwise than it is iu itself. 

" As to the printed paper, some time since set forth by the creditors as 
a description of that province, we say, as to two passages in it, they 
are not so clearly and safely worded as ought to have been ; particularly 
in seeming to biut, the Tl''itt/i?r season to be so short a time; when, on 
further information, we hear it is sometimes longer, and sometimes 
shorter, than therein expressed; and that the last clause, relating to 
liberty of conscience, we would not have any to think that it is prom- 
ised or intended to maintain the liberty of the exercise of religion by 
force of arms, though we shall never consent to any the least violence 
on conscience ; yet it was never designed to encourage any to expect by 
force of arms to have liberty of conscience fenced against invaders 
thereof. 

"And be it known unto you all in the name and fear of Almighty 
God, bis Glory and Honor, Power and Wisdom, Truth and Kingdom, is 
dearer to us than all visible things; and as our eye has been single, and 
our hearts sincere in the living God in this as in other things, so we 
desire all, whom it may concern, that all groundless jealousies may be 
judged down, and watched agaiust; and that all extremes may be 
avoided, on all hands, by the power of the Lord ; that nothing which 
hurts or grieves the holy life of truth in any that goes or stays, may he 
adhered to, nor any provocation given to break precious unity. 

"This am I, William Penn, moved of the Lord to write uuto you, lest 
any bring a temptation upon themselves or others ; and, in off'ending 
the Lord, slay their own peace. Blessed are they that can see and behold 
them their Leader, their Orderer, their Conductor, and Preserver in 
going and staying; whose is the earth and the fullness thereof, and the 
cattle upon a thousand bills; and, as we formerly writ, we cannot but 
repeat our request unto you that, in whomsoever a desire is to be con- 
cerned in this intetided plantation, such would weigh the thing before 
the Lord, and not lieadily or rashly conclude on any such remove; and 
th.it they do not offer violence to the tender love of their near kindred 
and relations, but soberly and conscientiously endeavor to obtain their 
good wills; the unity of friends where they live, that whether they go 
or stay it may be of good favor before the Lord and good people, from 
whom only can all heavenly and earthly blessings come. 

"This we thought good to write for the preventing all misunderstand- 
ings, and to declare the real truth of the matter, and so we recommend 
yuu all to the Lord, who is the watchman of his Israel. We are your 
real friends and brethren. 

"WiLLTAM Penn, 
"Gawen Lawrie, 
" Nicholas Lucas." 



1676.^ No preparation could have more thoroughly 
fitted Penn for the subsequent work of his life than 
his experience up to 1680-81. Checkmated and re- 
pulsed in his efforts of reform by the brutal element 

^ In 1675, when his disgust with European society and hia conscioua- 
ness of the impossibility to effect radical reform there had been con- 
firmed and deepened, Penn became permanently identified with Amet^ 
ican colonial affairs, and was put in the best possible position for 
acquiring a full and accurate knowledge of the resources and possibili- 
ties of the country between the Susquehanna and the Hudson. This, 
which Mr. Janney calls "an instance in which Divine Providence 
seemed to open for him a field of labors to which be was eminently 
adapted," arose out of the fact of his being chosen as arbitrator in the 
disputes growing out of the partition of the West Jersey lands. As has 
already been stated, on March 12,1664. King Cliarles II. granted to his 
brother James, Duke uf Yurk and Albany, a patent for all the lands in 
New England from the St. Cruix River to the Delaware. This patent, 
meant to lead directly up to the overthrow of the Dutch power in New 
Netherland, was probably also intended no less as a hostile demonstra- 
tion against the New England Puritan colonies, which both the brothers 
hated cordially, and which latterly had grown so independent and had 
so nearly established their own autonomy as to provoke more than one 
charge that they sought presently to abandon all allegiance due from 
them to the mother-country. At any rate, the New England colonies 
at once attempted to organize themselves into a confederacy for pur- 
poses of mutual defense against tlie Indians and Canadian French, as 
was alleged, but for divers other and weighty reasons, as many colonists 
did not hesitate to proclaim. The Duke of York secured New York, 
Pennsylvania, and Delaware to himself as his own private possessions. 
That part of New Netherland lying between the Hudson and the Dela- 
ware Rivers was forthwith (in 1664, before Nicolls sailed from Ports- 
mouth to take New York) conveyed by the duke, by deeds of lease and 
release, to John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. The latter 
being governor of the Channel Islands at the time, the new colony was 
called New Jersey, or rather Nova Cxsarea^in the original grant. In 
1675, Lord Berkeley sold for one thousand pounds his undivided half- 
share iu New Jersey to John Fenwick, in trust for Edward Billinge and 
his assigns. Feuwick and Billinge were both Quakers, and Billinge was 
bankrui)t. Not long after this conveyance Fenwick and Billinge fell 
out about the property, and, after the custom of the Friends, the dispute 
was submitted to arbitration. The disputants fixed upon William Penn 
as arbitrator. When he made his award, Fenwick was not satisfied and 
refused to abide by Penn's decision, which, indeed, gave Fenwick only 
a tenth of Lord Berkeley's share in the joint tenancy, reserving the re- 
maining nine-tenths to Billinge, but giving Fenwick a money payment 
besides. Penn was offended at Fenwick's recalcitrancy, and wrote him 
some sharp letters. "Thy days spend on," he said, "and make the best 
of what thou hast. Thy grandchildren may be in the other world be- 
f »re the land thou hast allotted will be employed." Penn stuck to his 
decision, and, for that matter, Fenwick likewise maintiined his griev- 
ance. He sailed for the Delaware at the head of a colony, landed at 
Salem, N. J., and commenced a settlement. Here he carried matters 
with such a high band, patenting land, distributing office, etc., that he 
made great trouble for himself and others also. His authority was not 
recognized, and for several years the name of Maj. John Fenwick fills a 
large place in the court records of Upland and New Yoik, where be 
was frequently imprisoned and sued for damages by many iujured per- 
sons. 

Billinge^s business embarrassments increasing, be made over hia 
interest iu the territory to his creditors, appointing Penn, with Gawen 
Lawrie, of London, and Nicholas Lucas, of Hertford, two of the cred- 
itoi-8, as trustees in the matter. The plan was not to sell, but improve 
the property for the benefit of the creditors. To this end a partition of 
the province was made, a line being drawn through Little Egg Harbor 
to a point where Port Jervis now is. The part of the province on the 
right of this line, called East New Jersey, the most settled portion of 
the territorj-, was assigned to Carteret. That on the left, West New Jer- 
sey, was deeded to Billinge's trustees. A form of government was at 
once established for West Jersey, in which Penn's hand is distinctly 
seen. The basis was liberty of person and conscience, "the power in 
the people," local self-governmen t, and amelioration of the criminal 
code. The territory was next divided into one hundred parts, ten being 
assigned to Fenwick and ninety to Billinge's trustees, and the land 
was opeued for sale and occupancy, being extensively advertised and 



WILLIAM PENN. 



87 



always conspicuous in British politics, he accepted 
the consequences of defeat, and faced the religious 
bigotry and tyrannical statecraft of the period with 
manly courage and unbroken will ; thenceforth, de- 
spairing of success in his native land, he addressed 
his energies to the establishment of a free govern- 
ment in the New World. England's unfriendly his- 
torians have never borne willing testimony to the 
merits of the distinguished colonist who left her 
shores under the favor of Charles II. in 1682, but 
it is in pleasing contrast to know that American 
commentators pay deserved tribute to the founder 
of the Keystone State, and among them none more 
truthfully and impartially than Bancroft. 

"Possessing an extraordinary greatness of mind, 
vast conceptions remarkable for their universality 
and precision, and 'surpassing in sped lative endow- 
ments,' conversant with men and books and govern- 
ments, with various languages, and the forms of 
political combinations as they existed in England 
and France, in Holland and the principalities and 
free cities of Germany, he yet sought the source of 
wisdom in his own soul. Humane by nature and by 
suffering, familiar with the royal family, intimate 
with Sunderland and Sydney, acquainted with Rus- 
sell, Halifax, Shaftesbury, and Buckingham, as a 
member of the Royal Society the peer of Newton and 
the great scholars of his age, he valued the promptr 
ings of a free mind above the awards of the learned, 
and reverenced the single-minded sincerity of the 
Nottingham shepherd more than the authority of 
colleges and the wisdom of philosophers ; and now, 
being in the meridian of life, but a year older than 
was Locke when, twelve years before, he had framed 
a constitution for Carolina, the Quaker legislator was 
come to the New World to lay the foundations of 
States. Would he imitate the valued system of the 
great philosopher ? 

"Locke, like William Penn, was tolerant; both 
loved freedom, both cherished truth in sincerity. 



particularly recommended to Friends. Id 1677 and 1678 five vessels 
flailed for West New Jersey, with eiglit hundred emigrduts, nearly all 
Quiikei-s. Two conipaniea of tliese, one from Yorkshire, the other from 
London, bought large tracts of land, and sent out commissioners to quiet 
Indian titles and lay off the properties. At Chygoes Island they located 
a town, first called Beverly, then Birdlington, then Burlington. There 
was a regular treaty with the Indians, and the Friends not only secured 
peace for themselves, but paved the way for the pacific relations so firmly 
sealed by Peon's subsequent negotiations with the savages. The Bur- 
lington colony prospereil, and was reinforced by new colonists continu- 
ally arriving in considerable numbers. In 16»0, Penn, as counsel for 
the trustees of West Jersey, succeeded, by means of a vigorous and able 
remonstrance, in getting the Duke of York, then proprietary of New 
York, to remove an onerous tax on imports aud exports imposed by the 
Governor of New York and collected at the Horekill. The next year 
Penn became part proprietor of Kast New Jersey, which was sold under 
the will of .Sir George Carteret, then deceased, to pay his debts. A board 
of twenty-four l)roprietarie3 was organized, Penn lieing one, and to them 
the Duke of York niadea fresh grant of East New Jersey, dated March 
14, 10S2, Robert Barclay becoming Governor, while Penn's friend Bil- 
linge was made Governor of West New Jersey. Both of these govern- 
ments were surrendered to the crown in (^ueen Anne's reign, April 15, 
17U-J. 



But Locke kindled the torch of liberty at the fires of 
tradition ; Penn, at the living light in the soul. 
Locke sought truth through the senses and the out- 
ward world ; Penn looked inward to the divine reve- 
lations in every mind. Locke compared the soul to 
a sheet of white paper, just as Hobbes had compared 
it tc a slate, on which time and chance might scrawl 
their experience ; to Penn the soul was an organ, 
which of itself instinctively breathes divine harmo- 
nies, like those musical instruments which are so 
curiously and perfectly framed that, when once set in 
motion, they of themselves give forth all the melodies 
designed by the artists who made them. To Locke 
' conscience is nothing else than our own opinions 
of our own actions;' to Penn it is the image of God, 
and his oracle in the soul. Locke, who was never a 
father, esteemed ' the duty of parents to preserve 
their children not to be understood without reward 
and punishment;' Penn loved his children with not 
a thought for the consequences. Locke, who was 
never married, declares marriage an affair of the 
senses ; Penn reverenced woman as the object of fer- 
vent, inward affection, made not for lust, but for love. 
In studying the understanding, Locke begins with 
the sources of knowledge ; Penn, with an inventory 
of our intellectual treasures. Locke deduces govern- 
ment from Noah and Adam, rests it upon contract, 
and announces its end to be the security of property; 
Penn, far from going back to Adam, or even to Noah, 
declares that 'there must be a people before a gov- 
ernment,' and, deducing the right to institute gov- 
ernment from man's moral nature, seeks its funda- 
mental rules in the immutable dictates 'of universal 
reason,' its end in freedom and happiness. The sys- 
tem of Locke lends itself to contending factions of 
the most opposite interests and purposes ; the doc- 
trine of Fox and Penn, being but the common creed 
of humanity, forbids division, and insures the highest 
moral unity. To Locke happiness is pleasure ; things 
are good and evil only in reference to pleasure and 
pain, and to ' inquire after the highest good is as 
absurd as to dispute whether the best relish be in 
apples, plums, or nuts.' Penn esteemed happiness 
to lie in the subjection of the baser instincts to the 
instinct of Deity in the breast, good and evil to be 
eternally and always as unlike as truth and food, and 
the inquiry after the highest good to involve the pur- 
pose of existence. Locke says plainly that, but for 
rewards and punishments beyond the grave, ' it is 
certainly rUjht to eat aud drink and enjoy what we 
delight in;' Penn, like Plato and Fenelon, main- 
tained the doctrine so terrible to de.spots that God is 
to be loved for His own sake, and virtue to be prac- 
ticed for its intrinsic loveliness. Locke derives the 
idea of infinity from the senses, describes it as purely 
negiitive, and attributes it to nothing but space, dura- 
tion, and number; Penn derived the idea from the 
soul, and ascribed it to truth and virtue and God. 
Locke declares immortality a matter with which rea- 



88 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUiSfTY. 



son has nothing to do, and that revealed truth must 
be sustained by outward signs and visible acts of 
power; Penn saw truth by its own light, and sum- 
moned the soul to bear witness to its own glory. 
Locke believed 'not so many men in wrong opinions 
as is commonly supposed, because the greatest part 
have no opinions at all, and do not know what they 
contend for;' Penn likewise vindicated the many, but 
it was because truth is the common inheritance of 
the race. Locke, in his love of tolerance, inveighed 
against the methods of persecution as ' popish prac- 
tices ;' Penn censured no sect, but condemned big- 
otry of all sorts as inhuman. Locke, as an American 
law-giver, dreaded a too numerous democracy, and 
resolved all power to wealth and the feudal proprie- 
taries ; Penn believed that God is in every conscience, 
His light in every soul ; and therefore he built — such 
are his own words — ' a free colony for all mankind.' 
This is the praise of William Penn, that in an age 
which had seen a popular revolution shipwreck pop- 
ular liberty among selfish factions, which had seen 
Hugh Peter and Henry Vane perish by the hang- 
man's cord and the axe ; in an age when Sydney 
nourished the pride of patriotism rather than the 
sentiment of philanthropy, when Kussell stood for 
the liberties of his order, and not for new enfran- 
chisements, when Harrington and Shaftesbury and 
Locke thought government should rest on property. 




ARMS OF ]>ENN. 

Penn did not despair of humanity, and, though all 
history and experience denied the sovereignty of the 
people, dared to cherish the noble idea of a man's 
capacity for self-government. Conscious that there 
was no room for its exercise in England, the pure en- 
thusiast, like Calvin and Descartes, a voluntary exile, 
was come to the banks of the Delaware to institute 
' The Holy Experiment.' " 

Upon the death of his father, William Penn fell 
heir to estates in England and Ireland, with an in- 
come of fifteen hundred pounds a year. The govern- 
ment was debtor to the estate of Admiral Penn for 
money loaned, amounting to fifteen thousand pounds. 



Charles II. was not blessed with an excessive ex- 
chequer, nor did William Penn press for payment of 
the claim in money. This indebtedness was an avail- 
able basis for tlie colonial enterprise which he was 
projecting, and he therefore proposed to the king to 
grant him a tract of land in America, situated be- 
tween the country held under grants to the Duke of 
York and Lord Baltimore, or between Maryland and 
the Delaware River. Penn's negotiations were suc- 
cessful, not, however, without great eflbrt upon his 
part, as his enterprise was considered Utopian by 
influential members of the government, and looked 
upon with distrust by the agents and proprietaries of 
the Duke of York and Lord Baltimore. William 
Penn and his confidential advisers and coadjutors 
prepared the draft of charter, which was submitted to 
the scrutiny of both state and church authorities. 
Sir William Jones, attorney-general of the realm, 
the Lords of Trade, and the Bishop of London all 
passed upon the form and substance of the grant. It 
was finally signed by the king on March 4, 1681. 
(This historical paper ' is well preserved to this day, 

1 CHARTER OF THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
CHARLES THE SECOND, BY THE GRACE OF GOD King of Eng- 
land, Scotland, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, Ac, To all to 
whouie Ihetse presents shall come Greeting. Whereas uur Trustie and 
well beloved Subject, AViUiam Penn, Esquire, sonn and heire of Sir Wil- 
liam Penn, deceased, out of a commendable desire to enlarge our Eng- 
lish Empire, and promote such useful] comodities as may bee of benetitt 
to us and our Dominions, as alsoe to reduce the Savage Natives by gentle 
and just manners to the love of civil! Societie aud Christiau Religioa 
hath humbley besought leave of vs to transport an ample colunie vnto 
a certaine Countrey hereinafter described iu the partes of America not 
yet cultevated aud planted. And hath likewise humbley besought our 
Royall majestic to give grant, and confirme all the said countrey wilh 
certaiue jiriviledges and Jurisdiccons recjnisite for the good Governmeut 
and saftie of the said Countrey and Colonie, to him and his lieires for- 
ever. KNOW YEE, therefore, that wee, favouring the petition aud good 
purpose of the said William Penn, and haveing regard to the memorie 
aud meritts of his late father, iu divers services, and perticulerly to his 
conduct, courage and discretion vnder our dearest brother, James Duke 
of Yorke, in that siguall baltell aud victurie, fought and obteyned 
against the Dutch fleete, comanded by the Herr Van Opdam, iu the 
yeare One thousand six hundred sixtie live, in consideration thereof of 
our specia. gmce, certiiine knowledge and meere motion, Have given 
and granted, and by this our present Charter, for vs, our heires and suc- 
cessors. Doe give and grant unto the said William Peuu, his heires and 
assignes all that tract or parte of land in America, witli all the Islands 
therein couteyned, as the same is bounded on the East by Delaware 
River, from twelve miles distance, Norlliwarde of New Castle Towne 
uuto the three and fortieth degree of Northern latitude if the said River 
doeth extend soe farre Northwards; But if the said River shall not ex- 
tend sue farre Northward, then by the said River soe farr as it doth ex- 
tend, and from the head of the said River the Easterne bounds are Ii> 
bee determined by a meridian line, to bee di'awn from the head of the 
said River vnto the said three and fortieth degree, tlie said lands to ex- 
tend Westwards, five degrees in longitude, to bee computed from the 
said Easterne Bounds, and the said lands to bee bounded on the North, 
by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of Northern latitude, 
and on the south, by a circle drawne at twelve niiles, distance from New 
Castle Northwards, and Westwards vnto the begiuiug of tlie fortieth de- 
gree of Northerne Latitude ; and then by a streight line Westwards, tt> 
the limitt of Longitude above menconed. WEE DOE alsoe give and 
gi-ant vnto the said William Penn, his heires aud assignes, the free and 
vudisturbed vse, and continuance in and passage into aud out of all and 
singular Ports, harbours, Bayes, waters, rivers, Isles and luletts, belong- 
ing vnto or leading to and from the Countrey, or Islands aforesaid ; and 
all the soyle, lands, fields, woods, vuderwoods, mountaines, hills, feuns. 



WILLIAM PENN. 



89 



and may be seen by visiting the State Department 
at Harrisburg.) The name of the new colony seems 
to have been left blank in the original draft of 

Isles, Lakes, Rivere, waters, rivuletts, Bays and Inletta, Bcituate or being 
within or belonging vnto tbe Liniitte and Bounds aforesaid together 
with the fishing of all sortes of fish, whales, sturgeons, and all Royall 
and other fishes in the sea, bayes, Iiiletts, waters or Rivi-'rs, within the 
premises, and the fish therein taUen.and alsoe all veines, mines and 
quarries, as well discovered as not discovered, of Gold, Silver, Gemms 
and pretious Stones, and all other whatsoever, stones, metalls, or of any 
other thing or matter whatsoever, found or to bee found within the 
Countrey, Isles, or Limitts aforesaid; and him the said William Penn, 
his beires and assignes, WEE DOE, by this our Royall Cliarter, for vs, 
our heires and successors, make, create and constitute the true and ab- 
solute proprietaries of the Countrey aforesaid, and of all other, the 
premises, saving always to vs, our heires and successors, the failh and 
allegiance of the said William Penn, bis heires and assignes, and of all 
other, the proprietaries tenants and Inhabitants that are, or shall be 
within the Territories and precincts aforesaid; and saving alsoe vnto 
vs, our heires and Successors, the Sovreignity of the aforesaid Countrey, 
TO HAVE, hold and possesse and enjoy the said tract of land, Countrey, 
Isles, loletts and other the premises, veto the said William Penn, his 
heires and assignee, to the only proper vse and behoofe of the said Wil- 
liam Penn, his heirs and assignes forever. To bee holden of vs, our 
heires and Successors, Kings of England, as of our Castle uf Windsor, 
in our County of Berks, in free and comou socage by fealty only for all 
services, and not in Capite or by Knights service, Teelding and paying 
therefor to us, our heires and Successors, two Beaver Skins to bee de- 
livered att our said Castle of Win<lsor, on the first day of January, in 
every yeare ; and also the fifth parte of all Gold and silver Oare, which 
shall from time to time happen to bee found within thelimitts afore- 
said, cleare of all charges, and of our further grace certaiue knowledge 
and meere mocon, wee have thought fitt to Erect, and wee doe hereby 
Erect the aforesaid C-ountrey and Islands, into a province and Seigniorie, 
and doe call itt Pensilvania, and soe from henceforth wee will have itt 
called, and forasmuch as wee have hereby made, and ordeyned tlio afore- 
said William Penn, his heires and assignes, the true and absolute Pio- 
prietaries of all the Lands and Dominions aforesaid. KNOW YEE 
therefore, that wee reposi ng special trust and confidonco in the fidelitie, 
wisedome, Justice and provident circumspeccon of the s;iid William 
Penn, forvs, our heires and successors, Doe grant free, full and absolute 
power, by vertuo of these presents to him and his heirs, and to his and 
their Deputies, and Lieutenants, for the good and happy government of 
the said Countrey.toordeyne, make, enact and vnderhisnnd their Seales 
to publisli any Lawes whatsoever, for the raising of money for the pub- 
lick vse of the said province, or for any other end appcrteyning either 
vnto the publick state peace, or safety of the said Countrey, or vnto the j 
private vtility of perticular persons, according vnto their best discre- 
tions, by and with the advice, absent and approbacon of the freemen of 
the said Countrey, or the greater parte of them, or of their Delegates or 
Deputies, whom for the Enacting of the said Lawes. when, and as often I 
as need shall require. WE WILL, that the said William Penn, and his 
heires shall assemble in such sort and foi-me as to him and them shall 
seeme best, and the same lawes duely to execute vnto, and upon all peo- 
ple within the said Countrey and limitts thereof; and WEE doe likewise 
give and grant unto the said William Penn, and his heires, and to his 
and their Deputies and Lieutenants, such power and authoritie to ap- 
point and establish any Judges, and Justices, magistrates and officers 
whatsoever, for what causes soever, for the probates of wills and for the 
grantingofadministracons within the precincts aforesaid, and with what 
power soever, and in such forme as to the said William Penn, or his 
heires, shall seeme most convenient. Alsoe to remitt, release, pardon 
and abolish, whether before Judgement or after, all crimes and offences, 
whatsoever committed within the said Countrey, against the 8;iid Lawes, 
treason and wilfull and malitious murder onely excepted ; and in those 
cases, to grant reprieves untill our pleasure may bee kuowne therein, 
and to doe all and every other thing and things which vnto the com- 
pleate esta,blishment of Justice vnto Courts and Tribunalls, formes of 
Judicature and manner of proceedings doe belong, altho' in these pres- 
ents expresse mencon bee not made thereof; and by Judges by them 
delegated to award processe, hold pleas and determine iu all the said 
Courts and Tribunalls, all accons, suits and causes whatsoever, as well 
criminall as civill, personall, reall and mixt, which Lawes so as afore- 
said, to be published. Our pleasure is, and soe Wee enjoyne require and 



the charter ; this was consistent with the modesty of 
Penn and his deferential disposition towards his royal 
friend, whose favor he evidently sought with extraor- 

comand shall bee most aheolute and avaylable in law, and that all the 
Liege people and Subjects of vs, our heires and successors, doe observe 
and keepe the same inviolable in those partes, soe farr as they concorne 
them, vnder the paine therein expressed, or to bee expressed. Provided; 
Nevertheles, tliat the said Lawes bee consonant to reason, and bee not 
repugnant or contrarie, but as neere as conveniently may bee agreeable 
to the Lawes, statutes and rights of this our Kingdomo of England, and 
saveing and reserving to vs, our heires and successors, the receiving, 
heareing and determining of the appeale and appeales, of all or any 
person or persons, of, in or belonging to the territories aforesaid, or 
touching any Judgement to bee there made or given. — And forasmuch 
as in the Government of soe great a Countrey, sudden accidents doe 
often happen, whereunto itt will bee necessarie to apply a remedie 
before the freeholders of the said Province, or their Delegates or Depu- 
ties can bee assembled to the makeing of Lawes, neither will itt be con- 
venient that instantly vpon every such emergent occasion, soe greate a 
multitude should be called together. Therefore, for the better Govern- 
ment of the said Countrey, WEE WILL, and ordeyne, and by these 
presents for vs, our heires and successors. Doe grant vnto the said 
William Penn, and his heires, by themselves or by their magistrates and 
officers, in that behalfe, duely to bee ordeyned as aforesaid, to make ami 
constitute, fitt and wholesome ordinances from lime to time within the 
said Countrey, to bee kept and observed as well for the preservacon of 
the peace, as for the better government of the people there inhabiting, 
and publickly to notifie the same, to all persons whome the same doeth 
or any way may concerne, which ordinances our will and pleasure is, 
shall be observed inviolably within the said Province, vnder paines 
therein to beo expressed, soe as the said ordinances bee consonant to 
reason and bee not repugnant nor cotitrary, butsoe farre as conveniently 
may bee agreeable with the Lawes of our kingdome of England, and 
soe as the said ordinances be not extended in any sort to bind, charge 
or take away the right or interest of any person or persons, for or in 
their life, members, freehold, goods or Chattells; and our further will 
and pleasure is, that the Lawes for regulating and governing of prop- 
ertie, within the said Province, as well for the descent and enjoyment of 
lands, as likewise for the enjoyment and succession of goods and Chat- 
tells, and likewise as to felonies, shall bee and continue tbe same as shall 
bee for the time being, by the generall course of the Law in our King- 
dome of England, vntil the said Lawes shall he altered by the said 
William Penn, his heires or assiicnes, and by the freemen of the eaiJ 
Provinc*-, their Delegates or Deputies, or the greater part of them. 
And to tlio End the said William Penn, or heires, or other, the Planters, 
Owners or Inhabitants of the said Province, may not att any time here- 
after, by misconstrucou of the powers aforesaid, through inadvertieucie 
or designe, depart from that faith and due allegiance wliicli by the Lawe* 
of this our Real me of England, they and all our subjects, in our Domin- 
ions and Territories, always owe vnto vs our heires and successors, by 
colour of any extent or largenesse of iwwers hereby given, or pretended 
to bee given, or by force or colour of any lawes hereafter to bee made 
in the said Province, by virtue of any such powers. Our further will 
and pleasure is, that a transcript or Duplicate of all lawes which shall 
bee soe as aforesaid, made and published within the said province, shall 
within five years after the makeing thereof, be transmitted and de- 
livered to the privy Councell, for the time being, of vs, onr heires and 
successors; and if any of the said Lawes within the space of six moneths, 
after that they shall be soe transmitted and delivered, be declared by vs, 
our heires and successors in our or their privy Councell, inconsistent 
with the sovereignety or lawfull prerogative of vs.our heirs or succes- 
sors, or contrary to the faith and allegiance due by the legall Govern- 
ment of this realme, from the said William Penn, or his heires, or of 
the Planters and Inhabitants of the said province; and that therevpoa 
any of the said L.iwes shall bee adjudged and declarpjd to bee void by 
vs, our heires or successors, vnder our or their Privy Seale, that then, 
and from thenceforth such Lawes concerning which such Judgement 
and declaracon shall bee made, shall become voyd, otherwise the 
said lawes soe transmitted, shall remaine and stand in full force ac- 
cording to the true intent and meaneing thereof. Furthermore, that 
this now Colony may the more happily increase, by the multitude 
of people resorting thither: THEREFORE, WEE, for vs, our heires 
and successoi-s, doe give and grant by these presents, power, licence and 
libertie vuto all the liege people and suLjects, both present and future 



90 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



dinary zeal and judgment. King Charles filled the 
blauk and called the projected colony Pennsylvania, 
in honor of Sir William and Admiral Penn. It is 



of V6, our lieireo and successors, excepting those who shall bee especially 
forbidden, to transport theuiselves and families vnto the said Countrey, 
^vith such convenient shipping, as by the lawes of this our kingdouie 
of Englanil, they ought to vse with fitting provisions paying only the 
customes therefore due, and there to settle themselves, dwell and in- 
liabitt and phint for thepublick and their own private advantnge; AND 
FURTHERMORE, that our subjects may bee the rather encouraged 
to undertake this expedicon with ready and chcerfull mindes. KNOW 
YEE, that wee of our especial grace certaine knowledge and meere 
luocon, Doe give and grant hy vertue of these presents, as well vnto the 
said William Penn and his heires, as to all others who shall from time 
to time repaire vnto the said Countrey, with a purpose to inliabitt there, 
or to trade with the natives of the said Countrey, fnll license to lade and 
freight in any Ports whatsoever of va, our heires and successors, ac- 
cording to the lawes made, or to be made within our kingdome of Eng- 
land, and into the said Countrey, by them, theire servants or assignes, 
to transport all and singular theire wares, goods Jind merchandizes, as 
likewise all sorts of graiue whatsoever, and all other things whatso- 
ever necessary for food and clotliiug, not pliibited by the lawes and 
Statutes of our kingdomes and Dominions, to be carryed out of the said 
kingdomes without any lett or molestacon of vs, our heires and snccessors, 
or of any the officers of vs, our heires and successors, savoing alwayes 
to vs, our heires and successors, the logall impossitions, customes and 
other duties and payments for the said wares and merchandize, by any 
law or statute due or to be due to vs, our heires and successors. AND 
W'EE DOE further for vs, our heires and Successors, give and grant 
vnto the said William Penn, his heires and assignes, free and absolute 
power to Divide the said Countrey,and Islands, into Townes, Hundreds 
and Counties, and to erect and incorporate Townes into Burroughs, and 
Borroughs into Citties, and to make and constitute ffaires and marketts 
therein, with all other convenient privileges and immunities according 
to the meritt of tlie inliabitants, and the ffitnes of the places; & to doe 
all and every other thing and things touching the premises which to 
him or them shall seeme requisite, and meet, albeit they he such as of 
their owne nature might otherwise require a more especiall command- 
ment and warrant, then in these presents is expressed. WEE WILL 
ALSOE, and by these presents for vs, our heirs and successors, WEE doe 
give and grant licence by this our charter, vnto the said William Penn, 
his heires and assignes, and to all the inhabitants and dwellers in 
pvince aforesaid, both present, and to come to import or vnlade by 
themselves or their Servants, ffactors or assignes, all mercliandizes and 
goods whatsoever, that shall arise of the fiuits and comodities of the 
said province, either by Land or Sea, into any of the Ports of vs, our 
heirea and successors, in our kingdonje of England, and not into any 
other countrey whatsoever. And WEE give him full power to dispose 
of tlie said goods in the said ports, and if need hee, within one yeare 
next after the unladeing of the same, to lade the said merchandizes and 
goods again into the same or other shipps, and to export the same into 
jiny other Countreys, either of our Dominions or fforreigne, according to 
la«e: Provided always, that they pay such, customes and imposicons, 
flubsidies and duties for the same to vs, our heires and successors, as the 
rest of our subjects of our kiugdome of England, for the time being 
eliall be boumi to pay, and doe observe the acts of Navigation and other 
lawes in that behalfe made. AND FURTHERMORE, of our more ample 
and especiall grace, certain knowledge and meere motion, WEE DOE, 
for vs, our heirea and successors. Grant vnto the said William Penn, his 
heires and assignes, full and absolute power and autlioritie, to make, 
erect and constitute within the said province, and the Isles and Isletts 
aforesaid, such and soe many Seaports, harliours. Creeks, Havens, Keyea 
and other places, for discharge and vnladeing of goods, & merchandize 
out of the shipps, boatea and other vessells, and Ladeing them in such 
andsoe many places, and witli such rights, Jurisdiccons, liberties and 
priviledges unto the said ports, belonging as to him or them shall seeme 
most expedient, and tiiat all and singular the shipps, hoates and other 
vessells which shall come for merchandize and trade vnto tlie said 
pvince, or out of the same shall departe, shall he laden or vnhiden ouely 
att sucli ports as shall be erected and constituted by the said William 
Penu, his heires and assignes, any vse, custome or other thing to the 
contrary notwithstanding: PROVIDED, that the said William Penn 
and his heires, and the Lieutenants and Governors for the time being, 
sliall udmitt and receive in and about all such ports, havens, Creeks and 



said that William Penn objected to the name, and 
offered a tempting fee to the Under Secretary of Co- 
lonial Affairs to change it to New Wales, and upon 



Keyes, all officers and their Deputies, who shaU from time to time be 
appointed for that purpose, hy the ffarmers or Comisaioners of our cus- 
tomes, for the time being. AND WEE DOE further appoint and or- 
daine, and by these presents for vs, our heires and successors, WEE 
DOE grant vnto the said William Penn, his heires and assignes, that he 
the said William Penn, his heires and assignes, may from time to time 
forever, have and enjoy the customes and subsidies in the ports, har- 
bours and other Creeks, and places aforesaid, within the province afore- 
said, payable or due for merchandizes and wares, there to be laded and 
vnladed, the said customes and subsidies to be reasonably assessed, 
vpuu any occasion by themselves, and the people tliere as aforesaid, 
to be assembled to whom WEE give power, hy these presents for V8» 
our heires and successors, vpon just cause, and in a due pporcon, 
to assesse and impose the same, saveing vnto vs, our heires and suc- 
cessors, such imposcons and customes as by act of parliament are 
and shall lie appointed; and it is our further will and pleasure, that 
the said William Penu, his heires and assignes, shall from time to time 
constitute and api)oint an attorney or agent, to reside in or neare our 
Citty of London, who shall makeknowne the place where he shall dwell 
or may be found, vnto the Clerks of Our privy Counsell, for the time 
being, or one of them, and shall he ready to appeare in any of our 
Courts att Westminster, to answer for any misdemeanors that shall be 
comilted, or hy any wilfull default or neglect pmitted by the said Wil- 
liam Penn, his heires or assignes, against our Lawes of Trade or Navi- 
gacon and after it shall be ascertained in any of our said Courts, what 
damages WEE or our heires or successors shall bane sustained, by such de- 
fault or neglect, the said William Penn, his lieires and assignes, shall pay 
the same within one yeare after such taxacon ami demand thereof, fiom 
such attorney, or in case there shall he noe such attorney, by the space 
of one yeare, or such attorney shall not make payment of such damages, 
within the space of one yeare, and answer such other forfeitures and 
penalties within the said time, as by the acts of parliament in England, 
are or shall he pvided according to the true intent and meaning of these 
jiresents; Then it shall be lawfule for vs, our heires and successors, to 
seize and Resume the government of the said pvince or Countrey, and 
the same to retaine untill payment shall be made thereof. But not- 
withstanding any sucliseizuieor resumption of the Government, nothing 
concereniug the propriety or ownei-ship of any Lands, Tenements or 
other hereditaments, or goods, or chattels of any the adventurers. 
Planters or owners, other than the respective offenders there, shall he 
any way aflfected or molested thereby: PROVIDED alwayes, and our 
will and pleasure is that neither the said William Penn, nor his lieires, 
nor any other of the inhabitants of the said pvince, shall at any time here- 
after haue or maintainany correspondence with any other king, prince 
or State, or with any of theire subjects, who shall then be in warr against 
vs, our heires or successors; Nor shall the said William Penn, or his 
heires, or any other the inhabitants of the said pvince, make warre or 
doe any act uf hostilitie against any other king, prince or state, or 
any of their subjects, who shall then be in league or amity with vs, 
our heires or successors. And because in soe remote a Countrey, and 
scituate neare many Barbarous Nations, the incursions as well of the 
savages themselues, as of other enemies, pirates and Robbers, may pbably 
be feared. Therefore, WEE have given and for vs, our heires and suc- 
cessors, Doe give power by these presents vnto the said William Penn, 
his heirea and assignes, by themselues or their Captaities or other, their 
officers to levy, muster and traine all sorts of men, of what condicon,or 
wheresoever borne, in the said pviticeof Pensylvania,for tlie time being, 
and to make warr and pursue the enemies and Robbers aforesaid, as 
well by Sea as by Laud, yea, even without the Limits of the said pvince 
aTid by God's assistance, to vanquish and take them, and being taken, 
to put them to death by the law of Warr, or to save them att theire 
pleasure, and to doe all and every other act and thing, which to the 
charge and office of a Capitaine generall of an Army, belongeth or 
hath accustomed to belong, as fully and ffreely as any Captain e Generall 
of an Army, liath ever had the same. AND FURTHERMORE, of our 
especiall grace and of our certaine knowledg and meere motion, WEE 
have given and granted, and by these presents for vs, our lieires and suc- 
cessors, Doe give and grant vnto the said William Penn, his heires and 
assignes, full and absolute power, licence and authoritie, That he the 
said William Penn, his heires and Assignes, from time to time hereafter 
forever, att his or theire will and pleasure, may assigne, alien, grant. 



WILLIAM PENN'S AKRIVAL IN AMEHICA. 



91 



refusal protested that he had no vanity or family 
pride to gratify in the matter, " but it is a just and 

demise or infeoffu of the premisps, soe many, aud such partes and par- 
cells to him or them, that shall be willing to purchase the same.as they 
shall thiuke ffitt. TO HAVE AND TO HOLD to them, the said person 
uud persons willing to take or purcliase.theire heires and assignes, in 
fiee simple or flfeetaile, or for the termeof life,or Hues, yeares, to he held 
of the said William Penn, his heires and a-ssignes, as of tho said Seig- 
niory of Windsor, by such services, custonies and rents, as shall seeme 
ffitt to the said William Penn, his heires and assignes, aud not imme- 
diately of va, our heires aud succesaors, and to the same person or per- 
sons, and to all and every of them, W*EE DOE give and grant by these 
presents, for V8, our heires and successors, LicHUce.authoritie and power, 
tliat such pei-son or persons may take the premisses or any parcell there- 
of, of the aforesaid William Penn, his heires or assignes, and the same 
hold to themselues, their heires aud assignes, in what estate of inherit- 
ance soever, in ffee simple, or in ft'eetaile or otherwise, as to liim the said 
William Penn, his heires and assignes, shall seem expedient. The Stat- 
utes made in the parliament of Edward, Sonne of king Henry, late king 
of England, our predecessor, comonly called the Statute Quia Eniptores 
terrarum, lately published in our kingdtmie of England, in any wise 
notwithstanding, and by these presents, WEE give and grant licence 
vnto the said William Penn, and his heires, likewise to all and every 
such person and pereons to whom the said William Penn, or his heires, 
shall at any time hereafter, grant any estate of inheritance as aforesaid, 
to erect any parcells of Land within the pvince aforesaid, into mannors, 
by and with the licence to be first had and obteyued for that purpose, 
vnder the hand and sealeof the said William Penn, or his heires and in 
every of the said mannors, to haue and to liold a Court Baron, with all 
tbinges whatsoever, which to a Court Baron do belong ; and to haue and 
to hold view of ffrank-pledge, for the conservacon of the peace, and the 
better government of those partes by themselves or their Stewarts, or 
by the Lords for the time being, of other mannors to be deputed when 
they shall be erected, and in the same, to vse all things belongitig to 
view of ffrank-pledge ; and WEE doe further grant licence andauthor- 
itie that every such person and persons, who shall erect any such man- 
nor or mannors as aforesaid, shall or may grant all or any parte of his 
said lanils to any person or persons, in ffee simple or any other estate of 
inheiitance, to be held of the sai<i mantiurs respectively, soe as noe 
further tenures shall be created, but that vpon all further and other 
alienacons thereafter, to be made the said lands soe aliened, shall be 
held of the same Lord and his heires, of wliom the alien did then 
before hold, and by the like, rents and services, which were before 
due and accustomed. Atid further, our pleasure is and by these 
piesents for vs, our heires and successors, WEE doe Covenant and grant 
U> and with the said William Penn, and his heires and assignes, that 
WEE, our heires and successors, shall att no time hereaftej-sett or make, 
or cause to he selt, any imposicon, custome or other taxacun, rate or cuu- 
tribucon whatsoever, in and upon the dwellers and inhabitants of the 
aforesaid pvince, for tlieir lands, tenements, goods or chattels, within the 
said province, or in and vpon any goods or merchandize witliin the said 
pvince, or to be laden orvnladen within the ports or harbours of the said 
pvince, vnless the same be witli the consent of the pprietary, or chiefe 
Governor and Assembly, or by act of parliament in England. And our 
pleasure is, and for us our heires and successors, WEE charge and coni- 
aiid, that this our Declaracon, shall from henceforward be received 
and allowed from time to time in all our Courts, and before all the Judges 
of vs, our heires and successors, for a suflicient and lawful discharge, 
payment and acquittance, comanding all and singular the officers and 
Tiiinisters of vs, our heires and successors, and enjuyneing them vpon 
paine of our high displeasure, that they doe not presume att any time 
ti' attempt any thing to the contrary of the premises, or that they doe 
in any sort withstand the Siune, but that they bee att all timiis aiding 
and assisting as is fitting vnto the said William Penn, and his heires, 
aud to the inhabitants aud merchants of the pvinco aforesaid, their ser- 
vants, ministers, fTactors and assignes, in the full vse and fruition of the 
beneffitt of this our Charter: And our further pleasure is, And WEE 
dne hereby, for vs, our heires and successors, charge and require tliat 
if any of the inhabitants of the said pvince, to the number of TM'enty, 
eball att any time hereafter be desirous, and shall by any writeing or by 
any pson deputed fur them, signify such their desire to the liish<ip off 
Liindon, that any preacher or preachers to be approved of Ity the said 
Bishop, may be sent vnto th'-m fur their iustruccon, that then such 
pieacher or preachers, shall aud may be aud reside withiu the said 



clear thing, and my God that has given it me through 
many difficulties will, I believe, bless and make it 
the seed of a nation." 



CHAPTER yiL 



AVILLIAM PENN'S ARRIVAL IN AMERICA— HIS 
COLONY FOUNDED ON THE DELAWARE. 

Having obtained his charter, Penn at once com- 
missioned William Markham his deputy, and urged 
his prompt departure for the new field of labor. 
Markham was in New York by June, 1681, He 
secured the friendly offices of Governor Anthony 
Brockholls, and then hastened to Upland to meet 
Lord Baltimore, whose friendship he courted in order 
to arrange boundary lines on the south and west of 
the new colony. Unable to adjust the southern bound- 
ary of the grant without making concessions which 
he deemed unjust to William Penn, he deferred further 
action, and immediately organized the Council of 
Nine, being the first exercise of "duly constituted 
authority" under the charter of Charles 11. This 
Council of Nine was, in fact, a provisional govern- 
ment, with power to make public surveys, establish 
boundary lines, constitute courts, appoint justices of 
the peace, constables, sheriffs, to suppress violence, 
and generally to institute and enforce such measures 
as inured to the peace and good order of the province. 
The following is the self-instituted warrant for the 
Council of Nine: "Whereas, wee whose hands and 
Seals are hereunto Sett are Chosen by Wm. Mark- 
ham (agent to Wm. Penn, Esq., Proprietor of y® 
Province of Pennsylvania) to be of the Councill for 
y® s** province, doe hereby bind ourselves by our liands 
& Seals, that wee will neither act nor advise, nor Con- 
sent unto anything that shall not be according to our 
own Consciences the best for y^ true and well Govern- 
ment of the 8^ Province, and Likewise to Keep Secret 

pvince, without any Denial! or molestacon whatsoever; and if pchauce 
it should hapiien hereafter, any doubts or questions should arise con- 
cerneing the true senco & meaning of any word, clause or sentence, 
conteyned in this our present charter, WE WILL urdaine and comand, 
that att all times and in all things such interpretacun be made thereof, 
and allowed in any of our Courts whatsoever, as shall be adjudged most 
advantageous and favourable unto the said William Penn, bis heires and 
assignes: PIIOVIDED alwayes, that no interpretacon be admitted 
thereof, by which the allegiance due vnto va, our heires and successors, 
may suffer any prejudice or diminucon, although expres mencon be not 
made in these presents, of the true yearly value or certainty of llie 
premisses, or of any parte thereof, or of other guifts and grants made 
by vs, our pgenitors or predecessoi-s, vnto the said William Penn, or any 
Statute, act, ordiiumce, pvision, pclaiuacon or restraint heretufore, had 
made, published, ordained or pvided,or any other thing, cause or matter 
whatsoever to the contrary thereof, in any wise notwithstanding. In 
Witness Whereof WEE have caused these our letters to be made patents, 
Witness our selfe at Westminster, the fourth day of March, in the three 
aud thirtieth yeare of our Reigne. 

PIGOTT, 

By Writt of privy Scale. 

John Shaler, chvt. 

xxvij die Janry, 1G82, Fir, 



92 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



all y votes and acts of us The a^ Councell, unless 
Such as by the General Consent of us are to be pub- 
lished. Dated at Upland y' third day of August, 
1681. 

" Eobert Wade, Morgan Drewet, W". Woodmanse, 
(W. W. The mark of) William Warner, Thomas 
Ffairman, James Sandlenes, Will Clayton, Otto Er- 
nest Koch, and y' mark (L) of Lacy (or Lasse) 
Cock." 

By September, 1681, Deputy Markham had the 
new arrangement of things in working order, and the 
first court, for jury trials was held at Upland. The 
justices present at the meeting of this newly-organ- 
ized court were William Clayton, William Warner, 
Kobert Wade, William Byles, Otto Ernest Cock, 
— ^Robert Lucas, Lasse Cock, Swen Swenson, and 
Andreas Bankson, five of them being members of 
Markham's Council. The clerk of the court was 
Thomas Revell, and the sheriff's name was John 
Test. The first jury drawn in this court — the first 
drawn in Pennsylvania — was in a case of assault and 
battery (Peter Ericksen vs. Harnian Johnson and 
wife), and their names were Morgan Drewet, Wil- 
liam Woodmanson, William Hewes, James Browne, 
Henry Reynolds, Robert Schoolpy, Richard Pittmau, 
Lasse Dalboe, John Akraman, Peter Rambo, Jr., 
Henry Hastings, and William Oxley; two more of 
the Deputy Governor's Council being on this jury. 
At the next meeting of Upland Court, in November, 
Markham was present, and be attended all the sub- 
sequent sessions up to the time of Penn's arrival. 

Deputy Governor Markham was thoroughly con- 
versant with the purposes and plans of Penn. He 
carried with him instructions which were broad 
enough to cover all possible contingencies, and 
enabled him to prepare a warm welcome to the dis- 
tinguished colonist upon his advent on the Delaware 
River. Meantime, Penn was addressing his entire 
energies to his scheme of colonization. He gave the 
utmost publicity to his chartered privileges, and in- 
vited the co-operation of all classes in founding a 
free and industrial State. He published a pamphlet 
entitled "Some Account of the Province of Pennsyl- 
vania in America." It contained a truthful account 
of the resources of the country. The author was 
candid in pointing out to all the possible hardships 
and perils likely to be experienced in tlie New World, 
and impressed upon the mind of his followers the ne- 
cessity of careful preparations for the long voyage and 
the life of toil and self-denial essential to their success. 
Referring to the country he says, " I shall say little 
in its praise to excite desires in any, whatever I could 
truly write as to the soil, air, and water; this shall 
satisfy me, that by the blessing of God and the hon- 
esty and industry of man, it may be a good and fruitful 
land." Penn made direct overtures to men and fam- 
ilies of all religious persuasions, assuring them of a 
tolerant government in all things. He invited pur- 
chasers and renters of lands, and made special pro- 



visions for those without means. "To the first, the 
shares I sell shall be certain as to number of acre*; 
that is to say, every one shall contain five thous^d 
acres, free from any incumbrance, the price a hun/red 
pounds, and for the quit-rent but one English sjifiling, 
or the value of it, yearly, for a hundred acres ; and 
the said quit-rent not to begin to be paid till 1684. 
To the second sort, that take up land upon rent, they 
shall have liberty so to do, paying yearly one penny 
per acre, not exceeding two hundred acres. To the 
third sort, to wit, servants that are carried over, fifty 
acres shall be allowed to the master for every head, 
and fifty acres to every servant when their time is 
expired. And because some engage with me that may 
not be disposed to go, it were very advisable for every 
three adventurers to send over an overseer with their 
servants, which would well pay the cost." 

Referring to the peculiar fitness of certain person* 
for frontier life, Penn classifies them as follows : 

"1st, industrious husbandmen and day laborers 
that are hardly able (with extreme labor) to main- 
tain their families and portion their children ; 2d, la- 
borious handicrafts, especially carpenter.s, masons, 
smiths, weavers, taylors, tanners, shoemakers, ship- 
wrights, etc., where they may be spared or low in the 
world, and as they shall want no encouragement, so 
their labor is worth more there than here, and there 
provisions cheaper." 3d, Penn invites ingenious 
spirits who are low in the world, younger brothers with 
small inheritances and (often) large families ; " lastly," 
he says, "there are another sort of persons, not only 
fit for but necessary in plantations, and that is men of 
universal spirits, that have an eye to the good of pos- 
terity, and that both understand and delight to pro- 
mote good discipline and just government among a 
plain and well-intending people; such persons may 
find room in colonies for their good counsel and con- 
trivance, who are shut out from being of much use or 
service to great nations under settled customs ; these 
men deserve much esteem and would be hearken'd 
to." 

He enumerates and commends the resources of the 
country. " Timber was abundant, also game, wild- 
fowl, and fish, flax, hemp, cider, wood, madder, 
liquorish, tobacco, and iron, hides, tallow, staves, beef, 
pork, sheep, wool, corn, wheat, rye, barley, also furs, 
minks, raccoons, martins, and such like store of furs 
which is to be found among the Indians that are 
profitable commodities in England." Referring to 
the arrival of colonists in the fall months he says, 
" Two men may clear as much ground by spring 
(when they set the corn in that country) as will bring 
in that time, twelve months, forty barrels, which 
makes twenty-five quarters of corn. So that the first 
year they must buy corn, which is usually very plen- 
tiful. They must, so soon as they come, buy cows, 
more or less, as they want or are able, which are to be 
had at easy rates. For swine, they are plentiful and 
cheap, these will quickly-increase to a stock. So that 



V 



4L 



'"'^'''^,' 



HyV . 





\ 



■^1 



V 

c 
e 

e 
ti 
B 

e; 

ui 
I 

Vi 

ft 

ei 

V. 

o: 

C! 

ai 
ai 

C( 

tl 
R 
in 
tr 
sa 
es 
la 
ili 
to 
cl 



-"W 



-flil^^ 



ytuima/ Tieimeli 




WILLIAM PENN'S ARRIVAL IN AMERICA. 



93 



after the first year, what with the poorer sort some- 
times laboring for others, and the more able fishing, 
fowling, and sometimes buying, they may do very 
well till their own stocks are sufficient to supply them 
and their families, which will quickly be, and to 
spare, if they follow the English husbandry, as they 
do in New England and New York, and get winter 
fodder for their stock." 

"To conclude, I desire all ray dear country-folks 
who may be inclined to go into those parts to con- 
sider seriously the premises, as well the inconve- 
niency as future ease and plenty, that so none may 
move rashly or from a fickle, but from a solid mind, 
having above all things an eye to the providence of 
God in the disposing of themselves ; and I would 
further advise ;tU such at least to have the permis- 
sion, if not the good liking, of their near relations, 
for that is both natural, and a duty incumbent upon 
all. And by this will natural affections be preserved, 
and a friendly and profitable correspondence between 
them, in all which I beseech Almighty God to direct 
us, that His blessing may attend our earnest en- 
deavors, and then the consequence of all our under- 
takings will turn to the glory of His great name, and 
all true happiness to us and our posterity. Amen." 

Feeling assured of a large and intelligent following 
to the New World, he was anxious to facilitate trade 
and commerce between the colony and the mother- 
country. To this end he encouraged the organization 
of " The Free Society of Traders," ' looking upon the 
enterprise as a potent and peaceful agent in main- 
taining frequent intercourse between the inhabitants 
of the two continents, and as a certain avenue for 
continued emigration, which he felt sure once opened 
to the superior advantages of a new and fertile country, 
where religious and political freedom could be fully 
enjoyed, would never be closed. In his solicitude for 
the persons forming his colony Penn showed his hu- 
manity ; in his forecast of a commercial future for 
the State he was founding he disclosed the character 
of a benefactor. One thing more, however, remained 
for him to do, and that was to frame a government. 
This was the work of statesmanship. There were 
three distinct subjects of consideration in framing a 
code of laws for the colony : 1, the limitations im- 
posed by the charter of Charles II. ; 2, the peaceful 
relations with the native Indians ;^ 3, the unrestrained 

' On publishing these proposals concerning the new colony, a great 
number of purchasers soon appeared in London, Liverpool, and espe- 
cially about Bristol ; among these were James Claypole,Nicbolas Moore, 
Philip Forde, and others, who firmed a colony called The Free Society 
of Traders in Pennsylvania. These last-mentioned persons, with Wil- 
liam Sharloe, Edward Pierce, .loh n Simcock, Thomas Bracy, and Edward 
Brooks, having purchased twenty thousand acres of land, in trust for 
the said company, published articles of trade, and entered into divers 
branches thereof themselves, which were soon improved upon by others. 

- •' LoxDOX, the ISth of the eighth month, 1681. 

"Mt Friends: There is a great God and power, that hath made the 

world, and all things therein ; to whom you and I, and all people owe 

their being and well-being; and to whom you and I must one day give 

an account for all that we do in the world. — This great God hath writ- 



exercise of religious liberty and the institution of 
self-government among the freemen of the province. 
It is a rare occurrence in the history of public men 
to find a broad humanity associated with a high order 
of executive ability and commercial sagacity, and it 
is still more exceptional to find these two qualities 
combined with that degree of foresight and conser- 
vatism that always characterizes the true statesman. 
It is said that it required the corollated powers of 
Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan to match one Napo- 
leon Bonaparte ; and, without extravagance, we may 
say that William Penn alone foreshadowed the pol- 
icy of state and republic that was later formulated in 
national unity by the combined wisdom of Washing- 
ton, Jefferson, and Hamilton. In the marvelous light 
of two centuries we turn back and read his remarkable 
state papers. He was in his thirty-eighth year when 
he prepared his " CertaiQ Conditions or Concessions," ' 

ten his law in our hearts, by which we are taught and commanded to 

love and help, and do good to one another. Now this great God hath 
been pleased to make me concerned in yonr part of the world ; and the 
King of the country where I live hath given raea province therein; but 
I desire to enjoy it icUh iiour lore und consent; that we may always live 
together as neighbors and friends, else what would the great God do to 
us, who hath made us, not to devour and destroy one another, but to 
live soberly and kindly together in the world? Now I would have you 
well observe that I am vei-y sensible of the unkiudness and injustice 
that have been too much exercised towards you, by the people of these 
parts of the world, who have sought themselves, and to make great ad- 
vantages by you, rather than to be examples of goodness and patience 
unto you, which I hear hath been a matter of trouble to you, and caused 
great gmdgings and animosities, sometimes to the shedding of blood, 
which hath made the great God angry. But I am not such a man, as is 
well known in my own country. I have great love and regard towards 
you, and desire to win and gain your love and friendship, by a kind, 
just, and peaceable life ; and the people I send are of the same mind, 
and shall in all things behave themselves accordingly ; and if anything 
shall offend you or your people, you shall have a full and speedy satis- 
faction for the same, by an equal number of just men, on both sides, 
that by no means you may have just occasion of being offended against 
them. I shall shortly come to you myself, at which time we may more 
largely and freely confer and discourse of these matters ; in the mean 
time I have sent my commissioners to treat with yon about land, and a 
lirm league of peace ; let me desire you to be kind to them and the peo- 
ple, and receive these presents and tokens, which I have sen t you, as a 
testimony of my good will to you, and my resolution to live justly, 
peaceably, and friendly with you. 

" I am your loving friend, 

"William Penn." 

3 " Cbbtais Conditions or Concessions, agreed upon btj WiUiam Pcnri, 
Proprietary and Governor of the Promrtce of Pfnnsytvaniaf and thos'; 
mho an- adfi'nturers and purchasers in the same province^ the eleventh of 
July^ One thousand sir hundred and <:ighty-one. 

"First. That so soon as it picaseth God that the above said persons 
arrive there, a quantity of land or Ground plat shall be laid out for a 
large Town or City, in the most convenient place upon the lliver for 
health and navigation; and every purchaser and adventurer shall by 
lot have so much land therein as will answer to the proportion which 
he hath bought or taken up upon rent. But it is to be noted that the 
surveyors shall consider what Koads or Highways will be necessary to 
the Cities, Town-, or through the lands. Great roaiis from City to City, 
not to contain less than forty feet in breadth, shall be first laid out and 
declared to be highways before the Dividend of acres be laid out for the 
purchaser, and the like observation to be had for the streets in the 
Towns and Cities, that there may be convenient roads and streets pre- 
served, not to be encroached upon by any planter or builder, that none 
may build irregularly to the damage of another. In this custom 
governs. 

"Secondly. That the land in the Town be laid out together, after the 



94 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and his "Frame of Government and Laws," includ- 
ing "The Great Law/' all of which evidence great 
thoughtfulness, a thorough knowledge of details, 
and a master mind. We think his " Preface" to the 

proportion of ten tlionsaml acres of the whole country, — that is, two 
hundred acres, if the place will bear it. However, that the proportion 
be by lot and entire, so aa those that desire to be together, especially 
those that are by the catalogue laid together, may be so laid together 
both in Town and Country. 

"Tliirdly. That when the Country lots are laid out, every purchaser 
from one tliousand to ten thousand acres or more, nut to have above one 
thousand acres together, unless in three years they plant a family upon 
eveiy thousand acres; but that all such as purchase together, lie to- 
gether; and if as many as comply with this condition, that the whole 
be laid out togotlier. 

"Fourthly. That where any number of purchasers, more or less, 
whose number of acres amounts to five or ten thousand acres, desire to 
Bit together in a lot or Township, they shall have their lot or Township 
cast together in such places as have convenient Harbours or navigabU' 
rivers attending it, if such can be found, and in case any one or more 
Purchasers plant not according to agreement in this concession, to the 
prejudice of others of the same Township upon complaint thereof, made 
to the Governor or his deputy, witli assistance they may award (if they 
see cause) that the complaining purcha-ser may, paying the survey 
money and purchase money and interest thereof, be entitled, inrolled, 
and lawfully invested in the lands so not seated. 

"Fifthly. That the proportion of lands that shall be laid out in the first 
great Town or City for every purchaser shall be after the proportion of 
Ten acres for every Five hundred acres purchased, if the place will 
allow it. 

"Sixthly. That notwithstanding there be no mention made in tlie 
several Deeds made to the purchasers, yet the said William Penti does 
accord and declare that all Rivers, Rivulets, Woods and Underwoods, 
Watere, Watercourses, Quarries, Mines, and Minerals (except mines 
Royal), shall be freely and fully enjoyed and wholly by the purchasers 
into whose lot they fall. 

"Seventhly. That for every Fifty acres that shall be allotted to a ser- 
vant at the end of his service, his Quitrent shall be two shillings per 
annum, and the master or owner of the Servant, when he shall take up 
the other Fifty acres, his Quitrent shall he Four shillings by the year, 
or if the master of the servant (by reason in the Indentures he is so 
obliged to do) allot out to the Servant Fifty acres in his own Division, 
the said master shall have on demand allotted him from the Governor, 
the One hundred acres at the chief rent of Six shillings per annum. 

"Eighthly. And for the encouragement of such as are ingenious and 
willing to search out Gold and silver mines in this province,ii is hereby 
agreed that they have liberty to bore and dig in any man's property, 
fully paying the damage done, and in case a Discovery should be made, 
that the discoverer have One Fifth, the owner of the soil (if not the 
Discoverer) a Tenth part, the Governor Two fifths, and the rest to the 
public Treasury, saving to the king the shaie reserved by patent. 

** Ninthly. In every hundred thousand acres the Governor and Pro- 
prietary by lot reserveth Ten to himself, which shall lie but in one 
place. 

"Tentlily. That every man f^hall he bound to plant or man so much 
of his share of Land as shall be set out and surveyed within three years 
after it is so set out and surveyed, or else it shall be lawful for new 
comers to be settled thereupon, paying to Ihem their survey money, and 
they go up higher for their shares. 

"Eleventhly. There shall be no buying and selling, be it with an 
Indian, or one among another of any Goods ti> he exported hut what 
Bhall be performed in public market, when such place shall be set apart 
or erected, where tliey shall pass the public Stamp or Mark. If bad 
ware and prized as good, or deceitful in proportion or weight, to forfeit 
the value as if good, and full weight and proportion to the public Treas- 
ury of the Province, whether it be the merchandise of the Indian or 
that of the Planters. 

"Twelfthly. And fni-asrnuchasit isusual with the planters to overreach 
the poor natives ol the Country in Trade, by Goods not being good of the 
kind, or deba'-ed with mixtures, with wliich they are sensibly aggrieved, 
it is agreed whatever is sold to the Indians in consideration of their furs 
shall be sold in the market place, and there suffer the test, whetliergoiwl 
or bad ; if good to pa^B, if not good, not to be sold for good, that the 
natives may not be abused nor provoked. 



"Frame of Government" is the best illustration of 
the man and his purposes; its promulgation and ac- 
ceptance by the colonists as the fundamental law of 
the province was a safe guide in those primitive 
days, and implanted in Pennsylvania a love for self- 
government which has continued through all later 
generations, as marked in peace as it has been sacri- 
ficial in war. This state paper, unique and compre- 
hensive, is an essential part of our history, and should 
be the property of every household, as it has been, and 
still is, the subject of study among all true political 
economists. 



" Thirteenthly. That no man shall by any ways or means, in word or 
deed, afl'ront or wrong any Indian, but he shall incur the same penalty 
of tlie Law as if he had committed it against his fellow planters; and if 
any Indian shall abuse in Word or Deed any plaster of this province 
that he shall not be his own Judge upon the Indian, but he shall make 
his complaint to the Governor of the Province, or his Lieutenant or 
Deputy, or some iuferior magistrate near him, who shall to the utmoit 
of his power take care with the king of the said Indian that all reason- 
able Satisfaction be made to the said injured planter. 

"Fourteenthly. That all differences between the planters and the 
natives shall also be ended by Twelve men, that is by Six plantei-s and 
Six natives, that so we may live friendly together as much as in us lieth, 
preventing all occasions of Heart burnings and mischief. 

"Fifteenthly. That the Indians shall have liberty to do all things 
relating to improvement of their Ground, and providing sustenance for 
the families tliat any of the planters shall enjoy. 

"Sixteenthly. That the laws as to Slanders, Drunkenness, Swearing, 
Cursing, Pride in apparel, Trespasses, Distresses, Replevins, Weights 
and measures, shall be the same as in England till altered by law in this 
province. 

"Seventeenthly. That all shall mark their hogs, sheep, and other 
cattle, and what are not marked within three months after it is in their 
possession, be it young orold, it shall be forfeited to the Governor, that 
so people may be compelled to avoid the occasions of much strife be- 
tween Planteis. 

*' Eighteenthly. That in clearing the ground care be taken to leave 
One acre of trees for every five acres cleared, especially to preserve oak 
and mulberries for silk and shipping. 

"Nineteenthly. That all ship masters shall give an account of their 
Countries, Names, Ships, Owners, Freights, and Passengers, to an oflicer 
to be appointed for that purpose, which shall be registered within Two 
days after their arrival; and if they shall refuse so to do that then none 
presume to trade with them upon forfeiture thereof, and that such mas- 
ters be looked upon as having an evil intention to the province. 

"Twentiethly. That no person leave the Province without publica- 
tion being made thereof in the market-place, Three weeks before, and 
certificate from some justice of the peace of his clearness with his 
neighbors and those he has dealt withal, so far aa such an assurance can 
he attained and given ; and if any master of a ship shall contrary here- 
unto receive, and carry away any person that hath not given that public 
notice, the said master shall be liable to all debts owing by the said per- 
son so secretly transported from the province. Lastly that these are to 
be added to or corrected by and with consent of the parties hereunto 
subscribed. 
"Sealed and delivered in the presence of 

"William Pfnn, "Griffith Jones, 

"HuMPuuF.y Soi'TB, "Hugh Lambe, 

"Thomas Barker, "Thomas Fabrinborhougii, 

"Samuel Jouson, "John Good^on, 

"John Joseph Moore, "William Boelham, 

"William Puwel, "Harbert Springet, 

"Richard Davie, "Thomas Pbcdyard. 

"Sealed and delivered in the presence of all the proprietors who hare 
hereunto subscribed, except Thomas Farrinborrough and JohnGoodson,. 
in the presence of 

"Hugh Chamberlen, 
" R. Murray. 
"Harbert Springet." 



PENN'S COLONY FOUNDED ON THE DELAWARE. 



95 



THE PREFACE. 

" When the great and wise God had made the world, of all his crea- 
tures it pleased him to choose man his deputy to rule it, and to fit him 
for 80 great a charge and trust, he did not only qniilify him with skill 
andpower, hut with integrity to use them juistly. This native goodness 
was equally his honour and his happiness; and whilst he stood here, all 
wen t wel 1 ; t liere was no need of coercive or compulsive means ; the pre. 
cept of divine love and truth in his hosom was the guide and keeper nl 
bis innocency. But lust prevailing against duty, made a lamentable 
breach upon it; and the law, that before had no power over him, took 
place upon him and hi» disobedient posterity, that such as would not 
live conformable to the lioly law within, should fall under the reproof 
and correction of the just law without, in ajudicial administration. 

" This the apostle teaches in divers of his epistlns. The law (says he) 
was added because of transgression : In another place, knowing that the 
law was not made for the righteous man ; but for the disobedient and 
ungodly, for sinners, for unholy and prophane,for murderers, for whore- 
mongers, for them that defile themselves with mankiud, and for men- 
Btealers, for liars, for perjured persons, &c. But this is not all, he opens 
and carries the matter of government a little further: Let every soul 
be subject to the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The 
powers that be are ordained of Gud : whosoever therefore resisteth the 
power, resisteth the ordinance of God. For rulers are not a terror to 
good works, but to Evil: wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? 

Do that wliich is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. He 

is the minister of God to thee for good. Wherefore ye must needs 

be subject, not only for wratli, but for conscience sake. 

" This settles the divine right of government beyond exception, and 
that for two ends : first, to terrify evil-doers ; secondly, to cherish those 
that do well; which gives government a life beyond corruption, and 
makes it as durable in the world, as good men shall be. So that govern- 
ment seems to me a part of religion itst'lf, a Ihing sacred in its institu- 
tion and end. For if it does not directly remove the cause, it crushes 
the effects of evil, and is as such (tho' a lower yet) an emanation of tlie 
same Divine Power, that is both author and object of pure religion; the 
difference lying here, that the one is more free and mentjil, the other 
more corporal and compulsive in its operations; but that is only to evil- 
doers ; government itself being otherwise as capable of kindness, good- 
ness, and charity, as a more private society. They weakly err, that 
think there is no other use of government tlian correction, which is the 
coarsest part of it: daily experience tells us, that the care and regula- 
tion of many other affairs more solt and daily necessary, make up much 
the greatest part of government; and which must have followed the 
peopling of the world, had Adam never fell, and will continue among 
men on earth under the high attainments they may arrive at, by the 
coming of the blessed second Adam, the Lord from Heaven. Thus 
much of government in general, as to its rise and end. 

" For particular frames and models, it will become me to say little ; 
and comparatively I will say nothing. My reasons are: first, that the 
age is too nice and ditticult for it ; there being nothing the wits of men 
are more busy ami divided upon. 'Tis true, they seem to agree in tlie 
emi, to wit, happiness ; but in the means they differ, as to divine, so to 
this human felicity ; and the cause is much the same, not always want 
of light and knowledge, but want of using them rightly. Men side 
with their passions against their reason, and their sinister interests 
have so strong a bias upon their minds, that they lean to them against 
the good of the things they know, 

"Secumlly, I do not find a model in the world, tlnit time, place, and 
some singular emergencies have not necessarily altered ; nur is it easy 
to frame a civil government, that shall serve all places alike. 

" Thirdly, I know what is said by the several admirers of monarchy, 
aristocracy, and democracy, which are the rule of one, a few, and many, 
arul are the three common ideas of governoient, when men discourse on 
that subject. But I choose to solve the controversy with this small dis- 
tinction, and it belongs to all three : any government is free to the peojde 
under it (wliatever be tlie frame) where tlie laws rule, and the people 
are a party to those laws, and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy, and 
confusion. 

" But liistly, when all is said, there is hardly one fiame of government 
in the world so ill designed by its first founders, that in good hands 
would not do well enough ; and story tells us, the best in ill ones can 
do nothing that is great or good ; witness the .Jewish and Roman states. 
Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as 
governments are made and moved by men, so by tliem they are ruined 
too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men than men iipuu 
government^. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad; 



if it be ill, they will cure it. But if men be bad, let the government bo 
never so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn. 

" I know some saj', let us have good laws, and no matter for the men 
that execute them: but let them consider, that though good laws do 
well, good men do better: for good laws may want good nten, andbe 
abolished or invaded by ill men ; but good men will never want good 
laws, nor suffer ill ones. 'Tis true, good laws have some awe upon ill 
ministers, but that is where they have not power to escape or abolish 
them, and the people are generally wise and good: but a loose and de- 
praved people (which is to the question) love laws and an administra- 
tion like themselves. That therefore, which makes a good constitution, 
must keep it, viz: men of wisdom and virtue, qualities, that because 
they descend not with worldly inheritances, must be carefully propa- 
gated by a virtuous education of youth, for which after ages will owe 
more to the care and prudence of founders, and the successive magis- 
tracy, than to their parents for their private patrimonies. 

"These considerations of the weight of government, and the nice and 
various opinions about it, made it uneasy to me to think of publishing 
the ensuing frame and conditional laws, foreseeing both the censures 
they will meet with from men of differing humours and engagements, 
and the occasion they may give of discourse beyond my design. 

*'But next to the power of necessity (which is a solicitor that will 
take no denial) this induced me to a compliance, that we have (with 
reverence to God, and good conscience to men) to the best of our skill, 
contrived and composed the FRAME and LAWS of this government, to 
the great end of all government, viz: to support power in reverence 
with the people, and to secure the people from the abuse of power ; tliat 
they may be free by their just obedience, and the magistrates hon- 
ourable for their just administration : for liberty without obedience i» 
confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery. To carry this even- 
ness is partly owing to the constitution, and partly to the magistracy ; 
where either of these fail, government will be subject to convulsiooe; 
but where both are wanting, it must be totally subverted : then where 
both meet, the government is like to endure. Which I humbly pray 
and hope God will please to make the lot of this of Pennsylvania. Amen. 

"William Penx." 

LAWS AGREED UPON IN ENGLAND. 

"First. That the charter of liberties declared, granted, and confirmed 
the five and twentieth day of the Second month, called April, 1682, before 
divers witnesses by William Penn, Governor and chief proprietary of 
Pennsylvania, to all the freemen and planters of the said province, is 
hereby declared and approved, and shall be forever held forfundamental 
in the government thereof, according to the limitations mentioned in the 
said charter. 

" Second. That every Inhabitant in the said province, that ia or shall 
be a purchaser of one hundred acres of land or upwards, his heirs and 
assigns, and every person who shall have paid his passage, and taken 
up one hundred acres of land, at one penny an acre,and have cultivated 
ten acres thereof, and every person that has been a servan t or bondsman, 
and is free by his service, that shall have taken up his fifty acres of land, 
and cultivated twenty thereof; and every inhabitant, artificer, or other 
resident in the said province, that pays scot and lot to the government,, 
shall be deemed and accounteil a freeman of the said province; and 
every such person shall and may be capable of electing or being elected 
representatives of the people in Provincial Council or General Assembly 
in the said province. 

"Third. That all elections of members or representatives of the people 
and freemen of the province of Pennsylvania, to serve in Provincial 
Council or General Assembly, to be held within the said province, shall 
bo free and voluntary ; and that the elector that shall receive any reward 
or gift, in meat, drink, moneys, or otherwise, shall forfeit his right to 
elect; and such person as shall, directly or indirectly, give, promise, or 
bestow any such reward as aforesaid, to be elected, shall forfeit his elec- 
tion, and be thereby incapable to serve as aforesaid. And the Provincial 
Council and General Assembly shall be the sole judges of the regularity 
or irieguhirity of the elections of their own respective members. 

"Fourth. That no money or goods shall be raised upon, or paid by any 
of the people of this province, by way of a publick tax, custom, or con- 
tribution, but by a law for that purpose made ; and whosoever shall levy, 
collect, or pay any money or goods contrary thereunto, shall be held a 
publick enemy to the province, and a betrayer of the liberties of the 
people thereof. 

"Fifth. That all courtsshall be open, and justice shall neither be sold, 
denied, or delayed. 

"Sixth, That in all courts all persons of all persuasions may freely 



d6 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



appear in their own way, and according to their own manner, and there 

ptTSonally plead their owu cause themselves, or if unable, by their 
frieuds. And tlie firet process eliall he the exhibition of the complaint 
iu court, fourteen days before the trial; and that the party complained 
ayaiufit may bo fitted for the same, he or she sliall be summoned no less 
than ten days before, and a copy of the complaint delivered him or her, 
at his or her dwelling-bouse. But before the complaint of any person 
be received, he shall solemnly declare in court, that he believes in his 
con.science his cause is Just. 

"Seventh. That all pleadings, processes, and records in courts, shall 
tie short, and iu Englisb, and iu an onliuary and plain character, that 
they may be understood, and justice speedily administered. 

"Eightb. That all trials shall be by twelve men, and as near as may 
be, peers or equals, and of the neighborhood, and men without just ex- 
ception. In cases of life, there shall be first twenty-four returned by 
the sheriff for a grand iuquest, of whom twelve at least shall find the 
complaint to be true ; and then the twelve men, or peers, to be likewise 
returned by the sheriff, sliall have the final jndgmeut. But reasonable 
challenges shall be always admitted against the said twelve men or any 
of them. 

"Ninth. That all fees in all cases shall be moderate, and settled by 
the Provincial Council and General Assembly, and be bung up in a 
table in every respective court and whosoever shall be convicted of 
tiking more, shall pay twofold, and be dismissed his employment, one 
moiety of which shall go to the party wronged. 

"Tenth. That all prisons shall be workhouses for felons, vagrants, 
and loose and idle persons; whereof one shall be in every county. 

"Eleventh. That all prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, 
unless for capital oflfeuces, where the proof is evident or tlie presump- 
tion great. 

"Twelfth. That all persons wrongfully imprisoned or prosecuted at 
law shall have double damages against the informer or prosecutor. 

"Thirteenth. That all prisons shall he free as to fees, food, and 
lodging. 

"Fourteenth. That all lands and goods shall be liable to pay debts, 
except whero there is legal issue, and then all the goods and one-third 
of the land only. 

"Fifteenth. That all wills and writing, attested by two witnesses, 
shall he of the same force as to lauds as other conveyances, being 
legally proved within forty days, either within or without the said 
province. 

"Sixteenth. Tliat seven years quiet possession sJiall give an unques- 
tionable right, except iu cases of infants, lunaticks, married women, or 
persons beyond the seas. 

*' Seventeenth. That all briberies and extortions whatsoever shall be 
severely punished. 

"Eighteenth. That all fines shall be moderate, and saving mens con- 
tenements, merchandize, or wainage, 

"Nineteenth. That all marriages (not forbidden by the law of God, as 
to nearness of blood and afiinily by marriage) shall be encouraged ; but 
the parents or guardians shall be first consulted, and the marriage shall 
be published before it be solemnized, and it shall be solemnized by 
taking one another as husband and wife, befure credible witnesses, and 
a certificate of the whole, under the bands of parties and witness'e.s, 
shall be brought to the proper register of that county, and shall be reg- 
istered in his office. 

"Twentieth. And to prevent frauds and vexatious suits within tiie 
said province, that all charters, gifts, grants, and conveyances of land 
(except leases for a year or under), and all bills, bonds, and specialties 
have five pounds, and not under three mouths, made in the said prov- 
ince, shall be enrolled or registered iu the public eniolineiit office of 
the said province within the space of two months uextafter the making 
thereof, else to be void in law. And all deeds, grants, and conveyances 
of laud (except as aforesaid) within the said province, and made out ol 
Ibe said province, shall be iurulled or registered as aforesaid within Mx 
months next after the making thereof, and settling and constituting au 
enrolment office or registry within the said province, else to be void in 
law against all peisoua whatsoever. 

"Tw«nty-first. That all defacereor corrupters of charters, gifts, grants, 
bonds, bills, wills, contracts, aud conveyances, or that shall deface or 
falsify any enrolment, registry, or record within this province, shall 
make double satisfaction for the same ; half whereof shall go the party 
wronged, and they shall be dismissed of all places of trust, aud be pub- 
lickly disgraced as false men. 

"Twenty-second. That there shall be a register for births, ninr- 
riages, burials, wills, and letters of administration, distiuct from the 
other registry. 



"Twenty-third. That there shall he a register for all servants, where 

their names, time, wages, and days of payment shall be registered. 

"Twenty-fourth. That all lands and gr>ods of felons sliall be liable to 
make satisfaction to the party wronged twice the value ; and for want 
of land or goods, the felons shall be bondmen, to work in the cummon 
prisuu or workhouse, or otherwise, till the party injured be satisfied. 

"Twenty-fifth. That the estates of capital offenders, as traitors and 
murderers, shall go one-third to the next of kin to the sutferer, and the 
remainder to the next of kin to the criminal. 

"Twenty-sixth, That all witnesses, coming or called to testify their 
knowledge in or to any matter or thing in any couit, or before any 
lawful authority within the said province, shall there give or deliver 
in their evitlence or testimony, by solemnly pmmising to speak the 
truth, the whole tiuth, and nothing but the truth, to the matter or 
thing in question. And in case any person so called to evidence shall 
be convicted of wilful falsehood, such person shall suffer and undergo 
such damage or penalty as the person or persons against whom he or 
she bore false witness did or should undergo; and shall also make sat- 
isfaction to the party wronged, and be puldickly exposed as a false-wit- 
ness, never to be credited in any court or before any magistrate in the 
said province. 

"Twenty-seventh. And to the end that all officers chosen to serve 
within this province may with more care and diligence answer the trust 
, reposed in them, it is agreed that no such pei-son shall enjoy more than 
I one publick office at one time. 

*' Twenty-eighth. That all children within this province of the age of 
twelve years shall be taught some useful trade or skill, to the end none 
may be idle, but the poor may work to live, and the rich, if they become 
poor, may not want. 

"Twenty-ninth. That servants be not kept longer than their time^ 
and such as are careful be both justly and kindly used in their ser- 
vice, and put in fitting equipage at the expiration thereof, according to 
custom. 

"Tliirtieth. That all scandalous and malicious reporters, backbiters, 
defaniers, and spreaders of false news, whether against magistrates or 
private persons, shall be accordingly severely punished as enemies to 
the peace and concord of this province. 

" Thirty-first. That for the encouragement of the planters and traders 
in this province, who are incorporated into a society, the patent granted 
to them by William Penn, Governor of the said province, is hereby 
ratified and confirmed. 

" Thirtv-second. ******* 



"Thirty-third. That all factors or correspondents in the said prov- 
ince wronging their employers, shall make satisfaction, and one third 
over to their said employers : and in case of the death of any such fac- 
tor or correspondent, the committee of trade shall take care to secure so 
much of the deceased party's estate, as belongs to his said respective 
employers. 

"Tliirty-fonrth. That all treasurers, judges, masters of the rolls, 
sheriffs, justices of the peace, and other officers and pereons whatsoever, 
relating to courts or trials of causes, or any other service in the govern- 
ment; aud all members elected to serve in provincial Council and Gen- 
eral Assembly, and all tliat have right to elect such members, shall be 
such as profess faith in Jesus Christ, and that are not convicted of ill 
fame, or unsober and dishonest conversation, and that are of one and 
twenty years of age at least and that all such so qualified, shall he 
capable of the said several employments and privileges as aforesaid. 

"Thirty-fifth. Tliat all persons living in this province, who confess 
and acknowledge the one almighty and eternal God, to he the creator, 
upholder and ruler of the world, and that hold themselves obliged in 
conscience to live jieaceably and justly in civil society, shall in no ways 
be molested or prejudiced for their religious pei-suasion nr practice in 
matters uf faith and worship, nor shall they he compelled at any time to 
fiequent or maintain any religious worship, place or ministiy whatever. 

" Thirty-sixth. That according to the good example of the primitive 
chiistians, and for the ease of the creation, every first day of the week, 
called the Lord's day, peojde shall abstain from their common daily 
labour, that they may the better dispose themselves to worship God 
according to their understandings. 

" Thirty-seventh. That as careless and corrupt administration of jus- 
tice draws the wrath of God upon magistrates, so the wildness and loose- 
ness of the people provoke the indignation of God against a country: 
therefore, that all such oftences against God, as swearing, cursing, lying, 
prophane talking, drunkenness, drinking of healths, obscene words, 
incest, sodomy, rapes, whoredom, fornication, and other uncleanliness 



PENN'S COLONY FOUNDED ON THE DELAWAKE. 



97 



(not to be repeated). All treasons, misprisions, murders, duels, feloDiest 
seditions, maims, forcible entries, and other violences, to the persons and 
estates of the inhabitants within this province: all prizes, stage plays, 
cards, dice, may-games, masques, revels, boll-baitings, cock-fightings, 
bear-baitings, and the like, which incite the people to rudeness, cruelty, 
looseness, and irreligion, shall be respectively discouraged, and severely 
punished, according to the appointment of the governor and freemen in 
Provincial Council and General Assembly, as also all proceedings con- 
trary to these laws, that are not here made expressly penal. 

"Thirty-eighth. That a copy of these laws shall be hung up in the 
Provincial Council, and in publick courts of justice, and that they shall 
be read yearly, at the opening of every Provincial Council and General 
Assembly, and courts of justice, and their assent shall be testified by 
their standing up, after the reading thereof. 

"Thirty-ninth. That there shall be at no time any alteration of any 
of these laws, without the consent of the governor, his heirs or assigns, 
and six parts of seven of the freemen, met in Provincial Council and 
General Assembly. 

" Fortieth. That all other matteraaud things not herein provided for, 
which shall and may concern the publick justice, peace or safety of the 
said province; and tho raising and imposing taxes, customs, duties, or 
other charges whatsoever, shall be, and are hereby referred to the order, 
prudence and determiDBtion of the governor and freemen in Provincial 
Council and General Assembly, to be held from time to time in the said 
province. 

"Signed and sealed by the Governor and freemen aforesaid, the fifth 
day of the Third month, called May, one thousand six hundred and 
eighty-two." 

This code was a practical outline of the " Holy 
Experiment." It could be agreed upon in England, 
but must come with devoted colonists to the virgin 
soil of Pennsylvania for trial. These laws, so free 
from all repressive measures in relation to religious 
tolerance, were far in advance of all ecclesiastical or 
legislative thought in Europe, and, with but one nota- 
ble exception' among the provinces fringing the At- 
lantic coast in this country, were alike new and start- 
ling. The manner of perpetuating evidences of 
purchase and titles to landed estates, their liability 
for debt, the establishment of courts of justice, the 

1 But we must except the Catholic colony in Maryland, founded by Sir 

George Calvert, whose charter of 1632 and the act of toleration passed 
by the Assembly of Maryland in 1G49, under the inspiration of Sir 
George's son, Ciecilius, must be placed alongside of Penn's work. Two 
brighter lights in au ageof darkness never shone. Calvert's charter was 
written during the heat of the Thirty Years' religious war, Penn's Con- 
stitution at the moment when all Disssenters were persecuted in England 
and when Louis XIV. was about to revoke the Edict of Nantes. The 
"Virginians were expelling the Quakers and other sectaries. In New 
England the Puritan Separatists, themselves refugees for opinion's sake, 
martyrs to the cause of religious freedom, were making laws which were 
the embodiment of doubly distilled intolerance and persecution. Roger 
Williams was banished in 1635, in 1650 the Baptists were sent to the 
whipping-post, in 1634 there was a law passed for the expulsion of Ana- 
baptists, in lG-17 for the expulsion of Jesuits, and if they returned they 
were to be put to death. In 1656 it was decreed against " the cursed sect 
of heretics lately risen up in the world, whi.ch are commonly called 
Quakers." that captains of ships bringing them in were to be fined or im- 
prisoned, Quaker books, or*' writings containing their devilish opinions," 
were not to be imported, Quakers themselves were to be sent to the house 
ofcorrection,kept at work, made to remain silent, and severely whipped. 
This was what the contemporaries of Calvert and Penu did. We have 
seen Penn's law of liberty of conscience. Calvert's was equally liberal. 
The charter of Calvert was not to be interpreted so as to work any dim- 
inution of God's sacred Christian religion, open to all sects, Protestiint 
and Catholic, and the act of toleration and all preceding legislation, ofii- 
cial oaths, etc., breathed the same spirit of toleration and determination, 
in the words uf the oath of 16.i7, that none in the colony, by himself or 
other, directly or indirectly, will "trouble, molest, or discountenance 
any person professing to believe in Jesus Christ for or on account of his 
religion." 

7 



manner of distributing decedents' property, and the 
practical sundering of church and state all marked 
an era of progressive legislation. 

" There are few more striking differences between 
the mother-country and her colonies, from the first 
settlement of the latter down to the present day, than 
the system of registration of deeds, or, as it is gener- 
ally called here, their recording. It was a favorite 
object of the old common law — I mean long before 
the Conquest — that possession of land and its transfer 
should be open and notorious, and the livery of seisin 
(the mode of transfer long before the introduction of 
deeds) was made in the presence of others. And 
when later, though still in Saxon times, deeds came 
into use, it was the custom to transact all conveyances 
at the County Court, and enter a memorial of them 
in the ledger book of some adjacent monastery, and 
these gradually became the depositaries of the char- 
ters or title deeds of the great landed proprietaries. 
All such deeds as could be found were destroyed by 
William the Conqueror, as part of his policy that all 
titles should commence from himself, and thenceforth 
we lose, for several hundred years, all trace of any 
such thing as registration. Not only this, but with 
the introduction of Uses lands came to be secretly 
held and secretly conveyed, so that ' scantly any per- 
son could be certainly assured of any lands by them 
purchased, nor know surely against whom they should 
use their actions or executions for their rights, titles, 
and duties,' — so ran the preamble to the Statute of 
Uses, — ' to the utter subversion of the ancient common 
lawsof this realm.' In the same year of Henry VIII. 's 
reign there was passed both the Statute of Uses and 
the first of the present register acts still in force, viz., 
'The Statute for inrollment of bargains and sales.' 
But this, as also a subsequent local statute of Elizabeth, 
proved inoperative, first, by reason of being limited 
to deeds of estates of inheritance of freehold, and 
the device was soon introduced of a bargain and sale 
for a terra of years followed by a release of the re- 
version, which effectually evaded the statute, and, 
secondly, because neither was there a place assigned 
for keeping the records, nor was the registrar made 
responsible for his duty. During the time of the 
Commonwealth the subject was more than once pre- 
sented to Parliament, and unsuccessfully, and it was 
not until the reign of Anne that there was passed the 
first of the statutes now in force, providing with 
some care for the registration of all deeds in the 
West Riding of Yorkshire, and this was followed by 
similar local statutes in the same reign, and in those 
of William and Mary and George II. Their sum 
may be stated in that they applied to all the Ridings 
of York, the town and county of Kingston-upon-Hull, 
the county of Middlesex, and the Bedford Level 
Tract; and in the preambles to those statutes you 
will find how earnestly are set forth the evils sought 
to be cured by registration. But such has been the 
1 settled dislike of the people, or at least that land- 



98 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



holding portion of it whicli make tlie laws, that no- 
toriety or even possibility of knowledge outside of 
those concerned should attend the transfer of land that 
there has never been in England even an approach 
to the system which we have. Not that the subject 
has not been mooted. During the eighteenth century 
six registration bills were presented which never even 
went to a second reading. In the present century, in 
1815, a statute for a general registration was presented 
by Romilly, which shared the same fate. In 1829 
there was appointed the well-known commission, 
with Lord Campbell at its head, 'to inquire into 
the state of real property in England.' Prominent 
in the inquiry was registration, and you will find in 
the folio volumes of their report hundreds of pages 
of evidence of the ablest lawyers of the kingdom, — 
evidence as to the register counties, evidence as to the 
English colonies, evidence as to some of the United 
States, evidence as to Continental States, — the great 
weight of which the commission thought was de- 
cisive upon the question. Accordingly they reported 
a bill, which was introduced in an able speech by 
Campbell, and opposed by Sugden and others, but 
it only passed a first reading. You will find the 
subject again brought up in 18.31, in 1832, in 1833, 
and finally in 1834, after an elaborate debate, in 
which the opponents of the measure had really little 
more to urge than that there was a prejudice against 
it, the bill was lost on second reading by a vote of 
nearly three to one, and Campbell tells us in his auto- 
biography just published, with perhaps just a little 
malice, that it was owing to the country members 
being persuaded by their attorneys to vote against it. 
"In 1854 another royal commission was issued, 
which, after investigation, rejected the scheme for the 
registration of deeds, and recommended the registra- 
tion of titles, and such a bill was, in 1859, brought in 
by Sir Hugh Cairns. It was dropped, however, ana 
then, in 18G2, was passed Lord Westbury's act for 
the registration of indefeasible titles. These were 
very like the snakes in Iceland, — there were none, or 
at least very few, and the act practically came to 
nothing. Then came the Land Transfer Act of 1875, 
which was not compulsory, and came practically to 
nothing. Then, in 1878, was appointed a select com- 
mittee to report what steps should be taken to fticili- 
tate the transfer of land, and a mass of important and 
interesting testimony was taken under it, including 
that of Lord Cairns, then Chancellor, who thought 
that one of the great objections to registration was 
that ' in the English mind there was, at the bottom, a 
most profound respect for title deeds, and that when 
the supreme moment comes at which a man is told 
that he must part with all his title deeds, and receive 
in lieu a little piece of paper, which is to be the evi- 
dence of his title to the land, the sacrifice is too great 
for human nature to make, and he declines to make 
it.' The committee reported a bill in the session of 
1880, which went further than any of the previous 



ones, and it might have passed, but there were several 
other land bills of confessedly greater importance, 
such, Mr. Gladstone said, as the one as to ' ground 
game,' and accordingly, as we all remember, the 
House talked about ' the Hares and Rabbits Bill' till 
late into a late session. Finally there was passed the 
' Conveyancing and Law of Property Act,' which re- 
ceived the royal assent, but which omits any provi- 
sions as to general compulsory registration. 

" It is somewhat curious that it seems to be almost 
taken for granted in England that no system of regis- 
tration can be effectual which does not depend upon 
the good-will of the land-dealing community, — in 
other words, that there can be no such thing practi- 
cally as compulsory registration ; but it would seem 
that nothing can be simpler than to provide for the 
postponement of the unregistered deed to the regis- 
tered one, and this provision secures the practical, 
successful working of the system throughout the 
breadth of this country. 

" In contrast with the English system, how striking 
is the fact that from the earliest settlement of our 
colonies the benefits of registration were seen. In 
Pennsylvania, some years before the charier to Penn, 
it had been provided in the early provincial laws that 
every clerk of every Court of Sessions should enter 
all grants, bargains, sales, and mortgages of land, 
' together with the estates of the grantor and grantee, 
things and estates granted, together with the date 
thereof.' Then, in the ' Laws agreed upon in Eng- 
land,' shortly after the grant to Penn, provision was 
made for the registration of all charters, gifts, and 
conveyances of land, except leases for a year and 
under, 'in the public enrollment office of the prov- 
ince.' Tills was accordingly approved and enacted in 
the 'Great Law,' passed at Chester in 1682, and the 
next year it was declared that the laws as to registry 
should, like others deemed of great importance, such 
as those concerning liberty of conscience, liberty of 
property, liberty of person, open courts, speedy jus- 
tice, the laws to be in English, etc., be reputed and 
held for fundamental in the government of the prov- 
ince. 

" There is much curious learning about the various 
recording acts which were passed after this, in 1693, 
1700, 1705, 1710, and 1715, all of them except the 
last repealed by the Queen in Council, and much that 
is interesting and not generally known as to the re- 
peal of these laws and their re-enactment here at the 
singular intervals of five years. It is enough here to 
say that finally the act of 1715 was passed, which, es- 
caping the fate of repeal, remains in full force to-day. 
It provided, in effect, for a record office in every county, 
and that all deeds of lands properly acknowledged 
and recorded were to have the force and effect of 
deeds of feoffment with livery and seisin, or deeds 
enrolled in any of the king's courts at Westminster. 
Except as to mortgages, however, the statute was not 
compulsory, and it was not until 1775 that it was re- 



PENiN'S COLONY FOUNDED ON THE DELAWARE. 



99 



quired that all deeds and conveyances should be re- 
corded within six months after their execution, or 
else to be adjudged fraudulent and void against any 
subsequent purchaser or mortgagee for valuable con- 
sideration. It is natural to pass from the devolutioa 
of estates to their administration. 

" Penn's charter gave him power to establish among 
other things officers for the probate of wills, and for 
the granting of administration. 

" A little thought as to what was the law in Eng- 
land with respect to this will show how inapplicable 
was its machinery to the wants of the new colony, 
for England was then, as now, divided, ecclesiasti- 
cally, into the provinces of York and Canterbury ; 
each of these was divided into dioceses, and the 
bishop of each diocese where a decedent had his 
domicile possessed, by the name and style of the 
Ordinary, the jurisdiction of the probate of wills, the 
granting of letters testamentary, the appointment of 
administrators, and the control over them and their 
accounts, and the courts in which these and cognate 
matters came up for judicial action were ecclesiastical 
courts, of which the principal ones were the Preroga- 
tive Courts of Canterbury and York, the Peculiar, 
the Royal Peculiar, and certain manorial courts. 

" But while this was so as to the estates of decedents, 
the care of the persons and estates of infants had been 
from an early day vested in the sovereign as parens 
patriw, and was later exercised, as it is to this day, 
by the Court of Chancery. 

" But our colonists needed neither ecclesiastical 
courts for their decedents nor a parens patriae for their 
infants. Before the charter, provision had been al- 
ready made for the probate of wills and granting of 
administration by the Court of Sessions, as also for 
the distribution and sale of the estates of decedents, 
and for the filing of an inventory by ' all persons who 
have any estate in their possession belonging to any 
that are under age.' Provisions were made in the 
' Laws agreed upon in England,' as also in the ' Great 
Law,' for a register for births, marriages, burials, 
wills, and letters of administration, and the register- 
general was, after the charter, appointed by the Pro- 
prietary and granted letters. 

" The act of 1705 was precise as to the appointment 
by the Governor of the register-general, who should 
keep his office at Philadelphia, and from time to time 
constitute deputies in each of the other counties. 

"From the preamble to the act of 1712 it would 
seem that no register-general, either for the other 
counties or even for Philadelphia, had been appointed, 
and the provisions of the act of 170.5 were thereby re- 
enacted, with others, providing for the appointment 
of a register-general by ' the commissioners, agents, 
or stewards of the Proprietary,' if he should neglect, 
and in case of their neglect by the judges of the 
Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. 

" The law as to registers remained unaltered till the 
Revolution, when, owing to the change of govern- 



ment, the office of register-general was by the act of 
1777 abolished, and an office called the ' Register's 
Office' established in each county and such is sub- 
stantially the law to the present day. 

" To the register and the Register's Court was com- 
mitted that class of cases relating to decedents' estates 
which were cognizable by the Ecclesiastical Courts in 
England ; and this continued until, by our recent 
Constitution of 1874, the jurisdiction of the Register's 
Court was transferred to the Orphans' Court. 

"The Orphans' Court had a different origin, and 
was taken from one of the customs of London. If the 
sovereign had, as we have seen, ss parens palrim, the 
care of the persons and estates of infants, the 'cus- 
tom of orphanage, one of the most considerable cus- 
toms of London, as it respects the children of free- 
men who died possessed of great personal estates,' 
was of at least equal antiquity. The Court of Or- 
phans was held before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen 
of the city of London, and the custom was that ' if 
any freeman or freewoman die, leaving orphans 
within age, unmarried, the said court have the cus- 
tody of their body and goods.' To this end execu- 
tors and administrators were bound to exhibit true 
inventories before it, and to become bound to the 
chamberlain to the use of the orphans to make a true 
account upon oath, on pain of commitment. As in 
the case of a ward in chancery it was a contempt to 
marry one without the leave of the court, it was 
equally a contempt of the Court of Orphans, who 
promptly acted by fine and imprisonment, and, as 
was and is the case with the Court of Chancery, only 
released its severity upon submission by the offender 
and making a proper settlement. 

" Many of the colonists came from the city of Lon- 
don, and it was natural that some of the laws upon 
our early statute books, and some of our customs not 
found in written laws, were the same as those accord- 
ing to the custom of London. We have already no- 
ticed the early and vague laws of 1676, of 1683, and 
of 1693, but in 1701 was passed a law of greater 
precision. It was an elaborate act for establishing 
courts of judicature, and gave to the Orphans' Court 
jurisdiction over all persons intrusted with the prop- 
erty, real and personal, of orphans or persons under 
age, either as guardians, tutors, trustees, executors, or 
administrators. You will observe that this was still 
an Orphans' Court; it bad no jurisdiction over execu- 
tors or administrators, except as to the property of 
7ninors in their hands, and as to such property, its 
jurisdiction extended to both lands and chattels. This 
was in 1701. Then in 1705 was passed the intestate 
law we have already referred to, by which adminis- 
trators (not executors) were to account to the Orphans' 
Court (meaning the Orphans' Court under the act of 
1701), which also had jurisdiction of the distribution 
of the surplus, the partition of the real estate of in- 
testates, and its sale for the payment of debts and 
maintenance of children. But in the same year the 



C«'C 



100 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Orphans' Court Act of 1701 was repealed in England, 
and the Intestate Act of 1705 stood, so to speak, 
alone, and this continued for eight years. Then in 
1813 was passed ' An Act for establishing Orphans' 
Courts,' under which and its supplements we acted 
until the revised statute of 1832. Reciting the ex- 
istence and repeal of the former laws, and that thereby 
orphans and persons concerned for them or intrusted 
with their estates labored under great inconveniences, 
the Orphans' Court, composed of the judges of the 
Court of Quarter Sessions in each county, was estab- 
lished as a court of record, and jurisdiction given 
over all persons who, as guardians, trustees, tutors, 
executors, administrators, or otherwise, should be in- 
trusted with or accountable for lands, tenements, 
goods, or estates belonging to any orphan or person 
under age. The register was obliged to transmit to 
the Orphans' Court copies of all inventories, accounts, 
etc., power was given to the court to dismiss adminis- 
trators in certain cases, and to exercise all the juris- 
diction granted to the Orphans' Court by the Intestate 
Act of 1705; and so things remained until after the 
Revolution. Since then various supplements to the 
act of 1713 and other acts have greatly enlarged the 
power of the Orphans' Court, and in the Constitutions 
of 1776 and 1790 the Orphans' Court was enumerated 
as one of the courts of the Commonwealth. Still, 
however, its precise position was less settled and de- 
fined than that of any court thei-ein. Though ex- 
pressly created a court of record, and as such coming 
within the rule of all English-speaking countries, that 
its judgments could not be inquired into collaterally, 
cases were decided in which the rule was applied, and 
others in which it was not. The reasons for this were 
clearly given by the revisers of our code when, in 
1830, they were expressly directed, such was the 
urgency of the case, to give their first attention to 
the several statutes relating to the settlement of ac- 
counts before registers and proceedings in the Orphans' 
Courts. 'The peculiar structure of that court,' said 
they, 'its extremely ill defined sphere of jurisdiction, 
the magnitude of the interests upon which it operates, 
the uncertainty of the code of law by which it is reg- 
ulated, and its equally uncertain and insufficient 
practice and process serve to surround with difficul- 
ties every attempt to frame a regular system for 
it.' 

" The act reported and passed brought harmony and 
symmetry to the subject, although the court was still 
composed of judges of the Courts of Common Pleas. 
Finally, by the Constitution of 1874, the Orphans' 
Court was erected into a separate and independent 
tribunal, the separate Registers' Courts were abolished, 
their jurisdiction given to the Orphans' Court, and 
the register himself made the clerk of the court. Its 
jurisdiction and that of the register may be thus 
briefly summed up: 

" 1. The register has the old jurisdiction of the 
ordinary in England as to the probate of wills and 



the granting of letters testamentary and of adminis- 
tration, and in his office are filed the accounts of 
executors, administrators, guardians, and testament- 
ary trustees ; there his power ceases. 

"2. The Orphans' Court has the power of dismissal 
of executors and administrators and the appointment 
of others in their place, the settlement of their ac- 
counts and the distribution of the personal estate, 
and so fiir its jurisdiction is in analogy to that of the 
Ecclesiastical Courts. But, above and beyond this, 
its large and extended jurisdiction, including every 
case in which the estate of a decedent or the care 
of infants and their property is involved, is in anal- 
ogy to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery, and 
is exercised substantially in the same manner. Mean- 
while, in England, it was not until our own time that 
any substantial change was m.ade,and the jurisdiction 
of the Ecclesiastical Courts continued as for centuries 
it had until the year 1857, when by the act of 20 
and 21 Victoria, c. 77, the jurisdiction and authority 
of all ecclesiastical and other courts in the probate 
of wills and granting administration were given to 
the Court of Probate. And now by virtue of the 
Probate Court is exercised by the Probate, Divorce, 
and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Jus- 
tice." • 

Penn's work of preparation for his departure from 
England was completed by August, 1682. The 
"Welcome," under command of Robert Greenway, 
had shipped her stores, her crew was in service, and 
the "jolly tars" waited with impatience for the 
"Governor of the Colony" and the adventurous 
people who were to cross the ocean with them to 
come on board. 

August 30th, he wrote his " valedictory epistle to 
England" and his affectionate farewell to his wife 
and children. 

September 1st, he was ready to sail, in the posses- 
sion of a charter for a province and future State, 
protected by the flag of his native land, his system 
of government prepared for submission to the free 
men of Pennsylvania. His Deputy Governor Mark- 
ham, Surveyor-General Thomas Holme, and Special 
Commissioners Nathaniel Allen, John Bezar, and 
William Crispin were busy in preparing the minds 
of the settlers and the watchful Indian chiefs for, his 
coming. Surrounded by the hundred and more con- 
fiding souls that had taken passage with him, he 
keenly felt the responsibility of the hour and situa- 
tion ; but, with settled purpose and convictions deep- 
ened by years of painful experience, he sought con- 
solation and repose of mind in the hopefulness of a 
near and still more eventful future among a free 
people and in a new country. As. the time of Penn's 
arrival approached, expectancy was intense among the 
settlers on the Delaware. The sale of lands by his 
agents, over five hundred thousand acres, with ships 

1 William Hoary Kiwle.Esij.: Pennaylvania and Kngliflh Law. 



MATERIAL IMPROVEMENTS. 



115 



accommodations for Masonic lodge and post-office; 
Western Marl^et-House and Hall, at Kohn and Mar- 
shall Streets. Conspicuous among Norristown's latest 
public improvements is the great State Hospital for 
the Insane. The fire department of the borough con- 
sists of the Norris, Humane, and Montgomery Hose 
and Steam Fire-Engines, and the Fairmount Hose or 
Hook-and-Ladder Company. All of these associa- 
tions have erected large three-story brick engine- 
houses with capacious halls ; the first especially is 
one of the stateliest edifices in the town, and it is not 
an over-estimate to value the apparatus and real 
estate of all the firemen of Norristown at near a hun- 
dred thousand dollars. 

Pottstown. — Very soon after the completion of the 
Norristown Railroad, which started the villages of 
the lower Schuylkill, the great Philadelphia and 
Reading was opened to the public along and through 
the whole southwestern border of the county, fur- 
nishing another rapid way to Philadelphia market.' 
The opening of this road started Pottstown from its 
sleep of nearly a century, a place which enjoys the 
rare distinction of being the first laid-out town in the 
county, having been surveyed and designed for a 
city by John Potts in 1753, thus antedating Norris- 
town over thirty years. Like his great exemplar, 
William Penn, he placed the streets at right angles 
and in line with the cardinal points, and High or 
Main Street, like Market Street, Philadelphia, was 
laid out near a hundred feet wide. But notwith- 
standing its site, almost level as a floor, seemed formed 
for a city far above the line of overflow from the 
river, and in the midst of rich bottom land, above 
and below, it improved little until the railroad broke 
in upon its rural slumber, about 1842. It was, how- 
ever, incorporated as a borough in 1815, and for 
many years from that period justly sought to become 
a county-seat of adjoining parts of Chester, Berks, 
and Montgomery Counties, under various names, but 
finally "Madison." That enterprise failed through 
purely selfish and political motives among the people 
of the opposing county towns ; but Pottstown ad- 
vanced, nevertheless, through the new-born energy 
already described. Since 1845 its three churches 
have increased to ten, including the following: 
Episcopal, 1833; Methodist Episcopal, 1839; St. 
Aloysius' (Catholic), 1850; Presbyterian, 1853; First 
Baptist, 1859; Salem Church (Evangelical Associa- 
tion), 1870; African Methodist Episcopal Church, 
same year. During this period also Friends' Meeting 
was rebuilt (1876), and the Reformed and Lutheran 

1 The author recalls an incident worth recording here to show bow the 
railroad broke iu upon settled notions and habits of farmers of the upper 
townships: An enterprising Pliiladelphian, about 1845, passed up to 
Pottstown, and thence came downward to Norristown, soliciting far- 
mers on the way to contract for daily supplies of milk, deliverable at 
the stations, for coosumption in Philadelphia, without securing a single 
contract, although he offered cash on delivery. Farmers had not 
thought of it, aud were afraid to try what has now grown into an im- 
mense trade. 



Churches erected separate edifices, which were fin- 
ished 1870 and 1872. 

The manufacturing industry of the borough has 
rested on a solid basis for many years, there being 
several corporations combining very heavy capital, 
and in matters of town improvements, such as gas, 
hydrant-water, markets, and the like ; the first was 
secured by a company, which erected works in 1858 ; 
the second by another corporation, 1869; and the 
last by another, still earlier, which also furnishes a 
public hall, with additional lodge-rooms above. 

The fire department of Pottstown is now well or- 
ganized, having two steam fire-engines, the com- 
panies being named "Good- Will" and "Philadel- 
phia" ; they have hose-carriages annexed, and all 
their apparatus is of the most efficient description. 

The school department has two or three large 
houses, including the former academy building. 
Like Norristown, the borough has passed its original 
; barriers two or three times, there being extensive ad- 
ditions of laid-out and improved streets on the north, 
and especially eastward, now being rapidly covered 
with buildings. The large blast-furnace just over the 
Manatawny, added to the immense iron-works and 
other manufactures of iron in the borough proper, 
gives Pottstown a fair claim to contest with Consho- 
hocken the title of " iron-clad." Pottstown has 
founded two public cemeteries, a little out of town, — 
" Pottstown" and " Edgewood." The town maintains 
two or three well-conducted newspapers, and from its 
grand site, and public-spirited, wealthy inhabitants 
also, we infer that at no distant day it will become 
a considerable city. Population (by census 1880), 
5305. 

Conshohocken. — The manufacturing town of Mont- 
gomery County is Conshohocken, which at the open- 
ing of the era under consideration hardly had a place 
on any printed map ; its population now cannot be 
less than five thousand souls. When Plymouth dam 
and the aqueduct over the creek of that name were 
being built by the Navigation Company, a few acres 
of land adjoining were purchased by it for conveni- 
ence in prosecuting its work at that place, which, 
after the canal was finished, were sold to John 
Freedley and James Wells, of Norristown. The 
latter built a hotel aud store on the line of the rail- 
road (site of present station), and the former erected 
below the canal on the river bank a mill for sawing 
marble, which was run by water-power for some years 
by Freedley & Heebner, the senior partner supplying 
much of the stone from quarries worked or owned by 
him in Massachusetts. A few years later they sold 
the residue of their purchase in lots to improvers, 
which was the beginning of the town. David Harry 
erected also a flouring-mill on the bank of the river 
(site of the present print-works), and just above it, 
driven also by water-power of the canal company, 
James Wood erected, 1832, a mill to manufacture 
spades, saws, and other tools, as also sheet-iron. 



116 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Tliese mills were the nucleus from which the present 
immense maiiufjictures of the place have sprung. It 
is needless to add more, as these will be treated of 
elsewhere. The further extension of streets and 
building improvements was promoted by sale.s of 
land eastward of the town by Isaac Jones, along 
Hector Street, and later by Benjamin Harry, who 
sold nineteen acres along Fayette Street, on the rear 
centre of the town. Tliat main avenue, turnpiked in 
1847 (which was the township line between Plymouth 
and White Marsh), is already adorned by numerous 
palatial mansions, and by a handsome Episcopal 
Church, chapel, and adjacent rectory, which last 
property in completeness would do credit to any 
city. The borough has also a Presbyterian, Cath- 
olic, Baptist, Methodist, and an African Methodist 
Church, as also a handsome ijublic hall, with market 
and lodge-rooms combined, the last three stories and 
a Mansard roof, built by a company, 1872. Two 
other corporations, chartered a few years ago, have 
erected water- and gas-works. The Washington Hose 
and Steam Fire-Engine Company erected in 1878 a 
handsome and substantial building for their steamer 
and hose- carriage, which, with the superior apparatus, 
is valued at twelve thousand dollars. In addition to 
a substantial open iron bridge over the river, Con- 
shohocken has two large public school buildings, and 
another owned by the Catholics. Considerable atten- 
tion has been given recently to grading, curbing, and 
paving the sidewalks, and the population is increasing 
quite as rapidly as any town of the county. It was 
chartered May, 1850. 

West Conshohocken. — This new borough, formerly 
called by an Indian name, Baligomingo, now just en- 
tering its second decade as a corporate town (char- 
tered 1874), owe.s its chief importance to the valuable 
water-power of Gulf Creek and to the extensive 
woolen manufactures of George Bullock and others 
near by, as also the extensive blast-furnace of Moore- 
head & Co. The latter works are established on 
territory taken from Lower Merion, and the former 
belonged to Upper Merion, the borough limits as in the 
case of East Conshohocken being taken from two ad- 
joining townships. Population (1880), 1462. Mostof 
the manufactories of the borough line the ravine of 
Gulf Creek, and being so situated the town offers 
little opportunity for street improvements, and yet its 
one or two avenues, as also the upper ones, are kept 
in superior condition. Here, in this mountain-like 
glen, fifty years ago. Bethel Moore successfully carried 
on the manufacture of woolen cloths, the first in our 
county. The borough contains a number of mills, a 
church, and some school buildings, as also a reservoir 
on the hillside to provide water for extinguishing 
fires. 

Bridgeport. — This is the fourth borough of the 
county in order of incorporation, being one year 
younger than Conshohocken, its charter dating Feb. 
27, 1851. It was in its early history called Evans- 



ville, after its then owner, Elisha Evans. It possesses 
a number of manufactories of textile fabrics, a paper- 
mill, market-house and hall combined, a Baptist and 
a Presbyterian Church, and the extensive depots of 
the Heading and Chester Valley Railroads. It also 
has a number of stores, and just below its corporate 
limits perhaps the largest manufactory of mixed 
woolens on the line of the Schuylkill, owned by the 
Lees Brothers. The population of Bridgeport is 
1802. 

Hatboroagh. — The name of this lower end borough 
comes down to us from colonial times, said to have 
been named from a manufactory of hats established 
there before the Revolution, though the village was 
as often called " The Billet," or " Crooked Billet," 
from a tavern sign which bore that name or symbol, 
no doubt of English importation. The place is one 
of the oldest settled districts of the county, and is 
full of historical and legendary remains. It was the 
residence of Col. Robert Lollar, of Revolutionary 
fame, and Hon. Nathaniel B. Boileau, both distin- 
guished and active business men in the early days of 
our county. It contains a public library, the oldest 
and most extensive in our bounds, an academy, with 
many handsome residences and churches. Hatbor- 
ough is no exception to the rule that our recent bor- 
oughs owe their corporate existence to the railroad, 
as the locality was densely settled for years past, but 
only erected into a municipality in 1871, when being 
opened to railroad travel. The borough contains also 
two or three schools, which occupy the academy ; it 
has a weekly paper, and a handsome monument to 
commemorate the resting-place of soldiers killed by 
the British during the Revolution. Population (1880), 
586. 

Jenkintown. — This younger sister of Hatborough 
was chartered 1874, also made up mainly of old set- 
tled families in Abington township, and organized 
into a borough to provide local improvements. It 
has one of the oldest Presbyterian Church buildings, 
and near by one of the oldest Friends' in the county. 
It contains also an Episcopal, a Catholic, and a Meth- 
odist Church, and numerous fine buildings of the 
olden style, as also some of modern elegance. There 
have been recently built a bank, a large school build- 
ing, and a Masonic Hall. Population, 810. 

Lansdale. — This young thriving borough, which 
only dates its charter from 1872, owes its rare distinc- 
tion as a manufacturing place to the North Pennsyl- 
vania, the Stony Creek and Doylestown Branches of 
that railroad, which intersect at that point. Heeb- 
uer's agricultural machine-works are famous all over 
the Union, as also known in places abroad. It is 
taken from Gwynedd and Hatfield townships, is fully 
surveyed and carefully laid out, and for a town of its 
age is wonderfully improved. It lies over a plain on 
both sides of the North Pennsylvania Railroad ; it 
has two or three public schools, a Reformed and a 
Methodist Church, a bank, and a weekly newspaper. 



MATERIAL IMPROVEMENTS. 



117 



It is destined to be a place of great importance, and 
its population, at present 798, is growing rapidly. For 
the purpose of supplying pure water it has put down 
an artesian well. 

North Wales. — This is the elder sister of the bor- 
ough just described, being distant from it about two 
miles, and chartered in 1869. It was taken from 
Gwyuedd township, and is situated on the Sumney- 
town and Spring House turnpike, on elevated ground, 
and beside the North Pennsylvania Railroad. Like 
its neighbor, it has grown up within little over a 
decade. It contains a Reformed, Baptist, Lutheran, 
and Methodist Episcopal Church, two or three school 
buildings, and a fine seminary, a steam-flouring mill, 
bell foundry, and other manufactures, as also a 
weekly newspaper. The town has been carefully sur- 
veyed and laid out into streets, and active means have 
been employed to place its avenues and walks in good j 
condition; population (1880), 673. 

Green Lane. — This is one of the latest boroughs, j 
chartered 1875, and has been surveyed and laid out 
into streets and building lots. It is situated on Per- 
kiomen Creek, in Marlborough township, on the 
Sumneytown and Spring House pike, and covers one 
hundred and fifty-four acres of ground. It is the old 
locality of Schall's Forge, which was famous in its 
day, and as it is adjacent to the Perkiomen Railroad, 
it will doubtless grow rapidly. Population, last 
census, 187. 

East Greenville. — This borough is taken out of 
Upper Hanover township, and is also situated near 
the Perkiomen Railroad ; it was incorporated 1875, 
and contains considerable improvements, consisting 
of a seminary for both sexes, one or two churches, 
schools, cigar manufactories, and other industries. It 
is on Green Lane and Goshenhoppen turnpike. Popu- 
lation, 331. 

Royer's Ford. — This youngest of the boroughs was 
chartered 1879. It is a thriving manufacturing town, 
taken out of the lower corner of Limerick township, 
and is situated on the Schuylkill, where the river was 
formerly crossed by a deej), dangerous ford. There 
is a substantial bridge here now, connecting it witli 
the borough of Spring City, in Chester County. Some 
years ago an extensive stove foundry was established 
there, which, with other manufactures, have caused 
an influx of population. There have been recently 
erected two or three churches, and a fire company has 
been organized. The streets are being graded and 
rapidly improved. Population, 558. 

The foregoing hasty review of the boroughs was 
not undertaken or designed as a full exhibit of the 
material development of large centres of population, 
but only to show how corporate towns spring up as 
by magic in this labor-saving, railroad age. But 
to complete the picture we must name in order 
the other villages of the couuty which are on a 
like career, such as Trappe, Freeland, Collegeville, 



Schwenksville, Iron Bridge, Gilbertsville, and Sum- 
neytown ; Valley Forge, Port Kennedy, Swedesburg, 
Spring Mill, Pencoyd, and West Manayunk, on the 
line of the Schuylkill; Barren Hill, Marble Hall, 
Plymouth Meeting, Flourtown, Edge Hill, Chelten- 
ham, Ashborne, Kulpsville, and Centre Square, in the 
centre; Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Merion Square, and 
the rural seats (almost rivaling the outlying villas 
which once stood around ancient Rome) now spread- 
ing over the plateau beside the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road, in Lower Merion. 

But new ideas and methods of living are not con- 
fined to towns and villages, they extend to the re- 
motest farm-house. Free schools and improved land, 
with ready access to market, have excited all over 
the county a desire for more easy and eflicient 
methods of farming and other production. Years 
ago farmers threw aside sickles, scythes, and hand- 
rakes, resolving to keep abreast of the times by using 
horse-power implements to cultivate, gather, and pre- 
pare farm products for market. Thus by improved 
tillage upon limed land, with use of other fertilizers, 
crops have been nearly doubled ; and now, instead of 
spending two months of exhaustive labor, as formerly, 
to gather and store a harvest, it is done in a fortnight. 
Thus, also, increased profit in agriculture excited a 
desire for more comfortable dwellings, capacious 
barns, more elegant equipages and attire, as also 
handsomer churches, and more roomy and convenient 
school-houses. 

Travelers on the continent of Europe inform us 
that in many parts, especially in rural departments of 
France, the people are seen using the rude imple- 
ments of husbandry and wearing the same style of 
attire that their fathers and mothers wore almost cen- 
turies ago ; while here, on the contrary, observant 
people of advanced years express wonder and aston- 
ishment on visiting hardware-stores and other depots 
of merchandise, at beholding new, handy, inge- 
nious, and often almost unimaginable contrivances 
for farmers', householders', and mechanics' uses. 
And no well-filled grocery is without manufactured 
viands, syrups, and canned edibles without number, 
showing to what a prodigious stretch of activity the 
industrial mind of the country is brought in this 
labor-saving or rather labor-combination era. 

No sooner did the railroad get into operation across 
our territory than the telegraph wire followed it, thus 
putting us into instantaneous communication with 
the outside world. Now, poles and wires pass along 
many leading highways, as along all railroads ; and 
still again the telephone, which enables us to con- 
verse with friends or correspondents in distant places, 
is also established in most of our chief towns ; but, 
more wonderful than all, the electric light is coming, 
which will nearly actualize the Bible expression, 
" There shall be no night," for the sun or its reflex, 
electricity, almost turns night into pure daylight. 
But the two grandest elevators — we might say insti- 



118 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



tutions — of society in this last quarter of the century 
are the reaping- or mowing-machine of the farmer 
and sewing-macliine of the household. By their use 
the man or woman who employs either has quadru- 
pled his or her productive power, thus approximating 
the philosophic principle of the machine itself, — "an 
instrument that produces, but consumes nothing." 

Our proximity to the great cities and large manu- 
facturing towns has also nearly revolutionized agri- 
culture in another particular. The farmers of Mont- 
gomery County, instead of raising beef, pork, and 
mutton for Philadelphia market, as formerly, have to 
some extent come to consuming meat grown and 
fattened on the great plains of the far West, and it is no 
unusual thing to see beef-cattle driven through our 
streets bearing the brands of herders of Texas or Ari- 
zona. Thus transformed, husbandry in our county 
largely takes the exclusive type of "the dairy," 
boys and men doing the milking, while the product 
is worked into marketable shape at "creameries," 
now recently built and furnished all over the county, 
the latter worked also by men and boys, while many 
of our mothers and .sisters only ply the needle and 
sewing-machine, or perhaps finger the piano or harp. 

Another institution of the present, though not ma- 
terial in nature, must be mentioned in this connec- 
tion as at the bottom of nearly half the town im- 
provements which have sprung up during this era, — 
we refer to building, savings, and loan associations. 
These enable mechanical and manufacturing em- 
ployes in our towns to build themselves homes, with 
a reasonably sure opportunity of paying for them in 
installments, by help of loans which cannot be fore- 
closed until savings have secured a dwelling free of 
debt. 

But in nothing has the progress of society been 
more marked and surprising than in the various so- 
cial or voluntary associations to protect individual 
members against the ills of life, as beneficial and in- 
surance companies, such as fire, life, health, and 
accident insurance companies, including farmers' in- 
stitutes, fairs, and the like. 

The Montgomery Agricultural Society was formed, 
and buildings erected at Springtovvn, two miles north- 
east of Norristown, as early as 1848, which had a suc- 
cessful career for several years, its fairs being well 
attended and salutary in their influence. A few years 
after it was removed to near Norristown, and mei'ged 
into the " East Pennsylvania Agricultural and Me- 
chanical Society," which continued a number of 
years ; but dissensions arising, many members of the 
original society reorganized under the old name, and 
purchased land at Ambler, Upper Dublin, and erected 
new buildings, which after some years has somewhat 
declined again, in consequence of the predominance 
of the sporting over the strictly farming class of pa- 
trons. These county agricultural associations and 
fairs, when properly conducted, cannot be too highly 
commended as educational institutions. 



After nearly thirty years' experience the various 
fire, storm, and live-stock insurance companies have 
come to be among our most valued corporations, fur- 
nishing as they do reliable insurance at cost. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE SCHUYLKILL.i 



The river Schuylkill has its origin from two small 
streams which rise in the Broad Mountain, in Rush 
township, Schuylkill Co. Following its windings to 
where it empties into the Delaware, which is five 
miles below Philadelphia, its total length is about 
one hundred and twenty-five miles, flowing in its 
general course, a southeasterly direction. Its prin- 
cipal tributaries in Schu7,'lkill County are the Little 
Schuylkill, Bear, and Tumbling Creeks ; in Berks 
County, Maiden and Tulpehocken Creeks ; in Mont- 
gomery County, Manatawny, Perkiomen, and Stony 
Creeks ; in Chester County, Pigeon and French 
Creeks; and in Philadelphia, the Wissahickon. Fol- 
lowing its courses the Schuylkill laves the shores of 
Montgomery County for about forty miles. 

On it in this distance are located nine townships 
and six boroughs, namely : Pottsgrove, Limerick, 
Upper Providence, Lower Providence, Norriton, 
Plymouth, White Marsh, Upper Merion, and Lower 
Merion townships ; and Pottstown, Royer's Ford, Nor- 
ristown, Bridgeport, Coushohocken, and West Consho- 
hocken boroughs. Within these limits it is spanned 
by no less than thirteen noble bridges ; railroads 
pass on its eastern and western margins, while itself 
has been made navigable for boats of one hundred 
and eighty tons. These grand improvements, won- 
derful to relate, have been chiefly eflfected within 
three-fourths of a century. They show the energy, 
the thrift and enterprise of our countrymen in these 
latter days, for two hundred and sixty-eight years 
have passed away since its first discovery by the 
European. What a subject is here ofl'ered for reflec- 
tion ! 

Within these limits there are no mountains, though 
the country is most agreeably diversified by undulat- 
ing hills and valleys, interspersed with towns, villages, 
and various manufacturing establishments, all beau- 
tifully situated by its banks, or nestled near by in 
some lateral valley. Though not on a grand scale, 
yet few valleys in any country for the same distance 
can boast of more lovely and varied picturesque 
scenery, sometimes meandering through broad cul- 
tivated fields and fertile plains, on which are studded, 
like gems in a casket, substantial stone houses and 
barns ; next, on some eminence, may be seen an ele- 
gant country-seat ; then it sweeps past bits of wood- 

1 Bv Wm. J. Buck. 



THE SCHUYLKILL. 



119 



land, tufting the hill-slopes, or contracted by a bolder 
bluff of rocks ; then, again, follow in succession the 
park-like islands, so gently reposing on its bosom, 
and the long stretches of green meadow. Here is to 
be found the utile et duke of the ancients to a greater 
degree than perhaps in any other section of equal ex- 
tent in our wide-spread republic. And however 
much the hand of improvement may alter this 
valley it will still present those ever-varying suc- 
cession of scenes which charm the landscape and are 
the admiration of every traveler. 

In the year 1609, Capt. Henry Hudson, an English- 
man in the service of the Dutch East India Company, 
it is believed, touched at the mouth of what is now 
known as Delaware Bay ; but, finding shoal water 
and fearful of grounding, he retired, and in a few 
days after entered the harbor of New York and 
sailed up the rivef*to which his name has been given. 
In the summer of 1610, it is said. Lord Delaware, 
while on his voyage to Virginia as Governor, entered 
the bay which now bears his name, as well as the 
large river that empties into it. In 1612 the Dutch 
commenced settlements at Fort Orange, now Albany, 
and at Manhattan Island, the present site of the 
city of New York. Capt. Hendrickson, a Dutchman, 
liaving built a yacht at Manhattan, called the " On- 
rust," which in English means restless, of only sixteen 
tons burden, set out on a voyage of discovery in 
1616. From a map which he made of this expedi- 
tion, it would appear as if he had sailed along the 
coast from Nova Scotia to the capes of Virginia. 
While on this trip he entered Delaware Bay and 
ascended its river as far as the Schuylkill, which he 
entered a short distance, and in consequence is, there- 
fore, entitled to the honor of being its discoverer. 

The origin of any name that has for a long time 
been applied to an object whicli in itself is permanent 
and likely to remain so is ever interesting to the in- 
habitants of the vicinity, especially when of a local 
nature. In consequence, before proceeding further in 
this undertaking, it may be well to venture on an 
explanation, if not rather an investigation of the 
name of Schuylkill, as well as of several others that 
have been applied to it. The Indians, it appears, had 
several names for this stream. One was " Nittaboc- 
kunk," which we know was applied in 1655, if not 
earlier. In the deeds of purchase from the Indians 
to William Penn, in 1683 and 1685, it is called 
"Manaiunk." John Heckewelder, the missionary, 
says it was called by the natives " Ganschowehanne," 
which signified, in their language, a stream whose 
falls and ripples make a noise. Mr. Heckewelder's 
statement is doubted, for the reason that no authority 
has yet been found to corroborate that the Indians 
had ever called it by this name. The Swedes, as may 
be seen on Peter Lindstrom's map of " New Sweden," 
made in 1655, also called it the " Linde Kileu," or 
Linden Stream, from the large trees of this kind that 
grew along its banks. Its present name of Schuylkill 



was given it by the Dutch, very probably by Capt. 
Hendrickson, in 1616; if not, it bore this name at 
least seventeen years later. By means of a rare 
work, entitled " Woordenbock der Nederduitsche in 
Fransche Taalen," by Francois Halma, published at 
Amsterdam, in 1729, we are enabled to give some light 
as to the origin of the Dutch name of this stream. 
Schuil, or Schuilen, in the Dutch signifies concealed 
or hidden, that is, by land or otherwise ; Kil signifies 
a channel, stream, or river. Therefore the meaning of 
Schuil-Kil, or Schuilen-Kil (the way it is spelled in 
the Dutch, and as it should be now written), is Hid- 
den River, or Concealed Stream. This name was given 
it by its discoverers from the fact of its mouth being 
so concealed by several low islands that the river can- 
not be found till actually entered, to the truth of 
which the writer can vouch from personal observa- 
tion while ascending the Delaware and entering the 
Schuylkill. 

Respecting a knowledge of this river, we can also 
glean some valuable additional information from early 
maps. The map of New Netherlands accompanying 
John Ogilby's " America," published at London in 
1671 , is remarkable for having it denoted thereon as the 
" Schuylkill," precisely the orthography of this day. 
According to Roggeveen's map, published at Amster- 
dam in 1676, its stream is represented up to about 
the present town of Manayunk. In Gabriel Thomas' 
"Historical and Geographical Account of the Prov- 
ince of Pensilvania," printed at London in 1698, the 
Schuylkill is represented from its union with the 
Delaware upwards of one-third its length, with the 
Wissahickon, Perkiomen, and the Manatawny, and 
their several leading branches emptying therein, with 
great accuracy considering so early a date, clearly 
demonstrating that at that time all of the present 
territory of Montgomery County must have been 
pretty well explored. In consequence this map pos- 
sesses an unusual interest, which it appears has hitherto 
entirely escaped the observation of our historians. 

Orders were given in 1633 to Arent Corsson, the 
commissary of Fort Nassau, by authority of Governor 
Van Twiller, of Manhattan, to purchase a tract of 
land on the Schuylkill on which to erect a fort; for 
the Dutch had this year commenced upon its waters 
the vigorous prosecution of the fur trade with the 
natives, particularly for that of the beaver, regarded 
as not only the most valu.able but profitable of all the 
peltries. This traflic had so increased along this val- 
ley that in 1643 no less than two thousand one hun- 
dred and twenty-sevenpackagesof skins were shipped 
at one time to Europe. By 1648, Corsson concluded 
his purchase from several Indian chiefs to the satis- 
faction of the West India Company, a record of which 
was placed in their office. The fort was now soon 
completed, called " Beversrede," and was stated to be 
a place remarkably well situated, and was named thus 
on account of the beaver trade which was carried on 
there so extensively with the Indians. This fo't, it is 



120 



HISTORY OF MONTGOiMERY COUNTY. 



supposed, stood at or near the present Gray's Ferry, 
near the lower or western extremity of the city of 
Philadelphia. This trade, it appears, had increased so 
by 165G that the documents of the company speak of 
it as the " great beaver trade of the Schuylkill." The 
result was that the business so stimulated the enter- 
prise of the Indians that by constant and persistent 
trapping and hunting the animals became scarce and 
higher prices were demanded. These skins were also 
used for currency, and in the payment for imported 
goods; the standard value fixed on each by the Gov- 
ernor was eight guilders, or 13.S. 4rf., equivalent to three 
dollars, no inconsiderable value for that time. Their 
greatest resort, the Little Schuylkill, in consequence 
was called by the Delaware Indians "Tamaquan," 
signifying the Beaver Stream, from whence Tamaqua, 
the name of this animal. The Dutch under the 
auspices of the company, being actuated by mere 
traffic and a love for gain, did little for the progress 
or development of the country, hence at last their 
easy subjugation by the English. 

Though unknown to the generality of our people, 
the Schuylkill was about a century and a half ago 
the scene of a violent struggle between those who 
resided on its shores in this county and those who 
navigated its waters in canoes from the upper country, 
now better known as Berks, while on their voyages 
with produce to the Philadelphia markets. This was 
a contest that lasted many years, and in which both 
parties contended for their respective interests, which 
here unfortunately came in conflict. With what nov- 
elty at the present day must we view such a struggle, 
when we reflect on the many and mighty changes 
that man and time have wrought on this river. When 
we behold its canals, with their deeply-laden boats, 
its several railroads, with their long dark trains, the 
many thriving towns and villages that adorn its banks, 
and the many busy manufactories and quiet, pleasant 
villa residences, what a tale is told of progress ! To 
the period to which we refer hamlets and villages 
were unknown ; even the spot where is now our popu- 
lous county -seat was perchance unmarked by a single 
house. The hills and the valleys were covered with 
their majestic ancient forests to the very shores, with 
the exception of here and tliere, where occasionally 
the hardy settlers had effected clearings and erected 
rude log dwellings. The contrast is enougli to make 
one smile, especially now, when we reflect that the 
dispute which we intend to speak of simply origi- 
nated from the obstructions placed in the channels of 
the Schuylkill by the shoremen for the purpose of as- 
sisting them to catch fish, and which considerably 
impeded, if it did not really render the navigation 
thereof dangerous. 

It appears that as early as 1683, when William 
Penn and his colonists had not been a year in this 
country, that an act had been passed against the 
erecting of racks, wears, or dams in any navigable 
waters which might otherwise hinder the free inter- 



course thereon, and also tend greatly to diminish the 
brood of fish. Through the influence of Governor 
Penn another act was passed in the year 1700, with 
the intent of more effectually securing this object. 
After this, from what we have been enabled to ascer- 
tain, the matter remained quiet for a number of years, 
or with but little agitation, till in May, 1724, when 
the Governor's Council introduced " A bill entitled 
an act for demolishing and removing fishing dams, 
wears, and kedles set across the river Schuylkill," 
which was read and ordered to be returned with amend- 
ments. It next appears that the Council on the 15th 
of August, 1730, passed a law entitled "An Act to 
prevent the erecting of wears, dams, etc., within the 
river Schuylkill." Yet even this was found to be 
not altogether sufficient. It was by an act passed in 
1734 further strengthened and rendered more effect- 
ual. The shoremen made a strong effort, in the 
years 1735 and 1736, to get an amendment, or rather 
a repeal, so as to get permission to erect wears in the 
months of April and May of every year, which was 
as warmly resisted by the navigators, or those living 
on the upper parts of the Schuylkill. The Governor, 
Patrick Gordon, being also opposed to any permission 
of the kind being given, the shoremen at length 
yielded so far as to look for any redress for their 
grievances from the Legislature. 

It became a matter of complaint against the shore- 
men that for several miles above the racks and wears, 
they were in the habit of riding their horses in the 
river and striking the water as they came downwards 
with stakes and long brushes, so as to drive and 
frighten the fish into them, to their great diminution ; 
that they carried stones into the river to hold the 
stakes and wears, which not only obstructed but ren- 
dered navigation difficult and dangerous. They were 
also charged on these occasions, while chasing fish, 
of bringing the young people together, who would 
become riotous and quarrelsome, "which was a re- 
proach to good order, peace, and tranquillity." A 
number of depositions were taken in March, 1732, by 
George Boone, a justice of the peace residing in the 
township of Oley, in the present Berks County, but 
then belonging to Philadelphia, as did likewise the 
intervening territory now comprised in Montgomery. 
These Mr. Boone, who was equally interested with his 
neighbors, transmitted to the Governor and Legisla- 
ture, and the result was the stringent enactment of 
1734, to which reference has been made. To these 
depositions we are indebted for the following adven- 
tures encountered by the navigators of Amity and 
Oley townships while on their canoe voyages to 
Philadelphia in 1731 and 1732. 

Marcus Hulings states that as he was going down 
the Schuylkill with a canoe loaded with wheat it 
struck against a fish-dam and took in a great deal of 
water, which damaged the wheat considerably, caus- 
ing nearly a total loss of the load. He further says 
that on another occasion his canoe got in a similar 



► 

TJ 
O 

■0 

n 
% 
z 

0) 

r 
< 

> 
z 



► 

z 

D 



0) 

H 
31 
0) 

n 



CO 




THE SCHUyLKILL. 



121 



predicament, and he would have lost his whole load 
of wheat if he had not leaped into the river, and with 
much labor succeeded in preventing it from swinging 
around, otherwise it would have been capsized by the 
current. In so doing he " suffered very much in his 
body by reason of ye water and cold." Again, on 
another occasion, he got fast on one of the rack dams, 
and only by great hazard escaped with his life and 
freight. In the month of February, while it was ex- 
tremely cold, Jonas Jones relates that he got " fast on 
a fish-dam, and to save his load of wheat was obliged 
to leap into ye river to ye middle of his body, and 
with all his labor and skill could not get off in less 
than half an liour ; afterwards proceeding on his 
journey with ye said clothes, they were frozen stiff 
on his back, by means whereof he underwent a great 
deal of misery." The nest sufferer we shall mention 
was Jacob Warren, who relates that his canoe, loaded 
with wheat, got fast on a dam, when he and his part- 
ner were forced into the river, and while one, with all 
his power, was obliged to hold the canoe, the other 
had to open a passage to get through, which with 
great difficulty was effected. 

Isaac Smally affirms that in going down the river 
with one hundred and forty bushels of wheat he got 
fast on a rack-dam, " and in order to save ye load 
from being all lost he was, much against his mind, 
obliged to leap into ye river, the water being to his 
chin, frequently dashed into his mouth, where be- 
tween whiles he breathed, and he and bis partner 
held ye canoe with great labour, while a young man 
there present ran above a mile to call help to get off." 
Jonas Yocum and Richard Dunklin also state that 
they got fast on a fish-dam with a canoe, on board of 
which was Dunklin's wife and child, besides sixty 
bushels of wheat, and that for more than an hour 
they were in imminent danger of being overset and 
drowned. Barnaby Rhoades relates how he got fast 
with Ills canoe on a fish-dam for several hours in the 
winter season, when, being without any assistance, he 
had to suffer considerably from the severity of the 
cold, besides being in danger of losing both his life 
and load. The sufferings of the complainants might 
be much extended, but shall let this suffice, without 
going into details, that among tliem could also be 
mentioned Walter Campbell, George Boone, John 
Boone, and several others, who had been at divers 
times fast with their canoes on the fish- and rack- 
dams in the Schuylkill, and to preserve their loads 
had been forced at diflerent times to leap into the 
river at the peril of their lives to save their property. 

The freight carried in some of their canoes shows 
to what a prodigious size the timber had attained at 
the arrival of the early settlers, for it should be recol- 
lected that they were always hewn from out a single 
trunk. William Penn, in a letter from Philadelphia, 
dated 30th of 5th month, 1683, to Henry Savell, in 
England, mentions of his having seen a canoe made 
from a poplar-tree that carried four tons of bricks. 



Isaac Smally's canoe, as has been stated, carried one 
hundred and forty bushels of wheat, which is a still 
heavier load, and consequently must have been larger. 
Our information so far has been to favor the cause 
of the navigators, but the shoremen no doubt believed 
that they had just reasons to complain from the 
stringent enactments passed against them. Their 
dams and wears were formed at a considerable ex- 
pense and labor, for the sole purpose of supplying 
fish to their families. They were always placed con- 
venient to their residences, and near their own lands. 
Generally the most advantageous place for them was 
where they were the most detrimental to the interests 
of navigation, such as below the mouths of creeks, 
and where islands and shallows rendered them of 
easy construction. The navigators, too, on many oc- 
casions did much injury by breaking through their 
dams and maliciously destroying them, with the racks, 
wears, and baskets. Nay, the shoremen charged them 
with stealing at divers times the proceeds of their 
honest labor, the fish. 

Thus between 1731 and 1740 there was an intense 
excitement produced by these conflicting interests 
along the hitherto peaceful valley of the Schuylkill. 
Many deeds of heroism were achieved on both sides 
and prodigies of valor performed which no chroni- 
cler has thought proper to transmit to posterity. The 
result, however, was that at length it terminated in 
open war between the parties. Fleets of canoes 
would put off on the voyage together, for the pur- 
pose of mutual protection to themselves and the 
mutual destruction of all fish-dams, wears, and baskets. 
On the other hand, the shoremen would congregate 
in their respective neighborhoods for the protection 
of their property thus assailed, and should any un- 
lucky wights get fast with their canoes or venture too 
near the shore, they would bring their artillery to 
bear on them in a shower of stones. The navigators, 
being generally the greatest sufferers, at length con- 
cluded to call on the magistrates for assistance, when 
William Richards, the constable of Amity township, 
received a warrant from George Boone, Esq., " one of 
his Majesty's justices of the peace" for Philadelphia 
County, to remove the said obstructions as the true 
authors of the mischief. What Mr. Richards accom- 
plished in the undertaking we shall leave him state 
in his own words, given on oath before Ralph Asheton, 
Esq., and corroborated by Benjamin Milliard, who 
was one of his assistants on this memorable affair, 
which happened the 20th of April, 1738. 

Having " received a warrant requiring him to take 
to his assistance such persons as this deponent should 
think proper, and go down the Schuylkill and remove 
all such obstructions as should be found in the said 
river. In obedience to which warrant took several 
persons, inhabitants of the said county, as his assist- 
ants, and together with one Robert Smith, constable 
of Oley, who had received a warrant to the same pur- 
pose, went down the said river, in three canoes, to 



122 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Mingo Creek, where they found a large number of 
racks and obstructions in the said river, and saw four 
men upon an island near the said racks ; that this de- 
ponent and company removed the said racks without 
receiving any opposition. From thence they pro- 
ceeded down the river to the mouth of Pickering's 
Creek, near which they found several racks across the 
said river to an island, wlwch racks this deponent and 
company also removed. Immediately about the num- 
ber of two hundred men came down on both sides of 
the river, and were very rude and abusive, and threat- 
ened this deponent and his company. E.xpecting 
from the ill language and tlireats given that some 
mischief or a quarrel would ensue, he took his staff 
in his liand and his warrant, and commanded the 
said men, in the king's name, to keep the peace, and 
told them that he came there in a peaceable manner, 
and according to law, to move the racks and obstruc- 
tions in the river, upon wliich some of the said men 
damned the laws and the law-makers, and cursed this 
deponent and his assistants ; that one James Starr 
knocked this deponent down in the river with a large 
club or stake, after which several of the said men at- 
tacked this deponent and company with large clubs, 
and knocked down Robert Smith, the constable, as 
also several of his assistants ; that one John Wain- 
wright was struck down with a pole or staff, and lay 
as dead; that this deponent and company, finding 
that they were not able to make resistance, were 
obliged to make the best of their way in order to save 
their lives ; proceeded down the river, in order to go 
to Philadelphia, to make complaint of the ill usage 
they had received. As they came to Ferkiomen 
Creek they found another set of racks, which were 
guarded by a great number of men. That this depo- 
nent and company requested the said men to let them 
go down the river, they would not meddle with their 
racks; upon which the said men abused and cursed 
this deponent in a very gross manner, that they should 
not ])ass them. One of the said men called out aloud, 
and offered five pounds for Timothy Miller's head, 
who was one of the deponent's assistants; and after- 
wards the said men pursued this deponent and com- 
pany, who, for fear of being murdered, made the best 
of their way with their canoes to the mouth of the 
Perkioraen Creek, and then went ashore, and left 
their canoes there, with clothes, which are since re- 
ported split in pieces and the clothes turned adrift." 
This affair reached the heads of the government, 
whereupon the Hon. James Logan, president of the 
Council, issued a proclamation and a warrant, April 
25, 1738, for the arrest of the " rioters," who are " to 
be proceeded against according to law, and that they, 
the said justices, exert the powers wherewith they are 
invested for the preservation of his Majesty's peace 
and the good order of government in those parts 
where the late tumult arose, or others may be likely 
to arise. And the sheriffs of the said counties of 
Philadelphia and Chester, respectively, are hereby 



enjoined and required, with a sufficient assistance, if 
need be, to cause the warrants to be duly executed." 
This is the last official act we have been enabled to 
find on the subject, from whence we conclude that 
tlie shoremen, after contending for half a century, to 
some extent at least gave way before the majesty of 
the law, and the navigators, the fish, and the waters 
of the Schuylkill were permitted, till a recent time, 
to pass on less obstructed. Mingo, Pickering, and 
Perkiomen Creeks still retain their time-honored 
names. The same islands and channels are there, 
but the people are changed. The inhabitants of 
Limerick and Upper and Lower Providence town- 
ships, witli those on the opposite side of the river, 
are reckoned now among our most peaceable citizens. 
The contest between the navigators and shoremen is 
long, long past, — it might be said long, long forgotten, 
— but the wand of the antiquary is mighty. Out of old 
musty tomes it may recreate a world to live again in 
imagination, as it once did in reality. 

That considerable importance was attached to the 
navigation of the Schuylkill at an early period has 
been already shown in the contest between the navi- 
gators and the shoremen. Even William Penn, in 
his proposals for a second settlement in the province 
of Pennsylvania, published in 1690, alludes to the 
practicability of effecting a communication by water 
between a branch of the Schuylkill and the Susque- 
hanna. This, the reader should remember, was over 
half a century before canals were known in Great 
Britain. However, nothing was done, we believe, to- 
wards improving its navigation for a considerable 
length of time, though tlie matter was occasionally 
agitated. To promote the same an act was passed by 
the Assembly, March 14, 1761, from which we give 
the following extract: "Whereas, the river Schuyl- 
kill is navigable for rafts, boats, and other small craft 
in times of high freslies only, occasioned by the ob- 
struction of rocks and bars of sand and gravel in 
divers parts of the same; and whereas, the improving 
of the navigation of said river, so as to make it pass- 
able at all times, will be very advantageous to the 
poor, greatly conductive to the promotion of indus- 
try, and beneficial to the inhabitants residing on or 
near said river, by enabling them to bring the pro- 
duce of the country to the market of the city of Phila- 
delphia, and thereby increase the trade and commerce 
of the province; and whereas, divers of the inhabi- 
tants of this province, desirous to promote the welfare 
of the public, have subscribed large sums of money 
for the purpose aforesaid, and, by petition to the As- 
sembly, have requested that commissioners may be 
appointed by law to take, receive, and collect the 
said subscriptions, and such others as shall hereafter 
be given or subscribed, and to apply and appropriate 
the same for and towards the clearing, scouring, and 
rendering the said river navigable as aforesaid." 

To carry out this measure Joseph Fox, John 
Hughs, Samuel Rhoads, John Potts, William Palmer, 



THE SCHUYLKILL. 



123 



David Davis, Mordecai Moore, Henry Pawling, James 
Coultas, Jonathan Coates, Joseph Millard, William 
Bird, Francis Parvin, Benjamin Lightf'oot, and Isaac 
Levan were appointed commissioners. This act had 
also for its object the preservation of fish, especially 
the shad, herring, and rockfish, which ascended this 
stream annually in great shoals from the sea. For 
this purpose the commissioners were empowered not 
only to destroy but to prevent the erection of all 
wears, racks, fish-dams, and baskets within the same. 
Several of the commissioners mentioned having died, 
a new board was appointed by the Assembly in 1773 
to carry out the measures contained in the act of 
1761. For this purpose David Rittenhouse, Anthony 
Levering, John Roberts, William Dewees, Jr., David 
Thomas, James Hockley, Thomas Potts, Mark Bird, 
James Starr, Jacob Kern, and John Pawling, Jr., 
were selected. Several of this number, with David 
Rittenhouse, proceeded in 1773 to an examination of 
the channel, and estimated the cost of clearing the 
river from the Falls above Philadelphia to Reading at 
eleven hundred and forty -seven pounds. This amount 
included the sum of one hundred and ninety-two 
pounds from the Falls to Spring Mill, a distance of 
over seven miles, regarded the most expensive por- 
tion. It is supposed that but little was done at this 
time towards the improvement of its navigation) 
which the approaching troubles of the Revolution 
must have checked. 

We hear of nothing further on this subject until 
during the encampment of Washington and his army 
at Valley Forge, when it became a question as to a 
means of procuring supplies. Charles Pettit thus 
wrote from the camp. May 16, 1778, to Thomas Whar- 
ton, Jr., president of the Supreme Executive Council 
of Pennsylvania : " The necessary transportation of 
stores and forage is so great that we wish to improve 
the little water-carriage left in our power to the best 
advantage. For this end we have got a number of 
boats now in use on the Schuylkill, which answer the 
purpose very well when the river is pretty full, but it 
is now so low that the navigation is much obstructed. 
Maj. Eyre has surveyed the river from Reading 
hither, and informs me it may without difficulty be 
rendered navigable through the summer season for 
the boats lately constructed, which are calculated to 
draw but little water in proportion to the burden they 
carry. The river is now so low, and if a number of 
the people of the counties bordering on the river 
could be assembled at each of the passes nearest to 
their respective habitations, the work might be com- 
pleted in a very few days. Maj. Eyre informs me the 
expense will not probably exceed two thousand 
pounds." 

Accompanying Mr. Pettit's communication was a 
report on the condition of the several fords of Schuyl- 
kill between Reading and Valley Forge. We extract 
that portion relating to Montgomery County as pos- 
sessing interest in showing the changes that may have 



since been made at these several places above a cen- 
tury ago : " Jacob Floyd's Ford, 21 miles below Read- 
ing, 11 inches of water ; Pottsgrove Ford, 2 miles, 11 
inches ; Mr. Bechtel's, 1 mile, 6 inches ; Mr. Potts' 
Dam, 4 miles, 5 inches ; Bombay Hook Ford, 6 inches; 
John Heisler's Ford, 2 miles, 12 inches ; Daniel 
Matts' Shoals, 1 mile, 10 inches ; Edward Barker's 
Ford, 1 mile, 6 inches, with small rocks; Barker's 
Shoals, J mile, 6 inches; George Ross' Fish-dam, 1:| 
miles, 12 inches; Erasmus Lewis' Shoals, li miles, 
6 inches, rocky ; Frederick Lower's Shoals, J mile, 
6 inches, rocky; Lawrence Nipple's Ford, i mile, 6 
inches, level bottom ; Adam Hallman's Long Shoals, 
2^ miles, 7 inches; Black Rock, 4 to 20 feet; John 
Buckwalter's Fish-dam, 2 miles, 6 inches ; Gordon's 
Ford, 7 to 15 inches ; French Creek, 1 mile, and 
Moore Hall, 9 inches; Richardson's Ford, 1 mile, 7 
inches, rocky ; Pennypacker's, i mile, 7 inches ; Paw- 
ling's Ford, 7 inches ; Sullivan's Bridge, 8 to 12 inches, 
stony." 

An account of the early fords and ferrying-places 
of the Schuylkill as an aid to traveling facilities be- 
fore the construction of bridges is an interesting sub- 
ject to the antiquary, and will be more fully treated 
in the history of the several townships and boroughs, 
where they more properly belong. During high 
water fording was rendered dangerous from the greater 
depth and velocity of the water, and with the increase 
of travel ferriage became more common, being made 
likewise less dangerous during the winter season from 
the ma.sses of floating ice, or when not of sufiicient 
thickness to permit wagons to cross upon it. Swedes' 
Ford was a noted fording-place even back to 1730. 
A tavern was there in 1760, and on its sign was a rep- 
resentation of a ferry. A rope was here stretched 
across the river in a sloping direction, securely fast- 
ened to a tree or a post or building on either shore. 
To this a stout iron ring was secured, to which the 
boat or scow would be fastened, while it would slide 
along, propelled more or less by the current. These 
ropes, so necessary in securely transporting passen- 
gers, horses, wagons, and freight, were occasionally 
cut and purloined by some evil-disposed persons. 
In consequence the ferrymen petitioned the Assem- 
bly for protection from these outrages on their prop- 
erty, when an act vras passed Feb. 8, 1766, making 
such offenses along the Schuylkill finable in the sum 
of ten pounds to -each. The first bridges to cross the 
river within the county were built at Flat Rock and 
Pawling's about ISIO, at Pottstown, 1819, and at 
Norristown in 1829, not until more than a century 
had elapsed since its settlement, so slow was the 
spirit of enterprise. 

John Adlum and Benjamin Rittenhouse, who had 
been appointed commissioners to examine into the 
feasibility of still further improving the navigation 
of the Schuylkill, proceeded on this labor in the fall 
of 1789 and the following year. Their report, ad- 
dressed to Thomas Mifflin, president of the Supreme 



124 



HISTORY OF MONTGOiMERY COUNTY. 



Executive Council, was printed in 1791, from which 
we condense the following: " We conceived it most 
advisable to examine that part of the Schuylkill lying 
between Spring Mill and the Great Falls, being that 
part of the river said to be the most dangerous to the 
navigation of boats from Reading to this city. The 
2d of November we began at Spring Mill, and pro- 
ceeded down the river, carefully noting every obstruc- 
tion to be removed and necessary improvements to be 
made, with the probable expense attending the same. 
On the 7th we set off for Hamburg, near the foot of 
the Blue Mountain, and proceeded down towards 
Reading, taking the courses, measuring the distance, 
and taking the quantity of fall .in the river down to 
the ford opposite said town, carefully noting the fish- 
dams, the rocks, and other obstructions necessary to 
be removed. As it appears probable the principal 
advantages that can accrue from that part of the 
river, at least for some time, will be in rafting of 
lumber down to the city, little more is necessary at 
present than removing a few rocks, some fixed and 
others loose, lying in the channel, as the expense will 
be small to render the passage safe for that purpose. 
At Reading we hired a boat, and came down the 
Schuylkill to where we first began, and it is with 
great pleasure we can say we have, on a careful ex- 
amination, found the Schuylkill River an object of 
much greater consequence to the State than we be- 
fore had an idea of. The channel we find almost 
uniformly on the east side, in one instance near two 
miles without variation, generally very near the shore, 
and we are of opinion that it be made navigable for 
boats of eight or ten tons burthen at all seasons, ex- 
cept when obstructed by ice, at the expense esti- 
mated. 

" We conclude our report by remarking that we 
have in the prosecution of this business observed with 
regret the great number of fishing-dams erected in 
defiance of the law, as a nuisance of the worst kitid. 
In many instances, where they have been continued 
for a number of years, the sand and gravel has gradu- 
ally settled amongst the stones, and by that means 
formed a firm bar or shoal from one side of the river 
to the other, which will be expensive to remove. We 
therefore are of opinion that if an effectual stop is 
not put to that mischievous practice every attempt to 
render the navigation beneficial will be abortive. 
The only certain method we can conceive to put a 
stop to the practice in future will be to lay a heavy 
penalty on the proprietors of the lands where such 
dams shall be erected." The expense estimated in 
this report from Philadelphia to Reading was £1519 
13s., which sum included £270 for clearing the 
Schuylkill from the Falls to Spring Mill. Through 
these efibrts, besides the removal of rocks and other 
obstructions, dams were made at various places to 
deepen the water and increase the volume of its cur- 
rent, so that boats of a greater draught could be used. 

An act was passed the 29th of September, 1791, to 



incorporate a company to connect the Schuylkill with 
the Susquehanna by a canal and slack-water naviga- 
tion, and also to improve the navigable waters of the 
Schuylkill from the Lower Falls, a few miles above 
Philadelphia, to Reading, for which purpose the 
Assembly appropriated two thousand five hundred 
pounds as an encouragement to the enterprise. A 
company was also incorporated April 10, 1792, to 
make a canal from Norristown to the river Delaware 
at Philadelphia. From the former place the Schuyl- 
kill was to be temporarily improved, and thus form 
with the works of the former company an uninter- 
rupted water comniunicatiou with the interior of the 
State. One of the objects, also, in constructing the 
canal from Norristown was by this means to furnish 
Philadelphia with water. The undertaking was com- 
menced by the two companies, and at the close of 1794 
they had expended four hundred and forty thousand 
dollars, and had nearly completed fifteen miles of the 
most difficult part of the two works, six miles of which 
was on the east bank of the Schuylkill. Some of the 
principal stockholders liaving become involved at the 
time in commercial difficulties, and declining to pay 
in their installments, they were compelled to suspend 
operations. As an additional inducement to revive 
the companies the State passed an act April 17, 1790, 
to empower them to raise by way of lottery the addi- 
tional sum of four hundred thousand dollars, for the 
purpose of completing their works, as mentioned in 
the acts of incorporation. Naught availed, though 
this offer induced several abortive attempts, which 
only tended to continue in these companies a languish- 
ing existence. Below Norristown, beginning near the 
Swedes' Ford bridge, by the banks of the Schuylkill, 
may still be seen the excavation made for this canal 
for some distance above the river. It remains there, 
a monument of an undertaking commenced in 1792, 
but never finished. 

In the year 1811 the two companies were united as 
the Union Canal Company, and in 1819 and 1821 the 
State granted further aid by a guarantee of interest 
and a monopoly of the lottery privilege. In conse- 
quence of this legislative encouragement, there were 
additional subscriptions obtained to the stock of the 
company to resume operations in 1821. The line was 
relocated, the dimensions of the canal changed, and 
the whole work finished in about six years from this 
period, after thirty-seven years had elapsed from the 
commencement of the work and sixty-five from the 
date of the first survey by David Rittenhouse and 
Rev. William Smith. This canal is eighty miles in 
length, extending f^rom the Schuylkill four miles 
below Reading, where it connects with the works of 
the Schuylkill Navigation Company, thence up the 
Tulpehocken Creek to the Swatara, and thence down 
the same to Middletown, on the Susquehanna, thus 
connecting the two rivers, which William Penn con- 
ceived in 1G90, but which required an interval of one 
hundred and thirty-seven years to be put into prac- 



THE SCHUVLKILL. 



12) 



tical operation. The whole cost of this work was 
about two million dollars. 

The Schuylkill Navigation Company was incorpo- 
rated under the act of the 8th of March, 1815, by 
which they were required to commence operations at 
each end of the route simultaneously; their labor.s, in 
consequence, were rendered nearly useless until the 
whole line would be completed. This certainly was 
an ingenious plan in the Assembly to insure the com- 
pletion of the undertaking. This work is about one 
hundred and ten miles in length, beginning at Fair- 
mount, Philadelphia, and extending to Mill Creek, at 
Port Carbon, in Schuylkill County. It consists of a 
series of canals sixty-three miles in length, and slack- 
water-pools for forty-seven miles, produced by thirty- 
four dams, which feed the canals. This work in its 
whole length was made three and a half feet deep, 
with a width ^f no less than thirty-six feet at the 
surface. There were one hundred and nine locks, of 
six hundred and twenty feet ascent, each eighty feet 
long and seventeen broad, and one tunnel three hun- 
dred and eighty-five feet in length, the first, it is said, 
attempted in the United States. The whole cost of 
the line was two million nine hundred and sixty-six 
thousand one hundred and eighty dollars. It was 
commenced immediately after its incorporation, and 
finished in 1826. In 1818 it was sufficiently com- 
pleted to allow the descent of a few boats, on which 
tolls were collected to the amount of two hundred 
and thirty dollars, which comprised the total of its 
first year's receipts. 

In consequence chiefly of the great increase of the 
coal trade, it was determined to enlarge the capacity 
of the canal for a greater amount of business, which 
was accordingly done in 1846. Hitherto it had only 
admitted the passage of boats of sixty-six tons, but 
by the enlargement boats of one hundred and eighty- 
six tons are enabled to pass through its whole length 
of one hundred and ten miles, being one of the 
grandest works of the kind in the Union. As will be 
observed, a great improvement was made. The locks 
were reduced in number from one hundred and nine 
to seventy-one, and enlarged to one hundred and ten 
by eighteen feet, the width of its canals to not less 
than sixty feet, with a depth of at least five and a 
half feet. To guard against the danger of a deficiency 
of water, to which the navigation is exposed in dry 
seasons, the company has erected several large dams 
upon tributary streams at the head of navigation 
from which to draw supplies in cases of deficiency. 
The dam at Silver Creek covers nearly sixty acres, 
and is estimated to hold suflicient water of itself to 
float about 120,000 tons of coal annually to market. 
As may be expected, the business of this great work 
has increased wonderfully. In 1825 this line brought 
about 5000 tons of coal to market; in 1827, 31,300 
tons; and in 1857 it was 1,275,988 tons, showing that 
forty tons had now gone over the works to one thirty 
years previously. It is stated on reliable authority 



that the coal consumed by the various furnaces, forges, 
and manufactories in the valley of the Schuylkill 
amounted in 1860 to 500,000 tons annually, and now 
no doubt has reached double that amount. Thus we 
see how greatly important this trade has become. 
We have said that the Schuylkill flows by Montgomery 
County about forty miles, in which distance the Navi- 
gation Company has erected six dams across it, which 
at Norristown and Conshohocken afibrd valuable 
water-power. This great work has been leased by the 
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company for 
several years, under whose management it is now 
conducted. 

After having treated on the several means adopted 
for the improvement of the navigation of the Schuyl- 
kill, it now becomes us to give some account of the 
various kinds of craft used for this purpose. In the 
prosecution of the beaver trade by the Dutch and the 
Indians the canoe must have been their chief de- 
pendence for travel and freight. We know that some 
of these were so large as to carry in periods of high 
water as much as one hundred and forty bushels of 
wheat before 1732 to Philadelphia from a distance of 
at least ten miles beyond the upper limits of the pres- 
ent county. The Swedish settlers of Morlatton had 
a strong attachment to the Schuylkill, and were 
skilled in its navigation with the canoe some time 
even before 1716, transporting themselves and their 
produce chiefly by this means to the mill, the store, 
the church, and the market. We even ascertain that 
to their weddings and funerals they were frequently 
thus conveyed. As has been stated, with the greatest 
care they were therein at almost any time liable to 
accident Abraham Adams was drowned in the Per- 
kiomen Creek by fiiUing out of his canoe, April 5, 
1738. Thomas Lewis, in an advertisement in 1752 of 
his mill property for sale near the mouth of Mingo 
Creek, mentions among its advantages that " loaded 
canoes can come to the mill-door." 

With the improvement of the navigation the " Read- 
ing boat," as it was called, became more and more in- 
troduced, as a decided improvement over the clumsier 
canoe, for the general purposes of transportation. By 
the Revolution it had been largely substituted as 
much more convenient and expeditious. These boats 
were long and narrow, sharp at both ends, and carried 
from seventy-five to one hundred barrels of flour. 
From their size were chiefly used in freshets or high 
water, and for their management required a crew of 
from three to five men. Coming generally from Read- 
ing, they were besides called "long boats." They 
drifted down rapidly with the current ; but to take 
them back was chiefly done with poles shod with iron, 
which was laborious work. Their return cargoes in 
consequence had to be light. Between Spring Mill 
and the Lower Falls the river descended twenty-four 
feet in about six miles, and it was here, at the most 
difficult places, as at Flat Rock, an exciting scene to 
see these boats shoot rapidly through the turbulent 



126 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



current, at times almost lost to sight. The down-trip 
took from one to two days, and the return sometimes 
as many as five or six. They carried flour, grain, pro- 
visions, and other articles, besides, occasionally, pas- 
sengers. During the war of 1812, Capt. Daniel D. 
B. Keim's company of soldiers from Reading and Capt. 
Hanley's, of Pottstown, were transported in this man- 
ner to Philadelphia. 

In 1858, Rachel Roberts, of Bridgeport, then in her 
seventy-eighth year, informed the writer that in her 
youth she went with her father to Philadelphia in 
a canoe, and in passing through the Falls became 
greatly frightened from the danger attending its un- 
steady motion and velocity. In returning, it had to 
be poled the greater portion of the distance. Canoes, 
Reading boats, and rafts were quite common in the 
river at that time, but the people had no knowl- 



upwards of one hundred and sixty tons, and would 
require, in the present condition of the roads, at least 
one hundred and sixty teams of good horses to haul 
the same to market." 

Owing to the abundance of pine and hemlock tim- 
ber among the mountains and sources of the Schuyl- 
kill, the first settlers, excepting a few hunters, came 
hither to avail themselves of this means for a liveli- 
hood. At first rafts were entirely constructed of logs, 
seldom over twelve feet in width and generally six- 
teen feet in length. Sometimes ten such rafts or sec- 
tions would be fastened behind each other and laden 
with shingles; being yielding, though of so consider- 
able a length, would readily, in favorable stages of 
water, pass over the shallowest places. When saw- 
mills became more numerous, these rafts were more 
and more constructed of boards placed crossways tO' 




FL.\T EOCK DAM ON THE SCHUYLKILL, 1828. 



edge of bateaux. Strange to say, she stated that there 
were taverns then along the shore for the especial ac- 
commodation of voyagers, which were known as boat- 
houses ; although travelers carried their provisions 
along, yet they were often obliged to resort to these 
public-houses for lodging and other necessaries. My 
informant was the great-granddaughter of Mats and 
Breta Holstein, among the early settlers of Upper 
Merion. This canoe-trip was probably made about 
1790. Some knowledge of the commerce on the river 
may be gained from a statement made in a Reading 
newspaper under date of March 6, 1802 : " Within 
the present week were taken down on the Schuylkill 
to the mills and city of Philadelphia in the boats of 
this place in one day the following articles : 1201 bar- 
rels of flour, 1425 bushels of wheat, 17 tons of barr 
iron, 1492 gallons of whiskey, 365 pounds of butter, 
and 500 pounds of snuft". The whole amounted to 



each other in alternate layers, securely fastened to- 
gether by hickory withes. When the whole was ar- 
ranged, a long oar was placed at each end for direct- 
ing its course through the windings of the stream and 
where its channel was the safest. On these, shingles 
would also be piled and no inconsiderable quantities 
of lathe and scantling, until they would draw a depth 
rarely exceeding fifteen inches. Two or three xnen 
would be attached to one raft, and on a favorable rise 
of the water their 2)rovisions and other comforts 
would be hurried on board, and the hardy adventu- 
rers would proceed on their voyage to the distant 
market from the vicinity of the present towns of Port 
Carbon, Pottsville, and other sections of Schuylkill 
County, as well as the adjoining portion of Berks. 
The distance to Spring Mill would be often made in 
a day and a half, and to Reading in six or seven 
hours, a distance of nearly forty miles. Of course the 



THE SCHUYLKILL. 



127 



completion of the canal with its dams put an end to 
rafting, but not until it had caused the hills and val- 
leys of that section to be pretty well denuded of its 
choicest timber, that had given employment to hun- 
dreds of saw-mills since gone to decay. It was from 
this source chiefly that the people of Montgomery 
County were supplied for some time with their best 
lumber for building purposes. 

As soon as the canal was sufficiently completed an 
accommodation boat, as it was then called, was es- 
tablished in June, 1825, for the conveyance of passen- 
gers from Reading to Pawling's Bridge, making three 
trips a week. At the latter place they were trans- 
ferred to a line of stages passing through Norristown 
to Philadelphia. The following year the packet-boat 
"Planet" commenced making regular through trips 
between Reading and the city. Mention is made 
that on her return, May 10, 1826, she carried sixty- 
four through passengers. In the beginning of June, 
1829, the "Comet," of Norristown, succeeded in 
making five trips per week to Philadelphia. A news- 
paper of the time states that " we notice this in order 
that our friends in the city and country may have a 
chance of enjoying a pleasant ride. Those who go 
on business and would prefer expedition will take the 
stage," — intimating that while the cost of travel was 
less it was not as speedy. As a consequence the 
stages at this time reduced the fare from one dollar 
to seventy-five cents ; what the cost was by packet has 
not been ascertained. Several attempts were also 
made to establish steamboat lines between the afore- 
said places. The first was by Capt. Hewit, about 
1822. He made several trips to Norristown, but the 
detention was such in passing through the several 
locks that it discouraged him. Another effort was 
made in 1829, and also still later, but were soon aban- 
doned. 

As may be judged from what has been stated, the 
Schuylkill was noted from an early period for the 
abundance of its fish. Shoals of shad, herring, rock- 
fish, and sturgeon would ascend its free and uninter- 
rupted course every spring from the sea, furnishing 
to the hardy settlers along its banks no inconsider- 
able supply of food. The antiquarian, Samuel W. 
Pennypacker, of Philadelphia, has quite a collection 
of spear-heads or darts from four to six inches in 
length, collected from the shallow channels of the 
river in the vicinity of Phcenixville, that must from 
their size been chiefly used there for the capture of 
sturgeon. In 1781, 2792 shad were caught in the 
seine at the fishery at Pottstown, and in the following 
year 3701. Benjamin B. Yost, formerly register, aged 
seventy-two years, informed me in 1858, but a few 
weeks before his death, that he well remembered see- 
ing shad and herring caught there in abundance. 
Rachel Roberts recollected also of numerous shad, 
herring, and rockfish being caught in the vicinity of 
Norristown near the close of the last century. Jacob 
S. Otto, in 1803, advertises a farm of three hundred 



and two acres for sale, bounded by the Schuylkill and 
Perkiomen, " where there is a shad fishery." Catfish 
Island is advertised in 1806 as containing nearly five 
acres, with the " privilege reserved by John and Henry 
Pawling to fish in the pool above and to draw out the 
net on its shore." In the spring of 1811 upwards of 
five barrels of shad were caught and salted down at 
the poor-house for the use of the paupers, as we learn 
from the directors' report for said year. William 
Bakewell, in offering his farm of two hundred acres 
for sale in 1813 at Fatland Ford, does not omit men- 
tioning its "shad fishery." All this is indicative of 
the value the people then set on those fisheries. How- 
ever, the construction of the several dams across the 
Schuylkill and the completion of the canal prevented 
the further ascent of the fish, and hence the supply 
ceased. Besides the goldfish and carp, the black 
bass was introduced from the Potomac in 1870, and 
their catching prohibited by law for three years. 
They appear to thrive rapidly, a few having been 
caught after the prohibited time with the hook that 
weighed from four to six pounds each. It is supposed 
from their voracious habits that the catfish, chub, 
sucker, and other fish, formerly so numerous, have 
thus been greatly diminished. 

Although William Scull, in his map of the province, 
published in 1770, had denoted coal thereon at three 
places in the vicinity of the present Pottsville, and 
also on the Mahanoy Creek, yet some time elapsed 
before any attention was directed towards it. A 
meeting of the inhabitants of Schuylkill County was 
held Dec. 18, 1813, in the court-house at Orwigsburg, 
to take into consideration the propriety of rendering 
the Schuylkill navigable by dams and locks, by 
which means the coal and iron ore abounding there 
might be much more cheaply and expeditiously sent 
to market and prove peculiarly advantageous to that 
section. This early movement on the part of the 
aforesaid no doubt helped to direct further attention 
to the subject. The first coal sent by water of which 
there is an account was by Abraham Pott on flats la 
1821-23, two or three trips being made in each year. 
He soon after had the " Stephen Decatur" built, 
which in 1824 carried twenty-eight tons of coal as far 
as Reading, a feat also performed by the company's 
boat " Pioneer." Several arks and boats are men- 
tioned as having passed through Norristown on their 
way to Philadelphia loaded with coal in September 
of said year, indicating that the canal and navigation 
had been sufficiently completed for its accomplish- 
ment. The result of this was an announcement in 
the Beading Journal of Nov. 27, 1824, that " the pres- 
ent price of freight from Philadelphia to Reading is 
only twelve and one-half cents per hundredweight on 
the canal, whereas by land transportation the general 
price is forty cents." 

Daniel Pastorius, of Norristown, advertised in Jan- 
uary, 1825, that he had just received " several arks of 
Schuylkill coal, and families and smiths supplied 



128 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



with any quantity on reasonable terms." On June 
mil, thirteen boats are announced as having passed 
through the locks at Reading destined for Philadel- 
phia from Mount Carbon with coal, and that the 
whole line could now be considered as finished. On 
the following July 2d forty boats are mentioned as 
having passed through Norristown with coal for the 
city. Respecting the early introduction of coal into 
Norristown, the Herald of October 26th gives us the 
following interesting information : " We are pleased 
to find that a number of our enterprising citizens 
have commenced the burning of stove coal. Grates 
and stoves are now fixing up in several of the offices, 
bar-rooms, and private dwellings in this borough. It 
is generally believed that coal at seven dollars per 
ton is cheaper than hickory wood at five dollars per 
cord." Poulson's Advertiser of September, 1827, 
states that the "Schuylkill navigation has improved 
and the trade on the river increased within a short 
period, far exceeding the most sanguine expectations. 
The scene of canal-boats with coal and iron and mer- 
chandise above and below Market Street bridge indi- 
cated great commercial activity. Between Market 
Street and Spruce Street there were this morning 
three large brigs of two hundred to two hundred and 
forty tons each and five large schooners and sloops 
loading coal from Mount Carbon for Newport, Boston, 
Providence, Albany, and other Eastern ports ; also 
four schooners and sloops loading iron ore." 

The Norristown Herald of July 8, 1829, announces 
that "ninety-seven boats, carrying two thousand five 
hundred and fifty-three tons of coal, a quantity of 
iron, flour, eleven hundred and twenty bushels of 
flaxseed, and other eatables, departed from Mount 
Carbon during the last week. We expect that about 
two hundred boats now pass up and down the river 
Schuylkill weekly. The tolls will greatly exceed 
any former year, and will pay a considerable part of 
the debts of the company." "The advantages we 
reap," says James Mease, in his " Picture of Phila- 
delphia," " from the coal trade is of considerable mo- 
ment, from the consideration that wood has become 
almost a drug, and we purchase it this year, Dec. 30, 
1830, at from four to five dollars per cord, almost as 
low as it sells in the early part of the fell. Eighty- 
one thousand tons of coal have descended the Schuyl- 
kill Canal this season, producing to the various per- 
sons engaged in mining, hauling, trans-shipping, and 
transporting nearly five hundred thousand dollars. 
The freight and tolls continue high, the former being 
now two dollars and the latter one dollar per ton; 
but, notwithstanding this, it is expected that coal in 
1831 will be sold for four dollars ; now it brings from 
five to six and a half." 

The original capacity of the navigation was for 
boats of twenty-eight to thirty tons, which by subse- 
quent improvements was increased to sixty-six tons. 
The enlargement of 1846 and a somewhat later 
period enabled the scow " Hercules," belonging to 



Messrs. Kirk & Baum, of Pottsville, in the beginning 
of December, 1858, to pass through with two hundred 
and twelve tons, and the " Pilgrim," of Scliuylkill 
Haven, with two hundred and thirteen tons, in 1860, 
drawing only five feet eight inches of water, — a ca- 
pacity exceeding fourteen times that of the largest- 
sized Reading boats used sixty years previously, and 
which could then only ascend but little over half the 
present distance. The opening of the Schuylkill 
navigation was celebrated in what would now be 
regarded as a rather novel manner. It was com- 
pleted as far as Reading July 1, 1824, and the 5th was 
selected for the event. A number of persons from 
Philadelphia, Reading, and neighborhood assembled 
on this day and embarked on board of the boats 
"Thomas Oaks," "Stephen Girard," "DeWitt Clin- 
ton," and " Reading Packet," and thus from Pottstown 
to the aforesaid place the first experiment of canal 
navigation was made in Pennsylvania to the entire sat- 
isfaction of those j^resent. By order of the managers, 
the name of " The Girard Canal" was given to the 
said twenty-two miles of cut as a mark of respect to 
Stephen Girard, to whose liberality the company was 
so greatly indebted. To attend the reception of La- 
fayette at Philadelphia in September, four boats were 
dispatched from Reading filled with volunteers and 
passengers, besides several laden with coal from 
Mount Carbon, which was regarded collectively as a 
subject for triumph and congratulation. 

For a few years the stagnation of the water by the 
erection of dams caused some alarm among the resi- 
dents of the vicinity from the increase of fever and 
ague, but tlie reclamation and cultivation of the 
low grounds and other improvements have restored it 
fully to its former condition of healthfulness. The 
Norristown dam was not completed until 1828, its 
breast being eight feet high, with a width of eight hun- 
dred and eighty feet. It appears strange now to state 
that no tow-path was constructed for the use of horses 
until the latter part of June, 1825, when Col. Hun- 
zinger dispatched a boat from Pottsville loaded with 
lumber drawn by a horse, it being the first attempt of 
the kind, at least from the upper section of the navi- 
gation. It appears to have been the original inten- 
tion that the boats should be propelled by oars or set- 
ting-poles as formerly. As an after-thought for this 
construction, the company had to receive a special act 
of the Legislature. In some instances the boats pre- 
viously were drawn by two men attached to long lines 
to the end of which sticks were fastened and held at 
the breast. The first trips occupied three and four 
weeks, which was reduced by the use of horse-power 
down to ten or eleven days in the spring of 1826. 

The Schuylkill at times has been subject to severe 
freshets. In February, 1784, a destructive flood oc- 
curred in the breaking uj) of the ice. In October, 
1786, another occurred which occasioned the river to 
rise at Pottstown eighteen feet, and brought down 
immense numbers of pumpkins. July 29, 1824, the 



STAGE LINES. 



129 



Schuylkill arose at Norristown thirteen feet, and 
brought down trees, boats, logs, boards, rails, hay, 
oats, and cord-wood that had been swept away by the 
rapidly descending current. The bridge at Flat Rock, 
undergoing repairs and a few days more would have 
completed, was again destroyed, causing a heavy loss 
to its contractor, Mr. Wernwag. However, the freshet 
of Sept. 2, 1850, surpassed all former ones in destruc- 
tiveness, rising twenty-one feet above ordinary level, 
carrying away the bridges at Pottstown, Consho- 
hocken, Flat Rock, and Manayunk, besides occasion- 
ing a vast amount of damage throughout the valley. 
Those that witnessed the scene will have occasion to 
hold it long in remembrance. 



CHAPTER X. 



STAGE LINES.i 



With the introduction of railroads the palmy days 
of the stage-coach are over, which, by reason of its 
long and continued use as an important adjunct to 
travel, deserves notice in these annals. Montgomery 
County, located so near Philadelphia, with all its 
main roads leading there from the northeast, north, 
and west, including intermediate points, must neces- 
sarily in the past have been n great thoroughfare for 
numerous lines of stage-coaches in the conveyance 
of passengers, when no readier or better facilities for 
expeditious travel existed. This mode of travel has 
now gone out of usage, and although our local histo- 
rians have as yet given little attention to its history, 
there are many facts and reminiscences connected 
with it well worthy of preservation. 

The first through line of stages from Philadelphia 
to Baltimore and New York was established in 1756, 
To the latter city John Butler was the proprietor, the 
distance requiring three days, and the fare twenty 
shillings, or three pence per mile. Charles Bessonett 
in 1773 reduced the time to two days. The first line 
it is supposed that passed through the present terri- 
tory of this county was that established by George 
Klein between Bethlehem and Philadelphia, on what 
was known as the King's Highway, but later the Old 
Bethlehem road. His first trip was made in Septem- 
ber, 1763, in what he termed a " stage waggon." He 
started regularly every Monday morning from the 
Sun Tavern, Bethlehem, and returned from the city 
every Thursday morning, thus consuming a week in 
his round. His starting-place was from the King of 
Prussia, a noted inn on Race Street, and the charge 
through was ten shillings. This no doubt was the 
pioneer passenger line entering the city from either 
the north or the west. Bradford, in his account of the 
distances from the court-house in Philadelphia in 



1 By Wm. J. Buck. 



1772, thus mentions the King's road : To Rising Sun, 
3.1 miles ; Mount Airy, SJ ; Scull's, 10 ; Ottinger's, 12J ; 
White Marsh Church, 13', ; Benjamin Davis, at the 
Spring House, 16; Baptist Meeting,nearMontgomery- 
ville, 23 ; Housekeeper's, 25 ; Swamp Meeting, 37 ; 
Stoffel Wagner's, 47 ; and to Bethlehem, 52| miles. 

Housekeeper's must have evidently been at the 
present Line Lexington, from its distance above the 
Baptist Church. In 1797 a stage started for Bethle- 
hem from Lesher's tavern, sign of the " Stage Wag- 
gon," located in Second Street below Race, on every 
Wednesday morning at ten o'clock, and was probably 
an opposition line. 

The post-office was established at Bethlehem in 
July, 1792, and as a consequence an additional en- 
couragement was given for the transportation of the 
mail. The stages now reduced their time to two days 
to the city, which in 1798 was brought down to one 
by the mail line. In 1802 the Bethlehem and Allen- 
town stage left Philadelphia on Wednesday and Satur- 
day mornings at five o'clock from the Franklin and 
Camel Inns. The latter place was in Second Street 
above Race. It appears that two lines were running 
to Bethlehem in 1820, both leaving Philadelphia on 
Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings at four 
o'clock. One started from Yolie's Hotel, in Fourth 
Street a few doors above Market ; the other from the 
White Swan, in Race Street above Third. The Union 
line of stages for Bethlehem, AUentown, and Mont- 
rose, via Nazareth, Easton, and Wilkesbarre, departed 
from the latter place. This was an association formed 
by the proprietors of several lines to resist compe- 
tition, whicli at this time was quite active. 

About 1781, William Coleman, an energetic busi- 
ness man, established a line from Philadelphia to 
Reading, of which he was the proprietor, and drove 
himself for twenty -seven consecutive years. He 
started from the White Swan, in Race Street, every 
Wednesday morning at seven o'clock, making a trip 
every week. Having received the contract for carry- 
ing the mail in 1804, he started from the Widow 
Wood's inn, Reading, every Monday and Thursday 
morning, arriving in the city the same days. Return- 
ing, left Philadelphia every Wednesday and Satur- 
day mornings. This arrangement existed from May 
1st to November 1st. This line passed through Nor- 
ristown, Trappe, and Pottsgrove, since called Potts- 
town. In the winter season he left the White Swan 
every Tuesday and Friday at two o'clock a.m. From 
Reading this line was continued to Harrisburg and 
Carlisle. Its stopping-place in Pottstown in 1806 was 
at the Rising Sun tavern, kept by Jacob Barr. Mr. 
Coleman, in August, ISOS, opened an inn at Reading 
for the accommodation of his passengers, his stages 
arriving and departing there in several directions. In 
1811 he put on an additional line from Pottstown to 
Philadelphia, leaving John Boyer's tavern every 
Tuesday morning at six o'clock, arriving in the city 
in the evening, and returning from the White Swan 



130 



HISTORY" OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



every Thursday morning at the same hour, the fare 
being two dollars and twenty-five cents. This is the 
last account given of Mr. Coleman, after an expe- 
rience in staging of at least thirty years. In thi.s last 
venture he *innounces in both English and German 
that " a sober and careful driver will attend the stage, 
80 that passengers may travel with safety and 
pleasure." The " Gentlemen's Pocket Almanac," 
published in 1769, thus gives the distances from Phil- 
adelphia over the Reading road to Pottstown : To 
Robin Hood, 4 miles; to Plymouth Meeting, 14; 
to Bartlestall's, 18; to Perkiomen Church, 24; to 
Shrack's, 26 ; to Widow Lloyd's, 30 ; to Potts', 38 
miles. 

On the completion of the canal in the summer of 
1825, passengers from Reading were conveyed in a 
boat to Pawling's Bridge, and there transferred to 
stages passing through Norristown to Philadelphia, 
making three trips weekly. The packet-boat " Planet," 
during the summer of 1829, continued to convey pas- 
sengers from Reading to the city at the reduced rate 
of $2.25, going through in a day. In 1831 we learn 
that the stage for Reading and Pottsville still left its 
old place, the White Swan, daily at the early hours 
of 2 and 4 a.m. Ah, ye sluggards by rail, think of 
these sweet morning hours for travel on a cold win- 
ter's day! In December, 1839, the railroad was com- 
pleted to Reading, and the shrill whistle of the loco- 
motive along the Schuylkill Valley proclaimed the 
triumph of the iron horse over wearied flesh and 
bones, through mud and dust and snow-drifts, as well 
as over hill and dale and rugged pikes. 

A daring robbery was perpetrated on the Reading 
and Harrisburg mail-stage at three o'clock on Sun- 
day morning of Dec. 6, 1829, that at the time made 
no little excitement. It was committed by three 
armed men in disguise with lanterns on the Ridge 
road, a short distance beyond the present Girard 
College. The horses were seized, and with a flourish 
of pistols the lines were demanded from the driver, 
and were taken from oif the gears. The passengers, no 
less than ten in number, were ordered respectively to 
get out, and their hands secured on their backs with 
their own handkerchiefs, when their pockets were 
rifled. When this operation was through the driver 
was permitted to secure his lines, while they decamped 
with the mail and the contents of several trunks. 
The plot was brought about by the rogues having as- 
certained in some way that a drover, known to carry 
considerable money with him, would be in this morn- 
ing's stage. Tlie drover was one of the passengers, 
and whether they succeeded in securing as much 
plunder from him as was expected is not known. 
Although he had frequently boasted of what he would 
do should just such an attempt be made on him, yet 
on this occasion he proved as meek as the rest. 

The line to Lancaster was established in April, 1785, 
by Frederick Doersh and Adam Weaver, who state 
that their " Stage Waggon" will set out every Monday 



and Friday morning from the King of Prussia tavern, 
in Market Street above Third ; and from the Black 
Horse tavern, Queen Street, Lancaster, every Tuesday 
and Saturday morning. Each passenger was allowed 
fourteen pounds of baggage. The fare was twenty 
shillings, " one-half to be paid on entering the name 
in the book." This stage passed over the Old Lan- 
: caster road for a distance of nearly six miles through 
[ Lower Merion. The mail line in 1820 started from 
f 286J Market Street daily (Sundays excepted) at 7 
o'clock A.M. for Lancaster and Pittsburgh, the " Lan- 
caster coaches" starting every morning from the Red 
Lion, 200 Market Street. There was in addition the 
"Accommodation" for Lancaster at 4 o'clock a.m. 
from 286i Market Street, thus showing no incon- 
siderable amount of travel at this time towards the 
West. In 1831 the Lancaster and Pittsburgh mail- 
stage is mentioned as starting from 284 Market Street 
every morning at sis and a half o'clock, and for Har- 
risburg, Pittsburgh, Erie, Reading, Pottsville, and 
Northumberland from 200 Market Street. The com- 
pletion of the turnpike to Lancaster in 1794 must 
have subsequently proved highly advantageous to 
these several lines, especially during the winter sea- 
son and early spring, when the condition of the roads 
was often very bad. In April, 1834, the railroad was 
completed to Lancaster, and through to Pittsburgh in 
1854, which in consequence must have caused along 
this great thoroughfare csnsiderable decline in stage 
travel. 

John Nicholas in 1792 established a line from 
Easton to Philadelphia, starting on Mondays, and 
making one trip a week, stopping at the present 
Stony Point, Doylestown, and Willow Grove ; leav- 
ing the " White Swan" every Thursday morning at 
six o'clock ; fare, two dollars. It carried also the mail, 
a post-office having been established at Easton three 
years previously. In 1800 a semi-weekly line was 
placed on this route to Bethlehem by John Brock, 
Joseph Hillman, James Burson, Charles Meredith, 
Charles Stewart, Alexander McCalla, Elijah Tyson, 
and William McCalla, the fare through beiug $2.75, 
with the same charge for one hundred and fifty pounds 
of baggage. About 1810, Mr. Nicholas commenced 
three trips a week, making Doylestown a stopping- 
place for the night. In 1820 it started from the " Green 
Tree" inn, No. 50 North Fourth Street, on every Sun- 
day, Tuesday, and Thursday at four o'clock a.m. 
Samuel Nicholas, on the death of his father, became 
the proprietor of the line, and was long its driver, to 
whom were joined in partnership AVilliam AVhite, of 
Philadelphia, John Moore, of Danborough, and a Mr 
Wilson. About 1825, William Shouse, the proprietor 
of a hotel in Easton, and Col. Reeside introduced a 
daily opposition line of stages to the city, which was 
continued until 1832, when the old line was bought 
out for a fair consideration. It is said that when the 
spirit of opposition began it required fifteen hours 
on the journey, which was reduced on good roads to 



STAGE LINES. 



131 



eight, an average of seven miles per hour. The relay 
stations were at Bucksville, Doylestown, and Willow 
Grove. Mr. Shouse, who became an extensive and 
successful stage proprietor, was still living in Easton 
in 1876, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. 
In 18-51 a daily line of stages still passed through 
Doylestown from Easton for the city carrying the 
mail, but reduced from four to two horses. On the 
completion of the Belvidere and Delaware Railroad 
in 1854 the line was withdrawn after an establish- 
ment of about fifty-eight years. 

It was customary along these routes for the stage- 
driver, when within a mile of the place at which the 
stage usually stopped for breakfast, to blow a horn, 
the sweet and mellow tones of whicli would announce 
his approach, that breakfast might be in readiness on 
Lis arrival. Nq sooner there than he would drop his 
lines, aid the passengers out of the coach, and pro- 
ceed to the awaiting meal ; in the mean time the 
horses would be changed, when the seats would be 
again occupied, and the journey resumed. In some 
cases fifteen miles having been made over the rugged 
road, it may be well supposed that an appetite had 
been awakened to be here appeased. At every post- 
office, generally about four or five miles apart, a brief 
stop would be made to have the mail changed and 
the horses watered. They were what was generally 
termed Troy coaches, painted red with a profusion 
of gilding, having the proprietors' names blazoned 
on the panels. Four horses were always driven to 
each coach, who were generally selected for beauty, 
speed, and powers of endurance, iu the proper care 
of which the hostlers appeared to take a delight. 

Before 1802 a line was running over the Old York 
road to New York, passing through Jenkintown, 
Hatboro', or Crooked Billet, Coryell's Ferry, now New 
Hope, and Lambertville. It started from Mann's 
inn daily at eighto'clock in the morning. This coach 
was drawn by four horses, and carried the mail on 
down to the completion of the Belvidere and Dela- 
ware Railroad. John M. Jones, of Hatboro', was 
long a popular driver on this line. In proceeding 
from Pliiladelphia they breaktasted at the "Red 
Lion," Willow Grove, where the Easton stage also 
stopped and changed horses. 

It is known that a stage for Pottsgrove passed 
through Norristown in 1802, leaving Hay's inn, 
Philadelphia, every Wednesday at sunrise. In 1804, 
William Coleman drove his stage through the place 
from the city to Reading, making two trips a week. 
These were evidently distinct lines, as the latter 
started from the White Swan, in Race Street. We 
possess no earlier knowledge of a stage terminating 
its journey at Norristown until in August, 1808, 
when Hezekiah Jeffries established one, starting 
from Jesse Roberts' inn, sign of the Rising Sun, 
every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings 
at six o'clock, returning on the intervening days 
at 2 P.M. from the White Horse, kept by John 



' Haines, on Fourth Street below Race. The fare 
through was one dollar, allowing fourteen pounds 
of baggage; way passengers, six cents per mile; one 
hundred and fifty pounds of baggage was rated the 
same as a passage. The following year Jesse Roberts 

; & Co. assumed the proprietorship, leaving the city 
from Alexander McCalla's sign of the Green Tree. 
Packages under ten pounds were chargeable six 
cents. In the beginning of 1812, Daniel Woodrufi" 
became the proprietor, who in the spring of the fol- 
lowing year changed it into a daily line, starting for 
the city at 7 o'clock a.m., and returning at 3 p.m., 
thus making now at least two daily lines for the con- 
veyance of passengers to Philadelphia. Lewis Shrack 
became the owner in 1824, and announced its start- 
ing from John Branch's tavern, and returning from 
Robert Evans' inn. Race Street. He commenced tri- 
weekly trips the following 8th of November, leaving 
Norristown at 8 o'clock a.m., and arriving at Robert 
Evans' inn at 12, returning at 1 o'clock p.m., thus 
showing that the distance of about eighteen miles 
was accomplished in four hours, evidently in oppo- 
sition now to the packets on the canal. In the fall 
of 1827, Henry Styer and Levi Roberts established a 
daily line to the city and a copartnership in the liv- 
ery business, keeping " horses, gigs, and dearborns to 
hire at all times." By their advertisement they now 
made the distance through in three and a half hours. 
The aforesaid daily mail line in 1829 was owned by 
John Crawford & Co., who announce it to start from 
Levi Roberts' Rising Sun Hotel every morning at 
seven and a half o'clock, and to pass through Yerkes', 
Freas' Store, Barren Hill, Hagey's, Manayunk, Falls, 
and Robin Hood ; leaving John Hunter's hotel, sign 
of the Wagon, in Race above Fourth, with the fare 
reduced to seventy-five cents. 

The railroad was opened from Philadelphia to Nor- 
ristown in August, 1835, and on the opposite side of 
the river through to Pottsville in 1842. These sev- 
eral improvements of course now greatly lessened 
the amount of travel by stages over their old and 
long established routes, and necessarily had to with- 
draw more or less where opposition would have been 
useless. Yet to our surprise, with the growth and 
prosperity of Norristown and the country around, it 
really in 1860 became quite a considerable centre 
for staging in various directions. A line proceeded 
tri-weekly to Sumneytown, passing through Centre 
Square, Skippackville, Lederachsville, and Salford- 
ville, from the Pennsylvania Farmers' Hotel, on the 
north side of Main Street above Markley. For Mil- 
lerstown tri-weekly, by Perkiomen Bridge, Zeiglers- 
ville, Pennsbury, Treichlersville, and Shimersville. 
For Pottstown tri-weekly, by the Trappe and Limer- 
ick. For Boyerstown tri-weekly, by Limerick Square 
and New Hanover. A daily line for the Trappe, 
leaving at 4 o'clock p.m., via JefTersonville, Eagle- 
ville, and Freeland ; also a daily line for Phcenix- 
ville by way of Shannonville, and a tri-weekly still 



132 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



running on the pike to Philadelphia at 1 o'clock 
P.M. The advantages derived from carrying the mail 
contributed materially to the encouragement of the 
several lines, but the building of additional rail- 
roads since, for instance along the Perkiomeu and 
Stony Creeks, has again lessened the number of 
stages, until we have almost ceased to wonder at the 
marvelous changes going on. A writer in the Penns- 
hury Valley Press, on the completion of the railroad 
there in 1874, stated that "the old stage-coach has 
disappeared, and instead of taking three days to go 
from Pennsburg to Philadelphia and return, as it did 
a few years ago, the people of the former place can 
now go by train in the morning and return early in 
the evening, after having spent the full business part 
of the day in the city." 

The earliest line probably from Doylestown to the 
city was established in the fall of 1813, making two 
trips weekly, the fare each way being seventy-five 
cents. In 1815 tri-weekly trips were made, and the 
price advanced to one dollar and twenty-five cents. 
This stage in 1820 made the Buck Tavern, 130 North 
Second Street, its stopping-place, starting from there 
during the summer at 8 o'clock a.m., and in the win- 
ter at 9, making then one trip less. In 1831 the 
Doylestown stage was announced to start from the 
Camel Tavern, in Second Street above Race. About 
1846 two daily lines were running on this route in 
opposition to each other for several years, with the 
fare reduced as low as seventy-five and fifty cents, 
and yet from the number of passengers they carried 
the proprietors did not lo.se money. One was termed 
the High Grass Line, driven by Benjamin T. Clark, 
and the other by Joseph Lewis, succeeded by John 
Servis. The proprietors of the former were Charles 
H. Mann, Jacob E. Buck, and Joseph Harnett. The 
proprietor of the latter was Daniel Shelmire, of Ab- 
ington. On Mondays and Saturdays during the sum- 
mer season these coaches were generally drawn by 
four horses and sometimes six. The aforesaid fare 
for a distance of twenty-five miles is quite a contrast 
to what the Norristown lines charged, ranging from 
one dollar and twenty-five cents to seventy-five cents 
for only eighteen miles. In October, 1856, the branch 
from the North Pennsylvania Railroad to Doylestown 
was completed, which of course now tended to 
greatly reduce the amount of travel over the hitherto 
well-worn turnpike to the city, when the coaches were 
withdrawn. 

In 1820, Flourtown became a noted terminus for 
several lines passing through Rising Sun, German- 
town, and Chestnut Hill ; a stage leaving the Cross 
Keys, in Fourth Street above Market, daily at 8 a.m. 
and 2 p.m., and another, the Old Rotterdam, at 3 p.m. ; 
from the White Swan a line left daily at 9, 10, and 
11 A.m., returning at 3, 5, and 6 p.m. From this it 
would appear that these several lines made nor less 
than six daily trips to and from the city, thus show- 
ing more than sixty years ago a great amount of travel 



along this route. Jacob AcufF had a daily mail line 
running from the Broad Axe tavern in 1828, starting 
every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday morning at 
5.30 o'clock, arriving at Evans' tavern. Race Street, in 
three hours; returning on the same days at 3 p.m. 
This line proceeded from the Broad Axe to Kutz- 
town on Thursday morning at 5 o'clock, returning on 
the following day. This route lay through Nicetown, 
Germantown, Chestnut Hill, Flourtown, White Marsh, 
Broad Axe, Pigeontown or Blue Bell, Centre Square, 
Zeiglersville or Skippack, Sumneytown, and Tres- 
ler's Furnace. 

A new mail route having been formed by thePost- 
Office Department in the spring of 1828 over the Gulf 
road, a stage left the city on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and 
Saturdays at 4 o'clock a.m., passing the Gulf Mills, 
breakfasting at the Bird-in-Hand, thence through 
Valley Forge and Kimberton, arriving at Lancaster 
next morning. In consequence of this contemplated 
line a meeting of the citizens of Upper and Lower 
Merion was called at the house of Joseph King, sign 
of the Bird-in-Hand, January 19th, previous to fur- 
ther improving this highway so as to render its travel 
easier, " it being the only free road from the Cones- 
toga Valley to Philadelphia," thus intimating that 
now all the other prominent roads in that direction 
had been turnpiked. At this time a stage line was 
also established from Pottstown to meet this line at 
Kimberton, when the passengers could either proceed 
to Lancaster or Philadelphia ; the starting-place in 
the city being from Van Buskirk's hotel, 244 Market 
Street, arriving at the Union Hotel, Pottstown, in time 
to dine ; fare through, two dollars and twenty-five 
cents. 

To show what importance staging had assumed, 
it may be stated that James Reeside owned in the 
business in 1825 above one thousand horses. Through 
his extensive business in this direction he had be- 
stowed on him the title of " admiral." The credit is 
due him for the introduction of the more comfortable 
and stylish Troy coaches, a decided improvement 
over the earlier "stage waggon." Elliptic steel 
springs did not come into general use for the pur- 
poses of conveyance until after 1885. The noted 
White Swan, in Race Street, was long kept by Jacob 
Peters, who was also widely known as a stage pro- 
prietor. Even down to 1854 the Willow Grove had 
still five daily lines stopping there for Philadelphia. 
The line from Easton was established in 1792, and 
from New York at least in 1802, besides the two 
Doylestown lines, and one from Hartsville, now re- 
duced to bijt one, carrying the mail between said 
village and Doylestown. 

The business of staging, directly and indirectly, 
gave employment and support to a number of per- 
sons in Montgomery County, among whom could 
be enumerated the proprietors, the drivers, grooms- 
men, inn-keepers, smiths, and coach-makers, besides 
the toll arising therefrom for the turnpike companies 



I 




THE WELSH. 



139 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE WELSH.i 

Although the present territory of Montgomery 
County within the Scliuylkill valley may have been 
pretty well explored by the Dutch, Swedes and Eng- 
lish, in the pursuit of l)eaver and other peltries from 
the Indians, for forty years before the arrival of Penn, 
yet no evidence exists of any permanent settlement 
having been made within said time by Eurojieans 
upon this soil. Those engaged in the traffic were 
actuated entirely by a love for gain, and in no way 
concerned for the improvement or material develop- 
ment of the country. As the supply of furs dimin- 
ished through the activity of the pursuit, these 
adventurous spirits, in consequence, had to seek new 
fields, and thus one section would be abandoned for 
another. True, along the valley of the Delaware, 
south of the present city of Trenton, the Swedes had 
secured a foothold by attaching themselves to the 
cultivation of the soil, but it was hardly ever beyond 
the landing of their canoes. To them great honor is 
due for the peaceable relations that they so long 
maintained here with the Indians, thus making it a 
comparatively easy task, by the example set him, for 
William Penn in continuing the policy that Queen 
Christiana had so long before strictly enjoined should 
be carried out with the natives for their lands, — that 
they should be treated with justice and moderation, 
and, a step further, that they should be instructed in 
the Christian religion, for which purpose schools 
were established and catechisms and portions of the 
gospels and doctrines translated into their language, 
the evidences of which exist unto this day. 

In securing his province from the British King, the 
chief aim of William Penn was to insure an asylum 
or refuge for the persecuted of his denomination, and 
of all others that professed faith in Christianity. For 
these liberal views he deserves credit, although they 
had been carried out for some time previously by 
Roger Williamsand Lord Baltimore. Fromthecircum- 
stances of his position he could not do otherwise. In 
palliation for persecution, it was their resistance to the 
established laws of the land that in many cases brought 
the earliest immigrants hither, no matter whether from 
the British Isles or along the whole course and valley 
of the Rhine, — namely, the refusal to bear arms or do 
military duty and the non-payment of church-rates or 
tithes. To the former our own government has even 
not yielded, as shown in the late great Rebellion, and 
as to the latter, is still enforced by almost every na- 
tionality in Europe. However unjust the compulsory 
payment may be to an established church, this was 
certainly avoided in coming to Penn's distant colony, 
and was no small gain, when one-tenth of the farmer's 

1 By Will. .r. Buck. 



products were required. It was probably as much the 
resistance to the two aforesaid enactments that led to 
fines and imprisonments as in promulgating or join- 
ing new doctrines that were regarded by those in 
power at variance with their own long-established 
principles. It was these several causes that chiefly 
led to early immigration hither from Wales, the 
larger proportion of which were Friends, the Bap- 
tists being next in number. A few, it appears, 
were Episcopalians, who in some cases, were induced 
to follow from a relationship existing with those who 
left on account of persecution or conscientious scru- 
ples. 

In this county the date of settlement appears very 
close with the English in Cheltenham, but the honor 
of priority appears due to the Welsh. These people 
before the arrival of Penn had purchased in England 
from him forty thousand acres of land, which was 
subsequently located in Merion, Haverford, Goshen 
and extending partly into several adjoining town- 
ships. Under this encouragement, the ship " Lyon," 
JohnCompton, master, arrived with forty passengers, 
in the Schuylkill River, August 13, 1682, almost two 
months preceding Penn's arrival, on board of which 
was Edward Jones, " chirurgeon," with his family, 
who on the following 26th, sent a letter to John Ap 
Thomas, residing near Bala, in North A\'ales, wherein 
he states, " The Indians brought venison to our door 
for sixpence ye quarter. There are stones to be 
had enough at the Falls of Skoolkill, that is where 
we are to settle, and water power enough for mills, 
but thou must bring mill-stones and the irons that 
belong to it, for smiths are dear. They use both 
hooks and sickles to reap with." We have the 
authority of John Hill's map of the environs of 
Philadelphia, published in 1809, that the aforesaid 
made "the first Brhish settlement, 18th of 6th 
month, 1682," being only five days after his arrival 
in the Schuylkill. The place designated thereon 
is now the estate of his descendant, the late Colonel 
Owen Jones, near the present Libertyville, in Lower 
Merion, and is certainly an early claim, for Philadel- 
phia had not then been founded. 

In the following November, Dr. Thomas Wynne 
arrived with his family in the ship "Welcome" 
with William Penn. He settled beside his son-in- 
law Edward Jones. From him originated the name 
of Wynnewood. John Roberts came from Penny- 
chlawd, Denbighshire, in 1683, a millwright by occu- 
pation, and is supjjosed to have erected the third mill 
in the province. Among those who followed and 
settled early in Lower Merion may be mentioned 
Robert Owen, John Thomtis, Tljomas Owen, Hugh 
Roberts, Rowland Ellis, Robert Jones, John C'adwal- 
lader, Benjamin Humphreys and others. William 
Penn, by an order dated Pennsbury, 13th of First 
Month, 1684, directed Thomas Holmes, his surveyor- 
general to lay out the tract to which reference has 
been made. He therein states, " I do hereby charge 



140 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



thee and strictly require thee to lay out ye sd tract of 
Laud iu an uniform manner, conveuiently as may be, 
upon the West side of Skoolkill river, running three 
miles upon ye same, and two miles backwards, and 
then extend ye parallel with the river six miles and 
to run westwardly so far as till the said quantity of 
land be completely surveyed unto them." This sur- 
vey is known to have been made before the end of the 
aforesaid year. Owing to the continued immigration 
from Wales this tract within the first forty years was 
pretty well taken up and settled upon. 

One matter caused them considerable uneasiness. 
They had expected, and no doubt were promised 
that by thus locating together, they should all be 
under one municipal government, which would enable 
them the better to manage their own affairs. When 
the division line was run between Philadelphia and 
Chester Counties by order of the Governor's Council, 
passed 8th of Second Month, 1685, the said tract be- 
came divided, and only that portion since known as 
Lower Merion town.ship retained in Philadelphia and 
the balance left to Chester. This gave rise to a 
great deal of dissatisfaction, in which they proceeded 
almost to the verge of rebellion. The inhabitants 
of Radnor and Haverford refused to recognize the 
validity of said line, and in 1689 cast their votes for 
members of Assembly in Philadelphia. These were set 
aside as invalid. The result was that Griffith Owen 
and other inhabitants of the Welsh tract sent a long 
statement of their grievances to the commissioners 
the 13th of Tenth Month, 1690,— 

"We the Inhabitants of the W^elsh tr.icti in the Province of Penn- 
sylvania, in America, being descended of tlie Antieiit Britains, who 
always in the land of onr Nativity, under the Crown of England, have 
enjoyed that liberty and privilege as to have our bounds and litnits by 
ourselves, within which all causes, quarrels, crimes and titles were 
tryed and wholly determined by olliceii*, magistrates, juries of our 
own language, which were our equals. Having our faces towards these 
Countries, made the motion to our Governor that we might enjoy the 
same here, which thing was soon granted by him before he or they were 
ever come to these parts, and when he came over he gave forth his war- 
rant to lay out 40,0U0 acres of land to the intent we might live together 
here, and enjoy our liberty and Devotion iu our own Language as afore 
in our Country, and on tlie 40,00*1 acres was surveyed out and by his 
own wan'ant Confirmed by several Orders from the Conimissionei-s of ye 
Proprietary, and settled upon already with near four score settlements." 

In the aforesaid extract we see a strong, prevailing 
sentiment — the pride of ancestry — and an uncommon 
zeal evinced for the due preservation and jjcrpetua- 
tion of their ancient language. Those that had settled 
.so early in the townships of Upper and Lower Merion, 
it would ap2-)ear, belonged chiefly to the Society of 
Friends. In the latter district they erected, in 1695, 
the first house of worship in the county, a temporary 
structure of logs. This, in 1713, was su|)planted by a 
substantial stone edifice, which is still standing, and 
therefore ranks now as one of the oldest buildings 
used for the ]nirpose in Pennsylvania. The popula- 
tion of the Welsh had increased so by continuous im- 
migration and settlement in the two townships that 

* See Fenn. Archives, i. p. 108. 



out of eighty-four resident taxables in 1734, sixty- 
eight were actually of that nationality, being con.sider- 
ably over three-fourths the whole number. 

About the beginning of 1698, William, John and 
Thomas Ap Evan ])urchased of Robert Turner, a mer- 
chant of Philadelphia, seven thousand eight hundred 
and twenty acres in the present Gwynedd, being the 
larger portion of the township. The last-named pur- 
chaser settled on this tract, and was soon after joined 
by his brothers, Cadwalladcr, Owen and Robert Ap 
Evan. In July of said year more Welsh immigrants ar- 
rived in the ship " Robert and Elizabeth," among whom 
were William John (since changed to Jones), Hugh 
Griffith, Ellis David, Robert Jones, Edward Foulke, 
John Hugh and J(jhn Humphrey. All these, except- 
ing the last two, were originally Episcopalians, who 
afterwards joined the Friends. Edward Foulke came 
from Merionethshire, North Wales. He embarked at 
Liverpool with his wife, four sons and five daughters, 
and arrived in Philadelphia .luly 17, 1698, whore he 
was kindly treated and entertained by his former ac- 
quaintances who had i>receded him. Having purchased 
a tract of seven hundred acres in Gwynedd, he removed 
thereon the beginning of the following November. 

Having become sufficiently numerous, the Welsh 
Friends, iu 1700, erected in Gwynedd a small log build- 
ing for wor.shipin the centre of the township. There 
is a tradition that William Penn, accompanied by 
his daughter Letitia and a servant, came out on horse- 
back to visit the settlement shortly after its erection, 
and that he preached in it, staying, on this occasion, 
over night at the house of his friend, Thomas Evans, 
the first settler, who resided near by. His return to 
England in November, 1701, will nearly determine 
the time that he made this visit. Owing to the 
influx of more Welsh settlers, a larger stone building 
was determined on, which was erected in 1712. In a 
petition from this settlement, which is therein called 
North Wales, dated June, 1704, ])raying for a road 
through Germantown to Philadelphia, it is stated 
that they then numbered thirty families. The list of 
1734 gives Gwynedd forty-eight resident taxables, of 
which number thirty-nine bear Welsh surnames. 

Immediately adjoining Gwynedd on the north is 
Montgomery township, which, according to the re- 
port of Rev. Evan Evans bore this name at least as 
early as 1707. Here John Evans, William James, 
Thomas James, Josiah James, James Lewis, David 
Williams, David Hugh and James Davis settled before 
1720. In this year they built the first Bajjtist Church 
in the county, above the present Montgomeryville, in 
which preaching in the Welsh language was main- 
tained down to the Revolution. In the list of 1734, 
out of twenty-eight residents in Jlontgomery, nine- 
teen bear Welsh surnames. Before 1703, David Mer- 
edith, Thomas Owen, Isaac Price, Ellis Pugh and 
Hugh Jones, all from Wales, had settled in Plymouth 
township, where in 1734 they numbered nine out of 
its sixteen residents. Abraham Davis and David 



THE WELSH. 



141 



Williams had settled in Whitemarsh before 1703. 
Stephen Jenkins, in 1698, purch.ased four hundred 
and thirty-seven acres adjoining the present borough 
of Jenkintown, after whose descendants the place has 
been called. Before 1710, Robert Llewellyn and 
Evan Hugh had settled in Upper Merion. The Rev. 
Malachi Jones, from Wales, organized at Abing- 
ton, in 1714, the first Presbyterian congregation in 
the county, and here five years later, a church was 
built. Evan Lloyd, who settled in Horsham in 1719, 
was one of the first ministers there of the Friends' 
Meeting, whose original membership was probably 
one-third Welsh. 

From the list of 1734 we ascertain that the Welsh 
at that date outnumbered, in a total of 760 names, the 
English in the proportion of ISl to 163, thus consti- 
tuting at that time almost one-fourth the entire pojiu- 
lation within the present limits of the county. With 
the cessation of religious persecution, the Welsh al- 
most ceased coming, and this is one reason for their 
having since so diminished. According to the assess- 
ment of Lower Merion in 1780, out of 153 taxables 
only 34 bore Welsh names ; in Upper Merion for said 
year, out of 173 taxables, 36 are Welsh; in Gwynedd 
for 1776, of 143, only 43 are Welsh ; in Montgomery 
for said year, of 74, but 24 are Welsh ; and in Ply- 
mouth in 1780, of 93, only 13 are Welsh. The dispro- 
portion at present has become still greater. 

That the early Welsh possessed a pride of country, 
language, ancestry and other characteristic traits 
somewhat at variance with the views entertained by 
their English neighbors here will admit of no doubt. 
That they are the direct lineal descendants of the 
ancient Britons, with little or no admixture of foreign 
blood, will not be denied. That they fought valiantly 
in resisting the invasion of the Romans, Saxons, 
Danes and Xormans, as they w-ithdrew to their moun- 
tain fa.stnesses, will not be disputed. Next to the 
Irish, the Welsh is now regarded as one of the oldest 
living languages spoken in Europe. Essentially it is 
the same language that Csesar and Agricola heard on 
their first landing on the British shores, and in conse- 
quence deserves to be regarded with veneration as 
the only living link that unites those distant ages 
with the present. But the Engli-sh language is in- 
debted to it but little, so strongly is it Saxon and 
Latin. Rev. Joseph Harris, with ideas like some of 
the genealogists among his countryman, stated, in the 
"Seren Gomer," a work he edited in 1814, that "it is 
supposed by some, and no one can disprove it, that 
Welsh was the language spoken by Adam and Eve 
in Paradise." 

In their petition of grievances to Penn's commis- 
sioners in 1690, they particularly specify- therein that 
they are descended from the " Antient Britains," and 
desire that they may enjoy their " own language as 
afore in our Country." Rowland Ellis, a minister 
among Friends, arrived here in 16S6, and settled in 
Lower Merion, where he made himself useful to his 



countrymen as an interpreter and translator in their 
intercoui-se with the English. Bowden, in his "His- 
tory of Friends in America,"' states that "the mem- 
bers of his meeting being Welsh people, his ministry 
was in that language." Ellis Pugh, who arrived in 
1687 and soon after settled in Plymouth township, 
wrote a religious work there in Welsh, entitled " A 
Salutation to the Britains," which was translated by 
Rowland Ellis, and printed in Philadelphia in 1727, 
making a duodecimo of two hundred and twenty-two 
pages. Respecting Hugh Griffith and the brothers 
Robert and Cadwallader Evans, who settled in Gwy- 
nedd, Samuel Smith remarks in his " History of Penn- 
sylvania," ^ that they " could neither read or write 
in any but the Welsh language." The subscription 
paper for the rebuilding of their meeting-house, in 
1712, was written in Welsh, to which was affixed sixty- 
six names. Edward Foulke, of this congregation, 
wrote an account and genealogy of his family in 1702 
in Welsh, which was afterwards translated by his 
grandson, Samuel Foulke. The late Hugh Foulke, 
a life-long resident of Gwynedd, who died in 1864, 
aged seventy-six years, exhibited to the writer in 
18.55 the family Bible of Hugh Griffith in Welsh, 
printed in London in 1654. Dr. George Smith in his 
" History of Delaware County," mentions that the 
meeting-house at Haverford was built in 1700, where 
" William Penn preached to Welsh Friends, who sat 
quietly listening to an address from the Proprietary, 
of which they did not understand a word." 

William Jones, Hugh Griffith, Ellis David, Robert 
Jones and Edward Foulke, as well as several others, 
by leaving their church and attaching themselves to 
Friends, appear to have attracted the attention of the 
churchmen, if we are to judge by the correspondence 
published in the "Collections of the Episcopal Church 
in Pennsylvania." 

The Rev. Evan Evans, in his report dated Septem- 
ber IS, 1704, states that he frequently went out to Mont- 
gomery, twenty miles, and Radnor, fifteen miles from 
Philadelphia, "determined to lose none of those 
whom I had gained, but rather add to them, where I 
preached in Welsh once a fortnight for four years, till 
the arrival of Mr. Nichols, minister from Chester, in 
1704." He adds that a hundred names had been 
signed to a petition to have settled among them, in 
Radnor and Merion, a minister " that understands the 
British language, there being many ancient people 
among those inhabitants that do not understand 
the English. Could a sober and discreet person be 
secured to undertake that mission, he might be 
capable to bring in a plentiful harvest of Welsh 
Quakers, that were originally born in the Church of 
England, but were unhappily perverted, before any 
minister in holy orders could preach to them in their 
own language." He continues that "there is another 
Welsh settlement, called Montgomery, in the county 



1 Vol. ii, p. 21)2. 



2 Hazard's Register, vol. vi. 



142 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of Philadelphia, twenty miles distant from the city, 
vhere were a considerable number of Welsh people, 
formerly, in their native country, of the communion of 
the Church of England ; but about 1698, two years be- 
fore my arrival, most of them joined the Quakers ; but 
some of them are reduced, and I have baptized their 
children and preached often to them." The Gwynedd 
congregation is evidently here meant, for which he 
has unintentionally substituted Montgomery, which, 
it is likely, at this early time, was the only name 
known to him for this section. 

As the Rev. Benjamin Griffith jn-eached in the Welsh 
language in the Montgomery Baptist Church down to 
his death, in 1768, in which he was also followed 
by his successor, the Rev. John Thomas, this estab- 
lishes the fact that, in consequence, the language must 
have been retained and spoken in some of the families 
in that section and in the adjoining townships of Hill- 
town and New Britain until the beginning of this 
century. We have thus been curious to gather from 
a variety of sources the aforesaid facts respecting the 
powerful hold of the language on the early Welsh 
settlers in this county, and to show how most of them 
■were unacquainted with any other. Its duration here 
may be set down at about a century before the 
English had entirely supplanted it. Necessity at 
first compelled the Welsh, English, Germans and the 
Swedes to form settlements by themselves, owing to 
a general ignorance of each others' language, which, 
of course, for a long time must have greatly inter- 
fered with their social intercourse. 

The early Welsh that came here at first continued 
the practice that had so long prevailed in their native 
country of reversing their family names. Thus John 
and Evan Griffith were the sons of Griffith John, 
taking their father's Christian name for their surname. 
Thomas Ap John, the son of John Ap Thiimas, when 
he attained to manhood, wrote his name here Thomas 
Jones. Hugh Evan was the son of Evan Hugh, and 
married to Mary Robert, the daughter of Robert 
John. Edward and Evan Jones were the sons of 
John Evan ; Robert and Griffith Hugh sons of Hugh 
Griffith. John Roger is mentioned in a marriage 
certificate at Merion, as late as 1717, as being the son 
of Roger Roberts. In the early records of Haverford 
and Merion Monthly Meeting, and also in that of ■ 
Gwynedd, only a few instances are found in births 
where the surnames were exchanged. A large 
majority of the Welsh, however, soon after their 
arrival, adopted the English method, that the father's 
surname be retained and perpetuated, as indicative 
of a family origin, and which, from its simplicity, 
cannot be well improved upon. The Welsh practice, 
in consequence, has often here been puzzling in 
tracing early family genealogies. Welsh, like German 
names have also been Anglicized. John has thus 
been changed to Jones, David to Davis, Matthew to 
Matthews, Philip to Philips, Robert to Roberts, 
William to Williams, Hugh to Hughes, Jenken to 



Jenkins, Edward to Edwards, which are only a few 
of many that can be mentioned. 

A question now arises in regard to their numbers 
and singular characteristic traits, — What impress have 
the Welsh made here in the two past centuries, 
through their descendants, on the existing condition 
of society ? As respects their language, they have 
been certainly given to applying and perpetuating 
here local names from the land of their nativity. In 
a list of one hundred and twelve post-offices in the 
county, thirteen are ascertained to be more or less of 
Welsh origin. Outside of local names, remarkable to 
relate, after the most diligent inquiry, we cannot find 
a single word of the language retained or in use at 
this time that might have been either apjilied to 
some living object, utensil, or implement used in 
agriculture and mechanics, or relating to dress, food, 
furniture, buildings, scenery, habits, customs, etc., 
it thus seeming as if the language had never been 
spoken here. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE COLONIAL ERA. 



The proprietary or colonial government of Penn- 
sylvania from 1682 to 1776 seems to have been of a 
peaceful and conservative character. All nations 
and tongues and kindred were here cordially invited 
to unite in their efforts to form and administer a sys- 
tem of government that would secure to mankind the 
measure of human happiness believed to be incident 
to the providence of life. Peaceful relations with the 
aborigines were first secured. On the banks of the 
Delaware, at a point marked by a great elm-tree, the 
founder of the colony, surrounded by a few judicious 
followers, met in council a large delegation of the 
Leuni-Lenape tribes. " We meet in good faith 
and good will ; no advantage shall be taken on either 
side, but all shall be openness and love. We are the 
same as if one man's body were to be divided into 
two parts, we are all one flesh and blood." The re- 
sponse was natural, — " We will live iu love with you 
and your children as long as the moon and the sun 
shall endure." This covenant of peace and amity 
had neither signature, seal nor oath to confirm it. 
No record of it can be found. The sons of the wilder- 
ness, returning to their forest homes, preserved the 
history of the great event by strings of wampum, and 
later generations would count over the shells on a 
clean piece of bark, and repeat to child and stranger 
the magic words of "peace and good will." 

Honorable jjeace with the natives gave to all a 
sense of permanent security. Contentment and in- 
terest in the colony were inspired by assuring to a tax- 
paying citizenship a participation in making laws to 
govern themselves. The people responded promptly 



/ 



THE COLONIAL ERA. 



143 



to the privilege, and tlirough tlieir represeatatives en- 
tered upon the work of preparatory legislation at 
Chester, and in a session of three days completed a 
form of government. By the joint act of the people 
and the proprietary all were united ou the basis of 
equal rights. The rule of eiiuality in descent and in- 
heritance was secured in families by abrogating the 
laws of primogeniture. The standard of woman was 



lurking in many minds. The establishment of "an 
asylum for the oppressed of every nation" was an in- 
vitation to the children of misfortune of every clime 
to seek refuge in it. Adventurers came in throngs, 
demanding personal license in the name of public 
liljerty. The mass of emigrants came with minds 
clouded by the gloomy terrors of an invisible world of 
attending fiends. Witchcraft found advocacy and 




I'E.N^'S TllEATY TKEE A><D UAllBuU Ui' I'UlLALiLLl'lilA, I>; 18a0, FEOM KENSINGTON. 



raised to an inheritable person in the distribution of 
all intestate estates. Every resident who paid "scot 
and lot to the Governor" possessed the right of suf- 
frage, and every Christian was eligible to public 
office. No tax or custom could be levied or collected 
but by law, murder was the only crime punishable by 
death, marriage was declared a civil contract, every 
prison for convicts was made a work-house, there 
were neither poor-rates nor church tithes. The 
Swedes, Finns, Dutch, and all men of whatever nation 
were invested with the liberty of Englishmen. It 
was a bold dejsarture in a right direction, keenly ap- 
preciated by the newly enfranchised men, and led to 
open exclamations of joy by many leading spirits, 
among them Lawrence Cook, who declared for his 
fellow-citizens, " that it .was the best day they had 
ever seen." 

The birth of popular power and the institution of 
forms of government demanded by it imposed the 
dutyj of dislodging the prejudice and superstition 



belief, and demanded the arrest and trial of a common 
scold in the person of a woman. The event was im- 
portant and the scene memorable. Penn presided as 
judge; the jury was carefully selected, the Quakers 
outnumbered the Swedes. The nature of the accusa- 
tion was carefully considered, the witnesses were 
patiently examined, the jury received the charge of 
the court, and after mature deliberation returned the 
following verdict : " The prisoner is guilty of the com- 
mon fame of being a witch, but not guilty as she 
stands indicted." The personal friends of the liber- 
ated but incorrigible scold were directed to enter into 
bonds that she should keep the peace and be of good 
behavior towards all good citizens, and from that day 
henceforth in the colony of Pennsylvania witchcraft 
became an extinct offense. The sinful arts of con- 
juration were obscured, if not eradicated, by this 
public trial, and " neither demon nor hog ever rode 
through air on goat or broom-stick," in the presence 
of a Quaker judge or jury thereafter. 



144 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Late in the year of 1682, Thomas Holmes, Penn's 
surveyor-general, laid out the city of Philadeljihia on 
land ]mrchnsed fr.im the Swedes. In the spring of 




MONUMENT ERECTED TO MARK THE SITE OF THE 
TREATY TREE. 

1683 it became the capital city, the proprietor having 
previously divided the province into the counties 
Bucks, Chester, and Philadelphia, and the " territo- 
ries" into three, — New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. The 
political freedom of the colonists induced frequent 
modifications in their form of government. The 
Council and Assembly were in session in the spring 
of 1683. Addressing them in reference to the form 
of government, Penn said, " You may amend, alter, or 
add; I am ready to settle such form or additions as 
may be for yonr happines." The question before 
them was " whether to have the old charter or a new 
one." A new one was adojited and approved by the 
Governor of the province. By this charter the Pro- 
vincial Council was to consist of eighteen persons, 
three from each county, and the Assembly of thirty- 
six persons " of most note for virtue, wisdom and 
ability." The laws were to be prepared and proposed 
by the Governor and Council, and the numlier of 
Assemblymen to be increased at their own pleasure. 

The popular branch of the Legislature had no power 
to originate laws or measures, but could negative or 
defeat those proposed by the Governor and Council. It 
was soon discovered that an elective Assembly, repre- 
senting a large constituency, were unsatisfied with 
the exercise of a negative power. Discussions were 
frequent and animated. This led to conferences with 
the Council and the Governor; the associated wisdom 
of the many became manifest, and the privilege of 
suggesting measures was conceded to the Assembly- 
men. In return, they conferred upon the Governor the 
l^ower to negative measures proposed by the Council. 
In the light of experience, it would seem to have been 
better to repose the veto power in the executive, 
granting to the most popular branch of the Assembly 
power to originate all laws for the public welfare. As 



modified in 1683, the colonial government continued 
until 1696. Having established the colony upon 
principles of con.stitutinnal freedom, Penn confided 
the executive power to Thomas Lloyd, an eminent 
Quaker, and in the month of July, 1684, returned to 
England. Commentators concur in reporting serious 
dissensions among those vested with the power of 
government. The trouble was mainly due to the dis- 
tinction between the proprietary interests and those 
of the common people. 

In August, 1684, the province contained eight 
thousand souls; over these Penn had established a 
democracy, while his great landed interests made him 
a feudal sovereign. Bancroft declares, " The two 
elements in the government were incompatible, and 
for ninety years the civil history of Pennsylvania is 
but an account of the jarring of the opposing inter- 
ests, to which there could be no happy issue but in 
popular independence." Sherman Day says, " The 
different authorities did not support each other as 
they should have done ; there was constant bickering 
between the legislative and the executive, and be- 
tween the members from the ' territories ' and those 
of the province."' The "territories" or what sub- 



1 The following conference bet^veen the Assembly and the Governor 
illustrates the temper and character of the conflict during the colonial 
period, and is referred to by histonans generally : 

"John White, David Lloyd, Saml. Carpenter and Edward Blake, from 
the house of representatives, bring in and offerthe Bill of supjilies for the 
government, which they say is read two times in their house, but not 
passed, and desires to know what is become of the other bills they have 
sent up ; whether they are passed or not, or what amendments are made^ 
&c. 

*' His Excell. Geutl., This is no bill. I will not look upon it untill it 
be passed the house and signed by the Speaker. I have sent you word 
formerlie that the Speaker was to cause be wrote under each bill, 'This 
bill being three times read, is assented unto by the House of Representa- 
tives, and oriiered to be transmitted to the Governor and Council for their 
assent thereimto, and then signed by order of the house his name.' But 
this you will not follow becaus bid to doe it. 

" Mr. White. May it please the Governor not to take it amiss that the 
representatives are'desirous to know what is become of the other bills, 
ere they proceed to the passing of it. They judge it the practice of the 
Couions of England and their right, therefore pray, Governor, excuse it 
and peruse the bill. 

"His Excell. Gentl., If you did design to compliment me with the 
sight of this Bill before it was psissed yor house, you might have followed 
other meiisures. I can take no notice of it here untill it come signed by 
the SiJcaker and past the house. I will not look upon it. 

"Mr. Lloyd. To be plain with the Governor, here is the monie bill, 
and the bouse will not pass it untill they know what is become of the 
other hills that are sent up. 

"Mr. White, aiay it please the Governor, the House doe not know 
hut those bills the Governor may see cause to lay aside may be the bills 
they putt the greatest value upon, therefore pray thee to excuse it and 
condescend to them in that thing. 

"His Kxcell. Gentl., You have not dealt I'airlie by uie. You have no 
candor ; you have sitt these fifteen days and nothing done. No vote 
mentioning those laws ever came to my hand untill you surprise me 13 
hills ; ami again more, some of which are directlie opposite to their 
Slaties Lres patents. I came not here to make bargains nor expose the 
king's honour. I will never grant any such for all the money in your 
Countrie. You have had her Maties' Letter before you, and lei the house 
consider what they are doing. I must be accompttiddc at Whitehall for 
everie thing tliat is transacted here in this assembly. I shall be surrie if 
I can be able to give you no hetter character ; and in short, you must 
expect to be an annexed to New Yorke or Maryland. I will not look 
upon the Bill untill it will be three times read and signed by the Speaker. 



THE COLONIAL ERA. 



145 



sequently became the State of Delaware were a source 
of solicitude to Penn, and the representatives from 
them were generally hostile to the proprietary inter- 
ests. 
The third frame of government was adopted iu 



and in securing unity in the administration of the 
laws. The Assembly met in extra session in May, 
and again in October, 1700. A new charter or frame 
of government, and a new code of laws were sub- 
mitted. After long and bitter discussion both were 











oV 




fAc-simile of \villl\m pexn's autograph and seal, and the autographs of attesting witnesses to the 

CHARTER of 1682. 



160*», which continued in force until 1700. Mean- 
time Penn returned to his colony and applied himself 
diligently to a further modification of the government 

**Tho RapresentatiTes did throw down another bill upon the table and 

withihew. 

"The Bill last delivered is concerning the estate of persons deceased, 
and not signed by the Speaker. 

' ' His Extell. ordered Sir. Robinson to carie the same back to the 
honse, and tell them that his Excell. hath passed a bill against abusing 
Magistrates this day in Council ; that they sufficientlie abuse liis Excell. 
in sending np s\ich scripts of paper without being signed, and that they 
niuet not expect that hee will take anie notice of such. 

" His Excell. sent Mr. Robinson and Mr. Forman to inquire if the 
house of representativee had any more Bills to offer. Who in ansr. 
said, the house wer in di'luite whether they should send any more bills 
for iissent until they heard that the other former bills were passed. 

" His Excell. after long expectation, did desire the advice of the board 
whether he should not dissolve the asseniblie, having had no regard to 
their Maijesties' demands for assisting New Torke. 

" His Excell. ordered Pat. Robinson and Geo. Forman, Esqrs., to wait 
upon the house of Representatives, and demand of them whether they 
have complied with their Majesties' demand for assisting New Yorke ; 
whether they had considered of a Quota of men or nionie, or both, and 
that they return an ansr. in writing, signed by the Speaker. 

"Hie Excell. gave them the Queen's Letter, of which the Represen- 
tatives had formerlie a copie, that they might see it. 

"They brought in ansr. that sborthe they would bring an ansr. in 
writing. 

10 



adopted. The charter continued in force until the 
separation of the province from Great Britain, 1776.* 

"His Excell. did demand of the Council If they have observed him to 
take wrong measures to disobhge the representatives and make the in- 
habitants uneasie since he came amongs them, and prayed them to use 
their freedom of speech. 

"The Members of the Council did return, That they were admirers 
of his Excell. patience, and wer wittnesses that bee hath taken all the 
steps of condescension imaginable to gain them, and that they wer 
afraid the Countrie will be att hist sufferers through their means. 

" His Excell. gave the board to understand that he hath sent several 
messages to the Representatives — they have done nothing to answer the 
Queen's Letter. They have adjourned ymselves twice this day, and it 
is now three hours since the last message was sent to them ; Therefore, 
asks the advice of the board to send for them and dissolve them. 

"Andrew Robeson, Esq., made answer. That he was ashamed of their 
behaviour to his Excell., after all that condescention and patience his 
Excell. hath shown to them ; being putt to the vote. It is the opinion of 
the Council {ouly Sir. Salway excepted) that his Excell. have patience 
till morrow morning, and if they give not satisfactorie ansr. to the 
Queen's Letter by 8 o'clock to-morrow morning, then to dissolve the 
present assembly. 

"Adjourned till 5 o'clock morrow morning." 

{Col.Rec. vol. i.) 

1 This charter of rights and privileges, under which our progenitors 
lived for seventy-five years, from 1701 to 1776, merits preservation for 
convenient reference, containing, as it does, the germ of the common- 
wealth and State. 



146 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The expense attending upon the settlement and 
improvement of the province impaired the fortune of 
its founder, and in the year 170S he was obliged 
to mortgage his proprietary possessions for the sum 

" THE CHARTER OF PRIVILEGES TO THE PROVINCE AND 
COUNTIES. WILLIAM PENN, PROPRIETARY AND GOV- 
EUNOR OF THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA AND TER- 
RITORIES THEREUNTO BELONGING. 

"To ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, SENDETH (JrEETING." 

" W'Jiereas, King Charlee the Second^ by liis Lettei-s Patents under the 
Great Seal of England, bearing date the fourth day uf March, in tlie year 
One Thousand Six Hundred and Eighty, was graciously pleased to give ami 
grant unto me, my heire and assigns, forever, thisProvinceof Pennsylva- 
nia, with Divera Great Powei-g and Jivrisd ction for the Well Government 
thereof; and whereas the King's Dearest Brother, James, Duke of York 
and Albany, &c., by his Deeds of feoffment under his hand and Seal, 
duly perfecting, bearing Date the Twenty fourth Day of August, One 
Thousand Six liundred Eighty and two, Did grant unto nie, my heirs 
and assigns, all that Tract of Land now called the Territories of Penn- 
sylvi'a, together with Powers and Jurisdiction for the good Government 
thereof; and Whereas, for the Encouragement of all the freemen and 
Planters that might be concerned in the said Province and Territo- 
ries, and for the good government thereof, I, the said William Penn, in 
the year One thousand Six hundred Eighty and three, fur me, my heii-s 
and assigns. Did grant and Confirm unto all the freemen, Planters and 
adventurers therein, Divers Liberties, franchises and Proi)ertys, as by 
the said grant Entitled the Frame of the Government of the Province of 
Pennsylvania and Territories thereunto belonging, in America, may ap- 
pear. Which Charter or frame, being found in some parts of it not so 
suitable to the Present Circumstances of the Inhabitants, was, in the 
third month, in the year One thousand seven hundred, Delivered up to me 
by six parts of seven of freemen of this Province and Territories, in 
General Assembly met, provision being made in the said Charter for 
that end and Purpose; and Whereas, I was then pleased to promise that 
I would restore the said Charter to them again with necessary altera- 
tions, or, in Lieu thereof, Give them another, better adapted to answer 
the Present Circumstances and condition of the said Inliabitants, which 
they have now by their Representatives in General Assembly met 
in Philadelphia, Requested me to grant ; know ye therefore that I, for 
the further well-being and good Govrmt of the said Province and Territo- 
ries, and in purauance of the Rights and Powei-s before mentioned, I, the 
said William Penn, do Declare, grant and('onfirm unto all the freemen, 
planters and adventurere and other inhabitants of and in the said 
Province and Territories thereunto annexed, forever ; 

" Fii-st. Because no people can be truly happy, though under the 
greatest Enjoyment of Civil Liberties, if abridg'd of the freedom of 
their Consciences as to their Religious profession and Worship ; and 
Almighty God being the only Lord of Conscience, father of Lights and 
Spirits, and the author as well as object of all Divine Knowledge, faith 
and Worehip, who only doth Enlighten the mind and persuade and con- 
vince the underetanding of People, I do hereby grant and declare that 
no person or persons, inhabiting in this Province or Territories, who 
shall confess and acknowledge one Almighty God, the Creator, Upholder 
and Ruler of the World, and Profess him or tliemselvcs obliged to live 
quietly under the Civil Government, shall be in any case molested or 
prejudiced in his or their person or estate, because of his or their con- 
scientious persuasion or practice, nor be compelled to frequent or main 
tain any Religious Worship, place or ministry contrary to his or their 
mind, or to do or suffer any other actor thing contrary to their Re- 
ligious pei-suasion. And that all persons who also profess to believe in 
Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World, shall be capable (notwithstand- 
ing their other pereuasions and practices in point of Conscience and Re- 
ligion) to serve this Government in any Capacity, both Legislatively and 
Executively, he or they Solemnly promising, when Lawfully required, 
allegiance to tlie King as Sovereign and fidelity to the Proprietor and 
Governor, and taking the attests as now established, by the law made at 
New Castle, in the year One Thousand seven hundred, Intitled an act 
Directing the attests of several officei-s and miuistei-s, as now amended 
and coufirnied by this present Assembly. 

**Secondly. For the well governing of this Provinc-' and territories, 
there shall be an Assembly yearly chosen by the freemen tbeirof, to 
Consist of four persons out of each County uf most note fbr Virtue, 
"Wisdom and Ability (or of a greater number at any time as the Governour 
and Assemtily shall agree), upon the fii-st day of October, forever; and 



of thirty thousand dollars. This is said to be the 
first debt of the State. In 1712, Penn negotiated 
with Queen Anne for the transfer of the government 
of the province and territories to the crown, for 

shall sitt on the fourteenth day of the said mouth, at Philadelphia, un- 
less the Governour and Council, for the time being, shall see cause to ap- 
point another place witiiin the said Province or Territories, which sis- 
sembly shall have power to Choose a Speaker and their other officers, 
and shall be Judges of the Qualifications and Elections of their own 
membere, sitt upon their own adjournments, appoint Cummiftees, pre- 
pare bills in or to pjiss into Laws, Impeach criminals and Redress Griev- 
ances; and shall have all other powers and Privileges of an Assembly, 
according to the rights of the free-born subjects of England, and as is 
usual in any of the King's Plantacons in America. And if any Court or 
Counties shall refuse or neglect to choose their Respective representa- 
tives, as aforesaid, or, if chosen, do not meet to serve in Assembly, those 
who are chosen and mett shall have the full power of an Assembly, in as 
ample manner as if all the Rejiresentatives had been chosen and mett ; 
Provided they are not less than two thirds of the whole number that 
ought to meet ; And that the (Qualifications of Electors and Elected, and 
all other matters and things Relating to Elections of Representatives to 
serve in Assemblys, though not herein particularly exprest, shall be 
and remain as by a Law of this Govermt, made at New Castle in the year 
One thousand seven hundred, Intitled an Act to ascertain the number of 
membere of Assembly, and to regulate the Elections. 

"Thirdly. That tlie freemen in each Repi-esontative County, at the 
time and place of meeting for Electing their Representatives tu serve in 
Assembly, may, as often as there shall be occasion, choose a Double num- 
ber of persons to present to the Govr. for Sheriffs and Coroners, tu serve 
for three years, if they so long behave themselves well, out of which 
respective Elections and Presentments The Gov. shall nominate and 
Commission One for each of the said otficers The Third Day after such 
presentment, or else the first named in such presentment for each office, 
as aforesaid, shall stand and serve in that office for the time before 
Respectively Limited ; and in case of death or Default, such vacancies 
shall be supplied by the Governor to serve to the End of the said Term ; 
Provided always, that if the said freemen shall at any time neglect or 
Decline to Choose a person or persons foi- Either or both the aforesjiid 
offices, then and in such Case the persons that are or shall be in the 
Respective offices of Sherjf or Coroner at the time of Election shall 
remain therein untill they shall be Removed by another Election, as 
aforesaid. And that the Justices of the Respective Counties shall or may 
nominate and present to the Govr. three persons to serve for Clerk of the 
Peace for the said County when there is a vacancy. One of which the 
Governour shall Coinmissionate witliin Ten Days after such presentment, 
or else the fii"st nominated shall serve in the said office during good 
behaviour. 

" Fourthly. That the Laws of this Govrmt. shall be in this stile, \izt : 
[By the Governour with the Consent and api>robation of the freemen iu 
General Assembly mett] and shall be, after confirmation by the governour, 
forthwith Recorded in the Roll's office and kept at Philadia., unless the 
Govr. and Assembly shall agree to appoint another place, 

"Fifthly. That all Criminals shall have the same Privileges of Wit- 
nesses and Council as their Prosecutors. 

"Sixthly. That no pei-son or persons shall or may, at anytime here- 
after, be obliged to answer any Complaint, matter or thing Whatsoever 
relating to Property before the Governr. and Council, or in any other 
place but iu the ordinary Courts of Justice, unless appeals thereunto shall 
be hereafter by Law appointed. 

"Seventhly. That no person within this Government shall be licensed 
by the Governor to keep Ordinary, Tavern, or House of Publick Enter- 
tainment, but such who are fii-st Recommended to him under the hand of 
the Justices of the Respective Counties signed in open Court, wch. Jus- 
tices are and shall be hereby Impowered to suppress and forbid any person 
keeping such Publick House, as aforesaid, upon their misbehaviour, on 
such Penalties as the Law doth or shall direct, and to Recommend othere 
from time to time as the}' shall see occasion. 

"Eighthly. If any pereon, through Temptaticm or melancholly. shall 
Destroy himself, his Estate, Real and Personal, shall, notwithstanding, 
Descend to his wife and Children or Relations as if he had died a natural 
Death ; and if any person shall be Destroyed or kill'd by Casuality or 
accident, theie shall be no forfeiture to the Governour by reason thereof; 
and no act. Law or Ordinance whatsoever shall at any time hereafter be 
made or done to alter. Change or Diminish the form or effect of thiB 



I 



II 



THE COLONIAL ERA. 



147 



which he was to receive sixty thousand dollars. 
Pending legislation upon this subject, Penn became a 
hopeless invalid with impaired faculties, and after a 
lingering illness of six years he died at Kushcomb, 
in Buckinghamshire, England, on the 30th day of 
July, 1718. 

Charter, or of any part or clause therein Contrary to the true Interest 
and meaning thereof, without tlie Consent of the Govr. for the time 
being, and Six parts of SevL*n of the Assembly mett. But because the 1 
happiness of mankind depL-nds so much upon the Enjoying of Liberty of 
their Consciences, as aforesaid, I do hereby Soleoiiily Declare, promise 
and Grant fur me, my heirs and assigns, that the first article of this 
Charter, Relating to Liberty of Conscience, and every part and Clause 
therein, according to the true intent and meaning thereof, shall be kept 
and remain without any alteration inviolably forever. "^"'^ 

*'And Lastly, I, the said William Penn, Proprietor and Govr. of the 
Province of Pennsylvania and Territories thereunto belonging, forniyself, 
my heira and Assigns, have solemnly Declared, Granted and Confirmed, 
and do hereby Solem^y Declare, Grant and Confirm, that neither I, my 
heirs or Assigns shall procure or do anything or things whereby the 
Liberties in tliis Charter Contained and Exprest, nor any part thereof, 
shall be infringed or Broken ; and if anything shall be procured or done 
by any person or persons contrary to these presents, it shall be held of no 
force or eftect. 

" In Witness whereof, I, the said William Penn, att Philadia., in Penn- 
sylvania, have unto this present C'harter of Liberties sett my hand and 
Broad Seal, this Twenty-Eighth Day of October, In the year of our Lord 
One tlioueand Seven hundred and One, being the thirteenth year of the 
Reign of King William the Third over England, Scotland, France, and 
Ireland, Ac, and in the Twenty-fii-st year of my Govrmt. And notwith- 
standing the Closure and test of this present Charter, as aforesaid, I think 
fitt to add this following proviso thereunto as part of the same, that is to 
say : that notwithstanding any Clause or Clauses in the above mentioned 
Charter obliged the Province and Territories to join together in Legisla- 
tion, I am content and do hereby declare that if the Kepresentativea of 
the Province and Territories shall not hereafter agree to Joyn together 
in Legislation, and if the same shall be signified to me or my Deputy, in 
open Assemlily or otherwise, from under the hands and seals of the 
Representatives (for the time being) of the province or Territories, or the 
major part of Either of them, any time within three years from the date 
hereof ; That in such Ciise tlie Iniiabitants of Each of the three Counties 
of this Province shall not have less than Eight persons to Represent them 
in Assembly for the Province, and the Inhabitants of the town of 
Philadia. iwhen the said Town is incorporated) Two persons to represent 
them in Assembly ; and the Inhabitants of Each County in the Territories 
shall have ;is many persons to Represent them in a Distinct Assembly for 
the Territories as shall be by them requested, as aforesaid, Notwithstand- 
ing which sopaiution of the Province and Territories in respect of Legis- 
lation, I do hereby promise, Grant and Declare that the Inhabitants of 
both Province and Territories shall separately enjoy all other Liberties, 
Privileges and benefits Granted Jointly to them in this Charter, any Law 
usage or Custom of this Govrmt. heretofore made and pnictised, or any 
Law made and passed by this General Assembly to the contrary hereof 
notwithstanding. 

"Copia Vera, "William Pen.v. 

" p. .Jos. Antrobus, 

" i^lurk of the Assembly. 

"This Cliarter of Privileges being Distinctly Read in Assembly, aud 
the whole anil every part thereof being approved of aud agreed to by us, 
we do thankfully receive the same from our Proprietor and Govr. at 
Philadelpliia, this Twenty-Eighth Day of October, 1701. 

"Signed on bdiulf iuid by onler of the Assembly. 

"p. Jos. GrOWDON, Speaker. 
"■ Enwn. Siili'PEN, 
"Phink.vs Prmberton, 

"S.VMLL. C.\ltPENTBR, 

"Griffith Owen, 
"Caleb Pusey, 
"Thos. Storv, 

"Recorded in the Rolls Office at Philadelphia, In Patent Book A., 
Vol. 2ad, pa. 125 to 129, the 31st of 8th Mo., ITiH. 

"By me, Thos. Story, Mr. ibim." 

— Col. liec, vol. ii. 



Propri/. fiivl <;ov'rs Council. 



By his will the government or jurisdiction of 
Pennsylvania and territories was given in trust to the 
Earls of Oxford (Mortimer aud Powlet), to be dis- 
i^osed of to the Queen or an}' other person to the best 
advantage. The proprietary right of government of 
the province was claimed by the eldest son, William. 
The hereditary succession was disputed, and the case 
found its way to a Court of Chancery, which decreed 
the right of government to be a part of the personal 
estate. Under this decision the widow aud executrix, 
Hannah Penn, exercised a proprietary interest dur- 
ing the minority of the heirs and for many years 
afterwards. She is said to have been a woman of 
"powerful intellect, and exerted it in securing the 
appointment of Governors, and in directing of the 
affairs of the colony." 

The colony established as a " Holy Experiment " 
was geographically known throughout Christendom, 
and the tide of emigration was tending in the direc- 
tion of Pennsylvania. Men of enterprise, possessing 
capital, came to secure timber lands, to engage in ship- 
building, to explore and develop mineral wealth and 
to foster the growth of cattle and grain for exportation. 
This development attracted the New England traders, 
trained in the school of republican Puritanism, who 
found here a congenial climate and sources of wealth 
which induced many of them to become permanent 
settlers. Among them was the boy Benjamin Frank- 
lin, who arrived in October, 1728. Among those who 
came from the mother country at this period were 
many connected with the Church of England. Fol- 
lowing these were Presbyterians from Scotland and 
Ireland. These people were not averse to bearing 
arms in self-defense ; in truth, they were aggressive 
and were active, as have been their patriotic descend- 
ants in extending the line of civilization westward. 
In contrast with tliis class were the Mennonists or 
German Baptists, a religious people who adhered to 
the principles of nou-resistance, and because of this 
belief were persecuted in Northern Europe. They 
naturally sought a country tolerant in its laws, and 
thousands of them settled in Eastern Pennsylvania 
in the beginning of the seventeenth century. These 
were followed by the Dunkers and German Luther- 
ans. Amid this great diversity of races, languages, 
interests, and prejudices, agitation and sharp conflicts 
of opinion were natural, and slowly but surely led up 
to and expended their force in the Revolution that 
followed. Cause was not wanting to excite a well- 
marked division of public opinion upon subjects asso- 
ciated with the general welfare. On the one side was 
the proprietary family with their landed prerogatives, 
their manors of many thousand acres of the most 
valuable of improved lands, their quit-rents and 
baronial pomp, alienated in their sympathies from 
the colony, preferring the luxuries of aristocratic life 
in England to the simple manners and customs of the 
New World, ruling the colony by capricious Governors 
and deputies, and persistingly reliising to be taxed in 



148 



HISTORY or MONTGOMEllY COUNTY. 



common for the defense of the country. On the other 
side was a hardy, self-reliant and enthusiastic band 
of pioneers, free in this New World to develop and 
maintain the great principles of civil liberty and self- 
government then just dawning upon the human mind, 
willing to bear their share of the pecuniary burdens of 
the frontier wars against the encroachments of the 
French and their savage allies, provided the proprie- 
taries would consent to be equally taxed ; a part of 
them ambitious to take up arms in defense of the 
colony, while the Quakers and other non-resisting 
sects were zealous in their humane efforts to promote 
peace. The policy of the home g(5verunient was to 
keep the colonists dependent ; the ambition of the 
enterprising colonists was to be self-supporting and 
independent.' 
The conflict of opinion upon the subject of taxa- 

1 The reBtrictive policy of the home government is shown in the fol- 
lowing proclamation conceding the privilege of exporting the fruits of 
coarse and cheap labor, but denying to the enterprising manufacturer 
the right to employ skilled labor in the higher and more profitable 
branches of productive industry. 

•'By the Honourable James Hamilton, Esqr., Lieutenant-Governor 
and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania and Counties 
of New Castle, Kent and Sussex , on Delaware : 

"A PUU('LAM-\T10N. 

" niteyeas, By an Act of Assembly passed in the twenty-third year of 
his Majestie's Keign, entitled 'An Act to encourage the importation of 
Pig and Bar Iron from his Majestie's Colonies in America, and to pre- 
vent tlie erection of any mill or other engine for slitting or rolling iron, 
or any plating forgo to work with a Tilt Hammer, or any furnace for 
making steel in any of the said colonies," it is enacted ' That from and 
after the Twenty-Fourth day of.lune, in the Year of our Lord One 
Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty, every Governor, Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor and Commander-in-Chief of auy of his Majestie's Colonies in 
America shall forthwith transmit to the Commissionei's for Trade and 
Plantations a certificate under his Hand and Seal of otiice, containing a 
particular account of every mill or engine for slitting and rolling Iron, 
and every plating forge to work with a Tilt Hammer, and every furnace 
for making Steel at the time of the commencement of this act erected in 
his Colony, expressing also in the said Certificate such of them as are 
used, and the name or names of the proprietor or proprietors of each 
such mill, engine, forge and furnace, and the place where each such mill, 
engine, forge and furnace is erected, and the number of engines, forges 
and furnaces in the said Colony.' To the end, therefore, that I may be 
the better enabled to obey the directions of the said .\ct, I have thought 
tit, with the advice of the Council, to issue this Proclamation, hereby en- 
joining and requiring the proprietor or proprietoi'S, or in case of their 
absence, the occupiers of any of the above mentioned mills, engines, 
forgesand furnaces erected within this Province, to appear before me at 
the city of Philadelphia on or before the Twenty-first day of September 
next, with proper and ample testimonials of the rights of such proprie 
tor, proprietoi'S and occupiers therein, and sufficient proofs whether the 
said mills, engines, forges and furnaces, respectively, were used on the 
said Twenty-fourth day of June or not. And I do further hereby re- 
quire and conmiand the Sheriff of every County in this Province respec- 
tively on or before the said Twenty-first day of September to appear be- 
fore me at the city of Philadelphia, afores;iid, and then and there, by 
writings under their Hands and Seals, to certify and make known to me 
every mill or engine for slitting and rolling Iron, every plating forge to 
work with a Tilt Hammer, and every furnace for making steel which 
were erected within their several and respective counties on the said 
Twenty-fourth day of June, and the place and places where the same 
were erected, with the names of their reputed proprietor or proprietoi'S, 
and the occupiei's of tliem and every of them, and whether they or any 
of them were used on the said Twenty-fourth d.iy of .lune or not, as they 
and each of them will answer the contrary at their peril.'' 

"August 10, 1700." 

— Col. Sec. vol. V. 



tion was intensified by the declaration of hostilities 
between France and England, in March 17-t4. The 
French seized upon and fortified important points on 
the Ohio Kiver, and by artful means secured the Shaw- 
nees and other Indian tribes to join them. The 
situation lioded evil to the colony, and a frontier war 
seemed inevitable. Deferential measures were neces- 
sary for the protection of life and property. The 
Assembly urged that the proprietary estates, as well 
a-s those of the common people, should be taxed for 
warlike purposes. The proprietaries, through their 
deputies, opposed the measure, pleading prerogative, 
diarter and law ; the representatives of the people 
urged equity, common danger and reciprocal benefits. 
The Assembly passed laws laying taxes, but annexing 
conditions. The Governors objected to the condition, 
and insisted upon laws taxing the people, but not the 
proprietaries. Benjamin Franklin was at this date a 
leading member of the Assembly, and took an active 
part in this controversy in relation to the equality of 
taxation. He was subsequently commissioned to 
visit London, where, in 1759,- he secured the royal 
assent to a law authorizing the taxation of proprietary 
estates in the province. This was deemed an im- 
portant triumph at the time, and gave to Franklin his 
first diplomatic honors. 

Braddock's defeat, in the summer of 1753, gave rise 
to apprehension among settlers between the Schuyl- 
kill and Delaware Rivers. The peaceful Moravians 
fortified Bethlehem and took up arms for their de- 
fense. Colonel William Franklin with a regiment of 
five hundred men proceeded to the Lehigh and super- 
intended the erection of a line of fortifications. The 
precautionary measures were wisely taken ; the line of 
frontier from the Delaware Water Gap to the Potomac 
was the scene of burning settlements, massacre and 
cruelty. The imperiled condition of the colony as 
represented by Franklin attracted the attention of the 
home government, whose affairs at this date were 
guided by the statesmanship of William Pitt. The 
French were vigorously attacked on the northern 
frontier of New York, compelling their withdrawal 
from all operations on the frontier of Pennsylvania. 
Meantime, efforts were made by the unwarlike people 
of the colony to renew peaceful relations with the In- 
dian tribes "who were in sym])athy ■\vith the French. 
Grand councils were held at Easton in November, 
1756, and at the same place in the autumn of 1758. 
At the last-named council the chiefs of the Six Na- 
tions and the Delawares were present. The com- 
plaints of the Indians concerning lands were duly con- 
sidered, and all difierences were for the time amicably 
settled. Two years later the French were driven 
from the colonial bouiularies, and in 1762 a treaty of 
peace was concluded between Great Britain, France 

*The famous "Review of the History of Pennsylvania," written by 
Franklin, wsis published in London, anonymously, in 17.59. It is an able 
argument in favor of the position taken by the Assembly, and against 
the proprietors of the province. 



I 



THE COLOMAL ERA. 



149 



aud Spain, by which Canada became a British colony. 
At this period of our colonial history the province 
and "Territories" of Pennsylvania were supposed to 
have a population of two hundred thousand souls.' 

Although no census had been taken, the number of 
men capable of military duty was estimated to be 
about thirty thousand. It had no organized militia, 
but maintained and garrisoned a chain of forts pro- 
tecting its frontiers, at an annual cost of seventy 
thousand] pounds currency. The Assembly were 
steadily encroaching upon the prerogatives of the 
executive powers of the government. When new- 
public offices were created by law, as the growing 
necessities of the 
jieople required, the 
names of those who 
were to fill them 
were inserted i« the 
bill, with a clause 
reserving to the As- 
sembly the power to 
nominate in case of 
death. Sherift's, cor- 
oners, and all per- 
sons connected with 
the treasury were 
named Ijy the peo- 
I'lr, and were re- 
sponsible to their 
constituency. The 
AssemVdy could not 
lie prorogued or dis- 
solved, and adjourn- 
ed at its own ]ilea- 
sure. "In Pennsyl- 
vania," wrote Lou- 
don, ill the hope of 
intlueiicingtheniinil 
of Pitt, " the major- 
ity of the Assemldy 
are Quakers; whilst 
that is the case they 
will always oppose 
every measure of 
Government and 
support that indr- 
pendence vhioh is 
deep-rooted evirijwliere in this country. " 

" The people of Pennsylvania," said Thomas Penn 
in 1757, J' will soon be convinced by the House of 
Commons, as well as by the ministers, that they have 
not a right to the powers of gorernment they claim." 
The same year the House of Commons resolved that 
"the claim of right in a Colonial Assembly to raise 
and apply public money, by its own act alone, is 
derogatory to the Crown and to the rights of the 
people of Great Britain." Said Granville to Franklin, 

1 li.iiiiruft. vol. iii, !>. 1C7. 




FKAXKLIN AT THE Alip: OF TWENTY. 



on his arrival in London, " Your Assemblies slight 
the King's instructions ; they arc drawn up by men 
learned in the laws and constitution of the realm ; 
they are brought into Council, thoroughly w^eighed, 
and amended, if necessary, by the wisdom of that 
body, and when received by the Government they are 
laws of the land, for the King is the legislator of the 
Colonies." 

In 1758 Parliament laid grievous restrictions on the 
export of provisions from the British colonies. 
America protested against the wrong and injury. 
Granville replied, " The Colonies must not do any- 
thing to interfere with Great Britain in the European 

markets." "If we 
I'lant and reap and 
must not ship," re- 
torted Franklin, 
"your lordships 
should apply to Par- 
liament for trans- 
ports to bring us all 
back again." 

Peace with France 
and the acquisition 
of the Canadian pro- 
vinces gave impetus 
to the colonizing ef- 
forts of the crown, 
whose troops were 
stationed at remote 
points from Lake 
Huron to and be- 
yond the Ohio. The 
peace that followed 
was of short dura- 
tion. The Indians 
around the great 
lakes and on the 
Ohio cheerfully as 
sented to the build- 
ing of a chain of 
Inrts by the French, 
from Presque Isle to 
t he Monongahela, so 
long as they proved 
a barrier to the ad- 
vance of the Eng- 
lish westward. But now they saw the English in 
possession of Canada and all the forts, with the 
evident intent to occupy the country for purposes 
of agriculture. This line of occupation was fully 
a hundred miles west of all purchases, and ex- 
cited the hostility of the savages. Pontiac, "the 
King and Lord of all the Northwest," and chief of 
the Ottawas, counseled with the Senecas, Delawares, 
Shawnees, Miamis and Wyandots. In their own 
councils they said, " The English mean to make 
slaves of us, by occupying so many posts in our 
c luntrv ; we had better strike now to recover our 



150 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



liberty and our country than wait until it is too late." 
Pontiac proposed the gigantic plan of uniting all the 
northwestern tribes in a simultaneous attack upon 
the whole frontier. The forts and garrisons were to 
be taken by force or artful stratagems by separate 
parties on the same day, the border settlements were 
to be attacked in the harvest season, and men, women 
and children were to be killed or carried into captiv- 
ity. The events which speedily followed crimson the 
annals of our early history. The forts of Presquc 
Isle, Le Boiuf, Venango, St. Joseph and Michilimack- 
iuac were taken with a general slaughter of their 
garrisons, while those of Bedford, Ligonier, and Pitt 
were preserved through great loss and privation. 

The frontier settlements among and near the 
mountains were overrun with scalping-parties, mark- 
ing their track with l)lood and fire. Of one hundred 
and twenty English traders located on the line of 
operations, only three escaped the general massacre. 
Consternation spread throughout the colony, and 
thousands of settlers refuged from the Juniata and 
Susquehanna, fleeing with their families and flocks 
for shelter to Carlisle, Lancaster, and Reading. 

John Penn, grandson of William Peun, was then 
Governor, and heartily seconded the eflbrts of General 



The military operations conducted by Colonel 
Bouquet in the autumn of 1764 were successful. 




Gage to repel the invasion. His conduct was in 
strange contrast with that of his great progenitor. 
He published his proclamation in July, 17(34, offering 
the following bounties for the capture or scaljis and 
death of Indians: "For every male above the age of 
ten years captured, one hundred and fifty dollars ; 
scalped, being killed, one hundred and thirty-four 
dollars ; for every female Indian enemy, and every 
male under the age of ten years, captured, one hun- 
dred and thirty dollars ; for every female above the 
age of ten years, scalped, being killed, fifty dollars. " 





^^^ X^^^^^^^^^''^^ 



Tlie Indians were overawed and sued for peace. 
The Delawares, Shawnees and Senecas agreed to 
cease hostilities, and in token of their good faith sur- 
rendered a large number of prisoners, among them 
many women and children, whose safe return glad- 
dened many hearts and homes in Pennsylvania. 

All wars are costly, and this last one had entailed 
large expenses that now must be met. Taxation was 
the basis of credit, and a revival of the subject in the 
Assembly raised anew the controversy between the 
people and the proprietaries. The Governor used 
his influence in shielding his family estates from 
their eqnital)le share of the public burden, debtors 
became cliimorous, and finally the Assembly was 
compelled to provide for the necessities of the prov- 
ince, and the supplies were granted ; but the conduct 
of the executive so incensed the Assembly that they 
determined by a large majority to petition to the 
King to purchase the proprietarj' interests and vest 
them in the crown for the common welfare. 

The taxable resources of the province and the ne- 
cessary consumption of two hundred thousand people 
now began to attract the attention of the ministry, 
and tlie measures adopted by the British government 
to replenish its home treasury by a grievous system of 
taxation upon all the American colonies introduced a 
new and absorbing subject of great public interest. 
The policy of England was to secure the mo- 



THE COLONIAL ERA. 



151 



nopoly of manufactured articles, to encourage 
her home population of artisans, to develop 
maritime enterprise, and by legislation perpetu- 
ate the dependency of her distant colonies. This 
policy involved the question of taxing a people with- 
out their consent and without allowing them a repre- 
sentation in the Parliament laying the tax. It was at 
this pei'iod in the colonial era, and in the well-con- 
certed but ill-advised eftbrts to enforce this policy, 
that those convictions of hostility that later developed 
in revolution were inspired. No period in the his- 
tory of our country can be studied with greater ad- 
vantage than that from 1765 to 1776. Colonies fringed 
the Atlantic from Massachusetts Bay to Florida. 
They emerged from a wilderness and were possessed 
by two millions of pef)ple, who were pressing west- 
ward to civilize a continent. The frontier line re- 
ipiired the presence of an army of ten thousand troops ; 
the cost of these required an annual expenditure of 
one million five hundred thousand dollars. Naturally 
the home government felt that the colonies should 
bear a part of this expense. On March 22, 1765, 
the Stamp Act was passed. It consisted of fifty-five 




BRITISH STAjrP. 

resolutions embracing all details, and making all 
offenses against it cognizable in the Courts of Admi- 
ralty without any trial by jury. 

To prove the fitness of the tax, George Grenville 
argued that the colonies had a right to demand pro- 
tection from Parliament, and Parliament, in return, 
had a right to enforce a revenue from the colonies ; 
that protection implied an army, an army must re- 
ceive pay, and pay required taxes ; that, on the peace, 
it was found necessary to maintain a body of ten 
thousand men, at a cost of three hundred thousand 
pounds, most of which was a new expense ; that the 
duties and taxes already imposed or designed would 
not yield more than one hundred thousand pounds, 
so that England would still have to advance two- 
thirds of the new expense; that it was reasonable for 
the colonies to contribute this one-third part of the ex- 
pense necessary for their own security ; that the debt of 
England was one hundred and forty millions sterling, 
of America but eight hundred thousand pounds ; that 
the increase of annual taxes in England within ten 
years was three millions, while all the establishments 



of America, according to accounts which were pro- 
duced, cost the Americans but seventy-five thousand 
pounds. 

The charters of the colonies were referred to, and 
Grenville interpreted their meaning. The clause 
under which a special exemptifm was claimed for 
Maryland was read, and he argued that the province, 
upon a public emergency, is subject to taxation, 
in like manner with the rest of the colonies, 
or the sovereignty over it would cease; and if 
it were otherwise, why is there a duty on its staple 
of tobacco ? and why is it bound at present by several 
acts affecting all America, and passed since the grant 
of its charter? Besides, all charters, he insisted, were 
under the control of the Legislature. " The colonies 
claim, it is true," he continued, " the privilege which 
is common to all British subjects, of being taxed only 
with their own consent, given by their representatives, 
and may they ever enjoy the privilege in all its 
extent ; may this sacred pledge of liberty be preserved 
inviolate to the utmost verge of our dominions, and 
to the latest pages of our history. I would never lend 
my hand towards forging chains for America, lest in 
so doing I should forge them for myself. But the re- 
monstrances of the Americans fail in the great point 
of the colonies not being represented in Parliament, 
which is the common council of the whole empire, 
and as such is as capable of imposing internal taxes 
as impost duties, or taxes on intercolonial trade, or 
laws of navigation." 

The House was full, and all present seemed to 
acquiesce in silence. Beckford, a member for London, 
a friend of Pitt, and himself a large owner of West 
India estates, without disputing the supreme authority 
of Parliament, declared his opinion that " taxing 
America for the sake of raising a revenue would never 
do." Jackson, who had concerted with Grenville to 
propose an American representation in Parliament, 
spoke and voted against the resolutions. " The Par- 
liament," he argued, "may choose whether they will 
tax America or not; they have a right to tax Ireland, 
yet do not exercise that right. Still stronger objec- 
tions may be urged against their taxing America. 
Other ways of raising the moneys there requisite for 
the public service exist and have not yet failed ; but 
the colonies in general have with alacrity contrib- 
uted to the common cause. It is hard all should 
suffer for the fault of two or three. Parliament is, 
undoubtedly, the universal, unlimited legislature of 
the Briti.sh dominions, but it should voluntarily set 
I bounds to the exercise of its power ; and, if the ma- 
jority think they ought not to set these bounds, 
then they should give a share of the election of the 
legislature to the American colonics ; otherwise the 
liberties of America I do not say will be lost, but will 
be in danger, and they cannot be injured without 
danger to the liberties of Great Britain." 

Grenville had urged the House not to suffer them- 
selves to be moved by resentment. One member, 



152 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMEEY COUNTY. 



however, referred, with asperity, to the votes of New 
York and Massachusetts ; and it is generally held 
that America was as virtually represented in Parlia- 
ment as the great majority of the inhabitants of 
Great Britain. 

Isaac Barr^, the companion and friend of Wolfe, 
sharer of the dangers and glories of Louisburg and 
Quebec, seemed to admit the power of Parliament to 
tax America, yet derided the idea of virtual rep- 
resentation. " Who of you, reasoning upon this 
subject, feels warmly from the heart?" he cried, 
putting his hand to his breast. " Who of you feels 
for the Americans as you WQuld for yourselves, or as 
you would for the people of your own native 
country?" And he taunted the House with its 
ignorance of American atliiirs. 

The charge of ignorance called upon his feet 
Charles Townshend, the professed master of them. 
He confirmed the equity of taxation, and insisted that 
the colonies had borne but a small proportion of the 
expense of the last war, and had yet obtained by it 
immense advantages at a vast expense to the mother- 
country. " And now," said he, " will these American 
children, planted by our care, nourished up by our 
indulgence to a degree of strength and opulence, 
and protected by our arms, grudge to contribute their 
mite to relieve us from the heavy burden under which 
we lie?" 

As he sat down Barre rose, and, with eyes darting 
fire and outstretched arm, uttered an unpremeditated 
reply,— 

" They planted hif YuvR care! No; your oppression planted them in 
America. They fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated, unhos- 
pitable country, where they exposed themselves to almost all the hard- 
Bhips to which human nature i.s liable, and, among others, to the cruelties 
of a savage foe, the most subtle, and, I will take upon me to say, the 
most formidable of any people upon the face of God's earth ; and yet, 
actuated by princijdes of true English liberty, they met all hjirdships with 
pleasure, compared with those they suffered in their own country, from 
the liands of those who should have been their friends. They nourished 
up by vot'B iiuliihjeiice ! They grew by your neglect of them. As soon as 
you began to care about them that care w.is exercised in sending persons 
to rule them in one department and another, who were, perhaps, the 
deputies of deputies to some niembere of this House, sent to spy out their 
liberties, to misrepresent their actions and to prey upon them, — men 
whose behavior on many occasions have caused the blood of those sons ot 
liberty to recoil within them ; men promoted to the highest seats of jus- 
tice, some who, to my knowledge, were glad, by going to a foreign 
country, to escape being brought to the bar of a court of justice in tlieir 
own. They protected by YOUR anus ! They have nobly taken up arms in 
your defense ; have exerted a valor, amidst their constant and laborious 
industry, for the defense of a country whose frontier was drenched in 
blood, while its interior parts yielded all its little savings to your emolu- 
ment. And believe me — remember 1 this day told you so — the same 
spirit of freedom which actuated that peol)le at firet will accompany them 
Btill. But prudence forbids me to explain myself further. God knows 
I do not at this time speak from motives of party heat ; what I deliver 
are the genuine sentiments of my heart. However superior to nie in 
general knowledge andexperience the respectable body of this House may 
be, yet I claim to know more of .-Vmerica than most of you, having seen 
and been conversant in that country. The people, I believe, are as truly 
loyal as any subjects the King has, but a people jealous of their liberties, 
and who will vindicate them if ever they should be violated. But this 
subject is too delicate ; I will say no more." 

As Barre spoke, there sat in the gallery Ingersoll, 
of Connecticut, a semi-royalist, yet joint agent for 



that province. Delighted with the speech, he made a 
report of it, which the next packet carried across the 
Atlantic. The lazy post of that day brought it in 
nearly three months to New London, in Connecticut, 
and it was printed in the newspaper of that vil- 
lage. May had not shed its blossoms before the 
words of Barrfe were as household words in every 
New England town. Midsummer saw them circulate 
through Canada in French, and the continent rung 
from end to end with the cheering name of the Sons 
of Liberty. But at St. Stephen's the members only 
observed that Townshend had received a heavy blow. 
The opponents of the measure dared not risk a 
division on the merits of the question, but about 
midnight, after a languid debate of seven hours, 
Beckford moved an adjournment, which Sir William 
Meredith seconded ; and, though they were aided by 
all those interested in West Indian estates, it was 
carried against America by two hundred and forty- 
five to forty nine. Conway and Beckford alone were 
said to have denied power of Parliament, and it 
is doubtful how far it was questioned even by them. 

Wliile this debate was proceeding, faith in Eng- 
lish liberty was conquering friends for England in 
new regions. The people of Louisiana, imj)atient of 
being transferred from France, would gladly have 
exchanged the dominion of Spain for that of Eng- 
land. Officers from West Florida reached Fort 
Chartres, preparatory to taking possession of the 
country, which was still delayed by the discontent of 
the Indians. With the same object, Croghan and a 
party descended the Ohio from Pittsburg. A plan 
was formed to connect Mobile and Illinois. The 
Governor of North Carolina believed that by pushing 
trade up the Jlissouri, a way to the great western 
ocean would be discovered, and an open trade to it 
be established ; so wide was the territory, so vast the 
interests for which the British Parliament was legis- 
lating. 

On the 7th of February, Grenville, Lord North 
and Jenkinson, with others, were ordered to bring in 
a stamp bill for America, which, on the 13th, was 
introduced by Grenville himself, who read the first 
without a syllable of debate. Among the pajiers that 
were to be stamped, it enumerated the several instru- 
ments used in the courts of episcopal jurisdiction, for 
he reasoned that one day such courts might be es- 
tablished in America. On the 15th, merchants 
trading to Jamaica offered a petition against it, and 
prayed to be heard by counsel. " No counselor of 
this kingdom," said Fuller, formerly chief justice of 
Jamaica, " would come to the bar of this House and 
question its authority to tax America. Were he to 
do so, he would not remain there long." It was tlie 
rule of the House " to receive no petition against a 
money bill," and the petition was withdrawn. 

Next, Sir William Meredith, in behalf of Virginia, 
presented a paper in which ]\Iontague, its agent, 
interweaving expressions from the votes of the As- 



THE COLONIAL ERA. 



153 



sembly of the Old Dominion, prayed that its House of 
Burgesses might be continued in the possesion of the 
riglits and privileges they had so long and uninter- 
ruptedly enjoyed, and might be heard. Against this, 
too, the same objection existed. But Virginia found 
an advocate in Conway. Indignant at his recent 
dismissal from the army, as he rose in opposition to 
Grenville, his cheeks flushed, and he was tremulous 
from emotion. 

"Shall we shut our ears," he argued, "against the 
representations which have come from the colonies, 
and for receiving which we, with an affectation of can- 
dor, allotted sufficient time? For my own part, I 
must declare myself just as much in the dark as I 
was tlie last year. My way of life does not engage 
me in intercourse with commercial gentlemen or 
those who have any knowledge of the colonies. I 
declare, upon fhy honor, I expected, as a member 
sitting in this House, in consequence of the notice 
given, to receive from the colonies information by 
which my judgment might be directed and my 
conduct regulated. The light which I desire the 
colonists alone can give. The practice of receiving 
no petitions against money bills is but one of con- 
venience, from which, in this instance, if in no other, 
we ought to vary ; for from whom, unless from them- 
selves, are we to learn the circumstances of the 
colonies, and the fatal consequences that may follow 
the imposing of this tax? The question regards two 
millions of people, none of whom are represented in 
Parliament. Gentlemen can not be serious when 
they insist even on their being virtually represented. 
Will any man in this House get up and say lie is one 
of the representatives of the colonies?" 

" The commons," said Gilbert Elliot, " have main- 
tained against the crown and against the lords their 
right of solely voting money, without the control of 
either, any otherwise than by a negative ; and will 
you suffer your colonics to impede the exercise of 
those rights, untouched as they now are by the other 
branches of the Legislature?" 

" (Jan there be a more declared avowal of your 
power," retorted Conway, "than a petition submitting 
this case to your wisdom, and praying to be heard 
before your tribunal against a tax that will affect 
them in their privileges, which you at least have 
suffered, and in tlieir jiroperty, which they have ac- 
quired under your protection ? From a principle of 
lenity, ot policy and of justice, I am for receiving 
the petition of a people from whom this country 
derives its greatest commerce, wealth, and considera- 
tion." 

In reply, Charles Yorke entered into a long and 
most elaborate defense of the bill, resting his argu- 
ment on the supreme and sovereign autliority of 
parliament. With a vast display of legal erudition, 
he insisted that the colonies were but corporations, 
their power of legislation was but the power of mak- 
ing by-laws, subject to Parliamentary control. Their 



charters could not convey the legislative power of 
Great Britain, because the prerogative could not 
grant that power. The charters of the proprietary 
governments were but his hereditary Governors. The 
people of America could not be taken out of the 
general and supreme jurisdiction of Parliament. 
The authority of Yorke was decisive ; less than forty 
were willing to receive this petition of Virginia. A 
third from South Carolina, a fourth from Connecti- 
cut, though expressed in the most moderate language, 
a fifth from Massachusetts, though silent about the 
question of " right," shared the same refusal. That 
from New York no one could be prevailed upon to 
present. That from Rhode Island, offered by Sher- 
wood, its faithful agent, claimed by the charter under 
a royal promise equal rights with their fellow-subjects 
in Great Britain, and insisted that the colony had 
faithfully kept their part of the compact; but it was 
as little heeded as the rest. The House of Commons 
would neither receive petitions nor hear counsel. 
All the effbrts of the agents of the colonies were 
fruitless. " We might," said Franklin, "as well have 
hindered the sun's setting." The tide against the 
Americans was irresistible. " We have power to tax 
them," said one of the ministry, "and we will tax 
them. The nation was provoked by American 
claims of legislative independence, and all parties 
joined in resolving by this act to settle the point." 
Within doors less resistance was made to the act than 
to a common turnpike bill. "The aflfair passed with 
so very little noise that in the town they scarcely 
knew the nature of what was doing." 

On the 27th the House of Commons sent up 
the Stamp Act to the House of Lords. In that 
body Rockingham was silent ; Temple and Lyttelton 
both ajjproved the principle of the measure and the 
right asserted in it. Had there existed any doubt 
concerning that right, they were of opinion it should 
then be debated before the honor of the Legislature 
was engaged to its support. On the Sth of March 
the bill was agreed to by the lords without having 
encountered an amendment, debate, protest, division 
or single dissentient vote. 

The King was too ill to ratify the act in person. 
To a few only was the nature of his affliction known. 
At the moment of passing the Stamp Act, George 
III. was crazed ; so on the 22d of March it received 
the royal assent by a commission. The sovereign of 
Great Britain, whose soul was wholly bent on exalt- 
ing the prerogative, taught the world that a bit of 
parchment bearing the sign of his hand, scrawled in 
the flickering light of clouded reason, could, under 
the British constitution, do the full legislative office 
of the King. Had he been a private man, his com- 
mission could have given validity to no instrument 
whatever. It was thought "prudent to begin with 
small duties and taxes, and to advance in proportion 
as it should be found the colonies would bear." For 
the present Grenville attempted nothing more than 



154 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



to increase the revenue from the colonial post-office 
by reducing the rate of postage in America. 

His colleagues desired to extend the mutiny act to 
America, with power to billet troops on private houses. 
Clauses for that purpose had been strongly recom- 
mended by Gage. They had neither the entire convic- 
tion nor the cordial support of Grenville, so that they 
were introduced and carried through by the Secretary 
at War as a separate measure. In their progress, pro- 
vincial barracks, inns, ale-houses, barns and empty 
houses were substituted by the merchants and agents 
for private houses ; but there remained a clause to 
compel the colonies to furnish the troops with various 
articles, and the sums needed for the purpose were 
"required to be raised in such manner as the public 
charges for the province are raised." 

Thus the billeting act contained what had never 
before been heard of, — a Parliamentary requisition on 
the colonies. Bounties were at the same time granted 
on the importation of deals, planks, boards and timlier 
firom the plantations. Coffee of their growth was 
exempted from an additional duty ; their iron might 
be borne to Ireland, their lumber to Ireland, Madeira, 
the Azores and Europe south of Cape Finisterre; the 
prohibition on exporting their bar-iron from England 
was removed ; the rice of North Carolina was as 
much liberated as that of South Carolina, and rice 
might be warehoused in England for re-exportation 
without advancing the duties. It was further pro- 
vided that the revenue to be derived from the Stamp 
Act should not be remitted U> England, but constitute 
a part of the sum to be expended in America. Gren- 
ville also resolved to select the stamp officers for 
America from among the Americans themselves. The 
friends and agents of the colonies were invited to 
make the nominations, and they did so. Franklin 
among tlie rest. " You tell me," said the minister, 
" yon are poor and unable to bear the tax ; others 
tell me you are able. Now, take the business in your 
own hands ; you will see how and where it pinches 
and will certainly let us know it, in which case it 
shall be eased." 

Not one of the American agents in England " ini- 
agined the colonies would think of disputing the 
stamp tax with Parliament at the pointof the sword." 
"It is our duty to submit" had been the words of 
Otis. " We yield obedience to the act granting 
duties" had been uttered by the Legislature of 
Massachusetts. "If Parliament, in their superior 
wisdom, shall pass the act, we must submit," wrote 
Fitch, the (iovernor of Connecticut, elected by the 
people, to Jackson. " It can be of no purpose to 
claim a right of exemption," thought Hutchinson. 
"It will fall particularly hard on us lawyers and 
printers," wrote Franklin to a friend in Philadelphia, 
never doubting it would go into ett'ect and looking for 
relief to the rapid increiwe of the people of America. 
The agent for Ma.ssachusetts had recommended it. 
Knox, the agent fort ieorgia, wrote publicly in its favor. 



Still less did the statesmen of England doubt the 
result. Thomas Pownall, who had been so much in 
the colonies and really had an affection for them, 
congratulated Grenville in advance "on the good 
effects he would see derived to Great Britain and to 
the colonies from his firmness and candor in conduct- 
ing the American business." No tax was ever laid 
with more general approbation. The act seemed sure 
to enforce itself. Unless stamps were used, marriages 
would be null, notes of hand valueless, ships of sea 
prizes to the first captors, suits at law impossible, 
transfers of real estate invalid, inheritances irreclaim- 
able. Of all who acted with Grenville in the govern- 
ment, he never heard one prophesy that the measure 
would be resisted. " He did not foresee the opposi- 
tion to it, and would have staked his life for obedi- 
ence." 

The following correspondence with (iovernor John 
Penn shows the persistency of the British government 
in efforts to enforce the odious measures (»f taxation, 
and the inability or unwillingness of the Governor to 
comprehend the true situation and temper of the 
colonists : 




STATK HdlSE IX 1744. 

'*At a (.'onncil held at Philadelphia, on Wednesday, the inth of 
Feltniary, 1760. Present : The Honourable .Tolin Ponn, Esquire, Lieu- 
tenant-) iovernor, &c, ; Lynford Lardner, Benjamin Chew, Riehard 
Penn, Esiiru. 

"The Governor laid before the Board a letter he lately received by 
the packet from the Right Honourable Henry Seymour Conway, Esq., 
one of his majesty's priucij)al Secretaries of Stjite, dated the 24th of 
0cti)ber last, expressing the King's concern at the late coniniotions in 
some of the American colonies, which liappened on account of a late 
Act of Parliament for collecting Stamp Duties, and setting forth his 
majjest.v's ple;isure respecting the conduct to be observed liy this Govern- 
ment in case any such disturbance should take place in Pennsylvania, 
which letter being read, was ordered to be entered, anil follows in these 
words, viz. : 

".-1 Letter from the li't. Hon'bie. H. S. Conway, Esi/f., to the Governor. 
"'St. Jamks', October 24, 1765. 

^'^Sir: It is with the greatest concern that his majesty learns the 
disturbances which have arisen in some of the Xorth .\nu'rican Ci'louies. 
If this evil should spread to the Government of Pennsylvania, where 
you preside, the utmost exertion of your prudence will be necesSJiry so 
as justly to temper your conduct between that caution and coolness 
which the delicacy of such a situation may demand on one liand and 
the vigour necessary to suppress outrage and violence on the other. It 
ie impossible at this distance to assist by any particular or positive in- 
struction, because you will find yourself necessjirily obligetl to take your 
resolution as particular circumstances and exegencies may require. 

" ' His Majesty, and the servants he honors with his confidence, cannot 
but lament the ill-advised intemperance shown already in some of the 
provinces by taking up a conduct which can in no way contribute to the 



THE COLONIAL ERA. 



155 



removal of any real grievance they might labour tinder, but may tend to 
obstruct and impede the exertion of His MiyestyV benevolent attention 
to the ease and comfort as well as welfare of all hifs people. It is hoped 
and expected that this want of confidence in the justice and tenderness 
of the mother country, and this open resistance to its authority, can only 
have found place among the lower and more igni.inint of the people. 
The better aud wiser part of the colonies will know that decency and sub- 
mission may prevail, not only to redress grievances, but to obtain grace 
and favour, while the outrage of a public violence can exi>ect nothing 
but severity aud chastisement. These sentiments you and all his 
majesty's servants, from a sense of your duty to and love of your 
country, will endeavour to excite and encourage; you will all, in a par- 
ticular uuiuner, call upon them not to render their case desperate ; you 
will, in the strongest colours, represent to them the dreadful consequences 
that must inevitably attend the forcible and violent re(^istance to Acts 
of the British Parliament, and the scene of misery and calamity to them- 
selves and of mutual weakness and distraction to both countries insepa- 
rable from such a conduct. 

'* ' If by lenient and persuasive methods you can contribute to restore 
that peace and tniuquillity to the provinces on which their welfare and 
happiufss depend, you will do a most acceptable and essential service to 
your country. But having taken every step which the utmost prudence 
and lenity can dictate,Ali compassion to the folly and ignorance of some 
misguided people, you will not, on the other hand, fail to use your utmost 
power for the repelling of all acts of outrage and violence, and to provide 
for the maintenance of peace and good order in the province by such a 
timely exertion of force as the occasion may require, for which purpose 
you will make the proper applications to Geneiul Gage or Lord Colvill, 
commanders of his niiijesty's land and naval forces in America. For, 
however unwilling his majesty may consent to the exertion of such pow- 
ers as may endanger the s;ifety of a single subject, yet can he mit permit 
his own dignity and the authority of the British Legislature to be 
trampled on by force and violence, and in avuw'd contempt of all order, 
duty and ilecorum. If the Subject is aggrieved, he knows in what man- 
ner legally and constitutionally to apply for relief; but it is not suitable, 
either to the safety or dignity uf the British Empire, that any individuals, 
under the pretence of redressing grievances, should presume to violate 
the public peacf. 

" ' I am, with great truth and regard, Sir, 

" ' Your most obedient humble Servant, 

" 'H. S. Conway. 

" * Deputy-Governor I'eun.' 

" The above letter having been taken into due consideration, and an 
answer thereto prepared in order to be transmitted by the m-xt pacquet, 
the same was approver! by the B^iard, and is as follows : 

*' A Lftier to the Right Honhle. H. S. Coitwuy, Inquire, Jrom the Governor. 
" 'PniLAnELPiiiA, 19th February, 176G. 
*' * Sir : I had the honour of your letter of the 24th October last, re 
spectingthe distin-bances which have lately been committed in severa 
of the Nortli American colonies. Give me leave to assure you. Sir, tha 
no one of his majesty's servants is more sensible than I am of the rash 
ness and folly of those who have been concerned in these outrages, 
which at the same time that they violate the public tranquillity and sej 
Government at nought, are undutiful and affrontive to the best of kings 
and productive iif the most dangerous consequences. lam sorry to be 
under the necessity of informing you that the dissatisfaction with some 
of the late Acts of the British Legislature iparticTilarly the Stamp Act) 
is almost universal in all the colonies on the continent, and prevails 
among all ranks and orders of men ; but I should do great injustice to 
numbers of his majesty's faithful subjects if I did not represent to you at 
the same t- ne that the wiser and more considerate among them highly 
disapprove of and detest the violent and illegal measures which have 
been pursued in many of the colonies. In the province of Pennsylvania, 
where I have the honor to preside, mattei-s have been conducted with 
more moderation and respect td his majesty and Parliament than in most 
others, and the giddy multitude have hitherto lieen restrained from com- 
mitting any acts of open violence. 

"'Upon the arrival of the firet cargo of stamp'd papers into this 
province, in the month of October last, John Hughes, of this city, who 
was reported and indeed generally known to be the person appointed to 
distributr; ttiem, refused to take charge of them, tho" they were con- 
signed to him, under [ueteuce that he had not received his commission or 
had any authority to take them into his possession ; and there being no 
fort or place of security where I could lodge them on shore, I thought it 
most advisable to order them on board his Majesty's Sloop of War, the 



"Sardoine," Captain James Hawker, commander, stationed in the River 
Delaware, to whose care (on Hughes' afterwards resigning his office of 
Stamp Distributer), I have also committed all the papers which have 
since been sent by the Commissioners for the use of this province, till 
his Majesty's further orders can be received or another person shall be 
appointed to the office of distributor by the Commissioners, agreeable to 
the directions of the Act. The Americans have the most sanguine hopes 
that the remonstrances drawn up by the committees of the several 
Assemblys at the Congress held for that purpose at Xew York last Fall, 
and transmitted by them to the Parliament, will produce a repeal of the 
Stamp Act ; but if they should be disapi>ointed in their expectations, it 
is impossible to say to what length their irritated and turbulent spirits 
may carry them. Of this, however, Sir, you may rest assured, that I 
shall esteem it my indispensible duty on this an<l every other occasion to- 
use every means in my power to preserve the public peace, aud support 
to the utmost the honor and dignity of his Majesty's Government com- 
mitted to my care. 

*' ' I have the honor to be, with great truth and regard, Sir, 
" 'Y'' most obed' 'hble servant, 

" 'John Penn." " 

The Stamp Act excited the bitter and uncompro- 
mising hostility of all the colonies.^ The Sons of 
Liberty of Xew England and New York concerted 
with leading citizens of Pennsylvania, Virginia and 
the Carolinas, and a united protest went back to the 
mother-country, which resulted in the speedy recon- 
sideration of the measure. Benjamin Franklin had 
been commissioned by the anti-proprietary party of 
Pennsylvania to visit London as early as November, 
1764, to secure the transfer of all proprietary estates 
to the crown, but the question of taxation without 
representation as embodied in the Stamp Act became 
of such widespread importance that he was appointed 
general agent for all the colonies,'^ and played a con- 
spicuous part in the repeal of the infamous act. 
Franklin was summoned before the bar of the House 
of Commons on the 13th of February, 1766. In 
i answer to questions, he declared that "America could 
not pay the stamp tax tbr want of gold and silver, 
and from want of post-roads and means of sending 
stamps back into the country; that there were in 
North America about three hundred thousand white 
men from sixteen to sixty years of age; that the in- 
habitants of all the provinces together, taken at a 
medium, doubled in about twenty-four years ; that 
their demand for British manufactures increased 
much faster; that in 1723 the whole importation 
from Britain to Pennsylvania was but about fifteen 



1 Dr. Franklin, with a view to place the execution of the act in proper 

hands, got his friend, John Hughes, nominated as stamp oflBcer at Phila- 
delphia. On the arrival at Philadelphia, in October, 1765, of the stamps 
from England, the vessels hoisted their colors at half-mast, bells were 
muffled, aud thousands of citizens a-ssenibled in a state of great excite- 
ment. Mr. Hughes was called on to resign his connnission, but he only 
agreed for the present not to pei-form the duties of the oflRce. The in- 
habitants, determining not to encourage monopoly, determined to manu- 
facture for themselves. This touched a vital cord in Great Britain, and 
the clamors of her own mannfacturei*s were raised in opposition to the 
oppressive act. The Stamp Act was repealed on the 18th of March, 17tJ6, 
but the right of taxation by Parliament was reaffirmed.— Duy's "Hint, of 
Petnisi/Ivanin,''^ 

2 New England urged and organized continental resistance and non- 
conformity. " The bum of domestic industry was heard more and more. 
Young women would get together and merrily and emulously drive the 
spinning wheel from sunrise till dark, and every day the humor spread 
for being clad in homc-F^pun." 



156 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



thousand pounds sterling, and had already become 
near half a million ; that the exports of the province 
to Britain could not exceed forty thousand pounds." 

" Do you think it right," asked Grenville, " that 
America should be protected by this country, and pay 
no part of the expense?" " That is not the case," an- 
swered Franklin; "the colonies raised, clothed and 
paid during the last war twenty-five thousand men, 
and spent many millions." "Were you not reim- 
bursed by Parliament?" rejoined Grenville. "Only 
■what, in your opinion," answered Franklin, "we had 
advanced beyond our proportion ; and it was a very 
small part of what we spent. Pennsylvania, in par- 
ticular, disbursed about five hundred thousand pounds, 
and the reimbursements, in the whole, did not exceed 
sixty thousand pounds." "Does the distinction be- 
tween internal and external taxes exist in the charter 
of Pennsylvania ?" asked a friend of Grenville. " No," 
said Franklin; "I believe not." "Then," asked 
Charles Towushend, " may they not, by the same in- 
terpretation of their common rights as Englishmen, 
as declared by Magna Charta and the Petition of 
Eight, object to the Parliament's right of external 
taxation?" And Franklin answered instantly : "They 
never have hitherto. Many arguments have been 
lately used liere to show them that there is no dift'er- 
ence, and that, if you have no right to tax them in- 
ternally, you have none to tax them externally, or 
make any other law to bind them. At present, they 
do not reason so ; but, in time, they may be convinced 
by these arguments." 

The question of repeal came before the House of 
Commons on the 21st of February. Every seat had 
been taken ; between four and five hundred members 
were in attendance. Pitt was ill, but his zeal was 
above disease. "I must get up to the House as I 
can," said he ; " when in my place I feel I am toler- 
al)ly able to remain through the debate and cry 
aye to the repeal with no sickly voice." And through 
the huzzas of the lobby he hobbled into the House on 
crutches, swathed in flannels. Conway moved for 
leave to bring in a bill for the repeal of the American 
Stamp Act. It had interrupted British commerce, 
jeopardized debts to British merchants, stopped one- 
third of the manufacturers of Manchester, and in- 
creased the rates on land by throwing thousands of 
poor out of employment. The act, too, breathed op- 
pression. It annihilated juries and gave vast power 
to the Admiralty Courts. The lawyers might decide 
in tavor of the right to tax, l)Ut the conflict would 
ruin both countries. In three thousand miles of ter- 
ritory the English had but five thousand troops, the 
Americans one huudred and fifty thousand fighting 
men. If they did not repeal the act, France and 
Spain would declare war, and protect the Americans. 
The colonies, too, would set up manufactories oftheir 
own. Why, then, risk the whole tor so trifling an 
object? 

Jenkinson, on the other side, moved a modification 



of the act, insisting that the total repeal, demanded 
as it was with menaces of resistance, would be the 
overthrow of British authority in America. In reply 
to Jenkinson, Edmund Burke spoke in a manner un- 
usual in the House, connecting his argument with a 
new kind of political philosophy. About eleven Pitt 
rose. He conciliated the wavering by allowing good 
ground for their apprehensions, and, acknowledging 
his own perplexity in making an option between two 
ineligible alternatives, he pronounced for repeal, as 
due to the liberty of unrepresented sulijects and in 
gratitude to their having supported England through 
three wars. He spoke with an eloquence which ex- 
pressed conviction, and with a suavity of manner 
which could not offend even the warmest friends of the 
act. "The total repeal," replied Grenville, "will 
persuade the colonies that Great Britain confesses 
itself without the right to impose taxes on them, and 
is reduced to make this confession by their menaces. 
Do the merchants insist that debts to the amount of 
three millions will be lost, and all fresh orders be 
countermanded ? Do not injure yourselves from fear 
of injury; do not die from the fear of dying. With a 
little firmness, it will be easy to compel the colonists 
to obedience. America must learn that prayers are 
not to be brought to Caesar through riot and sedition." 
The lobbies were crammed with upwards of three 
hundred men, representing the trading interests of 
the nation, trembling and anxious, and waiting to 
learn the resolution of the House. Presently it was 
announced that two hundred and seventy-five had 
voted for the repeal of the act against one hundred 
and sixty-seven for softening and enforcing it. The ■! 
roof of St. Stephen's rung with the long-continued ■ 
shouts and cheerings of the majority. When the 
doors were thrown open and Conway went forth there 
was an involuntary burst of gratitude from the grave 
multitude which beset the avenues ; they stopped 
him ; they gathered round him as cliiklren around a 
parent, as captives round a deliverer. The pure- 
minded man enjoyed the triumph ; and while they 
thanked him, Edmund Burke, who stood near him, 
declares that ' his face was as if it had been the face 
of an angel.' As Grenville moved along, swelling 
with rage and mortification, they pressed on him with 
hisses. But when Pitt appeared the crowd rever- 
ently pulled oft' their hats, and their applause touched 
him with tender and lively joy. Many followed his 
chair home with benedictions. He felt no illness 
after his immense fatigue. It seemed as if what he 
saw and what he heard, the gratitude of a rescued 
people and the gladness of thousands, now become 
his own, had restored him to health ; but his heart- 
felt and solid delight was not perfect till he found 
himself in his own house, with the wife whom he 
loved and the children for whom his fondness knew 
no restraint or bounds, and who all ])artook of the i I 
overflowing jiride of their mother. This was the first T | 
great political lesson received by his second son, then 



THE COLONIAL ERA. 



i5r 



not quite seven years old, the eager and impetuous 
William, who, flushed with patriotic feeling, rejoiced 
that he was not the eldest born, but could serve his 
country in the House of Commons, like his father. 

In the House of Lords ten peers spoke against the 
repeal, the session being the longest ever experienced 
by that body to that date. Sixty-one votes were 
recorded against repeal and seventy-three in favor. 
Royal sanction was given the measure on the 18th 
day of March, 1766, and the odious Stamp Act was a 
matter of history. The colonies had triumphed.^ The 
sense of peace and joy resulting from the repeal of 
the Stanip Act was of short duration. The King and 
his political followers smarted under their defeat, and 
regarded the repeal as "a fatal compliance" which 
had " planted thorns " under his royal pillow and 
forever " wounded the majesty of England." " The 
administration is dead and only lying in state," was 
the common criticism of the hour. A keen satire still 



1 The joy of the colonies was, for a time, unmixed with appreliensiou. 
Virginia voted a statue to the King, ami an obelisk on which were to be 
engnived the names of those who, in England, had sigmilized them- 
selves for freedom. " My thanks they sluiU luive cordially," said Wash- 
ington, "for their opposition to any act of oppression." The conse- 
quences of enforcing the Stamp .\ct, he was convinced, "would have 
been more direful than usually apprehended." Otis, at a meeting at the 
town-hall in Boston, to fix a time for the rejoicings, told the people that 
the distinction between inland taxes and port duties wag without founda- 
tion ; for whoever had a riglit to impose the one had a right to impose 
the other, and, therefore, as tiie Parliament had given up the one, they 
had given up the other ; and the merchants were fools if they submitted 
any longer to the laws restraining their trade, which ought to be free. 
A bright day in May was ."et apart for the disjilay of the public gladness, 
and the spot where resistance to the Stamp Act began was the centre of 
attraction. At one in the morning the bell nearest Liberty Tree was 
the first to be rung ; at dawn colors and pendants rose over the house- 
tops all around it, and the steeple of the nearest meeting-house was 
hung with banners. Dvu-ing the day all prisoners for debt were re- 
leiu^ed by subscription. In the evening the town shone as though night 
had not come, an obelislc on the common was brilliant with a loyal in- 
scription, the houses round Liberty Tree exhibited illuminated figures of 
the King, of Pitt and Camden and Barre, and Liberty Tree itself was deco- 
rated with lanterns till its boughs could hold no more. All the wisest 
agreed that disastrous consequences would have ensued from the attempt 
to enforce the act, so that never was there a nuu'e rapid transition of a 
people from gloom to transport. They compared themselves to a bird 
escaped from the net of the fowler, and once more striking its wings in 
the upper air ; or to Joseph, the Israelite, whom Providence had likewise 
wonderfully redeemed from the perpetual bondage into which he was 
sold by his elder brethren. 

The clergy from the pulpit joined in the fervor of patriotism and the 
joy of success. "The Americans would not have submitted," said 
Cltauncy. " History aflbrds few examples of a more general, generous 
and just sense of libeity in any country than has appeared in America 
within the year past." Such were Mayhew's words, and while all the 
continent was calling out and cherishing the name of Pitt, the greatest 
statesman of England, the conqueror of Canada and the Ohio, tlio foun- 
der of empire, the apostle of freedom, "tlie genius and guardian of 
Britain and British America." " To you," said Mayhew, speaking from 
the heart of the people and as if its voice could be heard across the ocean, 
"to you, grateful America, attributes that she is reinstated in her 
former liberties. The universal joy of America, blessing yon as our 
father, and sending up ardent vows to Heaven for you, must give you a 
sublime and truly god-like pleasure ; it might, perhaps, give you vigor 
to take up your bed and walk, like those cured by the word of Him who 
came from heaven to make us free indeed. America calls you over and 
over again her father ; live long in health, happiness and honor. Be it 
late when you must cease to plead tlie cause of liberty on earth." — 
Bancroft'K •'Hill, o/ U. S." 



further wounded ihe household of state, shrewdly 
predicting the independence of the American colo- 
nies. The causes which hastened the close of our 
colonial era were still active. Parliament reasserted 
its supremacy and resolved to try a new mode of 
taxation. 

Heavy duties were imposed on goods, wares and 
merchandise ; necessities and luxuries were offered to 
rich and poor subject to the tax or duty imposed 
without the assent of the colonies. John Dickinson 
of Pennsylvania, led public opinion in resisting the 
right of Parliamentary taxation. So persistent was 
the opposition to the measure that the home govern- 
ment modified the law, 1770, retaining only a tax of 
threepence a pound on tea, and yet so uncompro- 
mising was the spirit of Pennsylvania to the principle 
of the law that "this duty was jiaid on but one single 
chest of tea." 

The Assembly declared against the "iniquitous 
act." Governor Penn was advised by the secretary 
of colonial affairs to prorogue the Assembly. The 
Assembly resolved " they had the right to sit on 
their own adjournments." And this popular branch 
of the provincial government continued their agents 
at London with full pay ;ind emoluments of office to 
protest against a " tea tax " or any other tax involv- 
ing the same principle, and also to oppose any plan 
that might be proposed for an American representa- 
tion in Parliament, " the principle of Pennsylvania 
being that taxation of the colonies should not in 
any shape be allowed except by the Provincial As- 
sembly." " I will freely spend nineteen shillings in 
the pound," said Franklin, " to defend my right of 
giving or refusing the other shilling, and after all, if 
I cannot defend that right, I can retire cheerfully 
with my little family into the boundless woods of 
America, which are sure to afford freedom and subsist- 
ence to any man who can bait a hook or pull a 
trigger." 

"The Americans," said Thomas Mason, the leader 
of the Virginia bar, " are hasty in expressing their 
gratitude, if the repeal of the Stamp Act is not at least 
a tacit compact that Great Britain will never again 
tax us." Laymen, lawyers, preachers and philoso- 
phers all united in support of a principle deemed 
essential to the development of the colonies, and for 
the maintenance of which they accepted the chal- 
lenge to arms. 

PROVINCIAL GOVEBNOES. 

1623. — The Dutch planted a colony on the Delaware, under Cornelius 
Jacob May, appointed Governor of the W'est India Company, under the 
authority of the States-General. 

1624. — William Useling appointed Governor of the Swedish colony to 
be established on the Delaware, but he never came here. 

1630.— David Petei-son De Vries (Dutch). 

1031.— John Printi! (Swedish). 

1638. — Peter Minuits (Swedish, but himself a native of Holland). 

1640.— William Kieft, Dutch Governor of New York. 

1643.- John Printz (Swedish). 

1053. — Papegoia (son-in-law to Printz). 

1654. — Risingh. 



158 



HISTORY OF 5I0NTG0MERY COUNTY. 



1657.— Alrichs. 

1668. — John Paul Jaquet.^ 

1659. — Beekman.l 

1664.— Robert Carr.- 

1673. — .\utbony Coivc, Dutch Governor of New Tork. 

1674. — SirEdnnmd .\nUiuss, English Oovernor of New York. 

16S1. — "William Penn, founder of the province. 

16S4. — Governor's Council, Thomas Lloyd, president. 

1687. — Five commissioners apiJointed by William Penn. 

1688. — John Blackwell, Lieutenant-Governor. 

1690. — Governor's Council. 

1691. — Thomas Lloyd, Deputy Governor. 

1692. — Benjamin Fletcher, Governor of New York. 

1693. — William Slarkbani, Lieutenant-Governor. 

1700.— William Penn. 

1701. — Andrew Hamilton, Deputy Governor. 

1704.— John Evans. 

1709.— Charles Gooken. 

1717.— Sir William Keith. 

1726.— Patrick Gordon. 

1736. — James Logan, President of Council. 

1738. — George Thomas, Lieutenant-Governor. 

1747. — Anthony Palmer, President of Council. 

1748. — James Hamilton, Lieutenant-Governor. 

1754. — Richard H. Morris, Lieutenant-Governor. 

1756. — William Denny, Lieutenant-Governor. 

1759. — James Hamilton, Lieutenant-Governor. 

1763. — lohn Penn, Lieutenant-Governor. 

1771. — Richard Penn, Lieutenant-Governor till 1776. 

COUNTIES OF THE PROVINCE. 
Philadelphia City and County, organized 1682. 
Bucks County, organized 1682. 
Chester County, organized 1682. 
Lancaster County, organized May 10, 1729. 
York County organized, August 9, 1749. 
Cumberland County, organized January 27, 1750. 
Burka County, organized March 11, 1752. 
Bedford County, organized March 9, 1771. 
Northampton County, organized March 21, 1772. 
Northumberland County, organized March 21, 1772 . 
Westmoreland County, organized February 26, 1773. 

Council of Safety, instituted at Philadelphia, June 
30, 1775, by the Assembly of the province. 

** Resolvedf That this House approves the association entered into by 
the good people of this colony for the defense of their lives, liberty and 
property. 

" lie^olved, That John Dickinson, George Gray, Henry Wynkoop, 
Anthony Wayne, Benjamin Bartholomew, George Ross, Michael Swoope, 
John Montgomery, Edward Biddle, William Edmunds, Bernard 
Daugherty, Samuel Hunter, William Thompson, Thomas Willing, 
Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Eoberdeau, John Cadwalader, Andrew 
Allen, Owen Biddle, Francis Johnson, Richard Keiley, Samuel Morris, 
Jun., Robert Morris, Thomas Wharton, Jan., and Robert White, Gentle- 
men, be a committee of safety for calling forth such, and so many, of 
the aasociators into actual service, when necessity requires, as the said 
committee shall judge proper." 

The Council of Safety was organized July 3, 177-5, 
by electing Benjamin Franklin president and Wil- 
liam Govett clerk. 

The first Constitutional Convention convened in 
Philadelphia on the 15th of July, 1776. This body 
not only entered upon the task of framing the con- 
stitution, but assumed the legislative power of the 
State. This was followed by the institution of the 
Supreme Council of Safety, in which reposed the 
executive powers of the commonwealth until the 
first constitution wiis revised in 1790. Thomas Whar- 



t Under Stuyvesant, Dutch Governor of New York. 

* Under Richard Nichols, English Governor of New York. 



ton, Joseph Keed, John Dickinson, Benjamin Frank- 
lin and Thomas Mifflin presided over this body in 
the order named between the years 1776 and 1788. 

The colonial era closed with the adjournment of 
the Provincial Assembly on the 23d of September, 
1776. Governor Richard Penn yielded reluctantly 
to the forces of revolution, and the last act of pro- 
vincial authority was a fierce denunciation of the 
Constitutional Convention in assuming the legislative 
power of the State. " God save the King ! " was said 
for the last time in a Pennsylvania Assembly ; hence- 
forth it was to be " God save the Commonwealth!" 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE REVOLUTION. 



The memorable events associated with the move- 
ments of the Continental army, under the personal 
direction of General Washington, in the autumn of 
1777 and winter of 1778, will always render Eastern 



^^;^^%?^ 




INDEPENDENCE BELL. 

Pennsylvania conspicuous in the annals of the Revo- 
lution. The provincial cimservatism and peaceful 
character of the peojde who had permanently settled 
in the Schuylkill Valley woke slowly and painfully 
to the warlike preparations which preceded Lord 
Howe's attack upon Philadelphia, and when reverses 
befell our armies on the Brandywine a profound sense 
of alarm pervaded the capital city, shared by many 
sorrowing homes that Itiy on the line of march, and 
within limits certain to be desolated by hostile armies. 



THE REVOLUTION. 



159 



"The spirit of 1776," which animated leaders and Revo- 
lutionists, was by no means universal in the pi'ovince. 
Society was divided by well-marked differences of 
ojiinion, stoutly maintained at the cost of large es- 
tates, the sacrifice of comfortable homes, domestic 
pleasures and social advantages. A century and 
moreof time has well and wisely obscured from public 
notice the bitter feuds and political animosities which 
prevailed in this locality during and for many years 
after the close of the struggle. The student of our 
colonial era is amazed at the uncompromising char- 
acter of the men and measures of the period. The 
British officers found ready friends in every township 
from the Brandywine to the Delaware, from the fetal 
massacre of Paoli to its attempted repetition upon the 
force of Lafayette at Barren Hill. The Tory, not less 
for his King than for the love of his gold, was ever 
ready to peril Mis life and honor ; on the other hand, 
the Revolutionists resorted to confiscation of property, 
banishment and imprisonment of those who declined 
to esi)ouse their cause. For eight years these aliena- 
tions prevailed, until society seemed to be known, in 
the common parlance of the day, as "Rebel" and 
" Tory." 

No just conception of the scope and magnitude of 
the campaign organized for the defense of Eastern 
Pennsylvania and the capital city in the autumn of 
1777 can be realized unless it comprehend the move- 
ments and results of the two principal armies of the 
Middle States, and for whose conduct Washington, as 
commander-in-chief, was responsible to the Conti- 
nental government.' To disconcert him by strategy, 
to compel him to battle with troops superior in arma- 
ment and discipline, and to overwhelm him with 
numbers was the general and well-matured plan of 
the enemy. The preparations of the home govern- 
ment to this end were commensm-ate with the reason- 
able hope of success ; and the belief that the resources 
of men and means so lavishly confided to commanders 
would speedily end the conflict, and compel submis- 
sion to the mother-country, was shared by many of 
the wayward and doubting of the j>eriod. 

The efforts of Washington through the winter of 
1777 to organize a powerful army for the ensuing 
campaign is a matter of history. The hopes inspired 
from time to time by the flattering reports which 
reached his headnuarters were cruelly disappointed, 
and he found himself not only jiowerless to take the 
aggressive, but unequal to that measure of defensive 
warfare necessary to preserve his long lines unbroken. 

1 On the 19th of June, 1775, "Washington received his commission and 
instructions as "General and Commander-in-Chief of the armies of tlie 
United Colonies, and of all the forces raised or to be raised by them, and 
r.ll others wlio shall voluntarily offer their services and join the army for 
the defense of American Liberty." 

The favor lavished on the new chief of the Northern Department raised 
a doubt whether W^ashington retained authority over him, till Congress 
resolved, .\ugust, 1777, that "they never intended to supercede or cir- 
cumscribe his power." — BancrofCt ^* HUlorif of the United Slaltjs,'' iol. r. 
p. 591. 



The steady and persevering courage, however, which 
had supported him and the American cause through 
the gloomy scenes of the preceding year did not for- 
sake him, and that sound judgment which applies to 
the best advantage those means which are attain- 
able, however inadequate they may be, still remained. 
His plan of operation was adapted to that which he 
believed the enemy had formed. He was persuaded 
either that General Burgoyne would endeavor to take 
Ticonderoga, and penetrate to the Hudson, in which 
event General Howe would co-operate with him, by 
moving up that river and possessing himself of the 
forts and high grounds comiuaiidiiig its passage, or 
that Burgoyne would join the grand army at New 
York by sea, after which the combined armies would 
proceed against Philadelphia. 

To counteract the designs of the enemy, whatever 
they might be, to defend the three great points alike 
vital to the country — Ticonderoga, the Highlands of 
the Hudson and Philadelphia — against two power- 
ful armies so much superior to his in arms, num- 
bers and discipline, it was necessary to make 
such disposition of his troops as would enable the 
several departments to recii^rocally aid each other 
without neglecting objects of great and almost equal 
magnitude, which were alike endangered, though 
widely divergent. To effect these purposes, the troops 
of New England and New York- were divided between 
Ticonderoga and Peekskill, while those from New 
Jersey to North Carolina, inclusive, were directed to 
assemble at the camp to be formed in New Jerse)'. 

The situation in May, 1777, was critical, and called 
into activity the magnificent horoscope of the com- 
mander-in-chief. In camp at Morristown, with an 
effective rank and file, excluding cavalry and artil- 
lery, of less than six thousand men, after a winter of 
ceaseless anxiety in camp and field and vain endeavor 
to secure large and certain accessions to his army; the 
enemy certain to assume the aggressive as soon as the 
season would warrant the movement of troops ; the 
Howes in possession of New York City with an army 
twice the number of his own, with a navy at command 
large enough to transport it with the speed of the 
winds to any point on the coast deemed vulnerable ; 
General Burgoyne with ten thousand veteran and 
volunteer troops on Lake Champlain, and Colonel St. 
Leger with a co-operating army of veterans, Tories, 
and savages in the Mohawk Valley, waiting orders 
to march at the earliest practicable moment. 

As late as June 18th, says a distinguished historian,^ 
" the cares of the Northern Department were thrown 
upon the American commander-in-chief, and Schuy- 
ler besieged him with entreaties to supply his wants 
and remedy all that was going wrong." As com- 
mander-in-chief of America, Washington watched 
with a peculiar care the Northern Department. 

2 Marshall's "Life of Washington," vol. i. p. 145. 
3Baucroft'sJ'Histoi-y of the United States," vol. v. p. 566. 



1(50 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Alarmed at Schuyler's want of fortitude, he ordered 
Arnold to his command, also Lincoln, who was ac- 
knowledgedly pojjular among the New England troops. 
Besides detaching these two distinguished officers 
and assigning them to the Northern Department, 
he added to their command General Glover's brigade 
of Continental troops, and yielded Colonel Morgan's 
corps of riflemen, upon request being made through 
Congress for them. The Continental army,' under 
the immediate command of Washington, charged 
with the defense of the capital city, was the objec- 
tive-point of the grand campaign, and the coveted 
prize of Lord Howe. To engage it in battle, to 
thoroughly defeat and dispirit it, to seize, fortify 
and garrison Philadelphia, then quickly transfer the 
bulk of his army to co-operate with Burgoyne, and 
insure his triumpli over Schuyler and Gates on the 
Hudson, was a consummation to which all energies 
were directed. 

The persistence of Washington in declining battle, 
save in his fortified camp at Middlebrook, his 
constant readiness to attack the flank of his sagacious 
adversary should he attempt to cross the Delaware, 
there to be confronted by Arnold with a hastily im- 
provised army, compelled General Howe to change 
the general plan of operations for the season, and 
rendered all further co-operation between him and 
Burgoyne impossible. While employed in discom- 
fiting Howe, he was actively engaged in resisting the 
impending advance of St. Leger and Burgoyne- 
Says Marshall : '■' " He hastened the march of those 
generals designed to act in that department, pressed 
the Governors of Eastern States to reinforce the 
retreating army with all their militia, and made large 
detachments of choice troops from his own army. 
The fame of being himself the leader of the victorious 
army did not, with false glare, dazzle his judgment or 
conceal the superior public advantage to be derived 
from defeating Burgoyne." 

Having used his best eflbrts to hasten the concen- 
tration of troops from the Eastern States, and over- 
come in some measure the shock to public confi- 
dence resulting from the loss of Ticonderoga 
and the disastrous retreat of General St. Clair ; 
having strengthened the willing hands of General 
Schuyler in bringing into the field the militia of New 
York State, rendering the victory at Bennington and 
other minor points i)ossible, and witnessed the de- 
parture of Lord Howe from New York Bay, he turned 
the head of his devoted columns toward the Dela- 
ware, massing his army at Germantown early in the 
month of August, 1777. 

For days and weeks the work of marshaling new 
troops, collecting supplies and fitting the command 
to resist tlie impending attack by Howe went on. 
The commauder-in chief was in dailv consultation 



1 Bancroft's '* History of the United States ■' vol. v. p. 002. 
'^Mtirt'liiiirs "Life of Washington," vol. i. p. 152. 



with committees of Congress, heads of departments, 
and for the first time met the youthful and heroic 
Lafayette, who was by him assigned to duty on his 
staff, with the rank of major-general. The public 
mind became feverish and excited in anticipation of 
events now certain to aflect the gravest interests of 
the colony. War, with its desolation, its bloody 
horrors, its blighting consequences upon society and 
sacrifice of life, was at the threshold of a community 
devoted by sentiment, religion, and pecuniary inter- 
ests to peaceful pursuits. Evidence of disaft'ection 
increased with the certainty of Howe's approach, and 
when his presence, with fleet and army, in the Chesa- 
peake Bay was announced, it was deemed politic by 
the government that Washington should march his 
army through the city as he moved soutli to meet the 
advance of the foe. It was accordingly done, and the 
24tli of August, 1777, was a memorable day in the 
history of the capital city, as well as in the lives of 
the patriotic soldiers, who received at every square 
the most marked consideration at the hands of the 
populace, who were wild in their demonstrations of 
joy as di\isions marched by them under commanders 
who had grown into popular favor, resulting from 
tlieir distinguished services in the field. On the 
other hand, the displeasure of those who, from a 
sense of duly, adhered to the mother-country was 
manifest in the frowning faces and silent contempt 
with which they apparently treated the unusual 
events of the day. 

The story of the campaign which was opened by 
this movement of the Continental army, to meet and 
resist the combined operations of the enemy, to save 
the capital if possible, and to preserve the army, 
thougli the city should be lost, has always possessed 
a rare interest to Pennsylvanians who participated in 
it and to their descendants. 

Other fields, in other States, before and afterwards, 
witnessed the brighter triumph of our arms and the 
more immediate results of victories won ; but nowhere 
on the long and varying line of battle were more san- 
guinary engagements fought, in no campaign of the 
protracted struggle was the suttering of the troops so 
continuous and severe, at no time was the solicitude 
of the commander-in-chief so keenly exercised or tlie 
patriotism of the peojile more sorely tried. 

The field of Eastern Pennsylvania presented a 
tempting prize to the British commander at the peiiod 
referred to. Philadelphia was the seat of the colonial 
and continental government. Its occupation by the 
enemy, it was thought, would greatly dispirit the 
colonists from Massachusetts to South Carolina. 
Howe's point of attack being selected but fifty-one 
miles south of the city, with no natural barriers to 
resist the advance of his laud forces, assuming, not 
without reason, that Washington's army had been 
weakened by detachments sent to the Northern De- 
partment, he was confident that, with a few days' easy 
marches and perhaps a battle, the fall of the capital 



THE REVOLUTION. 



161 



would follow. Then a rapid march across New Jersey, 
aud he would be able to co-oijerate with Burgoyne 
and St. Leger, and overwhelm Gates in New York. 

With these results accomplished, his fleet securely 
anchored in the Delaware, a base of operations for 
fresh conquest farther south would be finally estab- 
lishi'd, and the work of subduing the colonists so 
nearly done as to assure the home government of 
ultimate success and prevent the interposition of those 
friendly offices of France, growing more and more 
imminent each succeeding month. One more con- 
sideration entered into the plans of the campaign 
upon the part of the enemy. The settlement was 
largely of Englishmen, and it was therefore assumed, 
because of the intluential following of Penu and the 
many devotees of the Established Church, that sen- 
timents of loyalty to King George would be inspired 
anew by their presence, and terms of accommodation, 
permanent in character, would be suggested and 
accepted as inevitable. 

Washington promptly drew his line of battle be- 
tween the approaching enemy and the capital city. 
Conscious of the overwhelming disparity of numbers, 
impressed with the importance of preventing the con- 
centration of Howe's forces with those from which he 
had recently separated, believing that his dispositions 
in the Northern Department w'ere such as would in- 
sure success, his great work in hand now was to delay 
the enemy in the accomplishment of a purpose which, 
with the means at hand, he might not ultimately de- 
feat. His hostile attitude on White Clay Creek and 
display of resources put Howe upon his caution, who, 
pleading the want of cavalry — which in truth he greatly 
felt — lost days and weeks in feeling his way from the 
place of debarkation. Twenty-three days elapsed be- 
fore he drew the American commander to determined 
battle on the Brandywine, and then he was obliged to 
concede to him the choice of position. 

On the 11th of September, 1777, the battle of 
Brandywine was fought. The plan of the engage- 
ment, as subsequently revealed, the necessities which 
induced it, the skillfully executed movement of the 
enemy upon the right of the patriot army, the ineffi- 
ciency of Washington's mounted troops in not dis- 
closing the movement of Cornwallis at an earlier hour 
in the day, the uncertain and embarrassing reports 
that reached hira from sources that should have been 
reliable, the partial surprise, and the heroic, though 
ineffectual, effort to meet and resist a fierce attack 
from a direction unlocked for, the deeds of valor upon 
the part of officers who sought to retrieve misfortune 
by personal daring, and the usual conduct of battle- 
shocked troops have gone into history, and been graph- 
ically descril)ed by Marshall, Botta, Lossing, Headley, 
Bancroft and ijthers, less distinguished in history, it 
may be, but by no means less truthful in narrative.' 

1 The arrival of Sir William Howe in the Chesapeake Bay late in the 
month of August, 1 777, with an army eighteen thousand strong, removed 
11 



The battle was lost, and its discouraging features 
were keenly felt by those who left the field in posses- 
sion of the enemy. But its efl'ects, as measured by 
them, were by no means as disastrous as intended or 

all doubt in tlie mind of Washington as to the designs of the enemy, and 
in his judgment left but one proper course to pursue : to give battle to 
the enemy. He at once proceeded to concentrate all his forces. Orders 
were issued directing detachments to join the main army by forced 
marches, while the greatest activity prevailed in all the departments, in 
order to prepare the army for a vigorous campaign. In order to 
strengthen the regular or Continental army, and have in process of or- 
ganization a reserve force, the militia of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Dela- 
ware and the northern part of Virginia were direct to report to the main 
army. Assoonasthe forces thus concentrated were in a condition to 
move Washington commenced his march to meet Uowe. 

In order to enconmge the patriots and overawe, if possible, the many 
disaffected residents of Philadelphia, who were fully apprised of the de- 
signs of the enemy, Washington concluded to march his troops through 
the principal streets of the city as he moved South. 

The movement continued southward, until the advance guard reached 
White Clay Creek, Delaware, when it halted, while the main body of the 
army took position on the left bank of ll«d Clay Creek, the right wing 
resting on the town of Newport, on the then great road to Philadelphia 
and the left wing extending to the town of Hockesen, in the direction of 
the Delaware River. 

The enemy, who by this time had disembarked, were in position on the 
left bank of the Elk River, with the advanced guard as far north as 
Gray's Hill. General Maxwell, of the patriot army, with his corps of 
riflemen, held the line on White Clay Creek with slight defensive earth- 
works. 

In advance of Maxwell there were employed four regiments of cavalry, 
composed of nine hundred men, including persons of every description. 
These partisan soldiers, composed of independent organizations, occupied 
the country as far south as Iron Hill, and did good service in watching 
the movements of the enemy and reporting the same to the commander- 
in-chief. 

The enemy, having completed bis preparations to advance upon Phila- 
delphia, commenced a flank movement upon the right of Washington, 
and succeeded in compelling him to fall back to the Brandywine River, 
which he crossed at Chadd's Ford, on the 10th of September, and went 
into position. Here he determined to give battle to the enemy if he at- 
tempted to advance upon him, believing, as he did, that Philadelphia 
could only be stived by a victory. 

The centre of Washington's army covered Chadd's Ford, his right 
wing extending in the direction of Birniingh.'im Meeting-House, north- 
west of the ford, and ti'e left, several miles south of the ford, was held by 
Genem! ,\rmstiong, who connnandcd the Pennsylvania militia. 

The front, on the south or right bank of the river, was occupied by 
ilaxweU's rirteToeu, who had been delaying the advance of the enemy's 
cavalry. 

The situation was critical ; the stake for which the impending battle 
was to be fought on the morrow involved the fate of the capital of the 
new nation, and, to an unusual degree, the hopes of the people who had 
resolved to sever their political relations with Great Britain. On the 
other hand, Howe, with a finely appointed army, which outnumbered 
that of Washington, felt that victory was within his grasp— only a silver 
thread, whicii tlie morning sun would betray, and mark as the coming 
line of battle, lay between him and the coveted prize. At the dawn of 
day on the morning of the luh the British army was in motion. 

Howe had formeil his army into two grand divisions. The one de- 
signed to make a feint on the position of Washington, at Chadd's Ford, 
was commanded by General Knyphausen, the Hessian, the other, the 
flanking column, was commanded by Lord Cornwallis. They moved up 
its right flank on south side of the Brandywine some fifteen miles, cross- 
ing at Jefi'ries' and other ferries, where the headwaters unite, and where 
the stream is narrow and easily forded. 

\i^n\fi this movement was in progress, unknown to Washington, the 
advance of General Knyphausen fell in ivith the troops commanded by 
General Maxwell, on the south side of the river, and a skirmish ensued. 
Maxwell's forces fell back, were promptly reinforced, and in turn drove 
the English back upon the original line. Knj-phansen immediately 
brought up his reserves, and compelled Maxwell to retire to the north 
side of the river. 

Batteries were immediately'placed in position, and a furious cannonade 



162 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERi' COUNTY. 



believed to be. Marshall, referring to the immediate 

results of the engiigment, decUireSj "It was uot con- 
sidered decisive by Congress, the general or the 



opened upon the American line, while the disposition of troops, now 
plainly visible, was of aucb a character as indicated an intention to force 
a passage of the river at the point covered by the centre of Washington's 
army. 

The advance upon this part of the line was promptly met with counter 
dispositions of troops by the commander-in-chief, and the enemy seemed 
to be foiled in every effort to cross the river at this point. Meanwhile 
Lord Cornwallis, at the head of the flanking column, by ii well-conceived 
and unobserved line of march, reached the furks of the Brandywine, 
crossing at Trimble's and Jeffries' Fords, without opposition, at about 
two o'clock in the iifternoon, and then turning down the river, took the 
road to Dilwortb, in order to strike the right flank of the Americiin army. 

This was a most critical hour on that inemorable day. The fact that 
Cornwallis bad reached a position on the Hank uf Washington's army 
was at the liour spoken of unknown to him. Various reports reached his 
ear ; about noon he received a report that General Howe was in command 
of a large body of the enemy, who were moving on his right Hank. 
Upon this information, which he deemed reliable, he immediately con- 
ceived the idea of recroswing the river with the main body of his army, 
overwhelm Knypliauwen before Howe could reach him, very pjuperly 
concluding that tlie advantage thus obtained would more than conijien- 
sate for wtiatever loss he might sustain by leaving his right wing exposed 
to the assault of Howe and Cornwallis. Accordingly, he ordered General 
Sullivan to pass the river at an upper ford and attack Knyphausen on 
his left, while he in pereon should cross lower down, and fall upon his 
right. They were both in the act of moving their troops when a second 
report arrived, representing what had really taken place as false, or, in 



army," ^ and cites the fact that the government, 

upon receiving Washington's official report, immedi- 
ately passed vigorous resolutions for reinforcing the 



porlance, comprehending the doubt still in the mind of Washington, he 
exclaimed, "Take my hfe, General, if I deceive you ! " Washington was 
at length convinced, and a few momentsafterwardsfuund that the enemy 
were within sight of liis extreme right wing. 

As soon as the api'roacb of C<»rnwallis upon the right flank became a 
certainty, General Sullivan, who was in command of that wing of the 
army, made every proper disposition of the troops at his disptisal to resist 
it. The pii9itit>n of the troops was taken on the commanding gi'ound 
above Birmingham Meeting-House, the left extending toward the Brandy- 
wine, both tlanks being covered by densely wondcd countiy. His artil- 
lery was well posted; the position had great advantage for defensive 
operations, and but for the fact that one brigade of this division waa 
absent from the line, having been withdrawn some hours previous to join 
in the intended attack upon Knyphausen, and therefore could not reach 
the position which it left in time to defend it, the results would certainly 
have been modified, if in no ottier particular than that of delaying his 
march until Washington could haw made the necessary dispositions to 
meet it, or if unable to muet it, then to have fallen back upon a new position. 

The attack upon the outpost of General Sullivan was followed up with 
overpowering numbers, which ijuickly developed the length of his line. 
This done; the British commander hastened his formation, and attacked 
the patriot troops with the utmost impetuosity. Tlie engagement be- 
came equally fierce on both sides abtmt four o'clock in the afternoon. 
For some length of time, says Botta, the Americans defended themselves 
with great valor, and the carnage was terrible. But such was the emu- 
lation which invigorated the British and Hessians that neither the ad- 
vantages of the situation, the deadly effect of the artilleiy, the ceaseless 




Ml'D ISLAND IX 1777 BEFORE THE BRITISH ATTACK. 



other words, that the enemy had nut crossed the headwaters of the 
Brandywine, and hence the army of Howe was not divided for the day, 
and therefore not in such a position as to invite the attack designed by 
the commander-in-chief. 

Deceived by this false intelligence, Washington recalled Geneiul 
Greene, who crossed the river with the advance. Time now was of in- 
calculable value, and the want of a reliable body of cavalry was severely 
and fatally felt. The confusion and conflict of reports received at head- 
quarters, the inability to determine whether the demonstration of Knyp- 
hausen was the prelude to an attack in force of the entire army of Howe 
upon the centre of the line at Chadd's Ford or a feint to cover a move- 
ment in great force upon tlie right of the position, rendered the situation 
painfully imcertain. Strange to say, yet it seeniiS to be aiithoritatively 
stated, that a citizen, in the pei-son of Squire Cheyney, was the first man 
to give Washington reliable information of the enemy's approach upon 
his right wing or flank. He was well mounted and incidentally had been 
within a short distance of the enemy, and with trouble made his escape 
and hastened with the utmost speed to coummnicate the fact, doubtless 
unconscious of the terrible impoitance his message bore. Washington at 
first was unwilling to believe his statement, classing it with the exagger- 
ated and stJimpeding reports that had been embarrassing him during 
the entire day's opGratit)nB. He put the squire to the test. He ordered 
him to disn.ount an<l draw a draft of the roads in the Siind, and give a 
clear description of the movement of the troops he reported to have seen. 
This was promptly and skillfully done. Wjisliington still appeared to doubt 
the statement, unwilling to believe that be had so fatally misconceived 
the operations t>f the army up to so late an hour in the liay. tCheyney 
was a pure and devoted patriot ; his whole soul was in the cause. Con- 
scious of the truth of his statement, although unaware of its groat im- 



fire of musquetry, nor the uu^ihaken ctmrage of the line from one end to 
the other could resist the onslaught. 

The fury of the enemy was directed towanl Sullivan's left flank, which, 
after a gallant resistance, gave way. This success upon the part of Corn- 
wallis was quickly followed up, the troops were thrown into confusion, 
the line felt the shock, wavered a few moments, and then gave way in 
rapid retreat. Sullivan's men fled into the woods in their rear, their 
pursuers following on the great road toward Diiworth. Upon the first 
fire of the artillery, Washington, having no longer any doubt of what 
was passing, had pushed forward the reserve to the aid of Sullivan ; but 
this corps, on approaching the field of battle, under the immediate direc- 
tion of General Greene, was met by the very men to whose succour they 
had been rapidly marching, in full retreat. A proper disposition was at 
unce made to receive the fugitives, and, after their p:iss:ige to the rear, 
Greene conducted 'the retreat in good order, checking the pursuit of the 
enemy by a continual fire of the artillery', which covered his rear. Hav- 
ing at length reached a defile covered on both sides with woods, he again 
went into position, with the full determination to finally check the ad- 
vancing foe. The troops of General Greene were composed <jf Virginians 
and Pennsylvanians, and their conduct in defense of this position is said 
to have been remarkable for its gallantry and heroism. Conspicuoua 
among those on the line of battle, and in immediate command, were 
General Muhlenburg and Colonel Stephens. 

General Knj-phausen, finding the Americans to be fully engaged on 
their right, and observing that troops opposed to him at Chadd's Ford 
were enfeebled by those withdrawn under Greene to the support of the 
right wing, began to make his dispositions for crossing the river in real- 

Mai-shall's " Life of W'ashington," vol. i. p. 160. 



THE REVOLUTION. 



163 



army, and directed him to complete the defenses of 
the Dehiware. 

On the loth, four days after this battle, the army 
was on the march to attack Howe, who, apprised of 
the movement, immediately put his army in motion, 
and the opposing armies met between the Goshen 
Meeting-House and the White Horse Tavern, on the 
table-land south of the Great Valley. The choice of 
position was again with Washington. Hostilities 
had actually commenced, when storm and flood ren- 
dered the movement of troops impossible, and dis- 
closed the alarming fact that arms and ammunition 
were so seriously damaged that to further engage the 
enemy would be suicidal. 

This exigency decided temporarily the fate of the 
capital city, and doubtless hastened the period of 
occupation by the British troops. The situation was 
critical, and the day certainly memorable. To retire 
upon Philadelphia and sutler a partial investment, 
leaving the country open from the Schuylkill to the 
Hudson, making a diversion in favor of Burgoyne not 
only possible, but probable, would be unwise for many 
reasons ; to give up all further defense of the capital 



ity. The foi*d was defended by a line of entrenchment and one battery. 
The troops left in defense of this position (commanded by General Wayne) 
successfully resisted the crossing of the Hessian general until the force 
of Cornwallis made their appearance on their right flank. This devel- 
opment convinced them of the hopelessness of their task, and they fled in 
disorder, ahandoniug their artilleiy, ammunition and stores to the 
enemy.* 

In their retreat they passed to the rear of General Greene, who, with 
the unlnoken troops under him, was still able to maintain the position he 
had selected, and was the last to quit the field of battle. Night rtnally 
came to the rescue of the vanquished, under cover of wliich the army re- 
treated to Cliester, and on the following day to Philadelphia. Hundreds 
of men who had become fugitives in the rapid retreat of the right wing, 
as well as of the extreme left wing, in retiring from the ford promptly 
rejoineil the aruiy again within twenty-four hours at Philadelphia. The 
loss of the Americans, however, was heavy. It is reported that three 
hundred were killed, six hundred wounded and nearly four hundred 
captuicd ; they also lost eleven pieces of artillery. The loss of the enemy 
is reported to have been one hundred killed and four hundred wounded. 
—Histurical Oration, Valleif Forge, 1878. 



•William Dunning, a blacksmith of Cumberland County, during the 
Revolution endeavored to serve his country by the construction of a 
wrought-irou cannon of a curious description. One of these is said to 
have fallen into the hands of the British at the battle of Brandy wine, 
and is to this day preserved in the Tower of London, and another unfin- 
ished specimen is said to be at the arsenal in Philadelphia. These sin- 
gular pieces of ordnance were made of " wrought-iron staves, hooped like 
a barrel, with bands of the same material, excepting there were four 
layers uf staves breaking joint, all of which were firmly bound together, 
and then boxed and breeched like other cannon." An obituary notice 
of Denning, who died in Qlifflin township, in 1830, at the age of ninety- 
four, states that he was an artificer in the Revolutionary army, and that 
his was the only successful attempt ever made in the world to manufac- 
ture wrought-iron cannon, one of which he completed in Middlesex, Pa., 
and commenced another and larger one at Mount Holly, but 
could get no one to a^^ist him who could stand the heat, which is said to 
have been so great as " to melt tlie lead buttons on his clothes." The 
British, it is added, offered a stated annuity and a large sum to the per- 
son who would instruct them in the manufaetrue of that article, but the 
patriotic blacksmith preferred obscurity and poverty in his own beloved 
country, though the country for which he had done so much kept her 
purse closed from the veteran soldier until near the close of his long life. 
— Bishop, " Hist, of American Manufacturee,^^ vol. i. 



would subject him to severe criticism,^ injuriously 
affect public affairs in the Middle States, in some 
measure discourage the troops, and increase the spirit 
of disaffection in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.^ It 




PAOLI MONUMENT. 



was an hour of supreme interest in the struggle, and 
upon his decision hung the most momentous results. 
Assuming the entire responsibility, courting the 



1 See remonstrance, Pennsylvania Assembly. 

2 On the morning of the 18th a messenger arrived in the American 
camp, bringing letters from Putnam and Clinton, prematurely, but 
positively, announcing the surrender of the army of Burgoyne. Wash- 
ington received them with joy unspeakable and devout gratitude "for 
this signal stroke of Providence." "All will be well," he said, "in His 
own good time," The news circulated among the Americans in every 
direction, and quickly penetrated the camp of Sir William Howe. The 
difficulty of access to the upper ckevaux-de-frise had rendered ita re- 
duction much more tedious than was conceived; under a feeling of 
exasperated impatience, he gave verbal orders to Colonel Donop, who 
had expressed a wish for a separate command to carry Red Bank by 
assault if it could be easily done, and make short work of the affair. On 
the 22d, Donop, with five regiments of Hessian grenadiers and infantry, 
four companies of yagers, a few mounted yagei's, all the artillery of the 
five battalions and two English howitzers, arrived at the fort. Making a 
reconnoissance with his artillery oflicers, he found that on three sides it 
could be approached through thick woods within four hundred yards. 
It was a pentagon, with a high earthy rampart, protected in front by an 
abattis. The battery of eight three -pounders and two howitzers was 
brought up on the right wing, and directed on the embrasures. At the 
front of each of the four battalions selected for the assault stood a captain 
with the carpenters and one hundred men, bearing the fascines which 
had been hastily bound together. Mad after glory, Donop, at half-past 
four, summoned the garrison in arrogant language. A defiance being 
retiu'ned, he addressed a few words to his troops. 

Each colonel placed himself at the head of his division, and at a 
quarter before five, under the protection of a brisk cannonade from all 
their artillery, they ran forward and carried the abattis. On clearing it, 
they were embarrassed by pitfalls, and were exposed to a terrible fire of 



164 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



counsel of his subordinates, but acting upon his own 
mature judgment, he uncovered Philadelphia, de- 
taching General AVayne, and directing him to attack 
the extreme left of the enemy, in the hope of 
detaining him until he could refit his army and 
renew the conflict, providentially postponed. 

Disasters seemed to repeat themselves in quick suc- 
cession during those trying days. General Wayne's 

small arms anduf grape-shot from a concealed galley, while two galleys, 
which the bushes had hidden, raked their flanks with chain-shot. Yet 
the brave Hessians funned on the glacis, filled the diti-h, and pressed on 
towards the rampart. But Donop, the officers of his staft, and more than 
half the other officers were killed or wounded ; the men who climbed 
the parapet were beaten down with lances and bayonets ; and as twihglit 
was coming on, the assailants fell back under the protection of their re- 
serve. Many of the wounded crawled away into the forest, but Donop 
and a few others were left behind. The party marched back during the 
night unpursue<l. As the British ships-uf-war which had attempted tu 
take part in the attiick fell down the river, the "Augusta," of sixty-four 
guns, and the "Merlin" frigate grounded. The next day the "Augusta'" 
was set on fire by red-hot shot from the American galleys and flouting 
batteries, and blown up before all her crew conld escape ; the " Merlin '' 
was abandoned and set on fire. From the wrecks the Americans brought 
off two twenty-four poundera. "Thank Oud," reasoned John Adams, 
"the glory is not immediately due to the commander-in-chief, or idolatry 
and adulation would have been so excessive as to endanger our liberties." 
By the 10th of November the British had completed their batteries on 
the reedy morass of Province Island, five hundred yards from the Ameri- 
can fort on Mud Island, and began an incessiint lire from four batteries 
of heavy artillery. Smith gave the opinion that the garrison could nut 
repel a storming-party, but Major Fleury, the French engineer, reported 
the place still defensible. On the eleventh, Sruith, having received u 
slight hurt, passed immediately to Red Bank ; the next in rank desired 
to be recalled and early on the thirteenth the brave little garrison of two 
hundred and eighty-six fresh men and twenty ai'tillerists Wiia confided 
to Major Simeon Thayer, of Rhode Island, who had distinguished him- 
self in the expedition against Quebec, and who now volunteered to take 
the desperate command. Supported by his superior ability and the skill 
and cool courage uf Fleury, the garrison held out gallantly during an 
incessant bombardment and csinnonade. On the fifteenth, the wind 




FORT MIFFLIN. 

proving fair, the "Vigilant," carrying sixteen twenty-four poundere, 
aided by the tide, was warped through an inner channel which the ob- 
structions in the river had deepened, and anchored so near the American 
fort that they could send into it hand-grenades, and marksmen from the 
mast of the " Vigilant" could pick off men from its platform. 

Five large British sbips-of-war, which drew near the chevavx-de-frise, 
kept off the American flotilla, and sometimes directed their fire at the fort 
on its unprotected side. The land batteries, now five in number, played 
from thirty pieces at short distances. The ramparts and block-houses 
on Mud Island were honey-combed, their cannon nearly silenced. A 
storming-party was got ready ; but, to avoid bloodshed, Sir William 



enterprise, from which further delay was ardently 
hoped, resulted in his early discomfiture, occasioned 
by the betrayal of his position to the enemy by spy 
or Tory, promptly followed by a night attack, led by 
General Grey, characterized by a fierceness and bru- 




WASHINGTON's HEADQUARTERS, WORCESTER. 

tality ^ which has justly obscured the fame of that 
officer, and rendered his name forever odious in the 
annals of the Kevolution. The season of anxiety 
was intensified by this unexpected misfortune, fol- 
lowed by the removal of the seat of government, the 
establishment of new lines of communication, new 
sources of supplies, and the "perplexing manoeuvres 
of Howe," which required counter-movements to 
prevent a farther advance into the interior of the State 
with a view to the destruction of government stores 
at Reading, or in the direction of the Hudson River 

Howe, who on the fifteenth was present with his brother, gave ordei-s to 
keep up the fire all night through. In the morning, Thayer sent all the 
garrison but forty men over to Red Bank, and after midnight followed 
with the rest. When on the sixteenth, the British troops entered the 
fort, they found nearly every one of its cannon stained with blood 
Never were orders to liefeud a place to the last extremity mure faithfully 
executed. Thayer was reported to W:ishiug1on as an urticer of the 
highest merit ; Fleui'y won well-deserved promotion from Con- 
gress. Cornwallis was next sent by way of Chester to Billingsport with 
a strong body of troops to clear the left bank of the Telaware. A divi 
sion under Greene was promptly despatched across the river to give him 
battle. But Cornwallis was joined by five British battalions from New 
York, while the American reinforcements from the northern army were 
still delayed. It therefore became necessary to evacuate Red Bank. 
(^^'ornwallis, having leveled its ramparts, returned to Philiulelphia, and 
Greene rejoined Washington, but nut till Lafayette, who attended thftl I 
expedition as a volunteer, had secured the applause of Congress by rout* * , 
ing a party of Hessians. For all the seeming success, many ufflcera in 
the British camp expressed the opinion that the States could not be sub- 
jugated, and should bo suftered to go free. — Bancroft, " History of [7. iK.," 
vol. vi. 

i"One Hundredth Anniversary of Paoli Massacre," by J. Smith 
Futhey, Esq. 



THE KEYOLUTION. 



165 



to relieve Burgoyue, who was theu beseeching for 
reiutbrcements to save him from disaster. 

After a succession of feints by Howe, indicating his 
eager desire for more substantial conquests^ he moved 
from the neighborhood of these hills, crossing the 
Schuylkill at Fatland Ford on the 22d day of Septem- 
ber, and from necessity, rather than choice, occupied 



while encamped upon the Perkiomen hills; from 
them, on the night of October 3d, the advance was 
made, and after it was fought and lost, on the day 

enough to take their arms and form for action. They retreated of ne- 
cessity before the greatly superior furce of the whole right wing of our 
army. 

"But the 'leaving of their baggage' authorizes the inference that 
Philadelphia on the 24th of the same month. Ligllt i they had no knowledge of the march of the American army until the 

brigades of Continental troops 
interposed between the enemy 
and the Delaware, and watched 
his movement in the direction 
of Philadelphia by day and 
night, while the main army un- 
der Washington took position 
on the hills of Perkiomen and 
Skippack. At this place rein- 
forcements reached him, and 
his army, decimated by the un- 
toward events of the campaign, 
was reported eight thousand 
Continental troops and three 
thousand militia present and 
eftective for duty. With this 
force at command he deter- 
mined upon further operations 
against the enemy, whose situ- 
ation, as disclosed to him by 
information deemed reliable, 
invited rather than repelled 
attack. 

The plan of the battle of 
Oermautown' was then formed 



iThe following letter, written by Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel T. Pickering, who was 
serving as adjutant-general on the staff of 
Geiieriil Washington at the battle of Ger- 
niantowu, dated Salem, Mass., August 23, 
18'26, will be read with interest in con- 
nectiun with the events of a day which 
opened so auspiciously for American amis, 
and closed in gK»om and disaster : 

^^ Sir : Nearly forty-nine yeai-a have 
elapsed since tlie battle of Germantown. 
Of course, yon may well suf>i>ose tluit many 
facts respecting it are beyund my power 
of recollection, while a few are indelibly 
impressed on my memory. General Wash- 
ington, in his letter to Congress of Octo- 
ber oth, the day after the battle, tjiays tliat 
* the anny marched about 7 o'clock on 
the evening of the 3rd, and that General 
Sulliviin'3 advam-ed party attacked the 
enemy's picket at Mount Air>', or Mr. Al- 
len's house, alKjut sunrise the next morning, which presently gave way. 
His main body, cunsisting of the right wing, following soon, engaged the 
light infantry and other troops encamped near the picket, which they 
forced from the ground. Leaving their baggage, they retreated a con- 
siderable distance, having previously thrown a party into Mr. Chew's 
house.' 

"The tenn here applied to the advanced corps of the enemy, that 
*they were forced from the ground," shows that they were in arms, and 
resisted their assailants, and that the previuus bnish with the piiket, a 
guard always pusted in advance on purpose to give notice ot the enemy's 
appna-li, roused 'the light infantry and other troops,' who had time 




firing in the engs^ement with the picket guard gave the alarm. If, 
then, these advance corps of the enemy were not, in the strict sense of the 
word, surprised^ — that is, * caught napping," unprepared for action, — much 
less could the main body, posted in the centre of Germantown, two miles 
farther off, have been surprised. The distance gave them ample time to 
prepare for action in any manner which the attack of their enemy 
should require. 

"You ask 'at what distance from Chew's house the attack com- 
menced?" At tliat time I was a stranger to that part of the country. 
From my subsequent acquaintance with it, during my reeideni-e in Penn- 
sylvania, I should estimate the distance from Mount Aii-j- to Philadelphia 



166 



HISTOEY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY. 



following (October 4th), to the same hills the army 

returned, defeated, it is true, with considerable loss in 
killed, wounded and captured, but with its organiza- 
tion unimpaired and its devotion to the cause still 
unbroken. 

to be eight miles, Chew's house seven miles, and the centre ot German- 
town six miles. And these, I think, are the distances as I have occasion- 
ally heard them mentioned. ' 

*'Yo» iisk 'how long a pause was made at Chew's house, and what 
space of time probably intervened between the beginning of the action 
and the general engageinent at the head of the village?' The pause at 
Chew's house, in the manner I shall presently mention, probably delayed 
the advance of the i-ear division of our army into action for half an hour. 
Taking the attack on the picket at Mount Airy as the beginning of the 
action, it was probably nearly half an hour before it became general as 
to the whole of Sullivan's column, aud this general engagement must 
have commenced after he had passed Chew's house, for I saw not one 
dead man until I had piissed it, and then but one, lying in the road 
where I fell in with General Sullivan. I presuiue that following close 
upon the heels of the British battalion of light infantry and the Fortieth 
Regiment, which were retiring before him, Sullivan, with his column, 
had passed Chew's house without annoyance from it, for it must have 
taken Colonel Musgrave, who entered it with sis companies of the 
Fortieth Regiment, some time to barricade and secure the doors and 
vrinduws of the lower story, before ht- would he ready to fire from the 
chamber windows- and it was from them that the firing I saw proceeded. 

**In the march of the army. General Washington, following Sullivan's 
column, kept in the road leading to and through Germantown to 
Philadelphia. When he had entered the northern part of the village, 
we heard in advance of us (I was liding by the Generars side) a very 
heavy fire of musketry. General Sullivan's divisions, it was evident, 
were wanuly engaged with the enemy, but neither were in sight. This 
fire was brisk and heavy, and General Washington s;iid to me, 'lam 
afraid General Sulhvan is throwing away his ammunition ; ride forward 
and tfll him to reserve it.' I do not know what was the precise idea 
■which at that moment struck the mind of the general. I can only 
conjecture that he wiis apprehensive that Sullivan, after meeting the 
enemy in the front, kept up his brisk and incessant fire, when the 
haziness of the air and its increased obscurity, from the burning of so 
much powder, prevented his troops having such a distinct view of the 
enemy as would render their fire efficient. Be that as it may, the 
instant I received the general's ordei-s I rode forward, and in the road, 
three or four hundred yards beyond Chew's house, met Sullivan, and 
delivered to him the general's ordere. 

" At this time I had never heard of Chew's house, and had no idea 
that an enemy was in my rear. The firet notice I received of it was from 
the whi/.zing of the musket-balls across the road, before, behind and 
above mo as I was returning, after delivering the orders to Sullivan. In- 
stantly turning my eyes to the right, I saw the blaze of the muskets, 
whose sliots were still aimed at me from the windows of a large stone 
house, standing back about a hundred yards from the road. This was 
Chew's house. Passing on, I came to some of our artillery who were 
tiring very obliquely on the front of the house. I remarked to them that 
in that position their fire would be unavailing, and that the only chance 
of their shot making any impression on the house would be moving down 
and firing on its front. Then immediately passing on, I rejoined General 
Washington, who, with General Knox and other ofticers, was in front of 
a stone liuuse {nearly all the houses in Germantown were of stone), next 
northward of the open fields on which Chew's house stood. I found 
they were discussing, in Washington's presence, this question, — Whether 
the whole of our troops then behind should immediately advance, regard- 
less of the enemy in Chow's house, or fii-st summon them to surrender? 
General Knox strenuously urged the sending of a summons. Among 
other things, he said, *It would be unmilitary to leave a castle in the 
rear.' I answered, ' Doubtless that is a correct general maxim ; hut it 
does not api)ly in this case. We know the extent of this castle (Chew's 
house), aud to guard iigainst the danger of theenemy's sallying and fall- 
ing on the rear of our troops, a small regiment may he posted here to 
watch them ; and if they sally such a regiment will hike them. But,' I 
added, * to snmmoti them to sun-ender would be useless. We are now in 
the midst of the battle, and its issues are unknown. In this state of un- 
certainty, and so well secin*ed as the enemy find themselves, they will 
not regard a summons. Thetj will fire at yonrfing." 

However, a fiag Wiis .sent with a summons. Lieutenant Sinitli, of 



Mr. Bancroft, in writing of this battle, says :^ " In the 

official report of this engagenaent the commander-in- 
chief stated with exactness the tardy arrival of Greene," 
and adds, "Had the forces trusted to that officer 
and the militia under Armstrong acted as efficiently 
as the troops with Washington, the morning might 
have been fatal to Howe's army. The renewal of the 
attack so soon after the defeat at the Brandywine, and 
its partial success, inspirited Congress and the army. 



Virginia, my assistant in the office of adjutant-general, volunteered his. 
service to carry it. As he was advancing, a shot from the house gave- 
him a wound of which he died. Whatever delay in the advance of the 
division in our rear was occasioned by the pause at Chew's liouse, I am 
satisfied that Sullivan's column did not halt there at all, as mentioned by 
Judge Johnson. The column was certainly not in sight when the gen- 
eral sent me with the orders already noticed, and it is alike certiiin that 
it was then beyond Chew's house. Nor were the enemy forming under 
cover of the house, or I would have seen them. When the orders were- 
sent to our troops in the rear to lulvance I do not know, but it must 
have been subsequent to the sending of the flag, and, I should think,, 
twenty minutes, at least, after it was found that an enemy was in the- 
house. The general did not pass it at all. I had remained near him 
until our troops were retreating, when I roile off to the right to endeavor 
to stop and rally those I met r.-tiring in companies and squads ; but it 
was impracticable. Their ammunition, I sui»pose, had generally been, 
expended. 

"In the foregoing letter from Geneml Washington to Congress, he- 
says, 'The attack from our left column, under General Greene, begaa 
about three-quarters of an hour after that from our right.' Yuu iisk the- 
cause of this. Tlie answer is obvious. The right column, under General 
Sullivan, which Wiishington accompanied, nuirched on the direct road to- 
Germantown ; Greene, with his column, w;is obliged to make a circuit to- 
the left to gain the road which IbiI to his point of attack. The columns 
thus entirely separated, and at a distance from each other, no calculations- 
of their coumianders couhl have insured their arriving at the same time- 
at their respective points of attjick. 

"Judge Johnson, in his 'Life of Greene,' hits represented as 'almost 
ludicrous' the 'scene' exhibited by some writers of the discussion near 
Chew's house in the presence of General Washington, in which it is- 
hinted that opinions were 'obtruded, and that even field offlcere may- 
have expressed their opinions ; but,' he adds, ' General Washington wa 
listening to the counsels of his own mind and of his gem-ral officers.' 
I know, however, that he did listen to the discussion, and Lee (Light- 
Horse Harry) commanded a troop of hoi-se that day on duty near the- 
General's person. This accounts for his determination to send the sum- 
mons. ' Knox,' he says, ' being always high in the general's confidence 
his opinion prevailed.' Further, I must remark, that the general ofliccrs 
whom the judge supjioses to have been present and advising the com- 
mander in-chief, were in their proper places with their divisions and 
brigades. Knox alone, of the general officers, was present. Command- 
ing in the artillery department, and the field pieces being distributed 
among the brigades of tlie army, he Wiis always at liberty in time of 
action to attend the commander-in-chief. 

" Some two or three years since I wrote to Judge Johnson, informing^ 
him of his mistakes in the matter noticed in this paragraph. Otiiers of 
his details of this battle, which arc inconsistent with the stivtements I 
have here given to you, must be incorrect. The truth is that General 
Washington, not sjinguine in his own opinion, and his diffidence beings 
increased, probably, by a feeling sense of high responsibility as comman- 
der-in-chief, was ever disposed, when occasions occurred, to consult those- 
officers who were near him in whose discernment anil fidelity he placed 
a confidence, and certainly his decisions were often influenced by their 
opinions. This is within my knowledge. 

" I am, etc., 

"T. PR'KKRI.NG." 

The retreat of W'ashington from Germantown Wiis accomplished with- 
out the loss of material. Ho retired to Skippack Creek, placed his 
wounded and disabled soldiers in hospitals wherever he could establisli 
them, generally using the churches aud other public buildings between 
the Perkiomen and Keathng for that purpose. 

' Vol. vi.. p. 19. 



? fes 



%lf 



V, 



»v. 



-''ysi 



Wa V- 



'S"-"-"' 



'^i^^■; 



%f<!r^. ■ 



u^ J ^ N ^:^ 



Vrfr 






a? 



«*«f 



J- 



^^ 






%J 



C'^ i\ 



.tr 



o/ 



( 'J 



%. 



.lie ^ s LAht 



1 .■»/. 






"lake" \ 






ij. 



A| 





















t 



THE ItKVOIJ'TION. 



167 



In Europe it convinced Frederick of Prussia and tlie 
Cabinet of France that the independence of xVraerica 
was assured." 

Information of the success of General Gates in the 
Northern Department reached the commander-in- 
chief on tlie 18th of October, — one day after the sur- 
render. The event was promptly made known to the 
army, and received by soldiers and citizens with man- 
ifestations of joy. Immediately the Continental 
troops under General Glover and Morgan's corps of 
riflemen were recalled from the Department of the 
Xorth. Delay followed, with evident disinclination 
upon the part of General Gates to promptly obey the 
order of the commander-in-chief, and not until 
Colonel Hamilton was dispatched in person to renew 
the demand was the summons obeyed. 

Pending the movement of reinforcements from the 
North, the puolic mind, having recovered from the 
first effects of the reverses at Brandywine, Paoli and 
Germantown, perhaps unduly elated liy the surrender 
of Burgoyne and its sequences, clamored for further 
aggressive movements against Howe. Partly in def- 
erence to tliis feeling, and to quiet the unfriendly 
criticism inspired by the disingenuous spirit subse- 
quently and more notoriously connected with the 
developments of the Conway cabal, Washington moved 
his army to the east, taking a strong position at White- 
marsh, from which he was able to watch the move- 
ments of the enemy, harass his outposts, cut of!' his 
source of supjjlies, give {protection to the agricultural 
people and confidence to the public mind. Here, 
after an inert'ectual attempt' on the part of the enemy 

1 When treneral Howe took formal possession of Philadelphia, in the 

autumn of 1777, he established his headquarters in Second Street, fourth 
door below Spruce, in a liouse formerly occupied bj' Uenei-al Cadwalladcr. 
Directly opposite resided William and Lydia Dari'acli, members of the 
Society ot Ki'iends. A superior otticer of the British army, believed to 
be the adjutant-general (Major Andre), fixed upon one of tiieir cham- 
bers, a back room, for private conference, and two oflficei-s frequently met 
there, with fire and candles, in close consultation. About the 2d of 
December the at^jutant-genei-al told Lydia that they woubl be in the 
room at 7 o'clock and remain late, and that they wished the family to re- 
tire early to bed, adding tliat when they were going away they would 
call her to let them out and extinguish their fire and candles. She ac- 
cordingly sent all her family to bed ; but jus the officer had been so par- 
ticular her curiosity was excited. She took off her shoes, put her ear to 
the keyhole of the conclave, and overheard an order read for all the British 
troops to march out late on the evening of the 4th and attack General 
Washington, then encamped at Whiteniai-sh. On hearing this she return- 
ed to her chamber and laid down. Soon after, the officer knocked at her 
door, but she rose only at the third summons, having feigned herself asleep. 
Her mind was so agitated tliat she could neither eat nor sleep, supposing it 
in her power to Have the lives of thousands of her fellow-countrymen, but 
not knowing how she was to convey the information to General Washing- 
ton, not daring to confide it to her husband. The time, llowever, was short. 
She quickly determined to make her way as siion as possible to the Ameri- 
can outposts, where she had a son who was an officer in the .\merican 
army. She informed her family that as she was in want of rtour, she would 
go to Frankford for it. Her husband insisted she should take her servant 
maid with her, but to his surprise she positively refused. She got access 
to General Howe and solicited what he readily granted,— a pass through the 
British lines. Beyond the lines she wjis met by an American officer, 
Lieutenant-Col. Craig, of the Light Horse, M-hoknew her. To him she dis- 
closed her secret, after having obtained from him asolemn promise never 
to betray her individnally, as her life might be at stake with the British. 
He conducted her to a house near at hand, directed something for her to 



to dislodge him, on the 5th and 6th of December, the 
campaign closed, Howe retiring within his lines of 
defense, reaching from the Delaware to the Schuylkill 
River. The war-worn and jaded condition of the 
patriot troops, the want of supplies, the hopelessness 
of further operations to repossess Philadelphia, and 
the approach of winter, all admonished the commander 
to seek shelter and repose for his army. 

The proposition to retire the army for the winter 
gave rise to well-marked differences of opinion. 
Within army circles the only question was that of 
location. Whether it should fortify and remain where 
it was, or retire to the Perkiomen hills, or move south 
and occupy the vicinity of Wilmington, was canvassed 
by leading ollicers in the army, whose opinions were 
sought by the commander-in-chief In political cir- 
cles, and among a large and influential class of patri- 
otic citizens of Pennsylvania, a different view pre- 
vailed. In their opinion, the exigency of the public 
service demanded a continuation of active operations 
upon the part of this army. Their hostility to the 
proposed cantonment of- troops culminated in a re- 
monstrance prepared by the General Assembly, and by 
that body presented to Congress, then in session at 
York. We recite the remonstrance here in order to 
illustrate the wisdom and force of character of the 
great and good man who, in serving the higher inter- 
ests of his country, disregarded the remonstrance of 
those whose sensibilities were shocked by the calami- 
ties of war, and who, for a temporary respite from its 
ravages, would have sacrificed the army of hope by 
denying it that well-earned repose absolutely neces- 
sary at that season and period to preserve its existence. 

REMONSTRANCE OF CurNCIL AND ASSEMBLY TO CONGRESS, 
1777.1 

*'At a (■(Uifeivnce with the Supreme Kxecutive Council and General 
Assembly of the State, held in Ihe Assembly Boom, Uesolvcd, that a re- 
monstrance be immediately drawn up anil forwarded to Congress against 
the projiosed cantonment of the army of the I'tiited States under com- 
mand of His Excelleficy, General Washington, and that the following 
reasons be nrgeii. 

"1st. That by the army's removal to the west siiie of the Schuylkill as 
far as Wilmington and its neighborhood, a great part of the State, par- 
ticularly that on the east side, together with the State of New Jersey, 

eat, and hastened to headquarters, where he immediately acquainted Gen- 
eral W'ashington with what he had heard. Washington made, of course, 
all preparations for baffling the meditated surprise. Lydia returned 
home with her flimr, s.at up alone to watch the movements of the British 
troops, and heard their footsteps ; but when they returned in a few days 
after, did not dare to ask a question, though solicitous to learn tiie result. 
The next evening the attjvitant-general came in, and re<piested her to 
walk up to his room, as he wished to ask some questions. She followed 
him in terror, and when he locked the door and begged her, with an 
air of mystery, to be seated, she was sure she was either suspected or 
betrayed. He inquired earnestly whether any of her family were up the 
last night when he and the other officer met. She told him they all re- 
tired at eight o'clock. He observed, "I know //oa were asleep for I 
knocked at your door three times before you heard me. I am entirely at a 
loss to imagine who ga\e General Wiishington information of our intended 
attack, unless the walls of the house could speak. When we arrived 
near AVhitemarsh, we foimd all their cannon mounted and the troops 
prepared to receive us; ami we iiaoe mardied backlike a parcel, offooh.^^ 



1 Pennsylvania .\rchives, vol. vi., 1777-1778, p. '. 



168 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



must be left in the power of the enemy subject to their ravages ; the in- 
habitants lie obligfid either to fly to the ueigliUoring States or submit to 
such terms as the enemy may prescribe. 

"2d. That the State Assembly at their last session had laid a ta.\ of five 
shillings on the pound on all estiites, real and personal, in order to call 
in and sink the moneys issued by this Government, and at this session had 
Besolved over and above said tax to raise the sum of si,\ty-two thousand 
dollars for svipport of war for the ensuing year. Agreeably to resolve of 
Congress, both which taxes must infallibly fail, provided the army gointo 
cantonment at such distance as will prevent their covering the country 
from the depredations of the enemy, it being a melancholy truth that 
too many of our people are so disaffected already that nothing but the 
neighborhood of the army keeps them subject to Government, whilst the 
Whigs and those who have taken the most active part in support of our 
cause will be discouraged and give up all as lost. 



" I can assure those gentlemen that it is a much easier and less distress- 
ing thing to draw remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good fire- 
side than to occupy a cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow 
without clothes or blankets. However, althimgh they seem to have little 
feeling for the naked and distressed soldiers, 1 feel superabuudantly for 
them, and from my soul I pity those miseries which it is neither in my 
power to relieve or prevent.'' 

On the 11th of December the camp was broken up 
at Whiteniarsh, and after a painful inarch over rough 
and frozen roads reached the Gulf Hills, crossing the 
Schuylkill River at Swedes' and Matson's Ford on 
improvised bridges. Here the advance division under 
General Potter, which moved south of Matson's Ford 



a 

•en 
c 

<^ 
o 



a 
o 



© 
© 
e 
o 
© 
o 
o 
o 
© 
© 
o 
o 
o 
o 
© 

® 


© 
o 

o 



Id O hereby CERTIFY^ That 

hath voluntai4ly taken ara fubl cribed the Oath oi^-A^- 
il«*»Ati-an of Allegiance and Fidelity, as direAed by aa 
A^ of General AiTembly of Pennfylvania, pafTed the 
1 3th day of June, /l.D. V55^7v Witnefs my hand 
and feal, the A^>isiay of '^^A^^ A. Z>. '"^^^ 



tS'<3 






ioe?ts'e?s©?7?j?5?»ei'tJ0?3cy?5o^?jty©tfeTejt?ot5z?ioej'ao 

FKINTED BY 3 o nv DUMLAF. 

FAC-SIMILE OF OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 



~1 



•3 - 
O 

© 

<9 
9 

© 
© 
© 

9 



"3d. By removal of our army it will lie impossible to lecniit the rt-gi- 
ments of this State, aa those who would be active and zealous in promot- 
ing that measure will be obliged to leave the State, whilst the Tories and 
disaffected will gain strength, and in many places, perhaps, dfclure 
openly for the enemy, by which means there will be a probability of 
their not only supplying their exhausted magazines, but greatly strength- 
ening their army. 

'*4th. The army removing at a distance from the enemy must give a 
fatal 8tab to the credit of the Continental currency throughout this State. 
It ie a melancholy truth that it is very difficult to purchase from many of 
our most able farmers the neccssjiry provisions of our army, owing to 
their fear of the money ; Viut this difficulty must be greatly increased 
when another market, without interruption, will open to them where 
they will receive at least a promise of hard money." i 

"We have this day no less than two thousand eight hundred and 
ninety-eight men in camp unfit for duty, because they are barefoot and 
otherwise naked. Our whole strength in Continental troops amounts to 
no more than eight thousatid two hundred in camp fit for duty. Since 
the fourth inst., our numbers fit for duty, from hardship and exposure, 
have decreased nearly two thousand men. Gentlemen reprobate the 
going into winter-quarters as much as if the soldiers were made of sticks 
and stones. 

1 To this remonstrance Waahington replied on the 23d of December, 

1777. After laying blame upon General Mifflin for neglect of duty as 
quartermafiter-gcneral, he says : " For want of a two days' supply of pro- 
visions, an opportunity scarcely ever ofiered of taking an advantage 
of the enemy that has not been either totally obstructed or greatly 
impeded. Men are confined tohospitalsor in farmers' houses for want of 
ehoes." 



to cover the pas.sage of the main army, unexpectedly 
came in contact with a strong detachment of the 
enemy under Cornwallis, out upon a foraging expedi- 
tion. The presence of the enemy in this quarter and 
in such force was a surprise at the time, and occasioned 
delay, the counter-movement of troops and some 
apprehension upon the part of the commander-in- 
chief, which subsequently proved to be without cause. 

A camp was established for some days on the Gulf 
Hills, fourteen miles distant from Philadelphia, where 
the army remained until the 18th, when it retired to 
Valley Forge, going into position with the right rest- 
ing upon the base of Mount Joy, near the acute angle 
of the Valley Creek, the left flank resting upon and 
protected by the Schuylkill River, about one-half 
mile below Fatland Ford or Sullivan's bridge. 

Historians have uniformly signalized the arrival of 
the army on this ground as coincident with the famous 
order of the commander-in-chief dated, "Headquarters 
on the Schuylkill, December 17, 1777," congratulating 
his troops upon the close of the campaign, the results 
accomplished, the heroic conduct of officers and the 
endurance of men, counseling them to continue in 



THE REVOLUTION. 



169 



fortitude and patience, assuring his followers "that 
while in some instances he had unfortunately failed, 
that upon the whole, heaven had smiled upon their 
army and crowned them with success, that the end of 
their warfare was independence, liberty and peace, 
and that the hope of securing these blessings for 
themselves and their posterity demanded a CDUtinu- 
ance of the struggle at every hazard." 

This was the pleasing side of the picture, set in the 
gilded framework of war's seducing blandishments 
and panoplied with its field-day glories. But there 
was another, — the shoeless soldiers, the frozen ground, 
the cheerless hills, the lowering leaden sky that 
arched them over with gloom. These were the sor- 
rowing and mute witnesses to the true scene of the 
arrival, and which the artist has thus far failed to 
place upon canvas. We are not, however, wanting 
for the pen picture. I give it in the language of Mr. 
Oeorge Washington Parke Curtis. 

"The brigades had gone into position upon the line 
of defense indicated by the skillful officer who drew 
it. The pitiless winter winds swept the hills and 
valley with unceasing fury as the December sun 
sank into banks of snow-clouds, presaging the coming 
storm. The poverty of supplies in food and raiment 
Wiis ]>itterly and profanely bewailed by shivering, 
unpaid officers and half-naked men as they crowded 
around the comfortless camj)-fire of the bivouac, 
when suddenly the appearance of the Horse Guard 
announced the approach of the commander-in-chief. 
The officer commanding the detachment, choosing 
the most favorable ground, paraded his men to pay 
their general the honors of a passing salute. As 
Washington rode slowly up he was observed to be 
eying very earnestly something that attracted his 
attention on the frozen surface of the road. Having 
returned the salute with that native grace and digni- 
fied manner that won the admiration of the soldiers 
of the Revolution, the chief reined in his charger, 
and ordering the commanding officer of the detach- 
ment to his side, addressed him as follows: "How 
comes it, sir, that I have tracked the march of your 
troops by the blood-stains of their feet upon the 
frozen ground? Were there no shoes in the commis- 
sary's stores, that this sad spectacle is to be seen 
along the public highway?" The officer replied: 
" Your Excellency may rest assured that this sight 
is as painful to my feelings as it can be to yours, but 
there is no remedy within i)ur reach. When shoes 
were issued the diffi;ront regiments were served in 
turn ; it was our misfortune to be among the last to 
be served, and the stores became exhausted before 
we could obtain even the smallest supply." 

The general was observed to be deeply affected by 
his officer's description of the soldiers' privations and 
sufferings. His compressed lips, the heaving of his 
manly chest betokened the powerful emotions that 
were struggling in his bosom, when, turning towards 
the troo])S, with a voice tremulous, yet kindly, he 



exclaimed, "Poor fellows!"" Then, giving rein to 
his horse, he rode rapidly away. 

The purpose of the commander-in-chief in taking 
position at Valley Forge was to give the greatest 
measure of protection possible to the State, and to 
circumscribe the operations of General Howe within 
limits that would seriously affect his source of sup- 
ply. To this end his line was admirably drawn. On 
the west side of the Schuylkill he extended his right 
flank to Wilmington, at which point he stationed 
General Smallwood with his brigade of infantry, 
covering the long interval with Morgan's rifle corps 
and the squadron of cavalry under Major Harry Lee. 

On the east of the river he occupied the country 
as far as Whitemarsh, placing General Armstrong 
with a brigade of Pennsylvania militia so as to cover 
the principal roads converging at that point ; the 
cavalry under Major Jameson and Captain McLane' 
guarded the highways in the direction of Barren and 
Chestnut Hills; and to still further prevent the in- 
cursions of the enemy northward from Philadelphia, 
he directed General Pulaski, who was in command of 
the brigade of cavalry, to go into camp at Trenton, 
N. J. 

The line of defense from the west shore of the 
Schuylkill River to the base of Mount Joy, at the 
angle of Valley Creek, occupied commanding ground, 
and the earthworks and fortifications erected under 
the direction of General Duportail were extensive in 
character and skillfully constructed. The interior 
line of works and abatis were semicircular in form, 
crossing from north to south, with one star and two 
square forts, from which the army could have success- 
fully covered a retreat westward, had such a move- 
ment become necessary. The interior lines, with the 
remains of the two square forts, are still discernible, 
and constitute the only landmarks which the crumb- 
ling hand of time has left to guide the pilgrim over 
these hills. Fortunately for the living of to-day, 
we are not without reliable data by which we may 
indicate with accuracy the position of the fourteen 
brigades of Continental troops encailiped within the 
fortified lines, representing a maximum of seventeen 
thousand men, but reduced by sickness and the 
paucity of supplies to the pitiable number of five 
thousand and twelve eft'ectives. 

The extreme right of the line, commanding the ap- 
proaches from the southwest, was held by Brigadier- 
General Charles Scott, of Virginia, upon whose left 
Brigadier-General Anthony Wayne, commanding the 
Pennsylvania line, was placed ; then in succession 
from right to left came the brigades of General Enoch 
Poor, of Massachusetts, General John Glover, of 
Ma.ssacbusetts, General Ebenezer Earned, General 
John Patterson, of JNIassachusetts, General George 
Weedon, of Virginia, who connected with General 



»Lo8sing's "Field-Book, 
tions," p. .JOl. 



vol. ii. p. 105 ; Day's " Historical Collec- 



170 



HISTORY OF MOxNTGOMEllY COUNTY. 



Peter Muhlenberg, of Pennsylvania, holding the ex- 
treme left of the line, resting on the Schuylkill at a 
point near where the village of Port Keaneily is now 
located. 

The second or supporling line of troops was en- 
camped immediately in front of the interior line of 
earthworks, still discernible. Brigadier-Geuera) 
William Woodford, of Virginia, held the right, cover- 
ing thecorpsof Major-General Henry Knox'sartillery, 
located a short distance to his left and reir- to the 
left of Woodford, successively, the brigades 
of General William Maxwell, of New Jn 
sey, General Thomas Conway, of Irish birth. 
General Jedediah Huntingdon, of Connec 
ticut, connecting with the brigade of General 
James Varnum, of Massachusetts; on the 
extreme left, covering the bridge over the 
Schuylkill River, built by General Sullivan 
Brigadier-General Lochlan Mcintosh, ( t 
Scottish birth, a Georgian by adoption, with 
the remaining brigade, was encamped in the 
rear of the second line of intrenchments, a 
short distance east of the Potts mansion, oc 
cupied by the commander-in-chief; near 1)V 
and to the lett of ^Mcintosh, Washington » 
body-guard, commanded by Jiajor Gibbs, ot 
Rhode Island, was encamped ; still farther to 
the west, and on the opposite side of the 
Valley Creek, the artificers of the army were 
quartered in huts, with large log buildings 
for work-sh<jps. 

The bake-house, used for the double purpose of 
furnishing food for the army and as a place lor 
holding court-martial, was located within a few yards 
of these work-shops. By the 20th of December the 
army was in position as indicated, and the order to 
construct huts for the winter was issued. Its execu- 
tion followed with dispatch and great exactness. 
Soldiers became axemen from necessity ; before them 
the forest fell, and hundreds of log houses grew as by 
magic. The dimensions ofe.ach hut were fourteen by 
sixteen feet, with* chimney, fire-place, and door, facing 
upon company streets, drawn in strict conformity with 
the rules of military encampments. Quarters for field 
and staff' officers were erected in rear of the line of 
troops, while still farther to the rear, upon the sloping 
hills, shelter was sought for the trains of the army. 
History and tradition alike confirm the fact that the 
hills were made bare of timber in completing the 
shelter necessary for men and animals, and the wood 
necessary for fuel during the long winter was hauled 
by men a distance of one and more miles from the 
camp. 

Major-Gen erals Lafayette, DeKalb and Stirling es- 
tablished their headquarters for the winter with the 
army, and were alternately assigned to im])ortant field 
and detached duty during the winter. JIajor-Gicneral 
Charles Lee, at the time a prisoner of war, was subse- 
quently exchanged for(reneral Prescott, and returned 



to this camp, together with Major-General Thomas 
Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, who had also been absent 
some months. 

The following staff officers established tlicir head- 
quarters near the Potts mansion : Major-(ieneral Na- 
thaniel Greene, of Rhode Island, quartermaster-gen- 
eral of the army ; Major-General Baron Steuben, in- 
spector-general ; Brigadier-General Duportail, chief 
engineer ; Colonel Timothy Pickering, adjutant-gen- 
eril- and Colonel 4.1exander Hamilton aide-de-camp. 




potts' maxsiox, 

Washington's Headquarters at Valley Furge. 

Time and space forbid what would otherwise be a 
pleasing task of calling from the long roll of honor 
the names of subordinate officers, who were conspicu- 
ously associated with those near the person of the 
commander-in-chief, and supported him in his trials 
and endiarrassments while in occupation of Valley 
Forge. Long before the works for defense were 
completed, or the huts that were to shelter the army 
were finished, the bitter cry of hunger, from thousands 
of brave and heroic men, reached the ears and heart 
of Washington. He appealed in vain to the govern- 
ment for supplies. The hasty removal of Congress 
from Philadelphia to Lancaster, thence to York, had 
its disorganizing eftects upon all the departments; 
especially upon those of the quartermaster and com- 
missary. The limited provisions made to meet the 
wants of the army, greatly increased by the losses in- 
separable from the defeats and retreats experienced, 
were with difficulty placed within reach of the com- 
mander, whose transportation had been reduced to 
the minimum from necessity, whose trains had been 
enfeebled by overwork, irregular food and that want 
of care for which the quartermaster's department had 
become noted. To overcome in some measure the 
pressing necessity which threatened the dissolution of 
his army, as early as the 20th of December, 1777, he 
issued the following order: 

" lly virtue of tlie puwer anj ilireetiun espeeially giveu, I iiei'eby en- 



THE KEVOLUTION. 



171 



join and require all pereons residing within seventy miles of my head- 
quarters to thresh one-lialf of their grain li.v the first day of March next 
ensuing, on pain, in case of failure, of having all that shall remain in 
sheavea, after the period ahove mentioned, seized by the t-oiumissaries and 
qnarteriuastors of the army, and paid for as etraw." l 

In the absence of blankets, the want of straw as 
well as grain was sorely felt by the army ; farmers in 
the immediate vicinity had sutl'ered great loss by the 
presence of both armies in their midst. If the patriot 
army were considerate of those known to be friendly 
to their cause and merciless upon the " Tory," the 
British, who closely followed them, laid a heavy hand 
upon the supjdies of the "Rebel," and between the 
two the farmers from the Brandywine to the Delaware 
found an involuntary market. Under these circum- 
stances, it was not surprising that those who had 
stoweil away the grain and hay that was relied upon 
to keep body and soul together for another year were 
tardy in threshing it out. The commander-in-chief 
comprehended the situation, and the order issued 
went direct to the vital point ; it suggested an alterna- 
tive which brought flails to the front, barn-doors were 
opened, the golden sheaves were brought in from well- 
preserved stacks, in many instances by the soldiers 
themselves, who were glad to exchange the rigors of a 
starving camp for the toil of the threshing-floor, 
which exchange yielded bread for themselves and com- 
patriots by day, and attbrded the hope of merriment 
amidst the cheerful homes of patriot mothers and 
daughters by night. Tradition says that throughout 
the length and breadth of " Washington's seventy 
miles" could be heard from morn till night two or 
three threshers on every barn-floor. Straw was soon 
in the market, soft as flails could make it, and con- 
tributed greatly to the comfort of the men at Valley 
Forge, and hundreds and thousands ot other sick and 
wounded, whu filled every church and meeting-house 
from Barren Hill to the "Swamp," and from "Bir- 
mingham to Reading." 

"At no period of the war," writes Chief Justice 
Marshall, " had the American army been reduced to 
a situation of greater peril than during the winter at 
Valley Forge. More than once they were absolutely 
without food. Even while their condition was less 
desperate in this respect, their stock of provisions 
was so scanty that there was si-ldom at any time in 
thestores a quantity suflieient for the use of the troops 
for a week. The returns of the 1st of February ex- 
hibit the astonishing number of three thousand nine 
hundred and eighty-nine men in camp unfit for duty 
for want of clothes. Of this numlier scarcely a man 
had a |]air of shoes. Although the total of the army 
exceeded seventeen thousand men, the present ettec- 
tive rank and flle amounted to onlv five thousand and 



* In a letter to Congress touching this order, Washington says, '• I 
regret the necessity which compelled us to issue this oi'der, and I shall 
consider it among tlie greatest of our misfortunes to be under the neces- 
sity of practicing it again. I am now obliged to keep several parties 
from the army threshing grain, thlit ovir supplies may not fail us ; but 
this will not do." — Marsliall's " ]Viisliinijtoii,'^ col. i.^p. 210. 



twelve. The returns throughout the winter did not 
effectually vary from that which litis been particularly 
stated." 

The situation of the camp was so eminently critical 
on the 14th of February that General Varnum wrote 
to General Greene " that in all human probability the 
army must dissolve." On the 16th of the same month 
Washington wrote to Governor Clinton : " For some 
days past there has been little less than a famine in 
camp. A part of the army has been a week without 
any kind of flesh, and the rest three or four days. 
Naked and starved as they are, we cannot enough ad- 
mire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the 
soldiery that they have not been ere this excited by 
their sufferings to general mutiny and desertion." 

Dr. Thatcher, in his private journal, states : " That 
it was with the greatest difficulty that men enough 
could be found in a fit condition to discharge the mili- 
tary camp duties from day to day, and for this pur- 
pose, those who were naked borrowed of those who 
were more fortunate in having covering for their 
bodies and shoes for their feet." Yet, amidst the suf- 
ferings and privations endured by these devoted troops 
week after week and month after month, pelted by 
the storms of one of the severest winters ever known 
in this region, the love of country, the hope of victory, 
and an abiding confidence in their great leader sus- 
tained them until, in the Providence of God, the cause 
found an ally whose offices of friendship, long and 
ardently hoped for by the chivalrous Lafayette, were 
finally assured by the diplomacy of our own glorious- 
Franklin. 

Captain Peter S. Dupouceau, aide-de-camp on the 
staff' of Baron Steuben, in a speech at Valley Forge 
on the 26th day of July, 1828, at a " Harvest Home" 
held in commemoration of the trials and suff'erings 
and sacrifices of the Continental army, thus speaks 
of the period and situation : "At that time no nation 
in Europe had acknowledged our independence ex- 
cept a few insufffcient succors secretly sent to us from 
France. We were left entirely to our own resources, 
which were, alas ! all centred in the courage of our 
rulers and our brave soldiers. Despondency reigned 
everywhere except in the hearts of those who watched 
and suffered for our safety. I cannot well represent 
to you with what fortitude, resignation and patience 
these trials were borne by the soldiers of the Revolu- 
tion. They never broke into loud murmurs, much 
less into mutiny or disobedience. I have seen them 
when pre-ssed by hunger sometimes pop their heads 
out of their poor huts and call out in an undertone, 
' No bread, no soldier; ' but a single kind word from 
an officer would still their complaints, and they were 
willing to brave everything for the .sake of liberty and 
their country." 

Passing from the gloom of the command, we are 
met with the perils of the commander. The surren- 
der of Burgoyne on the Hudson, due primarily to the 
comprehensive direction of Washington, successfully 



172 



HISTOEY OF MONTGOiMERY COUNTY. 



carried into execution by Major-General Philip 
Schuyler, who in an evil hour was superseded by 
Major-General Horatio Gates, giving to the latter 
officer easy honors and bringing to his standard the 
disaffected spirits of the army, as it did the impatient 
and fawning p()liticians of the period. 

The victory of Gates at Saratoga was the inevitable 
result of conditions precedent to his assuming com- 
mand in that department, a fact well understood by 
his contemporaries at the time ; and it would seem 
that a proper respect for the proprieties of his pro- 
fession, a due regard for the troops who served him 
and the superior otiicers in merit and rank who made 
his triumph a possibility should have induced subse- 
quent conduct upon his part consistent with the 
highest interest of his country. But it was not so. 
Assuming honors he never merited and powers never 
conferred upon him, he covertly sought to destroy 
personal attachments and inspire public distrust in 
his commander-in-chief. 

General Conway, with others of less importance, 
served the base purpose of Gates only too well, 
and for a time the cabal worked unseen mischief in 
the attemi)ted alienation of friends and disorganization 
of the army, which ultimately recoiled upon those most 
conspicuously connected with the movement, leaving 
the character of him they thought to asperse brighter 
and purer and nobler than ever before. 

When apprised of the intrigues of faction by his 
personal friend, Mr. Laurens, then President of Con- 
gress, he replied with a frankness which, while it 
disclosed a wounded spirit, breathed in every line and 
sentence his unqualified attachment to the cause and 
his unselfish love of country. .He writes to his friend : 
"As I have no other view than to promote the public 
good, and am unaml)iti(ms of honors not founded in 
the approbation of my country, I would not desire in 
the least degree to suppress a free spirit of inquiry 
into any part of my conduct that even faction itself 
may deem reprehensible. The anonymous paper 
handed you exhibits many serious charges, and it is 
my wish that it maybe submitted to Congress.^ This 



1 Charles Thomson was, in some respects, one of the most interesting 
characters of the Revolution. His life has never been written, bei-auwe he 
deliberately 'lestroyed the materials for it ; he knew more of the inHido 
history of the great struggle than any other man, but never opened his 
lips about it, burning his papei's before hie death and calmly insisting that 
his secrets should die with him. Tliis self-repression cost him no pangs ; 
it was natural to him ; he habitually acted behind the scenes and by 
indirect methods, imil he diil this not from any spirit of intrigue or other 
unworthy motive, but lieriiuse his nature seemed to demand it. He wjis 
the soul of truth and honor, frank, ingenuous, much beloved of his 
friends, serene, companionable, qinet, yet evidently capable of emotions 
of the very strongest sort, so that he fainted from excitement in speaking 
upon the Boston Port Bill, and John Adams sjioke of him as "the Sam 
Adams of Philadelphia." Perhaps it was tJiis excitability and his con- 
aciousness of it which made Thomson always avoid the demonstrative 
part of the great work to which he had laid his hand and which he did 
ao thoroughly. This and thw untoward circumstances ot his childhood 
may s.ithce to explain the seenung anomaly in Charles Thomson's 
character. He was born in Ireland, wlience, in 174^1, being then eleven 
years old (born November, 17211, at Waghera, Derry), he, an elder 



I am the more inclined to, as the suppression or con- 
cealment may possibly involve you in embarrassments 
hereafter, since it is uncertain how many or who may 

brother and three sisters, and a sick father crossed tho ocean for the 
Delaware. His mother had died when Charles was very young, and the 
father died on the voyage and was buried at sea. 

The captain of the vessel seized the children's effects and put them 
ashore at New Castle, coiiiuntting Charles to the care of a blacksmith, 
who proposed binding the boy to his trade. To defeat this, Charles at 




once ran ;iwiiy, tuiiiul a fi-iend on the road, a lady, a stianger to him, was 
taken under her care, and sent to school to Dr. Fi-ancis Allison, at Thun- 
der Hill. Md. Then and afterwards the lad was a diligent student.and 
was made usher under Allison when the latter became vice-principal of 
the Pliiladelpliia College. Thomson lodged with David J. Dove, 
and may have taught in the latter's private school and in tlie German- 
town Academy also. To show the habitual caution of the man, he got a 
certificate of good character from Dove and his wife both before leaving 
their house. He taught in the Friends' school, in Fourth Street, below 
Chestnut, becoming piincipal. 

His first i)ublic service was as short-hand reporter for the Quakers, in 
17r)7, at the famous Indian council that year, when Tedyuscung gave 
him the name which stuck to him, emeritits, through life, — WeagU 
conlau-mo-und. the man who tells the truth. After this Thomson 
went into business and made money. Watson says he was interested in 
irnn-works at Egg Harbor. As soon as the suspicions of ministerial 
intention to tax America were awakened Thomson began to correspond 
with leading men in other colonies. He was Ultimate with Fraidilin, 
trusted in business circles, and must have revealed his qualities as a con- 
fidential agent very early. Jefferson and he corresponded as early as 
17(14; the New England patriots all knew him, and he was secretary of 
the New York (Stamp Act) Congress of 176.^. He managed all the politi- 
cal leaders in Philadelphia as easily as puppets are moved by the hand 
pulling their wires. He was secretary of the Fii-st Continental Congress, 
perpetual secretary of Congress during and after the war (fourteen years 
in all), and confidential friend of every leader in the colonies throughout 
the struggle. The delicacy of his responsible and confidential relations 
to Congress were enhanced by the fact that he obviously had charge of 
the secret service of Congress, and that body required to have spies 
everywhere, domestic and foreign, and of every grade. 

Watson learned from him incidentally, perhaps accideutiilly, that 
James Riviiigf on, the Tory printer in New York, was one of these agents, 
and Mi-s. Logan reports that Patience AVright, the wax modeler, was 
another. The latter liad the means to be very useful. She was intimate 
with Franklin, passed for a half-mad woman, went where she pleased, 
even to Windsor Castle, without leave, where she used to bui-st in ab- 
ruptly, calling the kin;:: "George"' and the queen " Cliarlotte," and 
withal she wju-* a-stute, shrewd ami full of resources. Thomsuu married, 



THE KEVOLUTION. 



173 



be privy to the contest. My enemies take an ungen- 
erous advantage. They know the delicacy of my 
situation, and tliat motives of policy deprive me of 
j the defense I might otherwise make against their 
insidious attacks. They know I cannot combat their 
insinuations, however injurious, without disclosing 
secrets it is of the utmost moment to conceal. But 
why should I expect to be free from censure, the un- 
failing lot of an elevated station? Merit and talents 
which I cannot pretend to rival have ever been subject 
to it. My heart tells me that it has been my unremitted 
aim to do the best which circumstances would permit. 
Yet I may have been very often mistaken in my 
judgment of the means, and may in many instances 
deserve the imputation of error." 

The secret intrigues within army circles, the 
violent criticism of partisans in the civil service, the 
protest of PennSylvanians against the cantonment of 
the army, the hasty appointment of a new Board of 
War, consisting first of Major-Geueral Thomas 
Mifflin, Colonel Timothy Pickering, and Colonel 
Robert H. Harrison, enlarged on the 17th day of 
November, 1777, by the addition of Mr. Francis 
Dana and J. B. Smith, and again on the 27th of the 
same month by the further appointment of General 
Gates, Joseph Trumbull, and Richard Peters, Gates 
being chosen chairman, and, as thus constituted 
evidently in sympathy with the cabal, these circum- 
stances jiromptly induced a correspondence by Wash- 
ington with Congress,' which resulted in the appoiut- 

for his first wife, a daughter of Charles Mather, of Cliester County. Hie 
two children by her.died in infancy. In 1774 he married Hannah Har- 
rison, daughter of a Maryland Quaker of fortune, and with lier he got 
the estate of Harriton, in Montgomery County, a larjjte property for a 
man of Thomson's simple ways. His wife was a kinswoman of .Tohn 
Dickinson's, and a lineal descendant of Isaac Norris and Governor 




-*C*^-^^^*^^ ^a^^?^^- 



RESIDENCE OF CHAS. THOJfSON. 

Thomas Lloyd. The wedding had just taken place when Thomson was 
called to act as secretary of Congress, .\fter he was relieved from this 
place he steadily declined to tixke any other public position, gave twelve 
years hard labor to the preparation of a translation of the Septuagint and 
Greek Testaments, and survived until .\ugust 16, 1824, his mind much de- 
cayed by age in his last quiet years.— Sc7iar/ and WealcoW s " Hitl. of 
Phila.," vol. i. 



'Journal of Congress, 1778-79, vol. ix. pp. 21-29. 



ment of a committee from that body, consisting of 
' Mr. Francis Dana, General Joseph Reed, Nathan 
Folsom, Charles Carroll and Gouverncur Jlorris, to 
visit the camp at Valley Forge, and who, if not in 
perfect accord with the condition of public affairs 
resulting from the campaign in Pennsylvania, were 
at least willing to hear an impartial statement of 
facts as presented by the commander-in-chief and 
those who surrounded him, and report to Congress 
such suggestions for the future conduct of the army as 
would insure its preservation for the winter and 
probable success in the proposed operations for the 
ensuing year, now rendered doubly promising by the 
friendly offices and assurances of France. 

This committee remained in camp for several weeks, 
and linally drafted a report embodying suggestions 
generally accredited to the foresight, sagacity, and 
wisdom of Washington. Their labor was productive of 
the best results. They restored whatever want of con- 
fidence had been felt in the public mind, and hastened 
the work of preparation for the future by conceding 
to the commander-in-chief the exercise of those 
powers originally contemplated by the terms of his 
commission. 

Major-General Nathaniel Greene, was, at the 
urgent request of Washington, appointed quarter- 
master-general of the Continental army, a position 
which he accepted with great reluctance, but to 
which office he brought a degree of energy and 
judgment that speedily brought order out of chaos, 
and substituted plenty in the place of poverty. Under 
his supervising care supplies were organized by 
contract and purchase wherever possible, and by 
methodical impressment when and wherever the 
preferable mode was impossible or impracticable. 

Having the department of supplies now under the 
direction of an officer in accord with his plans and 
purposes (although he was not committed to certain 
details insisted upon by its chief), Washington 
turned his attention to filling the place left unoccu- 
pied by the apostasy of Conway as worthily as he 
had filled that made vacant by the resignation of 
Mifflin. Happily the choice of men for the position 
of inspector-general of the army fell upon Baron 
Steuben, a Prussian officer of great distinction, hav- 
ing served seven years in the army and on the staff 
of Frederick the Great. He was then in his forty- 
seventh year, and had adopted America for his 
country. He came highly recommended by Frank- 
lin, then at Paris, and many distinguished officers in 
the French and Prussian armies, especially as a dis- 
ciplinarian. He reached Washington's headquarters 
on the 5th of February, 1778, and was promptly 
assigned to the inspector-general's department. 

None but those who have attained proficiency in 
the science of war by academical training and long 
experience can fully appreciate' the importance of dis- 
cipline in an army, or measure the loss resulting in 
a hundred ways from the want of it, as seen in the 



174 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



improvidence which it begets, the insubordination 
which it iusjjires, and the tardiness in men and officers 
which alvvaj's endangers and often defeats the best 
laid plans of the commander. 

Great was the astonisliment of Steuben upon his 
arrival. Having united his destiny with the strug- 
gling patriots, viewing the field of strife through eyes 
accustomed to the trained and well-supplied armies of 
Europe, always near the person and headquarters of 
his sovereign, brightened by the display of royal 
splendor, he keenly felt the unpleasing contrast as 
seen at Valley Forge. " He found our cities in the 
possession of a powerful foe, and when he came to look 
for the troops to retake them, he saw only a few 
thousand famished, half-naked men, looking more 
like beggars than soldiers, cooped up in miserable log 
huts, dragging out a dreary winter amid snow and 
storm." His first tour of inspection disclosed to his 
practiced eye the impoverished condition of the 
camp, the want of discipline in officers and men, the 
vice of gambling, the frequency of petty theft, want of 
cleanliness of person, and its sure concomitant, jjes- 
tilential disease, — the itch was only more common in 
the camp than the presence of vermin among the rank 
and file. So terrible was the poverty of necessary sup- 
plies, as late as January 12th,' that the commander-in- 
chief issued an order to his brigade commanders to 
collect tallow and ashes with which to make soft-soap 
for the use of the men in camp. Well might the 
amazed Steuben declare "that no European army 
could be kept together under such suffiering." Noth- 
ing daunted, however, and with all the sympatliies of 
his noble nature aroused in behalf of the American 
cause, he commenced as soon as the season would 
permit to instruct both officers and men. It was his 
practice to rise at three o'clock in the morning, dress 
his hair, smoke, take his cup of coffee, and at sunrise 
be in the saddle, and if the weather jjermitted, would 
have his men marching to the field for morning drill. 

He organized one company, which he drilled in 
person to the highest point of efficiency in the use of 
the arms then relied upon in the infantry branch of 
the service, subsequently using them as a model or 
example by which to instruct regiments and brig.ades. 
We regret that history does not furnish us with the 
letter, name or some means of identifying the com- 
pany thus selected, the example of which was so 
effectual in promoting the efficiency of their comrades. 
Honorable mention is frequently made of the distin- 
guished service of Baron Steuben in this regard, and 
for which he was, on May 5, 1778, commissioned 
major-general. But, alas! for the brave men who 
answered his imperative roll-call upon these hills at 
each morning sun, who generously sunk their indi- 
viduality and became automatons to exemplifS- the 
first great duty of the soldier, — i. e., to obey. 



' Brigade Order, Valley Forge, January 12, 1778. Order Book, Penn- 
sylvania Historical Society rooms. 



Truer fame was never won on tented field by more 
heroic men, and though they be nameless on our 
history's page, no greater victory emblazoned the 
banners of the patriot army than that which this 
company achieved in the discipline of themselves, 
and, by their example, the discipline of the army at 
Valley Forge. Unknown though this company be, 
and nameless its roll of heroes, honor and gratitude 
alike demand that they should share the credit be- 
stowed upon their zealous commander by a country 
whose historians declare the result of this primary 
school of discipline was seen in the ensuing cam- 
paign at the battle of Monmouth, where " Washington 
rallied liis men when in full retreat, and brought them 
into action under the very blaze of the enemy's guns. 
They wheeled like veteran troops in their places, and 
then moved steadily on the foe." 

The department of the inspector-general now re- 
ceived the attention its vast importance deserved, and 
discipline, before irregular, or practiced only under 
particular leaders, was introduced into and imposed 
as a duty upon every command and in every depart- 
ment. All the arrangements to carry into effect 
the plans of the commander-in-chief were heartily 
seconded and perfected by this accomplished master 
of details, and as the legitimate sequence, the intri- 
cate machinery of the army began to move in order 
and in the direction of success. 

With the explosion of the Conway cabal, the resto- 
ration of public confidence by the patriotic officers of 
the committee of Congress, the induction of Greene 
into the department of supi)lies, the assignment of 
Steuben to the task of organizing and disciplining the 
army, a burden was lifted from the shoulders of 
Washington, who, as he calmly surveyed the future, 
supported by the presence and fidelity of Knox and 
Stirling, of Hamilton and Pickering and Lafayette, 
felt that the crisis in his life and country had been 
reached and jiassed, and the midnight gloom of the 
Kevolution was broken. 

As repulse had followed repulse in rapid succession 
in the preceding months, at Brandywine, Paoli, and 
Germantown, giving rise to detraction, crimination, 
infidelity, divided and dissenting counsels, so now in 
the lengthening days and genial suns of coming spring 
he felt the assuring circumstance of returning confi- 
dence, found new and better men to fill the places of 
those who had been tried and found weak, vacillating 
and faithless, and, above all, and greater than all these 
agencies of human life, he saw in the impending prov- 
idences of Almighty God, in whom he reposed an 
abiding trust, a hastening ally in France, the assur- 
ance of whose friendship and co-operation, in means 
and men, by land and sea, removed the last doubt in 
his mind of achieving " Independence, Liberty, and 
Peace." Coming and portentous events cast their 
long and succoring shadows before, and although no 
electric wire flashed the glad news of Franklin's suc- 
cess at the court of Louis XVI. in concluding a 



THE REVOLUTION. 



175 



" treaty of amity and commerce " on the 6th of Febru- 
ary, 1778, and also a defensive treaty of alliance, in 
whicli the two jjarties mutually engaged not to lay 
down their arms until "the Independence of the 
United States should be assured by the treaties ter- 
minating the war ;" yet tlie constancy of Lafayette, his 
influence with and assurances from his sovereign, 
made him a daily monitor at the side of the great 
commander, and prepared him for the reception of 
the official announcement,which reached Valley Forge 
on the 1st day of May, 1778. His official order, 
issued May 7th, announcing the event, and prejjaring 
his camp to celebrate the occasion, beautifully and 
feelingly expresses the sense of gratefulness univer- 
sally felt l)y army and people, and, as we may believe, 
■was inspired by the fervent prayers he uttered on 
tended knees in his season of joy upon the hills of 
Valley Forge : ' 

" It having pU'iiKetl the Almighty Ruler of the uiiivel-se to tlefeiid the 
cause of the United States, ami filirtlly raiHe up a powel-ful friend among 
the princes of the earth to estalilisli our liberty and independence upon 
a lasting foundation, it beconu-s us to set apart a day for gratefully 
itcknowledging the Divine interposition. The several brigades ate to 
assenilde for this purpose at nine o'clock to-morrow, when their chap- 
laiuswill communicate the iuforniatiou contained in the postscript of the 
Penmylean'm Guzelle of the 2d inst., and ofler up a thauksgiving and 
deliver a discourse suitable to the event." 

The day was signalized as one of national deliver- 
ance. Devotional exercises were followed by patriotic 
addresses, national salutes were fired, and upon a 
given signal the whole army joined in a grand liuzza, 
" Lotig live the King of France / Long live the friendly 
powers of Europe and the American States!" 

The commander-in-chief and stafi'were the guests 
of the New Jersey troo])s during the religious services 
of the day, after which the general officers of the com- 
mand joined him at the Potts mansion, whereat was 
served in true Continenttil style one of those famous 



1 The following account of Washington's prayer at Yalley Forge wafi 
copied from a paper in the handwriting of Ruth Amy Potts, daughter of 
Isaac Putts, who died in 1811, (see Potts' Manual, by Mrs. F. P. James, 
member of the Pennsylvania Historical SocietyJ : " While the .\merican 
army lay at Valley Forge, a good old Quaker by the name of Potts had 
occasion to pass through a thick wood near the headquarteiis. .\s he 
traversed the dark, brown forest he heard a voice, which, as he advanced, 
became more fervid and interesting. Approaching with slowness and 
circumspection, whom should he behold in a dark bower, apparently 
formed for the purpose, but the connnauder-in-chief of the United Colo- 
nies on hi:i knees, in the act of devotion to the Ruler of the universe. 
At the moment when friend Potts, concealed by the trees, came up, Wash- 
ington was interceding for his beloved country. With tones of grati- 
tude that labored for adequate expression, he adored that exuberance of 
goodness which, from the depths of obscurity, had exalted him to the 
Iiead of a great nation, and that nation fighting at fearful odds for all the 
world holds dear. . . . 

" .\s soon as the General had finished his devotions and retired, friend 
Potts returned to liis house and threw himsell in a chair beside his wife. 
'Heigh, Isaac,' said she, with tenderness, 'what is the matter?' 'In- 
deed,' quoth he, ' if I appear agitated, 'tis no more than what I am. I 
have seen this day what I shall never forget. Till now I have thought 
that a Christian and asoldier were characters incompatible, but if George 
Washington be not a man of God, I atn mistaken ; and still nu>re shall I 
fee disappointed if Cod, tlirough him, do not perform some great thing 
for this country.' " 



dinners for which Washington always manifested a 
fondness. 

To crown the day with universal rejoicing, before 
the hour of dining he issued the following order, and 
directed its immediate execution : 

" The commander-in-chief, in this season of general joy, takes occasion 
to proclaini pardon and release to all persons now in confinement, whether 
in the provost or other places. This he is induced to do that the influ- 
ence of prosperity may be as extensive as possible. Even those that 
merit punishment rather than favor should not be excluded the benefit of 
an event so interesting to m.ankind .as that which lately appeared to the 
officers of America. He hopes the indidgence will not be abused, but 
excite gratitude and produce a change of conduct, and an allowance of 
every practice consistent with the duty they owe their country." 

With the changing season came the hopeful change 
in the tide of human affairs. Guided by the unfalter- 
ing wisdom of the great chieftain, who never for a 
moment loosed his grasp upon the helm of power 
committed to his command, he steadily, amidst praise 
and blandishment, detraction and calumny, directed 
the combined agencies of America and her ally 
around the sharp angle, the turning-jioint in the 
Revolution, and on the high road to final success. 
Within forty-eight hours after signing the treaties of 
commerce and alliance between America and France, 
British spies carried the portentous news to their 
sovereign, whose ministry at once sought, by well- 
marked measures of conciliation, to paralyze the 
inevitable result contemplated by the alliance. Three 
months elapsed before Washington was apprised of 
the proceedings ; yet so certain and well founded 
were his anticipations of the event, so thoroughly 
had he prepared the public for its announcement, so 
closely had he discounted the probable action of the 
home government, that all their well-laid schemes to 
disconcert him and induce the acceptance of terms at 
variance with the declared will of the people utterly 
failed, leaving him master of the situation with an 
army fresh for the field, reorganized, equipped, 
drilled, and disciplined by the exertions of his splen- 
did staff. 

Active operations along the entire line, from Wil- 
mingtf)n to Trenton, were commenced at an early 
period. Smallwood and Morgan and Lee were con- 
stant in their efforts on the west of the Schuylkill, 
and Lacy and Jameson and McLane were equally as 
vigilant on the east side of that river, to press back 
the outer line of the British and confine them to a 
city, the occupancy of which was now seen to be a 
bhinder, if not the pregnant source of approaching 
disaster to Howe's army. Washington, feeling .assured 
of its evacuation, prepared for the event, and on the 
18th of May directed General Lafayette, with a corps 
of two thousand five hundred picked men to occupy 
Barren Hill, observe the movements of the enemy, 
and in the event of their retreat across New Jersey, 
to fall upon their left and rear, while he was to follow 
as rapidly as possible ■' with the main army. The 

2 Early in the month of May, 1778, intelligence reached Washington in 



176 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



story of Lafayette at Barren Hill is one of the most 

interesting historical episodes of the Revolutionary 
war. The assignment of this youthful and illustrious 



his camp that the British were making preparatioue to evaruatt Phila- 
delphia. In order to cover this intended movement, scouting and forag- 
ing parties were almost daily scouring the country between the Delaware 
and the Schuylkill, as far west as the Skippack and Towamencin Creeks, 
and on the 7th of May they sent an expedition up the Delaware Kjver to 
destroy all the local shipping between Philadelphia and Trenton. Be- 
tween forty and fifty vessels were burned, a considerable quantity of 
army stores were destroyed, and many inhabitants were killed or 
wounded. To prevent these incursions, and at the same time to cut off 
alt possible communicaticn between the country and the enemy, to ob- 
tain positive information concerning the movements of the enemy, and 
to be ready to follow up Howe's retreat with the utmost promptness and 
force, Wiishington detached Lafayette witb the force before mentioned 
to take position at Barren Hill. He crossed the Schuylkill Kiver at 
Matson's Ford (Conshohocken) about noon on the 18th of 3Iay, and pro- 
ceeded to the Ridge Road, thence to Barren Hill, and went into position 
about a fourth of a mile west of the church. The position was natui-ally 
a strong one, but at the same time a critical one, owing to the concentra- 
tion of prominent roads at that point, and its proximity to the main 
body of the enemy. His position was remarkable for its location, and 
very skillfully selected. His artillery was planted so as to command the 
main road to Philadelphia, supported by the right wing of his forces, 
while the main or Kidge Road was occupied for several miles in front by 
Captain McLane with a squadron of cavalry, to which command was 
attached a body of fifty Indians, who were used as scout« through the 
surrounding country, then densely wooded. His left was, as he sup- 
posed, covered by a body of six hundred Pennsylvania militia, who were 
posted " near Whitemarsh." AVhetiier this body itf troops were detailed 
from those commanded by Lafayette, and by him put in position, or 
whether they were acting under other orders, we are left to conjecture, 
but from the fact that they changed their position without his orders or 
knowledge would seem to indicate that they were an independent body 
of troops, upon whose presence he was led to rely, and only when his 
discomfiture was almost accomplished by his cunning and vigilant 
enemy did he learn to his great surprise that the otticer in command of 
these troops had retired without communicating with him, thus leaving 
his left flank exposed to imminent peril ; this view is further corrobo- 
rated by the fact, as before stated, that the officers and troops detailed 
were selected with great care ; it is therefore improbable that militia con- 
stituted any part of it. 

The Cumm.\nd in Grkat D.\nger. — Immediate notice of his arrival 
was given Sir William Howe, who the same day reconnoitered the posi- 
tion and at once formed his plan to surprise and cut him off. Our best 
historiaus differ in relating who forwarded the information ot Lafayette's 
arrival at Barren Hill, as also in the mailer of the othcer in command at 
Philadelphia. Lossing sjvys Lafayette at fii-st quartered in the house of 
a Tory Quaker, who sent a messenger with the information to Sir Henry 
Clinton. IMai-shall, in his '* Life of AVashington," quotes from General 
Wilkinson's memoirs, and Siiys that this notice was given by a pei"sou 
formerly a lieutenant in Proctor's artillery regiment, who, disgusted at 
being discarded from the American service, became a spy to Sir William 
Howe, and the better to fulfill his new engagements, kept up his ac. 
quaintance with his former comrades, and fretiuently visited the camp at 
"Valley Forge. To avoidsuspicion, which would be excited by his visiting 
Philadelphia, a rendezvous was established on Frunkfurd Creek, where 
he met a messenger from General Howe, to whom the information was 
immediately given. The distinguished author says this statement is 
certainly correct. From the account given by LoBsing we would be led 
to believe that Sir Henry Clinton was in command at that time. But 
Marshall says that this was the last enterprise attempted by Sir William 
Howe previous to his resignation of the command in this country. 

In pursuance of the plan which Howe had formed to capture the 
"Stripling Frenchman," as Lafayette was called by many of the 
thoughtless enemy. General Grant wfis, on the night of the 10th, directed 
to move with a colmnn of five thousand of his choicest troops and gain the 
rear of Lafayette's position. In this movement General Grant was 
accompanied by Sir William Erskine. All night this flanking column 
marched, hastened in their steps as they neared their objective-point 
without meeting so much as a picket to fire the alarm, or intimate to 
Lafayette their coming. The road over which these troops marched on 
the night in question, as indicated by history and tradition, was as 



officer by the commander-in-chief to the command of 
an independent expedition, composed of the flower 
of the army, charged with duties certain to expose 



follows: From Philadelphia direct to Flourtown, thence to the present 
village of the Broad Axe, thence to the Plymouth meeting-house, where 
the main body of the troops halted just about daylight the following 
morning. The Ridge Road was occupied by the advance guard in force, 
at the junction of the road leading to Matson's Ford (now Conshohocken 
turnpike), with pickets thrown down the Ridge Road almost to the camp 
of the American forces. Snch was the situation on the left just about 
the hour the presence of the enemy became known. While this move- 
ment was in progress on the left. General Grey, with a strong detachment, 
estimated at fifteen hundred men, advanced up the Ridge Road and took 
possession of the next ford south of Matson's on the river Schuylkill, 
while the main body of the enemy, under the direction of General Howe, 
had advanced to the summit of Chestnut Hill, on what was then known 
as the jMunataun ruad. The distance from the advance of General Grant's 
forces to Matson's Ford, the only point at which Lafayette could possibly 
recross in s:ifety, was a mile, at least, nearer the fttrnier than the latter, 
and being uninformed of any other road by which Lafayette could reach 
that point of crossing than the one he occupied, he halted and went into 
position in the ceitjiin belief that the game was as good as bagged. 

Captain McLane, a vigilant cavalry officer of great merit, who had 
command, as before stated, of the Indians accompanying the expedition, 
and whose forces were actively employed down the Ridge Road, from 
whence djinger was most reasonably apprehended, during the night of 
the litth captured a pair of prowling British grenadiers at a place then 
known as Three-3Iile Run. From these men the captain learned of the 
movement made by General Grant, and also of the detachment then 
rapidly marching to occupy the ford below Matson's, on the right of La- 
fayette. Immediately conjecturing the purpose of the enemy, and be- 
ing familiar with the roads and the country, he sent Captain Parr, with 
a portion of the comnuind, across the country to Wanderer's Hill to 
check the culumu advancing up the Schuylkill, and still another in the 
direction of Chestnut Hill, while he, in pei-son, at lightning speed, has- 
tened to the headquarters of his commander to apprise him of the danger 
now evidently surrounding him. He arrived at headquarters about 
daylight and gave the information he had received, with his conjecture. 
A few moments only elapsed when the firing of Parr on the Ridge Road 
could be distinctly heard, while the simultaneous arrival of a resident of 
Whitemai-sh, who had escaped after the passage of tJranfs column, con- 
firmed the worst apprehensions of the otRcers in consultiition, and con- 
vinced them thatthey wereinamannersurrounded, but with one possible 
road of escape, and even this coidd be closed by the forces of General Grant 
before it could be reached by them, if that general knew the importance 
of so doing. A singular coincidence took place during this eventful 
night of the 10th of May, 1778. While Howe was busy in his prepara- 
tions, made upon infoi-mation received from a native spy, and which 
promised him such fruitful result^, a quiet citizen, who had been apprised 
of the intended movement of British troops from tht-ir encampments, 
and bflieving some important movement was intended, but not knowing' 
exactly its character, escaped through the lines on the south side of 
the river, hastened to the nearest house of a known patriot, mounted 
his fleetest horee, and by sunset was dashing headlong up the old Gulf 
road in the direction of Valley Forge. He reached Washington's head- 
quarters before daybreak on the 20th, and comnumicated his intejli- 
gence. The long roll was at once beat. The whole camp was called to 
arms ; the danger to Lafayette was considered imminent. Alarm g\ins 
were fired to announce it to him, and the whole army was put in readi- 
ness to act as circumstances might require 

Lossing gives a graphic description of the hour. He says the 
situation of Lafayette was now critical. Owing to the disobedience 
of orders on the part of the militia in leaving Whitemarsh, General 
Grant's approach was undiscovered, and the little band of Americans 
was nearly surrounded by a greatly superior force before they were 
aware of their danger. Early in the morning scarlet coats were 
seen through the trees in the distant forest. An officer sent by 
Lafayette to reconnoitre came back in haste with the informa- 
tion that a large British force was on the road leading from Whitemarah 
to 3Iatson's Ford, a little more than a mile from his encampment. The 
marquis, young as he was, at once comprehended the situation and the 
extent of his danger. A skillful mauceuvre was instantly conceived. 
He changed his front without di.sorder, stationed a large party in the 
churchyard, around which was a stone wall, and drew up the remainder 



THE REVOLUTION. 



177 



him to trials and perils of the most extraordinary 

character, ilhistrates the boundless confidence reposed 
in him, and the manner in which he acquitted 
himself in disconcerting the plans laid by Howe, 
Clinton, Grant, and Sir William Erskine to destroy 
or capture him and his command marks him as an 
officer of quick and brilliant perceptions upon the 
field of battle, perfect self-control in the hour of peril, 
and brave to a fault. 

Space will not permit us to repeat the names of the 
distinguished officers who served with him in the 
expedition, or disclose the movements by which he 
extricated himself from a situation made perilous by 
the withdrawal of the militia from Whitemarsh and 
a rajiid night march by the enemy, but which was 
timely revealed by the sleepless vigilance of Colonel 
McLane.^ Suffice it to say, on the morning of May 
20, 1778, Washiligton, surrounded by a number of his 

in such manner as tu be protected by the stone houses and thick woods. 
Aacertaiuing that the raain road to Swedes' Ford wits in the possession of 
the oneray, he resolved to retreat to llatson's Ford, although thediJ^tance 
from his position was greater than from that of Grant. The only road 
by which ho could reach this point unseen by the enemy lay along the 
southern slope of the hills, and concealed by woods. In order to mure 
effectually cover this movement of wagons, artillery and troops, he threw 
forward small detachments through the woods, with orders to show them- 
selves at different points in the enemy's front, as heads of columns, and 
thus deceive them into the belief that he was marching with coiif*iderable 
force to an attack. This device was successful, and while General Grant 
was preparing his forces to resist what he supposed to be an attack upon 
his flank, the main body of the force made a forced march to Matson's 
Ford, Brigadier-General Poor leading the advance guard anil Lafayette 
bringing up the rear, carefully retiring all the detsichments with which 
he had so successfully deceived those who, a few hours before, were con- 
fident of his discomfiture. 

He was closely pursued to the river by the advance parties of the 
enemy. Personally directing the details of the retreat, he placed email 
piirti'-s in advantageous positions, where he could hold many times his 
number at bay, meantime urging his forces on to the fonl, where Gen- 
eral Poor had taken a strong position and placed his artillery so as to 
cover the rear guard in yielding the eastern shore to the now infuriated 
enemy. In the final skirmish near the river he lost nine men in killed, 
wounded and captured. His success in putting the river between him- 
self and the powerful enemy, who had so promptly and adroitly laid 
their jilans fur his capture or destruction, still further increased the con- 
fidence which the commander-in-chief had reposed in him. 

We have already intimated that Washington had been apprised of the 
niuvement against Lafayette at Barren Hill, in his camp at Valley Forge, 
and at once put his army in readiness to move at his command.- It is 
related by John Blarshall, who was at that time a lieutenant in his 
father's (Colonel Mai-shall's) regiment, and in camp at Valley Forge, 
that he "saw the commander-in-chief, on the morning of the 20th, a 
little after sunrise, accompanied by his aides and a number of his field 
otticere, ride to the tup of the hill on the sumnut of which the Imts were 
constnicted, and look anxiously toward the scene of action through a 
field-glass. He witnessed, too, the Joy with which they returned after 
the entire detachment had crossed the Schuylkill." Mr. Mai-shall cluses 
his account of Lafayette at Barren Hill in the following language : '* It 
might be supposed that this young nobleman had not displayed the same 
degree of military talent in guarding against the approach of danger as 
in extricating himself from it. But the imputation which generally at- 
taches to an officer who permits an enemy to pass unobserved into his 
rear is removed by a circumstance stated by Lafayette. The Pennsylva- 
nia militia were posted un his left flank with orders to guard the roads 
about Whitemai-sh. Without his knowledge they changed their posi- 
tion, leaving that important pass open to the enemy." 



field officers, witnessed the passage of Lafayette ^nd 

his troops across the Schuylkill at Matson's Ford 
(now Conshohocken), under cover of the guns of Gen- 
eral Poor, with a loss of only nine men, killed and 
captured. 

Here we pause, trusting that a grateful people will 
ever cherish and -honor the memory of the heroic men 
whose valor and vigilance, toil and patient sutiering. 



John Marshall. See pages 247 and 250, *' Marshall's Life of Washington," 
vol. i. 

" Camp Valley Fobge, May 21, 1778. " 
"Dear Captain, — I am happy you have conducted ytinr brave little 
party with so much honor to yourself. The JIariiuis effected, owing to 
your vigilance, a glorious retreat, as well as a difficult une. 

(Signed) "Alex. Scamjiel, Adjutant-General."' 

" Camp Valley Forge, May l;3, 1778. 
" Deak Captain, — I am glad to hear you are still doing something to 
distinguish yourself in the eyes of your country. I have the pleasure to 
inftirm you that your conduct with the Marquis hiis been very pleasing 
to his Excellency and the whole army. 

" I am your obedient servant, 

" Charles S<:ott, 
" Brigadier-Geneiul and Officer of the Day." 

We believe the Captain McCIane mentioned in these letlei"s by Jlar- 
shall to be the same officer designated by some writere as Colonel Allen 
iMcLane. Lossing designates him as Colout-1 Allan UlcLanc* in his 




^ Extract of letters from the adjutant-general and the officer of the day 
to Captiiin McClaue (sometimes spelled McLane), by the same author, 

12 



"Field Book," vol. i., page 10.% where he relates that on the night 
of the 3Ieschianza, while the enemy were enjoying the festivities 
of the fete, he reached the abatis in front of their worlis at ten 
o'clock, P.M., with one hundred and fifty men, in four divisions, sup- 
ported by Clow's dragoons. They carried camp kettles filh-d with. com- 
bustibles, and at a given signal they fired the whole line of abatis. The 



178 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



won for themselves and their posterity Independence, 
Peace and the Republic. 

The following order is found in the I^ee papers, 
New York Historical Society, vol. ii, p. 40tj: 

" HKADta'AKTEUS, iiOtli 3Iay, 177y. 
**SiR, — pour's, Varnum's iirid Ilmitiugdoirs lirigadL-s are to march in 
oae Division under your command to the North- River. The Quaiter- 

British beat the long roll and tlie a.-jsailants were Httacked iiiid pursued 
by the reserve picket alung the whole line. The ufticei-s at the feteman- 
aged witli iliftirulty to keep the ladies in ignorance of the cause of 




master-Gen ei-al will give yon the route, encampment and halting-places, 
to which you will conform as strictly fitt possible, to prevent intL-rfering 
with other troops, and that I may know yi»ur situation every day. Leave 
as few sick and lame on the road as possible. Such as are absolutely in- 



MEt^CIllANZA TICKET. 

the alarm cr<;ated. McLane and men escajied without inss and rt- 
turned tu Valley Forge. The iiMime author, ia saniu vol., page 122, in 
liis account of Lafayette at Barren Hill, speaks of the distinguished ser- 
vices of this officer as Captain McLaiie. The following incident in the 
life of this dashing officer appeare in Sherman Day's "Historical Collet- 
tions of Pcnnsyhania," under the liead of 
"Montgomery County," p. H'll : " Colone] 
Allen McLune, who died at \\'ilmiiigton, 
Del., in 1829, at the patriarchal age of 83, 
was distinguished for his pereonal courage 
and for his activity as a paitisan officer. 
He was long attached to Major Lee's famous 
legion of horse. While the British occupied 
rhiladelphia, McLane was constantly pa- 
troling the upper end of Bucks and Mont- 
gomery Counties to cut off scouting-parties 
of the enemy and intercept theirsuppliesof 
provisions. Having agreed for some pur- 
pose to rendezvous near Shoemakei"stown, 
Colonel McLane ordered his little baud of 
troopers to follow at some distance, and 
Commanded two of them to precede the 
main body, but also to keep in his rear, 
and if they discovered an enemy to ride up 
to his side and infonii him of it without 
speaking loud. While leisurely approach- 
ing theplace of rendezvous in this order, in 
the early gray of the morning, the two 
men directly in his rear, forgetting their 

ordei-s, suddenly called out, ' Colonel, the IJritish I ' faced about and 
putting simrs to their horees, were soon out of sight. The colonel, 
looking around, discovered that he was in the centre of a powerful 
auibuscade, into which the enemy had silently allowed him to paai with- 
out his observing them. They lined botli sides of tlie road, and had 



been stationed there to pick up any straggling party of the Americans 
that might chance to i)ass. Immediately on linding that they were dis- 
covered, a file of soldiers rose from the side of the road and fired at the 
colonel, but without effect ; and as he put spui-s to his hoi'se and nioulited 
the roadside into the woods the other iHtition of the detachment fired. 
The colonel niiiucnlously escaped, but a shot striking his horse upon the 
flank, he diushed through the wov)ds and in a ft*w minutes reiiched a par- 
allel road upon the oppusitf side of the lorest. Being familiar with the 
country, he feared to turn to the left, as that c(pui"se led to the city, and 
he might be intercei)ted by another ambuscade. Turning, therefore, 
to the right, hiH frightened horse carried him swiftly beyond 
the reach of those who firwd upon him. All at once, however, on 
emerging from a piece of woods, he observed several British soldiers 
.stationed near the roailside, and directly in sight ahead, a farm- 
house, around which he observed a whole troop of the enemy's cavalry 
drawn up. He dashed by the troopers near him without being molested, 
thfy believing he was on his way to the main body to surrender. Th«- 
farm-house was r'ituated at the intersection of two roads, presenting but 
few avenues by which he could escape. Nothing daunted by the formid- 
able army before him, he galloped up to the cross-mads, on reaching 
which he spnn-eil his active honie, turned suddenly to the right, and was 
soon fairly out of reach of their pistols, though as he turned he heard 
them call hmdly to surrender or die I A dozen were instantly in pureuit, 
but in a short time they all gave up the chase but two. Col. McLane'u 
hoi'se, scared by the fii'st wound he had ever received, and being a blooded 
animal, kept ahead for several miles, while his two puisuei-s followed 
with unwavering eagernetw. The pursuit at length waxed so hot that 
as the Colonel's hoi'se stepped out of a small brook which crossed the road 
his pursuers entered it upon the opposite margin. In ascending a little 
hill the hoi-ses of all three were so greatly exhausted that neither could 
be inged faster than a walk. Occasionally as one of the troopers puraued 
a little faster than the other, the cohuiel slackened his pace, anxious to 
be attacked by one of his two pursuere ; but no sooner was his willingneeB 
discovei-ed than the other fell back to his companion. They at leugtb 
approached so near that a convei-satioii passed between them, the troopers 

railing out : " Surrender you d d rebel, or we'll cut you to pieces ! '* 

Suddenly one of them rode up to the right side of the colonel, .and with- 
out drawing his sabre, laid hold of the colonel's collar. The latter, to 
use his own words, "had pistols which he hien- he could depend upon.' 
Drawing one from the holster he placed it to the heart of his antagonist, 
fired, and tumbled him dead to the ground. Instantly the other came 
up on his left, with his sabre drawn, and seized the colonel by the collar 




MESCHIANZA PROCES8IOX. 

of his coat. A fierce and deadly struggle here ensued, in the course of 
which Col. McLane was desperately wounded in the back of his left 
hand by a sabre cut from his bi-ave antagonist, severing the veins and 
tendons of that member. Seizing a favorite opportunity, he drew his 
other pii^tol, and with a steadiness of puri>ose, which appeared even in his 



THE EEVOLUTION. 



179 



capable of marching with you are to be committed to the care of proper 
officers, with directions to fallow as fast as their condition will allow. 

"Be strict in your discipline, sutler no rambling, keep men in their 
ranks and officers with their divisions, avoid pressing horses as much as 
jiossible, and punish severely every officer and soldier who shall presume 
to press without authority. Prohibit the burning offences. In a word, 
you are to protect the pei-sons and property of the inhabitants from every 
kind of insult and abuse. 

" Begin your march at fouro'dock in the morning at the latest, that 
it may be over before the heat of the day, and that the soldiei-s may have 
time to cook, refresh and prepare fur the following day. I am, etc., 

" G". Washington. 

"P. S. — June 18. The foregoing instructions may ser\'e yon for gen- 
eral directions, but circumstances have varied since they were written. 
Ton are to halt on the first strong ground after passing the Delaware at 
Coryell's Ferry till further ordei-s, unless you should receive authentic 
intelligence that the enemy have proceeded by a direct route to South 
Amboy or still lower. In this case you will continue your march to the 
North River, agreeably to former orders, and by the route already given 
you. If my memory does nut deceive me, there is an advantageous spot 
of ground at the ferry, to the right of the road leading from the water. 

"The Detiichment under Col. .Jackson to move to and take possession 
of Philadelphia, and prevent plundering and abuse of persons. Van 
Scoick's Regiment to replace the Kighth Pennsylvania Regiment in the 
Pennsylvania Brigade. The Second State Regiment of Virginia to re- 
place the Thirteenth Regiment in Scott's Brigade, Park of Artillery 
to the several divisions equally, and inarch with them. 

" The First and Second Divisions to move the morning after intelli- 
gence is received of the enemy's evacuation of the city, 

*' The Third and Fourth Divisions, the morning after these, and the 
Fifth Division the morning succeeding ; every day's march to be given 
at four o'clock a.m., at furthest. 

"G«, Washington. 

"The disposition fur the Baggage of the Army to be as follows ; The 
Coramander-in-chiefs Baggage is to march in the front of the column of 
wagons. The Adjutant-Generiil's, Pay mast er-General'e, Engineers', 
Muster Master, Auditor of Accounts, the Baggage of the Marquis de 
Lafayette and De Kalbe's Division, the Baggage of Lord Stirling's Divi- 
Bion, and then the Wagons of the Qnarter-master-Generars department. 
Flying Hospital, and lastly the Commissary and Forage-Master-General's 
Wagons. The whole Baggage to fall in rear of the Column of Troops. 

" There will be a party of Artificers to go in front and rea.r of whole to 
mend Bridges and repair the broken carriages, which will take their 
orders from Qa.-M. Gen'l. 

" Qo. Washington. 

"Order of 3Iarch and route of the Army from Camp Valley Forge to 
Newburg on the North River, opposite Fisbkill : 
Poor, 

Varnum, ^ 1st, Lee. Coryell's, 

Huntingdon 
1st Penna., 

2d ditto, y 2d, MifBin. Sherard 

Late Conway's 
Woodford, 

Scott, y 3d, Marquis. Corj-ell's, 

No. Carolina, 
Glover, 
Patterson, 
Learned, 
Weedon, 
Muhlenberg, 
1st Maryland, 
2d Maryland, ] 

"Note. — The Light Hoi-se is to march in front and upon the right 
flank in the day, and encamp in the rear of the troops at night. 

recital of the incident, placed it directly between the eyes of his foe, 
pulled the trigger and scattr-red his brains on every side of the road. 
Fearing that others were in pureuit, he abandoned his hoi-se in the high- 
way, and apprehensive from his extreme weakness that he might die 
from loss of blood, he crawled into an adjacent mill-pond, entirely naked, 
and at length succeeded in stopping the profuse flow of blood occasioned 
by his wound. We have seen," says Day, "a painting of this desperate 
encounter, very accurately representing the contest. It used to be com- 
mon in our auction-rooms, but of late years it has become scarce. " 



} 
.}* 

V 8' 

} 
} 



4th, De Kalb. Easton. 



5th, Sterling. Coryell's. 



"The new guards will form the advance guard of the army, and the 
old guards the rear guard. Each regiment will send out a tiank guard 
on the right flank in the proportion of a sergeant and twelve men to 
every 2iH) men." 

REVOLrTIONARY REMINISCENCES. 

State of Affairs in 1777.— Preston Westcott, iu his 
'* History of Philadelphia," says, — 

"The Association system, after the experience of its efl"ects from the 
beginning of the war. was admitted to be too uncertain to be depended 
upon in case of emergency. The conduct of the Philadelphia Associa- 
tors at Amboy in the preceding summer was not near as bad as that of 
some of the companies from the county after tlie battle of Princeton, 
some of whom deserted in full bodies, leaving only their officers, and in 
one case spoken of by General Putnam, 'only a lieutenant and a lame 
man.' The time had now come for the establishment of a regular 
and permanent militia, and to that task the Assembly addressed itself. 
A militia bill was prepared and passed. It provided that the city and 
county of Philadelphia and the various counties tliroughout the State 
Bhould be divided into districts, each of which was to have within it not 
less than six hundred and eighty men fit for militia duty. Over these 
divisions were placed lieutenants from each city and county, and sub- 
lieutenants for each district. Each district was sub-divided into eight 
parts or companies, and each district was to elect its own lieutenant- 
colonel, major, captains and other officers. The lieutenants and sub- 
lieutenants took lists of all the inhabitants of their districts, collected the 
fines and superintended generally the execution of the details of the 
law. 

" The companies were divided by lots into classes, and provision made 
for calling out the classes as they were wanted. Persons enrolled who 
refused to parade when ordered were to be fined 7«. tjd. per day; officei-s 
absent, lOs. per day ; non-commissioned officers and privates 5». per day. 
On field days, officers not attending were to be fined £6, and non-com- 
missioned officers and privates los. 

Companies were to be exercised upon two days in April, three days in 
May, two days in August, two days in September and one day in October, 
of each year. Battalions were to parade once in May and once in Octo- 
ber. In cases of loss of limb by militiamen in service the State under- 
took to pay half the monthly pay to the sufferers. 

"According to the provisions of the Act Philadelphia County was 
divided into seven battalion districts. 

" The officers for the county were William Coatee, lieutenant ; Jacob 
Engle, Samuel Dewees, George Smith, Archibald Thomson and William 
Antis, sub-lieutenants. 

"First Battalion for the townships of Upjier Salford, Lower Salford, 
Towamensing, Hatfield, Perkiomen and Skippack.— Daniel Heister, Jr., 
colonel ; Jacob Reid, lieutenant-colonel ; and Jacob Markley, major. 

"Second Battalion, Germantown. Roxboroiigh, Springfield and Bris- 
tol.— John Moore, colonel ; Aaron Levering, lieutenant-colonel ; and 
George Miller, major. 

" Third Battalion, Cheltenham, Abington, lower division of the manor 
of Moreland, Lower Dublin, Byberry and Oxford. — Benjamin McVeagh, 
colonel ; David Schneider, lieutenant-colonel ; and John Holmes, major. 
" FoTirth Battalion, upper division of Moreland, Upper Gwynedd and 
Montgomery.— William Dean, colonel ; Kobert Loller, lieutenant- 
colonel, and George Right, major. 

"Fifth Battalion, Whitemarsh, Plymouth, \Vhitpain, Norriton, Wor- 
cester and New Providence (now Upper and Lower Providence). — Robert 
Curry, colonel ; Archibald Thomson, lieutenant-colonel ; and John Ed- 
wards, major. 

"Sixth Battalion, Limerick, Douglas, BLirlboro, New Hanover, Up- 
per Hanover and Frederick. — Frederick Antis, colonel ; Frederick Weis, 
lieutenant-colonel, and Jacob Bush, major. 

"Seventh Battalion, Upper Merion, Lower Merion, Blockley and 
Kingsessing. — Jonathan Paschal, colonel ; Isaac Warner, lieutenant- 
colonel ; and Matthew Jones, major." 

On the 21st of September, 1782, the General As- 
sembly passed an act authorizing the assessors to 
estimate the damages sustained by the inhabitants 
during the time that the British were in possession. 
This appraisement was afterwards made and filed in 
the office of the county commissioners and the 
Supreme Executive Council. 



180 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Townships ami Assessors. Amount. 

.i. s. d. 

Cheltenliam, Pfter Eiish 211] 1 B 

fiwvii.-il.l, Sti-pliwi lil.JfUL 121] (I 

Huilk-M, G.H.igi- fihfhe 71 12 li 

J,(.\v. r M.ri.iii, llui;!] .lonee 34l:t 11 ll 

Jloiil;ili.l, Kol.cit Whitten 2110 13 2 

NoiTiton, Jacob Auld 7ll7i; 111 

J'lvnioutli, Z.-l.nlou Potts 1172 12 8 

I'liiviilfin-)-, IJciiianiin llismaiil lJ7t] o 9 

S|.iiiiglU'l.l, Baltzpi- llydiick 1105 I'l 9 

Ipi*!' Merioii, .Icilni.loliiison 1525 9 6 

^ Viniei Dublin, .lolin JIann 34li In 

M'orcestL'l-, Peter Went/. 12.t U 

Whiteniiirsh, William Joliiison 13(18 1 (> 

Wbitpaiu, Daniul Yost liKi u li 

There were no returns received from the townships 
of Abington, Douglas, Frederick, Franconia, Hors- 
ham, Lower Salford, Limerick, Montgomery, Marl- 
boro, New Hanover, Skippack, Towamensing, Upper 
Salford or Upper Hanover. 

Much damage that was done was never made a 
subject of claim. The whole amount of the assess- 
ment for Philadelphia City was £187,280, 5s. The 
amount for the county £19,300, 8s. lOd. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE MEXICAN WAR. 

Thirty years after the colonies had achieved their 
independence and twenty-three years after the con- 
stitutional Union was established Congress declared 
war against Great Britain.' The population, as shown 
by the census of 1810, was 7,239,881, and at the date 
of the declaration of war the number of inhabitants of 
the United States was estimated to be 8,000,000. The 
event occurred in the third year of the first adminis- 
tration of James Madison, and was supported by the 
Democratic party as an administration measure, and 
resisted with great unanimity by the Federalists. 
The bill was supported by seventy-nine members in 
the House of Representatives ; forty-nine of the one 
hundred and twenty-eight present entered their j^ro- 
test against it, and the measure passed the Senate by 
a light majority.^ The provocation which induced 
the hostile act was the conduct of England in insist- 
ing upon the right of search and impressment of nat- 
uralized American citizens into her naval service. 
This alleged right was exercised in the most brutal 
and insolent manner against the solemn protest of the 
government, and finally, to vindicate the rights of 

1 Peace was concluded November 30, 1782. War was declared by Con- 
gress June 18, 1812. 

2 The measure met witli violent opposition in some localities. The 
editors of several newspapei-s in different parts of the country were very 
decided in their expressions of disapprobation, so ninch so as to provoke 
the violence of the war party and cause ntobs and riots. The most re- 
markable of these mobs was at Baltimore. The riotei-s first tore down 
the printing office of the paper which had offended them. The editor 
and others undertook to defend themselves with arms. Tile military 
force of the city was finally called vut. The conflict wa.s severe and con- 
tinued two or three nights ; General Lingare was killed and several 
otherB were wounded, — Huldsmith's *' Evstoi-y U, S." 



her citizens, the appeal to arms was made. At this 
period England had not conceded the right to her 
subjects or people to absolve their allegiance to the 
King hy the simple forms of American naturalization, 
while the United States government was in honor 
and interest bound to protect her foreign -born citi- 
zens in the full and free exercise of their rights. At 
the date referred to thousands of American citizens 
were serving out terms of impressment in the British 
navy, many of them suttering imprisonment and sub- 
jected to treatment of extreme cruelty. 

One among many examples will serve to show 
the unwarrantable conduct of the British govern- 
ment. In the month of June, 1807, the English 
man-of-war " Leopard" came in sight of the Ameri- 
can frigate '■ Chesapeake" near Cape Henry. At 
this point the " Leopard " was joined by the British 
frigates the "Bellona" and " Melampus." The 
" Chesapeake " was hailed by Admiral Berkley, an 
officer sent aboard with an order of search, alleging 
that five deserters from the English service were 
aboard the American vessel. Commodore Barron 
refused the oflicer, saying that he did not know of 
any deserters on board, that the recruiting officers 
for the " Chesapeake " had been particularly in- 
structed not to receive any deserters from His 
Britannic Majesty's service, and that he was directed 
never to permit the crew of a ship under his com- 
mand to be mustered by any officers but his own. 
Upon receiving this answer the officer returned to 
the " Leopard," when a heavy fire was opened upon 
the " Chesajieake," to the surprise and discomfiture 
of Commodore Barron, who was unprepared to resist 
the attack. After remaining under fire for thirty 
minutes, having three men killed and eighteen men 
wounded, himself among the rest, the ship surren- 
dered. The British officer refused to accept the 
surrender, but came aboard, made search, claimed 
four of the seamen as British subjects and deserters, 
conveyed them to Halifax where they were tried and 
one of them executed in order to establish the right- 
fulness of their system of iuiiiressment. Subse- 
quently the other three were proved to be Americans 
who had been previously impressed and made their 
escape from the British service. The intelligence of 
this outrage upon the high seas was received by the 
country with profound indignation. The citizens of 
Jlontgoniery County held a public meeting at the 
court-house, July 22d, 1807, "for the purpose of ex- 
pressing their sense of the late unwarrantable and 
dastardly outrage committed by one of the British 
ships-of-\var on the American frigate " Chesapeake." " 
General Francis Swaine, was appointed jiresident, and 
Samuel Patterson, secretary. Levi Pawling, William 
Henderson, Israel Bringhurst, George Weaver, Jla- 
thias Holstein, John Markley, and James Winnard 
reported seven resolutions, wherein they state, " that 
the outrage committed by the British ship-of-war, 
" Leopard," on the American frigate " Chesapeake," 



il 



THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE MEXICAN WAR. 



181 



and the murder of our seamen, whether it be consid- 
ered as the act of the British government, or of indi- 
viduals who committed it, requires rigid retribution 
or lionoral)le reparation. That we will, at the hazard 
of our lives and properties, sujjport the proclamation 
of the President of the United States, and any other 
mea-sures that may be adopted by the constituted 
authorities to obtain redress from the British Gov- 
ernment, for the reparation of our national honor and 
insulted sovereignty. At this crisis, it is the duty of 
every citizen, who is not conscientiously scrupulous 
against bearing arms, to arm in defense of bis injured 
country, and to prejiare for the event of a war." Public 
meetings were called in all the principal cities of the 
Union, party feelings were forgotten for the time, and 
all united in resolutions supporting the government in 
measures deemed necessary to redress the wrong. 
The President issued a proclamation forbidding 
British sliips-of-war the ports and harbors of the 
United States, and instructed the American minister 
at the court of St. James to demand satisfaction for 
the insult. He also summoned Congress to meet and 
take the subject into consideration. 

The act of the British naval officer was promptly 
disavowed by the English government, but they 
still persisted in their right of search, nor did they 
oft'er adequate reparation for the injury and indignity 
suft'ered. The exasperated feelings of national hos- 
tility became deep-seated ; foreign comjilications 
arising out of contentions between France and 
England still further embarrassed American shipping 
interests. Napoleon, by bis Berlin Decree of 1806, 
had forbidden the introduction of any English mer- 
chandise to the continent of Europe, even in neutral 
vessels that should touch at an English port. Great 
Britain retaliated by prohibiting the trade from port 
to port of neutrals belonging to the enemy, and, 
declaring the whole coast of Europe in a state of 
blockade, rendering the vessels of all neutrals pass- 
ing to European ports liable to capture. Upon 
learning of this measure, Napoleon issued his famous 
Milan Decree, confiscating not only the vessels that 
should touch at a British port, Imt such as should sub- 
mit to be searched by the English. These measures 
were very injurious to American shii)ping interests, 
and induced the American Congress, in December, 
1807, to pass an Embargo Act, prohibiting American 
vessels to leave their ports. This was admittedly 
a preparatory step in the direction of war with 
England, and a cautionary measure to call home all 
trading vessels and seamen in order to put the 
country in the best possitjle condition for the struggle 
that all sagacious minds saw to be near at hand. In 
IMarch, 1809, the Embargo Act was repealed, and an 
act prohibiting all commercial intercourse with both 
England and France was passed. 

The non-intercourse act expired by its own limita- 
tion in 1810. In anticijiation of this event, the 
administration invoked France and England to re- 



move their restrictive measures from American ship- 
ping. Napoleon promptly responded through his min- 
ister directing a suspension of his decrees so far as they 
atfected American interests. Encouraged by this 
success, effijrts were made to induce England to fol- 
low the example of France. The British diplomats 
of the period sought delay in skillfully devised 
dilatory proceedings, questioning the formality of 
the seemingly friendly act of France. Mr. Pinckney, 
the American envoy in London, grew weary and 
impatient at " the shuffling behavior of the British 
government," and demanded his audience of leave. 
Continuous breaches of national amity on the high 
seas by British naval officers, commented on by a 
free press, and made the subject of debate in and out 
of Congress, kept the public mind inflamed and 
strengthened the President and his Cabinet in their 
preparatory eftbrts for actual hostility. On the 20th 
of May, 1812, the " Hornet " arrived from London, 
conveying the intelligence that England refused to 
repeal or suspend her restrictions upon American 
shipping interests, and further insisting upon her 
right of search and impressment. This information 
brought public afliiirs to a crisis, and in the follow- 
ing June the President transmitted to Congress a 
special message, disclosing to the nation the unwar- 
ranted attitude of England, the necessity of pro- 
tecting the rights of naturalized citizens, enumerating 
the grievances suffered, and submitting the question 
" whether they should be longer endured or imme- 
diate resource had to the ultimate resort of injured 
nations, a declaration of war." Congress deliberated 
on the measure with closed doors, and on the ISth of 
June passed an act declaring war against Great 
Britain. 

The lapse of time and the remarkable events that 
have intervened, including the war with Mexico and 
the great Rebelli<jn, have in some measure obscured 
the importance attached to the war of 1812 and the 
principles settled by it. But it is certain that the 
national administration was warmly sustained by the 
people of Pennsylvania, and there is an honorable 
sense of pride associated with the memory of the men 
who served the nation in the struggle, as well as the 
pulilic men who were in official position at that time.' 

' War of 1812-14, General Orders.— " The rresident of the United 
States having, in conformity to an act of Congress, retiuiretl a draft of 
fourteen tliotiKand men jis the i|iiota of Pennsylvania towards tlie lietach- 
nient of one Imndred tlionsand militia, the Governor is desirous with 
promi»titude to perform all tlie duties which tiie Constitution and laws, 
principle and patriotism assign liini. He feels liis high responsibility. 
He knows the anient, heart-warm zeal of the Pennsylvania militia, and 
his sensibilities are alive to the honor of his country. The Revolution of 
America, that great and mighty stniggle, which issued in giving to the 
United States that place among the powers of the earth to which the 
laws of nature and of nature's tiod entitled them, had scarcely been con- 
summated when the King over whom we had been triumphant began 
an invasion of our rights and propeity which hasalmost uninterruptedly 
been continued and yearly aggravated in kind and in degree. Kemon- 
stnince has followed remonstrance, but they ' have been only answered 
by repeated injui-y ' and new outrage. Their promises, their written 
engagements, their plighted faith have all been wantonly violated. 



182 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The nation took a new growth in the emergency. 
The army which, until the year 1808, numbered but 
three thousand troops, was increased to six thousand. 
In January, 1812, Congress further increased the 
regular army to thirty-iive thousand men. This 
force was organized in twenty-five regiments of in- 
fantry, three regiments of artillery, two regiments of 
dragoons, two regiments of light artillery, two regi- 
ments of rifles and one of engineers. In addition to 
this, the President was authorized to accept the ser- 
vices of volunteers, who were to be armed and equipped 
by the United States, and further authority was given 
the executive to call upon the Governors of the several 
States for detachments of militia, the whole force at 
any one time not to exceed one hundred thousand 
men. Similar provision was made for the increase of 
the navy. This branch of the public service at that 
date consisted of ten frigates, ten sloops and smaller 
vessels and a number of small gunboats used in the 



These wrongs have been so long enduvpd that our motives have been 
mistaken, and our national character misrepresented. Our forbearance 
haw been called cowardice ; onr love of peace a slavish fear to encounter 
the dangei-s of war. We know that these represent!! tin us have no 
foundation in truth ; but it is time that our enemies, that our friends, 
that the wurkl should know we are not degenerated sons of gallant sires. 

" For nearly thirty yeare we have been at peace with all the nations of 
the earth. The gales of prosperity and the full tide of happiness have 
borno us along, while the storm of war has been desolating the greater 
part of the civilized world, and inundated it with the bitter watere of 
affliction. All the means which wisdom and patriotism coidd devise 
have b(^en in vain resorted to in the hope of peace. The ciij) of patience, 
of hmniliatiou and lung suffering, hiis been filled to overflowing, and the 
indignant arm of an injured people must be raised to diish it to the earth, 
and gnisp the avenging sword. In the cultivation of the earth, and in 
manufacturing and tmnsporting its products, the people of the United 
States have been honestly, usefully and harmlessly employed, and for 
many yeai-s have we been feeding the nation whose navy ' luis plundered 
our seas, ravaged our coast, and destroyed the lives of our people ;' our 
ability anri disposition to serve them has whetted their commercial jeal- 
ousy and monopolizing animosity. It is our property tiuit has been plun- 
dered ; it is our rights tliat have been invaded ; it is the pereuns of our 
friends, relatives, and countrymen that have been * t;iken ciiptive on the 
high seas,' and constrained 'to bear arms against their country, to be- 
come the executioners of their friends and brethren, or fall themselves 
by their hands.' It is our flag that has been bathed in our watei-s, made 
red with the blood of our fellow-citizens. Every gale from the ocean 
wafts to our ears the sighs, the groans of our impressed seamen, demand- 
ing retribution. It is onr homes and firesides that have been invaded by 
the 'merciless Indian siivages,' who have been instigated to pollute our 
sacred soil with hostile feet, and tomahawk our citizens reposing in peace 
in the bosom of our country. The seeds of discord have been sown 
amongst our people by an accredited spy of the British government, at a 
time, too, when the relations of peace and amity were subsisting between 
our own and that government, founded on reitemted assurances from 
them of national esteem and friendship. If ever a nation had justifiable 
cause of war, that nation is tlie United States. 

" If ever people had motives to fight, we are that people. Our Govern- 
ment, the watchful guardians of our welfare, have sounded the alarm; 
they have called upon us to gird on onr swords, and to be ready to 
go forth and meet our enemies. Let us hasten to obey the Govern- 
ment of onr choice, and rally around the constituted authorities of the 
Union. Let an honorable zeal glow in our bosoms as we eagerly press 
forward to render our services. It would give the Governor inex- 
pressible satisfaction if Pennsylvania would volunteer her ijnota. May 
each State animate the othera, and every citizen act as if the public 
weal, the national honor and independence rested on his single arm. 
The example of the heroes and statesmen of our Revolution, and the 
rich inheritance their courage and wisdom achieved, cannot fail to urge 
all who lo^e theircountry to flock arouml her standard. Upborne by 



defense of coast and harbors. The commerce and 
extensive New England fisheries employed a large 
number of vessels and seafaring men, all which were 
recalled by the government or driven from the ocean 
by England's cruisers, most of which were quickly 
converted into war-vessels, this being practicable 
when wooden vessels only were known to naval archi- 
tecture. 

The subsequent achievements of this arm of the 
service have gone into national history as among the 
most brilliant exploits known in civili/ed warfare- 
Thirty years of peace, chiefly devoted to the develop- 
ment of agriculture and manufacture, had left the 
country without military officers of experience and 
distinction. The organization of the land forces wa& 
experimental, and, as results proved, extremely unfor- 
tunate in the early campaigns of the war. A general 
plan of operations was decided upon, aggressive in 
its character. It was believed that England's fear 



the right hand of freemen, planted in the sacred soil their valor won 
and consecrated by a righteous cause, this nation may well go forth 
'with a firm reliance on the protection of a Divine Providence," and 
a conscious belief that the arm of the Lord of Husts, the strength of the 
mighty one of Israel, will be on our side. The Just appeal being now 
made by an in,jured and indignant nation, it remains for the militia and 
the volunteers of Pennsylvania, by a prompt co-operation with her 
sister States, to render efficient the measures which are or may here- 
after be adopted by the United States Government. The adjutant- 
general is charged with the necessiiry organization of the quota of the 
State conformably to the following plan : 

"1st. There shall forthwith be drafted, in the manner prescribed by 
law, fourteen thousand militia otficci"s and pnvates, to be fonned into two 
divisions, four brigades, and twenty-two regiments. The offer of 
service to the Governor of any flank company or companies attached to 
any regiment, of a number equal to the number of militia required to 
be drafted from such regiment, may be accepted in substitution of such 
draft from the regiment. 

"The corps of artillei'y, cavalry, riflemen and infantry shall be iu 
the following general propoitiuns, as nearly jis pmcticable : artillery, 
700; cavalry, 700; riflemen, 1400; infantry, 11,2(K). 

"2d. The whole quota required shall be apportioned among the several 
divisions of the State, agreeably to a detail to be furnished by the ad- 
jutant-general. The quotas of the several divisions of the State shall bo 
foiTued into two divisions for the present service. The quotas of the first, 
second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh divisions of the State shall 
form the first division for service, under the command of Major-General 
Isaac Worrell, with a brigadier-general from the fli"st division and a briga- 
dier-general from the third division of the State. 

" The quotas ot the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, 
fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth divisions of the Stiite shall form the 
second division for service, under the command of Major-General Adam- 
sou Tannehill, with a brigadier-gen<^ral from the second division and a 
brigadier-general from the fourth division of the State. 

";id. The men shall be mustered and inspected as soon as the drafts are 
made, and witJiout delay returns shall be made to the adjutant-general, 
who shall thereupon transmit copies to the Secretary of War. 

"When the organization of the detachment shall be eflected, then the 
respective corps will be exercised under the officers set over them, — 
drafted militia, by their proper officei-s; volunteers as prescribed by law. 
The corps, either of dmfted militia or volunteere, will not remain em- 
bodied, nor be coTisidered as in actual service, until by subsequent orders 
they are directed to take the field. 

"Simon Snyder, 
" Oovfrnor of the Commonwealth of Pentwylvania. 

"N. B. BoiLKAf, 

"John B. Gibson, 

*' A ids- de- Camp. 
"Ilarrisburg, May 12, 1812." 

Hennsiflninia Archives, vol. ii. 



THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE MEXICAN WAR. 



183 



of Napoleon's hostile designs in Europe would detain 
her regular troops, and with three thousand miles of 
ocean between the two countries, the American troojis 
could successfully invade Canada and capture the 
province before an army could be organized or trans- 
ferred there for its protection. General William Hull, 
then Governor of Michigan Territory and in command 
(if an army of two thousand troops, was intrusted with 
the initial movement. He failed, and was relieved 
Irom his command and gravely censured by the gov- 
ernment. Gens. Harrison, Van Rensselear and Smyth 
subsequently were charged with the execution of the 
general plan, all being under the direction of Major- 
General Dearborn. The year 1S12 closed without 
victory or advantage to the American forces. On the 
ocean, Captain Hull, conmiandiug the "Constitu- 
tion," forty-four guns, attacked a British frigate, 
thirty-eight guns, August 19th, and in thirty minutes 
rendered the latter vessel a complete wreck. Captain 
Jones, of the " Wasp," eighteen guns, captured the 
British sloop "Frolic," twenty-two guns; Captain 
Decatur, with the frigate "United States," encoun- 
tered the British frigate " Macedonia," and, after a 
severe engagement, brought the captured prize to 
New York. In addition to these thrilling adventures, 
a number of American privateers were constantly 
cruising, and hy the last of December had'capturcd 
over five hundred English merchant vessels. Interest 
in public atfairs for the year was further intensified 
by a' Presidential canvas and the reelection of James 
Madison. 

Congress convened in November. The President's 
message stated with frankness the defeats experienced 
on the Canadian frontier, condemned the employment 
of the Indians by the British, complained of the 
conduct of Massachusetts and Connecticut in with- 
holding their quota of militia and cited with pride 
and satisfaction the signal victories of the navy. He 
also suggested the more efficient organization of the 
army, with increase of numbers and pay. His recom- 
mendations were promjjtly granted, and twenty addi- 
tional regiments of regular infantry were organized. 
The field of actual hostilities emliraccd a wide range of 
territory. The Indian tribes of the North and West, 
with the Creeks and Seraiuoles of the South, were 
incited to hostilities, and necessarily employed a large 
number of troops, while the Atlantic coast from Maine 
to South Carolina was in danger from the powerful navy 
of the enemy. It was these exposed points on the 
coast or situations on navigalile rivers that invited 
attack, and for the defense of which the government 
relied upon the militia of the several States. 

The campaigns of 1813, or the second year of the 
war, were in some measure a repetition of the first. 
The policy of invading Canada was still pursued, 
Montreal being the objective point. General Dear- 
born, ably su]5ported by General Pike, led several 
expeditions over the border, but all without definite 
results. General Harrison conducted operations on 



the western frontier with great ability, recapturing 
all that was lost by the unfortunate campaign of 
General Hull the preceding year.' General Andrew 
Jackson conducted a vigorous campaign against the 
Creeks and Semiuoles in Georgia. The naval officers 
were successful on lake' and ocean, and hut for the 
destructive incursions, at many points on the Atlantic 
coast, by the blockading squadrons of the enemy's 
navy the country escajied the blight and scourge 
inevitably associated with marching armies, canton- 
ments and great battle-fields. The presence of large 
hlockading fleets, the exposed situation of our prin- 
cipal seaport cities, the threatened attacks upon the 
capital of the nation and the untrained troops or 
militia relied upon lor coast or defensive service were 
at all times sources of apprehension, largely shared 
by the people of the most populous States. 

The year 1814 witnessed the downfall of Napoleon, 
and left Great Britain in peace with all nations except 
the United States, and to this country she transported 
her veteran troops in the hope of terminating a war 
upon terms of her own dictation. The political party 
in power still received tbe ajiprobation of the country, 
and maintained its sui)poitiiig majority in Congress, 
while the Fi-deialists were active in the employment 



1 Some conception of the dimgci'S apprehended by the people in the 

nortliwestern part of our own Statx-, resulting from tlie defeat of General 
Hull, will lie manifest from the petition addressed to CJovernor Snyder, 
dated Septenilier, 1812. 

*' //m E I ceUiitrif the titirerriornf lite SUtte of Peitniylratnn : Yourpetition- 
ere, inhabitants of the eoTUity of Tioga and its vicinity, viewing with 
anxious solieittule the alarming situation in which the sound of war has 
placed them, beg leave to suggest to your Excellency the propriety of 
taking some effective measures to guard against and repel the inroads 
and dejjredations of our common enemy on the unprotected inhabitants 
of the cduntii's uf Tiiiga, Potter and McKean. We have no longer any 
confidence in siu-h a part of our red brethren as have lately left their 
homey to join oiU' enemy (iw we suppose), and fear many acts of cruelty 
and barbarity may be perpetrated by those above described and others 
who may lead them on. The country west of tliis to L;ike Erie is thinly 
inhabited, which will be favorable to any desperate fellows to hold inter- 
course with those .among us, .and execute their black designs and escape 
with impunity. We therefore pray your E.xcellency to take our unpro- 
tected sitnatiun into consideration, and cause such a part of the militia as 
have lately been drafted from t'olonel Satterlee's and Colonel Kilbnrn's 
regiments to be stationed in the most convenient situation in Potter or 
McKean for tlie protection of our defenseless frontiei-s. We hope yo\ir 
E.xcellency will not consider us as presuming or ofticions by renewing our 
solicitations that our destitute situation nniy be immediately taken into 
consideration, and we, your petitioners, in duty bound, will ever pray. 

" Signed by MA.ion Ben.iamin Bekki.ey and forty-nine privates of 
the militia of the counties named." 

2 " To Colonel Rees Hill ; 

*^Sir: By a resolution of the Legislature, the Governor is directed to 
present to each of those citizens of Pennsylvania who volunteered on 
board the American squadron on Lake Erie, at the time the British fleet 
were captured, a silver meilal, with such emblematical devices as he may 
think proper. In order to cojnply with the resolution it is necessary he 
should be furnished with the names of those volunteers, I have, there- 
fore, to request that you will take the earliest opiiortnnity of forwarding 
a correct list of their names. If you are not in possession of their names, 
you will please to apply to Capt. Perry, or to some other person who may 
be in possession of the proper infurmation competent to certify their 
names, and transmit with all convenient dispatch such infonnation, 
'•Very respectfully, Sir, 

" Your obedient servant, 

"U, B, BolLEAt;." 



184 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of all honorable measures looking to peace and the 
amicable adjustment of existing disagreements. 
Commissioners of peace were at all times ready to 
meet those of England, but in the mean time measures 
for the more vigorous prosecution of hostilities on 
land and sea were inaugurated in Congress and exe- 
cuted by the administration. It was this last year of 
the struggle that most keenly affected the people and 
drew most directly upon them for the supplies of men 
and means, as the seaport towns were now in imminent 
danger, and men for their defense must come from 
the militia of the States whose cities were in danger. 

Early in the spring of 1814 the four great commer- 
cial cities, New York, Philadelphia, Boston and 
Baltimore, displayed great activity in extending and 
strengthening their fortifications, and the militia of 
the several States were mustered in large bodies and 
ordered to camp for defensive duty.^ On the 10th 



1 Twenty-odd years of national governTnent had inspired a just pride of 
country, and all men ui)helil the cause in public asaeniblieB as tliey un- 
derstouil it ; but in society tlie old sympathies for France and Kngland 
reappeared on each side. Unfortunately for the Federalists, while they 
were wholly right in many of their criticisms on the manner in which 
the war came about, they put themselves in the wrong as to its main 
feature. We can now see that in their just wratli against Napoleon they 
would have let the nation remain in a position of perpetual childhood 
and subordination before England. No doubt there were various points 
at issue in the impending contest, hut the most important one, and tlie 
only one that remained in dispute all through the war, was that of the 
right of search and impressment, the English claiming the right to visit 
American vessels and impress into the naval service any sailors who ap- 
peared to be English. The one great object of the war of 1812 was to 
get rid of this insolent and degrading practice, it must be understood 
that this was not a question of reclaiming deserters from the British 
oavy, fur the seamen in question had very rarely belonged to it. There 
existed in England at that time an outrage on civilization, now aban- 
doned, called impressment, by which any sailor and many who were not 
sailors, could be seized and compelled to serve in the navy. The horrors 
of the "press-gang," as exhibited in the seaside towns of England, 
have formed the theme of nmny novels. It was bad enough at home, 
but when applied on board the vessels of a nation with which England 
was at peace, it became one of those outrages which only proceed from 
the strong to the weak, and are never reciprocated. Lord CoUingwood 
Baid well, in one of his letters, that England would not submit to such an 
aggression for an hour. Merely to yield to visitation for such a purpose 
was a confession of national weakness ; but the actual ctise was far woree 
than tliis. Owing to the similarity of language, it was always difficult to 
distinguish Iietween English and American seamen, and the tempt^ition 
was irresistible to the visiting officer, anxious for the enlargement of his 
own crew, to give England the benefitof the doubt. The result was that 
an English lieutenant, or even midshipman, once on board an American 
ship, was, in the words of the English writer Cobbett, " at once accuser, 
witness, judge and captor," and we have also Cobhett's statement of the 
Consequences. "Great numbers of Americana have been impressed," he 
adds, "and are now in the na^y . . . That many of these men have 
died on board our ships, that many have been worn out in the service, 
there is no doubt. Some obtain their release through the application of 
the American consul, and of these the sufferings have been in many in- 
stances very great. There have been instances where men have thus got 
free after having been flogged through the fleet for desertion." 

Between lI'Jl and 1801 more than two thousand applications for im- 
pressed seamen were made through the American minister, and of these 
only one-twentieth were proved to be English subjects, though nearly 
one-half were retained for further proof. Wlien the " Hornet" captured 
the British sloop " Peacock," the victors found on board three American 
seamen who had been forced, hy holding pistols at their heads, to fight 
against their own countrymen. Four Amei'ican seamen on the British 
sliip " Act«a" were ordered five dozen lashes, then four dozen, then two 
dozen, then kept in irons three months, for refusing to obey ordei-s under 
similar circumstances. There was nothing new about the grievance; it 



of August a British fleet of sixty vessels, commanded 
by Admiral Cochrane, with a land force of six thou- 
sand troops of all arms, under command of General 
Ross, was discovered in Chesapeake Bay, and moving 



had been the subject of indignant negotiation since 1789. In 179fi, Tim- 
othy Pickering, Secretary of State, a representative Federalist, had de- 
nounced the practice of search and impressment as the sacrifice of tlie 
rights of an independent nation, and lamented "the long and fruitless 
attempts" to correct it. In 18UG the merchants of Boston had called 
upon the general government to "assert our rights and sujtport the dig- 
nity of the United States ; " and the merchants of Salem had offered " to 
pledge their lives and properties" in support of necessary measures of 
redemption. Yet it shows the height of party feeling that when, in 1812, 
Mr. Madison's government finally went to war for these very rights, tha 
measure met with the bitterest opposition from the whole Federalist 
party and from the commercial States generally. A good type of the 
Federalist opposition on this jiarticular point is to be found in the pam- 
phlets of John Lowell. 

John Lowell waa the son of the eminent Massachusetts judge of that 
name ; he was a well-educated lawyer, who was president of the Massa- 
chusetts Agricultural Society, and wrote under the name of "A 2sew 
England Farmer." In spite of the protests offered half a dozen years 
before by his own neighbors, he declared the whole outcry against the 
impressment to be a device against Mr. Madison's party. The nation, he 
said, was "totally opposed to a war for the purpose of protecting 
British seamen against their own sovereign." The whole matter at 
issue, he declared, was "the protection of renegadoes and deserters 
froTu the British navy." He argued unflinchingly for the English right 
of search, called ita " consecrated" right, maintained that the allegiance 
of British sulyects was pei'petual. and that no residence in a foreign 
country coyld alisolve them. He held that every sailor born in Great 
Britain, whether naturalized in America or not, should be absolutely 
excluiled from American ships, and that until tliis was done the right to 
search American vessels and take such sailors out was the only restraint 
on the abuse. He was a man of great ability and public spirit, and yet 
he held views which now seem to have ignored all national self-respect. 
While such a man, with a large party behind him, t(»ok this position, it 
must simply be said that the American republic had not yet jisserted itS'.df 
to be a nation. Soon after the Revt)Iution, when some one spoke of that 
contest to Fmnklin as the war for independence, he said, " Say rather the 
war of the Revolution ; the war for independence is yet to be fought." 
The war of 1812 was just the contest he described. To this excitement 
directed against the war the pulpit very laigely contributed, the chief 
lever applied by the Federalist clergy being found in the atrocities of 
Napoleon. "The chieftain of Europe, drunk with blood, casts a look 
upon us; he raises his voice, more terrible than the midnight yell of 
savages at the doors of our forefathere." These melodramatic words are 
from a sermon, once famous, delivered by Rev, Daniel Parish, of Byfield, 
Mass.. on F:ist Day, 1810. Elsewhere he says: "Would ym estab- 
lish those in the fii-st offices in the land who will poison the heart 
of yotir children with infidelity, who will harness them in the team of 
Hollandei-s and Germans and Swiss and Italians to draw the triumphal 
car of Napoleon? Are you nursing your sons to be dragged into hia 
armies?" The climax was reached when one pulpit orator wound up 
his appeal by asking his audience if they were ready to wear wooden 
shoes, in allusion to thewiio^s of tlie French peasants. 

A curious aspect of all this vehemence was the firm conviction of the 
Federalists that they, themselves, were utterly free from all partisan feel- 
ing, and what they called the " Baleful Demon Party " existed only on 
the other side. For the Democrats to form Jacobin societies was an out- 
rage ; but the "Washington Benevolent Societies" of the Federalists 
were claimed to be utterly non-political, though they marched with ban- 
ners, held fpiarterly meetings and were all expected to vote one way. 
At one of their gatherings, in 1780, there was a company of "School boy 
Federalists," to the number of two hundred and fifty, uniformed in blue 
and white, and wearing Washington's Farewell Address in red morocco 
around their necks. It was a sight hardly to be paralleled in the most 
excited election of these days; yet the Federalists stoutly maintained 
that there was nothing partisan about it. The other side was partistin. 
They admired themselves for their width of view and their freedom from 
prejudice, and yet they were honestly convinced that the ndld and 
cautions Madison, who would not have declared war with England un- 
less forced into it by others, was plotting to enslave his own nation for 
the benefit of France. The very names of their jamphlets show this. 



THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE MEXICAN WAR. 



185 



towards the mouth of the Potomac River. General 
alarm spread through the country, and a sense of 
insecurity was quickly felt at the capital city of the 
country. 



One of John Lowell's bears on tbe title-page " Perpetual war the Policy 
of Sir. THaih'ijuu. . . . The important and interesting subject of a 
consi ript militia and an immense standing army of guards and spies 
tinder the name of a local volunteer corps." The Federalist leaders took 
distinctivfly the ground that they should refuse to obey a conscription 
law to raise troops for the conquest of Canada ; and when that very 
■questionable measure failed by one vote in the Senate, tlie nation may 
have escaped a serious outbreak. Had the law passed and been enforced, 
"William Sullivan ominously declared, " No doubt the citizens would 
have armed and might have marched, but not, it is believed, to Canada." 
This was possibly overstated, but the crisis tlius arising might have been 
a formidable matter. It might, indeed, have been far more dangerous 
than the Hartford Convention of 1814, which was, after all, only a peace- 
able meeting of some two dozen honest men, with George Cabot at their 
head,— men of whom vei-y few had even a covert purpose of dissolving 
the Union, but who Vere driven to something very near desperation by 
the prostration of their commerce and the defenselessness of their coast. 
They found themselves between the terror of a conscription in New 
England and the outrage of an invasion of Canada. They found the 
President calling, in bis Message of November 4, 1812, for new and 
mysterious enaetments against "corrupt and iierlidious intercourse with 
tlic enemy, not amounting to treason," and tliey did not feel quite sure 
that this might nut en<l in the guillotine or the lamp-post. Tliey saw 
what were called " the horroi-s of Baltimore " in a uiub where tbe blood 
of Revolutionary officers had been shed in that city under pretense of 
fiuppressing a newspaper. No one could tell whither these things were 
tending, and they could at least protest. 

The protest will always be remarkable from tlie skill with which it 
turned against .lefferson and Madison the dangerous States' rights doc- 
trines of their own injurious Virginia and Kentucky resolutions. The 
Federalist and Democratic parties had completely shifted ground ; and 
we can now see that thn Hartford Convention really strengthened the 
traditions of the Union by showing that the implied threat of secession 
was a game at which two could play. It must be remembered, too, in 
estimating the provocation which led to this famous convention, that 
during all this time the commercial States were most unreasonably 
treated. In the opinion of Judge Story, himself a moderate Republican 
and a member of Congress, " New England was expected, so far as the 
Republicans were concerned, to do everything and to liave nothing. They 
were to obey, but not to be trusted." Their commerce, which had fur- 
nished so largely the supplies for the nation, was viewed by a great 
many not merely with inditference, but with real dislike. Jefferson, 
whose views had more influence than tliose of any ten other men, etill 
held to his narrow Virginia planter opinion that a national commerce 
must somehow be an evil , and it was hard for those whose commerce 
his embargo had mined to be patient while he rubbed his hands and 
assured them that they would be much better otT without any ships. 
When the war of 1812 wa.s declared the mcnhunts of Boston and Salem 
had — as it was estimated by Mr. Isjiac P. Davis, in the " Memoirs of Mrs, 
Quincy" — twenty million dollars' worth of jiroperty on tbe sea and in 
British ports. The war sacrificed nearly all of it, and they were expected 
to lie grateful. In a letter to the Legislature of New Hampshire, four 
yeara before (August, 1808), Jefferson had calmly recommended to tbe 
people of that region to retire from the seas and "to provide ftir them- 
selves (ourselves) those comforts and conveniences of life for which it 
would be unwise ever to recur to other countries." Moreover, it was 
argued, the commercial States were almost exclusively the sutft-rers by 
the British intrusions upon American vessels, and if they did not think 
it a case for war, why should it be taken up by the States which were 
not hurt by it ? 

Again, the commercial States had yielded to the general government 
the right of receiving customs duties and of national defense, on the 
express ground of receiving protection in return. !Madison had pledged 
himself, as he was once remindnd in the once famous "Rockinghani 
County (New Harnpsliire) Address," [leiined by young Daniel Webster, 
to give the nation a navy, and it had resulted in Mr. Jefferson's hundred 
and fifty little gun-boats and some twenty larger vessels. As for the 
army, it consisted at this time of about three thousand men all told. The 
ablest men in the President's Cabinet, Gallatin and Pickering, were 
originally opposed to the war. The only member of that Ifody who had 



The invading army was apprised of the defenseless 
condition of the national capital and the character of 
the raw troops hastily mustered to protect it. The 
tempting prize was suggestive of certain victory before 



any personal knowledge of military matters waa Colonel James Monroe, 
Secretary of State, and it was subsequently thought that he knew just 
enough to be in the way. Nevertheless, the war was declared June 18, 
1812,— declared reluctantly, hesitatingly, but at last courageously. Five 
days after the declaration the British " Orders in Council," which had 
partly caused it, were revoked, but the war went on. In the s;xm6 
autumn Madison was re-elected President, receiving one hundred and 
twenty-eight electoral votes against eighty-nine for De Witt Clinton, 
Elbridgo Gerry, of Massachusetts, being chosen Vice-President. A suf- 
ficient popular verdict was thus given, and the war was continued. In 
its early period much went wrong. British and Indians ravaged the 
northwestern frontier, General Hull invaded Canada in vain, and 
finally surrendered Detroit, August 15, 1812, in a way long considered 
pusillanimous, but now in some degree pardoned by public sentiment. 
He was condemned by court-martial, and sentenced to be shot, but was 
pardoned because of his Revolutionary services.'and much has since been 
written in his vindication. To the surprise of every one, it was upon 
the sea, not the land, that the United States proved eminently successful, 
andtlie victory of the "Constitution " over the " Guerriere" was the first 
of a long line of triumphs. The number of British war vessels captured 
during the three years of the war was fifty-si.x, with eight hundred and 
eighty cannon ; the number of American war vessels, twenty-five, with 
three hundred and fifty guns; and theie were, besides these, thousitnds 
of merchant vessels taken on both sides by privateers. But these mere 
statistics tell nothing of the excitement of those picturesque victories 
which so long thrilled the heart of every American school-boy with the 
conviction that this nation was the peer of the proudest upon the seas. 
Yet the worst predictions of the Federalists did not exaggerate the in- 
jury done by the war to American commerce, and the highest expectations 
of the other party did no more than justice to the national prestige g-ained 
by the success uf the American navy. 

It is fairly to be remembered to the credit of the Federalists, however* 
that but for their urgent appeals there would have been no navy, and that 
it was created by setting aside all Mr. JefTereon's pettheories of sea defense. 
The Federalists could justly urge, also, that the merchant service was 
the only nursery of seamen, and that with its destruction the race of 
American sailore would die nut, — a prediction which the present day has 
almost Been fulfilled. But for the time being the glory of the Ameri- 
can navy was secure ; and even the sea-fights hanlly equalled the fame 
of Perry's victory on Lake Erie, immortalized by two phrases, l-aw- 
rence's "Don't give up the ship," which Perry bore upon his flag, and 
Perry's own brief dispatch, " We have met the enemy and they are 
oure." Side by side with this came Harrison's land victories over the 
Indians and English in the Northwest. Tecnmseh, who held the rank of 
brigadier-general in the British army, had, with the aid of his brother, 
"the Prophet," united all the Indian tribesin a league. His power was, 
broken by Hamson in the battle of Tippecanoe (November 7, 1811), and 
finally destroyed in that of the Thames, in Canada (October 5, 1813,) 
where Tecnmseh fell. But the war from the first yielded few glories to 
either side by land. The Americans were still a nation of woodsmen and 
sharp-shooters, but they had lost the art of war, and they had against 
them the veterans of Wellington and men who boasted— to Mrs. Peter, of 
Washington — that they had not slept under a roof for seven years. 
Even with such men the raid on the city of Washington by General 
Ross waa a bold thing, — to march with four thousand men sixty miles 
into an enemy's counti-y, burn its capitol and retreat. Had the Ameri- 
cans renewed the tactics of Concord and Lexington, and fought from 
behind trees and under cover of brick walls, the British commander's 
losses might have been frightful ; but to risk a pitched battle was to 
leave themselves helpless when defeated. The utter rout of the Ameri- 
cans at Bladensburg left Washington to fall like a ripe apple into the 
hands of General Ross. The accounts are still somewhat confused, but 
the British statement is that, before entering the city. General Ross sent 
in a tlag of truce, meaning tn levy a contribution, as from a conquered 
town, and the flag of truce being fired upon the destruction of the town 
followed. Wjishington had then less than a thousand houses. The 
British troops set fire to the unfinished capitol with the library of Con- 
gress, to the treasury buildings, tlie arsenal, and a few private dwellings. 
At the President's house — according to their own story, since doubted — 
they found dinner ready, devoured it, and then set the house on fire. 



186 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the advance of the veteran force of General Ross, and 
the fleet was therefore hastened up the Potomac River 
to within easy marching distance of Washington City, 
where five thousand troops were disembarked and 
rapidly marched to the attack. Commodore Barney 

Mr. Madison sent a messeiiKer to his wif« to bid her floe. She wrote 
to hereifiter ere Kiting : "Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, lias come to 
hapten my departure, and is in a very bad liumor with me beesiuse I in- 
sist on waiting till the large pictnre of tJeneral M'ashington is secured 
and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall."' She tinally secured it, 
and went oft' in her carriage with her sister, Mrs. Cults, liearing the 
original parchment of the Declaration of Independence, which also owes 
its safety to her. The Federalist papers made plenty of fun of her re- 
treat, and Mr. Lossing has preserved a fragment of one of their ballads, 
in which she says to the President, in the style of .Tuhn Gilpin, — 

" Sister Cutts and Cutts and I, 
And Cutts's children three, 
Shall in the coach, and you Shall ride 
On horseback after we." 

But, on the whole, the lady of the Presidential " palace " carried off 
more laurels from Washington than most American men. The news of the 
burning of Wiushington wiis variously received in England. The British 
Annual Register called it a " return to the times of barbarism," and the 
London Tunes snw in it, on the contrary, the disappearance of the Amer- 
ican republic, which it called by the withering name of an "association.'' 
" That ill-organized asst>ciation is on the eve of dissolution, and the 
world is speedily to be delivered of the mischievous example of the exist- 
ence of a government founded on democratic rebellion." But the burn- 
ing had, on the contrary, just the opposite eftect from this. After AVash- 
ington liad fallen Baltimore seemed an easy jirey. But there was a great 
rising of the peojde ; the British army wjis beaten off, the aftiiir turning 
largely on the gallant defense of Fort McHenry by Colonel tJeorge 
Armistead, and ("Jeiieral Ross was killed. It was at this time that Key's 
lyric, "The Star-spangled Banner,"' was wiitten, the author being de- 
tained on board the British ship "IMinden," during the bombardment. 
Before this there had been various depredations and skirmishes along 
the coast of Maine, and a com'ageous repulse of the British at Stoning- 
ton, Conn. Afterward came the well-fouglit battle of Lundy's Lane 
and the closing victory of New Orleans, fought after the treaty of 
peace had been actiuiily sigiu?d,and une.xpectedly leaving thcfinal laurels 
of the war in the hands of the Americans. 

After this l>attle an English officer visiting the iield saw within a few 
hundred yards "nearly a thonsiind bodies, all arrayed in liritish uni" 
forms," and lu-jird from the American officer in command the statement 
that the American loss had c'nnsisted only of eight men killed and four- 
teen wounded. The loss of the English was nearly twenty -one hundred 
in killed and wounded, including two general officei-s. A triimiph so 
overwhelming restored &tme feeling of military self-respect, sorely needed 
after the disasters at Washington. "There were," says the Federalist 
"William Sidlivan, "splendid processions, bontires and illuminations, as 
though the independence of the country Imd been a second time 
achieved." Such, indeed, was the feeling, and with due reason. Frank- 
lin's war fur indejiendence was at an end. The battle took place .laniiai'y 
8, 1815, but the treaty of peace had been signed at Glient on the day 
before Christmas. The terms agreed upon said not luie word about the 
impressment of British seamen, but tlie question had been jiractically 
settled by the naval successes of the United States ; and so groat were the 
rejoicings on the return of peace that even this astounding omission 
seemed of secondary importance. The verdict of posteiity upon the war 
of 1812 may he said to he this : that there were ample grounds for it and 
that it completed the work of the Kevolution, and yet that it was the 
immediate ])roduct of a few ambitions men whose aims and principles 
Were not really so high as were those of many who opposed the war. 
The outrageous impressment of American seamen ttmched a point of 
national pride, and justly ; while the I'nited States submitted to this, it 
certainly could not be called an independent nation, and the abuse was 
practically endeil by the war, even though the treaty of peace was silent. 
On the other side the dread entertained of Napoleon by the Federalists 
was perfectly legitimate; and this, too, time hiis confirmed. But this 
peril was really far lest* pressing than the other ; the I'nited States 
needed more to be liberated from the domineering attitude of England 
than from the remoter tyranny of Napoleon, and it was therefore neces- 
sary to reckon with England first. 



was in command of the American flotilla designed for 

the defense of the capital, and occupied the Potomac 
River. This means of defense proved wholly inade- 
quate to cope with the powerfully armed fleet of the 
enemy, and was timely destroyed by the officer in 
command, who gallantly transferred his force to land, 
subsequently using several of his cannon with deadly 
eftect against the foe. On the 24th of August the 
force under General Ross advanced, driving the- 
American troops before them. Between seven and 
eight thousand militia, under command of General 
Winder, were in position on the heights of Bladens- 
burg. Commodore Barney had placed his battery on 
an eminence, from which he opened a deadly fire of 
shot and shell upon the advance of the British, con- 
fidently relying upon the support of the troops under 
General Winder. The untrained militia fled on both 
flanks before the steady march and effective volleys 
of General Ross' troops. The brave seamen and 
mariners stood by their guns until surrounded, losing 
heavily in killed and wounded, among the latter be- 
ing the heroic Barney, who, with his men and guns, 
was finally compelled to surrender. Their soldierly 
conduct won for them the admiration of their captors; 
the private soldiers of the battery were treated with 
i great consideration, and the commodore was paroled 
on the field of battle by General Ross as a mark of 
honor for his manly courage. The hasty and ill-ad- 
vised retreat of General Winder's troops left the 
capital city an easy prey to the Britsh. The advance 
of the enemy reached Capitol Hill in the afternoon, 
and demanded a ransom for the immunity of the gov- 
ernment buildings equal to their money value; upon 
this sum being paid the troops would retire, and no 
property should be destroyed. Compliance with this 
demand was impossible. 

The civil authorities had hastily fled with the re- 
treating troops, and there was no one present or avail- 
able who was competent to enter into engagements 
satisfactory to the officer in command. The torch 
was applied to the costly edifices of the republic, to- 
gether with the president's mansion and a consider- 
able number of private dwellings. The navy-yard 
with its equipments, a large war-frigate in course of 
construction, and several small vessels were also de- 
stroyed. The public archives, library and all the 
works of art contained ill the public buildings were- 
lost in the midnight conflagration. The conduct of 
the American officers and troops on this occasion has 
always been declared discreditable, and in some 
measure invited the unparalleled act of vandalism of 
the British commander. Had the command of (len- 
eral Winder exhibited but a tithe of the pluck of 
Barney and his marines, General Ross would have 
met reverse at Bladensburg, as he did at a later day 
near Baltimore. The naval force co-operating with 
General Ross, under Commodore Gorden, took posses- 
sion of Alexandria on the 29th, and iu order to save 
the city from fire and indiseriminating plunder, the 



THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE MEXICAN WAR. 



187 



civil autliorities induced the people to give up all 
supplies demanded hy the invaders. A number of 
vessels lying at anchor at the wharves were seized and 
loaded with flour, tobacco, cotton, wines and sugars, 
of which at the time Alexandria was a grand depot, 
and the whole was carried down the river with the 
victorious squadron. The success of the invaders on 
the Potomac hastened further operations of the com- 
bined land and naval forces, then in undisputed oc- 
cupancy of the Chesapeake Bay. The city of Balti- 
more was the next objective point, having a fine har- 
bor to anchor their fleet, and a rich country west and 
north of it, from which supplies could be drawn in the 
event of a permanent occupation, contemplated dur- 
ing the ensuing winter. 




UMFOH.MED !!!(:>Lri|Elt. 1812. 

The loss of the capital had th<ir,iughly aroused the 
country to a sense of danger, and in anticipation of 
an attack on Baltimore, every possible preparation, 
with the means at hand, was promptly made for its 
defense. What was of equal importance, the officers 
and troops assembled, among them some of those 
who were present at the assault on Washington, 
smarting under the severe criticism of the press, the 
country and indignation of the people, having re- 
solved that there should be no " bloodless retreat " 
from the city of Baltimore. The American forces 
amounted to nearly fifteen thousand men, with a full 
complement of artillery. The command was given to 
General Smith, of ilaryland. 

On the 11th of September the enemy, with a 
squadron of tifty-six vessels and six thousand men, 
entered the mouth of the Patapsco River, and on the 
following day landed the attacking force at North 



Point, fourteen miles below the city. General Strieker, 
with three thousand five hundred militia troops, was 
directed to oppose their advance. This was most ef- 
fectively done, and it was while General Ross was 
making a personal reconnoisance, rendered necessary 
by the stubborn resistance of the Americans, that he 
was shot through the breast by a rifleman. He fell 
into the arms of his aide-de-camp, and died in a few 
minutes. He was succeeded by Colonel Brook, who 
brought up his reserve, and in turn forced the troops 
of General Strieker to retire to Washington Mills, a 
half-mile in advance of the main army. Both armies 
slept on their arms, and on the 13th the advance on 
the city began. While engaging the American troops, 
the enemy waited the attack of the naval force on 
Fort JlcHenry, commanded liy Major Armistead, with 
a garrison of one thousand men. A storming-party 
of twelve hundred men were landed on the night of 
the 13th, and led to the assault of Fort McHenry. 
The attack was repulsed with great loss to the enemy, 
and the land forces were recalled, being pressed to the 
cover of the fleet by the troops of General Smith. 

The whole affair was admirably managed by the 
officers in command, and the troops, not excepting the 
militia, exhibited the courage and endurance of vet- 
eran soldiers. The whole fleet soon after sailed from 
the Chesapeake southward, and Baltimore escaped 
the ruin and desolation suft'ered by the neighboring 
city of Washington. The defenders of Baltimore 
have always been honored by their countrymen, and 
their memories are held in grateful remembrance to 
this day. The New England coast was the constant 
scene of depredations, being more defenseless than 
that of the Middle States ; and, at the same time, 
operations could be carried on against it with facility, 
because of its proximity to the Canadian base of sup- 
plies. The extreme South was selected as the next 
point of attack, and to this point all efforts were di- 
rected. The Spanish authorities at Pensacola, who 
had encouraged the Indians in their hostilities since 
the commencement of the w'ar, now afforded the same 
encouragement to the English. The ships-of-warwere 
invited to anchor under their forts, storage was fur- 
nished for their munitions of war, and English troops 
encamped in and occupied their fortifications. A 
profitable trade was opened with New Orleans, and 
the people were invited by Colonel Nicholls, in a 
published address, to unite with the English in ex- 
pelling the Americans from the South. To this new 
field of peril General Andrew .Taekson was assigned to 
duty. This officer promptly concentrated all his avail- 
able troops, having been duly apprised of the intended 
attack upon New Orleans by the British, who were 
largely reinforced by General Packenham, then con- 
centrating his forces at Bermuda and Jamaica pre- 
paratory to the occupation of the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi River. 

The enemy were confident in their ability to estab- 
lish themselves in Louisiana. In their preparations 



188 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



they provided themselves with printing-presses, and 
brought witli them experienced merehants and traders, 
■\vlio were luruished witli capital to estatilish houses 
for the jjurchaseand shipment of cotton and supplies 
produced in the great Mississippi Valley. While this 
great campaign was in progress in the South, opposi- 
tion to the measures of the administration were grow- 
ing more intense upon the ])art ot the leading Feder- 
ists throughout the Middle and New England States. 
The opposition focalized in the Hartiord Convention, 
which assembled December 15, 1814,' and continued 
in session for three weeks. Its members sat with 
closed doors. The administration was at all times 
anxious to conclude an honorable peace, and commis- 
sioners were kept in Europe duly authorized to nego- 
tiate a treaty consistent with the preservation of the 
rights of American citizens. The pacification of 
Europe, resulting from the overthrow of Napoleon in 
1814, and the joy that pervaded all classes of the 
people, were shared by the rulers, and had a happy 
influence U|)on England in inducing that country to 
relinquish the right of impressment of American citi- 
zens. This point gained, the object of the war was 
practically accomplished, and the commissioners con- 
cluded a treaty of peace at Ghent on the 24tli day of 
December, 1814, the same being ratified by the Prince 
Regent of England on Decendjer 27th. The news of this 
event did not reach this country until the following 
11th of February (1815), the treaty being ratified on the 
27th of the same month by the President and Senate. 
It will thus be seen that the great battle of New 
Orleans, that made General Jackson the hero of the 
war, was fought and won after the treaty of peace had 
been concluded with England. Truly, an Atlantic 
cable and telegraphiccomniunication with the British 
army and navy in the Gulf at this time would have 
saved that nation from the humiliation of the most 
disastrous battle of the war, and thousands of lives 
would have been preserved for the better service of 
peace. 

The population of Montgomery County at this period 
of the war was about thirty thousand. The constant 
apprehension of the enemy's attack upon Philadel- 
phia,^ and possible incursions into this and the adjoin- 

1 This convention was composed of nieniljers apiwiinteil by the Legis- 
latures of Masachusetts, Connecticut, Rlioile Island, New Hampshire 
and Vermont. Two members from New Hampshire and one from Ver- 
mont received their appointment from county conventions. 
" "Gov. Simon Snvoer to N. B. Boileau. 
'■General Orders. 

" Harrisburc,, August 27, 1814. 
"To N. B. Boileau, Aid-de-nimp : The recent destruction of the capi- 
tal of the United States, the threatened and probable contlagration of the 
metropolis of sister States, and the general threatening aspect of aflairs 
warranting the opinion that an attack is meditated by the enemy on the 
shores of the Delaware, the Governor, to guard against surprise, and to 
have ready an etlicient force of freemen to repel the enemy in case of 
euch an event, orders and directs that the militia generally within the 
counties of Philadell>hia, Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, Chester, Lan- 
caster, Dauphin, Lebanon, Berks, Schuylkill, Lehigh, Northampton and 
Pike (in addition to those drafted aud designated for the Ber\'ice of the 
United States, under orders of the 22d of .)uly who are already subject 
to the orders of General Bloomtield) he held in readiness to march, at a 



ing counties of Delaware and Bucks, kept the people 
in a state of anxiety. Discussions in political and 
social circles upon the principles involved in the strug- 
gle were animated. Democrats w-armly espoused the 
cause as maintained by the administation of James 
Madison, while the Federalists boldly criticised many 
of the leading measures of those in authority, and the 
manner of conducting the war. The Democrats evinced 
con.siderable sympathy towards Napoleon, and looked 
upon his operations against England at that time witli 
favor. On the other hand, the Federalists proclaimed 
the French Emperor an adventurer, tyrant and a 
leader dangerous to all forms of government and the 
peace and stability of society. 

The stage was t!ie only means of public travel in 
those days, only two weekly papers were pulilished 
in the county, mail facilities were limited, and news 
from the capital and the remote points of active 
hostilities found its way to the country post-otfice 
with its weekly newspaper once, and, in some favored 
localities, twice a week. Volunteer and militia troops, 
organized in the interior and northern counties of 
the State, and ordered to report at Jlarcus Hook, 
passed down our main highways to Philadelphia, 
followed by long trains of supplies and munitions of 
war. The same iron-works on the Manatawny and 
Schuylkill that supplied the American array during 
the Revolution were busily employed from 1812 to 
1815 in furnishing supplies of common shot and 
shell, while powder mills and establishments for the 
manufacture and repair of small-arms were operated 
at many places in the county. • 

Some few persons are still living who were eye-i 
witnesses to the movements of troops going to and) 
returning from camp at Marcus Hook. The troops 
spoken of appear to have been militia, dressed in^ 
home-spun clothing, and ofl[icered by men who seemedl 
to exercise but a limited control while in the line of 
march. The "stragglers," or that class of men who 
habitually " fall out by the way," are vividly recalled 
by an aged friend, who, then a girl twelve years 
old, lived near the Perkiomen bridge. She says hei 
father, a miller, fed scores while passing, and that 
sick, bare-footed and weary soldiers were slowly pasae 



moment's warning, to such place as may be named in subsequent orden 
that will issue, if the exigencies of our countiy shall rcipiire The seT^ \ 
eral Brigade Inspectors, within their respective bounds, are commanded 
to execute promptly this order. The Generals and other officers are urged 
to assist iu the providing of equiiuuents for the men. Those for wliom 
arms cannot be found within the respective brigade bounds will, it is pre- 
sumed, be f\nnished by the United States at the place of rendezvous. It 
is confidently expected that tlie aidor aud love of country which pervade 
the hearts of Ponnsylvaniaus, at the present ahirming crisis, will induce 
many to form themselves into volunteer corps, and inuuediately to march 
for Philadelphia. It is thus a proper spirit, to resist an intolerant foe, 
will be evinced and many ditlicidties obviated. The Governor jiromises 
himself the satisfaction of meeting there an host nerved with resolution 
to live free or die in defense of their lilierties and their country. He 
will act with them iu any capacity for wljicli his talents shall fit him. 

"Simon Ssyper, 
" Governurof the Common trefdih of Peinix'iJrdnh." 
— ri'iii"*;ili-ani'i Archiiex, vol. xii. 



II 



THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE MEXICAN WAR. 



189 



ing the point for several days alter the officers and 

main body of men had gone by. 

"Gexerai. Orders. 
" Fourth Military District Headquarters, 

" Philadelphia, September 13, 1814. 
"Tlie militia of the counties uf N'urthampton, Pike, Lehigh, North- 
umberland, Union, Columbia, Luzerne, Susquehanna, Wayne, Bucks, 
Montgomery, Chester and Dehnvare who have volunteered their ser- 
Tices, and the militia who have been dnifted, detailed and organized 
under the requisition of the President of the United Stales of the 4th 
of July last and genei-al orders of the Commander-in-Chief of Pennsyl- 
vania ofthe22d of the same month, will march with all possible ex- 
pedition to Marcus Hook, equipped completely for the field. His 
Excellency the Commander-in-Chief of the militia of Pennsylvania will 
be pleased to designate the senior officers in the respective counties, and 
cause their names to be returned to the .\djutant-General of this district. 
"Joseph Bloomfikld, 
** Brigadier-General^ Comtuinidiug Fourth Military District. 
** Entered in the Adju taut-General's otfice. 

"William Dvane, Adjutant- General.^' 

Gtneral ami Staff Qffloers Montgomery County Volunteer CompanieSy 1812. 
Henrj' Scheetz, major-general, conmianding Second Division Penn- 
sylvania ililitia ; Isaiah Wells, brigadier-general, commanding First 
Brigade, Second Division Pennsylvania Militia; Christian Snyder, 
Brigade Insi)ector, First Brigade, Second Division Pennsylvania 
Militia; Nathaniel B. Boileau, aide-de-camp to commander-in-chief. 
MusU-r-roll of Captain Jacob Fryer's Company of Montgomery County. 
Jacob Frj-er, captain; Henry Hnuck, firet lieutenant; Jacob Yost, 

second lieutenant ; John Smith, ensign. 
Sergeants. — Jonah Markley, Jacob Bortmau, Jacob Wannemaker, Jacob 

Fryer. 
CorporuU. — Peter Burger, Peter Yost, Juhn Yost, George Houck. 
Tmntptler. — Henry Yost. 

fVi fates. 
George Kulp, Samuel Detwhiler, Lewis Jones, Abraham Neas, Samuel 
Esterline, Anthony Bitting, George Fryer, Henry Specht, Frederick 
Shafer, John Sweesholtz, Abraham Zern, John Smith (tailor), William 
Burger, Samuel Witman, Jonas Fetser, Henry Beikel, Daniel Houck, 
Daniel Yost, Leonard Shuler, William Brecht, Jacob Smith, Richard 
Bitting, Benjamin Smith, Henry Royer, George Mowrer, Henrj- Seehler, 
Daniel Ale, Peter Horlocher, David Hart, Peter Foust, Jonas Slouneiker 
(on receipt roll), Frederick Fox, George Burger, Adam Zarn, Jacob Fox, 
Jacob Huntzberger, John Dutterer, Michael Helbert, Barny Fox, John 
Small, Conrad Dutterer, Peter Art, Daniel Sheifly, Jacob Weidemier, 
John Houfman, Peter Trace, George Keider, Jacob Wensel, Jacob Zepp, 
John Gouckler, Daniel IIofT, Henry Long, John Royer. 

" .\ true muster roll of Captain Jacob Fryer's Company of Montgomery 
County, October 14, 1814. " Jonah Markley, 

" Seryeaii/." 

A true list of Captain Grosscup's company, ' of the Eighteenth Section of 

riflemen, conmianded by Colonel Thomas Himiphreys ; 
Seryean?*.— Edward Thompson, Simon Campbell, William Grofscup, 

Benjamin Fries. 
Corporals.— lacoh Kfq)er, Joseph McCally, Eoliert Bayl, Jojin White. 
Bugler. — John Gillinger. 

Prirates. 
George Grafiy, George Kupp, Jacob Wack, John Rickk-r Isaac Bilger, 
John Katz, Adam Mink, William Francis, George Heydrick, Joseph 

1 "Governor Simon Snyder to X. B. Boileau. 

" General Order. 

" Philadelphia, September 17, 1814. 

"To N. B. Boileau, Aid-de-Cump: The Pennsylvania volunteers who 
are now assembled in and near the city of Philadelphia, in pursuance of 
general ordei-s issued on the 2Tlb of August last, will be organized into 
battalions and regiments, as follows, to wit : The companies of volunteer 
riflemen commanded by Captains Robeson, Speer, Groscup, McClean and 
^^ igton shall form one battalion, and elect one major. The companies 
commanded by Captains Purdy, Horn, Denkey, Rinker and Ott shall 
form one battalion, and elect one major ; which battalions shall form a 
regiment, and elect one colonel and one lieutenant-colonel. The com- 
panies of volunteer light infantry commanded by Captains Holgate, Mc- 



Wigley, Joseph Serber, John Townsmen, Thomas Shepherd, Joseph 
Shepbei*d, Anthony Shull, Henrj' Shermer, Peter Dager, John Yost, 
James H. Welch, John Weant, William Grally, Henry Bishiug, ls«ac 
Artman, Abmui Shafer, George Shafter, Jr., Elijah Gold (from October 
1st), Thomas Khodeibagh, Nathan Keyser (from October 7), John Dager, 
George Shafer, John Dull, Eaber Van Horn, Jacob Dager, Daniel Nail» 
Charles Francis, John Harris, Amos Thomas, Jacob Hentz, Peter Welch 
John Tarrans, Henrip- Hoffman disi-harged from cauip October 26, 1814. 

" I do certify, on honor, that the company conmianded by Captain 
John Grosscup is in the service of the United States, under the com- 
mand of the general commanding the Fourth military district. 
" Thomas Cadwallader, 
" Brigadier-General CoinmaudiHg Advance L. B. 
" Camp Dupont, November 2t>, 1S14." 

3Iuster-roll of Capt. Holugate's company, in the Second Regiment 

Pennsylvania Volunteers, infantry, in the service of the State of 

Pennsylvania for three months, from the 12th day of August last ; 

attached to the First Brigade, Second Division Pennsylvania fliilitia, 

at cump, Slarcus Houk, commanded by Brigadier Genera I Samuel 

Smith, November 2'J, 1814 : 

AVilliamlluldgate, captain; Levi Evans, lieutenant; JohnSuplee, ensign. 

Ser^ea)i/s.— David Wilson, Thomas Davis, Jacob Ulrich, Henry Gilinger. 

CorpornU.—Y.ixoB Holdgate, Andrew Louden, George Tippen, William 

Sloan. 
AfHsicjaiw.— Matthias Haus, William Miller. 
Privates. 
Andrew Reed, John Cain, Roberts Roberts, George Willson, William 
Kirk, R*jbert Matson, Henry Megee, Robert Elliott, Jesse Carver, Wil- 
liam Harrison, William Thompson, Benjamin Yates, Samuel Forder, 
John Mealy, Benjamin Smith, Jac4»b Linenbough, Henry Earnest, Samuel 
McCooI, Jacob Raniey, Benjamin Ramey, Henry Hallman, Job B.Jones, 
Charles Brooke, John Evans, Wickard Levering, Alexander Enoshe 
Benjamin Levering, Jonathan Matson, William McAnall, Jacob Peter 
man, Jesse Childs, Jushua McMin, Willium Fryer, John Carr, Peter 
Davis, William Davy. John Harrison, Jonathan Clemmaus, Jesse Cleaver, 
Thomas Graham, James Whitby, Jacob Lentz, William Lewellyn, George 
Streper, Joseph >Iartin, Jonathan Engler, Jacob Shade, John Woolf 
John Roberts, Lloyd Barr. 

" Camp Marcus Hook, November 29, 1814. 
" I do hereby certify, upon honor, that the above is a just and trua 
muster-roll of Capt. Holdgate's. 

"Louis Bache, 
" Colonel Second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers.^ ^ 

A correct muster-roll of Captain John Hurst's company of Montgomery 

Rifle Greens, stationed at Camp Boileau : 
John Hurst, captain; M. Zilling, first lieutenant ; P. Hoover, second 

lieutenant; Peter Beam, ensign; Jacob Weber, quartermaster. 
Sergeants. — H. R. Brown, H. Smith, William Wanner, Enos Beam. 
G>rporai.?. — Thomas Deweese, Jacob Deweese, John Spare, Jacob Homsher. 
Bugler. — David Thomas. 

Glathery, Swenk, Mungesser and Reehle shall form a battalion, and elect 
a mjyor. The comjianies of volunteer light infantry commanded by 
Captains Wersler, Vanarsdalen, Taylor and Grosh shall form a battalion, 
and elect one major ; which battalions shall form a regiment, and elect 
a colonel and lieutenant-colonel. The captains composing battalions, re- 
qwctively, shall meet at the City Hospital, between the hours of eleven 
and one this day, and then and there elect, by ballot, a major, and the 
regiments of riflemen and light infanti? shall, respectively, on the after- 
noon of this day, between the hours of t^vo and five, meet at the same 
place and elect, by ballot, one colonel and one lieutenant-colonel for 
each regiment. The elections, respectively, shall be conducted and cer- 
tified by two judges, who shall be designated to preside at the election of 
majora by the captains belonging to the proper battalion, and for con- 
ducting and certifying the regimental elections. The captains of each 
battalion shall appoint one judge for their proper regiment, who shall, 
for their respective battalion and regiment, as the case may be, so soon 
as practicable after the elections are closed, make out returns and trans- 
mit them to the Governor, that commissions may issue. Captain Hol- 
bert and Captain Creigh's companies of infantry shall, until further 
orders, be attached to the regiment of infantry. 

" Simon Snyder, 
** Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.''^ 



190 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Privateif. 

James Gleu, Daniel Helk-r, Saimiel Deets, Juhn Wanner, Jacob Deerzy, 
James Thonipsun, Juhn Tripli;, Juhn Seybult, .lulm Owen, Enoch Miller, 
James Stilwell, JliL-luiel Ainey, Mark Bciuie, John Snyder, William 
Huret, Benjamin \Ventz, Hubert Ingham, John Davis, Jesse Weber, 
James McKiney, Jacob Webt-r (WurL-estei), Benjamin Johnson, Abrani 
Stong. 

"We do certify, on honor, that the within roll exhibits a true state of 
company commanded by Capt. John Hurst, and tliat the remarks set op- 
posite the men's names are accurate and just. 
"John Hurst, (Japtutn. 

"Thomas Hlmphkey, Colonel First It. P, V. Ji. 
"Camp Dupont, Nov. 24, 1814." 
A complete muster-roll for the Second ^Captain McGlatherie's) com- 
pany of the Second Regiment, volunteer light infantry, under the 
command of Colonel Louis Bache, under the order of the com- 
mander-in-chief of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, of August 
27, 1814, and attached to the First Brigade, Second Division, Penn- 
sylvania Militia. 
William McGlathrine, captain; John Bisson, first lieutenant; John 

Wanner, second lieutenant ; George Bisbing, ensign. 
Sergeants. — John Jamison, John Ilauss, Richard Osborne, Nathan 

LewiH. 
Corporals. — John Bachnian, Job Lowry, Jesse Colson, Abraham Lutz. 
John Kline, drummer ; Jacob Weaver, fifer. 

Privates. 
Samuel McGlathorie, Pa\il Custard, William Buck, Adam Deem, John 
Dyer, Philip Spear, John Roberts, Henry Deem, David Roberts, John 
Pluck, John Bacher (or Baker), Jacob Baker, Henry Garney (or Carney,) 
William R. Bisson, William Barton, Samuel Morris, Benjamin Boyer, 
Jacob Levering, Jacob Zerpass, Owen Thomas, Isaac Painter, George 
Pluck, Henry Dyer, Jacob Shearer, Nicholas Gerhard, John Berritt (or 
Banet), Joseph Hendricks, John Martin. 

" I do hereby certify, upon honor, that the above is a correct muster- 
roll of Capt. McGlatherie's company, this 27th day of November, 1814. 
"John Wanner, Second Lieutenant. 
"Louis Bache, Col. Second Regiment Penna. Vol. Light Infantry.''^ 

Muater-roU of Capt. Joseph Sands' company of the riflemen of Mont- 
gomery County, Pennsylvania: 
Joseph Sands, captain ; James Sands, first lieutenant ; Samuel Rodear- 
mel, second lieutenant : John Pilger, ensign ; Jacob Rhoads, 
quartermaster. 
Ser^eanfo.— Richard Perry, John Lessig, William Rafesneider, Michael 

NLman. 
Musician. — William Sands. 

Privates. 

Abraham Zimmerman, John Wardman, John Albright, Jacob Stroman, 
John Leavengood, George Grove, Joseph Rafesnider, John Weasner, 
John Grove, David Yocom, John Beachtel, Andrew Kean, Solomon Mis- 
Bimer, Charles Geiger, Samuel Ruth, Samuel Yeager, Joseph Leaven- 
good, Jacob Fritz, Bartholomew Wamback, William Ninian, Martin 
Manger, Joseph Shaner, Thomas Conrad, Henry Keyser, Henry Weas- 
ner, George Ritemire, George Bowman, Abraham Geyer, Jacob Specht, 
Henry Smith, Richard Davis. 

"We do certify, on honor, that this roll exhibits a true state of the 
company commanded by Capt. Joseph Sands, and that the remarks set 
opposite their names are accurate and just. 

"James Sands, Lieutenant Commanding. 

"Thomas Humphrey Colonel First Regiment P. V. 7?." 

A true list of Capt. Magill's company of the Sixteenth Section of 
riflemen, commanded by Colonel Thomas Humphrey: 
Sergeants. — James Robinson, Isaac Stelle, Arcturus Todd, Joseph Blat- 

thew. 
Corporais. — DaWd Evans, Benjamin Robison, William Harrah, John 
Heath. 

p*rivates. 

Jonathan Wood, Gooden G. Hall, William Marshal, Jesse Lacy, Mor- 
gan N. Thomas William Thomas, Job Simpson, Joseph Anderson, Chris- 
tian Fritsinger, Benjamin Hare, Christian Ruth, Mark Tanner, Jacob 
Friece, Benjamin James, Joseph Friece, Daniel Mcintosh, Nicholas Cis- 
ler, W^illiam McGooken, John Dennison, John Doyle, Joseph Higgins, 
Anthony Rich, Jt)hn Everitt, John Williams, Samuel Hubbert, Robert 
Barclay, William Ditterlinc, David Evans, Jr., Andrew Kirkpatrick, 
8em. Moyres, Paul Bruner, Isaac | Dunlap, Conrad Shearer, Nathan 



Mekinstry, Septimus Harrah, Alexander Watt, Joseph Engles, Philip 
Trupsbour, Samuel Hughes, .luhn Whitingham, Ephtuim Lewis, Beiya- 
min S. Mann, Is;uic li. Medani, William E. Patterson, John Moms, 
Samuel Smith, John i^IrKinney, J(»hn W. Stover, William Dennison, 
Daniel Markley, David Fell, James Picker, John Lowdislager, John Toy, 
Robert Roberts, Sanuiel Horn, William Horn, John P. Daniels, Joseph 
Hunter, Rohert Pattei-son. 

"I do certify that tlie above list is a true statement, on honor, this 
lath day of November, 1814. 

"William McGill, Cuptuin. 

" Thomas Humphrey, Colonel First Regiment Pa. VoV^ 
A true list of Captain McLean's company of the Eighteenth Section of 

riflemen, commanded by (_"oIonel Thomas Humphrey: 
Sergeants. — David Marple, John C. Stickliouse, John F. Shreeder. 
Corporals. — Joseph (.!adwalader, (.'yrus Lukens, Benjamin Barnes, 
William Search. 

IVifiitfs. 
John Laird, Abi-aham Haselet, Jesse Barnes, John Leech, Jacob Barnes^ 
Abel Fitzwater, James Rice, John Grub, John Warner, Clement Barnes, 
William Sutch, Daniel SliKlmire, Haselet Dunlap, Robert Barnes, Thomas 
Roberts, James Virtue, William Grace, Henry Sandman, John Banes (or 
Beans), Thomas Hughs, George Hobensack, David Terry, Philip Yerkes, 
Aner (or Abner) Milnor, Judali Columns, Jesse Banes (or Beans), David 
Y'erkes, Thomas Fisher, Simon Snyder, David Willard, David Yerkis, 
William Sandman, Jonathan Guy, David Lloyd, Joseph Leech, Benner 
Butcher, William Beale, Amos Dungan, Elias Y\ Marple, Isaac Cadwal- 
lader, John P. Roberts. 

Isaac Cadwallader, second sergeant, promoted to a quartermaster-ser- 
geant on the 4th inst. 

" I do certify (hat the above is a true statement, on liunor, the thir- 
teenth day of November, 1814. 

"J. T. Davis, Lientennnt.'* 
"Thomas Humphrey, Colonel First Reyiment P. V. ^." 
A true list of Captain James Robinson's company ufthe Eighteenth 

Section of riflemen, commanded by Colonel Thomas Humphrey: 
Sergeants. — Samuel Ladds, John Boggs, Samuel Maires, George Mc- 
Clelland. 
Corporala. — Andrew Kettler, Philip Koplin, John Harner, Abraham 

Gregory. 
Bugler, — Jesse Zaine. 

Privates. 
Charles Vandike, Francis Mather, Robert Carr, John Brough, 
John Hesson, Henry Deweese, Peter Raizor, Nathan Sturges, John 
Keesey, David Keesey, William Teaney, Abraham Jones, Levi Williams, 
David Daniels, William Kid, Samuel Keyser, Frederick Nuss, Joseph 
Tyson, William Keesey, Peter Betson, Philip Peters, Joseph Beard, John 
Beard, Joseph McClelland, John Hiltner, John Porter, William Craw- 
ford, Samuel Gilkey, M'illiam Griffith, William Hiltner, Nathan McCalla, 
Michael Byrne, Heurj' Kattz, Jeremiah Fogerty, Thomas Cleaver, John 
Neill, John Llewellyn, John Reed, Jacob Keesey, Peter Streeper, George 
Painter, Zachariah Davis, Frederick Clayer, John Stroud, John Fisher, 
William Mathei-s, John Gouldey, David Schmck, M'illiam Bean, John 
Saylor, John AValker, Edward McNabb, John Neill, David Rees, Ralph 
AValker, Thomas AVhiteiiuvn, Isaac Tyson, Israel Jones, John Kinsey, 
Ilezekiah Newcomb, Aaron Eaizor, Jonathan Moore, Abraham Tyson, 
Isaac Blelnor, Arthiu' Currin, Fi-ancis Hughes, Jesse Keesey, Mathew 
Neiley, John Miller, George Foster, Levi Roberts, Jacob Zieber, Conrad 
Lyde (orLeidy), Philip Lyde(orLeidy), John Conrad, Jacob Walker, John 
Royer, William Kittlei", John Hippie, John Buggs, John Vanforeen, 
Benjamin Thompson, John Mitchell, Zopher Smith, Nathan F. Zaine, 
John Boyer, Jacob Deweese, Robert Patterson. 

" I do certify that the above list is a true statement, on honor, the 13th 
day of November 1814. 

"James Robinson, Captain. 

" Thos. Humphreys, Colonel First Regiment P. V. K." 
A correct muster-roll of Captxiin George Sense nderfer's company i of 

Montgomery Rifle Greens, stationed at Camp Boileau : 
George Sensenderfer, captain ; Henry Schneider, first lieutenant; George 
Borkert, second lieutenant ; Michael Stoflit, ensign. 

1 "General Orders. 

"Philadelphia, September 28, 1814. 
"To John M. Hyneman, Esq., Adjutant- General : You will immedi- 
ately make known to Captains Jacob Tryer, John Sands, Jesse Weber and 
(ieorge Sensenderfer, conunanding vohmteer companies of riflemen from 
Montgomery County, and to Captain tieorge Hess, commanding a com- 



THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE MEXICAN WAK. 



191 



SergeaiUa. — Jacob Sinitli, Dieter Bucher, Dauiel Sniitb, George Smith. 
Corporals. — Daniel Stitzer, Jacob Sasaman, John Gilbert, Mathies Gilbert. 
PHo'iiea. 
George Smith, Jolin Yorgy, Jacob Gilbert, Peter Herpst, John Wiehn, 
Henry Linsenbigler, Jacob Reifsnider, Coniud Drease, George Dengler, 
Anthony Gilbert, John Yerger, John Deeker, John Drase, John Herpst, 
Mareks Yerger, Peter Deeker, Isaac Yerger, John Kepner, Lewis Lin.sen- 
l>igler, Daniel Swiuehard, David Swinehard, Mathies Yorgy, Conrad 
Reiguer, John Wise, Peter Hanberger, Samuel Beydenman, John Fred- 
■erick, Michael Kortz, John Erb. 

" We do certify, on honor, that the within roll exhibits a true state of 
the company commanded by Captain George Sensenderfer, and that the 
remarks set opposite the men's names are accurate and just. 
"Geoege SenSENDEKFER, Captain. 
*'Thos. Humpheev, Colonel First H. P. V. ii." 
List of non commissioned officers and privates in the Third Company, 
commanded by Captain Jacob AVentz, of the Fifty-Second Eegiment, 
First Brigade, Second Division Pennsylvania Militia, now encamped 
at Marcus Hook, under command of Lieuteuant-Colonel Conrad 
Krickbaum : 
SertjeuHts. — William Choyce, George Ellicott, Isaac B. Kmible, Jacob 

Snyder, Abel Morris. 
Corporals. — Abraham •Gunsinliouser, David Williams, Jacob Slack, 
Joseph Ashton. 

Privates. 
Henry Wilson. Charles Hanmier, William Burney, Jacob Deddier, 
James Dyer, Joseph Kyuear, Jacob Brand, Jacob Engle, John Bisbing, 
Samuel Yerkes, Jesse Ramsey, Edward 5IcCoon, Jesse Donley, John 
Barnes, Anih-ew Kreer, Israel Gilbert, Gilbert Walton, George S. Yerkes, 
John Cooker, Jacob Cammel, John Henry, Henry Foust, Michael 
Hurlougher, George Shade, George Reed, Philip Daywalt, George Jacob, 
Jacob Crouse, Daniel Bry, Israel Thomas, Elon Carmon, AVilUam Linn, 
John Henry, Henry Miller, Jesse Johnston, Richard Drake, William 
Johnston, John Uarr, John Trexler, Elias Gilkesun, John Wa»hborn, 
Jacob Kedheifer, John Getman, Samuel Wright, Abner Cope, Philip 
Smith, John Kreer, .lames Wentz, Jacob Daring, John Stetler, Isaac 
Root, Jiihn Sherer, Samuel Thatrhtr, Francis Tomliusou, John Reed, 
Samuel Lessig, Joseph Ettinger, John Bighoard, George Sholler, David 
Wambold, Edward Sweeny, Tobias Shull, Jesse Gilbert, Thomas West, 
Jacob Smith, Christian Burns, John Forker, John Weeks, William 
Roberta, Benjamin Yerkes, Henry Kreer, William Mann, Samuel Davis, 
Andrew Roberts, Charles Search, Benjamin Y'erkes, Jr., Jacob Larkins, 
Elias Harsh, John Whitman, John Haring, Peter Kolb, Matthias 
Showeck, John Morty, Henry Zeibor, Conrad Bender, Christian Long, 
James Kelly, Benjamin Valentine, Henry Grub (entered into service 
October 8th), Edward Carson, Jacob Land. 

"I certify upon honor that the foregoing is a cortect list of non- 
commissioned officers and privates under my command. 

"Jacob Wentz, Captain.'" 
"I certify, upon honor, that this muster-roll exhibits a true stjitement 
of a company of the Montgouiery County militia, of the State of Pennsyl- 
vania, now in the service of the United States, The remarks set 
opposite the names of the men are accurate and just. I believe the 
annexed to be a correct muster and pay-roll. 

" EDWARn Johnson, First Lieutenant.'" 
" CoNEAD Keickbaum, LieutcnaM-Colotiel.''* 
*' I certify that the comi>any commanded by Captain Jacob Wentz is 
in the service of the United States, under ordere of the general com- 
manding the Fourth Slilitary District. 

"Samuel Smith, Brigadier- Gener a V 
"Camp Marcus Hook." 

"Philadelphia, October 1, 1814. 
*'S^^.■ Your letter of the twenty-sixth ult. was this day received. 
There are iu and near this city, iu the counties of Philadelphia and Ches- 
ter, a considerable number of companies of cavalry, completely equipped, 

{lany from Nortbaniptoii County, that their several companies are to 

form a battalion, to be attached until further ordere to the regiment 
coiiunanded by Colonel Thomas Humphrey, and that this afternoon, be- 
tween the hours of fi-)ur and six o'clock, the officere and privates com- 
posing said battalion are to lueet at the new prison, and elect one major 
to Command the same. The commanding officers of the said companies 
to select two competent judges to preside at the election, and make re- 
tui-u thereof to the governor, that a commission may issue accordingly. 

"Simon Snvder. 
"N. B. BoiLEAU, Aid-de-Camp.'" 



and extremely auxious to be called into service. They all (like your 
company) have orders to hold themselves in readiness to march at a 
moment's warning. Your patriotism is nmch applauded, and desri-vedly 
so; but under existing circumstances, it is still thought most advisable 
that you shall not march for this place before you receive special orders. 
Tents aud other equipments for the field cannot be procured suddenly. 
It Would give the Governor much pleasure to see your company march 
as infantry for the defense uf this important section of the State. In 
that capacity you could render much more important service. Impelled, 
as was your company, from pure patriotism to otier their sei-vicee, the 
Governor entertains no doubt they will be willing to render it in any 
way likely to prove most efficient. You will find an answer to your en- 
quiries relative to the right of admission from one corps to another in 
the fifteenth section of the militia law of this Commonwealth, passed the 
twenty -eighth day of March, 1S14. 

"N. B. BoiLEATJ, Secretary.'" 
[This letter is supposed to have been written to the commanding officer 
of the First Troop of Jluntgumcry County.] 

Montgomery County Troops Serving in the 
Philadelphia Riots of 1844.— The following is the 
official roster of field, staff, line officers and enlisted 
men called into the service of the State from Mont- 
gomery County who served during the riots in Phila- 
delphia, or were on their way to "headquarters," 
under the proclamation of the Governor of the com- 
monwealth and commander-in-chief, in the year 1844. 

The citizen soldiers of Montgomery County re- 
sjionded promptly to the call of the Governor when 
the strong arm of the commonwealth was retjuired to 
repress the lawless spirit that rendered the civil au- 
thorities and the city of Philadelphia powerless in 
the summer of 1844. The fire and smoke of burning 
churches and adjoining buildings in the alarmed city 
could be plainly seen from the hills in our county, 
and many of the living still remember the sense of 
fear that wiis felt in all the towns in the Schuylkill 
Valley. The military moved promptly to the scene 
of danger, and by their presence, discipline, courage 
and good conduct soon restored order and confidence 
in the city and surrounding country. The record of 
their public service is a part of the history of Mont- 
gomery County. 

First Troop of Montgomery County Calvary. — 
The precise date when this volunteer company was 
organized cannot now be definitely determined, as 
there are no books or papers now in existence (as far 
as the writer knows) which would fix its organiza- 
tion. AVe, therefore, have to resort to the oldest 
inhabitants now living to get what we can from them 
with regard to its early history, and from information 
received we conclude that it was organized shortly 
after the war of 1812,' and may have been in exist- 
ence even prior to that time. There is yet living a 
citizen who became a member in the year 1835, whose 
father had been a member many years before that, 
so that we may safely conclude that the time before 
mentioned is about correct. The troop was then under 

I The Montgomery Troop of Light Horse, commanded by Captain 
James Morris, Esq., paiuded in the Grand Federal Procession, Phila- 
delphia, July 4, 1TS8. (Scharf and Westcott "Philadelphia History," 
vol. i. p. 44s.) This is believed by many to be the organization subse- 
quently known as the "Fix-st Troop of Montgomery County." — Ed. 



192 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the command of Captain John Mattheys of Norriton 
township, who was afterwards elected to the State 
Senate. It was known by the name of the Plrst 
Democratic Troop of Montgomery County, and 
numbered about one hundred members. The uni- 
form then was as follows : Black leather cap covered 
with bearskin, with a buck-tail on the right side; 
navy blue coatee, with scarlet breast facing, three 
rows of round silver-plated buttons about the size of 
a musket ball, one row in the centre and the other 
two on the outer edge of the scarlet facing, which 
was circular in form, silver braid around the collar ; 
navy blue pantaloons with scarlet stripe one and one- 
fourth inches wide down tlie outer seam, black cravat, 
long boots, silver-plated spurs, white buckskin 
sword-belt, which passed over the right shoulder, ex- 
tending down to the left side, witli silver-plated hooks 
by which the sword was attached, silver-plated medal 
in front, bearing upon its face the device of a mounted 
trooper, and buckskin gauntlets. The horse equip- 
ments consisted of a double bridle, with silver-plated 
curb and snaffle-bits, breast-strap with silver-plated 
breast-plate the shape of a heart ; saddle, plated 
stirrups, blue saddle-cover, covering the saddle and 
extending as far back as the hips of the horse, with 
• a stripe of red cloth one and a half inches wide 
around the outer edge. The cost of this uniform and 
horse equipments at the time the writer became a 
member (1841) was about one hundred dollars ; the 
sword and pistol holsters and other accoutrements 
were furnished by the State. 

This troop outranked all other military organiza- 
tions of the county. It may be proper to state in 
this connection that there was another military or- 
ganization, known as tlie Second Troop of Mont- 
gomery County, having about the same number of 
members, but differing from the First Troop in 
politics. Notwithstanding this difference, a general 
good feeling existed between them. Tliey formed 
themselves into a battalion and each company 
endeavored to excel the other in drill and military 
deportment. After the resignation of Captain John 
Mattheys, Jacob Scheetz, son of General Henry 
Scheetz, of Whitemarsh township, was elected captain 
How many years he continued in command is not 
known. Next in command was William Z. Mattheys, 
son of the former Captain John Slattheys, who was 
a brilliant oflicer, and the troop was in a high state 
of drill while under his command, which continued 
until about 1839. Then Robert Pollard was elected 
captain, but only served one year, when Dr. John A. 
Martin (who had been surgeon of the troop) was 
elected captain ; Adam Hurst, first lieutenant ; Henry 
G. Hart, second lieutenant ; David Z. Mattheys, first 
orderly sergeant. The troop then numbered about 
seventy-five members, and there was a general attend- 
ance at every meeting for drill. They had a high 
regard for their captain, and he in turn took pride in 
teaching them the tactics and discipline of a 



soldier. There were some changes made in the 
membership : old members who had served as volun- 
teers the required time according to the militia laws 
of the State would retire from the service and young 
men would fill their places, thus keeping the company 
up to the standard it had held for so many years. 
In the month of July, 1844, a serious riot broke out 
in the city of Philadelphia, which was beyond the 
control of the police force of the city, and the mayor 
called ujion the Governor of the State for troops to 
quell the riot. 

The first to reach the scene was a company from 
Germantown, who were badly handled by the rioters 
on Sunday night, some being killed and many 
wounded. On jNIonday, about noon. Captain Martin 
received orders from the Governor to proceed with 
the troop to the city, and, although the members lived 
scattered over the middle and lower section of the 
county, by eight o'clock of the same evening nearly 
every member reported for duty (many of them, being 
farmers, had to leave their crops unharvested). At 
one o'clock the next morning they commenced their 
march for the city, arriving at the outskirts about 
daybreak. Many of the rougher classes shouted at 
them as they passed on to the headquarters of Gen- 
eral Patterson, who was in command of all the mili- 
tary, his headquarters being in the Girard Bank, on 
Third Street, near Dock. The troop was ordered to 
quarters at Douglass' Hotel, on Sixth Street, and were 
ordered to report at headquarters three times each 
day, — at nine in the morning, two in the afternoon and 
seven in the evening. They stood in line in front of 
the bank in the scorching sun of July, with the privi- 
lege of dismounting and standing by their horses, a» 
it was ex])ected every hour that an attack would besj 
made at some point by the rioters. This routine o: 
duty continued from Tuesday until Saturday night, 
when it was thought there would be no further dis- 
turbance of the peace. The troop was, therefore, at 
five o'clock dismissed to await further orders, but w£ 
not required to report at seven, as had been the customJ 
Couseciuently the members availed themselves of the 
opportunity of seeing something of the city, and were 
scattered about at different places. But about eigh^ 
o'clock an officer from headquarters rode with 
orders to mount immediately and report to Gen- 
eral Patterson, as there was an attack made at the* 
Moyamensiug Prison to release some of the prist 
oners. The alarm spread all over the city, and therflf 
was a rally for boots and saddles and mount, and in a 
very short time every member was in his place ready 
for service. As the troop reached Third Street they 
found the street packed with people in front of General 
Patterson's headquarters and extending up and down; 
several squares. The sentinels in front of the bank; 
were unable to keep the crowd back, but as the 
column pressed on, the people gave way, and aj 
passage was cleared in front of the bank and thel 
crowd began to diminish. 



7 



THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE MEXICAN WAR. 



193 



The next order was that the First Troop, together 
with Captain Archamliault's troop from Bucks County, 
should proceed to the prison to ascertain tlie state of 
affairs tliere. When tlie ]irison was reached, some of 
the officers rode forward and found that it was a false 
alarm. The troops returned to headquarters and re- 
ported all quiet. They were then dismissed for the 
night, and, as there was no fiirther outbreak, all were 
discharged on the following Tuesday and returned to 
their homes. At the commencement of thp Mexican 
war Captain Martin proposed to offer the services of 
the troop to the government, but a number of mem- 
bers refused to accede to the proposition. Many 
withdrew, and shortly after Dr. Martin resigned and 
went to California. Lieutenant Hurst was elected 
captain, but the membership declined very much and 
was on the eve of disbanding when Dr. Martin re- 
turned from California. There was a proposition to 
re-elect him, when Ca])tain Hurst withdrew altogether 
from the troop, which was then reorganized by the 
election of Dr. ,T. A. Martin, captain; H. C. Hoover, 
first lieutenant ; and Jacob Hoover, second lieutenant. 
The uniform was also changed to the following: 
Beaver cap ornamented with horsehair plume and 
eagle in front, buff cord and tassels; blue coat, with 
buff collar, cuffs and skirt facings, oval buttons (yel- 
low); sky-blue pantaloons, with a buff stripe down the 
outer seam one and one-fourth inches wide, black 
cravat, long boots, yellow spurs and white sword-belt 
with plate in front. The horse equipments were similar 
to the former, except yellow mounting was used in- 
stead of silver-jdated. Many of the old members re- 
fused to equip themselves in the new uniform, but 
the ranks were soon filled by new members without 
regard to politics, as the Second Troop had disbanded, 
and, according to the fourth article of the constitu- 
tion adopted, any white male person of good moral 
character between the ages of eighteen and forty-five 
would be eligible to membership, but must receive 
the vote of two-thirds of the members i)resent at the 
meeting when proposed, provided a majority of the 
members be present at such meeting. The members 
were nearly equally divided politically, and the same 
military deportment characterized the membership 
which had always heretofore made it respected 
wherever it i)araded. 

Charles Thomson Jones, of Roxborough, captain 
of the Roxborough troop, extended an invitation to 
the First Troop of Montgomery County to jiarticipate 
in the unveiling of the monument erected in the 
Leverington Cemetery inniemory of Virginia soldiers 
of the Revolutionary war who were surprised and 
bayoneted while asleep by a squad of British soldiers 
sent by a Tory. The troop accepted the invitation 
and participated in the ceremonies. General Patter- 
son and several other prominent military men were 
present. 

At the opening of hostilities of the civil war a meet- 
ing was ordered by the captain, and the question of 
13 



offering the services of the troop was discussed. Several 
of the members concluded that it was impossible for 
them to leave their families and farms (and it was com- 
posed largely of farmers), and when the vote was 
taken it was a tie. It is but proper to state in this 
connection that this was not a party vote, but each 
member voted as he viewed his own private circum- 
stances, and although the troop did not go as then 
organized, many of the single men volunteered in 
other companies and several lost their lives on battle- 
fields. Owing to the continuation of the war and the 
members enlisting in other military organizations, 
the troop disbanded after an existence of about fifty 
years. 

FIRST TRl.lOP 3I0XTG0MERY COUNTY CAVALRY. 

John A. Martin, captain ; Adam Hurst, second lieutenant. 
yon-Comm>ssioti€d Officers, Mu^iicians ami Privates, 

William Bickins, Henry Baker, James Burnsides, Samuel Beyer, Rich- 
ard Bickins, George Burkhoinier, Samuel Beideman, Joseph Bruner, 
Jesse Beau, Joseph Cleaver, Henry Culp, Levi Cope, I'hilip Custer, 
George Cowden, Lemuel Eai^tburn, Amos Erb, Benuet Fulmer, Allen 
Fleck, Philip S. Gerheard, I'tter Gilbert, FranklinGouIdy, Joseph Hague, 
Daniel S. Heist, .Jacob Highly, James Highly, Jacob Hallnutn, Hiram C. 
Hoover, Jacob Hoover, Andrew Hart, George Hoof, Jacob Hurst, David 
Lukens, William Logan, Samuel Lightcap, David Z. Matheys, William 
Martin, Charles Newman, El wood Norney, Isaiah Richards, George Sen- 
senderfer, Conrad Shive, William Teany, John W'aiker, George H. Wentz. 

SECOND TROOP MONTGOMERY COUNTY CAVALRY. 

Richard A. Edey, captain ; Henry S. Hitncr, first lieutenant ; John 
Wentz, second lieutenant. 

Non-CommisBioiied Officers, Mtisicinns and Privates. 

John Foulke, surgeon ; Charles T. Rogers, cornet ; Abram Weaver, 
first sergeant; John I. Kersey, quartermaster; William H. Cress, 
trumpeter. 

Isaac Bell, George W. Bisbing, Lephemia Bolton, Moulton C. R. Dager, 
Mark Dehaven, Allen Dunehower, William H. Eder, Henry Edey, .\n- 
drew Famous, George Famous, (liarles Fisher, George W. Fisher, Jere- 
miah Freas, Walton Freas, William Fratt, .\leKander Fulton, William 
Gilmore, Charles Hallowell, George B. Hampton, Stacey Haines, George 
W. Henderson, William Hiltner, Jacob Hinkle, Septimus W.Jones, John 
P. Knapp, David Livergood, William M. Lukens, Isaac Markley, William 
Michener, Edward Preston, Ross Rambo, Reuben Y". Ramsey, Edward 
Rhine, Anderson Stewart, Charles Stewart, Slark Supplee, George W^ 
Supplee, Thouiiis Tomliuson, Washington Ull'ich, Charles Weak, Abram 
Weutz, Thomas H. Wentz, Mordecai Dehaven. 

UNION GREY ARTILLERISTS. 
Nicholas K. Shoemaker, (commanding), first lieutenant ; George Lower, 
Solomon Katz, second lieutenants. 

Non-Commissioned Officers, 'Musicians and Privates. 
Samuel H. -\iman, Charles Aiman, Samuel ,\rnistrong, Robert .Arthur, 
John Bickel, Jacob Bisbing, Joshua Copelberger, Charles Donat, Chris- 
tian Donat, Robert Francis, Charles Gerhart, Eli Hoover, Adam Hoffman, 
Stephen Haley, W'illiani Knipe, Joseph Kline, Christopher Keyser, Dan- 
iel Keyser, Edward Lower, Christojiher Lower. Henry Lower, Joseph 
Mengesser, John Peterman, Edmund Stout, Peter Stott, Joseph Simmons, 
Charles Sh.aflfer, Jonathan Shaffer, John Shaffer, Christopher Smith, 
Samuel Van Winkle. 

THE FIRST NATIONAL DR.iGO0NS. 
Daniel Fry, captain ; Theodore Garber, first lieuteimnt ; Dr. William 
B. Hahn, surgeon. 

Xon-Comniissioited Officers, Sfusicvntsand Privates. 
Abraham W. Beard, first sergeant; Frederick M. Graff, quartennas- 
ter-sergeant ; Uriah Grubb, cornet ; Henry Kline, musician ; John H. 
.\shenfelter, Frederick Emery, Peter Fry, William S. Gilbert, John 
Razor, Ephraim A. Schwenk, Jacob Walt, Frederick W^eideroder, Adam 
Y'erger, William Evans, William Fisher, Rudolph Mauck, George Swell, 
Charles D. Smith, Charles Williams, John Wismer. 



iy4 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



NEW HANOVER ABTILLBBISTS. 

Fi'ederick Bruiidlinger, captain ; Solomon Stetler, first lieutenant ; Solo- 
mon Bretuilingor, second lieutenant, 

Noii-C'oiiimisiiioue'i Officers, Musicians and Privates. 

Peter Y. Brendlinger, James Havbst, Benjamin Bushong, Jacob 
Feather, Samuel JMowrer, Daniel Polsgrove, Jacob Binder, George Dan- 
gler, Henry Decker, Deiler Bushong, Henry Newman, George BUUer, 
Solomon Kurtz, Isiuic Saylor, Aaron Polsgrove, John Stichler, Philip 
Koons, Francia Garber, Tbomas Stichler, Joseph Chnstman, William 
Egolf. 

GOSCHENHOPPEN GRAYS. 

Henry H. Dolts, laplain; JIartin Mager, first lieutenant; Samuel 
Welker, second lieutenant. 

Non-Commissioned Officeis, Musicians and Privates. 

Daniel Urffbr, Junatlian Gerg, Henry Mock, William Graber, John 
Hersch, Jonathan Roeder, Reuben Gerg, John Mock, Charles Nuss, 
Matthias Rummel, John P, Reifsnyder, John Dotts, Ezra Brey, Jesse 
Gerg, Jesse Pannebecker, William Hei-sch, Josepli Hersch, Jacob Hoff- 
man, Edward Styer, George Seaslioltz, William Sell, George Erb. 

[In this return the name of Jonathan Roeder is returned as having 

served as a private. The services were performed by Stabler, as 

will appear by the muster-roll made at the time of service. The reason 
for returning the name of Roeder is that he is a member of the company, 
and empkiyed Stabler, who is not a member, as a substitute to serve for 
him, and the transaction being between themselves, the company recog- 
nized ouly Roeder ; his name is returned for the compensation,] 

WASHINGTON GRAY ARTILLERISTS. 

Jesse B. Davis, captaiu ; David Trucksess, first lioutenant. 

Non-Connnieeioned Officers, Musiciana and Privates. 
Andrew Allcbough, Adam Ashenfelter, John 31. Bean, Jacob Bur- 
kimer, John Coulston, Cephas Davis, Albert Dehaven, Theophilus Dew- 
ecse, Peter Fry, Abraham Foust, Henry W. Foust, Jacob Gotwala, Wil- 
liam Gillis, Daniel Green, David Gouhiy, Joseph Keel, James McBride, 
John Nungesser, George Niblo, Philip Peters, John Richardson, William 
Roberts, William Royer, Joseph Reese, William B. Shupe, Thomas Sny- 
der, Francis A. Sperry, Bernard Streeper, William Smith, Henry Soniera, 
William Wise, Peter Wagoner, Ezekiel Williams, Lewis Ulman. 

MONTGOMERY GUARDS. 
Henry Freedley, captain ; Thomas W. Potts, fii-st lieutenant ; William 
B. Hahn, second lieutenant. 

Non-Co7nmissioned tifficers. Musicians and Privates. 

Ellis Aker, John (Jarl, Frederick Conrad, Isaiah W. Davis, John Erby 
Joseph Fulforth, Samuel Groff, Frederick Haas, Thomas Hastin, Spencer 
Hutnot, Luther Kennedy, Joiin Keeler, George Keen, Philip S. Kirk, 
John K. Major, James Moyer, Edward Magee, James fllendenhull, Jacob 
Murry, Jonathan Poutzler, Benedict D. Potts, William Rapine, James W. 
Schrack, John Shanor, Lewis Sickel, Florence Sullivan, I. Lewis 
Worrell. 

SUMNEYTOWN ARTILLERISTS. 

John D. Apple, captain ; Jesse Feustermacher, second lieutenant. 

Nvn-Commissioned Officers, Musicians and Privates. 

Jacob Gilbert, George Gaugler, William Gilbert, Daniel Hefner, 

Charles Uersli, Henry Hersh, John Hunnnel, John Kepp, Henry Nace, 

John Royer, Christian Royer, Tobi;is Schuyler, John Schuyler, William 

Sheffer. 

LAFAYETTE BLUES. 

George I. WiiliaTus, captain ; Charles Gerheart, first lietenant. 
Non- Com missioned Officers, Musicians and Privates. 

Daniel McClelland, firat sergeant; George Nuss, second sergeant* 
Lewis Hollnmn, third sergeant; Joseph Stackbouse, fourth uergeanti 
Francis Kehr, Jesse B. Fisher, musicians; Joseph Booze, Gideon Beck, 
George Buwers, Thomas Betting, Nathan Barnes, George Brownboltz 
Isaac Brant, Charles Brittain, George Cramar, Isaac Daves, William 
Frantz, John Foster, Joseph Hannabury, Daniel Heller, Richard Jack- 
aon, William Kesell, Azor Kerbaugh, John Mattbi;is, Peter Jliller, John 
Nuss, Frederick Nash, George W. Nanneth, Francis Ott, Lewis Ott, Pat- 
rick RodgeiTi, Sanniel Seddinger, Samuel Snyder, Charles Sniitli, William 
Trexler, Jeremiah Trexler, Josiah Widener, William Winkler, privates. 

[Joraim Engleman, second lieutenant of the company, mwched with 
the company as far as Eighth and Market Streets, and then returned to 
his homo. He was not reported at headquartei*s. 



Isaac Daves had a severe attack of camp-fever after he . eturued home 
and lay for many weeks in a vei-y dangerous condition. John Foster 
was never well after his return. He died in the month of February.] 

PENNSYLVANIA DEFENDERS. 

Samuel Bradford, captaiu ; Henry (fNeal, first lieuteuant. 
Xon- Commissioned Officers, Musicians and Privates. 

BL-ittbias Y. Sheffey, first sergeant ; Isaac Arb, second sergeant ; Josiah 
Cbiistman, Jonas Yost, James Christman, nnisicians ; Jtibn Rees, George 
Sheetz, Joseph Moyer, Joseph T. Miller, William Benter, George Ben- 
ter, Isiiac Linderman, Joshua Smith, Eli Siiallkap, Oliver Kugler, John 
Smith, Jacob Hettlefinger, Benjaoiin F. Yost, Daniel Sballkap, William 
Boyer, Samuel Keeley, James Barlow, James Liiiderman,'Rcuben Moyer, 
Edward Kucher, Jeroine Ruth, privates. 

UNION RIFLE COMPANY, UPPER DUBLIN. 
Robert Pollard, captain ; Yincent P. Jlontanua, first lieutenant ; Silas 
A. Cope, second lieutenant. 

Non- Commissioned Officers, Musicians and Privates. 
Jacob Hess, Thomas P. Bright, George Ruahon, Frederick Green, 
Josiah A. Bright, Michael Dougherty, William George, Allen Thomas, 
George Shuster, William Acuff', Joseph Stillwell, Henry Shaffer, Jacob 
Shaffer, Abraham Lightcap, Blartin Jones, William Neeman, James Mc- 
Adams, Lewis Langdale, Daniel Gilbert, Geoi-ge A. Henk, Jacob Hoff- 
man, Chai'les Stillwell, Samuel Evans, John Weeks. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Non-Com. 
Com. Officers 

Officers. and Men. 

Firet Troop Cavalry 2 44 

Second Troop Cavalry 3 48 

Union Grey Artillerists 3 31 

First National Dragoons 3 20 

New Hanover Artillerists 3 21 

Gi'schenhoppen Grays 3 22 

Washington Gray Artillerists 2 34 

JIuntgumery Guards . 3 27 

Sumueytown Artillerists 2 14 

Lafayette Blues 2 38 

Pennsylvania Defenders 2 26 

Union Rifle Company 3 24 

Total 31 349 

The Mexican War. — There was no company or 

regimental organization from Montgomery County 
that took part in the Mexican war ; no publication 
of the names of those volunteering from the county 
has been preserved. Among those who entered the 
service of the United States at the time from Mont- 
gomery County was Andrew H. Tippen. He was ap- 
pointed and commissioned fir.st lieutenant in the 
Eleventh Regiment of United States Infantry, and 
served with distinction. He survived the conflict, and 
served as colonel in the Kegiment of Pennsylvania 
Volunteers during the great Rebellion. George Lower 
and his brother, Henry Lower, of Springfield town- 
ship, served as volunteers. 

Henry died the first day of the battle of Cerro 
Gordo of brain-fever, and was buried at " Plan Del 
Rio," or the River of the Plains. His remains were 
subsequently brought home by his brother George, 
and interred in the graveyard at St. Thomas' Episco- 
pal Church, Whitemarsh. Joseph Cleaver and 
Michael Dougherty were enlisted in the Mountain 
Howitzer Battery. Cleaver is dead, and the present 
residence of Dougherty is unknown. Benjamin 
Ehler, of Montgomery County,enIisted in the Eleventh 
Regular Infantry, and still survives a resident of 
Springfield township. 

Louis Monsert enlisted in the Second Pennsylvania 



THE GKEAT KEBELLION. 



195 



Regiment, and survives. He is at this time a resi- 
dent of Norristown, Pa. Mr. Monsert enlisted from 
Beading, Berlcs County, Pa. Albert Artliur enlisted 
and served in the same command with George and 
Henry Lower. He also survives, and is at this date 
a resident of Montgomery township. There are 
doubtless a number of others who served their 
country in this war, from Montgomery County, but 
no record of them or their services is obtainable. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



TilE GREAT REBELLION. 



The violent conflict of political opinion which cul- 
minated in a breach of the public peace on the 19th 
of April, 18G1, was sectional in its character. The 
cause which evoked the long and acrimonious dis- 
cussion involved a S3'stem of civilization with ques- 
tionable commercial values, and the overthrow of 
domestic institutions to which the people of the 
Southern States had become attached by interest, in- 
clination and climate. An " irrepressible conflict " 
suddenly became an " impending crisis," followed by 
the shock of arms. Northern statesmen of rare 
sagacity and long experience in public life were blinded 
by their delusive hopes, and predicted a short struggle 
and easy triumph over the insurgents. The haughty 
and impetuous spirit of Southern leaders underrated 
the sturdy manhood and marvelous resources of the 
North, and, with more zeal than prudence, precipitated 
hostilities, the magnitude of which awakened the civ- 
ilized powers of the world to tlie importance of the 
conflict. Both sections sadly failed in their estimate 
of the relative strength and endurance of the combat- 
ants. The South obtained an early advantage in the 
first battles fought, and entitled themselves to the 
rights of belligerents, compelling the national govern- 
ment to treat with them as equals in war. The 
doctrine of a peaceable dissolution of the national 
government, intended by its founders to be perpet- 
ual, was strangely confounded with the rights of rev- 
olution, and dissenting minorities, to fatally obstruct 
the popular will as expressed by the national legisla- 
ture, naturally took refuge behind the indefinite 
reserved powers of the States. A well-marked differ- 
ence of opinion always existed in reference to the 
Constitution of the United States, and interpretations 
of the fundamental law by courts of last resort were 
not always accepted by the people as final. Early 
instances of the spirit of revolt, incident to all new 
forms of government, were experienced in the Shay 
Rebellion of 1784, in the Whiskey Insurrection of 
1791, the Hartford Convention of 1 814 and the at- 
tempted nullification of 1833. Slight wrongs, real or 
imaginary, such as induced violence and resistance to 



the existing government, readily yielded to wise coun- 
cils and the prompt suppressive measures of the 
national government. But when a great evil, such as 
the enslavement of four millions of human beings, 
became a subject of political controversy, sectionaliz- 
ing thirty millions of people; the North uncompro- 
mising in its hostility to the institution, the South 
wedded to it ; the North insisting, by its majorities, 
upon union and universal freedom, the South fiercely 
maintaining the right to peacably secede and estab- 
lish a rival republic, — these conflicting theories, 
agitated by astute statesmen through a formation 
period of fifty years, without significant or well settled 
precedent, — in view of such a contention, it will not, 
perhaps, be the subject of historical amazement that 
amicable adjustment defied the best efforts of political 
economists, and that brutal and terrible agencies of 
war were necessarily invoked to settle the disinite and 
vindicate the right. 

The i)art taken by the people of Montgomery 
County during the four years' hostilities will possibly 
never be fully told. The novel and exciting ex- 
perience of those who responded to the first call of 
President Lincoln for three months' troops was 
memorable, if not so important as that which resulted 
from the long terras of enlistments following the dis- 
aster at Bull Run on the 21st day of July, 18G1. The 
great uprising of the North which quickly succeeded 
the fall of Fort Sumter was a national impulse, and 
the movement of men to the defense of the capital 
was through an excited and indignant populace. Crreat 
as the perils of war were known to be, they were 
extravagantly nuignified at the time, and the anxiety 
and solicitude for those who were the first to march 
was shown by every household in the county. Few 
among those who witnessed the memorable scene of the 
departure of the Fourth Regiment of Pennsylvania 
Volunteers from Norristown, on the morning of April 
20, 1861, will ever forget the event. The several 
companies from the borough had been hastily re- 
cruited to their maximum. Many of the members 
being residents of the rural districts, had hastened to 
town, signed the roll, and, returning to bid the dear 
ones good-by, thoroughly aroused the plain country- 
folks, hundreds of whom came trooping into town, 
"to see them off." 

Fort Sumter had fallen, its brave defenders had 
gallantly resisted the skillfully devised preparations 
made for its reduction, the flag of our country had 
been shot down, and although not a single man of the 
garrison had been killed, yet the loyal manhood of 
the North felt that the great wrong and insult must 
be promptly avenged. No response to country's call 
was ever more promptly made by more patriotic men 
than those who filled the first quota of seventy-five 
thousand troops. True it is, in the light of the ter- 
rible struggle that subsequently ensued, the service 
now seems inconsiderable, but history will always 
accord to those who were first in the field of peril a 



196 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



distinguished honor. Those who were present when 
the regiment was in line in front of the court-house 
surrounded by thousands of our best citizens and the 
families of those in the ranks, will recall the intense 
excitement that jjrevailed. Th6 painful solicitude of 
the hour was deepened as the impassioned and elo- 
quent words of the Hon. Daniel Smyser, then presi- 
dent judge of the district, fell upon attentive ears 
from the steps of the court-yard. The word couiUry 
had a new and deeper significance for the men of that 
generation than was ever felt before. The beautiful 
flag presented to these gallant men by the ladies of the 
county was felt to symbolize hopes and interests 
paramount to all other considerations, and for the 
time being all difference of political opinion was sub- 
ordinated to an exalted love of country. Men of all 
political oi)inions were requested to " put out their 
flags," and it is due to truth to say that in deference 
to public sentiment, that stood not upon trifles, the 
request was complied with. The youth and manhood 
of the county were well represented in the rank and 
file of the command, and after receiving the public 
assurance of magistrate and people that their conduct 
was commended, and come what might, they would 
receive the hearty support of their friends, they 
wheeled into column, and to the quick time of stir- 
ring martial music, amidst the ringing of bells, the 
cheers of thousands of men, and tokens of love and 
admiration of their devoted countrywomen, they 
marched through the town to Bridgeport, where they 
took the cars for Harrisburg. The following con- 
densed statement contains the material i'acts of the 
short experience of the organization : 

Fourth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. — 
The Fourth Volunteer Regiment originated in the 
First Regiment, Second Brigade, Second Division of 
the State militia, organized under the militia act of 
1858. It consisted of six companies and had a full 
regimental organization, the officers holding State 
commissions. In response to the call of the Presi- 
dent, a public meeting was held at Norristown, Mont- 
gomery Co., on the 10th of April, at which the feeling 
of patriotic devotion to the cause of the government 
was emphatically displayed, and resolutions were 
passed pledging assistance to the families of such as 
volunteered. On the following day the services of 
the militia regiment were tendered to the Governor for 
the term of three months, and were accepted on con- 
dition that the command would report in Harrisburg 
within four days. The officers immediately com- 
menced the enrollment of recruits, and at the expira- 
tioa of the time appointed some six hundred men 
from Montgomery County and vicinity were ready 
to move. 

The excitement and gloom incident to their de- 
parture can only be felt by a people unused to war. 
All business was suspended, and the whole population 
appeared upon the streets. Flags were provided by 
the ladies of Norristown, which were presented with 



appropriate ceremonies. On Saturday, April 20th, 
the command proceeded by rail to Harrisburg, and 
reached Camp Curtin at two o'clock P.M. It w;is the 
intention to have remained in camp till a sufiicient 
number of men could have been procured Irom Mont- 
gomery County to fill the regiment to its maximum 
number; but the urgent necessities of the govern- 
ment rendered this purpose impracticable, and orders 
were issued to form a regiment immediately from 
such companies as were in caniji. This order had the 
effect to change the command from a militia to a 
volunteer organization. 

An election was accordingly held, which resulted 
in the choice of the same field officers as those hold- 
ing the militia commissions, which were as follows: 
John F. Hartranft, of Norristown, colonel ; Edward 
Schall, of Norristown, lieutenant-colonel; Edwin 
Schall, of Norristown, major. Charles Hunsicker was 
appointed adjutant. 

Scarcely was the organization completed when 
marching orders were received. Leaving Camp Cur- 
tin im the evening of the 21st of April, the regiment 
proceeded by rail to Philadelphia, where it was 
ordered by General Patterson to rejjort to Colonel 
Dare, of the Twenty-third. Taking one company of 
his own and the Fourth Regiment, Colonel Dare 
proceeded by rail to Perryville, Md., and took posses- 
sion of the town, making such disposition of the troops 
as would prevent a surprise. 

On the following day General Patterson ordered 
the regiment to proceed without delay to Washington. 
Immediate ajiplication was made to Colonel Dare for 
transportation by steamer to Annapolis, the route by 
Baltimore being then closed. Not feeling secure from 
capture. Colonel Dare imh' gave transportation for 
one wing of the regiment, which embarked under 
command of Colonel Hartranft. Arriving at Annap- 
olis, the troops were disembarked and quartered in 
the buildings belonging to the Naval Academy, by 
order of Major-General Butler, then in command of 
the town. The left wing, under command of Major 
Schall, was detained several days at Perryville for 
the security of the port. 

It was expected that the men would be fully clothed, 
armed and equipped at Harrisburg before marching. 
But when the urgent appeals came from Washington 
for troops, it was not the time for the patriotic citizen- 
soldier to hesitate, and the regiment marched without 
uniforms or equipments, the men being armed with 
muskets, and provided with ammunition, which they 
were obliged to carry in their pockets. Clothing was 
sent to the regiment on the 28th of April, but not until 
some time in June were proper uniforms supplied. 
In pursuance of orders, the regiment proceeded, on 
the 8th of May, to Washington, and was quartered in 
the Assembly buildings and in a church near by. 
Transportation and camp and garrison equipage not 
having been supplied by the State or national govern- 
ment, the regiment was prevented from going into 




UEN. JXO. F. HAKTKAXFT. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



197 



camp. The close confluement of the men in crowded 
quarters soon prochiccd its legitimate results. Sick- 
ness, which, .up to this time, had been scarcely known 
in the regiment, now began to prevail to a considera- 
ble extent. As soon as tents were received it was at 
once established in camp, about two miles from the 
city, toward Bladcnsburg. When the necessary equip- 
age was furnished regimental drills and inspections 
were commenced, and vigorous measures taken to 
make the regiment effective. On the 24th of June it 
was ordered to Alexantbia, in anticipation of an attack 
by the enemy, and was soou after placed in camp on 
Shuter's Hill, where the regular drills and inspections 
were resumed. 

On Sunday, June 30th, at two o'clock in the morn- 
ing, the pickets of the regiment, stationed on the old 
Fairfax road, under command of Lieutenant M. R. Mc- 
Clennan, were attacked by about thirty of the enemy. 
They were repulsed by our pickets, only three in num- 
ber, who killed Sergeant Haines, previously a clerk in 
the Treasury Department at Washington. Threeothers 
of our pickets on the outer post, intending to go to the 
rescue of their comrades, came in contact with the en- 
emy's force, in which Thomas Murray was killed and 
Llewelyn Rhumer was severely wounded. The third, 
dropping upon the ground, escaped without injury, 
the enemy, in the excitement and darkness, passing 
over him. The trails of blood, discovered in the 
morning, showed that they had likewise sutlercd in 
the encounter. 

The evidences on every hand jiointcd unmistakably 
to an early advance of the army. Inspections were 
careful and minute. All surplus baggage was sent to 
the rear, together with knapsacks and overcoats, the 
men retaining only their blankets. The Fourth Regi- 
ment was assigned to the First Brigade, Third Divi- 
sion' of McDiiwell's array. The division moved from 
camp by the Fairfax road, reaching Sangster's Station 
on Thursday evening. The enemy set fire to his 
stores and retreated, as the column advanced. Firing 
was heard in the direction of Blackburn's Ford, occa- 
sioned by Colonel Richardson's reconnoissance in that 
direction. On Friday the division moved to Centre- 
ville, where the entire army of McDowell lay en- 
camped. On Saturday, the 20th of July, the question 
of muster out was freely agitated, the term of enlist- 
ment expiring on the following day. Desirous of re- 
taining the regiment in his command till the antici- 
pated battle shciuld be fought. General McDowell 
issued an order, making the following appeal: 

"The General commanding h.as learned with regret that the time of 
eervice of the Fourth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer^ is about to 

1 Organization of First Brigade Colonel W. B. Fi-anklin, Third Division, 
Colonel S. P. Heintzelman (the three brigades of the division were 
commanded respectively by Colonels W B. Franlilin, 0. 0. Howard and 
0. B. Wilcox).— Ric'.et's Battery of the First United States .\rtillery ; 
Fifth Regiment BIa:aacliusette Volunteers, Colonel Lawrence ; Eleventh 
Begiment Massacl- usetts Volunteers, Colonel Clark ; First Regiment 
Minnesota Volun'eers, Colonel Gorman ; Fourth Regiment Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers Colonel Uartranft. 



expire. The services of the regiment have been so important, its 
good conduct so general, its patience under privation so constant, its 
state of efficiency so good, that its departure at this time can only be 
considered an important loss to the army. Fully recognizing the right 
of the regiment to its discharge and payment, at the time agreed upon, 
the agreement of the government in this respect, the General command- 
ing, nevertheless, requests the regiment tv continue in service for a few 
days longer, pledging that the time of muster out of service shall not 
exceed two weeUs. Such membei-s of the regiment, as do not accede to 
this request will be placed under the conunand of proper oflicei-s, to be 
marched to the rear, mustered out of service, and paid, as soon as 
possible, after the expiration of the term of service." 

Differences of opinion prevailed in the regiment 
upon the question of comjjliance with this request. 
While many were willing to re-enlist for two weeks 
longer, some were desirous of being mustered out in 
accordance with their contract with the government. 
When it was ascertained that unanimity of sentiment 
was not likely to be secured, it was decided by the 
commanding general that to break up the organiza- 
tion and to take a fragment of the regiment into battle 
would not be prudent ; orders were accordingly issued 
for its muster out of service. Several causes conspired 
to create an aversion to remaining. The regiment had 
been subject, during its service, to hardships which 
are, perhaps, inseparable from new and hasty organi- 
zation, but which bore somewhat heavily upon the 
men, adetail of which it is unnecessary here to give. It 
was at a time, too, when great activity prevailed in the 
organizati<jn of new regiments for the three years' 
service, the officers of this regiment having already 
taken steps for making new organizations, in which 
consideralsle strife was manifested to get the trained 
men. Their decision was, accordingly, made more 
with reference to their own advantage and that of 
their officers than to any ulterior results. 

Gcueral McDowell, when he found himself defeated 
in the battle which ensued, looking about for some 
causes to which he could attribute his failure, towards 
the close of his official report drags in this regiment 
for a share of blame, to whose service he had no more 
rightful claim, and whose conduct he could no more 
justly censure, than that of the regiment a week or a 
month earlier discharged. 

The subsequent history of the men composing this 
regiment dispels any doubt that may, at the time, 
have been raised of the rectitude of their intentions 
Under the command of the lieutenant colonel, it 
marched to Washington, from whence it was taken by 
rail to Harrisburg, where it was soon after mustered 
out of service. But measures were immediately taken 
for the organization of new regiments, in which the 
men immediately enlisted for the war, and fully 
attested on the bloody fields of Fredericksburg and 
Antietam, and in numberless hard-fought battles of 
the war, their patriotism and their valor. 

The colonel of the regiment (since major general), 
John F. Hartranft, desiring to remtiin with the army 
of McDowell, offered his services, and was assigned to 
duty on the staff of Colonel Franklin, commanding 
the First Brigade. In the terrible ordeal to which the 
division of Heintzelman was exposed, and when the 



198 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



i 



regiments were broken and disorganized by the heat 

•of the enemy's fire, Colonel Hartninft rendered inval- 
uable aid in holding the men to their duty, and in 
rallying the regiments which had been thrown into 
confusion. 

Captain CdoIc, of Company K, also remained, serv- 
ing on the staff of Colonel David Hunter, and was 
ofHcially commended for his gallantry. 

FIELD AND STAFF OFFICERS. 
Joliii F. Huitranft, col. ; Edwitrd Scliall, col. ; E»lwiii SlIiuII, inaj. ; 
Charles Hutieiiker, iidjt. ; W. H. Yerkes, q in. ; James B. Dunlaii, smj;. ; 
Charles W. Koilgt-ra, assist .-surg. ; T. W. fllcDaiiiels, cluipl. ; JIaitin 
Malony, sergt.-maj. ; William M. Mintzer, q.m.-scjrgt. 

REGIMENTAL BAND. 

D. II. StubbU'bine (leaiier), Edmiinil Smith, Alfred Caldwell, Samuel 
Weis, George Evans, Daniel Ruch, Ephraim Hale, James Lungau, J:icoh 
F. Ganger, Alplieim Mixell, Jolm Petermau, Andrew Peteruian, Ham- 
mond Winters, William Gibsuu. 

COMPANY A. 

Becniited at Norriatown, Mi>ntgumery Co. Mustered in April 20,1861. 
William J. Bolton, capt. ; Joseph K. Bolton, 1st lieut. ; William S. Ens- 
ley, 2d lieut. ; Abraham L. Ortlip, 3d lieut. ; George W. Guss, Ist aei'gt. ; 
Jolin A. Wills, 2d sergt. ; Thomas B. Garner, lid sergt, ; William T. 
Robei-ta, 4th sergt. ; Samuel S. Fries, 1st corp. ; George Keen, 2d corp. ; 
C. Jones Iredell, :Jd Corp. ; Charles A. Yost, 4th corp. ; William A. Lam- 
bert, Samuel G. Doud, nnisicians. 

Prit^ales. 
Samuel Aikens, John Brookes, Edwin Boyer, David D. Bath, Benjamin 
Banks, George T. ('arpentcr, George Culp, John Deem, James M. Doiid, 
George W. Dehavi-n, William C. Ensley, William P. Earle, Jonathan T. 
Ely, Jonathan H. Ellis, Augustus Feather, John P. Fitzgerald, Cliarles H. 
Fitzgerald, Sylvester Garner, Theodore Gilbert, Abraham Hiirtranft, 
Joseph Holt, John Jordan, John M. Juhuson, 3[a.jor L. .Iciikins, Jolui 
Jones, Benjamin F. Knipe, lU-ury S. Kclley, John S. Kelley, Thomas 
Kelley, Abraham H. Kirkbride, John Kanause, George H. Kulp, Elijah 
Lewis, Mirhael Lightcap, John S. Moore, William L. Mather, Joseph Jt. 
Moyer, William McCoy, James McCartney, William B. Nungesser, Reeso 
Pugh, John Iticbards, Robert Roberts, George M. Randall, Thomas J. 
ReifT, Jai-ob Robbins, John ShofTner, George W, Shoffner. John Y.Shain- 
line, 5Iifflin Smediey, James C. Saylor, Josiab SayJor, Charles Suteh, 
Henry H. Sbainliue, Abraham B. Sutcb, Jacob R. Stepliens, James 
Spencer, Heniy S. Smith, .\dani R. Slemmer, Tbt*oih)re Selah, Isaiah 
Smedley, Valentine Srhrack, Mathias T. Server, William H. Shamline, 
Benjamin Thomjwon, Henry Tippen. 

C031PANY B. 

Recruited at Norristown, Montgomery Co. Mustered in April 20, 1861, 
Robert E. Taylor, capt. ; Thomas Magee, Ist lieut. ; M. Robert l^lTIen- 
nan, 2d lieut.; Lane S. Hart, 1st sergt. ; William H. Griftitii, 2d sergt. ; 
Loren/.o D. Shearer, :id sergt. ; George 51. Coler, 4th sergt. ; Joseph C. 
Reed ; David W. Roberts, Ist rorp. ; Thomas C. Simpson, 2d corj). ; John 
H. Kirkbride, :Jd corp. ; Israel W. Hart, 4tb corp. 

I'riviitfa, 
Geo. F. Altemns. Jacob Alker, James Ashhian, Howard Bruce, Jeremiah 
W.Buck,l8)iiah B. Buck, Egbert B. Buzby, Jno M. Boyer, Harrison Bjrkle. 
Daniel W. Clfuier, John II. Cuulston, George X. Corson, Samuel II. 
Detweiler, Charbs Eailw, John E. Essick, Charles B. Evans, Thomas S. 
Kwing, Allen H. Fillman, J. Isett Freedley, Cbailes E. Freiu^e, Jacob 
Fitzwater, Robert Grimes, Ellridge G. Griffith, James W. Hahn, Philip 
Hahn, Jr., IvensR. Han-sell, James B. Hecbner, John Hcenan, Frank A. 
Hart, Edward Horkcr, Henry C. Hughes, Davis Hunsicker, George W. 
Henderson, John R. Jacobs, Henry Jacobs, Ferdinand P. Kirkbride, Sam- 
uel A. Kuglcr, Chaih'ti.\. Keyser, Daniel Linker, Enos Mowder, Samuel 
Marklt-y, Samuel Milh*r, J. Brntun Major, William Montgomery, Court- 
land McCartf, Mai-shall McCarti', Samuel C. McCuuiba, William Neiman, 
William W. Owen, John Rodenbaugh, George A. Reift', Charles \. 
Reiff, William S. Rapin*-, Samuel P. Steiihens, John Sjiencer, Adam J. 
Schrack, Samuel R. Shupe, Lewis J. Syckle, Samuel J. ShoATor, Paul .\. 
Smith, Barclay Thomas, John M. H. Tonilinson, James H. Wilson, Ben- 
jamin Young. 



COMPANY C. 

Recruited at Pottstown, Montgomery Co. Mustered in April 20, 1861, 
John R. Brooke, captain ; William S. Hobert, first lievitenant ; Ju6cph 
I'mstoad, second lieutenant ; Charles Slalsberger, fii*st sergeant ; William 
B. Stanford, second sergeant ; Mahlon S. Ludwig, third sergeant ; Henry 
F. Butz, fourth sergeant ; Benjamin F. Guest, first corjioral ; John H. 
Root, second corporal ; George Sheets, third corporal ; William M. 
Rankin, fourth corporal; Edmund Guest, William .Antrim, nmsiciana. 

Priiuttes. 

John Auchey, George W. Butz, Lewis H. Bickle, Octavius S. Bull, 
John A. Beadencup, Jacob Bower, Samuel Buekwalter, .John Coihetl, 
Esler G. Dawson, Samuel Dehart, .\.biaham DearofT, Myers Daly, Jacob 
W. Dechant, James >!. Engle, Jacob L. Fitz, Jlichael F. Fryer, Evan 
Fryer, Frank Fair, Paul Frick, David I. Geiger. Charles L. Geiger, 
William M. Hobart, Abraham Ilcsser, John Henrlricks, John Heft, Al- 
bert HoflTnian, Enos Hoffman, William Hunsicker, William Kirkpat- 
rick, .\braham Kirst, John L. Kupp, Adam Lessig, Samuel Lacey, Wil- 
liam G. Lesher, Washington H. Lachman, Thomas Mauger, Andrew 
Missimer, Jonah M. Neiman, Nathaniel Potts, William S. Potts, John 
T. Potts, David M. Phillips, John Reinard, Dewees W. Roberts, John J. 
SchoU, Peter E. Skean, Charles Simpkins, Joseph Sjjong, Jacob Schan- 
ely, George W. Seigfried, Charles C. Smith, John R. Sample, Rees B. 
Thompson, George A'andersyde, .Tames Waltera, .■\bniham H. Weir, 
Henr>' Waniback, William H. Willauer, William S. Wells, Daniel B. 
Weand, Isaac L. Yergey, William Yergey, Thomas Yergey, Leidy J. 
Yohn. 

COMPANY D. 
Recruited at Norristown, 3Ioutgomerj' Co. Mustered in April 20, 1861. 

Reuben T. Scball, captain ; Charles Hansell, firet lieutenant ; David 
Schall, second lieuenant ; Hii-am Lysinger, first sergeant ; Samuel 
Painter, second sergeant ; Samuel Fair, third sergeant ; John Fair, fourth 
sergeant ; Jesse S. Batchelder, first corporal ; .Andrew Fair, second cor- 
poral ; Joseph Bell, third corporal ; Henry Foreman, fourth corporal ; 
A. D. Earl, .\dam Zinnel, nnisicians. 

John H. Bond, John Boaz, John Brant, John Beal, Francis Burk. 
Samuel Cloward, James Conway, Patrick Cuniming, Irvin Craighton, 
.\. P. Custer, Freeman Davis, Isaac Dehaven, John Dougherty, John 
Earl, John R. Fleck, James M. Griffith, Jacob Gauss, Joseph Garese, 
William Geist, James R. Griffith, Theodore Gmtz, Charles Griffith, 
John Geyer, Joshua HoUowell, William Jenkins, Jesse Keeler, 
Samuel Kay, Thomas A. Kelly, James Kulp, David Lougherty, Georg*- 
Lightcap, .\ndrew Leedom, David B. Markley, Thoniiis HIcDuefua, John 
McCoy, .\le.\ander McCrea, Samuel ^lills, Hairy McVaugh, Levi B. 
Nail, Hari-y Nail, Nathan Orner. John F. Parker, Samuel Peters. 
Thomas Smith, Thomas Shuck, Bernard Slu-rdin, Calvin Schall. Henry 
Stitler, James Seaman, William Sulch, Charles Stewart, William Shine, 
Owen Tompkins, Isaac Tolan, Jacob Tompkins, George Tippen, Arnold 
Vanfossen, Jr., Mills M'illiamson, Philip Wampold, John Wildsmith, 
Henry MHiite, Charles A. Wcntz, J. E. Wagner, A. G. Wright. 

COMPANY E. 

Recruited at Norristown, Montgomery Co. Mustered in Ajiril 20, 18GI, 

George Amey, captain : Richard T. Stewart, firat lieutenant ; James 
P. Butler, second lieutenant ; David Knipe. first sergeant ; Henry Nufis, 
second sergeant; William Eastwood, third sergeant; .lohn Gilligan, 
foiu'th sergeant ; William R. Wager, first corpora! ; William Biggs, sec- 
ond corporal; George F. Fisher, third corporal; Charles Jones, fourtb 
corporal ; Thomas Lounck, John Childs, musicians. 

Pi-ivnfen. 
Samuel Augge, George W. Baker, Charh',- Itarucs, George Bright, Jacob 
Basin, William Carey, John F. Carroll, Edwin C. Custard, .Iom-| b Crady. 
Robert Doclierdy, Michael Delaney, Tli' me* Doud, Donii) Diniond, 
William Enos, John F. Fisher, Charles Ford. Jacob If*, fidhi-r, Hiram ('- 
Fisher, Henry Furlong, William Grew, Nathan Grew, Thnuiau Gardner, 
John Gardner, Joseph P. Hendricks, Isia.* Hucheri'n, William Hallmaii, 
David Henan, James Hollinger, ' Benjamin .rohnsoii, O^^^- i- 1-car, 
Daniel I-ysinger, Joseph Larrison, Thonine L^ckuril, AH-er' List, 
Charles K. Looki-ns, John McDaid, Willihtu .^l.-.Daid, V. M. Kadden, 
Thomas McEwen, George W. Milltfi', .\ur«(n Mo«>ic, Michael ."^'-wney, 
Thomas Murray, .\ntrim Master, Jonas Moyer, Cltu'les O'Swi-h-, Jamcf* 
Poweiv, JohnQuinn. William Quinn. David Rt-ily., I ram Is Kiich, Llew- 
.■lyn Rhumer. Chiu I.k H. Kbiinifr, Mathias ShociUiJci-r, .Itdiu Smith, 



THE GllEAT EEBELLION. 



199 



Eliaa Springer, Robert Steward, Francis Tomaoy, William TJucufter, 

Patricli Vaghn, Isaac Varney, George Worliiser, John Welsh, John 

Williams. 

COMPANY I. 

Recruited at Norristown, Montgomery Co. Mustered in April 20, 1861. 

William AUabaugh, capt. ; Lewis Banisey, Ist lieut. ; Charles S. 
McGlathary, 2d lieut. ; Joseph Rylands. Ist sergt. ; Thomas Jones, 
2d sergt. ; Daniel Streper, 3d sergt. ; George Y. Hausell, 4th sergt. ; 
George H. Smith, 1st corp. ; Charles Durham, 2d Corp. ; John ]1. 
White, 3d Corp. ; Benjamin Uelele, 1th Corp. ; William Hinkle and 
Edwin R. W. Sickles, musicians. 

Private. 

John Badnutn, William Barry, John Bennet. Edward Bonter, James H. 
Buck, Charles Caru, James Carter, Thomas Chilling, Wm. R. Cox, Simon 
Clinborger, Ilan-y Davis, Samuel Deen, George Dehaven, Henry Dehaven, 
Michael Dillon, John Dougherty, George Emory, George J. Eckhorn, 
Jacob Erney, Nathan Fornwalt, Jac()b Fulner, Christian Geicel, Jacob 
W. Geiger, William M. Geiger, William R. Gilbert, Christian Cancer, 
Alexander Gotwalt, John Graham, Samuel Hallman, Jacob L. Hoover, 
Edward C. Jones, David Kane, Patrick Keven, John W. Lanisbach, 
William Lath, George Lowry, Sylvester Makens, Allen Martin, William 
H. Martin. George Mercer, Julin Meris, Hugh McClaiie, Nathan Mc- 
Colly, .loshua McCool, Patftck JlcDaile, Jones Munshower, William B. 
Nichols, James Phillips, .\braham Print/., Nathan H. Ramsey, Andrew 
J. Kei-d, C'liarles Rodehaugh, George Rodebaugh, Samuel Rodebaugb, 
George K. Roberts, William Robinson, Patrick Rogan, David Schmck, 
J. W. Shuttloworth, Samuel SliugUiff, Benjamin R. Still, William F. 
Thomas, Thomas B. Yanfossen, George W. Whishlar, George W. White. 

COMPANY K. 

Recruited at Norristown, Montgomery Co. Mustered in April 2n, 1801. 

Walter H. Cook, capt. ; Henry K. Weand, 1st lieut. ; Charles Y. 

Fisher, 2d lieut. ; David R. Connard, Ist sergt. ; Noah B. Brown, 2d 

sergt. ; Peter A. Brown, ;jd sergt. ; Sidney Brown, 4th sergt. ; Frank 

L. Wagner, 1st corp. ; .Joseph K. Corsou, 2d Corp. ; Frank Hart, 3d 

Corp. ; Daniel M. Yost, Itb Corp. ; William >I. McGoweu and Samuel 

Mi>ori*, musicians. 

iViiute. 

Philip Badman, Silas Baker, Jonas Beckwith, George W. Bush, Ber- 
nard Canney, John .\. Curr, Tliomas M. Carr, George E. Chadwick, 
Isaac Conway, William Corner, Charles T. Dager, Reuben Dehaven. 
Henry Edwards, Augustus Fye, Francis Flanigiin, James Gihner, John 
Grundy, George Harkins, Samuel Hart, .Joseph H. High. Richard Kelly, 
Enoch B. Kirby, George Kutz, Terance Landy, John Marple, Thomas 
Wars, .\rchibald SIcCorkle, Stephen McCloskey, William McGlathery, 
John McGowen, William McMain, James Maiden, John Miller, .John 
Moore, Thomas Slagee, .Tobn S. Nnss, Williani Ogdeu, John O'Neill, 
Joseph Palmer, Hiram Phipps, Stephen Pliipps, .lames Pierce, William 
W. Potls, .\llen tjuarmby, Ivens Rambo, Nathaniel Rhoads. Robert W. 
Scarlett. Tobias Schniearer, Walter Scott, John Sbeetz, Charles Sidders, 
Daviil Signet, Richard Street. Charles Styer, John Styer, Jouathan Swal- 
low, John Ward, William B. Weaver, Charles A. Weland, Clarence W. 
Wills, William W. Wills, Jr., -\braham Wood, James Wood. 

Note. — "Colonel Hartranft, of the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, 
. . . accompanied nie to the field a-s itul-dc-cnmp. His services 
were exceedingly valuable to me, and he distinguished himself in his 
attempts to rally the regiments, which hsd been thrown into confu- 
sion." — Col. W. B. FrniikUn's official reiwrt. First hrigade, Third Dirisioiiy 
series i. vol, U.^ ^* OJlciul Itecords of the Viiion and Confederate Armifs^^^ 

p. iim. 

For the greater convenience of reference, the history 
of the military organizations identifieil witli Mont- 
gomery County will be continued in the chronological 
order of their formation and departure for the seat of 
the war. Where companies have been organized and 
become attached to regiments, it is due to those 
accredited to the county that an account of their 
services be related, as the same has been officially 
pre.served in the history of the regiments of which 
they were a part. They appear as follows : 

The Forty -Fourth Regiment (or First Pennsyl- 
vania Cavalry) entered the service for the term of 



three years. Company B was recruited in Mont- 
gomery County, and was trained for the distinguished 
service which it experienced by Colonel George D. 
Bayard,' a graduate of West Point United States 
Military Academy, class of 1856. He early distin- 
guished himself as a fearless cavalry leader, and would 
undoubtedly have become a division and corps com- 
mander had he not fallen mortally wounded at the 
battle of Fredericksburg, Va., in December, 1862, 
while in command of a brigade of cavalry. Of the 
twenty-two regiments of cavalry organized in Penn- 
sylvania during the great Rebellion, not one regiment 
was wholly recruited and accredited to a single city 
or county. Men volunteering for this arm of the 
service were of a class accustomed to the use of horses 
or had a fondness for them. 

Some excellent troops were formed of young horse- 
men from our large cities and inland towns, but most 
of the companies were recruited in the country 
districts. As a general rule, the men of this arm of 
the service were of the best material and made ex- 
cellent soldiers. But in the mass of men who were 
hastily recruited and sent forward as substitutes in 
the latter part of 1863 to 1865 there were many un- 
fitted for the cavalry service. Under the rules and 
regulations of the War Department in force at the 
time, the maximum number of men for a troop or 
company of cavalry was one hundred. Twelve com- 
panies composed a regiment. These companies were 
further organized into squadrons of two companies 
each, and the six squadrons were formed into three 
battalions. Three regiments generally formed a bri- 
gade, though sometimes four and even five regiments 
were united in the same brigade, but this was only in 
cases where commands had become decimated. Two 
brigades generally formed a division, and the three 
I divisions operating with the Army of the Potomac 
constituted the cavalry corps. This branch of the 
public service was first organized by Major-General 
Joseph Hooker when he assumed command of the 
Armv of the Potomac in the winter of 1S63.-' 



•George D. Bayard, appointed at large by the President a cadet to the 
United States Jlilitary .\cademy, West Point, July 1. 18.52. Graduated 
July 1, 1850. and assigned to duty as second lieutenant. First Cavaliy. 
Served on frontier duty, and in the Kansas disturbances ; wounded in the 
face bya poisoned arrow in an engagement with the Indians near Bent's 
Fort, Col., July II, 1800 ; assigned to duty at the Military Academy as 
assistant instructor of cavalry, March 10 to September 3, 1801 ; promoted 
first lieutenant, First Cavalry, March 10, 1801 ; captain, Fourth Cavalry, 
.\ugust 20, ISOl ; appointed colonel. First Pennsylvania Cavalry Volun- 
teers, September 14, 1801 ; promoted brigadier-genentl. United States 
Volunteers, .\pril 28. 18G2 ; assigned to command of cavalry brigade, 
.\rmy of Potomac ; participated in all the operations of the army in front 
of Washington during the summer and fall of 1S62, and fell mortally 
wonnded at the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1802. He died 
the following day, aged twenty-seven years. 

2 ORIGINAL ROSTER OF THE CAVALRY CORPS A. OF P. 
Brig. -Gen. George Stoneman. 

First Division. 
Brig.-Gen. Alfred Pleasanton. 
First Bi-igade (Col. Benjamin F. Davis).— Sth Illinois, 3rd Indiana, SIh 
New Y'ork, 9th New York. 



200 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The artillery assigned to the cavalry were mounted 
and known as " Horse Artillery," and, with the ex- 
ception of Martin's Independent Battery of New York, 
were detached from the re£;ulars. The pro])ortion of 
artillery was one battery to each brigade. The guns 
used were twelve-pounder Napoleons and the Griffin 
six-pounder rifled guns. Most of the latter were made 
at Phcenixville, Pa. The cavalry were armed with 
sabre, Colt's revolving pistol and Sharp's carbine. 
Many of the troops in 1864 were supplied with 
the Spencer carbine, " seven-shooters." They were 
the most destructive arm of the kind in use. In the 
campaigns of 18(54-65 the cavalry frequently fought 
dismounted, and owing to the superior arms in use, 
they were uniformly victorious, inflicting a heavy loss 
of life upon the euemy. Company B of the First 
Pennsylvania Cavalry was the pioneer organizati(m 
of horsemen from Montgomery County. It was com- 
posed of a class of men representing the intelligence 
and patriotism of the Schuylkill Valley, and left the 
county under the command of Captain Owen Jones, 
of Lower Merion. The regiment was one of the most 
distinguished of Pennsylvania Reserves, and always 
ranked among the best in the famous cavalry corps 
of the Army of the Potomac. The public service of 
the regiment from its muster in to the surrender of 
Lee at Apponuitox was fully shared by Company B. 
It is therefore due to the men who comijosed it, and 
their descendants, that the essential facts of history 
connected with the regimental organization be pre- 
served. 

Colonel Owen Jones, who, from early manhood 
until his death, was one of the most prominent and 
honored citizens of Montgomery County and of the 
State of Pennsylvania, was a son of .Jonathan and 
Mary (Thomas) Jones, and a descendant of Edward 
Jones, who was a native of Wales, and came thence to 
Pennsylvania nearly two centuries ago, settling on 
lands purchased from William Penn and which forms 
part of the estate that has lieen held in the Jones 
family from that time until the present. A larger 

Second Brigade (Col. Thomas C. DevinJ. — Ist Michigan (Co. L), 6th 
New Yorlc, 8th Peuiisylvauia, 17th Pennsylvania. 
ArliUern.—Sevr Yorll Lt. Art., (ith Bat'y. 

Second Division. 
Brig. -Gen. W'illiam W. Averell. 
First Brigade (Col. Horace B. Sargent). — 1st Miissachnsette, 4th New 
York, 6th Ohio, 1st Rhode Ishmd. 

Second Brigade (Col. John B. Mcintosh). — 3d Pennsylvania, 4th Penn- 
sylvania, 10th Pennsylvania. 

.,lrli7(eri/.— 2a U. S. Artillery, Battery A. 
Thikd Division. 
Brig. -Gen. David McM. Gregg. 
First Brigade (Col. Judsou Kili)atrick). — 1st Maine, 2nd New York, 
10th New York. 

Second Brigade (Col. Percy Wyndhani).— 12th Illinois, Ist Blaryland, 
Ist New Jersey, 1st Pennsylvania. 

Regular Iteserve Cavalry Brigade (Brig. -Gen. John Buford.).— 6th 
Pennsylvania, Ist United States, 2nd United States, 5th United States, 
6th United States. 

Artillery (Capt. Jolin M. Robertson). —2nd U. S. Artillery, Batteries 
B and L ; 2Hd U. S. Artillery, Battery M ; ith U. S. Artillery, Battery E. 



portion of the property which descended through 
successive generations to Colonel Owen Jones came 
into possession of his ancestors through the marriage 
of a son of the original settler, Edward Jones, with a 
daughter of Thomas Wynne, Speaker of the first Colo- 
nial Assembly of Pennsylvania, who took up lands 
adjoining those of Edward Jones. By that marriage 
the Wynne and Jones lands became united in one 
estate, which, in honor of the Wynne family, received 
the name which it still bears, — Wynnewood. 

In the Wynnewood mansion, on this estate, Owen 
Jones was born, December 29, 1819. On reaching the 
proper age, and having passed through a preparatory 
course of study, he entered the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, where, in due time, he was graduated, and 
commenced the study of law in the office of William 
M.Meredith, of Philadelphia. Attheconclusionol liis 
law course he was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia 
and soon afterwards (May 19, 1842) was also admitted 
to practice in Montgomery County. But having a 
preference for the pursuit of agriculture, rather llian 
for the practice of his profession, he gave his attention 
chiefly to the former, becoming deejily interested in 
the raising of fine stock and in everything tending to 
the promotion of improvement in methods of farming. 
In 1845 he became the purchaser of property in West 
Philadelphia belonging to the Warner estate, which 
afterwards had a remarkable rise in value, and became 
known as the " drove-yard property." 

In 1856 Mr. Jones received the Democratic Con- 
gressional nomination for the Fifth District, which 
then embraced Montgomery County and some of the 
northern wards of Philadelphia. He was elected and 
served in Congress from December, 1857, to March 
4, 1859. Prior to his election to Congress he had 
served, under apjiointment by Judge Thomas Burn- 
side, as member of a commission charged with the 
duty of adjusting the basis of State taxation for the 
district composed of the counties of Montgomery and 
Bucks. 

On the breaking out of the great war of the Rebel- 
lion, in April, 1861, he immediately became pmmi- 
nent as one of the most earnest and active supporters 
of the government and the Union. Under the legis- 
lative act of May 15th of that year, providing for the 
formation of the " Reserve Volunteer Corps of the 
Commonwealth," to include one regiment of mounted 
men, he at once commenced the raising of a comjiany 
of cavalry, which he recruited almost entirely at his 
own private expense. The company, which was 
made up of men of Lower Merion and adjoining town- 
ships, was soon filled and moved to the rendezvous at 
Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, where it became Com- 
pany B of the First Pennsylvania Cavalry. It was 
afterwards designated as the Forty-fourth Regiment 
of the State volunteer forces and placed under com- 
mand of Colonel George D. Bayard. Prior to this 
(August 5, 1861) Captain Owen Jones, of Company 
B, had been promoted to the grade of major. In Sep- 




^n^^tyA-WSacOi^- 




THE GREAT REBELLION. 



201 



tember the regiment moved from Camp Curtin to 
Tenallvtown, Md., whence, on the 10th of October, it 
crossed the Potomac River into Virginia. A few 
weeks hiter it tirst saw actual service in the battle of 
Dranesville, where it took a leading jjart in the 
attack, which resulted in the complete rout of the 
enemy. 

On the 3d of January, 18(52, upon the resignation 
of Lieutenant-Colonel Jacob Higgins, JIajor Owen 
Jones was advanced to the higher grade, and in the 
following May he was promoted to the colonelcy of 
the regiment. Colonel Bayard having been made a 
brigadier-general. 

While under command of Colonel Jones the First 
Cavalry performed severe and continuous service, and 
fought gallantly in a great number of engagements, 
among the principal of which were those of Hart- 
wood Church, Woodstock, Harrisonburg, Port Repub- 
lic, Fnmt Royal, Cross-Keys, Groveton, Robertson's 
River, Strasburg, Cedar Mountain, Chantilly, Second 
Bull Run, Falmouth and finally the great battle of 
Fredericksburg (December 11 to 13, 1862), where 
Colonel Jones, acting as brigadier-general, commanded 
a full cavalry brigade, occupying a jiosition on the 
extreme left and in the advance of General Frank- 
lin's corps. In that battle General Bayard was 
killed. 

In .Tanuary, 181)3, about one month after the battle 
of Fredericksburg, Colonel Jones, with his regiment, 
took part in the famous, but profitless, " Mud March" 
of General Burnside's army up the Raj^pahannock, 
and then, after three days of severest toil, along im- 
passable roads, back to their former position. This 
was the last of the military operations in which 
Colonel Jones participated. On the 30th of January, 
1863, he resigned his commission and left the service. 
To his country he had done his whole duty, and 
had done it well. From the officers and men who 
served under him he had won the full measure of 
that respect and love which soldiers always give to 
a brave, generous and humane commander. On all 
the muster-rolls of Pennsylvania, or of the great 
Union army, there could not be found the name of a 
truer [jatriot or a more gallant and conscientious 
officer than Colonel Owen Jones. 

Returning from the army to his beautiful home at 
AVynuewood, Colonel Jones resumed the peaceful 
vocations which had been interrupted by his de- 
parture for the field of war. In these pursuits and in 
the enjoyments of domestic life he continued through 
a further period of nearly fifteen years, which brought 
him to the close of his honorable and useful career. 
Early in the evening of December 25, 1878, he set out 
from his home alone and on foot, intending, in com- 
pany with his near neighbor, Mr. Wister, to spend the 
evening in a social way at the house of their mutual 
friend, Dr. George Gerhard. On leaving home he 
directed his coachman to call for him at the doctor's 
house at ten o'clock. At that hour the man went 



with the carriage, according to directions, but, on 
reaching Dr. Gerhard's, was told that Colonel Jones 
had not been there. He then proceeded to the house 
of Mr. Wister, where he inquired for the colonel, but 
received the same answer. A search was then made 
along the wa}' that Colonel Jones was supposed to 
have taken, and about an hour later his body was 
found, lying face downward, lifeless and cold, within 
fifty yards of Dr. Gerhard's residence. His death had 
evidently been instantaneous and the result of apo- 
plexy. The remains were interred in the family 
vault at Laurel Hill. The funeral was attended by a 
large concourse of people, among whom were a num- 
ber of those who had been his companions-in-arms 
and many of the leading men of Pennsylvania. His 
death was deeply mourned by all who knew him, and 
by none outside the family more sincerely than by 
the worthy poor, to whom he had always been a 
friend and liberal benefactor. 

Colonel Owen Jones was married, November 4, 
1841, to Mary, daughter of Isaac W. Roberts. Their 
children were four in number, — Emily R., Owen 
Glenddwer, Annie and J. Aubrey Jones, the last- 
named being now the only survivor. He resides with 
his mother in the Wynnewood family mansion, where 
his father was born and which was his home during 
all the years of his life. 

FIELD .\ND STAFF OFFICERS. 
George P. Bayal-d, col., must, in .\«g. 27, ISOl ; wounded at Dniiies- 

villf, Vh., Huv. 22, 1861 ; pro. to brig. -gen. May 6, 1802 ; liilled at 

Fredericitsbnrg Dec. 13, 18(i2. 
Owen Jones, col., must, in .\ug. 8, 1861 ; pro. from capt. Co. B to nmj. 

.\ug. 5, 1861 ; to lieut.-col. Oct. — , 1861 ; to col. May 5, 1862 ; res. 

Jan. 30, 1863. 
John P. Taylor, col., must, in .\ug. 10, 1861 ; pro. from capt. Co. C to lieut.- 
col. Sept. 15, 1862 ; to col. March 2, 1803 ; to brevet brig. -gen. .\ug. 

4, 1805 ; must, out with regiment Sept. !), 1864. 
Jacob Higgins, lieut.M:ol., must, in Aug. 2S, 1801 ; pro. from capt. Co. Gl 

Aug. 18, 1861 ; res. Oct. 8, 1861. 
Sylv. D. Barrows, lieut.-col., must, in Aug. 11, 1801 ; pro. from 1st lieut. 

Co. D to niaj. Nov. 15, 1801 ; to lieut.-col. May .5, 1862 ; res. Sept. 

15, 1862. 
David Uarduer, lieut.-col., must, in Sept. 27, 1861 ; pro. from capt., Co. 

G to maj. Nov. 23, 1862 ; to lieut.-col. Feb. 10, 1863 ; must, out 

with regiment Sept. 9, 1804. 
Thomas S. Richards, maj., must, in Aug. 5, 1861 ; pro. from capt. Co. M 

May 5, 1R02 ; res. Nov. 22, 1862. 
Josiah II. Ray, maj., must, in Aug. 16, 1861 ; pro. from Co. F March 

1, 1802; res. Feb. 23, 18&3. 
William T. ilcEwen, maj., must, in .\ug. 10, 1801 ; pro. from capt. Co. 

C Feb. 23, 1863 ; wounded at Brandy Station, Va., June 9, 1863 ; 

res. Oct. 17, 1863. 
Kichard J. Falls, niiy., must, in Jan. 3, 1862 ; wounded July 28, 1S64 ; 

trans, to batt. Sept. 3, 1864; com. lieut. -col.. Nov. 11, 1804; not 

mustered; disch. Jan. 3, 1865. 
James M. Gaston, maj., must, in Aug. — , 1861 ; pro. from capt. Co. I 

March 1, 1S03 ; must, out Aug., 1864. 
Charles C. Townsend, adjt., must, in Nov. 22, 1862; pro. from hosp. 

stew. Nov. 22, 1802 ; res. June 14. 1863. 
William P. Lloyd, at^t , must, in Sept. 1, 1861 ; pro. from Ist lieut. Co. 

E Sept. 1, 1863 ; nmst. out with regiment Sept. 9, 1864. 
C. L. Bufflngton, bvt. adjt., must in Aug. 12, 1801 ; pro. from 2d lieut. 

Co. E to Biitt. ailjt. Feb. 19, 1802 ; must, out Sept. 10, 1802. 
Williams. Foster, bvt. adjt., must, in Sept. 6, 1861 ; pro. from sergt. Co. K 

March 1, 1862 ; must, out Sept. 9, 1862. 
Wiliam Bayard, bvt. adjt,, must, in March 1, 1862 ; disch. Sept. 1, 1862. 
Job II. Cole, bvt. atljt., must, in .\ug. 5, 1861 ; pro. from 1st sergt. Co. M 

May 5, 1802; nmst. out Sept. 11, 1862. 



202 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMKRY COUNTY. 



Richard R. Corson, q.iu , must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; pro. from sergt. Co. B 

to q.ni. Sept. 17, 18G1 ; to capt. and assist, q.m. May 23, 18f>2. 
George H. Baker, q.m., must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; pro. from corp. Co. B to 

q.m. -sergt. Sept. 28, 18i>l ; to q.m. May 5, 18C2 ; must, out with reg- 
iment Sept. U, 18(i4. 
\Villi;im Shadelman, c. e., must, in Aug. 8, 18G1 ; pro. from sergt. Co. 

B to q.m. -sergt. May .^i, 1802 ; to 1st lieut. and c. s. Oct. 22, 1862; 

res. Jan. 28, 186.3. 
Henry A. Wood, c. s., must, in Aug. 1(3, 1801 ; pro. from piivate Co, F to 

com. sergt. June 22, 18ii2 ; to 1st lieut. and e. s. Jan. 27, 180:i ; must. 

out with regiment Sept. 0, 1804, 
David Stanton, surg., must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; pro. to surg. U. S. regt. 

army Nov. 24, 18G2. 
Gurdoo B. Hotchliin, surg., must, in Dec. 4, 1801 ; pro. from assist, surg. 

Nov. 24, 1S02 ; nuist. out with regiment Sept. 0, 1804, 
J. B. Finney, assist, surg.', must, in Aug. — , 1861 ; res. Sept., 1861. 
Samuel Ale.xander, assist, surg., must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; killed at Dranes- 

ville, Va., Nov. 20, 1861 . 
S. W. H. Calver, assist, surg., must, in June — . 1802 ; res. Aug. 2, 1802, 
Hiram N, Kelly, assist, surg., must, in Dec, 17, 1802 ; res, Jan, 21, 1863, 
X, E. Atkinson, assist, surg., must, in Jan. 24, 1863 ; trans to batt. Sept. 

3, 1864 ; disch. Sept. 5, 1S64. 
R. H. Tuft, assist, surg,, must, in July C, 1803 ; trans, to batt. Sept. 3, 

1804 ; and to 2d Regt. Prov. Cav. Jnm 17, 180.'>. 
-J. Harvey Bcale, ehaplain, must, in Sept. 1, 1801 ; must, out with regi- 
ment Sept. 0, 1804. 
Jacob Wolf, vet. surg., must, in Aug. 13, 1861 ; pro. from private Co I 

1, 1863 ; must, out with regiment Sei)t. 0, 1804. 
George W. Seigrist, sergt. -maj., must, in Aug. 1(1, 1801 ; pro. from q.m.- 

sergt. Co. C to sergt.-maj. Sept., 1861 ; to 2d lieut. Co. I Nov. 23, 1861. 
Henry C. Beanifr, sergt.-maj. ; pro, to 6ergt,-maj. Feb, 17, 1862; to 1st 

lieut. Co. C. July 17, 18G2. 
William McCune, sergt. -maj. ; appointed sergt. -maj. May S, l.»<02 ; disch. 

on surg. certif. Sept 29, 1802. 
George J, Geiser, sergt.-maj. ; pro. to si-rgt.-niaj. .Sept. 29, 1802; to 2d 

lieut. Co. G April 12, 1803. 
John Hamilton, sergt. -maj., must in July 2.'), 1801 ; pro. from sergt. Co. 

A Jlay 1, 186} ; must, out with regiment Sept. !l, 1804. 
George W. Fincher, q.m, -sergt., must, in July 30, 1801 ; pro. from private 

Co. L Nov 1, 1H62 ; trans, to batt. Sept. 3, 1804 ; pro. to 2d lieut. 

Co. L, batt., Sept. 13, 1804 ; to 1st lieut. Co. F, batt., March 19, ISOr. ; 

must, out by cuusolidation June 2(1, 180.5 ; veteran. 
John McCahan, com. sergt., must, in Aug. 28, 1801 ; pro, from private 

Co. G Feb. 28, 1802 ; must, out with regiment Sept. 9, 1804. 
Joseph Beveney, hosp. steward ; appointed bosp. steward Sept. 6, ISOI ; 

transferred ; not on muster-out roll. 
Ernest Conzler, hosp. steward must. o\it Aug. 28, 1801; pro. from pri- 
vate Co, G Oct. , 1861 ; trans, to U. S. regular army Nov. 24, 1802, 
Charles Gardner, ho.sp. steward, must, in Oct. 20, 1802; pro, from private 

Co. G Oct. 23, 1«(;2 ; trans, to batt. Sept. 3. 1804. 
William P. Lloyd, hosp. steward, must, in Sept, 1, 1801 ; iiro. from pri- 
vate Cu. G Dee. 18, 1802 ; to 1st lieut, Co. E March 22, 1803. 
William J. Jackman, hosp. steward, Tiinst. in July 2o, 1861 ; pro from 

sergt. Co. A Feb. 25, 1863; must, out with regiment Sept. 0, 1864. 
Thomas R. Starer, bugler, must, in Aug, 21, 1801 ; pro. from corp. Co. I 

Oct. 10, 18(U ; disch. by order of War Dept. Oct. 1, 1802. 
James P. Landis, bugler, must, in Aug, 10, 1861 ; pro. from sergt. Co, C 

May 1, 1863; wounded June 9, 18()3 ; trans, to batt. Sept. 3, 1804; 

must, out by special order June 20, 1805 ; veteran. 
John W. Forney, saddler, must, in July 2o, 1861 ; trans, to batt. Sept. 3, 

1864 ; must, out by special order June 20, 1805; veteran. 

COMPANY B. 

Recruited at Athensville, Slontgoniery Co. 
Owen Jones, capt., must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; pro. to maj. Aug. ."i, 1861. 
Jacob L. Stadelmaii, capt., must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; pro. from 1st Heut. 

Aug. 8. 1801 ; res. March 20, 1802, i 

Joseph C. Roberts, capt., must, in Aug. 8. 1861 ; pro. from sergt. to 2d 

lieut. Nov. 2.5, 1801 ; to Ist lieut. Dec. 30, 1801 ; to capt. March 26, 

1862 ; res. May 8, 1862. 
William Litzeiiberg, capt., must, in Aug. 8. 1861; pro. from sergt. May 

20, 1862 ; wounded at Deep Bottom. Va., July 28, 1804 ; disch. Sept. 

9, 1864, exp, of teini. 
Theodore Sireck, 1st lit-ut., must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; pro. from 1st sergt. to 

1st lieut. Aug. 8, iKtil ; to ciij)!, Co, H Nov. 25, 1801. 
Richard R. Corson, 1st lii-ut., must, in .\.ug. 8, 1861 ; pro. from sergt. to 

1st lieut. ami .].ni. Sept, 17, 1861. 



John Kline, 1st lieut,, must, in Aug, 8, 1801 ; pro. from 2d to 1st lieut. 

Nor. 25, 1861 ; res. Dec. 30, 1801. 
William Buzby, 1st lieut,, must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; pro. from cOrp. to Ist 

sergt. ; to 2d lieut. Jan, 3, 1862 ; to Ist lieut. March 26, 1862 ; died at 

Washington. D. C, Blay 1, 1864. 
George H. Baker, 1st lieut., must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; pro. from corp. to 

q.m.-seigt. Sept. 28, 1801 ; to 1st lieut. and q. m. May o, 1862. 
Robert S. Law.slui, 2d lieut., must, in Aug. 8, ]8(il ; pro. from sergt. 

March 20, 1862; wounded May 28, 18(i4 ; must, out with company 

Sept. 9, 1864. 
John H. Bevan, 1st sergt., must, in Aug. 8, 1801 : pro. from corp. to 1st 

sergt. April 1, 1862 ; must, out with company Sept, 9, 1864. 
W, F. Chrisman, q. m. sergt., must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; pro. to corp. ; to 

q.m. -sergt. Feb. 1, 1863 ; wounded at Culpepper, Va., Sept, 13, 1863 ; 

must, out with company Sept. 9, 1864. 
Daniel H. Tithiw, com. sergt., must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; pro. from corp. to 

sergt. April ■'•>, 1862 ; must, uit with company Sei>t. 9, 1864. 
Lewis M. Thomas, sergt., must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif. 

Feb. 1, 1S03. 
Adolpbus S. Edler, sergt., must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; must out with com- 
pany Sept. 9, 1864. 
Martin Mai's, sergt., must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; pro. from corp. to sergt. Jan, 

14, 1802 ; must, out with company Sept. 9, 1804. 
Lem. A, Pattei-son, sergt., must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; pro, to sergt. ; disch. 

on surg. certif. March 20, 1863. 
Joseph Price, .sergt., must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; pro, from coi^), to sergt. 

Feb. 1, 18(53 ; must, out with company Sept, 9, 1K64. 
David W, Ten'ence, sergt., must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; pro. from corp. ; 

wounded May 2."), 18(vJ ; disch. on surg. certif. July 8, 1864. 
John J. Creighton, sergt., must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; pro. to sergt. ; trans, to 

batt., 1st Pa. Cav. ; veteran. 
Samuel Jago, sergt., must in Aug. 8, 1801 ; pro. to sergt. : trans, to batt. 

Se|>t. 9, 1804 ; must, out as sergt. Co. M, Iwtt., June 20, I860 ; 

veteran. 
George L, Lyle, sergt., must, in Aug 8, 1861 ; pro. to sergt. ; killed at 

JIalvern Hill, Va., July 28. lS(i4 ; veteran. 
Wm. Stadelman, sergt., must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; pro. to sergt. ; to q.m,- 

sergt. May 0, 18(i2. 
John Anderson, coi"]j., must, in .\ug. 8, 1861 ; disch. (m surg. certif. Oct. 

9, 18(il. 
Adon. J, Stanley, Corp., mn<t. in Aug. 8, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif. 

Jan. 19, 1863. 
John R. Styer, corp,, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; killed at Hawes' Shop, Va,, 

May 28, 1804, 
William H, Edler, Corp., must, in Aug. 28, 1862 ; wounded June 21, 

1864; trans, to batt., Ist Pa. Cav. 
George B. Rambo, corp,, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with com- 
pany Sept. 9, 1804, 
Crawford Yocum, corp., must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; must, out with company 

Sept. 9, 1864, 
Kline A. Graver, corp., must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company 

Sept. 9, 1804. 
Wm. H. Ramsay, corp., must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; must, out with company 

Sept 9, 1864. 
Joel L. Davis, Corp., must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; must, out with company 

Sept, 9, 1864, 
Mark R, Hagner, corp,, must, in -Vug. 8, 1801 ; must, out with company 

Sept. 9, 1804. 
Henry H. Pyott, corp., must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company 

Sept. 9, 1864. 
Henry Z. Lair, bugler, must, in Aug, 8, 1801 ; trans, to brigade band 

.Ian. 1, 1863. 
Fraidclin Snyder, bugler, must, in Aug, 8, 18(;i ; must, out with com- 

piiny Sept. 9, 1864. 
Morris M. Mattaon, buglei-, must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; nuist. out with com- 
pany Sept, 9. 1804. 

Theo. T. Ashenfelter, must, in Aug. 8, ISOl ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 

2(), 1803. 
William Adair, must, in Aug. 26, 1802 ; trans, to batt. Sept. 9, 1864 ; 

must, out in Co, M., batt., June 6, 1865. 
Lorenzo D. Black, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; nlnst. out with company Sept. 

9, 18(i4. 
Allen L. Bevau, must, in Aug. 8, 1801 ; must out with company Sept. 9, 

1804. 
.Jacob S. Bisson, must, in .\ug. 8, 1801 ; must, out with company Sept. 9, 

1864. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



203 



Wm. H. Bowden, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; disch. on Surg, certif. 18C2. 
John Black, must, lu .\ug. 8, 18G1 ; trans, to batt. Sept. 9, 1SG4 ; veteran. 
Charles Beunet, must, in Aug. 8, 18(il ; trans, to batt. Sept. 9, 1864 ; 

veteran. 
Francis Blehl, must, in Oct. 15, ISGl; trans, to batt. Sept. 9, 1864. 
Amos Baxter, nmst. in Aug. 3, 1863 ; trans, to U. S. na\"y July o, ISIU. 
Fleming Campbell, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 

9, 18M. 
Patrick Connell, must, iu Aug. 8, 1861 ; wounded in Pa. .July 5, 1863, 

and at Cold Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864; must, out with company 

Sept. '.I. 1864. 
Edgar W. Collins, nuist. in .\ng. 8, 1861 ; nmst. out with company Sept. 

9, ISM. 
Jos. S. Cornman, must, in Aug. 8. 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 

!l, 1S64. 
James Conr.ad, must, in .\ug. 8, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. 18G2. 
Charles Cramer, must, ill Aug. 8, 1861 ; not on muster.out roll. 
Peter Davis, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 9, 

1864. 
Charles Davison, must, in .\ug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 9, 

18«. 
Elisim P. Davis, must, in .V\ig. 8, 18G1 ; disch. on surg. certif. Jan. 4, 

1862. 
Jacob H. IH-ttra. nuist. in .^ug. 8, 18(;l ; disch. on surg. ceitif. Feb. 3, 

18G3. 
John Dales, must, in Sept. 6, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. 1862. 
John L. Dougherty, must, in May 25, 1863 ; disch. on surg. cei-tif. Dec. 

8, 1863. 

Charles Ford, must, in .\ug. 8, 1861 ; tlisch. on surg. certif. Jan. 4, 1862. 
Cbalkley F. Greger, must, in Aug. 8, 1.H61 ; must, out with company 

.Sept. 9, 1864. 
Alex. Gotwalls, nmst. in .\ug. 8, 1861 ; disch. on snrg. certif. March 20, 

1S63. 
John S. Grant, must, in .Vug, 8. 1861 ; nmst. out with company Sept. 9. 

1864. 
Jacob W. Haines, must, in .\ug. .s 1.S61 ; must, out witli conijiany Sept. 

9. 1864. 

Thos. P. Huffman, uiust. in .\ug. 8, ISGl ; must, (uit with company Sept. 

9, 18r,4. 
Wm. S. Hampton, noist. in .\ug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 

9, 18r,4. 
Matthias Hafner, must, in Aug. .^. ISIU ; nmst. out with company Sept. 

U, 1864. 
■\Vm. Hutchinson, must, in Jan. 17, 1864 ; trans, to batt. Sept. 9, 1864. 
Samuel A. Haws, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; killed at Hawes' Sliiip, Va., 

May 28, 1864. 
George Hampton, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; deserted May 25, 18G2. 
EnoB Jacobs, must, in Aug. 1 , 1863 ; traue. to batt. Sept. 9, 1864. 
Justice W. Lutz, must, in -\ng. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 

9, 1.864. 
Perry H. Levering nmst. in .\ug. 8. 1801 ; must, out with company Sept. 

9. 1SG4. 
Kobert Lowry, niusl. in .\ug. 8, 1861; trans, to batt. Sept. 9, 1864; 

veteran. 
Jatnes McFague, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 

9, 1864. 
Lewis Moore, nmst. in .Viig. 8, 1861 ; wounded July 28, 1864; absent at 

nuister out . 
■Washington Miller, must, in .\ng. 8, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Jan. 4, 

1862. 
Nathan Miller, must, in Aug. 9, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Jan. 4, 

1862. 
James McClellan, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. 1862. 
Joseph F. Moore, must, in July"*2:{, 1862; wounded at Culpepper Sept. 

13, 1863, and Barker's Mills June 2, 1864 ; trans, to batt. Sept. 9, 

1864 ; pro. to 1st lieut. Co. A. batt.. Dec. 13, 1864 ; must, out June 

29, 1865. 
Henry C. Moore, must, in Feb. 27, 1864 : trans, to batt. Sept. 9. 1864. 
Matthew Jlichael, nmst. in Aug. s, 1861 ; trans, to batt. Sept. 9, 18i;4 ; 

veteran. 
Thomas 5Iylan, must, in May 13, 1863 ; trans, to batt. Sept. 9. 1864. 
Jolm Miles. Jr., must, in .Vug. 26. 1862; trans, to batt. Sept. 9, 1864; 

dis<h. ill Co. M, batt., May 27, I860. 
Robert Maxwell, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; died at Alexandria, Va.. April 

4, 1862 ; burial record Dec. 16, 1863, grave 1192. 
Howard McAfee, mi.st. in Aug. 8. 1861 ; killed at Aiiborii Mill-s. Va., 

Oct. 14, 1863. 



Philip A. Jlower, must, in Aug. 26, 18G2 ; died July 3, 1864, of wounds 

received at Cold Harbor. Va., June 2, 1864 ; buried at Philadeljihia. 
Conrad Maiser, must, in Aug. 8, 18G1 ; must, out with comi)any Sept. 9, 

1864. 
James J. McFayne, not on muster-out roll. 

John ()'Connel, must, in March 28, 1864 ; ti-ans., date and place un- 
known. 
Evan .T; Paxson. must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; trans, to batt. Sept. 9. 1864. 
John Quinn, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 9, 

1864. 
Charles Qui nley, must, in .4ug. 8, 1861; disch. on surg. certif. Jan. 20, 

1862. 
William H. Rhoads, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company 

Sept. 9, 1864. 
John Ritter, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with conqiany Sept. 9, 1864. 
Charles Robinson, must, in March 16, 1864 ; trans, to batt. Sept. 9, 1864. 
George Rodel)augh, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. 1862. 
Wesley A. Solely, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 

9, 1864. 
Edward B. Smoyer, must, in .\ug. 8. 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 

9, 1864. 
Joseph Sinilh, must, in .\ug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 9, 

1864. 
Michael B. Staub, must, in .\ug. s, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 
i 9, 1864. 

' Isaac W. Smith, must, iu Aug. 8, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. April 15, 
I 1.S64. 

1 Theodore Shaffer, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; died at Washington, D. C, Oct. 

17. 1861. 
John Smith, must, in .\ug. 8, 1861 ; killed at Auburn Mills, Va., Oct. 14, 

1863. 
I Samuel S. .Stniger, must, in .\ug. 8. 1861. 
Thomas Swift, must, in .\ug. 8. 18lil ; disch. on surg. certif., date un" 

known. 
Hamilton Vaughn, must, in .\ug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 

9, 1864. 
John V. Vanderslice, must, in .Vug. 8, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. April 

20, 1813. 
Edward J. Warnock, must, in Aug. 8, 1861 ; must, out with company 

Sept. 9. 1864. 
John Yocuin, must, in .\ug. 8, 1861 ; killed at Hawes' Shop, Va., May 28, 

1864. 
George W. Ziiin, iiiusl. in Aug, 8. 1861; must, out with company Sept. 

9. 1864. 

I Fifty-first Regiment Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers.— Si uno time previous to the first battle of Bull 
Run CVilonel Hartranft, who eommanded a regiment 
in the three months' service, applied for and received 
authority to recruit one for the three years' service. 
Calling about him many of his old officers and men, 
the ranks of the new regiment were soon filled with 
a body rarely e.xcelled for qualities essential to good 
soldier.-*. With the exception of a few enlistments, 
Companies A, C, D, F and I were recruited in Mont- 
gomery County ; E, H and K in Union and Snyder ; 
Gin Centre; and B in Northampton. The companies 
rendezvoused at Camp Curtin, and the regiment was 
organized by the selection of the following officers: 
John F. Hartranft, of Montgomery County, colonel ; 
Thomas S. Bell, of Chester County, lieutenant-colonel ; 
Edwin Schall, of Montgomery County, major. 

On the morning of the 18th of November the regi- 
ment left Camp Curtin, and proceeded by rail to 
Annapolis, Md., where, beneath the venerable elms 
of Saint John's College, it was for the first time 
formed in liue, its details made and its arms stacked. 
Burnside's expedition to North Carolina was now 
being fitted out, and the best drilled and most re- 
liable of the volunteer regiments were selected for 



204 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



i 



II 



that service. The Fifty-first Pennsylvania was early 
designated as one. Upon its arrival at Annapolis it 
was at first quartered in the buildings of the college, 
and su.bsequently went into camp on the old French 
burying-gniund. On the 1st of December the camp 
was moved two miles beyond the city, and for six 
weeks it was subjected to continuous and laborious 
drill, during which its efiiciency and discipline were 
rapidly improved, and a foundation laid for its future 
renown. In the final organization of the corps it was 
assigned to Reno's brigade.' 

On the 6th of January, 1862, the regiment em- 
barked, and on the 9th the fleet, in three squadrons, 
set sail from Annapolis, and with sealed orders 
passed out to sea. No sooner had it reached the 
open ocean than it was overtaken by a succession of 
violent storms. It semed as though a tempest had been 
lurking in the waste of waters ready to burst upon it 
the moment it should appear. For nearly two weeks, 
staggering beneath the giant waves, it was swept 
about at the mercy of the elements. Braving suc- 
cessfully the tempest, it finally passed Hatteras Inlet, 
and came to anchor in Pamlico Sound. On the 
morning of the 5th of February the flag-ship "Phila- 
delphia" was anxiously watched as it moved, fol- 
lowed by the fleet, and it soon became evident that 
Roanoke Island was the destination. At early dawn 
on the 7th a landing was effected and the movement 
commenced. The enemy was found strongly posted 
in earthworks on the northwestern corner of the 
island, nearly surrounded by an impenetrable swamp, 
approached in front by a single causeway, which was 
swept by the guns of the fort. Upon arriving at the 
edge of the swamp, Reno's brigade was sent to the 
left to cut off' the enemy's retreat south, while Foster 
was directed to penetrate the swamp to the right of 
the road, and attack the enemy upon that flank. 
Hartranft soon found his way completely blocked, 
and returned upon the track of Foster, leaving two 
companies of the Fifty-first, which had the advance, 
still groping in the mire. But before he had reached 
the lines Foster had already opened upon the enemy 
with infantry and artillery, and as the regiment came 
into position on the right of the line, Foster ordered 
a final charge, and the enemy was driven from his 
works, and fled in confusion. The demonstration 
upon the left seemed to heighten the confusion, as 
he anticipated that his way of retreat was eflectually 
broken. A liot pursuit was immediately made, and the 
entire force, with numerous heavy guns and small- 
arms, was captured. 

On the 3d of March the regiment embarked for the 
expedition to Newbern, and on the 4th changed its 



^ Organization of the Second Brigade (Brigadier-General Jesso L. 
Reno, of Burn8ide's Corps). — Fifty-tii-st Regiment Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers, Colonel John K. Hartranft ; Fifty-first Rt-ginient New York 
Volunteers, Colonel Robert B. Potter ; Twenty-first Hegiment Massa- 
chusetts Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Albert C. Miiggi ; Ninth Regi- 
ment New Jereey Volunteers, Colonel J. W. .\llen. 



muskets for Enfield rifles. The fleet sailed on the 
11th, and entered the Neuse River on the 12th, an^ 
choring off Slocum'a Creek, fifteen miles from New- 
bern, where, on the following day, the regiment 
debarked. A portion, under command of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Bell, was detailed to assist in moving the 
artillery. The rain was descending in torrents, and 
the roads were soon trodden into a stiff" mud, which 
rendered the movement of the pieces next to impos- 
sible. . Many of the men lost their shoes, and went 
into battle on the following day barefoot. But without 
faltering or pausing by the way, they toiled on over the 
weary miles, and brought up the pieces in time for 
the attack. For this important service General Burn 
side personally thanked Lieutenant-Colonel Bell. In, 
the meantime Colonel Hartranft, with the remaining^ 
companies, pushed on with the advance column. 
Upon its arrival in front of the enemy's earth-works 
dispositions for attack were made, Foster occupying 
the right, Reno the left and Parke in support ujjon 
the centre. The enemy's line upon the left was 
masked by timber, and in the thick fog which pre- 
vailed the extent of his works w:is undiscovered. 
They proved to be of great strength, consisting of 
"thirteen finished redans" bristling with cannon, pro- 
tected in front "by an almost impassable morass 
filled with fallen timber," '' and stretching away far 
beyond the railroad, where his right was sujj posed to 
rest. Foster attacked upon his left; but the enemy 
concentrating his strength, proved too much for him. 
As soon as he could gain his position on the left 
Reno attacked, and the battle soon became general, 
raging with great fury for three and a half hours. The 
Fifty-first had been held in support, and though ex- 
posed to a severe fire had not been allowed to return 
a single shot. General Reno becoming impatient at 
the delay and at the losses he was sustaining, ordered 
up Colonel Hartranft for the decisive charge. Form- 
ing within a short distance of the rebel intrenchments, 
the regiment was led forward through the ranks of 
the Fifty-first New York, which cheered the column 
as it passed to a little hill beyond. General Reno in 
person, his face beaming with an expression seen 
only in battle, ordered the charge. With deter- 
mined valor the regiment rushed down a ravine 
choked with felled timber, up the opposite 
bank and, without a falter, carried the redan in front, 
planting the old flag upon the ramparts. " All this," 
says General Reno, in his official report, " was gal- 
lantly executed, and the enemy fled precipitately from 
all their intrenchments. Some fifty prisoners were 
captured in these works, many severely wounded. 
Upon reaching the rebel intrenchments I was rejoiced 
to see our flag waving along the entire line of the en- 
emy's works." After setting fire to the railroad 
bridge and a numlier of factories, the rebels aban- 
doned Newbern. 

- Creneral Reno's official report. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



205 



Detachments were frequently sent out by General 
Burnside to reconnoitre and hold important points 
upon the coast. One was intrusted to Colonel Hart- 
rauft, who moved with his regiment into the interior 
and acquired valuable information. On the 16th of 
April a force was sent out consisting of the Fifty-first 
Pennsylvania, Ninth and Eighty-ninth New York, 
Sixth New Hampshire and the Twenty-first Massa- 
chusetts, which proceeded by transports to a point 
four miles below Elizabeth Cit_v, where it landed. 
Pushing inland about twenty miles, the weary troops 
came upon the enemy strongly posted. Two com- 
panies of the Fifty-first, A and F, Captains Boulton 
and Hart, were considerably in advance of the main 
column, and when they had arrived within an eighth 
of a mile of the rebel line they were suddenly opened 
upon from the enemy's guns. They were ordered to 
shelter themselves as best they could and to hold 
their position. General Reno now led the Twenty- 
first Massachusetts and the balance of the Fifty-first 
Pennsylvania through the woods to the right, bring- 
ing them into position U]iou the enemj^'s left flank, 
where they immediately opened fire. In the mean- 
time the Ninth New York had taken position on the 
enemy's left centre, and had prematurely charged 
upon his guns. The ground was open and, being 
fearfully exposed, the Ninth was repulsed with con- 
siderable loss. The Sixth New Hampshire advanced 
upon the left, and, with the two companies of the 
Fifty-first holding the road, kept the enemy well 
employed upon that part of the line. The Fitty-first 
had now turned his left flank and was pouring in 
most deadly volleys. " In the mean time," says Gen- 
eral Reno, " the Fifty-first Pennsylvania and the 
Twenty-first Massachusetts kept u]) an incessant fire 
upon the rebels, who had now withdrawn their artil- 
lery and had commenced to withdraw in good order. 
The Sixth New Hampshire had steadily advanced in 
line to the left of the road, and when within about 
two hundred yards poured in a most deadly volley, 
which completely demoralized the enemy and ended 
the battle. Our men were so completely fagged out 
by the intense heat and their long march that we 
could not jiursue them. The men rested under arms 
until about ten o'clock P. m., when I ordered a return 
to our boats, having accomplished the principal 
object of the expedition, conveying the idea that the 
entire Burnside expedition was marching U]ion Nor- 
folk." The loss in the regiment was three killed and 
twenty-one wounded. The brigade was here com- 
manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Bell, and the regiment 
by Major Schall. On the 30th of June the regiment 
embarked for Fortress Monroe, but was detained 
until the 5th of July, when it set sail with the rest of 
the command, and arrived on the 8th. Here General 
Burnside commenced organizing the Ninth Corps 
destined to win an enviable place in the national 
armies, and the regiment was assigned to the Second 
Brigade of the Second Division, composed of the 



Fifty-first PennsylvaAia, Fifty-first New- York and 
the Twenty-first Massachusetts, commanded by Gen- 
eral Edward Ferrero. 

On the 12th of August Burnside hastened with his 
command to the support of Pope, and landed at 
Fredericksburg, whence he pushed forward two 
divisions to Cedar Mountain, where they formed a 
junction with General McDowell. The enemy had 
already made his appearance on the Rapidan, and 
Ferrero's brigade, under Colonel Hartrantt, was sent 
to guard the fords from Mitchell's Station to Raccoon 
Ford. Lee's columns soon after arrived in force on 
the opposite bank, and began to press heavily to gain 
a crossing, when the brigade was withdrawn, and 
returning through Stevensburg, recrossed the Rappa- 
hannock at Kelly's Ford. Four companies of the 
Fifty-first were detailed for the rear-guard, and held 
the enemy at bay until so far separated from the main 
body as to excite serious apprehension for their safety; 
but they succeeded in bringing in the gun with which 
they were entrusted and crossed the river in safety 
losing only a few stragglers. Pope's army, mananiv- 
ring for several days, finally formed in line on the old 
Bull Run battle-ground. Kearny held the right, 
with Reno on his left. Several batteries were posted 
on a commanding ridge, and away to the right was a 
wood in which the enemy was concentrated in heavy 
force. The Fifty-first supported these batteries. On 
the afternoon of the first day of the battle, the 29th, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Bell, with a portion of the regi- 
ment, was detailed to advance to the picket line in 
Kearny's front, and remained in this position until 
the morning of the second day, when it rejoined the 
regiment, which had been withdrawn during the night. 
Towards evening our forces, having been driven back, 
began to move from the field. The line of retreat 
was along the Centreville road to the right of the 
position held by Graham's battery. This road was 
soon completely blocked with the artillery and trains, 
and much confusion prevailed. 

It was a critical moment. The enemy, exulting in 
his successes, was pushing on to break in upon the 
column while impeded by its trains, and to crush it 
in its crippled condition by a single blow. Graham's 
pieces were admirably posted for its protection, and 
were already dealing their death-laden volleys upon 
the advancing foe ; but should his supports fail him, 
his guns would be lost, and our whole left flank ex- 
posed. Ferrero 'saw the necessity of holding these 
guns at all hazards and of keeping them in full play. 
Undaunted by the masses of the foe hurled against 
him, he clung to the ground, and poured in double- 
shotted canister and rapid rounds of musketry until 
the enemy's lines were broken and driven in con- 
fusion. Again and again they returned to the contest 
with fresh troops and with renewed zeal ; but no 
valor could withstand the shock of Ferrero's column, 
and the enemy finally retired, leaving our lines in- 
tact and our trains safe. Ferrero, with the Twenty- 



206 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



first Massachusetts, now moved off, and had become 
separated from the rest of his brigade. The command 
of the two remaining regiments devolved on Colonel 
Hartranft. 

Ketiring across Bull Run, the two regiments filed 
into the fields to the right of the pike, and bivouacked 
for the night. In the morning they moved on to 
Centreville, and rejoined the army. It was soon after 
discovered that the rebels were in motion to strike 
the Union column by a movement upon its right and 
cut off its retreat. Reno's corps was immediately put 
in motion, with the cavalry in advance, and was soon 
joined by Stevens and Kearny. Hartranft had the 
rear of the column, and was moviug with two bat- 
teries, though under no orders to support them, when 
he suddenly found himself confronting the enemy. 
The two armies were moving on divergent roads, and 
the lines were here first struck. Seeing that these 
batteries were in peril, he instantly ordered them into 
a commanding position on the left of the road, and 
drove back the foe. It was nightfall, and a terrible 
thunder-storm prevailed; but Kearny and Stevens 
and Reno, three impetuous leaders, immediately form- 
ing, moved upon the foe, and fought in the darkness. 
They knew nothing of his strength and little of the 
ground, and contended to a great disadvantage ; but 
the enemy was beaten back, which was the principal 
point, though Kearny and Stevens both yielded up 
their lives. 

At his own request Pope was now relieved of the 
command of the Army of the Potomac, and McClelhin 
was restored. On the 3rd of September the Ninth 
Corps moved through Washington, and on the 11th 
reached New Market, on the Maryland campaign. 
The passage of the Monocacy was not disputed. On 
the 12th the command entered Frederick, and had a 
brisk skirmish with the Cavalry, which was covering 
the withdrawal of the rebel army, now concentrating 
in the passes of the South Mountain, which it was 
determined to hold. Before reaching the mountain 
Ferrero's brigade moved by a country road leading 
up to the summit on the left of the Sharpsburg pike. 
Upon encounteriug the enemy's lines the Seventeenth 
Michigan, a new regiment, full of enthusiasm, but 
little schooled in those cardinal virtues of the soldier 
imparted by veteran discipline, made a most gallant 
charge diagonally across the road from left to right, 
in the fiice of murderous fire, which swept the ranks 
at every step, and soon disappeared in the woods 
beyond. General Reno coming up soon after, and 
supposing that his regiment had established a line in 
the woods and was holding the* ground it had so gal- 
lantly won, ordered Colonel Hartranft to lead his reg- 
iment across the open field in the rear of the supposed 
line, and close up to the edge of the woods. While 
the regiment was thus moving, and was stretched out 
upon the march unsuspicious of danger, the enemy 
suddenly opened upon it from the wood a most witli- 
ering fire. The Seventeenth Michigan had advanced 



Jl 



and driven the enemy, but had neglected to hold its 
advantage, and the rebels returning, had awaited 
until the Fifty-first was upon their bayonet ends, 
when they deliberately opened fire. The column was 
instantly drawn under cover of the wall that flanks 
the road, and soon after was deployed to tlie left of 
the road, under a fence that stretches at right angles 
to it. Fire was immediately opened upon the enemy, 
which was kept up until the ammunition was spent, 
when ■ it was relieved by the Fifty-first New York, 
Colonel Potter, lying in close supporting distance. 
Returning again to the contest, fire was continued 
until the enemy, finding himself hard pressed on 
all sides and his position rendered insecure, fled 
under cover of darkness, and in the morning the col-J 
umns advanced without opposition. General Reno 
was killed early in the contest. 

The battle of Antietam opened on the afternoon of 
the 16th of September, General Hooker crossing 
Antietam Creek and attacking the enemy's left with 
great impetuosity and the most triumphant success, 
and was followed up on the morning of the 17th with 
even greater impetuosity by the commands of Mans- 
field and Sumner. In the mean time the left and cen- 
tre of the Uniou line, stretching away towards the 
Potomac on the left bank of the creek, remained quiet 
spectators of the desperate encounter on the right. 
At nine o'clock on the morning of the 17th, when the 
struggle upon the right had been four hours in prog- 
ress, General Cox, in command of the Ninth Army 
Corps since the fall of Reno, was ordered to advance 
and carry the stone bridge on the extreme left of the 
line, firmly held by the enemy. "The bridge itself 
is a stone structure of three arches, with stone para- 
pet above, this parapet to some extent flanking the 
approach to the bridge at either end. The valley in 
which the stream runs is quite narrow, the steep slope 
on the right bank approaching to the water's edge. In 
this slope the road-way is scarped, running lioth ways 
from the bridge and passing to the higher land above 
by ascending through ravines above and below, the 
upper ravine being some six hundred yards above the 
bridge, the town about half that distance below. On 
the hill-side immediately above the bridge was a 
strong stone fence running parallel to the stream; 
the turns of the road-way were covered by rifle-pits 
and breast works made of rails and stone, all of which 
defenses, as well as the woods which covered th^ 
slope, were filled with the enemy's infantry and sharp- 
shooters. Besides the infantry defenses, batteries 
were placed to enfilade the bridge and all it»i 
approaches." ' Against this position, strong by J 
nature, rendered doubly strong by art, the pyleventhl 
Connecticut and Crook's brigade, supported byf 
Sturgis' division, were ordered to the as.sault. AS^ 
this force advanced up the open valley by the road' 



1 General Cox's Official Keport, Mooro's 
vol. V. p. 454-455 



" Rebellion Record," DoCB. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



207 



which leads ahmg the river-bank to the laridge, it was 
exposed to so warm a fire from tlie opposite heights, 
alive with the enemy, that it was forced to halt and 
reply. iSturgis' troops reached the head of the bridge, 
and the Second Maryland and the Sixth New Hamp- 
shire charged at double-quick with fixed bayonets ; 
but the concentrated fire of the enemy upon it forced 
them to fall back. After repeated efforts these regi- 
ments were withdrawn. Burnside, nettled at the fail- 
ure of this attempt and the consequent delay of his 
columns, and knowing full well in whom he could 
trust, ordered forward the Fifty-first. General Ferrero 
dashing up to the regiment, said, " General Burnside 
orders the Fifty-first Pennsylvania to storm the 
bridge." Hartranft, avoiding the road by the river 
bank, led his men in rear of the heights overlooking 
the river until he arrived opi>osite the bridge, when 
he moved boldly down the slope for the crossing. 
The instant his men came into the open ground in the 
valley they received a withering fire from the enemy's 
well-posted infantry, and many fell. A fence skirt- 
ing the road proved a serious impediment, and in 
crossing it the men were particularly exposed. Here 
fell Captains Bolton and Hart, severely wounded, a 
serious loss at this juncture. Unheeding the enemy's 
bullets or the obstruction, by the way, the column 
moved forward with a determined front, and made 
straiglit for the bridge. As they entered, a storm of 
missiles swept it, Ijut no danger could stay that tide of 
living valor. Hartranft, who led the way, paused in 
the midst, and was hastening on tlie rear of his col- 
umn when he was joined by Colonel Potter, with the 
gallant Fifty-first New York. With a shout that rang 
out aljove the noise of the battle the two columns 
rushed forward, and were soon firmly established on 
the thither bank. The bridge was carried ! 

A regiment was quickly advanced, and took posi- 
tion on the heights commanding the bridge and its 
approaches, driving out the enemy and rendering the 
crossing for infantry secure. The whole corps now 
advanced rapidly, took position on the heights above 
the bridge, and immediately advanced to the attack. 
The Fifty-first was posted on the second range of hills 
overlooking the creek, some distance below the bridge. 
Here it was soon hotly engaged with the enemy 
under cover of a stone wall and in a cornfield on its 
left. Its ammunition was soon exhausted, and a 
fresh supply failing to arrive iis ordered, the men held 
their position with the bayonet until relief came. 
But all this struggle and costly sacrifice was vain. 
The enemy, relieved by the slackening of the battle 
on the left and the arrival of a fresh corps from 
Harper's Ferry, was enabled to concentrate an over- 
whelming force upon this single corps, and it was 
forced to yield. The loss of tlie regiment was one hun- 
dred and twenty-five. Among the killed was Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Bell,' a most vigilant oflicer and most 

1 "After croeeing tlie bridge I touk the regiment to the right and 



estimable man, and Lieutenants Beaver and Hunsicker. 
Of tlie wounded were Captains Bolton and Hart, 
Adjutant Shorkly, Q.uartermaster Freedly and Lieu- 
tenant Lynch. Upon the fall of Lieutenant-Colonel 
Bell, Major Schall was promoted to fill the vacancy, 
and Captain William J. Bolten, of Comjiany A, was 
promoted to major. 

Moving leisurely from the field of Antietam, the 
army crossed and again proceeded to the Rappahan- 
nock. General Burnside, now in chief command, de- 
termined to cross the river at Fredericksburg, and 
seek the foe beyond. Much delay was experienced 
in bringing up the pontoons, and when they were at 
length at hand, the enemy had concentrated in his 
immediate front, and stood ready to disjiufe the pas- 
sage and contest the ground on the impregnable 
heiglits beyond. General Wilcox was now in com- 
mand of the Ninth Corps, and on the afternoon of 
the 13th of December, the day on which the troops 
under Franklin had attacked on the left, it crossed 
the river upon the pontoons in front of the town, and 
advanced by the road leading to the left towards the 
heights. At a point intermediate between the heights 
and the town, the brigade, consisting of five regi- 
ments, under command of General Ferrero, was de- 
ployed to right and left under partial cover. Upon 
emerging from the town the troops were at once met 
by the enemy's fire. A steady fire was returned but 
with little efl'ect, his lines lying close and securely be- 
hind his entrenchments. A lime-kiln marks the 
position where the brigade was deployed, whence it 
advanced gallantly, in face of a murderous fire, to a 
position on the left of the line occupied by the 
Second Corps. On the evening of the 14th, Sunday, 
one regiment, the Eleventh New Hampshire, was 
ordered forward on picket, and was hartUy in posi- 
tion when Colonel Hartranft received orders to pro- 
ceed with the remaining four regiments and relieve 
a division upon the skirmish line. On passing the 
neighborhood of a hospital some entrenching tools 
were discovered scattered about, and the men were 
ordered to take them forward. Arriving upon the 



baited. When the regiment was re-fomied I moved it from the bed of 
the road towards the creek, ami rested while several other regiments 
passed up the road. Colonel Bell here came up to nie, siiying that more 
troops should be sent over. I replied, ' Well, go and see about it.' He 
went, but no farther than the bridge, and soon I saw bini coming back 
on the bed of the road (which was now clear of troops), a few feet from 
the edge of the road nearest the water. W'hen about thirty yards from 
the bridge I saw him struck on the left temple, as I at tliat time thought 
and now believe, by a canister shot. He fell backward and rolled off 
the road to within six feet of the wiiter. He spoke freely, saying 'Never 
say die, boys ;' 'Stand by the colors ;' ' Take care of my .sword.' He was 
immediately taken back to the Barn Hospital and examined by some 
surgeon (our own surgeons being at another hospital), w ho pronounced 
his wound not dangerous. Bleeding soon stopped. I directed Sergeant- 
Majur Stoneroad to remain with him and take charge of his effects. I 
was under orders at this time to move forward, and could not leave the 
regiment. In little less than an hour after I received permission to go 
back to the hospital to see the colonel. I saw him (sergeant-major with 
him), but he did not recognize me. In an hour after he passed off 
calmly." — Letter of General Hartranft. 



208 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



line they were directed to throw up a breast-work for 
their protection. This they at first refused to do, dig- 
ging not having at this time become fasliiouable. 
The command was renewed and the men fell to 
work, and when they began to see the fruits of 
their labor they prosecuted it with a will, and by 
morning of Monday had a good line of works formed. 
This was the first experience of digging by the Fifty- 
first. Here the line was under a fierce infantry 
and artillery fire, and the men were obliged to hug 
closely their cover. But the enemy manifested no 
disposition to attack, and after remaining in position 
until the morning of Tuesday the brigade was with- 
drawn, and recrossed the river upon the pontoons, 
which were soon after taken up. The advantages in 
this engagement were all on the side of the enemy, 
the attacks in front of the town proving futile; 
but nevertheless the history of the war furnishes few 
instances where the mettle of the troops was more 
severely tested than in the blows aimed at the fast- 
nesses of those frowning heights. The loss was 
twelve killed and seventy-four wounded. 

On the 25th of March, 1863, the regiment was 
ordered to Fortress Monroe, where it joined the bri- 
gade, now consisting of the Fifty-first Pennsylvania, 
Fifty-first New York, Twenty-first Massachusetts 
and the Eleventh New Hampshire, and thence pro- 
ceeded, with two divisions of the Ninth Corps, to 
Kentucky. At Cincinnati General Burnside met the 
troops, welcoming them to his new department and 
encouraging them to deeds of patriotic devotion. 
The regiment moved by rail to Paris, and was posted 
successively at Winchester, Lancaster, Crab Orchard 
and Stanford, principally engaged in holding the in- 
terior of the State against the invasions of the raiders 
Wheeler, Morgan and Pegram. 

From Kentucky the corps, under the command of 
General Parke, was ordered to the support of Grant 
at Vicksburg. The Fifty -first broke camp on the 4th 
of June, and arrived in the rear of the great strong- 
hold of the Mississippi on the 14th. Its camp was 
established in Mill Dale, where little of interest oc- 
curred until the 23d, when it was detailed to dig rifle- 
pits and cut away the woods for the protection of the 
rear against a rebel army under Johnston, now as- 
suming a threatening attitude. Working-parties were 
relieved every two hours, and the duty was diligently 
prosecuted until miles of pits and field-works were 
constructed and whole forests slashed away. On the 
morning of the 29th the division was ordered to Oak 
Bridge, where it relieved a portion of McPherson's 
corps, and was again employed in fortifying. At ten 
o'clock on the morning of the 4th of July came in- 
telligence of the fall of Vicksburg, and with it 
twenty one bags of mail matter for the division, 
of not less interest, for the moment, than the sur- 
render. 

The regiment accompanied Sherman in his cam- 
paign to Jackson, and on the 11th arrived upon the 



enemy's front. It was immediately placed in posi- 
tion on the left of the line in support of the Second 
Michigan, Colonel Humphrey. At eight o'clock on 
the morning of the 12th a heavy cannonade was 
opened on both sides, which was kept up during the 
entire day, the regiment suffering considerable loss. 
During the night the men were busy digging rifle- 
pits, at many points within a few yards of the rebel 
sentries. On the morning of the 14th, after three 
days and two nights of constant skirmishing and 
fatigue duty, the regiment was relieved and with- 
drawn to the rear of the Insane Asylum. On the 
15th detachments from several regiments, embracing 
two companies, F and H, of the Fifty-first, all under 
command of Major Wright, of the Fifty-first New 
York, were sent to reconnoitre the left as far as the 
Pearl River, and ascertain if a crossing could be 
effected. By accident the command struck the river 
opposite to the point where the enemy's trains and 
reserved artillery were parked. The appearance of 
our troops in this quarter was reported to Johnston, 
who, supposing it to be a demonstration in force, and 
fearing for the safety of his army, at once commenced 
a retreat.' The city was occupied on the 18th, the 
regiment stacking arms in front of the State-House. 
Remaining two or three days to complete the work of 
destruction, Sherman marched back to Vicksburg. 

The Ninth Corps now returned to Burnside's com- 
mand, and went into camp in Kentucky, the Fifty- 
first leaving the railroad at Nicholasville, and taking 
post at Camp Nelson. Here it rested and refitted. 
The service in Mississippi had been very severe. Dig- 
ging, felling forests and making forced marches un- 
der the burning suns of the south had broken down 
the health of many a strong man, and had induced 
fevers peculiar to that region. Colonel Hartranft fell 
a victim to their influence, and was for a long time 
prostrated. From Camp Nelson the regiment moved 
to Crab Orchard, where it received recruits, and thence 
marched across the mountains, via Cumberland Gap, 
to Knoxville. 

Soon after its arrival it was ordered down the valley 
to Loudon, where preparations had been made for go- 
ing into winter-quarters ; but scarcely had it arrived 
when it was ordered back to Lenoir, where it re- 
mained several days. Here Colonel Hartranft, who 
had so far recovered as to take the field, rejoined the 
regiment, and immediately assumed command of the 
Second Division of the Ninth Corps. His arrival w^as 
opportune. Longstreet, cutting loose from Bragg at 
Chattanooga, was threatening Burnside with a force 



1 *' All night Sherman heard the sound of wagons, but nothing that 
indicated evacuation, for the picks and shovels were at worlc till mid- 
night; but at the dawn of day it became evident that the enemy had 
withdrawn across the Pearl River. The rebels had burned all the 
bridges in retreating and placed loaded shells and torpedoes on the roads 
leading out from the river. All the materials of war had been removed, 
in advance of the retreat, by means of the railroad running east." — 
'* MUUiiry Hiatorij of U. S. Grant," Badeau, vol. i. p. 396. 



THE GREAT KEBELLION. 



209 



thrice his number, and had already arrived in the 
ueigliborhood of Loudon. Perceiving his advantage, 
the rebel chief pushed across the Tennessee, and put 
his columns in motion for Campbell's Station, a point 
where several important roads centre, with the design 
of reaching it in advance of Burnside's forces, and 
thus cutting oil' and capturing his whole command. 
In this he had the advantage of the shortest and most 
direct road. Burnside discovered his danger just in 
time to avert it. The Fifty-flrst was charged with 
moving Benjamin's heavy battery. The mud was very 
deep, and the roads, badly cut up by the trains, were 
next to impassable. All night long the regiment 
toiled through the mire to bring up the guns. The 
station was reached in advance of the enemy, and im- 
mediately proceeding out upon the Kingston road. 
Colonel Hartranft 'deployed his division across it, 
with his left thrown forward to cover the Loudon 
road, along which our army and trains were moving. 
Before these dispositions had fairly been made the 
head of the rebel column appeared. Held back for 
awhile by a lew mounted infantry, Longstreet soon 
brouglit up heavy columns and opened a furious at- 
tack. This was met by a destructive and continuous 
fire from Hartranft's lines, which caused the enemy 
to recoil in confusion. Steadfastly holding his ground 
until the remainder of tliearmy and all the trains had 
safely passed the threatened i)oint, Hartranft with- 
drew his troops, regiment by regiment, and took 
position on the left of the new line of battle, which 
had been formed on a low row range of hills beyond 
the station. In the mean time Benjamin's battery, 
which had been brought safely in, took position and 
did most eftective service, engaging and driving 
the enemy's artillery wherever it made its ap- 
peai'ance. So much were the Union forces out- 
numbered, that the contest was waged with no hope 
of victory, but only to save the army and its material. 
Accordingly, successive lines of battle were taken up 
in advantageous positions, and each was held until 
forced from it, when the trooi)S retired behind fresh 
troops that had occujiicd the next. In this way the 
enemy was held at bay until dark, when he rested, 
and Burnside's columns, under cover of darkness, 
were all brought off safely into Knoxville. 

Here the troops were immediately put to fortifying. 
Ferrero, with the First Division, held the left of the 
line, with the river upon his flank, and Fort Sanders, 
an earth-work mounted with Benjamin's guns, in the 
centre. Hartranft held the right, his line crossing 
the principal road leading from Cumberland Gap to 
Knoxville. Upon his right was a mill fed by a small 
stream. Across this a heavy dam was built, which 
flooded the ground for a considerable distance around. 
Upon this lake the right of the line rested securely. 
For many days the work of fortifying was prosecuted 
without cessation. Fortunately, Longstreet delayed 
his attack until the works were completed and the 
army was secure. But the troops were exposed to a 
14 



danger more imperious and fatal than rebel bullets. 
It was hunger. During all the hardships of the siege 
the men had been compelled to subsist on meagre ra- 
tions of a quality hardly capable of sustaining life. 
The days were counted when even these would fail. 
Fortunately, before they were numbered, Grant, hav- 
ing relieved the army at Chattanooga from its toils, 
sent a powerful force under Sherman to the support 
of Burnside, and the siege was raised. 

Trains soon after arrived with provisions, and pur- 
suit of the enemy was at once commenced. In thia 
the Fifty-first joined, and came up with the rebel rear- 
guard at Rutledge, in the valley of the Holsten, 
where skirmishing ensued. Here the pursuit was 
stayed, and the regiment retired to the neighliorhood 
of Blaine's Cross-Roads, where it went into winter- 
quai'ters. Still only meagre supplies of food and 
clothing were received, and the troops suffered much. 
On the 5th of January the regiment re-enlisted for an 
additional term of three years, and received orders to 
commence the homeward march. Poorly clad and 
short of rations, the men braved the perils of a win- 
try march across the mountains of East Tennessee, 
and after enduring untold sufferings and hardships 
by the way, finally arrived at Camp Nelson, where 
abundant supplies of food and clothing were received. 
Pausing a few days at Cincinnati for the preparation 
of the company rolls, the regiment proceeded to Har- 
risburg, where it received a veteran furlough. Upon 
his arrival at Norristown, Colonel Hartranft and the 
five companies from Montgomery County received a 
flattering ovation, in which the speaker upon the oc- 
casion, Mr. B. E. Chain, said : "It is to you, colonel, 
that the regiment owes the character it bears. Your 
discipline in the camp, your foresight on the march, 
your coolness, bravery and judgment on the battle- 
field, have won the confidence and love of your men, 
and made them heroes in the fight. They knew that 
you never ordered where you did not lead." 

So popular was the regiment at home that it was 
soon recruited to more than the maximum strength, 
and upon the expiration of the veteran furlough ren- 
dezvoused at Annapolis, Md., where the Ninth 
Corps was assembling. It was here assigned to the 
First Brigade of the First Division, consisting of the 
Fifty-first Pennsylvania, the One Hundred and Ninth 
New York and tlie Second, Eighth, Seventeenth 
and Twenty-seventh Michigan, Colonel Hartranft in 
command, Lieutenant-Colonel Schall leading the regi- 
ment. 

Upon the opening of the spring campaign under 
Grant the Ninth Corps broke camp, and moving 
through Washington, where it was reviewed by the 
President, joined the army, and on the 5th of May 
crossed the Rapidan. It immediately moved to the 
front and took position between Hancock and War- 
ren. Hartranft's brigade was upon the centre of the 
line, and it was with considerable difficulty that it. 
could be got into position. Captain Hart, who was 



210 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



now serving upon the staff of the colonel, was ordered 
to go forward until he found the enemy's skirmishers. 
Pushing through the thick growth of pines, the first 
intimation he received of an enemy's presence was a 
rebel bullet whistling by his ears. The brigade was 
now led in by regiments, the men creeping through 
the deuse undergrowth as best they could. " The ad- 
vance was made," says Colonel Hartranft in his official 
report, " with great difficulty, on account of the woods 
and underbrush, which were on fire. I formed my 
line, making nearly a right angle facing south and 
east. The enemy was in force in front of my left. 
While in this position I received orders from Major- 
General Burnside to advance and carry the enemy's 
works. I ordered the advance at ten A. M., holding 
the Second Michigan in reserve and directing the 
Seventeenth Michigan to watch well the right flank. 
The lines moved forward, and I carried the enemy's 
works and held them for a moment, until a panic 
seized the left, which brought the whole line back in 
confiision. I immediately advanced skirmishers from 
the Second and Seventeenth Michigan, also moved 
the Seventeenth more to the left, and on these regi- 
ments re-formed my line. In this charge many 
prisoners were taken from the enemy, but lost perhaps 
an equal number." In the afternoon the brigade 
again advanced, but encountered stern resistance, and 
lost many in killed and wounded. On the 7th the 
line was again moved forward, breast-works were 
thrown up and considerable skirmishing ensued. 

On the morning of the 9th the brigade was with- 
drawn and moved to the Ny River, where the enemy was 
soon found. A crossing was effected on the 12th, and 
the rebels, after a stern resistance, were driven back. 
In this engagement six companies of the Fifty-first 
were deployed as skirmishers, sujjported by the re- 
maining four, and gallantly carried the wooded heights 
in their front, compelling the enemy to burn a house 
in which he had taken shelter, and retire. To date 
from this battle. Colonel Hartranft was promoted to 
brigadier-general, Lieutenant-Colonel Schall to colo- 
nel. Major Bolton to lieutenant-colonel, and Captain 
Hart to major. From the 12th to the 18th the lineot 
the brigade remained substantially unchanged, the 
enemy hugging closely their works, ready at any 
moment to repel an attack. Upon the withdrawal of 
the brigade from the position occupied on the 27th a 
few men, belonging to the Fifty-first, engaged ujion 
the picket line, could not be brought in, and fell into 
the hands of the enemy. A succession of movements 
by the left flank brought the brigade to Cold Harbor 
on the 1st of June. At six o'clock on the morning of 
the 3d the brigade advanced with orders to retake the 
line from which the enemy had driven our troops on 
the previous day. Potter's division advanced at the 
same time on the right. In the face of a terrific fire 
of infantry and artillery, the lines rushed forward, 
routed the enemy, and were soon well established 
within two hundred yards of his main line, where, in 



a re-entrant angle of his own works, he had four guns. 
These proved of little value tc) him, as they were so 
closely watched by our sharpshooters that it was im- 
possil)le for the gunners to work them. In this charge, 
at the head of his column, Colonel Schall was killed, 
and Wijs succeeded in command by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Bolton. The loss here, as in the iireceding battles of 
the campaign, was very heavy, but for want of data 
cannot be given. 

Crossing the Chickahominy and the .lames, the 
Ninth Corps arrived in front of Petersburg on the 
17th, and at once engaged the enemy. General Hart- 
ranft's brigade made a most gallant charge in face of 
a galling fire of the rebel artillery, suffering heavy 
loss. 

On the following day it was again engaged upon 
the railroad cut in front of the locality afterwards se- 
lected for the mine, and gained a position in close 
proximity to the enemy's works, which was held and 
fortified. So close to the rebel line was this position 
that it required unceasing vigilance to hold it, and for 
seventeen successive days and nights an unceasing fire 
of musketry was kept up, one-third of the men being 
constantly employed. After a few days' respite it was 
again returued to the vicinity of its old position, 
where it remained until the explosion of the mine. 
On the day previous it was relieved and ordered to 
form part of the storming column. When the explo- 
sion took place it advanced, and two companies had 
reached the brink, when General Hartranft, who was 
in the crater, finding that more troops were already in 
than could be used, ordered it back. In this perilous 
advance Colonel Bolton was severely wounded, and 
the command devolved on Major Hart. The brigade 
was agaiu put upon the line fronting the crater, where 
it remained for a few days, when it was relieved and 
passed to the rear out of harm's way. Here it remained 
in camp until the 19th of August, when it was ordered 
to the support of Warren, on the Weldon Railroad. 
Crawford's division formed the connecting link be- 
tween Hancock and Warren, a distance of a half mile. 
Uj^on this the enemy fell in heavy force and captured 
the greater jiortion of it, making a dangerous gap, and 
ex[)osing Warren to imminent peril. Hartranft, who 
was lying in supporting distance, and judging by the 
sound of battle that our forces had been dispersed, 
though not under orders, magnanimously moved to the 
rescue, and by interi)0sing his brigade and by stub- 
bornly holding his ground, saved the day. A perma- 
nent lodgment was thereby made ujjou the Weldon 
road, which had been one of the enemy's chief lines 
of supply. 

In the subsequent operations of the brigade the 
Fifty-fii'st, under command of Colonel Bolton, partici- 
pated, engaging the enemy at Poplar Spring Church, 
at Ream's Station, at Hatcher's Run and in the final 
attack on the 2d of April, which resulted in the evac- 
uation of Richmond. On the 27th of July, after four 
years of arduous service, extending over the whole 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



211 



line from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, it was nius- 
tere<l out of service at Alexandria, Va. 

FIELD AND STAFF OFFICERS. 

John F. Hartranft, col., must, in July 27, 1861: pro. to hrig.-gen. 
.lune 8, I8i;4; to brevet maj.-gen. March 25, 1805. 
William J. Boltuii, col., must, in Aug. IG, 18(>l ; pro. from capt. Co. A 

to maj. Sept. 17, 1862; to col. June 26, 1864; to brevet brig. -gen. 

Maroli 13, 18G5 ; must, out with regiment July "27, 186.3. 
Thomas S. Bell, lieut.-coi., um=t. in July 27, ISGl ; killed at Antietam 

Sept. 17, 1862. 
Edwin Schall, lieut.-ooL, must, iu July 27, 1861 ; \>r<\ from maj. to 

lieut.-col. Sept. 17, 1862; killed at Cold Uarbor, Va,, June :i, 186-4. 
William AUebaugh, lieut.-col., must, in^ug. 16, I8U1; pro. from capt. Co. 

C to lieut. col. April 23, 1865 ; to brevet col. March 13, I860 ; must. 

iiut with regiment July 27, 1865. 
Lane S. Hart, maj., must, in Sept. 2, 1861 ; pro. from capt. Co. F to mnj. 

.July 21, 1804 ; disch. Dec. 17, 1864, fur wounds received at Weldon 

Kailrurtd Aug. 19, 1864. 
Joseph K. lioltuu, maj., must, in Aug. 16, 1861 ; pro. from capt. Co. A 

to maj, .hill, l.o, I8G0; must, out with regiment July 26, 1865. 
Daniel P. Bibb-, adjt., iriiist. in Oct. 30, ISGl ; res. June o, 18r.2. 
George Shorkley, a*ljt., must, in Nov. IG, 18G1 ; pro. from 1st lieut. Co. 

H to adjt. June 6, 1862; to capt. Co. H April 22, 1864. 
Martin L. Schock, adjt., must, iu Sept. 9, 1861; pro. from 2dl ieut. Co. 

E to Ist lieut. and adjt. May 2, 18G4; disch. Nov. 2, 1864, for wounds 

received in action. 
Jacob H. Santo, adjt., must, in Nov. 16, 1861 ; pro. from 2d lieut. 

Co. H to Ist lieut. and adjt. Jan 1.'), 1865; mustered out with regi- 
ment July 27, 18G5. 
John J. Freedley, q.m., must, in Aug. 15, 1861; pro. from 1st lieut. Co. 

C Oct. 17, 1801; res. May 11, 1863. 
Samuel P. Stephens, q.m., must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; pro. from sergt. Co. 

F to com. sergt. Nov. 16, 1801; to q.m. May 13, 1863; must, out 

with regiment July 27, 1865. 
J, A. Livergood, Surg., nmst. iu Sept. 14, 1861 ; trans, to 101st 

Regt. P. V. Nov. 20, 1861. 
Jolin A. Hosack, surg., must, in Oct. 15, 1861 ; trans, from lOlst Regt. 

P. V. Nov. 20, 1861 ; res. July 30, 1863. 
Wm. C. Sliurlock, surg., must, in March 9, 1864; must, out June 5, 1865. 
Manning F. Bowers, surg., nmst. in June 22, 1865 ; must, out with regi- 
ment July 27, 1805. 
James D. Noble, assist, surg., must, in Sept. 14, 1801 ; res. July 21, 1862. 
John B. Reinholdt, assist, surg., must, in Aug. 1, 1802 ; must, out June 

5, 18G5. 
Charles S. Diiffidl, assist, surg., must, in Aug. 4, 1862; must, out Nov. 

16, 18i>4. exp. of term. 
James Cress, assist surg., must, in Feb. 11, 1865; must, out with regi- 
ment July 27, 1865. 
Daniel G. Mallory, chapn., must, in Oct. 17, 1861 ; res. July 27, 1861 ; re- 

com. April S, 1804; disch. by S. O., Sept. 2, 1804. 
Levi. W. Shingle, sergt. -maj., must, in Sept 13, 1861 ; pro. from sergt. 

Co. Jan. 14, 1805; must, out with regiment July 27, 1865; veteran. 
Ciirtin B. Stoneroad, sergt.-maj., must, in Oct. 17, 1861 ; pro. to 2d lieut. 

Co. G June 25, 1864. 
George C. Gutoliua, sergt.-maj., must, in Sept. 0, 18G1 ; pro. to 2d lieut. 

Co. E Jan. 14, 1805 ; veteran. 
Louis Cartuyvel, q.m. -sergt., must, in Oct. 17, 1801 ; must, out with 

regiment July 27, 1805; veteran. 
Christopher Wyckoff, q.ni.-seigt., must, in Oct. 10, 1801 ; pro. from 

cor. Cu. F to q.m.-4ergt. Dec. 12, 1803; diuch. by special order 

March 8, 1865; veteran. 
Levi Bolton, corn, sergt., must, in Sept. 12, 18t'.l ; pro. from corp. Co. A 

Dec. 3, 1861 ; must, out with regiment July 27, 180-5 ; veteran. 
Thotna-s H. Parker, com. sergl., Sept. 28, 1801; pro. from 1st sergt. Co. I 

to com. sergt; to capt. Co. I Deo. 2, 1864 ; veteran. 
Allen H. FUnum, com. sergt., mustered in Oct. 16, 1861 ; pro. to 2d lieut. 

Co. F July 22, 1804; veteran. 
Martin II. Dunn, hosp. steward, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; must, out with 

regiment July 27, 1866; veleran. 
Edward D. Johnson, principal musician, must, irf April 4, 1863; must. 

out with regiment July 27, 1865. 

COMPANY A. 

Recruited at Norristowu. 
William J. Bolton, capt., must, in Aug. 16, 1801; pro. to maj. Sept. 17, 
1802. 



Joseph K. Bolton, capt., must, in Aug. 10, 1801; pro. from 1st lieut. 

to capt. Sept. 17, 1802; tt> maj. Jan. 15, 1805. ' 

John H. Coulson, capt., must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; pro. to 2d lieut. May 3, 
1864; to 1st lieut. Oct. 1, 1804; to capt. Jan. 15,1865; must, out 
with company July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Abraham L. Ortlip, 1st lieut., must, in Aug. 16,^1861 ; pro. from 2d to Ist 

lieut. Sept. 17, 1862 ; res. April 20, 1864. 
John S- Moore, 1st lieut., must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; promoted from Ist 
sergt. Ui 2d lieut. Sept. 17, 1862; to 1st lieut. Slay 3, ISCA ; killed at 
Wilderness May 6, 1864: buried in Wilderness burial grounds.. 
Benjamin P. Thompson, 1st lieut., must, in .Sept. 12, 1861 ;pro. from Ist 
sergt. to 2d lieut. June 25, 1864; to lieut. April 11, 1865; must, 
out with company July 27, 1805 ; veteran. 
Edward L. Evans, 2d lieut., must, in Sept. 12. 1801 ; pro. from sergt. to 
2d lieut. Jan. 13, 1885; must, out with n.mpany July 27, 1865; 
veteran. 
Osmaii Ortlip, 1st sergt., must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1805 ; veteran. 
Isaac E. Filman, sergt., must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Charles M. Henniss, sergt., must, in Sept, 12, 1861 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1805; veteran. 
Washington Smith, sergt., must, iu Sept. 12, 1801; pro. from coi-p. to 
sergt. Jan. 13, 1S65 ; must, out with company July 27, 1865 ; 
veteran. 
James O'Neill, sergt., must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; pro. from Corp. to sergt. 

April 11, 1865; must, out with company July 27, 1805; veteran. 
Jacob H. Moyer, sergt., must, in Sept, 12, 1801 ; died .Inly 12, 1864, of 

wounds received ut Cold Harbor June 3, 1804; veteran. 
Bobert Supplee, sergt., must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; died at Weavertou 

Hosp., Md., Oct. 27, 1802. 
Jesse Herbster, corp., must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
George S. Buzzard, corp., must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Jonathan B. Ellis, corp., must, in March 30, 1864 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 
Hiram C. Lysinger, corp., must, in Feb. 18, 1864; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 
Amandus Garges, corp., must, in Feb. 10, 1864 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
John Getuian, Corp., must, in Feb. 16, 1864; m\ist. out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
Henry Dickenson, corp., must, in Sept. 12, 1861; pro. to corp. June 3, 

1805 ; must, out with company July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
James W. Doud, corp., must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; pro. to corp. June 23 

1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
John S. Jones, Corp., must, in Sept. 18, 1861; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1805. 
Daniel Lare, coi-p., must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 11, 1804, 

exp. of term. 
Fnink H. Mills, corp., nmst. in Sept. 12, 1801 ; killed at Cold Harbor 

June 3, 1864; veteran. 
George Vebele, Corp., must, in Sept. 12, 1801; died June 18, 1864, of 

wounds received at Cold Harbor June 3, 1864. 
John Adams, corp., must, in April 27, 1864. 

Joseph White, corp., must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; died at Middletown, Md., 
Sept. 15, 1862, of wounds received at South Mountain Sept. 1^ 
1862. 
Abraham Butz, Corp., must in Sept 1.2, 1861; disch. April 21, 1863. 
John C. Brannon, corp., must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; diedat Newborn, N. C, 

May 21, 1862. 
Levi Bolton, corp., must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; i)ro. to com. sergt. Dec. 3, 

1804. 
John W. Shillick, musician, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out with com- 
pany Jiily 27, 186.5 ; veteran. 
William Barringer, musician, must, in Feb. 6, 1865 ; must, out with, 

company July 27, 1805. 
Edward D. Johnson, musician, must, iu April 4, 1863 ; trans, to Co. C, 
date unknown. 

Pi-icates. 
Henry Abbott, must, in Sept. 2:i, 18t>4 ; drafted; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1S05. 
Henry Alter, must, in Sept. 20, 18C4 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1805. 
George B. Baker, nmst. in Feb. 23, 1864 ; must, out with company July 
27, 1865. 



212 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



James W. Baten, must, in Feb. 29, 18(.;4 ; iiiviet. out with comiiiiny .Tuly 

27, 1805. 
Henry BackuB, must, in Oct. 12, 1SG4; must, out with company July 'J7, 

1805. 
Albert Barndt, must, in Feb. C, 1S(J5 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Samuel S. Buzzard, must, in Feb. 15, 18G5 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1805. 
Benjamin F. Bolton, must, in Sept. 12, 1861; must, out Sept. 11, 1804; 

exp. of term. 
Samuel Baifert, must, in Sept. 22, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, lS(i5. 
Elijah Block, must, in Sept. 22, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1805. 
James Block, mustered in Sept. 22, 1804; drafted; disch. by G. O. June 

2, 18G5. 
Jonas Beam, must, in Sept. 20, 1804 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1865. 
Joseph S. Burkhart, must, in Sept. 20, 1804; drafted; disch. by G. 0. 

June 2, 1805. 
William Brown, must, in Sept. 20, 1804; drafted ; disch. by G. O. June 

2, 1805. 
■William Barr, must, in Sept. 12, 1861; disch. by G. 0. May 12, 1865; 

veteran. 
James M. Baker, must, in Feb. 24, 1864; disch. by G. 0. July 11, 

1805. 
Thomas J. Bolton, must, in Sept. 12, 186>; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 

25, 1805 ; veteran. 
Jonathan Brooks, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; trans, to Co. G, date un- 
known. 
George Bodey, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; died at WalTenton Junction, Va., 

May 2, 1864 ; veteran. 
Henry Boyer, must, in Feb. 8, 1864; liied at Annapolis, 3Id., May 4, 

1864. 
John Bare, must, in Feb. 20, 1864; died at Washington, D. C, May 20, 

1804, of wounds received at Wilderness May 0, 1864. 
George W. Berks, must, in Feb. 16, 1864 ; captured May 27, 1804 ; died 

at Andersonville, Ga., Oct. 24, 1864. grave 11,434. 
William Backer, must, in Sept. 20, 1864; drafted; died at Philadelphia, 

Pa., July 1, 1865. 
Archibald W. Berks, must, in Feb. 29, 1804. 
Benjamin Browuell, must, in Aug. 18, 1804. 

Geo. Bond, must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; died at Harrisburg, Pa., Oct. 20, 1861. 
James Bolton, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch. June 24, 1863. 
Jacob Bennett, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch. Dec. 2, 1802. 
Irwin Barudt, must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps Nov. 8, 

1803. 
Gotlieb Bellman, must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; died Nov. 19, 1862. 
Wm. H. Carrier, must, in Oct. 10, 1804 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Enos Case, must, in Feb. 27, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
John Claycomb, must, in Sept. 27, 1804 ; substitute ; disch. on surg. 

certif. X)ec. 2::, 1804. 
Richard N. Capwell, must, in Sept. 22, 1804 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. 

June 2, 1865. 
Henry Constable, must, in Sept. 20, 1804 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
Henry Collego, must, in Sept. 21, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
William Carney, must, in Jan. 8, 1864 ; died Aug. 19, 1864 ; buried in 

Cypress Hill Cemetery, Long Island. 
Davis Campbell, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch. June 28, 1803. 
John Clare, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; trans, to Batt. K, U. S. Art., Oct. 

27, 1862. 
James Coulston, must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; killed at Antietam Sept. 17, 

1862. 
Benjamin F. Doud, must, in Jan. 18, 1865 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865, 
Samuel G. Doud, must, in Jan. 24, 1865 ; must, ont with company July 

27, 1805. 
Franklin Delinger, must, in March 29, 1865 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1805. 
Joseph H. Divers, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out Sept, 11, 1864, ex- 
piration of term. 
Thomas Doud, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 11, 1804, expira- 
tion of term. 



A. Druckenmiller, mtist. in Oct. 16, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 1865. 
Samuel Delinger, must, in Feb. 6, 1866 ; disch. by G. 0. June 13, 1866. 
Daniel Dried, must, in Sept. 20, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1865. 
Jacob H. Derr, nmat. in Feb. 28, 1864 ; died May 28, 1864, of wounds re- 
ceived at Spottsylvania Court-House May 12, 1864 ; buried in 

National Cemetery, Arlington, Va. 
Simon Dobson, must, in Sept. 23, 1864 ; died ,\pril 3, 1865, of wounds 

received at Petersburg, Va, April 1, 1865. 
Isaac De Haven, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; trans, to Batt. K, U. S. Art., 

Oct. 27, 1862. 
Charles B. Evans, must, in Feb. 26, 1864 ; nnist. out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Daniel Eiker, must, in Oct. 10, 1864 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1805. 
George Eckhart, must, in Jan. 27, 1865 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Harrison English, must, in Jan. 30, 1865 ; disch. by G. 0. June 20, 1865. 
Samuel H. Frease, must, in Jan, 14, 1804; wounded at Spottsylvania 

Court-House May 12, 1804 ; absent at must. out. 
Thomas Farrell, must, in Feb. 17, 1864 ; wounded at Spottsylvania Court- 
House May 12, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. July 24, 1805. 
John G. Fried, nuist in Jan. 5, 1805 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1805. 
John Florey, must, in Sept. 17, 1804 ; disch. by G. 0. Juno 20, 1866. 
Lewis C. Fisher, must, in Sept. 27, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 1866. 
Israel Foos, must, in Sept. 22, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1866. 
Archibald Findloy, nmst. in Sept. 20, 1804 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
Henry Foucht, must, in Sept. .30, 1804 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
Jesse Frease, must, in Feb. 20, 1864 ; killed at Spottsylvania Court- 
House May 12, 1864, 
Charles Fix, must, in .Sept. 12, 1801 ; died at Philadelphia, Pa., June 18, 

1864, of wounds received at Spottsylvania Court-House May 12, 

1804. 
Samuel Foreman, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch. Jan. 29, 1863. 
Nathan Foreman, must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; disch. Feb. 18, 1863. 
Lind'y R. I'ranklin, must, in Sept, 12, 1861 ; disch, March 4, 1863. 
John Gross, must, in March 3, 1805 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Joseph Gearhart, must, in March 13, 1805 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1805. 
Theodore Gilbert, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 11, 1864, exp. 

of term. 
Israel Gauker, must, in Sept. 22, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
Jeremiah Grey, must, in Sept, 12, 1861 ; died May 16, 1864, of wounds 

rdceiied at Spottsylvania Court-House May 14, 180»4 ; buried in 

Wilderness Burial Grounds. 
Benjamin Goodwin, must, in Aug. 13, 1862 ; deserted .\ug. 30, 1863. 
Frederick Geisinger, must, in Oct. 7, 1864 ; substitute ; deserted May 30, 

1805. 
Jonathan Goodwin, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch. Dec. 2, 1862. 
William Hoffman, must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Charles S. Hansell, must, in Sept, 12, 1861 ; uuist, out with company 

July 27, 1865 ; veteran, 
William Herbster, must, in Feb. 25, 1864 ; nmst. out with company July 

27, 1865. 
George A. Hugnenin, must, in Oct. 17, 1864 ; must, out with comimny 

July 27, 1805. 
Allen Hildreath, must, in March 13, 1805 ; must, out with compan.v July 

27, 1866. 
Charles G. Hunsinger, must, in Jan. 27,1865; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
Patrick H. Hamill, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 11, 1864, exp. 

of term. 
William II, Harner, must, in Sept. 20, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. 

June 2, 1805. 
Edward llallman, must, in Feb. 23, 1864 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps 

March 4, 1865. 
Samuel Haines, must, in Feb. 25, 1864 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps March 

4, 1SI15, 
William Ilorflf, must, in Feb. 15, 1864 ; captured Aug, 21, 1804 ; died at 

Salisbury, N. C, Nov. 3, 1864. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



213 



Daniel Hood, must, in Feb. 24, 1864; 

Charles S. Hausell, must, in Sept. 12, 1861; must, imt with company 

July 27, I860 ; veteran. 
Charles Hayberry, must, in Sept. 12, 18G1 ; truns. to Batt. K, U. S. Art., 

Oct. 27, 1862. 
William Heard, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; killed at Fredericksburg, Va., 

Dec. 13, 1862. 
John Henniss, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; trans, to Batt. K, U. S. Art., Oct. 

27, 1862. 
Isaac M. D. Invin, must, in Feb. 20, 1865 ; must.out with company July 

27, 1865. 
John H. Jordan, must, iu Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865 ; vetei-an. 
Kalph Jones, nmst. in Feb, 20, 1864 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
■W'ilson James, must, in Jan. 12, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Jesse Johnson, mvist. in Sept. 12, 1801 ; nmst. out Sept. 11, 1SG4, exp. 

of term. 
Isaiah T. Johnson, must, in Feb. 25, 1864 ; trans, to Vet. Res. C-orps JIarch 

4, 1865. 
Samuel H. Jones, mustdiH Sept. 12, 1861 ; captured at Clinch Mountains, 

Tenn., Dec. 13, 1863. 
Abraham Jones, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; captured at Clinch Mountains, 

T.-nn., IK-C. 13, 1863. 
Asbury M. Johnson, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch. Sept. 8, 1862. 
Benjamin D. Jonys, nmst. in Siopt. 12, 1861 ; disch. Jan. 4, 1H63. 
Jacob W. Culp, must, in Jan. 13, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Barney Kelley, must, in Feb. 6, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1S65. 
Edwin Kelliilmer, must, in S.-pt 12, 1861 ; nmst. out Sept. H, 1864, exp. 

of term. 
Jacob Kelh-r, must, in Sept. 22, 1864; drafted; disch by G. 0. June 2, 

1865. 
Charles Keyser, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; died Sept. 30, 1862, of wounds 

received at AntietaTu, Md. 
Lewis T. Keyser, nmst. in Sept. 12, 1861. 
William Kilpatrick, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; died at Harrisburg, Pa., 

Dec. I, 1861. 
Lucius Lake, must, in Oct. 10, 1864 ; must, out with cumpaiiy July 27, 

1S65. 
Joseph N. Lewis, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 11, 1864, exp. 

of term. 
Christian Linck, must, in Sept. 12, 1861. 
Charles A. Murray, must in Feb. 8, 1864 ; absent, undergoing sent. G, 

('. M. at Auburn, N. Y. 
Joseph Jloyer, must in Oct. 8, 1864 ; nmst. out with company July 27, 1865. 
William Mason, must, in Feb. 4, 1865 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
Thomas Morton, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 11, 1864, exp. 

of term. 
Samuel J. Miller, must, in Sept. 20, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
Lewis Mattis, nmst. in Jlarcli li), 1864 ; killed at Petersburg, Va., July 

8, 1864. 
Kelson Y. Mattis, must, in Feb. 25, 1864 ; captured July 30, 1864 ; died 

at Danville, Va,, Jan. 10, 1865. 
Lewi.t Myere, must, in Feb. 17, 1S64 ; died July 18, 1864, at Pliiladcli.hia, 

Pa., of wounds received at Petersburg, June 17, 1864. 
Alexander Mack, must, in Aug. 1, 1864. 
James Maguire, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; killed at Fredericksburg, Va., 

Dec. 13, 1862. 
Jacob W. Markley, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. 

March 21, 1863. 
Samuel ]\IcCombs, must, in Feb. 12, 1804 ; must, out with company July 

27, I8i}5. 
William McKane, must, in 0<t. 17, 1864 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Thomas McGrail, must, in Oct. Ki, 1864 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
James T. McMuUen, must, in Sept. 23, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. O. 

June 2, 1865. 
Henry McLain, nmst. in Feb. 24, 1864 ; cuptiircd Aug. 21, 1864 ; died at 

Sallsbui-y, N. ('., date unknown. 
James McClincliey, must, in Jan. 6, 1865. 
Washington McDade, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; killed at Fredericksburg, 

Va., Dec. 13, 1862. 



Daniel McGugan, must, in Sept, 12, 1861 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps Nov. 

18, 1863. 
David McMicken, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; killed at Fredericksburg, Va., 

Dec. 13, 1862. 
Andrew McKane, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; deserted Feb. 23, 1863. 
William Nunheimer, must, in Feb. 12, 1864 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
Randolph Noll, must, iu Sept. 22, 1864; drafted; disch. by G. O. June 

2, 1865. 
Lewis Nathans, must, in Jan. 26, 1865 ; disch. by G. 0. June 6, ISHl.'*. 
Monroe Nyce, must, in Sept. 12, 1861. 
Jacob Oster, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865 ; veteran. 
Ephraim Parvin, must, in Feb. 20, 1864 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Samuel G. Parker, must, in Oct. 4, 1864; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Harvey Pinch, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; died at Annapolis, Md., March 

30, 1864; veteran. 
Winfield Pinch, must, in Sept. 12, 1861; trans, to Batt. K, U. S. Art., 

date unknown. 
Edward Quinlan, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; killed at Columbus, 0., March 

30, 1863. 
William Reed, must, in March 4. 1864 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
John Richard, must, in Feb. 18, 1864 ; nmst. out with company July 27, 

1865. 
James Richard, must, in Oct. 8, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 

l>any July 27, 1865. 
James Reily, nmst. in Oct. 12, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
David Richard, must, in Jan. 5, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Jacob Rittenhouse, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 11, 1864, 

exp. of term. 
Robert Roberts, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 11, 1864, exp. 

of term. 
Albert Rodgers, must, in Jan. 25, 1865 ; disch. by G. O. May 25, 1865. 
David R;iunzahn, must, in Sept. 22, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1805. 
Lemuel Raudebaugh, must, in Sept. 12, 1861; disch. on surg. certif. Dec. 

27, 1861. 
Daniel Reed, nmst. in Sept. 20, 18i54; dnifted ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1865. 
John D. Smith, must, in Sept. 12 l861 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865 ; veteran. 
Joseph Supplee, must, in Feb. 26, 1864 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
John Saylor, nmst. in Feb. 10, 1864 ; wounded at Spottsylvania Court 

House May 12, 1864 ; absent at muster out. 
John Schafer, nmst. in Jan. 14, 1865 ; must, out with Cq. July 27, 1865. 
Abraham D. Stover, nmst. in March 4, 1865 ; nmst. out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
Austin Shelly, nmst. in Jan. 27, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
John W. Shriner, must, in Aug. 24, 1804 ; absent at muster out, 
Enos Shelly, must, in Jan. 27, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Samuel Strayer, must, in Sept. 20, 1S64 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
Frederick Settler, nmst. iu Sept. 22, 1804 ; drafted ; disch. by G. O. June 

2, 1865. 
Jacob Stearns, must, in March 29, 1864 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps March 

4, 1865. 
Charles Sheets, must, in Sept. 17, 1861 ; trans, to Co. G, date unknown. 
Jacob Sweeney, must, in Sept. 16, 1861 ; ti-ans. to Co. G, date unknown. 
George Smith, must, in Feb. 4, 1864 ; died May 28, 1864, of wounds re- 
ceived at Wilderness May 6, 1864 ; buried in National Cemetery, 

Arlington, Va. 
Heni-y Smith, must, in Feb. 15, 1864 ; died May 14, 1864, of wounds re- 
ceived at Spottsylvania Court-House May 12, 1864. 
Adolph Sander, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; died at Harrisburg, Pa., Nov. 10, 

1861. 
David Schrack, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; died at Beaufort, N. C, July 12, 

1862. 
Edwin R. W. Sickel, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Dec. 

22, 1862. 



214 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



M 



Theodore Scbock, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch. on eurg. certif. Nov. 22, 

1862. 
Thomas Selah, muKt. in Sept. 12, 1861. 
Solomon Sensenderfer, must, in Sept. 12. 1861 ; tninH. to Vet. Rvs. Corp^ 

Nov. 8, \mx 

larael Shade, must, in Sept. 12, 1861. 

John Shade, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch. Jan. 2, 1862. 

William Somerlot, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; killed at Antietam Sept. 17> 

1862. 
Daniel Stout, must, in S.-pt. 12, 1861 ; disch. Dec. 29, 1862. 
Sinclair Tillson, must, in Oct 7, 18G4 ; substitute ; nuist. out with com. 

pany July 27, 180.^. 
John Turner, must, in Sept. 23, 1864 ; drafted; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1865. 
Charles Toy, must, in Aug. 28, 1862 ; disch. on eurg certif. Nov. 22, 1864. 
Eoos Winters, mnet. in Feb. 18, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
John Welsh, nnist. in Jan. 23, 1865; must, out with cmnpany Jvily 27, 

1865. 
Jonathan Weeber, must, in Feb. 22, 1S64 ; disch. March 6, 1805, for 

wonnds received in action. 
Adam B. Williams, must, in Sept. 23, 1864; drafted; disch. by G. (>. 

June 2, 1865. 
Michael Wadsworth, must, in Sept. 20, 1864; drafted; disch. by G. 0. 

June 2, 1865. 
George Widger, must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif. Nov. 14, 

1862. 
Harry C. Wood, nuist. in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. April 28, 

1863. 
Andrew Widger, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Oct. 17, 

1862. 
Adam \V. Yeager, must, in Sept. 12, 1801 ; killed at Petereburg, Ya., 

July 15, 1864. 
Charles Yunker, must, in Oct. 27, 1861 ; wounded and prisoner at Sjwtt- 

eylvania Court-Honse May 12, 1864. 
Joseph H. Zearfoss, must, in Sept. 12, 1801; disch. Ijy mdcr uf War 

Dept. Jan. 27, 1805. 
John Zeigrist, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch on surg. certif. Feb. 6, 1863. 

COMPANY C. 

Recruited in Montgomery County. 

William Allebanp,li, cai)t., must, in Aug. 16, 1861 ; pro. to lieut.-col. 

April 23, 1805. 
William F. Thomas, capt., must, in Sejit. 13, 1861; pro. from Istsergt. 

to 2d lieut. Sept. 10, 1862 ; to Ist lieut. May 13, 18G4, to capt. April 

24, 1865 ; nuist. out with company July 27, 1865. 
John J. Freedley, let lieut., must, in Aug. 16. 1861 ; pro. to regt. q.m. 

Oct. 17, 1861. 
Davis Hniisicker, Ist lieut., must, in Aug. 16, 1861 ; pro. from 2d to 1st 

lieut. Oct. 17, 1861 ; killed at Antietam Sept. 17, 1862. 
Thomas J. Lyngh, 1st lieut., must, in Oct. 2, 1861; pro. from 2d to 1st 

lieut. Sept. 19, 1862 ; died Jlay 13, 1864, of wounds received at Si>ott- 

sylvania Court-House. 
George II. Smith, 1st lieut., must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; pro. from sergt. to 

2d lieut. Aug. 8, 1864 ; to 1st lieut. April 25, 1865 ; must, out with 

company July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
John W. Fair, 2d lieut., must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; pro. from sergt. to 1st 

sergt.; to 2d lieut. May 17, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865 ; veteran. 
Nathan 11. Ramsey, 1st sergt., must, in Sejit. 13, 1801 ; pro. from sergt. 

to Ist sergt. May 17, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 1865; 

veteran. 
Benjamin F. Miller, sergt., nuist. in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1805 ; veteran. 
Montgomei-y Smith, sergt., must, in Sept. 13, ISOl ; must, out witii com- 
pany July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Peter Undercofler, sergt., nuist. in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865; veteran. 
W'illiam R. Gilbert, sergt., must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; pro, from corp. to 

sergt. May 17, 1865 ; nuist. out with company July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Levi W. Shingle, sergt., must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; pro. to sergt. -nuvj. 

Jan. 14, 1865 ; veteran. 
Patrick Kevin, sergt , must, in Sept. 13, 1801 ; killed at Wildarnes.'? May 

6, 1864; veteran. 
William Eastwood, sergt., must, in Sept. 13, 1801 ; disch. Jan. in, 1803. 
Samuel Fair, sergt., must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; pro. to 2d lieut. Cu. D Oct., 

1861. 



William Robinson, corp., must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out M-ith com- 
pany July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 

John C. Umstead, corp., must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; nuist. out with company/ 
July 27, 1865; veteran. 

Henry H. Lightcap, corp., must, in Sept. 13, 1801 ; must, out with com-" 
pany July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 

Andrew J. Reed, corp., must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out with company- 
July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 

Hugh Lynch, coi-p., must, in Nov. 9, 1802 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1865. 

Benjamin R. Sill, corp., must, in Sejtt. 13, 1861 ; pro. to corj'- May 1, 
1805 ; nuist. out with company July 27, 1865: veteran. 

Hugh McC:iain, corp., must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; [»ro. to corp. May 17, 1865 ; 
must, out with company July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 

William Bean, corp., must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; pro. to corp. May 25, 1865; 
must, out with company July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 

Andrew J. Grim, corp., must, in Sei)t. 13. 1861 ; died June 6, 1864, of 
wounds received in action ; buried in National Cemetery, Arlington, 
Ya. 

William Hooker, corp., nmst. in Sept. i:i, 1801 ; kilU-il at Petersburg, Ya., 
June 17, 1864 ; veteran. 

Joseph Cornog, corp., must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; killed at IN-tersburg, Ya., 
June 17, 1804; veteran. 

David Kane, corp., nuist. in Sept. 13. 1861 ; killed at Antietam Sept. 17, 
1802. 

Samuel Hart, cori>-, must, in Sept. 13, 1801 ; isentenced liy general court- 
marshal to Rii>-Raps, Aug. 1862. 

Edward D. Johnson, musician, must, in April 4, 18)i:t ; pro. to jirini ipal 
musician March 1, 1865. 

Priniti'S. 
Thomas Allen, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out Si-jit. 13, IS64, exp. o^ 

term. 
Andrew J. Bell, must, in Aug. 16, 18(i3; missing at North Anna May 27, 

1864. 
Christopher Briggs, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1864 ; veteran. 
William F. Black, must, in Oct. 8, 1864; substitute ; must, out with com" 

pany July 27, 1865. 
William M. Bryn, must, in Oct. 8, 1864 ; sulistitute ; nuist. out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 
Charles Bryant, must, in April 1, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Robert Barclay, must, in March 27, 1865; substitute; must, out with 

company July 27, 1865. 
John Biautlinger, must, in Feb. 6, 1865 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
William Barry, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; nuist, out Sept. 13, 1864, exp_ 

of term. 
George W. Breieb, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 13, 1804, 

exp. of term. 
Jacob Brunei', must, in March 25, 1865 ; died at Alexandria, Ya., May 20, 

180.">. 
Richard Brown, must, in March 2, 1864. 
Levi Baum, must, in Sept. 13, 1801 ; trans, to Yet. Res. Cori'S Sept. 

1803. 
John Creamer, must, in Jan. 20, 1865 ; nuist. out with company July 27, 

1865. 
John J. Cook, must, in Feb. 16, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Thomas R. Cook, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; nuist. out Sei)t. 13, 1864, exp. 

of tei'[n. 
James Cundou, must, in .Sept. 27, 1864 ; disch. by G. O. June 2, 186.5. 
Michael Carson, must, in March 21, 1865; substitute. 
Abraham Custer, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif., date 

unknown. 
Albert Deeds, must, in Feb. 14, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Michael Dillon, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; missing at Siiottsylvania Court- 

House Slay 12, 1804 ; veteran. 
John T. Davie, must, in Feb. 22, 1864 ; absent, sick, at must. out. 
Patrick Dillon, must, in March 8, 1864; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
John Darling, must, in Jan. 12, 1.^05 ; must, out with coiupauy .Iiily 27J 

1865. 

Henry Davis, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; discharged, date unknown, fur 
wounds received in action. 



II 



i 



4 



Ji 



THE GEEAT REBELLION. 



215 



Saimiel Dean, must, in Sept, 13, 1861 ; died at Cliarleston, S. C, Sept. 20, 

1864 ; veteran. 

Michael Dougherty, must, in Sliirrli 3, 18Ci4 ; died at Alexiindria, A'u., 
yept. 20, I8U4. 

John Duffy, must, in Oct. 11, 18G4; substitute. 

Reuben De Haven, must, in Sept. 13, 18G1 ; died .Itdy l(i, 180-3. 

Joseph Detwiler, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; discharged, date unknown, 
for wuiinds received in action. 

Thomas Davis, nuist. in Sept. 13, 1861 ; disdi. on eurg. certit., date un- 
known. 

II. D. Espenship, must. inFeb. 24, 1864 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865 ; veteran. 

W. 1. Espenship, must, in April 3, iSfi.'. ; nniht. out with company July 

27, iKti.'i. 
Eno.s D. Etspenship, must, in March 4, ]8i;4; must, out witli company 

July 27, 1805. 
James W. Elliott, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out with coinpany July 

27, 18f)5 ; veteran. 
John E. Emery, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out with ci'Mijiany July 

27, '1865 ; veteran. 
Samuel E;?olf, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; niiiet. out with ronipany July 27, 

1865 ; vfteran. 

David Espenship, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Sept. 20, 

1864 ; veteran. 

Henry Erhanl, must, in Feb. 22, 1864 ; died at Alexandria, A'a., July 19, 

1804. 
Simon P. Emery, must. iTi Sept. 13, 1861 ; killed at Antietein Sept. 17, 

1862. 
Jacob Fizone, must, in Sept. 13, 1S61 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865 ; vetpran, 

Villiam H. H. Fox, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out witli company 

July 26, 1865 ; veteran. 
Oharles It. Fox, must, in Sept. 13, 1S61 ; absent, on furlongli, at must. 

out ; vetci-au. 
Franklin R. Fox, must, in Feb. 23, 180-i ; must, out with company July 

17, 186.^. 
Emunnel Force, must, in Feb, 15. 1864 ; absent, in arrest, at must. out. 
Patrick Fitzpatrick, must, in Sept. 13, ls(il ; umat. out witli rompany 

July 27, 1865 ; veterim. 
John Fariell, must, in Jan. 12, 1865 ; nnu--t. out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Samuel J. Fry, must, in Feb. 27, 18G5; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Josiah M. Favingcr, must, in Feb. 22, 1864; disrh. July 6, 1865, for 

wounds received in action. 
Oliver A. Fillman, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; disrh. March, 1863, for 

wounds received in acticm. 
Mathew Ferrington, must, in Sept. 13 1861 ; discharged, date unknown. 
Henry II. Fry, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; killed in front of Peterebnrg, 

date unknown. 
William (Junn, must, in Sejit. 13, 1861; nmstered out with company 

July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Franklin Orubb, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out with <-ompany July 

27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Joseph Green, must, in Oct. 14, 1864; substitute; absent, wounded, at 

muster out. 
Marcus A. Gross, must, in Jan. 26, 1865 ; absent, in arrest, at must. out. 
James Gunn, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 13, 1864, exp. of 

term. 
William Gilland, must, in Sept 2o, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. on sug. certif., 

Dec. 21, 1864. 
Henry Gunter, must, in Sept. 20, 1864; drafted; killed at Petei-sburg, 

Va., Feb. 18, 1865. 
William (JiliUs, must, in March 24, 1805; substitute. 
Eli Garner, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; died at Harrisburg, Pa., Nov. 12, 

1801. 
Marcus (iross, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; absent, at must. out. 
Jesse Hallman, must, in Feb. 16, 1864 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865 
Frederick Hauff, must, in Oct. 10, 1864; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1805. 
William Hotehktss, must. \n Oct. 8, 1864; substitute; absent, wounded, 

at must, out. 
George Holden, must, in Oct. 14, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1805. 
Elwood Hamilton, nmst. in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1805 ; veteran. 



Jacob Hoover, must, in Sept. 20, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1865. 
James Hunt, must, in Sept. 20, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. O. June 2, 

1805. 
Franklin Hendricks, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; killed at Petei-wburg, Va , 

June 17, 1864 ; veteran. 
Henry C. Hughs, must, in Sept. 13, 1S61 ; trans, to comi)any D., date 

unknown. 
John Hallowell, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; died from wounds received at 

Autietam Sept. 17, 1862. 
Val. Hartenstein, must, in Sept. 13, 1861; raptured; died in rebel 

prison. 
Robert A. Inglie, must, in March 8, 180:1 ; disch. by special order Nov. 

25, 1864. 
Henry Jago, must, iu Sept. 13, 1861 ; absent, wounded, at must, out; 

veteran. 
Benjamin Johnson, must, in Sept. 13, 1801; must, out with company 

July 27, 1805 ; veteran. 
John Johnson, must, in Feb. 14 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Edward C. Jones, must, in Sept. 13, 18(il ; must, out Sept. 13. ISM, exp. 

of term. 
Frederick W. Johns, must, in Sept 13. 1861; must, out Sept 13, 18r>4, 

exp. of term. 
George Kevin, must, in July 13, 1863; nuist. out with coiupany July 27, 

1865. 
Jacob Keely, must, in Sept. 13. 1861 ; nul^t. out with compnny Jidy 27, 

1865 ; veteran. 
William Keeler, must, in March 20, 18i".4 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Benjamin K(X)ker, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; mis. at SiJOttsylvania, Court 

House, ]\lay 12, 1864 ; veteran. 
Peter Kelley, mur-t. in Feb. 14, 1805 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Joshua .\. Ki'viii, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; captured ; died at Anderson- 

ville, Ga , Sept. 25, 1864; veteran. 
Abraham Kile, must, in Sept. 13, 1801 ; disch. on eur. certif., date un- 
known, 
George W. Lightcap, must, in Sept. 13, 1S61 ; must, oiit with company 

July 27, 1805 ; vetei'tin. 
Joseph Leach, nuist. in Oct. 14, 1804 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 
James N. Latham, must, in March 27, 1805; substitute ; must, out witb 

company July 27, 1865. 
Abraham Lape, nmst. in Aug. 30, 18(J4 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany Jvdy 27, 1865. 
William H. Lath, nuist. in Sept. 13, 1861 ; died Oct. 3, 1862; buried in 

Military Asylum Cemetery. 
Thos. J. Lynch, must, in Sept. 13, 1H61 ; killed at Spottsylvania Court 

House, May 12, 1864 ; buried in Wilderness Burial-Gronnds. 
Gritfith E. Morgan, must, in March 4, 1864 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
George Miller, must, in March 23, 1865 ; substitute; must, out with 

company July 27, 1805. 
Andrew Miller, must, in Feb. 16, 1865; must, out witli company July 

27, 1865. 
Peter Myers, must, in Feb. 11, 1864. 
James Murphy, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; died Oct. 20, lKr.2 ; buried in 

National Cemetery, Newbern, N. C. 
George Mercer, must, in Sept. 13, 1801 ; not on uuister-tiut roll. 
William Munshower, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Patrick McDade, must in Jan. 14, 1865; must, out with company July 

27, 1805. 
James McDevitt, must, in Jan. 21, 1865 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1805. 
Chai-les McManamy, must, iu Jan. 18, 1865; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
Nathaniel McVeigli, nuist, in March 1, 1865 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
John H. McGill, must, in Oct. 12, 1864 ; substitute ; trans, to 2lBt Regt. 

P. V. Feb. 3, 1805. 
George McGinley, must, in Sept. 3, 1801 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps, date 

unknown ; veteran. 
John McFaul, must, in Oct. 14, 1804 ; substitute ; killed at Petersburg 

Feb. 13, 1805. 
Owen McBride, nuist. in Sejit. 13, 1801 ; veteran. 
Jeremiah McManamee, must, in Sept. 13, 1801. 



216 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



I 



Michael McMuUin, iinist. in Si-pt. 13, 1S61 ; killed at Fredericksburg 

Dec. 13, 18IV2. 
John McMuUin, must, iu Sept. 13, 1801. 
George Newmau, must, in Sept. 19, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. O. June 

2, 18(15. 
Eli H. Ostrander, must, in Sept. 1, 1864 ; disch. bv G. 0, July 13, 1865. 
Andrew J. O'Neal, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; prisoner from May 7, 1864, 

to April 2.'), 186r) ; disch. by G. 0. May 24, 186.5 ; veteran. 
Sylvester Paul, must, in Oct. 4, 1804 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1805. 
John H. Petere, must, in March 8, 1-S64 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1805. 
George Pickup, must, in Sept. 13, 1801 ; nmst. out with company July 

27, 1805. 
Charles Ptifer, must, in Feb. 8, 1804 ; disch. on Surg, certif. June 9, 

1865. 
John C. Parson, must, in Feb. 1, 1805; disch. on surg. certif., Jrdy 1, 

1805, 
John Plunkett, must, in Sept. 13, 1861. 

Michael Peters, must, in Sept. 13, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif., date un- 
known. 
Patrick Kogan, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Jacob B. Rinker, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Lewis Roeder, must, in March 10, 1805 ; must, out with comiiany July 

27, 1865. 
John Read, must, in Feb. 14, 1865 ; must, out with company July '27, 

1805. 
Charles Radebaugh, must, in Sept. 13, 1S61 ; must, out Sept. 13, 1864, 

exp. of term. 
Allen Rogers, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 13, 1864, exp. of 

term. 
Morris Kohinson, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 , died at Newport News, Va., 

June 15, 1802. 
John M. Springer, must, in March 4, 1864; must, out wilh company 

July 27, 1805. 
Charles Smith, nmst. in March 27, 1805 ; must, out with company .Inly 

27, 1865. 
"Washington M. .Shaner, must, in Feb. 22, 1864 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
C. B. Schmearer, must, in Feb. 27, 1804 ; must, out with company -Inly 

27, 1865. 
Thomas Sullivan, must, in Feb. 23, 1864 ; must, out with conipany .Inly 

27, 1805. 
James Sullivan, must, in Sept. 13, 1801; must, out with company July 

27, 1865 ; veteran. 
David R. .Spare, nmst. in Sept. 13, 1861 ; nmst. out with company July 

27, 1865; veteran. 
John Sherman, must, in April 12, 1804 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1805. 
Samuel J. Shearer, must, in Sept. 13, 1801 ; absent, in arrest, at nmst. 

out. 
Henry Sortman, must, in Oct. 7, 1804 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1805. 
George Stout, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865 ; veteran. 
Benjamin F. Smith, must, in Feb. 22, 1865 ; disch. by Genera] Order 

June 23, 1865. 
Jacob W. Shaffer, must, in Fob. 16, 1805 ; disch. by General tirder July 

5, 1866. 
William C. Steltz, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 13, 1864, 

exp of term. 
Hilary Sloop, nmst. in March 23, 1864 ; captured ; died at .\ndei-sonville, 

Oa., June 111, 1864. 
Philip Stoflct, must, iu Feb. 16, 1864; captured ; died at Wilmington, 

N. C, March, 29, 1865. 
Patrick SiUhvan, must, in Sept. 13, 18lil ; disch. on surg. certif., date 

unknown. 
John Snyder, nmst. in Sept. 13, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif., date un- 
known. 
George Sweeney, must, in Sept. 13, 1801 ; killed at Fredericksburg Dec. 

13, 1802. 
Stephen Tommay, must, in Feb. 14, 1865 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Abraham Tochler, must, in March 2, 1804 ; discli. .\pril 15, 1865, for 
wounds received in action. 



Michael Tinney, must, in Feb. 6, 1865 : disch. by G. 0. June 9, 1865. 

George B. Trumbull, nmst. in Oct. 8, 1864 ; substitute. 

Thomas Temperly, must, in Sept. 13, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif., date 

unknown. 
Jacob H. Umstead, must, in March 7, 1864; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
H. Underkoffer, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865 ; veteran. 
John Upright, must, in March 21, 1864 ; killed at (old Harbor Juue 3, 

1864. 
.\braham Walt, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; absent, wounded, at must, out ; 

veteran. 
Charles White, nmst. in JIarch 3, 1864 ; disch. on surg. certif. date 

unknown. 
Jeremiah Weight, must, in Sept. 21, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. on surg. 

certif. Dec, 23, 1864. 
Jacob Walters, must, in .\pril 21, 1804 ; nmst. out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Henry P. Wood, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1805 ; veteran. 
James Watere, must, in March 3, 18IJ4 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Mark L. Yerger, must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; absent, wounded, at nmst. 

out ; veteran, 
Henry K, Yovmg, must, in March 27, 1865 ; substitute ; nmst. out with 

company July 27, 1865. 

COMPANY D. 
Recruited at Norristown. 
Edward Schall, capt., must, in Aug. 16, 1861 ; res. .\pril 14, 1863. 
Lewis Holhnan, capt., nmst. in Aug. 16, 1861 ; pro. from 1st lieut. to 

capt. April 14, 1863 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps .\ug. 6, 1864. 
William W. Owen, capt., must, in Oct. 10, 1801 ; pro. from Ist lieut. Co. 

F to capt. Sept. 1, 1864 ; must, out with conipany .Inly 27, 1805. 
John Gilligan, 1st lieut., must, in Sept. 20, 1801 ; pro. from sergt. to 

lieut. Aug. 12, 1804 ; nmst. out with comi)any July 27, 1865 ; vete- 
ran. 
Sanmel Fair, 2d lieut., must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; pro. from sergt. Co. C 

to 2d lieut. Oct., 1861 ; died Sept. 21, 1862, of wounds received in 

action. 
Jonathan Swallow, 2d lieut., must, in Sept. 20, 1801 ; pro. from sergt. to 

2d lieut. Sept. 21, 1802 ; res. March 15, 1804. 
Isaac Fizone, 2d lieut., must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; pro. to 2d lieut. .May 

3, 18M ; killed at Cold Harbor June 3, 1864 ; veteran. 
David Long, 2d lieut., must, in Sept. 20, 1801 ; |iro. from sergt. to 2d 

lieut. June 25, 1804 ; must, out with company July 27, 1865 ; vete- 

ran. 
John Powell, 1st sergt., nmst. in Sept. 20, 1861 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Henry Foreman, 1st sergt., must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; disch. March 24, 

1865, for wounds received iu action ; veteran, 
William Dignan. 1st sergt., must, in Sept. 20, 1801 ; killed at Petersburg, 

Va., .Tune 18, 1804 ; veteran, 
William D, Jenkins, sergt., must, in Sept. 20, 1801 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 181)5 ; veteran, 
■lohn McNnlty, sergt., must, in Sept, 20, 1861 ; must, out with comiaiuy 

Jvdy 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
John R. Grey, sergt., must, in Sept. 2(1, 1861 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Freeman S. Davis, sergt., must, in Sept. 20, 1801 ; must, out Sept. 19, 

1864, exp. of term. 
Walter M. Thompson, sergt., must, in Sept. 20, 1801 ; must, out Oct. 15, 

1804, exp. of term. 
Penrose W. Clair, sergt., must, in .\ug. 10, 1862 ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1865. 
Edwin Bennett, sergt., must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif, 

Nov. 14, 1802. 
John L. McCoy, corii., must, in Sept, 20, 1861 ; must, out with compan.v 

July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Andrew Fair, Corp., must, in Sept. 20, 1801 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1805 ; veteran. 
John Dimn, corp., must, iu Sept. 20, 1801 ; nmst. out w ith company Jidy 

27, 1865 ; veteran. 
James Powers, Corp., must, in Sept. 20, 1801 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 18(i5 ; veteran. 
Nicholas Murphy, Corp., must, in Sept. 20, 1801 ; must, out with com- 
iiany July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



217 



Albert List, corp., must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865 ; veteran. 
JohnSutch, corp., must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 19, 18G4, exp. 

of term. 
John Beal, corp., must, in Sept. 2ii, ISGl ; must, out Sept. 10, 1864, e.vp. 

of term. 
Isaac N. Tocuin, corp., must, in July 31, 1862; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1865. 
William W. Smith, corp., must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; trans, to Vet. Res. 

Corps March 23, 186.'» ; veteran. 
Isaac Tulan, corp., must, in Sept. 20. 1861 ; veteran. 
George \V. B..\vnian, corp., must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; died Feb. 4, 18G2. 
Albert Wood, mus., must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; must, out with company 

.Inly 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
WilHain S. Lauback, mus., must. inOct. 14, 1861 ; died at Newport, R. I., 

July 27, 1864. 

Privates. 

Joseph Anderson, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Albert Aronimcr, must, in March 25, 1865 ; substitute ; must, mit with 

company July 27, 1865. 
WilUam Ackers, must.ip Aug. 8, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 1864. 
Thomas Andrews, must, in Sept 26, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1864. 
Thomas Buyd, must, in April 5, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
<;harle8 Btswirk, nmst. in .lune 2, 18)j;J; iiuist. out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Lewis Bumgardiier, must, in March 5, 1864; must, out witli conn)any 

July 27, 1865. 
Thomas Browning, nmst. in Feb. 29, 1864; absent, sick, at must. out. 
George Hueliler, must, in Oct. 12, 1864 ; substitute ; must, oiil with com- 
pany July 27, 1S65. 
Jonathan Bancurt, ii\uM. in Sejit. 22, 1S64 ; drafted ; disch. by G. O. June 

2, 1865. 

William II. Bodey, must, in March :i, 1864 ; died at Washington, D. C, 

May 16, 1864, of wounds received in action. 
•Charles Bhikeiiey, must, in Feb. 3, 1864; died at York, Pa., April 8, 

1865. 
George Barrett, must, in March 25, 1865 ; substitute. 
John W. Bayle, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; trans, to Vet. Kes. Corjts Sept. 

3, 1863. 

Samuel L. Clarke, must, in Feb. 28, 1S65 ; must, out witli company July 

27, 1865. 
James Cmiuer, must, in Jan. 5, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Jefferson C. Clare, must, in Feb. 6, 1864 ; missing at Spottsylvania, Court- 

House May 12, 1864. 
Noble Creighton, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; wounded at Wilderness Jlay 

6, 1864 ; absent at must, out ; veteran. 
Addison Carnog, nmst. in Feb. 24, 1864 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
William H. Clark, must, in Oct. 13, 1864 ; substitute; must, out with 

company July 27, 1865. 
John ('olpetzer, must, in Oct. 13, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 
William B. Cook, must, in Sept. 26, 1S64 : drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
Jeremiah Cassedy, must, iti Aug. 5, 1862; captured ; liied at Salisbury, 

N. C, Dec. 4, 1864. 
Erwin Creighton, must, in Sept. 20, 1S61 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps >'ov. 

6, 1863. 
James Conway, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; died Jan. 16, 1862. 
Adam Croutharnul, must, in Sept. 20, 18ril. 
Thomas Dunbar, must, in Feb. 29. 1M64 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
William F. Deihl, must, in Feb. 22, lsr,4 ; must. <uit with company July 

27, 1865. 
William F. Doan, must, in Sept. 26, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. on sur^. certif. 

Sept. 29, 1864. 
Patrick Diamond, must, in Sept. 14, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Muv 9, 

1862. 
John Dehaveu, must, in Sept. 11, 18i;i ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 21, 

l'<63. 
Charles Davis, must, in Sept. 16, 1861 ; disch. on surt;. certif. June 5, 

I8(i2. 
William Dewees, must, in Sept. 4, 1861. 



William Eilenburg, must, in Oct. 13, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with 

company July 27, 1865. 
William Essick, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Jan. 12, 

1864; veteran. 
John Evans, must, in Sept. 23, I8ii4 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1865. 
Walter Easton, must, in Sept. 20, 1864 ; drafted ; killed accidentally Ai)ril 

8, 1865. 
John Earle, must, in Aug. 31, 1861 ; disch. 1863 for wounds, with loss of 

arm, received at Anlietam Sept. 17, 1862. 
Henry Furlong, must, in Feb. 13, 1865 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865, 
James Fisher, must, in Oct. 12, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 
Hugh Fleming, must, in Oct. 12, 1864 ; substitute ; must, nut with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 
Michael Forbes, must, in Sept. 27, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. on surg. certif. 

Dec. 21, 1864. 
Hiram C. Fisher, must, iji .Vug. 25, 1862 ; discli. by G. 0. June 2, 1865. 
Uarman G. Fisher, mu^t. in Sept. 20, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 19, 1864, 

exp. of term. 
Barnard Frank, must, in Sept. 23, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
Mordecai Fizone, must, in Mai'ch 5, 1863 ; discli. by G. O. June 27, 1865. 
William Ferguson, must, in March 25, 1865 ; substitute. 
John R. Fleck, must, in Sept. 20, 1864 ; disch. by special order July 21, 

1865. 
William Faulkner, nuist. in Sept. 9, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Nov. 

29, 1862. 
John Gartner, nmst. in March 25, 1865 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 
Alfred R. Grey, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; must, out witli company July 27, 

1865 ; veteran. 
John B. Godley, must, in Sept. 16, 1861 ; killed at Petei-sburg, \'a., July 

6, 1864. 
Frank Geanger, must, in March 25, 1865 ; substitute, 
John Guyer, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 21, 

186:j. 
John Guyder, must, in Sept. 2(f, 1861 ; disch, on surg. certif. May 21, 

1862, 
Hector Gillian, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; tnins. to Vet. Res. Corps Nov. 

15, 18(^i. 
William Hudson, must, in March 25. 1865; substitute; absent, sick, at 

must. out. 
Jolin Hammond, must, in .\pril 3, 1865; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Patrick Hagau, must, in Aug. 23, 1863 ; must, out with company July 

27, I8ti.5. 
Calvin Hummel, must, in Feb. 22, 1864 ; mnst. out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Daniel Hant, must, in Feb. 19, 18))4 ; nmst. out with company July 27, 

1865. 
William H. Hagar, must, in Sept. 26, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. 

June 2, 1865. 
Theodore Hixon, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; trans, to Co. B Oct. 9, 1864. 
Joseph Houser, must, in March 25, 186.') ; substitute. 
George Hayht-rry, must, in Sept. 20, 1^61 ; died Oct. IS, 1K62, of wounds 

received at Antietam. 
Henrj- Haines, must, in Sept. 20, 18'il. 
Michael Horan, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Dec, 31, 

1861 . 
John Henshall, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Dec. 31, 

1861. 
William Hamberger, miist. in Sept. 20, 1861 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Coips 

Xov. 6, 1863. 
John Johnson, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; mis. at Spottsylvania, Court-House 

May 12, 1864 ; veteran. 
Wai-ren Jones, must, in March 28, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. July 6, 1865. 
John Kane, must, in Feb. 24, 1864 ; must, out with company July 27, 1865. 
Frederick Kobba, must. in Sept. 26, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
William Keppler, must, in Oct. 12. 1864 ; substitute. 
James Kelley, must, in March 25, ISlio ; substitute. 
Samuel Kay, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; killed at South Mountain Sept, 14, 

1862. 
John Lancaster, must in March 25, 1865 ; substitute ; must, out with 

company July 27, 1865. 



218 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Elwood Lukiiis, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; must, out with toinpany July 

27, lS6o ; vetenin. 
Charles Lyt-iuger, must, in Sept. 2", 18(tl ; must, out with company July 

27, 1800 ; veteran. 
Jonathr.n Lybijr, must, in Oct. 14, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 186.3. 
Samuel Lindner, must, in Sept. 22, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, ISOo. 
Richard Lewis, must, in Sept. 20, 1861; died Aug. 11. ISCa. 
John W. Lonsdale, muBt. in Sept. 2(),18G1 ; killed sit Frederi<kaburgPec. 

V^, 1862. 
■\Villiani Ulagee, must, in .\pril 1, 1865 ; nmst. out with comi>any July 27, 

186.".. 
T. J. Montgomery, must, in Feb. 23, 1864 ; nmst. out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Lemuel JIuode, must, in Feb. 15, 1864 ; captured at North Anna May 

27, 181)4 ; absent at must. out. 
Joseph Mauchey, must, in (>ct. 14, 1804; substitute; must, out with 

comimny July 27, 1865. 
Joseph 3Iyei-s, nujst. in Sept 26, 1864 ; dr.ifted ; disch. by G. O. June 2, 

1865. 
Henry C. Moore, must, in Sept. 20,1861 ; disch. by G. O. May 11, 186.5. 
J. H. Slesseremith, must, in Sept. 22, ISW ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. Jvine 

2, 186.1. 
John A. Michaels, must, in Oct. 8, 1804 ; substitute. 
John Magee, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; killed at Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 

i;j, 1S62. 
Patrick McNanmra, must, in Feb. i:t, IH65 ; must, out witli company 

July 27, 1805. 
Samuel McDade, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1805; veteran. 
■\VilUam McDade, must, in Feb. 14, 1865 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1805. 
Daniel McDade, must, in Feb. 16, 1865 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1805. 
Peter McKenna, must, in March 9, 18G4 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
James McLoughlin, must, in Oct. 13, 1864 ; substitute; must, out with 

company July 27, 186.3. 
Barnard JlcCIu-skey, must, in Aug. 8, 1804 ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 1865. 
Janie-!^ IMcCurry, must, in March 25, ISOo; substitute; disch. by G. 0. 

July 11, 1805. 
James JIcKeuna, must, in Sept. 20, ls61 ; kllle<! at Petei-sburg, Va., 

June 21, 1864 ; veteran. 
Owen McCJonnell, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; disch. 1863. 
James McQuerness. must, in Sept. 2ii. 1801 ; killed accidentally Aug. 

10, 186:i. 

Thoimts Mi-Meekin, must, in Sept. 21), 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif. June 

11, 1863. 

William Mc^Ianamy, must, in Sept. 2i), 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif. 

^larrli 4, 1803. 
Uriali JlcCoy, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Dec. 31, 

1863. 
Hugh McKessiek, must, in Sept. 20, 1861. 
Robert Norris, must, in Sept. 20, 1861. 
Dennis O'Xeil, must, in Feb. 28, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

186.5. 
Barnard O'Donnell, must, in Sept. 20, 1801 ; died at Norristown, Pa., 

March 10, 1804 ; veteran. 
George Uh-nwine, must, in March 2, 1864 ; died at Washington, D. C, 

May, 1804. 
David Peasley, must, in Feb. 22, 1864; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
William Peterson, must, in Oct. 13, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with 

company July 27, 1865. 
Amos M. Price, nuist. in Sept. 27, 1863 ; drafted ; disch. by G. » >. June 2, 

1865. 
Alfred Porter, nmst. in March 25, 1865 ; substitute 
William PuUock, must, in Sept. 12, 1861 ; disch. on snrg. certif. May 

•I'.t. 1862. 
William Uaflerty, must, in Oct. 8, 1804; substitute: must, mit with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 
Robert Robinson, must, in Sept. 27, 1804 ; drafted; disch. by (J. O. June 

2, 1865. 
Henry Rhode, must, in Feb. 29, 1864; disch. on surg. certif. Sept. 27, 

1864. 
William Raifsnyder. nmst. in Nov. 1, 1801 ; trans, to Co. K Nov. 11, 1804. 



John Roshon, nmst. in Aug. 24, 1802 ; died at Petersburg. Va., Aug. 22, 

1864. 
Owen Rex, nmst. in Sept. 20, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. June 23, 

1863. 
John Richards, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; died Sept. 26, 1865 ; buried in 

Military Asylum Cemetery, D. C. 
Jacob Reider, must, in Sept. 2n, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Slay 1, 1802. 
Thomas Rhoads, must, in March 25, 1805 ; substitute. 
Nathan Smith, nmst. in March 26, 1865 ; sul>stitute ; nmst. out with 

company July 27, 1865. 
Thomas D. Smith, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Jacob Stadenmayer, must, in Feb. 24, 1864 ; nmst. out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
Joseph Spotts, must, in Feb. 22, 18r4 : must, out with company July 27, 

1865 
George Scbhmkofer, must, in March 25, 1865; substitute; must, out 

with company July 27, 1805. 
Ever't H. Staunton, must, in Oct. 13, 1864; substitute; wounded at 

Petersburg, Va., Dec. 8, 1864: absent at must. out. 
Jacob Sands, mujst. in Oct, 13, 1804; substitute; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 
Conrad Schnier, must, in Out. 6, 1864; sul^titute ; must, out with com- 

[lany July 27, 1865. 
Isaiali F. Smedley, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 19, 1864, exp. 

of term. 
Hunter Smedley, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 19, 1864, exp. 

of terra. 
JlitHin Smedley, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; must, out Sept. 19, 1864, exp. 

of term. 
Alfred Smitli. mvist. in Sept. 20, 1801 ; must, out Sept. 19, 18t>4, exp. 

of term. 
John S»rba, must, in Oct. 12, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. May 27, 

1805. 
Wintield S. Smith, must, in Feb. 25, l8r>4 ; di^ch. by G. 0. May 16, 

1865. 
Williau) P. Scball, must, in Sept. 2n, 1801 ; disch. by S. 0. Jan. 31, 18r4 ; 

veteran. 
Joseph Sarba, nmst. in Oct. 21, 1861 ; trans, to Co. K Nov. 11, 1864. 
Paul L. Sourwine, must, in March 2, 1864 ; died at Harrisburg, Pa,, 3Iay 

22, 1864. 

Willmm H. Slmwalter, must, in Sep. 20, 1861; killed at Wilderness 

May 0, IStVl ; veteran. 
William Smith, must, in March 25, 1805 ; substitute. 
Samuel Sharpe, nuist. in Sept. 20, 1801 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps Nov. 

6, 1863. 
Benjamin Smedley, must, in Sept. 20 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif. June 

23, 1862. 

Thomas B. Sutcb, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; disch. un snrg. certif. May 

21, 1862. 
Bepjamin Sutch, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; discli. un surg. certif. Feb. 13, 

1862. 
Henry Sutch, nmst. in Sept. 2i>, 1801 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps Nov. 15 

186:1. 
George Shaffer, must, in Sept. 20, 1861 ; died Jan. 22, 1802. 
Albert Smith, must, in Sept. 20, 1801 ; nmst. out exp. of term. 
Anthony Tyge, must, iu Sept. 23, 1S64 : drafted ; disch. by G. O. June 2, 

180.5. 
Geiirge W. Tbcmias, must, in Sept. 20,1864; drafted; disch. by G. 0. 

June 13. 1865. 
Stephen Tlu.rp, must, in June 2, 1863 ; disch. by G. O. May 24, 1805. 
Hiram Vanfosser, nmst. in Sept. 20, 1861 : must, out with company July 

27, 1805 ; veteran. 
Aaron A'alentine, must, in Sept. 27, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. July 

25, 1865. 
John II. Wai-st, nmst. in March 27, 1865; substitute; must, out with 

company .Inly 27, 1805. 
Philip Wampold, nmst. in Sept. 20, 1801 : captureil at North Anna May 

27, 18(4; absent at must, out ; ^eteniu. 
Andrew Wherle, nmst. in March 5, 1.S64 ; captured at North Anna May 

27, 1804 ; absent at nmst. <)Ut. 
John Ward, nmst. in Sept. 29, 1864; disch. by G. O. June 2, 1865, 
Charles Widger, must, in Sept. 20, 1801 ; nmst. out Sept. 19, 1864, exp. 

of term. 
Jackson H. A\'idter, must, in Feb. 26, 1864 ; disch. by G. O. June 29, 1865. 
Ta'r W'annaniaker, must, in Marcli 27, 1865 ; substitute; disch. by G. 0. 

July 14. ISO.5. 

) 



\ 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



219 



John Weidknecht, must, in Oct. 10, 18G1 ; trans, to Co. B Oct. 9, 18G4. 
Samuel Meidknect, nuifit. in 0..t. 10, 18(Jl ; tnilis. to Co. B Oct. 9, lS)i4- 
Williatu H. Weidner, must, in Sept. 20, 18G1 ; dknl at Newbern, N. C, 

April ii;, imi. 
JoBiiih WV'idner, must, in Sept. 20, 18G1 ; died at Harrisbnrg, Pa., Dec. ?, 

1861. 
James Wliitehwul, must, in Si*pt, 20, 18(j1 ; discli. >m snrg. certif. Jiin. 

i(i, isii:i. 
George WorkheJser, must, in Sept. 20, 18G1 ; disch. on eurg. certif. Dec. 

2, 186*2. 
Joseph West, mnst. in Oct. 14, lSt".4 ; subatitute. 
Hugh Ward, must, in Feb. Hi, 1S65. 
Daniel B. Yuet, must, in Feb. 29, 1864 ; wounded at Spottsylvania Court 

House Miiy 12, 1864 ; absent at must. out. 
David H. Yerkis, must, iti Feb. 21., 18(i4 ; killed at Wilderness May 6, 

1864. 
Francis Yeager, must, in Sept. 20. 1861. 
George W. Yarnell, must, in Sept. 20, ISGl ; disch. on surg. certif. 5Iay 

4, 1863. 
Franz E. Zerner, mu5t. in Oct. 12, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 

COMPANY F. 
Recruited at NorristowTi. 

Robert E. Taylor, capt., must, in Sept. 2, 1861 ; res. July 27, 1862. 

liaue S. Hart, capt., nuist. in Sept. 2, 1861 ; pro. from Ist lieut. to capt. 
July 28, 18G2 ; to maj. July 21, 1864. 

Jacob P. Brooke, capt., must, in Sept. 2, 1861 ; pro. from 1st sergt. to ht 
lieut. July 29, 1862 ; to capt. July 22, 1864 ; must, out with company 
•Inly 27, 1865. 

William W. Owen, 1st lieut. must.^'n Oct. 16, 1S61 ; pro. frum wergt. to 
2d lieut. July 23, 1862 ; tu Ist lieut. July 22, 1864 ; to capt. Co. D. 
Sept. I, 1S64. 

Howard Itrure, 1st lieut., must, in Oct. 16, ISiil ; pro. fiom 1st sergt. (o 
2d li.nt. Sept. 2, 1864 ; to Ist lieut. Oct. :J1, 1864 ; must, out with 
company .hily 27, 1865 ; veteran. 

Josejih C. Read, 2d lieut., must, in Sept. 2, 1S6I ; pro. to capt. and c. s. 
July 22, 1802. 

Henry Jacobs, 2d lieut., must, in Oct. 10, 18G1 ; pro. from sergt. to 2d 
lient. Nov. 1, 18G4 ; must, out with company July 27, I860 ; veteran. 

Allan II. Fileman, 2tl lieut, must, in Oct. 16, 18G1 ; pr<). from com. 
sergt, to ird lieut. duly 22, 1864 ; killed at Petersburg, Ya., Aug. 30, 
1864 ; veteran. 

Benjamin White, 1st sergt., must, in Oct. 16, 18G1 ; pro. from sergt. to 
1st sergt. April 1, 18Gr> ; must, out with company July 27, 18G5 ; 
veteran. 

M'illiam Ii. Hart, 1st .>ergt., must, in Oct. IG, 1861 ; pro. to capt. and .\. 
A. G. V. S. Yols. April I, l8G.i. 

Jacob W. Reed, sergt., must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; nnist. out with company 
July 27, 1865 ; veteran, 

James Y. Guyder, sergt., must, in Oct. 17, bSGl ; nnist. out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 

William W. Fiet, sergt., must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 

George W. Hilner, sergt., must, in Oct. 10, 1861 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 18G5 ; veteran. 

Thomas B. Garner, must, in Oct. 16, 1S61 ; disch. on surg. certif. Oct. 
29, 1862. 

Samuel P. Stephens, sergt.. must, in Oct. 10, ISGl ; pro. to com. sergt. 
Nov. 16, 18G1. 

Silas Kulp, Corp., must, in Oct. ll'., 1801; must, nut with comjiany July 
17, 18G5 ; veteran. 

Geoi^eS. Casselberry, corp.,mvist. in March 8, 1864 ; disch. on surg. cer- 
tif. Feb. 26, 1865. 

William H. Yerger, corp., mnst. in Oct. IG, 1S61 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 

Arnold ( 'asselberry, corp., must, in Oct. 16, 18G1; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 

John J. Scholl, corjJ-. must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 

Joseph Fizone, corp., must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1805; veteran. 

Martin Hiltner, Corp., must, in July 22. 1863; pro. to corp. April 2, 1865; 
nuist. out with company July 27, 1865. 

John W. Truscott, corp., must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 



Thomas B. Yerger. corp., must, in Oct. IG, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. 

Feb. 28, 186.') ; veteran. 
Robert B. Lindsay, i-orp., must, in Oct. 17, 1861 ; killed at Siwtteylvania 

Court-House, May 12, 18G4 ; veteran. 
EdwinR. Worth, corp., must, in Oct. 16, 18G1 ; killed at Petersburg, Va., 

June 18, 1864 ; veteran. 
Josiah Wood, corp., must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; killed at Petersburg, Ya.^ 

July 30, 1864; veteran. 
Wm. Montgomery, corp., must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; disch. Dec, 1863, for 

wounds received in action. 
Christopher M'yckoff, Corp., must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; pro. to q.m-sergt. 

Dec. 12, 1863. 
Henry C. Hughes, corp., must, in Sept. 13, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. 

May 21, 1862. 
William L. Jones, Corp., must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; died Dec. 11, 1862. 
William C. Hansell, musician, must, in Oct. IG, 1861 ; must, out with 

company July 27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Franklin Lyie, musician, must, in Feb. 10, 18G4 ; absent, at must. 

out. 

Privates. 

Daniel .\dams, must, in Feb. 26, 1864 : must, out with company .luly 27, 

1865. 
Francis Aldt-nian, must, in March 'J, 1864 ; disch. June 13, 1865, for 

wounds received in action. 
Wilson Allen, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; died 3Iay 20, 1864, of wounds re- 
ceived at Po River, Va., May 19, 18(}4 ; veteran. 
Henry H. .\ddlenuin, must, in Oct. 16, 18G1 ; killed at Cold Harbor June 

3, 1864 ; veteran. 
ThomasG. Ashton, must, in Feb. 26, 1864 : died June 9, 18ii4, of wounds 

received at Wilderness May i!, 18('f4. 
George W. Aildy, uiu>t. in Oct. 16, 1801; disch. on surg. certif, date 

unknown. 
Samuel G. Arnold, must, in Oct. 10,1861 ; trans, to regimental band Nov. 

16, 1861. 
John Batman, must, in Feb. 17, 18G4 ; absent, sick, at must. out. 
Joseph Batman, must, in Feb. 17,1864; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
James Bidlack, uuist. in Sept. 27, IHi'A ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. July 18, 

18G5. 
Amile Bidler, must, in .\pril 1, I8ii5 ; must, out with company July 27, 

18G5. 
George Bowman, must, in Feb. 18, 1S64; absent, in hospital, at must. 

out. 
Mannjissa J. Boyer, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; must, out with i ompany 

July 27, 18t;5 ; veteran. 
Darran Blackmore, must, in Sept. 22, 1864; drafted; disch. ou surg. 

certif. Dec. 22, 1864. 
Frank Bowie, nuist. in Oct, 13, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. May 27, 

18G5. 
Henry Bousman, iinistered in Sejit. 27, 1804 ; drafteil ; ilisch. on surg. 

certif. April 13, 1805. 
Edwin A. Biinous, must, in Sept. 26, 1864 ; drafteil ; trans, to 291st 

Regt. P. Y. Nov., 1864. 
James F. Baker, must, in Feb. 22, 18G4. 
Jeremiah W. Buck, must, in Oct. 115, 1861 ; trans, to reginu'utal band 

Nov. 16, 1861. 
Jessie M. Buckies, nmst. in Oct. 16, 1861 ; trans, to regimental band 

Nov. 16, 1861. 
Adam Burgert, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif., date un- 
known. 
James S. Baiid, must, in Oct. 16, ISGl ; trans, to regimental band 

Nov. 10. 1801. 
John Boadwell, must, in Oct. 16, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif. May 21, 

1862. 
Judson Callendar, unist. in Oct. 10, 1801 ; absent, in hospital, at mvist. 

out ; veteran. 
John B. Case, must, in Feb. 29, 1864; must, out with company July 

27, 18G5. 
Richard A. Cox, must, in Mar. 8. 1804 ; must, out with company July 27» 

1865. 
Thomas Coyle, nuist. in April 1, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Charles Elwood, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; died at Washington, D. C, May 

24, 1864, of wounds received in action ; veteran. 
John Camden, must, in Feb. 27, 1864 ; died at Washington, D. C, Nov. 

2:i, 1864, of wounds received at Hatcher's Run, Ya., Oct. 27, 1864. 
James Ci'eunner, must, in Jan. 5, 1865. 



220 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY. 



Natbaniel CaeseUuan, must, in Oct. IG, 1861 ; missing in action at Cam- 
den, N C, AprillO, 1802. I 
Jolin Cox, must, in Oct. Iti, 1861 ; discli. on surg, ccrtif., date unknown. , 
William Comer, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; Icilled in action at Aiitietam 

Sept. 17, 1862. ! 

William Derrickson, must, in July 28, 1864 ; must, out with company | 

July 27, ISiio. I 

Harvey H. Dexter, must, in Oct. S, IfiiU ; substitute ; must, out with [ 

company July 27, l«6o. 
Uriah Dungan, must, in Fob. 16, 1864 ; must, uut with comp;iiiy July 27, 

1865. I 

Oeurge W. Daub, must, out Oct. 16, 1861 ; absent, in Albany prison, N. Y., ' 

by sentence of geneml court-martial. 
Jeremiah Dnnlap, must, in Jan. 26, I860 ; died June 11, ISil.'i ; buried at 

Alexandria, Va., grave 3218. 
Samuel Dresher, must, in Feb. 18, 1864; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Isaac DetwiUM-, must, in Oct. 16^ 1861 ; must, out Ort. 15, 1804, exp. 

of term. 
John A. Dumming, must, in Sept. 29, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. U. June 

2, 1865. 
Sylvanus H. Daub, must, in Feb. 18, 1864 ; died June 27, 1864, of wound^ 

received at Cold Harbor June 3, 1864. 
William Dresher, must, in Feb. 18, 1864 ; died July 8, 1864, c)f wounds 

received at Spottaylvania Court-JIoust:, IVIay 12, 1864. 
William Doyle, must, in March 5, 1864. 
Charles Day, must, in Oct. Hi, 1861 : (ruus. to regimental band Nov. 16, ! 

1861. 
Martin H. Dunn, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; pro. to hosp. stewd. Nov. 16, ' 

1861. I 

Jamea Dulan, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; disch. .\pril 1, 1863, for wounds re- 
ceived in action. 
Jesse Derough, must, in Oct. 16, IHiil ; disch. on surg. certif. Jan. 1, 

1862. 
Samuel G. Daub, nuist. in Oct. 16, 1861 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps Nov. 6, 

1803. 
Thomas Deiner, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; disch Nov., 1862, for wouTiiis re- 
ceived in action. 
Kobert Evans, nmst. in March 31, 186.'i ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Alex. D. Earls, must, in Oct. 10, 1861 ; trans, to regimental band Nov. 

16, 1861. 
John W. Eaip, must, in Oct. 16, 1801 ; trans, to regimental band Nov. 

10, 1801. 
Wm. Franklin, must, in Jau. 28, 1865; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Wm. J. Faulkener, must, in Sept. 27, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
Daniel Frease, must, in Oct. 16, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif. June 28, 

1863. 
Jacob Fisher, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Oct., 1862. 
Wm. H. Griffiith, must, in April 1, 1862 ; must, uut with company July 

27, 1865. 
Henry L. Gerhart, must, in Oct. 16, 1801 ; must, out Oct. 15, 1864, exp. 

of term. 
William Gerbait, nuist. in Oct. 19, 1861 ; uuiat. out Nov. 27, 1864, exp. 

of term. 
Samuel Gillesjae, nnist. in Feb. 27, 1864 ; killed at Petei-sbnrg June 29, 

1864 ; buried in Oth^Anny Cori)K Cemetery, Meade SUition, Va. 
Washington Griffith, died at Annapolis, Md., .\pril 1, 18ti4. 
James Gibbons, must, in Oct. 12, 18iVl. 
Henry M. Groff, nmst. in ()ct. 16, 1861 ; disch. Jnne, 1803. 
Sanmei Hendricks, nmst. in Maich 9, 1864 ; must, out witli company July 

27, 1865. 
Milton Heller, nmst. in Oct. 17, 1804 ; nmst. out with comjiany July 27, 

1865. 
David Haas, must, in Oct. 17, 1864 ; disch. by (i. 0. July 12, lSti5. 
David Heisey, must, in Jan. 1, 1805 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Robert Heddifln, must, in Jan. 25, 1865 ; nmst. out with company July 

27, 1865. 
James Home, nmst. in Feb. 22, 1864 ; nuist. out with company. July 27, 

1865. 
Ephraim Home, must, in Feb. 28, 1865 ; must, out with lompany July 

27, 1865. 
John Holler, nmst. iti Od. 14, 1804; substitute; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, lHii"i. 



George M. Hayden, must, in Sept. 22, 18Ij4 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. 

June 2, 1865. 
George M. Holmes, must, in Feb. 15, 1864 ; disch., date unknown. 
Patrick Higgius, must, in Sept. 16, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 1865. 
Edwin 31. Hodson, must, in Sept. 23, 1864 ; di-afted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
George Hilton, must, in JUarcluo, 1864. 

John M. Holmes, must, in Oct. 16, 1801 ; died Juue 21, 1862. 
George Y. Hansell, must, in Oct. 16, 1864, trans, to reg. band Nov. 16, 

1861. 
Edwin M. Johns, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865; veteran. 
James Jaggers, must, in Oct, 16, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. May, 1862. 
William Jackson, must, in Oct. 16, 1861. 
I'hilip Jacobs, must, in Oct. 16, 1861; trans, to reg. band Nov. 16, 

1861. 
Andrew J. Keins, must, in Oct. 8, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 
Aaron Ki>ser, must, in Feb. 22, 1864 ; absent, in arrest, at unister out. 
Sutton P. Kremer, must, in Oct. 24, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 18(>5. 
William M. Kurtz, must, in Feb. 18, 1805 ; nmst. out with company July 

27, 180-,. 
\\'illungbby Kulp, must, in Oct. 10, 1861 ; must, out with cumpany July 

27, 1865 ; veteran. 
Frederick Kremer, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; inust. uut Oct. 15, 1864, exp. 

of tenn. 
Aint)S Kepner, must, in Feb. 26, 1864 ; pro. to 2d lieut. U. S. C. troops 

Nov. 2, 1864. 
Richards. Kartsher, must, in .fan. 24, 1S65 ; disch. by G. 0. July 5, 

1865. 
IJenneville Kulp, must, in Feb. 16. 1804 ; trans, to Vt-t. Res. Corps Oct. 

6, 1804. 
Nathan Kulp, must, in Oct. 10, 1861; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps Nov. G, 

1863. 
Charles Law, must, in Oct. 12, 1804 ; substitute ; nmst. out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
Gi'orge W. Lewis, nmst. in Feb. 15, 1804 ; nmst. out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Oliver Lewis, must, in Oct. 8, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
Hiraui Lewis, nmst. in Oct. 7, 1864 ; substitute ; uui^t. out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
Frederick Lemkuhl, must, in Jan. 25, 1865; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
jLMemiah Lemkuhl, 'must, in Feb. 6, 1805 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Benjamin Leister, must, in Api'il 3, 1865 ; must, out witli comp;iny July 

27, 1865. 
Christian Loch, must, in May 19, 1864; disch. by G. 0. May 15, 1865. 
William H. Lewis, must, in Feb. 15, 1864 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps Feb. 

2, 1865. 
Henry S. Lent/., muet. in Oct. 16, 1861; killed at Antietam Sept. 17, 

1862. 
Rruno Maudley, nmst. in Jan. 25, 186,i ; nmst. uut with conii)auy July 

27, 1805. 
Peter L. Miller, nmst. in March 10, 1864; nmst. out with company July 

27, 1805. 
Knos G. Minard, must, in Jan. 10, 1805 ; must, out with comi)any July 

27, 1805. 
Dwight W. Menell, must, in Sept. 30, 1804 ; disch. on surg. certif. Dec. 

22, 1804. 
David Munsick, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 4, 1863- 
Joseph C. Millhouse, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; trans, to regimental band 

Nuv. 16, 1861. 
Samuel McClennan, must, in Feb. 16, 1864; nmst. out with company 

July 27. 1865. 
Samuel McCarter, must, in Feb. 12, 1864 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
George K. McMiller, must, in Feb. 16, 1804; must, out with company 

July 27, 1805. 
(Christ. Mc(.'orniick, tnust. in Nov. 28, 18til; must, out Nov. 27, 1864, 

exp. of term. 
Reuben McKeever, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; died at Norristown, Pa., 

March 17, 1864 ; vetei-an. 
William Mclntire, nuist. in Oct. 16, 1801 ; capturtd ; died at Andei-son- 

ville. Ga., April in, I.S04, grave 401. 



TPIE GREAT REBELLIOxNf. 



221 



James HcGIincby, must, in Jan. 6, 1865. 

Robert McGee, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps Nov. 6, 

1863. 
Francis McFaddeo, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps 

Nov. 6, 186a. 
Hugh McGucken, must, in Sept. — , 1861. 
George W. Neece, must, in Feb. 20, ISC-f ; absent, in arrest, at muster 

out. 
Abraham Pilkington, must, in Aug. 24, 1804 ; absent, in arrest, at 

muster out. 
"U'illiam I'yk'. must, in Jan. 2ti, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Patrick Quinn, must, in April 1, 1865 ; must out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Edwin W. Keerl, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; must, out with company July 

1865 ; veteran. 
George M. Reed, must, in Feb. 26, 1864; must, out with couipany July 

27, 1805. 
William O. Rider, must, in Feb. 14, 1864 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Frederick Reigle, must, in Feb. 20, 1864; must, out with company, July 

27, 1865. 
Joseph C. Rambo, must, in June 1, 1861 ; absent at muster out. 
Eraatus Robb, must, in Oct. 13, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 
William H. B. Ramsey, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 : must, out Oct. 15, 1864, 

exp. of term. 
Henry Reinhart, must, in Jan. 20, 1805. 
Benjamin Rolen, must, in Oct. li">, 1801 ; trans, to regimental band Nov. 

1C-, 1861. 
Jarrett D. Scholl, must, in Oct. VJ., 1864 ; substitute ; must. outVith com- 
pany July 27, 1805. 
James Shorthill must, in Oct. 14, 18t;4 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1805. 
Frank Sherer, must, in Oct. 14, 1804 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1865. 
Daniel Smith, must, in Oct. 14, 1804 ; substitute ; must out witli company 

July 27, 1805. 
John F. Sayres, must, in Sept. 23, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 2, 

1865. 
Franklin Schreck, must, in Sept. 23, 1804; drafted; disch. by G. O. June 

2, 1805. 
Joseph Seylor, must, in Oct. 14, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. O. June 

5, 1805. 
Jacob K. Shiftier, must, in Sept. 22, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. O. June 

2, 1805. 
George Shuler, must, in Sept. 29, 1864; drafted; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
Henry V. Syock, must, in Sept. 27, 1S64 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1865. 
Henry Shaeffer, must, in Jan. 25, 1865; died May 4,1805; buried in 

Natioual_Cenietery, .\rlington, Va. 
Henry Shultz, must, iu Oct. 10, 1801 ; killed at Antietam Sept. 17,1862. 
Jacob Sassaman, must, in Oct. 10, 18G1 ; trans, to 2d U. S. Cav., date un- 
known. 
Samuel Taylor, must, in Feb, 16, 1804 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Samuel D. Torrence, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; must, out Oct. 14, 1864 ; exp. 

of term. 
Albert Teaney, must, in Feb. 15, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. June 3, 1805. 
John Time, must, in Oct. 14, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. O. June 5, 

1865. 
Charles Thompson, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; trans, to regimental band, 

Nov. 10, 1801. 
Peter Urbine, nmst. in Oct. 16, 1861 ; died, date unknown. 
James Waddle, must, in Oct. 12, 1864 ; s\ibstitute ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1865. 
Jacob Wheatley, must, in Jan. 26, 1865 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
Adam Wentzel, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; muwt. out with company July 27, 

1805 ; veteran. 
Howard Wilson, must, in Feb. 20, 1864 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865. 
William S. Wicks, must, in Feb. 29, 1864; must, out with company July 

27, 1805. 
Jonathan Wilier, must, in Oct. 10, IfSOl ; must, out with company July 

27, 1805 : veteran. 



George D. Williams, must, in Oct. 16, 1861; must, out with company 

27, 1805 ; veteran. 
James Wyatt, must, in Jan. 25, 1865 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1865. 
Samuel D. Weidner, must, in Oct. 10, 1801 ; disch. by G. 0. June 25, 

1865 ; veteran. 
Alexander Woodward, must, in Sept. 27. 1804 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. 

June 2, 1865. 
Henry White, must, in Oct. 16, 1801 ; died at Washington, D. C, of 

wounds received in action, July 5, 18G4. 
Charles Wagoner, must, in Feb. 15, 1864; killed at Petersburg, Va., 

March 25, 1865 : buried in 9th Army Corps Cemetery Meade Station, 

Va. 
Mark Widgei-, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Oct., 1862. 
William White, must, in Oct. 16, 1861; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 28, 

1863. 
William Workizer, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; trans, to regimental band, 

Nov. 16, 1861. 
William Wise, nmst. in Oct. 16, 1861 ; died Nov. 1802, 
Joseph C. Young, must, in Oct. 16, 1861 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1865 ; veteran. 
John M. Young, must, iu Oct. 16, 1861 ; drowned by sinking of West 

Point, Oct, 20, 1862. 

Below are the battles in which the Fifty-first 
Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers participated from 
its first entrance on the field to its retirement from 
camp-life, — 

Roanoke Island, Februan* 7 and 8, 1802 ; Newbern, N. C, March 13. 
and 14, 1862 ; Camden, N. C, April 19, 1802 ; Bull Run, Va., August 29 
and 3t», 1862; Chantilly, Va., September 1, 1862; South Mountain, Sep- 
teml>er 14, 1862 ; Antietam, September 17 and 18, 1862 ; Fredericksburg, 
December 12, 13 and 14, 1862 ; Vicksburg, Miss., June 16 to July 4, 1863 ; 
Jackson, Mise., July 8 to July 18, 1863 ; Campbell's Station, Tenn., No- 
vember 16, 1803; Knoxville. Tenn., November 17 to Becember 5, 1863; 
Wilderness, Va., 3Iay 6, 1804; Spottsylvania, Va., May 12 to 14, 1864; 
Cold Harbor, Va., May 31 to June 8, 1864 ; Petersburg, Va., June 16 to 
August 18, 1864; Yellow Tavern, Va., August 19, 1864; Weldon Rail- 
road, Va., August 21, 1864 ; Hatcher's Run, Ya., October 27, 28 and 29, 
1864 ; Petersburg, November 29, 1864, to April 2, 1805. 

Skirmishes. — Kelly's Ford, 1802 ; Rappahannock, 1802 ; Warrenton, 
1862 ; Sulphur Springs, Va., November 16, 1862 ; Sulphur Springs, 
Augnst 24, 1862 ; Upperville, Va. 1662 ; Fairfax Court House, 1802 ; 
Big Black, Miss., July 6, 1863; Jackson, Miss., July 7, 1863 ; Loudon, 
Tenn., November 15, 1803 ; Lenoir, Tenn., November 15, 1863 ; Rutledge, 
Tenn., December 16, 1863 ; Blain's Cross-Roads, Decemberl 8, 1863 ; Pop- 
lar Grove Church, 1864 ; Bethesda Church, 1864; Peeble's Farm, 1864; 
Ream's Station, 1864 ; Weldon Railroad, 1804 ; besides a large number of 
minor importance, of which there are memoranda. 

Below is a perfectly reliable statement of the dis- 
tances traversed by the Fifty-first Pennsylvania 
Veteran Volunteers, by marches, transports and rail- 
way, as taken from a diary, — 

From Bridgeport to Harrisburg, 95 miles ; from Harrisburg to Anna- 
polis, Md., 123 miles ; from Aquia Creek to Fredericksburg, 15 miles ; from 
Bealtun to Culpepper Court House, Va., 15 miles; from Fredericksburg to 
Aquia Creek, 15 miles ; from Baltimore, Md., to Paris, Ky,, 778 miles ; irom 
Nicholasville, Ky., to Cairo, 111., 508 miles ; from Cairo, 111., to Nicholas- 
ville, Ky., 508 miles ; from Knoxville to Loudon, Tenn,, 28 miles ; from 
Nicholasville, Ky,, to Bridgeport, Pa., 789 miles; from Bridgeport, Pa., 
to Harrisburg, Pa., 95 miles; from Harrisburg to Annapolis, Md., 123 
miles; from Washington, D. C.^ to Harrisburg, 124 miles; from Harris- 
burg to Bridgeport, 95 miles: total by rail, 3311 miles. By transj»ort8 
from Annapolis to Fortress Monroe, thence to Roanoke Island, to New- 
bern, to landing at Albemarle Sound, back to Newbern, to Hatteras Inlet, 
back to Newbern, to Newport News, to Aquia Creek, to Baltimore, from 
Cairo to Vicksburg and back to Cairo, from City Point to Washington, 
from Washington to Alexandria : total, 5390 miles. By marches, total, 
1738 miles ; by water, total, 5390 miles ; by railway, total, 3311 miles,^ 
aggregate, 10,439 miles. 

NoTEl. — " Headquartees Department of the Tennessee, 

" Vicksburg, Miss., July 31, 1863. 
" In returning the Ninth Corps to its fonner command, it is with 



222 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



pleasure that the general commanding acknowledges its valuable services 
in the camimign Just closed. Aiming at Vicksburg, opportunely taking 
position to hold at bay Johnston's army, then threatening the forces in- 
vesting the city, it was ready and eager to ai«ume the aggressive at any 
moment. 

"After the fall of Vicksburg it formed part of the army which drove 
Johnston from his position near the Big Black Kiver into his intrencli- 
nients at Jackson, and after a siege uf eight days compelled him to fly in 
disorder from the Mississippi Valley. 

"The endurance, valor and general good conduct of the Ninth Coips 
are admired by all, and its valuable co-operation in achieving the final 
triumph of the campaign is gratefully acknowledged by the Army of 
the Tennessee. 

"Major-General Parke will cause the differeut regiments and batteries 
of his command to inscribe upou their bannera and guidons ' Vicksburg 
and Jackson.' 

" By order of 



'T. S. Bowers 



"Major-General U. S. Grant. 
.!. A. Ailjiitant-General.'''' 



Note 2.— A hidden fellowship always lurked under tlie blue and gray. 
The following episode between the pickets on the line of the Rappahnu 
nock by men of the Fifty-first illustrates the fact : 

" The best of feeliug was expressed by both jiarties, and if a stray hog 
should by chance come within sight both Reb and Yank would start off 
in pursuit of the porker, and catch and slaugliter it, and then divide it 
equally between them with many jocular remarks about the mode of 
living that each army was subject to. The commencement of cessation 
of hostilities by both sets of pickets began with hallooing to each other, 
then with tlie poking up of heads above their rude bre;istworks, and then 
by exposing themselves outside of the works, finally feeliug some confi- 
aence in each other, and no shots being fired along either line, they be- 
gan by advancing towards one another. Between the two picket-lines 
flowed a stream of water ; this was the Kappahannock of the two parties; 
when both parties met near the stream the following introductory re- 
niarlus took place, the Rebs asking : 

" 'Hallo, Yanks, what regiment? ' 

" raMi— 'The Fifty-fii-st Pennsylvania.' 

"Eeb — 'D — good buys, too.' 

" Yank — 'Say, Johnnies, what regiment^?' 

*'Be6— 'Eiglity-eighth Tennessee, Second Georgia and Fourth Missis- 
sippi.' 

" Tank — ' We've met you chaps before."' 

» Beb— 'Y'es, several times ; come across the creek.' 

" Tank — * Can't see it ; will you reach your hand out '/ ' 

^' Jieb — *Ye8, here; give us your hand; now, jump!' and over one 
■went, and in a few minutes the Fifty -first boys were on the rebel side, 
and in return the rebels came over to our side, and all the civilities of an 
enlightened race were extended to one another, 

"The pickets of both lines made a treaty between themselves not to 
fire a gun at each other during that relief, which would be until four 
o'clock the next morning, and with true faith was it carried out, al- 
though the flag of truce expired at 5 p.m. There was not a solitary shot 
fired until the next relief was put on the next uinrning." 

Colonel Boltou made a farewell address to his com- 
mand in the following order, as published to the 
regiment : 

" HEAnQUARTERS 5l8T REGT. P. V. V. ) 

"ALEXANnaiA, Va., July 2lj, 1865. f 
*' Ojicers and men of the !*Ut Eegt. P^n. Vet. VoU. : 

" In a very few days this organization will cease to exist. Our mission 
has been fulfilled, the armed hosts of the enemy no longer defy us, our 
long, fatiguing marches and hard fighting aud weary watching for the 
enemy, day and night, are things of the past. Y'ou have, by your 
patriotic devotion, assisted in establishing a country, one, grand, glorious 
aud indeed free. For nearly four years I have been associated with you, 
and for over one year of that time I have had the honor to be your com- 
mander. I would not be doing myself or you justice without giving ex- 
pression to my feelings. A thousand thanks are due to buth officei's and 
men for your prompt obe<lience to all my orders, aud my love is increased 
by the remembrance of yuur bravery and gallantry, as you have so often 
displayed on many a bloody field. But, ahis ! uiany of mir organization 
now sleep in the valley of the dead ; they sleep in honored graves. And 
it is with pleiisure that we can think of their many virtues, their valor in 
the field, and their cheerful voice in camp, and hope that they have re- 



ceived their golden reward in heaven. When all looked gloomy, you 
wore cheerful faces ; and when orders were exacting, you always cheer- 
fully obeyed. When fighting against ovcrwhelunng odds, and by superior 
numbers compelled to retreat, you have ever evinced that noble, praise- 
worthy characteristic of a good soldier, 'repulsed, but not whipped,* 
' defeated, but not conquered.' I feel sad to part with you ; we may 
never meet again. You are about to return to your homes, and assume 
the garb and customs of private citizens. I am a young man ; there are 
amongst you many who are old enough, perhaps, tu be my father ; time 
has whitened your hoar>- locks. I cannot part with you without urging 
that if you have acquired bad habits, incidental to camp life, to make a 
firm resolve to break off at once, and show to your friends at home that 
you can be as good and law-abiding citizens as you have been good, brave 
and exemplary soldiere. 

" I need not particularize separately your many deeds ; they all have 
been fairly won. The record you bear on your silken colors have been 
honestly won by the blood of your companions aud the deep scars many 
of yon bear upon your persons. You need no marble shaft to commem- 
orate your many valorous deeds ; your scars, your sacrifices and the noble 
acts of gallantly you have displayed will be your monument. Posterity 
will applaud you as the redeemei-s of our couutry, the world will admire 
your self-sacrificing devotion to your country. 

" I now bid you fiirewell, and when the war of this life is over with us, 
when we shall have performed our last earthly mission, may we all meet 
in heaven is the earnest prayer of the colonel c<)nnuanding. 

"With my Idudest wishes for your future prosperity, I bid you fare- 
well. 

"Wm. J. Boi-toN, Colonel Fifty-first P. V. F." 

Fifty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. 

— On the 21sjt of August, 18lU, John R. Brooke, of 
Pottstown, Montgomery Co., was commissioned colonel 
of the Fifty-third Regiment. He had served as cap- 
tain of the Fourth (three months') Regiment. Re- 
cruiting wa-s immediately commenced, and on the 
28th of September the first company was mustered 
into the service of the United States. Company A 
was recruited in Pottstown, B in Chester and Mont- 
gomery Counties, C in Blair and Huntingdon, D in 
Centre and Clearfield, E in Carbon and Union, F in 
Luzerne, G in Potter, H in Northumberland, I in 
Juniata and K in Westmoreland. During the period 
of its organization it occupied Camp Curtin, and while 
here did provost guard duty in Harrisburg. The 
following field officers were selected : John R. Brooke, 
colonel ; Richard McMichael, of Reading, Berks Co., 
lieutenant-colonel; and Thomas Yeager, of Allen- 
town, Lehigh Co., major. Charles P. Hatch, of Phil- 
adelphia, was appointed adjutant. 

On the 7th of November it moved to Washington 
and encamped north of the capitol. On the 27th it 
crossed the Potomac, went into camp near Alexandria, 
and was assigned to a brigade commanded by General 
William H. French. It remained here during the 
winter of 18(31-62, and was constantly drilled and 
disciplined in the routine of a soldier's duty, It par- 
ticipated in the general advance of the Army of the 
Potomac in March, 1862, arriving at Manassas Junc- 
tion, which had been evacuated by the rebels on the 
12th. 

On the 21st it was marched to Warenton Junc- 
tion to support a reconnoissance of Howard's bri- 
gade, which was being pushed towards the Rappa- 
hannock. The object having been accomplished, on 
the 23d it returned to Manassas and from thence to 
Alexandria. Upon the reorganization of the army 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



223 



the regiraeut was assigned to the Third Brigade,' 
First Division, Second Corps. On the 3d of April it 
was transferred witli McClelhm's army to the Penin- 
sula, and formed part of tlie reserve division during 
the siege of Yorktovvn. 

The enemy having retreated, on the 4th of May 
the regiment marched to Yorktovvn, and late on the 
afternoon of the same day moved through a, pelting 
storm of rain towards AVilliamsburg. It was ordered 
back on the 6th and remained until the 12th, when it 
was transported to West Point, at the head of York 
River. Later in the month it assisted to build the 
grape-vine bridge across the Uhickahominy. The 
regiment took a prominent part in the engagement at 
Fair Oaks on the 1st of June, where, though surprised 
and thrown into temporary confusion, it rallied and 
in a short time forced the enemy from his line. Its 
conduct on this occasion was .such as to elicit the 
commendatii)n of the generals commanding. It suf- 
fered a severe loss in the death of Major Yeager, who 
was killed iu the early part of the action while gal- 
lantly leading his men. The regiment lost ninety-six 
men in killed, wounded and missing. 

Itbivouackedupon the battle-ground and supported 
a battery in ))osition on the York River Railri>ad. On 
the 27th it movetl to the right, where a deadly con- 
flict was raging, and was thrown forward to the as- 
.sistance of Porter's troops. It crossed the Chicka- 
hominy and came under fire of the enemy at 
Oaines' Mill. Forming in line of battle, the com- 
mand covered the withdrawal of the troops, and at 
midnight silently recrossed the Chickahominy. 
Here began the memorable " change of base," in 
which it was the arduous duty of Sumner's corps to 
cover the rear of the retreating army. The post of 
honor and of danger — the rear of the rear-guard — was 
assigned to the Third Brigade. At Peach Orchard, 
on the 29tli, it participated in a fierce engagement, 
in which a number of casualties occurred, but none 
were killed. Immediately after the close of the ac- 
tion General Sumner rode up and complimented the 
regiment for its bravery, sayiug, " You have done 
nobly, but I knew you would do so." Moving to 
Savage Station, Sumner made another stand to check 
the enemy. The I'cgiment occupied a position in a 
wood, parallel to the railroad, and was fortunately 
favored by the high-ranged shot and shell of the 
rebel artillery. After a short but desperate en- 
counter the enemy withdrew, and at midnight the 
line of retreat was silently resumed. 

The march now began to test the endurance of the 

1 Organization of tlie Tliird Brigade (Brigadier-General William H. 
Frencli), Finst Division ^Major-General Israel B. Richardson), Second 
Corps (3lajur-General E. V. Sumner). — Fifty-third Regiment Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers, Colonel John R. Brooke ; Fifty-second Regiment 
New York Volunteere, Colonel Frank Paul ; Fifty-seventh Regiment 
New York Volunteers, Colonel Samuel K. Zook ; Sixty-sixth Regiment 
New York Volunteers, Colonel James C. Pinckney ; Second Regiment 
Delaware Volunteers, Colonel Henry W. Wharton ; Battery B, First 
New York Artillery, Captain Rufus D. Pettit. 



troops, and the situation became one fraught with 
peril. One small brigade, standing fearlessly alone 
in midnight darkness, was holding in check, almost 
at the point of the bayonet, one-half the rebel army, 
while friends from whom no succor could be expected 
were swiftly moving to the rear. Silentlj' the com- 
mand plunged into the deep shadows of White Oak 
Swamp. At daylight the regiment reached White 
Oak Creek, beyond which was its corps in bivouac. 
Crossing the creek, it immediately began destroying 
the bridge. The advance of the enemy soon made its 
api)earance, and commenced skirmishing, but was 
jirevented from crossing the stream. Several of his 
batteries having been placed in ])osition, opened fire 
and were very annoying. Although not actively en- 
gaged, the regiment had several killed and wounded. 

Withdrawing at midnight, the Fifty-third arrived 
at Malvern Hill on the morning of .July l.st, and was 
almostconstantly under fire, although it did not parti- 
cipate in the engagement. The duty assigned to it, in 
the retreat from the Chickahominy to the James, was 
of such an important nature as to merit and receive 
the thanks of the commanding general as well as of 
the intermediate commanders, and Colonel Brooke 
was highly complimented for the skillful and soldierly 
qualities ilisplayed in conducting his command suc- 
cessfully through so many perils. Arriving at Har- 
rison's Landing the regiment remained until the 16th 
of August. Here the Sixty-fourth New York was 
temporarily attached to the Fifty-third for the pur- 
poses of drill, discipline and camp duty, all under 
command of Major Octavius S. Bull, who had been 
promoted to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death 
of Major Y'^eagher, Colonel Brooke being in command 
of the brigade and Lieutenant Colonel McMichael ab- 
sent on account of sickness. 

Moving via Yorktown to Newport News, it em- 
barked for Alexandria, where it arrived on the 28th, 
and encamped on the following day at Lee's Farm, 
near the Aqueduct Bridge. The cannonade of the 
contending forces at Bull Run was distinctly heard, 
and the men were eager to again meet the foe. At 
two A.M. of the 30th, in light marching order, the 
command moved towards Centreville. But the battle 
had been fought, and Pope's army was retreating to 
the defenses of Washington. Reaching Centreville 
on the 31st, it was promptly deployed in line of battle, 
protecting the exposed flanks of the Union army. 
Here again Sumner's corps was interposed between 
the enemy and our retreating troops. Near Vienna 
the regiment, and one section of a battery were thrown 
forward on the Leesburg turnpike to guard the flank 
of the column against any sudden attack of the enemy. 
A force of rebel cavalry made a dash upon the Uuion 
troops between the pike and Chain Bridge, entirely 
separating the regiment from the main column. 
Colonel Brooke, seeing the danger and the difiiculty 
of cutting his way through, moved his command at 
double-quick down the pike and thereby insured its 



224 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



safety before the enemy discovered the manwuvre. 
On the 3d of September it rejoined the army at Ten- 
allytown. On the 11th, General French, who had 
endeared himself to the troops of his brigade, was as- 
signed to the command of a division, and was suc- 
ceeded by Colonel Brooke. 

The enemy wa.s now marching into Jlaryhmd, and 
the Third Brigade moved rapidly through Washing- 
ton to Frederick, and thence to South Mountain, 
where it was held in reserve during the battle. On 
the 15th it moved in pursuit, skirmishing during the 
morning with the enemy's cavalry, drove him through 
Boone.sboro' and Keedysville, and encountered his 
army in strong force on the highlands beyond Antie- 
tam Creek. The following day was occupied chiefly 
in manojuvring for position, the regiment being under 
artillery fire and suftering some casualties. At four 
A.M. of the 17th the regiment left its position on the 
Keedysville road, and moving a mile to the right, 
crossed Antietam Creek at a ford. It c>ccupied the 
extreme right of the division. In front was the 
"sunken road" occupied by the enemy's first line. 
His second line was protected by a stone wall on the 
hill beyond. To the right and rear was an orchard, 
immediately in front of which was the cornfield where, 
subsequently, the battle raged with great fury. It 
was important to drive the enemy from t'nis position, 
and the Fifty-third was chosen for the charge. Chang- 
ing front to the rear, and advancing at double-quick, 
in a short but desperate contest it drove him from 
his well-chosen ground. The regiment was subse- 
quently engaged in the hottest of the fight and shared 
the varying fortunes of the day. The position gained 
was of great importance, and was held with tenacity 
until the regiment was ordered to the support of a 
battery. Lieutenant Weaver, of Comjjany K, a brave 
young officer, was mortally wounded. The loss in 
killed and wounded was twenty-eight. 

On the 22d it forded the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, 
and encamjied on the following day on Bolivar 
Heights. Here the wasted energies of the troops were 
recruited, and full rations and clothing, which had 
been much needed, were furnished. On the 16tli of 
October it participated, under command of Major 
Bull, in a reconnoissanceto Charle.stown, skirmishing 
with and driving the enemy and occupying the town. 
Captain Miutzer,of Company A, was appointed provost- 
marshal of the place, who at once instituted a search, 
and captured a number of prisoners. The object of 
the reconnoisance having been accomplished, the 
command returned to camp. Moving from Bolivar 
Heights on the 30th of October, it crossed the Shenan- 
doah River, and proceeded down the Loudon Valle}', 
participating in a skirmish with the enemy on the 
4th at Snicker's Gap, driving him out and occupying it 
until the column had passed. It arrived at Warren- 
ton on the 9th, when General Burnside assumed 
command of tlie Army of the Potomac, and pro- 
jected the movement upon Fredericksburg. The 



regiment proceeded to Falmouth, where it arrived 
on the lyth, and performed provost guard duty 
until the 11th of December, when it left quarters 
and took position nearly opposite Fredericksburg in 
support of the batteries that were engaged in bom- 
barding the town. Early on the 12th it crossed the 
rive!', and, forming a skirmish line, drove the enemy's- 
sharpshooters out of the city, with the loss of one 
mortally wounded, when it was relieved, and rested 
for the night on the river-bank. Early on the morn- 
ing of Saturday, the 13th, under a dense fog, the regi- 
ment marched into the city and halted for half an 
hour under fire of rebel artillery. The fight was 
opened at the front, near Marye's Heights, by French's 
division, which was repulsed. Soon after the Third 
Brigade, led by the Fifty-second, moved, amidst a 
shower of deadly missiles, by the right flank, up St. 
Charles Street, and formed in line of battle along the 
edge of the town. The rebel infantry, but a few hun- 
dred yards in front, was prf)tected by a stone wall 
along a sunken road, while, immediately above, the 
hill-tops were bristling with cannon. At the word of 
command, Colonel Brooke, at the head of his regiment, 
led the charge, under a storm of shot and shell that 
swept the ranks with terrible effect. But, undis- 
maj'ed, they closed up and pressed steadily on till 
they reached a position within one hundred and fifty 
yards of the enemy's lines, which was held, despite 
every effort to dislodge them, even after their ammu- 
nition was spent. At evening, when the battle was 
over and the day was lost, what remained of the regi- 
ment retired silently from its position and returned 
to the city. It went into battle with two hundred 
and eighty-three effective men. Of these, one hun- 
dred and fifty-eight were either killed or wounded. 
Among the former were Lieutenants Cross, McKiernan 
and Kerr, and the latter. Captains Coulter and Eich- 
holtz and Lieutenants Potts, Root, Hopkins and 
Smith. 

The regiment now returned to its old position as 
provost guard to Falmouth. On the following week 
it formed part of a detachment, under command of 
Colonel Brooke, that crossed the river, under a flag 
of truce, for the purpose of burying the dead. During 
the two days occupied in this work nine hundred and 
thirteen were interred and six were dispatched to 
their friends. The rebel soldiers had strijiped the 
bodies of the dead in a most heartless manner. In 
many eases fingers were cut off to get possesion of 
rings. The Fifty-third remained at Falmouth until 
February 1, 18133. While here three companies, under 
command of Major Bull, were detailed as provost 
guard at division headquarters. The major was 
assigned to the staft' of General Couch, and remained 
successively with Generals Couch, Hancock, Hays, 
Warren, and again with Hancock in the Wilderness 
campaign, until the 18th of May, 1864. 

On the 28th of April the regiment moved on the 
Chancellorsville campaign, and, crossing the Rappa- 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



225 



hannock at United States Ford, for three days was 
actively engaged, suffering considerable loss. Upon 
the withdrawal of the army it returned to its old 
camping-ground near Falmouth. On the 14th of 
June the Fifty third, which was now attached to the 
Fourth Brigade of the First Division of the Second 
Corps, left camp, and marched to Banks' Ford to 
watch the movements of the enemy, who was about 
entering on his Pennsylvania campaign. Withdraw- 
ing from the ford when it was found that the rebel 
columns had passed, the command moved forward 
with the army, and on the 20th made a forced march 
to Thoroughfare Gap, where it remained in pcjsition 
until the 25th, when the enemy attacked, driving in 
the pickets, and, as our column had now passed, the 
command was withdrawn. Marching rapidly towards 
Gettysburg, it arrived upon the field at eight o'clock 
on the morning of the 2d of July, and took position 
in rear of the line of the Third Corps, then forming. 
Later in the day it moved to the left, near Little 
Round Top, and at three o'clock p.m. became hotly 
engaged. A rebel battery, posted upon an eminence 
beyond a wheat-field, had become very annoying to 
our troops. Colonel Brooke led a charge, in the face 
of its destructive fire, to capture it or drive it away. 
At the word of command the men dashed forward, 
and, with loud shouts, drove the enemy, scattering 
his ranks, and gained the position. The lines upon 
his right and left had failed to advance as far, and, 
discovering that the enemy was taking prompt ad- 
vantage of his fearfully exposed flanks, the colonel 
reluctantly ordered his men to retire to his first posi- 
tion, which was executed, but not without serious 
loss. On the 3d the regiment was under a heavy 
artillery fire, but was not actively engaged. In this 
battle the command was much reduced in number, 
three companies being still on detached duty, and 
the remainder having but one hundred and twenty- 
four men. Of this number, only forty-five escaped 
uninjured. Six were killed, sixty-seven wounded 
and six missing. Of the latter were Captains Dimm 
and Hatfield and Lieutenants Pifer, Shields, Root, 
Smith, AVhitaker and Mann and Sergeant-Major 
Rutter. 

Remaining upon the battle-field until noon of the 
r)th, the regiment marched in pursuit of the retreating 
enemy, and arrived on the 11th at Jones' Cross-Roads, 
near which the rebel army was in position. In the 
evening it advanced in line, driving back the enemy's 
skirmishers, and during the following night threw up 
breast-works. On the 14th it was deployed in line 
at right angles to the Williamsport road, and ad- 
vanced cautiously, only to discover that the Rebels 
had vacated their works and fled. After remaining 
for a few days in Pleasant Valley, it crossed the 
Potomac, and, marching down the Loudoun Valley, 
made descents upon Ashby's and Manassas Gaps, 
passed White Plains, New Baltimore and Warren- 
ton, and arrived on the 1st of August at Morrisville, 
15 



where it went into camp. In the toilsome campaigns 
which followed, ending at Mine Run, the regiment 
participated, encotintering the enemy at Rappahan- 
nock Station and at Bristow, and losing some men. 
It went into winter-quarters at Stevensburg, where 
the men re-enlisted, and on the 27th of December pro- 
ceeded to Harrisburg, where they were dismissed for 
a veteran fiirlough. Upon their return to the army 
they again encamped near Stevensburg, in their old 
quarters, where they remained until the opening of 
the spring campaign. 

On the 4th of May, 1S(;4, the regiment broke camp, 
and, crossing the Rapidan at Ely's Ford, marched to 
Chancellorsville. On the following day it moved 
forward and confronted the enemy in his earth-works, 
and again on the 6th was engaged, but without serious 
loss. At evening of the 9th it moved forward to the 
Po River, which it crossed, and at once met the 
enemy, the contest being continued with spirit for 
several hours, resulting in considerable loss to the 
conmiand, but, owing to the woods and undergrowth 
taking fire from the explosion of the shells, without 
any decided advantage. Late on the evening of the 
11th, withdrawing from its position on the Po, it 
proceeded about six miles towards Spott-sylvania. 

There, on the following morning, it stood in column 
in readiness to join in the grand charge of the veteran 
Second Corps upon the strongly fortified position of 
the enemy. Advancing silently until within a short 
distance of his works, the well-formed lines rushed 
forward with wild hurrahs, and, in fiice of the des- 
perate defense offered, carried the jiosition, capturing 
an entire division. No more brilliant or decisive 
charge was made during the campaign than this. 
Captain Whitney and Lieutenant Foster were among 
the killed. Colonel Brooke was promoted to briga- 
dier-general soon after this engagement. Major Bull 
to lieutenant-colonel, and Captain Dimm to major; 
subsequently, upon the muster out of service of the 
latter. Captain William M. Mintzer was made major. 

The regiment remained in the vicinity of Spottsyl- 
vania, throwing up earth-works at different points and 
almost constantly under fire, until the 25th of May, 
when it crossed the Pamunkey, thence to Tolopotomy 
Creek, and on the 2d of June arrived at Cold Harbor. 
It was pushed close up to the enemy's entrenched 
line and immediately threw up breast-works. At five 
o'clock on the morning of the 3d a furious but fiitile 
effort was made to drive the enemy from his position. 
Two other gallant charges were made, wherein men 
never marched to death with stouter hearts; but all 
in vain. In these charges the Fifty-third suflered 
severely. General Brooke, commanding the brigade 
was severely wounded by a grape-shot in the hand 
and thigh. Captain Dimm and Lieutenant Pifer were 
also severely wounded. 

On the night of June 12th the regiment marched, 
and, crossing the Chickahominy and James Rivers 
arrived on the evening of the 16th in front of Peters- 



226 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



burg. In the afternoon a charge was ordered upon 
the enemy's strong works, which was galhintly exe- 
cuted, but was repulsed, the Fifty-third losing in this 
desperate struggle nearly seventy men. On the 22d 
an attempt was made to establish a new line, which 
proved alike unsuccessful. For several weeks digging 
and the construction of defensive works constituted 
the principal occupation of the troops. 

On the 26th of June the regiment moved with the 
brigade to the right of the line, beyond the James 
River, and for two weeks was engaged in promiscuous 
skirmishing along the rebel works, after which it re- 
turned to the neighborhood of Petersburg. On the 
12th of August the command again returned to the 
left bank of the James, where it skirmished heavily 
with the enemy until the 21st, when it recrossed the 
Jame-s and the Appomattox, and, passing in rear of 
the army to the extreme left of the line, commenced 
demolishing the Weldon Railroad, near Ream's Sta- 
tion. Five miles had already been destroyed when 
the enemy appeared in force, and a line of battle was 
ha-stily formed to repel his advance and protect the 
working-parties. His first charge was gallantly re- 
pulsed. But reforming and massing his troops in 
heavy columns, he again struck with overpowering 
force upon the Union lines, and was partially suc- 
cessful in breaking them. But his advantage was 
gained at a fearful cost, and he was finally forced to 
abandon the contest, and the Union forces retired to 
their lines in front of Petersburg. During the autumn 
and winter months the regiment was engaged in severe 
duty in the front lines before the besieged city. On 
the 18th of September, Colonel McMichael having 
been discharged upon the expiration of his term 
of service, Lieutenant-Colonel Bull was promoted 
colonel. Major Mintzer lieutenant-colonel, and Cap- 
tain Philip H. Shreyer major. In November, upon 
the muster out of service of the colonel, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Mintzer was made colonel. Captain (teorge C. 
Anderson lieutenant-colonel, and Captain George D. 
Pi far major. 

On the 28th of March, 1865, the regiment moved 
on its liist campaign, proceeding directly to the 
Boydton Plank-Road, where, on the 31st, it was briskly 
engaged. The Fifth Corps was now actively employed 
in ])ushing the enemy from his foot-hold about Peters- 
burg, and in this the Second Corps was called to its 
aid. In the operations at Five Forks the regiment 
joined, charging the enemy's lines, driving him in 
conftision, and taking possession of a portion of the 
South Side Railroad. In this engagement Major Pifer 
led the Fifty-third, Colonel Mintzer having been 
jilaced temporarily in command of a detachment skill- 
fully deployed to deceive a division of the enemy and 
prevent him from changing his position. For the 
success attained in this service Colonel Mintzer was 
promoted brevet brigadier-general. Following up the 
retreating enemy, the regiment participated in the 
capture of his wagon-trains at Deep Creek, on the 6th 



of April, and was at the front on the day of the sur- 
render of the rebel army. Encamping for a short 
time near Burkesville, it proceeded from thence, 
through Richmond and Fredericksburg, to Alexan- 
dria, participated in the grand review of the armies 
at Washington, on the 23d of May, and wiis finally 
nuistered out of service on the 30th of June, 1865. 

FIELD AND ST.\FF OFFICERS. 
.UAui R. Brouke, col., must, in Nov. 5, 1801 ; pro. to brig. -gen. May 12, 

1«G4; to brev. nijy.-geu. .\ug. 1, 18G4. 
William M. Mintzer, rol., must, in Sept. 18, 18f)l ; pro. from capt. Co. A 

to maj. June 2, 1862 : to lieut.-col. Sept. 29, 1804 ; to col. Oct. 30, 

1804 ; to brev. brig.-gen. March 1^, 180.^ ; must, out with regt. June 

■M, 186.'). 
Richards McMichael, lieut.-col., must, in Nov, 7, 1801; lUsch. on surg. 

certif. May 10, 1804. 
George C. .-Vnilerson, lieut.-col., must, in Oct. 29, 1801 ; pro. from capt. 

Co. K to maj. Sept. .20, 1864; to lieut.-col. Nov. 10, 1804; must. 

out with regt. June 30, 180.n. 
Thomas Yeager, maj., must, in Nov. 7, 1801 ; killed at Fair Oaks, Va., 

June 1, 1802, 
S. Octaviua Bull, mty., must, in Sept. 18, 1801 ; pro. from capt. Co. \ 

to maj. June 2, 1802; com. lieut.-col. May 17, 1804; col. Sept, 18, 

1804 ; not mustered ; must, out Nov. 1, 1804, expiration of term. 
George D. Pifer, maj., must, in Oct. 10, 1861 ; pro. from capt. Co. I 

Dec. 13, 1804 ; must, out with regt. June 30, 1805. 
Charles P. Hatch, adj., must, in Nov. 7, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif. 

July 24, 1864. 
Samuel H. Rutter, adjt., must, in Sept. 18, 1801; pro. from private Co. A to 

sergt.maj. Dec. 24, 1803 ; to lieut. and ad.jt. Sept, 5, 1864 ; absent 

on detached service in V. R. C. at must, out ; veteran. 
Jacob Rice, q.m,, must, in Nov. 7, 1861 ; must, out Oct. 12, 1804, ex- 
piration of term, 
Theophilus T, Davis, q,m,, must, in Nov, 4, 1801 ; pro. from private Co. 

I to com. sergt. Dec. 24, 1803 ; to Isi lieut, and q,m, Oct, 31, 1804 j 

must, out with regt. June 30, 1865 ; veteran, 
John Fromberger, surg., must, in Nov. 7, 1801 ; res, Jan, 28, 1862, 
M. J. McKinnon, surg,, must in Feb, l.-i, 1802 ; res, Jan, 20, 1803. 
George W. Jackson, surg,, must, in Feb, 24, 1863 ; disch. on surg. certif. 

Aug, 12, 1804. 
Charles W. Spayd, surg., must, in Oct. 1, 1802 ; pro. from asst. siu-g. Aug. 

29, 1804; must, out with regt, June 30, 1805, 
William B, Wynne, asst, surg,, must, in Nov. 7, 1801 ; pro, to surg, 159th 

Regt, P, V, Oct, 29, 1802, 
J. P. Burchtield, as.st. surg,, must, in .Vug, 1, 1802 ; pro. to surg. 83d Regt. 

P. V. April 3, 1803. 
Jacob C. Oatchell, usst, surg., must, in Oct, 17, 1804 ; nuist, out with 

regiment, June 30, 1865. 
Daniel Barber, chap,, must, in Nov, 7, 1801 ; res, .Tuly 7, 1862, 
J. R, Taylor Gray, chap,, nnist, in June 16, 1865 ; must, out with regi- 
ment, June 30, 1805, 
Thomas Iteifsnyder, sergt, -ma,i., must, in Nov, 7, 1801 ; pro, to 1st lieut. 

Co. D, Dec. 14, 1802. 
G. W, Butterworth, sergt, -maj,, must, in March 2, 1864; pro; from sergt. 

Co. G, .lune 12, 1805 ; must, out with regiment, June 30, 1805 ; veteran. 
Levi J. Fritz, sergt, -maj., must, in Dec. 22, 1803 ; pro. to 2d lieut. Co. A. 

Oct. 8, 1804. 
M. M. Brannock, sergt. -maj. , must, in Dec. 22, 1863 ; trans, to Co. K, 

April 7, 1865 ; veteran. 
Albert H, Hess, sergt, -maj,, must, in Dec. 22, 1863 ; pro. to 2d lieut, Co. 

E, June 12, 1865. 
Mahlon S, Ludwig, q,m. -sergt., must, in Nov, 7, 1801 ; pro. to 2il lieut. 

Co. B. March 1, 18li3, 
John S, Weand, q,ni, -sergt,, must, in Sept, 18, 1801 ; pro. from private 

Co. A, Nov, 1, 1804 ; must, out with regiment, .Tune 30, 1805. 
John W, Riley, q.m. -sergt., must, in Feb, 29, 1804 ; pro, from sergt. to 

q.m.-sergt. Dec. 23, 1864 ; trans, from 140th Regt. P. V. ; disch. by 

G, 0. June 0, 1805. 
Lewis R. Bland, com. sergt,, must, in Nov. 7, 1861 ; pro, to 2d lieut, Co. 

B, April 28, 1862. 
Thomas E. Clark, com, sergt., must, in Sept, 18, 1861 ; pro, from private 

Co, A, Dec, 10, 1864 ; absent, on furlough, at muster out, 
J, Wilson Baruett, com, sergt,, must, in Nov. 5, 1861 ; trans, to 10th Regt. 

t,T, S. colored troops. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



227 



Bei^aiuiD J. Gushing, com. sergt,, must, in Oct. 29, 18C1 ; pro. to 2d lieut. 

Co. G, Sept. 21, 1804 ; veteran. 
W. W. Deutler, com. sergt , must, in Oct. 23, 1861 ; pro. to 2il lieut. Co. 

H, Dec. 8, 1804 ; veteran. 
Albert Lorenz, liosp. Stewart, must, in Nov. 7, 1801 ; nulst. out Nov, 7, 

1804, expimtion of term. 
John H. Foltz, hosp. steward, must, in Oct. 10, 1861 ; pro. from private Co. 

I, Nov. 16, 18*54 ; must, out with regiment, June 30, 1805 ; veteran. 
John Caldwell, principal musician, must, in Oct. 2.'i, 1861 ; pro. fi-om 

musician Co. H. Nov, 1, 1804 ; must, out with regiment, June 30, 

1865 ; veteran. 



Privaiea. 
in July 21, 1804; sulistitute 



disch. by 6. 



COMP.\NY A. 

Recruited at Pottstown, Montgomery County. 

S. Octavius Bull, capt., must, in Sept. 18, 1801 ; pro. to maj June 2.1862 
William M. Mintzer, capt., must, in Sept. IS, 1861 ; pro. from Ist lieut. 

to capt. June 2, 1802 ; to lieut. -col Sept. 2y, 1864. 
Charles L. Geiger, capt., must, in Sept. 18, 1801 ; pro. to Ist sergt. ; to 
2d lieut, Se])t. 26, 1804 ; to Ist lieut. Oct. 8, 1864, to capt. Oct. 30, 
1864 ; must, out with company, July 30, 1865 ;veteran. 
John T. Potts, Ist lieut., must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; pro. from 2a lieut. Nov. 

1, 1802 ; disch. on snrg. certif. July 31, 1803. 
John H. Root, 1st lieut., must, in Sept. 18, 1861; pro. from Ist sergt. 
to 2d lieut. Juno 2, 1862, to 1st lieut. April 23, 1864 ; must, out 
Oct. 8, 1804 ; expiration of term. 
Levi J. Fritz, 1st lieut., must, in Dec. 22, 1863 ; pro. from q. m. sergt. to 2d 
lieut. Oct. 8, 1804 ; to 1st lieut, Oct. 30, 1884 ; disch. by O. 0. May 
15, 1865 ; veteran. 
Tobias B. Schmearer, 2d lieut., must, in Sept 18, 1861 ; pro. from 
Corp. to sergt. ; to 1st serg. Oct. 1, 1804 ; to 2d lieut. Oct. 30, 1864 ; 
must, out with company June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Eli K. Nagle, 1st sergt., must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; pro. to corp. ; to sergt. 
July 1, 1804; to 1st sergt. Nov. 9, 180;J ; must, out with company, 
June 30, 1805 ; veteran. 
Evan Fryer, sergt., must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; pro. to corp. ; to sergt. Nov. 

1, 1804 ; must, out with company, June 30, 1805 ; veteran. 
G«orge W. Ralin, sergt., must, in Sept. 18, 1801 ; pro. to Corp. ; to sergt. 

Nov. 1, 1804 ; must, out with company June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Joseph Spang, sergt., must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; pro. to corp. ; to sergt. 

April 1, 1865 ; must, out with company June 30, 1805 ; veteran. 
Jonas Brickart, sergt,, must, in Sept. 18, 1801 ; pro. to corp. July 1, 1804 ; 
to sergt. May 7, 1805 ; must, out with company June 30, 1805 ; 
veteran. 
William P. Yergey, sergt,, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, 

1864, exp. of term. 
George W. Shingle, sergt, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; pro. from private to 

sergt. ; killed in action March 31, 1865 ; veteran. 
William H. Graham, sergt., must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; pro. from private to 

sergt. ; killed at Cold Harbor June 3, 1804 ; veteran. 
Edward K. Weand, sergt., must, in Sept. 18, 1801; pro. from Corp. to 

sergt. ; captured, date unknown ; died April 31, 1865. 
Joseph Davis, sergt., must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Christian G. Lessig, corp., must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; pro. to corp. Juiy 1, 

1804 ; wounded Nov. 4, 1864 ; absent at muster-out ; veteran. 
David Houck, Corp., must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; pro. to Corp. Oct 1, 1864 ; 

must, out with company June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Benneville Harp, Corp., nuist. in Sept. 18, 1801 ; pro. Corp. Jan. 1, 1805 ; 

must, out with conipany, June 30, 1865 ; vetei-an. 
John H. Fryer, Corp., must, in Sept. 18, ISOl ; killed at Cold Harbor Juno 

3, 1804; buried at National Cemetery, Arlington, Va. ; veteran. 
James McFarland, Corp., must, in .Sept. 18, 1801 ; pro. to corp. ; killed in 

action March 31, 1865 ; veteran. 
Josiah Godshall, Corp., must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; pro. to corp. ; captiu'ed ; 

died while prisoner, date unknown ; veteran. 
Cornelius U.xley, Corp., nuist. in Sept. 18, 1801 ; not on muster-out roll 
George Sheets, corp. , must, in Sept. 18, 1801 ; not on nuister-out roll. 
Fredenck Boyer, Corp., must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Charles W. Gausline, coriJ., must, in Sept. 18, 1801 ; not on muster-out 

roll. 
Jonas W. Burns, nms., must, in Sept 18, 1861 ; pro. from private ; must. 

out with company June 30, 1805 ; veteran. 
Franklin Detwiler, mus., must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; pro. from private ; 

nmst. out with company June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Thomas Donohoe, mus., must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out 

roll. 
John .\yer9, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; must, out with company, June 
30, 1865 ; veteran. 



1864 ; must, out with company 



1864, 



Joseph Ashdale, 
June 3, 1805. 

Peter Arnold, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Wallace Bradford, must, in Feb. 23, 1864 ; wounded April 2, 1865 : 

absent at muster out. 
PhiUp Brown, nmst. in Sept. 3, 1804; substitute; must, out with 

company, June 30, 1866. 
William Bean, must, in Feb. 23, 1804; trans, to Vet. Kes. Corps. ; disch. 

Aug. 7, 1864. 
J. A. Brenneman, must, in Sept. 2, 1804 ; substitute ; wounded ; disch. 

by G. 0. May 31, 1865. 
L. Burkensbrock, must, in Aug. 14, 1803 ; missing in action May 10 
1864; ' 

Justice Backus, must, in Aug. 14, 1803; must, out with company June 

30, 1805. 
James Boyle, must, in Sept. 3, 1863 ; missing in action. May 10, 1864. 
Meredith Bachelder, must, in Aug 10, 1803; must, out with com- 
pany June 30, 1805. 
.\bner Bradbury, must, in Feb. 23, 

June 30, 1865. 

John C. Burdice, must, in Feb. 13, 1864 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
Monroe Burdice, must, in Feb, 13, 1864 ; absent, sick, at muster out, 
Henry F, Butts, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, 1864, 

expiration of term. 
John H. Boyer, must, in Sept. 18, 1801 ; must, out Nov. 7, 

expiration of term. 
.Tames F. Boyer, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, 1864, 

expiration of term. 
William Be<ldoe, must, in Aug. 10, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. 

May 31, 1865. 
Lenaias S. Beeker, must, in Aug. 27, 1804 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. 

May 31, 1865. 
James C. Boston, must, in Sept. 1, ISM ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. 

May 31, 1865. 
Henry Benner, must, in Aug. 24, 1864; substitute; disch. by G. 0. 

May 31, 1805. 
G. W. Bechtel, nmst. in March 1, 1864; died March 28, 1866. 
George W. Beard, must, in Dec. 22, 1863 ; died of wounds received at 

Spottsylvania Court-Houso Jlay 12, 1864 ; veteran. 
Franklin Belle, must, in March 17, 1865; killed in action, Aju-il 

4, 1865. 
Michael Boyer, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster out roll. 
Jacob K, Boyer, must, in Sept. 18, 1801 ; not on muster out roll. 
Owen Boyer, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on m\istor out roll. 
Milton Brant, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; died Dec. 6, 1861 ; buried in 

Military .\sylum Cemetery, Washington, D. C. 
James Brady, must, in .Ian. 19. 1865 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Collins Boyer, must, in June 1, 1804. 
Patrick Collins, must, in Aug. 24, 1863 ; absent, on furlough, at muster 

out. 
J. B. Counterman, must, in Aug. 2.% 1863 ; must, out with company June 

30, 1865. 
Thomaa A. Clark, must, in July 18, 1803 ; wounded May 12, 1864 ; absent 

at muster out. 
McClure Cowen, must, in March 4, 1864 ; wounded June 7, 1864 ; absent 

at muster out. 
William Crane, must, in Sept. 18, 1863 ; prisoner from Oct. 26, 1863, to 

May 6, 1865 ; must, out with company Jnue 30, 1865. 
.Tames Cane, must, in Sept. 3, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. May 31, 

1805. 
George W. Carpenter, must, in Sept. 7, ISIH ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. 

May 31, 1865. 
Thomas E. Clark, must, in Sept. IS, 1801 ; pro. to com. sergt. Dec. 10 

1804 ; veteran. 
Samuel H. Campbell, must, in Sept. IS, 1801 ; killed at Cold Harbor June 

3, 1864 ; veteran. 
George Comfort, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; died Sept. 18, 1862 ; buried in 

Military .\sylum Cemetery, Washington, D. C, 
Elhannan Cook, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
William Carr, must, in Sept. 18, 1801 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Benjamin Day, must, in Feb. 22, 1804 ; must, out with company June 30, 

1805. 
James R. Dye, must, in Aug. 13, 1862; must, out with company June 30, 

1865. 
James Donolled, must, in Aug. 24, 1863 ; absent, wounded, since March 
25, 1865. 



228 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Charles Diigan, must, in July 24, 18C3 ; must. o\it with company June 

30, 18Go. 

John L. DetwiU-r, must, iu Juu. ;J0, isr,4 ; disch. by G. 0. Jlay Iti, 1805. 
James P. Dowd, must, in Aug. 31, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. May 

31, 18(;.5. 
James Bunwutidie, must, in .Sept. 18, IStU ; not on muster-out roll. 
Meyers Dsiiley, must, in .Sept. is, iMfil ; died Stpt. 17, lf<V>2 ; buried in 

Xation:il Cemetfry, Antietiuii, ]!Hd., section liH, lot A, grave 11. 
Abel Detwiler, must, in Sept. 18, 18G1 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Gottlieb Doivgle, must, in Sept. 18, 18G1 ; died Sept. 17, 1802 ; buried in 

National Cemetery, Antietum, Md., section 26, lot A, grave 12. 
Solomon Davis, must, in Jidy 2, 1HC4 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. May 30^ 

1865. 
Thomas Day, must, in Jan. 19, 1805 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Mahlon H. Engle, must, in Jan. 30, 1805 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
Philip Eizel, must, in Aug. 31, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. June 

22, 1865. 
■WilUam H. Eastwood, must, in Aug. 10. 1863 ; disch. by G. 0. June 19, 

1865. 
Ephraim Engle, nnist. in Sept, 18, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, 1804, exp. 

of term. 
George Edwards, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Henry F. Fryer, must, in Jan. 30, 1864 ; died at Philadelphia, Pa., 

July 11, 1865. 
James Foulk, must, in Feb. 2, 1864 ; discli. by G. 0. June 21, 1865. 
Thomas Furest, must, in Sept. 18, 1863 ; absent, wounded, at muster 

out. 
Samuel Fielding, nmst. in Aug. 25, 1804 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 

May 31, 1865. 
Joseph Fansey, must, in Sept. 11, 1804 ; substitute; disch. by G. 0. May 

31. 1865. 

Daniel B. Foreman, must, in Sept. 18, 18C1 ; not on muster-out roll. 
John H. Fryer, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; killed in action June 10, 1864. 
Richard Gabel. must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; must out with company June 

30,1805; veteran. 
Francis S. Garber, must, in Jan. 30, 1864 ; must, out witli company June 

30, 1805. 
Jacob S. Geiger, must, in March 1, 1864 ; disch. byG. 0. June 29, 1865. 
Owen R. A. Gue, must, in June 21, 1864 ; must, out with company June 

30, 1865. 
James Gallagher, must, in Aug. 21, 1804; substitute; must, out with 

company June 30, 1865. 
Frederick Guthrie, must, in Feb. 26, 1864 ; must, out with company June 

30, 1805. 
John Goldsmith, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Richard Gabriel, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on mvister-out roll. 
Eli Graham, must, iu Sept. 18, 1861 ; killed at Fair Oaks, Va., June 1, 

1862 ; buried in National Cemetery, Seven Pines, section B, lot 53. 
Henry A. Holt, must, iu Sept. 18, 1861 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
David G. Hoffman, must, in Sept. 18, 1861; wounded at Spottsylvania 

Couit-IIouse >Iay lo, 1864 ; absent at muster out. 
John S. Heft, must, iu Sept. 18, 1861 ; must, out with company June 30, 

1865 ; veteran. 
John Heninger, must, in Feb. 13, 1864; must, out witli company June 

30, 1805. 
Ferdinand Herman, must, in Aug. 17, 1S64; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. 

May 31, 1805. 
William L. Hobart, must, in March 2, 1865 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0., 

date unknown. 
George 0. Hendricks, must, in Feb. 26, 1864 ; died July 18, 1864, of 

wounds received in action July 17, 1864 ; buried at Portsmouth 

Grove, R. I. 
George W. Holt, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; died Nov. 28, 1864 ; veteran. 
Israel W. Jones, must, iu Sept. 18, 1861 ; must, out with company June 

30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Edward Jolinsun, must, in Aug. 13, 1864 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
■William P. Johnson, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; killed in action Nov. 28, 

1864 ; veteran. 
Charles \V. I. Keyser, must, in Feb. 25, 1864 ; iriust. out with company 

June 30, 1865. 
Jonah Keim, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, lis64, o.\p. 

of term. 
Thomas Kirkendall, must, in Sept. 5, 1864; substitute; disch. by G. 0. 

May 31, 1865. 
Henry Klein, nmst. in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Henry Lindermun, must, in Sept. 5, 1864; absent, on furlough, at muster 

out. 



John Lontzenheiser, must, in Feb. 4, 1864 ; must, out with company June 

30, 1865. 
Sylvester J. LiuTi, must, in Feb. 25, 1804; paroled prisoner; absent at 

muster (mt. 
David J. Logan, must, in March 3, 18G4 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
Wayne Lcightin, must, in Feb. 29, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. June 16, 1865. 
Enos D. Longake, nmst. in Sept. 18, 1801 ; died of wounds received at 

Spottsylvania Court-House May 10, 1864 ; veteran. 
Englebert Lessig, must, iu Sejit. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
William Lessig, nuist. in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
George M''. D. Long, must, in Sept. 18, 1801 ; not on muster-out roll. 
John Moore, must, iu April 8, 1804; wounded at Spottsylvania Court- 

Huuse May 10, 1864 ; absent at muster out. 
William C. Miller, must, in Aug. 10, 1864; substitute; nmst. out with 

company June 30, 1865. 
Thomas Miles, must, in Aug. 26, 1863 ; must, out with company June 30, 

1805. 
Thomas Maier, must, in Aug. 26, 1863 ; wounded at Spottsylvania Court- 
House May 10, 1864 ; disch. July 11, 1805, to date June 30, 1865. 
Henry Miller, must, in Sept. 30, 1863; must, out with company June 30, 

1805. 
Edward Mallon, nmst. in Aug. 24, 1863 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
Brooks Mitiker, must, iu Aug. 24, 1863; wounded at Spott-sylvaniaCourt- 

Huusc May 10, 1864 ; absent at nuisterout. 
JohnSIartin, must, in Aug. 24, 1863 ; wounded Jan. 20, 1865 ; absent at 

muster out. 
Warren Missnner, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, 1864, exp. 

of term. 
Sylvester E. Missimer, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, 1864, 

exp. of term. 
Price Maurice, must, in Aug. 23, 1864 ; substitute ; killed in action Oct. 

28, 1804. 
Hans'r Missimer, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Andrew Missimer, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Cornelius McKain, nmst. out Feb. 23, 1864 ; missing in action June 16, 

1864. 
Patrick McDonahl, must, in Sept. 6, 1864 ; substitute. 

McCallicher, must, iu Sept. 18, 1801 ; not on muster-out roll. 

George Nayler, must, in Sept. 18, 1863; must, out with company June 

30, 1805. 
Jacob Nagle, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
John J. Ott, must, in Sept. 16, 1864 ; sultstitute ; absent^ on furlough, at 

muster out. 
Charles Ogeard, must, in Aug. 13, 1864; must, out with company June 

30, 1805. 

John Ox, must, in Sept. 3, 1804; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. May 31, 

1865. 
Benjamin Peyton, must. inSept. 3, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. May 

31, 1805. 

William Pai-sons, must, in Sept. 5, 1804 ; substitute; disih. by G. 0. May 

31, 1865. 
Thomas Price, must, in Sept. 3, 1804 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. May 

31,1805. 
Francis T. Potts, mu.st. in Sept. 18, 1861 ; must. out. Nov. 7, 1864, exp. of 

term. 
Holman Potts, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
James Quinn, must, iu Sept. 16, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with company 

June 30, 1865. 
David Robinson, must, in Sept, 18, 1801 ; must, out with company June 

30, 1805 ; veteran, 
Jerome W. Ruth, must, in Feb. 10, 1864 ; must, out with company June 

30, 1865. 

Reinhold Rhoads, must, in Jan. 24, 1804; must. out. with company 

June 30, 1865. 
William Riley, must, in Sept. 3, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. May 

31, 1865. 

John H. Ruttor, must, in Feb. 12. 1864 ; must, out with company June 

30, 1865. 
R. R. Reynolds, must, in Feb. 2, 1864 ; must, otit with company June 30, 

1865. 
Andrew J. T. Roberts, must, in .\ug. 21, 1863 ; nmst. out witli company 

June 30, 1865. 
Michael Ryan, must, in S«pt. 18, 1803 ; absent, sick, at nuisterout. 
George Richardson, nmst. in Aug. 13. 1802; must, out with company 

June 30, 1805, 
James Russell, must, in Aug. 24, 1863 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
Jacob G. Rutter, must, in Feb. 25, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0., date unknown 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



229 



Richard D. Hetzer, must, in Aug. 29, 1864 ; aubstituto ; diach. by 6. 0. 

June 7, 18Go. 
Henry G. Ruates, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; prisoner frum June 23, 18G4, to 

April 25, 1865 ; discb. by G. O. May 29, 1865. 
Williiun Khoads, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Samuel II. Rutter, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; pro. to sergt.-maj. Dec. 2-1, 

1863. 
Augustus S. Royer, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
S. B. Reifsnyder, must, in Sept. IS, 1861 ; not on mustisr-out roll. 
Isiuac Spotts, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; must, out with company June 30, 

1865 ; veteran. 
Presley Smith, must, in Jan. 30, 1864 ; must, out with cumptiny June 30, 

1865. 
John D. Sands, nuist. in Feb. 10, 1864; must, out with company June 30> 

1865. 
Thomas Seiple, must, in Aug. 30, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. May 

31, 1865. 
Edward Spangler, must, in Jan. 17, 1863 ; must, out with company June 

:jO, 1865. 
Frederick Sherman, must, in Sept. 18, 1863; absent, sick, at muster 

out. 
Jacob Smith, must, in April 17, 1863 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
George Saulentine, must, in Aug. 17, 1863 ; must, out with company June 

30, 1865. 

Edward Sanbowrn, must, in Aug. 24, 1863 ; must, out with company 

June 30, 1865. 
Elias Swartzlander, mu&t. in Feb. 29, 1864 ; absent, in hospital, at muster 

out. 
Henry Smith, nmst. in Sept. 13, 1863 ; wounded at Spottsylvania Court- 

llouse yiay 12, 1864 ; absent at muster out. 
Peter Seashult/., must, in Sept. 18, 1861; must, out Nov. 1864, exp. of 

term. 
Morgan Snyder, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, 1S(;4, exp. o 

term. 
Augustus G. Straub, must, in Feb. 24, 1864 ; disrh. by special order Nov 

25, 1804. 
Mrthlon V. Smith, must, in Sept, IS, ISiU ; not on muster-out roll. 
"William Smith, must, in Aug. 24, 1803 ; disch. by G. O. :May 31, 1865. 
Samuel Sebohi, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on mustei-out roll. 
Harvey Skeam, must, in Sept. 18, 18(il : not on muster-out roll. 
Hubert Summers, must, iu Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Francis Schick, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on nnister-out roll. 
Andrew Siissaman, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Jacob Shaneloy, nnist. in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Henry Seward, must, in Sept. 2, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. O. May 

31, I860. 

AVilliam J. Thompson, must, in Sept. 5, 18G4 ; substitute; must, out 

with company June 30, 1865. 
Nathan Trine, must, in Feb. 10, 1864 ; prisoner from June 22 to Nov. 

20, 1864 ; disch. by G. O. June 22, 1865. 
Levi Trine, must, in Sept. 17, 1863 ; must, out with company June 30, 

1865. 
Jaeob Taney, must, in Sept. IS, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Elias I'rsner, must, in Aug. 22, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. May 

31, 1865. 
Andrew 'Wandler, must, in March 1, 1864; wounded in action March 

31, 1S65 ; disch. by G. 0. June 14, 1865. 
Frederick Welt'/,, must, in Aug. lit, 1864; substitute; absent, sick, at 

muster out. 
George W. Williams, must, in Feb. 22, 18C4 ; must, out with company 

June 30, lSi;5. 
James Weakley, must, in Feb. 25, 18()4 ; wounded June 16, 1864 ; absent 

at nuister out. 
William Weakley, must, in Feb. 16, 1864; wounded Aug. 14, 1S64 ; 

absent at muster out. 
Charles W. Willard, must, in Aug. 15, 1863; absent, sick, at muster out. 
Edwiird Warley, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; nuist. out Nov. 7, 1864 ; exp. 

of terai. 
Levi Walleigh, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, 1864; exp. of 

term. 
John Wabl, must, in Aug. 24, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. 0. May 31, 

1:S65. 
John Ward, must, in Sept. 6, 1864 ; substitute. 
John S. Weand, nuist. in Sept. 18, 1861 ; pro. to q.m.-sergt. Nov. 1, 1864; 

veteran. 
Abraham Wean, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll, 
David E. Williams, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 



Henry D. Young, must, in Feb. 25, 1864 ; absent, sick, at muster out! 
William F. Yocum, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Lewis Young, must, in Sept. 18, 1861 ; not on muster-out roll. 

COMPANY B. 

Recruited in Chester and Montgomery Counties. 
William S. Potts, capt., must, in Aug. 17, 1861 ; res. April 26, 1862. 
G. C. M. Eicholtz, capt., must, in Aug. 19, 1861 ; pro. from Ist lieut. to 

capt. April 26, 1862 ; res. Sept. 30, 1863. 
Joseph M. Opdyke, capt., must, in Feb. 6, 1862 ; pro. from 2d to 1st lieut. 

April 26, 1862 ; to capt. Oct. 1, 1863 ; disch. Sept. 13, 1864. 
Mahlon S. Ludwig, cai)t., must, in Nov. 7, 1861 ; pro. from q.m.-sergt. to 

2d lieut. March 1, 1863 ; to 1st lieut. March 1, \8U ; to capt. April 

20, 1865 ; absent, without leave, ht muster out. 
EUet L. Brown, lat lieut., must, in Dec. 22, 1863 ; pro. from sergt. to 2d 

lieut. Jan. 1, 1865 ; to 1st lieut. April 20, 1805 ; must, out with com- 
pany June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Thomas A. Roberts, 2d lieut., must, in Sept. 1, 1861 ; res. Feb. 1, 1862 
Lewis R. Bland, 2d lieut., must, in Nov. 7, 1861 ; pro. from com. -sergt. 

April 26, 1862 ; res. Dec. 17, 1862. 
Calvin B. Selheimer, 2d lieut., must, in Dec. 22, 1863; pro. tocorp. May 

1, 1864 ; to sergt. Dec. 18, 1864 ; to 2d lieut. Feb. 13, 1865 ; must. 

out with company June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Henry L. Hoopes, 1st sergt., must, in Oct. 30, 1861; com. 2d lieut. Oct 

1, 1863 ; not mustered ; must, out Nov. 7, 1864 ; exp. of term. 
Bernard Boner, let sergt., must, in Oct. 30, 1861 ; pro. to 1st sergt. May 

1, 1861 ; wounded at Spottsylvania Court-Houee May 12, 1864 ; 

absent at muster out. 
John Chrisman, sergt., must in Dec. 24, 1863 ; captured at Petei-sburg 

June 22, 1864 ; disch. June 21, 1865, to date May 8, 1865; veteran. 
Jaciib N. Engbretli, sergt., must, in Dec. 24, 1863; pro. to corp. Feb. 10, 

1864; to sergt. .\pril 25, 1865; must, out with company June 30, 

1865 ; veteran. 
William W. Millard, sergt., must, in Dec. 24, 1863 ; pro. to corp. Nov. 1, 

1864; to sergt. April 25,1865; must, out with company June 27, 

1865 ; veteran. 
David Bless, sergt., must, in Jan. 4, 1864; pro. from private to sergt. 

April 25, 1865 ; must, out with company June 30, 1865. 
Richard Moyliii, sergt., must, in Oct. 30, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, 1864; 

ex[». of term. 
Jacob Bower, sergt., must, in Dec. 24, 18(>.3 ; captured; died at Rich- 
mond, Va., Nov. 30, 1864 ; veteran. 
Charles Langle, corp., must, in Dec. 24, 1863 ; pro. to Corp. May 1, 1863 i 

wounded at Cold Harbor, Va., June 3, 1864 ; absent at nmster out; 

veteran. 
John Dolby, corp., nmst. in Dec. 25, 1863 ; pro. to corp. March 3, 1864; 

absent, sick, at innster out ; veteran. 
Samuel Lacy, corp., iuut.t. in Dec. 24, 1863 ; pro. to corp. Nov. 1, 1864 ; 

must, out with company June 30, 1865 ; veteiuu. 
James T. Kelley, corp., must, in Dec. 24, 1863 ; pro. to corp. May 1, 

1865 ; must, out with company June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Samuel Hall, corp., must, in Dec. 14, 1863 ; pro. to corp. May 1, 1865; 

must, out with company June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Henry Hahn, corp., must, in Dec. 24, ISKi; pro. to corp. May 1, 1865 ; 

nmst. out with company June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Albert Hoffman, Corp., must, in Dec. 24, 1863; pro. to corp. May 1, 

1865 ; must, out with comi)any June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Samuel W. Kerst, Corp., must, in Oct. 30, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, 1864 ; 

exp. of term. 
Jacob Zerger, Corp., must, in Oct. 30,1861; must, out Nov. 7, 1864; 

exp. of term. 
Curtis M. Supple, corp., must, in Dec. 24, 1803 ; captured ; died at Mil- 

len, Ga., Dec. 8, 1864; veteran. 
George W. Mills, corp., must, in Dec. 24, 1863 ; died June 19, 1864, of 

wounds received at Cold Harbor, Va., June 3, 1864 ; buried at Nat. 

Cem., Arlington, Va. ; veteran. 
Augustus Wert, corp., must, in Dec. 24, 1863 ; died June 11, 1865, of 

wounds received in action March 31, 1S65 ; buried in Nat. Cem., Ar- 
lington, Va. ; veteran. 
Caleb H. Bland, musician, must, in Dec. 24, 1863; must, out with com- 
pany June 30, 1S(>5 ; veteran. 
William O. Beard, musician, must, in Dec. 24, 1863 ; nmst. unt with com- 
pany June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 

Privates. 
aiichael Albright, must, in Jan. 14, 1864 ; nmst. out with company Juno 
30, 1865. 



230 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



John Aiichey, must, in Feb. 12, 1864 ; must, out with company June 30, 

1865. 
William Belts, must, in Sept. 1, 1863 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
Henry A. Bottroff, must, in Feb. 25, 1864 ; DiU8t. out witb company June 

30, 1SI15. 
Josiah Beam, must, in Aug. 20, 1863; drafted; absent, sick, at muster 

out. 
John Baker, must, in Oct. 15, 1802 ; drafted; wounded at Spottsyhania 

Court-IIouse May 12, 1864 ; absent at muster out. 
John Borland, must, in Oct. 31, 1864 ; must, out with company June 30, 

1865. 
Edward Bland, must, in Oct. 30, LSGl ; must, out witb coinpaiiy June 30, 

1865. 
Anthony Briggs, must, in April 15, 1865 ; must, out with company June 

30, 1865. 
Dorance Burdick, must, in April 15, 1865 ; must, out with compjiny 

June 30, 1865. 
Emanuel Bowers, must, in Nov. 12, 1S62 ; drafted; must, out Oct. 12. 

1864 ; exp. of term. 
Jacob Boyer, must, in Feb. 24, 1864; captured ; died at Andersonville 

Nov. 4, 1864. 
A. Bowerman, must, in Feb. 16, 1864; captured ; died at Andersouville 

Sept. 4, 18(>4. 
JohnH. Browne, must, in Nov. 26, 1862. 
William E. Beals, must, in BJarch 31, 1864 ; not on muster-out roll • 

veteran. 
William Brady, must, in March 10, 1864. 
John Baidenstine, must, in March 2, 1864. 
Franklin Co.-i, must, in Feb. 8, 1864 ; wounded March 31, 1865 ; absent 

at muster out. 
William A. Chestnut, must, in Oct. 21, 1864; drafted; disch. by G. 0. 

June 28, 1865. 
John Clapham, must, in Feb. 25, 1864 ; must, otit with company June 

30, 1865. 

Samuel Crissy, must, in Feb. 9, 18ii4 ; drafted ; must, out Oct. 16, 1864 ; 

exp. of term. 
George Cless, must, in Sept. 22, 1864; drafted: disch. l>y 0. 0. May 31, 

1865. 
Harrison Cook, nnist. in Sept. 21, 1S64 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. May 31, 

1865. 
Joseph A. Coons, must, in Sept. 19, 1864 : di-afted ; disch. by G. O. May 

31, 1865. 

John G. Craig, must, in Oct. 30, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, 1865 ; exp. of 

term. 
William Canvell, njust. in Oct. 15, 1863; drafted; captured; died at 

Florence, S. C, Nov. 1, I8i>4. 
Henry Crishard, must, in March 21, 18(;4 ; not on muster-out roll. 
George Dailey, must, in Oct. 3, 1864; drafted ; must, out with company 

June 30, 1865. 
James Deckert, must, in Aug. 28, 1863; drafti'd ; must, out with com- 
pany June 30, 1865. 
John Davis, must, in Oct. 30, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, 1864 ; exp. of 

term. 
Mablon Doan, must, in Oct. 30, 1864 ; substitute; disch. by G 0. June 

16, 1865. 
John Pressler, must, in Feb. 26, 1864 ; killed in action near Petersburg 

June 16, 18(;4. 
Thomas Dunn, nnist. in April 22, 1864 ; not on muster-out roll. 
John Day, must, in April 26, 1864; not on muster-out roll. 
M'illiam Eymer, must, in Aug. 18, 1863; drafteif ; wounded at Spottayl' 

vania Court-House May 12, 1864 . absent at muster out. 
Alfred Eaby, must, in Oct. 20, 1862 ; di-afted ; must, out December^ 

1864 ; exp. of term. 
George Fuster, nuist. in Feb. 1, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. June 20, 1865. 
Peter Fogenroth, must, in Oct. 15, 1862 ; drafted ; wounded at Petersburg 

June 18, 1864 ; disch. Sept. 14, 1861 ; exp. of term. 
William U. Fulton, must, in Feb. 22, 1864 ; absent, wuunded, at muster 

out. 
Michael F. Fryer, luust. in Feb. 1, 1864 ; mui^t. out witb company .Tune 

30, 1865. 
George Fisber, nuist. in Sept. 27, 1864 ; drafted ; discli. by G. 0. May 31, 

186.5. 
John Fogle, must, in Feb. IG, 1864 ; drafted ; died at Alexandria, Va., 

Juno 14, 1864 ; grave 2143. 
Samuel Freed, mtist. in Oct. 15, 1862 ; drafted ; captured ; died at An- 
dersonville, Ga., Nov. 8, 1864; grave 11,016. * 
John FinU-y, must, in Feb. 13, 1864. 



William Fury, must, in April 22, 1864 ; not on muster-out roll. 

Michael Fulton, must, in April 22, 1864 ; not on muster-out roll. 

Aaron Good, must, in Oct. 27, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with company 

June 30, 1S65. 
Austin Grove, must, in Oct 28, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany June 30, 1865. 
Thomas Gates, must, in Feb. 26, 1864 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
William Garberick, must, in Feb. 26, 1864 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
Philip Glesner, must, in Sept. 1, 1863 ; drafted ; must, out with company 

June 30, 1865. 
Moses Gilbert, must, in Feb. 22, 1864 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
Samuel Guistwite, must, in Aug, 9, 1862 ; must, out Nov. 3, 1864, exp. 

of term. 
William U. Henley, mtist. in Oct. 10, 1863 ; drafted ; mustered out with 

company June 30, 1865. 
Heniy Hi-lman, must, in Aug. 2'J, 1863 ; drafted ; absent, sick, at muster 

out. 
Elhannan Hahn, must, in Feb. 6, 1864 ; must, out with company June 

30, IsOo. 
Henry Henry, must, in Oct. 30, 1861; must, out Nov. 7. 1864; exp. of 

term. 
Andrew Hay, must in Nov. 1, 1862; diufted ; must, out Jan. 2, 1865, 

exp. of term. 
John B. Holden, must, in Oct. 21, 1864 ; substitute ; disch. by G. O. June 

16, 1865. 
Elijah B. Heston, nuL-it. in Oct. 3, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. O. June 

16, I860. 
Josiah Howe, nuist. in Aug. 18, 1868 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. June 16, 

1865. 
Tobias P. Hecker, nmst. in Oct. 22, 1863 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0., date 

unknown. 
William H. Hutton, must, in Feb. 4, 1864 ; captured ; dird at Florence, 

S. C, Nov. 15, 1864. 
George Heasteley, must, in Feb. 24, 1S64 ; died at (.'ity Point, Va., June 

18, 1864. 
Daniel Heller, must, in Jan. 14, 1864 ; killed at Spottsylvania Court- 

House May 12, 1864. 
Edward Hall, nmst. in March 23, 1864. 
John Jones, must, in Oct. 30, 1861 ; must, out Nov. 7, 1864, exp. of 

term. 
James Johnson, nmst. in March 8, 1864. 
William Kennedy, must, in Nov. 1, 1864; substitute; must, out with 

company June 30, 1865. 
Abraham Kibler, nuist. in Feb. 25, 1864; drafted; must, out Nov. 27, 

1864, exp. of term. 
George B. Kupp, nuist. in Jan. 14, 1864 ; killed near Petersburg, Va. 

Oct. 28, 1804. 
Daniel Kcslinger, must, in Jan. 1, 1864; killed at Spottsylvania Court 

House May 12, 1864. 
Charles Lackmau, must, in Dec. 24, 1S63 ; must, out with company Jinie 

30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Koscue N. Lee, must, in April 15, 1865 ; must, out with company June 

30, 186.5. 
William H. Leonard, must, in Feb. 26, 1864; discli. by G. 0. June 16, 

1865. 
Francis Little, must, in Feb. 24. 1864 ; disch. on surg. certif. Dec. 7, 

1864. 
Daniel Lob r, must, in Oct. 15, 1862; must, out Nov. 14, 1864, exp. of 

term. 
William F. Loughridge, must, in Oct. 3, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. 0. 

June 12, 1865. 
Peter Lohr, must, in Nov. 1, 1862 . drafted ; died at Johnstuwn, Pa., Oct. 

5, 1864. 
James F. Logue, must, in Sept. 21, 1864 ; drafted ; died near Petei-sburg, 

Va, Jan. 26, 1865. 
William Legau, must, in April 13, 1864. 
Daniel Missinger, must, in Feb. 1, 1864 ; drafted ; absent, sick, at muster 

out. 
Henry C. Miller, must, in April 7, 1864 ; must, uut with companj' June 

30, 1865. 
John Myers, uuist. in Oct. 26, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with company 

June 30, 1865. 
lYancis M. May, uuist. in Sept. 1, 1.S63 ; drafted ; absent, sick, at muster 

out. 
Morris Mock, mu,st. in 5Iarrh 22, 1864 ; nmst. out with company June 

30, 1865. 
Ignatz Sillier, must, in Aug. 10, l8r>3 ; drafted ; absent, sick, at mu.ster out. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



231 



Joseph Mock, must, in March 17, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. June 16, 1865. 
Jl'-iiiy Maims, must, in Aug. 22, 1863; dnifteil ; discb. by G. 0. ; diitc 

unknowu. 
Fn-derick Miller, must, in March 21, 1864. 
Isiiac M. Millard, must, in Feb. 1, 1864 ; captured; dii^d at Salisbury, \. 

C.Nov. 21, 1864. 
Augustus McCormiek, must, in Feb. 1, 18ii4 ; drafttd ; absent, sick, at 

muster out. 
James F. McMurray, must, in Aug. 22, 1863; drafted ; absent, sick, at 

muster out. 
\\'iisIiington McGowan, must, in Oct. 15, 1S62 drafted ; disch. on surg. 

certif. Dec. 2, 1864. 
John JlcCombs, must, in Feb. 1, 1864; disch. by ii. O. June 12, 1865. 
Isaac Niiniller, must, in Oct. 15, 1862 ; drafted ; must, out Nov. 14,1864, 

exp. of term. 
Isaac N. Nillard, must, in Feb. 1, 1864 ; captured ; died at Salisbury, N. 

C, Nov. 31, 1864. 
George Paigt, must, iu Oct. 20, 1864; substitute; must, out with com- 
pany June 30, 1865. 
Armstrong Pross, must, in May 3, 1864; drafted; must, out with com- 
pany June 30, 1805. 
William Petterman, must, in Aug. 28, 1863; drafted; absent, wounded, 

at uuister out. 
John Parks, muat. in Aug. 28, 1863 ; drafted ; captured Oct. 27, 1864 ; 

absent at muster out. 
Amoa Parker, must, in Oct. 1, 1864 ; drafted ; disch. by G. O. May 31, 

1865. 
John Petenuan, nmst. in Aug. 28, 1862 ; substitute ; disch. by G. O., date 

unknown. 
Nathan Keeder, must, in Oct. 2, 1864 ; substitute ; must, out with com- 
pany June 3(1, 1865. 
John Ueiley, must, in Oct. 22, 1864; substitute; absent, wounded, at 

musti-r cut, 
Joseph Rutan, must, in Nov. 1, 1864; substitute; must, out with com- 
pany June 30, 1865. 
William Raymond, must, in Oct. 1, 1864; drafted ; disch. by G. O. .\ug. 

7, 1865. 
John II. Randall, nuist. in Oct. 14, 1863 ; drafted ; nmst. out with com- 
pany June 30, 1865. 
John Roof, must, in Aug. 28, 1863 ; drafted ; must, out with company 

June 30, 1865. 
Samuel J. Riiger, must, in Feb. 25, 1864 ; captured Oct. 27, lJ<64 ; absent 

at muster out. 
John P. Reeder, must, in Feb. 10, 1864 ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
Henry Ridebaugb, must, in Sept. 21, 1864; di-afted ; disch. by G. 0. May 

31, 1865. 
Jeremiah Reese, must, in Sept. 19, 1864; substitute; disch. by G. 0. 

May 31, 1865. 
George Reese, must, in Sept. 19, 1864; substitute ; disch. by G. O. Slay, 

31, 1865. 
Kdward Rogers, must, in March 23, 1864. 
William Roache, must, in March 23, 1864. 
Gfor^e Rnpp, nmst. in Jan. 5, 1864; not on muster-out roll. 
David Stonebaugh, must, in Aug. 27, 1863 ; drafted ; must, out with 

company June 30, 1865. 
Josiah Sixeas, must, in Aug. 27, 1863 ; drafted ; wounded at Cold 

Harbor, Va., June 3, 1864 ; absent at muster out. 
James Starliper, must, in Aug. 29, 1863 ; drafted ; must, out with com. 

pany June 30, 1865. 
James C. Sellere, must, in Feb. 25, 1864 ; must, out w ith company Jum- 

30, 1865. 
George Sigfried, nmst. in Oct. 30, 1S61 ; must, out with company June 30 

1865. 
Joseph Sh^ppard, must, in Oct. 20, 1864; substitute: must, out willi 

company June 30, 1865. 
Daniel Sowers, must, in Oct. 3, 1864 ; drafted ; discli. by G. O. June 24, 

1865. 
Patrick Scott, must, in Oct. 21, 1864 ; substitute ; wounded and captured 

near Petei-sburg. Va., March 31, 1865 ; disch. by G. 0. July 1, 1865. 
Israel Smith, must, in Oct. 3, 1864 ; drafted ; absent, sick, at muster out. 
Jacob Smeigli, must, in March 17, 1864 ; disch, by G. O. June 16, 1865. 
John H. Sterner, must, in Nov. 6, 1862; drafted; must, out Nov. 14^ 

1864, exp. of term. 
Jacob Shager, nmst. in March 17, 1864; disch. on surg. certif. Mai"ch 29, 

18(i5. 
George Sarver, must, in Nov, 1. 1862; di'afted ; disch. Jan. 2, 1865, 

exp. of tt-rm. 



Joseph Snowden, must, in Sept, 21, 1864; di-afted ; disch. on G. 0. May 

24, 18G5. 
James Strunk, must, in Sept. 27, 18f;4 ; drafted ; disch. on surg. certif. 

June 8, 1865. 
Solomon Sturtz, must, in Sept. 21, 1864; drafted; disch. by G. 0. May 

31, 1805. 
William V. Starliper, muat. in Aug. 28, 1863; drafted; disch. by G. 0., 

date unknown. 
Andrew Swinehart, must, in Oct. 15, 1862; drafted ; died May 17, 1864, 

of wounds received in action. 
John W. Sonnett, nmst. in Oct. 30, 1861 ; captured; died at Salisbury^ 

N. C, Dec. 8, 18G4, of wounds received at Spottsylvania Court-House 

May 12, 1864. 
James Swan, must, in March 25, 1864 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Isaac Turney, inuet. in Aug. 31, 1863 ; drafted; must, out with company 

June 30, 1865. 
Jesse Tyson, must, in April 6, 1804 ; drafted ; captured ; died at Salis- 
bury, N. C, Nov. 4, 1864. 
Joseph S. Wickline, must, in Feb. 6, 1864 ; uuist. out with company June 

30, 1865. 
William Wolf, must, in Aug. 29, 1863; drafted: must, out with com- 
pany June3 0, 1865. 
Boyer A. Whipple, must, in .\ug. 20, 1863 ; dratted ; must, out with 

company June 30, 1865. 
Isaac C. Wilcox, must, in Aug. 20, 1863 ; drafted ; absent, sick, at muster 

out. 
Jacob J. AVebb, must, in Aug. 20, 1803 ; drafted ; wounded at Spottsyl- 

vania Court-House May 12, 1864 ; absent at muster out. 
Philip Wiler, nmst. in .\ug.20, 1863 ; dratted ; wounded atSpottsylvania 

Court-House May 10, 1864 ; absent at muster out. 
George W'asson, must, in Feb. 25, 1864 ; must, out with company June 

30, 1865. 
John M'aiTen, must, in Oct, 22, 1864 ; substitute ; disch, Viy G. O. June 

7, 1865. 
William Williams, must, in Nov. 1, 1864; substitute; disch. by G. O. 

June 16, 1865. 
Amos Walters, must, in April 6, 1864 ; drafted ; captured ; died at Salis- 
bury, N. C, Nov. 4, 1864. 
Henry H. Yarnell, must, in Feb. 25, 1864 ; nmst. out witli company June 

30, 1865. 
John Y. Young, nmst, in Feb, 25, 1804; must, out with company June 

30, 1865. 
Henry Yeagle, must, in Nov. 1, 1862; drafted; died a! Washington, 

D. C, Aug. 16, 1864. 
Andrew Zerby, must. Oct. 10, 1863; drafted; must, out with company 

June 30, 1865. 
John Ziegler, must, in 3Iarch 16, 1864 ; captured June 22, 1864 ; absent 

at nmstor out. 

Sixty-eighth Res^iment. — The Sixty-eighth Regi- 
ment wa.s rt'cruited in the city of Phihidelphia and 
in the adjacent counties of Montgomery and Chester 
during the summer of 18()2, the first company being 
mustered in on the 4th of August, and the regiment 
completely organized and in the service by the 1st of 
September. The camp of rendezvous was established 
at Frankford, a suburb of Philadelphia. The fol- 
lowing were its field officers : Andrew H. Tippin, of 
Philadelphia, colonel; A. H. lieynolds, of Philadel- 
phia, lieuteuant-colonel; Thomas Hawksworth, of 
Philadelphia, major. Colonel Tippin had seen ser- 
vice in Mexico as lieutenant in the Eleventh United 
States Infantry, where he was twice breveted for 
gallant conduct in the battles of Contreras, Cheru- 
busco, and Molino del Rey, and liad served as major 
in the Twentieth Regiment for three months' service. 
Captain AVinslow, subsequently lieutenant-colonel, 
and others, both officers and men, were in service in 
Mexico and in the three mouths' regiments. 

The defeat of our arms in Pope's campaign of 
Northern Virginia, concluding with Chantilly, 



232 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



caused the national authorities to summon, peremp- 
torily, troops which had been mustered, and the 
Sixty-eighth Wiis ordered to move at once. Though 
above the minimum, its ranks were not up to the 
maximum standard, and the men were only partially 
uniformed and equipped. But resjjonding promptly 
to the order, it broke camp on the evening of Septem- 
ber 1st and proceeded to Washington. The army 
was just then falling back to the heights around the 
capital. The regiment was immediately ordered 
across the Potomac, and went into camp at Arlington 
Heights. Here it was armed, and furnished with a 
complete outfit for an active campaign. It was as- 
signed to Roliinson's Brigade of Stonemau's Division. 

Soon after the battle of Antietam the regiment 
moved from camp, and jjassing through Georgetcjwn, 
proceeded to Poolsville, arriving on the 10th of Oc- 
tober, the day on which the rebel Generals Stuart 
and Hampton, witli a force of cavalry, made their 
famous raid on Chambersburg, and a comjilete circuit 
of the Union army. Intelligence soon spread of the 
daring ride, and the regiment was marched rapidly 
to Conrad's Ferry, in expectation that the bold 
raiders would attempt to cross the Potomac, on their 
return into Virginia, at this point. But they made 
for a ford consideral)ly lower down the stream, and 
passed over without opposition. After remaining 
several days in the vicinity of the ferry, it rejoined 
the brigade and proceeded southward with the rest 
of the army. While on the march the rebel cavalry 
under White suddenly dashed in upon the train 
moving with the brigade, and captured wagons be- 
longing to the Sixty-eighth, containing officers' bag- 
gage, books, papers and camp and garrison equipage, 
overpowering and making prisoners of the feeble 
guard which had it in charge. About forty of the 
Sixty-eighth were taken, who were sent to Richmond 
and kept in confinement several months. 

In the reorganization of the army, which was 
made U|)on the assumption of chief command by 
General Burnside, the regiment was assigned to the 
First Brigade' (General Robinson), First Division 
(General Birney), Third Corps (General Sickles). It 
was determined to offer battle at Fredericksburg. In 
the plan of ojierations it was arranged that Franklin, 
witli the left grand division, supported by a part of 
Hooker's, should cross below the town and attack 
ujjon the left, while Sumner, remaining in front sup- 
ported by the balance of Hooker's corps, should, at 
the opportune moment, cross and give battle upon 
the right. Accordingly, on the morning of the 13th 



1 Organization of Firat Brigade {Brigudier-General Robinson), First 
Division ( Brigadior-CJeneral David B. Birney}, Third Corps (Slajor- 
General StuniMiian). — Twentieth Itegiinent Indiana Vuhinteej^, Colonel 
John Van Valkenburg ; .Sixty-tliird Kegilnent Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers, Colonel John A, Banks ; Sixty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania 
Volunteei-s, Colonel Anilrew II. Tippin ; One Hundred and Fourteenth 
Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel Charles H. T. Collis;One 
Hundred and Forty-first Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, ColoniBl 
Henry J. Madill. 



of December, Franklin having forced a passage, at- 
tacked with the Pennsylvania Reserves, supported 
by Gibbon and Doubleday, and finding his attacking 
column too weak, at the last moment ordered forward 
Birney's Division. The Sixty-eighth had been en- 
camped near Falmouth, but on the 12th broke camp 
and moved down to the heights overlooking the field 
where Franklin's grand division, on the opposite 
side of the river, had taken position, and remained 
there until the 13th. It was not until afternoon, and 
until the battle was in progress on the left, that the 
order to cross was given. When it finally came, the 
division moved at double-quick, crossed the bridge, 
and moved up under a heavy artillery fire, reaching 
tlie field just as the Reserves, under Meade, were 
forced l)ack from the heights, followed closely by the 
triumphant foe. The Sixty-eighth was ordered to 
support Randolph's First Rhode Island Battery, 
which at this critical juncture was being rapidly 
served and doing fearful execution. The regiment 
remained in this position, exposed to the enemy's an- 
swering fire, and defending the guns from infantry 
attack, until the heat of the engagement was past. 
As soon as the cannonading ceased it was ordered 
into position in the first line with the brigade, close 
to the enemy's front. For two days it remained in 
this position, but beyond occasional picket firing was 
not further engaged. On the night of the 15th the 
l)rigade was relieved by the Second Brigade, which 
had been in the rear, and under cover of darkness re- 
crossed the river. The loss was about forty killed 
and wounded. Major Hawksworth was mortally 
wounded and Lieutenant Joseph E. Davis among 
the killed. 

In the movement upon Chancellorsville the Third 
Corps was at first marched down the Rappahannock to 
the point where Franklin had crossed in the Freder- 
icksburg campaign, to make a demonstration as if to 
cross and offer battle at that point, while Hooker, with 
the main body of his army, crossed and effected a 
permanent lodgment some miles above. When this 
had been accomplished, General Sickles, who had 
succeeded to the command of the Third Corps, 
marched hastily away to rejoin the army concentrating 
at Chancellorsville. " We crossed the Rappahan- 
nock," says Colonel Tippin in his official report, "on 
the 1st of May, having left camp on the 28th of April, 
passing the intermediate time in the operations below 
Fredericksburg. On the evening of the 1st we were 
drawn up in column, with the brigade supporting a 
battery which had opened upon the enemy, that was 
soon replied to spiritedly with shells, one of our 
pioneers being wounded. Here we remained during 
the night. The next day we were moved into various 
posititins, covering the line of skirmishers, in the 
operations against the enemy on the left. At evening 
we retired and remained in position with the brigade. 
Before the men were fully prepared the next morning 
the enemv made a vigorous attack on our left and 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



233 



front, and the position of my regiment was changed 
to the extreme right, so as to more fully cover the 
battery we were supporting, now firing rapidly. The 
onset, however, was so rapid and determined, and the 
front lines having broken and fallen liack in some 
confusion, the regiment was forced to retire with the 
brigade. After retiring, the brigade was reformed, 
and with it we quickly moved again to the front in 
columns doubled on the centre. Deploying at the 
edge of the woods at the right of our first position, 
which the enemy now held, we entered and soon en- 
gaged him in his rifle-pits, which were cliarged and 
taken after a sharp and severe contest. My regiment 
acted with the brigade in this successful onset, captur- 
ing some thirty-five ofiicers and men of the Tenth 
Virginia Regiment, its colors and color-guard. Being 
nearly out of ammunition, unsupported, and the 
enemy strongly pressing us on the right flank, we 
retired with the brigade, closely jnirsued by the 
enemy, back to our last position." "At daylight on 
Sunday," says General Birney, " the Thinl Corps, 
with my division bringing up the rear, commenced 
the movement ordered by Major-General Hooker, to 
take position on the heights in rear of the right of 
the Twelfth Corps, and to make dispositions to hold 
the plank-road. In making the movement my rear 
was subjected to a severe musketry fire, but the troops 
Ijehaved admirably and withdrew by successive forma- 
tions. I at once relieved, by Graham's brigade the bri- 
gade of the Twelfth Corps next to the plank-road, sent 
Ward's brigade to sup|iort Berry's division on the right 
of the plauk-road and held Hayman's brigade as a re- 
serve. The artillery of the cor|)s was admirably ])iaccd, 
and I have never seen such terrible execution as it ef- 
fected upon the hostile masses. The attack upon us was 
furious and in masses, but the Third Corps held its 
]iosition until eleven o'clock A.M., when we were 
ordered to retire and take position in a second line of 
battle formed like a flattened cone, with flanks resting 
on the river. The position of my division in the new 
formation was at the apex. My division, as well as 
the corps, had suflfered most severely, some four thou- 
sand eight hundred killed and wounded. Among the 
killed were Major-Generals Berry and Whipple and 
among the wounded Brigadier-General Mott." The 
loss in the regiment was very severe. Captains James 
Shields and John D. Paulding were mortally wouniled- 
At the opening of the battle of Gettysburg, on the 
1st of July, the Third Corps was at Emmettsburg. 
Moving rapidly forward and quickening his steps as 
the sound of the terrible conflict became more dis- 
tinct, Sickles reached the field at evening, after the 
fighting of the day was over and the iliscomfited 
trooi)S of the First and Eleventh Corps were coining 
into position to the south of the town. As the column 
reached the field it went into position along a slight 
ridge extending diagonally across the open plain 
between the Seminary and Cemetery Ridges, connect- 
ing with Hancock on its right, with its left refused at 



the Peach Orchard, and stretching obliquely back 
through a wood to a rocky ravine in front of Round 
Top. The position of the brigade, now commanded 
by General Graham, fell upon that part of the line 
where, deflecting from the Emmettsburg pike, it 
stretches away to Round Toj). The angle formed by 
this departure wns at the point where the road lead- 
ing from Little Round Top crosses the pike; and in 
this angle, near the house of John Wentz, in one of 
the most exposed parts of the field, the Sixty-eighth 
was posted. Open to a fire on front and flank, stand- 
ing upon the most elevated part of the field, but not 
sufficiently so to be of any advantage in defense, it 
was a conspicuous mark for artillery for a long range 
around, and open to the charge of infantry. The 
enemy commenced skirmishing with the Sixty-third 
Pennsylvania, which had been deployed in front, at 
nine o'clock on the morning of the 2d, and the fire 
gradually increased in severity until the battle opened 
in earnest. Longstreet, who held the rebel right, 
opened with artillery at four o'clock in the afternoon, 
and followed up with infantry, putting in brigade after 
brigade, en echelon, commencing on his extreme right. 
It was some time before the infantry attack reached 
the Peach Orchard, where the regiment stood, but the 
artillery fire bearing ui)on it was terrific, carrying 
away men at every discharge. As this was regarded 
the key to the whole position, it was necessary to 
hold it at all hazards, and the only alternative was 
to stand and be shot down without the opportunity to 
reply. In the midst of the fight General Graham 
was wounded and borne from the field, and the com- 
mand of the brigade devolved upon Colonel Tippin. 
" It was," says the latter, " a terrible afternoon, and 
all were anxious for the Fifth Corps to come up, as 
we were being decimated by their artillery. 
In that orchard the lieutenant-colonel and major were 
wounded and ten other officers killed or wounded, 
leaving with me but four to bring the regiment out of 
the fight, having had in all but seventeen present for 
duty. Just at sunset the rebel infantry charged upon 
the position with great impetuosity, and the brigade, 
greatly weakened by its losses and exhausted by fre- 
quent manceuvrings, outflanked and vastly outnum- 
bered, was forced to yield, but not in disorder, retiring 
slowly and contesting the ground inch by inch." At 
this critical juncture portions of the Fifth Corps 
came to the relief of Sickles, a new line was estab- 
lished and the disaster partially repaired. Near the 
close of the action General Graham returned upon the 
field and attempted to resume command ; but, weak 
from loss of blood and unable to endure the trials ot 
that desperately-contested field, unfortunately fell 
into the hands of the enemy. On the third day the 
regiment was held in reserve on the left centre of the 
new line, on the lowest part of the entire field, and 
was not engaged, though exposed to the terrible fire 
of artillery and losing some men. Colonel Tippin 
had his horse killed under him on this dav. The loss 



234 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY^ 



was about sixty per cent, of the entire number en- 
gaged. Captain George W. McLearn and Lieutenants 
Andrew Black and John Reynolds were among the 
killed, and Louis W. Ealer mortally wounded. 

After the return of the army into Virginia, the 
regiment participated with it in the fall campaign, 
and was engaged at Wap|)ing Heights on the 23d oi 
August, and at Auburn on the 14th of October. In 
the sharp turn taken by Meade on the latter date to 
get back to C'entreville, Colonel Tii^pin was taken 
prisoner and was confined in Libby Prison, where he 
remained for nearly nine months. 

In the subsequent advance of the army the regi- 
ment, now under command of Lieutenant-Colonel 
Winslow, was engaged at Kelly's Ford on the 7th of 
November, at Locust Grove on the 27th, sutfering 
severely, Captain Milton S. Davis being among the 
killed, and at Mine Run on the 28th. In tliis entire 
campaign the regiment was given little rest, being 
almost constantly on the move and sutl'ering consider- 
able lo.ss by sickness and battle. 

The regiment went into winter-quarters at Braudy 
Station, and early in January, 1864, a sufficient num- 
ber of the regiment re-enlisted to entitle it to con- 
tinuance as an organization and the veterans to the 
usual furlough. Not longafterwards the Third Corps 
was bnjken up, and the Sixty-eighth, with a consider- 
able portion of it, was consolidated with the Second 
Corps, General Hancock. With the return of tlic 
veterans and the addition of a number of recruits, 
the regiment assumed proportions something like the 
original. On the ISth of April, 1864, the regiment, 
under command of Lieutenant Colonel Winslow, 
Colonel Tippin being still in confinement, was ordered 
to the headquarters of General Meade, where it was 
l)laced under the immediate command of Brigadier 
General Patrick, provost marshal general of the 
army, and employed in guard duty. In this position 
it remained until the close of the war. The duty was 
onerous and severe. With other regiments in the 
same service, it was subject' to active duty when em- 
ergencies required, and, in several instances, at the 
critical moment of the battle, when the scale was so 
evenly poised as to be doubtful which way it would 
turn, the reserve was sent to the support of the 
wavering line and made victory secure. AV'hen in- 
fantry was required for duty with the cavalry, in toil- 
some and fatiguing raids, the reserve was ordered, or 
when regiments were taken from the intrenchments, 
these regiments were obliged to take their places in 
the works. While in front of Petersburg, half of the 
Sixty-eighth was on duty at General Meade's head- 
quarters and the balance at City Point. On the 25th 
of June, Colonel Tipiiin was exchanged and resumed 
command of his regiment. 

In the last charge made upon the enemy's lines at 
Petersburg, before the final move, the regiment, 
though employed in provost duty, was of tlie storin- 
ing-party. In the sharp conflict which ensued Major 



John C. Gallagher was mortally wounded and a 
number of officers and men were lost. 

After the capture of Lieutenant-General Ewell and 
his forces at Sailor's Creek, this regiment, in conjunc- 
tion with others then constituting the headquarters' 
brigade, was detailed to guard the prisoners, and pro- 
ceed with them to City Point.' The brigade was 
under the command of Colonel Tippin, and the 
order was faithfully executed without the loss of a 
man. 

This duty done, the regiment returned to the head- 
quarters of the army, having in charge about six 
thousand recruits that had accumulated at City Point. 
It had been but a short time with the moving column 
when General Meade ordered it to jiroceed, in com- 
pany with the One Hundred and Forty-third Penn- 
sylvania, to Hart's Island, near the citv of New York, 
to have charge of rebel prisoners confined there. 
Here it renudned until the 9th of .Tune, when it was 
mustered out of service. 

FIELD AND STAFF OFFICERS. 
.\ii(li(;w II. Tipijin, col., must, in Sept. 1, 180-2; prieoner from Oct. 14, 

ISliS, to .lunc 25, 1KG4 ; must, out with regiment June 9, 1865. 
Anthony II. Reynolds, lieut.-col., must, in Sept. I, I8G2; disch. Oct. 14, 

1803, for wounds received at Gettysburg, Pa., .luly 2, 1803. 
Kobert E. Winslow, lieut.-col., must, in Aug. 4, 1802 ; pro. from capt. 

Co. C to maj. Jan. 10, IStVl ; wounded at Gettysburg, Pa., July 

2, 1863 ; pro. to lieut.-col. Nov. 12, 1803 ; to brevet col. and 

brevet hrig.-gen. March 13, 1805 ; must, out with regiment June 9, 

18C,5. 
Thomas Hawksworth, ma.i., must, in Sept. 1, 1802 ; died Jan. 7, 1863, 

of wounds received at Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13, 1862, 
John H. Magee, adjt., must, in Sept. 1, 1802 ; disch. on snrg. certif. 

Nov. 20, 1802. 
George G. Murgatroyd, a<t.it., must, in -\ug. 16, 1862 ; pro. to capt. Co. 

A Sept. 1, 1863. 
Franklin Glenroy, adjt., must, in Aug. 18, 1802; pro. from 1st liciit. 

Co. A Sept. 16, 1861 ; must, out with regiment June 9, I860. 
Charles \. Jones, q.m., must, in Sept. 1, 1802 ; res. Nov. 11. 1862. 
George R. Clarke, q.m., must, in Aug. 25, 1802; pro. from 2d lieut. Co. 

H Oct. 1, 1S02 ; disch. on Burg. certif. Jan. 27, 1863. 
Leml. P. Mountain, q.m., must, in Aug. 4, 1802 ; pro. from 1st lieut, 

Co. C July 1, 18(i3 ; nnist. out with regiment June 9, 1865. 
Ambrose J. Herr, surg., must, in Sept. 22, 1802 ; must, out with regiment 

June 9, 1865. 
John C. Wilson, assist, surg., nuist. in .\ug. 4, 1802 ; res. Oct. 22, 1864. 
Thomas M. Cursen, assidt. surg., must, in Sept. 13, 1862 ;■ res. Dec. 27, 

1802. 
John F. Mcllvain, assist, surg., must, in March 17, 1863 ; res. Sept. 4, 

1803. 
Jameti Shaw, assist, surg., must, in Nov. 18, 1864 ; must, out with regi- 
ment June 9, 1865. 
William Fulton, chaplain, must, in Sept. 1, 1862 ; res. Nov. 39, 1862. 
Henry >Iohn, sergt.-nuy., must, in .\ug. 23, 1862 ; pro. from 1st sergt. 

Co. D July S, 1804 ; disch. by G. O. June 0, 1865. 
Lewis W. Ealer, sergt.-nuy., must, in Aug. 23, 1862 ; pro. to 2d lieut. 

Co. r Dec. 19, 1862. 

i"The brigade," says Colonel Tippin, "waa vinder my command. 
Among the prisoners were Lieutenant General Ewell, Major-Genemle 
CuBtis Lee, Kei-shaw and other prominent generals of the rebel army, 
together with about bLx hundred otticers of lesser grade. At a point on 
the route where we all rested for a short time, I received a dispatch that 
General Lee had surrendered. I comnmnicated the intelligence to Gen- 
erals Ewell and Custis Lee, but both doubted its truthfulness. They 
could not think it possible. In a very short time, and before leaving our 
resting-place, tieneral Henham came up with his engineer brigade, and 
gave the terms of the surrender. Young General Lee dropjted his head 
on his breast, and (>eneral Ewell threw up his arms, exclaiming, 'The 
.jig is up."' 



THE GEEAT REBELLION. 



235 



Franklin Glenroy, sergt.-maj., must, in Aug. 18, 1802 ; pro. to Ist lieut. 

Co. A March 1, 1863. 
John Reynolds, sergt.-;iiaj., must, in Sept. 1, 1862 ; pro. from sergt. Co. 

E to sergt. -maj. Feb. 17, 18G3 ; com. 2d lieut. Co. E Nov. 25, 1863 ; 

not must. ; killed at Gettyeburg, Pa., July 2, 18G4. 
Paul F. Whitehead, sergt. -maj., must, in Sept. 2, 1862 ; pro. to sergt-maj. 

July 1, 1803 ; to 1st lieut. Co. I July 11, 1863. 
William H. Whyte, sergt. -niaj., must, in Aug. 23, 1862 ; pro. to sergt.- 

maj. Aug. 1, 1863 ; to Ist lieut. Co. D Dee. 4, 1863. 
Jonathan M. Hart, sergt. -maj., must, in Aug. '26, 1862 : pro. to sergt. - 

maj. Aug. 16, 1803 ; to let lieut. Co. G July 0, 180.^^. 
John C. Missimer, q.ia. -sergt., must, in Aug. 2j, 1862 ; pro. from corp. 

Co. II Aug. 1, 18l>3 ; must, out with regiment June 0, 186o. 
John S. Surver, q.m. -sergt., must, in Aug. 18, 1862; pro. to 1st lieut. 

Co. A March 10, 1865. 
John H. Slalsborger, com. sergt., must, in Aug. 25. 1862 ; pro. from sergt. 

Co. 11 Sept. 1, 180-t; must, out with regiment June 0, 1805. 
Davis H. Slisainier, com. sergt., must, in .\ug. 25, 1802 ; trans, to Cu. H 

Aug. 22, 1804. 
Samuel T. Schofield, com. sergt., must, in .\ug. 18, 1802 ; trans, to Co. A 

Oct. G, 1802. 
John H. Stiles, com. sergt., must, in Aug. 4, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. 

Feb. 28.1803. 
James Tait. hosi^ stt-wanl, nuist. in Aug. 2-3, l8i'.2 ; must, out with regi- 
ment June 9, 1805. 
John Green, prin. musician, nmst. in Aug. 25, 1802 ; pi-o. to prin. musician 

March 18, 1864 ; absent, on detached duty, at muster out. 
John F. Miller, prin. musician, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; pro. from mui^ician 

Co. H Aug. 25, 1803 ; disch. by G. 0. May 22, 1865. 

COMPANY H. 

Kecruited in Jlontgumery County. 

William Auchenbach, capt., must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; disch. June 1, 1863. 

Benjamin M. Guest, capt., must, in Aug. 25, 1802; pro. from 1st sergt. 

to 2d lit'Ut. Dec. 2, 1862 ; to 1st lieut. Aug. 20, 1863; to cupt. Dec. 25, 

1803 ; must, out with company June 9, 18S5. 
Hiram C. Fegcr, 1st lieut., must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; disch. on surg. ceitif. 

Feb. 14, 1803. 
David Albiight, 1st lieut., must, in Aug. 25, 1802 ; pro. to 1st .sergt. Doc. 

2, 1862 ; to 1st lieut. Dec. 25, 1802 ; must, out with company June 0, 

1865. 
George R. Clark, 2d lieut., nmst. in Aug. 25, 1862 ; pro. to Ist lieut. and 

q.m. Oct. 1, 1802. 
Samuel D. Neiman, 1st sergt., must, in Aug. 25, 1802 ; pro. to corp. Sept. 

16, 1802; to sergt. Jan. 1, 1S03 ; to 1st sergt. July 1, 1863; com. 2d 

lieut. June 1, 1805 ; not nmst.; nmst. out with company June 'J, 1865 
David Q. Geiger, sergt., must, in Aug. 25, 1802 ; wounded at Gettysburg' 

Pa., July 2, 1803; tiiins. to Vet. Res. Corps; date unknown ; disch. 

by G. O. June 30, 1865. 
James M. Engle, sergt., must, iu Aug. 25, 1802 ; nmst. out with company 

June 0, 1865. 
Richard W. Missimcr, sergt., nmst. in Aug. 25, 1862; pro. to sergt. July 

1, 1803 ; nmst. out with com])any June 0, 1865. 
George Hanes, sergt., must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; pro. from corp. to sergt. 

Dec. 1, 1804 ; must, out with company June 0, 1865. 
George L. Keifsnider, sergt., must, in Aug. 25, 1802; disch. on surg, 

certif. Dec. 25, 1862. 
J. H. Malhberger, sergt., must, in Aug. 25, 1802 ; pro. to com. sergt. 

Sept. 1, 1864. 
William II. Large, corp., must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; must, out with com- 
pany June 9, 1865. 
Charles Childs, corp., must, in Aug. 25, 1802; must, out with company 

Juno 9, 1865. 
Harrison F. Ludwig, corp., must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; pro. to corp. Dec. 1, 

1802 ; nuist. out with company June 9. 1805. 
Peter G. Skean, corp., must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; i>to. to corp. Jan. 1, 1863 ; 

absent, sick, at muster out. 
Daniel M. Engle, corp., must, in Aug. 25, 1802 ; pro. to corji. Aug. 15, 

1803 ; must, out with company June 9, 1805. 
Jacob G. Focht, coi-p., must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; pro. to corp. Dec. 1, 1804 ; 

must, out with company June 9, 1805. 
■William Brooke, corp., must, in Aug. 25, 1862; disch. Aug. 13, 1863, for 

wounds received at Chancellorsville, Va., May 3, 1863. 
John C. Missimer, corp., must, in Aug. 25, 1862; pro. to q.m. -sergt. 

Aug. 1, 1863. 
James G. Miller, curp., must, in Aug. 25, 1862; disch. on surg. certif. 

Feb. 8, 1865. 



Jacob B. Herbst, coip., must, in Aug. 25, 1862; died Sept. 15, 1863, of 
wounds received at Gettysburg July 2, 1863 ; buried at Phi hide I phi a. 

Lewis D. Buckley, musician, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; must, out with 
company June 9, 1805. 

John F. Miller, musician, must, in Aug. 25, 1802; pro. to principal 
musician Aug. 25, 1803. 

Privates. 

Daniel Auchenbach, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 9, 1805. 
Solomon AchufF, must, in Aug. 25, 1802 ; must, out with company .June 

9, 1866. 
Abner Auman, must, in .\ug. 25, 1862 ; absent, sick in hosp., at muster 

out. 
Henry Auchey, must, in Aug. 25,1862; disch. on surg. certif. Jan. 2 

1863. 
John B. Boyer, must, in ,\ug. 25, 1862 ; must, out with company June 9, 

ISOk). 
Samuel Baker, must, in .\ug. 25, 1862 ; must, out with comjiany June 9, 

1805. 
Zacharius Bowman, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 9, 1805. 
Peter Bowlig, must, in Aug. 25, 1862; nmst. out with cumpany June 9, 

1805. 
Thomas Boyd, must, in Aug. 2r>, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. Dec. 25, 

1S02. 
William P. Bach, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; disch. May 3, 1864. of wounib* 

received at Gettysburg July 2, 1863. 
John Barlew, nmst. iu Aug. 2.5, 1862; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps Jan. 1, 

1804 ; disch. by G. O. July 3, 1865. 
Albert W. Rurkett, must, in Aug. 25, 1802 ; wounded at Gettysburg July 

2, 1803 : trans, to Vet. Res. Corps Jan. 28, 1865 ; disch. by G. O. 

June 28. 1865. 
Martin Baruhart, must, in Aug. 25, 1862. 
.\mos Brooke, must, in .\ug. 25, 1862. 
Joseph B. Clark, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; must, out with couipany June 

9, 1865. 
William Carr, must, in .\.ug. 25, 1862; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 18, 

1863. 
William Cummings, must, in Aug. 25, 1802; disch. Aug. 27, 1862. 
Joseph Derolf, must, in Aug. 25, 1802; nmst. out with company Juno 9, 

1805. 
Elijah Derolf, nmst. iu Jan. 11, 1865; must, out with company .Iiiue 9, 

1865. 
J. B. Dnuuheller, nmst. in Aug. 25, 1862; wounded at Gettysburg July 

2, 1803 ; trans, to A'et. Res. Coi-ps March 15, 1864. 
Thomas Derolf, must, in Aug. 25, 1802 ; died at Philadelpliia July 18, 

1804. 
Henry Endy,. must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; must, out with company June 9, 

1805. 
William Ellis, must, in Aug. 25, 1802 ; must, out with company June 9, 

1805. 
Fnincis .\. Fnllert.m, nmt^t. iu Aug. 2.5, 1802; disch. Aug. 30, 1802. 
Franklin Fry, must, in Aug. 25, 1862. 
Henry S. Gehris, must, in .■Vug. 25, 18G2 ; wounded at Gettysburg .Inly 2, 

1803 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps, date unknown ; disch. by G. 0. .lune 

29, 1805. 
Daniel Guldin, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. Dec. 25, 

1802. 
John Green, must, in Aug. 25, 1862; pro. to principal musician Marcli 

19, 1804. 
Geoi"ge W. Geigei*, must, in .\ug. 25, 1862 ; died near Fahnouth, Va., 

Nov. 29. 1862. 
Henry F. Guss, must, in .\.ug. 25, 1862; died near Falmouth, Va., Dec. 

19, 1862. 
William Gray, must, in Aug. 25, 1862. 
Henry G. Heist, must, in Aug. 25, 1802 ; nmst. out with company June 

9, 1805. 
John H. Hoffman, must, in Aug. 25. 1862; mvist. out with coinjiany 

June 9, 1865. 
Henry Hoffman, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

9, 1865. 
Henry Hughes, must, in -Vug. 25, 1862; must, out with company June 

9, 1805. 
William F. Hetzel, nuist. in Sept. 9, 1864 ; must, out with company June 

9, 1865. 
Frederick Hetfelfinger, must, in Aug 25, 1862; disch. on surg. certif. 

March 2, 1863. 



236 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Jiicob Hank, must, in Aug. 25, 1862; disch. on surg. certif. Dec. 11, 

1862. 
John Hendricks, must, iu Aug. 25, 1862 ; trans, to Vet. Ki-s. Corps Oct. 

nn, 1863. 
Ephraim Herbst, ninst. in Aug. 25, 1862. 
Washington HetfL-ltiuger, must, in Aug. 25, 1862. 
Hiram W. Iback, must, in .\ug. 2i, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

0, 1865. 
"William H. Jones, must, in .^ug. 25, 1862 ■, must, out with company June 

9, 1865. 
Hiram C. Jones, must, in Aug. 29, 1804; must, out with company June 

9, 1865. 
Lawrence Kepuer, must, in Aug. 25, 1862; must, out with company June 

0, 1866. 
Charles Kane, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; disch. Aug. 30, 18132. 
Edward Koclier, must, in Aug. 26, 1862; died at Falmouth, Va., JIarcli 

20, 1863. 
John Lightcal>, must, in Aug. 25, 186.! ; must, out with company June '.I, 

1865. 
William J. Livongood, must, in A\ig. 2ll, 1804; must, out with company 

June 9, 1865. 
John M. Landis, nmst. in Aug. 26, 1862; disch. on surg. certif. May 2, 

1864. 
George H. Lessig, nui.st. in Aug. 25, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 26, 

1863. 
David G. Leffet, must, in Aug. 26, 1862; died Dec. 25, 1862; buried in 

Blilitar>' .\sylum I'enu'tery, Washington, D. C. 
William G. Lesher, must, iti .\ug. 25, 188 . 
Jonah Mock, must, in .\ug. 25, 1862; must, out with company June 9. 

1865. 
Abraham Moyer, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

9 1865. 
John Mowatt, must, in .4ug. 25, 1862; wounded at Petersburg, Va., 

April 2, 1865 ; disch. by G. 0. June 27, 1865. 
David H. Missimer, must, in .\ug. 25, 1862; must, out with company 

June 9, 1 865. 
Solomon Miller, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; died July 6, 1863, of wounds re- 
ceived at Gettyslnirg July 2, 186:i. 
James McGugert, must, in March 13, 1865; must, out with company 

June 9, 1805. 
Jonathan M. Neiman, must, in Aug. 25, 1862; must, out with company 

June 9, ]86."i. 
Thomas R. Neiman, must, itj Aug. 25, 1S62; must, out with company 

June 9, 1865. 
Heni-y Nagle, must, iu Sept. 7, 1863 ; nnist. out with company June 9, 

1866. 
Washington S. Pugh, nmst. iu Aug. 25, lSli2; must, out with company 

June 9, 1865. 
Jacob Quinten, nmst. in .\ug. 25. 1862 ; trans, to Vet. Res. CorjM Jan. 18, 

1864 ; disch. by G. 0. Jime, 1865. 
Thoma.s Riley, must, in March 13, 1866: must, out with company June 

9, 1865. 
Bei^amin Reifsuyder. must, in A\ig. 26, 1802; killed at Mine Run, Va., 

Nov. 27, 186:i. 
Washington H. Root, nmst. in Aug. 25. 1862. 
Jacob K. Reifsuyder, nmst. in .\ug. 25, 1862. 
Charles Simpkins, must, in .\ug. 25, 1862 ; must, out witli company Jimi-- 

9, 1866. 
Adam Schwenk, must, in Aug. 25, 1862; must, out with company June 

9, 1865. 
Franklin T. Shaner, must, in Aug. 25, 1862; must, out with company 

June 9, 186."). 
Willoughby SeashoUz, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb- 

18, 186:1. 

Beuben G. Schealer, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; disch. Jan. 4, 1864, for 

woinids received at Gettysburg, July 2, 1803. 
Henry Seipel, must, in ,\ug. 2.5, 1862 ; wounded at Chancellorsville, Va., 

May 5, ISK! ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps May 10, 1864. 
Abraham .Souder, nmst. in .\ug. 25, 1862 ; killed at Petei-aburg, Va., 

April 2, 1865. 
Edward rndercuffor, nmst. in .\ug. 25, 1862. 
John <J. Wise, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; must, out with company June 9, 

1865. 
Henry Weasner, must, in .\ug. 26, 1862; must, out with company June 

9, 1865. 
Joseph W. Whitman, nmst. in Aug. 26, 1862; disch. on surg. certif. Jfan. 

19, 1803. 



William S. Wade, must, in Aug. 26, 1862. 

F. Wilderruuth, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; missing at Gettysburg July 2' 

ISfti. 
John H. Yerger, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; mttst. out with compauy Juna 

9, 186S. 
Franklin Yerger, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; disch. by G. 0. Blay 15, 186S. 
John Zeigler, must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; trans, to Vet. Kes. Corps Oct. 1, 

1863. 

Ninety-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers. — TliL' following officers and enlisted men Irom 
this regiment were recruited iu and accredited to 
Montgomery County. The regiment ranks among 
the veteran organizations of the State, and was among 
the best volunteer regiments in the service. There 
being no company organization accredited to the 
county, we omit the field and staff roster and the 
general history of the command. The reufimcnt was 
organized at Lebanon, November 3, ISGl.' 

COMPANY E. 
Samuel Mct'arter, capt. 

COMPANY G. 

3Iai«liall McCai-ter, capt. ; William .\. Ruddach, 1st tieut. 

rririiles. 

William i:ildfield, William Booth, Charles Foreman, Ijemge. A. Garrow, 

Thonuia Gash, .loseph Harper, Oliver X. Keisan, John Kester, John 

McCaully, John Piper, Charles Parker, Augustus Solomon, William 

Sutch, John Vanse, Dennis Oakes, Chailes Thomas. Daniel Meenan, 

Jacob M'l'uvei'. 

Ninety-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. 
— This command was organized as the Pennsylvania 
Z'iuaves, then as the Forty-fifth and finally as the 
Ninety-fifth. It was mustered into the service 
August, 1861, for three years. The regiment served 
in the Army of the Potomac from its organization to 
the close of the war, and its losses in the service are 
reported as the most severe experienced by any Penn- 
sylvania troop in the field. The following officers 
and members of the organization were recruited from 
Montgomery County. A general history of this regi- 
ment will be found in Bates' "Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers," vol. iii. p. 335. 

COMPANY' E. 

William Foreman, lieut. ; John S. Jeffries, sergt. ; Theodore Selah 

Corp.; George Kulp, Corp.; Nathan .\uner, Corp. ; John Burnett' 

corji 

Pril'ettes. 

Clmrles .Vurier, Joseph M. Linker, JIansfield Giiftitli, Fninklin Beaver, 
Jtihn II. Bond, .Mbaiuis Brunner, Benjamin Banks, James .\. Clayton, 
James Cnlp, William Garner, George W. Jeffries, Wilson S. Keeler, 
William J. Longsdale, Irwin Poley, Lewis Rapine, Isaiah Khoads, George 
M. Sommers, Mills C. W'illiamson, John R. Williamson, William Fvilmer, 
.\ngustus G. Famous, William Jamison, Benjamin G. Keyser, William 
B. Nungesser, Frederick R. Nungesser, John Rookstool, James J. Rook- 
stool, Jnshua Tbnmpson. 

One Hunired and Sixth Regiment.— This regi- 
ment was organized, with the exception of Company 
K, between the 14th of August and the 31st of Octo- 
ber, 18G1, in the city of Philadelphia. Company K 
was transferred to it from the Sixty-seventh Regiment 
on the 2Sth of February, 1862. A large proportion 
of officers and men had served in the Twenty-second 



1 See Bate; 



' Hist. Pa. Vols.," vol. iii. p. 284. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



237 



Regiment, and previoush' in the Philadelphia Light 
Guard, a militia organization of many years' stand- 
ing. The following were the field officers : Turner 
G. Morehead, colonel ; William L. Curry, lieutenant- 
colonel ; John H. Stover, of Centre County, major. 

Soon after moving to the front it was ordered to 
duty near Poolesville, Md., where it became part of a 
brigade ' commanded by Colonel E. D. Baker, of the 
Seventy-tirst Regiment. While in this ])Osition drill 
and instruction were carefully attended to, and guard 
and picket duty performed. The battle of Ball's 
Bluft' was fought on the 21st of October, in which Col- 
onel Baker was killed and his regiment terribly 
decimated. Early in the day the One Hundred and 
Sixth was marched to the support of the troops en- 
gaged, but, for lack of means of transportation, was 
unable to cross, the men being comiielled to stand upon 
the opposite shore and listen with impatience to the 
sound of battle where their comrades were rapidly 
falling, without the ability to render them any assist- 
ance. 

During the succeeding winter it lay with the brigade 
near Poolsville, engaged in drill and guard and picket 
duty. General William W. Burns succeeded Colonel 
Baker in command of the brigade, and on the 24th of 
February the wdiole force broke camp and moved to 
Harper's Ferry. Two companies were left in com- 
mand of Major Stover to garrison the place, while the 
army moved on towards Winchester. When arrived 
at Berryville the brigade turned back to Harper's 
Ferry, where it was joined by the detachment, and 
moving by rail to Washington, proceeded thence by 
transport to Fortress Monroe. The regiment partici- 
pated in the siege of Yorktown, being principally 
engaged upon picket duty and in the trenches. Upon 
the evacuation of Yorktown it moved forward, and 
while the fight at Williamsburg was in progress stood 
ten hours in line of battle, in a drenching rain, eager 
to go forward and join in the contest, the sound of 
which could be distinctly heard, but in vain awaited 
the order to advance. On Wednesday, May 7th, the 
troops embarked upon transports and moved up to 
West Point, whence, after two days' delay, they 
marched to Brick House Landing. The movement 
up the Peninsula towards Richmond now commenced. 
The weather was unusually warm and much difficulty 
was experienced in obtaining suitable water for the 
troops to drink. At almost any point water could be 
obtained by digging from three to five feet; but this 
was only surface water, and its evil effects soon began 
to be apparent. Fevers prevailed, and the sick list 
throughout the army became very large. The regi- 
ment suffered severely from this cause. 

I Organization of Philadelphia Brigade, Colonel E. D. Baker (division 
coninianded by Brigadier-General Charles P. Stone t, jtrtny of General 
Banks. — Seventy-fifth (California) Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 
Colonel E. I>. Baker ; Seventy-second (Fire Zouaves) Regiment Volun- 
teers, Colonel De Witt C. Baxter ; Sixty-ninth Regiment Pennsylvania 
Volunteers, Colonel Joshua T. Owen ; One Hundred and Sixth Regi- 
ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel Turner G. Morehead. 



The battle of Fair Oaks opened on the 31st of 
May. vSumner's corps was resting at the time on the 
left bank of the Chickahominy, but as soon as the noise 
of the battle was borne to the ears of that intrepid 
leader he put his columns in motion for the bridge, 
and when the order came for him to move he was 
already on his way. With great difficulty could the 
artillery be got acro.ss, the river being swollen by re- 
cent rains. Kirby's battery, by the most persistent 
effiirt, was taken through the swamps, and finally 
brought into position where it dealt death and de- 
struction upon the hitherto triumphant foe. Gor- 
man's brigade and the Seventy-first and One Hun- 
dred and Sixth Pennsylvania were posted for its 
support, and w'ith great gallantry and steadiness held 
the ground against the most determined eftbrts of the 
enemy to cajiture the guns. " Prisoners captured 
during the fight assert that Jeff. Davis was in the 
rear urging his myrmidons forward ; and INlagruder, 
who was with him swore a fearful oath, ' That's my 
old battery, and I'm going to have it,' alluding to 
Kirby's, which he, Magruder, formerly commanded." ^ 

On Sunday, June 9th, while advancing the picket 
line, the command was attacked by a superior force 
of the enemy, and for the moment was compelled to 
retire. In this encounter Captain Martin Frost, 
while gallantly leading at the head of his company, 
was killed. On the following day Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Curry, while visiting the picket post at early 
dawn, was taken prisoner, the pickets having fallen 
back during the night without his knowledge. He 
was taken to Richmond, and thence sent via Peters- 
burg to Salisbury, where, in company with General 
Slichael Corcoran and Colonel John K. JIurphy, he 
experienced harsh treatment, but at the end of three 
months was exchanged. 

"On Saturday, the 28th of June," says an officer of 
the regiment, "we received orders to strike tents as 
soon as darkness should hide our encampment from 
the view of the enemy. Our wing of the army had 
not participated in the disastrous battles of the pre- 
ceding days. An order was read announcing victory 
on the day before. Our troops were buoyant in 
spirit, thinking we were breaking camp to move for- 
ward on the enemy. By eight o'clock the wagons 
were loaded and sent to the rear. The men, with 
knapsacks packed and haversacks well filled, were 
ordered to stack arms and rest in line. An hour 
passed — two hours — and yet no orders to march. At 
length at a little after dawn orders came but to 
move to the rear." At Peach Orchard dispositions 
were made to meet the enemy, as though expected 
to pursue. The One Hundred and Sixth supported 
Kirby's battery, but the enemy declining to attack 
directly, made some show of fight, while he moved 
his principal force past the front with the design of 
coming in upon the right flank. Divining this pur- 

2 Moore's "Rebellion Record," vol. v. p. 91, Docs. 



238 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



pose, Sumner moved his force at double-quiek to 
Savage Station, and was ready for the onset. The 
enemy approached on the Williamsburg road and 
formed his line in the dense forest on either side. 
Major Stover was ordered to advance with two com- 
panies of the One Hundred and Sixth and two of the 
Seventy-second to the edge of the woods, and un- 
cover the rebel front. Moving at double-quick, 
Stover soon struck the timber and drew the fire of the 
skirmishers, driving them back to the main line. 
In the mean time General Burns, forming his line 
with the Seventy-second on his right, the One Hun- 
dred and Sixth in centre and the First Minnesota on 
the left, stretching from the forest and railroad to the 
Williamsliurg road, pushed forward upon the heels of 
the skirmishers, taking position at a fence at the edge 
of the woods, which he stubbornly held, though ex- 
posed to a severe fire of musketry and artillery, and 
gallantly repulsed most desperate charges ot the 
enemy. The action opened at five o'clock p.m., and 
lasted for two hours and a half, the enemy charging 
with desperation, and the right of the One Hundred 
and Sixth and the left of the Seventy-second at one 
time engaging in a desperate hand-to-hand struggle. 
At length the First Brigade, charging over the line of 
the Second, cleared the woods of the enemy, and the 
battle ended. "I found General Burns," says an eye- 
witness of the fight, "stretched under a lofty pine, and 
his warriors were slumbering around him painfully. 
His eyes were hollow and bloodshot, his handsome 
features pale and thin, his beard and his clothing were 
clotted with blood his face was bandaged, concealing 
a ragged and painful wound in his nether jaw. 
Grasping my hand, he said ' My friend, many of my 
poor fellows lie in those forests. It is terrible to 
leave them there. Blakeney is wounded, McGonigle 
is gone, and many will see us no more. We are 
hungry and exhausted, and the enemy — the forest is 
full of people — are thundering at our heels. It is an 
awful afliiction. We will fight them, feeble as we 
are — but with what hope ?'"^ Picket lines were im- 
mediately established and the brigade held its posi- 
tion, the rest of the corps moving on across White 
Oak Swamps, the brigade bringing up the rear. 

In the battle of Charles City Cross-Roads, on the 
following day, the One Hundred and Sixth was 
ordered to the support of the Sixty-ninth, but just 
a.s it was moving General Hooker in person ordered 
it to the extreme left, where, during the entire en- 
gagement, it acted with the Excelsior Brigade, and 
whatever of credit is due to that brigade on that san- 
guinary field is equally due to this regiment. The 
ground was held until the commands of Sumner and 
Kearny had retired over the Quaker road, and until 
after daylight, when Hooker followed them. In the 
battle of Malvern Hill, on the 1st of July, the bri- 
gade was principally employed in supporting batter- 

1 Moore'a "Rebellion Record," vol. T. p. 245, Docs. 



ies and in moving to menaced parts of the field to in- 
sure the integrity of the lines. 

After the return of the army from the Peninsula 
General Howard was assigned to the command of 
the brigade. On its arrival at Alexandria it was 
marched to the battle-field of Bull Run. but did not 
arrive in season to participate in the decisive part 
of the engagement. A reconnoissance was made by 
this brigade, which was followed by the retreat of the 
army to Centreville. 

In the Maryland campaign General Sumner, who 
wa,s in command of the corps, arrived on the south 
bank of the Antietam Creek on the 16th of Septem- 
ber, on the opposite side of which the enemy was in 
a well-chosen position in readiness to give battle. 
Soon after sunrise on the following morning he 
crossed the stream and moved up to the support ot 
Hooker, who was now hotly engaged. In the ad- 
vance the regiment held a position on the right ot 
the Sixty-nintli, and pushed steadily forward until its 
course was arrested at the crest, where the enemy was 
intrenched, and where he was at the moment receiv- 
ing heavy reinforcements. Soon afterwards the 
troops upon the left gave way, and the brigade was 
forced to fijll back. Major Stover, who was in com- 
mand, rallied the regiment at a fence skirting a 
narrow meadow near the Dunker Church, and by a 
well-directed fire succeeded in checking the enemy. 
At this fence, in less than ten minutes' time, one-third 
of the entire regiment was stricken down, and at the 
conclusion of the engagement the dead lay in line as 
they had stood in the fight. Captain Timothy Clark 
and Lieutenant William Bryan were among the 
killed. 

In the battle of Fredericksburg the division crossed 
the river soon after the laying of the pontoons, on 
the 11th of December, and two streets of the city 
were soon cleared. In the main battle, which was 
fought on the 13th, the regiment was formed for a 
charge, with the Sixty-ninth on its right and the One 
Hundred and Twenty-seventh Pennsylvania on its 
left, and advanced under a terrific fire of artillery to 
a position within about seventy-five yards of the 
enemy's works. From midday until nightfall, under 
a ceaseless fire from two lines of battle, it stood with 
a coolness and determination rarely paralleled, and 
though losing heavily, held the ground until dark- 
ness closed in upon the combatants and the sound of 
battle died away. 

Retiring after the battle to its former camp, it re- 
mained, with unimportant exceptions, until near the 
close of April. At the opening of the Chancellors- 
ville campaign the brigade was taken to Banks' Ford, 
where it was employed in driving out the enemy and 
protecting the engineers while laying a pontoon 
bridge. It was afterwards engaged in guarding the 
reserve artillery. On Sunday, the 3rd of May, the 
regiment crossed the river and advanced to the assist- 
ance of Sedgwick, in command of the Sixth Corps, 



THE (iREAT KEBELLION. 



239 



who was struggling against overwhelming odds at 
Salem Church. Returning to the bridge, entreiieh- 
ments were thrown up, and the position lield until 
Sedgwick's corps had crossed, when it returned again 
to camp. I 

In the battle of Gettysburg, which opened on the ! 
1st of July, the One Hundred and Sixth bore a con- 
spicuous part, arriving with the corps upon the field | 
at a little after midnight of the 1st, and taking posi- \ 
tion on the extreme left of the brigade, behind the 
low stone wall on the right centre of tlie line, in 
front of and to the left of General Meade's head- 
quarters. The fighting commenced on the afternoon 
of the 2d, on the extreme left, where Sickles stood, 
but soon swept around until it enveloped the whole 
left wing of the army. Fighting in the open field 
without defensive works, Sickles' men, though con- 
testing the ground with a valor unsurpassed, were 
forced back, ^d line after line was crushed. While 
the contlict was thus raging on the left the brigade 
was lying upon the ground in rear of the cre.st of the 
little liill which overlooked the field ; but as the wave 
of battle rolled on towards the right, recognizing the 
danger to which the left wing was exposed, and see- 
ing that there was a gap in the line to the left, 
General Webb, in command of the brigade, ordered 
it to march by the left flank, then by the right, and 
;is it reached the crest beheld the enemy not sixty 
yards in front, marching on, elated by success, a.s to 
assured victory. "Fire! charge bayonets!" rang 
out from the voice of the commander. A crash as 
from a single piece was the response, and in the 
twinkling of an eye bayonets were fixed, and, with a 
cheer that betokened the determination which fired 
each breast, the line went forward, striking the enemy 
upon his extreme left Hank, and hurling him back in 
disnuiy. The One Hundred and Sixth and two com- 
j)anies of the Second New York pursued the retreat- 
ing foe as far as the Emmettsburg road. " Our 
regiment," says Lieutenant-Colonel Curry, who was 
in command, and who was afterwards killed at 
Spottsylvania, in a letter to a friend, written on the 
field, "opened fire and charged so deternune<lly, 
along with others, that we drove the enemy to their 
original lines, and would have spiked a six-gun 
battery had we not been ordered back. The carnage 
was terril)le, the ground being covered with the dead 
and wounded. It was in this cliarge that Adjutant 
Pleis fell, being struck in the thigh by a piece of 
shell. I have fully made up for my capture (in June, 
18(52) as the regiment took a colonel, two majors, a 
number of captains and lieutenants and at least two 
hundred privates prisoners. We had more swords 
than we could use. I have one in place of the one 
taken from me at Richmond, and also a silver- 
mounted pistol." The regiment returned to its place 
in the line, but was scarcely in position when it was 
ordered to the extreme right, where the Twelfth 
Corps was engaged. It did not arrive, however, until 



the fighting at that point had subsided, and soon 
after it was ordered to Cemetery Hill to the support 
of the Eleventh Corjjs, where it went into position at 
ten P.M., on the right of the Baltimore pike, near 
Ricketts' battery, where it remained under the ter- 
rific cannonade of the following day, and until the 
close of the battle. It was among the first regiments 
to enter the town on the following day, and after ad- 
vancing as skirmishers and reconnoiteriug. General 
Ames in command, finding the enemy still in force on 
the ridge beyond the town, returned again to its posi- 
tion on Cemetery Hill. Lieutenant William H. 
Smith was among the killed and Adjutant Pleis 
among the mortally wounded. 

In the campaign which followed in the valley of 
Virginia the regiment shared with the brigade in the 
long marches and ceaseless vigilance required by the 
constant and sharp mananivring of the enemy for an 
advantage, and in the action at Robertson's Tavern 
was actively engaged. After enduring great suffering 
from cold in attaining the position at Mine Run and 
in fortifying the purposed line of battle, it withdrew 
with the army when offensive oi>erations were aban- 
doned, and went into winter-quarters near Stoneboro'. 
During the winter a portion of the regiment re-en- 
listed. On the 4th of April, 1864, Colonel Morehead 
resigned, and JIajor Stover was |>romoted to colonel 
of the One Hundred and Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania, 
whereui)on C'aptain John J. Sperry, of Company A, 
was commissioned major. 

On the 3d of May the regiment broke camp, and 
after a severe march crossed the Rapidan, and arrived 
on the 5th on the Wilderness battle-ground. The 
fighting for three days in the tangled wiles of that 
ever memorable field was for the most part at close 
quarters and very severe. From the Wilderness the 
regiment marched towards Spottsylvania Court-House, 
but before reaching it encountered the enemy, and 
the contest was renewed. On the afternoon of the 
11th the brigade withdrew from the breast-works in 
fr(uit of the court house, and marched with the corps 
to the left of the line, where, at down of the 12th, 
Hancock led his columns upon the enemy's works. 
Delivered in strong force and at an unexpected hour, 
the charge was successful, the works being taken with 
numerous captives and guns. The One Hundred and 
Sixth in this encounter suffered severely. Lieutenant 
Colonel Curry, in command, was mortally wounded, 
and Lieutenants Charles S. Schwartz and Joshua A. 
Gage were among the killed. The regiment was held 
upon the front line, where constant skirmishing was 
kept up until the 18th, when another attempt was 
was made to rout the enemy, which was unsuccessful. 
Again moving by the left flank, the corps encoun- 
tered the enemy at North Anna and again at Cold 
Harbor. In the engagement at the latter place the 
brigade was ordered to charge and drive out the 
enemy from his intrenchments. The attempt was 
gallantly made, the line advancing boldly up the 



240 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



open ground in front of his fortifications under a 
terrific fire. Tlie works were too strong to be carried, 
and dropping upon tlie ground the men remained in 
their advanced position until night, when they threw 
up a breast-work, which they lield. In this charge 
Lieutenant S. K. Townsend was among the killed. 

Cro.ssing the James River on the 14th, the regiment 
participated in the action before Petereburg, and a 
week later in a movement upon the Jerusalem Plank- 
Road, in both of which it sustained considerable loss. 
On the 27th of July the veterans and recruits were 
organized into a battalion of three companies, which 
was united for field service to the Si.xty-ninth Penn- 
sylvania. The remainder of the regiment was 
mustered out of service at the expiration of its term, 
at Pliiladelphia, on the 10th of September, 1864. The 
battalion remaining in the field participated in the 
actions at Ream's Station and Boydton Plank-Road 
and in the spring campaign which closed the Re- 
bellion. It was mustered out of service on the 30th 
of June, 18(55. 

riELP AND ST.\FF OFFICERS. 
T. G. Mooreht-ad, col., must, in Aug. 28, 18G1 ; promoted to brevet lirig.- 

gen. Marcli 1.5, 18l>o ; disch. by S. 0. April 3, 1804. 
William L. Curry, lieut.-col., must, in Nov. Ki, 1861 ; died at Washing- 
ton, D. C, July 7, of wounds received at Spottsylvauiu Court- 

House, Va., May 11, 1864 ; buried at South Laurel Hill Cemetery, 

Phila. 
John H. StuviT, raa.i., nuist. in Dec. 11, 1801 ; pro. to col. 14th Reg. 

P. V. April la, 1864. 
Ferdinand M. Pleis, adjt., must, in Aug. 28, 1861 ; died Aug. 2d of wounds 

received at Ciettysburg, Pa., July 2, 180;J. 
John A. Steel, adjt., must, in Aug. W, 1861 ; pro from Ist lieut. Co. 

B .\ug. 29, 1883 ; disch. Sept. 10, 18C4, exp. of term. 
Ealjih B. Clark, ailjt., must, in Feb. 10, 1864 ; [iro. from Ist lieut. Co. K 

Jan. 24, 1865 ; com. maj. June 23, 18U5 ; not must. ; must, out with 

batt. June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Harry S. Camblos, q.m., must, in Aug. 28, 1801 ; res. June 30, 1802. 
W. H. Stokes, q.m., must, in .\ug. 28, 1801 ; pro. from 1st lieut. Co. E 

June 30, 18G2 ; must, out with regiment Sept. 10, 1864. 
Ellis (3oder, q.m., must, in Aug. 28, 1861 ; pro. from private Co. F Dec. 1, 

1864 ; must, out with batt. June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Justin Dwinelle, surg., must, in Sept. 11, 1861 ; nuist. out. with regiment 

Sept. 10. 1804. 
Philip Leidy, assist, surg., must, in Xov. 1, 1861 ; disch. by G. 0. Sept. 0, 

1862. 
Hugh Alexander, assist, surg., must, in .\ug. 6, 1862 ; disch. by S. 0. Oct. 

21, 1862. 
Erasmus D. Gates, assist, surg., must, in Sept. 13, 1802 ; disch. by G. 0. 

June 1.5, 1865. 
Henry D. JlcLean, assist, surg., must, in Nov. o, 1S62 ; disch. by S. 0. 

Dec. 5, 1803. 
William C. Harris, rha]>., miii.t. in Xov. 1, 1861 ; res. Oct. 31, 1862. 
Theodore Wharton, sergt.-maj., must, in Sept. 28, 1861 ; pro. to 2d 

lieut. Co. I May 1, 1802. 
James C. Briggs, eergt.-miy., must, in Oct. 31, 1861 ; pro. to sergt.-maj. 

May 1, 18132; to 1st lieut. Co. F Sept. 19, 1862. 
■William A. Hagy, sergt.-maj., must, in Aug. 28. 1861; pro. from 1st 

sergt. Co. I Sept. 19, 1862 ; to 2d lieut Co. G May 1, 1803. 
James D. Tyler, sergt.-maj., must, in .\ug. 27, 1861; pro. frompriv. Co. 

D May 1, 1863 ; trans, to Vet. Kes. Corps Jan. 15, 18114. 
William H. Neiler, sergt.-maj., must, in Sept. 2, 1801 ; pro. from Isl 

sergt. Co. C May 1, 1804 ; disch. Sept. 2, 1864, exp. of term. 
Edward J. Latbrop, sergt.-maj., must, in Aug. 14, 1861 ; pro. from sergt. 

Co. F Sept. 1, 1864 ; to 1st lieut. Co. K Jan. 24, 1865 ; veteran. 
James C. Keynolds, sergt.-maj., must, in .\ug. 28, 1861 ; pro. from sergt. 

Co. H Jan. 24, 1865 ; com. Ist lieut. Co. H June 8, 1805 ; capt. June 

2.3, 1865 ; not must. ; must, out with batt. June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Sanmel L. Hibbs, q.m. -sergt., must, in Aug. 28, 1861 ; pro. to 2d Ueut. 
Co. I Oct. 23, 1862. 



W'illiam M. Casey, q.m. -sergt,. must, in Aug. 17, 1861 ; pro. toq m. -sergt. 

Sept. 6, 1862 ; to 2d lieut. Co. A March 1, 1863. 
William M. Mehl, q.m. -sergt., must, in April 3, 1862 ; pro. from priv. Co, 

E March 1, 1863 ; disch. .\pril 16, 1805 ; exp. of term. 
Charles Rettew, q.m. -sergt., must, in March 7, 18G4 ; pro. from priv. Co. 

K .\pril 16, 1865 ; com. 1st lieut. Co. K June 8, 1865 ; not must. ; 

must, out with batt. June 30, 1805. 
Jacob Uoop, com. sergt., must, in .\ug. 28, 1861 ; must, out with regi- 
ment Sept. 10, 1864. 
Fred. Weinderman, com. sergt., must, in Oct. 31, 1801 ; pro. from sergt. 

Co. H Nov. 1, 1864 ; com. 2d lieut Co. H June 8, 1865; not must. ; 

must, out with batt. June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Giles M. Coons, com. sergt., must, in Nov. 1, 1861 ; pro. from corj*. Co. K 

Oct. 1, 1864 ; disch. Nov. 1, 1864, exp. of term. 
Charles H. Weinert, com. sergt., must, in Sept. 23, 1861 ; pro. from Corp. 

Co. F Oct. 10, 1804 ; com. 2d lieut. Co. F June 8, 1805 ; not must. ; 

must, out with batt. June 30, 1865 ; veteran. 
Lewis Grantier, principal musician, must, in Feb. 28, 1862 ; pro. to 

principal musician Nov. 1, 1863 ; disch. Feb. 28, 1805, exp. of term. 
Hiram W. Lantlon, principal musician, nmst. in March 11, 1862 ; died at 

Bolivar Heights, Va,, Sept. 24, 1802. 
Charles Sims, principal musician, must, in Feb. 10,1804; pro. from priv. 

Co. II June 13, 1864 ; nuist. out with batt. June 30, 1865. 
Charles T. Whitcornb, principal nntsician, nmst. in Aug. 11, 1802 ; pro. 

from priv. Co K March 1, 1865; disch. by G. O. June 13, 1805. 

COMPANY G. 

Recruited from Montgomery County. 

J. li. Breitenbach, capt., must, in .\ug. 27, 1861 ; com. raiy. July 8, 1864 ; 

not must. ; pro. to brevet maj. and lieut. -col. March 13, 1865 ; must. 

out with company Sept. 10, 1864. 
George T. Egbert, 1st lieut.. must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; res. Aug. 31, 1862. 
Josejih Becil, 1st lieut., must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; pro. from 2d lieut. 1802 ; 

disch. March 31, 1803. 
William .\. Hagy, 2d lieut., must, in Aug. 28, 1861 ; pro. from sergt. - 

nuij. May 1, 1863; disch. by special order Dec. 14, 1863. 
.\mon J. Stoi-ms, 1st sergt., must, in .\ug. 27, 1861 ; nuist. out with com- 
pany Sept. 10, 1864. 
William J. Clark, 1st sergt., must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; disch. on surg. 

celtif July 25, 1862. 
Alden S. Elliott, sergt., must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; must, out with company 

Sei)t. 10, 1804. 
W'atson K. Hess, sergt., must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; pro. to sergt. June 15, 

1863 : wounded at Cold Harbor, Va., June 3, 1864 ; must, out with 

company Sept. 10, 1864. 
Francis Clark, sergt., must, in .\ug. 27, 18G1 ; disch. on surg. certif. Oct. 

26, 1862. 
Wm. H. Vandoran, sergt., must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif. 

Aug. 25, 1862. 
David Jamison, sergt., must, in .\ug. 27, 1861 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps 

Nov. 13, 1863. 
Samuel Magargle, sergt., must, in .\ug. 27, 1861 ; pro. from Corp. March 

1, 1865 ; killed at Wilderness, Va., May 0, 1864. 
William H. Muir, sergt., must, in .\ug. 27, 1801 ; pro. from Corp. BLirch 

1, 1864 ; killed at Spottdylvania Court-House, Va., 3Iay 13, 1864 ; 

buried in Wilderness Burial-Grounds. 
William H. Lott, Corp., must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; wounded at Gettysburg. 

Pa., July 3, 1863 ; trans, to Co. K, date unknown. 
Jesse QlcCombs, Corp., must, iu Aug. 27, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif, 

Aug. 30, 1SG2. 
William H. .Vbrams, Corp., must, in Aug. 28, 1861 ; captured at Peters- 
burg, A'a., June 2a, 1804 ; trans, to Co. K, date unknown. 

Privatee. 
Cliarles .\rcher, must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Sept. 10, 

1862. 
William .Ulen, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; died at Washington, D. C, Oct. 

25, 1862 ; buried in Military .\sylum Cemetery. 
Jacob Baker, must, in July 17, 1804; drafted; trans.. from lC5(h Regt. 

P. v. ; must, out with company Sept. 10, 1864. 
Josephus Baker, must, in .Vug. 27, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 20, 

1863. 
John Bisbing, nmst. in Aug. 27, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. March 21, 

1863. 
Samuel Brown, must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb., 1868. 
James H. Bennett, must. In Aug. 27, 1861 ; disch, on surg. certif. Feb. 28, 

1862. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



241 



Isaac Brown, must, in April 5, 1S62 ; trans, to Co. K, date unknown ; 

veteran. 
John Bobb, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; killed at Fair Oaks, Va., June 28, 

isc'i. 
Thomas Bitler, must, in April 8, 1862 ; died of wounils received at "Wil- 

derness, Va., May G, 1804. 
■\Villium Buudick, must in .\ug. 27, 1861. 
M'illiam Canithers, must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; died at Harper's Ferry, Va., 

Nov. 18, 1863. 
James Campbell, must, in Aug. 27, 1861, 
Joseph Dickinson, must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; must, out with company 

Sept. 10, 1S04. 
Bernard Dugau, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; must, out with company 8ept. 

10, 1804. 
David Dungan, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif. Dec. 2y, 

1802. 
Solomon Dirk, must, in April 8, 1862 ; trans, to Vet. Kes. Corps Sept. 10, 

1803. 
Benjamin Ehler, must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; wounded at Antietam, Md., 

Sept. 17, 1802 ; absent, in hospital, at muster out. 
Alfred M. Fields, must, in .\ug. 27, 1801 ; must, out with company Sept. 

10, 1804. 
Michael Flanagan, must, in -Aug. 27, 1861; disch. on surg. certif Feb. 

28, 1803. 
Thomas Fagan, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; killed at Camp Observation, JId., 

Feb. 20, 1802. 
John Flick, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; died at M'tishington, D. C, Jan. 5, 

1803. 
John C. Fachcr, must, in April 8, 1802. 
Michael Gallagher, must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 

17, 18ia. 
John F. Hale, must, in .\ng. 27, 1861 ; wounded at Fredericksburg, Va., 

Dec. 13, 1802 ; absent, in hospital, at muster out. 
Charles Heite, must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 10, 

1804. 
John Johnson, must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. lOi 

1864. 
George Kilpatrick, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; must, out with company 

Sept. Ill, '804, 
George Krupp, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; died at Nurristown, Pa., April 

13, 1802. 
John 0. Kearney, must, in Aug. 27,1861 ; killed at Gettysburg, Fa., July 

2, 1803. 
Harry Kiunear, must, in Aug. 27, 1861. 
Christiati Leoser, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; must, out with company Sept. 

10, 1804. 
Walter Leggett, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; killed at Antietam, Md., Sept. 

17, 1802. 
George Murray, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; nuist. out with company Sept. 

10, 1804. 
John F. Meeser, nuist. iu Aug. 27, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 

10, 1864. 
John Murry, must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. July 25 

1802. 
George W. Miller, roust, in Jan. 17, 1864 ; drafted ; trans, from lG5th 

Regt. P. V. ; trans, to Co. K, date unknown. 
Bernard Muldoon, must, in June 15, 1864 ; trans, to Co. K, date un, 

known. 
And. J. Manning, must, in Aug. 27, 1861. 
J».>8eph McDonnell, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif. Jan. 

31, 1S03. 
Theo. McLaughlin, must, in Aug. 27, 1861. 
Neil McDade, must, in Aug. 27, 1861. 
Camtllus Nathans, must, in Aug. 27, 1861. 
-Tohn O'Neii, Sr., must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps. 

must, out with company Sept. 10, 1864. 
John O'Neii, Jr., must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 21, 

1863. 
John Pope, nutst. in .\ug. 27, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 10, 

1864. 
Edward Phillips, must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; disch. on eurg. certif. Feb. 24, 

1803. 
Edward Powers, must, in -\ug. 27, 1861 ; trana. to Vet. Kes. Corpe Nov. 

15, 1863. 
Samuel Patterson, must, in Aug. 27, 1861. 
Neh'm Reynolds, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif Jan. 25^ 

1863. 
16 



Daniel Ridge, must, in .\ug. 27, 1861 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps Nov. 14, 

1803. 
Wilson Bitter, must, in .\pril 8, 1802; killed at Spottsylvania Court- 
House, Va., May 12, 1804. 
George W. Robbins, must, in .\ug. 27, 1861 ; captured in action at Peters- 
burg, Va., June 22, 1864 ; died at Audersonville, Ga., Aug. 21, 1864 ; 

grave 6321. 
William Steward, must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; must, out with company Sept. 

10, 1804. 
Cljiyton Super, must, in Aug. 27, 1861 ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 11, 

1803. 
William J. Storms, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps 

Sept. 26, 1863. 
Joseph S. Sellers, must, in April 18, 1862 ; trans, to Co. K, date un- 
known. 
Ilenry Smith, must, in Aug. 28, 1861 ; died at New York Dec. 1, 1862 ; 

burial record Nov. 14, 1802. 
Josiah Schwenk, must, in Aug. 28, 1861 ; died at Torktown, Va., May, 

1802 ; burial record June 11, 1862 ; buried in National Cemetery, 

Section D, grave 206. 
Abraham Stoltz, must, in April 8, 1862 ; died at Washington, D. C, Jan. 

26, 1803. 
Anthony Starr, must, iu April 8, 1802 ; killed at Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 

1863 ; buried in National Cemetery, Section D, grave 16. 
John Spicer, mvist. in Aug. 27, 1861. 
William M. Stroud, must, in .4.ug. 27, 1861. 
Robert Simpson, must, in .\ug. 27, 1861. 
Lewis I. Sickels, must, in Aug. 27, 1861. 
Alexander Tippin, must, in .\ug. 27, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif. Oct. 

26, 1862. 
Ottis Travis, must, in Dec. 25, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif Feb. 4, 

1863. 
Wm. S. Townsend, must, in .\pril 8, 1862 ; died at Philadelphia, Pa., May 

30, of wounds received at Wilderness, Va., May, 1864. 
TeiTence Tobin, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; killed at Spoltsylvania Court- 

House, Va., May 11, 1804. 
George Trump, must, iu Aug. 27, 18*11. 
Charles Winstanley, must. -in Aug. 27, 1801 ; must, out with company 

Sept. 1(1, 1804. 
Morgan Williams, must, in Aug. 27, 1801 ; disch. on surg. certif Feb. 14, 

1803. 

One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers. — Five companies of this regi- 
iiieiit — A, B, E, G ;nid H — were recruited in Seliuyl- 
Icill County, four — C, D, F aiul K — in Nortliainpton, 
and one company, I, was recruited iu JMontgomery. 
They rendezvoused at Camp Curtin, where, on the 
1.5th of August, 1862, a regimental organization was 
effected, with the following field officers : Jacob G. 
Frick, of Scliuylkill County, colonel ; William H. 
Armstrong, of Xortliampton County, lieutenant-col- 
onel ; Joseph Anthony, of Schuylkill County, major. 
Colonel Frick had served with credit as lieutenant in 
the Mexican war and as lieutenant-colonel of the 
Ninety-sixth Pennsylvania Regiment until the 29th 
of July, 1862. On the day following its organization, 
after having been hastily armed and equipped, it was 
hurried away to Washington, and on the 18th went 
into camp in the neighborhood of Alexandria. Com- 
pany and regimental drills were early commenced, and 
by the active and intelligent efforts of its colonel the 
regiment rapidly attained a marked degree of efficiency. 
While the command was stationed here two com- 
panies were detailed to rebuild a bridge across Bull 
Run, where they remained as guard. On the 30th 
the remaining companies, after having been held for 
four days in constant readiness to march, proceeded 
as guard to an ammunition train to Centreville, pass- 



242 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ingon the Wiiy the eorjis of Fitz John Porter, in light 
marching order, bound for the i'ront. The cannonad- 
ing had been heavy throughout the day. Towards 
evening it rajjidly came nearer, and at five P.M., af- 
ter liaving .safely delivered the train, the command 
was, for the first time, under fire, the rebel artillery 
throwing shells into the woods near C'entreville, 
where it was resting. Proceeding on its return to 
Fairfax Seminary, it was brigaded on the 3d of Sep- 
tember with the Xinety-firtt, One Hundred and 
Thirty-fourth, and One Hundred and Twenty-sixth 
Pennsylvania Regiments, commanded by General E. 
B. Tyler. Brigade, battalion and company drills 
wore studiously practiced, and on the 7th its camp 
was changed to a point near Fort Richardson. 

On the morning of the 14th the brigade started on 
the march through Maryland, arrived at the Monoc- 
acy on the Kith, where it was halted, and on the 17th 
resumed the march to the sound of heavy canonad- 
ing, arriving early on the following morning on the 
field of Antietam. But the enemy had by this time 
retired, and the command soon after went into cani|), 
where for six weeks, with the exception of an expedi- 
tion up the Shenandoah Valley with the division, the 
regiment remained engaged in drill and unimportant 
picket duty. On the 30th of October the army com- 
menced crossing into Virginia, and moving down the 
valley, continuing the movement, with a slight inter- 
ruption at Warrenton, until it arrived opposite 
Fredericksburg, and Burnside's bloody but fruitless 
campaign was inaugurated. 

Shortly after noon of the 13th of December the 
division crossed the Rappahannock, and proceeding 
through the town to a position in full view of the 
field, awaited the order to enter the fight. It was 
not long delayed, and again advancing by a main 
road, the brigade halted in low, open ground, where 
the men were ordered to lie down. Tempted by the 
esisy range and unprotected situation of the brigade, 
the enemy opened a destructive fire from his batter- 
ies, by which Lieutenant Jacob Parvin, Jr., was 
mortally, and a number of privates severely wounded. 
Moving to the left of the road, the division was 
shortly after formed in line of battle on the crest of 
the hill, the brigade in two lines, the One Hundred 
and Twenty-ninth on the left front. In the hopeless 
and fruitless charge which followed, made under a 
cea.seless fire of musketry and artillery from the im- 
pregnable position which the enemy held, officers 
and men did everything that true soldiers could do, 
traversing in good orderthelinesof dead and wounded 
left in previous charges, and pressing forward in 
the gathering darkness until they attained position 
in advance of every previous charge, and from which 
it was impossible to go farther. In the brief space 
that it was in motion the regiment lost one hundred 
and forty-two in killed and wounded. The caps of 
some were subsequently found close up to the famous 
stone-wall, and an officer and seven privates of Com- 



pany I) were taken j)risoners. Ca]>tain (Jeorge J. 
Lawrence and Jonathan K. Taylor were mortally 
wounded. Captain Taylor was shot through the 
lungs early in the charge, but refused to leave the 
field, and retired with his command. Captains Wil- 
liam Wren, Jr., Herbert Thomas, E. Godfrey Rehrer 
and Levi C. Leib and Lieutenant A. A. Lukenbach 
were wounded. Lieutenant Joseph Oliver was 
wounded and fell into the enemy's hands. The loss 
in killed was sixteen. General Tyler, in his official 
report of the battle, says: "Colonel O'Brien, One 
Hundred and Thirty-fourth, led the right front; 
Colonel Frick, One Hundred and Twenty-ninth, the 
left; Colonel Elder, One Hundred and Twenty-sixth, 
held the right rear and Colonel Gregory, Ninety-first, 
the left rear. These officers discharged their respective 
duties creditably and satisfactorily, their voices being 
frequently heard above the din of battle urging on 
their men against the terrible shower of shot and 
shell and the terrific musketry as we approached 
the stone wall. Of their conduct I cannot speak too 
highly. Lieutenant-Colonel Rowe, Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel Armstrong, Major Anthony and JIajor Thomp- 
son are entitled to great credit for their ettbrts 
and officer-like conduct during the engagement. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Armstrong had a horse shot 
under him. Adjutant Green exhibited great coolness 
in the discharge of his duty. It may not be improper 
for me to say that Captain Thomas, acting inspector- 
general on the statt'of the division commander, hav- 
ing his horse shot, and thus prevented from serving 
him, joined his company in the One Hundred and 
Twenty-ninth, and was severely wounded while lead- 
ing his men in the charge." 

After dark the regiment wius again marched upon 
the field for guard duty, but was withdrawn towards 
midnight. On the 14th and l.'Jth it remained in the 
town, losing one man by the shot of a sharpshooter, 
and on the morning of the 16th, after having sjient 
the night in throwing up a breast- work on the right 
of the town, recrossed the river and retired again to 
camp. The knapsacks which liad been thrown aside 
before going into battle had been carefully guarded, 
but were not recovered. During the cold, rainy days 
preceding the 23d of December, when extra clothing 
and blankets were furnished to supply the place of 
those lost, the men suffered greatly from exjjosure, 
one dying and many being thrown into hospitals. 
Drill and )>icket duty, which was at times severe, the 
Mud March from the 20th to the 24th of January, 
1863, and occasional reviews filled up the measure of 
its duty until the opening of Hooker's first cam- 
paign. ' 

1 Towards the middle of January an order was issued tlirough division 
headqimrtons requiring tlie men to dmw dress coats. As tliey bad warm 
underclothing, and ha<l just been provided mth two blouses per man, 
the dress coat did not seem to be needed. It would only be an incnm- 
bi-ance and a needless expense, and, moreover, their term of service 
would shortly expire. The oflicerssought to have their regiment relieved 



THE GREAT llEBELLION. 



243 



The regiment marched with tlie corps on the 
Chaiicellorsville campaign, thougli the time of many 
of the men had already expired, and took part in the 
figliting of the 1st, 2d and 3d of May. In the prin- 
cipal contest, on the morning of the 3d, it was closely 
engaged in its place in the division line of battle in 
the wood in front of the Union batteries. After 
nearly two hours of sharp musketry firing the am- 
munition became exhausted, and the right tlank of 
the divisi(ui was turned. The command was given 
to face by the rear rank and retire, in order that the 
batteries might have full play upon the rebel 
columns coming in upon the flank. It was executed 
in as orderly a manner as the thickly-wooded ground 
would permit, but the One Hundred and Twenty- 
ninth, bringing up the rear, had not left the wood 
before the enemy closed upon it, and some spirited 
hand-to-hand encounters occurred. The colors were 
twice seized, but were defended with great gallantry 
and brought safely off. Lieutenant-Colonel Arm- 
strong fell into the enemy's hands, but made his es- 
cape in the confusion caused in his ranks by the tire 
of the Union batteries. Major Anthony was shot 
through the lungs, but was assisted oft' the field, and 
still survives what was then considered a mortal 
wound. "The One Hundred and Twenty-ninth," 
says General Tyler, in his official report, " was on our 
left, and no man ever saw cooler work on feld drill 
than was done by this regiment. Their firing was 
grand, by rank, by company and by wing, in perfect 
order." The loss was five killed, thirty-two wounded 
and five missing. On the 6th the regiment re- 
crossed the Eappahannock and returned to its camp 
near Falmouth. On the 12th, its term of service 
having fully expired, it returned to Harrisburg, 
where, on the 18th of May, it was mustered out. The 
return of companies to Easton and Pottsville was 
marked by flattering and enthusiastic demonstrations 
on the part of the citizens. 

FIELD AND ST.\FF OFFICERS. 
Jacob G. Frick, col., must, in Aug. 15, 1862 ; must, out with regt. May 

18, 1803. 
W. II. Armstrong, lieut.-col., must, in Aug. 15, 1802; must, out with 

regt. May 18, 1SG3. 
Josepli .\nthony, maj., must, in .^ug. 15, 1862 ; wounded at Chancellors- 

villf, Vu., May 3, 1S03 ; absent, in hospital, at muster out. 
David B, Green, adjt., must, in -\ug. 15, 1802 ; must, out with regt. May 

18, 1803. 
Williaiu F. Patterson, q.m., must, in Aug. 15, ISiJ 

May 18, 1863. 
Joseph Roa-siter, sur 

18, 1803. 
OttoSehittler, asst. surg., nuist, in .\ut 

May 18, 1803. 
John G. Long, ai^t. surg., must, in .\ug. 15, 1862 ; disch. Nov. 26, 1862. 
William H. Rice, chaplain, must, in Aug. 16, 1862 j must, out with regt. 

May IS, 1863. 

from the openrtiona of the order; but in this they were unsuccessful, 
and upon their refusal to obey the order, the colonel and lieutenant- 
colonel were summarily tried and dismissed from the service. They 
were, however, soon after reinstated and restored to their commands, 
the general officers who had preferred charges against them testifying 
upon their trial to their fidelity and gallantry. 



must, out with regt. 
, must, in Sept. 12, 1862 ; must, out with regt. May 
15, 1802 ; nmst. out with regt. 



Sti-ange J. Palmer, sergt.-maj., must, in .Vug. 15, 1802 ; pro. from private 

Co. G March 28, 1803 ; must, out with regt. May 18, 1863. 
John S. Engle, sergt.-maj., must, in .\ug. 15, 18G2 ; pro. from private 

Co. G Aug. 15, 1802 ; to 2dlieut Co. H Dec. 1, 1862. 
Franklin C. Stout, sergt.-miy'., nuist. iu Aug. 12, 1802 ; pro. from sergt. 

Co. C Jan. 1, 1863 ; to 2d lieut. Co. C March 28, 1803. 
Henry C. Taylor, com. sergt., must, in Aug. 13, 1802 ; pro. from private 

Co. A .\ug. 15, 1862 ; must, out with regt. May 18, 1863. 
Henry Broughner, coui. sergt., must, in .\ug. 11, 1862 ; pro. from sergt. 

Co. 6 .\ug. 15, 1862 ; must, out with regt. May 18, 1863. 
John T. Bond, hosp. steward., must, in .\ug. 14, 1862 ; pro. from sergt. 

Co. E Aug. 21, 1802 ; umst. out with regt. May 18, 1803. 
COMPANY I. 
Frederick B. Shunk, capt., must, in Aug. 13,1802 ; disch. on surg. certif, 

Dec. 6, 1802. 
Benjamin F. Bean, capt., must, in .\ug. 13, 1802; pro. from 2d lieut. 

Dec. 6, 1862 ; must, out with company May 18, 1863. 
George Z. Vanderslice, 1st lieut., must, in Aug. 13, 1862 ; disch. on surg. 

certif. Dec. 10, 1802. 
Heary H. Fetterolf, 1st lieut., nuist. iu Aug. 11, 1862 ; pro. from 1st 

sergt. Dec. 5, 1802 ; must, out with company May 18, 1863. 
John B. Roberts, 2d lieut., must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; pro. from sergt. Dec. 

10, 1802 ; must, out with company May 18, 1803. 
Aaron Weikel, 1st sergt., must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; pro. from sergt. Dec. 

0, 1802 ; must, out with company May 18, 1803. 
Jacob Rapp, sergt., must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company 

May 18, 1863. ■ 
Hear)* Longstreth, sergt., must, in .\ug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with com- 
pany May 18, 1863 
Joseph Cnip, sergt., must, iu Aug. 11, 1862 ; pro. from Corp. Jan. 1, 

1863; must, out with company May 18, 1803. 
William Heebner, sergt., must, in .\ug. 11, 1802 ; pro. from corp. Jan. 

1, 1803 ; must, out with company May 18, 1803. 
Richard Moore, Corp., must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; pro. to corp. Jan. 9, 1803 ; 

must, out with company May 18, 1863. 
Bethel M. Yerkes, Corp., must, in .\ug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company 

May IS, 1863. 
Edward F. Houser, Corp., must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with com- 
pany May 18, 1803. 
Willi.am K. Faust, Corp., must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with com- 
pany fllay 18, 1863. 
William Uarley, Corp., must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company 

May 18, 1863. 
Eber H. Beaumont, Corp., must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; pro. to corp. Jan. ii, 

1803 ; must, out with company May 18, 1803. 
John H. Hartzell, Corp., must, in .\ug. 11, 1862 ; ijro. to Corp. Jan. 9, 

1803 ; must, out with company May 18, 1863. 
Michael S. Kelly, corp., must, in .\ug. 11, 1862; died at Falmouth, Va., 

Feb. 19, 1803. 
Enos Poley, musician, must, in Aug. 11, 1862; must, out with company 

May 18, 1863. 

Pi-imUs. 

William Alderfer, must, in .^ug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company May 

18, 1803. 
DiUman Bean, must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company May 18, 



1803. 
Cadwallader H. Brooke, must, in Aug. 13, 1802 ; must, out with company 

May 18, 1803. 
William T. Clemmens, must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company- 
May 18, 1863. 
George \V. Colehower, must. in.\ug. 11, 1.S02 ; ^lust. out with company 
j May 18, 1803. 

' Edward B. Conrad, must, in .\ug. H, 1862; must, out with company 

May 18, 1803. 
John T. Cox, must, in .\ug. 11, 1802 ; nuist. out with company May 18, 

1863. 
Jacob Curry, must, in Aug. 11, 1802; wounded at Clmncelloi-sville, A'a., 

31ay 3, 1863 ; absent, in hospital, at muster out. 
.Joseph H. Cole, must, in -Vug. 11, 1802 ; disch. on surg. certif. Jan. 14, 

1803. 
Nathan Davis, must, in Aug. 11, 1862; must, out with company May 18, 

1803. 
John Dechert, must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company May 18, 

1863. 
Benjamin F. Deti-a, must, iu .\ug. 11, 1802 ; nmst. out with company 

May 18, 1863. 



244 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



William Dorwortll, must, in Aug. H, 18G2; must, uut witli cunipiiny 

May IS, 18G3. 
■William Duubnmu. miiet. iu -\ug. 13, 1SIV2 ; must, uut with contiiiiny Miiy 

18, 18l». 
■William Dunmore, must, in .\ng. 11, ISH'i ; nuist. out with comiiiiiiy May j 

18, 1803. 
Andrew Dunn, must, in -Vug. 13, 1862 ; uiust. out with company 3Iay 18, 

1803. 
James K. Espenship, must, in .\ug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company 

Jlay 18, 1803. 
Henry D. Espenship, must, in .\ug. 11, 18G2 ; must, out with company 

May IS, 1803. 
David Y. Eisenberry, must, in .\ug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company 

May 18, 1863. 
Jonathan C. Evans, must, in .\ug. 13, 1802 ; must, out » ith company 

May 18, 1803. 
James W. Essig, must, in .Vug. 11, 1802 ; died near Falmouth, 'V'a., Dec. 

29, 1802. 
Henry H. Fretz, must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company »Iay 

18, 1803. 
Samuel C. Foust, must, in Aug. 11, 1602 ; must, out with company May 

18, 1803. 
William Finger, must, in .\\ig. 11, 1802 ; nmst. out with company Jlay 

18, 1803. 
Daniel W. Fisher, must, in Aug. 11, 18C2 ; must, out with company May 

18, 1803. 
Sylvester G. Frctz, must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company May 

18, 180.-i. 
Benjamin Fudge, must, in Aug. 11, 1862; died near Falmouth, Va., 

April 18, 1802. 
Albert L. Gehnian, must, in .Vug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company 

May 18, 1803. 
Levi Gotchall, must, in Aug. 13, 1802 ; must, out with company May 18, 

1803. ' • 

Jamoe Grasy, Jr., must, in .Vug. 11, 1802 ; must, uut with company May 

18, 1803, 
William H. Gristock, must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company 

May 18, isc:i. 
Christian Groff, must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; must out with company May 18, 

1863. 
Jesse K. Gordon, must, in .Vug. 11, 1802 ; died at Snicker's Gap, Va , Nov. 

6, 1862. 
George Harpst, must, iu -Vug. 11, 1802 ; wounded at Fredericksburg, Va., 

Dec. 13, 1802 ; must, out with company May 18, 1863. 
Ephraim Ilarner, must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company May 

IS, 1803. 

Josepli A. Henry, must, in .Vug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company May 

18, 1863. 
Andrew Hiser, must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; must, nut with company May 18, 

1863. 
William Hoffner, must, in -\ug. 11, 1802 ; nuist nut wiih company May 

18, 1863. 
John B. Horn, must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company May 18, 

1803. 
Morris Huusicker, must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; wounded at Fredericksburg, 

Va., Dec. 13, 1862 ; must, out with company May 18, 180;J. 
John Q. Huusicker, must, in Aug. 11,1802; must, out with company 

May 18, 1803. 
Jesae Jarrett, must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company May 18, 

1863. 
John Jarrett, nmst. in -Vug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company May 18, 

1863. 
Henry Kooker, must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company May 18, 

1803. 
Joseph D. Keyser, must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; died at Washington, D. C, 

Jan. 8, 1803. 
Abraham Landis, must, in Aug. 13, 1802 ; must, out with c.mpany May 

18, 1.803. 
Emanuel Longaker, must, in -Vng. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company 

May 18, 1803. 
Jos. L. Mancill, must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; absent, in hospital, at muster out. 
Isaac T. Miller, nmst. in Aug. 11, 1802 ; must", out with company May 

18, 1803. 
Abraham R. Moyer, must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company 

May 18, 18l». 
Aseph S. Slorris, must, in Aug. II, 1802 ; must, out with company May 

18, 1863. 



Edwin L. Xieman, nuist. in .Vug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company May 

18, 1803. 
Canning F. Peixoto, nmst. in .Vug. 11, 1802; must, out with company 

May 18, 1803. 
John -V. Prizer, nuist. in .Vug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company May 

18, 1803. 
John Place, must, in .Vug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company May 18, 

1803. 
John Quay, nuist. in -Vug. 11, 1802; must, out with company May IB, 

lso:i. 
John S. lUlin, must, in .Viig. 11, 1802 ; nuist. out with company May 18, 

1803. 
Hezekiah B. Rahn, must, iu Aug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company 

May 18, 1863. 
-Vndrew S. Rahn, must, in Aug. 11, 1802; must, out with company May 

IS, 1803. 
John S. Rapp, must, in -Vug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company May 18, 

1803. 
Thomas J. Rapp, must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company May 

18, 1803. 
Aaron M Richards, must, in -Vug. 11, 1802; must, out with company 

May 18, 180,3. 
William Sheaf, must, in -Vug, 11. 1802 ; mu>t. out with company May IS, 

1803. 
John Smith, must, in .Vug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company May 18, 

1803. 
Thomas M. Snyder, must, in Aug. 11, 1862; must, out with company 

May 18, 1803. 
John Stern, must, in Aug. 11, 1862; must, out with company May 18, 

1863. 
Benjamin Swartly, must, in Aug. 11, 1S02 ; must, out with company May 

18, 1803. 
Robert H. Tyson, must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company May 

18, 180:!. 
Charles C. Watt.-*, must, in Aug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company May 

18, 180;!. 
Joseph 1). Watson, must, in -Vug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company 

May 18, ISia. 
Isaac T. Weer, must, in -Vug. 11, 1802 ; must, out with company May 18, 

1803. 
Jacob R. Weikel, must, in -Vug. II, 1802 ; wounded at Fredericksburg, 

Va., Dec. 13, 1862 ; must, out with company May 18, 1863. 
William W. Wisler, must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company 

May 18, 1803. 
John W. Worrell, must, in Aug. 11, 1862 ; must, out with company May 

18, 1803. 
Edward B. Watts, must. In Aug. 13, 1862; disch. on surg. certif. Oct. 30, 

1862. 
Abraham Zollors, must, in .Vug. 11, 1S02 ; must, out with company May 

18, isoii. 

One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Kegiment 
Pennsylvania Volunteers.'— Recruiting was com- 
nieuced tor the e<jmpanies which ultimately composed 
this regiment under the call for nine months' ser- 
vice, but before it was completed an order was issued 
forbidding the accejitance of more men for a less 
period than three years, and the terms of enlistment 
were accordingly changed to three years. Companies 
A, C, I and K were recruited in Montgomery County ; 
B .and G in Adams ; D, E and F in Bedford, and 
Company H in Bucks. The companies rendezvoused 
at Camp Curtin, the first company arriving on the 
16th of -\ugust, 18t32, and by the 2t)th their organiza- 
tions were completed, and they were mustered into 
the United States service. Charles L. K. Sumwalt, 
of Adams County, was appointed colonel, and under 
his command, on the 30th, it moved to Baltimore. 

t The facts embraced in this narrative are principally drawn from a 
neat volume of one hundred and thirty-eight pages, prepared by Osceola 
Lewis, and printed by Wills, Iredell & Jenkins, of Norristown, Pa. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



245 



It reported to General Wool, in comniand of the 
SlidcUe Department, and was by him ordered to duty 
at the Belay House, the Washington Junction of the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Shortly after his arri- 
val Captain M. R. McClennan, of Company A, was 
appointed lieutenant-colonel, and Captain Lewis A- 
May, of Company F, major. It was employed in 
guarding the railroad, to prevent miscliief by secession 
sympathizers, and to prevent any interruption of com- 
munication with the capital. For this purpose Com- 
pany A was stationed at Jessop's Cut, C at Dorsey's 
Switch, E at Hanover Switch, D at Elk Ridge Laud- 
ing, G at Fort Dix, a small earth-work mounting six 
guns, commanding the Washington Viaduct, a hand- 
.some stone structure spanning the Fatapsco River 
B at Ellieott's Mills, a detachment of I at Elysville, 
and the remaining four companies — F, H, I and K 
• — at headquarters, near the Relay House. This was 
the original disposition, and the relative strength 
remained the same, though the companies were 
periodically changed to give all an opportunity for 
regimental drill. During the time of the Maryland 
campaign, which culminated in the battle of Antie- 
tam, this road was the scene of great activity, and the 
force at this point was strengthened by the addition of 
the ()ne Hundred and Eighteentli New York and Bat- 
tery B of the Fifth New York Light Artilk-ry. After tlie 
campaign was ended the regiment was again left to 
perform the duty alone. Many deserters and strag- 
glers from the L^nion army, and aiders and abettors 
of the enemy, were arrested and committed. The 
winter and s]iring of lS62-(33 passed with little to 
change the regular routine of duty. On the 2nd of 
May, Lieutenant-Colonel McClennan was promoted 
to colonel, in place of Colonel Sumwalt, whose con- 
nection with the service was severed on 30th of 
Marcli preceding. 

On the lt>th of June the regiment was ordered to 
active duty and proceeded to Harper's Ferry, wliere 
it was assigned to Elliott's lirigade, a part of tlie com- 
mand with which Milroy had in vain battled with the 
advancing columns of Lee's army, at Winchester, on 
their way to Pennsylvania. General French was in 
command at Harper's Ferry, with the brigades of 
Kenly, Morris and Elliott under him. The heights 
were strongly fortified, the trees in front were swept 
away, artillery was advantageously posted, strong 
picket lines were established and every precaution 
taken to give the foe a warm reception. But' he 
wisely shunned this route, his bivouac fires and his 
long trains being visible in the distant valley as they 
pa.ssed and crossed the Potomac at Williamsport. Har- 
per's Ferry was evacuated on the 1st of July. All 
munitions and stores that could not Ije renxived were 
destroyed and the remainder was loaded on canal- 
boats and sent to Washington. Elliott's l)rigade 
was charged with guarding it and taking it through, 
the rest of French's division moving to Frederick. 
From Washington the brigade proceeded by rail, on 



the 7th, to Frederick, and rejoined the division, and 
on the following day joined the army in its pursuit of 
Lee, now fresh from the field of Gettysburg. General 
French assumed command of the Third Corps, in 
place of Sickles, who had fallen in the desperate fight- 
ing of the 2d, and General Elliott succeeded the former 
in command of the division, now attached to that 
corps. On the 16th the corps crossed the river at 
Harper's Ferry, and on the 23d encountered the en- 
emy in a strong position at Wapping Heights, his 
infantry, screened by stone walls, making a deter- 
mined resistance. He was finally dislodged by a 
gallant charge of the Excelsior Brigade, and was 
driven into the valley beyond. Elliott's brigade did 
not become engaged, though held under tire a consid- 
erable portion of the time during the engagement. 
At Warrenton the corps halted and remained until 
the 1st of August, when it moved out to the Rappa- 
hannock, the regiment being posted at Fox's Ford, 
cliarged with out-post duty. On the lotli of Septem- 
ber the corps moved on to Warrenton, where it 
remained in comparative quiet, with the rest of the 
army, for nearly six weeks. In the mean time two 
corps, the Eleventh and Twelfth, had been detached 
from the Army of the Potomac and sent to the support 
of Ri:>secraus, cooped uj) in a i)recari«us position at 
Chattanooga. Feeling that he could now with safety 
assume the ofl'ensive, Lee commenced a sudden Hank 
movement by the right, and Meade, to save himself, 
retreated to Centreville. In this movement the regi- 
ment was divided, a portion being assigned as guard 
to the ammunition train and the remainder to the 
corps ambulances. At Centreville the movement of 
the two armies was reversed without coming into 
conflict, and Lee retreated and Meade pursued. On 
the 23d of October the regiment was relieved from 
guard duty with the trains and rejoined its brigade. 
After crossing the Rappahanock, and when within 
two and a half miles of Brandy Station, the enemy's 
rear guard was encountered. Elliott's division had 
that day the advance, and the One Hundred and 
Thirty-eighth Pennsylvania and the One Hundred 
and Tenth Ohio were immediately deployed, the 
former to the left and the latter to the right of the 
railroad, and with Berdan's sharpshooters and Com- 
pany A of the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth 
thrown forward as skirmishers, advanced with support- 
ing regiments to the attack. The lire ofthe enemy's 
artillery was severe. Early in the engagement a shell 
struck and exploded in the ranks near the centre of 
the regiment, mortally wounding Caj>tain Lazarus C. 
Andrcss and carrying away the left arm of Sergeant 
Abraham G. Rapp. The missile burst as it struck 
the former, fearfully mangling his hip and thigh and 
shivering his sword. The hill was cari-ied and the 
enemy barely escaped with his artillery. The loss 
was seven wounded. 

At Brandy Station the army halted, and remained 
until the 23rd of November, when it set forward on 



246 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the Mine Run campaign. The Third Corps crossed 
the Rajjidan at Jacob's Ford, and on the 37th came 
up with the enemy at Locust Grove. The Second 
Division was first engaged, and Ijeing hard pressed, 
the Tliii'd, now commanded by General Carr, was sent 
to its support and formed on its left, the One Hun- 
dred and Thirty-eighth being on the extreme left of 
the line. The fighting soon opened on its front, at 
close range, and buck and ball were hurled with tell- 
ing effect against the advancing enem}-. Colonel 
McClennan, while moving along the line encouraging 
his men and directing the fight, was stricken down 
and carried from the field. Captain Fisher had an 
arm shattered and Adjutant Cross was disabled. At 
dark, after having gallantly held the ground, and 
repulsed repeated chaiges, inflicting great slaughter, 
it was relieved by fresh troops, and rested for the 
night on the field. The loss in (he engagement was 
seven killed, forty-five wounded and three missing. 
During the night the enemy withdrew to his fortified 
position behind Mine Run. After advancing to and 
reconnoitring his ground, it was decided to abandon 
the campaign, and the army returned to camp near 
Brandy Station, where the regiment was soon settled 
in comfortable winter-quarters. 

Colonel McClennan, having measurably recovered 
from his wounds, returned to duty on the 18th of 
March, 1864, and was received in camp with demon- 
strations of warm regard. The smooth-bore muskets 
with which the regiment was armed were soon after- 
wards exchanged for Springfield rifled muskets. In 
the reorganization of the corps, preparatory to the 
opening of the spring campaign, the Third Division 
of the Third Corps became the Third Division of the 
Sixth, General Ricketts in command. The army 
moved on the .Srd of May, and on the •'ith, soon after 
crossing the Rapidan, it was attacked in the tangled 
thickets of the Wilderness. It was near midday 
before Rickett's division was put in motion. To- 
wards evening, after having marched and counter- 
marched, the brigade, to the command of which Gen- 
eral Truman Seymour had that morning been assigned, 
was detached and hurriedly led to a position on the 
extreme right of the corps, passing on its way the scene 
of a most sanguinary struggle, where the dead of 
both armies were thickly strewn on the wild wooded 
battle-fleld. At dark it was formed in two lines, the 
One Hundred and Thirty-eighth on the second line. 
It was thought that only a picket guard of the ene- 
my's extreme left was in front, and in swinging 
around to enveloj) it the command was suddenly 
brought under a severe front and flank fire from 
strong columns. For two hours, with the most stub- 
born fighting, the ground was held, when on both 
sides the fighting gradually died away, and the lines 
rested on the field where they had fought. The cas- 
ualties in the regiment were slight. Sergeant Biesecker, 
and John H. Ashen felter, of the color guard, being 
killed. All night long the moans and the cries of the 



dying filled the air, and the ominous sound of the 
enemy chopping and fortifying in front and far out 
on the right flank was distinctly heard. General 
Seymour was apprised of these threatening indica- 
tions, but the order of the previous evening to renew 
the assault in the morning was not modified, and at 
nine o'clock the brigade moved to the desperate work, 
and now the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth on the 
front line. The men were charged not to fire a shot 
until they had reached the enemy's works. Api)rised 
by the clanking of arms of their approach, he was 
ready to receive them. The pattering fire of bis 
skirmishers deepened into showers as they went, 
and finally a perfect storm of deadly missiles greeted 
them; but without wavering, the lines moved on 
until within fifty yards of his breast-works, where the 
flashes of his guns were plainly visible through the tan- 
gled wood. And now, when the moment for a final 
dash had come, impatient soldiers began to stop and 
to fire. Felled trees and tangled branches made it 
more and more diflicult to advance. The momentum 
of the charge was lost, and the men, taking shelter 
behind trees, and lying prostrate upon the ground 
for an hour in the face of a mo.st destructive fire of 
infantry and artillery hurling grape and canister, held 
their ground. Seeing that there was no hope of suc- 
cess, the brigade was finally ordered back to the posi- 
tion of the morning, unavoidably leaving many of the 
dead and wounded on the field. Late in the evening, 
while the men were preparing their coffee behind 
their hastily constructed breast-works, Shaler's bri- 
gade, which had been posted upon the right of 
Seymour, was suddenly attacked in flank and rear 
by a powerful body of the enemy under Gordon. 
Sweeping down upon the unsuspecting troops, as did 
Jackson ui)on the Eleventh Corps at Chancellorsville, 
Gordon scattered and drove all opposed to him. He 
was finally cliecked by reinforcements from other jiarts 
of the line, and the lost ground regained. General 
Shaler and Seymour, with numbers of their troops, 
were taken prisoners. Weakened by two fatal and 
unsuccessful charges, the brigade was in no condition 
or heart to resist, and the general who had refused to 
listen to the representations of danger in the early 
morning added another to the misfortunes which 
had attended his career at Charles Cit}- Cro.ss- 
Roads, Fort Wagner and Olustee. The regiment 
lost in these engagements twenty-seven killed, ninety- 
four wounded and thirty-five missing, of whom 
twenty-si.x were known to be prisoners. Lieutenant 
John H. Fisher was killed, and Lieutenants H. C. 
(trcissmau and John E. Essick were wounded, the 
latter mortally. 

On the 7th the contending parties acted on the 
defensive, operations being confined to skirmishing. 
On the night of the 8th the first of Grant's move- 
ments by the left flank began. In the fierce fighting 
which occurred alwiut Sjiottsylvania, and in the subse- 
quent movements during the month of May, the regi- 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



247 



mi'Ut shared, and was fVeqiU'iitly under fire, losing 
five wounded on the 12th, three wounded on the 13th 
one killed on the 18th, one wounded on the 19th, two 
wounded on the 20th, and one wounded on the 31st, 
but did not become involved in the more desperate 
fighting. 

On the 1st of June the troops from Butler's army 
of the .lames were met in the vicinity of Cold Harbor, 
and orders were given to prepare for an engagement. 
"A hasty disposition of these commands was made," 
says Lieutenant Lewis, in his narrative of this regi- 
ment, " skirmishers were advanced, the enemy's posi- 
tion partially developed, a plan of a.ssault selected; 
and at five o'clock the attack was commenced. The 
Third Division, on the right of the corps, adjoining 
General Smith's left, moved forward in four lines of 
battle, and with great promptness. 

"The front line of the Second Brigade consisted of 
the Sixth Maryland and the One Hundred and Thirty- 
eighth Pennsylvania, and these two regiments were 
the first to encounter a galling fire from the enemy's 
sharp-shooters and a difficult swamp which had to be 
crossed. These obstacles overcome, the rebel main 
line, situated on a ridge thickly wooded with pine, 
was found defended by strong numbers. The Sixth 
and the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth were the first 
troops to clamber over the works and break the reliel 
front, which was only accomplished by a solid rush 
and hard fighting. The confusion and flight of the 
enemy resuhing from this breach in his line was 
quickly followed up, and in a short time the two above 
specified regiments had captured more prisoners than 
their own nundjers. On other portions of the line 
our troops had not carried the works, and we, in our 
zeal to drive the enemy, soon distanced all supporting 
columns to the jeopardy of our own safety. At one 
period the men of our regiment drove the gunners 
from a battery; but when within a few yards of its 
IMisition, and aljout to seize it, our scattered and weak- 
ened numbers became apparent to the enemy, who 
rallied heavily against us, returned to his guns, and 
checked our further advance by a raking charge of 
canister. We were hard-pressed, but the captured 
ground was maintained. The entire Third Division 
joined in the work with alacrity at the first onset, and 
to this command belongs the credit of being the only 
division of two cori)S to successfully accomplish the 
task assigned it in this battle." The conduct of the 
division drew from General Meade a congratulatory 
order, in these words: "Please give my thanks to 
Brigadier-General Ricketts and his gallant command 
for the very handsome manner in which they con- 
ducted themselves to-day. The success attained by 
them is of great importance, and if promptly followed 
up, will materially advance our operations." During 
the night the lines were reformed and the rebel 
works were reversed. On the 3d another assault was 
made, but without success, and the two armies fell to 
digging, which was continued until the 12th, when 



the Union army was quietly withdrawn and moved 
oft towards the James. The loss was seven killed, 
fifty-four wounded and seven missing. Lieutenant 
Charles P. McLaughlin was among the killed. 

After crossing the James, about the middle of the 
month, the Third Division moved up to Point of 
Rocks, and was assigned a position in the trenches at 
Bermuda Hundred, but subsequently rejoined the 
corps in front of Petersburg, and near the close of 
the month joined in the movement upon the Weldon 
Railroad, at Ream's Station, in which several miles 
of the road were destroyed. 

On the 6th of July, Ricketts' division was ordered 
to City Point, and thence moved by transport to Bal- 
timore. Cars were in waiting, upon which it imme- 
diately proceeded to Monocacy, and there awaited 
the advance of the enemy under Early, who, with a 
powerful division of Lee's army, was advancing on 
Washington. Line of battle was hastily formed, the 
troops of General Wallace, who commanded the de- 
partment, occupying the right, which rested on a high 
fortified bluft' overlooking the railroad and Monocacy 
Creek, and Ricketts' division, drawn up in two lines, 
the left, the whole in crescent shape, stretching across 
the railroad and the Washington turnpike. By ten 
on the morning of the 9th the skirmishing was brisk, 
and it soon became evident that the Union force was 
vastly outnumbered. To equal his front, Ricketts' 
division was stretched out in a single thin line, and 
against this the enemy came on in heavy force, re- 
joicing in his strength and confident of victory. The 
One Hundred and Thirty-eighth occupied a position 
on the unprotected left flauk. To prevent this from 
being turned, which seemed to be the object of the 
enemy, the Hue was refused until it became impos- 
sible for him to execute his purpose without dividing 
his force. Foiled in this, he made a direct assault in 
three lines. As .soon as he came within range a well- 
directed fire was opened, and rapid rounds were poured 
in with admirable effect. His first and second lines 
were broken, and the third advanced in their places; 
but still the division held its ground. At five p.m. 
the troops on the right gave way, and Ricketts was 
compelled to order a retreat to save himself from cap- 
ture. The enemy was well supplie<l witli artillery, 
which was admirably handled, while upon the Union 
side the few guns in play did little execution. Colonel 
McClennan commanded the brigade during the en- 
gagement and Major May the regiment. The loss was 
thirty-nine men wounded, twenty-one captured and 
eight missing. Captain George W. Guss was among 
the wounded and Captain Richard T. Stewart among 
the prisoners. The division retired to Baltimore and 
encamped at Druid Hill Park, and Early {jushed on 
towards Washington; but here he was met by the rest 
of the Sixth Corps and driven ingloriously into Vir- 
ginia. The Union forces joined in pursuit and pushed 
him to beyond Berryville, in the Shenandoah Valley, 
Ricketts' division having in the mean time rejoined 



248 



HISTORY OF iMONTdOMERY COUNTY. 



the corps. And now, for a period of nearly a month, 
during tlie intense heat of tlie season, marches and 
counter-marclies between Washington and the Shen- 
andoah Valley, over the soil of Maryland and Virginia, 
followed, apparently to little purpose. 

Finally a new department was created and General 
Sheridan assigned to its command. His army was 
composed of the Sixth, Eighth and Nineteenth Corps, 
with a force of cavalry sent from the Army of the 
Potomac. Manisuvring at once commenced, by which 
the enemy was drawn from his stronghold at Fisher's 
Hill. On the 29th of August the cavalry, under 
Merritt, supported by Rickotts' division, met and 
defeated a body of the enemy near Smithfield. En- 
couraged Ijy this success, at two a.m. on the morning 
of the 19th of September, Sheridan moved from his 
camp at Berryville to attack Early, resting on the line 
of the Opequan, six miles away. By daylight the 
stream was crossed, and dispositions were at once 
made for attack. The One Hundred and Thirty-eighth 
occupied the tirst line in the brigade, with the Sixth 
Maryland and vSixty-seventh Pennsylvania on its right 
and left. The first attack was made by the Sixth and 
Nineteenth Corps, in which a decided advantage was 
gained, but was lost by a fatal gap between the two 
corps, which, widening as they advanced, allowed the 
enemy to break through. Some confusion resulted ; but 
the command was soon rallied, when the grand advance 
was made, and under a terrific fire of musketry and 
artillery it swejit forward full upon his front, and at 
every point was victorious, the enemy retreating in 
precipitation and confusion. The pursuit was con- 
tinued to Fisher's Jlill, where he was found prepared 
to offer formidable resistance. Kiiketts' division 
occupied a pdsitinii in Iront of a strong rebel earth- 
work on the extreme right of the line, and when the 
Eighth Corps, under Crook, had, by a mountain-path, 
turned that flank, the whole line moved simultane- 
ously upon the enemy and again drove liim in utter 
rout, making extensive captures of prisoners, guns 
and small-arms. The loss of the regiment in these 
engagements was four killed, thirty-nine wounded and 
three missing. The army now moved on in pursuit, 
in three columns, preceded by a line of skirmishers, 
of which the regiment formed part, and in a rencounter 
near New Market with his rear guard suffered some 
loss in woun<led. At Harrisonburg the pursuit was 
stayed, and the army soon after returned and went 
into camp at Cedar Creek, the enemy returning sub- 
sequently with reinforcements and taking position in 
his favorite stronghold at Fisher's Hill. 

A little after midnight of the 18th of October the 
rebel army was led from its camp, and stealthily 
approaching the Union camp, at daylireak, turned 
the left of the line, where the Eighth Corps lay, and 
taking it in reverse, swept it back, the rout soon 
communicating to the Nineteenth Corps, which stood 
next. The Sixth Corps had time to rally, and offered 
some resistance, but was finally withdrawn to Middle- 



town, where a new line was taken up and the corps 
effectively rallied. Here Sheridan, who had been 
absent in the early part of the day, joined them, and 
a general advance was sounded. The One Hundred 
and Thirty-eighth held manfully its place in the 
severe conflict which followed, and shared in the 
glorious victory which resulted. The loss was two 
killed and forty wounded. Lieutenants Samuel W. 
Cloward, John A. Gump, William B. Lovett and 
Martin S. Bortz were amcjug the wounded, the two 
former mortally. At the opening of this campaign 
Colonel McClennan, debilitated by sickness, was 
obliged to leave the command, and the regiment was 
led throughout by Major May. On the 2d of No- 
vember the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth, with 
other troops, was taken to Philadelpliia, wdiere it 
remained in camp until the 11th, when it returned 
to the army, now in camp near Winchester. 

Early in December the corps returned to its place 
in tlie army before Petersburg, taking position be- 
tween the Ninth and Second Corps, vacated by the 
Fifth. The One Hundred and Thirty-eighth was 
detailed to garrison Fort Dushane, an earthwork on 
the rear line of defenses near the Weldon Railroad. 
At Christmas a bountiful repast was provided by 
friends of the regiment in Montgomery County, and 
a beautiful stand of colors was presented, a gift from 
"Loyal Citizens of Norristown and Bridgejiort, Pa." 
In acknowledgment of the latter gift, an elaborate 
address, l)reathing intense devotion to the national 
cause, was i)repared and sent to the donors. 

At midnight on the 1st of April the regiment 
joined the cori)s, and took position in the third line, 
a general assault having been ordered along the 
whole front upon the enemy's works. At four o'clock 
in the morning of the 2d the signal of advance was 
given, and moving forward under a raking musketry 
and enfilading artillery fire, through tangled under- 
wood and ditches, the Sixth Corps carried the works 
in its front, sweeping everything before it. Pursuit 
of the flying foe was immediately given, the One 
Hundred and Thirty-eighth following up in a north- 
westerly direction for nearly two miles, making 
numerous captures.' Returning to the point where 
it first crossed the rebel works, it participated in the 
charge upon the rebel fort last taken by the division, 
suffering some loss. The losses in the operations of 
the entire day were sixteen wounded, Cajitain James 
B. Heebner and Lieutenant J. P. Iredell being of the 
number. Immediate pursuit was commenced, and at 
Sailor's Creek the corps came up with the enemy's main 

I *' Two men of Company F penetrated the country as far as the South 
Side Railroait, and ture up some of the track. While engaged in thi8 
worl; tlu-y encuunfiTed two rebel mounted officers, wliu demanded flieir 
surrender. Conioral .lohn W. Maukimmediateiyshutone of the officers, 
and Private Wolftu-d tired at tiie otlier, but missed, and the reliel escaped. 
The men then came baclt to tlie regiment and reported their adventure. 
It is supposed that the officer killed by Col-poml Blank was the rebel 
Oeneral .\. P. Hill, as various reports give the circumstances of tiis death 
as similar to tliose of this case." — Colonel MvClemtmt^e UjHcial Report. 



THE GEEAT REBELLION. 



249 



body drawn up at a commanding position beyond the 
stream. Crossing this and the marshy bottom through 
which it courses, the First and Third Divisions as- 
saulted in the face of a galling fire, and routed the 
foe, capturing prisoners in excess of their own num- 
bers. The k^ss of the regiment was three killed and 
seven wounded, and here its fighting ended. Three 
days thereafter Lee surrendered, and the event was 
celebrated \vith every demonstration of rejoicing 
through all the camps. Two weeks later the corps 
made a forced march of a hundred miles to Danville, 
to the supi^ort of Sherman. But its co-operation was 
not needed, and it returned to Richmond by rail, 
and thence marched to the neighborhood of Washing- 
ton, where, on the 28d of June, it was mustered out 
of service, 

FIELD AND STAFF OFFICERS. 
C. L. K. Suinwalt, col., must, in Aug. 30, 1862 ; disch. March 30, 18G3. 
M. R. McCIenua^, col., must, in Auj;;. 21), 1862; pro. frurn Capt. Co. A 

to lieut.-col. Sept. 2, 1862 ; to col. May 2, 1863; brevet brig.-geii. 

April 2, 1865 ; wounded at Mine Run. Va., Nov. 27, 1863 ; must, out 

with regiment June 23, 1865. 
Lewis A. May, lieut.-col., must, in Au^. 29, 1862 ; pro. from maj. Feb- 

12, 1865 ; must, out with regiment June 23, 1865. 
Jacob W. Cress, adjt-, must, in Aug. 30, 1862 ; pro. from Ist lieut. Co. B 

Aug. 30, 1862; wounded at Mine Run, Va., Nov. 27, 18G3 ; must. 

out with regiment June 23, 1805. 
Edward B. Jloore, q.m., must, in Aug. 26, 1802 ; pro. to capt. and com- 

sub. r. S. V. Aug. 4, 1864 ; brevet maj. ; must, out July 31, 1865. 
David L. ^McKenzie, q.m., must, in Auk. 16,1862; pro. from com. sergt. 

July 6, 1864; must, out with regiment June 23, 1865. 
C. P. Herrington, surg., must, in Sept. 13, 1802: pro. from assist, surg. 

48th Regt. P. V. Oct. 30, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. Dec. 4, 1803. 
Charles E Cady, surg., must, in Sept. 5, 1802 ; pro. from assist, surg. 

.Tan. 22, 1804 ; must, out with regiment June 23, 1865. 
Thomas C. Thornton, assist, surg., must, in Sept. 12, 1862 ; jiro. to surg. 

67th Rpgt. P. V. April 20, 1865. 
Tliomas P. Tonilinsoii, assist, surg., must, in May 17, 18il5 ; nmst. out 

with regiment June 23, 1865. 
James F. Porter, clmp., must, in Sept. 7, 1862 ; res. June, 26, 1S63. 
James V. Curry, chap., must, in March 21, 1863; disch. by special or- 
der JIarch 8, 1864. 
John "W. Feight, chap., must, in Aug. 30, 1862 , pro. from capt. Co. F 

Feb. 21, 18ii5 ; must, out with regiment June 23, 1865. 
H. C. Grossman, sergt. -maj., must, in Aug. 16, 1862; pro. from corp. Co 

B Sept. 1, 1802 : to 2n.i lieut. Co. B April i), 1864. 
Timothy Kane, sergt. -maj., must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; pro from priv. Co 

C April 26, 18fi4 ; to 1st lient. Co. C Dec. 1, 1864 
Osceola Lewis, sergt. -mnj., nuist. in Aug. 30, 1862 ; pro. from priv. Co. 

I Dec. 12, 18G4 ; to 1st lieut. Co. T May 16, 1865. 
Reuben Hallowell, sergt, -nuy., must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; pro. from sergt. 

Co. I May 16, 1805 ; nnist. out with regiment June 23, 1865 
James AV. Kennedy, q.m. -sergt., must, in Aug. 26, 1862; pro. from 

sergt. Co. I Sept. 15, 1802 ; must out with regiment June 23, 1865. 
Franklin Ramsey, coni. sergt., nnist. in Aug. 19, 1862; pro. from priv. 

Co. A July 0, 1804 ; must, out with regiment .Tune 23, 1865. 
James G. W'ells, hosp. stew., must, in Aug. 23, 1802: pro. from priv. 

< 'o. K Sept. 1, 1862 ; must, out with regiment June 23, 1865. 
Lawrence Deifabaugh, prin. nius., must, in Aug. 29, 1S62 ; pro. from 

mus. Co. E Feb. 3, 1804 : must, out with regiment June 23, 1805. 
William Earle, prin. mus., must, in Sept. 3, 1802 ; pro. from mus. Co. I 

Oct. 30, 1864 ; must, out with regiment June 23, 1865. 

COMPANY A. 
M. R. McClennau, capt., must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; pro. to lieut.-col. Sept- 

2, 1802. 
■Charles Y. Fisher, capt., must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; pro. from 1st lieut. Oct. 23- 

1862 ; wounded at Mine Run, Va., Nov. 27, 1863 ; disch. Sept. 17,1804. 
James B. Heebnor, capt., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; pro. from sergt. to 1st 

sergt. Sept. 19, 1S62 ; to capt. Dec. 2, 1864; wounded at Monocacy, 

Md., July 9, 1864, and at Saihir's Creek, Va., April 6, 1.^65 ; must. 

out with company June 23, ItOS. 



Samuel J. Yargei", 1st lieut., must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; pro. from 2d lieut. 

Oct. 23, 1802 ; discb. Sept. 12, 1804. 
John Dalbey, 1st lieut. must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; wounded at Opequant, 

Va,, Sept. 19, 1804; pro. from sergt. Dec. 2, 1804; must, out with 

company June 23, 1805. 
John E. Essick, 2d lieut., must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; pro. from 1st sergt, 

Oct. 3, 1862 ; died May 11 of wounds received at Wilderness, Va., 

May 6, 1804. 
Daniel A. ReifT, 2d lieut., must, in Aug. 19, 1862; pro. from corp. to 

sergt. July 1, 1864 ; to 2d lieut. April 3, 1805 ; wounded at Opequan, 

Va., Sept. 19, 1864; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
John Benton Major, Ist sergt., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; px-o. from corp. 

to sergt. Dec. 1, 1864 ; to 1st sergt. May 13, 1865 ; must, out with 

company June 23, 1865, 
Harrison Bickle, 1st sergt., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; wounded at Wilder- 
ness May 6, and at Cedar Creek, Va., Oct. 19, 1804 ; pro. from sergt. 

Dec. 1, 1864 ; disch. on surg. certif. May 12, 1865. 
Egbert B. Buzley, sergt., must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; wounded at Wilderness, 

Va., May 0, 1864 ; pro. from Corp. Dec. 1, 1864 ; must, out with 

company June 23, 1805. 
Adam J. Schrack, sergt., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; pro. from corp. April 

3, 1805 ; must, out with company June 23, 1805. 
Samuel A. Moore, sergt., nuist. in Aug. 19, 1862 ; pro, from corp. Sept. 

19, 1862; to sergt. May 13, 1865; must, out with company June 23, 

1865. 
George W, Williams, sergt., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; pro. to corp. Dec. 1, 

1864; to sergt. May 13, 1805; must, out with company June 23, 

1865. 
Lorenzo D. Shearer, sergt., must, in Aug. 19, 1862; pro. from corp. 

Sept. 19, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. May 12, 1805. 
Davis \V. Roberts, sergt., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; died at Washington, 

D. C, June 14, of wounds received at Cold Harbor, Va., June 1, 

1864. 
James Crnzier, corp., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; pro. to corp. Dec. 1, 1864 ; 

disch. by special order June 30, 1865. 
Joseph K. Moore, Corp., must, in -\ug. 19, 1862 ; pro. to corp. Dec. 1, 

1864 ; must, out with company June 23, 186.5. 

Elhridge Griffith, corp., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; wounded at Cold Har, 
bur, Va., June 1, 1864 ; pro. to corp. Dl-c. 1, 1864 ; must, out with 
company June 23, 1865. 

Ciury Stewart, corp., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; wounded at Mine Run, 
Va., Nov. 27, 1863 ; pro. to corp. Dec. 1, 1804 ; must, out with com- 
pany June 23, 1805. 

William H. Myer, Corp., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; pro. to corp. April 5, 

1865 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 

Adam Hersh, Corp., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; wounded at Mine Run, Va., 

Nov. 27, 1803 ; pro. to corp. April 5, 1865 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1865. 
Eugene Shearer, corp., must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; pro. to corp. May 13, 

1865 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Samuel L. Welde, corp., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; pro. to corp. May 13, 

1865 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
John H. SlinglufF, Corp., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; died May 0, 1864, of 

wounds received at Wilderness, Va. 
Paul A. Smith, corp., must, in .\ug. 19, 1862 ; died at Philadelphia, Pa., 

Oct. 19, of wounds received at Oqequan, Va., Sept. 19, 1864. 
Morris E. Hinkle, corp., must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; killed at Sailor's Creek, 

Va., April 6, 1865. 
George H. Buck, musician, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; must, out with com- 
pany June 23, 1865. 
Samuel Mitchell, musician, must, in Jan. 3ii, 1865 ; must, out with com- 
pany June 23, 1805. 

Privates. 
Sannu'l S. Anderson, must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1805. 
Geoi-ge E. Apple, must, in Aug, 19, 1802; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
John E. Ashford, must, in Aug. 19, 180;i ; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
John T. Bailey, nuist. in Aug. 20, 18i'i2 ; must, out witli company June 

23, 1805. 
Peter E. Bean, must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; must, out witli company June 

23, 1865. 
Reuben Bankis, must, in Feb. U, 1H65 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
Henry Bitton, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. March 15, 

1865. 



250 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



William T. Benner, mnet. in Aug. 19, 1862 ; trans, to Co. A, 24th Regt. 

Vet. Res. Corps, Jan. lU, 1865 ; disch. by G. 0. June 28, 1865. 
Franklin B. Bund, must, in Aug. 19, 18G2 ; trans, to 6l8t Co., 2d Batt. 

Vet. Res. Cni-ps, Jan. 25, 1865 ; disch. on surg. certif, .\pril 21, 

1835. 
Jacob Colflesli, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; must, out with company June 23, 

1865. 
Jacob Colter, must, in .\ug. 19. 18G2 ; must, out with company June ^3, 

1865. 
Franklin Cooker, must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; must, out witli company June 

23, 1865. 
Preston Custer, must, in Jan. 30, 1865 ; must, out with compnnj' .lune 

23, 1805. 
W. Coppleberger, must, in .\ug. 19, 1802 ; wounded at Monocacy, Md., 

July 9, 1864 ; diech. on surg. certif. May 12, 1865. 
Alex. Cuthbertson, must, in .Vug. 19, 1802 ; diedi. uu surg. certif. May 

18, 1865. 

Henry Colter, must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; died July 14, of wounds received 

at Monocacy, Md., July 9, 1804 ; buried in National Cemetery, An- 

tietam, section 20, lot E, grave 518. 
William Dutlinger, must, in Aug. 19, 1862; must, out with company 

June 23, 1805. 
James W. Davis, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; wouniled at Mine Run, Ya., 

Nov. 27, 1863 ; disch. by G. 0. June 14, 1865. 
George Be Haven, must, in .\ug. 19, 1862 ; must out witb company June 

23, 1865. 
George W. Evans, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; wounded at Mine Run, Va., 

Nov, 2", 18ft3 ; must, out witii company Jum- 23, 18r>5. 
Peter S. Eiidleman, must, in Aug. 19, 1802; killed at Opequan, Ya., 

Sept. 19, 1864. 
Benjamin Fisher, must, in Fob. 11, 1865 ; disch. by O. 0. July 3, 1865. 
John H. Griffith, must, in .\ug. 19, 1862 ; prisoner from May 0, 1864, to 

Feb. 27, 1865 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Abraham Gotwaltz, must, in Aug. 19, 1862; died at Winchester, Ya., 

Oct. 11, of wounds received at Opequan Sept. 19, 1864. 
Sanniel Grubb, must, in Aug. I'.i, 1862; died at Wiusliington, D. C, June 

9, of wniirids rcci'ivi'd at Wildi'rness, Ya., May 0, 1H64. 
Philip Hahn, Jr., must, in -Vug. 19. 1862 ; must, out witti comjiany June 

23, 1865. 
John Harndd, must, in -Vug. l!i, 1862; prisoner from June 13, 1804, to 

Feb. 20, 1805 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Joseph Hampton, must, in Jan. 28, 1865 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1805. 
George Hunter, must, iu Aug. '.t, 1805 ; nuist. out witli company June 2.'i, 

1805. 
Benjamin I>. ITaiTar, must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; wounded at Spottaylvania 

Court-IIunse, Virginia, May 12, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. May 15, 1865. 
William II. Hunter, must, iu Dec. 14, 1863 ; trans, to U. S. Navy April 

19, 1864. 

Joseph S. Ilollowell, must, in .\ug. 19, ISOii ; di<-d at SiinpsoTi Hospital, 

Md., Dec. 11, 1862. 
James Henry, must, in Aug. 19, 1802. 
Williuin H. Isett, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; must, out with company Juno 

23, 1805. 
Joeeph W. Jones, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; must, out with company .June 

23, 1805. 
Jeremiah Jones, must, in Jan. 16, 1865; must, nit with company June 

23, ISiM. 
Richard .loru'^, must, iu Jan. 28. 1805 ; must, out with company June 23, 

1865. 
Richard M. Johnsun, must, in .\ug. 19, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 23. 1805. 
Jacob D. Jackson, must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; died at Jussop's Cut, Md., 

Nov. 25, 1862. 
Henry S. Keeley, must, in .Vug. 19, 1802 ; must, out witli company June 

23, 1805. 
David R. Krieble, must, in Aug. 19, 1802; woundud at Mine Run, Ya., 

Nov. 27, 1803; must, out with company June 23, 18ii5. 
William H. Koplin, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1805. 
Isaac Ki'iinedy. must, in Aug. 19, 1862. 
David H. Lvikens, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; wounded at Wilderness, Va., 

May 0, 1864 : must, out with company .June 23, 1865. 
William R. Lyie, must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; must, out with company Juue 

23, 1805. 
William K. Lnliens, mint, iu .Vug. 19, l86-.i ; nnist. tmt w company 

June 23, 1865. 



William Lynn, must, in Jan. 14, 1865 ; must, out with company June 23^ 

1865. 
Edward H. Linck, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; captured ; died at Salisbury, 

N. C, Jan. 17, 1865. 
Isaac M. Miller, must, in Feb. 11, 1865 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1805. 
Miciiarl Murphy, must, in Aug. 19, 1862; disch. by G. 0. May 10, 1H65. 
William Magee, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; died May 9, of wounds received 

at Wilderness, Va., May 0, 1864. 
Jos. Noblit, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
James Noblit, must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; wounded at Mine Run, Ya., Nov. 

27, 1863 ; must, out with company June 2.3, 1S65. 
William Noblit, nuist. in Jan. 30, 1865 ; nuist. out with company June 

23, 1865. 
James Nolan, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; wounded at Opequan, Va., Sept. 

19, 1864 ; nuist. out with company June 23. 1865. 
Samuel Nuss, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; must, out with company June 23, 

1865. 
Abniham Newcomr-r, must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; disch. on surg. certif. Aug. 

25, 1803. 
Jcffei-son Ortlip, must, in Jan. 14, 1805 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
Charles Pyle, nuist. in Aug. 19, 1862 ; nuist. out witli company June 23, 

1865. 
Charles Pugh, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; wounded at Wilderness, Va., May 

6, 1864 ; discli. on surg. certif. Dec. 1, 1864. 
Thonuui H. R;imsey, must, in .Vug. 19, 1862; must, out with company 

June 23, 1805. 
Horatio Ruyer, nnist. in -Vug. 19, 1862 ; mu.st. oiit with company June 

23, 1805. 
Joseph Rhinehart, nnist. in Aug. 19, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1805. 
Henry C. Rhoads, must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; wounded at Cold Harbor. Va., 

June 1, 1804 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Lewis K. Reigle, must, in Jan. 9, 1805; must, out with company .luno 

23, 1865. 
Levi Ringler, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. Oct. 24, 1864. 
Franklin Ramsey, must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; pro. to com. eergt. July 6, 

1864. 
George W. Ross, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; died at Washington, D. C, 

Sept. 25, 1803. 
William Rodenbaugh, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; died at Frederick July 20, 

of wounds received at Monocacy, Md., July 9, 1864 ; buried in Na- 
tional Cemetery, Antietam, section 26, lot E, grave 529. 
Jat^ob Scliock, must, in Aug. 10, 1862 ; mustered out with company .Tune 

23, 1865. 
David M. Snyder, must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; wounded at Monocacy, Md., 

July 9, 1864 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Albert W. Streeper, must, in Aug. 19, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1805. 
William Simpson, must, in Jan. 31, 1S65 ; must, out with company June 

83, 1865. 
Archibald Stewart, must, iu Aug. 19, 1862 ; died at Washington, D. C, 

June 15, of wounds receiveil at Cold Harbor, Va., June 9, 1864 ; 

buried in National Cemetery, ArUngton. 
Sylvester Stahley, must, iu Aug. 19,1802; killed at Cedar Creek, Ya., 

Oct. 19, 18G4. 
Milton Streeper, must, in Aug. 19, 1802 ; missing in action at Wilderness 

Va., May 6, 1864. 
David Updegrove, must, in .\ug. 19, 1862 ; wounded at Opeqium, Ya., 

Sept. 19, 1804, and at Sailor's Creek, Ya., April 2, 1805 ; must, out 

witli company June 23, 1865. 
Watson Wilde, must, iu Aug. 19, 1862 ; wounded at Cold Harbor, Va., 

June 1, 1864 ; must, out with company June 23, 1805. 
Michael Wheeler, must, in Dec. 24, 1863; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
Henry C Wells, must, in Aug. ,30, 1804 ; must, out with company .June 

23, 1865. 
George M. Williams, must, in Feb. 13, 1805; must, out with comjiany 

June 23, 1865. 
William Wilkinson, must, in Jan. 30, 1865 ; inuet. out with ctpnipany 

June 23, 1865. 

COMPANY C. 
George W. Guss, capt., must, in Aug. 26, 1802; wounded at Monocacy, 

Md., July 9, 1864 ; disch. by G. O. May 15, 1865. 
William Neiman, 1st lieut., must, in Aug. 25, 1862 ; disch. on surg. 

certif. Aug. 22, 1863. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



251 



Samuel W. Cloward, 1st lieut., must, in Aug. '20, 18G2 ; pro. from 1st 

eergt. Sept. 5, 1803 ; died Nov. 1, of wounds received at Cedar Creek, 

Va., Oct. 19, 18G4. 
Timothy Kaue, 1st lieut., must, in Aug. 21), 1802 ; pro. from sergt.-niaj. 

Dec. 1, 18G4; brev. capt. April G, 1865 ; iiiuet. out with company 

June 23, ISGo. 
John A. Wills, 2d lieut., must, in Aug. 25, 1862; discli. on surg. certif. 

Aug. 13. 18G3. 
Matthews T. Server, must, in Istsergt., Aug. 20, 18G2; pro. from sergt. 

Jan. 14, 18G5 ; nuist. out with company June 23, 18G5. 
Henrj- S. Smith, 1st sergt., must in Aug. 2ii, 1862 ; disch. Jan. 14, 1865, 

for wounds received at Wilderness, Va., May G, 1HG4. 
Charles R. Jones, sergt., must, in Aug. 20, 18G2 ; pro. from corp. Nov, 1, 

18G4 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Samuel B. Salsburg, sergt., must, in .\ug. 2(t, 18G2 ; wounded at Monoc- 

acy, Md., July 0, 18G4 ; jiro. from Corp. 51arch 1, 18G5 ; must, out 

with company Jvme 23, 1805. 
Sylvester Makens, sergt., must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; pro. from corp. 3Iarch 

1, 1804 ; must, out with company June 23, 18G5. 
Jason T. Butler, sergt., must, in Aug. 20, 18G2 ; wounded at Monocacy, 

Md., July U, and at Cedar Creek. Va., Sept. lit, 1864 ; pro. from 

Corp. June 1, 1865 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
SamuL'l .\ikins, sergt., must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; disch. May 30, 1805, for 

wounds reypivcd at Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1804. 
C. H. Fitzgerald, sergt., must, in Aug. 20, 1802; disch. Feb. 14, 1805, 

for wounds received at Opeijuan, Va., Sept. 19, 1804. 
Benjamin Uebele, sergt , must, in Aug. 20, 18G2 ; missing in action at 

Monocacy, Md., July 0, 1864. 
Joseph R. Moyer, corp., must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1805. 
James R. (.Iiiffiths, corp., nuist. in Aug, 20, 1802 ; prisoner from 5Iay G 

to Dec. 23, 18(>t ; disch. by G. O. Tune 12, 1865. 
H. H. Shainline, corp., must, in Aug. 20, 1862; must, out with company 

June 23, 1805. 
Jesse Slinglutf, corp., nuist. in Aug. 20,. 18G2 ; must, uut witli company 

June 23, 1805. 
George E. Loweiy, corp., must, in Aug. 2n, 1862 ; wounded at Wilder- 
ness. Va., May 0, 1804 ; nnist. out«ith company June 23, 1805. 
Charles I'ennypacker, corp., must, in Aug. 20. 1862 ; wounded at Mine 

Run, Va., Nov. 27, 1863 ; pro. to corp. March 1, 1865 ;must. out with 

company June 23, 1805. 
Aaron R. Selah. Corp., must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; pro. to coit*. March 1. 

1865 : nmst. out with company June 23, 1805. 
Edward M. Smitli, corp., must, in Aug. 20, 1862; wounded at Opequan, 

Va., Sept. lit, 1864 ; pro. to Corp. June 1, 1865 ; must, out with com- 

jiany June 23, 1805. 
Michael Lightcap, coi"p., must, in Aug. 20, 1862. 
Edwin S. Sutch, mus,, must, in .\iig. 20, 1802 ; nuist. out with company 

June 23, 1805. 
George W. Foreman, inus., must, in Aug. 20, 1862; di^cli. on surg. certif. 

Dec. 11, 1803. 

Privates. 

David F. Anderson, must, in Aug. 20, 1862; wounded at Cedar Creek 

Va. , Oct. 19, 1804 ; absent, in hospital, at muster out. 
Charles A. Bodey, must, in March 8, 1^65 ; disch. by (i. O. June 10, 

1805. 
Levi Cutler, nuist. in Aug. 20, 1SG2 ; wounded at Wilderness, Va., May 

G, 1804; must, out «ith company June 23. 1805. 
William H. Coulson, nuist. in Aug. 20, 1*^02; wounded in action Jlay 

20, 1804; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Henry P. Cornog, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; wounded at Wilderness, Va., 

May 0, 1864 ; must, out with company June 28, 1805. 
Charles Cx-aft, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; must, out with company June 23, 

18G5. 
Samuel Cornell, u\wt. in .Vug. 2n, 1802 ; disch. by C. O. June 16, 1*^65. 
John Cole, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; must, oiit with company June 23, 

1865. 
Leidy Cook, must in Aug. 20, 1862 ; died at Norristown, Pa., Dec. Y, 

1862. 
■William Carson, nuist. in Aug. 20, 1862 ; wounded and missing in action 

at Jlonocacy, JId., July 9, 1«04. 
Marpold Davis, nnist. in Aug. 20, 1862 ; must, out with company .lune 

23, 1805. 
Samuel H. Dean, nuist. in Aug. 20, 1802 ; nuist. out with company June 

23, 1805. 
Jacob H. Dotts, must, in Marcli 23, 18G3 ; wounded at Opequnn, Va., 

Sept. 19, 1864 ; must, out with company Juue 2;J, 1865. 



Charles Dell, must, in Jan. 21, 18(;5; must, out with company June 23, 

1865. 
Daniel Deweese, must, in Aug. 20, 1862; disch. on €urg. certif. Oct. 7, 

1863. 
Isaac Dickenson, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 

20, 1803. 

David L. Dotts, must, in .\ug. 23, 1862 ; missing in action at I'uld Har- 
bor, Va., Junel, 1864. 
Jacob Emery, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; must, out witli company June 23,, 

1865. 
William Fulleiion, must, in Aug.20, 1802 : must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
Jesse 0. Fitzgerald, must, in Auj;-. 2n, 1862 ; must, out with cunipany 

June 23, 1865. 
Henry Freese, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; must, out with comi)any June 23, 

1865. 
Henry Fulmer, must, in Aug. 20, 1862; wounded at Wilderness, Va., 

May 0, 1804 ; must, out with company June 23, 1805. 
Geoi-ge W. Foreman, nuist. in 3Iarch 29, 1864 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1865. 
Isaac P. Freese, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; died at Philadelphia, Pa., July 

27, of wounds received at Cold Harbor, Va., June 6, 1804. 
Eiios Godshalk, must, iu .\ug. 20, 1862; must, out with company June 

23, 1805. 
Charles Garber, nuist. in Aug. 20, 1862; must, out with company June 

23, 1802. 
Eugene Gritliths, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. Oct. 24, 

1863. 
John F. Houston, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; wounded at Wilderness, Va., 

May 6, 1*64 ; must, out with company Jiuie 23, 1805. 
Joseph S. Hauley, must, in March 7, 1805; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
William II. Jones, must, in Aug. 20, 1K62 ; must, out witli cumpany June 

23, 1865. 

Isaiah T. Joiinson, must, in Aug. 20, 18(i2 ; disch. on surg. certif. April 

24, 1803. 

John M. Jones, must, in Aug. 20, 1802. 

William F. Jones, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; missing in action at Cold 

Harbor. Va., .June 1, 1864. 
John Knause. must, iu Aug. 20, 1^02; wounded at Cedar Creek, Va., 

Oct. 19, 1804 ; disch. by G. O. May 16, 1805. 
Hillary R. Lightcap, must, iu Aug. 20, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 

21, 1S63. 

William H. Moore, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; wounded at Cold Harbor, Va., 

June 8, 1804 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Winfield S. Markley, must, in Aug. 20,1862; wounded at Cold Harbor, 

Va., June 1, 18*54 ; nuist. out with company June 23, 1865. 
Abraham Markley, must, iu March 17. 1803 ; wounded at Monoiiu y, Md., 

July 9, 1804 ; absent, on furlough, at muster out. 
Jesse S. Moyer, must, in Aug. 20, 1802; must, out with comiiauy June 

23, 1865. 
Charles W. Makens, must, in Aug. 2", 1862 ; wounded at Wilderness, 

Va., May 0,and at Opequan Sept. 19, 1S(;4 ; must, out with cunipany 

June 23, 1805. 
.\mos Mitchell, must, in Aug. 23, 1802; must, out with company .Tune 

23, 1805. 
James E. Miller, must, in Aug. 23, 1862; must, out with cunipany June 

23. 1805. 
Jesse A. Slyers, must, in Aug. 20. 1862 ; captured ; died at Audei-sonville, 

Ga., Sept. 20, 1864 ; grave 9,339. 
Daniel M. Noblit, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 : must, out with company June 

23, 1805. 
George W.Neimaii, must, in Feb. in, 1804; disch. by G. O. May 31, 

1865. 
Jesse H. Orner, nuist. in .\ug. 20, 1862 ; captured at Petei-sburg, Va., April 

2, 1865 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Christopher O.xinger, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. Jan. 

22, 1804. 

Lewis F. Ott, must, in Aug. 20, 1862. 

Allen Quarmby, must, iu Aug. 23, 1862; disch. April 10, 1865, for 

wounds received at Wilderness, Va., Bl.ay 6, 1804. 
C. Rhodenbaugh, must, in Aug, 20, 1862; wounded at Wilderness, Va., 

May 6, 1864 ; must, out with company June 23, 1805. 
Ferdinand Seaman, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1865. 
Abraham B. Sutcli, must, in Aug. 20, 1862; wounded at Wilderness, 

Va., May 6, 1804 ; absent, in hospital, at must. out. 



252 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUxXTY. 



Thomas B. Sutch, must, in Feb. 2-i, 18G,i ; must, uiit with LOinpiiny June 

23, 1865. 
Richard N. Shinn, piust. in Aug. 20, 1862; wounded at Cedar Creek, 

Va., Oct. 19, 18G4 ; must, out with company June 23, isn.5. 
George Stiver, must, in Aug. 20, 1^62 ; must, out with company June 23, 

1865. 
Wilmer Still, must, in Avig. 20, 18G2 ; must, out with company June 23, 

1865. 
CuiTin F. Smitli, must, in Aug. 23, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
James C. Saylor, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; wounded in action May 20, 

1864; must, out with company June 23, 18G5. 
Thomas Stewart, must, in March 8, 1865 ; disch. by G. 0. June 20, 1865, 
Albert Spangler, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; dist-h. on surg. certif. April 4, 

1865. 
W. F. Sensenderfer, must, in Aug. 20, 1862; trans to V«t Ues. Con«, 

date unknown. 
Joseph R. Skean, must, in Aug. 20, 1862; killed at AVilderness, Va.. 

3Iay e, 1864. 
A. Vanfossen, Jr., must, in Aug. 23, 1862 ; captured ; died at Auderson- 

ville, Ga., date unknown. 
Jesse Wagner, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; must, out with company June 23, 

1805. 
William Wills, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; wounded at Cold Harbor, Va., 

June 1, 1864 ; discharged by 0. O. June 12, 1865. 
George W. Wilson, must, in Aug. 2n, 1802; wounded at Wildernes.s, 

Va., May 6, 1864 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corjis Jan. 7, 1865 ; dis'-h. on 

surg. certif. April 20, lis65. 
Isaac C. Yost, must, in Aug. 20, 1802; must, out with comjuiny June 

23, 1865. 
Charles A. Yost, must, in Aug. 20, 1802. 

CitMPAXYI. 
August!is G. Feather, cajit.. must, in Sept. 2, 1862; disch. Sept. 13, 

1864. 
Jonathan T. Rorer, oapt., must, in Aug. 29, 1862 ; pro. frum 1st lieut. 

Oct. 1, 1864 ; bvt. maj. Oct. li), 18(i4 ; disch. by S. 0. April 5, 1865. 
William C. Ensly, capt., must, in Aug. 30, 18ti2 ; pro. from 1st sergt. 

to 1st iicut. Nov. 1, 1864 ; bvt. capt. April 6, 1865 ; to capt. May 15, 

1805 ; must. o\it with company June 23, 1865. 
Osceola Lewis, Ist lieut., must, in .\ug. 30, 1862 ; pro. from sergt. -maj. 

May 10, 1865 ; must, out with company June 23, 186."'. 
Juhn H. Fisher, 2d lieut., must, in .Sept. 3, 1862 ; killed at Wilderness, 

Va., :May 6, 1864. 
George H. Rees, Ist sergt., must, in Aug. 26, 1862; wounded at Mine 

Run, Va., Nov. 27, 1803 ; pro. from sergt. Nov. 1, 1864 ; com. 2d 

lieut. April G, 1865 ; nut mustered ; must, out witli company June 

23, 1865. 
George W. ShotTuer, , sergt., must, in .\ug. 26, 1862; wounded at Ope- 

(juan, Va., Sept. 19, 1864 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
David D. Bath, sergt., nnist. in Aug. 3'), 1802 ; must, out with company 

June 2:J, 1805. 
Sylvester W. Snyder, sergt., must, in .\ug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Cedar 

Creek, Va., Oct. 19, 1864, and at Sailor's Creek April 6, 1865 ; disch. 

by G. 0. May 31, 1865. 
John Shoffner, sergt., must, in Aug. 30, 1862 ; wounded at Cold Harbor, 

Va., June 1, 1864; pronuitcd from corp. May 16, 1865 ; must, out 

with company June 23, 1865. 
James W. Kennedy, sergt., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; pro. to q.m. -sergt. 

Sept. 15, 1862. 
Reuben Hallowell, sergt., must, in ,\ug. 26, 1802 ; pru. to corp. .\pril 30, 

1864 ; to sergt. Nov. 1, 1804; to sergt. -maj. 3Iay 16, 18^5. 
Joseph Scattergood, corp., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; prisoner from July 9, 

18Gi, to March, 1865 ; disch. by G. O. June 21, 1805. 
Trustrim Connell, corp., must, in Aug. 2ii, 1S62 ; must, out with com- 
pany June 23, 1865. 
Staats V. D. Wack, Corp., must, in Aug. 26, 1862; wounded at Cold 

Harbor, Va., June Ist, and at Cedar Creek Oct. 19, 1864 ; must, out 

with company June 23, 1865. 
John W. Stoker, corp., must, in Aug. 20, 1862 : must, out with company 

June 23, 1865. 
Slatthias Tyson, i-orp., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1865. 
Edward Sprogell, corp., nmst. in Aui;. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Wilderness 

Va., May 6, lSij4 ; must, out with company June 23, 18G5. 
John Cook, Corp., must, in .Vug. 2t), 1802 ; wounded at Mine Run, Va., 

Nov. 27, 1863 ; pro. to corp. .\pi'il 4, 1865 ; must, out witli compaajf 

June 2.J, 1865. 



Beiyamin Althouse, coi"p., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; pro. to corp. May 16, 

1865 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
George W. Callahan, corp., must, in Aug. 26, 1802 ; trans, to Sig. Corps 

Marcli 1, 1864. 
George H. Klop, corp., must, in Aug. 30, 1862 ; died May 17th of wounds 

received at Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864. 
Christian Kastler, corp., must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; wounded at Wilderness, 

Va., 3Iay 6, 1864 ; pro. to corp. Nov. 1, 1864 ; died April 3d, of 

wounds received at Petersburg April 2, 18(15. 
Samuel M. Lewis, nius., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with com- 
pany J!iue 23, 18r>5. 
William Earle, mus., must, in Sept. 3, 1862 ; pro. to principal musician 

Oct. 30, 1864. 

Privates. 

Thomas .\ltemus, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; diseh. on surg. certif. Feb. 

18, 1863. 

John S. Bennett, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with compjiuy June 

23, 1805. 
John Batman, must, in .\ug. 26, 1862 ; must, out witli cunipiiuy June 23, 

1865. 
Isaac Bennett, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; wounded at Mine Kun, Va., Nov. 

27, 1863 ; must, out with company June 23, 1805. 
Josiah Batman, must, in Aug. 26, 1862; must, out with compatiy June 

23, 1865. 
Kdvvard Baker, must, in .Vug. 26, 1802 ; must, out with mmpany June 23, 

1805. 
William Barnick, must, in .\ug. 26, 1862; must, out with company 

June 23, \HiV: 
William W. Bennett, nuist. in Aug. 26, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. 

Jan. 28, 1805. 
William Batman, must, in Sept. 3, 1862, killed at Wilderness, Va., May 

6, 1864. 
Philip Bailinan, must, in Aug. 26, 1802 ; disch. by G. 0. June 21, 1865. 
R. F. Crouthamel, must, in Aug. 26,1862; mis-iing in a'.-tion at Mine 

Run, Va., Nov. 27. 1863. 
Reuben C. Clinier, must, in Aug. 20, 1S02. 
Kilniund Dolby, must, in .\ug. 20, 1802 ; wounded at Opeijuan, Va., Sept. 

19, 1864 ; must, "ut with company June 23, 1865. 

Paul Dier, must in Aug. 26, 1862; must, out with company June 23, 

1865. 
William Diemer, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with coinp;iuy Juno 

23, 1865. 
William G. Kvans, must, in Aug. 2'j, 1862 ; must, out witli company 

June 23, 1865. 
Charlfrt H. Earle, must, in Sept. 3, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1805. 
William Eppright, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; died at Baltim >re, Md , July 

29th of wounds of received at Monocacy July 0, 1864. 
John G. Fry, nuist. in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with c >nip my June 23, 

1805. 
Peter Frey, must, in Aug. 56, 1802 ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 18, 

1863. 
John Hallinan, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out witli C'lmpuny June 

23, 1865. 
W. W. Hendricks, must, in Aug. 26, 18r>2 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1805. 
Joseph D. Hagey, nmst. in .\ug. 20, 1802 ; wounded at Cold Harbor, Va., 

June 1, 1804, and at Peter8l)urg April 2, 1805 ; absent, in hospital, at 

must. out. 
John Hurd, must, in Aug. 211, 1862 ; must, out with company June 23, 

1863. 
James 31. Hay, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
Harry R. Uuglies, must, in .V.ug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with compauy 

June 23, 1805. 
Joseph Holt, must, in Aug. 26, 1862; wounded at Mine Run, Va., Nov. 

27, 181"^ ; disch. on surg. certif. Aug. in, 1864. 
Harrison Hinkle, must, in -\ug. 26, 1862 ; disch. by G. 0. May 16, 

1865. 
John F. Hay, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; wounded at Monocacy, Md., July 

9, 18t,4 ; disch. liy G. 0. May 16, 1865. 
William H. Heritage, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Cold Harbor, 

Va., June I, 1804 ; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps Jan. 7, 1805. 
Samuel R. Iroton, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; captured ; died at Andersou- 

ville, Ga., Oct. 10, 1804 ; grave 10,010. 
Eli Long, must, in Aug. 26, 1802; must, out with company Juno 23^ 

1805. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



253 



Samuel P. Moore, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Cold Harbor, Va., 

June 1, 18G4 ; umnt. out with company Juno 23, lS6o. 
Charles JIaurer, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

23, I860. 
Mahlon Murry, must, in Feb. 15, 1864 ; absent, sick, at must. out. 
Joeeph Micbener, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; died June 8tb, of wounds 

received at Cold Harbor, Va., June 1, 18G4. 
Jeremiah Mitchell, nuist. iu Aug. 26, 1862. 
William H. Pugh, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
James Parks, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Wilderness, Va., May 

6, 1864 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Charles Prinzing, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Cold Harbor, Va., 

June 1, 1864 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Reese Pugh, must, in Aug. 26, 1862; trans, to Vet. Res. Corps March 

17, 1864. 

"William Renner, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
Peter Eeinholt, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Mine Run, Va., 

Nov. 27, 1863 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Simon K. Ronner, must, in Aug. 26, 1862; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 

18, 1863. 

Benjamin F. Roberts, must, in .\ug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Jline Run, Va., 

Nov. 27, 1863 ; disch. by special order May 5, 1865. 
Christian Rudolph, must, in Jan. 30, 1865; discb. on surg. certif. May 

12, 1865. 
Joseph J. Roberts, must, in Aug. 30, 1862 ; died at Relay Huuse, Md., 

Nov. 5, 1864. 
Joseph Rohr, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; killed at Monocacy, 5Id., July 9, 

1864. 
David F. Shelmire, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1865. 
Otto Schoenian, must, in Aug. 26, 1862; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
Seth C. Smith, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
Aug. Schodstadt, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
John Seifert, must, in Aug. 16, 1862; wounded at Wilderness, Va., May 

6, 1864 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
George W. Smith, must, in Feb. 27, 1865 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
Christian Stagner, must, in Aug. 26, 1862; died of wounds received at 

Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864. 
Henry Swartley, must, in Aug. 26, 1862; died of wounds received at 

Wilderness, Va., 3Iay 6, 1864. 
Jacob Tyson, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company June 23, 

1865. 
Jonas Tranger, must, in Aug. 26, 1862; wounded at Cold Harbor, Va.. 

June 1, 1864 : must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
William E. Tucker, must, in Aug. 26, 1862; must, out with company 

June 23, 1865. 
Eli Thomas, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; died near Relay House, Md., Feb. 

11, 1863. 
William H. Vansant, must, in .\.ug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 23, I860. 
William H. Watson, must, in Aug, 26, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1865. 
Saul M. Wilkinson, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1865. 
Joseph L. Williams, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Spottsylvania 

Court-IIouse, Va., May 12, 1863 ; must, out with company June 23, 

1865. 
Charles L. Williams, must, in Feb. 27, 1865; absent, on furlough, at 

must. out. 
Joshua Wood, must, in .\ug. 26, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. Feb. 18, 1863. 
James Wilson, must, iu Sept. 3, 1862 ; killed at Opequan, Va,. Sept. 19, 

1864. 

COMPANY K. 

Richard T. Stewart, capt., must, in Oct. 2, 1862 ; captured at Monocacy 
Md., July 9, 1864 ; disch. by special order May 15, 1865. 

AmoB W. Rertolett, Ist lieut., must, in Aug. 3, 1862 ; discb. by special 
order Jan, 23. 1863. 

Jonathan P. Iredell, 1st lieut.. must, in Oct. 2, 1862 : pro. from 2d lieut. 
Feb. 5, 1863 ; com. capt. May 18, 1865 ; not nnist.; wounded at Cold 
Harbor, Va., June Ist, at Opequan Sept. 19, 1864, and at Petersburg, 
Va., April 2, 1865 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 



Abraham H. Kline, 2d lieut., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; pro. from Istsergt, 

Feb. 5, 1863 ; discb. Aug. 17, 1863. 
Israel C. Wood, Istsergt., must, in Aug. 26, 1862; wounded at Monoc- 
acy, Md., July 9, 1864; pro. from sergt. April 7, 1865 ; must, out 

with company June 23, 1865. 
Charles B. Thompson, Ist sergt., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; pro. from sergt, 

Jan. 30, 1863 ; com. 2d lieut. Aug. 18, 1863 ; not must. ; killed at 

Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864. 
Stokes C. Bodder, 1st sergt., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; pro. from sergt. 

May 8, 1864 ; wounded at Opequan, V^, Sept. 19, 1864 ; killed at 

Sailor's Creek, Va., April 6, 1865. 
Jacob W. Trout, sergt., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; pro. from corp. April 13, 

1863 ; must, out with company Jime 23, 1865. 
William H. Shively, sergt., must, in Aug, 26, 1862 ; pro. from corp. Jan. 

30, 18 i3 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
George R. Palmer, sergt., must, in Aug, 26, 1862 ; pro. from corp. June 

1, 1864 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Lewis P. Tetter, sergt., must, in Aug. 26, 1862; pro. to corp. Jan. 30, 

1863 ; to sergt. April 7, 1865 ; must, out with company June 23, 

1865, 
Barc'y Kenderdine, sergt., must, in Sept. 11, 1662 ; pro. to corp. Aug. 8, 

1863; wounded iit C«dar Creek, Va., Oct. 19,1864; must, out with 

coniftany June 23, 1865. 
Charles W. Umstead, sergt,, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; pro. to corp. June 

1, 1864 ; must, out with company June 23, 1805. 
Beiyamin F. Walton, sergt., must, in Aug, 26, 1862 ; wounded at Wild- 
erness, Va,, May 5, 1S64 ; pro. to corp. Dec. 29, 1864; must, out 

with company June 23, 1865. 
John H. Smith, sergt., must, in Sept. 10, 1862; pro. to corp. April 7, 

I860 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Charles R. Magee, sergt., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Cedar 

Creek, Va., Oct. 19, 1864; pro. to corp. April 7, 1865; must, out 

with company June 2-'5, 1865. 
Henry H. Umstead, corp,, must, in Sept. 10, 1862 ; wounded at Wilder- 
ness, Va., 5Iay 5, 1864 ; pro. to corp. April 7, 1865 ; must, out with 

company June 23, 1865. 
J. B. Undercoffer, corp., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Mine Run, 

Va., Sept. 27, 1863 ; pro. to corp. April 7, 1865 ; must, out with com- 
pany June 23, 1865. 
Elias Lewis, corp,, muf>t, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Mine Run, Va. 

Sept. 27, 1863 ; disch. on surg. certif. April 24, 1864. 
Charles Wood, corp., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. April 

28, 1864. 
Samuel Hallraan, corp., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Monocacy, 

Md., July 9, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. May 13. 1865. 
William P. Iredell, corp., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; died at Sharpsburg, 

Md., July 16, 1863. 
Solomon Sabold. corp., must, in Sept. 10, 1862 ; pro. to corp. Aug. 8, 

1863 ; died at Brandy Station, Va., Feb. 20, 1864. 
J. II. Asbenfelter, Corp., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; pro. to corp. Aug. 8, 

1863; killed at Wilderness May 5. 1864. 
Daniel Kulp, corp., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; pro. to corp. April 13, 1863 ; 

killed at Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864. 
Augustus Hoffman, corp., must, in Sept. 10, 1862 ; pro. to Corp. Oct. 20, 

1862. 
John Lingle, mus., must, in Aug. 26, 1862; must, out with company 

June 23, 1865. 
L. P. Heffelfinger, mus., must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out \vitb com- 
pany June 23, 1865. 

Private*. 

George W. .-Vshton, must, iu Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1865. 
Pierson ,\Ilen, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; nmst. out with company June 

23, 1865. 
Samuel E. Bright, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
Servatus S. Brey, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1865. 
George R. Brown, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1865. 
John Blaker, must, in June 4, 186:5 ; absent, on furlough, at must. out. 
William B. Biddle, must, in Aug. 31, 1864 ; wounded at Cedar Creek, 

Va., Oct. 19, 1864 ; absent, in hospital, at must. out. 
James Berks, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Mine Run, Va., Not. 

27, 1863 ; disch. on surg. certif. March 7, 1864, 
George H. Burke, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; killed at Wilderness, Va., May 

6, 1864. 



254 



HISTORY OF MOJ^TGOMEKY COUNTY. 



Benjamin Brayman, must, in Aug. 2ij, 18()'2 ; killed at Wilderness, Va., 

May 0, 1SI34. 
Enos N. Benner, nmst. in Aug. '.iO, 18G2. 
James Cannon, muat. in Aug. 2l>. 1802 ; wounded at Cold Harbor, Va., 

June 1, 18i)-i ; trans, tu ;J8tli Co., 2d Batt., Vet. Res. Corps ; disch. 

by G. 0. Aug. 4, ISO.'i. 
John Cratz, must, m Sept. 10, 1802 ; wounded at Wildernes-s, Va., May 

6, 18(j4 ; must, out with company June 23, 18(io. 
George W. Dutter. must, in Aug. 2tj, 18li2 ; wounded at Spottsylvauia 

Court-House Jliiy l;itli, aud at Cedar Creek, Va., Oct. 19, 18(>4 ; must. 

out with company June 2:j, 1805. 
John Donahue, uinst. in April 8, 1803 ; diecb. by G. 0. June 16, 1865. 
Josiah Emery, luu^t. in Aug. 26, 1802 ; must, out with company June 

23, 1800. 
Edward D. Ervin, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; wounded at Monocacy, Md., 

July 9, 1804 ; trans, to 2d Batt. Vet. Res. Coi-ps March 7, 1865 ; disch. 

by G. 0. Aug. 26, 1805. 
Joshua Emery, nmst. in Supt. lU, 1862. 
Owen Emery, must, in Aug. 26, 1802. 
Peter L. Flack, must, in Aug. 26, 1802 ; died at Frederick, Md., Aug. Gtb, 

of wounds received at Monocacy July 9, 186-1 ; buried in National 

Cemetery, Antietam, section 20, lot E, grave 525. 
Noah B. Gebphart, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company 

Juno 23, 1805. 
Conrad HotTnagle, nmst. in Sept. 29, 1802 ; wounded at Wilderness, Va., 

May 6, 1804 ; nmst. out with company June 23, 1865. 
Jacob lluzzard, must, in .Vug. 20, 1862. 
Silas Kingkiuer, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; wounded at Wilderness, A'a., 

May 0, 1804 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
John 1>. Kelley, must, in Aug. 20, 1802; captured at Monocacy, Md., 

July 9, 1804; must, uut with company June 23, 1805. 
Henry Kulp, must, m Aug. 26, 1802; wounded at Cedar Creek, ^'a., 

Oct. 19, 1804 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Michael Kelley, nmst. in Aug. 31, 1804; must, out with company Juno 

23, 1865. 
David Kingkiner, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; died at Relay House, Md., 

April 22, 1803. 
Daniel Linker, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; must, uut with company June 

23, 1865. 
Charles T. Lukens, must, in Aug. 26, 1802 ; disch. on surg. certif. April 

12, 1SG5. 
Jeremiah Leslior, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; missing in action at Wilder- 
ness, Va., May 6, 1804. 
Charles Mostler, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; must, out with company Juno 

23, 1865. 
John Murphy, must, in May 18, 1804 ; nmst. out with company Juno 

23, 1805. 
Henry C. 31oser, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; wounded at Mine Run, Va., 

Nov. 27, 1803, and at Wilderness May G, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. June 

2, 1805. 
Amos Mullen, must, in Aug. 26, 1802 ; died at Elk Ridge Landing, Md., 

Oct. 25, 1802. 
Patrick Monagau, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; died at Brandy Station, Va., 

March 13, 1804, of accidental wounds. 
John F. Miller, must, in Aug. 26, 1802 ; killed at Wilderness, Va., May 

6, 1864. 
Rinehart P. March, nmst. in Sept. lu, 1802 ; died at Alexandria, Va., 

May 25th, of wounds received at Wilderness May 6, 1804. 
Aaron Mattis,must. in Aug. 20, 1802 ; captured at Wilderness, Va., May, 

1804 ; died at Andersouville, Ga., Oct. 12, 1804 ; grave 1U,803. 
Sylvester Merrick, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; captured at Monocacy, Md., 

July 9, 1804 ; died at Danville, Va., Oct. 13, 1804. 
Dennis McCabe, must, in Aug. 26, 1862 ; must, out with comjiauy June 

23, 1865. 
Stephen 3IcCullough,must. in Aug. 20, 1862 ; captured at Andersonville, 

Ga , Sept. 19, 1864 ; grave 9922. 
Bernard McMahon, must, in Sept. 30, 1862. 
William Neff, nmst. in Aug. 20, 1862; wounded at Cold Harbor, Va., 

Jtine 1. 1864 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 
Henry Nicholas, must, in Aug. 26, 1802 ; wounded at Cold Harbor, Va., 

June 1, 1804 ; disch. on surg. certif. Ajiril 15, 1805. 
Charles O'Neil, nmst. in Aug. 26, 1862. 
Hiram M. Puff, must, in Aug. 26, 1862; wounded at Wildernsss, Va., 

May 6th, and at Opetiuan, Sept. 19, 1864 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 18ti5. 
George H. Paulus, must, in Sept. 10, 1862 ; wounded at Cedar Creek, Va., 

Oct. 19, 1864 ; must, out with company June 23, 1865. 



Franklin Ritads, must, in Aug. 26, 1802; wounded at Mine Run, Va., 

Nov. 27, 18()3 ; must, out with company June 23, 1805. 
Hoi-ucc Kosenberry, must, in March 10, 1864 ; nut on muster-out roll. 
Henry C. Seiglreid, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; wounded at Monocacy, Md., 

July 9, 1804; disch. by G. O. July 1, 1805. 
Eli Sabold, must, in Aug. 26, 1802 ; wounded at Cedar Creek, Va., Oct. 

19, 1864 ; must, out with company June 23, 1805. 
I^achar ShuiMuaUd^r, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; disch. on surg. certif. Dec. 

22, 1804. 
Edwin Steiner, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; missing in action at Wilderness, 

Va., May 6, 1864. 
William Trear, nmst. in Aug. 26, 186i. 
J. W. Undercuffcr, nmst. in March IS, 1864 ; wounded at Wilderness, Va., 

May 6, and at Sailor's Creek, April 6, 1865 ; must, out with company 

June 23, 1865. 
Jonas Undercotter, must, in March IS, 1864; must, out with company 

June 23, 1805. 
Thomas Whalon, niust. in Aug. 20, 1802; wounded at Wilderness, Va., 

May 5, 1864 ; absent, sick, at muster-out. 
Enos R. Wiisser, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; nmst. out with company June 

'23, 1805. 
John Weid, must, in Aug. 20, 1802 ; must, out with company June 23, 

1865. 
John A. Woodhust, must, in Sept. 2'.*, 1802 ; must, out with company 

June 23, iHOo. 
James G. Wells, must, in Aug. 23, 1S62 ; pro. to hospital steward Sept. 

1, 1862. 
John Zeigier, must, in Aug. 20, 1862 ; must, out with company June 23, 

1805. 

One Hundred and Sixtieth Regiment Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers, Fifteenth (Anderson) Cavalry 
(three years' service).' — This regiiueut was recruited 

> " The Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry (One Hundred and Sixtieth 

Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteei-s) was recruited by officers of the 
Anderson Troop, a conjpany named after General Robert Andereou, the 
hero of Fort Sumter, which had been in service under General 
Buell. 

" In the sunnuL-r of 1802, Captain William I. Palmer, assisted by Ward, 
Verziii, Seeger and othere of the old Anderson Troop, opened recruiting 
offices at Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other points throughout the 
State. 

"A peculiar feature at the recruiting station iu Philadelphia (corner 
Third and Willing's Alley) wa3 the requirement that recruits for the 
Fifteenth should furnish recommenilations as to character, etc. 

" It W!is stated at headiiuartera that the regiment was intended for 
special duty under General Buell, who was then in command of the gal- 
lant and successful Army of the Southwest. 

** Applicants were numerous, aud some of the best material of the State 
was tlms secured. 

"The men were measured for their uniforms at Rockhill & Wilson's 
Chestnut Street clothing-house, and purchased their heavy cavalry boots 
of Dickerman, Philadelphia. 

"It was originally intended to increase the old troop to a battalion 
only, and it has been frequently urged that no sufficient authority waa 
given for a greater number, but a full regiment was enlisted and placed 
in active service. 

" The men were taken in detachments to Carlisle Barracks, in Cumber- 
land County, Pennsylvania, and were drilled there by officera of the reg- 
ular army, on duty at the barracks. 

"It is asserted that there was some conflict as to the regiment between 
the War Department and the State authorities. 

" At all events, there was some hitch or hindrance at some important 
point which resulted in trouble to officers and men, and occasioned con- 
siderable irregularity in the organization and equipment of the regi- 
ment. 

" Acting Colonel Palmer was captured at Antietam, and was afterward 
succeeded in teniponiry command by Acting Lieutenant-Colonel Spencer. 

"The officei-s, however, were only temporary, and orders were issued 
as mere 'temporally arrangements.' Men not above the grade of ser- 
geants were in command of companies, while the men of the regiment 
had no voice in the selection of their non-commissioned or other 
officer's. 

" In this unfortunate condition, without equipment, without commis- 
sioned officers, aud apparently without remedy, all efforts to secure a 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



255 



in the autumn of 1862, by order of the Seeretarv of 
War, and was designed for special service. Captain 
William J. Palmer, who had previously organized an 
independent company known in history as the An- 
derson Troop, departed from the usual rule of per- 
mitting the enlisted men to elect the line and field 
officers, the recruits "having by their terms of enlist- 
ment waived their right to choose their own officers." 
The duty ot selecting line, field and staff officers for a 
new regiment imposed a task of more than ordinary 
responsibility, and the men who patriotically waived 
the privilege, universally accorded to all Pennsylvania 
troops, subsequently learnedby a painful exi)erience 
that the selection of subordinate officers is attended 
with a measure of dissatisfaction not less marked than 
that which prevails where they are made the subject 
of popular choice. Home associations were not rec- 
ognized in the organization of this regiment, nor 
in the appointment and assignment of line officers to 
duty. The promotion of line officers was not by 
company, as was the custom among Pennsylvania 
Volunteers. It was thought judicious to ailopt the 
rule prevailing in the regular army, and promote by 
seniority throughout the regiment, the senior captain 
always being iu command of Company A and the 
junior captain in comnumd of Company M, and the 
same of lieutenants. The recruits were mustered 
into the service at Carlisle, Pa. Officers were 
assigned them who, by the aid of the post-officers 
of the regular army then stationed at Carlisle, com- 
menced instruction and drill. The incursion of Lee 
into Maryland in the month of September, threaten- 
ing Western Pennsylvania, induced great activity 
among all the trooi)S then in process of organization, 
and this regiment, with those in camp at Harrisburg, 

change proving ineffectual, — a condition which naturally tends to pro- 
duce demoralisation and frequently lejids to insubordination in any 
service, military or civil, — the regiment was, on short notice, hurried out 
of the grand old connuonweulth of Pennsylvania, by .\cting Lieutenant- 
Colonel Spencer, to Louisville, Kentucky, and from thence, wretchedly 
mounted and iuelhciently equipped, to Nasliville, Tennessee, whence, in 
a day or two, they were marched to the front, and underGeneral Stanley, 
chief of cavalry of General Kosecrans, had the extreme advance at the 
battle of Murfreesboro'. 

" The loss to the regiment in that battle was heavy. After the death 
of the gallant Majors Ward and Rosengarten and of the heroic Kimbes, 
General Stanley said, in a voice that rang like a trumpet : 

" ' I will take command of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania.' With that 
he drew his sword, shouted the command, ' Draw sabre ! Charge ! Follow 
me ! ' It was gallantly done and the regiment marched upon the foe. 

" But alas ! many of the brave and brilliant men of the Fifteenth, 
whose genius, dash and courage gave promise of distinguished and emi- 
nent service to the government were slain or crippled for life on that 
bloody field in the memorable Christmas holidJiys of 1862. 

** The great delays in properly organizing the regiment and the lack of 
suitable supplies and equipments had culminated in widespread dissatis- 
faction, and troubles arose which for a time seriously threjitened the or- 
ganization. 

"These, however, were afterwards happily adjusted. 

".\fter the restirganization Orderly Sergeant Charles M. Betts rose 
rapidly to the colonelcy of the regiment, and its subsequent fine career 
under his efficient command was duo in a great measure to his noble 
qualities asan officer and gentleman. 

"Alkxander K. Cutler, 

"Late Fifteenth Pennsylvania C'tvalry.'^ 



were ]mt in marching orders, and their first ex])erience 
in the hanlsliips of active service was realized in their 
native State. Their historian says, "The regiment 
was ordered to remain in the Cumberland Valley, 
and two hundred and fifty picked men, with three 
days' rations and thirty-six rounds of ammunition per 
man, were ordered to the front. They proceeded by 
rail to Greencastle, where the detachment procured 
horses for one hundred and fifty of their number, and 
with these they picketed all the public roads leading 
south, the enemy being in force atornearHagerstowu. 
The outposts came in conflict with the enemy on the 
12th and 13th of September and acquitted themselves 
with credit. These troops were on duty during the 
battle of Antietam, and subsequently, on the ISthof 
September, Captain Palmer, who was to be commis- 
sioned colonel of the regiment, while in discharge of 
hazardous and difficult duty within the enemy's lines, 
was captured and sent to Richmond. U|)on the re- 
treat of Lee south of the Potomac the entire detach- 
ment returned to their camp at Carlisle, having re- 
turned to the good people in the neighborhood of 
GreenCiistle the horses used in their first campaign. 

The capture of Captain Palmer at this critical junc- 
ture proved a great misfortune, as the command was 
left without a head. On the 1st of October, William 
Spencer, first lieutenant <if the troop, was commis- 
sioned lieutenant-colonel, Adolph C. Rosengarten and 
Frank B. Ward, majors, and the regiment was organ- 
ized in ten companies. A full list of company officers 
was presented to the proper authorities for appoint- 
ment, but only eleven of these were commissioned. 
On the 7th of November the regiment moved by rail 
to Louisville, Ky., where, upon its arrival, it went into 
cam]), and was mounted. A month later it was 
ordered forward to Nashville, where the main army, 
now under command of General Rosecrans, was assem- 
bled. At this time the command had seven field and 
staff officers, twelve line and about two-thirds of its 
complement of non-commissioned officers. On the 
25th a detachment of two hundreil and fifty men was ■ 
seat out as guard to a foraging train, and while beyond 
the lines, on the Hillsboro' pike, was attacked, and 
one man killed ; but the enemy was beaten back, and 
the laden train brought safely in. 

The army was now upon the eve of advancing to 
meet Bragg in tlic battle of Stone River. On the 
26th an order was issued for the regiment to advance 
with General Stanley's division of cavalry. Much 
dissatisfaction had prevailed previous to leaving 
Louisville on account of the want of officers and the 
lack of efficiency in the organization ; but the men 
had determined to march to Nashville, and there lay 
their grievances before General Rosecrans, all appeals 
to Governor Curtin and to the Secretary of War 
having proved fruitless. Rosecrans was now busy 
with the movement of his forces, and could not be 
seen. With only a single commissioned officer to the 
company, the command was really in no condition to 



25« 



HISTORY OF MOiNTGOMERY COUNTY. 



move; but the order for it was peremptory. The offi- 
cers, with about three hundred of the men, under the 
leadership of Majors Rosengarten and Ward, rendered 
prompt obedience. The remainder, to the number of 
about six hundred, stacked arms and refused to go. 
Stanley covered the riglit flank of the advancing 
army, and on the 27th came up with the enemy, when 
brisk skirmishing opened, and the enemy was driven 
back nearly five miles. On the 29th the command 
marched by a circuitous route to Wilkinson's Cross- 
Roads, where it encountered a body of rebel cavalry. 
Dej^loying skirmishers, the enemy was driven a mile, 
■when a charge was ordered, and was led by Majors 
Rosengarten and Ward. Gallantly the command 
went forward, but soon encountered the enemy's in- 
fantry in overpowering numbers. The struggle was 
maintained with desperate valor, and at close quarters, 
the men using their pi.stols and clubbing their car- 
bines. At the height of the encounter Major Rosen- 
garten was killed, and Major Ward mortally wounded. 
The battalion was finally forced to retire. Major 
Ward, who had been helped to the rear, insisted upon 
another charge, though bleeding from several wounds. 
The attempt was made, but the command was again 
repulsed. The loss was thirteen killed or mortally 
wounded and sixty-nine wounded and missing. The 
command now devolved on Captain Vezin, and, with 
the First Tennessee Cavalry, it moved in pursuit of 
the enemy's horse, which had destroyed a Union 
wagon-train. All night long the march continued, 
but without avail. On the afternoon of the 31st 
it joined General Minty's brigade in a charge on 
Wheeler's cavalry, led by (ieneral Stanley in person, 
in which the enemy was driven in upon his supports. 
In this charge. Private Holt, of Company H, cajjtured 
and brought off the colors of the Tenth Tennessee 
(rebel) Cavalry, on which was inscribed: "Death 
before Subjugation." At night the command was ad- 
vanced and deployed in line of skirmishers, where it 
remained until the morning of the New Year. The 
enemy, who had gained a signal advantage in the 
morning of the 31st, routing and driving back the 
right wing of Roseerans' army, had been stopped and 
signally repulsed at evening. There was little more 
hard fighting, the enemy retreating rapidly on the 3d, 
and leaving the field in the hands of the Union army. 
On the morning of the 1st the battalion, with the 
Third Ohio, was detailed to guard a train on its way 
back to Nashville, and was twice attacked, losing four 
killed and three wounded. 

In the mean time General Mitchell, in command at 
Nashville, determined to compel the men who re- 
mained in camp to go to the front, and accordingly 
sent General Morgan, on the 30th, to execute his 
purpose. Upon the offer of General Morgan to take 
them to General Roseerans they were soon in saddle, 
and all, save a detachment left in charge of the camp 
and the sick, were upon the march, under command of 
Colonel Woods, of an Illinois regiment, who had been 



detailed by General Morgan to command them. At 
Lavergne they were stopped by a powerful body of 
the enemy's cavalry, under command of Wheeler. 
Unable to cope with him. Colonel ^Voods was com- 
pelled to fall back. Famishing with hunger, neither 
men nor horses having had regular sujjplics for many 
days, one hundred of the numljer went into camj> six 
miles from Nashville, and on the following day made 
their way to the front, but the remainder returned to 
their old camp near the city, from which they refused 
again to move, and on the evening of the 31st were 
sent by General Mitchell to the work-house. On the 
20th of January, 1863, General Roseerans sent them 
a proposition that if they would return to duty he 
would have them speedily reorganized and fully offi- 
cered. As this was all that they were clamoring for, they 
accepted it. On the 7th of February, Colonel Palmer 
returned from captivity and resumed command, when 
everything began again to wear a cheerful aspect. 
Horses and a full complement of equipments were re- 
ceived, and the regiment was organized in twelve 
companies, with the following field officers : William 
J. Palmer, colonel ; Charles B. Lamborn, lieutenant- 
colonel. 

Mucli abuse was heaped upon the men who refused 
to march, and the wildest rumors prevailed concerning 
their motives. The rebel organs throughout the South 
proclaimed that the Yankee soldiers at Nashville 
were laying down their arms by regiments, in conse- 
quence of the issue of the President's emancipation 2>ro- 
clamation ; whereas, it is probable that not a thought of 
this proclamation ever entered their counsels. Charges 
of cowardice and disappointment at not being taken to 
duty at the headquarters of the commanding general 
were made, but the lack of organization and of offi- 
cers, and want of efficient leadership, seems to have 
been the simple and only cause of their conduct. 
While the unfortunate situation in which they were 
placed must ever be deplored, and their refusal to 
march condemned, the conduct of the men who fol- 
lowed the gallant Rosengarten and Ward, even under 
the most discouraging circumstances, and met death 
in the face of the foe, will never cease to be regarded 
with admiration and gratitude. 

Active operations commenced .soon after its reor- 
ganization. On the 4th of April a detachment of 
three hundred, with infantry and artillery, all under 
command of General I. N. Palmer, scouted in the di- 
rection of Woodbury, the detachment having a brisk 
skirmish four miles beyond the town, and on the fol- 
lowing day took some prisoners and released some 
Union conscripts near McMinnville. On the 7th it 
charged a body of the enemy near the Barrens, cap- 
turing eighteen of his men. Returning to camp near 
Murfreesboro', the regiment was reviewed on the 10th 
by General Roseerans. 

On the 24th of June the army moved forward on 
the Chickamauga campaign, when Companies B, H 
and K were detailed as escort to the general com- 



THE GKEAT REBELLION. 



257 



manding, and the remainder of the regiment was em- 
ployed for courier duty between the right and left 
wings of the army, under Generals McCook and Crit- 
tenden. The latter was required to obtain a knowl- 
edge of the topography of the country in advance of 
the army, requiring much activity. On the 24th, 
Companies E and L. while bearing dispatches to 
Oeneral Mitchell, at Rover, encountered a party of 
the enemy and dispersed it, killing two and capturing 
several, delivering the dispatches in safety. Again, on 
the 29th, nearly the entire regiment, under the com- 
mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Lam1)orn, encountered a 
body of rebel cavalry north of Tullahoma, driving 
them in upon their intrenchments, and capturing fif- 
teen. It soon after advanced with Thomas to Tulla- 
homa, the enemy retreating. About the middle of 
August the army again moved forward, and until the 
openinjofthe bittle of Chickamauga the regiment 
was ke])t busy in scouting the country and preparing 
maps for the use of the general commanding. During 
the first day of the battle, September 19th, the regi- 
ment w;is on duty at General Rosecrans' headquarters, 
guarding flank-roads, watching the movements of the 
enemy and carrying dispatches. When the right 
gave way, on the second day, Colonel Palmer was 
ordered' by General Rosecrans to form the regiment 
so as to stop stragglers. The line was formed near 
the foot of Mission Ridge, west of the Crawfish road, 
and had stopped a larger number, when the regiment 
was ordered to the rear by General Sheridan, moving 
by the top of the ridge to the left. Following the 
rear of the w.igon-trains and batteries to a point 
twelve miles south of Chattanooga, Colonel Palmer 
turned to the left, and formed his regiment across the 
valley, a mile south of where the trains debouched to- 
wards Chattanooga, and sent out scouting-parties in 
the direction of Pond Spring and Stevens' Gap. The 
smoke of Colonel Watkins' wagons, which the rebel 
cavalry were burning atStevens' Gap, was here visible. 
Remaining until the cavalry of General Mitchel had 
come up, the regiment moved on with the rear of the 
train to Chattanooga. Company L, sent ten miles 
out on Lookout Mountain to watch the movements of 
the enemy, was cut oif, but succeeded in making its 
way through his lines, and rejoining the regiment in 
Chattanooga. 

Bragg closed in upon the array of Rosecrans, send- 
ing out his cavalry to operate upon his communica- 
tions. The animals were soon reduced to a starving 
condition. Colonel Palmer was, accordingly, sent 
with his calvary into the Sequatchie Valley, thirty 
miles awa)', and encamped on Robinson's plantation, 
where corn and provisions were found in abundance, 
and from which supplies were sent to Chattanooga. 

Soon after the battle of the 2-5th of November, 
which swept Bragg from his strongholds around the 
city, and gave light and life to the starving army of 
Thomas, Colonel Palmer was ordered to move to 
Kingston with his regiment, and join Sherman, now 
17 



on his way to Knoxville to relieve the beleaguered 
army of Burnside. Sherman did not cross at King- 
ston, but kept up the left bank of the Tennessee, and 
Palmer, consequently, moved forward on the right 
bank, and was the first to report at Knoxville. On 
the day following its arrival General Burnside ordered 
it to Sevierville to meet a body of the enemy, in part 
Indians, from North Carolina, under Colonel Thomas. 
Sending a squadron under Lieutenant-Colonel Lam- 
born to demonstrate in front, Colonel Palmer led the 
main body, by night, across the mountains by a cir- 
cuitous route, coming in upon the rear of the rebel 
force, and by a well-concerted action, attacking at 
daylight in front and flank, completely routed it, 
wounding seven and capturing two of the enemy, fif- 
teen horses and twenty stands of arms, and burning 
the camp. Captains Charles M. Betts and George S. 
Clark were among the wounded in the engagement. 
Captain McAllister, with two companies, F aud G, 
was sent in pursuit of the fugitives, but failed to over- 
take them. The regiment was now engaged in scout- 
ing on the left flank, and in rear of Longstreet's army, 
which was leisurely pursuing its way towards Vir- 
ginia, extending along the French Broad River as far 
as Newport, having frequent skirmishes with rebel 
cavalry, and capturing prisoners from whom import- 
ant information was gained. On the night cif the 23d 
of December the command crossed the French Broad, 
and pushing up under cover of darknesss to the rear 
of the enemy's cavalry corps, captured a number of 
his pickets, thirteen horses and twenty-six head of 
cattle, and brought them safely into camp, though 
closely pursued. On the 2-lth the regiment partici- 
pated in the battle of Dandridge, which was fought 
by the brigades of Sturgis and Elliott. After a sharp 
skirmish the enemy was driven, and in full retreat, 
but was timely reinforced by a brigade from Morris- 
town, and was thus enabled to make a stand, before 
which the Union force was obliged to retire. In the 
fight a spirited dash was made by Colonel Palmer, 
with ninety of his men, before whom the enemy fled 
in confusion ; but returning, he w'as tired on by a 
party in concealment, and ten of his men were dis- 
mounted and fell into the hands of the foe. Captain 
Washington Airey was among these, and for fourteen 
months endured the hardships and privations of im- 
prisonment, being finally released to die of disease 
contracted thereby. The entire loss was seventy-five 
in killed, wounded and prisoners. On the 29th a 
sharp engagement occurred at Mossy Creek, aud af- 
ter a content lasting six hours the enemy was hand- 
somely repulsed. Two spirited cliarges were made 
by the Fifteenth, gaining and holding an important 
position on the field, for which it was complimented 
by General Sturgis. It lost one officer, Lieutenant 
and Acting Adjutant Harvey S. Lingle, killed, and 
five men wounded. 

Longstreet having put his army in winter-quarters 
near Russellville, was sending his cavalry back to the 



258 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



rich corn-fields of the French Broad Valley for sup- 
plies. Tlie Fifteenth had become expert in scouting to 
ascertain the movements of the enemy and to harass 
his foraging-parties. It was, accordingly, posted at 
Dandridge, and charged especially with this duty. 
For two weeks it scouted the whole country on the 
enemy's flank, coming down upon him at tlie most 
unexpected moments, marching day and niglit, pick- 
ing up prisoners and gathering stock almost within 
the limits of reljel encampments. On the 13th of 
January, 1863, while in camp opposite Dandridge, 
Colonel Palmer learned that Brigadier-General 
Vance, with a force of three hundred cavalry and 
dismounted Indians, with two pieces of artillery, had 
advanced from North Carolina, and entered Sevier- 
ville, twelve miles in Colonel Palmer's rear, captur- 
ing twenty wagons loaded with wheat, belonging to 
the army at Knoxville, and twenty prisoners. 
Though a brigade of rebel cavalry was in his front, 
threatenening an attack, Colonel Palmer determined 
to go in pursuit of Vance. Accordingly, heading a 
party of one hundred and twenty-five men, and leav- 
ing his pickets out to deceive the enemy in his front, 
he started on his daring mission. On the way he 
learned that Vance's forces had been divided, one 
party, including- the Indians, going toward North 
Carolina, the other, headed by Vance himself, with 
the captured train, taking a back numntain-road to- 
wards Newport. After a march of tliirty miles Pal- 
mer come up with the latter party at a point about 
eight miles from Newport, and by a bold charge with 
the sabre captured the general, two of his staff offi- 
cers, a lieutenant, fifty men, one hundred and fifty 
horses, the general's ambulance filled with captured 
medical stores, recaptured tlic entire wagon-train and 
prisoners, and brought all back safely to Sevierville. 
For his gallantry in this affair. Colonel Palmer was 
strongly recommended by General Foster, in com- 
mand at Knoxville, seconded by Generals Sturgis 
and Elliott, for promotion. 

On the 24th, Colonel Palmer's command, temporarily 
reinforced by Colonel Brownlow's First Tennessee 
Cavalry, made an expedition into the enemy's foraging- 
ground, near the mouth of the Big Pigeon River, and 
captured a train of eighteen wagons, ninety mules 
and seventy-two of the enemy, including a captain 
and three lieutenants, losing one man killed. The 
country around had become very familiar to the men 
of Colonel Palmer's command, and full reliance was 
placed in them for information by which the move- 
ments of heavy bodies of troops were guided. They 
were kept constantly upon the move. The plan of 
the considerable engagement at Fair Garden, on tlie 
28th, in which tliree steel guns and one hundred 
prisoners were taken, was based upon infornuition of 
the enemy's j^psition and strength furnished by 
scouting-parties of the Fifteenth. On the following 
day Colonel Palmer, by taking a flank trail in follow- 
ing the retreating rebels, discovered that they had 



been reinforced, and by timely warning to the main 
Union force saved it from disaster. The campaign 
having now ended, the regiment returned by easy 
marches to Cliattanooga, where it arrived on the 11th 
of February, and was joined by a part of the regiment 
which had been left at the camp in Sequatchie Val- 
ley. During the three succeeding months the com- 
mand was kept busy in scouting on the flank of the 
enemy holding position on Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's 
Roost and Dalton. In reconnoissances to Lafayette, 
Snmmerville, Alpine and Lookout Valley it gained 
important information and captured some prisoners. 
By the hard service during the fall and winter the 
horses had become com|)letely worn out, and on the 
4th of May, as the army was about breaking camp for 
the spring campaign, the regiment was ordered to 
Niishville to remount and refit. It was August be- 
fore the requisite horses, arms and equipments were 
obtained and the command was in readiness for the 
field. In the mean time the men had been kejjt busy 
in drill and target practice. Captain Betts had been 
previously jjromoted to major. On the 8th of August 
the regiment started for the front, but in consequence 
of the raid of Wheeler on Sherman's lines of supply, 
was stopped at Chattanooga, and scouted to Red 
Clay, Parker's Gap and Spring Place, and upon the 
movement of Wheeler north, followed him in force, 
returning finally to Calhoun, where it was employed 
protecting the railroad. On the otli of September the 
regiment, about four hundred strong, was ordered to 
move north to prevent the return of a force of 
Wheeler's cavalry, which had been cut off at McMinn- 
ville, and was making its way, under Dibberel, to the 
Tennessee River, below Kingston. It accordingly 
moved to Sevierville, the enemy keeping up on the 
opposite side of the river, and finally' joining Vaughan 
near Bristol, Va. From Sevierville, the regiment 
marched to Bull's Gap, and joined General Gil- 
lem in a movement towards Virginia. At Jones- 
boro', on the 3d of October, where the enemy was en- 
countered. Colonel Palmer, who had the advance, 
was ordered to develop the enemy's strength and 
position. He accordingly charged the rebel rear guard, 
driving it ten miles to the Wautauga River, killing 
one and capturing eight, where he found Duke in 
force. On the 4th and otli there was some skirmish- 
ing. But Burbridge was now in the enemy's rear, 
and he retreated rapidly towards Abingdon. Gillem 
did not pursue, as Forest was raiding into Tennessee, 
but returned to Knoxville. Colonel Palmer was, 
however, permitted, at his own suggestion, to make 
diversion in fiivor of Burbridge, and advanced, via 
Bristol, to Kingsport. Here a party of nine, with 
dispatches for Burbridge, who had withdrawn to 
Kentucky, was met. Taking seventy-five picked men, 
Colonel Palmer started to carry them through, and 
after five days' severe marching came up with Bur- 
bridge at Prestonburg, succcssftilly eluding Prentiss' 
rebel cavalry, lying in wait for his capture, and at- 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



259 



tacking one of Prentiss' scoutiag-parties, killing a 
captain and one man, and taking twelve prisoners 
and thirty horses. 

In the mean time the remainder of the regiment, 
under Lieutenant-Colonel Lanihorn, was attacked by 
Vaughan's forces, which had returned from Virginia. 
Lamborn held the ford of the North Fork of the Hols- 
ton against Vaughan for one day, and at night, hav- 
ing no supports, retired towards Bull's Gap, losing in 
the skirmish one man wounded. On the following 
day, while crossing a dilEcult ford of the main stream, 
he was again attacked by a large force. The com- 
mand was in column, along the river-bank, the enemy 
occupying a steep bluflF commanding the ford and 
the road which led to it, over which the column was 
advancing. A company was sent to the rear of the 
attacking party, which, coming upon the enemy un- 
awares, made a sudden dash, capturing three officer^ 
and eight men, and .so disconcerting the entire party 
that it took to its heels, leaving the Union force, of 
only one hundred and twenty-five men, to cross and 
move unmolested to Bull's Gap. Upon their arrival 
in camp General Gillem complimented them, in an 
order, "for their action at Rogerville, October 7th 
when in the face of a rebel force much larger than 
their own, they crossed the Holston River, capturing 
three rebel lieutenants and eight enlisted men, with 
no loss." 

After this the main body of the regiment and the 
detachment under Colonel Palmer assembled in camp 
near Chattanooga, and for two months were engaged 
in scouting for a long distance on all sides, frequently 
meeting bands of the enemy. On the 20th of Decem- 
ber, Colonel Palmer, with his own and detachments 
from other regiments to the number of six hundred 
men, proceeded to Decatur, whence he pushed for- 
ward, on the south bank of the Tennessee River, in 
pursuit of Hood's demoralized troops, now in full 
retreat from Tennessee, having been thoroughly de- 
feated, in the battle of Nashville, by Thomas. With- 
out attempting to give the details of this eminently 
successful expedition, its character may be judged by 
the following summary of results : The capture of two 
hundred prisoners, including two colonels, three cap- 
tains and eight lieutenants, and the destruction of 
seven hundred and fifty stands of arms ; the capture, 
on the night of December 28th, of two pieces of Gen- 
eral Roddy's artillery, with horses and equipments ; 
the capture and complete destruction, on the 31st, of 
the entire pontoon bridge, having seventy-eight boats, 
on which Hood crossed the Tennessee River, with 
two hundred wagons loaded with tools, ropes, engineer- 
ing instruments and supplies; the capture, on the 
night of January 1, 1865, of a supply train of Hood 
of one hundred and ten wagons, while on its way 
from Benton Station to Tuscaloo.sa, and its complete 
destruction ; the surprise and complete rout, on the 
Tuscaloosa road, below Moulton, of the rebel Colonel 
Russell's regiment of cavalry. Fourth Alabama, and 



the capture and destruction of his train, with the 
papers and baggage of the brigade ; and the repeated 
defeat and route of Roddy's forces, causing their dis- 
bandment. The entire loss of the command was one 
man killed and two wounded. It successfully eluded 
largely superior forces of the enemy while on its re- 
turn to Decatur, and brought all its captures safely 
in. 

Upon its return the command was ordered to 
Huntsville for rest, but on the night following its 
arrival Colonel Palmer was directed to take all his 
available mounted men and intercept the rebel Gen- 
eral Lyon at Fort Deposit. Failing in this, Colonel 
Palmer crossed the river in pursuit, came up with 
Lyon on January 16th, surprised his camp before 
daylight and routed his command, capturing his only 
piece of artillery and ninety-six prisoners, which 
were brought off. Lyon himself was taken, but suc- 
ceeded in making his escape, after shooting the ser- 
geant who had him in charge, — the only loss. Colonel 
Palmer led out another scouting- party, on the 27th, 
of one hundred and fifty men in pursuit of a guerilla 
band, under Colonel Meade, infesting the Cumberland 
ilouiitains, returning on the 6th of February with 
one captain, two lieutenants and twenty-three pri- 
vates as prisoners. 

Before starting on the spring campaign fresh honses 
were supplied and the command was completely re- 
fitted for active service. General Stoneman was 
placed in command of the cavalry, and Colonel 
Palmer, who had been promoted to brevet brigadier- 
general, was assigned to the command of the First 
Brigade of Gillem's division, whereupon Lieutenant- 
Colonel Betts, who had been promoted from major, 
took command of the regiment. Towards the close 
of March, Stoneman started on an important expedi- 
tion towards North Carolina. On the 29th he reached 
Wilkesboro', on the Yadkin River, where he had a 
skirmish. Here he received intelligence which deter- 
mined him to turn north towards the Virginia and 
Tennessee Railroad, which he fell to destroying, the 
Fifteenth being actively employed in this work. From 
this point Major Wagner, with four companies, made 
a demonstration to within sight of Lynchburg, Va., 
destroying two important railroad bridges. He re- 
joined the command, after an absence of ten days, 
near Salisbury, N. C, having sustained a loss, of one 
killed and eight wounded and captured. On the 19th 
of April a detachment of the regiment under Major 
Garner destroyed a railroad bridge ten miles north of 
Greensboro', N. C, after a brisk skirmish with the 
guard. At the same time Lieutenant-Colonel Betts, 
with ninety men, surprised the camp of the Third 
South Carolina Cavalry, near Greensboro', and charged 
upon it, capturing the commanding officer, Lieutenanl- 
Colonel Johnson, four of his officers and forty-four 
men, with their horses, reginiental wagons and camp 
equipage. On the following day a detachment under 
Captain Kramer met and defeated a superior force of 



260 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the enemy at Jamestown, destroying the depot and a 
truss-covered bridge at Deep River. On the 12th, 
Salisbury, N. C, was captured and immense rebel 
stores destroyed, when the command turned towards 
Knoxville. Towards the close of April, intelligence 
of the surrender of Lee and Johnson having been 
received, the division of General Gillem, now com- 
manded by General Palmer, was ordered to proceed 
south for the capture of Jefferson Davis and train. 
Night and day, with the most untiring energy and 
skill, the pursuit was pushed. On the 8th of May 
seven wagons, containing the eflects of the banks of 
Macon, were captured. " On the morning of the 8th, 
instant,'' says General Palmer, in his official report, 
"while searcliing for Davis near the fork of the 
Appalachee and Oconee Rivers, Colonel Betts, Fif- 
teenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, captured seven wagons 
in the woods, which contained one hundred and 
eighty-eight thousand dollars in coin, one million 
five hundred and eighty-eight thousand dollars in 
bank-notes, bonds and securities, and about four 
millions of Confederate money, besides considerable 
specie, plate and other valuables belonging to private 
citizens of Macon. The wagons contained also the 
private baggage, maps, and official papers of Generals 
Beauregard and Pillow. Nothing was disturbed, and 
I sent the whole in by railroad to Augusta to the 
commanding officer of the United States forces, to 
await the action of the government." Two days after, 
Company G, Captain Samuel Phillips, captured CJen- 
eral Bragg, his wife, stafl' officers and three wagons, 
which were sent under guard to the headquarters of 
(xeneral Wilson. On the 1.5th news was received of 
ihe ca|)ture of Davis and party by Colonel Pritchard, 
of the F'ourth Michigan Cavalry, detachments from 
Colonel Betts' command being close upon his trail. 
The regiment now started northward, and on the 12th 
of June arrived at Nashville, where, on the 21st, it 
was mustered out of service. 

REC'RIITS FKOJI MONTGOMERY COINTY. 

Henry K. M'eaud, mustered into Ben'ice Aug. 24, 18G2 ; pro. to Corp. 
Oct. 30, 18i;2 ; to sergt. Nov.' 1, 1802 ; to Ist scrgt. March 1, 1863 ; to 1st 
lieut. May 8, isra ; com. capt. Co. H, Feb. 2ii, lSr,rt ; must, out with 
company June 21, 1805. 

Privates. 

Jacob Fitzwater, Henrj- Cress, Cba3. H. Cress, Robert Dager, Theodore 
F. Ramsey, Josiah C. Reitf, 0. S. Spang, Fred. Spang, William Spang, 
Fred. S. Shrack, .\bner Evans, John J. Shelmin, Andrew W. Wills, Ed- 
win H. Hiltner, Nicholas F. Dager, Abraham Hartranft, Geo. W. 
Lukens, Courtland F. McCarter, Wm. Wills, Jr., David R. Conrarl, 
Samuel F. Tyson, .Joshua .Tohnson, Thos. B. Tucker, Harry .Somere, J. 
R. Steinmetz. 

.\lexander R. Cutler, of the Philadelphia bar, now residing in Norris- 
town, was a member of this regiment, Co. C ; also John W. Ecknian, 
present superintendent of the Montgomery Furnace, at Port Kennedy, 
and Joseph C. Weatherby, a resident of Norriton township, near Penn 
Square. 

The One Hundred and Sixty-Second Regiment 
Pennsylvania Volunteers (Seventeenth Cavalry).— 
The organization ol Company L, composed of men 
from Montgomery and Chester Counties, was attended 
with some unusual circumstances, which seem to .re- 
quire special mention. David B. Hartranft. propri- 



etor of the Jeffisrsonville Hotel, Norriton township, 
received authority to recruit a cavalry company, 
under the call of President Lincoln, July 2, 1862, for 
three hundred thousand volunteers to serve for three 
years or during the war.' Hartranft had been an 
active member of Captain Leidy's Washington Troop, 
a volunteer organization in the days of peace, but 
which melted away, like almost all similar organi- 
zations in the country, when active service invited 
men of arms to the front. The period was favorable 
to enlistments. The Peninsula campaign, with that 
of General Pope in front of Washington, had closed 
ill disaster. The ordinary channels of trade and 
business were paralyzed. The fact w:is painfully 
manifest that the struggle was still gathering fury, 
and, if the unity of the country was to be pre- 
served, men of all classes would have to fill up the 
dreadful gai)s resulting from the ill-fated battles 
fought in front of Richmond and Washington- 
Hitherto the young and unmarried men largely 
filled up the company and regimental organizations 
Mccredited to the county, but this call appealed to 
the patriotism of men of family and those settled 
in life. Fully fifty per cent, of the company were 
mounted men. The call was for three years' service 
i.r duriiKj ilie war, and the rough experience of those 
who were then in the field had dispelled all fancy 
notions of the glitter and pomp of war. Those who 
were now to march felt that it was a serious matter- 
.ind this feeling was fully .shared by the families of 
ihe men and the public in general. 

Among those recruited by Hartranft were fifty men 
in temporary camp at Zeiglersville, Frederick town- 
ship. These men had been enlisted b\' John B. 
.Vdams, who was authorized to organize a regiment of 
infantry. Under the pressing exigencies of the public 
service, in the month of August, 1862, an order was 
issued by the Secretary of War to consolidate regi- 
ments in process of formation and forward them at 
once to Washington for assignment to brigades. In 
the execution of this order the men enlisted by 
Adams and EUmaker were organized into the One 
Hundred and Nineteenth regiment of Pennsylvania 
Volunteers. Under this arrangement Peter C. Ell- 
maker was commissioned colonel. This gave oflfense 
to Adams, who failed to report the men in camp at 
Zeiglersville. Hartranft found these fifty men, who 
represented that the officer recruiting them had aban- 
doned them, and they expressed their desire to join 
the company of cavalry then forming. They were 
accepted, fifty in number, and about the middle 
of August, 1862, the full company of one hundred 
men assembled at Zeiglersville, and, after a royal 
breakfast, provided by the kind-hearted people of the 
village, the company took carriages, furnished by the 
farmers and business men of the neighborhood, nnd 



t Under the call, Pennsylvania Wiis required to furnish three regimeufs 
of cavalry. The Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth were organized. 
(See Bates' History, vol. iv. pp. 950, 1001, 10+3). 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



261 



drove to Pottstown, where they took the cars for 
Harrisburg. The company otiicers upon leaving the 
county were as follows : First Lieutenant, R. B. 
Rhoads ; Second Lieutenant, Joshua Houck. L^pon 
arriving at the State capital the company was marched 
to Camp Curtin, commanded by Captain Tarbutton, 
where it drew camp equipage and provisions. The 
men passed the usual physical examinations and i 
were then tested in horsemanship, and duly mustered 
into the service of the LTnited States on the 17th day 
of September, 1862, to " serve for three years or during 
the war." Theodore W. Bean was appointed first 
sergeant of the company. Clothing was issued to the 
men, and the work of squad and company drill was 
about to commence, when an order was received from 
the commandant of the camp to muster the men in the 
company street. The order required the men whose 
names were called to step two paces to the front. All 
the Adamsyrecruits were called. They were declared 
under arrest, and escorted by the provost guard of 
the capital to quarters in the city of Harrisburg, 
there to await the further orders of the Secretary of 
War. 

The fact now became evident to the officers of the 
company that all the Zeiglersville recruits had been 
regularly " mustered in " under the order of Adams, 
and the rolls returned to the Secretary of War under 
the order to consolidate, and that therefore their men 
belonged of right to Colonel Ellmaker's command. 
The manner in which these men were claimed was 
felt to be humiliating, and the officers and men 
remaining felt it due to themselves and those under 
arrest to inve.stigate the facts, and, if possible, have 
them restored to the command. It is just to the 
great and good war-Governor Curtin and his Adju- 
tant-General Russel to say that both offered every 
facility to fully investigate the facts and circum- 
stances of the case. Theo. W. Bean was designated 
by the officers and men in camp and those detained 
to proceed to Washington to confer with the Secretary 
of War and Adjutant-General of the United States 
army. Governor Curtin and General Russel united 
in a strong appeal to the Secretary of War for the 
restoration of these men to the cavalry service, and 
the gentleman bearing the dispatches jjressed the 
request of officers and men and the appeal of the 
State authorities in terms the most considerate his 
address could command. The matter was referred to 
Adjutant-General Thomas, U.S.A., who, in a per- 
sonal interview, declined to change or modify their 
original muster-in roll, but at once relieved the men 
from the order of arrest, and directed them to be for- 
warded, under the command of a commissioned 
oflScer, to the regiment to which they originally 
belonged. Sergeant Bean returned from Washington 
and reported results to the men. They were promptly 
relieved from arrest, and accepted the situation without 
murmur or remonstrance. They were gallant and 
patriotic men, and their record in the noble regiment 



to which they subsequently becume attached is highly 
creditable to themselves and their country. 

LIST OF MEN' NOT OX MUSTER-ROLL, COMPANY L, SEVEN- 
TEENTH PENNSYLV.\NI.<. C.WALRY. 

Henry S. Acker, .Tacob Antis, Joseph .\iichy, Clem, .\nnbruster, Peter 
S. Boyer, Jouas Boyer, Henry Easier, Jacob Bjitze!, George Brosius, 
W'm. Dearoff, John Fauet, Job n Freeae, Mablon Hevbert, Henry Herbst, 
John Jenkins, Harrison Johnson, .lacob Johnson, John Kohl, Milton 
Krause, Aug. Keyser, Abr. P. Koons, Efiwd. Kepp, John P. Ivoons, Frod. 
P. Koons, Philip Kline, Sanil. S. Leitlig, .\lbert Leidigj, H. S. Long- 
aker, John Lord, Lewis D. Miller, .Vtlani Moyer, John G. Miller, John 
Neinian,- John Neiffer, Daniel Pnhl, .John Pool, AVilliara D. Quigg, 
Oliver Rushon, John Sloop, Henry Styer, Elia« Smith. Franklin Shuler, 
John Schnenk, Samuel Schlottern, .Tacob Smith, James Smith, .\rnold 
Ulmer, Joseph Underkuffler, .\rtron Wick, Christian Wick, Henry Wolff. 

This separation and loss of men disorganized the 
original company, in consequence of which Lieu- 
tenants Rhoads and Houck lost their positions, neither 
of whom accompanied the enlisted men to the One 
Hundred and Nineteenth Regiment. Captain Hart- 
ranft still had fifty men in camp, but under the 
altered circumstances could not be mustered. About 
this time Lieutenant John Rees, with fifty men from 
Chester County, reported to Captain Tarbutton ; 
overtures were at once made for a consolidation of 
the two commands, and a new company organization 
was effected. The Chester County men were at once 
transferred to the qu^.rters vacated by the Zeiglersville 
recruits, and an election of officers was immediately 
held, which resulted in the choice of the following 
gentlemen: Captain, David B. Hartranft; First Lieu- 
tenant, John Rees ; Second Lieutenant, Theo. W. Bean. 
The non-commissioned officers were then appointed, 
and the work of dismounted drill and discipline 
began. By the latter end of September the quota 
for the three cavalry regiments was in camp, and the 
organization of twelve companies into the Seven- 
teenth Regiment of cavalry was effected. Captain 
Hartranft was promoted first major; Lieutenant Rees 
succeeded to the captaincy; Second Lieutenant Theo. 
W. Bean was promoted to first lieutenant, and 
First Sergeant William H. Wright was commissioned 
second lieutenant ; Edwin A. Bean, of Company L, 
was appointed regimental quartermaster-sergeant. 
The regimental organization' was effected on the 

1 There was an incident connected %vitli the regimental organization 
which had such an important relation to its suhseciuent history that it 
deserves to be preserved. The election of field and statt" otiicers was ef- 
fected after an active canvass, and the choice made was accepted by all 
with great satisfaction. The roster was made up of colonel, lieutenant- 
colonel, three majors, adjutant, qnarternuister and commissary. .\I1 va- 
cancies in the companies occasioned by promotion to the field and staff 
were filled, and the papers at once forwarded to Governor Curtin for ap- 
pointments and commissions. Upon the receipt of the roster at the ex- 
ecutive office, the Governor carefully examined the same, and directed a 
reply to be sent to the officers of the regiment that he would apiKiint and 
commission all the officers named exce]>t the colonel, Daniel 31. Donehoo, ' 
wlio had been captain of Company .\. It should be added that none of 
the field or staff officers elected had experienced active service except 
Reuben Reinhold, the second major. The Governor's communication 
was couched in the most respectful terms, aud his refusal to appoint and 
commission Capt. Donehoo colonel wai* based solely upon the fact of this 
officer's want of knowledge and experience for such a responsible position. 
The Governor's refusal created riuite abreeze among the officers, and es- 



2*>2 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



2nd of October, and completed by the muster of its 
commanding officer, November 19, 1862. It immedi- 
diately broke up its dismounted camp under Cai)tain 
Tarbutton within the line of Camp Simmons, and 

pecially the admiiors aniJ pei-sonal friends of Colonel Doneboo. Some of 
the hasty and inipulsive gave vent to their indignation in terms more 
vigorous than polite, and others hinted at resignation. These "camp 
growls" found their way to the Governor's ear, and he was prompt in 
inviting a conference with all the commissioned officers. The day and 
hour were appointed ; prompt to time the field, staff and line officers to 
the number of forty-four marched into the executive chamber, and re- 
ceived a cordial welcome. There were present his Adjutant General 
Russel and Brigadier-General Andrew I'orter, of the United States 
army. The latter officer had been especially requested to be present and 
make a statement to the officers upon the subject of the interview. We 
regret that no copy of tlie remarks of the Governor and General Porter 
was preserved, but in substance the former said : "Gentlemen, I have 
invited this interview to fully and freely explain to each of you why I 
have refused to appoint and commission the gentleman you have elected 
as your comniamling officer. I have no iloubt of his patriotism or per- 
sonal bravery, but I am informed that he has never been under fire nor 
had any experience in commanding troops in active service. I have 
been sadly admonislied of my own mistake in apj>ointing inexperienced 
and untried men as commanding officers of regiments, which has resulted 
in the unnecessary sacrifice of hundreds of gallant Penusylvaniuns. In 
the first days and months of the war this may have been unavoidable, but 
now we have officers who have been trained for tiie profession of arms, 
natives of our own State, officers of exi)erience, many of whom liave been 
especially commended by their superior officers fordi^itinguiahed conduct 
and capability in active servi.o. An<l I have thoughtfully made up my 
official mind that I ought not, and therefore will not, appoint any man 
colonel of a new regiment about to enter the service for the period of 
three years who has not given the country some practical evidence of his 
fitness for the responsible office." 

His manner indicated not less than his words his sincerity and de- 
termination, and when he had briefly stated his reasons he addressed 
General Porter, who was standing at his side, and requested him to 
advise the visiting officere upon the subject under consideration. The 
coiunianding presence of this distinguished officer, who was in full dress 
uniform, his age and pleaj^ing address, antl liis words of wisdom resulting 
from many years of public service in the then impending and prior wara, 
induced the most respectful attention of every officer pi'esent. The 
possible and probable duration of the conflict between the North and 
South was referred to in such a manner as to dissipate all hope of a 
speedy end, however much it might be desired. He spoke of the several 
disasters to the I'nion arms, due to the incompetency of inexperienced 
field officers, and of the almost irretrievable disgrace which associates 
itself with the history of a regiiuentiil organization that suffei-s reverses, 
resulting from the incapability of its commanding officer. He impressed 
the importance of these considerations upon those present, and supported 
the Goveruor, especially because the cavalry arm of the service was then 
about to be l)rought to its highest uses, and concluded his advice by say- 
ing that it required greater skill to successfully ctunnuind and direct the 
movements of a full regiment of cavalry in active service than a brigade 
of infantry, that they covered more ground in their formations, were 
more likely to bo tlirowu into confusion and more difficult to withdraw 
in the hour of peril. The interview closed with a presentation of all the 
officers to the Governor and General Porter, and a free exchange of con- 
gratulations upon the fii-st lessons of duty to our country. Captain 
Doueboo retired with the respect of his fellow-officers, and the Governor 
presented the names of a number of officers then in the service, all of 
whom were graduates of the Vnited States Military Academy, and were 
PeunsylvaniaiLs by birth or residence. After some days of deliberation 
and inquiry, Josiab H. Kellogg, then captiiin of First Regiment United 
States Cavalry, was selected. The following facts will serve to illustrata 
the attachment of Governor Curtin to the volunteer troops of Pennsyl- 
vania. During the winter of 1802-G3, and after the regiment had joined 
the army of the Potomac, the work of officers fitting themselves to in- 
telligently perform their duties was rigidly insisted upon by Colonel 
Kellogg. Officers' school was instituted, and gentlemen were given to 
understand that unless tliey became proficient in the manual of aruis and 
in the practical knowledge and execvition of all necessary commands, and 
prompt in all the necessary duties of officers, they would be at once re- 
ported to the staudiug board of examinei-s. This was eminently proper, 



established itself at Camp McClellan, about two miles 
north of Harrisburg, where the command received 
their horses, arms and equipments. A realizing sense 
of work and responsibility of the cavalry officer and 
soklier was perhaps here first experienced. The nov- 
elty was by no means worn away, nor had the men 
become accustomed to the care and management of 
their horses, when orders were received to report to 
the line of active service. Of the twelve companies 
voluntarily composing this regiment, A Company was 
from Beaver County, B from Susquehanna, C from 
Lancaster, D from Bradford, E from Lebanon, F from 
Cumberland, G from Franklin, H from Schuylkill, I 
from Perry, K from Luzerne, L from Montgomery 
and Chester and M from Wayne. The letters by 
which comi)anies are denoted in cavalry regiments 
are not given until after the regimental organization 
is effected, — at least, such was the case in the late 
war among the volunteer troops entering the three 
years' service. 

The reason for this is found in the order of assign- 
ment in the formation of squadrons and battalions. 
The twelve companies of a regiment of cavalry are 
formed into six squadrons of two companies each, 
and these six squadrons are consolidated into three 
battalions. As the right of each squadron and battal- 
ion is deemed the position of honor, it is sought after 
and is assigned by the commanding officer, first, with 
reference to senority of captains, and second, with 
reference to fitness to command. As the company 
organizations are complete when the regiment is 
formed, there are at least four promotions from the 
captains of the line, viz. : lieutenant-colonel and 
three majors. The companies from which these 
captains are promoted are therefore junior, and must 
go to the left of their squadrons. 

The field officers were taken in the organization of this 
regiment from the following companies: Lieutenant- 
Colonel McAllister, Perry County; First Major Hart- 
ranft, Montgomery County; Second Major Reinhold, 
first lieutenant, Lebanon County (this was exceptional 
because of the service he had previously experienced 
in the Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry); Third Major 
Durland, Wayne County. The letters given are from 

but seriously effected fully fifty per cent, of the field and line officere, who 
were brave men and willing to serve their country, but disinclined to 
ai)ply themselves to study. Tlie tasks were distiisteful, recitations unsatis- 
factory and the commanding officer uncompromising. Resignations 
followed ; the young and bright men of the regiment were promoted. At 
this time a vacancy occurred on the stiiff of the colonel. Lieutenant 
Henry M. Douebou, commissary, was promoted to captJiin Company B, 
and it was learned the colonel had recommended for the office a sergeant 
from his old command, Fii-st United States Cavalry, and that the recom- 
mendation W!is then in the hands of Governor Curtin for commission. John 
P. Ross was at the time regimental commissary sergeant, and by rank 
entitled to the promotion. He at once presented his case to Governor 
Curtin, supported by a majority of commissioned officers of the regiment. 
The Governor, upon receipt of the sergeant's application, recalled the 
appointment recommended by Colonel Kellogg, and forwarded the com- 
mission of first lieutenant and commissary to John P. Ross. No further 
efforts were made by the commanding officer to import a foreign ele 
meut into the staff, field or line of the regiment. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



263 



A to M inclusive, the letter J not being used because 
of the similarity in its form to letter I, and tlierefore 
liable to be confused with it in time of confusion or 
battle. The reader will therefore perceive that letters 
are assigned to companies not only as a convenient 
manner of denoting them, but also to give them their 
relative position in line. While it is of manifest 
advantage to have the company represented in the 
field and staft" formation, it is generally attended with 
a sacrifice of position on the line. The first six letters 
designate the right of squadrons, and the remaining 
six the left, as follows : 

Ist Battalion : 1st Squadron, A, G ; 2d Squadron, B, 11. 
2ud Battalion : 3d Squadron, C, I ; 4tli Sqnailron, D, K. 
3d Battalion : oth Squadron, E, L ; Cth Squadron, F, M. 

LIST OF FIELD OFFICERS AND BREVETS.' 
Colonel James D. Anderson, Brevet Colonel Durlaud, Brevet Lieutenant, 
Colonel William Thompson, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore \V. 
Bean. 

On the 25th of November the regiment moved to 
Washington, and was encamped for several days on 
East Capitol Hill, after which it was ordered to the 
front. On the 22d of December it reached the town 
of Occoquan, where Hampton's Legion was encoun- 
tered, and after a sharp skirmish, was driven and pur- 
sued for some distance across the Occoquan Creek. 
Here three companies, — C, D and I, — under Major 
Reinhold, were detained to picket the creek from 
Occoquan to Wolf Run Shoals. They were much 
harassed by roving parties of partisan rangers, and on 
the 25th and 26th the right of the line was attacked 
by a sui^erior force, which was repulsed and some 
prisoners taken. On the 27th the detachment was 
ordered to rejoin the regiment, which had, in the 
mean time, advanced to near Stafford Court-House, 
and moved early ; but when nearing Neabsco Creek 
word was brought that the enemy had attacked at 
Dumfries, and that a column of cavalry and artillery 
was moving on the Telegraph road to Occoquan. 
Major Reinhold immediately countermarched, and 
taking position on the heights on the north bank, 
successfully foiled every attempt of the enemy to cross. 
On the following morning, having been reinlbrced 
by a detachment of the Second Pennsylvania Cavalry, 
it crossed the stream to reconnoitre, and fell in with 



1 JosiAH H. Kellogg, appointed cadet at the United States Military 
Academy from Pennsylvania, July 1, 1855 ; graduated July 1, 1860 ; 
aligned to duty as brevet second lieutenant of dragoons July 1, 
1800; served at the cavalry school for practice, Carlisle, Pa., 18f>l)-61 ; 
promoted second lieutenant First Dragoons January 8, 18f)l ; firat 
lieutenant Slay 13, 1861 ; captain Firet Cavalry May 20, 1862 ; served 
through the Peninsular campaign and the Maryland campaign, and 
was appointed colonel Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavah-y Volunteers, 
November 19, 1862; breveted major July 3, 1863, for gallant and meri- 
torious services at the battle of Gettysburg, Pa. ; resigned volunteer 
commission December 27, 1864 ; on duty at the United States Military 
Academy as assistant professor of national and experinient.al philosophy, 
Februar>' 22, 1865, to .\ugust 23, 1866; "retired from active service 
February 6, 1865, for disability resulting from long and faithful service 
and disease contracted in the line of duty ;" professor of civil engineering 
and military tactics at Kutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J., .\ugust 
30, 1860, by the authority of the law of July 28, 1866. 



General Stuart's command, which immediately at- 
tacked. Being overpowered, it was obliged to retire, 
and recrossed the creek. On the 5th of January, 
1863, it rejoined the regiment near Staftbrd Court- 
House. The Seventeenth was here assigned to the 
Second Brigade of the First Cavalry Division, where 
it was a.ssociated with the Sixth New York, Sixth 
United States and Eighth Pennsylvania, commanded 
by Colonel Thomas C. Devin, in which it served 
throughout its entire term. On the 18th of February 
Companies C and I, Captain Spera, were ordered to 
escort duty with General Meade, commanding the 
Fifth Corps, where they remained until after the battle 
of Chancellorsville, and during the engagement were 
kept busy in the transmission of orders. 

Only three regiments of cavalry, of which the 
Seventeenth was one, moved with the columns of 
Hooker on the Chancellorsville campaign, the major 
part having been dispatched under Averell and Stone- 
man to cut the enemy's communications and harass 
his rear. When, on the evening of the 2d of May, the 
enemy under Jackson had driven the entire Eleventh 
Corps, and was pushing on victorious to sever the 
Union army, and gain its only line of retreat, few 
troops were in position to stay his course. At this 
juncture General Pleasanton, who had been out in 
advance of the line on the centre, in su])portof General 
Sickles, then demonstrating upon Jackson's flank and 
rear, happened to be returning with the Eighth and 
Seventeenth Pennsylvania Regiments towards the 
centre, and had reached the breast-works just as 
hordes of Jackson's men, who were pursuing the 
routed Eleventh Corps troops, were approaching that 
part of the field. Divining the condition of affairs by 
the evidences of rout in the Union columns, Pleas- 
anton ordered Major Keenan, of the Eighth to charge 
with all his force and with impetuosity, which he 
knew was an element of the major's nature, full upon 
the head of the rebel advancing column, though he 
knew that the execution of the order would involve the 
sacrifice of that gallant regiment. This he did in 
order that, by checking for a moment the rebel on- 
slaught, he might gain time to bring his horseartillery 
into position, and thus interpose some more effectual 
barrier. "I immediately ran up," says General 
Pleasanton, " this battery of mine at a gallop, put it 
into position, ordered it unlimbered and double- 
shotted with canister, and directed the men to aim at 
the ground-line of the parapet that the Eleventh 
Corps had thrown up, about two-hundred yards off. 
Our artillery, as a general rule, overshoots, and I 
ordered them to fire low, because the shot would rico- 
chet. I then set to work with two squadrons of the 
remaining regiment (the Seventeenth Pennsylvania) 
to clear this field of fugitives, and to stop what cannon 
and ammunition we could, and put them in position ; 
and I managed to get twenty-two guns loaded, double 
shotted, and aiming on this space in front of us for 
about a quarter or half a mile, when the whole woods 



264 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



appeared alive with large bodies of men. This was 
just at dusk. I was going to give the word ' fire.' I 
had ordered those pieces not to fire unless I gave the 
word, because I wanted the effect of an immense 
shock. There was an immense body of men, and I 
wanted the whole weight of the metal to check them. 
I was about, to give the word ' fire,' when one of the 
soldiers at a piece said : ' General, that is our flag.' I 
said to one of my aids, ' Mr. Thompson, ride forward 
there at once, and let me know what flag that is.' He 
then went to within one hundred yards, and those 
people cried out : ' Come on, we are friends.' He 
then started to move on, when the whole line of 
woods blazed with musketry, and they immediately 
commenced leaping over this jjarapet, and charged on 
the guns; and at the same time I saw from eight to 
ten rel)el battle-flags run up along the whole line. I 
immediately gave the order, ' fire,' and the fire 
actually swept the men away ; and it seemed to blow 

those men in front clear over the parapet 

We had this fight between musketry and artillery 
there for nearly an hour. At one time they got within 
fifty yards of the guns. . . . There were two 
squadrons of the Seventeentli Pennsylvania Cavalry 
left. This remaining regiment I had was composed 
of raw men, new troops, and all I could do with them 
was to make a show. I had them formed in single 
line, with sabres drawn, with orders to charge in case 
the enemy came to the guns. They sat in rear of the 
guns, and I have no doubt that the rebels took them 
for the head of a heavy column, as the country 
sloped back behind them, and they could not see 
what was back of them.'" And thus was the mad 
onset of Stonewall Jackson's army checked by artil- 
lery, supported by a single line of raw cavalry. It 
was a trying position for the regiment, but the firm 
front [iresented saved the day, and enabled Hooker 
to reform his shattered columns, and once more pre- 
sent an unbroken line. Early in the evening Sickles' 
troops came up and took position in support of the 
guns, and the regiment was relieved. In a general 
order, issued immediately after the battle. General 
Pleasanton says: "The coolness displayed by the 
Seventeenth Pennsylvania Regiment in rallying 
fugitives and supporting the batteries (including 
Martin's) which repulsed the enemy's attack under 
Jackson, on the evening of the 2d instant, has excited 
the highest admiration." 

Under Buford and Gregg, the cavalry, on the 9th 
of June, crossed the Rappahannock at Beverly and 
Kelly's Fords, and boldly attacked the enemy's 
cavalry, supported by his infantry. The battle raged 
during most of the day. At length, finding that the 
rebels were moving up an overpowering force, the 
Union cavalry retired. In this engagement the 
Seventeenth participated, and in the retreat was of 
the rear guard, where it was subjected to a heavy 

1 "Conduct of the War," 1865, toI, i. pp. 28, 29. 



artillery fire. Two days after the battle the regi- 
ment was posted to picket the line of the river from 
Beverly Ford to Sulphur Springs, while the main 
body of the army was marching northward. It was 
not withdrawn until the loth, when it rejoined the 
division. Early on the morning of the 21st it was 
formed in line half a mile west of Middleburg, and 
met the enemy, repulsing his attack, and driving him 
in the direction of Upperville. When arrived near 
the town it was ordered to charge the left flank of' 
the foe, and in executing it was brouglit under a 
heavy fire of his artillery. He was finally driven in 
confusion. 

As General Buford, who commanded the division, 
moved northward through Maryland and Pennsyl- 
vania, he was hailed with demonstrations of rejoic- 
ing, and as he entered Gettysburg was saluted with 
shouts and patriotic songs. On the night of theSOth 
he eni'amped near the grounds of Pennsylvania Col- 
lege, and on the morning of the 1st of July moved 
out by the Cashtown road. At a distance of a mile 
and a half from town be met the enemy in force. 
Dispositions were immediately made to resist his 
further advance, and for four hours, and until the 
arrival of the First Corps, Buford held at bay a third 
of the entire rebel army. " Buford, with his four 
thousand cavalry," says General Pleasanton, " at- 
tacked Hill, and for four hours splendidly resisted 
his advance, until Reynolds and Howard were able 
to hurry to the field and give their assistance. To 
the intreiiidit\ , courage and fidelity of (reneral Bu- 
ford and his brave division the country and the 
army owe the field of Gettysburg." ^ As soon as the 
infantry in force had come up, the cavalry moved 
upon its flanks, and during the remaining part of the 
battle was active in preventing tlic movement of 
flanking columns of the enemy and in protecting the 
lines of communication witli the base of supply. 
Buford's division retired to Taneytown on the even- 
ing of the 2d, Westminster on the 3d and Frederick 
on the 5th. On the 6th it encountered the enemy 
west of Boonslioro', and after a sharp fight drove him 
from his position. On the following morning he 
renewed the attack, but was again driven, the Seven- 
teenth Penn.sylvania and Ninth New York having a 
severe encounter while ujion the skirmish line. 
Skirmishing continued daily until the enemy retired 
across the river, and the campaign was at an end. 

The fall campaign was one of great activity for the 
cavalry. The part taken by the Seventeenth is re- 
flected by the following extract from Captain Theo- 
dore W. Bean's manual of the regiment : '' At Rac- 
coon Ford," he says, "you left your horses under 
shelter, and rushed to the support of your brother 
comrades in arms (Fourth New York), who were 
gallantly struggling against fearful odds, and under 
a murderous fire of grape and canister from the 

""Conduct of the War," Supplement, part2, p. n., Pleasanton's Report. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



265 



enemy saved them from capture, re-established the 
line, and held it until relieved by the Twelfth Army 
Corps, for which you received the special commenda- 
tion of the division commander. In the subsequent 
movements of the same year, when the wily rebel 
chief proposed to flank the army of the Potomac, and 
thus gain possession of the capital, history will ac- 
cord to the regiment an honorable association with 
the commands that beat back his advance at Morton's 
Ford, Stevensburg, Brandy Station and Oak Hill, 
where, holding the extreme left of the line, you skil- 
fully changed front as a distinctive organization, by 
direction of your immediate commander, anticipating 
a well-intended surprise, and repulsing, with heavy 
loss, a reckless charge of cavalry, for which the 
eneni)' at that time were notorious. In the counter- 
movements of the campaign, closing with the battles 
of Bealton Station and Rickseyville, the occupation 
of the line oo the Rapidau, and the indecisive en- 
gagement at Mine Run, the regiment was present, 
bearing its share of the toils, and sustained its pro- 
portion of losses, and, with the command, went into 
winter-quarters on the battle-beaten plains of Cul- 
pepper." 

The regiment was engaged during the winter in 
picket duty, holding a long line in the direction of 
James City. On the 27th of February, 18()4, a de- 
tachment of two hundred men, under command of 
Captain Sjiera, was ordered to report to General Kil- 
patrick, who, with a force of five thousand cavalry, 
was about to start on a raid upon Richmond. The 
command moved on the following day, and at Beaver 
Dam Station, on the Virginia Central Railroad, the 
work of destruction was commenced. Here Hall's 
brigade, to which Spera's detachment belonged, was 
sent to operate on the Fredericksburg Railroad, and 
at Taylorsville met a superior force of the enemy, 
which it failed to dislodge ; but near Yellow Tav- 
ern, on the Virginia Central, eflected the destruction 
of rolling stock, and there rejoined the main column. 
Kilpatrick approached to within two or three miles 
of Richmond, carrying the outer works and throwing 
shells into the city, but found the forces opposing him 
too great to overcome, and retired by Meadow Bridge, 
where a sharp skirmish occurred. At New Kent 
Court-Honse the infantry of Butler was met, whence, 
some days later, the command returned by transports 
to Alexandria, and thence to its old camp near Cul- 
pe2)per. 

At the opening of the spring campaign the lirigade 
moved to Chancellorsville, and on the 6th of May 
was sent to the Furnace, on the left of the line, where 
it met the enemy and fought dismounted, foiling 
numerous attempts of the rebels to turn that flank, 
being heavily engaged during the entire day. On 
the following morning it relieved Gregg's division on 
the Spottsylvania road, where the enemy was driven 
with heavy loss, and at night encamped at Todd's 
Tavern. On the sth the fighting was renewed, in 



which the Seventeenth, holding the Spottsylvania 
road, suffered severely. Rejieated charges of the 
enemy were repulsed and the position held until re- 
lieved by the Fifth Corps. On the 9th, Sheridan led 
the cavalry on his grand raid towards Richmond. At 
Beaver Dam Station many Union prisoners were 
rescued and large amounts of rebel stores were de- 
.stroyed. At Yellow House serious fighting ensued, 
in which the Seventeenth, dismounted, was of the 
charging column, and drove the enemy. At night the 
regiment was put upon the picket line stretching out 
towards Richmond, reaching near to the rebel fortifi- 
cations. Meadow Bridge, which had been destroyed, 
wa.s repaired by the First Division, and in the face of 
the enemy, with infantry and artillery, on the opposite 
side, the Seventeenth took the lead in crossing, and 
delivering a most determined charge, drove him from 
his works in confusion. While the battle was raging 
a severe thunder-storm set in, adding to the terror of 
the scene. Lieutenant Joseph E. Shultz was killed 
in the charge. He was shot through the heart, ex- 
piring almost instantly. Sheridan rejoined the Army 
of the Potomac near Chesterfield Station on the 2oth. 
Resting But for a day, the cavalry again moved 
forward, and crossing the Pamunky at New Castle 
Ferry, engaged the enemy; and after several charges 
drove him from his position. On the 28th two squad- 
rons of the regiment were sent towards Hanover, 
encountering the enemy's skirmishers and driving 
them in, and on the .30th, while reaching out to open 
communication with the left of the army, brought on 
the battle of Bethesda Church. On the same day the 
regiment was engaged near Old Church Tavern, where 
Lieutenant John Anglun, regimental quartermaster, 
was killed, and Captain William Tice wounded. At 
Cold Hai'bor the regiment moved, dismounted, and in 
the charge there delivered held the left of the line. 
In its first advance it was repulsed and suffered severe 
loss, but renewing the charge, the enemy was routed 
and driven. He subsequently made repeated attempts 
to recapttire his lost works, but was as often driven 
back with loss. At daylight of the 1st of June he 
made a desper.ite assault, determined upon victory. 
He was allowed to come within short range, when the 
artillery and repeating carbines were opened on him 
with terrible eff'ect, the ground being covered with his 
slain. When relieved by the infantry, Sheridan led 
his cavalry in the direction of Lynchljurg. On the 
10th the regiment was sent to the Spottsylvania battle- 
ground, where, in a field hospital, thirty-five wounded 
Union soldiers were found in a famishing condition 
and brought away. On rejoining the column near 
Trevilian Station, Sheridan was found hotly engaged. 
The Seventeenth was immediately sent to the front, 
and during the 11th and the following day was hotly 
engaged, sustaining heavy losses. Finding the enemy 
in superior numbers. Sheridan returned. The Seven- 
teenth was again engaged near White House Land- 
ing on the 21st, at Jones' Bridge on the 2.3d, and at 



266 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Charles City Court-House on the 24th, in each engage- 
ment sustaining considerable losses. On the 26th, Sheri- 
dan crossed the James, but a month later returned to 
the left bank and moved up towards Richmond. At 
Ruffin's House the enemy's videttes were found and 
driven upon his infantry supports. On the morning 
of the 28th the brigade^ dismounted, was sent to dis- 
lodge the enemy's infantry from a strong position on 
commanding ground in front of Ruffin's. Difficult 
ditches had to be crossed, but pushing resolutely for- 
ward, it opened fire from the rejieating carbines, and 
though losing heavily, drove him out and occupied 
his ground. On the following day Sheridan recrossed 
the James, and soon after retraced his stejjs for -the 
purpose of misleading the enemy as to his real strength 
on the Richmond side. On the 30th he returned to 
the lines before Petersburg. 

Early in August, Sheridan was ordered to the com- 
mand of the army in the Shenandoah Valley, and 
two divisions of cavalry, the First and Third, were 
sent to his aid. Upon the arrival of the Seventeenth 
in the valley, Major Reinhold resigned and was 
honorably discharged, whereupon Captain Weidner 
H. Spera was promoted to succeed him. On tlie 
11th of August the cavalry moved towards Xewtown, 
driving the enemy, but at six in the evening found 
him in position, determined to dispute further ad- 
vance. The Seventeenth was at the front and was 
immediately ordered to charge. The enemy oH'ered 
obstinate resistance, but was finally dislodged and 
retreated rajjidly up the valley. (_)n the 16th the 
enemy attacked the pickets of the brigade near Front 
Royal, the Seventeenth holding the centre of the 
brigade line. The division was immediately put in 
motion and repulsed the over-confident foe, capturing 
two battle-flags and three hundred jirisoners. Gen- 
eral Devin, commanding the brigade, was wounded 
in this engagement. On the 25th the command 
moved forward to Kearnysville, where it came upon 
the enemy's intantry. Of the battle which ensued. 
General Sheridan says : " This attack was handsomely 
made, but instead of finding cavalry his (enemy's) 
infantry was encountered, and for a time douliled up 
and thrown into the utmost confusion .... This en- 
gagement was a mutual surprise, our cavalry expect- 
ing to meet the enemy's cavalry, and his infantry 
expecting no opposition whatever." The Union 
forces retired in the direction of Shepherdstown, and 
when near that place the enemy attacked Custer's 
division. For the purpose of diverting attention 
from Custer the Seventeenth was ordered to charge 
upon the enemy's flank. In column of fours it dashed 
down a narrow road, and drove a body of his infantry 
from a wood, creating consternation in his ranks. 
In this charge Lieutenant James Potter was killed. 
For three weeks almost constant skirmishing was 
kept up, the Seventeenth participating in the actions 
at Smithfield on the 29th, at White Post on the 1st 
of September, at the Berry ville and Buncetown cross- 



ing of the Opequan on the 7th, in which Captain 
Martin R. Reinhold was killed, and at Bunker Hill 
on the 13th. 

Sheridan was now about to assume the oftensive. 
At noon of the 18th the cavalry at Bunker Hill wag 
ordered to break camp and move quietly without 
sound of bugle, and at a mile east of Summit Point 
encamped for the night, drawing sixty rounds of am- 
munition per man and sending all regimental baggage 
and supply trains to Harper's Ferry. At one o'clock 
on the morning of the 19th reveille was sounded, and 
at two the cavalry moved towards the Opequan. 
Before daylight heavy firing was heard. The First 
Division moved on the road towards Stevenson Sta- 
tion, crossing the Opequan, and driving the enemy 
from his position at the ford. The fighting was now 
general along the entire line, Sheridan having moved 
to the attack with his entire army. Step liy step the 
ground was disputed. When within half a mile of 
the Valley pike, near the station, the enemy was 
discovered massing his cavalry to dispute the advance 
of Averell. At this junction General Devin was 
ordered to charge with his brigade. With the Seven- 
teenth in advance, the charge was made, and the 
enemy driven in great confusion towards Winchester, 
opening the way for a junction of Torber's and 
Averell's commands. Moving in line u]) the pike 
towards Winchester, the enemy's line was again 
charged and driven from its position. Tlie fighting 
was very severe. General Sheridan says, in his report : 
" I attacked the forces of General Early over the 
Berryville pike, at the crossing of the 0[)ciiuan Creek, 
and after a most desperate engagement, which lasted 
from early in the morning until five o'clock in the 
evening, completely defeated him, driving him through 
Winchester and capturing about two thousand five 
hundred jirisoners, five pieces of artillery, nine battle- 
flags and most of their wounded." 

After the battle the regiment was ordered to report 
for duty to Colonel Edwards, post commander at 
Winchester, and was employed in guarding against 
tlie attacks of guerillas and in keeping open com- 
munication with the base of supplies. On the 15th 
of October, Major Spera was sent with a detachment 
to Martinslmrg, and while there was ordered to escort 
General Sheridan to the front,' and was with him in 



1 Early on the tSth of October, Major Spei-a, in command of a detach- 
ment of the Seventeenth Cavalry, while at Martinsburg, whither he had 
been sent on the previous day, was ordered to report to Major 
Forsythe, of General Sheridan's statf, then at Martinsbnrg, and waa di- 
rected by him to hold his command in readiness to escort Miyor-General 
Sheridan, in company with Colonels Thorn and Alexander, to the front. 
The column left Slartinsburf; at nine A.M., arrived at Winchester at 
three p.m., Geneml Sheridan stopping at post headijualtere, Colonel Ed- 
wards, Thirty-seventh Slassachusetts, commanding. The escort en- 
camped for the night at Mill Creek, a mile south of the town, with orders 
to be in reiuliness to move at five on the following morning. Very early 
in the morning rapid artillerj- firing was beard in the direction of 
the front. At about eight a. m. General Shgridan came riding leisurely 
along, remarking that the artillery firing was no doubt occasioned by a 
reconnoissance which had been ordered fur that morning. Shortly after 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



267 



that ride rendered famous by the stanzas of T. 
Buchanan Read, taking part in the great battle which 
completely crushed the enemy in the valley, and 
returned to Winchester with dispatches on the 20th. 
Until the 27th the regiment remained on duty at 
Winchester, when it was relieved and rejoined the 
division. On the 19th of December, General Torbert 
led his command by Front Royal into the valley of 
Virginia, and on the 22d met the enemy at AVhite's 
Ford, driving him, and again on the following day 
near Gordonsville, where, finding his infantry in 
heavy force, Torbert was obliged to fall back. The 
Seventeenth was of the rear guard in the retreat, and 
successfully held the enemy in check, who made 
repeated attacks. In repelling one of these, Lieu- 
tenant Alfred F. Lee was killed. Returning to the 
vicinity of Winchester, the regiment went into per- 
manent quarters, and during the winter was employed 
in picket ait^ scout duty, detachments being occa- 
sionally sent out against roving bands of the enemy. 
On the 27th of December, Colonel Kellogg was 
honorably discharged and Lieutenant-Colonel Ander- 
son promoted to succeed him. Major Durland being 
promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and Captains Luther 
B. Kurtz and William Thompson to majors. On the 
•31st of December the Second Brigade was sent to 
Lovettsville, in the Loudon Valley, for the jirotection 
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and for guarding 
the citizens against lawless bands that were constantly 
committing depredations. 

On the 24th of February, 1865, Sheridan led the 
cavalry in a grand raid upon the James River Canal 
^nd other rebel communications in rear of Richmond. 
At Staunton the head of the column began skirmish- 
ing with the enemy. On the I3th of March the 
command reached Scottsville, and the work of de- 
struction commenced. Locks were blown up, and 
mills and rebel stores were destroyed. The First 
and Second Brigades went to Howardsville, cutting 



passing Milltown fugitives from the field began to appear, giving another 
interpretation of Itie tiring of tlie morning. All trains going to anil re- 
turning from the front were at once ordered to be parked to the right 
and left of the road near Milltown. General Sheridan then ordered 
!>Iajor Spera to take twenty men with the best horses from the escort and 
follow him, a3 he wa-s going to "move lively" to the front, the re- 
mainder of the escort being directed to report to General Forsythe, and 
Colonels Th()rn and .\Iexaniler to do " what they could in stemming the 
tide of fugitives." On the way up the pike towards Xewtown the 
crowds of men and wagons thickened, until the multitude became al- 
most a jam, so much so that it was impossible to keep the pike, and 
General Sheridan struck to the left of the road, dashing through fields 
and over fences and ditches. He spoke to few, occasionally crying out, 
"Pace the other way, boys !" A chaplain was met mounted on a mule 
who seemed importunate to speiik with the general, and beckoned him to 
stop; but the general told him to face about and ride along if he had 
anything to say. But the mule-mounted chaplain was soon left behind 
with his story untold. On arriving upon tlie field the general struck to 
the right of the road, where were Generals Wright, Getty and members 
of his own staff, one of whom remarked; "General, I suppose Jubal 
Early intends driving you out of the valley." "What!" exclaimed 
Shendan, "drive me out of the valley, three corps of infantry and all 
my cavalry? I'll lick him before night." With a lion heart he set to 
work disposing his forces, and by nightfall he had redeemed his promise. 



and demolishing the canal and destroying supplies 
destined for the rebel army. On the 8th the Second 
! Brigade marched via Howardsville, Scottsville and 
Fluvanno Court-House to Columbia and thence to 
Goochland Court-House, returning during the night 
to Columbia, continuing the work of destruction. 
From the James River the command moved upon 
the Virginia Central Railroad, which was likewise 
rendered unserviceable, and on the 26th rejoined the 
army before Petersburg. " There perhaps never was 
a march," says Sheridan, " where nature oftered such 
impediments and showed herself in such gloom as 
upon this; incessant rain, deep and almost impassable 
streams, swamps and mud were encountered and 
overcome with a cheerfulness on the part of the 
troops that was truly admirable. ... To every 
officer and man of the First and Third Cavalry 
Divisions I return ray sincere thanks for patriotic, 
unmurmuring and soldierly conduct." 

Sheridan reached the army just as it was moving 
on its last campaign, and he at once took the van. 
At Stony Creek the cavalry became engaged, and the 
Second Brigade was hastened ibrward to the support 
of Davie's division, which was forced back, the 
Seventeenth losing a number wounded and missing 
in the engagement. At daylight of the 1st of April 
fighting was renewed, the L'nion lines charging the 
enemy in his works, the division capturing six hun- 
dred [Prisoners and two battle-Hags. The loss in the 
Seventeenth was severe. Captain James Ham being 
among the killed, and Captains English, Donehoo, 
Beinhold and Lieutenant Anglun among the wounded. 
Rapid marching and hard fighting continued until 
the 6th, when General Ewell, with one wing of the 
rebel army, was cajjtured. From that point the 
cavalry kept up a running fight with the enemy's 
advance until he reached Appomattox Court-House, 
where the whole rebel army was forced to lay down 
its arms. In securing this joyful result the cavalry, 
led by Sheridan, contributed largely, the Seventeenth 
sustaining its hard-earned reputation for gallantry to 
the last. 

From the Ajipomattox the regiment returned 
to Petersburg, and after a week's rest marched 
to the neighborhood of Washington, where it re- 
mained in camp until its final muster out of service, 
on the 16th of June. A detachment of this regiment 
was consolidated with parts of the First and Sixth 
Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment.s, forming the Second 
Provisional Cavalry, and remained in service until 
the 7th of August, when it was mustered .out at 
Louisville, Ky. In his farewell order to the Seven- 
teenth, General Devine says : " In five successive 
campaigns, and in over threescore engagements, 
you have nobly sustained your part. Of the many 
gallant regiments from your State, none has a brighter 
record, none has more freely shed its blood on every 
battle-field from Gettysburg to Appomattox. Your 
gallant deeds will be ever fresh in the memory of 



268 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



your comrades of the Iron Brigade and the First 
Division. Soldiers, farewell I " 

FIELD AND STAFF OFFICERS. 
Josiali II. Kullogg, col., must, in Nov. 19, 18('.2 ; res. Dec. 27, 1864. 
James Q. Antlei-son, col., muBt. in Sept. 6, 1862 ; pro. from capt. Co. A to 
maj. June 13, 1863; to lieut.-col. April 30, 1864; to col. Jan 23, 
1865 ; (iisih. by G. O. June 20, 1865. 
John B. McAllister, lieut.-col., must, in Oct. 7, 1802 ; pro. from capt. Co. 

I Nov. C, 1862 ; res. May 31, 1863. 
Coe Durhind, lieut.-col., must, in Oct. 23, 1862 ; pro. from capt. Co. M 
to nii^i. Nov. 20, 1802 ; to lieut.-col. Feb. la, 186.5 ; brevet col. March 
13, 1865 ; disch. by G. 0. June 20, 1863. 
David B. Ilartranft, iniy., must, in Oct. 14, 1862 : pro. from capt. Co. L 

Nov. 20, 1862 ; res. Jan. 11, 1863. 
Eeuben R. ReinboUI, mn,i., must, in Oct. 2, 1862 ; pro. from Ist lieut. Co. 

E Oct. 22, 1862 ; res. Aug. 9, 1804. 
Weidner II. Spera, maj., must, in Oct. 14, 1862 ; pro. from capt. Co. C 

Aug. 10, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. June 20, 1865. 
Luther B. Kurtz, maj., must, in Oct. 30, 1862; pro. from capt. Co. C Feb. 

13, 1S65 ; disch. by G. 0. June 20, 1895. 
William Thompson, maj., must, in Nov. 1, 1802 ; pro. from cjipt. Co. H 
Feb. 13, 1865 ; brevet lieut.-col. March 13, 1865 ; disch. by G. 0. 
June 20, 1865. 
Perrj- J. Tate, adjt., must, in Sept. 23, 1862 ; jiro. from 1st sergt. Co. E 

Nov. 20, 1802 ; res. May 31, 1863. 
James A. Clark, adjt., must, in Sept. 21, 1862; pro. from 1st sergt. 

Co. K Nov. 6, 1803 ; disch. by G. 0. June 20, 1805. 
John Anglum, (|.m., must, in Oct. 2, 1802 ; pro. from 1st lieut. Co. K 

Nov. 21, 1802 ; killed at Old Church Tavern, Va., Jlay 30, 1864. 
Edwin A. Bean, q.m., must, in Sept. 17, 1802 ; pro. from sergt. Co. L 

July 22, 1804 ; disch. by G. O. June 20, 1865. 
Henry M. Douelioo, com. sergt., must, in Sept. 6, 1802 ; pro. from 

private Co. A Nov. I'J, 1802 ; to capt. Co. B Dec. 20, 1862. 
John P. Ross, con), sergt., must, in 8ept. 6, 1802 ; pro. from com. sergt. 
Co. A to com. sergt. Nov. 1, 1862 ; to com. sub. May 26, 1865 ; 
disch. byG. O.June 20, 1865. 
Isaac Walborn, surg., must, in Jan 10, 1863 ; res. Sept. 28, 1803. 
Thad. S. Gardner, surg., must, in Aug. 2, 1862 ; pro. from assist, surg 

62dRegt. V. V. Oct. 23, 18i;:! ; res. April 6, 1864. 
George B. Ponieroy, surg., must, in .^jn-il 8. 1863 ; pro. from assist, surg. 

llcth Regt. P. V. May 2, 1804 ; disch. by ti. 0. Juiie 28. 1865. 
Jas. B. :\I..ore, assist, surg., must, in Oct. 23, 1862 ; res. July 18, 1803. 
J. Wilson Hewitt, assist, snrg., must, in April 1", lSO:i ; disch. by G. 0. 

June 20, 1865. 
Henry A. Wheeler, chaplain, nnist. in Nov. 21,1862; re.s. Jliirch 8, 

1803, 
Robert S. Morton, chaplain, must, in March 24, 1865 ; disch. by G. O. 

June 20, 1305. 
Samuel ]M. Drew, vet. surg., must, in .Tune 4, 1803 ; disch. .Vug. 7th, to 

date Jan. 16, 1865. 
Jerome I. .Stanton, sergt. -maj., must, in Sept. 21, 1862 ; pro. from 1st 

sergt. Co. B June 10, 1865; must, out with regiment June 10, 1805. 
leaac N. Grubb, sergt. -mjy., must, in Sept. 26,1802; pro. fri>m corp_ 

Co. I Aug. 23, 1803 ; to 1st lieut. Co. I July 22,.1864. 
Stanley N. Mitchell, sergt. -nuij., must, in Sept. 21, 1862 ; pro. from 

private Co. B Aug. 1, 1864 ; to 2d lieut. Co. D Dec. 28, 1864. 
James Brannon, sergt.-maj., must, in Sept. 22, 1802; pro. from private 

Co. SI July 21, 1804 ; to 2d lieut. Co. JI June 10, 1805. 
George .S. Drexler, sergt.-maj., must, in Sept. 26, 1802 ; pro. from q.m.- 

sergt. Co. I Nov. 1, 1862 ; trans, to Co. I Aug. 25, 1804. 
Thos. II. Boyd, q. ni. -sergt. . must, in Oct. 6, 1804; pro. from private Co. 

I ,Tan. 1, 1865 ; disch. by G. 0. June 20, 1805. 
John A. English, com. sergt., must, in Sept. 6, 1862 ; pro. from private 

Co. ,\ May 26, 1861 ; must, out with regiment June 10. 1865. 
Henry J. Tarble, hosp. steward, must, in Sept. 22, 1802 ; pro. from 
private Co. 51 Oct. 4, 1863; must, out with regiment June 16, 
1865. 
Peter K. Clark, hos].. steward, must, in Sept. 21, 1862; pro. from private 

Co. K March 1, 1864 ; must, out with regiment June 10, 1865. 
John M. F\iriuan, hosp. steward, must, in Oct. 3, 1802 ; pro. from private 

Co. D Nov. 20, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. .\pril 11, 1863. 
James N. Smith, hosp. steward, must, in Sept. 21, 1862 ; pro. from 

private Co. B April i), 1863 ; disch. on surg. certif., date unknown. 
Thomas Lawrence, saddler, must, in Sept. .30, 1802 ; pro. from private 
Co. K .\pril 0, 1803 ; nnist. out with regiment June 10, 1865. 



William C. Walker, saddler, must, in Oct. 3, 1862 ; pro. from private Co. 

M Nov. 1, 1862 ; trans, to Co. M April 6, 1863. 
James Hyde, chief bugler, must, in Feb. 28, 1864 ; pro. from bugler Co. 

B Nov. 1, 1S64 ; disch. by G. O. June 21, 1865. 
Jonathan M. Darrow, farrier, must, in Sept. 21, 1862 ; pro. from privat* 

Co. B Nov. 1, 1862; trans, to Co. B May, 15, 1863. 

COMPANY L. 
David B. Ilartranft, capt., must, in Oct. 14, 1862 ; pro. to ma.i. Nov. 20, 

1862. 
John L. Rees, capt., must, in Sept. 27, 1862 ; pro. from 1st lieut. Nov. 20, 

1802 ; res. Jlay 29, 1863. 
Theodore W. Bean, capt., must, in Oct. 17, 1862 ; pro. from 2il to 1st 
lieut. Nov. 21, 1802; to capt. Nov. 1, 1863; brevet maj. and lieut.- 
col. March 13, 1865; disch. by G. O. June 20, 1805. 
William H. Wright, 1st lieut., nnist. in Sept. 25, 1862 ; pro. from Ist 

sergt. to 2d lie\it. Nov. 21, 1802 ; to 1st lieut. Aug. 8, 1864 ; disch. by 

G. 0. June 20, 1865. 
Thomas J. Owen, 2d lieut., must, in Sept. 17,1862 ; pro. from sergt. Nov. 

1, 1863 ; dis<-h. by G. 0. June 20, 1865. 
Ellis P. Newlin, 1st sergt., must, in Sept. 25, 1862 ; disch. by G, O. June 

19, 1865. 
John M. Bean, q.m. -sergt., must, in Sept. 17, 1802 ; must, out with com- 
pany June 16, 1865. 
Tliomas 11. Humphrey, com. sergt., nmst. in Sept. 25, 1862 ; must, out 

with company June 16, 1805. 
John T. Johnson, sergt., must, in Sept. 17, 1862; pro. to sergt. Oct. 30, 

1864 ; nnist. out witli company June 16, 1865. 
Joseph C. Jones, sergt., must, in Sept. 17, 1862; pro. from Corp. Nov. 1, 

1863 ; must, out with company June 10, 1865. 
Henry C. Yerkes. sergt., must, in Sept. 17. 1862 ; pro. to sergt. Dec. 10, 

1863 ; must, out with company June 16, 1805. 
William A\' right, sergt., must, in Sept 2.5, 1802 ; |)ro. to sergt., date un- 
known ; must, out with company June 16, 1805. 
George Ferree. sergt,, must, in Sept. 25, 1802, pro. from Corp. May 15, 

1805 ; must, out with company June 16, 1865. 
Lewis B. Bailey, sergt., nmst. in Sept. 25, 1862 ; disch. by G. 0. Slay 15, 

1865. 
WiUiam Hunsicker, sergt., must, in Sept. 17, 1802 ; disch. on surg. certif. 

Oct. 1, 1864. 
Henry (i. Hunter, sergt., must, in Sept. 17, 1862; disch. on surg. certif. 

Oct. 1, 1864. 
Edwin A. Bean, sergt., must, iu Sept. 17, 1862 ; pro. to q.m. July 22, 

1864. 
Enos P. Jefrrii>s, sergt., must, in Sept. 25, 1802 ; com. 2d lient. Co. E .Inly 

10, 1864 ; not mustered ; disch. by G. 0. June 21, 1805. 
Cliarles J. Keeler, rorp., must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; prisoner from Sept. 22, 

1803, to Feb. 28, 1805 ; must, out with company June 10, 1805. 
Gideon Saylor, Corp., must, in Sept. 17, 1802 ; pro. to Corp., date un- 
known ; must, out with company .lune 16, 1865. 
Robert Gill, Corp., must, in Sept. 25, 1802 ; pro. to Corp., dat.- unknown ; 

must, out with company June 16, 1865. 
Josiah Tyson, corp., must, in Sept. 17, 1802; i]ro. to Corp. Nov. 1, 1S03 ; 

must, out with company June 16, 1865. 
JIahlon Kline, Corp., must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; pro. to Corp. Dec. 10, 1863 ; 

must, out with company June 16. 1865. 
Ezekiel Fogel, Corp., must, in Sept. 25, 1802 ; pro. to Corp. March 1, 1805 ; 

must, out with company June 10, 1865. 
James M. Kennedy, entV; "mst. in Sept. 25, 1862 ; pro. to Corp., date 

unknown : must, out with comiian,v .Tune 10, 1865. 
Daniel Farner, corji., must, in Sept. 25, 1862 ; pro. to Corp. Slay 15, 1865 ; 

must, out with company June 16, 1805. 
Preston Shoemaker, con)., must, in Sept. 25, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. 

Oct. 28, 1803. 
John G. Tysim, corp., must, in Sept. 25, 1802 ; raptured Sept. 6, 18C4 ; 

died at Salisbury N. C, Feb. 2', 1802: burial record Jan. 31. 1865. 
John A. Ross, bugler, must, in Sept. 25, 1802 ; must, out with company 

June 10, 1805. 
Franklin .\. Savage, bugler, must, in Oct. 6, 1862 ; must, out with com- 

pan,v .Mine 10, 1865 
Andrew Irwin, blacksmith, must, in Sept. 25, 1862 ; must, out with com- 
pany June 16, 1865. 
Samuel Linsenbigler, ssiddler, must, in Sejit. 17, 1862 ; must, out with 

company June 16, 1865. 

Prirtites. 

Joseph .\ikeli, must, in Sept. 19, 1804 ; must, out with company June 16, 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



269 



Henry S. Arker, must, in Sept 16, 18(12 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Jacob Antis, must, in Sept. 16, 18G2 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Joseph Auchey, must, in Sept. 10, lfi62 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Clem. Arnihruester, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Daniel Bunsey, nmst. in Sept. 17, 1862; must, out with company June 

16, 186.^. 
Franklin Booth, must, in Aug. 28, 18G4 ; must, out with company June 

16, 1860. 
Beuben Bender, nuist. in Sept. 17, 1862 ; disch. for wounds, with loss of 

arm, received at Cold Harbor, Va., May 31, 1864. 
Harrison Barringer, must, in Oct. 25, 1864 ; must, out with Co. B, 2d 

Regt. Pro. Cav., Aug. 7, 1865. 
Daniel Bordman, must, in Sept. 25, 1862 ; not on nmster-out roll. 
Petei S. Boyer, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Jonas Buyer, must, in Sejit. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Henry Baaler, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on mnster-ont roll. 
Jacob Batzel, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on nmster-out roll. 
Ceorge Brobins, must, in Sept. 8, 1864 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Jacob Carl, must, in Sept. It, 1864 ; nmst. out with company June 16, 1865. 
"W'. 31. Cunningham, nuist. in Aug. 8. 1864; must, out with company 

June 16, 1865. 
John riare, must, in Oct. 25, 1864. 
John Cooper, must, in Sept. 25, 1862. 
William Cooper, must, in Oct. 13, 1862. 
AVilliam M. Davis, must, in Sept. 25, 1S62 ; must, out with company June 

16, 1865. 
Eli Dyson, must, in Sept. 25, 1862; must, out with company June 16, 

1.S65. 
Henry Dotta, must- in Sept. 17, 1802; must, out with company June 16, 

1S65. 
Ellis B. Davis, must, in Sept. 25, 1862 ; died at Washington, D. C, Nov. 

1, 186:?; buried in 3Iilitai*y .\8yhmi Cemetery. 
Williani Dearolf, must, in Sept. 25, 1862; not on muster-out roll. 
Henry Erb, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; must, out with company June 16, 

1865. 
■William Erb, must, in Sept. 25, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

10, 1865. 
Amos Ecotf, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; must, out with company June 16, 

1865. 
Beneville Eck, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; captured ; died at Salisbury, 

N. C, Feb. 22,1805 ; burial record Jar. 14, 1865. 
Jacob Fox, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; must, out with company June 16, 

1865 
Frederick Ferree, must, in Sept. 1, 1864 ; must, out with coni])any June 

16, 1865. 
Patrick Ford, must, in Oct. 10, l^CA ; must, out with Co. B, 2d Regt. Pro. 

Cav., Aug. 7, 1865. 
John Faust, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
John Frcese, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
William Oayley, must, in Sept. 25, 1862; disch. for wounds received at 

Cold Harbor, Va., May 31, 1864. 
Sanniel Garvis, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. Nov., 1863. 
James C. Grattan, must, in Oct. 14, 1804 ; must, out with Co. B, 2d Regt. 

Pro. Cav., Aug. 7, 18fi5. 
licopold Gastinger, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 : not on muster-out roll. 
Aaron Hood, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; wounded at Cold Harbor, Va., May 

31, 1864 ; must, out with company .Tune 16, 1805. 
Joshua Haurk, must, in Sept. 17, 1862; disch., date unknown. 
P. J Hummelbaugh, must, in Oct. 14, 1864 ; absent at muster out. 
Benjamin Hosier, must, in Oct. 25, 1SG4 ; must, out with Co. B, 2d Regt, 

Pro. Cav., Aug. 7, 1865. 
Mahlon Herbst, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Henry Herbst, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
John R. Heard, must, in Sept. 19, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. May 23, 1865. 
William Irwin, must, in Sept. 25, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

16, 1865. 
Joseph Irwin, m\ist. in Sept. 25, 1862 ; disch., date unknown. 
ErastuB F. Johnson, must, in Oct. 6, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 16, 1865. 
John Jenkins, must, in Oct. 13, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Harrison Johnson, nmst. in Sept. IG, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Jacob Johnson, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Jacob Kook, must, in Sept. 17, 1862; must, out with company June 16, 

I8(i.5. 
Israel Kolb, must, in Sept. IV, 1862 ; must, out with company June 16, 

1865. 



Edward Keegan, nmst. in Sept, 2.5, 1862 ; wounded at Trevilian Station, 

Va., June 12, 1864 ; prisoner from June 12 to Sept. 24, 1864 ; must. 

out with company June 16, 1865. 
Jefferson Kennedy, must, in Sept. 25, 1862; must, out with company 

June 16, 1865. 
William H. Kepler, must, in Sept. 17, 1802; must, out with company 

June 16, 1865. 
Jacob Kline, must, in Sept. 0, 1864 ; must, out with company June 16, 

1865. 
Charles Keller. 

John Kohl, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 : not on nmster-out roll. 
Milton Kniuse, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Augustus Keyser, must, in Sept. 10, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Abraham i*. Kouns, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Edward Kepp, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
John P. Koons, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Frederick P. Koons, must, in Sept. 16, 18G2 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Philip Kline, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
John C. Lutz, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; disch. on surg. certif. Oct. 20, 

1863. 
James L. Lowerj', must, in Sept. 25, 18G2 ; wounded at Wilderness, Va., 

May, 1864 : trans, to V. R. C. ; disch. by G. 0. July 26, 1865. 
John E. Lynch, nmst. in April 15, 1864 ; must, out with Co. B, 2d Regt. 

Pro. Cav., Aug. 7, 1865. 
Henry Loftus, must, in (let. 7, 1864 ; disch. by G. 0. Aug. 10, 1865. 
Samuel S. Leidig, nmst. in Sejit. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Albert Leidic, must, in .Sept. 16, 1862; not on muster-out roll. 
H. S. Longaker, nmst. in Sept. 16. 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
John Lord, must, in Sept. 10, 18i>4 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Enos F. Slack, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

16, 1865. 
William Miller, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

16, 1865. 
Samuel Miller, must, in Sept. 17, 1862; must, out with company June 

16, 1865. 
David R. Martin, must, in Sept. 25, 1802 ; nmst. out with company June 

16, 1865. 
Benjamin H. Markley, must, in Sept. 17, 1861; disch. by G. 0. May 23, 

1865. 
James F. Jloore, must, in Sept. 25, 1862 ; disch., date unknown. 
Henry Marcli, must, in Sept. 25, 1802 ; died at Washingtou, D. C, date 

unknown. 
Lewis D. Miller, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on nmster-out roll. 
Adam Moyer, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
John G. 5Iiller, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Samuel McDonald, nmst. in Sept. 25, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 10, 1865. 
Joseph McGinnis, must, in Sept. 25, 1862. 

John Xeiman, nmst. in Sept. 16, 1862; not on muster-out roll. 
John Neifter, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
John O'Neal, must, in Oct. 13, 1862 ; must, out with company June 16, 

1865. 
Edwin L. Ouru, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; trans, to V. R. C. ; disch. by G. 

O. July 5, 18(i5. 
Joseph Plank, nmst. in Sept. 25, 1862; must, out with company June 16, 

1805. 
Wilson P. Powell, must, in Sept. 25, 1862; nmst. out with company June 

10, 1865. 
Wilson P. Pine, must, in Sept. 25, 1802 ; disch. by G. 0., July 28, 

1865, 
William C. Park, must, in Sept. 25, 1802 ; trans, to 69th Co., SdBatt., V. 

R. C. ; disch. by G. 0., June 15, 1805. 
Daniel Puhl, must, in Sept. 10, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
John Pool, must, in Sept. 10, 1802 ; not on muster-out roll. 
William D. Quigg, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Jeremiah Royer, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

16, 1865. 
Samuel Ramsey, must, in Sept. 25, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

16, 1865. 
Albert Roberts, must, in Sept. 25, 1862 ; disch, by G. 0. June 10, 1865. 
William Richardson, nmst. in Oct. 13, 1862 ; must, out with Co. B, 2d 

Regt. Pro. Cav.,iA.ug. 7, 1865. 
Charles Rhoades, nmst. in Sept 17, 1862 ; died, date unknown. 
Oliver Rushon, nmst. in Sept. 16, 1802; not on muster-out roll. 
Henry Sassanuin, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 16, 1865. 



270 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Theophilus Steltz, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 16, 1865. 
Albert Schanely, must, in Sept. IV, 1862 : nuist. out witli company Juno 

16, 1805. 
Jacob Schanely, must, in Sept. 1", 1S62 ; must, out with company June 

16, ISIS. 
Jefferson Schanely, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; nmst. out with company 

June 16, 1805. 
George H. Smith, must, in Sept. 17, 1802 ; must, out with company June 

16, 1865. 
Thomas Smith, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

16, 1805. 
George W. Smith, must, in Sept. 17, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 10. 1865. 
Kicholas Smith, must, in Sept. 9, 1864 ; must, out with company June 

10, 1865. 
■William Savage, Sr., must, in Aug. 8, 1864 ; must, out with company 

June 16, 1805. 
John L. Savage, must, in Aug. 8, 1804 ; must, out with company June 

16, 1865. 
Henry Souders, must, in Sept. 17, 1802 ; must, out with company June 

16, 1865. 
■William Souders, must, in Aug. 25, 1804; must, out with company June 

16, 1805. 
Charles Sinmies, must, in March 8, 1864 ; absent at must. out. 
James Sherwood, must, in March 8, 1804 ; absent at must. out. 
Patrick Skifflngton, must, in Oct. 10, 1804 ; must, out with Co. B, 2d 

Regt. Prov. Cav., Aug. 7, 1865. 
■William Savage, Jr., must, in Sept. 18, 1864 ; must, out with Co. B, 2d 

Regt. Prov Cav., Aug. 7, 1805. 
John Sloop, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Henry Styer, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Elias Smith, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Franklin Schuler, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
John Schwt'uk, must, in Sept. 16, 1802 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Samuel Schlotterer, must, in Sept. 10, 1802 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Jacob Smith, must, in Sept. 10, 1802 ; not on muster-out roll. 
James Smith, must, in Oct. 13, 1802 ; not on nmster-out roll. 
Joseph Taggert, nmst. in Sept. 17, 1862 ; must, out with company June 

16, 1865. • 
■William n. Thomas, must, in Sept. 28, 1802 ; must, out w ith company 

June 16, 1805. 
David P. Tyson, must, in Sept. 10, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Benjamin Thomas, must, in Oct. 12, 1864 ; must, out with Co. B, 2d Regt. 

Pro. Cav., Aug. 7,1865. 
Arnold Ulmer, nmst. in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Joseph I'nderkoffer, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on nuieter-out roll. 
■William H. Westler, must, in Sept. 17, 18G2 ; must, out witli company 

June 10, 1805. 
James L. Witherow. must, in Sept. 25, 1802 ; must, out with company 

June 16, 1865. 
■William C. White, must, in Sept. 26, 1862 ; must, out with company 

June 16, 1805. 
John ■Wildsmith, must, in Sept. 19, 1864 ; must, out with company June 

16, 1865. 
Peter Wentz, must, in Sept. 2, 1864 ; must, out with company June 16, 

1805. 
Alexander ■West, must, in Sept. 25, 1862 ; disch., date unknown. 
Abner W. Williams, must, in Sept. 25, 1802 : wounded at White House. 

■Va., June 21, 1804 ; trans, to 119th Co., 2d Batt., V. R. C. ; disch. by 

G. 0. Sept. 2.'., 1805. 
Jos. ■Whittington, must, in March 5, 1804 ; must, out witli Co. B, 2d 

Regt. Pro. Cav., Aug. 7, 1865. 
Aaron Wick. must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Henry Wolf, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 
Christian Wick, must, in Sept. 16, 1862 ; not on nmster-out roll. 
John Yohn, nmst. in Oct. 13, 1862 ; disch., date unknown. 
■William Yokum, must, in Oct. IS, 1862. 
Martin Ziudel, must, in Sept. 25, 1862 ; not on muster-out roll. 

Note. — The following incident is vouched for by the editor, the facts 
having come to his knowledge since being mustered out of the service; 
During the winter of 1802-03, and while the regiment was encamped at 
and near.\cquia Church, in Stafford County, Va., the commanding officer 
was required to keep the communication open to Dumfries, where was 
posted a regiment of infantry, it being an intermediate post between the 
lines in defense of the capital and the Army of the Potomac. The 



interval was frequently visited by Confederates in small numbers, such 
as light scouting-parties of fifty and sometimes in greater numbers. 
At fii-st a battalion waa used, and they would leave camp every night 
about half-past eleven, marching through to Dumfries, distance twelve 
miles, cia the old Telegraph road, starting on the return about daylight. 
This routine was kept up for about a month, with only some slight 
skirmishes and bushwacking to enliven these dull and monotonous rides, 
and it was concluded that a squadron would do just as well as the bat- 
talion. The squadron was used for some weeks, when the numlter was 
retluced to a company, and nothing of a serious character occurring, the 
number was finally reduced to twelve men and a corporal, all under the 
care of a sergeant. During the nmnth of Slarch, 1803, on one occasioi* 
Sergeant Harry G. Hunter, of Company L, with the usual squad of twelve 
men, had reached Dumfries, reported to the officer, and at the break of 
day started on his return. When about midway between the outposts 
the sergeant passed through a dense woods, thence out into an open 
space. Just as the sergeant reached the clearing he observed a small 
party of horsemen some two hundred yards distant emerging from the 
woods through which the road ran, and approaching from the opposite 
direction. The sergeant was leading the party ; the morning was cold and 
the road extremely muddy. The men rode by twos. Presently discover- 
ing that the approaching troops wereclad in gray and evidently enemies, 
but without a hostile flag, he rode on. When within a few yards of 
each other, both being about e<iual in number, neither drew a sabre or 
raised a pistol, but coming still closer, the sergeant yielded half the road,, 
tho Confederates yielded the other half, the officei-s saluted each other, 
and the columns passed without a word of comment or hostility. Ser- 
geant Hunter made the customary rejtort at heaclquarters and the 
episode was kept a profound secret until the war closed, when the joke 
was related as a part of the unwritten history of the regiment. Ser- 
geant Hunter is now principal of the High School, Birdsboro', Berks 
Co., Pa. 

One Hundred and Seventy-Fifth Regiment 
Pennsylvania Drafted Militia (nine months' men). 
- — This regiment was composed of eight companies 
from Chester and two from Jlontgoraery County. The 
camp of rendezvous was in West Philadelpliia, where 
the companies assemljled in November, 1862, and a 
regimental organization was effected with the follow- 
ing field officers : Samuel A. Dyer, of Delaware 
County, colonel; Francis C. Hooton, of Chester 
County, lieutenant-colonel ; Isaac McClure, of Ches- 
ter County, major. On the 1st of December the 
regiment broke camp and moved via Washington to 
Fortress Monroe, and thence to Suffolk, Va., where 
it was made a part of the brigade commanded by 
Colonel Alfred Gibbs. After a month's incessant 
drill the regiment was transferred to the brigade of 
General F. B. Spinola, and moved, with other troops, 
during the closing days of the year, to Newbern, N. C, 
and went into winter-quarters. Spinola's brigade 
here became the First of the Fifth Division (General 
Henry Prince), Eighteenth Corps, (General Foster). 

In March, 1863, when the enemy was threatening 
Newbern, the One Hundred and Seventy-fifth threw 
up a strong line of earth-works on the south side of 
the river Trent and joined in repelling the attack 
which was sluggishly made on the town. It also 
made several expeditions in search of Colonel Wood- 
ford's guerrillas, but never succeeded in inducing 
them to risk a fight. After retiring from Newbern 
the enemy proceeded to Washington, on the Tar 
River, and laid siege to the town. The defense was 
directed by General Foster in person, the little gar- 
rison consisting of only about two thousand men. 
From Newbern to Washington direct was about 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



271 



thirty miles, but by water one hundred and twenty. 
Prince's division at once moved by water to the relief 
of Foster. Eight miles below the town Prince found 
his way impeded by obstructions in the river, here a 
mile wide, andby hea\'y guns in earth-works on either 
side. 

A year before, when Burnside made his descent 
upon this coast, the enemy had driven three lines of 
piles across the stream and erected heavy bomb-proofs 
to command the passage. When the Union forces 
got possession they contented themselves with open- 
ing a narrow way through the piles and left the 
bomb-jiroofs unharmed. When the enemy came 
again he had but to occupy. An attempt was made 
by the gunboats to reduce these defenses, but, failing 
in this, the One Hundred and Seventy-fifth was put 
upon a transport, in tow of the gunboat "Whitehead," 
and, with other troops, moved up to run past the ob- 
structions ; but, before reaching them, it was signaled 
to retire. 

Prince subsequently abandoned further attempts 
at relief and returned to Newbern. A force under 
General Spinola, of which the One Hundred and 
Seventy-fifth formed part, which moved overland 
with the same object, was alike unsuccessful, meet- 
ing the enemy in force at Blount's Creek. The 
enemy, finding all attempts to reduce the place fruit- 
less, and seeing a heavy force under Foster, who had 
escaped from the besieged town, gathering for a de- 
scent upon his rear, raised the siege. Spinola's 
brigade was theji ordered to Washington, and a part 
of the One hundred and Seventy-fifth, under Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Hooton, was posted at Fort Hill, and the 
other, under Major Smith, Major McClure having 
previously resigned, at an earth-work at Rodman's 
Point, Colonel Dyer having been assigned to a tem- 
porary command in Little Washington, under General 
Prince. The regiment remained in this position for 
two months, and this being a malarious district, it 
lost many men by sickness, among them Lieutenants 
Evan Sheeler and John E. Miller. Near the close of 
June the regiment was ordered north, and upon its 
arrival at Fortress Monroe was designated to join in 
the force then organizing for a movement up the Pe- 
ninsula. This order was, however, countermanded, 
and it was sent to the LTpper Potomac to aid in in- 
tercepting the retreat of the rebel army from Penn- 
sylvania. Upon its arrival at Harper's Ferry it was 
stationed on Maryland Heights, whence, after some 
delay and the final escape of Lee, it proceeded to 
Frederick, Md. It subsequently marched to.Sandy 
Hook, where it was attached to Colonel Wells' 
brigade, of the Eighth Corps. With it the regiment 
assisted in laying a pontoon bridge over the Putomac 
to the town of Harper's Ferry, and, crossing, had a 
brisk skirmish with the Twelfth Virginia Cavalry, 
which was driven and the town occupied. Its term 
of service had now expired, and, returning to Phila- 
delphia, it was, on the 7th of August, mustered out. 



FIELD AND ST.\FF OFFIC'EKS. 
(There are no muster-out rolls of tilts regiment on file in the adjutant- 
general's office). 
Samuel A. Dyer, col,, must, in May 3, 18G1 ; pro. from capt. Co, C, 30th 

Kegt, P, V,, to licut,-col, Nov, 13, 1802 ; to col, Nov, 2, 18C2 ; disch. 

Aug. T, 1863. 
Francis C. Hooton, lieut, -col,, must, in Nov. 25, 1862; must, out with 

regiment Aug. 7, 186,S. 
Isaac McClure, niaj,, must, in Dec, G, 1862 ; res. Fell, 24, 1863, 
Joseph D, Smith, majt,, must, in Nov, 4, 1862 ; pro. from capt, Co.A Feb. 

24, 1863 ; must, out vvifli regiment Aug, 7, 1863, 
James T, Temple, adjt,, must, in Nov. 16, 18C2; disch. Jan. 8, 1863. 
J. Keen Vaughan, adjt,, must, in May 31, 1861 ; pro, from 1st 6ergt,Co. 

C, 30th Regt. P. v., Jan. 16, 1603 ; must, out with regiment Aug. 

7, 1863. 
Jesse M, Beam, q.m,, must, in Nov, 2,5, 1802 ; res. Jan 9, 1863, 
Herman B, Linton, Surg,, must, in Nov, 13, 1862 ; res, Jan. 13,1863. 
Jeremiiih B. Brandt, surg,, must, in Sept, 16, 1802 ; pro, from asst, Burg. 

S5tli Kegt. P. V. Jan. 31, 1803; must, out with regiment Aug, 7, 

1803, 
John F. Evans, asst, surg,, must, in Nov, 25, 1862 ; must, out with regi- 
ment Aug, 7, 1803, , 
Thomas H, Phillips, a.sst, surg,, must, in June 1, 1803 ; must, out with 

regiment .\ug. 7, 1863. 

A. Judson Rowland, chaplain, must, in Nov. 20, 1802 ; must, out with 

regiment.Aug. 7, 1863. 
John F, Roberts, sergt.-maj-, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; pro. from private 

Co. C Nov. 22, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
David Potts, q.m.-sergt., must, in Nov. 10, 1802 ; pro. from private Co. 

K, date unlinown ; not accounted for. 
J. Seydon Worrall, com. sergt,, must, in Nov, 6, 1862 ; pro, from private 

Co, F, date unknown ; not accounted for, 
Louis R, Brown, hosp, steward, must, in Nov. 10, 1862 ; pro, from private 

Co, K, date unknown ; not accounted for. 

COMPANY A. 
Joseph D. Sniitli, capt., nmst, in Nov, 4, 1862 ; pro, to niaj, Feb, 24, 

1863, 
Lewis Ram8e,v, 1st lieut., nuist, in Nov, 4, 1802 ; must, out with company 

Aug. 7, 1803. 
Henry C. Hughes, 2d lieut., must, in Nov. 4, 1862; disch. Jan. 16, 

1863. 
John Graham, 2d lieut., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; pro. to 2d lieut. Jan. 31, 

1863 ; must, out with company Aug. 7, 1803. 
Jonas F. Gibson, sergt., must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 

B. F. Mack, sergt., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Thomas C. Vansant, sergt., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Josiah Saylor, sergt., must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Richard Raysor, Corp., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Henry Edwards, corp., must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Nathan Comley, Corp., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; died at Washington, 

N. C, June 1, 1863 ; buried in National Cemeterj', Newbern, plot 

7, grave 131, 
Amos F, Shantz, corp,, must, in Nov, 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Samuel Marrias, Corp., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Philip S. Reed, Corp., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Theodore Kram, Corp., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 

Prhules. 

George .\lexander, must, in Nov. 4, 1862; not accounted for. 
Malilon Atkinson, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
George .\rp, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 : not accounted for. 
Daniel Burgess, nmst. in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Benjamin Blatt, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Allen D. Bickings, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
John Brown, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted fur. 
Lewis F. Bickings, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
John W^ Butcher, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
John Cambiu-n, must, in Nov. 4, 1802; not accounted fur. 
William Carney, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Isaac Davis, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Jacob Dotts, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
James Deeds, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
John Dine, must, in Nov. 4, 1802; not accounted for. 
John Eastburn, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Jones Eastwood, must, in Nov. 4, 1802; not .accounted for. 
John Edwards, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 



272 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Samuel Edwards, Sr., must, in N)V. 4, 18n-2 ; njt a=couated for. 
William Evertz, must, in Xav. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Samuel Edwards, .Ir., must, in Nov. 4. 18U2 ; not accounted for. 
T. William Force, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Thomas Glass, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Samuel (3reiU-y, must, in Nov. 4, 1802; not accounted for. 
Joseph Gravel, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Jlilton Godshalk, must, in Nov. 4, 1852 ; not accounted for. 
John Hart, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
■William Kenny, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Benjamin H. Love, must, in Nov. 4, 1802; not accounted for. 
James F. Millegan, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
■William 5Iiller, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Thomas McGraw, nnlst. in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
■\\'illiam Mclntire, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
"William McClure, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Frank Newberger, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
John Perch, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
James Quirk, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
■Wiishington Quig, must in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
John Reed. must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
M. T. Rice, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
John L. Smith, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Thomas Snyder, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
John Stump, must, in Nov. 4, lfC2 ; not accounted for. 
Heniy Summers, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Mahlon Schleeter, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
■William Story, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Samuel Stout, nmst. in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Lafayette Willhour, must, in Nov. 4, 1862; not accounted for. 
John W. W,allacc, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
■William Warton, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; not accounted for. 

COMPANY H. 

Thomas C. Steel, capt., must, in Nov. 6, 1802; must, out with company 
.\ug. 7, 1803. 

■\'alentine B. Emery, 1st lieut., must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; must, out with 
company Aug. 7, 1863. 

Samuel M. Plush, 2d lieut., must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; must, out with com- 
pany Aug. 7, 1803. 

Davis R. Hendrix, 1st sergt., must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 

Daniel H. Heffner, sergt., must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 

Hiram Wildenulth, sergt., must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 

Jacob KlinU. sergt., nmst. in Nov. 0, 1862 ; not accounted for. 

■\\'illiani H. Saybold, sergt., must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; not accounted for. 

Franklin Vaii Horn, corji., must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accoTinted for. 

Ephraim G. Weutzel, Corp., must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; not accounted for. 

Henry Eshback, Corp., must, in Nov. 6, 1802 : not accounted for. 

John Klink, Corp., must, in Nov. G, 1802 ; not accounted for. 

Valentine Hartenstine, Corp., must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 

Charles Briser, corp., must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 

Henry F. Jliller, Corp., must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 

Isaac Diffenderfer, Corp., must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 

Henry R. Wentzel, mus., must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; not accounted for. 

Privates, 
■William S. Bishop, must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
James H. Bender, must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
John Bowman, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
James F. Brooke, must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Fredrick Brandt, must, in Nov, 0, 1802 ; disch. Nov. 23, 1802. 
Charles lienoit, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
John Collins, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
William Coiioway, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
James F. Pelliker, must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; disch. Nov. 23, 1862. 
John Dickson, must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
William M. Engle, must, in Nov. 6, 1802; not accounted for. 
Henry Foust, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
David Frederick, nuist. in Not. 6,1802 ; disch. Nov. 24, 1802. 
Jacob Fisher, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Henry Gresh, nuist. in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Heni-y G. Gilbert, must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
David Grow, nuist. in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Ephraim M. Gehris, nuist. in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Josiah Gilbert, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; disch. Nov. 24, 1802. 
Abraham Guyer, must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Charles Hippie, must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 



Peter Harterstine, mu,st. in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted tor. 
William S. Huber, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
John Ilause, must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Enos Hunsberger, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Sanuiel HiUniau, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; disch. Nov. 27, 1862. 
Daniel Hess, nuist. in Nov. 6, 1862; disch. Nov. 24, 1862. 
Joniu! Hunsberger, must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; disch. Nov. 24, 1862. 
Henry Jacobs, must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; disch. Nov. 2.^i, 1802. 
James Johnston, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
William Jones, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Peter Kulp, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Henry Kepler, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; disch. Nov. 25, 1862. 
Ellas Koch, must, in Nov. 7, 1802 ; disch. Nov. 25, 1862. 
Charh-s Kramer, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; disch. Nov. 27, 1862. 
Daniel R. Kepler, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; disch. April, 1863. 
Franklin B. Kline, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
I>aviil S. I.atsliaw, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
,\dam Leveiigood, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Josiah Longabaiigh, must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Ismic Longacker, must, in Nov. 0, 1802; disch. Nov. 2.'i, 1862, 
Daniel Miller, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Jacob M. Moser, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted fur. 
James >Iagill, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Joseph McNamee, must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
James McGowau, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Henry Nagle, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Milton Nagle, must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
John Reninger, must, in Nov. 6, 1862; not accounted for. 
Heni-y Reigner, must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Charles Reed, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; disch. Nov. 20, 1802. 
Levi J. B. Reninger, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for, 
Henry Stettler, must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
John Stettler, must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Jesse Shanely. must, in Nov 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Nathan Secler, must, in Nov. 0, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Charles Stroudt, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Henry Sheffy, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Henry Souders, must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Jacob Sell, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Blahlon Speece, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
William H. Stokes, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Tiliuan Stuhlcr, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; disch. Nov. 25, 18(;2. 
Muses Staiiffer, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; disch. Nov. 26, 1862. 
Jacob Saltsman, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
William Froost, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Henry Y. Wise, must, in Nov. 6, 1862; not accounted for. 
Samuel L. Weisse, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
G. Jacob Willauer, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; not accounted for. 
Heni-y Wliitman, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
Lewis Wittig, must, in Nov. 0, 1802 ; not accounted for. 
John Wolf, luiist. in Nov. 6, 1802 : not accounted for. 
George Wilber, must, in Nov. 0, 1802; not arcoiinti-d fur. 

One Hundred and Seventy-ninth Reg^iment Penn- 
syl'vania Drafted Militia (nine uKMiths' men). — The 
troops foiii]Mising this regiment were I'rom the coun- 
ties of Berks, Lancaster, Montgomery, Pike, and 
Wayne and the city of Phihidelphia. They were or- 
ganized in companies at periods ranging from the 23d 
of October to the 6th of December, 1862, and on the 
8th of December a regimental organization was 
eftected, with the following field officers : William H. 
Blair, colonel ; Daniel M. Yost, lieutenant-colonel ; 
William H. Y'erkes, major. Colonel Blair was at the 
time serving as captain in the Fifty-first Regiment, 
and did not join his new command until January, 
186.3. Before leaving Philadelphia, Company E was 
detached and sent for duty to the Chestnut Hill Hos- 
pital, where, with the exception of a short period soon 
after the battle of Gfettj-sburg, in which it had charge 
of paroled prisoners in camp near West Chester, it 
remained until the close of its service. Soon after its 



THE UREAT REBELLION. 



273 



organization the regiment proceeded to Fortress 
Monroe, and thence to Yorktown, wliere it formed 
part of the garrison at the fort, and was encamped 
within its walls. Upon assuming command, Colonel 
Blair commenced a thorough discipline of his men, 
with the most flattering results. Colonel Robert M. 
West, chief of artillery and ordnance at the fort, 
says of it: " It improved rapidly, and eventually be- 
came a first-class regiment, remarkable for its profi- 
ciency in drill, the cleanliness and good order of its 
camp, and the quiet, orderly demeanor of the men. 
I never saw improvement more marked and rapid 
than in this case." It did little else than garrison 
duty until the last of July, when it was called out to 
join in the movement made by General Dix ujj the 
Peninsula. " When the movement upon Richmond 
was made," says Colonel West, in the document above 
quoted, "by General Dix, in the summer of this year. 
I was in command of the ' Advanced Brigade' of the 
forces that moved up the Peninsula. It became 
necessary to strengthen my brigade with an additional 
regiment, and the commanding general authorized me 
to designate any one I chose. I immediately named 
the One Hundred and Seventy-ninth, and, accord- 
ingly. Colonel Blair reported tome with his regiment, 
and became a part of my command. During the 
march to White House, and thence to Baltimore 
Cross-Roads, where my brigade was engaged upon two 
occasions, Colonel Blair's regiment was prompt and 
ready, and always well in hand. A peculiarity about 
his command was that it never had a straggler. 
During the return march — the most severe, on account 
of a drenching storm, of any I ever performed — the 
One Hundred and Seventy-ninth crowned its reputa- 
tion as a first-cla.ss organization by being always 
closed and promptly in its place, whilst other regi- 
ments were scattered for miles along the road." 

Ui>on its return to camp it Was ascertained that 
Lee had invaded Pennsylvania, and though its term 
of service was about to expire, by the unanimous vote 
of the men, by companies, their further services were 
tendered to Governor Curtin as long as he should 
need them for the defense of the State. This offer was 
accepted; but by the time the regiment had reached 
'Washington, en route to the front, the rebel army had 
retreated to Virginia. It was, accordingly, ordered to 
Harrisburg, where, on the 27th of July, it was mus- 
tered out of service. 

FIELD AND STAFF OFFICERS. 

Willijiiu H. Bliiir, col., must, iu Dec. 8, 18G2 ; must, out with regiment 
July 27, 1803. 

Daniel M. Yost, lieut.-col., must, iu Dec. 8, 1802; must, out with regi- 
ment July 27, 1803. 

William H. Yerkes, maj., must, in Dec. 30, 1802 ; must, out with regi- 
ment July 27, ISKi. 

Charles L. Buthngton, adjt., must, in Jan. 20, 1803 ; must, out with regi- 
ment July 2, 1803. 

Daniel K. Kepner, q.m., must, in Dec. 8, 18G2 ; must, out with regiment 
July 27, 1803. 

Charles Stycr, surg., must, in Jan. 13, 1803 ; trans, to 93th Begt P. V., 
date unknown. 

18 



James R. Reily, sxirg., must, in Sept. 4, 18li2 ; must, out with regiment 

July 27, 18(J3. 
William S. Frick, assist, surg., must, in Dec. 17, 1862 ; must, out with 

regiment July 27, 1SG3. 
James A. Richey, assist, surg., must, in Jan. 3, 1863 ; must, out with 

regiment July 27, 1863. 
J. Uii-am Champion, chap., must, in May 29, 1863 ; must, out with regi- 
ment July 27, 1863. 
Henry Heydenreich, sergt.-maj., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; pro. from priv. 

Co. A Dec. 12, 1862 ; must, out with regiment July 27, 18G3. 
James T. Stackhouse, q.m.-sorgt., must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; pro. from 

sergt. Co. G Jan. 13, 1863 ; must, out with regiment July 27, 

1863. 
William Flower, com. sergt., must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; pro. from Corp. Co. 

G Feb. 23, 18G3 ; must, out with regiment July 27, 1863. 
Henry Ball, hosp. steward, must, in Nov. 13, 1862 ; pro. from Ist sergt. 

Co. D Jan. 8, 1863 ; must, out with, regiment July 27, 1863. 

COMPANY A. 

Peter Faust, Jr., capt., must, in Nov. 4, 18G2 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1863. 

David S. Harpel, 1st lieut., must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1863. 

Amos K. Kepner, 2d lieut., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1863. 

Samuel P. Bertolet, 1st sergt., must, in Nov. 4, 18G2 ; must, out with 
company July 27, 1863. 

Aaron K. Kulp, sergt., must, in Nov. 4, 18G2 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1863. 

Adam Schlonecker, sergt., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1863. 

Henry C. Grubb, sergt., must, in Nov 4, 1862 ; pro. to corp. Nov. 24» 
1862 ; to sergt. April 1, 1863 ; must, out with company July 27, 1863. 

Nathaniel Shide, sergt., must, in Nov. 4, 18G2 ; must, out with company 
27, 1863. 

Henry R. Bertolet, sergt., must, in Nov. 4, 18G2; disch. by G. 0. Nov. 22, 
1862. 

Levi De Kalb, Corp., must, in Nov. 4, 18G2 ; must, out with company July 
27, 1863. 

John Decker, corp., must, in Nov. 4, 1861 ; pro. to corp. Nov. 24, 1862 ; 
must, out with company July 27, 1863. 

David P. Herb, corp., must, in Nov. 4, 1862; must, out with company 
July 27, 1863. 

William Grimly, corp., must, in Nov.* 4, lftG2 ; pro. to corp. Jan. 21, 1863 ; 
must, out with company July 27, 1SG3. 

Washington H. Smith, corp., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with 
company July 27, 1863. 

Eli R. Isett, Corp., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company^July 
27, 1863. 

D. S. Levengood, corp., must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; disch. Nov. 22, 1863. 

H. Y. Schweinhart, corp., must. in. Nov. 4, 1862 ; disch. Nov. 25, 1862. 

Joseph Leohart, musician, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1863. 

Jonas Hauch, musician, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; disch. Nov. 27, 1863. 

Privates. 
George Andrews, must, in Nov. 4, 1852 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Jesse G. Bitting, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
John Bender, mu.st. in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Charles Blum, mxist. in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Henry Barnhart, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
William Blum, must, in Nov. 4, 1862. 
John Beard, must, in Nov. 4, 1862, 
William Buchby, must, in Nov. 4, 1862. 
Augustus Brandenstine, must, in Nov. 4, 1862. 
Samuel Biber,must. in Nov. 4, 1862. 
Isaiah Christian, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; disch. by special order Nov, 25, 

1862. 
George Decker, must, in Nov. 4, 18G2 ;must. out with company July 27, 

1863. 
John Dettera, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 



274 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Josiah Davidshiser, must, in Nuv. 4, ISC'2 ; disch. by special order Nov. 

24, 1862. 
Querene EckenMt, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; discli. by special order Nov. 

11, 1862. 
Michael Fox, uiust. iu Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company .July 27, 

1863. 
John Fitzgerald, must, iu Nov. 4, 1863 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
John Gresh, nuist. in Nov, 4, 1862 ; disch. by special order Nov. 2b, 

1S62. 
William Hoffman, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
John W. Hartzel, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 18C33. 
John Hereh, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with com]jany July 27, 

1863. 
James Hartzel, must, iu Nov. 4, 1862 : must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
John Heinricb, must, in Nov. 4, 1K62 ; disch. by special order Nov. 25, 

1862. 
Henry Hcydennich, must, in Nov, 4, 1802 ; jiro. to seigt.-maj. Dec. 12, 

1862. 
John H. Hofimiester, nuist. in Nov. 4, 1862. 
John A. Jacoby, must, in Nov. 4, 1862. 
Samuel Kulp, must, iu Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, oot with company July 27, 

1863. 
John Kase, niu.sl iu Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27 

1863. 
Eli Lachnian, must, iu Nov. 4, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
Bel^amln B. Leister, must, iu Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1803. 
John F. Mensch, uuist. in Nov. 4, \^&i ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
George Madricli, must, in Nov. 4. 1802 ; must, out with comi'any July 

27, 18i». 
Andrew Moyer, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
Jesse Nyce, nmst. in Nov. 4, 1802 ; unist. out «itli ctiuipiuiy .luly 27 

1863. 
Jacob Priesendanz, must, in Nov. 4, 1802. 
Henry R. Ulioads, must, in Nov. 4, 1S02 ; must, out witU lonipany July 

27, 1803. 
Jacob Reifsnyder, uuist. in Nov. 4, 1802 ; must, out with coml»any .Inly 

27, 1803. 
John Roudonbusli, mvist. in Nov. 4, 1802 ; must, out with comjiauy July 

27, 1863. 
Francis Rahn, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
William Reifsnyder, must, iu Nov. 4, 1862 ; died July 30, 1803 ; buried 

in Military .\9ylum Cemetery, D. C. 
Solomon Stout, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Henry Smith, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with comiiany July 27, 

1863. 
William Schetfey, must, in Nov. 4, 1S02 ; must, out with company .lidy 

27, 1863. 
John Styer, must, iu Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with com])any Jidy 27, 

1863. 
Philip Sell, 'must, iu Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27. 

1S6;J. 
Austin .Solomon, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; unitit. out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Levi Schefley, miLst. in Nov. 4, 1802 ; must, out with compauy July 27, 

1803. 
William Scheuck, must, iu Nov. 4, 1802 ; must out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Samuel Saylor, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
George Slyfer, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
Benjamin F. Sacks, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with compauy July 

27, 1863. 
Jesse Snyder, must, iu Nov. 4, 1802 ; disch. Nov. 24, 1802. 
Heury Shane, nmst. iu Nov. 4, 1802 ; disch. Nov. 25, 1862. 
Adam Suellbecker, must, in Nov. 4, 1862. _ 



Chas. F. Schweitzer, must, in Nov 4,1862. 

William Umsteadt, nuist. in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with couii)auy July 

27, 1SG3. 
Jonathan Vanboru, must, in Nov. 4, 1802. 
Heury S. Wagoner, nuist. iu Nov. 4, 1802 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
John Wagoner, must, iu Nov. 4, 1802 ; must, out with compauy July 27, 

1863. 
Henry W. Weaud, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Eliiis Wuunuer, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; disch. Nov. 20, 1862. 
John Williams, mu.st. in Nov. 4, 1862. 
Jacob \. Yost, must, in Nov. 4, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
John M. Zolier, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; must, out with company .luly 27, 

1803. 
Johu Zern, must, in Nov. 4, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
Nathan Zern, must, in Nov. 4, 1862; must, out with compauy July 27, 

1863. 

COMPANY B. 

John B. Krazier, capt., must, iu Nov. 5, 1862 ; must, mit with company 
July 27, 1863. 

AllVeil S. Diugiuan, 1st lieut., must, in Nov. 5, 1S62 ; must, out with com- 
pauy July 27, 1803. 

Cliarles L. Heller, 2d lieut., must, iu Nov. b, 1802 ; must, out witli com- 
pany July 27, 1803. 

William M. Jones, 1st sergt., must, in Nov. 5, 1802 ; pro. from sergt. 
Nov. 17, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 1803. 

Tboniai* .\. Heller, 1st sergt., must, in Nov. 5, 1862; discli. on surg. 
celtif. Nov. 17, 1862. 

II. li. Swartwood, sergt., must, in Not. 5, 1802 j must, out with company 
July 27, 1803. 

John Lattimore, sergt., must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; must, out with company 
.Inly 27, 1863. 

.lohii J. llepne, sergt., must, iu Nov. 5, 1862; must, out with company 
July 27, 1803. 

William E. Sigler, sergt., must, iu Nov. 5, 1802 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1803. 

1>. D. Rosencraus, sergt., must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; trans, to Co. M., 103d 
liegt. 1'. v., Nov. 15, 18(}2. 

Alonzo F. Brown, co'rp., must, in Nov. 22, 1862; must, out with company 
July 27, 1803. 

Joseph M. Carlton, Corp., must, in Nov. 5, 1862 ; must, out with company 
.luly 27, 1863. 

Jacob Cronewalt, Corp., must, iu Nov. 5, 1802 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1803. 

Isaac B. Tyrell, Corp., must, in Nov. 6, 1862; must, out with company 
July 27, 1803. , 

Alfred C. Klotz, corp., must, iu Nov. .% 1802 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1863. 

William F. Slaster, corp., nuist. in Nov. 5, 1862 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1863. 

Palmer Depue, Corp., must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1S03. 

John Armstrong, Corp., must, iu Nov. ."i, 1862 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1803. 

John McCarty, corp., must, iu Nov. 5, 1862 ; disch. Nov. 24, 1802. 

Stephen Vogle, musician, must, in Dec. 22, 1802 ; must, out with com- 
jiauy July 27, 1803. 

George W. Smith, musician, must, in Nov. 22, 1802 ; must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 1803. 

Lawrence ,\ndrewB, musician, must, in Nov. 5, 1862. 

Jacob Konig, musician, must, iu Nov. 5, 1802. 

Prh-atts. 
Jos. Arnibruster, must, iu Nov. 22, 1802 ; must, out with coiuiiany .Inly 

27, 1803. 
Moses Akers, must, in Nov. 5, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
Joseph .\ndrews, must, in Nov. 6, 1802 ; must, out with couijiauy July 

27, 1863. 
George W. Benson, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Conrad Beer, must, iu Nov. 5, 1803 ; must, out with compauy July 27, 

1863. 



THE GllEAT REBELLION. 



275 



Dwight Blackuiore, must, iu Nov. 5, 1S02 ; must, out with company July 

27, isu;i 

Jobu F. Bower, must, in Nov. 6, IStili ; must, out with comimny July 27, 

18G3. 
Authony Bohlendor, must, in Nov. 5, ISI)2 ; must, out wjtli comjiany 

July 27, 18G3. 
Johu Buyle, must, iu Nov. 5, ltit>2 ; must, out with company July i7, 1S03. 
Daniel Behler, must, iu Nov. 5, ISCi ; disrh. hy special onler Nov. 27, 

1862. 
Darin Blackmoro, must, in Nov. IS, 18G2 ; trans, to Co. 31, Uliid Regt. P. 

v., Nov. 20, ISiM. 
John Brady, must, in Nov. 5, 18(32. 
Jacob Behler, must, in Nov. 5, 18t)2. 
George BeOT, must, iu Nov. 5, 1802. 
Charles Brown, must, in Nov. 5, 1802. 
William Charles, must, in Nov. 5, 18G2 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Jesse Crane, must, in Nov. 22, 18G2; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
Archibald Clieshire, must, in Nov. 22, 1802; must, out with company 

July 27, 1803. 
Moses R. Carlton, must, in Nov. o, 1862; disch. by special order Nov. 20, 

1802. 
M'jilter Cooper, must.»in Nov. 5, 1802. 
I'hilo P. Canning, must, iu Nov. 5, 1802. 
Samuel J. Ciirliuff, must, in Nov. 5, 1802. 
James M. Depue, must, in Nov. 5, 1802 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Robert Dunbar, must, in Nov. f, 1802 ; must, out with cnmpany July 27, 

1803. 
John Dakin, must, in Dec. 22, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1S03. 
Jolin A. Dunning, must, in Nov. 5, 18G2 ; disch. on surg. certif. Nov. 16, 

1802. 
James H. Depue, must, iu Nov. 5, 1802 ; ti-ans. to Co. 51, lG3d Regt. P. V., 

Nov. 23, I8G2. 
John D. Davis, must, in Nov. 5, 1802. 
Peter Ferle, must, in Nov. 5, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
Samuel E. Filley, must, in Nov. 22, 1862 ; must, out witli eompjiiiy .Tuly 

27, 18G3. 
Jacob Finger, must, in Nov. 5, 1802 ; disch. by special order Nov. 27, 

1802. 
Solomon Freeby, must, in Nov. 5, 1802 ; disoh. by special order Nov. 23, 

1802. 
John Francis, must, in Nov. 5. 1862. 
AVilli;im Gannon, must, in Nov. 5, 1802; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Wesley Greening, must, in Nov. 5, 18G2 ; i*ust. out with company July 

27, 18G3. 
John Greening, must, in Nov. 5, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
Joseph Greenzweig, must, in Nov. 5, 1802 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Jesse E. Gunn, must, in Nov. 5, 1802 ; must, out with conipany July 27, 

1803. 
Alexander Hartnmn, must, in Nov. 5, 1SG2 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 18G3. 
Anthony Henger, must, in Nov. o, 1802; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Frank Heiney, must, in Nov. 5, 18t'p2 ; must, out witli company July 27, 

1803. 
John K. Hunt, must, in Nov. 22, 1862; must, out with (itmpaiiy .hily 27, 

1803. 
Isjiac Heater, must, in Nov. 22, 1862 ; must, out with comiiany July 27, 

1803. 
George Heater, must, iu Nov. 22, 1802 ; must, out with company .July 27, 

1863. 
Francis Hess, nnist. in Nov. 22, 1802 ; nuist. out with company July 27, 

1803. 
Anthony Heater, must, in Nov. 5, 1802 ; trans, to Co. M, 103d Regt. P. V., 

Nov. 17, 18G2. 
Joseph Holbert, must, in Nov. 22, 1862 ; died at Yorktown ,Va., April 27, 

1863. 
David Hartz, must, iu Nov. .5, 1862. 
David V. Jagger, must, in Nov. 5, 1S02 ; muf*t. out with company Julj- 

27, 1863. 



John James, must, in Nov. 22, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

18G3. 
John Kreitz, must, in Nov. 5, 18G2 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
John Klear, must, in Nov. 22, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
A. Knapbenborger, must, in Nov. 5, 1802. 
Levi Klot/., must, in Nov. 5, 1802. 
Daniel Lawrence, must, in Nov. 5, 1862; must, out with company July 

27, 18G3, 
Solomon S. Labar, must, in Nov. 5, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Levi Lord, must, in Nov. 22, 18G2 ; must, out with company July 27, 

ISOJi. 
Samuel Lambert, must, in Nov. fl, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Edward Loreaux, must, in Nov. 5, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Johu W. Litts, juust. in Nov. 5, 1862 ; trans, to Co. M, 163d Regt. P. V., 

Nov. 13, 1862. 
Slichael Leary, must, in Nov. 5, 1862. 
fliatthew Moore, must, in Nov. 5, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

18G3. 
Isaac \V. Blorris, must, in Nov. 22, 1862; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Stephen Markley, must, in Nov. 5, 1862 ; disch. by special order Nov. 24, 

1862. 
Adam Morris, must, in Nov. 5, 1863 ; trans, to Co. M, lC3d Regt. P. V., 

Nov. 17. 1862. 
Josiah MiKane, nmst. in Nov. 22, 1862 ; must, oxit with company July 

27, 1803. 
James II. McCarty, must, in Nov. o, 1862; disch. by special order Nov. 

19, 18G2. 
James H. McC'ale, must, in Nov. 5, 1862 ; disch. by special order, date 

unknown. 
M. F. McDonough, must, in Nov. 5, 1862. 
Charles Palsgrove, must, in Nov. 5, 1862 ; must, out M'ith company July 

27, 1SG3. 
Jacob Pratt, must, iu Nov. 5, 1802; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
Benjamin Posteus, must, in Nov. 22, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Johu Puderbaugh, must, in Nov. 5, 1862; trans. Nov. 19, 1862, organ- 
ization unknown. 
George W. Quick, must, in Dec. 22, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Charles Quinn, must, in Nov. 5, 1862. 
Aaron Runion, must, in Nov. .'>, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
George W. Roberts, must, in Nov. 5, 1862. 
Lewis Reinard, must, in Nov. 5, 1862. 
C. D. Schoouover, must, in Nov. 5, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Alexander Solt, must, in Nov. 5, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
John A. Shafer, must, in Nov. 5, 1802 ; inust. out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Benedict Spade, must, in Nov. 5, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

]863. 
Martin V. Smitb, must, in Nov. 22, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Leonard Simonson, must, iu Nov. 5, 18G2 ; nuist. out with company July 

27, 1SG3. 
Paris Swain, nmst. in Nov. 22, 18G2 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
John Seltzer, must, in Nov. 5, 1862. 
John W. Smith, must, in Nov. 5, 1862. 
Charles Titman, must, in Nov. 5, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

18G3. 
A. J. Vaninwegen, must, in Dec. 22, 18G2 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1863. 
Isaac Watson, must, in Nov. o, 1SG2 ; must, out with company .July 27, 

1803. 
Charles Wolfrom, must, in Nov. .^, 1802 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
James Walker, must, in Dec. 22, 1802 ; mast, out with company July 27, 

1803. 



276 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



George Woodring, must, in Nov. 6, 1862 ; disch. by special order Nov. 

24, 1862. 

COMPANY G. 

Abraham 51. Mctz, capt., must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out witli com- 
pany July 27, 180:5. 

Eicbard S. Ewing, 1st lieut., must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out with 
company July 27, 18(13. 

Jesse McCombs, 2d liout., must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ■, must, out with com- 
pany July 27, 18G3. 

Henry Oldfleld, 1st sergt., must, in Nov. 8, 1802 ; umst. out witli com- 
pany July 27, 1863. 

Thomas Hawks, sergt., must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1863. 

Albert Guldin, sergt., must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out with company 
July 27, 1863. 

Eli Garner, sergt., must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; pro. from corp. Feb. 28, 1863 ; 
must, out with company July 27, 1863. 

Henry Bean, sergt., must, in Nov. 10, 1862 ; pro. to col-p. Feb. 28, 1863 ; 
to sergt. June 30, 1803 ; must, out with company July 27, 1803. 

Sylvester Trumbour, sergt., nmst. in Nov. 8, 1862; disch. by special 
order Nov. 24, 1802. 

James T. Stackhousc, sergt., muiit. in Nov. S, 1862 ; pro. to q.m.-sergt. Jan. 
13, 1803. 

David W. Hartzcl, Corp., must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; pro. to Corp. Feb. 28, 
1863 ; must out with company July 27, 1863. 

George Deeg, Corp., must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 

Nathaniel Case, corp., must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; pro. to Corp. Feb. 28, 

1863 ; must, out with company July 27, 1863. 
Hiram Livezey, corp , must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; disch. by sjiecial order Nov. 

28, 1862. 

John B. Sheard, cor|i., must, in Nov. 8, 1802; disch. by special order 

Nov. 30, 1862. 
Mathias G. Yerger, coi-p., must, in Nov. 8, 1S02 ; disch. by special order 

Dec. 8, 1802. 
William Flower, coqi., must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; pro. to com. sergt. Feb. 23, 

1863. 
Henry W. Sparr, Corp., must, in Oct. 16, 1862. 
Samuel P. ShafTor, mus., must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1803, 
Milton Keeler, uuis., must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; disch. Nov. 13, 1802. 

Privatee. 

Lewis Arfine, must, in Nov. 8, 1862. 

Enoch Albertson, must, in Nov. 8, 18G2. 

Henry Badman, must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
George Bowere, must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
Henry M. Bucher, must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Edward Badmiin, must, in Nov. 8, 1802 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
John Basset, must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; disch. by special order Nov. 22, 1802. 
John H. Brady, nmst. in Nov. 8, 1862. 
Edward C. Bates, must, in Nov. 8, 1862. 
John Burk, must, in Nov. 8, 1862. 
Thomas Brown, must, in Nov. 10, 1862. 
John Clark, must, in Nov. 8, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
Joseph Conver, must, in Nov. 8, 1802; nuist. out witli company July 27, 

1863. 
John Colbertson, must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Aaron Clymer, must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
Benjamin A. Cozens, must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must. out. with company 

July 27, 1803. 
IS. B. Oressman, must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; disch. by special order Nov. 22, 

1802. 
Charles Charlester, must, in Nov. 8, 1362. 
Orion Corby, must, in Nov. 10, 1862. 
Samuel N. Daub, must, in Nov. 12, 1802 ; must, out with comi)any July 

27, 1863. 
Henry Darbois, must, in Nov. 8, 1S62. . 

Edward Dipple, must, in Nov. 12, 1862. 



Jacob Dieaur, must, in Nov. 10, 1862. 

Thomas Donnelly, nmst. in Nov. 10, 1862. 

William Dauim, nmst. in Nov. 10, 1862. 

.'<olouion Kolb, must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
George Echart, must, in Nov. S, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
.James Ellis, must, in Nov. 8, 1862. 
John Ford, nmst. in Nov. 8, 1862. 
An.lrcu Frick, must, in Nov. 10, 1862. 
Henry LIruff, must, in Nov. 8, 1862; must, out with company July 27, 

1 803. 
.\ugustus Grow, must, in Nov. 8, 1802 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
George Garner, must, in Nov. 8, 1862; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
Mitcliell Gourley, must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Heujamin Grimley, must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1863. 
Zacliariah Gerliart, must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1863. 
Henry F. Grage. must, in Nov. 10, 1862. 
Jacob B. lluber, must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Joseph llubi-r, must, iu Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
Henry Heins, must, in Nov. 12, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
Jesse Heist, must, in Nov. 12, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
Lewis Hubcr, must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
William llartranft, must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; disch. by S. 0. Nov. 19, 

1802, 
H. Hildcbraudt, must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; disch. by S. 0. Nov. 19, 1862. 
Francis Iliare, must, in Nov. 8, 1862. 
G. M. Hilderbeiter, must, in Nov. 12, 1862. 
Paul Ilartzell, must, in Nov. 12, 1862. 
.-Vbsalom Kolb, must, in Jan. 21, 1863 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
Solomon Kolb, must', in Nov, 12, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
Israel Kline, must, in Nov. 12, 1862. 
George Lock, must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
Israel Long, nmst. in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1863. 
Enos Long, nmst. in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
.■Vndrew Jlodell, must, in Nov. 10, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Gottlieb Jlyei-s, must, in Nov. 12, 1862; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
Gottlieb S. Jlycrs, must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
Henry Miller, umst. in Nov. 10, 1862. 
Reeden Nuss, must, iu Nov. 8, 1862. 
,\rnL'St Nagle, must, in Nov. 8, 1802. 
Franklin Nice, must, in Nov. 10, 1862. 
Thomas Plunket, nmst. in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 
.\lfred Pierry, must, in Nov. 10, 1862. 
James Procter, nmst. in Nov. 10, 1862. 
Ileury II, Keed, must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 

Samuel Richards, must, in Nov. 12, 1802 ; must, out with company July 

28, 1803. 

Ezra Rodebaugh, must, in Nov. 10, 1862. 

Daniel Roth, must, in Nov. 8, 1862. 

llichacl Rone, nmst. in Nov. 8, 1862. 

Cliarles Stahlnecker, must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1803. 
Daniel Styer, must, in Nov. 8, 1802 ; must, out with company July 27, 

1803. 
William Scwink, must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1803. 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



2Y7 



John F. Stevens, must, in Nov. 12, 18G2 ; disch. by S. 0. Nov. 20, 1S02. 

John A. Smith, must, in Nov. 10, 18ri2. 

James Smith, must, in Nov. 10, 1862. 

Charles Smith, must, in Nov. 8, 1862. 

John Smith, must, in Nov. 8, 1862. 

Nathaniel Trumbour, must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out witll company 

July 27, 1863. 
M. W. Weirman, must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out witii company .Inly 

27, 186.'!. 
John Wenhold, must, in Nov. 12, 1862; must, out with company .)uly 

27, 1863. 
Abraham Wenhold, must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out with company 

July 27, 1863. 
Charles Wampole, must, in Nov. 12, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 
John Welsh, must, in Nov. 8, 1862. 
Abraham Yeakle, must, in Nov. 8, 1862 ; must, out with company July 

27, 1863. 



at Valley Forge during the winter of 1778-79 and 
partieii)ated in the engagements at Germantown, 
Brandywine and Stillwater, continuing in service 
until the close of the conflict. He married Eosina 
Berninger, whose surviving sons were Benjamin B. 
and Philip. The former, born on the 31st of Decem- 
ber, 1787, was a soldier of the war of 1812, and filled 
the offices of commissioner and register of wills in his 
county. He married, on the 13th of November, 1813, 
Sarah Feather, whose children were Isaac F., Benja- 
min F., Sarah and Elizabeth. The first named was 
born March 2, 1815, in Pottsgrove, where his life has 
chiefly been spent. 

He has been honored with the offices of county 




Col. Daniel M. Yost. — Philip Yost, born May, 
1718, emigrated to America prior to the year 1740 
from Nassau, West Germany, and settled in Limerick 
township, Montgomery Co. He subsecjuently re- 
moved to the Yost homestead, near Pottstown, in 
New Hanover township, which is still among the 
family possessions. To his wife, Veronica Dotterer, 
were born three sons, among whom was Philip, a 
native of Limerick township, whose birth occurred 
August 24, 17.')7. He served with credit during the 
Kevolutiouary war, having encamped with the army 



auditor, county commissioner and associate judge, 
having been the last incumbent of the latter position. 
He married Eosina, daughter of Daniel Miller, of 
Pottsgrove township, and has children, — Daniel M., 
Benjamin M., Isaac M., Philip M., John E. and five 
daughters. Daniel M. Yost was born on the 27th of 
August, 1839, in Pottsgrove township, where he 
attended the public school of the district, and later 
received superior advantages of education at Wash- 
ington Hall, situated at the Trappe. From 1852 
until 1854 he varied the vocation of a teacher with 



278 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



labor on the farm, and in March of the hitter year 
accepted a position as clerk in a dry -goods store in 
Norristown, continuing thus occupied until the 
beginning of the war in 18(il. On the lilth of April 
he enlisted for three months in the Fourth Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers, and was during this period of 
service promoted to the position of first sergeant of 
his company. The following spring he embarked in 
business with J. H. Brendlinger, and during the fall 
of 18G2, Colonel Yost again manifested his j)atriotism 
by raising a comj)any during the emergency and 
immediately reporting for duty at Harrisburg. 

Such was the spirit infused into this band of re- 
cruits by their cajjtain that in thirtj^-six hours from 
the time of their enlistment they were en route for 
the State capital. Colonel Yost was promoted from 
a captaincy to the position of lieutenant-colonel of 
the Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, which was the 
first regiment that crossed the line into ]\Iaryland and 
reinforced General Reynolds at Hagerstown. On his 
return from service he was commissioned lieutenant- 
colonel of the One Hundred and Seventy-ninth Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers, and while serving with his reg- 
iment was wounded at Baltimore Cross-Roads, near 
White House Landing, Va. In 18t)4 he resumed his 
business relations, and has since that date been one 
of the representative merchants of Norristown. Colo- 
nel Yost, was, in 1S(>8, married to Hannah, daughter 
of Solomon Feather, of Norristown. The children 
of this marriage are Daniel F., Harry F., Walter, 
Maria R. and Ella. Colonel Yost luis been largely 
identified with the business interests of the borough, 
as also of the county. A Democrat in politics, he 
does not participate in the various political move- 
ments of the time and invariably declines office. JIc 
is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, Norristown. 

• ELEVENTH KEGIMEXT. 
Organized Sei.t. 12, 18G2 ; dischiirged Sept. 24-25, 18G2. 

TiKi.D AND Staff. — Colonel, Cluiiles A. Knoderer; lieutenant-colonel, 
Daniel M. Yost ;*ni:tjur, W'jilter H. Couke ; adjutant, Gnstavus A. 
North ; quarlermafitcr, Antiiuiiy G. Ely ; surgeon, Jnlm B. Stearly ; 
assistant surgeon, li. D. JIcLean ; sergeant-major, Carroll Tysuii ; 
quartennaster-sergeant, J. Howai"d Murray; commissary -sergeant, 
Richard K. Kuhn ; lionpital steward, Tlmnuis H. Walton. 

Company C— Captain, Henry W. Bunsixll ; fii-st lieutenant, Florence 
Sullivan; second Ueutenaut, Enoch A. Banks; fii-st sergeant, Wil- 
liam R. Lesher ; "Bergeants, George Coier, Thomajs J. Reiff, Valen- 
tine S. Schrack, Samuel Jamison ; corpomls, Henry Bodine, James 
Moyei-, James HI. Taylor, Samuel J. Potts, Samuel Walker, Joseph 

B. Jloyer, I. Isett Freedley, George A. Lentze ; numicians, Samuel 

C. Walker, Comly Wright. 

ZVi»a(e«.— Theodore Adie, William H. Adle, John F. Ambler, Adam 
Ashenfelter, Thomas E. Ambler, Lewis H. Auchey, Fnincis C. Brend- 
linger, Charles H. Bossert, Barnet W. Beaver, Isiiiah Bender, John 
B. Bickel, Charles G. Bare, James Buck, William V. Cuthbertson, 
Charles F. C^i-son, Jacob Demcks, Charles Day, Augustvis F. Day, 
Harrison Evans, David W. Freas, William Fox John Fitzgerald, 
Jr., Charles Fegeley, Robert C. Fries, Cluirles Fit/.walter, Joseph 
Greaves, David Gruff, James >I, Ganser, Ju^hna Gilbert, Samuel Got- 
walts, Washington Griffith, Jr., Ivins B. Hansell. Samuel Uenshall, 
SnUon H. Hauek, Isaac R. Hunsicker, Aarou Hendricks, Joseph 
Jones, David Krause, Henry Kinkener, Benjamin F. Kerper, Watt- 
son Kirkbride, Marcus Kipncr, Charles Lewis, Malcdim Lindsjiy, J. 
Wodd Lukens, Beaton Maloney, Juhn R. Major, William H. jjc- , 
Crea, Walter L. JlcClennan. Saiuuel L. McClennan, James !Mc- 1 



Mickeu, Daniel McCIurey, George W. Neiman, Thomas O'Neil, 
James O'Neil, Irvin Foley. Walter E, Pattou, John Potts, Jacob H. 
Richards, Sylvester N. Rich, Theodore F. Rodenbough, Levi Rush, 
Lewis Styer, William IL Stroud, Fmucis G. Stinson, Levi Shniuder, 
AVilliam H. Shelve, Daniel G. Sherman, William T. Shnell, i^amuel 
C. Scheetz, Thomas B. Sut^h, John Sands, Amos E. Styer, Samuel 
Thomas, M'illiam Thomas, John Thouias, Charles M. Tatem, Mark 
Thomson, William Vaughan, Theodore F. White, Abraham A. 
Yeakle. 

Company D.— Captains, Walter H. Cook (pro. to maj. Sept. 15, 18G2) ; 
John C. Snyder (pro. from Ist lieut. Sept. Iti, 18(52) ; first lieutenant, 
Henry Brown (pro. fruin private Sept. 16, 18132) ; second lieutenant, 
Henry G. Armdd ; firet sergeant, Cliarles McCally ; sergeants, J. 
Evans Isett, W'nlter St.*ott, Benjamin F. Vancourt ; corporals, Elias 
Fluck, George Delp, John K. Ralston, Benjamin F. Solly ; musician, 
Howard Gordon. 

PrivaUs. — Elhvood Ambler, Jesse Ambler, Wilmer Atkinson, James M. 
Biitten, Julm Budey, Enos Bt.scli, (■harles Biswick, William H. 
Bddey, Lawrence A. E. Ci>rS(.>ri, John H. Bager, Peter I'efeuback, 
William Killer, CliarlesP. Han-y, Juhn H. IIui.,-, Rubcrt Iredell, Jr., 
Charles C. Isett, Huward 31. Jenkins, Thomas A. 3Iontgomery, Ed- 
ward 3lurray, William Moore, John 3IcDonald, Robert McDonald, 
William Rittenhuuse, Samuel Rossiter, I««u: M. TempHn, Elijah 
Tliomas, Jonathan Thomas, Carroll S. Tyson (pro. to sergt.-inaj. 
Sept. 20, 18i;2). Isniel Wentz, John H. White, Juhn C. Wielaiid, 
Arnuld Williams, Wallace Williamni, H. C. Zimmerman, Jolm Zim- 
mernian. 

<ViMr.\xv G.— Captain, Daniel M. Yost (pro. to lieut. -col. Sept. lo. lSr2) ; 
(irst lieutenant. Jesse L. Geist ; second lieutenant, Daniel K. Kei>- 
ner ; firet sergeant, David S. Harpel ; sergeants. John F. Sabold, 
Samuel S. Bertulet. Aaron G. Krause, Adam Saylor; corporals, Ben- 
jamin H. Markley. Benjamin M. Yost. Valentine Hart«nsline, Dan 
iel 3L Sleller, .\rnos K. Kepner, Benjamin F. Harpel, Jacob G. 
Neiffer. Augustus Adams ; musician, James Markley. 

l*ricafes. — Daniel Acker, Henry Beruhard, David Bcary, Charles Beiser, 
Albert G. Bertolet, Eiphraim A. P. Bertok't. .Jacob Binder. Jushua H. 
Brendlinger, Franklin Bicndlinger, Ji)hii Banmaii. Abraham R. Ber- 
tolet. John M. Decker, Abntliain H. Itutterer. John H. Dolterer, 
t^uerine Eckenfels. Isaac L. Erb. Frederick S. Fagley, Peter Faust, 
Jr.. Jacob Fryer, Natlumiel Feather, Milton Gilbert, Enos Gotsliall, 
Henry S. Geist. Hi-nry GrofE, Jesse Hallman. John K. Hauek, 
George W. Hauek, Conrad Hauser. Thomas F. Hoffmeier, Danitd H. 
Heffner, David P. Herb. Juel Hartenstim-. William B. Hoffman. Levi 
1). Ivalb, William K. Ki-pner. Joua?; G. Kranse. Aaron K. Kalb, 
John S. Kase, Geurge Ladshaw. Charles Lacliiuan. D. G. Leidheiser, 
David Levenguod, Augustus Mayberry. Juhn V, Meckert, Sylvester 
Muser. Henry M. Muyer, Henry M. Jliller. Jesse Nyce, Jesse Oxen- 
ford, Jeremiah Prutzman, Francis Uawn. Jonas F. Reinerf, Albert 
H. Richards, George R. Ruchstulil, Jlahlon Hatz, Washington H. 
Smith. Levi Scheffey, William Sabolil, Augustus Shaffer. Eplmiim B. 
Sclieffey. Henry Y. Schwfinhart, George H. Slianer. Jon:is K. Smith, 
Henry Stuftlet. Henry Sletler. John Steller, William Umsted, Henry 
W. Weand. Siimnel Wcit^s. Josiah M. Yerger, William Young, Philip 
Yahn, John Yahn, Julin M. Zoller. 

CoMi'.wv H. — Captain, Barclay Hall ; first lieutenant. Ednnuid B. Nuss ; 
second lieutenant, William W. I>alby ; first sergeant, Edwani S. 
Tomlinson ; sergeants. Francis Vmitheiuan, William F. Donley, 
Edward Hoary. Peter F. Davis ; corporals, Jesse Hall, James Davis, 
John S. Hippie. Brailford Lee. Conmd Burke, Charles J. Halloway, 
Francis H. Lubee, Sanuicl Pugh ; musician, John Murray. 

P)-intte8. — William Adams. Juhn Bailey. Connul Bnmgarten. Martin 
Bumgarfen. Edward Bailey. Curncline Bradley, Daniel Culler. Mur- 
ton Caffey, Roger Cuirey. Samuel Dnnlap. Edward Downey, B»_"jlh 
Dnrnip, Richard Ewing. .Samuel Elliott, Freeman Fleck, Daniel 
Ford, Matthiiis Glauzinger, George Hibbs, James Holland. Henry 
Hnmmcl. Henrv Jones, William Ijooney, Edward Mochler, Patrick 
JIurphy, John Mahlon. Robei't McCunly, Andrew McFarland, Wil- 
liam Pollock, Andrew tjuinley, John Razor. William Ray. Henry 
S;eniple. Charles Simpson, Davis Smith, Robert Smith, Benjamin 
Smith, David Stevens. Owen Scanlan, Jacob Uliick, Hiram C. 
Wager. Levi Whiteman, Robert White, Thomas Wilfong, Joseph 
Wheeler, James Wood. 

SEVENTEENTH REGIMENT PENNSYLVANIA 3IILITIA. 

Organized Sept. 17, 1802 ; discharged Sept. 25, ; 6, 27, 2S, 1802. 
FiELn AND Staff. — Colonel, James Gilkyson ; lieutenant-colonel, Charles 
>=. Lcadt-r; major, Edwani S. Shessh*r ; adjutant, Franklin March; 



THE GREAT HEBELLION. 



279 



quarteraiaater, Jolin A. L. Tice ; surgeon, Isiac Hughes; quarter- 
master-sergeant, Cluirles S. Atkinson. 
OiMPANY B.— Captain, Benjamin 31. Boyer ; tiret lieutenant, Charles 
Ilunsicker; second lieutenant, William H. Snyder; fii-st sergeant, 
William B. Blaitland ; sergeants, Hiram Lysinger, Samufl Koden- 
baugh, Edward P. Benter, Lewis H. Bowman ; coriwrals, Adam H. 
Fetterolf, Julius Hood, Josiah Cliristman, George Emery, Charles 
Sutch, Jacob R. Hunsicker, James D. Ash, Franklin March (pro. to 
adjt. Sept. 17, 18G2). 
Piivates.~Ja.mes C. Allabaugh, Jacob S. Aaron, Richard Bate, John 
Butcher, Samuel Brooke, Isaiah Bradford, Isjiac Barton, John Cole- 
houser, Jacob R. Custer, Lsaac Cooke, John Deem, Henry Edwards, 
Sanniel Edwards, Thomas B. Fisher, Edward Fagiin, William F. 
Force, William E. Fulmer, Lewis Garner, John Giirbor, James Got- 
waltz, Jacob M, Hensell, Robert S. Hood, John Holland, John Hed- 
dleson, David K. Humbert, John Hart, Elias C. Jones, Samuel 
Johnson, Jacob Ki-amer, Daniel C. Kepler, Henry W. Kratz, Henry 
Lehman, Preston Lewis, Laurence Lai'kins, Benjamin Lightfoot, 
Isaac C. Lysinger, Daniel Lysinger, Morris S. Lungstreth, Henry C. 
Moser, Allen Martin, Edward Murray, Enos Msyor, Daniel Millsr, 
James McGintey, John McCoy, Peel B. McCord, Jarrct T. Preston, 
William W. Painter, Henry Quillman, George W. Rogers, Da^is 
Rjimage, Charles J. Royer, Joseph W. Roycr, William R. Ritteu- 
honse, Levi Rosenberger, Adam Rodebaugh, Samuel Rodebaugh, 
George Rodlbaugh, George Seelah, John Shuttleworth, James Sloan, 
George W. Snyder, Peter H. Schaffer, Francis R. Shape, Thomas 
Slutterer, Samuel Taylor, Reuben Taney, Samuel H. Treichler, 
Thomas White, Matthias P. Walker, Edward P. Zimmerman. 
Company G, — Captain, Harrison M. Lutz ; fir^^t lieutenant. Henry C. 
Hughes ; second lieutenant, Horatio Ogden ; first sergeant, Charles 
S. Griffith ; sergeants, Henry E. Newberry, James Hustler, William 
H. Shainline, Colbert Reiger ; coi-porals, Isaiic Ramsey, George W. 
Holstein, William'H. Holstein, Charles D. Hess, JosL-ph Barrett, 
John Richards, David F. Skean, Frank Tomney. 
P>ira/es. —Henry Armstrong, John Broughton, Hugh Cassiday, Samuel 
Coat^?. Edward Delany, Jonas Eastwund, Juhn Graham, Lewis Glenn, 
Charles R. Griffith, Frederick Goll, William H. Geiger, Josej-h Har- 
rison, Amos T. H'jlt, S. Hallman Hart, Hiram C. Hallriiaii, Juhn A. 
Keiger, James Keating, Robert Kellei-, NaMianiid Lavi-r, Charles 
Lyle, Franklin Lyie, Heiu-j' Linley, William Millington, John A. 
Mitchell, John H. Jlangle, William McCracken, Charles Pickup, 
Robert Patton, Joseph Russell, Walter B. Ramho, Morris Richardson, 
Christian F. Skean, Hiram Supplee, James Supplee, Benjamin Y. 
Shainline, Jonathan R. Supplee, Martin Stamp, Davis Sweeny, Elias 
Smith, Michael Sherry, William Swann, Jesse Updegrove, Squire 
■\Vhitehoad, Patrick Waltei-s, Michael Wheeler. 

NINETEENTH REGIMENT PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA. 
Organized Sept. 15, 1862 ; discharged Sept. 27, 18G2. 

Field and Staff. — Colonel, Robert Klotz ; lieutenant-colonel, Daniel 
Nagle ; major, William H. Churchman ; adjutant, Herman B. Gnieff^; 
quartermaster, 'Lewis W. Crawford; assistant surgeon. Daniel T. 
Batdort'; chaplain, Alfred A. Fisher; sergeant-major. D. Sylvester 
Stine ; quartermaster-sergeant, William H. Bowyer ; commissary 
sergeant, David H. McNair. 

r'oMPANY E.— Captain, John H. Hobart : first lieutenant, George Rice; 
second lieutenant, Thomas C. Steele ; first sergeant, William A. Dyer; 
sergeants, William S. AVells, Henry Potts, Jr., Franklin A. Yocum, 
Alexander Malsberger; corporals, William C. Beecher, Samuel R. 
Ellis, Charles Lessig. Miller D. Evans, George D. Meigs, Isaac Urn- 
stead, Daniel W. Davis, John Lord ; musicians, George W. Jlorrow, 
Robert H. Hobart. 

Privatea. — Charles J. Adamson, Lyman Beecher, Robert Bice, Jerome B. 
Byar, Francis Bach, John S. Bachman, Mahlon R. Buchert, W'illiam 
J. Binder, Benjamin B. Brant, Harrison Bean, Horace \. Custer, 
John Corbitt, Marmaduke B. Casselberry, William Davis, Anthony 
Dunn, Samuel S. Daub, David D. Endy, Oliver Evans, Samuel Y. 
Eisenberger, Jonathan Fregh, Charles Frick, Heni*y F. Fogle, Jonas 
D. Fritch, Peter Good, Daniel F. Graham, Davis R. Hendricks, Na- 
thaniel P. Hobart, Ephraim Hartranft, Josiah Huber, Luke Higgin.'*, 
Nathaniel Harner, John W. Hollowbush, John Hause, John R. 
Hunsberger, John R. Irwin, Hiram C. Jones, William II. Johnston, 
Francis Jordan, Daniel H. Keim, James W. Keim, George T. Keim, 
Henry G. Kulp, Enos Keller, William H. Lachman, Michael Lessig, 
William H. Landis, Henry P. Leaf, Van Buren JHssimer, Cornelius 
Mara, Cyrus \\. 0. Nyce, Lewis R. Neiman, Ednuiml E. Newlin, 



Joseph Potts, Jr., Joseph McKean Potts, Ephraim Reifsnyder, Peter 
\\. Reifsnyder, Peter S. Reifsnyder, Ht-nry P. Rntrer, William I. 
Rutter, Jerome Ruth, Peter Ruth, John D. Ruthruck, Henry A. 
Richards, 3Iark H. Richards, Christopher Shauer, Enos H. Shaner, 
Euglebert Shaner, Augustus W. Shick, Henry B. Smull, Henry K. 
Stout, OUver A. Shelladay, William B. Stranford, John Wagner, 
LGvns Ward, Harrison R. M. W'hitman, John Weidner, George 
Wanger. William L. Williamson, Samuel Y. Weaver, Henry Walt, 
Jr., Matthias G. Yergy, Jacob C. Yost. 

INDEPENDENT CAVALRY COMPANIES. 

Organized Sept. 18, 1862 ; discharged Sept. 28, 1802. 

Captain, Samuel W. Condy ; first lieutenant, Joseph Longstreth ; second 
lieutenant, Austin L. Taggart ; first sergeant, William R. Wister ; 
sergeants, Charles C. Longstreth, Charles C. WhUou, Juhn S. Wise, 
Thomas Bitting; coi-porals, George G. McNeill, John Donat, George 
F. Robeson, Christian Stout. Alfred J. Snyder, Thomas Patton 

Pi-ivates. — Charles T. Aimau, Matthew Anson, William Bitting, William 
H. Boude. Benjamin E. Buzby, George W. Castner, Abraham H. 
Clayton, Enos Clayton, Hamilton Clayton, Charles Condey, Nathan 
Comley,.Cliarles Gulp, Jr., George W. Englemau, Isaac Fell, Manas- 
sah Fries, Andrew Gilinger, Harrison Goodwin, Elwood Gourley, 
William T. Harvey, Daniel Jones, Evan Jones, George M. Jones, 
Francis A. Katz, Elwood Kirk, Joseph Kirkner, Andrew Lightcap, 
Jacob F. Lukens, Elwood Paul, Enoch T. Parvin, Hiram Potts, Elias 
H. Potts, James Quirk, Philip S. Reed, Petor Rittenhouse, Ezra S. 
Shermer, Edward S. Stahlnecker, Jacob Stahlnccker, Charles Stout, 
Jonathan Thomas, William Tobid, Jr., Joseph E. Van Meter, David 
Wood, Frank Yerkes. 

Organized Sept. 13, 18i>2 ; disclmrged Sept. 27, 1802. 

Captain, Dauiel H. Slulvany;' fii-st lieutenant, J. Kurtz Zook ; Becontl 
lieutenant, A. Jackson Anderson ; first sergeant, Frederick K. Haws, 
sergeants, E. Channing Potts, Jidin S, Shearer, George Peckin, A. 
Brower Longaker ; corporals, Thomas Humphreys, Solomon Gilbert, 
Archibald D. Thompson, Benjamin Custer, William W. Davis. 

Pnt'a/e8.— Lewis K. Beerer, John Coats, Josiah Gulp, Frank R. Deeds, 
Lewis H. Davis, Hugh Dehaven, Philip Daniels, John Grant, George 
Garrett, John Gft-ahain, Jacob Gaus, Leonard Hendrick-s, Nathan R. 



1 The following con*espondence between Captain Dauiel H. Mulvany 
and Governor Curtin recalls the period of anxiety and apprehension felt 
throughout Eastern Pennsylvania in the summer of isr.;j. It also shows 
the promptness with which the patriotic citizens of Sloutgomery County 
responded to the call of the executive in an emergency that was rife with 
peril to the commonwealth : 

" H.MiRisnuRc, June 15, 18fi3. 

"Received June 15, 18(13, 10 o'clock, 30 minutes a.m. 

" To D. Muliauy, Es^.—Lsti is moving in force on Pennsylvania. He 
lias defeated our forces at Winchester and JLirtinsburg, and part of his 
army is now at Hagerstown. The President has caviled on Pennsylvania 
for fifty thousiind volunteers to check the Rebel movement, the men so 
raised to serve for six months if not sooner discharged, to be clothed and 
paid l)y the United States, and to be accredited on the draft. Unless our 
people respond promptly a large part of the State will belaid waste by 
the Rebel invasion. 

(Siguaturei, "A. G. Curtin, 

" Gov. State Penn»yh-ania.^^ 

Also the following letter : 

" NoRRiSTOW.v, Sept. Itl, 1862. 

*^ His Excellencif, A. Cf. Onrliu, (,'ov. of I'enna. — Sir: I have the honor 

to report the troop of cavalry raised in this borough and vicinity as in 

readiness to march. We propose to mount our horses for Harrisburg on 

Thui-sday morning next. Please have the goodness to let me know by 

telegraph whether we may go at that 'time. Very respectfully your 

obedient servant. "D. H. Mulvany, 

" Cuplaiii Norristoirn Troop. 

*'P. S. — Fifty-four members liave positively agreed to march on Thurs- 
day, and some others would go to Harrisburg to join us in a few days." 

The above is appended to a paper drawn up in the following terms : 

"We, the undersigned citizens of Nurristown and its vicinity, between 
18 and 55 yeare of age, do hereby agree to form oureelves into a troop uf 
cavalrj', for such militaiy service as the defen.se of our native State may 
in the present emergency require. The membera will meet to organize 
at the officeof D, H. Mulvany on Saturday next, at 7.30 o'clock p.m." 



2S0 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Hughes, Lewis Hagey, Alexander Hanna, Samuel F. Jairett, Daviil 
S. Kulp, George Keys, George Lougaker, William B. Logan, John 
Leedon, Edwin Moore, David McClure, Davis Koudebiish, John Rig- 
ley, Charles Kazor, William Stillwagou, David M. Stacker, John S. 
Temple, Spencer Thompsou, William N. Walker, John A. Wuodlius. 
Mustered iu June 17, 1863 ; discharged July 30, 1HG3. 

Captain, Samuel W. Comly, firet lieutenant, Joseph C. Longstreth ; 
second lieutenant, Austin L. Taggart ; first sergeant, William R. 
Wister ; quartermaster-sergeant, Tboma-; Bitting ; sergeants, Euos 
Clayton, William G. Hosier, Joseph Kirkner, Jr., John S. Wise, 
Harry II. Browu ; corporals, Charles Coniley, Charles Stout, EUwvJod 
Gourley, Benjamin R. Meyera, Jacob H. Micliener, George W. Bush, 
George B. Rayner, David S. Grafly. 

IVtofttes.— Josiah Ambler, Wiliner Atkinson, Duger Bush, Mar*;hall E. 
Battin, Jacob Y. Bates, John E. Bartholomew, Andrew X. Brice, 
Michael Bushey, Charles A. Brinton, Charles Culp, John Cross, 
Thomas M. Clayton, Edwin Claxton, Henry Cook, Walter H. Cook, 
William Cahill, John J. Dager, Robert P. Dager, Fmnklin Dewees, 
Henry C. Deckart, Joshua L. Eit-Ids, John E. Kaurice, Charles E. 
Faurice, Harrison C. Green, William B. Hart, Natlian E. Hughes, 
Samuel H. Hough, John Jaci>bs, William Jones, Howard 11. Jenkins, 
Ellwood Kirk, Abraliam S. Kulp, Rader K. Kraft, Jlorris I*. Kirk, 
Henry Z. Kibler, Hicks Lnkens, Charles Lungstioth, Samuel D. 
Moser, Patrick fliurray, Richard Moore, William R. Myers, Patrick 
McGillen, George K. McMiller, Charles Newirian, John S. Perry, 
Charles W. Pattereon, Elias H. Potts, Clayton Phipps, Henry Reita- 
baugh, Jesse Ruberts, .Jr., William F. Sadler, (Jeorge W. Stackhouse, 
Walter Scott, Joseph Stahlnecrker, John W. Taylor, (JarrollS. Tyson, 
Stephen Walton, Mahlon S. Walton, Lewis S. Whitronil), William 
Weimar, Joseph J. Yocnm, Hohn Yerkes. 

IXDEPEXDENT CAVALRY BAHALION. 

Mustereil in July 2-ll), 1S(1;1 ; discharged Aug. 21, 1803. 
Company B.i — Captiiin, Frederick R. Haws; first lieutenant, George R. 
Pechin ; second lieutenant, George P. Yociim ; first sergeant, Harry 
C. Johnson ; sergeants, George Pechin, Jr., Sanniel F. Jarn.-tt, 
David Schrack, John K. Anderson; corporals, Tluunas W. Hum- 
phreys, Joseph H. Barrett, Archibald D. Thomjwon, John JL 



> Thefollowing extract from a letter written by an emergency soldier 
of the summer of 1803 will call to mind the cinumstances which at that 
period were deemed of nnnsual interest to the peojih* of Montgonieiy 
C()unty : 

" At the time General Lee witli his rebel hordes rrossLnl the Potomac 
and waa about to invade the soil of Pennsylvania the people of the 
Schuylkill Valley became very much alarmed. It was ditticult to real- 
ize the fact that after the State bad given over two hundreil thousiind 
of her brave young men to the public service that she shuuld be the sulj- 
joct of an incursion, and her great harvest-fields devastated and whole 
regions laid waste. The fanners and business men of Montgomery 
County felt the emergency to be serious, and that more soldiei'S were 
necessary in order to resist the tide of invasion, and if possible to over- 
whelm Lee ; wo therefore, in a very few days, raised a company, known 
as till! Norris (!avalry, and selected for our captain Frederick Haws, of 
Norriton township. The farmers had the hay about half made and the 
grain was nearly ready to harvest ; but wo thought better, if needs be, to 
lose our crops and march to the assistance of the brave men in the field. 
The sacrifice was felt to be very great, and the animating feeling of all 
was to do what we could for the country. On the 2d of July, 18G3, a 
warm sultry morning, we left uur homes and farms and assembled at Nor- 
ristown, wliere we receivevl our horse-s and equipments. At lU o'clock 
A.M. we formed company and stiirted for the seat of war. We marched 
over the Ridge pike, passing through village after village, and receiv- 
ing the plaudits of men, women and children, all uf whom seemed to 
feel the stern necessities of the time ; wo reached P()ttstown, and there 
remained overnight, and were hosi)itJibly entertained by the good 
citizens of that place ; many of the men felt jolted and sore, and keenly 
appreciated a short night's rest. By seven o'clock on the morning of the 
3d we were on the march fur Reading, reacliiug that place in good time; 
horses were groomed and the men tni'ued in for a good night's sleep. 
On the morning of July 4th we were mustered into the State service for 
three months, unless sooner discharged ; we then went into camp, and 
suffered all tlic discomforts of a rainy afternoon and night. The joyful 
newsof the defeat of Lee came along iu good time to rejoice our hearts, and 
in common with ail, wu felt a sense of relief and a desire to be where yfc 
could help to ' pusli tilings.' On tlie 5th we had our horses ajipraised and 



Stacker, Alexander Gotwalts, Peter Grouse, Charles P. Egbert, 
William H. Stillwagou; musicians,* Hophin V. Johnson, John Q. 
Hunsicker. 
PrmUes. — James Q. Atkinson, George W. Berry, William M. Bainbridge, 
Jacob Buckwalter, John Coats, Charles A. Cox, Benjamin Custer, 
Edwin Conrad A. W. Cooper, William R. Cox, John Deal, L. Y. 
Eisenberry, Samuel Edwards, Hiram M. Fulmer, John Fulmer, Jr., 
Seth Fulmer, Edward Freas, Edward Gorgas, Theodore Gilingei, 
George L. Garrigues, Leonard Hendricks, George Hagy, Jesse Hutz, 
Ivins Hansen, Charles Hansell, Charles L. Haws, Charles C. John- 
son, Augustus Huhn, Stephen T. Kirk, George W. Kibblehouse, 
Abraham R. Moyer, Edwin Moore, Hugh Mason, John C. Morgan, 
William H. Meigs, George W. Mancill, Henry Mavaugh, Josiah 
Note, William B. Nungesser, Enoch H. Parvin, E. Channing Potts, 
Cornelius Rhoads, Andrew S. Rahn, .\tkinson H. Ritch, Reuben Y. 
Ramsey, Louis Styer, Charles Sniith, Jacob Shaffer, Morton C. 
Streeper, Albert F. Shaw, John Spencer, Harry Sturgis, Thomas M. 
Snyder, Isaac M. Templin, Isaac W. Weirman, James C. Waid, Jolm 
Wildsmith, Elwood M. Worrell, Nathan S. Woolf, James Wells. 

The following company was recruited from Mont- 
gomery County, though it served in the First New 
Jersey Cavalry : 

CoMP.^NV A, First Nrw Jersey Cavalry. — Theodore Michenor, private, 
sergeant an<l second lieutenant; Joshua P. Kirk, corporal and ser- 
geant; Samuel Waalton, private and sergeant; Algernon Waalton, 
sergeant; John P. Marple, cori)oral and sergeant; Cephas Ross, 
private, corporal and sergeant ; Edwin Twining, sergeant; G 
R. l^Jberts, corporal and sergeant ; William M. Shaw, private 
and sergeant; William HoUowell, corporal and sergeant; Har- 
rison Megargee, private, corporal and sergeant ; James D. Wal- 
ton, private, c*)riiond and sergeant; John D. Williams, private, 
corporal and sergeant ; Epbraim M. Crosdale, private and sergeant ; 
John C. Ilobensdck, sergeant ; Isiuic Jannett, private, corporal and 
sergeant ; Theodore Johnson, corjmral ; Charles E. Wilson, private 
and sergeant; John F. Buck, private and sergeant ; Thomas J. Hel- 
lings, private and corporal ; David J. Walton, conioral and sergeant ; 
Washington M. Raifsner, private and corporal ; Theodore RiidclifT, 
private and sergeant ; Lawrence Rush, private and bugler; Charles 
J. Shelmire. private and corporal ; Charles B. Perkinpine, corporal ; 
Edmund Scott, corporal and sergeajit : Charles Myers, blacksmith. 

fViVates.— John Barker, James Bloomer. Joshua Boyles, Henry Cash, 
Charles R. Coffman, John Black. James Conn, Elias P. Hall, John 
H. Craven, Thomas M. Crosdale, Rush Grilhth, Henry Hagerman, 
Harrison Johnson, Jonathan Johnson, Elwood Knowles, Joseph 



then took cars and proeeeded tollarrisburg. The rain continued, and the 
conditions under which we marched to a piece of woodland beyond the 
town and went into camp were such as to induce 'camp growls' from 
the most patriotic. ' Camp Couch,' however, was established and Norris 
(.'avalry pitched their tents, fed their borse(<, co»)ked their coffee, 
made their beds, began to realize what 'soldiering' really meant, 'turned 
in ' for the night, dreamed of soft beds, new-made hay, and orange 
harvest-field and not the girls, but the kindly housewives we left behind 
us. We Woke to the sound of neighing horses and the general lucket of 
rain-soaked camp guards. At this camp we received our uniforms. As 
usual, they fit to a fault, and many of us, upon getting inside <if them, foU 
almost as blue as we looked. The novelty of our woodland camp was 
' wearing away and the situation was growing monotonous, when, on the 
11th, we received orde»-s to march. Our fii-st duty was to take one hun- 
dred government horses to Chambersburg ; this we did, and turned them 
j over to officers there in conuiisnid, and then moved on to Greencastle, 
1 where we encampcilforthe night. Next day we marched to a place called 
Clear Springs, in Wiusbingtou County, Maryland, and encamped ^vithin 
about one and a half miles of the Potomac River. We were now in Gen- 
eral Kelly's department. Camp Stahl. Here we were employed for 
1 some time in doing out-post and picket duty on the Potomac River. Lee 
j having retired into Virginia, the danger to the State being over and our 
aflairs at home pressing most of the men in thecommaud, we returned to 
I Harrisburg. On August 'ilst we were mustered out, and on the following 
1 day returned to our homes. Our experience was rife « ith incident, and 
I although we were not engaged with the enemy, our presence on 
I the line of operations was a guarantee of oiu- willingness to do what 
j the exigencies of the public service and those in charge of it might re- 
quire of us at their liands. 

"S. F. J." 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



281 



Levis, William C. Lower, Alexander McAffeo, Thomas Nice, Henry 
V. Sing, William Sterling, William Tuggart, Alfred Walton, William 
Webb, Albert D. Young, Charles B. Chandler, William Montgomery, 
John Peaze, William Tranger, Harvey Tomlinson, James M. WilUama. 

TWENTY-SIXTH REGIMENT PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA. 

Colonel William W. Jennings, commanding. 
Mustered in June 19-22, 18fi3 ; discharged July 3U, 1SG3. 

Company F. — Captiiin, George llice ; first lieutenant, Henry Potts, Ji'. ; 
second lieutenant, Mark H. Richards ; fli-st sergeant, William A. 
Dyer ; sergeants, George Scheetz, William S. Lessig, William G. 
Meigs, Englebert Lessig ; corporals, Mahlon \. Smith, John S. Loyd, 
Miller D. Evans, John Corbert, Henry Richards, John Guest, D. W. 
Davis, Charles V,'. Macdonald. 

Privates. — John Auchey, Jerome Byer, William P. Buckley, Christian 
G. Blair, Edwin R. Bechttd, Nathaniel Bickel, William J. Binder, 
John R. Caswell, Horace A. Custer, Mahlon Collar, Hiram Collar, 
Samuel S. Daub, Abram Derulf, Robert Ennis, Daniel E. Ellis, Jonas 
D. Fritcb, John H. Fryer. Thomas W. Feger, Jonathan Fray, Ben- 
jamin Frock, Charles Frick, John B. Ford, John Fi-y, Micliael Fryer, 
Daniel Graham, Henry C. Hitner, Samuel Hetzall, Jefferson F. 
Huber, Joseph L. Hays, Jr., Levi Herring, Paul Herring, Isaac Her- 
ring, John W. Hollowbnsh, Jonathan Hummel, Henry Huber, Henry 
J. Hobart, Nathaniel P. Ilobart, Jr., Josiah Huber, Howard Jacobs, 
Cyrus Kraner^»Henry Kemcrling, George B. Lessig, George Liggett, 
David R. Landis, William Lacluiian, Michael Lessig, George Moyer, 
George Meigs, Xnu Bnrcn Missimi.-r, Merit Missimer, George Mor- 
row, Patterson Marshall, Theodore McKane, Cyrus Nice, Henry A. 
Prutzman, Samuel W. Pennypacker, Henry G. Rahn, John Rhodes, 
Richard Rensliaw, Joseph (i. Renard, Benjamin S. Rowe, Thomas 
Beddy, Calvin B. Siionsler, Edwin F. Smith. George W. Shanner, 
Robert F. Small, Israel Spancake, Ephraim Schrope, George Steele, 
Augustine W. Shick, William J. Thomas, Werner Thomjis, Joseph 
K. Welles, William W. Wynn, Frank Wagoner. 

THIRTY-FOURTH REGIMENT PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA (EMER- 
GENCY MEN.) 
Mustered iu June 3, 1803 ; discharged Aug. 24, 18(>3. 

Field and Staff. — Colonel, Charles Albright ; lieutenant-colonel, Ed- 
ward Schall ; major Robert E. Taylor ; adjutant, Ahrahaiu S. 
Schropp ; quartermaster, Ednumd Doster ; surgeon, Lewis C. Cum- 
mins ; assistant surgeon, Eugene M. Smyser ; sergeant-major, Oliver 
Brenheiser ; commissary sergeant, Frederick LaudiTburn ; (piarter- 
master-snrgeant, Jacob R. Wirt ; hospital steward, David R. Beaver. 

Company B. — Captain, Benjamin F. Bean ; first lieutenant, John B. 
Roberts; second lieutenant, Aaron Weikel ; first sergeant, Henry 
Longstreth ; sergeants, William Heebner, John Jarrett, William G. 
Harlej', William H. Gristock ; corpoi-als, Cadwalader H. Brook, 
Joseph A. Henry, John P. Cox, Vosburgh N. Shaffer, William W. 
Wisler, Edwin L. Neiman, Joseph D. Watson, Charles C. Waltz. . 

Privates. — Sinieon Buzzard, Jr., George W. Bean, John H. Buckwaltcr, 
Charles Biger, Tlionuis Bivan, Lewis W. Bean, Adam Barrett, Abram 
Brower, Jr., John W. Bennett, Elliott Case, Warren Crater, John 
Crater, Jonas H. ('rater, Henry Cook, Thompson Davis, John B. 
Deeds, James N. Davidson, John Francis, Jolin H. W. Francis, Wil- 
liam Gundy, C'liarh's F. Grover, Thomiis D. Grover, Elhannon H. 
Gotwaltz, John High, Henry Highley, Isaac Hallmaii, George W. 
Ilarpst, Ben,)ainin Hoopes, Daniel G. Hendricks, Peter V. Hoy, Har- 
ris Harrington, George W. Jacobs, Thomas D. Jones, Arnold Hirk- 
ner, W'illiam G. Kungle, Charles Lukens, Charles A. Blurray, Cliarles 
Markle, .\uthony Mosteller, William A. Miller, Joseph L, Mfigs, 
James S. Closes, Owen McCabe, Thomas W. Pennypacker, Thomas 
Peart, Leopold Polzol, David Reese, Sylvester Rapp, Joseph Rossiter, 
Thoma.s Rossiter, Jr., Thoiims J. Rapp, Joseph P. Robinson, Mathew 
H. Robeits, Wallace A. Rambo, Samuel Ruth, Henry Ruth, JIattbew 
Ross, .Tacob Ross, John S. Rahri, Frank Rhoads, Jesse Roshong, 
Samuel Sower, Edwin F. Siter, Henry Snyder, Matthias P. Showalter, 
David B. Stout, William R. Smith, Ahrani W. Snyder. Is:iac Sahler, 
John Smith, George Smith, Isiuic Schwcnk, Johu Spare, Samut'l Star, 
Aaron H. Snyder, Joseph 11. Tyson, David Trucksess, ,U\, L'riah (', 
Ullman, John U. Umstead. George L. Wliitworth, Samuel S. Wait, 
neight, Henry Wissimer, John H. Weikd, Johu Young, .loseph 
Zimmerman. 

Company C. — Captain, Henry H. Fetterolf; fii-st lieutenant, William II. 
Snyder ; seci>nd lieutenant, Emanuel Longacre ; tii-st sergeant, Henry 
H. Hunsicker ; sergeants, Henry H. Fretz, William Bean, Canning 
F. Peixoto, Morris R. Hunsicker; corporals, Abncr S. Johnson, Wil- 



liam Ilallman, George Bergdol, Matthias T. Williams, William 
Studer, Jacob Garber, David Spare, Hezekiah B. Rabn ; musicians, 
David F. Wack, Jerome Fox. 
^*rivates. — Henry Arebart, Charles Barthe, John Bear, William Bergey, 
George Davis, Job Davis, Harrison Detwiler. Frank Essig, Samuel 
Fenstermacher, Adam U. Fetterolf, Orlando Fisher, Henry Fitz- 
gerald, Johu M. Fox, Jonas Fox, John Frankenberger, Jesse Freas, 
John F. Gristock, David Gross, Jacob Heilman, John Heistand, Heniy 
W. Howe, Horace W. Hunsicker, Isaac R. Hunsicker, Abner W. 
Johnson, Isaac Krieble, Abram N. Kerper, Benjamin Kulp, Isaac 
Kook, Benjamin C. Kratz, William Keelor, .loliii Lajxles, Daniel G. 
Luiides, MoiTis Longstreth, William Mattis, Charles W. March, 
Ephraim Mills, Henry Prizer, John F. Patterson, John Rowe, Wil- 
liam Reiff, John Richard, Abel Rahn, Thomas Ready, John Springer, 
Frank Showalter, Matthias Shaffer, Emanuel Shaffer, John Shaffer, 
John Shotts. William F. Swartley, John Stern, Frederick Shannon, 
Samuel H. Treichler, John Wiilaner, Isaac Walt, William Worrall, 
Henry Wesler, Jacob Zollei-s, Valentine Zollers. 
Company E.— Captains, Robert E. Taylor (pro. to ma,jor July 3, 186.'!), 
Florence Sullivan ; fii-st lieutenant, Enoch A. Banks; second lieu- 
tenant, George M. Coler ; first sergeant, Daniel H. Stein ; sergeants, 
Samuel Jamison, Valentine S. Schrack, Thomas J. Reif, John A. 
Sleminer ; corporals, Renny Fiegel, Charles Hoffman, George T. 
Carpenter, Franklin Moloney. Samuel Walker, Samuel Scheetz, 
George Neiman, Washington J. Griffith ; musicians, Franklin Du- 
boisq, Clayton Weber. 
Prieutes. — William Adle, Adam Ashenfelter, Jacob Alker, Charles R. 
Atkens, Elijah K. Brunei', Charles Bossert, William Body, Henry 
Belcher, Isaac Bolton, Josiah Bolton, Lewis K. Bercr, Henry Baker, 
Lewis H. Bowman, Barnet W. Beaver, Richard Bate, James Bickel, 
James Baton, George D. Bolton, Benjamin E. Chain, W'Slliani P. 
Cuthbertson, Josiah Christman, Jerome W, Cowden, Lewis H. Davis, 
William Davis, Henry A. Derr, Franklin Daddy, Henry Eschbach, 
Daniel S. Fillman, ('harles E. Freas, David W. Freas, Amandes 
Garges, James M. Ganser, Christian Gauser, Samuel Henshell, J. 
Henry Hoover. Alexander Iln-iver, Heniy C. Hill, David Heebner, 
George Harmatt, William Halluwell, Charles C. Isett, J. Evans Isett, 
Robert Iredell, Jr., Benjamin F. Kerper, William H. Lewis, George 
W. Lewis, .hicob G. Landis, Malcolm Linzey, Samuel Lightcap, 
Ri<diard JIarkley, James Moyer, Theodore Munshower, Joseph B. 
Moyer, John Macombs, Preston D. Miles, Joseph G. McConnell, 
Saimud McCarter, Cliailes Ornei', Thomas O'Neill, John Paulus, 
Thoniiis Petherick, Thomas I'hiliiis, Theodore Rutty, Jacob H. Rich- 
ards, John Rich, Isiiae N. Roberts, John Slingluff, Charles H. Stiii- 
son, Francis G. Stinsun, William W, Sliieve, Christian Stahl, Mark 
Thompson, Samuel Thomas, Samuel Taylor, Ed. Taylor, Leonard 
M. Thoniiis, Clias. Wright, Win. G. Wright, Abraham A. Yeakle. 
Company II. — Captains, Edward Schall (pro. to lieutenant-colonel July 
3, 18G3), John Deem ; fii-st lieutenant, Samuel B. Painter; second 
lieutenant, James H. Buck ; fii"st sergeant, Nathan McCall ; ser- 
geants,' William T. Roberts, John Bond, David Markley, Allen 
Martin; corporals, Ivan Famous, Joshua Hollowell, Albin Bailey, 
Charles McGlathery, Charles Finley, John Guyder, David M. Finley, 
Jesse Keeler ; musicians, Addison Cornog, Harmon Jordan. 
Privates. — Israel Aker, William Allen, Edward Batchelder, Francis 
Baker, Charles Bard, William Bolton, Augustus Bell, Franklin Bea- 
ver, William Bale, John Boas, Alexander Calhoun, William Chan- 
try, Jesse Conaway, Thomas Chillington, John L. Dotts, John Dimp- 
sey, Philip Eisenberry, William Edler, Ashur Earp, William Fulmer, 
James Fury, Jsimes Gotwals, John W. Geiger, George W. Geyer, 
Edward Garner, James Iloft", John Hill, Alfred Helfenstein, Charles 
Hasting, Joseph P. Harper, Jacob Hasting, Wilson James, Daniel 
Jones, Thomas Jones, John Kane, Benjamin Keyser, Charles Lukens, 
Charles Longherty, Joseph Linker, Charles Moore, Richard M. Mills, 
George McNickle, Frederick Nungesser, Thomas Norman, Joseph 
Nungesser, John O'Danicl, Edward Priest, William Rhoads, Peter 
C. Riggs, Charles Ramsey. John Rimby, James Rookstool, Joseph 
Roberts, William S. Ramsey, Jacob Robbins, Alfred Selah, Josiah 
Selah, William Selah, George Somers, Alexander Schall, Alfred Shet- 
tleworth, Francis Sniedley, Franklin Smith, Fiunklin Teaney, George 
W. Taylor, James Uebele, Williaui Vanfossen, Frederick Warner, 
Charles Wisner, Thomas G. W^right, John White. Randolph William- 
son, John Y. Young, Albert R. Young, Jacob Zimmerman. 
Company I. — Captain, Henry M. Jjutz ; first lieutenant, Henry C. 
Hughes ; second lieutenant, Henry E. Newberry ; first sergeant, 
Colbert Keiger ; sergeants, John A. Keiger, William Swann, Stanly 
L. Ogden, Lewis Glenn ; corporals, Johu H. Mangle, John Richards, 



282 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



David F. 8keen, Amos T. Holt, Jobu Leedom, Ivans Kainlju, Thomas 
Kodger>*, Martiu Stamp ; musician, Samuel Coats. 
Privates. — David Ashenfelter, Charles J. Adamson, John Barnes, Samuel 
G. Beckwith, Glendore Bare, John B. Buzhy, "William Cutler, 
Samuel P. Connor, Miles Doyle, Charles B, Evans, Frank Eiistburn, 
John Eynon, James Eynon, Emanuel Force, Nathan Kurnwalt, John 
Graham. John Gordon. William H. H. Glenn, Jacoh Geigor, Lemuel 
G. Harris, Isaiah Hampton, Juhn Hertzog, Frederick AV. Hurn, 
Robert Irwin, Uenr>' P. Keiger, Hubert Keller, Samuel Morris, 
Joseph Millington, William Millington, John A. Mitchell, Robert 
Patton. Jolin Patton, Charles Pickup, Hiram Ilanibo, Walter B. 
Rjinibo, Thonuis Rafferty, Joiin Rogan, Thomas F. Robinson, Morris 
Richardson, James S. Supplee. Adam R. Supplee, George W, Smith, 
Benjamin Y. Shainline, Davis Sweeny, John Smith. Cleaver K. Sup- 
plee, Christian F. Skeen, George W. Supi)lee, William Tejupleton. 
Jesse Updegrove, George White, David White, George Wagner, 
William Young. 

FORTY-FIRST REGIMENT PKNXSYLVANIA MILITIA (EMER- 
GENCY MEN). 
Ciikinel Edward R. Mayer, commanding. 
Mustered in Jidy 1, isdii ; discharged Aug. 3-4, 1S0:{. 

Company B. — Captain, John McCasey ; firet lieutenant, William O'Neill ; 
second lieutenant, Michael W. Hurley ; tiixt sergeant, Michael 
Regan; sergeants, Patrick Caveny, A nthonyHaneham, James Lynch, 
Edward Hlewitt ; corpurals. Martin Collins, Francis Beatiiish. Patrick 
R;itchft)rd, Michael Cassady, James Corbett, Thomas MctJet?, Patrick 
Mitchell, Patrick Houston ; musicians, Eihvard Huwclls. .lomitliaii 
Cost let te. 

I^ivates. — James Bamerick, Andrew Burk, Tboiiuu^ R. Barrett, Thomas 
Barrett, James Burns, Samuel IJryant, .bOin W. Collins, William 
Cramer, George Cooper, John Churchill, Williani D. {.'oupels, Wm. 
Daniels, Thomius Farrcll, George Finnell, James Farley, James 
Flynu, Jolin Gleason, William Gaughin, John Gordon, William 
Gallager, James Cinflith, Michael Hurley, John Howell, Thomas 
Jones, David .fames, Patrick Kearney, Cinlstupher Keenan, Charles 
Knapp, Johii Kline, Thomas Lang, John I..arnard, Thomas Leonard, 
^\'arren L. Long, .^Hcliael Lee, Theodore Larnard, Peter Larkin, 
Patrick Murphy, James MuUjiuey. I'liarles Matliews, John Martyn, 
Simon Sillier, .\ustiri Malca, Williaiu Mathews, Charles McFarlatid, 
John McLane, Patrick McAndrew, Charles McLaughlin, Micliael 
McCasey, Michael J. Nibill, George Nichohis, John O'Neill, 
James O'Neill, David Potta, John Ratchford. Patrick Riley, 
Michael Kiley, William Sullivan, John Scott, Charles Somers, 
Stephen D. Soulo (pro. to adjutant July ;">, lSi»;t), John Tierney, 
Tunis J. Thomas, Michael Tighe, William M'right, EH Williams, 
Frank W. Watson (pro. to sergeant-nuijor July 5, ls(i;j). 

Company II. — Captain, B JIarkley Buyer ; fii-st lieutenant, Charles Hun- 
sicker ; second lieutenant, John Henun ; lii-st sergeant, Charles ti. 
Freed ; sergeants, Edward P. Bonter, John Collins, David Longhery, 
Henry B. Dickinson ; conmnils, Patrick Diamond, Frank Maloy, 
Andrew Rhoads, John Shade, Daniel Stout, Joseph Doud, Pati^k 
McDermott, ('harles Halhnan ; musicians, Lewis Rapine, Henry S, 
Miller. 

Priv-ttes. — Williams Ansley, Michael Bradley, Charles Bi-adley, James 
Bradley, Charles Baker. Eiiward Baker. George W. Buas, Joseph 
Bradley, John CulleLi, Michael Cavanaiigli, Owen Cahill. Edward 
Dugan, Timothy Furlong, Lewis Flume, Charles H. Garber, John 
Hagan, Williani Hullinger, Juhn Ilullinger, Johti Holland, John 
Lawler. Abraham B. Longaker, Fiunklin Mai'ch, Simon Mathews, 
JohTi Mitten, Henry McGlade, Davi<l McAfee, Dennis McKibbon. 
Bernard McNickels, Edward McMunn, Thunias McKibben. Thomas 
McEwen, John Nnngesser, Sr., Felix O'Neil, Pliilip Powers. Robert 
Patton, James Kednuui, Daniel Reilly, Thomas Rotch. Michael 
Sherry. Charles Selah, Jacob Stiiier, Edward Stout, Josejih Sackelt, 
Luke Shinei"s, Hamilton Torrcy, John Thomas, Frank Tornuey, John 
Welsh, Charles Young. 

FORTY-THIRD REGIMENT PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA. 

Mustered in July G, 1SI13; discharged Aug. l.S, 1S03. 
Field and Staff.— Colonel, William W. Stott ; lieutenant-colonel, 
George W. Arnold ; nnijor, Henry W. Petriken ; adjutant, George 
E. Newlin ; quartermaster, Ednumd G. Harrison ; surgeon Joseph 
W. Houston ; assistant surgeons, William T. Potts, John Ward ; 
chaplain, William M. Scott ; sergeant-major, Don Juan Walliogs ; 
quartermaster-sergeant, David A. Chandler ; commissary-sergeants, 
Joseph L. Topham, James H. Naylor ; hospital steward, Chades 
Cloud. 



Company F. — Captain, Charles A. Vlrich ; firet lieutenant, Edmund B. 
Nnss ; second lieutenant, William W. Dalbey ; first sergeant, Wil- 
liam S. Evans ; sergeants, John P. Armitage, John C. Donohoe, 
Reese Pas.s, James W. HaiTison ; corporals, Conrad Burke, Thomas 
Robinson, John S. Pipple, Isaac W. Coulston, John Flanigan, John 
F. Jones, Samuel Binns, Edmund Davis ; musician, Abraham Harri- 
son. 

Privtifcs. — William Adams, George Brown, John Binns, James BiDns^ 
James Begbie, Edward Bailey, M'illiam Carter, Joseph Golan, Bootli 
Dusnop, Peter F. Davis, Charles Doreey, Samuel Elliott, John D. 
Earl, Jacob Fisher. David Francis. Mathias Glenzinger, William 
Hopkins, \Nilliam Hardstaf, William Harrison, Henry J. Harrold^ 
Henry Hummell, Robert Hanney, Henry Jones, Nathan Jones* 
James Kenworthy, Andrew Knox, Williani Luney, Tliomas J. Mur- 
ry, John Murry, Robert SIcCurdoy, John M. McMnllen, John McFea- 
ters. William Nuss, William Pollock, Hiram Parvin, Thonnis Pai^s, 
William Reed. James Robinson, Alfred Robinson, Andrew E. Rod- 
gers, George M. Rodgei-s, William Reeves, Robert Reeves, John Ray- 
zor, Benjamin Smith, Robert Shoar, Robert Smith, William T. 
Steele, John Stevenson, Joseph Shaw, Henry Stemple, Sainuel Town- 
send. Henry Tnwnsend, Benjamin Vaughn, Robert White, John 
Woodwiird, Michael Walt. 

Company I. — Captains, George W. Arnold (pro. to lieutenant-colonel 
July *i, I8():i), Joseph L. Allabough ; first lieutenant, John C. Sny- 
der ; second lieutenant, Allen M. Buorse ; first sergeant, (luirles 
McCauley ; sergeants, George Y. Hansel. Thomas G. Ainold. Charles 
W, Evans. E. R. W. Sickle ; corporals, George B. Reuss, Gritfith W. 
.Iniies, William H. JIartin, Lewis J. Ambler, Thomas Gary, Isaac 
Nyi-e, Daniel S. Young, Samuel Swartley ; musicians, Edward Ma- 
loiie, Howard Gordon. 

;Viy(i/#-».— Edwar<l H. Ambler, Henry G. Arnold, John A. Arnold, Moses 
Auge. Edward II. Andei"son, Abner S. Booree, Peter Boi-se, Joseph 
Bnan, William Butterworth, William Coe, Henry 11. Derstine, John 
H. Dager. Charles Dotterer. Hiram C. Diitterer, Israel Eaton. Rich- 
ard Eaton, Williani II. Eastwood, David Eiseiiberry, Jesse Frederick, 
Joseidi Gilbert, Jacob M. Gudshalk, John Hughes, Joseph Ilarrop, 
Josoidi Kriebel, David Ki-ause, Charles M. Kulji, John M. Knlp, 
Charles W. Kirk, Jeftei-son Kepler, Henry Kinkinger, Isaac Landis, 
William Laiisdale, Lewis Lambert, Daniel Lloyd, Isaac Mayberry, 
Lewis Murr, Peter Myei-s, George W. Moore, Hugh McClellan, John 
McGIinchy. George A NewboUl, William Nottingheim, Henry Nnn- 
gesser, Marshall Pugh, Andrew T. Roberts, Jacob Stahley, David 
Simons. Abijah Stephens. Joseph L. Scott, William M. Scott (pro. 
to<hapl«in July Hi, lsii:(|, Joseph Stung, John Schleigel, Thomas 
Tipi>iu, Morgan R. Wills, Charles West, Josiah Weutz, Benedict D. 
Wo..d. Ceorge Werkiser, William H. Yetter, John Yetter. 

One Hundred and Ninety-seventh Regiment 

(hiimlrcd days' men). — This regiiueut was recruited 
at Philadelphia and in neighboring counties by the 
assistauce of the Coal Exchange Association of that 
city, to serve for a period of one hundred days, and 
was known as the Third Coal Exchange Regiment. 
It wa.s organized at Cam}) Cadwalader on the 22d of 
July, 1804, with the following field officers: John R. 
Haslett, colonel; Charles D. Kenworthy, lieutenant- 
colonel; John Woodcock, major. Colonel Haslett had 
served as captain in the Sixty-sixth and subsequently 
in the Seventy-third, of which he had been for several 
months the acting major; Lieutenant-Colonel Ken- 
worthy had served on the Peninsula, in the Third 
United States Infantry, where he was severely 
wounded; and Major Woodcock had just been mus- 
tered out of a nine months* regiment. A large pro- 
portion of officers and men were well-schooled soldiers. 
Soon after its organization it proceeded to Camp 
Bradford, at Mankiu's Woods, near Baltimore, where 
it remained for two weeks. At the eud of that time, 
and when well drilled and in full expectation of being 
led to the front, it was ordered to Rock Island, 111., 



THE GREAT REBELLION. 



283 



and upon its arrival there was charged with guarding 
a oaiiip for prisoners of war. The guard provided 
was iiisufKcient for tlie duty rei]uired, and the service 
bore heavily upon this regiment. At the close of its 
term it returned to Philadelphia, where, on the 11th 
of November, 18G4, it was mustered out. 

COMPANY F. 

Harry II. Shantz, capt., must, in .Tuly 18, 18C4 ; nuist. out with com- 
pany Nov. 11, 1864. 

E. M. Mashbiinie, 1st lieut., mvist. in July 18, 18G4 ; must, out witll 
company Nov. 11, 1804. 

Fr'Ii M', Carpenter, 2il lieuf., must, in July 18, 18IJ4 ; must, out witli 
comi)any Nov. 11, 18ri4. 

George Scheetz, 1st sergt., must, in .July Is, 18G4 ; must, out witll com- 
pany Nov. 11, 18r,4. 

William Meigs, sergt., must, in July 18, 18(14 ; must, out witli company 
Nov. 11, 1804. 

Owen Jones, sergt., must, in July 18, 1804; must, out w itii company 
Nov. 11, 1804. 

Alljert Gulden, sergt. , must, in July 18, ls04 ; must, ont witli company 
Nov. 11, 1804. 

Samuel Yerlies, MJ"gt., must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, ont with company 
Nov. 11, 1804. 

John H Hobert, Corp., must, in July IS, 1804 ; must, out with company 
Nov. 11, 1804. 

Mahlon V. Smith, Corp., nnist. in .Tuly 18, 1804 ; must, out with com- 
pany Nov. 11, 1804. 

Maurice M. Kaiglin, Corp. , must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with com- 
pany Nov. II, 1804. 

William Lessig, coi-p., must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, ont with company 
Nov. 11, 1804. 

Moses Wadsworth, Corp., must, in July 18, 1804 ; nuist. out with com- 
pany Nov. 11, 1804. 

Albert W. Shiclt, corp., must, in July 18, ls04 ; must, out with company 
Nov. 11, 1804, 

William J. Binder, Corp., must, in July 18, 1804 ; nuist. out with com- 
pany Nov. 11, 1804. 

Ezra F. Clark, corp., must, in .Inly IS, 1804 ; must, out with company 
Nov. 11, 1804. 

Charles R. .\ikeii, nnist. in July 18, 1804; must, out witln-ompany Nov. 

11, 1804. 
John Biikel, must, in July 18, 18154 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1804. 
Lewis Hromltacli, nmst. in .Inly 18, 1804; must, ont with company Nov. 

11,1804. 
Bernard Burns, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1804. 
Zedekiah Bachmau, must, in July 18, 1864 ; uuist. ont with comiHtny 

Nov. 11. 1804. 
David Burns, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1804. 
Theodore Birch, nnist. in July 18, 18C4 ; must, out with company Nov 

11, 1804. 
Titus Burst, must, in .Tuly 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1S04. 
Horace .\. Custer, must, in July IS, 1804 ; must, out with compouy Nov. 

11, 18(i4. 
Edw, U. f'arpentcr, must, in July 18, 1804 ; nuist. out with company Nov. 

11, 1804. 
William H. Croft, must, in .Tuly 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1804. 
Silas Crispin, must, in July 18, l804 ; must, out with company Nov. II, 

1804. 
John Crawford, must, in .Tuly 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1804. 
John Cliadwick, must, in July 18, 1804. 
John Dcngans, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1804. 
Lewis L. Dotweiler, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must out with company 

Nov. 11, 1804. 
John Deifeudeifer, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with comjiauy Nov. 

11, 1804. 
John Pikens, must, in .Tuly 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1804. 



John Days, must, in July 18, 1864; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1804. 
Henry Eckhert, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company Nov, 

11, 1804. 
Montgomery Erji, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864. 
John C. Ferris, must, in July 18, 18 W ; must, out with comijany Nov. 11, 

1864. 
Sylvester a. Fritz, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1804. 
George W. Forman, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with compaiiy 

Nov. 11, 1804. 
Samuel Faust, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1804. 
Jacob Faber, must, in .Tuly 18, 18*14; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1804. 
.\lbert H. Good, must, iu July 18, 1864; must, out with company N-iv. 

11, 1864. 
George Gross, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 11. 

1804. 
Albert Hazzaid, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1804. 
John Hollabush, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11. 1804. 
John S. High, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1804. 
George H. Harley, must, in July IS, 1864 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1804. 
Jacob Ilanf, must, in .Tuly 18, 1804; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1804. 
William Harper, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

U, 1804. 
Chas. T. Hollowell, must, in July 18, 1804 ; trans, to Co. G, ISOtli Regt. 

P. v., Sept. 8, 18M. 
Isaac S. Harley, must, in July 18, 1804 ; died at Hock Island, 111., Oct. 

2, 1804. 
William Johnson, niiu.t. in July Is, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1804. 
Henry Johnson, must, in July 18, 1804. 
Newton S. Kiiizer, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1804. 
Chauncey Mitchell, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1804. 
Merritt 31. Missimer, must, in July IS, 1S04 ; niust. out with company 

Nov. 11, 1804, 
John Moser, must, in July 18, 1804 ; luust. out with comiiaiiy Nov. 11, 

1804. 
Frederick McVaugh, must, ill .Tuly 18, 1804; must, out witii coniiiaiiy 

Nov. 11, 1864. 
James A. McCal!, must, in July IS, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864, 
Thomas Ott, must, in .Tuly IS, 1804; must, out witliconipaiiyNov.il, 

1864. 
Peter D. Pertches, must, iu July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1804. 
.\llen Pennypacker, must, in Jiil\' IS, 1804 ; must, out with conijiaiiy 

Nov. 11, 1864. 
John F. Patterson, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with comiiany 

Nov. 11, 1804. 
William Phipps, must, in July 18, 1804 ; disch. by S. O. July 25, 1804. 
Joseph Peterson, must, iu July 18, 1804 ; trans. Sept. 8, 1804, organi- 
zation iiiikuowu. 
^^'illiam Raybold, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1804. 
Peter Robb, must, iu July 18, 1804 ; must. <mt with company Nov. 11, 

1804. 
B. Frank Shantz, must, in July Is, 1804; must, out with company Nov, 

11, 1804. 
Harvey Skein, must, in July Is, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1804. 
Frank H. Smith, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out w ith company No\ . 

11, 1804. 
David P. Seipel, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1804. 
W. Steer, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, ont with company Nov. 11, 1804 
Frederick Speck, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1804. 



284 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Alexander Taylor, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company Not. 

11, 1864. 
Charles Torrence, must, in July 18, 1864 ; trans, to Co. G, ISGth Regt. 

P. v., Sept 8, 1864. 
Charles M. Thomas, must, in July 18, 1864 ; trans, to Co. G, 18Gth Kegt. 

P. v., Sept. 8 1864. 
Thomas Weller, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company Nov, 

II, 18G4. 
Milton S. Weand, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864 
William Winter, nnist. in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864. 
George R. Weiley, must, in July 18, 18G4 ; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1SG4. 
Joseph KWells.must. in .Tuly 18, 1861 ; must, out with company Nnv. 

11,1864. 
John Yard, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1864. 
Thomas II. B. Zulick, must, in July 18, 18G4 ; must, out witli company 

Nov. 11, 18G4. 
Addison Zeiglcr, must, in July IS, 1KG4 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864. 

COMPANY G. 

John C. Snyder, capt., must, in July 22, 18ri4 ; must, out with company 
Nov. 11, 18G4. 

Charles S. Jones, 1st lieut., must, in .luly 22, 1864 ; must, out with com- 
pany Nov. 11, 1864. 

AVilmer Atkinson, 2d lieut., must, in July "22. 1864; must, out with com- 
pany Nov. 11, ISjH. 

William F. Faust, Ist sergt., nuist. in July 18, 18)i4 ; mupt. out with com- 
pany Nov. 11, 1864. 

George W. Fischer, sergt., must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with com- 
pany Nov. 11, 18G4. 

George W. H. Thomas, sf-r^;!., must, in July IS. 1864; must, out with 
company Nov. 11, 186.'.. 

John A. Arnold, sergt., nnist. in July IS, 1864 ; must, out with company 
Nov. 11, 18(i4. 

Isaac Teniplin, sci-gt., must, in July Is, 1864; must, out with couipatiy 
Nov. 11, 1S('4. 

Oweu S. Lowry, <orp., must, in July IS, 1864 ; must, out with company 
Nov. 11, 1864. 

Edwin R. W. Seckel. Corp., must, in July 18, isivi ; must, out with com- 
pany Nov. 11, 18G4. 

John V. Meckert, corp., must, in July IS, 1864 ; must, out with company 
Nov. 11, 1864. 

Jacob T. Comly, corp., must, in Jvily IS, 1864 ; must, out with company 
Nov. 11, 1864. 

James S. Casael, corp., must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company 
Nov. 11, 18G4. 

Frederick \V. Horn. coq).. must, in July l.s, 1864; nuist. out with com- 
pany Nov. 11, 1864. 

Peter M. Boorse, corp,, must, in .July is, 1864 ; must, nut with company 
Nov. 11, 1864. 

Evan Ambler, Corp.. must, in July IS. 18G4 ; nnist. out with company 
Nov. 11, 1864. 

Privdtes. 

Thomas M. Arnolri, must, in July 18,1864; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 18G4. 
Albert Atwood, must, in July 18. 1864 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864. 
Albert Atkinson, must, in July IS, 1864; must, out with comi)any Nov. 

11, 1864. 
Stephen II. Abbott, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1864. 
Franklin Beilolet, must, in July 18, 1864; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1864. 
John 0. Boorse, must, in July 18, 18G4 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1KG4. 
Richard Brown, nnist. in July 18, 18G4 ; must, out with company Nov 

11, 1864. 
Thomas J. Birkbeck, must, in July 18, 18G4 ; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1864. 
Nathaniel J. Bnrnham, must, in July 18, 18li4 ; trans, to Co. E Aug. 1, 

1864, 
George W. Carr, must, in July 18, 18G4 ; must, out with company Ni^. 

11, 1864. 



William H. Clark, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1864. 
John Dingee, must, in July 18, 1864; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1864. 
Daniel Dooley, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

18G4. 
Jos. H. Eisenbrey, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1864. 
James Eldridge, must, in July IS, 18G4 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864. 
George C. Fithian, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864. 
.\ndrew Fhimmer, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864. 
John Foreman, must, in July 18, 1864; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864. 
William Fulmcr, must, in July IS, 1S64 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 18G4. 
Nathaniel H. Gerhard, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1864. 
James Getty, must, in July 18, 1SG4 ;must. out with company Nov. 11,1864. 
William Griffith, must, in July 18, 1864; trans. Sept. 5, 1864, organi- 
zation unknown. 
Henry Gallagher, must, in July 18, 1864. 
Frank Hoaglaml, must, in July 18, 18G4 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864. 
William Hafti'l. must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with conii>any Nov. 

11, 18G4. 
John Houck, must, in July 18, 1864. 
Benjamin Jones, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out «ith company Nov. 

11, 1864. 
James H. Jones, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company Nov. 

II, 18G4. 
DtVinis Keene, must, in July IS, 1864; must, out with company Nov 

n, 1864. 
Henry Keeler, must, in July Is, lSi;4 ; must, out with ccunpany Nov. 

11, 1864. 
Ediuund J, Lehr, nuist. in July 18. 1864 ; nnist. out with company Nov. 

11, 18(>*. 
Hor. M. Marquart, must, in July IS, 1SG4 ; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1864. 
Samuel M. Moore, must, in July IS, 18)14; nuist. out with company 

Nov. 11. ISI'4. 
Samuel Jlorris, must, in .luly is, ]S64; must, out with company Nov". 

11, 1864. 
William H. H. McCrea, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 18G4. 
.John McDonald, must, in July 18, 1864; must, out with com]iany Nov. 

11, 1864. 
Camirs McKinstry, must, in July IS, isr4; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 18G4. 
William Nortenheim, must, in July 18. 1S64 ; must, out with company 

Nov, 11, 1SG4. 
.lames O'Brien, must, in July IS, 1S64 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

18(14. 
.lohn (t'Sliay. must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1864. 
Thomas E. Palmer, must, in July IS, 1SG4 ; must, nut with company 

Nov. 11, 1864. 
P<lIwood Paxson, must, in July 18, 18G4; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 18G4. 
James Peacock, must, in July 18, 1864; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864. 
Judson Pugh, must, in July is, isi'4 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1864. 
Albert Reichman, must in July IS, 1SG4 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, isr>4. 
I. Comly Rich, must, in July is, 1SI>4 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1864. 
John Radly, must, in July IS, 18G4; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1864. 
Charles F. Reets, Jr., must, in July 18, lSi'i4 ; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1864. 
Richard K. Roberts, mut:t. in July IS, 1864; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1864. 
William H. Rountree, must, in July IS, 18(14 ; trans, to Co. E July 20 

18r4. 



THE GEAND AKMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 



285 



■William Science, must, in July 18, 1804; must, out with company Nuv. 

11, 1S64. 
Uilliaiii B. Sfickel, must, iu July IS, 18G4; must, out with company 

Nuv. II, 1SI"4. 
Boiijuuiin Y. Shainline, must, ia July IS, 18G4 ; must, out with com- 

piiiiy Nov. 11, 1864. 
Ittfiiic Shoemaker, must, in July 18, lSG-1 ; must, out with company Xov. 

11, 1864. 
Frank Smith, must, in July 18, 1SG4; must, out with company Xov. II, 

1864. 
■\VilIiani Slinson, mutit. in July IS, 18G4 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1SG4. 
Washington Supplee, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1804. 
William Tracy, must, iu July 18, 1SG4 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

1864. 
Thouiits Travis, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 18G4. 
lleui-y Walker, must, in July 18, 180-4; disch. by S. 0. Dec. 21,1864. 
John Weaver, must, in July 18, 1864; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

18G4. 
Charles Weber, must, in July 18, 1864 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1SG4. 
Enos Y. Wambold, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864. ■* 
Ileury W. Wentzel, must, in July IS, 1864 ; must, out with company 

Nov. 11, 1804. 
James Wilfong, must, in July 18, 1864; must, out with company Nov. 

11, 1864. 
James Wood, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

18t:4. 
Frank Young, must, in July 18, 1804 ; must, out with company Nov. 11, 

18G4. 

RECAPITULATION OF COMPANIES ORGANIZED AND ACCRED- 
ITED TO MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA. 

Fourth Regiment, Companies A, B, C, D, E, I, K, 90 days' term. 

Fourty-fourth Regiment (Fii-st Pennsylvania Cavalry), Company B, 3 
years' tevni. 

Fifty-tii-st Regiment, Companies A, C, D, F and I, 3 years' term. 

Fifty-third Regiment, Companies A and B, 3 years' term. 

Sixty-eighth Regiment, Company H. 

Ninety-third Regiment, Company G, 3 years' term. 

Niufty-lifth Regiment, 3 yeai-s* term. 

One Hundred and Sixth Regiment, Company G, 3 years' term. 

One hundred and Twenty-ninth Regiment, Company I, 9 months' 
term. 

One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Regiment, Companies A, C, I and K, 
3 years' term. 

One Hundred and Sixtieth Regiment (Anderson Troop), 3 years' term. 

One Hundred and Sixty-second Regiment, Company L (Seventeenth 
Pennsylvania Cavalry), 3 years' term. 

One Hundred and Seventy-fifth Regiment, Companies A and U, 9 
months' term. 

One Hundred and Seventy-ninth Regiment, Companies A and G, 9 
months' term. 

Independent Cavalry Companies. 

Captain Samuel W. Comly's company, organized Sept. 15, 1802 ; dis- 
charged Sept. 20, 18G2. 

Captain Daniel H. Mulvany's company, organized Sept. 13, 1862; dis- 
charged Sept. 27, 1802. 

Captain Samuel W'. Comly's company, organized June 17, 1863 ; dis- 
charged July 30, 1863. 

Independent Cavalry Battalion, 

Company B, Captain Frederick Haws, organized July 2, 1863 ; dis- 
charged August 21, 1863. 

Pennsylvania SIilitia. 

Eleventh Regiment, Companies C, D, G and H. 

Seventeenth Regiment, Companies B and G. 

Nineteenth Regiment, Company E. 

Twenty-sixth Regiment, Company F. 

Thirty-fourth Regiment, Companies B, C, E, H, I. 

Forty-firet Regiment, Company B. 

Forty-third Regiment, Company I. 

One Hundred and Ninety -seventh Regiment (one hundred days' men). 
Companies F and G. 



SIXTH REGIMENT NATIONAL GUARD OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Headquarters located at Norristown. 

John W. Schall, colonel ; Perry M. Washabaugh, lieutenant-colonel ; 
Thomas C. Steele, major; Thomas J. Stewart, adjutant; Frank B. 
Rhoads, quartermaster; Jos. K. Weaver, M.D., surgeon; Wil- 
liam J. Ashenfelter, M.D., John A. Fell, M.D., assistant surgeons ; 
Clement Z. Weiser, D.D., chaplain; Horace F. Temple, sergeant- 
major ; Jacob B. Stauffer, com tuisary -sergeant ; St. Julien Ozier 
quartermaster-sergeant ; Huiziuga C. Byers, hospital steward ; L. D. 
Hyate, Charles H. Earl, principal musicians. 

Company A. —Located at Pottstown. H. A. Shenton, captain; Horace 
Evans, fii-st lieutenant ; William E. Schuyler, second lieutenant. 

Company C. — Located at Conshohockeu. William B. Nunge&ser, cap- 
tain ; Franklin Morrison, first lieutenant ; George W. Royer, second 
lieutenant. 

Company F. — Located at Norristown. Henry Jacobs, captain ; Henry 
R. Souders, first lieutenant; Eugene B. Hartzell, second lieutenant. 

Note. — There is a large number of deceased and surviving soldiera who 
enlisted from and were accredited to Montgomei-y County, but not at- 
tached to the company organizations of the county. The names, rank 
and services uf these men are not so recorded in the official records of the 
war as to be obtained for historical purposes. We sincerely regret that 
they are omitted, and trust that some means will. yet be taken to preserve 
their names and honorable service. The official records of the Grand 
Army of the Republic will furnish reference to a large number of the 
survivors of this meritorious class of soldiers, but it will not reach the 
cases of our dead comrades in arms who Ml in battle or died in the 
prisons of the South during the conflict. Among the number who fall 
within this class was Captain John Kline, of Company H, Thirteenth 
Pennsylvania Cavalry. He was killed at Haws' Shop, Va., May 28, 1864, 
and his remains repose at Barren Hill Church under a monument dedi- 
cated to his memory by his patriotic friends of Whitemarsh and vicinity. 
Henry Rosenburg, Company K, Forty-ninth Regiment Pennsylvania 
Volunteers, died at Andersonville Prison, Ga. , March 24, 1864. Captain 
Thomas A. Kelly, Company G, Thirtieth Pennsylvania Volunteers. 
Captain John W. Moore, Company G, Sixty-sixth Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 

This society is believed to be the first organiza- 
tion of its kind effected in this country or else- 
where. It embraces within its membership all hon- 
orably discharged soldiers and sailors who have 
served in the army and navy of the United States. 
Army societies, composed of surviving commissioned 
officers and their descendants, followed the Eevolu- 
tion, one of which still exists, the Society of the Cin- 
cinnati ; army and corps organizations of the war of 
1812 and the Mexican war have existed for social and 
convivial purposes ; but none of these have been 
based on the principle of mutual aid in time of need, 
or comprehended purposes so exalted as those em- 
braced in the declarations of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, viz. : " Charity, Fraternity and Loyalty." 

Like many popular movements, the inception or 
original organization is involved in some obscurity. 
It is clear, however, that its origin was in the West. 
Adjutant-General N. P. Chipman, in his report to the 
National Encampment at Cincinnati, in May, 1869, 
says that the originator of the Grand Army of the 



286 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Republic was Colonel B. F. Stephenson, and the first 
post was organized at Dakota, 111., in the spring of 
of 186(3. Posts increased rapidly among those who 
had then but recently returned to their homes, and 
with whom the associations of army life were fresh in 
mind. A State Department Encampment was organ- 
ized in Illinois on the 12th of July, 18(56. In the 
month of November, the same year, a National En- 
campment was organized at Indianapolis, with rej)- 
resentatives present i'rom Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, 
Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, 
Kentucky, Indiana and the District of Columbia. 

The exact time of the formation of the first post in 
Pennsylvania is a matter of dispute, and will likely so 
remain, four posts having claimed the distinction of 
being No. 1, — Posts 1, 2 and 19, of Philadeliihia, and 
No. 3, of Pittsburg. The organization of the Boys in 
Blue, in 1866, brought many of the rank and file of 
the army together, but, as this movement had a parti- 
san significance, it was found to be too narrow for the 
muster of comrades who, difi'ering in political convic- 
tions, had fought side by side through the long con- 
flict and were now desiraljlc com|)anions in the fra- 
ternal union of all loyal soldiers. Quickened by the 
martial friendships formed during years of warfare, it 
was natural that the survivors should come together 
to recount their remarkable exi)erieaces and unite in 
kindly offices towards each other. The Boys in Blue 
of Penusylvania early learned of the organization in 
the West as the Grand Army of the Republic of the 
United States, concerning which they made due in- 
quiry, and found its provisions ample for effecting a 
permanent society. The first charter was obtained 
from the national headquarters for Post No. 1, and 
bears date October 17, 1S66 ; that of Post No. 2, 
October 29, 1866, granted by the Department of Wis- 
consin. An Order No. 1 was issued from head- 
quarters Grand Army of the Republic, Springfield, 
III., November 22, 1866, establishing a Provisional 
Department of Pennsylvania and designating General 
Louis Wagner commander. Upon assuming com- 
mand General Wagner issued circulars and forms of 
organization for posts, and the work of " mustering 
in " recruits was zealously commenced. Posts multi- 
plied rai)idly, and a membership of many thousands 
was enrolled. The transition from the Boys in Blue 
to the (irand Army was so sudden that many soldiers 
of strong jjolitical faith and convictions were unwill- 
ing to believe it was not the same exclusive order of 
men, having the same partisan object in view. The 
organization was, therefore, for a time, the subject of 
severe criticism, which, in some instances, was seem- 
ingly warranted by the injudicious utterances of 
thoughtless members. That the organization should 
suffer under these adverse circumstances was but nat- 
ural, and for a time it lost its hold on popular favor 
with the old soldiers. But time and the devotion of 
those interested in preserving the spirit of comrade- 
ship soon convinced all of its usefulness and absolute 



freedom from ])artisanship in the public affairs of the 
country. Its purposes are declared to b.e 

1st. The preservation of tliose kinii and fraternal feelings which have 
bound together with the strung cords of love and affection the comrades 
in arms of many battles, sieges and marches. 

2d. To make these ties available in works and results of kindness, of 
favor and material aid to those in need of assistance. 

3rd. To make provision, where it is not alreaily done, for the support, 
care and education of soldiei-s' orphans and for the maintenance of the 
widows of deceased soldiers. 

4th. For the protection an<I assistance of disabled soldiere, whether dis- 
abled by wounds, sickness, old age or misfortune. 

oXh. For the establishment and defense of the rights of the late soldiery 
of the United States, morally, socially and politically, with a view to in- 
culcate a proper appreciation of their services to the country, and to a 
recognition of such services and claims by the .\m(^rican people. 

The organization numbers ujjwards of three hun- 
dred thousand in the United States, between thirty 
and forty thousand in Pennsylvania, with posts num- 
bering from one to lour hundred. 

There are five posts in Montgomery County, viz. : 
General Zook Post, No. 11, located at Norristown; 
George Smith, No. 79, located at Conshohocken ; 
Graham Post, No. 106, located at Pottstown ; Lieuten- 
ant John H. Fisher Post, No. 101, located at Hatboro'; 
Colonel Edwin Schall Post, No. 290, ha'ated at Lans- 
dale. 

Posts never take the name of living comrades ; this 
honor is paid the name and memory of those who fell 
during the war, or who have died since. Posts meet 
once a week or semi-monthly ; their sessions are held 
with closed doors, guarded by sentinels, and their form- 
ula of business is conducted in accord with military 
usages. The officers of a post are commander, senior 
vice-commander, junior vice-commander, adjutant, 
quartermaster-sergeant, cliaplain, officer of the day, 
officer of the guard and sentinels. The executive 
business of the post is referable to the council of ad- 
ministration, comjiosed of three or five members. The 
State Department Encampment is composed of dele- 
gates from the several posts of the State, and the Na- 
tional Encampment is constituted by delegates 
elected by the several State Departments. The State 
Department Encampment assembles twice every year, 
and usually numbers about one thousand present. 
The semi-annual encampment is held under canvas, 
and usually assembles at Gettysburg, though some- 
times at other places. This historic battle field has 
many and enduring associations, and the surviving 
soldiery find pleasure and comfort in their visitations 
to it. The annual encampment convenes in the win- 
ter, and its sessions generally last for several days. 
Its proceedings are published in pamphlet form, and 
comprehend a summary of the history of the organi- 
zation. 

Decoration Day is universally observed by the or- 
ganization. Previous to the ceremonial of decorating 
the graves of the dead each grave is marked with a 
minature national flag, and subsequently each grave 
is visited on the day named, and the laurel wreaths 
or spring flowers are laid upon them. These occa- 



THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 



287 



sions have been popular since their institution, and 
posts are followed to cemeteries and places of burial 
by large concourses of people. The exercises are 
generally accompanied by vocal and instrumental 
music, jirayers, poems and orations. Wliile they re- 
call many sorrows and revive recollections of family 
aftections rudely sundered, they also evince a State 
and national gratitude towards those whose patriotism 
and loyalty were equal to the demands of their country 
in its hour of peril. 

General Zook Post, No 11, Department of Penn- 
sylvania, G. A. R.— General Zi>ok Post was instituted 



The post takes its name after Brigadier and Brevet 
Major-General Samuel Kosciusko Zook, who fell mor- 
tally wounded in the second day's battle at Gettys- 
burg, July 2, 1863. This officer was born March 
27, 1822, near Paoli, Chester Co., Pa. His father, 
Major David Zook, moved to Upper Merlon 
township, Montgomery Co. near Port Kennedy 
a few years later, where the son grew to manhood on 
his father's farm. He received the advantages of a 
fair academical training. Among his early teachers 
were Allan Corson, Jonathan Roberts and Professor 
Maralettee. He concluded his studies in his twen- 




^/(^^Z-^c 



December 12, 18(56, under Special Order X(i. 1, Pro- 
visional Department of Pennsylvania. Comrade Wil- 
liam M. Runkle, Third Pennsylvania Artillery, mus- 
tered James Dykes and George N. Corson. At aspecial 
meeting held on the evening of DccemVier 14, 1866, 
William J. Bolton, Joseph K. Bolton, William 
Allebough, L. W. Reed, Samuel T. Pretty, James B. 
Heebner and Thomas C. Simpson were mustered ; 
subsequently R. T. Stewart, Thomas J. Owen, Joseph 
M. Cuffel, Samuel M. Markley, Freeman S. Davis 
and H. S. Smith were mustered, and together con- 
.stitute those designated the charter members of the 
post. The charter is dated December 1, 1866. 



tieth year, and was appointed adjutant of the One 
Hundredth Regiment of Pennsylvania Militia, on the 
staff of Colonel James Mills, November 3, 1842. In 
1844 he was appointed superintendent of the New 
York and Washington Telegraph Company, and con- 
ducted the construction of the first line established by 
that pioneer organization through the South and West. 
He took an active part in quelling the great riots in 
Philadelphia in 1844, and subsequently was trans- 
ferred by the company referred to to New York City. 
In 1851 he was commissioned major in the Sixth New 
York Volunteers. In 1857 he was promoted to lieu- 
tenant-colonel of the same regiment. He served in 



288 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the same organization during the three months' cam- 
paign in 18G1, and upon its return, after the battle of 
Bull Run, organized the Fifty-seventh New York 
Volunteers, a three years' regiment. He was commis- 
sioned brigadier- general November 29, IS&2, and 
assigned to the command of First Brigade, Third 
Division, Second Corps, Army of Potomac. His 
brevet commission of major-general bears date of 
July 2, 1863, for " distinguished gallantry on the battle- 
field of Gettysburg." His remains are buried in the 
Montgomery Cemetery, and are marked liy a suitable 
and enduring memorial shaft ; a tai)let is also erected 
near the spot were he fell on the battle-field at 
Gettysburg.* 

1 We recall from the memory of almost twenty years ago the alarming 
BCenes and depressing influences by which we were surrounded on the 
evening of July Ist. The long, hot and discouraging day closed in mar- 
tial gloom and sorrow. The jiosiliou deemed imjiui-tjint was lost. The 
gallant Reynolds W!W among the slain. Thousands of our comrades were 
captured, thousands more of our wounded and dying were from necessity 
left in the liamls of the enemy. The de\oted people of the town around 
which the conflict had been raging from morn till night were battle- 
shocked by the din and noise and horrid sights and scenes in their midst. 
The scene from the crest of the liill east of the town lUi that eventful eve 
as the sun went down in his summer splendor will never be forgotten by 
those who beheld it. The number and disposition of the enemy's troops, 
exposed to view by the open character of the country, betokened the re- 
newal of the battle with iucreasing fury on the m^irrow. Burning build- 
ings met the eye in every direction ; tlying, panic-stricken familios from 
the wide area of tlie field of battle were met on every road, and the poor 
cattle of the fields seemed to share the genei-al sense of fear and terror of 
their owiiere, bellowing and bleating as they browsed in strange paetures 
driven by moving lines of battle from farm to farm. 

Bitter as the revei-se of the day was felt to be, inhuman as were the 
harrowing scenes and incidents of the hour to the gallant troops who 
reached the crest and turned upon the flushed and pursuing enemy, 
holding him at bay in the hope that marching troops wuuld soon be with 
us, there was a deeper sorrow, a profounder solicitude possessing the heart 
of the patriot soldier suggested by the possil'ility that the field uf Gettys- 
burg, where the greatest battle of the war was now impending, and from 
necessity must be fought, and fought to the bitt«r end, might bo lost, 
with results upon tlie public mind in our own countrj-, upun the cause 
for which so much had been sacrificed, and with probable etfects upon the 
politiail powere of the earth, appalling to contemplate. It was the hour 
which preceded the midnight gloom of the Rebellion. This wjis the field 
of mortal combat on which far-seeing, courageous and sjigacious men be- 
lieved would be f<»ught and lost or won the Union of our fathei's. This 
■was the bloody fifld of national peril to which troops were hurrying, 
among them the heroic Zook, to lay down his life in the whirlwind of the 
morrow. 

The fall of General Samuel Kosciusko Zook on the '2d was among the most 
conspicuous events of the day's conflicts, occurring at a point on the line 
of battle where the struggle for the final advantage of the day and the 
field was most deadly. History furnished no example of more notable 
gallantry than that displaj'ed by General Zook in leading his brigade into 
action un the day of his mortal hurt. The ground occupied by General 
Sickles' left was coveted by Lee, and he directed Lonjistreet to carry it. All 
who took part in the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac know the 
character of Longstreot's attacks. He was a "sqiuire fighter," and de- 
livered blows of the most destructive character. Ilis attack upon Sickles' 
jeft was characteristic of the man. "Although," says Meade, in his of- 
ficial report, " the Third Corps sustained the sliock most heroically," its 
depleted numbers were unable to resist the renewed and increasing fury 
of his successive assaults. The troops composing the left of tlie Tliird 
Corps were giving ground. The Fouiih New York Battery, placed in 
position to check the enemy's advance at the critical moment, liaving 
suffered severe loss in men and horses, was in imminent danger of cap- 
ture ; the line across the wheatfield to Little Round Top was wavering ; 
the last regiment of the Third Corps was thrown to the front, and yet it 
was painfully apparent that unless reinforcements were liastened to the 
imperiled line all that had been contended for at a fearful sacrifice ofiife 
would be irretrievably lost. 



PAST POST COMMANDERS. 

William M. Ruukle, December, ISflG, to May, 1857. 
i William .1. Bolton, May, 18(i7, to July, 1867. 
William Allebaugh, July, 1807, to January, 1868. 
James Dykes, January, 1868, to January, 1869. 

Testimony as to Zook's Heroism. 

Tlie folluwing letter, placed in the hands of the writer on the 25th of 
July last (188*2), while participating in the ceremonies incident to un- 
veiling the shaft erected by the comrades of Zook on the spot where he 
fell, is historical in its details and conveys in pathetic terms the story of 
Zook's patriotic discrimination between sensibilities requiring obedience 
to ordei"sand an enlightened comprehension of manly and heroic duty in 
the hour of supreme necessity. We quote the letter in the exact i)hriiseoIogy 
received, leaving the blanks to attest the modesty of the gallant author: 

"New York, July 21, 1882. 
"To the Ct>mmander of Zook Post, No. 11, G. A. R., Department of 

Pennsylvania. 

"Sm : It having been brought to my attonlion by accident that your 
Post was about to unveil a shaft in comemmoration of General Zook, 
who fell at Gettysburg, I am unable to resist the opportunity to record, 
foraught I know fur the tii'st time, that which, in the interest of hist^iry, 
justice and heroic patriotism, is due to a deceased comrade whose memory 
should be honored among men. I di<l not personally know Geneiul Zook, 
and never met him but once, and that was a few minutes before his 
death. The brigade he was then commanding comprised the middle of 
the column of a division (Caldwell's) of the Second Corps which was mov- 
ing towards the support of the Third Corps on the afternoon of July 2, 
ISGCi, when the battle of that day had been purposely precipitated by the 
latter corps to save the army from being fatally flanked. As the Third Corps 
did not have a single regiment at that moment in reserve, the prompt dis- 
position of this supporting column of reinforcements was of vital necessity. 
"A CaiTicAL Interview. 

"While Ma^jor , who was then attiiched to the Third Corps staff, 

was conveying an urgent message to Zook's division commander re- 
specting the disposition to be made of this supporting column, he en- 
countered the brigade which, on inquiry, proved to be Zook's. Seeking 
that ofllcer at its head, the major asked General Zook where his division 
general could be found, explaining the urgency, which, indeed, was 
clear to every soldier in the column. It was apparent that before the 
niiijor could ride to Zook's superior officer and have oiflei's regularly 
conveyed back again to Zook, the latter's regiments would have passed 
beyond the point where fresh troops were instantly required. Zook was 
aske^i if under the circumstances, he woulil not immediately detach his 
troops from the column and move into action right where they were 
riding. He replied politely, but with soldier!}' mien, that his orders were 
to follow the column. Repeating the request, the nisyor iisked Zook to 
assume the responsibility of compliance, promising to i)nitect him and to 
return to him, as soon as possible, with a formal order from the proper 
officer. Zook and the major were utter strangei-s to each other. It was 
a critical interview. There was no time to pailey. The exhausted lines 
of Birney's division were stubbornly fighting a corps. It was obvious, 
too, that Zook, as well as the major, appreciated that neither the request 
nor compliance with it could be considered within the strict limits of 
regular military propriety. 'Sir,' said Zook, with a calm, finn look, full 
of significance, 'if you will give me the order of General Sickles, I will 
obey it.' 'Then,' was answered, 'General Sickles' order is, general,, 
that you file your brigade to the right and move into actirm here.' 
"Zook's Gallant Response. 

"To the surprise and delight of Major , Zook promptly wheeled 

his horse out of the column, gave the command 'File right,' and gal- 
lantly marched his brigade into the battle-line and himself to his death. 
Few men would have acted as Zook did. Yet had he acted otlierwise it 
might have changed the fate of the day. It was such acts that won Get- 
tysburg. Indeed, history will record that it was the spirit of just such 
acts in every rank that began, continued, conducted and concluded the 
battle of Gettysburg, regardless, if not in spite, of orders. Zook gave 
little heed to the promise to send him ratified orders, but silently ac- 
knowledging the thanks tendered him, busied himself with his work in 
hand, in which he so speedily fell. Thus it was that a soldier of disin- 
terested devotion, patriotic instinct, thoughtful counige and subhme com- 
radeship met his death at Gettysburg. This is my only apology for in- 
truding now among his more immediate comrades and friends. 
" Yours very respectfully, 

"Henry Edwin Tremain, 
" Formerly Brevet Brigaitier- General and A.D.C. United States Volunteers.^* 



THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 



289 



J. J. Wright. January, 1860, to July, 18G9. 
M. K. McClennan, July, ISilO. tu Jaiuuiry, 1870. 
Charles It. McGIatbcry, January, 1K70, to July, 1870. 
Charles Furt'nian, July, 1870, to Jaiuiary, 1871. 
Benjaniiu White, January, 1871, to January, 1S72. 
Oeorge N. Corson, January, 1872, to July, 1872. 
.lohu W. Schall, July. 187*2, to January, 1874. 
Frank Ramsey, January, 1874, to July, 1878. 
Thomas J. Stewart, July, 1878, to January, 187i). 
II. S. Smith, January. 187t». to July. 1879. 
Henry Fuluier, July, 1879, to January, 1880. 
L. D. Shearer, January, 1880, to January, 1881. 
Charles Beswick, January, 1881, to January, 1882. 
Edward Schall, January, 1882, to January, 1883. 
E. L. Xeiiiian. January, 1883, to January, 1884. 

OFFICERS FOR 1884. 
\\'illiani J. Wells, commander, January, 1884. 
Hiram Hansel, senior vice-commander. January, 1884. 
William Ituddach, junior vice-conunander, January, 1884. 
.1. K. Weaver, surgeon, January, 18S4. 
Iloury Fuhuer. quarternia.ster, January. 1884. 
D. B. Rothrock, ailjutant, January, 1884. 
Charles Furenuin, chaplain. January, 1884. 
a. W. Evans, ofticer t>f the day, January, 1884. 
George W. Holmes, officer of the guard, January, 1884. 

Death of General Zook. 
.\ writer in the Philadelphia Sumlaij Tronscrip^ of March 12, 18f>4, in 
flescribing the scene at this particular time, says : *' When they reached 
the ground the disunkTed troops impeded the advance of the brigade. 
' If you can't get out of the way,' cried Zook, ' lie down and I'll march 
over you.' " The men were ordered to lie down, and the chivalric Zook 
ami his splendid brigadedid march over them and into the deadly breach. 
Here, among the granite rocks and boulderB of the wheat-field, in com- 
mand of invincible troops, who had followed him in battle from Fair Oaks 
to Gettysburg, whose courage and endurance were never questioned, 
marching under a national flag to fill a gap in an imperiled line of 
battle, his conduct and that of his men involving results affecting the 
entire field of operations, surrounded by a brave and efficient staff, he 
was for the time being the most conspicuous man on the field and fyll in 
the flood-tide of his truly distinguished and manly career. At or about 
three o'clock p.m. the fatal bullet went crashing through his body. 
Leaning forward on his horse, he was caught in the arms of Captains 
Favill and Brown, of his staff, to whom he said : "It's all up with me, 
Favill." He was carried from the field an object of sympathy, and died 
on the afternoon of the following day. He was cool and composed to 
the last moment of his life. About fifteen minutes before his death he 
quietly inquired of his attending physician how long he had to live, hav- 
ing previously requested his adjutant-general to ascertain and advise him 
how the battle was going. Just at this moment Captain Favill reported 
"that the bands had been ordered to the front, flags were flying and 
the enemy were in retreat.'' "Then I am perfectly sjitistied," said the 
general, "and ready to die." In the hour of victory for the cause he 
loved and served so well, "satisfied" and "ready to die," liis great and 
fearless soul went out fmm his suffering body, amidst scenes and sounds, 
joys and triumphs, thundered forth by the victorious Army of the Poto- 
mac, from Culp's Hill on the right to Round Top on the left. 
An Unique Memorial Shaft. 
Among the many memorials placed upon the battle-field of Gettysburg 
none is more original in design, pleasing in taste, inexpensive and, 
withal, so enduring as Zook's. A huge gmnite boulder, near the spot 
where Zook fell, rises out of the earth, measuring about nine feet in 
diameter at the soil line or base, rounded in irregular form to a cone or 
apex, about five feet from the earth's surface. Into the top of this rock- 
mound a blue marble shaft is sunk and wedged witli the most durable 
material known to the art of masonry. The shaft is eight feet high, six- 
teen iTiches at the bsise, tapering in pleasing proportion to a rounded 
top. The blue marble is conspicuous in contrast with the prevailing 
giuy tint of the rock, while at some distance rock and shaft seem the 
most prominent object upon the famous wheat-field. Here, un the 25th 
of July 1882. assembled the comrades of the lamented Zook, mingling with 
them companions of his boyhood from the hills of Valley Forge, to do 
honor to his distinguished service to the country and memorialize his 
untimely death. Here, to the charming melody and anthems of praise 
deepened by the impressive voice of prayer, the spot was solemnly df.-di- 
cated and made historic for all time to come. — Ed. Hist. 

19 



A. Hu.l.luch, 



John Burnett, qimrterniastpr-sergeaut, Jaiuiary, 1S84. 
Joseph Ilaiiiiltun. orderly sergeant, January, 1884. 
Ciuineil of Administration, — Tlieodore W. Bean, William 

William A. Skean. 
William J. Wells, post commander, resigned Blay 12, 1884, 
Iliium Hansel, elected post commander May 19, 1884, vice Wells, resigned. 
William A. Rnddach, elected senior vice-commander, vice Hansel, elected 

post commander. 
William A. Skean. elected junior vice-commander, vice Ituddach, elected 

senior vice-commander May 19, 1884. 
George W. Don!}, elected chaphun, vice Charles Foreman, died August 

26, 1884. 
D. B. Rothrock, adjutant, resigned November 3, 1884. 

COMRADES' NAMES, 
Date of miister into the G. A. U. 
William .\lleljangli,= Sl.^st Pa. Vols., must, in December 14,1800. 
Adam Autenreitb, 90tb P.a, Vols., must, in June 24, 1807. 
Edwin S. Ahern,l 2d U. S. Inf., must, in May 1, 1871. 
Samuel .\ikins, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in September 8, 1871. 
I. M. .\kers, Uoth Pa. Vols., must, in March 8, 1880, 
Joseph Andei-son, olst Pa. Vols., must, in May 1, 1882. 
William .\llen, 3d Pa. Art., must, in May 1.5, 1882. 
George Arp,l"5tli Pa. Vols., must, in .\ugust 7, 1882. 
John \. .\i nold, 197th Pa. Vols., must, in October 23, 1882. 
William J. Bolton, 51st Pa. Vols., must in December 14, 1866. 
Joseph K, Bolton, olst Pa, Vols,, must, in December 14, 1866. 
Harrison Bickel, 138th Pa, Vols., must, in February 18, 1867. 
G. E. Blackburn,! 114th Pa. Vols., must, in February 18, 1867. 
James H. Buck, Ind. Pa. E., must, in March 25, 1867. 
Charles W. Bard, Ind. Pa. E., must, in .\pril 1, 1867. 
J, K. Breitenbach,- Imltli Pa. ^■ole., must, in .Vpril 27, 1807. 
John S. Bennett, 138th Pa. Vols,, must, in June 10, 1807, 
William Bean, olst Pa, Vols., must, in July 1, 1867, 
David D. Bath, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in July 22, 1867. 
Theodore W. Bean, 17th Pa, Cav., must, in July 22, 1807, 
William W, Bennett, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in July 22, 1867. 
Howard Bnice, olst Pa. Vols., must, in September 23, 1867. 
William Barr, .'ilst Pa. Vols., must, in November 4, 1807. 
William Bate, 4tli Pa. Vols., must, in December 10, 1807. 
Edwin X. Bean, 17th Pa, Cav,, must, in November 2, 1808. 
J. W. II. Brookes,! 2Sth Pa. Vols., must, in April 6,1809. 
David R, Beaver, 191st Pa. Vols., must, in July 4, 1869, 
William Booth, 93d Pa. Vols., must, in November 15, 1869, 
Charles A. Bodcy, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in January 10, 1870, 
Edward D, Berstler, 2d N. J, Cav., must, in December 19, 1870. 
F. T. Beerer, 90th Pa. Vols., must, in May 29, 1878. 
George W. Berstler, 2d N, J, Cav., must, in Sept. 30, 1878. 
Edward Bonter, 1st Pa. P. C, must, in October 21, 1878. 
J. W. Bainbridge, 67th Pa. Vols., must, in October 21, 1878. 
Charles Beswick, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in November 11, 1878. 
II. C. Bobst, 19th (J, S, Inf,, must, in June 16, 1879, 
Josojih H. Bell, 8th Pa, Cav., mast, in October 0, 1879. 
Albanus Bruuer, 95th Pa. Vols., must, in October 27, 1879! 
John Burnett, 95tli Pa. Vols., must, in February 10, 1880. 
John A. Blake, 198th Pa. Vols., must, in December 6, 1880. 
.V. D. BickingM, 175th Pa. Vols., must, in February 21, 1881. 
Levi Bolton, 51st Pa, Vols,, must, in March 28, 1881. 
.lames S. Baird, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in May 22, 1881. 
James Baldwin, 26th Pa. Vols., must, in June 20, 1881, 
Joseph Bry, 8th Pa, Cav., must, in September 20, 1881, 
William T. Benner, 24tli V. B. C, must, in October 31, 1881. 
Thomas Bean, Ind. Pa. E., must in November 14, 1881, 
Matt, B. Bunn, 97th Pa. Vols., must, in January 16, 1882. 
George W. Bush, 15th Pa, Cav., must, in March 0, 1882. 
S. T. Banghardt.l 4Sth Pa. Vols., must, in March 20, 1882. 
T. R. Bartleson, 2d Pa. P. C, must, in April 24, 1882. 
J. W. Butcher, 175tli Pa. Vols., must, in June 19, 1882. 
John C. Baker, 11th Pa. Cav., must in .\pril 9, 188:!. 
.1. Benken, Jr., 71st Pa, Vols., must, in April 9, 1883. 
N. B, Bechtel,U. S. Mar., must, in June 4, 1883. 
Isaac Bennett, 138lh Pa. Vols., must, in February 18, 1884. 
A, J, Baumgardner, 40th Pa Vols,, must, in June 2, 1884. 
George F. Baile.y, 124tli Pa, Vols., must, in June 30, 1884. 
George N, Corson, 4th Pa, Vols., must, in December 12, 1866. 



! Transferred. 2 Dead, 



■290 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUiXTY. 



Joseph M. Cnfrel,2 H S. P. A., must, in Fubnisiry 4, ISC.T. 
J. H. Coulston, -Jlst Pa. Vols., nuiBt in Jlarch 4, ISUT. 
James Crozier, 138tli Pa. Vols., must, in March 11, ISGT. 
Henry Cook,2 6th Pa. Cav., must, in April K, ISUT. 
Abraham Custer,^ jlst Pa. \'}U., must, in May 13, 18G7. 

E. 51. Cfi-son, 69th Pa. Vols., iinist. in S<^'i)tcmber 30, 1867. 
George M. Coler, 3il Pa. Art., must, in August 17, 1808. 

J. M. Campbell, U. S. Mar., muiff. in October 21, 1868. 
M'illiam L. C'ressou, 4th Pa. Vols., must, in January H>, l87(i. 
H. S. Cai-90D,^ 7l8t Pa. Vols., must, in April 2.% 1870. 
B. B. Corson, staff officer, muHt. in May 23, 1870. 
John F. Craig, 24th N. Y. Vols., nuist. in .Inly 11, 1870. 
■\ViIliain A. Charles, Tith Pa. Cav., must, in February 16, 1880. 
James Chase, ;>lst Pa. Vols., must, in March 21), 18S0. 
Charles Carn, 6th Pa Cav., must, in April 2.\ 1881. 
D. Carniathan, 119th Pa. Vols., must, in July 11, 1881. 
Pen. \V. Clare, aist Pa. Vols., must, in August 29, 18S1. 
George Carney, nlst Pa. Vol;*., must, in October 3, 1881. 
Jacob Colter, I38th Pa. A'ols., must, in November U, 1881. 
John Cole. 1.38th Pa. A'ols., must, in November 14, 1881. 
J. U. Chandler, 192(1 Pa. Vols., nnist. in Dftcember 12, 1881. 
John Cain, 7th Mich. Cav., Tunst. in January 9, 1882. 
William Culp, 3d Pa. Art., nnist. in March 27, 1882. 
A. ComiUL-rfurd, 119th Pa. Vols., must, in June 26, 1882. 
Josepli Cameron, 68th Pa. Vols., nnist. in A]>ril 9, 1882. 
James Conrad, 2d Pa. Vols., must, in October 15, 1883. 
James Dykes,' 119th Pa. Vols., nnist. in December 12, 1S6G. 

F. S. Davis, olst Pa. Vols., must, in February 4, 1867. 
Samuel G. Daub, alst Pa. Vols., must, in February 18, 1807. 
I. W. Davis, 6th Pa. Cav., must, in Mari-h 25, 1867. 

Eli Dyson, I7th Pa. Cav., must, in Decemb.u- 27, 1869. 
J. S. Dougherty, 2 4tli Pa. Vols., must, in February 13, 1871, 
T. S. Decker, 97th Pa. Vols., nnist. in January 6, 1879. 
Buel W. Dean, 1st U. S. Cav., must, in May 19, 1879. 
Harpole Davis, 138th Pa. Vols., nnist. in March 8, 1880. 
George W. Daub, 51st Pa. Vols., nnist. in December G, 1880. 
Edmund Dolby, 13Sth Pa. Vuls., must, in December 13, 1S8(). 
H. F. Dickinson, 61st P.i. Vols., must, in February 7, 1881, 
C T. Durliani, 4th Pa. Vols., must, in April 18, 1881. 
AVilliam Dutlinger, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in October 24, 1881. 
Benjamin Doud, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in December 12, 1881. 
Xsiuic l>e Haven, 1st U. S. Art., must, in May 22, 1882. 
Alexander M. Derr, G8th Pa. >ols., nnist. in February 26, 1883. 
■\V. H. Davis, 9Gth Pa. Vols., must, in October 15, 1883. 
Isaac Evans, 2d Pa. H. Art., must, in March 11, 18G7. 
Frederick Ervine,! olst Pa. Vols., must, in December 20, 1869. 
George W. Evans, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in January 10, 1870. 
■\Villiam G. Evans, 13Sth Pa. "N'ols., must, in July 1, 1878. 
IVilliam Earl, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in November 25, 1878. 
Charles H. Earl, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in ^March 17, 1879. 
T. Eastwood, 8th Pa. Cav., must, in September 1, 1879. 
Samuel Engle, Ind. Pa. E., must, in June i>, 1881. 
Fred. Evans, 5l8t Pa. Vols., must, in July 18, 1881. 
Henry Edwards, 17oth Pa. Vols., must, in August 22, 1881. 
Samuel Edwards, 51st Pa. Vols,, must, in August 22, 1881. 
John M. Engle, Slst Pa. Vols., must, in September 26, 1881. 
Edward L. Evans, Slst Pa. Vols., must, in Nnveniber 14, 1881. 
John S. Emery, 2d Pa. Vols., must, in November 21, 1881. 
J). Espenship, olst Pa. Vols., must, in November 21, 1881. 
J. K. Espenship, 129th Pa. Vols., must, in January 30, 1882. 
J. W. Eckmau, 15th Pa. Cav., must, in March 27, 1882. 
Joseph Everhart, 91st Pa. Vole., must, in May 7, 1883. 
>V. J. Espenship, olst Pa. Vols., must, in November 5, 1883. 
Charles Foreman, 93d Pa. Vols., must, in January 21, 1867. 
John W. Fair, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in January- 28, 18G7. 

0. A. Filluian, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in February 25, 18G7. 

1. E. Fillman, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in March 4, 1867. 
Charles Y. Fisher,^ 138th Pa. Vols., must, in March 4, 1867. 
John R. Fleck, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in IHarch 11, 1867. 

J. I. rreedley,2 4th Pa. Vols., Tuust. in June 24, 1807. 
Peter Frey, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in July 8, 1867. 
'William Fulmer. 95th Pa. Vols., must, in January- 1, 1872. 
Henry Fulmer, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in May 1, 1878. 
Ivan C. Famous, 8th Pa. Cav., must, in June 30, 1879. 
«'harles R. Fox, olst Pa. Vols., must, in July 28, 1879. 



1 Transferred. 2 Dead. 



Andrew Fair, olst Pa. Vols., must, in April 26, 1880. 
\V. H. R. Fox, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in Deiember 27, 1880. 
A. G. Famous, 95th Pa. A'ols,. must, in December 19, 1851. 
I. S. Flint, Del. Bat., must, in April 3. 18V2. 
Edwin Fislier, llith Pa. Vols., must, in October 23, 1882. 
Charles Fore, 68th Pa. Vols., must, in .May 5, 1883. 
James Grinrod, 9rth Pa. Vols., must, in January 14, 1867. 
John Guyder, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in April 1, 1867, 
\V. H. Griffiths.^ 51st Pa. Vols., must, in April 8, 1867. 
Robert Grimes,^ 4th Pa. Vols., must, in May 25. 1867. 
Geo. W. Guss.2 l3Sth Pa. Vols., must, in June 3, 18i>7. " 
Charles W. Guiubes, S. I'. S. Vols,, must, in June lo, 1867. 
George W. Grady, 3d Pa, Res,, must, in Scpli-mber 23, 1867, 
Franklin Grubb. 51st Pa. Vols., must, in June I, 186S. 
T. T, GratK, 4th Pa. Vols., must, in January 17, 1S70. 
Ainandvis Garges, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in .January G. 1879. 
Robert Griffiths, U. S. Mar., must, in March 3, 1^79, 
Levi Goilshall, 129th Pa., Vols., must, in April 21, 1879. 
James Y. Guyder, Slst Pa. Vols., must, in June 2, 1879. 
Charles Garber, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in June 2, 1S79. 
John Gilligan, 5lBt Pa. Vols., must, in December 1."), 1879. 
William R. Gilbert. 51st Pa. Vols., must, in March 22, 1880. 
John Graham, 175th Pa. Vols. must, in July 12, 1880. 
John J. Glis.ion, 124th Pa. Vols., must, in January 10, 1881. 
Charles Gleckner, 8th Pa. Cav,, must, in .September 26, 1881. 
James R. Grittitlis, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in December 19^ 1881. 
George W. Glisson, 1st V. S, .\rt., must, in January 2, 1882. 
Chri-stian Ganaer, 4th Pa. Vols., must, in January 30. 1882. 
James Gibbons, I05th Pa. Vols., must, in August ^8, 1882. 

A. W. Geiger, 215th Pa. Vols., must, in November 27, 1882. 

B. F. Gilbert, 2d Art. Pa. Vols., must, in December 10, 1883. 
James Heebner,"- 13Sth Pa. Vols., must, in December 14, 1866. 
William B. Hart, ^ A. A. Gen'I., must, in February 11. 1868. 
Charles M, Hennis. Slst Pa. Vols., must, in March 4, 1867. 

J. F. Hartranft, B. 31. Gen'I., must, in March 4, 1867. 
Abraham Hartranft, 15th Pa. Cav., must, in March 11, 1867. 
Lane S. Hart, ' 51st Pa. A'ols., must, in April 15, 1867. 
Lewis Hallman,2 5l8t Pa. A'ols., must, in April 22, 1867. 
John M. Hart, G8th Pa. Vols., must, in May 27, 1867. " 
Joseph Holt, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in June 3, 1867. 
John Hallman, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in Octi>ber21, 1867. 
John L. Hoy, 82d Pa. Vols., must, in November 14, 1870. 
John H. Hartzell, 129th Pa. Vols., must, in November 4, 1878. 
John H. Hennis, 1st U. S. Art., must, in Blay 5, 1879. 
G. AV. Holmes, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in June 9, 1879. 
G. W. Horner, 20th Pa. Vols., must, in June 23, 1879. 
Edward Hocker. 5th U. S. Art,, must, in September 29, 1879. 
Jesse Herbster, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in November 24, 1879. 
M'illiam A. Hartley-, i loth Pa. Cav., must, in December 15, 1879. 
Joseph Hamilton, U. S. Mar., must, in .June G, 1881. 
AV. Hartenstein, 67th Pa. Vols., must, in June 27, 1881. 
John Hallso, 15tb N. Y. Eng., must, in August 8, 1881, 
Hiium Hansell, 186th Pa. Vols,, must, in Septembers, 1881. 
William Haines, 50th Pa. Vols., must, in September 26, 1881. 
John Hurd, 13Sth Pa. Vols., must, in March 13, 1882. 

D. B. Hartranft, loth Pa. Cav., must, in May, 22, 1882. 

E, L. Hiltner, 15th Pa. Cav., must, in May 29, 1882. 
George S. Heaney, Ist N. J. Vols., must, in June 12, 1882. 
Charles P. Hower, ' 147th Pa, Vols., must, in July 17, 1882. 
Daniel Hurley, 38th N. J. Vols., must, in March 19, 1883. 
Charles R. Haines, 7th Pa. Res., must, in April 9, 1883. 
Charles Hansell. 4th Pa. Vols., must, in April 30, 1883. 

T. P. Hampton, 186th Pa. Vols., must, in June 25, 1883. 

Vi^. J. Hesser, 50th Pa. Vols., must in February 11, 1884. 

John Hughes, 3d Pa. Vols., must, in April 21, 1884. 

Heni-j* C. Hughes, lieut. 175th Pa. Vols., nmsl. in July 12, 1884. 

John S. Hilsman, 83d Pa. Vols., must, in September 29, 1884. 

Henry Jacobs, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in March 4, 18G7. 

David Jamison, 106th Pa. Vols., must, in March 18, 1867. 

Charles R. Jones, 138th Pa. Vols., nmst. in April 1, 1867. 

Thomas H. Jones. Ind. Pa. Eng., must, in April 8, 1867. 

J. P. H. Jones, 2d Pa. Cav., must, in April 8, 1867. 

Joseph S. Johnson, 9Gth Pa. Vols., must, in December 30, 1867. 

E. M. Johns, 51st Pa. Vols,, must, in Fcbniaiy 7, 1870. 

Joseph Jobbins, 58th Pa. Vols., must, in Jnly 22, 1872. 

1 Transferred. 2 Dead. 



THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 



291 



KaDdolph Jacobs, 8th Pa. Cav., must, in May 1, 1878. 

Theodore Jacobs, 187th Pa. Vols., must, in May 8, 1878. 

John S. Jones, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in December 15, 1879. 

Charles P. .iorrlan, Ind. Pa, Eug., must, in February 14, 1881. 

Ralph Jones, 5lBt Pa. Vols., must, in May 9, 1881. 

Isaac Jones, Ind. Pa. Eng., must, in May 23, 1881. 

William Jamison, 95th Pa. Vols., must, in September 5, 1881. 

Charles Jaggei-s, Ind. Pa. Eng., must, in November 14, 1881. 

William D. Jenkins, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in December 19, 1881. 

H. H. Kain, Ind. Pa. Eng., must, in .\pril 15, 1807. 

John W. Klair, 1st U. S. Art., must, in June 3, 1878. 

Silas Kingkiuer, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in October 21, 1878. 

H. M. Keiffer, hosp. steward, must, in May 19, 1879. 

Charles Kramer, 8th N. Y. Vols., must, in February 2, 1880. 

Thoniiifl A. Kelly, 90th Pa. Vols., must, in March 15, 1880. 

Oliver Keisen, 93d Pa. Vols., must, in June 14, 1880. 

Henry Keeler, 195th Pa. Vols., must, in February 21, 1881. 

M. V. B. Knox, 172d Pa. Vols., must, in June 13, 1.881. 

D. R. Kreibel, 128th Pa. Vols., must, in October 17, 1881. 

Albanus Lare, Slst Pa. Vols., must, in Februai-y 11, 1867. 

Daniel Lare, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in Febmai-y 18, 1867. 

Isaac Leedoni, 15th Pa. Cav., unist. in February 18. 1867. 

Albert List, olst Pa. Vc.ls., must, in June 3, 1867. 

Joseph M Linker, 96th Pa. Vols., must, in February 10, 1879. 

Daniel Linker, 138th Pa. Vols,, must, in May 5, 1879. 

Jeremiah Lynch, 4th U. S. Cav., must, in December 6, 1880. 

Charles Lysinger, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in December 13, 1880. 

S. M. Lewis, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in March 14, 1881. 

John Lindsay, 6th Pa. Cav., must, in Jime 13, 1881. 

George W. Lewis, olst Pa. Vols., must, in July 4, 1881. 

William H. Lewis, 12th Pa. Res., must, in July 18, 1881.' 

P. H. Levering, 1st Pa. Cav., must, in August 8, 1881. 

Eli Long, 1.38th Pa. Vols., must in October 17, 1881. 

H. C. Lysinger, 61st Pa. Vols., nuist. in November 21, 1881. 

Ellwood Lukens, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in December 2fi, 1881. 

F. B. Lyle, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in Januarj' 2, 1882. 
John D. Linker, Ind. Pa. Eng., must, in March 20, 1882. 
H. S. Longaker, 119th Pa. Vols., nmst. in June 19, 1882. 
Willia Lare, 99th Pa. Vols., must, in June 26, 1882. 

W. R. Lyle, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in December 10, 1883. 
James S. Lyle, 12l8t Pa. Vols., must, in August 25, 1884. 
S. M. Markley, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in December 17, 1866. 
M. R. McClennan,= 138th Pa. Vols., must, in Slarch 4, 1807. 
Hugh McClain.l 51st Pa. Vols., must, in March 18, 1807. 
Allen Martin, Ind. Pa. Eng., nmst. in May 27, 1867. 
James Murphy, loth Pa. Cav., must, in June 3, 1867. 
James S. Moore, 13Sth Pa. Vols., must, in June 24, 1867. 
Hugh McGill, must, in August 5, 1867. 

G. W. Megilligan, U. S. Mar., must, in September 23, 1867. 
C. S. McGlathery, 4th Pa. Vols., must, in Septemljer 30, 1867. 
Joseph R. Moyer, 138t,h Pa. Vols., must, in October 7, 1867. 
Thomas Morris,2 H9th Pa. Vols., must, in July 1, 1869. 
John Macombs, 34th Pa. Vols., must, in March 31, 1879. 
Samuel McCarter,i 51st Pa. Vols., must, in March 8, 1880. 

S. McOlennan, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in March 8, 1880. 
Daniel McDa*le, 51st Pa. Vols., must, iu April 19. 1880. 
William Morris, U. S. Vet. Res., must, in May 24, 1880. 
J. H. McGonigle,= 1st N. J. Cav., must, in May 31, 1880. 
Samuel McCombs, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in November 22, 1880. 
Philip McManus, 26th Pa. Vols., must, in November 22, 1880. 
David McDonald,2 52d Pa. Vols., must, in May 22, 1881. 
Jesse Macombs, 106th Pa. Vols., must, in August 29, 1881. 
Samuel Miller, I7th Pa. Cav., must, in September 12, 1881. 
William H. Miller, 26th Pa. Vols., must, in September 26, 1881. 
Washington Miller, 13th Pa. Cav., must, in September 20, 1881. 
Amos Mitchell, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in October 3, 1881. 
John Maxwell, 198th Pa. Vols., must, in October 3, 1881. 
William McManamy, 5lBt Pa. Vols., must, in October 17, 1881. 
John L. McCoy, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in December 20, 1881. 
Uriah McCoy, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in January 9, 1882. 
John Murphy, 9th III. Vols., nmst. in January 23, 1882. 
Nicholas Murphy, 5l8t Pa. Vols., must, in April 17, 1882. 
Patrick McGrath, 59th Ohio Vols., must, in June 5, 1882. 
.biriics McCormick,2 U. S. Mar, nuist. in July 31, 1882. 
Philip Mack, 5th Pa. Cav., must, in September 11, 1882. 

1 Transferred. - Dea<l. 



Joseph Murphy, 116th Pa. Vols., must, in March 12, 1883. 

Marshall McCarter, 214th Pa. Vols., must, in June 29, 1883. 

Samuel McCarter, capt., 93d Pa. Vols., must, in September 24, 1883. 

Marshall J. McCarter, Corp., 93d Pa. Vols., must, in .September 29, 1884. 

Samuel E. Nyce, 5th Pa. Cav., must, in September 2, 1807. 

George W. Neiman,2 138th Pa. Vols., mustered in September 23, 1867. 

William Neiman,2 13Sth Pa. Vols., must, in July 15, 1869. 

E. L. Neiman, 129th Pa. Vols., must, in May 10, 1881. 

Thomas J. Owen, 17th Pa. Cav., must, in March 18, 1867. 

A. L. Ortlip,2 5l8t Pa. Vols., must, in July 24, 1807. 
Osman Ortlip, 5l8t Pa. Vols., nuist. in October 7, 1867. 
WilUam W. Owen, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in July 14, 1879. 
Hugh O'Farrel, 5th Pa. Cav., must, in December 12, 1881. 
Samuel T. Pretty, 45th Pa. Vols., must, in DecembiT 14, 1866. 
0. Pennypacker, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in May 20, 1867. 

S. B. Painter, 8th Pa. Cav., must, in May 27, 1867. 
William W. Potts, 124th Pa. Vols., must, in May 19, 1868. 
0. F. Pluemacher,! 20th N. Y. Vols,, nmst. in May 22, 1878. 
L. W. Patterson,^ 51st Pa. Vols., must, in May 22, 1879. 
George R. Pechin, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in November 10, 1879. 
Jacob Pluck, 2d U. S. Cav., must, in December 15, 1879. 
R. W. Perry, 34th S. C. Vol. Cav,, nmst. in February 28, 1881. 
Charles Powers, 51st Pa. Vols., nuist. in June 20, 1881. 
Michael Peters, 51st Pa. A'ols., must, in August 22, 1881. 
John Piter, 93d Pa. Vols., must, in September 5, 1881. 
John Powera, 116th Pa. Vols., must, in October 17, 1881. 
James Pierce, 4th Pa. Vols., must, in September 18, 1882. 
Reese Pugh, 138lh Pa. Vols., must, in October 1. 1883. 
Alfred Piatt, U9th Pa. Vols., must, in June 30, 1884. 
G. W. S. Peunell, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in September 22, 1884. 
Allen Quamby,- 138th Pa. Vols., must, in .lanuary 14, 1867. 
Thomas Quiulan, U. S. Mar., must, in February 4, 1867. 
William M. Ruukle.i 3d Pa. Art., must, in December 12, 1866. 
L. W. Read, S. U S. Vols., must, in December 14, 1806. 
Daniel A. Reiff, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in January 7, 1867. 
W. A. Rnddach, 93d Pa. Vols., must, in January 21, 1867. 
Nathaniel R. Ranis;iy, 5l8t Pa. Vols., must, in February U, 1867- 
J. R. Richardson. 82d Pa. Vols., must, in February 25, 1867. 
Thomas J. Reiff,2 4th Pa. Vols., must, in July 27, 1867. 
Frank Ramsey, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in July 6, 1868. 
William Rumford, 187tb Pa. Vols., must, in March 7, 1881. 
Thomas Rafferty, 4th N. J. Vols., must, in May 9, 1881. 
Patrick Rogan, Slst Pa. Vols., must, in August 8, 1881. 
.Incob Robbins, Ind. P. En., must, iu November 14, 1881. 
John Rapine, Ind. P. En., must, in November 14, 1881. 
William Rennyson, 10th N. J. Vols., must, in November 14, 1881. 
D. Rodenbough, 3d P. P. Cav., must in May 29, 1882. 
L. S. Rapine, 95th Pa. Vols., must, iu June 19, 1882. 
William lleagens, 150th Pa. Vols., must, in July 10, 1882. 
Isaiah Reaver, 16th Pa. Cav., must., in September 11, 1882. 
D. B. Rothrock, 53d Pa. Vols., must, in October 16. 1882. 
John R. Ruhn, 20th Pa. Vols., must, in October 22, 1883. 
Andrew Ruhn, 88th Pa. Vols., must, in October 22, 1883. 
T. C. Simpson, 4th Pa. Vols., must, in Dec. 14, 1866. 
H. S. Smith, 2 I38th Pa. Vols. must, in Dec. 17, 1806. 

B. T. Stewart, 138th Pa. Vols. must, in Dec. 31, 1860. 
William H. Snyder, must, in Feb. 18, 1807. 

S. B. Salisburg,: 138th Pa. Vols., must, in March 11, 1807. 
John Swallow,2 sigt Pa. Vols., must, in March 11, 1867. 
L. D. Shearer, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in March 18, 1867. 
John W. Schall, 87lh Pa. Vols., must, in April 22, 1867. 
Edward Schall, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in May 20, 1867. 
S. P. Stephens, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in May 27, 1867. 
R. R. Shinn, 13Sth Pa. Vols., must, in June 3, 18671 
Charles Slingluff, 48th Pa. Vols., must, in June 17, 1867. 
Joseph Siiplee, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in June 24, 1867. 
Samuel R. Snyder, 199th Pa. Vols., must, in June 24, 1867. 
David R. Spear, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in July 1, 1867. 
William Spence, 198th Pa. Vols., must, in Nov. 4, 1867. 
T. J. Stewart, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in May 8, 1878. 
.1. P. Spooner, 4th Mass. Vols., must, in May 29, 1878. 
Simeon Sigfried,' 160th Ohio Vols., must, in July 15, 1878. 
S. W. Snyder, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in Nov. 4, 1878. 
A. W. Snyder, 5th Pa. Cav., must, in Nov. 24, 1878. 
Cnrrin S. Smith, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in Feb. 10, 1879. 



'Transferred, spead. 



292 



HISTORY OF MOxNTGOMERY COUNTY. 



H. B. Souders, 105th Pd. Vols., must, in June 9, 1879. 
William B. Sickle.i P. P. M. Inf., must, in July 7, 1879. 
Isaac Strumpf, 64th N. Y. Vole., muBt. in Aug. 11, 1879. 
J. B. Stauffer, 197th Pa. Vols., must, in Oct. 27, 1879. 
A. Shultheiser, 7th Pa. Cav., must, in Dec, 29, 1879. 

A. L. Stetson, 18th Mass. Vols., must, in Feb. 16, 1880. 
Gibbons Shaip.i 38th JIass. Vols., must, in Feb. 16, 1880. 
Theodore Selah, 95th Pa. Vols., must, in March 1, 1880. 
J. Scattergood, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in March 29, 1880. 
John Sheile, 72d N. Y. Vols., must, in Dec. 13, 1880. 

G. W. Smith, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in April 4, 1881. 
W. R. Snyder, U. S. Mar., must, in June 13, 1S81. 
Benjamin E. Sill, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in June 20, 1881. 
Aug. Solomon, 93d Pa. Vols., must, in Sept. 5, 1881. 
William A. Skean, 6th Pa. V. R. C, must, in Sept. 19, 1881. 
G. W. Shoffner, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in Oct. 17, 1881. 
Lindley Staley, 196th Pa. Vols., must, in Oct. 24, 1S81. 
WilUam Seaman, 203rd Pa. Vols., must, in Nov. 7, 1881. 
J. Y. Shainline, 4th Pa. Vols., must, in Dec. 12, 1881. 
H. H. ShainUne, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in Dec. 26, 1881. 
George Schall, 41st Pa. Vols., must, in March 20, 1882. 
R. T. Schall, 4th Pa. Vols., must, in April 3, 1882. 
Samuel Schuler, 107th Pa. Vols., must, in .\pril 24, 1882. 
James Silvey, 104th Pa. Vols., must, in May 8, 1882. 
John Stiver, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in June 5, 1882. 

B. E. Smith, 150th Pa. Vols., must, in May 7, 1883. 

J. B. Steinmetz, 15th Pa. Cav., must, in June 11, 1883. 

C. H. Supplee, 2nd Pa. P. Cav., nuist. in June 29, 1883. 
Jacob Sterner, 179lli Pa. P. Cav., must, in Oct. 16, 1883. 
Jacob Springer, 179th Pa. P. Cav., mn»t. i]i Oct. l.'i, 1883. 
Elias Springer, 4th Pa. P. Cav., must, in Slay 5, 1884. 
Adam H. Stout, 13th Pa. Cav., must, in May 12, 1884. 

W. F. Thomas, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in Feb. 18, 1867 
G. W. H. Thomas, 197th Pa. Vols., must, in June 3, 1807. 
S. P. Taylor, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in Feb. 21, 1S70. 
Thomas Timberly, 3d V. R. C, must, in Dec. 29, 1879. 
Morris Tyson, 6tli Pa. Cav., must, in Dec. 27, 1880. 
James Tinney, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in April 11, 1881. 
Chris. ThuJeum, 35tli N. J. Vols., must, in May 2, 1881. 
H. B. Thomas, 97th Pa. Vols., must, in June 6, 1881. 
Mathias Tyson, 1.38th Pa. Vols., must, in Aug. 22, 1881. 
C. A. Thomson, 51st Pa, Vols,, must, in May 22, 1882. 
W. E. Tucker, 138th Pa, Vols., must, in Sept. 22, 1884, 
J, C. Umstead, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in Sept, 4, 1871, 
H, Von Tagen, must, in .\ug, 5, 1807, 
E. H, Vaughan, 3rd Pa, Cav., must, in June 3, 1878. 
H, Vanfossen, 51st Pa, Vols,, must, in Nov. 15, 1880. 
Thos, Van Horn, Ind, Pa, E,, must, in Jan, 23, 1882, 

E, G, Wright,^ lOlst Pa, Vols,, must, in Jan. 21, 1867, 
William Werkeiser, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in Feb. 18, 1867, 
J, J, Wright, 68th Pa, Vols,, must, in March 18, 1867. 
Benjamin White, Slst Pa, Vols,, must, in March 18, 1867. 
H, K, Weand, 15th Pa, Cav,, must, in March 18, 1867, 
W, P, Walkinshaw, 3d Pa, Art,, must, in April 15, 1867. 
J, Weingartner, 179th Pa, Vols,, must, in BIjiy 24, 1867. 

F, L, Wagner, must, in Dec. 30, 1867, 

John A. Wills,2 138th Pa, Vols,, must, in Nov, 15, 1869. 
William Wilson, 128th V. R. C, must, in June 13, 1870 
J. K. Weaver. 1.35th Pa, Vols., must, in .Tune 18, 1871. 
W. J. Wells, 43d Pa, Vols., nulst. in May 1, 1878. 
William Wesley, 6th Pa. Cav., must, in March 1, 1880. 
George Wilson, 59th V. R. ('., must, in March 28, 1880, 
M. Williamson, 95th Pa, Vols,, must, in May 17, 1880, 
J, Winterbottom, 2d Pa, Art,, must, in Oct, 4, 1880, 
B, W, Wessel, 3d Pa. Art., must in Oct. 11, 1880. 
Charies H. White, Slst Pa, Vols., must, in Dec, 20, 1880, 
Benjamin Wilkins, U. S, Mar,, nuist, in Feb. 7, 1881. 
H. P. Wood, 51st Pa. Vols., must, in Aug. 22, 1881. 
Aaron Weikel, 129th Pa. Vols,, must, in Sept. 12, 1881. 
Alfred Widmer, 15th Mis. Vols,, must, in March 13. 1882, 
W, S. Webster, 58th Pa, Vols., must, in April 3, 1882. 
W. D. Whiteside, Hath Pa. Vols., must, in Aug, 28, 1882, 
Plum, E, Walker, 124th Pa, Vols,, must, in May 14. 1883. 
James R, Weikel, 112th Pa, Vols,, must, in Jime 29, 1883. 
John H. Weikel, 112th P». Vols., must, in June 29, 1883. 



Robert H. Weeks, 90th Pa. Vols., must, in Oct. 15, 1883. 

B, F. Woodland, 1st Pa. Res, must, in Dec. 17, 1883. 
William H, Yerkes, 179th Pa. Vols., must, in April 15, 1867. 
H. C, Y'erkes, 17th Pa, Cav,, must, in July 29, 1869, 

Isaac C, Y'ost, 138th Pa. Vols., must, in Feb, 2, 1880. 
W. H. Yerger, 51st Pa. Vols,, must, in Sept, 12, 1881, 
Daniel M. Y'ost, 179th Pa, Vols,, must, in March 20, 1882, 
Daniel B. Yost, Slst Pa, Vols,, nmst, in July 17, 1882. 
Adam Zinuel,2 12Ist Pa. Vols,, must, in March 11, 1867, 
John Zinnel,2 12l8t Pa, Vols,, must, in .\pril 20, 1867. 
William Zeigler, 98th Pa, Vols,, must, in June 10, 1882. 
Joseph H. Zearfoss, 5lst Pa. Vols,, must, in July 31, 1882. 

George Smith Post, No. 79, Department of 
Pennsylvania, G. A. R. — Organized June 29, 1878, 
with the following officers: P. C, Joseph K. Moore ; 
S. V. C, Evan B. Williams; J. V. C, Robert Herron ; 
Adjt., S. S. Bemesderfer; Q. M., J. E. Rogers; Chap- 
lain, J. S. Moore; O. D., J. W. Fair; O. G., Samuel 
Bims. 

Military record of the deceased comrade in whose 
honor the post was named : " George Smith, mustered 
into the United States service with Company E, 
Twenty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers, April 23, 
1861 ; mustered out August 7, 18|31 ; re-enlisted August 
23, 1861, in Company I, Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania 
Volunteers, for three years; wounded and taken pris- 
oner at the battle of Gaines' Mills, June 7, 1862, and 
never afterward heard from." 

Post Commanders, Joseph K. Moore, Evan B. 
Williams, Robert Herron, William B. Nungesser, 
William B. Harlan, Joseph R. Davis. James J. 
Wolfong, commander; S. S. Bemesderfer, adjutant. 

John S. Moore, private, Co. E, 6th Pa, Cav, 
Joseph K, Moore, corp,, Co, A, 138th Pa, Vols, 

C, H. Rigg, Corp., Co. A, 8th Md, Vols, 
William T, Clark, corp,, Co. C, 2d Del. Vols, 
Franklin Beaver, Corp., Co. D, 95th Pa. Vols, 
Robert Herron, 1st lieut,, Co, C, 88th Pa, Vols. 
J. E. Rogers, 1st Ueut,, Co, C, 88th Pa, Vols, 
James W, Jones, private, Co, A, 138tli Pa, Vols, 
Evan B. Williams, sergt,, Co, H, 6th U, S, Cav. 
Chalkley Fox, sergt., Co. C, 88th Pa. Vols. 
John Knause, private, Co. C, 138th Pa. Vols. 
Samuel Binns, private, Co. C, 88th Pa, Vols, 

S, S Bemesderfer, private, Co, D, 93d Pa, Vols. ; re-enlisted in 192d Ph. 
Vols, 

Washington Jones, private, Co, E, 99th Pa. Vols. 

John Shade, private, Co. A, Slst Pa, Vols. 

John Earl, private, Co, D, Slst Pa, Vols, 

William B, Nungesser, private, Co, B, 95th Pa, Vols, 
) John W, Fair, 2d Ueut,, Co. C, Slst Pa, Vols, 
' WilUam F, Smith, private, Co, 11, 97th Pa. Vols, 

John H, GrifBth, private, Co, A, 138th Pa, Vols, 

David H, Lukens, private, Co, A, 138th Pa, Vols, 

Benjamin G, Keyset, private, Co, B, 95th Pa. Vols. 

Vincent Bloomhall, 2d lieut., Co, B, SSth Pa, Vols, 

D, M, Gibeny, private, Co, A, 6th U, S, Art, ; re-eul, Co, B, 192d Pa, Vols, 
W, 0, Coplin, private. Co, C, 125th Pa. Vols. 

George E. Blackburn, private, Co. E, 114th Pa. Vols. 
Jackson Drummond, private, Co. E, 27th Vet Res. 
Absalom Darkes, Corp., Co. F, 4th Pa, Cav, 
A, B. Wood, musician, Co. D, Slst Pa. Vols. 
W. B. Harlan, sergt., Co. C, 8th Pa. Cav. 
Fi"ancis Davies, private, Co. G, 129th Pa. Vols. 
Washington A. Bell, Corp., Co. K, 8th Pa. Cav. 
George B. Baker, private, Co. A, Slst Pa. Vols. 
Philip Bittuer, private, Co. B, 2d Vet. Art. 
James 0. MulhoUand, private, Co. K, 201h Del. Vols. 



• Transferred. - Dead. 



1 Transferred. - Dejul. 



THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 



293 



Henry Bearer, musician, 95th Pa. Vols. 

George McCord, private. Co. L, 8th Pa. Cav. 

Thomas M. Sturgess, farrier, Co. I, 6th Pa. Cav. 

George Neff, sergt., Co. tl, 2lst Pa. Cav.; re-enl. Independent Engineers. 

Thomas H. Jones, sergt., Co. H, 4th Pa. Cav. 

Frank C. Smith, private, Co. F, 124th Pa. Vols. 

John I. Heck, corp., Co. H, 13th Pa. Cav. 

Samuel C. Lowman, drummer, Co. I, 5th Md. Vols. 

JameB J. Wilfong, corp., Co. G, 198th Pa. Vols. ; re-enl. corp., 2d Conn. 

William Pope, sergt., Co. I, 51st Pa. Vols. 

John M. Williams, sergt., Co. I, 8th Pa. Cav. 

Bethel M. Yerkes, corp., Co. I, 129th Pa. Vols. ; re-enl. private, Co. K, 

28th Pa. Vols. 
Harrison Welsh, musician, Co. I, 37th Pa. Vols. 
James Bates, private, Co. A, 6th Pa. Cav. 
John R. Heard, private, Co. I, 51st Pa. Vole. 
James Chamberlain, private, Co. K, 4th N. J. Vols. 
Stephen Mitchell, 2d lieut. , Co. C, 26th Pa. Vols. 
John MacFetters, private, Co. C, 88th Pa. Vols. 
Mathew Alexander, private, Co. G, 6th Md. Vols. 
George W. Chamberlain, private, Co. K, 4th N. J. Vols. ; re-enl. private, 

Co. E, 20th U. S. Inf. 
Taylor Wanamaker, private, Co. D, 51st Pa. Vols. 
Daniel F. Frease, private, Co. F, 51st Pa. Vols. ; re enl. private, Co. F, 

20th Pa. Cav. 
Levi Smith, 2d lieut. Co. E, 6th Pa. Vols. 

John Supplee, private, Co. K, 2d P. R. C. ; re-enl. Co. P, 22d V. R. C. 
Joseph Whartenby, private, Co. I, 6th Pa. Cav. 
Benjamin H. Wild, private, Co. E, 24th Mo, ; re-enl. 7th Miss. 
Henry Dehaven, private, Co. I, 4th Pa. Vols.; re-enl. private Co. I, 2d Art. 
Thomas Reinhart, private, Co. I, 51st Pa. Vols. 
Richard Dalby, private, U. S. M. C. ; re-enl. ship "Salem." 
William Morris, private.. Co. G, 6th N. Y. Art. 
John Barr, landsman, U. S. ship "Sabine."' 

A. P. Custer, private, Co. D, 4th Pa. Vols. 
Charles H. Baylittz, Corp., Co. E, 9th Pa. Cav. 
Jonathan E. Cook, private, Co. K, 97th Pa. Vols. 

Samuel R. Mitchell, musician, Co. K, 188th Pa. Vols. ; re-enl. black- 
smith, Co. L, 20th Cav. 
Benjamin Rowland, musician, Slst Pa. Vols. 
J. Wesley Potter, private, Co. N, 192d Pa. Vols. 

B. H. Rossiter, private, Co. K. 4th P. R. C, re-enl. private. Co. K, 84th 

Pa. Vols. 
James S. Colen, private, Co. B, 105th Pa. Vols. 
William P. Walters, sergt., Co I. 13th Pa. Cav. 
Lewis Preston, private, Co. H, 13th Pa. Cav. 

Joseph Garris, private, Co. D, 4th Pa. Vols, ; re-enl. Corp. U. S. M. C. 
John Murray, mus. 27th Pa. Vols. ; re-enl. private, Co. B, 105th Pa. 

Vols. 
John Golden, private, Co. B, 2d U. S. I. 
Joseph R. Davis, corp., U. S. M. C. 
James \V. Colen, coi-p., Co. C, 88th Pa. Vols. 
George W. Williams, private, Co. A, 138th Pa. Vols. 
John Miles, private, Co. M, 7th Pa. Cav. 
William N. Hinkle, private, Co. A, 95th Pa. Vols. 
Patrick Campbell, private, Co. A, 9th Conn. Vols. 

John Settle, private, Co. D, 3d Pa. Art. ; re-enl. priv. Co. C, 3d N. J. Cav. 
William McDowell, private Co. B, 26th Pa. Vols, 
John Heflfenfinger, private, Co. E., 196th Pa. Vols. 
Robert Miller, musician, Co. K, 119th Pa. Vols. 
James Eddleman, private, Co. K, 2d West. Va. 
Charles J. Steel, private, Co. D, 5th Pa. Cav. 
Preston Custer, private, Co. A, 138th Pa. Vols. 
George W. Pass, private, Co. A, 8th Md. Vols. 
Robert Smith, private, Co. B, 105th Pa. Vols. 
William Jolen, private, Co. F, 118th Pa. Vols. 
Simon Kingkinger, private, Independent Engineers. 
Jeremiah F. Kline, private, Co. I, Slst Pa. Vols. ; re-enl. private, Co. B, 

191st Pa. Vols. 
John F. Smallwood, private, Co. F, 8Sth Pa. Vols. 
Isaac Galloway, private, Co. H, 1st Del. Vols. 
Ephi"aim Chamberlain, private, Co, K, 2d N, J, Cav. 
Charles P. Fish, private, Co. F, 4th N. J. Vols. 
Elmore Rossiter, private, Co. H. 16th Pa. Cav, 

Charles Deal, private, Co. G, 3d Pa. Vols, ; re-enl, priv. Co. A. 3d Pa. Cav. 
Isaac Burns, private, Co. E, 20th Pa. Vols. ; re-enl. Co. F, 3d Pa. Cav. 
Benjamin Smith, private, Co. C, 88th Pa. Vols. 



Andrew Roe, private, Co. L, 2d Pa. Cav. 

James Quirk, private, Co. A, 175th Pa. Vols. 

E. J. Caine, private, Co. F, 19th Pa. Vols. 

John Halley, private, Co. M, 27th Pa. Cav. 

Abram Newbower, private, Co. I, 75th Pa. Vols. 

Albert Haley, private, Co. C, 109th Pa. Vols, 

George H. Logan, private, Co, A, 7th Del. Vols. 

William Lowery, private, Co, K, 11th Md. Vols. 

James Phillipps, private, Co, F, Ist Pa, Art. 

Nathan J. Orner, priv, Co. E, 95th Pa. Vols, ; re-enl. Corp., Co. D, 95th 
Pa, Vols. 

George M. Pearce, private, Co. I, 31st Pa. Vols. 

William Wray, corp., U. S, M. C. 

C, H. Brooks, private, Co. I, 129th Pa. Vols. ; re-enl. sergt., Co, M, 192d 
Pa. Vols. 

Edw. Kellichner, private, Co. A, 51st Pa. Vols. 

Joseph B. Wilkinson, private, Co. G, 213th Pa. Vols. 

John Dehaven, private, Co. D, 5l8t Pa. Vols. 

Thomas Ramsey, private, Co. A, 138th Pa. Vols. 

George Pearson, private, Co. C, 2d Del. Vols. 

Joseph Wilfong, private, 37th Vet. Res. 

Frank W. Hilt, private, Co. E, 106th Pa. Vols. 

John Bennett, private, Co. I, 9th N. J. Vols. 

Andrew Steel, private, Co. D, 2d D. C, Vols. 

Joseph Rinehart, private, Co, A, 138th Pa, Vols, 

Robert Noblit, private. Co. C, 188th Pa, Vols, 

Richard Jones, private, Co. A, 38th Pa. Vols. 

William D. Beck, private, Co. G, Ist Pa. Art.; re-enl. private, Co. G, 
15th Pa. Vols. 

George Gardner, private, Co. D, 12th Pa. Vols.: re-enl. private, Co. G. 
124th Pa, Vols. 

Peter B. Roberts, private, Co. A, llOth Pa. Vols. 

James W. Davis, private, Co. A, 138th Pa. Vols. 

Winfield S, Brooks, bugler, Co, I, 8th N. Y. 

William Kelley, private, Co, B. 2d U. S. Cav. 

Thomas Stillfield, private. Independent Engineers. 

William Noblit, private, Co. A, 138th Pa. Vols. 

Christian Wilkline, private, Co, I, 5th Pa, Cav.; re-enl, private, Co, B, 
5th Pa. Cav. 

William H. Wilt, private, Co. E, 1st Pa. Cav. 

William H, Whartenby, private, Co. B, 2nd P. R. C; re-enl. sergt., 2d 

P. R. C. 
George W. King, private, Co. K, 13th Pa, Cav. 

William Wilkinson, private, Co. A, l:i8th Pa. Vole. 

James Brachy, private, Co. B, 11th Mass, 

Samuel Nuss, private, Co. A, 138th Pa. Vols. 

Benjamin F. Hannam, private, Co. H. 183d Pa. Vols. 

George W. Williams, sergt., Co. A, 138th Pa. Vols. 

George W. Keys, 2d lieut., Co. A, 41st Pa. Cav.; re-enl. let lieut., Co. A, 

41st U.S. Cav. 
Robert MacMillen, corp., Co. D, 1st Del. Cav. 
John Crawford, corp., Co. H. 13th Pa. Cav. 
Samuel Peneger, private, Co. F, 124th Pa. Vols. 
William H. Davis, private, Co. C, 12l8t Pa. Vols. 
William Stetler, private, Co. H, 47th Pa. Vols. 
James Gilmore, private, Co. K, 4th Pa. Vols. 
Phillipp Willard, private, Co. D, 7th Pa. Cav. 
John Woods, private, Co. B, 8l8t Pa. Vols, 
James Supplee, private, Co. F, 2d Pa. Cav. 
Thomas Cornog, private, Co. I, Slst Pa. Vols. 
William Williams, corp.. Go. F, 124th Pa. Vols. 

John W.Wack, private, Co, F, 175th Pa. Vols. ; re-enl. private Co.F, 3d Res 
James P. Wack, private, Co. F, 3d Pa. Vols. 
Benjamin Wack, private, Co. F, 124th Pa. Vols. 
Wright Schofield, corp., Co. H, 40th Pa. Vols. 
John Roach, drummer, Co. C, 158th N. Y. Vols.; re-enl. private, Co. H, 

19th U. S. Inf. 
William Weeks, sergt., Co. H, 7th Pa, Cav. 
Thomas J, Kenedy, private Co. A, 8th Pa. Cav. 
William Gamble, private, Co. D, 124th Pa. Vols.; re-enl, private, Co. H, 

20th Pa. Cav, 
Alexander Gotwaltz, private, Co. B, 1st Pa. Cav.; re-enl. private, Co, B, 
20th Pa. Cav. 
EnoH Shelley, private, Co. D, 200th Pa. Vols. 
John Morrow, private, Co, K, Art.; re-enl. corp,, Co. D, 2d Pa. Cav. 
Peter Scanlon, private, Co. C, 88th Pa. Vols. 
Clement J. Carr, sergt., Co. E, 11th Pa. Cav. 



294 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



John D. Bighter, private, Co. C, 88th Pa. Vole. 

John Wurphy, Corp., Co. G, 114th Fa. Vole. 

JeBse G. Cole, private, Co. C, IT'Jtli I'a. Vols,; re-enl. private, Co. C, 2d 

Pa. Art. 
George W. Frease, private, Co. D, 20lh Pa. Cav. ; re-enl. private, Co. T, 

iBt Pa. Cav. 
H. G. Kensie, private, XJ. S. Marine Corps. 
Michael Mangan, private, Co. F, 6th Vt. Vols. ; re-enl. scrgt,, Co. E, 14th 

Vt. Vols. 
Edward English, musician, 71st Pa. Vols. 
Charles Warren, 1st lieut., Co. C, 97th Pa. Vols. 
Thomas R. Murray, Corp., Co. B, llGth Pa Vols. 

William Euhy, private, Co. H, 23d Pa. Vols.; re-enl. private, Co. E, dArt. 
John Wild, private, Co. F, 'Jth Pa. Vols, 
Thomas Clinton, private, Co. B, — th N. J. Vols. 
Hanry B. Wertz, sergt., Co. F, S8th Pa. Vols. 
John Kiniby, private, Co. C, 116th Pa. Vols. 
James Fanner, private, Co. K, 4oth Pa. Vols. 
Samuel McCaiter, private, Co. F, .'ilst Pa. Vols. 
William E. Lewis, sergt, Co. I, 16th Pa. Cav. 
Rudolf Kirk, private, Co. G, 7th Pa. Cav. 
Charles Risley, private, Co. I, 23d N. J. Vols. 
Lewis Ross, private, U. S. Marine Corps. 
Jeremiah G. Hughes, private, Co. G, 28th Pa. A'ole. 
John Murray, sergt., Co. I, 9»th Pa. Vols. 
Edward F. Bates, private, Co. C, 8th Pa. Cav. 
Edward Cooper, private, Co. C, 107th Pa. Vols. 
George W. Berry, private, Co. B, 1st Batt. Independent Cav. 
John Robinson, private, Co. H, 99th Pa. Vols. 
Samuel Hallnian, corp. Co. K, 138th Pa. Vols. 
Malon A. D. McNoleby, private, Co. C, 7th Pa. Vols. 
AngustuB Fie, private, Co. H, 4th Pa. Vols. : re-enl. private, Co. H. 1.3th 

Pa. Cav. 
George W. Butter, private, Co. K, 13Sth Pa. Vols. 

Graham Post, No. 106, Department of Pennsyl- 
vania, G. A. R. (Pottstown, Pa.). — Graham Post was 
named in honor of two brothers, — Private Eli H. and 
Sergeant William H. Graham, who were members 
of Company A, Fifty-third Pennsylvania Regiment. 
The Graham brothers, who were from Warwick town- 
ship, Chester Co., enlisted as privates in August, 1861, 
in Company A, and remained together, occupying, 
the same tent, until that memorable Sunday morn- 
ing, June 1, 1862, at Fair Oaks, when, while fighting 
side by side in their first battle with the rebels, Eli 
fell pierced by a rebel bullet. The contest on that 
portion of the field was a close one, and the soldier, a 
member of the Georgia regiment, who fired the fatal 
shot was seen, and a moment later a missile from the 
gun of William, the remaining brother, made him 
bite the dust. Eli's body was afterward interred at 
that place by his sorrow-stricken brother and com- 
rades, he being the first soldier of Company A killed 
thus far during the war. His remains were afterward 
buried in the government cemetery on the battle- 
field, where they still rest. In writing to his parents 
about the sad affair William said: "Poor Eli is dead, 
and it is so lonesome without him, but it is God's will 
and we must submit." William was afterwards made 
corporal and then sergeant of the company. In De- 
cember, 1862, at Fredericksburg, he received a serious 
wound in the head while fighting in the streets of that 
city, and was in consequence removed to a hospital, 
from whence he procured a thirty days' furlough to 
visit his parents. About the 1st of January, 1864, 
with his company, he re-enlisted, and came home on 
veteran furlough. He was with his company in all 



the battles in which they participated, meeting with 
many narrow escapes, until June 3, 1864, at Cold 
Harbor, when, while in command of his company, he 
fell, being shot in the thigh by a minie-ball, dying 
in the field hospital a few hours after. The testimony 
of his comrades was that he was a brave and honor- 
able soldier and never shirked a duty. A younger 
brother, Daniel F. Graham, served as a private in 
Company F., Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Regiment 
(emergency men), during the rebel invasion in 1863. 

The first charter was granted to Graham Post, No. 
106, G. A. R., on the 25th day of February, 1868, by 
A. L. Pearson, Grand Commander, W. B. Cook, As- 
sistant Adjutant-General, dated at Pittsburg, Pa. 
Charter members, William M. Mintzer, Mark H. 
Richards, Horace A. Custer, George Scheetz, John 
Weaud, John C. Root, Henry Potts, Jr., George Rice, 
Dr. M. A. Withers, Daniel Auchenbach, Abner Evans, 
Jr., William E. Schuyler, Newton S. Kinzer, Levi J. 
Fritz, M. E. Richards, William M. Hobert. 

This organization was probably in existence for 
twelve years, when it was abandoned and the charter 
returned to headquarters. On April 10, 1880, applica- 
tion was made for another charter, which was granted 
with the following charter members: Samuel Yoder, 
John B. Boyer, Warren C. Missimer, S. E. Missimer, 
Jacob S. Charles, John Corbett, Henry E. Levengood, 
Isaac J. Decker, Samuel P. Bcrtolett, Mifflin A. Camp- 
bell, Wm. P. Bach, Jesse Deough, Daniel F. Graham, 
M. A. Withers, M.D., John Yergey, Jacob G. Endy, 
Wm. M. Mintzer, Rev. Geo. S. Broadbent, Henry 
Swoyer, William E. Schuyler, Elijah Dearolf, George 
L. Reifsnydei', Levi Miller, Hiram Iback, Thomas 
Knowles, Howard Kunkle, Rev. Daniel K. Kepner, 
Harrison Rigg, Hiram Jones, John B. Guest, James 
Henry, Isaac Hoyer, George W. Harner, M. M. Mis- 
simer, Abraham Dearolf, Horace A. Custer, John O. 
Leighter, Henry P. Davis, Charles Lachman, Thos. 
C. Steel, Samuel S. Daub, Samuel Fronheiser, John 
O. Burdan, Lewis R. Bland, Augustus B. Shirey. 

This charter was granted by Department Com- 
mander Chill O. Hazzard, J. M. Vanderslice, Assistant 
Adj utant-Gen eral . 

The post was active for a year, then weakened 
until its present Post Commander, D. S. B. Swavely, 
infused new life into the organization. In 1882 he 
rented a hall on his own account and collected the 
G. A. R. boys together. The room is well furnished 
and the post is prospering. The present membership 
is one hundred and fourteen comrades. 

Under the original charter the post was influential, 
and its members were active in procuring the erection 
of a monument in honor of their deceased comrades, 
dedicated July 4, 1879, and in securing a burial-lot 
in the cemetery near the town. 

Present officers, 1884: P. C, J. B. Swavely, M.D.; 
S.V. C, John B. Guest; J. V. G, Benj. F. Delcamp; 
Adjt, John A. Elliot; Q. M., Jacob G. Endy; Surg., 
S. B. Swavely, M.D.; Chap., John Corbett; O. D., 



THE UKAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. 



295 



Thos. C. Steel; O. G., Levi Miller; S. M., Adam 
Lessifr; Q,. M. S., John Yergy. 

Lieutenant John H. Fisher Post, No. 101, De- 
partment of Pennsylvania, G. A. R. (llatbuid', i'ii.), 
was organized April 28, 1884, by Thoirias J. Stewart, 
assistant adjutant-general. 

The post was named in honor of Lieutenant .Tohn 
H. Fisher, Company I, One Hundred and Thirty- 
eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, who was killed in 
the battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 18(i4, while gal- 
lantly leading his men in a eharge against a rebel 
battery. 

He was a son of the Eev. P. S. Fisher, an esteemed 
clerynian of the German Keformed denonunation of 
Sellersville, Bucks Co. Lieutenant Fisher was a 
bright, cultured, heroic patriot and military genius, 
and about twenty-one years of age when he was kilU-d. 

LIST 01" MEMBERS. 
JoiiatluKi T. Rurer, i-onimaiider, 31 niuntlis' st-rvirL' ; hvt. iiiaj. l'. S. V. ; 

aipt, Co. I, l:i8th Pu. Vols. 
Jonathan P. IreiU'U, senior vicc-conini.incier, :{4 iiioiitlis" M-rvif,- :iMjit.('o. 

K,13StIi Pa. Vols. 
James l.'hirk, jnnior vice-roninianiler, 21} months" service ; 2(1 lient Co. K. 

ISth Pa. t'av. 
Edward Sprogell, qnartermaster, 34 months' service ; Corp. Co. I, 13StIi Pa. 

Vols. 
II. C. Mclntosli, ailjntant, 18 montlis' service ; private Co. I. 213tli 

Pa. Vols. 
George II. Todd, chaplain, 9 months' service; Corp. Co. I., JTtli X. .1. 

Vols. 
Arthur D. Marklej', M.D., snrg., 12 months' tjervice ; asst. sing, hark 

" Release," U. S.N. 
Charles Craven, officer of the daj', .3.5 months' service ; private ( 'o. I, Ijsth 

Pa. Vols. 
Jesse O. Fitzgerald, otficer of the gnard, 34 months service ; private Co. 

C, i38th Pa. Vols. 
Kush Griffith, 35 months' service ; private Co. A, 1st N. J. Cav. 
Josejih ^1. Krewson, lu months" service; private Co. B, l.'>th N. .1. 

Vols. 
William H. .Mower, .W months' service ; Corp. Co. C, ."'3d I'a. Vols. 
George W. Emery, 3'.t months' service ; private Co. G, .'ith Pa. Cav. 
William Milli-r, 3'.) months' service ; private Co. L, .'ith I'a. Cav. 
William H. Watson, 34 months' service ; private Co. I, 13Sth Pa. Vols. 
George It. Palmer, 34 months' service ; sergt. Co. K, I38th Pa. Vols. 
Hiram BI. Puff, 34 months' service ; private Co. Iv, 1.3.Sth Ba. Vtils. 
Jesse Wagner, 34 months' service ; wagoner Co. C, 13Sth Pa. Vols. 
Edwin Twining, 35 months' service ; sergt. Co. .\. 1st X. J. Cav. 
William lt:ulli, 9 months' service ; private Co. H, H)4th Pa. Vols. 
Jacob Webb, 24 mouths' service ; private Go. 31, '2d Pa. 11. .\rt. 
David Firnuin, 12 months' service ; 1st Heut. Co. K, 174th Pa. Vols. 
Piei-son Jones, 34 months' service ; private Co. A, 82d Pa. Vols. 
Joseph W". Levis, 37 months' service ; private Co. A, 1st N. J. t'av. 
Benjamin Proport, 34 mouths' service ; private Co. I, lllth Pa. A'ols. 
WaiTeu W. Corson, 35 months' service; 2d lient. Co. K, l:Uli Pa. Cav. 
Lewis Pe/.e, 15 mouths' service ; private Co. K, ISOth Pa. Vols. 
Isaac K. Mann, 32 months' service ; private Co. K, lli4th Pa. Vols. 
Issachar Morgan, 9 months' service ; private Co. G, 91st Pa. Vols. 
Charles II. Fitzgerald, 34 mouths' service ; seri;t. Co. C, 13Sth Pa. Vols. 

Post meets the second and fourth Jlonday evenings 
of the month at Pluck's Hall, York Street, Hathoro'. 

Colonel Edwin Schall Post, No. 290, Depart- 
ment of Pennsylvania, 6. A. R. (Liinsdalc, l';i.). — 
This post was organized November 10, 1882, in honor 
of Colonel ScFiall, who fell at the battle of Cold 
Harbor on the 8rd day of June, 18G4, while gallantly 
leading the Fifty-first Regiment Pennsylvania Vet- 
eran Volunteers into action. It was inustcrel with 



eighteen charter members, from whom its tirst officers 
were elected, as follow.s : 

William Ensley, post commamler, Co. I, 13.sth Pa. Vols. 

Reese E. Lewis, senior vice-commander, Co. G, 82d Pa. Vols. 

Charles T. Miller, junior vice-commander, Co. F, 19Gth Pa. A'ols. 

H. L. Gerhart, adjutant, Co. F, 61sl Pa. Vols. 

George Hause, quartermaster, Co. H, 53d Pa. Vols. 

Charles Johnson, surgeon, Hth Pa. Cav. 

Charles Foy, chaplain, Co. .-V. 51st Pa. Vols. 

George M. Lnkeus, officer of the day. 

Abraham News, otticer of the gnard, 19SIh Pa. Vols. 

.Jacob Reed, sergeant-major, Co. F, 51st Pa. Vols. 

John Ford, quartermaster-sergeaut, Co. A, 3d Pa. Cav. 

Charles Bouvette, Co. C, 9. th Pa. Vols. 

Joseph Bowker, Co. E, 88th Pa. Vols. 

John Wagner, Co. A, Indiana Battei-y. 

John Diehl, Co. G, 3d Pa. Art. 

William Wolsrhuh, Co. F, 28tli Ohi.i Vols. 

Frank Strasser, Co. F, •29th N. V. Vols. 

Sanuiel White.l Co. G, 119tli Pa. V.ils. 

Jordan Cooper, Co. C, ln4tli Pa. Vols. 

Andrew Grodwohl, Co. G, 91st Pa. Vols. 

Howard Scarlette, (_'o. C, 2d Pa. Res. (_'orps. 

Henry Cash, Co. H; 1st N. J. Cav. 

William Ortncr, Co. II, 9(ith Pa. Vols. 

J. M. Boorse, Co. C, 179tli Mil. 

William Grosscup, Co. H, 28th I'a. Vols. 

William B. Woodward, C*). B, 57th Wisconsin Inf. 

Comad Schaffer, trans, to Co. D, .^id Pa. Vols. 

Ellison Stackhonse, Co. I, 1st I". S. Vol. Eng. 

Garrett Mattes, Co. F, ln5th Pa. \ols. 

Christopher Krnst, Co. E, 27th Pa. Vols. 

Christian L. Cook, Clj. F, ln4th Pa. \'ols. 

William H. Lukes, Co. C, 129th Pa. >'ols. 

John II. Carver, Co. C, 215th Pa. Vols. 

David Scott, Co. II, 54th Pa. \ols. 

Seth C. Smith, Co I, 138th Pa. Vols. 

Martin W. Wireman, Co. G, 179lh Pa. Vols. 

Present officers, 18.''!4: P. C, Reese E. Lewis; S. 
V. C, Chas. T. Miller; J. V. C, Henry Cash; Adjt., 
H. L. Gerhart; (J. .M., Goo. Hause; Surg., Chas. 
Johnson; Chap., Chas. Foy; O. D., .Vbni. News; 
"O. G., Wm. Grosscup ; S. M., Jacob Reed ; Q. M. S., 
Ellison Stackbous,'. 

Lady Attendants Upon Hospitals.— Immediately 
upon receipt of the news of the battle of Antietam a 
call was made in behalf of the wounded who needed 
nurses and supplies of food and raiment. Among 
the first to resiiond from Jlontgomery Count}' to the 
call were Mrs. Rachel P. Evans, of Bridgeport; Mrs. 
Alice H. Holstein, Mrs. Anna Carver and Miss Sal- 
lie L. Roberts, of Upper Merion ; Miss S.irah Priest, 
of Bridgeport ; and Miss Lizzie J. Brower, of Norris- 
town. These patriotic and humane ladies freely gave 
their services to the sick and wounded men who fell 
in battle or were stricken with disease resulting from 
exhaustion and exposure. Many of the men of the 
Fifty-first Pennsylvania Volunteers received atten- 
tion from the ladies named, who remained on the 
field of battle and near Sharpslnirg for some two 
weeks. A number of the men of the One Hundred 
and Twenty-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers were 
also cared for by them at or near the village named. 

Mrs. Anna M. Holstein, who followed the example 
of these six pioneer and heroic women to fields of 
human horror, and who, with her husband, Major 



^ The first eighteen were the charter members. 



296 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



William H. Holstein, rciuaiiioil in this sacrificial ser- 
vice until the close of the war, iu 1865, thus refers to 
her sister co-workers iu her " Three Years in Field 
Hospital :" "From our midst six women felt called 
upon to oticr their services for a few weeks to nurse 
the wounded. Though strongly urged to make one 
of their numher, I declined. The idea of seeing and 
waiting upon wounded men was one from which I 
shrank instinctively. But when my husband re- 
turned from the battle-field of Autietara, whither the 
six women had gone, with the sad story that men 
were dying for iood, home comforts and home care, 
lying by the road-side, in barns, sheds and out-houses, 
I hesitated no longer." Although not among the 
first to enter this truly good service to the country 
and its defenders, once engaged in it, a conviction of 
duty detained l>oth herself and husband in field and 
hospital duty until the conllict ended. Mr. and Mrs. 
Holstein followed the .\nny of the Potomac in its 
deadly and discouraging campaigns in Virginia, at 
Fredericksburg and 
Chancellorsville, at 
Gettysburg, accom- 
panying it in its bat- 
tles of the Wilder- 
ness, Spottsylvania, 
South Anna, CoM 
Harbor, south of the 
James River, Peters 
burg. Five Forks, 
and at the base oT 
supplies, with acre 
upon acre of field 
hospitals, when the 
glad news of the 
surrender of General 
Lee at Appomat- 
tox wa.s flashed over 
the wires to City 
Point, and from tlience 
North. 

Among the first six who are above mentioned, Mrs. 
Evans became very ill from over-work and exposure, 
and suffered long and dangerous illness. Her place 
was promptly taken by her sister, Miss Lizzie 
Brower, who remained with Mr. and Mrs. Hol- 
stein for the greater part of the three following 
years. 

We may here say that among all the hundreds 
of self-sacrificing women who gave their time and 
services to the government during the long years 
of that cruel war, none have received the slightest 
practical recognition from the government they up- 
held and contributed so materially to save in its day 
of great peril. 

The Women's Loyal League of Montgomery 
County. — The invasion ol' Pennsylvania in the sum- 
mer of 1863 aroused the loyal blood of the women as 
well as the men of the State. The great battle of 




GRIOAT SANITARY FAIR BUILDINGS, PHIl.A., 1864. 



Gettysburg had been fought ; the terrible loss of life, 
the waste and desolation and human anguish which 
resulted quickened the sense of patriotism felt by all 
those in sympathy with the Union army and the 
success of the national administration in its efforts to 
crush out the Rebellion. 

From the commencement of hostilities to the close 
of the conflict the loyal women of Montgomery 
County were devoted to those who volunteered in de- 
fense of the country. 

The world will possibly never know of all the 
friendly acts toward the men in the field and their 
families at home bestowed by the C'hristian and 
benevolent women of the country; to them is emi- 
nently due the liberal contributions to the Sanitary 
Commission from this vicinity, and from which 
the sick and wounded on the field and in lios- 
jiitals received needed supplies of food and raiment 
through all the long and weary years of the strug- 
gle. 

Many of these good 
women felt that this 
was not enough, but 
that tlieir feelings 
should find public 
expression, and that 
their influence also 
should be unitedly 
exerted in sustain- 
ing a strong pub- 
lic sentiment insup- 
I'ort of the govern- 
ment. To tliis end, 
in July, 1863, they 
formed a branch in 
the Loyal League, 
and published a de- 
claration of pur- 
poses, viz. : 



to a loyal and rejoicing 



"PKI'LAEATIONOF TURPOSES IX OliGA.NIZIXG TMK WOMKN'S 
1,0V AT, l.KAOSK OK JIONTdOMKKY COrXTV. 

'Mlelii-\ing that the woiiit'U have it in their power to e.\ert a very 
[ii-eat intlueiice in tlie destiny of this Nation, ami being satisfied that 
more fan be aermnplished by nniteii action tlian individual effort, we 
deem it expedient to form a Society to be called the Loyal League of the 
Women of Montgomery County. 

" HeBolceil, That we will use every means in our power to aid in sup- 
porting the Government in it--* s'riiggles for existence, by the develop- 
ments of love for the Union and respect for the constituted authorities, 
and to this end we will constantly labor for the uprooting of all treason- 
able sentiments and the discouragement of those wln> ai-e endeavoring to 
foster them. 

" Hmdeed, That our efforts for the comfort and benefit of the soldiers 
in the field and in the hosiiitnl shall be nncea..<iug, and that while en- 
deavoring to soften the hardships they mvist endure, we will turn to them 
only the cheerful and hopeful side of everything, and we will strive to 
have brave hearts at home, in order that their hands may be strength- 
ened, remembering we may yield up a few superfluities for the sake of 
those who have preserved to ns our homes and other comforts. 

" linmlred, That we will pledge om-selves to unitt? our best influence, 
not only toward the brave in the field, but to exert every kindly feeling 
toward tlie families at home ; to build up their faith in the tii.verinuent, 
and to give them every encourageuient which woman only can give. 

" Remli'fil, We will, while redoubling every effort, rely fii-st ui«in oin' 



IIEDEMPTIONERS. 



297 



only streiigtl), and be earuust aud untiring in pmycr ti> (Jod for the 
successor our cause, and the triumjih of Truth, Justicp ;inil Lilterty. We 
aslc all to unite with us by signing their names, and contributing a small 
sum to maintain and cany out the objects of the League. 

"Mrs. Jonathan Roberts. 

rresidenf. 
'* Mrs. Robert Iredell, 

'* }'ice-Presiiltiit. 
'• Miss .\nna C. Yerkes, 

*^ Secretary. 
"?lBs. L. H. .Tones, 

" Treasitrer. 
•'Mrs. C. Evans, Bridgeport. 
"Mrs. B. B. Hughes, Bridgeport. 
"5lRS. C. P. Harry, Norristown. 
" Exectttu-e CommWee.^* 

The members held their stated meetings in the 
rooms on the second Hoor of the old Washing-ton Inn. 
They were rented by the gentlemen belonging to the 
" Loyal League" (not, however, the one organized by 
the ladies), aud usually under the care of a janitor, 
and open at all times, especially during active cam- 
paign periods. It was general headipiarters for all infor- 
mation touching army affairs. Files of newspapers were 
here kept, and general and special correspondence cen- 
tred in the ''League Rooms." It wa.s a place of groat ; 
jiublic interest immediately after battles fought, as i 
the people from all parts of the county would visit I 
there to have the news fi'om the front and obtain 
tidings from their personal friends in the different 
;irmies. In those days " war corrcs])ondents " flashed 
along the wires the long list of '' killed, wounded and 
captured" always sure to follow a movement of the 
"Army of the Potomac," Sherman in the Southwest, 
or Sheridan in the Valley. Bright faces were often 
saddened, and trembling hearts here first heard news 
of victory or defeat, and with it the lo.ss of those near 
and dear to them. The organization exercised a 
healthful influence during its existence, and dissolved 
by mutual consent upon the termination of the war. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

REDEMPTIONERS — SLAVERY— THE UNDERGROUND 
R.\rLRO.AD. 

Redemptioners.' — From the early settlement of 
Pennsylvania a considerable business was carried 
on, chiefly by ship-owners and captains of vessels, 
in importing from Europe persons who were de- 
sirous of emigrating to this country, and were 
too poor to pay for their passage or have a com- 
])etency for an outfit in so long a journey. With 
this class, who generally came from England, Ire- 
land and Gernuiny, arrangements would l)e made, 
through agents, to contract and bring them over, 
furnish them with food during the voyage and per- 
haps some other necessaries, on condition that on 

1 By Wm. J. Buck. 



their arrival in an American port they have the 
right to sell their time for a certain number of 
years, to repay the cost thus necessarily incurred, 
and be of some profit to those engaged in such 
ventures. With the growth and settlement of the 
country this business greatly increased, through 
the demand for laborers, and, perhaps, just before 
the Revolution attained its greatest height. How- 
ever, on the return of peace it did not slacken 
much, even to the commencement of this century. 
Such a matter, of course, would also receive some 
attention from the government, and the special 
legislation thereon, tipon which as yet but little has 
been written, will demand a brief consideration. 

In the Charter of Laws agreed u|>on in England, 
and confirmed the 25th of April, 1G82, by Penn, 
we find this mention in the twenty-third article : 
" That there shall be a register for all servants, 
where their name, time, wages and days of payment 
shall be registered." In the laws prepared on the 5th 
of the following month the proprietary wisely re- 
marks: "That all children within this Province of 
the age of twelve years shall be taught some useful 
trade or skill, to the end that none may be idle, 
but the Poor may work to live, and the Rich, 
if they have become poor, may not want. That 
servants be not kept longer than their time, and 
.such as are careful be both justly and kindly used 
in their service, and i)ut in fitting equipage at 
the expiration thereof, according to cibstom." 
Penn, for the justice here displayed, certainly de- 
serves credit. '' The Great Law," passed at Ches- 
ter, December 7th, contains this clause : " That no 
master or mistress or freeman of this Province, or 
territories thereunto belonging, shall jircsume to sell 
or dispose of any servant or servants into any other 
province, that is or are bound to serve his or her 
time in the Province of Pennsylvania or territories 
thereof, under the penalty that every person so 
offending shall for every such servant so sold forfeit 
ten pounds, to be levied by way of distress and 
sale of their goods." Strange to say, the aforesaid 
excellent enactments, on William and Mary reach- 
ing the throne, were abrogated in 1693. In the 
beginning of 1683 "A bill to hinder the selling ot 
servants into other Provinces, and to prevent runa- 
ways," was passed by the Council. On the 29th ot 
August the Governor, William Penn, " put ye ques- 
tion whether a proclamation were not convenient 
to be put forth to impower Masters to chastise 
their servants, and to punish any that shall in- 
veigle any servant to goe from his master. They 
unanimously agreed and ordered it accordingly."^ 

The Assembly passed an "Act for the better 
Regulation of Servants in this Province and Terri- 
tories" in 1700, which provided 

" That no servant shall be sold or disposed of to any Person residing in 

- Cuhtiiiiil Records, i. p. Vfl. 



298 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY. 



any other Province or Government, without the consent of the Siiid Ser- 
vant and two Justices of tlie Peace of the County wherein he lives or is 
sold, under the penalty of Ten Pounds, to be forfeited by the seller. That 
no Servant shall be assigned over to another person by any in this Prov- 
ince or Territories, but in the Presence of one Justice of the Peace of 
the county, under penalty of Ten Pounds. And whoever shall apl)re. 
hend or take upany ruTiaway servant, and shall bring him or her to the 
Sheriff of the I'uunty. such person shall, for every such servant, if taken 
up within ten miles of the .Servant's abode, receive Ten Shillings, and if 
ten miles or upwards. Twenty Shillings reward of the said Slieritf, who 
is hereby required to pay the same, and forthwith to send notice to the 
Master or owner, of whom he shall receive Five Shillings, Prison fees, 
upon delivery of the said Servant, together with all disbursements and 
reasonable charges for and upon the same. Whosoever shall conceal any 
Servant of this Province or Territories, or entertain him or her twenty- 
four hours without his or her master's or Owner's knowledge and consent, 
and shall not within the said time give an account to some Justice of the 
Peace of the County, every such person shall foifeit Twenty Shilling-s for 
every Day's concealment. That every Servant who shall faithfully 
serve four years or more shall, at the e,xpiration of their servitude, 
have a discliai-ge, and shall be duly clothed with two complete suits of 
apparel, whereof one shall be new, and shall also be furnished with one 
new axe, one gi-nbbing-hoe and one weeding-hoe, at the charge of their 
Master or Mistress." 

This latter clause was abolished in 1771. The object 
of this undoubtedly was to encourage the removal of 
timber, that the land might sooner come into cultiva- 
tion. An act was passed May 10, 1729, "laying a 
duty on foreigners and Irish servants imported into 
this province." 

Masters of servants were regarded for the time be- 
ing as holding property subject to taxation. The 
rate in 1776 was fixed at one and a half pounds each, 
which was increased in 1786 to ten pounds. The 
State passed an act March 12, 1778, making com- 
pensation to those masters whose servants or appren- 
tices had enlisted in the army. Among those that 
were taxed in the county ibr holding servants in 
1776, we find the names of John Bull, Esq., of Norri- 
ton, two servants; Rfibert Bhannon, one; Henry 
Pawling, .Tr., two ; Jacob Miller, Cheltenham, three ; 
Jacob Leach, two. In nS.") there were eighty ser- 
vants taxed within the present limits of the county. 
The highest number was in Abington, 18 ; Provi- 
dence, 10 ; Cheltenham, 7 ; Upper Merion,7 ; Douglas, 
5; Horsham, 5; Whitemarsh, .'); Moreland, 4; Mont- 
gomery, 4; and Lower Merion, 3. None were re- 
turned as being in the remaining townshijis. That 
they were diminishing at this time, like negro .slaves, 
can be observed in comparing e.irlier lists. "The 
labor of the plantations," says the " Historical Re- 
view" (attrilnited to Frankin, 1750), " is performed 
chiefly by indented servants, brought from Great 
Britain, Ireland and (terinany; because of the high 
price it bears, can it lie performed any other way. 
These servants are purchased of the captains who 
bring them ; the purchaser, liy a positive law, has a 
legal property in them, and, like other chattels, they 
are liable to be seized for debts." 

Servants from the Palatinate were disposed of in 1722 
at ten pounds each for five years' servitude. Prior to 
1727 mo.st of the (icrmans who immigrated were per- 
sons of means. In the years 1728, 1729, 1737, 1741, 
17.'iO and 17.t1 gretit numbers were brought hither. A 



shipper advertises in 1728, " Lately imported, and to 
be sold cheap, a parcel of likely men and women ser- 
vants." On the other hand, it happened sometimes 
that those that had been well-to-do in the Fatherland, 
in their desire to immigrate, were taken advantage of 
in various ways by unprincipled men, their chests 
rifled or their property taken or put on board the 
wrong vessels, and in such cases, from their destitute 
condition on arriving in America, would be compelled 
to sell themselves as redemptioners to meet their ex- 
penses. It was also the practice for over half a cen- 
tury that those that had the means should be re- 
,sponsible, and pay the passage of their poorer com- 
panions, and thus reduce them to a common level of 
dependency or beggary. 

They brought but little property with them, says 
Dr. Rush, in his account of the "Manners of the Ger-. 
man Inhabitants in Pennsylvania," written in 1789. 
A few pieces of silver coin, a chest with clothes, a 
Bible, a prayer or hymn-book, constituted the chief 
property of most of them. Many bound themselves, 
or one or more of their children, to masters after their 
arrival for four, five or seven years to pay for their 
passages across the ocean. The usual terms of sale 
depended somewhat on the age, strength, health and 
ability of the jiersons sold. Boys and girls had to 
serve from five to ten years, or until they attained the 
age of twenty-one. Many parents were necessitated, 
as they had been wont to do at home with their cat- 
tle, to sell their own children. To be released from the 
ship the children had in some cases to assume the 
pa.ssage-money with their parents. Children under 
five years could not be sold. They were disiiosed of 
gratuitously to such persons as agreed to raise them, 
to be free on attaining the age of twentn'-one. It was 
an humble position that redemptioners occupied. 
" Yet from this class," says Gordon, in his "History 
of Pennsylvania," "have sprung some of the m st re- 
spectable and wealthy inhabitants of the State." 

Robert Sutcliff, an English Friend, in his "Travels 
in America," thus speaks of the redemptioners in a 
visit he paid, in the summer of 1804, to his relative, 
William Bakewell, who was at the time residing on a 
farm of three hundred acres in Lower Providence 
township, opposite Valley Forge, — 

" I noticed that tlu' two female servants emplityed in the t!^mil^■ had, 
both of them, been lately hired from on board a vessel lying io the l)ela- 
ware, and which had recently arrived from .Vnisterdam with several 
hundred Germans, men. women and children, of that description of peo- 
ple called in .\merica redemptionei-s. They are the people in low circum- 
stiinces, who, being desirous of settling in .\merica, and not having money 
to pay their passjige, agree with the American captains of vessels to be 
taken over on condition of hiring for a term of yeai-s, on their ai-rival in 
America, to nia.sters who are willing to advance ten or twelve guineas to 
be deducted out of their wages ; and it not inifreqnently happens that 
they agree to serve two or three or four yeare for nu*at and clothes 
only, on condition of their paasage being paid. Yet, as wages in the 
general are rather high in .\menca, it will easily be supposed that an 
jictive and clever person conversant in some business will make nnich 
better terms on landing than the old or the infirm, or those who come 
over ignorant of any business. I noticed many families, p irticularly in 
I'ennsylvania, of great respectability both in our Society and amongst 



KEDEMPTIONERS. 



299 



others, who liai] themselves come over to this country us redemptiim- 
ej-s. or were chihlren of such. And it is remarkable that the German 
residents in this cuuntr.v have a character for greater industry and sta- 
bility tlian lliose tif any otlier nation.'' 

We have here the admission that even among 
Quakers some had come over as redemptioners to 
near the beginning oftliis century. 

Redemptioners l'rei|uently ran away from their mas- 
ters, and advertisements appeared in tlie newsjiapers 
of this period of rewards being otlered for their arrest 
and recovery. A sample is here given of three who 
were residents of the county. Mathia.s Holstein.of 
Upper Merion, gives notice, in the Pennsi/lvania 
Gazette of .Tannary 29, 17o0-.51, that " an English 
servant man, named Cliristopher Major, about thirty 
years of age, tall and slender' and pock-marked, run 
away on Saturday, the 20th instant. Whoever takes 
up and secines said servant, so as his master may have 
him again, shall have forty shillings reward and 
reasonable charges paid. He had a pass from his 
master to go to Philadeliihia on the 19th instant, to 
return the 2(jth, which it is supposed he altered." 
Jacob Paul, of Abington township, offers, in the 
Evening Post of February 15th, 1776, — 

" Tiiree dollai:s reward. — Ran awa.v on the 28th of JanualT, 177t>, Ironi 
the subscriber, an apprentice lad, hound, by the name of Robert Mans, 
of a slender make, abonf nineteen yeai-s of age, hear five feet six inches 
high, and whitish liair. He had on, and took with him, one home-made 
light-colored cotuitry I'oatce linetfwith striped linsey, an upper .jacket, a 
pair of buckskin breeclicH, two li une-made shirts, two good paii'-* of yarn 
hose, of a dark mixed color, one pair of strong shoes and a sniall-rinnned 
hat, made at (.ierniantown. Whoever takes np the siliil apprentice and 
secures him in jail, so that his miwter gets him again, .shall have tlie 
above reward and reasonjiljle charges." 

William Stroud, keeper of the pri.so'.i at Xorris- 
town, has this advertisemcit in the PeiiHsi/tuania 
Packet, under date ofO/tober 7, 1789, — 

" Was committed to the goal of Montgomerv County, a certain George 
Sharpe, who says he is a servant to Tatrick Story, in Sus-sex County, 
State of New Jersey. His master is desired to take him away in three 
weeks from this elate, or he will be sold for his fe^s." " 

The aforesaid advertisements, from tlie varied in- 
formation furnished, are admirably calculated to give 
us an insight into the system of servitude as it for- 
merly jirevailed here, fully confirming the harshness of 
the act passed in 1700, and was still practically en- 
forced, though almost a century had passed away 
since its adoption. Eespecting .Jacob Paul, we know 
from the assessor's list of said year that he was the 
owner of a farm of two hundred and eighty-eight 
acres, kept at least two grown negro slaves, seven 
horses, seven cattle, and a riding-chair. It may 
therefore be possible from the system that prevailed, 
that the said lad of nineteen years of age was forced 
to live and be treated on a level with those slaves. 
As passes were required to go abroad, we see here 
how easy it wiisto arrest such on mere suspicion, and 
if no owner came, to sell them for charges. Through 
brutal treatment the round might be kept up, and 
thus eud at least his best days in a degrading state 
of bondage. We find tliat though the system was 



diminishing, German redemptioners are mentioned 
in our statutes in 1817 and 1818. A law was only 
passed February 8, 1819, " that no female shall be ar- 
rested or imprisoned for or by reason of any debt con- 
tracted after the passage of this act." With the final 
abolition for the imprisonmentof debts the institution 
had necessarily to die out without any special enact- 
ment or repeal, so slow has ever been the advance- 
ment and regard for ])opular rights, even in this great 
commonwealth and enlightened age. 

In connection with this subject, interesting stories 
have been told that border on romance. For the fol- 
lowing narrative we are indebted to a descendant, the 
family ranking now among the most respectable in 
Lower Salford. George Heckler was a native ot' 
Lower Alsace, on the Rhine, where he was born in 
1731). At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to 
learn the tailoring trade, and at eighteen became free 
from his master, when he was compelled to go on his 
" wanderscraft " for three years as a journeyman ere he 
could be permitted to set up for himself. This deter- 
mined him to flee to America, and he arrived in Phila- 
delphia, September 30, 17.54, in the ship "Neptune" 
from Rotterdam. Such was his poverty that he was 
unable to meet his expenses, and in consequence was 
sold by the captain to serve three years as a redemp- 
tioner. His purchaser was John Steiner, a German 
farmer, residing in Coventry township, Chester Co., 
opposite the present Ijorongh of Pottstown. The sum 
paid was equivalent to forty-eight dollars of our 
currency. After the ex|)iration of his service he ob- 
tained employment in Lower Salford, where he mar- 
ried Christiana, daughter of Peter Freed, a substantial 
yeoman. Such was his industry and frugality that in 
1785 he purchased his father-in-law's tarm of two 
hundred and forty-three acres for two thousand 
pounds. His surplus products he generally conveyed 
to the Philadelphia market on horseback. He sur- 
vived until August 28, 181(), at his death being eighty 
years of age, leaving an estate valued between thirty 
and forty thousand dollars. 

The late Joseph J. Lewis, of West Chester, in 1828,. 
wrote an amusing account of the " soul-drivers," a 
name given to those men that drove redemi)tioners 
through the country with a view of disposing of them to 
farmers. They generally purchased them, in lots of 
fifty or more, from captains of ships, to whom the 
redemptioners were liound for three or more years of 
sei'vice in payment of their passage. For awhile the 
trade was brisk, liut at last was relinquished liy reason of 
the numbers that ran away i'rom those dealers or dri- 
vers. These ignominious gangs disappeared about the 
year 1785. A story is told how one of these w.-s tricked 
by one of his men. The fellow, by a little manage- 
ment, contrived to be the last of the flock that re- 
mained unsold, and traveled about with liis master. 
One night they lodged at a tavern, and in the morn- 
ing the young fellow, who was an Irishman, rese early,. 
sold his master to the landlord, pocketed the money. 



300 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



-and hastened oft'. Previously, however, to his going, 
lie took the precaution to tell the purchaser that 
though tolerably clever in other respects, he was 
rather saucy and a little given to lying ; that he had 
even been presumptuous enough at times to endeavor 
to pass for master, and that he might possibly repre- 
sent himself as such to him. 

Though the system of servitude possessed its ad- 
vantages, especially to a people residing in a new and 
unsettled country, it had its attending drawbacks. 
It was a relic that originated in the long past of 
Europe, and, like slavery, was continued and enforced 
on the colonies. That it was also the means of bring- 
ing here numbers of vagrants, paupers and convicts 
there is no doubt. The evils of this system Dr. Franklin, 
in his paper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, of May 9, 1751, 
sarcastically attacked, where he says, that in return, 
as a proper exchange, we should furnish rattlesnakes, 
to be distributed through the parks and haunts of the 
British courtiers and otiice-holders, especially for the 
ministers, nobility and members of Parliament. With 
servitude has now gone its kindred evil, the inden- 
tured apprentice system. The laws, as well as the 
sentiment that upheld these, show% from the power 
conferred, that in the hands of the cruel, arbitrary, 
oppressive and avaricious they must have been often 
abused, to the deterioration of the morals of both 
parties. 

Slavery.' — The early history of slavery as it ex- 
isted within the limits of Montgomery County lias 
perhaps not heretofore been treated. It is a sub- 
ject now so at variance with existing ideas that 
like servitude, it becomes only the more interesting 
from the diversity it jjresents in denoting the changes 
going on in our social and domestic life. There is 
no question, but as established in Pennsylvania, it was 
of a rather milder character than that of the other 
colonies. It was a forced institution, continued and 
upheld by the British government as long as they 
possessed the authority, which an eight years' war 
and independence only checked. The blood shed at 
Brandy wine, at Germantown, and the suffering at 
Valley Forge was also for the benefit of the African, 
and for which he should also be grateful, for even 
Ijefore the return of peace Pennsylvania had made 
provisions for his emancipation. 

Judging from the legislation here on slavery, the im- 
portation of negroes must have commenced soon after 
the arrival of Penn. In the famous jirotest from the 
Oermans at Germantown, the 18th of Second Month, 
1688, to their fellow -members of the Society of 
Friends, they say, — 

"Here is liberty of cunscience, wliich is riglit and reasonable, here 
ought to be likewise liberty nf tlie Itoily, cvcept of evil-(loen5, wliicli is 
another case. But to hriii^ men liitlier, or to rob or sell tlieni against 
tlieir will, we stAiul against. In Kui-ope there are many oppressed for 
conscience sake ; ant! Iiere arc tliose oppressed which are of a black color. 
Ah I do consider well tliis thing, wlio do it, if you would he done in tWs 



1 By Wm. .1, Buck. 



manner? and if done according to Cliristianity. Thi.s makes an ill report 
in ttiose countries of Knrope that the Quakers do here handle men as they 
tliero handle the cattle, and for that reason have no inclination to come 
hitlier. -\nd who shall maintain this your cause, or plead for it? Truly 
we cannot do so, except you shall inform us better hereof, that Chris- 
tians have liberty to practice these things. W^e who profess that it is not 
lawful to steal, must likewise .avoid to purchase such things as are stolen, 
but rather stop this robbing and stealing, if possible, llave not those 
negroes as much right to fight for their freedom as you may have to 
keep them slaves? We desire and require you hereby lovingly that you 
may inform us herein that Christians have such a liberty to do, and 
satisfy likewise our good friends and acquaintances in our native country, 
to whom it is a terror or fearful thing that men should be treated so in 
Pennsylvania." 

From the importance of this document and the 
proceedings connected therewith, we regret from its 
length in not giving the whole. Suffice it to say that 
it was duly signed and transmitted to the Monthly 
Meeting, from thence assigned to the Quarterly 
Meeting at Philadelphia, and lastly to the Y'early 
Meeting held at Burlington, the 7th of Fifth Month, 
KiSS, with this result on their minutes : 

*' .\ Paper being here presented by some German Friends, concerning 
the lawfulness and unlawfulness of buying and keeping Negroes, It was 
adjmlged not to be so proper for this Meeting to give a Positive Judgment 
in the Case, it having so General a Relation to many other Parts, and 
tiierelore at present they forbear it." 

We see here in this evasive reply the prevailing 
sentiment of the English element in its favor. The 
moral right to uphold and countenance the institu- 
tion by Friends was the question, and to whom for 
this purpose it was alone directed. This effort at early 
abolition was made but little over five years after 
Penn's lauding, and shows that slavery must have been 
tilready pretty well established to have thus claimed 
attention, as it existed among a body that at this time 
constituted a majority of the popuhition. The Ger- 
mans, however, to their credit, put their theory into 
practice, and forbore in any manner to countenance 
slavery, and this result alone saved us from pos- 
sessing a large negro population like in all of the 
neighl)oring colonies. 

Reference has been made to early legislation on 
this subject, a matter that has hitherto been too much 
overlooked. We thus find, from the proceedings of 
Council held July 11, 1693, that 

" L'pon the request of some of (he meinbere, thut an order niadf by the 
Court of Quarter Sessions for the Countie of Phihidelphia, tlie 4th in- 
stant, procyeiling upon a presentment of the Grand .Miry against the 
tunuiltuous gatherings of the negroes of the towne of Pliihulelphia, on 
the fii-st days of the wceke, ordering the ConstaWes of I'hiladelphiii, or 
jinio other person wluitsoever, to have power to take up negruos, male or 
female, whom thoy should find gadding abroad on the tiret dayes of the 
week, without a tickett from their Master or Mistress, or not in their 
company, or to carry them to goale, there to remain that night, and that 
witlmut meat or drink, and to cause tlieni to be publicly whi])t next 
morning with thirty-nine lashes, well laid on, on their bare backs, for 
which their said Master or Mistress should pay tifteen pence to the 
whipper att his deliverie of y'" to y Master or Mistress, and that tlie 
Slid order should be Confirmed by the Lieut. -Governor [Markham] and 
Oonncill. The Lieut. -Governor and Councill, looking upon the sjiid pre- 
sentment to proceed upon good grounds, and the onh^r of Court to be 
reasonable and for the benefit of the towne of I'biladelitbia, and that it 
will be a means to prevent furtlier miscliiefs that miglit ensue upon such 
disorders of negroes, doe ratifie and confirme the sanu", and all pei-sons 
are required to putt the sd order in execution." 



SLAVEKY. 



301 



Au act was passed in 1705 " for the trial and 
punishment of Negroes." It inflicted lashes for 
petty offences and death for crimes of magnitude. 
They were not allowed to carry a gun without license, 
or to be whipped, if they did, twenty-one lashes, nor to 
meet above four together, le.3t they might form cabals 
and riots. A petition was sent to the assembly 4th of 
Twelfth Month, 1706-7, "from several freeman inhab- 
itants of the city of Pliiladelphia, complaining of the 
want of employment and lowness of wages, occasioned 
by tlie number of Negroes belonging to some of the 
inhabitants of the said city and others, who, being 
hired out to work by the day, take away the work of 
the Petitioners, to their great discouragement, and 
praying that provisions for restraint of so many 
Negroes as are at present employed be made by the 
House, was read, and ordered to be read again." 

A spint was now being aroused from the laboring 
or common people that the fiirther importation of 
negroes be checked by increased duties and some 
other restrictions. The first act was passed in 1705, 
another in 1710, and again in*1715, all of which the 
British government disallowed. In 1708 a committee 
of the House of Commons reported that the trade 
was " important and ought to be free," and again in 
1711, " that the plantations ought to be supplied with 
negroes at reasonable rates." Good Queen Anne, who 
abrogated the act of 1710 prohibiting the importation 
of slaves into the province, three years latter congrat- 
ulated Parliament in having secured for the nation a 
new' market for slaves in the .Spanisli dominions. So 
great, in fact, was the importance attached by the 
home government to this sinful commerce that an 
English merchant, in 1745, published a political 
treatise, entitled " The African Slave Trade the Great 
Pillar and Supjwrt of the British Plantation Trade in 
America." 

Unfortunately, to the great encouragement of the 
traffic, the British colonists here would purchase them, 
and we cannot find that any particular or active 
efforts were made here to discontinue this by any 
religious denomination down almost to the Revolu- 
tion, and was then only brouglit about from the 
excitement attending the passage of the Stamp Act, 
when the questions of political liberty and the rights 
of man arose and were being violently agitated and 
foreboded revolution. The Society of Friends, en- 
couraged by this feeling, no doubt, now forbade its 
members any further purchasing or holding of slaves, 
under penalty of disownment. We introduce the 
subject here in this connection from the powerful 
influence that the Society had so long here maintained, 
down at least to the opening of the French and Indian 
war, in 1755, w^hen the home government forced their 
retirement from political positions, and were conse- 
quently hereafter not no accfiuntable for subsequent 
proceedings. Peter Kalm, in his "Travels" in 1748 
—ill, thus expresses himself on the subject: 

" Fomierly tbe Negroes were brought over from Africa, and bought 



by almost eveiy one who could aftord it. The Quakers alone scrupled 
to have slaves ; but they are no longer so nice, and they have as many 
Negroes as tbe other people. However, many cannot conquer the 
idea of its being contrary to the laws of Christianity to keep slaves. 
There are likewise several free Negroes in town, who have been lucky 
enough to get a very zealous Quaker for their master, who gave theui 
their liberty after they bad faithfully served hijn for some time,'' 

Among those early advocates for the abolition of 
slavery residing in our county can be mentioned the 
eccentric Benjamin Lay, of Abington, who wrote a 
book against its evils, printed by Franklin in 1737, 
being a 32mo. of 280 pages, wherein he calls " all 
slave-keepers tliat keep the innocent in bondage, 
apostates. A practice so gross and hurtful to religion, 
and destructive to government, beyond what words 
can set forth, and yet lived in by ministers and magis- 
trates in America. Written for a general service, by 
him that sincerely desires the present and eternal wel- 
fare and happiness of all uwnkind." He reflects on 
the Society for holding slaves, and says, " The best and 
only way for Friends or others that now have slaves 
is to discharge themselves of them." He uses rather 
coarse language, and complains of his forcible ejections 
for speaking on the subject in their meetings. He 
also introduces personal allusions concerning its lead- 
ing and influential slave-holding members. 

In the Friends' Miscellany (vol ix.), edited by John 
and Isaac Comly, we find this extract respecting Ab- 
ington Meeting :' 

*' The concern of Friends on the subject of slavery, frequently referred 
to in the minutes ; conmiittees were appointed to visit such members as 
held slaves, or were concerned in buying or selling them. In 1769 report 
was made that all such ha*i been visited, and there aitpeared a dispo- 
sition prevailing in divers to set their slaves free at a suitable tinie. In 
17713 it is noted that the labors of Friends appeared to be well treated in 
most instances. Tbe next year two slaves are reported to have been 
manumitted by Jonathan Clayton. Several other cases of manumis- 
sion are afterwards noted. Selling slaves at this time was considered a 
disuwuable oftense, and against the holding them Friends earnestly 
remonstrated, with great patience and pei-severence, and at length 
those members who continued obstinate in refusing to set their slaves 
free were disowned. It is much to tbe credit of Abington Monthly 
Meeting that but few cases of this character occurred within its limits.'* 

We give these statements to remove an erroneous 
opinion, that the Friends as a body had from an early 
period resisted the introduction of slaves, and had 
even disowned members therefor. As to the latter, 
it was uotdone until a few years previous to the passage 
of the emancipation law. 

Among the evils attending slavery, it was not the 
African alone that was the sufferer. The Briton, 
worse than the Spaniard, enslaved the native Indians 
centuries later, aud the long existing period of en- 
lightenment did not avail. In the records of the past 
it is no unusual thing to find mention even here in 
Pennsylvania of Indian slaves. In the bill of sale, 
still existing, of the personal eflfects of Sir William 
Keith on his Horsham estate, to Dr. Thomas Grteme 
and Thomas Sober, May 21, 172f), seventeen slaves 
are mentioned,-ten males and seven fema!e.s,-of which 
ten were adults. One of the number is stated to be 
an Indian called Jane, with a son, wife of one of tliose 
negroes. However, an act had been passed in 1712 to 



302 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



prevent the importing and selling of negroes or Indi- 
ans within the province, which the home goverumeut 
also annulled. Thomas Mayberry, a Friend, shortly 
after 178lt erected a forge on the Perkioraen Creek, at 
the present borough of Green Lane, which was chiefly 
carried on by the lab(jr of negro slaves down to about 
the Revolution. 

With the increased sentiment of popular rights, 
Friends took more advanced grounds. Through in- 
structions received from the Yearly Meeting a com- 
mittee was appointed to ascertain the exact number 
of slaves belonging to the members of Plymouth 
Meeting, who reported to Gwynedd Monthly Meeting, 
25th of Seventh Mouth, 177o, that the number was 
•eight, who possessed seventeen slaves. This effort, 
made with a view to their liberation, though coming at 
a late hour, entitles them to some credit and shows that 
they were not so indillerent to the subject as formerly. 
But still, with the powerful h(jld of the British govern- 
ment and from the conditions imposed, it was no easy 
matter to carry this into execution. We will take, for 
instance, the case of Thos. Lancaster, Sr., a member of 
Plymouth Meeting and the owner of a farm of two hun- 
dred acres in Whitemarsh, and after whom Lancaster- 
ville was called. Having been prevailed upon by the 
Society, after several years' entreaty, he at length con- 
sented and we now here present for the first time in 
print the conditions imposed upon him to carry out 
this measure legally according to the royal require- 
ments. 

" At a general Court of Quarter Sessions of tlie Peace, held for the 
City ami County of Philadelphia, 0th of June, a. d., 1774, Thomas 
Lancaster of Whitemarsh township, in this county, Yeoman, acknowl- 
edges himself to be held and firmly bound unto our sovereign Lord the 
King iu the sum of Thirty Pounds lawful money of Pennsylvania to be 
levied on hia Goods, Chattels, Lauds and Tenements to the use of our said 
Lord the King Btib condUiune. That, "Whereas the said Thomas Lancaster 
hath manumitted and set free from Slavery a certain Negro Man named 
Cato, aged about forty-six years, and if the said Thomas Lancaster, his 
Executors and Adniinistratoi-s, shall and do well and truly hold and 
keep harmless and indemnified the Overseei-s of the Poor of the City and 
County of Philadelphia, respectively from all costs, charges and incum- 
brances whatsoever which shall or may happen or accrue in case the 
said Negro Man shall be sick or otherwise rendered incapable of sup- 
porting himself Then the above obligation to be void, otherwise to be 
and remain in full force and virtue agreeable to an Act of Assembly in 
8uch case made and provided." 

While the institution prevailed here we find from 
records that slaves generally possessed but one name, 
as Pompey, Caesar, Soipio, Cato, Prince, Jamaica, 
Guinea, Cuflf, Tom, Jupiter and Cupid. Females 
were commonly called Silvia, Jude, Flora, Venus, Sail, 
Sook and Phill. Gn their death they were frequently 
buried in their masters' orchards or on the edge of 
their woodlands. Friends, on this matter, also exer- 
cised a care that they be not placed in too close 
proximity. From Middletown records, Bucks County, 
we learn that on 6th of Third Month, 1703, "Friends 
are not satisfied with having negroes buried in Friends' 
burying-ground ; therefore Robert Heaton and Thomas 
Stackhouse are appointed to fence off a portion for 
such uses." Again, from the same, 1st of Second 



Month, 1738, " deceased negroes forbidden to be 
buried within the bounds of the graveyard belonging 
to this Meeting." Although the Legislature of Penn- 
sylvania had passed a law making it a penalty to 
marry a white and negro, a short time before the late 
great Rebellion, yet had they examined the early 
laws they would have found such an enactment, 
which there is reason to believe has not been repealed. 
It was passed in 1725, and provided that " any Minis- 
ter, Pastor or Magistrate or other, whatever, joining 
in marriage any negro and white person " should 
incur a penalty of one hundred pounds. 

Taking a twenty-dollar note of our national cnr- 
rency and turning to its back, we observe thereon a 
scene that has been suggestive for this article. We 
see a comely maiden on her knees before the altar iri 
a church, with a clergyman in his robes administering 
the rite of bajitism in the early history of this country. 
That young woman was the favorite daughter of one 
of the most powerful Indian chiefs throughout all 
that section, at a time, too, wdien the colonists were 
but few. She was fre%-born, and if historians of that 
day state truth, her liberty had not been restrained. 
We shall now change the place, but not the subject. 
On October, 1745, the venerable stone church still stand- 
ing at the Trappe, having just been finished, was 
solemnly dedicated in the presence of many hundreds 
from the surrounding country. Three negroes, the" 
property of a Mr. Pawling in the vicinity, were on 
this occasion publicly examined as to their faith, 
which proving satisfactory, they were baptized by the 
names of .loliii, .Jacob and Thomas by the Rev. Henry 
M. Muhlenberg, the pastors, Brunnholtz, Wagner and 
Newberg being the sponsors and bearing testimony as 
to their profession. True, these were lowly African 
slaves, but who will not hail this occurrence as illus- 
trative of the universal brotherhood of man and the 
practical elevating tendencies exhibited herein of 
Christianity in its broadest spirit? The former was 
the baptism of Pocahontas, and has been celebrated in 
a national painting, while for our information of the 
latter we are indebted to the early church records as 
entered by Mr. Muhlenberg's own hand. 

From a list of taxables, jirepared in 177G, of the 
several townships in the present limits of the county, 
we propose to give a partial list of those holding 
slaves. In Cheltenham : Joseph Linn, 1. Lower 
Salford: JacobReiff, .Jr., 1. Providence: Henry Paw- 
ling, Esq., 2; John Pawling, 1; Samuel Halford, 1. 
Horsham : John Barnes, 1 ; Hugh Henry Ferguson, 
1 ; Thomas Davis, 1. Montgomery: Dr. Peter Evans, 
2; George Smith, 2; Tbeophilus Shannon, 2; Edward 
Bartholomew, 2. Norriton : William Bull, 2; John 
Bull, Esq., 2 ; Dr. Robert Shannon, 2. Perkiomen : 
Joseph Pawling, 2 ; Abraham Saler, 2 ; John Paw- 
ling, 4. Moreland : Samuel Erwin, Esq., 1 ; Isaac 
Boileau, 1; Richard Corson, 1; David Perry, 1; 
Samuel Boutcher, 2 ; Casper Fetters, 1 and Daniel 
Thomas, 1. In Abington for 1780 : Thomas Beans, 2 : 



THE UNDERGltOUND RAILROAD. 



303 



Jacob Paul, 2. Whitemarsh : William West, 2; Wal- 
ter McCool, 1 ; Jonathan Robinson, 3. Lower Merion : 
Philip Pritncr, 2; David Briggs, 2; Robert Elliot, 1; 
Hugh Jones, 1 ; Frederick Bicking, 1 ; and Benjamin 
Scheetz, 1. 

Slavery here probably attained its greatest height 
about 1765, or when the Stamp Act was passed, and 
attention began to be directed to the evils attending 
the colonial system of government. In the conven- 
tion held at Philadeliihia from January 2?i, to 28, 
1775, it was resolved 

"That it lie and is hereby recoininended to the several members of 
this Cunventiou to promote and encourage instructions or advice from 
tlieir several counties, to their representatives in general Assembly, to 
procure a law pridiibiting the future importation of slaves into this 
province." 

We here see renewed evidence that the feeling that 
had so earlj^exhibited itself against the importation 
of negroes had not died out, in spite of long and contin- 
ued enforcement by the royal government, but instead 
the people were becoming more and more sensible of 
the evils of the slave traffic. As the Revolution pro- 
gressed, and independence became more and more 
assured, the act of March 1, 1787, was passed, — 

"That all pei-aons, as well Negroes and Mulattoes as otliei-s, who 
shall be born within this State, from and after the passing of this act, 
shall not be deemed and considered as servants for life, or slaves, and 
that all servitude for life, or slavery of children, in consequence of the 
slavery of their mothers, in the case of all chilihen l)orn within this 
.State, from and after the passing of this act aforesaid, shall be, aiui here- 
by is, utterly taken away, extinguished anil fnrever abolished." 

To strike more fully at the root of the system an 
jxct was passed March 29, 1788, which declared that all 
vessels employed in the slave trade should be liable to 
forfeiture, and a penalty of one thousand pounds 
be imposed for building and equipping them for the 
traffic. Congress took no action on this important 
matter until March 2, 1807, when an act was passed 
against the importati(jn of Africans into the country 
and declaring the slave trade unlawful. 

On the organization of Montgomery County, in 
1785, an enumeration was taken of those still remain- 
ing in slavery, the total number reported being 108. 
Providence township had the highest number, 20 ; 
Moreland, IS); Norriton, 14; Perkiomen, 7 ; Lower 
Merion, 7; Upper Merion, 6; Worcester, 5; Frederick, 
5; Abington, 4; Montgomery, 4 ; LTpper Salford, 3; 
Franconia, 2 ; Lower Salford, 2 ; Springfield, 2 ; White- 
marsh, 2 ; Douglas, 1 ; Horsham, 1 ; Limerick, 1 ; 
INIarlborough, 1 ; New Hanover, 1 ; and Upper Dublin, 
1. Upper Hanover, Hatfield, Towamensing, Whit- 
pain, Gwynedd and Plymouth contained none. Slaves 
were taxed in 1770, £4, and in 1786, £40. The 
census of 1790 returned 440 free colored persons and 114 
slaves in the county ; in 1800 the number was re- 
duced to 33 slaves, of which 9 were in Providence, 3 
in Lower Merion and 3 in Moreland. In 1810 there 
were three and by 1830 only a single one left. Con- 
cerning this last subject, a further account in this 
connection would be of interest. The colored j)opu- 



lation in the county, in 1850 was 857; 1860, ,904: 
1870, 1237 ; and in 1880, 1763. 

We shall now present a variety of advertisi.mn.' . 
once circulated in this county and additioii;;liy 
illustrative of the subject, showing the great cliangtjs 
that time has wrought here in less than a century 
and a half. Richard Bevan gives notice, in the Penn- 
sylvania Gazette of July 24, 1751, that he has for sale, 
" near the Gulf Mill, a likely negro man about thiny 
years of age, fit for town or country business. Also 
a negro girl about fifteen years of age." John Jones, 
of the ■' Manor of Moreland, near the Crooked Billet," 
announces in the .same paper of October 12, 1752, that 
he has for sale "a likely negro woman, about twenty- 
nine years of age, had the small-pox, and under- 
stands country business well. Also a negro child, a 
boy, one year old." In the same issue Dr. Thomas 
Graeme states that "a mulatto slave, named Will, 
about twenty-nine years of age, being of a Negro 
father and an Indian mother," ran away from his 
plantation in Horsham township. " Whoever secures 
him in any goal shall have five pounds reward and 
reasonable charges paid." " Peter Custer, in Provi- 
dence township, near the Trap," advertises in the 
Norristown Herald of February 14, 1806, that he has 
" for sale a black woman about thirty-five years of 
age and slave for life, with two children, the one 
about nine and the other three years. The children 
are entered in the office." 

In the advertisement of .John .Jones we see one of 
the sad features of slaveiy, — for gain to sell a child 
one year old from its mother. That of Peter Custer 
possesses an interest, as p<.)ssibly one of the last that 
appeared on thi^subject in the county. That Penn- 
sylvania would have become a considerable slave 
colonv' if it had not been for its strong German 
element can admit of no doubt. In evidence, 
the census of 1790 returned 21,324 slaves in New 
Vork, 11,423 in New .Jersey, and only 3737 in Penn- 
sylvania. It was almost solely owing to the British 
element, that had also settled so numerously in Dela- 
ware, Maryland and Virginia, that made those ad- 
joining colonies so slave-holding. The protest of 
1688, though it made no impression on the denomi- 
nation for whom it was designed, yet on its origina- 
tors, their countrymen ,and posterity it was not lost, 
to the enduring honor and benefit of this great 
commonwealth. 

"The Underground Railroad." — The branch of 
the Underground Railroad that jjassed through Jlont- 
gomery County is known in history as the " Northern 
Route." It was a section of the road which extended 
from Columbia,' Pa., to Canada. The southern 



1 In the early days of this concerted management slaves were hunted 
and tracked as far as \;'olumbia. There the pursuers lost all trace of 
them. The most scrutinizing inquiries, the niost vigorous search failed 
to educe an,v knowledge of them. Their pursuere seemed to have 
reached an abyss beyond which they could not see, the dej)th8 of which 
they could not fathom, and then bewildered and discomfited, they de- 



304 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



tenuinuo of till* luuLe was at Columbia, on the Sus- 
quehauiia Eiver, from whence arrivals were noted and 
C'Dsigned to the friendly agents along the line of 
operations. The fouudor of the southern depot, near- 
est the supply of passengers, was William Wright, of 
Columbia, I-anoasior Co., Pa. As early as 1787, 
Samuo! Wriirht laid out the town of Columbia. The 
lots were rlisposfd of hy lottery and all sold, and 
many sulistantial pers-ms from Bucks, Jlontgomery, 
and Chester Counties and Philadelphia settled there. 
A majority of these people were Quakers, or descend- 
ants of Quakers, and carried with them to the new 
settlement convictions hostile to the institution of 
slavery. The Wrights gave many small lots to the 
colored people in the northeastern part of the town 
and encouraged their settlement at the place. This 
brought into one community a large number of col- 
ored people, who became a source of refuge to those 
who were constantly fleeing northward. William 
Wright was uncompromising in his hatred of slavery ; 
an active man, he enjoyed a presence of mind equal 
to all emergencies. He assisted all fugitives who 
applied to him, and when he heard of any fugitives 
being recaptured, he lost no time or opportunity, 
either by process of law, device or artifice, in secur- 
ing their escape. On several occasions, when fugitives 
came to his place pursued, he hastily dressed them in 
women's clothing, and sent them by night-time to 
Dalniel Gibbons, near Lancaster City. The iree col- 
ored population of the town were industrious as a 
class, and thoroughly enjoyed the sympathy of the 
whites, who aided them in hastening the flight north- 
ward of those who reached them. The place soon 
became known to slave-owners, but early experience 
taught them to give it a wide berth. On one occasion 
a " slave-catcher," by the name of Isaac Brooks, made 
his appearance in search of a " runaway nigger," as 
he was pleased to call him. He was soon surrounded 
by a score of stalwart colored men and hustled out of 
the town, stripped of his clothing and unmercifully 
whipped with hickory withes. He was never seen in 
Columbia afterwards. Brooks was a providence in 
carrying the news southward. His misadventure was 
told to many households, repeated by masters and 
servants, until, through Maryland and parts of Vir- 
ginia it was well-known to all escajiing or runaway 
slaves that once at Columbia they were comparatively 
safe. 

The number of arrivals made it necessary to pro- 
vide a means of transit to northern cities and Canada. 
Agencies were sought out among earnest sympathiz- 
ing Abolitionists in Lancaster, Chester, Montgomery 
and Bucks counties. Plucnixville, Norristown and 
Quakertown were stations on the line. Prominent 
among the agents in charge of this northern route 

clared "there must be an underground railroad eomewhere^ This say- 
ing gave origin to the term by whicii tlie secret passage from bondage 
to freedom w.is designated ever after. — Dr. R. C. Smedley's " Under- 
ground ffailronrf." 



were Daniel Gibbons, Thomas Peart, Thomas Whit- 
son, Lindley Coates, Dr. Eshlenuinn, James Moore, 
Caleb C. Hood, of Lancaster County ; James Fulton, 
Gideon Pierce, Joseph Haius, Thomas Bonsall, Grav- 
ner Marsh, Zebulon Thomas, Thomas Vicars, John 
Vicars, Micajah and William A. Speakman, Esther 
Lewis, Dr. Edwin Fussell, William Fussell, Norris 
Maris, Emmor Kimber and Elijah F. Pennypacker, 
of Chester County ; Rev. Samuel Aaron, Isaac Roberts, 
Dr. William Corson, Jacob L. Paxon, George Wright, 
Jacob Bodey, Lawrence E. Corson, Thomas Hopkins, 
William W. Taylor, Charles Corson, Edwin Coates, 
C. Todd Jenkins, Seth Lukens, Thomas Read, John 
and Benjamin Jacobs, Elias H. Corson, George Cor- 
son, George Lukens, Daniel Ross and John Augusta 
(colored) and others, of Montgomery County ; Wil- 
liam Jackson and Richard Moore, Quakertown, Jona- 
than McGill, Solebury, and William H. Johnson, 
Buckingham, with others, of Bucks County. These 
were the pioneers of this remarkable line of travel 
from the Susquehanna to the Delaware, with well- 
known coadjutors on the Hudson and St. Lawrence. 
All roads led to Canada in those days. The route 
through Montgomery County was deemed extremely 
perilous, because it lay near a great city, to which 
news of escaped slaves was promptly reported, es- 
pecially after the advent of the telegraph, and by 
reason of a large circulation of daily papers, carried 
through the country by railroad every day. The 
danger was further increased by the strong public 
opinion in favor of sustaining the law, especially after 
the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, in 1850. Re- 
wards were constantly offered for the apprehension of 
slaves, and the oflieers of a vigilant secret service in 
Philadelphiawereever on thealert. The Abolitionists, 
or " Wooly Heads," as they were frequently called, 
were persecuted and ostracized by Whig and Demo- 
cratic parties, while presiding judges and ministers of 
the gospel, with but few exceptions, looked upon them 
as among the most dangerous agitators of the age. 
They were, however, men and women who lived up 
to their conviction of duty, and time has fully vindi- 
cated their exalted humanity and patriotism. If the 
cause they pursued hastened the madness of the fatal 
hour when the South flew to arms and sought to dis- 
sever the country, then they may rightly claim to 
have been benefactors of mankind. 

Among those who were most active, zealous and in- 
fluential in arousing the spirit of revolt against the 
sin of slavery and the horrid catalogue of crimes com- 
mitted in its name was the Rev. Samuel Aaron. He 
was a gifted orator, with a flow and force of language 
which never failed to hold his audiences, wdiether 
they assented to his views or not. He was at times 
the impersonation of eloquence enraged, as his keen 
invective flowed in torrents ; and when he called his 
followers around him in the old Baptist meeting- 
house, or, perhaps, in front of the old court-house, 
to review some act of " Northern submission to the 



THE UNDERGROUiND RAILROAD. 



305 



slave-power of the South, the occasion was esteemed 
of more than usual public interest. Such a leader in- 
spired an enthusiastic following, and nowhere on the 
long line of transit were worn aud weary passengers 
received with greater solicitude, cared for more ten- 
derly and dispatched with greater promptness and 
prudence than at Norristown. 

The gentlemen composing this "railroad staft"" 
were not of the mutual admiration school. They 
were agitators, antipathetic, many of them valuable, 
all of them independent thinkers. They represented 
the activities of life in all its callings, from the plow- 
man to the philosopher. When the news of the 
Fugitive Slave Law reached the North these men 
came together at the peril of their lives and firmly 
resolved to resist it at all hazards. While defiant, 
they were not wanting in that prudence and cautitni 
necessary to their usefulness, aud by day and by night 
their vigilance extended from the Plymouth Valley 
to the hills of Providence. The counsels of the cool 
and philosophic Allan Corson, of Plymouth, were 
matched by the~ promptness of Thomas Hopkins, 
William W. Taylorand Charles Corsou, of Providence, 
in forwarding passengers through to Bucks County. 
In Norristown, Dr. William Corson was among the 
first to report arrivals. In active practice, a consis- 
tent frieud to the colored j^eople, slave or free, and by 
reason of his intercourse in his daily visits to all 
localities in the town and many miles in all directions 
around it, if arrivals occurred he was sure to be ap- 
prised of it. With coadjutors such as Lawrence E. 
Corson, James Paxon, Jacob Bodey, Daniel Eoss, ,John 
Williams and John Augusta, the business in hand 
was quickly and efBciently dispatched. If a collec- 
tion of money was necessary to forward passengers, 
John Augusta and John Williams were always readj' 
to go to the right ones to get it. Paxon was always 
ready to give asylum to passengers, and the giant 
Bodey could always be relied upon for transi^ortation. 
There was not a member of this staff who had not his 
special office of usefulness, and among them the quiet, 
unobtrusive, but persistent George Wright was 
always found responsive to duty. An enthusiastic 
follower of his cherished friend Aaron, he never tired 
in kindly offices to relieve the suffering and hungry 
as they tarried in or fled through the town. There 
was a direct connection between Norristown and the 
anti-slavery office in Philadelphia, via night-trains on 
the Norristown Railroad. Rev. Samuel Aaron, Dr. 
William Corson, Isaac and John Roberts and Mary 
E. Roberts were in charge of this line of transporta- 
tion. Daniel Eoss would house or conceal the pas- 
sengers until a late hour, when they would be ticketed 
through to waiting friends at or near Ninth and 
Green Streets, thence, via the Philadelphia line, to 
Canada. Contributions were liberal in support of 
this line. 

Incidents of Life and Travel on the Line through 
Montgomery County. — In 1841, Thomas Read lived 
20 



in a retired place along the Schuylkill, four miles 
west of Norristown. The fugitives he received were 
chiefly men, who, following directions given them, 
came in the night. S(jme were brought. He sent 
many to Miller McKim, at the anti-slavery ottice in 
Philadelphia, William Still, being generally the re- 
ceiving agent. Others were sent in various directions. 
Some remained and worked for him when required. 
At one time four came, three of whom were large, 
intelligent young men ; the other was an old man who 
was nuikiug his second efiort at escape. His first at- 
tempt was successful, and he had enjoyed his freedom 
for some years, when he was betrayed by a colored 
man and reclaimed by his master. 

These four men were, therefore, very suspicious of 
persons of their own color in the North. They re- 
mained for some time ami worked for Thomas Read ; 
but one day a colored man appeared who said he was 
a fugitive, and showed numerous scars, but from his 
actions was suspected of being a spy. The four men 
threatened him with instant death if they discovered 
his story was not true. He left the next night, but 
so frightened were the real fugitives that they were 
anxious to leave the [ilace. They were at once for- 
warded farther north. A mulatto came and remained 
during the winter. Toward spring he became fright- 
ened at rumors that slave-hunters were on his track, 
and he was anxious to make his way to Canada. He 
was taken by Thomas Read to Philadelphia. The 
day was very cold, and he wore his coachman's over- 
coat of a jieculiar light color. When nearing the city 
he grew apprehensive that the color of his coat might 
identify him too easily, and he insisted upon removing 
it and riding in his shirt-sleeves, which he did, bearing 
the cold without a murmur, believing that his ruse 
made the chances of detection less. He reached 
Philadelphia safely, and was forwarded to more 
northern agents. In 1848, Thomas Read moved to 
Norristown, and the fugitives received there were 
mostly women and children. 

After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law the 
determined members of the organization still per- 
severed in their efforts to aid the fugitives to escape. 
Others faltered and knew not what to do. At an 
evening company where several of these faltering ones 
were in attendance, two young school -girls were pres- 
ent and listened to the conversation. The thought 
occurred to them to test by actual experience the 
standing of those present. Leaving the room ujion 
some pretext, they shortly after knocked at the 
kitchen door, and, closely disguised and muffled, said 
they were fugitives and asked for help. This In-oughfc 
the question home to the men present, " Would they 
give aid?" A long parley ensued, the girls being 
left in the kitchen. It was finally decided to take 
them to a neighboring house, and, as soon as a wagon 
could he procured, two of the men volunteered to drive 
them to Quakertown. By this time the girls were so 
full of laughter at the success of their plan that when 



306 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



passing close to a light their emotions were discovered 
to be other than those of grief and fright, and the 
disguise was detected. But the joke was so serious to 
some of the men that they could not laugh at it. The 
girls were severely reprimanded ; yet all concerned 
were glad at heart that they had discovered how 
those present stood in regard to the Fugitive Slave 
Law. At a convention held in the old court-house 
in Norristown shortly after the enactment of that law, 
a commitee of prominent anti-slavery advocates was 
appointed to circulate petitions for signatures asking 
for a repeal of the law. 

Thomas Read's daughter Mary was appointed one 
of the committee. Reing young at the timej she 
thought she had but to present the petition, and 
names would be willingly put thereto. But she was 
astonished at the almost universal reception she met 
with. Doors were shut in her face as soon as she 
nuide known her desire. People insulted her, snubbed 
lier and would not talk with her on the subject. 
One minister, however, thought it his duty to talk 
with her, and pointed out the wrong she was, doing: 
" Nay, she was committing a crime, for laws were 
made to be upheld and not to be opposed.". His 
morality took the law without question, and he 
wanted her to do the same. Needless to say she 
did not. 1 

While this describes the general public opinion, 
there were many benevolent individuals who had not 
courage to express their secret convictions, yet were 
willing to aid the Abolitionists by pecuniary contri- 
Initions. John Augusta, an old colored resident of 
that place, and an important attache of the Under- 
ground Railroad, said that many citizens came to him 
and remarked : "John, I know you must be needing 
considerable money to forward passengers on your 
load. When you need contriljutions come to me, but 
do not let my name be mentioned as one contribut- 
ing." Xorristown first become a station of the Under- 
ground Railr(jad about 1839, the year of the first 
meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society at that place. 
The number of fugitives who passed through there, 
assisted by their friends, increased from year to year, 
as many as fifteen or twenty being occasionally con- 
cealed within the town at one time. A very strong 
and bitter animosity existed there against the Aboli- 
tionists, especially in the early days of the anti-slavery 
agitation ; and for individuals to make any active 
eftbrts in behalf of fugitives was to incur general de- 
nunciation and social ostracism. Malignant threats 
were made, but never carried into eft'ect. The furthest 
extent of a mob demonstration was the stoning of the 
Baptist meeting-house and the breaking up of an 
anti-slavery meeting which was being held there. 
This was the only building in which these meetings 
were held in the early part of the work in that town. 
In later times, when {)ublic sentiment was growing 
strong in favor of emancipation, very many, even 
among public officials, were hearty sympathizers and 



silent helpers. The positions which they held, de- 
jiending upon puljlic suffrage or popular favor, made 
it politic for them to enjoin secrecy when bestowing 
aid and to make their sentiments known to but few, 
even of the well-known and trusted Abolitionists. 

As public sentiment in Norristown was inimical to 
the anti-slavery cause until the exigencies of the 
times and the acknowledged justness of universal lib- 
erty throughout the country made it popular, the har- 
boring of fugitives in that place was particularly 
hazardous. Yet among those who dared to do it, who 
was openly known to do it, and who built a secret 
apartment in his house for that especial purpose which 
it was almost imjjossible to discover, was Dr. Jacob L. 
Paxson. Independent and fearless, he did his own 
thinking, kept his own council, took his own course, 
and concealed, fed, and forwarded hundreds that even 
the anti-slavery people knew nothing of. He kept a 
horse and wagon, and took them himself to William 
Jackson, Quakertown ; Jonathan jMcfiill, Solebury ; 
and to William H. Johnson, Buckingham, all in 
Bucks County. He entertained abolition speakers 
after the passage of the penal slave law, when they 
were refused admittance to the hotels. One evening 
when Garrison, Burleigh and several others were at 
his place. Samuel Jamison, who owned a large manu- 
fiicturing establishment adjoining, came in and in- 
Ibrmed him of a conversation he had just overheard 
in a small assemblage of men concerning a plot which 
was being laid to burn his house if he did not dismiss 
his guests. " Tell them to burn it," said Paxson, 
" and scatter the ashes to the four winds ; I'm a free 
man." 

A few days after the Christiana riot Parker, Pink- 
ney and Johnson, an account of whom is given iu the 
description of the tragedy and the narrative of Isaac 
and Dinah Mendenhall, came on foot in the night to 
Norristown, accompanied by another person whose 
name is not known. Di\ William Corson announced 
their arrival to John Augusta. The four men were 
concealed iu a lot of shavings under a carpenter-shop, 
which stood three feet above ground on Church Street, 
near Airy. There they remained four days, and were 
fed with food passed to them ujion an oven-peel across 
a four-foot alley from a frame house in which Samuel 
Lewis, a colored man, lived. During this time the 
United States marshal's detectives were watching 
every part of the town. On the fourth day a meeting 
was held by a few trusted friends in the office of 
Lawrence E. Corson, Esq., to devise means for their 
escape. Dr. Paxson proposed engaging five wagons 
for that evening, four to be sent in diflerent directions 
as decoys to lead oft" the vigilant detectives. The plan 
was adopted, and the wagons and teams were engaged 
of Jacob Bodey, whose sympathies were known to be 
in favor of fugitives. But he would accept no pay, 
saying he would do so much as his share. The first 
was sent up the turnpike road, and shortly after the 
second was sent down that road; another was sent 



THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. 



307 



across the bridge toward West Chester, and the fourth 
out tlic State road toward Downiugtown. The atten- 
tion of tlie alert officers being now attracted in these 
directions, the men, after having shaved and otherwise 
changed their personal appearance, walked from the 
cariienter-shop to Chestnut Street and down Chestnut 
to the house of William Lewis, colored, where the fifth 
•wag(jn, which was to go directly through the town 
and up the Mill Creek road, was waiting for them. 
Dr. I'axson was there also, and saw the men, with 
William Lewis, colored, as their driver, start safely for 
Quakertown. Lewis was a little tremulous with fear 
at the perilous undertaking, which, with the haste, 
somewhat confused liim at the start. On the road he 
became bewildered, and went several miles out of the 
way, which gave Parker the impression that he was 
partly intoxicated, a condition in which Lewis never 
was known to be. From Quakertown they journeyed 
to Canada, traveling part of the way on foot and part 
by public conveyance. On the following day the 
United States marshal was informed that they had 
left Norristown and were out of his reach. Officers 
were at once dispatched to Quakertown, but the 
Underground Railroad there disappeared from their 
view and its passengers could be tracked no fiirther. 

At the close of the war Judge Smyser, of Norris- 
town, was returning on a train from Philadelphia, 
and seeing Dr. Paxson in the same car, called out to 
him: "Paxson, is that you? I was at an entertain- 
ment last night, and some of the party said I was as 
great a radical as you are. I replied : ' I thank God 
that I am!' But," he continued, "there wiis a time 
when, had you been convicted under the Fugitive 
Slave Law, I would have given you the extent of the 
penalty, for I looked upon you as one of the most 
dangerous men in the community on account of your 
utter disregard for that law." On Dr. Paxson's return 
home one afternoon in 1846 he saw on his back porch 
a very black, gray-haired woman, about sixty years 
of age; also a mulatto woman, about thirty, and a 
small, very fair child, with flaxen hair, of about six 
or seven summers. 

The old woman was conversing with Parker Pills- 
bury. Her cultivated thought and remarkable gift 
of language excited their interest and attention. On 
questioning her, they found that she, her daughter and 
grand-daughter were all slaves. Paxson interrogated 
her relative to their escape. She stated that they had 
traveled through Maryland on foot, by night, and that 
during the day they crawled under corn-shucks or hid 
under leaves in the woods, their principal food being 
roots or corn for many days. He said to her, " Did 
you not know that you were running a great risk of 
being caught and taken back, tortured with the lash, 
and sold upon the auction-block, and separated from 
your child and grandchild?" She answered, "Yes," 
and the tears rolled down her cheeks ; " but I believed 
that God would help those who tried to help them- 
selves, and with confidence in that Power, I started out. 



and it has brought me here. And may God be praised !" 
"Now, tell me," said Paxson, "w'hat induced you to 
make this effort?" Rising to her feet, and turning 
deliberately toward her child, with utterance choked 
by emotion, she said, "See you not, marked upon 
her features, my own pollution that the white man 
has stamped there ! See you not u]ion this grand- 
child, with its flaxen hair and florid face, the pollu- 
tion of a fiendish nature (jver her ! It was to save 
that grandchild from the terrible pollution which 
slavery sways over all whom it dare call a slave; it was 
to save that fair and beautiful creature from a life of 
shame that I dared and have accomplished what I 
did ; and there shall ever go forth from my innermost 
nature a feeling of gratitude that I have her thus 
sjiared." 

The following incidents are from notes furnished 
the author by the late William W. Taylor, who was a 
well-known agent of the line for many years in Upper 
Providence township. Mr. Taylor was pronounced 
in his hatred of the " peculiar institution," and ever 
ready to give refuge, food and transpiu'tation to those 
who were dispatched to his care. He was the near 
neighbor of Charles Corson and Thomas Hopkins, 
who frequently acted in concert in frustrating the 
designs of slave-hunters in the county. Mr. Taylor 
was a fearless agitator, sometimes incurring the dis- 
pleasure of neighbors and acquaintances in his uu- 
comprouiising denunciation of those in authority for 
maintaining or assenting in any way to the con- 
tinuance of slavery. He was an "Abolitionist" 
without qualification, an eye-witness in his boyhood 
days to the brutal recapture of a fugitive slave 
and his sale to a Southern trader at New Castle, 
Del. The scene made such an impression upon his 
mind that, to use his own words, he "resolved that 
upon reaching manhood he would keep a station for 
runaway slaves, and he did so until the proclamation 
of President Lincoln bankrupted the business." 

Henry Box Browx.' — Henry Brown, better known 
as " Henry Box Brown," was a slave in Richmond, 
Va. He conceived the plan of getting away from 
slavery by having himself boxed up and shipped as 

iTwo siuiilar cases are reported in Still's " t^ndergroiiurl Railroad,'* 
tbose of W'illiam Box Peel Jones and Lear Green. Jones was boxed up 
in Baltimore City, and shipped by the Ericson line of steamers in the 
month of April, 1S59, reaching Philadelphia in seventeen hours after 
shipment, and was safely delivered to his friends, who cautiously awaited 
his arrival in the City of Brotherly Love. 

Lear Creen was an interesting girl and the slave of James Noble, of 
Baltimore. William Adams bad proposed maniage to her. She con- 
cluded to accept the otfer only when she was free, believing the duties of 
wife and mother incompatible with a condition of servitude wherein she 
might be sold and separated from all ties of human affection. She finally 
concluded to escape. Her tnisted friends placed her in a well-worn box, 
such ,is was in commerce between Baltimore and Northern cities. A 
quilt, a bottle of water and some hard bread were carefully stowed away 
with the girl, and she was shipped as freight on the Ericson Lino. Her 
intended niotber-in-law, a free colored woman, took passage on the same 
line. The box was carefully watched, and upon arrival in Philadelphia 
was promptly forwarded to the consignee. Lear Green was happy. She 
subsequently married the man of her choice and was a free woman. She 
settled in Elmira, N. Y., and died in the third year of her married life. 



308 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



merchauJise to PbilaJelphia, and went to work 
accordingly to effect bis object. With the help of 
some friends, whom he had made acquainted with his 
plans, he arranged with a firm in Philadelphia to 
receive him as merchandise, and then got reliable 
men in Richmond to help him there. A man made 
the box, and be got in it, taking with him a sack (sic) 
of water, some crackers, a cup, a gimlet and a sponge. 
The lid was nailed fast, and the box marked "This 
side up with care." A reliable person was secured to 
take the box, pay the freight, and start it on its way 
to Philadelphia. After all his arrangements had 
been made he received word from his Philadelphia 
friends not to attempt to send the goods, as there was 
too much risk ; but, determined not to be baiiled, he 
replied that the goods were shijjped and would be in 
Philadelphia at a certain time. 

A trusty man was on hand at the time appointed, 
but the train arrived without the goods. It was 
explained that an accident bad occurred which would 
cause a delay of four hours. The excitement and 
anxiety increased, but the box finally arrived. It 
was taken charge of, and the proper parties notified 
of the arrival of their goods. This was twelve o'clock 
at night, and all assembled at the place appointed to 
receive him. 

By this time the excitement was great. Some were 
sure he would be dead, and much concerned as to 
what disposition they should make of the remains. 
When the box was carried in it was received almost 
W'ith the silence of death. All seemed afraid to hear 
their own voices. It was put down, and one tapped 
it on the top with the question : " Is all right? " An 
answer came from out the box : "All right, sir." The 
lid was quickly pried off, and Henry Box Brown stood 
erect and sang a hymn he bad learned for the 
occasion. Then there was rejoicing. Their anxiety 
was over and their pent-u]i spirits set free. 

Where the delay occurred the goods had to be re- 
loaded. The box was turned with the marked side 
down, so that he stood on his bead till the veins on 
bis forehead and face were as thick as his finger. 
Twf) men sat on the box, and one tapped it and won- 
dered what it contained. The gimlet was to bore 
boles to let in more air, if necessary, and the water 
was to drink. Instead of drinking it, he put it on the 
sponge and bathed bis face and bead. Scientific men, 
who saw the box, said this was the only thing that 
saved bis life, and that bathing with the water restored 
carbon to the exhausted air. 

A few days after his arrival in Philadelphia there 
was an anti-slavery meeting held in the Baptist 
meeting-house at Norristown, and Henry and his 
box and all his outfit were exhibited there. From 
here he took the Underground Railroad to the land 
of freedom. 

(tEOroe Benson. — "George Benson, the subject of 
this narrative, was a man of remarkable ability. He 
was twenty-two years of age, six feet two inches in 



height, very muscular, quick and active. He was in- 
telligent, and resolute to execute whatever he under- 
took. He was the property of a man in Western Vir- 
ginia, who bad sold his other slaves, and expected to re- 
move to Richmond and keep George for a body-servant. 
After having made bis arrangements he went to Balti- 
more to attend a ball, taking George with bim. George 
had heard his master ottered twelve hundred dollars 
for him, and, knowing his master's habits, was afraid 
he would soon have to be sold. He therefore resolved 
to escape, and started that night at tw-elve o'clock for 
Canada. By morning he bad reached York County, 
Pa., and from there came by way of Columbia 
to Lancaster. While sitting at the window at 
Warner Mifllin's, Lancaster, he saw his master with 
two officers drive by. He notified the family, and 
they, feeling no longer safe to keep him, put bim on 
his way to Downingtown. He left Zebulon Thomas' 
in Downingtown, and walked to my place in Mont- 
gomery County, a distance of twenty miles, in four 
and a half hours. He was very much excited, and 
said he had resolved when he started to die rather 
than go back into slavery. After he had rested and 
had something to eat I went with him some distance 
and put him on his way to Richard Moore's, at 
Quakertown. George surpassed all the men I ever 
knew who had escaped from slavery." 

Rachel. — " Rachel, or ' Rache,' as she was famil- 
iarly called, was the slave of a man near Baltimore. 
She came to West Chester, and there married, and was 
living comfortably. Her husband owned a house 
and Rache did washing and house-cleaning, and as a 
woman of all work was very much sought after. She 
had been living there for several years. Slany people 
knew her and she knew every place in town. Finally 
some one found out where she came from and betrayed 
her. One day, as she was sitting in her house, she 
saw old Constable Patterson approaching in company 
with a man whom she recognized as her old master. 
They took her captive and brought her before Judge 
Bell, in order that the master might prove his prop- 
erty. There Rache feigned sickness and asked to go 
into the back yard. ]Mrs. Bell invited her to go up 
stairs, but she replied, 'Missus, I must go out ; I am 
so very sick.' They decided to let her go into the 
yard on condition that the constable should accom- 
pany her, to which she freely consented. The yard 
was enclosed by a high board fence, so that no one 
could enter from the outside. The walk down the 
yard to the alley was about one hundred feet. As 
soon as Rache got out of the bouse she made a run 
for the fence, with the constable close after her. 
With one bound she went over the fence, leaving 
the constable behind. The fence was too high for 
him to jump, and by the time he returned to 
the house and told what had happened and they 
had got around to the alley several moments elapsed, 
of which Rache made good use. Being acquainted 
with almost every alley and back yard in the town 



THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. 



309 



and very swift on foot, she was soon several squares 
awav. In her Hight she passed through the shoj) of 
Samuel Auge, a hatter, and the boys called to know 
what the matter was. She answered, ' Do, for God's 
sake, hush ! Don't say nothin'.' She kept on her 
flight up the alleys to the back yard of .John Worth- 
ington, with whom she was acquainted. Mrs. Worth- 
ington saw her coming and called, ' Why, Rache, 
■what is the matter?' 'O, for the Lord's sake, don't 
tell anybody ! " was the answer. And Eachc ran U|) 
stairs and hid herself in the attic. 

" By this time word had gotten out that the kid- 
nappers were after her, and then there was none to 
give her pursuers any information. Her master went 
to 'Squire Meredith and got a search warrant, but 
failed to And her. He applied for another, but was 
refused and told to keep quiet or he would be ar- 
rested. That night a party of gentlemen met at Mr. 
Worthington's, and had a good time apparently until 
ten or eleven o'clock (several members of the Chester 
County bar being among them), when they broke up 
and went away liy twos and threes. Rache, dressed in 
men's clothing, left the house between two lawyers. 
They walked along the street to a j)oint beyond the 
Friends' Meeting-House, where a carriage overtook 
them and Rache was taken into it. She was driven 
to John Vickar's, at Lionville, and thence to Dr. 
Fusscll's. On the way to the latter place .she inquired 
where they were going and was told to Bartholomew 
Fussell's. She said she knew a Dr. Fusscll near Balti- 
more, where she came from, who was a great friend to 
the colored people, but she was not told that he w'as the 
same man, and, when she entered the house, the doctor 
noticed that she watched him very closely. Finally 
she arose, walked toward him, looked at him and said 
very excitedly, ' I do believe this is Dr. Fussell ! I de- 
clare this is Dr. Fussell ! I swear to God this is Dr. Fus- 
sell ! ' The doctor then told her he was the Dr. Fussell 
that had lived near Baltimore. She fell on her knees 
and clasped him around the legs, crying and shouting 
as though frantic with joy at the thought that she 
had reached a i)lace of safety. 

"The next night the doctor, with Rache and three 
others, called on me (I then lived at Phrenixville) to 
go with them. I arose and mounted my horse to 
pilot them. We crossed the Schuylkill at Phcenix- 
ville. There was no bridge there at that time (forty- 
four years ago) and the night was very dark. I took 
him to Charles Corson's. A large part of the road 
was through woods, and so dark that I had to feel the 
way and lead the doctor's horse. ^Ve crossed the 
Perkiomen at Tyson's mill, and got to Corson's about 
twelve o'clock. There I questioned Rache as to how 
she got away from the old constable. On asking her 
what became of him she said, ' Lord, massa, de las I 
saw ob him he was jist falleu back on de fence.' 

" I left the doctor at Corson's and returned home 
about three o'clock in the morning. No one liut my 
wife knew that I had been awav. Charles Corsm the 



next day geared to his market w-agon and took her to 
William H. Johnson's, in Bucks County. She re- 
mained there. William H. Johnson wrote to a friend 
in West Chester to let her husband know where she 
was. He executed a power of attorney to some one 
in West Chester to sell his property and forward the 
proceeds to him in Waterloo, Canada. 

" Much of this information I received from persons 
living in West Chester, they not knowing but that 
she was still living privately somewhere about the 
neighborhood. One man told me he did not think 
there was a man in West Chester who could jump the 
fence which she jumped. She was about thirty-five 
years old, rather tall and rather active, and could run 
as fast as ordinary men." 

John and Jane French. — "John and Jane 
French, with their little boy two years old, were slaves 
in Maryland. Like many others they had heard of a 
place in the north where they might be free if they 
could get there, and they resolved to make the effort. 
They had been told there were people in Pennsylvania 
who would help them. They came to Oxford and 
then by the underground railroad through Downing- 
town, Lionville and Kimberton, from William Fus- 
sell's to my place. I saw at once that it was a very 
important case and one that required prompt action. 
We put them in a room, no one but my wife knowing 
they were in the house. I went to see Edwin H. 
Coates, told him what I had in charge, and asked 
him to accompany me that night on our journey, 
which he readily agreed to. I directed my hired man 
to have the horses so they might be used if needed, 
and when Edwin arrived after all had gone to bed 
we started for George Lukens', Kulpsville. We ar- 
rived just at dawn and were very kindly received. 
We returned about noon, our absence having excited 
some remark. None suspected where we had been 
except a fugitive slave who was living with me at the 
time. As soon as we left George Lukens took his 
charge to William PL Johnson's, Bucks County. 
They arrived in the evening, when Jane told them she 
could go no further. They fixed up a room for her 
and made her as comfortable as possible. The next 
morning she had a fine baby boy, which she named 
William Taylor. To part with these people and re- 
ceive their simple expressions of thanks is more pre- 
cious than silver or gold." 

Perry and Lucy Simons. — " Perry and Lucy 
Simons were slaves in Virginia, where they remained 
until they were about fifty years old. When the last 
of their seven children had been sold to traders to go 
South they resolved to leave their old master and . 
seek freedom. By the aid of friends, after many 
weeks of travel, they reached my place. I locked 
them in a room, charged them not to look out of the 
window and informedmy wifethat I hadacharge. We 
took care ofthem through the day and that night I 
took them across the Perkiomen, at Tyson's mill, and 
lelt them at davlight with directions for Richard 



310 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMKRY COUNTY. 



Moore's at Quakertown. This was just after the 
Fugitive Slave law was passed, makiug every Nor- 
thern man who assisted them a kidnapper, and 
we knew that we were watched. I told them as I 
had been true to them I hoped they would not betray 
me. They answered: 'No, Massa; God bless you. 
We will never betray you.' " 

John and Sue Burns. — " John and Sue Burns 
were slaves in Newcastle County, Delaware. They 
were a young couple, who had one boy about two 
years old, aud they resolved that they would not raise 
children for the slave market. John took one of his 
master's horses, put his wife and child on the horse, 
aud traveling himself on foot, started for freedom. 
They took the horse as far as tUey thought safe and 
then turned him loose to return home so that he might 
arrive before morning, and they kept on their course 
to Thomas Garret's, Wilmington, a distance of four- 
teen miles, getting there before daylight. Thence by 
way of Keuuet Square, Downiugtown, Kimberton, 
aud Phwnixville, they came to our place in Mont- 
gomery County. They remained for a short time in 
the neighborhood, and then became very uneasy for 
fear of being captured and taken back into slavery. 
They were put on the road for Canada as the only 
place of safety. Like all other slaves they had been 
told that there was a [dace under the uortli star where 
they could be free, but how far it was they had but 
a faint idea. I never saw one, however, that thought 
it too far or too much of a hardship to go there. 
These were a very interesting coujjle and a very bright 
little boy." 

Eliza. — " Eliza and her son were slaves to a man 
named Gibbs liviug near Havre de Grace, Maryland. 
They ran off, came by way of Oxford through Chester 
county to F. F. Pennypacker's and on to my place. 
There she wished to stay and in a short time we 
found we were in trouble, but we concluded to meet 
it. I went to Norristown, called on Thomas aud 
Amy Brut!', stated the situation and offered to pay 
them to take care of her. I told them that I would 
find a home for her as soon as she was able to be 
moved, and instructed them to call on Dr. William 
Corson if needed and tell him I would pay all ex- 
penses. The Dr. was called on, but, as I exnected, 
he would take nothing for his services. Her child 
was deformed. We took her to our place and had 
her there for several months. Finally the child died 
and was buried at the Friends' meeting-house in 
Providence. In the meantime her sou lived with 
Jacob L. Paxson. .\fter the child died she and her 
son started for Canada. So it would appear to those 
who stood aloof that the I'oad of those engaged in the 
underground railroad was not always strewn with 
roses ; but there was a consolation that outsiders did 
not understand." 

William and Perry Lewis. — " William aud 
Perry Lewis, brothers, and Henson Clemens were 
slaves in West Virginia, all very stout young men 



and very determined in asserting their right to them- 
selves. They made their way through Maryland 
into York county, Pennsylvania, and by way of 
Columbia and Lancaster to James Fulton's, in Ches- 
ter county. There they stayed a short time until 
kidnappers made their apjiearance in the neighbor- 
hiio<l. Then they came to E. F. Pennypacker's. 
and my place. They were all good farm hands, 
found ready employment, aud stayed about the neigh- 
borhood for several years. Perry Lewis lived with 
me three years. He was a very good farm hand and 
efficient in assisting me in helping his own i)eople on 
their road to liberty. Finally he got married and 
moved to Norristown where he died, as did also his 
brother William. Their comrade Henson, after re- 
maining for about two years, became uneasy, fearing 
he might be captured and taken back into slavery, 
and concluded to go to Canada. We gave him in- 
structions and put him on the road. After a tire- 
some journey he arrived in safet}'. After he got 
there he got a friend to write to me giving an account 
of his journey and the reception he had met on 
his arrival ; how much he was pleased with the place, 
and expressing many thanks to me and his friends in 
Montgomery county for the acts of kindness he had 
received at their hands." 

Jerry. — "Jerry was a slave of a man named Ball, 
who lived in Mill Creek Hundred, Newcastle Co., 
Del. His master had given him his freedom by tell- 
ing him he might go and earn a living, that he was 
to be a free man, liut without taking a legal course to 
secure it. .Icrry had married, and lived in the same 
township within iive miles of his master, in a log 
cabin, or hut, on a common near Red Clay Creek, and 
within three miles of the Pennsylvania line. His 
master's home was not more than five miles from 
the latter state. Jerry was living peaceably and 
quietly in the neighborhood, and sup])orted himself 
by working for farmers when he could, employment 
being scarce and wages low. Twenty-five cents jier 
day was the price for a common day's work and forty 
and fifty cents for harvesting. When not thus en- 
gaged he lived by fishing and trapping. At that 
time, sixty years ago, thousands of acres of land lay 
waste in that region, with here and there a log cabin, 
or hut, occupied by a poor man, or a slave not claimed 
by his master. Such tenants paid i'rom seven to fif- 
teen dollars rent for their cabins and as much land 
as they saw proper to make use of. Such was the 
case with Jerry. Finally his old master died and 
trouble begaiL 

"Ball's heirs laid claim to Jerry as part of their 
father's estate, but Jerry insisted that his master had 
set him free and that he would not serve them. 
Finally one of his master's sons, in company with six 
or eight others, went to Jerry's cabin to capture him. 
He had received word of their coming, and ])reparcd 
to defend himself as well as he could by fortifying 
his cabin. They surrounded the house and broke in 



THK UNDKRfiKOUND RAILROAD. 



311 



tlie door. As one attempted to enter Jerry struck at ! 
him with an a.\, missed the man, struck the door, and 
broke it to pieces ; then took his gun and shot, but 
missed his man. The load took effect on a man 
named Robinson, who was sitting on his horse forty 
or fifty yards off, and destroyed one of his eyes. (I 
often saw him carrying his mark for trying to capture 
poor Jerry.) He then fought his way out and ran for 
the woods. They followed and, after a race of a mile, 
overpowered him and took him captive to Newcastle. 
He was i)Ut in jail and sold to a slave trader to be 
taken South. This occurred within one mile of where 
I was living and took such a hold on me, although I 
was then only ten or twelve years old, that when I 
arrived at manhood I set up a station on the Under- 
ground Railroad and kept it open until slavery was 
abolished \>y the proclamation of Abraham Lincoln, 
trying to obey the injunction that ' Whatsoever ye 
would that others should do to you do ye even so unto 
them.' " 

Fred Dougl.vs. — " Fred Douglas, now the Hon. 
Frederick Douglas, ex-Marshal of the District of 
Columbia, was a passenger on the Underground Rail- 
road from slavery to his present position. He was a 
slave in Talbot Co., Md., and I think his master's 
name was Aull. He passed through Philadelphia. 
Robert Purvis, E. M. Davis, and J. Miller McKim, of 
Philadelphia; Horace Greeley and Gerritt Smith, of 
New York, and Charles Sumner and others, of Boston, 
arranged t(j send him to London, and while there his 
freedom was bought by penny contributions." 

The Dorsey Brothers. — The following incident 
is friim the pen of Robert Purvis, one of the most 
active agitators in the anti-slavery cause, and occur- 
ring in Bucks County had a peculiar interest to their 
friends in Jlontgomcry with whom they were co- 
oi)crating. 

" Among the hundreds of cases which came under 
my notice, none excited my interest more deeply than 
than that of four brothers, who came from Frederick 
County, Maryland, and arrived in Philadelphia in 
the summer of 18.36. They were finely ilcveloped 
and handsome young men, reputed to be the children 
of their master, and after his death, finding them- 
selves slaves when they had been promised their 
freedom, they took ' French Leave ' and arrived safely 
in Philadelphia, under the assumed Christian names 
of Basil, Thomas, Charles and William, and retaining 
the surname of Dorsey. I took three of the brothers to 
ray farm in Bucks County — Thomas preferring to 
live in the city. I succeeded in securing places with 
some of the neighboring farmers for Charles and 
William, Basil remaining in my employ. The latter 
wa.s a married man, having a wife and two children 
whom he left in Maryland. She was a free woman 
and by a previous arrangement with her brother-in- 
law likewise free, they were brought to Philadelphia, 
where I met them and took them to my house. This 
man r>roved afterwards to he a false and treacherous 



villain. He opened a correspondence with the son 
of their old master, who bought these men at the 
settlement of his father's estate and had become their 
owner. By a well-arranged plan, with the assistance 
of a notorious slave-catcher, they were enabled t» 
surprise and capture Thomas, who was hurried before 
one of the judges of the court and sent back ta 
slavery. He was carried to Baltimore and imprisoned 
with the view of shipping him thence to the New 
Orleans market. By the timely efforts of his friends 
in Philadelphia money was raised, and the sum of 
one thousand dollars paid for his freedom. He after- 
wards became the popular caterer of Philadelphia, 
and died a few years ago, leaving a handsome com- 
petence to his family. Immediately following the 
capture of Thomas, by the direction of the brother-in- 
law, they went to Bristol and secured the services of 
a constable by the name of Brown, who repaired with 
the claimant and his friends to Doy lestown and obtained 
warrants from Judge Fox for the arrest of the three 
brothers. Basil, while ploughing at some distance 
from the house, was overpowered after a severe 
struggle by the slave-holder and his friends, placed 
in a carriage and taken to Bristol, three miles distant, 
where he was thrown into a cell used for criminals. 
I had just returned from the city and was in the act 
of eating my supper, when a neighbor's son came in 
great exitement to tell me that Basil had been carried 
off. I sprang from the table and hastening in the 
direction where I knew the man had been working, 
learned from the farmers assembled there the parti- 
culars of this outrage with the added information 
that he had been taken to Bristol. Burning with 
indignation, hatless as I was, I hurried thither, where 
I found the captors and the captive. 

" An excited crowd of iieoi)le was gathered about the 
market house, whom I addressed, and succeeded in 
enlisting their sympathies in behalf of the poor 
I victim. After a parley with the slave-holder, it was 
I agreed that we should meet there at seven o'clock iu 
the morning and start thence for the purpose of ap- 
pearing before Judge Fox, at Doylestown. Availing 
myself of the kind offer of a friend, I was driven 
rapidly home for the purpose of securing the safety 
of Basil's brothers. I was rejoiced to find them 
already there. They had heard of Basil's capture 
and were pursued by a part of those men led by 
Brown, who had taken him. These men had halted 
in a field near my residence, evidently deliberating 
how to proceed. By my advice, Charles, in whose 
hands I placed a double-barreled gun heavily charged, 
walked out in front of the house and defied them. 
The slave-catchers, thinking doubtless discretion the 
better part of valor, instantly departed. Under the 
cover of the darkness I wa.s enabled to convey the 
two men to my brother Joseph's farm, about two 
miles distant, and that night he drove forty miles and 
left them in New Jersey at the house of a friend. 
There they remained salely until an opportunity 



312 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



offered to send them to Canada. The next morning 
about six o'clock I was on my way to Bristol. Before 
reaching there I met a woman who informed me that 
at five o'clock a wagon passed her house and she 
heard Basil cry out, 'Go tell Mr. Purvis they are 
taking me off.' The object of the movement was to 
deceive me in regard to time and enable them to ap- 
pear before Judge Fox, and by ex-parte testimony 
have the case closed and the victim delivered into 
their custody. Upon receiving this information I 
hastened home and quickly harnessing a fleet trotting 
horse pursued them. I left instructions that Basil's 
wife and children should follow in anothei- carriage. 
By good fortune I came upon the fugitive kidnappers 
about four miles from Doylestown, where they had 
stopped for breakfast. I immediately drove to the 
residence of William H. Johnson, the noted aboli- 
tionist, who instantly took hold of the matter, and 
went out to spread the news far and wide among the 
anti-slavery peojjle. I arrived in Doylestown fully 
an hour before Basil was brought by his captors who 
were of course amazingly surprised to see me. I at 
once s?cured the services of the ablest lawyer in the 
town, Mr. Ross, the lather of the late Judge Ross, 
who urged the ])ostponement of the case upon Basil's 
oath of having free papers left in the hands of a 
friend living in Columbia, Pennsylvania. 

Doubtless the judge was deeply impressed by the 
appearance in the court-room of the delicate and 
beautiful wife and the young children clinging to the 
husband and father, who, looking the picture of 
despair sat with the evidence in his torn and soiled 
garments of the terible conflict through which he 
had passed. The claimant obtained legal services in 
the person of a Sir. Griffith, a young lawyer. Not- 
withstanding the urgency of their council to have the 
case immediately decided, the judge postponed it for 
two weeks. 

" This was all I expected to obtain. My duty lay 
clearly before me, and I resolved that no effort should 
be spared to secure Basil's freedom. With this view, 
I strove to arouse the colored people to rescue him in 
the event of liis being remanded to his captors. The 
plan adopted was to assemble in scjuads about the 
three leading roads of the town and use means ade- 
quate for the purpose of liberating him. Most fortu- 
nateh', however, by an unexpected turn of events, a 
resort to these desperate measures was rendered 
unnecessary. Desiring to make use of every available 
means to secure the liberty of this worthy man, I 
called upon that eminent lawyer and philanthropist, 
David Paul Brown, and asked him if he would not 
appear in behalf of the defense. He promptly re- 
sponded to my request, saying, ' I am always ready to 
defend the liberty of any human being.' I then ten- 
dered him a fee of fifty dollars, which he at once re- 
fused. " I shall not now," he said, " nor have I ever 
accepted fee or roward, other than the approval of my 
conscience, and I respectfully decline receiving you 



money, I shall be there;" and turning to his barber he 
asked : ' Will you get me up so that I can go in the 
stage coach which leaves at four o'clock in the 
morning?' 

"The day of trial came and the slave-holder was 
there, bringing with him additional proof in the per- 
sons of his neighbors to swear as to the identity of 
the man. Armed with the bill of sale, the victory 
seemed an easy one. The claimant at one time was 
willing to take five hundred dollars for his slave, which 
we agreed to give, yielding to the earnest entreaty of 
Basil, although it was in violation of our principles, 
as we have always denied the right of i)roperty in 
man. He advanced his price to eight hunth-ed 
dollars at Doylestown, and when that was agreed to 
declined taking less than one thousand dollars. Basil 
then said, ' No more offers if the decision goes against 
me. I will cut my throat in the court-h(nise ; I will 
not go back to sla\ery.' I applaiuled his resolution ; 
horrible as it might be, it seemed better than his 
return to a living death. There for the first time I 
unfolded our plans for his liberation. The case was 
called promj>tly at the hour agreed upon, and Mr. 
Griffith spreading out his bill of sale and pointing to 
his witnesses the friends of the claimant who had 
come for the })urpose of identifying this man as his 
property, opened his case with an air of the utmost 
confidence in the result. Mr. Brown in his turn 
quickly rose and the magnetism of his presence was 
felt by the crowded court-room, nine-tenths of whom 
were doubtless in symi)athy with the jjoor slave. He 
commenced by saying, ' I desire to test this case by 
raising every objection, and may it please your honor 
these gentlemen, who hail from Liberty, Frederic 
County, Md., are here according to law to secure their 
" pound of flesh," and it is my duty to see that they 
shall not get " one drop of blood." As a preliminary 
questi(m I demand authority to show that Maryldnd 
is a slave state.' 

"Mr. Griffith, with a self-satisfied air, remarked: 
" Why, Mr. Brown, everybody knows Maryland is a 
slave State.' 

"'Sir, everybody is nobody,' was the quick retort ot 
his opponent. 

"The judge entertained the objection, and Mr. 
Griffith went out and soon returned with a book con- 
taining a compilation of the laws of Maryland. The 
book was not considered authority, and poor Mr. 
Griffith, confused and disconcerted, re(iuested Mr. 
Brown to have the case postponed until afternoon. 

"' Do you make that request,' inquired his adver- 
sary, 'on the ground of ignorance of the law? ' 

"Mr. Griffith in an appealing tone said: 'Mr. 
Brown, I am a young man and this is my first case; 
I pray you do not ])ress your objections ; give me 
some time, for should I fail in this case, it would be 
ruinous to my future prospects.' 

" Laying his hand on the young lawyer's shoulder, 
BIr. Brown replied, ' TheJi, my dear sir, you will 



GRADUATES U. S. MILITARY AND NAVAL ACADEMIES. 



SI 3 



have the consolation of having done a good deed, 
though you did not intend it.' The judge was prompt 
in dismissing the ease, saying that he would not fur- 
nish another warrant, but they might secure his re- 
arrest by obtaining one from a magistrate. Profiting 
by this suggestion, Griffith and his clients hastih' left 
the court-room. I was equally prompt; having pre- 
viously ordered my horse and buggy to be brought in 
front of the court-house, I took hold of Basil and hur- 
ried him towards the door. In the excitement which 
prevailed, a colored man, who was outside, seeing me 
hustling Basil before me, and thinking he had been 
remanded to slavery and I was his master, raised a 
lieavy stick and was about to strike me, when a 
friendly hand interposed, and saved me from the 
blow. We were no sooner seated in the vehicle than 
the slave-catchers, armed with a magistrate's warrant, 
came rushing upon us. As they were about to seize 
the horse, a stroke of the whip on the young and ex- 
cited animal, caused him to rear and da.sh ahead. A 
round of hearty applause from the sympathizing 
crowd served as an additional impetus to urge us on- 
ward. After running the horse about two miles, I 
came upon a party of colored men who were to assist 
in rescuing the slave. Resting a short time, I pur- 
sued my journey to Philadelphia, a distance of twenty- 
six miles, and drove directly to my mother's house, 
where Basil was safely lodged. I afterwards accom- 
panied him to New York, and placed him in the 
hands of Joshua Leavitt, the editor of The Emancipa- 
tor, who sent him to Connecticut to find employment 
on his father's farm. He remained there some time 
and then removed with his family to Northampton, 
where he worked for Mr. Benson, a brother-in-law of 
William Lloyd Garrison. Mr. D.jrsey died a few 
years ago, a highly esteemc<l and respectable citizen, 
leaving a widow and a number of children." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

GRADUATES OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY 
AND NAVAL ACADEMIES. 

The following is the record of the graduates of the 
L^nited States Military Academy at West Point, N. Y., 
who were appointed from the congressional district 
of whicli Montgomery County is a part : 

Frascis Lee, born in Penusylvania. — Military 
Hixtory: Cadet at the United States Military Academy | 
from September 2, 1818, to July 1, 1822, when he was t 
graduated and jiromoted in the army to Second Lieu- 
tenant, Seventh Infantry, July 1, 1822. Served on 
frontier duty at Fort .Jessup, La., 1823-26; on quar- 
terraa-ster duty (first lieutenant. Seventh Infantry, 
September 24, 1824) at Fort Jessup, La., 1826-28, 
Fort Leavenworth, Kan., 1828-30 and Fort Jessup, 
La. (assistant-quartermaster. May 22, 1826, to May 



31, 1834), 1831-34; on frontier duty at Fort Gibson, 
Ind. Ter., 1834-36 ; Camp Desire (captain Seventh 
Infantry, May 31, 1834), near Fort Towson,Ind. Ter., 
1836 ; Camp Nacogdoches, Tex., 1836, and Fort Gib- 
son, lud. Ter., 1836-38 ; on recruiting service, 1838- 
40 ; in the Florida War, 1840—12 ; in garrison at Fort 
Pike, La., 1842-45 ; in military occupation of Texas, 
1845—16; in the war with Mexico, 1846-47, being 
engaged in the defence of Fort Brown, May 3-9, 1846 
(major. Fourth Infantry, February 16, 1847) ; on re- 
cruiting service, 1847; in the war w'ith Mexico, 1847- 
48, being engaged in the capture of San Antonio, 
August 20, 1847; battle of Cherubusco, August 20, 
1847 ; battle of Molino del Rev (brevet lieutenant- 
colonel, September 8, 1847, for gallant and meritorious 
conduct in the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco, 
Mexico), September 8, 1847, where he was wounded ; 
and assault and capture of the City of Mexico, 
September 13-14, 1847 (breyet colonel, September 

8, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct in 
the battle of Molino del Rey, Mexico); on fron- 
tier duty at Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., 1849; Fort 
Howard, Wis., 1849-51 ; Fort Snelling, Minn., 1851- 
53, 1853-54, and Fort Ridgely, Minn., 1854 (lieuten- 
ant-colonel. Sixth Infantry, March 9, 1851) ; in gar- 
rison at Jefferson Barracks, Mo , 1854-55 ; on frontier 
duty on Sioux Expedition, 185.5-56 ; Fort Pierre, 
Dak., 1856, and Fort Randall, Dak., 1856-57 (colonel. 
Second Infantry, October 18,1855); in command of 
the Department of the West, May 24 to October 2, 
1858 (headquarters at St. Louis, Mo.), and on sick 
leave of absence, 1858-59. Died January 19, 1859, at 
St. Louis, Mo., aged .55. 

Joseph H. Pawling, born in Pennsylvania.— 
Mdifarij Historij : Cadet at the United States Military 
Academy from July 1, 1825, to July 1, 1829, when he 
was graduated and promoted in the army to brevet 
second lieutenant. First Infantry, July 1, 1829. Served 
on frontier duty at Fort Crawford, Wis., 1829-30 ; re- 
signed November 30, 1830. Civil History : Counsellor- 
at-law, Doylestown, Pa., 1842-43; clerk in the War 
Department, Washington, D. C, 1843-47. Died July 

9, 1847, at Doylestown, Pa., aged 39. 

John H. Hill, born in Pennsylvania. — Military 
History: Cadet at the United States Military Academy 
from July 1, 1835, to July 1, 1839, when he was 
graduated and promoted in the army to second lieu- 
tenant, Second Dragoons, July 1, 1833; served on 
recruiting service, 1839; in tlie Florida War, 1839-40; 
on recruiting service, 184(1 ; in the Florida War, 
1840^1 ; on frontier duty at Fort Washita, Ind. Ter., 
1842-45 (first lieutenant, Second Dragoons, October 
8, 1841); in military occupation of Texas, 184.5—16; 
in the war with Mexico, 1846-47, being engaged in 
the siege of Vera Cruz, March 9-29, and skirmish of 
Puente del Medio, March 24, 1847. Died July 29, 
1847, at Puebla, Mexico, aged 28. 

WiSFiELD S. Hancock, born Penn.sylvania,^ 
Military History : cadet at the LTnited States Military 



314 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Academy from July 1, 1840, to July 1, 1844, where 
he was graduated and promoted in the army to brevet 
second lieutenant, 6th infantry. July 1, 1844, served 
on fron tier duty at Fort Towson.Ind.Ter., 1844— 45, and 
at Fort Washita, Ind. Ter., 184.'5-47 ; on recruiting ser- 
vice, 1847 ; in the War with Mexico (second lieuten- 
ant, tith infantry, June 17, 1846) 1847-48, being 
engaged in the defence of Convoy at the National 
Bridge, August 12, 1847, — Skirmish at Plan del Rio, 
August 15, 1847 ; capture of San Antonio, August 12, 
1847; battle of Cherubusco, August 20, 1847, (brevet 
first lieutenant, August 20, 1847, for gallant and 
meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and 
Cherubusco, Mexico); battle of Moliuo del Rey, 
September 8, 1847, and assault and capture of the 
City of Mexico, September 13-14, 1847 ; in garrison 
at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., 1848 ; as quartermaster 
6th infantry, June 30, 1848 to October 1, 1849, and 
adjutant, Octolier 1, 1849 to November 7, 1855, at 
regimental headiiuarters at Fort Crawford, Iowa, 1848- 
49; St. Louis, Mo., 1849-51, and Jefferson Barracks, 
Mo., 1851-52, 1852-55 (first lieutenant 6th infantry, 
January 27, 1853, to June 5, 1860); as assistant adju- 
tant-general of the department of the west, head- 
quarters at St. Louis, Mo., June 19 to November 27, 
1855 (captain staff', assistant quartermaster, Novem- 
ber 7, 1855) ; on quartermaster duty at Fort Myers, 
Fla., 1856-57 ; during hostilities against the Seminole 
Indians ; Fort Leavenworth, Kan., with troops quell- 
ing Kansas disturbances, August 1, to December 
31, 1857, and at Depot, January 1, to March 31, 1858 ; 
at headquarters of Utah reinforcements, May 15, to 
July 15, 1858; on march with 6th infantry from 
Fort Bridger, LTtah, to California, August 13, to 
November 15, 1858 ; and chief quartermaster of 
southern district of California at Los Angeles, May 
5, 1859 to August 3, 1861. Served during the Rebel- 
lion of the Seceding States, 1861-66 ; in the defenses 
of AVashington, D. C, September 1861 to March 
1862; (brigadier-general United States volunteers, 
September 23, 1861). In the Virginia Peninsula 
campaign (Army of the Potomac), March,-August, 
1862, being engaged in the siege of Yorktown, April 
5,-May 4, 1862 ; battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862 ; 
battle of the Chickahominy, June 27, 1862; action of 
Golding's Farm, June 28, 1862; battle of Savage 
Station, June 29, 1862; battle of White Oak Swamp, 
June 30, 1862, and retreat to Harrison's Landing, 
July 1-4, 1862 ; on the movement to Centreville, Va., 
August-September, 1862 ; in the Maryland campaign ; 
(.\rniy of the Potomac) September-November, 1862, 
being engaged in the battle of Crampton's Pass, 
South Mountain, September 14, 1862 ; battle of 
Antietam, September 17, 1862; r'econnoisance from 
Harper's Ferry to Charlestown, Va., October 10-11, 
1862; march to Falmouth, Va., October-November, 
1862 (umjor-gencral United States volunteers, Novem- 
ber 29, 1862, to July 26, 1866) ; in the Rappahannock 
campaign (Army of the Potomac), December, 1862. 



June 1863 being engaged in the battle of Fredericks- 
burg, December 13, 1862, and battle of Chancellors- 
ville. May 2-4, 1863 ; in the Pennsylvania campaign, 
.lune-July, 1863 ; in command of 2d corps of the 
Army of the Potomac, being engaged in the battle of 
Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863, where he was severely 
wounded in the repulse of Longstreet's attack upon 
our left centre, which he at the time commanded ; 
on sick leave of absence, disabled by wound, July 4- 
December 27, 1863; ( major, staff-quartermaster. 
United States army, November 30, 1863), in com- 
mand of, and recruiting 2d army corps, January- 
March, 1864; in the Richmond campaign, comnumd- 
ing 2d corps of Army of the Potomac, being engaged 
in the battle of the Wilderness, May 5-6,1864; bat- 
tles of Spottsylvania, May 9-20, 1864; battle of 
North Anna, May 23-24, 1804; battle of Tolopotomy, 
May 29-81, 1864;" battle of Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864,. 
and operations in its vicinity, Juue 3-12, 1864 ; 
march to James River, June 12-15, 1864; battle be- 
fore Petersburg, June 16-18, 1864 ; on sick leave of 
absence, on account of breaking out of Gettysburg 
wound, .Tune 19-27, 1864; in operations about Peters- 
burg, in command of 2d corps, Army of the Potomac, 
being engaged in the battles of Deep Bottom (in 
command), July 27-29, and August 15-20, 1864, 
(brigadier-general United States array, August 12, 
1864) ; battle of Reams' Station (in command), 
August 25, 1864, battle of Boydton Plank-Road (in 
command), October 27, 1864 ; siege of Petersburg, 
June 15-Xovember 2(i, 1864; at Washington, D. C, 
organizing First Army Corjjs of veterans, November 27, 
1864 to February 27, 1875 ; in command of Depart- 
ment of West Virginia and temporarily of the Mid- 
dle Military Division and Army of the Shenandoah, 
February 27 to July 18, 1865, (brevet major-general 
T'nited States army, JIarch 13, 1865, for gallant and 
meritorious services at battleof Spottsylvania, Va.) ; of 
the Middle Dei)artment July 18, 18(i5, to August 10, 
1866; of Department of the Missouri (major-general 
United States army, July 26, 1866), August 20, 1866, 

to , being engaged on expedition against the 

Indians of the plains, March, 1867, to ; on board 

for retiring disabled officers at Pliiladel])hia, Pa., 
November 27, 1865, to August 30, 18()6, and on board 
to make recommendations in regard to ordnance, 
January 30-June 4, 1866 ; in command of the De- 
partment of the Missouri, August 20, 1866, to Septem- 
ber 12, 1867 ; of the Fifth Military District November 
29, 1867, to March 16,1868; of the Division of the 
Atlantic, March 31, 1868, to March 5, 1869; of the 
Department of Dakota May 17, 1869, to December 3, 
1872 ; of the Division of the Atlantic, headquarters 

New York City, December 16, 1872, to ; and of 

the Department of the East, December 16, 1872 to 
October 29, 1873, and November 8, 1877, to— — ; and 
as member of the court of inquiry in the case of 
General Dyer, November 9, 1868, to May 15, 1869, 
and of board to examine officers unfit for the proper 




'7^ J — / / 




Cc-'i^ O^- 





GRADUATES U. S. MILITARY AND xNAVAL ACADEMIES. 



315 



discharge of their duties, etc., October 17, 1S70, to 
June 3, 1871. 

Adam J. (^le.mmer, born in Pennsylvania. — Milihiry 
History : Cadet at the United States Military ,\cademy 
from September 1, 1846, to July 1, 1850, when he was 
graduated and promoted in the army to brevet second 
lieutenant of artillery, July 1, 18.50 ; served in Florida 
hostilities again.st the Seminole Indians, 18.50-.51 
(second lieutenant First Artillery, February 22, 18.51); 
on frontier duty at San Diego, Cal., 1851-52; San Louis 
Rey, Cal., 1852; San Diego, Cal., 1853-54; and Fort 
Yuma, Cal., 1854 (first lieutenant First Artillery, April 
30, 1854); in garrison at Fort Moultrie, S. C, 1855; at 
the Military Academy 18.55-59, as assistant professor 
of geography, history and ethics September 13, 1869 
to September 6, 1856, and assistant professor of 
mathematics September 9, 1856 to August 31, 1859; in 
garrison at Fort Moultrie, S. C, 1859-60, and Bar- 
rancas Barracks, Fla., 1856-61 ; served during the Re- 
bellion of the seceding states, 1861-66; in command of 
Fort Barrancas and barracks till January 10, 1861, 
when he transferred his forces to Fort Pickens, in 
defen.se of which he remained till May 9, 1861, being 
in command till April 14, 1861; in garrison at Fort 
Hamilton, N. Y., May 18 to July 3, 1861 (major Six- 
teentli Infantry May 14, 1861); in organizing and re- 
cruiting his regiment at Chicago, 111., July 3 to 
August 20, 1861 ; as acting inspector-general of the 
Department of the Ohio, August 20 to November 
5, 1861, being engaged on an expedition from Parkes- 
burg to Roane C. H., Va., September, 1861 ; on 
sick leave of absence December 12, 1861, to May 
12, 1862; in Major-General Buell's operations in 
Mississippi, North Alabama, Tennessee and Ken- 
tucky, May-November 1862, being engaged in the 
siege of Corinth, May 13-30, 1862, movement to 
Louisville, Ky., June-September, 1862, and advance 
into Kentucky by Bowling Green to relieve Nash- 
ville, September-November, 1862 ; in the Tennessee 
campaign (Army of the Cumberland), November 7, 
to December 31, 1862, (brigadier-general United States 
Volunteers, November 29, 1862), being engaged in the 
battle of Stone River, December 31, 1862, where he 
was severely wounded (lirevet lieutenant-colonel 
December 31, 1862, for gallant and meritorious ser- 
vice at the battle of Murfreesboro', Tenn.); on sick 
leave of absence, disabled by wound, March 10 
to July 3, 1863; as president of board of examiners 
of sick and wounded officers at Columbus and Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, July 3, 1863 to September 14, 1865 
(lieutenant-colonel Fourth Infantry February 8, 
1864); in garrison at Fort Schuyler, N. Y., Septem- 
ber 30 to November 24, 1865, and Jladison Barracks, 
brevet colonel March 13, 1865, for gallant and meri- 
torious service during the Rebellion (brevet brigadier- 
general. United States Army March 13, 1865, for gal- 
lant and meritorious service during t)ie Rebellion) ; 
Sackett's Harbor, N. Y'., November 28, 18(55 to 
October 1, 1863 (mustered out of volunteer service 



August 24, 1865); on board for the examination of 
candidates for promotion in the army, October 1> 
1866 to October 1867; on frontier duty at Fort 
Laramie, Dak., November 17, 1867 to October 7, 
1868; died October 7, 1868, at Fort Laramie, Dak. 
aged forty. 

Hexey W. Freedley, born in Pennsylvania. — 
Military History: Cadet at the United States Military 
Academy from July 1, 1852, to July 1, 1855, when he 
was graduated and promoted in the army to brevet 
second lieutenant of infantry July 1, 18.55; served 
in garrison at Fortress Monroe, Va., 1855, and on 
frontier duty at Fort Fillmore, N. M., 1856 (second 
lieutenant Third Infantry September 30, 1855); Tuc- 
son, Arizona., 1856-57 ; Fort P^illmore, N. M., 1857-58 ; 
Los Lunas, N. M., 1858-59; Fort Defiance, N. M., 
1859; Los Lunas, N. M., 1859-60; march to Texas, 
1860 ; J^ort Clark, Tex., 1860-61, and on quartermaster 
duty at San Antonio, Tex., 1861, where he was cap- 
tured and paroled (captain Third Infantry May 14, 
1861); served during the Rebellion of the seceding 
states, 1862-66 ; as assistant to the commissary-general 
of prisoners at Washington, D. C, June 14, 1862, to 
April 10, 1863 ; in the Rappaliannock campaign (Army 
of the Potomac) April to June, 1863, being engaged 
in the battle of Chancellorsville May 2^, 1863 ; in 
the Pennsylvania campaign, in command of the Third 
Infantry (Army of the Potomac), .hineto July, 1863; 
being engaged in the liattle of (iettysburg, July 1-3, 
1863, where he was wounded ; on sick leave of absence, 
disabled by wound, July 4, 1863 to November 23, 1864 
(brevet lieutenant-colonel July 2, 1863, for gallant and 
meritorious services at the battle of Gettysburg, Pa.); 
in command of draft dejiot at Carlisle, Pa., November 
23, 1864 to May 30, 18(;5; as mustering officer at 
Providence, R. I., May .30. 1865 to February 1, 1866; 
on quartermaster and commissary duty at Jeffei-son 
Barracks, Mo., February 1 to March 28, 1866; on re- 
cruiting service March 28, 1866 to February 21, 1868 
(major Thirty-nintli Infantry July 28, 1866); on duty 
at headquarters Department of California, June to 
September 25, 1868 (major Fourteenth Infantry De- 
cember 31, 1867); as deputy governor of "Soldiers' 
Home," near Washington, D. C, September 11, 1869, 
to February 21, 1870 (retired from active service, as 
colonel, September 25, 1868 (changed to major March 
3, 1875), for disability from wounds received in battle). 

Charj.es H. Brightly, born in Pennsylvania. — 
Military History : Cadet at the United States Military 
Academy from September 1, 1857, to June 24, 1861, 
when he was graduated and promoted in the army to 
brevet second lieutenant Fourth Infantry June 24, 
1861 ; second lieutenant Fourth Infantry June 24, 
1861; first lieutenant Fourth Infantry June 24, 1861; 
served during the Rebellion of the seceding states, 
1861-64; in drilling volunteers at Washington, D. C, 
June to July, 1861 ; as mustering officer at Trenton, 
N. J., August 30, 1861 to April 21, 1862; as aid-de- 
camp to Brigadier-General Whipple in the defenses 



316 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of Washington, D. C, May 6 to October 10, 1S62 
(nutjor of staff', additional aid-de-camp, June 17, 1862 
to Febrnary 7, 1SG3), and on tlic Rappahannock River, 
October to November, 1862; on leave of absence No- 
vember 28, 1862 to March 17, 1863 (captain Fourth 
Infantry September 16, 1862); in command of com- 
pany at Falmouth, Va., March 17 to April 20, 1863; 
on sick leave of absence April 20 to August 21, 1863 
(brevet major May 3, 1863, for gallant and meritorious 
services at the battle of Chancellorsville, Va.); as 
instructor of heavy artillery drill at Fort Richmond, 
N. Y., September 17, 1863 to January 19, 1864; in 
command of regiment at Fort Wood, N. Y., January 
10 to April 23, 1864; in the Richmond campaign, 
commanding Fonrth Infantry (Army of the I'otoniac), 
Ajn-il to May, 18()4, licing engaged in the battle of the 
Wilderness May 6, 1864 (brevet lieutenant-colonel 
May 5, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services at 
the battle of the Wilderness, Va.), when he was mor- 
tally wounded; and on sick leave of absence, disabled 
by wound, May 7 to June 9, 1864; died June 9, 1864, 
at Philadelphia, Pa., of wounds received at the battle 
of the Wilderness, Va., aged twenty-five. 

William H. Chase, born in Pennsylvania. — 
Military History : Cadet at the United States Military 
Academy from July 1, 1861 to June 23, 1865, when 
he was graduated an<l promoted in the army to second 
lieutenant First Artillery June 23, 1865 ; served in 
garrison at Fort Totten, D. C, October 1 to 17, 
1865; Fort Wadsworth, N. Y., October 18, 1865 to 
May 7, 1866; at Fort Trumbull, Conn., May 7 to 
June 22 (first lieutenant First Artillery February 1st), 
1866, being detadied to the Canadian frontier to pre- 
vent Fenian raids, June 2, 1866 ; with Engineer Bat- 
talion at Willctt's Point, N. Y., June 27, 1866 ; 
transferred June 2, 1866, to rank as first lieutenant of 

Corps of Engineers from February 1, 1866 to , 

being battalion quartermaster from November 6, 

1866 to ; on engineer recruiting service from 

November 8 to Uecemlier 14, 1866. 

James FoRXAXCE.born in Pennsylvania. — Military 
History: Cadet at tlie Ignited States Jlilitary Academy 
from September 1, 1867 to June 12, 1871, when he 
was graduated and jiromoted in the army to second 
lieutenant Thirteenth Infantry, June 12, 1871 ; served 
on friintier duty at Camp Douglas, Utah, September 
3<l, 1871 to December, 1872 ; Camp Stambaugh, Wyo- 
ming, April 27 to November 11, 1872; first lieuten- 
ant Thirteenth Infantry June 29, 1872; Fort Fred. 
Steele, Wyoming, December 16, 1872 to February 15, 
1874; Sioux expedition to March, 1874, and Camp 
Rol)inson, Nebraska, to October 11, 1874 ; in garrison 
at New Orleans, La., October 23, 1874 to June 1, 
1875; Baton Rouge, La., June 2, 1875 to February 
29, 1876 ; Bayou Sara, La., March 1 to November 11, 

1876 ; leave of absence from April 9 to October 8, 
1876; New Orleans, La., Novend>er 13, 1876 to May 
25, 1877; Baton Rouge, La., May 26 to July 28, 

1877 ; Louisville, Kv., Wilkesbarre and Scranton, 



Pa., suppressing railroad disturbances, July 28 to 
October 31, 1877 ; Baton Rouge, La., October 31, 
1877. 

t^EOKGE R. Burnett, cadet at the United States 
Military Academy from 1876 to 1880 ; second lieu- 
tenant Ninth Cavalry U.S.A. 

Record of the graduates of the United States Naval 
Academy, at Annai)olis, Md., who were from the 
Congressional district to which Montgomery County 
belonged : 

Midshipmen. — Fredrick V. JIcNAiR,born in Penn- 
sylvania; Appointed from Pennsylvania September 21, 
1853; Naval Academy, 1853-57; steam frigate "Min- 
nesota," East India squadron, 1857-59; steam sloop 
"Iroquois," West (tulf squadron, 1861-62; bombard- 
ment of Forts Jackson and St, I'hilip and Chalmette 
batteries; engagement at Grand Gulf; pa,ssage both 
ways of Vicksburg batteries and destruction of rebel 
ram " Arkansas " ; commissioned as lieutenant April 
18,1861; steam sloop "Juniata," 1862-3 ; steamsloop 
" Seminole," Western Gulfblockadingsquadron, 1863- 
64; steam sloop " Juniata," South Atlantic blockading 
squadron, 1864-65 ; at both attacks on Fort Fisher ; 
commissioned aslieutenant commander April 20, 1864; 
steam sloop "Juniata," Brazil squadron, 1865-66; 
steamer " Brooklyn," flag-ship South Atlantic .squad- 
ron, 1866-67; Naval Academy, 1868; frigate " Frank- 
lin," flag-ship Eurtqiean squadron, 1868-69; commis- 
sioned commander January 29, 1872. 

Frederick J. Naile, born in Pennsylvania. — 
Ajjpointed October 27, 1859 ; Naval Academy, 1859-61 ; 
attached to frigate " St. Lawrence," Atlantic coast, 
1861 ; sinking of privateer " Petrel," 1861; steam sloop 
"(Oneida," Western (Jnlf blockading squadron, 1862; 
attack on and passage of Forts Jackson and St. Philip 
and Chalmette batteries ; capture of New Orleans ; 
bombardment and passage of Vicksburg batteries 
twice; promoted to ensign, 1862; Mississippi squad- 
ron, 1863-65 ; signal-oflicer of " Black Hawk," 1863-4; 
commanded flag-ships "Black Hawk" and "Tem- 
pest," 1864r-65 ; Red River expedition, 1864; co-opera- 
tion of the Mississippi .squadron, on the Cumberland 
and Tennessee, with the army under General Thomas, 
in the defeat of the rebel General Hood; commis- 
sioned as lieutenant February 22, 1864 ; steamer 
" Lenapee," Atlantic squadron, 1866-7 ; commissioned 
as lieutenant-commander July 25, 1866 ; steamer 
"Penobscot," North Atlanticsquadron, 1868-69; signal 
duty, 1869-70, at Washington, D. C; retired, 1871, 
from disability, caused by sickness and exposure on 
duty. 

T. F. MosER, 1864 to 1870. 

J. L. HuxsiCKER, 1867 to 1873. 

W. G. Hannum, 1872 to 1878. 

Thomas H. Mathews, 1876 to 1882. 

Cadet Engineers. — Charles C. Lubbe, 1874-78. 
Drowned at Cape May, 1878. 

Edward O. C. Acker. 1874-78. In service. 



MONTGOMERr COUNTY ESTABLISHED. 



311 



William H. Gartley, 1877-81. Resigned. 
Charles W. Dyson, 1879-88. In service. 
George F. Zixxel, 1879-S3. Resigned. 



CHAPTER XX, 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY ESTABLISHED— MUNICIPAL 
GOVERNMENT— THE "COUNTRY SQUIRE." 

Montgomery County was established September 
10, 1784/ by act of the General Assembly of the com- 
monwealth of Pennsylvania. The act was approved 
by the Supreme Executive Council. The following 
gentlemen comjiosed the Council at that period: His 
Excellency John Dickinson, Esq. (president), the 
Honorable James Irvine, Stephen Balliot, George 
AVall, Jr., Barnard Dougherty, John McDowel, John 
Byers, Sebastian Levan, John Neville, Samuel J. 
Atlee, Isaac Ma.son. 

As public convenience- in the administration of 
justice was a moving consideration in the formation 
of new counties, the following message from His Ex- 
cellency John Dickinson, President of the Council, 
to the Assembly, delivered January 19, 1784, is of 
interest, as showing the responsibility devolving upon 
those who were charged with the execution of the 
laws : 

"Gentlemen, — It is much to be desired that the system of uur jtiris- 
prudence may receive every improvement we can give it as soon as such 
a work can be accomplislied. Constancy in the laws, the preservation of 
domestic concord, order, and tranijuillity, and a strength sufficiently pre- 
pared for defense against injuries are essential to the happiness of a State. 
They are also the foundations of a reputation that invites an accession of 
ingenious and industrious people from other parts of the world to share 
*n the blessings of which such a character offers them an assurance. 
Every citizen, therefore, who respects his own interests, the welfare of 
his family, or the prosperity of his country, will desire and endeavor that 
the vast importance of these subjects may be perfectly understood and 
religiously regarded." 

The first judges of the several courts of the county 
were appointed by the Supreme Executive Council, 
as follows: Frederick A. Muhlenberg, Esq., James 
Morris, Esq., John Richards, Esq., Henry Scheetz, 
Esq., William Dean, Esq. 

1 AiUe p. i. 

2 We belieTe the name Montgomery to have been given to the county 
in honor of the Montgomeryshire, in Wales. This name was given to a 
township prior to the fall of General jVIontgomery, and before the county 
was created. The number and influential character of the Welsh set- 
tlers and land-owners residing here at the time the county was formed, 
i:^ a reason to induce this belief, while there can be but little doubt that 
the name and public services of General Montgomery conspired to make 
the selection a popular one. L. H. Davis, Esq., of Pottstown, a gentle- 
man who has given the subject attention, has another possible derivation 
of the name, — i. e., that there were two members of the Legislature 
named Montgomery, in the session of 1784, Joseph Montgomery, of 
Lancaster, and W'illiam Montgomery', of Xorthumberland, both of whom 
Mr. Davis alleges, took an active part in supporting the bill creating the 
county. The original petition of the citizens, is is said, was blank as to 
the name ; this circumstance would seem to favor Mr. DavLs' view, 
while it is possible that the " Montgomerys "' of the Assembly anticipated 
the natural wishes of the Welsh, and utilized the name of General Mont- 
gomery with that of their own. 



The first court^ was held December 28, 1784, in the 
barn on the premises owned by John Shannon, Hhen 
known and licensed as the Barley Sheaf Hotel, situ- 
ated in Xorriton township, on what is now the 
Gennantown turnpike, a short distance northwest 
of Hartrauft Station, on the Stony Creek Eailroad. 




BARLEY SUEAF BARX. 

Zebulon Potts, the first sheriff of the county, was 
elected October 14, 1784, and commissioned by the 
Executive Council. Thomas Craig was appointed 
the first prothonotary September 10, 1784, and com- 
missioned by John Dickinson, president of the Ex- 
ecutive Council on the following day, September 11, 

3 MINUTES OF FIRST COURT HELD IN M0NTG0M:ERY COUNTY. 

'* MONTGOMEEY COUNTY, V SS. 

" Minutes of a Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace, in and for the 
Countj- of Montgomery, held at the bouse of John Shannon, on Tuea- 
daj', the 'iOth day of December, 1784. 

"Present, Frederick Auf!vistu8 Muhlenberg, James Norris, John 
Richards, Henrj- Scheetz, William Dean, Esquires. 

"The Court opened at 1*2 o'clock. M. Proclamation being made en- 
joining all manner of persons to keep silence. Commissions from the 
Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania were read appointing the 
following Gentlemen Justices of the^Peace, viz. : William Dean, Esquire, 
bearing date July 14, 1783 ; Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, Esq., 
March 19, 1784 ; John Richards and Henry Scheetz, June 24, 1784 ; and 
James Morris, Esq., September 20, 1784 ;j and a commission to Thomas 
Craig, Esq., appointing him Clerk of the Court of General Quarter Ses- 
sions of the Peace. 

" Proclamation for the SheriflF of Montgomery Conntj' to return the 
Precept to him directed being made ; the said Sheriff to wit, Zebulon 
Potts, Esquire, returns a Grand Jury, to wit : Thomas Rees, Henry 
Cunnard, James Wotmougli, Linzey Coats, Robert Shannon. John Rut- 
ter, James Stroud, Lewelling Young, Henry Powling, Samuel Wheeler, 
Peter Muhlenberg, Archibald St. Clair, Samuel Holstein, William Lain, 
James Veaux, Robert Curry, John Edwards, Benjamin Markley, Jacob 
Auld, Anthony Carothers, Frederick Weise, Nathan Pawling, Abe 
Morgan, Francis Swain, who were all except Archibald St. Clair and 
Frederick Weise, severally sworn or affirmed. 

"Proclamation being made for silence, the President, Frederick Augus- 
tus Muhlenberg, delivered the charge to the Grand Jury. 

" This proceeding was followed by a return of the Constables of the 
Several Townships. 

'* The only cases adjudicated at this Court were the Overseers of the 
Poor of New Hanover Township. v$. The Overseers of the Poor of Provi- 
dence Township, and the Overseers of the Poor of ^Miitemarsh Township 
v». the Overseers of the Poor of Springfield Township." — Quarter Sessiona 
Docket, No. 1. p. 1. 

*The premises are now owned and occupied by Benjamin Baker, who 
rebuilt the barn some years since ; the court-house hara was built in 
1735. 



318 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



1784, the same Thomas Craig was appointed clerk of 
courts, and duly commissioned by the same authority. 
The first recorder of deeds was Augustus Muhlenberg. 
He was appointed on the 21st of September, 1781, by 
the Executive Council, and on the same day was ap- 
pointed register of wills. The office of county com- 
missioner appears to liave been organized in 1790. 
No records can be found of an earlier date. The fol- 
lowing-named persons constituted the board at that 
date: Christian Scheid, Nathan Potts, John Mann. 
The earliest county treasurer of which we find record 
was Isaac ilarkley. Directors of the poor were not 
county officers at the date Montgomery County was 
organized. 

At this period the State had no Governor, no State 
Senate. The several States were acting under the 
Articles of Confederation, adopted November 15, 1777. 
The Constitution of the United States had not then 
been achjjited, and the first Congress did not assemljle 
until 1789. 

The only representation the county had was in the 
General Assembly of Pennsylvania. The first mem- 
bers elected to represent IMontgomery County in the 
General Assembly were Peter Richards, Robert LoUer, 
George Smith, and Benjamin Rittenhouse. The first 
Senator elected under the revised Constitution of 1789 
was Linsay Coates. 

CIVIL LIST OF LEGISLATIVE .\ND COUNTV OFFICERS. 

VNITED STATES SENATORS FROM MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 

Peter Mulileiiberg. 
Jonuthau Roberts, 181.5-21. 

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, REPRESENTING MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 

First United States Congress, 17811-01 (Pennsylvania elected eight 
members ;it Inrgc).— Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg. 
Chester and Montginnery Cimntiea. 

Second United States Congress, 1791-93.— Frederick A. Sluhlcnberg. 

Tliird United States Congress, 17"j:j-9o. — Frederick A. ^lulilenberg. 

Fourtli United States Congress, 1795-97.— Frederick A. Muhlenl)erg. 

Fiftli United States Congress, 1797-99. 

BhcA's, Mo}ilgomei'!/, Northampton^ ]V<tiitte and Luzerne Comities. 

Sixth United .States Congress, 1799-lSOl (elect three members). — 
Peter Ululilenberg. 

.Seventh United States Congress, 1801-3.— Peter Muhlenberg. 

Eighth United .States Congress, 1803-5.— Frederick Conrad. 

Kinth United States Congress, 1805-7.— Frederick Conrad. 

Tenth I'nited States Congress, 1807-9. 

Eleventh United States Congress, 1809-11. 

Chester and Montgomei-y CounticB. 

Twelfth United States Congress, 1811-13 (elect two members). 

Thirteenth United States Congress, 181.3-15. 

Fourteenth United States Congress, 1815-17. — lohn Hahn. 

Fifteenth United States Congress, 1817-19.- John Hahn. 

Sixteenth United States Congress, 1819-21.— Samuel Gross. 
Montgomery Covntijf District 5. 

Seventeenth United States Congress, 1821-23.— Samuel Gross. 

Eighteenth United States Congress, 1823-25.— Philip S. Markley. 

Nineteenth United States Congress, 1825-27.— Philip S. Markley. 

Twentieth United States Congress, 1827-29.— John B, Sterigere. 

Twenty-first United States Congress, 1829-31.- John B. Sterigere. 

Twenty-second United States Congress, 1831-;i3,— Joel K. Mann. 

Twenty-third United States Congress, 1833-35.— Joel K. Mann. 

Twenty-fourth United States Congress, 1835-37.— Jacob Fry, Jr. 

Twenty-fifth United States Congress, 1837-39,— Jacob Fry, Jr. 

Twenty-sixth United States Congress, 1839-41.— Joseph Fornance. 

Twenty-seventh United States Congress, 1841-43,— Joseph Fornance. 



Uehtware and Montgomery Comities^ District 5. 
Twenty-eighth United States Congress, 1843-45. — Jacob S. Yost. 
Twenty-ninth United States Congress, 1845^7. — Jacob S. Yost. 
Thii-tieth United States Congress, 1847-49. — John Freedley. 
Thirty-fii-st United States Congress, 1849-51. — John Freedley. 
Thirty -second United States Congress, 1851-53. — John 3IcNair. 

Montgiiniery and Part of Philadelpliia Coltidy, District 5. 
Thirty-third United States Congress, 18,53-55. — John McNair. 
Thirty-fourth United States t'ongress, 1855-.57. — John Cadwalader, 
Thirty-fiftli United States Congress, 1857-59,— Owen Jones, 
Thirty-sixth United States Congress, 1850-61, — John Wood, 
Thii-ty-soventh Uniteii States Congress, 1801-63. — Wm, Morris Davis. 

Hfoiitymncry and Lehigh Connties, DistrUt 6. 
Thirty-eighth United States ( 'ougress, 1863-05.— John D. Stiles. 
Thirty-ninth United States Congress, 1865-67.- B, Markley Boyer. 
Fortieth United States Congress, 18C7-C9.-,B, Markley Boyer, 
F'orty-first United States Congress, 1860-71,— John D, Stiles, 
Forty-second United States Congress, 1871-73, — Ephraini L, .\cker. 
Forty-third United States Congress, 1873-75, — James S, Biery. 

Montgomery and Bucks Ojimfws, District 7, 
Forty-fourth United States Congress, 187.5-77.— .\llan Wood, Jr. 
Forty-fifth United States Congress, 1877-79. — I. Newton Evans. 
Forty-sixth I'nited Stales Congress, 1879-81. — William Godshalk. 
Forty-seventh I'niteii Stjites Congress, 1881-83.- William Godshalk. 
Forty-eighth United States Congress, 1883-86.— I. Ne\.ton Evans. 

State Senators. 

1796. — Zebnlon Pott.s. 

1706-97. — Montgomery, Chester and Bucks comi)rised a Senatorial Dis- 
trict, and was represented i)y William Chapman, of Bucks. 

1797-98,— Joseph McClellan, 

1798-99.— Dennis Wheeler. 

1790-1801.- Zebulon Potts. 

1801-7. — lohn Richards, 

1807-11,— Jonathan Roberts, Jr, 

1811-15, — Samuel tir(,)ss, 

1815-19. — George Weaver. 

1819-24.- Philip S. JIarkley. 

1824-20. — loel K, Maun, 

1829-31,— Benjamin Reiff, Esc], 

1832-35, — lohn 3Iatthews, .\ccording to the provisions of the Appor- 
tionment Bill of June 16, 1836, the Third Senatorial District was com- 
posed of the counties of Montgomery, Chester and Delaware. 

1836-40.— Henry Myera, of Chester. 

1840-41,— John B, Sterigere, 

1841-13, — .\braham Brower. .\ccording to the provisions of the Ap- 
portionment Bill of April 14, 1843, tlie Third .Senatorial District was 
composed of and represented by Montgomery alone. 

1843-46.— John B. Sterigere. 

1846-49.— George Richards. 

1849-62.— Joshua Y'. Jones. 

1852-55. — Beiy'amin Frick. 

1856-58.— Thomas P, Knox. 

1858-61. — lohn Thompson, 

1861-64, — John C. Smith. .According to the provisions of the Appor- 
tionment Bill of May 5, 1864, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware were 
called the Fifth Senatorial District, and represented by Horace Royer, of 
Montgomery, and Wiliner Worthington, of Delaware, from 1864 to 1867. 

1868-70. — Charles Stinsun. 

1871-73. — Henry S. Evans, of Chester, .\ccording to the provisions of 
the Constitution of 1873, Montgomery Count.v is styled the Twelfth Sen- 
atorial District, and represented by William A. Y'eakle from 1873 to 
1876. 

1876-78.— Jones Detwiler. 

1879-81.— Lewis Royer. 

1882 to present. — William Henry Sutton. 

Members of the State Legislature.^ 
1784. — Peter Richards, Robert LoUer, George Smith, Benjamin Ritten- 
house. 



1 Piior to the adoption of the Constitution of 1790 the Legislature 
of Pennsylvania consisted of one House, known as the General As- 
sembly. 



MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 



319 



1785. — Benjamin Ritteuhouse, Robert Loller, Peter Richards, Thomas 
Rees.i 

178G. — Charles Moore, Samuel Wlieeler, James Hockley, Jacob Reift'. 

1787. — Jacob RelfF, Robert Loller, Benjamin Rittenhouse, Poter 
Richards. 

1788. — Robert Loller, Jacob Reiff, Peter Richards, John Roberts. 

1789.— Jacob Reift, John Roberts, Ik-njamin Markley, James Vaiix. 

179U. — Benjamin 3Iarkley, John Roberts, James Vau.x, Cadwahuler 
Evans. 

17'Jl. — Cadwalader Evans, Jost-pb Tyson, James Vaux, Isiiiah Davis. 

1792. — Isaiah Davis, Joseph Tyson, Cadwalader Evans, John Shoe- 
maker. 

1793-95. — Calwalader Evans, Joseph Tyson, John Shoemaker, Isaiah 
Davis. 

179G. — Cadwalader Evans, Abm. Schultz, Joseph Tyson, John Shoe- 
maker. 

1797. — Cadwalader Evans, Beiyamin Brooke, Peter Muhlenberg, Na- 
thaniel Boileau.- 

1798. — lltnjamiu Biookf, Nathaniel Boili-au, Frederick Conrad, Cad- 
walader Evans. 

1799. — Frfderick Cunrad, Xatlianiel Boilean, Jonathan Ruberts, Isaiah 
Davis. 

18(iiM.— Nathaniel Ituilean, Isaiah Davis, Frederick C»>nrud, Jonathan 
Roberts, Jr. 

180*2. — Samnel Hendereon, AVilliani Hagy, Cadwalader Evans, Isaiah 
Davis. 

1803-4. — Natlnxniel Boileau, Henry Scheetz, SamncI Gross, John 
I^Iann. 

1805. — Cadwalader Evans, Samuel Miles, Samuel Rees, William Hall- 
man. 

]8(t7-8. — Nathaniel Boileau, Sanniel Groff, Isaiah Davis, John Weber. 

1S09-10.— Ri.liard Leech, Jolin Weber, Matthew Brooke, George 
Weaver. 

1811. — Jesse Bean, Benjamin Reiff, George Weaver, JIatthew Brooke. 

1812. — Jesse Bean, Benjamin Reiff, George Weaver, Philip Reed. 

1813. — Jesse Bean, Benjamin Reiff, Philip Reed, William Powell. 

1814. — William Powell, Benjamin Reiff, Samuel Baird, John Hughes, 

1815-10.— William Powell, William M. White, Dr. Tobias Sellers, Dr. 
James Andei-sim, 

1817.— Joel K. Mann, William M. W'liite, Jacob Drinkhouse, Tobias 
Sellei-s. 

181S. — Jttel K. Mann, William M. White, Jacob Drinkhouse, Isaiah 
AVells. 

1819-20.— Juel K. Mann, Peter Miller, Jacob Drinkhouse, Isaiah 
Mel Is. 

1821-23.— Joseph Royer, Peter Miller, John B. Sterigere, William 
Powell. 

1824.— Jonathan Ruberts, Robert Ilobart, John B. Sterigere, Jlichael 
■Cope. 

1825.— Jonathan Roberts, Michael Cope, Robert Hobart, John Stevens. 

1826. — John Matheys, 3Uchael Cupe, James Evans, John Stevens. 

1827-28. — John Blatheys, James Evans, Adam Slemmer, John Stevens. 

1829. — John Matheys, James Evans, Adam Slemmer. 

1830. — John Shearer, Philip Hoover, Adam Slenmier. 

1831-32.— John Shearer, Philip Hoover, John E. Gross. 

1833-34. — Joseph Fornance, John M. Jones, Henry Schneider. 

1835. — William Schall, Wright A. Bringhwrst, Robert Stinson. 

1 The judges who have signed the return for Montgomery County 
inform the House, by a Nota Be»a written opposite to their signatures, 
that Thomati Rees and Samuel Wheeler had each a co-equal number 
of votes, and they transmit the request of Samuel Wheelei- that his name 
may be not mentioned in the return. 

- During the session of the House in 1797, Cadwalader 

Evans attended 122 days, at S^l per day §306 00 

20 miles mileage, at 20 cts 4 00 

8370 00 

Benjamin Brooke attended 122 days, at 33 per day . . S366 00 

14 miles mi leage, at 20 cts 2 80 

3368 80 

Peter Muhlenberg attended 122 days, at $3 per day . . S366 00 

26 miles mileage, at 20 cts 5 20 

■ S371 20 

Nathaniel B. Boileau attended 116 days, at ^i per day . S348 00 

16 miles mileage, at 20 cts 3 20 

S351 20 



1836-38.— Jacob S. Yost, Henry Longaker, Samuel E. Leech. 

1839. — Jacob S. Yost, Henry Longaker, Charles D. Jones. 

1840. — Charles D. Jones, Enos Benner, George Snyder. 

1841.— Ephraim Fenton, William B. Hahn, William Bean. 

1842^3.— Charles Kugler, William B. Hahn, William Beau. 

1844. — Charles Kugler, Henry Dotts, Jesse Weber. 

1845-^6.— Henry Dotts, Benjamin Hill, BenjaTiiin F. Hallowell. 

1847 — John S. Weiler, fJeorge Wertsner, John Thompson. 

1848.— Benjamin Hill, Benjamin Hallowell, David Evans. 

1849-50. — David Evans, "William T, Morrison, William Ueni->'. 

1851.- William Henry, Curtis W. Gabe, Oliver P. Fretz. 

1852-53.— Curtis W. Gabe, Oliver P. Fretz, Henry Beyer. 

1854.— Henry Beyer, Charles H. Palmer, Jacob Fry, Jr. 

1855.— Jacob Fry, Jr., Henry N. Wickersham, James Rittcnhouse. 

1850-58. — Josiali Hillegas, George Hatuel, A. Brower Longaker. 

1859-61.— David Stoneback, Juhn Dismant, Charles H. Hill. 

1862-64. — Joseph Rex, Hiram C. Hoover, George W. Wimley. . 

1865-67.— A. D. Markley, Edwin Satterthwait. 

1808-69.— James Esbach, Henry McMiller. 

1870. — John J, C. Harvey, James Esbach. 

1871-72.— Oliver G. Morris, John J. C. Harvey. 

1873.— Oliver G. Moiris, Samuel Nyce. 

1874.— TlionuLsG. Rutter, Jusepb B. Yerke^. 

1875-76.— Thomas(;. Rutfer, Joseph B. Yerkes, Francis M. Knipe, John 
C. Riclmi'dson, James B. Law. 

1877-78. — John C. Richardson, James B. Law, Francis M. Knipe, Edwin 
Hallowell, Montgomery Longaker. 

1879. — Edwin Hallowell, John C. Dannehower, Mahlon Sellere, M'il- 
liam B. Roberts Iwiac Hoyer. 

18*<1.— William B. Roberts. Isaac Hoyer, Josiah S. Pearce, D. H. Geh- 
niaii, Harry K. Brown. 

18H:J. — Tlieodore Harrar, Lewis H. Davis, John Lunderman, John C. 
Dannehower, Stephen Yerkes. 

1885. — John M. Cunningham, Samuel Faust, Williuni D. Heebner, 
William A. Redding, Thomas J. Stewart. 

Prothonotaries.— The prothouutary is clerk of 
the Court of Coiunion Pleas. He issues all writs for 
the comniencemeut of actions or suits of law, as well 
as writs of execution for the sale of property, either 
personal or real. He must keep dockets in which is 
entered a complete history of every step taken by 
either party in any suit or execution. He also keeps 
a judgment docket, in which all judgments are en- 
tered in their regular order. All these dockets are 
open to the inspection of the public. The prothono- 
tary is elected for three years. This otiice was ap- 
pointive till 1839, 

Thomas Craig, appointed under Executive Council, September 10, 1784, 
by J. Dickinson ; reapjHiinted July 11, 1791, by Thomas Blifflin. 

William R. Atlee, ap^>ointed March 5, 17iHi, by Thomas Mifflin, Gover- 
nor under Constitution of 1790. 

Francis Swain, appointed January 6, 1800, by Thomas McKean. 

Philip Hahn, appointed January 21, 1809, by Simon Snyder. 

William Powell, appointed March 25, 1818, by William Findlay. 

Frederick Conrad, appointed February' 7, 1821, by Joseph Heister ; re- 
appointed January 8, 1824, by J. A. Schultz. 

Thomas Lowry, appointed December 21, 1826, by J. A. Shultz. 

Jacob Fry, appointed Februarj' 12, 1830, by George Wolf. 

Adam Slemmer, appointed April 1, 1833, by George Wolf. 

John Bean, appointed Jauuary 28, 1836, by Joseph Ritner. 

Josiah W. Evans, appointed February 7, 1839, by David B. Porter. 

Josiah W. Evans, elected in 1839 under the amended Constitution of 
1838 ; commissioned by David R. Porter, November 14th. 

Jones Davis, elected 1842. 

Mehelm McGlathery, elected 1845, 

J. B. Evans, elected 1848. 

N. Jacoby, elected 1851. 

Bowyer Brooke, elected 1854. 

Florence Sullivan, elected 1857. 

Jared Evans, elected 1860. 

John R. Grigg, elected 186:^. 

Jesse H. Gery, elected 1866. 



320 



HISTOEY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



John B. Yerkes, elected 1859. 
William F. ReeiJ, elected 1S72. 
Philip Quillinau, elected 1875. 
A. Franklin Hart, elected 1878. 
John McLean, elected 18S1. 
William B. Woodward, elected 1884. 

DOL'KKTS IN PrOTHONOTARY'S OFflCE. 

No. 1. Continuance Docket. 

No. 2. Judgment Docket. 

No. 3. Execution Docket. 

No. 4. Sheriff's Deed Docket. 

No. 5. Mechanics' Lien Docket. 

No. 6. Equity Docket. 

No. 7. Partition Common Pleas Docket. 

No. 8. Assignees' Docket. 

No. % Treasurer's Deed Docket. 

No. 10. Medical Register Docket. 

No. 11. Naturalization Docket. 

No. 12. Insolvent DebtoiV Docket. 

No. 13. Common Pleas Miscellaneous Docket. 

No. 14. Ejectment Docket. 

No. 15. Attorneys' Docket. 

No. 16. Miuute-Book. 

Clerk of Courts. — Tliis officer is clerk of the Or- 
phans' C'ourt and Court of Quarter Sessions of the 
Peace. Each of these courts has separate dockets, 
in which the proceedings of each are kept. The 
clerk of courts also keeps a record of the jurymen 
drawn, and certifies the time of attendance of each 
to the county commissioners. All matters relating 
to the opening, widening or vacating of roads are 
recorded and kept by him. He enters a record of the 
accounts of guardians of orphans, executors of wills 
and administrators of estates in the Orphans' Court 
docket after they are confirmed by the court. The 
clerk of courts is elected for three years. This office 
was tilled by appointment till 1839. 

Thomas Craig, appointed under Executive Council, September 11, 1784, 
by James Ewing ; reappointed July 11, 1791, by Thomas Mifflin ; and a 
third time March 14, 1702, by the same. 

Wm. R. Atlee, appointed March 5, 1790, by Thos. Mifflin, Governor 
under Constitution of 1790. 

Francis Swain, appointed January G, ISOO, by Thos. McKean. 

Philip Hahu, appointed January 21, 1809, by Simon Snyder. 

Wm. Powell, appointed JIarch 25, 1818, by William Findlay. 

Frederick Conrad, appointed February 7, 1821, by Joseph Heis- 
ter. 

Thos. Lowry, appointed Januarys, 1824, by J. A. Shultz ; reappointed 
December 21st by the same. 

Jacob Fry, appointed February 12, 1830, by George Wolf. 

John H. Scheetz, appointed February 23, 1830, by George Wolf. 

Benj. Johnson, appointed February 17, 1839, by D. E. Porter. 

Geo. H. Pawling was elected 1839, and commissioned by D. R. Portei-, 
November 14tb of the same year. 

William Rossiter, elected 1842. 

John McXair, elected 184.5. 

Andrew H. Tippin, elected 1848. 

Washington Richards, elected 1851. 

Jepse B. Davis, elected 1854. 

E. B. Moore, elected 1857. 

James Burnsides, elected 1860. 

Daniel Fisher, elected 1863. 

Jacob F. Quillnian, elected 1866. 

Saniuel B. Helffenstein, elected 1869. 

Merrit M. Missimer, elected 1872. 

Franklin T. Beerer, elected 1875. 

Henry S. Smith, elected 1878. 

0. N. Urner, appointed vice Henry Smith. 

Edward Schall, elected 1881. 

Edward Schall, elected 1884. 



Court of Quarter Sessions and ORPiiiNs" Court Dockets. 
No. 1. Quarter Sessions Docket. 
No. 2. Orphans' Court Docket. 
No. 3. Public Roads Docket. 
No. 4. Decedents' Estates Docket. 
No. 5. County Bridges Docket. 
No. 6. Widows" Appraisements Docket. 
No. 7. License Docket. 

No. 8. Spring Elections— Township Olficers Docket. 
No. 9. Triennial Guardians' Accounts Docket. 
No. 10. Register fur Dogs Docket. 

No. 11. Township and Independent School Districts Dockets. 
No. 12. Bond-Book Docket. 
No. 13. Recognizance Orphans' Court Docket. 
No. 14. Trustee Bond Docket. 
No. 15. Administrators' Bond Docket 
No. 16. 5Iinute-Bouk. 

Recorder of Deeds. — The recorder of deeds is 
elet'ted tor three yt.^ars. Vacancies are filled by ap- 
pointment by the Governor. It is the recorder's duty 
to record all deeds, mortgages and conveyances which 
shall be brought to him for that purpose. He must 
enter every deed or writing in the order of time it was 
made. Mortgages should be recorded as soon as 
delivered, as they take precedence over each other in 
the order of time in which they are placed upon 
record. The recorder also certifies to any one order- 
ing the same a complete search of all unsettled mort- 
gages resting upon any particular property. This 
office was filled by appointment till 1839. 

Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, appointed September 21, 1784, by Su- 
preme Executive Council. 

Robert Loller, appointed September 10, 1789, by Thomas MiflQin, 
Governor. 

Rubert Loller, appointed September 14, 17U0, by Thomas Mif- 
flin. 

James Morris, appointed June 24, 1791, by Thomas Miflflin. 

Thomas Craig, appointed August 8, 17l>o, by Thomas Miflflin. 

William R. Atlee, appointed March 5, 1799, by Thomas Mifflin. 

Thomas Potts, appointed January 6, 1800, by Thomas 5IcKean. 

Archibald Darrah. appointed January 21, 1809, by Simon Snyder. 

George Wack, appointed .January 25, 1818, by William Findlay. 

Jesse Roberts, appointed January 7, 1821, by Joseph Heister. 

Jacob Hubley, appointed November 21, 1822, by Joseph Heister. 

John Markley, appointed January 8, 1824, by J. A. Sbultz. 

.John Markley, appointed December 21, 1826, by J. A. Shultz. 

William Powell, appointed February 12, 1830, by George Wolf. 

S. D. Patterson, appointed February 23, 1833, by George Wolf. 

James Wells, appointed June 11, 1834, by George Wolf. 

Robert Iredell, ai>pointed January 28, 1836, by Joseph Ritner. 

Tobias Sellei-s, appointed February 17, 1839, by D. R. Porter. 

Electedhy the People aiui comuiu(sioi)edby the Governor. 
Tobiiis Sellers, elected 1839. 
Daniel Fry, elected 1842. 
Henry Drake, elected 1845. 
H. G, Hart, elected 1848. 
R. B. Longaker, elected 1851. 
George Lower, elected 1854. 
William H. Hill, elected 1857. 
Thomas G. Butter, elected 1860. 
Henry Unger, elected 1863. 
Christopher Wycoff, elected 1806. 
Henry Bernard Nase, elected 1869. 
George W. Neiman, elected 1872. 

John W. Schall, appointed March 28, 1875, vice George W. Neiman, 
died. 

John W. Schall, elected 1875. 
John W. Schall, elected 1878. 
Henry W. Kratz, elected 1881. 
Aaron Weikel, elected 1884. 



MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 



321 



DoCKKTS IN Office of Recorder of Deeds. 

No. 1. Deed Docket. 
No. 2. Mortgajic Docket. 
No. 3. Comniissiou Docket. 
No. 4. Miecellancous Docket. 

Register of Wills. — The register of wills liolds his 
office for a term of three years. He grants letters 
testamentary to executors and letters of administra- 
tion to administrators. He examines and files the 
accounts of executors, guardians and trustees of life 
estates. Wills are admitted to probate, recorded and 
filed by him. This office was filled by appointment 
till 1839. 

Thomas Ewinj;', appointed by Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, Sep- 
tember 21, 1784. 

Robert Loller, appointed September 10, 1789, by Thomas MilHin ; was 
reappointed ScpteinbLU' 4, 17Uii, by the same. 

Appoitiied by the Governor. 

James Morris, iipiwintcd June 4, 1701, by Thomas Miffliu. 

William Richardnon Atlee, appointed March 5, 1799, by Thomas MitHin. 

Thomas Potts, appointed January 0, ISiX), by Thomas SIcKean. 

Archibald Darrah^appointed January 21, 1809, by Simon Snyder. 

George Waek, appointed March 2r), 1818, by William Findlay. 

Jesse Roberts, appointed Foliruary 7, 1821, by Thomas Heister. 

Jacob Hubley, appointed yuvcinhcr 1,1622, by John Heister. 

John Markley, appointed January 8, 1824, by J. H. ShuU/. ; was re- 
appointed September 24, 1820, by the same. 

William Powell, appointed February 12, 1830, by George Wolf ; waa 
reappointed February 23, 1833, by the same. 

Nathaniel B. Boileau, appointed January 28, 1836, by Joseph Kitner. 

Elected bij thf Pt^ople awl coiinnisswned by the Gonenior. 
John Shearer, elected 1S39. 
William Earnest, elected 1842. 
B. F. Yost, elected 184.0. 
William Fronetield, elected 1848. 
John M.Jones, elected 1851. 
Isaac Schneider, elected 1854. 
Philip S. Gerhard, elected 1857. 
Charles Hurst, elected ISGO. 
Isaiah B. Houpt, elected 18G3. 
Christopher Lower, elected 18G0. 
John J. Nocton, elected 18G9. 
Septimus Roberts, elected 1872. 
Solomon Snyder, elected 1875. 
Warren B. Barnes, elected 1878. 
J. Roberts Rambo, elected 1881. 
J. Roberts Rambo, elected 1884. 

DOCKKTS IN THE OFPICR OF REGISTER OF WiLLS. 

Index to Adniinistratoi-H. , Miscellaneous Docket. 

Index to Wills. | Collateral Inheritance Docket. 

SheriflF. — The sheriff is elected for three years. 
When a vacancy occurs in the office of the sheriff the 
coroner fills it until the expiration of the term. The 
sheriff is the executive officer of the court. All writs 
directed to him by the court must be executed by 
him and a return thereof made to the court. He, 
with the jury commissioners, draws the names of the 
jurors and the sheriff summons them to attend court. 
He gives notice of the time and place of general 
elections and the qualifications of voters. By the 
revised Constitution of 1874, art. xiv., sec, i,, this 
officer was made ineligible for the next succeeding 
term. 

21 



Elected by the people and commisehned by ExecxUive Council. 

Zebulon Potts, elected October 14, 1784 ; re-elected October 15, 1785 ; 
commissioned by John Dickinson ; elected a third time October 17, 
178G ; commissioned by Charles Biddle. 

Francis Swain, elected October, 17H7 ; commissioned by Benjainiu 
Franklin, October 12th ; re-elected October, 1788; commissioned by David 
Reidick, October IGth ; elected a third time, October, 1789 ; commissioned 
by George Ross, October 17th. 

Henry Kooken, elected October, 1790 ; commissioned by Thomas Mif- 
tlin, October 15th. 

Under the amended Constitution of 1790, tlio sherifTs tei'in of office 
having been extended to three years, the following have been elected : 

Nathan Pawding, 1793 ; commissioned by Tliomas Mifflin, October 19th. 
Mr. Pawling dying whilst in office, Isaiah Welle was apiwinted by Gov- 
ernor Mifflin, April 8, 1795, to till the residue of the term. 

John Pngh, elected 1795. 

John Markley, elected 1798. 

Isaiah Wells, elected 1801. 

William Henderson, elected 1804. 

David Dewees, elected 1807. 

Isaiah Wells, elected 1810. 

Thomas Lowry, elected 1813. 

Justice Scheetz, elected 1816. 

Philip Sellers, elected 1819. 

Philip Boyer, elected 1822. 

Christian Snyder, elected 1825. 

Jones Davis, elected 1828. 

Henry Longaker, elected 1S31. 

John Todd, elected 1834. 

Ardeinus Stewart, elected 1837. 

Jacob Spong, elected 1840. 

James Wells, elected 1843. 

John Boyer, elected 184G. 

Philip Hahn, elected 1849. 

.M. C. Boyer, elected 1852. 

Samuel D. Rudy, elected 1855. 

John M. Stauffer, elected 1858. 

Francis Kile, elected 18G1. 

E. N. Beyshcr, elected 18G4. 

Philip Gerhart, elected 18G7. 

William J, Bolton, appointed October, 18ii8, vU-e Philip Gerhart, died. 

John W. Hnnsicker, elected October, 1808. 

Jeremiah B. Lazelere, elected October, 1871. 

John Linderman, elected October, 1874. 

Jacob Tyson, elected October, 1877. 

Joseph Frankenfield, elected October, 1880. 

Edwin S. Stahlnecker, elected October, 1883. 

DiPCKETS IN SHF.RIFF's OFFICE. 

No. 1. Judicial Docket. 
No. 2. Primary Docket. 
No. 3, Miscellaneous Docket. 

County Treasurer.— The county treasurer is elected 
for a term of three years. ^ Vacancies are filled by 
the Governor. The treasurer receives and holds alL 
the money belonging to the county and pays the same 
on warrants drawn by the commissioners. He also 
receives taxes due the commonwealth, such as hotel 
and mercantile licenses, and pays the same to the State 
treasurer. It is also a part of his duty to collect the 
county and State taxes, and for that purpose sits in 
each district at a certain time and place designated! 
by himself. 



1 From 1790 to 1841 this office waa filled by appointment by the county 
commissioners, it being the rule to appoint the retiring commissioner 
for the period of one year. From 1841 to 1874 the office was elective for 
the term of one year, and by a party rule the incumbent was re-elected 
for a second term. By the revised Constitution of 1874, article xiv. 
section 1, the term was extended to three years and the incumbent was 
made ineligible for the next succeeding term. 



322 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Isaac Marklt-y, ap]iuinted 1813. 
George Heist, ajipoiiitftl 181-i. 
Samuel Maiiii, apiiointed 1815. 
OweiJ Evans, aiipointed 181t.i. 
Julm McFarland, appointed 1817. 
Casper Sehlatei", appointed 1818, 
Michael Cope, appointed 1819. 
Samuel Weiitz, ajipointed 1820. 
Saumel Went/., appointed 1821. 
Henry Kerr, appointed 1822. 
Chris. Blatti.s, ajipointed 1823. 
M'illiam Ayres, ai)pointed 1824. 
George Kline, upiiointed 1825. 
Win. 3IcGlathery, appointed 182(;. 
Henry Doul), appointed 1827. 
Henrj' Douh, ajipointed 1828. 
David C. Kidp, appointed 1820. 
George Piper, appointed 1830. 
Henr^' Schneider, appointed 1831. 
John Todd, appointed 1832. 
Christian Keisel, appoi?ited 1833. 
John Geiger, appointed 1834. 
Ardemus Stewart, apjwinted 1835. 
Jacob Heighley, apitointed 1836. 
Fred. Dalleclcer, appointed 1837. 
William Hamill, appointed 1838. 
Samuel E. Leech, appointed 1839. 
Benjamin B. Yost, appointed 1840. 
V. C. Burnside, appointed 1841. 
Jones Smith, elected 1841. 
Jones Smith, elected 1842. 
David Beai'd, elected 1843. 
David Beard, elected 1844. 



Moore Stevens, elected'1845. 
Moore Stevens, elected 184*1. 
J. H. Steiner, elected 1847. 
J. H. Steiner, elected 1848. 
John Hines, elected 1849. 
John Uioes, elected 18.'»(t. 
Jesse Gable, elected 18.jl. 
Jesse Gable, elected 1852. 
P. M. Hunter, elected 1853. 
P. M. Hunter, elected 1854. 
John M. Fenton, elected 1855. 
John M. Fenton, elected 185ti. 
Fred. Brendliuger, elected 1857. 
Fred. Brendliugerj elected 1858. 
Aaron Drake, elected 1859. 
Aaron Drake, elected 1860. 
George Sechler, elected 1861. 
George Sechler, elected 1862. 
K. B. Lougaker, elected 186:i. 
R. B. Lougaker, elected 1864. 
Joseph Beerer, elected 1865, 
Josepli Beerer, elected 1866. 
G. W. Jacoby, elected 1867. 
G. W. Jacoby, elected 18G8. 
Natb. Wagonhurst, elected 1860. 
Nath. Wagonhui-st, elected 1870. 
George C. Reiff, elected 1871. 
Samuel F. Jarrett, elected 1872. 
Samuel F. Jarrett, elected 1873. 
Samuel V. Jarrett, elected 18V4. 
Evan G. Jones, elected 1877. 
J. R. Yost, elected 1880. 
Henrv A, Cole, elected 1883. 



Dockets ix Office of County Tkeasurf.r 
Tax Lv.lger Docket. t Order-Book. 



License Docket. 



Cash-Book and Ledgt^r. 



County Commissioners. — There are three com- 
missioners elreted in eaeh county for a term of three 
years.^ Each elector votes for two persons, but the 
three having the highest vote are elected, thus always 
giving the minority party a representative. Vacancies 
are filled by appointment by the remaining members. 
It is the duty of the county commissioners to deter- 
mine the tax-rate from statements of the assessors, 
and levy the county taxes. They must keep in 
repair the court-house and prison, and build new 
ones when authorized to do so. They must also build 
county bridges and keep them in repair. Road damages 
assessed to property-holders for land taken for new 
roads or streets within the county are paid by the 
■county on warrants of the commissioners. All bills 
against the county must be proved by them before 
they are paid by the county treasurer. At the close 
of each fiscal year they publish a statement of the 
receipts and expenditures. 



Christian Schuid, elected 1700. 
Nathan Potts, elected 1790. 
John Mann, elected 1790. 
Conrad Boyer, elected 1791. 
John Wentz, elected 1792. 



John Jarrett, elected 1793. 
Morris Hobsou, elected 1794, 
Fred. Conrad, elected 1795. 
Samuel Maulsby, elected 1796. 
Conrad Boyer, elected 1797. 



^ Three commissioners were elected in 1790 ; their terms of otfice ex- 
pired in one, two and three years, respectively, and thereafter one com- 
missioner was elected each year until the adoption of the revised Consti- 
tution of 1874, when three commissioners were elected for the period of 
three years, under the rule of minority representation. (See Constitution 
of 1874, article xiv., sect. 7). 



James Bean, elected 1798. 
Henry Sheetz, elected 1799. 
Philip Boyer, elected 1800. 
Christian Weber, elected 1801. 
Richard T. Leach, elected 1802. 
Philip Hahn, Jr., elected 1803. 
Thomas Humphries, elected 1804. 
John Markley, elected 1805. 
George Bucher, elected 1806. 
John Lowery, elected 1807. 
Mahlon V. Booskirk, elected 1808. 
Isaac Markley, elected 1809. 
George Heist, elected 1810. 
Samuel Mann, elected 1811. 
Owen Evans, elected 181-2. 
Samuel Patterson, appointed by 

court and com niissio net's. 
Jacob Yost, elected 1813. 
Samuel Patteraon and Schlatcr, 

elected 1814. 
J. McFarlaud and Cope, elected 

1815, 
Dr. Hough, elected 181G. 
Andrew Gilkeson, elected 1817. 
Henry Kerr, elected 1818. 
Christian Mattis, elected 1819. 
William Ayere, elected 1820. 
George Kline, elected 1821. 
Wm. McGlathery, elected 1822. 
Henry Doub, elected 1823. 
Peter Bastras, Jr., elected 1824. 
David C. Kulj), elected 1825. 
George Piper, elected 1826. 
Henry Schneider, elected 1827. 
John Todd, elected 1828. 
Christian Keisel, elected 1829. 
John Geyer, elected 1830. 
William Hamill, elected 1831. 
Amos Addis, elected 1832. 
Samuel E. Leach and Benjamin 

B. Yost, elected 1833. 
F. C. Burnside (for three years), 

elected 1834. 
Jacob Fritz, elected 1835. 
John Schctfer, elected 1836. 
Abel Thomas, elected 1837. 
William Stevens, elected 1838. 
John Bechtel, elected 1839. 
Silas Yerkes, elected 1839. 



Mehelm McGlathery, elected 1840. 
Joseph Nettles, elected 1841. 
Isaac Burk, elected 1842. 
Daniel Yost, elected 1843. 
Samuel Shoemaker, elected 1844. 
Samuel H. Graff, elected 1845. 
John Smith, elected 184.'). 
Charles Greger, elected 1S40. 
John Katz, elected 1847. 
Daniel ijnillmau, elected 1848. 
Daniel Harp Major, elected 1849. 
William W. Dunn, elected 1850. 
Michael Hartzel, elected 1851. 
Archibald Bains, elected 1852. 
John Cowden, elected 1853. 
Isaac F. Yost, elected 1854. 
John Hoffman, elected 1865. 
Benjamin Fleck, elected 1856. 
Jacob Brant, elected 18.57. 
John B. Adams, elected 1858. 
Daniel Carr, elected 1850. 
Isaac Huber, elected 1860. 
George Pennick, elected 1861. 
Jacob Slifer, elected 1862. 
Abraham C. Cole, elected 1863. 
Tobias G. Hauge, elected 1864. 
William G. Smith, elected 1865. 
Henry H. Hartman, elected 1866. 
Benjamin Tysob, elected 1807. 
Francis Kehr, elected 1868. 
John Y. Fritz, elected 1869. 
Dennis Dunne, elected 1870. 
John Stever, elected 1871. 
John T. Comly, elected 1872. 
Edward Johnson, elected 1873. 
Charles M. Soliday, elected 1874. 
George Erb, elected 1875. 
Amos D. Moser, elected 1875. 
Charles M. Soliday, elected 1875. 
Jesse B. Davis, elected 1878. 
Noah D. Frank, elected 1878. 
Amos D. Moser, elected 1878. 
James Burnett, elected 1881. ' 
Hiram Burdan, elected 1881. 
William L. Kittenhouse, elected 

1881. 
James Burnett, elected 1884. 
Hiram Burdan, elected 1884. 
Thomas McCuUy, elected 1884. 



Public Dockets in the Office of County Commis-sionf-rs. 

1. County Commissioners' Tax Lien Docket. 

2. Commissioners' Cash-Book Docket. 

3. Contract Docket. 

4. Bond Book Docket. 

5. Register of Expenditures of County Docket. 

6. Asaessoi-s' Valuation of Taxable Property Docket. 

7. Tax Duplicate Docket. 

8. Assessors' Return of Voters' Docket. 

9. Registry of Jurors' Docket. 

10. Militia Enrollment Docket. 

11. Registry of Variations of Surveyor' Compasses Docket. 

12. Minute-Book. 

Directors of the Poor. — -There are three directors 
of the poor in Montgomery County, elected for three 
years, one each year. Vacancies are filled by the 
remaining directors. They liave the general super- 
vision of the almshouse and of the poor of the 
county. They elect the steward and other officers, 
in whom is vested the management of the almshouse. 
The expenses are paid by the county treasurer by 
orders drawn by the directors. They also make a 
report of the receipts and expenditures at the close of 



MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 



323 



each year. The directors of the poor of Montgomery 
County act under a sjiecial law ; other counties have 
different hiws. 



KeinhiirJ Keelor, elected 1830. 
Inane Scliuider, elected 1840. 
Reinhard Keelor, elected 1841. 
No return, 1S42. 
Peter Iloxwortli, elected 184:!. 
Adam Lutz, elected 1844. 
Aaron Lindernian, elected 184.'i. 
Peter IJoxwortli, elected 184li. 
Adam Lutz, elected 1847. 
Henry Scluiler, elected 1848. 
Samuel Miller, elected 1840. 
John B. Holland, elected 1S.5(I. 
Henry Sclniler, elected 1851. 
Sanuiel Sillier, elected 1852. 
John B. Holland, elected 185:J. 
<lbri8tian Markley, elected 1854. 
William Maclinet, elected 1855. 
Adam Kneedler, elected 185(1. 
"William Macknet, Elected 1857. 
Christian Markley, elected 18.58. 
Adam Kneedler, elected 1859. 
William Specht, elected 1801). 
Samuel Hendricks, elected 18til. 
Uriah B. Shade, elected 18(!2. 
William Specht, elected 1863. 

Auditors. — There are three auditors in each 
county, elected for a term of three years.' They are 
elected in the same manner as the couuty commis- 
sioners. They meet at the county seat on the first 
Monday in January of each year, and audit, adjust 
and settle the accounts of the commissioners, treas- 
urer, directors of the poor and prison inspectors. 



.Samuel Hendricks, elected 1SG4. 
Uriah B. Shade, elected 18Go. 
.lacoh Kolb, elected 1800. 
Henry Kneedler, elected 18t;7. 
Daniel Ihms, elected 1808. 
Joseph Kolb, elected 18lt!l. 
Henry Kneedler, elected 1870. 
William K. Dettra, elected 1871. 
George Graber, elected 1872. 
Martin Ruth, elected 1873. 
William R. Dettra, elected 1874. 
Henry V. Wile, elected 1875. 
Martin Ruth, elected 1876. 
John Field, elected 1877. 
John 0. (^'lemens, elected 1878. 
Daniel Shuler, elected 1879. 
John A. Righter, elected 188(1. 
John O. Clemens, elected 1881. 
Daniel Shuler, elected 1882. 
Harry S. Lowery, elected 1883. 
Benjamin C. Ki-aus, elected 1884, 

died December 30, 1884. 
John U- Clemens, appointed to 

serve one year. 



Oeorge S. Williams, elected 1830. 
David Evans, elected 1840. 
Tliomas Bitting, elected 1S41. 
No record, 1842. 
John Eidemiller, elected 1843. 
W. Richards, elected 1844. 
Francis Kehr, elected 1845. 
E. A. Schwonk, elected 1846. 
Jacob Prunner, Jr., elected 1847. 
George Lov\-er, elected 1848. 
Jacob F. Yost, elected 1849. 
Jacob Prunner, elected 18.50. 
Abraham Carn, elected 1851. 
Reuben Shively, elected 1852. 
.Tacob M. Hui-st, elected 1853. 
Abraham H. Carn, elected 1854. 
Reuben Shively, elected 18.55. 
Jacob M. Hui-st, elected 1856. 
William J. Buck, elected 1857. 
George Bulger, elected 1858. 
Jones Detwiler, elected 1859. 
"William J. Buck, elected 1800. 
George Bulger, elected 18G1. 
.Tones Detwiler, elected 1862. 



Richard Young, elected 1863. 
Solomon K. Grimly, elected 1864. 
E. H. Shearer, elected 1865. 
Richard Young, elected 1866. 
Solomon K. Grimly, elected 1867. 
E. II. Shearer, elected 1868. 
George W. Shriver, elected 1869. 
William Gilbert, elected 1871). 
John S. Holloway, elected 1871. 
George W. Shriver, elected 1872. 
Allen W. Corson, elected 1873. 
John S. Holloway, elected 1874. 
William Gilbert, elected 1875. 
Frederick Wagner, elected 1875. 
E. S. Stahlnecker, elected 1875. 
Chas. Slingluff, elected 1878. 
"\\'illiam Davis, elected 1878. 
E. S. Stahlnecker, elected 1878. 
John H. Bergey, elected 1881. 
Isaac R. Cassel, elected 1881. 
Charles Slingluff, elected 1881. 
Isaac R. Cassell, elected 1884. 
.\braham M. Bergey, elected 1884. 



Coroner. — The coroner is elected every three years. 
Vacancies are filled by the Governor. 

The duties of the coroner are almost exclusively 
confined to holding inquests upon persons who have 
died by violence or accident, or in a sudden or 
mysterious manner. He impanels a jury of six men 
who inquire into the cause of death, after which a 
verdict is rendered. In cases of crime the coroner 



1 Prior to the amended Constitution of 1874 one was elected each ye 



has power to cause arrest and to commit to prison ; 
ill other cases neither the coroner nor the jury have 
defined responsibility, and may only recommend. 
This oflice was filled by appointment till 1889. 

John Major, appointed by the Governor, 1816. 

William Bean, appointed by the Governor, 1820. 

George W. Coulston, appointed by the Governor, 1820. 

Jacob Ramsey, appointed by the Governor, 1823. 

John Brant, appointed by the Governor, 1829. 

.\ndrew Hess, elected 1840. 

George Sensenderfer, elected 1843. 

John Keesey, elected 1846. 

Samuel Hoffman, elected 1849. 

Samuel Hoffman, elected 1852, 

Daniel Jacobus, elected 1855. 

John C. Snyder, elected 185'''. 

Daniel Jacobus, elected 1861 ' 

Jacob F. Weber, elected 1864 

Joiseph C. Beyer, elected 1865 

Wm. H. McEwen, elected l.s 

.lacob Strahley, elected 1871. 

Isaac Fry, elected 1874. 

Harry B. Long, elected 1877, 

Samuel Akins, elected 1880. 

.■^amuel .\kin3, elected 1883. 

County Surveyor.— The county surveyor is elected 
for three years. He surveys all unclaimed land 
and adjusts the boundaries of townships. In this 
county his duties are little more than nominal. This 
office was made elective by act of A.ssembly, 1S50. 



Elijah Beans, elected 1853. 
Abel Rainbo, elected 1850. 
William Sibley, elected 1S62. 
John Eidemiller, elected 1865. 
John Eidemiller, elected 18(J8. 



John Eidemiller, elected 1871. 
Charles K. Aiman, elected 1875. 
Charles K. Aiman, elected 1878. 
Joseph W. Hunter, elected 1881. 



Jury Commissioners.— There are two jury com- 
missioners elected for a term of one year. Each 
elector votes for one person, but the two having the 
highest number of votes are elected. They, with the 
judge of the courts and sherifi", fill the jury-wheel 
with names of citizens of the county to be drawn as 
jurors of the difierent courts. These names are 
drawn from time to time by the sheriff in the pres- 
ence of the jury commissioners, as jurymen are 
needed for the different sessions of the courts. 

William Earnest, Edward D. Johnson, elected 1867. 
John L. Ogdeu, Isaac L, Shoemaker, elected 187(i. 
Joseph Beerer, Henry S. Smith, elected 1873. 
Jonathan M. Hart, Linford S. Preston, elected 1876. 
William H. H. SIcCrea, Davis S. Sill, elected 1879. 
Francis Baxter, Charles L. Preston, 1882. 

Roster of Prison Officers, 1851 to 1884. • 

1851.— Wanlen, Mehelm SIcGlatheiy ; Matron, Henrietta McGlathery ; 
Physician, Dr. William Corson. 

1852-54.— Same. 

1855, — Warden, John Boyer ; Slatron, .\nna Boyer ; Physician, Dr. 
William Corson. 

1856-57.- Same. 

1858.— Same warden and matron ; Physician, Dr, J, B, Diinlap. 

1859-60.— Same. 

1861.— Warden, Mehelm McGlatheiy ; Matron, Henrietta McGlathery; 
Physician, Dr. J. B. Dunlap. 

1862-03.— Same. 

1864.- "n'arden, Harry G. Hart ; Matron, Elizabeth D, Hart ; Phy- 
sician, Dr. J. B. Dunlap. 

1865-66,— Same. 

1867.— Warden, John SI. Hart ; Matron, Elizabeth D. Hart ; Physi- 
cian, Dr. .1. B. Dunlap. 



324 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



18C,8.— AVank-n, John C'ow.leu ; MatroD, Cliailotte Cowden ; Physi- 
cian, Dr. J. B. Dunlap. 
186i).— Huino warden and matron ; Physician, Dr. William H. JIcEwen. 
1870.— Warden, John Getty ; Matron, Ann E. Uetty ; Physician, Dr. 
Willmni H. M<Kw.-n. 
1871.— Same. 

1872. — Same warden and matron ; Physician, Dr. C. N. Honpt. 
1873.— Same. 

1874._Wiirden, Joseph C. Byer ; Matron, Mary Byer; Phyeician, Dr. 
C. N. Houpt. 
1875-77.— Same. 

1878.— Warden, George Sehall ; Matron, Mary H. Schall ; Physician, 
Dr. C. N. Houpt. 
1879-80.— Same. 

1881. — Same warden jind matron ; Physii iaii, Dr. H. H. Drake. 
1882-84.— Same. 
1883.— Same. 
1884.— Same. 
THIRTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF IN- 
SPECTORS OF THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY PRISON, MADE 
TO THE COURT OF QUARTER SESSIONS, 3IARCH TERM, 1884. 
Hoard of buspectors. — John Slingluff (president), James Tracy, B. F. 
Solly, Edward A. Kite, Samuel Rittenhouse, David Schall. 

Officers of the Pi- isou.— George Schall, warden ; Mrs. Mary H. Schall, 
matron ; Bernard Fox, fii-st assistant keeper ; Hugh O'Farrell, second 
assistant keeper; John Bennett, watchman ; Dr. H. H. Diuke, physician. 
Secretary of the Board of Inspectors. — Nathaniel Jacoby. 
Treasurer. — Jacob R. Y"ost. 
•* To the Honorable B. Marl-leu Boyer, President Judge of the several Courts 
of Monttjomery County, Pa. 
" In compliance with the Act of Assembly approved April 8, 1851, for 
the regulation and government of the Montgomery County Prison, the 
Inspectore thereuf 

" Respectfully submit their 32d Annual Report for the approval of said 
Court : 

"Since their last Ann\ial Report was presented to the Court, Mr. James 
Tracy was reajipointed by said Court, and the Commissioners of the 
County appointed Mr. David Schall, the term of service of Abraham 
Schwenk having expired. 

" At their suited meeting in January, 1884, the Board of Inspectors re- 
elected Mr. George Schall, Warden ; Mrs. Mary H. Schall, Matron, and 
Dr. H. H. Dmke, Prison Physician, each for one year. 

"By the Act of Assembly it is made the duty of the Board of Inspec- 
tors to present with their .\nnual Report their views and obsen-ations 
in regard to the efficiency of the Penna. system of separate and solitary 
coutinement at labor. The Board reiterates what they have so often re- 
ported to the C^urt, that that system has been more successful in preventing 
the commission of crime, and exerts a more humane influence on the 
reformation of prisonere and convicts than any other system of punish- 
ment of whith the Board has any knowledge. 

" The Board repeats their opinion expressed, in many of their former 
Reports, that the Prison is tuo small, and recommend an early enlarge- 
ment of the same. When two or more prisoners must be confined in one 
cell, our system can not be faithfully and successfully carried out. The 
Board again recommend an early enlargement of the Prison. 

"The Annual Reiwrt of the Prison Physician is hereto annexed. It 
shows the sjmitary condition of the Prison is in a good condition. 

" From the statistical tables it appears that the whole number of com- 
mitments during the year 1883 was 1444; in the year 1882 there were 
850, showing an increjuie of 594. 

"The contract for the manufacture of stockings with Messrs. D. M. 
Tost & Co. was renewed for another year, and upon the same conditions. 
The statement showing the receipts and expenditures for the year 1883 
exhibit a profit in the stocking department amounting to 51294.16. 

* ' The average cost of keeping pri8onei"s for the year has been 39 cents 
per day for each prisoner, which sum includes all the expenses of the 
Prison, and the actual cost of maintenance is 10 cents per day for each 
prisoner. 

"All of which is respectfully submitted. 

" John Slingluff, 
" James Tk.4CY, 

" B. F. SoLLV, 

" Samuel Rittenhous% 
" D.wiD Schall, 
" Edminp a. Kite, 

" Pi-lson Inspectors.''^ 



Physicians' Report. . 
" To the President and Menibeis of the Board of Prison Inspectors, Mont- 
gomery County I¥i8on. 

"Gentlemen, — I reapectfuUy sulMuit the following as my official re- 
port for the year 1853 : 

"The nimiber of cases treated was furty-une ; of this number one re- 
quires .'Special mention, as the majority were, with few exceptions, acute 
affections which soon yielded to treatment. During the month of Nov. I vac- 
cinated all j>risoners except those who bore marks of recent occurrence. 
" Two deaths occurred, — one suicide by hanging, the other from par- 
alysis. This patient, while intoxicated, sustained an injury to the spine 
by accidentally falling from a bridge. He was sent here rather for treat- 
ment, but died the day following his commitment. I annex a table 
showing the number and cases treated, — 



Bronchitis 3 

Chronic ulcer 1 

Dyspepsia 2 

Diarrhu'a 3 

Tonsillitis 2 

Gonorrhiea 2 

Acne 1 

Cardiac dropsy 1 

General debility 2 

Ringworm 1 

Contused wounds 2 

Gleet 1 

Gunshot wound 1 



Aural catarrh 1 

Scrofula 1 

Cephalalgia 1 

Rheumatism 1 

Neuralgia 2 

Alcoholism 3 

Intermittent fever 3 

Eczema 1 

Pleurisy ti 

Lumbag<i 1 

Conjunctivitis 1 

Paralysis 1 

Syphilis 1 

*' Respectfully Bubmitted, 

"H. H. Drake, M.D. 
" NoRRi.sTOWN, Pa., Januarj' 7, 1884." 

Statement 
Showing t}ie Iteceipts and Expenditures in the Mannfactnre of Stockings for 
the year 1S83 : 

Caah received for knitting 14,945i.^ dozen pairs of stockings . $1525.49 
»' " for toeing 5,122 dozen pairs stockings .... 358.54 
" " for spooling 6i>5 pounds yarn 60.50 



Profit $1294.16 

The total number of prisoners committed to Mont- 
gomery County Prison for the year 1883 was 1444. 
Of these 1428 were males and 1(5 females. 

The following table shows the number of commit- 
ments to the prison each year, from the beginning of 
the present system. 




The receipts from all sources, including $7700 aj)- 
propriated by County Commissioners, were $9821,07 ; 
disbursements, $9665,54 ; and the actual net cost of 
maintaining institution, $7697,89. 

The ^'Country Squire." — Theancicntandhonorable 
officeofjusticeof the peace has long been conspicuously 
associated with the forms of law necessary to preserve 
the quiet and good order of the people and the pro- 
tection of property. The office was originally by ap- 
pointment of royal authority, and the early commis- 
sioners^ emphasized with particularity the duties and 

^ "George the third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and 
Ireland, king, defender of the faith, and so forth. To A, B, C, D, &c., 
greeting. 



MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 



325 



responsibilities enjoined upon the incumbent, and 
illustrates the confidence reposed in the favored ap- 
pointee. They were originally selected from *' those 
most sufficient knights, esquires and gentlemen of 
law.'' They were " first given power to hear and de- 
termine" by statute the 18th Edward, 8d chap., sec. 
2, Subsequently their powers were extended, and 



•• Know ye that we have assigned you. jointly and severally and every 

-one of yon, our justices to keep onr peace in our county of , and to 

keep and cause to be kept all ordinances and statutes, for the good of the 
peace, and for the preservation of the same, and fur the quiet rule and 
government of our people, made, in all and singular their articles in our 
said cf.unty (as well within liherties as without) according tu the force, 
form and effect of the same : and to chastise and punish all pei-wons that 
offend against the form of those ordinances or statutes, or any one of 
them in the aforesaid county, as it ought to he done according to the 
form of tlRve ordinances and statutes, and to cause t« come hefore you, 
or any of you. all those who to any or more of our people concerning 
their bodies or tHWiring of their Houses have used threats, to find sutti- 
cient security for the peace, or their good behaviour toward us and 
■our people ; and if they shall refuse to find such security, then them in 
our prisons until they shall find such security to cause to be safely 
kept. W(» have also assigned you, and every two or more of you (of 
whom any one of you the aforesaid A, B, C, D, Ac, we will shall he one, 
our justices tu enquire the truth more fully, by the oath of good and 
lawful men of the aforesaid county, by whom the truth of the mat- 
ter shall be the better known, of all and all manner of felonies, poisonings, 
iuchantiuents, sorceries, art magick, tresjiasses, fuiestallings, regratings, 
ingrossings and extortions whaUoever ; and ot all and singular other 
crimes and ofteuces, of which the justices of our jieace may or ought law- 
fully to inquire, by whomsoever and aft«r what manner soever in the 
s.tid county done or perpetrated, or which shall hai>pen to be there done 
or attempted. And also of all those who, in the aforesiiid cuuuty, 
in companies against our peace, in disturbance of uur people, with 
armed force have gone or rode, or hereafter shall presume to go 
or ride ; and also of all those who have there lain in wail, or hereafter 
shall presumt.' to lay in wait, to maim or cut or kill our people; and also 
of all victuallens, and all and singular other i.erson^^. wlio, in the abuse 
of weigbts or measures, or in selling victuals against the form of the or- 
■dinauces and sttttutes, or any one of them therefore uuide for thecouimon 
i)enefit of England and our people thereof, have offended or attempted, 
or hereafter shall presume in the said county to offemi or attempt, and 
*lso of all other sheriffs, bailiffs, stewards, constables, keeper of gaols and 
■other officers who iu the execu'ion of their oftlces about the premises, or 
uny of them have unduly behaved themselves or hereafter .shall presume 
to behave themselves nndul^v, or have been, or shall happen hereafter to 
be careless, remiss, or negligent in »>ur afores:iid county ; and >>f all and 
singular articles and circumstances, and all other things whatsoever that 
concern the prennsses or any of them, by whomsoever, and after what 
manner soever in our aforesaid county done or perjietnited, or which 
hereafter shall there happen to be done or attempted, in what manner 
«oever. And to inspect all indictments whatsoever so hefore you or any 
of you taken or to be taken, or before others, late our justices of the 
peftce, in the aforesaid county, mtide or taken, and not yet deterjuined ; 
and to Tiiake and continue processes thereupon, against all and singular 
the pel-sous so indicted, or who before yon hereafter shall happen to be 
indicted, until tliey can be taken, surrender themselves, or be outlawed ; 
and to lii-ar and determine all and singular the felonies, poisonings, in- 
chantmeiits, sorceries, arts magick, tresp:isses, forestalliugs, regratings, 
ingrofsings, extortions, unlawful assemblies, indictments aforesaid, and) 
all and singular other the premisses, according to the laws and statutes 
of England, iis in the like case it has been accustomed, or ought to be 
done. And the same offenders, and every of them, for their offences, by 
fines, ransoms, amerchiments, forfeitures and other means as according 
to the law and custom of England, or form of the ordinances and statutes 
■aforesaid, it has been accustomed, or oiight to be ilone, to chastise and 
punish. Provided alwaj's that if a case of difficulty, upon the determina- 
tion of any of the premises hefore you, or any two or mure of yuu, shall 
hajipen lo arise; then let judgment in no wise be given thereon, before 
you or any two or more of you unless in the presence of one of uur justices 
■of the one or other bench or of one of our justices apjiointed to hold the 
otfice in the aforesaid county. And therefore we ci>mman<l you and 
«very of you, that to keeping the peace, ordinances, statutes, and all and 



they had jurisdiction over many cases now triable by 
juries. It ha.s not been a hundred years ago since 
justices of the peace unlearned in the law as a pro- 
fession were frequently designated to hold courts for 
jury trials and perform all the functions (if the judi- 
cial office.^ 

Justices of the peace, under the old common law of 
England, were judges of record, appointed by the 
King, to be justices within certain limits for the con- 
servation of the peace and for the execution of divers 
things comprehended by their commission and within 
divers statutes committed to their charge, A record 
or memorial made by a justice of things done before 
him judicially in the execution of his otfice was of 
such verity that it could not be gainsaid. One man 
could affirm a thing, and another may deny it ; but if 
the record once said the word no man should be re- 
ceived to aver or speak against it ; for if men should 
be admitted to deny the same, there would never be 
any end to controversies. And, therefore, to avoid all 
contention while one said one thing, and another said 
another thing, the law reposed itself wholly and solely 
in the report of the justice. Lord Coke says, "The 
whole Christian world hath not the like if it be duly 
executed." Justices of the peace in the reign of 
He:iry the Eighth were of three kinds, — first, by act 
of Parliament, as the bishops of Ely and York; by 
ch:uter under the great seal as mayor of a town or 
city ; and by commission. During our colonial ex- 
istence, justices of the peace were appointed by the 
Governors, Lieutenant-(Ti.)vernors, and during the 
peri >d between 1779 and 1788 they were appointed by 
the Supreme Executive Council of the State. Upon the 
election of the Governor under the Constitution of 
179) that officer commissioned this officer, when his 
election was duly certified, to the office oi' the secre- 
tarv of the commonwealth. 



singular other the premisses j'on diligently apply yourselves; and that 
at certain daysand places which you or any such two tu- more of you as 
is af'-nwaid, shall appoint for these pnrpiise. into the premisses ye make in- 
quirii-s, and all and singular the premisses hear and determine, anrl per- 
form and fulfil them in the aforesaid form, doing therein what tojustice 
appertains, according to the law and custom of England, saving to us the 
amerciaments and other things to us therefrom belonging. And we 
command, by the tenor of these presents, our sheriff of that at cer- 
tain days and places which you, or any such two or more of you, as 
is aforewlid, shall make known unto him, he cause to come before you or 
such two or moi'e of you as aforesiiid, so many and such gofld and lawful 
men of his bailiwick (as well within liberties as without) by whom the 
truth of the matter in the premises shall he the better known and in- 
quired into. 

"Lastly, we have assigned you, the aforesaid A, B, keeper of the rolls of 
our peace in our said county. And therefore you shall cause to he 
brought before you and your said fellows, at the days and places afore- 
said, the writs, precepts, processes, and indictments aforesaid, that they 
nmy be inspected, and by a due course determined as aforesaid. 

"In witness whereof we have caused these, our letters, to be made 
patent. "NVitness our self at Westminster, Ac." 

1 Tliat the courts consist of justices of the peace, whereof three to make 
a quorum and to have the power of a Court of Sessions and decide all 
mattere under twenty pounds without appeal, in which court the oMest 
justice to preMde, unless otherwise agreed amongst themselves, and for 
crime extending to life, limbs or banisliiueut to admit ai)peat to the 
Court of Assizes. — Duke of York's Imwk, p. 4.").5. 



326 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, 




MONTGOMERY COUNTY COUKT-HOIJSE, NOUIUSTOWN, PA. 



The old-time "country squire" was a conspicuous 
character in the early days of Montgomery County. 
His influence was second only to the " country par- 
son," and often the two dignitaries were hand and 
glove in their communities. The statute law im- 
posed upon them some extraordinary duties, and gave 
them the exercise of very arbitrary power.' The 
" country squire " was esteemed an oracle of the law, 
and his rules of practice were often suggestive of re- 
sults greatly at variance with the pretensions of 
" members of the bar," who in former years frequently 
rode long distances to conduct important cases before 
them. It was no unusual experience for a country 
squire to be in commission for a quarter of a century, 
sometimes for life. Experience taught them wisdom, 
and they often adjudicated cases intent only upon 
doing even-handed justice, without reference to the 
well understood Ibrnis of law and with a seeming con- 
tempt lor superior courts of review. These senior 

1 " TFXcrcns, it has been the practice of tavern-keepers, ale-house 
keepers, jind inn-holdoi"3 to exa<'t exeessive rates fur their beer, cyder, 
and ottier liqnoi-s, and also provender for horses without regard to the 
plenty ar cheapness thereof ; Be U Utere/ore enacted that the Justices of 
the Peace of the respective counties of this Province shall have full power 
four times in the year, to wit ; at the general sessions of the peace, held 
for the sjiid counties rcsi)ectively, to set such reasonable prices in all 
liquors retailed in public-houses, and provender for horses in public 
stables from time to time as they shall see fit; which prices shall be pro- 
claimed by the cryer at the conclusion of their said respective sewions 
and fixed upon the (^'ourt-IIouse dooi-s for public view." — Smith's Latcs, 
vol. i. p. 1(14. 



justices enjoyed the confidence and respect of a wide- 
circle of acquaintances, and in many instances trans- 
acted the business of large communities. Many of 
them were, and still are, practical conveyancers, ex- 
cellent penmen, correct orthographists, and from long 
exjieriencc were capable of di"awing wills and instru- 
ments of writing that compare favorably with those 
of the legal profession. 

Time has greatly modified their official duties. As- 
late as 1819 they were required to examine all trappers 
of wolves and ijanthers, and certify their returns to 
the treasurer of the county in order that the reward 
of twelve dollars for each head could be collected. 
Prior to the revised Constitution of 1838 justices of 
the peace were appointed by the executive of the 
State, and for the term of good behavior. At that 
period they were commissioned for a certain district^ 
embracing several townships. ^ 

'* Pknnsvlvani.s, SS. 

" In the iirtiiie and by the authority of Pennsylvania, George Wolf, 
Govf rnur of tht- siijil roninionweAlth, to Joltn D. Apple, of tlie county of 
Montgomery, sends greeting. Know you that reposing especial trust and 
fonfidcnce in your integrit)', judgment ami abilities, I, the said Geoi'ge 
Wolf, have appointed and eoniDiissioned you, the said John D. Apple, to 
be u Justice of the Peace in and for the district numbered five, composed 
"f Upper Hannover, Marlborough and Upper Salford in the county of 
Montgomery, hereby giving and gi-anting with you full right and title- 

- George Wolf. 




MONTGOMERY COUNTY PRISON. 



MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 



327 



to have and execute all and singular the powera, jurisdictions, and au- 
thorities, and to receive and enjoy all and singrular the lawfid emolu- 
ments of a Jiistice of the Peace aforesaid, agreeable to the constitution 
and lawsof the f'omnionweiilth. To have and to hold this commission 
and the office hereby granted unto you, the said John D. Apjjle, so long 
as you shall behave yourself well. Given under my haiul and tlie great 
seal of the State, at Harrisbuig. the eleventh day of June, in tlu' year of 
our Lord one thousand eight lnuidred and thirty-four, and the Com- 
monwealth the flfty-oiglith. By the Governor. 

" Jamks Findi,ay, 
'\Secretari/ of the Contmomceulth. 
"Recorded June ■2;t, 183-i." 

Montgomery County was divided into ten districts, 
for which justices of the peace were appointed, viz : 

Norritot), Norristown, Worcester, Whitpain. 

Ujjper Providence, Lower I'l-ovidence, SkijipJuU, I'erkioinen. 

Montgomery, Gwynedd, Hatfield, 

Towamensing, Lower Siilford. 

Upper Hanover, JMarlboruugh, Upper Salfurd. 

Douglas, New Hanover, Frederick. 

Upper ilcriun. Lower Merion. 

Sprin^eld, Whiteniarah, Plymouth. 

Moreland, Horsham, Upper Dublin. 

Abington, Cheltenham. 



No. 


1 


No. 


2 


No. 


3. 


No. 


4 


No. 


5 


No. 


6. 


No. 


7. 


No. 


8. 


No. 


9 



The following 
prior to 1888: 

John D. Apple. 
Philip Boyer. 
John Buyer. 
David Beard. 
John H. Conrad. 
Frederick W. Coniail. 
Jacob Dewees. 
Jacob Drinkhuuse. 
Frederick Diillmlier. 
John Eliot. 
Robert Evans. 
David N. Egbert. 
Josiah W. Evans. 
Jacob Fitzwater. 
Jacob Fryer. 
Bernard Gillwrt. 
Jacob Gerhard. 
John Geyer. 
William Henderson. 
Philip Habn. 
Thomas Humphreys. 
John Heist. 
Jacob Highley. 
Christian Koisel. 
Isaac Linderman. 
Henry Longaker. 
Henry Loucks. 
John S. Missimer. 
Isaac Morris. 
Alexander Moor. .Ir. 
Morgan Morgan. 
Peter Miller. 
John Munshower. 



LMitlenieii were <lulv cniiiinis.sioned 



William M..ur. 
George H. Pawling. 
George Piper. 
Samuel D. Patterson. 
Samuel D. Ritteninmse. 
Philip Reed. 
Benjamin Reiff. 
George Riciiards. 
George Rex. 
.lohn Shellenberger. 
John B. Sterigere. 
Dillman Stauffer. 
Joseph Sands. 
Christian Snyder. 
John Shearer. 
Jonathan Shoemaker. 
John Steiner. 
John Supplee. 
Robert Stinson. 
Adam Slemnier. 
John Shaffer, 
Tobias Sellers. 
Benjamin Tystjn. 
Joshua Taylor. 
David Thomas. 
John Todd. 
John Thompson. 
Jesse Umpstead. 
Peter Wagonaeller. 
John G. Watmaugh. 
Thomas J. Weber. 
Benjamin Yost. 
Samuel Young. 



Jacob Ya-*t. 



The following is a list of the first justices of the 
peace elected in Montgomery County in conformity 
with the revised Constitution of 1838, art. vi., 
sec. vii. : 

Abington.— Isaac Schofield, William Morris. 
Cheltenham.— Samuel E. Leech, John McMullen. 
Dougliis.— Frederick Dallacher. .\mos Schultz. 
Franconia. — Samuel Warnbuld, Jacob Schlop. 
Frederick. — John H. Steiner, Samuel H. Bertolet. 
Gwynedd.— John Griffen, Eli Griffith. 
Hatfield.— Martin Hocker, Peter Hoxw.-rth. 



Horsham. — Charles Palmer, Amos L. Liikens. 
Limerick. — Isaac Linderman, Robert Evans. 
Lower Merion, — Samuel Young, Edward Harvey. 
Lower Providence. — Jacob Highley, Isjuic S. Cliristman. 
Lower Salfurd. — Benjamin Reift", .laeob Willower. 
Marlborough. — Philip Reed, John D. Apple. 
Mi'iitgumery. — Morgan Morgan, George SuUiday. 
Moorland. — Jacob Fretz, Samuel Shoemaker. 
New Hanover. — Jacob Fryer, William H. Schneider. 
Norriton. — Christian Miller, William Z. Koesey. 
Norristown. — B. F. Hancock, Benjamin Powel. 
Plymouth. — Daniel Davis, William Moore. 
Pottstown. — Jacob Drinkhuuse, John Thompson, 
Pottsgrove. — Benjamin B. Yost, Samuel Geiger. 
Pi-rkiomen. — Frederick Koous, William Fox. 
Springfield. — Jacob Day, Samuel V. R4-x. 
Towamensing. — David C. Kulp, Isaac W, Waniiiole. 
Upper Hanover. — Jacob Gerhart, Philip Super. 
Upper Dublin. — Christian Keisel, Jacob Fitzwater. 
Upper Merion — Thomas Lowery, Jason Watei^. 
Upper Providence. — John Dismant, Mathias Haldeman. 
Upper Salford. — Abraham Heaues, Frederick K. Siriitli. 
Whitemareh. — George S. Williams, Daniel H. Da-^er. 
Whitpain. — John Shonenberger, John Styer. 
Worcester. — Michael Zilling, George Roberts. 

The following honorahle record justly illustrates 
the otHce of the *' country squire" in Montgomery 
County. The fact that the officer referred to resides 
at Peunsburg, in Upper Hanover township, distant 
some twenty-five miles from the county seat, has 
doubtless contributed in some measure to the results 
stated. 

Philip Siu-mt, Justick of the Pe.\ce. 

Commissioned 3d day of August, 1835, by George Wolf, !is luiijor of 
the First Battalion, One Hundred and Ninth Regiment of the militia of 
the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the Second Biigjuie, Second 
Division, composed of Bucks and Jlontgomery Counties, until the 'M 
day of August, a.d. 184-2. 

Conmiissioned April 14, 1s4m, by David R. Porier, as justice of tho 
peace, five ye^irs fi*om date. 

Commissioned April 15, 1^45, by Francis K. Sliunk, as justice of* tho 
peace, five years from date. 

Commissioned April '.i, iSoO, by William F. Johnston, as justice of tho 
peace, five years from date. 

Connuissioned April 10, 1S55, by James Pollock, as justice of the peace 
five yeare from date. 

Commissioned April 10, 18G0, by William F. Packer, as justice of the 
peace, five yeare from date. 

Commissioned April 24, isr..5, by Andrew G. Curtin, a^ justice of the 
peace, five years from the 11th day of April, lSii5. 

Commissioned .\pril 2, 1870, hy John W. Geary, as justice of the peace, 
five yeare from the lUh day of April, 1.S70. 

Commissioned May 13, 1879, by Henry M. Hoyt. as notary public, to 
reside in the town of Peunsburg for tliree years of date. 

Conmiissioned May 13, 1882, by Henry M. Hoyt, as notary public, to 
reside in the town of Pennsburg from date till the end of the next session 
of the Senate of Pennsylvania. 

Commissioned February 3, 18S3,by Robert E. Pattison, as notar>- public^ 
to reside in the village of Pennsburg three yeare, to compute front May 
13th, A.D. 1882. 

Number of civil suits entered in docket 1680 

Number of criminal suits entered in docket 150 

Number of conmiitments to court 44 

Number of marriage ceremonies performed 20 

N'umber of estates settled 175 

.Vpproxiniate aggregate value of estates settled . , S125,000 

Squire Super, in furnishing the author with the 
above data, adds, — 

"Yon will see that I served 35 years as a Justice of the Peace, and 
during that time I never had a case in which counsel appeared to repre. 
sent jiarties. I suppose that can be accounted for by our being more 
than 25 miles from the county-seat, and until of late years having no 
railroad communication ; besides, our people being rather primitive, were 



328 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



acciistoiiiod tu take the 'Squire's' wonl or decision as law. During all 
the time I served I believe there were not twenty appeals. You will also 
see that we had but little criminal business, and that generally of a 
character that did not recjuire the intervention of a Court. 

'* You will also see that our people, a contented and happy people, are 
nut very ricli, a.s their estates do not average high." 

Not only historians gladly chronicle events associ- 
ated with this ancient and honorable office, but poets 
pay their moralizing tributes as well, — 

" The old 'squire said, as lie stood by his gate, 
.'Vnd his neighbor, the deacon, went by, 
' In spite of my bank stock and real estate. 
You are better off, deacon, than I. 

*' * We're both growing old, and tlie end's drawing near ; 
Y'ou have less of this world to resign. 
But in Heaven's appraisal your a**ets, I fear. 
Will reckon up greater than mine. 



" ' They say I am rich, but I'm feeling so poor, 
I wish I could swap Willi you even ; 
The pounds I have lived for and laid up in store 
For the shillings and i)ence you have given.' 

"'Well, 'squire,' said the deacon, with shrewd common sen,se, 
While his eye had a twinkle of fun, 
' Let your pounds take the way of my shillings and pence, 
.\nd the thing can be easily done ! ' " 

— miitlier. 

As an illustration of the present magnitude of 
Montgomery County and as showing the great pro- 
gress made in the first century of its existence, 
we append the following statistics which are taken 
from the annual rejiorts of the County Treasurer 
for the years 18S3 and ISS-t : 



TABULAR STATEMENT OF COUNTY AND ST.WB TAXES CHARGED TO .1. R. YOST, COUNTY TREASURER, FOR THE YEAR 1883. 



County Tax, 1883. 



TowNsmrs, Warps and 
BoHotT.ns. 



AbingluM, 

Bridge|.ort, 

Conshobni-lten, 1st Ward, 
Conshohocken, 2d Ward, 
East Greenville, .... 

Green Lane,''' 

Hatboro 

Jenkintown, 

Lansdale, 

NolTistown, 1st Ward, . 
Norristown, 2d Ward, . . 
Norristown, 3d Ward, . . 
NolTistown, 4th Ward, . 
Norristown, 5th Ward, . 
Norristown, Oth Ward, . 

North Wales 

Pottstown, E. W., . . . 
Pottstown, M. W., . . . 
Pottstown, W. W., . . . 

Royersfonl,* 

West Conshohocken, . . 

Cheltenham 

Douglass, 

Franconia 

Frederick, 

Gwynedd, 

Hatlield, 

Horsham, 

Limerick 

Lower Jlerion 

Lower I'rovidence, . . . 

Lower Salford 

Blarlborough, 

Mooreland, 

Montgomery, 

Norriton, 

New Hanover, 

Perkiomen, 

Plymouth 

Pottsgrove, 

Springtield, 

Towameuciu, 

Upper Dublin, 

Upiier Hanover, .... 

Upper Merlon, 

Vpper Providence, . . . 

I'pper Salford, 

Whitemal-sh, 

Wbitpai 

M'ol'eester, 



Charged ; Received 1 Charged j Received Balance 

to Co. by Co. ' to ' from | Out- 

Treasurer. Treasurer. Collectors. Collectors, standing. 



State Tax, 1883. 



.5,314 
1,513 

1,403 
2,805 

3r,3 

109 

83.' 
1,218 

807 
3,201 
2,0.52 
'2,044 
2,(18(1 
■2,140 

(129 

074 
1,443 
2,2.55 
1,287 

707 
1,332 
.5,610 
1,892 
2,897 
1,048 
3,512 
2,203 
2,892 
2,901 
'j,974 
2,013 
2,451 

703 
3.589 
I,.543 
2,417 
1,958 
.3,812 
2,45(i 
3,702 
3,134 
1,801 
3,038 
3,002 
3,881 
4,840 
l,9(i4 
4,031 
2,707 
2,960 



Totals, Sl'27,761 06 



' 3,327 10 

807 73 

261 95 

1,'2H 30 

255 46 

KIS 29 

415 98 

607 69 

.582 45 

2,002 16 

1,441 30 

2,320 76 

1,982 10 

1,421 56 

341 62 

513 41 

869 21 

1,0211 51 

014 70 

4(;3 21 

901 09 

3,728 99 

363 72 

1,103 04 

612 .58 

1,554 27 

903 69 

1,373 .58 

906 40 

2,814 01 

1,367 56 

1,080 60 

212 30 

1,'273 60 

740 IS 

1,720 09 

503 12 

2,017 77 

1,329 10 

1,784 91 

1,072 13 

981 6(1 

1,408 77 

1,4'28 '29 

1,759 .53 

2,933 61 

.581 43 

'2,2.53 55 

1,634 11 

2,182 68 



; 1,986 86 

706 42 

1,051 27 

1,594 57 

108 11 

61 55 

419 61 

611 27 

284 81 

1,199 .58 

610 76 

018 08 

698 68 

727 91 

287 78 

161 09 

574 60 

634 87 

372 85 

244 16 

431 .36 

1,781 70 

1,528 73 

1,704 91 

1,036 07 

1,903 36 

1,209 92 

1,518 85 

2,085 6(1 

7,1.59 74 

1,245 46 

1,370 69 

681 (lu 

2,316 31 

803 26 

687 99 

1,455 38 

1,795 13 

1,127 44 

1.977 71 

2,061 99 

880 02 

2,229 29 

1,.573 89 

2,122 04 

1,906 91 

1,383 02 

2,678 17 

1,133 19 

784 (18 



S1,45U 00 I 8 .536 86 

705 42 

851 27 

1,127 11 

108 11 



200 00 
467 46 



lOO 00 
100 00 
100 00 
100 00 
100 OO 



239 96 
116 64 
315 69 


130 'oo' 
300 30 


■ 150 74 
126 75 


.300 00 
515 00 
317 55 


116 00 


450 oo' 
100 00 


1,107 25 

26 75 

600 00 

298 87 


219 04 


130 00 



419 61 
611 27 
284 81 
1,099 58 
61(1 76 
518 68 
598 (!8 
6'27 91 
287 78 
22 09 
574 06 
6:M 87 
372 85 

314 81 

1,466 07 

1,.528 73 

1,704 91 

90G 07 

1,663 06 

1,209 92 

1,368 11 

1,958 85 

7,1.59 74 

945 46 

865 69 

263 51 

2,316 31 

687 20 

687 99 

1,4.55 38 

1,795 13 

1,127 44 

1,5-27 71 

1,901 99 

880 02 

1,122 04 

1,547 14 

1,622 (14 

1,608 04 

1,384 (r2 

2,459 ,13 

1,133 19 

654 08 



$64,279 14 j 863,487 21 .S8,277 85 i $65,204 .56 



Charged 

to Co. 
Treasurer. 



? 772 .50 
7 95 

10 80 
131 45 
210 00 

29 45 
110 (H) 
133 92 

83 35 
380 10 
2.53 32 

761 37 
299 66 

89 70 

90 57 
46 60 
81 55 

357 64 
273 70 
104 98 
186 33 
466 72 
288 35 
939 16 
299 '20 
533 70 
.509 15 
882 60 
423 76 
1,3'20 1(1 
4:15 81 
917 (16 
152 40 
376 (10 
98 16 
562 96 
171 72 
901 15 
119 56 
326 22 
2'27 95 
576 56 
533 8(1 
6.50 30 
71 80 
717 90 
384 26 
441 70 
404 90 

762 08 



Received 

by I'o. 
Treasurer. 



i 582 40 

45 

2 60 

95 86 

175 85 

24 95 

77 06 

71 10 

70 (10 
323 -25 

227 47 
670 42 
271 80 

81 80 

77 60 

37 75 

62 90 

311 44 

244 60 

94 45 

168 03 

389 57 

84 90 

701 96 

175 10 

353 40 

436 45 

739 35 

226 76 

847 60 

350 10 

691 41 

71 40 
222 36 

81 25 
426 84 

98 67 
788 (15 

98 50 

228 27 
147 85 
460 90 
377 30 
429 27 

48 15 
593 -25 
203 4.5 
260 75 
363 95 
673 65 



Charged 

to 
Collectors. 



i 190 10 

1 50 

8 20 

35 6(1 

34 15 

4 5(1 

.32 95 

62 82 

7 35 

56 86 

25 85 

91 15 

27 85 

7 9(1 
12 97 

8 85 
18 65 
46 '20 
29 10 
1(1 .53 
17 30 

79 16 
203 46 
237 20 
1'24 10 
180 30 

72 60 
143 75 
198 (H) 
478 .50 

86 41 
•226 05 

81 00 
163 66 

16 90 
127 11 

73 15 
113 10 

21 06 
96 95 

80 10 
115 60 
156 50 
221 03 

22 65 
124 05 
180 811 
180 95 

40 96 
88 4:1 



Balance 

Out- 
Standing. 



; 190 10 

1 50 

8 -20 

35 60 

34 15 

32 95 

62 82 

7 36 

56 85 

26 85 
91 15 

27 85 

7 90 
12 97 

8 85 
18 65 
46 20 
29 10 

17 30 

79 15 
203 45 
237 20 
1'24 10 
180 30 

72 70 
14:) 15 
198 00 
478 50 

85 41 
225 65 

81 00 
153 65 

16 90 
127 11 

73 15 
113 10 

21 05 
96 95 

80 10 
115 60 
156 50 
2'21 03 

•23 65 
124 65 
180 80 
180 95 
40 95 
88 43 



$18,904 62 $14,250 97 



«4,638 .52 



$.52.76 received juirsnant to election laws November election. 

Allowance to Collector of Greenlane, Ode. Collector of Royersford. #4. '20. 

Received the State tax for 18S3, in full from C^jllector of (ireeiilane $4.5il, and of Rovorsford $10.53. 

* SetOod. 



BIBLIOGllAPHY. 



349 



this history. Therefore, in so short a time as one year 
no one could anticipate an elaborate treatment involv- 
ing as it does researches through the long lajjse of 
almost two centuries that have now j)assed away since 
the tirst humljle eflbrts were made within our territory 
to produce a literature. From the ]>eriod of settle- 
juent to the first introduction of a priuting-i^ress 
was more than a century. Philadelphia was near, and 
printing and publishing to a limited extent was done 
there even prior to 1700. It was also entered into by 
Christopher Saur, at Germautown, in the summer of 
1738. With such advantages at hand, as may be sup- 
piosed, it was not long before persons would l)e found 
of sufficient qualifications to avail tliemsclves of 
such opportunities. 

Whatever is here now offered on the subject was 
done almost unaided, and has required no small de- 
gree (if labol'to secure and bring together. Not an 
instance of any one having attempted it, or even made 
an eftiirt in this direction, as respects our county, was 
ascertained. These facts are now ottered in ajiology 
for any deficiencies which may exist. Of some works 
we have failed to secure the date of publication, 
others their full titles, size and number of pages. 
That we have used great efl()rt to have it lull and 
complete we shall not deny. However, the result is 
gratifying — a foundation, at least, is here laid upon 
which a more finished structure can be reared, and 
that, too, with less effort. The wonder is, after going 
over the list, that even so much has been accom- 
jilisbed when we come to consider the poor reward or 
patronage allowed authors for their labors. The pur- 
suit of literature l)y its votaries was chiefiy induced 
by the ]>leasure or gratification it allbrdcd to them- 
selves. Though they thought and wrote on the past 
and lived in the present, yet it was the future that 
animated them to renewed zeal. True, they were 
generally ilry and speculative in the treatment of 
their subjects; but it was the beginning, and, like all 
beginnings, crude, and with time shoukl lie impmved 
upon. 

The authors or writers who resided witbin our small 
territory down to half a century ago could not have 
fancied the great changes that have since transpired, 
and that have so respectively tended to disseminate 
a knowledge and love of letters. No public or free 
schools theu existed, the post-offlces were only one- 
fourth the present number, with but one or two ar- 
rivals weekly. The first newspaper established in 
the county was in 1799; in 1810 the number had in- 
creased to two, and in 1831 to five. They were all 
issued once a week and small in size. " Locals," in the 
general acceptation of the term, were then unknown, 
and astomarriagesand deaths, few were yet mentioned. 
Editorials on useful or instructive subjects rarely 
made an appearance. Party spirit and rancor was 
strongly exhibited, and that of a personal kind. 
That this occasionally led to duels and personal as- 
saults we need not wonder. Manv of the earlv 



writers of books and pamphlets being clergymen, 
devoted themselves chiefly to doctrinal matters, in 
which sermons have had their share, and beyond 
their own circles could possess but little interest. 
Works treating an agriculture, science, history and 
biography are being sought after, most of which 
command high prices. 

Modern taste appears to be growing more and more 
practical and advancing towards solid and instructive 
information. The most popular authors of fiction 
thirty and fifty years ago and who secured high prices, 
might now go begging for publishers. In this we 
certainly see a change for the better. As important 
aids to useful infornuition the writers of the past 
stood much in need of suitable dictionaries and en- 
cyclopedias of well-digested infornuition, ncjw so com- 
mon for reference. Even many of the best-written 
histories down to a century ago were largely made 
up of connected tales or frivolous an<l speculative 
matters, showing a lack of practical and irajiortant 
information in their autluirs. As a sample, take for 
instance the amount of sjiace given to the origin of 
our American Indians or tlie theories on the internal 
structure of the earth. 

To render the subject more comprehensive, mention 
has been made of a few authors who have been non- 
residents, yet, from the nature of their works bearing 
on the county, they deserve honorable mention ; this 
will also apply in several instances to those who have 
gotton up maps. We have also, in this connection, 
thought it worth our while to mention a few of the 
early resident publishers, though hardly authors, yet 
whodid much to encourage such by theirenterpriseand 
liberality, for which the reward must have been small 
compared to the risk ventured. Eemarkable to state, 
although we have had at least three noted calculators 
of almanacs residing in our midst, two of whom were 
natives, yet, on the most diligent impiiry, we have not 
learned of an almanac having been jirinted in the 
county, though it has beeu done in the adjacent ones, 
where book-printing was not nearly so extensively 
carried on. Many an almanac in English and Ger- 
man was sold within the county, printed in German- 
town, Allentown, Reading and Doylestown. 

With the success and labors of some of our authors 
we can justly be proud ; their fame has spread far 
beyond our limits, and extended even to Europe. 
Among such in the past can be mentioned Henry M. 
Muhlenberg, David Ritteuhouse, Henry Ernest Muhl- 
enberg, Charles Thomson and John James Audubon. 
To become a popular author requires long and carefiil 
study in the way of preparation, with an exercise and 
command of the several faculties that mortals do not 
all possess. The days of superficiality and mere 
imitation are over. Invention is now required in every- 
thing, and whatever is seized upon must be added to. 
To accomplish this requires that the powers of obser- 
vation be constantly exercised. These are the basis 
of originality, more especially in the field of thought. 



350 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



With this introduction we sliall now take up the 
authors' names, alpliabetically arranged, bringing 
their works down to the present time. 

J. M. Andeks, JNI.D., Ph.D., a native of Worcester 
township. " Hygienic and Therapeutic Relations of 
House-Plants," J. B. Lippincott &Co., Philadelphia, 
1880, IG pp., IGnio., reprinted from the Philadelphia 
Medical Times. 

WiLMER Atkinson, b. 1840, a resident of Upper 
Dublin, in connection with H. M. Jenkins, wrote a 
series of articles entitled " Sketches of the Churches 
and Meetings of Montgomery County," published in 
the Norristown Ecgister, 18.59, in 18 numbers. In 
December, 1878, established The Farm Journal in 
Philadelphia, an agricultural monthly that has at- 
tained an extensive and widespread circulation. He 
had previously been an editor and publir^lur of several 
newspapers. 

JoHX James ArDUEON, 1771-1851, a resident of 
Lower Providence from 1789 to 1809, and at intervals 
afterwards. "Birds of America," 448 colored plates, 
size of life, elephant fcdio, 6 vols., price, !j!lOOO. 
" American Ornithological Biography," 5 vols., 8 vo., 
1828. "Birds of America," reduced edition, 7 vols., 
imp. 8vo. 1844. "Quadrupeds of America," 3 vols., 
folio, containing 150 plates, and three vols., 8vo. letter 
press, 1851. In the latter work lie was aided by Rev. 
J. Bachnian and his sons, V. G. and J. W. Audubon. 
By an act of Congress, passed August 18, 1856, the 
Secretary of State was authorized to purchase one 
hundred copies each of the " Birds of America" and 
" Quadrupeds of North America," for exchange with 
foreign governments for valuable works. 

Moses Au(;e, b. 1811, a resident of Norristown 
for a long period. " Lives of the Eminent Dead and 
Biographical Notices of Prominent Living Citizens of 
Montgomery County, Pa," published by the author 
Norristown, Pa., 1879, 568 pp., 8vo. "Five Essays or 
Lectures on some of the Great (Questions of the Day, 
with a Sketchof the Author and his Ancestors," Nor- 
ristown, 1879, G4 pp., 8vo. " Historical Sketches of 
Norristown," published in 1880-81 in a series of 
weekly articles in the Norristown Register. The first- 
mentioned w'ork is a valuable addition to the history 
of Montgomery County, containing considerable infor- 
mation that has not heretofore been [lublished. (For 
a more extended sketch of Moses Auge, seehistory of 
Norristown). 

Elijah W. Beans, long a school-teacher and resi- 
dent of the vicinity of Hatboro', and also of Norris- 
town, county surveyor 1853-56, d. before 1860. Wc 
have been unable to secure a co[)y of his work, which 
was pulilished before 1856, "A Manual of Practical 
Surveyors," ISmo. price seventy-five cents. 

Theodoke W. Bean, b. 1833. " Roll of Honor of 
the Seventeenth Regiment of Pennsylvania Cavalry," 
James S. Claxton, Philadelphia, 1865, 88 pp., 12mo. 
"Washington at Valley Forge One Hundred Years 
Ago; or, The Foot-Prints of the Revolution," Norris- 



town, Pa., with six maps, 1876, 63 pp., 8vo. Contribu- 
tions to "Annals of the War," viz. : " Buford at 
Gettysburg;" "Custer's Charge at Yellow Tavern;" 
" The Fall of General Zook," and " General Pleasanton 
at Chancellorsville," published in the Philadelphia 
Weekly Times, 19,1 %-iZ. Editor of the Norristown Inde- 
pendent 1871-72. Author of a course of lectures deliv- 
ered at Pennsylvania Female College, in 1873, on 
"Property Rights of Married and Single Women in 
Pennsylvania." "Sheridan in the Shenandoah," pub- 
lished in the Scout and Mail 1883. " History of Mont- 
gomery County " (the present work), editor. 

Encs Bexnek, editor and proprietor of the " Bau- 
ern Freund" from 1828 to 1858, Sumneytown, deceased. 
" Erliiiiteruiig fur Heern Caspar Sehwenckfeld," Sum- 
neytown, 1830, 8vo., " Abhandlung iiber die Reclien- 
kunst Oder Practische Arithmetic," 1883, 12mo. 
" Die Augsburgische Confession als das Glaubens- 
bekentnes der Protestanden, 1839, 12mo. " Gebete 
und Lieder," 1840. " Das Neue Buchstabier und Lese- 
buch, von Enos Benner" 1848. " Hundert Kirehen 
liederoderein NeuerAnhangzum Reformirten Gesang- 
buch," 18-50. The second work has pas.sed through 
several editions, and has been extensively used in 
German schools throughout that section. The fourth 
work lias also passed through several editions, and is 
considered one of the best (xerman school-books. It 
is arranged after the manner of John Comly's work, 
and of similar size. He ha.s also published " Hoch- 
deutsche Reformirte Kirehen — Kirehen Ondnung," 
1830, 25 pp., 12mo. ; and " Catechismus fiir Kleine 
Kinder von Allen Benennungen, 1855 ; " a second edi- 
tion, by his son, E. M. Benner, in 1869, 24 pp., 32mo. 

E. M. Benner, " Das Neuc Buchstabier und Lese- 
buch zum Gebraueh Deutsche Volks-Scliulen in Penn- 
sylvania uiid andern Staaten ; " Vierte verbesserte 
Auflage," Sumneytown, Pa., Dresck und Verlag, von 
E. M. Benner, 1864, 144 pp., 12iuo. This is an im- 
proved edition of the forjner work published by his 
father. 

John Philip Boehm was one of the first German 
Reformed clergymen in the county, if not in the 
country ; died in Whitpain in 1749. " Der Reformirten 
Kirche in Pennsylvanien Kirchenordnung, welche 
in Jahre 1725 vom Philip Bohm aul'gestellt und for 
den Gliedern der Gemiende angenomen ist," Phila- 
delphia, Potthard Armbriistcr, in der Arch Strasse. 
Boehm's " Getruicr Warnungs Brief," printed l)y 
A. Bradford, 1742. "Bossheit der Herranhutisehen 
Sekte," printed by J. Bohm, 1749. 

J. H. A. Bo.MBERiiER, D.D., b. 1817, president of 
Ursinus College and Theological Seminar}', College- 
ville. " Alumni Oration at JIarshall College," Mer- 
cersburg, 1846, 28 pp. "Conlributions to Mercers- 
burg Review," 1849-53, about 200 pj). " Five Years 
in Race Street Reformed Church," 1857, 72 pp. "In- 
fant Salvation and Baptism,",1859, 192 pp. "Trem- 
bling for the Ark, a Sermon jireaehed at the Burial of 
Rev. S. Ilelfenstein," 1866. "Revised Liturgy," 




: :■{ Ritchie- 



c 




c.^/. ^CcO^ 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



35t'5 



1867, 120 pp. " Eeformed not Ritualistic," 150 pp. 
" Baccalaureate Discourses," 90 ])p. Translated from 
tlie German, Kurtz's" Hand-Bookof Church History," 
IStJO, 2 vols., 750 pp., used as a text-book. Also 
" Herzog's Encyclopedia," first 2 vols. LSGl-fiO, 800 
pp., 8vo. In .January, 1868, Dr. 15. founded the Rejormed 
Church Monthly, and continued it for nine years, 
making 9 vols, of from 600 to 700 pages each, to 
which he furnished nearly half tlio matter. He lias 
also been a considerable contributor to other publi- 
cations. 

.1. H. BORNEMAN", "Hi.story of the Bornenuin 
Family in America since the First Settlers, 1721 to 
1878," 1881, 114 pp., 12mo. The greater portion of 
the worlc relates to Jlontgomery County. Settled 
originally in Upper Hanover township. 

Wii.Li.v:\[ L. Breton, 1773-1856, born in England 
and resided neftr Manayunk. Ifade sketches of Swedes' 
Ford, Flat Rock Bridge, Lower Merion Meeting- 
House, Navigation on the Schuylkill, Bridge over 
Wissahickon, Manayunk and other places, which 
were engraved by Gilbert and i)ublished, with letter- 
press descriptions, in Atkinson's Casket, Pliiladel- 
phia, between the years 1826 and 1834. 

W. Harry Boyd, "Norristown, Bridgeport and 
I'ottstown Directory," containing private instructions, 
together with a business directory of the principal 
'towns in Montgomery County, 1882-84, compiled and 
published by W. Harry Boyd, Pottsville, Pa., 271 pp., 
8vo. Mr. Boyd had also previously published direc- 
tories on the county. 

William J. Buck, b. 1825. '■ History of More- 
land from its First Purchase and Settlement to the 
Present Tinie,"^3 pp. "Indian Utensils and Imple- 
ments di.scovered on the Pennypack," 4 pp., illus- 
trated with eighteen lithographic drawings. " Local 
Superstitions," 5 pp. The aforesaid articles were 
published in vol. i. of "Collections of the Pennsyl- 
vania Historical Society," Philadeljihia, 1853, Svo. 
" History of Bucks County" from its Earliest Settle- 
ment to the Close of the Eighteentli Century," John 
S. Brown, Doylestown, 1855, 118 j)])., large Svo. 
"Observations on Birds," 12 numbers in Btichs 
Countij IiitdU.fjencer, June to (.)etober, 1858. " His- 
tory of Montgomery County within the Schuylkill 
Valley," Norristown, printed by E. L. Acker, 1850, 
128 pp., royal Svo. " Contributions to the History of 
Bucks County," 24 weekly numbers in the Bucks 
Co««(!///rt<f;/j(;encer, Doylestown, April to September 20, 
1859. "The Naturalist and Observations of a 
Naturalist," Philadelphia Home Weekly, February, 
1866, to .January 23, 1867. "The Cuttelossa and its 
Historical Associations," Bucks County Intelligcncci; 
April to September 23, 1873, 24 numbers. " Early 
Discovery of Coal in Pennsylvania," read before the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, January 4, 1875, 
and pulili.shed in vol. x. of " Transactions of the 
Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society." " Early 
Ai counts of Petroleum in the United States," read 



before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, March 
13, 1876, published by Bloss & Coggswell, Titus- 
ville. Pa., in a pamphlet of 12 pp., large 8vo., also 
with additions in the Engineering and Mining Journal 
of New York. "History of Montgomery County, 
Pa., from the Earliest Period of its Settlement to 
the Present Time," including sketches of all its 
townships and boroughs, published in " Scott's At- 
las of Montgomery County," Phila., 1877, occupy- 
ing 84 columns 15 inches in length. " Biogra- 
phies of Thomas Craig. Robert LoUer, Bird Wilson 
and William Moore Smith," published in M. Auge's 
" Biography of Montgomery County," 10 pp., Svo, 
1879. "The German Population in Bucks County," 
read before the Bucks County Historical Society at 
Pleasant Valley, October 11, 1882; published in three 
Bucks County newspajicrs. " Local Legends " and 
a paper on " Local History," read before the Mont- 
gomery County Historical Society, Norristown, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1883; the latter only published in Nor- 
ristown papers. " Washington's Encampment at 
Neshaminy," "Lifeof Chief .Tustice Langhorne," and 
" Sketches of Tishcohan and Lappawinzo, Delaware 
Indian Chiefs, " published in 1877 and 1883 in the 
Magazine of Historical Society. "The Local His- 
torian, " a series of sketches relating chiefly to the 
southeastern section of Montgomery County ; pub- 
lished in the Hatboro, Public Spirit, from December 
11, 1880, to June 24, 1882, seventy-five numbers. 
"Historical Address" delivered by request before the 
Centennial Association of Montgomery County, in 
Music Hall, Norristown, Septcmlier 10, 1884, 23 pp., 
Svo. " Montgomery County Centennial Celebration, 
an Official Record," 1885, 450 pp., Svo. ; one of the 
editors and on the publication committee with F. G. 
Hobson and H. S. Dottcrer. " History of Montgom- 
ery County" (the present work), contributed a consider- 
alile portion ; also a contributor to Wcstcott's "Life of 
John Fitch," Westcott's "History of Philadelphia," 
Brotherhead's " Magazine of Notes and Queries,'' 
Rupp's " 30,000 Names," "The Pennypacker Family 
Union Memorial," " Public Libraries of the United 
States in 1876," Davis' " History of Bucks County," 
Egle's "History of Pennsylvania" and other works, 
besides to numerous newspapers within the past 
thirty-six years. For the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania copies of original records were made from 
September, 1870, to November, 1872, filling upwards 
of 4,000 compact foolscap pages, to accomplish which 
required about 1000 miles of travel. Also arranged 
and had bound for the same nearly 100 volumes of 
manuscripts. Among these were 39 folio volumes 
comprising the Penn Collection, purchased in 1871 
at a cost of nearly $4000. 

Miss Belle Bush. "Voices of the Morning," J. 
B. Lippincott & Co., Phila., 1865, 259 pp., 12mo,com- 
prising a selection of seventy-one poems, pre- 
viously published in some twenty-three newspapers 
aiid magazines. In connection with her sisters, taught 



52 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



for some time a select school for young ladies in Nor- 
ristown. 

Abraham H. Cassel, b. 1820, a resident of Lower 
Salford, and a noted collector of rare books, pamphlets 
and mauuscrij)ts. Although he has written little for 
publication, has furnished considerable information 
/ to others and often, too, without credit. He has been 
a contributor to the Magazine of the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania, and to the works of 0. Seidensticker, 
S. W. Pennypacker, M. Auge, E. B. O'Callahau and 
others, besides occasional articles to the county 
iiewsi)apers, as the JVorth Wales Eecord and Schwenks- 
ville Item. His communications are generally of a 
historical character, and he rarely takes up any suljject 
without making valuable additions thereto. He 
■writes in English and German. 

Jehu Curtis Clay, b. 1792, a native of Upper 
Merion. "Annals of the Swedes," 183.5, 180 pp., 32mo. ; 
enlarged and revised edition 1858, 179pp.,12mo. 

Charles Collixs, b. 1823, pastor since 18G6, of 
the Centennial Presbyterian Church, Jeff'ersonville. 
Philadelphia Musical Journal, 1858, quarto, edited by 
him. " Sparkling Gems," containingoriginal hyransand 
tunes for Sabbath-schools and social praise-meetings. 
The Christian, a monthly magazine, 18.56. "Discourse 
on the Origin and History of Presbyterianism in Mont- 
gomery County," 1876. "Sermon on the Death of 
Dr. David Schrack." " Poem on the One Hundredth 
Anniversary of Montgomery County," published in 
PhiladelphiaAW/A.-lHiericare, in September, 1884; also 
author of the "Grayson Letters" and several poems 
published in the Norristown Herald. 

Wm. Coli.um, a native and resident of Montgomery 
township, where he taught school from 1805 to 1819, 
if not later, and subsequently removed to Philadelphia. 
Calculated Almanacs published by Asher Miner, 
Doylestown, for several years. Those for 1816 and 
the following year are in possession of the writer. 

Georue N. Corsox, b. 1834. "Letters on Travels 
in England, Scotland and Ireland," published in Nor- 
ristown Herald in 1870. " Pen Portraits of the Mem- 
bers of the State Constitutional Convention," pub- 
lished in Philadelphia Pm«, 1872-73. "Great Tan- 
gleation : " An Extravaganza." Poem read at the 
centennial celebration of Montgomery County, Sep- 
tember 10, 1884, comprising 172 nine syllable lines. 

Hiram Corson, M.D., b. 1804, a life-long resident 
of Plymouth. " Reminiscences of the Cholera Epi- 
demic of 1832, and Notes on the Treatment of the 
Disease atThatTime,"1884, 15 pp.,8vo ; has been sev- 
eral times previously published. "Midwifery in the 
Country," 1863, 16 pp. "Thoughts on Midwifery," 
1863, 16 pp. "Food for Infants," 1868, 12 pp., 8vo. 

"Belladonna in Whooping Cough," Am. Jour. 
Med. Sciences. " Measles," 1872. " A Review of Re- 
ports on Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria," T. P. M. 
Soc., 1873, or 3Ied. Times, 1871. "Erysipelas after 
Vaccination, Thirty Cases," translation, 1854. "Met- 
taner's Aperient Solvent," translation, read before 



Society, 1850. " Pneumonia," 1876, report to State 
Society. " Ice and Ice-Water in Scarlet Fever: Who 
Originated the Practice? " 1876. " Puerperal Convul- 
sions," 1876, Med. and Surg. Reporter. "Meddlesome 
Midwifery," 1874, May 30, Med. and Surg. Reporter- 
" Remarks on Scarlet Fever, suggested by Essay," 1873. 
" Ice in Inflammation of the Mamma," August 16, 
187S, Reporter. "External Apijlication of Ice in 
Scarlet Fever," August, 1844; Livezey, p. 480; 
Meigs on "Diseases of Children," (S. F. Meigs). 
"The Use of Opium in Obstetrics," Med. Reporter, 
.Ian navy 24, 1874. " The Use of Ice and Ice- Water in 
Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria," Med. Reporter, 1871. 
" Blood-letting in the Aged." " Blood-letting in the 
Young." " Cold Treatment of Scarlet Fever in a 
Puerperal Woman," Med. Reporter, 1882, May num- 
ber. " On Ligation of Funis," Reporter, November 
9, 1872. 

L. H. D.AYis, one of the editors and proprietors of 
the Daily and Weekly Ledger, Pottstowti. " The Cen- 
tennial Celebration at Pottstown, Pa., .Iuly4, 1876," 
a historical sketch written by L. H. Davis, at the 
request of the centennial committee, Pottstown, Pa., 
1876, 114 pp., 8vo. The historical sketch occupies 73 
pages. A valuable acquisition to our local history. 

P. S. Davis, D. D. "The Young Parson," Phila., 
Smith, English iSi Co., 1863, 384 pp., 12ino. Tlie author 
at the t me was jiastor of the German Reformed Church 
of the Ascension in Norristown ; relates in an enter- 
taining manner the experiences of a country parson. 

Wm. p. Dewees, M.D., 1768-1841, a native of 
Pottstown and professor of midwifery in the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania. "Inaugural Essays," 2 
editions. " Medical Essays," Phila., t823. "System 
of Midwifery," 12th edition, 1854, 600 pp., 8vo. 
" Treatise on the Treatment of Children," first pub. in 
1825 ; 10th edition, 1854, 548 pp., 8vo. " Treatise on 
the Diseases of Females," 1826 ; 10th edition, 1854, 
532 pp., 8vo. "On the Practice of Medicine," 1830. 

Christopher Dock, 1735-71, long a teacher and 
resident of Lower Salford, where he died. " Eine ein- 
fiiltig und griindlich abgefasste Schul-Ordnung darin- 
nen deutlich vorgestellt wird, auf welche Weise die 
Kinder nicht nur in denen in Schulen gewohnlich 
bestens angubraohtcn Lehren, sondern audi in der 
Lehre der Gottseligkeit wohl unterrichtet werden 
mogen, aus Liebe zu dem menschlichen Geschlecht 
aufgesetzt durch den wohlerfahrenen und lang geilbten 
Schulmeister Christoph Dock," Germantown, ge- 
druckt und zu finden bei Christoph Sauer, 1770. 
" Copia einer Schrift, welche der Schulmeister 
Christoph Dock an seine nachlcbende Scliiiler zur 
Lehre und Yermahnung aus Liebe geschrieben hat," 
printed by C. Sauer about 1764. " Hundert nothige 
Sitten-Regeln fiir Kinder," with part 2d, containing 
" Ein Hunderd Christliche Lebens-Regeln fur Kin- 
der," pub. by C. Sauer, 24 pp., 8vo. "Zwei erbauliche 
Lieder," printed by Michael Billrayer, Germantown, 
1790. The first-mentioned work was written in 1750, 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



35c,5 



and is one of the very few works written and published 
in America during the colonial period treating on 
education. The last are hj-mus dedicated to his 
pupils ; one contains 22 stanzas of 6 lines each, 
the other 24 of 8 lines, making together .324 lines. 
There are, no doubt, other poems of his extant that 
have not yet been mentioned. 

HexryS. Dotterer, b. 1841, a native of Freder- 
ick township. " Falkner's Swamj}," a historical 
sketch, Schwenksville, Grubb & Thomas, printers, 
1879, 22 pp., 12mo. "Descendants of Jacob Markley 
of Skippack," published by the JIarkley Frendschaft, 
1884, 36 pp., Svo. On the publication committee of 
the "Official Record of the Montgomery County 
Centennial Celebration." Has made translations from 
early German authors on Pennsylvania history. 

RowLAXD Ellis, 1649-1729, arrived from Wales 
in 1686 and settled in Lower Merion ; later in life 
removed to Plymouth. Useful to the Welsh and 
English as interpreter. Translated " Annerch ir 
Cymri," written by Ellis Pugh in the Welsh language 
under the following title: "A Salutation to the 
Britains, to call them from many things to the 
one thing needful for the saving of their souls; 
especially to the poor unarmed Tradesmen, Plow- 
men, Shepherds, those that are of a low degree like 
myself. This in order to direct you to know God 
and Christ, the only wise God, which is life eternal 
and to learn of Him, that you may become wiser than 
your teachers," by Ellis Pugh ; printed by S. Keimer 
for W. Davis, bookbinder, in Chestnut Street, 1727, 
222 pp., 12mo. 

David Evaxs. "The Minister of Christ and His 
Flock," a sermon preached at Abington, Pa., Dec. 
30, 1731, printed by B. Franklin. 

Elizabeth Fergusox, 1739-1801, daughter of 
Dr. Thomas Graeme and wife of H. N. Ferguson, 
lived and died in Horsham. " Fenelon's Telem- 
achus," translated from the French into English 
heroic verse, completed before 1764, in 2 MS. vols. 
" Poems on Several Occiisions," with some other 
compositions by Nathaniel Evans, Philadelphia, 
printed by John Dunlap, 1772, 160 pp., Svo. " Ad- 
dresses to the Public," published in Fennsylvania 
Pactef, 1778-79. A frequent contributor of poems 
and other writings to the Columbin ilagazine, as well 
as other Philadcliihia periodicals, between 1784 and 
1800. Left behind numerous manuscripts in poetry 
and prose. Specimens of the former are given in 
this work in the article on " Early Poetry." In the 
second work, mentioned as by Nathaniel Evans, she 
was a considerable contributor, as may be observed 
in looking over it. 

J. Francis Fisher, 1807-1873, long a resident of 
Abington, near Jenkintown. " Early Poets and 
Poetry of Pennsylvania," published in the " Mem- 
oirs of Historical Society," vol. ii., 1827. Also an 
occasional contributor of historical and biographical 
articles to several periodicals. 
23 



Edward Foulke, 1651-1741, an early settler in 
Gwynedd where he wrote in the Welsh " A Brief 
Genealogy, with an Account of his Family and their 
Removal from Great Britain to Pennsylvania." Also 
an " E.\;hortation " to his children. These were both 
translated by his grandson, Samuel Foulke, and jiub- 
lished in 1832 and 1833 in the " Friends' Miscellany," 
vols. ii. and iii. 

Joseph Foulke, 1786-1863, a life-long resident of 
Gwynedd; principal of a boys' boarding-school for 
thirty years and a minister among Friends ; made 
the astronomical calculations and furnished the 
literary matter to the "Friends' Almanac " from 1832 
till 1847, when it was continued by his son, Dr. Josci)h 
Foulke, of Buckingham, Bucks Co., until recently. 
Edited the journal of Jacob Ritter, of Plymouth, to 
which was added a memoir and notes. Published in 
1844, 111 pp., 12mo., Phila., T. Elwood Chapman. 
Gwynedd Monthly Meeting of Friends prepared a 
memorial respecting his life and services. 

Edwix T. Freedly, " Money : How to Get, Spend, 
Lend and Bequeath it," Phila., 1852, 12mo. "Lead- 
ing Pursuits and Leading Men," Phila., 1856, 8vo. 
"Philadelphia and its Manufactures," 1859, 504 pp., 
12mo; a previous edition of 1858,490 pp., 12mo. 
Author also of the "Legal Adviser" and a "Practical 
Treatise on Business." The first-mentioned work went 
through several editions by different publishers in 
England. 

Andreas Feey, a resident of Frederick township, 
who styles himself a "Prediger in Falkner's Schwamm," 
is the author of a pamplet called "Seine Deklaration 
oder Enkleirung, auf wilche Weise und wie er unter die 
sogenannte Herrenhutergemeinde gekommen ist und 
warura er welder von ihren abgegangen ist," Ger- 
mantown, Christopher Saur, 88 pp., 12rao. It was very 
probably printed before 1758. An English transla- 
tion of this work was published in London. 

Christian Funk, b. 1731, in Franconia town- 
ship, wrote a pamphlet in German in 1809, which was 
afterwards translated and ])ublished with the follow- 
ing title: "A Mirror for all Mankind, by Christian 
Funk, a Faithful Minister of the Work of God among 
the Mennonites during and after the American Revo- 
lution," printed by James Winnard, Norristown, 
1814, 47 pp., 12mo. 

Henry Funk, father of the aforesaid, settled in 
Franconia township in 1719, where he died in 1763 ; 
was a bishop in the Mennonite Church. " Ein Spiegel 
der TaufFe mit Geist, mit AVasser und mit Blut," in 
9 Theil verfasset, i)rinted by Christopher Saur, Ger- 
mantown, 1744, 100 pp., 12mo. " Eine Restitution, 
oder eine Erklarung eineger Haupt-puncten des 
Gesetzes," Philadelphia, gedruckt by Anton Arm- 
bruster, in Moravian Alley, 1763, 316 pp., 4to. He 
was appointed with Dilghmau Kolb to supervise the 
translation of Van Bracht's "Martyr's Mirror," or 
"Der Blutige Schauplatz," from Dutch into German, 
a folio of 1514 pages, printed at Ephrata, one of the 



354 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



largest works published in this country during the 
colonial j>eri()d. 

Charles H. Garbek, 1823-1882, an attorney- 
at-law of Norristown. " The Seeker, or the Ex- 
iled Spirit, and other Poems," Phila., 1845, 154 pp., 
18mo. Prepared from selections that had previously 
appeared in magazines and newspapers. The miscel- 
laneous poems are fifteen in number. 

F. W. Gelssenhainer, Jr., D.D. Sermons, " Re- 
pentance Delayed, a Dangerous Ground for Hope," 
Winchester, Va., 9 pp. " The Sin Against the Holy 
Ghost," 7 pp. "The Believers' Desire and Aim," 
1835, 7 p]). 

Abrah.vm Grater. "An E.xplanation of Incidents 
that took place among the so-called Mennonites," 8 
pp., 12mo, printed by J. M. Sehueneman & Co., 
Skippack, Pa., 1855. 

J. C. GULDIN, formerly a Reformed minister, wrote 
in German a work on " Baptism and Feet- Washing," 
published about 1840, 75 pp., and a volume of ser- 
mons. 

John Gummere, 1784-1845 ; a native of Horsham 
and resided for some time in Moreland, where he 
received his education. "A Treatise on Surveying, 
containing the Theory and Practice; to which is 
prefixed a Perspicuous System of Plane Trigonom- 
etry," the whole clearly demonstrated and illus- 
trated by a lai'ge number of appropriate examples, 
]>articularly adapted for the use of schools, 1st editicm, 
jmblLshed by Kimber & Richardson, Phila., 1814, 358 
pp., 8vo. "Treatise on Astronomy," first published 
in 1822, the 6th edition in 1854. 

Samuel R. Gummere, 1789-1818, author of the 
" Progressive Spelling-Book," " Compendium of Elo- 
cution " and a "Treatise on Geography," was a 
brother of John, and for some time a teacher of 
youth. . 

BenjamIjnt Hallowell, 1799-1877 ; a native of 
Cheltenham, became an eminent teacher at Alexan- 
dria, Va. "Autobiography," published by his descend- 
ants in 1883. 

Benjamin F. Haxcock, 1799-1867. "The Law 
Without the Advice of an Attorney ; or. Every Man 
His Own Counsellor," carefully compiled and ar- 
ranged, 2d edition, Norristown, Pa., published by 
David Sower, Jr., 1831, 152 pp., 8vo; the 1st edition 
was published in 1831). 

J. K. Harley, M.D. "A History and Geography 
of Montgomery County, Pa., together with County 
and Township Government," designed for the use 
of schools and the general reader, 1883, 108 pp., 
16mo ; that jiortion relating to township and county 
government was prepared by F. G. Hobson, Esq. 

James Y. Heckler, a resident and native of Lower 
Salford. " Ecclesianthem ; or, A Song of the Brethren," 
a poem, with foot-notes and explanations; Lausdale, 
Pa., A. K. Thomas & Co., printers, 1883, 131 pp., 
16mo. 

Samuel Helfenstein, 1775-1866 ; long a resident 



of Gwynedd, where he died. " Evangelisehes Mag- 
azin dcr Hochdeutchen Reibrmirten Kirche in den 
Vereiuigten Staten Von Nord Amerika, " von Ehrw. 
Herrn Samuel Helfenstein, Phila., gedruckt bey 
Goszler und Blumer, 1829, 290 pp., 8vo. " The Doc- 
trines of Divine Revelation as Taught in the Holy 
Scriptures Exhibited, Illustrated and Vindicated," 
designed for the use of Christians generally and for 
young men preparing for the gospel ministry in par- 
ticular, by the Rev. Samuel Helfenstein, D.D., Phila., 
James Kay, Jr., & Bro., 1842, 394 pp., 8vo; this work 
contains a fine steel engraving of the author. 

Mrs. Lydia W. Hilles, formerly of Upper Merion, 
now of Norristown. " Heart Problems," Doughty & 
Becker, Phila., 1870, 274 pp., 8vo. 

F. G. Hobson, b. 1857, a native and resident of 
Upper Providence. " Hi.story of Providence Town- 
ship," published in the Providence Independent in 1883. 
"Township and County Government," in Harley's 
" Geography of Montgomery County." A " History of 
Providence and Upper and Lower Providence," in 
the present history of the county. One of the editors 
and on jHiblication committee of the " Official Record 
of the Centennial Association of Montgomery County," 
1885, 450 pp., Svo. 

Balthasar Hoffman, 1686-1775, a minister of 
the Schwenkfelder denomination, resident in Lower 
Salford, left a catalogue of his writings, embracing 
fifty-eight tracts on religious matters and eighty-three 
letters on kindred topics. 

John Holme arrived from England in 1686, and 
in the beginning of 1688 married Mary, the widow of 
Nicholas More, making his residence in the Manor of 
Moreland, where, in 1696, he wrote a poem of some 
length, entitled "A True Relation of the Flourishing 
State of Pennsylvania." In the article on " Early 
Poetry" in this work an extract is given therefrom ; 
this poem was originally published in the " Bulletin of 
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1847, pp. 20, 
8vo. 

Anna M. Holstein, wife of Major William H. 
Holstein, of Upper Merion. "Three Years in Field 
Hospitals of the Army of the Potomac," Phila., J. B. 
Lippincott & Co., 1867, 137 pp., 12mo. 

George W. 'Holstein, M.D., Bridgeport. "The 
Early Swedish Settlements in Upper Merion," a 
paper read before the Montgomery County Historical 
Society in 1881, and published in several of the 
county newspapers. "A History of the Early Days of 
Montgomery Lodge, No. 57, I.O.O.F., Norristown, 
Pa., read before the members October 30, 1882," 
Herald Job Printing Rooms, 1882, 21 pp., 8vo. 

Rev. S. M. K. Huber. "Historical Sketch of 
Wentz's Reformed Church, in Worcester Township." 
Schwenksville ; N. B. (xrubb, jirinter, 1881, 27 j'p., 
16mo. 

NiMROD HUGH.S. " Fierliche Warnung von Nim- 
rod Hughs," Norristown, David Sower, 1812, 20 pp., 
Svo ; the aforesaid is, no doubt, an assumed name. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



355 



Abraham Huxsicker, 1793-1872 ; a bishop in 
the Mennonite Church. " A Statement of Facts and 
Summary of Views on Morals and Religion, as Re- 
lated with Suspension from the Mennonite Meeting." 
He is stated to have written several other pamphlets. 

Howard M. Jexkins, b. 1842, in Gwynedd. " Our 
Democratic Republic," containing three ehxborate 
articles on the right of suffrage, Wilmington, Del., 
18138, 8vo. "The Name Gwynedd in Welsh History," 
Phila., 1882, 10 pp., 8vo. " William Penn : His Char- 
acter and Career," an address delivered at Swarth- 
more College, Penna., in November, 1882, Wilming- 
ton, 1883, 28 pp., 8vo. " Historical Collections Relat- 
ing to Gwynedd," Phila., 1884, 400 pp., 8vo. He is at 
present editor of The American, a weekly literary, 
scientific and political journal, published in Philadel- 
phia; he has edited and published several newspapers 
and has contributed, besides, to magazines, various 
articles, chiefly on historical and social topics. 

Daxiel K. Kassel. " Gebeter und lieder zum 
gebrauch der Tugend," compiled by Daniel K. Kas- 
sel, printed by Enos Banner, Sumneytown, 1844, 18mo. 

Sir William Keith, 1(570-1749; Governor of 
Pennsylvania and a resident of Horsham. "History 
ol' Virginia, with Remarks on the Trade and Com- 
merce of that Colony," London, 1738, 187 pp., 4to, 
with two maps. While Governor he delivered ad- 
dresses at treaties held with the Indians, at Conestoga, 
in 1721, and the following year; they were of interest, 
and among the very best of the kind during the 
colonial period. Aquila Rose, a young Philadelphia 
poet, celebrated the events in a poem published at the 
time. 

Charles Philip Krauth, Professor in Pennsyl- 
vania College and a native of Montgomery County, 
is the author of several works, but we cannot at present 
give particulars. 

Reubex KREiBEL,b. 1820. "Genealogical Record 
of the Descendants of the Schweukfelders who arrived 
in Pennsylvania, 1733-37; from the German of Rev. 
Balthasar Heebner ; by Rev. Reuben Kriebel, with 
historical sketch by C. Heydrick." Joseph Yeakle, 
jirinter, Manayunk, 1879, 339 pp., 8vo. 

Abraham Krupp. "The New and Much Im- 
proved Musical Teacher, compiled l)y Abraham 
Krujtp," Norristown, printed by David Sower, 1832. 
" A Choice Selection of Hymns by Abraham Krupp, 
Mathetchey," printed by David Sower, 1814, 18mo. 
He was a good Greek scholar and an excellent pen- 
man, but remarkable for his eccentricities ; labored 
for some time to invent a flying-machine. 

Ben,tamix Lay, 1681-1759, lived and died in Ab- 
ington. " All Slave-Keepers that keep the Innocent 
in Bondage Apostates, written for a general ser- 
vice by him that sincerely desires the present and 
eternal welfare and happiness of all mankind all the 
world over, of all colors and nations, as his own soul, 
Benjamin Lay, Philadelphia," printed for the author, 
1737,280 pp., 32mo; the preface is dated Aljington, 



Philadelphia County, Penn., 17th of 9th month, 1736. 
It is a rare work. 

Peter Le Gaux, a Frenchman by birth, lived 
and died at Spring Mill. A contributor to the Columbia 
Magazine, published in Philadelphia by William 
Young for the years 1786 to 1790, chiefly on meteor- 
ology and observations thereon. They show him pos- 
sessed of scientific acquirements. 

David Lloyd, 1778-1861, a life-long resident of 
Horsham. "Economy of Agriculture," 1832, 120 pj)., 
12mo. " The Gentleman's Pocket-Piece," being a re- 
pository of choice selections and golden precepts 
taken from the best of authors, 1845, 156 pp., 12mo. 
" Modern Miscellanj'," consisting of poetry, history, 
philosophy, moral essays and promiscuous pieces, 
Philadelphia, 1848, 216 pp., 12mo. "A Poetic Eulo- 
gy on the City of Philadelphia," read before the Hat- 
boro Lyceum in Slarch, 1850 ; contains upwards of 
270 lines. This was probably the last of his puljlished 
productions. His first communications were proljably 
published in the Norristown Register, to which it is 
known he contributed at least as early as 1827. He 
also wrote for the Oermaniown Telegraph a series of 
articles on agriculture, which were collected and 
published in the first-mentioned work. "The Gen- 
tlemen's Pocket Piece," as might be expected from 
its title, is a compilation. The " Miscellany " con- 
tains the greater portion as well as the best of his 
writings. Of his poetical effusions, the best is the 
" Red Bird's Lamentation." 

Joseph Lloyd, b. 1777 ; a native ot Horsham, re- 
moved to Philadelphia, where he became the editor of 
the Pennsylvania, Democrat. Contributed poetical arti- 
cles to the newspapers in the beginning of this cen- 
tury. One poem is given in our article on "Early 
Poetry." 

Mrs. Susan Ltjkexs. " Gleanings at Seventy- 
five," 1873, 216 pp., 12mo. Comprises reminiscences 
and 62 pages of poetry. 

Edward Mathews, formerly of the Bucks Counfij 
Intelligencer, for the past five years has contributed 
numerous articles to the North Wales Record, relating 
to the history, biography and antiquities of Gwynedd 
and the surrounding townshijis, which have been read 
with interest. 

Jacob Medtart, Blue Bell. "We Preach not 
Ourselves, but Christ," a sermon, 9 pp., 8vo. 

LucRETiA Mott, 1793-1880, a resident for some- 
time of Cheltenham. " Life and Letters of James 
and Lucretia MotJ," Boston, 1884, 566 pp., small 8vo, 
with portraits, edited by their grand-daughter, Anna 
Davis Hallowell ; contains selections from their cor- 
respondence for sixty years, to which is appended a 
memoir of these philanthropists. 

Henry Ernest Muhlenberg, D.D., 1753-1815, 
a native of the Trappe. ",Rede bei der Einweihung 
dfcs Franklin Colegiums," Lancaster, 1788. " English 
and German Lexicon and Grammar," 2 vols., 8vo. 
" Descriiition uberior Graninum, Index Florte Lan- 



356 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMKKY COUI^TY. 



castrieiisis," in vol. iii., "Amer. Philos. i^ociety's 
Transactions," 28 pp., 1789-93. " Catalogus Plan- 
tarum Ameiicse Septentrionalis," Lancaster, 1813, 
112 pp. 8vo ; 2d ed., Phila., 1818, 122 pp., 8vo. 

Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, D.D., 1711- 
1787. "Hallische Nachrichten," Halle, 1747-1763, 
1580 pp., 8vo. " Extracts from the Journal of Rev. 
H. M. Muhlenberg from 1704 to 1780," translated by 
Heister M. Muhlenberg, M.D., 1863, 47 pp., 8vo. 
" Journal of a Voyage to Georgia in 1774." To the 
fiist-mentioned work he was the principal contributor. 
The second was published in the "'Collections of the 
Hist. Society of Penna.," vol. i., 1853. The last was 
translated from the German by his grandson, Rev. J. 
W. Richards, and published in the first 4 vols, of the 
Evangelical Bevieto, Gettysburg. 

Francis Murphy, for some time a teacher and 
surveyor in Norristown and vicinity. "Tales of an 
Evening," founded on facts, compiled by Francis 
Murphy, Norristown, printed by James Winnard, 
1815. 

Samuel Musselman, a resident of Lower Salford 
township. " Die ueue Choral Harmonie, enthaltend 
die vornehmsten Kirchen Melodien," eingerichtet 
zuni Gebrauch aller Christlicher Religionen von 
jeden Benennungen und auf drei Stimmen gesetzt, 
absonderlich eingerichtet zum oft'entlichen Gottes- 
dienste, als Kirchen, Versammluugen und Sing- 
Schulen. Komponirt und zusammengetragen von 
Samuel Mtisselman. Gedruckt bei Hickok und Can- 
tine, Harrisburg, Pa., 1844. 

David Newport, b. 1822, long a resident of 
Moreland and Abington. " Indices Historical and 
Rational," Phila., 218 pp., 12mo. "The Pleasures 
of Home and other Poems," Phila., J. B. Lippiucott 
& Co., 1884, 99 pp., 12mo. The first work treats 
principally on the early history of Christianity. The 
latter contains sixteen poems written at various times 
since 1800. Amongst this ninnber is a spirited poem 
entitled " Lincoln and Liberty," which has been 
justly admired. 

Samuel E. Nyce. "A Political Hand-Book," con- 
taining rules of the Republican party of Montgomery 
County, Pa., election statistics, acts of Assembly 
regulating primary elections, etc., Ha-ald Book and 
Job Printing House, 1882, 39 pp., lOmo. 

John Parke, b. 1750, and chiefly a resident of 
Philadelphia. "The Lyric Works of Horace," trans- 
lated into English verse, to which are added a number 
of Original Poems, by a native of America, Phila., 
1780, 334 pp., 12mo. Considerable of this work was 
written in this county, while he was with the army 
under the command of Washington, dating several of 
his pieces from camp at Perkiomen and M'hitemarsh, 
but chiefly at Valley Forge. An extract of his 
" Elegy on General Howe," is given in our article on 
" Early Poetry." It seems remarkable that one 
shfiuld be thus given to the muse amid the din and 
bustle of camp life. 



Ellis Pugh, 1650-1718, an early settler in Plym- 
outh township, where he wrote the following work in 
Welsh a short time before his death: "Annerch ir 
Cymri," printed by A. Bradford, 1721. It was after- 
wards translated by his friend Rowland Ellis into 
English and published in 1727. 

James Grier Ralston, 181.5-80, long a successful 
teacher at Norristown. "Historical Sketch of the 
First Presbyterian Church of Norristown, Pa., with 
Biographical Notes of its Ministers and Reminiscences 
of its Revivals and of Oakland Female Institute," by 
J. Grier Ralston, D.D., Norristown, Herald Steam 
Printing-Hoixse, 1870, 06 pp., 8vo. 

Francis Rawle, an early settler at Plymouth. 
"Ways and Means for the Inhabitants of Delaware 
to become Rich: Wherein the several Growths and 
Products of these Countries are demonstrated to be a 
sufficient Fund for a flourishing Trade," printed and 
sold by S. Keimer in Phila., 1725, 05 pp. At p. 54 he 
says: "Limestone we have in great plenty, of which 
store of lime is made, which gives the Opportunit)' to 
the Inhabitants to build good stone and brick houses 
in town and country." The substitution of Delaware 
for Pennsylvania may have been done intentionally, 
for he was one of the sixty-nine signers, chiefly 
Friends, who sent a petition to the Assembly 17th of 
Seventh Month, 1701, charging William Penn with 
grave misconduct in his government. See pp. 275-277 
of vol. vi. of "Collections of the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania." 

James Rees, b. in Norristown in 1802. "Dramatic 
Authors of America," Phila., 1842, 12mo. "Mysteries 
of City Life," 1849, 12mo. "The Tinker Spy," Buf- 
falo, 1856. "Foot-Prints of a Letter-Carrier," Phila., 
1866, 12mo. "Life of Edwin Forrest," 524pp., 12mo. 
Among his plays may be mentioned " The Headsman," 
"Washington at Valley Forge," "Charges," "Marion," 
"Pat Lyon" and "Anthony Wayne." Contributor 
to the Saturday Eoening Post, Tfic I'icai/une, Dramatic 
Mirror, The PhiUmthrojikt , Home Weeklij and other 
periodicals. Resides in Philadelphia and is still a 
vigorous man. 

J. W. Richards, D.D., formerly of the Trappe, 
and grandson of Rev. H. M. Muhlenberg. "Cente- 
nary Jubilee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of 
Augustus, Trappe," May 2, 1843, 43 pp., 16mo. "Ser- 
mon" at the close of his nunistry at Easton, Pa., 
March 9, 1861, 12 pp., 8vo. "H. M. Muhlenberg's 
Journal of a Voyage to Georgia in 1774," translated 
from the original MS., published in the Evangelical 
Review, Gettysburg, vols. i. ii. iii. iv., 91 pp. 

David Rittenhouse, LL.D., 1732-90, resided in 
Norriton township until the fall of 1770. "Calcula- 
tion of the Transit of Venus over the Sun," 1769, 14 
pp. " Observations on the Comet of June and July, 
1770," 5 pp. " An Easy Method of Deducing the Time 
of the Sun's Passing the Meridian," 4 pj). " Effect.i 
of Lightning," two articles, 8 pp. "Astronomical Ob- 
servations," 5 pp. " On a Method of Finding the Sum 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



357 



of the Several Powers," 2 pp. " Discovery and Account 
of a Comet," 1 p. "A De.scription of an Orrery, exe- 
i-uted on a New Plan," 1771, 3 pp. "Oration on As- 
tronomy" before the American Philosophical Society 
in I77."i. "To Determine the True Place of a Planet 
in an Elliptical Orbit," 1799, (5 pp. "On the Improve- 
ment of Time-Keepers," .3 pp. "On the Expansion 
of Wood by Heat," 3 pp. " A Method of Raising the 
Common Logarithm," 3 pp. The aforesaid communi- 
cations were published in the tirst four quarto volumes 
of the "Transactions of the American Philosophi- 
cal Society." He translated from the German the 
<lrama of "Lucia Simpson" and the "Idyls of Ges- 
ner." 

jAf'OB Hitter. 1757-1841, a minister among Friends 
for fifty years, and long a resident of Plymouth. " A 
.Tonrnal, edited by Joseph Fdulke, of Gwynedd, to 
■which is appended a Memoir of his Life, " puljlishcd 
Philadelphia, 1844, 111 pp., 12mo. 

Job Roberts, 1756-1851, a life-long resident of 
Whitpain. "The PennsylvaniaFarmer; beingaSelec- 
tidu from the most approved Treatises on Husbandry, 
interspersed with Observations and Experiments, 
by Job Roberts," Philadelphia, 1848, 224 pp., 12mo., 
jjrice, 87 cents. A useful l.>ook, rare, and commands 
a fair price. 

Christopher Schultz, 171S-'89, minister of the 
Schwenkfelder congregation in Upper Hanover. 
" Neue Eingerichtetes Gesang-Buch, enthaldtend eine 
Samnilung erbaulicher Lieder, nach deu llaiii)tstucken 
dcr Cbristlichen Lehre uud Glaulieus, eingetheilet," 
Philadelphia, Gedruckt bey Conrad Zentler, in der 
Zwezten Strasze, 1813, 538 pp., 12mo. "Compen- 
<lium of Doctrine of Faith," 600 jip., 8vo " Short 
CJuestions concerning the Christian Doctrine of Faith 
according to the Testimony of the Sacred Scriptures, 
Answered and Confirmed for the Purpose of In- 
structing Youth in the First Principles of Religion ; 
by the Rev. Christopher Schultz, Senior ; translated 
from the Original German by Prof. I. D. Rupp, '' 
•Skippackville, Pa., printed l>y J. M. Schuoneman, 
186;'., 140 (ip., 16mo. 

.FosHUA Schultz. " Oeti'cntiliche Corresponden- 
seu Zwischen Joshua Schultz, Schwenckfelder Predi- 
ger, und Daniel Wieser Reform irterPrediger in Jahr 
1858," Lansdale, Pa., Gedruckt von John Shupe, 
1861, 128 pp., 8vo. 

BealeM. ScHMUCKER, D.D., ofPottstowu. "Ad- 
dress at Installation of the Professors of the Theologi- 
cal Seminary at Philadelphia," 1864, 9 pp., 8vo. 
■" Historical Discourse at St. John's Church, Allen- 
town," 1880, 20 pp., 8vo. " The Lutheran Church in 
Pottstown, an Historical Discourse delivered Sept- 
ember 24, 1882," Pottstown, 1882, 48 pp., 8vo. "The 
Lutheran Church in York : Its History for One Hun- 
dred and Fitty Years," 1883. "Memorial of Charles 
Porterfield Krauth, D.D., LL.D., " Philadelphia, 
1883, 28 pp., .Svo. " Memorial of Rev. A. S. Geissen- 
liainer," 1883, 10 pp., 8vo. Editor of " Liturgy of 



Penna. Synod," 1860, 220 pp., Svo ; " Collections of 
Hymns of Penna. Synod, " 1865, 468 pp., 24mo. ; 
" Lutheran Church Book," 1868, 16mo. ; "Lutheran 
Sunday-School Book," 1873, 322 pp., 18mo. ; " Luth- 
eran Kirchenbuch," 1877, 16mo. He is also one of 
the associate editors of the " Halle Reports, with His- 
torical Notes," begun in 1881, issued in parts, to be 
completed in three or four volumes 'royal' Svo. To 
The Lutheran Church Review has contributed several 
articles, namely: " The First Penn.sylvania Liturgy," 
" Early History of the Tulpchockcn Churches " and 
" The Rite of Confirmation in the Lutheran Church ;' 
also to The Evangelical Quarterly lieview. Dr. 
Schmucker is a devoted student, and, from what he 
has already accomplished, bids fair to become one 
of the leading authors in his church. 

Anna Young Smith, 1756-80, wife of William 
Smith, M.D., partly educated by her aunt, Jlrs. 
Ferguson, at Graeme Park, Horsham ; an extensive 
contributor of poetry to the Columbian Magazine. 
Among these may be mentioned "Ode to Liberty," 
" An Elegy to the American Volunteers who fell at 
Lexington, April 19, 1775," " To the Memory of Gen- 
eral Warren " and " A Walk in the Churchyard at 
Wicaco." Several of her shorter poems are given in 
the article on " Early Poetry." 

Wm. Moore Smith, 1759-1821, for some time a 
resident of Norristown. "Poems on Several Occa- 
sions, written in Pennsylvania," Philadelphia, 1785, 
12mo. The aforesaid contains twenty-five, of his 
fugitive pieces, wdiich were republished in London 
the following year by C. Dilly, in an Svo of 106 i)p., 
and in Baltimore in 1804. These poems are not with- 
out merit and local interest, for in several of these he 
mentions the Schuylkill and fixes incidents on its 
banks. John Brown was executed at Norristown for 
burglary April 12, 1788, of which he wrote a full 
account the following 5th of May, published in the 
"Pennsylvania Archives." 

Wm. R. Smith, 1787-1868, son of Wm. Moore 
Smith, and born in Montgomery County. Moved to 
Wisconsin in 1837, where the following year he pre- 
pared and published a work entitled " Observations 
on Wisconsin Territory ; " afterwards succeeded by a 
" History of Wisconsin," 4 vols., Svo. In 18.53 he be- 
came Attorney-General, and was also for many years 
president of the Wisconsin Historical Society. 

David Sower, Sr., 1764-1835, published at Norris- 
town an " Eulogium on the Death of (reueral Washing- 
ton ; " " The History of Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded,' 
1799, 18mo. ; "The Psalms, by Dr. Watts ; " " An Ac- 
count of the Awful Death of an Irreligious Youth ; " 
"The Storm," ISOl, 2 vols., 240 pp., 12nio. ; "Spirit 
of Despotism," 1803; "Beauties of Seneca," 1S03. 
Established the Korristoum Gazette, June 1, 1799, — 
the first newspaper in the county ; in 1802 the first 
German paper, the Xorrintou-n Messenger, which, how- 
ever, was relinquished within a year. When we con- 
sider the period, and that Norristown was only a 



358 



HISTORY OF MOMTGOMERY COUNTY. 



small village, the aforesaid efforts in inililii-atioii 
show no small dee;ree of enterprise. 

David Sower, Jk., 1794-1862, publi-sher of " The 
Pocket Lawyer," 1818 ; " Village Sketches, or Tales 
of Somerville," by a native writer ; " A Sketch of what 
has been," Norristown, June, 1825, 154 pp., 12mo; 
" The Law without the Advice of an Attorney, or 
Every Man his own Counselor," 1830 and IS.Sl, two 
editions, 152 pp., 8vo ; and "The Norristown Musical 
Teacher," 1832. " Village Sketches " appears to have 
been an original work of which it would now be very 
desirable to ascertain the author's name, very proba- 
bly a resident in or near Norristown. It is deserving 
investigation by our local antiquaries. He was the 
publisher of the Norristown Herald from 1816 to 1884, 
and through his management the literary character of 
the paper was greatly improved. 

Jacob Taylok, surveyor-general of the province 
from 1706 to 1733, taught school for some time in 
Abington, made calculations for almanacs which 
were published in Philadelphia for 1702, and almost 
continuously every year to the close of 1746. The ex- 
ceptions probably are for 1715, 1716, 1717, 1718 and 
1722, making at least thirty-nine years' publication. 
They were printed by Janson, Johnson, Bradford and 
Franklin. That for 1706 is the only one known to 
have on its title-page " printed for the author." 

A. K. Thomas, editor of the Lansdale Reporter. 
" History of the Thomas Family," Lansdale, 1884. 

Charles Thomson, 1734-1824, long a resident 
of Lower Merion. "An Inquiry Into the Causes of 
the Alienation of the Delawares and the Shawanese 
from the British Interest, and into the Measures 
Taken for Recovering Their Friendship," London, 
1759, 184 pp., 12mo, with a map. " The Holy Bible, 
containing the Old and New Covenant, commonly 
called the Old and New Testament; translated from 
the Greek." Philadelphia, 1808, 4 vols., 8vo ; rare. 
" A Synopsis of the Four Evangelists; or, A Regular 
History of the Conception, Birth, Doctrine, Miracles, 
Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ, 
in the Words of the Evangelists," Philadelphia, 
1815, 8vo. The first work was published anon- 
ymously and exposes the dishonorable dealings of the 
Penn family wifli the Indians for lands, particularly 
concerning the transactions of the famous Indian 
Walk. He left behind, in manuscript, "Critical Anno- 
tations on the Worksof Gilbert Wakefield." Mr. Thom- 
son was secretary of Congress during the whole of the 
Revolution, and could have written an interesting 
work on this eventful period had he been so disposed. 
His translating the whole of the Bible from the Greek 
was certainly a considerable undertaking, when we 
come to consider that it was done in the beginning of 
this century. Through his wife he inherited the Har- 
rison estate, containing seven hundred and fifty acres, 
which he subsequently in his will bequeathed to his 
nephew, John Thomson, in consideration of his taking 
proper care of his s;)inster sis'er Mary. 



George Wack, a clergyman of the Germau 
Reformed Church and a resident of Whitpain over 
fifty years, wrote a work on theology, comprising 
over three hundred pages of foolscap. 

Albigenc'e Waldo, a ])hysician in the army of 
the Revolution, wrote " Valley Forge, a Poem," 
comprising four hundred and fifty-six eight-syllable 
lines, which was published in the IlUtorical Miujuzine, 
New York, vol. vii., for 1863. It is dated " Second 
Line in Camp, April 26th, 1778," and describes in a 
lively manner, as it came within the author's own 
observations, the buildings and mode of life that pre- 
vailed there. Some matters are revealed that no 
mention is made of elsewhere. 

M. H. Walters. " Quarter-Centennial Report of" 
Upper Salford Union Sabbath-School." Schwenks- 
ville (Pa.) Item print, 1882, 20 pp., 32mo. 

Daniel Weiser. "Oeffentliche Correspondence 
Zwischen Joshua Schultz und Daniel Weiser, Re- 
formirten Prediger in ,Iahr 185S," Lansdale, Pa., 
Gedruckt von John Shupe, 1861, 128 pp., 8vo. 

C. Z. Weiser, D.D., of East Greenville, son of Rev. 
Daniel Weiser. " Life of Conrad Weiser, the Cele- 
brated Indian Interpreter and Traveler," Reading, 
1876, 448 i)p., 12mo. " Monograph of the New Gosch- 
enhoppen and Great Swamp Charge, 1731-1881," 
Reading, Pa., Daniel Miller, printer, 1882, 166 pp., 
12mo. He has contributed numerous articles to the 
magazines and reviews. Among them may be men- 
tioned The Guardian, a monthly published by the 
Reformed Church Publication Board in Philadelphia. 
Joseph Wertzxer, of Wliitpain, about 1824 is- 
sued a j)amphlet on moral and religious topics. 

William Whitehead, a justice of the peace 
and resident of West Chester. " Directory of the 
Boroughs of Norristown and Bridgeport, Montgom- 
ery County, Pa., for the years 1860-61 : Containing a 
Concise History of the Boroughs from Their First 
Settlement to the Present Time; the Names of all the 
Inhabitants, alphabetically arranged, their Occupa- 
tions, Places of Business and Dwelling-Houses ; a 
List of the Streets of the Boroughs ; Statistics of 
Public and Private Schools ; the Location and Time 
of Holding Services in the Churches ; the Time of 
Arrival and Departure of the Different Lines of 
Travel; the Time and Place of Meeting of the 
Various Societies and Associations," William White- 
head, publisher, West Chester, 1860, 228 pp., 12mo. 
M. R. AViLLS and Wife, of Norristown. In 1875 
Mr. and Mrs. Wills made a trip of about four months 
to Europe, visiting Ireland, England and Scotland, 
Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and France. 
Their letters of travels, principally written by Mrs. 
Wills, were published in the Herald, of which 
journal Mr. Wills is the editor and proprietor. The 
letters were shortly afterwards collected and jiublished 
in book-form, — "A Summer in Europe," by Mary H. 
Wills, Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1876, 
170 pp., 12nin. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



359 



Bird Wilson, D.D., LL.D., 1777-1859, president 
judtce of Montgomery, Bucks, Chester and Delaware 
Counties from 1806 to 1818. " Atiridgement of tlie 
Law.s of Pennsylvania," Philadelphia, 7 vols., 8vo. 

James Winnard, 1770-1837, for some time pro- 
prietor of the Norristown Bcguter. Published " The 
Spirit of Despotism." 2d edition, 12mo; "Beauties of 
Seneca, with a Sketch of His Life and Death," 1813, 
12mo; and "Tales of An Evening," by Francis Mur- 
phy, 1815, 12mo. 

Henry Woodman, 1795-1879 ; resided for some 
time in Upper Merion ; was a minister among 
Friends, and died iu Buckingham, Bucks Co. ; 
wrote a "History of Valley Forge" Itefore 1850, 
which was puldished iu the Philadelphia Sunday 
Dispatch, in September, October and November, 1865. 
The work contains numerous reminiscences which 
the author had gathered in the vicinity of Valley 
Forge. 

William A. Yeakle, born 1824 ; a native and 
resident of Whitemarsh. " History of Whitemarsh," 
published in sixteen numbers of the Norristown 
Herald, ending April 17, 1883. 

John Younci, 1757-94, brother of Anna Young 
Smith; partly educated by his aunt, Mrs. Ferguson, 
at Graeme Park, Horsham. " Compendium of Ancient 
Geography, by Mons. D'Anville," translated from 
the French, with maps, London, 1791, 2 vols., 848 
[ip., 8vo. The translator's pi-eface contains fourteen 
pages and is an able production. For an American 
at the close of the last century to have attempted and 
succeeded in such a work as this in the city of London 
was certainly a marvelous undertaking. Mr. Young 
had previously been a contributor to the European 
Magazine. 

Maps. — John Hill. " ;\Iap of Philadel[ihia and 
Environs," surveyed by John Hill in lSiil-7 and 
]>ublished in 1809. It is a farm map, with the names 
of the owners, acres, bounds and in some cases the 
date of first settlement thereon. This is probably the 
first local map of the kind relating to the city and 
its vicinity. It includes nearly one-third of Lower 
Merion and two-thirds of Cheltenham. 

G. H. Hopkins. " Atlas of the County of Mont- 
gomery, Pennsylvania, from x\ctual Surveys and 
Official Records," compiled and published by G. M. 
Hopkins & Co., 320 Walnut Street, Phila., 1871, 
103 pages of colored maps, — the first atlas on the 
county. " Atlas of Philadelphia aud Environs, from 
Official Records, Private Plans and Actual Surveys, 
Based upon Plans deposited in the Dejiartment of 
Surveys," surveyed and published under the direction 
of G. M. Hopkins, C.E., 320 Walnut Street, Phila., 
1877, 89 pp. ; contains farm maps of the townships of 
Lower Merion, Whitemarsh, Springfield, Plymouth, 
Abington, Lower Providence, LTpper Merion, Norri- 
ton. Upper Dublin, Cheltenham and Whitpain, with a 
map of Montgomery County; also maps of the 
bor.iughsof West Conshohicken,Jenkintown, Bridge- 



port and the village of Ambler. " Atlas of Properties 
near the North Pennsylvania Railroad from Wayne 
Junction to Penllyn Station, from Official Records, 
Private Plans and Actual Surveys," published by (x. 
M. Hopkins, C.E., 320 Walnut Street, Phila., 1883; 
contains 21 plates, each containing 2 pages, with an 
index plate to the whole, comprising nearly all of the 
consolidated city, with the townships of Abington, 
Cheltenham, Springfield, Whitemarsh, Plymouth, 
Norriton, Lower Merion and the borough of Norris- 
town ; also parts of Moreland, Upper Dublin, Whit- 
pain, Montgomery, Worcester and Upper Merion. 

Thomas Hughes, a civil engineer and surveyor of 
Philadelphia, in the beginning of 1859, prepared a 
map of Moreland township, showing the location of 
houses, boundaries of farms, with number of acres, 
improvements, streams, etc., published by Mathew 
Hughs, 1861, for sixty-five subscribers, at $5.00 each» 
illustrated by several lithographic sketches of build- 
ings. This map is now sought after and prized. 

R. K. KuHN AND William B. Shrope. " Map of 
Bucks and Montgomery Counties and the City of 
Philadelphia," on the scale of one inch to the mile ; 
containing views of the county buildings, churches, 
seminaries, and plans of the principal towns and 
villages. The names of 20,000 real estate owners are 
mentioned thereon. Published in 1857, price, $5.00. 
D. J. Lake and S. N. Beers. " Map of the Vicinity 
of Philadelphia, from Actual Surveys," by D. J. 
Lake and S. N. Beers ; assisted by F. W. Beers, L. B. 
Lake and D. G. Beers. C. K. Stone and A. Pomeroy, 
publishers, Phila., 1860. Size, 5^ by 5 feet ; contains 
the whole of Montgomery County, with its townships, 
boroughs, roads and names of land-holders, besides 
several small maps of villages. This is undoubtedly 
the finest aud most correct map of the county up to 
the date of its publication. It is much valued, and is 
still found hung up in many oflices for reference. It 
contains also almost the whole of Bucks County. 

John Levering. " A Map of Lower Merion," by 
John Levering, published in 1858, from surveys by 
himself; contains lithographs of the Old Friends' 
Meeting-House, Lower Merion Academy and res- 
idence of Charles Thomson. Subscription price, $3.00. 
Denotes location of buildings, the boundaries of all 
farms and lots in the township. This, it is likely, 
was the first township map published separately re- 
lating to the county. 

William E. Morris. " Township Map of Mont- 
gomery County," by William E. Morris, published iu 
1849, Phila. Price, $5.00. This was the first map re- 
lating to the county that gave the names of the land- 
holders, mills, manufactories, school-houses, churches, 
wheelwright and blacksmith-shops, post-offices, inns, 
stores, turnpikes, toll-gates and houses in the several 
townships. Original price, $5.00, but has been recently 
sold at public sales at much higher rates. 

John Mellish, 1770-1822, a native of Scotland 
and a resident of Philadelphia, the author of several 



360 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



useful geographical works. " Map of Montgomery 
County," by John Mellish, with an actual survey of 
the River Schuylkill, in 1827, by T. H. Gill, pub- 
lished by B. Tanner, Phila., 1827. Size, 22 by 24 in- 
ches. Denotes the boundary lines of all the townships 
and boroughs, principal mads, with names of places 
and distances from Philadelphia. This, it is very prob- 
able, was the first separate mrt]i imlilished on the 
county. 

Edward N. Radcliff, native and long resident 
of Hatboro'. "Township and Business Map of Mont- 
•gomery County, Pa.," published 1873; scale, one and 
a half inches to the mile. 

James D. Scott, a native of Horsham. " Com- 
bination Atlas of Montgomery County, Pa., Compiled, 
Drawn and Published from Personal Examinations 
and Surveys," James D. Scott, Phila., 1877, 107 pp. 
Size', 141 by 17 inches ; contains 43 pages of maps re- 
lating to the several townships, boroughs and villages, 
handsomely colored, besides 34 lithographic views of 
huildings. The general and local history was written 
in a condensed manner by William J. Buck. 
Price, $12.00, with a published list of nearly 1100 sub- 
scribers in the county. 

Nicholas Scull, 1701-61, descended from an 
early family in Whitemarsh, where he was born. 
" A Map of Philadelphia and Parts Adjacent," by 
Nicholas Scull and George Heap. " Map of the Im- 
proved Parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland," pub- 
lished in Philadelphia, 1759; dedicated to Thomas 
and Richard Penn as " true and absolute Proprietors 
and Governours." This can be considered the first 
correct map published of the province on a large 
scale, taking up more than half the present area of 
the State. Mentions the counties and townships, the 
residences of the most prominent citizens, also the 
roads, forges, mills, churches, inns and streams. The 
first map contains a small portion of Lower Merion 
township, with names of its principal land-holders. 
The second was a considerable undertaking, and far 
surpasses in correctness and fulness all that had 
preceded it, to accomplish which must have required 
considerable travel and knowledge of the country, 
and at that time, too, under great ditficultics when we 
consider the then unsettled condition of affairs. 
His grandson, William Scull, published a map of the 
province in 1770, on a much smaller scale, and is but 
little more than a copy of the aforesaid. 

David G. Smith. " Map of Valley Forge and its 
Immediate Vicinity," showing the location of the 
several divisions of the army there in the Revolution. 
Prepared chiefly from iuformation derived from Wil- 
liam Davis, Esq., John W. Davis and John Evans. 
But two copies of this map, or, j)erhaps, rather plan, 
were known in 1880, — one belonging to George Lower, 
of Flourtown, and the other to the late Charles 
J. Elliott, of King-of-Prussia. A copy has been re- 
produced from the one in Mr. Lower's possession, and 
published by Colonel T. W. Bean, in his work on 



" Valley Forge." Mr. Smith was a teacher at the time 
in Easttown townshiji, Chester Co. There is a report 
that after he had it juiblished he changed his mind 
thereon, and destroyed the copies. This, however, in 
confirmation demands some inve.stigation. There is 
no question but that this map is rare, for no other of 
the original copies are known. One cause assigned 
for so extraordinary a course was that he was instigated 
thereto by the descendants of several Tory families 
residing in that vicinity. It was jirobably published 
by Mr. Smith about 1830, or somewhat later. 

James L. Smith. "New Driving Map of Phila- 
delphia and Vicinity," published by J. L. Smith, 27 
South 6th Street, Phila., 1883. Scale, one inch to the 
mile ; contains nearly three-fourths of the southern 
section of the county. Denotes all the railroads, 
townships and common roads, hotels and toll-houses. 
The names of all the principal common roads arc also 
given. It is a pocket map, particularly useful for 
jileasure drives and pedestrians. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



EAELY POETRY.' 



The specimens of early jioetry in this chapter have 
been selected from the writer's collections on account 
of relating more or less to Montgomery County, 
and their authors have been for some time deceased. 
They may be regarded as rare, and but few copies 
exist, and a considerable portion now appear in 
print for the first time. Respecting the latter, the 
copies were nearly all made from the originals 
twenty-eight to thirty-five years ago, and have not 
been offered before for publication. Their average 
merit is certainly above the mediocrity of the present 
day ; some, indeed, are of great excellence, as the " Ode 
written at Graeme Park in 1766," " Lines to a Gentleman 
who made Laura a good Pen," "To a Bride with an 
Artificial Rose," "The Pennsylvania Spinning Song," 
"Ode to Gratitude," "Sylvia's Song to Damon," 
" The Walk in Swedes Churchyard " and " The Beech- 
Tree." 

The first piece is an extract from a poem written 
by John Holme in 1696, entitled "A True Relation of 
the Flourishing State of Pennsylvania." The author 
was one of the judges of the County Court of Phila- 
delphia, and married Mary, the widow of Judge 
Nicholas More, of the Manor of Moreland, where 
he resided at the time he wrote this poem. The 
extract has only I'eference to the limestone in this 
county, no other being found nearer the city. Our 
lime-burners can be congratulated at having found at 
so early a period a poet to celebrate their labors. 

Sir William Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania and 



1 By Will. J. liiicl;. 



EARLY POETRY. 



361 



a resident of this county, held two councils with the 
Indians at Oonestoga respecting the troubles and in- 
trusion of the M-irylaiulers, — the first in.Tuly, 1721, and 
the other in June, 1722, — the proceedings of which are 
unusually interesting. On each occasion the Governor 
made addresses to the natives, which are among the 
very best to be found in the colonial period of Penn- 
sylvania, to which the Indians made interesting re- 
plies; a.s a consequence, both parties separated in the 
greatest friendliness. Aquila Rose, a young and prom- 
ising poet in the city, celebrated the event soon after 
in a poem of which we give a copy. The author died 
August 22, 1723, aged twenty-five years. The last 
four lines are beautiful. 

Christopher Dock was a noted German school-teacher 
who settled on a tract of land he purchased in Lower 
Salford in 1735, upon which he made the first improve- 
ments. He alternated farming with teaching iu his 
township and in Perkiomen adjoining. He was a 
man of some literary ability, having prepared in 
1")0 a work on school-teaching, which was pub- 
lished by Christopher Sower in 17<);i in the German 
language. He was also a poet, writing numerous 
pieces, though few have yet been published, most 
of which were hymns; as specimens, two brief extracts 
arc given. The first appeared to be a parting address 
to his pupils, the whole containing twenty -two stan- 
zas of six lines each. The .second treats on " Love to 
the Creator," being also of a devotional character. 
The latter contains twenty-four stanzas of eight lines 
each. They are not without merit. Mr. Dock con- 
tinued a teacher to the close of his life and died in 
Salford in the fall of 1771. 

The Rev. Nathaniel Evans was a native of Phila- 
del|)hia, born June 8, 1742, and received from the 
college there, in 1765, the degree of Master of Arts. 
After entering a countiug-house he prepared for the 
ministry of the Ejjiscopal Church, to which he was 
ordained in London. He exhibited quite early a poet- 
ical genius. Soon after his return from Great Britain, 
owing to his declining health, he spent a part of the 
sjjring of 1766 at Graeme Park, having been invited 
there at the jiarticular request of Dr. Graeme, who was 
his physician. It was thus that he came to produce 
there the beautiful ode. He died in October, 1767, 
aged but little over twenty-five years. His poetical 
pieces were collected by the Rev. William Smith, D.D., 
and published in 1772 in a volume of 160 pages. 

John Parke was a student iu the L'niversity of 
Pennsylvania in 1768, then in hiseighteeuth year. In 
the Revolution he was made assistant quartermaster- 
general, and was with Washington and his army 
during the whole period that it remained within the 
present county. What is remarkable concerning 
him is, that amid all the bustle and stirring events 
of camp life, that he should be given to the muse. 
His several poetical pieces were collected and pub- 
lished in a volume of 334 pages in 1786. Some of his 
poems are dated at Perkiomen and others at White- 



marsh and Valley Forge. We have selected as one of 
the best his " Elegy on General Howe," written while 
the army was encamped in Perkiom en township in 
the latter jiart of September, 1 777. The entire piece 
contains twelve stanzas of four lines each. We have 
omitted those between the first and seventh. When 
we come to consider the gloomy period in which they 
were written, the prophecy expressed therein is re- 
markable. Mr. Parke resided most of his life in Phil- 
adelphia. 

Respecting Mrs. Ferguson we have occasion to say 
but little here, as her biography is given in the article 
on Graeme Park, where she resided the greater 
portion of her life. From her numerous pieces in 
manuscript we have selected the " Ode to Summer," 
" Ode to Autumn," "The Country Parson," "Lines 
to a Gentleman who made Laura a Good Pen," " Lines 
to Her Husband before taking a Long Voyage," and 
" To a Bride with an Artificial Rose." " The Country 
Parson" is a parody after Pope's " Eloiseand Abelard," 
but is decidedly superior to the original. The " Lines 
to a Gentleman who made Laura a Good Pen" possess 
genius, for nothing else could invest such a trivial 
subject with excellent poetry. The "Lines to her 
Husband" exhibit intense feeling, and are only the 
first part of the poem, which contains in all sixty-two 
lines. "The Artificial Rose" is another subject that 
is invested with genius. "The Spinning Song" has 
been inserted in the chapter on " Sports and Pastimes." 
Owing to their length, we regret omitting some other 
pieces by this lady, which have never been published. 

About the year 1790, Fidele, the favorite lap-dog of 
Mrs. Ferguson, died at Graeme, and on the occasion of 
his burial she had all the residents of the place present 
and a stone erected to his memory. This having 
reached the ears of Dr. Archibald McClean, a distin- 
guished physician and a noted wit, who resided about 
two miles distant, he wrote an epitaph on the dog, 
which, it is presumed, was intended as a satire, and 
sent it to Mrs. Ferguson. The result was an 
" Epitaph on Dr. Archibald McClean," which the 
lady forwarded to him, signed "Anonymous," who, in 
return, sent "' The Answer." To more clearly under- 
stand Mrs. Ferguson's poem, we may state that the 
doctor was six feet and a half in height and of a con- 
vivial turn. The rescue of those pieces from oblivion 
is somewhat singular. Isaac Mann, a near neighbor 
of the doctor, on a visit to his office, accidentally 
picked up those pieces, and after a perusal made in- 
quiry as to their origin, of which circumstance he 
was informed, it being several years after Mrs. Fer- 
guson's death. The doctor stated if he desired he 
could have them. Some years after they were shown 
to David Lloyd, who made copies therefrom, and in 
1855 presented them to the writer. The circumstance 
of Fidele's funeral still lingers in tradition around 
the neighborhood, and the late William Penrose in 
1854 pointed out the spot of his burial. Mrs. Fergu- 
son had worked out iu silk a life-size likeness of her 



362 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



pet, which has been preserved by a daughter of 
Seneca Lukens and shown by the possessor in 1880. 

Mrs. Anna Young Smith, daughter of James Young, 
Avas the niece of Mrs. Ferguson, and resided a consid- 
erable portion of her life at Graeme Park. For one 
who died so young her poetical pieces possess great 
merit ; so much so. that we doubt that at tlie period 
they were written another female can be found in any 
of the other colonies to surpass them. The '' Ode to 
Gratitude" was written at thirteen as a tribute to 
the kindness of her aunt. "Sylvia's Song to Damon" 
was composed in the spring of 1775 for her husband 
soon after her betrothal, and has not been heretofore 
published. " A Sunrmer's Evening Walk in Wicaco 
Churchyard " was composed in June, 1775, and con- 
tains one hundred and thirty-two lines. The first 
twenty lines only are here given. It exhibits tine 
powers of poetical description, and has been greatly 
admired. Mrs. Smith died March 22, 1780, aged but 
little over twenty-three years. lu the article on 
Graeme Park a biographical sketch is given. Follow- 
ing the poems is a tribute to her memory written by 
Mrs. Ferguson. 

Joseph Lloyd was a native of Horsham, born in 
1777; he subsequently removed to Philadelphia, where 
he studied law and became the editor of a weekly news- 
j)aper called the Pennsylvania Democrat. His poem. 
" Reflections made near the Close of April, 1804,' 
breathes a true poetical spirit imbued with a love for 
the country. His cousin, David Lloyd, was also a 
native and a life-long resident of Horsham, of whom a 
sketch is given in our account of said township. 0/ 
his several pieces we i)resent two as probably his best 
"The Red Bird's Lamentation," written in 1830, and 
the *' Elegy on Elihu Palmer," being creditable produc- 
tions. Mr. Lloyd died July 29, 18(51, aged eighty-three 
■ Alexander Wilson, the distinguished American 
ornithologist, with two companions, made a pedestrian 
journey, in October, 1804, from Philadelphia to the Fall 
of Niagara. In this trip they remained overnight at 
Spring House Tavern, of which he gives an amusing 
account in his poem of '* The Foresters," from whence 
we give the extract in our history ofGwynedd. 

Dr. Robert M. Bird was a native of Newcastle, 
Del., but long a resident of Philadelphia, where 
he died in January, 1854, aged fifty-one years. He 
delighted in rambles along the Schuylkill and in cele- 
brating its charms. " The Beech-Tree " exhibits a 
glowing imagination with warmth of feeling. 

sto>;e lime. 

BY JOHN HOLME. 

A few yenra since it was known full wc-U 

Here lime wiis burnt of Oyster shell, 

No limestone in these parts were found ; 

But since by Bearching in the ground, 

Great store was seen in a short time, 

t»f which some now nuike good stone lime, 

Which in its goodness doth exccll ^ 

That wlikli was made of oyster shell ; 

And much cheaper 'tis at this time 

Than wi- p.iid fur oyster sliell linic— H;nr>. 



TOSIRAVM. KEITH AND HIS TREATY WITH THE INDIANS AT 
CONESTOGA. 

BY AQUILA ROSE. 

As Wise Lycurgus, thro' unwearied Toil, 

Made Sparta fertile from a desert soil, 

By his wise Councils fixM th' unsettled state 

Of human race and taufrht 'em to be ;;reat ; 

In peaceful Ways led on the wond'ring throng, 

Wliilst ag'd Experience rul'd the sprightly young ; 

So thou, great Keith, thro' Toils and Travels past, 

Shalt make an Eden of a spacious Waste ; 

To Indians thou ehalt a Lycurgus be, 

Who Ages hence shall almost worship thee. 

Tlio' from immortal Georok your Potence springs^ 

Here you're obey'd by arbiti-ary Kings : 

Some sacred Pow'r must sure your Wifirlom send. 

When Virtue, Peace and Concord End. 

The Indian Children shall be taught thy Name, 

And Woods and Rivers echo with thy Fame : 

The Susquehannah Banks shall take the sound 

And bear the Echo to the Nations round.— IT^J. 

EIN GEISTLICH LEID. 

VON CHRISTOPU DOCK, 

Ach Kinder wollt ihr lieben, 
So liebt was liebeus wertb, 

Wollt ihr ja Freude uben. 

So liebt was Freude werth ; 
Liebt Gott, das hochste Gut, 
Mit Geist, Hertz, seel und Mnth 

So wird euch solche Liebe 

Erquicken Hertz und Mutli. 

liiebt ihr die Eitelkeiten, 
Liebt ihr des Fleisches-lnst. 

So s:\ught ihr kurze Freuden, 

Aus falcher Liebe8-IIriist, 
Worauf in Ewigkeit, 
Folgt Jammer, <.JuaaI und Leid, 

Wo nicht in Zeit der Gnadeii, 

Die Seel durch Bus/- belVeyt. 

EIN ERBAFLICH LEID. 

VON CIIRISTOni nocK. 

3Iein Lebensfaden lauft zu Ende, 
31<-in Pilgerfahrt ist bald gethati ; 
Ach Gott, mir ein Gek'itsmann sende : 
Der ndch erhiilt auf rechter Bahn, 
Der bey mir an dem Ruder steh, 
Wann icb den letzen Sturm ansteh. 

Damit mein Schifflein durch die Wellen, 
Der Totesangsl genid zu geh, 
Zum Vaterland, und miene Seele, 
AUzeit auf ihren Lcitssterti sob, 
Auf ineinen Hcyland Jesum Christ, 
Der auch im Tcpd mein Leben ist. 

AN ODE. WRITTEN AT GRAEME PARK, ITin:, 

BY NATHANIEL EVANS. 

How breathes the morn her incense round, 

And sweetens ev'ry sylvan scene ! 
Wild warblings thro' the groves resound. 

And oi>'ning How'i-s bedeck the qneen. 

Briglit o'er the hills the solar ray 

Its gaily trembling radiance spreads, 
Pleas'd on the glassy fount to play, 

And pearl the dew-besjiangled meads. 

How sweet this hour the fields to rove 

Wlieii Nature sheds her charms jiriifnsf ; 
Or hide me in th' embow'i'ing grove. 

And cMiii't the thuught-inspiiing Muse ! 



EARLY POETRY. 



363 



What joy, aside the plaintive fuunt, 

Dissolv'd in pleusing thoujrht, to stniy ; 
And swift on fancy'.s uing to mount. 

Anil thrt'ud the briglit rthereal way ! 

Thus musing o'er the charming plains, 

Where Graeme the good and just retires, 
Where Laura breathes her tender strains, 

Whom ev'ry graceful muse inspires ! 

Young Damon iniurM his artless lay, 

Beam'd fnim iniaginatiun's light, 
When sudden from the realms of day, 

A form of glory struck his sight. 

Wisdom's grave matron, from the skies. 

Before the trembling youth appeared 
(Tho' seen hut by poetic eyes). 

And thus to speak the dame was heard ; 

Would'stthou, youth, these scenes enjoy, 

The^lemn grove and fragrant lawn, 
And pleasure taste witlmut alloy, 

Wake jolly Health at <-urly dawn ? 

Banish andiition from thy breast. 

And sordid-minded Av'rice fly ; 
Nor let pale spleen thy ease infest, 

Isor gloomy Sorrow cloud thine eye. 

Thy heart an ofl'^ring nobly yield 

At virtue's high exalted shrine ; 
Thy soul let Resolutions shield. 

And e'er to dove-eyed Peace incline. 

Let Cheerfulness, with placid mien, 

Hold a tirmenii:)ire o'er thy heart. 
And sweet content shall ceaseless reign 

And never-ending bliss impart. 

Then shall th' immortal Nine unfold 

What sweets the sylvan scenes can give ; 
In heav'n thy name shall be enroll'd, 

And others leaiii likt- tlit-e to live. 

ELEGY ON GENERAL SIR WILLIAM HOWE, K.B. 

BV JOHN PARKE. 

Say, what iU-omen'd star from Albion's shore. 
What demon beckon'd thee to quit the strand, 
What luckless bark thy guilty genius bore 
To stain with slaughter this unce happy land ? 

Witness, Brandy wine, thy purple wave, 
Thy fields deep-furrow'd by the whistl'ling ore, 
Thy mountains spread with many a yellow grave, 
Thy trees bespatter'd round with human gore ! 

But, Bee, poor, ribbon'd slave thy fame decays, 
WTiile mem'ry's annals paint each high-ting'd crime t 
For Wa.shington disrobes thy fading bays. 
And shines superior in the roHsof time. 

Sweet mercy reins hie ann, and imtriot love 
Directs to conquest in the hallow'd canse ; 
Before his steps see freedom's genius move, 
While millions greet the hero with applause ! 

No bust for thee, shall Massachusetts raise, 

No lasting storm thy name shall eternize, 

No future bard shall ever sing thy praise. 

For thee no prayers shall reach the distant skies ; 

But damn'd with infamy to latest times, 

The man who dip'd his steel in bi-other's gore; 

Each faithful annal shall record his crimes, 

And brand his name, till worlds shall be no more. — Sept. 1777. 



ODE TO SUMMER. 

BY MRS. E. FERGUSON. 

Come, Summer, offspring of the sun ! 

Descend from yonder turf-top'il hill ! 
Soft as when falling watei's run 

Adown the pure, meandering rill ; 

E-ich as the noon of manhood's prime, 
Mild as the breath of May, in gales 

Luxuriant as when infant Time 
First play'd in young Arcadian vales ! 

place me in some moss-grown cave. 
Where oozing, creeping waters flow ! 

There may their humid windings lave 
In pensive murniui-s soft and slow. 

These holy haunts my soul shall sooth ; 

The "still small voice of heaven is here ; " 
That voice shall passion's throbbing smooth 

And raise the heart-delighting tear. — 1775. 

ODE TO AUTUMN. 

BY MRS. E. FERGUSON. 

See bounteous Autumn pours his goods 

In rich profusion round ! 
What various tinges dye the woods ! 

What plenty decks the ground ! 

The dulcet apple's sprightly juice, 

The purple laden'd vine. 
With joint consent their wealth prodiu^e. 

In crowning clustei's twine. 

The bursting barns with Ceres' grains, 

Unlock their golden stores. 
Reaped from the mellow, fertile plains. 

Where earth her treasure poure. 

Each favor sent is but a hint 

To raise the sluggish mind ; 
Since heaven does not its bounties stint. 

Shall mortals prove unkind?— 1773. 

THE COUNTRY PARSON— A PARODY. 

BY MRS. E. FERGUSON. 

How happy is the country Pai-son's lot ! 

Forgetting Bishops, as by them forgot. 

Tranquil of spirit, with an easy mind, 

To all his Vestry's votes he sits resigned. 

Of manners gentle, and of temper even. 

He jogs his flocks, with easy pace, to heaven. 

In Greek and Latin {pious books) he keeps ; 

And, while his Clerk sings psalms, he — soundly sleeps. 

His garden fronts the sun's sweet Orient beams, 

And fat church-wardens prompt his golden dreams. 

The earliest fruit in his fair orchard blooms. 

And cleanly pipes pour out tobacco fumes. 

From rustic bridegroom oft he takes the ring, 

And hears the milk-maid plaintive ballads sing. 

Back-gammon cheats whole winter nights away. 

And " Pilgrim's Progress" helps a rainy day. — 1766. 

LINES TO A GENTLEMAN WHO MADE LAURA A GOOD PEN. 

BY MRS. E. FEUOrSON. 

How can we term a fciither light 

And trifling as air, 
When it conveys such high delight 

As fond epistles bear? 

Tour friendly hand, with nicest ait. 

Above a common skill. 
Fashions the feather for the heint 

And finely points t'u- qnil'. 



864 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The Painter's pencil gives alone 

One object to our view ; 
But through tin- huppit-r pen is shown 

What kindred souls pursue. 

Sweet sentiment and pure desire, 

Which fondest spirits move ; 
The Vestal's chaste, seraphic fire, 

Or mild, connubial love. 

Oh, may the instrunieut convey 

To distant Henry's eyes 
Thoughts such as DeluCs self would say, 

Thus tender, good and wise ! 

Then might I hope to touch each string 

Which glows in Henry's breast ; 
Soon waft him home on love's soft wing, 

And be like Delia blest. — 1775. 

LINES WRITTEN ON THE BLANK LEAF OF DR. YOUNG'S "NIGHT 
THOUGHTS," AND, WITH THE BOOK, PRESENTED TO A 
GENTLEMAN BY HIS WIFE THE NIGHT BEFORE HE UNDER- 
TOOK A LONG VOYAGE. 

If e'er thy Laura to thy soul was dear ; 

If e'er her sorrows chiim'd one manly tear ; 

If e'er, amidst her numerous enors, you 

One latent virtue fondly couhi pureue ; 

If e'er she pleased ; if e'er her form appear'd 

But one soft moment to thine eye endear'd ; 

If e'er congenial transports warmed thy mind, 

And fondly whisper'd that our souls were joined, — 

Perujie this book, with candor scan the page, 

And shun flir vin-s of a fallen age ! 

Here truths important — lieaven and hell — are shown ; 

Life, death, eternity are all made known 

In warmest colore to the mind of man, 

The fleeting pleasure of this bounded span 

Finely contrasted with that deathless day 

Which jnins our spiiitw when we drop this claj'. 
January, 1779. E. F. 

TO A BRIDE WITH AN ARTIFICIAL ROSE. 

BY MItS. E. FEItdUSON. 

" Go, Rose, my t'hloe's bosom grace," 

The hopeless lover cried ; 
Not so, my Ro.se demands a place 
Beside a blooming lu'ide. 

Then, since no sighs compose my strain, 

Attend the moral lay ; 
No breathing of the love-sick 8wain 

The gilded verse convey. 

A transient time my foliage lasts. 

And less my fragrant flower. 
As fleeting as the southern blasts 

Which fly witli every hour. 

But thro' the year the rugged thorn 

Preserves its reign around, 
And when of tender beauties shorn 

The thorn is constant found. 
Too plain a type of life't? hareh scene 

Of spring, of morn, of youth ; 
A bounded span of pleasures green, 

An oft-repfated truth ! 

But on my artificial Rose 

No tlmrn is made to rest ; 
May this an emblem also prove 

Of nu|ttiiils truly blest !— 1784. 

EPITAPH ON DR. AUCHIBALD McCLEAN. 

Beneath this turf and humble stone 

McClean's renuiins do rest ; 
This letter'd marble i»lain shall own 

The virtues he i).jsst.'ssed. 



Of light and shade he was conipos'd, 

And so are most below ; 
His sympathetic heart disclos'd 

A sense of other's woe. 
Tho' of the Esculapiau i-ace. 

He ne'er did patients fill 
With nauseous drugs in any ca?^, 

Emetic, purge or pill. 
With farmers he his grog would takR, 

With ti*adesmen quaff a sling, 
With gentlemen Madeira drink, 

And brisk the bottle fling. 
He lov'd his bowl, his joke, his friend, 

I dare not say his lass ; 
And when the sick in haste did send, 

Reluctant left his glass. 
But when obtain'd with skill and care, 

Presciib'd to give them health. 
And freely did their sorrows share, 

Not greedy of their wealth. 
When calm and cool, of heaven and hell 

Some serious thoughts had he ; 
But in his gayer hours would tell 

That no such things could be. 
That cunning priests, with art to gain 

A pow'r o'er feeble souls, 
Taught them to dread infernal flames, 

Where beds of sulidiur rolls. 
But now he knows, if truth and vice 

Have one allotment there, 
Perhaps may wish a conscience nice 

Had guided him while here. 
His mortal I'ai't which was not small. 

We now to dust resign, 
And if that mortal part Ite all. 

He siuvly can't repine. 

— AnonymovB. 

THE ANSWER. 

I am composed of light and shade. 

As all must freely uwn ; 
So God my constitution made. 

Nor gave me heart of stone. 
Most hard it is to fill the paunch 

With medicines purgative ; 
If with a second dose you drench, 

'Twill not the other drive. 
With farmei"S a disgrace to drink 

I never did it deem ; 
Those sons of earth I always think 

Most worthy my esteem. 
Plain honesty, without disguise, 

Dwells in their noble breiists ; 
With them I'd share my grog of choice. 

And have them for my guests. 
But how a jdural number noun. 

As beds must surely be, 
Unto the siiigtUar has grown 

I really cannot see. 
For rolls cannot be goveru'd right. 

By beds of sulphur blue ; 
I'd certainly rebel in spite 

Of all the smell and hue. 
As for .\nonymous's jdace 

I surely cannot tell,; 
He cannot join the blessed race, 

Nor yet be doom'd to hell. 
It is most like the Omnipotent 

Designed him at creation, 
When he on earth his days had siteiit, 

For dark annihilation. 
So he may sately venture on, 

And rest in this secure, 
If he no pleasure knows whtii gone. 

No pain can he endure. 

—Archibald McCtean. 



EARLY POETRY. 



365 



ODE TO GRATITUDE. 

BY ANNA YOt'NG. 

gratitiule, thou power benign, 
Thiit does such wanuth impart ! 

Teach my unskillful muse to sing 
The feelings of my heart. 

Te.ich me to thank the generous Maid 

That reared my tender years ; 
That gives me evei-y useful aid, 

And mourns my faults with tears. 

Her tenderness I can't repay, 

Nor half her love recount ; 
Each rising morn and ending day 

Still adds to the amount. 

All gracious God, who rules on high, 

Eliza's love reward ! 
Oh, recompense her piety. 

Her tender care regard. 

Bhns her with health, with life, willi joy, 

With happiness and peace, 
Content, that sweetens each employ, 

And makes all stations please. 

That this be fair Eliza's lot 

My constant prayers shall be ; 
An orp/nui's prayei-s are not forgot 

By Him who all can see. — May 21, 1770. 

SYLVIA'S SONG TO DAMON. 

BY ANNA YOUNG. 

When first I heard my Daiiwns sighs. 
When first I read his speaking eyes. 
Against their power I vainly strove, 
And proudly thought I ne'er could love. 

His virtues oft I warmly praised, 

1 thought alone esteem I rais'd. 

Till worth like mine he should approve, 
And yet I thought not it was love. 

The soft compassion I beti-ay'd 
With joy the anxious youth survey'd ; 
His artless sighs my bosom mov'd ; 
I happy felt and own'd I lov'd. 

Whene'er I heard his angel tongue 
On all his words I fondly hung ; 
With ev'ry sound my heart would mi)ve, 
But yet I knew not it was love. 

I feel no wish my bosom swell, 
But still on Damon^s heart to dwell ; 
This tender wish may heaveu approve, 
And kindly bless oiu- mutual love. — 1775. 

A SUMMER'S EVENING WALK IN THE CHURCH-TARD OF 

WICACO. 

BY ANNA YOUNG. 

The solemn stillness of this pensive scene. 
The rolling river and the grave-clad green, 
The setting sun, who sheds his parting beam 
With fainter radiance o'erthe silverstream ; 
The humble stones which point the dewy bed 
Where peaceful sleep shall rest each weary head ; 
The Gothic pUe, whose hospitable door 
First woo'd religion to this savage shore, — 
All, all conspire to sooth the softened breast 
And hush each care and earth-born wish to rest. 
The angry storms which swell life's sea decay, 
And each rude wave of passion sinks away ; 
Less and less high o'ertluws the beating tide, 
Till calm, at length, life's shifting currents glide ; 



Not one rough breeze o'er the smooth surface blows, 

And heaven, reflected, its calm'd bosom shows. 

Within this sacred dome and peaceful bower 

Truth and religion hold their native power ; 

They show our hopes and feai-s, nndeck'd with art, 

And po^u■ their full conviction on the heart. — June, 1775. 

LINES ON EEPEKUSIXG THE AFORESAID POEM, M'HEN THE 
COMPOSER M'AS NO MORE. 

BY SIRS. E. FERGUSON. 

No more from Sylvia's pen those numbei-s flow 
That joys enhanced or southed the pangs of woe ; 
Beneath such sods as filled her pensive strains 
This hfeless writer with the dead remains. 
Not sixty yeai-s (as lived the saint who sung 
With seraph's ardor and cherubic tongue) 
Was Sylvia's date ; not twenty-four were past 
Ere Laura saw young Sylvia breathe her last ; 
But full experience has to Laura taught 
That length of days are so with evil fraught. 
They chief are blest who soonest run their race, 
Screened from temptation and the world's disgrace. 
Earth's mantle dropped, then Laura trusts to join 
This soon-cropped blossom of her parents' line. — 1786. 

REFLECTIONS NEAR THE CDiSE OF APRIL, 1804. 

BY JOSEPH LLOYD. 

Hail, May ; sweet season of delight! 

Thy presence all desire; 
A theme on wbich the poeta write, 

And all mankind admire. 

0, how encbanting is tlie sigbt 

Of nature dress'd in green ! 
With what keen rapture of delight 

Do I behold the scene ! 

The beauty of the vernal flowers 

And fruit-trees, all in bloom, 
Which fill the groves and shady bowers 

With fragrance and perfimie. 

The birds, in sweet melodious voice, 

Their notes responsive sing ; 
All kinds of animals rejoice. 

All nature hails the spring. 

The rural grove, the verdant plain. 

The slowly rising hill ; 
The fields adorn'd with growing gniin. 

With joy my bosom fill. 

nature ! thy reviving charms 
Dehght my feeling breast ; 

The pleasing sight my bosom wanns, 
And lulls my cares to rest. 

1 often ramble through the vale, 
To take the cooling breeze : 

And aromatic sweets exhale. 
From nature's blooming trees. 

I view the lofty mountain's height 

Or wander through the glade, 
And hear with most extreme delight 

The murmuring cascade. 

The precipice and mountain steep, 

Terrific and sublime, 
Absorb me in reflection dt-ep ; 

And thus I pass my time. 

Secluded from a world of strife. 

In pure ecstatic bliss ; 
0, could I always pass my life 

In such a state as this ! 



366 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



A RED BIRD'S LAMENTATION. 

BY DAVID LLOYD. 

"When I eiijoy'd my liberty 
From bough to bough I i.>iay'd ; 

But now. contined, I here must be 
By ruthless man betruy'd. 

I flew lium home in search of food 

Beneath a shady tree, 
And left behind a helpless brood, 

Whicli I shall never see. 

Entan-jird in a wily net 

Contriv'd by wanton boy, 
"Which caus'd me all this sore regret 

And does my health destroy. 

I see my mate's at play eugag'd, 

With pU'iWure on their wing, 
While here, within tliLs lonesome cage, 

In solitude I sing. 

My wings, impatient, long to fly, 

And free themselves in air ; 
I linger here, and know not why 

I'm dooniM to this despair. 

My days must pass away in grief 

To please a tyrant's eye ; 
Unfeeling man, without relief, 

Condemns me here to die. — 1830. 

ELEGY OX ELIHU PALMER. 

Elihu Palmer now has gone 

And left the noisy world ; 
He lies beneath the verdant lawn 

^Vhc^e SchuylkiU's waves are curl'd. 

While he in peaceful silence lays 

The world is rolling on ; 
Just BO the richest flower decays, 

And all must soon he gone. 

Shed no vain tears upon his urn, 

For such the base obtain ; 
But let his virtues all return 

And live in us again. 

THE BEECH TREE, 
nv RoitEKT M. itinn. 

There's a hill by the Schuylkill, the river of hearts, 

And a beech-tree that grows on its side, 
In a nook that is lovely wlien sunshine departs 

And twilight creeps over the tide ; 
How eweet, at that moment, to steal through the grove, 

In the shade of that beech to recline, 
And dream of the maiilen who gave it her love, 

And left it thus hallowed in mine I 

Here's the rock that she sat on, the spray that she held 

When she bent round its grey trunk with me ; 
And smiled as, with soft, timid ej'es, she beheld 

The name I had carved on the tree, 
So carved that the letters should look to the west, 

As well as their dear majic became, 
So that when the dim sunshine was sinking to rest 

The last ray should fall on her name. 

The singing thrush moans on that beech-tree at morn. 

The winds through the laurel-bush sigh. 
And afar comes the sound of the waterman's horn 

And the hum of tlio waterfall nigh. 
Ko echoes there wake but are magical, each, 

Like words on my spirit they fall ; 
They speak of the houre when we came to the beech 

And listened together to all. 



And oh, Mhen the shadows < reeji out from the wood, 

When the breeze stii"s no more on the spray, 
And the sunbeam of autumn tbat [days on the flood 

Is melting, each moment, away ; 
How dear at that moment, to steal through the grove, 

In the shade of that beech-tree to recline, 
And dream of the maiden who gjivo it her love, 

And left it thus hallowed in mine ! 



CHAPTER XXV. 
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS— CHURCH HISTORY.' 

Eeligiox — or a sense of some power above or be- 
yond ourselves — is tlie deepest iustinct of the human 
soul, and it is so nearly universal that no race has 
been found on the earth destitute of the feeling; nay, 
few, if any, have been discovered whose aspirations 
do not extend beyond the present life; we may, 
therefore, approjjriately quote the lines of Addison, — 

"Whence then this pleasing hope, this fund desire, 
This longing after immortality ? 
Or whence this secret dread and inward horror 
Of falling into nought? 
'Tis the divinit}' that stirs within us : 
'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter 
And intimates eternity to man." 

Universal perception of the sujiernatural, and of , 
causation from some i)0wer or agency outside ourselves, 
is seen in the widespread observance of "signs," ' 
"tokens," "portents" and "warnings" by the un- 
educated amongst civilized people and universal ■ 
superstitions of the savage and barbarous. Hardly ' 
ail occurrence .strikes the mind but is noted by many 
as " a sign " or forecast of something more important 
about to happen ; hence man, of all sentient beings, 
is said to be " the only religious animal." Next to 
the germ of vital existence, — human life, — religion, 
which is educational, is the moulding pabulum of our 
being. Dawning intelligence muses, "Whence am 
I, why here and what of my living essence when 
this body returns to dust, whence it was taken ? " 
These questions rise so naturallj', and the instinctive 
longings of the human mind are so universal, as to 
amount to a demonstration of a future state and the 
immortality of the soul. A fiirther evidence of the 
universality of religious sentiment may be seen in 
the fact that nearly all the literature of antiquity has 
come down to us as a record of the sayings and 
doings of its gods and demi-gods ; nearly all other 
account of the remote past has perished forever. And 
further, a judicious writer observes that " the idea a 
})eople have of God is both the initiative and con- 
servative force of its civilization ; " thus all nations 
grow into and develop after the types that obtain in 
this realm of thought and feeling. In the absence of 
an authenticated divine revelation, therefore, the 



1 Histories of individual churches, excepting the Methodist Episcopal, 
will be found in the townships or boroughs in which they are situated. 



RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 



367 



ancient world was subjected to the divinities and 
(brnis of worship prescribed by kings and priests 
conjointly ; hence free denomiuations, as we under- 
stand the term, exercising the inherent right of free 
belief, was a claim and liberty unknown to the ancient 
■world. Even the Christian Church that was united 
to ancient Rome never conceded this right, because, 
both being imperial, they not only claimed to be 
supreme in temporalities, but in matters of conscience 
also. This dearly-bought franchise, the glory of our 
age and nation, is the legitimate fruit of the great 
Eeformation of the sixteenth century. In that era 
the Sacred Scriptures were dragged forth from 
cloisters, translated into the common tongue and sent 
forth as " The Word of God," to be thenceforth held 
fls the sole, authoritative expositor of divine truth 
and moral conduct. The Roman Catholic Church 
denied and still partially rejects the Protestant 
tlieory of the right of private judgment, affirming 
tliat Christ gave to St. Peter and his successors in that 
church the sole right of Biblical interpretation, and 
that the writings of "Christian Fathers" after the 
apostolic age are of nearly ei[utd authority in matters 
of faith. Nothing is more patent in our early history 
than that most of our progenitors fled to a then 
wilderness shore for this grand idea, — the right to 
worship God according to the dictate of their con- 
sciences, the Sacred Scriptures being their model and 
symbol of faith and duty. For this they were willing 
to leave civilization behind them, face the wide ocean, 
a continent of savage men and more savage beasts in 
America ; nay, for this many of them were even 
ready at home to lay down their lives as a testimony. 
All denominations, then, conjoining to settle our now 
Montgomery County, with a few exceptions, perhaps 
( however they disagreed in other things), held as the 
most sacred dogma the individual right of dissent or 
private judgment, only claiming to be bound in 
matters of religion by the dictates of conscience as 
determined by the divine Word. This was especially 
true of the Baptist and non-resistant sects, who, for 
such precious boon, were willing to encounter pos- 
sible dissent and schism for all time to come. Now 
as E plurihus Uiium — many in one — expresses our 
national character, so doe.s this common ground of 
unity combine us of Pennsylvania in religious mat- 
ters, as also in the civil compact. The lead in raising 
this great bulwark' against religious bigotry and 
intolerance must be awarded to Friends, of course, 
and, second, to the non-resistant German or Baptist 
sects. Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Re- 
formed and nearly all denominations alike, however, 
agree that the divine ^\'ord is the only authoritative 
standard of religious belief, and that no man, church 
or government has any right to enforce religious con- 
formity by aid of the civil arm, or lay disabilities 
upon any one who believes in God and a state of 
future rewards and punishments. 

The only seeming excejjtion to this great rule and 



doctrine amongst us is the i)roper religious sanction 
to qualify testimony in law proceedings, the obser- 
vance of a day of rest, recognition of God's Provi- 
dence, and the employment of chaplains in the 
public service, all arising under the common law 
notion, which assumes the governmental duty of 
providing things needful for the public welftire apart 
from individual conscience. 

Publicists of Europe in the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries had no conception that a civil com- 
pact founded upon a presumed right of religious 
dissent was possible. They thought there would be 
so much friction at every point, and such universal 
fanaticism abroad, that society would soon degenerate 
into crime, anarchy and final demoralization. It 
remained for us in happy America to demonstrate 
this great right and doctrine by two centuries of 
actual experience; it is now so strong in public esti- 
mation that the very " gates of hell shall ne'er pre- 
vail against it." It cannot, therefore, be denied that 
our average social, political and religious institutions 
have been mainly derived from what we hold as 
fundamental Bible truths. Our denominations are 
distinguished by slight differences in belief and 
external conduct, chiefly growing out of their difler- 
ent expositions of divine revelation. As Christian 
theology, however, consists in harmonizing what the 
Bible teaches, so our current civilization and morals 
may be regarded as the natural outcome of such 
composite religion as was established by the 
people themselves. The symbolic dogma of our 
country is that religion is strictly a matter between 
each adult individual and his Maker, that his pre- 
servation and welfare in the future life are freely and 
fully committed to his own individual care and 
custody, just as the preservation of his temporal 
being is left to his natural instinct and watch- 
fulne.ss. Of course, the right of parents to guide and 
instruct their immature children is but a sequence to 
the doctrinejust stated. 

The central doctrine of Luther's theology was 
justification by or through faith alone. That prop- 
osition established as divine swept away from 
religion (except in elementary morals) all right of 
civil interference with mattters of religious belief 
Free religion, however, on the contrary, accepts the 
constant tendency to schisms and sects as necessary 
evils attending a greater good. Still, some of the pro- 
foundest thinkers of modern times regard these even 
as emerging naturally from the Providential drift, 
and that all past religions have flowed toward a 
proximate object — the better understanding of the 
divine mind. The following passage from a lecture 
of Dean Stanley on the significance of Islamism is 
worthy of quotation in this connection; he says: 
"Mohammedanism should be regarded as an eccentric 
form of Eastern Christianity, for Islamism — resignation 
to the will of God — and image-breaking constituted 
those zealots' grand mission to the world ; " he adds, 



368 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



" the iconoclasm of Mahomet far exceeded that of 
either Leo the Isaiuian or John Knox. Islamism was, 
in fact, the extreme Protestantism or Puritanism of 
the East." 

Thus sects or denominations have their mission, al 
we sliall proceed to sliow even in tlie progress of this 
short paper. All our various churches have undoubt- 
edly learned one from another, each having a special 
" testimony " of its own, and there is more true 
Christian charity and unity abroad amongst the 
people now and less denominational jealousy than at 
any period of our history. This should inspire the 
hearty thanksgiving of all to the Beneficent Power 
above, which has thus kept us at peace within our 
borders. Thus it has come to pass, also, that the word 
" sect " or " sectary " has ceased to be amongst us, as 
of old, a word of reproach. 

As before stated, for nearly a century after the 
settlement of our county began, emigrants of all 
n.ationalities were religious refugees or pilgrims, 
seeking the right of free worship for themselves and 
posterity. Thus we perceive the sterling texture of 
our primitive population. It is only necessary to 
imagine how different our condition would have been 
to-day if early emigrants had been identical in char- 
acter with those who seek our shores from the same 
countries at present. A short review of the state of 
society in Europe at the Reformation era will better 
enable us to understand the progress we have made 
since that period. 

At the commencement of the fifteenth century the 
Church of Rome, by the confession of learned and 
pious men of her own communion, contained many 
hoary abuses, the accumulations of time ; both it and 
most civil governments ruled by alleged " divine 
right," few daring to question the justice or tenure of 
either. Civil power had been first seized by brute 
force, and transmitted afterwards by legal descent; by 
like inheritance, " the Church" claimed its right from 
St. Peter. Nothing was held by the individual as an 
inheritance direct from his Maker, because the 
church and the state absorbed all power to them- 
selves. Efforts at reform in church matters at first 
sprang from the civil power of different nations, but 
the work only proceeded by the lopping ofl' a few 
Papal customs, and so far modifying church creeds as 
to slightly simplify forms of worship. These did not 
satisfy thousands of zealous believers, who now had 
the sacred Word in their own hands in the native 
tongue, and would not thenceforth consent that gov- 
ernment should define and prescribe the form and 
modicum of true religion. Hence Europe was full of 
di.ssent and unrest, and the wildest theories and doc- 
trines obtained with some of the people. Religious 
toleration, also, was then little understood or practiced 
by anybody. It was left for the non-resistant sects, 
whose grand idea was " suftering for Christ's sake," 
to bring this doctrine before the world and establish 
it forever. It will be proper here to contrast and 



classify our religious denominations of Montgomery 
County. 

They divide themselves into non-resistants, as 
Friends, Mennonists, Schwenkfelders and German 
Baptists, or Dunkers ; " Evangelicals," such as Epis- 
copalians, . Presbyterians, Lutherans, Reformed^ 
Methodists and Baptists ; Prelatists, embracing Epis- 
copalians, Catholics and, in a qualified degree, 
Methodists, Mennonists, German and African IMethod- 
ists ; Synodists, as Lutherans, Reformed, Presby- 
terians, and to some extent. Friends, for the last 
refer matters of truth and order from lower to higher 
" Meetings " of the body, by ajjpeal or reference. 
Baptists, being Congregationalists, are in church gov- 
ernment a pure democracy, their Associations exer- 
cising only advisory functions. They gain in free- 
dom, however, what they lose in unity. Methodists, 
Mennonites and Dunkers, having no clergy higher in 
rank than bishops, cauuot be regarded as diocesan 
episcopal, in a strict sense, at all. The Synodists are 
strictly republican in government, the ruling power 
residing in clerical and lay representatives of the 
churches, in about equal proportions, convening at 
stated times and in assemblies having appellate juris- 
diction. 

The dift'erent denominations must be treated of in 
historical order as to their settlement in the county. 
Thefirst that claims attention is the Society of Friends, 
usually called " Quakers." These people for the most 
part came with the proprietary, William Penn, and 
very soon several " Meetings " were established in the 
eastern borders of our county, they at first forming 
the bulk of the population in all the southeastern 
townshijjs, extending north and westward as far as 
Gwynedd. In the colonial period there were seven 
or eight houses of worship of the society within our 
limits, and now, after the lapse of two centuries, they 
have not increased beyond the number of a dozen, 
and these time-honored places are rarely crowded as 
of old. As their predominating tenets were " the 
quiet guidings of the divine Spirit," a patient testi- 
mony against worldly living and arbitrary authority 
(except as they modify the views and lives of the 
people of other denominations), they have come to 
exert less influence in modern than in early times. 
Through their patient " sufferings," kind precejits 
and example, however, they have brought Calvinistic 
and other sects to imbibe, to a great extent, their 
benevolent and peace principles, as also their quiet 
defense of the rights of conscience. Though they 
make few converts now from the outside world, they 
are wielding no less power in the body politic througli 
others. 

Friends and Schwenkfelders are distinguished from 
all other Christian denominations by their non-use of 
the sacraments, in their testimony against war, oaths, 
a paid ministry and the pride of life generally. They 
use also great plainness of speech and attire, testify'- 
ing against ostentatious mourning for the dead, law- 



RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 



369 



suits, slavery, intemperance, worldly sports of every 
kind, settle their own disputes and maintain their own 
poor. They believe that all patient seekers after 
divine truth are led into the right way by the light of 
the divine Spirit within ; but they place this super- 
natural guidance above the written Word, and thus 
open a wide door for individual dissent. Such being 
their views of truth, Friends wisely formulate no 
creed, not even accepting the Bible, as some German 
non-resistant sects do, as a sufficient confession of 
faith. In common with the societies last-named, 
they hold that scholastic learning is not necessary to 
qualify ministers to preach the gospel, and stand alone 
amongst the sects by including their children as 
members by inheritance. We shall have more to say 
of them under the head of " Schisms." 

Almost contemporaneous with Friends came the 
disciples of Menno Simon, usually called Mennonists.' 
He was a native of Friesland, a principality of Hol- 
land, and was contemporary with Luther. Penn had 
made the accpiaintauce of these people in their native 
country, and after the founding of his colony invited 
them to emigrate to Pennsylvania, which some of 
them did so early as 1683, and many others in the early 
years of the last century. In faith they are mainly 
evangelical, as shown by a confession instituted at 
Dort, 1632. Though they hold peculiar views about 
the "Persous" of the Trinity, still they are Trini- 
tarians. They baptize adults only, by pouring, and 
partake of the Lord's Supper; originally observed 
the washing of feet, and only allow marriages " in the 
Lord," or between church members. Their testimony 
against war, oaths, litigation, and participation in the 
affairs of civil government and against civil constraint 
in matters of religion, has been ever maintained 
from the first. In industry, frugality, plainness of 
attire and speech, they are in exact accord with 
Friends. Mennonists settled in our county rather 
compactly over the central townships, and had a num- 
ber of churches erected at an early day. Gordon's 
" Gazetteer" for 1832 sets down their houses of worship 
at five, which has been increased, as shown by the 
census of 1870, to ten, and now probably exceeds 
that number by two or three. They have been sev- 
eral time,s rent by schisms, which will l)c treated of 
elsewhere under that head. 

German Baptists ("Bunkers").— Nearly simul- 
taneous and intermixed with the Mennonist emigra- 
tion came the German Baptists, who had been stigma- 
tized and persecuted in Germany under the name of 
"Anabaptists " (rebaptizers). They were a very pious, 
devoted people, differing little from the Mennonists, 
except in the rite of baptism, which, with them, is 
always administered by what is called "trine immer- 
sion," the penitent being dipped three times, face 
downward, in the name of the Trinity hence the 
appellation Bankers (" Dippers"). They differ from 

1 Pronounced by themselves as though Bpelleti, " Menneest." 

24 



Mennonists also in strictly observing feet-washing and 
the love-feast, a sort of simple supper of plain food, 
to testify brotherly unity and love. They also differ 
from Mennonists in our county in holding revival 
meetings after the manner of English-speaking Bap- 
tists. In common with all denominations bearing 
the name of Baptist, they utterly reject infant baptism 
as unscriptural. The Bible is their only creed. The 
census of 1870 places the number of their congrega- 
tions or houses of worship, at nine. They are located 
from the mouth of the Perkiomen to the northward, 
generally along the tributaries of that stream. There 
have been some divisions in this denomination in 
Lancaster County and elsewhere, but none in ours. 
They distinguish the members of their society by the 
affectionate designation " The Brethren." Though 
a little out of the true order of time as to settlement, 
the next church to notice is the 

Schwenkfelders. — This plain German sect are the 
worthy followers of Casper Schwenkfeld, a Silesian 
nobleman of learning and piety, who was contempo- 
rary with Luther, being born in 1490, fourteen years 
after the great reformer. The adherents of this church, 
which has become extinct in Europe, emigrated to 
Pennsylvania in 1734, and planted in our county and 
parts of Bucks and Lehigh what has increased to 
five or six congregations. Schwenkfeld organized 
no churches himself, but those in unity with him 
were much persecuted by both Lutherans and Catho- 
lics, and, as a consequence, they emigrated to Penn- 
sylvania in 1734, arriving at Philadelphia September 
24th, which day they keep as an annual memorial or 
religious festival, called Gedach/ness Tag, held in 
rotation among their churches. Their testimony is 
uniform with all the other non-resistant sects, against 
war, oaths, lawsuits, a paid ministry and agreeing 
almost precisely with friends in non-use of the sacra- 
ments; they differ, however, with the latter in read- 
ing prayers, electing preachers, singing and reading 
Scripture during worship and in dedicating children 
to God by a prayer at the meeting-house or home. 

Their form of government is mainly congregational, 
the church at large being divided into two districts 
the upper and lower, each having a president and 
three elders, two trustees and a treasurer of the poor 
fund, and another for the school fund. Some of the 
most eminent citizens of our county are descended 
from this excellent people. 

Episcopal Church. — The next denomination, in 
order of time to establish itself in our county in the 
colonial age was the Church of England, St. Thomas' 
congregation of Whitemarsh, founded in 1710, and 
about ten years later St. James, of Providence (now 
Lower), and by 1832 the number had been increased 
to four, and in 1870 to ten, including "Swedes Ford," 
which strictly is Swedish Lutheran. 

According to latest statistics at hand, the denomi- 
nation has about a dozen churches in the county. 
Being at first chiefly composed of English and Welsh 



370 



HISTORY OF MOxNTGOMEllY COUNTY. 



emigrants, and in close connection with the established 
church of the mother-country, it differs little in doc- 
trine and polity from that great English Protestant 
Church of the Reformation. It is proper, however, 
to remark that the Episcopal denomination in this 
country at that early day, was what is denominated 
" Low-Church," evangelical in doctrine and frater- 
nizing more or less with other Protestant sects in 
general Christian work. Being fixed in doctrine and 
polity, strictly under a learned and liberal Episcopate, 
it has been subjected to few changes, and differs in no 
essential doctrine from what is generally accepted 
among evangelical denominations. Though some- 
times charged with teaching in the ritual the doctrine 
of "baptismal regeneration," it is generally admitted 
that few hold that view in strictness at the present 
day. It difters also from Presbyterians and Reformed 
and agrees with jMethodists in holding the Arminian 
view of free redemption, as against Calvin's belief in 
partial atonement, which, in fact, even few of the 
latter's followers hold now in its original strictness. 

The Episcopal Church is conservative, demanding 
the thorough training of its clergymen in perfect ac- 
cord with the work of the Reformation, encouraging 
the utmost consistent latitude of individual judgment 
upon doctrinal points, and relying upon an intelligent, 
as distinguished from an impulsive following, incul- 
cating a broad spirit of tolerance among men, and 
constant in its organized efforts of philanthropy 
towards the poor and unfortunate. The service of 
the Episcopal Church is 1 iturgical and therefore formal ; 
while this is true, it is in the highest sense devotional, 
and when effectively rendered by pastor and people, 
it is both impressive and instructive. The pastoral 
work of the church includes great attention to the 
youth of the congregation. Its Sabbath-schools are 
nurseries to the church, and annual classes for confir- 
mation are usually drawn from them in all effectively 
conducted parishes. 

Presbyterians. — Presbyterians, composed of Hol- 
landers, French, Scotch-Irish and a few English, 
founded three churches in our county in the early 
age, which had increased by 1870 to twelve, and now 
probalily near fifteen. This denomination has always 
been distinguished for rugged defense of Bible truth, 
the Christian Sabbath, lay representation in Church 
courts or assemblies, and a parity in the Christian 
ministry. Its testimony in our State in favor of 
religious freedom, or non-interference of civil govern- 
ment in matters of religion, has been equal to that of 
other churches of its class. Its church system is 
purely representative, holding to two elements in 
government, — the joint and equal authority of the 
minister, with one or more lay ruling elders for each 
Church, (the ''session," a jiriniary church court), which 
governing officials are combined with a number of 
others into a Presbytery, the second church court, the 
former meeting at any time on call, and the latter 
statedly, twice a year. The Presbyteries over a large 



territory, as a State, lor instance, convene in a Synod 
once a year, which is composed of the same elements as 
a Presbytery, one minister and one elder (formerly 
composed of all the churches of a State), but now 
recently constituted to consist of a smaller number, 
chosen or delegated by the Presbyteries, but em- 
bracing a whole state. The whole denomination is 
finally represented (of the same elements) in the 
General Assembly for the United States. This last 
body meets annually, and is the fourth and highest 
court of judicature known to the denomination. 

Thus the Presbyterians are noted for ecclesiastical 
law proceedings, for interminable disputes and hair- 
splitting about church matters. AVe have more to 
write of this subject under the topic, "Schisms." 

Lutherans. — This most numerous denomination of 
Montgomery County was reported in the census of 
1870 as having twenty-five houses of worship, now 
probably still more. Most of their ancestors came 
from Prussia and other German nations of Central 
Europe between 1710 and 1770, though doubtless 
some landed with Pastorius, who founded German- 
town before 1700. Like most of our early emigrants, 
they were refugees from religious disabilities in the 
Old World, bringing a reformed faith, with sterling, 
moral and domestic habits, with them. From the 
date of the founding of the mother-churches of Old 
Goshenhoppen and St. Augustus,' at Trappe, their 
emigration and settlement must have been large and 
rapid during the period named, as Gordon, in his " Gaz- 
etteer" of 18,32, puts down the Lutheran Churches of 
our county at eight, which by 1870 were increased as 
above. This denomination has probably undergone 
fewer changes by trans]ilanting from Europe to 
America, and been less disturbed by schisms and dis- 
agreements amongst themselves, than any other. The 
church mainly accepts Luther's matured faith, as 
embodied in. the Augsburg Confession of 15.30, and 
follows, with slight variations of form and doctrine, 
the worship established then. In belief, they are little 
distinguished from other orthodox sects, the chief 
difference being a slight leaning to the idea of the 
" real presence " of Christ in the Eucharist, they main- 
taining " consubstantiatiou " as against the former doc- 
trine of "transubstantiation,"' while most Protestants 
who administer the Lord's Supper hold to the view that 
the " bread and the cup " in the ceremonial are merely 
symbolical and commemorative of the body and blood 
of Christ, as the great oflering for human redemp- 
tion. This latter view, according to Smucker, is 
now most generally accepted by the Lutherans of the 
United States. The church in this country does not 
hold to prelacy, though in Sweden and some other 
parts of Europe the church was so cou.stituted ; but 
here they generally maintain the parity of the min- 

l"0f tho Supper of the Lord, we teach that the time body and 
blood of .Tesus Christ is verily present under the external signs of 
bread and wine in tlie Supper, and there communicated and re- 
ceived." — Aiigshia-g Confession, art. x. 



KELIUIUUS DENOMINATIOxNS. 



371 



istrv and admit lay representation in the Synod and 
Ministeriiiin. Many years ago, in churches siir- 
rouiuled by English-speaking people, some congrega- 
tions used but a small part of the liturgy and threw 
aside the vestments; but in recent years an English 
liturgy has been generally adopted, while those which 
are wholly German in language continue to use the 
old ritual brought from the Fatherland. Some years 
ago a few of their congregations also held " pro- 
tracted meetings," but none do so at present. 

Like most denominations, Lutherans have an or- 
ganization to promote church extension, but their 
great increase over some Protestant bodies is found 
in the practice of regularly catechising the youth at 
jirojier age, and inducting them into church fellow- 
ship by the rite of "confirmation." This keeps the 
membership Jull, as in Europe, where formal instruc- 
tion in religion with all state churches i.s a necessary 
part of secular education. The efficiency of this 
mode of keeping up church membersliip leads some 
to conclude that it is a better method than that in 
vogue since the advent of Methodism, of " disci- 
pling " the people by " protracted meetings," as an 
adjunct of Sabbath-school instruction.' The advo- 
cates of the latter system allege that religion learned 
in the former mode only fills the lienil, while the heart 
or atfections are unreached by it. 

Half a century ago, when Sunday-schools became 
common with English-speaking churches, there was 
much opposition to their introduction, as also special 
meetings for prayer amongst our German-speaking 
Lutherans ; but they have now become general and 
valued as a further means of training the young. 

The Lutherans of Montgomery County were settled 
north and westward from Lower Merion, through the 
central townships, to the Berks County line. The love 
of liberty natural to the Teutonic race made these 
people loyal to the patriotic cause through our great 
Kevoluiioii, the Muhlenbergs becoming famous during 
that momentous struggle. 

Reformed Church. — Contemporaneous with Luth- 

1 Early SusniY-ScHOOLS, 1818.— "The ladies of Norriatown are 
certainly entitled to the highest praise for their exertiona in estab- 
lishing a Sunday-school for the instmctiou of youth. This institution 
is founded on a broad and liberal basis, confined to no sex nor con- 
dition. Its object appears to be a general diffusion of useful kuovv- 
leilge among the rising generation. This undoubtedly merits tho ap- 
plause and patronage of every parent, guardian and master ; and, in- 
dred, of every friend of morality and good order within the borough 
and vicinity. 

"There is no exercise of the human faculty so truly meritorious aa 
when it ie exerted in the cause of religion and virtue. The writer of 
this has the honor of an acquaintance with several of the ladies who 
conduct the school, and he deems it no more than justice to say that 
their abilities and acquirements are such as to warrant the assertion 
tliat youth will derive from them the best moral and religious in- 
structions, as well as the principles of polite education. 

"Tlic ladies, in this instance, have done themselves the greatest 
honor, and I do fondly hope they \vill not be obliged to struggle 
through the difflcnlties of their undertiiking without experiencing that 
sui)l)ort which is due to such laudable efforts to improve the present 

condition and to promote the future happiness of mankiTui." "A 

FniEND TO Youth," Norrislown Herald, Feb. 25, 1818. 



erans, the old " German Reformed," or " German 
Presbyterians," came to our county from different 
parts of Germany, they only differing from their 
countrymen as Zwingli and Calvin disagreed with 
Luther about some non-essential doctrines and the 
proper form of church government. They were stern 
defenders of the Holy Scriptures as the sole rule of 
faith, and of the perpetuity of the Sabbath as a day of 
divine appointment. They also maintained that 
baptism took the place in the New that circumcision 
held in the Old Covenant. Equally with Lutherans, 
they resisted Eomau Catholic authority and the claim 
of mere priestly rule in the Church of Christ, insisting, 
with English Presbyterians, that bishop, minister 
and elder were nearly convertible terms, and that 
lay believers had a right to equal rule with the clergy 
in church affairs. The Reformed denomination of 
our county in the early day gathered congregations 
nearly as fast as the Lutheran brethren, their number 
in 1832, according to Gordon, being seven, which by 
1S70 had increased to nineteen, and now is doubtless 
greater still. This church has suffered more from 
schismatic influences than Lutherans, though no 
serious open rupture has ever taken place, but rather 
disagreements, mainly consisting of " old " and " new " 
views of theology, and old and new measures, such as 
"protracted," night and prayer-meetings for the ]iro- 
motion of revivals, as al.so about the reintroduotion 
of a liturgy, vestments, etc. One thing in our history 
stands to the credit of both Lutheran and Reformed 
in the colonial age, reaching down even to the present 
to some extent, — that they fraternized in building 
houses of worship, which, for more than a century, in 
some cases, have been oecupiedjointly and alternately 
by both denominations. That is amity in dissent, — 
a wholesome lesson to adjacent sects to live peacefully 
with each other ! As wealth and more frequent wor- 
ship have afforded the means and opportunity in re- 
cent years, however, the desire arose for separate 
buildings; so nearly all these union churches have di- 
vided, and, in most cases, one or the other erected new 
buildings. The greatest source of disquiet in all our 
ancient German Churches has been the lapsing of the 
German tongue and introduction of English to accom- 
modate the new generation, who do not fully under- 
stand the former language. The introduction of 
prayei'-night-ineetings and the Sunday-schools, which 
seemed innovations upon old customs, was for a while 
resisted by the elder members of the upper churches. 
In doctrinal views the Reformed are Calvinists, and 
nearly identical with Presbyterians. The Reformed 
Church will be further discussed under the topic of 
" Church Troubles or Schisms." 

Baptists. — It is probable that the single Baptist 
congregation gathered by Welsh emigrants in Mont- 
gomery township (1720) antedated the earliest Lu. 
theran and Reformed Churches, but it would seem that 
this society stood almost alone for nearly three-fourths 
of a century hence the German denominations were 



372 



HISTORY OF ^MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



recorded first. The Baptist Churches in our county 
must therefore be set down as the children of revival 
preaching during the past half-century. In 1832 sta- 
tists show them as having two church edifices, which 
had grown by 1870 to eleven, and now probably sev- 
eral more. The first important accession was the 
founding of the Norristown Church, through revival 
labors of Elder Leonard Fletcher andothers,in 1832-3.3. 
Its organization was also promoted by the transfer of 
a few members of the Great Valley Society in Chester 
County. Since that time the advance of the denomi- 
nation has been steady and uniform. Being the off- 
spring of revived religion, the churches of the connec- 
tion have taken the lead in protracted meetings, 
efforts for temperance, anti-slavery and other moral 
reforms. One of the first Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery 
Conventions in the State was held at the Norristown 
Meeting-House in 1839 or 1840, and was presided over 
by Rev. Nathan Stem, then newly chosen rector of St. 
John's Episcopal Church. 

Of all sects. Baptists are the most courageous defend- 
ers of religious liberty and strenuous opposers of gov- 
ernmental interference in matters of religion. This 
feeling was so deeply ingrained among them that for 
many years after our State fell into the New England 
custom of appointing a day of " public praise and 
thanksgiving" the denomination in this locality did 
not respond to the recommendation at all. Their church 
at large claims to have derived a hatred of church-and- 
state and infant baptism through the Waldenses of 
the Alps, who resisted both the Church and Empire of 
Rome for centuries. Whilst they generally subscribe 
to Calvinistic theology, except as to the form and 
proper subjects of baptism and concerning church 
government, they slightly differ among themselves on 
the doctrines of election, free grace and final persever- 
ance. Holding that immersion only is baptism, they 
resolutely maintain that those who have only been 
sprinkled in infancy or adult life have not had Chris- 
tian baptism at all, and, therefore, have not entered 
through the true " door of the church." In this view 
they are probably sustained by the letter of Scripture 
and the weight of ecclesiastical history ; but by mak- 
ing t\\&form of an ordinance the essence of it, they ex- 
clude the rest of the Christian Church from the Lord's 
tabic very much as the Catholic Church does the laity 
from the use of " the cup " in the same sacrament. This 
exclusion, which is only a logical result of their belief, 
creates much prejudice against them among unthink- 
ing religionists of other sects, the latter calling them 
"close comniunionists." Their exuberant liberality 
and charity in other things fail them here. It is but jus- 
tice to all parties to this controversy, however, to add 
that in our locality they fraternize with other denom- 
inations in most departments of Christian work, and 
are highly esteemed on other accounts by all. It 
should also be stated that they differ from the rest of 
the Calvinistic family in holding baptism to be a sym- 
bol of death unto sin in the subject and a resurrection 



to new life in the believer, instead of "a substitute'' 
for circumcision in the Old Covenant, which the lat- 
ter teach now as a type of inward purifying of the 
heart by the blood of Christ, as enforced in the New 
Dispensation. During the past century the Baptist 
denomination of the United States (which is much 
separated into parties on other grounds), without di- 
vision in their ranks, was somewhat divided formerly 
about " old " and " new measures." Being strict con- 
gregationalists in church government, and each con- 
gregation supreme judge and dispenser of truth and 
order, and their associations having no judicial, but 
only advisory functions, there is considerable diversity 
of faith and discipline existing among them. Their 
stated convocations are made up of several delegates 
(of which the minister is one) from each church, elected 
at a church-meeting. Perhaps all the churches of 
Montgomery County belong to what is called New 
School or Revival Baptists. 

Methodist Episcopal. — This is the next demanding 
notice, — the last of the first Reformation or the first of 
the new ? After two centuries of social and religious 
effervescence from the time of Luther, Zwingli and 
Calvin, Protestant Churches of Europe, and America 
also, had fallen into the ways of dead orthodoxy, when 
Wesley, Whitefield and others were raised up to 
"bring judgment to the line and righteousness to the 
plummet." These men, fired with a new "zeal for 
God and perishing sinners," went preaching every- 
where and were soon joined by lay evangelists, carry- 
ing a " free gospel," — the '' necessity of the new birth 
and holy living to all." As in the beginning, some be- 
lieved and repented while others derided or met them 
with open violence. To the amazement of the then 
reformed world, the signs following an earnest preach- 
ing of the gospel were nearly as marked as at the 
apostolic era. Camp-meetings, and others in churches, 
where they could be opened to them, were filled with 
anxious or wondering hearers, until thousands, many 
of them the most abandoned of society, " turned to 
God," and became as eminent for faith and good works 
as they had been noted for wickedness and unbelief. 
These conversions were nearly as confounding to the 
church and outside world as was the healing of the 
impotent man by Peter and John at the beautiful 
gate of the Temple in Jerusalem. INIany quiet, sedate 
religionists stood apart and wondered ; others sympa- 
thized or opposed, as they felt inclined. As, however, 
it was the outgrowth of the right of private judgment 
in religion, which all acknowledged, the work went 
on almost down to our own times, many Christian 
sects falling into the same way of disciplining the in- 
different and unconverted. 

For many years the only Methodist house and so- 
ciety in our county was Bethel, in Whitjjain township 
(1770), and some years later the Union, near by_ 
According to the census of 1870, the houses of the de- 
nomination had grown to fourteen, some of them 
large, commodious edifices, and now the number is 



RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 



373 



much greater. Although the Methodist body has no 
lay representation in the governing Conference, but, on 
tlie contrary, acknowh'dges Episcopal control, its 
preachers and members are perhajjs less influenced 
by mere ecclesiasticism than any other religious peo- 
ple in our community. Its ministers are noted for 
their outspoken boldness on all matters of faith, 
government and morals ; indeed, their bishops being 
elected by the Conference, can hardly be regarded as 
prelates at all, even in their rule and oversight, there 
being really hut one rank and grade among them. 
In the palmy age of Methodism, many years ago, 
their typical symbol was "Free salvation for all, and 
no predestination ! " In that rallying cry they 
antagonized Presbyterians and Baptists of the period, 
as also the latter's doctrine of " final perseverance of 
the believer." But during the past half-century a 
better acquaintance has enabled each to learn of the 
other; hence most of the old accrbitv between them 




has worn away and, doubtless, their bickerings have 
disappeared forever. It may be added here that 
their early efforts in evangelizing were largely carried 
on by preaching the terrors of the divine law against 
sin, and portraying in contrast heaven and liell and 
the tender sympathy of Jesus " for the chief of sinners." 
The very effective discipline of the church and the 
itinerancy of the clergy have spared them from 
schisms and "family disturbances." Occasionally 
the withdrawal of a few members of a particular con- 
gregation, with the permission of the bishop, takes 
place ; but such secessions only result in the founding 
of a new society of the same order, as a mission 
church. In all pecuniary and most social matters 
they are like Baptists congregational ists, the people 
managing things in their own way, only subject to 
church rules; the supreme governing power, however, 
resides in the General Conference. Next to Friends, 
Methodists bore the earliest testimony against the sin- 
fulnessof slavery, though in theSonth the society lapsed 



badly, causing a rent in the denomination ; and they 
have been equally outspoken against the traffic in 
intoxicating liquors. The society derives its name 
from the habits of the two great founders, "Wesley and 
Whitefield ; they were called so at Oxford University, 
because of their methodical atteution to hours of 
prayer and other daily duties and their standing 
aloof from worldly follies. 

Roman Catholics. — Nearly the last, though not the 
least denomination, tli.at remains to be described (in 
order of settlement here) is that great body which 
claims to be known by its title, "The Holy Roman 
Catholic Apostolic Church, which was founded by 
the Apostles at Rome in the first century." Most of 
the early settlers of Pennsylvania being Protestants, 
the few Catholics who located in our county at that 
period had no convenient church privileges except 
by going to Philadelphia. This continued until near 
1835, when the first congregation was gathered at Nor- 
ristown and a house of worship erected the next year. 
During the past forty years, however, people of that 
faith have come in rapidly, and now in all centres of 
population parishes have been located, houses of 
worship built and pastors appointed, so that at present 
their churches number seven or eight. This most 
ancient of churches holds in common with nearly all 
Protestant denominations, the Nicene or Apostles 
Creed ; nevertheless, in Biblical interpretation and 
ecclesiastical polity it claims exclusive authority, so 
that while the said formula of belief stands as a basis 
for all, Rome, or " The Church " hasbuilded so much 
more upon it that the line of demarcation is broad 
and impassable between them. Some of the distin- 
guishing doctrines and customs of this great body 
may be stated briefly in contrast with Protestants as 
follows: She, the Catholic church, teaches that the 
true and rightful interpretation of the Sacred Scrip- 
tures was committed to the Apostolic Church, of which 
Peter was made the head by the words of our Lord 
(St. Matt. xvi. 17, 18), and that Apostle became first 
Bishop of Rome ; and that all rightful authority in 
religion has descended from him, and that the Popes 
are his successors ; that the true church, so consti- 
tuted, holds, through the concurrence of Ecumenical 
Councils, all authority, as also the only right of inter- 
preting Scripture to the end of time. 

The church enjoins the duty of hearing Mass and 
resting from servile works on Sunday, also the duty 
of observing holidays commemorating the saints, and 
especially fasting in Lent Ember-days, Advent, and 
abstaining from flesh on Fridays ; to confess to a 
priest and obtain absolution at least once a year. The 
church teaches unwavering obedience from her chil- 
dren and affirms that " out of her pale there is no 
salvation ;" it holds, furthermore, that dissent and 
schism are mortal sins, — that is, subjecting the trans- 
gressor, if unrepented of, to final perdition. It also 
teaches that in the celebration of Mass at the altar 
Christ is offered as an atonement for sin or " a bl'iod- 



374 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



less sacrifice " for penitents. Catholics teach " that the 
good works we do receive tlieir whole value from the 
grace of God, and that by such works we not only 
comply with the precepts of the divine law, but that 
we thereby likewise merit eternal life;" hence it is 
asserted that many eminent saints have performed 
more than duty or salvation required, which have 
been called " works of supererogation." Protestants, 
on the contrary, affirm that good works are not meri- 
torious, but only performed from the dictates of duty, 
and are the mere evidence of faith and obedience, 
as nothing secures salvation but Christ'.s sacrificial, 
death. It is proper to add here that all orthodox 
Protestants hold that Christ, once for all, offered him- 
self an atonement for sin on the cross; that there were 
but two sacraments instituted by him ; that there is 
no pu.'-^";atory, and that therefore jjrayers to departed 
saints and for tlie dead are unscriptural and un- 
warranted. The Catholic Church teaches that Christ 
instituted seven sacraments, to wit : Baptism, Lord's 
Supper, Confirmation, Penance, Extreme Unction, 
Holy (Jrders and Matrimony, some of these being 
fonndedonthe writings of " the Christian Fathers,'' 
which that church regards of nearly equal authority 
as the evangelists, but which Pr(jtestants do not re- 
ceive as such. 

There is another strongly marked distinction be- 
tween Catholics and Protestants in church polity : 
With the former all temporalities, such as church edi- 
fices, htnds, colleges and eleemosynary institutions, 
are held by the ecclesiastical authority of a diocese,- 
while with the latter, church edifices and most other 
common property of churches or church institutions 
are held in trust by lay trustees exclusively, these 
being elected by the people of each congregation. 
Formerly the children of Catholics attended public 
schools in common with others, but recently the 
church has founded parochial schools, where, in con- 
junction with secular learning, the doctrines of their 
church are also inculcated. 

The Catholic Church is noted for its opposition to 
secret societies, at least all such as are out of the pale 
of its own communion, and for maintaining the 
indi.ssolubility of the marriage tie. Its testimony on 
the latter point, as also against color-prejudice in 
church, which was the opprobrium of some Protestant 
Churches previous to the abolition of slavery, is worthy 
of commendation, as is also the brotherly respect 
paid to their dead by large attendance at funerals. 
Although the Catholic denomination here has only 
grown up or gathered within the past fifty years, it 
has within that period increased more rapidly (chiefly 
by emigration Irom abroad) than any, and now has 
more worshipers for their space than any other. 

Evangelical Association (German Methodists). 
— This br.inch of the Methodist persuasion is the 
latest denomination planted in our county, and must 
conclude our series. This humble, zealous people have 
come to be quite numerous within the past forty 



years, having now over a dozen congregations. They 
were originally called "Albrights," from a German 
minister named Jacob Albright, who founded the 
society in the year 1800. They are almost identical 
and are often confounded with another German 
Methodist Church, that called '"United Brethren in 
Christ," established near the same time by Rev. 
William Otterbein, p. divine who had been raised in 
the Reformed Church. They, as also the church above 
named, in fitith and church government, are almost 
identical with the great Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Most of them are Germans, and they largely use that 
language in their worship. Beyond active zeal for total 
abstinence from intoxicating drinks, and earnest eftbrts 
in evangelizing the unconverted, they are in nothing 
distinguished from the great Methodist family. 

Another small branch of the same Arminian flock 
was nearly overlooked, the African Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, of which there are four or five societies 
in the county, all in towns along the Schuylkill. 

A few critical observations on the status and drift 
of our current religion may not be out of place here 
by way of review. First, the original formation and 
substructure of society here was Christian Protestant, 
on a square basis of equal social and religious rights. 
The peace sects have aimed to confine their work at 
home among their own people, the Evangelicals 
striving to catch and mould the pojuilar drift flowing- 
in upon us. Catholics, with a few Hebrews, stand 
rather aside now, disinclined to fully coalesce with th& 
mass. Popular education, journalistic activity and 
the inflow of wealth make rapid inroads upon old 
Protestant manners and customs. German and other 
continental people have been pouring in upon u» 
until Puritanic and Quaker notions are giving way 
before them. A few years ago, when Friends, Pres- 
byterians and Baptists were influential, Christmas 
day, " Christmas-trees," Easter evergreen adornments- 
and other holiday observances, birth-day, golden and 
silver weddings, flowers and floral crosses at funerals, 
with wedding-gifts, were unheard-of things. Now 
these social gifts, observances and adornments have 
grown into such fashion that, with stylish churches, 
jesthetic religious ceremonials and other social 
meetings of the people, we are now, to say the least, 
rapidly progressing into the new or continental 
civilization. Commenting on this, the recent issue of 
a denominational journal makes the following dolor- 
ous observations : 

"Every one not utterly bliml has seen within the piust few years the 
introdurtion i\iid growtli, in HOH-prelatical chmclies, of tlie observtince 
of ' holy days,' aiereii syniliolH, costly chureh nuisic and elaboration of 
foz'ms of woiiship. It is true that this dilution exists with remains of 
plain forms ; but, like the man who begins witli brandy and water, it ends 
with brandy alone. Let us not ' exalt oui-selves over idolatrous Eph- 
raiin,' for even our Itacksliding ' Judah ' is beginning to 'forsake her 
husband ' and burn incense at the altar of ritualism." 

The writer further adds : 

" It has always been true, from the .^jiostles' times, that theatric wor- 
ship is ever accompanied by intense worhllines,s, decay of heart religion, 
growth of heterotloxy and scepticism within the bosom of the church." 



CHURCH HISTOllY. 



375 



Having thus given a hasty and imperfect review of 
(iiir religious denominations, some of their contrasted 
doctrines, discipline, social peculiarities and moral 
drift, we proceed further,and describe church divisions 
and other disturbing matters, with such fundamental 
or natural changes as have arisen am<mg them. First 
uniler this head, then, will come 

Schisms. — .Vs the Society of Friends was earliest 
estiblished in our county, its domestic troubles must 
first be noticed. As has been stated, the seventeenth 
and early part of last century were times of religious 
ferment, and this society, which claimed to be led by 
the Inward Light alone, was subjected to dissensions 
and divisions also. 

George Keith, a Friend standing very high in the 
society during the early years of last century, broke 
the bonds of unity upon some private grievance or 
conscientious conviction, and began to preach against 
Friends, finally joining himself tj the English national 
church, carrying with him a small party of the society 
at or near Philadelphia. Near a century later the 
great Unitarian controversy, that rent the Congrega- 
tional Church of New England at the commence- 
ment of the present century, brought " humanitarian'" 
expositions of the New Testament widely before the 
whole country, and it is hardly doubted that Elias 
Hi'jks, with other Friends, caught the sjiirit of the 
great debate from it and them. Hicks was a 
" public Friend," residing on Long Island, a gifted, 
eloquent preacher and an acute metaphysical re.isoner. 
He traveled for several years all over the bounds of 
the society, promulgating his views and what were 
thought somewhat strange interiiretations of Scripture, 
that very many of the society, ))iirticu'arly the elders, 
thought new and which they felt " no unity with." 
He was accused, perhaps falsely, of denying the 
divinity of Jesus Christ, the vicarious atonement, the 
miraculous conception and literal resurrection of the 
Saviour, the authoritative value of the Scriptures of 
truth, as well as other doctrines claimed to be held 
by Friends from the beginning, and which had the 
sanction of P''ox, Penn, Barclay and others. Many 
leading members of some of the higher meetings 
openly and loudly expressed their "want of unity" 
with Hicks, and refused to hear him, while a much 
greater number in this region of country maintained 
that his teachings were in strict accordance with those 
of the founders of the church. 

After much heated controversy in a quiet way, the 
society separated at the Yearly Meeting in Philadel- 
phia, in 1827, and in all others where there was much 
dissent, divisions took place all over the country. In 
our county the adherents of Hicks' views, by their op- 
|ionents called " Hicksites," being largely in the major- 
ity, held the following houses of worsliip : Abington, 
Horsham, Gwynedd, Plymouth, Upper Dublin and 
Upper Providence ; while Lower Merion and Potts- 
town adhered to the " Orthodox." S ion after the 
division the se^iarated members erected small houses 



of worship for themselves at Abington, Moreland, Ply- 
miiuth and Gwynedd, and at Horsham a meeting was 
held weekly for a time in a private dwelling. In 
recent years the Providence Meeting has been " laid 
down," i.e., suspended, though the property is held 
and the Norristown Meeting is since established. At 
the time of division, or shortly after, an enumeration 
taken showed that of the divided society a very large 
majority adhered to the Hicksites (an appellation they 
repel), which accounts for the disposition of the meet- 
ing-houses. Since the separation and the death of Hicks 
both parties claim to be the true " Society of Friends," 
and |)rofess not to have changed from the original 
doctrines and discipline of the early society. In fact, 
any dilierences in the general deportment, dress and 
customs of both divisions are but slightly discernible 
to people of other persuasions. 

It is difficult, also, for historians, or even contempo- 
rary religionists, to discriminate and point out the 
weighty and real matters about which the two 
branches of Friends so ditlered in their great schism ; 
it would appear, however, that it was not about forms 
of wor.-hip or mainly about discipline; but never 
having had a written or formulated creed, they came 
to dilTer among themselves about the essential doc- 
trines that constituted Christianity. 

It is manifest, also, that several years antecedent to 
the separation revival efibrts amongst contemporary 
sects had brought Scripture doctrines and church 
efforts, into wide discussion amongst all religious 
•classes, and many Friends also came to adopt views, 
more or less in accord with the historical teachings of 
the New Testament or orthodox tenets. Some Friends 
felt bound to maintain the validity and authority of 
certain doctrines and literal facts revealed and his- 
torically recorded in the Old and New Testaments, as 
fundamtntal ; while, on the other hand, many "liber- 
als" of the society, having adopted Socinian views of 
Christ, insisted, on the contrary, that none should be 
held bound to accept revealed writings except in such 
a sense as accorded with divine light manifested to 
themselves. Hence little was fixed to the latter class 
as absolute truth ; and thus the liberal party planted 
themselves rather upon negations than affirmations, 
contending that such were the doctrines of the society 
from the beginning ; and hence also many came to 
characterize all professors who maintained positive 
opinions in religious belief as "sectarians", claiming 
that they themselves by reason of non-affirmation of 
dogmatic faith, were nc t sectarian. 

Since the division the Hicksite branch has been 
much more active, touching moral reform questions, 
such as anti-slavery, temperance and peace, while 
Orthodox Friends are more rigidly evangelical in 
doctrine. The latter have in some parts of the coun- 
try had new divisions of small "separatists" called 
Gurneyices and Wilberites, and Hicksites in Chester 
County have also had a secession called "Progressive 
Friends." 



376 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Divisions among Mennonists. — It is known that 
the lesser German, and especially the peace sects, as in- 
dividuals and societies, resist innovations in dress, 
customs, worship, — in short, concerning everything 
brought with them from the Fatherland ; hence these, 
as also their tenacity in religious belief, expose them 
to constant schisms. In the interior of the State there 
are several branches of the society, unknown in our 
localities, called" Ornish," "Hooker Mennonites, ''etc. 
In our county there have been several divisions of the 
Mennonite body. The first one took place in 1847, into 
■what was called " Old Mennonites" and "New," the 
latter party led by Kev. Abraham Hunsicker, a bishop, 
who thought the old testimonies of the society against 
scholastic learning and general participation in socie- 
tary movements ought to be reformed. Five years 
afterwards, feeling himself and his adherents tram- 
meled and uncomfortable in the "New Division," he 
vpithdrew, and organized "The Trinity Christian 
Church,'' mainly in doctrinal accord with the old 
societies, except in patronizing institutions of learn- 
ing, Sunday-schools, revival meetings and the like. 
There are two prosperous societies of this denomina- 
tion, one at Freeland and the other at Skippackville. 
Subsequently another division in parts of Bucks and 
Lehigh was organized under the title of " Evangelical 
Mennonites." Several of these small jiarties are known 
by the name of the leaders, such as " Funkites," 
" Overholtzer," "Johnson,"' and " Herrites," all of 
which appellations they repel of course. The last of 
the four mentioned takes its name from John Herr, 
of Lancaster County. They have one or two societies 
in our county, in Worcester or Perkiomen. They are 
usually and incorrectly called " Harralites,"and their 
views and customs are so peculiar that some of them 
are appended : " They do not and dare not, for fear of 
the ban of separation" (a sort of penance), "hear the 
minister of another denomination preach. AVhen 
one of their members commits a sin or breaks their 
rules, he or she is ' put under the ban,' and is ' kept 
in avoidance' ; then they do not eat or sleep with him 
or her, nor sit at the same table, under pain of like 
censure." These more than monkish austerities are 
calculated to split society into many factions ; yet 
peace is so ingrained in their nature that, to their 
credit be it spoken, serious quarrels are rarely reported 
amongst them. 

TheGreat Presbyterian Schism. — The most im- 
portant division occurring among Christian bodies in 
our county during the present century, happened to 
Presbyterians between the years of 1838 and 1855. 
But in order to make it clear and intelligible to the 
reader, it will be well to glance at the greater schism 
between the constituents of the general Presbyterian 
family of the Union in 1837-38. In order to do this, 
then, it may be needful to quote a few points of doc- 
trine found in the Assembly's Catechism, about which 
Presbyterians differed in their expositions. We quote 
as follows : First, about " the covenant made with 



Adam, through which all his posterity «?7werf in him ,•" 
second, "God, out of his mere good pleasure,/ro??i all 
eternity elected some to everlasting life" (and per 
consequence left all others non-elected) ; third, " hu- 
man redemption is the result of a covenant between 
the Father and the Son in the counsels of eternity." 
These and a few similar dogmas were elaborated and 
enlarged, or rather perverted, by some Scottish and 
German theologians into what is usually called Anti- 
nomiani.sm, a short summary of which is quoted from 
Schmucker's " History of all Religions," pp. 153, 154.' 

These points, as the reader will perceive, are but 
perversions of those copied from the Westminster 
Catechism above, or perhaps inferences drawn from 
them. To show how far others claiming to be Calvin- 
ists had drifted in the opposite direction, we quote, in 
a note below, certain points" alleged to be held by New 
School men" (but which the latter denied), drawn up 
and condemned by the Philadelphia General Assembly 
of 1837, with other points still more heterodox. '-^ 

It will be readily seen from these quotations that 
wide diversity existed, though few Presbyterian di- 
vines would have subscribed the last points, not that 
some did not partly believe them, but because not 
sustained by the " church standards." The fact was 
the current theology had advanced through a better 
understanding of the Scriptures, while the Catechism 
had not advanced, especially as learned men of the 
time claimed to understand the AVord (the acknow- 
ledged authority), as well as the Westminster 
doctors. Such being the doctrinal condition of the 
church at large when the revival furor was moet pre- 
dominant all over the country, there was consequently 
much dissent and disquiet in the denomination. 
Those who held to ultra-Scotch interpretations of the 
catechism and Word were called " Old light" or " Old 
School" ; and others who accepted symbols of the 
Westminster Assembly in a liberal sense, "New 
School." Thus matters stood until about 1830, when 
Rev. Albert Barnes, then just called to the First 



1 " That the jiistificfition of Binners is an imminent and eternal act of 
God, not only preceding all acts <if sin, Init the existence of the sinner 
himself; that justification by faith is no more than a manifestation to us 
of what was done before we had .1 being ; that God sees no sin in 
believers, and they are not bound to confess, mourn for it or pray that 
it may be forgiven ; that God is not angi-y with the elect, nor does he 
punish them for their sins ; that by God's laying our iniquities upon 
Christ, He became as completely sinful as we, and we as completely 
ritjhteoxis as Christ ; that the new covenant is not made properly with 
us, but with Christ for us, and that this covenant is all of it ii promise 
having no conditions for us to perform, for faith, i-epentance and obedi- 
ence are not conditions on our part, but Christ's, and he repented, be- 
lieved and obeyed for us." 

2 " We have no more to do with .\dam's first sin than the sins of any 
other parent ; there is no other original sin in us than the fact that 
all the posterity of Adam, though by nature innocenf, or possessed of no 
moral character, will begin to sin when they begin to exercise moral 
agency ; the lioctrine of imputation, whether of the guill of Adam's sin 
or of the righteousness of t'lirist, has no foundation in the word of God, 
and is both unjust and absurd ; that the righteousness of Christ ia 
not the sole ground of the siuner's acceptance with God, and in no sense 
does the lighteousncss of Clirist becujue oul-s." (See Schunickei's His- 
tory, p. 86-80). 



OHUKCH HISTORY. 



377 



Church, Philadelphia, commenced to publish annota- 
tions on the New Testament. He held modified 
Calvinism or new school views. He was accused of 
lieresy in his Presbytery, but acquitted under protest 
from a few of its members. The accusation was ap- 
pealed to the Synod, and the action of the lower court 
reversed, and finally to the General Assembly of 1833, 
and the appeal sustained, when the discussion grew 
hitter, and it was sent back to Synod and Presbytery, 
which latter bodies acquitted him. Other appeals 
followed, continuing until 1835, when a Synod sus- 
pended him from the ministry. In 1837 the great 
dispute was continued in the Assembly, but no final 
action taken until the following year (1838,) when, 
upon assembling, the moderator refused to entertain a 
motion to receive the commissioners from the Synods 
of Genesee, Geneva, Utica and Western Reserve; 
thus the chairman ruled a large part of the Assembly 
out of the church. The exscinded members gathered 
at Mr. Barnes' church and organized what was after- 
wards called the New School Presbyterian Church. 

The divergence in doctrinal belief and other sources 
of alienation were largely brought about by the infu- 
sion of Congregationalist members and ministers from 
New England into the churches of the Middle and 
Southern States. Many of these also had held re- 
vival meetings, and cooperated in foreign and domestic 
missions with " The American Board," a Congrega- 
tional institution. 

Before the great division at Philadelphia churches 
connected themselves by consent of Synod, with the 
Presbytery most in accordance with their own views, 
the Second Presbytery thus becoming old, while the 
Third was new school. The First Church of Norris- 
town, however, happened to belong to the second. 
Accordingly, when its pulpit became vacant, in the 
fall of 1837, by the resignation of Rev. Robert Adair, 
early the following year it called Rev. Samuel M. 
Gould, and asked the Presbytery to ordain and in- 
stall him. He being from New England and new 
school, the Presbytery, largely old school, rejected 
him on the alleged ground of unsoundness in doctrine 
but mainly, as Rev. Dr. Ralston says, in the history of 
the church, " from party feeling." The Presbytery 
charged Rev. Dr. Neill, of Germantown, with the duty 
of announcing its action to the Norristown Church. 
The reverend gentleman appeared next Sabbath at the 
hour of worship, conducted the service and forbade 
Mr. Gould to longer continue as supply. When the 
services were ended, Mr. Gould, who had been 
present, now rose and appealed to the congregation^ 
asking all who were willing to hear him, as in the 
past, to rise to their feet, when the assemblage rose 
almost en masse. By this response (or at a congrega- 
tional meeting called for the purpose afterwards) the 
church resolved to withdraw from the Second and 
oin the Third Presbytery, tliey still retaining Mr. 
Gould as "supply," which was done. The latter body 
soon after examined Mr. Gould, p:issed and installed ' 



him pastor of the Norristown Church. This action of 
Norristown Church caused the withdrawal of one or 
two members only. Thus the Norristown congrega- 
tion became part of the new school division, with the 
full acquiescence of all its other members. Mr. Gould 
continued to serve the church thenceforth until 1857, 
thirteen years, when some troubles arising, he resigned 
the charge, and after near a year's interval. Rev. 
Randolph A. Smith was called and installed. Mr. 
Smith had been pastor .some three years when the 
present house of worship had become finished but not 
dedicated, a new parsonage built and occupied. 

Alleging ill health as a reason, Mr. Smith expressed 
a wish to resign his charge, at the same time giving 
notice of the assembling of a congregational meeting 
to join him for that purpose. When the people con- 
vened, they, knowing Mr. Smith's disability was but 
slight, refused to vote for the dissolution of the rela- 
tion. The meeting at once appointed a committee to 
wait on the pastor in the parsonage, near by, and 
strive to dissuade him from his purpose; it called on 
him, and returned soon after accompanied by Mr. 
Smith, who heartily thanked the people for their vote 
of confidence, and then, /or (lie first lime, stated that 
" he could no longer retain the pastorate and con- 
tinue his intercourse with the Third Presbytery, 
some of whose members," he alleged, "had not used 
him well." Upon this announcement a member arose 
and moved that "the First Church of Norristown with- 
draw from the Third, and join the Second Presbytery 
of Philadelphia." The question was put and declared 
adopted, very few of the members being aware that 
such action was carrying the church out of the new 
school denomination into the old. No sooner, how- 
ever, was the vote correctly understood by a large 
majority of the people (after the meeting adjourned), 
than they protested against it and asserted it was ef- 
fected through "a mere pretense," and demanded a 
new congregational meeting to test the true will of the 
people; but the request was never granted by the 
session and trustees of the church. The same meet- 
ing also appointed another committee to announce to 
the Third Presbytery the church's withdrawal from 
its body, and also to effect a union with the Second 
Presbytery, Old School. 

On the committee appearing before the former body, 
it refused to indorse the proceedings, and at once de- 
clared the pulpit of the Norristown Church vacant, 
and ajjpointed Rev. George Foot to declare it so before 
the congregation the next Sabbath. The reverend 
gentleman, however, was met at the door of the 
church, which was locked by a prominent old school 
man, and refused admittance, whereupon he and 
the new school members crossed to the market-house 
near by, where he read the paper, after which they all 
retired to Hill's Hall, where they held a consultation 
for future action. The aforesaid committee afterwards 
appeared before the Old School, Second Presbytery, 
were received, and the church "restored" as old 



378 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



school people said, " whence it was taken seventeen 
years before," the great difference being, that the foi'mer 
act was by acquiescence, first, of the people of the 
whole congregation and afterwards by the Synod ; but 
the latter by the violent action of a congregational 
meeting, called for a different, and specific purpose, 
and joined to the Old School Presbytery, without 
action of the Synod at all. 

It is proper to explain further that while there was 
but one, or at most two, members of the churcli who 
protested against the original transfer of Xorristown 
Church to the New School, there were several Old 
School persons more or less connected with the con- 
gregation who had heart-burnings or regrets because 
of it ; consequently when it was so summarily carried 
back, they thought it was but even-handed justice; 
and it must be added, in further extenuation, that soon 
after, in a conference between the heads of the divided 
church, an arrangement was made giving half the 
books of the Sabbath-school, library to the New School 
also paying them the sum of four thousand dollars 
as their share of the church property. 

It must be also .stated that a similar locking out 
of the New School party took place at Providence 
Church about the time of the great division, resulting 
in a like separation, and the building of a church two 
miles below, since rebuilt as the Centennial Church 
at Jefi'ersonville. 

It is proper to add that after being separated about 
twenty-five years, the Northern Presbyterian family — 
both branches — got ashamed of " the separation and 
divorce," and by negotiation united '' on the basis of 
the early standards," knowing that there is some 
diversity in doctrine which is tolerated by both sides 
as it should be amongst brethren. 

Other Churches. — Baptists being congregational 
in church government, their Associations claiming no 
ecclesiastical, but only advisory functions, have had 
no schisms in their body to note, only slight disagree- 
ments and alienations between mini^ters and i 
churches, arising from the prosecution of anti-slavery, 
temperance and missionary work, as related to those 
questions. For several year.<, while Eev. Mr. Aaron 
was influential here, the Norristown and Radnor 
churches co-operated aside from other Baptist congre- 
gations, in maintaining " Free Missions," an organiza- 
tion standing aloof from slavery. 

Episcopalian and Lutheran Churches chiefly deriv- 
ing their ecclesiastical systems from great national 
churches in Europe, and both having a carefully 
established ritual of doctrine, worship and discipline, 
have been notably free from divisions or church 
troubles; still, there have been among the former the 
distinction of " High " and " Low ' church, the former 
adhering closely to the ritual and offices of the church, 
and the latter joining in prayer-meetings and revival 
efforts similar to Methodists. But for many years the 
church has been somewhat moved and exercised by 
what is called in England Puseyism, the attempt to in- 



troduce more or less the altar ritualism and genuflec- 
tions of the Catholic Church service, — and while there 
have been .some innovations introduced and establis-hed 
elsewhere no schisms have resulted here therefrom. 

Lutherans also have been divided (without schisms) 
into High church and Evangelical parties, the former 
adhering strictly to the ritual, catechisms and confir- 
mations, W'hile the latter in a few cases, holding special 
efibrts with prayer and revival means for " disci- 
pling" the outside world. The greatest trouble how- 
ever, amongst Lutherans of the past half-century, has 
been about night and prayer-meetings, the introduc- 
tion of Sunday-schools and the English language into 
the churches, some of which old members thought 
needless innovations. 

The Reformed Church has been less fortunate. 
With no violent schisms, the church has been con- 
stantly torn by dissent concerning " new measures " 
and the alleged " un-Protestantizing " doctrines of 
some schools in the denomination. Previous to 1840 
this cliurch, in its worship, faith and government, was- 
little distinguished from the great Presbyterian 
family, to which it belonged, the difference mainly- 
consisting in this : that in the staid old German 
churches they adhered more strictly to the liturgy and 
clerical vestments; while the more .Anglicized congre- 
gations had fallen into " protracted '' prayer and 
night meetings, with a view of awakening the thought- 
less and hardened. These diverse views and measures 
led to some alienation, but no schisms, until the '' un- 
Protestantizing " doctrines promulgated at Mercersburg 
led to quite a number of lapses from the church in 
our county to Catholicism, and many protests from 
members of the communion, as well as leading to the 
organization of one or two churches founded on the 
evangelical basis alone, yet remaining ecclesiastically 
connected with it still. There was also a small separa- 
tion from the Whitemarsh Church some years ago, 
growing out of a Sunday-school trouble, but partly 
also on doctrinal grounds. The ritualistic views of old 
colleges led to the founding of L^rsinus in our county 
to educate young men for the ministry in evangelical 
views alone. The troubles in the Reformed Church 
are almost identical with those caused in the English 
Church by what is called Puseyism, — an attempt to 
lead the church back to ritualism, and to the view 
that there is some miraculous saving power conveyed 
in the elements of the Eucharist and other services of 
the altar. About 1850, after great delay, a new 
English ritual was adopted, which satisfied nobody, 
but has generally been in use in liturgical churches, 
but not used in others, while the two last General 
Synods have measures in train which are expected to 
serve as a common ground of unity and peace, though 
the Reforme<l Church, like the Presbyterian, can only 
" agree to disagree," and permit toleration on minor 
points or non-essentials. 

Revivals— Protracted Meetings.— It is needless 
to di5LUSs the incpiiry here, whether there was actual 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



37» 



identity or even substantial agreement between the 
wonderful outpouring of the Spirit in apostolic times 
and that vouchsafed the jjrayers and preaching of 
Wesley, 'Whitefield and their coadjutors a century and 
a quarter ago. It is sufficient to affirm that, whilst 
disclaiming all miraculous power of themselves, the 
latter steadily affirmed that the signs following their 
work were solely of God's Spirit, poured out on the 
faithful promulgation of His word, as promised at the 
beginning, to those who seek it by fasting and 
prayer. 

The period elapsing between the times of Luther, 
Zwingli, Calvin, Fox and the evangelists before 
named, was one of conflict and assimilation, while na- 
tions and churches were reforming and adjusting 
reformed doctrines and church polities, so that when 
these great revivalists began to preach repentance 
many Protestant Churches had fallen into cold formal- 
ism and unbelief. They (the revival preachers) soon 
discovered that the frame-work of all existing churches 
largely resisted their efforts at reform and revival ; 
consequently, they soon found it more convenient to 
hunt " the perishing on wayside and by ditches " than 
at churches, finding that " the common people heard 
them gladly." It was not a little remarkable, too, 
that the " revival spirit," or "new measures," should 
rise at Oxford, England, the very seat of aristocratic 
orthodoxy, and enlist two men of that college, alike in 
evangelical spirit and purpose, but differing on the 
great point of free-will, — Wesley being Arminian and 
Whitefield truly Calvinistic. Both these preachers 
visited America near the same time, one of them a 
little before, and the other a little after, the middle of 
the last century, Wesley seeking Ei)iscopal counte- 
nance and encouragement in his labor, and Whitelield 
the aid and assistance of Congregationalists and the 
small number of Presbyterians then organized in the 
country. 

The few evangelical ministers and churches of the 
colonies hesitated in many cases to encourage them ; 
but then they bore the gospel message to the people 
in private houses, barns and open groves. It is tradi- 
tionally recorded " that Whitefield was even excluded 
from the Presbyterian Church in Norriton township 
and that the erection of Providence Church near by 
was the consequence of it." Revival meetings began 
in New Jersey as early as 1745, as follows : A pious 
layman procuring a recently issued volume of White- 
field's sermons, commenced reading them to his neigh- 
bors ; their glowing, imploring style led to the build- 
ing of "Reading-Houses," in which to deliver them ; 
thus " Xew Light " Calvinistic Churches were formed 
as a consequence. 

In 1799 Methodists instituted camp-meetings in 
West Tennessee; but itinerant preachers, such as 
Lorenzo Dow, traveled everywhere, north, south and 
outside of church bounds, ofteu being drugged before 
magistrates in New Jersey, Virginia and colonies 
further south. Of course, these revival meetings were 



often hindered by bald fanaticism and wild disorder, 
the more so as the poor, ignorant class was every- 
where specially urged "to repent and turn to God 
through Jesus Christ.'' And still the work went on 
down nearly to our own times, reviving even churchea 
which strove to keep aloof from this parlicular form 
of effort. The following words, quoted from Dr. 
Southey, of England, concerning the progress of 
Methodism in that country, aptly characterize all re- 
vival effort in this also ; he says : 

"Dnmkards were reclaimed, ginners converted ; tbe penitent wlia 
came in despair were sent away witli fnll aiitinrance of joy ; tlie dead 
sleep of indifference was broken, and often fervid eloquence reached the 
hard brute heart, and opening it like tbe rock of Horeb making way for 
the living spring of piety, which had been pent within. These efforts 
were seen, they were public, they were undeniable." 

Says Belcher, (" Religious Denominations," 18G0,) — 

"Looking at the scene now at this distance, we can say with conii_ 
deuce the influence of the humble band of Methodists, despised and i)er, 
seciited though they were, was destined largely to affect the moral history 
of the world : for magnitude, permanence and importance it will com" 
pare with that of the Reformation itself. AVhat was achieved in the six- 
teenth century for orthodox belief and for religions freedom was effected 
in the eighteenth for practical godliness and expansive charity."' 

What is here said of Methodists is true of Baptists, 
Presbyterians and other sects, which made similar 
efforts. Moreover, converts who came into the 
church under a high state of feeling, and with much 
heart experience, occupied vantage-ground through 
life over those who learned religion only out of 
church catechisms ; besides, they always had in re- 
membrance their early impressions as the diapason 
of subsequent religious life. One evil per contra 
frequently attended : more or less ignorant, excit- 
able people often mistook mere animal excitement 
for true religious feeling ; the result would be "chaff'." 
In the matter of deeming " a change of heart indis- 
pensable to salvation," Methodists certainly led the 
world since the middle of the eighteenth century ; 
but the identical doctrine was really insisted on by 
early Friends as the work of the " Inward Light," 
but theoretically, all other evangelical sects now 
insist upon it, possibly not so earnestly. The fore- 
going on the rise of the great revival system will 
enable us to recall its progress up to our own times. 

Little over half a century ago these efforts were 
known as " Three," "Four'' or "Six days," contin- 
uous " Meetings." Afterwards, in towns and villages, 
they were held nightly only, sometimes for many 
weeks together. They were commenced generally in 
the fall or winter, among Baptists, Presbyterians 
and other sects, including a few Reformed Lutheran 
and even some Episcopal Churches, — by Rev. Mr.. 
Mintzer of the last, Mr. Anspach, St. Peter's, of the 
second, and Mr. Guldin, of the first, atTrappe. The 
Norristown Baptist Society, the mother of all the 
Baptist Churches in the south and west of the 
county, was built in "troublous times" through some 
persecution by the labors of that eminent revivalist 
Elder Leonard Fletcher and others, about 1831-32^ 



380 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The First Presbyterian Church of Norristown called 
Rev. Samuel M. Gould in 1838, and immediately 
he began to urge the people to repent, " assuring 
them that they were neither fit to live or die." In 
the twelve and a half years of his ministry here he 
reckoned six revivals, the one in 1843 bringing one 
hundred and eight into the church at one time, and 
making the additions during his pastorate from three 
to five hundred souls. Many other churches over 
the county, as well as Methodists, had copious in- 
gatherings ; and the latter for many years regularly 
attended camp-meetings south and east of us, but 
these never wielded much influence in this county, 
as they did farther south, perhaps because of the 
infusion of German population. In late years, too, 
these out-door meetings have fallen into marked di.s- 
use, as they have ceased to be "profitable means," 
but, on the contrary, the occasion of many abuses 
among the irreligious. But most of the confounding 
phenomena of revival meetings have passed away. 
In early times the manifestation of deep religious 
feeling — -often frenzy — during these meetings, espe- 
cially among Methodists, was marked and surprising. 
It was no uncommon thing to see, at a camp-meeting, 
several converts lying in a tent upon straw, in a 
comatose, rigid state, for many hours together, after a 
protracted agony of prayer, in which the latter, with 
" the brethren, " participated. But these things have 
seemingly disappeared forever. Protracted meetings, 
in the old sense, are little used now, except among 
Methodists and Baptists, while Presbyterians, Re- 
formed and Lutherans hold them rarely, in a modified 
way. 

It is due to opposers of these revivals to say that 
much of the "getting of religion, " as it used to be 
called among Methodists, and of the passionate terror 
elicited by what was called " hell-fire preaching," 
with "anxious seats" to distinguish persons in the 
midst of popular excitement, may have been in many 
cases spurious and in others evanescent, only to die 
away under a short trial of real experience ; these 
things have led many pious and judicious people to 
doubt the genuineness of such proceedings. But the 
Spirit of God was usually too unmistakably present, 
and too much of their valuable work remains, so that 
the judgment of history must be recorded in their 
favor. It is due also to this class of religionists to 
name some of the most distinguished men among these 
Evangelists since the passing away of Wesley and 
Whitefield, In the last century there were President 
Edwards, Dr. Hopkins, the two Tennents, and Ezekiel 
Cooper. Conspicuous also in the early part of the 
present were Lyman Beecher, Lorenzo Dow, Profes- 
sor Finney, John N. Maflit, George Patterson and 
many others equally noted. It may be pertinent here 
also to attempt a brief description of revival 
preaching, as distinguished from that preceding and 
following it. 

There was a peculiar earnestnessof manner, search- 



ing presentation of the doctrines of free grace, a 
" new birth," with ditfuse descriptions of man's 
apostasy or native wickedness, and his utter unfit- 
ness for death while in the " unrenewed state." 
Much was said of the agency of the Spirit in conver- 
sion, and of the aversion of the human heart to 
spiritual things. The awards of the Judgment Day 
were constantly held forth. These doctrines, with the 
holding up of the mirror of the heart to the hearer, 
so that he could see himself, often led him, like the 
jailor, to exclaim, " What shall I do to be saved 1 " 
The style of preaching was further calculated to make 
the listener feel in his own thought, " I am exceeding 
vile!" In nearly every sermon a broad line of de- 
markation was drawn between " saints " and 
"sinners," and the preacher rarely told his auditors 
(accommodatingly) that he belonged to the latter class ; 
so that often what " convicted " one class built up, 
enthused and edified the " converted, " who were said 
to have " passed from death unto life, by accepting 
the Saviour of sinners." Heaven and hell were 
brought into prominent view in nearly every sermon, 
and in bold contrast , thus the feelings or passions 
were powerfully appealed to. Revivalists were often 
eloquent specialists, who traveled much, laboring 
from one congregation to another, even preaching for 
churches of other denominations, for in revivals, all 
new measure churches were one. In closing a review 
of revivals and new measures as against old school 
methods, it is proper to remark that there have 
always been two parties in the Christian Church, both 
Catholic and Protestant, — a division resting on both 
doctrines and morals. The monastic orders show 
this in the old regime; these two parties consist of 
those who maintain good works and sound doctrine, 
resting their hopes of salvation thereon, and others 
whose expectations lie upon a historic faith and the 
offices of the altar merely. One trusts to " the 
church " and the other to " the hidden man of the 
heart." Hence Evangelicals approve of prayer, 
experience meetings and fastings, which bring them 
strength to discharge the duties and bear the 
burdens and trials of life. 

Sunday-schools, which, within the past six years 
have been spreading, until now within a decade since 
Friends adopted them they have become general It 
is a sorrowful consideration to some, however, that 
these schools seem so much to supersede family relig- 
ious instruction. Still, the children of irreligious 
parents, on the other hand, are thus wisely and benev- 
olently provided for. 

Religious journals of the evangelical type fre- 
quently deplore the lessened fervor and altered state 
of feeling in the churches. It is charged that earnest 
family worship, including .sacred song, is not so 
prevalent amongst religious people as half a century 
ago, which must be admitted. 

The question suggests itself, whether the prodigious 
social ramifications ovtside the church are not sapping 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



381 



its influence among the people? The effect also of 
large, showy church edifices and whether the tend- 
ency of a?sthetic rites, ceremonies and vestments, in- 
cluding organs and operatic music, do not tend toward 
the " world,'' as old preachers used to term it ? Again, 
the great amount of secular reading, novels, "library 
books " of the same character, with narratives of out- 
laws, adventurers and the like, do not tend to bring 
the churches and the world on to a common level ? 

Thus it comes to pass that while the religious 
world maintains its doctrinal integrity in the main^ 
its spiritual fervor is lessened, notwithstanding,in many 
respects, the mandates of justice and the dictates of 
charity are enforced as never before. 

Moral Reform and the Church.— A clear result 
of the revival of evangelical religion during the 
early and middle period of this century were the pro- 
digious efforts that sprung up in favor of reform in 
the department of morals. Little over a hundred 
years ago really pious people held slaves, never sup- 
posing for a moment that the relation could be sinful. 
We even have the account of an eminent minister of 
our county dying possessed of several slaves and all 
the paraphernalia of a whisky distillery. At that 
time everybody drank intoxicating liquor, never 
thinking of Paul's words, " If to eat meat make my 
weak brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while 
the world standeth." The unjust system of slavery^ 
which Wesley denominated " the sum of all villain- 
ies," came to be looked upon at last with perfect ab- 
horrence in the glare of an enlightened conscience. 
Hence all our ecclesiastical systems extending into 
the Southern States were for years in constant "hot 
water," because of the scandal and sin sustained by 
" the church maintaining slavery by our help_." 
Most of our earnest religious people, however, were 
outspoken against the iniquity of slavery, and there 
was great disturbance in our "American Zion.'' 
Like complaint was made of her because of the drink 
system, which, it was alleged, was doing much mis- 
chief. At last, about forty years ago, in some distant 
places, radicals preached anew doctrine, — " Come-out- 
ism." Come out of the church, said they, "and be 
not partaker of her sins." Very few of the evangeli- 
cal churches of our country, however, were free from, 
these troubles forty years ago, when political mad- 
ness blinding the eyes of slave-holders, they drew the 
sword against the Union, and the "peculiar institu- 
tion " went down in blood forever. The other dis- 
turbing cause, intemperance, still continues, but the 
assemblies of most of them have placed themselves on 
record against the evil, so that as a religious question 
it hardly obtains any more. The earliest eflbrt in 
this county on the last reform was about 1840 or 1841, 
when Washingtonians and other societies at Fourth 
of July walked in procession on the streets of Norris- 
town to one of the churches to agitate the subject 
of a personal pledge. 

Fashions of Church Music— In nothing has the 



stride of fashion been more marked during the past 
century than in the progress of church music. 
Seventy-five years ago Presbyterians, Baptists (possi- 
bly Episcopalians also) used House's literal, but un- 
poetic version of David's Psalms and sang them to 
dirge-like airs ; Methodists poured forth a stream of 
vehement song, in exultant triumph, often standing 
about the altar, mixed together like joyous birds on a 
tree-top. The former class of churches were led in 
singing by a " precentor," who, book in hand, stood 
in front of the pulpit, which perched up against the 
wall, eight feet above the sitters, the people mean- 
time reposing upon bare benches or at least un- 
cushioned pews. Slowly Watts and Eippon pushed 
out the unpoetic, but orthodox Rouse; then, some 
forty or fifty years ago, all well-appointed congrega- 
tions had singing galleries erected across the back 
end of the church for "the choir," a new institution. 
Soon the bass viol, violin, flute and other wind instru- 
ments found their way into it as accompaniments; 
and in large wealthy congregations the pipe-organ was 
placed in the midst of the choir. Methodists still 
clung to congregational singing a spell longer. Next 
came small organs as an assistant to a large choir, 
when Methodists gave in to the singing gallery. 
Last of all, the gallery in some fine churches is re- 
moved, and an orchestra built beside the pulpit or 
overhead for the great pipe-organ and a quartette of 
singers to assist the congregation, while the pulpit 
comes down nearly to a level with the people, and at 
times the musical service renders hymns, operatic 
chants and intonated responses in almost theatric 
style. 

Marriage and Funeral Customs. — The old-time 
family or fashionable wedding was in strange contrast 
with present customs. The idea of a "trip" or travel- 
ing somewhere was always popular with bride and 
groom ; but prior to the days of spring carriages and 
still later, railroads, the trip was generally made on 
horseback. A wedding took place about 1820 be- 
tween parties well known in the county, and was at- 
tended by one hundred couple, on horseback. Ac- 
cording to the custom, these gay young people would 
all assemble at the home of the bride, and escort the 
contracting parties to the parsonage, where the cere- 
mony would take place and from thence a charac- 
teristic ride, either to selected relatives of the mar- 
ried parties or to the home of the bride, and from 
thence daily on a visiting tour among the families of 
the married pair, often lasting for many days. Those 
were the good old days when blood told in horse-flesh 
not less than in men. Expert and fearless riders 
were found in both sexes. "Side-saddles" were a 
necessary adjunct to rural debutantes less than a hun- 
dred years ago, and the equestrian " Rose-buds " of 
ante-railroad days were suggestive of opportunities 
for gallantry unknown to the rustic youth of this 
age. 

Funerals and mortuary customs also at the 



382 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



burial of the dead have greatly changed within the 
century of our existence as a county. The attend- 
ance upon these occasions is said to have been more 
general than at the present, and the neighbors for 
many miles in every direction were notified and ex- 
pected to be in attendance upon the funeral of a nell- 
known adult resident. At the house of mourning the 
most liberal preparations were made for the entertain- 
ment of all who came, and to refuse the proffered 
hospitality of the family was exceptional ; as late as 
1S25 malt liquors, domestic wines and home-distilled 
rye and api)le whiskey were in frequent use. A com- 
mon way of using these beverages in this county at 
the date named was for those waiting upon the 
mourners and guests to stand at the main entrance to 
the house, one or more with decanters and glasses, 
others with trays of cake and eatables, and as the 
attendants entered or left the house to partake freely 
of all that was offered. Conforming to the universal 
custom of drinking in those days, the host always 
poured out the liquor ; wine and "sweetened bread " 
were in common use prior to the first temperance 
crusade from 1835 to 1840. 

The manner of dressing the dead has changed 
materially within the last fifty years; the " winding- 
sheet," then in general use, gave way to the "shroud," 
and this is now yielding to the attire used in life- 
The grave in those days was destitute of all prepara- 
tion for the cotfin, and the plain and frail walnut case 
was subjected to direct contact with earth covering. 
Atthisdate graves are prepared with asubstantial over- 
coffin, sometimes walled with brick, and the burial- 
case covered with stone slabs. Fifty years ago under- 
takers were of necessity " coffin-makers," and they 
waited until called to measure the dead ; now the 
measure of mankind is anticipated, men can select 
their own casket from the stock in trade, and the 
dealer will cheerfully indicate the number and cost of 
carriages required to suit the style of the selection. A 
custom of interring in private burial-grounds prevailed 
in the early history of the county. This was induced 
by the very few established churches and burial, 
grounds at that time ; but very few of these remain in 
use at this date. The great number of churches, all 
of which in the country districts have public grounds 
for that purpose, and their greater permanency for the 
uses intended, seems to have rendered them universally 
popular. In towns at the early day, carriages, except 
for the decrepit, rarely attended the corpse, it usually 
resting on a bearer from the house to the grave, 
while the sympathizing friend.s walked in the rear. 

Methodism in Montgomery County. — Owing to 
the migratory character of the clergymen of this 
denomination, the local history of the several Method- 
ist Churches of the county has heretofore been 
difficult to obtain. Through the kindly interest taken 
in the preparation of this work by the Rev. J. S. 
Hughes, now located at Pottstown, and who deservedly 
enjoys the reputation of being the historian of the 



denomination in Eastern Pennsylvania, we are en- 
iibled to insert the following condensed account 
of the several Methodist Churches located in the 
county : 

Bethel Methodist Episcopal CHURfH. — About 
the year 1770 a little stone chapel was erected on the 
Skippack road, about a mile west of Belfry Station, in 
Worcester township, chiefly through the agency of a 
Christian gentleman by the name of Hans Supplee. 
Shortly after its erection the newl^'-arrived mission- 
aries from Great Britain, who were then preaching in 
Philadelphia, were invited to come out into this 
8i)arsely settled community, to hold divine service in 
the new chapel, which invitation was cheerfully 
accepted, and a small, but devout society was soon alter- 
ward established. The edifice was first called Supplee's 
Chapel, but for manj^ years has been known as the 
Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church. Rev. Joseph 
Pilmore, one of Wesley's first missionaries to America, 
preached in this humble edifice, and it is quite prob- 
able that Rev. Richard Boardman, another of those 
early missionaries, held religious services upon this 
liistoric s]iot. Thus, only thirty years after Methodism 
originated in Great Britain, and only four years after 
the Rev. Philip Embury began preaching in his own 
house in the city of New York, and about the same 
time that Pilmore, Boardman and others were preach- 
ing to large open-air congregations on the streets and 
in the jiublic squares of Philadelphia, Methodism was 
planted in this county. For many years during its 
history this church was quite flourishing, and multi- 
tudes were converted through its instrumentality. 
Some of the first Methodists of the nation sleep in the 
old grave-yard adjoining. It is held in veneration as 
one of the first landmarks of American Methodism. 
The present edifice was erected in 1845. Under the 
pastorate of Rev. T. T. Mutchler it was remodeled in 
the year 1873. 

Union Methodist Episcopal Church. — This 
church was erected in the year 1814. For some time 
it was used as a union church, but for many years it 
has been occupied exclusively by the Methodist 
Episcopal denomination. For quite a period during 
its earlier history it was a flourishing society, but for 
Several years its membership has been seriously deci- 
mated by deaths, removals and other causes. The 
building was remodeled in the year 1882, under the 
laborious pastorate of Rev. G. S. Schafl'er, and now has 
a seating capacity for two hundred and fifty i)ersons. 
Theproperty is valued at two thousand dollars. Jlessrs. 
Charles De Prefountain, George Schaeft'and Thomas 
Stogdale are the trustees. The Sunday-school, which 
has recently been reorganized, is under the super- 
intendency of Mr. Charles De Prefountain. 

First Methodist Episcopal Church, Noreis- 
TOWN. — A few adherents of Methodism had found 
their way to Norristown as early as the year 1825, but 
it was not until about 1830, as nearly as can be ascer- 
tained, that preachers of the surrounding circuit 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



383 



made occasiona! visits to the town, preaching as oppor- 
tunity a (forded. 

In the year 1832 the first Methodist class was 
ibniied, under the pastorate of Kev. John Findley, 
composed of eight persons, namely : John Supplee, 
Eliza Supplee, David Vaughn, Rebecca Haldeman, 
Mary Jones, Sarah Jones, Mary Yarnall and Eliza- 
beth Hodgkins. In the year 18.34 a lot on the Main 
Street, near Arch, was purchased, and a stone church 
immediately erected, the lecture-room of which was 
dedicated on the first day of the year 1835, Rev. 
Joseph Lybrand preaching the dedicatory sermon. At 
the following session of the Conference Rev. William 
K. Goentner was appointed pastor. For several 
years the society, while favored with the sympathy of 
the better class of the community, was destined to 
encounter the hostility of the ruffianism of the town^ 
an element at that time surprisingly large. Notwith- 
standing these great discouragements, the church 
during its first two decades succeeded in gathering 
into its communion more than two hundred members. 
In the year 18-57 a new edifice, fifty by seventy feet, 
was commenced on De Kalb Street, near ^larshall. 
The corner-stone was laid on Saturday afternoon, 
August 15th. on which occasion addresses were de- 
livered by Rev. Newton Heston and Rev. James E. 
Meredith. The dedication took place on Sabbath, 
November 21, 1858, Bishop Levi Scott preaching in 
the morning, Rev. Newton Heston in the afternoon 
:ind Rev. J. K. Anderson in the evening. The society 
has erected a commodious parsonage next door to this 
church at a cost of about five thousand dollars. 

The names of the pastors are the following, in the 
order of their appointments : 1832, Rev. John Find- 
ley ; 1833-34, Rev. John Woolson ; 18.35, Rev. 
AVilliam K. Goentner ; 183(3-37, Rev. Henry G. King ; 
1888-39, Rev. John Lednum ; 1840, Rev. John A. 
Roche; 1841-42, Rev. David Shields; 1843, Rev. 
Robert McNamee ; 1844, Rev. William Bishop ; 1845, 
Rev. John D. Curtis ; 1846, Rev. Daniel Patterson ; 
1847, Rev. Joseph J. Elsegood ; 1848-49, Rev. T. C. 
Murphy; 1850-51, Rev. P. J. Cox; 1852-53, Rev. 
Henry S. Atmore ; 1854, Rev. Jo.shua Humphries ; 
1855-56, Rev. M. H. Si.sty ; 1857-58, Eev. J. S. Cook; 
1859, Rev. Joseph McCaskey; 1860, Rev. William 
Major; 1861-62, Rev. John F. Boone; 1863-64, Rev. 
Samuel Irwin; 1865, Rev. J. Pastorfield ; 1866-68, 
Eev. William Mullin ; 1869-70, Rev. William 
McCombs; 1871-73, Rev. T. W. Simpers; 1874-76, 
Eev. T. C. Murphy, D.D.; 1877-79, Rev. T. W. 
Simpers; 1880-82, Rev. J. S. Hughes; 1883, Rev. 
William L. Gray; 1884, Rev. S. H. C. Smith. During 
the history of this church over fifteen hundred per- 
sons have been connected with its membership. Its 
property, including parsonage, is valued at twenty- 
five thousand dollars. Its present membership in- 
cludes three hundred and twelve communicants. The 
■well-organized Sunday-school numbers three hundred 
and seventy scholars. 



Cheltenham JIethodist Episcopal CnrKCH. — 
The first sermon preached by a Methodist minister in 
this community was delivered by Rev. Mr. Ireland in 
the yard of the school-house, the prejudice against 
Methodism being so intense that he was not permitted 
to occupy the building. Soon after, in 1817, Messrs. 
Samuel Beck and John Engle, members of the 
Germantown Methodist Episcopal Church, walked to 
Milltowu and held prayer-meetings in the house of 
Mr. Richard Drake, a member of the Oxford Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church, where meetings were held 
every two weeks until the family removed from the 
village. In 1832, Rev. J. Nicholson, a preacher on the 
Germaiitowu Circuit, established preaching services 
in the school-house, which became a regular appoint- 
ment on the circuit. In 1842 Milestown Circuit 
was formed, comprising the following appointments: 
Milestown, St. James (Oliiey), Harnier Hill and 
Milltowu (Cheltenham). The church edifice was 
erected in 1845, under the pastorate of Rev. H. E. 
Gilroy. An excellent parsonage was built in 1853. 
The church building was considerably enlarged in 
1854, during the charge of Rev. S. Townsend. In the 
year 1863 Cheltenham was made a station, with Rev. 
George W. Lybrand as its pastor, the last year of 
whose term was blessed with an extensive revival. 
The first Quarterly Conference of the church as a 
separate charge was held May 11, 1863, Rev. David 
Bartine, the presiding elder, presiding. The Confer- 
ence was composed of the following persons: Rev. 
George W. Lybrand, Matthew Rogers, Thomas Lock- 
ard, John Milnes, Thomas Roland, Sr., Amasa Helle- 
man, Philip Eisenbrey, Samuel Rhodes, Isaac Gilham, 
Stephen Sees, George K. Heller and George Gayde. 
The following ministers have since served the church 
in the order of their appointment: Rev. Jl. A. Day, 
Rev. John B. Maddux. Rev. D. C. Patterson, Rev. 
H. E. Gilroy, Rev. M. D. Kurtz, Rev. T. W. Simpers, 
Rev. William Mullin and the present pastor, Rev. T. 
C. Pearson, under whose ministry the church has 
enjoyed great prosperity. The society numbers one 
hundred and sixty-six members, and the Sunday- 
school about one hundred and forty scholars. The 
church property is valued at six thous.and six hun- 
dred dollars. 

Harmer Hill Methodist Epi.scopal Church. 
— In the year 1832 a school-house near the site of 
the present church was secured for the purpose of 
holding religious services, and thereafter became a 
regular appointment on the circuit with which it was 
connected. A year or two after this date Dr. Bolton 
generously donated half an acre of ground to the so- 
ciety for the purpose of holding a church edifice 
thereon. A stone church, one story high, was imme- 
diately erected under the pastoral care and direction 
of Rev. J. L. Taft. Among the ministers who have 
served the church during its history may be mentioned 
the names of Rev. J. L. Taft, Rev. G.W. Maclaughlin, 
Rev. John W. Arthur, Rev. H. R. Calloway, Rev. D. 



384 



HISTOllY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



W. Bartine, Rev. Gasaway Oram, Rev. James B. Ayars 
Rev. Cliristo])lier J. Crouch, Rev. Pennell Coomb, 
Rev. Mahlou H. Sisty. In later years the charge has 
been under the pastoral care of Rev. Matthias 
Barnhill, Rev. J. Homer Brittain, Rev. E. C. Yerkes. 
Rev. William Howell, Rev. Absalom I. Collom, Rev. 
H. C. McBride, Rev. John Wesley Harkins, Rev. 
Abel Howard, Rev. W. L. McDowell, Rev. Richard 
Turner, Rev. John R. Bailey, Rev. Edward Townsend 
and the present successful pastor, Rev. George L. 
Schaffer. For many years the church was connected 
with Milestown Methodist Episcopal Church, but 
since 18G5 it has been associated with Jarrettowu. 
The membership numbers about fifty persons. The 
Sunday-school is composed of eighteen officers and 
teachers and about one hundred scholars. 

Hatboeo' Methodist Episcopal Church. — The 
original Methodist Church of Hatboro,' a substantial 
stone structure forty feet front by fifty feet deep, was 
built and presented to the congregation by Joseph 
and Deborah Lehman in the year 1837. Recently a 
more modern edifice has superseded the first building. 
The church has one hundred aud fifty-three commu- 
nicants and about one hundred Sunday-school scholars. 
Rev. P. J. Cox is the present pastor. 

Faieview Methodist Episcopal Church forms 
part of the Hatboro' charge, and is under the same pas- 
tor. 

PoTTSTOWN Methodist Episcopal Church.— 
In the spring of 1836 three members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church — namely William Boat and Samuel 
Hamilton, local preachers, and Thomas M. Miles, an 
exhorter moved to Pine Iron Works, a few miles from 
Pottstown, and soon afterwards began to conduct 
religious meetings in this place. A few Methodist 
forgemen from Coventryville and Glasgow also held 
divine services in the town at about the same time. 
The place of meeting was the old academy, on Ches- 
nut Street, between Hanover and Penn Streets. 
Preaching usually took place at the close of the ses- 
sion of the Union Sabbath-school, conducted in the 
same building. Some of the illustrious itinerants of 
that day occasionally preached in this historic build- 
ing, among whom, as is well remembered by some of 
the older residents, was the eloquent Rev. Geoi'ge 
Cookman. At the Conference of 1838 Rev. John A. 
Roche and Rev. M. D. Kurtz were appointed to 
Reading and Pottsgrove Missions. At the first Quar- 
terly Conference, however, it was arranged that Mr. 
Kurtz should have special charge of the mission at 
this place. Finding a few Methodists in the town, 
he organized them into a class, which became the 
nucleus of the future society. The services at this 
time were held in the academy above mentioned. 
Mr. Kurtz the first pastor, takes pleasure in acknow- 
ledging the sympathy and substantial support of a 
number of families of the Protestant Episcopal church, 
among which he mentions the names of Potts, Rutter, 
Hobart and others. During the beginning of the 



year a lot sixty by one hundred and fifty feet, on this 
Main Street, the site of the present church, was pur- 
chased of Mr. Charles Clay for the sum of eighty dol- 
lars. The corner-stone of the church was laid in August 
of that summer, the pastor being assisted by Rev. 
R. Thomas, of Harmony, Philadelphia, and Rev. John 
Allen, of Asbury, West Philadelphia. The preaching 
took place in an orchard at Chesnut and Charlotte 
Streets. Preaching services were held in the same 
place also the following Sabbath in the presence of 
large congregations. The church was a two-story 
structure, was built of stone, at a cost of twelve 
hundred dollars. The basement was finished during 
the year 1838. The audience-room was completed 
during the next year, but was not dedicated until the 
month of May, 1840. Rev. T. J. Thompson preached 
thededicatory sermon and Rev. J. Harmer, the pastor, 
conducted the financial effort. 

The subscriptions on the occasion amounted to two 
hundred dollars. The trustees at this period, were Dr. 
Fort, Edmund Wells, a faithful friend to the church, 
John H. Dougherty, Samuel Hockley, David Slykes, 
J. E.ssick, Elijah Dearolf and T. M. Miles. The class 
was then in charge of J. H. Dougherty, and was com- 
posed with others, of Catherine Vangesser, P hoebe 
Trimble, Mrs. George Hawkins, Mrs. J. H. Dough- 
erty and Anna Haldemau. Mr. Harmer served the 
the charge successfully for two years. In 1842, Rev. 
James Flannery assumed the pastorate. During the 
first year of his term a remarkable revival occurred, 
which resulted in the conversion of about seventy 
persons, many of whom became members of the 
church, amoug the number being Frederick Mintzer, 
George Hawkins, Henry Lessig, William Sheron, 
Rebecca Haldemau, Mary Haldeman, Sarah Armstrong 
nee Lewis, Christiana Nagle, Rebecca Vanhorn and 
Mary March nee Roberts. For the next score of 
years the church continued to be an appointment on 
the Pottstown Circuit, sharing, with a number of other 
places, the divided attention of the successive pastors, 
in consequence of which, with the fact that the pop- 
ulation increased comparatively little, the growth of 
the society wa.s quite limited. At the Conference of 
1867 the church was constituted a separate charge, 
and Rev. William Swindells was appointed pastor. 
The corner-stone of the present edifice was laid on 
Saturday, June 12, 1869, by the Rev. William McCombs, 
assisted by the pastor, Rev. William Swindells and 
other ministers who were present, Mr. McCombs hav- 
ing preached the sermon on the occasion. The 
lecture-room was dedicated on Sabbath, December 
19, 1869. Rev. R. L. Dashiell, D.D., president of 
Dickinson College, preached in the morning, Rev. T. A. 
Fernley, of Reading, in the afternoon, and Rev. R. 
Humphries, of Philadelphia, in the evening. The 
auditorium was dedicated two years later, on Sabbath, 
December 10, 1871, during the pastorate of Rev. S. 
W. Kurtz, Rev. Dr. Dashiell preaching in the fore- 
noon. Rev. S. W. Thomas in the afternoon and Rev. 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



385 



William Swindells in the evening. The edifice is 
forty-five feet front by ninety-five feet in depth, and 
is built of Chester County gray sand stone. The 
style of the building is Gothic. The front is sur. 
mounted by five sand stone pinnacles. The ceiling to 
the ape.x is twenty-nine feet. The cost of the build- 
ing is twenty thousand dollars. In the autumn of 
1883, under the pastorate of Rev. J. !?. Hughes, a 
chapel thirty-eight by fifty feet was erected on the rear 
of the lot, connecting with the church, to afford 
further accommodation for the growing Sabbath- 
school, which was dedicated by the pastor on Sab- 
bath December 3, of the same year, Rev. S. W. Kurtz 
preaching both morning and evening. During the 
summer of 188-1, under the same pastorate, a hand- 
some and commodious parsonage was erected on the 
lot adjoining the church. A dwelling for the janitor 
was also built the same year. The entire church 
property is valued at thirty-two thousand five hun- 
dred dollars. The membership of the church is 
four hundred and forty-seven. The Sunday-school 
numbers eight hundred scholars. The trustees are 
Messrs. James Maxwell, S. M. Bunting, Thomas 
Searles, A. R. Merrill, L. B. Reifsnyder, William .1. 
Binder, William B. Stanford, C. C. Armpriester and 
A. W. Shick. The following ministers have served 
the church since it was made a separate charge in 
1867; Rev. William Swindells, Rev. S. W. Kuitz,Rev. 
M. D. Kurtz, Rev. Noble Frame, Rev. T. S. Thomas, 
Rev. J. S. Cook, Rev. G. S. Broadbent and Rev. J. S. 
Hughes. 

Lower Merion Methodist Episcopal Church. — 
Lower Merion Methodist Episcopal Church was organ- 
ized from a class held in Fritz sc.hool-housein the year 
1840. Rev. James B. Ayarsand Rev. Henry G. King 
were among the first preachers who held religious ser- 
vices at this place as an appointmenton Radnor Circuit. 
The following are the names of the original board of 
trustees : John L. Rohman, William A. Fisher, 
Leonard Richard, Dr. James Anderson, Aaron Smith, 
William Rudolph, Lewis Free, Maurice Llewellyn and 
Isaac W. Anderson. The board was organized at its 
first meeting, September, 16, 1840, with the following 
result : John L. Rohman was elected president, Isaac 
W. Anderson secretary and Aaron Smith treasurer. 
The lot, a donation from Dr. James Anderson, was 
surveyed on Monday, September 21, 1840. The church, 
a substantial one-story stone building, was dedicated 
on Sabbath, August 7, 1841. Among the first pastors, 
were Rev. Richard Greenbank, D.D., Rev. Thomas 
Sumption, Rev. John Edwards and Rev. M. D. Kurtz. 
In the year 1854 the church became a separate 
charge, with Rev. Lewis C. Pettit as pastor. Among 
other ministers who served the church at various 
times may be mentioned Rev. J. Lindemuth, Rev. 
William H. Fries, Rev. Stearns Patterson, Rev. J. L. 
Taft, Rev. T. B. Neely, Rev. C. J. Crouch, Rev. M. 
Barnhill, Rev. H. H. Davis, Rev. William Marshall, 
Rev. William M. Gilbert, Rev. John W. Wright, Rev. 
25 



N. Turner, Rev. J. D. Fox, Rev. E. J. McKeever, 
Rev. Charles Roads, Rev. J. W. Bradley, Rev. 
George Alcorn, and Rev. A. M. Strayhorne the pres- 
ent pastor. During Rev. T. B. Neely's pastorate an 
eflbrt was made to remodel and enlarge the edifice, 
which resulted in the addition of another story and 
space for two class-rooms in the basement. The 
church was rededicated in 1866 by Bishop Matthew 
Simpson. The improvements cost nearly eight thou- 
sand dollars. During the pastorate of Rev. N. Tur- 
ner, a mortgage of one thousand dollars was paid. 
During the charge of Rev. Cliarles Roads two thousand 
two hundred dollars was paid on the indebtedness of 
the church. Among those not members who have 
rendered effective service to the church are William A. 
Simpson, William A. Fisher, Dr. W. B. Trites, Hon. 
W. H. Sutton and others. The Sunday-school was 
organized in May 1840. The only superintendents 
have been John L. Rohman, John P. Rohman, John 
N. Rohman, Matthew J. Edwards and Walter W. 
Hood. The following are the names of the present 
board of trustees : John N. Rohman, Walter W. liood, 
Charles Wilson, John Stirk, William Katz, M. F. Bick- 
ing and M. J. Edwards, who is also the church histor- 
ian. The membership numbersabout seventy persons, 
and the Sunday-school about one hundred scholars. 
The church property is valued at six thousand dollars. 
EvANSBURG Methodist Episcopal Church. — 
Evansburg Methodist Episcopal Church, located on the 
Germantown pike, in the village of Evansburg, Lower 
Providence township, is a plain, substantial structure, 
thirty-five by forty-five feet, erected in the year 1841, 
under the pastorate of Rev. William K. Goentner. 
The first class was organized in the year 1836, com- 
posed in part of the following members : George Wolf, 
Eliza Wolf, Ezekiel Bard, John Rosenberry, John 
Baker, Mary Bard, Sarah Bard and Christiana Bard. 
Among the first leaders were Ezekiel Bard, George 
Wolf and John Baker. The class met for some time 
at the house of George Wolf, whose daughter, Mrs. 
Rebecca Fry, is the oldest member of the church. 
Among the older pastors may be mentioned the 
names of Revs. William K. Goentner, Robert JIc- 
Namee, Henry G. King, James Flannery, J. L. Taft, 
John Lednum, H. D. Mauger, J. J. Elsegood, J. H. 
Wythes, G. W. Lybrand, D. R. Thomas, J. Hand, 
J. H. Turner, William Boswell, E. Reed, L. B. Beck- 
ley, N. W. Bennum, W. T. Magee, Jacob Slichter, 
AVilliam M. Ridgway, R. Owen, E. Townsend, G. L. 
Schaffer, Henry Frankland and J. G. Bickerton. A 
number of extensive revivals have occurred in the 
society, and useful members in many of the surround- 
ing Methodist Churches were converted in this 
church. The membership numbers about forty per- 
sons and the Sunday-school is composed of about 
seventy-five scholars. The church property is valued 
at three thousand dollars. Rev. Samuel Gracy is the 
present pastor. 
Montgomery Square Methodist Episcopal 



•686 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Church. — The first religious meetings held at this 
place under the ;uis])ices of Methodism were con- 
ducted in an old school-house. A Presbyterian gen- 
tleman by the name of Woodward donated the lot 
on which the church was erected and two hundred 
dollars toward the building fund. The church was 
dedicated in the year 1842, under the pastorate of 
Eev. William K. Goentner. The trustees at this time 
were Me.ssrs. Benjamin Kulp, William Coul.ston, 
Thomas Rogers, Lewis Stagner and John Giffin. 
Eev. John A. Roche and Rev. David Shields officiated 
on the day of dedication. In the spring of 1857 the 
church became a separate charge, having been for a 
number of years, connected with Bethel Circuit. 
The following are the names of the successive pastors 
from the formation of the society : Rev. Henry G. 
King, Rev. James Flaunery, Rev. William K. Goent- 
ner, Rev. James Harmer, Eev. H. R. Calloway, Rev. 
G. W. Lybrand, Rev. James Hand, Rev. J. H. Turner, 
Eev. William L. Boswell, Eev. Joseph Elsegood, Rev. 
James Smith, Rev. E. Reed, Rev. L. B. Beckley, 
Eev. W. C. Best, Rev. L. B. Hughes, Rev. J. King, 
Eev. G. Miles, Rev. S. B. Best, Rev. S. T. Kemble, 
Eev. O. W. Landreth, Rev. J. C. Gregg, Rev. D. W. 
Gordon, Rev. L. Dobson, Rev. H. H. Davis, Rev. 
H. F. Isett, Rev. H. W. Sebring, Eev. D. F. Unangst, 
Rev. G. Reed, Rev. J. W. Bradley, Rev. J. Bawden, 
Eev. H. B. Mauger, Rev. S. E. iviorell, Rev. N. B. 
Rockhill, Rev. O. E. Stogden and Rev. J. W. Perkin- 
pine. The trustees are Messrs. Julius Schlimme, 
John McKinlay, Simon Kulp, Oliver Kulp, William 
Shepherd, E. Kratz and J. T. Wright. 

CONSHOHOCKEN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ChURCH. 

— The first Methodist sermon preached in Conshohoc- 
ken was in the year 1848, by Rev. T. C. Murphy, who 
was then stationed at the First Methodist Episcopal 
Church, Norristown. His example was followed by 
other itinerant and local preachers of Norristown 
and Manayunk, who held occasional services in the 
open air. In the year 1853, at the last Quarterly 
Conference of Radnor Circuit, Rev. T. J. Thompson, 
presiding elder of South Philadelphia District, ap- 
pointed Mr. .loseph Lees a committee to visit Consho- 
hocken and secure a preaching-place, with a view of 
establishing Methodism in the town. He, in com- 
pany with INIessrs. William Rudolph and John Major, 
a Methodist living in the town, rented Temperance 
Hall for a place of worship. At the Annual Confer- 
ence of 1854 Merion Square was separated from 
Radnor Circuit, and, with Conshohocken, became a 
separate charge, Eev. Lewis C. Pettit being appointed 
pastor. He served the church very successfully for 
two years. During the first year he preached in the 
Presbyterian Church, the hall rented being too small 
for the increasing congregations. A remarkable 
revival occurred at this time, as the result of which 
one hundred and thirty persons joined the Presby- 
terian Church, and although no record remains of 
those who connected themselves with the Methodist 



Society, it is reasonable to suppose that their number 
exceeded that which united with the Presbyterian 
Church. Some of these early converts are still mem- 
bers of the society. The church labored under great 
disadvantages for want of a suitable house of wor- 
ship. At the Annual Conference of 1856, Eev. 
Eeuben Owen was appointed pastor of ^Merion Square 
and Conshohocken, with his residence at the latter 
place. At a meeting of the board of trustees Rev. 
Eeuben Owen, Messrs. Joseph Lees and Jacob 
Thomas were appointed a committee to purchase a 
lot for the erection of a church. On October 28th of 
the same year the committee reported the purchase of 
a lot at the corner of Ehn and Lafayette Streets, of 
Mr. James Wells, of Norristown, for the sum of two 
thousand dollars. At the Conference of 1857 Con- 
shohocken became a separate charge, and Rev. 
Reuben Owen reappointed its pastor. The corner- 
stone of the church was laid on August 1st of the 
same year, the following ministers being present: 
Revs. Reuben Owen, J. R. Anderson, William Taylor 
(of California), J. Humphriss, A. Cookman, A. W. 
Milby, J. S. Cook, J. Liudemuth and W. C. Best. 
On January 10, 1858, the lecture-room, though un- 
finished, was first occupied for public worship. 
In the spring of 1858, Rev. T. B. Miller was ap- 
pointed pastor and served the church for two years. 
In 1859, Rev. J. Liudemuth was appointed pastor and 
remained two years. In 1861, Rev. W. W. Wythe 
was placed in charge and served the congregation 
one year. In 1862, Rev. George Heacock was 
appointed pastor and remained one year. In 1863, 
Rev. J. O'Neill was made preacher in charge and 
served the church two years. In 1865, Rev. Reuben 
Owen was appointed for the second time and 
remained in charge for three years, during which 
terra the church was finished and a parsoimge was 
erected. The church cost sixteen thousand dollars, 
and was dedicated on October 10, 1867, Bishop 
Matthew Simpson preaching in the morning and 
Rev. J. Walker Jackson in the evening. The debt 
was raised on this occasion. The parsonage was 
built in 1867, at a cost of three thousand two hundred 
dollars. In 1868, Rev. S. G. Hare was appointed 
pastor and remained three years. He was followed 
by Rev. A. M. Wiggins, who was appointed in 1871 
and served the charge for three years. In 1874, 
Eev. Reuben Owen was appointed pastor for the 
third time, and remained for two years. During the 
last year the church was favored with an extensive 
revival, through which over one hundred persons 
joined the church. In 1876, Rev. D. L. Patterson 
was appointed and remained two years. In 1878, 
Rev. B. H. Sanderlin was placed in charge, but on 
account of declining health remained but one year. 
In 1879, Rev. W. C. Johnson became pastor and 
served the church with great acceptability for three 
years. During his pastorate ' an extensive revival 
took place, and the debt on the parsonage was con- 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



387 



siderably reduced. In 1882, Kev. Samuel Pancoast 
became pastor and served the charge for the term of 
two vears. Rev. J. P. Miller, late of Philadelphia, is 
the present pastor. The church numbers one hun- 
dred and twenty-four members. The Sunday-school 
is composed of thirty officers and teachers and two 
hundred and eighty-one scholars. The church prop- 
erty, including the parsonage, is valued at twenty-two 
thousand dollars. 

Oak Street JIethoiust Episcopal Church, 
NORRISTOWX. — This church was organized June 23, 
1854. One hundred and five persons had, a short 
time previous to this date, withdrawn, by certificate, 
from the First Methodist Episcopal Chnrch, which 
Wiis then located on the Main Street, nearly all of 
whom united with this society. The congregation 
at first worshiped in Airy Street Hall. The first 
meeting of the board of trustees was held June 23, 

1854. The members constituting the board are as 
follows: F. G. Irving, president; William A. Ruddach, 
secretary; H. Bainbridge, treasurer; A. Irving, C. 
Stout, H. D. Weller, James Fries, R. Essick and J. 
Bender. The first (Quarterly Conference was held in 
the above-named hall July 31, 1854, presided over by 
Rev. John D. Curtis, presiding elder of the Reading 
District. Rev. John F. Meredith was the first pastor. 
A lot having already been secured on the south side 
of Oak Street, west of De Kalb Street, at the second 
meeting of the board of trustees it was re.solved to 
erect a church building fifty by seventy feet, and a 
building committee was immediately appointed, con- 
sisting of the pastor. Rev. J. F. Meredith, C. Briggs, 
F. G. Irving, Stephen Bawden and W. A. Ruddach. 
The contract was awarded to S. Groft' and L. Zimmer- 
man. The lecture-room was finished in September, 

1855. The audience-room was dedicated March 21, 
1858, Bishop Edward R. Ames preaching in the morn- 
ing and Dr. John Price Durbin in the afternoon. 

The following is the list of pastors who have served 
the church since its organization: Rev. J. F. Mere- 
dith, Rev. J. Y. Asliton, Rev. J. H. Lightburn, Rev. 
John Thompson, Rev. Benjamin F. Price, Rev. .John 
W. Arthur, Rev. Gasway Oram, Rev. George Cum- 
mins, Rev. James E. Meredith, Rev. Nathan B. Du- 
rell, Rev. Michael D. Kurtz, Rev. John Dyson, Rev. 
Michael A. Day and Rev. G. ^Y. F. Graft'. Rev. L. 
B. Beckley and Rev. J. L. Taft, supernumerary preach- 
ers, have also been connected with this church. The 
presiding elders who have had ecclesiastical jurisdic- 
tion over the church from time to time are the follow- 
ing: Rev. John D. Curtis, Rev. James Cunningham, 
Rev. Thomas Jefterson Thompson, Rev. William L. 
Gray, Rev. Josejjh Castle, D.D., Rev. William H. 
Elliott, Rev. Peter J. Cox, Rev. John F. Chaplain, 
D.D., Rev. AVilliam Swindells and Rev. Joseph Welch. 
Three members of the Philadelphia Conference have 
entered the ministry from this church, namely : Rev 
William Swindells, Rev. David Wesley Gordon and 
Rev. John T. Swindells. The societv numbers one 



hundred and ninety-eight members. The Sunday- 
school numbers thirty oflicers and teachers and one 
hundred and eighty-five scholars. The church prop- 
erty, including parsonage, is valued at nineteen thou- 
sand dollars. 

KuLPSviLLE Methodist Epi.scopal Church. — 
In the spring of 1862, Rev. William M. Ridgway 
and Rev. David W. Gordon, preachera on the Perki- 
onien Circuit, were invited by the residents of Kulps- 
ville to establish stated preaching service in that 
community. Accordingly, Kulpsville Hall wassecured 
for that purpose, where divine worship was conducted 
for several months. A lot for a church and burial- 
ground was generously donated by Mr. William R. 
Bechtel, then a resident of the village, but a member 
of the church at Bethel. The church is a neat brick 
structure, one .story high, and was dedicated in the 
autumn of 1862 by Bishop Levi Scott, assisted by the 
pastors. During its entire history it has been con- 
nected with Bethel Circuit, formerly called Perkiomen. 
Among the ministers who have served the church, 
besides the pastors before mentioned, are Rev. William 
T. Magee, Dr. R. Owen, Rev. H. F. Isett, Rev. E. 
Townsend, Rev. G. L. Schafier, Rev. H. U. Sebring, 
Rev. L. D. McClintock, Rev. H. Frankland and Rev. 
T. T. Mutchler. The Sunday-school is under the 
superintendency of Mr. Edward Zimmerman and 
numbere one hundred and fifty scholars. The church 
membership, although not large, is steadily increasing. 
The property is valued at two thousand dollars. 

Jarrettowx Methodist Episcopal Church. — 
In the year 1844, Rev. A. Manship, then stationed at 
Chestnut Hill, with the a.ssistance of Rev. William 
McCombs and Rev. Peter Eisenbry, held a largely 

i attended woods meeting near Jarrettown, which 
resulted in a deep religious interest in the community. 

I A German, a friend of Methodism, by the name of 
Weisman, opened his house for divine worship, in 
which preaching services were regularly conducted. 
In this house a class was formed, both Mr. Weisman 
and his wife becomiug members. Mr. Weisman also 
offered to donate a lot of ground and sufficient stone 
for the erection of a church edifice, but for some 
reason the jjroject was not carried out. In 1863, two 
Methodists in the community, Messrs. John De Pre- 
fountain and William Megargee, resolved to utilize an 
abandoned platform, which had been used by the 
young people of the town for dancing ])urposes, for 
religious meetings, on which a pulpit was erected, 
and seats were placed for the accommodation of the 
congregation. Rev. George Bickley, Sr., Rev. Richard 
Branen and Rev. George Bickley, Jr., conducted 
preaching services here during the entire summer 
mouths. During the following winter meetings were 
held in the school-house at Jarrettown. In the spring 
of 1865 this appointment was joined with Harmer Hill 
Methodist Episcopal Church, with Rev. ^V. P. Howell 
as pastor. In the autumn of this year a successful 
revival was held in the private house formerly occu- 



388 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



pied by Mr. Weisiuau, which re.sulted in about thirty- 
accessions to the church. In the year 18(56, under 
the pastorate of Rev. H. C. McBride, a lot of more 
than an acre of ground on tlie Limekiln pike, a short 
distance below the village, was purchased, and a stone 
church, thirty-five by fifty feet, was erected at a cost 
of three thousand dollars. Mr. Robert Taylor donated 
the stone for the same. The edifice was dedicated on 
Sabbath, September 16, 1866, Rev. A. Manship ofiici- 
ating. Mr. Andrew Bickley, a member of Harmer 
Hill, rendered valuable service during the progress of 
the building, not only in counsel and labor, l)Ut also in 
generous contributions. The present membership is 
about ninety, with an efficient Sunday-school of at 
least one hundred scholars. The following are the names 
of the present board of trustees: F. Houpt, Albert De 
Prefountain, Samuel Houpt, N. Barns, John Rodemie, 
and H. Marshall. The church has greatly imjiroved 
under the present pastorate of Rev. G. L. Schafter. 

Jenkintown Methodist Episcopal Church. — 
This church had its genesis in the old lyceum build- 
ing of the borough. In 1866, Rev. S. A. Heilner, 
pastor of Milestown Church, preached occasionally in 
this edifice at the solicitation of three members of the 
Methodist Church, namely: Professor J. W. Redpath, 
Mr. Samuel McBride and Mr. Howard Krewson. In 
the summer of 1867, Mr. Redpath purchased, in the 
name of the above-mentioned trustees, the c)ld school- 
house located on corner of West Avenue and Leedom 
Street. The structure was remodeled, and on Sep- 
tember 14, 1867, was dedicated as a Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, to the worship of God, by Rev. R. H. 
Pattison,D.D. Rev. J. Walker Jackson, D.D., and Rev. 
A. Manship also officiated on the same occasion. Rev. 
S. Heilner was appointed pastor. The Sabbatli school 
was organized November 3, 1867, eight teachers and 
thirty scholars being enrolled. Professor J. Redpath 
was elected superintendent, and has filled the office to 
the present time. Under the pastorate of Rev. T. K. 
Peterson the corner-stone of a new church was laid, 
October 1, 1879, by Rev. William Swindells. The 
church was dedicated December 28, 1879, by Rev. 
A. G. Kynett, D.D. The edifice of brick, thirty-six 
by sixty feet, will accommodate about four hundred 
persons. Th6 following-named ministers in turn have 
served the charge from its organization to the present : 
Rev. S. A. Heilner, Rev. C. H. Bickley, Bev. A. I. 
Collom, Rev. J. A. Cooper, Rev. R. Turner, Rev. J. 
H. Brittain, Rev. W. Wiscgarver, Rev. M. Barnhill, 
Rev. E. C. Yerkes, Rev. T. K. Peterson, Rev. R. 
McKay, Rev. W. Pickop and Rev. G. Bickley Burns, 
the present pastor and historian of the church. The 
society numbers about seventy members and the Sun- 
day-school one hundred scholars. The church prop- 
erty is worth about three thousand dollars. 

Lansdale Methodist Episcopal Church. — 
In the latter part of the year 1870, at the earnest 
solicitation of several prominent citizens, the Rev. H. 
U. Sebring, then pastor of an adjoining charge. 



came to Lansdale and established stated preaching 
services. Previous to this there had been neither 
church organization nor preaching, place in the town. 
A society was immediately organized and a board of 
trustees at once appointed, consisting of the following 
persons : J. N. Jacobs, M.D., J. Pierce, Asa Thomas,. 
I. D. Heebner, D. Heebner and A. B, Hackman. The 
following per.sons were appointed a building com- 
mittee : J. N. Jacobs, M.D., J. Pierce and I. D. Heeb- 
ner. In the spring of 1871 a church edifice was com- 
menced, under the pastoral charge of Rev. H. U. 
Sebring. The lecture-room was dedicated July 14, 
1872. While Rev. William H. Smith was pastor the 
audience-room was completed and dedicated on Sab 
bath, December 23, 1877. In 1882 the trustees pur- 
chased an adjoining lot, with the view of enlarging the 
present church building, increased accommodations 
being required by the growing Sabbath-school and 
congregation. The church property is valued at six 
thousand dollars. The society, although of suck 
recent origin, numbers about one hundred and twenty- 
five members The present trustees are T. T. Ridding- 
ton, I. D. Heebner, T. Riddington, Jr., Henry J. 
Smith, J. Austy, J. Cooper, William Richardson, J. 
W. Moyer and William Prince. The Sabbath-school 
numbers two hundred and thirty scholars and is ia 
charge of Mr. I. D. Heebner. Rev. J. G. Bickerton 
is the present pastor. 

Haws Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, 
NoRRiSTOWX. — The Sunday-school of the Haws 
Avenue ^Methodist Episcopal Church was organized 
June 20, 1875, by Rev. M. D. Kurtz and a committee 
which had been appointed by the Oak Street Method- 
ist Episcopal Quarterly Conference at the house of 
Mrs. Janette Richards, on Chain Street. The follow- 
ing persons were present: Sarah Smith, Elias Keisen, 
Dr. A. R. Tyson, Mary Perkenpine, Amelia Groff, Mary 
M. Johnson and Mary Sidwell. The following per- 
sons were elected officers of the school: Frank H. 
Thompson, superintendent ; Charles R. Fox, assistant 
superintendent ; J. Howard Richards, librarian ; 
Jacob C. Byer, treasurer ; and Abner S. Johnson, sec- 
retary. The school was formally opened in Chain 
Street school-house, on Sabbath, July 18, 1875, thirty- 
two scholars being present. 

The first board of trustees of the church was organ- 
ized July 27, 1875, by Rev. M. D. Kurtz, and con- 
sisted of Frank H. Thompson, C. R. Fox, Jacob Byer, 
John Custer and Abner S. Johnson. The following 
were elected officers of the board : Abner S. Johnson, 
president, and Jolin Custer secretary. A lot on the 
corner of Haws Avenue and Marshall Street, one 
hundred and sixty by one hundred and twenty feet 
was secured at the cost of two thousand dollars, 
and preparations were immediately cfmimenced to 
build a Gothic stone chapel fifty-one by thirty-two 
feet, one story high. The corner-stone was laid on 
September 26, 1875, by Rev. M. D. Kurtz, assisted by 
Rev. T. A. Fernley. The chapel erected at a cost of 



CHUKCH HISTORY. 



389 



three thousand dollars was dedicated January 2, 1876, 
Bishop Matthew Simpson, Rev. Dr. A. G. Kynett 
and Rev. M. D. Kurtz conducting the dedicatory 
services throughout the day. The following pastors 
have served the church in the order of their appoint- 
ments : Rev. M. D. Kurtz, 1875-76 ; Rev. Howard 
T. Quigg, 1877-78; Rev. Henry Isett, 1879-80-81; 
Rev. William H. Smith, 1882-83; Rev. F. H. Moore, 
1884. The church property is valued at six thousand 
five hundred dollars. The membership numbers one 
hundred and two persons. The well-organized and 
flourishing Sabbath -school numbers in officers, teachers 
and scholars one hundred and sixty. 

St. Luke's Methodist Episcopal Church, Beyn 
JMawe. — On the 24th day of August, 1876, a meeting 
of persons in favor of establishing a Methodist Episco- 
pal Church at Bryn ]Mawr was held at the house of 
Mrs. V. V. Crawford, Lower Merion township, Bishop 
Matthew Simpson presiding. It was determined to 
secure a lot and commence the erection of a church- 
Subscriptions to the amount of two thousand five 
hundred dollars were raised at this meeting, which 
sum at subsequent meetings was increased to four 
thousand dollars. A committee, consisting of D. M. 
Boyd, W. H. Sutton, W. A. Fisher, A. Crawford 
Anderson, Dr. 1). H. Bradley and Jacob Danley, 
purchased a lot on the corner of Penn Street and 
Montgomery Avenue, one hundred and fifty feet front 
by three hundred feet deep, at a cost of two thousand 
dollars, of which one thousand dollars was donated 
by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. A building 
committee was appointed on the 11th day of April, 
1877, consisting of Dr. D. H. Bradley, W. H. Sutton, 
A. S. Cline, J. H. Clemmens and I. W. Anderson. 
Ground was broken on the 29th of August, 1877. 
The corner-stone was laid October 1, 1877, by Bishop 
Matthew Simpson, assisted by Rev. George Cummins, 
J'.E., and Rev. J. Y. Ashton. The dedicatory services 
were held June 29, 1878, Bishop Simpson preaching 
in the morning, Rev. Dr. C. H. Fowler in the after- 
noon and Rev. William H.Miller, of the Presbyterian 
Church, in the evening. Rev. T. C. Peareon, the 
pastor, also rendered valuable service during the 
day. The entire cost of the edifice was eightthousand 
seven hundred and fifty dollars, of which amount 
four thousand two hundred dollars were subscribed on 
the day of dedication, leaving the property without 
any encumbrance. The Sunday-school, which is 
under the superintendeney of Hon. W. H. Sutton, 
began to hold its sessions in Temperance Hall in the 
fall of 1878, and was formed largely from the Union 
Sunday-school, that had been conducted by Mr. Wil- 
liam A. Fisher since 1851, and which had been the 
cradle of a number of churches of the various denomi- 
nations in the community. The following ministers 
have served the church in the order of their appoint- 
ments: Rev. T. C. Pearson, Rev. A. S. Wilson, Rev. 
F. H. Moore and Rev. J. D. Martin, the present pas- 
tor. The membership numbers one hundred and ten 



persons. The Sund.ay-school has a membership of 
about seventy scholars. The church property is val- 
ued at eleven thousand dollars. 

Royer's Ford Methodist Eplscopal Church. — 
In the early part of the year 1879, a Methodist class 
was formed in this borough in connection with the 
Spring City Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. 
Simeon Keim was appointed leader. At first the 
class was held at the homes of its various members. 
At a meeting of the male members of the parent 
church, called by Rev. J. B. Graff, pastor, May 6, 
1881, it was resolved to build a chapel. Messrs. John 
Bisbing, William S. Essick, Maurice Sheeler, Allen 
Rogers and S. B. Latshaw were subsequently appoint- 
ed a building committee. A lot seventy-five by two 
hundred feet, on the corner of Airy and Church Streets, 
was donated by Mr. Danniel Latshaw. The corner- 
stone was laid September 21, 1881, Rev. William 
Swindells, Rev. G. D. Carrow, D.D., Rev. G. S. 
Broadbent, Rev. John Bell, Rev. William Bamford, 
Rev. J. B. Graff, Rev. James Swindells and Rev. 
Samuel Gracy officiating on the occasion. On Sab- 
bath, March 5, 1882, the church was dedicated by 
Bishop Matthew Simpson. Rev. J. B. Bickerton 
preached in the afternoon and Rev. William Swin- 
dells in the evening. The building is thirty-two by 
fifty-two feet, and was erected at a cost of three thou- 
sand three hundred and forty-three dollars. The 
Sabbath-school was organized April 6, 1882, when 
Rev. X. D. McComas was elected superintendent; W. 
S. Essick, assistant superintendent; . Harry Ayres, 
secretary ; Joshua J. Nix, treasurer ; S. B. Latshaw, 
librarian and Jacob Latshaw, assistant-librarian. 
The school is in a flourishing condition and numbers 
about one hundred and fifty scholars. The present 
trustees are Maurice Sheeler, Jacob R. Weikel, .John 
Fenkbinder, E. A. Bickel, Andrew Cumming, .John 
A. Keiter, John B. Gracy, Jesse G. Yeager and S. B. 
Latshaw. 

North Wales Methodist Episcopal Church. 
— .\mong the more recent enterprises of the Methodist 
denomination in the county is the church at North 
Wales, which, although quite young, shows signs of 
great promise for the future. The society has already 
become self-supporting and numbers one hundred 
members, and has a Sabbath-school of over one hun- 
dred and fifty scholars. Rev. H. Hess is the pastor. 

In all there are twenty-one Methodist Episcopal 
Churches in the county, five of which have been estab- 
lished during the last ten years, and about half of 
which have been Ibrmed during the last twenty years. 
The membership of the church has increased at least 
one hundred and fifty per cent, for the latter jieriod, 
and the number of Sabbath-school scholars at about 
the same rate. 

Evangelical Associatios or German Method- 
ists. — There are thirteen churches of this branch of 
Methodism in the county, as follows : 

Norristown Church : Pastor, Rev. F. P. Lehr ; 



390 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



value of jiroperty, $7000; iiiKiubers, 11(3; Sunday- 
school scholars, 118. Plymouth Church : Pastor, 
Rev. W. H. Hershey ; value of property, $5000 ; mem- 
bers, 81 ; Sunday-school scholars, 186. Trappe Cir- 
cuit (three churches): Pastor, Rev. J. W. Rozer; 
value of property, $8900; members, 183, Sunday- 
school scholars, 223. Montgomery Circuit (five 
churches) : Pastor, Rev. J. S. Newhart ; value of 
property, $10,000 ; members, 21 1 ; Sunday-school 
scholars, 271. Landsdale and Hatfield Churches. 
Pastor, Rev. G. Knoble ; value of property, $5000 ; 
members, 74; Sunday-school scholars, 160. Potts- 
town Church: Pastor, Rev. J. F. Heisler; value of 
property, $3000; members, 130; Sunday-school 
scholars, 168. 

There are four colored Methodist churches in the 
county, — two in Norristown, one in Pottstown and one 
in Conshohockeu. 

The various branches of Methodism are represented 
by thirty-eight churches, valued at two hundred and 
twenty-six thousand dollars. 

The following epitome of the religious thought of 
the period, as it found expression in the several 
Christian denominations on the centennial Sabbath 
(September 7, 1884) iu municipal history, is 
chronicled as a matter of general interest in connec- 
tion with this chapter. In response to the following 
circular, the editor received the annexed condensed 
statement from the reverend gentlemen whose names 
appear therewith : 

"Norristown, Pa., August 10, 1884. 
"Dear Sir ; 

' * September 7, 1884, is the last Sabbath in tlie fli-st century of Mont- 
gomery Connty as a municipality. Please forward to the umlersigned 
the passage of Scripture, book, chapter and Terse from which you speak 
on that day, with your name of church, meeting-house and denomina- 
tion, estimated number of congregation on the day named, with a 
synopsis of the sermon not exceeding twenty-five words. We hope this 
-equest will be promptly complied with, as we desire to epitomize the 
religious thought of the county in the closing chapters of our history. 
"Truly your friend, 

"Theo. W. Bean, 
'* Editor ^ History 0/ Montgomery Coiiuty, Pa,^^'' 

St. James' Episcopal Church, Lower Providence. 
Rector, Rev. J. L. Heysinger. Text, Numbers xxiii. 
23: '' What hath God wrought." Synopsis of sermon : 
1, Prosperity is due to God's blessing and should excite 
gratitude ; 2, A century of prosperity has marked our 
local history ; 3, Observations on our parish and 
church for a century past. Number of congregation 
present, seventy-five. 

St. John's Episcopal Church, Norristown. Rector, 
Rev. Lsaac Gibson. Text, St. John iv. 38 : " Other 
men labored and ye are entered into their labors." 
Synopsis: "While celebrating the centennial of 
Montgomery County we should make prominent the 
works of our forefathers, for they laid the founda- 
tions of our greatness." Estimated attendance, three 
hundred and fifty. 

Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church, Cousho- 
hocken. Rector, Rev. A. B. Atkins, D.D. Text, St. 
Matthew, v. 16 : " Let your light so shine before men 



that they may see your good works." The rector 
spoke of the light and power of Christian example. 
The true Christian is a lighted lamp shining in a dark 
world. He mu.st shine always and everywhere, in 
church, at home, in the place of business. Number 
of congregation present, two hundred and fifty. 

St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran (six-cornered) 
Church, Pennsburg. Pastor, Rev. O. F. Waage. 
Text, St. Matthew viii. 23-24. Subject, " Christ our 
refuge in the tempests of life." Estimated number 
present, five hundred. 

Huber's, at Niantic and Swamp, at New Hanover^ 
(Lutheran). Pastor, Rev. L. Groh. Text, St. Luke 
X. 23-24. Synopsis of sermon: 1, What our eyes se& 
— gospel results materially and spiritually ; 2, Who 
did not see ? — prophets, kings before Christ, our 
fathers ; 3, Why we see — through God's goodness. 

Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Transfigura- 
tion, Pottstown. Pastor, B. M. Schmucker. Text,. 
Psalm xlviii. 12-14. Synopsis of sermon : 1,^ 
Annals of Lutheran Church in this county. First 
settlements of Lutherans ; 2, Congregations, forma- 
tions, statistics ; 3, Biographies of eminent ministers. 
Estimated attendance, two hundred and fifty. 

Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Pottstown. Pastor, 
D. K. Kepner: Text, St. Luke x. 23-27. Theme, 
"Good Samaritan Love:" 1, Whom it profits; 2, 
How it manifests itself ; 3, Whence it comes. Thema, 
" Der hohe Werth des Christlichen Glaubens :" 1> 
Sieg im Kampf mit der Siinde ; 2, Freude im Schmerz 
der Erde ; 3, Rube in der ITnruh des Lebens ; 4^ 
Licht in der Nacht der Triibsal ; 5, Leben duich den 
Tod ; 6, Himmlischen Lohu nach irdischer Arbeit. 
Estimated attendance, five hundred. 

Lutheran Churches, Whitemarsh and LTpper Dublin. 
Pastor, Rev. Matthias Sheeleigh. Text, Psalm 
xxxiv. 11-12: "The Lord God is a sun and 
shield ; the Lord will give grace and glory ; no good 
thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. 
O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in 
Thee!" Synopsis: Happy choice of waiting on the 
Lord ; what the Lord is to his people, will do for 
them, and the blessedness he assures to them. At- 
tendance, two hundred. 

St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church, North 
Wales, Pa. Rev. George D. Foust, pastor. Text,. 
Psalm Ixxsix. 15 : " Blessed is the people that know 
the joyful sound ; they shall walk, Lord, in th& 
light of thy countenance." The increasing popula- 
tion of our county, its fertile fields, the thrift and in- 
telligence of its citizens, its numerous schools, its 
venerable churches, all show the God of nations has 
watched over our interests in the past. If we have 
come to a knowledge of the glad tidings of grace in 
Christ, and walk in the light of the Sun of righteous- 
ness, the closing of this first century will be like a 
brilliant sunset, prophetic of the rich and fragrant 
dawning of a new century with many blessings ia 
store for us. 



CUUKCH HLSTOKY. 



391 



New Goschenhoppen Reformed Church. Pastor, 
Rev. C. Z. Weiser. Text, St. Luke x. 23 : " Ble-ssed 
are the eyes which see thethings that ye see.' Theme : 
Christ, the Ideal Mau; and Christianity, His civiliza- 
tion. 

Zion's Reformed Church, Pottstown. Pastor, Rev. 
C. S. Wieand. Text, St. Luke x. 2.5-.37. Parable of 
Good Samaritan. Synopsis of sermon: Mankind a 
traveler, robbed and wounded by Satan ; Christ the 
Good Samaritan; Church of Christ the inn; Chris- 
tian ministry the host; imitate the Good Samar- 
itan. 

Pleasantville Reformed Church, Pastor, Rev. Uriah 
Weidner. Text, St. Matthew xi. 29. Synopsis of 
sermon, — A call for scholars : 1, Christ has opened a 
great school ; 2, Not a compulsory education ; 3, The 
competency gf the teacher ; 4, The qualifications the 
teacher expresses, meek and lowly; 5, The diploma 
given the graduate is rest. Number in attendance, 
two hundred and seventy-five. 

Trinity Reformed Church, Pottstown. Pastor, L. 
Kryder Evans. Text, Exodus xx. 2, 3 : Synopsis of 
sermon : God had delivered Israel from bondage and 
they were now to be raised to the privilege of a 
nation ; God's covenant promises made to Abraham 
are now ratified ; loyalty and obidience would keep 
them in possession of the land ; the same God that 
made Israel of old a mighty nation has also made us 
what we are as a people. Number in attendance 
three hundred. 

St. Luke's Reformed Church, Trappe. Pastor, H. 
T. Spangler. Text, Jeremiah vi. lij : " Stand ye in 
the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is 
the good way and walk therein, and ye shall find rest 
for your souls.'" Line of thought: Only walking in 
the good old paths revealed by God's word, the true 
standard for all ages, as did the fathers, will insure the 
peace and safety of the sons. Estimated congregation, 
two hundred and twenty-five. 

Bethel ^Methodist Episcopal Church. Pastor, Rev. 
T. T. Mutehler, M.D. Text, St. Matthew vii. U: 
"If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts 
unto 3'our children, how much more shall your Father 
which is in heaven give good things to them that ask 
Him." Synopsis of sermon : 1, God's disposition to 
give good things, how great ; 2, Man's need of good 
things known by experience; 3, Good things God 
will give to them that ask Him. Number in attend- 
ance, fifty. 

Methodist Episcopal Church, North Wales. Pastor, ! 
Rev. Henry Hess. Text, 2 Peter i. 18 : " And this 
voice which came from heaven we heard when we 
were with him in the holy mount.'' Theme : Trans- 
figuration of Christ : Peter writes to remind them of 
the evidence of Christianity ; heard a voice on 
mount ; circumstance of the same ; purposes of trans- 
figuration, (1,) glory of Redeemer, (2,) supreme law- j 
giver ; (3,) only Redeemer. Number present, two hun- j 
dred and fifty. | 



Methodist Episcopal Church, Montgomery Square. 
Pastor, J. Wesley Perkinpiiie. Text, Proverbs xxiii. 
10: "Remove not the old landmark." The speaker 
showed some few advancements made in the county 
during the century, how that human landmarks crum- 
ble and fall, but the landmark of salvation has con- 
tinued all through the century in building churches 
and giving blessings to mankind. Number present, 
two hundred. 

First Methodist Episcopal Church, Norristown. 
Pastor, Rev. S. H. C. Smith. Text, Psalm xevii. 1 : 
" The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice." Topic : The 
avowed purpose and legitimate tendency of the Chris- 
tian revelation is to originate those virtues which are 
confessed to be the only foundation of all true social 
and public elevation, and which also are the safe- 
guards of freedom and felicity. Number of congre- 
gation, three hundred. 

Oak Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Norris- 
town. Pastor, Rev. G. W. F. Grafl". Centennial ser- 
vices afternoon of September 7, 1884, conducted by 
the pastor, — Scriptural lesson, Esther i. ; addresses of 
an historic character were made by the pastor, by 
William H. Ortlip, J. H. Crankshaw and others. 
Estimated attendance, three hundred and fifty. 

St. Luke's Methodist Episcopal Church, Bryn 
Mawr. Pastor, J. D. Martin. Text, Hebrews iv. 14. 
Theme: "The Priesthood of Christ.'' — The Jewish 
high priest typical of Christ: 1, Sui)eriority of 
Christ, He was sinless. His oft'eriug once for 
all, His priesthood in heaven; 2, He purifieth the 
conscience. Number in attendance, eighty. 

First Presbyterian Church, Norristown. Pastor, 
Rev. Wm. B. Noble. Text, 1 Kings xix. 8 : " And he 
arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength 
of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, 
the mount of God." Estimated attendance, three 
hundred and fifty. 

Central Presbyterian Church, Norristown. Pastor, 
Rev. J. McAskie. Text, Psalm xxxvii. 3 : "Trust in 
the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land 
and verily thou shalt be fed." Synopsis of sermon : 
1, Confidence in God is essential to a nation's stability, 
the old dynasties perished for lack of it ; 2, Confi- 
dence in God implies (1) knowledge of him, (2) obe- 
dience to his laws; 3, Confidence in God is e.ssential 
to true prosperity, " verily thou shalt be fed," — -there 
will be a bountiful provision for the physical, the in- 
tellectual and spiritual nature of man. Number in 
attendance, three hundred and fifty. 

Centennial Presbyterian Church, Jetiersonville. 
Pastor, Rev. Charles Collins. Text, Deuteronomy 
xxxii. 7 : "Remember the days of old; consider the 
years of many generations; ask thy father, and he 
will shew thee ; thy elders and they will tell thee." 
Synopsis of discourse : 1, That a remembrance of the 
past is well calculated to awaken our gratitude ; 2, 
That a becoming remembrance of the past gives en- 
couragement for the future; 3, That God's faithful- 



392 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY. 



ness in the jiast should ubiiudantly inspire us with 
trust. Estimated number present, one hundred. 

Baptist Church, Norristown. Pastor, Rev. N. B. 
Randall. Theme: "The outlook, or the century be- 
fore us." The speaker made mention of the fact that 
our fathers had a new government to found, a new 
society to create and new homes to build. Notwith- 
standing the many dangers which, all admit, we be- 
lieve that the age before us will be a grander one than 
any century which has preceded it ; for, 1, It will be 
an age of abundant wealth and leisure ; 2, It will be 
remarkable for mental culture and practical discovery; 

3, The centurj' before us will witness the universal 
diffusion of the gospel. Estimated number in at- 
tendance, three hundred and fifty. 

Baptist Church, North Wales. Pastor, Rev. J. A. 

Aldred. Text, Deuteronomy sxii. 22: Subject; 

' Earthquakes," a theme suggested by the earthquake 

visitation of August 10, 1884 : " The text teaches us: 

1, That the earth is treasured or stored with fire ; 2, 
That God kindled this fire ; 3, That He did so as a 
token of his righteous anger against the sinful and re- 
bellious race of men who dwell on the earth's surface; 

4, That these fires lie deep down and below the bases 
of the mountains which they set on fire and excite to 
volcanic action ; 5, These spasmodic beats and convul- 
sive throbs are constantly reminding us of man's full 
and persistent rebellion against his Maker." Number 
in attendance, two hundred. 

Church of the Evangelical Association, Lansdale, 
Pastor, Rev. G. C. Knobel. Text, Psalm cxli. 4: 
" And let me not eat of their dainties : " Synopsis of 
sermon: 1, The circumstances in which this' psalm 
was written (1 Samuel, 27); 2, The Christian of to-day 
often finds himself in " Gath ; " 3, The lesson to be 
learned from David's resolution. Number present, 
forty (evening service). 

Church of the Evangelical Association, Hatfield. 
Pastor, Rev. G. C. Knobel. Text, Philippians iv. 6, 
7. Synopsis of sermon : 1, How are we to understand 
the apostle's injunction, " Be careful (anxious) for 
nothing? '" 2, The means to be used in order toaccom- 
plish this ; 3, The happ}' results. Number present, 
fifty (morning service). 

Evangelical Church, Pottstown. Pastor, Rev. S. F. 
Heisler. Text, Hebrews iv. IG : "Let us therefore 
come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may 
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." 
Synopsis of sermon (preached in German) : 1, The 
throne of grace as compared with the mercy-seat; 

2, The manner of approach, with boldness ; 3, The 
motive prompting, viz., to obtain mercy and find 
grace. Number present, one hundred and fifty. 

German Baptist or Danker Church, Skippack 
(Detwiler's Meeting House). Minister, Isaac Kulp. 
Text, 2 Cor. xii. 1. Synoi)sis of sermon : 1, Paul's 
reasons of defiance ; 2, Paul's opinion about religious 
boastings; 3, Paul's only allowable boastings. 

Gottshall's Meunonite Meeting-House, Schweuks- 



ville. Pastor, Bishop Moses Gotshall. Text, Colos- 
sians ii. 7: "And be ye established in the faith as 
ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanks- 
giving." Synopsis of sermon : 1, The only way to 
salvation is (a) the firmess of fiiith in the Saviour and 
(b) belief in the pure teachings of the gospel ; 2, He 
only who jjossesses this faith can be truly thankful. 
Number of congregation, one hundred and fifty. 

Lower Mennonite Church, East Perkiomen. Pas- 
tor, Bishop Amos K. Bean. Text, Isaiah xxviii. 
17. Theme, — " The Sinner Warned : " 1, Through 
preaching, sickness, tribulation, etc., the sinner is 
many times convinced of the necessity of seeking a 
suitable refuge ; 2, There is great danger of sinners 
seeking a false refuge by simply laying off gross sins 
and connecting themselves with the visible church; 
8, Jesus Christ is the true refuge in whom we are per- 
fectly safe in the hour of death. Number present, one 
hundred and fifty. 

Trinity Christian Church, Collegeville. Pastor, 
Rev. J. H. Hendricks, A.M. Text, Ephesians iv. 
13. Theme: "Christian Manhood.'' Synopsis of 
sermon : 1, Wherein Christian manhood consists — (a) 
being possessed of Jesus' communicable attributes, (6) 
the life conformed to Jesus' life, (c) the personal em- 
bodiment of all conceivable moral excellence; 2, How 
it is attained; (a) God's part in the work, (6) man's 
part in the work; 3, Its supreme value — (a) it is man's 
highest dignity and happiness, (6) it is society's rich- 
est boon, (f) proclaims the riches of divine grace. 
Number present, two hundred and fifty. 

Friends' Meeting, Abington. Alvin Haines and 
Rachel A. Mather spoke at this meeting on September 
7, 1884. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

The importance of educating the youth of the 
colony was the subject of early and continued solici- 
tude upon the jiart of men charged with the adminis- 
tration of public affairs. The following provincial 
act was the first official step having reference to the 
establishment of public or common schools: 

"TbeGovener and the ProvmciaU Councill having taken into their 
eerions conBideration tlie great necessity there is of Scool-Masters for the 
instruction anil sober education of Youtii in the towne of Pliiladelphia, 
sent fur Enocli Flower, an inhabitant of tlie said town, who for twenty 
year pa.st liatli been exercised in tliat care and iinpluynieiit in England, 
to wliom liuving comninnicated tlieir minds, lie oniliraced it uiton these 
following terms : to learne to read English, 4s. by the Quarter; to leai'n 
to read and write, Os. by the Quarter; to learne to read, write and cast 
account, S«. by the Quarter ; fur boarding a scholler, that is to say, dyot, 
washing, lodging and scooling, tenn pounds for one whole year. " 

The work of Enoch Flower was fruitful in results. 
Six years later, 1689, the first grammar school was 
established by direction of Penn to Thomas Lloyd. 
This school was placed in charge of George Keith, a 



EDUCATIOxXAL. 



393 



Quaker preacher of .Scotch descent, who had accom- 
panied Penn and Fox in their travels through 
Germany iu 1(377, and was hopeful and energetic in 
all things connected with the ** H0I3' Experiment." 
The school was liberally patronized by those whose 
circumstances enabled them to pay the cost of tui- 
tion, while its doors were open and its privileges 
were freely extended to the children of indigent 
parents. The number of pupils soon made the 
jipi)ointmeut of an assistant necessary. Benjamin 
]\Iakin was selected, who subsequently succeeded 
Keith as principal. The salary of these early teachers 
was fifty pounds sterling per annum, with dwelling- 
house and school-house provided and the "profits 
■of the school for one year." If the teacher thought 
fit to stay longer and teach the children of the poor 
without charge, his salary was to be doubled for two 
years.^ This school was chartered February 12, 1698, 
by enterprising citizens, such as Samuel Carpenter, 
.Vnthony Morris, Edward Shippen, James Fox, David 
Llcyd, William Southby and John Jones, and 
jidopted a characteristic seal, with an open book con- 
taining the Greek motto, " *i/.f re n/j.TiXovc^'' and the 
inscription, "Good Instruction is better than Riches." 
The building stood on Fourth Street, below Chestnut, 
iind this old Philadelphia High School had an envi- 
able reputation for many years, numbering among its 
teachers, besides Keith and Makin, such men as D. 
J. Dove, Robert Proud, the historian William Janney. 
Jeremiah Todd, and Charles Thompson, the secretary 
•oi the Continental Cougress.- 

1 There were notable school-teachers at work in the province many 

jt'iii-s prior to the laboi-s of Enoch Flower. In the yeiir 1G70 one Ed- 
mund Pranftoii, near Bensaleni, siibseqiiently Bucks Cimnty, lirought 
euit " for the recovery of two hundred guilders fur teaching the children 
of Duncan AVillianison to read the Bible." The teacher recovered. — 
Jteporf of W. ir. }Voodniff, Bucks Co. Siipt. Public Sclionh, 1877. 

-''Petition. — I'jion reading the petion of Sam*' Carpenter, Edward 
Shippen, Anthony Slorris, James ffox & david Lloyd, William Southbee 
& John Jones, in these woMs, viz : To the Governo' & Council of the 
province of iwnnsilvania & territories yrof, sitting att Philadelphia, the 
tenth day of the I2ti» mo., Anno domi, 1097-8. The Humble petion of 
SaTii" Ciirjieiiter, Edward Phippen, Autlumy Morris, James ffox, david 
Lloyd, William Southbee A John Jones, in the behalf of themselves & the 
rest of the people called Quakei-s, who are membei"s of the monothly 
mectting, holden Si keept att the new meeting-house, lately built upon a 
piece of ground fronting the High-street, in Philadelphia aforesaid, ob- 
tained of the present Governo' by the said people, Sheweth : That it hath 
been A is much desired by MANY, That a School be set up & uphold in 
this town of Philadelphia, where poor children may be freely maintained, 
taught and educated in good Literature,' untill they are tit to be put out 
apprentices, or Capable to be masters or ushers in the said school, 

'"And for as much as by the Laws & Constituons of this govornm*, It is 
provided & enacted That the Governo'' and Council shall erect A order all 
publick schonles, 6l encourage & reward the authors of usefull sciences A 
Laudable inventions, in the said province and Ten'itories, Therefore, 
may it please the Governor ^ Council, to ordain and establish that at the 
Slid town uf Philadelphia a publick schoole niay be founded, where all 
children and servants, male & female, whois parents, guardians & mas- 
tei-s be willing to subject ym to the rules & ordei-s of the said schoole, 
shall from time to time, with the approbaon uf tlie overseers thereof for 
tlie time being, be received or admitted, taught and Instructed ; The 
rich at reasonable rates, and the poor to be maintained A schooled for 
nothing. And to that end a meet & convenient house or Houses, build- 
ings A rooms, may be erected for the keeping of the said schoole, A for 
the entertainment A abode of such A so many masters, ushens, mistrisses, 



At the second Assembly of the province, which met 
in Philadelphia, March 10, 1GS3, the following law 
was enacted with reference to the education of chil- 
dren : 

"And to the end that the Poor as well as the Rich may he instructed 
in good and commendable learning, which is to be preferred before 
wealth. Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid. That all persons 
within the Province and territories thereof having children, and all the 
Guardians and Trustees of Orphans, shall cause such to be instructed in 
reading and writing, so that they may be able to read the Scriptures and 
write by the time they attain to the age of twelve years, and that 
then they may be taught some useful trade or skill that ye Poor may 
work to live, and the Rich if they become poor, may not want, of which 
every county court may take care ; and in case such Parents, Guardians 
or Overseers shall be found deficient in this respect, every such Parent, 
Guardian or Ovei-seer shall pay for every such child five pounds, except 
there shouldappear anincapacitieof body or understanding to hinder it." 

Although this law did not refer especially to any 
particular county, yet we have deemed it proper to 
give it a place in this sketch, as it shows the concern 
that the early legislators of the province had in the 
rising generation, and also whence the courts derived 
their authority to require children in certain cases to 
be taught to read and write. In 1693 the Swedish 
colonists wrote to the government of Sweden for 
books. They wanted primers and different kinds of 
religious books. The King, Charles XL. graciously 
donated them the books desired, and they received 
them in 1697. It is reasonable to suppose that what- 
ever instruction the children received in those days 
was given them at their homes, either by their 
parents or by others. The time had not yet fully 
come for the establishment of schools and for the 
building of school-houses in the district. Legislative 
sanction seems to have been freely given to establish 

A poor children, as by the order A direction of the eaid nionethly meet- 
ing shall be Limited A appointed from time to time. And also, that the 
membei-s of the aforesaid meetting for the time being, may, at y' respec- 
tive monethly meetings, from time to time make choice of A admitt such 
and so mauie persons as they shall think fit, to be overseers, masters, 
ushers, mistrisses A poor children of y« stl school, and the same persons, 
or anie of yui, to remove and displace, as often as the said meeting shall 
see occasion. And that the overseers and schoole aforesaid, may forever 
stand A be established A founded in name A iu deed, a Body politick and 
Cvirpomte, To Have Continuance for ever, by the name of The Ovei*seera 
of the publick schoole founded in Philadelphia, at y« rerpiest, costs A 
charges of the people of God called Quakers. And that they, the said 
overseers, may have perpetual succession, and by that name they A 
their Successoi"S may forever have, hold A ei\joy, all the Lands, Tene- 
ments A chattells, A receive A take all gifts A Legacies, as shall be given, 
granted or devised for the use A maintainance of y* said School A poor 
schoUars, without any farther or other License or authoritie from this 
governm* in that behalf; Saving unto the Chief proprietor His Qnitrents 
out of y^ sd Lands. And that the said Overseers, by the same name, 
shall A may, with Consent of the said meetting, have power A capacitie 
to demise A grant, by writting, under their hands A Comon seal, any of 
the sd Lands A tenements, A to take A piirchass any other Lands, tene- 
ments or Hereditaments, for the best use A advantage of the said schoule. 
And to prescribe such Rules and ordinances for the good order A gov- 
ernm' of the same schoole, A of the masters, tishers, mistrisses, and poor 
children successively, A for their A every of their stipends A allowances, 
as to the members of the said monethly meetting for the time l»eiug. or 
the major part of j-m, shall seem meet ; witli jwwer also to sue and be 
sued, and to do, perfonn A execute all A every other Lawfull act A thing, 
good and profitable for the said schoole, in as full A ample manner as any 
other body politick or Corpoi-ate. more perfectly founded and Incorpor- 
ated, may doe. 

"The Govemo' and Council due grant this petition as is tiesired." 



39-1 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



common schools throughout the coh>ny, and in every 
ctmstitution adopted by the State from 177(5 down to 
1874' the subject of education has been considered 
jtaramount to the l»est interests of the commonwealth. 
The common schools of the colonial era were those 
established in connection with the church or meeting- 
house, and sometimes in the family as private 
schools.'^ It would be doing violence to the truth of 
history to assume that our early settlers were indif- 
ferent to the necessity of elementary education. 
The church and the school-house were generally 
built side by side, and the preacher was often the 
teacher. The parochial schools of the English 
Church, later the Protestant Episcopal, were import- 
ant factors in society. The private schools main- 
tained by the Society of Friends were taught by 
persons of exemplar^' character and in many in- 
stances of eminent ability. 

Among the eleven thousand two hundred and 
ninety-four Germans who reached London in 1709, 
on their way to this country, there were eighteen 
school-masters, and these teachers were all associated 
Avith the religious societies to which these migratory 
people belonged. In many instances the teacher was 
also sub-preacher, and had ministerial powers dele- 
gated to him; as, for instance, the catechists were men 
who catechised, read sermons and baptized chiklren 
in cases of necessity in connection with their regular 
school duties.^ 



iPenu's frame of government provides that tlie Provincial Council 
sliiill erect antl order all public scliools. 

Corietitutiuii (il 177t) provides that a school ur scbools sliall be estab- 
lished in each co\inty. 

Coustitiition of 17'JO provides that the Legishiture, as suun as may be, 
shall provide by law for the establishment of schools throughout the 
State in such manner that the poor may be tanght gTMtis. 

Constitution of 1S3G adopted the provision of 179U. 

"Constitutitm of 1874, Article X. — Section I. The General Assembly 
shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient 
system of public schools, wherein all the children of this Conimomvealth 
above the age of six years niay be educated, and shall ajipropiiate at 
least one million dollars each year for that purpose. 

^* Section 2. No money raised for the support of the public schools ot 
the Commonwealth shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any 
sectarian school. 

** Section X Women twenty-one yeai-s of age and upwards shall be eli- 
gible to any ottice of control or management under the school laws of 
this State." 

2 Among the latest of the family schools in Montgomery County was 
that maintained at the residence of the late Thomas Hopkins, in Upper 
Providence township, in 1851-52. This school was taught by Elizabeth 
Garret, Elizabeth Yerkesand Ann E. Casselberry, nCe Heebner. 
3 "Act ot- Assembly. 

'^Section I. It shall be the duty of the Commissioners of the several 
counties within this commonwealth annually to direct the Assessor of 
every township, ward and district to receive from the parents the names 
of all the children, between the ages of five and twelve years, who reside 
therein, and whose parents are unable to pay for their schooling ; and 
the C<immir^fii oners, when they hold appeals, shall hear all pei-sons who 
may apply for alterations or additions of names in the saiil list, and make 
all such alterations as to them sliall appear just and reiiscmable, and 
agreeably to the true intent and meaning of this act ; and after adjust- 
ment theyHball transmit a correct copy thereof to the respective AsseSfcir, 
requiring him to inform the parents of the children therein contained 
that they are at liberty to send them to the most convenient school, free 
of expense ; the said Assessor, fur any neglect of the above duty, shall 



The following pen-picture of our German ancestry 
on the Perkiomen is alike quaint and truthtiil : 

"The earliest settlers upon their arrival here were not dilatoiy in the 
establishment of schools for their children, and in any locality where a. 
sufiicient number of families lived near enough to each other to render 
a school necessary, all would assendjlc at some centiul point, armed with 
axes, handpikes, manls, and wedges to erect a school-house, and whilfr 
some felled trees othere notched the logs and put them in their place, and 
still others split clap-boards or shingles for the roof. Some sought out 
and hauled shapely stones for the fire-place, and some prepared the sticks 
and nuid for the chimney. The building was about eighteen by twenty- 
two feet, of round logs, one story high, the cracks daubed with mortart 
called " kat and clay " ; a large log (the mantel) was placed across th& 
building, four feet from the end wall and five feet high, upon which the 
chimney was built of split sticks, the cracks and inside of which were 
daubed with tough mortar ; the floor was made of split logs, hewed, 
called puncheons ; the hearth was of stone about four feet wide and ae 
long as the wiilth of the fire-place ; the back wall and the sides of the 
fire-i>lace also of stone. At the end of the hearth a piece of mother-earth 
was left without a floor to afford the writere a place to stick their gooBe- 



forfeit and pay the sum of five dollars, ... to be paid to the county 
treasury. 

" Section II. The Assessor shall send a list of the names of the children- 
aforesaid to the teachers of schools within his township, whose duty it 
shall be to teach all such children as may come to their schools in the- 
same manner as orher childien are tanght ; and each teacher shall keep- 
a day-book, in which he shall enter the number of days each child en- 
titled to the provisions of this act shall be tanght, and he shall also enter 
in said book the amount of all the stationery furnished for the use of said 
child, from which book he shall nnike out his account against the county 
on oath or affirmation, agreeably to the usual rates of charging for tuition 
in the said school, subject to the examination and revision of the trustees 
of the school, where there are any, but where there are no trustees, to 
three reputable subscribers to the school ; which account, after being so 
examined or revised, he shall present to the county Commissioners, who,, 
if they approve thereof, shall draw their order on the county treasurer 
for the amount, which he is hereby authorized and directed to pay out of 
any moneys in the treasury." — ^lc( of April 4, 1809. 

The schools were located and managed in the following way: The 
cost of building the school-liouse was met by voluntary contriI)ution8. 
Whenever a neighborhood felt the need of a school-house one was erected 
at some point convenient to those who Contributed towanls its erection. 
The patrons selected trustees whose duty it was to take charge of tha^ 
schocd priiperty and to select a teacher for the school. If the teacher 
chosen by the trustees could secure pupils enough to warrant him in 
opening the school, he would do so ; if not, be would seek a school else- 
where. The teaclier was paid by those who sent pupils to his school. 
The rate W!i6 two doUare per quarter, or three cents per day for each 
pupil. Those who could not pay received instruction at the cost of the 
county, according to the act of 1809, The outfit of a pupil cost about one 
dollar, and con.sisted of an English Readeror a New Testament, a Comly's 
or Byerly'sSpelling-Book, a Pike's or Kose's Arithmetic, a slate and pen- 
cil, si.x sheets of foolscap paper stitched together, a small ink-bottle in a 
broad cork stand, and a goose quill. Teachers wlio then taught have in- 
formed me that their own schools were in a miserable condition, and that 
to-day such schools as then existed would not be tolerated in the worst 
managed school district in the county. Said one of them to me, *' We 
had no furniture, no apparatus, no suitable text-books, no classification, 
— nothing. We could do but little else than mend quills and make out 
bills for tuition of ]ioor children to present to the coimty cnnimissioners, 
who docked us so unmercifully that we were forced to add a large per- 
centage to the correct amount so as to secure what was justly duo to (is.'* 
The schools were called "pauper schnuls,'' and were despised by the rich 
and shunned by the poor. The children whose schooling was jtaid for by 
county were classified as " i)oor sch()lars " or "county scholars." Thus 
the law created an unpleasant feeling of caste in the school and in the 
community. Many a jiarent who wa.s unable to pay fur tin- education of 
his children would keep them from school rather tlian wty to the town- 
shii) assessor, " put me on the poor /w■^" Many a jioor child refused to 
go to school because of the taunt, " Oh I you're a county scholar." We 
know a respectable man, one who has filled some reinponsible official po- 
sitions, who is even to-day taunted with remindei"s of the fact that he 
received his early education at the expense of the county, inone of those 
" pauper schools." — Scho'd Jieports, 1877. 



EDUCATIONAL. 



395 



quills to maketbeiu of uniform pliability. The bt-ifilit of the story was 
seven feet. There were three sununer beams, on which split logs were 
laid, face down and grooved together with niortiir on the upper side ; 
this was the loft or ceiling. The roof was made of clap-boards, eaves- 
poles and weight-poles. There waa one lodge door in the side, with 
wooden hinges and hitch. The windows were the whole length of the 
side or end of the building ; they were from eight to twelve inches high, 
with little posts set in about every foot, on which oiled paper was pasted 
in lieu of glass. Furniture, — writing-boards were laid on slanting wooden 
pegs even witli the under edge of windows ; a hewed slab bench (no 
back) of suitable height fur the writeis ; lower slab seats, without backs, 
for the spellei-s and readci-s ; a short slanting board in one corner, near 
the end of the hearth, was the teacher's desk. Such was the house and 
such the furniture. The houses, for many yeare, were so little different 
from this one that it would be useless to describe another. These prim- 
itive schools were also used as places of worship. In the vicinity where 
any one acted as preacher, by virtue of his calling he was expected to 
assume the position of Schubneislei-^ over the lising generation." 



1 The parochial school had opened its doors aside of and simultaneously 
with the gate of the churcli in every pioneer congregation of the Ger- 
manic denominations, — Keformed, Lutheran, Mennonite and Schwenk- 
felders. For a full century, too, had the establishment been presided 
over by Schulmeister and Vonninger, who stood as pastor's adjunct in the 
estimation of the people. Under him the offspring of Christian families 
read the Psalter and Bible studied the Catechism and learned to sing 
the hymns and chants of the church. We may mention a Bibighaus, of 
Old Goschenhoppen, who ftubse'iuently ascended the juUpit and died an 
honored minister of the Reformed Church ; a Gerliart, who stood in sucli 
a relation to New Goschenhoppen over forty years , and a Beysher, who 
became more closely identified with the New Goschenhoppen Lutheran 
congregation than perhaps any of its pastors. Alas! the parochial 
school gradually grew weak in consequence of the rise of "select" 
schools which seemed necessary from the more thickly settling of the 
country. The English language invaded the territory, too, and caused 
the German to fade out, slowly, indeed, at first, but yetsurely. About the 
year 1835, the free-school system had been adopted over the entire dis- 
trict, and from.a combination of circumstances the church closed its doors. 

The children and youths of the neighborhood had consequently been 
left without religious instruction, except such as might have "been doled 
out in Christian families. It is not strange, then, that Pastor Daniel 
Weiser felt long and deeply over the necessity of gathering, Hocking 
and feeding the lambs of his charge. His heart yearned for the Sunday- 
school which he knew to be growing withinthebosomof every live congre- 
gation elsewhere. But a high and stubborn wall of prejudice confronted 
Ills contemplated movement. In urder not to have the prospect of ulti- 
mately gaining his end entirely spoiled it was necessary to be "wise as 
a serpent and harmless as a dove," A fornightly afternoon '* children's 
service" was accordingly introduced at New Goschenhoppen and Great 
Swamp during the fall of 18^'.i. This service met a felt want and created 
a desire for better things. 

The Sunday-school followed in the spring of 1840, The wise pastor 
soon rallied stalwart friends around the school, both in and out of the 
congregation, who gladly spoke good words and lent diligent hands But 
the masses " went horse and man" against the innovation. The minis- 
tere of neighboring churches stood aloof. Changes were sung on " Fan- 
aticism," "Jesuitism," "Methoilism," "S/r«i7eret." For several years 
afterwards the opponents seemed never to tire singing and piping such 
party watchwords. Pastor Weiser was charged with being in league 
with the Pope, and "selling out" the offspring of Protestant parentage 
at ten dollars a head ! From another quarter the prophecy was uttered 
that the Methodists would swallow the congregation in ten years. A 
jiopular clergyman, now dead, declared that were it possible to erect a 
warning signal against Sunday-schools high enough for the masses of 
the whole community to discern it, he would gladly plant it. We dis- 
tinctly remember one pleasant Sunday afternoon meeting a boy com- 
panion on our way to Sunday-school. We innocently invited him to 
accompany us. "/?[, nay .' " said he, " Ich geli net in die Kaelver SWin/," 
It may be that the reader silently wishes we had ignored all this un- 
pleasantness in these pages, or at least have extenuated it somewhat ; but 
certainly the charge of exaggeration cannot be laid at our dt)or. We set 
down naught in malice either. Our only motive in resurrecting the 
fierce opposition cry against the founding of Sunday-schools in this lati- 
tude forty yeare ago is to show the way over which the Christian nursery 
came to us, which is now regarded as an inseparable adjunct to every 
congregation of every denomination here, as well as elsewhere. Nor are 



The branches taught were reading, spelling, pen- 
manship and arithmetic. There was no classification, 
except, perhaps, in orthography and reading, and often 
it was not classification as to qualification, but as to size. 
No matter how many were learning thealphabet, *'each 
was in a class by himself," came up, named the letters 
from A to "Izzard," went to his seat, was followed by 
another, and so on till the last. In arithmetic there- 
were as many classes as there were pupils studying^ 
that branch. The teacher assisted such pupils a& 
needed help, even while a class was reciting in sj^ell- 
ing or reading. Afterwards an improvement was 
made on that plan, and at a certain time in the fore- 
noon and afternoon the teacher would pass around 
among the arithmeticians and solve problems for 
them. In a large school, with about twenty in 
arithmetic, each studying in a different part of the 
book, or in a different book, with problems pretty 
hard, it sometimes would take from one to two hours 
to get around. Of course the little fellows were busy 
during that time, especially when the teacher was 
particularly interested in some ditficult problem in 
Pike, Gough or the Western Calculator; but woe to 
the unlucky fellow who was caught being busy at 
anything else than learning his spelling-lesson or 
looking steadily at his letters ! If it took the teacher 
till noon to get through with this process the spellers 
and readers would get their forenoon's lesson in the 
afternoon, unless, perchance, there were many hard 
questions in the afternoon, in which case they were 
almost sure to get them the next day. There was no 
special time for any recitation except the last one in 
the evening, which was usually a spelling-lesson, in 
which the whole school took part. The Old and New 
Testament constituted the reading-books. Saturday 
was devoted to spelling, committing and reciting 
arithmetical tables, and reciting from the catechism. 

The teachers were usually employed by the year^ 
salary raised by subscription of from four to six dol- 
lars per scholar, and generally not fewer than twenty- 
five scholars, the teacher "boarding round." 

The following act of Assembly, approved March 
19, 1810, illustrates the sense of the public mind upon 
the subject of educating the poorest class of persons 
then known among them :^ 



these declarations made regardless of living witnesses, who, when chal* 
lenged, cannot but render their testimony in confirmation, and even 
adopt the Queen of Sheba's words, spoken before King Solomon, that 
"the half has not been told." — Weiser, ^'Monograph of New Goscheii' 
happen and Great Sn'omp Reformed Charge."'' 

' To give a satisfactoiy history of the condition of schools and of educa- 
tion generally, extending back any considerable length of time, is a 
very difflcult nuitter, for the reason that facts cannot be recalled with 
any degree of certainty by those who, on account of age, would be con- 
sidered most able to give correct information upon this subject. Then, 
too, school records seem not to have been jireserved with proper care. 
The remembrance of what occurred years ago becomes confused and 
contradictory, as related by different individuals. In such cases it is 
thought best to reject everything but what is known to be substantially 
correct or judged so to be. In 1805, or thereabouts, a certain John Bol- 
ton kept a school in Limerick township, in which scholars were taught 



396 



HISTORY OF MONTGOiMERY COUNTY. 



"That all mafiters and unstresses of German redemptioners who are 
minoi's and who shall arrive at the Port of Philadelphia after the pas- 
sage of this Act, eliall give to the said redenipti oners six weeks' schooling 
for every year of his or her term of servitude, and it shall be the duty 
of the Register of Geruiau passengere to insert the same fully in their 
indenture." 

While the fundamental law of the colony and com- 
monwealth contained friendly provisions looking to a 
general system of primary training for the youth of 
the State, there seems to have been a disinclination 
upon the part of the popular branch of the law-mak- 
ing j)ower to legislate upon the subject. Sherman 
Day/ writing upon this subject, says, " The number of 
people who could neither read nor write had increased 
to an alarming extent, and Pennsylvanians became 
-an object of ridicule to the people of other States, who 
Jiad been more careful to provide a proper system of 
education." Patriotic and public-spirited men were 
cognizant of the loss and discredit certain to result 
from a continued neglect to formulate, adopt and 
enforce a comprehensive and liberal system of com- 
mon-school education. 

Like all othvr great reforms, emanating from the 
people, its accomplishment was preceded by many 
years of agitation, during which men of eminent 



reading, writing, oithogmphy, arithmetic and book-keeping, I have 
in my possession a book containing the solution of questions in Dil- 
woith's Arithmetic, This book dates 1805. That the study of arithme- 
tic wiis not cai-ried to any great extent raay be judged from the fact that 
the father of the young man whose book has just been referred to 
objected to his sou " going further than the rule of three, because any- 
thing beyaju/ that would malie him good-for-nothing." But there was 
ambition even tlien, as now ; the boy did go farther, po&sibly to the end 
of the book. The custom of "setting down sums" was adhered to on 
down to about 1840, or even later. The schools in the county prior to 
1834 very seldom gave any attention to srainmar, geography, mensura- 
tion and algebra. The writing of essays or compositions of any kind 
Mas pretty generally neglected, excepting at a very few places in differ- 
ent parts of the county. In Perkiomen township, an aged resident says, 
"when I was a boy, sixty yeara ago, we didn't have school sometimes 
for three yeai-s. Then a stranger would come along, and pretending to 
be a school-master, he would start a school, and teach the lowest 
branches." Upper and Lower Providence, about 1827 and for several 
years after, had their schools open about three months during the year. 
This may be said, perhaps, in truth of many townships. The lowest 
branches only were taught. Prior to this, and back to the earliest settle- 
ments, the parochial schools were the prevailing system. Kvidences of 
this system may still be seen. In many places in the county school- 
houses are seen close to the churches. Some of these are still used for 
school puiixises. Othei-s are used for special purposes by the congrega- 
tions. Then the school-master resided in a part df the school-liouse, or 
near by, and in addition to teaching led the singing and played the or- 
gan — when there was one — in divine worship. Prior to 18;i4 the follow- 
ing academies and private schools were in existence : One at Lumber- 
ville (Port Providence), in I'pper Providence ; one at Trappe, in Upper 
Providence; one at Hatboro', in Moreland ; one at Conshohocken ; one 
at Norristown ; one at Sumneytown, in Marlborough. As far back as 
1815 the languages weie taught at Norristown and Hatboro'. fn 1831 
l>imerick township had four schools; it now has fourteen. Then teach- 
ers were paid twu dullai's ]>er scliular for a term of seventy-two days. 
The same may be said of I'pper Providence, and in all probability of 
most of the tuwunhiiis of the coinity. — Frof. A. Jtambo, Supt. of Com- 
mon Schoi'h, Moiiti/. Co., Report u/ 1877. 

1 The Stite at length awaked from her lethargy about the year 1833; 
the Legislature took the «natter seriously in hand, and passed an actj " to 
establish a general system of education by common schools," approved 
by Governor George W'olf on the Ist of April, 1834. — Shennan Day, 
^^ Hist. Fenna." 



ability and eloquence espoused the cause.^ In the 
"Memoirs of the Governors of Pennsylvania," by W. 
C. Armor, it is said the most substantial and endur- 
ing merit of Governor Wolf was evinced in his advo- 
cacy of a system of popular education. James 
Buchanan, in a speech delivered previous to the 
election of the Governor, had said, — 

"If ever the passion of envy could be excused, a man and.utious for 
true glory might almost be justified in envying the fame of that favored 
individual, whoever he may be, whom Providence intends to make the 
instrument in establishing conmion schools throughnut this common- 
wealth. His task will be arduous. He will have many difticulties to 
encounter and many prejudices to overcome ; but his fame will exceed 
that of the great Clinton in the same proportion that mind is superior to 
matter. Whilst the one has erected a frail memorial which, like evei-y- 
thing hiuuan, must decay and perish, the other will misc a monument 
which sliall flourish in immortal youth, and endure whilst the human 
Soul shall continue to exist. Ages unborn and nations yet behind shall 
bless his memory." 

To George Wolf that honor was accorded and to 
him in all time to come can the citizens of Pennsyl- 
vania point with special pride when the inquirer 
shall seek to know by whose voice and sturdy will 
that great boon was championed and tinally won.^ 

Agitation, the love of religious not less than civil 
liberty, and the belief that general intelligence among 
the masses was essential to preserve their rights and 

2 General Washington says : "Promote, then, aa an object of primary 
importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In pro- 
portion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it 
should be enlightened." 

Mr. Jeft'eraon, in a letter to a citizen of Virginia, says: "By far the 
most important bill in our code is that for diffusing knowledge among 
the people. Xo other sure foundation can be devised for tlie preservation 
of freedom and hapi)iness. Make a crusade against ignorance and estab- 
lish and Improve the law for educating the common people ; for without 
going into the monitory history of the ancient world in all its i^uarters 
and all its periods, that of the soil on which we live and of its uccuiianta, 
indigenous and emigrants, teaches the awful lesson that no nation is per 
niitted to live in ignorance with impunity." 

ill". Bladison says : "Throughout the civilized world nations are court- 
ing the praise of fostering science and tlie useful arts, and are opening 
their eyes to the principles and blessings of representative government. 
The American pei)ple owe it to themselves and to tlie cause of free gov- 
ernment to prove by their establishments for the advancement and diffu- 
sion of knowledge that their political institutions, which are attracting 
observation from every quarter, are as favorable to the intellectual and 
moral improvement of man as they are conformable to his individual and 
social rights. What spectacle can be more edifying or more reasonable 
than that of liberty and learning, each leaning on the other for their 
mutual and surest support?" — F. li. Shnnk, State Supei-itileiideut Common 
SchooU, Report of 1840. 

3The Rev. John C. Clyde, A.M., of Xorthampton County, in his "His- 
tory of the Allen Township Presbyterian Church," relates the following : 
Rev. John Rosbrugh used to tell an anecdote connected with the history 
of the building of the academy at Bath (near Batli), which was aa 
follows ; He, with a number of other young men, wanted the advantage 
of something better than a common-school education, and they took 
measures to build an academy by subscription. He called on a Gennan 
(who lived in the neighborhood) by the name of George "Wolf for aid; 
but >Ir. Wolf refused by sjiying, " Dis eticatiun and dings make raskels." 
He refused at firet, but afterwards did help to build it. In the course of 
the conversjition Mr. Rosbrugh told him that his sons George and Philip 
would have the advantage of an education, and that his favtu'ite son 
George might become Governor sooner or later, to which lie replied : 
"Veil, den, when my George is Gobefnor, he will be queer times." The 
sequel of the matter was that George got his English education in the 
academy, and did become Governor of this State and one of the most 
illustrious of tiie line. 



EDUCx\TIONAL. 



397 



privileges hastened a departure from the old-time 
parochial or church scliools. The change in the j)ublic 
mind was slowly ett'ected, and many public men, whose 
zeal for the measure placed them in advance of public 
sentiment, were deemed "dangerously radical" and 
promptly retired to private life. Measures looking to 
a general system of common schools were introduced 
in the Legislature as early as 1820, but it was not until 
1834, as we have seen, that a law was passed and 
approved by Governor Wolf.' No act of the General 
Assembly, perhaps, ever met with a more violent and 
determined opposition than the Common School Law 
of 1834-35. The opposition was the most violent and 
persistent in the German districts, not only in our 
county, but throughout the State. This hostility was 
not inspired by a disinclination to support educationa 
institutions, but it was foreseen that the law would 
completely secularize the common schools of the land, 
and this was sincerely believed by many, and by a 
large proportion of the clergy and ministers of the 
gospel, to be inimical to the church, and hence to 
society.^ 

1 Wben the agitating divisions of the day shall have sunk into com- 
parative insignificance, and names be only repeated in connection with 
some great act of public benefaction, those of George Wolf and Joseph 
Kitner will be classed by Pennsylvania among the noblest on her long 
list ; the one for his early and manly advocacy, and the other for his well- 
timed and determined support of the Free School. Nor will the patriotism 
of the Legislature be forgotten. The proud remembrance will be cherished 
that the sessions of 1835-^6 and 1S3G-37, opposed as they were in all other 
points, agreed on the common ground of education, and only vied in the 
degree of benefit to be conferred. — Thos. H. Burrowes, Supt. Common 
SchooU. 

~ The following is a protest issued by those opposed to the establishment 
of common schools, which, in their opinion, would displace the parochial 
schools or those under the control of the various religious denominations, 
much to the detriment of the young: "To the Honorable Senate and 
House of Kepresentatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in 
General Assembly met : The Petition htnnbly sheweth. Whereas the Sub- 
Bcribei'8 have understood that there is now before the Legislature of tliia 
State a certain Bill which is proposed to be enacted into a Law, to provide 
for the Public Institution and Support of Schools, they beg leave to make 
thereupon to the Legislature the following Representation and Peti- 
tion : 

"They represent that it i;?, ami has long been, a standing Order of the 
religious Denomination with which they are connected to consider the 
Instruction of youth as a part of their religious duty ; that they accord- 
ingly have at this time a large number of Schools in the State of Penn- 
sylvania established on this Plan, in which their children and youth are 
instructed in the principles of the Christian Religion, at the same time that 
they are taught those other necessary parts of Learning to which the 
attention of youth is generally called. They moreover represent that 
this connection between the religious and literary instruction of their 
yo\ith is, in their estimation, a matter of so much importance that they 
cannot in conscience relinquish it, be the inconvenience of adhering to it 
what it may. If, therefore, the Legislature should pass a law to provide 
for schools at the general expense, the manifest consequence would be 
that the Subscribers would he obliged, while tliey support their own 
schools from a sense of duty, to contribute to the support of others in 
which they had no personal interest, and they would, in fact, be tied or 
Butfer a penalty for their religious principles, which is equally abhorrent 
to the Jflainest Principles of Equity and the spirit of our excellent consti- 
tution. The subscribers do, therefore, petition the Honorable Legisla- 
ture that no Law may be passed which shall inflict the hardship already 
Bet forth ; but that in providing for the establishment of Schools, both 
now an<l in all times to come, the Law may be so formed as to allow your 
Petitioners to pursue their own method of Instnu'tion without incon- 
venience, by introducing a Section wherein it may be enacted that when 
the number of families who by the Law may be entitled to a School shall 



This parochial or unsectarian church-school system 
had grown up with these settlements. It had been in 
vogue for more than a hundred years ; it had served 
a great and good purpose. Parents and pastors were 
unwilling to trust the training of children to those 
who were strangers to their religious creeds, and when 
it was proposed to suijplant this time-honored system 
by that of the ■'common schools," as' provided for in 
the law of 1834, the bitterest opposition was engen- 
dered. A writer^ upon this subject says : 

"He who regards the Pennsylvania Dutch, aa they are erroneously 
called, as peremptorily opposed to education wrongs them, and shows hia 
want ofajust historical appreciation of their relation to the system of 
education and civilization. Civil and religious tyranny brought them 
upon western soil, where they were solemnly promised immunity agains 
a recurrence of the same evil. With such convictions and under such 
promises made to them by Penn himself and bis coaiyutors, they came 
and organized their little Germanic conununities. It was not long, how- 
ever, before they found themselves subject to English laivs, summoned 
before English courts, convicted by English juries and sentenced in a. 
language of which they knew not a syllable ; in short, they were coerced 
into English civilization. In the matter of religion only they enjoyed 
untrammcled freedom, and this was doubly dear to tb^m because it was all 
that was left to them of what they had brought from the Fatheriand. 
Now when the foundation-stone of their religious institutions was struck 
at by an attempt to establish a 'common school,' whrch must necesarily 
supplant their parochial schools, they had reason to apprehend danger to. 
their church. 

"Hence the tenacity with which these German people held on to the 
old s}-stem and the firai opposition which the new met with in many 
places when it was first introduced." 

The following summarized historical sketch of the 
period and circumstances incident to the acceptance 
of the act of 1834-3.5, furnished by Professor Abel 
Eambo while superintendent of public schools in 
Montgomery County, will serve to show the temper 
of the iiublicmind and thedifficuhies that confronted 
the advocates of the new system : 

Whitpain. — The school law was put in operation 
after a meeting of the citizens, held May 26, 1836. 
Length of term, it is thought, was six months. Sahiry, 
twenty dollars per month. On the 2d of Mav, 1837 
a vote was had u])on the continuing or rejecting of 
the system. Result, seventy for and fifty-nine against. 
May 1, 1838, a vote by the people was had to raise 
four hundred dollars additional to keep the schools 
open a longer time. There were fourteen votes in 
favor and fifty-nine against. Opposition on the part 
of some was very bitter. The last election to continue 
or reject the system was held March 19, 1841. The 
result was eighty-nine votes in favor and fifty -five 
against. This, virtually ended the opposition to the 
free schools. The Central School has been located 
near the present site for nearly one hundred years. 
The Ellis School was first built in 1787 bv the resi 



associate together, agreeably to our present order, and so associate and 
have established a School to which all the children of those families may 
have free access for in.struction, and such familiesso associating agreeably 
to our order, shall receive the sum of assistance assigned by law to any 
other school, or else that your Petitioners and those who are similarly 
situated may be exempted from all the influence of the Law which U 
proposed to be passed, and your Petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever 
pray, &c." 
3 William H. Kain, Supt. Public Schools, York Co., Pa. 



398 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



dents of Whitpain, Norriton and Plymouth. Sandy 
Hill School was built in 1796. 

The old-fashioned wood-stoves were, used to heat 
the rooms, boys cutting the wood at noon. This can 
also be said of very many, if not all, of the town- 
shijis. These old wood-stoves have almost entirely dis- 
appeared. There may be two or three yet in use. Im- 
proved coal-stoves — "Morning Glory," base-burner, 
anti-clinker, etc., and regular patent heaters — have 
taken their place. In this township, schools were 
kept open eight or ten months, according to the pop- 
ularity of the teacher. It is said that mensuration 
and surveying, along with the lower branches, were 
taught, but at what date does not appear. The first 
school-master who resided in the district was the Rev. 
John Philip Boehm, who came to this country in 
1720 from Worms, in Cxcrmany. A parochial school 
was tauglit in the school-house at Boehm's church, 
about 1776, by Nicholas KorndofFer. 

Frederick. — The first board of directors in this 
townsliip was organized on the 18th of June, 1853. 
The length of term was three months ; salary, $18.89. 
At that time there were four schools ; now there are 
ten. 

Moreland. — The free-school system in this town- 
ship went into operation in 1845, two directors 
opposing. Next year an attempt was made to elect 
directors opposed to the free schools, but failed. Pre- 
vious to the free schools instruction was given only in 
the lower branches. 

Marlborough. — This township accej^ted the act 
in 1838, built school-houses and put the system in 
operation, and so continued up to 1842. The opposi- 
tion then became so bitter that the free schools were 
discontinued during 1842, and the subscription 
schools substituted. At this great dissatisfaction was 
manifested, as teachers had not a sufficient number of 
scholars to enable them to continue the schools during 
the term. Before the close of 1842 most of the oppo- 
sition ceased, and the district was almost unanimous in 
its reacceptance. Previous to the acceptance schools 
were kept open five months. Reading, writing, or- 
thography and arithmetic were taught, but that very 
imperfectly. 

Upper Providence. — This township accepted the act 
about 1844. Prior to 1834, in most of the schools, the 
only branches taught were orthography, reading and 
arithmetic. At a late date, in a few schools, atten- 
tion was given to grammar and geography ; at one 
mensuration, algebra, and surveying. Salary at that 
time, previous to the acceptance, was from sixty to 
seventy dollars for a term of thirteen weeks. 

Limerick. — This township accepted the act a few 
years later than Upper Providence. The primary 
branches only were taught. Term and pay about the 
same as township above-named. About 1820 one 
school afforded its scholars tlie opportunity to study 
geography, grammar, mensuration and surveying. ' 

New Hanover. — Common schools liere went into 



operation in 1852. Some of the schools previously 
afforded their scholars the opportunity to study gram- 
mar and geography. In 1755 an English school was 
founded at Swamp, and scholars from .surrounding 
country flocked to it to secure an English education. 

Pottagrove. — In early times the best schools were in 
Pottstown, Grosstown and at Crooked Hill. 

Worcester. — In 1851 the first public school was 
opened, and that under protest, by a board of direc- 
tors apjiointed by the court, the elected directors 
refusing to act. About this time a certain individual 
interested himself in behalf of the good peojde of 
this and other townships, including Perkiomen and 
Towamensing, promising, if they would make up three 
hundred dollars he would go to Harrisburg, and use 
his influence to have a special law i>assed exempting 
these townships from the operations of the common- 
school act. The money was raised and the agent 
started on his mission. The three hundred dollars 
failed to pass the desired exempting act. More 
money was demanded by the agent, but it was confi- 
dently surmised that the money already furnished 
was sjient in a manner in nowise calculated to pass 
exempting acts. No more money was sent. About 
the same time, there was another individual of quite a 
different character : one of the heaviest tax-payers, 
having no children to send to school, worked zeal- 
ously in persuading the jieople to accept the act in 
good faith. Opposition now began to grow fainter, as 
the advantages of the law became more manifest, until 
opposition entirely ceased and now there are no districts 
more in love with the free schools than these same 
townships. It miglit be mentioned yet that a short 
time after the passage of the free-school act a legis- 
lator happening at a public school meeting in one of 
the above townshijis, was so set upon by the people, 
with such abusive language and violent threats, that 
he beat a hasty retreat ; and all this because he voted 
for the passage of the act. Business men, too, were 
threatened with the loss of patronage if they would 
not oppose the free schools. But all this has changed, 
and scarcely a spark of opposition remains, excepting 
liere and there, as self-interest or other like motives 
may urge. Salary first few years was twenty dollars 
per month of twenty-six days. Previous to this 
each scholar i)aid two dollars for seventy-two days. 

Montgomery. — The common schools in this town- 
ship went into operation about 1840; whether with 
or without opposition does not appear. 

Cheltenham. — This township accepted the act March 
16, 1838, by a vote of fifty-six to forty. In the be- 
ginning four hundred and fifty dollars were raised 
by tax to keeii the schools open a part of the year 
only to introduce the system. A part was paid by 
subscription. Up to 1842 there was but one school- 
house in the township. At this time six hundred and 
ninety dollars were appropriated to build two new 
houses and repair the old one. Here again resort was 
had to subscription. Many children of this township 



EDUCATIONAL. 



399 



were sent across the lines to Springfield and Phila- 
ik-lphia schools there being four schools, quite conve- 
nient. They also sent a goodly number to a Friends' 
School in Abington, which at that time was considered 
quite a good school. The branches then taught in 
the common schools were only the ordinary or lower 
ones. There were then two schools kept in pi'ivute 
families part of the time. 

Franconia. — Here the act went into operation in 
1851. Previous to the free schools the schools were 
kept open seventy -two days each year. The better 
■qualified teachers kept them open five months. 

Lower Merion. — This township was early and earn- 
estly engaged in the eftbrt to establisli common schools, 
in accordance with the requirements of the common- 
school act. On the 10th of August, 18.35, it was 
recommended by the proper authorities that two 
thousand six» hundred and seventy-five dollars be 
raised by tax for the support of the schools. This 
was approved by a vote of the citizens ; the school- 
fund then was $3136.72. All necessary arrangements 
were then made by the directors to open the schools, 
which was done November 16, 1835. From the be- 
ginning Lower Merion has supplied her schools with 
books, paper and all else necessary for the advance- 
ment of the scholars in their varied studies. Under 
the old system the schools were kept open the greater 
part of the year, and with the usual liranches of a good 
English education. 

Upper Hanover. — Here, as probably in nearly all 
the townships or territory now included within the 
limits of IMontgomery County, the parochial system 
was the prevailing order. Lutherans, German Re- 
formed, Mennonites and Schwenckfeldians had their 
several schools. The Catholics had a school across 
the line, in Berks, and, like the Protestants, sent 
their children to their own school. 

The school-house in the southwestern jiart of the 
township was built on land presented by a Mr. 
Smith, the deeds reading after this manner: "for the 
iLse of such Lutherans and Calvinists as live in the 
vicinity and townships of LTpper Hanover, Marl- 
borough and Frederick." The first English school 
was established in the spring of 1835 in an old 
carpenter-shop. The following year it was taken 
into a new house, erected for that purpose. In this 
township, as in others, the teacher served in the 
capacity also of organist. Mention of one school 
may be here made, which maj- serve as a picture of 
others in other townshijis. The house is located at 
what is known as the Six-Cornered Church. Then, 
as now, teachers sometimes left their profession for 
other and more remunerative callings. One of the 
earliest who "kept school" at this place was a cer- 
tain Dominie Lange, a German, who, it is said, left 
teaching and sought to clear the brain of his fel- 
low-citizens by vending the famous " Schneeberger 
Schnupftubach." His successor, a Mr. Beysher, held 
the position of teacher and organist forty-two years, 



scholars to the number of eighty coming, some of 
them, a di.stance of five miles. It is reported that 
scholars would arrive in the morning before dawn. 
Five recitations were given each pupil. Text-books 
were "Das A, B, C Buck," " Der Psalter," " Das Neue 
Testament," and at a later period, it is said, perhaf)s in 
sport, but more likely in truth, " Der Bauer n Freund," 
a German newspaper of nuich influence. This faith- 
ful laborer closed his earthly career in his seventy- 
ninth year, "coming to his grave in full age, like a 
shock of corn cometh in his season." 

To name separately every township in the county 
and particularize according to the foregoing would 
make the report too lengthy. Some of the matter in 
hand is conflicting as to fact and date. A good deal, 
too, that transpired in the tar past had better be left 
to rest in quiet as not subserving anj- good purpose. 
Whatever was urged in opposition then, doubtless, 
was so done with pure convictions of duty and right, 
A few thoughts and references in a general way may 
he allowed. That the opposition at first to the 
acceptance of the act was strong is evident from the 
fact that in joint convention with the county com- 
missioners, at Norristown, all but one were opposed 
to the system, twenty-seven of the thirty-two districts 
being represented. But as men began to discuss the 
matter and look more closely into the advantages of 
a free-school system, the objections, one by one, 
yielded to a better sentiment. And now that one 
delegate, among the twenty-seven, who stood alone in 
favor of the law, says, " It gives me great pleasure to 
have witnessed the change in sentiment that has 
been effected, and to see the attention that is now 
given to education in all the districts of the 
county." 

In reviewing the history of the introduction of the 
common-school system, we are impressed not less 
with the wisdom of the law than with the adminis- 
trative sagacity of the men and measures relied upon 
to secure its adoption by those districts whose repre- 
sentative people were hostile to its provisions. The 
imiiortance of the measure rose above party consid- 
erations, and was championed alike by Governors 
Wolf and Ritner from 1829 to 1838, as it has been 
since by every executive, no matter by what political 
party elected. Subsequent to 1836 the State appro- 
priations were made to the school districts, and while 
the non-accepting districts could not avail themselves 
of the fund without levying a school tax to increase 
the amount under the jirovisious of the law, the 
amount as it increased year after year was still placed 
to the credit of such districts until it became a power- 
ful aid in the hands of those friendly to the project 
to force the issue at elections held for the purpose of 
determining the que.stion of " school " or "no school." 
The following table, taken from the report of Francis 
R. Shuuk, then Secretary of State and superinten- 
dent of public schools under Governor David R. Por- 
ter, will be read with interest : 



400 



HISTORY OF 3I02s'TGOMERY COUNTY. 



Perkiomen $2,288 20 

Provideuce, Upper. . . . 3,121 UO 

Siill'urJ, Low>;r l,74o 00 

Salford, Ipper 2,130 SO 

Upper Dublin 2..t32 iO 

Upper Hauover 2,323 60 

Worcester 1,9119 40 



Korriton not reported. 

Plymouth 8 months. 

Po'ttstown 5V^ " 

Providence, Lower. . 5 " 

Springfield 4 " 

Whitpain 3J^ " 

MTjiteniat^h. . . . • 7 *' 



Douglas SI ,521 20 

Franconia l,7ol (V.) 

Frederick l.;W« iXl 

Hatfield 1,4*7 20 

Horsham 7,014 W 

Limerick 2,405 20 

Moreland 3.491 60 

Sew Hanover 2,280 20 

Here was the sum of §33,087.00 waiting to be 
handed over to fifteen school districts in Montgomery 
County. Surrounding and adjoining districts had 
accepted the law and the appropriations under it. The 
children of the rich and poor were enjoying new 
advantages, and the question why all districts should 
not permit the State to share the burden of edu- 
cating their children became diflBcult to answer, 
especially since all had to contribute their share of 
State tax, from which the school appropriations were 
made to the district. In the year 1842 the county 
by districts was equally divided upon the question of 
accepting the provisions of the school law, as will be 
seen by the foregoing and following tables : 

DISTRICTS ACCEPTING, WITH MTMBER OF MONTHS T.\UGHT. 

Abington not reported. 

Cheltenham 9 months. 

Guynedd 9 '" 

Marlborough not reported. 

Merlon, Lower ... 12 months. 
Merion, Upper' ... 11 " 
Montgomery .... " 
Norristown 12 " 

Slowly but surely prejudice yielded to the light of 
intelligence and by 18.53 the last district accepted 
the inevitable, and Montgomery County placed her- 
self before the country in an attitude that was long 
and ardently desired by her public-spirited citizens. 

A period of twenty years had elapsed since the 
passage of the law creating a common-school system ; 
it was by 1854 an acknowledged institution, and 
measures were promptly inaugurated to promote its 
further efficiency. By an act of Assembly, approved 
May 8, 1854, the school directors of the several 
counties of the State were recjuired to select county 
superintendents, whose duties were carefully defined, 
among which were the examination of all teachers, 
periodical visitations to all the schools, and the 
making of annual reports to the State superin- 
tendent. Three years later, by a further act of 
Assembly approved April 18, 1857, the commoji- 
school system was made a separate department, and 
the office of State superintendent was created, the 
incumbent to be appointed by the Governor for the 
period of three years. The creation of the office of 
county superintendent was upon the recommendation 
of Governor William Bigler, and the establishment of 
common schools as a department in the public affairs 
of the commonwealth, with a State superintendent 
in charge, was largely the work of Governor James 
Pollock, who vied with his immediate predecessor in 
well-concerted efforts to promote the educational 
interest of all classes. 

County Institutes. — The earliest reference we find 

> Upper Merion reported its schools open twelve months, 1838. 



to the organization of teachers in the county is ia 
1845, in the first annual report of Hon. E. L. Acker, 
then superintendent of our public schools. As earl)' 
as 1837 the importance of this subject was urged upon 
the teachers by the State superintendent- in his 
annual report, as also the establishment of State 
institutions for training teachers. Mr. Acker says: 
" The teachers of the county during the past year, it 
is believed, attended, as a general thing, very faith- 
fully to their duties. There is a good feeling existing 
among them and all seem to feel a greater interest 
in their vocation. During the year a county associa- 
tion has been organized and is now in successful 
operation. Several local associations have also been 
formed throughout the county. During the present 
year an effort will be made to establish them more 
generally. All these are indications that the schools 
are gradually assuming a very fair and healthful 
position in the county, and are making substantial 
progress. During the present year, up to June 1, 
1885, permanent certificates have been granted to 
one hundred and two, provisional certificates to one 
hundred and ninety. There have also been granted, 
from the 1st of June up to the present time August 
10th, permanent certificates to seven and provisional 
to forty-eight. 

The pioneers in this work of self-culture were 
persistent in their efforts, and the public opinion, 
which subsequently crystalized in a law ' for the sup- 



2 Report of Thomas H. Burruwes, secretary of the commonwealth, 
1837. 

3*'CLX. That the county superintendent of each county in this Com- 
monwealth is hereby required and authorized, once in each year, at such 
time and place as he or a properly authorized committee of teachers act- 
ing with him, may deem most convenient, to call upon and invite the 
teachers of the common schools and other institutions of learning in hia 
county to assemble together and organize themselves into a teachers' in- 
stitute, to be devoted to the improvement of teachers in the science and art 
of e<hication, to continue in session at least five days, including a half.day 
for going to and a half-day for returning from the place of meeting of the 
said institute, and to lie presided over by the county superintendent or 
by some one designated by him, and be subject in its general manage- 
ment to his control. 

*'CLXI. That each county superintendent, upon the assembling of the 
teachers' institute of his county, shall cause a roll of members to be pre- 
pared, which roll shall be called at le,ast twice every day during the ses- 
sion of the institute, and all .ibsentees to be carefully marked, and from 
which, upon adjourament of the institute, he i^liall ascertain the e\act 
numlter of teachers who were in attendance, and the length of time each 
attended ; and upon the presentation of a certificate at the close of the ses- 
sion of each annual institilte, setting forth these facts and signed by the 
county superintendent, to the treasurer of the proper county, he is hereby 
authorized and re«iuired to pay immediately, out of any money in the 
county treasury not otherwise appropriated, to the county superintend- 
ent, one dollar for every three days spent by teachers of the county in at- 
tendance at the institute for that year, or as much of it as may be needed, 
such money to be expended by the county superintendent in procuring 
the services of lecturers and instructors for the institute, and in provid- 
ing the neccessary app.aratU8 books, and stationery for carrying on ita 
work : Prorided, That the amount which may be drawn from the county 
treasury shall in no case be more than two hundred dollars, but may 
in all cases be sixty dollars, if it shall appear from the vouchers pre- 
sented by the county superintendent to the county auditors, as required 
by the fourth section of this act, that this sum has been actually ex- 
pended for the purposes herein specified : Prorided further^ That all 
boards of directors may allow the teachers in their employ the privilege 



EDUCATIONAL. 



401 



port and encouragement of county institute;* was 
laro"elv due to their foresight and sagacity. Since ! 
the passage of the act of 18(37, the county institute 
is a recognized and essential part of the common- 
school svstem. Its annual sessions are of rare profes- 
sional interest and advantage to the teachers, and 
deservedly popular among the friends of education. 
Thev have been commended by all tbe past superin- 
tendents, among whom none have more practically 
epitomized their utility and popularity than Mr. R. 
F. Hotlecker in his annual report as county superin- 
tendent for the year 1882, — 

*'The countj* institute was beM at Xorristown, l»egianiiig October 30, 
1.S81, and contiuucnl five days. There was a larger attendance of teachenn 
than at any previous meeting of tbe kind in the county, and much inter- 
est was manifested by both teachers and people in the proieedings. Hon. 
E. E. Higbee, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, wa^ with us 
part of two days, and delivered an earnest address to an audience of not 
less than one tboirtkU"! persons, among whom were many directors. The 
insinictors from abroad— Professor E. V. De Graff, Professor A. X. Raub, 
Professor S. D. HiUnian, Professor A. R. Byerly, Professor G. M. Phinipd 
and Mrs. Anna Randall Diehl — elicited the closest attention, and their 
work is bearing fniit. Jlaiiy of the teachers have adopted some of the 
methods pointed out to theiu, and are teaching more successfully than 
ever before. Teachers seem to feel the importance of teachers meeting 
and listening to and learning from eminent educators. Five local insti- 
tutes were held during the year. They were largely attended by the 
people and directors residing in diSerent localities. At these meetings 
seventy-four teachers brought chisses with them, and gave class^rills. 
Live educational topics were discussed by teachers, directors and citizens. 
We have reason to believe these institutes are doing an excellent work. 
The friction of mind against mind arouses enthusiasm among teachers 
and pupils. Directors and people have the opportunity to draw compari- 
sons between good and pi»or teachiog, and the result is a desire for live 
teachers. 

*'From our post of observation the future looks cheerful. The pn>- 
gress of the past bids bojie for the future. Directors have manifested a 
great deal of interest in the schools, and are l>eginning to realize more 
forcibly tbe need of good teachers : hence local prejudice scddom now 
installs poor teachers, and considerable anxiety is often manife^ed to se- 
cure the best teaching talent. Closer super\ision by an efficient |>er¥on 
is much needed in our ungraded schools, and we trust the directors will 
soon see the necessity of it, and pn»vide for it to some degree, at least. 
Free text-books are supplied in fifteen districts, with a fair prospect that 
more will be added to the number the coming year. Annual examina- 
tions of pupils, though almo<st unknown in rural districts four years ago, 
now meet with great favor. M"e hope the day is not lar distant when 
the highest classes of all the schcx>ls in a township will be esamineti to- 
gether, under the 3Ui>ervi8ion of a competent committee, and such marks 
of honor conferred upon successful scholarship as will cause just and 
pleasant competition This will arouse enthusiasm among pupils 
throughout the entire year, and, with a tangible object before them 

of attending such institutes without making any deductions from their 
salaries, and that any teacher wlio absents himself fix>m the institute of 
his county without a gowi reas^m may have his want of professional spirit 
and zeal indicated by a lower mark on his certificate in the practice of 
teaching than he wuuld otherwise have received. 

"CLXII. That each county superintendent who may draw money 
from the county treasury for the purposes named in this act shall file his 
account of all expenditures under the act in the office of the county 
treasury, with vouchei-s for the same, which shall be examined bv the 
auditors of the county in like manner as other county expendittires, and 
any misapplication of funds shall be punished in the same manner as col- 
lectors of State and county taxes for like offenses ai'e now punished. 

" CLXm. That all county superintendents, upon the adjournment of 
the teachers' institutes held in their respective counties, are hereby re- 
quired to report to the Superintendent of Common Schools thenuail>er of 
teachers in attendance, tbe names of the lecturers or instructors who offi- 
ciated, the subjects upon which the instruction was given, and the 
degree of popular interest awakeued by the proceedings.'" — P. i,., 1867, 
p. 6. 

26 



the work is now likely to be thorough, and the boml of sympathy be- 
tween teacher and pupil greater."* 

At the institute above described the following sta- 
tistics were reported: Xumber of days continued, 5; 
whole number of actual members, 353; average num- 
ber of actual members, 316; whole number employed 
in common schools of county, 353; number of school 
directors present, 65; average of spectators present, 
71)0; number of instructors and lecturers present, 10; 
amount received from county treasurer, §200; amount 
received from members, $250 ; amount received from 
other sources, S514.o0; amount paid instructors and 
lecturers, $508.50; amount paid for other expenses, 
^'jO.34; deficit, W.34. 

; It must always be a subject of just pride to know that 
Montgomery County has been, and is at present, 
among the foremost districts of the State in providing 
for the education of its }-outh. As we have seen, the 
earliest settlers brought their school-masters with 
them. The great founder of the province evinced a 
deep, early and continued solicitude for the education 
of all classes, and especially the poor. Later the 
Friends and the evangelical people of all denomina- 
tions built church and school-house side by side. The 
experience of the first quarter of a century of the com- 
monwealth and the republic demonstrated that the 
safety and perpetuity of self-government depended 
upon the general intelligence and virtue of the whole 
people. " The intelligence of the people constitutes 
one of the main pillars of our government, and the 
hope of the patriot must rest on enlightened public 
morality and virtue. The common school should be 
the nursery of such virtue, morality and patriotism. 
Treated as equals, forming friendships which end only 
with life, pursuing the same studies, and receiving in- 
structions from those whom they love and respect, 
children representing extremes of society meet in the 
same to be promoted or degraded according to their 
merits, without reference to their social position or 
antecedents, and the schools thus become fountains 
of pure republican sentiment. When the common- 
school system of Pennsylvania shall have unfolded its 

I vast powers, when a corps of trained teachers to sup- 
ply all its demands shall have taken the field, when 



* There is a marked contrast between the examinations of the teacher 
underthe present laws and usages and those prior to the Act of 1834, as 
the following illustrations of ** teachers' examinations " fifty years ago 
will abundantly show. At an examination held in ISol the examiner, 
aftergiving some problems in the more elementary portion of arithmetic, 
propounded the following: "What is one-half of three levies?" The ap- 
plicant became indignant and said : " Xo, I will not be examined in frac- 
tions. Tt is of no use. I have been teaching school now for three years 
and have never had a scholar go through fractions, and it is of no use." 
The examiner then struck upon a better customer. He propounded to 
him a problem in "single rule of three," which the applicant solved 
very readily, whereupon an elated director raised himself up from his 

lazy posture, and exploded in tbe following exclamation ; " D n him ; 

Give him another : " It was then moved by one of the members of the 
board that they take recess to take a drink. They did take a recess, did 
go to the hotel ckise by and did all take drink, after which they resumed 
tbe examination. — Penna/lvania School Report^ 1S7T. 



402 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY. 



text-liooksused in the schools shall be wisclj' selected, 
and the school-house built on the most approved 
model ; when its protection and progress shall be the 
first object of the government, then will all its mighty 
agencies to do good be felt, the public mind reformed 
and enlightened, labor elevated, patriotism purified, 
our republican form of government fixed on an im- 
mutable basis, and the people crowned with its bene- 
fits and blessings." ' 

At the time of the passage of the common-school 
law, in 1834, Montgomery County contained thirty- 
two school districts. In that year one district ac- 
cepted its provisions ; in 1835, two districts ; and in 
183(J, nine districts. The following table will give 
an accurate idea of the status of the common schools 
for the year 183G : 



370, the number of scholars being 18,f310. Average 
number of months taught was 7.99, at a total expendi- 
ture for all purposes of $175,895.24. 

It is a gratifying fact that every year since 1838 
the average number of months taught in the schools 
of Montgomery County has exceeded that of the 
State. The highest average for the State was for the 
year 1883, it being 6.62, while that of Montgomery 
County was 7.99. There were only four counties in 
the State having a higher average than Montgomery, 
viz.: Allegheny, 8.33 ; Dauphin, 9.46 ; Lackawanna, 
8.50 ; Schuylkill, 8.06. 

Including Philadelphia, with her 2139 schools, all 
open for ten mo nths, it raises the average time taught 
in the State to 7,02, which still falls below the aver- 
age period taught in Montgomery County. The 



MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Districts which have 


•eceived 
resent 
liistricts 
rted. 


No. of 
schools. 


No. of 
teacberf). 


No. of 
scholars. 


^2 = 


From thv 
State appropria- 
tion for 


B 
E 


From district. 


i 


Average salaries 
of teachers. 


ill 


i 


appropriatiniiB nt p 


c 
o 
S 

B 

3 


T3 

« 

O 

•a 
a 


•3 
S 


6 
"3 

1 


, 






s..- 


•chool year, ISliH, ami 
which have repo 




.2 
a 
c 


1838-37. 


Former 
yeare. 


Male. 


Female. 


Is 




Borougli Norrietowii .... 


e 

5 

"aj 

7 
6 


' l' 

• ■ 


S 

7 

7 
6 


3 

1 


117 
269 

'70 
173 
155 


244 

'70 
112 
139 


• 3 
12 

'4' 
'4' 


J246 30 
423 40 
196 81 
124 30 
180 G2 
319 16 
192 92 


?S0 al 
2462 50 


3103 ill 
334 59 


S2043' 85 




S28 88 
Not av 


SIO 88 
eraged. 


$21 25 
1331) 53 


$235 00 
871 81 


Lower Providence 

Montgomery 

Norriton 




















65 00 


281 46 


' 800 00 
623 07 


S'lo' 51 


24 00 
20 00 
20 Oil 


.... 


169 40 


54 64 
1.52 37 


Whitpain 




68 25 


309 65 




116 31 


105 81 



As early as 1855, two years after every district had 
accepted the provisions of the law of 1836, the average 
number of months taught throughout the county was 
seven. The average salary of male teachers was $28.75 
per month, and that of females $21.50 per month. The 
number of schools had increased to 223, taught by 180 
male, and 49 female teachers. The number of scholars 
in attendance was 16,267, averaging 79 scholars 
to each school, the cost of tuition per month for 
each pupil being 58 cents. 

School tax levied for 1855 S52,450 89 

State appropriation 5,372 31 



Total 857,823 20 

Under the superintendency of Hon. E. L. Acker, 
Rev. Robert Cruikshank and Prof. Abel Rambo the 
work of perfecting and extending the system was 
successfully prosecuted. Twenty-seven years later, 
1877, the number of schools had increased to 333, 
the average number of months taught was 7.85, 188 
male and 151 female teachers were employed at an 
average salary of $46.09 per month for the former 
and $36.31 for the latter. The number of scholars for 
1877 was 19,346, total expenditures for common- 
school purposes was $180,303.45. Under the present 
administration of Prof. R. F. Hoffecker, and for the 
year 1883, the number of schools has increased to 



1 Andrew C Curtin, secretary of commonwealth and superintendent of 
public schools, 1855. 



average time taught in the five highest counties 
in the State for 1883, is 8.46 months. The average 
tax levied for the same year is 4.61 mills, being 2.43 
mills in excess of the total tax levied in Montgomery 
County for the year 1883. Montgomery County con- 
tains 248 school-houses, all built of stone and brick, 
no frame or log building. A few contrasts with New 
York, the only State in the Union surpassing ours in 
numbers, will serve to illustrate theproficiency of the 
school system in our State. The population of New 
York is 800,000 in excess of Pennsylvania by census of 
1880 : 

New York has schools . . . ." 18,615 

Pennsylvania lias schools .... 18,616 

New York has school buildings 11,927 

Pennsylvania has school buildings 12,857 

New York has school sittings 763,817 

Pennsylvania has school sittings 961,074 

New York — value of school property §31,235,401 

Pennsylvania — value of school property . . . 325,919,397 
New York — whole number of scholars .... 1,027,938 
Pennsylvania — whole number of scholars . . . 950,300 
New York— average number in daily attendance 551,958 
Pennsylvania— average number in daily atten- 
dance 022,351 

These comparisons might be extended until the 
common-school system of the whole country would be 
brought into review, and perhaps with advantage to 
those seeking knowledge upon this subject, but space 
forbids. It has been thoughtfully observed that " for 
augmenting the aggregate of intelligence and mental 
power in any community, the grandest instrumentality 
ever yet devised is the institution of common schools. 
The common school realizes all the facts, or fables, 



EDUCATIONAL. 



403 



whichever they may be, of the divining rod. It trie.s 
its experiments over the whole surface of society and 
wherever a buried fountain of genius is flowing in the 
darkness below, it brings it above and pours out its 
waters to fertilize the earth." 

The average rate of tax levied in the State in 1883 for 
school purposes was 5,65 mills ; that of Montgomery 
County was 2.18. Contrasted with the rate of tax 
levied in the above four leading counties, she still 
stands in the most favorable light, — Allegheny, 2.85 
mills ; Dauphin, 9.07 ; Schuylkill, 6.07 ; Montgom- 
ery, 2.18. 

The State superintendent's report for Montgomery 
County, for 1883, shows the whole number of schools 
to be 370.' Average number of months taught 7.99 ; 
number of male teachers, 171 ; number of female 
teachers, 200 ; number of male scholars, 9711 ; num- 
ber of female scholars, 8899. Average number at- 
tending school, 11,816 ; average per cent, of attend- 
ance, 80. Total amount of tax levied for school and 
building purposes, $175,895.24. 

Washing'ton Hall CoUegiate Institute is located 
in the village of Tnipi)e, Montgomery Co., Pa., on the 
turnpike road leading from Philadelphia to Reading, 
twenty-five miles from the former and tw-enty-six from 
the latter, five miles from Phoenixville, two from 
Collegeville, a station on Perkiomen Railroad. 

This school was established in the year 1830 by 
Henry Prizer, in whose charge it remained until 1838. 
Henry S. Rodenbough succeeded him and had charge 
of it till 1845. A company then purchased the prop- 
erty, and continued the school by electing principals. 
The stockholders in 1838 disposed of the old hall, and 
the present jirincipal then erected a large and commo- 
dious brick building, in which the school is now kept. 
In planning this building the comfort and health of 
the students were duly considered, and in consequence 
the rooms are large and well ventilated. This, with 
the healthful climate, the beautiful scenery of the 
neighborhood and the quietness of the village, renders 
it quite a desirable place for those who wish to pursue 
their studies with success and advantage. 

Principals of the school from the time it com- 
menced : Henry Prizer, commenced March 7, 1830, 
died November 15, 1838 ; Rev. Henry S. Rodenbough, 
chosen November 20,1838, resigned April 1, 1846; 
Rev. A. J. M. Hudson, A.M., chosen April 4, 1845, 
resigned October 10, 1846; Abel Rambo, A.M., chosen 
August 4, 1845, resigned October 10, 1846; John 
Sandt, A.M., M.D., chosen October 12, 1846, resigned 
June 18, 1847; Jos. W. Hunsicker, A.M., chosen 
June 18, 1847, resigned March 31, 1849; Abel Rambo, 
A.M., chosen April 2, 1849. 

Professor Rambo has been in charge of the institute 
from that date to the present time. As early as 1850 

' For the year 1883 thirty of these buildings were reported unfit for 
use, and thirty-three badly ventilated. Twenty-four rooms contain fur- 
niture reported as injurious. There are flfty-four log school-houses still 
in the State, none, however, remaining in Montgomery County. 



he gave special attention to preparing students for 
the duty of teaching in the common schools of Mont- 
gomery and adjoining counties. Although at the 
head of an academical institute, he always manifested 
a warm interest in the education of the masses, and 
in recognition of his services in this behalf he was 
elected superintendent of the common schools of the 
county in 1863, and served till 1878. 

The institute, under the direction of Professor 
Rambo, has enjoyed a deservedly high reputation 
for its attention to vocal and instrumental music. 
The Trappe has always been noted for its choristers. 
Its church choirs have for many years past been and 
still are amongst the best in the county, and the vocal 
and instrumental music rendered at the literary ex- 
ercises of its schools, academies and neighboring 
colleges has always been of a choice character, exhib- 
iting taste and culture. It has been customary for 
many years past for this institute to give an annual 
entertainment of vocal and instrumental music. The 
music performed on these occasions is chiefly oratorios 
and cantatas by the best composers. The following 
oratorios have frequently been performed : The ora- 
torio of "Abraham and Ishmael," of "Daniel," of 
"Absalom," and "The Messiah;" the cantatas of 
" The Pilgrim Fathers," " The Storm King," " Burn- 
ing Ship," "Settlement of Jamestown," "The Hay- 
makers," " The Creation," Haydn's " Third Mass," 
" IJelshazzar's Feast," " Esther," "The Transient and 
the Eternal," De Monti's " Mass," " Moses in Egypt," 
"St. Cecilia's Day," oratorio of "David" and Mo- 
zart's " Twelfth Mass." Besides these, many popular 
overtures have beeu performed, and also choice selec- 
tions from the most popular operas. These concerts 
arelargely attended, and are anticipated with manifest 
interest by the intelligent and apjireciative residents 
of the Trappe, Freeland, Collegeville and surrounding 
country. 

Students in this institution have prepared for and 
have entered nine different colleges from freshman 
up to sophomore and junior advanced. Many students 
from this institution occupy high and honorable posi- 
tions in life. Fifty-six have received the degree of 
M.D., seventeen have been licensed to preach the 
gospel, thirty-nine are graduates of college, having 
recSived the degree of A.B. ; all of these, excepting 
those who graduated since 1873, have been honored 
with the degree of A.M., by their respective Alma 
Maters. 

Treemount Seminary, Norristown, Pa.— This 
academical institution was founded in the year 
1844 by the Rev. Samuel Aaron, A.M. In times of 
prosperity and periods of financial depression, and 
through consecutive years of war its doors have been 
open and its waiting teachers have been in place to 
receive, guide and instruct the hundreds and thousands 
of young men of Montgomery County, and many others 
from all parts of the country, who sought its privi- 
leges, opportunities and advantages. Its founder was 



404 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



justly esteemed, among the eminently ijualitied men of 
his day, for his ability to impart knowledge to students, 
govern them and to inspire them with an early and 
vivid coneeption of the responsible duties of manhood. 
Mr. Aaron first settled in Norristown in 1S41 as the 
pastor of the Baptist Church, and, in addition to the 
duties of this office, he opened a select school in the 
mansion-house formerly owned by the Hon. Burd 
Wilson, on the present site of Oakland Female 
Seminary. He was subsequently induced to transfer 
his school to the Norristown Academy, where he con- 
ducted the same until 1844, when he built Treeniount 
Seminary and occupied it. His original announce- 
ment discloses the carlv character of the iustitu- 



Tliere was nothing luxurious in the original accom- 
modations of Treemount. "Good beds, spacious and 
well-ventilated bed-rooms ; plenty of plain, substantial 
food ; four commodious school nxmis, with black- 
boards, maps and all needful fixtures. Excellent 
drinking-water, and pure rain-water under cover for 
washing. Students can enjoy an equal share of 
pleasant fruits, and other delicacies that come to hand, 
and are all made to feel as much at home as jiossible. 
The government is intended to be reasonable, ajid 
even kind, but inflexibly firm. Students are never 
permitted to saunter about the town. Taverns and 
low shops must be especially shunned. Certain de- 
cent cnnfectioneries pointed out by the teachers may 




REV. SAMUEL AARON. 



tion ; "Instruction in Sjielling, Reading, Writing, 
Phonography, English Composition, English Gram- 
mar, Elocution, Rhetoric and Logic; in the reading, 
writing and speaking of the Latin, Greek, French, 
German and several other languages ; in Geography, 
the use of Globes and the rudiments of Drawing; in 
Arithmetic, Book-keeping and practical Accountant- 
ship; in Algebra and the higher Analysis, and their 
various applications; in Geometry, Plane, Solid, Ana- 
lytical, and in its applications to Surveying, Mensura- 
tion, Navigation, Engineering and Astronomy; in 
Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, with the aid of 
good Apparatus. To Chemistry, especially, much 
attention will be paid, because of its vast importance 
to Agriculture and the most useful arts." 



be occasionally visited. The deportment of teacher 
and pupil is designed to be regulated by the moral 
code of the New Testament as regards others : ' Do 
to them as you would they should do to you.' With 
regard to yourself, cultivate health, truth, purity of 
mind, and all extern.al decencies." The cost " for in- 
struction, board, lodging, washing, mending, fuel, 
lights, does not exceed $75 for five months, one-half 
payable in advance." Mr. Aaron's administration 
was popular, the average annual attendance being 
one hundred and ninety pupils from 1844 to 1857. As 
an educator he left a lasting impress of his individ- 
uality upon his scholars, and all of the young men 
who studied under him acknowledge his conscien- 
tiousness as a teacher. Financial embarrassments 



EDUCATIONAL. 



405 



overwhelmed him in tlie years of 1857-58, with hun- 
dreds of others, resulting from luil)ilities disconnected 
with the institution he had founded and fostered, and 
he was forced to yield possession of Treemount to 
hifl creditors.^ 

Consequent ujion this misfortune Treemount was 
unused for the purposes intended from 1858 until 
April, 1861, when it was leased by Professor John W. 
Loch, who transferred the De Kalb Street Institute 
there, since which time he has successfully conducted 
it. He bought the property in 1866. Professor Loch 
was warmly attached to Treemount, having been 
identified with it as vice-principal and teacher of 
mathematics for many years during Mr. Aaron's ad- 
ministration. The following, from the pen of his 
l)i()graplier, p<»intedly and truthfully describes the 
institution and its principal, under whose auspices it 
has come into de- 
served prominence: 

"Ab soon as the gloom 
and uncertainty of the war 
upon whicli we were then 
entering had measurably 
jmssed, Mr. Loch brought 
up the school to its former 
scale of prosperity. In 1873 
he greatly improved the 
buildings by pulling down 
a frame connecting-struc- 
ture in the centre, and 
erycting instead a solid one 
of brick, rough cast, seventy 
feet in length, five stories 
high, and surmounted witli 
a cupola. The school build- 
ings now consist of an miia- 
niental centre and tuu 
«iiiK^, extending in tin- 
whole two hundred feet. 
The wings were erected by 
5Ir. Aaron, one in 1844 and 
the other in IS.'i-t. The loca- 
tiort of this seminary is one 
of the tinest in Pennsyl- 
vania, being sitiuited on an 

eminenre overlooking the town and the Schuylkill, and is surrounded 
with shade and fruit-trees. About twelve acres of land are attached to 

1 "In 1857 Norristown fell under a commercial revulsion that wrecked 
very many of its strongest men. Mr, Aaron had given indoi-sements for 
friends, whose failure carried him down with them; so in Septembei-, 
1859, he removed to take charge of the Baptist Church in Mount Holly, 
N. J., and, in connection with his son, Charles E. Aaron, A.M., to 
open Mount Holly Institute, a seminary similar to the one closed in Nor- 
ristown. To show how the people of this locality regarded his lailinv 
and abandonment of Treemount, we transcribe from the Norrintown lie- 
publican, of September 3d of that year, the following editorial : 

" It is not often that the departure of an individual suggests so many 
interesting reflections as does that of the Rev. Samuel Aaron, whose 
family left our borough on last Wednesday for Mount Holly, N. J. 

" For nearly twenty years Mr. .\aron's laboi-s and influence have been 
intimately connected with every improvement of a moral or social nature 
that has occvipied the attention of our people. During that titne no 
scheme for the elevation of society or the i>ublic improvement of the 
town and county has wanted his indorsement or co-openition ; and no 
one who has had a plea of real charity to prefer, or enterprise of benevo- 
lence to inaugurate, waj> ever turned empty away from liis door. In re- 
ligious matters he has been the pack-hoi-se of the community, always 
depended upon to till other people's forfeited engagements, or make 
speeches impromptu at anniversaries, — in all ciises gratuitously, of 
course. Unselfishness, excess of charity and benevolence combined, 
prevented his acquisition of wealth, for no one in the community has 
worked harder tbiin be. .Tudged by the true stjtndard of htunan effort, 
his labors among us have been abnndantlyA'Hice,'c/n'. for wi- doubt if any , 



it. The grade of the seminary is only inferior in rank to our leading- 
colleges, and the annual catalogue usually numbers over a hundred 
pujiils from all parts of the Union, with foreign patronage from the 
Canadas, West Indies and South America. 

"Inl8C8 the Uuivei-sity of Pennsylvania conferred on Mr. Loch thg 
honorary degree of Masterof Arts, and Lafayette College in 1877 conferred 
that of Doctoi- of Philosophy (Ph.D.). In 18GG, Dr. Loch became a mem- 
ber of the Central Presbyterian Church, and very soon thereafter was 
ordained a ruling elder in the same. 

"Dr. Loch's distinguishing characteristic iS his rare gift of combined 
affability, gentleness and firmness, with an intuitive penetration or per- 
ception of character, joined to an invincible self-control, which eminently 
fit him to intpress and manage young men while pursuing their studies. 
The marked feature of the course of his seminary is thoroughness, every 
effort being directed to give the pupil a full training in solid and endur- 
ing instruction rather than that which is superficial and showy. 

"In his early scholastic days Dr. Loch devoted himself largely to 
mathematics, but later has given more attention to belles-lettres. He is 
a fine public reader, — a very rare accomplishment, — and his literary tastes 
are in an eminent degree acute and refined." 

Officers and Instructors of Treemount Sem- 
inary, 1888-84.— 
John W. Loch, 
A.M.,Ph.D.(princi- 
jial 1 , moral and men- 
tal science, German, 
!iio:her mathemat- 
ics; C. C. Henshen, 
A.B., Latin, Greek, 
French, rhetoric ; J. 
B. Hench, A. B., 
English, Latin, ma- 
thematics ; Martin 
Lovering, A.B., En- 
glish, mathematics, 
jdiysics; Edward A. 
Ruch, drawing and 
painting ; Thomas 
IL Krvin, condnc- 
tor of music de- 
partment, piauojvio- 
lin, cornet, flute, 
etc. : Miss Flora M. 
Loch, music department, piano. 

Oakland Female Institute, Norristown, Pa.— 
The site now occupied by Oakhmd Female Institute 
was originally the location of a small two-story stone 
building, owned as the residence of Hon. J. Burd 
Wi'lson. It was bought, with four acres of ground, by 
Rev. J. Grier Ralston, on July 4, 1845, and opened 
as a school October 29, 1845, in a small room 
seventeen by twenty-four feet, with four pupils. Be- 
fore the close of the first term the pupils numbered 
twenty-eight. During the second term the numbers 
increased so rapidly that it became necessary to build 
a large addition. At that early time in its history 
the plan of the building as it now stands was formed 
by Dr. Ralston, though revealed to none but his own 

man in Eitstern Pennsylvania has wielded a deeper or wider influence in 
moulding the rising generation or giving the impress of free thought to 
others in active life. 

"Again we remark it is not what the individual har i» possession that 
constitutes his fortune or success in life, but what he has performed for 
the beneficent wnes of society. " — Auge's " Men o Mnntijomeii/ Omntij." 




THE BURP WILSON MANSION, NORRISTOWN. ^ 



406 



HISTOEY OF MOxXTUOMEKY COUNTY. 



family, so uncertain was he of his plans ever being 
carried out. For six years, each year one addi- 
tion after another was made until it reached its 
present proportions, — a building two hundred and 
twenty-five feet long, forty-one feet wide, four sto- 
ries high and contains over one hundred and forty 
apartments, with nearly eight acres of ground at- 
tached. 

In 18G0 a large brick buihling, iiu'hiding gymna- 
sium, laundry and sleeping apartments was added, 
the gymnasium being furnished with all theapparatus 
required for the most thorough practise of gymnastics 
and calisthenics. The health fulness, as avcII as 
beauty of location, was a subject of constant remark. 
During the thirty-two years of its existence as a school 
(with an interim of three years, — from lS74to 1877, — 
when, in consequence of ill health, of Dr, Ralston, 
it was temi)orarily disbanded) but four deaths occurred 
among the pupils, of whom there were there from the 
commencement to its discontinuance at end of school 
year, June 14, 1881, over three thousand. Its doors, 
as a school were finally closed by the death of Dr. 
Ralston, November 10, 1880. Over three hundred 
of the pupils completed the entire course, receiving 
diplomas, and more than two hundred the gold 
medal in addition. The corps of instructors during 
that time numbered one hundred and ninety. Thirty- 
three States were represented, as well as Germany, 
Holland, France, Greece, Peru, Cuba, Scotland and 
Canada. Many of the former pupils are now occupy- 
ing responsible and prominent positions as educators, 
heads of institutions, missionaries and wives of distin- 
guished men. 

The founder of Oakland, Rev, J. Grier Ralston, 
D.D., LL.D., takes exalted rank among the educators 
of the State ; and especial honor is due to his mem- 
ory for his life-long devotion to the cause of liberal 
education for the women of the country. The Rev. 
Thomas Murphy, D.D., in delivering an eulogy upon 
his life and services, December 12, 1880, pays him the 
following just tribute : 

" Who (.-ail estimate tht- value ti) the cominuiiity far aud near of Oak- 
land Female lustitute, wliich he founded and cuiiducted t*o well for 
exactly the length of ii generation? Who can conceive the number and 
ricliness of the blessings which his prayers night and day have brought 
down upon the young ladies who composed its classes? When it is stated 
that more than three thousand of them received their educatiiui, in 
whole or in part, within its walls, the magnitude of this work will he 
better appreciated. Think of the intluence they carried with them as 
they made their homes in nearly every State in the I'nion, iu Canada 
and in Mexico ! Think of the number uf tliem who have become influ- 
ential teachers ! Think of the many of them who, as ministei-s' wives, 
are the centres of blessings iu many communities I 'J'hink of tliem as 
missionaries amongst tiie Indians, in Ilindostan, in Africa, in .Iai)an, in 
China, in Mexico and in many a region of our far Western States ! How 
many streams of influence did he start that will shed abroad floods of 
light, elevate to a higher standard of learning, spread a purer virttie, 
disperee comfurtH where his name was never hoar<l, and incline to fiudll- 
ness where his foot -steps were never seen ! " 

GRADUATES OF OAKLAND FEMALE INSTITl'TE. 

Hannah E. Crawford, Elizabeth G. Grier, Catherine Miller, Mary 
Wallace, Annie E. Hunsicker, Isabella B. Houston, Mary A. Smith, 
Harriet R. Baugh, Sallie (', French, Elizabeth L. Long, Anna J. Abra- 



liam,' Mary J. BIcG lathery, Mary J. Mancill, Agnes V. Ralston, Eliza H. 
Ilitchie,! Valeria Schall, Louisa M, 8[iotswood, Enima L. Swift, ^ Marga- 
ret T. Vansant, Albina A. Powell, Mary H. Yorhees, A. Loui&i Williams, 
Caroline Bean, Lucia B. Coit, Margaret M. Gray,' Hettie C. Larimore,' 
Clara W. McNair, Jane Miller, Mary E. Aaron, Mary A. Kreamer, 
Clarissa Meeh, I Anna B. Schott, Sarah SlinglufT, Mary Slingluff, Eliza- 
lieth J. Spotswood, Jane Stinson, Julia Sutton, Lydia Vandyke, Mary P. 
Watson, Sallie P. Young, Clara Blackburn, Mary E. Brenner, Matilda 
W. Burr, Kate J. Casselbury,! Ada J. Coit,i Elizabeth C, Cornish,! 
Enuna P. Bu Bois, Margaret Elliott, P. Amelia Heise, Margaret A. 
Hirons,' Susan G. Hunt, Lydia A. Jones, Sarah H. Keesey, Elizabeth W. 
Kerr, Fannie W, Blay, Elizabeth McKcen, Ellen T. Nandain, Margaret 
Phillips, Amanda Taylor, Jeanetta M. Young, Augusta A. Allison. 
Laura F. Brower, C'larissa Corson, Margaret A. Craig, Mary E. Davis, 
Rebecca J. Elliott, Jane W. Gemmill, Maiy K. Hitner, Matilda II. Jack- 
son, Sarah A. Kenne<ly, Kate McCracken, Mary McKinney, Elizabeth 
Moorehead, Mary Pollock, Sarah W. Steele,^ Helen V. Wiggins, Ellen 
Anders, Anna M. Brown, Sarah A. Gary, Elizabeth Depue, Mary L. 
Fultz.i Emma E. Gi'aham,' Annie E. Hanger,' Martha P. Harlan, Isa- 
bella B. Hitner.i Harriet P. Holmes, Matilda Horner, Annie M. 
Hough, Augusta M. Johnson, Eleanor G. Kenedy, i Mary C. Latta,* 
Klizabeth J. Pearson, Mary E. Peunypacker, Sarah P. Stryker, 
Kanuie M. Gilmer, Anna Hughes, Hetta M. Hunter, Fannie M. Jones,! 
Blanche L. Lewis, Lizzie L. Lupton, Anna B. McColIey, Aima L. Ral- 
ston, Mary B. Sampson, Joanna S. Wack, Mary F. Farrington, Sydney 
Fomian, Mai-y R. ilulholland, Camelia Rhoades, Ruth A. Stong, Ella 
K. Watkins, Bettie J. Watkins, Fannie E. Walker,^ Lizzie Y, Dagee, 
Mary C. Gamble, M. Belle Holmes, Julia M. Mulvany,' Annie Patter- 
son,' Carrie M. Phelps,' M. Ella Beaver, Louisa S. Benner,' Mary ('. 
Fretz, Helen I. Knox, Sarah H. Mitchell,' Matilda E. Murphey, Lucy 
B. Van SycUle,' Maggie H. Coburn, Harriet E. Frick,i Lidie I. Hays, 
S. Evelyn House,i Mary E. McCune, Emma Phelps, Cora Phelps, Ella 
M. Ralston, Enuna P. Rambo, Ella T. Robertson, Emma P. Scattergood,* 
Mary A. Stahr, Anna M. Wilson, Anna B. Stoner, Priscilla Ackworth, 
M. Alice Balliet, Lizzie F. Brown, Helen E. Brown, Lizzie Elder, Samli 
J. Elder, Kate McC. Elliott, Jane M. Sturgeon,' Elizabeth J. Willing, 
Amelia D. Aaron, Achsah 1), Applegate, Lizzie C Bender, Caroline 
Boucher, Martha J. Divine, Jessie P. Haining, Hannah C. Hartshorne, 
Georgine T. Hni-st, Emma T. Jaeger, Clara E. Kase, Sallie E. Kerr, 
Annie E. Kershon, IMartha E. May, Enuna McCarter, Helen SlcKeatJ, 
Emma L. Mulvany, Annie B. Pawling, Helen S. Rambo, Sarah E. 
Rich,' Kate B. Scott, Sarah E. Wigfall, Ellen B. Bhie,i Mary A. 
Dunlap, Annie B. Hartshorne, Satie J. Hills, Sallie A. James, Mar- 
garet B. Kyle, Enmia Lyie, Sarah E. 3Iinniece,i Lucia W. Mit- 
chell,' Ennna H. Reeder,' Lucy AV, Schenck, Jeanetta M. Smith, 
Mary E. Anderson, 3Iary K. Campbell, Hannah Ernest, Mary B. 
Hartshorne, Gertrude Kerr, Margaret T. Kinneau, Marie C. Ray, Sarah 
B. Reeder, Amelia C. Sclioener, Fanny Scott, Ilnth J. Watkins, Clara 
M. Bucli, Eliza J. Craig, Rebecca F. Edwards, C. Augusta Easton,' 
Maggie II. Grafius,' M. Belle Jewett, 31. Alice Kern, Mary H. Laubach, 
Maggie M. iMiller, Bertha C. Mulvany,' Lavinia F. Pattei-son, Alice Pat- 
tei-son, Lizzie F. Shivei-s, Bell Simpson, Claia R. Sutton, Carrie B. Van- 
syckle, Lizzie L. Wailes,' Helen E. Chambers, Blarie S. Churchman, 
Frances J Coughlin. Hattie P. Davis, Sallie A. Davis, Lizzie A. Dickey,^ 
Mary E. Fine, Mary Harry, S. Kate Hughes, Bell M. Humphreys, Mary 
N. McCann, Nancy C. McDowell, Rosa B. BlcLean, Florence E. Mc- 
Lean, Sallie n. Matlacli, Henrietta M. Miller, Lydia C. Shearer, M. 
.\ugU8ta Stewart, Mary Sturgeon,' Sallie B. Duncan, Rebecca W, Farr, 
Josephine li. Jenks, Anna 51. KostenI>auder, L. Anna Moore, Mary H. 
Pickel, A. Amanda llobb, M. Rebecca Russel, Kate A. Schrack, Emma 

E. SchuUz, Anna F. Slater, Rachel S. Vansyckle, Rebecca L. Yeech, 
Kate E. Watkins, Alice J. Watkins, Blary Weisel, Lizzie Wood, Mary 

F, Baker, R. Anna Beavei-, Maggie B. Beck,' Jennie W. Dempsey,' S. 
Kmily Franklin, Bettie Ilocker, M. Ellen Humphrey, Delia McCullough, 
Lizzie W. Porter, Kate Reynolds, E. Ellen Rhea, Maggie E. Rhea, 
Maggie S. Rutherford. Mary M. Steele, Anliie B. Triiscott, S. Lizzie 
Whitton, Mary I*. Ashbridge, Gertrude H. Leisenring, Lizzie Moore, 
Augusta Newbold, Anna Scattergood, Ella J. Snodgrass, Emma G. 
Stiles, Mary G. Yoorhees, Mary M. Wain, Lizzie 5L Wailes,' Fannie 
Brower, Sallie A. Hickman,' Bessie Hunsicker, Ella E. Adams, Ellen E. 
Jones, Madge E. Oliver, Emma J. Clark, Nellie Hunsickei', Emma S. 
Landis, Clara E. Milligan, Rose Saulsbury,' Jennie M. Cameron, Minnie 
R. Cameron, Miiggie Canijibell, Laura F. Cochran,' Anna G. Dickey, 
Ida W. Ramey,' ElJa M. Sherman, Emily P. Silver, Maggie M. 



EDUCATIONAL. 



407 



Slemrner, Mary A. Thomas, Ida 1'. Loch, Mary H. Simpauii, Mary A. 
Lees, Mary I). Wills, Delia 1'. Gibaon, Mary li. Murphey, Jlary Slinglufl'. 

Freeland Seminary (now Ursinus College).— 

This institution, located in tlie village of Freeland, 
Upiier Providence township, Montgomery Co., 
near the Perkiomeu Railroad, was opened to public 
patronage on the 7th day of November, 1848. It 
was intended to meet a popular demand for addi- 
tional educational advantages in a thickly populated 
district of country, whose thriving people, many of 
them of German ancestry and still loving the mother- 



soon became manifest that their efforts would be 
fairly rewarded. Among the early teachers was Pro • 
fessor J. W. Sunderland, who subsequently founded 
the Pennsylvania Female College in the same neigh- 
borhood. The seminary was well patronized by the 
Perkiomen Valley residents, and the intelligent 
farmers and business men of the county, and many of 
the members of the learned professions of the present 
generation, owe to this institution their acknowledg- 
ments for those early advantages which have enabled 
them to attain eminence and success in life. For the 





tongue, desired their children to have facilities for 
acquiring a more liberal education than was afforded 
them by the common schools of their neighborhood. 
Prominent among the liberal and progressive in their 
views upon the subject of education were Abraham 
Hunsicker and his son. Rev. Henry A. Hunsicker. 
Prompted solely by a desire to j)romote the best 
interests of the youth of the upper districts of the 
county, these gentlemen, supported by lilieral 
co-laborers, established Freeland Seminary. They 
called to their aid finely-trained educators, and it 



period of twenty-one years — 1848 to 1869 — it was con- 
ducted as a seminary for the higher education of 
young men, during which time the number of stu- 
dents in attendance was usually between two and 
three hundred each year. 

Henry A. Hunsicker is the son of Rev. Abra- 
ham and Elizabeth Hunsicker, and was born Novem- 
ber 10, 1825. His father, who was a farmer, afforded 
his son in youth but the limited advantages of the 
common-schools, though he later became a pupil of 
Washington Hall boarding-school, then under the 



40S 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



care of Rev. Henry S. Rodonbangh, and subsequently 
of the Treeraount Seminary, Norristown, then [ire- 
sided over by Rev. Samuel Aaron. These advantages, 
however, were so well improved by close application 
to hard study, rigid scholastic discipline and a natu- 
rally inquiring mind, added to great administrative 
ability, that he was able, in his twenty-second year, 
with the assistance of his father and friends, to erect 
buildings and open Freelaud Seminary for the edu- 
cation of young men. This school, for a period from 
1847 to 18G5 under his management, became very 
prosperous, after which it was leased for the term of 
five years to Professor P'etterolf, now the president 
of Girard College, Philadelphia, and afterwards sold 
to Dr. J. H. A. Bomberger, of Philadelphia, who 
obtained a charter and opened Ursinus College. 
During this time about two thousand three hundred 
pupils were under his instruction. As a Princijial 
Mr. Hunsicker was rigid, yet mild, his kindly man- 
agement enabling his puidls to bear with them 
most agreeable memories of their school-days. Rev. 
Abraham Hunsicker was a bishop and prominent 
leader of the Reformed Mennonite Church. His son 
at the age of twenty-three united with this church, 
and was with his father and others in organizing the 
present Trinity Church of Freeland in 18.51, where 
for some years he assiste<l in ministerial labors. 
This church was the result of a schism which occurred 
in the Mennonite denomination growing out of the 
distrust of the latter body in the training of the young 
and an earnest opposition to secret societies. 

Mr. Hunsicker was, in 1849, married to Mary S. 
Weinberger, whose children are Clement W., Joseph 
H., Abraham Lincoln, Flora G. and Howard Alvin, of 
whom Abraham L. met with an accident which proved 
fatal. Mrs. Hunsicker died May 7, 1874, and he was 
again married May 11, 187(5, to Annie C. Gotwals, 
whose children are Mary and Edna Elizabeth. 

Mr. Hunsicker has held strong anti-slavery and 
temperance views for many years, acting first 
with the Free-Soilers and later with the Prohi- 
bitionists. He supported Hale in 1852, Fremont 
in 1856, Lincoln in 1860 and 1864 and Grant 
in 1868, since which time he has uniformly voted 
the Prohibition ticket. He has, however, little 
taste for politics and never sought office, though 
nominated by his friends for Congress in 1874, and 
previously for the State Senate and the Coustitutional 
Convention. Although chosen by his Christian 
brethren a minister, and ordained as such, he never 
regarded himself a settled or stated clergynum and 
never received any pecuniary compensation fur such 
service. After closing a round of duty for twenty 
years as an instructor of youth, he embarked in the 
lumber business in Philadelphia, in which he is still 
interested as the head of the firm of Henry A. Hun- 
sicker & Sons. Mr. Hunsicker, being of a kindly and 
generous nature, has ever been willing to assist in 
carrying forward schemes of [uiblic improvement or 






moral and religious reform. Accordingly, his attain- 
ments in life are measured by what he has accom- 
plished for others rather than for himself. He has 
more recently been employed in several valuable 
agencies of a public nature, especially in assisting 
emigrants from the East to secure good localities for 
settlement in Kansas and other AVestern States. 

Ursinus Colleg'e was chartered by the Legislature 
of Pennsylvania 1869. In securing the franchise and 
presenting its advantages to the public, its founders 
say: " In a partial respect, this institution is a con- 
tinuation, under an enlarged and more comprehensive 
form, of Freeland Seminary, a school established 
more than twenty years ago and favorably known as 
the Ahna Mater of upwards of two thousand young 
men, educated within its walls. It owes its estab- 
lishment to the lively interest felt Ijy its founders 
in the advancement of education in the higher 
branches of learning upon the bftsiK of Cliristianity, and 
with chitf regard to religious ends." Ruled by this 
desire, they chose as the specific designation of their 
new institution the name of one of the most distin- 
guished reformers and scholars of the sixteenth 
century. Ursinus, the renowned theologian of the 
Palatinate, Germany, under Frederick II., surnamed 
T/ie Pious, and principal author of the Heidelberg 
catechism and many masterly works in defiance of 
Apostolic Catholicism, will ever be held in honored 
remembrance as a most worthy representative ot 
eminent learning consecrated to the service of pure 
Christianity. " In its general system of education 
Ursinus College will endeavor to meet the wants of 
the age by adopting a wise and healthy medium be- 
tween the abstract ideal and materialistic utilitarian 
theories." 

Directors, Officers axd Faculty, 1869. — 
Directors, James Koons, Sr., Rev. Jesse Knipe, H. 
W. Kratz, Esq., A. Kline, A. Von Haagen, Rev. J. 
Dahlman, George W. Schall, Rev. William Sorber, 
Abel Thomas, Rev. Abraham Hunsicker, J. W. 
Sunderland, LL. D., John Wiest, Andrew W. Myers, 
Rev. H. H. W. Hibschman, Rev. J. H. A. Bomber- 
ger, D.D., Emanuel Longacre, Wm. L. Graver, N. 
Pennypacker. Officers of the Board : A. Kline, pres. ; 
H. W. Kratz, Esq., secretary and assistant treasurer; 
John C. Wanner, treasurer ; Hon. Horace Royer, 
auditor. Faculty : Rev. J. H. A. Bomberger, D.D., 
president and professor of mental and moral philoso- 
phy, evidences of Christianity, Biblical studies, etc. ; 
Rev. H. W. Super, A.M., vice-president and profes- 
sor of mathematics, mechanics, the harmony of 
science and revealed religion ; J. Shelley Weinber- 
ger, A.M., adjunct professor of the Latin and Greek 
languages and literature ; Rev. John Von Haagen, 
A.M., professor of the German language and litera- 
ture, of history, the history and philosophy of lan- 
guage, etc., professor of belles-lettres and political 
economy ; J. Warren Sunderland, A.M., LL.D., pro- 
fessor of chemistry, geology, botany, etc. ; J. Warren 



EDUCATIONAL. 



409 



Royer, A.M., M.D., lectures on physiology and anat- 
omy. Additional Teachers : William H. Snyder, in- 
structor in the academic de])artment ; J. Warren 
Custer, teacher of instrumental music, piano and 
organ ; H. W. Kratz, Esq., teacher of vocal music. 

Directors and Offic'ER.s, 1884. — Directors, H. ^V^ 
Kratz, Esq., A. Kline, J. W. Sunderland, LL.D., 
Rev. H. H. W. Hibschman, D.D., Rev. George Wolff, 
D.D., Rev. D. E. Klopp, D.D., Rev. F. W. Kremer, 
D.D., Rev. Aaron Spangler, H. M. Stauffer, Davis 
Kimes, Emanuel Longacre, Frank M. Hobson, Hon. 
Lewis Royer, M.D., Rev. J. H. A. Bomberger, D.D., 
Robert Patterson, Hon. Hiram C. Hoover, Rev. D. 
Van Horn, D.D., Rev. D. W. Ebbert, A.M., J. A. 
Strassburger, Esq., A.M., James Brownback, Henry 
J. Meyers. 

Officers of the Board. — H. W. Kratz, Esq., i)resident 
and auditor ; Frank M. Hobson, secretary and treas- 
urer. Executive Committee, Dr. Bomberger, Eman- 
uel Longacre, Hon. Lewis Royer, Hon. Hiram C. 
Hoover, F. M. Hobson {ex-officio), H. W. Kratz, (e.r- 
officio). Visiting Committee, Rev. W. A.Helfrich,D.D., 
Rev. F. W. Kremer, D.D., Rev. D. Van Horn, D.D., 
Rev. I. S. Weisz, D.D., Rev. Eli Keller, A.M., Rev. 
J. H. Sechler, A.M., Rev. James L Good, A.M., Rev. 
S. P. Mauger, A.M., Rev. D. W. Ebbert, A.M. Com- 
mittee on Organization, Dr. Sunderland, Rev. D. E. 
Klopp, D.D., Rev. D. Van Horn, D.D. Committee 
on Property, H. W. Kratz, F. M. Hobson, Robert 
Patterson, Davis Kimes, Hon. Lewis Royer. Com- 
mittee on Finance, Dr. Wolff, Dr. Bomberger, Dr. 
Kremer, Rev. A. Spangler, J. A. Strassburger, Esq. 
Faculty, 1884.— Rev. J. H. A. Bomberger, D.D., 
president, and professor of ethics and intellectual 
science; Rev. Henry W. Super, D.D., vice-president, 
and professor of astronomy, physics, and the harmony 
of science and revealed religion ; J. Shelly Wein- 
berger, A.M., professor of Latin and Greek, and 
classical literature; Rev. John Van Haagen, A.M., 
professor of the German language and literature, He- 
brew and history ; Samuel Vernon Ruby, Esq., A.M., 
professor of English literature and belles-lettres. 

Academic Department, 1884. — Rev. J. H. A. Bom- 
berger, D.D., president ; Alcide Reicheubach, A.M., 
lirincipal, and instructor in the science and art of 
teaching; B. Frank Davis, A.B., instructor in lan- 
guages ; A. Lincoln Landis, B.S., instructor in math- 
ematics and book-keeping ; James W. Meminger, A.B., 
teacher. 

T/ieoloi/ical Departiiient, 1884. — Faculty : Rev. J. H. 
A. Bond)erger,D.D., professor of systematic and prac- 
tical theology, symbolics, and exegesis ; Rev. Henry 
W. Super, D.D., professor of church history, apolo- 
getics, Biblical literature and homiletics ; Rev. John 
Van Haagen, A.M., professor of the Hebrew lan- 
guage and literature. 

Scholastic Regulatioxs. — In the college, each 
class has at le:ist three exercises daily in the branches 
of study prescribed in the course. 



In the academic and collegiate departments an 
accurate record is kept of the scholarship and deport- 
ment of each student. 

Examinations of the several classes are held at the 
close of each term, to ascertain the measure of progress 
of each student and determine the student's claims 
of advancement to a higher class. 

Biblical instructions are statedly given as part of 
the regular course of study. Every student is required 
to take part in these Biblical studies. 

As indicated in the course of study, particular at- 
tention is given to proficiency in the chief parts of an 
English education, — ortliography, reading, composi- 
tion and rhetoric. A thorough course in German is 
also provided. 

Young men from a distance board and room in the 
collegiate buildings, and young women are furnished 
with boaiding in private families, all under the direct 
supervision of the faculty. Exceptions to this rule 
are made in the case of pupils or students residing in 
the vicinity of the college, and in other cases, at the 
discretion of the faculty. All such students, however, 
are subject to the general discipline of the institution. 

The discipline of the institution is Christian and 
parental. No special injunctions or prohibitions need 
be detailed. The students are treated conrteoush^ 
and are expected to conduct themselves accordingly. 
Every proper liberty is allowed, and no arbitrary or 
oppressive restraints are imposed. Violations of de- 
corum and good order, however, incur j)rompt and 
decisive penalties. The honor of the institution and 
the peace and comfort of those connected with it 
cannot be disregarded with impunity. 

Degrees. — The degree of Bachelor of Arts is con- 
ferred upon matriculated students who have completed 
the full course of instruction in the college. 

The degree of Bachelor of Science is conferred upon 
students who have completed the three-year scientific 
course. 

The degree of Master of Arts is conferred upon 
graduates who have engaged in literary or scientific 
pursuits at least three years after graduation, and who, 
meanwhile, have sustained a good moral character. 

For like reasons the degree of Master of Science is 
conferred upon graduates in the scientific course. 

The degree of Bachelor of Divinity is conferred 
upon all collegiate graduates who have taken a i'ull 
course in the theological department. 

A graduate who is entitled to and desires the degree 
of Master of Arts, or Miister of Science, or Bachelor 
of Divinity must make application for the same in 
writing to the secretary of the board of directors. 

No diploma will be issued until the requisite fee of 
five dollars shall have been paid into the treasury. 

Religiox. — In proper harmony with the principles 
of Evangelical Christianity, ujion which this institu- 
tion is founded, the faculty regard it as their highest 
duty to give faithful attention to the religious inter- 
ests of the students under their care, and to labor for 



410 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



their spiritual welfare. This is done in no sectarian 
spirit, but in full accordance with an enlarged charity 
which recognizes the claims of all branches of the 
Evangelical Protestant Church. The scholastic du- 
ties of each day are opened with suitable devotions, 
which every student is required to attend. The 
students are also required to attend wor.ship on the 
Lord's day, either in the chai)el of the college or in 
some adjacent church. 

Whilst the college is not under any formal eccle- 
siastical or synodical control, it has the ajjproval of 
the General Synod of the Reformed Church in the 
United States, and those also of the Eastern District 
Synod of the Church, by the following resolution : 

"Resolved, That this Synod has learned with pleasure that UrNiiuis 
College is successfully prosecuting its educational work, and euniniends 
it to the favorahle consideration of the Church." 

Literary Societies. — For the mutual improve- 
ment of the students three literary societies e.xist, 
and are maintained with commendable zeal, — the 
Zwinglian, the Schaft' and the Goethean (German). 
The first two have good libraries for general reading. 

LiBRARiE.s. — The library of the college is yet in 
its incii)iency,. but the private libraries of the 
faculty are always accessible for reference, thus 
making the whole number of volumes available for 
use about one thousand. 

ALUMNI COLLKGIATE DEPARTMENT. 

First CT<»s, 1873.— Rev. F. F. Bahner, A. 51., Wayusljorn', Pa.; Rev. 
Prof. J. A. Foil, A.M., Newtown, N. C; Rev. J. H. Hunsberger, A.M., 
Finlay, Ohio; Rev. H. T. Spangler, A.M., Laudisburg, Pa.; J. A. Shans- 
Ijerger, Esq., A. 51., Norristown, Pa. 

Second CImi, 1874.— Rev. A. E. Dalilnian, A.B., Laneiister, Pa.; Rev. 
M. H. Groh, A.B., New Lisbon, Ohio; Rev. ,T. G. Neff, A. B., Shenandoah, 
Pa.; Rev. Jloses Peters, A.B., Altaniont, 111.; Prof. A. M. Tice, A.JI., 
Collegeville. Pa. 

Third Class, 1875.- Rev. D. W. Ebbert, A.M., Spring City, Pa.; Rev. 
L. G. Kremer, A.B., Hngerstown, SId.; H. H. Piggott. Esq., A.B., 
Philadelphia, Pa.; Rev. D. V. Wolf, A.M., New Oxford, Pa.: Rev. E. O. 
Williams, A.B., Red Lion, Pa. 

Fonrlli Cl,iss. 1870.— Rev. J. F. Butler, A.B., Shelbyvillc, 111.; F. G. 
Hobson, .\.M., Norristown, Pa.; John Keyset, A.B., Monterey, Pa.; J. 
M. Leisse, .\.B.. Robe-sonia, I'a.; Rev, A. B. Markley, .\.B., Jlillersville, 
Pa.; Rev. G. A. Sheer, A.B., Pliihidelphia, Pa.; Rev. G. .S. !<orber, A.B., 
Vincent, Pa.; Ruv. II. J. Welker, A.B.. Cuopersburg, Pa.; Rev. F. C. 
Yost, .\.B., Someraet, Ohio. 

Fiflh Class, 1877.— Rev. H. Bouiberger.A.M., Columbiana, Oliio ; Rev. 
E. E. Cassaday, A.M., Philadelphia, Pa.; Rev. S. M. Bench, A.B., 
Walkeiisville, Md. ; Rev. J. W. Mabry, A.M., Chcrryvillc, Pa. ; Rev. P. 
Y. Shelly, A, B., Hamburg, Pa. ; E. F. Slough, Esq., A. B., Norristown, Pa. 

Si.rlli Class, 1878.— Rev. .1. J. Fisher, .\.B., Tamaqua, Pa. ; S. L. 
Hertzog, B.S., Darrtown, Pa. ; M. M. Leiihart, A.B., Hamburg, Pa. ; 
H. A. Mathieu, Es)., .\ li., Philadelphia, I'a. ; L. C. Royer, A.B., Bob- 
*rtsdale. Pa. 

Serenlh Class, 1879.— F. S. Dietrich, A.B., .Albany, Pa. ; A. F. Krout, 
A.B., Stone Church, Pa. ; W. H. S. Lecron, \.B., Waynesboro', Pa. ; D. 
B. Markley, A.B., Collegeville, Pa. ; J. B. rinberger, A.B., .\uburn, 
N. Y. ; Rev. W. H. Slouffer, B.S., Bath, Pa. ; Rev. F. G. Slauffer, BS. 
Pleasant Valley, Pa. 

Ei'ihth Class. — 11. ,1. Baliey, B.S., Meyeretown, Pa.; .1. P. Beaver, 
A.B., Aubmn, N. Y. ; J. F. Becker, A.B., Catasauqua, Pa. ; L. D. Bech- 
tel, .\.B., Beading, I'a ; L. U. Guth, .\.B., Guth's Station, Pa. ; A. S. 
Keiser, A.B.. Lyons, Pa. 

Kiiilli Class, 1881.— G. \V. Stibitz, A.B., Ilecla, Pa.; E. S. Snively, 
B.S., Shady Grove, Pa. 

re«(// C(iM«, 1882.- Augustus W. Bomberger, A.B., Collegeville, Pa. 
Frank A. Guih, A.B., Guth Station, Pa. ; Isa W. Kline, A.B. Meyers- 
town, Pa. ; Louis E. Taubcl, A.B., Philadelphia, Pa. 



Eleventh Class, 1883. — Marvin Custer, A.B., Fairview village, Pa. ; 
Frank B. Davis, A.B., Pickering, Pa. ; H. F. Keller, A.B., Zionsville 
Pa. ; Lincoln A. Landis, B.S., Groter's Ford, Pa. ; A. Bond Warner, B.S., 
Minereville, Pa. ; George W. Wolfersberger, B.S., Campbellstown, Pa., 

Twelfth Class, 1884.— Henry A. Bomberger, A.B., Collegeville, Pa. ; 
David L. Fogelnian, A.B., Womelsdorf, Pa. ; Bertha Hendricks, B.S., 
Collegeville, I'a. ; Howard A. Ilunsicker, B.S., Collegeville, Pa. ; John 
A. Koiper, A.B., Elizabethville, Pa. ; James W. Meminger, .\.B., Ickes- 
burg. Pa. ; John Y. Stauffer, A. B., Guth's Station, Pa.; Phaon W. 
Snyder, A.B., Sagei-sville, Pa. ; Blinerva Weinberger, A.B., College- 
ville, Pa. ; Joseph E. Saylor, .\.B., Limerick, Pa. 

Rev. J. H. A. Bomberger, D.D.— Rev. Dr. J. H. 

A. Bomberger, president of Ursinus College, College- 
ville, Montgomery Co., Pa., and a very prominent 
minister of the Reformed Church in the United 
States, was born in Lancaster, Pa., on the 13th of 
January, 1817. His mother was a daughter of Rev. 
.John H. Hoffmeier, for nearly thirty years pastor of 
the Reformed Church in Lancaster. His ancestors 
on both sides were of German origin, and in their 
ecclesiastical relations, as far back as is known, con- 
nected with the Reformed Church. 

After receiving an elementary training, he was 
entered in the Lancaster Academy about 1827. On 
the 2d of January, 1832, he repaired to the High 
Sfhool of the Reformed Church at York, Pa., under 
ihe management of Rev. Dr. F. A. Ranch as princi- 
pal, who was the first real teacher whose tuition he 
enjoyed. According to the prescribed course of 
academical study, he had in due time prepared enough 
Latin, Greek and mathematics to admit him into the 
sophomore class at college. But the High School 
iiad no such division in its curriculum, and in accom- 
modation to existing arrangements, his studies were 
otherwise continued for two years. He was then 
admitted to the Theological Seminary, also located at 
York, in which Dr. Mayer was professor of theology. 
But in the fall of ISS.'i, the High School being trans- 
ferred to Mercersburg and raised to a college, he 
was induced to take a full college course, meanwhile 
suspending theological studies. He graduated in 
1837, and afterwards spent a year in completing the 
theological course, under such aid and direction as 
Dr. Ranch, president of the college, could furnish 
him, the Theological Seminary not yet having been 
removed from York. During the last two years of 
his course he was employed as tutor in the prepara- 
tory department of the college. 

In October, 1838, the Synod of Lancaster licensed 
him to preach the gospel ; and in the latter part of 
November, in compliance with a call, he settled in 
LewLstown, on the Juniata. Here he was ordained 
on the 27th of December, 1838. For the Reformed 
Church this was a difficult and discouraging mis- 
sion, so that he remained but twenty rnonths. He 
preached three or four times every Sunday in English 
and in (xerman. His salary at Lewistown was two hun- 
dred and twenty-five dollars. To aid in his support 
he obtained the academy (classical school) of the 
place, which had run down to three pupils, and only 
by special effort was raised to ten, thus adding two 



EDUCATIONAL. 



411 



Inindred dollars to his income and five days and a 
half a week teaching to his other work. 

In July, 1840, he accepted a call from the Waynes- 
boro' charge, in Franklin County, consisting of four 
organized congregations,— Waynesboro' and Salem in 
Pennsylvania, and Cavetowu and Leitersl)urg in 
Maryland. Here he remained until April, 1845, 
when a call as English pastor of the Easton congrega- 
tion, as successor to Rev. B. C. Wolff, D.D., was 
accepted by him. At this place he was associated 
with Rev. Thomas Pomp, who was German pastor. 



tlement, and though by great effort it was kept alive 
for three or four years, this enterprise was unable to 
maintain itself. In 1860 Christ Church, Green Street, 
near Sixteenth, was founded. Race Street was 
scarcely strong enougli to justify sending off a branch, 
but the wants of the church in the then northwestern 
part of the city demanded it. About three years 
later another interest was started, also under the au- 
spices of the Race Street Church, in the vicinity of 
Fourth Street and Girard Avenue, which afterward 
grew into Trinity Reformed Church, now at Seventh 




In August, 1852, a call was extended him by the 
First Reformed Church, Race Street, below Fourth, 
Philadelphia. The consistory of the Easton Church 
having unanimously opposed it, the invitation was 
declined. Two years later the call to Philadelphia 
was renewed, and under special pressure accepted. 
The Race Street Church was reduced to aliout one 
Imndred communicants, and much discouraged. But 
against many difficulties the congregation quietly 
and gradually grew. A second flock (Church of the 
Apostles) had been organized shortly before his set- 



and Oxford Streets. Still another enterprise was 
commenced, now the Church of the Strangers, in West 
Philadelphia. In the light of these facts the minis- 
terial work of Dr. Bomberger in Philadelphia must 
be regarded as having been in a high degree success- 
ful. 

Through his varied experience and natural endow- 
ments Dr. Bomberger has accomplished in his minis- 
terial services an amount of work which few men 
would have undertaken, and which fewer still could 
have carried to a successful issue. As a pulpit orator 



412 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



he possesses great power, and has acquired to perfection 
the art, or inherited the gift, of enchaining the atten- 
tion of an audience. Of a graceful form and dignified 
bearing, with a voice full, rotund and modulated, and 
with a diction at once pure and elegant, he wields all 
the advantages of a ready and fluent extempore 
speaker. His style tends to the diffuse, his manner 
issomewhat impassioned, and his imagery brilliant and 
captivating, — essential qualities iu a public speaker. 
Possessing tliese advantages, it is quite natural that 
he should be unusually successful in the active duties 
of the ministry, and enjoy a reputation far beyond the 
limits of liis own denomination. In addition to his 
pastoral work. Dr. Bombcrger occupies a prominent 
position as a writer on theological topics, and as a 
defender of the historical faith of the Reformed 
Church. About the year 1852 the degree of Doctor 
of Divinity was conferred upon him by Marshall Col- 
lege. 

His first literary attemi>t of note was a series of 
articles in the Merccritbnrfi Revietv, 1853, on " Dr. Nevin 
and His Antagonists." Sincetheabovedatehehasat- 
tained honorable distinction as a controversialist, anil, 
in addition to occasional publi-shed sermons and ad- 
dresses, has performed literary work as follows : In 1857 
appeared his "Five Years in Race Street," with a full, 
general and statistical appendix relating to the origin 
and condition of the Reformed Church. In 1860 he 
edited and in large part retranslated " Kurtz's Hand- 
Book of Church History," now extensively used as a 
text-book in the theological seminaries of many 
denominations. "Infant Baptism and Salvation" 
appeared in 1861. In this year also Dr. Bomberger 
began to edit a translation of " Herzng's Encyclo- 
pjedia," liimself preparing one-half the translations, 
and carried it through nearly six volumes of the 
original. But the German translation having far ex- 
ceeded the limits proposed for it, the publishers were 
not prepared to complete the work, and it was sus- 
pended. In 1866 appeared the " Revised Liturgy," a 
history and criticism of the ritualistic movement in 
the Reformed Church. " Reformed not Ritualistic," a 
reply to Dr. Nevin's" Vindication," was published in 
1867, and by its vigorous and well-nigli exhaustive 
treatment of the subject at once designated its author 
as a natural champion of the Reformed in its histori- 
cal sense. In 1868 tlie Reformed Church Monthlij, 
a popular religious and theological journal, was 
founded and continued for nine years, during which 
Dr. Bomberger served as editor and furnished more 
than three-fourths of the articles. 

As early as the Synod of Norristown, in 184!t, Dr. 
Bomberger was appointed one of a committee in- 
trusted with the task of preparing a Reformed 
Liturgy on the basis of the various litnrgies of the 
Reformed Churches, and especially of the old Palati- 
nate Liturgy used by the early ministers of the 
Reformed Church in this country. It was not 
long, however, until a majority of the committee were 



of the opinion that the old Reformed Liturgy would not 
admit of such modifications as the wants of the time 
demanded. The committee nevertheless recom- 
mended a translation of the Palatinate Liturgy as the 
best result then attainable. But the Synod refused 
to enter upon this plan, and instructed the committee 
to proceed with the preparation of a liturgy. The 
Synod of Baltimore in 1852 provided that the work 
should proceed on the basis of the liturgical worship 
of the primative church, while special reference 
should be made to the Palatinate and other Reformed 
, Liturgiesof the sixteenth century. In 1857 a "Pro- 
visional Liturgy " submitted by the members of the 
committee was allowed, but received no formal sanc- 
tion. It was at once seen that there were in it two 
different systems of worship, the one containing a set 
of forms in the old Reformed style, and the other an 
altar liturgy, with responses and elements of a ritual- 
istic character. 

The diverse liturgical systems of the "Provisioiud 
Liturgy " having frustrated its purpose, and the desire 
for a liturgy cast in one mould having increased, the 
Synod of Easton resolved upon a revision. The former 
committee was intrusted with the work. Upon its 
reassembling, a prolonged controversy regarding the 
principles of revision having arisen, Dr. Bomberger 
stoutly defended Reformed customs and traditions. 
The question was referred for decision to the Synod 
of Chambersburg the following year, Dr. J. W. Nevin 
preparing the majority report and Dr. Bomberger 
that of the minority. The Synod continued the com- 
mittee, and the majority, no longer respecting the 
earlier rules of the Synod, pursued their work in ac- 
cordance with their own liturgical views, and finally 
submitted the whole work to the Synod of York in 
October, 1866, and a few weeks later to the General 
Synod of Dayton. The latter body, by a small ma- 
jority, allowed the use of this "Revised Liturgy," but 
did not indorse it. In Dr. Bomberger's tract, " The 
Revised Liturgy," the seriousness of the situation is 
delineated. He proposed, as a remedy, to modify the 
Provisional Liturgy; but all phrases of doubtful im- 
port or contrary to pure doctrine should be changed. 
Notwithstanding these just and temperate proposi- 
tions, the extreme liturgical i)arty were in no mood 
to grant any concessions. Dr. Nevin, in his tract, 
"Vindication of Revised Liturgy," violently assailed 
the position of Dr. Bomberger, and sought to fasten 
the stigma of schismatics upon the adherents of Re- 
formed doctrine in its purity. This called forth Dr. 
Bomberger's "Reformed not Ritualistic," in which 
the whole nuxtter in dispute was succinctly stated and 
an elaborate defense of Reformed doctrine and custom 
presented. For the calm and dignified manner in 
which the nature and extent of the innovations were 
discussed, and for the wealth of historical and doc- 
trinal matter brought to light. Dr. Bomberger merits 
the lasting gratitude of the Reformed Church. From 
this time forward he applied himself with additional 



EDUCATIONAL. 



413 



zeal to the defense of what he regarded Keformed 
usage and doctrine. The Refunned Church 3fonthti/, 
with Dr. Bomberger as editor and principal writer, 
was establislied in January, 1868, and was supported 
as the theological exponent of the evangelical wing 
of the church. This periodical rendered incalculable 
service to the Reformed Church by its exposure of 
the aim and tendency of the new theology. Early in 
1869, Dr. Bomberger was called to the presidency of 
Ursinus College, located at Collegeville, Montgomery 
Co., an institution founded by members and friends 
of the Reformed Church. At this institution, which 
imparts instruction on the basis of Christianity and 
with chief regard to religious ends, he has found 
ample opportunity for a wide field of usefulness and 
for making his influence as a scholar and educator 
widely and permanently felt. Believing that the 
higher branches of education in particular should be 
pursued in full harmony with evangelical Protestant 
I)rinciplcs, he has been heartily supported by the 
friends of education in general and by the evangelical 
or anti-ritualistic (sometimes inaccurately called Low 
Church) portion of the Reformed Church. Under 
his jjresidency of Ursinus College, including a theo- 
logical department, not a few young men have come 
under his educational influence, while a number of 
these have entered the ministry. In addition to his 
duties as president and professor of ethics and intel- 
lectual science and theology, he served as pastor of 
St. Luke's Reformed Church, at Trappe, Montgomery 
Co., until October, 1883. 

At the General Synod of Lancaster, in 1878, a 
" Peace Movement " was inaugurated, which has 
brought the liturgical controversy in the Reformed 
Church to a close. A new " Directory of Worship " 
is in process of adoption, which omits the objection- 
able features, and Dr. Bomberger has suspended his 
public opposition to the advocacy of so-called im- 
proved doctrines, which is still carried on in different 
periodicals by some ministers of his church. 

During the summer of 188-t he made a brief tour 
through Great Britain, France, Switzerland and Ger- 
many, paying special attention to the historical places 
of the Reformed Church. He took a consjiicuous 
part in the debates of the Alliance of Reformed 
Churches holding the Presbyterian System, at its 
sessions in Belfast, Ireland, in the mouth of- June. 
Since returning he has delivered, with great accept- 
ance, in diflFerent parts of the State, a number of 
lectures and sermons, based on his observations 
abroad. 

Dr. Bomberger has been twice married. By his 
first wife, Marion E. Huston, of Mercersburg, he has 
four daughters and one son ; by his second, Julia 
Aymar Wight, of Philadelphia, three sons. 

Rev. Henry W. Super, D.D., vice-president of 
Ursinus College, was .born in Baltimore, Md., De- 
cember 31, 1824. He was the son of John Super, for 
many years a resident of that city, who fought in the 



battle of North Point, September 12, i«14, when 
Baltimore was assailed by the British under General 
Ross. The chief brunt of that battle fell upon the 
Twenty-seventh Regiment, to which he belonged. By 
the loss of his father at an early age the subject of this 
sketch was left without the parental help so necessary 
at that period of life, and with very limited education 
was placed in the counting-house of C. W. Karthaus, 
a prominent shipping firm of the city, succeeding that 
of Peter A. Karthaus, a wealthy firm dating back to 
the Revolution, but ruined by the devastation caused 
by the Berlin and Milan Decrees of Napoleon. The 
"French spoliation claims" of that firm have lin- 
gered from that period to the present, and though 
many eilbrts have been made to get bills through 
Congress to pay them, not until the present year 
(1885) has a bill received the sanction of both Houses 
of Congress. 

The experience of four years in the counting- 
house, though of great benefit in teaching method 
and business habits, could not quell the longing for 
higher education and a professional life. Having 
connected himself with the First Reformed Church 
of Baltimore in 1840, he resolved to devote himself 
to the Christian ministry. Without helj), other than 
that saved from his clerkship, he started for college, 
and managed to take a full course, aided in part by 
teaching during vacations. 

Entering Marshall College, Pennsylvania, in 1844, 
he continued his studies without interruption until his 
graduation, in 1849. He then entered the Theologi- 
cal Seminary. During the following year he ]iro- 
ceeded South, traveling through several Southern 
States, and finally locating in Memphis, Tenn., where 
he established a classical academy, the only one at 
that time in the town, and probably the first estab- 
lished in that city. Intent upon entering the min- 
istry, he returned North, but on the way paid a visit 
to Tiflin, Ohio. Here he was urged at once to locate 
in the West, and with this in view attended a meeting 
of the Maumee Classis, covering territory now oc- 
cupied by the Tiffin Classis. He was examined by a 
committee, consisting of Revs. J. H. Good, Hiram 
Shaull and Reuben Good, at the house of Elder 
Heilman, on Honey Creek. The examination proving 
satisfactory, the license was granted. The services 
connected with the granting of this license were held 
in Mt. Pisgah Church, Seneca Ctounty, Ohio, on Sun- 
day, April 27, 1851. 

Without waiting for a call in the West, he returned 
to Mercersburg, Pa., and completed his theological 
course. He soon received a call to Waynesboro'. 
His introductory sermon was preached in that charge 
on Sunday, November 23, 1851. Received very 
kindly, by this people, he remained with them about 
ten years, interrupted, however, for a time by illness 
in 1854, when he resigned the charge, but was again 
recalled on the restoration of his health in the fol- 
lowing year. This charge was on the border-line of 



414 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Maryland, and during tlie war was exposed lo raids 
and other military movements, which caused great 
anxiety and disquietude. 

Receiving a call to the English Reformed congre- 
gation of Greensburg, Pa., he removed to that place 
in April, 1862, andremaineduntilApril, 1865. Finding 
that the work of the ministry was detrimental to his 
health, be now resolved to devote himself to the work 
of education. 

Receiving an offer from the Keystone State Normal 
School to become the professor of mathematics in 
that institution, be accepted it, and began his duties in 



history. About the same time he received the degree 
of D.I), from Heidelberg College, Tiffin, Ohio. 

In addition to pulpit efforts, Dr. Super has con- 
tributed articles and essays to reviews, magazines and 
papers. Some of his addresses to the students of 
Ursinus College have also been deemed worthy of 
publication, and at their request have appeared in 
pamphlet form. 

In April, 1878, Dr. Super was married to Mrs. 
Sarah H. Detwiler, daughter of the late Francis Hob- 
son, of Limerick township, and sister of Frank M. 
Hobson, of Collegeville. 





that position in April, 1867, remaining there until he 
received a call to Ursinus College in 1870. 

Freeland Seminary had been a high school of many 
years' standing, sending from its walls many business 
and professional men. To increase its usefulness and 
elevate its standard of education it was resolved to 
apply for a charter granting the full privileges of a 
college. This was granted in 1869, and the institution 
was opened in its new form in September, 1870. The 
services of Professor Super were secured for the chair 
of mathematics and natural philosophy. Subse- 
quently the theological department was opened, and 
in this he occupied the position of professor of church 



J^ 



u. 



J. Shelly Weinberger, A.M. — A few miles north- 
west of Quakertown, in the township of Milford and 
the county of Bucks, stand three Mennonite meeting- 
houses within a radius of less than a mile, and no 
others within a range of several miles. The country 
is a fine open level, and is still known as the 
" Swamp." Fifty years ago the citizens of the place 
almost exclusively held the religious faith of the 
I Mennonites, and on the Presidential election cast their 
I ballots for the Whig candidate. The school-house 

: was attached to the meeting-house, and the most ad- 

1 

; vanced in scholarship was generally called on to be- 

' come the schoolmaster. The true genius of the Penn- 



EDUCATIONAL. 



415 



sylvania Germans was well displayed in this locality. 
The inhabitants were farmers, with the exception of a 
few mechanics and store-keepers, and were early noted 
for sobriety, industry, non-resistance and shunning 
of debt. Js'ot to pay one's debts was considered a 
marked disgrace, and to sue, unrighteous. The dic- 
tates of conscience were regarded far more binding 
than statute law. Their over-cautious habits, how- 
ever, prevented them from taking the initiative in any 
new enterprise, and the fact that a thing was new was 
thought sufficient ground for its rejection. Hence 
their slow progress in their early history. Amidst 



of home training is the wholesome chastisement given 
him by his mother, who, in her old age, has as distinct 
a recollection of it as he has. Young Weinberger was 
educated in the common schools as they were con- 
ducted forty-five years ago. 

When seventeen years of age he joined the church of 
his parents. In addition to subscribing to the creed 
he promised to obey the regulations of the church and 
to preach if the lot would fall on him. Bishop John 
H. Oberholtzer was the district school-teacher. His 
increasing parish labors divided his time unfavorably 
for discharging the duties of either office. When 





surroundings and associations of this kiud lived the 
Weinberger family in humble style, having the Biblcj 
hymn-book, prayer-book and a few printed sermons 
for a library. Joseph Weinberger's grandparents 
emigrated from the borders of the Rhine, in Germany, 
to this country. He was married to Mary Shelly, and 
to them were born four daughters and one son, — John 
Shelly Weinberger, named after his maternal grand- 
father, John Shelly. Joseph Weinberger could 
read and write German, was esteemed for his correct 
habits and resoluteness, and died in the eighty-first 
year of his age, while his mother had become almost a 
centenarian. The first remembrance that the son has 



young Weinberger was nineteen years of age the 
bishop asked him to succeed him as teacher. The 
local director proposed to make it easy by requiring 
but a partial examination and allowing the novice to 
attend a term at boarding-school before the district 
school would commence. Meanwhile his brother-in- 
law. Rev. Henry A. Hunsicker, principal of Freeland 
Seminary, was paying the family a social visit, and 
was urging the young man by all means to accept the 
proposition. That was the turning-point of his 
future career. The attendance of one term at a sem- 
inary gave no little weight to the young teacher's 
standing in the estimation of the community, and he 



416 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



succeeded far above his own expectations, especially 
in discipline. Having completed the winter session, 
he drew his pay and went to Freeland Seminary for 
two terms during the summer, the directors not 
requiring him to come home to attend examination, 
as he had given satisfaction the previoiis winter. 
When twenty-oue years of age he resolved to take a 
collegiate course and make teaching his profession. 
The resolution was strong, but the funds were wanting. 
Kev. Daniel Weiser oilered to provide the means if 
young Weinberger would become a Reformed clergy- 
man. His brother-in-law proposed to loan him all the 
money to insure an independent course. After the 
father became fully acquainted with the strong reso- 
lution of his son he resolved to furnish half the sum 
required and take notes for the other half The way 
now was clear, and he concluded to prepare for Yale 
College, where his classical teachers, Wayne Mac- 
Veagh and William L. Williamson, had lately gradu- 
ated. Two years' studying, besides teaching and 
acting as prefect in Freeland Seminary for board, 
amidst many discouragements, regrets and mortifica- 
tions, was regarded sufficient preparation for entering 
an Eastern college. 

In the second week of September, 18.55, John Hun- 
ter Worrall, a senior, Joseph Alonzo Chistman, a 
junior, Henry Royer, a sophomore, and J. Shelly 
Weinberger, an applicant for admission, all of Mont- 
gomery County, started for Yale College. In the 
evening they found lodging at the Florence Hotel, in 
the great metropolis, and on the following noon ar- 
rived at the " City of Elms." Weinberger became 
Mr. Worrall's proUge in all the preliminary arrange- 
ments for appearing to the best advantage in Alumni 
Hall for examination. The applicant became a mem- 
ber of the freshman class of '59, numbering one 
hundred and fifty-three. He spent four profitable 
years at college, towards the close changed places with 
some whose early training had been far more favor- 
able, and at the age of twenty-seven graduated with 
respectable honors. On the Monday following the 
commencement of his alma mater he took his place 
in Freeland Seminary as teacher of ancient and 
modern languages. He saved all of his salary he 
could for two years to pay his notes, when he con- 
sidered himself financially free, and had but a meagre 
balance to his credit. He entered into a new covenant 
by marrying a young lady of fine intellectual endow- 
ments and good taste. Miss Emma Kratz, daughter of 
Jacob S. Kratz, of Plumstead, Bucks Co. In 1863 
he purchased a small farm, stock and all, moved on 
the farm and managed it successfully without inter- 
fering with his teaching. 

After having taught for Mr. Hunsicker for six years, 
the school was leased for five years to Mr. Adam H. 
Fetterolf, now Dr. Fetterolf, president of Girard Col- 
lege. The services of Mr. Weinberger had previously 
been secured, and he became Mr. Fetterolf s right- 
hand man in governing unruly boys and teaching re- 



fractory classes. Before Mr. Fetterolfs lease had 
expired Freeland Seminary was sold to the board of 
directors of Ursinus College. The constitution of 
the college provides that one-fourth of the board may 
consist of members not belonging to the Reformed 
Church. In the election of the faculty it was consid- 
ered wise by the board to make J. Shelly Weinberger 
a member, to represent the old element in the school, 
a stroke of policy for which there has been no cause 
for regret. He saved for the college one-half of the 
students of Freeland Seminary, some of whom subse- 
quently graduated. He has rendered valuable aid 
to the Reformed brethren in their ettbrts to put 
the college on a firm basis and in their endeavors 
to establish a good sj'stem of discipline. 

Professor Weinberger for some years studied the 
co-education of the sexes in colleges by reading all 
the books treating on the subject at his command, 
pro and con. Besides his own theory, the experience 
at Oberlin College for fifty years, as well as those of 
other colleges which have opened for ladies at a more 
recent period, has satisfied him that it is the natural 
and normal way to educate, as mind knows no sex. 
Being acquainted with the difficulties which have to 
be overcome to introduce the system and make it 
effective at Ursinus, he proposed what he thought 
might prove an entering wedge to it. He made a 
request that his daughter should be allowed to enter 
the college classes, proposing to pay for her tuition 
the same as if she were a son. The school had just 
commenced its session, and immediate action on the 
request was painful and every intimation unfavor- 
able. After a consideration of one week the request 
was granted, with the understanding that no others 
be allowed to enter should they apply. Everything 
went on as before, and at the end of the scholastic 
year Dr. Super, the vice-president, and Professor Wein- 
berger were appointed a committee to present an over- 
ture to the board of directors for admitting young 
ladies as day pupils into the institution. The board 
reported favorably, and the president of the faculty, 
in his next annual report, stated that the " experiment 
of admitting young ladies had jiroved the wisdom of 
the measure." 

The quarter-centennial of the office of teacher in 
the different halls, on the same grounds, through 
three successive administrations, was celebrated on 
the 2(5th of June, 1884, by the graduation of his only 
child, Minerva, who was the valedictorian in a class 
of nine, and the first lady-graduate in the classical 
department of Ursinus College. 

The professor is senior elder in Trinity Christian 
Church, which is orthodox in faith, congregational in 
polity and independent in its organization (Rev. 
Joseph H. Hendricks, A.M., pastor). He officiates 
in the pastor's absence, is radical and orthodox in 
his views, yet liberal. He has had different offers 
since graduation to become principal or president of 
higher institutions, all of which he declined, pre- 



EDUCATIONAL. 



ferring a less responsible position, as increasing 
rosponsibility weighs heavily on him. 

He teaches from nine to twelve o'clock in the 
forenoon, and the afternoon he devotes to his private 
business. He is now fifty-three years of age, and lives 
in a modest home fronting on the beautiful Perki- 
omen. 

Haverford College. — This celebrated and prosper- 
ous institution holds an estate of about two hundred 
and twenty acres in the northern part of Haverford 
township, Delaware Co., and in Lower Merion 
township, Montgomery Co. It was founded in the 
year 1832 by prominent members of the Society of 
Friends in the Middle 8tates, the larger number being 
residents of Philadelphia and its vicinity. The pur- 
pose of its founders was to provide a place for the 
instruction of their sons in the higher learning, and 
for moral training, which should be free from the 
temptations prevalent at many of the larger colleges. 
A tract consisting at first of forty acres, luit gradually 
enlarged until it now contains upwards of seventy, 
was set ofi' by an experienced English landscape- 
gardener and planted with a large variety of trees, to 
constitute the academic grove in which the college 
buildings should stand. This park is now the most 
beautiful which any American college can boast, and 
the ex<iuisite undulations of its surface, its stately 
trees, its winding walks, and its green and well-kept 
turf attract many admiring visitors. 

The " Founders' Hall," as it is now called, a large 
and well-constructed building, was finished in 1833, 
and in the autumn of that year " Haverford School " 
was opened. This modest title, corresponding with 
the .'uostentatious spirit of its founders, was borne 
for upwards of twenty years, although a full collegiate 
cours.' of study was pursued from the beginning. 
Early in 1856, however, the institution was incorpo- 
rated as a college, with the right of conferring aca- 
demic degrees. 

Barclay Hall, built in 1876, a strikingly beautiful 
buildi'ig of Port Deposit granite, furnishes studies 
and bed-rooms for eighty students. Others were ac- 
commodated in Founders' Hall. There are two 
astronomical observatories, — one built in 1852, the 
other in 1884. These contain a refracting equatorial 
telescope of ten inches aperture, by Clark ; a refract- 
ing ec|uatorial telescope of eight and one-fourth inches 
aperture, by P^itz ; an alt-azimuth reflecting telescope 
of eight and one-fourth inches aperture; a fixed 
transit instrument of four inches aperture, with circles 
twenty-six inches in diameter; a zenith instrument of 
one and three-fourths inches aperture, with microm- 
eter and circles ; a chronograph, connected by elec- 
tricity with all the instruments, wdiich records the 
exact time of observations to the tenth of a second ; 
two sidereal clocks ; a filar micrometer; a spectro- 
scope made by Grubb, with a train of ten prisms ; a 
polarizing eye-piece for solar work ; a sextant, and a 
valuable librarv of astronomical literature. 



The students have free access to the observato. 
and enjoy such advantages for observatory practice at, 
are seldom oftercd. The director of the observatory, 
Professor Sharpless, is a man of great knowledge and 
wide fame. 

A ta.steful and well-proportioned building, erected 
in 1863-64, contains the library and Alumni Hall, the 
latter being used for lectures, society meetings, and 
the public exercises of the college. Here some fifteen 
thousand volumes are always ready for the use of the 
students, selected with great care in all departments 
of knowledge. A large number of the best European 
and American periodicals are taken in. The library 
is regarded as inferior in importance and usefulness to 
no other department of the college. 

A carpenter shop was built soon after the opening 
of the school, as a jilace where the boys might fii d 
profitable exercise and amusement in the use of tools. 
This was fitted up in 1884 for the use of the dejiart- 
ment of mechanical engineering, and contains a 
forge, steam-engines, and a variety of machines and 
tools for the use of students in that department. 

The chemical laboratory was built in 1853 (a room 
in Founders' Hall having previously been used for the 
purpose), and has several times been enlarged and 
improved. It is now very commodious, amply fur- 
nished and under very skillful management. Under 
it is a beautiful gymnasium, which is supplied w'ith 
the apparatus of Dr. Sargent, the director of the 
Harvard gymnasium. Exercise here is required of 
the students, under the direction of an ex])crienced 
physician. 

In Founders' Hall there is a museum of natural 
history and a physical laboratory. This hall contains 
also the recitation-rooms and the dining hall. 

Among the most distinguished officers and instruc- 
tors of the school and college have been Daniel B. 
Smith, John Gummere, Joseph Thomas, Samuel J. 
Gummere, Henry D. Gregory, Paul Swift, Hugh D. 
Vail,.Toseph Harlan, George Stuart, Moses C. Stevens, 
Clement L. Smith, Albert Leeds, Henry Hartshorne, 
Edward D. Cope and John H. Dilliiighani. The 
officers in 1884 are as follows: President, Thomas 
Chase, a graduate of Harvard University, who re- 
ceived in 1878 the houorary degree of Doctor of Laws 
from Harvard, and in 1880 that of Doctor of Literature 
from Haverford. He was a member of the American 
company of revisers of the English translation of the 
New Testament, and is the editor of a series of classi- 
cal text-books which are very widely used. Dean, 
Isaac Sharpless, a graduate of Harvard in the scien- 
tific school, and honored with the degree of Doctor of 
Science by the University of Pennsylvania in 1883. 
Professor Sharpless is a man of wide scientific dis- 
tinction, and is the author of excellent text-books 
in geometry, astronomy and physics. Pliny Earle 
Chase, LL.D., also a graduate of Harvard, is the 
professor of philosophy and logic. He holds very 
high rank among living thinkers and men of science. 



416 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



su'd his i)hilosn]ihical and scientific papers have been 
widely published, both in this country and in Europe. 
Allen C. Thomas, a graduate and Master of Arts of 
Haverford, is the accomplished and learned professor 
of history, political economy and rhetoric. Lyman 
B. Hall, a graduate of Amherst, and Ph.D. of the 
University of Gottingen, is professor of chemistry 
and physics, and a thorough master of these sciences. 
Edwin Davenport, A.B. and A.M. of Harvard, a 
brilliant and distinguished scholar, is professor of 
Latin and Greek. Henry Carvill Lewis, graduate 
and Master of Arts of the University of Pennsylvania, 
one of the foremost men of science in America, is the 
])rofessor of geology. The other instructors are men 
of distinction and promise. Thomas Newlin, of the 
University of Michigan, j)rofessor of zoology and 
botany, and curator of the museum. James Beatty, 
Jr., a graduate of the Stevens Institute, professor of 
engineering branches. Walter M. Ford, M.D., in- 
structor in physical training. AVilliam Earl Morgan, 
a graduate and Master of Arts of Penn College, as- 
sistant astronomical observer, and William F. Wick- 
ersham, assistant librarian. 

The following regular courses of study are pursued 
at the college: I. A course in classics, mathematics, 
general literature, modern languages and science, for 
the degree of Bachelor of Arts. II. A course in 
general science and literature and modern languages, 
for the degree of Bachelor of Science. III. A more 
specialized course in practical science and engineer- 
ing, together with modern languages, for the degree 
of Bachelor of Science or for special degrees. The 
requisites for admission are substantially the same as 
at other first-class colleges. 

The college claims, in its published circulars, 
special advantages for its students. These are, "First, 
good moral and religious influences. Endeavors are 
made to imbue the minds and hearts of the students 
with the fundamental truths of the Christian religion, 
and to train them by the inculcation of 2)ure morals 
and the restraints of a judicious discipline. No stu- 
dent is admitted without a certificate of character 
from his last instructor, and none believed to be of 
low moral character are retained. Second, thorough 
scholarship. The teaching is of high quality; the 
classes are small enough to allow regular performance 
of work and the opportunity for individual instruc- 
tion. The absence of the constant distractions which 
attend life at many colleges, and the example and 
influence of the professors, enables a large amount of 
honest work to be done, so that the standard of 
graduation is high. Third, the healthfulness of the 
student life. In the large and beautiful lawns every 
facility is given, right at the doors, for cricket, base- 
ball, foot-ball, tennis, archery and other field games. 
The gymnasium furnishes judicious physical training, 
under the care of a skillful physician. The rooms 
are pleasant, the table and service good and all the 
conditions wholesome." 



Haverford College, from its modest beginnings, has 
slowly but surely won a position among the foremost 
literary institutions of the country, and may justly be 
counted an honor to the county and the common- 
wealth in which it stands. In October, 1883, it cele- 
brated the fiftieth anniversary of its opening. Six 
hundred of the old students assembled on its beautiful 
grounds, aad their high character and eminence gave 
a striking testimonial to the merits of their alina 
mater. 

Dr. Thomas Chase was born in Worcester, Mass., 
June 16, 1827. His father, Anthony Chase, was one 
of the most prominent citizens of that place, and his 
mother was the daughter of Pliny Earle, of Leicester, 
a distinguished inventor and manufacturer. He was 
graduated in 18-18 at Harvard University, where he 
distinguished himself greatly in classics, metaphysics 
and English composition. After holding a ma.ster- 
shij) in the Cambridge High School, he was called, in 
1850, to a position in the Harvard faculty ; first as 
Latin professor during the year of Dr. Beck's absence 
in Europe, and then as tutor in Latin and history. 
In February, 18.73, de.siringto perfect his scholarship, 
he sailed for Europe, where he spent two years and a 
half, going attentively through England, France, Italy 
and Greece, Switzerland, Germany and Holland, 
studying antiiiuities, art, manners and customs, and 
scenery, perfecting himself in the French, German, 
Italian and modern Greek languages, and spending 
a winter semester in the University of Berlin. In 
this journey he became acquainted with many of the 
men most distinguished in Europe in literature, art, 
science and politics. Immediately on his return, 
though urged to resume his post at Cambridge, 
he accepted a classical professorship at Haverford. 
President Walker had recommended him as " the best 
scholar, not only of his years, but of his time." His 
success was immediate and great, and he has had no 
small share in causing the rapid growth which Haver- 
ford College has made in the last thirty years in inttu- 
ence and fame. In March, 1875, he accepted the 
presidency of the college. In 1878 Harvard Univer- 
sity conferred upon him its highest honor, the degree 
of Doctor of Laws ; and Haverford gave him the 
degree of Doctor of Literature at the end of his twenty- 
fifth year of service, in 1880. 

Dr. Chase was one of the American company of re- 
visers of the English translation of the New Testament, 
being conspicuous in that distinguished body for his 
ability and learning. He has published an interesting 
volume on his travels in Greece, — " Hellas, her Monu- 
ments and Scenery," — contributed valuable articles to 
the North American Review and other periodicals, and 
given a number of literary addresses which have 
gained great commendation, both from their literary 
merits and from his graceful and effective delivery. » i 
He has also written an excellent Latin Grammar, 4 
and prepared editions of the first of Cicero's "Tusculan 
Disputations," and editions of "Virgil," "Horace," 



u 



\ 




^AoT-Tza^ C-A^ 



a^, 



(L^ 



EDUCATIONAL. 



419 



"Livy " and "Juvenal," which are widely used in the 
best schools and colleges. 

Dr. Cha.se holds the highest rank as an educator. 
An enthusiastic scholar himself, an ardent lover of 
noble literature, and cherishing high ideals in life, he 
has excited similar enthusiasm and lofty aims in his 
pupils. He has bestowed much thought upon sys- 
tems and methods of education, and is regarded as 
high authority in matters of this kind. 

He was married, in 1860, to Alice Underbill Crom- 
well, of New York, a descendant of Sir Henry Crom- 
well, the grandfather of the Lord Protector. His wife 
died in January, 1882, leaving a daughter and four 
sons. 

Cottage Seminary. — This academy, located on 
High Street, in the eastern part of the borough of 
Pottstown, was opened for the education of young 
ladies, in the 'year 1850, by the Rev. William R. 
Work, who was also pastor of the Presbyterian 
Church of that place. He was succeeded in the con- 
duct of this institution by the Revs. Daniel G. Mallory, 
Curran and Cruikshauk, and finally by Mr. George 
G. Butler, who also retired from the institution in 
1881, since which time it has not been occupied for 
educational purposes. Like a number of other insti- 
tutions of a similar character in the county, designed 
for the higher education of young ladies, its mission 
of useftilness has been, in some measure, supplied by 
the graded common schools of the borough and nor- 
mal .schools of the State. 

Pennsylvania Female College (Collegeville, Pa.). 
— Prominent among the educators of Montgomery 
County are Professor J. Warrenne Sunderland, LL.D., 
and Luannie Sunderland, who, with the Rev. Abra- 
ham Hunsicker, organized the Montgomery Female 
Institute or Seminary as early as 1851. In their 
"announcement" they proclaimed what was then a 
new departure, and boldly advocated the necessity of 
a higher education for women in terms which, how- 
ever well accepted and popular now, were deemed 
by many well-disposed and influential persons vision- 
ary then. These advanced educators then said, " We 
believe the female mind endowed with powers and 
capabilities quite equal to those of the other sex, and 
no sufficient reason can be assigned why they should 
not be as fully and carefully developed. In project- 
ing this institution, therefore, we have a twofold 
object in view, — first, to provide correct and thorough 
instruction in the ordinary branches of learning at so 
cheap a rate as to bring it within the reach of all ; 
second, to afford to such young ladies as may desire 
to pursue a more extensive course in the sciences and 
liberal arts an opportunity of doing so under circum- 
stances as favorable as those enjoyed by the other 
sex at our most reputable colleges." They further 
assured parents, guardians and the public that "any 
young lady completing the course of studies pre- 
scribed, and sustaining satisfactory examinations, 
would receive an appi'opriate diploma, and be entitled 



to a laureate as significant and valuable as that con- 
ferred on young men at institutions of a corresponding 
grade." 

The foundation was now laid for a "Female Col- 
lege" in Montgomery County. If it was an experi- 
ment, it had liberal-minded, progressive and deter- 
mined projectors, and measures were speedily taken 
to obtain sueli chartered privileges from the com- 
monwealth as would place the institution in such a 
position as to comraaud the respect, interest and 
public favor originally solicited for it by its founders. 
In 1853 an act of incorporation was obtained, vesting 
the following-named trustees with the necessary cor- 
porate powers: James Warrenne Sunderland, John 
R. Grigg, Mathias Haldeman, William B. Halm and 
Wright Bringhurst. These trustees were empowered 
to appoint a president and faculty of instruction, 
" who sliall be cliarged with the direction and manage- 
ment of the literary affairs of the college, etc." The 
charter provided that " the faculty shall have power 
to confer such literary degrees and academic honors 
as are usually granted by colleges upon such pupils 
as shall have completed in a satisfactory manner the 
prescribed course of study."' 

This pioneer female college gave a new and startling 
impulse to the advance of woman, and its annual 
commencements called together the most learned 
and progressive audiences that ever a.ssembled in the 
Perkiomeu Valley. It was indeed something new 
for the mothers of Eastern Pennsylvania to witness 
the graduation of daughters with collegiate honors ; 
and on all these occasions the " class," surrounded by 
corporators and faculty, having passed the examina- 
tion required by the high standard jjrescribed, and 
otherwise acquitted themselves in accordance with 
the commencement exercises, elated with their success 
as students flushed with tributes of substantial friend- 
ship and the congratulations of senior college sisters, 
waited in common with an expectant public for the 
parting address of the president, who wa-s required to 
disarm all unfriendly criticism, justify the jironounced 
innovation upon rules of education and approve the 
advent of the graduates upon the threshold of a 
higher and broader life than had been vouchsafed to 
the earlier generations of womanhood in Pennsylvania. 
This task Professor Sunderland always performed 
during his presidency with distinguished ability and 
marked public apjiroval, and to no one more than him 
is due the credit and honor of moulding that public 
opinion which a quarter of a century ago and since has 
demanded equal educational advantages for woman, 
fitting her for the employment of teacher and all the 
higher pursuits of life in which she is now found. 

This college and kindred academical institutions in 
Eastern Pennsylvania, largely instrumental in the 
accomplishment of good in the past and passing 

1 Act to incorporate the Pennsylvania Female College, Paniphlet LawB, 
1858, page 327. 



420 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



generations, have ceased to be educationa) factors. 
The college buildings and beautifully located grounds 
are still preserved by the founder of the institution, 
who is frequently visited by the former students and 
their children. All are warmly welcomed by their 
former preceptor and his estimable " helpmeet," who 
together live in the golden sunshine of mature age, 
conscious of having performed their duty in their day 
and hopeful that in the near future the work they 
commenced in common with the co-laborers of the 
Schuylkill Valley will be continued for generation 
after generation, and woman be fully accorded her 
true position in all the avenues of usefulness, influence 
and honor consistent with her possibilities in a con- 
tinental republic resting upon a liberal, intelligent, 
and Christian civilization. 

ALUMNI OK PENNSYLVANIA FEMALK COLLEGE. 

Clax of 1853.— Mrs. .1. F. Walter, A.M. (E. H. Halin), S. C. ; Anna 
Eliza Oberholtzer, A.M., Chester County ; Hannah U. Price, A.M., 
Phcenixville. 

Class of 1S64.— Mrs. F. M. Hobson, .\.M. (E. Gotwaltz), FreiOanil ; 
Mrs. G. S. Aslimead, A.M. (S. W. Hall), California ; Hannall P. Hall, 
San Francisco, Ca!. ; Mary E. Kurtz, A.M., Juniata County ; Mrs. 1). 
Nyce, .\.M. (M. B. Stephens), PhilaJelpliia ; Emily ToiUl, A.M., Free- 
laud ; Mrs. Hon. H. Royer (C B. Todd). Freeland ; Mrs. liev. Win. Ma- 
gee, A.M. (BI. A. Wolf), Philadelphia ; Mrs. J. C. Cai-son, A.5I. (L. A. 
Stewart), Ripley, Tenn. 

Class of 1856. — Josephine Caldwell, New York ; Mrs. Col. T. W. Bean, 
A.M. (H. Heebner), Montgomery County ; Ellen M. Hilton, A.U., New 
Jersey ; Margaret B. Jackson, Kennett Square ; Anna M. Newberry, 
A.M., \\niitemarsh ; Mre. T. Highley (A. C. Nichols), .Shannonville ; 
Mary Ella Pennypacker, Pho?ni.\ville. 

Class of 1856. —Mrs. Samuel Gross Fry, .\.M. (M. J. Ca.ssady), Phila- 
delphia ; Rachel Dickinson, died iu New Jei-sey ; Mrs. Dr. H. F. Sellers 
(Amelia Oakford), Philadelphia ; Mre. Enoch Davis (M. E. Buckwalter), 
Delaware County ; Sallie R. Roman, Newport, Del. ; Mi's. C. Reiff (De- 
borah S. Yerkes), Norristown ; Rebecca Towers, Koyer's Ford ; Mi-s. W\ 
H. Fessenden (H. A. Sunderland), Boston, MaJ?s. 

CT<i»« o/ 1857.— Deborah L. Hilton, .\.M., Washington, D. C. ; Martha 
A. Pennypacker, A.M., Chester County; Mrs. Dr. H. ('. Dodson, A.M. 
(M. A. Ilahn), Marj'land. 

Class of ISuS. — Mrs. Slifer (.\nna P. Rodenbangh), Lewisbiu'g; Eliza- 
beth E. Evans, Philadelphia; Mary T. Davis, Norristown. 

Class of 18.50.— Helen G. Coates, Philadelphia; Mrs. Robins, A.M. 
(Adeline V. Compton), New Egypt, N. J. ; Emma .\. Fry, Philadelphia ; 
Mrs. H. Grubb (E. B. Hunsicker), Freeland; Mrs. Kerns, A.M. (ElleuJ. 
McKee), Dayton ; Diana C. Y'oung, .\.3I., Milford. 

Class of 18(10.— Emma J. Hahn, A. 51., Wiishington, D. C. ; Mrs. H. 
Longstreth (S. Hunsicker), Limerick ; Caroline B. Reinard, .\ M., Potts- 
town ; Martha E. Schafer, A.M., Chester Cuu[ity ; Mrs. Dr. Wilco.x 
(Hannah S. Tyler), Matoon, 111. ; Lucy M. Weaver, A.M., Cincinnati, 
Ohio. 

CTiisso/lSei.- Harriet B. Booz, Chicago, III. ; Bella L. Frcas, Spring 
Mill ; Martha A. Howell, Yardleyville; Virginia S. Rogei-s, A.M., Phila- 
delphia ; Mrs. Captain H. Preston (M. Van Horn', Wilmington ; Mi-s. C. 
Spare (E. F. Williams), Philadelphia. 

Class O/1802.— E. R. Chatham, A.JI., New Jei«ey ; Rebecca Eicholtz, 
A.M., Illinois; Fannie G. Hagaman, A.M., Carbon County ; Lydia G. 
Pierson, Mullica Hill, N. J. ; Sallie Preston, Wilmington, Del. ; Mary K. 
Schretner, Chester County ; Mth. H. Prizer (Lydia A. Tustin), died in 
Chester. 

Cl<tss of 1863. — Helen M. Lewis, Philadelphia ; Emma J. Y'onng, A.M., 
Milford. 

Class of ISGi.—'K. Amanda Larzalere, Montgomery County; Hannah 
Larzalere, Slontgomei-y County; Elizabeth Tustin, Chester County. 

C/n«s o/ 1865.— Calista Ainian, W'hiteniarsh ; Mrs. B. Wright (Emma 
T. Black), Tullytown ; Mary P. Crawford, Lower Merion ; Henrietta M. 
Hahn, Clifton Springs, N. Y. ; Clarissa V. Hahn, Washington, D. C. ; 
Rebecca Nash, Whitemai^h ; Anna Townsend, Royal Oak, Md. ; Sanih 
F. VallianI, St. Michael's, )Id. 

Class of 1860. — Zilphee Aiman, Chestnut Hill ; Emma Gibbons, Oak- 



dale ; Mary P. Egbert, Lower Merion ; Kate D. Hughes, Bridgeport ; C. 
Cecilia Hamer, Freeland ; Emma E. Evans, Limerick ; Anna Hallman, 
Eagleville ; Kate Stauffer, A. M., Ohio. 

Class 0/1867.— Sallie K. Antrim, Millville, N. J. ; Emily Y. Crawford, 
Conshohocken ; Emma J. Hahn, Clifton, N. Y. ; Emma E. Jones, Tidi- 
oute ; Hannah E. Jlosser, Breinigsville ; Agnes S. Shultz. Colebrookdale ; 
Clara Detwiler, Doniphan, Kan. ; S. Emma Price, Eagleville. 

Class of 1808.— Mary A. Cox, Philadelphia ; Sadie S. Gabriel, Allen- 
town ; Fannie Hamer, Freeland. 

Class 0/1869.— Ida V. Moser, Lehigh County, Pa. ; Madge P. Walker,. 
Philadelphia ; Emily S. Lane, Bucks County ; Ella C. Tolan. New Jersey. 

Class of 1870. — Fannie V. French, Maine ; Nellie M. Marsh, Chester 
County, Pa.; Ella V. Gilmore, Maryland; Jennie M. SIcCallmont, New 
: Jersey ; Ella T. Wallaston, Montgt)mery County, Pa. ; Martha Hallman, 
I Lower Providence, Pa. 

i Class of 1871. — Jlinerva Schwenk, Montgomery County ; Addie T. 
Sherman, Montgomery (.'ounty. 

Class of 1875, — Lizzie Stanger, New Jersey ; Lizzie Gotwals, Chester 
County, Pa. ; Anna \\'almsly. New Jersey. 

The Hill School, preparatory to College, Scien- 
tific School and Business.^-The Hill School was 
established in 18.51 by the Rev. Matthew Meigs, 
Ph.D., LL.D., ex-president of Delaware College, and 
formerly of the University of Michigan. 

The school property, comiirising about twelve 
acres, lies on the eastern border, adjoining the cor- 
porate limit of the beautiful borough of Pottstown, 
less than two hours' ride from Philadelphia, with 
which there is communication by eighteen daily 
trains on the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, 
and by the Bound Brook route but three hours 
and a half from New York. The school is situ- 
ated on a commanding eminence known as " The 
Hill," affording an extensive and beautiful prospect 
of the valley of the Schuylkill and the surrounding 
country. 

The rooms are severally heated by steam, venti- 
lated directly and equably with an exhaustive 
system constantly withdrawing polluted air from the 
atmosphere. 

The incandescent system of electric lighting, which 
has been adopted throughout, neither adds noxious 
fumes to the atmosphere nor exists by its absorption, 
but by its non-combustion of oxygen, and the uni- 
form volume of light received from an electric lamp 
makes it more comfortable and less dangerous to the 
eyes than any other form of illuminant known. 

Hot and cold water have been introduced into every 
room. In connection with the best traps that sanitary 
science has devised is a separate ventilating shaft for 
each set of pipes, which issues at a point above the 
crown of the roof. 

On each floor are two bath-rooms, and the sewerage 
is disposed of according to the specific direction of 
the best authorities. _ , 

Each boy occupies a single bed. " ' 

Physical Traininc;. — The gymnasium, con- 
structed and equipped under the personal directioa. . 
of Professor George Goldie, of Princeton Collegejj 
embraces every appliance requisite for the symmet- 
rical development of the body and supplementary 
apparatus for special training. 

At the beginning of the year, and at such times 



EDUCATIONAL. 



421 



■during the year as may seem good, a physical exam- 
ination of each pupil is made by a skilled physician 
in order to determine hereditary tendencies, func- 
tional or organic disorders and individual weaknesses, 
all of which results serve to guide the instructor, 
who requires of each pupil the prescribed exercises 
resultant upon and corrective of personal needs. 
Daily participation in the simpler forms of gymnastic 
drill is expected and enforced, except in case of ill- 
ness. 

Experience has shown the quick and intelligent 
response of boys to this method of physical training, 
and so far from defeating the aim to increase their 
reverence for their bodies, it has been found that 
this practical, reasonable system dignifies the spirit 
in which they regard their highest functions. 

This culture is supplemented by the study of 
physiology and hygiene, with the use of skeleton and 
manikin, and by lectures, general and special, with 
reference to public and personal liealth. 

Its prosperity and efficiency have in- 
creased from year to year, and its distin- 
guished position will always be found the 
best monument of its founder's sagacity 
and liberality. Rigorously restricting the 
number of its ])upils, and enabled thereby 
to bestow the most scrupulous attention 
upon each student's personal needs, it has 
accomplished a great work in impressing 
upon the individual the habits of exact 
and scholarly methods, which have been 
utilized in every department of life. 

In 1876 the founder was succeeded by 
his son, John Meigs, Ph.D., by whom the 
school was reorganized with special refer- 
ence to the work of preparation for college 
and scientific school. 

Under the present regime every graduate 
of the school who has applied for admission 
has entered one of the best colleges in tull 
standing. An enlarged faculty of instruc- 
tion and increased appliances have confirmed the ex- 
pectations of its friends. 

On the 4th of JIarch, 1884, the buildings of the 
school were destroyed liy fire. On the 1st of (October 
of the same year the work was resumed in the new 
structure erected during the spring and summer. 

In their reconstruction whatever experience, sani- 
tary science and generous aspiration could suggest 
has been scrupulously incorporated. The purpose 
has not been merely to create a home for the boys, 
provided with every element of exceptional comfort 
and happiness, but to signalize the school-life and 
school-work by appliances complete and attractive. 

Teachers, 1884. — Latin and Greek, John Meigs, 
Ph.D. (Lafayette); William E. Roe, A.M. (Williams); 
Walter C. Roe, A.B.' (Williams). Mathematics, 
Oeorge Q. Sheppard, A.B. (Lafayette). English and 



Latin, Andrew W. Willgon, Jr., A.B. (Princeton). 
History, William E. Roe, A.M. (Williams); Walter 
C. Roe, A.B.' (Williams). Natural Sciences, Henry 
R. Goodnow, A.B. (Amherst, University of Berlin, 
ex-Fellow Jcdins Hopkins University). German, 
Rev. L. K. Evans, A.M. (Franklin and Marshall, 
University of Berlin). Physiology and Hygiene, 
Richard W. Savior, M.D. (Amherst, New York Col- 
lege of Physicians and Surgeons). Music, lod. Giles. 

North Wales Academy and School of Business, 
Professor S. U. Brunner, principal. This institu- 
tion w;is opened in Kulpsville, Pa., Oct. 14, 18li7, its 
object being to meet the increasing demand for prac- 
tically educated men and women. It was removed 
to North Wales, Montgomery Co., April 10, 1871. 

The organization and system of instruction are 
adapted to meet the wants not only of the commercial 
part of the community, but also of the professional, 
agricultural and artisan cla-sses. 

There are two separate ilepartments, — academic 




NORTH WALES ACADEMY. 

and commercial. We recognize the fact that while a 
thorough English and classical education is highly 
ccjnducive to success in life, a practical business edu- 
cation is scarcely less so. Such an education is nearly 
as necessary for the professional man, farmer and me- 
chanic as for the merchant. 

The aim steadily held in view in this institution is 
to give its pupils symmetrical culture, and at the same 
time to make of them practical, self-reliant men and 
women, fitted to assume the duties and to discharge 
the responsibilities of life, and to appreciate any refin- 
ing pleasure that may come in their way. 

Students are fitted for college if their parents or 
guardians so desire. 

The commercial department is entirely separate 
from the graduating course. It is a complete and 
independent course of itself, yet students can elect 



422 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



certain branches from either it or the graduating 
course. 

With a determination to make this school a success, 
the principal employs none but first-class, capable in- 
structors. 

Special attention is also called to the fact that 
dull and backward students have extra instruction 
given them outside of the regular routine of school- 
work. 

Building, Grounds, Etc. — The school building 
was erected in 1872, and consists of a large stucco 



and Lydia (Umstead) Brunner, was born at the old 
homestead, Worcester township, Montgomery Co., on 
April 6, 1842. His rudimentary education was ac- 
quired at the Bethel Public School, which he attended 
six months during the year, beginning at the age of 
six and continuing until that of seventeen. While 
he was yet a student here, in 1858, he was chosen by 
the school board of his district, against his own ])er- 
sonal wishes, to teach an unexpired term in Johnson's 
School, in the extreme western end of the district. 
He reluctantly entered upon his new duties about 




stone structure, with mansard roof, forty-three feet 
square, four stories high, including basement, which 
latter is used for cooking and dining purposes, etc. 
The first story is divided into school, recitation, office 
and class-rooms, and the second and third into dor- 
mitories and studios. The observatory on top of the 
building affords a magnificent view of the surrounding 
country. Tlie grounds are ample, and a variety of 
shrubbery, flowers, shade and ornamental trees have 
been set out. 

Samuel U. Bruxxer, youngest son of Frederick 



January ], 1859, and successfully completed the un- 
expired term of one of the hardest schools to manage 
in the district. 

He entered AVashington Hall Collegiate Institute, 
at Trappe, in the spring of that year; and continued 
to teach public school, and during vacation to attend 
school, until 1864. During this time he taught suc- 
cessfully two consecutive terms at Cassel's School, 
Worcester, and three in Whitpain, closing his career 
as public-school teacher, in 1867, as principal of the 
Jenkintown Public School. 



FLORA OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



423 



Always of a practical turn of mind, he entered East- 
man's National Business College, Poughkeepsie, X. Y., 
in the summer of 1864, graduating with distinguished 
honor in a class of twenty-seven in thirteen weeks. 
Wishing to ajiply his newly-acquired knowledge so 
as to gain actual experience in business, he became 
chief book-keeper for the Grover & Baker Sewing- 
Machine Company, No. 730 Chestnut Street, Phila- 
delphia, which position he held until July, 1866. 
His chosen profession was resumed in August of that 
year at .Tenkiutown. 

Having a d&sire to establish a business for himself, 
he ventured to open a private school in Kulpsville 
Hall, October 14, 1867. This school, known as Kulps- 
ville Academy and School of Business, he, opening 
with two pupils, successfully conducted until it was 
removed to North Wales, in April, 1871. 

Parochial Schools. — There are two large parochial 
schools maintained in the county. The largest of 
these, located in Norristown, is St. Patrick's Paro- 
chial school, which was begun in January, 1875, in 
the basement of St. Patrick's church. The studies 
are the same as in the public school, and the same text 
forms are used, with the exception of the Roa<lers, 
which are selections from the cLi-ssics and Catholic 
writers. The school is under the charge of the 
Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mercy. The 
other school is located in Conshohocken, and is con- 
ducted under the auspices of the Roman Catholic 
Church of that borough. There are upwards of 
fine thousand pupils in attendance upon them, and 
they are supported exclusively by contributions or 
payments made by those who adhere to the faith and 
doctrines of that ancient church. Females are em- 
jiloyed as teachers, and the branches of study pre- 
scribed, together with the general management of 
these schools, are under the control of the ecclesias- 
tical authorities of the denomination referred to. 
They receive no aid from the public school tax levied 
in the county or appropriated by the State. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

FLORA OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY." 

If there has been an_v attempt to describe and 
catalogue the plants of this county, there is no record 
of the fact, at least as far as the knowledge of the 
author extends. Botanical incursions within what is 
now known as the limits of Montgomery County were 
undoubtedly made by those pioneers in botany who 
contributed by their labors and their attainments to 
make Philadelphia illustrious as the centre of the 
American School of Natural Science and History. 
The names of Bartram, Barton, Nuttall, Schweinitz, 



I By p. y. Eisenberg. 31. D. 



Muhlenberg, Collins and Darlington form a galaxy' 
of botanical stars equalled by few and excelled b\^ 
none in this or any other country in the lirilliancy of 
their attainments, and of whom every Pennsylvanian 
should feel esiiecially proud, because they honored 
this State with their residence and gathei-ed the major 
part of their scientific knowledge from the plants of 
her soil. 

.lohn Bartram, born near Philadelphia, founded 
the first botanical garden of this country upon the 
banks of the Schuylkill, and there can be no doubt 
that it contained at least a few of the plants found in 
the beautiful Schuylkill Valley. Bartram could never 
have remained ignorant of the richness of the flora of 
the country lying but a few miles above his garden, 
and he probably made personal visits into the lower 
townships of what is now known as Montgomery, but 
then still embraced in Philadelphia County. His zeal 
was so great and his labors so extensive in investi- 
gating new species of plants, that Linn:eus himself 
pronounced him as the greatest living botanist. 

Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton, professor of botany and 
materia medica in the University of Pennsylvania, 
was a nephew of David Rittenhouse, the famous as- 
tronomer of this county; and he undoubtedly botanized 
and collected specimens from this county while visit- 
ing his illustrious uncle at his country home, in 
Norriton township, a few miles north of Norristown. 

It was Dr. Barton who induced Thoma.s Nuttall, a 
young English botanist of great merit and promise, to 
come to America to study the plants of her varied 
soil and climate. It was likewise through his en- 
couragement that Nuttall completed the great work 
of Michaux on the " Forest Trees of America ; " and 
nowhere could he have found more abundant ma- 
terial for study than on the beantiftil hills over- 
looking the Schuylkill and Wissahickon, just above 
Philadelphia, in the southern limits of Montgomery, 
covered as they must have been with luxuriant forests 
in all their original richness. It is more than prob- 
able that Montgomery contributed somewhat toward 
the data of that product of unwearied thought and 
labor. 

Lewis David Schweinitz, a Moravian clergyman of 
Bethlehem, in this State, who contributed fourteen 
hundred new species to the flora of Eastern Pennsyl- 
vania, of which twelve hundred were new species of 
North American fungi, living as he did so near the 
northeastern corner of Jlontgomery, must likewise 
have explored her forests and ravines in search of 
material. Fungi in his time had been but little 
studied, and his labors did much to advance this par- 
ticular branch of study. 

Dr. Henry Ernst Muhlenberg, son of the founder 
of the Lutheran Church in America, was born at the 
Trappe, and was the first and only botanist of distinc- 
tion that Montgomery County produced. He contrib- 
uted a large share of botanical knowledge to the 
flora of Pennsylvania. It is probable that his first 



42-t 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



taste for botaiii('al research was developed while roam- 
ing over the hills of the Skippack and Perkioinen in 
his boyhood. Upon the approach of the British in 
1777 he fled from Philadelphia, where he was an as- 
sistant p;Lstor of one of the Lutheran Churches, to his 
quiet country home, and there secluded himself be- 
cause of a reward ofl'ered for his capture. During 
this season of seclusion he studied new varieties and 
new species of plants, and to a number of these his 
name has been assigned. His memory will live in 
the hearts of all lovers of plants and flowers, as long as 
the American dog-violet blooms,oraslongas the Drop- 
Seed grass grovvs. Having moved to Lancaster, where 
he assumed charge of a Lutheran Church, he continued 
his study of flowers, not as labor, but as a source of re- 
creation amid his ministerial duties. He published 
the '■ Flora Lancastriensis," the first attempt to cata- 
logue and describe the flowering plants of Lancaster 
County, a work that is only excelled by the classical 
volume of the late Dr. Darlington, of West Chester, 
known as the " Flora Cestrica." 

The latter eaiinent and learned botanist, in his 
great work, erected a monument to himself as imper- 
ishable as the science he loved so well. His descrip- 
tions of the flora of Chester County are so exhaustive 
and his botanical language so complete that a botanist 
could scarcely be satisfied in determining newly-found 
varieties without first consulting his book while study- 
ing plant-life in Eastern Pennsylvania. Dr. Darling- 
ton botanized within view of the Schuylkill, and there 
can be but little doubt that he crossed beyond its 
banks in the hope of finding something new on Mont- 
gomery's soil, with its rich floral treasures. And 
finally a passing notice must be made of Alan W. 
Corson, of Whitemarsh, a botanist of more than local 
reputation. Enilowed with a strong love of nature, 
and untaught by others, he mastered the natural 
sciences of his native county, making extensive col- 
lections in botany, mineralogy and entomology. His 
herbarium was one of the finest of his time in this 
section of the country. He made trees a special ob- 
ject of study, and in his nursery had many rich and 
rare specimens, some of which were imported from 
Europe. 

The fertile Chester Valley extends beyond the 
borders of our neighboring county into Montgomery, 
carrying with it similar soils and geological forma- 
tions, and consequently growing similar plants and 
flowers. Like climate and underlying strata are the 
two determining factors in pro<lucing like vegetation, 
and hence the author feels warranted in affirming 
that almost every plant and fern described so accu- 
rately and minutely by Dr. Darlington in his " Flora 
of Chester County " can be found on the soil of Mont- 
gomery. A description of localities best known to 
the author and his friends may not be amiss. There 
is probably no more beautiful and picturesipie scenery 
in Eastern Pennsylvania than that which greets the 
traveller's eye in passing down the valley from Nor- 



ristown to Philadelphia. Here nature has been espe- 
cially lavish in dispensing her floral treasures. 

All along the Schuylkill, from below West Laurel 
Hill, in Lower Merion, to Balligomingo, above West 
Conshohocken, in LTpper Merion, the western bank 
of the river is steep and rugged, ofttimes being formed 
by bold blufl's. Occasionally it is interrupted by deep 
ravines, as those at Mill Creek and Balligomingo. In 
fact, the entire river, border, on both sides, — for the 
eastern is but the counterpart of the western, — form 
exceedingly interesting localities to the botanical 
student. Excursions are annually made by the botan- 
ical classes in the College of Pharmacy and medical 
colleges of Philadelphia, to Lafayette, Spring Jlill 
and Mill Creek, in pursuit of material for study. 

Near West Conshohocken the purple-flowered rasp- 
berry decorates the banks of the Schuylkill, and greets 
the dusty traveller as he passes down the river road. 
The beautiful climbing fumitory seeks a more retired 
shade, and blossoms, with all its delicate and hand- 
some foliage, in the ravines and thickets leading ofl" 
from the river, in the same locality. Up the ravine, 
some two miles from Balligomingo, is the Gulf Rock. 
In its immediate vicinity grow some four or five 
varieties of violets, — the bird's-foot violet, the Pale 
violet, araerican violet, named after Muhlenberg, the 
botanist ; and the wild pansy, or heart's-ease, which 
has yielded so kindly to cultivation and i)roduced the 
magnificent specimens grown by Vick and other flor- 
ists. 

Upon the bosom of Gulf Creek, in the same vicinity, 
grows in fragrant beauty the sweet-scenied Water-Lily, 
admired by all lovers of flowers. The ancient Greeks 
very appropriately dedicated this flower, because of 
its virgin beauty, to the water-nymphs which they 
believed to people the streams of their native land. 

This section of Montgomery County, too, is rich in 
ferns, but still farther down the river, opposite Spring 
Mill, at Soapstone Quarry, on the banks of Mill Creek> 
at Black Rock and at Flat Rock Tunnel a still greater 
variety and a more luxuriant growth of these interest- 
ing botanical specimens can be found. The eastern 
bank of the Schuylkill presents but little variation in 
floral specimens from those on the ojiposite side. The 
ravine near Lafayette, the vicinity of Spring Mill, 
and whole rocky river-border from Conshohocken to 
Norri.stown, with its intersecting ravines and thickets, 
are prized by local botanists as especially rich in 
their oflTerings for study. Here and there are found a 
few exceedingly rare plants, among which is the 
climbing milkweed, known as the (Jonolnbus hiisutus, 
clinging to the twigs and branches of some friendly 
tree. On one of the blufl's, overlooking the river, 
blooms, in modest retirement, the shooting-star, known 
as the Dodecatlienn Meadia. Its home, about two miles 
below Norristown, is known to but a few, and is the 
sole place, as far as known, in this county, where it 
blooms in its pristine beauty. It shrinks from sight 
upon the approach of man, and hides itself in some 



FLORA OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



425 



nook or corner among the rocks, away from the hoe 
or plow of the farmer. There, in a sheltered and 
secluded spot of its own choice, it flowers until the pry- 
ing eye of the botanist has spied its matchless beauty. 
Above Xorristown, in the Schuylkill, is Barbadoes 
Island. Here are found the Papaw, Spatterdock, the 
Virginia cowslip, and similar plants that seek a rich 
alluvium as their home. Along the Schuylkill, above 
Norristown, are to be found the pencil-flower, Vetch, 
wild-bean and the bracted bindweed. The hills of 
Valley Forge are rich in botanical interest to the 
student, as well as in historic memories. Valley 
Creek, which divides them, marks the extreme we.stern 
limit of botanical exploration in Montgomery. The 
eastern bank of the river, from opposite the Forge to 
PotLstown, presents little or nothing different from 
what has been already described. A few miles above 
Valley Forge the Perkiomen joins theSchuylkill, and 
furnishes new and fertile fields for study. Along its 
banks, and in the woods near the copper-mines west 
of Shannouville, one of the rare lady-slippers has 
been found, the Cypripedimn acaule. Other districts, 
remote from the principal streams coursing through 
the county, are likewise fruitful localities for the ama- 
teur in botanical science; as, for instance, the thickets 
and lowlands of Upper and Lower Merion. It is to 
be regretted that so small a portion of the county has 
been scientifically explored, and it is due to personal 
friends and co-laborers in this delightful pursuit, that 
the catalogue hereto appended is as full as it is. 

To Miss Margaret Harvey, of Ardmore, for her 
labors in classifying the ferns of the county; to Messrs. 
Aaron F. Baker, Jos. Crawford and John Overholtzer, 
of Norristown, especially to the latter gentleman, the 
thanks of the author are due for valuable assistance 
rendered in making and revising this catalogue. 

To Miss Anna L. Ralston and Dr. E. M. Corson, of 
Norristown, acknowledgments are likewise due for 
rare specinaens and information concerning their loca- 
tions. With these friends the author has spent many 
a pleasant hour in studying and deciding some un- 
known species of plant, and in rambling over hills, and 
through thickets and ravines, in search of new speci- 
mens. 

Li nomenclature and classification Gray has been 
followed, but occasionally, where he has failed to men- 
tion or describe the plant in question, Wood is recog- 
nized as authority. The plants analyzed and catalogued 
have all been thoroughly tested by these two authors, 
and subsequently their identity unequivocally fixed 
by a final reference to Darlington's '■ Flora Cestrica." 
As far as the catalogue extends, the aim has been to 
make it reliable. That the grasses and sedges have 
not received more attention is to be regretted, and it 
is fervently hoped that the list of flowers and ferns 
hereto appended may serve as a nucleus around which 
new additions shall be made, from time to time, by 
those interested in the botany of the county. 

The study of botany in a practical manner affords 



rich enjoyment, which is otherwise unattainable ; and 
if the results of the labors of his friends and himself 
shall serve as a stimulus to the youth of the county to 
pursue this delightful science, the author will feel 
amply compensated for his eftbrt to describe and 
enumerate the plant-life of Montgomery County. 

AN .ATTEMPT TO ENUMERATE THE INDIGENOUS AND NA- 
TURALIZED PLANTS FOUND GEOWING IN MONTGOMERY 

COUNTY. 

Series I. — Ph.¥..\'og.\mous or Flowering Plants. 

Chiss I. — DU-otifUdonons or Exogcmms Plants. 

Uuituncuhiceee. 
Clematis, L. 

Virginiana, L. (virgin's-bower). 
Anemone, L. 

Virginiana, L. (Virginia anemone). 

neinorosa, L. (wind-flower). 
Hepatica, Dill. 

triloba, Chaix (liverleaf). 
Thalictrum, Tourn. 

anemonoides, Michx. (rue-anemone). 

Cornuti, L. (fall meadow rue). 

dioicura, L. (early meadow rue). 
Ranunculus, L. 

Flamnmla, L. (spearwort). 

abortivus, L. (sniall-Howered crowfoot). 

sceleratiis, L. (cursed crowfoot). 

recurvatus, Pois. (hooked crowfoot). 

Pennsylvanicus, L. (bristly crowfoot). 

faacicularis, Muhl. (early crowfoot), found along .Schnylkill 
River, above Norristown. 

repens, L. (creeping crowfoot). 

bulbosus. L. (butter-oups). 

acris, L. (tall crowfoot). 
Caltha. L. 

palustris, L. (mai-sb marigold). 
Helleborus. L. 

viridis, L. (green hellebore). 
Aquilegia. Tourn. 

Canadensis, L. (wild columbine). 

vulgaris, L. (garden columbine), naturalizfd in some places. 
Delphinium, Tourn. 

Consolida, L. (field larkspur), 
var. grandifli-ra (cultivated). 
Ilydnistis, L. 

Canadensis, L. (orange-root). 
Cimicifuga, L. 

racemosa, Ell. (Black snakeroot). 
Magnoliacefe. 

magnolia, L. 

macropbylla, Michx. (greatjleavcd magnolia). 

Liriodendron, L. 

Tulipifera, L. (tulip-tree). 
Anonaceie. 

Asimina, Adans. 

triloba, Dunal (common papaw), found on Barbadoes Island, 
in Schuylkill River, above Norristown. 

Menispennacew. 

Menispennun, L. 

Canadense, L. (moon-seed). 

Berberidaceie . 

Berberis vulgaris, L. (common barbeny). 

Canadensis Push, (.\merican barberry). 

aquafolium. 
Podophyllum, L. 

peltatum, L. (mandrake, May-apple). 

Xt/mpkxacie. 

Nuphar, Smith. 

advena, Ait. (yellow pond-lily, spatterdock). 



426 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Nymphaea. Toum. 

odorata. Ait. (sweet-scented water-lily), found in Gulf Creek, 
Lower Merion, by Miss Margaret Harvey. 

Papaveracex. 
Papaver, L. 

Bomniferuni, L. (common poppy). 

dubium, L., cultivated grounds, near Norristown. 
Chelidonium, L. 

majus, L. (celandiuc). 
Sanguninaria, Dill. 

Canadensis, L. (bloodroot). 

ISimariace^. 

Adlumia, Raf. 

cirrhosa, Baf. (climbing funiitory), a handsome climber, with 
delicate foliage, rare ; found in rich, wet woods. 
Dicentra, Bork. 

cucullaria, D. C. (Dutchman's breeches). 

spectabilis (bleeding hearts). 
Corydalis, Vent. 

aurea, Willd. (golden corydalis). 
var. flavula. 
Fumaria, L. 

officinalis, L. (common fumitory). 
Crucifera;. 

Nasturtium, R. Br. 

officinale, R. Br. (true water-cress), along streams, running 

wild near Non-istown. 
sylvestre, R. Br. (yellow cress), 
palustre, D. C. (marsh cress). 
obtusum, Nutt. 

Armoracia, Fries (horse-radish), escaped in many places, 
Dentaria, L. 

diphylla, L. (two-leafed toothwort). 

laciniata, Muhl (common toothwort). 
Cardamine, L. 

rhomboidea, D. C. (spring cress). 

hirsuta, L. (common bitter cress). 

variety sylvatica, Gray. 
Arabia, L, 

lyrata, L. (rock cress). 

hirsuta, Scop, (hairy rock-cress), rare. 

patens, SuUiv, 

Thaliana, L. (Wood). 

Canadensis. L. (sickle-pod). 

laevigata, D. C. (smooth rock-cress). 
Turritis, Dill. 

glabra, L. (tower mustard). 
Barbarea, R. Br. 

vulgaris, R. Br. (common winter-cress). 
Erysimum, L. 

cheiranthoides, L. (wormseed mustard). 
Sisymbrium, L. 

officinale, Scop, (hedge mustard). 

Thalianum, Gaud, (mouse-ear cress). 
Sinapis, Tourn. 

nigra, L. (black mustai^). 

airensis, L. (field mustard). 

alba, L. (white mustard). 
Draba, L. 

verna, L. (Whitlow-grass), an early forerunner of spring. 
Camelina, Crantz. 

saliva, Crantz (false flax). 
Lepidiuui, L. 

carapestre, L. (field peppergrass). 

Virginicum, L. (wild peppergrass). 

sativum, L. (cultivated peppergrass). 
Capsella, Vent. 

Bursa pastoris, Mcench, (shepherd's purse). 
Raphanus, L. 

sativus, L. (garden radish), escaped in some places. 
Cleome, L. 

pungens, L. (spider-flower), Wood. 

Sesedacese. 
Reseda, L. 

odurata, L. (mignonette). 



Violacea. 

Solea, Ging., D. C. 

concolor, Ging., woods along Schuylkill, near Mill Creek ; rare. 
Viola, L. 

blanda, Willd. (sweet white violet). 
cucullata, Ait. (common blue violet). 

var. palmata (hand-leaved violet). Gray, 
sagittata. Ait. (arrow-leaved violet). 
• pedata, L. (bird-foot violet), found on hill-side near Gulf Rock, 
Upper Merion ; a beautiful violet, 
villosa, Walt. Nutt. (hairy violet), cemetery, Montgumery, nfar 

Schuylkill River. 
Striata, Ait. (pale violet), woods, Balligomingo, along Schuylkill. 
pubescens, Ait. (downy-yellow violet). 

Muhlenbergii, Torr. (American dog-violet), shaded, wet-ground 
named in honor of an eminent botanist of this county, Rev 
Dr. Henry Ernst IVIuhlenberg. 
tricolor, L. (pansy, heart's-ease), sandy liillside near (!iilf Rock^ 
Upper Merion. 

Cistacete. 

Lechea. L. 

mjyor. Mirhx. (larger pinweed). 
* minor, Lam. (smaller pinweed). 

Helianthcmum, Tourn. 

Canadense, Michx. (frostweed), along river-bank. 

Droseracem. 

DVosera, L. 

rotundifolia, L (round-leaved sun-dew), boggy meailows near 
Port Kennedy. 

Hyper icitcefe, 

Hypericum, L. 

perforatum, L. (common St. John's wort), 
corymbosum, Muhl. (corymbed St. John's wort), 
mutilum, L. (small St. John's. wort). 
Canadense, L. (Canada St. John's wort). 
Sarotha, Michx. (orange-grass). 

Cai-yophyllacese. 
Dianthus, L. 

armeria, L. fDeptford pink, wild pink.) 

caryophyllus (clove pink or carnation pink). 

Barbatus (Sweet William). 
Saponaria, L. 

officinalis, L. (common soapwort or bouncing B<*(.) 
Silene, L. 

stellata, Ait. (starry campion). 

noctiflora, L. (night-flowering catch-fly). 

nivea, D. C. 
Agrostemma, L. 

Githago, L. (corn-cockle). 
Arenaria, L. 

serpyllifolia, L. (thyme-leaved sandwort). 
Stellaria, L. 

media, Smith (common chickweed). 

pubera, Michx. (great chickweed). 

lougifolia (long-leaved stitchwort). 
Cerastium, L. 

vulgatum, L, (mouse-eared chickweed). 

viscosum, L. (larger mouse-ear chickweed). 

nutans, Raf. (nodding chickweed). 

arvense, L. (field chickweed). 
Mollugo, L. 

verticillata, L, (carpet-weed). 

Portulacacex. 

Portulaca, Tourn. 

oleracea, L. (connnon purslane). 
Clayton ia, L. 

Virginica, L. (spring beanty'i. 

Mnh'acex. 

Althiea, L. 

officinalis, L. (common marsh-mallow). 

rosea, Cuv. (hollyhock). 
Malva, L. 

nitundifnliit, L. lri>riiinnn ncitlow). 



FLOKA OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



42 T 



eylvestris, L. (high mallow). 

moschata, L. (musk mallow). 
Sida, L. 

Bpinoaa, L., along the SchuylkilL 
Abutilon, Tourn. 

Aviceune, Gaertn. (velvet-leaf). 
Hibiscus, L. 

TrioDuin, L. (bladder ketmia). 

Syriacus, L. (shrubby altUiea), escaped from gardens. 

Tiliaces. 

Tilia, L. 

Americana, L. (basswood). 

EuropjEa, L. (limo-tree), cultivated for ornamental purposes. 
Linum, L. 

Virginianum, L. (wild flax), 
usitatissimum (common flax). 

Oxalidacex. 
Oxalis, L. 

violaceie, L. (violet-wood sorrel), 
stricta, L. (yellow-wood sorrel). 

Geraniaceie. 

Geranium, L. 

maculatiim, L. (wild cranesbiU). 
Carol! nianuni, L. (Caroline cranesbiU). 
pusilliiai, L. (small flowered cranesbiU). 

Batsaminacea. 

Impatines, L. 

pallida, Nutt. (pale touch-me-not). 

fulva, Nutt. (spotted touch-me-not). 

balsamina, L. (lady-slipper). 
Tropaeolum, L. 

majus, L. (garden nasturtium). 

litUacex. 

Zanthoxylum, Colden. 

Americanum, Mill, (prickly ash). 
Ailanthus. 

glandiUosu^ (tree of heaven). 
Ptelea, L. 

trifoliata, L. (shrubby trefoil, hop-tree), Lower Merion, Blise M. 
Harvey. 

Anacardiacex. 
Rhus, L. 

glabra, L. (smooth sumachj. 

copallina, L. (dwarf sumach). 

typhina, L. (stag-horn sumach). 

venenata, D. 0. (poison sumach). 

Toxicodendi"on, L. (poison ivy); var. radicans (climbiug poison 

ivy). 
Catinus. 

VUacest. 

Vitis, Tourn. 

Labrusca, L. (Northern fox-grape). 

ffistivalis, Michx. (suumier grape). 

cordifolia, Michx. (winter frost -grape) . 
Ampelopsis, Michx. 

quinquefolia, Michx. (Virginia creeper). 

Ehamnacex. 

Ceanothus, L. 

Americanus, L. (New Jersey tea). 

CeUutracex. 

CelastrHS, L. 

Bcandens, L. (cUmbing bitter-sweet, wax-work), very orna- 
mental in autumn. 
Euonyraus, Tourn. 

atropurpureus, Jacq. (Vmrning-bush, Wahoo). 
AmericauiiB, L. (stmwberry bush). 

SapindaceiB. 

Staphylea, L. » 

trifolia, L. (bladder-nut). 



.^culus, L. 

hippocastanum, L. (common horse-chestnut). 

glabra, Willd. (Ohio buckeye). 
Acer, Tourn. 

Pennsylvanicum, L. (striped maple). 

Baccharinum, Wang (sugar maple). 

dasycarpimi, Ehrhart (silver maple). 

rubrum, L. (red, or swamp maple). 

pseudo-platanus, L. (false sycamore). 
Negundo, Moench. 

aceroides, Moench (box elder), along the Schuylkill. 

Polygalacex. 

Poly gala, Tourn. 

sang^nea, L. (common purple milkwort), 
senegse, L. (Seneca snakeroot). 
verticillata, L. (whorled milkwort), 
polygama, Walt, 
ambigua, Nutt. (ambiguous milkwort). 

Leguminosse. 

Lupiuus, Tourn. 

perennis, L. (wild lupinus), found along the Perkiomeii, near 
its mouth. Joe. Crawi'ord. 
Crotalaria, L. 

sagittaUs, L. (rattle-box), Montgomery Cemetery wo")ds. above 
Norristown. 
TrifoUum, L. 

arvense, L. (rabbit-foot clover). 

pratense, L. (red clover). 

medium, L. (zigzag clover). 

reflexum, L. (buffalo clover), Professor Meehaii, above Norris- 
town. 

repens, L. (white clover). 

agrarium, L. (yellow, or hop-clover). 

procumbens, L. (low hop-clover). 
Melilotus, Tourn. 

officinale, Wild, (yellow melilot), common in waste grounds 
along SchuylkiU, above Norristown. 

alba, Lam. (white melilot). 
Medicago, L. 

lupnlina, L. (black medick-nonesuch), sparingly in wasto 
places. 
Amorpha, L. 

fruticosa, L. (false indigo). 
Robinia, L. 

Pseudacacia, L. (common locust-tree). 

viscosa. Vent, (clammy locu-st-tree). 
Wistaria, L. 

frutescens, D. C. (dedicated to late Professor Wistar, of Phila- 
delphia). 
Tephrosia, Pers. 

Virginiana, Pera. (goat's-rue, catgut), sandy soil. 
Desmodium, D. C. 

nudiflorum, D. C. (naked-flowered tick trefoil). 

acuminatum, D. C. (acuminated tick trefoil). 

rotundifolium, X>. C. (round-leaved tick trefoil). 

canescens, D. C. (whitish tick trefoil). 

pauciflorum, D. C. (few-flowered tick trefoil). 

paniculatum, D. C. (panicled tick trefoil). 

Canadense, D. C. (Canada tick trefoil). 

cUiare, D. C. (ciliated tick trefoil). 

Tiridiflorum, Beck (green-flowered tick trefoil). 

Maryland! cum, Booth (Manr'land tick trefoil). 

Uneatura, D. C. (slender tick trefoil). 

cuspidatuni, Torrey <k Gray (sharp-pointed trefoil). 
Lespedezea, Michx. 

procumbens, Michx. (procnmbent bush-clover). 

hirta, EU. (hairy bush-clover). 

capitata (capitate bush-clover). 

violacea, Pers., var. divergens (violet bush-clover). 
" " var. sessilifiora " " 

" '* var. angustifolia " " 

Stylosanthes, Swartz. 

elatior, Sbwartz f pencil-flower), in sandy soil on tin- banks of 
the Schuylkill, above Norristown. 
Vicia, Touin. 

sativa, L. (common vetch, or tare). 



428 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



C'racca, L. (rare, near Montgomery Cemetery, above Norris 
town). 

Carolinum, Walt. ((''arolini\ vetch). 

Americana, Muhl. (AniPiican vetch), along the Schuylkill, near 
Balligomiugu. 
Lathyrus, L. 

venusus, HIulil. (vetchling, or everlaeting pea). 

odoratus (sweet ]>ea, cultivated). 

latifolius (everlasting pea, cultivated). 

pisum sativum (common pea, cultivated). 

fava vulgaris (horse-bean). 
Phaseolus, L. 

perennis, Walt, (wild bean), 

vulgaris (common kidney-bean, cultivated), 

lunatus (Lima bean, cultivated). 

nuiltiHorus (scarlet pole bean, cultivated). 
Apios, Bitfrh. 

tuberosa, Bloench. (ground-nut, wild bean), fuuml in thickets 
along Stony Creek ; not common. 
Oalactia, P. Browne. 

glabella, Michx. (milk pea). 
Amphicarpiea, Ell, 

monoica, Nutt. (hog pea-nut). 
Baptisia, Vent. 

tinctoria, R, Browne (wild indigo). 
Cercis, L. 

Canadensis, L. (red-bud Judas-tree), along the banks of the 
Schuylkill, in the ravines leading thereto ; a beautiful 
scene, where a number are flustered together, similar to 
that of a peach orchard. 
Cassia, L. 

Mary land ica, L. (wild senna). The leaves of this plant have 
been used medicinally as a substitute for the officinal senna. 

Cliamsecrista, L. (partridge pea), along the Schuylkill, in ra- 
vines and thickets, both above and bt-low Norristown. 

uictitans, L. (wild sensitive plant), sandy soil, in Montgomery 
Cemetery. 
Gleditschia, L. 

triacantlius, L. (three-thorned acacias, or lu/ncy-locust), along 
the Schuylkill, near Sjiring Mill. 
RosaceiB. 

Prunus, L. 

Americana, Marah (wild yellow or red plum). 

Pennsylvanica, L. (wild red cherry). 

Virginiana. L. (i-hoke-clien-y). 

serotina. Ehrhart (wild black cherry). 

doraestica {cultivated plum). 

cerasus (common sour cherry). 

avium (ox-heart cherry). 

armeuiaca (apricot). 
Spiriea, L. 

salicifolia, L. (common meadow-sweet). 

opulifolia, L. (nine-bark), around Norristown, A. F. Baker. 
Oillcnia, Moench. 

trifoliata, ma?nch (Indian pliysic). 
Agrimonia, Tourn. 

Kupatoria, L. (common agrimony). 

purvillora. Ait. (small-flowered agrimony). 
Sanguisorba, L. 

Canadensis, L. (Canadian burnet). 
<3eum, L. 

album, Gnielin (white aveus). 

Virginianura, L. (Virginia avens). 

strictum. Ait. (erect avens). 
Poteiitilla, L. 

Norvegica, L. (Norwegian cinquefoil). 

Canadense, L. (common cinquefolia). 

fruticosa, L. (shrubby cinquefoil). Miss Harvey , Lower Merion. 
Pragaria, Tourn. 

Virginiana, Elirhart (wild strawberry). 

vesca (Northern strawberry). 

Indica, Ait. (after Wood), Miss Ralston. 
Rubus, L. 

odoratus, L. (purple flowering raspberry), along River-road, 
above West Consliohocken. 
Rubus, L. 

villosus, Ait. (blackberry). 



hispidus, L. {swamp blackberry). 

occidentalis, L. (black raspberry). 

Canadensis, L. (dewben-y). 

strigoBus, Michx. (wild red raspberry). 
Rosa, Tourn. 

Carolina, L. (swamp-rose). 

lucida, Ehrhart (dwarf wild-rose). 

(var. nitida), A. Baker. 

rubiginosa, L. (sweet-briar). 

blanda, Ait. (early wild-rose). 
Craticgus, L. 

coccinea, L. (scarlet-fruited thorn). 

tormentosa, L. (black thorn). 

Crus galli, L. (cockspur thorn). 

oxycantha, L. (English hawthorn). 

PjTUS, L. 

communis, L. (common pear). 

mains, L. (common apple). 

arbutifolia, L. (chokeberiy). 

coronaria, L. (crab-apple). 

augustifolia, L. (narrow leaved crab-apple). 
Amelanchier, Medic. 

Canadensis, Torrey & Gray (service berry), 
var. botryapium (shad-bush). 
Cydonia, L. 

vulgare, L. (quince). 

Japonica, L. (Japan quince). 

Calycayithncefe, 

Calycanthus, L. 

floridus, L. (common shrub). 
Melustomacefe. 
Rhexia, L. 

virginica, L. (meadow beauty), along borough-line. Northeast 
from Norristown. 
LythraceiE. 

Cuphea, Jacq. 

viscossissima, Jaeq. (clammy cuphea). 

Onagracex. 

Epilobium, L. 

coloratiim, Muhl. (common willow herb). 

august ifolium, L. (great willow herb). 
Oenothera, L. 

biennis, L. (common evening primrose), 
hombipet la, Nutt. (Miss A. L. Ralston), 
var. grandiflora. 

fruticosa, L. (sundrop). 
Gaura, L. 

biennis, L. 
Ludwigia, L. 

alternifolia, L. (seed-box). 

palustris, Ell. (water purslane). 
Circpea, Tourn. 

lutetiana, L. (enchanter's night-shade). 

Alpina, L. (Alpine enchanter's night-shade), Valley Forge, Mia 
Anna R. Ralston. 
Myriojihyllum, Vail). 

spicatum, L. (water miefoil). 

GroBsiilaceie. 
Ribes, L. 

floridum, L. (wild black currant). 

rubrum, L. (red currant). 

uva crispa. 

aureum, Pursh. (Missouri currant, cultivated for ornament). 

Cmtirhitiiceie. 
Sicyos, L. 

augulatus, L. 
Cucurbita, L. 

pepo, L. (pumpkin, after Wood). 
Citrullus, Neck. 

vulgaris Schrad (watermelon, after Wood). 
Cucumis, L. 

sativus, L. (cucumber, after Wood). 

melo, L. {muskmelon, after Wood). 

melo-pepo, L. (round squash, after Wood). 



FLORA OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



429 



OroBsulacese. 
Sedum, L. 

acre, L. (mossy stone-crop), 
telephium, L. (garden orpine, or live-for-ever). 
telephoides, L. (wild orpine, or live-for-ever). 
Penthoruni, Gronov. 

sedoides, L. (ditch stone-crop). 
Sarifragese. 
Saxifraga. 

Virginiensiti, Micbx. (early saxifrage). 
Pennsylvanica, L. (swamp saxifrage). 
Henchera, L. 

Americana, L. (common alum-root). 
Mitella, L. 

diphylla, L. (bishop's cap). 
Chrysosplenum, Tourn. 

Americaniim, Schwein. (golden saxifrage). 
Hydrangea, Gronov. 

arburescens, L. (wild hydrangea). 
Philadelphus, L. 

curonarius, L. (mock-orange). 
Haniamdftcem. 

Hamamelis, "UT 

Virginica, L. (witch-hazel). 
Liquidamber, L. 

Btyraciflua, h. (sweet gum). 
l/mbelHferie. 

Hydrucoyle, Tourn. 

Americana, L. (water pennywort). 
Sanicuhi, Tourn. 

Marylandica, L. (Maryhuid sanide, or black snakeroot). 
Canadensis, L. (Canada sanicle). 
Daucus, Tonrn. 

carota, L. (common carrot). 
Heracleum, L. 

lanatuni, 5Iichx. (cow parsnip). 
Pastinaca, Tonrn. 

sativa, L. (connnon parsnip). 
Archemora, D. 0. 

rigida, D. C (cow-bane). 
Arcliangelica, Hoffm. 

tiirsuta, Torrey and Gray (hairy arch angelica), 
^tlinsa, L. 

Cynapium. L. (fool's pai^sley). 
Thaspiuni, Nutt. 

barbinode, Nutt. (bearded meadow parsnip). 
trif'diatum,Gray (trifoliate meadow parsnip), rare; ravine below 
Nonistown leading into the Schuylkill, 
var. Atropurpureum, Torrpy and Gray. 
Zizia, D. C. 

iutegerrima, D. C. (zizia), abundant on tlio hills along the 
Schuylkill. 
Cicuta, L. 

maculata, T-.. (water hemlock). 
Cryptotfenia, D. C. 

Canadensis, D. C. (honewort). 
Cha-rophyllnm, L. 

procumbens, Lane, (chervil). 
Ozmorrbiza, Raf. 

longistylis, D. C. (smoother sweet cicily). 
brt;vistylis, D. C. (hairy sweet cicily). 
Cimium, L. 

maculatiun, L. (poison hemlock), not common along the river 
banks and margins of ravines. 
Apinm, L. 

graveolens (celery), 
petroselinum (parsley). 
Araliiiceie. 

Aralia, Tourn. 

racemuBii, L. (spikenard), on rocky hills. 

nudicaulis, L. (wild sarsaparilla). 

quinquefulia, L. (ginseng), found near King of Prussia, Upper 

Merion. 
trifoliata, Gray (dwarf ginseng). 

Cornacea. 

like araliacea?. 



Cornus, Tourn. 

florida, L. (dogwood), common throughout. 

circinata, L'Her. (round-leaved cornel). 

sericea, L. (silky cornel). 

paniculata, L'Her. (panicled cornel). 

alternifolia, L. (alternate-leaved cornel). 
Nyssa, L. 

multitldra, Wang, (sour gum). 
Capri/oliaceie . 

Sympboricarpus, Dill. 

racemosus, Michx. (snowberry). 
Lonicera, L. 

ciliata (tty-honeysuckle), Miss Anna L. Italstou. 

Bempervirens, Ait. (trumpet-honeysuckle). Lower and Upper 
Merion. 

grata, Ait. (American woodbine). 

parvitlora, Lam (small honeysuckle), common in woods and 
thickets. 

tartarica, L. (tartaric honeysuckle, cultivated). 

flava, Sims (yellow honeysuckle). 
Diervilla, Tourn. 

trifida, Moench (bush -honeysuckle), abundant in surrounding 
districts. 
Triostenm. L. 

perfoliatum, L. (lioi-se-gentian). 

angustifoUum, L. (narrow-leaved hoi-sc-gentian, ravine near 
Gulf Rocks, Upper Meiion. 
Sambucus, Tourn. 

Canadensis, L. (common elder). 
Viburnum, L. 

pninifoUum, L. (.bl^'^'k haw). 

dentatum, L. (arrow wood). 

Leutago, L. (sweet viburnum). 

obovatum, Walt. 

acerifolium, L. (nmple-leaved arrow-wood). 

Opulus, L. (ci'an berry-tree), Jos. Crawford. 
Subiacem. 

Gallium, L. 

aparine, L. (bedstraw). 

asprellum, Michx. (rough bedstraw). 

circie8;ius, Michx. (wild liquorice). 

pilosum, Ait (hairy bedstraw). 

tritlorum, Michx. (sweet-scented bedstraw). 

concinnum (Torrey <fe Gray), John E. Overholtzer. 

thfidum, L. (small bedstraw). 

boreale, L. (Northern bedstraw). 
Cephalantlius, L. 

occidentalis, L. (button bush). 
Mitchella, L. 

repens, L. (partridge berry). 
Houstonia, L. 

cfLTuleu, L. (bluets). 
ValerUimtcfit. 

Fedia, Gaertn. 

olituna, Vahl. (corn salad). 

radiata, Michx. (royal corn siilad), not common ; John E. Over- 
holtzer. 

patellaria, SuUiv. 
Dipsacea. 

Dipsacua, Tourn. 

Bylveetris, Mill, (wild teasel). 
ComposiUe. 

Vernonia, Schreb. 

Noveboracensis, Wild, (wild iron-weed). 
Eupatorium, Tourn. 

purpureum, L. (joe-pye-weed). 

perfoliatum, L. (boneset). 

ageratoides, L. (white snakeroot). 

aromaticum, L. (aromatic thoroughwort). 
Mikania, Wild. 

scandens, L. (climbing hemp-weed). 
Conoclinium, D. C. 

cttlestinum, D. C. (mist-flower). 
Sericocarpus, Nees. 

conyzoides, Nees. (white-topped aster). 
Aeter, L. 

corymbosus, Ait. (corymbed aster). 



430 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Aster, L. 

cordifolius, L. (cordate-leaved aster), 
sagittifoliue, Willd. (arrow-leaved aster), 
patens, Ait. (spreading aster), 
puniceus L. (reddish aster), 
ericoides, L. (heath-like aster). 

undnlatue, L. (wavy aster). Miss AnnaL. Kalston. 
Novsen Anglia>. L. (New England aster), Misa Anna L. Balston. 
carneus, Xees. 
Tradescanti, L. 

miser, L. Ait. (wi'etched aster). 
Novi-Belgii, L. 
Erigeron, L. 

Canadense, L. (butter-weed), 
annnum, Pere. (daisy fleabane). 
bellidifolinm, Muhl. (robin's plantain). 
Btrigosum, Muhl. (meagre daisy fleabane). 
Philadelphicuni, L. (common fleabane). 
Diplopappus, Cass. 

linariifoliua, Hook, (linear-leaved, double-bristed aster, 
umbellatue, Torrey and Gray (umbellated double-bristed aster). 
Solidago, L. 

bicolor, L. (two-colored golden-rod), 
latifolia, L. (broad-leaved golden-rod), 
ceesia, L. (bluish-gray golden-rod), 
odora, Ait. (sweet golden-rod), 
nemoralis, Ait. (old field golden-rod), 
gigantea, Ait. (giant golden-rod), 
altissima, L. (tallest golden-rod), 
lanceolata, L. (lanceolate golden-rod). 
Canadensis, L. (Canada golden-rod). 
Inula, L. 

Heleniimi, L. (elecampane). 
Ambrosia, Tourn. 

trifida, L. (great ragweed). 

artemisiiefolia, L. (Roman W(>rmwood, hog-weed). 
Xanthium, Tourn. 

strumarium, L. (cocklebur). 
Eclipta, L. 

procumbens Michx. (eclipta), around Norristowu and along the 
Schuylkill. 
Heliopsis, Fevs. 

laeviB, Pers. (ox-eye). 
Kudbeckia, L. 

laciniata, L. (cut-toothed cone-flower), 
hirta, L. (rough cone-flower). 
Helianthus, L. 

anuuvis, L. (common sunflower), escaped in some places, 
tuberosus, L. (artichoke) , escaped in some places, 
giganteus, L. (giant sunflower). 
Coreopsis, L. 

Dnimmondii, L. (Drummond tick-seed, after Wood). 
Bidens, L. 

cernua, L. (bur marigold), 
frondosa, L. (common beggar-tick), 
chrysauthemoides, Wichx. (bur marigold), 
bipinnata, L. (Spanish needles), 
connata, Muhl. (swamp beggar-ticks). 
Helonium, L. 

autumnale, L. (sneeze-weed). 
Calinsoga, lluiz & Pav. 

parviflora, Cav. (galinsoga). 
Anthemis, L. 

nobilis, L. (officinal chamomile), escaped in some places. 
Achillea, L. 

Millefolium, L. (yarrow, or milfoil). 
Leucanthemum, Tourn. 

vulgare, Lam. (ox-eye, or white daisy). 
Tanacetum, L. 

vulgare, L. (common tansy). 
Artemisia, L. 

absinthium, h. (common wormwood). 
Onaphalium, L. 

polycephalum, Michx. (common everlasting). 
Antennaria, Gacrtn. 

margaritacea, R. Browne (pearly everlasting), 
plantaginifolia, Hook, (plantain-leaved everlasting). 



Erechthites, Raf. 

hieracifolia, Eaf. (fireweed). 
Senecio, L. 

aureus, L. (golden ragwort), 
var. obovatus, Gray. 
var. balsamit*, Gray. 
Cirsium, Tourn. 

lanceolatum. Scop, (common thistle). 

arvense. Scop. (Canada thistle). 
Lappa, Tourn. 

major, Gaertn, (common burdock). 
Cichorium, Tourn. 

Intybus (cichory). 
Leontodon, L. Juss. 

autumnale, L. (fall dandelion). 
Cynthia, Don. 

virgiuica, Don. (cynthia). 
Hieraciuni, Tourn. 

Canadenae, Michx. (Canada hawkweed). 

Gronovii, L. (hairy hawkweed). 

paniculatum, L. (panicled hawkweed). 

scabnim, Michx, (rough hawkweed). 
Nabalus, Cass. 

albus, Hook, (rattlesnake-root). 

altissimus. Hook, (tall rattlesnake-root). 
Taraxacum, Haller. 

dens leonis, Desf. (common dandelion). 
Lactuca, Tourn. 

elongata, Muhl. (wild lettuce). 
Mulgedium, Cass. 

leucophseum, D. C. (tall false lettuce). 
Sonchus, L. 

asper, Vill. (spiny-leaved sow-thistle). 

arvensis, L. (corn sow-thistle). 

oleraceus, L. (common sow-thistle). 
Lobeliacese. 
Lobelia, L. 

cardinalis, L. (cardinal flower). 

syphilitica, L. (great lobelia). 

inflata, L. (Indian tobacco). 

spicata, Lam. (spiked lobelia), 

Campanulaceie. 

Campanula, Tourn. 

Americana, L. (tall bell-flower), 
rotundifolia, L. (harebell), 
aparinoidea, Pursh. (marsh bell-flower). 
Specularia, Heist. 

perfoliata, A., D. C. (Venus' looking-glass). 

Ericacese. 

GayluBsacia, H. B. K. 

resinosa, Torr. & Gr. (huckleberry). 
Yaccinium, L. 

staniineum, L. (squaw huckleberry). 

vacillans, Solander (low blueberry). 

corymbosum, L. (swamp blueberry). 
Epigiea, L. 

repens, L. (trailing arbutus). 
Gaultheria, Kahn. 

procumbens, L. (winter-green). 
Andromeda, L. 

Mariana, L. (stagger-bush). 

floribunda, Pureb. 
Kalmia, L. 

latifolia, L. (calico-bush, mountain laurelj. 

angustifulia, L. (sheep-laurel). 
Azalea, L. 

^iscosa, L. {clauuuy azalea), John E. Overholtzer, 

nuediflora, L. (purple azalea). 

arborescena, Pursh. (smooth azaleal. 
Rhododendron, L., rare, only found along the Schuylkill. 

maximum, L. (great laurel). 
Pyrola, L. 

elUptica, Nutt. (ahin-leaf), found around Norriatown; A. F. 
Baker. 

rotundifolia, L. (round-leaved pyrola). 

chlorantha, Swartz. (small pyrola,). 



FLORA OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



431 



Chimapbila, Pureh. 

umbellata, Nutt. (pipsissewa). 
maculata, Pui-ah. (spotted wiuter-greeD). 
Monotropa, L. 

unitlura, L. (Indian-pipe, corpse-plant). 
Hypopitys, L. (pinesap, false beecb-drop). 
Aijui/oliacess. 
Ilex, L. 

verticil lata, Gray (black alder). 
Ebenacex. 

Diospyros, L. 

Virginiana, L. (persinmion). 
Pla lUaginacese. 
Plantago. 

major, L. (cuniiuon plautainj. 
lanct'olata, L. (rib-gi-asa). 
Virginica, L. (Virginian plantain). 
Primulacese. 

Dodecatheon, L. (American cowslip or shooting-star). 

meadia, L., very rare ; found on cliflf o\erlooking the Schuyl- 
kill, two miles bolow Norristowu, near Pott's Landing, by 
Dr. E. M. Corson. This plant is a beauty, and though shy 
in its wild state, it yields cheerfully to cultivation, and, like 
the pansy, at once becomes handsome and brilliant, 
Lysimachia, L. 

stricta, Ait. (erect loosestrife), 
quadrifolia, L. (four-leaved loosestrife), 
ciliata, L. tfringed loosestrife), 
longifolia, Pursh. (long-leaved loosestrife). 

Dunimularia, L. (moneywort), after Wood ; escaped in some places. 
Anagallis, Tourn. 

arvensis, L. (poor man's weather-glass pimi>ernel), found near 
Oakland Institute ; Miss A. L. Ralston ; rare. 
Ltmtibulacem. 

Utricularia, L. 

vulgaris, L. (greater hiadder-wort). 
Jiiynoniacese. 

Tecoma, Jiiss. 

radicatis, Juss. (trumjiet-creeper). 
Catalpa. Scop., AValt. 

Bignonioides, AValt. (catalpa, Indian-bean), 
Martynia, L. 

proboscidea, Glox. (unicorn plant). 
Orobanchacese. 

EpiphegUfr, Xutt. 

Virginica, Bart, (beech -drops). 
Aphyllon, Mitchell. 

uniflorum, Torr. & Gr. (one-flowered cancer-root), sparingly 
throughout. 
Scrophulariaaeie. 
Verbascuni, L. 

Thapsiis, L. (common mullein). 
Blattaria, L. (moth-mullein, a noxious weed). 
Linaria, Tourn. 

vulgaris, Jlill. (food-flax). 

Elatine, Slill. (prostrate linaria), along Perkiomeu ; Jos. Crawford 
Scrophularia, Tourn. 

nodosa, L. (tigwort). 
Chelone, Tourn. 

glabiu, L. (turtle-headj. 
Pentstemou, Mitchell. 

pubescens, Solander (beard-tongue). 
Digitalis, Xutt. 
Mimulus, L. 

ringens, L. (monkey-flower), 
alatus, Ait. (winged monkey -fiuwer). 
Gratiola, L. 

Virginiana, L, (hedge-hyssop), 
aurea, Muhl. (golden hedge-hyssop). 
Teronica, L. 

oflBcinalis, L. (common speedwell). 

Anagallis, L. (water speedwell). 

serpy Hi folia, L. (thyme-leaved speedwell). 

arvensis, L. (corn speedwell). 

Virginica, L. (Culver's physic). 

Americana, Schweinitz (American brooklime), not common. 

scutellata. L. (marsh speedwell). 



Gci'aiilia, L. 

tenuifolia, Vahl. (slender gerardia). 

pedicularia, L. ilousewort, false foxglove). 

quercifolia, Pursh. (smooth false foxglove). 

flava, L. (downy false foxglove). 
Castilleia, Mutis. 

coccinea, Spreng. (scarlet -painted cup). 
Pedicularis, Tourn. 

Canadensis, L. (conmion lousewort). 
Melampyi-um, Tourn. 

Americanum, Michx. (cow-wheat). 
Verbenaceie. 
Verbena, L. 

baatata, L. (blue vervain). 

urticifolia, L. (white vervain). 

officinalis, L. (common vervain). 
Phyrma, L. 

Leptostachya, L. (lopseed). 
Labiaia. 

Teucrium, L. 

Canadense, L. (.Vmericau germander), frequent. 
Trichostema, L. 

dichotomum, L. (blue curls). 
Isanthus, Michx. 

c^rulens, >tichx. (false pennyroyal), along the Schuylkill. 
Mentha, L. 

viride, L. (spearmint). 

piperita, L. (peppermint). 

arvensis, L. (cornmint). 

Canadensis, L. (wild mint). 
Lycopus, L. 

Virginicus, L. (bugle-weed). 

Europa;us, L. (European bugle weed), 
var. ainuatus. Gray. 

Cunila, L. 

Mariana, L. (common dittany). 
Pycanthemum, Michx. 

muticum, Pere. (not frequent), John E. Overholtzer. 

lanceulatum, Pursh. (lanceolate mountain-mint). 

Unifolium, Pursli. (flax-leaved mountain-mint). 

ciinopodioides, Torr. & Gray. 
Origanum, L. 

vulgare, L. (wild maijoi-am), sparingly throughout; dry bauki 
below Norristown. 
Thymus, L. 

serphyllum, L. (creeping thyme). 
Calamiutha, Mcench. 

chiropodium, Benth. (ba^iil). 
Melissa, L. 

officinalis, L. (common balm). 
Hedeoma, Pers. 

pulegioides, Pers. (Aiuerican pennyroyal). 
Collinsonia, L. 

Canadensis, L. (stone-root). 
Salvia, L. 

lyrata, L. (lyre-leaved sage). 
Honarda, L. 

didyma, L. (Oswego tea). 

punctata, L. (horse-mint). 

fistulosa, L. (wild bergamot). 
Lopanthus, Benth. 

nepetoides, Benth. 

BcrophulariEefoliuB, Benth. 
Nepeta, L. 

cataria, L. (catnip). 

glecboma, Benth. (ground ivy). 
Brunella, Tourn. 

vulgaris, L. (heal-all). 
Scutellaria, L. 

pilosa, Michx. (hairy skull-cap). 

lateriflora, L. (mad-dog skull-cap), 
integrifolia, L. (entire leaved skull-cap). 

versicolor, Nutt. 
Marubium, L. 

vulgare, L. (common horebound). 
Leonurus, L. 

cardiaca, L. (common motherwort). 



432 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Stachye, L, 

palwstris, L. (hedge-nettle), 
var. cordiita, Gray. 
Lamium, L. 

araplexicaule, L. (dead nettle). 
Borraginaceie. 

Ecliium, Tourn. 

vulgare, L. (viper's-bluogloBs). 
Lycopsis, L. 

avveneis, L. (small bluegloss). 
Symphytum, Tourn. 

ulticiuale, L. (common comfrey). 
OuosiJiodium, Michx. 

Virginianum, D. C. (false gromwell), along the Schuylkill, bi-h.v 
Norristown. 
Lithospermnm, Tourn. 

arvense, L. (corn gromwell). 
Merti'U^ia, Roth. 

Virginica, D. C. (Virginian cowslip), found on Barbadoes j.sland, 
in the Schuylkill, above Norristown. 
Myosotis, L. 

palustris, With, (true forget-me-not). 

var. laxa, Lehm. 
verna, Nutt., not common ; Jos. Crawford. 
Echinospermum, Swartz. 

lappula, Lehm. ; Jos. Crawford. 
Cj'noglossum, Tourn. 

t'ffitinale, L. (hound's tongue). 
Virgiuicum, L. (wild comfrey). 
Morisoni, D. C. (beggar's lice). 
BydrophyUafese. 

Hydrophyllum, L. 

Virginicum, L. (water-leaf). 
Phacelia, Jiisa. 

bipinnatifida, Michx. 
Polemoni'fces. 

Polemonium, Tourn. 

reptanB, L. (Greek valerian). 
Phlox, L. 

paniculata, L. (panicled phlox), 
macidata, L. (wild sweet William). 

Bubulata (moss pink), frequent throughout ; along banks of 
the Schuylkill. 
ConvolviilaceiP. 

Quamoclit, Tourn. 

coccinea, Mcench. (cypress vine), along the river-banks of the 
Schuylkill. 
Ipomcea, L. 

purpurea, Lam. (counnon morning-gloj-y), escaped from gardens ; 

apparently natiu'alized. 
pandurata, Meyer (man-of-the-earthj. 
Convolvulus, L. 

arvensis, L. (bindweed), along Stony Creek ; along Schuylkill. 
Calystegia, R. Br. 

sepium, R. Br., along streams around Norristown ; Dr. E. M. 

Corson, 
spithanuva J(Pur6h), along Scbuylldll, above Indian Creek ; 
John E. Overholtzer. 
Cuscuta, Tourn. 

Gronovii, Willd. (common dodder), 
compacta, Juss. (close dodder). 
Solanacese. 

Solanum, L. 

Diih-amara, L. (bitter-sweet), 
nigrum, L. (common night-shade). 
Carolinense, L. (horee-nettle). 
tuberosum, L. (common potatoes). 
Physalis, L. 

angulata, L. (ground-cherry), 
var. Philadelphica, Lam. 
pubescens, L. (common ground-cherry), 
viscosa, L. (clammy ground-cherry). 
Nicaudra, Adans. 

Physaloidee, Gaertn. (apple of Pern). 
Datura , L. 

stramonium, L. (conmion Htramonium). 
var. Tatula (purple thorn apple). 



Nicotiaua, L. 

lustica, L. (wild tobacco), 
tabacum, L. (common tobacco). 
Oeiilianaveie. 

Sabbatia, Adans. 

angularis, Pursh (American century). 
Geutiana, L. 

Andrewsii, Griseb. (closed gentian), 
crinita, Froel. (fringed gentian). 
Obolaria, L. 

Virginica, L. (obolaria). 
Apocynaces. 

Apocynnm, Tourn. 

amiroaeniifoliimi L. (spreading dogbane), 
cannabinuni, L. (Indian hemp), 
var. vulca (after Wood). 
Asclepiadacefe. 
Asclepias, L. 

Cormiti, Decaisne (common niilkweed). 
phytolaccoides, Pui-sh. (poke milkweed), 
purpurascens, L. (purple milkweed), 
variegata, L. (variegated milkweetl). 
incarnata, L. (swamp milkweed), 
tuberosa, L. (pleurisy-root), 
quadrifolia, Jacq. (four-leaved millcweed). 
obtusifolia, Michx. (obtuse-leaved milkweed). 
Gonoiobus, Michx. 

hirsutus, Michx., rare; found along river-banks below Norris- 
town, near Potts' Landing; Dr. E. M. Corson. 
Oleaceie. 

Chionanthus, L. 

Virginica, L. (cultivated for ornament). 
Lignetrum, Tourn. 

vulgare, L. (common privet). 
Fraxinus, Tourn. 

Americana, L. (white ash), 
sambucifolia, Lam. (black ash), 
pubescens, Lam. (red ash). 
Syringa. 

vulgaris (after Wood). 
Persica (after Wood). 
Arisiolochuicete. 

Asaruni, Tourn. 

Canadeuse, L. (wild ginger). 
Aristolochia, Tourn. 

Sei-pentaria, L. (Virginia snakeroot). 

sipho, L'Her. (Dutchman's pipe), near Henderson's quarries; 
John E. Overholtzer. 
PItytolaccaceie. 

Phytolacca, Tourn. 

decandra, L. (common poke). 
Cltejiopodincea: 

Chenopodium, L. 

album, L. (lamb's quarter, pig-weed). 
boti78, L. (Jerusalem oak). 

ambrosioides, L. (Jlexican tea), John E. Overholtzer. 
Aniarantacfie. 

Amarantus, Tourn. 

paniculatus, L. (panicled amaranth), 
retrotlexus, L. (pigweed), 
albus, L. 

spinoBus, L. (thorn amaranth), 
hypochondriacus, L. (garden amaranth). 
Polygonaceie. 

Polygoniuii, L. 

Orientale, L. (prince's featlier), 
hydx-opiper, L. (smart-wt'ed). 
hydnqjiperoides, Michx. (mild water-pepper). 
aviculare, L. (doorweed). 
Careyi, Olney. 

Pennsylvanicum, L. (Pennsylvania knotweed). 
nodosum, Pers.; var., incarnatura. 
Virginianum, L. (Virginian knotweed). 
Convolvnlns, L. (wild buckwheat), 
dumetorum, L. (climbing wild buckwheat), 
arifolium, L. (halberd -leaved tear-thumb). 



FLORA OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



433 



I 



Polvgunum, L. 

euKittatum, L. (tear-thumb |. 
Fersicaria, L. (la'iy's tliuiiilj). 
Fagitpynnu, Touru. 

escuk'iitmu, IVIu?nc!i. (liuckwlieat). 
Kumex, L. 

crispus, L. (curled dock), 
aauguineus, L. (bluody- veined dock), 
acetusella, L. (sheep sorrel). 
fjanrace;e. 

Sassafras, Nees. 

officinale, Nees. (sassafras). 
Benzoin, Nees. 

udunfernm, Nees. (spice-bush). 
Santalacese. 

Oomandra. Nutt. 

umbellata, Nutt. (bastard food-Hax). 
iSawuracete. 

Saururus, L. 

cernuus, L. (lizard's-tail). 
EtiphorhiaciP. 

Euphorbia, L. 

iiiaculata, t. (spotted spurge). 
Cyparissias. L. (border spurge), 
hypericifolia, L. (St. .lohn's-wort spurge), 
corollata, L. (flowering spurge). 
Acalypha. L. 

Virginica. L. (three-seeded mercury). 
Vrticaceie. 

Ulmus, L. 

fulva, Michx. (slippery elm). 
Americana, L. Willd. (American elm). 
Morns, Tourn. 

nibra, L. (red luullierry). 
alba, L. (wliite mulberry). 
Trtica, Tourn. 

gracilis, Ait. (tall wild nettle), 
dioica, L. (conimon nettle). 
Uuhmeria, Jacq. 

cylindrica (wild false-nettle). 
Cannabis, Tourn. 

sativa, I-i. (hemp). 
Iluniuhis. L. 

Lnpuhi-s, L. (common liop; along river-courses). 
Plataiiaceie. 

Platanus, L. 

occidentalis (.VmericuTi plane or sycamore). 
Juylamlnceie. 
.luglans, L. 

ni^ra, L. (black walnut), 
cinerea. Ii. (butteniut). 
Carya, Nutt. 

alba, Nutt. (ghellbarkl. 
microcarpa, Nutt. (small-fruited hickory), 
glabra, Torr. (pig-nut), 
amara, Nutt. (bitter-nut). 
Vripulifer^. 

Quercus, L. 

macrocarpa, Mich, (burr oak, or mossy -cup white oak), 
alba, L. (white oak). 
Prinus, L. (swamp chestnut oak), 
coccinea, Wang, (scarlet oak), 
rubra, L. (red oak), 
palustrus, Du Roi (pin oak), 
nigra, L. (black-jack), 
tinrtoria, Bartnim (black oak). 
Caatanea, Tourn. 

vesca, L. (chestnut). 
Fagns, Tourn. 

ferruginea. Ait. (American beechV 
CoryluB. Tourn. 

Americana. Walt, (haxlenuf). 
Carpinus, L. 

Americana, Michx. (hornbeam). 
Myricaceie. 

Comptonia, Solander. 

asplenifolia, Ait. (sweet fern). 

28 



Betttlacex. 

Betula, Tourn. 

alba, Spach. (American white birch). 

papyracea, Ait. (paper birch). 
AIdus, Tourn. 

sen-ulata, .\it. (alder). 

iucana, Willd. (speckled or hoary alder). 

iyilicacese. 

Salix, Tourn. 

viminaljs, L. (basket osier), 
huniilis, Marshall (low bush-willow), 
lucida, Muhl. (shiuing willow), 
alba, L. (white willow), 
fragilis, L. (brittle willow). 
Babylonica, Tourn. (weeping willow). 
Populus, Tourn. 

tremuloides, Michx. (American aspen), 
balsamifera, L. (balsam poplar). 
Coniferie. 

Pinus, Tourn. 

rigida, Miller (pitch pine), 
strobus, L. (white pine). 
Abies, Tourn. 

Canadensis, Michx. (hemlock spruce). 
Larix, Tourn. 

.\mericana, Jlichx. (.\merican or black larcli). 
Juniperus, L. 

communis. L. (common juniper). 
Virgiuiana, L. (red cedar savin). 
Taxus, Tourn. 

baccata, L. (Americjui yew). 

Chs8 II. — Monocofi/leilotwH^ or KmlmjKnon* Plaiila. 
. 1 racem. 

Arisa'raa, Martins. 

triphyllum, Torr. (Indian turnip). 
Symplocarpus, Salisb. 

fiftidus, Salisb. (skunk-cabbage). 
Aconis, L. 

calamus, L. (sweet-flag, calamus). 
'fifphacex. 

Typha, Tourn. 

latifulia, L. (common cat-tail), 
augustifolia, L. (nan*ow-leaved, or small cat-tail). 
Sparganium, Tourn. 

eurycarpum, Engelm. (large bnr-reed). 
simplex, Hudson, around Norristown ; A. F. Itakor. 
Leiii nuvese. 

Lemna, L. 

minor, L. (lesser duckweed), pond» near river, swampy lands. 
AlisrnaceK. 
Alisma, L. 

plantago, L.; var. Americanum, gray. 
Sagittaria, L. 

variabilis, Engelm. (arrow-head), 
simplex, Pui*sh. (common armw-licad). 
Orchidacem. 
Orchis, L. 

spectabilis, L. (showy orcliis), sparingly throughout ; in rich, 
moist thickets. 
Platanthera, Richard. 

lacera, Gray (ragged orchis). 
Goodyera, R. Brown. 

pubescens, R. Brown (i-attlesnako plantain). 
Spiiunthes, Richard. 

cernvia, Richard (nodding ladies' tresses), 
gracilis, Bigelow (slender ladies' tresses). 
Microstylis, Nutt. 

ophioglossoides, Nutt. (adder's-mouth ; raro ; John E. Overholt 
zer. 
Liparis, Richard. 

liliifolia, Richard (tway-blade), not frerjuent. 
Corallorhiza, Haller. 

odontorhiza, Nutt. (coral-root), 
innata, R. Brown, rare ; moist woods. 

multiflora, Nntt. (many-flowered coral), rich woods, thicketa ; 
rare in these parts. 



434 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Aplectruin, Nutt. 


Grain inea. 




hyemale, Nutt. (Athini and Eve), rare ; fuimU in rich wooils 


Phleum, L. 




where there is plenty of mould. 


pratense, L. (.timothy). 




Cypripc-diurn, L. 


Agrostis, L. 




pubescens, Willd. (larger yc-llow lady's-slipper), sparingly along 


vulgaris. With, (red-top). 




the Perkiomen. 


JMuhlenbergii, Schreber. 




acaiile Ait. (stemless lady's-slipper), rare ; found near copper- 


Mexicana, Trin. 




mines along the Perkiomen ; Jos. Crawford. 


diffusa, Schreber (drop-seed). 




AmaryUUlacetv. 


EU'Usine, Gaertn. 




Narcissus, L. 


Indica, Gaertn (wire-grass). 




pseudo-narcissus, L. (daffodil i, escaped in some places. 


Tricuspis, Beauv. 




Hypoxis, L. 


seslerioides, Torr. (tall red-top). 




ert'cta, L. (star-grass), coninion in open woods. 


Dactylis, L. 




Iridiiceie. 


glomerata, L. (orchard -grass). 
Poa, L. 




Iris, L. 






vereicolor, L. (larger blue-flag). 


annua, L. (low spear-gi-ass). 




Virginica, L. (slender blue-flagl, sparingly in surrounding town- 
ships. 


Eragrostis, Beauv. 
poffioides, Beauv. 




Pardanthus, Ker. 


var. mogastachya, 
Bromus, X*. 




Chinensis, Ker. fhlackberry-lily). 






Sisyrinchiuin, L. 


secalinuB, L. (cheat orchesa). 
Triticum, L. 




Bermudiaua, L, (bhie-eyed grass). 


repens, L. (couch-grass). 




Dioscoreaceie. 


Hordeum, L. 




Dioscorea, Plumier. 


distichuni, L. (two-rowed barley). 




villosa, L. (wild yam-root). 


Seeale, L. 




Smilace^. 


cereale, L. (rye). 




Smilax, Tourn. 


A vena, L. 




rotundifolia, L. (green-brier). 


sativa, L. (common oats). 




tamnoides, L. (cat-brier). 


Aim, L. 




herbacea, L. (carrion-flower). 


csespitosa, L. (common hair-grass). 




glauca, Walt, (smooth smilax). 


Anthoxanthum, L. 




Trillium, L. 


odoratum, L. (sweet-scented vernal grass). 




cerninim, L. (nodding trillium). 


Phalaris, I). 




Mcdeola, Gronov. 


anindinacea, L. (reedcanary-gi-ass). 




Virginica, L. (Indian cucumber-root). 


Panicum, L. 




LUiacex. 


sanguinale, L. (common crab-grass). 




Aspargup, L. 


capillare, L. (old witch-grass). 




officinale, L. (garden-a.sparagus), sparingly escaped from gardens. 


clandestinum, L. 




Pidygonatum, Tourn. 


depauperatum, Muhl. 




bitlorum, Ell. (smaller Solomon's-seal). 


<-russ-galli, L. (barnyard-grass). 




gigantenm, Dietrich (great Solomon's-seal). 


Setari, Beauv. 




Smilacina, Desf. 


glauca, Beauv. (fox-tail). 




racemosa, Desf. (false spikenard). 


Italica, Kunth. (Bengal grass). 




bifolia, Ker. (two-leaved Solomon*s-s<-al). 


Sorghum, Pers. 




Convallaria, L. 


mutans. Gray (Indian grass). 




majalis, L. (lily-of-the-valley). 


Zea, L. 




Ornithogalum, Tourn. 


mays, L.( Indian corn). 




umbellatum, L. (Star of Bethlehem). 






Allium. L. 


Series II.— CKYPTonAMOus or Flowf.rless Plants. 




Canadense, Kalm. (wild meadow-garlic). 


Class III. — AcrogtHS. 




tricoccum, Ait. (wild leek). 


Equuicea4:eie. 




vineale, L. (field-garlic). 


Equisetum, L. 




Hemerocallis, L. 


arvense, L. (common horse-tail). 




fulva, L. (common day-lily), escaped from garden. 


liuiosum, L. 




Liiium, L. 


hyeuiale, L. (scouring nish). 




Canadense, L. (wild yellow lily). 


PUicet. 




superbum, L. (Turk's-cap lily). 


Polypodium, L. 




Erytlironium, L. 


vulgare, L. (ptdyp'.idy). 




Aniericanum, Smith (dog's-tooth violet). 


PteriB, L. 




Muscari, Tourn. 


aquilina, L. (connnon brake). 




racemosa, L. (grape hyacinth), after Wood. 


Adiantimi, L. 




Melantfuiceip. 


pedatum, L. (maiden-hair). 




Uvularia, L. 


ABi)leniuni, L. 




perfoliata, L. (smaller bellwort). 
sessifoliata, L. (sessile-leaved bellwort). 


pinnatifidum, Nutt. (pinnate-leaved spleenwort). 
ebeneum, Ait. (ebony fern, or ebony spleenwort). 


1 


Veratrum, Tourn. 


nita muraria, L. (wall-rue fern). 

angustifolium, Michx. (narrow-leaved spleenwort). 


m 


viride, Ait. (American white hellebore). 




thelypteroides, Michx. (spleenwort). 


^ 


PontederiacfX. 


felix foemina, R. Brown (lady-fern). 




Pontederia, L. 


Camptosorus, Link. 




cordata, L. (pickerel-weed). 


rhizophyllus. Link (walking leaf). 




Coinmelynacem. 

Conimelyna.Dill. 


Phegopteris, Ft-e. 




hexagon opt era, Ffee (beech-fern). 




Virginica, L. (day-flower). 


Aspidium, Swartz. 




Tradescantia, L. 


marginale, Swartz (wood-fern). 




Virginica, L. (common epiderwort). 


acrostichoides, Swartz (Christmas, or evergreen-fernj. 





FLORA OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



435 



Aspidium, Swartz. 

TUelypteris, Swartz (swan»i) sbield-feru). 

Novaboraceuse, Willd. (New York fern). 

spimilosuni, Swartz (spiny-shield fern). 

(.-ristjituiu, Swartz (crested fern). 

Guldianum, Hood (sbield-feru). 
Cystupteris, Bernh. 

fragilis, Bernh (bidder-fern). 
Onuc-lea, L. 

seiisibilis, h. (sensitive fern). 
Wuodsia, R. Brown. 

Ilvensis, R. Brown (Woodsia). 
Dicksunia, L'Her. 

puiictilobula, Hook. (Dicksouia). 
Osmunda, L. 

regalis, L. (flowering, or royal fern). 

Claytoniana, L. (Clayton's fern). 

cinnanionea, L. (cinnamon fern). 
Botrychiuni, Swartz. 

Virginicuni, Swartz (rattlesnake fern). 

lunarioides, Swartz (moonwort). 

var. obliquuiti (oblique-leaved moonwort). 
var, di!=!Sectum (cut-leaved moonwort). 
Lycopodiaces. 

Lycopodiiini, L. 

dendruideiim, Michx. fgriiuDd-i)ine). 

davatuni. L. (club-moss). 



CHAPTER X X V 1 1 r . 

ZOOLOGY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.' 

Very little attention has yet been given in our 
county histories to the habitation and distribution of 
our existing animals. Botany, in this respect, has not 
been neglected; the exact localities of many of ourna- 
tive trees, shrubs and plants, when not too common, 
have been especially pointed out or noticed, and thus 
serve as a valuable guide to the practical student. It 
is our purpose now to treat on this more fully than 
has probably hitherto been done. Certain errors that 
originated in our natural history nearly half a 
century ago, are still mentioned, we regret to say, 
even in quite recent works. For instance, that quad- 
rupeds and birds are nearly all decreasing, and some 
are rare that are actually numerous, or vice versa. 
This shows that the writers thereof have studied 
nature more in books at their desks than abroad in 
the fields. Another matter is becoming too serious 
to be longer overlooked, — the names of the most 
common and familiar objects being overburthened 
with technical nomenclature. Hence, we need not 
wonder that our bluebird, which cannot be mistaken, 
is called by Swainson Scialia W/sonii, by Bonaparte 
Saxicola Sialis, by Wilson Sylvia Sialis, and lately by 
another Sialia Sialis. As this examination has been 
superficial, liow many more technical names liave been 
given it we are consequently unable to say. Our com- 
mon partridge has no less than eight, the pewee four, 
the snowbird, the kingbird and house-wren an equal 
number. As may be seen in Audubon's " Quadrupeds 



'By Wm. .T. Buck. 



of America," though published a third of a century 
ago, the ground-squirrel and mink have each been 
furnished with five, the marmot with four, the wild- 
cat seven, and even our common American rabbit 
with no less than three. Now, as similar names are 
being made and applied more or less through all 
animated nature, who is to decide as to which is the 
proper one, or when and where the number is to end ? 
Hence, to help tostay this evil, we shall treat all alike, 
by dispensing with such cumbersome and useless 
labors. However, a.s more important in a historical 
work, we have concluded to give in this connection, 
as far as we could ascertain them, the names of the 
several animals, birds, fishes and reptiles in the 
Delaware Indian language, with our several authori- 
ties therefor. C will stand for Campanius ; Z for 
Zeisberger; P, Pyrlacus; 8, Schmick ; H, Hecke- 
welder; Str., William Strachey ; and W for Roger 
Williams. This result has only been accomplished 
through many years' diligent labor. As a first at- 
I tempt, we will state that three-fourths of the num- 
ber have been derived from original manuscrijits. 
The spelling is retained as found in the Swedish, 
German and English sources; only nine names being 
derived from the first and three from the latter, which 
otherwise could not have beea thus supplied. In 
the arrangement of the catalogues we have closely 
followed Professor S. F. Biard, as the most simplified 
f'cr this purpose. 

Quadrupeds. — The existing native mammalia with- 
in the present limits of Montgomery County, it is 
very probable, do not exceed at the utmost thirty- 
five species. The bats have been variously estimated 
at from five to eight distinct kinds. The latter num- 
ber may be too high, and accidental varieties may 
have been mistaken for distinct species. The com- 
mon mole is now much more numerous than formerly ; 
this may, in part, be accounted for by their having 
less enemies. The star-nosed mole is not as rare as 
is supposed. In high, early spring freshets, along our 
rich low, grounds, they are driven from out their 
haunts, and frequently found drowned, thus proving 
that they arc more numerous than is commonly sup- 
posed. We must confess it is difficult otherwise to 
procure specimens. 

The wild-cat or lynx may possibly exist. One 
was shot in February, 1860, in Rockhill town- 
ship, Bucks Co., within a couple of miles of the 
line of Marlborough and Upjjer Salford, where thev 
could yet find secure retreats, from the rocky charac- 
ter of the hills, still covered with native forests. 
We think it can be safely stated that the gray fox no 
longer exists in this orthe adjoining counties. The red 
fox is still found on the hills of Upper Merion, Doug- 
las, New Hanover, ^Marlborough, Ujiper Salford and 
Upper Hanover. A fox was killed in Moreland town- 
ship in 1847, and since then none have been known 
anywhere in that section. An otter was captured on 
the East Branch, in Pcrkiuraen township, about 1858. 



436 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



We have been unable to ascertain of any other hav- 
ing since been seen in the county. The raccoon 
abounds in the townsliips of Limerick, New Hanover, 
Marlborough, Upper Salford and Perkiomen, but is 
diminishing. The flying squirrel, though seemingly 
scarce, is more common than is generally supposed. 
A friend residing in Limerick a few years ago, had a 
favorite shellbark tree on his farm that appeared to 
yield quantities of nuts, but somehow they would dis- 
a|)pear. Taking a lantern one night to the place, he 
was amazed at the siglit of numerous flying squirrels, 
scampering off" in various directions. He had not 
previously known of their existence in the vicinity. 
By similar means we have ascertained that the several 
kinds of shrews and mice are more numerous than is 
generally supposed. The interesting ground squirrel at 
this time does not appear nearly as frequent as thirty 
years ago. The jumping mouse resorts in the vicinity 
of thickets or copses, and is difticultto capture. The 
white-footed mouse, which has been stated as rare, is 
found almost everywhere, and cannot readily be mis- 
taken. It has been repeatedly published that the 
marmot or ground-hog is a common and well-known 
animal in Eastern Pennsylvania. Our observations, 
made for many years, do not confirm this. There is 
something about it that is remarkable, and applies as 
well to Bucks as to Montgomery County. After the 
most extensive inquiries among the descendants of our 
earliest families, we cannot ascertain that it was ever 
known or found in Horsham, Moreland, Abingtou, 
Cheltenham or Tapper Dublin. Kear Flourtown, in 
•Springfield township, one was discovered about ISliS 
and regarded with great curiosity. In Lower Salford 
they disapi>eared a quarter of a century ago. A few 
are still found in Upper Hanover and Upper and 
Lower Providence; but, strange to say, they are com- 
mon around Red Hill and Eastburn's Hill, in Upper 
Meriou, the latter elevation being only about a 
mile from the borough of Bridgeport. The muskrat, 
like the mole, is increasing. In Moreland, with its 
numerous small, lasting streams, it is no unusual cir- 
cumstance for a person in high, early spring freshets, 
to shoot twenty or thirty of these animals in less than 
half a day. In this township, by the Pennypack, in 
the winter of 1861 and the following year, Tyson 
Micheuer caught in a box-trap twenty minks, which 
were all males, showing the sagacity of the other 
sex. The people of the vicinity were justly surprised 
at this number being caught there. The disappear- 
ance of former animals will be noticed in local his- 
tory. 

C.VTALOOl'K. 

1. The gray bat, cominou. 

2. Brown bat, common. 

3. Red bat, occasionally seen. 

4. Large gray bat, rare. 

5. Carolina bat, occasionally seen. 

6. Little brown bat, rare. 

7. BUint-nosed bat, occasionally seen. 

8. The large shrew, common. 

9. Small shrew, rare. 

10. Gray shrew, occaflionally Been. 



11. Common mole, abundant. 

1*2. Star-nosed mole, occasionally seen. 

13. W'ild-cat or lynx {Lingwees, C), very rare. 

14. Ited fo.\ (Tloacws, Z., MWujifmliim, P.), in some parts of the county. 

15. Weasel, not common. 

It). Jlink {Hwijiimgtts, C, Wimiwjus, Z.), not common. 
17. otter {Huinwkijlc, C), very rare. 
IS. Skimk {Ctittettamoii'hemt, L.), common. 

Ut. Raccoon (y4ro/;ione, Str., Nacheunim and Efipaji, 7..), in some parts ot 
the county. 

20. Opossum {Wo'tpinic, Z.l, occasionally seen. 

21. Cat or fo-Y-squirrel, rare. 

22. Gray squirrel, common at places. 

23. Red squirrel or chickaree {Cmrewanick or Plmiiigtis. Z.), occasionally 

seen. 

24. Striped or ground squirrel, common at places. 
2.^). Flying squirrel {Blacnik, Z.), common at places. 

Warniot or ground-hog {Mornchgeu, Z. ), found in a few townships. 

Muskrat {hama^kus, C), abundant. 

Jumping mouse, occasionally seen. 

Conmion or Norway rat, abundant ; introduced. 

Common mouse, abundant ; introduced. 

Field-mouse (.4c/'j3orfHS, Z.), connnon. 

Native black rat, rare. 

Sleadow-mouse, common. 

White-footed mouse, common ; partial t" di"y, sheltered retreats. 

Hare or rabbit (Symowiis, C.J, connnon. 

Birds. — While perhaps one third of our various 
species of birds have diminished, we do not doubt 
but in this county the balance are increasing. In 
the lower townships, the planting of groves and 
numerous evergreen trees in and around lawns, and 
by lanes and roadsides, has greatly tended to promote 
their augmentation by affording them additional 
shelter and security. The turkey-buzzard, strange to 
say, has become more numerous. In October, 1881, 
in Horsham township, the writer saw three flying to- 
gether, and was informed that it was no unusual 
circumstance in that vicinity. The Hon. I. F. Yost, 
of New Hanover, stated that he had recently seen as 
many as forty or more at one time in that township. 
It is doubtful whether the hawk tribe has diminished. 
Both the golden and bald eagle are repeatedly shot 
over the county. We have kept a partial record of 
those that have been shot or captured within a dis- 
tance of three miles of the Willow Grove during the 
last thirty-five years, and the number is above twenty ; 
nearly one-third being of the former species. They 
are mentioned in books as being rare and only seen in 
Pennsylvania during the winter. From our record we 
find that nearly all were secured in the month of May. 
That eagles sometimes breed in Montgomery County 
is very probable. In the spring of 1852, a pair were 
seen daily around the sujnmit of the high hill to the 
east of Willow Grove for above a month. The male 
bird was shot the 31st of May by William Thomas, 
after which the female disappeared. The supposition 
is strong that they had a nest somewhere in the 
woods of that vicinity. The fish-hawk still abounds 
and rears its young along the Perkiomen, below 
Schwenksville, to the Schuylkill. A great horned owl 
was captured a mile from Jcnkintown within the 
past three years. The common red-headed wood- 
pecker is now almost an entire stranger in the lower 
half of the county. Wild pigeons are still occasionally 



ZOOLOGY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



437 



found on the hills of New Hanover, Upper Hanover, 
Upper Salford and Marlborough, and no doubt still 
breed there. The pheasant or ruffed grouse still 
abounds on the hills of the aforesaid townships, and 
Ujjper Merion. It has only recently disappeared in 
Lower Merion, and is now becoming scarce along 
Edge Hill, in Moreland and Abington, where it was 
common forty years ago. The loon or great northern 
diver is still occasionally shot along the Schuylkill 
and Perkiomen during the winter. A pelican was 
shot on the .Schuylkill, within a mile of Pottstown, in 
1880. A. pair of summer or wood ducks attempted to 
breed near a dam in Moreland township, about thirty 
years ago, but, unfortunately, were both shot by a 
young man in the neighborhood, thus indicating 
that they may even yet rear broods here. The crow is 
still abundant, and very destructive to the young and 
the eggs of our most useful birds. Bounties for their 
heads, as well as for the heads of the hawk tribe, 
should be continued, as the laws thereon have not 
been repealed. The English sparrow, introduced 
since 1860, has multiplied rapidly and spread over 
the county, keeping chiefly in flocks in our larger 
towns and villages. It has to some extent driven 
away from their usunl haunts some of our nu)re useful 
birds, as the wren, bluebird, and even tlie robin. 

CATALOGL'K. 

1. Tiirk<.'y buzziird {Aundschipuis, Z. 1, nut rniiniuni. 

2. Duck-luiwk, occasionally seen along the Sclmylkill. 

3. Pigeon hawk, occasionally ; more tVetiuent in wintt-r. 

4. Sparrow hawk, coniinon. 

5. Goshawk, occasionally in wintf r ; frurn the n<irtli. 
ti. Cooper's hawk, ccninion. 

7. Sharp-shinncil hiiuk. common. 

8. Red-tailed hawk, lommon. 

0. Red-eliouldered hawk, common. 

10. Bruad-wioged hawk, frequent in fall anil wiiilcr. 

11. Rough-legged hawk, common in winter. 

12. Black hawk, occasionally seen. 

l^. Marsh hawk, common along Schuylkill and Perkitimen. 

14. Golden eagle, occasionally ; nu>8t common in iMay. 

15. Bald eagle {IVoapaleiiHe, Z.), most common in May. 

16. Fish hawk (Ximenees, Z. ), along Schuylkill and Perkiomen. 

17. Barn, or white owl, occasiomilly seen. 

18. Great horned owl {Cokhoos^ Z.I. nut uncommon and re-^iih-nt. 

19. Scree<ii owl, conimon at places. 

20. Long-eared owl, occiisionally ; chiefly in winter. 

21. Short-eareil owl, fre'iuent in wlntei- along streams. 

22. Gray, or barrtd owl, cuniniun in winter. 

23. Little owl, occasionally in winter. 

24. Snuw owl, ocaisionatly, only in winter ; a visitor from the far north. 

25. Yellow-billed cuckoo, common ; Imilding in orchards. 

26. Black-billed cuckoo, conmion. 

27. Hairy woodpecker, occasionally seen. 

28. Downy woodpecker, or sapsucker, common. 
20. Red-cockaded woodpecker, rare. 

30. Yellow-billed woodpecker, occasionally seen. 

31. Great black woodpecker, or log-cock, rare; only in a few of the 

upper townships. 

32. Red-bellied woodpecker, occasionally seen. 

33. Red-headed woodpecker (Afe/iMtA-oc/;c*MJ', Z.), connnoii in some of the 

upper townships. 

34. Flicker or golden -winged woodpecker, common. 

35. Humming-bird, common during the summer. 

36. Chimney swallow, abundant. 

37. Barn swallow, common. 

38. Cliff swallow, common at places ; builtling iimler the eaves. 
3'J. Wliite-hellied swallow, common. 



70. 

80. 

81. 

82. 

83. 

84. 

8.'). 

8G. 

87. 

88. 

89. 

90. 

91. 

92. 

93. 

04. 

95. 

96. 

97. 

98. 

99. 
100. 
101. 
102. 
103. 
1(H. 
lOo. 
106. 
107. 
108. 
109. 
110. 

m. 

112. 
113. 
114. 



Bank swallow, occasionally along the Schityjkill. 

Rough-winged swallow, occasionally seen. 

Puri)Ie martin, abundant at places; building in boxes. 

AVbip-poor-will ( Wecoolis, Z.), common at places. 

Night bawk {Pischk, Z.), common. 

Kingfisher (!r«A-ciHiH»is, Z.), freiiuent along stream**. 

King-bird iSucheni or Siignmore, W.l, common. 

Great-crested flycatcher, common. 

Pewee, a conimon and favorite bird. 

Wood pewee, common. 

Olive Hycatcber, rare. 

Traill's tlj'catcher, occasionally se«*n. 

Small flycatcher, common. 

Green-crested flycatcher, frequent. 

Robin iTschisgotfinx. Z.), abundant; s*tmeiiiiu-s remainiufr over 

winter. 
Wood thrush, common ; a favorite songstei". 
Wilson's thrush, conimon. 
Hermit thrush, common. 
Olive-backed thrush, occasionally seen. 
Bhie-bird {Tschiiiiahin, Z.), a common fuviiiite 
Ruby-crowned wren, common in spring and avitiimn. 
Golden-crested wren, common in spring and autumn. 
Titlark, or pipit, frequent in winter. 
Black-and-white creeper, common. 
Blue yellow-backed warbler, common. 
Maryland yellow-throat, conimon. 
Connecticut warbler, occasionally seen. 
Storning warbler, occasionally seen, 
Kentucky warbler, mre. 
Yellow-breasted chat, occasionally seen. 
Worm-eating warbler, common in spring ami autumn. 
Bliie-wingcd yellow warbh-r, common, 
(iolden-winged warbler. t>ccasionally seen, 
Nashville warbler, occasioTially in spring and autumn. 
Tennessee warbler, rare. 

Golden-crowned thrush, common ; building on the ground in woods. 
Water thrush, comrnon. 
Large-billed water thrush, rare. 
Black-tb?oated green warbler, occasionally seen in spiing and 

autumn. 
Black-throated blue waibler, common in spring anri ;iutumn. 
Yell(>^^ -niniped warbler, comnioii in spiing ait<l :intnnni. 
Blackburn warblor, common in spting and autumn. 
Ray-breasted warbler, occasionally seen in spring and autumn. 
Piue-creeping warbler, common in spnngand autumn 
Chestnut-sided warbler, frefpient in spring and autumn. 
Blue warlilei', frequent in spring and autumn. 
Black-polled Wiwbler, frequent in spring and autunni. 
Summer yellow biril. connnon ; building in orchards. 
Black and yellow warbler, connnon in spring and autumti. 
Cape May warbler, occaaionally se«-n in spring and autumn. 
Red-poll warbler, common in spring and autumn. 
Yellow-throated warbler, occasionally seen in spring and autumn. 
Prairie warbler, rare ; only in spring or autumn. 
Hooded warbler, occasionally seen in spring and autumn. 
Black-cap flycatcher, freipient in spring and autumn. 
Canada flycatcher, frequent in spiintr and autumn. 
Redstai-f, common in spring. 
Scarlet tanager, common ; partial to woods. 
Cedar-bird, conuuon ; building in orchards. 
Wax-wing, rare. 

Great shrike or butcher-bird, occasittnally seen. 
Red-eyed flycatcher, common. 
Warbling flycatcher, common. 

White flycatcher, common. , 

Blue-headed flycatcher, common. 
Yellow-throated flycatcher, common. 
Catbird, common ; partial tt> low grounds. 
Brown thrush, or thnisher, connnon ; frequents thickets. 
Great Carolina wren, occasionally seen. 
Bewick's wren, rare. 

liOng-billed marsh wren, common almig tin* Si liuylUill. 
House wren, common. 
Wood wren, i-are. 

Winter wren, common in winter ; fretpients out-buildings. 
Gray creeper, frequent in uinti r. 



438 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



115. White-bellied nntbatcb, or sapeucker, frequent in winter. 

116. Red-bellied nutliatcb, frequent in winter. 

117. Blue-gray flyratcher, occasionally seen. 

118. Tufted titmouse, common. 

119. Black-cap titmouse (chickadee), frequent in vviiiter. 

120. Sunmier red-bird, occa-iionally seen. 

121. Shore lark (skylark), frequent in winter. 

122. Pine grossbeak, occasionally seen in winter. 

123. Puiple finch, frequent during spring ; migratory. 

124. Yellow bird, thistle, or salad bird ; common; frequently in liucks. 

125. Siskin or pine finch, rare. 

126. Red crossbill, in small flocks every winter. 

127. White-winged crossbill, rare ; only in winter. 

128. Red-poll linnet, seen occasionally in t-arly spring. 

129. Snow bunting, occiisionally seen in winter only. 

130. Lapland long-spur, rare and only in winter. 

131. Savannah sparrow, common. 

132. Grass sparrow, abundant. 

133. Yellow-winged sparrow, frequent. 

134. White-throated sparrow, common in winter. 

135. White-crowned sparrow, occasionally. 

136. Snow-bird, conmion during winter ; migratini; n.irth in spring. 

137. Tree sparrow, frequent in winter. 

138. Field spairow, common. 

139. Chipping sparrow, abundant during snnuner. 

140. Song sparrow, abundant ; generally remaining through the year. 

141. Swamp sparrow, common along streams. 

142. Lincoln's finch, rare ; sometimes seen in autumn. 

143. Fox-culored sparrow, common in winter. 

144. Blark-tliroated bunting, occasionally seen, 

145. Kose-breasted grossbeak, in small tlocks evi-ry spring and autumn. 

146. Blue grossbeak, an occasional visitor. 

147. Indigo bird, common ; builds in orchards. 

148. Red-bird, cardinal grossbeak (Meliaa/niniuii. 'A.\: cominoM in wood- 

lands, by streams. 

149. Ground robin or cheewink, abundant, 

150. Reed-bird or bobolink, common in spring. 

151. Cow-l>ird, common in i>astures ; builds no nest. 

152. Red-winged blackbird iTsrhmjiuiU, Z.), connnun. 

153. Meadow lark, common. 

154. Orcliard oriole, tonimon ; builds a hanging nest. 

155. Baltimore oriole, common ; Ituilds a hanging nest. 

156. Ruety blackbird, coinmon. 

157. Crow blackbird or purple grakle, abundant. 

158. Crow (Ahus^ Z.), abundant. 

159. Fish crow, occasionally, along the Schuylkill. 

160. Blue jay, common ; builds sometimes in orchanls. 

161. Wild pigeon {Amemi, Z., Anlma, H.), some sejisoiis abundiint in 

spring and autunm. 

162. Turtle dove (jl/cHi*>'//'(tAaHJO, Z.), common. 

163. Ruffed grouse or pheasant {Bablia<:ku], abounds in a few town- 

ships. 

164. Partridge, quail, ur Bob White {Pnpocus, '/..), connnon, 

165. Great blue heron or cvane (Twecka, ('., Taieka, /..), occasionally 

seen. 

166. White heron, occasionally iTi autumn on the Schuylkill. 

167. Snow heron, occasionally found in autumn on the Sclinylkill. 

168. Louisiana heron, rare. 

169. Blue heron, occasionally along the Schuylkill. 

170. Green heron (tly-up-the-creek), common. 

171. Night heron, i-arc. 

172. Small bittern, common. 

173. Bittern, or snake-driver, common. 

174. Golden plover, occiisionally seen in autumn. 

175. Killdeer, conmion at places. 

176. Black-bellied plover, occasionally seen. 

177. Piping plover, occasionally seen during summer. 

178. Tnrnstiiue, occasionally seen along tbt- Sclniylkill. 

179. Northern phalarope, rare; only along the Schuylkill. 

180. American woodcock, common at phices. 

181. English or Wilson's snipe (SchiroHiriliilli.'n, '/..), conmion in the 

spring. 

182. Gray snipe (3fe»i('H), occasionally seen. ^ 

183. Red-backed sandpiper, occasionally seen along tin; Schuylkill. 

184. Purple sandpiper, occasion«lly along the Schuylkill. 

185. Jack snipe (PiscoJiH), occasionally along the Schuylkill. 

186. Little Siuidpiper, occasionally along the Schuylkill. 



187. Little snipe, occasionally along ihe Schuylkill. 

188. Sanderling, occasionally along the Schuylkill. 

189. Semipalmated sandpiper, occasionally along the Schuylkill. 

190. Tell-tale; or stone snipe, occasionally along the Schuylkill. 

191. Spotted sandpiper, occasionally along the Scliuylkill. 

192. Yellow-legged snipe, conmion along streams. 

193. Solitary sandpiper, conmion. 

194. Field plover, common at places all summer. 

195. Spotted goodwit, occasionally along the Schuylkill. 

196. Blarsh hen, or large rail, occasionally along the Schuylkill, 

197. Clapper rail, occasionally along the Schuylkill. 

198. Virginia rail, occasionally along larger streams. 

199. Common rail, occasionally in the spring. 

200. Yellow rail, occasionally seen. 

201. Coot, or mud hen, occasionally seen. 

202. Florida gallinule, occasionally seen. 

203. American swan (Turr^ C), verj' rarely on Ihe Srhiiylkill. 

204. Canada goose {Honck, W.), occasionally seen in flocks. 

205. Brant, occasionally on Schuylkill. 

206. Mallard, or green head, occasionally seen. 

207. Black duck, occasionally seen on the larger streams. 

208. Pintail, occasionally on the Schuylkill. 

209. Green-winged teal, sometimes seen in spring and autumn. 

210. Blue-winged teal, occasionally on the Schuylhill. 

211. Spoonbill, or shoveller, occasionally on the Schuylkill. 

212. Summer, orwoodduck((^ju"«/"i»t^«s, H.), occasionally alougstrearaa. 

213. Widgeon, occasionally along the larger streams. 

214. Black-head or scaup duck, occasionally in spring and autumn on tho 

Schuylkill. 

215. Little black-head, or blue bill, occasionally seen. 

216. Ring-necked duck, occasionally seen. 

217. Red-head, occasionally seen. 

218. Dipper, or buflit head, occasionally seen. 

219. Whistle-wing, occasionally seen. 

220. Harlequin duck, occasionally seen. 

221. Long-tail, occasionally seen. 

222. Ruddy duck, occasionally seen. 

223. Sheldrake or fish duck, common on ponds and streams. 

224. Red-breasted merganser, occasionally on the Schuylkill. 

225. Loon, or great northern diver, occasionally during winter. 

226. Pelican, very rarely on the Schuylkill. 

227. Black-backed gull (Coi(t/if7(ca«, S.), on the Schuylkill in winter. 

228. Herring gull, on the Schuylkill in winter. 

229. Black-headed gull, on the Schuylkill in winter. 

230. Crested grebe, on the Schuylkill in winter. 

231. Horned grebe, on the Schuylkill in winter. 

232. Red-necked grebe, on the Schuylkill in winter. 

Reptiles. — Tlie removal of trees and stones in 
the cultivation of the soil, and the increased atten- 
tion paid to drainage, has had considerable to do 
with diminishing our larger reptiles, whith are 
becoming scarcer. In the rocky hills of Upper 
Hanover, strange to say, the rattlesnake is still found, 
and, to a very limited extent, in Marlborough and 
New Hanover. There may probably be in the 
county about a dozen species of snakes, of which the 
garter and water snake are the most common. Our 
turtles may not exceed eight species, the frogs may 
number seven or eight, the lizards two and the sala- 
manders prol)ably I'roni four to six kinds. 

CATALOGUE. 

1. Rattlesnake [merhalou-e, Z.), rare ; at a few places. 

2. House snake, occasionally seen. 

3. Green or grass snake {AHrinkochriook, '/.,), very rare, on lui^lu-rf. 

4. Blacksnake (.SiUMc//goo^-, Z.), not coniuion. 

5. Ribbon snake, common. 

6. Garter snake (3f(im<iZ(icA«/o('A-, Z.), commuu. 

7. Yellow-bellied snake, rare and small. 

8. Worm snake, rare and small. 

9. Ring snake, rare and small. 

10. Water snake {Mbiochgoi.k, Z.), common. 

11. Spotted, or blowing viper {i:'ii>tiiuvoiiivi'iih, Z.), rare. 



ZOOLOGY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



439 



12. Copperhead {MehucacJujook, Z.), rare. 

13. Land tortoise {Tachqtwch, Z.), coraiaon. 

14. Snapping-turtle ( Tulpe, Z.), almost coiniiiuu. 

15. Bind turtle, common. 

16. Musk turtle, common. 

17. Painted turtle, common. 

18. Three-clawed turtle, occasionally seen. 

19. Muhlenberg turtle, occa8ir)nally seen. 

20. Spotted turtle {Geeirnles, S.), common. 

21. Toad, abundant and useful. 

22. Tree frog, common ; probably two Sl)ecie8. 

23. Bull frog (.4ufi/(uHHi, Z.), common. 

24. Herring frog, occasionally seen. 

25. Green frog {Tsqnall, Z. ), common. 

26. Spotted, field, or garden fi'og, common and useful. 

27. AVood, or marsh frog, occasionally seen. 

28. Fence lizard, not common ; partial to old fences. 

29. Strijied lizard, rare ; about decayed wood. 

30. Blotched, or marbled salamander, occasionally seen. 

31. .Spotted salamander, common. 

32. Red salamander, common on moist grounds. 

33. Black salamander, occasionally seen. 

Fishes.— 

1. Long-eared sun-fish, common. 

2. Stri^wd bass, occasionally seen. 

3. White l)eich {Kalcickan, C), occasionally seen. 

4. Blue-spotted sun-fish, common. 

5. Barred killifish, common, small. 

6. Brook trout {M<tii<-hila?7iek, Z.}, only at places ; tiative ill Sandy Kun. 

7. Mud minnow, common. 

8. Small minnow, common. 

9. Black-banded minnow, occasionally seen. 

10. I'ike iijueqiunlgntle, Z. ), common. 

11. Red fin, common. 

12. Shiner or bream, common. 

13. Chub (Leiocimet, Z.), common. 

14. Roach (.S/iiHcA-, C), common. 

15. Sucker, connnon. 

16. Silvery sucker, common. 

17. Yellow catfish (U'lmnuk-, Z. and H.l, abundant at places. 

18. Big-liead, common. 

19. Stone catfish, common. 

20. Black biiss, conmion in Schuylkill ; introduced. 

21. Gold fish, common in Schuylkill ; introdticed. 

22. Carp, occasionally in Schuylkill; introduced. 

23. Common eel (iirhtirhamel\ Z. and H.), abundant at places. 
24. Black lamprey {Pneskaitsk'uick, C), common in Schuylkill. 

25. Silvery lamprey. occa.-;ionally seen. 

General Remarks. — In tlu^ last forty years various 
estimates have been made as to the number of species 
existing in the zoology of Pennsylvania. S ime 
have made the number ten thousand, and others 
nearly twenty-six thousand sijccies. We are inclined 
to believe that the species in nearly all departments 
are made too numerous ; that in the desire to an- 
nounce new discoveries, and for naturalists to bestow 
each other's names on them, lie some of the main 
causes that are continually changing and swelling 
our catalogues. In all the divisions of nature we be- 
come frequently perplexed at the varieties offered, 
which are only too often mistaken for species. We 
cannot believe, for instance, from their close resem- 
blance to each other, that there are as many species 
of sparrows or warblers as have been given in the 
catalogue, and hence the great difhculty that attaches 
itself to this study in a proper discrimination from 
mere varieties. Sex also often makes a remarkable 
difference, as has often come to our knowledge, par- 
ticularly in regard to birds, serpents and insects. As 



near as we can well arrive at it now, we would estimate 
the various species in the zoology of Montgomery 
County as follows : Mammals, 35 ; birds, 234 ; 
reptiles, 33 ; fishes, 40 ; insects, 7,000; spiders, etc., 
100 ; crustaceous or shelly tribe, 60 ; worms, etc., 
100; and animalcules, 120, — making over seven 
hundred species, without the insects : thus showing 
that even within our restricted limits the animal 
kingdom is pretty well represented, without includ- 
ing those that have become extinct or have been 
naturalized from abroad. 



CHAPTER XXTX. 



AGRtCULTURE. 



The annals of agriculture in Eastern Pennsyl- 
vania are so essentially blended with that of the whole 
country that some reference to the subject, in a general 
way, seems a necessary prelude to the history of farm- 
ing and farmers in Montgomery County. If the 
number, character and condition of persons employed 
in tilling the soil be considered in connection 
with the necessity and gross value of the i>roduct, 
great importance must be conceded to the calling. 
Agriculturists are [iroducers, and from least to 
greatest, the farm, plantation or modern ranch must 
show a product in excess of home consumption equal 
to a fair rental value over the interest-cost of the land 
and improvements, or the investment will be deemed 
a financial failure. Under the American system of 
tenures, and the excellent laws for the registration of 
titles, land has become the most safe, and hence the 
most desirable, security for all permanent investment 
of surplus capital. This in itself has enhanced the 
value of improved lands eligibly located. The pri- 
mary disadvantage to the jiractical tiller of the soil is 
increased by our vast system of internal improve- 
ments in rail and waterways, by means of which the 
products of cheaper lands, thousands of mi l.^s west- 
ward, can be brought in direct competition with the 
more costly agricultural products of the Atlantic 
States. This disadvantage is, however, in some 
measure compensated by the superior markets afibrd- 
ed to those who are at a convenient distance from 
our seaj)ort cities and large inland manufacturing 
towns. 

The census reports of 1880 exhibit results flattering 
to agricultural pursuits. Of four million eight thou- 
sand nine hundred and seven farms, approximating 
into which the cultivated area of the United Sttites is 
divided, nearly seventy per cent, are managed and 
tilled l)y their owners. In the Northern States the 
proportion rises to eighty per cent, and even higher. 
We have millions of farms just large enough to profita- 
bly employ the labor of the proprietor and his grow- 
ing sons and daughters. In the far West we have 



440 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



multitudes of plantations and- ranches upon which 
labor, capital ;ind improved machinery are employed 
under skilled directifiu; among them farms that are 
the wonder of the world, where one thousand or five 
thousand acres are sown as one field of wheat or corn, 
or, as ou the Dalrymple farm in Dakota, " where a 
brigade of six-horse reapers go twenty abreast to cut 
the grain that waves before the eye almost to the 
horizon." The American farmers, as a class, difi'er 
essentially from the agriculturists or peasantr}' of 
Europe. The active tillers of the soil here are the 
same kind of men as those who fill the professions or 
are engaged in commercial and mechanical pursuits. 
Of a family of sons of the same parents, born and 
raised on the old homestead, all are liberally educated 
as they grow up, and having outgrown the farm, one 
becomes a lawyer and jui^e, another goes down into 
the city and becomes a merchant, or, perhaps, gives 
himself to political affairs and becomes Governor or a 
member of Congress ; but one among them, inspired 
by ancestral pride, remains upon the old farm, or 
carves out a new one for himself and his children on 
the public domain in the West, remaining through 
his life a plain, hard-working farmer. This has been 
the experience of many generations, and nowhere in 
the world, for the last half-century, has there been 
mental activity and alertness equal to that in America 
applied to the cultivation of the soil. And while 
this has been the character of the native-born farmers, 
those who have come among us from foreign countries 
have caught the step and spirit of the national move- 
ment with wonderful ease. With examples on every 
hand of the right way of doing things, the (rermans, 
Scandinavians, and perhaps, in a less degree, the Irish 
and French who have made their homes with us, 
have been changed from the crude ways of the Euro- 
pean peasant to the happier methods of the American 
farmer.' 



1 In the South the soil wtis, until the war of the Rcliellion, tilled by a 
race of blackp, def^radetl and brutalized. 90 far ns is iniiilied in a system uf 
chattel slavery. Tpun the fruits of their laliur the master lived, either 
ill luxury or in siiualor, aecordini; to the number of those whose unpaid 
services he could command. The great majority of the slave-holding 
class lived far more meanly than ordinary mechanics at the North, or 
even than the common day-laborers among us. Of the three hundred 
and eighty-four thousand slave-holders of 18G(), twenty per cent, owned 
but one slave each, twonty-one per cent, more owned but two or tliree ; 
those who owned tive slaves, or fewer, comprised fifty-five per cent, of the 
entire number, while seventy-two per cent, had less than ten slaves 
including men, women and children. To the vast majority of this ehiss 
slavery meant, simply aiitl solely, shirking work ; and to enjoy this 
blessed privilege they were ctaitent to live in miserable lints, eat the 
coarsest food and wear their butternut-colored homespun. The slave 
worked .lust as little as he couM, and just as Jioorly as he dared; ate 
everything on which he could lay his bauds without having the lash laid 
on his back ; and wasted and sjioiled on every side, nut from a malicious 
iuteutiou, but because he was ignorant, chinisy and stupid, or at least 
stupefied. The master lived on whatever he could wrest from laborers 
of this class. Of the jilanters with seven cabins or families of slaves, 
averaging five each, including house-servants, aged invalidsand children 
Mr. Fred. Law Olmstead, in his work on "Tiie Cotton Kingdom,'' 
estimated the income "to be hardly more than that of a private of the 
New York metropolitan police force." Yet there were only about 
twenty thousand slave-holders in ISCO mIio held slaves in excess uf this 



The landed wealth of American farmers, evidences 
the fruit of their toil. Of the -1,008,907 farms in the 
whole country, Pennsylvania contains 213,542. Of 
these, 38,331 contain over 20 and less than 50 acres, 
78,877 contain over 100 and less than 500 acres ; and 
although the tendency of later years has been to de- 
crease the number of acres in farms, we still have in 
tlie State 922 farms of over 500 acres and less than 
1000, and 244 farms containing over 1000 acres of im- 
proved lantl. The average number of acres of Penn- 
sylvania's 213,542 farms was, in 1880, 93 acres; the 
average in 1870 was 103; in 1860, 109; in 1860, 117. 
The value of these farm lands, as reported in the census, 
of 1880, was S975,689,410; in 1870, 81,043,481,582; in 
1860, !l!662,050,707; in 1850, $407,876,099. The value 
of implements and machinery was, in 1880, $35,473,037 ; 
in 1870, $35,685,196; in 1860, $22,443,842; in 1850, 
$14,722,541. The product of cereals in Pennsylvania 
aggregate an immense annual wealth, — Barley: 1880, 
4.38,100 bushels; 1870,529,562; 1860,5.30,714; 1850, 
165,584. Buckwheat: 1880,4,661,200; 1870,3,904,0.30; 
1860,5,572,024; 1850,2,193,069. Corn: 1880,45,821,- 
531; 1870,34,702,006; 1860,28,196,821; 1850,19,835,- 
214. Rye: 1880, 3,683,621; 1870, 3,577,641; I860, 
5,474,788; 1850,4,805,160. Wheat: 1880,19,462,405;. 
1870, 19,672,967; 1860, 13,042,165; 1850, 15,367,691. 

Tobacco: 1880, 36,943,272 pounds; 1870, 3,467,539;. 
1860, 3,181,586 ; 18.i0, 912,651. Irish potatoes: 1880, 
16,284,819 bushels; 1870, 12,889,367; 186(1, 11,687,- 
467 ; 1850, 5,980,732. Value of live-stock in Penn- 
sylvania: 1880, $84,242,877; 1870, $115,647,075; 1860, 
$•69,672,726 ; 1850, $41,-500,053. 

Products of Montgomery County, 1880 : Barley,, 
none reported ; buckwheat, 2234 bushels ; Indian 
corn, 1,521,097 bushels; oats, 840,085 bushels; rye, 
194,636 bushels ; wheat, 48(),763 bushels. 

Value of orchard products, $78,691; hay, 111,612: 
tons ; Irish potatoes, 564,643 bushels ; sweet jiotatoes, 
1684 bushels ; tobacco, 20,930 pounds. 

Horses, number, 14,805; mules and asses, 452; 
working oxen, 12 ; milch cows, 34,918 ; other cattle,. 
9874; sheep, 2800; swine, 21,160. 



number. Of these, two or three thousand lived in something like state 
and splendor. What the industrial outcome of the abolition of slavery 
will be it is yet too early to decide ; but we already know that we are 
past the danger of "a second Jamaica," of which we had once a reason- 
able fear. The blacks are already, under the iiiipnlse of their own wants,, 
working better than they did beneath the lash ; and those wants ar& 
likel_v to increase in number and intensity. As to the poor whites of the 
South, I am disposed to believe that they are preparing for us a great 
sur^irise. We have been accustomed to think of them as bnitali/.ed by 
slavery till they had become lazy, worthless and vicious. Perhaps we 
shall find that the iwor whites have been snppres-sed rather than de- 
graded, and that beneath the hunting, fishing, lounging habit which 
slavery generated and maintained lies a native shrewdness almost pass- 
ing Y'ankee wit, an intloniitable pluck, such as has made the fights of 
Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg memorable forever in the 
history of niankind, and an energy which when turned from horse-races, 
street-fights, cockiug-mains, hunting and fishing, to breaking up the 
grounil, felling the forest, running the mill, exploring the mine and 
driving trade, may yet realize all the iJ^issibilities uf that fair land. — 
PramtM A. WitUei; hilt Ktiperinlijuhul (if the liiilli cctKtuN. 



AGRICULTURE. 



441 



Product of wool, 15,428 pounds; milk, 5,o34,032 
gallons; Initter, 4,166,479 pounds; cheese, 342,004. 

Averags Annual Valw^ of Prodncl of Milk Cows. 

Gallons of milk per cow, loS, 10 <-t!^. pergallon . . . S'2o 28 

Poundsof butter percow, lilt, 4Hct8, jjerponlnl . . . 47 60 

Poiiuils of flieese per cow, !i, jit .') cts. per pound ... 45 

Value of one calf per year 12 00 



Total 



S8.T 33 



Farm areas and farm values iu Montgomery 
County: Farms, number, 6114; improved land, 270,- 
056 acres ; value of farms, including improvements, 
$36,688,601 ; value of farming implements and ma- 
chinery, §1,567,046 ; value of live-stock, $2,779,555; 
cost of building and repairing fences, 1879, 8282,631 ; 
cost of fertilizers purchased, 1879, 8141,278 ; esti- 
mated value of all farm products sold and consumed 
for 1879, 86,086,078. 

The following; comparative statistics from the census 
of 1880 exhibit the industrial resources of Mont- 
gomery and adjoining counties : 

Acres of iiiii)rove»i laud : Berks, 4<>o,714 ; Bucks, 324,7(Ki ; Cliester, 401,- 
714; Lancaster. 4U0,;i22 ; Lehigh. 173,104; Montgomery, 270,0.ir>. Esti- 
mated value of all productions sold and consumed : Berks. S4. 485,551 ; 
Bucks, 85,900.05U; Chester. 55,970,229: Lancaster, Sn.320.202 ; Lehigh, 
S2.416,815 ; Montgomerj', $0,080,078. Value of annual products sold and 
consumed per acre : Berks, SU.OO ; Bucks, 818.83 ; Chester, S14.86 ; Lan- 
caster, ?18.9ii : Lehigh, 813.90 ; ilontgomery, 822.54. Estimated m.irket 
value of land per acre : Berks. 591.04 ; Bucks, 8111.31 ; Chester. 897.50; 
Lancaster. 8140.41 ; Lehigh, 8103.41 ; Montgomery, 8135.85. Gross in- 
debtedness: Berks, 81,384,450 ; Bucks, 895,049; Chester, 89.54,821 ; Lan- 
caster, 81,270,919 ; Lehigh, $1,014,019 ; Montgomery, 8324,145. Securi. 
ties and convertible assets : Berks. 8135.700 ; Bucks, not reported ; Ches- 
ter, not reported: Laucjlfiter. 8132.958; Lehigh. 840.122. Xumber of 
manufacturing establishments : Berks. 1044 ; Bucks, 599 : Chester, 737 \ 
Lancaster. 14;'.7 ; Lehigh. 473; Jlontgomerj-, 840. Capital invested ; 
Berks, ?12,.5J2.140; Bucks, 8:5,039,014 ; Chester. 80.411,8.53; Lancaster, 
810,481,798; Lehigh. 812,8.50,472; Montgomery. 813.789,401. .Vnnual 
products: Berks. 820,143.104 ; Bucks. 80,208,209; Chester, S10,404,;i31 ; 
Lancaster, S14,809,:330 ; Lehigh, 814,097,475 ; Montgomery, $20,656,993. 

The estimated value of the annual agricultural and 
manufacturing products of Montgomery County ex- 
ceeds by 82,613,489 that of any other county in the 
State, excepting the city and county of Philadelphia, 
and Allegheny County, which includes the city of 
Pittsburg. 

The importance of the foregoing resulis will be 
fully apiireciated when contrasted with the total 
yield of the gold and silver of the United States, — 
total gold and silver, 188(», 874,490,62(1. 

The industrial pursuits of Jlontgomery County 
yielded a product in money value equal to thirty-five 
per cent, of the bullion of the United States for the 
year 1880. 

Agricultural Societies. — In the winter of 1845-46 
a few farnii-rs in the neighborhood of Jeffersonville, 
Xorriton towusliip, animated by the example of the 
agriculturists of Philadelphia County, met together in 
the village school-house to discuss the propriety of 
forming a local association for the promotion of the 
interests they had in common, believing such a course 
best calculated to aid them in the successful prosecu- 
tion of their calling. Their deliberations resulted in 
the adiption of a constitution im the 23d of February, 



1846, by which they agreed to style themselves " The 
Jeflersonville Agricultural Association of Montgomery 
County." This may be considered the starting-point 
in the history of the society. Dr. George W. Hol- 
stein. in delivering an address before this Society t)n 
the 19th of October, 1856, referring to the organiza- 
tion of the society, says : 

*' All honor to that little Simrtan band of si.x that then and there hound 
themselves together and resolved to battle against the difficulties and 
trials that such an enterprise must always encounter in its infancy. Its 
fmx officers were : President, William Bean ; Vice-Presidents. ,lohn 
Miller and Robert Stinson ; Treasurer, Samuel Shannon; Recoixling 
Secretary, Michael S. Ramsey ; Corresponding Secretary, A. W. Shearer. 
Thus, you see, that when first organized the offices were filled by six 
gentlemen, and, although but ten years have rolled by since that period, 
more than one-half of that little party have already i>assed off the slagc* 
of action, and gone to find their reward in a higher sphere ; and if no 
other memorial of their useful career is left behind them, they have a 
lasting monument to their wiu'th in this honorable and prosperous insti- 
tution,"' 

The meetings of this society were held every two 
mouths, alternately at Jeflersonville and Penn Square. 
These meetings were often informal in their character, 
combining social features with those of a business 
nature. Addresses upon subjects pertaining to the 
objects of the association were frequent, .\mong 
those who read important pa])ers in the years of 1.^47- 
48 were Hon. Jonathan Roberts, Judge Longstreth 
and Rev. Henry S. Rodenbough. 

On the 6th of December, 1847, a resolution was 
presented and adopted to hold a public exhibition 
during the ensuing year. At that date the proposi- 
tion was novel, and the difticulties to be met and 
overcome were deemed of a serioas character. A 
committee, consisting of William Bean. William 
Hamil, Daniel Smith, Arnold Baker, and Daniel 
Getty, was appointed to submit a plan of details. The 
want of funds precluded the association from offering 
premiums in money ; the committee suggested the 
substitution of certificates of merit for the best dis|day 
of such stock, products, implements, etc., as might be 
exhibited. The plan was approved, and the following 
committee was appointed to carry it into effect, with 
power to make all necessary arrangements : X. W. 
Shearer, Arnold Baker, .Tames H. Owen, Daniel C. 
Getty, Jonathan Ellis, John Beard and .Augustus W. 
Styer. The want of proper accommodations ]>resented 
a serious obstacle to success, but all difficulties were 
surmounted, and on the 19th and 20th of October, 
1848, the first annual exhibition of the association was 
held at Jeff'ersonville, on which occasion Mr. John 
Wilkinson, of Chestnut Hill, delivered the address 
standing on a carpenter's work-bench on the barn- 
floor of the tavern [iroperty. From the stand X. ^V. 
Shearer read ofl" the list of jiremiums awarded by the 
several committees. 

The display of live-stock was highly creditable to 
the effort and neighborhood ; the implements of hus- 
bandry exhibited were of the best quality, and it be- 
came evident that the interests of the farmer and the 
mechanic were mutual; it led to competitive trials of 



442 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



plows and plowmen, grain-threshers and fans, mills 
for niiil^iug cider, pumps for lifting water, and a gen- 
eral display of all mechanical inventions of that date 
in which farmers were interested. There was a 
Domesticor Ladies' Department at the first exhibition. 
The display was made in the old hotel still standing 
in the village. 

The rooms occupied were on the second floor at the 
west end of the building. The farmers' wives and 
daughters evinced a disposition to co-operate, and 
their contributions were numerous and greatly ad- 
mired. This was the first instance in the history of 
Montgomery when the almost sacred "spare rooms " 
of our blessed mothers were made to pay tribute to the 
" cattle show." One remembers with what decorous 
modesty and blushing shyness the maiden daughters 
stood guard over the precious things and rare house- 
hold goods that were here consecrated to new uses. 
Mothers were not without misgivings, and watched 
with critical interest the curious inspection to which 
the well-preserved articles "brought from home" 
were subjected by the crowd. The " exhibition" was 
a success, and the society took the necessary steps to 
have them annually. The farmers from the east end 
of Norriton, Whitpain and Plymouth united tlieir 
efforts, and the second annual exhibition was hekt at 
Penn Square on the 17th and 18th of October, 1849. 
Later the society purchased several acres of ground at 
Springtown, a village at the point where De Kalb 
Street road crosses the Germantown turnpilce, and 
erected permanent buildings and shedding for all 
kinds of cattle, with a (luarter-mile track tor speeding 
horses and exhibiting rare and fancy stock. This 
ground was secured and the improvements erected in 
the year 1850. 

The following committee selected the grounds and 
located the several buildings : William Bean, Jona- 
than Ellis, John H. Wliite, 8amuel Tjoljerts, John 
Walker, Arnold Baker and Joseph Shannon. 

The following gentlemen were appointed a building 
committee : Samuel Roberts, David Getty, Samuel 
Shannon, John Styer, John Harding,, John Rex, 
George Geatrell, Rees Conrad and William Hamil. 

The following gentlemen constituted the committee 
of arrangements for the first exhibition, held at Spring- 
town on the 9th and 10th of October, 1850: John 
Styer, Colonel Thomas P. Knox, William Wentz, 
Daniel C. Getty, Henry Novioch, Edwin Moore and 
Rees Conrad. 

Of the early officers of this society, Dr. Holstein 
writes : 

"Mr. Williiuii IJcaiiiicciipioil the presidential cliair (hiriii;;: tlie tii-st 
year oflTs existence, ami on tiie 1st uf Felirnary. 1847, retiied in favor 
of Dr. .Jones Davis, of Lower Proviilenee townstiiiJ. l'rnther-in-la« of Mr. 
Bean. 

'■Dr. Davis brouKlit witli liiin to tlie chair a ripe experience as a 
scholar and praetieal farmer, and for a period of tive years gave freely of 
his time and means in advancing tlie work in hand. lie retired Feb- 
niaryi, m52, and G. HliKlit liiown, Eki|., \v;is elected liis snecesscir, wlio 
pi-esided witli zeal and ability for two yeans. On the tith of Felirnary, 
18.">4, Dr. .Tames .\. McCrea was elected his successor, who served 



eflficieutly for one year. February 12, 1855, Mr. Edwin Moore, of Upper 
Merion, was elected, and presided at the ninth annual exhibition, wiiich 
was the most encouraging in the history of the society." 

The first recording secretary, Michael S. Ramsey, 
Esq., filled the office but one j'ear, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Christian Miller, Esq., who, like his prede- 
cessor, retired after serving one year, preparatory to 
exploring the gold-fields of California. Mr. Miller 
made a most excellent secretary, and his loss was 
keenly felt. Mr. William Bean, the first president, 
was induced to accept the oflice, serving witli credit 
for the succeeding year. He retired in favor of James 
Henry Owen, his son-in-law. Mr. Owen fulfilled the 
duties of the office for five consecutive years, when he 
was succeeded by George F. Roberts, who was in office 
at the time of the ninth annual exhibition, held at 
Springtown in 1856. The subordinate offices of the 
society underwent frequent changes, but from the first 
able and competent gentlemen were always found 
ready to step forward and give their aid and services, 
either as officers or private members. The society had 
three hundred and fourteen contributing members at 
the close of the year 1856. 

The name of the society was changed on February 
4, 1850, to The Montgomery County Agricultural 
Society, per report of Jonathan Ellis, W. A. Styer and 
William Yerkes, committee. 

There was quite a lively contest between the friends 
who favored the three several villages bidding for the 
permanent location, — Jeffersonville, Penn Square and 
Springtown. The friends uf tlie two latter united in 
accepting the liberal overtures of the jiroprietor of the 
Springtown property, and W(in the day. 

The society now numbered several hundred mem- 
bers, among them the most enterprising and intelligent 
agriculturists, manufacturers, merchants and mechan- 
ics of the county. Their stated meetings were largely 
attended, and frequentl)' papers were read by learned 
specialists, and discussions of a practical character 
were encouraged, to the manifest advantage of all 
concerned. 

Their annual exhibitions were distinguished fur the 
rare displays <jf stock, farm products, machinery and 
fast horses, while the Ladies' Department developed 
into proptirtioiis that made it for many years the most 
conspicuous feature of each annual exhibition. Tlie 
attendance was large, and the proceeds from admis- 
sions to the grounds enabled the societyto pay lilieral ■ i 
premiums to competitors, and extend their improve- 1 1 
ments for the convenience and encouragement of 
exhibitors. 

The remoteness of the place, h<iwever, from r.iilroad 
facilities, and want of hotel accommodations commen- 
surate with the public need on these annual occasions, 
gave rise to dissatisfaction among the wide circle of > ■ 
membership, which resulted in the organization of a i I 
new society located at Norristown, known as The East 
Pennsylvania Agricultural and Mechanical Society, 
and the removtil of the original societv to Ambler 



I 



AGRICULTURE. 



443 



Station, i)u the North Pennsylvania Railroad, in Upper 
Dublin township, where more extensive grounds 
were purchased and enlarged buildings erected. 

The society became well-established at Ambler, 
under the presidency of Hon. Wm. B. Roberts, and an 
energetic board of officers, materially aided by the 
ladies of the vicinity. For many years its annual ex- 
hibitions were largely attended, and tlie display of agri- 
cultural products, farm-stock and implements was 
very creditable. The Home Department was under 
the control of the ladies, whose choice contributions 
from the well-conducted farm-homes of the county, 
rendered these annual cxhiliitions memorable in the 
annals of agriculture.' A notable feature on these oc- 
casions was the trials of speed which, in the .judg- 
ment of many, was only another name for " horse- 
racing," and the continuance of the practice event- 
ually gave rise to dissatisfaction to many of the farm- 
ers, who believed it to be a perversion of the original 
or primary object of the society. 

Wm. (t. Audenried succeeded Mr. Roberts in the 
presidency of this society, who, in turn, w:is succeeded 
by Dr. Milton Newberry, Lewis Styer and Joseph 
Rex being recording secretaries in the order named. 
No exhibitions have been held by the society for sev- 
eral years past, and the grounds and improvements 
were sold in 1884 to a number of gentlemen who 
held liens against the property. 

The East Penxsylvasia Agricultural and 
Mechanical Society was organized December, 1860. 
The first officers elected were : President, Dr. Wil- 
liam Wetherill ; Vice-Presidents, M. C. Boyer, Sam- 
uel E. Hartranft; Recording Secretary, Theodore W. 
Bean; Corresponding Secretary, A. Brower Longaker ; 
Treasurer, David Sower; Executive Committee, Henry 
S. Hitner, Samuel F. Jarret, Samuel E. Hartranft, 
William L. Williamson, Abraham Brower, James M. 
Chain, John Ogden, Chas. P. Shannon ; Auditing Com- 
mittee, (xeorge Pennick, George Fronfield and A. F. 
Jarrctt. 

The following gentlemen served as president of this 
society: John Kennedy, elected January 15, 1866; 
Joshua Ashliridge, elected January 20, 1868 ; C. F. 
Norton, elected January 17, 1870; Hiram C. Hoover, 
elected .January 18, 1871 ; Walter H. Cook, elected 
February 10, 1873; S. E. Hartranft, elected February 
18, 1875; O. G. Morris, elected February 14, 1876; 
John Kennedy, elected February 12, 1877. 

The last officers of this society were : President, 
John Kennedy ; Vice-Presidents, William H. Hol- 
.stein, Thomas H. Wentz; Recording Secretary, F. T. 
Beerer; Corresponding Secretary, A. S. Halhuan; 
Treasurer, Charles Hurst; Executive Committee, 
Morgan Wright, Jesse R. Eastburn, Daniel Getty, 



Andrew Hart, Chas. D. Phillips, Benj. P. Wertsner, 
Chas. Dager, John J. Hughes. 

The society purchased a tract of twenty acres, with 
a front on Stanbridge and Marshall Streets, whereon 
theexecutive committee erected a large exhibition hall 
and commodious shedding for cattle, a large building 
for the display of machinery, and graded a very fine 
half-mile track for the trial of fast-trotting horses.^ 
The first annual exhibition of the society was held in the 
Fall of 1861, and was attended with marked success. 
The Home Department was managed by the ladies ot 
the society, to whom the gentlemen committed the en- 
tire control, limiting them only in the amount of money 
expended for premiums paid. This society was for 
several years a liberal pation to artisans, who, in 
turn, made liberal displays of their products. The 
accommodations enabled merchants of Norristown 
and Philadelphia to display their goods and wares, 
while inventors and manufacturers of improved ma- 
chinery from different parts of the United States 
entered their products for the liberal premiums ottered. 
The competitiou among owners and trainers of trotting 
horses was a feature of great local attraction. As com- 
])ared with the Montgomery County Agricultural So- 
ciety, this spciety may have surpassed it in exhibits ot 
fast horses and machinery, may have equalled it in the 
Home and Floral Departments, but as to farm products 
and horned cattle, sheep, swine and poultry, the Mont- 
gomery County Society always had the finest displays. 
The last exhibition of this society was held in the 
autumn of 1877, since which time the grounds and 
improvements have been converted to other uses. 

The practical utility of agricultural societies hasbeen 
in some measure superseded l\v the society of patrons of 
husbandry. These organizations found early auxil- 
iaries in the county and State agricultural societies 



^ It wa* during the presidency of Mr. Roberts tliat an ineffectual effort 
was made to unite tlie two county societies; the differences of opinion 
were found tu be irreconcilable ; tlie matter of location was in favor of 
Norristown, but the fear of too much horee-racing prevented the union 
of these societies. 



2 This society Wiis publicly iniiugurated on the 4th day of .Inly, IHfil. 
The ceremonial exercises embl"aced a parade of military and civic orfjan- 
izations and a formal dedication of the grounds and building to the 
uses intended. General William Schall was chief marshal of the pai-ade, 
assisted by Colonel .John R. Grit^g, Colonel A. W. Shearer, Slajor .1. C. 
Snyder, S. E. Hartranft, Henry G. Hart, Jacob Mitchner, .\bi.iah Steph- 
ens anil Dr. .John Schrack, aids. The following military organizations 
participateil in the panide : Wayne .Artillerists (Captain David Schall), 
National Artilleri-sts (Captain John C. Snyder), Union Cadets (Captain 
Jacob F. Quilhnan), Jeflei-sonville Rangei"s, Bhle Bell Rangels, I'pper 
Merlon Rifle Company, Hand-in-Hand Ritle Company, Captian Winters' 
and Captain Owen Jones' cavalry companies. The txvo latter were sub- 
sequently mustered into volunteer service and served until the close of 
the Rebellion. The military were followed by a division of civic socie- 
ties, marshaled by Theo. W. Bean ; Montgomery Lodge of Odd-Fellows, 
No. 57 ; Curtis Lodge, No. 2.'iil ; Norris Lodge, No. 430 ; and the En- 
campment of Odd-Fellows ; Taylor Couucil, .\nierican Jlechanics, No. 
29 ; and Cadets of Temperance, No. 'ii. The Fire Department was rep- 
resented by the Norristown Hose Company and the Faimiount Engine 
Company. On reaching the fair-grounds the parade was met by a large 
concourse of people. Dr. William Wetherill, president of the society, 
called the vast assemblage to order and announced the formal opening of 
the exhibition hall and dedication of the grounds to the uses intended 
in a brief hut comprehensive speech. Hon. A. Brower Longaker read 
the Declaration of Independence ; he was followeil by David Paul Brown, 
Esq., who delivered the oration of the day. The event was successful, 
and the new society was ushered into existence with evei-j' prospect o* 
l>uhlic favor and UHefulness. 



444 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



throughout the country, and in many localities have 
80 thoroughly absorbed public interest in their fra- 
ternal offices of co-operation as to render "agricultural 
societies " in son\e measure useless. It must be con- 
ceded that the associated etiorts of the farmers of the 
county in the two societies had a tendency to quicken 
the energies and sharpen competition among them as 
a class. These associations encouraged the introduction 
of improved implements and machinery, by which the 
labor of the farmer has been lightened and seasons of 
extreme toil shortened. The mower, reaper and binder 
have materially lessened the risk of securing crops, 
by shortening the period of hay and grain harvests. 
Improved plows, cultivators and seed-drills have 
made the planting of crops quite as much a matter of 
skilled labor as that of the mechanic and artisan. 

As a matter of history, the annual product of an 
hundred-acre Montgomery County farm, well man- 
aged, for the year ending April 1, 1865, is deemed 
worthy of jireseri'ation : 

250 Ijuslif Is of wlifiit, at Sa/iO Jfio.i fKI 

4(KI buslifls cif oats, at Sl.dO 4il() IHI 

.500 bushels of rorli, at Sl.Kl 7011 (HI 

300 buBhelB of potatoen. at $1.50 450 0() 

2400 pounds of butter, at liO ceuts 1440 00 

Pork, lambs, veal, wool, hay, poultrv, orchard fruits 

aud dairy products in excess of eonsuniptiou . . . Goo no 

* 

84215(10 

Paid for one hired man S.1O0 (lO 

Paid for one hired boy loo oo 

Paid for ou(i hired girl 150 00 

Paid for harvest labor 125 (10 

Paid for tiixes and repairs 3oo oo 

Paid for feed -Kio 00 

Paid for incidental expenses 15o on 

1525 00 

Protit S2(«looo 

The war ended April 9, 18(55, and a decline in the 
price of all commodities followed. This was tirst and 
most keenly felt by the agriculturists of the country. 
The cost of labor, transportation, improved machinery, 
lumber, fuel and fertilizers receded slowly from the 
maximum of expansion reached in the protracted 
struggle. The farmers of the interior and of the great 
West felt most the sudden change. The fall in the 
price of corn, wheat and oats, horses, horn cattle, 
pork, sheep and wool, all of which were subject to 
continued high rates of transportation to a market 
east of the Alleghanies, led to co-operative efforts 
among farmers as a claSs of producers, having for its 
object the expulsion of all " middle men " between 
them and the consumers, the purchase in bulk of 
their own supplies and the cheapening of freights by 
antagonizing coriiorate monopolies. This eft'ort crys- 
tallized in the organization of the Farmers' Grange 
the operations of which have become a part of the 
history ot the country. No review of the agricultur- 
ists of this generation would approach completeness 
without reference to these societies and the intluence 
they have and .still are exerting upon large commu- 
nities throughout the North and West. The keen 
sense of commercial advantage natural to the intelli- 
gent American farmer was quickened and enlarged 
by the stirring time-: through which they, in common 



with others, -had passed ; and representing the great 
landed wealth of the country, their leading men and 
capitalists were urgent in all co-operative efforts to 
equalize the advantages of the producing classes with 
those of the consumers. In adilition to the commei- 
cial advantages of the organization, it has certain 
social features of peculiar interest. The grange rec- 
ognizes in the adult woman of the period an equal 
factor in domestic economy, and in these societies, as 
we are informed, she is placed on a perfect equality 
with men in all matters pertaining to their offices of 
usefulness. In this they are the most progressive of 
all fraternal organizations of the age, and the measure 
of influence for good they are exerting is difficult to 
estimate.' 



1 "We would especially urge the importance of woman's mission in 
the jjcrange. No social, educational or moral work o^n prosper without 
her sympathy and active supptu-t. The founders of our order very 
wisely 'opened wide the doors and bade her welcome to the grange,' 
welcome to all its privileges, welcome to share in the social enjoyment 
and its mental culture, and to be the centre of its moral inrtueuce. It is 
her mission to help to a higher life all who are permitted to associate 
with her in the social circle of the home. Let that influence be felt with 
ecjual power in the grange, and its existence is assured. Her presence 
will always secure good order and add to the enjoyment of our meetings, 
and her strong faith, patient endurance in adversity, and her intuitive 
perception of the right will prove to be the sheet-anchor of our frater- 
nal organization whenever it is threatened with danger of any kind. .\ 
grand opportunity is here offered to woman to extend her influen(:e for 
good. We hope it will be improved, and in thus helping others to suc- 
cessfully fight the battle of life, her lietter nature will be strengthened, 
and she will come nearer to our ideas of the 'perfect woman nobly 
planned.' '" — Rfporl <»/ Connnitttu: on tlitod of the Order, X'ltioiitiJ liraitgr, 

1882. 

"RkI'OUT or TOE WoUTIIV Cll-\PL.<1N. 

'• As Chaplain of the Pennsylvania State Grange, I take pleasure in 
reporting the condition of the order, so far as it has come under my 
notice since our last annual meeting. 

" My visitations have been confined chiefly to my native county of 
Montgomery. Here, in comjiany with my wife, who occupies the posi- 
tion of Ceres, I have visited nearly all (he subordinate organizations in 
the county. Two of the iddest granges in the State are in our county, — 
Keystone, No. 2, and Pennypack, Xo. 8. In the early days of the order 
they were strong and vigorous. They have had troubles to discourage 
theui, removals, death, the weeding-out process, etc., all of wliich have 
lessened their numbers. lu both of these granges are found some ol our 
most earnest patrons, who continue to have an abiding faith in the 
stability and importance of our order. For both of them we hope a 
better day is dawning. 

"Our own, Merlon. No. 112, comes next in line. She holds her own 
well, never having missed a stated meeting without a quorum. 

"Our visit to Stiir, No. 5G2, Cold Point, No. GOG, and AVissahickon, No. 
760. have been of the most pleasant kind, finding all in good working 
order. 

"Our Pomona, No. 8, is in a very flourishing condition. The meet- 
ings are always largely attended and deeply interesting. The animal 
combined meeting of Pomonas Noe. .1, 8 and 22 has become thoroughly 
established, and accompanied with good results. Here we have the 5th 
degree conferred in full form. Visitors come from all the adjoining 
counties, and many from New Jersey and Delaware. 

" Wii,i.L-\M n. Hot.STKl.v, 
" Ch'ipltiiii Peiiiifijlfuuiit Slate (Irange^ 1883.'* 
"Rkport or TOK WouTn\ Oeues. 
"Worthy M.\ster : 

"The only grange work T have done, separate from my husband, 
W'orthy Chaplain of State Grange, was in .\pril last, when, at the re- 
quest of Brothers Herr and Brown, of Clinton County, Pa., w-ho had ar- 
ranged visits in their county, some other granges along the route were 
added to the plan. One in Columbia County, with their Pomona Grange \ 
one in Montour, one in Snyder, one in I'nion, two in Lycoming and one 
week in Clinton County. Tlie cost of this trip to Die State Grange was 



AGll I CULTURE. 



445 



The order of Patrons of Husbandry was introduced 
into Montgomery County in the year 1873 by the 
granting of a charter to Keystone Grange, No. 8, of 
Montgomery County, Pa., located in Upper Providence 
township. 

The fallowing are among the granges organized in 
Montgomery County,' as recently said by one of their 
most active members, " to unite the Agriculturalists 
in a brotherhood that knows no North, South, East 
or West." 

Keystone Grange, No. 2, P. of H., Pennsylvania.'- 
— Organized March 2U, 1873, by G. W. Thompson, of 
New Jersey. This was the first organizatidu of the 
Patrons of Husbandry in Montgomery County, Pa. 
Charter members, Josiah S. Miller, John Wanner, 
H. R. Rittenhouse, Milton C. Ranibo, Abr'm Eddie- 
man, Je.sse W. Slough, Nelson O. Naille, Jonathan 
Hayes, John D. Wittey, John D. Baylor, Henry 
Keeler, J. W. Shupe, James R. Weikle, B. M. .Mark- 
ley, Chas. S. Miller, A. D. Bechtel, H. D. Bechtel, 
Mrs. Hannah C. I. Miller, Mrs. Mary A. Wanner, 
Elizabeth Edleman, Sarah Naille, Mary A. Slough, 
Elizabeth Shupe, Elizabeth Keeler. Time of meeting, 
first and third Wednesday evenings <if each month. 

Good-Will Grange, No. 7, P. of H., was organized 
July 24, 1873. Charter members, D. H. Keck, M. 
H. Brendlinger, D. S. Levengood, Wm. H. Young, 
John Roos, George M. Uruniheller, Abraham Hoff- 
man, J. F. Yost, David Hatfield, Miss Hannah 
Pannebacker, Miss Louisa Roos, Miss Emma Yost, 
Mva. S. Wagner, Henry W. Schneider, James S. 
Knous, Francis Updegrove, M. F. Leidy, Joel M. 
Koch, John Sabold, Jr., A. L. Wilson, Mrs. Kate 
Young, Miss Amanda Roos, Miss Rebecca Yost, Mrs. 
Elizabeth Drumheller. M. H. Brendlinger was the 
first Master and 1). H. Keck is the jiresent Master. 

Star Grange, No. 562, P. of H., was organized 
June 10, l.'<7o, by George Hammel, County Deputy 
at Eagle Hall, Huntington Valley, Montgomery Co. 
Charter members, William W. Ridge, Nauris S. Saur- 
man, Wynkoop Boutcher, Christian Snyder, Christian 
B. Duffield, R. Edwin Duffield, Peter Fesmire, Har- 
vey Fesmire, George Heaton, Amos Buckman, 
James B. Lesher, James Marsh, Joseph Winder, 
Elwood Lukens, William Banes, Joseph Banes, 
Samuel Yerkes, Charles Heaton, Cecelia Shelmire, 
Emma Heaton, Carrie Banes, M. Ella Duffield. 
Meetings on Wednesday evenings on or before. full 



$14.64. As a report of this visitation was sent to the Fanners' Frietid 
upon ray return, and an itemized statement of expenses sent to Worthy 
Secretary' R. H. Thonuis, it is not worth while to repeat them. 

"Whether tliis trip resulted iu any good to the places visited I am 
unable to say ; but the pleasure of meeting so many true Patrons is a 
jiiost agreeable remembrance of the time thus spent. 

"Anna ai. HoLSTEiN, 
" Cerc4 of Petinsiflvania Stale Grange^ 1.S83." 

' We have been uuable to obtain complete data of these organizations. 
Sanitoga Grange, P. of H., located in Pottsgrove Township, is among 
those omitted for the reason stated. 

^Orange No. 1, Pennsylvania, is in Lycoming County. 



moon, and on the Wednesday evening two weeks 
alter. 

Pennypack Grange, No. 8, P. of H., was organized 
August 2, 1873, in Jones' Hall, Hatboro', by James 
Wilkinson, of Iowa, a deputy of the National Grange. 
Charter members, Chas. L. ^V'alton, Joseph Barmsley, 
John C. Hobensack, B. I. Hallowell, A. L. Phillips, 
Geo. W. Walton, Chas. R. Kaufl'man, Anna S. Wal- 
ton, Elizabeth B. Walton, Chas. W. Heaton, John 
Shaw, Samuel C. Walker, Eliz. Hobensack, Wm. 
Phipps, John Dennison, Seth I. Walton, Edwin C. 
Walton, Mary W. Walton, Mina Ycmug, Lottie 
Hobensack, Edward H. Parnell, George W. Beuchler, 
Thomas Reading, Tacey A. Appleton. The present 
Master (1884) is Alfred L. Phillips. Place of meet- 
ing, Chas. L.- Walton's Hall, Moreland township. 
Time of meeting, Wednesday on or before the full 
moon. 

Merion Grange, No. 112, P. of H., was organized 
at the King of Prussia school-liouse, February 4, 
1874, l)y District Deputy Master Heckel. Charter 
memliers, George W. Righter, Isaac W. Holstein, 
John Hampton, William Davids, James Abraham, 
Wm. B. Roberts, Mark R. Supplee, Servitus Supplee, 
Samuel Tyson, Benj. C. Abraham, William Pechin, 
Ezekiel Anderson, Andrew Supplee, Thomas Abra- 
ham, Austin L. Taggart, Caroline H. Righter, Anna 
M. Holstein, Esther Hampton, Alice H. Holstein, 
Kate Anderson, Susan H. Roberts, Hannah Supplee, 
Hannah R. Supplee, Sarah R. Tyson, Josie 
Abraham, B. D. Abraham, John Hallowell, Frank 
Maucill, Jona W. Shainline, George W. Shainline. 
George W. Righter was the first and is also the 
present Master. Merion Grange meets on the \Ved- 
nesday evening of or before full moon and the second 
Wednesday following, the year round, in Merion 
Chapel near Merion Station, Philadeli)hia and Read- 
ing Railroad. 

Cold Point Grange, No. 606, P. of H., was organ- 
ized October 11, 1870, in the old Cold Point Baptist 
Church, by George Hammel, Deputy of Montgomery 
County, with forty charter members, — Benjamin P. 
Wertsner, Jesse Roberts, S. Powell Childs, Samuel S. 
Richards, H. C. Biddle, Howard Cadwallader, Wil- 
liam A. Styer, Henry Brownholtz, John M. Conrad, 
Frances C. Hoover, L. D. Zimmerman, Jacob L. Rex, 
Edwin L. Kirk, George Freas, Charles N. Shearer, 
David Marple, William B. Richards, Jesse Streeper, 
Mary Wertsner, Sarah S. Rex, E. K. Styer, Amanda 
Biddle, Mrs. Francis C. Hoover, Maria Zimmerman, 
Martha Cadwallader, Maggie Freas, Malinda Childs, 
Lizzie \V. Richards, Elma B. Conrad, Mary Ann 
Kirk, Martha C. Styer, Hannah Egbert, Elizabeth 
Harley, Mtiry P. Styer, Hannah Styer, D. R. Brown- 
holtz, Edith Marple. The first and present Master 
is S. Powell Childs. Place of meeting, Plymouth 
Valley Creamery Hall, e\ery Thursday night. 

Wissahickon Grange, No. 760, P of H., was 
organized December .5, 1881, by Sarah S. Rex, 



446 



HISTOllY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Deputy-at-large for the State of Pennsylvania, at the 
house of Jacob L. Rex, near Blue Bell. On Decem- 
ber 2Gth the grange took possession of a hall at 
Ambler Park, the grounds of the Montgomery County 
Agricultural Society. Charter members, Jacob L. 
Eex, William F. Cramer, Sarah S. Cramer, Charles 
Shoemaker, Mary Shoemaker, John S. Eex, Amos 
Walton, Henrietta Walton, George Elkinton, Mary 
S. Rex, M. Lizzie Keisel, Anna Keisel, Ellie Walton, 
J. W. Merrill, Conrad Walton, Christian B. Duffleld, 
Frank W. Duffield, Frederick Nash, Charles R. 
Keisel. The first Master was Jacob L. Rex ; the 
present is John W. Merrill. of Springhouse. Place of 



tuition of the Rev. James GrierRalston, who was not 
only the principal of the school, but owner of the 
property. Mr. Ralston was an earnest advocate of 
education for women equal to that obtained by men. 
From this institute she graduated with the highest 
honors September 29, 1852. 

She is a member of the Protestant Ejiiscopal 
Church of Norristown. She is also a member of the 
Montgomery County Historical Society, the first 
woman member ever admitted to that honorable insti- 
tution. 

Having a natural as well as an acquired taste for 
literary pursuits, she has for several years been an in- 




I 



meeting, the hall over the Springhouse Creamery, 
every Thursday night, near Penllyn, on the North 
Pennsylvania Railroad. 

Mrs. Sarah Slingluff Rex, daughter of Wil- 
liam H. and Mary Slingluff (whose ancestry are else- 
where mentioned in this book ) , was born in Norristown, 
Pa., October 10, 1834, in the well-known old time 
mansion, the two lower rooms of which were occupied 
many years for banking purposes by the old Bank of 
Montgomery County. 

She was the eldest of five children, and during her 
school-age years, or until 1848, attended the public 
schools of Norristown, and subsequently entered, as a 
student, the Oakland Female Institute, under the 



dustrious contributor to the grange organ of this 
State, — The Farmers' Friend and Orange Advocate, — 
and for two years editress of the department devoted 
to flowers, their origin, culture, etc. She performed 
this work solely for tlie purpose of spreading such 
knowledge among the many farmers' wives and fami- 
lies, in order to lighten their cares and brighten 
their homes and lives. 

In the great grange movement throughout the 
country she saw great possibilities for the women of 
the farms, and as her lot in life had been cast with 
them, she felt it her duty to assist them all that lay in 
her power. 

She was for a number of years president of the 



TOWNSHIP AND BOKOUGH ORGANIZATION. 



447 



" Home Department " of both of the agricultural 

societies of Montgnmery County ; first, the East 
Pennsylvania, then the " old " Montgomery County ; 
in fact, was the presiding officer of each, until each in 
its turn departed this life. 

She has, with honor to herself and profit to the 
Pennsylvania State Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, 
filled the high and responsible office of Flora for 
two terms, and was in 1885 a member of the Finance 
Committee of the State Grange, and also Deputy-at- 
Large for the State of Pennsylvania. 

She is omnivorous as regards books, newspapers 
and [jeriodicals, extravagantly fond of flowers, gar- 
dening; and of the animal kingdom she is passion- 
ately fond of the noble horse and other pot animals 
of a domestic nature or species. 

She was married, April 1, 1853, to Jacob Lentz 
Rex, Esq., a farmer of Whitpain township, Mont- 
gomery Co., the marriage ceremony being performed 
by Rev. John S. Ermentrout, pastor of the Reformed 
Church of the Ascension, of Norristown. All her 
married life has been spent, thus far, upon her hus- 
band's farm, which was formerly owned by his father, 
John Rex, and prior to that by his grandfather, Levi 
Rex, then of Chestnut Hill, whosewife was Catharine 
Riter. 

Mr. and Mrs. Rex are the parents of three children, 
viz., — Mary S., William S. and John Rex. 

Pomona Grange, No. 8, Montgomery County.— 
Organized in 1875. This is a county organization, and 
is composed of reiiresentatives from all the subordi- 
nate granges in the county, and meets quarterlj'. 
The State Grange meets annually in January, and is 
composed of delegates from all the suljordinate 
granges in the State. The National Grange meets 
annually, and is composed of representatives from all 
the State Granges. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

TOWNSHIP AND BOKOUGH ORGANIZATION— POST 
OFFICES— ROADS. 

Township and Borough Organization. ' — The 

subject of township and borough formation and the 
history of local government has as yet been almost 
entirely overlooked. Watson, in his "Annals," makes 
no mention of the matter. Very few counties whose 
organization or history dates back into the colo- 
nial period have had complete accounts or tables pre- 
pared as to the origin, date, formation and organiza- 
tion of their respective townships for the purpose of 
carrying into effect the duties and requirements of 
the inhabitants of the same in their relation to the 
government. Though the smallest division, yet taken 

1 By Wm. J. Buck, 



collectively with the boroughs they form the counties, 
and these again form the State, which again forms an 
integral part of this great republic. Ou the early 
history of townships errors have been repeatedly pub- 
lished, chiefly through Holme's map of original sur- 
veys, bearing the date of 1681, which any one only 
ordinarily informed should know has been filled up 
down even to 1730, of which we shallhave more to say 
hereafter. Another great error is in the dates as- 
signed for the organization of townships. The popu- 
lation at the dates assigned in itself shows that their 
formation was not required and was impracticable. 

Prior to the grant to Penn no evidence exists that any 
settlement had been made by Europeans within the pres- 
ent limits of Montgomery County, although the Dutch 
had, no doubt, for many years previously voyaged up 
and down the Schuylkill in pursuit of the beaver traflic 
and other peltries. Section 10, of the royal charter 
gave " unto the said William Penn, his heirs and as- 
signs, free and absolute power to divide the said coun- 
try and islands into towns, hundreds and counties, and 
to erect and incorporate towns into boroughs and 
boroughs into cities, and to make and constitute fairs 
and markets therein, with all other convenient privi- 
leges and immunities according to the merit of the 
inhabitants and the fitness of the places." To the 
same was also given the right to erect any parcels of 
land within the province aforesaid into manors, " and 
in every of the said manors to have and hold a Court 
Baron, with all things whatsoever which to a Court 
Baron do belong ; and to have and to hold view of 
frankpledge, for the conservance of the peace and 
the better government of those parts by themselves 
or their stewards or for the lords for the time being." 
We see herein ample powers given to Penn for laying 
out townships and chartering boroughs; also to confer 
manorial privileges to large purchasers, with right to 
hold thereon courts and exercise feudal preroga- 
tives. 

Owing to the sparse population, attention was 
not at once directed to county boundaries until at a 
meeting of the Provincial Council held 8th of Second 
Month, 1685, when they passed a resolution that 
" there is a necessity to ascertain the bounds of the 
several counties of Pennsylvania, in order to the raising 
and collecting of taxes, public monies, and other 
ways to adjust the limits of the respective Shcrifl^s for 
the performing of their power and duty ; and also that 
the people might know into what county they all 
belonged and appertain to answer their duties and 
places." Such an object necessarily would soon call 
attention to the formation of townships, and that their 
lines for the same reasons be clearly established. 
To carry this into effect the Council, at a meeting held 
9th of Second Month, 1600, " ordered that a warrant 
be made to empower each county, by their respective 
magistrates and grand jury, to divide their respective 
counties into hundreds, or such other divisions as 
they shall think most convenient for their ease in col- 



448 



HI8T0KY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



lecting ye levies for ye defraying ye cliarge of the 
counties." It was on tliis authority that the first town- 
ships of the three original counties — namely, Phila- 
delphia, Chester and Bucks — were officially formed 
and organized, and not before, though otherwise 
stated. 

Records exist to prove that in Bucks County, from 
the power now conferred, a court was held atNesham- 
ing Meeting-house the 27th of Seventh Month, 1692, 
for the especial purpose of laying out said county 
into townships, nine being then formed, constitu- 
ting its most populous portions. In Philadelphia 
they must have been formed at very nearly the 
same date, but, most probably, somewhat earlier and 
not long after the Council's order. We will now 
briefly refer to Holme's map, that it may no longer 
mislead even intelligent persons. We find thereon 
" The INIannor of Moreland'' duly mentioned and its 
boundaries denoted. This tract was not taken up nor 
surveyed until 7th of Sixth Month, 1684. There is also 
■" Letitia Penn's Mannor of Mount Joy '' and "Wil- 
liam Penn,Jr.'s, Mannor of Williamstadt," the surveys 
of which were not made until October, 1704, twenty- 
three years after 1681. Samuel Carpenter's great tract to 
the north of Moreland was not taken up nor granted 
him until May 26, 1706. However, we deem it un- 
necessary to go any farther into this matter than to 
state that it is afillnl-up map, and that no reliance can 
be placed on it as to dates. Through this source Mr. 
Westcott has also been led into errors in his"Hi.storyof 
Philadelphia," wherein he states that between the years 
1682 and 1684 there were •' undoubtedly established the 
German township, Oxford, Bristol, Moreland Manor, 
Plymouth, Byberry, Dublin and Kingsessing." We 
will admit that they may have existed in name; but 
that was all, not legalized nor laid out in townships, for 
their population was then entirely too sparse to war- 
rant it. Even no settlement had been made at Ger- 
mantown until late in the year 1683. As to the 
paucity of some early records, the following will ex- 
plain : In a petition of the inhabitants of New Hano- 
ver to December Sessions of court, 1735, they state 
that eleven years before they had been made a town- 
ship called " Frankfort and New Hanover," and that 
at the time no record was made 'of the fact or of its 
boundaries, hence they desire that now "the same 
may be recorded by the draft and boundaries here- 
unto annexed." 

Courts of Quarter Sessions were not established 
in the three counties until October 3, 1706, when the 
Council "ordered that there be a court erected in 
every county, to be held four times in every year, in 
which all actions and causes may be tried except mat- 
ters of life and death." So the power in this court to 
erect townships could not have existed until after said 
date, and in which it has ever since remained. This 
fact, too, will expLain the want of early records on the 
subject. After the minutest search on our part in the 
records of Philadelphia, we could not find any positive 



mention earlier than that of Upper Hanover in 1724, 
and this was by reference in the petition from there 
to the court in December, 1735. For all earlier dates 
we had to de])end chiefly on deeds, noting therein the 
first mention of the name as a township, and it is on 
this authority that the dates are given. 

Probably the earliest township that bore a name 
within the present limits of the county was " The 
parish of Cheltenham," which is so called in a survey 
made by Thomas Fairman, 1st of Seventh Month, 
1683, for a purchase made by Patrick Robinson. The 
Manor of Morelandwas not located until August 7, 1684, 
and we have been unable to find it called a township 
earlier than 1718, when its population even then must 
have been very small. Whitpain in one instance is 
called a township in 1701 ; but it could not possibly 
have been such until some years after. Springfield 
was located in 1684, and in a petition of 1703 is called 
a manor. Whitemarsh was called a township in 1704, 
and it may be possible, from its situation and size, 
that at that time it exercised such powers. We 
find thus mentioned Gwynedd and Abiugton in 1704 ; 
Plymouth, 1705 ; Skippack and Van Bebbers, 1713 ; 
Upper Merion, 1714; Montgomery, 1717 ;- Limerick, 
1722 ; and Salford in 1727, which brings us down 
to the period when all future townships are duly men- 
tioned in the records as to their origin and organiza- 
tion, though, in a few instances, very briefly, because 
the draft alone has been preserved. The minutes of 
the county commissioners commence in 1718, at 
which date assessors and collectors had been appointed 
for Cheltenham, Merion, Upper Merion, Abington^ 
Whit|)ain, Perkiomen and Moreland ; Upper Dublin 
and Plymouth in 1719 ; Whitemarsh and Springfield, 
1720 ; and Gwynedd in 1722. 

It is interesting, in examining those early petitions 
to the Court of t^uarter Sessions, to observe the various 
reasons set forth therein for the application. Thus, 
in the petition for the erection of Franconia in 1731, 
it is stated "that the said settlements are too great a 
circuit for one constable to serve with the township of 
Salford." The petition for Douglas in 1736 rejiresents 
that "the High road leading to Philadelphia through 
George McCall's Manor and several other tracts of 
land has been so bad that it was difficult for a single 
horse to pass without damage, and that the said peti- 
tioners had several times represented to this Court the 
badness thereof, but that nothing as yet has been 
done; the reason, as they were informed, was because 
no overseers have been as yet appointed by the Court 
over the said road, and that there were at least thirty 
families settled on the said lands who are not in 
Hanover or Amity townships, between which the said 
road lieth, and pray the said Court would be pleased 
to erect the said lands into a township and appoint a 
Constable and Overseers." For the same year a peti- 
tion is presented for the erection of New Hanover into 
a township, because they state that they are now 
about sixty families settled on a tract of land six miles 



TOWNSHIP AND BOROUGH ORGANIZATION. 



449 



square, who have no " Constable or Overseers of the 
poor or highways.'' A petition is presented from 
New Hanover the same year v.'herein they present 
a dispute about supporting a crippled person owing 
to the boundary with Limerick not having been 
" fixed and recorded at the time the said perso[i be- 
came a cripple." The court then directed the sur- 
veyor-general to- make a return of the line* in dispute, 
when they would determine the boundary. 

In the petition for a division of Salford, in 1741, 
is stated, among other reasons, "that said townsliip 
is settled with many inhabitants, some of whom 
escape being taxed for want of the true boundaries 
being ascertained." From the petition for the erection 
of Worcester, in 1733, we have the singular fact that 
that section was "formerly called New Bristol.'' 
"Skippack and Perkioming" were not formed into a 
township until September Sessions, 1725, when by 
the latter name was included what had been here, 
tofore known as Bebber's tract or township, con- 
stituting over one-half of the entire present area. 
The townships generally derived their names from 
what they requested to be called in the petitions, but 
there are 'several in.stances in which no name was 
mentioned, when, in the order from court, it would be 
designated. Sometimes the petitioners sent in also a 
draft denoting the bounds and number of acres, but 
this, it appears, during the colonial government, was 
generally done either by the surveyor-general or one of 
his deputies. The court akso in some cases specified 
the excent and boundaries of the township on which 
such a survey or draft should be made. We regret to 
state that very few of the early township drafts have 
been entered in the records, and consequently have 
been lost. Immediately on the formation of a town- 
ship the court would appoint a constable and one or 
two overseers of highways and the same number for 
the poor, these constituting the only local officers 
until near the date of the Revolution, when, 
in addition, an assessor and a collector were ap- 
pointed for the same. Previous to 1760 in some 
of the smaller townships but one overseer of high- 
ways would be appointed ; after that date two ap- 
pears to have been the general number. An act was 
passed in 1771 which provided for the appointment 
of two oveiseers of the poor in each township, by the 
justices of the peace at a yearly meeting convened for 
the purpose. This office was not abolished until after 
the several counties had been amply provided with 
bouses for the su|)port and employment of their needy 
poor. 

As respects the formation of townships and local 
government, it appears no change worth noting is ob- 
served until the passage of the act of March 24, 1803, 
which instructs that " the several Courts of Quarter 
Sessions of the Peace of the commonwealth of Penn- 
sylvania, in their respective counties, shall, from and 
after the passing of this act, have authority, upon 
application by petition to them made, to erect new 
29 



townships, to divide any township already erected or 
to alter the lines of any two or more adjoining town- 
ships so as to suit the convenience of the inhabitants 
thereof, and the several courts in their respective 
counties, upon application so as aforesaid made to 
them, are hereby authorized and required to appoint 
three impartial men, if necessary, to inquire into the 
propriety of granting the prayer of the petition, and 
it shall be the duty of said men so appointed, or any 
two of them, to make a plot or draft of the township 
proposed to be divided, and the division line proposed 
to be made therein, or of the township proposed to be 
laid of}', or of the lines proposed to be altered, or of 
any two or more adjoining townships, as the case 
may be, all of which they, or any two of them, shall 
report to the next Court of Quarter Sessions, together 
with their opinion of the same, and, at the court after 
that to which the report shall be made, the court shall 
confirm or set aside the same, as shall appear to them 
just and reasonable." This act still remains in force, 
and by it all townships in the State have been formed 
down to the present time. 

By the act of April 6, 1802, two supervisors of public 
roads are elected annually, in the several townships, 
on the third Saturday of March. To this were added, 
in 1807, an assessor and two inspectors. The act of 
March 20, 1810, permitted the election of '' two re- 
spectable citizens for con,stables, whereof the Court of 
Quarter Sessions should appoint one." This singular 
mode was a return to the colonial system of the 
Penns, as pursued in the election and appointment of 
sheriffs and coroners. Through the new Constitution 
of 1839 a considerable change was made ; the offices 
of justices of the peace, constable, two supervisors, 
assessor, assistant assessor, auditor, treasurer and clerk 
were established in every township and elected by 
the voters thereof, to which were afterwards added 
school directors. The first election was held the third 
Friday in March, 1840, which day has been changed to 
February. Never before has local government pos- 
sessed such an influence and power as now, or so 
thoroughly recognized the choice to lie in the people, 
an idea which had no existence under the pro]irietary 
sway of almost a century. 

The power to erect boroughs was vested entirely in 
the Penn family, and remained thus until the 
Revolution, when it was confided to the Legislature of 
the State, in whom it continued until the act of April 
1, 18.34. This act authorized Courts of Quarter Ses- 
sions, with the concurrence of the grand jury of the 
respective counties, " to incorporate any town or vil- 
lage within their respective jurisdiction containing 
not less than three hundred inhabitants." The act of 
April, 1851, abolished the clause limiting the popula- 
lation, which is to be regretted, and has led, in conse- 
quence, to dissatisfaction from the expense entailed on 
thegovernment of insignificant places. An additional 
act was passed in June, 1871, to arrest hurried proceed- 
ings, which required that due mention of such applica- 



450 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



tions be publ ished in at least one newspaper not less than 
thirty days before such petition should be presented. 
In all cases a draft or plot of the town to be incorpo- 
rated must be filed in the office of the clerk of the Court 
of Quarter Sessions and also of all intended enlarge- 
ments or extensions of existing boroughs. Norris- 
town was originally incorporated in 1812, Pottstown 
1815, Consholiocken 18-30, and Bridgeport in 18.51 by 
special acts of Assembly. The remaining and later 
boroughs, of course, have been authorized by the Courts 
of Quarter Sessions, also townships, wards and elec- 
tion and school districts. 

In concluding this subject, from the researches 
made on the history of our several township and bor- 
ough organizations, we have been impressed with one 
hitherto great neglect, the importance of which can- 
not be too soon remedied, — in the surveys of all the 
townships prior to the Revolution the number of acres is 
invariably given, but since then not a township or even 
a single borough has been returned with its area in acres. 
Even in the change made in 1876 of a portion of the 
boundary line between Whitemarsh and Springfield, 
no estimate whatever is given of the number of acres 
which were taken from the latter township. When the 
history of Montgomery County was prepared, in 1858, 
the author was desirious of knowing the number of 

A Tabular Slatetne»t of tin aeoer<il Taw.iships and Baroughs of M^nttijotnerii Cfitftfy. 

and Electum hUtricU and Wurdt. 



acres taken from Plymouth by the extension of the 

borough of Norrisiown five years previous. To ascer- 
tain so important and interesting a fact in local his- 
tory he was obliged to make the calculation him- 
self in what he deemed as the most convenient 
mode. His estimate, as may be seen in said work, was 
about one hundred and fifty-eight acres ; although 
this has been since repeatedly published as correct, 
yet it was not official nor made by a .special survey. 
It is hoped in the future that this matter will no lon- 
ger be overlooked by the proper authorities. Further, 
that all the boundary lines may be gone over as 
near as possible after the early surveys, and at all cor- 
ners and at certain intervals square white marble 
stones be placed to designate the proper lines, and 
that all the townshii) and borough areas be then given 
as to the number of acres they respectively contain. 
This, if accomplished, will serve several valuable pur- 
poses, particularly to assessors and collectors and also 
to supervisors of highways, as well as determining 
more satisfactorily in numerous cases road and farm 
boundaries. 

The following tables have been prepared only after 
a long period of time has been spent in securing 
the information, a considerable portion of them being 
now published for the first time : 

wWt the dale of their Formation, .lrc«, Popnlatiun 



Townships ani* Boruugiis. 



Population. 



KUUMKO FiiUM. 



It 



Al'iiigton 

Bridgeport Borough .... 

Cheltenham 

Conshohocken Boi"ough . . . 

Douglas 

East GreBUviUe Borough . . 

Francoiiia 

Frederick 

Green Lane Borough .... 

Gwynedd 

Hatbon/ Borougli 

HatHeld 

Horsliaiii 

Jenkintown Borough .... 

Lanedale Borough 

Limerick 

Lower Merion 

Lower Providence 

Lower Salford 

Marlborough 

Moreland 

Montgomery 

New Hanover 

Norristowu Borough .... 

Norriton 

North Wales Borough . . . 

Perkiomen 

Pl.yniouth 

Pottsgrove 

Pottstown Borougn , . . 

Royer's Ford Borough , . . 

Springfield 

Towamencin 

Upper Dublin 

Upper Hanover 

Upper Merion 

Ujiper Providence 

Ul)per Salford 

Weat Conehuhocken Borough 

Whitemarsh 

■Whitpain 

■Worcester 



lii-t'ori' 17(H . 
Feb. -11. 1S.-)1 . 

.... Ii;b4 . 
Jlay I-'', If-tu . 
.lune. 17:ill . . 
Sept. li, 1H75 . 
iMan-h, 17:11 . 
March, 17:10 . 
Dec. 10, lKjr> . 

.... 1702 . 
Aug. 21;, 1S71 . 
March, 174 J . 

.... 1717 . 
Dec. 8, 1S74 . 
I Aug. 24, 1»72 . 

.... 1722 . 

.... 1084 . 
November, 18(l'> 
March, 1741 . 
March, 1741 . 
Located If. -4 . 

.... 1714 . 

.... 1724 . 
March 31, 1812 
September, 17:in 

Aug. 20, iseii . 

September, 172 
July, ICSr, . . 
Aug. 20, 18011 . 
Feb. 6, IS I.-. , ' 
June 14, 18711 . 
Located \r,H . 
March, 1728 . 
Before 171!) . • 
.June, 173(i . . 
Before 1714 . . 
November, 1805 
March, 1741 . 
Oct. 6, 1874 . . 
.... 1704 . 
.... 17U1 . 
March, 17:B . 



Original 

I'pper 31erioii 

Original 

i'iymoulli and Whitemarsh . 
-lohn rmn'..; .Manor, 1701 . . 

I'liiicr HaMov.'i 

Salford, 7440 acres . . 

Original 

Marlborough 

Original 

Moreland I 

Original, est. (1310 acres , . , 

Original 

.\bingtt)n 

Gwynedd and Hatfleld . . . ! 

Manatawiiy 

Original 

Providence, March. 1729 . . 
Salford, 1727, SllW acres . . 

Salford, 7400 acres 

Original Jlanor 

Original , 

Original 

Norriton and Plymouth . . . [ 
Williamstadt Manor, 17i 4 . . 

Gwynedd 

Skipjiack & Van Behber's,1713 

ih-iginal 

Douglas and New Hanover . 

Pottsgrove 1 

Limerick I 

G. Maria Penn's Manor . . . ' 
Original, 5.0OO acres . . . 

.\bington 

Original 

Part Manor of Mount Joy , 

Providence, 1729 

Salfor.1, 1727 

Uj»per and Lower Merion . 

Original 

Original 

Original, 8000 acres . . . 



10,l(iO 

4110 
ri,4iH) 

040 
o,<;oo 

ISO 
!l,"i20' 
!i,MMi| 

km' 

12,l.nO| 

600 

7,llKli 

u,tJiii; 

24s 
21191 
14,101) 
14,.iOO| 
9,14:)' 
8,9:10 1 
8,.^(KI 
10,90)1 
7,170 
12,!i)i0 
2,:1IH) 
0,200' 
1001 
11,44)) 

.i.i.w' 
u.uoo: 

2)i8l 



ISlKl. 1810. 1820. I 1S:10. 1840. 11850. '18()0. I 1870. : 1880. -S a 



(129 
(197 



1,23GI 1,4.5:1 1,.524| 1,704 l,8:l(i 

... . . . . j o72 

•jM, <.i:n\ i,o,'>;i 1,292 

. . i . . : . . 1 727, 

T.'iO 941 1 1,090 1,21..'> 



78:i 

"(187 



.120 
781 



)i5G| K48i 998l l,ls:i 1,270| 
828; 927 1 1,0471 1,217 l,4:il 



2.0,")8 2. 
1,011 1 
1,981 
1,741 
l.n79 

l.Vi-il 
l,78;ji 1, 



,440 

8 

:.4(12 

:,o71 

,004 

)ri9 

,818 



1,078, 1,221 1,402| I,r,S9, l,."i71 1,970 2,094 



2,18.i 
1,802 
:i,2.i0 
4,.5(il 
1,1170 
;i:il 

2,.i.% 

1,944 

187 

2,(m 

.")8Ii 



(152, 
938 



7.=i(i' 
1,021 1 



83."i 
1,080 



89.1 
1,182 



1,1351 
l,:i36 



1,310 1, 

i,;i2:ii 1: 



312j 
:t82 



999 
1,422 

524 j 
045 1 

1,282; 
.140 

l,.1Un 

922 



781 
572 



4,013 
0,100 
8,840i 
14,700 
10,21H)| 
12,)H)5 
12,7.15! 



1,282 l,.1T7l 1,743] 1,780 

1,935 2,210t 2,524| 2,827 

904' l,14(v 1,1931 1,413 

.1.18' 731! Kio 1,141 

8:i9| 9.12, 

1,89))] 2,044 

751! 911 

1,:120: 1,:)44! 

827 1,089 

1,098 l,l:i9 



072 
1,092 

,180 
1,005 



1,:«0 



902 

895 

1,571 



8,8,17 
8,040 
10,080 



1,085 
771 

782, 



.1.10 

488 
1,050 

025 
1,150 
l,:i95i 

830 



1,140 1,278 
928' 1,091 
1,882 l,:i02 
076 



l,14()l 
2,1(>2[ 
l,tK)9l 
1.419 
2,9:17! 
1,411 



2.105: 
:V117 

1,901 
1,207 
1,174! 
2,:t48 
971 

l,).:i5 
0,(r24 

1,.194 



2.413 2. 

4,42:1 4. 

I,.17S 1, 

1,473 1. 

1,:«2 1. 

2,230 2, 

998 

1.'<T3 1. 

S,.S4S 10. 

1,400 1, 



,0451 



1,486 1,022 

1,417! I,:i83 

1..3C1: 1,089 

721 1,0641 



1,8411 

1,089 2, 

l,S5:il 2, 

2,380i 4, 

1 ■ 



1,328 
9,15 
808 



]i:i9 068 0951 

571; 1>69| 7)i3l 

1,2.19; 1,292J 1,:122 

1,27:! l,:i)HI, 1,407 

1,285 1,01S! 2,.'i04 

1,070 1.0H2 2,244 

1,008! 1,108! l,:ioi 



743 1 
904' 

l,:i:iii 
1,741 
2.2: ix 
2,457 
1,440 



1,007 
1,1:17 
1,4:17 
2,12.1 
:i,427 

2,S2:l 
1,084 



1,001 1 1,9241 2,079 2,408 3,048' 3, 
1,120, 1,137 1,224 I,:i51 1,402 1,: 
9771 l.l-'-'' 1.-'"' '.I"''*! '.™" '• 



.35,793 



39,406 



47,241 



1,094| 

l,3I5i 

810 

798 

2.3R1 

0,287 

1„1S6 

1.828 

:103 1,212 

207' 1,746 

922! 876 

,9lKl' 1,905 

,753; 1:1,103 

,:i;i5' l,:i68 

407 1 673: 

tkio] 2,515! 

,0251 1,916' 

,8951 3,9841 

5,:105, 

558' 

1,.1.35 

1,282 

1,850 

2,4) )8| 

3,275i 

:i,.192| 

,71I5| l,866i 

, . I 1,462' 

111' :i,2;i9j 

:i:io 1,429 

1,041 



fl 



1251 



,222 
.209 
.188 
,197 
,870 
,2) (2 



70,600181,612196,494} 66 



POST-OFFICES. 



451 



A Tabnlar Statement of the $everal Thuftukipa and BorougJu of MotUgomeri/ County^ wUh tke Number of their Land- Holders^ Taxahlea, and Amount 

of Taxable Property. 





1734. 
Land- 
b'ld'n* 

and 
Ten' ts 


1741. 

Tiixa- 
tiles. 








178.1. 








1828. 

Taxa- 
bles. 


18.SL'. 

Taia- 
bles. 






1882. 






Townships and Bobovuhs. 


Slaves 


Giist- 
Mills. 


Saw- 
Mills. 


Tan- 
neries. 


H'raes 


Cattle 


Tav- 

erng. 


H'rses 


Cattle 


Val. Real 

Estate. 


1 
.\mt.Tax. Av.pr. 
Prupcrty. T'x'bl 




A-1 


;tL' 


4 


2 


2 




276 


310 




300 


613 
443 
690 

1110 
480 
114 
668 
470 
56 
576 
179 
462 
428 
302 
202 
646 

1508 
358 
450 
301 
■,M4 
510 
4:J0 

3934 
424 
215 
UIVS 
4:i7 

1102 

1845 
212 
352 
313 
.534 
595 
746 
845 
403 
231 
S23 
402 
459 


.545 

49 
373 
144 
354 

37 
515 
297 

23 
490 

86 
302 
460 

84 

09 
471 
830 
414 
4.53 
188 
251 
479 
441 
458 
372 

62 
.588 
286 
416 
224 

34 
237 
337 
488 
442 
305 
600 
421 

50 
.594 
428 
489 


695 

28 

■■!:» 

64 

«:ix 

37 

1116 

1047 

32 

1114 

.50 

703 

736 

20 

12 

1282 

1607 

98.^. 
498 
6111 
764 
1087 
167 
912 

15.52 

4<;9 

982 

13 

27 

338 

707 

661 

1118 

1044 

lfi:io 

1035 

311 

774 

907 

1518 


$.',493,4.5:, 

«il5,.'->25 

2.531.0110 

1,9411,0.5.1 

8:io,790 

102.3611 

1, 273,41 Ki 

721,15.1 

75,1195 

1,1117,212 

377,725 

1,018,K91I 

1,34,<,391I 

.530.o;i!l 

383.49.5 

1,341,405 

4,51111,499 

1,179,928 

1,11.59,225 

.342,375 

713,2811 

1,897,4115 

8S2,14:i 

6,:illl,2ll3 

1,116,1101 

3111,8115 

l,71l.,195 

1,146,1189 

l,ll7«,.51ill 

2,181,3113 

310,11311 

1,522,1105 

847,735 

1,6.52,492 

1,193,368 

1,812,045 

2,2.39,045 

8711,180 

640,850 

2,284,915 

1,265,11.50 

1,:S48,230 


S2,1155,3SII S4.331 




731,740 


11156 


<;heUenham .... 


2a 


B7 




6 


3 


1 


155 


148 




213 


2,721,970 

2,1181,5.55 

941,830 

179,751 

1,441,150 

816,265 

83 905 


394.5 






68 


1 


4 


5 


1 


280 


400 




2tt5 


1304 






1576 


Francunia 

Frederick 


. . . 
34 
42 


59 

76 


2 

a 


2 
5 


4' 


1 
2 


153 
167 


266 
292 


. . . 


190 
208 


21.57 
1736 




49 


93 




3 


2 


1 


222 


3G2 




286 


1,728^.547 SIHW 




409,340 2282 


Hatfield 








2 
2 


1 
1 


1 


149 
109 


207 
270 




211 
267 


I,lll5,li05 2.393 




17 


80 


1 


1, 447,020 1 3380 




.584,2701 1934 










■ ■ ■ 














425,370: 1623 




21 

52 


59 
101 


1 

7 






2 
2 


•il 


329 
298 




315 
522 
237 
167 
197 
171 
388 
323 
231 
245 


l,4lll,.>45 2262 


LowtT Merion 


S 


4 


4,848,969 3212 
1,271,9881 .3553 


Lower Salford ..*..,. 


. . . 




2 

1 
4 
19 

1 


2 
3 

'10* 
5 


' 2' 
1 
3 
2 


3 

■ Y 

2 
3 


145 
139 
132 
34:1 
30:! 


24o' 

186 

■m 

373 
472 




1,220,218; 2711 
388,790' 12i)5 


Montffumerv 

Mort-'Iand 

New Hanover 


28 
71 


54 

125 
87 


708,705' 31.50 
1.787.2.55' 3.504 

980,504 2280 
0,774,473 1722 


Norritun 


20 


25 


14 


2 




1 


181 


209 




1,201,931, 2834 
3.36,785 1566 


Perkinmen 

Plyinuulh 


42 
10 


73 
46 


7 


3 
2 




1 


210' 
150 


319" 
156 




252 
228 
2.52 
141 


1,890,300 2851 
1,225,-584 2804 
1,856,361: 1684 




















. . . 


2,744,741, 1487 






















3511,214 1680 


Springfield 

Towaiiu-ncin 

I'pper Dublin 


16 
32 
35 


29 

55 
77 
97 
52 


2 

"l" 
■ V.' 


1 

1 
6 
3 
4 


■ 2 


1 

2' 

! '. '. 


94' 
117 
193 
251 
192 


129' 
166 
235 
381 
216 


4 
1 ' 


166 
163 
293 
258 
360 
326 
250 


1,1100,8.30! 4647 

929,235 2968 

1,6.52,4921 3094 

1.301,004 2187 


Lppi-r IMerion 


32 


1, 935,840 ! 2598 
2,430,840 1 2876 


Upper Salford 

Wfst 1 'Hiifihohocken Borough 
Wliiti-iiiarsh 






3 


4 




1 


175 


267 




979,2.30' 2429 
679,035, 2939 


50 
24 
■25 


89 
56 
70 


2 
5' 


5 
2 
2 




2 
2 


2t6 
175 
190 


284 
246 
311 


2 


379 
249 
249 


2,4.54,050; 2981 
1, 384,430 i 3443 


Worcester 


1,485,250 


3235 



Post Offices.' — Our modern requirements and ne- 
ce.isitics have certainly made the post-office an im- 
l)ortaiit place to every hamlet, village and town. To 
lack in this is to be wanting in one of the ele- 
ments of business prosperity to which, however huni- 
l)k>, every place aspires. Besides, there is the amount 
of intelligence and information which it conveys, and 
which contributes not a little to the dift'usion of 
knowledge. The post-office of a country village to a 
close observer of human nature affords an interesting, 
place of study ; we mean on the immediate an^'^ 
and opening of the mails, by watching the action^mV 
countenances of the various individuals till. ' ht' 

together. Generally silent, and looking impiirinf^ y 
and anxiously. The result is, while a few depart 
pleiised, others are disappointed or distressed. Ah | 
those little silent messages, that so wonderfully 
through education, enable us, however distant, to 
still hold intercourse with each other ! How often to 
their receivers the source of pleasure or pain! Then 
there are, too, the newspapers and magazines ; with 
what haste are their wrappers torn off, and their con- 
tents devoured ! Yet this is but a co mmon every-day 
occurrence at a post-office. 

William Peun, as proprietary and Governor of 

IBy Wni. J. Buck. 



Pennsylvania, issued an order in July, 1683, for the 
establishment of a post-office, and granted Henry 
Waldy, of Tacony, authority to hold one, and supply 
passengers from Philadelphia to the Falls and New 
C;istle. The rate of postage im letters from the Falls 
to the city was three-pence, to Chester five-pence, and 
to New Castle seven-pence. A trip was made once a 
week. Colonel Andrew Hamilton was postmaster- 
general of the province for several years, receiving for 
his services an annual salary from the Assembly. It 
T\'as not till after the reorganization of our present 
^■government, in 1789, that Congress established post- 
offices and made the requisite arrangements for the 
transportation of the mail. Like everything else in 
the beginning, it was at first a slow and crude affair, 
and, from the nature of circumstances, could not be 
expected to have that dispatch that now distinguishes 
it. Then a letter from Boston to Philadelphia was 
longer on its journey than now from either of those 
cities to Europe. The time for railroad travel, ocean 
steamboat navigation and magnetic telegraphs had 
not come. In November, 1796, there were but five 
hundred and two post-offices in the United States and 
thirty-three in Pennsylvania. 

During the colonial period but three post-offices were 
established in this State, — namely, at Philadelphia, 
Chester and Bristol, — and not one within the present 



452 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



limits of Montgomery or ChesterCnuiitirs. In 1791 the 
number had iiiereased in Pennsylvania to ten. The 
first in this county was established at Pottstown in 
October, 179.3, and Jacob Barr was appointed post- 
master. The next was a few years afterwards at Norris- 
town, of which John Davis was po.stmaster in 1799. 
Surprising to relate, so slow was their introduction 
that the whole number in the country in 1819 was only 
3618. The postage charged in 1805 for single let- 
ters, for 40 miles or less, was S cents ; un<ler 90 miles, 10 
cents ; under 150 miles,17 cents ; and under .500 miles, 20 
cents; while now the reduction has become so great 
that for two cents a letter can be sent anywhere over 
the United States, which in some cases may require a 
distance of three thousand miles of travel, equiva- 
lent to the distance to Europe across the Atlantic 
Ocean. The extension of settlement, a denser popu- 
lation and such greatly improved means of travel 
and transportation have jointly aided to bring about 
the present greatly reduced rates, the tendency of 
which is to greatly increase correspondence over pre- 
vious years as well as the circulation of newsjiapers. 
magazines and books, thus showing that we do, indeed, 
live in a reading age. 

Among the manuscripts of Mrs. Ferguson, of Hors- 
ham, was found an article written in 1787, entitled 
" An Old Woman's Meditations on an old Family 
Clock," from which we take an extract relative to the 
postal facilities of the neighborhood at that date, — 

"Since my clock .and I luive passed our days in retirement, huw fre- 
quently, for the want of a post ni;;Ii. on tlie evening: of a marliet day, 
when expecting a letter from tlie metropolis filled witb wit, eentinient 
or affection, or all united in one, have I with impatience nvinibered your 
etroltes, or still more ardently longed for the epistle that had crossed the 
Atlantic, whose value was appreciated as danger and distunce had en- 
deared it to the longing receiver." 

We perceive by this that she was at that date de- 
pendent on her neighbors going to the city for her 
mail facilities, the jiost-ottice there being a distance of 
eighteen miles. 

Prior to 1800 the total number of post-otfices in 
Montgomeiy County was 2; in 1819, 11 ; in 1827, 20; 
in 1832, 29; in 1851, 51 ; in 1858, 61 ; iii 1871, 85 ; in 
1876,92; and in 1883, 112. 

Posl-Offices ]>rior folSlO. 

Hatboro', Horsham, Jenkintown, Norristown, Pottsgrove, Suniney- 
town, Sw.amp Churches, Whiteniarsh, Willow Grove, Trappe. 

1816-27. — Barren Hill, Bird-in-Hand, Evansburg, Montgomery Square, 
New Goschenhoppen, Plymouth, Pottstown, Reesville, Shannonville, 
Skippack, Upper Dublin. 

1827-^V^. — Centre Square, Franconia, Gulf Mills, Gwynedd, Hillegas, 
Jeffersonville, Kulpsville, Limerick, New Hanover, Perkiomen Bridge, 
Pleasjintville, Sjiling House, Union Square, Upper Hanover, Upper 
Merion, Worcester. 

1832-.'>1. — .\bington. Blue Bell, Conshohocken, Crooked Hill, Douglas, 
Edge Hill, Fairview village, Frederick, General Wayne, Harleysville, 
Huntingdon Valley, King of Prussia, Limerick Bridge, Lower Merion, 
Montgomery\iIIe, Norritonville, Pennsburg, Penn Square, Plymouth 
Meeting. Port Kennedy, Port Providence, Royer's Ford, Salfordville, 
Schwenk's Store, Sorrel Horse, Tylersport. , 

18.51-58. — Broad Axe, Cabinet, Cbeltenhain, Eagleville, Fitzwatertown, 
Gilbertsville, Hoppenville, Hickorytown, Prospectville, Shoemakertown. 

1858-71. — Bridgeport, Collegeville, Faglcj'sville, Flourtown, Grater's 



Ford, Green Lane, Half- Way, Hatfield, Jarrettown,LanBdale, Lederachs- 
ville. Limerick Station, Line Lexington, Lower Providence, North Wales, 
Oaks, Overbrook, Palm, Penllyn. Perkionienville, Red Hill, Souder's 
Station, Three Tons, Waverly Heights, William Penn, Zeiglersville. 

1871-70. — Ardmore, Bryu Mawr, Colmar, Davis Grove, East Greenville, 
Eureka, Haverford College, Hendricks, Hartranft, Klein's, Merion, 
Pleasant Run, Souderton, Schwenksville, Swedeland, Telford. 

187(>-83. — .\cadeniy, Ashbourne, Belfry, Cediirs, Charlton, Creamery, 
Fort Washington, Gehman, Hartranft, Hoyt, Iron Bridge, Mainland, 
Blingo, Niantic, Obelisk, Pencoyd, Providence Square, Rosemont, Rudy, 
W'eldon, West Point, Wynnewood,Yerkes, 

The aforesaid increase is really suprising, and it 
will lie observed that from 1871 to the present time it 
has averaged upwtirds of three per annum. With the 
present reduced rates of letter postage the business 
must keep increasing. We confess, however, that for 
reform and improvement in postal facilities we have 
now for some time been the followers of the British sys- 
tem. We owe to them, through the example set us, the 
introduction of stamps, postal cards and lower rates. In 
Great Britain, for some time, authors have been permit- 
ted to send their manuscripts to publishers at newspa- 
per rat&s by leaving one end of the package open. Here 
such are compelled to pay the rates of letter postage, 
which is a serious expense to those who are required 
to write on but one side of the paper. The result of 
this is to compel authors to forward their manuscript 
by express, to the great emolument of those companies 
and a loss to the government. In either respect this 
is a great disadvantage to the sender. When the 
author resides in the country, and wishes to communi- 
ctite with his publisher in the city, though near a post- 
office, yet he may be many miles from an express- 
office, to which he is compelled to go in order to send 
his parcel, unless he pays letter rates for it by mail, 
which is sixty-four cents per pound. In either case, it 
will be observed, considerable unnecessary expense is 
incurred, to the great detriment of authors. It is 
time that a more libertd pidicy Ijc pursued here to- 
wards the encouragement of literature. 

With our present easy and frequent mail facilities 
and numerous post-offices, the disadvantages labored 
under formerly can be best understood by the follow- 
ing announcement of letters not called for remaining 
at Norristown, October 4, 1799, as advertised by John 
Davis, postmaster, which we give verbatim : 

"Charles Polaski, Esq. (3), Miss Ann Little, Nockamixon : Messrs. 
George and Andrew Stewart (nierchants\ Maurice Stephans, Esq., Dr. 
Charles Mcjore, Montgomery township ; William Orr, C'bester County ; 
Nathaniel Boileau, Esq., near the Billet; William Boyd, care of A. 
Crawford (3), Robert Morrison, James Mclntire, Lower Merion town- 
ship, 2; William Paine, Cornelius Fornoston, Andrew Todd, Trap; 
Mordecai IMoore, Sen., Great Valley ; Cadwallader Roberts Stephen, 
Love Mayson, Horsham township, 2 ; David Rittenhouse, Jacob Long- 
aker to the care of A, Darragh, William Bl'Cray, Benjamin ShultJS, 
Upper Hanover; Daniel Jonrdan, near the Billet ; William Dill, Merion 
township; Jocob Bittle, Mrs. Berey de Sebert, Trap; Conrad Zorns^ 
Blargaret Dutf." 

Several to whom those letters were addressed must 
have resided above sixteen miles distant, and in one 
instance all of thirty-five miles. The first newspaper 
was published in Norristown in 1799, and the second 
in 1801. In 1810 the number was only two within 



I 



KOADS. 



453 



the county, in 1831 it had increased to five, in 1840 to 
six, and in 1858 to eight. Such were the limited mail 
fac-ilities that for some time, at first, the aforesaid 
newspapers were chiefly delivered by regular carriers 
throughout the county, employed to make weekly 
trips for this purpose by the several publishers, which 
entailed some expense. It is very probable that even 
as late as 1840 one-half of the entire number were 
conveyed thus or by stage lines. Since the in- 
troduction of railroads and the reduction of news- 
paper postage the mails have been more and more 
resorted to, until now we believe that within the county 
the "paper-carrier " or the "post-rider," as he was 
respectively called, has become a matter of the past, 
the deliveries for their patrons being chiefly made 
in packages to stores, inns, mills and mechanic shops, 
or the road-side box, placed there on purpose for this 
accommodation, where no house stood near. 

Roads.' — As an index to the progress of settlement 
roads have considerable to do, as well as with the 
development of a country's resources. We introduce 
this subject with the idea of shedding light upon the 
obscurity that somewhat environs our earliest his- 
tory down to a period when more ample materials 
exist. The first highway for travel by land in this 
State was the road leading from the Swedish and 
Dutch settlements below Philadelphia to New York. 
We find this road in 1677 called the "King's Path," 
and extending through the present towns of New 
Ca.stle, Wilmington, Chester and Bristol to the Falls, 
where the Delaware was crossed in canoes. Over- 
seers for the same were appointed by the court at 
Upland March 14, 1681, to serve for one year, to whom 
were respectively assigned particular portious, which 
were to be put in order before the last day of May. 
This would show that at a remarkably early period 
the matter was receiving some attention, and at a time 
when the population must have been necessarily very 
.sparse and Philadelphia as yet unknown. 

William Penn, in his "Frame of Government" for 
the Province of Pennsylvania, adopted the 2d of 
Second Month, 1682, in section 8th, states "That the 
Governor and Provincial Council shall at all times 
settle and order the situation of all cities and market- 
towns in every county, modeling thereon all j)ublic 
buildings, streets and market-jilaces, and shall appoint 
jdl necessary roads and highways in this province and 
territories thereof." In his "Conditions and Conces- 
sions to First Purchasers" he provides "that the sur- 
veyors shall consider which roads and highways will 
be necessary for the cities, towns, or through the lands. 
Great roads from city to city, not to contain less than 
forty feet in breadth, shall be first laid out and de- 
clared to be for highways before the dividend of acres 
be laid out for the purchaser, and the like observation 
to be had for the streets in the towns and cities, that 
there may be convenient roads and streets preserved, 

1 By Will. J. Buck. 



not to be encroached upon by any planter or builder, 
that none may build irregularly to the damage of 
another." The amount thus allowed was in the pro- 
])ortion of six acres for every one hundred as sold to 
the first purchasers and was given as a compensation 
for the loss they might sustain, not only in consequence 
of laying out all roads or highways, but also for the 
unevenness of the grounds and for barrenness or waste. 
After Penn's return, in his instructions to Lieutenant- 
Governor Blackwell, dated London, 25th of Seventh 
Month, 1688, he charges him "That care be taken of 
the roads and highways in the country, that they may 
be straight and commodious for travelers, for I under- 
stand they are turned about by the planters, which is 
a mischief that must not be endured." This showed 
in him a solicitude on •the subject that is creditable. 

An act was passed in 1700 to authorize the justices 
of the Quarter Sessions, upon petition presented to 
them, to cause roads to be laid out from or to any 
dwelling-place not near a highway, to be first viewed 
by six sufiicient householders of the neighborhood, 
and its expediency and necessity agreed to by at least 
four of the number. The width, formerly limited to 
forty feet, was now reduced to thirty -three, and to be 
duly recorded as public roads or highways. In 1705 
an act was passed that "No travelling waggon or cart, 
or other carriage, going or coming to the city of 
Philadelphia, between the rivers Delaware and Schuyl- 
kill, in the county of Philadelphia, carrying any bur- 
den, shall be drawn in any highway or road with above 
three horses or oxen in length." If any person shall 
cause such "to be drawn with a greater number of 
horses or oxen, then in such case the horses or oxen 
shall draw in pairs, that is to say, two abreast for such 
a number as they shall use, except one horse;" the 
fine for every offense to be forty shillings. The act 
of 1734 provides that no roads shall be laid out through 
any man's improved grounds unless there be an actual 
necessity. In this case the land wa.s to be valued by 
six persons, to be appointed by the court, and the price 
thereof to be paid to the owner by the persons at 
whose request and for whose use the same was laid 
out. These were also to be recorded as public roads, 
and to be cleared and maintained by the persons using 
the same; and to stop or interrupt the course, or com- 
mit any nuisance thereon, subjected the offenders 
to a penalty. 

We find in the early petitions lor townships to the 
Court of Quarter Sessions that the principal cause 
assigned therein for the request, is the want of over- 
seers to keep the highways in proper condition and 
repair. Take, for instance, this extract, presented in 
June term, 1736: 

" Whereim, upon the petition of tjeveriil of tiie luhabitaiits of the 
township of Ouley to the last Court, setting forth that for several 
years past about four miles distant from the High Road leading to 
Philadelphia through George McCall's Manor and several other tracts 
of land, have been so bad that it was ditlicult for a single Horse to 
pass without damage, and th.it the said Petitioners had several times 
represented to this Court the badness thereof, but that nothing as yet 



454 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



had beeu done ; the reason is, they were informed, was because no 
Overeeers have been yet appointed by the Court over the said roadi 
and that tliere was at least thirty families settled in the .sjtid lauds who 
are not in Hanover or Amity townships, between which townships 
the aforesaid road lieth ; prayed the said Coiirt would be pleased to 
erect the said Lauds into a Township, aud appoint a C'oustable and 
Overseers. Whereupon the Court erected said township of Douglass, 
and appoint John Ball and James Yokhaui Overseers of Highways of 
the said township, aud Andrew Ringberry Constable." 

To the same court was also presented a petition Cor 
the erection of Upper Hanover townsliip, wherein 
is stated "that there are above sixty families settled 
on lands between Salford and New Hanover, which 
land is six miles long and six miles wide, and no Con- 
stable or Overseer of the Poor or Highways within the 
said lands." Robert Thomas and Frederick Hillegas 
were apiioiuted overseers of the highways within the 
new township and to serve for the ensuing year. For 
without a township organization no taxes could be 
collected to meet such expenses ; neither was there 
any local authority to keep roads in proper order or 
enforce repairs, no matter how impassable or danger- 
ous their condition. 

All public roads or highways within the boundaries 
of a township were placed under its care and manage- 
ment. One or two overseers were appointed by the 
Court of Quarter Sessions in each, the number some- 
what depending on its territorial extent and popula- 
tion. The overseers were held responsi!)le for due 
attention to the roads within their respective districts. 
When summoned, every taxable or freeholder was com- 
pelled to work upon them, aud if he refused to obey, a 
penalty could be imjjosed. This was imperative in 
the case of damages arising from great floods and 
snows of considerable depths. The expense was 
met through county levies well into this century. 
The overseers or supervisors were also responsible for 
the repair or renewal of all causeways and small 
bridges, those on the dividing or boundary lines to 
be shared equally by the districts. A petition was 
presented to the court in December Sessions, 1731, by 
.some of the inhabitants of Upjicr Dublin, praying that 
the township line road with Horsham be divided, and 
that the supervisors of the latter township be required 
to keep their portion in proper condition, "which 
hath been hitherto neglected," and the court so ordered 
The town-book of Upper Dublin has been preserved, 
commencing in 176.5, from which we ascertain that 
but one overseer or supervisor was appointed down to 
1772, since which period the number has been two. 
Edward Burk retained the office longest, from 1777 to 
1786. The town-book of Cheltenham commences in 
November, 1767, when the road expenses amounted 
to £23 19s. 8rf. The act of April 6, 1802, authorized 
the election of two supervisors in each township on 
every third Saturday of JIarch, who, in addition, were 
required to put up index-boards. In case of no elec- 
tion or irregularity, the act of March 24, 1818, em- 
powered the judges of the Court of Quarter Sessions 
to fill vacancies. 

We here present a list of overseers of highways in 



the several townships, being the earliest and fullest 
we could secure: 

.\bingtou. — 17157, Joshua Knight aud Lewis Roberts; 1773, Evan 
Roberts and John Paul ; I7sr>, Isaac Whiteman and Joseph W'ebster. 

Cheltenham. — 1707, Bartholomew Mather ; 178.">, .\lexander Loller 
and Thomas Shoemaker. 

Horsham. — 1707, Daniel Jones and Abraham Lukeus ; 1773, Robert 
Iredell and Samuel Conau ; 17H.'), Abniham Lukeus and William Miller ; 
1810, Joseph Keuderdine aud Is;iac Parry. 

Lower Meriou. — 1707, Robert .[ones and Stephen Goodman ; 1773, 
Stephen Carpenter and John SCell ; 178.^, William Stadlenian and John 
Jones ; 1810, Lewis Knox and Peter Pechan. 

Moreland. — 1707, Philip Wynkoop and John Hancock ; 1773, Isaac 
Cadwallader and John Summer ; 1785, Garret Van Buskirk aud John 
Rlioads ; 1810, Amos ,\ddiB and Charles Johnson. 

Montgomery. — 1707, Humphrey Bate ; 1773, Samuel Hiues ; 1810. 
Jacob Kneedier and John ({ordon. 

Plymouth. — 1707, David Morris; 1785, Frederick Dull ami Joseph 
Levering ; 1810, John Shoemaker and Henry Clare. 

Springfield. — 1810, Jacob Miller and Robert McCurdy. 

Towamencin. — 1773, Frederick W^ampole ; 1810, Joseph Smith and 
John Boorse. 

Upper Dublin. — 1773, Jobti Spencer and John Burk ; 18|0, Christopher 
Dresber and Jonathan Scout. 

Upper Salford.— l:S7, John Hildebidle aud Philip Wentz ; 1773, Rich- 
ard Klein; 178.'}, Valentine Kratz and Michael Schall ; 1810, Frederick 
Barndt and .\braliam Schall 

Whitemai-sh. — 17*67, John Kitler and Jacob Edge; 1773, John Kitler 
aud Jauies White ; 1785, Joseph Lukeus aud George Freas ; 1810, Jacob 
Gilbert and .Andrew Fisher. 

A county situated as Montgomery is, and embracing 
all the contiguous territory from the north to the west 
of Philadelphia, must necessarily have numerous 
roads spreading through it from that point, like the 
framework of a fan. Such roads were the earliest 
highways, and, as settlements extended farther and 
farther in those directions, theybecame more and more 
important. It has been stated, on good authority, 
that the products of Pennsylvania became so consid- 
erable that in 1760, for their transportation to the city 
alone, from eight to nine thousand wagons were re- 
quired. Now, as two-thirds of the territory surround- 
ing Philadelphia was within our present county limits, 
it is reasonable to conclude th.at of the .said number of 
wagons about six thousand must have passed over our 
roads to market within the space of one year. Hence 
we see the importance of this subject with reference 
to promoting easy and ready means for the several 
purposes connected with business or traffic so long 
before the era of steamboats, canals and railroads. 

The earliest mention of a road within the county's 
present limits yet found is in the petition of James 
Fox and other settlers of Plymouth to the Council to 
have a " cart-road '' laid out from the city to said 
place, for which a permit was given 5th of Second 
Month, 1687, and the road must have been opened not 
long after for use. Nicholas Scull and some others 
petitioned from Sandy Run for a road for the purpose 
of hauling lime from the kilns to the city, the road to 
meet the Plymouth road near Creisheim, or the upper 
part of Germantown. This road tlie Council ordered 
to be laid out May 19, 1698 ; but it appears, from 
a subsequent petition, that nothing further was done 
in the matter until March, 1703, when the court or- 
dered it to be opened according to the petitioners' 



ROADS. 



455 



request. We next find that the inhabitants of North 
Wales petitioned, in June, 1704, for a road up to their 
settlement, staling that they then numbered in said 
township above tliirty families. The court ordered 
the road to be laid out from Philadelphia, through 
Germantown, up into the present Gwynedd. This was 
the beginning of what lias been since known as the 
Bethlehem road. The same court also confirmed the 
laying out of a road leading from Merion Meeting- 
Hou.se to Powell's ferry, on the Schuylkill, which 
was, very probably, at or near the present West Man- 
ayunk. 

We now approach a period that was marked by a 
rapid extension of settlement up into the country. 
At March Sessions, 1706, the grant of " a common 
cartway or road, to extend from Wissahickon Jlill up 
to Perkioming Creek at Edward Lane's" (which 
wa-s laid out Bfty feet wide), was confirmed by the 
court. John Henry Sprogell, Mounce Jones and 
others petitioned, in March Sessions, 1709, that the 
said road might be extended from Edward Lane's up 
to " Mauntitaung,'' and it was so ordered. This was 
the original Reading road, and ran about to the pres- 
ent limits of the county. According to a petition and 
grant of March Sessions, 1711, a road was laid out 
" from the bridge between the land of John Hum- 
phreys and Edward Foulke, in Gwyneth, to the mills 
on Penne])ack Creek," at a ford in Moreland town- 
ship, which grant and laying out the court, in Septem- 
ber, 1712, confirmed. This was the original Welsh road, 
leading from the present Spring House to Huntingdon 
Valley, where the early settlers went to have their 
grain converted into flour, it being but little over one- 
third the distance to the city. 

The York road was ordered to be laid out in answer 
to the prayer of a petition presented to Governor 
Gookin and Council, who appointed twelve promi- 
nent freeholdere residing along the route to make the 
survey. The action of the freeholders was subse- 
quently confirmed. This important thoroughfare com- 
menced at the intersection of Fourth and Vine Streets, 
Philadelphia, and terminated at John Reading's land-, 
ing, on the river Delaware, now known as Centre 
Bridge. It passed through the present Rising Sun 
Shoemakertown, Jenkintown, Willow Grove and Hat- 
buro'. It received its name from being one of the 
early routes of travel between the two great cities. 
The want and laying out of this road at the time 
shows that the progress of settlement had been pretty 
well extended towards the north and northeastwards, 
even to the boundaries of the province. 

A road commencing " at a stake in the upper line 
of Bebber's towuship, over Skippack Creek," to 
Edward Farmar's mill, on the " Gwynedd road," 
was laid out and confirmed in March, 1713, and in the 
following August was surveyed and a draft made. This 
is the well-known Skippack road, terminating about a 
mile above Flourtown in the Bethlehem turnpike. 
As early as June, 1714, a road was laid out from 



Richland township, Bucks Co., to John Humphrey's, 
near the present Spring House, in Gwynedd. To this 
same point another road was located in 1717, com- 
mencing " at Theophilus Williams' plantation, on 
Neshaminy creek." The Limekiln road, extend- 
ing southwards from Fitzwatertown, was in use and 
known by that name before 171G. The road leading 
from Whiteland, in Chester County, to Swedes' Ford, 
on the Schuylkill, was laid out in 1723, thus showing 
travel from a new direction. The road leading from 
the present Salfordville, through Lederachsville, to 
Skippack was surveyed and confirmed in June, 1728. 
The present highway from Sumneytown, through 
Harleysville and Kuljjsville, to the Spring House 
was surve3"ed and confirmed in June, 1735. In August 
following the Bethlehem road was originally laid out 
from the lands of Peter Trexler, in the present Lehigh 
County, to the Spring House, thus making this an 
early and important centre for roads. 

Friends' Meeting-houses were made early and 
prominent termini for roads, particularly in directions 
at variance with the usual routes towards the city. 
From Abington Meeting-House to Byberry Meeting- 
House a survey was made and confirmed in September, 
1712; from the latter place to Horsham Meeting- 
House in tlune, 1720. The road from Plymouth 
Meeting-House to Gwynedd or North Wales ilecting- 
House was surveyed in March, 1717, and which, it 
appears, was reconfirmed in December, 17ol ; from 
Fitzwaters lime-kilns, in Upper Dublin, to Abing- 
ton Meeting-House in December, 1724. The road 
from Germantown to Abington Meeting-House was 
confirmed in June, 173o, since known as Washington 
Lane ; from St. Thcnnas' Church, in Whitemarsh, to 
Oxford Church, was surveyed and cnnfirmed in Sept- 
ember, 1734. The road from Gwynedd Jleeting-House 
to Swedes' Ford was surveyed in March, 1738, and 
ordered, in September, 17.56, to be resurveyed and 
opened thirty-two feet in width, which the court con- 
firmed. Also a road fnnu the latter meeting-house 
through Whitpain was surveyed and a review ordered 
in December, 1746. This is very probably the pres- 
ent highway from Gwynedd to Blue Bell. 

That which became the greatest of all our traveled 
thoroughfares, the road from Lancaster to the foot of 
High (now Market) Street ferrv, was laid out November 
23, 1741 , and since denominated the old Lancaster road, 
in contradistinction to the turnpike route, which was 
materially straightened. By Lewis Evans' map we know 
that' the Gulf road must have been opened to travel, at 
least as far as Valley Forge, several years before 1749. 
Several im|)ortant roads were laid out in 1766. The 
Upper Ridge, commencing on the line of Bucks 
County, was laid out August 26th, passing through the 
jiresent Tylersport and extending w&stwardly through 
the townships of LTpper Salford, Marlborough, Fred- 
erick, New Hanover and Pottsgrove, ending at 
"Turkey Point," on the Schuylkill. It was reviewed 
Feljruary 19, 1767, and confirmed by the court, who 



456 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



directed the several overseers of highways along the 
route to open the same. On September 3d a road was 
laid out through Marlborough township to Funk's 
mill (formerly Grove's), on the east side of Perkiomen 
Creek, to be thirty-five feet in width. lu November 
of that year likewise a road from the Pottstown ferryi 
by the division lines of New Hanover and Douglas, 
and across the Skippack road and lands of the late 
William Mayberry, deceased, to the Bucks County line. 
We are unable at present to state the exact date of 
the opening of the Kidge road through the present 
borough of Norristown, but we find it called the " New 
Reading or Egypt road" in 1774, which would imply 
that it could not have l)een long in use. 

As an important auxiliary to roads and travel, we 
must not omit some mention of bridges. In looking 
over the early laws very little can be found on the 
subject; and no wonder, for during the whole colonial 
period comparatively few were built, and these were 
very rude and chiefly constructed of logs. An act was 
passed August 15, 1732, authorizing bridges over all 
small creeks to be built and maintaiued by order o^ 
the justices of the Quarter Sessions, the grand jury^ 
assessors and commissioners, the latter defraying the 
expenses from the county funds. The earliest mention 
ascertained of a bridge in the county was in 1717, at John 
Humphreys', in Gwynedd township. In the laying 
out of the Governor's road from the Bucks County 
line to the present Willow Grove, in 1722, mention is 
made of a bridge over Round Meadow Run, at the 
latter place. The grand jury, in 1773, reports the 
bridge on the York road, over Penny pack Creek, at 
Hatboro,' as very much out of repair, and recommend 
its improvement at the cost of the county. It was en. 
tirely rebuilt in 1789. We have the authority of Rev. 
H. M. Muhlenberg's journal that in the Revolution 
there were no bridges on the Reading road over either 
the Perkiomen or Skippack Creeks, though a main 
road to Philadelphia and in a thickly-settled country. 
The grand jury reports, in 1786, the bridge over Stony 
Creek, at Norristown, as being unsafe, from one of its 
abutments being undermined. The venerable bridge 
at Bird-in-Hand, over Gulf Creek, must be consider- 
ably over a century old. Substantial stone bridges 
were built on the Ridge road, over Plymouth Creek 
and the Perkiomen, in 1798, and both are in use. 
The latter was considered a great affair in its day and 
cost sixty thousand dollars. The bridge on the Beth- 
lehem road, over Sandy Run, below Fort Washington 
was erected in 1792, and over Tacony Creek, at Shoe- 
makertown, in 1798. The bridge over the Manatawny, 
at Pottstown, was completed in 1805, and was also 
quite an undertaking at the expense of the county, 
costing thirty-five thousand dollars. 

Milestones, in this connection, also deserve some 
attention. We could find no law whatever respecting 
them; hence guide-boards would have superior claims. 
Several venerable stones, bearing on the rear side the 
Pcnn coat-of-arms, are still standing along the east 



side of the Gulf road, in Upper and Lower Merion, 
on the faces of which are denoted the number of miles 
to Philadelphia. They are of soapstone, and hence 
more easily wrought upon. They average about three 
and a half feet high and ten inches in thickness. This 
road was probably laid out about 1740, and these 
milestones are the only ones known to bear such 
emblems. The late H. C. Hill, of Norristown, took 
sufficient interest in them a few years ago to have 
those that had fallen over replaced, and traced them 
up to Valley Forge. It is singular by whose order it 
was done. The county, no doubt, bore the expense, 
for the Penn family took no lead or interest in pro- 
moting works of public utility. On the road from 
the Spring House to Sumneytown the milestones bear 
the date of 1767, thus proving them to be of colonial 
origin. On the Bethlehem road, above Pleasantville, 
Bucks Co., a milestone bears on its face " 1793. 44 M. 
to P." There may, perhaps, be found, on some other 
roads in the county, milestones with dates. This 
matter is deserving attention and ^yorthy of future 
investigation. Peter Kalm, in his "Travels in 1748- 
49," states that " there are not yet any milestones put up 
in the country; the inhabitants compute the distance 
by guess." 

Turnpike roads claimed the attention of the people 
of Montgomery County at quite an early period. 
The Philadelphia and Lancaster turnpike was the 
first road of the kind constructed in Pennsyl- 
vania, if not in America. It was commenced in 
1792 and finished in two years, at a cost of $7500 
per mile, having a course in the county of about 
four and one-half miles. The Germantown and Per- 
kiomen turnpike, on the Reading road, twenty-five 
miles in length, was commenced in 1801 and fin- 
ished in 1804, at a cost of $11,287 per mile, — certainly 
a nice sum for that day. Next, the Cheltenham and 
Willow Grove turnpike, eleven miles in length, on the 
York road, commenced in 1803 and completed the 
following year, at $8000 per mile; the Chestnut Hill 
and Spring House turnpike, eight miles in length, 
on the Bethlehem road, finished in 1804, at over .$8000 
per mile, and in 1814 extended into Hilltown, Bucks 
Co., three miles above Line Lexington ; the Perkio- 
men and Reading, twenty-nine miles, at $7000, com- 
menced in 1811 and finished in 1815; the Ridge turn- 
pike, twenty-four miles, at $7500, commenced in 1812 
and finished in 1816; Doylestown and Willow Grove 
turn])ikc, eleven and one-half miles, at $3000, com- 
menced in 1839 and finished in 1840; the Sumney- 
town and Spring House turnpike was completed in 
1848 ; the Fox Chase and Huntingdon Valley turn- 
pike was finished in 1848 to the "Sorrel Horse" 
tavern, five miles (an act was passed March 11, 18.50, 
to extend it to Richborough, Bucks Co., which was 
soon after accomplished) ; the Conshohocken and 
Plymouth turnpike, constructed, in 1849, to the 
" Broad Axe," and extended, in 1855, beyond the 
" Three Tons," seven and one-half miles, on the Butler 



ROADS. 



457 



road; the Perkiomen and Sumneytown turnpike, 
twelve miles, completed in 1849, and the following 
year extended one and one-quarter miles, to Green 
Lane; the Hatboro' and Warminster, commencing at 
Willow Grove, on the York road, four and one-half 
miles, finished in 1850, cost $2800 per mile; the 
Limekiln turnpike and also the Goshenlioi)pen and 
Green Lane were completed in 1851 ; the Bridgeport 
and King of Prussia, on the State road, completed in 
1853, and the Skippack pike the following year; the 
Limerick and Colebrookdale turnpike in 1855 ; the 
Willow Grove and Germantown plank-road and 
turnpike, completed in 1857, cost $8000 per mile ; 
the Gorysville pike and the Harleysville and Souder- 
ton pike were completed before 1866 ; the Harleys- 
ville and Lederachsville and the Norristown and 
Centre Square pikes were finished in 1868; the pike 
from Blue Bell to Penllyn in 1872. 

It may be justly e.stiniated that there are in the 
county at this time about two hundred miles of turn- 
pike roads, constructed at a cost of upwards of a 
million dollars. It was this improvement in facilitat- 
ing tran.sportation that opened the way for the intro- 
duction of canals and railroads, the latter now so 
decidedly leading the way that at this time there need 
be but thirty-four miles constructed to surpass in 
length the aforesaid total turnpike mileage. How 
wonderfully illustrative of our progress in population 
and wealth within a period of considerably less than 
a century ! 

In our recent researches we have become con- 
vinced that the construction of our turnpikes 
was often attended with great difficulties, which re- 
<]uired time and indomitable perseverance to over- 
come. We find, for instance, that the Doylestown 
and Willow Grove Turnpike Company was char- 
tered in 1828, and, after several years' exertions, 
was abandoned, when incorporation was obtained 
again in ]8;i.S, and it was completed in three years. The 
Sumneytown and Spring House Company was first 
incorporated in 1829, and was not successful. A 
second charter was obtained in 1845, and after a three 
years' struggle this road was also finished. Tlie Wil- 
low Grove and Germantown Plank-Road and Turnpike 
Company, which was chartered in 1858, was fourvears 
in progress, and, owing to expensive lawsuits for right 
of way, cost its stockholders more than dduble its 
original estimate. 

Pursuant to an act of Assembly, pa.ssed A|)ril (!, 
1830, the State road was laid out December 21tth 
following, forty feet in width, commencing at New 
Hope, on the river Delaware, pas.sing tlirough Dovles- 
town and the townships of Jlontgomery, Gwynedd, 
Whitpain, Norriton and Upi)er Merion, and the 
boroughs of Xorristown and Bridgeport, on the present 
De Kalb Street. It extends the full breadth of the 
county, the distance being sixteen miles, seventy-two 
■chains and sixty-nine links, passing through West 
Chester tothe Maryland line in ageneral southwesterlv 



course. About half its distance in the county has 
been turnpiked since 1852. It was a beneficial im- 
provement, and deserves, in this connection, honorable 
mention. 

Even down to the beginning of this century much 
in the way of transportation was done on horseback ; 
huge sacks, wallets and baskets, or panniers, were 
constructed and used for this especial purpose. In 
this way nearly all produce was taken to Philadelphia, 
and horsemen would thus be seen nearly surrounded 
with poultry, pork, butter, flax, etc., and even live 
calves and sheep would be taken to market by such 
means. Old and young, male and female, were usually 
conveyed on horseback, it mattered not whether on 
business or pleasure, as well as to their different 
places of worship on the Sabbath. For hauling, sleds 
were used previously to wagons. The latter were at 
first very rudely constructed, with but little or no 
iron, and the wheels generally of solid wood, cut with a 
saw from the end of a log. The roads, which were 
made with little regard for the removal of rocks and 
stumps or the bridging of streams, through the action 
of frost and unfavorable weather, could not fail at 
intervals to be rendered almost impassable, particu- 
larly during the winter and early spring. 

A tongue-cart was the first general conveyance lo 
I market, and, as a protection against the weather, a 
I coverlet would be stretched on hickory boughs. Gigs 
and chairs began to come into use just before the 
Revolution as vehicles for conveyance on business or 
pleasure. As these were taxable, we find, in 1785, but 
fifty-three " riding-chairs " returned in the whole 
county, the highest number being fourteen in More- 
land, seven in Upper Hanover, six in LTpper Dublin, 
five in Horsham, four in Abington, four in Chelten- 
ham, three in Douglas, and two each in Nor- 
riton, Plymouth, Springfield and Whitemarsh, not 
one being returned in Frederick, Franconia, Gwynedd, 
Hatfield, Limerick, Providence, U|)per or Lower Sal- 
ford, Marlborough, Montgomery, New Hanover, Per- 
kiomen, Upper Merion, Whitpain and Worcester. It 
seems now surprising that such townships as Gwynedd, 
Providence, Perkiomen and Upper Merion should 
thus be without, clearly demonstrating how much, 
even a century ago, the people were addicted 
to going either on horseback or on foot. At 
this period it is stated that it was regarded as no 
unusual thing for women to go on horseback to Phila- 
delphia from Pottstown and its vicinity, a distance of 
thirty-seven miles, to do their shopping, and return 
the following day. It would certainly require a good 
physical constitution for the sex to endure this 
now. A writer in the Herald, in 1853, states that 
"fifty years ago our farmers brought their mar- 
keting into Norristown on horseback and carried 
it from house to house to dispose of at low prices. 
Now they bring it in carriages and wagons, and 
sell it out in a large, comfortable market-house, at 
fair prices." 



458 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



JOURNALISM. 



The press is a i)otential ftictor in the affairs of the 
country. Aided by the art of telegrapliy and tlie use 
of the telephone, it has become a means of rapid and 
general communication, and exerts a controversial 
power during periods of great public excitement 
difficult to estimate. Local newspapers have always 




FRAXKLI.N s I'KKSS. 

been received with favor, and at this date have a large 
circulation throughout the county. As a source of 
local and general information they are valuable, 
and they atl'ord an excellent index to the current 
history of the people, whose habits, customs and man- 
ners are mirrored in them. Perfect files of local or 
county newspapers are among the most desirable 
works of reference, and should be found in all public 
libraries. There are nineteen newspaper establish- 
ments within the limits of the county, and these are 
located at fourteen difl'erent places, viz. : Xorristown, 
Pottstown, Conshohocken, Pennsliurg, Hatboro,' 
Skippackville, North Wales, Lansdale, CoUegeville, 
Schwenksville, Telford, Bryn Mawr, Ambler and 
Kulpsville. Job printing is carried on in connec- 
tion with every newspaper office in the county. 

The number of newspapers which have existed in 
Montgomery County is very large, and we can scarcely 
hope to trace in detail the history of tluni all. For 
more than fifty years after the organization of the 
county there were but two local journals, — the ITerald, 
which was Federal in poltics, and the Register, which 
supported the National Repuljlican, sulisequently the 
Democratic party. The first i)rinting-(>ftice in the 
county was established in 179!) by David Sower, at 
Norristown, who, in June of that year, commenced 
the publication of a small paper which he called The 



Norristown Gazette} It continued but one year, and 
was immediately succeeded by the Herald? The Reg- 
ister was established, in 1800, at Norristown, by a Mr. 
Wilson. 

The conditions of journalism were widely difl'erent 
from those which exist at the present day ; but an 
examination of the files of these early publications 
will satisfy the curious that they were in many re- 
spects equal and in some particulars superior to their 
successors. There was, of course, no general presen- 
tation of the news of the day, as now collected l)y 
telegraph, nor was there any systematic gathering of 
the news of the locality. " Reporting " was an art of" 
later invention. A matter of more than common 
interest, a disastrous fire, a serious breach of the 
peace called forth a paragraph rather in the nature 



IThe first number of The Norristown Gazelle was issued oa the IStli 
day of June, 17v»0. It was printed by David Sower, nearly opposite tlie 
court-house. Tlie Gazette was a four-page weekly paper, and the size 
wa« ten by eiglit and one-half inches ; each page wiis divided into three- 
columns. The price of the paper was one dollar per annum. A number 
of this paper issued October 11, 179'J, contains only four advertisements . 
three of these were in reference to stray cattle, and the other as follows : 

" Several tons of excellent sheet-iron, also hoop-iron and nail rods of 
all sizes, for sale at the Valley Works. 

"Oct. 8, 179'J. "Bees Bbook." 

It also contains a " List of letters now in the Post -Office at Norristown 
Charles Polaski, Esq., Miss .\nn Little, Slessrs. George and Andrew 
Stewart (merchants), Maurice Stephens, Esq., Doctor Charles Moore, 
Montgomery township; William Orr, Chester County ; Nathaniel Boilejui, 
Esq., near the Billet; William Baget, care of A. Crawford (3), Robert 
Morrison, James Mclntire, Lower Merion township ; Cornelius Fcrnis- 
^on, Andrew Ttidd, Tmp ; Jlordecai Moore, Sen., Great Valley; Cadwal- 
lader Robert Stephen, Love Mason, Horsham township, 2 ; David Ritten- 
luiuse, Jacob Longaker (to the care ^if A. Durragh). William McCray, 
Benjamin Shultz, Upper Hanover township; Daniel Jordeu, near the 
Billet : William Dill, Merion township ; Jacob Jeans, John Hood, and 
Jacob Bittle. 

"Norristown, Oct. 4, '99. "Jon>f Davis, P. M." 

The s.ame issue of the Gazette contains the report of the October elec- 
tion for the year 1799, the editor prefacing the statement as follows : 

"The good order with which the election of the First District waa 
conducted, we are happy to observe, rertects no small degree of praise on 
its mend)ei's. The following are the totals of the votes of this county 
for the flifferent candidates; although the statement is not oflicial, it is 
allowed to be accurate : 

GoVERNOn. Frederick Conrod .... *1,1-M 

Thomas McKean 2,2->l Isaiah Davis 2,227 

James Ross 1,79.-, Jonathan Roberts .... 2,21G 

3Ij\jority for 3IcKean . . . 42(i ' Federal Candidates. 

.Sen.\tor. Cadwallader Evans . . , l,7.'i7 

John Richards 2,211 Benjamin Brooke .... 1,811 

Zebulon Potts 1,775 Henry Pawling I,i51> 

Henry Sweitzer 1, 1 7a 

Ma.jority in this county for 

Richards 43t; ' County Commissioners. 

\ssEMiiLV ' Henry Sheetz (Rep. Can.) 2,21;-! 

.-is.tMBi.1. John Roberts (Fed. Can.) 1,774 

Hepnhltcan Candtdaies. 

Nathaniel Boileau .... 2,223 Majority lor Sheetz ... «9 " 
The number of the Gazette referred to contains the following: "An 
Indian chief being asked his opinion of a cask of Madeira wine presented 
to him by an officer, said he thought it a juice extracted from women's 
tongues and lion's hearts, for after he had drank a bottle of it, he said, 
//e coidd tall: /or ever and Jight the dtvil/' 

2'rhe fil>,t number of the NoiTistoim Herald and ]\'eeHii AdrertiHer was 
issued October 13, 1800. It was a four-page paper, nineteen and a half 
inches l)y ten ; each page Wits divided into three columns. It was pub- 
lished by David Sower, and the price was two dollars per annum, payable 
half-yearly in advance. It was Federal in politics. 



JOURNALISM. 



459 



of editorial comment than a detailed narration of the 
facts. But the editor's columns teemed with reading- 
matter of another and not less interesting description. 
From private correspondence and from the cohimns 
of his exchanges he gathered a great amount of valu- 
able information, and those who catered to the taste 
of the reading public of Montgomery County made 
their selections with judicious care. A series of letters 
from Europe, published in the Herald during the early 
part of the present century, and written by an officer 
attached to the American squadron then cruising in 
the Mediterranean, would even now interest the his- 
torical student. The letter-writer of that day enjoyed 
an advantage which has been lost to his posterity. 
No correspondent, for example, would now dream of 
noting the bombardment of an important seaport, 
knowing that the fullest particulars of the event would 
be wired to the entire civilized world within twenty- 
four hours after its occurrence. But when such cor- 
respondence was the sole source of information, it 
may well be imagined tliat the unpretentious sheets 
in which it was published were sought for with eager- 
ness and read witli profound interest. Nor were the 
researches of the editor confined to the columns of 
his exchanges. His pages often contained extracts 
from works of the highest merit. He reproduced the 
essays of Addiscm and the speculations of Locke. 
Public libraries were not easily accessible; books 
were dear, and the editor of the year 1800, if he had 
not the means of collecting news which have been so 
abundantly developed within the memory of the pre- 
sent generation, supplied other and equally important 
wants which are now filled through other channels. 

It must not, however, be supposed that these early 
journals contained nothing of local interest. If 
reporters were not employed, their services were not 
so indispensable as they have since become. Full 
accounts of all political gatherings of importance 
appear in the respective organs f)vcr the signatures 
of their secretaries. Societies of various description 
were equally accommodating. While the editors 
did not feel called upon to give tlieir own views on 
public questions at length in every edition, they 
opened their columns ircely to corresjjondents of 
their own political faith, and the correspondents 
seldom failed to avail themselves of the privilege. 
Over assumed names they argued matters of public 
controversy, abused opposition parties and put awk- 
ward questions to candidates in a style upon which 
the modern writers of political leaders, it must in 
candor be said, have nuide little, if any, improvement. 

The progress of the county journals, tlie increase 
in their size and numlier and tlie change in their 
character have been as gradual as the alteration in 
the condition under which their business was con- 
ducted. The Herald was published Ijy David Sower 
until 1809, when he transferred it to his oldest son, 
Charles Sower, Jr. 

The latter opposel the war with England with such 



violence that his printing-oflice was mobbed by the 
supporters of the administration, probably the first 
and last instance of that species of public criticism 
that Montgomery County has afforded. 

After some other changes of fortune the paper 
passed, in 1816, into the hands of another member of 
the same family, David Sower, Jr., who continued to 
publish it for eighteen years, and four times enlarged 
it. In 1834 it was sold to John Hodgson, of Chester 
County, who sold it, three years later, to Robert 
Iredell. Mr. Iredell united with it the Free Press, 
which had been established in 1829 as the organ of 
the Anti-Ma.sonic party, and the name of the publica- 
tion was changed to the Herald and Free Press, which 
it still retains. At a much later date the same estab- 
lishment absorbed still another office. About 1842, 
F. P. Sellers started the Olive Branch, at Doylestown, 
as an organ of Washingtouian temperance sentiment, 
and in 1850 he removed it to Norristown, where it 
became, under the auspices of the Rev. Samuel Aaron 
and others, the exponent of both temperance and free 
soil. In 1853 it was sold to a stock company, and 
Dr. Joseph Moyer, of Hilltown, Bucks Co., assumed 
the management. Two years later he retired and 
was succeeded by Lewis H. Gause, who conducted it 
until the spring of 1857, when most of the stockholders 
sold their interests to M. Auge and James Hooven, 
who changed its name to the Norristown Republican. 
Mr. Auge became the editor and manager, and in hi* 
hands the publication continued until 1862. It was 
then sold to Howard M. .Tcnkins and Wilmer Atkinson. 
In 1864, Morgan R. Wills purchased of Robert Iredell 
one-half interest in the Weekhj //pra/rf, publishing it 
jointly thereafter with Robert Iredell, Jr. This 
arrangement continued until 1865, when the firm 
became Wills, Iredell & Jenkins, the Norrisiou-n 
Eejinblican, owned by Atkinson & Jenkins, being 
consolidated with the Hrrald, Mr. Atkinson retiring. 
The Eej/iil/liran was continued for several years as a 
semi-weekly. Mr. Howard M. .Jenkins retired from 
the firm in 1867, and the remaining members. Wills 
& Iredell, became possessed of the Lehigh Reyliter, 
Allentown, Pa. In 1869, Robert Iredell, Jr., pur- 
chased Mr. Wills' interest in the Lehigh Register, and 
removed to Allentown, Mr. Wills purchasing Mr. 
Iredell's interest in the Herald and Semi-Weeklij 
Republican, thus becoming sole proprietor of the 
Herald. On the 20th of December of that year Mr. 
Wills issued the initial number of the Norristoirn 
Dailij Herald, and for three years issued it as a one- 
cent journal. It has been several times enlarged, and 
the price increased from one to two cents per copy. 
It is now universally regarded as one of the most 
readable publications in the L^'nited States, and owes 
much of its popularity to Mr. John H. Williams, a 
humorist of national reputation, who is one of its 
editors. The Daibj Hcruld was the first daily news- 
l)aper successfully established in Montgomery County. 

Robert Ikedell. — Mr. Iredell is descended from 



460 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



a very old English ftiinily, whose genealogical record, 
dating back several hundred years, is in the possession 
of one of his sons. His great-grandfather, Thomas 
Iredell, was born in Cumberland, England, became 
much interested in the preaching of William Penn, 
and finally, leaving the Church of England, joined the 
Society of Friends, from whose Monthly Meeting, 
held at Pardsay Cragg, Cumberland, he received his 
certificate, June 27, 1700, when he sailed for Phila- 
delphia. He was married, March 9, 1705, at the old 
Friends' Meeting-house, corner of Second and Mar- 
ket Streets, Philadelphia, to Rebeckah Williams, and 
August 17, 1710, moved to Horsham, Montgomery 
Co., where he purchased a large tract of land, 



died December 8, 1850. He married Hannah 
Kirk, daughter of Rynear and Elizabeth Bliss Kirk, 
on the 10th day of May, 1792. Their children were 
Charles, George B., Joseph L., James W., Thomas, 
Jonathan, Seth and Robert. The last named, the 
subject of this sketch, was born October 15, 1809, 
at the old homestead at Horsham, where his youth, until 
he was seventeen years of age, was spent. His educa- 
tion was received at the school at Horsham Meeting, 
and later at LoUer Academy, Hatboro', Montgomery 
Co., after which, having determined to learn the 
I)rinter's art, he removed to Norristown and entered 
into an apprenticeship with David Sower, publisher 
of the Norristown. Herald, remaining with his em- 




^^c-^ /f.^^A 



T- 



part of which he gave to the Friends and U])on which 
was built the meeting-house. Thomas and Rebeckali 
Iredell had seven children, oneof whom, Robert (born 
.January 4, 1721, and^died in 1799), married Han- 
nah Lukens.' Their children were sixteen in num- 
ber. Jonathan was born October 10, 1765, and 



1 It may not be uninteresting or inappropriate here to state that Han- 
nah Lukeuswiisa sister of Jolin Lultens, wlio, in 1743, erected a saw -mill 
on the head-waters of the Penuypack Creek, in Horeham township, per- 
liaps the oldest in thej county in operation at tlie present time. Ue 
planted at tlie gate of tlio lane leading to his residence two pine-trees, 
wliich grew to be very large trees. Both were torn by storms, t>ut tlie 
trunk of one of them, consisting of two logs twelve feet in leugtli, wjis in 
.\pril, 1680, tJikeu to tlie wiw-niill which been bad erected nearly one 
buu'lreil and forty years before, and sawed into boards by his grand- 



ployer f<iur years. In August, 1831, he purchased the 
Norrisloirn Free Press from Henry Bell, of Reading, 
who founded it as an anti-Masonic journal. In 1837 
lie became owner of the Norristown Herald, and united 
it with tiie Free Press, the paper being known as the 

nephew, James W. Iredell, then, as now, proprietor of the mill. They 
produced nine huntlred and thirty-four feet of boards. 

John Lukeus was surveyer-general of the province of Pennsylvania 
from 17G1 to 17S1, and of the State from 1781 to 1789. He had his office 
at the northwest ciirner of Seventh and Market Streets, Philadelphia. 
He was one of those appointed by the government to observe the transit 
of Venus over the sun's disc, and in the biographical sketch of Ritten- 
liouse in the " National Portrait Gallery " it is stated that earlier "be (llit- 
tenbouse) becanu- acquainted with an eminent mathematician, John 
Ijukens." 



JOURNALISM. 



4U1 



Norriitown Herald and Free Press, under which title 
it is still continued as one of th« most prominent and 
influential weekly newspapers in the State. Mr. 
Iredell remained as editor and publisher of the ifer- 
ald and Free Prcii!< unXW ^larch, 18G4, when it passed 
into the hands of Jlorgan R. Wills and Robert Ire- 
dell, Jr. Mr. Iredell was appointed recorder of 
deeds by Governor Ritner and served three years. In 
1861 he was appointed postmaster at Norristown by 
President Lincoln, and, with the exception of an in- 
terval of two and a half years under President .John- 
son's administration, whose policy he refused to in- 
dorse, he has held the position to the present time- 



pertaining to the welfare and progress of the borough 
of Norristown Mr. Iredell was a leading spirit. Serv- 
ing four years in the Council, he labored for the ad- 
vancement of projects to which the present excellent 
condition of the town owes its origin. Robert Iredell 
was, on 22d day of October, 18.32, married to Teressa, 
daughter of Charles Jones, of Norristown. Their 
children are Jonathan, Charles Jones, William C, 
James W., Robert and Phebe J. Of these, Jonathan 
and William died in infancy ; Charles Jones was an 
associate editor of the Herald and Free Press, a man 
of high literary attainments and a bravo soldier of the 
Fifty-first Pennsylvania Regiment, who lost his life 




(f^r^ Acj^^^^^-^^ 



He was in his political predilections early a Whig 
and an earnest advocate of the party's cause until its 
dissolution. Having always been an anti-slavery man, 
he found the Republican party in ISoG very congenial, 
and although the divisions among his old and influ- 
ential Whig associates might have caused many a 
man to hesitate in his clioice between the American 
and the Republican parties, he allowed no question of 
personal sacrifice to stand in the way of his prompt 
and courageous espousal of the cause of freedom. It 
required courage in those days to even intimate that 
slavery was a wrong, but the advanced ground of 
Charles Sumner was his ground, and these princii)les 
he advocated with persistency and ability. In afi'airs 



in the sinking of the " West Point," August 14, 1862; 
James W. occupies an important position in the 
Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, and is located 
in Cincinnati ; Robert is the successful editor of the 
Lehigh Register and Daily Chronicle and News at 
Allentown; and Phebe J. resides with her father. Mr. 
Iredell is a member of the Society of Friends, the 
faith in which he was born, and continues his relation 
with the Gwyendd Monthly Meeting. 

The Register, which had been established by a Mr. 
Wilson, was purchased in 1801 by James Winnard, 
who continued it until about 1830, when he sold it to 
the firm of Powell & Patterson, whose members had 
learned the printing trade in the office. Mr. Samuel 



462 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



D. Patterson soon bought out his partner's interest, 
and in 1834 sold the establishment to Adam Slemmer, 
but repurchased it in 1846. 

Adam Slemmer, son of Jacob Slemmer, whose 
father came to America from Switzerland about 1740, 
was born in Philadelphia, Pa., December 7, 1791, 
and was educated at private schools in Philadelphia. 
December 7, 1812, he was married to Margaret Craft, 
by whom he had six sons and two daughters, the late 
brevet brigadier-general United States army, Adam 
Jacoby Slemmer, being the youngest child. 

He commenced business as a merchant in Philadel- 
l)hia, which hecontinued some time, when, on account 
of failing health, he was advised by his physician to 
change his residence to the country. He then (Sep- 
tember, 1819) removed to the upper end of Montgom- 
ery County, and followed the occupation of a teacher. 

He was originator, editor and proprietor, with Euos 
Benner as partner, of the Baaern Freund, a German 
newspaper, published at Sumneytown, Montgomery 
Co., in 1827. 

In the fall of 1827 he was nominated, against his will 
and consent (he not being present), for member of the 
Legislature, and received nearly an unanimous vote in 
the upper end of the county at the election, and was 
re-elected in 1828, 1829 and 1830, thus serving four 
successive terms, including one extra session. 

In 1832 he was commissioned by Governor Wolf a 
justice of the peace, he then acting as conveyancer. 

In 1833 he received a commission as prothonotary of 
the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, 
tendered by Governor Wolf without solicitation, 
which was held under consideration for a time, and 
finally accepted, when, in May of that year (1833), he 
removed to Norristown, where he resided nearly fifty 
years, up to the time of his death, February 14, 1883, 
in the ninety-second year of his age. 

In 1834 he bought the Norristown Regixtn- printing 
establishment, and edited the same from 1834 to 
1852. 

He was elected a member of the Town Council of 
Norristown, and, with .John B. Sterigere, entered upon 
borough improvements, a law being pa-ssed authorizing 
the opening and widening of streets ; commenced 
curbing and paving of sidewalks (Mr. Sterigere acting 
voluntarily as regulator) ; was chosen president of 
Council, but the length of time he served in that ca- 
pacity is not recollected. 

He was chosen trustee of the Norristown Academy, 
and became by a vote of the board president, in which 
capacity he conveyed the property to the borough by 
deed, as per act of Assembly. 

Rejoined the Norristown Fire Company, composed 
of the property-holders of the borough, and was 
elected president thereof. 

He was elected school director ; assisted in organiz- 
ing the public schools ; served in various capacities ; 
elected president of the board ; superintended the 
building of the school-houses on Oak, Cherrv and 



Sandy Streets ; composed the rules for the govern- 
ment of the Oak Street School. 

He became a member of the Norristown Library Com- 
pany and took much interest therein ; superintended 
in part the building of the library-house; planned 
the interior ; had the books removed from the old 
building and placed them on the shelves ; was chosen 
president of the library company. 

He was appointed by the court an inspector of the 
Montgomery County Prison ; composed rules for the 
government thereof, adopted by the board; resigned 
this office after serving some time. 

He originated the Montgomery Cemetery, laid it out, 
superintended the building ofa chapel and dwelling, as 
also the reception vault, spent several years in its ar- 
rangement, and filled the offices of president, secretary 
and treasurer; wrote a petition praying for the aboli- 
tion of puldic executions, procured signatures and 
sent it to the Legislature, ujion which was jjredicated 
the law of this commonwealth abolishing public 
executions ; wrote a charter for the Norristown In- 
surance Company, sent it to the Legislature, which 
became a law. The company wasorganized and some 
shares sold ; suljsequently a change was made, and 
the act embraced the introduction of water into the 
borough, creating the present Insurance and Water 
Company ; was elected secretary and manager of the 
Montgomery County Bible Society in 1844, since 
which time he conducted the operations and wrote all 
the reports, also performed duty as dejiositary, and 
engaged in the distribution of Bibles up to 1867. 

The remaining years of Mr. Slemmer's life were 
passed in retirement, and he died at the advanced age 
of ninety-one years. 

In 1849 the paper was bought by John B. Sterigere, 
a prominent politician. At this time and previously 
the mechanical dejjartment was in charge of William 
Slemmer. Mr. Sterigere died in 18.52, and the paper 
was sold by his administrators to Dr. E. L. Acker. 

While Adam Slemmer was the owner he bought 
out the Montgomery Democrat, a rival Democratic 
paper, whose publication had been commenced 
during the contest between Wolf and Muhlenl)urg. 
Dr. Acker became the |>urchaser of another jiaper. 
Hon. Jacob Fry, being the political rival of Mr. 
Sterigere, had induced his brother Daniel to start 
the Montgomery Watchman in 1849. Two years 
later it passed into the hands of Daniel H. Neiman 
and E. B. Moore, and in 18.53 the latter became the 
sole proprietor. In 1858, through the Hon. Owen 
Jones, it was purchased by Dr. Acker as a means of 
securing harmony in the party, and the publication 
was continued under the name of the Register and 
Montgomery County Democrat and Watchman. Dr. 
Acker continued publishing the journal until 1877. 
In 1875 he started the Daily Register, which he pub- 
lished for three years. In 1877 the establishment 
was sold by the sherifi" and purchased by Isaiah B. 
Houpt. The question whether the latter purchased 



JOURNALISM. 



463 



the exclusive right to use the name of "Register" 
was contested in the court, and decided in favor of 
the purchaser by Judge Ross, reserving to Dr. E. L. 
Aclcer tlie riglit to publisli the Da'dij Registur} The 
sheriff having omitted to sell the title of the Doily 
Jtecjister, Mr. H(_)upt changed its name to tlie Daily 
Watchman, and published it under that title for about a 
year, when it was discontinued, and the Norristoien 
Hey isler was sold to E. K. Kneule. Mr. Kneule, in 1880, 
resumed the publication of a daily edition, which for 
a sliort time was issued in the morning and gave tele- 
graphic news, but the experiment was soon discon- 
tinued. It is now issued in the afternoon as the 
Norristown Register, and is the leading Democratic 
daily. The Weekly Register is published on Tues- 
<lays, and is Democratic in politics. 

Mr. Albrecht Kneule founded the Penusburg Demo- 
crat, a German weekly newspaper, April, 1857, and 
continued its publication until July, ]8o8, when it was 
consolidated with the Baturn Freund, also a German 
newspaper founded by Enos Benner at Sumncytown 
about 1830. The Bauer ii Freund has been edited by 
Mr. Kneule since its consolidation. The paper is pub- 
lished at Penusburg, and has always had a large cir- 
culation. It is Democratic in jjolitics, and received 
a large share of the patronage from that party when 
its leaders controlled public affairs in the county. 

Mr. Kneule also founded the Pcr/iTjomen Valley Press. 
The initial number of this weekly paper was issued 
January 10, 1874, at Pennsburg. This enterprise 
was suggested by the altered condition of the busi- 
ness interests of the people of the Perkiomen Valley, 
resulting from the construction and operation of the 
railroad through that region. New enterprises sprung 
up along the line of the road. Young English-speak- 
ing people established themselves at all the stations 
furnishing supplies and shipping accommodations for 
the people, and in order to meet the wants of this 
new life the Valley Press was started. Edwin Kneule, 
•son of the original founder, acquired an interest in 
the establishment in 1876. The Perkiomen Valley 
Press is published at Pennsburg, and is Democratic 
in politics. 

Albrecht Kxeule was born March 1, 1822, at 
Esslinger, a town of about twenty-five thousand in- 
habitauts, in the kingdom of Wiirtemberg, Ctermany. 
He was one of three sons of Adam and Fredereke 
Kneule, and attended the so-called Latin School of 

1 Ou the 5th of .Ttlly, 1857, the Norristown Eeijister was sold by the 
aherift'and purrhiised by Isaiali B. Hovipt. On July 10, 18.')7, Dr. E. L. 
Acker issued the WeeMy Hegatei; vol. i. No. 1. Mr. Houpt instituted 
legal proceedings to enjoin Mr. Acker from publishing the IVeeklii 
lieglMer, claiming that he had purchased the establishment, including 
the name under which it had previously been issued. The proceeding 
was novel, and excited considerable interest among the friends of the 
rival editore and publishei-s. After a full hearing, Judge Ross granted 
an injunction restraining Dr. .\cker from publishing the Weekly Register. 
The injunction, however, as decreed by the court, did not restrain the 
issue of the iJaihj liegisler, which, together with a paper called the 
WeeJibj Giixette, wua published by Dr. Acker for some months, when the 
publication of both wa.s suspended. 



Esslinger from his sixth to his fourteenth year, during 
which time he acquired a knowledge of the branches 
of useful learning taught in the German schools, and 
also a knowledge of the rudiments of the Latin and 
French languages. In 1846 he entered the Esslinger 
Zeitiing printing-office as an apprentice and served a 
term of four years. He subsequently worked as a 
compositor on a French newspaper at Berne, remain- 
ing there for several months. In the spring of 1850 
he accepted an engagement in a large book and 
printing-house in Stuttgart, the capital of Wurtem- 
berg, where he worked as a compositor until 1852, 
when he emigrated to the United States of America. 
His emigration was to avoid the enforced military 
service of Germany, which was distasteful to him. 
After a long and stormy voyage from Havre-de-Grace 
on board a sailing-vessel he readied New York in tlie 
month of November, 1852. He immediately went to 
Philadelphia, and in a few weeks tliereafter obtained 
a situation in the office of the AV«//'rt/(V, at Skip|iack- 
ville, Montgomery Co. He remained in this office 
until the month of Marcli, 1857. 

Mr. Kneule had now become a citizen of the 
country, and was impressed with the idea of providing 
the German population of the upper end of tlie county 
with a reliable German newspaper; to this end he 
located at the thriving village of Pennsburg, and 
there, on the 7th day of April, 1857, founded the 
Pennsburg Democrat, a German weekly newspajier. 
Tbe enterprise was successful, filling a void long felt 
by the strong wing of the dominant party in the 
county. The Bauern Freund, a German paper, pub- 
lished at that time at Sunineytown by Enos Benner, 
was, in the spring of 1868, purchased and consolidated 
by Mr. Kuuele under the name of Bauern Freund and 
Pennsburg Demoerat. This movement gave the paper 
a wide field, and the subscription-list was very con- 
siderably increased, as was also the general job-work 
of the printing-office. The potent influence of this 
])aper in the Democratic party also gave it a just 
claim on the organization, and in the distribution of 
its favors the Democrat was not overlooked. Its cir- 
culation is believed to be the largest of all German 
papers published in the county. Its success is claimed 
to be due to the active part taken by its proprietor in 
public affairs of the upper end of the counTy during 
and subsequent to the exciting events of the great 
Rebellion. Mr. Kneule has always been identified 
with the Democratic party, and he attributes his 
success in journalistic enterprises to his activity in 
upholding the rule of that party in Montgomery 
County. In 1878, Mr. Kneule became the owner of 
the Norristown Register, aud gave his son, Edwin 
Kneule, an interest in the establishment. On the 1st 
day of April, 1880, the firm commenced the issue of 
a daily, being the only Democratic daily paper pub- 
lished in the county. It has been successfully main- 
tained ever since, aud is now considered permanently 
established. Mr. Kneule was married, in 1855, to Miss 



464 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Louisa Kraft, the family consisting of one daughter 
and four sons. The present homestead is Icjcated on 
Main Street, Norristown, next door to the lieijislfr 
office. The life of this German emigrant, wlio had 
been taught in German schools and printing-offices 
to aspire to something more than a plodding soldier, 
shows the possibilities of free American citizenship. 
From the humble printer of 1S.')2, by .strict attention 
to a chosen pursuit, he has become the principal pro- 
prietor of three widely-circulated newspapers, — the 



Journal into the Montgomery Ledger, the first 
number of which was dated November, 1S4.3. In 
Ai)ril, 1845, Andrew H. Tippen and Jacob D. 8treeper 
purchased the printing establishment, taking posses- 
sion thereof and issuing their first number on the 16th 
of that month. In the spring of 1849, Colonel Tippen 
retired from the business, and J. D. Streeper became 
the sole proprietor. On April 1, 1854, he associated 
with him in the editorial department L. H. Davis, 
Esq., who had served an apprenticeship in the office 





<:'^4>Xy. 



Register, the Perkiomen Valley Press and the Bauern 
Freund. 
The Montgomery Lede^er and Daily Pottstown 

Ledg^er. — Tlw Montgotnery Ledger \s the continuation 
of the first newspaper published in Pottstown, — the 
Pottstown Times, which was established in the place 
by John Royer, July 1, 1819. After an existence of 
ten or twelve years the Times was changed iirlo the 
Pottstown Journal, and Jacob C. Slemmer became the 
proprietor. Mr. Slemmer subsequently merged the 



and who has remained in connection with the estab- 
lishment ever since. On the 1st of April, 1855, Mr. 
Davis became one of the owners with J. D. Streeper, 
the latter continuing his connection for two years, 
until 1857, when failing health obliged him to retire; 
he was succeeded by William L. Williamson. The 
firm of Davis & Williamson continued as editors and 
publishers of the Montgomery Ledger until April 1. 
1867, when William J. Binder, who also had learned 
the printing business in the office, purchased the inter- 



JOURNALISM. 



465 



est of Mr. Williamson, and the firm was changed to, 
that of Davis & Binder. These editors and projirietors 
commenced the issue of a daily edition of the paper in 
addition to the weekly on the 1st of October, 1873, 
the new journal being known as the Daily Pott stown 
Ledger. On the 19th of September, 1879, Mr. Uavis 
sold his interest to his partner, W. J. Binder, who has 
since continued to be the sole proprietor, and is con- 
tinuing successfully the issue of the two papers. 
The Weekly was subsequently enlarged to thirty-six 
columns and the Daily to twenty-eight columns. 
Mr. Binder associated with him his former partner, 
L. H. Davis, in the editorshi[) of the papers, the 
latter having, as above stated, remained continuously 
with the establishment since 1855. The Mmdyomery 
Ledger and Daily Potlstown Ledger are well and 
widely known newspapers in Eastern Pennsylvania, 
and at the present time enjoy a large circulation. 
They are independent in politics and devoted to the 
dissemination of local and general news, the latter 
being a si)ecialty. 

William J. Binder. — Both the paternal and ma- 
ternal ancestors of Mr. Binder emigrated from Ger- 
many, the family of Jacob Binder consisting of two 
sons, John and Amos, and several daughters. The 
birth of John occurred in Chester County, from 
whence, with his parents, he removed to New Hanover, 
Montgomery Co., which afterward became his [dace of 
residence. He married Anna Mary Steltz, of the same 
township, and had children, — Aaron, Elizabeth (Mrs- 
David Hurst, of Easton), Tamsen (Mrs. Jeremiah H- 
Binder, of Pottstown), and William J. Mr. Binder 
subsequently removed to Chester County, where he 
pursued the vocation of a farmer. His son, William 
J., who was born September 30, 184-'!, in East Naiit- 
meal township, Chester Co., spent his boyhood on the 
farm. On attaining his thirteenth year Pottstown 
became his home, w'here superior advantages of edu- 
cation were afforded at the Hill Preparatory School, 
in that borough. Having completed his studies and 
determined to acquire an independent trade, he chose 
tlic printer's craft, serving an apprenticeship of four 
and a half years and a period of one year as foreman, 
at the expiration of which time he entered the army, 
becoming a member of the One Hundred and Fifth 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and serving until the con- 
clusion of the conflict. For a brief period in lS(i5 he 
was connected with the Indianapolis Herald, l)Ut re- 
turning the following spring, purchased a half-interest 
in the Montgomery Ledger, of Pottstown, re-entering 
as co-proprietor the office in which he had learned 
the jjrinter's art. It had hitherto printed a weekly 
edition, but Mr. Binder, however, readily discerned a 
promising field for daily journalistic enter])rise, and 
in October, 1873, a daily issue was printed. In Sep- 
tember, 1879, he purchased the interest of his partner, 
Mr. Lewis H. Davis, and now controls the business as 
sole proprietor, having also a jobbing department of 
considerable capacity. While giving a synopsis of 
30 



the news of the day, Mr. Binder has aimed to make 
the paper an attractive family journal, in which effort 
heha.s, unaided, been successful and received the com- 
mendation and support of the thoughtful reading 
public. While its proprietor is himself a stanch 
Reiiublican, the journal is conducted on principles of 
strict neuti-ality without party predilections. Mr. 
Binder is associated with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in which he holds a local preacher's license, 
and has been connected with the church in nearly 
every official capacity. He was, on the 26th of Decem- 
ber, 1867, married to Mary A., daughter of James 
Hilton, of Glasgow, Montgomery Co., and has chil- 
dren, — Hilton Simpson, Mary, Ella, Bessie, Edith, 
Laura, John Kingsley and Florence. 

The National Defender. — The National De- 
fender was established at Norristown August 12, 
1856, by Henry Leibert, Esq. ; from him it 
passed to Messrs. Seymour & Royer in 1858; 
upon January 19, 1859, to Joseph W. Royer; 
and upon the 21st of the ensuing February, Mr. 
Edwin Schall became the proprietor. In 1864 the 
paper was sold to S. B. and A. Helflfenstein, and 
in 1871 the former bought out his brother's in- 
terest and became the sole proprietor. At one time 
the paper was the organ of the American party, but 
for many years its politics have been Democratic. 
It is issued weekly, on Tuesdays. 

Since the close of the Civil war tbe publication of 
country newspapers has been facilitated by the intro- 
duction of what are known in the trade as " patent 
outsides." These are half-sheets filled with miscel- 
laneous reading-matter, printed in Philadelphia and 
New York, and distributed to the local publishers, 
who fill up the blank pages with advertisements and 
reading-matter of their own. By such means it has 
become possible to issue a local journal at very small 
expense, and many have been started in small towns 
and villages where no printer would liave dreamed 
of locating half a century ago. Montgomery County, 
in common with its neiglibors, has experienced a 
great increase in the number of its printing offices 
within a few years, and some of the local journals 
thus started are conducted with much ability and 
success. Among them may be mentioned the Lans- 
dale Reporter, the Hatboro' Public Spirit, the North 
Wales Record, the Bryn Mawr News, the Bryn Mawr 
Home News, the Schwenksville Item, the Providenee 
Independent, the Towamensing Item and the Montgomery 
Law Reporter. 

The first number of the Lansdale Reporter was 
issued October 27, 1870, by Frederick Wagner, the size 
at that time being twenty-four by thirty-two inches, 
seven columns to a page. On March 15, 1877, it was 
sold to J. E. Wittmer, who disposed of it to A. K. 
Thomas & Co., the present proprietors, February 3, 
1881. Duringthe summer of that year a handsome new 
office was erected on Main Street, and early in the fall 
it was equipped with new presses, run by steam-power. 



466 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The paper was enlarged to an eight-column folio 
September 22, 1881, and is now published weekly 
on Thursdays. The Medical Summary, R. H. An- 
drews editor and proprietor, is printed monthly 
by A. K. Thomas & Co. The Agent's Call, another 
monthly journal, is also published at the same 
office. 

The John E. Wittmer mentioned above had be- 
come connected with Montgomery County journalism 
as early as August, 1873, when, in connection with 
Dr. William T. Robinson, a leading citizen of Hat- 
boro', he commenced the publication of the Hatbnro' 
Public Spirit. The success of this enterprise was 
almost phenomenal. In the course of a few months 
Dr. Robinson bought out his partner, and within a 
year from the appearance of the first edition he had 
built a commodious printing-office, and fitted it up 
with a steam-power press and imjiroved machinery of 
'jvery description. His paper was rapidly enlarged, 
until it became one of the largest in the county, and 
it speedily attained an extensive circulation. His 
son, Mr. Ernest C. Robinson, has since become one 
of the editors. The paper appears weekly, on 
Saturdays. 

The North Wales Record was founded in 1874 by 
Milton Wood, who ran it till 1876, when it passed 
into the hands of Marlin & Smith. In the fall of 
that year Smith bought Marlin out, and remained the 
sole proprietor until the winter of 1877, when a half- 
interest was purchased by Wilmer H. Johnson, 
who, in 1878, became sole editor and j)ublisher, and 
has so continued ever since. The latter has made it 
a very complete and reliable compendium of local 
news, and has increased its circulation. It is the 
organ of theProhil)itionists, and is published weekly, 
on Saturdays. 

The Norristown Independent. — This newspaper 
was established and issued its first number on the 
15th day of May, 1865. Robert C. Fries was the 
publisher, and George N. Corson, Esq., editor. Wil- 
liam M. Runkle succeeded to the editorship June 14, 
1866; the date of his retirement appears to be unknown. 
Theodore W. Bean, Esq., became editor October 6, 
1870, and retired in the month of December, 1872. 
The establishment was subsequently jturchased by 
Charles P. Shriner, of Columbia, Pa., March 1, 1875, 
who, in the following August, commenced the publi- 
cation of a daily issue. The first number appeared 
August 2, 1875, and continued until August, 1876, 
when its publication as a weekly and daily paper was 
discontinued. The machinery and material of the 
office was purchased by Thomas Rossiter, who used 
the same for general printing and job work for some 
years thereafter. The Independent was Republican 
in politics. It was also devoted to public interests 
generally, and furnished its full measure of local 
news of the county. 

The Wahrheits Freund. — This was a German 
weekly pa|)er, established at Norristown, by R. C. 



Fries, at the time The Independent was founded, May 
15, 1865. It was published in the same office, and 
circulated among the German people of the county. 
It was Republican in politics. Its publication ceased 
when The Independent was sold to Charles P. Shriner, 
March 1, 1S75. 

The True Witness. — The True Witness was founded 
by Moses Auge, at Norristown, and the first number 
was issued Saturday, June 29, 1871. It was a small 
sheet, about eight by ten inches, and devoted to Tem- 
perance reform. The pajjer received substantial 
encouragement, and was enlarged May 11, 1872, and a 
second time enlarged August 15, 1874. Mr. Auge 
remained editor and proprietor of the Witness until 
November 21, 1874, when its publication was discon- 
tinued. 

The Providence Independent. — A local news- 
paper, founded by Elwood S. Moser, June, 1875. The 
publishing house was originally at the Trappe, a vil- 
liage in Upper Providence township. The establish- 
ment was removed to Collegeville, on the line of the 
Perkiomen Railroad, in the month of April, 1883, 
where The Indepetident is at present published. It is 
independent in politics, and its columns arc liberally 
given to the publication of local news. It is published 
weekly. 

Home News. — The Home News was founded in 
1877 by Frank Young, editor and publisher. During 
the same year Frank Hower acquired an interest in 
the establishment. In 1878, Mr. Hower, with Mr. 
Garrigus, purchased the interest of Mr. Young, and 
became the proprietors. In 1880, John Hocker be- 
came the owner of one-half interest, and in the spring 
of 1881, Samuel A. Black, the present editor, bought 
the interest of Mr. Hower, and has since that time 
been the sole projirietor. The Home News is neutral 
and independent in politics. It is published in Bryn 
Mawr, Lower ^Nlerion township, a beautiful vilhige 
on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It is 
a purely local journal, having for its object the collec- 
tion and publication of strictly home news and infor- 
mation useful to a suburban and rural population. It 
is pulilished weekly. 

In April, 1877, Rev. N. B. Grubb, assistant pastor 
of the congregation then worshiping at Gottshall's 
Mennonite Church, at Schwenksville, opened a job- 
printing office in that village. In September of the 
same year he began the publication weekly of a four- 
column paper, measuring fifteen by twenty-two inches, 
called The Weekly Item. It was twice enlarged with- 
in a short time, and in 1881 the name was changed to 
The Schwenksville Item. In the fall of 1882 the pub- 
lisher accepted a call to the pastorate of the First 
Mennonite Church of Philadelphia, to which city he 
removed with his family in May, 1883. The Item 
publishing house, with all its interests, was then leased 
to Irvin H. Bardman, of Frederick, Pa. The success 
with which Mr. Bardman met led to another enlarge- 
ment of the paper. In March, 1884, Mr. Bardman be- 



JOURNALISM. 



467 



•i-ame the sole proprietor. The Item is now a seven- 
column folio, issued weekly, on Fridays. 

The publishing business in Conshohocken was for 
a long time in a languishing condition. Several 
euterprisi's, including the publication of a semi- 
weeklv and a daily, ended in failure. The Reporter, a 
weekly, survived the wreck of its contemporaries, and 
in 1881 was sold to William L. Prizer, who liad been 
successively local editor and business manager of the 
Norristown Herald. Mr. Prizer enlarged the paper 
and has put it in a prosperous condition. It is issued 
weekly, i>n Saturdays. 

The Neutralist. — This German weekly newspaper 
was established at Skippackville by John Young & 
Co., JohnShupe being of the firm, in the year 1848. 
This firm continued its publication for two years. In 
1850, J. M. Schunemann & Co., John Shupe, being 
of the firm, became the owners and proprietors, and 
pulished it until 18(51. The establishment was de- 
stroyed by fire during the year named. There being 
no insurance upon the property and machinery, the 
proprietors declined to refit and continue its issue. 
Subsequently, A. E. Dambly, the present proprietor, 
became the editor and publisher, and the paper has 
become a useful medium of information among the 
German-speaking people throughout the county. It 
is Republican in politics, with strong independent 
tendencies. 

The Montgomery County Presse. — This German 
weekly newsiiaper was founded in Norristown in 1860 
by John Shupe, the present editor and publisher. 
The establishment was removed to Lansdale in 1861, 
and there puldished until 1868, when it was removed 
to the village of Telford, on the line of the North 
Pennsylvania Railroad, where it has since been pub- 
lished. It circulates in both Montgomery and Bucks 
Counties. It is independent in politics. The sup- 
port and encouragement received by the German 
press of the county shows the fondness of the German 
people f(]r their native language. 

The Morning Chronicle. — The Chronicle is the 
successor of Tlie Advertiser, a weekly newspaper estab- 
lished at Pottstown, by A. M. Scheffey, editor, and 
D. Q. Gerger, founded November 22, 1875. In June, 
1879, tlie establishment was purchased by A. R. Say- 
lor, who changed the name to The Morning Chronirle, 
and commenced the publication of a daily edition 
with the weekly issue. L. R. Savior became associ- 
ated with this journal January, 1884, and the enter- 
prize is now conducted by the firm of A. R. Saylor & 
Brother. The firm occupy a commodious office on 
Higli Street, Pottstown, and general job printing is 
carried on in connection with the publication of the 
daily and weekly papers issued. 

The News. — The News was established July 1, 1881, 
at Bryn Mawr, by Frank A. Hower, who has been 
and is at present the editor and publisher ; it is a four- 
page paper, of eight columns each. It is a weekly 
paper, and is issued every Friday. TTie Ne^vs is in- 



dependent in politics and devoted to local and general 
news, and encourages the enterprise and thrift of the 
community in which it is published. The KewsPrint- 
ing-House is located on Lancaster Avenue, Bryn 
Mawr. Frank A. Hower, the proprietor of The Neics, 
has been connected with journalism for many years. 
Among the newspapers with wliich he has been as- 
sociated are 77(e Pennsi/lranian, published in Lancas- 
ter ; Ihe Coatesville Times ; The Dtmocraiic Guard, 
Sunbury, Pa. ; The Morning Express, The Anti-Mon- 
opolist, published in Philadelphia. He also estab- 
lished The Home Neics, June 1, 1877, at Bryn 
Mawr. 

The Ambler Gazette. — The local newspaper 
often precedes the (jrganization of the borough. 
"Ambler" Village sustains its weekly paper, as 
it does its indejiendent school district and its 
bank. 

The Gazette is the successor of the Ambler Times, 
founded by Dr. Rose in the year 1879. Irwin S. 
Weber succeeded the founder in 1882, and changed 
the name to the Ambler Gazette. The establishment 
was purchased from Mr. Weber by the present pro- 
prietor, Horace G. Lukens, and the paper is issued 
weekly. It is devoted to local news, and sustains all 
well-grounded enterprises for the good of the com- 
munity in which it is published, preserving inde- 
pendence in politics. 

The DaUy and Weekly Times.— The Daily and 
Weekly Times was founded by William Rennyson, 
Esq., of Bridgeport, Pa. The oflice of publication 
was established at No. 52 East Main or Egypt Street, 
Norristown. The first number of the Dnily was 
issued November 11, 1881. The proprietor of this 
journalistic enterprise sought public favor upon 
business principles, and offered a cheaj) and readable 
paper to its subscribers and patrons. It is the only 
one-cent daily paper published in the capital town of 
the county, and from its initial edition has enjoyed a 
large circulation, being distributed by newsboys in 
the borough and by mail throughout the county. 
December 5, 1881, the paper was enlarged to its 
present size. The founder of this journal, who is also 
identified with the industrial interests of the Schuyl- 
kill Valley, soon found it necessary to place the 
establishment on a permanent basis, and therefore 
transferred the entire property to the Times Company, 
Limited, March 11, 1882, associating Mr. W. H. 
Yerkes, formerly of Hatboro' Public Spirit, who as- 
sumed the business management of the paper. The 
editorial and local departments were placed under 
the direction of Mr. George F. Meredith, with an 
eflicient corps of assistants. 

The Daily and Weekly Times is Republican in 
politics, with the independence to be fearless in 
the advocacy of the right when in its judgment 
party leaders and managers are reckless and partisan 
methods are wrong. The Daily Times originated the 
movement to secure a free bridge over the Schuvlkill 



468 



HISTORY OF MOMTGOMERY COUNTY. 



River at Norristown in its initial number. Its tiles 
show the persistency with which it waged a war with 
corporate power, and the support given by the public 
to the movement was responsive to a necessity long 
felt and hastened to a consummation by sagacious and 
independent journalism. The successful establish- 
ment of The Daily and Wee/:/;/ riwe-s was accomplished 
without the aid of partisan patronage, deriving its 
support from the public upon its merits as a well- 
managed local journal. The Times office has connected 



His early school advantages were limited. His 
first occupation was that of locomotive-building; he 
subsequently was largely engaged in mining and 
manufacturing in various parts of the United States, 
always in advance and always making a success of 
whatever he undertook. 

He always had a fondness for^ books, music and 
literature of the higher order, and has been a hard 
student all his life, devoting to studies his leisure time. 
He is proficient in French and Latin, and has devoted 




with it a large job and printing establishment, sub- 
stantially equipped with improved presses and all tlie 
necessary material for the prompt execution of orders 
in this important line of business. 

William Rennyson was born in Paterson, N. J., 
March 31, A.D. 1841. His ancestry on the maternal 
side were Scotch-Irish and on the paternal side Eng- 
lish. The death of his father at an early age, leaving 
his family of five young children without means of 
support, rendered it necessary for the subject of this 
sketch to exert himself for a livelihood. 



much time to algebra and the higher mathematics. 
His curriculum can properly include everything from 
a steamboat to a locomotive, and his alma mater is the 
universe. He is a Bachelor of Laws, a graduate of 
the University of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Rennyson is a veteran ofiicer of the Union 
army, having entered the same, at the age of nineteen, 
as a first-lieutenant, soon afterwards being promoted 
to the command of his company in the Tenth New 
Jersey Volunteers. He served two years and a half, 
and resigned his commission, giving as his reason for 



JOURNALISM. 



469 



leaving the service that he was "the only support of 
a widowed mother." He was married, on April 25, 
1865, to Miss Sallie C. Bright, eldest daughter of M. 
Bright, Esq., of Pottsville, Pa. There are living 
children, — Nellie May, Charles Edward, Gertrude 
Irene, Florence Estelle and Harry Bright. These 
children have all spoken French, and at one time 
it was adopted as the home language by all its 
members. 

Mr. Rennyson is devoutly and sincerely a worshiper 
of Almighty God, and has full faith in the doctrine of 
future rewards and punishments, believing that good 
work.s, honesty and uprightness of character, with 
"good-will to all men," will certainly be a subject for 
future happiness, if not immediate reward. Born in 
the Episcopal Church, he connected himself with the 
Baptist Church. He is, however, cosmopolitan in 
his idea of religious worship and is a patron of all 
churches. " His religion is exemplified by the twenty- 
four-inch gauge, which is emblematical of the twenty- 
four hours of the day, which he has been taught to 
divide into three equal jiarts, whereby eight hours are 
devoted to the service of God and a worthy distressed 
brother, eight hours for our usual avocations and 
eight hours for refreshment and sleep," and finds it 
good and very agreeable, as is also the "chamber of 
reflection." 

Cradled as an Abolitionist, when it was odious and 
dangerous to be one, during all his life he stood the 
brunt and bore the responsibility of his convictions 
upon occasions when it required physical courage and 
strength to maintain his position, sometimes amount- 
ing to positive discomfort. Naturally, from an Abo- 
litionist he became a Eepublican in polities, was a 
follower of Lincoln, Seward, Sumner and Greeley. 
He is now a Republican, though not always in har- 
mony with the powers that be of that party, but will 
carry out his convictions of right and wrong in any 
event. 

The above sketch is preliminary to his career as an 
editor of one of the now widely-known journals of 
Montgomery County, of which he was the projector 
and sole proprietor and editor for several years. No 
better description could be given of his mind and 
work at that time than the following quotations from 
his salutatory, introducing the first number of The 
Daily Times to public consideration and patronage, — 

" We ofi'er no apology for our appearance to-day as a 
journalist. None is needed. Norristown may or may 
not require another daily newspaper and may or may 
not be willing to support another. Neither is it be- 
cause there are no good editors or good papers already 
in the service of the Norristown people or that these 
other papers are not well deserving of support, that 
calls us into existence. Quite the contrary. We have 
heard and we believe that the best-conducted papers 
of the interior of the State of Pennsylvania are pub- 
lished in Norristown. If there be any editor who 
does not do his duly, or any publisher who docs not 



understand his business, we do not know it; but in 
any event neither of these reasons would be sufficiently 
strong to impel us to the drudgery and responsibilities 
incumbent upon the editor who enters as such into 
the journalistic arena. . . . 

" The first aim of our new enterprise will be to make 
our 'local columns' replete with all kinds of news and 
intelligence that our citizens shall first demand; after 
this has been accomplished we shall turn our attention 
to intelligence from distant nationalities, and report 
what men are doing in another hemisphere, and hope 
to be able to chronicle the passing events of many 
continents, and comment upon them with propriety 
and judgment, bringing to our aid such talent as may, 
from time to time, be necessary, in order that we may 
succeed in doing so. 

"We shall always be glad to receive advice from 
any public-spirited citizen having in view the general 
good and welfare of our people. 

"We have no quarrels to adjust, no differences to 
heal, and while our personal preferences are oicr own, 
we shall strongly endeavor to keep fully abreast with 
our highest convictions of public duty, as we may be 
led to understand them. 

"In politics this journal shall be independent, with 
Republican proclivities, and on that line we shall be 
free to commend men and measures of all parties, 
when they are deserving, and the reverse when they 
are icrong. We shall take a hand in all matters of 
public concern, commending or condemning as our 
judgment may lead us. We shall never be disinter- 
ested. In politics we will join in all the scrambles 
for oflice and place, commending only the good and 
pure, and denouncing dishonesty and insincerity, be- 
lieving this to be pre-eminently the sphere of healthy 
journalism. 

"And in this matter we wish to be well understood, 
while we will go into politics, we will always keep 
clear from all embarrassing affiliations of factions or 
party; and while we make no secret of our Repub- 
lican proclivities, the Times will never be the mouth- 
piece of any boss nor the organ of any ring. 

"We shall discuss all these things with fearlessness, 
but with dispassionate fairness and liberality, which 
shall be our aim in all our discussions. . . . 

" We enter upon our enterprise full of confidence in 
our ability to carry through to success what we have 
undertaken. We have ample resources in ourselves 
and in those we have called to our aid. Fully con- 
vinced of our ability to achieve success, and this in 
no spirit of assurance, and fully determined at any 
and every sacrifice to deserve it, we submit this intro- 
duction to our friends, who are on the qui vive to hear 
from us." 

Mr. Rennyson still retains his connection with the 

Times, though the active work is transferred to others. 

Conshohocken TelegTaph, Edward Baumgard, 

editor and proprietor, a weekly newspaper established 

at Conshohocken, Pa., August 5, 1884. Its size was 



470 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



twenty-eight by forty inches, with thirty-six columns, 
was independent in politics and suspended publica- 
tion February 5, 1885. 

Towamensing Item, established January 13, 1885, 
at Kulpsville, Montgomery Co., Pa., H. R. Boors, pub- 
lisher. It is a weekly newspaper; size, twenty-two 
inches by sixteen, with twenty-six columns. It is 
independent in politics and devoted to local news. 

Montgomery Law Reporter, F. G. Hobson, Esq., 
editor and proprietor, a weekly journal devoted to 
reporting legal decisions and the interests of the 
business public. The initial number was issued Jan- 
uary 31, 1885, at Norristown, Pa. 

Colonel Samuel D. Patterson, who for fully 
forty years held a most prominent position in literature 
and politics in the State of Pennsylvania, was a native 
of Montgomery County, and descended from a Welsh 
family, who were among its earliest settlers. His par- 
ents were John and Mary (Dewees) Patterson; his 
grandmother was a Miss Richards, a descendant of the 
Welsh family mentioned, from whom was also de- 
scended Benjamin Wood Richards, mayor of Phila- 
delphia in 1829. 

In early youth Samuel D. Patterson was for a short 
time a pupil in the school of the Rev. Dr. John Jones, 
but on the death of his father he left school and be- 
came an apprentice to the printer's trade in the office 
of the Norristown Register, the leading Democratic 
journal of the county, of which James Winnard, Esq., 
was the editor and proprietor. Quick, intelligent, 
earnest and assiduous, he soon became a favorite of 
his employer, as also of a number of other prominent 
men, political and personal friends of Mr. Winnard, 
one of whom was the Hon. Levi Pawling, who took a 
deep interest in the young printer. 

Soon after the close of young Patterson's appren- 
ticeship, Mr. Winnard gave up the management of 
the Register to him, he then becoming its editor and 
publisher. In that position he became intimately 
acquainted with many of the leading politicians of 
the State (especially those of the Democratic party), 
and in almost every instance he secured their enduring 
friendship. Among those in whose esteem he thus 
became firmly established were Francis R. Shunk, 
James Buchanan, George Wolf, Jesse Miller and Ellis 
Lewis. At about this time he assumed the editorship 
of the Reporter, the Democratic organ in the State, a 
connection which brought him still more prominently 
in contact with the leading men of the party. 

In 1837 he removed to Philadelphia, having accepted 
the office of United States marshal for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania, under the administration of 
President Van Buren. He served honorably in that 
position until 18-11, when he was relieved by President 
Tyler. He then retired from politics and entered 
upon literary work, becoming a leading contributor to 
Oodey's, Graham's, the Kniclcerboelcer and other maga- 
zines of the day, and mingling on terms of intimacy 
in the society of such writers as Poe, N. P. Willis, 



Bayard Taylor, Griswold,Willis Gaylord Clark, George 
R. Graham and others of equal celebrity. Subse- 
quently he became editor of the Saturday Evening 
Po.t<— then a leading literary paper — and editor and 
proprietor of Graham's Magazine, the most popular 
monthly then published. Under the administration 
of President Polk he reluctantly accepted the office 
of navy agent at Philadelphia. His death 
occurred at Philadelphia February 9, 1860, and 
his remains were interred in Laurel Hill Cemetery. 
He had married early in life a Miss Mott, of Easton, 
Pa., who died in 1854. Of their children, only one. 
Dr. Daniel D. Patterson, is now living. An older son, 
W. Mott Patterson, who was a journalist of repute, 
died at Philipsburg, N. J., in 1875. Colonel Patterson 
was married a second time, and his widow is now 
living. 



CHAPTER XXXIL 

BANKS AND BANKING. 

Various Financial Institutions. — The increase of 
bank capital and banking facilities in Montgomery 
County within the last thirty years would seem phe- 
nomenal were it not supported by a corresponding 
increase of deposits and a line of discounts in propor- 
tion to the aggregate of capital and deposits. The 
first bank established, as will be hereafter seen, was 
chartered by the State March 21, 1814, with a capital 
of $400,000, with the privilege of increasing it to 
$600,000. Twelve years later (1826) the paid-in capital 
was only $117,480, and the full amount of its author- 
ized capital does not appear to have been paid in 
until about 1856, when this one bank of Montgomery 
County was operating on a paid-in capital of $393,170, 
with a line of deposits of $254,132.57, and discounts 
amounting to $875,480.60, being an excess of discounts 
over paid-in capital and deposits of $228,176.73. 

The populatfion of the county at this date (1856) 
may be estimated at 66,000, as the census of 1860 
ascertained it to be 70,500. Passing to 1882-83, we 
find the number of chartered banking institutions in 
the county to have increased from one to thirteen, 
with an authorized and paid-in capital of $1,512,000, 
an aggregate of deposits amounting to $3,730,088, and 
a line of discounts amounting to $3,061,746; these 
comparative statistics show an excess of deposits over 
capital and loans of $2,180,342. The authorized bank- 
ing capital has increased in the period of twenty-eight 
years (1856-84) $912,000, while the deposits subject to 
check or sight drafts are $2,180,342 in excess of capital 
and loans. This remarkable development of the wealth 
and financial resources of the county is vastly greater 
than would be presumable from the increase of popu- 
lation within the same period. Population in 1860, 
70,500; 1880, 96,401,— an increase of 25,901. 

Reference to previous banking systems and result- 



BANKS AND BANKING. 



471 



ing financial conditions is necessary to a correct un- 
derstanding of the radical change of methods inaugu- 
rated under the present National Banking Laws. The 
States early began to assume the prerogative of char- 
tering banks, not only of discount and deposit, 
but of issue, thus, in addition to other benefits, giving 
them the inducement arising from the profits to fur- 
nish the people with the convenience of paper money. 

During the period of State currency it was issued 
under two systems as to the constitution of the banks 
themselves, with still lurther diversities of adminis- 
tration in different States to insure the convertibility 
of their issues. The two great systems were banks 
each with its own special charter and free banks, i.e., 
banks established under a general law authorizing their 
formation by all who would comply with its provisiims.' 
The prevailing system was that of special charter. 

In the country at large, for a quarter of a century 
before the national bank system was established, the 
circulating medium was issued by banks, either under 
general laws or each specially chartered by its own 
State, and with various privileges and restrictions 
affecting the amount and safety of their issues. But 
the exceptions were few in which banks were not 
practically allowed to issue all that they could keep 
afloat while redeeming it on presentation. As a whole, 
banks were soundest and the baseless inflation least 
in the older sections of the country and in the strong- 
est commercial centres. What in slang phrase was 

1 The free system waa an episode in a few States, but it was still in 
operation in the State of New York when the war broke out. It un- 
doubtedly suggested the iinalogous system of free national banks having 
their circulating notes protected by adequate public securities lodged 
with the fiscal department of the State. It followed the failure of the 
safety.fund system in the State of New York. This required all the banks 
of the State to contribute a small jiorcentage of their capital arnmally, 
to be held by the State as an insurance ftind for the redemption of notes 
of broken banks. It proved inadei(uate to bear the strain put upon it 
bythe bank failures which multiplied through the commercial |«inic ex- 
tending from 1837 to 1842. The State of Xew Y'ork then ailopted the 
system of making everj- new hank and every old bank, on the expiration 
of its charter, at once free and the insurer of its own bills, by requiring the 
deposit of an amount sufficient for the purpose in approved mortgages 
and public stocks, national, State or municipal. This tempted single men 
and coteries of men, all over the .State, who held mortgjlges, or the kind 
of public stocks required, to organize free banks and issue circulating 
notes nearly equal to the face of the securities deposited, thus duplicating 
their interest. The result was the speedy failure of many and crippling 
of most of them. The security for the bill-holders proved imperfect or 
worthless. Mortgages, if good, required a tedious process to turn 
them into cash. Often the real estate which secure*! them 
shrunk in value far below the face of the mortgage, and had to be 
accepted instead of cash b.v the mongagee or by the State as 
trustee for the hill-holder. Many stocks of States since solvent then 
were in default for interest. This class of securities proved iuadetpiate. 
.Altogether the system was a failure, while it taught one great lesson, 
viz., that nothing is a proper security for hank circulation but that sort 
of public stocks which, in any and all circumstances, have an immediate 
salable value above the face of the notes protected by them. The New 
Y"ork free-banking system was at length reformed so as to rule out all but 
the highest grade of securities, such as United States or New York 
State stocks or their equivalents, as the basis of their bank circulation. 
.\t the time of the adoption of the national bank system nearly all the 
New York State banks had got upon this footing. The free-banking 
system which was copied from New Y'ork in the adjacent States of New 
Jersey and Connecticut had only a transient trial, and disappeared prior 
to the war. 



known as "wild-cat banking" was, as it always will be, 
most rampant in pioneer States. 

Prior to the era we have been considering, of a 
paper currency issued by State banks in different 
States, their operation and influence were much amelio- 
rated by the concurrent agency and influence of a 
great overshadowing United States Bank. Of these 
there were two, one succeeding the other after its dis- 
solution by the expiration of its charter. The first 
was planned by Alexander Hamilton, Washington's 
Secretary of the Treasury, and largely through his 
influence chartered by Congress, in 1797, for twenty 
years, with a capital often millions of dollars. It was 
located in Philadelphia, with branches in Boston, 
New York, Baltimore, Washington, Norfolk, Va., 
Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans. It was es- 
tablished despite strenuous opposition on alleged 
constitutional and other grounds. But it was found 
absolutely necessary as a fiscal agent of the govern- 
ment, a regulator of paper currency issued by State 
banks, an instrument for carrying on the exchanges 
of the country, and, in general, for evolving order out , 
of the financial chaos induced by the expenditures of 
the Revolutionary war and the enormous issues of 
irredeemable paper money spawned forth by the 
States individually and as confederated to carry it 
on. It was of incalculable benefit to the people, but 
the opposition to it was great, not only on account of 
the natural antagonism of many to great corporations 
and monied powers, but also to its supposed incon- 
sistency with certain political and constitutional 
theories. Its charter was not renewed. But the 
war of 1812, immediately following its extinction, 
brought financial disturbances and exigencies which 
made the necessity of some national fiscal institution 
more urgent than ever. Accordingly, in the face of 
strenuous opposition, a second United States Bank 
was chartered, in 1816, for twenty years; with a capital 
of thirty-five millions of dollars, having its central 
location in Philadelphia and branches in other chief 
commercial centres. It was started in the midst of 
prevailing financial chaos and a generally depreciated 
currency of broken State banks, which had been 
greatly multiplied to fill several times over the vacuum 
created by the extinction of the original Bank of the 
United States.' After earnest and persistent struggles 

^ The following is a specimen of the sort of currency, familiarly known 
as "shin-plasters,"' issued about the year 1812 by individuals in conse- 
quence of a scarcity of coin for business pu rposes ; 



.\ GENER.^L ASSORTMENT OF GROCERIES. 



o!4 CtS. 



Chest of Tea 
and Hogshead. 



No. 233. 



I promise to pay the bearer on demand, 
in Groceries, or Philadelphia Bank Notes, 
at No. 130 North Water street, six-and-a- 
quarter cents. 

•ToHx Thompson. 
Phila., December 10, 1814. 
I I I 1 1 1 1 It , i h t i 1 1 1 1 n * I 1 1 1 1 1 I 



472 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



it brought order out of this confusion, became the 
great medium of inter-State exchanges and the source 
and promoter of a sound and stable national and State 
currency. 

These Banks of the United States operated benefi- 
cially in various ways. They furnished a paper 
currency really current through the nation. It was 
known to be backed by what was then an immense 
capital, and to possess all the prestige of national 
authority, indorsement and use. Hence it was re- 
ceived everywhere without discount as readily as gold 
and silver coin. It could be used in traveling in every 
corner of the land. 

The Bank of the United States, failing of recharter 
by Congress, obtained a charter from the State of 
Pennsylvania by paying a bonus of nearly six mil- 
lions. Thus swept from its proper national founda- 
tions, it was plunged into the mire of corruption in 
the very first step of its new abnormal career. The 
political revolution of 1840, having for an object the 
restoration of the United States Bank, failed of it 
through the untimely death of President Harrison, 
and the succession to his place of John Tyler, who 
vetoed the bill rechartering it.' 



The following is a copy of a two-cent note of this period, the dimen- 
sions of which were four inches in length by two in breadth. 



J 



TWO CENTS. TWO CENTS. 

1 promise to pay the Bearer 

TWO CENTS, 

On demand, at the 

SCUUVLKIl.L BANK 

Wien a snm amounting to One Dollar shall be presented. 
Philad'a., July 4th, 1815. Rich'd Bache. 



1 The fii-st Bank of the United .States was incorporated by Congress iu 
February, 1701, with a view to its aid in "conducting the national 
finances," and its ''advantages to trade and industry in general." Con- 
gress having refused to renew the charter, it expired by its own limitation 
iul811. Stephen Girard jmrchaaed the building iu Third Street where 
its business had been transacted. A new United States Bank was char- 
tered by Congress, and approved by President Madison on the Kith of 
April, 18ir,, with a capita] of thirty-five millions, the government tak- 
ing seven millions of the stock. During the war of 1812-14 all the 
State banks had been in a state of suspension. The organization and 
management of the United States Bank on a specie basis caused them to 
resume. The stock of the l)ank was made an object of speculation, and 
stood at one time as high as ;ifl5G per 100. The dividends varied from 
five to six per cent. The branches of the bank were at Portland, Ports- 
niouili, Boston, Providence, Hartford, New York, Baltimore, Washing- 
ton, Richmond, Norfolk, Fayetteville, Charleston, Savannah, 3tobile, 
New Orleans, Nashville, Louisville, Lexington, Cincinnati, ChiUicothe 
and Pittsburg. The bank commenced operations under the presidency 
of Captain William .Jones in January, 1817. In 1820 the distinguished 
Langdon Cheves, of South Carolina, took charge of it, and restored it 
from a languishing condition to one of great prosperity. Nicholas Bid- 
die, Esq., succeeded him in 1823. .\bout the year 1S28-29 the subject 
of the renewal of its charter began to be agitated. The bank was 
drawn into the vortex of politics, and a fierce war was waged between 
its partisans and o])ponents. In October, 1833, the deposits of the gov- 
ernment, which had hitherto been exclusively with this bank, were re- 
moved by order of President Jackson. A bill to recharter the bank had 
been vetoed by him in the previous year. The charter expired, accord- 
ing to limitation, in 1830. In the same year the Uuited States Bank of 
Pennsylvania was chartered by tiie State Legislature with the same 



The banking laws of the several States remained 
greatly diversified prior to the war for the Union. 
The commercial and manufacturing centres of New 
England and the Middle States, and the extensive 
system of long credits prevailing in the old slave 
States of the South, with whose merchants a large 
business was annually transacted, gave to certain city 
banks commercial stability and credit, due more par- 
ticularly to the confidence reposed in the character, 
sagacity and integrity of their oflicers and directors 
than to the laws or legal limitations within which 
they were supposed to act. At first inter-State ex- 
changes were effected with inconvenience and loss to 
the merchant or trader, and these difficulties were 
multiplied with increasing rapidity with every new 
railroad linking distant communities together. 

Tlie period from 1S.50 to 1S60 was one of violent 
political agitation and partisanship, resulting from 
the fruits of the Mexican war and the repeal of the 
Missouri Compromise. Great political leaders became 
responsive to sectional interests, and the brewing 
storm seemed suppressive of all measures that did not 
contribute to intensify the love of or hatred for human 
slavery. Public improvements long projected were 
delayed, neither section being willing to contribute to 
the material advancement of the other, fearing some 
advantage against which they would have to con- 
tend when the conflict would come; and, therefore, 
the office of statesmanship was diverted from the 
best interests of the country and given wholly to 
the embittered tjuarrel between the North and 
South. 

Events in 18G0 precipitated the crisis, and the 
inadequacy of the State banks to meet the great and 
sudden emergencies of the national government, in 
providing for the army and navy and the supjilies 
of all kinds necessary for the prolonged struggle, 
rendered enlarged banking facilities necessary, while 
the .stability and credit of the banks of the country 
became a matter of national importance. The early 
history of the Rebellion bears ample testimony that 
the best efforts of statesmanship, aided by the wisdom 
of long-experienced bankers in the financial centres 
of the North and West, were honestly united iu 
devising a system of banking that would be suffi- 
ciently strong and expansive to meet the wants of 
what was then well understood to be one of the most 
expensive wars maintained by any civil government 
in the history of modern times. The i^resent Na- 
tional Banking Law, as subsequently modified by 
the several amendatory acts of Congress, was the 
result. 

The first national bank organized under the 
National Banking Act was the First National Bank 
of Philadelphia. 

capital of thirty-five millions, and, purchasing the assets and assuming 
the liabilities of the former United States Bank, continued the business 
under the same roof. This bank failed and went into liquidation early 
in 1S41. 



BANKS AND BANKING. 



473 



Montgomery National Bank, Nokristown, 
Pa. — This bank was chartered aa the Bank of Mont- 
gomery County March 21, 1814, its authorized capital 
being ^400,000, with the privilege of increa.sing it to 
$600,000. The first election for directors was held 
October 14, 1815. The following persons were elected: 
Francis Swaine, Matthew Roberts, Isaiah Wells, 
Levi Pawling, Zadoc Thomas, Philip Hahn, Thomas 
Humphrey, Isaac !Markley, Charles Rogers, Robert 
Erp, Enoch Walker, John Jones and Joseph Thomas. 
Judges of election : Henry Scheetz, John Wentz, 
Samuel Breck. The board organized Monday, Oc- 
tober 16, 1815, at the Washington Inn, Norristown, 
(now Koplin's hardware-store, adjoining the public 
square). Francis Swaine was elected president and 
Matthias Holstein cashier, each receiving twelve 
votes. Following are the names of the principal 
officers in regular succession : 

Presidents. — Francis Swaine, October 16, 1815, re- 
signed April 15, 1817; Joseph Thomas, April 26, 
1817, died June or July, 1844; John Boyer, Augusts, 
1844, resigned November 26, 1864; A. B. Longaker, 
December 10, 1864, resigned November 7, 1868; W. H. 
Slinglntf, from November 7, 1868, to November 20, 
1875; John Slinglutf, from November 20, 1875, to 
date. 

Vice-Presidents. — John Slingluft", from June 5, 1875, 
to November 20, 1875; W. H. Slingluff, from No- 
vember 20, 1875, to April 14, 1880. 

Ouhiers. — Matthias Holstein, from (;)ctober 16, 
1815, to March 30, 1822; David Wolmer, March 
30, 1822, died November 14, 1829 ; W. H. Slingluff, 
from March 28, 1829, to November 7, 1868; John 
Slingluff, from November 7, 1868, to November 20, 
1875; William F. Slingluff, from November 20, 1875, 
to date. William F. Slingluff was assistant cashier 
from June 5, 1875, to November 20, 1875. 

The bank was rechartered as a State bank every 
ten years to Jklay, 1865, when it was changed to a 
national bank. As a State bank its notes were al- 
ways kept at par in Philadelphia. 

The exact location of the first building occupied 
for business is unknown, liut an exchange was effected 
November 25, 1815, for a building owned by Philip 
S. Markley, Esq., located on the south side of Egypt 
Street, above Cherry. Part of the site of the old 
building is now occupied by the house of Miss Mary 
McDermott and the balance by the house of James 
Hooven ; the lot extended from about twenty feet 
west of Cherry Street to the line of Geo. W. Wain- 
right's store-house, and included the present site of the 
bank. The present bank building was occupied in 
the month of November, 1854. 

The first deposit appears to have been made No- 
vember 18, 1815, by Isaac Markley ; amount, $50. The 
first statement was made January 20, 1816, and shows 
the capital stock paid in to have been $42,473 ; 
deposits, $13,392.22 ; bills and notes discounted, 
$78,895.90. 



The following exhibits the condition of the bank 
during each decade since its establishment : 




182C $117,480 00 

]s:iC 15!l,G,W 28 

l.s4fi 2'.I0,891 27 

IMoO ;iij:i,17U 00 

l!si;r> 4(»i,o<x) 00 

ISTC 4<JO,000 00 

1884 200,000 00 



899,420 57 
120,592 16 
176,147 81 
254,132 87 
493,:!C8 50 
340,387 91 
735,074 46 



$235,232 87 

352,501 04 

482,531 81 

875,480 60 

1,017,106 13 

1,299,014 56 

1,048,180 21 



No records of the notaries-public who have at- 
tended upon the bank has been kept ; the following 
officers are known to have acted : Lloyd Jones, R. 
T. Stewart, Geo. N. Corson, H. K. Weand, Theo. 
W. Bean, Jos. Slingluff, A. R. Calhoun, Jas. W. 
Schrock, J. P. Hale Jenkins, Wallace J. Boyd, L. M. 
Childs. 




BANK OF MONTHOMERY COUNTY. 

The board of directors has been regularly organized 
every year, making seventy organizations since the 
date of charter, 1814. 

The cost of the building now occupied, situated on 
Egypt Street, between Cherry and Barbadoes Streets, 
is stated on the books at $21,000. but this cost is 
reached by crediting real estate with amount received 
at the time the adjoining lots were sold off. It is 
probable that the improvements cost nearly double the 
amount above stated. 

The capital stock of the bank was reduced from 
$400,000 March 16, 1880, and there was paid back 
upon each share in cash $50, one half of which 
came from the reduction in capital and the other 
half from a dividend of the surplus fund, which was 



474 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



also reduced from $400,000 to $200,000. This returned 
to the stockholders the full amount paid in by them 
on each share ; the par value of the shares was in- 
creased from $50 to $100 per share, thus making the 
present capital $200,000 in two thousand shares. 
The surplus fund proper January 2, 1884, was $250,000, 
and the undivided jn-ofits on that day were $50,617.91. 
On January 2, 18S5, the capital was $200,000 ; surplus 
fund, $3(10,(100; undivided profits, $38,281.32; de- 
posits, $716,893.26. 

The present officers of this bank are: President, 
John Slingluff; Cashier, W. F. Slingluff; Teller, 
Henry S. Sechler; Book-keepers, William D. Zimmer- 
man and James Z. Wambold; Note Clerk, Harry 
C. Crawford; Watcluuan, Robert Patten. Notaries: 
Joseph Slinglufi; James W. Schrack, J. P. Hale Jen- 
kins, Louis M. Childs, Alexander K. Calhoun. Re- 
serve agents : Philadelphia, Western National Bank ; 
New York, Chemical National Bank. 

William H. Slixgluff' was born in Whitpain 
township, Montgomery Co., March 19, 1805, on a 
farm near CJentre Square, and a short distance below 
St. John's Lutheran Church (at that time called Grog 
Hill Church). His father, John Slingluff, was a 
farmer and an honored citizen, as is shown by his 
having filled the office of guardian of the poor in 
Whitpain township in 1803. He was also one of the 
founders and a member of the first board of directors 
of the Whitpain Library Company, at Blue Bell, 
March 7, 1818. 

William H. Slingluff was the youngest of eight 
children. His father in his youth was a resident 
of Lower Dublin township, and one of five chil- 
dren. He was married in Germantown township, 
September 6, 1788, to Mary Hallman, of the same 
township, by Michael Schlatter, minister of the 
gospel. 

His grandfather, also John Slingluff, is said to have 
been a man of imposing jjreseuce, having bright blue 
eyes and strongly-marked features. 

His -great-grandfather was Hendrick Sligloff (so 
spelled by an English scholar on page 390 of volume 
iii. of the Colonial Records), one of seventy-five 
Palatines who, with their families, came to Phila- 
delphia, August 19. 1729, in the ship " Mortonhouse," 
James Cf)ultas, master, from Rotterdam, but last 
from Deal, as by clearance dated June 21st i)re- 
viously. 

By a reference to Rupp's collection of thirty thou- 
sand names of immigrants, we find that he was accom- 
panied by his wife, Anna Cliristianna, and by a son 
named Paulus (misspelled Apalis). 

According to list "A" in the secretary's office at 
Harrisburg we find that those names marked with a 
star were written by the clerks. In this list we 
find the name of Hendiich Schlengeluft", an auto- 
graph. 



1 Ttiis Bkc-tcb was written by a member of tlie family. 



After the lapse of years it was thought best by the 
family to spell the name as it was pronounced, Sling- 
lufi', thus preserving the Russian termination " ff." 

Paulus is the Swedish for Paul, and the name of his 
great-grandmofher, Anna Christianna, also indicates 
her Swedish origin. 

His mother, Mary Hallman, was a daughter of An- 
thony Hallman, a Revolutionary soldier, who was 
wounded at the battle of the Brandywine. 

She was a girl of nine years at the time of the bat- 
tle of Germantown, and died at the age of eighty-six 
in Norristown at the residence of her son. She is 
said to have possessed remarkable beauty in her girl- 
hood. She was a daughter of Mary Streeper, and one 
of five children, great-granddaughter of William 
Strieper, brother of Jan Strieper, " of Kaldkirchen, 
in the County of Juliers, in the borders of Germany," 
who took up " 5000 acres of land by virtue of a war- 
rant from former Commissioners bearing date Decem- 
ber 15, 1688," part of which is described as in the 
"Liberties" of Philadelphia and including a large 
tract of what is now known as Logan's Hill and Wayne 
Junction. Jan Strieper came first and bought the 
land; then, becoming dissatisfied, he returned to Eu- 
rope and conveyed his property to his brother Wil- 
helm by a deed of exchange. By some trick best 
known to those who kept the property, it was all lost 
to the descendants of Wilbelm Strieper. 

The subject of this sketch lived during his boyhood 
on his father's farm, in Whitemarsh township, about 
a half-mile below the village of Broad Axe, bought 
in 1807, when William was but two years of age. He 
engaged in labor on the farm and at intervals in 
teaching school for his brother John, and at one 
time teaching at night in the old Sandy Hill school- 
house. He also for a short time kept the store for his 
brother Samuel, at the village of the Rising Sun, 
where, when scarcely twenty years of age, he met the 
lady whom he married on the 15th day of December, 
1833, the Rev. John C. Clay performing the cere- 
mony at Gloria Dei Church, Philadelphia ((;)ld 
Swedes'). 

Mrs. Slingluff was Mary Knorr and the daughter 
of Matthias Knorr, a farmer and lumber-dealer, rep- 
resenting the third generation in America, whose 
grandparents, John George Knorr and Hannah, his 
wife, were born in Germany prior to 1698. On the 
maternal side, Jlrs. Slingluff was the great-great- 
granddaughter of Dirk or Derick Keyser, who came 
to America from Amsterdam, in Holland, arrived in 
New York in 1688, and came from thence by land to 
Germantown, Pa., where he purchased land and settled. 
He was accompanied by his son Pietra, aged eleven 
years, Dirk and Joanna (taken from the Holland 
Bible now in possession of Samuel Keyser, German- 
town). 

From his earliest childhood Mr. Slingluff had a 
great love for out-of-door sports, such as running, 
leaping, wrestling and, later, fencing and pistol-prac- 




-^V ^iyAJIJUtchU 




BANKS AxND BANKING. 



475 



tice. He was strong of nerve, had a steady eye and 
never missed when he fired to kill. But in after-life 
he often said, " Had I my life to live over again I 
would never shoot a bird." 

His education was mainly self-acquired. His 
father, a farmer, was a thoroughly good man, but un- 
able to give this boy the education he so much de- 
sired. His ambition was the study of the law, but 
after purchasing Blackstone's "Commentaries" and 
the works of Flavins Josephus, he was unable to 
secure other much-needed books, and concluded to 
remove to Norristown and secure a situation that was 
remunerative. He became errand-boy and watclinuui 
in the old Bank of Montgomery County October 24, 
1825, at the age of twenty. Previous to this he 
attended school one or two quarters at the old Sandy 
Hill school-house, occasionally teaching for his 
brother John, then school-master, and reaping the 
benefit of one quarter's tuition in mathematics from 
the late venerable and respected Allan Corson, of 
Plymouth. Being of an omnivorous habit where 
books were concerned, he was conversant with all the 
works of the day contained in the Whitpain Library. 
He was a devout student of the Bible, and all through 
life quoted readily from its sacred pages. David 
Wolmer, a bachelor, who w'as cashier at the time of 
Mr. Slinglutt"s advent in the bank, soon observed 
with satisfaction his aptitude for the business, together 
with his accuracy in all things. He therefore took 
great pleasure in advancing his interests, and on the 
death of Mr. Wolmer, in March, 1829, he was elcL-ted 
by the directors to fill the ottice of cashier at a salary 
of six hundred dollars per year. At this time, while 
procuring sureties, among the directors was a " doubt- 
ing Thomas," who expressed himself in this wise, — 
"What! trust that boy!" "Yes!" was the instant 
reply from a farmer and a well-to-do member of the 
board, "put me on his bond," which was done. 
This incident was always remembered with gratitude 
by Mr. Slingluff', who, when an opportunity ottered, 
invited the grandson of this good man to learn the 
banking business, which he did, and is still in the 
institution, a loved and respected oflicer. At the time 
of Mr. Slingluff 's death this young man wrote 
thus, — 

" It is not liis own hoiiseliold iiliine tliat must realize and acknowleiige 
tliis loss. Tlie marks lie has niaile and the work he has done cover a 
wider field. The institution to which he gave more than half a century 
of uTitiring and zealous attention, and which flourished and grew under 
his faithful fatherly care into a monument to his ililigence and skill, has 
lost one of its wisest ctmnselors. Those whose lot threw them in daUy 
contact with him have lost a friend who was ever courteous and true and 
ready with a word of wisdom or knowledge from a fund which his ex- 
perience had given him. The course which his excellent judgment 
approved Wiis the one he followed with a firmness that was as inmiovable 
as it was invincible. Wluit he underetood to be his duty was the rule of 
his action. He was one of the few who remembered a kindness received 
long after they have forgotten a kindness towards another, and when all 
tliat remains of him we so respected and honored is hidden from earthly 
eyes forever, we cannot do less than give thought of him the warmest 
place in our remembrance."" 

On November 7, 1868, Mr. Slingluff was elected 



president of the bank, and in November, 1875, 
resigned his position, his eldest son, John, being 
elected president and his youngest son, William F., 
cashier. In .Tanuary, 1875, a valuable testimonial 
was presented to Mr. Slingluft" by direction of the 
stockholders of the bauk in appreciation of his val- 
uable services as a bank officer. It is in form a large 
medallion of silver and gold, adorned with a finely- 
engraved representation of the bank building, to- 
gether with explanatory inscriptions, — " In 1861, Mr. 
Slingluff, witli the approval of the directors, oft'ered 
a loan to (lovernor Curtin for the purpose of arming 
volunteers. This was done in April, and the act 
legalizing the loan was passed in May. The amount 
was S50,000, and doubtless among the very first loans 
the State received." 

Although classed as a rebel because of his politics, 
which were Democratic, those who knew him best 
know that personally from his own funds he expended 
as much or more money in the way of gifts to the 
soldiers he visited after the battle of South Mountain, 
and to their families at home in assistance in their 
hours of need, than any other of our townsmen. 

It was a source of bitter grief to him that this war 
was thought to have been necessary, descended as he 
was from a humane and peace-loving ancestry. Pre- 
vious to and during the war a well-known colored 
man often came and said, "Mr. Slingluft', we have 
boarders at our house and nothing for them to eat, 
and no clothes either." The man always olitained 
help. 

Mr. Slingluff was quick in his perceptions, accurate 
in his judgment of men and measures, and in honestly 
carrying out his convictions made warm friends and 
bitter enemies. Opposition to him was sometimes 
transferred to the bank, but his honesty and integrity 
carried both safely through. 

In busine-ss life he was an example of the highest 
integrity of character, and demanded the same quali- 
ties in others. He would not countenance the slight- 
est deviation from the standard of absolute right. 
During his early years as cashier of the bank he was 
frequently amused by one of the directors persisting 
in going over the accounts. One day this man turned 
suddenly and said, " Slingluft', what method would 
you pursue if you were going to rob the bank'?" 
With an indignation almost too great for speech, he 
replied, " I never made that my study." It was 
owing to his forethought and determination of pur- 
pose that a fund was accumulated sufficiently large 
to defray the expenses of the bank building. A 
visitor to Norristown from Georgia has written as 
follows : 

"The Jlontgoniery County Bank presents a front that for purity of 
style and simplicity of design surpfisses anything I have met with this 
side the Atlantic, and when the fact is con.sidered that it is the work of 
the brainsand hands of one who pretends to no professional ideas of ar- 
chitecture, it becomes a matter of astonishment indeed. It is of pure 
white marble, the more precious that it is quarried in this county, and 
but a little distance from where, through hutnan skill, it rises in beauti- 



476 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ful proportions of ' lofty columns and light fagade.' The design origin- 
ated with and was carried out, as I underetand, by the present energetic 
and enterprising president of the bank. He has certainly erected an ex- 
quisite niunument to himself, of which those who come after may well be 
proud." 

"Mr. Slingluff (in the language of one who knew 
him well) possessed in a remarkable degree that 
self-reliance which gives every man power. As a 
bank officer he had few superiors, and the qualities of 
his mind would have made him a success in any other 
pursuit. He was a firm patriot, — neither patronizing 
foreign countries for what he wore nor for what he 
put into his dwelling. He believed in and practiced 
home industry. Whatever he attempted he did with 
his whole might. . . . When opposed or antago- 
nized he allowed no compromise. With his tremen- 
dous power in overcoming all opposition, to those for 
whom he formed an attachment he was the kindest of 
friends. He particularly loved children, and many a 
child was made happy by his gifts and kind words. 
. . . His heart was as tender as that of a child's. 
He would not hurt the smallest animal or injure the 
feelings of the humblest individual. But when the 
battle came with those he regarded as his jieers, he 
stood like a rock. Many a soldier will remember 
with affection his visit at Antietam, and h\indreds of 
soldiers' homes were made joyous by his benefac- 
tions." 

He was very fond of gardening and the culture of 
flowers and fruits. In the garden attached to the liunk 
his j)ride and delight was the annual blooming of a 
bed of tulips, numbering hundreds, of all shades and 
shapes. In after-life, in the home of his oldage (if any 
part of such a life as his could be called old), he was 
pleased to sit early and late upon a piazza enjoying the 
beauty and fragranceof his garden. In his home he was 
devotedly loved by all. He commanded the strictest 
truth and honor from his children and all those with 
whom he came in contact. He took an active life- 
long interest in all that pertained to Norristown, the 
introduction of water and gas being mainly due to 
him. The jirovision for the education of children 
and their comfort in the erection of proper school 
buildings was largely accomplished through his influ- 
ence, the attractive grounds upon which the build- 
ing at Dc Kalb and Oak Streets stands having been 
owned by him and .sold to the board of school direc- 
tors for a nominal sum. 

For more than a score of years he served the public 
in the Town Council, the school board and the Nor- 
ristown Library Comi)any, to all of which interests 
he was as attentive as though they were largely re- 
munerative. He was also for many years a director 
of the Germantown and Norristown Railroad, treas- 
urer of the Schuylkill Bridge Company and of the 
Montgomery Cemetery Company, and a director of 
the King of Prussia Turnpike Company, besides 
being an ofHcer and active member of the Gas and 
Water Companies. 

Mr. Slingluti''s death occurred April 14, 1880. He 



died as he had lived, — like a soldier at his post, calm, 
self-possessed and in full possession of all his faculties, 
caring until the last for the needs of his family, in 
view of his wife's illness and his fast-approaching 
dissolution. There was no terror, no anxiety, but a 
calm reliance on his Father in Heaven, induced by an 
inner consciousness of having done his duty as far as 
it was given him to know it. 

On Monday, April 19, 1880, he was laid to rest in 
that cemetery that in health he had done so much to 
beautify. Truly it can be said of him, "An honest 
man's the noblest work of God." 

Mr. Slingluff had five children, as follows: Sarah 
S., the wife of Jacob L. Rex, Esq., residing near Blue 
Bell, in Whitpain township, Montgomery Co. ; Jlary 
M., the wife of the Hon. A. B. Longaker, of Lehigh 
County; John Slingluff, president of the Montgomery 
National Bank, Norristown; Clara S. Pauling, widow 
of the late Dr. Harry Pauling, of Norristown ; Wil- 
liam F. Slingluff, cashier of the Montgomery National 
Bank, Norristown. 

John Slingluff, the son of William H. and 
Mary Knorr Slingluff, was born on the 3d of August, 
1839, in Norristown, the .scene of his active business 
life. He received his earliest instruction at the 
public school, and at the age of fourteen became a 
jnipil of the Elmwood Institute, under the principal- 
ship of Rev. G. D. Wolf His educational op[)ortu- 
nities ended with his sixteenth year, when he became 
engaged in the attractive employment of a civil 
engineer. Circumstances, however, influenced him, 
a year later (in 185(5), to enter the Bank of Montgom- 
ery County as clerk, with which he has, during the 
remainder of his life, been largely identified. He 
acted as note clerk until 18(58, receiving at that date 
promotion to the position of cashier and remaining 
thus ofiicially connected with the institution until 
his election to presidency, which office he has held 
since 1875, the date of his father's retirement. 
Mr. Slinglutt' was married, on the 3d of September, 
1SU2, to Miss Wilhelmina, daughter of Frederick 
Gilbert, of Norristown, and has children, — Mary (Mrs. 
Howard Boyd), William H. and Helen G. Mr. Sling- 
luff has been and is identified with nearly every busi- 
ness enterprise of importance in the county, and has, 
from the beginning of his active career, wielded an 
extended influence in commercial circles. He is 
superintendent of the Norristown Water Company, 
treasurer and superintendent of the Norristown Gas 
Company, treasurer of the Montgomery Cemetery 
Company, as also of the Standard Iron Company and 
of theSecondNational Buildingand Loan Association. 
He is president of the Economy Mutual Fire Insur- 
ance Company and the Norristown Junction Railroad 
Company. He is a director of the Perkiomen Rail- 
road Company, as also of the Stony Creek Railroad 
Company, the Philadelphia, Newtown and New 
York Railroad Company, the Philadelphia, German- 
town and Norristown Railroad Company and the 




J^fUi 






U.^^^^^'^^ 



BANKS AND BANKING. 



477 



Plymouth Eailroad Company. He is president of 
the Montgomery Insurance, Trust and Safe Deposit 
Company, manager of the King of Prussia Turnpike 
Company, superintendent of the Fire-AIarm Tele- 
graph Company and president of the Montgomery 
Hose and Steam Fire-Engiiie Company. Mr. Sling- 
luff was early instructetl in the doctrines of the Old- 
Line Whig party, but later indorsed the platform of 
the Democracy, by which party he was nominated for 
Congressional honors in 1880, and, although defeated, 
ran ahead of his ticket. He has since 1877 been a 
member of the board of inspectors of the Montgomery 
County Prison and president of the board since 1880. 
He is also one of the managers of the Schuylkill 
bridge at Norristown. Mr. Slingluff is prominently 
identified with the order of Masonry, as past officer of 
Charity Lodge, No. 190, of Norristown, of which he 
is both treasurer and trustee ; member of the Royal 
Arch Chapter and of Hutchinson Commandery, No. 
32, Knights Templar ; reiircsentative to the Grand 
Lodge and Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania; and a 
member of said Grand Lodge, Grand Chapter and 
Grand Commandery of Pennsylvania, having been, 
until declining a reappointnient, District Deputy 
Grand High Priest for the counties of Bucks, Chester 
and Montgomery for several years. He is now a 
member of the committee on finance of Right Wor- 
thy Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. Mr. Slingluff is 
a supporter in religion of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, of which Mrs. Slingluff is a member. 

J. M. Albertson & Sons. — J. M. Albertson estab- 
lished a private banking-ottice in Norristown in 1857, 
in a building on Swede Street. In 1S70 he erected 
the three-story brick banking-house on the corner of 
Swede and Main Streets, which he occupied in the 
fall of that year. In 1875 his sons William E. and 
Amos L. became partners, under the firm-name of J. 
M. Albertson & Sons, as it now is. 

Jacob Morton Albertson. — The well-known and 
worthy citizen of Norristown whose name forms the 
caption of these few paragraphs is of Holland Dutch 
descent, and of a family which has been represented 
in America for nearly two and a half centuries, his 
remote ancestors having come to New Amsterdam 
now New York, in the " good ship ' Fox,' " on the 
16th day of the Ninth Month, 1640. On the paternal 
grandmother's side he is Welsh, descended from 
Cadwahuler Roberts, who emigrated from Wales to 
Gwynedd about the year 1693. His own mother was 
a sister of Thomas Livezey, a notice of whom appears 
elsewhere in this work. 

The grandfather of our subject, Jacob Albertson, 
about the year 1800, bought from Joseph Potts a 
farm in Plymouth township, which became the home 
of the family in Jloutgomery County, and part 
of which was inherited by Jacob Albertson, and 
after his death bought by J. M. Albertson, the 
present owner. The property in question fronts upon 
the Conshohocken tu™])ikc, and lies about midway 



between the Ridge and the Germantown and Perki- 
omen turnpikes, and, with the additions made by the 
present proprietor, contains about ninety acres of 
limestone and iron-ore land. 

It was upon this farm that Jacol) Morton Alljertson 
was born, on the .5th day of the Fifth Month, 182G. 
He was the fifth of ten children, of whom but four 
are now living. As a lad he attended the boarding 
and day-school kept by Hannah Williams in the 
house where Joseph R. Ellis now lives, at the crossing 
of the Conshohocken with the Germantown and Perki- 
omen turnpike, and later was, for a year or more, a 
pupil at Westtown boarding-school. Afterwards, 
until he was twenty-two years of age, he worked upon 
his father's tiirm, and was then sent to Philadelphia 
to serve customers with the products of the dairy and 
farm. While there Nathan R. Potts, who took an 
interest in the young man, allowed him to spend his 
spare hours in his ofticc, reading the law that related 
to conveyancing, copying opinions and writing bonds, 
mortgages and finally deeds. He had already at- 
tained at Westtown a theoretical knowledge of survey- 
ing, and John Levering, of Lower Merion, whose 
acquaintance he made, interested himself in showing 
him wdiat he needed to know of the practical part of 
the work. Then he spent a period with his estimable 
uncle, Lewis Jones, of Gwynedd, who was a surveyor 
and conveyancer, and became quite proficient in the 
profession. 

At the invitation of Addison May young Albertson, 
in the spring of 1850, removed to Norristown. A 
deed which his friend gave him to write fell under 
the observation of William Rossiter, a conveyancer, 
who offered him a desk in his office and a half-interest 
in all of the business which the two could transact. 
At the end of a year, through the favor of M'^illiam H. 
Slingluff, he was elected surveyor of the borough, 
which so increased his business, that he had more 
than enough to do. His success in life was now fully 
assured. Industry and honesty, doing all that they 
could as well as they could, had prejjared the way, 
and his subsequent progress was easy and natural, 
for he had the esteem of all around him. 

Ill 1857 he began the banking business, and in 1865 
built the banking-house which he now occupies. In 
1870 his business interests were further extended by 
his acquisition of the Star Glass- Works, which he has 
since successfully conducted. Lately, in connection 
with his two sons, he has built and is now carrying on 
a second factory. 

Mr. Albertson, in the year 1852, married Miss 
Sarah P. Lee, of Exeter, Berks Co., Pa., a descendant 
of Anthony Lee, an English settler, who took up 
six hundred acres of land in Oley township, now 
Berks County, by survey, dated Tenth Month 24, 1716, 
and received patent therefor the following year. They 
have five children and five grand-children. The 
names of the former are William E. ; Amos L. ; Mary, 
married to P. F. Hunter, of Norristown ; Martha, 



478 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



married to A. W. Howard, of Pittsburg ; and Eliza- 
beth. 

First National Bank of Norristown. — Tha 
First National Bank of Norristown (capital stock, 
$150,000) was organized January 8, 186-1, the directors 
elected on tliat date being James Hooven, PVanklin 
Derr, S. P. Stinson, Garret Bean, William W. Taylor, 
George McFarland, Samuel Anders, Benjamin E. 
Chain and Daniel O. Hitner. 

The first officers of the bank were James Hooven, 
jjresident ; George Shannon, cashier ; Lindley V. 
Kighter, teller ; Christian H. Detwiler, clerk. 

The bank opened for business March 28, 1804. 
The subsequent officers were: President, James Hoo- 
ven; Cashier, George Shannon; Tellers, Lindley V. 
Eighter, Christian H. Detwiler, George R. Kite; 
Clerks, A. C. Rhoads, Walter Shannon, Edward L. 
Crawford, William C. Lenzie. 

The bank was rechartered February 24, 1883, for 
twenty years. 

This bank commenced business in a building at 
Egypt and Cheery Streets, and subsequently erected 




FIRST NATIONAL liANK, X< )R lUSTOWX. 

the banking-house now occupied, being No. 107 N. 
W. Egypt Street, which was finished in 1870 and 
occupied the same year. 

The amount of deposits at the close ot first year 
was $389,503.03 ; amount of discounts at the close of 
first year, .$244,764.57; amount of deposits March 28, 
1874, $346,383.16; amount of discounts March 28, 
1874, $338,502.45; amount of deposits March 28, 
1884, $611,478.08 ; amount of discounts March 28, 
1884, $469,267.62 ; surplus fund, $80,000. 

The board of directors are elected and organized 
annually, in the second week of January. 



Charles H. Stinson, Esq., was solicitor of the bank 
from the date of organization until appointed pres- 
ident judge of the courts of Montgomery County, 
when he was succeeded by Benjamin E. Chain, Esq., 
who has been secretary of the board since the date of 
organization. 

R. T. Stewart, H. K. Weand, Theodore W. Bean 
and F. G. Hobson, Esqs., have been notaries-public 
for the bank. 

The persons who died while in the service of the 
bank as directors were Franklin Derr, George Mc- 
Farland, S. P. Stinson and Christopher Heebner. 
William W. Taylor died a few years after his resigna- 
tion. 

This bank w-as a United States depository for the 
revenue collected in this district from June, 1864, to 
October, 1877, when the several districts were consol- 
idated. About the close of the war, in Ai>ril, 1865, 
when the volunteer soldiers of the armies were being 
discharged and paid off, the treasurer of the United 
States drew a draft on the bank for one hundred 
thousand dollars, being the largest amount drawn 
upon one draft while the bank acted as a United 
States depository. 

The board of directors meet in each week, and since 
the organization of the bank have on no occasion 
suspended discounting for customers. During the 
currency suspension of the Philadelphia banks in 
1873 the bank paid all currency demands. 

The aggregate amount of dividends paid to stock- 
holders during the first twenty years of business, i.e., 
from March 24, 1864, to March 24, 1884, was .«377,987.- 
50. The par value of stock is $100 per share ; divisible 
value per share, $170. The present board of directors 
is composed of James Hooven, Daniel O. Hitner, 
Samuel Anders, Benjamin E. Chain, Benjamin Hughes, 
George S. Hallmau, Frank M. Hobson, Francis G. 
Stinson, Walter H. Cooke. 

James Hooven. — The paternal ancestors of Mr. 
Hooven emigrated from Amsterdam, Holland, to Amer- 
ica early in the last century. His grandfather, Henry 
Hooven, was a native of Pennsylvania, and resided in 
Upper Merion township, Montgomery Co., where he 
was an enterprising farmer. He was married to Eliza- 
beth Bolton, whose son Benjamin, a native of Mont- 
gomery County, married Jane Ekron,who was of Scotch 
nativity. The children of this marriage were Philip, 
Helen, James and Elizabeth. Mr. Benjamin Hooven 
was by trade a blacksmith, and followed his vocation 
in Upper Merion township. He enlisted during the 
war of 1812, and lost his life while in the service. 
His son James was born on the 30th of March, 
1808, in Chester County, and when a youth removed 
with his parents to Upper Merion township, where he 
became a pupil of the neighboring district school, but 
under the watchful care of his mother acquired a 
more thorough rudimentary education. He early 
cultivated a habit of study and rcrtection, was a 
skillful translator from the German and purposed 



# 



««^ 




^ylt^'yt^ 



— t-^ 



^/~ir'irhr-&'vC) 





^^^^^^^^^'^'^^ 



BANKS AND BANKING. 



479 



devoting himself to a literary career. Circumstances, 
however, influenced this determination and devel- 
oped as successful a man of business as would other- 
wise have adorned the field of literature. At the age 
of fourteen he entered a country store located at 
King of Prussia, in the same township, and in 1830 
embarked in business with a partner, remaining thus 
engaged for two years, when Norristown became his 
home. Here he formed a copartnership with Dr. 
OeorgeW.Thomas, and was for seven years interested 
in mercantile ventures. The business of lime-burning 
next occupied his attention until 184(5, when he 
sought a wider field of operation, and, in company 
with Mordecai R. Moore, erected a rolling-mill, which 
still operates. In 1870 he extended his manufac- 
turing interests by the erection of a blast furnace, and 
later of a pipe-mill. In 1864 he was elected presi- 
dent of the First National Bank of Norristown, which 
office he still fills. He was also the first president of 
the Stony Creek Railroad. Mr. Hooven was, in 1833, 
married to Miss Emeline Henry, of Evansburg, Pa., 
■whose children are Joseph Henry, Alexander, Jean- 
nette (Mrs. G. P. Denis), and Mary (Mrs. John W. 
Schall). He was a second time married, in 1874, to 
Helen Cushman, of Norristown. Mr. Hooven was 
formerly a Whig in his political predilections and 
subsequently became a Republican, though never 
in the arena of politics. He was among the earliest 
advocates of the doctrine of abolition, and the stanch 
protector and friend of the escaped slave, who found 
a safe abiding-place under his hospitable roof. Mr. 
Hooven was a delegate to the National Republican 
Convention in 18<;0, and aided by his vote in the 
nomination of Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency. 
He is a supporter of and pew-holder in the Protestant 
Episcopal Church of Norristown, though exercising 
« kindly toleration toward all religious denomina- 
tions. 

George Shannon. — The grandfather of Mr. Shan- 
non was James Shannon, born in Lower Providence 
township, who subsequently became a farmer in Nor- 
riton. He married Miss Elizabeth Lane, whose 
children were John, Samuel, William and two 
daughters. Samuel, whose birth occurred in Norri- 
ton April 1(5, 1781, and his death March 18, 1858, 
remained in that township during his early youth, 
but later removed to Norristown, where he resided 
until his death. He married Elizabeth Harner, 
of the township of Whitemarsh, born December 
11, 178.5, who died March 20, 1879, and had 
children, — .John, .Tames, Joseph, Samuel L., 
■George, Ann and Rosanna. George, of this number, 
was born in Norristown on the .Dthof Novemlier, 1821, 
and removed when a youth with his father to Norri- 
ton, where he received such advantages of education 
as were obtainable in the country at that time, and 
afterward attended the Norristown Academy. At 
once entering upon a career of business, he accepted a 
clerkship in the Bank of Montgomery County, and 



was employed for sixteen years in that capacity, when 
he became interested in the manufacture of linseed 
oil. 

In January of 1864 he was appointed cashier o( 
the First National Bank of Norristown, and is still 
the incumbent of that position. Mr. Shannon 
was, in April, 1850, married to Miss Arabella 
Steinmetz, daughter of William Steinmetz, of 
Montgomery township and county, whose children 
are a son Walter and a daughter Flora M., now Mrs. 
William H. Bennett. 

In his political affiliations Mr. Shannon is a 
Republican, and has served as a member of the 
Borough Council, as also of the board of school 
directors. He has been frequently solicited for other 
positions of trust, but has declined such distinctions. 
He is a director of the Sunbury and Lewistown Rail- 
road Company. His religious associations have been 
in connection with the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
his family being worshiiiers at St. John's Church, of 
that denomination, in Norristown. 

The People's National Bank of Nobristown 
was organized September 24, 1881, with $100,000 
capital. A. A. Yeakle was the first president ; Lewis 
Styer, cashier ; and A. A. Yeakle, John J. Hughes, 
Felix F. Highly, .Tolin ,1. Corson, Issachar Johnson, 
William Shultz, Norman Egbert, Isaac Wanner and 
John E. Brecht, directors. 

At the present time the capital stock is :ii!100,0UU ; 
deposits, $134,799.41; discounts, $160,639,38; value of 
bank property, $12,000 ; and the surplus fund, $4000. 
The present officers are : President, A. A. Yeakle ; 
Cashier, Lewis Styer ; directors, A. A. Yeakle, 
William Schultz, John J. Hughes, William H. Sling- 
luflf, Isaac Wanner, Nathan Schultz, John Keiser, 
John E. Brecht, Norman Egbert. 

The Bank of Pottstown. — This institution was 
chartered August 27, 1857, under act of the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Pennsylvania, passed on the 15th 
of the preceding ^lay, and was organized Septem- 
ber 14th following, with an authorized capital of 
$100,000. Business was commenced October 5, 1857. 
The officers were: President, Henry Potts ; Cashier, 
William Mintzer; Teller, Daniel Price; and the 
Directors, Henry Potts, William D. Evans, J. D. 
Streeper, Joseph Bailey, Peter Y. Brendlinger, David 
Potts, Jr., Owen Stover, George Baugh, Frederick 
Brendlinger, Perry M. Hunter, Isaac Linderman, S. 
Gross Fry, William Price. 

The amount of deposits at the end of the first year 
(October 5, 1858) was $63,217.19 and the amount of 
the discounts SloS,432.10. 

Henry Potts died August 31, 1861. The bank was 
reorganized November 22, 1864, under the National 
Bank Act, with a capital of $150,000. William Mint- 
zer was elected president and served until his death, 
on January 26, 1867, and Daniel Price was chosen 
cashier. The amount of deposits at the time of reor- 
ganization was $290,767.92; of discounts, $178,823.09; 



480 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and the other loans, chieHy United States bonds, 
reached the sum of $392,000. In 1865 the capital 
was increased to $200,000, and in 1868 to $800,000, 
and a contingent fund of $125,000 was provided dur- 
ing the latter year. On November 22, 1884, at the 
expiration of the first charter as a national liank, the 
capital was $300,000 ; Contingent fund, $160,000 ; de- 
posits, $584,377.24; discounts, $490,034.56; other 
loans, chiefly United States bonds, $669,662.50 ; and 
the real estate, furniture, etc., was valued at $14,- 
075. 

The present officers are : President, Daniel Price ; 



tion in the schools of the neighborhood and at the 
academy of Joshua Hoopes, in West Chester. On 
leaving school he entered his father's dry-goods store, 
where he remained until 1839, at which time that 
parent died and the store and property were sold. 
He then purchased another property on the corner of 
High and Hanover Streets, where he carried on the 
mercantile business extensively and successfully for 
about six years. Disposing of this concern, he em- 
barked in the lumber business in Schuylkill County, 
and while thus engaged bought a large tract of land 
above Tamaqua, in the same county. Returning to 




WILLI.4M MIXTZEE. 



Cashier, Horace. Evans; Directors, Daniel Price, Abra- 
ham M. Stauflfer, Edwin Morris, William Yocom, 
George Mull, Mark H. Richards, Ephraim Fritz, 
James F. Brendlinger, A. D. Bechtel ; Notary Public, 
Charles Rutter. 

William Mintzer. — Among the citizens of Mont- 
gomery County few have been more prominently 
identified with the three great departments of busi- 
ness — banking, merchandising and manufiicturing — 
than the late William Mintzer, of Pottstown. He was 
born in that place May 11, 1820, and was the son of 
William and Sarah Mintzer. He received his educa- 



Pottstown, he established a banking business there, 
which he conducted for some time, until he was in- 
duced to enter the Pottstown Bank in the capacity of 
cashier. This position he occupied until the death of 
the president, Henry Potts, when he was elected to 
succeed him, and it is said that the Pottstown 
National Bank owes much of its present prosperity to 
the ability and judicious management he displayed 
as its presiding officer. 

In 1863 he started the large and well-known 
establishment, which enjoys a high reputation in the 
trade, under the name of the Pottstown Iron- Works. 



BANKS AND BANKING. 



481 



In 1841, Mr. Mintzer was iiuirried to llebecca Evans, 
ol' Chester County. He died in 1867 at the early age 
of forty-seven years, his wife surviving him and de- 
jiarting this life July 7, 1884. They were the parents 
(if seven children, of whom three attained maturity 
and are now living, viz. : George E., William and 
Sarah (Mrs. Ellliot Evans), all residing in Philadel- 
phia. William is an attorney -at-law in that city, 
having been admitted to practice in 1878. 

In politics the late Mr. Mintzer was a steady and 
conscientious Republican, warmly but unostenta- 
tiously supjiortiug the principles of the party. 

His religious affiliation w-as with the Episcopal 
Church, and he was a benevolent, active and influen- 
tial worker in its cause. 

Though no brilliant event characterized his career, 
his quiet and steady course of active industry could 
not fail to exert a beneficial influence and to materi- 
ally advance the interests of the comnumity. 

J. W. Casselbekhy & Co.— J. W. Casselberry and 
William L. Williamson l)uilt a three-story brick build- 
ing on High Street, in Pottstow^n, in 1868, and on the 
24th of November oi^ened a private banking-office for 
discount and deposit in the lower room, which was 
specially fitted up as a banking-office. 

John W. Casselbekry. — William Casselberry, the 
grandfather of the subject of this biographical sketch, 
married Catherine Weutz, and resided at Evausburg, 
in Lower Providence township, Montgomery Co. Their 
children were Richard, John, Joseph, Charlotte (Mrs. 
Christian Weber), Barbara Ann (Mrs. William Evans, 
of Evansburg) and Rebecca (Mrs. M. L. Burr). Rich- 
ard Casselberry was born on the 6th of December, 
179!', at Evansburg, in Lower Providence township, 
and married Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of John 
and Catherine Miller, to whom was born children, — 
John W., Thomas M., Hilary B., Dr. Jesse R., Louisa 
Jane (Mrs. Charles Streeper), Catherine Ann and M. 
Burr. .John W., the eldest, Wiis born on the 1st of 
April, 1822, at Evansburg, and in youth removed with 
his father to Skippack township, in the same county, 
where his father had purchased a farm. A second 
removal of the family, to Pottstown, occurred in 1831, 
where the subject of this biographical sketch has since 
resided. 

His education was received at the Pott.stown 
Academy, and when yet a school-boy he devel- 
oped a predilection for speculative enterprises, the 
lad having been engaged thus early in the purchase 
and sale of cattle. These operations were varied by 
dealings in railroad stocks and securities until the 
death of his father, in 18.52, when he succeeded 
him in the management of a tannery, which was con- 
ducted with very successful results. He was nuirried, 
on the 29th of August, 1854, to Amelia, daughter of 
John and Mary Maltsberger, of Pottstown. Mr. Cas- 
selberry, having meanwhile become connected with 
the National Bank of Pottstown, as a director, relin- 
quished his connection with the lanncry in 1867, and 
31 



the following year opened a private banking-house, in 
connection with W. L. Williamson, under the style 
of J. W. Casselberry & Co., in which he is still in- 
terested. He has also been, hut is not at present, 
officially connected with other organizations. He 
has manifested a keen interest in the advancement of 
Pottstown, and has been identified with various pro- 
jects which resulted in benefit to its citizens, notably 
in an effort to light the borough by gas, in which the 
cost was largely borne by him. He was an early 
Whig and later a Republican, but has not partici- 
pated in the various political movements of the day 
other than by the casting of his ballot, his rare busi- 
ness ability having been employed chiefly in the fur- 
therance of his own commercial schemes. Mr. Cas- 
selberry is a member of Christ Protestant Episcopal 
Church of Pottstown, in which he has served as ves- 
tryman. 

The First Natioxal Bank of Coxshohocken, 
Pa., was organized March 13, 1873, with a capital 
of §150,000. The officers were: President, Alan 
Wood, Jr. ; Cashier, William McDermott ; Direc- 
tors, Alan Wood, Jr., George Bullock, Evan D. Jones, 
Jlichael O'Brien, William Davis, John Y. Crawford, 
i Elias Hicks Corson, Augustus D. Saylor, Sauuiel 
Fulton. 

At the present time (1884) the officers are : Presi- 
dent, George Bullock ; Vice-President, Evan D. 
Jones; Cashier, William McDermott ; Directors, 
George Bullock, Evan D. Jones, Augustus D. Say- 
lor, Michael O'Brien, William Davis, Lewis A. 
Lnkens, George Sampson, Samuel Pngh, Hamilton 
Egbert. 

The present capital is .«15U,000 ; deposits, $320,000 ; 
discounts, $420,000 ; value of real estate and bank 
property, $16,000. 
' William McDermott. — William, the son of Wil- 
liam and Mary McDermott, was born on the 1st day 
of September, A. P. 182.5, in Upper Merion town- 
ship, near the King of Prussia, Montgomery Co., 
Pa. 

His parents came from the north of Ireland, were 
of Scotch descent, and were brought up and ad- 
hered to the strictest tenets of the "Covenanters'" 
Church. As a consequence, the children were all 
kept close to that creed, especially with reference to 
the observance of the Sabbath. About the year 1828 the 
family removed to Norristown. In the year 1837 the 
father contracted a cold that gradually settled upon his 
lungs. After a long and painful illness he fell aslee2> 
in Jesus on the 5th of May, 1838, in the peaceful calm- 
ness of a soul trusting in the Saviour. The mother, 
left alone with a IVtmily of children, began the strug- 
gle of life. She was a woman of much more than 
ordinary intellect and decision of character, and ruled 
well her household, giving the impress of her vigorous 
character to her children. In the year 1852 she died 
at the home of her daughter Mary, who had married 
Samuel Griffith, of Norristown. 



482 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



After doing tlie little work that a boy could do in those 
early days, William, when fourteen years of age, took 
the contract for keeping uj) the fires in the small school- 
house of that district, in the borough of Norris- 
town. 



the printing oflice of the Norristown Herald owned 
by Robert Iredell, the present postmaster, and soon 
assumed charge of the office, remaining with Mr. 
Iredell until 1849. A year was spent as printer in 
the office of the Montgomery Watchman, a Democratic 




>-,-'*%" ^.>-^-><- 




-^l 




In 1839 he engaged as clerk for James Hagar, of 
Norristown, and remained until the financial crisis of 
1841, when, at the failure of Hagar, he sought other 
employment, and he was carrier for The Truth, a 
newspaper of the town. September, 1843, he entered 



paper, afterwards sold to and merged into the Nor- 
ristown Register. While learning the "art preser- 
vative of all arts " he became a Whig, and, later, 
embraced the principles of the Republican party, 
to which he has ever since been attached. 



BANKS AND BANKING. 



483 



In the year 1850, after working at the " case " until 
the hour at which the Bank of Montgomery 
County (the only bank at that time in the county) 
opened its doors, he washed the printers' ink from 
his hands, and began tlie business of a banker as 
clerk and watchman, sleeping in the banking-room. 
Soon after he was promoted to tlie position of teller, 
performing the duties of paying and receiving teller. 
Here he continued until January, 1873, when, on 
leaving the Montgomery Bank, he organized and 
prepared for business the First National Bank of 
Conshohocken, Pa., as its cashier, which position he 
still fills, having had a continuous banking experi- 
ence since May, 1850, under the old State system of 
banking a-s well as under the present National Bank 
Act. After acquiring this practical knowledge he is 
convinced that the present system is the very best the 
State or nation*can have, and should certainly be 
perpetuated. 

Mr. McDerraott has held the office of school di- 
rector and served in the Town Council of tiie borough 
of Conshohocken. While learning his trade as a 
printer he wrote for the Olive Branch, a temperance 
paper, published at Doylestown and afterwards at 
Norristown, having been a temperance adherent from 
his youth. He was probably the first newsjiaper 
reporter in the county, rc])orting lectures and gather- 
ing news under tlie heading of " Town Chi|)s " with 
the signature of " Vidi." He lias been a contributor 
since his apprenticeship to the newspapers and for 
about fifteen years was a correspondent of the Mont- 
gomery Ledger, Pottstowu, over the name of " Excel- 
sior." During the war, while Colonel Edwin Schall 
was absent on duty in the field, Mr. McDermott 
eA\\.eA\.\\e National Defender, nxakhv^ it while under 
his control a strong and popular journal. Later he was 
the editor of The Independent , published in Norristown. 
All this labor was performed after the hours of his 
duties as a printer and teller were over. He has been 
for about twenty-seven years secretary of the Nor- 
ristown Library. While in Norristown, in addi- 
tion to the duties of a teller, he was treasurer of three 
building aud loan associations and secretary of the 
Norristown Insurance and Water Company. He 
prepared a sketch for the Montgomery Historical 
Association on the banking operations of the county, 
and, at the request of the Montgomery County Sunday- 
School Association, a "Review of the Sunday-school 
work for the past quarter of a century." 

During a great revival in the year 1843 he, with 
more than one hundred others, united with the First 
Presbyterian Church of Norristown, under the pas- 
torate of Rev. Samuel M. Gould, and at once took an 
active jiart in church-work, piirtieularly that of the 
Sabbath-school. A sch(darship was secured for him 
to receive a college education at Easton, but his health 
did not admit of the necessary application. In June, 
1855, he was elected and entered upon his duties as 
superintendent of the Sabbath-school of the First 



Church. A division taking place, the same year he 
joined most heartily with those who left that church 
andsubsequently organized the Central Presbyterian 
Church of Norristown. In the year 1855 he was 
elected an elder of this church, and still retains that 
office, now being the senior elder. In this capa- 
city he has almost yearly attended the Presbytery or 
Synod as representative, and in 1881 was delegate 
from the Philadelphia Presbytery North to the 
General Assembly meeting that year at Buffalo. 
He remained superintendent of the Central Sab- 
l)ath-school until 1873, the year of his removal to 
Consholiocken, where he was chosen the sui)erinten- 
dent of the school of the Presbyterian Church at that 
place, which position he still holds. He was also 
clerk of the Session of the Central until he left 
Norristown. As a temperance man he has frequently 
been delegated to conventions in connection with the 
cause. 

Although never possessing a vigorous constitution, 
Mr. McDermott's life has been a most active oue, 
eompelled to it from the necessity of the case and the 
struggle for " bread." After these years of toil it is 
well to know that necessity is often a valuable stimu- 
lant and that with the blessing of Heaven and the 
prayers and benedictions of a Christian father and 
])ious and afl'ectionate mother we may all fill our 
niche in life usefully. 

The Tradesmen's National Bank of Cossho- 
HOCKEX was organized February 1, 1882, with a 
capital stock of S100,000 and a surplus fund of 
$10,500. The institution commenced business May 
20, 1882, with the following officers : President, John 
Wood; Vice-President and Cashier, William Henry 
Cresson. The present Directors are: John Wood, 
William Henry Cre.sson, John A. Eighter, B. Brooke 
Adams, Jawood Lukens, George Corson, George W. 
Wood, Franklin Dundore, Daniel H. Kent. The 
present capital is §100,000 ; surplus fund, $10,.500 ; 
deposits, $172,887.58; loans and discounts, S228,- 
850.32 ; and the value of bank property, SilOOO. 

The Jenkixtowx Natioxal Baxk of Jexkix- 
TOWN was chartered April 17, 1875, with a capital 
of $50,000, increased July 11, 1876, by the amount of 
$20,000, and upon March 13, 1884, by $30,000, mak- 
ing the total present capital 8100,000. 

The first officers were: President, Samuel W. Noble; 
Cashier, Andrew H. Baker; Directors, Samuel W. 
Noble, Charles F. Wilson, Thomas Williams, Jeremiah 
B. Lar7,elere, Joseph W. Hallowell, George D. Heist, 
Joseph Bosler, Charles Hewit, Jacob P. Tyson, 
Thomas T. Mather, John J. C. Harvey. 

The deposits at the close of the first year were 
$47,301.4(5; discounts, $70,598.88. 

The first building occupied was the Masonic Hall 
building. The bank was removed into the present 
building March 13, 1880. 

The deposits September 30, 1884, were $141,285.68 ; 
loans and discounts, $185,364.13; suri)lus fund. 



484 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



$11,000; and the value of real estate, furniture and 
fixtures, $15,000. 

The present officers are: President, Samuel W. 
Noble ; Cashier, Andrew H. Baker ; Directors, 
Samuel W. Noble, Charles F. Wilson, Thomas 
William.s, Jeremiah B. Larzelere, Joseph VV. Hal- 
lowell, George D. Heist, Joseph Bosler, John Thom- 
son, Hutchinson Smith, Edward Mather, Joseph A. 
Shoemaker. C. Mather has acted as notary jniblic for 
this bank. 

Samuel W. Noble. — William Noble and his wife, 
Frances, the progenitors of the Noble family, were 
residents of Bristol, England, and suffered persecution 
for their religious faith, that of the Society of Friends. 
Their son Abel, in 1684, when not yet twenty-one 
years of age, came to America and settled in Phila- 
delphia, where he Wius apprenticed to the trade of a 
cooper. He subsequently acquired an extensive tract 
of land in Bucks County, on the borders of Mont- 
gomery County, Pa. Among his children was Joseph, 
the great-grandfather of the subject of this biography, 
who married JIary, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth 
Lovett Smith, the former having been one of four 
brothers who, on their emigration from England, set- 
tled in Burlington County, N. J., and founded the 
city of Burlington. They are known as the " Bur- 
lington Smiths," and were owners of the ground on 
which the city stands, as also of much valuable prop- 
erty lying adjacent. The two surviving children of 
Joseph and Mary Nolde were Samuel and Mary (Mrs. 
Samuel Wetherell), of Burlington. Samuel married 
Lydia, daughter of Isaac Cooper, of New Jersey, in 
1746. Their children were eight in number, the sur- 
vivors being Hannah (Mrs. William Norton), Samuel 
and Richard. Samuel was born October 4, 1766, and 
married, in 1792, Elizabeth,daughterof Robert Tomp- 
kins, of Philadeljihia. Their surviving children are 
Joseph, born in 1799, who died in 1854; Charles, 
M.D., born in 1801, whose death occurred in 1873 ; 
and Lydia (Mrs. Thomas Longstreth), who was born in 
180:H and died in 1876. Samuel Noble married a 
second time, in 1817, Sarah, daughter of Samuel Web- 
ster, of New Jersey, whose children are Samuel W. 
and Richard. Samuel W. was born on the 15th of 
August, 1818, in Philadelphia, his father having been 
at that time engaged in that city in the business of 
tanning and currying. Here he resided until seven- 
teen years of age, meanwhile attending schofil and ac- 
quiring a substantial English education. Having 
developed an early fondness for the pursuits of an 
agriculturist, he removed to a farm in the suburbs, 
and acquired a practical knowledge of the various 
branches of farm labor, removing in 1839 to the farm, 
in Abington township, now his home, which his 
father had purchased. He was, on the 30th of Octo- 
ber, 1844, married to Elizabeth H., daughter of John 
and Martha P. Mather, of Cheltenham township. 
Their children are Henry A., born in 1845, now a 
resident of Philadelphia; Sarali, deceased ; John M., 



born in 1848, deceased; Samuel, born in 1849, who 
resides in Abington ; Clara, deceased ; Howard, born 
in" 1852, also of Abington ; Lydia L., deceased ; 
Franklin, whose birth occurred in 1855, now of Phil- 
adelphia ; Thomas L., born in 1857, of Abington ; 
Charles M., born in 1859, also of Abington ; Mary T., 
born in 1861; Anna, in 1862; and Elizabeth, 
deceased. Samuel W. Noble has engaged in no 
other pursuits than those pertaining to farming 
and horticulture during his active life. He has 
devoted much attention to the study of the latter, 
and filled for many years the office of vice-president 
of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. He held 
the same official relation to the Pennsylvania State 
Horticultural Society, formerly known as the Fruit- 
Growers' Society of Eastern Pennsylvania. Mr. Noble 
was, in 1875, elected president of the Jcnkintown 
National Bank, of which he was one of the incorpora- 
tors, and has thus far been the only incumbent of 
that office. He is secretary and treasurer of the 
Cheltenham and Willow Grove Turnpike Company, 
and was formerly president of the Union Mutual Fire 
Insurance Company of Montgomery County, of which 
he is now a director. He has been for forty years 
treasurer of the Abington Library, an institution 
that has enjoyed a successful career since its organi- 
zation, in 1804. In nearly every enterprise tending 
to advance the best interests of the township and the 
moral and material good of its citizens Mr. Noble has 
been an influential factor. His political sentiments 
are those of the Republican party, though he has in- 
variably declined to hold official relations with the 
party. The family connection with the Society of 
Friends as birthright members may be traced through 
six generations, his immediate family being identi- 
fied with the Abington Meeting. 

First National Bank of Ambler. — The credit of 
organizing this institution is mainly due to its presi- 
dent, Benjamin P. Wertsner, and William M. Singerly, 
as both gentlemen firmly believed in the necessity of 
such an institution to aid the future growtli of Ambler 
and relieve the vicinity from the inconvenience of 
traveling several miles to do its banking business. 

The bank was organized July 11, 1884, having a 
subscription list of sixty -six stockholders, with capital 
stock amounting to $55,000. 

The bank first started business in the Misses 
Knight's school-room, on August 2, 1884, with .W2,910 
paid on account of the capital stock, and at the close 
of the first day's business the depositors' acioutits 
showed a balance of $2648.98. 

The bank building, now nearly completed, will cost 
about $5500. 

The officers and directors are as follows: 

President, Benjamin P. Wertsner; Vice-President, 
(ieorge K. Knight; Cashier, .Tohn ,1. Houghton ; Di- 
rectors, David J. Ambler, Joseph Haywood, William 
C. Potts, Thomas Atkinson, Adam Hoover, George 
K. Knight, Benjamin P. Wertsner, Allen Berkhimer, 




% 




^^^l^L^i^-C 



/, 




,/. 



lr\ 




BANKS AND BANKING. 



485 



Aaron Styer, T. B. Geatrell, Samuel Van Winkle, H. 
C. Biddle, Benjamin K. Jolinson. 

On November 10, 18S4, tlie capital stock paid in 
amounted to $53,r)30, the loans and discounts to S29,- 
•4:W.24, the circulation outstanding to S27,000, and 
the individual deposits subject to check $39,458.09. 

Benjamin P. Weut.sxer, son of George and 
Hester Wertsner, was born in Norristown, Montgom- 
ery Co., Pa., September 21, 1829. In 1833 his father 
removed from Norristown to Whitpain township, and 
occupied what was known as the Weston grist-mill, 
and in 184.5 purchased eighty-five acres of land then 



thoroughly cultivated fields that have been by his 
skillful management transformed from a wilderness 
waste to the beauty and richness of a delicately and 
artistically cultivated garden spot. The horticul- 
tural department of the farm has been carefully at- 
tended to by Air. Wertsner, who has with his own 
hands planted and grafted a large variety of the 
choicest fruits. 

The large and commodious farm barn was erected 
in 1845, and the farm-house, if it might be dignified 
by that title, gave place in 1879 to the present pala- 
tial mansion, in which are all the modern conveu- 





ahuiist a wililerncss, and known at that time as part 
of Dawstield farm, now owned and occupied by his 
son, Beniauiin P. Wertsner. 

At the age of seventeen years young Wertsner was 
placed upon the plantation to look after, care for 
and manage the cultivation of crops, and to have. an 
oversight of the farming business generally, he hav- 
ing a natural as well as an acquired taste for agricul- 
tural pursuits, the care of stock and the disbursing of 
funds received from the proceeds of the farm. How- 
well he has thus far managed the attairs of the old 
wilderness plantation is seen in the well laid out and 



ience.s requisite to make home beautiftil, i)leasant 
and comfortable, making one of the most beautiful 
and attractive residences to be found in Montgomery 
County. The place is now known as " Evergreen 
Farm." 

Mr. Wertsner's father, George Wertsner, was one 
of the active, honest, upright citizens of his day, and 
while he lived was highly honored by his fellow-citi- 
zens, and as a mark of their respect for his many 
virtues elected him a member of the State Legisla- 
ture, where.he served in the sessions of 1846-47. He 
died several years since, respected by all who knew 



486 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



him. His widow still survives at the ripe old age of 
eighty-four, and is a resident of Norristown. 

Benjamin P. Wertsner was married to Mary, second 
daughter of General John E. Gross, of Trajjpe, Pa. 
The result of this reunion has been one daughter, 
Bertha, now a ttnely-educated young lady, residing 
with her parents. 

The father of Mr.s. Wertsner, General Gross, took 
an active part in the war of 1812, and was an officer 
of the American army, and subsequently a member 
of the State Legislature. He died in 1870, leaving a 
widow, who still survives the weignt of fourscore 
years and more. Mrs. Wertsner's gi-andfather was a 
member of the Continental Congress. 

Since Mr. Wertsner has been in active business life 
he has been honored by his fellow-citizens with vari- 
ous positions of honor and responsibility, among 
which may be mentioned guardian and trustee of 
several estates ; treasurer of the Ambler Building and 
Loan Association since its organization, in 1874; 
treasurer of the Plymouth Valley Creamery Associa- 
tion since its organization in 1881 ; treasurer of 
Whitpain Library Company; treasurer of Cold Point 
Grange since its organization in 1875 ; and on July 
15, 1884, at the organization, of the First National 
Bank of Ambler, was elected president of that insti- 
tution, which position he .still occupies with honor 
to himself and profit to the stockholders and 
patrons. 

The First National Bank of Lanhdale. — 
This bank Wiis organized April 6, 1864, with a capital 
of $50,000, and began business on June 16th, the 
same year. The officers were : President, John Y. 
Jenkins; Cashier, Charles Y. Jenkins; Directors, 
John S. Jenkins, James Price, George S. Reiff, 
John M. Harley, Owen Hughes, Elias K. Freed, 
John Kindig, Dr. D. Levering Heist, James Rob- 
erts. 

The bank now has a capital of $100,000 and 
property valued at $10,000. The discounts on Oc- 
tober 1, 1884, amounted to $185,881.05 and the 
deposits to $192,553.51, while the surplus fund was 
$35,000. 

The present officers are: President, Elias K. Freed; 
Vice-President, A. C. Godshall ; Cashier, C. S. 
Jenkins; Teller, O. M. Evans; Clerks, Sylvester 
Jenkins, Horace E. Jenkins ; Directors, Elias K. 
Freed, A. C. Godshall, Jacob R. Clemens, Andrew 
Anders, J. C. Hendricks, David Cassel, Joseph 
Swartley. 

The National Bank op Schwenksville was 
organized April 14, 1874, with $50,000 capital, the 
officers being : President, Jacob G. Schwenk ; Cashier, 
John G. Prizer ; Directors, Jacob G. Schwenk, George 
W. Steiner, Esq., H. W. Kratz, Esq., Albert Bromer, 
Isaac H. Johnson, Benjamin S. Ahlcrler, Philip 
Prizer, J. Warren Walt, James H. Price, Isaac L. 
Ban man. 

At the present time (November 1, 1884) the capital 



is $100,000; deposits, $263,521.46; loans and dis- 
counts, 1270,935.04; and surplus fund, $34,000. 

Following are the present officers : President, 
Jacob G. Schwenk ; Cashier, John G. Prizer: Direc- 
tors, Jacob G. Schwenk, H. W. Kratz, Esq., George 
W. Steiner, Esq., Isaac H. Johnson, Benjamin S. 
Alderfer, George D. Alderfer, Esq., Jacob S. Wagner, 
Abraham D. Alderfer, Noah D. Frank. 

The Hatboro' National Bank at the time of 
organization. May 4, 1875, had a capital of $65,000, 
and the value of bank property was $9000. The 
officers were : President, I. Newton Evans ; Cashier, 
S. Carey Ball ; Directors, I. N. Evans, G. J. Mitchell, 
J. P. Hellings, Joseph Barnsley, S. S. Thompson, 
C. S. Rorer, George S. Teas, Comly Hampton, F. L. 
Worthington. 

At the present time (Nov. 1, 1884) the capital is 
$52,000 ; deposits, $180,534.72 ; discounts, $127,007.63 ; 
surplus and undivided profits, $12,884.48 ; value of 
bank property, $8500. The present officers are I. 
Newton Evans, president ; James Van Horn, cashier ;. 
Directors, I. Newton Evans, G. J. Mitchell, Joseph 
Barnsley, George S. Teas, I. P. Hellings, S. S. Thomp- 
son, Charles S. Rorer, Comly Hampton, William 
C. Newport. 

The Perkiomen National Bank (East Green- 
ville), at the time of organization (September 27, 1875) 
had a capital of $100,000. The first officers were: 
President, Michael Alderfer; Cashier, John N. Jacobs; 
Directors, Michael Alderfer, John N. .Jacobs, John G. 
Hillegass, S. K. Barndt, Jacob Van Buskirk, M. A. 
Kratz, J. N. Klein, Daniel Clewell, Isaac L. Bauman, 
David G. Clemmer, Henry Kulp, Levi Fetterman. 

November 1, 1884, the deposits were $324,782.17;. 
discounts, $443,496.93 ; value of banking-house and 
fixtures, $10,000. 

Following are the officers now holding place : 
Michael Alderfer, president ; .John N. Jacolis, cashier. 
Directors, Michael Alderfer, Lederachville, Pa. ; John 
N. Jacobs, East Greenville, Pa. ; David Ci. Clemmer, 
Clayton, Pa.; John G. Hillegass, Penn.sburg, Pa.; 
Jacob Van Buskirk, Stiensburg, Pa. ; Isaac L. Bau- 
man, Bailey, Pa.; Jacob W. Klein, Kleins, Pa.; 
Solomon K. Barndt, Alburtis, Pa. ; Levi Fetterman, 
Vera Cruz, Pa. ; .lacob K. Harley, Ilarleysville, Pa. ; 
Michael A. Kratz, Green Lane, Pa.; Irwin M. 
Stetler, Frederick, Pa. 

The Farmers' National Bank ofPennsburg was 
organized May 6, 1876, with a capital of $50,000. The 
officers first holding place were: President, William 
F. Reed ; C.ishier, A. F. Day ; Directors, William F. 
Reed, Richard Markley, Jonathan P. Hillegass, 
Jesse Gery, Charles T. Waage, M.D., Daniel C. 
Stauff'er, Tobias S. Reift', George Deisher, William C. 
Raudenbush. 

At the present time (1884) the capital is $75,000 ; 
deposits, 180,311.56 ; discounts, $141,603.85 ; and value 
of bank property, $2500. The present officers are : 
President, Edwin M. Benner; Cashier, James M. 



BANKS AiND BANKIxXG. 



487 



Slifer; Teller, William T. Day; Directors, E. M. 
Benner, J. P. Hillegass, Richard Markley, Jesse Gery, 
T. S. Reiff, A. S. Wagner, D. C. Stauffer, Thomas 
Berndt. B. F. Leidy succeeded James M. Slifer as 
cashier December 6, 1884. 

The Union National Bank of Soudekton at 
the time of organization. May 12, 1870, had a capital 
of $90,000. The first officers were: President, Isaac 
G. Gerhart ; Cashier, J. C. Landes ; Directors, Isaac 
G. Gerhart, H. K. Godshall, G. H. Swartz, Abraham 
Sorvcr, Henry Ruth, Charles Loch, Augustus 
Thomas, Charles Godshall, M. B. Bergey, John S. 
Moyer. 

On November 1, 1884, the amount of capital was 
$90,000 ; deposits, $118,424.69; discounts, $l(J8.r)70.22; 
value of bank property, $4600 ; amount of surplus 
fund, $19,000. • 

The present officers are : President, Isaac G. Ger- 
hart ; Cashier, J. C. Landes, Directors, I. G. Ger- 
hart, Abraham Server, James S. Ruth, E. H. 
Souder, I. H. Moyer, J. B. Mover, I. G. Metz, 
Augustus Thomas, Charles Souder. 

Building and Loan Associations.— No review of 
the financial institutions of the county would approxi- 
mate completeness without reference to the operations 
of building and loan associations, or, iis they are now 
called, saving-fund, building and loan associations. 
Although of comparatively recent origin, they have 
been, and are now, important factors in accumulating 
the surplus earnings of the industrial classes. Within 
the last forty years fifty-two associations have been 
chartered in this county. The maximum capital ac- 
cumulated for final distribution among the stock- 
holders of each of these associations, upon the basis 
of their chartered privileges, would be four hundred 
thousand dollars, or two thousand shares at a par 
value of two hundred dollars each. It is probable, 
however, that all have not reached their greatest pos- 
sible usefulness. We assume that each has sold 
one thousand shares at a par value of two hundred 
dollars per share, representing an aggregate of surplus 
earnings amounting to ten million four hundred thou- 
sand dollars. These associations are largely composed 
of persons of limited means, with no other resources 
than their daily labor. Monthly i)ayments of one 
dollar per share on their stock forms a certain fund 
for investment, which is at the disposal of the mem- 
bers. Payments made with punctuality for a few 
years give value to the stock and substantial credit 
to the member, who can generally borrow from the 
association the par value of his stock and with it 
purchase real estate, the value of which is deemed 
sufficient, when mortgaged, to amply secure the asso- 
ciation for the loan. Under this system of utilizing 
the earnings of well-paid skilled labor over the actual 
cost of living, hundreds and thousands of comfortable 
homes have been bought and paid for, habits of econ- 
omy and frugality have been fostered and the con- 
dition of the working-classes greatly improved. If 



the stock value of these fifty-two associations be as 
stated, ten million four hundred thousand dollars, and 
this mor'-y has gone into improved real estate, it 
would nave a purchasing power equal to sir (hnusand 
nine hundred and thirty -three homes, at a cost of fifteen 
hundred dollars each. These are substantial dividends, 
and contribute more permanently to the taxable 
wealth of the county than those paid upon bank, 
railroad and other corporation stocks. The business 
of these associations is conducted by a board of direc- 
tors and officers, who are elected annually by the 
stockholders, and it is due to them to say that these 
corporations have been managed with excellent judg- 
ment and great fidelity. The annexed list of associa- 
tions will serve to show the date of their institution 
in the county and their distribution in centres of 
population : 



Conshohocken, Sept. 29, 1851. 
MoutgomeiT, May 13, 1852. 
NorriBtown, May 20, 1852. 
Mechanics', Nov. 8, 1852. 
Union, May 16, 1853. 
Harmony, No. 1, May 10, 1853. 
Workingnien"6, May 15, 1854. 
The Mechanics', May 21, 1855. 
Clieltenham, Ang. 30, 1869. 
Washington, May 21, 1861. 
Harmony, No. 2, Aug. IT, 1804. 
Iron-worliers', Feb. 27, 1806. 
The National, May 21, 1800. 
Enterprise, May 20, 1807. 
Lansilale, May 20, 1867. 
NorUl Wales, May 20, 1807. 
Hatboro', May 21, 1807. 
First National, May 22, ISO". 
Pencoyd, Nov. 11, 1867. 
Tenn, Feb. 24, 1808. 
Union, iMay 21, 1868. 
Upiter anil Lower Providence, An^ 

17, 1808. 
Second National. Aug. 19, 1868. 
William Penn, Nov. 9, 1808. 
Horehani, May 17, 1869. 
Gwynedd, May 18, 1S69. 



Fort Washington, May 18, 1869. 
Laborcre', Nov. 8, 1809. 
Mcrion, Nov. 8, 1869. 
Perseverance, Nov. 9, 1809. 
Fame, Jlay 10, 1870. 
Weldon, Aug. 15, 1870. 
Abington, Nov. 14, 1870. 
Kilge Hill, Nov. 14, 187(1. 
Huntingdon Peri)etual, .\ug. 21, 

1871. 
Mutual, Aug. 21, 1871. 
Flourtown, Nov. 13, 1871. 
Tbir.1 National, Nov. 13, 1871. 
Enteriirise, May 20, 1872, 
Lower Mcrion, May 20, 1872. 
Gulf Mutual, May 28, 1872. 
Excelsior, Aug. 19, 1872. 
Madison, Feb. 24, 1873. 
Telford, May 20, 1873. 
ProBi.ectvillo, Aug. 18, 1873. 
Spring Mill, Aug. 18, 1873. 
First National, Oct. 2, 1874. 
Harmony, April 15, 1870. 
Wni. B. Karnbo, Sept. 21, 1878. 
Rising Sun, Sept. 17, 1878. 
Star Loan, April 20, 1880. 
Geo. McFariand, April 17, 1881. 



Insurance. — Following is a list of the mutual fire 
and storm insurance companies incorporated and 
doing business in Montgomery County : ' The Mutual 
Fire Insurance Company of Montgomery County, 
chartered March 1, 1841 ; Line Lexington Fire Insur- 
ance Company, chartered April 3, 1863; Union Mutual 
Fire and Storm Insurance Comiiany, chartered March 
30, 1 866 ; the Schuylkill Valley Mutual Fire Insurance 
Company of Norristown, chartered April 11, 1866; 
Perkiomen Mutual Fire Insurance Company, char- 
tered May 30, 1871; North Penn Fire Insurance 
Company, chartered May 20, 1873 ; New Hanover 
I Mutual Fire Insurance Company, chartered January 
30, 1882; Berks and Montgomery Mutual Storm and 
Insurance Company, chartered January 30, 1882. The 
estimated value of property iusured by the foregoing 
companies is sixty million dollars. 

1 .\ very large amount of property in Montgomery County is insured in 
perpctiuil and foreign insurance companies. 



488 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

CHARITABLE AND BENEVOLENT AS.-=OCIATIONS. 

Masonic. — Tlierc is a tradition that a Masonic lodge 
was in existence within tlie lines of the (."ontinental 
army occupying Valley Forge, and that it was i)re- 
sided over by Washington. 

Charity Lodge, No. 1!)0, F. and A. M.— The first 
lodge of Masons organized in Montgomery County of 
which any positive information can be obtained is 
Charity Lodge, No. 19(1, F. and A. M., of Norristown, 
the charter for which was granted August 2, 1823, and 
the lodge constituted October 23d, the same year. 
By the last published report it has two hundred and 
twelve members. 

The present officers are: Thomas J. Baker, W. M.; 
William F. Slinglufi; S. W. ; James A. Welsh, J. W. ; 
John yiingluff, Treas. ; George R. Kite, See. 

Of Past Masters now living are Charles L. Corn- 
man, Edmund A. Kite, Samuel Brown, Jr., Edward 
D. Johnson, William B. Roberts, Florence Sullivan, 
Benjamin F. Solley, William E. Moyer, John Sling- 
luff, R. G. L., George A. Lenzi, D. (i. Sherman, 
John C. Richardson, Abraham S. Hallman, Benjamin 
Thomas, Joseph H. Bodey, Jacob Custer, Henry A. 
Derr, Alexander Hooven, Thaddeus S. Adle, John W. 
Bickel, Joseph R. Ebert. 

Stichtee Lodge, No. 254, of Pottstown. — The 
charter for this lodge was granted March 3, ISSl. It 
now has one hundred and forty-nine members, with 
the following officers: (icorge R.Harrison, W. M. ; 
R. S. Malsberger, S. W. ; J. II. Jlorris, J. W. ; M. S. 
Longaker, Treas. ; Alexander Malsberger, Sec. 

The Past Masters now living are S. A. Stout, H. 
C. Feger, A. Malsberger, Samuel R. Ellis, Charles 
Moore, W. C. Rutter, J. H. Hobart, T. W. Ludwig, 
Dr. M. Aug. Withers, William M. Gordon, J. Harry 
Hobart, Mont. S. Longaker, John Sfheetz, William 
Auchenbach, E. B. McCauley, N. F. Dotterer, J. M. 
Cunningham, M. A. Campbell, J. H. Smith, Hiram 
Coller, Lloyd C. Keim. 

Cassia Loikje, No. 273. — The charter for this lodge 
was granted March 7, 1853, and it was constituted 
at Morgan's Corner, Radnor township, Delaware 
Co., and later, by dispensation, removed to Ard- 
more, in Montgomery County, where it still holds its 
meetings. It has a member.ship of one hundred and 
thirty-six, with the following officers: Samuel M. 
Garrigues, W. M.; Thonuis D. Murphy, S. W. ; F. V. 
V. Artsdalen, J. W. ; George H. Baker, Treas. ; Josiah 
S. Pearce, Sec. 

Past Masters : E. J. Lauman, J. Levis Worrall, 
J. T. McClellan, Albert G. Preston, Josiah S. Pearce, 
Benjamin Shank, S. S. Whiteman, J. N. Marshall, H. 
L. Litzenberg, Josepli T. McBride, J. M. Apick, 
Francis Fenimore, Charles W. Humphreys, E. T. 
Carr, Isaac A. ('leaver, Mahlon Rossitcr, (leorge G. 
Lennig. 



Fort Washington Lodge, No. 308, is located at 
Fort Washington, in Wliitemarsh township, and waa 
constituted September 20, 1857. It has at present 
sixty-six members and the following officers : Francis 
S. Wilson, W. M. ; Oliver K. Beyer, S. W. ; Edward 
Neal, J. W. ; Henry Unger, Treas. ; George Lower, 
Sec, Floui-town. 

Past Masters: J. A. Martin, Eli Hoover, Joseph 
Rex (deceased). Dr. M. Newberry, H. S. Sechler, 
Joseph Morrison, Samuel Jackson, T. J. Wentz, John 
Sechler, Henry Unger, George D. Whitcomb, George 
Lower, James McGowen, Charles Hoover, Adam 
Hersh, G. W. Worth, Edward W. Lukens, Edwin H. 
Faust, George W. Hellings. 

Warren Lodge. No. 310, was chartered September 
5, 1857, and constituted at Trappe, in Upi)er Provi- 
dence town.ship. It has a membership of sixty-four, 
with the following officers : (iarret F. Hunsicker, W. 
M. ; Henry H. Fisher, S. W. ; Joseph W. Culbert, 
J. W. ; Dr. J. Warren Royer, Treas. ; Henry W. Kratz, 
Sec. 

Past Masters : Dr. J. W. Royer, W. R. Rittenhouse, 
J. W. Sunderland, Henry W. Kratz, Aug. E. Dambly, 
Frs. R. Deeds, Aaron Weikel, J. C. Laver, D. S. 
Raudenbush, Lewis Royer, Franklin March, Dr. Amos 
C. Coleman. 

Friendship Lodge, No. 400, located at Jeukin- 
town, received a charter bearing date September 5, 
1867. It now contains ninety-five members and has 
the following officers: T. Benton Dornan, W. M. ; 
Paul C. Silnvemmer, S. W.; George W. Smith, .1. W. ; 
Charles Cottman, Treas.; M. Luther Kohler, Sec. 

Past Masters: Thomas P. jManyjienny (deceased), 
Charles Mather, J. W. Ridpath, S. W. Broadbent, 
Charles Evans, Dr. Thomas Betts, Robert E. Patter- 
son, August Beitney, A. S. Schively, Samuel Keightly, 
J. A. Slioemaker, I). H. Yerkes, .lohn Dornan, Lewis 
B. Gusmaii, J. W. Wister, John C. Roljerts, William 
Elliott. 

W. K. Bray Lodge, No. 410, of Hatboro', was 
chartered March 4, 1868, and now has sixty members 
and the following officers: Thomas Kelley, W. M.; 
Ephraim Slugg, S. W.; Paul Jones, J. W. ; John B. 
Jones, Treas. ; Samuel B. Wilgus, Sec. 

Past Masters: Dr. E. Reading, R. L. Davis, J. John 
Beans, George Dunnet, John Slugg, Jesse S. Leidy, 
T. G. Watson, Edw. Bright, Edmond Wilgus, W. 
Elwood Palmer, Reuben A. Baum, Dr. A. D. Markley. 

FuiTz Lodge, No 420, of Conshohooken, was 
chartered June 3, 1868, and had, Ijy the last repoi't, 
eighty-six members. The following are the present 
ofiieers and Past Masters : (ieorge M. Williani-s, W. M. ; 
Cadw. H. Brooke, S. W.; T. B. Reddington, J. W.; 
J. S. Hippie, Treas. ; Peter Fritz, Jr., Sec. 

Past Masters : Edmund A. Nuss, Joseph Chislett, 
J. ^V. Harry, Peter Fritz, Jr., J. P. Armitage, George 
Stiles, .Iose|)h McGonegal, C. A. Maxwell, William F. 
Smith, James H. S'.een, Dr. William McKiuzie, James 
Bell. Richard B. Deal, Etbiiun<l A. Kite, Jr. 



CHARITABLE AND BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATIONS. 



489 



Shiloh LcjiKiE, No. 0.58, of Laxsdale, was con- 
stituted January 31, 1882, with ten members, and now 
liiis twenty-four members. David H. Hoult, W. M. 
R. G. L.;"W. E. Richardson, S. W.; H. D. Fiesel, 
•T. W.; C. E. Miller, Treas.; Hiram F. Effrig, Sec. 

Pa.st Master: Rev. Henry F. Seiple. 

Royal Arch Chapters. — The first in the county 
to be constituted Wiis Norristown Royal Arch Chap- 
ter No. 190. Its warrant was issued December 27, 1858. 

The present officers and Past High Priests now 
living are: Comp. William F. Slingluff, High Priest ; 
Isaac W. Smith, K ; Robert Wilson Perry, Ser. ; 
Joseph Shaw, Treasurer ; Franklin T. Beerer, 
Secretary. 

P. H. P.'s : Charles L. Cornman, Samuel Brown, 
Jr., Edmund A. Kite, William E. Meyer, J. F. Hart- 
ranft, John Slinglutt', B. F. Solly, G. A. Lenzi, Benja- 
min Thomas, D. G. Sherman, J. C. Richardson, I. P. 
Waiiger, C. I. Baker, Thaddeus S. Adle, H. A. Derr, 
T. J. Baker, James A. Welsh. 

Fort Washingtox Royal Arch Chapter, No. 
220, OF Fokt Washington, Whitemarsh Town- 
ship, was constituted September 10, 18()8. Its pres- 
ent officers and Past High Priests are Comp. John 
J. Slifer, High Priest; Henry J. Houpt, K ; Charles 
H. Marple, Scr. ; Henry Unger, Treasurer ; Louis 
S. Whitcomb, Secretary. 

P. H. P.'s: Joseph Rex, Milton Newberry, M.I)., 
Joseph Morrison, Henry Unger, Dr. J. T. Hampton, 
L-iuis S. Whitcomb, T. C. Vaux, Adam Hersh, T. 
MacReynolds, Lemuel Rodenbaugh. 

.\niN(iTON Royal Arch Chapter, No. 245, of 
Ji:n'kixtown, was constituted November 28, 1873. 
The ]iresent officers and Past High Priests are: Com]). 
Ehvool Wilgus, High Priest ; William Elliott, K ; J. 
Howard Danenhower, Scr.; Charles Harper, Treas- 
urer ; Edward Bright, Seci'etary. 

P. H. P.'s: S. W, Broadbent, J. W. Ridpath, Lewis 

B. Gusman, Daniel H. Yorks, Robert E. Patterson, 
Thomas Rose, Samuel Keightly, Edward Bright, 
Joseph W. Hunter. ' 

Montgomery Chapter, No. 2G2, of Arp.more, 
was constituted June 23, 1882. The following are 
the officers: Comp. Joseph T.McClellan, High Priest; 
J.Newton Marshall, K; George G. Lennig, Ser.; 
William H. Sutton, Treasurer ; Thomas McCully, 
Seiretary. P. H. P., William H. Sutton, and R. G. C. 

Knights Templar. — Hutchinson Commandery, 
No. o2, OF Norristown, was constituted May 23, 
18(>8. Its present officers are Sir Knight Charles I. 
Baker, E. C. ; Irving P. Wanger, G. ; Samuel J. Long, 

C. G. ; William Stabler, Treasurer; Wallace Boyer, 
Rec. 

The Past Commanders living are John Slingluff, 
Edmund A Kite, John C. Richardson, William 
Rennyson, Franklin T. Beerer, William E. Moyer, 
George A. Lenzi, Henry A. Derr, Thomas J. Baker, 
Benjainiii F. Solly, Thaddeus S. Adle. 

Independeat Order of Odd-Fellows.— The Inde- 



pendent Order of Odd-Fellows is a charitable fra- 
ternal and beneficial organization, and a legitimate 
offspring of the Manchester Unity of Odd-Fellows in 
England. The payment of weekly and funeral benefits 
to its members, whether in straitened circumstances 
or not is one of its peculiar and dominant features. 
The amount thus paid to its members in this country 
has grown to almost fabulous figures, and every night 
throughout the land thousands of dollars are voted to 
its sick and disabled members, of which the general 
public know nothing. 

The origin of modern Odd-Fellowship is of com- 
paratively recent date. Apparently endeavoring to 
rival other organizations, an absurd claim was set up 
by some, ascribing its origin to the Jewish legion under 
Titus, who, it is asserted, received from that emperor 
its first charter written on a golden tablet. Even 
more ancient origin has been ascribed, but all Odd- 
Fellows now agree that Odd- Fellowship can be traced 
no further back than about the middle of the 
eighteenth century ; the name is explained from the 
fact that orders and sects that rendered aid to mem- 
bers in times of sickness and distress were exceedingly 
rare. 

The Manchester Unity of Odd-Fellows was planted 
on American soil by Thomas Wildey, in Baltimore, 
in 1819. This was soon followed by the institution 
of Pennsylvania Lodge, No. 1, in Philadelphia, De- 
cember 26, 1821, at the public-house of John Upton, 
on Dock Street. This lodge was started by English- 
men social and convivial in their habits, and the or- 
ganization thus commenced soon became of more than 
local interest. Like convivial spirits became identi- 
fied with the order, and as they separated, induced 
lodge organizations wherever they happened to locate. 
Such an individual in the person of Morton Kelsey, 
who belonged to a Philadelphia lodge, came to Nor- 
ristown in the fall of 183li.' His evenings were spent 
in the bar-room of the Farmer's Hotel, kept by James 
Coates, and the zealousness of the man's nature soon 
found others who were willing to co-oi)erate with him 
and institute a lodge. The initiations were then a 
mere travesty of the impressive lessons now taught, 
and curiosity doubtless prompted several to become 
identified with the order. Mr. Kelsey secured the 
necessary information, and Montgomery Lodge, No. 
57, was organized February 27, 1837, the charter 
having been previously granted by the (Jrand Lodge. 
The following-named persons were first elected, to wit : 
N. G., James Coates; V. G., Watson Kirkbride; Sec- 
retary, John W. Powell; and Treasurer, .Tacob Spang. 
The lodge first met Saturday evenings, and was or- 
ganized in an attic over the back building of the resi- 
dence of William Powell, immediately adjoining the 
property on which Music Hall now stands. Shortly 
afterwards the meetings were held in the old court- 
house, but at the expiration of a year Samuel Jami- 

1 "History of Montgomery Lodge, No. 57," by George W. Holstein. 



490 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



son rented them a room on Main Street for sixty dollars 
per annum for meeting purposes. At the expiration 
of another year they again moved, this time to the 
house of their treasurer, where, .lanuary 19, 1840, all 
they owned was swept away by a disastrous fire. 
This was evidently the work of an incendiary, for the 
popular feeling against secret societies was very great. 
Notwithstanding this great loss meetings at different 
places were still held. Immediately after the fire a 
ftill set of regalia was presented by a Philadelphia 
lodge, and the brotherhood in that city contributed 
$1.")5.25 to the distressed lodge. The assets being at 
this time merely nominal, a suitable place in which to 
meet being secured with difficulty, it was sometimes 
weeks before a quorum could be obtained, and the end 
of Montgomery Lodge seemed fast approaching. 
This was doubtless aided by the feeling which, during 
all this time, existed against fraternal organizations. 
The conviviality of the members, too, had a deleterious 
effect on the membership, but a general weeding-out 
of this class, as also of some for the misappropriation 
of funds, revived the lodge, and made it what it is to- 
day, one of the finest organizations of the kind in ex- 
istence in the State. The popular feeling against 
secret societies abating, the next few years witnessed 
not only a large increase in the membership of this 
lodge, but the institution of new lodges throughout 
the county. The second, Wissahickon Lodge, No. 
178, was formed at Flourtown, and was instituted by 
the Grand Lodge officers, assisted by H. S. Leibert, of 
Montgomery, as the District Deputy. August 27, 
1846, Thomas Bitting was elected N. G. ; N. K. Shoe- 
maker, V. G. ; J. A. Martin, Secretary ; Charles J. Ai- 
main. Assistant Secretary; and S. H. Aimain, Treas- 
urer. This lodge has erected a hall, and is a good 
working lodge. Messrs. Thomas Bitting and Charles 
J. Aimain still retain their membership. 

D. D. G. M. X. S. Leibert instituted Merion Lodge, 
No. 210, November 3, 1846. This lodge is still in ex- 
istence, has had its periods of " hard times," but is 
now in a flourishing conilition. The incoming Grand 
Master of the State, Dr. F. V. Van Artsdalen, is a 
member of this lodge. 

D. D. G. M. Leibert instituted Centre Si|uare 
Lodge, No. 204, December 22, 1846, at Centre Square. 
The application for the charter of this lodge, was 
granted by the Grand Lodge before that of No. 210, 
but when the officers visited the village, and saw the 
room in which the charter members projiosed to 
meet, they withheld the charter until a more suitable 
place could be obtained. The institution of this 
lodge was thus postponed for more than two moAths. 
Those interested persisted, and finally procured the 
scL'ond story of an old wheelwright-shop, where the 
lodge was instituted by Mr. Leibert, assisted by a 
delegation from Montgomery Lodge, No. 57. Thomas 
H. Wentz was elected N. G. ; William Zimmerman, 
V. G. ; Jacob Fisher, Secretary; George Sheaf, Sr., Asst. 
Secretary ; and Wells Tomlinson, Treasurer. One of 



the charter members of this lodge, George F. Sheaf, 
Sr., was initiated in Philadelphia, March, 1828, and 
is still living, a remarkaljly well-preserved old man. 
He is the second oldest Odd-Fellow in the State, has 
always been active in subordinate lodge-work, and 
for many years has been the secretary of Centre 
Square Lodge. The members of this lodge becoming 
dissatisfied with the accommodations which the 
wheelwright-shop aflbrded, purchased the building 
they now own, and remodeled the third story into a 
commodious lodge-room. 

In the early part of the year 1847, Brother Leibert, as 
D. D. G. M., instituted four lodges, as follows: Mana- 
tawny Lodge, No. 214, at Pottstown, January 5, 
1847 ; Gratitude Lodge, No. 216, at Conshohocken, 
January 1.5, 1847 ; Eagle Lodge, No. 222, at Hunt- 
ingdon Valley, February 4, 1847; and Curtis Lodge, No. 
2;-i9, atNorristown, April 29, 1857. Manatawny Lodge 
had seven charter members, and elected the following 
officers: Solomon A. Stout, N. G. ; Joseph E. Yeager, 
V. G. ; Henry A. Sellers, Secretary ; Andrew H. Lip- 
pin, Assistant Secretary; and Bernard Weand, Treas- 
urer. Samuel Lightcap and Charles Moore were the 
two additional members who applied for the charter. 
This is one of the best disciplined lodges in the State. 
Its Secretary, Dr. Charles Moore, was for years the 
representative of the Grand Encampment in the 
Grand Lodge of the United States, and no more 
efficient officer lives than he. Gratitude Lodge, at 
Conshohocken, is a good working lodge, and is now 
prospering. A hall now in the course of erection 
indicates the interest the members take in the order. 
Curtis Lodge, No. 239, was composed almost entirely 
of niembers of Montgomery Lodge at its organization. 
This lodge is the largest in the county, is composed 
of good material, and has done much to alleviate the 
wants of its members. William A. Ruddack, a mem- 
ber of this lodge, is a Past Chief Patriarch of the 
Grand Encampment of Pennsylvania. 

On the 24th of August, 1848, Spring House Lodge, 
No. 329, was instituted by withdrawing members from 
Wissahickou Lodge, No. 178. After institution the 
members concluded to build a hall, and in this 
laudable effort were assisted by some of the public- 
spirited citizens of the neighborhood. This lodge is 
in a good condition now, numbering over one hundred 
members. 

Peace and Love Lodge, No. 337, was instituted at 
Willow Grove, November 6, 1848. The lodge first 
met in the attic of a jirivate house, next door to the 
P^ountain Hotel. The members coming principally 
from the vicinity of Jenkintown, a growing village, 
succeeded in having it removed to that place. The 
first meeting was held in that village April 13, 1850. 

Loller Lodge, No. 3.S8, was instituted December 8, 
1848, at Hatboro'. The lodge takes its name from the 
old academy located at that place, and is in a good 
financial condition. 

Providence Lodge, No. 345, was instituted February 



I 



CHARITABLE AND BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATIONS. 



491 



10, 1849, and has had many diflSculties to overcome. 
It first met at the Trappe, in Providence township 
(hence its name), but many years ago, its members 
tirinfi of their effort to overcome the prejudice of tlie 
vicinity, contemphited surrendering the charter. A 
few members wlio weekly drove from Kulpsville <lc- 
termined to save it, and succeeded in removing tlie 
lodge to the last-named place. The members here 
upheld it through that period of prejudice, which al- 
most cost the member? social ostracism, until now, 
although not strong numerically, the lodge is in a 
good financial condition, and lias the well-wishes of 
the people of the neighborhood. 

Marble Hall Lodge, No. 351, was instituted July 10, 
1849, at Barren Hill, now called Lafayette Hill. This 
lodge has erected a fine hall, and has a large member- 
ship. 

Douglas Lodge, No. 367, was instituted June 14^ 
1849. This lodge met at Douglasville and had a 
checkered history. The prejudice of the people of 
the vicinity drove from the lodge many of its mem- 
bers. In May, 1852, the lodge not having held a 
meeting for several weeks, it was determined to sur- 
render the charter. The charter remained among the 
archives of the Grand Lodge until .luly 17, 1874, when 
certain members, obtaining their cards from Pennsburg [ 
Lodge, No. 449, and Providence Lodge, No. 345, re- 
claimed the charter and instituted Perkiomenville 
Lodge, No. 367, at Perkiomenville. This lodge now 
numbers over one hundred members, has erected a 
suitable hall, and the average attendance at the 
weekly meetings is much better than those of the 
lodges meeting in the several boroughs of the county. 

Banyan Tree Lodge, No. 378, was instituted 
October 23, 1849, at Ardmore. This lodge has a few 
enthusiastic members and deserves to succeed. 

Economy Lodge, No. 397, was instituted February 
25, 1850, at Evansburg. The meetings of this lodge 
are still held in the third story of the store and 
])ost-office at that place, and has a large and commo- 
dious room. The lodge is progressing finely. 

On March 28, 1851, Norris Lodge, No. 430, was in- 
stituted. The charter members formerly belonged to 
Montgomery and Curtis Lodges, and were ambitious 
young men largely drawn from professional and mer- 
cantile life, who believed that aiK.ither lodge could 
live and prosper in the borough of Norristown. This 
addition to the family of lodges in this county soon 
|)roved itself entirely worthy of fellowship, for many 
young men became members, and energy became 
typical. A rivalry, not bitter, but friendly, soon arose 
and still e.xists. The three lodges in the borough e.K- 
tend cordial invitations to the others when making or 
receiving visitations, and candidates from either of the 
lodges for an office to be voted for in the district re- 
ceive a cordial support in all. The membership of 
this lodge now consists principally of men identified 
with industrial pursuits, are social and genial in their 
intercourse with each other, and profess great inde- 



pendence. Norris Lodge is a good working lodge, 
and has been the means of doing much good in dis- 
tributing money to its sick, distressed and worthy 
members. Believing that "it is more blessed to give 
than to receive," a Christma.s call at the house of an 
afflicted or indigent memlier from the membership 
with provisions and a well-filled purse is not an un- 
usual thing. 

Pennsburg Lodge, No. 449, was instituted September 
18, 1851, in the second story of an old shop at Penns- 
burg. In this room the lodge met until May 18, 1853, 
when it was first convened in the third story of the 
residence of Jacob Hillegass. Being dissatisfied with 
the accommodations aflfbrded, the lodge erected a large 
and spacious hall, three stories in height, which was 
dedicated May 18, 1876. This hall is the largest in 
the county, and the lodge-room is possibly better 
adapted for degree work than any other. Dr. Edwin 
H. Bieber, of Brotherly Love Lodge, No. 77, and 
Daniel Heins, of Douglas Lodge, No. 367, were in- 
strumental in organizing this lodge. Several times 
after having secured the signatures of gentlemen who 
resided in the neighborhood to an application for a 
charter they were informed that objection had 
been made, and they desired their names with<lrawn. 
In this manner the eilbrts of Messrs. Bieber and 
Heins were frustrated until the necessary number 
were obtained. After institution the lodge fre- 
quently failed to meet for the want of a quorum, 
until the surrender of the charter was contemplated. 
The members most interested suggested that the ses- 
sions of the lodge be held after the people in the 
vicinity had retired, and in this way the lodge organi- 
zation was maintained. Frequently members of the 
lodge were publicly denounced. Even at the " Harvest 
Home "held by the lodge during the year 1883, the Rev. 
Mr. Deckant, although invited by the lodge to speak, 
assailed the fraternity with much feeling and great 
bitterness. The lodge has, however, overcome all such 
' difficulties, and is one of the best in the county. The 
members occasionally use the German ritual and are 
well versed in the unwritten work in both languages. 

Upper Dublin Lodge, No. 458, was instituted 
November 17, 1851, at Jarrettown. This lodge is 
chiefly composed of farmers, and is conservatively 
managed, and as a natural consequence the finances 
are in a good condition. 

Madison Lodge, No. 466, was instituted at Pottstown, 
June 14, 1852. The charter members came from Mana- 
tawny Lodge, No. 214. The lodge is finely progressing. 

Gulf Lodge, No. 525, was instituted at Gulf Mills, 
June, 12, 1856. The lodge was soon removed to West 
Conshohocken, and is progressing admirably in its 
work, and has a jovial membership, their hospitality 
being almost proverbial. 

North Wales Lodge, No. 610, was instituted at 
North Wales October 12, 1867. This lodge is in 
good working order and thoroughly equipped, the 
members being earnest and active. 



492 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Lansdale Lodge, No. 977, was instituted March 17, 
1881, at Lansdale. There are now nearly one hun- 
dred members belonging to it, mostly young men, 
and all seem to be earnest and active. 

The two lodges in Norristown succeeded in erecting 
a fine hall in the year 1850. In this, however, they 
were aided by the citizens, and the venture became a 
joint-stock company, which sold its building in 1878 
to Philip Quillman, who has remodeled it. The three 
lodges, the Encampment and the Rebekah Aidmeetin 
this hall, as do also many other secret societies. 

During the year ISTiJ, when the centennial anni- 
versary of the Declaration of Independence was cele- 
brated in Philadelphia, the order throughout the State 
ap])roi)riately celebrated the event by a grand street 
parade. The lodges of the Upper District of Mont- 
gomery County participated in this demonstration. 
Lodges 37, 204, 239, 345, 397, 430 and GIO joined to- 
gether, elected Samuel S. Apple, of Providence, No. 
345, as marshal, and turned out fully two hundred 
men in line. Thus has Odd- Fellowship grown until 
there are now twenty-three lodges in the county, with 
a membershij) of about two thousand three hundred. 

The Encam])ment branch of the order requires 
favorable mention. Endeavoring to copy after a 
sister fraternity, additional degrees to those of the 
subordinate lodge were written, and the Grand Lodge 
of the United States finally acceded to the request, 
and made an independent branch for the patriarchal 
degrees. Norristown Encampment, No. 37, was insti- 
tuted in July, 1846, by Montgomery Lodge members. 
It now has upwards of two hundred members, and is 
one of the fixed institutions of the county. Its mem- 
bers are principally taken from the three lodges in the 
borough, but it is a harmonious body. Since organiza- 
tion, this encampment has paid in benefits $21,775.00, 
in funeral benefits $2,820.00, and in other charities 
$415.00 or making a total of $25,010.00. The present 
officers are Chief Patriarch, Benjamin F. Wright; 
Scribe, James R. Ebert; Treasurer, Edmund A. Kite. 



Centre Square Encampment, No. 84, was instituted 
at Centre Square December 29, 1848. The meetings 
were subsequently held at Hickorytown, though not 
for a long time, for they were soon thereafter held at 
the place of institution. Here the memljcrs, cherish- 
ing the beautiful lessons taught in the ritual, clung to 
the charter until it was felt that it must be surren- 
dered. At this time enough of the members of North 
Wales Lodge became identified with it to secure its 
removal to the last-named place, where it has since 
prospered. This encampment has i)aid in benefits 
the sum of two thousand six hundred and fifty-nine 
dollars since its organization. The jiresent officers 
are : Chief Patriarch, Thomas McClain ; Scribe, 
David R. Lewis ; and Treasurer, William W. Mor- 
ris. The following lodges have since been instituted : 
Excelsior Encampment, No. 85, at Pottstown ; Flour- 
town Encampment, No. 94, at Flourtown; Mont- 
gomery Encampment, No. 115, at Ardmore ; Marble 
Hall Encampment, No. 169, at Barren Hill ; Abington 
Encampment, No. 189, at Jenkintown; Conshohocken 
Encampment, No. 209, at Conshohocken, and Penns- 
burg Encampment, No. 234, at Pennsburg. 

On the 1st day of May, 1883, Lanah Degree Lodge, 
No. 133, of the Daughters of Rebekah, was instituted 
by the Grand Lodge officers at North Wales. This 
is the only one in the county. A lodge of the 
Daughters of Rebekah was instituted at Pennsburg, 
but was short-lived. Miriam Beneficial Aid Associ- 
ation for Odd-Fellows and Daughters of the Degree 
of Rebekah was organized at North Wales January 
1, 1884. This is a beneficial organization, and is run 
in conjunction with the Rebekah Degree Lodge. 

The Norristown Rebekah Aid has long been in ex- 
istence. It is an independent organization, but none 
but Odd-Fellows, or their wives and daughters, can 
become members. It is exclusively beneficial, and is 
a strong, healthy organization. 

The following statistical table is appended, and will 
be of interest to all members of the 



INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD-FELLOWS. 





No. 


Wh'le 

No. 


Pres- 
ent 


Noble Orauds. 






Assets. 


Benefii'iai. 


Statement. 




1 








ated. 


bers'p 










Sick. 


Funeral 


C'harit's. 


Total. 


Montgomery .... 


57 


S'jr> 


230 


Samuel H. ItiirJ . 


J. T. Moore . . . 


Geo. W. Holstein . 


$4704 10 


278IKI 00 


4.500 00 


7.50 (HI 


:«050 00 


Wissahickon .... 


17S 


4.3,-1 


78 


B. F. Reifl . . . . 


! 


Geo. Lower . . . 


327.'. (X) 










Centre Square . . . 


2114 


24l> 


on 


Abram Yost . . . 


William Frantz . 


V. H. Baker . . . 


1502 78 


4212 50 


2(il 08 


324 OO 


4798 18 


Merion 


211} 


2K3 


Sli 


Herbert A. .\riiold 


Rich'd Hamilton . 


Thos. McOnlly . . 


28C» 30 


3704 00 


1030 00 


4:14 00 


.5228 00 


Mauatawny .... 


214 


3(i4 


82 


v. S. Buchanan . 


David Spat/. . . . 


Chas. Moore . . . 


.52.53 02 


8942 50 


2350 00 


1214 00 


12500 50 


Gratitude 


21 U 
222 


317' 


130 
82 


A. \. Lindsay . . 
.r. M. Jackson . . 


Thos. Robinson . 
Geo. Markley . . 


.las. T. Fox . . . 
H. M. Bellows . . 


4.33.5 01 
3.34.5 80 








2O403 10 


Eagle 


,5388' 5o' 085 IH) 


408 00 


(i871 50 


Curtis 


2;i!l 


(i94 


- 24s 


H. N. Shanibougli 


Ijos. Christman . . 


J. R. Harner . . . 


7030 IS 


205IX) OOj 15IHI 00 


(>20 (Ml 22020 00 


Spring House . . . 


:i2!l 


2.'">{i 


102 


('has. Danneliower 


.\arou Sperry . . 


M. L. Thoman . . 


3.508 03 


0240 88 1 1.530 00 


475 00 8245 88 


Teai-e and Love . . 


:)37 


304 


07 


Geo. W. Smith . . 


JTlioinas Nice . . . 


Edw. Bright . . . 


352 00 


0712 00| 1105 (HI 


820 00 8730 00 




34.'^ 


' am 


50 
43 


R. HocUman . . . 
W. .S. Ensh-v . . . 


S. M. Huslett . . 
.John C. Boorse . 


J. W. Thoman . . 
H. W. Edwards . 


.3020 17 
2:)00 20 








Providence 


2039 25 


742 IKI 


•200 86 3048 10 




;i.5i 
:i(i7 


' IDO 


Ki.-. 
112 


Chiis A. Tracy , . 
F. U. Beiteman . 


George Carn . . . 
I. S. Rahn .... 


W. M. Lukens . . 
0. H. Beiteman . 


.5.508 14 
2014 50 








Porkionit-nville . . . 


2453 50 


450 00 


125 00 3028 50 




:!78 
:i97 


' 200 


20 

no 


Geo. v. McClnre . 
W. S. Bossert . . 


W. G. Lesher . . 
J. C. Johnson . . 


Will. Miles .... 
Jacob Trucksess . 


703 20 
2131 15 








Economy 


2817 00 


775 00 


183 05 3775 05 


Nori'is 


430 


370 


93 


F. H.Srhwenli . . 


John A. Keiger . 


Saml. Thomas . . 


2203 40 


7340 00 


1,572 00 


840 00 9762 00 


Pennsl)urg . 


44;i 


470 


111 


Geo. H. Hart . . 


Henrv DiiiinOng . 


Henry J. .Smith . 


7.370 30 100.55 l«) 


2884 00 


100 00(13039 00 


Upper Dublin . . . 


4.i« 




00 


Levi SlinKliiff . . 


JobD Kueezel . . 


J. S. Rodermick . 


2335 00 . . . . 




.... 1 ... . 


flhidison 


4(!U 


32;) 


75 


H. H. Yonng . , 


('. G. Bair .... 


Alex. Malsberger . 


7210 .571 4500 00 


1170 00 


,3.50 001 (iOlO 00 


iiulf 


.',■2.5 


100 


70 


H. D. Whiteliead 


T. B. Ridington . 


Alfred Stead . . . 


2100 821 3421 00! Xli5 00 


201 251 4.547 25 


Nurth Wales .... 


MO 


108 


00 


A. H. Reimer . . 


David Baker . . . 


I. W. Wampolc . 


2900 02| 1282 00 330 00 


142 78, 1754 78 


Lansdale 


1177 


82 




.1. B. Rosenberger 


Jacob E. Boyer . . 


H. B. Weacliter . 


1820 17 200 501 .... 


.... 290 50 


T„t..l 1 . . . 


... 1 22H ! ' 


80108 88 ....:... . 


....'.... 



1 



CHARITABLE AND BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATIONS. 



493 



Note. — It is to be regretted that all the lodges in the county did 
not respond to the intjuiry forwarded. Had they done so an accurate 
statement of the benefits paid since organization could have been 
published ; as it is, those reporting, eighteen lodge.-^, have paid out 5108,- 
3G4.9-1. The five not reporting are estimated at S;i4,tMJ0, making the 
amount thus voted to the sick and disabled membei-s of the subordinate 
lodges S'202,3C4.94. There are eight encampments in this county. The 
two reporting aggregate S27,6Gil. It is fair to assume that the remain 
ing six paid at least S22,331, or 8oO,000 in this branch of this order 
Therefore, more than a quarter of a million dollare have been distributed 
in this way by this order alone. 

The years 1880 and 1881 witnessed a large increase 
in the membership of the Norristown lodges. The 
conferring of degrees frequently detaining the mem- 
bers in their lodges until a late liour, it was deter- 
mined to institute a Degree Lodge, and Harmony 
Degree Lodge, No. — , was instituted, with Edwin P. 
Gresh as Degree Master. The succeeding session of 
tlie Sovereign Grand Lodge lessening the degrees to 
three, and requiring all business to be transacted in 
the third degree, seemed to anticipate the work of a 
Degree Lodge and the same reason for it not existing, 
the charter was surrendered. 

An instance of the methods used against members 
of an Odd-Fellows' lodge came accidentally to the at- 
tention of the writer during the past summer. Jere- 
miah Weber, a member of a city lodge, was a tenant 
of Eli P. McGlathery, in Whit])ain township. Mr. 
Weber was taken sick during the fall of 1844, and 
reported himself to his lodge. A committee waited 
on him to ascertain the nature of the illness and pay 
him his benefits. Mr. McGlathery, hearing of it 
although on the best of terms with his tenant 
never again called on him, and in due time Mr. 
Weber received notice to quit. Many such inci- 
dents doubtless happened, for the general feeling 
that then existed was so great against all fraterni- 
ties that it is a marvel that murders were not com- 
mitted. 

Colored Odd-Fellows. — The Colored Odd-Fel- 
lows, who claim to be a part of the Manchester 
Unity of Odd-Fellows, of England, have a lodge in the 
borough of Norristown. When the colored men were 
debarred membership in the American fratcrnit)' 
they sent to England five persons, who were there 
made Odd-Fellows, and returned to this country 
with the full authority to institute a lodge and grant 
charters. Thus were the Colored Odd-Fellows' 
lodges commenced in Philadelphia, aud this is the 
foundation of the many lodge.s now in existence in 
this country. 

On the 15th day of May, 1851, five persons, residents 
of Norristown, joined Good Samaritan Lodge, of 
Philadelphia. They immediately made application 
for a charter, which was granted, and Good Will 
Lodge, No. 1025, Grand United Order of Odd-Fel- 
lows, was instituted June .3, 1.S51. John Augusta 
was elected Noble Father; Joseph Mann, Noble Grand; 
Samuel Amos, Vice-Grand; Alien Blau. Secretary and 
Thomas Bru ff. Treasurer. Thomas Brutf has filled the 
position of treasurer from institution to date, and he 



and John H. Williams are the only charter members 
living. 

Improved Order of Red Men. — The Improved 
Order of lied Men is a I'raterual and benevolent 
organization, based upon the customs and antiquities 
of the North American Indians. It originated as a 
patriotic association among the volunteers who garri- 
soned Fort Mifflin in 1813. 

It is distinctly different in every detail from other 
fraternal organizations, being original in conception 
and peculiarly American in character and tendency, 
without being proscriptive. A good moral character, 
sound in mind and body and a belief in the "Great 
Spirit in whose hands all power doth exist " are its 
only prerequisites for membershii). 

John Fry, of the borough of Norristown, visited 
Baltimore during the winter of 1845-4t>. While there 
he made the acquaintance of gentlemen who belonged 
to the Society of Eed Men. On his return he in- 
duced Charles L. Cornman, Eobert K. Ward, 
Samuel Jamison, A. S. Powel, John Shaner and 
David Dice to co-operate with him, and they made 
application to the Great Council of the United States 
for a charter. The Tribe Tecumseh, No. 1, was 
instituted June 14, 1846, in the Masonic lodge-room, 
at the corner of Lafayette and Swede Streets, Norris- 
town, and is the first one organized in Pennsylvania. 
The officers who instituted this tribe proceeded at 
once to Lancaster, where the second tribe was insti- 
tuted, aud from there to Philadelphia, where Leuni 
Lenape Tribe, No. 3, was organized. 

The membership of Tecumseh rose to about sixty, 
and after a couple of removals fitted up handsome 
rooms on Main Street. The walls were decorated 
with scenes from the " Lady of the Lake," and every- 
thing represented the primitive manners of the 
Indians. But incompetent officers created dissatis- 
faction, and after a long struggle the tribe was com- 
pelled to yield, and the pioneer organization in the 
State surrendered its charter. This was in 1.853. 
Thus matters remained until October 31, 18(30, when 
some of the members of old Tecumseh and twenty- 
seven of Beaver Tribe recalled the charter, and 
Tecumseh Tribe, No. 1, was reinstituted, and is now- 
one of the best beneficial organizations in the 
county. 

Beaver Tribe, No. (52, was instituted at Norristown ; 
for several years after its institution its membership 
was recruited almost entirely from the rolling-mills, 
and the adoptions were carried on in a very rough 
manner. But as time rolled on these men allowed 
themselves to be suspended for non-payment of dues, 
and then the tribe took front rank in the secret 
societies of the town. At present it has an invested 
fund of about six thousand dollars aud a membership 
exceeding two hundred aud fifty. The present 
oflicersare: Sachem, Ephraim F. Slough; Chief of 
Records, C. H. Fisher; and Treasurer, Chaides H. 
Bard. 



494 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



There are in the county seven tribes, with 
aggregate membersliip of about seven hundred. 
The following table is appended : 



The order is distinctively American, being limited 
in membership to native-born citizens of the United 
States. Washington is the fond ideal of the order, — 



N.»ME. 


No. 

of 

Lodge 


No. 
of 
Mem- 
bers. 


Sachems. 


Chiefs ..f Records. 




Benkfits. 






Sick. 


Funeral. 


Other 
Charities. 


Total. 




1 

53 

62 

76 

lill 

2i:i 

214 


172 
92 

256 
25 
65 
r.l 
111 


0. E. Solomon 

i), F. Slough 

W. T. Sweinhart . . . 
A. 1). Ruth 


Elyah Krieliel .... 
W. F. Smith .... 


3.->471 00 


S800 00 


S6(X) 00 


S6871 00 






lieaver 


C. H. Fisher .... 
C. H. Bossert .... 
Charles L. Peale . . . 


6348 00 

3765 00 

693 00 

714 110 


1410 00 

1190 00 

30 00 

.W 00 


375 00 
150 00 
112 40 
114 00 


8133 00 
5105 00 




835 40 


Sanatoga 






H. H. Whitman . . . 
















Total 




711 


1 [ 












1 1 









Knigphts of Pythias. — This order has made a won- 
derful growth since its organization, twenty j'ears 
ago. Norristown Lodge, No. 32, was instituted Jan- 
uary 22, 1868, has initiated over three hundred per- ; 
sons and now has a large membership. Jenkintown 
Lodge, No. 476, was the twelfth, instituted November 
10, 1881, and has over one hundred members. 

The following table is appended : 



a name beloved by bond and free, and second to none 
in the cause of constitutional liberty. The ritual is 
martial in form, patriotic in spirit and l)enevolcnt in 
its operations. The first camp in this county was 
L'amp No. (), of Norristown, chartered March 29, 1850. 
It had a somewhat precarious existence for a few 
years, resulting in the surrender of its charter. The 
camp was revived April 11, 1856, grew and flourished 



Name. 


No. 

of 

Lodge 


No. 

of 
Mem- 
be i-s. 


Chancellor Commanders 


Keepers of Records. 


1 
Assets. 




Benefits. 






Sick. 


Funerals. 


Total. 


Norristown 

Othello 

Gulf 


32 

50 
82 
117 
137 
148 
219 
232 
247 
360 
388 
476 


125 
50 
45 
19 


Beiy. D. Whitehead . . . 


ij. R. Harner 

John Weiiifjartner . . 
H. G. Kinzie 


$2296 14 

375 08 

1582 48 

.580 51 

914 77 

1844 13 

1260 10 

2114 35 

5877 78 

1353 27 

1860 08 

867 95 


S4200 00 


J1150 00 


85350 00 


H. H. Pope 


1898 00 


673 00 


2571 00 






Lafayette 

Fort Washington 

Swedelanti 

Greenville 


52 
30 
,32 
67 
145 
49 
155 
111 


Geo. W. Weidanioyer . . 
Edwin n' Hool' 


J. A. Markley 

F. White 

Thos. McCnIly 


5460 00 


2365 00 


7826 00 








3843 50 
6098 57 

719 00 
3200 00 

237 00 


1144 71 

1315 00 

190 00 

640 OO 

250 00 


4983 21 


.\aritn II. Slover .... 
Frank P. Waiker .... 

John A. Malin 

George Tomlinson . . . 


H. H. Fisher 

: Aaron Weikcl 

W. W. Murphy .... 
George B. Wood .... 


7413 67 




909 00 




3840 00 




487 00 










850 


. 


J20927 24 
1 




1 















Patriotic Order Sons of America.'— The Patriotic | 

(")rder Sons of America was organized in the city of 
Philadelphia, Pa., in the year 1847, under the name 
of the Junior Sons of America. The order prospered 
and attained a degree of ])opularity that was unpre- 
cedented. The Ijreakiug out of the Civil war brought 
disorganization into the order, for by the principles 
of the Patriotic Sons of America, and in obedience 
to them, the members rushed to the front of battle 
to save the flag that they had jiledged themselves to 
honor. National American pride and glory are the 
cherished sentiments of the Patriotic Order Sons of 
America. " God, our country and our order," is the 
consecrated motto under whose insi)iratioii the Patri- 
otic Order Sons of America has been laboring to per- 
]ietuate freedom's holy cause, and preserve the temple 
of American liberty, built on the broad foundation of 
universal emancipation, and sealed by the precious 
blood of our forefathers. 

1 Contributed by Frank L. Murphy, of Camp No. 67. 



until, as stated before, the late war for the preservation 
of the Union transferred the members from the 
camp fraternal to the camp of war. 

Camp No. 33, of Norristown, was instituted June 
15, 1855, and survived until 1876, when, from serious 
financial embarrassment, it, together with Camp No. 
6, disbanded. Montgomery County has at present ten 
camps, located as follows, with a memliership of 
seven hundred : 

Washington Camp, No. 33, at West Point ; Wash- 
ington Camp, No. 53, at Cold Point; Washington 
Camp, No. 92, at Pottstown ; Washington Camp, No. 
114, at Norristown ; Washington Camp, No. 120, at 
Lansdale; Washington Camp, No. 121, at Consho- 
hocken ; Washington Camp, No. 200, at Hatboro' ; 
Washington Camp, No. 215, at Ambler ; Washington 
Camp, No. 224, at Jarrettown; Washington Camp, 
No. 267, at Collegeville. 

There are three degrees in the Patriotic Order Sons 
of America, — the Red, the White and the Blue. 
The first two admit into the camp and the coun- 



1 



CHARITABLE AND BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATIONS. 



495 



(.•il ; the third, the liighest, admits into the com- 
mandery. The comiiiandeiy is distinct from tlie 
camp and tlie couneil, but ean be reached only 
through them. Eacli district is limited to one com- 
mandery. This county has Montgomery Commandery, 
located at Conshohocken, and constituted June 8, 
1875. The present District President, the highest 
local officer of Montgomery County, is A. D. Fetterolf, 
of Camp 2(37, Collcgeville. 

Tlie name Patriotic Order Sons of America was 
adopted in 1866 at a State convention held in Miners- 
ville. Pa. The form of government in the order was 
radically changed, the original name was abolished 
and the surviving members of Camp No. 6 and 
those of ten other camps were constituted the first 
State Camp of Pennsylvania, Patriotic Order Sons of 
America. This order is rapidly growing in strength 
and reputation, and in its advance confirms its lofty 
mission and sacred purpose, leaving to posterity a 
bright record of which every freeman may well feel 
proud. 

Brotherhood of the Union (H. F.).— This is a 
secret fraternal and beneticial organization and pos- 
sesses much merit. Norris Circle, No. Ill, was insti- 
tuted October 24, 1874, in Norristown, with eight 
charter members. It immediately grew to a mem- 
l)ersliip of over two hundred, and now has about one 
hundred and thirty. Since organization over two 
thousand dollars have been expended in benefits to 
the membei's. There are three other circles in exist- 
ence in the county, — Kenderton, No. 62, at Cold 
Point, Joseph W. Coulston, Scroll-Keeper; Good 
Intent, No. 75, at Lansdale, John Steever, Scroll- 
Keeper; andSchwenksville, No. 117,at Sehwenksville, 
Enos Schwenk, Scroll-Keeper. There are three hun- 
dred and fifty members in the county. The present 
officers are John K. Stoug, C. W. ; Wm. Hart, C. J.; 
Jolin McAfee, C. F. ; Wm. Rylands, Treas. ; John L- 
Weber, Fin. Sec. ; and William H. Wolper, Scroll- 
Keeper. 

Jerome B. Hendricks, the Chief Washington of 
the State organization during the year 1881, was a 
member of this circle, and died while filling this 
position. 

Ancient Order of Good-Fellows. —The Ancient 
Order of (iood-Fellows was transplanted from the city 
of Philadelphia May 1, 1869, when Buena Vista 
Lodge, No. 16, was organized. This lodge has been 
extraordinarily successful, the membership now 
reaching one hundred and seventy, with assets valued 
at upwards of three thousand dollars. The lodge has 
paid out in benefits the sum of $10,.316.66, as follows: 
Weekly benefits, $0246.66; funeral benefits, $1070. 

Knights of Friendship. — The order Knights of 
Friendship is a fraternal organization of great merit. 
It was founded by Dr. M. G. Kerr, of Philadelphia, 
formerly of Norristown ; and, by the aid of his friends. 
Consonance Chamber, No. .3, was instituted in Norris- 
town May 9, 1868. The chamber has at times 



numbered upwards of two hundred, and at other 
times only a faithful few have nuiintained the organi- 
zation. About 1872 a change in the by-laws pro- 
viding for benefits was adopted. This displeased a 
great number, and many suspensions in the next few 
years took place. Subsequently the beneficial feature 
was defeated, and since then a large increase in the 
membership has taken place, the number now being 
upwards of two hundred. The present officers are : 
Sir Knight Marshal, Geo. F. Meredith; Secretary, 
Daniel F. (Juillman; and Treasurer, John J. Corson. 

Black Knights of Malta. — The Black Knights 
of Malta were introduced iu Norristown by the insti- 
tution of Montgomery Lodge, No. 51, August 27, 
1884. The order is claimed to have been instituted 
in the Holy Land during the Crusades, iu A.D. 1048, 
and is a beneficial and religious order, with a military 
tendency. It is entirely an independent organization, 
having no affiliation whatever with any other order. 
The officers are James A. Duffy, Sir Knight Com- 
mander; David A. Moyer, Generalissimo; Joseph 
Cameron, Captain-General; Allen Martin, Jr., Prel- 
ate; Chester L. Bertolette, Recorder; William 
Chantry, Treasurer; and Samuel R. P'isher, Registrar. 

Order of United American Mechanics. — This 
order was founded in Philadelphia in 1845, and soon 
thereafter introduced in this county, Montgomery 
Council, at Kulpsville, being the eighteenth instituted. 
American Star Council, No. 53, at Bryn Mawr, was 
instituted June 26, 1847 ; Union Council, No. 102, 
May 26, 1849, at Norristown ; and Manatawny Coun- 
cil, No. 240, August 6, 1870, at Pottstown. There is 
also a council at Limerick Square, — Limerick, No. 
278. The entire membership in this county is about 
four hundred. 

Union Council has paid for sick benefits, $13,089.10 ; 
for funeral benefits, $1810; for relief of widows 
and orphans, $269.51; and in other charities, $584.02, — 
or making a total of $15,752.63. The present officers 
are: Councilor, Albert .1. Henning; Secretary, William 
S. Seany, and Treasurer, Anthony Richardson. 

American Star Council has paid $2121.45 for 
benefits. The present officers are: Councilor, Edgar 
C. Humphreys; Secretary, Charles W. Scott and 
Treasurer, Jas. T. McClellan. 

Manatawny Council has paid in benefits, $6100. 
Its present officers are: Councilor, Bion Cofrode; 
Secretary, M. S. Lessig; and Treasurer, Samuel B. 
Roeller. 

Junior Order of American Mechanics. — This 
order has a couucil at Evausburg, this county. The 
principles of the Seniors and Juniors are much the 
same, the last-named admitting to membership at the 
age of eighteen years. The council at Evansburg is 
flourishing. 

American Protestant Association. — This organi- 
zation is a beneficial one, the membership coming 
generally from the Protestant Irish families. There 
are two lodges in the county, — Conshohocken Lodge, 



496 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



No. 41, being instituted November 23, 1853, oue day 
before Friendship Lodge, No. 39, of Norristowu. 
Almost the entire membersliip of the last-named 
lodge having enlisted in the late war for the Union, ' 
the charter was surrendered, but was reclaimed after | 
the war had closed. The records for the period prior 
to 1861 having been lost, but partial statistics can be 
obtained, but enough is known to show that fully 
$4000 have been paid to their sick and disabled 
members. W. J. McKinley is Worthy Master; 
James A. Duffy, Secretary; and James Kilpatrick^ 
Treasurer. The Coushohocken Lodge has, however, 
had a continuous existence, and has jjaid in sick 
benefits, $2832; in funeral benefits, $1285; and 
for other charities, $297.54,— or making a total of 
$4414 54. Samuel B. McAfee is Worthy Master; 
William Glass, Secretary ; and .Tames Cairns, Treas- 
urer. 

Junior American Protestant Association. — This 
order having the same principles in view as the 
American Protestant Association, admit to member- 
ship youths above the age of seventeen. Lincoln 
Lodge, No. 18, was organized October 16, 1882. The 
present officers are : Worthy Master, Elmer E. Shearer ; 
Secretary, A. Markley Jlurray ; and Treasurer, Joseph 
Cameron. 

Knights of the Revolution. — This organization 
was instituted in Norristown January 24, 1884, and 
has been successful in obtaining a goodly number of 
members. The patriotism of the Revolutionary heroes 
is inculcated in the ritual. The present officers are : 
H. S. Longaker, Ex-Patriarch; James Boyd, High 
. Priest; Milton Schell, Prophet; John L. Weber, 
Sergeant-at-Arms ; J. K. Stong, Treasurer; H. C. 
Fisher, Secretary ; William Hart, Guard ; and John 
McAfee, Sentinel. 

Knights of the Golden Eagle. — The order of the 
Knights of the Golden Eagle is a secret benevolent 
institution, and was founded in the city of Baltimore, 
Md., February 6, 1873, and for the general adminis- 
tration of affairs it is divided into Supreme, Grand 
and Subordinate Castles. 

In 1875, through the eftbrts of jirominent Odd- 
Fellows, Keystone Castle, No. 1, was instituted in 
Philadelphia, where there are now nineteen castles. 
Some of the members of the castles in Philadelphia, 
with the co-operation of their friends at Shoemaker- 
town, instituted a castle which now numbers about 
seventy-five members, who participated in the Cen- 
tennial parade at Norristown. This order made such 
an elegant appearance at that time that prominent 
gentlemen were attracted to it and aided in the insti- 
tution of Montgomery Castle, No. 34, which event 
took place October 20, 1884, and it now has about one 
hundred and twenty-five members. The following- 
named persons were the officers, to wit: Past Chief", 
J. R. Harner; Noble Chief, A. .J. Henning; Vice- 
Chief, J. H. Henning ; High Priest, Wm. A. Ruddach ; 
Master of Records, Jos. B. D. Hamill ; Master of Ex- 



chequer, Anthony Richardson; and Clerk of Ex- 
chequer, John T. Ruddacli. 

Ancient Order Knights of the Mystic Chain.— 
This is a fraternal and beneficial order, there being 
two castles now in existence in the county- The first 
castle organized is located at Pottstown ; was insti- 
tuted July 6, 1872, and is named Westminster. There 
have been initiated in this castle two hundred and 
ninety-four persons, and the benefits paid exceed four 
thousand dollars. H. R. Bossert is the Recording 
Scribe and A. M. Miller, Treasurer. 

Blooming Rose Castle, No. 44, was instituted at 
Norristowu January 30, 1873. The membership ex- 
ceeds two hundred, and the castle is well officered. The 
present officers are: S. K. C, James A. Duffy; S. K. 
V. C, Elmer Slough ; Recording Scribe, George A. 
Coe ; and Treasurer, A. W. Geiger. Over five thou- 
sand dollars have been expended in benefits alone, 
and assets on band exceed two thousand dollars. 

Sons of Veterans. — This organization was instituted 
for the purpose of inculcating the patriotic sentiments 
of the Grand Army of the Republic in the sons of the 
veterans of the late war for the Union, and with the 
hope that when the ranks of the Grand Army of the 
Republic are depleted by death that their archives 
and trophies may be handed to this junior organiza- 
tion for preservation. The membership is limited to 
the sons of the members of the Grand Army of the 
Republic and to the sons of veterans, living or dead, 
who can produce an honorable discharge from the 
United States government. The beneficial feature 
has been added as an additional inducement to secure 
members. 

Colonel Edwin Schall Camp, No. 29, was instituted 
December, 1882, in Norristown, with thirty charter 
members. There are now about forty-four members. 
A camp was to have been started in Jenkintown, but 
the requisite number to secure success could not be 
obtained, and the project was abandoned. The office 
of the State organization is in Philadelphia. 

Mystic Druids. — This organization, which is 
claimed to be the oftspring of the ancient Druids, who 
were a separate class of the inhabitants of Britain, 
and who were to the masses of that ancient people a 
sort of priests or wise men, to whom all ])aid tribute, 
whether for medical advice or religious instruction,, 
has long had an organization in this county. 

About twelve years ago a lodge was instituted in 
Norristown. For a while it prospered beyond the 
expectations of its charter members, and finally rooms 
were fitted up in elegant style, the paintings being 
representative of the old rites and ceremonies of 
ancient Druidism. This was such an epoch in the 
history of the lodge that the rooms were thrown open 
for the inspection of the public. Elegant carpets 
covered the floor and all the appointments were of 
the most elaborate finish. But extravagance was the 
forerunner of destruction, for in a few years the sick- 
list increasing, the funds became low and the lodge 



CHARITABLE AND BENEVOLENT ASSOCL\TIONS. 



497 



was compelled to yield to the inevitable and surrender 
the charter. This was not done, liowever, until every 
cent was expended, and suits against the more promi- 
nent and well-to-do members instituted for the pay- 
ment of orders granted by the lodge. 

After the dissolution of this lodge one was started 
in Conshohocken. Here economy instead of extrava- 
gance was practiced, and the consequence is that the 
lodge there is in a good condition financially as well 
as numerically, and gives promise of spreading to 
other parts of the county. 

Ancient Order of United Workmen.— This is a 
fraternal and beneficial organization formed in Mead- 
ville, Pa., October 25, 1865, by seven persons. It is 
the first organization which jirovided for the families of 
deceased members by contributions from the members 
of an amount ^ual to two thousand dollars. Several 
Norristown gentlemen having become identified with 
a lodge of this order in Philadelphia, induced others 
to co-operate with them, and Lynwood Lodge, 
No. 154, was instituted May 13, 1879. The mem- 
bership now numbers over one hundred, and is 
increasing. Three deaths have occurred since organi- 
zation. The present chief officers are: M. W., Dr. 
Horace Still ; Financier, J. P. Hale Jenkins ; Re- 
ceiver, I. H. Brendlinger; and Recorder, William F. 
Solly. 

American Legion of Honor.— The American 
Legion of Honor is a secret benevolent organization, 
and has been in existence but five years. The bene- 
fits are paid on the death of a member to the person 
named in the beneficiary certificate, and for the 
amount therein mentioned. This amount varies from 
five hundred dollars to five thousand dollars. The 
assessments are graded according to the age of the 
candidate when becoming a member. 

De Kalb Council, No. 855, was instituted February 
20, 1882, at Norristown, and Pottstown Council, No. 
962, at Pottstown, June 7, 1882. Meetings are held 
bi-weekly, and the entire membership of the two 
councils does not exceed seventy-five. The principal 
officers of De Kalb Council are: Commander, John 
B. Beaver; Secretary, William F.Solly; and Treas- 
urer, Philip Quillman. The officers of Pottstown 
Council are: Commander, Dr. M. A. Withers; 
Secretary, J. H. Binder; and Treasurer, William M. 
Stanford. 

The Royal Arcanum. — The Royal Arcanum is a 
secret order which pays a death benefit of three 
thousand dollars, collected from the membership-at- 
large in proportion to age. It was instituted in Boston 
in June, 1877, and was introduced in this county by 
the institution of Pottstown Council, No. 351. There 
are now about filty members, and there have been two 
deaths since organization. Dr. James B. Wieler is 
Regent, William C. Beccher is Treasurerand R. Morgan 
Root, Secretary. 

Independent Order of Good Templars. — This 
order, a semi-secret society, is an antagonist of the 
32 



liquor traffic. Both sexes are admitted to member- 
ship on an equal footing, and initiates take a life-long 
pledge not to make, buy, sell, use, furnish or cause to 
be furnished to others as a beverage any spirituous 
or malt liquors. At one time there were possibly 
twenty lodges in the county ; now there are but six 
lodges, with a membership of about two hundred and 
fifty. 

Sons of Temperance.— This, the pioneer order 
antagonistic to the liquor traffic, has an organization 
in this county, there being a division in the borough 
of Norristown with about fifty members, as also in 
other sections of the county, the total membership 
aggregating about four hundred. 

Temple of Honor and Temperance.— Prohibition 
Temple, No. 32, of this order, was organized in the 
borough of Norristown in 1873. Its career was short- 
lived, however, bickerings amongst the members caus- 
ing its dissolution within two years after its organiza- 
tion. 

Lady Masons. — This ladies' order is one that 
has had an organization for many years, but was 
introduced in Norristown about fifteen years ago. 
The membership is small, the members undemon- 
strative and the organization is hardly known to 
exist. 

Daughters of the Forest— This is a secret society 
of women, and was intnxluced in the county by the 
institution of Osceola Tent, No. 30, November 3, 
1871. One hundred and eighty-five persons have 
become members, of which number sixty-nine still 
retain their membership. The organization has paid 
out in benefits since institution as follows : In sick 
benefits, $3495 ; ftmeral benefits, $430 ; other charities, 
$17,— total, $3942. 

Dames of the Knights of Pythias.— Damoo 
Chamber, No. 3, of this order, was organized March 
3, 1870, in Norristown. It is a ladies' beneficial or- 
ganization, and was first intended to be exclusively 
for the wives and daughters of the Knights of Pythias, 
but, other regulations being adopted, the member- 
ship was allowed to become general. This chamber, 
the only one in the county, has paid during the four- 
teen years of its organization, in sick benefits, 
$2385, in funeral benefits $350, and in other charities 
$29.74. 

Pythian Temple.— Naomi Temple, No. 3, of this 
organization, is a ladies' beneficial and fraternal so- 
ciety, and was instituted in Norristown about the year 
1870. This order clings to the Knights of Pythias, 
none but members of the last-named order being eli- 
gible for the position of trustee. 

Independent Order of Good Samaritans and 
Daughters of Samaria.— This beneficial order is 
composed of men and women of color, and in 1868 
was introduced in the borough of Norristown by the 
institution of Shaw & Kenworthy Lodge, No. 6. 
This lodge is still in existence, though now without 
funds to pay its maturing liabilities. 



498 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

INSANE HOSPITAL AND POOR-HOUSE. 

The State Hospital for the Insane, located at 
Norristown. — The .State Hospital for the In.saiie of the 
Southea.stern District of Peimsylvania is beautifully 
situated upon a broad plateau within the northern 
limits of the borough of Norristown. The grounds 
comj)rise about two hundred acres of superior farm 
■land, and the site selected commands an extensive 
view of Norristown and the picturesque country sur- 
rounding it. It has ample surface drainage, with 
perpetual streams near at hand to carry off necessary 
sewage. The Stony Creek Railroad jiasses within a 
few yards of the premises, with tracks running to the 
buildings for the transportation of necessary supplies. 

This magnificent charity was erected by a commis- 
sion ajjpointed by Governor Hartranft in the spring 
of 1876.' The commission so appointed originally 
consisted of the following-named gentlemen : Joseph 
Patterson, Esq., Dr. Herbert M. Howe, Col. James S. 
Chambers, Dr. Thomas G Morton, of Philadelphia; 
Henry T. Darlington, Esq., Bucks County; William 
H. Miller, Delaware County ; Dr. L. W. Reed, Mont- 
gomery County ; Gen. George Smith, Chester County; 
Hon. John Shouse, Northampton County ; and Gen. 
Robert McAllister, Lehigh County. During the 
period in which the commission was engaged in the 
execution of its important trust there were three 
deaths among its members. Two of the vacancies 
thus occasioned were filled by the appointment of Dr. 
A. J. Pennypacker, Chester County, and John S. 
Williams, Esq., Bucks County. 

One year was judiciously consumed by the commis- 
sion in the selection of an eligiljle site and another 
year in the exannnation and adoption of a suitable 
plan of hospital buildings. 

Among the five competing architects, the plans of 
Messrs. Wilson Bros. & Co. were preferred. (The 
construction of the hospital was awai'ded to the well- 
known liuilder, John Rice, Esq.) 

The erection of the hospital l)egan March 21, 1878, 
and was completed February 17, 1880. 

The plan of the hospital is unique, and marks an 
era in the progressive development of asylum con- 
struction. It is designated the segregate or detached 
system (or more commonly, the cottage plan), which 
in this instance consists of eight ward buildings, an 
administration building, amusement hall or ctiapel, 
kitchen building and a boiler-house and laundry, — in 



> By act of the GeDoral Asaeiiibly appnivcd the 5th ilay i>f May, 1876, 
il wiu) proviilud " That ttie Governor shaU a])|>oint ten roniniissionel's to 
select a site and build an hosi>ital for the insane for the Southeastern Dis- 
tri<-t of Pennsylvania, embracing the city and county of Philadelphia and 
the counties of Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, Chester, Northampton 
and Lehigh, four of said commissioners to he chosen from citizens of the 
city and county of Philadelphia and one from each of the other coun- 
ties embraced within the district aforesaid, who shall serve without lom- 
pensatiun.'* 



all twelve separate buildings. A number of hospitals 
for the insane throughout the United States have 
been built in accordance with this system, but none 
similar in design to tliis, which in its originality and 
adaptation to purpose surpasses any scheme as yet 
devised. 

In former years it was believed and promulgated 
by the American Association of Asylum Superinten- 
dents that a set form of hospital building, then in 
vogue, was the ne plus ultra of desirability, and that 
all unl)uilt asylums shcmld be cast in this mould. As 
well might a .society of architects attempt to rigidly 
enforce the adoption of a certain pattern of cottage, 
hotel or school-house, and strenuously oppose any 
departure from their specifications. 

Not least among the reforms of the old system was 
required a more economical method of providing 
acccmimodations for the largely-increasing numbers 
of the insane. 

Formerly the palatial structures upon which untold 
thousands were expended in external architectural 
ailornment, and upon sumptuous quarters for olficers, 
liOit per capita from fifteen hundi'ed to three thousand 
dollars. 

The commissioners endeavored to avoid this waste 
of public funds in erecting an appropriate hospital at 
Norristown that would be comfortable and substantial, 
but at the same time shorn of all unnecessary orna- 
mentation. 

• They accomplished their difficult task at a cost not 
exceeding eight hundred dollars a bed. 

This is in harmony with public sentiment, and is a 
long stride towards the correction of the lamentable 
inconsistency of caring for a portion of the indigent 
insane in palaces, while an equally deserving number 
of them are lying in sipialor in the almshouses. 

The principal advantages of this i)lau of buildings 
are that it facilitates convenient classification of pa- 
tients (separating widely the noisy and turbulent 
classes from the mild and convalescent), that it insures 
better ventilation, admitting more light and sunshine 
into the wards, and that it also greatly diminishes the 
risk of extensive conflagration. 

The act of Assembly referred to further jirovided 
that upon the completion of the hospital the commis- 
sioners "shall surrender their trust to a board of 
managers to consist of thirteen members, five of 
whom shall be appointed by the Governor from the 
State-at-large, two by the Councils of Philadelphia 
and one by the county commissioners of each of the 
other counties embraced in theS(mtlieastern District" 
described in said act, and "shall manage and direct 
the concerns of the institution and make all necessary 
by-laws and regulations not inconsistent with the 
constitution and laws of the commonwealth." 

The commissioners completed their duties and 
ma<le their report on the 17th day of February, 1880, 
and formally surrendered their trust to the board of 
managers on the same day. 



k 



INSANE HOSPITAL AND POOR-HOUSE. 



49t) 



The following geutlemen composed the original 
board of managers : 

Appi>iitted bif the GoL'ernor: Ex-Governor John F. Hartranft, Philadel- 
phia ; Hon. James Boyd, Norristown; 3Ir. Samuel BI. Bines, Philadel- 
phia; Mr. Thomas R. Brown, Philadelphia; Mr. B. K. Jamison, 
Philadelphia. Appointed by the City Couiicih of Philiutdphia : Mr. George 
W. Simons, Philadelphia ; Mr. Israel Fleishman, Philadelphia. Appointed 
by the commixBioners of the several counties: Hon. Charles H. Stinson, 
Montgomery County ; Addison May, Esq., Chester County; Mr. W. D. 
H. Serrill, Delaware County ; Hon. Harmon Yerkes, Bucks County ; 
Dr. George P. Kern, Northampton County ; Dr. E. G. Martin, Lehigh 
County. 

The board organized by electing .lolui F. Hart- 
ranft president, B. K. Jamison treasurer, and Dr. 
E. G. Martin secretary. Tlie hospital was established 
for the care of the indigent insane of the district, and 
the management was intended to be consistent with 
the spirit of reform urged by men and women of the 
State who had given the subject of insanity the most 
careful consideration. Those who are conversant 
with the history of this practical field of philan- 
thropy can alone appreciate the progressive changes 
thtit have been wrought in the care and treatment of 
the insane within the comparatively short space of 
time measured by three generations. 

First, the benighted theory that an insane man 
was possessed of evil spirits was combated, and with it 
the cruel and barbarous methods of treatment were 
modified ; successively, the false notions that he was 
a demon, an outcast, a monster, and, last, a criminal, 
yielded one by one to the proper conception of his 
true position in society, — that he is a sick brother, 
bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, requiring 
gentle nursing and skillful treatment for his malady, 
as other sick folk, and one whose sufferings touch 
the tenderest chords of human sympath\'. 

It was well known that the inmates would com- 
prise both sexes, and possibly in about equal numbers. 
The progressive men of the management desired to 
place the insane women under the care of a female 
physician, and thus insure for them proper and kindly 
treatment. This was deemed an innovation, and a 
wide dei)arture from the usual manner of organizing 
institutions of this character. The same element in 
the board insisted upon separating the professional 
care and responsibility from the routine or general 
administrative duties connected with the manage- 
ment, in order that the proper medical treatment 
could be bestowed upon the unfortunate inmates. 
Both of these measures were successfully inaugurated, 
and the institution wius opened under a govern- 
ment of the most humane and approved plan. In 
May, 1880, Dr. B. H. Chase was elected resident male 
physician of the male department • and Dr. Alice 
Bennett resident female physician of the female de- 
partment. This conclusion was reached after the 
most mature consideration upon the part of the trus- 

t Dr. Mary Stinson, of Norristown, Pa., a graduate of the Female Medi- 
cal (College of Philadelphia, was elected resident female physiciaD, but 
declined to set^e. 



tees, who recognized fully the requirements of a 
public opinion that demanded an enlightened change 
in the government of our insane a.syluins. The new 
departure was not in the sense of a novelty or experi- 
ment, but as a permanent rule of government, as ap- 
pears from the following by-law, chap, iii., sec. i., 
rules and regulations of the institution : " Resident 
physicians' duty, — They shall devote all their time 
and attention to the personal care, treatment and 
management of the patients and inmates of their 
respective departments, and shall have therein the 
entire and exclusive direction of their medical, moral 
and dietetic treatment, and their respective instruc- 
tions and directions are to be implicity observed and 
obeyed by all the assistants, subordinates and others 
employed in their respective departments aforesaid." 

For a quarter of a century the (juestion of the 
competency of female physicians, and the propriety 
of employing them in the care and treatment of their 
sex, had been agitated by the most skillful anil 
enlightened men of the medical profession. A 
separate college for the training and graduation of 
female practitioners had been fully and liberally 
equipped and successfully maintained in Philadel- 
phia. Female physicians gradually liut surely found 
their way to public confidence, and nowhere received 
a more prompt and cordial recognition than in Mont- 
gomery County, the medical society of this county 
being the first in the State (at the instance of Dr. 
Hiram Corson) to admit them to equal fellowship 
and the privilege of honorable consultation, while 
eminent physicians of the conimnuity, with rare 
exceptions, accorded them honorable standing in the 
profession, and aided them in their humane and 
exalted calling. It was therefore natural for the 
trustees, in adopting the organic law for the govern- 
ment of this great asylum, to utilize them in the treat- 
ment of the inmates, and for the first time in the 
history of this country or Europe make them respon- 
sible to the board of management. The experience 
of 'several years has demonstrated the wisdom of the 
course pursued, and the jnedical profession of the 
State and country is to be congratulated upon the 
advanced ground taken and maintained, and the un- 
fortunate class of indigent sufferers and their families 
may rejoice that the days of brutality are approach- 
ing an end. 

The institution has adopted the system of non- 
restraint, the employment of patients, a thorough 
system of night service, a scientific investigation into 
the causes and nature of insanity, and other features 
which so distinctly mark the progress of modern 
psychiatry in our hospitals for the insane. The Hon. 
James Boyd and ex-Judge Stinson, of Montgomery 
County, the former appointed by the Governor and 
the latter by the commissioners, were united in their 
advocacy of the reform measures insisted upon in 
founding this asylum, and to them is due in no small 
degree the honor of its successful accomplishment. 



500 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The following gentlemen compose the present 
board of managers : Ex-Governor John F. Hartranft, 
ex-Judge Charles H. Stinson, Hon. Charles Hun- 
sicker, Hon. George Ross, Dr. George P. Kern, Dr. 
E. G. Martin, Addison May, Esq., Mr. W. D. H. 
Serrill, Mr. Thomas Walters, Mr. Israel Fleishman, 

Mr. George W. Simmons, Mr. Rhoades, Mr. L. P. 

Ashmead. 

Some Account of the Poor and the Montgomery- 
County Poor-House.' — In the early settlement of the 
country very little ai)pears to have been done for the 
support of the poor. The population was sparse, labor 
was in demand, and the necessities of the people 
were limited to such few absolute requirements that 
pauperism could scarcely be said to exist. The 
Society of Friends, the Mennonites and the Dunkards 
have invariably supported their own unfortunate i>oor 
to the present time. 

During the whole of the colonial period, down to the 
erection of houses for the support and employment of 
the poor, they were maintained by their respective 
townships or districts. For this purpose two overseers 
were appointed for each by the judges of the 
County Courts. Their duties were to secure for 
those committed to their charge homes and employ- 
ment at the most favorable rates. At March Sessions) 
1736, a petition was sent to the court by residents of 
Hanover, stating that there was a dispute as to the 
line of Limerick, whereby they were compelled to sup- 
port a cripple who had served his time and received 
his misfortune in the latter township, and that the 
same may be satisfactorily determined. The court 
ordered that as the bounds had not been fixed or re- 
corded at the proper time, that both townships be at 
equal charges for his keep or maintenance, and the 
line be ascertained by the surveyor-general. 

An act was passed in 1771 that provided for the ap- 
pointment of two overseers in every township by the 
justices at a special meeting to be held every year. 
The expense incurred in providingsubsistence.shelter 
and employment for those whom misfortune had ren- 
dered a burden to society was to be supplied out of the 
regular county rate. The overseers were responsible 
for the collection of the amount assessed and were re- 
quired to pay over the moneys in their possession. A 
record was kept of the poor, and an order from a jus- 
tice of the peace was necessary to become admitted 
to the list before assistance could be furnished. All 
having near relations who were paupers were com- 
pelled to support them, if their circumstances enabled 
them to do so. Those who liberated slaves were re- 
quired to give bonds in the sum of thirty pounds each 
to keep harmless and to indemnify the overseers in 
case such negroes became a charge through sickness or 
otherwise and rendered inca|)able of supporting them- 
selves. Among the duties of the overseers we're sup- 
plying the immediate wants of families reduced to 

> By Wm. J. Buck. 



poverty, and in case of death to give them decent burial. 
Those that could work were kept in employment 
among the farmers. On the formation of the county 
the justices of the court made the following appoint- 
ments of overseers of the poor for the year 1785, which, 
however, does not embrace half the townships : 

AbiDgton. — John Collum, Matthew Tyson. 

Chettenhani. — Alexander Loller, Benjamin Mather. 

Horsham. — William Lnkens, Juhn Lhiyd. 

Lower Merion. — Jonathan Robeson, Lewis Thomas. 

Moreland. — Isaac Warner, Lawrence Sentman. 

Springfield. — John Piper, Christian Keysler. 

Montgomery. — Peter Martin, Kdward Morgan. 

Plymouth. — John Meredith, Thomas Davis. 

Upper Salford.— Christian Hellerman, George Widemyer. 

Whitemarsh. — David .\cufr, l)avid Shoemaker. 

The subject of providing a home and a house of em- 
ployment for the poor, instead of the former method of 
having them work or board around with those that 
would consent to receive them, began to receive at- 
tention soon after the formation of the county. The 
first move in this direction was the holding of a pub- 
lic meeting at the house of John Davis, at Norristown, 
January 23, 1801, on the expediency of petitioning the 
Legislature of the State for the privilege of building 
a poor-house for the use and benefit of the destitute 
in Montgomery. But little was done in the matter 
until March 10, 1806, when an act was passed author- 
izing the purchase of a farm and the erection thereon 
of suitable buildings for the purpose by the county. 
Subsequent acts were passed January 26, 1807, and 
December 22, 1810. The location of the place now 
began to attract attention, and a meeting was called 
and held in regard to the matter at Centre Square, 
Whitpain township, October 8, 1806. Strange to say, 
this was so managed as to recommend the purchase 
of the out-of-the-way site that was shortly afterwards 
chosen, — namely, on the east bank of the Schuylkill, in 
Upper Providence township, ten miles above Norris- 
town, and all of said distance west of the centre of the 
county. 

The place was purchased from a person by the 
name of C'utwaltz, to which a few additional acres 
were added, making together about two hundred and 
sixty-five acres at a cost not ascertained. The di- 
rectors, Ezekiel Rhoads, Henry Scheetz and Jacob 
Houck, gave notice that they would be on the 
premises May 28, 1807, at nine o'clock a.m., "to 
meet persons who may desire to erect by contract a.J 
house for the reception of the poor agreeably to al 
plan to be shown. The person or persons contract-l 
ing to find all the materials for completing the same."J 
It would appear that by fall the building must have 
been completed, for in the county statement for thel 
year ending February 9, 1808, the cost of kee|)ing the! 
same is rejiorted to be $5217.10. On the following 
May 17th the directors gave notice to the overseers 
of the several townshijis that they would be present at 
the poor-house " in order to receive the paupers of 
the said county, " with their goods, which are to be 



INSANE HOSPITAL AND POOR-HOUSE. 



501 



valued by two' men appointed for the purpose. 
Among the expenditures for the year 1809 are men- 
tioned horses, cattle and swine, $696.35 ; implements 
of husbandry, $245.98; bedsteads, bedding and furni- 
ture, $839.67. 

Among the items in the report of the farm for 1813 
are 5 barrels of shad, 435 bundles of flax, 3 yards 
of flannel, 45 of linsey, 500 of linen and 30 yards of 
carpeting. Jacob Barr, of Pottstown, was steward, 
probably from the beginning until about 1816, at an 
annual salary of S400, which included his wife's ser- 
vices as matron. In 1821 the poor-house was de- 
stroyed by fire. At this time Philip Keed, Samuel 
Horning and Samuel Mann were directors, who 
shortly afterwards had the same rebuilt. The barn 
and out-buildings were burned March 31, 1867, and 
rebuilt that suiiHner. The former is of stone, 126 feet 
long, 76 feet wide, and cost $9790.71. The wagon- 
house, slaughter-house, sheep-stable, barn-yard wall, 
corn-crib and chicken-house cost additionally 
$3189.91. 

The house proving inadequate and not well adajjted 
for the purpose designed, it was resolved to erect an- 
other more comformable to modern taste, improvement 
and requirements. The contract for the building was 
awarded by the county commissioners, August 15, 
1870, to William H. Bodey, of Norristown, for the 
sum of seventy-one thousand dollars. The grading 
cost upwards of five thousand dollars; the engine, 
pipe and plumbing, four thousand dollars; in 1874 the 
l)uilding, steam-heating apparatus and necessary fix- 
tures, cost nearly thirteen thousand five hundred dol- 
lars; the following year the steam-pump, plumliing, 
gas fixtures, etc., above ten thousand dollars. The 
main building is two hundred and forty-four feet long, 
from seventy-five to fifty feet wide, and three stories 
high, surmounted by a stone belfry. A central rear 
wing extends back one hundred and two feet in 
length, fifty-four feet wide and two stories high. The 
whole is substantially built from the red sandstone of 
the neighborhood. Sixty dormitories are for the use 
of the paupers. The architect was Henry Sims. An 
adjacent building contains three large boilers for the 
jiurpose of heating water to warm the house. The 
water, which is brought hither from a spring about 
eight hundred yards distant, is pumped from a cis- 
tern by a steam-engine. A three-story stone building 
is used for hospital puri)i)ses and for the insane, and 
also another of two stories, a department of which 
is assigned to colored persons, the insane numbering 
about twenty-five. Water is brought to these build- 
ings and the barn by gravity from a spring about 
five hundred yards distant. 

The male and female paupers eat apart and have 
their separate rooms. The graveyard is neatly in- 
closed and contains nearly an acre of ground. A law 
has been lately passed that all children between the 
ages of two and sixteen years are not to remain at the 
poor-house over sixty days, but that the directors 



shall provide places for them, thus rendering schools 
unnecessary here for the instruction of the young. 
In 1872 the former building was burned, fortunately 
when the present was nearly completed. The officers 
of the institution in January, 1884, were as follows : 
Directors, John A. Righter, John O. Clemens and 
Daniel Shuler ; David H. Ross, clerk ; Adam F. Say- 
lor, steward ; Joseph H. Johnson, deputy steward ; 
Samuel Rambo, farmer ; Dr. J. W. Royer, physician ; 
Horatio Sands, engineer ; and Charles Ulrich, watch- 
man. Number of paupers, three hundred and five ; 
monthly average, two hundred and forty-seven ; cost 
of each per week, .§1.46; net expenses, $18,798.80. 

Through a late purchase the farm now contains 
two hundred and ninety-eight acres, of which but ten 
or twelve remain in timber. The woodland in 1858 
c )mprised about thirty acres. The land is quite roll- 
ing and appears to be under good cultivation. The 
main building fronts south, and, as seen from below on 
the east bank of the river, presents a fine view, the 
scenery around being unusually interesting. Above 
it is the Black Rock bridge spanning the Scliuylkill, 
nearer a lovely island reposing on its bosom, and the 
boats passing up and down the river impart variety. 
The government of the entire place is under the com- 
plete control of the three directors, who hold their posi- 
tions for threeycars, one being elected annually. They 
a]>])oint all the oflieers of the institution and are ac- 
countable for its management. They are required by 
law to meet at least every mouth at the place and 
see to the proper regulation of the same. On the 
first Monday of January the directors, county audi- 
tors and treasurer meet here to adjust and make out 
the accounts of the previous year. The expenses are 
met by funds raised from taxes levied by the county 
commissioners on requisition of the directors, and 
througli their order paid by the county treasurer. 

From the following statistics relative to pauperism 
in this county interesting information may be ob- 
tained: Xumher of paupers in the poor-house on the 
1st day of January, 1815, was 82 ; in 1825, 106 ; in 
1832, 110; in 1849," 198; in 18.58, 233; in 1876, 265; 
and in 1884, 305. The important question now 
arises, Have the poor increasedor diminished with the 
population according to the several enumerations 
made? By calculation in 1815 we find it was about 1 
in 393 ; in 1825, 1 in 3-50 ; in 1832, 1 in 360 ; in 1849, 
1 in 290; in 1858, 1 in 343; in 1876, 1 in 340; and 
for 1883, 1 in 280 of the population. It would have 
materially aided us if we could have had the statistics 
at hand of the number of paupers in the poor-house 
in census years, which would have been more accu- 
rate; but it is evident that pauperism among us 
is increasing in spite of the great diminution tak- 
ing place in the use of intoxicating liquors and the 
considerable sums now raised and jjaid out by benevo- 
lent and secret associations to ward off' poverty and 
ameliorate the condition of society. It must be ad- 
mitted that a considerable number of the poor are 



502 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



improvident foreigners, as the oiBeers of the poor- 
house liave informed us ; yet we doubt that the ratio 
is near as great now in proportion to our native popu- 
lation as formerly ; at least, it does not appear so ob- 
vious. One of the great causes, most probaljly, is the 
rapid increase of our larger manufacturing towns, 
where habits of dissipation and idleness are more 
readily acquired and more prevalent than among the 
simpler habits and more regular pursuits of country 
life. 



CHAPTER XXXY. 

THE PAST AND PRESENT POLITICS OF MONTGOMERY 
COUNTY. 

The political changes of a century are many and 
difficult to chronicle. Montgomery County became a 
subdivision of the State at the close of the Revolution, 
and at that time the people recognized but one politi- 
cal division, that of loyalist and rebel, patriot and 
Tory. For almost eight years the contention was for 
independence of or submissicjn to the continued 
dominion of Great Britain. Patriots and Tories could 
not live in the same jtolitical atmosphere, and between 
these radical and warlike parties many conservatives 
and peacefully disposed men, while the fierce struggle 
lasted, were crushed as between two mill-stones. 
It is difficult to recall the exact condition of the 
public mind in Montgomery County during the win- 
ter of 1784, when our municipiJity became oflicered 
by appointments made at the instance of the Supreme 
Executive Council, composed of men who had been 
members of that repository of power through the last 
years of the war, and who were prominent officials in 
the execution of summary laws, by which a large 
projjortion of the landed estates of the county were 
confiscated and their owners disfranchised and practi- 
cally exiled. To have been a loyalist, or to have 
favored the mother-country, was to be proscribed in 
all political matters. Although the commonwealth 
had been established by the Constitution of 177li, yet 
the forms of the colonial government were still in use. 
The only State officers elected at that date were the 
memliers of the General Assembly, and the only county 
officers elected were the sheriff, coroner and county 
commissioners, all others being appointed by the 
Supreme Executive Council, or by the few oflScers 
electe<l. The county commissioners had the power of 
appointing the county treasurer every year, and 
generally appointed the retiring member of their own 
numljcr. ^Vhile the right of universal suffrage was 
established, its use was greatly restricted by the un- 
willingness of executive jJower to yield its extensive 
influence resulting from appointments to municip.al 
office. 

There were less than twenty thousand people in the 



county at the time of its creation, and onlj' threa 
places fixed by law to poll the vote, — i.e., Norristown, 
George Eckart's tavern in Whitemarsh township and 
Michael Krepse's tavern in New Hanover township. 
There was no general government of the Union at 
this date. The States that had become independent 
were operating together by reason of certain articles" 
of confederation. All of the first officers of the county 
were men who had been identified with the Revolution, 
and while there were minor differences of opinion 
among them, they were always united upon political 
questions involved in the contest, and this condition 
of things continued until the Union was established, 
and the election and re-election of Washington to the 
Presidency had become a matter of history. It was 
in the candidacy of John Adams and his subsequent 
administration that ])olitical parties crystalized. 
During the last year of Washington's administration 
he refused to be a candidate for a third term. John 
Adams, then Vice-President, aspired to the succession, 
and called around him the leaders of the J^ederal 
party. Thomas Jefferson, who represented the 
opposition of the period and what was thought the 
more liberal tendencies of the people, induced the 
organization of a National Republican party, and be- 
came its idolized leader. John Adams was elected 
President, and Thomas Jefterson being the next 
highest candidate voted for, became Vice-President 
under the law then in force. 

The j3olicy of uniting political rivals in one and the 
same administration worked well enough under the 
great and good Washington, but with John Adams in 
the Presidential chair, watchful for his own succession, 
and the brilliant Jefterson organizing a new' party to 
oppose him, it was not long before the work of the 
primaries reached every county in the Union. The 
first party lines were those of the Federalist, in support 
of the Adams administration, and the Republican, led 
by Jefterson in hostility to the former. The leaders 
of both organizations were identified with the Revo- 
lution, and they differed only upon questions which 
arose subsequent to the treaty of peace and the adop- 
tion of the Constitution of the United States. The 
Federalists, by acts of conciliation in both political 
and social circles, attracted to their party all those 
who had been in sympathy with the mother-country 
during the war for independence, while the more 
radical Republicans were remorseless in their pro- 
scription of those who were known as Tories during 
the struggle. This fact, if borne in mind, will account 
for much of the political "lingo"' used by the Jeffer- 

1 " Johu Funk, minister of tlie gospel. In one of his political semious, 
on Monday, the 18th inst. (1817), at the house of Mr. Joseph Ilaus, had 
the holdness and impudence to say that no man hut Federalists, Tories 
and Vagabonds would vote for .Joseph Heister. AVe would advise him to 
pay more attention to his religious duties and not trouble himself quite 
so much in slandering Genenil Heister andhissupporters, or be will soon 
hear from us again." — SWrinti'tcn Herald, Atujtt»l 27, 1817. 

"Whkigery. — Itissaidthat the secretary of the Hartford Convention 
will shortly puhlish a genuine history of the 'New Whigs,' giving a 



THE PAST AND PRESENT POLITICS. 



503 



son Republicans against the Federalists during and 
subsequent to the war of 1812. And even many years 
later, when the Republican party merged into the 
Democratic party, led by General Jackson, it was no 
uncommon thing to hear Democratic orators charge 
the old Federalists and young Whigs with being the 
descendants of the Tories of the Revolution. The 
leaders of the National Republican party were shrewd 
and far-seeing, and by a system of agitation showed 
to the world the advantages of emigration, and advo- 
cated and secured the adoption of such naturalization 
laws as at once won for that party the support of that 
class of persons. The impress of this early policy still 
prevails, and the Democratic party throughout the 
country reaps the political advantage of it. The Alien 
and Sedition Laws of the Federalists and the later 
eflbrts of the **Ivnow-Nothings " were held by the 
Jetiersonian school of political economists to be alike 
abridgments of American citizenship. During the 
period fn.m 1800 to 1824 political parties and organi- 
zations in Montgomery County operated under various 
names. The followers of Jefferson were known as 
" Democratic Republicans ;" the opposite party styled 
themselves ** Federal Republicans." In 1779, Thomas 
McKean and James Ross were rival candidates for 
Governor. The canvass was spirited in Montgomery 
County, as will be seen by the following campaign 
documents circulated by their respective friends, Mc- 
Kean being the successful candidate: 

"FKEEMEK BE PRUDENT! 
'* The following Pivper has been published in the Town of Wiishington, 
where Mr. Ross lived at the time of the Western Insurrection ; It is 
In the County of Washington, which adjoins Alleghany County, in 
which Pittsburg lies. The Author, we see, has left his Name and 
his Proofs, and challenges a denial in a Firm and Wanly style. The 
Friends of Order in the Senate liave lately chosen Mr. I. Woods 
(Mr. Ross' Brother-in-law) .Speaker of the Senate, though he was a 
regular Deputy to an Insiirgent meeting held at Pittsburg. This 
was an Election made by Messrs. Hare, McClellan (of Cheater County), 
Potts, Matthias Barton, Gurney and the other Federalists in the 
Senate of Pennsylvania. Now many of the Gentlemen are on Com- 
mittees to promote James Ross to the office of Governor. The People 
will learn what manner of a Man James Ross is. 

*'To Mr. James Ross: 

"Sir, — You are a Candidate for an high and important Office in this 
State. The People are called upon by their Constitution to elect, on the 
8th of October next, a person to succeed our present Chief Magistrate, 
and you are one of the Candidates for that office. Your conduct and 
character ought to be fairly and strictly examined, and your merits and 
demerits made known to the Public. You are now. Sir, called upon iu 
this public manner to answer the fallowing solemn queries, without 
equivocation or finesse. They are addressed to your conscience. Y'our 
silence must be construed into guilt. If the charges are declared by you 
to be unfounded, then the author pledges himself to bring forward such 

particular and authentic account of the party from its commencement, 
in 1775, down to the present time. It will contain the history of 1775, 
when they wero called Tories ; 1778, their rendezvous on Staten Island ; 
1782, their flight to Nova Scotia; 1784, their return, whitewashed 
patriots ; I78'.i, monarchists in the Convention ; 1794, British treaty men ; 
17y8, Federalists — Black Cockades ; 180(5, advocates of impressment and 
opponents of the embargo ; 1812, Peace and Submission men ; 18l;i, Blue 
Lights; 1814, Hartford C.mventionists ; 1816, British Bankites ; 1824, 
Federal Republicans ; 1828, Adams men ; 1831, Clay men ; 1832, National 
Republicans; 1833, Nullifiers ; 1834, Bank Whigs." — Xortistown liegisler, 
October 8, 18^4. 



proofs and vouchers as will put falsehood to the blush and eubstantlate 
the facts. 

"I. Did you not vote for the British Treaty? A treaty which has 
prostrated .\mericaat the feet of Britain, and which under the specious 
mask <if reciprocity and justice delivered up an American Citizen to be 
sacrificed by the British nation. 

"H. Did you or did you not vote for the increase of salaries of the 
officers of the Federal Government when the People were groaning under 
the weight of its new tixes, excise, Ac, to support standing armies, 
navies, &c,'! 

'* III. Did yon or did you not vote for raising a Standing Army ; and 
were you not one who sanctioned the arming the people of the States 
south of the Pot<.miac as militia and those of the States North as HeguUtr 
troops, thereby making a hold and obvious attempt to divide the Union ? 

"IV. Did you or did you not declare 'That any Person who would 
kill an Excise Officer you icould defend him Gratis,'' thereby bringing dis- 
grace upon our Country and encouraging the citizens infamously to vio- 
late tlie laws of GOD and Man ? 

"V. Did you or did you not persuade the delinquent distillers not to 
pay their arrearages of excise ? 

"VT. Shortly before the Insurrection did you not importune John 
Baldwin, of Washington County, to bring suit against Gen. Nevill for 
Whiskey ho had seized in Alleghany County, the property of said Bald- 
win ? And did you or did you not obsei-ve, after having repeatedly sent 
for Mr. Baldwin to prosecute the suit, that you did not wish the suit until 
the Oil Unseal (meaning Nevill) had so large a quantity that you would 
have it in your power to sacrifice all his property ? And further, Did you 
not, when you thought the time had arrived that a suit ought to be 
brought, advise said Baldwin to prosecute in Alleghany County, and 
request him to employ Jlr. Bracki-nridge as the proper person to bring 
the suit, but promised that you would assist all in your power in conduct- 
ing the same? Thereby throwing the odium of prosecuting on Messrs. 
Brackenridge and Baldwin, when in fact you were the prime mover. 

*'V1I. How, or by what method were you appointed a Commissioner 
on the part of the Government, when your expressions and actions were 
iu opposition to it ? 

"VIII. Did you or did you not, upon your return from Kentucky 
during the opposition to the .\lien and Sedition laws in that State, in a 
pviblic company at Pittsburg, declare, upon being asked 'in what situa- 
tion you left the people of Kentucky,' that 'they ivere just as the people 
of ihi* Western tountry : would REBEL if they DAUEUr Thereby 
casting the greatest odium upon the people of this country and indirectly 
stigmatising them with the epithets Traitors and Cowards. 

'*IX. Did you or did you not, refuse to drink as a toast, * The Constitu- 
tion of the United States'" at the table of Messrs. Holmes and Rainey, mer- 
chants iu Philadelphia, in the presence of Col. Marshall, former recorder 
of this county? 

*' X. Did you or did you not take from a respectable Citizen in this 
County, then in embarrassed circninstauces, at the rate of Seventy-five 
per Ce»(. interest per Annum, SEVENTY iwunds for FORTY. An un- 
equivocal and explicit answer is demanded to this Query. Your con- 
science, your honor, your character, your all depends upon it. 

" XI. Did you or did you not, when called upon to prosecute Samuel 
Thom|>son, in this County, for Usury, refuse to act, b»U by some means 
qujished the business, a charge having been thrown out against you for 
the same crime. 

" XII. Do you or do you not hold large tracts of land over the Alle- 
ghany liver which you claim by tcarrauts, whilst the actual settlers are 
daily deprived of their possessions by those warrants? 

" XIII. Did you or did you not sanction the sale of the lands North- 
West of the Ohio in large sections, so that they might become a subject of 
speculation. And have you or have you not purchased, in conjunction 
with a person at the mouth of BufFaloe, the greater part of the said land 
at two Dollars per Acre, and are you not now selling it at the advanced 
price of eight or ten Dollai-s ? 

"XIV. Did you or did you not act the part of a Harlequin in this 
town, and make different religious preachers, in particular theRev. Johu 
M'SIilleu, the object of your derision and ridicule, for the anuisement of 
your companions at a card-table ? 

" XV. Did you or did you not declare ' That whenever you could be- 
come the devotee to religion you Imped you might have reason enough 
left to cut your own throat ?' " 

" Montgomery County, July 27th, 1709. 
" Felhw-CUizens, — In consequence of the importance of the ensuing 
Election for Governor of this Stale, a large number of the Citizens of 
Montgomery county have assembled at the house of Nichohui Sweyer, in 



504 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Whitepaine township ; and upon due deliberation think it advisable to 

give their support to James Ross, of Pittsburg, for that dignified office — 
His integrity — his disposition — his eminent abilities— his patriotism and 
unshaken firmness, conspiring to render liim a judicious selection for 
that high and responsible station. 

"Coniniittees consisting of persons attached to their country's best in- 
terests, and consequently most likely to t;xeit themselves on that behalf, 
have been appointed for the several Townships, to promote Mr. Ross's 
election. 

*' The Gentlemen composing the several committees, hy turning their 
attention to what passed before the last general election, will feel them- 
selves at no loss respecting one of the objects uf their appointment — To 
them an useful lesson has been taught, by the conduct of those who, lost 
to every principle of public and private virtue, set morality :iside, and 
with the tongue of falsehnuil, traduced the government, slandered their 
officers, and with the foulest calumnies between their lips, rode from 
house to bouse, misrepresenting the laws, and poisoning the minds of 
the citizens, so as to lay the foundation of that insurrection, which 
ranked the county of Montgomery amongst those in rebellion against 
the United Stjites. — Of conduct like this, the membei-s of the several com- 
mittees will be upon their watch ; and by a vigilant attention to such 
disturbers of the public peace, will detect their falsehoods, expose their 
calumnies, and where the public good requires it, report their names to 
the other committees, that those traducers of our laws and the characters 
of our most vahiable citizens may be held \ip to public view as men de- 
void of truth, and unworthy the confidence of their neighbours and fel- 
low-citizens. 

" It is of importance that particular notice should be taken of the arts 
that are practised to injure Mr. Ross's character — anonymous pamphlets 
and papers are in circulation, containing charges against hirn which are 
totally unfounded, and which there is no dovibt were believed to he so 
hy the autbors themselves, and were intended to mislead the nnwai^ 
and unsuspecting citizen, for the purpose of carrying a favourite measure. 
For if this was not the case, why did not the autbors give their names — 
and why do they circulate their pamphlets in a manner which evinces 
that they are unwilling an investigation should be had, and that their 
names should be publicly known — When the infamous aspei-sions con- 
tained in these pamphlets — the object of the lying arts, the low and 
scan<lalous devices of ceitain persons who have no character to lose, but 
that which they have gained by conduct that every American citizen 
ought to despise, and which would (if possible) disgrace even a French 
Jacobin — are considered, tlie necessity of being vigilant will be obvious. 

" Mr. Ross's parentage, his possessions, his religious and moral charac- 
ter aro called in question — To men acquainted with bim, and informed 
of the arts of those in upposition to bis election, the slightest notice of 
such reports would appear unnecessarj', but those who are unacquainted 
with him may think otherwise — It will therefore be adviseable to make 
a fair representation of his character, hy stnting facts as they really are. 
And with truth it may be said, that he is descended from a Farmer of 
respectable character, wlm is a native of, and now resident in the county 
of York in this state — that Mr. Ross by bis extraordinary abilities, in- 
tegrity and industry, has become cunspicuous amongst the most distin- 
guisbed members of the Senate of the United States— ranks with the 
most valuable and highly-esteemed citizens of his county, and possesses 
that portion of property which, although it is sutficient to secure his in- 
dependence and attachment to his country, yet its amount is not such aa 
to raise him above his fellow-citizens, or render him dangerous to the 
public — That in religion he is sound, and has been its constant advocate 
— and that even his opposers in politics who reside in bis own neighbor- 
hood, and are acquainted with him, acknowledge his morals to be un- 
impeachable. 

" It is particularly recommended to the members of the several com- 
mittees to use their best industry to convince their neighbours of the 
necessity of exerting themselves to promote Mr. Ross's election ; as upon 
it our country's future prosperity and liappiness very much depends. 
Every man in the several townships should be visited, excepting only 
such as are notoriously governed by French principles, and are under 
French intluence ; these are believed to be incorrigible, and from them 
no good is to be expected ; but the other citizens ought to be coolly rea- 
soned with — arguments and facts stated to them with candor, that their 
judgments may be convinced of the necessity of turning out to the elec- 
tion, and using their utmost exertions in support of the candidate herein 
r(«commended. 

"It will be advisable for the committees to take to their assistance 
such of their fellow-citizens as ai-e willing to he aiding on this important 
occasion. 

"These measures arc recommended from an assurance that uidess tlie 



evil practices spoken of are checked, we must fall a prey to those calami- 
ties which are the sure consequences of vices, so subversive of that public 
confidence which is all essential to the support of a Republican Govern- 
ment. 

"If we turn our eyes to the revolution in France we shall find that 
deception, fraud and violence have formed the ladder by which the 
different factions have raised themselves into power, and that under their 
influence the people have been stimulated to acts of violence and cruelty 
towards each other, which would be a disgrace to a nation pretending 
even to the smallest degree of civilization. Now if the people of this 
country who are opposed to our government, and who seem to be imitat- 
ing the conduct of France, should become sufficiently strong, and should 
persevere in their vilifying practices, have we not reason to fear that civil 
discord, which was fomented by the enemies of our government, and 
which lately rose into rebellion against the United Stjites, will again ap- 
pear with redoubled fury? — Neighbour will be in ilanger of personal vio- 
lence from neighbour — and citizen from citizen — the dreadful horrors of 
civil war will be our unhappy lot. And we, when it is too late, shall 
have to reflect upon ourselves, for neglecting that duty, which as men, 
as neighbours, as American citizens, was assigned us to perform. With 
the example of France and the late insurrection before our eyes, can we 
hesitate to set our faces against the autbors of civil discord, or will we re- 
fuse to rally round our government as the place of our refuge, and as the 
only means under Providence of our political salvation ? — It has hitherto 
preserved us from the fangs of France, and if we give it our support, we 
may with confidence rest satisfied, that under its banners we shall be 
safe. 



' Names of the Township Committees foe the County of Mont- 

GOUEBV. 

Samuel Maulsby. 
George Fries. 
Jacob Deavs. 
Jacob Rietf. 
John Wilson. 



Ahinoton. 
Jonathan Tyson. 
George Fisher. 
John Rieter. 
William McCalle. 
Thomas Fletcher. 
Joseph Webster. 
John Mitchner. 
Daniel Paul. 

Cheltenham. 
Thomas Shoemaker. 
Richard Martin. 
Benjamin Roland. 
Sebastian Miller. 
Jacob Moyer. 
Isaac Leech. 

Gi:iNET. 

Christian Dull. 
Jacob Heisler, Jr. 
William Mearia. 
Joseph Lewis. 
William Foulke. 

Lower Merion. 
Algernon Roberts. 
Joseph Rice. 
John Kerwin. 
Hugh Knox. 
Lloyd Jones. 
Samuel Evans. 
William Thomaa. 
Samuel Jervis. 

Upper Merion. 
Isaac Dehaven. 
John Elliot. 
Jesse Roberta. 
Abijah Stevens. 
John Hughes. 
Peter Ranibo. 
Jonas Rambo. 
John Moore. 
Peregiene H. Wharton. 

Whitemarsh. 
Daniel Hitner. 
Thomas Lancaster. 



NORRITON. 

James Shannon. 
Ezekiel Khoad. 
Daniel St. Clair. 
David Supplee. 
John Thomas. 
Isaai' Shoemaker. 
John Davis. 
Peter Mather. 
Dr. Isjiac Huddleson. 
Christopher Heibner. 

Plymouth. 
Andrew Norney. 
George Pearce. 
Robert Kennedy. 
Edwani Wells. 
Bt-njamin Levering. 
Joseph Courson. 
Jeeae Rex. 
John Merredith. 
Samuel Thomas. 
John White. 

Whitepaine. 
Samuel Ashmead. 
Daniel Levering. 
Moi'gan Morgan. 
Mordecai Jones. 
James Bartle. 
William Nanny. 

WORCESTEH. 

Christopher Zimmerman. 
John Bean. 
Jacob Smith, 
Melchor Shidtz. 
Joseph Pryon. 
Jacob Custard. 
Peter Johnston. 

New Hanoveb. 
John Brooke. 
Thomas Brooke. 



THE PAST AND PRESENT POLITICS. 



505 



Ileujaniin Markley. 
Robert E. Hnbart. 
James McClenloch. 
Julin Betz. 
Henry Kreps. 

Douglass. 
Joseph Potts, jun. 
Bartholomew Wambach. 
Amos Jones. 
Christian Lisig. 
George Mock. 
Abraham Ishbach. 

Limerick. 
Moses Hohsou. 
Amos Evans. 
Owen Evans. 
Nicholas Cressman. 

Upper Salfoed. 
Jacob Groft. 
Michael Zigler. 
Philip Halm. 
Michael Sholl. 

Upper Hanoa'er. 

Abraham Sliultz. 
Jacob Welcher. 
Wendal Wiand. 
John ShlifFer. 
Jacob Gery, jun. 

Perkiomen. 
John Tyson. 
Hugh Cousty. 
Jacob Markley, 
Michael Ziegler. 
Benjamin Pawling. 
George Reiff. 
George Reiff, senior. 
Joseph Alldei-fer. 
John Allderfer. 
Jeremiah Kreeble. 
Henry Harley. 

Marlborough. 
W'illougbby Mayhnry. 
Christian Sud. 
Jacob Zeiber. 
Philip Gressenger. 

RIontgomery. 
James Hammer. 
Jacob Hopple. 
.John Jones, jun. 
Charles Humphreys, 
Lewis Stegner. 
George Gordon. 
John Hestou. 
Walter Evans. 

Horsham. 

Seneca Lukens. 
Natlmn Holt. 
Joseph Jarrett. 
John Iredell. 
Azor Lukeus. 
Jonathan Iredell. 



John Shay, 
Thomas Nixon. 
James Paul. 

Moreland. 
David Cumming. 
John Thomas. 
George Selmire. 
John Jarrett, jun. 
Jonathan Clayton. 
George Newell. 

Providence. 

John Jacobs. 
John Shannon. 
David Schmck. 
James Bean. 
Anthony Vanderslice. 
Israel Bringhurst. 
John Umstat. 

TOWAMENCIN. 

Jehu Evans, Esq. 
Henry Smith. 
Abraham Kreeble. 
^lordecal Davis. 
Joel Luken. 
Gerret Godshalks. 
John Lukens. 

Hatfield. 
Jitlin Funck. 
.Jacob Root. 
Joel Tryon. 
Nathaniel Johnson. 
Joseph Wilson. 

Krancoma. 
Jacob Oberholzer. 
John Wilson. 
^Michael Shoemaker. 
John Althouse. 
Jacob Gearliart. 
Captn, John Cope, 

Upper Dublin. 
John Jarret. 
(ieorge Dresher. 
Jonathan Thomas. 
Andrew Gllkinson. 
John Wuis. 
John Burke. 
Jacob Ulrick. 

Si'RINGFIELD. 

John White. 
Nicholas Klein. 
William Smith. 
Aiiani Weaver. 
Abraham Wyderick. 

Frederick. 
Abraham Groff. 
Abraham Swenck. 
Jacob Hawk. 
John Hildebeitel. 
John Nice. 
John Zieber. 



During the twenty-four years from 1800 to 1S24 the 
power of Thomas Jeffersou was acknowledged to be 
almost supreme in national politics. The Con- 
gressional caucus system of nominating candidates 
for President prevailed, and hence the succession of 
his two Virgiuia friends and neighbors, Madison and 
Monroe; or, in the words of those days, "the Virginia 
dynasty ruled until it was broken by the election of 
John Quincy Adams, by the House of Representatives, 
in 1825.'^ It is impossible, within the scope of this 
work, to follow the details of local politics in Mont- 
gomery County through all these years. The war of 
1812 quickened public interest, and upon its termina- 
tion party lines were well marked. From 1812 to 
1822 Montgomery and Chester Counties were one 
Congressional district. Both parties had full tickets 
in the field, one of which we note, with election 
returns, as follows: 

NORRISTOWN DISTRICT ELECTION RETURNS. 

Jacob Drinkhouse 629 

Commissioner. 

David Stijer 577 

Andrew Gilkeson 628 

Director. 

John Seebner 561 

Titus Yerkes 633 

Auditor. 

Z.„!ok ThouHiK 557 

Thomas Lowry 646 

Note. — The Federal and Independent Republican candidates are in 



Governor. 

Joseph Hifster 575 

William Findley 631 

Assembly. 

Samtiel Buird 598 

William Hatjy 580 

John Hughes 581 

Jacob Lefiher 580 

William M. White fi28 

Tobias Sellers 632 

Joel K. Mann 632 



"Sir, — As Chairman of the meeting, at which the preceding AiUiress 
was agreed on, I was directed by a Resolution thereof, to cause printed 
copies of the same to be circulated through this County, and particularly 
to be fonvarded to the members of the Township Committees, If in pro. 
inotiug the election of the within proposed candidate, any communication 
should by you be deemed necessary, direct your lettei-s to yViViam ILAtlee. 
Chairman of the Montgomery County Committee, whicb will be promptly 

attended to, 

"Thomas W. Pryor, Chaxrunm." 



In the foregoing election there were three parties in 
the field, — the Democratic Republican, the Federal 
Republican and the Independent Republican. The 
last-named party ran bui one candidate, Colonel 
Boyer, who was defeated, the following campaign 
document being issued against him : 

''Communication to the Hendd, October 2, 1816 : 

"As Col. Boyer, one of the candidates for the sheriff's uffice, claims 
some merit for his seoices in camp during the late war (1812) and as he 
is said to he a very modest gentleman, I presume that his modesty has 
prevented him from making his friends acquainted with the following 
circumstance: Some time during the encampment of the Rifle Regi- 
ment below , Marcus Hook, Doctor Spencer purchased, at a 

farmer's cost, a pair of fine fowls. Colonel Boyer purchased one of the 
smallest at the cost of three five-penny bits. The colonel politely 
offered to send the doctor's fowls to his maniuee. The doctor consented. 
The colonel, however, was determined to be renninerated for his servant's 
services and directed him to exchange his small fowl for one of the 
doctor's large ones. When the doctor discovered the mistake he called 
at the colonel's marijuee and was informed by the servant (the colonel 
being absent) that it was done by his master's directions. 

■' N. B. — If the circumstance has escaped the colonel's memory. Doctor 
Spencer and other persons may serve to refresh it." 

** A Democrat," writing for the Democratic Repub- 
licans, in the Herald, October 2d, says : 

"Had your delegates, when assembled at I. Markley's, followed their 
constituents or acted agreeably to the wishes of three-fourths of the 
people, names which disgrace your tickets had not appeared. Who 
among you trust an assassin with your life, a tyrant with your liberty or 
a thief with your jtur:^!'? Yet in pui'lic concerns you trust, blindly 
trust, men who seek uot so much the public good as private convenience 
and emolument." 

In the same campaign Joseph Leedom, Frederick 
Conrad and William Bevens issued an address, in the 



50G 



HlSTOliY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



name of the Independent Republicans of Montgomery 
County, saying : 

" Felloio-cUizens : The period has at length arrived wlien it is neces- 
sary to throw off the shackles imposed upon ue by designing men, or 
submit to be degraded below the slaves of European despots. It cannot 
be unknown that this county and the State genei-ally bus been ruled by 
a junto of political intrigue, whose only object has fteen to aggrandize 
tliemst'Ivea at the expense of the rights and interests of the people. 
Hence it is that every man who has dared to think for himself has been 
branded by epithets of opprobrium by this junto of political jugglers." 

They close their address by calling upon the Inde- 
pendent Republicans of Montgomery County who are 
determined to exercise their rights of elective fran- 
chise to act in concert and in "opposition to dictators 
and designing office-hunters." Another Independent 
Democrat writes to the Herald of July 16, 1817, as 
follows : 

"il/r. Soiver : Happening a few weeks ago to stop at a tavern in this 
county, I was in but a few minutes till the Governor's election became 
the subject of cnnversation. A patent Democrat asked my reasons for 
supporting General Hiester. I gave them in this way, — I believed him 
to be a moderate but firm Republican, that his Revolutionary services 
entitled him to IIil' confidence of every tnie American, and I wiis always 
disposed t(t give such men the prefereuce. This patent fellow replied, 
' Findley has been taken up by the Democrats and we ought to support 
him if he was the d dest niscal in the world.' This expression dis- 
gusted me ; I wheeled about and left him. Such, fellow-citizens, is the 
sentiments of the supporters of William Findley." 

"A Republican" writes in the same paper as 
follows : 

*' Jl/r. Sowers: I was much suriirisi5d to hear one of our county com- 
missioners a short time ago say ho would vote for the devil, if he was 
taken up by the Democrats, in preference to voting for a good man 
taken up by any other political party."' 

Communication in the Herald, July 28, 1817 : 

^^ Mr. Sower: I read in your last paper a conmiuiiication charging 
one of our county commissioners with making a declaration that he 
would ratlier vote for the devil, if nominated for an office by the Demo- 
cratic Conmiittee, than the best citizen in the State, nominated in any 
other way. I must confess I doubted whether this county contained a 
man so lost to principle, so ignorant to what constitutes Democracy as to 
utter such a sentiment. However, it appears that Casper Schlater lias 
had the hardihood to come forwanl and acknowledge hiniself the author 
of the sentiment, and even goes further to say that no man can be a 
good Democrat who would not d() the same. If these are the sentiments 
of the ruling Democrats of the county, how can any mural or religious 
man give them his support ?" 

The following, from a supplement to the Norrlstoicm 
Herald of October 8th, is characteristic of the Hiester- 
Findiey canvass in Montgomery County ; 

"fJALUM.NV RF.FfTF.n. — Fellow-citiztus : From the manner the friends 
of Mr. Findley commenced electioneering after the promulgation of the 
infamous Brandywine story, it was expected a** the election approached 
falsehoods would be daily fabricated and promulgated against the charac- 
ter of the people's candidate. But it could not be anticipated that men 
who had some pretention to character, who had received on many 
occasions the countenance and support of the citizens of this county, 
should so forget and degrade themselves as to becuine, if not the 
instrument, the pi-oninlgators of as base and ungenerous a calumny 
against the character of General .Toaepli Hiester as covild have been 
devised by the most black-hearted, deliberate assjisin. It is contained in 
the following communication as ])uhlished in the lieffhter of that week, 
in these words: 'The following ie taken from the orderly book kept 
by Captain Joseph Hiester's orderly sergeant, Isaac Feather, (^ New 
Hanover township, Montgomei*y Co. : "Captain Hiester arrived in 
.\mboy, 2Kth of .luly, 177G, with a company of ninety-tive men ; on the 
14th, left Amboy and marched for New York ; 22nd of August, left 
New York and went to Long Island ; on the 2Gth of August sixteen 



hundred American troops advanced to the lines. Captain Hiester, on the 
2Tth, with ten of his men, were taken by the enemy, to wit : one corpoml 
and Dine privates. Report said at that that they ran to the enemy. 
His men never sstw Hiester after until they were discharged ; they then 
saw him at Reading." ' 

" The author of this communication intended (as the writing itself 
imports) to make it appear as if it was entered in Mr. Feather's orderly 
book that General Hiestur cowardly deserted his post at the battle of 
Long Island and rau to the enemy as a traitor, or to make the public- 
believe Mr. Feather said so. The following certificate will show how far 
the author or authors of that communication are warranted in treating 
Mr. Feather and the public in the manner they have done : 
"'To the ComvxUtee of Correspovdence for the Counttf of Montyoincrij in 
Favor of i/«' Election of General Joseph Hiester. 

"'Gentlemen: At j'our request we waited upon Sir. Isaac Feather, 
the pei-son alluiled to in the communication in the Register of last week. 
The following is the result of our coinmuncation with him on the sub- 
ject of that publication : Mr. Feather stated to us that some few days 
ago William Henderson, Thomas Humphrey and Isaac Wells called 
upon him for the purpose of e.\amining his orderly-sergeant book while 
he acted as sergeant in Captain Joseph Hiester's company in 177G. He 
produced the book, from which they took extracts, as appears in the first 
part of the communication in the Register; after that was done they made 
some inquiry about the battle. He then stated that "I told them I was 
not in the engagement ; I was then on other duty. I said that after the 
battle it was reported that our regiment, commanded by Colonel Lotz, 
was surrountled by the British, and in attempting to make their escape 
some of them ran into the British lines without knowing where they 
were going. I never said that Joseph Hiester ran to the enemy ; I 
could not have said so, for he was its firm a Whig as ever stepped in shoe- 
leather, and the man who states that ever I said Joseph Hiester ran to 
the enemy tells a falsehood, for I never saidso, never thought so."' 

(Signed), " 'John Henderson, 

" • Levi Pawling.' " i 



1 Hon. Levi Pawling. — The Pawling family, according to tradition, came 
from New Yoi'k State during the last century, settling on the Schuylkill, 
between Trappe and Fatland Ford, at the crossing of the Ridge turnpike 
road. It is doubtless of the same generic head as the Pauldings of that 
State, the orthogi-aphy being changed, as is quite common in a new 
counti-y. Our earliest authentic information of the Pennsylvania family 
is in the record that " Henry Pawling, Jr., Jonathan Roberts, Sr., George 
Smith, Robert Shannon and Henry Conrad were appointed by Act of 
Assembly in 1784 to purchase ground near Stony Creek, and thereon 
ei'ect a court-house and prison for the use of Montgomery (.'ounty.'" This 
Henry Pawling was also one of the first associate judges of the county, 
and doubtless resided in Providence township. He had three son.s and 
one daughter. The sons were Henry, William and Levi, the latter the 
subject of this memoir, William lived on the fiirmat Pawling's Bridge, 
in Lower Providence, 'till about 183.'>, the time of his death, leaving three 
sons, — Henry, Thomas and Albert. Eleanor, the daughter of the elder 
Henry, married James Milnor, a lawyer practicing in the county, but re- 
siding in Philadelphia, who subsequently retired from that profession, 
took ordei-s, and became rector of St. George's Episcopal Church. New 
York. 

Levi Pawling came to Norristown, studied law, and «as admitted to 
the bar in November, 17ii5, thus taking his position with \Villiam Moore 
Smith and Thomas Ros.s the elder. He soon attained considerable dis- 
tinction as a lawyer. On the 17tb of October, 18f)4, he married Elizabeth, 
daughter of General Joseph Hiester, the ceremony being performed by 
Rev. Henry A. Muhlenberg. The children horn to them were three sons 
and four daughters. The sons wei-e Joseph H., James M. and Henry 
De Witt. The daughters of Levi and Elizabeth Pawling were Eliza- 
beth, Rebecca, Ellen and Mary. 

Levi Pawling entered his profession just after the organization of the 
county : he was for many years the Nestor of the bar, enjoying a very 
large practice and living in the most munificent style of any in the 
borough. At one time, and for many yeare, he owned the flouring and 
sjiw-mill at the foot of Swede Street, and ran it in partnership with James 
Bolton, the father of General William J. Bolton. He also owned a farm 
which embraced all the land north of Airy Street lying between Stony 
Creek and Saw-Mill Run, and extending back one-fourth of a mile. The 
farm-house on this land was near what is now the corner of Green and 
Chestnut Streets. For a number of years before it Wiis cut into town lots 
it was called the "Davis Farm." Mr. Pawling, at an early date, also 
erected on Main Street, a little west of Swede, perhaps the most stately 



THE PAST AND PKE8ENT POLITICS. 



50T 



CORRESPOND EN CK UETWEEX DISTINGl'lSHKD POLITICIANS 
OF 310NT(J0MERV COL'NTV. 

"Montgomery Cuuntv, Sept. 15, 1S17. 
"Sir.-— The committee of correspuudence of aiontgomeiy County, de- 
sirous of guardiug against tlie premeditated liesignsof our secret politica' 
enemies, of which you may not be apprised, liave considered it expedient 
and advisiible again to address you through the medium of a private 
circular. On the 4tli of August last we communicated with you in our 
official capacity, as well a.s through motiveei of personal friendship, owing 
to many sinister ruiiioi-s afloat, relative to the inimical disposition of 
Nathaniel B. Boileau to the election of William Findley, the Democratic 
candidate for Governor, which, from the confidence we uniformly enter- 
tained of his Uepuhlican integrity, we could not imagine was entitled to tlie 
slightest credit. But in order to remove public impression, and for our iudi" 
vidua! satisfaction, we addressed him on the subject, and particularlystated 
in our communiaition the nature of the reports in circulation, and re- 
.[uested of him, as soon as convenient, an explicit denial. We received 
an answer dated the 20th day of August, and much to our astonishment 
and surprise it is fmught with falsehood and disappointment and the moat 
malignant political turpitude imaginable. He traduces, in the most shame- 
ful and dastiirdly manner, the private and public character of William 
Eindley. whom h^ charges with having obtained his nomination by 
fraud, peculation, intrigue and corruption, and lia.** the hardihood aud 
effrontery to pronounce, comparatively, that the Carlisle caucus was 
equally Republican with the delegation composing; the Harrishurg Cun- 
voution. No expression of opinion can be considered more authorized, 
coming from Mr. Boileau, than this, particularly when he made hie selec- 
tion and suffered his name to be nomiuated by the Harrishurg Conven- 
tion under a perfect undei-standing that he, as well as Mr. Findley, 
would submit to the decision. But Mr. Boilean, from his letter in our 
posstssion, refuses his su] jioit to Mr. Findley because lie did not receive 
the preference. Such conduct is at least destitute of princijile and po- 
litical honesty. It is traitorously abandoning the Demoi-mtic party, 
through whom he secured the second station in tlio comuioiiwealtli. 
Mr. Boileau, not content with denouncing the chanwter of Mr. Findley, 
we are assured that in order to gratify his disappointed ambition aud sa- 



double-roomed mansion in Norriptown, where he lived till he retired 
from business, and which, witli the adjacent office, was occupied by his 
son, James M., till the hitter's death, in 1S38. The building in which 
Martin Molony recently died embraces about half the old mansion. 
After the death of the son just named he continued to reside with the 
daughters, who occupied part of the old homestead ; but for a number of 
yeaitf, when he had become old and decrepit, he lived with his son. Dr. 
Pawling, at King of Prussia. He. however, finally returned again to 
Norristown, and died in 1845, at the age of seventy-three years. His 
wife, Elizabeth, died in 182fi. 

Hon. Levi i'awling filled a great number of public positions during his 
long life. Perhaps the fii-st was that of trustee of the land ceded by the 
University of Pennsylvania for a court-house yard or public square. Of 
this he divested himself in favor of the Town Council on the l.'ithof May, 
1835. 

Being a Fedei-alirit in politics, while, since tin- time of Jeffei-son, the 
county has always been Democratic, Mr. Pawling did not reach any 
legislative office except a seat in Congress, to which he was elected ouh 
term (1817-Uij in company with Isaac Darlington, .d' Chester. There 
was little, however, in the nature of material improvement in town or 
county that did not secure his pecuniai-j' help and ])ei'sonal co-operation. 

He was chairman of a public meeting held July 22, 1807, to denouyce 
theontrageousattackof the British frigate "Leopard" upon the "Chesa- 
Ijeake" in time of peace, and one of the commissioners in ISll appointed 
to sell the stock of the Reading and Perkiomen Turnpike Road Company. 
In April, 1814, he was one of the commissioners named in the law to sell 
.stock in the Egypt (Uidge) Turnpike Road Company. In pui-smince of 
an act passed March 8, ISIG, he was also named at the head of a com- 
mission of nine persons to sell stock in the company organized to make a 
lock navigation on the Schuylkill. In 1818 he was elected burgess of the 
town, a post he filled several times afterwards. Shortly after the organ- 
izati«m of the Bank of Montgomery County Mr. Pawling was elected a 
director and nuide president of the board. 

About the time of his retirement froiu business his pecuniary affairs 
had become deranged, and he lost the extensive property he had owned, 
the homestead alone being retained for hi.s us*- by the assistance of his 
weulthy father-in law, Sovernor Hiester, who. in his will, left each of 
the children of Mr. and Mrs. Pawling a x>atrimony of about ten thou- 
&!ind dollars. 



tiate his revengeful aud malignant heart, secretly supplies onr op- 
ponents with means to destroy, with Mr. Findley, the Republican as- 
cendancy in the State. Mr. Boileau, since the decision of the arbitratol-s 
in the case of Kline vs. Peacock, has, we underetaud from respectable 
authority, been industriously engaged in writing lettei-s to his friends in 
Montgomery aud Bucks Counties to oppose Mr. Findley. But instead 
of answering his desired object, it has e-vcited the indignation of those 
whose political cUaiucter he attempted to destroy, and renewed in them 
double vigilance and exertion in support of the real Democratic candi- 
date, Mr. Findley. We have strong grounds of apprehension, from the 
information we have received fron. several sources, and from the posses- 
sion of conclusive evidence of the disappointment of Mr. Btnleau and his 
unjustifiable animosity towards Mr. Fiuilley, that his mind is prepared 
to extend his political treachery to every possible length in order to 
prostrate the election of the Democratic candidate. It is a matter of 
infinite importance that we should be on our guard, aud indefatigable ia 
our Republican brethren in the respective counties throughout the 
State, to meet with contempt and decided disapprobation any communi- 
cation Mr. Boileau may give publicity to under the sanction of his 
name previous to the election, ia order to secure Mr. Findley. We shall 
answer Mr. Boilean's letter in the coursH of a few days, in which we 
shall refute his charges against Jlr. Findley as false, and as the vision- 
ary effusions of a disappointed man, and finally denounce him ajs au 
enemy to Democracy and unworthy the confidence of his former po- 
litical friends. We should be happy to hear from you previous to the 
election, and your candid opinions as to the result in your resjiective 
counties. Our majority will not be less than five hundred. The Re- 
publicans are firm, vigilant and active with \ifi, and resent, with deci- 
sion and promptitude, the views and overtures of disappointed men. 

"Philii'S. M.\rklev,i 
*' Henrv Sciieetz, 
"Bex.i.vmin Reiff, 

"John Wentz, 
"Jon.N Jones, 
'■Philip Reep, 
" Philip Yost, 
" ConimitU'c of Correnpondttice ftppfinic'J by the 
" H'trrifilmrij Convenlion.*'' 



1 Philip S. JIarkley was the son of John and Elizabetli (Swenk) Mark- 
ley. His father, John Markh*y, was one of the most prominent citizens 
of Norristown, and was sheriff of the county in 1T«I8. The son, Philip 
S., was quite distinguished as a lawyer, being admitted to the bar in 
November, 181H, and had a large practice, but soon fell into the whirl of 
IKjIitics. His father before him had been a very influential Democrat, 
and he, walking in his footsteps, becaTiie active in party mattei-s. So in 
18l;l he was appointed deputy State's attorney, probably serving during 
the whole of Governor Findley's term of office, or from the spring of 
1818 till 18-21, though by the record he was nominated for State Senate 
and elected in 1819, continuing there till 1824. It would seem, therefore, 
that pei-sons were then eligible to lx)th offices at the same titiie, for we 
have ascertained to a certainty that IMr. Markley wt»s deputy State's 
attorney in 1811) and 1820, when, as appears also by a newspaper an- 
nouncement which lies before ns, of the date of January, 1821, that 
" Alexander Moore was appointed district attorney vice Philip S. Markley, 
removed." Soon after the conclusion of his service as State's attorney 
and Senator, he was tjiken up by the party for Congress and elected iu 
1823, serving during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Cougressee, from 
1824 to 1828. His term in the national House of Representatives was 
during the famous rise of what wa-s known as " Jacksonism," when 
Hon. Nathaniel B. Boileau and Htm. Jonathan Roberts, the great early 
lights and leadei-s of the party, retired from their places ia disgust at the 
dawn of what was called "mere military statesmanship." 

At the conclusion of his Congressional term, or shortly, after, on the 
ITth of .\ugnst, 1829, he was called by Governor Shulze, near the close 
of his administration, to fill the post of attorney-general of the State, 
which he held one yeitr, till the accession of Governor Wolf, in Jannai^, 
1830. This was the last public office he occupied, but he continued at 
the bar till 1834. While attending aii arbitration at Spang's hotel he 
dropped iu a fit of apoplexy, and died instantly, in his forty-sixth year. 

It would not be within the possibilities of this work to hunt up his 
legislative record, and he has been so many years dead that even liis 
pei-soual qualities have faded from the memories of most of the living. 
His widow and some of his children reside in Philadelphia, v.-ry worthy 
and respectable people. 



508 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



" Hatborough, Oct. i), 1817. 

*'JMr. Stiles: There is a certain congeniality of suuls, syiiipatliy or 
fellow-feeling which attaches rat-'u of siniilarmanners, habits and prin- 
ciples together. The following will explain in a satisfactoi-y manner 
why Mr. Markley, the secretary of the corresponding committee, rallies 
round the standard of Mr. Fiudley, and issues his fulminating anathemas 
ajrainst all who ojipose him. The ofticers of the militia who served on 
the court-martial for the trial of delinquents for non-performance of 
militia duty in the fall of 181i employed Dr. Halm, member of Congress 
fr<mi Montgomery County, to get from the Treasui-j' of the United States 
Compensation for their services and gave liiin power of attorney for that 
purpose. About the month of Febniary last Mr. P. 8. Markley went to 
Washington, and without any authority from those officers, got the 
money, amounting to between five and six thousand dollai-s. When the 
officers heard that he had got the money they called on him for their 
pay. He pretended at first that there was difficulty in settling the 
accounts, and that he had not got the money, but afterwards had to 
acknowledge that he had made \ise of it. Some of the officers had not 
heen paid in August last, and 1 shall ascertain in a few days whether or 
not there are some yet unpaid. One of the officers called on him for 
settlement, and agreed to throw off fifty dollars if he would pay him the 
rest. Mr. Marklej' gave him a check for the balance, deducted the fifty 
dollars, but when the check was presented to the bank, Mr. Mai"kley had 
no money there. He was then obliged to get it discounted at a broker's, 
and finally the officer was threatened with a prosecution from the broker 
and had to redeem the check himself. 

"One of the brokers says, Jlay 23, 1817, 'he (Mr. Markley) was here 
on Wednesday two weeks and reijuested us to wait until Thursday fol- 
lowing. We did, bnt instead of our money we received a letter fiom 
him infornung us if we would wait one week longer he would certainly 
pay us. Sir, we have shown a .very great degree of forbearance and 
liave manifested a disposition to accommodate you both, until all hopes 
of receiving anything from Markley are at an end.' 

"Again June 14, 1817, 'we received another proof of Esq. Markley's 
equivocation, he having written that he would positively jtay on Wedueb- 
day following, which we did not believe at the time, yet we have waited 
till now. Yon cannot expect further indulgence.' What say you. Colo- 
nel Binns, thou great censor morum at the 'altar of whose conscience" 
nothing but the pure incense of truth can be offered up, does not this 
look like 'two deliberate falselioods? ' does it not look like 'setting the 
seal to his own infamy?' Could Mr. IMaiUley, like his Democratic candi- 
date, have had the treasury to put his hand into, or a kind brother-in- 
law Robert to draw notes for him, he would no doubt have taken up his 
checks or notes more punctually. But let us have his own apology in 
hiti own words, '1 never was so (himnably disa|ipuinted in money.' O ye 
rocks, and mountains, and hills I cover me frniu the awful and final de- 
nunciation which still hangs over my devoted head, and is only sus- 
pended by the mercy and furbearance of the honorable committee. Citi- 
zens of Montgomery County, I do most sincerely ask your pardon for 
reconmiemliug P. S. Markley to the attorney-general for his deputy. 
I was deceived in the man, and shall 'in the course of a few days,' by 
virtue of the power and authority to me given, by nobody to proscribe 
any man who diftera from me in opinion, 'denounce him' unworthy of 
the confidence of any honest man. I put my name t<i this paper and 
jiledge myself to Mr. Markley and the public to prove, if required, the 
truth of the facts stated. I would, with all due respect to Mr. 3Iarkley, 
beg leave to suggest that when he prepares his indictment against nie 
fur a libel against BIr. Findley, he would pleswe to add this as count to 
the hill, and we will make one job of it. 

"\. B. B01I,EAl\l 

" P. S. — I have now before me the correspondence between the officer, 
Markley and the broker, and a written statement from the officers, 
which I will attest on oath if necessary." 

' Nathaniel Brittan Boileau, who was eight sessions a member of the 
li>wer Huuse of .\ssembly, elected Speaker of that body, and thence made 
secretary of the commonwealth for three terms by Governor Snyder, was 
in many respects the greatest man 5Ioutgoniery County ever jiroduced. 
His equal and compeer at the time was Hon. Jonathan Roberts, who, 
with him, wen- the niling spirits of young Montgomery during the first 
twenty years of the present century. 

He was the sim of Isjiac and Rachel Brittiin Boileau. The father of 
Tsimc Boileau was a Frenchman, driven from France among other 
Huguenots, and exiled on the revocation of the Kdict of Nantes, which 
gave toleration to Protestants, .\long with a shipload of other refugees, 
be landed on Staten Island about 1075, After remaining there some 
time, during which Isjuic Boileau was born, many of them, he of the 



The Democrats carried the county and State, elect- 
ing William Findley Governor, who three years 
later was succeeded by his competitor, General Pliester. 
The want of a representative system in making party 
nominations led to dissatisfaction among the rank and 



number, emigrated to Bucks County and to the neighborhood of Phila- 
delphia. The father of Nathaniel B. came to Moreland township and 
purchased a farm of eighty acres, land now uwned by Mr. Lewis R. 
Willard, about two miles northeast of the present borough of Hatboro'. 
Here Nathaniel B. Boileau was born in 1763, and also two sisters. When 
Nathaniel B, wa* thirty-three years old, in 17EI6, his father sold to bim 
his farm just referred to, and at the same time a tract of twenty acres in 
Bucks County, for five hundred and fifty pounds, the deed for both being 
certified "before Robert Loller, une uf the Judges of the Court of Common 
Plwis." This property, or the first part of it, he exchanged some time 
after for a farm of two hundred acres on the southern limit of the bor- 
ough, land now owned by Judge W. H. Yerkes and the Bates family. 

Isaac Boileau was a well-to-do farmer, and gave his only sun the best 
education possible, sending him to Princeton College, where he gradu- 
ated. His mother must have been advanced in life at his birth, for per- 
sons still living remember her residing at Hatboro' as late as 1812, when 
she was well-nigh a hundred years old. We do not know when Mr. 
Boileau graduated at college, but it must have been previous to 1788, 
when he was twenty-five yeai-s of age, for he had married Hester Leech 
in 1795, who bore liim one son, Thomas Leech Boileau, she dying in her 
thirtieth year, in 1797. Of the events of his life from the time he grad- 
uated till he began to figure as a politician, in 17i>7, wo have no record 
beyond the fact that he was interested in Fitch's efforts to perfect his 
boat to run by steam. Mr. Boileau himself was an ingenious man, 
a<"cnstomed to the use of tools, though but a farmer, and constructed 
line of Fitch's model steamboats. During college vacations, as he related 
in afterlife, he made the paddle-wheels of said boat, and assisted the 
inventor in testing its ca]>acity on some of the ponds near his father's 
residence. lu this period of eight or ten years, it is jiresumed, he was 
dividing his time between farm labor and studies, jireparatory to the 
active public life he afterwards led. He was undoubtedly conversant 
with all the writings of the political fathers of our young Republic, and 
it is safe to siiy that few men of his time more heartily drank in the 
"spirit of seventy-six" than Nathaniel B. Boileau. Public documents 
and political papers from his pen, found in the newspaper files of the 
first quarter of the present century, abundantly show this. 

Some time after he made tin- exchange of properties be divided (in 
18iH) the large farm on the Yoik ruad, and built a very fine mansion on 
one part of it for his own use, which at that time was one of the finest 
residences in the county. The remainder of the property, with the old 
homestead, about thirty-five years after, he sold to Joseph B. Yerkes, 
Ksq. The stone for building his fine house was quarried with his own 
hands, and he also dug the cellar. This dwelling, adjoining Loller 
Academy, he occupied many yeai-s, till compelled by losses in his old age 
to part with it also. 

As before stated, 3Ir. Boileau was elected to the General .Assembly in 
17517, at the bottom of the legislative ticket, along with Cadwallader 
Kvans, Benjamin Brooke and I'eter Muhlenberg. This was before the 
division of voters into Federals and Republicans, for all the others were 
afterwards Federals, as Boileau was subseepiently known as an active 
Republican. Mr. Boileau was thus returned three times, making four 
sessions he attended continuously. In 1S02 he was left at home, bnt the 
session of 18U3-4 he was sent back again, as also the se.ssions of 1806-7-8. 
He stands alone on the records of the county as having represented it in 
the Lower House for eight yeai"s. During his hist session, in iwis, he wa« 
elected Speaker on the 19th of January. But we must go back and 
detail his legislative acts in their order, as they are recorded in the 
newspaper files consulted. 

During the years 180:J^-5-6 he was jiaymaster of the county volunteer 
militia. On December 17, 18(H, Mr. Boileau obtained by appropriation 
two thousand dollars for the endowment of the Norristown Academy, and 
in 1805 had charge of the articles of impeachment against Judges Edward 
Shippen, Jasper Yates and Thomas Smith. He made a very able and 
elaborate report and argument against them before the Senate on behalf 
of the House, but the former body acquitted the accused by thirteen to 
eleven, — not a two-thirds vote. At this time party spirit began to run 
very liigb, Republicans charging Federalists with sympathy for England, 
and the latter stigmatizing their opixments with the name of Jacobins, 
and with being in favor of " French atheists." In 1800, Mr. Boileau, as 



I 



THE PAST AND PRESENT POLITICS. 



509 



file of all parties, and by the close of James Monroe's 
second term the people were ripe for political revolu- 
tion. The caucus party nominated William H. Craw- 
ford, of Georgia, Tennessee put up General Andrew 
Jackson, the Federal Republicans advanced the can- 

the leader of the House of Representatives, mo>ed a committee to draw 
up an address to President Jefferson, urgiug him to suffer his name to be 
used as a candidate for a third term. The House adopted the motion, 
and Mr. Boileau presented a very able paper, which was passed by both 
Houses (in the House by tifty-six to nineteen) and sent to Washington. 
During this j'ear politics were fiercely contested, and a Democratic-Re- 
publican Association formed, of which Mr. Boileau was president, Dr. 
William Smith vice-president, Jonathan Roberts, Jr., secretary, and 
Stephen Porter treasurer. 

The year ISO" was a busy one fur Mr. Boileau, and his name appears 
as connected with almost every public movement. On Januar>- 1st he 
presented a petition from members of the German Lutherau Church of 
Barren Hill asking for "permission to raise three thousand dollars by a 
lottery for its benffit." He also framed the law fur the establishment of 
the Jlontgumery County poor-house, and got it passed. This year also a 
bill, adopted by his agency, authorized the raising of one thousand four 
hundred dollars by lottei"}* to build an English school at Sumneytown, 
and on February 25th, being cbainnan of the Committee of Ways and 
Means, he made a report on State finances, exhibiting the revenue in a 
healthy condition. 

This year the outrage of the British frigate " Leopard '' firing on the 
" Chesapeake " in time of peace, and taking out of the latter some al- 
leged Britisli seamen, produced a prufound feeling of exasperation all 
over the country. Public meetings were ludd in different States to take 
action upon it, and prepare the public mind for a becoming vindication 
of the outrage or a declaration of war. Such a meeting of enrolled 
militia was held in our county, and Mr. Boileau was appointed chair- 
man of a conmiittee of correspondence to confer with other such meet- 
ings or bodies, with a view of bringing public sentiment up to the point 
of resistance. 

On Fiibrnary i;J, 18U7, Mr. Boileau offered a resolution to appoint a 
committee to inquire into the expediency of repealing an act of Assembly, 
passed in 1777, making the common law of England tbe law of Pennsyl- 
vania, and to ri-jKirt by bill or otherwise. This wasa time uf much anti- 
English feeling in the country, and it wasalleged impossible for unlearned 
persons to know under what laws they were living. 

As before stated, party spirit ran very high, and much tUssatisfaction 
was felt and expressed in " Republican " circles at the austere and aris- 
tocratic bearing of Governor McKt-an. Su much opposition wjis mani- 
fested against his renomination fur a third term, in fact, that Simon 
Snyder came within a few votes of beating him in the canvass before the 
legislative caucus. .\ccordingIy, a motimi was inaile in the House dur- 
ing the last year i»f his third term to " inquire into ids official conduct,'' 
but it was lost by a tie vote. Mr. Boileau recorded in favur of laying the 
motion on the table, — that is, iu the negative. In Januai->', 18(i8, Mr. 
Boileau moved that "our Senators in Congress be instructed, aud ourKejv 
reseutatives be requested, to support a bill fur ojiening water navigation, 
by canal, betweLMi the Delaware and Susquehaima," and Mr. Boileau 
and Mr. Leib called up a bill which had Wen prt-viously reported in 
favor of opening water communication between the Schuylkill and Sus- 
quehanna Rivet's. 

As before stated, Mr. Boileau was elected Speaker of the House on De- 
cember 8, 1*m:»8, and made a pertinent speech on the occasiou. On the 
20th of tht; same month, however. Simon Snyder, then just elected Gov- 
ernor, appt>inted him secrftary of the commonwealth, to which office 
he was reappointed December 17, ISll, and December 20, 1814. On his 
resignation to accept the secretaryship, Richard T. Leech, probably a 
relative, was elected early in 18(19 to the vacant seat. 

It is a curious fact that one of the last legislative acts of Mr. Boileau, 
as one of the first signed by the new Governor (Snyder), wasan omnibus 
lotterj' scheme, entitled an act to raise seven thousand dollars by that 
means to enable an association in Montgomery County " to promote the 
culture of the vine and to pay their debts and accomplish the objects of 
their association ;" also including two thousand, as before stated, to build 
a school-house at Sumneytown in which to teach English. 

In the fall of 1808 Colonel or Judge Robert Loller, an eminent and 
wealthy neighbor, died, leaving the bulk of his estate, after the death 
of his widow, which happened in 1810, t(» build and endow Loller Acad- 
emy, and Mr. Boileau was left sole executor, a position of great trust 



didacy of John Quincy Adams, while the admirers 
of Henry Clay started him upon the race for Presi- 
dential honors. The confusion among leaders natu- 
rally confounded their followers. Many changes oc- 
curred among those who had been prominent in local 

' and responsibility. He was charged in the will with the duty of build" 

I ing and providing for the seminary according to his own judgment anil 
plans. This institution 31r. Boileau erected during 1811-12 on ground 
' adjacent to his pi-operty, and disbursed some eleven thousand dollars, the 
I residue of the estate, with great wisdom aud fidelity. 
! The war breaking out in the summer of 1812 greatly increased the 
' duties and responsibilities of Governor Snyderand his secretary. Though 
bred only a civilian, he bad to a^ume the duty of aid to the Governor, 
I and was so appointed in 3Iay of that year, in company with John B. Gib- 
son, Wilson Smith and John Binns, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. 
1 About that time, or soon after, a draft was issued for fourteen thousand 
men for the defense of the State and nation, and there not being appro- 
j priations to fully equip the troops, Mr. Boileau made advances from 
his private purse. In fact, the first mortgage given on his land was to 
I raise three or four thousand dollars to procure blujiketti for the soldiers, 
I and either through the informality of law or the modest unsellishness of 
I Mr. Boileau. that money was never repaid him. This is given on the au- 
thority of one who had it, many years after, from his own lips. Mr. 
I Boileau and his family were Republican or Denmcratic in all their habits 
j and instincts. Instead, therefore, of his wife and son removing to Lan- 
1 caster and Harrisburg. and living in style, as the manner of most officials 
' now, hit- family remainiKl at Hatboi"o\ 

The eight years of legislative service, and nine as secretarj- of the- 
commonwealth under honest Simon Snyder, caused no abatement in the 
! rigid monility and sterling patriotism of Mr. Boileau. All the animos- 
I ities felt against him, therefore, were purely political, and the able man- 
I ner in which he had filled the post of secretan.' for three tenus, having the 
' full confidence of Mr. Snyder, justified the expectation that he would be 
i taken up for Governor to succeed him. Nearly the last political or 
military appointment he filled was that of acting adjutant-general, from 
May, Isilti, to Januarip-, 1817. In March, 1817, however, the legis- 
lative caucus, or State Convention, assembled to place a Democratic can- 
didate for Governor before the people. William Findley, who had been 
a representative in Congress almost from the organization of the govern- 
; meut, Isaac Weaver, of our county. Speaker of the Senate, and the sec- 
I retary, X. B. Boileau, were informally nominated. When it came to a 
, vote, Findley received ninety-nine to Boileau's fourteen. Whether personal 
j chagrin at his defeat by Mr. Findley had anything to do with warping 
I his clear judgment in tbe matter, or whether Mr. Boileau's allegations 
were well-grounded, cannot now be known, but Mr. Boileau charged 
the nomination to corrupt influences exerted by Findley, and he broke 
i with his party by writing a bold letter in which he made that charge in 
I unmistakable terms. Mr. Boileau did nut hesitate in that letter to es- 
I pouse the side of Joseph Hies-ter, Mr. Findley "s Federal opponent. This 
letter got into the hands of the latter party, which was used in the 
! canvass, and a crisis In Mr. Boileau's political life was reached at once. 
I The Demociatic County Cuiumittee appointed by the nominating State 
Convention, consisting of Philip S. Markley, Heiirj- Sclieetz. Benjamin 
Reiff, Philip Reed and Philip Yost, prepared and issued a secret circular 
just before the election, denouncing Mr. Boileau as a traitor for charg- 
ing that Findley got his nomination corruptly. Mr. Boileau retorted 
j briefly, but sharply, charging that Markley had collected a large sum of 
I bounty money that he had appropriated to his own use, and paraded 
' some documents fastening the charge upon him. 

I Except an active advocate of the anti-Masonic movement from 1829 

I tx} 18;i4, this Hiester and Findley campaign was Jlr. Boileau's last appear- 

' ance in politics. In reference to the letter that led to hie exit from the 

I Democratic party, the editor of the yorristown Herald, alluding to it, 

says ; " We have never been the eulogist of Mr. Boileau, but his integ- 

I rity and probity have never by us been questioned." 

1 Mr. Boileau joined ^le anti- Masonic movement with considerable zeal, 

I and when Joseph Rituerwas elected Governor by that party he received 

the appointment of register of wills in Januar>". 183G, and held it three 

years, bis son Thomas acting as his deputy and clerk. This was the last 

I public office he filled. 

I It only remains further to refer to Mr. Boileau's exalted private life, 
sum up his political career and record his peaceful death. In sterling 
integrity, patriotic aims, ingrain Republican principles and unselfish be- 
nevolence Mr. Buileau has had few, if any, superioi'sin our county. Cue 



olO 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



politics. A leading editorial in the -flcra/t/ of July 
24, 1824, says: 

"The rrt-fiidential question is now the topic of Jisijute with the major- 
ity of tht- Democratic eJitors, some of whom have already coninienced 
with that vvilgar ahuse which characterized their proceedings in the 
gubernatorial contest in lS2n-2;!. Tlie Democrutic Press and Americitn 
Sentinel are the warm supportera of the cancus candidates, wliile the Co- 
iumbiaii Ohsei-ver aud Franfcliii Gazette, on the 4th day of March last, dis- 
mounted their old horse, called ' undeviaticg Democracy,' and mounted a 
more poiiular steed, called 'Old Hickory.' It is said that Old Hickory 
frequently halts and tlies from the Democratic cause and gets in the 
track of Federalism, a most aboiuinable and unforgiving offense. He is 
followed by John Binns, Walter Luwrie, Jonathan Roberta i and other 
worthy coadjutors. . . ." 

that knew him host of any says : " He was very benevolent. The indigent 
never went away from bis door empty-handed ; he gave to the poor as 
long as he had anything to give. He worked on the farm in haying and 
harvest till past middle life. He was very industrious and never idle ; 
was very handy with tools for working in wood ; made nearly all liis 
farm implements, even wagons, carts, plows, harrows, etc. He was the 
most capable and trusty business man of the time to settle estates, act on 
arbitrations and the like. 

The most interesting remains of this tnily great and good man are two 
oil-portraits in the iiosseesion of Mr. William Sprogel, of Hatboro', one o*^ 
them taken early in life and the other when he was secretary of the 
commonwealth ; and the large Bible containing family records in the 
hold, clear handwriting of this eminent man, as also a painted life-size 
portrait of Blr. IJuileau's firet wife, are now in possession of Mr. John 
J.acob8, of Norristown, whose wife is a sister of the wife of Thomas L- 
Boileau, deceased. 

Thus died in jjoverty Nathaniel L. Boileau, who was born rich, 
married two wealthy wives, was industrious, honest, frugal and 
patriotic. He outlived all his early friends and relatives, except his un 
fiu-tunate son. till he was nearly left alone in the world, and went up like 
Lazarus to his reward on high. As his life was no sham, bo there are no 
"lies" nor fulsome eulogies on his tomb-stone, tlie inscription un which, 
in Abington Pi-esbyterian Churchyard, reads ae follows : 
"N. B. BOILEAU, 

DIED MAUCU 16th, 1850, 

In the 88th year of his age." 
1 Jonathan Roberts was invited to stand for the Legislature, an invita- 
tion which, with much reluctance, he accepted. At that time public at- 
tention became engrossed with the duty of selecting a successor to Presi. 
dent Monroe. There wen; several randidates, all claiming to be Demo- 
crats, — Oawford of (i^orgia, Adams of Ma.<sachu8etts, Clay of Kentucky, 
Jackson of Tennessee and Calhoun of South Carolina, — each having 
«ome show of support. Sir. Roberts favored the nomination of Crawford, 
who was the favorite of the intellect of the Republican or Democratic 
party. Had not his health failed him the probability is that he would have 
proved the strongest candidate. Supposing that by obtaining a seat in 
the Legislature at that time he wnuld thereby promote the chances of 
Crawford's election, Mr. Robei-ts accepted the nomination, and was 
elected. Almost single-handed and alone he stood out against the tide 
of Jacksonism that swept through the Pennsylvania Legislature. In 
this his standing as a public man was rendered quite unpopular, not- 
withstanding he wiis unce thereafter returned to his seat. As the last of 
his legislative services he took an active and leading part in the great in- 
ternal improvement scheme which at tliat time startetl the prosperous 
career which has since been pursued by the Keystone State. That great 
system was not adopted in the form Mr. Roberts desired, owing to the re- 
fusal of the Senate to incorporate the essential provision for a sinking 
fund to eventually liquidate tlie outlay. He was urged to stand as a can- 
didate for the next sefisiun of the Legislature, but he felt it was time for 
him to retire and look more after his private affairs. One feature of the 
improvement enactment was for a canal board to serve without pay, as 
an expedient to get ritl of drones. This plan WiiS only partially success- 
ful, as idle and incompetent men presseil themselves into even that public 
position. Covernor Shult/ at length sent a commission to Mr. Roberts, 
with the request that he wmild accept it. Being unwilling to show re. 
luctance to execute a policy whii'li he had so earnestly supported, and to 
keep the aiqtointment out of improper hands, he consented to fill the 
place, although at great private sacrifice. He continued to fulfil the 
duties of his otTii-Q for three years, much to the advantage of the State, 
This brought his public services up to the year 1827, when Jacksonism 



The following conclusion of the editor is certainly 
frank, and illustrates the unsettled condition of the 
public mind at that date : 

"When we sit down to pen the above paragraph we had intended it 
to be quite diftereut from what it turns out to be. It is not an uncom- 
mon thing for us editoi-s to frequently commence an editorial paragraph 
with very great reluctance. Yet, as many of our patrons are in the 
common practice of firet turning to the ' Norristuwn ' head to see what 
comes from the editor, whether it be good, bad or indifferent, we are not 
willing that our readers shall ahvaj's be disajqiointed. We wish once 
more to inform our readei-8 who may be Jacksonites, Crawfordites, Ad- 
amites, Clayites, or whatever other kind of 'ites' rhey may choose to be, 
that we are as yet the advocate of none of them. We hold ourselveB 
'free, sovereign and independent,' and we intend so to be until we can 
make a better choice. But our columns shall be open to any well-writ- 
ten article on the subject of the Presidential canvass, believing it to be 
right that the merits and demerits of each should he fully canvassed, that 
the people may be better able to judge of the most suitable person, and 
then make their choice accordingly.'' 

Subsequently the same paper sums up the result of 
the October election, 1824, as follows: 

"Perhaps there never was so much political indifference and apathy 
among the people as was evinced at the last election. We have already 
mentioned that there was no opposition to the Democratic ticket in this 
county." 

The following ticket was elected : Congress, Philip 8. 
Markley ; Assembly, Jonathan Roberts, John B. .Steri- 
gere, ]\Iichael Cope, Robert E. Hobart; Commissioner, 
James Sands; Director, Peter Fritz; Auditor, Samuel 
E. Leech. 

The highest vote polled at this election was for 
Michael Cope, being 1873. In the Presidential elec- 
tion of the same year the following votes were polled 
in Montgomery County for the several candidates in 
the field, all of whom were designated by writers and 
public speakers of that campaign as " Democrats " or 
"Democratic Republicans:" Andrew Jackson, 1497 ; 
John Quincy Adams, 28; William H. Crawford, 445; 
Henry Clay,' 27,— total, 1997. 

The population being at this date 3''). 793, as shown 
by the census of 1820, and the estimated or possible 

had acquired control of all State affairs In Pennsylvania. The Repub- 
lican canal board was obTK)xious tn the predominant Jackson junto in the 
Legislature, and the membere of the former body were legislated out of 
otfice, they having refused to resign the discharge of their duties, and a 
new Jackson board Wiis legislated into office, ae they would not trust 
iJovernor Schultz. to make other appointment 

From this time forward Mr. Roberts was active in his opposition to 
Jacksonism. and kept the defenders of the hero of New Orleans engaged 
in an animated jiublic discussion of the claims of that impetuous and ar- 
bitniry man to the runtidence of the American people. This drew down 
upon him the displeasure t>f those who were carried away by the military 
renown tif .Jackson. Mr. Koberts was a warm and able defender of Mr. 
Adams who was made the target fur the bitter assaults of men like 
Samuel I). Ingham and Timothy Pickering, who sought to advance 
Jackson's interest by creating popular prejudice against President Adams, 
who, as well as Jackson and <-'lay, had been Democrats up to the time of 
his election. In this purpose these adversaries of 3Ir. Adams were suc- 
cessful, and in lS.i8, Jackson was elevated to the I'residency by the popu- 
lar vote. In his opposition to (ieneral Jackson. Mr. Roberts was gov- 
erned si'li'ly by jiatriotic and impersonal motives. He felt and knew "he 
was engaged in an unpopular cause, and the public controversy wiis most 
distasteful to him ; but he fearlessly breasted the storm and looked for- 
ward to the time when it was to spend its force. That time came with 
the expiration of President Jackson's last term. It is true Van Buren 
succeeded him, but the unnatural coalition which had constituted the 
Jackson party melted away under the administration of his more politic 
but less willful predecessor. 



THE PAST AND PRESENT POLITICS. 



511 



vote about 7000, the want of general interest seems 
unprecedented, and the number of " stay-at-homes " 
nowhere finds a parallel in the political annals of the 
county. There was no popular choice for President, 
and the election devolved upon the national House of 
Representatives. The contest was animated and bit- 
ter among the leaders, and provoked a much more 
general interest in the result than had been previously 
manifested in the canvass of the several candidates. 
The following was the electoral vote in the United 
States, certified to in tlie official count: Jack.son,99; 
Adams, 84 ; Crawford, 41 ; Clay, 37,— total, 2(31. 

A choice of Mr. Adams by the House of Represen- 
tatives was commented on as follows by the editor of 
the Herald, under date of February 16, 182o: 

" ConU-ary to the wishes and expectations of a very large portion of 

tiie citizens of the United States, .Folin Qnincy Adams haa been elected 

hy the House of Representatives on the iirst ballot. We have nothing to 

offer in congratulation to those who have so long wished for this result. 

They have gained a victory, it is true, over the caucus junto, but we fear 

over the majority of the ,\mericau people also. To those who have been, 

after all their threats and boastings, so suddenly disappointed we tender 

the following pleasing consolation : Mr. Adams is perhaps the ablest 

.diplomat and greatest stiitesman in America. He is possessed of all the 

talents and experience necessary for the good government of our national 

atfail-s, and, if reports be trtie, he ha.s had the management of the must 

niliortant business for several years, from which we may hope, judging 

from the very prosperous situation of the nation, that he will make 

a good President." 

It is a matter of history that tlie administration of 
James Monroe closed an era of good-will in national 
politics, and while the methods of the ruling party, 
especially the caucus system, were unsatisfactory, the 
general apathy of the period hastened the work of dis- 
organization, as shown in the several factions 
and four rival candidates for Presidential honors. The 
following circumstance connected with our county af- 
fairs is confirmatory of the even temper of the political 
mind of 1824. There was a grand Fourth of July 
celebration at " Hathorough " the year named. The 
celebration look placeoii Saturday, the 3d, the 4th oc- 
curring on Sunday that year. It was held in " Bean's 
Woods." The report of the atlair, which appears to 
be published "by particular request" in the Norris- 
iown Herald, says : 

" At twelve o'clock the procession formed in the following order : Dr. 
John H. Hill, marshal, and G. H. Pauling, Esq., aid ; Robbarl's Troop 
of Cavalry; Montary's and Hill's Infantry; Standard; Colonel Chris- 
tian Snyder, president; Orator, Kev. T. U. Montanye ; Field Ottieei-s 
Larzalere and Steel ; Hathorough Hand ; IVI. V. Booskirk, vice-president ; 
citizens, two-and-two. After marching through the village, the organi- 
zations and people collected in the woods named, where the Declamtion 
of Independence was reiol and onitions were delivered. These exercise^, 
were followed by a banquet, after which thirteen regular toasts were 
proposed and duly responded to by guns and cheers, as was the custom 
in those days. Twenty-six volunteer toasts were proposed, ail of which 
were reported in full." 

Bearing in mind that four Presidential candidates 
were running at the time, each of them having friends 
and able champions in the county, the sentiments 
proposed indicate the general good-will that must 
have characterized the occasion. The first toast was 
by the Rev. T. B. Alontanye, — 



" The United States, without a King, abounding with materials to 
grace the Presidential chair. 

"The finished statesman, ^A'iIliam H. Crawford, after the most rigid 
scrutiny, found faithful in all the departiiieiit.s he has filled. 

"John Quincy Adams, the father of our navy and defender of our 
commerce, the first diplomatic character in tlie world in whom is con- 
secrated wisdom and prudence. 

" Henry Clay, the undeviating Republican. 

"Andrew Jackson, the hero of New Orleans, the enemy of spies and 
firm defender of his country's honor. May the voice of the people ren- 
der the interference of Congress unnecessary by selecting from such acon- 
stellation of worthies one to sit at the head of the most distinguished 
nation on earth !" 

One would naturally suppose that the reverend jia- 
triot had covered the ground completely, but beseems 
to have been repeated by several of those surrounding 
the festive board, viz., — by Major James Quinton : 
"General Andrew Jackson, the hero of New Orleans. 
May he ever conquer his American enemies ; " by 
Captain John T. Neeley : " The Honorable Henry 
Clay. So long as office shall be considered a reward 
for distinguished merit, may he never be without 
public employment;" by C. Snyder, Jr.: "William 
H. Crawford. May he, on the 4th of March next, be 
conducted to the Presidential chair of the United 
States." Andrew Jackson was in favor with the 
"outs," as the toast of Dr. JohuGrigg fully illustrates: 
" Washington City constipated ; Hickory oil a purge." 
The last of the highly-wrought sentiments proposed 
upon this occasion was offered " by a lady," but whose 
name unfortunately does not appear in the report : 
" May the American eagle, standing on tip-toe 
on the watch-tower of Liberty, gall the red lion with 
nine cheers, crying ' All's well.' " The good mothers 
of those days were not wanting in public spirit, and 
the reporter who suppressed the name of this charac- 
teristic " lady " has denied to the historian the means 
and pleasure of preserving itamongtho.se whose excel- 
lency of speech and unquestionable patriotism have 
contributed in making the day memorable. 

The next decade in the i>olitical history of the 
county carries us forward to the second term of 
President Jackson. The administration of John 
Quincy Adams passed into history with satisfaction 
to the people, during which time Andrew Jackson 
became a prominent candidate for the succession. It 
was in his cauva.ss that he gathered up the broken 
fragments of the National Republican party, and 
crystalized them in name and practice the Demo- 
cratic party. He had made a distinguished record 
for himself as an otHcer in the war of 1812, and the 
signal victory over the British at New Orleans gave 
him a world-wide and deserving fame. He had a 
strong personal following in Montgomery County, 
having in his first run polled three times as many 
votes as his most popular competitor. He was elected 
President in 1828, over John Quincy Adams, by 178 
to 83 electoral votes, and re-elected in 1832, by 219 
electoral votes to 40 for Henry Clay. The great issue of 
President Jackson's administrations turned upon the 
financial policy of the country. The United States 
Bank was chartered by Congress and sanctioned by 



512 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



President Washington, February, 1791, and the char- 
tered powers were renewed by President Madison, 
1816. 

The financial operations were largely conducted 
through this bank, and the capital used, thirty-five 
million dollars, was thought by many to be too cen- 
tralizing, and therefore dangerous in the hands of a 
political and partisan administration. President 
Jackson antagonized the hank, alienated the money- 
power of the country, refused to recharter the liank 
in 1832, and removed the government deposits in 
1833, producing a crisis in tlie agitation that had been 
somewhat violent for a year or more preceding this 
event. All the political elements descending from 
the Federalists, and many of the National Republi- 
cans who had supported the financial policy of the 
country from the days of Washington to .John Quincy 
Adams, now arrayed themselves against Jackson, 
who, willing to part with whatever power the great 
bank gave to his administration, went to the people, 
declaring the United States Bank to be a dangerous 
monopoly of privileges that should be better dis- 
tributed throughout the States. The political divi- 
sions of men became marked in every community 
in the country. Montgomery County shared fully in 
the fierce debate and partisan activity of the period. 
There are many persons still living who recall the 
campaign of 1834 in Montgomery County. The meet- 
ing of Democratic delegates was held at the public- 
house of Arnold Baker, in Norriton township, on the 
13tli of September of that year. Dr. Jones Anderson 
was chosen chairman, and Dr. John R. Grigg and 
William W. Moore secretaries. John B. Sterigere 
offered the resolutions, among which we find the fol- 
lowing : 

'* Seeolved, That uur confidence in tlie pulitical intef^rity, patrotism and 
wisdom of our present chief ruatjistrate remains unimpaired ; that his 
firmness in sujiporting measures deemed essential to tlie preservation of 
the liberties uf tlie people and his dignified conduct under the persecu- 
tions and slandersof the bank advocates and his political enemies in the 
Senate of the United States are calculated to endear him still more to his 
fellow-citizens." 

Mr. Sterigere was then in the vigor of youth, and 
the seventh of the series of resolutions shows the 
zealous partisanship of the (lay : 

" That we consider the present contest as involving the dearest and 
most important rights of the people, -a contest between the aristocracy 
and Deniocracy, which imperiously demands that the friends of the Con- 
Btitution and the laws and of Democratic principles and equal rights 
should rally around the standard of Democracy in ojiposition to modern 
"Whigism (the ghost of Revolutionary Toryism), under which standard are 
arrayed the descendants of the Tories of '7(i, advocates of Alien and Sedi- 
tion Laws of '98, Hartford Conveutiouists, Aristocrats, Baukites, Anti- 
Maaons, National Republicans and Nullifiers." 

The eleventh and last of the resolutions leaves no 
open ground for the " kicker," if such a character 
were known to the Jackson Democracy of old 
Montgomery : 

" That every person whose name may be presented for nomination shall 
be required to pledge himself to support the ticket which may be formed 
by this meeting, ami that he wilt not be n cmntidnle fur an;/ office at the 
ensuing election unless he shall he noiitinated bij this yneeting, and no votes 



shall be received for any person tcho shall refuse to pledge himself as 
aforesftiil.^' 

The language used in the pledge referred to does 
not ajjpear on record. We are unable to say whether 
it was written and subscribed to or only verbal. The 
idea of pledging the disappointed candidates not to 
permit the use of their names for office during the same 
campaign seems to have been Jacksonian, and appears 
to have become obsolete in the usages of modern 
Democracy. The following ticket was placed in nom- 
ination at the meeting referred to: Congress, Jacob 
Fry, Jr. ; Assembly, John M. Jones, Joseph Fornance, 
Esq., Henry Schnieder ; Sheriff, John Todd ; Com- 
missioner, Francis C. Burnside ; Directors of the Poor, 
John Getty, Frederick R. Smith (the latter in place 
of George Hillegas, deceased) ; Auditor, Jacob H. 
Geyer ; Coroner, Thomas W. Potts. 

Adam Slemmer, James Wells, John Scheetz, Colonel 
William Powel, Enos Benner and David Jacoby were 
appointed a committee to have tickets printed and 
distributed to the several committees designated to 
receive them for use on election day. 

The Federal or Anti-Jackson county ticket for the 
same year was as follows: Congress, Joseph Royer; 
Assembly, James Paul, Nathaniel P. Hobart, Benja- 
min Frick ; Directors of the Poor, Anthony Vander- 
slice, Samuel H. Bartolet(the latter in place of George 
Hillegas, deceased) ; Auditor, Alan W. Corson ; Cor- 
oner, Stephen Rush. No nomination was made for 
sheriff by the Whigs or Federalists. Mr. Walter W. 
Paxon, a hotel-keeper of Norristown, ran as an inde- 
pendent candidate, polling the party vote, as shown in 
the official report, aggregating 6813 votes. 

OFFICIAL RETURNS. 



Congress. 

Jacob Fnj, Jr 3700 

Joseph Royer ;)0J7 

Assembly. 

John M. Jones 3542 

Joneph Fornance :J532 

Henrij <clineider 3582 

N. P. Hobart 3133 

.lames Paul 3173 

Benjamin Frick 31SG 

SHEniEF. 

John Todd 379!) 

Walter W. Paxon :i011 



CoMMISS[ONER. 

/•Vancis C. Burnside 3741 

Robert Stmson 30UT 



Fredericl- R. Smith 354* 

Samuel H. Bartolet 3154 



Jaeob H. Gei/er 3640- 

Alan W. Corson 3043 



James I)'. PolU 3718 

Stephen Rush 2730 



The names of the Democratic Republican candidates are in itoficj. — 
Norristotcn Register, October 22, 1834. 

No reference is made in this official report of the 
candidacy of John Getty (Democrat) and Anthony 
Vanderslice (Whig), both of whom were nominated by 
their resjiective parties, and whose names appear on 
the tickets as published in the papers of that cam- 
paign. The campaign of 1835 was one of unusual 
interest in the county, resulting from the divisions in 
the Democratic party. George Wolf was then Gov- 
ernor of the State, and desired to be elected for the 
third term. He was warmly supported by personal 
friends and partisans, and oppo.sed by a strong fac- 
tion, who placed in nomination against him Henry A. 



THE PAST AND PRESENT POLITICS. 



513 



Muhlenberg. Joseph Ritner was nominated by the 
Whigs and so called Anti-Masons of that period. The 
result was the election of Ritner and the entire Whig 
and Anti-Mason ticket in Montgomery County. The 
following is an extract of the official vote of the 
county : 

GoVF-nSOE. I ASSEMBLY: 

JOBeph Kitner 3014 J. Fornance (Muhl. Dera.) . . 1823 

George Wolf 1747 U. Schneider (Muhl. Deni.) . 1742 

Heary A. Muhlenberg .... 1599 I 

COMMISSIOXEK. 

Ses*te. I jj,^„|j J,.,.J.^2 (Whig) 2882 

James Paul (Whig) 2848 i Daniel Davis (Wolf Dem.) . . 1025 

John B.Sterigere( Wolf Dem.) 1731 | Samuel Leech (Muhl. Dem.) .1707 
T. Sellers (Muhl. Dem.) . . . 1710 

DlRECTOB. 

Assembly. Jonathan Adamson (Whig) . 2877 

William Schall (Whig) . . .2959 P. Hoxworth (Wolf Dem.) . .1055 

W. A. Bringhurst (Whig) . . 3056 , H. Scheetz, Jr. (Muhl. Dem.). 1740 

Robert Stinson (Whig) . . . 2892 ', 

W. Hamil (Wolf Dem.) . . .1504 | Auditoe. 

Jacobs. Tost (Wolf Dem.) .1651 ; Alan W. Corson (Whig) . . .2892 

Charles Kugler (Wolf Dem.) 1013 I W. Fronfleld( Wolf Dem.) . .1037 

J. M.Jones (Muhl. Dem.) . .1779 I B. Conrad (Muhl. Dem.) . .1740 

The Norristown /Jer/w/er supported the candidacy of 
Henry A. Muhlenberg throughout the canvass, and 
in its issue of October 21 , 1835, comments as follows : 

"We this day present the official returns of the general election held 
in this county ou the 13th inst., by which it will be observed that the 
uufortuDate misunderstanding which existed in the Democratic party 
has been the cause of our defeat and the election of the entire .\nti- 
Masonicand Whig ticket. Our friends will also perceive that the entire 
Democratic vote exceeds the Anti-Msisonic by a considerable majority. 
The vote polled this year wjia 453 less than that of last year, several 
of the Democratic townships in the upper end of the county not poll- 
ing much more than two-thirds of their strength, and several town- 
ships below did not attain to their vote of last year." 

Joseph Ritner was duly inaugurated Governor, 
and among the first appointments to public office in 
Jlontgomery County were the following: John Bean, 
prothonotary ; Benjamin Johnson, clerk of the courts ; 
Nathaniel B. Boileau, register of wills ; Robert Iredell, 
recorder of deeds. The last-named appointee still 
survives and is the present postmaster at Norristown. 
Daniel H. Mulvany, Esq., was appointed deputy- 
attorney-geueral for Jlontgomery County about the 
same time as the nomination of Governor Ritner's 
attorney-general, January, 1836. The appointments of 
Governor Ritner quickened the sense of loss of political 
power in "Old Jlontgomery," then deemed a Demo- 
cratic stronghold, and, in the exercise of * sagacity 
that was creditable to partisan leaders, the Democrats 
promptly took steps to recover their control of public 
affairs in the county. The young men stepjied to 
the front, and as early as April 23, 1836, a " Demo- 
cratic Young Men's meeting" was held at the public- 
house of Henry Kerr, in Norristown. William B. 
Thomas, of Lower Merion, presided. Benjamin Hill, 
and Isaiah Davis were appointed secretaries. B. Powell 
J. M. Pawling, John H. Scheetz, J. H. Hobart, John 
D. Apple, Charles W. Brook and Enos C. Fry were 
selected to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of 
the meeting. It was resolved to unite with the young 
33 



men of the State in holding a convention on the 
4th of July, 1836, and that the following delegates 
be authorized to represent the county in the proposed 
convention : James H. Webb, John D. Apple, Charles 
Kugler, Thomas J. Gross, Joseph Fornance, Esq., 
William B. Thomas, Charles W. Brook, Esq., Benjamin 
Hill, Charles D. Jones, Henry Magee, Benjamin 
Powell, Esq., Colonel James Bush, Isaiah W. Davis, 
Enoch C. Fry, John H. Hobart, William Z. Matheys, 
Benjamin Conrad, Thomas J. Weber, Daniel Fry, 
William Sellers, Jonas Smith, William Snyder, John 
S. Wiler, George S. Mann, James M. Moore, George 
B. Reiff, Mehelm McGlathery, Solomon Steltz, Enos 
L. Reiff, Jacob S. Yost, George L. Williams, Jacob 
Hillegas, James Scheetz, Samuel Ashenfelter and 
John Highley. It was declared, as the sense of the 
meeting, 

"That we consider the primary objects of the convention to be the 
restoration of harmony in the Democratic party of Pennsylvania and 
the promotion of the election of Martin Van Buren to the Presidency 
of the United States." 

It was further resolved to issue an address to the 
young men of the county, and B. F. Hancock, J. M. 
Pawling, Charles W. Brook, John D. Apple and 
Charles Kugler were appointed a committee to prepare 
the same. The address was prepared, and appears 
in full in the Norristown Register of June 8, 1836, 
directed "To the Democratic Young Men of Mont- 
gomery County." The " Democratic Y'oung Men " be- 
came a powerful factor in the politics of the county ; 
similar associations in other counties in the State 
were organized and the breach was healed over. 
They were further utilized in securing successive 
victories for the dominant party for manj' years 
afterward. As late as 1840, in the famous " Tippe- 
canoe and Tyler too" campaign, these "Democratic 
Young Men" of the State held a popular conven- 
tion at Lancaster City, to which were duly accred- 
ited four hundred and ninety-six Democratic young 
men, appointed to represent the several townships 
and boroughs of Montgomery County. The names 
of this famous delegation all appear in the Norristown 
Register published July 20, 1840. Among those who 
still survive we note Samuel Slemmer, William H. 
Holstein, Oliver B. Shearer, Nathaniel Jacoby and 
Jesse B. Davis. Among others identified with the or- 
ganization and still living are Jlehelm McGlathery 
and Samuel Ashenfelter. 

The Young Democrats were enthusiastic supporters 
of Andrew Jackson, alias "Old Hickory," many of 
them having cast their first vote for him, and were, as 
a matter of course, warmly attached to Martin Van 
Buren, who was the political residuary legatee of the 
hero of New Oi'leans. Few men in public life had 
more devoted followers than Andrew Jackson. Look- 
ing back through the lapse of half a century and 
more, it is interesting to see the estimation in which 
he was held by his contemporaries in political life. 
When President James Monroe asked Thomas Jeffer- 



514 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



son, in 1818, if it would not be well to give Jackson 
the embassy to Russia, Jefferson utterly disapproved 
it, and said in reply, "He would breed you a quarrel 
before he would l)e there three months." At a later 
period Jefferson said to Daniel Webster, — 

*' I feel much alarmed at the prospei't of seeing General .laeksuii Pres- 
ident. He is one of the imtst unfit men I know of for such a place. He 
has had very little respect for laws or constitution, and is, in fact, an 
able military chief. His passions are terrible. When I wai> President of 
the Senate he was a Senator, and be eoidd never speak on account of the 
rashness of iiis feelings. I have seen him attempt it repeatedly, and as 
often choke with rage. His passions arc no doubt cooler now. He has 
been much tried since I knew him, but he is a dangerous num." 

Daniel Webster, while in Philadelphia, in 1827, 
spoke as follows in reference to the possible Presidency 
of General Jackson: 

" If lie is elected, the government of our people will be overthrown, 
the judiciary will be destroyed, Mr. Justice Johnson will be made cliief 
justice in the place of IVIr. Marshall, who must soon retire, and then, in 
half an hour, Mr. Justice Washington and Mr. Justice Story will resign. 
A majority will be left with Mr. Johnson, and every constitutional de- 
cision hitherto made will be overthrown." 

It is due to truth and history to say that none of 
Mr. Webster's predictions were verified by subsequent 
events, and but for the fact that his over-zealous proph- 
ecy was carefully preserved in the diary of Samuel 
Break, it would have long since been forgotten as the 
frenzied utterance of a partisan orator. 

The campaign of 1840 was one of great popular 
interest. Martin Van Buren was nominated by the 
Democratic party for a second term, and Gene.i-al 
William Henry Harrison was nominated by the Whigs. 
Hickory poles were raised in all parts of the county 
by the Democrats, all of them Hying the national flag, 
•while the Whigs raised white-oak poles, on almost all 
of which there could be seen in miniature the log- 
cabin and barrel of hard cider. Popular day-meet- 
ings characterized the canvass, and the voters were 
thoroughly aroused. The exciting spirit of the can- 
vass reached the school-children in some localities. 
A Harrison pole was raised by the pupils of the 
public school at Jeffersonville ; but it excited the 
indignation of the Democratic men of the neighbor- 
hood, and the pole was cut down in the night-time 
by persons 'unknown to the patriotic Harrison boys. 
The following was one of the sixty-six resolutions 
and sentiments proi)osed as toasts, and published as a 
part of the proceedings of a public meeting held at 
Flourtown on the 17th of September, 1840, showing 
the temper of the men and times: 

*' lieioh-ed, That we view with contempt the plan of electioneering car- 
ried on by the Federal W'higs of the day. Instead of arguments in favor 
of Harrison, they amuse their followers with log cabin shows Instead 
of discussing the principles of their candidate, they administer hard 
cider to their partisans ami exhibit coon-skins in order to fool the 
people." 

At this meeting the Hon. John B. Sterigere, then 
State Senator, was gravely criticised by his constit- 
uents for his official conduct. We quote again from 
one of the nine toasts of censure proposed at the 
meeting. It was offered by John L. Garren : 



"John B. Sterigere, Senatorial Bepresentative from Montgomery; 
with the question of dividends by the banlcs at this time on the one 
hand and the Democracy of his county on the other, it was pull Dick, 
pull devil, but the devil being the stronger, Dick liad to yield to the 
devil, and he, the devil, i)ocketed the dividends." 

The following gentlemen were nominated by their 
respective parties for public office in 1840 : 

Democrat. — Congress, Fifth Congressional District, 
Joseph Fornance, Esq. ; Senate, John B. Sterigere, 
John L. Pearson (Montgomery, Chester and Dela- 
ware constituting the Senatorial district); Assembly, 
Ephraim Feuton, William B. Hahn, William Bean; 
Sheriff, Jacob Spang; Commissioner, Mehelm Mc- 
Glathery ; Director, Isaac Schneider; Auditor, 
David Evans ; Coroner, Andrew Hess. 

Whig. — Congres,s, Robert T. Potts; Senate, Abra- 
ham Brower, .John T. Huddleson ; Assembly, Amos 
Schultz, James A. Pennypacker, Abraham Slifer; 
Sheriff, Adam Stetler ; Commissioner, Evan Jones ; 
Director, Abraham Hun.sicker ; Auditor, Jonas Boorse ; 
Coroner, Eli G. McCarter. The aggregate vote polled 
was 8.301, and the whole Democratic ticket was elected 
by majnrities in the county of from five to eight hundred. 
The Senatorial district being Whig, Abraham Brower 
and John T. Huddleson were elected Senators, the 
majority in Chester and Delaware for them exceeding 
that of Montgomery for Mr. Sterigere and Mr. 
Pearson. Daniel Jacoby was the Democratic Presi- 
dential elector and Robert Stinson the Whig Presi- 
dential elector, the aggregate vote polled being 8937, 
there being 626 more votes polled than at the October 
election of the same year. The official returns show 
that the Abolition ticket polled 11 votes in the county, 
making the total vote 8948. The population of the 
county by the census of 1840 was 47,241. 

The relative condition of political parties in Mont- 
gomery County seems to have been unaftected by the 
victory of the Whigs in the election of General Harri- 
son to the Presidency in 1840. The reorganization 
of the Democratic party after the election of Governor 
Ritner and the defeat of Wolf and Muhlenberg 
placing young and active men in the lead, gave them 
a strong hold upon public confidence, and for many 
years afterward they retained control in a large 
measure of public affairs in the county. The highest 
majority of the Democratic party for a State officer 
polled in the county was for Francis R. Shunk, in 
1847, being 1918,— total vote, 8864. This majority was 
exceeded in IS.iti for James Buchanan, being 2029 on 
a total vote in the county of 12,244, divided as fol- 
lows: Buchanan, 71.34; Fremont, 2845 ; Fillmore, 2845. 
The Whigs elected their candidate for sheriff twice 
during the period from 1850 to 1860. At the election 
held October 12, 1852, Michael C. Boyer was elected 
sheriff over Jacob Fisher by a majority of 467. At 
the election held October 12, 1858, John M. Stauffer 
was elected sheriff over Samuel E. Hartranft by a ■ , 
majority of 432. ■ 

The period from 1850 to 1860 was characterized by 



THE PAST AND PRESENT POLITICS. 



515 



political agitations of the most serious nature. The 
repeal of the compromise measures iu reference to the 
extension of human slavery tilled the North with the 
gravest ajiprehensions and liastened the culmination 
of events ending iu a long and sanguinary war for the 
preservation of the Union. The story of the national 
conflict, although a jiart of the history of the people 
in every part of the Union, cannot be told in these 
chapters. Partisanship became fierce and the creation 
of a new political party, the Republican party, based 
upon hostility to the extension of slavery and its ulti- 
mate extinction in the United States, brought forth 
the strongest efforts of the Democratic party to defeat 
the men and measures of the new organization. Public 
sentiment ripened by 18(iO. The State election re- 
sulted in the choice of Andrew G. Cnrtin for Governor 
by a majority of 32,164 in a total vote of 492,(542. 
The revolution in Pennsylvania was an accomplished 
fact. The Presidential election, which occurred a 
month later the same year, exhibits the following 
results : Lincoln (Republican), 268,030 ; Fusion 
ticket (Democratic), 178,871 ; Douglas (Democratic), 
16,76.5; Bell (Union), 12,776,— total vote, 476,442. 
Lincoln majority over all, 59,681. The total vote was 
16,200 less at the Presidential election than at the 
election for Governor, while Lincoln's majority over 
all opposition was 27,517 greater than that given 
Andrew G. Curtin for Governor, indicating a default 
in the Democratic vote. The result of the election in 
Montgomery County was: Lincoln (Rei)ublican), 
5826 ; Fusion (Democratic), 5590 ; Douglas (Demo- 
cratic), 509 ; Bell (Union), 609, — total votes polled, 
12,615. Lincoln's majority over the Democratic 
Fusion ticket, 2.36. 

Four years later, when all the political elements 
hostile to the Republican party had crystalized and 
were united in support of (xeneral McGlellan against 
Mr. Lincoln for a second term, the vote in Montgomery 
County was as follows : For McClellau, 7772 ; soldier 
vote for McClellan, 171, — total, 7943. For Lincoln, 
6504 ; soldier vote for Lincoln, 368, — total, 6872. 
McClellan's majority, 1071. 

A large number of Democrats who voted for Stephen 
A. Douglas for President in 1860 gave a prompt and 
hearty support to the administration of President 
Lincoln, and subsequently united with the Republican 
party, while on the other hand the Whigs and Native 
Americans, who supported Bell, largely united with 
the Democratic party, thus enabling it to maintain its 
control of public aftairs. In 1870 the vote for county 
officers was as follows : 



Associate Judge. 
Hiram C. Hoover ^Dem.) . 


7,424 


John W. Schall (Rep.) . . 
Robert Gray (Rep.). . . . 


. 6,497 
. 6,440 


Charles Rutter(Rep.». . . 


6,448 


Commissioner. 




ST-VTE StNATOR. 

Benjamin W. Jones (Dem.). 
Henry S. Evans (Rep.) . . 


. 7,471 
6,214 


Dennis Dunne (Dem.) . . 
William F. Reed (Rep.). . 


. 6.931 
. 6,800 


Assembly. 




Director. 




John J. C. Harvey (Deni.) 
Oliver G. Morris (Dem.). . 


7,480 
7,446 


Henry Kneedler (Dem.) . 
John Jarrett, .Tr. (Rep.) . 


. 7.470 
. 6,441 



Treascbee. Auditor. 

Nathan Wagouhurst (Dem.). 7,480 William Gilbert (Dem.) . . . 7,477 

C. Todd Jenkins (Rep.) . . 7,474 I»^<= T. Dunnet (Rep.) . . . 6,445 

Surveyor. 

.lUKV Commissioner. D. F. Reinert (Dem ). . . , 7,433 

Stanley L. Ogdcn (Dem.) . . 7,475: Alan W. Corson (Rep.). . . . 6,476 

Isaac L. Shoemaker (Rep.). . 0,465 ' Total vote polled 14,280 



In the election of 1871 the Democratic majority 
fell to about eight hundred, and in 1872 the Repub- 
licans carried their whole ticket with the exception 
of one member of the Assembly. The official vote 
was as follows for State and county election, 1872 : 



Governor. 



Reoistkr of Wills. 



Charles R. Bnckalew (Dem.) 8,413 Jt^eph C. Beyer (Dem.). . . 8,301 
John F. Hartranft (Rep.) . 8,4.03 Septimus Roberts (Rep.) . . 8,496 
Simon B. Chase (Teiup,), . . lliO Joliu Harley (Temp,) .... 66 



Aggregate vote 16,076 

Judge of Supreme Court. 
James Thompson (Dem.) . , 8,467 
Ulysses Mercur (Rep.) . . . 8,453 
Joseph Hendel-son (Temp.) . 56 

.\uditoh-General. 

William Hartley (Dem.) . . 8,484 

Harrison Allen (Rep.) . . . 8,411 

Ban- Spangler (Temp.) ... 65 

CONOREStiMF.N-.VT.LAKGE. 



Bichard Vau.t (Dem.) . . . 8,416 

James II. Hopkins (Dem.) . 8,416 

Herrick B. Wright (Dem.) . 8,417 

IJleuni W. Schofield i Rep.) . 8,498 

Charles Albright (Rep.) . . . 8,495 

Lemuel Todd (Rep. I .... 8,494 

G. F. McFallaud (Temp.) . . 64 

A. J. Clark (Temp.) .... 64 

R. Rush (Temp.) 64 

Mi:mbersof Constitutionax Con. 

VENTION, 1873-74. 

James Boyd (Dem.) 8,313 

Charles Hunsicker (Dem.) . 8,287 

George X. Coi-son I Kep.) . . 8,332 

Henry .\. Hunsicker (Temp.) 352 

\Vm. P. Cuthbertson (Temp.) 93 

Joseph Rex (Dem.) 166 

Daniel Mulvany (Rep.) ... 2 

Assembly. 

Oliver G.Morris (Dem.) . . 8,433 

•Tohu A. Andrew (Dem.) . . 8,205 

William B. Roberts (Rep.) . 8,326 

Sauiuel E. Nyce .Rep.) . . . 8,469 

J. C. Michner (Temp.) . . . 193 

Samuel B. Dewis (Temp.) . . 67 

Prothonotarv. 

Philip Quillman (Dem.) . . . 8,423 

William F. Reed (Rep.). . . 8.441 

Samuel R. Fisher (Temp.) . 66 



Recokdkr of Defj>s. 

Charles H. Palmer (Dem.) . 
George W. Neinian (Rep.). . 
William 31. Gorden (Temp,). 

Clerk of Courts. 

.\ugustus Dettra (Dem.). . . 
Merrit M. Missimer (Rep.) . 
Joseph B. Powell (Temp.) . 

County Tre.asurer. 

George C. Reiff (Dem.) . . . 
Samuel F. Jarrett (Rep.) . . 
Amos Ely (Temp.) 



8,413 

8,434 

84 



8,362 

8,5U4 

67 



8,440 
8,461 



County Commissioner. 
MicfLael B. SholI(Dem.). . 8,400 
John T. Comley (Rep.). . . 8,479 
Thomas Graham (Temp.) . . 68 

Director of the Poor. 
George Gi-ater (Dem.). . . . 8,329 
Henry R. Bertolet(I{ep.) . . 8,501 
William Hallowell eTemp.). 67 

County .\uditor. 
George W. Shriver (Dem.) . 8,401 
Benjamin B. Hughes (Rep.), 8,472 
William H.Wampole (Temp.) 72 



Sixth CongreMiOH<d District, includ- 
ing Montgomery and Lehigh Counties. 

James S. Biery (Rep.) . . . 8,478 
William H. Wittie (Dem.) . 4,840 
Ephraim L. Acker (Dem.) . 3,673 

Additional Law Juim;e. 

Seventh Judicial District, Montgomertt 
and Bucks Counties. 

Charles T, Miller (Rep.) . . 15,626 
Stokes L. Roberts (Dem.) . 15,374 
Eiyah Thomas (Temp.). . . .56 



In the Fifth Judicial District Charles T. Miller 
received 234 votes; Stokes L. Roberts, 560; and 
Elijah Thomas, 1. 

At the Presidential election November 5, 1872, 

t Public interest in the subject of national legislation was evidently 
deemed of more importance than State or municipal affaii-s, as the vote 
for Republican Congreaamen-at-Iarge was the largest polled, and having 
a majority of 71 votes in the county. 



516 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



U. S. Grant (Republican electors) received 8080 
votes, and Horace Greeley (Democratic electors) 5113. 

1873. — William A. Yeakle, Republican, was elected 
State Senator by thirty majority; total vote, 13,848. 
Thomas Kutter and Joseph B. Yerkes, Democrats, 
were elected Assemblymen by majorities of 197 and 
139 votes. Samuel F. Jarrett, Republican, w;i.s 
elected county treasurer by a majority of 158 votes. 
Edward D. Johnson, Republican, was elected county 
commissioner by a majority of 405 votes. William 
Gilbert, Democrat, was elected auditor by a majority 
of 1 vote. Total vote polled, 13,946. 

1874. — The Democrats elected their Assemblymen, 
district attorney, sheriff, commissioner, director of 
the poor, coroner and auditor by majorities rang- 
ing from two to eight hundred votes. Jacob V. Got- 
wals, the Democratic candidate for district attorney 
had a majority of 810. Samuel F. Jarrett, Republi- 
can, was for the third time elected county treasurer 
by a majority of 12 votes. 

1875. — John F. Hartranft, Republican candidate 
for Governor, carried the county by a majority of 25 
votes on a total vote polled of 16,947. Philip Quill- 
man, Democrat, was elected prothonotary by a ma- 
jority of 756 votes. Franklin T. Beerer, Democrat, 
was elected clerk of the courts by a majority of 234 
votes. Colonel John W. Schall, Republican, was 
elected recorder of deeds by a majority of 10 votes. 
Solomon Snyder, Democrat, was elected register of 
wills by a majority of 160 votes. Under the provi- 
sions of the Constitution of 1874 the principle of 
minorit)' representation in the board of county com- 
missioners became operative. The Democratic and 
Republican parties each placed two candidates in 
nomination, the highest three to be elected. The fol- 
lowing is the official vote, November 2, 1875 : Charles 
M. Soliday, Democrat, 8367; George Erb, Demo- 
crat, 8385 ; Amos D. Moser, Republican, 8365 ; Ed- 
win Moore, Republican, 8234 ; William Gilbert and 
Frederick Wagoner, Democrats, were elected county 
auditors ; Henry D. Wile, Democrat, was elected 
director of the poor ; and Charles K. Aiman, Demo- 
crat, was elected county surveyor by majorities rang- 
ing from 8 to 236. Tot.il vote, 16,819. 

The total vote polled in 1876 was 19,039. The 
Democratic majority f(ir Presidential electors was 269. 
Jones Detwiler, Democrat, was elected State Senator 
by a majority of 168 votes; Montgomery S. Longaker, 
Francis M. Knipe, John C. Richardson, James B. 
Law and Edwin Hallowell, Democrats, were elected 
Assemblymen l)y majorities ranging from 158 to 276; 
Martin Ruth, Republican, was elected director of the 
poor by a majority of 175 votes. 

1877. — The aggregate vote polled in the county was 
15,660. The Democrats elected J. Wright Apple 
district-attorney, Jacob Tyson sheriff, Evan G. Jones 
county treasurer, John Field director of the poor 
and Harry B. Long coroner, by majorities ranging 
from 231 to 851. 



1878.— The aggregate vote polled was 18,598. The 
local canvass was thoroughly made by both parties. 
Lewis Royer, Republican, was elected State Senator 
by a majority of 113. The vote for Assemblymen 
was as follows, — Democratic : Montgomery S. Long- 
aker, 8839; Edwin Hallowell, 9153; John C. Danne- 
hower, 9152; Mahlon S. Sellers, 9202; Matthew 
O'Brien, 8851. RepuhUcan : John W. Fair, 8772; 
C. Tyson Kratz, 8848; William F. Hallman, 9051; 
William B. Roberts, 9119; Isaac Hoyer, 9110. 

Hallowell, Dannehower, Sellers, Roberts and Hoyer 
were elected. A. Franklin Hart, Democrat, was 
elected prothonotary ; John AV. Schall, Republican, 
was elected recorder of deeds ; Henry S. Smith, Re- 
publican, was elected clerk of the courts ; Warren B. 
Barnes, Democrat, was elected register of wills ; Jesse 
B. Davis and Noah D. Frank, Democrats, were 
elected commissioners ; John 0. Clemens, Republican, 
was elected director of the poor; Charles Slinglufi" 
and William Davis, Democrats, were elected au- 
ditors; and Charles K. Aiman, Democrat, was elected 
surveyor. Judge Henry P. Ross was a Democratic 
candidate for justice of the Supreme Court, and car- 
ried the county by a majority of 782. 

1879. — The only county officers elected for 1879 
were director of the poor and jury commissioner. 
The vote was as follows, — Director of the Poor: Daniel 
Shuler, Democrat, 6986 ; Abraham K. Anders, Repub- 
lican, 6713. Jury Commissioner: William H. H.Mc- 
Crea, Democrat, 6862; Davis S. Sill, Republican, 
6820. 

1880. — The total vote polled was as follows : Repub- 
lican electors, 11,026; Democratic, 11,025 ; Greenback, 
75 ; Temperance, 37, — total, 22,163. 

James A. Garfield carried the county by 1 vote. 
The canvass was conducted with great zeal, and the 
vote polled was unprecedentedly large. The follow- 
ing was the result: Irving P. Wanger, Republican, 
was elected district attorney by a majority of 50 votes; 
Joseph Frankeufield, Republican, was elected sheriff 
by a majority of 154 votes; Jacob R. Yost, Democrat, 
was elected county treasurer by a majority of 1 vote ; 
John A. Righter, Republican, was elected director of 
the poor by a majority of 36 votes ; and Samuel 
Aikens, Republican, was elected coroner by a majority 
of 143 votes. 

1881.— The aggregate vote was 18,388. Henry P. 
Ross, Democrat, was elected president judge for a 
second term by a majority of 1126; John McLean, 
Democrat, was elected prothonotary by a m.ijority of 
43; Henry W. Kratz, Republican, was elected re- 
corder of deeds by a majority of 429 votes ; Edwin 
Schall, Democrat, was elected clerk of the courts by 
a majority of 756 ; J. Roberts Rambo, Republican, 
was elected register of wills by a majority of 7 votes ; 
James Burnett and Hiram Burdan, Republicans, were 
elected county comnussioners; John O. Clemens, 
Republican, was elected director of the poor by a 
majority of 373 ; John H. Bergey and Isaac Cassel, 



THE PAST AND PRESENT POLITICS. 



517 



Eepublicans, were elected county auditors ; and 
Joseph AV. Hunter, Republican, was elected county 
surveyor by a majority of 294 votes. 
1882. — Aggregate vote polled 20,507. 

[ .\SSEMBLY. 



Governor. 
Robert E. Pattison(Dein.) . 10,578 
James A. Beaver (Rep.) . . 
John Stewart (lud.) .... 
T. Armstrong (Greenback) . 

A. C. Pettit (Temp.). . . . 

Preside.nt .Judge. 

B. Mai-kley Boyer(Dem.). . 
Charles H. Stineon (Rep.) . 

State Senator. 
■\V. Henry Sutton (Dem.). . 
William B. Rambo (Rep.) . 



. Theodore M. Harrar (Dem.) 10,781 

'622 Stephen D. Yerkes (Dem.) . 10,024 

g- ! Lewia H. Davis (Dem.). . . 10,598 

51 I John Linderman (Dem.). . 10,575 

j JohnC. Dannehower (Dem.) 10,503 

10,004 Ezekiel Shoemaker (Rep.) . 10,019 

9,903 : J. M, Cunningham (Rep.). . 9,8ri8 

Henry R. Brown (Rep.) . . 9,843 

10,532 Francis Houston (Rep.) . . 9,702 

9,999 Richard Markley (Rep.) . . 9,058 

Daniel Shuler, Democrat, was elected director of 
the poor by a majority of 709. 

1883. — The aggregate vote polled was 19,38(). John 
H. Bickel, Democrat, was elected district attorney by 
A majority of 20G votes ; Edwin Stahlnecker, Republi- 
can, was elected sherifi' by a majority of 247 ; Henry 
A. Cole, Democr.at, was elected county trea.surer by a 
majority of 9.3; Henry h<. Lowry, Republican, was 
elected director of tlie poor by a majority of 144 votes; 
and Samuel Aikens, Rejjublican, was elected coroner 
by a niiijority of 148 votes. 

Hox. W. Henry Sutton, the present Representa- 
tive from Montgomery County in the State Senate, 
was born in Haddonfield, Camden Co., N. J., 
September 11, 1835. He comes of a worthy line of 
ancestors, the first of whom came to this country from 
England about the time of William Penn. His 
father, Rev. Henry Sutton, was for many years a faith- 
ful mini.ster in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
acceptably served at a number of places in the New 
Jersey and Philadelphia Conferences. In 1832 he 
married Miss Ann Craig, daughter of James Craig, 
wh<i came from Ireland and settled in Philadel- 
phia. She was a noble woman, a true wife, a 
<levoted mother and a Christian of great influence 
in all the places of her residence. She rendered her 
luisbiind valuable services in his holy calling until 
his demise, in the year 1876, after which she resided 
with her son, Senator Sutton, until her decease, in May, 
1883, when her remains were laid to rest beside those 
of her husband, in West Laurel Hill Cemetery. The 
issue of the above union was three sons, — George 
Howard, who died in the eleventh year of his age; 
William Henry, the subject of this article; and John 
Wesley, who found an early grave. 

Senator Sutton, from the time of his birth until he 
entered college, resided with his parents in the 
following places: Haddonfield, N. J. ; Coventry and 
Marshalton, Chester Co., Marietta, and Safe Harbor, 
Lancaster Co., Pa. ; Smyrna and Dover, in the State of 
Delaware; Centreville and Sudlersville, Md.; Dau- 
phin, Pa., and Philadelphia City, at which places his 
father was appointed to preach the gospel. He re- 
ceived his preliminary education in the public 
schools and the preparatory school at Carlisle, 
Pa. In 1851 he entered Dickinson College, where 



he studied for two years ; then, after teaching 
for two years in Delaware County, Pa., he ma- 
triculated at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., 
and after completing the classical course, graduated 
in 1857. While in college he became a member of 
the Psi Upsilon fraternity. After filliua a term of 
three years as instructor in the American Asylum for 
the Deaf and Dumb, Hartford, Conn., he studied law 
at the Law School of the University, Albany, N. Y. ; 
then went to Philadelphia, Pa., read law with the 
Hon. William M. Meredith, formerly Secretary 
of the Treasury and attorney-general of Pennsyl- 
vania, and was admitted to the bar in 1863, and has 
ever since been in active practice. He has been con- 
cerned in many important cases tried in the courts of 
Philadelphia, and was the counsel for citizens of this 
county in a number of cases against the Pennsylvania 
Railroad Company for damages on account of the 
right of way. In the celebrated Elm Station murder 
case he won great distinction for the able manner in 
which, at the solicitation of the citizens of Lower 
Merion, he assisted the di-strict attorney, J. V. Got- 
walt, Esq., in conducting the prosecution. 

This remarkable case occurred in the fall of the 
centennial year, and on account of the mystery which 
for a long time surrounded it, attracted universal at- 
tention not only in this country, but in Europe. Some 
boys from Philadelphia while walking along the em- 
bankments of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Elm Sta- 
tion, discovered the toes of a human foot protruding 
from the ground, and upon the earth being removed, 
a body was found in a good state of preservation, 
clothed in a shirt and undershirt of peculiar texture. 
.V birth-mark and a mallbrmation of one of the thumbs 
were also noticeable. The head of the corpse had 
been beaten in by some sharp instrument, but by 
whom or when was unknown. The body had appa- 
rently lain there for several months. Advertisements 
were placed in the newspapers giving the above de- 
scription, and these were copied in the newspapers of 
Germany, where they were seen by old Mr. Hrehne, 
who kept a saloon in one of the towns of that country, 
and he, coming to this country at time of the trial, 
identified the body as that of his son, Max Hugo 
Ha;hne. Through detectives it was discovered that 
after the young man had landed in this country, at 
New York, he had come to Philadelphia with a Swede, 
with whom he had become acquainted on the voyage, 
and that while in the Quaker City they had stopped 
at a saloon overnight, where they became acquainted 
with Henri Wahlen. In the morning the Swede and 
Hcehne left together, but soon afterwards parted, when 
Wahlen and another man joined Hcehne, and after 
accompanying him .as far as Elm Station, Wahlen fell 
upon Hiehne and killed him in the presence of the 
other man. They stripped the body of its clothing, 
buried it and then returned to Philadelphia and plun- 
dered the trunk of Ho^hne. 

It was with great dithculty that these facts were 



518 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



brought out and the murderer discovered. The evi- 
dence was purely circumstantial, but so skillfully had 
it been worked up and so ably was it presented to 
the jury that there was left no room for doubt, and a 
verdict of guilty was rendered against the prisoner. 
The able manner in which Senator Sutton acquitted 
himself in this case gained him great renown, and at 
the close of his speech he received not only the hearty 
congratulations of the many citizens and members of 
the bar who crowded the court-house, but also the sin- 
cere praise of the court. The guilty man committed 
suicide, and thus escaped the ignominious death of 
the gallows, which he so richly deserved. His accom- 



also two of his brothers, — Dr. J. Rush Anderson and 
Dr. Joseph W. Anderson, — as well as his uncle, 
Dr. Isaac Anderson, and from some of these have 
descended a number of physicians, who to-day are in 
activepractice in Montgomery, Delaware and Philadel- 
phia Counties. In St. Luke Methodist Episcojjal 
Church, at Bryn Mawr, isa beautiful memorial window, 
representing St. Luke, the beloved physician, and other 
appropriate emblems, to the memory of Dr. James 
Anderson and his two sons. Dr. Isaac W. and Dr. 
J. Rush Anderson. Dr. Joseph W. Anderson is a 
bachelor, and resides at Ardmore, on the old home- 
stead. 





fnhu^ 



plice was also discovered, tried, condemned and served 
a term of imprisonment. 

On the 25th of June, 1872, Senator Sulton was 
united in wedlock to Hannah C. Anderson, the only 
daughter of Dr. Isaac W. Anderson and Martha Yo- 
cum Crawford, of Lower Merion. The Anderson 
family is one of the oldest and most influential in 
Lower Merion township. Patrick Anderson, one of 
their early American ancestors, was an officer of dis- 
tinction in the Revolutionary war. The family is 
famous for the number of physicians it has produced; 
not only was Dr. Isaac W. Anderson, son of the 
well-known Dr. .Tames Anderson, a physician, but 







After his marriage Senator Sutton settled at Hav- 
erford College Station, in Lower Merion township, in 
this county; there he built himself an elegant home, 
and, amidst the most agreeable surroundings, has been 
blessed with a happy family of eight children, viz.: 
Howard A , William Henry, .Jr., (who died in infancy,) 
Helen, Isaac C, Grace, Corona, Lucy and Henry Craig. 
The mother of these children is a lady of culture and 
refinement, a model wife and earnest church worker. 
Her home is made attractive by her pleasing manners 
and open huspitality, while her tender regard for the 
poor and the interest she takes in all good works en- 
dears her to the hearts of the commnunity, and adds 



THE PAST AiND PRESENT POLITICS. 



519 



to the jjopularity of her husband, to whom she is a 
most devoted and worthy help-meet 

The Senator has taken an active part in public 
afl'airs, and, besides the office he now holds, has re- 
peatedly been elected in the township as auditor, 
school director, etc. He is a member of the Me- 
thodist Episcopal Church and one of the Board of 
Managers of the Methodist Episcopal Church Exten- 
sion Society, Tract Society, Home Missionary So- 
ciety and American Sunday-school Union. During 
the la^t General Conference of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, held in Philadelphia duiing the 
month of May, 1884, he was president of the Lay Dele- 
gate Conference. It was mainly through his efforts 
that the beautiful St. Luke Methodist Episcopal 
Chapel was erected at Bryn Mawr, and within these 
walls he has placed two fine memorial windows to the 
memory of his father and mother. He has been the 
treasurer of the board of trustees ever since the or- 
ganization of the church, and was for years the 
superintendent of the Sunday-school. Although he 
takes so active a part in all that pertains to the 
welfare of the church of his choice, he is very liberal 
and tolerant in his religious views, and has a kind 
regard for Christians of all shades of opinion, from 
those of the Roman Catholic Church to those of the 
Society of Friends. He also stands high in Masonry, 
being a Ptist Master of George W. Bartram Lodge, Xo. 
298, of Media, a Past H. P. of Jerusalem Chapter, 
No. .3, H. R. A., and the projector and first H. P. 
of Montgomery Chapter, No. 262, of Ardmore, Pa. 

He was elected to the State Senate in 1882 as the 
nominee of the Democratic party, having a majority 
of five hundred and thirty-five votes over his com- 
petitor, William B. Rambo, one of the most accom- 
plished and popular Republicans in the county, and 
succeeded Dr. Lewis Royer, a Republican. Since he 
has been in the Senate he has so acted as to win the 
approbation of his constituents, irrespective of party. 
He is a progressive Democrat, in sympathy with all gen- 
uine reform, has served on a number of important com- 
mittees and been connected with many prominent bills. 

He was the author of the following bills, viz. : " To 
abolish the office of sealer of weights and meas- 
ures ; " " Selling by false weights declared a misde- 
meanor;" "Authorizing the laying of foot-walks 
along turnpike roads in boroughs;" "Computation 
of time under statutes, rules, orders and decrees of 
court, etc. ;" ''Authorizing Courts of Common Pleas 
to decree the satisfaction of mortgages in certain 
cases, upon payment of amount due in court;" and 
he also took an active part in promoting the passage 
of the following acts, viz. : " To exempt mutual loan 
and building associations from taxation for State pur- 
poses; " " Fixing the compensation of the judges of 
the Courts of Common Pleas," and " To make the 
salaries of Orphans' Court judges the same as judges 
of Common Pleas." For the leading part he took in 
the buildingand loan association bill he received from 



the Buildiugand Loan Association League, of Pennsj'l- 
vania, a handsomely framed and engrossed set of resolu- 
tions of thanks. During the session of 1884-85 he intro- 
duced, among others, bills to " Create a Circuit Court 
of Appeals," to " Prevent the creation of irredeeiuable 
ground-rents," to "Facilitate the trials of actions of 
ejectments," and a bill " Creating a civil service," etc. 

From his youth up the Senator had to work his 
own way. With energy and perseverance he suc- 
ceeded in preparing himself for his profession, and 
since then, by the continuance of those methods which 
characterized hisyouth, success has crowned his labors, 
and now' he enjoys the fruits of his own industry. 

A member of the Montgomery County bar says : 
" Mr. Sutton's characteristics as a member of the legal 
profession are found in his methodical habits of 
industry, thoroughness in preparation, clear percep- 
tion as the result of studious application, with a 
forcible delivery of speech when directed to a jury. 
In public life, as Senator from this district, he has 
moved to the front line of his associates in all import- 
ant matters of debate, maintaining a strict integrity ; 
and while Democratic in politics, has uniformly ex- 
hibited in a marked degree the courtesies of official 
life towards those differing wiih him in theories of 
political economy." 

jAcoii S. YdST. — The progenitor of the Yost family 
in Pennsylvania was Philip Yost, grandfather of 
.lacob S., who was born in Nassau, West Germany, 
in 1718, and emigrated to America about the year 
1740, having married Vronicei Dotterer. He settled 
near Pottsfown, and died in 1804, leaving, among 
other children, a son, John, who followed the life of 
a farmer, and resided in Pottstown. The children of 
the latter by a first marriage were Henry, Philip, 
Samuel, Polly and Betsey. By a second marriage, to 
Anna Maria Siewel, were children, — John, Catherine, 
Rachel, Jacob S. and Sarah. Jacob S. was born in 
Pottsgrove township, Montgomery Co., on the 29th of 
July, 1801, on the Yost farm, which has been in pos- 
session of the family for more than a century. He 
became a pupil of the old Fourth Street Academy, 
in Philadelphia, and after mastering the rudiments 
became proficient in the higher branches of mathe- 
matics and surveying. For a brief period he engaged 
in teaching, but soon embarked in journalistic work, 
publishing and editing the Lafayette Aurora. He, 
however, eventually abandoned this enterprise, and, 
while employing his skill as a surveyor in adjacent 
portions of the State, followed the congenial pursuits 
of a farmer on the ancestral land, as had his father 
before him. He was, in 1826, married to Ann M. 
Childe, of Pottstown, whose four children were Anna 
Maria, Thomas W., Jacob A. and Annie R. (Mrs. 
George H. Gillet). He was again married, Decem- 
ber 26, 1844, to Mary A., daughter of J. L. and Mary 
Wood Harrington, of Troy, N. Y., a lady of brilliant 
intellectual gifts, who survives him. The intelli- 
gence and activity of Mr. Yost soon brought him 



520 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



prominently before the people, his kindly nature and 
courtly manners enabling him to win favor with his 
party. The Democracy of his district, therefore, in 
1836, nominated and elected him to the Assembly, to 
which office he was three times re-elected. Closing 
his services in the State Legislature in 1S39, he was, 
in 1842, nominated and elected to Congress, and after 
his Congressional service continued an active pro- 
moter of the interests of his party, with which he 
wielded no little influence. On the accession of 
James Buchanan (his warm personal friend) to the 
Presidency, he was, in 1857, appointed United States 
marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 
which office he held until the breaking out of the 



with others, in 1849, organized the First Presbyterian 
Church of Pottstown, of which he was the first ruling 
elder. His death occurred at his residence in Potts- 
town in 1872, in his seventy-first year. 

WiLLi.\M A. Yeakle, the grandson of Christopher 
and Susannah Kriebel Yeakle and the son of Samuel 
and Lydia Anders Yeakle, was born in Whitemarsh 
township on the 20th of October, 1824, his ancestors 
on both sides, from the eve of the Reformation, 
having belonged to the evangelical sect known as 
Schwenkfelders. The father of Mr. Yeakle gave his 
son a common-school education, such as was usual 
many years ago, consisting mainly of the rudimentary 
branches, to which he more recently added by intelli- 




C 



jy(M^ 



Rebellion, in 1861. He then retired from public life, 
and devoted his abilities to the care of his landed 
estate and his various business interests. He was 
president of the West Buck Mountain Coal and Iron 
Company, of the Pottstown Gas Company, and director 
of the Philadelphia and Perkiomen Turni^ike Com- 
pany and the Edgewood Cemetery Company. Mr. Yost 
was a man of wide information, clear judgment, a 
judicious manager of business, and domestic in his 
tastes, regarding home as the most attractive spot on 
earth. He was religiously inclined by nature, and in 
early life connected himself with the German Re- 
formed Church. He later withdrew from it, and. 



gent reading and study. He was early instructed in 
the various pursuits peculiar to the life of an agricul- 
turii^t, and in the spring of 18.50 began an independ- 
ent career of farniing on- the attractive spot known as 
the family homestead, where he still resides. He was 
married, on the 25th of January, 1849, to Caroline, 
daughter of John Hocker, of Whitemarsh township, 
and has children, — Annie H. and Samuel. In 1850 
his neighbors elected him a director in the school 
board of the township, which office he continued to 
fill for eighteen consecutive years. He declined re- 
election, though still remaining one of the auditors 
of the board. He was, in the summer of 1870, nom- 



THE PAST AND PRESENT POLITICS. 



521 



inated by the Republican convention of the county 
for the otiice of State Senator. He, however, magnan- 
imously withdrew from the contest in favor of Hon. 
Henry S. P>ans, and three years later was again nom- 
inated and elected in a strong Democratic district. 
He served his term of three years, but declined a 
re-election. Mr. Yeakle has always manifested a 
deep inierest in everything pertaining to agriculture, 
and has been for many years a member of the Jlont- 
gomery County Agricultural Society. In 1877 he was 
chosen to represent that body as a member of the 
State Board of Agriculture, and on taking his seat 
drew the one-year term. On its expiration he was 
chosen for the succeeding term of three years, and 
again for the third term of equal duration. He en- 
joys in a high degree the confidence and esteem of 



Berks County, at the expiration of which period he 
entered the office of Dr. Jacob Treon, of Rehrersburg, 
in that county, as a student of medicine. He subse- 
quently attended lectures at the Medical Department 
of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he 
graduated in the spring of 1843. He began the prac- 
tice of his profession at Rehrersburg, and some years 
later removed to Schuylkill Haven, Schuylkill Co., 
Pa., where he remained ten years, making Philadel- 
phia his residence in 1859, and embarking in the 
wholesale drug business. In 1867, Dr. Royer returned 
to Trappe, where he continued to reside until 1884, 
when Norristown offered advantages which made him 
a citizen of that borough. He had meanwhile become 
largely interested in the manufacture of iron and the 
mining of coal in Huntingdon County, Pa., in con- 




P7:A^^ac^ 



his constituents, having frequently represented them 
in county conventions of his party and presided over 
the annual gatherings. As a legislator Mr. Yeakle 
represented the most elevated sentiment and feeling 
of the Republican party, his vote indicating the high 
moral principle which has actuated both his business 
and social life. 

Lewis Royer, M.D., the third son of Judge Joseph 
Royer, who is elsewhere noticed in this volume, was 
born March 31, 1822, at Trappe, Montgomery Co., 
and received during his youth a thorough English 
education, first at school and later under a private 
tutor. He then engaged for three years in teaching in 



nection with the Rock Hill Iron and Coal Company, 
and still gives his personal attention to this enter- 
prise. Dr. Royer married, in 1841, Miss Isabella, 
daughter of Dr. Jacob Treon, of Berks County, and 
has children, — Emma (wife of William Jansen, of 
Cincinnati, Ohio), Bella (Mrs. William Ashenfelter, 
of Pottslown), Ettie {Mrs. Jacob V. Gotwalts, of 
Norristown), Horace T. (married to Kate, daughter 
of Henry W. Kratz) and Louis C. (who married Lille, 
daughter of the Rev. Mr. Graybill, of Lancaster County, 
Pa.) Dr. Royer's political attiliations were formerly 
with the Old-Line Whig party, his first vote having 
been cast for Henry Clay. Later he became a Repub- 



522 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



lican, was for a term coroner of Schuylkill County, 
and was in 1878 elected to the State Senate, where he 
served on various important committees. The doctor 
is director of the Tradesman's National Bank of 
Conshohocken. His religious views are in accord 
with the doctrines of the German Reformed Church 
at Trappe, of which he is a member. 

John Christman Smith, of PottstowD, the subject of 
this sketch,was prominently identified with the business 
and political atfairs of Montgomery County fur nearly 
forty years. His father, Abraham Smith, was born in 
Frederick township March 18, 170-1, and was the son of 
Jacob and Margaret Smith, whose ancestors came from 



ing the war of 1812 in the company of Captain 
Peter Hauley, of Pottstown. He became a widower, 
and was married again, in 1845, to Mrs. Mary Mals- 
berger. By his first marriage there weresix children, — 
Mary (Mrs. Levi Wildermuth), John C, Elizabeth 
(Mrs. Rufus B. Longaker), Jacob C, Sarah (Mrs. 
William Wamhack) and Abram C. Smith. By the 
second marriage there were no children. Abraham 
Smith died April 6, 1878, in his eighty-fifth year. 

John C. Smith was born at Deep Creek, 
Frederick township, December 1, 1818. His youth 
was spent in Limerick township, on a farm, with 
the limited opportunities for education which the 




p /g^^^ c ^^^f::^ 



Germanyand were early settlers in Pennsylvania. The 
mother of Abraham Smith was left a widow when he 
was thirteen mouths old, and at the tender age of 
four years he was " bound out " to Jacob Fryer, 
where he was brought up in a Christian family. He 
served an apprenticeship toshoemaking with Michael 
Sensenderfer, of Limerick township. He was married, 
September 20, 181(i, to Sarah Elizabeth Chri>tman, 
of Limerick township, and afterwards moved to I)cep 
Creek, in Frederick township, following his trade. 
He subsequently engaged in huckstering and farming, 
and, moving to Pottstown about 1836, commenced 
the store-keeping business. Mr. Smith enlisted dur- 



schools of those days atibrded. He came to Potts- 
town in 1836, and entered into the business of a 
merchant with his father. The firm prospered for 
several years, and then Abraham Smith retired there- 
from. John C. Smith continued the business and 
that of boating for a long time. He alluded fre- 
quently and |)roudly, in his later days, to his life on 
the tow-path, and to the time when he arose to 
the dignity of a canal-boat captain and owner. 

The question of forming a new county, to be 

called Madison, with Pottstown as the county-seat, 

was an exciting one for years, strongly advocated 

1 and as bitterly opposed in portions of Montgomery, 



THE FAST AND PKESExNT POLITICS. 



523 



Chester and Berks Counties. John C. Smith became 
a leader in this movement, contesting the ground 
inch by inch, with many other friends of the measure, 
for many years. Mr. Smith was a stanch Democrat 
of the Jacksonian school, and soon became a "war- 
horse " in his party in Montgomery County. In 
the fall of 1852 he was nominated for State Senator, 
but after a most exciting struggle, in which politics 
was almost lost sight of and the friends and enemies 
of "Madison County" were arraigned against each 
other in the contest, Mr. Smith was defeated by 
thirty-two votes, by Benjamin Frick, Whig. In 1861 
he was again nominated for State Senator and elected 
by seven hundred and sixty-seven majority over Henry 
W. Bonsall, a prominent member of the Montgomery 
County bar. He served in the sessions of 1862, 1863 
and 1864, with'such eminent men as Heister Clymer, 
Henry S. Mott, W. W. Ketcham, A. K. McClure, 
Morrow B. Lowrey, William A. Wallace, Harry White, 
William Hopkins, Benjamin ('hampneys and others. 
His term in the Senate was during the most trying 
period of the war for the Union. He participated 
in the election of Hon. Charles R. Buckalew as 
United States Senator in 1863, when the Democrats 
had but one majority on joint ballot in the Legis- 
lature. He was also a member during the famous 
deadlock session of 1864, when General Harry White, 
a Republican member, was absent, being held a prisoner 
by the Confederates at Richmond, and which left the 
Senate with sixteen Republican and sixteen Demo- 
cratic members. 

Mr. Smith served on several important committees 
and was an active, attentive and influential Senator. 
For the third time, in 1872, he received his party 
nomination for Senator ; but the district was then com- 
posed of Montgomery, Chester and Delaware Counties- 
Although his popularity ran him largely ahead in his 
own county, he could not overcome the strong 
majorities of the other counties, and William B. 
Waddell, Republican, of West Chester, was elected. 
John C. Smith was chief burgess of Pottstown in 1851, 
1852 and 1853. He also served two or more t(rms in 
the Town Council, and held various other honorable 
positions in the borough. He was for several years 
president of the Perkiomen and Reading Turnpike 
Company, also of the Schuylkill Bridge Company at 
Pottstown and the Pottstown Gas Company, also a 
director of the Colebrookdale Railroad, holding these 
four positions up to the time of his death. As a busi- 
ness man Mr. Smith was careful and far-sighted, 
investing chiefly in real estate. He was for a consider- 
able period prior to his decease the largest property- 
holder in Pottstown. As a political leader he was 
untiring, making hosts of friends, who stood by him in 
every political struggle. He was connected with 
various enterprises having for their object the benefit 
of the town and community. When Trinity Reformed 
Church, of Pottstown, of which he was a member, 
was built, he gave a very liberal sum to aid in its 



erection, and continued a generous contributor to the 
different benevolent enterprises of the church up to 
the time of his decease. He was widely known 
among the leading men in business and State affairs in 
Pennsylvania. John C. Smith was married to Rebecca 
Maria, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Penny packer, 
of New Hanover township, Montgomery Co. To 
them four children were born, — Sarah E. (Mrs. 
William H. Rhoads), Mary Ann (Mrs. Henry G. 
Kulp), Henry (deceased), Audora P. (Mrs. Charles F. 
Sisler). His wife survives him. He died on the 21st 
day of July, 1882, in his sixty-fourth year. 

Election Districts in Montgomery County.— 
Prior to the year 1777 the entire city and county of 
Philadelphia (a portion now Montgomery) held their 
general elections at the State-House, in the city of 
Philadelphia. 

At an election held at the State-House in Philadel- 
phia October 3, 1775 the following is the vote of the 
entire county and city for sheriffs, coroners and 
representatives, — Representatives : John Dickinson, 
Esq., had 3122 votes ; Michael Hillegas, 3111 votes; 
George Gray, 3107 votes ; Thomas Potts, 3103 votes ; 
Samuel Miles, ,3098 votes; Joseph Parker, 3077 votes; 
Robert Morris. 1882 votes ; Jcmalhan Roberts, 1700. 
Sheriffs: William De Wees, 2985 votes; John Bull, 
1338 votes. Coroners : Robert Jewell, 2213 votes 
William Moulder, 1602 votes. 

At a general election held for Governor in Novem- 
ber, 1875, one hundred years later, on the same 
territory, Philadelphia City and Montgomery County, 
the vote stands as follows, — Philadelphia : Hartran ft 
had 65,262 votes; Pershing had 47,980 votes; Brown 
had 647 votes. Jlontgomcry County : Hartranft had 
8364 votes; Pershing had 8339 votes; Brown had 647 
votes. Total vote in the two districts, 120,836. 

An act of the General Assembly was passed June 
14, 1777, dividing the city and county of Philadelphia 
into three election districts. 

The freemen of the townships of Cheltenham, 
Abington, Moreland, Upper Dublin, Horsham, White- 
marsh, Springfield, Plymouth and Lower Merion were 
to constitute the Second Election District, and were 
ordered to hold their general elections at the public- 
house formerly kept by Jacob Coleman, Germantown. 

The freemen of the townships of Douglas, New 
Hanover, Limerick, Frederick, Marlborough, Upper 
Hanover, LTpper Salford, Worcester, Providence. 
Perkiomen, Skippack, Lower Salford, Franconia, Hat- 
field, Towamencin, Whitpain, Xorriton, Upper 
Merion, Montgomery and Gwynedd were to constitute 
the Third Election District, and were ordered to hold 
their general elections at the house of Jacob Wentz, 
in Worcester township. 

By an act of the Legislature passed September 10, 
1784, Montgomery County was taken off of a part of 
Philadelphia, and is the same to-day as when first laid 
out. 

The new county was now formed, and it became 



524 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



necessary to change the places of holding the general 
elections. An act of the Legislature was passed 
September 13, 1785, which divided the county into 
three election districts, as follows : 

The freemen of the townships of Norriton, Plym- 
outh, Whitpain, Ujiper Merion, Lower Merion, 
New Providence (now Upper and Lower Providence), 
Worcester, Skippack and Perkiomen, being the First 
District, were ordered to hold their general elections 
at the court-house, in the borough of Norristown. 

The freemen of the townships of Whitemarsh, 
Springfield, Cheltenham, Abington, Moreland, 
Horsham, Upper Dublin, Gwynedd, Montgomery, 
Hatfield, Towamencin, Lower Salford and Franconia, 
being the Second District, were ordered to hold their 
general elections at George Eckhart's tavern, in the 
township of Whitemarsh. The freemen of the town- 
ships of Limerick, New Hanover, Douglas, Upper 
Hanover, Marlborough and Upper Salford, being the 
Third District, were ordered to hold their general 
elections at Michael Krepse's tavern, in New Hanover 
township. 

By the act passed March 31, 1797, the county was 
again divided into five election districts, as follows : 

First District, composed of the townships of Norri- 
ton, Providence, Worcester, Plymouth, Whitpain, 
LTpper Merion and Lower Merion, were ordered to 
hold their general elections at the court-house, in the 
borough of Norristown. 

Second District, composed of the townships of 
AV'hitemarsh, Springfield, Upper Dublin and Horsham, 
■were ordered to hold their general elections at the 
Louse of Philip Riffert, in Whitemarsh township. 

Third District, composed of the townships of Abing- 
ton, Cheltenham and Moreland, were ordered to hold 
their general elections at the house of William 
McCalla, in Abington township. 

Fourth District, composed of the t()wnshi])s of 
Ciwynedd, Montgomery, Towamencin, Hatfield, Fran- 
■ciinia, Lower Salford, Upper Saltord and Skippack, 
were ordered to hold their general elections at the 
house of Christian Weber, in Towamencin township. 

Fifth District, composed of the townships of Limer- 
ick, New Hanover, Tapper Hanover, Douglas, 
Marlborough and Frederick, were ordered to hold 
their general elections at the house of Catharine 
Suyder, in New Hanover township. 

By act of April 8, 1799, the Sixth District was thus 
formed : " That the township of Limerick, and such 
jiarts of the townships of Douglas and New Hanover 
{IS lie southwest of a line beginning where the line of 
Berks County crosses the Fox Hill, in Douglas town- 
ship aforesaid ; thence extending along the summit of 
said hill until it intersects the road leading through 
Falkner's Swamp to Philadelphia, near the house 
now occu])ied by the Rev. Frederick WyereUnd ; then 
extending down the same road to the line of Limerick 
township aforesaid, being a part of the Fifth Election 
District in Montgomery County, and shall hold their 



general elections at the house now occupied by George 
Pfleiger, in Pott's town, in the township of Douglas. 
And the township of Upper Hanover, Marlborough 
and Frederick, and so much of the townships of 
Douglas and New Hanover as lie northeast of the 
line of the Sixth Election District, being a part of 
the Fifth Election District, shall hold their general 
elections at the house of Henry Creps, in New Han- 
over township." 

By the act of January 19, 1802, the Seventh Elec- 
tion District was formed as follows: 

" The townships of Limerick, Skippack and Per- 
kiomen, and that part of Providence which lies west 
of Skippack and Perkiomen Creeks, shall be called 
the Seventh District, and shall hold their general 
elections at the house now occupied by David Dewees, 
in the township of Providence. And the townships of 
Upper Hanover. Marlborough, Upper Salford and 
Franconia shall becalled the Eighth District, and shall 
hold their general elections at the house now occupied 
by John Scheid, in Summeny-Town, in Marlborough 
township.'' 

Act of March 31, 1806: " That the township of Lower 
Merion be formed into a separate election district, to 
be called the Ninth, and shall hold the elections at 
the house of Titus Yerkes, in said township.'' The 
township now (1883) is divided into four separate elec- 
tion districts, and at the election held in November 
last polled in the aggregate 1136 votes for Governor. 

" That the township of Franconia be annexed to the 
Fourth Election District, and hold their general elec- 
tions at the house of .John Hughs, in Towamensing 
(now Kulpsville)." 

By the act of April 11, 1807, it was ordered that the 
Sixth Election District should be composed of the town- 
ship of Pottsgrove, lately erected from a part of New 
Hanover, and a part of Douglas, aiid should hold their 
elections at the house of William Lesher, Pottstown, 
and the electors of the remainder of the township of 
Douglas and New Hanover at the house of Henry 
Kreps, New Hanover. 

The act of March 19, 1816, changed the place of 
holding the general elections in the Sixth District to 
the house of Michael Colp, corner of High and Han- 
over Streets, in the borough of Pottstown. 

By the act of Ai)ril 2, 1850, the township of Potts- 
grove was formed into a separate election district, and 
the elections were ordered to be held at the house of 
Jacob Bussart. 

The act of March 29, 1813, provided that the town- 
ships of Montgomery and Gwynedd should be a sepa- 
rate election district, and that the general elections 
should be held at the house of George Heist, inn-kceiter, 
in Gwynedd township; that the townshijjs of Horsham 
and Moreland should be a separate election district, 
and should hold their general elections at the house of 
John Kerr, in Moreland townshi]). 

By the act of March 24, 1818, the township of Hat- 
field was formed into a separate election district, and 



THE PAST AND PRESENT POLITICS. 



525 



the elections were ordered to be held at the house of 
John Buchamer, and by the act of April 11, 1825, the 
place of holding the elections was changed to the 
house of Peter Conver; again, by the act of April 23, 
1829, the general elections were to be held at the 
house of Jacob C. Bachman. 

By the act of April 11, 1825, the township of Lim- 
erick was formed into a separate election district, and 
the general elections were to be held at the house of 
Jacob R. Bright. By this act the township of Douglas 
was first formed into a separate election district, and 
the general elections were ordered to be held at the 
house of Abrm. Stetler. 

The act of Ai)ril 16, 1827, provided that the town- 
ships of Worcester and that part of Skippack and 
Perkiomen which lies east of the Perkiomen Creek 
should be erected into a separate election district, 
and should hold their general elections jitthe houseof 
Abrm. Everhard, Skippack. 

By the act of April 14, 182S, it was ordered that the 
township of Worcester be formed into a separate elec- 
tion district, and hold their general elections at the 
house of Cornelius Tyson ; also, that the township of 
Frederick be formed into a separate election district, 
and hold their elections at the house of Joseph Keeler. 

By the act of April 23, 1829, the township of Mont- 
gomery was fir.st formed into a separate election dis- 
trict, and the elections were held at the house of 
Henry Slight (now Montgomery ville). 

By the act of April 6, 1830, the township of Upper 
Salford was first formed into a separate election dis- 
trict, and the elections were held at the public-house 
of Philip Rudy (Mechanicsville). By the act of April 
9, 1849, the place of holding elections was changed 
to the house of George W. Reed. The township is 
now (1883) divided into two election districts, and 
])olled at the late election (1882) 426 votes. 

By the act of April 4, 1831, the township of Whit- 
pain was first formed into a separate election district, 
and the elections were held at Weutz's tavern, then 
kept by Henry Kerr. Prior to that time, from the 
first formation of Montgomery County, they voted in 
the court-house, Norristown. The elections were held 
at Wentz's until the public-house at that place was 
abandoned, which was in the spring of 1867. At an 
election held that spring it was decided, by a majority 
of 27 votes, to hereafter hold the general elections at 
the house of Albert Kater, Centre Square, and they 
have been held there since that time. "" 

By the act of May 3, 1832, it was directed that the 
electors of the Trappe Election District — composed of 
the townships of Upper Providence, part of the town- 
ship of Lower Providence, Skippack and Perkiomen — 
should hold their general elections at the public-house 
of .Jacob Heebner, in the village of the Trappe. 

By the act of April 11, 1884, the election district 
was to be composed of the township of Upper Provi- 
dence, all that part of the townships of Skippack and 
Perkiomen lying west of the Perkiomen Creek, and 



the elections were to be held at the public-house of 
William Goodwin, Trappe. 

By the act of April 9, 1833, the township of Marl- 
borough was formed into a separate election district, 
and the general elections were held at the public- 
house of Jacob Dimming. 

By the act of April 15, 1835, the townshijj of Gwyn- 
edd was formed into a separate election district, and 
the general elections were held at the public-house of 
David Acutf. The township is now divided into two 
districts, — Upper and Lower Gwynedd. 

By the act of April 1, 1836, the township of Hor- 
sham was formed into a separate election district, and 
the general elections were ordered to be held at the 
house of Jacob Kirk. 

By the same act Moreland was formed into a sepa- 
rate election district, and the general elections were 
to be held at the house commonly known as the 
"Sorrel Horse." 

By the act of April 14, 1840, the general elections- 
in Jlontgomery County were ordered to be opened 
between the hours of nine and eleven in the forenoon 
and kept ojjen until nine in the evening. 

By the act of May 5, 1841, the township of Lower 
Providence was formed into a separate election dis- 
trict, and the general elections were ordered to be 
held at Shambough's school-house. 

Bj- the act of April 5, 1849, the place was changed 
to the house of Christian Detwiler. 

By the act of March 4, 1842, the township of Lower 
Salford was formed into a separate election district, 
and the general elections were held at the house of 
Jonas Eoorse, inn-keeper. By the act of March 11, 
1852, the place of holding the elections was changed 
to the house of John Hcines. 

By the act of March 7, 1843, Pottstown was first 
formed into an election district, and the elections were 
ordered to be held at the Farmers' Hotel, at present 
occupied by Peter Fritz. 

By the act of March 16, 1847, the borough was 
divided into two election districts. 

The borough is now (1883) divided into three wards, 
with election polls in each ward. 

At the election for Governor held in 1882 the total 
vote of each was as follows: Pattison, 710; Beaver, 
601,— total, 1311 votes. 
j By the act of May 8, 1844, the township of Plymouth 
was first formed into a separate election district, and 
the general elections were ordered to be held at the 
public-house of George K. Ritter, Hickorytown, where 
they are still held. 

From the time that the county was first divided into 
election districts to this date the electors went to the 
court-house at Norristown to deposit their ballots. 

By the act of April 11, 1844, the township of Towa- 
mencin was first formed into a separate election dis- 
trict, and the general elections were ordered to be 
held at the house of Benjamin Hendricks, Kulpsville. 

By the act of March 14, 1845, the township of 



526 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEllY COUNTY. 



Upper Hanover was formed into a separate election 
district, and the elections were ordered to be held at 
the house of Jacob Hillegas. 

By the act of April 16, 1845, the qualified voters of 
said township were authorized to hold an election at 
" the public-house late of iSamuel McNulty, deceased, 
on Saturday, May 24th, next, between the hours of 
ten o'clock A.m. and six p.m., to determine by ballot at 
what place the general elections in said township 
shall be held.'' 

By the act of April 12, 1851, the elections were 
ordered to be held at the house of Abner Croll. 

By the act of March 7, 1846, the township of 
Springfield was first formed into a separate election 
district, and the elections were ordered to be held at 
the public-house of Samuel Rader, known as the 
" Black Horse Hotel," Flourtown. 

By the act of March 16, 1847, the township of 
Franconia was first formed into a separate election 
•district, and the elections were ordered to be held at 
the store-house of Daniel L. Moyer. 

By the act of April 26, 1850, the elections were 
ordered to be held at the public-house of Tobias 
•Gerhart. 

By the act of February 8, 1847, the borough of 
Norristown was divided into two election districts. 
At present (1883) there are six election districts. 
At the late election for Governor (1882) the following 
vote was polled : Pattison, 1072 ; Beaver, 1157, — 
total, 2229. 

By the act of March 16, 1S47, the township of Up- 
per Dublin was first formed into an separate election 
district, and the elections were ordered to be held at 
the public-house of Benj. Foster, " Three Tuns." 

From 1785 to this date the general elections for 
the township were held in Whitemarsh, at the pulilic- 
house known as the " Blue House." 

By the act of February 28, 1850, the place of hold- 
ing the elections was changed to the public-house of 
Henry Barrett. 

By the act of June 14, 1777, the electors of the 
township of Whitemarsh held their general elections 
at the public-house of Jacob Coleman, Germantown. 
By the act of September 13, 1785, the place of 
holding elections was changed to the public-house of 
George Echart, Farmerstown, or the house known as 
the " Blue House," latterly kept by Jacob Haines, 
which stood near Farmers' Mill, at the intersection 
■of Skippack and Chestnut Hill turnpike. 

By the act of March Ki, 1847, the place of holding 
elections was changed to the public-house of Samuel 
Kulp, Barren Hill. 

By the act of April 13, 1852, it was changed to the 
public-house of Jos. Bush, " Blue House." 

By the act of April 18, 1853, it was again changed 
to the public-house of Samuel Kulp, Barren Hill, 
where the elections are still held. 

The township is now (1883) divided into two elec- 
tion districts, East and West Whitemarsh, the former 



holding their elections at Sandy Run Hotel and the 
latter at Barren Hill. 

By tlie act of April 7, 1848, the qualified voters 
living on the west side of the Perkiomen Creek, in 
Skippack township, were ordered to form an election 
district, to be called the Perkiomen District, and to 
hold their township and general elections at the 
public-house of Jacob Schwenk. 

By the act of February 6, 1852, the qualified 
electors living on the east side of Perkiomen Creek, 
in the town.ships of Skippack and Perkiomen, were 
ordered to be formed into an election district, and to 
hold their elections at the public-house of Abrm. G. 
Burger, Skippack ville. 

By the act of April 8, 1850, the township of 
Cheltenham was first formed into a separate election 
district, and the elections were ordered to be held at 
the public-house of Albert Magargee, in Shoemaker- 
town. 

By the act of April 12, 1851, it was ordered that 
thereafter all the general and special elections for the 
township of Upper Merion should be held at the King 
of Prussia. 

By the act of May 3, 1852, the township of Norri- 
ton was first formed into a separate election district, 
and for that year the election was ordered to be held 
at the public-house of Rynard Marsh, Jetfersonville, 
and for future years to hold their general and 
township elections alternately, year about, at the 
public-house of Jesse Fisher, Penn Square. Prior to 
this act the general elections were held at the court- 
house, Norristown. 

In 1 882 there were sixty-two election districts in 
Montgomery County, which polled a total of 20,488 
votes for the different candidates for Governor. The 
First Ward in the borough of Norristown, being the 
largest voting district, polled 668 votes ; Green Lane, 
being the smallest, polled 48 votes. Franconia, being 
the largest Republican district, polled 396 votes for 
Beaver ; Green Lane, being the smallest, gave Beaver 
8 votes. Limerick, being the largest Democratic 
polling district, polled 380 votes for Pattison ; Green 
Lane, the smallest, gave Pattison 40 votes. 

In 1822 there were thirteen places of holding the 
general elections in Montgomery County. The vote 
polled was as follows : 

CoNtiRESs.— Philip Markley, 2056 votes ; John Hughe, 1829 votes. 

Assembly.— Joseph Royer, 2278 ; John B. Sterigere, 2264 ; William 
Powell, 2242 ; Peter Miller, 2211 ; William Mintzer, 1680 ; John Iredell, 
1659 ; George Richards, 1658 ; Henry Hallnian, 1653. 

Sheriff.— Philip Boyer, 1703 ; Isaiah Wells, 444 ; VVendle Fisher, 66 ; 
David Acuff, 1510 ; George M. Potts, 962 ; William Towers, 744. 

CoMMlssiONEn.— William McGlathery, 2020 ; Cornelius Tyson, 190O. 

DiREcl'oR. — Joseph Henry, 2215 ; John Tyson, 1692. 

AliiHToR. — David C. Kolp, 2296 ; John S. Messimer, 1581. 

Coroner.— Jacoh Ramsey, 1666 ; Peter Bechtel, 1104. 

Rules for the Government of the Republican 
Party of Montgomery County. — These rules were 
adopted September 2, 1878, and amended July 15, 
1879, and September 7, 1880. They are as follows: 



THE PAST AND PKESENT POLITICS. 



527 



Itule I. A convention, fo be composed of delegates from eiich of the 
election districts sliall be held in Norristuwn at such time as the Connty 
Committee shaU direct. Such convention shall be held on Tnesday to 
nominate ii county ticket. Each election district sluill be entitled tn three 
delegates. General nominations for connty officer shall be made at the 
aumiuating convention. 

Rule 2. On the Saturday previous to the time of holding county con- 
ventions the Republicans of the various election districts, and ali other 
peiw)ns who are qualified voters in such election districts who will make 
a declaration to support the party, shall assemble at their usual place of 
liobiiug delegate elections, or at such place as shall be directed by the 
member of the County Committee for the district, and elect the delegates 
to represent them in said nominating convention. At tlie same time and 
place they shall elect a person to be a member of the County Committee 
for such election district for one year from the first Monday of December 
next ensuing. The delegate elections shall be held between the hovire of 
r> and 8 p.m. in the boroughs, and between the hours of 7 and 9 p.m. in 
the townshii«, and the persons having the highest number of votes 
shall be elected. 

Hide 3. Vacancies in the list of delegates of any district shall he filled 
by tlie remaining delegate or delegates of the district. Delegates so sub- 
stituted shall be citf^iens of the distrh t they represent. This rule shall 
apply to joint as well jis county conventions. 

Rule 4. The delegate elections shall be organized by selecting a presi- 
dent and two tellers, who shall conduct the elections, decide who is en- 
titled to vote, and at the close thereof count the votes and declare the | 
result. The tellei-s shall write down the name of each person when he j 
votes, the name to be announced by the president. The said ofticersshall ! 
make out certificates of election and delivei- them to one of the delegates 
I'lected. 

RtileiK It shall be the duty of the chairman and secretaries of the 
€ounty Committee to meet at Xorristown at !» o'clock on the morning of 
the meeting of the county convention and prepare an alphabeticid list of 
(he delegates for the use of said convention. 

Rnle fj. The County Committeeman of each election district sliall be 
the executive officer of his election district, and shall organize it in such 
a way its to get out the largest vote of the party at the election. lie shall 
1)ut up nntices of the delegate electi(ms at least five days before the time 
tifliulding them, stating time and place for holding the same, and the 
number of delegates to be elected, and shall preside at the delegate eloc- 
.tions until a president is chosen. 

Rule 7. The affaii-s of the party shall be managed by a Covmty Com- 
jnittee elected as aforesaid, seven membei-s of which shall constitute a 
■quorum to transact business. The County Committee shall meet in Nor- 
j-istown for organization at 10 o'clock a.m. on the first Jlonday of De- 
cember nf each year. They shall elect a president, who shall be styled 
chairman uf tbe County Committee, and two persons as secretaries. Per- 
sons not members of the committee may be elected as president or chair- 
man or secretaries. Tbe chairman and secretaries of the previous year 
sball act until others are elected. 

The chairman of the County Committee shall appoint a Fimince Com- 
mittee of not less than five persons, tbe chairman of which committee 
sliall be e.c-offi.cio treasurer of the County Committee. He shall also ap- 
point an Executive Committee of not less than five pei-sons, and he shall 
be €x-oJicio a member of both committees. Persons not members of the 
■County Committee may be appointed on sjiid committees. 

Rule 8. The chairman of the County Connnittee shall be the executive 
officer of the party in the county, and as such shall put into operation 
these rules, the resolutions and actions of the County Committee, the 
Executive and Finance Committees and of the nominating convention. 
He shall call the nominating convention to order and preside at all county 
conventions of the party. The secretaries of the County Committee shall 
act as secretaries of the conventions. 

Rule 9. The County Committee shall fix the time and place for holding 
county conventions of delegates to elect delegates to represent the county 
in State and National conventions, and also to procure room in which to 
hold tbe same. 

Rule 10. The County Committee sball have power to fill vacancies in 
said committee, provided the district in which such vacancy shall occur 
fail to elect a successor prior to the next meeting of tbe committee, and 
also to fill vacancies on the county ticket. 

Rule 11. All contested seats of delegates shall be beard and decided by 
the convention. 

Rule 1*2, It shall require a majority of the delegates present in the 
nominating convention to nominate for any office. The voting shall be 
riiHi voce, the names of the delegates to be called by boroughs, wards, 
townships and election districts, in alphabetical order, when the delegate 



shall name the pereon he votes for, and the secretaries shall record the 
same. 

Rule l:i. When this county shall be entitled to nominate candidates for 
ofiice in conjunction with any other county or connties, the same shall 
be done by a joint convention of delegates, who sball make the nomina- 
tions for said ofWce, prodded this rule be agreed to by such other counties. 

Rule 14. These rules shall be subject to change or amendment only at 
the annual county nominating convention. 

Organization of the Democratic Party.— The 

ruk'f^ govt-niiiig the Democratic party of Montgomery 
County are a growth, having been adopted from time 
to time, as emergencies demanded, and having never 
been adopted and published in their entirety. The 
following appears to be the plan of organization and 
system of management : 

1. Menihership. — The Standing Committee is composed of one member 
from every election district in the county, who is elected for the term of 
one year by the Democratic voters, at the time and place the delegates 
to the County Convention for the nomination of county officers are se- 
lected. They meet and organize on the firet Tuesday of December of 
evei-y year by the selection of a chairman, vice-chairman, three secreta- 
ries and a treasurer. The chairman and one secretary i/xii/ be selected 
from outside tbe committee. At the next meeting of the committee after 
the c;iudidates for county offices are nominated the nominees meet and 
select a special executive committee of nine, who have general charge of 
the campaign. '1 he chairman of the Standing Committee is er-ojficto the 
member of the State Central Committee for the county. 

2. Pouers.—lhe Standing Committee is vested with very ample pow- 
ers. It calls all conventions, settles all disputes as to nominations and 
prepares and distributes the tickets. The chairman and secretaries 
are e-r-Cifficio the officers of all conventions and meetings of the Dem- 
ocracy. 

3. Vreparaiorij Meeltnga.—ThGi annual preparatory meeting, at the call 
of the Standing Committee, is held in the court-house at Norristown. 
At tliis meeting resolutions are adopted, general nominations are made 
and the business relating to the general interests of the party transacted. 
Pei-sons placed in general nomination must enrol themselves regularly 
by the following Saturday, or they cannot be voted for in the nominating 
convention unless by tbe consent of two-thirds of the convention. 

4. Ddf^a/es.— Every four years after the gubernatorial election dele- 
gates are apportioned for the ensuing four years to the several election 
districts upon the following basis, to wit : " Every election district poll- 
ing two hundred Democratic votes or les.s, two delegates, and one addi- 
tional delegate for each one hundred additional Democratic votes, or a 
fractional part thereof. The delegates to tbe several conventions are se- 
lected in each district on the Saturday evening preceding the Tuesday upon 
which the convention is called. The Democratic inspector of elections 
for the district acts as judge, and the rival candidates for delegates select 
a secretary. In case the Democratic inspector fails to att«nd, or there 
he a vacancy, the Standing Committeeman shall act as judge, or substi- 
tute some person to act for him if absent. 

5. nalloting.—ln voting, the districts are alphabetically arranged, and 
delegiites, as their names are called, vote for the several candidates for 
all the offices on each ballot until nominations are effected. 

G. State and National Delegaiee.—ThQ conniy is entitled to one State 
delegate for every one thousand Democratic votes cast, and three dele- 
gates are selected at a convention called for the purpose. Delegates to 
the national convention are selected by the delegates to the State con- 
vention in the year when a national convention is held. 

The following is a list of the chairmen of the Demo- 
cratic Standing Committee since 18(>2 : 1862, Dr. 
John A. Martin ; 1863, Dr. E. L. Acker ; 1864, Hiram 
C. Hoover; 1865, Dr. S. R. S. Smith ; 1866, Dr. S. R. 
S.Smith; 1867, Hiram C. Hoover; 1868, Hiram C. 
Hoover; 1869, Charles Earnest; 1870, Charles Ear- 
nest; 1871, Charles Earnest; 1872, Oliver G. Morris; 
1873, Oliver G. Morris; 1874, Jones Detweiler ; 1875, 
Jones Detweiler ; 1876, Jones Detweiler ; 1877, John 
W. Bickel; 1878, Oliver G. Morris; 1879, John W. 
Bickel; 1880, John C.Richardson; 1881, J. Wright 



528 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Apple; 1882, John W. Bickel; 1883, John W. Bickel ; 
1884, Jolm W. Bickel; 1885, John W. Bickel. 

Comparative Presidential Vote, 1880 and 1884, 
of Montgomery County. — The total number of votes 
cast in 1880 was 22,051, of which 11,026 were cast for 
James A. Garfield, 11,025 for Winfiekl 8. Hancock. 
In 1884 the vote was, — James G. Blaine, 11,622; S. 
Grover Cleveland, 11,087. Net increase in total vote, 
658; Repixblican gain, 799; Democratic gain, 265; 
Republican gain over Democratic gain, 534. 

ELECTION FIGURES FOR NOVEMBER 4, 1S84, FOR MONT- 
GOMERY COUNTY. 

President. — James G. Blaine, 11,622 ; S. Grover Cleveland, 11,087 ; 
Blaine's majority, 535. 

Congressman-at-Large. — Gen. Edwin S. Osborne, 11,651 ; Gen. W. 
W. H. Davis, 11,142 ; Osborne's majority, SOU. 

Congress. — Hon. I. Newton Evans, 11,440; George Ross, 11,360; 
Evans' majority, 80. 

Assembly. — Thomas J. Stewart, 11,765; Jobn M. Cunningham, 
11,822 ; Willi.am A. Redding, 11,702 ; William D. Heebner, 11,557 ; 
Samuel Faust, 11,069 ; William H. Buck, 11,011 ; John S. Jenkins, 
11,098 ; Horace J. Subers, 11,063 ; J. Duress O'Bryan, 10,955 ; Daniel K. 
Gi-aber, 10,965. 

Pbothonotary. — William B. Woodward, 11,556; Jolm McLean, 11,- 
229 ; Woodward's majority, 327. 

Recorder. — Aaron Weikel, 11,077; Charles T. Durham, 11,099; 
\Veiker8 majority, 578, 

Clerk.— George G. McNeill, 11,'243 ; Col. Edward Sehall, 11,589 ; 
Schall's majority, 346. 

Register.— J. R. Rambo, 11,539 ; Jeremiah W. Guldin, 11,165 ; 
Rambo's majority, 374. 

Commissioners. — Hiram Burdan. 11,540 ; James Burnett, 11,684 ; 
Thomas MeCully, 11,295 ; Martin Kulp, 11,080. 

Director. — Benjamin C. Kraus, 11,653; William Gilbert, 11,214; 
Kraus' majority, 439. 

Auditors. — Isaac R. Cassel, 11,874 ; A. M. Bergey, 11,820 ; John 
Espenship, 10,070; Philip Super, 11,119; Cassel's niiyority, 1804; 
Bergey's inaijority, 1750 ; Super's majority, 1149. 

Surveyor. — Frank H. Conrad, 11,697; Daniel Kinzie, 11,159; Con- 
rad's majority 538. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE BENCH AND BAR. 

The institution of judicial ]>roceedings and the 
recognition of the judicial office in the province of 
Pennsylvania appears to antedate that of the 
acknowledged usefulness of the attorneys-at-law. 
The courts established by John Printz, the Swedish 
Governor, in 1642, on the Delaware, at New Gotten- 
burg, to decide all controversies according to the 
laws and customs of Sweden, were presided over by 
justices of the peace, men unlearned in the law. 
The primitive manners of the first settlers and the 
unimportant character of their litigation were sug- 
gestive of this policy, while it may be said in truth 
that the ofiice of advocate was believed to be incom- 
patible with the despotic pretensions of those who 
ruled in the name of their sovereigns by " divine 
right." The seat of justice was removed from Got- 
tenburg to Upland (now Chester), in 1662, and for 
several years their civil and criminal cases were tried 
and disposed of under the crude forms instituted by 



the Swedish justices of the peace. The Dutch suc- 
ceeded the Swedes in the control of the province, but 
did not change the administration of justice or remove 
the justices then in office. Peter Stuyvesant, the 
Dutch Governor, was intent upon the acquisition of 
lands and the increase of commerce with the 
Indians, and therefore gave but little attention to the 
subject of government or the administration of the 
laws. The Dutch were succeeded by the English iii 
1672, who recognized the " Upland Court " as a legal 
tribunal, having original and appellate jurisdiction of 
all legal contentious within the province. Ten years 
later, 1682, William Penn became the proprietor, and 
it was to the justices at Ujiland that he officially 
announced himself upon his arrival. While Penn's. 
frame of government made ample provision for the 
establishment of courts of justice and the appoint- 
ment of justices and necessary officers with proper 
pay and emoluments, he very early betrayed his fear 
of and hostility to the legal profession by causing 
the ado2ition of a law (1686) "for the avoiding of too 
frequent clamors and manifest inconveniences which 
usually attend mercenary pleadings in civil causes." 
This law enacted that " noe person shall plead in any 
civil causes of another in any court whatsoever, within 
this province and territories, before he solemnly 
attested in open court, that he neither directly nor 
indirectly hath in anywise taken or will take, or 
receive to his use or benefit, any reward whatsoever, 
under penalty of £5 if the contrary be made to ap- 
pear." Evidently the great founder of the colony was 
averse to the encouragement of a class of professional 
men whose learning and infiuence would make them 
potential in public affairs. Notwithstanding the dis- 
couraging character of early legislation, and the hos- 
tile influence towards all professional advocacy before 
the lay judges of the period, the necessity for the 
office of counselors and advocates became apparent to 
the i>eople, not less to resist official encroachments 
ujjon private rights than to quiet titles, preserve the 
public peace, defend the innocent and convict the 
guilty. Penn's scheme of colonization attracted 
European emigration, and Philadelphia soon became 
the most populous city on the Atlantic coast. The 
British flag and the seal of Charles II., under the 
auspices of which the colony was established, 
rendered the jieople subject to the common law of 
England, and although Penn and the first Assembly 
abrogated the laws of English primogeniture, and 
sundered all relation between church and state, and 
in many ways simplified the form of administering 
justice, yet his own plan of instituting i)roprietary 
interests with periodical payments for use, and con- 
veyances subject to perjietual ground-rents, soon gave 
rise to unexpected complications and made the 
appointment of a law officer a necessary adjunct to the 
colonial administration. 

John White was appointed attorney-general of the 
province on the 2oth of August, 1683. This officer 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



529 



was liberally paid for the prosecution of all matters ] 
in the interest of the proprietor, while no defendant, 
as we have seen, was allowed to employ or rdaui 
counsel against him. It does not appear whether 
John White was or was not learned in the law, nor is ( 
it important, for as the courts were constituted, his 
])owcr and influence, whether skillfully exercised or 
not, would have great and undue weight in favor of 
the proprietor. Early prejudices, however, yielded 
to wiser councils upon the part of the proprietor, and 
the law forbidding the payment of counsel was 
repealed. But it was not till the fires of the Revo- 
lution began to burn, and the public spirit of the 
legal profession of the country was felt, that lawyers 
were raised to the bench in Pennsylvania. Not one 
of the five justices wlio were designated by the 
Supreme Executive Council of the State to open the 
first court iu Montgomery County was learned in the 
law.' 

The history of the judiciary and the legal profession 
of Montgomery County would be incomiilete without 
some reference to the bench and bar of Philadelphia 
County, from which Montgomery county was set oft' 
in 17S4. The division of the territory and the un- 
finished l)usiness transferred to the new court brought 
many Philadelphia members to the bar of Montgomery 
County. The proximity of the two seats of justice and 
the early and ever-increasing intercourse between the 
people of the two districts have always been conducive 
to the most intimatfe and pleasant relations between 
members of the bar in Montgomery and Pliiladelphia. 
There is an unselfish and honorable pride experienced 
by the bar of Montgomery County in being historically 
associated witli the rise of the legal profession in the 
province of Pennsylvania. Without any disparage- 
ment of tlic living or the more recent dead, it can in 
truth and justice be gratefully said that among tlie 
jurists and practitioners prior to the division of Phila- 
delphia County this district furnished the State and 
nation some of the most distinguished lawyers known 
to the country. 

The Bench. — William Penn was the author of the 
code of laws adopted by the first Assembly at Ui)land 
in 1(5X2, and his experience taught him that courts of 
justice were necessary for their enforcement. Tlie 
friendly welcome given him by the settlers on the 
Delaware and by those in authority, not less than a 
sincere desire on the part of the proprietor to cultivate 
the most amicable relations with them, induced him 
to continue the justices in office, at the same time 
providing for additional tribunals for the adjustment 
of disputes and the final adjudication of controversies. 



1 As late as 1759 " a supplement to an act for establishing courts of 
juclicatum in the Province" provided "that five persons of the best 
diarretion, capacity, judgment and integrity may be, and no more, 
appointed and commissioned to hold the county court of record, styled and 
called the ' f!ourt of Common Pleas ' in each county, and tliere to hold a 
court." The juilges appointed under the supplement were Thomas 
York, Rowland Evans, John Potts, Samuel Wharton and John Hughes. 

34 



Consistent with his profession of religious faith, he 
urged the amicable settlement of all disputes arising 
among his followers, and to this end provided for the 
appointment of "peace-makers" and a mode of "vol- 
untary arbitration," the general principle of which is 
in practice in the commonwealth to this time. For 
the incorrigible class, who failed to "agree with their 
adversaries while in the way with them," he held the 
judgments of courts to be necessary. To this end the 
Provincial Council, presided over by Penn, as pro- 
prietary and Governor, exercised judicial i)owers, and 
at times sat as a "High Court of Errors and Appeals." 
The novel manner in which it transacted business of 
a legal character may be shown by some of the refer- 
ences to its proceedings still extant. The following 
in brief will illustrate: "The court advised the par- 
ties to shake hands and forgive one another, and 
ordered that they should enter into bonds for fifty 
pounds apiece for their good abearance, which they 
accordingly did;" and to emphasize the extraordinary 
judicial practice, it was further "ordered that the 
records of the court concerning this business be 
burnt." 

The eft'orts to blend the executive and judicial 
powers of the colonial government, which hail also 
a co-ordinate legislative department in the General 
Assembly, elected by the freemen of the colony, met 
with increasing opposition, and soon led to the organi- 
zation of the "County Courts," with jurisdiction regu- 
lated and enlarged from time to time by statute. This 
course was consistent with the best interests of the 
new community and most conducive to the peace and 
tranquillity of society and the permanency of proprie- 
tary and general property rights. Peter IMcCall, in 
his lecture belbre the Law Academy of Philadelphia 
in 1838, refers to the early institution of these courts: 

"The first organization of the courts was adniil-able for its simplicity 
and convenience. The County Court in the days of .\lfred and Egbert, 
a tribunal of great dignity and splendor, was di-awn from the obscurity 
into wliich it had sunk after the Nonuan invasion, and was made the 
groinid-work of the edifice. It was composed of the justices of the peace 
of the several counties, with an appeal to the Provincial or Supreme Court. 
The Provincial Coin-t originally consisted of five judges. The members 
afterward varied from five to three, who went their circuits every fall 
and spring in each county. To it belonged the cognizance of the higher 
offenses and all appeals from the County Courts, both in law and equity. 
To complete the structure, there were added the tiuarter Sessions and 
(Orphans' Court and the Admiralty. Such was the plan of the judicial 
system established at the settlement of the colony ; so simple, yet so con- 
venient in its arrangements, that, though frequent alterations were 
nuide in its details by subsequent legislation, the general outline remains 
to the present day a standing proof of its enduring excellence." 

The County Courts exercised etpiity powers and 
jurisdiction as early as 1085, and the justices while 
sitting in equity were styled "commissions." Gov- 
ernor Penn and the Provincial Council retained Ad- 
miralty jurisdiction and adjudicated all maritime 
matters until 1693, subsequent to which the mother- 
country, assured of the growth of the colony and 
its important relation to her shipping and commer- 
cial interests, assumed and exercised the right of 
appointing judges of the Admiralty Courts. The 



530 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



commissioners of the Admiralty in England nomi- 
nated and the crown commissioned the incumljent 
under the great seal of the High Court of Admiralty. 
These courts continued until the adoption of the 
Constitution of the United States, when their juris- 
diction was vested in the United .States District 
Courts. 

For a period of thirty years and upwards, or un- 
til 1720, the courts as instituted worked to the sat- 
isfaction of the colony. Meantime there came into 
])ra('tice a numher of well-trained lawyeis, some of 
them fitted and prepared for their calling in the 
schools and courts of England. Lay judges and 
Provincial Councils found in them ingenious advo- 
cates and ambitious men, who often held scats in the 
General A.sseniblies and other offices of trust, and 
the administration of the law was insisted upon by 
them with an exactness that frequently created ap- 
parent hardshijis, which lay judges, with crude notions 
of Chancery practice, could not relieve. Governor 
Keith conceived the idea that a separate Court of 
Equity would meet the wants of the situation and 
enable the presiding justices to mitigate all the 
rigors of the statute law, and mete out justice to 
suit the peculiarities of exceptional cases. The 
following proclamation shows the time and manner 
of instituting the "Court of Ei|uity," which cdii- 
tinued from 17211 to 173.") : 

".\ Pkoi_i.,vm.\tion. 
*' Wninrem, Complaints lirtv« been niatie that Courts of Chancery or 
Equity are absolutely nece.'^ary in the administration of justice for miti- 
gating in many cases ye Kigor of ye Laws, whose judgments are tied 
down to fixed and unaltemble Rules, and for Opening a way to the Right 
and Equity of a cause, for wdiich the Law cannot m all cases make a 
Sufficient Provision, Have, notwitlistandinf;, been but too seldom regu- 
larly held in this I'l-uvince in such a manner afi ye Aggrieved .Subject 
might obtain ye Relief which by such Courts ought to be Granted ; ami 
ifherens, the Representatives of ye Freemen of this rrovince, taking the 
same into Consideration, did at their last meeting in Assembly request 
lue that I would, with ye .\ssistance of ye Council, open and hold such a 
Court of E'luity for this Province. To ye end, therefore, that bis majes- 
ty's good subjects may no longer labor under those inconveniences which 
are now Complained of, I Inave thought fitt by, etc., with ye advice of ye 
Council, hereby to Publish and Declare, That with their assistance I 
Purpose (God Willing) to open and hold a Court of Chancery or Equity 
for this Province of Pennsylvania at ye Conrt-House of Philadelphia, on 
Thui'Stiay, ye twenty-fifth day of this instant (August), From which date 
the said Court will be and remain always open for ye Relief of ye subject, 
to hear and Determine all such matters arisiug within the Province 
aforesd .^s are regularly cogniz.alde before any Court of Chancery, accord 
ing to ye Laws and Constitution of that part of Gieat Britain called Eug. 
land, and his Blajesty's Judges of his Supreme Court ;u* well as ye Justices 
of ye Superi(»r Courts, and all others whom it may concern, are required 
to take notice hereof and govern themselves iwcordingly. Given at 
Philadelphia ye tenth ilay of August, in ye seventh year of ye Reign of 
oiu" Sovereign Lord George, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, 
Defender of the Faith, etc., Annoq. Domini, 1720. 
'*God save the King. 

" WlI-LI.\.M Kkith." 

This provincial Court of Chancery was in high 
favor with the projirietary authorities, but whatever 
influence the legal profession had in puhlia atlairs 
was exerted against it. It afforded a refuge for the 
lay judges to avoid the close pursuit of the legal 
mind of the period, and gave to them a power of 



adjudicating questions of great importance in ac- 
cordance with their individual opinions, which were 
Ibuud to be a.s variable as the winds. Keith\s 
avowed purpose in establishing this court was " to 
baffle the chicanery of lawyers ; " but suitors soon 
found to iheir sorrow that unlearned chancellors 
vested with the exercise of unrestrained opinion 
produced a confusion of authority which rather in- 
creased than mitigated the rigors of the common 
law. After an experience of fifteen years the 
court was abolished, and equity powers were con- 
ferred on the justices holding the County Courts. 
Among the eminent lawyers who practiced in this 
Court of Equity, and whose hostility finally over- 
threw it, were Andrew Hamilton,' Clement Plum- 



1 -\ndrew Hamilton is one of the most illustrious names in the provin- 
cial history of Pennsylvania. There wag a mystery concerning his origin 
and early antecedents that lias never been cleared. Only conjectures 
cdiild be indulged about the confusiou of the name of Hatniltoti with that 
of 'ffeift, which he sometimes bore, and which, it wiis often said, w;is the 
one to which he was really entitled. His eminent abilities, the dignity of 
his carriage, the courage with which he maintained his connections upon 
the subjects of right and liberty, given to pvdjlic exhibition not very long 
after his first appearance in humble guise, have led some to suspei^t that 
foi- some political or otlier reason he had lied from bis native country, 
Scotland, and while yet calling himself occasionally by his paternal 
name, had adopted the other, or been beard to say that it W'as his rea 
name, in order to avoid identification and pursuit. Some, indeed, went so 
far as to connect biru with the <luke nf the same name, «bii liad fought 
a duel with Lord Mohun. 




Many inquiries, after his death, were made about his family, but none 
were ever satisfactory, except that he was known to have been born about 
the year 1)J7G, and when about of age came to the county of Acconiac, on 
the eastern shore of Virginia. In one of bis addresses before the Assembly 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



531 



stead and R')bert Assheton. These great counselors held 
that priru-iples ot" etjuity could only be safely adniinis- 
tere:l iq harmony and analogy with settled principles 
of common and statute law, and that the most learned 
judges of the courts of law were the ablest chan- 



cellors and quickest to discern wherein the written law 
is inadequate for all its behests, t^uch judges are most 
likely to wiseh' employ those exceptional powers that 
have long been intended to supply what the com- 
mon law lacks in the complete ascertainment of rights. 



of Pemisylvania, after he had become famous, he made Uiat celebrated 
eulogy ill which, among other things, he spoke of *' Liberty, the love of 
whiLli, us ii tii*st drew to, so it constantly prevailed on me to reside in 
this province, though to the manifest prejudice of my fortune." When 
he arrived at Acconmc County he gave his name an Trent. Shortly after 
bis arrival he opened a clHSsical school, and was afterward employed as 
steward upon a plantation. On the death of the owner lie married his 
widow, aii'l removing tu Chestertown, in Kent County, Md., began the 
practice of the law. How it w;is that he went to Kngland not long after- 
ward it has not been told, but it appeared that In- was admitted to the 
bar of (.ray's Inn, Londun, and in the winter of 1712-13 he acted as 
■counsel for William Penii in a case of rejdevin, brought by one Berkely 
<3odii. The defense by the proi)rietary w:is that the quit-rent due from 
C'odd's land being aflhent service, distress was incident thereto as of com- 
mon right. The accomit given by Jatues Logan of this suit shows the 
astuteness iif the counsel, both in a.'s^auU and timely retreat. "He 
battled tliem. though he thought not tit to suffer it to proceed to a trial 
for want of better tackle on our side." What the counselor meant by 
*' tackle " we cannot jtrecisely say. It wiis, i)erhaps, the 8utlicieni:y of 
gooil witnesses or full !i*siirance of the vahie of the defense. It is be- 
lieved that he removed to Pliiladelpliia about the year m.'>. His bold 
temper brought him the following year into collision with Charles 
Gookiu, who was then Lieutenant-(jovernoruf the province, against whom 
he was reported to have sworn an oath and uttered other "wicked, 
opprobrious and reprtiacliful wolds." The bnrid fixed for his appear- 
ance at court to answer tlie charge was one thousjind pounds, showing 
either the importance of the injury that the high otHcial had received or 
that of the iissault made by the eminent lawyer. The ease did not come 
to a hearing during the term of Gookin, and it wjis discontinued by bis 
successor. The following year Hamilton became Httorney-genei-al of the 
province, and in 172n was invited to the Council. He accepted the invi- 
tation on condition that his services should not interfere with his pro- 
fession. A letter from James Logan, in IT'i.'i, contains expressions that 
enable us tv fmin an idea of the singular greatncssof spirit that belonged 
to Hamilton. "He has for thii-e or four yeai>> past ajipeared very 
hearty in the Proprietor's interest, notwith-standing it is nut his natuiul 
disposition to bo on the side of those who are accounted great, or one in 
power; hut of late he had somewhat recoiled, and given more way to 
nature. He is vei-j' true when he professes friendship, unless he thinks 
himself slighted, which he cannot easily brook. He is a very able law- 
yer, very faithfnl to his client, and has generally refused to bo concerned 
for any plaintift" who appeared not to have justice on his side. He has 
done many considerable senices for our fiovernor (Sir William Keith), 
but of late they have openly been at variance, for which i-esison I am of 
opinion that he will not appear against the Governor, fitr he is singularly 
generous that way. I have been much obliged to him, both on my own 
account and the Proprietor's, and I heartily wish he may be treated there 
by the family in such a manner as may engage him, of which lainsome- 
wbat apprehensive." This letter was written to GouMney, one of the 
friends of the I'enn family in England, on the occasion of a prospective 
voyage of Hamilton thither. Among other subjects of dispute with 
Governor Ivcith wa-s di>ubtless Hanulton's opposition to the Court of 
Chancery that the latter had established in lT2n, and which afterward 
Hamilton bore the h-ailing jiart in abolishing. He Kuletl for Europe iu 
1724, iKiving before then resigned as attorney-general, and appeared as 
solicitor in the Court of (^hancerj- in London for proving the will of 
M'jlliain Penn. For his services to the Penn family he rec^eived as re- 
ward one hundred and fifty-three acres of land, lying north of the city, 
and west of what is now Ridge Avenue, whereon he built bis country 
seat, " liush Hill.*' In 1727, Hamilton became prothouotary of the 
Connnon Pleas and recorder of the city. The same year he was elected 
to the Assembly, of which, in 1729, he became Speaker. For ten years 
consecutively, with one exception, he was returned to the Assembly. 
The exception occurred during the adminietration of Governor Gordon, 
and was owing to a social <pianel between the Governor's daughtei-s and 
Miss Margaret Hamilton. The particulars we do not know, hut this 
nmch is cerUiin, that the young ladies at the Executive Mansion induced 
their father to employ all his influence, official and personal, ag;iinst the 
father of their rival, and he was defeated at the [wlla. 



That, liowever, for which Hamilton is best known by the greatest 
number of peisona is his conduct in one celebrated hiw case, which he 
conducted for a defendant in another colony. The motives that led to 
his undertaking this case were not onl^* nor mainly the defense of the in- 
dividual client who had been prosecuted, hut the establishment of a 
iiioHt important jninciple that before his day had lieen assaulted and 
dangerously hurt in liis own province. This was in the case of William 
IJnulford, tlie first printer in Philadeli»hia. 

Tlie case in whicii Hamilton appeared in New York was that of John 
Peter Zeiiger, indicted in 17.'tr> for a libvl against the Governor of Xew 
York before Jiidge De Lancey, chief justice of the province, Frederick 
Philli]ise, second judge. Zenger was defended by James Alexander and 
William Smith ; but those counsel having made hohl to question the 
jurisdiction of the court for the trial of the cause, the following order 
wjis pasned in quick indignation : "James Alexamler, Esq., and William 
Smith, attorneys iu this court, having presumed (notwithstanding they 
were forewarned by the court of their disjileasure if they should do it) to 
sign, and having actually signed, and put into court exceptions iu the 
name of John Peter Zenger, thereby denying the legiUity of the judges 
their commissions, though in the usual form, and the decree of this 
Siqireme Court, it is therefore ordered that for the sjiid contempt the 
8;iid James Ale.\ander and William Smith be excluded from any further 
practice in this court, and that their names be struck off the roll of attor- 
neys of this court. 

"Per cur, J.\MES LvLE, C/." 

Ileing the duty of the court to appoint for the defendant counsel, as he 
Wits now withovit, they named one whose servility was such as to promise 
a speedy conviction. It was in this emergency that the friends of Zen- 
ger ajiplied to Andrew Hamilton, whose fame, especially as a courageous 
defender of the innocent and oppressed, had spread throughout the 
whole country. He accepted the call and repaired to New York. What- 
ever were his opinions concerning the exceptions taken by his predeces- 
sors, Alexander and Smith, he wiis too Jtstute to wage a warfare at a 
]H)int shown to be impregnable, and, with a boldness amounting to 
audacity, assumed the i)osilion taki-n by William Bradford nearly half a 
a century before, admitted the truth of the facts alleged to have been 
committed and then projwsed to adduce testimony to their existence. 
This proposition was of course refused by the court. But Hamilton 
entered uj>on an argument, wherein he gave a history of the trial by 
jury, how it had been instituted by our ancestors in order to take from 
kings and their minions the absolute power they claimed over the lives, 
property and security of the people. In this connection he spoke with 
most splendid eloquence of that other provision, — that in criminal trials the 
jury, however unlearned they might be, when they were brought within 
tlu- Court-room, were invested with powers eqmi! to the judges who sa^ 
upon the bench above them in deciding what were the laws in such 
cases, with the added power of sjiying whether or not they had been vio- 
lated. Without derogating from the powers of the court, he enlarged 
upon the equality of the jurors, and then be appealed to tbem to say if 
it was possible for tbem to find that their fellow-citizen, free as they 
were, and as upright, was deserving of punishment for what he had 
done, and what the bravest and best citizen of Xew York would 
feel that he had a right to do, not only without punishment, but 
without the fear of it. Most masterly was bis praise of truth. His 
peroration was spoken of as the very highest height of majestic 
eloquence. He called to mind many of the brave of all ages who 
had suffered for the truth, and compared their memories with those 
of the tyrants, great and small, that had intiicted them. Even the court 
could not withstand the power of bis appeals. The charge of the chief 
justice wiis such as to appear that in his terror of being numbered among 
the oppressoi-s of the innocent, he wtis quite willing to throw the respon- 
sibility of deciding this case upon the jury. These, after a brief confer- 
ence, brought in a verdict of jwi ^rMiY///. The defense made a profound 
impression, not only throughout this country, but in England, where a 
leading stjitesman is report<'d to have said of it, "If it is not law, it ia 
better than law, it ought to be law, and will always be law wherever 
justice prevails ; " and it wjis further reported that " the greatest men at 
the bar have openly declared that the subject of libel was never so well 
treated in Westminster Hall as in New York." 



532 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Reference is due to the distinguished members of 
the bar who early fought their way to a just recogni- 
tion of their services against long-existing prejudices, 
— men who made the city and county of Philadelphia 
a centre of legal learning, and rendered it possible 
for a free people to choose a judiciary thoroughly 
accomplished and skillful in the administration of 
public justice. Justices of the peace who were 
merchants and farmers by occupation sat uneasily 
upon the judicial bench in the presence of such men 
as Andrew Hamilton, Robert Assheton, Benjamin 
Chew, James Wilson, George Ross, John Moland, 
John Dickinson, Joseph Reed, Jared Ingersoll, James 
Dallas, Nicholas Wain, William Lewis, Richard Peters, 
Hugh H. Brackenbridge, William Rawle and John 
Sergeant. These men were contemporaries in an 
honorable profession and devotees to an exact science. 
They were giants in the arena of legal conflict. 
They left a lasting impression upon the age in which 
they lived, and fixed a standard of attainment and 
integrity for the profession of law commensurate with 
the grave responsibilities imposed by its obligations, 
trusts and confidences. 

We have already referred to Hamilton. 

Robert Asj^heton was a relative of William Penn. 
He was eilucated for the legal profession and ad- 
mitted to the bar of England, and subsequently came 
to Philadelphia in the year 1699. He was immedi- 
ately appointed prothonotary of the city and county 
of Philadelphia by the proprietor. He also held the 
office of town clerk in 1701, and aided in drafting the 
charter for the city during that year. He was made 
recorder in 1708. It seems to have been the policy 
of Penn, while excluding lawyers from the judicial 
office, to have them placed in the offices connected 
with the several courts, where they could be con- 
veniently consulted, and where they were useful in 
keeping proper records of judicial proceedings. The 
advent of As.«heton resulted in improved forms of legal 
proceedings, and David Paul Brown, in his " Forum," 
says, "The indictments drawn by Assheton are entirely 
scientific ; and, indeed, all the proceedings of the 
officers, or the court proceedings (I mean only 
clerical), appear in general to be good." He was 

The defense of Zenger iliii not hnrt Hamilton in England so as to hinder 
his receiving a cununission, two yeai-s afterward, as jndge of the Vice- 
Admiralty Court. We say this because appointments tn tliat court seem 
to have been made by conunission directly from the crown. But the 
reputation of the appointee was well known to the home government, 
and that was, that zealous as he was in the defense of every right of his 
clients, he wtu^ faithful to the demands of every office he had held or 
might hold. He resigned all other offices except this, and retired from 
it only a short time before his death, which occurred in 1741. The argu- 
ment given in favor of the appointment by the crown to the Vice-Admi- 
ralty is thus stated by David Paul Brown in his *' Forum : " " We may 
infer this, both from the nature of the jurisdiction and from the fact that 
even in early times they appear to have belonged to the Church of Eng- 
land : for the only two whom we tijoio to have been judges were wardens 
of Christ Church in this city" (Philadelphia). One of the earliest of 
these was William .\ssheton, who died in September, 1723, at the early 
age of thirty-three, being at that time the rector's warden. — "Hwi. o/ 
PAito.," Schar/ and West(oU. 



prothonotary of the Supreme Court from 1722 to 
172t), and was also master in Chancery. He died in 
1727. 

Benjamin Chew was a student in the office of An- 
drew Hamilton. When he reached the age of nineteen 
his preceptor died. A few mouths later he was sent to 
England, where he entered the Middle Temple. In 
j 1743, after a full course of study, he returned to this 
country, and at once entered upon the practice of law 
at Dover, Del. In 1754 he came to Philadelphia. 
The year following he was appointed attorney -general 
for the province. The same year he was elected a 
member of the Provincial Council. He resigned the 
office of attorney -general in 1769 and continued an 
active practitioner until 1774, when he became chief 
justice of the Supreme Court of the State. In 1791 
he was appointed judge and president of the High 
Court of Errors and Apjieals, in which office he 
remained until 1808, when this tribunal was abol- 
ished. He died in 1810. 

Jame8 Wilson studied law under John Dickin- 
son, and was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia 
County in 1767. He was the first law professor 
of the University of Pennsylvania, appointed in 
1790. In connection with Chief Justice McKean, 
he wrote " Commentaries on the United States 
Constitution," published in London. He died in 
1798. 

George Ross was admitted to the bar in 1750. He 
was prominent in public affairs, and was a signer of 
the Declaration of Indejiendence. He was the first 
judge of the Court of Admiralty, commissioned by the 
Continental Congress April 6, 1777. He presided in 
this office until the time of his death, July 14, 
1779. 

John Dickinson entered upon the study of law in 
Philadelphia about 1852, in the office of John Moland. 
Subsequently he spent three years in London in the 
completion of his .studies ; then, returning, he com- 
menced the practice of his profession in the lower 
counties, but soon settled in Philadelphia County, 
and was elected to the Assembly in 1762. He became 
a member of the Supreme Executive Council in 1780, 
and was president of that body in 1782. He died 
February 14, 1808. 

Joseph Reed was admitted to the bar at Philadel- 
phia in 1763. Not satisfied with the attainments ac- 
quired as a graduate of Princeton College and his 
subsequent study under Hon. Richard Stockton, he 
spent two years at the Middle Temple, London, and 
returning in 1765, he rapidly rose to eminence. He 
was appointed Secretary of State for the colonies 
in 1772, and became a conspicuous character during 
the Revolution. He declined the office of chief jus- 
tice of the Supreme Court in 1777. He was elected 
president of the Supreme Council in 1778, and 
presided for three years with marked ability. His 
connection with the judiciary was by virtue of this 
office, which made him ex-officio president of the High 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



533 



Court of Errors and Appeals.' He died March 5, 
1785, in the forty-fourth year of his age. 

.Tared Ixgersoll, a Connecticut youth, was a 
student in tlie office of Reed. After his admission 
to the bar he spent several years in Europe in the 
further i)rosecution of his studies and in observations 
of the practice of the courts of the continent. Upon 
his return to Pliiladelphia he devoted himself to 
inactice, and as early as 1797 was retained in the 
impeachment trial of United States Senator Wil- 
liam Bhint, of Tennessee. He was appointed attor- 
ney-general of Pennsylvania by Governor Snyder in 
1811, and held the position through the trying period 
of the war of 1812, and resigned in 1816. He was 
appointed judge of the District Court for the city and 
county of Phihidelpliia in 1820, and died while in 
office, October 31, 1822. 

Alexander .Tames Dallas was of Scotch origin. 
Thrown upon his own resources at the age of fifteen, 
he soon after began the study of law in London. 
Before concluding his studies he embarked in rnercan- 
tile pursuits, and found his way to the West Indies. 
At the ageof twenty-one he married Arabella Marice, 
daughter of Major George Smith, of the British army, 
and in 1783 arrived in Philadelphia, where he con- 
cluded to settle. He registered as a student of law, 
and two years later, 1785, was admitted to practice. 



1 Tlie High Court of Eitoits ami Appeals wus established by act of 
February 28, 1780, to Iiear appeals from the Supreme Court, the Register's 
Court and the Court of .\dmiralty ; it was abolished by act of February 24, 
180l>. The judges were to be the president of the .Supreme Executive Coun- 
cil, thejudgesof the Supreme Ccuirt, and three persons uf known intef^rity 
and ability to be cotufuissioned for seven years, and five or more to form 
a quorum. By the act of April 1:1, T7i)t, section IT, the judges uf the 
Supreme Court, the l)refiident judges of the several Courts of Common 
Pleas of the five judicial districts and three other persons of known legal 
abilities were constitutffd a High Court of Errore and Appeals, to hear 
appeals from the Supreme Court and the Register's Court. ("Read's 
Digest," 70, article 2:j, section 17; in this Digest will be found many 
acts relating to the courts from the act of 3Iay 22, 1722, to 1800.) By an 
act of September :iO, 17!H, a president judge was to be appointed by the 
Governor of the commonwealth. 

List of Jluges. — Joseph Reed, commissioned November 20, 1780 ; 
Thomas McKean, commissioned November 20, 1780; William Augustus 
Atlee, commissioned November 20, 1780; ,Iohn Evans, commissioned No- 
vember 20, 17S0 ; George Bryan, commissioned November 20, 1780 ; .lames 
Smith, commissioned November 20, 1780 ; Henry Wynkoop, commissioned 
November 2'), 1780 ; Fi-ancis Hopkinson, conunissioned November *20, 
1780; William Moore, commissioned November 14, 1781 ; John Dickin- 
son, commissioned November 7, 1782 ; James Bayard, commissioned 
March 18, 178:3 ; Sannicl Sliles, commissioned April 7, 1783 ; Jacob Rush, 
commissioned February 2i;, 1784 ; Edward Shippen, commissioned Sep- 
'cniber 115, 1784 ; Benjamin Franklin, commissioned October 18, 1785 ; 
Thomas Jlifflin, commissioned November .'i, 1788 ; William Bradford, Jr., 
register. 

Htorginiized under act (</* .Ijjjii 1:3, 1701. — Benjamin Chew (president), 
appointed September :30, 1701 ; Thomas McKean, appointed April 13, 
1701; Edward Shippen, appointed -Vpril l:i, 1701; Jiusper Yeates, ap- 
pointed .Vjiril 10, 1701 ; William Bradford, appointed August '20, 1791; 
James Biddle, appointed Septemiier 1, 1791 ; William Augustus Atlee, ap- 
pointed September 1, 1791; Jacob Rush, appointed September 1, 1791; 
James Biddle, appointed Septendter I, 1701 ; Alexander Addison, ap- 
pointed Septendjer 1, 1791; John Joseph Henry, appointed November, 
179:3; Thomas .Smith, appointed J.anuary :il, 1794; John D. Coxe, ap- 
pointed .\pril 0, 1797 ; Hugh Henry Brailienridge, appointed Decend)er 
18, 1799; William Tilgliman, appointed .Inly :31, ISO.'i ; Edward Bunl, 
register. 



Mr. Dallas had a fondness for literary pursuits, and 
during his early career devoted some portion of his 
time with Francis Hopkinson, in the management of 
the Columhidn Magazine. Later he published " Re- 
ports of Pennsylvania Cases."" These cases were 
among the first reported, and are to this day referred i 
to as authority in our courts of law. He served as 
secretary of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 
declined the proffered appointment of Attorney- 
General of the United States, was subsequently ap- 
pointed Secretary of the Treasury of the national 
government, and in 1815 acted as Secretary of War. 
Returning to Philadelphia in 1816, he there resumed 
the practice of law. David Paul Brown says : " Mr. 
Dallas was a man of the most fascinating and courtly 
manners. He dressed with great taste, ordinarily in 
a suit of olive-brown, with small clothes and top-boots ; 
he had an abundance of hair, wliich lie always wore 
I)owdered and gathered into a bag-cue." His biog- 
rapher says of him : " If he had not been a lawyer, 
he would have been a great statesman; and if he had 
not been a statesman, he would have been one of the 
greatest lawyers of the age." He died January 16, 
1817. 

Nic'HOL.vs W.\LN came to the bar in Philadelphia 
C Hinty in 1763, under the most flattering auspices. 
He, too, finished his professional studies at the capital 
city of the mother-country. Returning to the province, 
he early took rank with the most learned and success- 
ful men at the bar, but after many years arduous la- 
bor he suddenly resolved to retire. His reason for 
abandoning the prtmiising position which he at the 
time enjoyed is in doubt, and a recent writer ^ on the 
subject says, " Whether Mr. Wain was a man of un- 
commonly acute sensibilities, or had not fully under- 
stood the merits of tlie cause that led to the action, oi 
felt that in his too eager pursuit he had been derelict 
to the duty that binds all lawyers never to overstep 
the limits of justice when pleading the cause of clients, 
cannot now be determined. It was after he had been 
iit the bar for some years that, having been struck 
with contrition in conseqence of his assistance in a 
case in whicli he thought his client had unjustly won 



^These cases not only ciitained the judgments and arguments before 
tin- Supreme Court, but many cases disposed of before the Revolution. 
They carried the reports from 179i) — when the fii-st volume was pub- 
lished — to 1807. They contained decisions of the Suj>reme Court, High 
Court of Errors and .\ppeals, and of the Courts of Connnon Pleas and of 
the Cnited States in Pennsylvania. Mr. Dallas soon became prominent 
in politics. He was appointed secretary of the commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania Januaiy 19, 1791, and held that otfice until April 28, 1801- 
At this time he was appointed by Mr. Jefferson attorney of the United 
Stiitesfor the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and was appointed in July 
of the s;ime year, by Governor McKean, recorder of the city of Philadel- 
phia. He resigned the latter office in 1802, but he held the office of 
district attorney until 18la, when he was succeeded hy Richard Peters, Jr. 
In October. 1814, he was apjjointed Secretary of the Treasury of the 
United States, and on the l:3th of March, 1815, also assumed the duties of 
the Secretary of W.ar, which, together with those of the Secretary of the 
Treasury, he discharged until he resigned, in November, 1816, and returned 
to tlie practice of his profession. 

5J Scharf, " History of Pliihideliihia." 



534 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUiNTY. 



the cause, he withdrew IVoni the jjractice of the hiw aucl 
subsequently devoted his life and euergies to the ser- 
vice of religion as a preaeher of the Society of 
Friends." 

William Lj:wis iurnishes one of the earliest and 
most notable examples of the self made lawyers of the 
colonial period. He \yas born in Chester County in 
the year 1751. In his boyhood days he happened to 
be in Philadelphia, and while there visited the courts 
during an important trial, and heard several of the 
leading lawyers speak for and in defense of their 
clients. He was charmed with their eloquence and 
display of learning. He resolved on the spot to be- 
come a lawyer ; to this end he at once entered upon a 
course of self-culture, and registered himself as a stu- 
dent of Nicholas Wain, Esq. Keenly sensible of his 
want of preparation, and the unfavorable contrast of 
manners and habits of lifesuggested by his awkward 
ways among those who enjoyed all the advantages of 
wealth, education and cultured society, he was far 
from being happy. The impulse of the boy in the 
court-room, quickened by daily intercourse with the 
profession, became a determination of the rugged man. 
His very boldness won for him the respect of his fel- 
low-students, while his industry and application en- 
abled him in due time to meet the expectations of 
his con.scientious preceptor, and his triumph was com- 
plete when duly admitted to the bar. If Mr. Lewis was 
wanting in the polished manners and refined tastes so 
common among the professional men of the period, 
the loss was fully compensated by his splendid energy 
and force of character. He differed from most of his 
contemporaries in being indifferent to the blandish- 
ments of public or political life. He addrcs-icd him- 
self exclusively to his duties as a lawyer, and soon be- 
came eminent in the ])rofession. He became a 
partner of Mr. Wain before his retirement, and re- 
tained the clientage of the office after that event. Wit, 
humor and sarcasm were powerful weapons with him, 
but he employed them only for a specific purpose and 
parted with them with an air of absolute indift'erence 
after serving his will. Lewis made a specialty of 
commercial law, and ho was among the most suc- 
cessful in this imi)ortant branch of the profession. 
An illusti'ation of his character occurs in connection 
with the life of Roljert Morris, who was among the 
best informed of merchants in his day. Morris and 
Lewis were guests at a dinner-party. The former was 
an attentive listener to Lewis in discussing the com- 
mercial relations between this country and Europe. 
Upon rising from the table, Morris observed to 
the company, in a manner intended as compli- 
mentary, that "Mr. Lewis seemed as familiar with 
commercial att'airs as if he had been in a counting- 
house all his life." " Let me tell you, sir," said 
Lewis, " that a competent lawyer knows everything 
that a merchant does and a great deal more." His 
i'rankness was characteristic of the man. He re- 
lates of himself an experience with Alexander 



Hamilton, which occurred in the trial of an im- 
portant case in New York. He had courteously 
given a brief statement of his case and his author- 
ities to Mr. Hamilton, who had been called into 
the case unexpectedly by reason of Chancellor 
Kent's sudden illness. Mr. Lewis says, "He thanked 
me, left me, and in an hour afterward we met 
in court and the argument at once proceeded. I 
spoke for several hours. The judges seemed con- 
vinced and I was perfectly satisfied with them and 
myself. During the argument Mr. Hamilton took 
no -notes, sometimes fixed his penetrating eyes upon 
me, and sometimes walked the chamber, appar- 
ently deeply interested, but exhibiting no anxiety. 
When I finished he took the floor, and, to my amaze- 
ment, he acknowledged all my points and denied 
none of my authorities, but assumed a position which 
ha<l never entered my mind, to the support of which 
directing all his great powers, in one-fourtli of 
the time employed by me, he not only satisfied the 
court, but convinced me that I was utterly wrong. In 
short, after my time and toil and confidence, I was 
beaten, shamefully beaten." While there is much to 
commend and admire in the life and experience of the 
" self-made man" of the past and present, it is per- 
haps fortunate that he is the exception and not 
the rule in the class or sphere in which he is 
occasionally found. It seems almost im])ossible (or 
men who have risen to eminence without those facilities 
enjoyed by most others who are no higher than them- 
selves not to overrate their own unaided efforts and 
imagine that had they enjoyed advantages equal to 
others more fortunately situated they would have 
risen above the rest of mankind. 

To the distinguished names mentioned we should 
add those of Richard Peters, Hugh Henry Bracken- 
bridge, William Rawle and John Sergeant as among 
the lawj'ers who established the standard of profes- 
sional i'esponsiI)ility and fidelity of the bar in Phila- 
delphia County, and who faithfully served our fore- 
fathers prior to the formation of Jlontgomery County, 
and some ' of whom practiced in Montgomery County 
since the time of its organization. The character of 
the early judiciary in the province is sufficiently in- 
dicated by these observations upon the rise of the 
l)ar to show the great change that time has wrought. 
It is proper to add that after a careful examination of 
the history of the times during which judges were 
appointed without reference to their legal attain- 
ments, men of high character for honesty and in- 
tegrity were selected, and, in some instances, the 
incumbents exerted themselves to acquire useful 
knowledge in preparing to discharge their duties 
with mcu-e than ordinary credit to themselves and the 
office they filled. This was notably the case with 
Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, who was president 



1 Among the apiwaniiices* io the t'omiiiuii Ploas dockets of Montgomery 
County prim- to ITSin we tiinl the names uf Chew, Jtoss, Ingei-sull, Rawld 
aud Sergeant. 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



535' 



judge of the first courts established in Montgomery 
County. 

The following-named persons, all of whom were in 
commission as justices of the peace fur the county of 
Philadelphia, and residing in that [)ortion which fell 
within the boundaries of the new county, were des- 
ignated by the Supreme Executive Council to open 
and hold the first courts in Montg.)mery County : 

.lames Murrift. date of coinnu^ion unknown. 
Jutiu lUrliarils, comniissii»neil 1784. 
Ht-nry Sheet/., conmiissiunetl l~M. 
William Dean, commissioned 1783. 
Jiistiee Mnliienlierg presided. 

The first court was held in Xurriton township 
the '2St\i day of December, 1784, in the barn on the 
" Barley Sheaf" Hotel property, now owned by Ben- 
jamin Baker, located on the Germantown turnpike a 
short distance northwest of Hartranft Station, on the 
Stony Creek Railroad. Tlie hotel was kept at that 
time by John Shannon. Traditionary accounts' de- 
scribe the event as of unusual interest and the attend- 
ance as very large. Preparati'>n for the occasion 
wiis in progress for several days. The barn was 
cleared of its unsightly furniture, hay and straw were 
neatly packed away, cobwebs were brushed from 
overhead and the oaken floor was swept clean for the 
novel occupancy. 

The Judiciary. — The fir.st presiding judge in 
Montgomeiy ( 'iiunty was Frederick A. Muhlenberg, 
who served from December 28, 1784, until the Sept- 
ember term, 1785, when he was succeeded by James 
Morris, who was succeeded in the order of seniority 
among the five justices who constituted the court at 
the date of its organization. Judge Morris served 
until 1789. It is clear that for the first five years. 
1784 to 1789, the courts in this county were presided 
over by judges unlearned in the law. Under the 
Constitution of 1790 the executive department of the 
State vv;is vested in the office of Governor, and early 
in 1701 the first Governor elect, Thomas ^litfiin, com- 
missioned James Riddle judge of the courts of Jlont- 
gomery County. 

Judge Diddle served until 1797, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Judge John D. Coxe, who filled the office 
till 1805. when he was succeeded liy William Tilgh- 
nuin. 

By the act of April 13, 1791, in order to carry into 
effect the provisions of the Constituti(m of 1790 
establishing Courts of Common Pleas, the State was 
divided into five judicial districts, the city and county 
of Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery and Delawaie 
constituting the First District, and a president judge 
learned iit the law was to be appointed lor each dis- 
trict, and not fewer than three normorethan fouro//(ec 
person.^ appointed in each county as judges, which. said 
I>resident and judges were empowered to execute the 
powers, jurisdictions and authorities of the Court of 



1 Elizabeth Shannon, gnnidcliild of the proprietor named, now residing 
at Norristown, is the editor's authority. 



Common Pleas, Courts of Oyer and Terminer, and 
General Gaol Delivery, Orphans' Courts and Courts 
of Quarter Sessions of the Peace, agreeably to the 
laws and constitution of the commonwealth. It 
would seem that the act above referred to is the first 
of the kind passed in this State requiring judges to 
be learned in the law. William Tilghmau, LL.D., 
appointed president judge by Govenor Thomas 
McKean in 1805, occupied the bench for one year in 
Montgomery County. He was born August 12, 175(5. 
He studied law- with Benjamin Chew. His family 
were originally from Maryland, but had resided in 
Philadelphia for several years prior to the Revolution, 
and upon the opening of hostilities returned to that 
State. There William remained in comparative retire- 
ment during the struggle, pursuing his studies. He 
returned to Philadelphia about 1790 and entered upon 
the practice of his profession. In 1793 he married 
Margaret Elizabeth, daughter of James Allen, son of 
William Alleu, chief justice of Pennsylvania, who 
was the son-in-law of Andrew Hamilton, and was said 
to be the wealthiest man in the province at that time. 
The first judicial office to which he was appointed was 
that of the United States Circuit Court. He was 
nominated by President John Adams in 1801, and by 
the political opponents of Mr. Adams' administra- 
tion was called one of the "Midnight Judges."'- The 
violent opposition of President Jefferson to the act 
of Congress reorganizing the United States Courts, 
under which Tilghman received his first appointment, 
induced its repeal and, of course, the retirement of 
those in office under its provisions. His appointment 
to the bench in the First Judicial District in the State 
followed in 1805, upon the resignation of Judge Coxe, 



2Thnmpsf>n Westcott, antlior of the "History of Philadelphia," is 
quoted l>y John Hill Martin, in a note U) the latter's "Beueh and Bar,'' 
as having I in the Sunday DutpalcJi, OctolH^r 8, 1876) this foUowinp aecount 
of the "Midnight .Judges'' ; ".John Adams, while President, toward the 
end of his term, seriously urged a reorpmizalion of the Federal judiciary. 
The Circuit Courts were held by the judges of the Supreme ('oiirt. but 
the husines.s was increased so much that the appointment of additional 
judges was considered necessary. On the l.-ith of February, 1801, an act 
was passed reducing the number of the judges of the Supreme Court to 
tive w-henever a v.icancy occurred, and released those judges from all 
circuit duty. The number of United States District Courts was increased 
to tw-enty-three, and the districts were arranged in si.\ circuits, each cir- 
cuit with three judges. The result was to create sixteen new judges, 
Iwsides attorneys, clerks, marshals and other officere. .\3 it was near 
the end of .\dams' term, and as Jefferson was elected four days after the 
act was passed, it wjts supposed that the President would allow- his 
successor to make the appointments, but he did nothing of the sort. He 
sent to the .Senate, on the 18th, the names of Cliarles Lee, of the Distnct 
of Columbia ; Jared Ingersoll, of Pennsylvania ; Richard Bassett, of 
Delaware ; AVilliam Griffith, of New Jersey ; Egbert Benson, of New 
York ; Oliver Wolcott, of Connecticut ; Samuel Hitchcock, of Vermont ; 
Philip Barton Key, of Maryland ; John DavLs of Mas.sa»-hu.';etts ; Jacob 
Read, of South Cartdina ; Elijah Paine, of Vermont ; Ray Greene, of 
Rhode Island ; .bjlin .Sitgreaves, of N<a-th Carolina ; Joseph Clay, of 
Georgia : William McClurg, of Kentucky ; and William H. Ilill, of North 
Carolina. 

Jared Ingei-soU bavin;.; declined the appointment, Mr. Tilghman was 
afterwards nominated in his place. The term " Jlidnight Judges" arose 
from a story that the names of some of them were confirmed just before 
midnight, 1801, when Mr. .\dauis' term expired. The act was repealed 
the following year. 



536 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and a vacancy occurring in the office of chief justice 
of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania the following 
year, he was commissioned to till that office, which he 
held for a period of twenty-one years, or until his 
death, which occurred on the 30th of April, 1827. 

The long administrationof Chief Justice Tilghmau, 
and the remarkable ability, industry and pleasing 
character of the man, have always been spoken of in 
the most flattering terms by those associated with 
him. Horace Binney, Esq., iu his eulogium, says : 
" It was reserved for Judge Tilghman, with the aid of 
able and enlightened colleagues, to carry into effect 
the plan which the genius of his great predecessor 
(Judge Shippen) had conceived. His iihilosi>])hical 
mind perceived at once how equity could be combined 
with law, how two systems apparently discordant 
could be amalgamated into one homogeneous whole. 
He found in the common law itself principles anal- 
ogous to those which courts of equity enforce, — prin- 
ciples too long obscured by the unmeaning distinctions 
and frivolous niceties of scholastic men. He wiped 
off the dust from the diamond and restored it to its 
primitive splendor ; and though he did not entirely 
complete that immense work, which still wants the 
aid of wise legislators and liberal judges, he brought 
it to that degree of |)erfection which delies all attempts 
to destroy it in future, and Pennsylvania boasts of a 
code of laws which her ordinary courts may safely 
administer without the fear of doing injustice and 
without needing to be cheiked by an extraordinary 
tribunal professing a different system of jurispru- 
dence. With the same enlightened and i)hiloso])hical 
spirit. Judge Tilghman always gave a fair and liljcral 
construction to the statutes which the Legislature 
made from time to time for the amendment of the 
law and simplifying the forms of procedure, which, 
however they might be suited to the meridian of Eng- 
land, were not well calculated for this country. If 
those statutes were not always drawn with the requisite 
skill, he would sup])ly it by their spirit, and would, 
as much as indeed he could, carry into effect the 
intentions of the legislator. Thus, by his interpreta- 
tion of the statutes called of Jeofail, our practice is 
now free from those technical entanglements by which 
justice was too often caught, as it were, in a net, and 
the merits of a cause made to yield to formal niceties, 
while chicane rejoiced at the triumph of iniquity. 
Chief Justice Tilghman could have done as much 
with this by the force of his authority as any judge 
that ever sat in his seat. His investigations were 
known to be so faithful, his reasonings so just and 
his convictions so impartial that there would have 
been a ready acceptance of his conclusions without a 
knowledge of the ste])s that led to them. He asked, 
however, for submission to no authority so rarely as 
to his own. You may search his opinions ia vain 
for anything like personal assertion. He never threw 
tlie weight of his office into the scale which the 
weight of his argument did not turn. He spoke 



and wrote as the minister of 'reason, claiming obe- 
dience to her and selecting with scrupulous modesty 
such language as, while it sustained the dignity of 
his office, kept down from the relief, in which he 
might well have appeared, the individual who filled 
it. Look over the judgments of more than twenty 
years, many of them rendered by this excellent mag- 
istrate after his title to unlimited deference was estab- 
lished by a right more divine than king's. There is 
not to be found one arrogant, one supercilious ex- 
pression turned against the opinions of other judges, 
one vainglorious regard toward himself. He does 
not write as if it occurred to him that his writings 
would be examined to fix his measure when compared 
with his standard of great men, but as if their exclu- 
sive use was to assist in fixing a standard of the law." 
The praise which is given of Chief Justice Tilghman's 
compassion for those tried for criminal offenses is one 
of the noblest panegyrics to be found. " He could 
not but pronounce the sentence of the law upon such 
as were condemned to hear it, but the calmness, the 
dignity, the imjiartiality with which he ordered their 
trials, the attention which he gave to such as involved 
life, and the touching manner of his last office to the 
convicted demonstrated his sense of the peculiar 
responsibility which belonged to this part of his 
functions. In civil controversies (such excepted as, 
by some feature of injustice, demanded a notice of 
the parties) he reduced the issue freely, much to an 
abstract form, and solved it as if it had been an 
algebraic problem. But in criminal cases there was 
a constant reference to the wretched persons whose 
fate was suspended before him, and in the very celerity 
with which he endeavored to dispose of the accusation 
he evinced his sym|)athy. It was his invariable effort, 
without regard to his own healtli, to finish a capital case 
at one sitting if any portion of the niglit would suffice 
for the object, and one of his declared notions was to 
terminate as soon as ])ossible that harrowing solicitude 
(worse even than the -worst certainty) which a pro- 
tracted trial brings to the unhappy prisoner. He 
never pronounced the sentence of death without 
severe pain, — in the first instance it was the occasion 
of anguish ; in this, as in many other points, he l)ore 
a strong resemblance to Sir Matthew Hale. His 
awful reverence of the Great .Judge of all mankind, 
and the humility with which he habitually walked 
in that presence, made him uplift the sword of justice 
as if it scarcely belonged to mau, himself a suppliant, 
to let it fall on the neck of his fellow-man." 

The closing events of the life of this truly great 
man render his memory dear, not only to the profes- 
sion, but to all good people. Before his death he 
emancipated all his slaves. His offices of usefulness 
extended beyond the limits of the legal profession. 
He was for many years a member of the American 
Philosophical Society, and became j)resident of the 
society in 1824. He was a trustee of the University 
of Pennsylvania, the first president of the Athenajum 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



537 



and a warden of the United Churches. On his last 
birthday he wrote the following summarized reflec- 
tions upon the conscious sunset of life : " This day 
com[iletes my seventieth year, the period which is 
said to bound the life of man. My constitution is 
impaired, but I cannot sufficiently thank (iod that 
my intellects are sound, that I am afflicted with no 
painful disease, and that sufficient health remains to 
make life comfortable. I pray for the grace of the 
Almighty to enable me to walk, during the short 
remainder of life, in His ways. Without His aid I 
am sensible that my eftbrts are unavailing. May I 
submit with gratitude to all His dispensations, never 
forget that He is the witness of my actions and even 
■of my thoughts, and endeavor to honor, love and obey 
Him with all my heart, soul and strength." 

Montgomery in Circuit Districts. — By act of 
April l:i, ITiH ("Smith's Laws," vil. iii. p. 28), 
the State was divided into five districts or circuits, 
the first of which was to consist of the city and 
county of Philadelphia and the counties of Bucks, 
Montgdmery and Delaware. 

Section third of the same act provides that in each 
of said circuits a ''person of knowledge and integrity, 
i/.-i//i.'ii ill the Irncs,^ shall be a|)pointed and commis- 
sioned by the Governor to be president and judge of 
the Courts of Common Pleas within such circuit; and 
that a number of other proper persons, not fewer than 
three nor more than four, shall be appointed and 
commissioned judges of the Courts of Coinnion Pleas 
in and for each and every of the cdunties of this 
commonwealth." 

Prior to the division of the State into the circuits 
named, and the appointment of president judges 
therefor, the judges of the Supreme Court presided 
in the several courts in the trial of all capital cases 
(see act of May 22, 1722, " Smith's Laws," vol. i. p. 141). 

Montgomery in Judicial Districts. — By the act 
of September lU, 1784, creating the county, it is pro- 
vided "that the justices of the Supreme Court of this 
State shall have like powers, jurisdictions and 
authorities within said county of INIontgonicry as in 
the other counties within this State, and are authorized 
and empowered from time to time to deliver the gaol 
of said county of capital or other offenders in like 
manner as they are authorized to do in other counties 
of the State." 

By act of February 24, 180(5 (P. L., p. 338), Dela- 
ware, Chester, Bucks and Montgomery Counties were 
constituted the Seventh .ludicial District in the State. 

By act of March 12, 1S21 (P. L., p. 8.")), Delaware 
and Chester Counties were constituted the Fifteenth 
Judicial District, leaving Bucks and Montgomery 
Counties to constitute the Seventh Judicial District 
in the State. 

By act of April 9, 1874 (P. L., p. 55), Montgomery 



1 This is believed to be the first statute in Pennsylvania requiring 
judges to be learned in tbe law as a neoeasai*y qualification to perform 
the duties of that offire. 



County was constituted the Thirty-eighth Judicial 
District in the State. 

PRESIDENT JUDGES. 

Frederick A. Muhlenberg, presided from 17S4 to 1785. 

James Morris, from 1785 to 1789. 

James Biddle,2 from 1791 to 1797. 

John D. Coxe, from 1797 to 1805. 

William Tilghuian, from l80,i to 181)0. 

Bird Wilson, from 1806 to 1818. 

John Ross, from 1818 to 18.30. 

John Fox, from lS:ro to 1S41. 

Tlioma.i Bm-nside, from 1841 to 1845. 

David Krause, from 1845 to 1851. 

Daniel M. Smyser, from 1851, elected under the amendment to the 
Constitution of 1838. 

Henry Chapman, from 18C2 to 1872. 

Henry 1'. Ross, from 1872 to 1882. 

Henry P. Ross, re-elected, served from 1882. 

Charles H. Stinson, appointed April 17, 1882, rice Judge He[iry P. Ross, 
deceased. 

B. Markley Boyer, elected first Tuesday in November, 1882, to serve 
ten yeai"s. 

ADDITIONAL LAW JUDGES. 

Henr)' P. Boss, elected 18(19. 

.\rthur G, Olmstead, appointed 1871, me Henry P. Ross, elected preai- 
dent judge. 

L. Stokes Roberts, elected 1872. 

Richard Watson, appointed January 18, 1873, rice L. Stokes Roberta, 
resigned. 

ASSOCIATE JUDGES. 

.Tohn Richard.s, appointed November 1, 1784, by ,T. Dickinson. 

Janien .^lorris, appointed September 29, 1784, by James Kwing. 

Thomas Craig, appointed September 10, 1784, by J. Dickinson. 

Henry Scbeetz, appointed December 10, 1784, by James Ewiug. 

Peter Evans, appointed December 17, 1784, by James Ervino. 

.lames Morris, appointed July 2(i, 1785, by .7. Dickinson. 

Christian Weber, appointed November 7, 1786, by Charles Biddle. 

Charles Baird, appointed February 15, 1787, by Charles Biddle. 

Jonathan Shoeiuaker, a])poiuted September 25, 1787, by Charles 
Biddle. 

John .louas. appointed November 15, 1787, by Benjamin Franklin. 

Heni'j' Pauling, appointed January 20, 1789, by George Rvtss. 

,\ntbony Crothere, appointed February 7, 1789, by Thonuis Jlifllin. 

Robert Loller, appointed September 25, 1789, by Thomas Slifflin. 

The above were appointed by the president of the Executive Council. 
In 179f», by alteration of the constituticm, the appointing power having 
been vested in tbe Governor, the following were thus appointed : 

Samuel Potts, appointed August 17, 1791, by Thomas Mifllin. 

Benjamin Rittenhouse, appointed .\ugust 17, 1791, by Thomas Jlifflin. 

Robert Loller, appointed .\ugust 17, 1791, by Thomas Mifflin. 

Benjamin Markley, appointed .Vugust 17, 1791, by Thonuw Mifflin. 

Johu Jones, appointed July Itj, 1793, by Thomas Mifflin. 

Richard B. Jones, appointed .\ugust 30, 1822, by Joseph Ileister. 

Thomas Lowr}', appointed .Tanuary 8, 1824, by J. A. Shultz. 

Joseph Royer, appointed Blay 10, 1837, by Joseph Ritnor. 

Morris Lougstreth, appointed March 15, 1841, by David R. Porter. 

.Tosiah W. Evans, appointed April 14, 1843, by David R. Porter. 

Ephraim Fenton, appointed February 15, 1848, by Francis R. Shnnk. 

Josiab W^ Evans, appoiuted April 14, 1848, by Francis R. Shunk. 

Joseph Hunsicker, appoiuted .\pril G, 1849, by William F. Johnson. 

Henry Longaker and Josiah W. Evans were elected by the people un- 
der the amendment of the constitution in October, 1851, receiving their 
commissions on the 16th of November of that year. 

Nathaniel Jacoby, elected October 9, 1855. 

Henry Longaker, elected October 14, 185G. 

Nathaniel Jacoby, elected October 9, 18G0. 

John Dismant, elected October 8, I'Gl. 

Hiram C. Hoover, elected October 10, 1865. 

.John Dismant, elected October 9, 1866. 

Hiram C. Hoover, elected October 11, 1870. 

Isaac F. Tost, elected October 10, 1871. 

Office abolished by Constitution of 1874. 

-James Biddle, John D. Coxe and William Tilghnmn appear as presi- 
dent judges of tbe Court of C^jmmon Pleas for Philadelphia for the same 
dat<- as in Montgomery County. 



538 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The office of associate judge was abolished by the | 
Constitution of 1874, those iu oftice holding over until 
the expiration of the term for which they were elected. 

EXTUACT OF MINUTE OF COUKT OF COMMON PLEAS, XOVEM- 
BER ADJOURNED COURT, 1S7G. 

"And now, Friday, November l(t, 1870. The Court, being about to 
adjouni without day, and it beiug the end of the term of the Hon. 
Isaac F. Yost, the last Associate Judge of the Courts of Montgomery 
County under tlie Cunstitutiun of iSiiS, Ross, P. J., said tliat he felt it due 
that he shoidd make public acknowledgment of his belief in the perfect 
integrity, purity and honesty of his retiring associate ; that during the 
entire course of his judicial term, Judge Yost had been animated by a 
desire to do his duty, and that he carried with him into private life the 
regard of the bench, the respect of the bar and the confidence of the en- 
tire comniuQity. More could be said of none of his predecessors and less 
could not be Siiid of him. 

" The Hod. B. M. Boyer, in behalf of the bar, responded by saying that 
tlie court had uttered what the bar felt and what the public believed ; 
that in declaring that Judge Yost had been an upright, hcnest and pure 
magistrate he only echoed the general expression of every lawyer and the 
public ; and that he gladly seized this oi)portunity to speak for himself 
and brethren and to assure Judge Yost that he had acquireit, maintained 
and would take with him the esteem and respect of the bar and people of 
Montgomery County. 

"Colonel Theo. W. Bean said, ' Your honor has referred withappropn- 
ateness to an event which renders the closing proceedings of this court of 
more than usual public interest. For almost a century the presi<ient 
judges of thisjudicial district have been aided in tJie performance of their 
ofhcialdutiesby associates, the liist of whom, in the pereon of the Hon. 
Isjiac F. Yost, retires with the expiration of the term for which he was 
elected five years ago, and the ottice ceases to exist. Changes in the forms 
of organic law, as it applies to the administration of public justice, have 
been frequent and important iu this commonwealtli. In 17H4^, wlien this 
county was established, four Justices of the Peace were appointed by 
the Supreme Executive Council ti> hnUl the courts, none of wlioni were 
learned in the law. SubHeijuently the Governor was authorized to ap- 
pointall president judges, the incumbents holding the position for life, 
and later the office became elective, and now the duties of the lay or as- 
sociate are added to those of the President Judge, who must be learned 
in the law. While we do not question the wisdom of the change which 
makes one public office less, wo sincerely regret to part with an officiitl 
whose integrity and uniform courtesy and impartiality has won for him 
the just esteem of his professional associates and the good people he has 
served.' 

" Eo-rlie, the Court directed that the procoedm^lUu sirtVsiiT'uiitTn-tlTe^ 
minutes." 

Judge Bird Wilsox, D.D., LL.D., wns horn at 
Carlisle, Pa., on the 8th day of January, 1777, and 
graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 179:^, 
at the age of Hfteen years. He was admitted to the 
bar of Philadelphia in 1797, in his twentieth year. 
He was eminently fitted for public life, but never 
permitted his official duties to interfere with his con- 
tinuous studies, which he pursued all through his 
remarkable life. He was an accomplished lawyer, a 
humane and learned judge, passing to realms of new, 
if not higher, thought as years and new honors 
crowded upon him. His biographer ^ thus si>eaks of 
him: 

*' For a time he held a position of trust in the office of the commissionei' 
of the bankrupt law. his next appointment beiug president judge, in 
1806, of the Court of Common Pleas in the Seventh Circuit, comprising 
the counties of Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware, iu which lie 
^cceeded \Vm. Tilghman. As soon as he had entered on the duties of 
his office he made Norristown his residence, and thus became one ol the 
moat active workers iu tlio building of St. .lohu's Kpiscupal CUurch, 
which was commenced in I8i:i and finished the following year, being the 
first house of worshiji erected there, of which he was one of the wardens. 

1 Wm. J. Buck, in Aiigfe's " Men of Montgomery County." 



At this time he also edited an edition of the 'Abridgement of the Law,*" 
pidilished iu Philadelphia in seven octavo vulumes. In speaking of tliis 
work. Judge Story says that he ' has enriched it with many valuable ad- 
ditions.' A murder was comnutted near the present town of Media, in 
which a young man of very respectable fanuly ctmnections w.as impli- 
cated, and who was arraigned before him October 20, 1817, which resulted 
in his conviction in the first degree, liut tiie judge was unwilling to sen- 
tence him. After several postponements he finally concluded to resign 
the position, Judge Ross taking his place April 13, 1818, and the con- 
demned received his sentence from the latter. 2 

"Judge Wilson now devoted himself to the nunistry, and stuilied un- 
der Bishop White, by whom he was admitted a deacou in March, 181M, 
and soon after chosen rector of St. John's Episcopal Church at Norris- 
town and the charge of St. Thomas' Church, at Whitemareh, which he 
held till, in the summer of 1S21, having been appointed a professor of 
systematic divinity in the General Theological Seminary at New Y(U"k, 
he removed there. In 18rii> he became emeritus professor of the SJime, 
which position he filleil till near the close of his life. In 18*29 he was 
elected secretary of the House of Bishop^s, in which capacity he cuutiuned 
until IS-il. when he declined re-election. Ilis ' Meniuir of the Life o 
Bishop White " was published in 1830, which contains also the early his- 
tory of the Episcopal Church in this country. The degree of D.D. was 
conf<'rred upon him by the University of Pennsylvania in 1H21, and of 
LL.D. by Columbia College in ISl.".. He died April 14, 1859, aged eiglity- 
three yeai-s, and was buried in the gnmnd belonging to Chi'ist Church, 
at the corner of Fifth and Arch Streets, Philadelphia." 

Judge John Ross. — Jtdin Ross was the son of 
Thomas Ross, the first noted ancestor of the family, 
and who was an approved preacher among the 
Friends in Bucks County. John was born in S:)le- 
bury township in 1770. Receiving a fair edneation 
and reaching fnll manhood, he entered the law-office 
of his cousin, Thomas Ross, then located at West 
Chester, Chester Co., Pa. Having finished his studies, 
he shortly afterwards located in Northampton County,. 
Pa., where he soon acquired an extensive practice, and 
took an active part in local and general politics. 

He was elected to Congress in the district composed 
of Northampton, Bucks, Lehigh, Wayne and Pike 
Counties, and while serving in this office in the year 
1718 was appointed, by Governor Findlay, president 
judge of the judicial district then composed of Bucks, 
C'hester, Delaware and IMontgomery Counties, to suc- 
ceed Judge Bird Wilson, resigned. The VUJage liec- 
ord, in commenting u[K)n the appointment at the 
time, says, — 

" Jlr. Ross has been for the last fifteen years in e.\,tentfive practice in 
Northampton and neighboring counties ; he is a learned and abl& 
lawyer. As an advocate, he neither aims at pathos nor goes out of his 
way to round ont a period, but he always opens his cause in a clear manner, 
presents the strong points lucidly to view, and enforces his arguments 
with perspicuity, often with eloi|uence."' 

*'Mr. Ross is a man of active mind and decided cluiracter. In refer- 
ring to his politics, we mean only to gratify the natural curiosity of our 
readers, who, when a new officer is appointed, wish to know all about 
him, and not to intimate that his politics will influence him on the- 
bench ; there, we are confident, he will be known neither sis a Federal- 
ist nor Pemocrat, but as an independent .judge, doing his duty without 
fear, favor or affection." 

Judge Ross seems to have served with great rre(lit, 
and was in 1^130, after twelve years' service, appointed 



2 This was John H. Craige, a dissipated blacksmith, who shot his neigh- 
bor, Kdward Hunter, Esq , who had been instrumental in writing his 
fatlier-in-law's will, thereby disinheriting him. and thus incurred his 
enmity. Craige shot him as he was standing in his stable, and waa 
hanged for it at Chester, June ('», 1818. His confession wa 
fii-st pamphlets the author read in his youth. 



of the 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



539 



l)y Governor Wolf to a seat in the Supreme Coui-t of 
the State; in this office he served until the time of 
his death, which occurred iu 1834. Judge John 
Ross was the grandfather of the late Henry P. Ross, 
president judge of Montgomery County. 

Judge John Fox, president judge of the Seventh 
Judicial District of Pennsylvania, then composed of 
the counties of Bucks and Montgomery, was born at 
Pliiladelphia in the year 1787. His father, Edward 
Fox, born at Duldiii, Ireland, but of English parents, 
emigrated to this country in the twentieth year of his 
age. During the term of Joseph Reed, President of 
Pennsylvania, he was auditor-general of the State. 
In tlie year 1783, General Carleton, writing to his 
government (as appears by the secret archives in the 
Tower of London, recently allowed to be examined), 
spoke of him as one of the Cabinet, stating that he 
was a native of England or Ireland (he believed of the 
former) ; that he had carried on business in the mercan- 
tile line ; that he had been appointed auditor-general 
since Mr. Morris came into the administration; and, 
that he was a "young nnm of good al)ilities, especially 
in his present line." He resumed the mercantile busi- 
ness, in which he acquired a large fortune, but 
was ruined by loans to the same Mr. Morris, " the 
financier of the Revolution," as he was afterwards 
styled. Edward Fox married Elizabeth Sergeant, 
sister of Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant and an aunt 
of John and Thomas Sergeant, botli distinguished 
lawyers, and the latter a judge of the Su])reme Court 
of Pennsylvania. John Fox, the subject of this 
sketch, was graduated at tlie University of Pennsyl- 
vania, of which his father was for many years the 
treasurer. He studied law with Alexander James 
Dallas, the compiler of " Dallas' Reports " and after- 
wards Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, 
(leorge M. Dallas, subsequently United States Sena- 
tor and Vice-President of the United States, was a 
fellow-student and life-long friend. Soon after his 
admission to the bar Mr. Fox was advised by his 
physician to settle in the country, and in consequence 
removed to Bristol, then the county-seat of Bucks 
County. The county-seat having been removed to 
Newtown, he went there, and it having again been 
removed and finally established at Doylestown, he 
took up his residence there, and that remained his 
home until his decease, in April, 1849. In 1816 he 
married Margery, daughter of Gilbert Rodman, a 
retired Philadelphia merchant, who then resided at 
his country-seat, Ellington, near Bristol, in Bucks. 

In 1814, Mr. Fox was deputy attorney -general for 
Bucks County. He was appointed major, and served 
on General Worrall's stafi' in the war of 1812. When 
called upon by his chief to go to the seat of war, the 
court being in session, the judge then on the bench 
refused to allow him to leave or to adjourn the court, 
whereupon the young prosecuting attorney imme- 
diately declared that all the commonwealth's cases 
were continued, had the entry made upon the record, 



mounted his horse and rode ofl' to join the army, then 
daily expecting an attempt b)' the enemy to capture 
Philadelphia. He was afterwards major-general of the 
Seventh Division of the States, and continued to serve 
as such until his appointment to the office of presi- 
dent judge, in 1830. This appointment was for life, 
but he was legislated out of office by the adoption of 
the Constitution of 1838, which made the judicial 
office elective. He was a lil'e-Iong Democrat, and 
during General .Tackson's Presidency was the inti- 
mate I'rieiid and confidential adviser of Hon. Sanuiel 
D. Ingliam, then Secretary of the Treasury, especially 
during the exciting and dangerous troubles wliicli 
arose about the so-called Kitchen Cabinet. 

He was also an intimate friend and correspon<lcnt 
of Hon. John C. Calhoun, and a friend and warm 
admirer of Mr. Webster. With the latter, however, 
he seldom agreed politically, except in his construc- 
tion and defense of the constitution. He was n man 
of sound judgment, unselfish almost to a fault and of 
a most tender heart. When called upon to pass the 
judgment of the law upon Luis Amalia Espos y Mina, 
whom he liad tried at Doylestown for the fiendish 
murder by slow poison of Mr. William Chapman, he 
was so much aflected that he liad great difficulty in 
pronouncing the sentence of death, and it is said the 
whole audience were in tears. He had, however, 
great courage and never knew the fear of man. His 
devoti<in to duty w'as paramount to every other con- 
sideration. When, by a trick intended to mortify him, 
he was elected constal)lc, he promptly accepted the 
office and performed its duties. He stood high as a 
judge, and his opinion upon the negro-suflrage ques- 
tion, in a case argued be fere him in Bucks, gave him 
a reputation not only in the LTnited States, but on the 
continent of Europe, and was cited by De Toqueville 
in one of his works. That opinion was i)ublished by 
direction of the Legislature, and was the cause of the 
insertion of the word "white" in the Constitution of 
1838. 

He left five children, — three sons (two of them 
lawyers, the third a clergynuin of the Presbyterian 
Church) and two daughters. 

JlTPGE Thomas Burnside was adnutted to the 
bar of Montgomery County February 13, 1804. He 
soon afterwards settled iu Centre County, Pa., 
where he rose to eminence in his profession. 
Regarding politics as a twin-sister of the law, he 
entered the State Senate in 1811, and served a ttrm 
of three years with more than ordinary credit. In 
1814 he was elected a member of the Fourteenth 
Congress, representing his district from ISl.'i to 1S17. 
In 1818 he was appointed president judge of the 
Eleventh District, composed of the counties of Wayne, 
Pike and Luzerne. This position he resigned some 
time after, and was elected again to the Senate, of 
which body he was chosen Speaker iu 1825. While 
in the Legislature, as chairman of a committee to 
whom the subject had been referred, he made a rejiort 



540 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and presented a bill to abolish capital punishment, 
which, however, failed on its passage. 

In 1841, Governor Porter ajipointed him president 
judge of the judicial district composed of Bucks and 
Montgomery Counties, which position he retained 
until January, 1845, when the same executive nomi- 
nated him as one of the justices of the Supreme Court 
of the State, which position he filled until his death. 

Thomas Burnside enjoyed the confidence of the 
profession, and was esteemed a clear-headed judge 
and an upright man ; his opinions were concise, and 
rank among the best in the books of his day. He 
was neither courtly in manner nor prepossessing in 
appearance, but he was kind of heart, honest and 
confiding, with an accuracy of judgment that com- 
mended him to public favor. 

Judge David Keause, LL. D., succeeded Judge 
Burnside in the year 1845. He was admitted to the 
bar of Pittsburgh, Pa., having studied law in the office 
of the Hon. Jonathan Walker, of that city. He 




DAVID KRAUSE, LL.D. 

subsequently removed to Harrisburg and became the 
private secretary of Governor John Andrew Shultz, 
and filled the confidential oflice to the entire satisfac- 
tion of the officer. In 1829 he was appointed deputy 
attorney-general by Frederick Smith. He wius 
elected to the State Legislature in 1835. He sujiported 
the candidacy of David R. Porter in 1838, and was 
held in high esteem by the Governor and his friends. 
At the close of his gubernatorial term the Governor 
appointed him president judge of the courts in the 
district of Bucks and Montgomery Counties. 

He made his residence at Norristown, and con- 
tinued to reside there until his death, which occurred 
June 13, 1871. As a lawyer and judge, he possessed 



the power of applying the well-settled principles of 
law to the ascertained facts of cases presented to him 
for counsel or adjudication. His opinions were sel- 
dom lengthy. Discerning the right, he passed by. 
technical hinderances to conclusions that were 
generally correct, leaving to those who differed with 
him the task of elaborating the process by which he 
reached them. The following resolution on his de- 
mise, adopted by the bar of Montgomery County, 
epitomizes his character and discloses the high esteem 
in which he was held by the profession : 

" Heaolrcd, That in mouniing the decease of this eminent nieniher of 
our profession, we desire to record our sense of tlie virtues which adorned 
his character ; tliat we esteemed him as a puhUc-spirited and useful 
citizen ; a man of liindly and generous impulses, ever ready to give aid 
in furtlierance of benevolent works ; whose genial nature and amiability 
of character endeared him to every circle into which he entered ; and 
that we will ever remember him as an honest legislator, an uprightjudge, 
an able, conscientious lawyer, without guile and without reproach." 

Judge Daniel M. Smyser was the first president 
judge elected to the position in Montgomery County. 
Early advantages were well improved by him, gradu- 
ating at the head of his class in 1827. He shortly 
afterwards entered the law-office of Thaddeus 
Stevens, at Gettysburg, Pa., and was admitted to 
the bar of Adams County in 1831. Forming a 
partnership with Mr. Stevens, they continued the 
practice of law together until 1841, when Mr. Stevens 
removed to Lancaster City, leaving Mr. Smyser in the 
enjoyment of a large and responsible practice. In 
1849 he was elected by the Whigs to the Legislature 
from Adams County, and while serving in the House 
was tendered the appointment of attorney-general of 
the State by Governor William F. .Tohnson. He de- 
clined the honor, assigning for reason " that he could 
not discharge the trust confided to him by his con- 
stituents and hold the attorney-generalship at the 
same time." Upon his return from the Legislature 
he was nominated for Congi-ess by the Whig party in 
the district composed of Adams and York Counties. 
Although a strong Democratic district, he was de- 
feated by a small majority (393 votes). In 1851 he 
was nominated by the Whigs of the Seventh Judicial 
District (Bucks and Montgomery Counties), and owing 
to divisions in the opposite party, he was elected 
over the two candidates running against him. He 
brought with him to the field of judicial labor the 
learning and experience of a well-trained lawyer and 
a love of research and industry that rendered his 
adjudications among the most remarkable of the 
period in which he presided over the several courts 
of this district. His opinions stated premises, care- 
fully elaborated reasons for conclusions reached and 
exhausted the line of authorities sustaining them. 
His reputation as a judge extended beyond the dis- 
trict in which he presided, and in 1854 he was nomi- 
nated by the Whig party for justice of the Supreme 
Court of the State. He was not elected, and hence 
served out the full two years of his term, after which 
he resumed the practice of law for a subsequent 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



541 



period of thirteen years in the courts over which he had 
presided. He died January 11, 1873, while ou a visit 
to his early home at Gettysburg, where at the time the 
following deserved tribute of respect was paid to his 
memory by the bench and bar of Adams County : 

" .Fudge Sinyser brought to the practice of the law a niiud cultured 
by tlie highest academic learning, enriched by a broad range of classical 
reading enjoyed by but few of his cuntemijoraries. .\ close, laborious 
student, with an ardent devotion to the profession he selected, he early rose 
to distinction at the bar and commanded a large and lucrative practice. 
After twenty years of active connection with the legal profession here, 
he was called to the responsible position of president judge of the Seventh 
Judicial District of Pennsylvania, and in this new sphere he exempli- 
fied the virtues which had characterized him as a lawyer by a conscien- 
tious and painstaliing care in the trial of cases, u personal integrity 
which elevated his oHicial action above all suspicion, and a judicial 
learning which adorned the bench." 

Judge Smyser was thoroughly devoted to the 
best interests »of the country, and promptly gave 
the weight of his official character to the Union 
cause in 1801, and was chosen to deliver the 
address to the first volunteers that left the couuty 
upon the fall of Sumter. 

Judge Henry Chapmax. — Henry Chapman was 
born at Newtown, Bucks Co., Pa., about the be- 
ginning of the present century. His father was 
Abraham (Uiapman, a lawyer, who entered upon his 
professional duties in 1790, and for many years was 
the " father of the Bucks County bar." Henry was 
educated in the public schools of Bucks County, and 
finished his studies at an academy in Burlington, 
N. J. He was admitted to the bar of Bucks County 
in 1825. He served in the State Senate in 1843, and 
was elected to Congress in 1856. He, with Hickman, 
Haskins and Montgomery, was an active opponent of 
the " Lecorapton Swindle," and became prominent in 
the debates of that turbulent period. He was elected 
judge of the Seventh Judicial District in 1860, and 
served as president judge until 1870, when he retired 
to private life, and is now residing in the borough of 
Doylestown, I'a. 

The following epitome of his professional charac- 
teristics is from the pen of Hon. Charles Hunsicker, 
who was in full practice during his administration in 
this county : " It is nothing derogatory to the pred- 
ecessor or successors of Judge Chapman to say that 
he was a model judge. He was clear-headed, even- 
tempered, dignified, learned, pure, and his decisions 
always challenged the respect and confidence of both 
sides. His learning was extensive, his conversational 
powers great, and he could have filled honorably and 
acceptably any position in civil or political life. His 
modesty was characteristic of the man, and his extreme 
sensitiveness of the sanctity of his judicial ofiice was 
so pronounced that he not only refused to accept a 
free pass on the railroad, but would not even ride out 
in the private carriage of any member of the bar. 
He may have carried this to an extreme, but if an 
error, it was an error in the right direction. Henry 
Chapman was and is a man of wlnnn it can well be 
said he is nans peur e( saiis rcproche," 



Judge Henry P. Ross, A.B.— The subject of this 
sketch was admitted to the bar of Bucks County 
December 16, 1859. He enjoyed the advantages of 
careful home training, and was prepared for a liberal 
course of study at Princeton College, where he grad- 
uated in 1857, receiving the degree of Bachelor of 
Arts. He immediately entered the law-office of his 
father, Hon. Thomas Ross, an eminent lawyer o^' 
Doylestown, Pa., and two years later, having 
complied with the requirements under the rules 
of court governing the admission of students to the 
bar, he entered upon the active practice of his pro- 
fession. His rapid advance to eminence in the trial 
of cases in both civil and criminal courts and in tlie 
Supreme Court of the Sttite, his early and creditable 
service as district attorney for the county of Bucks, 
created no surprise upon the part of his friends ; it 
was expected. He was exhaustive in his preparation, 
fertile in thought, logical in his conclusions, always 
clear and forcible, and sometimes eloquent in the pre- 
sentation of his case to court and jury. His exami- 
nation of witnesses was direct and to tlie point, without 
austerity of manner. He was affable and genial with 
his fellow-members of the bar, and always deferential 
in his address to the court. His elevation to the judi. 
cial office was the natural result of his prominence 
as a lawyer. It was a selection of the fittest among 
the many senior and justly distinguished members of 
the i>r()fession, who frankly conceded to him the 
qualifications essential to the judicial character. We 
are by no means certain that his ambition was truly 
gratified by Ids promotion to the bench. The con- 
servative character of the office was believed to be 
repressive of his desire to participate in the wider and 
more aggressive fields of public life, for which he 
always evinced a fondness. His relincjuishuient of 
the office of attorney, with possibilities for distinction 
and its freedom from responsibilities as contrasted 
with the grave duties of a judge, was frequently 
spoken of by him, and at times with apparent regret. 
Hehad a keensen.se of the power and dignity of tlie ju- 
dicial office, and on occasions of great public interest, 
in trials before him, in the presence of a large 
attending bar and a court-room filled with men 
wrought upon by the history of crime and the elo- 
quent etforts of counsel, he would preside over the scene 
with a self-possession and judicial manner that com- 
manded the respectful attention of everybody present. 
From the first case of homicide to the last tried 
before him in his administration of iiublic justice in 
Montgomery County it is due to say that the climax 
of interest was always reached when he charged the 
jury. Few, if any, of living members of the bar will 
fail to recall the trials of the Commonwealth ?)s. 
Huston,' Curley, Pastorius, Whalen and Sutton, in all 

lln the Commonwealth vs. Ruse Huston, charged with the murder of 
her own child, the case turned upon the testimony of medical experts. 
The public interest in the conflict of testimony was intensified by the 
fact that Dr. Margaret Richardson was among the physicians examined, 



542 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of which the lives of the accused were at stake. 
Pul)lic interest naturally centred in the court-room 
day after day, until finally, counsel having made their 
liist aji[)eal in the interest of alleged innocence on the 
one hand and for the cause of the commonwealth on 
the other, truth having been tortured and obscured by 
conflicting evidence, there came the memorable court 
scenes, the jierfect pose of the judge as he turned 
from the presence of the bar to face the jury, the 
characteristic, calm, impartial and unimpassioned 
charge to the sworn men, whose duty, whether painful 
or pleasant, was fearlessly disclosed to and conscieu- 
liously impressed ujjon them. 

Judge Ross came to the bench young .in years, 
liopeful and amliitious, surrcmnded by many admiring 
friends, who believed him capable of leadership in the 
politics of the State. They had followed him 
devotedly through two discouraging canvasses for 
•Congressional honors and later through a spirited 
canvass for a seat in the Supreme Court of the com- 
monwealth, and finally re-elected him president 
judge of Montgomery County by a majority that em- 
phasized his popularity at his home, where he was 
best known, and where his judicial services were best 
ai)preciated. He was re-elected in 1881 for the term 
of ten years. He died April 13, 1882. His remains 
are buried in the cemetery at Doylestown, Pa. 

Judge Ch.vkles Henderson Stixson was born in 
Norriton township, Montgomery Co., June 28, 1825. 
He is of Scotch-Irish descent. His father, Robert 
Stinson, was a prominent and excellent man ; he 
served as a justice of the peace lor many years in 
Norriton township, and was a member of the Legisla- 
ture on the Anti-Masonic ticket in 188.5. His mother 
was Elizabeth Porter, daughter of Stephen Porter, 
and niece of General Andrew Porter, of the same 
township. After prei)aring in the ordinary schools, 
he entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle, where he 
graduated in 1845. Having traveled for a year over 
the mountainous parts of Pennsylvania for the bene- 
fit of his health, he commenced the study of the law 
with his brother, George W^. Stinson, of Norristown, 
Pa., and remained in his office until the death of his 
brother, in 1848, when he pursued his studies under the 
direction of Addison May. He was admitted to the bar 
on May 22. 184!), and has since been engaged in prac- 
tice at Norristown. He served as a private in the 
Gettysburg campaign in 1863, and was an ardent 
supporter of the Union cause throughout the war of 
the Rebellion. He refused the nomination of the 
Republican jiarty of Montgomery, Chester and Dela- 
ware Counties for the State Senate in 18r)4, but in 
1867 was induced to accept it, and was elected for 
three yeare as a colleague of Dr. Worthington, of 
West Chester. He served on the general judiciary 
committee and on other important committees ii»il868 



and tlie fii-st pliysii'iim of her sex rtiibjei-ted to tin 
jtidicml proceedings in Montgomery County. 



ordnil iji tlielii»tcjry of 



and 1869, and at the adjournment of the latter session, 
was elected Speaker and re-elected at the oj)ening of 
the session of 1870. He exercised the functions of 
that office with dignityand general acceptance, leaving 
a worthyrecordof a brief political career. Hedeclined 
the position of additional law judge of the courts of 
Bucks and JMontgomcry Counties, tendered him by 
Governor .I(din W. Geary in 1871. He was one of 
the originators of the First National Bank of Norris- 
town, for which he has acted as solicitor. In 1879 
the county commissioners of Montgomery County 
appointed him one of the trustees of the Hospital for 
the Insane for the S(mtheastcrn District of Pennsyl- 
vania, which position he still holds. In the organiza- 
tion of the hospital he was instrumental in placing 
the female physician on the same plane with the male 
physician, giving to each control over their respective 
deijartments, this being the first departure from the 
old hospital management in this country. In April, 
1882, Governor Hoyt appointed him president judge 
of the Thirty-Eighth Judicial District, to fill the va- 
cancy occasioned by the death of the Hon. Henry P. 
Ross, in which position he distinguished himself by his 
urbanity and the ])rompt and impartial manner in 
which he discharged the business of the courts till the 
following January. He was the unanimous nominee 
of the Republican party for the office in the fall of 
1882, but the party lieing in minority in the county, 
he was not elected. 

He is active, public-spirited and diligent in the 
l)ursuit of his profession, and has been instrumental 
in the jja.ssage of many beneficial local measures. 

Hon. B. M.\rkley Boyeu, now president judge of 
the Thirty-eighth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, is 
a native of Montgomery County, born in New Hano- 
ver township on the 22d of January, 1822. He was 
educated at Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., and in the 
University of Pennsylvania, at which last named in- 
stitution he was graduated in the class of 1841. He 
studied law under the instruction of Judge John M. 
Reed, of Carlisle, Pa., where he was admitted to the 
bar. In 1844 he commenced the practice of law in 
his native county, locating at Norristown. From 
1848 to 1850 he was deputy attorney -general of I\Iont- 
gomery County, an office corresjionding to that of 
district attorney at the present time. In jioiitics he 
was a Whig until that party ceased to exist, when he 
allied himself with the Democracy. In the Presi- 
dential contest of 1856 he cast his vote for James 
Buchanan. In 1860 he supported Stephen A. Doug- 
las for the Presidency, and ably advocated his elec- 
tion in a campaign paper which he assisted to estab- 
lish and edit for that purjiose. In the dangerous 
times that immediately followed the election of 
Abraham Lincoln he stood firmly for conciliatory 
measures, until the firing on Fort Sumter rendered 
conciliation impossible; but after the actual opening 
of the great conflict he was unwavering in advocacy 
,of the suppression of the Rebellion by the military 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



543 



liDvver of the government. Twice during tlie war, 
when the Confederate army crossed the Potomac and 
niiived northward to the Pennsylvania l)order, he 
raised a company of volunteers for the emergency, 
and as their captain marched with them to the field 
t(j assist in repelling the invasion. In one of these 
campaigns the exposure and hardshi]) to which he 
wassubjccted brought on an illness which nearly proved 
fatal. 

In 1 864, Mr. Boy er was elected to Congress, and 
was re-elected in 18(36, serving in the Thirty-ninth and 
Fortieth Congresses, until and including the year 
18l)i). During his two Congressional terms he served 
on the committee on military att'airs, of which the 
chairman was James A. (xarlield. He also served on 
several .select committees, one of the most imi)ortant 
of which was'that sent by Congress to New Orleans 
to investigate the origin and causes of the riots in that 
city. On that subject he made the minority report, 
which, in fact, prevailed, as the bill introduced on the 
majority report was lost in the Senate. In the Dem- 
ocratic National Convention of 1868 he was a delegate 
from his Congressional district, and in the National 
Convention of the party in 1872 he was a dclegate- 
at-large from Pennsylvania. 

In 1876, Mr. Boyer was appointed by Governor 
Plartranft a member of the State Munici()al Com- 
mission, provided for by the Legislature to devise and 
report on some better system than was then in exist- 
ence in this State for the government of cities. The 
commission reported at length, submitting the draft 
of a bill which, in its ajiplication to cities of the first 
class, embodied the substance of the bill pending (and 
undisposed of) in the last Legislature. 

For nearly forty years Mr. Boyer renuiincd in con- 
tinuous practice as an attorney and counselor, being 
widely and favorably known, and occupying for many 
years a leading position among the members of the 
bar of Montgomery County. His briefs were always 
exhaustive. There was no case that escaped his ob- 
servation and analysis, which being used with con- 
summate skill and judgment, he seldom failed to 
make his point. Through all his professional career, 
and especially in his connection with leading civil and 
criminal cases, his skill and success were remarkable 
in the difficult and responsible task of examining wit- 
nesses, a work in which he uniformly acquitted him- 
self to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. He ex- 
hibited the peculiar ability of obtaining from the wit- 
nesses, however unwilling, the pertinent facts within 
their knowledge, without eliciting that which was ir- 
relevant or immaterial. He was diligent in the dis- 
charge of all his duties to his client, whose cause he 
made his own on assuming the care of it, and always 
used all honoi'able means to secure the full 
benefit of the most favorable construction of 
the law upon his case. Being a man of great 
forensic ability, rare oratorical powers and in- 
■del'itigable industry, he sometimes, by the exer- 



cise of these high qualifications, secured verdicts which, 
as an expounder of the law, he may be com- 
|)elled to reverse, as was the attorney-general of 
Pennsylvania recently in a celebrated case. 

In 1882 the Hon. B. M. Boyer was elected to the 
office which he still holds,— that of president judge 
of the Thirty-eighth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, 
composed of the county of Montgomery. In that high 
office he has proved himself the possessor of superior 
judicial ability. His knowledge of cases and his con- 
s..-ientious work as a lawyer, together with his great 
learning, have eminently fitted him for the bench. 
His decisions indicate a profound knowledge of his 
l)rof'ession, and evince the same wise judgment that 
was characteristic of him as a barrister. Especially 
on matters of evidence his rulings are regarded as 
unexceptionable, and are seldom seriously questioned 
"by the bar. He has a clear head, an honest, kind 
heart; he is courageous in his convictions, and will 
perform his duties under all circumstances. His sym. 
pathies are with the poor and defenseless, who may 
always freely approach him, iissured of his kindness, 
attention and honest advice. His long and varied 
experience in almost every condition of life has emi- 
nently fitted him to be what he is, — a wise, humane 
and just judge. 

DKIHTY .\TTOKSEV-(iENERALS .\1'I'OIN'I'101) IN MONTGOMERY 
COUNTY PRIOR TO 1S5U. 

Tliere is no ret-oi-d of the appointment of deputy attorney-generals 
to be found in tlie docliettj of the courts in the office of the attorney - 
general at Harrisljurg, Pa. It \im been aacertained that the following 
gentlemen held the office by apiiointnient prior to 1850, when it became 
elective : 

John H. Slieetz, E9.|.,> ai>pointed by Philip S. Markley, attorney- 
general, 1»'2'J. 

David II. JIulvany, Es i.,- appointed by William li. Reed, attorney- 
general, IKlfl. 

G. K. Fox, Es.i.,' appointed by Ovid V. .lohiison, attorney-general, 
1840. 

John H. Hobart, Es.).,* appuiuted by .lohu M. Kane, attorney- 
general, 1845. 

B. Markley Boyer, Ksc).,5 appointed by James Cooper, attorney- 
general, 1848. 

DISTRICT .\TTOUNEYS. 

^Offlce made elective by act of May :!, 1850.) 
Ik'ii.jamin E. Chain, elected October, 1850. 
John II. Hobart, elected October, 185:J. 
George W. Rogers, elected October, 18511. 
S. N. Rich, elected October, 1S5!1. 
Enoch A. Hanks, elected October, 1802. 
Charles Ilnnsicker, elected October, 1805. 
George W. Bush, elected October, 1808. 
Henry U. Brunner, elected October, 1871. 
Jacob V. Gotwalts, elected November, 1874. 
J. Wright Apple, elected November, 1877. 
Irving P. Wanger, elected November, 1880. 
,Iohn W. Bickel, elected November. 188:!. 

The Bar of Montgomery County takes high rank 
among those of the cities and counties of the com- 
monwealth. Our proximity to Philadelphia, long 

t Administration of Governor George Wolf. 
2 Administration of Governor Joseph Ritner. 
8 Administration of Governor David R. Porter. 
*.\dministration of Governor Francis R. Shunk. 
6 Administration of Governor William F. Johnson. 



544 



HISTORY OF MOxVTGOMEKY COUNTY. 



a centre of legal learning; the numerous courts — 
municijiiil, State aud federal — there in almost contin- 
uous session; the community of commercial and cor- 
porate interests; the settlement of decedents' estates 
and adjudication of important trusts counected with 
them, wherein resident counsel are retained in both 
jurisdictions, has brought the bar of Montgomery 
County into almost daily contact with the best-trained 
professional minds in Eastern Pennsylvania. 

The bar has long since outlived all provincialism, 
and if its members ever were characterized by any 
marked degree of social intercourse or associated 
conviviality, their tastes and habits must have essen- 
tially differed in the pa.st from tlie present. The 
individuality of the present resident bar is one of its 
characteristics, — partnerships in the profession are 
exceedingly rare, associate counsel in the trial of 
causes is limited to important cases and self-reliance 
is deemed an essential qualification for the successful 
lawyer of the period. Professional courtesy is nowliere 
more i'uUy exemplified, honorable engagements no- 
where more scrujiulously fulfilled, and the member 
whose word cannot be safely taken by bench or bar 
falls below the standard of professional ethics created 
by the common consent of all. The gentlemen com- 
posing the resident bar of the present generation have 
taken a generous interest in establishing a library 
and a fund to sustain and enlarge it, and it will, no 
doubt, exert a highly beneficial influence upon its 
members and measurably improve their efficiency as 
skillful practitioners.' 

I Roles for the Regulation of the Law Library of MosTrtOMERY 
CJouNTY. — Established by Act of Assembly of March 12, 1809. Number 
of volumes catalogued and now in use, two tluuis:ind four hundred. 

The followiag rules for the regulation of the Law Library have been 
adopted inter alia by the general committee of the Law Libmry. The 
members of tlie bar are earnestly requested to aid the committee in the 
enforcement of tliem ; 

" The library shall be kept open by the librarian every day, except 
Sundays and legal holidays, from 8.30 A.M. to 12 M., and fi-om 1 to 5 P.M. 

"The room, when »)pen, anil its contents shall be under the control of 
the librarian, wlio shall be responsible for its contents and for the enforce- 
ment of these rules. 

"The room shall be used for library purposes only, except upon 
occasions of geneml bar meetings. 

'* All noises, disorder, loud talking or other practices calculated to in- 
terfere with or disturb persons engaged in the legitimate use of the 
library are strictly prohibited. 

" Persons using the library shall abstain from doing an.^ thing likely to 
ilyure or deface the room, its furniture, books or contents. 

*'No books shall be taken out of the library except by a judge of the 
courts or a member of the bar of said county. 

*' Neither ' PennsylvaniaReports,' works on ' Pennsylvania Practice or 
Pleadings,' 'Digests,' ' ,^cts of Assembly,' ' .\cts of Congress,' encyclo- 
pedias, dictionaries, nor books containing the opinions of any of the 
judges of this judicial district, shall be taken out of the library, except 
for use in the court-room, arbitration-room, or judges' chambers, or in 
a trial or argument before an auditor, master or commissioner, in Norris- 
town. 

'• Foreign reports may be taken and kept out for twenty-four hours 
only, and may be renewed once if not wanted by any one else. 

*' All other books may be taken out of the court-house, but shall not 
be kept out of the library for a longer period than one week at any one time. 

"During the session of any court for jury trials, or of any regular 
argument court, at Norristown, no book can be taken out except for use 
in court. The librarian must see that all books are in the library at such 
times. 



It is to be regretted that no mortuary record of the 
bench and bar has been preserved during the first 
century of the county. Men of I'emarkable character 
aud ability have attained professional eminence, en- 
joyed 2)ublic confidence and the esteem of the com- 
munity in which they lived and died, with nothing 
but their names on record to recall their lives and 
usefulness. Tliis seems to be true of James Morris, 
James Biddle and John D. Coxe, all of whom were 
president judges of the county prior to 1804. Among 
the early members of the bar who filled a conspicuous 
place was Levi Pawling, Esq., admitted to practice 
in November, 1785. He rose to ]irominence and en- 
joyed a large practice in the courts of the county. 
He was a public-spirited man and contributed liber- 
ally to the early business enterprises of Norristown. 
Nathan R. Potts, Esq., was admitted August 14, 1804. 
He is spoken of as an "old-time gentleman," who 
dressed in the costume of Continental days and re- 
tained the "cue" to the time of his death. He was 
distinguished as a jiraclitioner in the Orjjhans' Court 
of this county and in Pliiladelphia. He was one of 
the examiners of John H. Hobart, Esq., the present 
senior member of the bar. Philij) S. Markley, Esq., 
admitted to the bar November 18, 1810, was a promi- 
nent character in the profession, and, we believe, the 
only member of the bar of this county who filled the 
olhce of attorney-general of the State. While in this 
office he appointed John H. Sheetz, Esq., his deputy 
attorney -general for Montgomerj' County. He is said 
to have been an able lawyer, always taking a lively 
interest in public affairs. 

John Henderson, Esq., admitted 1815, and Francis 
M. Jolly, Esq., admitted May 14, 1822, were among 
the exceptionally brilliant men in the early history of 
the bar. Their names are found associated with a 
great number of cases brought for trial and tried in 
their day. These two men were frequently associated 
together in the trial of causes, making a strong com- 
bination in both the civil and criminal courts. Both 
had rare social qualities, genial in comjianionship, and 
alike convival in their haliits. 



"Any pel-son mutilating or otherwise injuring a book belonging to 
the library, or refusing to return the same at the expiration of the time 
during which he is allowed by these rules to retain it, shall reimburse the 
library fur such injuiy. 

"All pel-sons taking out books shall notify the librarian, who shaU 
keep a register of the books so taken, and shall see that they are properly 
returned. 

"No book shall be taken out of the borough of Norristown. 

"The librarian shall promptly report to tlie sub-committee on books 
any person whom he shall detect mutilating or injuring any book be- 
longing to the library. 

"Gentlemen are particularly requested not to turn down leaves, to 
mark places, or to mark the books with pencil. 

" B. M. BovER, 1 

President Judge, 
" Joseph Fornance, 
" Neville D. Tysons, 
" He.vrv R. Brown, 
" Louis M. Ohilds, i 
" Nathanial J,ACOBV, Librarian. 
" Charles T. Miller, Treainrer," 



Voinmiltee. 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



545 



Among the prominent members of a later genera- 
tion we notice Philip Kendall, Esq., admitted August 
22, 182(3 ; Benjamin F. Haneook, Esq., admitted 
August 19, 1828 ; William and Benjamin Powel, Esq., 
admitted August 15, 1821, and January 20, 1830, 
respectively ; James M. Pawling, Esq., admitted 
November 22, 1831 ; John B. Sterigcre, Esq., admitted 
November 17, 1829; and Daniel H. Mulvany, Esq., 
admitted April 12, 1831. Mr. Sterigere came to the 
bar in the thirty-sixth year of his age ; he was com- 
missioned a justice of the peace byGovernor Findlay 
in 1818. When twenty-five years of age, three years 
later, he was elected to the State Legislature ; in 1826 
he was elected to Congress, and while there com- 
pleted his studies, and was admitted to the bar at the 
time above stated. He acquired a large practice, and 
took rank with the best lawyers at the bar. His in- 
dustry and force of character won for him admiring 
friends ; being self-cultured in youth, his continuous 
habits of study made him among the most self-reliant 
and aggressive members of the profession. 

John S. McFarland, Esq. — At a meeting of the 
bar of Montgomery County, held at the house of Mrs. 
Ann Webb, in Norristown, Tuesday, March 17, 183.5, 
John Freedley, Esq., was called to the chair and 
Thomas M. Jolly, Esq., was appointed secretary. On 
motion, the following preamble and resolutions were 
unanimously adopted: 

*' ]Vltereua, We have learned witli the deepest regret of the death 
of our esteemed friend and fellow-meniher, John McFarland, Esq., 
whose urbanity of manner, amiablenesa of dispo-sition and sterling in- 
tegrity, obtaining for him while living the esteem, respect and regard of 
his numerous acquaintances, and the confidence of his profession, will 
leave his memory vividly impressed upon the minds of those who, from 
intercourse with him, could appreciate the qualities which adorned his 
character ; 

"RiBi'lved, That w-e deeply commiserate with the kindred of the de- 
ceased the dispensation which has deprived them of an affectionate 
relative and society of a valuable member. 

" Raiolveil^ That we will attend the funeral of the deceased, and, as a 
testimonial of our respect for his memory, will wear crape on the left 
arm for the period of thirty days. 

"John FREEnLEY, Chairman, 
"Thomas M. Jolly, Secrelury,'^ 

John Freedley, Esq., was admitted to the bar 
August l(i, 1820. As a lawyer he was clear, concise 
and logical in argument, a close rea.soner and apt in 
seizing and presenting the strong points of a ease. 
While but little of an orator, deficient in fancy and 
totally devoid of sentimentality, his sympathy with 
suffering and distress,' joined with his great knowledge 

1 The following incident in the life of John Freedley as a lawyer came to 
the knowledge of the writer as counsel in the estate of Sarah Holstein, 
late widow of ^[atthias Holstein, deceased. Matthias Holstein was in 
his lifetime the owner of valuable real estiite in the borough of Norris- 
town. Misfortune overtook him and all his property was seized by the 
Bheriff and sold. John Freedley became the purchaser of it, and upon the 
death of Mr. Holstein he conveyed to his widow, without consideration, a 
portion of the real estate, which, when subsequently converted into 
money, enabled the good lady to live comfortably and pleasantly through 
her long widowhood. This act of Mr. Freedley was prompted by un- 
selfish and humane considerations, without publicity at the time, doubt- 
less intending that his generosity should renuiiu unknown to the world 
during the lifetime of the beneficiary. 

3.5 



of human nature, rendered him powerful as an advo- 
cate and skillful and successful in guiding the minds 
of a jury. 

Francis Dimond, Esq., was of Irish parentage, 
and received a liberal education in his youth before 
coming to this country. He was first known in Mont- 
gomery County about 1830-31. He was a teacher in 
the public schools and taught for some j'ears in 
Plymouth township, wdiere he became intimately ac- 
quainted with Dr. Hiram Corson, then a young prac- 
tioner, and who, with his brothers, became warmly 
attached to him. Mr. Dimond was a cultured gen- 
tleman, and evinced a fondness for professional life. 
He became a student-at-law with Daniel Mulvany, 
Esq., about 1837, and was admitted to the bar in 
1839. He had admiring friends, and by some was es- 
teemed a public speaker of more than ordinary abil- 
ity. He was scholarly and known to have a fondness 
tor literary pursuits that in some degree unfitted him 
for the hard and methodical work of the successful 
practitioner at the bar. He remained at the bar of 
Montgomery County for some years after his admis- 
sion, then went to Philadelphia. He subsequently, 
about 1843, went to the western part of the State and 
was accidentally drowned near the Alleghany Moun- 
tains. 

Joseph Forxaxce, Esq., was admitted to the bar 
August 21, 1832, in the twenty-eighth year of his 
age. Like many of his professional colleagues, he 
had previously taught school for several years in the 
county, and brought with him to his new calling a 
knowledge of human character and a degree of wis- 
dom, resulting from experience, that served him a 
valuable purpose in early acquiring a large and 
responsible practice. 

Mr. Fornance was a safe adviser, deliberate, thorough 
and painstaking in the preparation of his cases for 
trial, and in the presence of court and jury his man- 
ner was earnest and forcible. A juror who served in 
the trial of a cause in which he was concerned as 
counsel for the commonwealth in 1848, thirty-six 
years ago, and who still survive.s, describes the case 
and his impressions of the man as follows : " The 
prisoner was indicted for arson ; the evidence pointed 
to the guilt of the defendant. The defense was ably 
conducted, and when the court adjourned for dinner 
there was a well-understood impression, shared by all, 
that the prisoner was guilty of the offense charged. 
Upon the reassembling of the court Mr. Fornance re- 
capitulated the facts of the case and reviewed that 
portion of the testimony indicating the possible guilt 
of the accused, seeming to comprehend our difficulty, 
and in less than ten minutes made it appear perfectly 
clear that the prisoner was innocent, and we so 
found." 

The lasting impression made upon this juror's mind 
by the success of the counsel is a fair illustration of his 
forensic ability and his aptitude in seizing upon the 
vital point in the case. The strong points in the profes- 



546 



HlSTOllV 01' MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



sional character of Mr. Foruauce were his thorough 
knowledge ot'humiiii nature, his comprehension of that 
which was necessary to be done and tliat unnecessary 
to do, with a courage to Ijeconie aggressive in press- 
ing an advantage fairly obtained, and a judicial sense 
of moderation that rendered him as prudent in coun- 
sel as he was sagacious and forcible in court. 

Mr. Fornance was a student of the Hon. Philip S. 
Markley, was elected to the State Legislature in 1834, 
and represented his district in Congress from 1838 to 
1842. He died November 24, 1852, in the forty- 
eighth year of his age. 

Daniel H. Mulvany, Esq , was admitted to the 
bar April 11, 1831. He had previously finished his 
academic training in the city of Reading, and read 
law for one year in the office of A. L. King, Esq., of 
that city. He returned to Montgomery County in 
1829, and concluded his legal studies with Hon. 
Philip Kendall. He subsequently became associated 
with the Hon. John Freedley, who at that time 
enjoyed a very large practice in the civil courts of 
the county. In 1835, Mr. Mulvany retired from the 
office of Mr. Freedley and entered upon a professional 
career, the history of which entitles him to be ranked 
among the most distinguished lawyers of the State. 
In 1836 he was appointed deputy attorney-general 
for Montgomery County by William B. Heed, then 
attorney-general under Governor Ritner. He entered 
upon the duties of the office with zeal and industry. 
One of the most notable cases found upon the records 
of our criminal courts occurred during his incum- 
bency of the office, i.e., the Commonwealth vs. 
Joseph Ogleby, Jr., John West l>evins, John Naglee, 
Jr., Ormes B. Keith and Herman Houpt. These men 
were all indicted for the murder of George Willauer. 
The case is better known as the " trial of the 
engineers," who, while surveying the route of a pro- 
jected line of railroad along the Perkiomen, became 
engaged in a fraciis at the hotel of John Hartranft, 
Sumncytown, which resulted in the stabbing and 
death of Willauer. The commonwealth was repre- 
sented by Daniel H. Mulvany, deiuity attorney- 
general, Philip Kendall, Esq., and James M. Pawling, 
Esq. The defendants were represented by John 
Freedley, Francis M. Jolly and John B. Sterigere, 
Esqs., of the Montgomery County bar ; Dallas and 
Hazelhurst, of the Philadelphia bar ; and Miles and 
Montgomery, of the Lancaster bar. The case was 
tried before Judge Fox, whose charge to the jury is 
reported in full in the Norridown Begister of Maroli 
30, 1836, together with brief notes of the trial.^ 

While Mr. Mulvany served the office well and with 
distinction, the office served him in extending his 



'The following gentlemen were drawn as jnrynicn : .I.icob VVentz, 
Thomu.'* Reed, George Pecliin, Isaac Slather, Al'raliam Marple, Joseph 
Kirldier, Bcneville Bortolet, James Wells, Jacob Stadloman, .Tames 
Wood, John Kighter, Samuel P. Wetherill. Before proceeding to the 
trial the court, on application of counsel for the defendants, made an 
onler " excluding all the witnesses for the prosecution from the court- 
house till they were examined." 



reputation as a lawyer, bringing him a clientage from 
all parts of the county, with professional engage- 
ments more important in the civil than in the crimi- 
nal courts. Mr. Mulvany was one of the most self- 
possessed, ingenious and jilausible lawyers of his 
generation. Of him it has been said that " during 
the forty years of his professional life he was never, in 
any forensic tilt, betrayed into discourtesy to an oppo- 
nent, but was ever the gentleman." He was fertile 
in methods and always pleasing in his manner when 
examining witnesses. He had few equals in power 
and influence with juries ; he was persuasive and 
logical, with an elegance of diction that always 
secured the attention of his auditors, and often moved 
their impulses and sympathies before he reached their 
judgments or appealed to their reason. He was cer- 
tainly devoted to his profession, and we believe his 
highest ambition was to be deservedly classed among 
the ablest lawyers of his generation. He was excep- 
tionally Considerate to the junior members of the bar 
under all circumstances, and sincerely rejoiced to see 
them rise to the same sphere of influence and useful- 
ness he enjoyed in his last days as an active prac- 
titioner. While he always manifested the interest of 
a public-spirited citizen in the affairs of his country, 
he was not a partisan who sought political favors. As 
an orator his services were required and freely given 
in emergencies to the jxilitical party of his choice, 
and in his last days, when Rebellion reached its 
greatest possibilities and rolled its tide of invasion 
over the hills of his native State, he was among the 
first and most gallant of his countrymen to tender 
his services and endure the hardships and peril asso- 
ciated with the life of a soldier.' He died May 18, 
1873. 

Hesky W. Bonball, Esq., was admitted to the 
bar August 9, 1853. He was a self-made man and 
came into professional life with the confidence of a 
large circle of friends. Although self-reliant and 
eloquent as a speaker, commanding an easy flow of 
language, he was disinclined to engage in public dis- 
cussion when he could consistently avoid it. He 
acquired an office practice, and devoted himself so 
closely to its duties that his health became impaired. 
A change of pursuit was recommended by his friends. 
He jjreferred entering the army, and proposed doing 
so as early as 1862. It was ap])arent to his compan- 
ions that he could not endure the hardships and ex- 
perience incident to service in the field. He was 
appointed a lieutenant in the commissary depart- 
ment and assigned to duty in Washington City. The 
change in life and pursuits was without beneficial 
results, and he never recovered the measure of health 
and strength necessary to the successful prosecution 
of the professional life he faithfully prepared for, 
and to which he was conscientiously devoted. Mr. 
Bonsall was remarkable for his self-possession and 

1 Captain Daniel H. Mulvany, Chapter XVI., " The Great Kobellion.'* 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



547 



pleasing address under the most trving circum- 
stances. 

He died September 5, 1866. 

Enoch A. Banks, Esq., was admitted to tlie bar 
August 20, 1855. He was a bright student, was care- 
fully prepared for professional life, and had the 
natural powers of a fluent, vigorous and eloquent 
speaker. His positive and aggressive temperament 
carried him to the most exciting field of the profes- 
sion, and his earliest and most successful practice was 
acquired in the criminal courts. His career was a 
brilliant one and inspired public confidence. He was 
elected district attorney in the year 1862, and dis- 
charged the duties of his office with marked credit to 
himself and the commonwealth. He was popular as 
an orator, and his services were sought for and freely 
given on all proper occasions. He was genial in 
companionship, generous and confiding and highly 
esteemed by the members of the bar and the judges 
of the courts in which he practiced. He died June, 
1867. 

John R. Breitenbach, E.sq., was admitted to the 
bar February 21, 1843. He enjoyed the reputation 
of being a conscientious adviser, and possessed the 
power of obtaining from willing and unwilling wit- 
nesses "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but 
the truth." We remember an instance that fully 
illustrates this prominent characteristic of the man. 
It occurred during the last years of his professional 
life, and, as the jjarties concerned are, in all jjroba- 
biliity, still living, names are omitted. The case was 
on trial before the jury, Judge Henry P. Ross pre- 
siding. The witness had been examined in chief for 
the defense, and told what Mr. Breitenbach believed 
and knew to be false. The witness appeared to be 
intelligent, reasonable and truthful, but when sub- 
jected to the crucial test of a cross-examination, as 
conducted by Mr. Breitenbach, he was forced to make 
tlie open acknowledgment that he swore to that which 
he knew to be false. It was a victory for the counsel 
and for the right. Mr. Breitenbach was small of 
stature, but was commanding in his address to lioth 
court and jury. His service to the country wa.s pa- 
triotic. He commanded Company G, One Hundred 
and Sixth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, was 
])romoted to major July 8, 1864, and subsequently 
breveted lieutenant-colonel for meritorious services. 
Upon his return to civil life he was apjiointed col- 
lector of internal revenue for this district, and fulfilled 
his public trust with fidelity to the government. He 
died in 1870. 

Joseph L. Allabodgh, Esq., was admitted to the 
bar April 11, 1855. He early acquired a lucrative 
practice in the Orphans' Court and Court of Common 
Pleas of ^Montgomery County. He rarely engaged in 
the trial of cases in the criminal courts. He was clear 
and forcilile in the statement of tacts, and relied upon 
conclusions of law in presenting his case to the court 
or jury. He deservedly enjoyed the reputation of 



presenting the most carefully-prepared papers filed 
in the several courts in which he practiced. Those 
having occasion to refer to his reports as auditor — ■ 
prEecipes, petitions and miscellaneous proceedings — 
will readily perceive the neatness practiced in the 
execution of his professional labors. He was fond of 
recreation, and sought exercise and pastime in search 
of game in common with the sportsmen of the county. 
He enjoyed the confidence of the legal profession, and 
his opinions within the line of practice were always 
received with respect by the court. He was solicitor 
for the board of county commissionera for the year 
1873, and died September 20, 1881. 

Henry Livezey, Esq., was admitted to the bar 
November 10, 1869. He was a gentleman of more 
than ordinary ability, and was among the most suc- 
cessful young practitioners who entered the profession 
in this county. His brief career gave promise of an 
honorable and usefiil life in a calling of his own 
choice, for which he seems to have been admirably 
adapted. Mr. Livezey died in 1873, highly esteemed 
and sincerely lamented by the prol'ession. 

Charles Henry Garber, Est;., was born at Gar- 
wood, near Trapi)e, Montgomery Co., Pa., July 30, 
1823. After obtaining the advantages of the common 
schools of the county, he completed his education at 
Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pa.; studied law 
in the office of Addison May, Esq., at Norristown, and 
was admitted to the bar. Mr. Garber was elected 
burgess of Norristown. He was a school director in 
the borough for twenty years. He held the office of 
secretary of various local corporations, and was an 
assistant assessor of internal revenue under the ad- 
ministration of President Johnson. Mr. Garber was 
of a retiring disposition, and throughout his profes- 
sional career evinced a fondness for literary pursuits. 
He died at Norristown, Pa., November !•, 1882. 

John Heney Hobart. — The progenitor of the Ho- 
bart family in America, Edmund Hobart,- removed 
from the village of Hingham, county of Norfolk, Eng- 
land, to the United States in 1683, his religious views 
as a " Dissenter " having influenced his removal 
hither. He settled in Hingham, Mass., of which town 
he was one of the founders, and represented his dis- 
trict for a succession of yeare in the State Legislature. 
He had four sons — Edmund, Peter, Thomas and 
Joshua — and two daughters, — Rebecca and Sarah. 
Joshua Hobart, the youngest of these sons, was, in 
1674, Speaker of the House of Deputies of M;issa- 
chusetts, and possessed considerable influence in 
civil and military affairs. His son, John Hobart, re- 
moved to Pennsylvania, married into a Swedish 
family and settled in Kensington, now a part of 
Philadelphia, having be.en extensively engaged in 
the West India trade. His son, Capt. Enoch Hobart, 
the grandfather of the subject of this biogra])hy, was 
also engaged in the same trade and was commander of a 
merchant shij). He married Hannah Pratt, and had 
three sons and six daughters, of whom Robert Enoch 



548 



HISTORY OF MOxNTGOMERY COUNTY. 



born April 25, 1768, resided for many years in 
Philadelphia, and subsequently removed to Potts- 
town. Another son, John Henry, became the dis- 
tinguished bishop of the Episcopal Church and the 
great champion of American Episcopacy. Robert 
Enocli married Sarah May, daughter of Samuel Potts, 
and had children,— Nathaniel P., Robert E., .John 
Henry, Anna P., Sarah P., Rebecca, Mary and Eliza- 
beth, — of whom the only survivor, John Henry, was 
born March 15, 1810, in Philadelphia. When a 
child he removed with his father to Pottstown, where 
he became a pupil of the village school, and later in 



which has since been his place of residence. He was, 
in 1837, married to Mary J., daughter of William 
Mintzer, of Pottstown, whose death occurred in 1858. 
To this union were born children, — Robert Enoch 
(deceased), William Mintzer, David Potts, John Henry 
(deceased), and two who died in infancy. Gen. Hobart, 
as a Democrat, cast his first vote for Andrew Jackson. 
He was appointed in 1847 deputy attorney-general 
of the county of Montgomery, and in 185.3 was elected 
district attorney, though during his long period of 
practice his abilities found an attractive field of labor 
in the Orphans' Court. He has also filled the positions 





Reading pursued his studies under Rev. John Grier. 
He then entered a military school near Germantown, 
and at the expiration of the second year was enrolled 
among the cadets at West Point, from which institu- 
tion he resigned at the age of twenty-one, and re- 
moving to Norristown, entered the oflSce of Daniel 
H. Mulvany as a student of law. Two years later, 
at the May term of 1836, he was admitted to the bar, 
and at once began practice in Norristown, where he 
continued actively employed until 1856, when Potts- 
town became his home. Gen. Hobart having, in 1877, 
after a protracted career at the bar, retired from the 
active labor of the profession, returned to Norristown, 



of burgess, member of the Town Council and member 
of the school board of Norristown. He is a member 
of the Masonic fraternity and connected withStichter 
Lodge, No. 254, of Pottstown, in which he has attained 
the rank of Past Master. Gen. Hobart is identified 
with the Protestant Episcopal Church, and a mem- 
ber of Christ Church of that denomination in Pott8- 
town. 

Henry Freedley, the elder, was born February 
4, 1815 ; he studied law in the office of John Freedley, 
and was admitted to the baron the 16th day of August, 
18.36. He began the practice of the law in connection 
with John Freedley.and on his retirement succeeded to 



THE BENCH AND BAK. 



549 



Ids practice. In 1S53, owing to ill health, he retired from 
jiractice. Althougli Mr. Freedley was in active prac- 
tice but a .short period, he rose to deserved prominence 
at the bar, and enjoyed a large practice at the date of 
liis retirement. He was at the time counsel for the 
Philadelphia and Norristown Railroad Company and 
also for the company who developed and operated the 
Ecton copper-mines, on the Perkiomen. 

Gilbert Rod.man Fox, now the senior member of 
the Montgomery bar in active practice, was born at 
Doylestown, Bucks Co., Pa., March 27, 1817. His 



clerk of the District Court of the United States for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and resigned the 
office April 19, 1875. During his term of office he 
continued to reside in Noi-ristown, where he has since 
remained in active practice until the present time. 
Mr. Fox is remarkably self-possessed, scholarly and 
courteous in his address, and deservedly enjoys the 
reputation of being one of the best equity lawyers in 
the State. 

James Boyd in 1836 removed to Montgomery 
County, and in August, 1838, began the study of law 




C^^i>5»Z^U2 A%^.;^?* 



father was ,Tohn Fox, for some years president judge 
of the Seventh Judicial District. His mother was Mar- 
gery Rodman, daughter of (Jilbert Rodman, of 
Edington, Bucks Co. He graduated at Princeton 
College in June, 1835 ; received his diploma as Master 
of Arts in 1837 ; admitted to the bar of Bucks County j 
in September, 1838 ; removed to Norristown and was ' 
admitted in Montgomery County November 10th of ] 
the same year. In 1839 he was appointed by the 1 
attorney-general, Ovid F. Johnson, deputy for the f 
founty of Montgomery, and continued in that office 
about six years. In January, 1860, he was appointed > 



with Daniel H. Mulvany, and was admitted to the bar 
in August, 18-12. Mr. Boyd's legal attainments speed- 
ily enabled him to estal)lish a successful general prac- 
tice, and caused him to be retained in leading cases in 
all the courts of the county. He has seldom per- 
mitted any outside issues to divert him from the 
labors of his profession, in which he is still actively 
engaged. He was, in 184ii, married to Mi.ss Sarah, 
daughter of the late Samuel Jamison, an extensive 
manufacturer of Norristown. Their children are 
Robert, who died at the age of five years ; Wallace 
J., who was elected to the Legislature in No- 



550 



HISTORY 0¥ MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



veinber, 1881, and died the following month ; and 
Howard. 

The death of Mrs. Boyd occurred in September, 
1876. Mr. Boyd is identified, either professionally or 
in an official capacity, with many corporations. He 
has been since 1856 counsel for the Reading Railroad, 
is president of the Stony Creek and Philadelphia Rail- 
road, and tills the same position in connection with 
the Perkiomen Railroad and the Newtown and New 
York Railroad. He is also president of the Norristown 
Water Company, the Norristown Bridge Company, 
the Norristown Gas Company and the Montgomery 
Cemetery Company, and otherwise connected with 
bank and trust companies. Sir. Boyd was early a Whig 
in his political predilections, and continued until 18.56 
to affiliate with that party. The anti-slavery issue 
of the period caused him to cast his vote with the 
Democracy. He was elected a member of the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1873, and participated ac- 
tively in its proceedings. He also filled the office 
of burgess of Norristown during the years of 1844 
and 1845, but aside from this has devoted his time 
exclusively to his profession. 

Benjamin E. Chain, now one of the senior and 
leading members of the bar of Montgomery County, 
was a son of John Chain, and was born at Norristown 
on the 15th of October, 1823. His education was 
commenced in the public schools of his native town, 
continued through a course of study in the Norris- 
town Academy, of which Eliphalet Roberts was 
then the principal, and afterwards pursued at the 
seminary of Messrs. Hugh and Sanuiel Hamill, at 
Lawrenceville, N. J., where he was prepared for a col- 
legiate course. In 1839 he entered Jefferson College, 
at Canonsburg, Washington County, Pa., where he 
graduated in the year 1842. He then returned to his 
native county, and commenced the study of law under 
the preceptorship of G. Rodman Fox, of Norristown. 
About the end of the year 1843 he removed to Easton, 
Pa., and there continued his law studies in the office 
of Hon. James M. Porter until the fall of 1844. In 
November of that year he was admitted to the bar; 
on the 22d of the same month he was enrolled as a 
practitioner in the courts of Montgomery County, and 
immediately afterwards located at Norristown, where 
he has remained, actively and prominently engaged 
in the practice of his profession, to the present 
time. 

In 1850, Mr. Chain was elected district attorney, 
being the first who held that office by election. Prior 
to the secession of the Southern States, and the com- 
mencement by them of armed resistance to the laws, he 
had been a prominent member of the Democratic party. 
During the great civil war of 1861-65 he was unwav- 
ering in his support of the government in its efforts to 
suppress the Rebellion, and in the campaign of Gettys- 
burg, when the Confederate army under General Lee 
was marching to the invasion of Pennsylvania, he 
volunteered for service in the ranks of his countrv's 



defenders. Since the close of the war he has not taken 
any jiroinineiit part in politics. He is one of the most 
public spirited men of Montgomery County, and has 
contributed much to the advancement and prosperity of 
his native town. He was one of the corjjorators of the 
gas company of Norristown, and its president for a 
number of years. He was one of the founders of the 
First National Bank of Norristown, and ha.s been a 
director in that institution from its establishment to 
the present time. He is now, and has been for sev- 
eral years, senior warden of St. John's Episcopal 
Church at Norristown. 

Henry A. Stevens, son of John Stevens, was boru 
in 1827 at Pittsburgh, Pa., where his father was then 
temporarily residing while acting on a government 
commission ajipointed for surveying the channel of 
the Ohio River. The son, Henry A., commenced a 
preparatory course of study at a very early age, and 
afterwards entered Rutgers College, where he com- 
pleted his education. He then studied law in Phila- 
delphia, where he was duly admitted to the bar and 
commenced practice. In October, 1848, he was ad- 
mitted to practice in the Montgomery County courts, 
where he then had occasion to act as counsel for 
some of his Philadelphia clients. Under the admin- 
istration of President Pierce (while he was yet a 
resident of Philadeli)hia) he was offered the appoint- 
ment of charge d'affaires at Caracas, Venezuela, upon 
the strong and flattering recommendation of some of 
the most prominent public men of Pennsylvania. He, 
however, declined the appointment, believing that 
his health would not withstand the severe ordeal of 
the South American climate. In 1857 he relin- 
quished practice in Philadelphia and removed to 
Whitemarsh township, Montgomery Co., whence, in 
1868, he removed to Norristown, and has remained 
there in practice until the present time. In Phila- 
delphia Mr. Stevens wa,s for about six years solicitor 
for the Emigrant Association of that city. He was also 
one of the original members of the Glenwood Ceme- 
tery Association, and for a long time its solicitor, being 
succeeded in that position by Hon. William D. 
Baker. 

George W. Rogers. — William Charles Rogers, 
the grandfather of the subject of this biographical 
sketch, and the son of David Rogers, M.D., of Con- 
necticut, and his wife, Susan Tenant, was born in the 
latter State in 1776. He removed, when a young 
man, to Philadelphia, and there married, in 1796, 
Mary, daughter of Jacob Hiltzheimer, to whom were 
born nine children. Mr. Rogers ultimately settled in 
Warrington, Bucks Co., Pa., as a farmer. He served 
in the war of 1812 as brigade major, and was for 
many years a justice of the peace. David Rogers, 
the third son of William C. and Mary Rogers, was 
born in Bucks County, Pa., November 5, 1800, and in 
1828 married Cynthia Watson, daughter of Benjamin 
and Hannah JIcKinstry Watson, the former of whom 
achieved a brilliant record in the war of the Revolu- 




■"^^y/J^^ 




THE BENCH AND BAR. 



551 



tion. The children of David and Cynthia Rogers 
were George W., William C. and Mary H. The 
eldest of these, George W., was born June 15, 1829, 
in Warrington township, Bucks Co., and in 1830 
removed with his father to Montgomery County. He 
received instruction at a private school in his na- 
tive county, and subsequently engaged in teaching. 
He determined to follow a professional career, and 
choosing that of the law, in January, 1852, entered 
the office of Joseph Fornance, of Norristown, whose 
death occurred in November of the same year, when 



sentenced to be hung, and the sentence afterwards, 
commuted. Mr. Rogers was, as a Democrat, formerly 
active in the field of politics, and on the year of his ad- 
mission to the bar was elected burgess of the borough. 
In 1856 he was made district attorney for the term, 
of three years. His religious associations are with 
the First Presbyterian Church of Norristown, of 
which he is a member and one of the board of trus- 
tees. He has also been for many years superinten- 
dent of its Sabbath-school. Mr. Rogers is an active 
Mason and member of Charity Lodge, No. 190, a.* 




he became a student of Hon. David Krause. He was 
admitted to the bar in January, 1854, and has since 
been actively engaged in the practice of his profes- 
sion in Norristown. Mr. Rogers was married, on the 
1st of July, 1858, to Cara C, only daughter of Jesse and 
Mary Bean, of Norristown. Their children are Cara, 
David Ogden, Austin (deceased), and Jesse B., of 
whom David Ogden was admitted to the bar in 1883, 
and is now engaged in practice with his father. The 
legal attainments of Mr. Rogers early secured for 
him an extensive clientage, his most signal success 
having been won in the defense of Blasius Pistorius, 
who was, on the conclusion of his trial for murder. 



also of the Hutchinson Commandery, of Norris- 
town. 

Charles T. Miller. — Isaac H. Miller, father of 
Charles T. Miller, resided in Norristown where he 
was a carriage manufacturer. He married Eliza 
Rambo, and had children, — Catherine, Charles T. 
and Jane. Charles T. was born January 22, 1832, iu 
Norristown, the scene of his youthful experiences and 
later of his business career. His first educational 
advantages were obtained at the public school, after 
which he became a pupil of the Treemount Seminary, 
of which Rev. Samuel Aaron was principal. At the 
age of nineteen he entered the junior class of 1851 



552 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



at Brown University, from whicli he graduated 
in 1853. Choosing tlie hiw as a profession, he be- 
gan its study in the office of B. Marlvley Boyer, 
of Norristowu, and was admitted to tlie bar on the 
22d of August, 1855. Mr. Miller began his profes- 
sional career in his native town, and has since con- 
tinued a successful practice of a general character. 
Mr. Miller was married to Lydia, eldest daughter of 
John R. and Elizabeth W. Supplee, of Lower Merion 
township, Montgomery Co. A Republican in poli- 
tics, he has been devoted to his profession and found 
little leisure for participation in the political issues of 
the (hiy. He was, however, elected and served a 
term as burgess of the borough of Norristown. He 
is secretary of the Norristown Gas Company and 
one of the directors of the Norristown Water Com- 
pany. His religious belief is in harmony with the 
creed of tlie Protestant Episcojial Church. 

Geoe«e N. Corsos was born March 11, 1833, on 
his father's farm, at the mouth of the Skippack, on 
the Perkiomen, in Lower Providence township, 
Montgomery Co. He was reared on the farm. His 
education was almost entirely self-attained, his 
scholastic life being exceedingly brief. A few weeks 
of one winter were spent under tlie tuition of the 
Rev. Samuel Aaron, at Treemount Seminary, Norris- 
town, and subsc<iucntly he attended Freeland Semi- 
nary, in Upper Providence, then in the charge of A. 
Hunsicker and J. W. Sunderland. His other 
schooling was obtained at tlie Level School, a mile 
from his home. From 1850 to 1853 he taught school 
at various places in the county. December 5, 1853, 
he commenced the study of law with Hon. James 
Boyd at Norristown. August 21, 185(5, he was ad- 
mitted to the bar. His committee of examination 
consisted of the late Judge Krause, the present 
Judge Boyer, Thomas P. Potts, Esq., and the then 
presiding judge, Hon. D. M. Smyser. September 29, 
1859, he was married to Maria, daughter of Alfred 
Hurst, Esq., of Norristown. Until April 1, 1872, he 
occupied the old law-office formerly used by Hon. John 
B. Sterigere. April 20, 1861, he enlisted as a private 
soldier under the very first call made by President 
Lincoln for troops to subdue tlie Rebellion. At the 
expiration of his term of service he returned to his 
law practice in Norristowu. He was always a Re- 
publican, taking an active part for Fremont in 1856, 
and for Lincoln, Grant, Hayes, Garfield and Blaine, 
respectively. In 1869 he w'as the Republican candi- 
date of Bucks and Jlontgomery Counties for addi- 
tional law .judge. In 1862 he was appointed notary 
public liy Governor Curtin. At that time there were 
but two notaries in Norristown. In 1867 he was ap- 
pointed by Chief Justice Chase register in bank- 
ruptcy for Montgomery and Leliigli Counties. In tliat 
position he adjudged millions of dollars of property, 
and his decisions as register were in no case reversed. 
In 1872 he was elected a delegate to the State Consti- 
tutional Convention, in which body betook prominent 



part in del)ates on many important subjects, notably 
those of trial by jury and the election of judges. 

Charle.s Hunsicker. — Mr. Hunsicker's ances- 
tors first settled on the Perkiomen, in Montgomery 
County. His grandfather, John Hunsicker, was an 
extensive land-owner and farmer in Upper Provi- 
dence township, as also a Mennonite jn-eacher. His 
children were J()sepli, Henry D., Garret and three 
daughters. Josejjh was born May 29, 1798; was a 
native of Montgomery County, where he pursued liis 
business career both as a farmer and a lumber mer- 
chant. He married Elizabeth Meyer, of the same 
county, whose children were John M., Samuel, 
Joseph W., Anna E. (Mrs. J. A. Henkels), Davis and 
Charles. Mr. Hunsicker enjoyed the advantages of 
a thorough English education, and by his intelligence 
obtained a position of commanding influence in the 
county, which he represented for a term as associate 
judge. His death occurred December 1, 1870. His 
son Charles was born in Upper Providence township 
on the 26tli of October, 1835, and at the age of four- 
teen became a pupil of Washington Hall, at the 
Trappe, and later of the Freeland Seminary. Before 
attaining his sixteenth yearhe entered the sophomore 
class of Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., and grad- 
uated at the age of nineteen. Choosing the law as a 
profession, he entered the office of Hon. James Boyd, 
of Norristown, and was admitted to practice in 
August, 1857. Choosing Norristown as an advan- 
tageous field of labor, he rapidly rose to a leading 
position at the bar, his ability and legal acumen se- 
curing a successful and lucrative 2>i"rtctice, whicli, 
from preference rather than any other circumstance, 
is ]irincipally confined within the limits of the county. 
Mr. Hunsicker was married, on the 13tliof June, 1865, 
to Miss Maggie, daughter of General William Schall, 
of Norristown, to whom were born two sons — Edwin S., 
now a student in Union College, and James R., who is 
pursuing a preparatory course at the Hill School, 
at Pottstown. Jlr. Hunsicker entered the service 
during the war of the Rebellion as adjutant of the 
Fourtli Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served on two 
occasions with the rank of lieutenant in addition to 
the emergency period. He was, as a Democrat, in 
1865, elected district attorney of the county of Mont- 
gomery for a term of three years, and chosen as 
delegate to the Constitutional Convention at Philadel- 
phia in 1873, taking a prominent part in the pro- 
ceedings of that memorable body. He introduced a 
section providing for the review of criminal trials by 
the Supreme Court of the State, which, although de- 
feated in the convention, was subsequently made a 
law by the Legislature. He is one of the trustees of 
the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and has been 
honored with various other official positions. He 
was a delegate to the Democratic National Conven- 
tion held at Chicago in 1884, which nominated 
Grover Cleveland for the Presidency. Mr. Hunsicker's 




'''■SfoyAMSacchie 




/^ /^T^Z^^-Z.^ 



/( 






THE BENCH AND BAR. 



553 



religious affiliations are with the Reformed Church of 
Norristown, of which he is a member and was a for- 
mer trustee. 

Henry K. Weand, who has been in practice in 
Norristown for almost a quarter of a century, is a 
native of Montgomery County, born at Pottstown 
March 29, 1838. He received his education at the 
public schools of this county and Philadelphia, and 
at the Hill Seminary at Pottstown. He read law 
under the preceptorship of the Hon. B. M. Boy er, and 
was admitted to practice in April, 1860. During his 
residence and practice at Norristown he held the 
position of borough solicitor for a number of years, 
and of solicitor for the county two years. He is now 
solicitor for the sheriff of ^Montgomery County, and 
president of the school board of the Norristown 
District. He was counsel for the heirs who disputed 
the will of Letitia McClenachan, and succeeded in 
having it set aside. He was also attorney for the 
contestants in the argument before the Legislature, in 
1872, of the contesteJ election for judge of the 
Seventh Judicial District of Pennsylvania. During 
the war of the Rebellion he twice enlisted as a soldier, 
and served in the army until the close of the conflict- 
Afterwards he was appointed and served as judge 
advocate-general on the statl' of Governor Hartranft, 
with the rank of brigadier-general. 

Franklin March, now an attorney of nearly 
twenty-five years' practice in the courts of Mont" 
gomery County, was born at Lawrenceville, Chester 
Co., July 14, 1837. He was educated at Wash" 
ington Hall, at Freeland Seminary (now Ursinus 
College), at Pughtown Academy under Professor 
Phillijis, and at Millersville Nornuil School, gradu- 
ating from the latter in 18-'i7. He was then em- 
ployed in teaching and in the office of the collector 
of the Schuylkill Navigation Company until 1859, 
when he commenced the study of law at the State 
and National Law School, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 
where he remained one year, and finished his course 
<if study in the office of A. B. Longaker, at Norris- 
town. In August, 1860, he was admitted to the bar, 
and commenced practice at Norristown. He was 
elected burgess of the borough in 1862. Having an 
interest in the Limerick L-on Foundry, at Lawrence- 
ville, Chester Co., he removed in 1867 to that place, 
which has since been his residence, though .still 
practicing continuously at Norristown until the 
present time. 

Jacob R. Hunsicker was born in Lower Salford 
. township, Montgomery Co., April 18, 1836. His 
youth was passed on a farm in the township of Upper 
Providence. He was educated at Freeland Seminary, 
CoUegeville, and at Washington Hall, in the village 
of the Trappe. For a period of about five years after 
reaching the age of seventeen he taught school at 
Greenville and various other places in Montgomery 
County, and also at Roxborough, in Philadelphia. In 
April, 1858, he commence! the study of law with 



Charles Hunsicker, Esq., and was admitted to the 
bar in May, 1861, locating in the business of his pro- 
fession at Norristown, where he is now in practice. 
He has always taken an active interest in the im- 
provement of Norristown and has been instrumental 
in the organization of three building associations, as 
also of the Western Market Company, the Norris City 
Cemetery Association and the First National Bank of 
Conshohocken. 

George W. Bush is a native of Bridgeport, Mont- 
gomery Co., born June 11, 1840. In his youth he 
was a student at Treeraount Seminary (then under 
charge of the Rev. Samuel Aaron), where he remained 
until 1858. He then commenced reading law in the 
office of John R. Breitenbach, at Norristown, where he 
continued two years, and afterwards studied in the 
office of Daniel Dougherty, in Philadelphia, until his 
admission to the bar of thatcounty, in June, 1861. In 
the following August he was admitted in Montgomery 
County. The great civil war had commenced in that 
year, and he entered the military service : first in the 
Fourth (three months') Pennsylvania Regiment, and 
afterwards in the Anderson Troop, under the command 
of Captain William J. Palmer, serving under General 
Buell at headquarters Army of the Cumberland until 
he received an injury which temporarily disabled him 
for duty. Later he served in the quartermaster's 
department at Washington, D. C, and at Nashville, 
Tenn. In 1866 he located at Norristown in the prac- 
tice of his profession. In that and the following 
year he was solicitor for the borough of Norristown, 
and he held the office of district attorney for the term 
succeeding his election to that ])osition in 1868. 

Henry B. Dickinson, now a lawyer of more than 
twenty years' practice in Norristown, was a law stu- 
dent in the office of G. Rodman Fox, Esq., and was 
admitted to practice in Montgomery County in Novem- 
ber, 1863, soon after which time he commenced busi- 
ness as an attorney at the county-seat. Mr. Dickin- 
son is a native of Whitemarsh township, born April 
14, 1836. He was educated at Treemount Seminary, 
Norristown, under charge of the Rev. Samuel Aaron, 
and afterwards taught school in Gwyneddand Spring- 
field townships until the commencement of his law 
study, in 1861. On the 1st of July 1863, he enlisted 
in a military company under command of Captain B. 
jNI. Boyer (now president judge), which was a jiart of 
the emergency troops, called out to repel the inva- 
sion of the Confederate army then marching to the 
field of Gettysburg. This military service continued 
thirty-six days, when the emergency was past and 
the troops disbanded. Immediately after his admis- 
sion to the bar Mr. Dickinson commenced the busi- 
ness of his profession at Norristown, where he has 
remained in practice continuously to the present time. 
In the year 1880-81 he was solicitor for the board of 
commissioners of Montgomery County. One of the 
most important civil cases in his practice was that of 
A. S. Acuff rs. Oliver Wampole ujjon a parole con- 



554 



HISTORY OF MONTGOiMERY COUNTY. 



tract for the sale of real estate. The most important 
criminal case was that of the Commonwealth vs. 
Murphy et al. indicted for the murder of Thomas 
Faulkner, in which Mr. Dickinson was associated 
with the Hon. B. M. Boyer for the defendants. 

Miller D. Evans, son of William Evans, was 
born November 3, 1836, at Downingtown, Chester 
Co., where he received his rudimentary and academi- 
cal education. He .studied law in the office of Henry 
W. Smith at Reading. In November, 1864, he was 
admitted to the bar in Montgomery County, and 
located as an attorney at Pottstown, where he still 
remains in practice. He is solicitor for the borough 
of Pottstown, for the National Bank of Pottstown and 
for the Warwick Iron Company. 

Joseph Fornance, son of the Hon. Joseph For- 
nance, of Norristown, was born in April, 1841, in 
Washington, D. C, where his father was then residing 
as a member of Congress for the district embracing 
the county of Montgomery. Joseph Fornance, Jr., was 
educated at Treemount Seminary, Norristown, then 
under charge of the Rev. Samuel Aaron. After leav- 
ing that school he was engaged in teaching for several 
years, and in 1864 commenced reading law in the 
office of G. Rodman Fox, Esq. He was admitted to 
the bar in April, 1866, and from that time to the 
present has been engaged in the practice of his pro- 
fession at Norristown. 

Henry U. Brunner, son of Frederick Brunner, 
was born in Worcester township December 23, 1840. 
He received his preparatory education in the common 
schools and at the Trappe Academy, and in Septem- 
ber, 1860, entered Franklin and Marshall College, 
where he was graduated in July, 1864. He then be- 
came a teacher in the academy at Irwin Station, 
Westmoreland Co., Pa., where he remained about 
one year, reading law at the same time in the office 
of Gen. Henry D. Foster. He was admitted to prac- 
tice at Greensburg, Pa., in August, 1866, and in Sep- 
tember following was admitted in Montgomery 
County, and began practice in Norristown, in the 
same office which he still occupies. In the trial of 
Thomas F. Curley for the murder of Mary Ann 
Whitby, Mr. Brunner was counsel for the defense. 
Previously (October, 1871) he had been elected 
district attorney, and served for the term ending in 
January, 1875. 

Henry R. Brown, a native of Philadelphia, was 
born on the irith of December, 1844. Having 
received his preparatory education in the public and 
private schools of that city, he (in November, 1863) 
entered as a law-student the office of the Hon. Dan- 
iel M. Smyser, at Norristown, where, in Novem- 
ber, 1866, he was admitted to the bar, being soon 
afterwards admitted in Philadelphia, where he then 
commenced the practice of his profession, though at 
the same time residing in Norristown. After about 
four years' practice in Philadelphia he engaged in 
mercantile pursuits in that city, and so continued 



until November, 1874. He then removed to California, 
where he remained two years, during which time he re- 
ceived from the controller of the currency the appoint- 
ment of national bank examiner. In the fall of 1876 he 
was called to Washington, and was afterwards sent to- 
Kansas as receiver of a national bank at Wichita, in 
that State. At the conclusion of this service he 
returned East, and early in 1877 commenced the 
practice of his profession at Norristown. He is now 
a member of the Law Library committee, and has 
been a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, 
being elected in the spring of 1881 to till the vacancy 
caused by the death of Wallace J. Boyd. 

Jacob V. Gotwalts is an attorney of nearly 
eighteen years' practice at Norristown, where he 
located in the business of his profession immediately 
after his admission to the bar, in August, 1866. He 
was solicitor for the borough of Norristown one year, 
and district attorney for three years following his 
election to that office in 1875. During that time, ia 
pursuance of the duties of his position, he prosecuted 
and procured the conviction of three persons for 
murder in the first degree, viz. : Thomas F. Curley, for 
the murder of Mary Ann Whitby, in Ujiper Provi- 
dence; Blasius Pistorius, for the murder of Isaac 
Jaquette, of Norristown ; and a young man named 
Wahlen, for the murder of Max Hugo Hoene, at Elm 
Station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, in 1876. Of 
these murderers, — all of whom were convicted on cir- 
cumstantial evidence, — Curley was executed, Wahlen 
committed suicide in jail after conviction, and 
Pistorius is now serving a life sentence in the East- 
ern Penitentiary, he having been granted a new trial 
with change of venue to Philadelphia, where he was 
again convicted in the first degree and received the 
corresponding sentence, which was afterwards com- 
muted by the Board of Pardons to imprisonment for 
life. 

Mr. Gotwalts is a native of Lower Providence 
township, Montgomery Co., born May 13, 1841. He 
received a preparatory education at Freeland Semi- 
nary, and in September, 1856, entered Dickinson 
College, where he was graduated in June, 1860, being 
anniversarian of the Union Philosophical Society. In 
the fall of 1860 he went to Cape May, where for one 
year he was employed as a private tutor. For two years 
following this he was in charge of a private school at 
the same place, and was afterwards principal of the 
High School at Cape Island City, in which position he 
continued till 1865, when he removed to Norristown, 
and was employed as a teacher in the Treemount 
Seminary for about one year, during which time he 
commenced the study of law with the Hon. George N. 
Corson, under whose preceptorship he afterwards con- 
tinued until his admission to practice. 

Theodore W. Bean,' the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Norriton township, Montgomery Co., 

' I'v M. AuM. 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



555 



Pa., May 14, 1833. He was the youngest son of 
William and Mary Bean. His father, eldest son 
of Jesse Bean, was born Kovember 11, 1788, and 
died January 29, 18.5-5. Jesse Bean, the only child 
of John ISean, was born January 26, 1761, married 
Hannah, daughter of Edward Lane, and died July 
28, 1847. His father, John Bean, died 1799, at the 
age of seventy-six years. It is known that John was 
born in America, and it is believed that his parents, 
James and Mary, enugrated to this country from Wales 
about 1700. 

.Jesse Bean settled in Norritou, on the "Cold 
Spring" farm of three hundred acres. He was su- 
perintendent of the Ridge Turnpike Company for 
miny years, and elected to the State Legislature from 
1811 to 1813. His son William succeeded him in 
the occupancy of the same premises, and was elected 
a member of the State Legislature from 1840 to 1843, 
inclusive. He was prominently associated with the 
agricultural interests of the county until his death. 
The family were connected with the St. James' Epis- 
copal Church, at Evansburg, where repose the remains 
of four generations.' 

Mary Weber Bean, mother of Theodore W., non- 
surviving at the age of ninety years, was the only 
daughter of John Weber, and was born November 
18, 1794. John Weber, her father, died 181.5, aged i 
forty-six years, and was the son of Christian Weber, 
who was born April 20, 1744, and died June 20, 1815. 
This Christian was the son of Christian Weber, who 
was born in Amsterdam, Holland, 1697, and mi- 
grated to this country in the ship " Good Will," Captain 
Crocker commanding, sailing from Amsterdam March 
6, 1727, and reaching Philadelphia September 6th fol- j 
lowing. The emigrant father settled in Worcester 
township, and became a landholder in 1732, taking j 
the oath of allegiance to the British crown in 17.34. 
He died June 15, 1773. The Weber (or Webber) an- 
cestry of Christian have been traced to Bavaria, from 
whence they migrated to Holland in the fifteenth 
century. Christian Weber, the maternal great-grand- j 
father, was identified with the patriots of the Revolu- ' 
tion, having served with the Pennsylvania troops in 
that struggle. John Weber, the maternal grandfather, 
was prominently connected with puljlic affiiirs, serv- 
ing in the State Assembly from 1808 to 1811, and 
elected Speaker of that body during the last year of 
his term. 

Theo. W. Bean was educated in the common schools of 
his township, and at the age of seventeen (May, 18.50) 
he apprenticed himself to Isaiah Richards, then carry- 
ing (in the smithing business at Jeft'ersonville. After 
serving his time (three years) he commenced business 
for himself at the Trooper village. He continued 
here until 1859, when he purchased the Richards 
homestead, where he had learned his trade. Mr. Bean 



1 5In.j(.r .Tames Beao, wlio served tliroughoiit the Revolution, w.is ii 
collateral relative of Jesse Bean, and is alsti buried at St. James'. 



pursued a methodical course of self-culture from and 
after his apprenticeship, having in view the practice 
of law. He was married January 4, 1860, to Hannah 
Heebner, youngest daughter of John Heebner, of 
Lower Providence. Mrs. Bean's paternal ancestry is 
of German nativity. Her father, J<ihn Heebner, was 
born January 9, 1802; married Susannah F^arndoUar, 
January 7, 1827, and died June 8, 1850. He owned 
and operated the Perkiomen Mills, now located at 
Yerkes Station, and was a school director in Lower 
Providence township for many years, being an active 
supporter of the common-school system. His father, 
Christopher Heebner, died August 21, 1827, aged fifty- 
eight years, and his grandfather, Christopher Heebner, 
died August 21, 1827, — the same day and year. David 
(Huebner) Heebner, the emigrant ancestor, and his 
wife, Maria, came to Pennsylvania in 1734. He died 
December 27, 1784, and his widow June 11, 1793. 

The war for the Union swept our subject, with 
thousands of others, into the ranks of the army. He 
and his brother, Edwin A., enlisted in Company L, 
Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, August, 1862, re- 
cruited by Captain D. B. Hartranft. He was ap- 
pointed first sergeant upon the muster in of the com- 
pany at Harrisburg, and subsequently elected second 
and first lieutenant before the command left the State. 
He was promoted to captain May 30, 1863. The com- 
mand entered the Army of thePotomac in the winterof 
1862, and participated in all its subsequent campaigns. 
The Fifth Squadron of the regiment to which his com- 
pany was attached was called, by order of General John 
Buford, to division headquarters, soon after the battle 
of Gettysburg, for escort and special duty. Captain 
Bean served on the staff of General Buford until the 
death of that officer, February, 1864, and on the staff 
of Buford's successors. Generals Torbet and Merritt, 
being with the latter while in command of the cavalry 
corps Army of Potomac at the battle of Five Forks, and 
in the pursuit of Lee until the surrender of the Array 
of Northern Virginia at Appomattox, April 9, 1865. 
He was breveted major and lieutenant-colonel for 
"gallant and distinguished service" in the army. 

Upon his return to civil life he immediately resumed 
business and study, and was admitted to the bar of 
Montgomery County ilarch, 1869, when he entered 
upon the duties of his profession. In March, 1870, he 
was appointed deputy escheator for the county of 
Montgomery ; was solicitor for the county treasurer 
from 1872 to 1877, solicitor for the borough of Norris- 
town for the year 1880, and solicitor for the sheriff's 
office from 1880 to 1884. 

Colonel Bean brought with him t(i the l)ar mature 
years, experience and self-possession, with pleasing 
address and tireless industry. He is fertile and 
exhaustive in effort, and never hopeless in a cause 
which he espouses. To these qualities as a law- 
yer must be added that of a public-si)irited citi- 
zen. His fondness for historical truth and logical 
deductions has made him a popular orator with 



55C 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the masses. Among his best eflbrts may be named 
the " Historical Oration " at the Valley Forge 
centennial, June 19, lcS78; General Zook memorial, 
Gettysburg, Pa., July, 1882; and Memorial Day ora- 
tion, Lancaster, May, 1883. His writings, some of 
■which are noted in Mr. Buck's bibliography, page .350, 
are mostly of a historic character, the last of which 
being the "Historyof Montgomery County," for which 
this outline of the editor's life and family is furnished. 
Golonel Bean and family now reside in Norristown, 
He has three children, — William Heebner, now a 
cadet at the United States Military Academy, West 
Point; Mary L., the oiily daughter ; and Lane S., in 
his seventh year. 

J. Wright Apple, son of John D. Apple, Esq., 
"who for many years was one of the most ])riimineut 
men of the upper portion of Montgomery County, 
was born in Marlborough township December 30, 
1845. After a I'udimentary training in the local 
public schools, he attended Frederick Institute and 
Freeland Seminary (now Ursinus College), where his 
education was completed. In ]S()7 lie commenced 
the study of law in the office of George N. Corson, 
and at the conclusion of his course was admitted to 
the bar, August 17, 1869, immediately after which he 
began the business of his profession in Norristown, 
and soon acquired a good practice. In 1872 he re- 
ceived the appointment of prison inspector, and 
served in that office three years. On the 1st of Janu- 
ary, 1876, he was appointed solicitor for the commis- 
sioners of Montgomery County, and at the general 
election in 1877 he was chosen district attorney for 
the term of three years. Soon after assuming the 
■duties of that office it became his business to assist 
Henry S. Hagert, Esq., district attorney of Philadel- 
jihia, in the second trial of Blasius Pistorius for mur- 
der, in the courts of that county, to which the case 
Iiad been carried on a change of venue, and where the 
trial resulted in a second conviction of the prisoner. 
In 1880, Mr. Apple was a delegate to the Democratic 
National Convention, in which his fellow-townsman, 
■General W. S. Hancock, was nominated for the 
Presidency, 

Neville D. Tyson was born at Baltimore, Md., 
October 11, 1846. His education was commenced 
under private tutors, and completed under the pre- 
ceptorship of William Arrott, at Penllyu. During 
the war of the Rebellion, in the years 1863 to 186.5, he 
■was in the naval service of the L^nited States, as 
■captain's clerk in the steam frigate "Minnesota," flag- 
sliip of Admiral Lee {on whose staff he served), and 
afterwards in the sloop-of- war " Canandaigua," of the 
South Atlantic blockading squadron. In 1867 he com- 
menced the study of law in the office of his brother, 
■Carroll S. Tyson at Norristown, and was admitted to 
the bar in August, 1869. One of the most important 
•cases in which he has been engaged during his fifteen 
years' practice at Norristown, was that of Meyer and 
Dickinson, assignees, etc., vs. Beekman Remington ; 



which was argued twice before Judge Ross, once 
before Judge Stinson and once before Judge Boyer. 
Directly connected with this, and a part of the same 
matter, were the following-named cases, viz. : — John 
Fallon, trustee, vs. Joseph Shaw et al., bill in equity; 
and the Beneficial Saving Fund Society of Philadel- 
phia, assignees, etc., vs. John R. Barker, Jr., adminis- 
trator of James H. Bryan, in both of which Mr. 
Tyson appeared as counsel. 

John W. Bickel is a native of Pottstown. He 
was educated at the State Normal School at Millers- 
ville, from which he graduated in 1864, and soon 
afterwards commenced teaching in Schuylkill County, 
in which he continued for two years, holding the 
position of princii)al of the public schools at Port 
Carbon. He then began the study of law in the office 
of the Hon. Francis W. Hughes, at Pottsville, and 
at the conclusion of his course was admitted to the 
bar of Schuylkill County, being afterwards (October 
1871) admitted in Montgomery County. He entered 
practice at Pottsville, where he remained until April, 
1875, when he returned to his native county, and 
located in business in Norristown. He has held the 
position of solicitor for the shcritt' and for the pro- 
thonotary, and now holds the office of district attorney, 
to which he was elected in 1 883. 

James W. Schrack was born in Norristown May 
4, 1851, and was educated at Franklin and Marshall 
College, where he was graduated in 1871. He studied 
law in the office of George W. Rogers, Esq., and was 
admitted to practice in November, 1873. In that year 
he was presiding officer of the Chi Phi college fra- 
ternity of the United States. From the time of his 
admission to the bar he has been located in the prac- 
tice of his profession at Norristown. 

J. P. Hale Jexkin.s was born January 13, 1851, 
in Hatfield township, Montgomery Co. ; was 
educated in the public schools and at Lexington 
Seminary, and is also a graduate of Crittenden's 
Commercial College. In April, 1872, he entered as a 
law student in the office of the Hon. George N. Cor- 
son. He was admitted to the bar in Jlay, 1874, and 
immediately commenced practice in Norristown. He 
is now solicitor for the directors of the poor of Mont- 
gomery County, having held the position since 1881 ; 
has been solicitor for the Excelsior Saving Fund and 
Loan Association of Norristown, also solicitor for 
the borough of Norristown from 1882, and is solicitor 
for the Line Lexington Mutual Fire Insurance Com- 
pany. He is also one of the directors of the Stony 
Creek Railroad Company. He was the delegate for 
the Seventh Congressional District of Pennsylvania 
in the Republican National Convention of 18S4. 

Aaron S. Swartz was born in Towamensing town- 
ship February 24, 1849. His early eilucation was 
obtained in the public schools and in Freeland Sem- 
inary, after whicli he entered Lafayette College, at 
Easton, Pa., and graduated at that institution in 1871. 
He then taught in the schools of Phtenixville one 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



557 



year, and in 1872 he became a law pupil of G. Rod- 
man Fox, Esq. He was admitted to practice in Jlay, 
1875, and commenced business in Norristown, at the 
same time holding the position of deputy clerk in the 
Unijted States District Court for the Eastern District 
of Pennsylvania, to which he had been appointed be- 
fore his admission. This position he resigned in 1877, 
when he received the nomination for the office of 
district attorney. He was also the Republican nom- 
inee for the judgeship in 1881. He is now solicitor 
for the board of commissioners of Jlontgomery 
County, having held the position since 1882. The 
most important of the earlier cases in his practice 
was that of the Commonwealth against Moses Sutton 
(colored), for the murder of Mrs. Roeder, of Blue Bell. 
In this case (which was tried in 1878) he appeared as 
junior counsel, with B. E. Chain, Esq., for the de- 
fense. The trial resulted in the acquittal of the pris- 
oner. 

Irving P. WanCtER is a native of Chester County, 
born in North Coventry township IVIarch 5, 1852. 
After receiving a rudimentary education in the com- 
mon schools he became a student in the Hill School, 
at Pottstown, where he remained until June, 1SG9. 
He then engaged in teaching until August, 1870, when 
he became a clerk in the office of the prothonotary of 
Chester County. In February, 1871, he was advanced 
to the position of deputy prothonotary. In January, 
1872, he commenced the study of law in the office of 
Franklin March, Esq. On the 1st of December, 1872, 
he was appointed deputy prothonotary of Montgomery 
County, and thereupon removed to Norristown, where 
he was admitted to the bar in December, 1875, and 
immediately afterwards began practice as an attorney. 
Since that time he has held for two years the position 
of solicitor for the School Board of Norristown, has 
held, by election, the otfice of burgess of the borough, 
as also that of district attorney for three years suc- 
ceeding his election in 1880. 

Locis M. Childs was a law student in the office of 
6. Rodman Fox, Esq., from 1874 until his admission 
to the bar, in March, 187fi, immediately following 
which he began the business of his profession in Nor- 
ristown, where he has remained in practice to the 
present time. He held for one year the position of 
solicitor for the Borough Council of Norristown, and 
is now solicitor for the prothonotary. Mr. Childs is 
a native of Norristown, born August 19, 1852 ; re- 
ceived his preparatory education at the public schools, 
then entered the University of Pennsylvania, where 
he was graduated in 1872. After that time, and before 
his commencement of the study of law, he was inter- 
ested and engaged in iron manufacture in Adams 
County, Pa. 

Samuei- Mooxey, Jr., studied law under the pre- 
ceptorship of the Hon. B. Markley Boyer ; was ad- 
mitted to the bar December 16, 1876, and commenced 
practice in Norristown, where he was born, April 8, 
1854, and where, in its public schools, he received his 



education preparatory to his entrance into the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, in which he was a student prior to 
the commencement of his law study. 

George G. Hoover, a nephew of Judge Hiram 
C. Hoover, and a law pupil of the Hon. Charles Hun- 
sicker, was admitted to practice in Montgomery County 
June 18, 1877. He is a native of Gwynedd township, 
in this county, born May 28, 1853 ; was educated at 
the Norristown High School and at Treemount Semi- 
nary under Professor John W. Loch, and afterwards 
graduated at the National School of Elocution and 
Oratory in Philadelphia. From the year of his admis- 
ision to the present time he has been engaged in the 
practice of iiis profession at Norristown. 

N1CHOLA.S Henry Larzelere. — When Louis 
XIV., for political reasons, October 22, 1685, revoked 
the Edict of Nantes, France lost by the Huguenot ex- 
pulsion a half-million other best citizens. The broth- 
ers Nicholas and John Larzelere emigrated to Amer- 
ica and settled upon Long Island. Nicholas after- 
wards removed to Staten Island, where he raised a 
family of four children. The eldest son was likewise 
named Nicholas, who, in 1741, moved into Bucks 
County, this State, and settled in Lower Makefleld. 
He raised a family of eight children, died at the age 
of eighty-four and was buried in the Episcopal grave- 
yard at Bristol. His eldest son, also Nicholas, wa.s 
born on Staten Island in 1734, married Hannah 
Britton, of Bristol, and moved into Bensalem, where 
he owned a large estate and raised ten children. He 
fought in the Revolution and died at the age of eighty- 
four. The eldest son of the last Nicholas was Benja- 
min, who married Sarah Brown, of Bristol, and moved 
into that township, had eight children and died at the 
age of eighty-four. On the old homestead the pres- 
ent borough of Bristol is partly built. Britton, the 
youngest son of the third Nicholas and brother of 
Benjamin, fought in the war of 1812, and in 1878 died 
in Philadelphia at the advanced age of ninety-six. 

The eldest son of Benjamin was Nicholas, who 
came into Montgomery County about the year 1825 
and settled in Abington. He married Esther, daugh- 
ter of Colonel Jeremiah Berrell, of Abington, had 
twelve children, died at the age of sixty-seven and 
was buried in the burial-ground of the Presbyterian 
Church at Abington. His widow still survives at the 
age of eighty-two. Of his twelve children, eleven are 
still living. The second eldest son was Benjamin, the 
father of the present Nicholas, who was born on the 
7th of March, 1851, in Warminster township, Bucks 
Co. 

The genealogy on the maternal side is not so clearly 
traceable. His mother was Mary Maxwell, eldest 
daughter of Henry Maxwell, of Moreland, who mar- 
ried Ann Buskirk, eldest daughter of Jacob Buskirk, 
whose father came from Holland in the latter part of 
the seventeenth century and married Elizabeth Law- 
rence, eldest daughterof Jonathan Lawrence, who was 
the eldest son of John and Mary Lawrence, who emi- 



558 



HISTOIIY OF MOxNTGOMfilU- COUNTY. 



grated from England to America in the year 1713 
and settled iu Massachusetts Colony. Mary Lawrence 
was the daughter of Charles Townley, of Lancashire, 
Englaud, and the genealogies of the Townleys of Lan- 
cashire run back to the reign of Henry VIII. 

The subject of this sketch grew up on his father's 
farm in Warrington townshii), Bucks Co., whither he 
had removed. He attended the public schools iu the 
■winter-time, and worked ou the farm through seed- 
time and harvest, after the fashion of farmer youths. 
At eighteen he entered the Doylestown English and 
Classical Seminary, where he prepared for college, 
teaching part of the time; was matriculated as a 
mcmlicr of the freshman class in Lafayette College 
in September, 1871, and graduated in 1875. During 
his junior year he won the first honors in the junior 
oratorical contest between Franklin and Washington 
Halls. In his senior year he was elected the represent- 
ative of Lafayette College to the inter-coUcgiate ora- 
torical contest which took place iu the Academy of 
Music, in New York City, on the 13th of January, 
1875. In this contest Amherst, Princeton, Williams, 
Cornell, College of the City of New York, Columbia 
and Lafayette strove for honors. In September, 1875, 
he entered the law-office of George Ross, Esq., of 
Bucks County, and after reading under his direction 
for one year, entered the office of Hon. B. Markley 
Boyer, of Norristown, and was admitted to the bar of 
Montgomery County September 28, 1877. In the 
practice of his profession he rapidly gained distinc- 
tion, and now enjoys a large and resjjonsible practice. 
Among the more important cases in which he 
achieved success was Bradfield et al. versus Insurance 
Company, and the Gafl'ey manslaughter case. He 
was also the solicitor of the Free Bridge Association, 
which, after one of the fiercest contests ever waged in 
the county, was successful in throwing open to public 
travel, free of toll, the De Kalb Street bridge, which 
crosses the river Schuylkill at Norristown. 

Henry C. Boyer, son of the Hon. B. Markley 
Boyer, president judge of the Thirty-eighth Judicial 
District, was born at Norristown May 23, 1855. He 
was educated at the Treemount Seminary, Norristown ; 
"The Hill," Pottstown, Pa.; Georgetown College, D.C.; 
and the LTniversity of Pennsylvania, class of 187G. 
In 1875 he began the study of law in his father's (B. M. 
Boyer'.s) office, at Norristown. He was admitted to the 
bar of Montgomery County in April, 1878, and to 
practice in the Common Pleas Court No. 1, of Phila- 
delphia, on January 1, 1881. He is solicitor for the 
borough of Bridgeport and the West Laurel Hill 
Cemetery Company. 

Jacob A. Steassburger was born in Hilltown 
township, Bucks Co., October 15, 1849. He ob- 
tained his preparatory education at the Seminary of 
Quakertown and the Treemount Seminary, at Norris- 
town. In 1870 he entered the sophomore class of 
Ursinus College, from whidi he graduated in 1873, 
and then commenced the study of law in the office of 



Gen. B. Frank Fisher, in Philadelphia. He was ad- 
mitted to the bar in that county in June, 1876, and 
practiced in the city until his removal to Norristown, 
where he was admitted in June, 1878, and where he 
has since remained iu practice. He was the Repub- 
lican candidate for district attorney, in 1883. 

Henry Fkeedley, Jr., is a native of Norristown, 
born July 29, 1848. He graduated at the Polytechnic 
College, in Philadelphia, in 1868, and in 1871 com- 
menced the study of law at Norristown, in the office 
of Benjamin E. Chain. After a short time his study 
was temporarily suspended, but was recommenced in 
1876. In November, 1878, he was admitted to the 
bar, and at once commenced practice at Norristown, 
where he is still located. He holds the position of 
solicitor for the Norristown Passenger Railway, now 
in process of construction and nearly completed. 

Montgomery Evans, son of Thomas B. Evans, 
was born in Limerick township, Montgomery (;o., 
November 18, 1853. His rudimentary education was 
obtained at the common schools of the township, and 
afterwards he attended the Phoenix Normal Institute, 
under Professor Joseph S. Bond and Professor H. 
Page Davidson. In the spring of 1870 he commenced 
study at the Treemount Seminary, at Norristown, under 
Professor John W. Loch, and remained there until 
July, 1871, when he was admitted to the freshman 
class at Yale College. He did not, however, become 
a student of Yale, but in September, 1871, entered La- 
fayette College, at Easton, Pa., where he was graduated 
iu June, 1875. In the following September he located 
at Montrose, Susquehanna Co., Pa., where he held 
the position of principal of the public schools for two 
years. In May, 1877, he relinquished the position, 
and entered as a law student in the office of Benjamin 
E. Chain, and in December, 1878, was admitted to the 
bar at Norristown, where he is now located in practice. 

William F. Solly, a native of Norristown, and 
one of the law pupils of G. Rodman Fox, Esq., was 
born February 17, 1858. He was educated in the 
public schools and in the High School of Norristown, 
from which he graduated in June, 1873. After leav- 
ing school he was employed as a clerk in his father's 
store uutil May, 1876, when he commenced reading 
law. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1879, 
and immediately afterwards began the business of his 
profession at Norristown, where he is now located. 
He is solicitor for several corjjorations and for the 
register of wills of Montgomery County. 

Freeland G. HoiisoN is a native of Upper Provi- 
dence township, born October 13, 1848. He was edu- 
cated at Ursinus College, graduated in 1876, and in 
the same year began the study of law in the office of 
Jacob V. Gotwalts, in Norristown. He was admitted 
to the bar in March, 1880, and commenced the business 
of his profession in Norristown, where he is still in 
practice. He was chairman of tlie Centennial Asso- 
ciation of Montgomery County, and is now editor of 
the Monttjomery Law Reporter. 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



559 



AViLLiAM F. Dannehower was a law student in 
the office of G. Rodman Fox, Esq., was admitted to 
the bar of Montgomery County June 7, 1880, and im- 
mediately located in business at Norristown, where he 
still remains in practice. He is a native of Zeiglers- 
ville, Montgomery Co., born December 17, 1854. He 
was educated, first, in the common school, then 
attended one year at the State Normal School, at 
Kutztown, Berks Co., and one year at the Excelsior 
Normal Institute, at Carversville, Bucks Co., and 
in the fall of 1872 entered Lafayette College, from 
which he graduated in the spring of 1876. In 1877 
he commenced reading law, and during his term of 
legal study he had for some time the editorial man- 
agement of the iW;"?v'.s/o!f« Regiifcr. 

Fkaxk H. Baker, son of Andrew H. Baker, cashier 
of the Jenkintowu National Bank, was born at Frank- 
linville, Montgomery Co., September 8, 1858. He 
attended the High School of Norristown. graduating 
with the class of 1875, and was afterwards a student 
for two years at Treemount Seminary, under Professor 
John W. Loch. He commenced the study of law in 
September, 1877, in the office of Benjamin E. Chain, 
Esq., and was admitted to the bar in January, 188J, 
from which time to the present he has been engaged 
in the practice of his profession at Norristown. 

Elwood L. Hallmax was admitted to the bar 
in Montgomery County in January, 1881, after the 
usual term of law-reading in the office of the Hon. 
Charles Hunsicker, at Norristown. Mr. Hallman is 
a native of Upper Providence township, !Montgom- 
ery Co., born July 22, 1857. After a preparatory 
course of study at the Treemount Seminary, under 
Professor John W. Loch, he (in 1875) entered Dart- 
mouth College, at Hanover, N. H., where he was 
graduated in June, 1878. From his admission in 1881 
to the present time he has been engaged in the prac- 
tice of his profession at Norristown. During the whole 
of his practice he has been solicitor for the Eoyers 
Ford Bridge Company, and since 188.3 has also been 
employed as solicitor for the People's National Bank 
of Norristown. 

Eugene D. Egbert wiis born in Lower Merlon 
township, Montgomery County, December 30, 1856. 
On the 30th of January, 1875, he graduated at the 
Norristown High School, and soon afterwards entered 
as a law student in the office of the Hon. George 
N. Corson. He commenced business as an attorney 
at Norristown in 1881, having been admitted to prac- 
tice on the 7th of February in that year. 

Walter S. Jenxixgs is a native of England, born 
at Truro, in the county of Cornwall, January 7, 1855. 
He was educated chiefly in the schools of Norristown, 
and in 1877 commenced the study of law in the office 
of the Hon. George N. Corson. Having finished 
the usual course of study, he was admitted to the bar 
in February, 1881, and located in business in Norris- 
town, where he has since remained in practice. 

Ephraim F. Slough was born in Worcester town- 



ship January 15, 1852. He was educated at Rambo's 
Collegiate Institute and at Ursinus College, graduating 
from the latter institution in the spring of 1877. He 
commenced reading law at Norristown in the office of 
Joseph L. AUabaugh, and completed his legal study 
under the preceptorship of Louis M. Childs. He was 
admitted to practice in March, 1881, and located in 
Norristown, where he is now engaged in the business 
of his profession. 

Isaac Chism, now engaged in the practice of law 
at Norristown, is a native of Philadelphia, born May 
31, 1856. He commenced his education under private 
tutors, and was afterwards successively a student at 
the Norristown High School, at Treemount Seminary, 
under Professor John W. Loch, and at the Hahne- 
mann Medical College. He then taught at the West 
Penn Square Academy, in Philadelphia, until 1878, 
when he commenced reading law at Norristown in 
the office of the Hon. B. M. Boyer. He was admitted 
to the bar in September, 1881, and commenced the 
business of his profession in Norristown. He was ad- 
mitted to the Philadelphia bar September 30, 1882, 

j to the bar of the Supreme Court April 21, 1884 ; is 
also a member of the bar of Delaware County. 

William M. C lift was born May 13, 1854; was 

[ educated at the Philadelphia Central High School, 
became a law student in the office of Henry K. Weand, 
in Norristown, and was admitted to practice in Mont- 
gomery County in June, 1882. He is now stenographic 
reporter for the courts of Montgomery and Bucks 
Counties, a position to which he was appointed before 
his admission to the bar, and which he has held con- 
tinuously to the present time. 

: Henry B. Garber, son of Charles H. Garber, who 
was for nearly forty years a member of the Montgom- 

j ery County bar, was born at Norristown January 31, 
1859, and was educated at Treemount Seminary, under 
Professor John W. Loch. In the spring of 1876 he 
commenced the study of law in the office of G. Rod- 
man Fox, and was admitted to the bar in August, 
1882, immediately after which he began the business 
of his profession at his present location in Norris- 
town. 

Henry M. Tracy is a native of Conshohocken, 
born in 1861. He studied law in the office of Daniel 
Dougherty, of Philadelphia, and graduated in the Law 

I Department of the University of Pennsylvania in June, 
1882, this being equivalent to admi-ssion to practice. 
He was admitted to the bar in Montgomery County in 
September of the same year. He is now in practice 
in both counties, having an office at Conshohocken 
and another in Philadelphia. 

Harry M. Brownback was born in West Vincent 
township, Chester Co., December 17, 1860. He was 
educated in private schools and at Ursinus College, 
where he remained a student until the spring of 
1878, — the end of his junior year, — when he com- 
menced the study of law in the office of Franklin 
March, Esq. In December, 1882, he was admitted to 



5U0 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the bar of Montgomery County, and established at 
Korristown, where he is still in practice. 

Hexry D. Saylor was born October 22, 1857, at 
Pottstown, where he attended the public schools and 
the Pottstown High School, and afterwards entered 
the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, 
where he graduated in June, 1882. On completing 
his education he became a law student under Thomas 
J. Ashton, Esq., of Philadelphia, but completed his 
law course in the office of E. Coppee Mitchell, of that 
city. He was admitted to i>ractice in Philadelphia in 
June, 1882, and soon afterwards (February, 1883) was 
admitted in Montgomery County, where he commenced 
practice. He has an office in Norristown and another 
at Pottstown, which is his place of residence. 

David H. Ross, sou of John Ross, is a native of 
New York State, born at New York Mills, in Oneida 
County. February 18, 1855. He was a student in the 
University of Pennsylvania; studied law under the 
Hon. Clement B. Penrose, judge of the Orphans' 
Court of Philadelphia; was admitted to the Philadel- 
phia bar in January, 1879, and in Montgomery County 
in March, 1883, and has since been engaged in prac- 
tice in both counties, having an office in Conshohocken 
and also one in Philadelphia. 

B. Percy Chain, son of Benjamin E. Chain, Esq., 
of the Montgomery bar, was born at Norristown De- 
cember 22, 1858. He was educated at Lafayette Col- 
lege, at Easton, Pa., studied law in the office of his 
father, was admitted to the bar in May, 1883, and 
located in practice in his native town. 

MuscoE M. Gibson, son of the Rev. Isaac Gibson, 
was born at Blacksburg, W. Va., February 6, 1859. 
He acquired his education at the Norristown High 
School, at the Treemount Seminary, under Professor 
John W. Loch, and at Lafayette College, where he 
was graduated in 1880. He studied law in the office 
of Benjamin E. Chain, Esq., was admitted to the bar 
of Montgomery County in June, 1883, and then located 
in business in Norristown, where he is now in practice. 

D. Ogden Rogers, son of George W. Rogers, of 
the Montgomery County bar, was born at Norristown 
June 4, 1860. He attended Treemount Seminary 
about three years, and was afterwards a student at 
Lafayette College in the class of 1882. He was a law 
student in the office of his father, with whom he be- 
came a partner in the business of his profession soon 
after his admission to practice in June, 1883. He is 
solicitor for the Ambler National Bank, for J. M. 
Albertson & Co., bankers, of Norristown, for the 
Ambler Building and Loan Association and for the 
Washington Benevolent Society. 

Attorneys' List. — The following is a list of the 
resident practicing attorneys of the bar of Montgom- 
ery County, with the dates of their admission, as 
published in 1873 by direction of the court, with 
those subsequently admitted : 

Josepli L. Allabaugh, adniittei] April 11, 1855. 
Andrew J, Anderson, aflntittcd .\pril IG, 1858. 



J. Wright Apple, admitted August 17, 1869. 
Thomas Bnrnside, admitted February 1^, 1804. 
BenjamiD Bartholomew, admitted January 17, 1826. 
Charles W. Brooke, admitted November 17, 1834. 
James Boyd, admitted August Hi, 1842. 
John R. Breitenbach, admitted February '21, 184:j. 
Benjamin M. Boyer, admitted .\u*gust 21, 1843. 
William Butler, admitted November 18, 1845. 
li. Blight Browne, admitted February 16, 1846. 
Henry W. Bonsall, admilteil August '.i, 1853. 
Elijah W. Beans, admitted January lu, 1854. 
Enoch A. Banks, admitted .\vigu8t 20, 18.5.5. 
Albert Bradfleld, admitted June 18, 1861. 
George W. Bush, admitted August 111, 1861. 
Henry U. Brunner, admitted September 20, 1866. 
Henry R. Brown, admitted November 13, 1866. 
Theodore W. Bean, admitted February 24, 1869. 
John D. Bertolet, admitted May 27, 1870. 
John W. Biekel, admitted Oetober 18, 1871. 
Horiice G. Boyer, admitted December 14, 1875. 
W^allace J. Boyd, a<lmitted June '.), 1870. 
Henry C. Boyer, admitted Aiiril 6, 1878. 
Fraidc H. Baker, admitted January 15, 1881. 
Harry 51. Brownback, admitted December 14, 1882. 
John 51. Crawford, admitted April 16, 1844. 
Benjamin Evans Chain, admitteii November 22, 1844. 
Patrick Cass, admitted February 20, 1845. 
George N. Corson, admitted August 21, 18.56. 
Franklin Crosby, admitted August 10, 18.58. 
Louis 51. Childs, admitted JIarch 14, 1876. 
Isaac Chism, admitted September 14, 1881. 
William 51. Clift, admitted June I, 1882. 
B. Percy Chain, admitted 5Iay 7, 1883. 
Alexander R. Cutler, admitted February 21, 1885. 
Samuel Dorrauce, admitted 5Iay 22, 1837. 
Francis Dimond, admitted November 18, 1839. 
Henry B. Dickinson, tulmitted November 16, 1863. 
William Henry Dewees, admitted April 13, 1805. 
George Delp, admitted 5Iay 16, 1865. 
Cliarles Davis, admitted November 13, 1865. 
John Davis Duftield, admitted January 15, 1867. 
T. Jeflerson Day, admitted August 21, 1871. 
William F. Dannehower, admitted June 7, 1880. 
Benjamin Evans, admitted November 13, 1810. 
James B. Evans, admitted November 25, 1853. 
Sillier D. Evans, admitted November 15, 1804. 
H. Preston Egbert, admittetl September 26, 1866. 
Charles Eyre, admitted August 17, 1868. 
Warren C. Evans, admitted 5Iay 18, 1871. 
Rowland Evans, admitted August 20, 1872. 
5Iontgomery Evans, admitted December 2, 1878. 
Eugene D. Egbert, admitted February 7, 1881. 
John Freedley, admitted August 16, 1820. 
Joseph Fornance, admitted August 21, 1832. 
Henry Freedley, admitted August 16, 1830. 
G. Rodman Fox, admitted November 19, 1838. 
Eilward J. Fox, admitted July 13, 1840. 
William F. Filbert, admitted 5Iay 15, 18,54. 
Augustus G. Feather, admitted Septitmber I, 1860. 
Joseph Fornance, admitted April 12, 1806. 
Henry Freedley, Jr., a^lmitted Novendier .5, 1878. 
John S. Freeman, admitted October 14, 1884. 
Charles H, Garber, admitted 5Iay 21, 1845. 
Zadok T. Gait, admitted April 15, 1847. 
Jesse H. Gery, admitted February 23, 18.55. 
John W. Gumpsey, admitted September 27, 1865. 
Jacob V. Gotwalts, admitted August 2II, 1867. 
Henry B. Garber, admitted August 7, 1882. 
Muscoe 51. Gibson, admitted June 7, 1883. 
Samuel Holstein, admitted .\ugust Hi, 1825. 
Benjamin F. Hancock, admitted August 19, 1828. 

John Henderson, admitted ,1815. 

Nathaniel P. Hobart, admitted August 17, 1830. 
Emanuel HellTenstein, admitted April II, 1832. 
Charles B. Ileacock, admitted April 14, 1835. 
John Henry Hobart, admitted 5Iay 17, 1830. 
John Potts Hobart, admitted November 21, 1830. 



THE BENCH AND BAR. 



561 



Hilai-y B. Hancock, admitted May 19, 1846. 
Robert U. Hobart, admitted August 20. ISiG. 
Joseph ^y. Hunsicker, admitted Noveiiil>er 21, 1850. 
Charles Hunsicker, admitted August 19, 1857. 
John F. Hartranft, admitted October 24, 1860. 
Jacob R. Hunsicker, admitted 5Iay 23, ISGl. 
John M. Hummel, admitted June 20, 1872. 
George C. Hoover, adinitterl June 18, 1877. 
Freeland G. Hobson, admitted Jfarch 1, 1880. 
Elwood L. Ilallman, admitted January 15, 1881. 
John Richard Jones, admitted Oct»jl»er 15, 1839. 
Richard B. Jones, admitted Slay 14, 1810. 
Francis Mayberr>- Jolly, admitted 3Iay 14, 1822. 
Owen Jones, admitted May 19, 1842. 
William Laurence Jones, admitted Januarj' 11, 1S6<J. 
Daniel Jacoby, admitted Marclr 2, 1S66. 
J. P. Hale Jenkins, admitted May 2, 1874. 
Walter S. Jennings^ admitted Februarj- 7, 1831. 
Philip Kendall, admitted Angust 22, 1826. 
David Krause, admitted January 19, 1852. 
Samuel A. Keisay, admitted May 26, 1862. 
C. Tyson Kratz, admitted June 4, 1876. 
Christopher Leoser, admitted February 26, 1822. 
Abraham B. Longaker, admitted September 28, 1853. 
Henn,' Livezey, admitted November in, 1869. 
Nicholas H. Larzelere, admitted September 29, 1877. 
Philip S. Markley, admitted November 13, 1810. 
John S. SIcFarland, ailmitted November 17, 1828. 
James Milnur, admitted 1794. 
Daniel H. MuUany, admitted April 12, 18;J1. 
Addison May, admitted August 21, 1839. 
John McNair, admitted 5Iay 29, 1851. 
Henrj' McMiller, admitted October 18, 1852. 
Charles T. Miller, admitted Angust 22, 1855. 
Franklin March, a<lmitted Angust 31, 1860. 
Franklin M. Molony, admitted April 13, 1865. 
Elbridge McConkey, admitted >Iay 16, 1865. 
Charles Henry Mathews, admitted June 18, 1867. 
Benjamin F. MoAtee, admitted October 30, 1872. 
Samuel Mooney, Jr., admitted December 16, 1876. 
James I. E. Naille. 

T. Warren O'Neil, admitted October 25, 1875. 
Levi Pawling, admitted November — , 1795. 
Nathan R. Potts, admitted August 14, 1804. 
Ferdinand H. Potts, admitted April 14, 1829. 
William Powell, admitted August 15, 1821. 
Benjamin Powell, admitted Januaiy 20, 1830. 
James M. Pawling, admitted November 22, 1831. 
John Potts, admitted August 16, 1836. 
Benedict D. Potts, admitted November 23, 1840. 
John N. Pimu'oy, admitted November 1, 1843. 
Howard Newcomb Potts, admitted November 24, 1843, 
Thomas M. Pawling, admitted May 20, 1845. 
Thomas P. Potts, admitted November 19, 1855. 
Thomas Ross, admitted 1785. 
Thomas Ross, admitted Angust 16, 1830. 
William Ross, admitted November 22, 1831. 
Jenkins J. Ross, admitted August 21, 1843. 
Jonathan M. Roberts, admitted 3Iay 19, 1848. 
George W. Rogei-s, admitted Januarj- 23, 1854. 
Oscar Reicheubach, admitted October 24, 1860. 
Samuel O. Roberts, admitted November 20, 1860. 
Benton Ramsey, admitted February 7, 1876. 
William A. Reading, admitted January- 15, 1881. 
David H. Ross, admitted JIaroh 5, 1883. 
D. Ogden Rogei-s, admitted June 11, 1883. 
John H. Scheetz, admitted August 23, 1823. 
John B. Sterigere, admitted November 17, 1829. 
George W. Stinson, admitted February 20, 1844. 
Charles Slemmer, admitted May 19, 1846. 
Henry A. Stevens, admitted October 23, 1848. 
Rirhard T, Stewart, admitted March 1, 1849. 
Charles H. Stinson, admitted May 22, 1849. 
Edward Scball, admitted August 20, 1858. 
Edwin Schall, admitted August 20, 1858. 
Daniel M. Smyser, admitted January 13, 1862. 
James W. Schrack, admitted November 15, 1873- 

36 



Aaron S. Swartz, admitted May 10, 1875. 

Wm. Henry Sutton, admitted May 17, 1875. 

J. A. Strausberger, admitted June 6, 1878. 

William F. Solly, admitted September 1, 18711. 

Epliraim F. Slough, admitted March 11, 1881. 

Joseph .\ustin Spencer, admitted December 7, 1881. 

Uenry D. Savior, acbuitted Februarj- 5, 1883. 

Samuel H. Traquair, admitted August 17, 1835. 

Israel Thomas, admitted August 19, 1845. 

Elijah Thomas, admitted August 20, 1801. 

Carrol S. Tyson, admitted Marth 3, 1803. 

Neville D. Tyson, admitted August 17, 18G0. 

Henry M. Tracy, admitted September 13, 1882. 

Joseph Unistead, admitted October 23, 1854. 

Abram Weaver, admitted March 3, 1846. 

Lewis S. Wells, admitted May 19, 1853. 

Henry K. Weand, admitted .\pril 21, 1800. 

George Bering Wolff, admitted November 15, 1871. 

Irwin P. Wanger, admitted December 18, 1875. 

William H. Yerkes, admitted November 15, 1859. 

Isaac D. Yocum, admitted May 21, 1872. 

The following are the students at the Montgomery county bar, 1885 : 
Epliraim L. Acker, Norman B. Corson, John M. Detra, Warreu M. 
Dickinson, Gilbert R. Fox, Jr., J. B. Holland, Edward E. Long, 
.\lbert E. Longaker, Frank L. Murphy, Robert Stinson, C. Henry 
Stinson. 

Settling the Docket Professional Comity— Lay 
Auditors— Rules of Court- An Important Water 
Case. — Settling the Doiket. — A piuctice known 
as '' Settling the Docket " appears to have prevailed 
at the bar of ilontgoniery County for many years 
prior to 1836 ; when it began we are not advised, but 
that it terminated at or about the above date seems 
to be authenticated by the present senior resident 
members of the profession. The practice was con- 
cerning what we would now term the making up of 
the trial list. In the days referred to, at the close of 
a term, the bar would meet at the Washington House 
(now Koplin's hardware-store) to settle the docket ; 
the chairman would have before him the appearance 
docket and would call in their regular order the cases 
brought to that term, as follows: Xo. 1. Smith vs. 
Jones, suit upon promissory note. Counsel for plain- 
tiff would rise and briefly state his case. If there 
was no just defense counsel for defendant would re- 
spond by saying, " Enter judgment for plaintiff for the 
amount of note or claim, with stay of execution for 
six months," the practice seeming to be on the part 
of the defense that if the trial be waived, the time 
gained by insisting upon it would be conceded by the 
plaintiff. The chairman of the meeting would then 
enter judgment for plaintiff with stay of execution 
for the time named by counsel, and the prothonotary 
would afterwards enter the same in the judgment 
docket from this memoranda. If upon the call of a 
case counsel for the defendant would state that he 
had a just defense, a plea would be entered with or 
without a narr, as they might agree. In this manner 
the list of cases would be called and entries made by 
the chairman. When the business was all transacted 
the bar adjourned to the " Term Supper; " these were 
convivial occasions and greatly enjoyed by the prac- 
ticing members in those days. They were informal 
and social ; set speeches and labored responses to pro- 
posed sentiments were unpopular at these gatherings ; 



562 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the "occasion" was always stimulating and sugges- 
tive, and volunteers ever responsive. This was na- 
tural and in act'ordance with customs and manners 
of the period. The records show, among those who 
thus associated in the settlement of the docket, the 
names of Bartholomew, Burnsideand Brook, Dorrance, 
Freedley and Fornance, Henderson, Holstein, Han- 
cock, and the surviving and veteran Gen. Hohart, 
Jolly and Kendall, Marklcy, McFarland and Mul- 
vany, Levi and James Pawling, Potts and the Pow- 
ells, Ross, Thomas, Williams, Scheets and Sterigere. 
Something akin to this practice was that instituted 
during the administration of the late Judge Ross in 
the bar meetings, to make up an occasional trial list 
of " short cases." At these meetings cases were 
called from the appearance or continual docket liy 
the chairman (usually .lames Boyd, Esq.), whose effi- 
ciency in distinguishing short cases I'rom long ones 
made him a terror to litigants for delay. If cases 
were found to be "short," they were so designated 
by the chairman and placed on a separate trial list ; 
a large list of such cases could be disposed of in a 
week, and meritorious cases of collections hastened. 
But those latter-day bar meetings were severely 
business-like transactions, and unattended with a 
" supper " or any after associations of a social or 
convivial nature. 

Early Professional Comity. — The following 
appears in the Norristown papers October 22, 1834: 

"I)ANIKL II. MULVANY 

*' lii'spectfiiUy announces to his friends and the public that in conse- 
quence of an arrangement entered into witli .lolin Freedley, Esq., relative 
to the practice of law, he will hereiifter occupy the same office with Mr. 
Freedley next door to the store of Samuel Jacoby, where he will attend to 
all professionjil business which may be entrusted to him. 

" The undersigned would also give notice that hereafter, whenever he 
shall be absent from home, his professional business will be in the charge 
of Mr. Mulvany, who will also attend to the calls of those interested in 
the same. 

*'.lonN Freedley." 

We are not advised when the above arrangement 
terminated, but we find them on opposite sides in the 
trial of the engineers, or celebrated Williams case, in 
March, 1836, Mulvany, then deputy attorney-general 
for the commonwealth and Freedley for the defense. 

The following auditor's notice shows an oUsolete 

practice, which appears to have existed as late as 

1836 : 

"Auditor's Notice. 

" To the creditors and all others interested in the distribution of the 
cstiite of Isajic Beaver. 

We, th€ undersigned auditors appointed by the court of Common 
Pleas of Montgomery County to audit, settle and atljust the rates and 
Jiropositious of the assets remaining in the bands of John Sliearer, 
assignee of said Isaac Beaver, to and among his respective creditors ac- 
cording to the order established by law, will meet at the public-house of 
John Brouch, in the borough of Norri.stown, on Thursday the Dth day of 
June next, at 10 o'clock A.M., to fidfil the duties of said apitointnient, 
Ht which time and place you may attenii if you think proper ami present 
jour claim. 

"J. W. Evans. 

"W. II. SLINCUfFP. 

"M. R. MOOEE. 
— Nurristown liegixkr, Mtty 2.'), 183G. 



Rules of Court. — The following appears editori- 
ally in t\\e Norristoion Hcgister of December 28, 1836, 
and is believed to have been written by the late 
John B. Sterigere, Esq. : 

"Coi'RT Rules. 

" We observe among the petitions enumerated as having been pre- 
sented in the House of Representatives on the lOtli instant one by Mr. 
Crawford, from the Huntington bar, for the pjissage of a law requiring 
the judges of the respective courts to publish their rules of practice. 

"This we regard as a most important measure, and so far as our 
observation enables us to judge, will be alike beneficial to the Bench and 
Bar. Tliat rules of pi"actice should be definitely fixed upon and 
published, we think there can be no contrariety of opinion, for among 
other beneficial results which would flow from it, the necessity of appeal 
to the bench on points of practice would be fully obviated. We have 
deemed it .advisable to notice this subject for the benefit of those concerned, 
to whom we submit it." 

It would seem from the above that the published 
rules of court such as are now in use, are of compara- 
tively recent origin. 

Among the civil causes tried in this county of great 
public interest was that of Bernard McCready vs. the 
Presi<lent and Managers of the Schuylkill Naviga- 
tion Company. The trial began on the 28th day of 
November, 1836, before Judge Fox, and continued 
for the period of one week. 

The counsel for plaintiff were J. M. Pawling, John 
B. Sterigere, and H. J. Williams, Esqs., and for the 
defendants, John Freedley and Benjamin Tilghman, 
Esqs. The complaint was that in 1832 a pcjrtion of 
the dam at the foot of Swede Street, extending across 
the river Schuylkill, had sunk and the jjortion thus 
injured was washed away, depriving the plaintiff 
of the proper use of the water for his factory, and 
that the current thus formed created gravel-banks 
below the dam, causing back-water upon the sheeting 
of his water-wheels, and hence damage. The case 
involved extended inquiry, embracing expert testi- 
mony, much of which was of a conflicting character. 
Elaborate arguments were made in the submission 
of the cause to the court and jury. The verdict was 
for the plaintiff, five thousand five hundred dollars 
damages. The court sat ten hours each day in the 
hearing of this case, and its adjudication is said to 
have been among the important cases which practi- 
cally settled the law with reference to the liability of 
the Navigation Company for damages resulting from 
the improper construction of dams in the improve- 
ment of the Schuylkill River for navigation purposes. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 

Early Iron Manufacture, — The unfriendly policy 
of England towards the development of the manufac- 
turing industries of the provinces was early manifested 
and continuously exerted, and towards none more 
unwisely, as time has shown, than Pennsylvania. 



MANUFACTUKLXG INDUSTllIES. 



563 



The necessities, not less tlian the enterprise of tlie 
pioneers of the colony induced explorations for min- 
erals, and the large bodies of hematite ores, fluxing 
materials and matchless forests of hard-wood found 
in close proximity invited capitalists to build furnaces 
for smelting and erect forges and stilling-mills for 
preparing iron for domestic use. Water-power was 
used in those days to propel crude inventions, aided 
by the hands of the skilled laborer, to slowly produce 
the commodities that are now wrought by ingeniously- 
devised machinery, responsive to steam-power. The 
natural resources of the colony and their variety gave 
rise to diversified industrial pursuits, and home de- 
mauds invited convenient sources of supply. Three 
thousand miles of ocean separated the early settlers 
from the home country, and their increasing wants 
were not always supplied at the sea-port city, while 
the interior settlements were often destitute of the 
ordinary necessities of life, owing to the limited and 
costly character of transportation over unimproved 
highways and unbridged streams. As early as 1750 
Pennsylvania led all the colonies in the production 
of iron and steel. Her pig-iron was of superior 
quality, and deemed of great commercial value in 
exchange for manufactured articles. Its production, 
therefore, was encouraged, but the manufacture of 
bar-iron for use by the skilled iron-worker was thought 
to be injurious to her home industries, and was there- 
fore prohibited. 

It is a remarkable providence of life that the feeble 
colony of two hundred thousand souls, less than a 
hundred and fifty years ago, should now be the most 
formidable rival of the country who then sought to 
repress its skilled labor by legislative enactment. 
Among the selected industries reported in the census 
of 1880 the annual product of iron and steel in 
Pennsylvania surpasses the money value of any one 
manufactured article in the United States, being 
»145,57G,268. 

The independence of the colonies having been 
declared, all the repressive measures of the mother- 
country were at an end. The long war that followed 
created a home demand for supplies that stimulated 
the manufacture ofirou and textile fabrics. Many local. 
ities' that have since become famous in the annals of 
manufacture owe their origin to the Eevolutionary 
period and the impetus which it gave to skilled labor 
Eastern Pennsylvania was deemed remote from the 



1 LIST OF FURNACES IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
1. Warwick * 1200 i 10. Cornwell (Hen'j'foi-a) 



2. Hopewell 

3. Durham (Jliiryau) , 

4. German (Ouiloru3) 300 

6. Oley (Martlck) 200 

6. Mount Pleasant (Reading) . 50 

7. Rebecca (Colebrookdale) . . 400 

8. Berkshire 500 

9. Elinaheth 500 



700 I 11. Mount Hope 
400 ! 12. Carlisle. . . 

13. Pine (irove . 

14. Chaljubera . 



. 601) 
. .0(10 
.500 
. 200 
. :iO0 



Total . . 
Average . 



. 6150 
439 



* Probably the number of tons of iron made at each the year previous. 



probable field of actual hostilities, and thereforea com- 
paratively safe locality for the establishment of depots 
for all the material supplies of warfare. Powder-mills, 
foundries for casting cannon, shot and sliell, shops 
for making muskets, gun-carriages and wagons, were 
in successful operation during the entire period. The 
necessities of the long and bitter struggle made the 
colonists self-reliant and encouraged the development 
of the natural resources of the country. 

The First Iron Furnace in the province of Penn- 
sylvania i.* mentioned in one of Jonathan Dickin- 
son's' letters, written 1717 : "This last summer, one 
Thomas Ruttcr, a smith, who lived not far from Ger- 
mantown, hath removed up in the country, and of his 
own strength has set up on making iron. Such it 
proves to be as is highly set by all the smiths here, 
who say that the best of Swedish iron doth not exceed 
it, and we have heard of others^ that are going on with 
the iron-works. It is supposed there is ore sufficient 
for ages to come, and in all likelihood hemp and iron 
maybe improved and transported home, and, if not dis- 
couraged, certainly a few years may supply this place 
for its domestic services, as maybe readily supposed." 
This establishment is located by Bishop, in his " History 
of Iron Manufactures," who says: "A forge is men- 
tioned, in March, 1719-20, at Manatawnj', then in 
Philadelphia, but now in Berks or Montgomery 
County. It was attacked by the Indians in 1728, but 
they were repulsed with great loss by the workmen.* 

FORGES. 

Salford, Green Lane, Valley, Pennel (36,000 bar), Sarum, Twaddles (1000 
tonscasting), DoeRun,Brantlywine, More's,Vanleer'8, Coventry, Young's, 
Glasgow, Pine, Spring, Oley.Millgrove, Mount Pleasant, Fosh's, Birdsbur- 
rough, Gibraltar, Mosealom, Charming, Windsor, T. Old's, Martick, 
Speedwell, Hopewell, C. Grubb's, Cadorn's, Spring,t Carlisle, Mountain, 
Chalmhers, — thirty -four forges. 

Persons employed in making iron in Pennsylvania, between 10,000 and 
12,000; supposed to consume 132,000 bushels of grain ; grain consumed 
by horses, 80,000 bushels ; £63,000 expended in grain ; £100,500 produce 
of iron ; 50<J0 tons of pig iron. 

The above list, found among the family papers, is valuable, as it pur- 
ports to give not only the names of the furnaces and forges in Pennsyl- 
vania, but the amount of iron made, the grain consumed and the number 
of people employed in the manufacture of this important article. Un- 
fortunately, the paper is without date, but there is internal evidence that 
it was prepared in 1733. It is in tho handwriting of^Samuel Potts, and I 
have little doubt but that it was compiled by him for the use of the 
Congress which enacted the tariff in 1789, whereby the iron interest of 
the country was protected. — Mrs, Thomas Potts James, ^^ Potts Mcvio- 

2 Logan MSS. 

3. John Nutt. 

^I think there is every reason to believe that Pool Forge was the 
scene of the Indian fight. To-day it is more lonely and desolate than it 
was one hundred and forty-four years ago. No house is visible, but 
imagination peoples the waving woods and the banks of the beautiful 
stream with living beings long since paased away, — the painted savages 
in all their horrid accessories of war; the workmen issuing from their 
fiery labors at the sound of the ludiau war-whoop, their black and 
grimy faces blanched with fear, yet each strong arm wielding gun, pick 
or hammer, whatever w.as nearest at hand ; the screaming women and 
children flying along the path by the water-side to reach a place of 
safety, while, roused by the news, the venerable Thomas Rutter rides 



-f- Probably in Y'ork County ; not the one named in the preceding 
coliniiu. 



564 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Local authority' more definitely locates the spot 
whereon the original furnace or forge (prohably both) 
was built, " at a place called Pool Forge, on the Man- 
atawny." Pool Forge is located on Scull's map, 1770. 
Historians refer to another Pool Forge, built several 
miles further up the Manatawny, erected possibly 
after the first was abandoned, as it seems to have been 
a custom at that time to carry the old name to the 
new i)lace. These changes were deemed prudent in 
some instances, in order to be nearer to wood, which, 
at that period, was a supj)ly of the first importance. 
The Manatawny stream must have watered a region that 
abounded in minerals and timber prior to and during 
the Revolution, as we find the following iron-works in 
operation as early as 177G : Mount Pleasant Furnace 
and Forge, Spring Forge, Golebrookdale Furnace and 
Forge, Amity Forge and McCall's Forge.'-' Add to 
these Warwick and Coventry, and others within a 
radius of ten to twenty miles, and a substantial reason 
will be manifest for the movement of Washington 
and the Continental army to Pottsgrove township 
subsequent to the battle of Brandywine and the afi'airs 
at White Horse Tavern and Paoli. Exact data of the 
cost of these very early iron-works, the capital in- 
vested and number of men and animals employed in 
working them is difficult to obtain. The following 
statistics are deemed well authenticated and of in- 
terest to the public, as showing the facilities of the 
pioneers of the leading industry in the county and 
State during that period. In 1731 the following- 
named furnaces and forges were owned by the per- 
sons herein named, with shares or proportion of in- 
terest annexed : 



Colebrookdale Furnace 

Nathaniel French 3-12 

Alex. Wooddrop 3-12 

Samuel Preston 1-12 

William Attwood 1-12 

Anthony Morris 1-12 

John Leacock 1-12 

George Mifflin 1-12 

T. Potts and U. Boon 1-12 



Pool Forge. 

.\nthony Morris 1-8 

Alex. Wooddrop 1-8 

Samuel Preston 1-llj 

William Attwood 1-16 

John Leacock l-lf'> 

Nathaniel French l-Hi 

George Mifflin 1-16 

Tho. Potts and G. Boon .... 1-10 
The other 3-8 belonged to the 

Butters. I 

The whole amount subscribed is reported to be 
five hundred and fifty pounds. The cost of rebuild- 
ing the Colebrookdale Furnace is given in detail, 

rapidly down from Popodickon and Thomas Potts from Pine Forge, with 
his son John, in the strength of manhood and youth, armed with rifle 
and sabre, go forth to stop the fight. Farther on riding in the King's 
name from his home on the other side of the Schuylkill, comes Samuel 
Nutt, a fine English gentleman, with no sign of the Quaker garb and 
plainness the careful appointments of his magnificent horae, his laced 
ruffles and cocked hat, all show that he was a man having authority. 
But the scene vanishes. I hear no words of query or answer ; the sunuuer 
woods wave as green as on that May day so long ago, and the bright, 
rippling Manatawny flows on in peace, though to my listening ear it 
repeats the story this 30th of May, in the year of grace, 1872 that it 
heard on that memorable May day in 1728. — Mre. Pottt James^ " PotU 
Memorial.^'' 

1 L. H. Davis, Esq., Pottstown, Pa. 

2 .\11 these furnaces and forges were owned and carried on by the 
united families of Butter and Potts. 



copied from the account of Thomas Potts with 
company, — 

'* lir. Tlte Furnace. 
1733. £. t 

Xber 19. To a log hailed to the saw-pitt and squar'd long 16^ 

fot, broad 2 foot, deep 2 foot 4 inches 10 

Xber ly. To paid helping the Sawyers to fitt the Logg . . 
Xber 20. To my 2 Negro Men getting in wall Stones, each 9 

days at the rate of 35«. ^, month 1 1 

Xber 22. To paid Expenses When the Company mett at y« 

Scales 5 

Xber 22. To paid ditto when the Company mett at John 

Eoberts's 2 

Xber 24. To paid Thomas Day for 9 days getting in Wall 

Stones, at the rate of 35s. ^ month 10 

1733-4. 

Jan. 3. To paid William Bird for Cutting Wood for the Lime- 
kiln 6 days, at 2«. Orf. ^, day 16 

Jan. 3. To paid for 3 ib. steel and sharpening tools 3 

Jan. 5. To paid Daniel Wommeldorfe for steeling 4 stone axes 

at both ends 12 

Jan. 17. To 10 Bushells Lime at Is. 3ii 12 

Jan. 18. To paid Thomas Gilham for hauling 6 Tonus, 2 cwt., 
1 q. 14 lb. of inn Wall Stones ti-om Schuylkill to the Fur- 
nace 10s. Gd 3 1 

Jan. 20. To 10 bushells lime at Is. 3(i 12 

Jan. 21. To paid Jonas Yocum for haulling33 cwt. of inn wall 

stones from Schuylkill to tho Furnace at 10^. ~i^, tonn . . 16 
Feb. 1. To paid Kichard Duuckley for haulling 34. 8. 1. 24 of 
Inn Wall Stones from the Quarry to Schuylkill at 28. 9d. 

^ Tonn 4 14 

Feb. 1. To paid Oliver Dunckley loading Ditto at the Quari-y 1 10 
Feb. 6. To ^^ Gallon of Rum given to the Workmen at the 

Limekiln 3 

Feb. 9. To 8 Bushells Lime at Is. 3d 10 

Feb 11. To 6 Bushells Lime at Is. 3rf 6 

FebJ. 13. To paid Wm. Jones his bill of labouring Work, viz., 
23 days pulling down the Furnace at 28. 9d. . 3£. 3s. 3rf. 

Febr. 13. One day at the limekiln 25. 9<i. 3 6 

FebJ. 15. To 8 Iron Hoojis for the Girders, w". 80 lb. at 8d. . 2 13 
Feby. 26. To ^^ Gallon of Rum Given to the Workmen help- 
ing up with the Girders 3 

March 12. To paid Adam Widcnner for 500 bricks at Is. 6d . 12 
March 13. To paid Thomas Hill for labouring Work pulling 
down the Fm-nace, Serving his Masons and Getting Sand 

and Stones, in all 23U days at 3f. ^S 3 10 

March 12. To Paid Ditto for gettingthe ]/^ part of Lime Stone 

for one Kiln '^. agreement 15 

1734. 

April 5. To paid Joseph Miller for canoeing over Schuylkill 

34 t. 8 cwt, 1 qr. 24 lb. of Inn Wall Stones at Is. ^ . . 1 14 

April 5. To paid ditto for Sharpening Mason Tools 9 

April 5. To paid Timothy Miller for dyett and the allowance 
of Rum to the Workmen when Getting Inn Wall Stones 

over Schuylkill 1 

April 5. To paid Sundrys for hauling Inn Wall Stones, viz. 

To George Hollobaugh for a Tonn 10s. Od. 

To Daniel Shinar for ditto lOs. Od. 

To Jno. Dunckley forditto 10s. Oii. 

To Francis Epley for ditto 10s. Od. 

To Thomas Smith for 33 c\rt. ditto 16s. 6d. 2 16 

.\pril 5. To my Teams Hauling Inn Wall Stones from Schuyl- 
kill to the Furnace, in all 21 Tonus at 10s. %4 10 10 

April 5. To paid Samuel Osborne 13J^ days attending y" Ma- 
sons at 2s. 9d. '^ day 1 15 

April 5. To paid Emanuel Goulding for 18 J^ days Carpenter's 

work making a mould for the Inn walls, etc., at 3s. ^nl. ^ 2 14 
.\pril 5. To paid ditto for making 4 pair Giixlers^ agreement 2 10 
April 6. To paid Derick Cleaver for ^ of 315 Bushels of Lime 

at 6d. fi 3 18 

April 5. To paid Ditto for 50 Bushels Ditto at Cd. %( .... 15 
April 5. To my Servants and Negroe's helping to pull down 
ye Stack, getting Stones and attending masons etc., in all 

207 days at 2s. 9d. t" day 28 9 

April 5. To my Teams haulling Stones, lime and Sand, in all 

51 days at 10s. f, day 25 10 



6 



6>4 




8 a 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



565 



April 5. To paid Jonathan Chapman for cutting the luwall 

Stones 5 00 

April 5. To paid Ditto for 5 days Work at the Charge and lime 

Kiln at Os. "f, day 1 10 

April 5. To his Dyett and a Mason he had sometime to assist 

in all 17 weeks at o*.*^ 550 

April .'i. To my Smith for Sharpening Masun Tools 3 

iiyt; 11 10" 

The absence of dates in the above interesting paper 
leaver the time occupied in the construction of the 
furnace a matter of conjecture; but as has been 
stated in the Potts memorial, "by the item of the diet 
of a mason for seventeen weeks, covering a period of 
between four and five months," we may infer that 
the greater part of the year was occupied in its con- 
struction. Some conception of the importance that 
woodland bore to the early manufacture of iron will 
be understood from the following extract of the pro- 
ceedings of those in interest : 

"To the persons in this minitt named, viz.: Alex-i Wondrupps, Wm. 
Attwood, Wm. Pyewell furThos. Rutter, Anth. Morris, George Jlifflin and 
Tho's Potts, Being a majority of the pixiprietors of Colbrook ffurnace mett 
This 16 day of 6 nio. 1736. And on a complaint y' some of the own" of 
6d fturuace were deficient in finding their proportion of W<x)d for Coal 
for til*.' carrying on the Blast of si^ flnrnace, according to articles of agree- 
ment \v"» Thomas Potts, Therefore made Ini|uiry Thereunto, and find 
that there is a deficiency Chargable upon the Persons und" named, and it 
is now agreed and concluded that they and every of them immediately 
find and Provide the Qiiantity of woodland annexed to their names and 
yt ye possess Tlios. Potts with the wood thereon standing for the use of 
the s<i Colhrook furnace the next ensuing Mast. On failure whereof ^tis 
■Concluded and Agreed y' the s-* Thomas Potts reserve and sell so much of 
tlieir part and share of the Pig Iron Citst, or to he runn and cjistas shall or 
may fully purchase or pay for their full proportion of wood according to 
the undf Estimate made the day and date above, vi/,. : 

Thomas Rutter,^ deceased, to make good . . 55 acres woodland. 

John Rutter,! lU-ceased, and Thos. Potts . . 75 Ditto. 

.Samuel Prnstoii 7."i Ditto. 

KdwHrd fft-eam "5 Ditto. 

Kathi flTrench 75 Do. 

Jno. Leycock 75 Do. * 

C.eo. Boon 37}^ Do. 

417^ 

Captain Attwood 

*' Taken from the minutes of s** CvunpT and signed by us, 
" Antho. Morris. 
" Alexander Wooddrop. 
"William Pvewell. 
"Georoe Mifflin. 
" Wm. Atwood. 
" Thomas Potts." 

The consumption of wood by these early furnaces 
"Was enormous. Warwick, when in full blast, is said 
to have used six thousand cords of wood annually, or 
an equivalent to the product of two hundred and 
forty acres. These facts bring back to our vision vast 
regions of stump-land, teams of oxen, mules and hor- 
ses, old-fashioned winter scenes when axemen camped 
out on the forest hills of the 8chuykill, Mana- 
tawny and Perkiomen. It is not suri>rising that the 
Indian tribes, still hunting within sight of these 
inroads upon the primitive forest, became disaffected 
and alienated and sought upon slight pretexts to 



1 These were the two sons of Thomas, Sr. Thomas, Jr., died in 1735, 

and John in 1734. 



repel further invasions of their hunting-grounds. 
To their far-sighted chiefs this wholesale destruction 
of woodland must have presented a melancholy pic- 
ture. 

Mount Pleasant Furnace is said to be the second^ 

3 Following the order of time, we must now crosa the Schuylkill 
and look in at the French Creek Iron- Works. Those in operation there 
about 1734 were, as far as I can learn. Redding* Furnace, Coventry 
Forge and the Vincent Steel-Works ; though the place once occupied by 
the last two has been pointed out to me, I was unable to trace any re- 
mains of the buildings that ooce stood there. The mines that supplied 
tliese works are situated a few miles above, and consist of surface de- 
posits of brown and other hematite ores; they are worked in an opea 
qnari-y over several acres, and by a shaft one hundred and eighty feet 
deep. This rich mineral deposit was partly included in the grant of 
eight hundred acres to Samuel Nutt in 1718, and of one thousand more in 
1733. That copper, as well as iron, was extensively mined at French 
Creek is proved by a letter from llichard Peters, secretary to the Board 
of War, August 11', 1777, wherein he asks that a load of copper, which 
had been sent to Philadelphia from that place, and is said to belong to 
the State, may be appropriated to the use of a furnace which had been 
casting cannon, and was standing still for want of that metal. He also 
mentions that the affairs of French Creek, etc., were unsettled. 

Mr. Nutt, who had no children to inherit his name and proi)orty, ap- 
pears to Iiave been particularly attached to his wife's daughter, Rebecca 
Savage. Having a nephew and namesake in England, of a proper age, 
he sent for him to come over and marry her, arranging the matter ac- 
cording to tlie English fashion of those days. Both parties, as far as we 
can learn, were quite willing to enter into the engagement made for 
them by their elders. Samuel, Jr., probably arrived here in 17:i3, and 
they were married either in that or very early the following year, as Re- 
becca's name and that of her husband are signed to the marriage certifi- 
cate of her sister Ruth and John Pottii, April 11, 1734. At this date she 
could not have been si.\teen years of age. Tradition asserts that 
she was a very beautiful girl, and that her rich dowry was far out- 
weighed by lier personal and mental charms. Her wedding-dress, of 
very elegant brocade, with high heeled buckled shoes to match, were im- 
jiorted from England (as well as tho bridegroom), and are ntill in posses- 
siiui of the family nf the writer. The first house built by Samuel Xutt at 
Coventry, and wliere, probably, Uith Rebecca and Ruth Savage were mar- 
ried, has long since been taken duwn, but it was described to ineassimilar 
to the ancient houses in the old English town of Coventry. The frame was 
of immense hewn logs, between which were cemented stones. It was built 
beyond the present mansion-house, and higher up the kill, and was stand- 
ing until after the Revolution, for during that time Mrs. Grace (formerly 
Sirs. Nutt, Jr.) entertained three officers of the army of Valley Forge. 
It is still spoken of as Coventry Hall, llie house was built, it is supposed, 
by Robert Grace for Thoniiis Potts, on his marriage with Anna Nutt. 
We knew that their daughter Henrietta was married there, and that 
si.xty years after that hist event her husband, still living at tlie advanced 
age of ninety-six, stood njion the Siime spot in the jwrlor where more 
than half a century before he had received the marriage benediction. 
The loth day of March, 173tj. Samuel Nutt and William Bronson entered 
into an agreement with John Potts to carry on their furnace called 
Keddiug, recently built near Coventry, and of which they are styled 
'•joint owners." He was '* to cast the quantity of tweTity-eight hundred 
weight of Cart Boxes, Sash Weights or any other Particular small cast- 
ings, every month during the continuance of thesiiid Blast. . . . And 
they also covenant that they. y« said owners, or their Clerks or Agents for 
the Time being, shall deliver no quantity of Rum to any of the People Be- 
longing to the Furnace, or therein concerned, without a note or Token 
from the said John Potts or his Agents or Assistants." f 

Note. — Fi'anklin, in his autobiography, relates the following : "In or- 
der of time, I should have mentioned before that having in 1742 invented 
an open fii'e place for the better warming of rooms and at the same time 
saving of fuel, as the fresh airadmitted was warmed in entering, I made 
a present of the model to Robert Grace, one of my early friends, who, 
having an iron furnace, found the casting of the plates for these stoves 
a profitable thing, as they were growing in demand.'* During a visit to 



♦The name is so spelled on old plans and maps. Two furnaces were 
erected, bearing that name, about a mile from each other, 
t Potts Memorial. 



56t> 



HISTOEY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



built withiu what is now Montgomery County. Early 
accounts locate it " on thePerkiomen, thirteen miles 
(above) northeast of Pottstowii. No remains of it are 
now visible." Subsequently new works were erected 
there, and o])erated by Thomas Potts and his sons. 
In 1748 David took title to one-sixth interest. The 
following data of this furnace show the extent of its 
production I'rom 1738 to 1741 : 

"Account, Pig MeUl and other castings rniuie iit Sluuiit Pleusunt 
Furnace During tho Following Blasts, viz. : 

t. c. q. ib. 

First blast, coninKTicing OctobiT 12, 17:iis ; hove 
off RecfUibHr It. 

Made the eai<I blast. Pigs 85 

Countiy cjistings fi 1 2 2 

Forge ditto 7 :i tl 

ill '.I 1 S 

Second blast, cdnmienciug March 14, ITIJi^-:!!! ; 

hove off .Inly 12, 17:J0 

Made the siud blast. Vigs, .July 173 U 3 

Forge castings 10 2 

174 Tl 1 

Third blast, c(»nm]('ni-ingOt'tober22, 17-3t> ; blowed 
unt ncci-nibcrH, 17:iH 

Made the eaiid bl.ust. Pigs 92 1 24 

Country ciistingti r> 4 2:J''^ 

Forge ditto ■,.... 1 in 1 19 

A short bliist, from August 28 to September 7. 
173'j, inrluded in y'ubnve 

it'.t U . \i% 
Fourth blast, cuminenting March 3, 17:i9-4ri ; 
blo\v(;d out May 2i;, 174". 

Made the Bjiid blast. Pigs l.'>:t 10 

Country CHStings 8 3 2 7 

Forge ditto 1 1 14 

l(i2 1.S 21 
Fifth blast, commeni-ing .Vngnut 28. 174<1: blowed 
out November I'l. 

Made the Slid blast. Pigs 8(J 1(( 

Country cjistings 12 3 • . 3'^ 

Forge ditto 13 3 



99 



3>.,' 



"Warwick in the summer of 1868, the writer saw at Coventry one of 
these original stoves. In an iuventury, made in 1796, of the personal 
estate of Colonel Thonias Potts' widow, the step-daughter of 
Robert Grace, one room in her house was designated aa the "stove- 
room." I had hoped to find this parlor, with the Franklin stove sur- 
rounded by the ancient tiles, remembered by her children, but they had 
all been taken away when tho house was refitted and one part rebnilt, 
in 1803, but I was able to trace the stove to a house about half-a-iuile 
distant, where I saw it. The pattern was of more antii^uated design 
than that given by LoSfiing as probably an original, and so clumsy and 
massive in structure that no doubt remained in my mind that the great 
philosopher had sat beside its hearth admiring his new invention. The 
words " Warwick Furnace" were cast on the front in letters two inches 
long, but I searched in vain for any date. On my return to Warwick, I 
inquired of Mr. Nathaniel Potts (the present owner) for the old models, 
but he told me that they bad all been destroyed long ago, and added 
that he remembered two of the old stoves in the Warwick mansion 
which were taken uvit more than fifty years since and melted ui*, gi\ ing 
place to more modern improvements. As the same fate seems to have 
overtaken all the other old Fi"anklin stoves in the neighborhood, 1 en- 
deavoured to ])ersuade the owner of this one to give it to the Pennsyl- 
vania Historical Society as a relic, but did not succeed. Franklin often 
visited his friend llAibort Grace at C^oventry, and it is quite probable that 
be superintended the setting nf this one himself. Having traced itt his- 
tory so clearly as an originul Kranklin utove, I hope it may be carefully 
preserved.* 



*PottflMemoria'. 



.Sixth blast, commencing May IS, 1741 ; blowed 
out July 20. 

Made the s;iid blast. Pigs 00 

Country castings 2 

Forge ditto 1 



^6. 



15 
I 



These early furnaces and forges were not (»nly I'ruit- 
ful sources of commercial value in time of peace, but 
they became indispensable factors in war. The mother- 
country wa.s sensitive of the fact, and, therefore, in 
her prohibitory laws, she aimed not only to augment 
her home strength but to cripple the rising colonies^ 
and retard their pretensions in seeking separation 
and independence. Early in the Revolution Samuel 
Potts and Thomas Rutter contracted with the Council 
of Safety to furnish cannon and munitions of war.' 
The following certified account is found among many 
others similar in character referred to in the colonial 
records. The clock-weights mentioned are those 
made in obedience to a general order issued, iron 
clock-weights to be substituted for the leaden ones in 
use, the government requiring the surrender of all 
lead in domestic use fur bullets. 

The Council uf Siifety in .\ccuunt «itli Hotter & Potts. 

Dr. 
1770. t. c. q. II: £. s d. 

To 151 shot of 32 lb each Wd 2 3 K.i 

T. c. q. lb. £. s. rf. 

To 573 Shot of 24 lb each W^ ti 2 3 4 
To 1260 Shot of 22 lb eath W-* 12 7 2 
To 0247 Shot of 18 lb each W'' T.O 3 3 20 
To 1420 Shot of 12 lb each \\-^ 7 12 IG 



78 111 
To i:)22 Shot of <J lb each WJ 2 
To 3153 Shot of 8 lb each W^ 11 5 
To 1472 Shot of lb each W* 3 18 
To 3IH)G Shot of 4 lb eacii \\^ 5 7 
To Clock Weights W-i 4 11 



2 6 (d' £20 1579 11 

1 6 («. £22 134 10 10 

24 @ £2:J 259 8- 

3 22 @ £24 94 14 7 

9 12 @ £25 134 4 3 

(S> £25 113 15 



2315 10 4 



^Td April, 1776, Benjamin Loxley made proposals for casting bi'ass 
eight-inch mortars, howitzers, cannon and shells for Congress or the^ 
Committee of Safety. Some of the brass guns of Major Loxley were 
tested by Daniel Joy of the Reading Furnace, who was also engaged in 
casting and boring iron nine-pounders at the rate of one daily, to b& 
followed by another of larger size. The iron pieces appear to have stood, 
the proof better than the bra.ss. Joy, in the same year proposed a method 
of constructing fire-rafts for the defense of the Delaware. Congress in 
the following April called upon all the Legislatures or executives of the- 
States to exempt from military duty all persons employed in casting shot 
and manufacturing nnlitary stores of any kind ; and in June the Board 
of War recommended that eleven men employed by Slark Bii-d in the 
cannon foundry and nail-works in Berks County, carried on by hin% 
for tho use of the United States be discharged from the militia, inta 
which they were drafted. During the same month James Byera who had 
cast brass guns for the government was requested to hold himself in readi- 
ness to remove his apparatusand utensils at a moment's warning on the ap- 
proach of the British. Morgan Busteed, Samuel Potts, and Tbonias Butter 
each made propostils to cast cannon in the course of tho year. There wiia 
at this time a cannon foundry in Southwark, but wo do not knuw who 
owned it. In August, 1770, the Board of War informed President 
Wharton that the fnrnace for casting cannon stood idle for want of 
copper, and requested permission to use a load which had been sent 
from French Creek, but was claimed by the State. There was also some- 
dispute respei-tilig the fnrnace as well as Ihe nuit rial. — flUlmji, " Ifistoryr 
of Ainevivnii Miiiiii/iictiirei'."' 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



.■)67 



£. •. d. 

To 7684 haUriound Shot WJ 37921b @ Sii 126 8 

To 9521b Grape Shot (& Sd 31 14 8 

To Cash pJ Will. Iliitihiuson for haul' Powder 10 

T. c. q. lb. 

T.I 203 Shot of 22 lb each Wl 119 2 18 @ 420 39 13 7 

To 282 Shot of 4 lb each WJ D 10 8 @ £25 12 12 

To 374 Shot of lb eaih WJ 1 4 (al ,t24 24 1 

To 747 Shot of 3 lb each W'l 1 1 @ f 2G 20 3 

2.076 1.5 10 
Certifloii 2IUh October, 1776. 

UoHERT Towers. 
To Balance on Cannon .\cct 379 5 9 

2950 1 7 
Or. 

£ «. rf. 

By 131b Powder 

By Cash Paid lollO 

" In the aft lit' Assembly ' passed by Massachusetts in 
1727, regulating the prices ofmerehantable artieles, the 
rate of bar-in lu is put down at 48s. ; cast-iron pots and 
kettles, 48.?. a hundred. In 1777 another act passsed by 
the same State places good refined iron at 50.s. per 
cwt. and Blooniery iron at 30s. per cwt. at the place 
of manufactory." It has been some trouble to look 
out from the original papers the prices of iron at the 
Potts furnaces and forges during the period covered 
by the figures given as the prevailing prices in Massa- 
chusetts. From 1731 to 1781 they were, however, as 
follows : 

In 1731, pi^-irun was sold at Colebroukilalt- Furnace in large quantities 
at £5 108.2 p,.!- ton. 

In 1765 pig-iron brought £7 per t«n. 

In 1767 pig-iron brought £8 lOs per ton. 

In 1774 pig-u*on brought £7 .^a per ton. This was a quantity of 725 
tons. 

In 1775 pig-irun brought £7 5.1 per ton. 

In 1776 pig-iron brought £7 os per ton. 

In 1781 pig-iron brought £10 jier ton. For loo tons, hard money to be 
paid for it. 

In I7S4 pig-iron brought til llVs per ton. 

In 1762 bar-iron brought Ci4 per ton. 

In 1781 twenty-five t iiis bar-iron well dniwn for slitting purposes, £:i5 
per ton in liard money. 

For castings, which seem to Iiave been divided into 
two kinds, — namely, forge castings and country cast- 
ings, — the last including all articles of domestic use, 
the following prices are noted : 

In 1774 anvil and forge castings brought 14s per hundredweight. 

In 1774 a Dutch oven brought 15«. 

In 1774 two large Moravian stoves brought £9 apiece. 

In 1779 a ton of pots brought £700. 

In 1779 five tons of stoves brought £4(tO per ton. 

In 1785 Fiunklin stoves sold at retail brought .£5 10« apiece. 

In 1785 ten-plate stoves brought £10 apiece. 

In 1785 large six-plate stoves brought £7 apiece. 

In 1785 small six-plate stoves brought £5 10s. 

Iron works were established at Valley Forge as 
early as 1750. These works were purchased by ,Iohn 
Potts in 1757 and by him improved. This forge was 
known previous to the Potts purchase by the name 
of " Mount Joy," and so appears in the old title 
papers of that locality. In 1765 John Potts conveyed 



' " Felt 8 Ma&sachusetts Currency." 

speniisylvaniii ciirrrency, a pound being equal to S2.6fi. 



the works to his two sons, Samuel and John. From 
an inventory made by them, when they came into 
possession, the personal property "at the forge was 
valued at £1214 6s. 9d. John, in 1768, sold his. 
interest to his brother Joseph, who with David Potts, 
another brother, and Thomas Hockly, a cousin, 
operated this forge, under the firm-name of Potts, 
Hockly & Potis, up to and during the Revolution. 
This forge was supplied with ]»ig-irou from the War- 
wick Furnace. When converted into wrought-iron, 
for domestic use, it was transported to Philadelphia 
in wagons. These teams, of si.\ horses each, were in 
constant use in hauling wood tind charcoal to supply 
this forge and in transporting the product to market. 
The greatest amount of pig-iron used in one year is 
reported to be fifty-one tons. This capacity appears 
to have been increased under the subsequent manage- 
ment of Isaac Potts & Co., who, in " 1786, received 
from the Warwick Furnace eighty-five tons of pig- 
iron," all which ajipears to have been manufactured 
into bar-iron, and sold at prices ranging from 
twenty-four to thirty pounds per ton. The site 
of this early forge has been the subject of dispute 
among local antiquarians, some contending that it 
was located in Philadelphia (now Montgomery) 
County, others that it was within the lines of 
Chester County. The works were burned by the 
British in the campaign of 1777, and it seems that 
the adjudication of damages sustained by the owners 
took place in the courts of Chester County, and this 
circumstance is relied upon to fix the site of the forge 
within that county. We think this circumstance has 
misled the antiquarian. The better opinion seema 
founded upon the description of the real estate ujjon 
which the forge wiis situated. The dividing line 
between Philadelphia and Chester County was on the 
southwest shore-line of the Valley Creek. Mrs. 
Thomas James Potts says, "The site of this old forge, 
which was burned by the British more than two 
months before the American army encamped there, is 
now covered by water, and is at the foot of Mount 
Joy (Mount Joy is on the east shore), and more than 
a half-mile above the Valley mill. The new dam, 
which was built lower down the creek after the 
Revolution, raised the water-level and covered the 
foundations. The new works, erected soon after the 
close of the war, were built near where the present 
factory stands." 

The manufacture of iron and steel has been a lead- 
ing industry in Pennsylvania since the establishment 
of the early works herein referred to. Every census, 
from that of 1790 to 1880, shows the steady and enor- 
mous increase of the product. The discovery and 
application of anthracite coal to the manufacture of 
pig-iron, during the first quarter of the present 
century, gave a new impetus to the trade.' Natural re- 



8 In 1812 Colonel George Shoemaker, of Pottsville, loaded nine wagons 
of coal from liis mines at Ceiitrcvillc, and with these proceeded to Pliila- 
tlelphiii, hoping to find a iiiaiki't, but the experience of IMiiliiddphialis 



568 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



sources were never more conveniently located, vfhh ref- 
erence to the uses mankind has sought to make of 
them, than in the beds of ore, fields of coal and 
bodies of fluxing materials, and all on the banks of a 
water-way upon which to float them to tide-water for 
distribution. The use of steam and railroads further 
augmented the product, while the introduction of 
wrought-iron into the land and naval architecture of 
peace and war has created a largely increased 
demand, to supply which Pennsylvanians (enterpris- 
ing capitalists, inventors and laborers) have always 
been foremost, in peace and in war. Figures from the 
census of 1850 and that of 1880 may here be compared 
■with advantage. In 1850 the total value of the annual 
iron product of the United States was $60,48(),153. 
Pennsylvania's product was valued at $20,650,650, or 
one-third of the whole amount. In 1880 the total 
value of the annual iron product of the United States 
was reported to be .1333,840,054. The product of 
Pennsylvania for the year 1880 was valued at $158,- 
033,697, or 46 per cent, of the entire amount. Thus 
it will be seen that within one generation the annual 
product of iron has increased 500 per cent, in the 
United States, yet the increase in Pennsylvania Is 
greater by 200 per cent, than in the whole country, 
or over 700 per cent, within the period of thirty 
years. What proportion of capitalized labor engaged 
in manufacturing in Montgomery County is employed 
in the production of iron we are unable to state with 
official e.xactness. About 33 per cent, of the total 
value of the annual ])roduction of the county's manu- 
factures, which in I860 exceeded $20,500,0it0, is de- 
rived from iron.' 

Present Condition of the Iron Trade. ^Following 
are statistics concerning the iron-works of the county, 
compiled from the directory published by the Ameri- 
can Iron and Steel Association: 

Blast Furnaces. — Anvil Furnace, Pottstown Iron 
Company, Pottstown. One stack, sixty-five by sixteen 
feet, built in 1867; two iron hot-blast stoves; annual 
capacity, twenty thousand net tons. (See Rolling- 
Mills.)' 

Edgehill Furnace, Joseph E. Thropp & Co., lessees, 
Edgehill. One stack, sixty-four by sixteen feet, built 
in 1869-72 ; two iron hot-blast stoves ; annual cai)acity, 
eighteen thousand net tons. 

Merion and Elizabeth Furnaces, Merion Iron 
Company, West Conshohocken. Two stacks: Merion, 
forty-eight by sixteen feet, built in 1847 and enlarged 
in 1876 ; Elizabeth, fifty by sixteen feet, built in 1872; 



with iintliracite or stone coal was vory imfavorable. and the persistent 
attempt to inipusc riiclts un tlioin iMuscd tlieir indignation, and Colonel 
Shoemaker was di-nuniK-cd aw a knave and a srunniirel ; he sold two loads 
and save the lest away, and some of the purchasefs obtained a writ from 
the authorities of the eity for his ari'est as an impostor and a swindler. — 
PotU^ Mamtiil. 

Note. — Colonel Thomas Totts wiw versed in nietallnrgy, and an early 
purchaser of eoal lands in Sehuylkill Connty, Pa. 

1 i^ee Btatisties elsewhere in this chapter. 



both stacks remodeled 1883; Merion has three Player 
ovens and Elizabeth five Ford ovens ; combined ca- 
pacity, about seven hundred net tons per week. 

Montgomery Furnace, Montgomery Iron Company, 
Port Kennedy. One stack, fifty l)y fourteen feet, built 
in 1854, remodeled in 1863 and in 1869; three iron 
hot-blast stoves ; two roasters for magnetic ores were 
added in 1880; annual capacity, twelve thousand five 
hundred net tons. 

Norristown Iron-Works, Norristown, James Hooven 
& Son. One stack, fifty-five by sixteen feet, built in 
1869 and 1871 ; four eighteen-pipe Player hot-blast 
stoves; annual cajjacitj', thirteen thousand five hun- 
dred net tons. 

Plymouth Furnaces, Conshohocken, Plymouth 
Rolling-Mill Company. Two stacks, fifty-five by 
fifteen feet and fifty-six by thirteen feet, built in 1845 
and 1864 respectively; total annual capacity, with 
Lucinda Furnace, thirty thousand net tons. (See 
Rolling-Mills.) 

Lucinda Furnace, Norristown, Plymouth Rolling- 
Mill Company. One stack, forty by thirteen feet; 
capacity stated with Plymouth Furnaces. 

Warwick Furnace, Warwick Iron Company, Potts- 
town. One stack, fifty-five by sixteen feet, built in 
1875 ; two iron hot-blast stoves ; annual capacity, 
twenty-four thousand net tons. 

William Penn Furnace, William Penn Post-Office, 
D. O. Hitner. One stack, forty by twelve and a half 
feet, built in 1854; estimated annual capacity, sixty 
thousand net tons. 

Swede Furnace, Swedeland, Philadelphia and 
Reading Coal and Iron Company. One completed 
stack, seventy-three by fourteen feet; built in 1850, 
rebuilt in 1881 ; closed top ; annual capacity, fifteen 
thousand net tons. 

Rolling-mills and Steel W(>rks. — Pencoyd 
Iron-Works, opposite Manayuuk, A. & P. Roberts & 
Co. Built in 1852 ; sixteen double puddling furnaces, 
thirteen heating fiirnaces, rotary squeezer and five 
trains of rolls ; annual capacity (in either iron or 
steel), thirty thousand net tons. 

Conshohocken, Pennsylvania and Corliss Iron- 
Works, Conshohocken, J. Wood & Brothers. Built 
in 1832, 1852 and 1854 respectively, rel)uilt in 1882- 
83 ; six double puddling furnaces, seven heating fur- 
naces and seven twenty-inch trains of rolls; annual 
capacity (plate and sheet iron), seven thousand net 
tons. 

Ellis A Lossig, Pottstown. Building in 1884 a 
rolling-mill and nail-factory, to contain fifty nail- 
machines, two heating and six jmddliiig furnaces, and 
two trains of rolls. 

Glasgow Iron-Works, Glasgow Iron Company, Potts- 
town. Puddle-mill built in 1874 ; six diiuble puddling 
furnaces and one train of muck-rolls ; annual ca|)acity, 
eight thousand net tons. Plate-mill added in March, 
1876; three heating furnaces and one train of rolls; 
annual capacity (boiler-plate), eight thousand net tons. 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



569 



Longmead Iron-Works, Conshohocken, Jawood Lu- 
kens. Built iu 1882; five double jiuddling furnaces 
and cue train of rolls ; annual capacity (muck-bar), 
six thousand six hundred net tons. 

Norristown Iron- Works, Norristown, James Hooven 
<& Son. Built in 184(5; six double puddlinj;; furnaces, 
three heating furnaces, three trains of rolls and one 
hammer; annual capacity (skelp-iron, part of which 
is made into butt-welded pipes), five thousand net 
tons. (See Furnaces.) 

Plymouth Rolliug-Mill Company, Conshohogken. 
Built in 1881-82. (See Furnaces.) 

Pottsgrove Iron-Works, Pottstown, Potts Brothers 
Iron Company (Limited). Built by Henry Potts & Co. 
in 1846 ; six double imddling furnaces, three heating 
furnaces and two trains of rolls ; annual capacity, 
eight thousand net tons of muck-bar and eight thous- 
and tons of plate-iron. 

Pottstown Iron Company, Pottstown. Built in 1863 
and extended in 1867 ; twenty-nine double puddling 
furnaces, four Siemens heating furnaces, six forge 
fires, ninety-five nail-machines, one hammer, three 
squeezers and seven trains of rolls; annual capacity 
thirty-five thousand net tons of muck-bar, two thou- 
sand five hundred tons of blooms, twenty-four thou- 
sand tons of plate-iron and three hundred and sixty 
thou.sand kegs of nails. The comjiany is erecting 
a tweuty-four-iuch universal mill, with two Siemens 
heating furnaces. (See Furnaces.) 

Schuylkill Iron-Works, Conshohocken, Alan Wood 
■& Co. Built in 1858 ; fifteen double puddling fur- 
naces, twelve heating and four grate furnaces, seven 
trains of rolls, one hammer and two rotary squeezers; 
annual capacity, fifteen thousand net tons of sheet 
and plate-iron. 

Standard Iron Company (Limited), Norristown. 
Built by William Schall in 1857; eleven double pud- 
dling furnaces, one rotary squeezer and two trains of 
puddle-rolls ; annual capacity, fourteen thousand net 
tons of juKldled l)ar. 

Stouy Creek Rolling-Mill, Norristown, J. H. Boone. 
Built in 1849 and rebuilt in 1879; four double jnid- 
dling and three heating furnaces, and two trains of 
rolls; product, plate-iron. 

Miscellaneous Manufactures. — The manufacture 
of textile falirirs in .\merica appears to have been a 
necessity recognized by the earliest settlers on the 
Atlantic coast. Food they could obtain from 
forest, field and river, but a wholesome pride of 
raiment induced efforts to spin and weave and fashion 
garments for man and woman, with garnishments for 
the comfort and adornment of the household and 
home. The first mention in history of American 
textile manufacture is in 1608, and in connection with 
the English settlement on the James River. As the 
mechanic arts in the manufacture of fabrics have 
contributed greatly to the civilizing power and ele- 
Tation of the masses of mankind in this and other 
countries, and as we propose to show the magnitude 



and importance of this industry in Eastern Pennsyl- 
vania and the county of Montgomery, a retrospective 
glance will perhaps give us a keener apjjreciation of 
our present advantages and fiiture possibilities. The 
subject carries us Itack to a period anterior to the 
discovery and application of all those scientific 
instrumentalities and mechanical inventions which 
have revolutionized the industrial conditions of the 
world, and affected the social, moral and political 
status of mankind. When the Jamestown settlers in 
Virginia began to spin and weave, the latent energy 
of steam and the subtle agency of the electric fluid 
were scarcely suspected ; the cotton-gin, power-loom, 
mule and spinning jenny were unheard of; the uni- 
versal law of gravitation was unknown and the man 
who discovered it was unborn. Brief as the inter- 
vening period now seems, it covers nearly all the 
great improvements which in the present century are 
thought most essential and important in the mechanic 
arts. Those great agencies of mechanical power 
which have augmented the productive capacity of 
man and proportionately increased his comforts, as 
the use of coal and the blast furnace in the smelting 
of iron, of explosives and steam in mining, of the fly- 
ing-shuttle, spinning-frame, power-loom and carding- 
machines, improvements in the process of bleaching, 
dyeing, stamping, together with the marvelous dis- 
coveries in chemistry, all belong to a subsequent 
period. Cotton, which now employs millions of 
people and hundreds of millions of capital in its 
growth and manufacture, was at that period regarded 
more in the light of a curious exotic than a substance 
of utility. In short, whatever proficiency may have 
been attained in the mechanic arts of civilization iu 
the very early ages, it must be said in truthfulness 
that their present development from a state of 
almost barbaric rudeness has been contemporaneous 
with American history. 

It was not till 1810, two hundred years after the 
first colonization of Virginia, that any systematic 
attempt was made to collect general statistics of 
manufactures. The few particulars which can now 
be gathered as to the progress made during those two 
centuries are scattered through numerous memorials, 
local histories, records of councils and statutes of as- 
semblies. These are nevertheless interesting and 
instructive, as showing from what feeble beginnings 
our ancestors con<lucted their infant manufactures 
through numerous difficulties, and laid the foundation 
of their present success. Comparing their condition, 
even up to the close of the last century, with the 
state of productive industry in our time, or with the 
progress made during the last half century, in which 
many new agencies of great power have added in- 
tensity to every form of intellectual and material 
progress, the product makes but a small figure in the 
annals of history. But it is to be remembered that 
their advance was at that time equally slow in most 
parts of the world. Even at the present day, many 



570 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



countries, which were reckoned elders in the family 
of nations ere the ring of the axe was heard in the 
forests of America, are essentially less independent 
in regard to some products of manufacture than were 
the American colonics at the period of the Revohi- 
tion. Equally with the sister arts of agriculture and 
commerce, our manufoctures have, from the first 
settlement of the country, advanced with the increase 
in population. 

During the colonial period the efforts to establish 
manufactures of textile fabrics were feeble and met 
with discouragement i'rom the Governors, who pre- 
sided in the interest of royalty, and who heartily 
co-operated with the home government in making the 
settlers dejjendcnts for all the products of art and 
skilled lalior. So great was their dependence that 
Beverley of Virginia, who wrote in 1706, reproaches 
his countrymen and laments their want of industry 
and enterprise. He says: "They have their clothing 
of all sorts from England, as linen, woolen and silk, 
hats and leather. Yet flax and hemp grow nowhere 
in the world better than there. Their sheep yield 
good increase and bear good fleeces, but they shear 
them only to cool them. The mulberry-tree, whose 
leaf is the proper food of the silkworm, grows there 
like a weed, and silk-worms have been observed to 
thrive extremely and without any hazard. The very 
furs that their hats are made of perhaps go first from 
thence, and most of their hides lie and rot, or are 
made use of only for covering dry goods in a leaky 
house. Indeed some few hides with much ado are 
tanned and made into servants' shoes, but at so care- 
less a rate that planters don't care to buy them if 
they can get others ; and sometimes a better manager 
than ordinary will vouchsafe to make a pair of 
breeches of a deer-skin. Nay, they are such abomi- 
nable ill husbands that though their country be over- 
run with wood, yet they have all their wooden-ware 
from England, — their cabinets, chairs, tables, stools, 
chests, boxes, cart-wheels and all other things, even 
80 much as their bowls and birchen brooms — to the 
eternal reproach of their laziness." 

The colder climate of the Middle and the New 
England States quickened habits of industry in the 
sturdy men who were exiled lor conscience sake, and 
who clearly foresaw at a very early day the necessity 
of providing for themselves. A stern necessity incited 
the colonists of Massachusetts to provide raiment for 
themselves, while the liberality of Penn induced the 
skilled laborer of all nations and tongues to join him 
in his colony on the Delaware. Slowly, but with 
great certainty, these two colonies emerged from condi- 
tions of dependency and united the agricultural inter- 
ests with those of the factory ; hence it was against these 
two colonies before and after the Revolution, that Eng 
land legislated. In 1774 it was enacted (21 George III. 
chap. 37) " that any person who packed or i)Ut on board, 
or caused to be brought to any place in order to be put 
on board any vessel, with a view to exportation, any 



machine, engine, tool, press, paper, utensil or imple- 
ment, or any part thereof, which is now or hereafter 
may be used in the woolen, cotton, linen or silk 
manufacture of this kingdom, or goods wherein wool, 
cotton, linen or silk are used, or any model or 
|ilan thereof, should forfeit every such machine and 
the goods packed therewith, and two hundred pounds, 
and suffer twelve months' imprisonment." This act 
was amended in 1782, increasing the number of its 
prohibitory clauses and increasing the penalty to 
five hundred pounds, and by a further supplement 
made [(crpetual in 1790.' The improved machinery,, 
of which England possessed a monopoly at the above 
date was the power-loom, brought into use in 1774 by 
Cartwright; the mule-jenny, by Corapton, in 1775; 
carding, by Arkwright,'^ about the same period ; and 
by the ap])lication of the steam-engine of Watt, in 
1783. Cylinder printing was invented by Bell in 
1785, and the use of acid in bleaching was introduced 
by Watt in 1786. 

Notwithstanding the difficulty of obtaining im- 
proved machinery, or patterns from which to make it, 
a "jenny" found its way to Philadelphia, and was 
used during the Revolution by Mr. Wetherill in the 
manufacture of cotton and woolen goods. In Aiiril, 
1782, he advertised for sale, at his factory in South 
Alley, " Philadelphia Manufactures, suitable for all 
seasons, viz.: jeans, fustians, everlastings, coatings, 
etc." This is said to be the first product of the kind 
made in this country.^ The Pennsylvania Society for 
the Encouragement of Manufactures and the I'seful 
Arts, was formed as early as 1778. This society was 
open to every citizen of the United States. It was 
governed by a president, four vice-presidents, two 
secretaries, a treasurer, a board of twelve managers 
and a committee for manufactures ; all except the 
committee were chosen annually liy ballot. Sub- 
scri]itions of ten pounds or upward, to constitute a 
manufacturing fund, were received from individuals 
or companies for the purpose of establishing fac- 
tories, the subscribers to be entitled to the profits of 
the same. The operations of this society extended 
throughout the Middle States, and aided the pioneers 
throughout the interior of New England not only in 
capitalizing labor, but in the improvement of machi- 
nery and the dissemination of scientific and useful 
knowledge. Under its auspices Mr. Tench Coxe, an 
ardent and inffuential friend of the manufacturers of 



1 .\ srt uf L-oinplfte brass luodfls of A rkwright machinery waa made 
ami jiackecl in Englanil by the agent of 3Ir. Teneli Co.xe, of PJilladelphia, 
in 17sr>, Imt w:iK seized on tlie eve of its shipment, and the promising ini- 
jtortation defeated. 

-Samuel Slater, having completed, nudei'inany dillicnlties, and chiefly 
with his own hands, on the IStli of .lannary, 17110, the entire series of 
.\rk\vright tnachinery, at rawtncket, R. I., started at that plare the first 
complete and snccessfnl water-spinning mill for cotton in the United 
States. The machinery openited by the water-wheel of an old fnlling- 
mill, embraced three carding, one drawing and roving-riuicliine and 
seventy-two si'indles — liifltop'e " Jfist. Awei-inm M<unif<ictnn'»," i'"l. i*. 

'•^ liiKliop's '* Jiit'l. Jiiier. Maniif.,"' i-«l. L ji. .t'.is. 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



571 



the period, delivered an address at the University of 
Pennsylvania on the 9th of August, 1787.^ Mr. Coxe's 
eflbrt was indorsed by David Rittenhouse and others 
of extended influence, and Benjamin Franklin aided 
in giving publicity to the timely paper. The manu- 
facturing committee, S. Wetherill, Jr., chairman, 
made a report at the close of tlie tirst year's operations. 
The contributions received in *' hard specie" amounted 
to £1827 105. 6f/., and the expenditures for machinery, 
utensils and titting up factories to £453 lOs. 2d. leav- 
ing a circulating capital of £874. To employ the 
poor, they had purchased flax, and employed between 
two and three hundred women in spinning linen yarn 
during the winter and spring, and engaged woi'kmen 
to make a carding-machine, four jennies of forty, forty- 
four, sixty and eighty spindles, for spinning cotton. 
Owing to the difficulty of finding artisans and making 
machines without models, or with imperfect ones, and 
obstructions by foreign agents, they did not get the 
first loom at work until April 12, 17<S8. By AugUf*t 
23d of the same year they had, however, twenty-six 
looms in operation ; by November 1st they had manu- 
factured of jeans, corduroys, flowered cottons, flax 
linens, tow linens and bird's-eye four thousand and 
sixteen yards, of which two thousand and ninety-five 

1 It appears from his remarks tbat after giving relief to the iiidustiious 

poor, which was one ulyect of the society, the employment of machinery 
as much as possible in their operationa was cuntemplatetl by its friends. 
This purpose was urgeil in reply to the ubjectiun which, among many 
others, appears to have been inaile against tlie estal>Iishnu-nt uf maniifac- 
toriew, and were severally combated by the speaker, that tlu-y were injur- 
ious to the health of the working-people. A propt-r regard fur the inter" 
eetB of agiicuUure, as tlie most inii)ortant, was recuniniended in any 
measures that 'might be ado])ted for the advancement of manufactures- 
In this cunnertion the cultivation of cotton in the Southern States was 
recomiiiendud as an article from which the best-informed manufacturers 
expecttd the greatest i)rotits, aTid njion which some established factories 
depended. It tliriveil as well tht.*re, Iil' Kiid, as in any part of the world, 
and those States raised it formerly when the i)rii.e was not lialf what it 
had been for several yeai-s past. It was then worth double the money 
in America which it sold for before the Revolution, Enroi»eau nations 
having prohibited its expoi'tiition from their colonies to foreign countries. 
The great progress made in agriculture and manufactures, particularly 
in Pennsylvania, since the year 1762, and still more since the late wan 
was adverted to, and a lengthy list of articles then made in the State 
was given. These included hosiery, hats and gloves, wi'aring apparel, 
coarse linens and woolens, some cotton goods, wool and cotton cards, etc. 
The advantages of America in having tlie raw materials and market at 
home, in exemption from duties, in the ability to sell for cash by tht* 
piece instead of large invoices on long credits, as imported goods were 
then sold, in the superior strength of American linens, in the benefits of 
a better atmosphere for bleaching linen and cotton, were severally urged 
ae so many inducements to undertake manufactures. He recommended 
the exemption from duties of raw materials, dye stuffs and certain im- 
plements ; jtremiums for useful inventions and processes ; the invita- 
tion of foreign artists to settle hy grants of land, and that every emigrant 
ship should be visited to ascerUiin what persons were on hoard capable of 
constructing useful machines or of conducting manufactures. The Wiiste- 
ful use of foreign mannfartiu'es was illustrated by the fact that the 
importation into Philadelphia alone of the finer kinds of coat, vest and 
sleeve-buttons, buckles and other trinkets was supposed to amount in a 
single year to ten thousiind i)ounds, and cost the wearers sixty thousand 
dollars. In urging the benefits to the agricultural iuterestri of manufac- 
tures in their miilst, he ventured the assertion that the value of Anieri" 
can productions annually consumed by the nminifactnrei-s of the State, 
exclusive of the makers of flour, lumber and bar-iron, was double the 
aggregate amount of all its exports in the most plentifid year. — }iiehop^8 
"Eist. Mm,,,/.,'- col. 



were cotton. The entire product from the beginning- 
amounted to eleven thousand three hundred and 
sixty-seven yards. The committee stated, in conclu- 
sion, that, being impressed with the conviction of the 
importance of the cotton branch, they "beg leave to 
recommend in the strongest terms the prosecution of 
the manufacture by fresh subscriptions, until a knowl- 
edge and due sense of its value shall induce some 
proper persons, either citizens or foreigners, to under- 
take the business."'"^ 



-Public seutiment upon the subject had reached and sensildy affecteit 
the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, and as early as 1778 an act waa 
passed, entitled an "Act to encourage and protect the manufactures of 
the State." This act, which was limited to two years, prohibited, under 
certain penalties, the exportation of manufacturing machines, th© 
scarcity of which was the great obstacle to such undertaking's. This act 
isstated by the editor of the American Mnstum, M. Carey, to have owed 
its existence to the fact that in the year 177S two carding and spinning- 
machines in the possession of a citizen of Philadelphia, and calculated ttx 
save the labor of one hundred and twenty persons, were purchased by 
the agency of a British artisan, packed np in cases as common merchan- 
dise, and shipped to Liverpool. A quantity of cotton-seed is also stated, 
to have been soon after purchased in Virginia and burned, in order to 
prevent, if possible, the extension of the cotton manufactures in America, 
and their injurious effects upon the importation of Manchester goods. 
In October, 1788, a reward of one hundred pounds was given Joha 
Hague, of Alexandria, Va., for a carding-machine completed for the 
society in March of the ensuing year, when the Legislature passed " Aa 
Act to assist the Cotton Manufactures of this State." The act was de- 
signed to assist "The Manufacturing Committee of the Pennsylvania 
Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures and the Useful Arts, and 
under whom a manufactory of cotton articles has accordingly been 
established with givat prospect of success in the city of Philadelphia, but 
the sums subscribed to which are inadeqmite to the prosecution of the 
plan upon that extensive and libeiul scale which it is the interest of this 
State to promote." It authorized the treasurer of the State to subscribe 
in the name and for the use of the State for one hundred shares, of tea 
pounds each, in the manufacturing fund of the said society, which was- 
done accordingly, and an order drawn upon the treasurer, Dr. Ritten- 
house, in favor of Christopher Marshall, Jr., treasurer of the society^ 
for the simi of one thousiind pounds, April 9, 1789. The manufactory 
was burned down on the night of the 2-ttli of March, 1790, and evidence 
having been obtained that it was lired by design, a reward was offered by 
the State for the detection of the culprit. 

The earnest recommendation of Mr. Cose and the eflforts of the society 
to introduce the manufactvire of cotton are believed to have had much 
influence with the members of the convention assembled in Philadelphia,, 
at the time of its organization, to frame a constitution, under which a 
more efficient government could he adopted to remedy the numerous 
evils arising under the old confederation. The Southern delegates, on 
returning home, generally recommended the cultivation of cotton, and 
with such success as to secure increased attention to that crop. The same 
influence and the necessity of a revenue induced the first Congress to 
protect the raw material and its manufacture by a duty of threepence a 
pound on foreign cotton and of five per cent., which was soon after in- 
creased to twelve and a lialf, on foreign manufactured cottons. There is 
little doubt that the first Secretary of the Treasury derived important 
hints in the formation of his fiscal scheme, and much material for his 
able report on mamifactiu-es, from the statesmanlike views and accurate 
knowle<lge of his iissistant, Mr. Coxe. In his recoumiendation of the 
cotton culture for the creation of a redundant staple, aud of manufarturea 
as one of the firmest supports of a prosperous agriculture and commerce, 
the latter was unremitting and enthusiiistic. We learn from the writings 
of Mr. Coxe that Pennsylvania, within a ^ear or two after, if not before 
the destruction of the small manufactory above referred to, wns in 
possession of a full set of the .-Vrkwright machinery for spinning cotton, 
as well as the complete works of the water-mill for spinning hemp and 
worsted yarn. He strongly advocated the introduction of matiufi'ctnres 
on a large scale commensurate with the increased abilities and «aiits of 
the country. He drew up and published the details of a plan for a manu- 
facturing town in the interior of the State, which should be to Phila- 
deliihiji what Maiicbester, Leeds. l!irniin;:liaM! and Shetheld were to their 



572 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



During the period of tlie Revolution, and to the 
time of the adoption of the National Constitution of 
1787, the colonies were united under certain "Articles 
■of Confederation," by reason of which the colonies, or 
States, exercised the power of regulating trade and 
•commerce. The conflict of interests, thought to be 
irreconcUable on account of the want of cheap and 
rapid transit between distant points, resulted in the 
passage of laws greatly at variance with the welfare 
of the whole people. State impost laws proved a 
feeble barrier to the flt)od of merchandise that poured 
into our ports of peace, while in some exceptional 
•cases they almost excluded the products of sister 
■States. Notwithstanding the unfavorable conditions 
between the period of independence and that of 
national unity, manufactures, both of the co-operative 
and household kind, increased in volume and quality. 
The adoption of the Federal Constitution, in 1787, 
invested the national government with full power to 
regulate foreign commerce and trade and repeal all 
inter-State restrictions thereon. 

By no class of the community was the new consti- 
tution and its adoiition Ijy the States more zealously 
urged than l)y the friends of American manufacture ; 
with no class was its ratification a subject of greater 
lejoicing than with the friends of capitalized labor 
•and mechanics of every kind. They saw in the resto- 
ration of public and private confidence, through the 
agency of a national faith, and in the wholesome 
•check to an impoverishing and corrupting use of 
foreign manufactures by a general revenue system, 
the first dawn of hope for their young and feeble 
factories, which, under all the discouraging circum- 
stances of the times, had given hopeful assurance of 
future and enduring success. The first national Con- 
gress began the work of legislation, and in laying 
■duties or imports, in July, 1789, had reference, as the 
preamble to the act declares, to " the encouragement 
and protection of manufactures." No review of the 
rise and significance of American manufactures will 
be satisfactory without reference to the legislation, 
both State and national, and the current State jjapers 
intended to encourage and protect the development 
of the mechanic arts and skilled labor necessary for 

a-espective seaports. A capital of five huodred thousand dollai-s, mised 
eitlier by the subHcriptiuns of au iissociated company, by lottery tickets or 
■by au appropriation of State funds to that amount, was to be invested in 
the purchase of two thousiud acres of laud, whereon the factories for all 
branches of manufacture, dwellings, and other appurtenances of a com- 
plete manufacturing village were to be erected, to become the great 
support of the rural population around. Navigable communication with 
the city and the interior, an ample water-power and access to wood and 
■coal, etc., were the conditions whicli should <letermine its selection. The 
•suggestion was afterwanls acted upon by a "Society for the Establisbmeut 
of L'seful 3Ianufactures," wliicb, under the patronage of the .Secretary of 
the Treasury, and with a large capitjil, in shares of four hundred dollars 
•each, was chartered in November, 1791, by the Legislature of New Jersey, 
■with extensive privileges to carry on all kinds of manufactures at the 
Falls of tlie Passaic. Although not immediately successful, the euter- 
priso was the fouu'lation of the present active town of Pateraon, which, 
«ot many years after, became the seat of numerous cotton-factories, that 
Jiave been the first in the State. — litftliop^t " Hist. Mamif,,^' vul. i. 



the success and permanency of this industrial pur- 
suit. The subject in detail is, however, beyond the 
scope of this chapter, and therefore referable to the 
standard works and authorities wherein it is treated 
in extenso. 

The following statistics, as reported in the census 
of 1880, show the present magnitude of the industrial 
arts of Pennsylvania, including those of Montgomery 
County. Located on the boundary of a large seaport 
city, with great natural advantages, enhanced by 
river and railroad transit, the county takes rank 
second only to Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties. 

The total number of manufacturing establishments 
In the State was, in 1880, 31,232 ; the total capital 
invested, $474,510,993 ; the value of materials, $465,- 
020,563 ; and of the products, $744,818,445. The num- 
ber of employes was, — males above sixteen years, 
284,359; females above fifteen years, 73,046 ; children 
and youth, 29,667 ; and the amount paid in wages, 
$134,055,904. 

The earliest authentic statistics attainable concern- 
ing the manufactures of the county are for the year 
1810, found in Tench Coxe's statement contributed to 
the census report of 1820, from which the following is 
condensed : 

Stockings: mills, 4; pair.s, 1200; value, $1800. 
Shirt-buttons : dozens, 480 ; value, $30. Cotton and 
wool spun in mills, 15,600 pounds; value, $15,600. 
Spinning-wheels in operation, 9987; looms, 325. 
Carding-machines in operation, 11 ; pounds carded, 
42,600; value, $3790. Fulling-mills, 4; yards, fulled, 
18,800; value, $1575. Labor-saving machinery: 
billies, 1; jennies, 1; looms with fly shuttles, 4; 
spinning-frames, 2 ; spindles, 292. Cotton manufac- 
turing establishments, 2 ; mixed and hempen cloth, 
yards made, 40,000 ; woolen cloth, in families, 38,800 ; 
total value of all kinds of cloth, $94,200. Batteries, 
10; wool and mixed hats, 5148; value, $13,395. 
Forges, 2; tons of iron 310; value, $31,000. Trip- 
hammers, 2; value, $10,000. Naileries, 7; pounds 
of nails, 11 8,720 ; value, $10,600. Gun manufactories : 
2; guns, 1800; value, $19,287. Black-smith's shops, 
87; value, $44,250. Cutler's shops, 5; value, $4990 
Tin plate produced; 1500 pounds, value (with copper 
and brass), $1500. Tanneries, 30; value, $60,860. 
Shoes and boots: pairs, 37,705; saddles 
and bridles, 1100,— value, $53,710. Glue: pounds, 
.500; value, $100. Flaxseed oil: mills, 24; gallons, 
46,100; value, $46,100. Distileries, 63; gallons, 55, 
100; value, $27,550. Cabinet-makers, 8; value of 
work, .$2300. Carriage- shops, 1; value, $2600. 
Cooper-shops, 16 ; value, $7901. Bark-mills, 4. 
Paper-mills, 15 ; reams made, 25,433 ; value, $130,431. 
Marble- yards, 4; value, $17,500. Marble saw-milla, 
1 ; val ue, $10,000. Snuff and tobacco-mills, 1 ; value, 
$4000; production 56,000 pounds. Dyers, 12; value 
of work, $2,150. Rope-walks, 2 ; tons made, two and 
one-half; value, $1300. Chocolate: pounds, 1200; 
value, $240. Gun-powder: mills, 5; pounds made. 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



573 



73,920; value, $28,000. Ginger: manufactories, 1; 
pounds, 12,000. Printing: offices, 2; value, $2600. 
Wheat-mills, 97 ; bushels ground, 440,700 ; barrels, 
27,200; value, $959,700. Saw-mills, 55; lumber 
sawed, 1,38.3,000 ; feet value, $11,512. Brick-kilns, 2 ; 
number of bricks, 60,000 ; value, $480. Lime-kilns, 
33; bushels of lime, 273,200; value, $42,210. 

In 1850 the capital invested in manufactures in 
Montgomery County was $3,178,662, the number 
of hands employed was 3886, and the value of the 
total annual product was .$4,737,419. 

In 1860 the number of establishments was 601 ; 
the capital invested, $4,712,027 ; the cost of raw ma- 
terial, $4,323,233 ; the number of employes 4966 
(3737 males and 1229 females) ; the annual cost of 
labor, $1,294,248 and the annual value of raw mater- 
ial, $7,127,984., Followiuij are the statistics for 1880 
(from the tenth United States census), exhibiting 
forty selected manufactures. 



Allegheny, 1895; Lancaster, 1437; Berks, 1044; and 
York, 859. 

When the amount of capital invested in manufac- 
tures is taken into consideration, however, Montgom- 
ery comes forward to fourth place, with an investment 
of $13,789,461, the only counties taking precedence of 
it being Philadel[)hia, with $187,148,857 ; Allegheny, 
with $70,641,426; and Delaware, with $14,256,720. 
Berks County has more than a million and a quarter 
dollars less capital invested in manufactures than 
Montgomery, and Lancaster has more than three and a 
quarter million dollars less, while York, which, as we 
have shown, exceeds Montgomery in number of man- 
ufactures, falls far behind it in capital, having only 
$3,537,375. 

In the value of products Montgomery is the third 
county of the State. The value of the total annual 
output of its manufactories is $20,656,993, while that 
of Philadelphia is $324,342,935, and of Allegheny, 



Agricultural implements 

Brass castings 

Bread and other bakery products ■ 

Brick and tile 

Carpfts other than rag (see also woolen goods) . . 

Carriages and wagons 

Cheese and butter (factory) 

Clothing, men's 

Clothing, women's 

Confectionerj- 

Cotton goods (see also mixed textiles) 

Cutlery and edge-tools (see also hardware) .... 

Dyeing and hnishing textiles 

Fertili/ei-s 

Flouring and grist-mill products 

Foundry and machine-shop products 

Glass 

Grease and tallow 

Gunpowder 

Hardware (see also cutlery) 

Iron and steel 

Iron nails and spikes, cut and w rought 

Leather, curried 

Leather, tanned 

Liquors, malt 

Lumber, planed (see also sash, doors, etc.) .... 

Lumber, sawed 

Marble and stone-work 

Mixed textiles (see also cotton and woolen goods) . 

Oil, linseed 

Paper 

Paving materials 

Printing and publishing 

Saddlery and harness 

Sash, doors and blinds (see also lumber, planed) . 

Shirts • 

Shoddy (see also mixed textiles) 

Tinware, copperware and sheet-iron 

Tobacco, cigars, etc 

AVoolen goods (see also carpets and mixed textiles) 



Totals 840 



i5.S 



!.■! 
I 

•20 
28 

1 
12 

7 
U 

:j 

3 
7 
4 
1 
2 
115 
18 
1 
5 
2 
1 
19 
1 
11 
11 
2 

20 
7 
9 
4 
6 
1 
7 
22 
6 
2 
2 
21 
50 
14 



Capital. 



Males 

above 

IG years. 



S2.ll), 145 

2.3,000 

8.3,400 

168,100 

8,000 

63,700 

43,705 

67,600 

12,300 

20,850 

68:), 260 

109,8.50 

500,000 

;i:),iKio 
1,004,100 

478,873 

100,000 

6,900 

26,000 

80,000 

5,245,613 

100,000 
27, .500 
88,500 
26,000 

142,750 

(»,550 

311,4.50 

1,190,000 

18,200 

329,500 
.50,000 
86,000 
20,850 
3:),0OO 
57,600 
35,000 
96,1.50 

114,690 
1,963,000 



813,789,461 



Average number of hands 

employed. | -j.^t^l 

amount paid 
in wages 



Females Childr'n I during the 
above ' and year. 

15 yeais. youths. 



138 
14 
44 

2:12 
21 
95 
21 

147 
6 
10 

209 
74 
78 
14 

213 

.■(78 
70 
8 
5 

100 
2,9'27 

:t7 
7 
27 
11 
92 
33 
31! 

364 
6 

1.34 
18 
62 

a3 

24 
30 

m 

378 
636 



19 

1 

271 



560 
'o's ' 



:J28 
6 



2.33 
719 



7,469 3,073 1,107 



5 

41 

15 

3 

1 



163 

2 
57 



32 
9 



96 
342 



Value 

of 

materials. 



Value 

of 
products. 



»i3,770 
7,000 

16,781 

44,649 
4,.50O 

33,883 

4,844 

119,9.50 

2,476 

5,026 

133,393 

31,667 

60,000 
3,380 

52,167 
1.58,401 

26,000 
2,189 
1,500 

36,000 
1,301,610 

20,000 
1,530 
9,560 
3,087 

33,139 
7,510 

13,870 

370,978 

1,135 

76,660 
4,000 

22,800 
7,016 
6,a57 

63,600 

17,044 

21,716 
145,096 
529,068 



895,332 
60,000 
82,716 
34,275 
23,538 
35,210 
96,738 

941,100 
14,000 
25,800 

236,902 
ai,397 

100,000 

20,800 

1,640,089 

207,806 
40,000 
81,870 
18,000 

110,000 
4,593,563 
32,000 
46,471 
92,658 
16,680 
64,2-28 
61,640 
22,:i85 
1,176,937 
18,100 

298,6.50 
12,tH10 
26,177 
20,030 
14,109 

111,480 
90,000 
43,851 

280,686 
1,991,362 



,.596,208 $13,189,707 



8214,581 
75,000 

1'26,99T 

135,184 
35,000 
87,050 

119,621 

1,107,060 

21,500 

32,879 

423,517 
76,908 

270,000 

34,680 

1,866,107 

461,052 
72,000 
91,376 
22,600 

270,000 

7,194,821 

5.5,000 

57,62* 

125,431 
2,5,724 

110,923 

91,004 

.50,750 

2,029,640 

•25,220 

6:37,230 
30,000 
61,404 
41,159 
25,500 

205,000 

142,000 
88,015 

475,634 
3,103,641 



J-20,66li,993 



In the number of manufactories, Montgomery, with 
840, stands sixth among its sister counties, those with 
a larger number of establishments being Philadel- 
phia, with (according to the census of 1880) 8667 ; ' 



1 The number in 1882 is stated upon good authority to have been 

11,844. 



$105,272,739. The county of Berks closely follows 
Montgomery in the value of its annual jjroducts, 
reaching the amount of $20,143,164, and Delaware 
comes next in order with an annual output valued at 
$19,601,493. The value of Cambria's yearly produc- 
tion reaches $16,1.50,865, and that of no other county 
exceeds $15,000,000. 



574 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEllY COUNTY. 



The following table exhibits the manufacturing 

statistics of Montgomery in coraj)ari»on with those of 
•the six adjoining counties : 



were bought in by the Philadelphia and Reading 
Railroad Company. The property was purchased by 
a company of Norristown gentlemen, who were 



JluntmoiiiiTy . 
rhiliululpliia 
Bucks . . . . 
Berks . . . . 
I'hestiT , , . 
Delaware . . 
Lehifill . . . 



s 




Average number of hands 








i 


























amount jiaiil 






-^ 


t^anirul. 


Males 


Females 


Children 


in wages 
during 
the year. 


Materials. 


Products. 


•-5 




above 


above 


and 






1 




16 yeai-8. 


loyeare. 


youths. 






8411 


*l:),7X'.l,4lll 


7,4511 


3,IJ73 


1,107 


$.l,nilc;,20K 


$13,189,707 


»JO,o,5(i,993 


8,5U7 


1»7,14K,S57 


113,1175 


5(>,«1S 


15,034 


(14,2U5,9(1B 


199,155,477 


324,342,935 


-.91 


3,(l3n,U14 


2,334 


921) 


349 


904,915 


4,033,027 


0,208,209 


1,1144 


l-i.fiH-i.l*! 


S,307 


890 


811 


3,077,919 


13,02|-.,331 


20,143,164 


737 


0,411,853 


4,141 


389 


331 


1,749,3.50 


11,074,978 


10,4114,331 


41fi 


14,2511,720 


I),5li9 


2,885 


1,788 


3,839,838 


11,202,904 


19,001,493 


473 


12,850,472 


4,790 


576 


377 


1,090,776 


9,352,199 


14,097,475 



.NOKUISTOWN. 

NoKRisTOWN Iron-Works, James Hooven & 
Son. — This is the largest industry in Norristown, 
covering four acres of ground, fronting four hundred 
feet on Washington Street, and running back thence 
to the river Schuylkill. It had its origin in 1846, 
the pioneers being Moore & Hooven. In 1854, 
Mr. Moore retired, leaving the business in the hands 
of Mr. Hooven, who has increased the productive 
capacity of the mill from two thousand five hundred 
to five thousand tons of finished work per annum. 
In 1870 he erected a blast furnace in connection with 
the rolling-mill, and in 1878 erected mills for the 
manufacture of wrought-iron pipe. The power is 
derived from seven engines and twenty-two boilers, 
of a combined power of five hundred horses. There 
are six double puddling and three heating furnaces. 
Two hundred and fifty hands are employed in the 
works ; the pay-roll amounts to five thousand dollars 
a week, and the value of the property is estimated at 
five hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 

Plate-Iron Mills, J. H. Boone, Proprietor. — 
These mills are situated on the Schuylkill River, 
close to the Reading Railroad track, on Washington 
Street, opposite Markley Street. The buildings were 
erected in 1850 by General William Schall, who 
operated them successfully for several years. In 1880, 
Mr. J. H. Boone purchased the property, rebuilt the 
mill in the most substantial manner, and fitted it uj) 
with new and improved machinery. There are three 
engines, of one hundred and twenty, forty and thirty 
horse-power, and five boilers. The mills are devoted 
to the manufacture of plate-iron, the capacity being 
about five thousand tons a year of finished iron. 
Nearly a hundred hands are employed at the mills, 
and over one thousand dollars a week are distributed in 
wages. The mills are in a very prosperous condition. 

Standard Iron- Works (Limited). — These works 
are situated in the lower section of the borough, and 
were built by the late General William Schall in 
1863. They were afterwards sold to Samuel Fulton, 
of Conshohocken, and being put up at slieritt's sale, 
incorporated under the title of the Standard Iron 
Company (Limited), of which Colonel John W. 
Schall is the president. The mill and lot are about 
four hundred feet square, with eleven double puddling 
furnaces, one one hundred horse-power engine and 



one fifty horse-power engine, with l)oilers to match. 
The capacity is about ten thousand tons of muck-bar 
per annum ; when in full operation, one hundred and 
twenty hands are employed ; over sixty thousand 
; dollars a year are paid out in wages. The value of the 
I plant is about seventy thousand dollars, and is located 
on Washington Street, near Ford Street bridge. 

Pennsylvania Tack-Works. — These works, now 
of national reputation, are located on Stony Creek, 
and were established in 1866 by Captain C. P. Weaver, 
who is still the mainspring and ma8ter-sj)irit of the 
business. In 1871 the name of the firm was changed 
to C. P. Weaver & Co., and the buildings which they 
now occupy were erected, making additions from time 
to time as the pressure of business increased. No. 1 
building, filled with new and improved nail and tack- 
machines, has a frontage of thirty feet on Ann Street 
and one hundred feet on Markley, part three stories 
in height and part two stories ; No. 2 building is 
twenty-five by seventy feet. No. 3 is twenty-five by 
seventy feet, No. 4 is thirty by seventy-eight feet, in 
which buildings the different processes of bluing, 
pickling, slitting, annealing and i^acking are carried 
on, with a large store-house for the materials required 
in the manufacture. Over seventy hands are employed, 
the pay-roll amounting to nearly .$2,000 monthly. 

Fifteen tons of finished work are produced per week, 
embracing fully two thousand grades of tacks and 
nails. These works are amongst the foremost on this 
continent, are in a most flourishing condition and are 
estimated in value at about one hundred and seventy- 
five thousand dollars. The goods manufactured at 
the Pennsylvania Tack-Works have not only a na- 
tional reputation, but are exported to England, Ger- 
many, Russia, China, Australia and other parts of 
the civilized world. In 1873 a stock company was 
organized under a charter of the Legislature, with a 
capital of $100,000, and the present name assumed. 
The president is J. K. Ralston ; the treasurer and 
superintendent is Captain C. P. ^\'eaver. 

Captain Charles P. Weaver is the son of Ran- 
som and Mary Hogan Weaver, of Pultney, Steuben 
Co., N. Y., his jiaternal ancestry being English and 
his maternal ancestors of Irish and Holland descent. 
He was born on the 8th of August, 1828, and early 
evinced a marked predilection for the sea. He 
embarked at the age of fifteen, and for six years 



M AN UFAC'TURING INDUSTRIES. 



575 



acted as sailor, the following nine having been spent 
as a subordinate officer and eight as a captain. The 
first ten years of his nautical life wore devoted to the 
European trade, sailing to and from Great Britain 
and ports on the Continent. Later he made long 
voyages, having been five times round Cape Horn en 
route for California. He also made four trips to the 
East Indies, on which occasions he was several times 



This officer burned the vessel and cargo, and landed 
Captain Weaver, liis family and crew at Bahia, 
Brazil. The loss he sustained was subsecjuently re- 
paid him on the adjustment of the "Alabama" claims. 
At the conclusion of this episode in his career he 
decided to abandon a seafaring life, and in 1865 made 
Norristown his home, establishing at that point the 
Pennsylvania Tacli-Works. Their success was at once 




wrecked. During his life as a mariner Captain 
Weaver visited, with the exception of the Dutch and 
Baltic ports, all the princijial sea-marts in the world. 
He was for several years master and part owner of 
the clipper ship "Edwin Flye," as also captain of 
the "Flying Eagle" and the bark "Columbia." 
While sailing the bark " Union Jack" he was cap- 
tured by the rebel pirate Semmes, of "Alabama" fame. 



confirmed, and a demand creafed that necessitated 
removal into more spacious quarters, which he en- 
larged and refitted. Captain Weaver married, in 
1855, Miss Margaret H., daughter of Morton and 
Priscilla Pratt, of Weymouth, Mass. Their two sons, 
Henry P. and George N., are both associated with 
their father in the management of the tack-works. 
The captain is a public-spirited citizen, with benevo- 



576 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



lent instincts, which lead him to participate with heart 
anil hand in canying on good works. He atflliates 
with the Republican party in politics, but frequently 
votes independently, having been in 1882 a member 
of the Independent State Committee. Aside from 
his Norristown enterpri.se, he is identified with tlie 
Central ManufacturingComitany of Boston as a<lirec- 
tor. Captain Weaver is a member of tlie First Presby- 
terian Church of Norristown, and an active member of 
the Young Men's Christian Association, of which he 
was president and to which lie was a generous donor. 

The Globe Tack-Works. — -These works are 
located on Oak Street, near Arch Street, in the 
borough of Norristown, and were established by 
Messrs W. E. Thomas and M. Kenworthy, January, 
1844, under the firm-name of Thomas & Kenworthy, 
The main building fronts on Oak Street thirty-five 
feet, witli a depth of one hundred and twenty-five 
feet, two stories in height. Attached to or surround- 
ing the main building are an iron-house, twentj'- 
eight feet by eighty feet ; a piekling-house, eigliteen 
by twenty-four feet, and an engine and boiler-iiouse, 
twenty-four by thirty-two feet. In this latter build- 
ing is a thirty horse-power engine and a forty horse- 
power boiler, which furnish tlie motive-power. There 
are thirty tack-making machines, and over thirty 
hands employed in the mill, manufacturing about one 
ton of finished tacks per day, ranging in size from a 
tack one-thirty-second of an inch to two and one-half 
inches in length, including between these extremes 
over seven hundred varieties. The monthly pay-roll 
of the hands averages fifteen hundred dollars. 

The Eagle Works, R. S. Newbold & Sox. — This 
old-established firm is famous as founders, engine- 
builders, machinists and manufacturers of rolling-mill 
and blast-furnace machinery, rotary shears, saw and 
grist-mill machinery, boilers and every description of 
iron and brass castings. The old building, erected by 
Thomas Saurman in 1839, is still in use by the i)resent 
firm. It was built for the manufacture of mill ma- 
chinery upon a very small scale, and was run by the 
proprietor with a few apprentices, with the occasional 
help of a journeyman or two. 

The works were bought by R. S. Newbold iu 1861, 
and up to 1867 the firm was in his name. At the 
last-named date his son, .lohn D. Newbold, became a 
partner, and the firm has been R. S. Newbold & Son, 
although the senior member of the firm has been dead 
for some years. Since 1861 the establishment has 
increased in size, capacity and importance, until to- 
day it has a national reputation. The frontage on 
Washington Street is two hundred and sixty feet, with 
a depth of three hundred and fifty feet, extending to 
the Schuylkill River. 

The buildings are as follows : No. 1 is the main 
building, a machine-shop, thirty-five by one hundred 
and thirty feet, fitted up in the best style with all 
the modern inventions and appliances known to this 
branch of mechanics. It is three stories in height. 



No. 2 is the foundry, fifty by ninety feet, in which 
castings of 16,000 pounds are frequently made. 

No. 3 is the boiler and blacksmiths' shop, thirty-five 
by one hundred and ten feet, also fitted up with every 
appliance and convenience for work. 

No. 4 is the pattern store-house, fifty by one hun- 
dred feet, in which is kept thousands of dollars' worth 
of valuable patterns from which castings are made. 
When in full operation there are about seventy men 
employed and $35,000 a year paid outin wages. 

Some enormous contracts of heavy and complicated 
machinery have been filled at the Eagle Works. The 
large five hundred horse-power blowing-engine of the 
new furnace of the Merion Iron Company, J. B. Moor- 
head & Co., at West Conshohocken, was made here. 
All the machinery for the boiler-plate mills of the 
Pottstown Iron Company, of the Plymouth Rolling- 
Mills, Fulton's and Alan Wood & Co.'s mills, of East 
Conshohocken, were made at the Eagle Works. They 
produced the machinery used in Marshall & Brothers' 
rolling-mills, Philadelphia, and those for a large iron- 
works in Duchess County, N. Y. They made three 
large blowing-engines for Morris, Tasker & Co., of 
New Castle, Del. The firm has been the first to make 
a machine successful iu the manufacturing of asphalt 
paving-blocks, producing a pressure of one hundred 
tons on each block. They have a specialty for this, 
and ship their machines to New York, Baltimore, 
Chicago and New Orleans, where this description of 
pavement is coming into extensive use. This gives 
name and reputation to our local mechanics, for which 
they deserve the highest credit. One million five 
hundred thousand pounds of finished work are pro- 
duced here annually, and the value of the works, 
stock included, is about one hundred thousand dollars. 
Robert Cascaden. — Robert Cascaden, the grand- 
father of the subject of this biographical sketch, was a 
native of Drum Connaer, County Donegal, Ireland, and 
followed the fortunes of the sea as captain of a sailing- 
vessel. He emigrated to America prior to the war of 
1812, in which he participated. He married Mary 
Cascaden, whose only child was a son Thomas, born in 
Drum Connaer, where he was engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. Thomas married Betty Long, and had chil- 
dren — Robert, George, Alexander, Thomas, James and 
Isabella. Mr. Cascaden came to America in 1855, 
where he was actively employed for many years. His 
son Robert was born in Drum Connaer, County 
Donegal, Ireland, on the 27th of October, 1825, and 
in 1847 sailed from Londonderry for the LTnited 
States, having in his native country received such an 
education as the common schools afforded. On his 
arrival he found employment in the coal-mines situ- 
ated in Schuylkill County, Pa., after which he re- 
moved to New Y'ork City and engaged in the labor 
incident to boiler-making, where he remained seven 
years. Having become proficient in this department 
of mechanics, he made Philadelphia his residence, his 
skill readily commanding a lucrative position as 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



577 



foreman of the calking department in the Baldwin 
Locomotive- Works. In 1869 he removed with his 
family to Norristown, and assumed charge of the 
Norris Works. He later accepted and still fills the 
position of foreman in connection with the Eagle 
Works, located in that borough, having exclusive 
charge of the boiler department of that establishment. 
Mr. Cascaden has for some years been an iuHuential 
representative of the principles of the Republican 
party. He has been for ten years an active member 
of the Borough Council. In his religious convictions 
he is a Methodist, and member of the First Methodist 
Episcopal Church of Norristown. 



established in 1836 by the senior member of the firm, 
and at first only manufactured stage-coaches. They 
belong to a family famous for scientific mechanical 
ingenuity, of which the celebrated astronomer, David 
Rittenhouse, of Norriton township, was a distin- 
guished member. In 1878, Mr. Rittenhouse admitted 
his sons into jiartnership, under the firm-name of C. 
Rittenhouse & Sons. Their establishment is on Main 
Street, having a frontage of fifty feet and a deptli of 
three hundred feet. They manufacture agricultural 
implements, iron and brass castings, horse-power 
threshers, feed-cutters, corn-shellers, and do all kinds of 
mechanical work, both new and repairing. They em- 




iLo4j-c)V^ XSf€X^(UX..cil2^,^ 



The Star Glas.s-Works, J. M. Albertson & 
Sons. — The manufacture of glass was introduced into 
Norristown Ijy a Philadelphia company about the 
year 1868. The enterprise was a failure in their 
hands, but in 1870 the plant was purchased by J. M. 
Albertson, banker, of Norristown, and has been a 
success under his management. The first year five 
pots were run. There are now twenty pots running, 
giving employment to about one hundred and forty 
hands. The buildings, six in number, front on the 
Norristown Branch of the Philadeljihia and Reading 
Railroad. The grounds, four acres in extent, lie 
between the railroad and the river Schuylkill. 

Rittenhouse & Sons. — This well-known firm was 
37 



ploy thirty hands all the year round, and have recently 
added a new and extensive foundry, which will ma- 
terially increase their facilities for production. 

Christopher Rittenhouse. — Henry Rittenhouse, 
the grandfather of the subject of this biographical 
sketch, resided in Worcester township, Montgomery 
Co. By his marriage to Miss Sophia Ernhart 
were born children, — Christopher, William, Wilhe- 
mina, David, Joseph and Henry. David, who settled 
in Norriton township as a prosperous farmer, married 
Rachel Zimmerman, daughter of Wm. Zimmerman, 
and had children, — Charlotte, Susan (Mrs. Joseph 
Ernhart, deceased), William, Christopher, Sophia 
(Mrs. John Shannon), Henry and David (deceased) 



578 



HISTORY OF MOiNTUOMEKY COUNTY. 



Christopher Ritten house was born on the 1st of 
February, ISfHi, in Norriton townshij), and spent his 
boyhood upon tiie farm of his father, wliere lie en- 
joyed such linaited opportunities of education as were 
obtainable in the country at that early date. He 
preferred a trade to the life of a farnjer, and learned 
that of a wheelwright and coach-maker at Jeft'erson- 
■ville, on the completion of which he removed to Ger- 
mantown township, and for eight years found steady 
employment. He was, in 1835, married to Catharine, 
daughter of George Markle, of Roxborough, Philadel- 
phia Co. Their children are Mary (Mrs. John C. Sny- 
der), Charles M., George M., William Henry, Char- 



Mr. Rittenhouse interests himself no further in the 
political events of the day than to vote the Republican 
ticket, his life having been devoted to mechanical 
labor. He is a supporter of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, his family being among the congregation of 
St. John's Church of that denomination in Norris- 
towu. 

Penn Boiler-Works. — J. & G. Gibbons have 
established the above-named works in the old 
Norris Works machine-shops, and have fitted up 
the place admirably for the manufacture of boilers. 
They are practical workmen, and during the seven 
years in which they have been engaged in the busi- 




'^AyU^lC^ C/Lc^^f^^^yiy^uy-^^^'t-^^ 



lotte, Ella and Frank. Mr. Rittenhouse, in 1836, 
removed to Norristown, and pur.sued his trade until 
1852, when a wider field was opened in the manufac- 
ture of threshing-machines. He associated with him 
in this enterprise a partner, whose interest he soon 
after purchased and became sole owner. Finding 
that his productions by their superior quality com- 
manded a ready market, he, in 1861, erected hi.s present 
capacious and convenient shops, and having enlarged 
the business, engaged in the general manutacture of 
machinery for all purposes. His sons, all of whom 
are practical machinists, were some years since ad- 
mitted to the firm, and the business is now con- 
ducted under the name of C. Rittenhouse & Sons. 



ness they have increased their trade and made a good 
reputation for their work. They are located well, 
close to the Reading Railroad track, at the corner of 
Washington Street. They employ about six hands, 
and are rapidly extending their business. 

Enterprise Foundry and Machine-Shop, 
John F. Elliott, Proprietor. — These works are lo- 
cated at the corner of Main and Ford Streets, and were 
erected by the proprietor in the fall of 1879. The 
foundry has a frontage on Main Street of forty feet 
and a depth of sixty feet, two stories in height. The 
machine-shop is twenty by forty feet. There are 
from eight to ten hands employed, and about nine 
tons of raw material are used every week. About five 




'm> 



t 




MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



579 



thousand dollars a year are. paid in wages, and the 
plant is worth in the market about twenty thousand 
dollars. 

The Nationai, Gas- Works. — Professor T. S. C. 
Lowe established these works some years ago in Nor- 
ristown. The experiment was tried to introduce gas 
made from water, for lighting and heating purposes, 
into Norristown, and a building was erected near the 
corner of De Kalb and Washington Streets for the pur- 
pose of manufacturing gas on Professor Lowe's patent. 
A company was formed and many hundred feet of 
pipes laid down, but the project failed. Professor 
Lowe next established a foundry and machine-shop 
for the manufacture of the engines, retorts, tanks, etc., 
required in his business, on the lot formerly occupied 
by George Zinnel as a coal-yard, on Lafayette Street, 
and extending the entire depth of the block to Main 
Street, where the offices are located. About a dozen 
hands are employed at the works. A foundry in con- 
nection with the works was built in the Fifth Ward, 
near the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, but it 
has not been in operation for some years. 

Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, of Norristown, the distin- 
guished aeronaut, scientist and inventor, was born 
August 20, 1832, at Jefferson, N. H., and is the son 
of Clovis and Alpha Greene Lowe, of that town. His 
mother was a daughter of Thomas Greene, and on both 
sides the ancestry claims to be of the early Pilgrims, 
who came from England in the seventeenth century. 
Mr. Lowe enjoyed only common-school instruction in 
early life, but soon found himself drawn, as by an 
irresistible force, to chemistry, natural philosophy 
and kindred studis^s. At a very early age, therefore, 
he turned his attention to aerostatics and ballooning 
as a specialty. 

When a young man he studied medicine, but 
instead of practicing the same, was engaged in chemi- 
cal and scientific matters for several years, till 1855. 
In that year, while residing in New York, he was 
married to Miss Leontine Gachon, who had been 
born and educated in Paris, France. Very soon after, 
in 1857, he commenced to study aeronautics, and made 
numerous aerial voyages in difterent parts of the coun- 
try, his first one being from Ottawa, Canada, in 1858, 
in celebration of the laying of the first Atlantic 
cable. In 1859 he constructed the largest aerostat 
ever built, or probably ever will be ; it was intended 
for voyages across the ocean, which he estimated 
could be done in less than three days by taking advan- 
tage of the ever-constant eastward current, which he 
had discovered to always prevail in all the numerous 
voyages he had made previous to that time. This 
he did to in some way compensate for the tem- 
porary failure of the Atlantic cable, which was to 
endeavor to communicate more rapidly than by steam- 
ers, which in that day were quite slow compared with 
the present. This aerostat was one hundred and fifty 
feet perpendicular diameter by one hundred and four 
feet transverse diameter, the upper portion being 



I spherical. When fully inflated with hydrogen, its 
atmospheric displacement would give a lifting force 
, of twenty-two and a half tons. It had for its outfit, 
besides a car with all the necessary scientific instru- 
ments, i)rovisions, etc., a complete iron life-lioat, 
schooner-rigged, much larger than several that have 
successfully crossed the ocean since. The gas envelope 
weighed of itself over two tons, while the net-work and 
other cordage weighed about one and a half tons. It was 
quite late in the autumn before this monarch of bal- 
loons was completed. Professor Lowe procured the site 
of the New York Crystal Palace, which had been 
destroyed by fire, aud clearing away the debris of that 
once fine building, he on the 1st of November, began 
the inflation of this large aerostat for the voyage ; but 
owing to a lack in the supply of gas from the street 
mains, whereby six days would be required to inflate 
instead of one day, which was necessary for a successful 
use of the gas, the attempt at that time had to be 
abandoned. There was not then a newspaper in 
the civilized world but what noticed, more or less, 
the extensive preparations he had made for this 
undertaking. 

In the spring of 1860, by invitation of a number of 
the members of the Franklin Institute, Professor 
Lowe came to Philadelphia, where Professor .lohn C. 
Cresson, then president of the Philadelphia Gas- 
Works, promised the necessary rapid supply of gas 
for a trial-trip to test the feasibility of inflating and 
launching into the air this immense aeronautic ma- 
chine. Older aeronauts from all parts of the world 
had predicted that an aerostat of this size could not 
be successfully inflated and launched into the air. 
Notwithstanding these predictions, a successful trial- 
trip was made from the Point Breeze Gas- Works in 
June, 1860, where four hundred thousand cubic feet of 
ga.s were furnished in four ^ours. On this trip five 
passengers were taken, including Mr. Garrick Mallory, 
of the Philadelphia Inquirer, who wrote an .account of 
the trip, which was published in that paper at the 
time. In this voyage two and a half miles altitude was 
attained in passing over the city of Philadelphia, and 
when near Atlantic City a descent was made to a 
lower current, which wafted the great aerostat back 
to within eighteen miles of Philadelphia, where a 
landing was effected. This immense balloon was 
handled with so much skill that the departure from 
the earth, with a weight of over ten tons, and the 
return again, were so gentle. that the passengers on 
board would hardly have known when they left or 
when they landed had they not seen it accom- 
plished. 

So well pleased were Professor Lowe's friends 
at his successful managing of an aerostat six times 
larger than any one ever before built that they recom- 
mended him to visit Professor Joseph Henry, of the 
Smithsonian Institution, and, if possible, secure his co- 
operation, and to that end furnished him with the 
following letter: 



580 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



" To Prof. Joseph Henry, Secretary of the Smithsonian Imtitutiou, 

iVitsIiiiKjton^ It. C. 
" The undersigned citizena of Philadelphia have taken a deep interest 
in the attempt of Mr. T. .S. C. Lowe to cross the Atlantic by aeronautic 
machinery, and have confidence that his e,xtensive prepamtions to effect 
that object will greatlj' add to scientitic linowledge. Mr. Lowe has in- 
dividually spent much time and money in the enterprise, and, in addi- 
tion, the citizens of Philadelphia have contributed several thousand dol- 
lars to further his efforts in demonstrating the feasibility of transatlantic 
air navigation. AVith reliance upon Mr. Lowe and his plans, we cheer- 
fully reconmicud him to the favorable consideration of the Smithsonian 
Institution, and trust such aid and advice will be furnished him by that 
distinguished body as may assist in the success of the attempt, in which 
we take a deep interest. 

"Jno. C. Cresson. Thos. Stewardson, M.D. 

William Hamilton. J. B. Lippincott. 

W. 11. Harrisou. Geo. W. t'hilds. 

Henry Seybert. John Grigg. 

J. Cheston Morris, JI.D. S. S. Haldeman. 

Isaac Lea. John E. Fl-azer. 

Fairman Rogers. George Harding. 

James C. Fisher, M.D. M. McMichael." 

It is needless to say that Professor Henry received 
Professor Lowe with extreme warmth and congeniality, 
from which sprung a lasting friendship, and gave him 
the freedom of the institution. Upon the recommend- 
ation of Professor Henry, preparatory to a trans- 
atlantic voyage, Professor Lowe made a trip across 
the continent in a smaller aerostat, starting from Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, at four o'clock in the morning of April 
20, 1861, after taking leave of his friends, among 
whom were Messrs. Potter and Murat Halstead, of the 
Cincinnati Commercial, and landed on the South Car- 
olina coast at twelve o'clock the same day, making the 
quickest and longest voyage on record, delivering 
papers at about a thousand miles distant, still damp 
from the press, in eight hours after they were printed. 
This voyage was fraught with great interest, both 
scientific and otherwise, long accounts of it being 
published at the time. Landing in this way in South 
Carolina two weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter 
caused considerable excitement in the rebel armies, 
and Professor Lowe was arrestedand thrown in prison, 
but on producing proofrelative to the scientific objects 
of the voyage, he was released, and after five days and 
nights of railroading found his way back to Cincin- 
nati, the point from which he had so recently traveled 
in eight hours. 

Secretary Chase, then a member of President Lin- 
coln's Cabinet, telegraphed, attherequest of the Presi- 
dent, to Professor Lowe to come to Washington and 
consult him as to the use of balloons for warpurposes, 
whither he went, and was received by the President 
with marked attention, spending several nights at the 
Presidential mansion. . These interviews resulted in 
obtaining authority for the organization of the corps 
of observation or aeronautic corps, with Professor 
Lowe at its head as chief aeronaut of the United 
States army, which position he held for three years, 
at the end of which time his health became so much 
impaired that he turned his department over to one 
of his assistants, and retired on a farm in Chester 
County with the hope of regaining his health. The 
services rendered the government during his stay in 



the army were of immense value, as testified to by the 
commander-in-chief and numerous corps commanders, 
who had received valuable information to better gov- 
ern their movements. During this time he made 
personally over three thousand cable ascensions, and 
was the first and only person to establish telegraphic 
communication from a balloon to various portions of 
the army and to Washington at the same time. Con- 
spicuous among these occasions were those at the battle 
of Fair Oaks. These balloons, with assistant aeronauts^ 
were sent to diflerent armies, including the forces 
on the Southern coiist and in the West. To make 
these war balloons etficient on land and water, it 
became necessary to make many new inventions, 
conspicuous among which were Professor Lowe's hy- 
drogen gas generators, for field and ship service. At 
any time within three hours after halting beside a 
pool of water he could extract sufficient hydrogen 
therefrom to inflate one of these balloons, whereby 
himself and often several officers would mount a thou- 
sand or two feet into the air to overlook the country. 
His renown spread over Europe and South America, 
and his field system of aeronautics was introduced 
into the British, French and Brazilian armies. The 
Emperor of Brazil, through his ministers, made numer- 
ous overtures and offered large inducements to Profes- 
sor Lowe to take a major-general's position in the 
Brazilian army during the Paraguayan war, to con- 
duct the same line of service as that rendered to the 
United States government, but owing to other en- 
gagements he was compelled to decline. He, how- 
ever, furnished the necesary field apparatus and bal- 
loons, with competent assistants, who rendered valua- 
ble aid, and greatly shortened the duration of that war, 
especially by observation on the river Paraguay, at 
Asuncion. 

In 18(il, Professor Lowe invented and brought out 
the ice-machine for refrigeration and the manufacture 
of artificial ice, which is now in general use in all parts 
of the world. 

In 1872 he invented and brought out his famous water- 
gas process for illumination and heating ])urposes, 
which is already lighting between one hundred and two 
hundred cities, and is predicted to ere long entirely 
supersede all other methods of light, heat and power. 

This hasty sketch may be properly closed by quot- 
ing from a previous publication the following : " He 
has little more than reached middle life, and it is war- 
( rantable to suppose that his speculative and fertile 
mind will grasp and produce other valuable inven- 
tions. He has already made a number of ingenious 
cooking and heating contrivances for using his heat- 
ing gas, the right of which he holds for the protection 
of his business. 

Professor Lowe is eminently a domestic man, having 
a large family of children, whose names are as follows : 
Louise F., Ida Alpha, Leon Pereival, Ava Eugenie, 
Augustine, Blanche, Thaddeus, Edna, Zoe and So- 
bieski. The three eldest were born in New York. 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



581 



NoERisTOWJf Binder-Works. — This establishment 
was originally named the Norristown Agricultural 
Works, built iu 1.S77 by a number of Norristown 
gentlemen for the purpose of giving employment to 
the working class of the borough. Two hundred and 
sixty bonds were issued, at one hundred dollars each, 
and JIiiscs G. Huljbard took the works for the pur- 
pose of manufacturing agricultural implements. The 
enterprise failed, and the sheriff sold the property to 
Ste])hen P. Stinson, who purchased it for the bond- 
holders at their original outlay, twenty-six thousand 
dollars, and it still remains the property of the com- 
pany. In 1878 it was changed to the name at the head 
•of this sketch, and is now operated by William M. 
Singerly, of the Philadelphia Record, and his brother, 
George Singerly, in the manufacture of grain- 
binders. The, works front on Astor Street seven hun- 
dred and seven feet, four hundred on Oak Street and 
eight hun<lred feet on Stony Creek. The buildings are 
two stories in height, and are valued at thirty thou- 
sand dollars. 

Slemmer's Oil-Works. — The Montgomery Oil- 
Works were originally established in 1860 by Jacob 
C, William, Dr. Henry T. and Charles Slemmer, sons 
of Hon. Adam Slemmer, at the corner of Main and 
Ford Streets. William Slemmer is now the sole rep- 
i-esentative of the firm. The reputation of the firm 
for lubricating and illuminating oils is known all 
■over the States, owing to the great experience and 
conscientious care of the firm in refining their oils 
and preventing all danger from explosion. When in 
full operation the capacity of the works was about 
ten thousand barrels. A terrible misfortune overtook 
Mr. Sle)umer in 1SS4, in the almost total destruction 
of the entire works, but with the well-known in- 
domitable energy of the family, he at once rebuilt the 
works, and is now in a fair way of recovering his 
former business status and prosperity. 

NoRRis Coaoh-Factory. — The factory was built 
and the business established on the corner of Marshall 
and Church Streets in 1850 by C. & B. Custer. It is 
sixty feet by sixty, three stories high, with French roof, 
but this is a modern building. Abraham Swenk bought 
it in the real estate of C. Custer, deceased, in 1876, 
and operated the factory until January 19, 1883, 
when it was destroyed by fire. !Mr. Swenk rebuilt 
and remodeled the works, fitting them up with all 
modern conveniences and appliances. Twelve hands 
are employed. The manager, AVm. H. Kuder, Esq., 
has been superintendent of the works for twenty-five 
years. 

Pexx Coach-Woeks. — This establishment was 
built in 18.')2 by Harrison Dickinson, who .sold it to 
F. Euch. That gentleman run it as a carriage-factory 
himself for fourteen years, when the firm changed 
to A. Ruch & Brother. The building is four stories in 
height, dimensions thirty-five by forty feet, and is 
located on Penn Street, below Green. There are 
fourteen hands employed in the manufacture and 



repair of carriages, and the firm is doing a good busi- 
ness. 

M. M. GoDSHALK, Carriage-Builder. — The 
wheelwright and carriage-building works of M. M. 
Godshalk are located in the rear of 212 Main Street, 
where they were established by Hallman & Scheetz 
in 1851. His building was very seriously injured by 
fire on November 5, 1880, and all his tools were de- 
stroyed. With commendable energy he soon refitted 
his shops, and has since conducted them successftilly. 
Mr. Godshalk became proprietor of the premises in 
1872, and his specialties are carriages and heavy 
wagons, for which he has gained a good reputation. 

Kuder & Jacksox, Carriage-Makers. — These 
gentlemen have occupied the large building at the 
corner of Lafayette and Green Streets as a carriage- 
factory since May, 1883, and work entirely for the 
home trade. This well-known place was the property 
of the late Isaac Miller, who, for nearly half a century, 
conducted the business of wheelwright, carpenter and 
carriage-builder. 

Bolton's Sons' Saw and Planing-Mill, Etc. — 
The origin of this firm dates back to 1840, when 
Bolton & Christman, builders, were the pioneers of 
the sash and door manufacture in this section and 
outside the city of Philadelphia. Their works were 
at this period on the corner of Church and Marshall 
Streets. Iu 1848 a planing-mill was established, and in 
1851 the firm was Bolton, Christman & Co. In 1854 
they moved to Stony Creek, and conducted the business 
until 1871, when the firm became Bolton & Stinson. 
It thus remained until 1881^ when it took its present 
title of Bolton's Sons. These gentlemen are George 
D. Boltcm and Frank H. Bolton, the former attending 
to the office and financial department, the latter to 
the work in the vast saw and planiug-mills. The 
works cover six acres of ground; they front on Main 
Street seventy-five feet and along Stony Creek twelve 
hundred feet, with a front on the Schuylkill River of 
four hundred feet. 

The several dejiartments are as follows : No. 1 
building is the saw-mill, fitted up with two Mulay 
saw's, rip-saws and appliances for cutting into planks 
a log ninety feet in length ; the saw-mill is forty by 
one hundred and fifty feet. No. 2 is the planing-mill, 
forty by one hundred and fifty feet, fitted up with 
traversing, sticking, moulding, boring, slutting and 
dovetailing-niachines. There are tenon-machines, 
jig and hand-saws, buzz-planes, a twenty-six inch sur- 
facer, a floor-board machine, mortising and shaping- 
machines, — in short, every new and improved appliance 
known to the trade. 

There is a drying-room, twenty-five by forty-five 
feet, a glue-room, twenty by thirty-five feet. There are 
large fan-flues leading from each machine, the draft 
from which draws the dust from the bench and de- 
posits it in the shavings-house adjoining the fire-hole. 
This arrangement is very important to the health of 
the workmen. Forty men are employed at the works, 



582 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



• and twenty-five thousand dollars a year distributed 
in wages. An eighty I'nirse-power engine and three 
cylindrical Ijoilers I'urnish the motive-iiower. The 
valvie of the property (stocli included) is about one 
hundred thousand dollars. 

BoDEY & Livix(i.ST0X, Lumber- Yard and Plax- 
inCt-Mill. — This establishment was founded by 
Messrs. Groft' & Zimnierraan in 1854, and is located 
on Main Street, near Stony Creek bridge. It was 
transferred to Joseph Bodey in 1865, with Thomas H. 
Wentz as partner. The firm of Bodey & Wentz con- 
ducted the business of contractors, builders, saw and 
planing-mill up to April 1, 1883, when the death of 
Thomas H. Wentz caused an entire cliange. The 
firm now consists of William H. Bodey and James 
Livingston, doing business as lumber merchants under 
the business title of Bodey & Livingston. 

Guest & Lonhaker, Lumber Dealers, Etc. — 
The premi.ses of tliis old and well-known firm are 
upon Main Street, directly across the stream known 
as Sandy Run. In the year 1850 the firm was 
George Guest and Elias Fluck, doing business in a 
small building fronting on JLaiu Street, and in 1854 
they built the mill now occupied by George Bullock, 
on the ojiposite side of Main Street. They sold the 
buikling to Perry M. Hunter and Samuel Dehaven. 
Fluck dissolved partnership in 18(33, when William 
Guest returned to his old (juarters, and purchased the 
front part of the building from Henry Rittenhouse 
in 1872, his present partner joining the business in 
1869. Mr. Guest has been, as lessee and jjroprietor, 
on the same premises since the year 1838. The build- 
ing has a frontage on Main Street of fifty-one i'eet, 
with a depth of ninety-seven feet. The front build- 
ing is three stories in height ; the rear buildings, all 
of which have been built by the present firm, are two 
stories in heiglit. There are about fifteen hands con- 
stantly employed in the manufacture of doors, sashes, 
flooring and every kind of inside building materials. 
Tbe property is worth twenty-two thousand dollars. 

Simpson's Mills. — These mills are situated at the 
foot of Swede Street, and rank amongst the oldest in 
the State. The main buikling is of stone, with a 
width of forty-two feet and a length of one hundred 
and fiity feet along the bank of the river Schuykill. 
On a stone slab high up in tliis building is carved, in 
the old-fashioned, quaint figures of that day, the year 
in which it was erected, 1826. In that year Mr. 
Bernard McCreedy purchased the ground and built 
this mill, in which enterprise he prospered. Four 
years later we find that the mill contained seven thou- 
sand spindles, with the accompanying preparing ma- 
chinery, and seven years later still, McCrecdy's, 
Jamison's and Freedley's mills combined had nineteen 
thousand one hundred and sixty four spindles, 
employing five hundred hands, and producing cotton 
goods to the amount of tour hundred and fifty-ft)ur 
thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight dollars [ler 
annum. Tlu' old McCrccdv l)uildinsr is four and one- 



half stories in height. It was purchased by Callaghaa 
Brothers, and in 1844 an addition was built, forty- 
two by sixty feet. Messrs. William Simpson & Sons 
purchased the mill from Callaghan Brothers in 1864, 
and have been manufacturing cotton-print cloth ever 
since that date. One hundred and fifty hands are 
employed; there are two hundred looms, with full 
complement of carding and spinning machinery. 
The wages paid amount to about three thousand dol- 
lars a month ; fifty thousand yards a week are pro- 
duced, and the motive-power is given by two turbine 
wheels, of two hundred and twelve horse-power. 

De Kalb Street Mills. — Close to the bank of 
the river Schuykill, at the Norristown end of the 
De Kalb Street bridge, stand Hunter's Cotton-Mills, 
James and John Hunter, proprietors. The wing of 
the mill which looks towards the Schuylkill is of stone, 
and was built by a joint-stock company in 1836. 
The main building has a frontage on De Kalb Street 
of one hundred feet, a depth of fifty feet ; is built of brick 
and is four stories in height. The company was suc- 
ceeded by James Jamison, Sr., who devised the prop- 
erty by will to his son, William Jamison. This 
! gentleman ran the business of cotton goods manufac- 
turing until his death, when his widow, with Duncan 
White as superintendent, operated the mills until the 
great panic of 1873, when American industry surt'ered 
so dreadful a shock and the business failed. The 
mill hits a thorough outfit of machinery, — a one hundred 
and twenty horse-power engine, with boilers in pro- 
portion, five hundred and sixty looms, with all the 
preparing macliinery of cards, spinning-frames, etc., 
required for the work. The mill, stock, machin- 
ery, etc., are valued at one hundred and fifty 
thousand doUare. The Messrs. Hunter manufac- 
ture cotton yarns, emjjloying nearly two hundred 
hands, and produce about seven hundred and fifty 
tliousand pounds of cotton yarn annually ; they 
pay monthly in wages about two thousand five hun- 
dred dollars. Messrs. Hunter purchased the mill in 
the year 1873, but did not put the works into opera- 
tion until January, 1880. 

Ford Street Cotton and Woolen-Mills, J. C. 
Cresson & Co., Proprietors. — The.se mills are- 
located at the corner of Ford and Lafayette Streets, 
and were established prior to the war by .Tames Ogden 
for the manufacture of cotton goods. The property was 
purchased in 1864 by James Cresson & Co., when the 
manufacture of woolen goods was added to their former 
production. The head of the firm died in 1872, and 
during the following year the present firm was organ- 
ized. The mill building is of stone, four stories in 
height, fifty by one hundred feet in size, with a dye-house 
adjoining, Ijuilt in 1867. Sixty hands are employed in 
the establishment, producing three hundred and eighty 
thousand yards of jeans in the year. The wages paid 
amount to about fourteen hundred and fitly dollars per 
month. There are two sets of tbrty-eight inch cards, 
one thousand and forty-fijur sjiindles on wooleu 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



583 



and thirteen hundred on cotton yarn, five cards 
and all the requisite jireparing machinery. The 
property is estimated to be worth fifty thousand dol- 
lars. The mill at this time is under the management 
of John McArthur. 

Wa.shix(;tox Woolex-Mili.s, better known iis 
Watts' Jlills, are located in the First Ward of 
the borough, near the banks of the Schuylkill, and 
close to Montgomery Cemetery. The mill was 
erected in 1849 by William Hamill and his son, being 
then known as " Moy Craig " Mill. In 18-51 the firm 
was changed: S. P. Hamill and .Tosbiia Batty became 



motive-power is a sixty horse-power engine, with 
ample boiler-power. There are five sets of cards, with 
self-acting mules, looms, dyeing and finishing 
machinery to correspond, employing about one 
hundred hands, and producing nearly sixty thousand 
yards monthly of ginghams, checkings, etc., as the 
market may demand. 

William Watt. — .Tohn Watt, the grandfather of 
William Watt, emigrated with his family to America 
prior to the war of 1812, and settled in Philadelphia. 
His children were Alexander, James, Robert, William, 
.John, David, Esther and Fli/.abcth. Robert was 



, v;<rr-.^- 





^W/^'T^^ 




the jiroprietors. For two years they conducted the 
manufacture of jeans, having put in one set of cards, 
two mules and about twenty looms. Mr. Hamill 
drew out, and Mr. Batty ran the mill until 1856, when 
he took in J. Lee as partner, and added fulling and 
finishing machinerj' to the works. In 18.57 the ])rop- 
erty w;i.s sold to Perry 51. Hunter and Samuel 
Dehaven, who added to the capacity of the mill and 
manufactured the same class of goods up to 1862, 
when it was sold to Mr. Bishop, who had a large con- 
tract for the manufacture of blue kerseys for the army. 
William Watt, the present proprietor, purchased it in 
1869. and in 1876 oulareod the mill one-fourth. The 



born in County Deny, Ireland, and during the Jirog 
ress of the above war, while en route for the United 
States, was impressed into the English service as a naval 
recruit for a brief period. On returning again to civil 
life he became a manufacturer of linen goods, and was 
also at a later date a thriving farmer. He married 
Mary Wilson, who was of Scotch-Irish lineage, and a 
native of the same county. Their children were 
William, Alexander, Martha (Mrs. Gendell), Mary 
(Mrs. Provence). William was born May 12, 1808 
in County Derry, Ireland, and in 1818, when but ten 
years of age, acccmipanied his parents to America. 
He had previously attended the common schools in 



584 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



his native country and continued tlie English branches 
in Philadelphia, after which, with the purpose of learn- 
ing the business of woolen and cotton manufacturing, 
he entered the mills of his uncles, William and David 
Watt, in that city. On completing his period of 
service as an apprentice he pursued his trade for some 
years, and eventually embarked in the manufacture 
of cotton and woolen fabrics in Philadelphia. In 
1867, having removed to Norristown, he purchased an 
advantageous site and at once began the manufacture 
of woolen goods. Various changes and improvements 
were made in the equipment of the mill, which was 
enlarged, new machinery and various appliances for 
enhancing the beauty and excellence of the produc- 
tions being introduced. Mr. Watt was married, 
on the 9th of January, 1834, by the Rev. John Cham- 
bers, to Catherine, daughter of William McKay, who 
was of Scotch descent, and one of the oldest residents 
of Philadelphia. The children of this marriage are 
Elizabeth McKay (deceased), David, Amelia David- 
son (wife of Henry S. Hughes), Kersley Mitchell 
(deceased, husband of Elizabeth Jackson), Mary 
Ellen (deceased), Emily, William Henry (deceased), 
Kate W. (wife of Cyrus S. Poley. M.D.) J. Bond, 
George Washington (husband of Sallie A. Kneedler). 
The grandchildren are William Watt, Ellen, John 
McArthur, Bertha M., Amelia Watt, children of 
Amelia Davidson and Henry S. Hughes ; Minnie, 
George Jackson, children of Kersley Mitchell and 
Elizabeth Jackson ; Ethel E., child of Kate W. and 
Cyrus S. Poley, M.D. ; Blanche A., William, chil- 
dren of George Washington and Sallie A. Kneedler. 
Mr. Watt is a decided Republican in his political 
predilections, though rarely active beyond the casting 
of his ballot and 'an occasional expression of his 
views. He is a Mason and associated with Franklin 
Lodge, No. 134, of Philadcli)hia. He is a member 
and holds the office of trustee of the Central Presby- 
terian Church of Norristown. Mr. and Mrs. Watt 
celebrated, on the 9th of January, 1884, tlieir golden 
wedding, which interesting event brought together 
an assemblage of children, grandchildren and at- 
tached friends who delighted to do them houfu'. 

Bullock's Mill. — The mill stauds on Main 
Street, below Arch. It was built by Guest & Fluck, 
lumbermen, builders and contractors, and was occu- 
pied by them until the year 1863, when it was 
sold to Perry M. Hunter and Samuel Dehaven for 
manufacturing purposes. The firm changed to Hun- 
ter & Kershaw, who for some years successfully con- 
ducted the manufacture of cassimeres. In 1869 they 
were succeeded by Benjamin Bullock's Sons. In 1871 
the proprietorship again changed by George and 
James Bullock a,ssuming control, and in 1880 the firm 
became George Bullock & Co. The mill is four stories 
in height, built of stone, with a frontageof fifty feet on 
Main Street and a depth of ninety feet. When in full 
operation, in the manutiicture of the superb goods for 
which the firm is famous, seventy hands are employed. 



two thousand two hundred dollars in monthly wages 
are distributed, and about one hundred and twenty- 
five thousand yards of finished goods per annum are 
manufactured, valued at about three hundred thou- 
sand dollars. 

Norristown Woolen-Mills. — The mills are 
located on Barbadoes Street, and were built in 1862 
by a company of public-spirited gentlemen, citizens 
of Norristown, for the purpose of aftbrding employ- 
ment for the working class. About twenty-five hands 
were employed in the manufacture of low-class jeans, 
under the superintendence of Lawrence J. Ogden. 
His sudden and untimely death caused a suspension 
of the mill for some time, when work was resumed by 
the firm of Henry W. Scott & Son, of Philadelphia, 
who slightly increased the grade and capacity, and 
manufactured army flannels, hosiery, and later on a 
low grade of mixed cassimeres. Misfortunes came 
and the sheriff' seized the property, when another 
temporary suspension took place. The mill was 
leased for a time by Hunter & Kershaw, and was 
sold to Thomas Liversidge, Esq., who worked it for 
some years in the manufacture of southern jeans. 
It was finally imrchased by the present firm of J. 
Morton Brown & Co., who took jiossession in March, 
1883. Since then the cajiacity of the mill has more 
than doubled. The whole establishment has been 
renovated, improved and extended. There are now 
eighty-six looms of the most improved jjattern in 
operation, making high-grade cassimeres at the rate 
of twenty-eight thousand yards a month. There 
are four sets of cards, four self-acting mules, one 
thirty-five horse-power and one twenty-five horse- 
power engine, with two forty horse-power and two 
thirty-five horse-power boilers. Tw-o' hundred hands 
are employed, and the market value of the mill to- 
day is fully seventy-five thousand dollars. 

Shaw & Kenworthy operate the Agenoria Mill, 
better known as the Blue Mill, which was erected 
in 1847 and operated by Joseph Bodey and known 
as Bodey & Jacobs' mill. It was run as a cotton-lap 
factory. It was destroyed by fire and rebuilt. In 
1861, C. Blounts, Joseph and James Shaw and .Tames 
Kenworthy formed a partnership, underthe firm-name 
of Blounts, Shaw & Co. and leased the Bodey & Jacobs 
mill, and began the manufacture of woolen yarn. 
In 1863 they commenced the manufacture of woolen 
goods. In 1866, Mr. Blounts retired, and J. & J. 
Shaw & Co. became managers, proprietors and owners 
of the mill. .Tames Shaw retired in 1881, the firm- 
name remaining the same. In 1871 a large addition 
was made to the mill and improved machinery added, 
and it was changed from a two-set to a four-set 
mill. The mills are in the northeastern part of 
the borough, and form three sides of a hollow 
square. The dimensions of the buildings are fifty- 
six by one hundred and sixteen feet, fifty by one 
hundred and fifty feet, and a dye-house thirty-six by 
sixty feet. One hundred hands are employed, with a 




9:..;. 



:--^{r^ 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



585 



pay-roll of four thousand five hundred dollars a 
month. 

James Shaw was born at Paddock, a district of 
Huddersfield, in Yorkshire, England, on the 21st of 
May, 1824, and was one of nine children of Jonathan 
Shaw, whose birth occurred September 27, 1794. The 
latter married Elizaljeth, daughter of George Ellam, 
who was born June 19, 179o. When a youth the 
subject of this sketch was taught the value of labor, 
his education having been limited to a period of six 
weeks at a day-school and such important instruction 
as he received at Sunday-school. He early entered a 



sold to tobaccoaists. In 1855, Mr. Shaw found em- 
ployment at Troop's mill, in Xorriton township, as 
finisher and general manager for C. Blounts & Co., 
which position he filled until 1861, when, in connec- 
tion with C. Blounts, Joseph Shaw — an elder brother — 
and James Kenworthy, a partnership was formed 
under the firm-name of Blounts, Shaw & Co., for the 
manutacture of woolen goods, and which, in 1866, 
upon the retirement of Mr. Blounts, became the firm 
of J. & J. Shaw & Co., as at present. This business 
relation was both successful and harmonious, and 
continued until failing health compelled Mr. Shaw to 




woolen-mill and became familiar with the trade of a 
cloth-dresser. On completing his term of service he 
determined to seek a more fiivorable field of operation 
in America, and embarked in 1846, landing in Phila- 
delphia after a tedious passage of five weeks. He at 
once found employment at Breack's mill, Brandywine, 
Del., and on the destruction of the mill by fire, in 
1848, removed to Manayunk, where he was employed 
by various parties. Being a mechanical genius, he 
also made electric machines, galvanic batteries, and 
also repaired and cleaned clocks at night or when a 
leisure hour occurred. He at this time manufactured 
manv Lobereiner's inflammable lamps, which were 



retire from the firm a short time prior to his death, 
which occurred on the 26th of April, 1881, in his 
fifty-seventh year, leaving a wife, son and daughter, 
who reside at "White Hall," near Jeffersonville. 

Mr. Shaw possessed great industry, accompanied 
by self-reliance, which enabled him to say truthfully 
that he had never failed in any enteriu-ise he had 
undertaken. He was an intelligent student and reader 
of the best literature, especially of scientific works, 
collecting a valuable library, which was a source of 
much pleasure to him. His whole life was one of 
charity and kindness. In his religious belief he was 
a Presbyterian and among the foremost in the erection 



586 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of the Centennial Presbyterian Church at Jefferson- 
ville, and was also active in the promotion of many 
worthy projects in his township. 

James Kenworthy. — Mr. Kenworthy is of Eng- 
lish birth, his graudfatlier, John Kenworthy, having 
resided in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England. His 
family consisted of four sons and four daughters, of 
whom John, a native of Saddleworth, became 
master of the trade of machinist. He married Mary 
Andrew, whose children were Wright, John, Mary A. , 
James and Jane. James, the third son in order of 
birth, was born March 21, 1827, in Newton Moore, 
Cheshire, Enghmd, where his youth was devoted to 
labor in a cotton-factory in the vicinity, whicli he 
entered at the age of twelve years. On attaining his 
twentieth year he began an api)renticeship to the 
business of hardware dealer, and remained thus em- 
ployed until twenty-six years of age, when hi« emi- 
gration to the United States occurred. After a l)rief 
period in Philadelphia he was attracted to Montgom- 
ery County, and in 1855 found employment in the 
woolen-mill of C. Blounts & Co., in Norriton township. 
In 1861, in connection with C. Blounts, Joseph Shaw 
and James Shaw, the mill was leased which is still 
operated by Joseph Shaw and James Kenworthy, 
jeans and kerseys having been the stajile article of 
production. Mr. Blounts' connection with the l)usi- 
ness was severed in ]80(>, leaving.!. & J. Shaw & Co. 
the proprietors. James Shaw's ill health occasioned 
his withdrawal from the tirm in 1881, since which 
date the mill has been conducted by the present part- 
ners, and is chiefly devoted to the manufacture of 
jeans. Mr. Kenworthy has been twice married, his 
first wife having been Miss Henrietta Froeb, of Lolien- 
stein, Saxony. Their two surviving children are 
Milton and Mary. He was again married, to Mrs. 
Sarah Jenkinson Caldwell, a native of Yorkshire, 
England, who has one daughter, Leah. Mr. Ken- 
worthy is a strong Republican in politics, and has, as 
a representative of that Jiarty, served two terms in the 
Borough Council. He is in his religious views a Pres- 
byterian, and member of the First Presbyterian 
Church of NorrLstown. 

Faknum's Mill. — The operations of Farnum's 
Mill, on Washington Street, below Mill, have 
been stopped since 1882. There are two distinct 
buildings, one modern, built by the late proprietor, 
F. D. Farnum. It i« about fifty by seventy feet, four 
stories in height, and contains one hundred and sixty 
looms for the manufacture of ginghams, sixteen hun- 
dred and eighty spindles, ten ring-frames, six boilers, 
a one hundred horse-power engine, and requiring in 
all about one hundred and tweuty-tive hands. 

The old mill, which is not conuected with the new, 
contains the spinning machinery, and isthirtj'-five by 
one hundred and forty feet. This mill was purchased 
from Samuel O'Neal by F. D. Farnum. 

The old mill, however, has a history alnio.st hidden 
by the curtain of time. Mr. .Tolin M. liainl, foreimui 



of the Eagle Works foundry, worked in the mill fifty 
years ago. He was then a boy, and the building was 
standing long before his time. It was then a machine- 
shop, operated by French & Miller, and the first en- 
gine ever jiut into Jamison's Mill, at De Kalb Street 
bridge, was built by that firm in their little shop. It 
was sul>seiiuently used as a factory for making cotton 
laps; Levis Cornog, and, after him, Cornog & Hurst, 
operated it as a cotton-factory, Charles (Aister using 
part of the building as a factory for building thresh- 
ing-machines. The old building was purchased by 
Samuel O'Neal about the year 1856, and he conducted 
the business of making cotton cloths and yarns up to 
about 18<i2, when he sold it to F. D. Farnum. 

Gardner & Harbison. — On the 25th of August, 
1884, Messrs. Benjamin Gardner and John Har- 
rison started a small factory on Arch Street, between 
Marshall and Chestnut, for the manufacture of Turk- 
ish towels. The building was erected by Mr. James 
Newton, of Norristown, and is thirty by fifty-six feet, 
two stories in height. There are eighteen looms, with 
thirteen hands employed, and a ten horse-power en- 
gine supplies the motive-power. 

The Quaker City Shirt-Factory. — This fine 
modern establishment is located near the Stony Creek 
depot, in the west end of the borough, and was built in 
1879by Chester L. Smith, who had already established 
the manufacture of shirts at Phihidelphia, in 18(i5. It 
is a three-story building, forty-two by one hundred and 
forty feet, and is filled- up with every modern appli- 
ance and invention for the manufacture of shirts. 
The monthly pay-roll amounts to over four thousand 
dollars, and aljout twenty thousand dozens are pro- 
duced i)er annum. The whole work, from the cutting 
out of the shirt to the completed humdried article, is 
done by machinery. 

Hathaway's Shirt- Factory. — Mr. John C. 
Hathaway established his shirt-factory, in the year 
1869, in Norristown. It is located at the corner of 
George and JIarshall Streets. One hundred hands 
are steadily employed in the factory upon sewing- 
machines, and one hundred more are employed at 
their own homes hand-sewing. They produce six 
hundred dozen shirts a week, with a pay-roll of seven 
hundi'ed dollars a week. Mr. Hathaway has a branch 
factory at Reading, where four hundred dozen shirts 
a week are made. Mr. Hathaway's machines are 
operated by steam, furnished by an eight horse-power 
engine. 

NoRmsTOWN Shirt-Factory. — This establish- 
ment is on Lafayette Street, between De Kalb Street 
and Strawberry Alley. It was established by Mr. 
George Wright, and after him was carried on Ijy Miss 
Fanny Davidson for tliree years. At the present time 
it is owned by Mrs. Fanny Kahn, who runs fifty-six 
machines, with sixty hands, producing three hundred 
dozen shirts a week, with a pay-roll of nine hundred 
dollars per month. 

Norristown Hosiery Comp.any. — The hosiery 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



587 



iudustry was establishfil in 1S80 by D. M. Yost, dry- 
goods merchant, corner of Main and De Kalb Streets, 
and iiegan with six machines, six hands to work 
them and a pnidnction of about seventy-five dozen 
stockings per week. The firm at jiresent is D. M. 
Yost, John D. Haenge and Frank Roop, under the 
title we have before stated, viz. : the Norristown 
Hosiery Com]>anY. They operate sixty knitting- 
machines and employ sixty hands at their new 
establishment, in the rear of the Montgomery 
County Prison lot. The building is of frame, 
thirty-two by one hundred feet, with boiler-house and 
engine-house. The product is about twelve hundred 
dozen a week, and the company pay in wages one 
hundred and twenty-five dollars a week, exclusive 
of the convict labor in the county prison, for which 
they pay one hundred and fifty dollars a month. 
In addition to these industries, the company have 
a branch hosiery department in Limerick township, 
to which they pay twenty-five dollars a week. They 
also manufacture about five hundred pairs of pants 
per week, for which they jjay one hundred dollars to 
their working-people. During the past year the 
company have paid out in wages over fourteen thou- 
sand dollars. 

The Keystone Ho.siery Company. — The man- 
ufacture of hosiery is one of the recent additions to 
the industries of Norristown, and after two or three 
experiments resulted in the establishment of the 
above-named company by Morgan Wright & Son. 
It was opened on Swede Street, below Main, 
November, 1880, and, being extremely successful, 
the company have extended their business and 
removed their machines to the large building erected 
for them Ijy Henry A. Derr. It has a frontage 
on Penn Street of thirty-four feet, and is seventy- 
two teet deep and three stories high. There are one 
hundred and eighty knitting-frames in operation, and 
the production is about two thousand three hundred 
dozen a week. 

STEAjr Makble-Work.s, Henry" A. Derr. — 
The works were foun<led in 1842 by Franklin Derr, 
father of the present })roprietor, upon a very small 
scale. The industry and business tact of Mr. Derr 
very soon made themselves felt in the community, 
and some of the largest public buildings in the 
borough are the works of his hands, amongst the rest 
the county court-house. The present proprietor 
succeeded his father in the establishment in 1877, and 
these niarble-works are now the most extensive in 
Montgomery County. The main building is at 127 
Main Street, with an imposing front, which attracts 
nuicli attention from visitors and strangers. The 
marble saw-mill is forty by sixty feet, with a twenty 
horse-power engine and the usual complement of saws 
and polishing-machines for prejiaring the slabs of 
marble for trade uses. 

Mover's Marble- Works. — Moyer's marble-works 
were established on De Kalb Street, opposite the 



market-house, in 1853, by James Moyer. They are 
now occupied and owned by George W. Smith, wlic> 
has been connected with the establishment for over 
twenty-one years. The capacity in 1853 was very 
small, only about three hands being employed. Th^ 
present proprietor has more than quadrupled the 
production of the works and the value of the 
property. It has a frontage on De Kalb Street of 
eighty feet, a depth of one hundred feet, and is worth 
to-day fully thirteen thousand didlars. 

Isaac Landis' Marble- Works. — Mr. Landis. 
commenced business at the corner of Marshall Street 
and the railroad, early in 1879, as a dealer in marble. 
His specialty is the manufacture and placing of curb- 
stones, gutters, door and window-sills, etc. He 
employs seven hands and pays in wages about four 
thousand dollars annually. 

Keller's Pottery. — C. F. Keller nineteen years 
ago p\irchased a small pottery-works on Pearl Street, 
near Stony Creek, from J. Kesler. The pottery was 
built by John Linker, and since it came into the 
hands of the present proprietor the property has been 
improved. Mr. Keller and his sons run the kiln and 
its accompaniments, but no record has been ke]it as. 
to the amount produced or the cost of ])roduction. 

Egyi't Mills. — This establishment is one of the 
ancient landmarks of the industrial development of 
Norristown. In 1809, John Markley erected a two- 
story stone building, obtaining the inside timber from 
Barbadoes Island. The building i'ell into the hands 
of Matthias Ilolstein, who, in 1825, introduced water 
from the Schuylkill River to obtain additional motive- 
power. Up to that time it had been driven by vvater 
from Saw-Mill Run. In 1835 the mill was sold to 
the late Christopher Heebner, who operated it most 
successfully up to the time of his death, which oc- 
curred near the close of the year 1SS3. During his 
long incumbency of nearly half a century Mr. 
Heebner was constantly engaged in improving the 
property and increasing his capacity for the manu- 
facture of the highest grade of flour. In the year 1842 
a large store-house was built at the river-side. In 
1857 a large additon was erected at the east end of 
> the mill. In 1868 ten feet were added to the height 
of the building, all the old machinery was taken out 
and replaced with the newest and most improved 
inventions known to the trade. 

The building stands at the foot of Mill Street, 
fronting one hundred feet on Schuylkill Street. The 
motive-power is obtained by means of one turbine 
and one overshot water-wheeJ, the capacity being 
about seventy-five barrels a day. 

At the sale of the real estate the mill was bought in 
by Messrs. Samuel Moore and J. J. Brooks, and was 
finally purchased by Messrs. Freitsch & Baugh, who 
took possession August 4, 1884. The property i» 
valued at twenty-six thousand dollars. 

Forty years ago the late Christopher Heebner held 
the monopoly of the manufacture of flour in this 



588 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



section, and guarded what he considered his rights 
with jealous care. He then owned wlmt is known as 
the old Fizone Flouring-Mill, whieh stood on the site 
of the present Main Street Station on the Philadelj^hia 
and Reading Railroad, near Stony Creek. He also 
■owned the Egypt Mills here mentioned, and also 
leased the Bridgeport Mills, now operated by Hibbert 
■& Brook. These gave him complete control of the 
flouring trade, and as he was a man of great energy 
•of purpose, looking after his interests with keen 
watchftilness, he kept the trade in his own hands to 
the exclusion of all others. 

Christopher Heebner. — The grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch was Christopher, a son of 
David Heebner, who married, in 1757, Susanna, 
daughter of Hans Wiegner. Their children were 
Melchior, born in 1759; John, in 1761; Sarah, in 
1763 ; Abraham, in 1766 ; Christopher, in 1770 ; Su- 
sanna, in 1773; and David, in 1778. Cliristopher, of 
this number, married, in 1792, Susanna Smith, and 
had children, — David, born in 1793; Sarah, in 1795; 
Margaret, in 179(5; Abraham, in 1799; John, in 
1802; Susanna, in 1804; Christopher; Ann, in 1811; 
and Myra, in 1815. Christopher Heebner wa.s born 
June 11, 1809, in Norriton township, and resided 
upon his father's farm until 1826, when lie became 
an ap])rcntice to the trade of miller at the Perkio- 
men Mills. On acquiring his trade lie continued 
three years as a journeyman, and in 1831 came to 
Norristown, forming soon after a copartnership with 
Jacob Freedley in the milling business. Later he 
2)urcha8ed what was known as the Egypt Mill, in 
Norristown, to whidi he made extensive improve- 
ments, built two warehouses, and in 1868 and 1880, 
respectively, remodeled the structure, adding much 
new and valuable machinery. Mr. Heebner was a 
Republican in politics, but not active as a politician. 
He was, however, for a number of years a member of 
the Borough Council and the school board of Norris- 
town. He was a director of the Philadelphia, Ger- 
mantown and Norristown Railroad, the Montgomery 
■Cemetery Company, the Norristown Insurance and 
Water Company, the Norristown Gas Company, the 
Montgomery and First National Banks, the King of 
Prussia Turnpike Company, and a liberal and influ- 
•eutial member of the Montgomery P^ire Company. 
He was also actively identified with the Corn Ex- 
change of Philadelphia. Mr. Heebner was widely 
known as a business man of great sagacity, combined 
■with ceaseless energy and the most scrupulous integ- 
rity,— (|ualities which enabled him from the beginning 
to make his presence felt as a power in the commer- 
■cial world. He married, in 1833, Ann, daughter of 
John Mitchell, and had children, — Elizabeth (Mrs. 
Daniel Dresher, deceased), George, Martha (wife 
•of Lane S. Hart), Edward, James (deceased) and 
Henry (deceased). Mr. and Mrs. Heebner, in No- 
vember, 1883, celebrated their golden wedding, when 
•distinguished guests greeted the venerable pair and 



showered congratulations upon their aged heads. 
The host on this auspicious evening entered into the 
spirit of the occasion with the eager gladness of 
youth. A few weeks later he was prostrated by a 
sudden illness, which proved fatal on the 19th of 
December, 1883. 

Stony Creek Flour-Mili.s. — These mills were 
built by the present proprietor, George C. Morgan, in 
1879, near the site of the old Freedley Mill, on 
j\larshall Street, at the edge of Stony Creek. The 
building is four stories in height, thirty-eight feet front 
by fifty-six feet deep. At the time of its erection there 
were four run of stones, a twenty-five horse-power 
engine and two turbine wheels of twenty-one horse- 
power; but the proprietor some time since adopted 
the new roller process, and put in five sets of Stevens' 
break rolls, one set smooth rolls, three purifiers and 
seven bolting rolls, using two run of stones for mid- 
dlings and one for feed. The capacity of the mill is 
forty-five barrels of tlour of good (]uality daily. 

Loxg's Soap Manufactory. — With a frontage 
on Lafayette Street of one hundred and fifteen feet, 
and of seventy feet on Markley Street, the soap-fac- 
tory of Patrick and Samuel J. Long, the present 
proprietors, has held its place for over half a century. 
Fifty-three years ago Abraham Buckart was engaged 
in the business in a small way, being able to make 
now and then during the year, at distant intervals, a 
boiling or casting of two thousand pounds of soap. 
Mr. Buckart sold the establishment to John Cascaden, 
Mr. Patrick Long, who was Mr. Cascaden's brother- 
in-law, buying it for him. Mr. Cascaden failed, when 
Mr. Long assumed the responsibility, and the place 
changed hands more than once, until it came into 
the present firm. Samuel J. Long, as the heir and 
representative of his father, superintends the hide 
and tallow department ; his uncle, Mr. Patrick Long, 
attends to the soap trade, which has assumed grand 
proportions, having the capacity of ten thousand 
pounds of soap at one boiling. 

A. R. Cox'8 Brewery. — This extensive estab- 
lishment fronts on Main Street, near Markley, close 
to Main Street Station on the Philadelphia and 
Reading Railroad, connecting with the Stony Creek 
road. It is owned and operated by A. R. Cox, by 
whom it was built and has been operated for 
nearly forty years. Away back in 1830, ]\Iorgan 
James ran a small brewery in a frame house on this 
site, in partnership with Abraham Eschbach, brewing, 
perliaps, about half a dozen barrels of beer a week. 
Morgan James drew out of the firm, when A. R. Cox, 
who then lived in old John Freedley's house, joined 
Esclibach in tlie business on the same small scale. 

The property of .lohn Freedley being offered for 
sale, Mr. George Cole, Mr. Cox's father-in-law, in- 
duced Mr. Cox to purchase the property and furnished 
tlie money. The buildings and improvements cost 
twelve thousand dollars, and improvements were 
made in every department of the premises. Levi 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



589 



Haas, Justus Leaver and Frederick Gilbert buiit tlie 
large cedar vats, each liolding two hundred gallons, 
which are standing to-day, and are in good condition. 
The work and the men who performed it are all to-day 
in a good state of jireservation, and we may here say 
that several of the men who worked at the old frame 
brewery forty years ago are working for A. E. Cox 
now. 

There are nine hands emphiyed steadily all tlie year 
round ; the production is about three thousand barrels 
a year of ale and porter, and the property is to-day 
worth over one hundred thousand dollars. 

Lager Beer Brewery. — In 1806, Moeshlin Bros, 
commenced the brewing of lager beer in Norristown, in 
a small one-story building, on a lot ofTMarshall Street, 
along Stony Creek, with the crudest and most primi- 
tive appliances. The material produced was in ac- 
cordance with the means of jiroducing it, and was 
certainly a tailure; but in 1870, Mr. Charles Scheldt, 
a skilled brewer, purchased the business from John 
C. White & Co., and applying his skill, with ample 
means, he soon made his mark. After operating the 
brewery for some years he admitted his brother 
Adam into the business, and it is now conducted under 
the firm-name of C. & A. Scheldt. Xew ice-houses and 
brewery buildings have been added, and the small one- 
story building, with a capacity of fifteen hundred 
barrels a year, has expanded into an imposing edifice, 
five stories in height, sixty feet front by one hundred 
and sixty feet in length, producing ten tliousand 
barrels a year. 

Hekculeh Cigar-Factory. — Wm. K. Gresh, now 
senior proprietor of Hercules Cigar- Factory, began to 
manufacture cigars at Centre Point, Worcester town- 
ship, in 18(il, and in 1867 removed the business to Per- 
kiomen, and in 1872 again made a change, and settled 
at Norristown and opened a factory on Marshall Street, 
between Astor and Corson Streets, which, in 1875, was 
much enlarged. The increase of business demanded 
larger accommodations, and in 1882 he moved to 
Western Market Hall, corner of Chain and Marshall 
Streets. In May of the same year E. P. and H. C. 
Gresh, sons, became partners, under the firm-name of 
W. K. (iresh & Sons. They now occupy a building 
one hundred and twenty by forty feet and sixty by 
forty feet, and have an average of seventy-five hands 
employed. The firm also deal in leaf tobacco and 
manufacture about four million cigars annually. 

WiLLi.\M K. Geesh. — Nicholas Gresh, the grand- 
father of William K. Gresh, on his emigration from 
Germany, settled in Berks County, and at a later 
period became a soldier in the war of the Revolution. 
His children were Charles, Nicholas, Daniel and 
one daughter, Elizabeth (Mrs. Wentzel). Daniel, who 
followed his trade of weaver in Berks County, mar- 
ried Susanna Kuser, who was of French descent, and 
had children, — Augustus, Edwin, John, William K., 
Rachel (Mrs. Harman Custer), Leah (Mrs. Alexander 
Hummel), Emeline (Mrs. George Hesch), Elizabeth 



(Mrs. AVilliam Glase), Henry Abel, and two deceased, 
Kate A. and Milton. William K., of this number, was 
born on the 23d of January, 1834, in Pottsgrove 
township, Montgomery Co., his early youth having 
been spent in Berks and Montgomery Counties. At 
the age of seventeen he left his home and sought, by 
industry, to render himself independent. Not, how- 
ever, being satisfied with the limited advantages of 
education he had already received, he added to his 
stock of knowledge by attendance upon the sessions 
of a winter school. At tlie age of eighteen he started 
a brick-yard at Centre Point, Worcester township,, 
and at the same time erected several dwellings, indi- 
cating always a desire in his various undertakings to 
be his own master and not subservient to the will of 
others. While engaged in brick-making Mr. Gresh 
found much of the winter unoccupied, and during this 
period of leisure sought a field for his energies in the 
manufacture of cigars, which he began in his own 
house. This he continued for some years, and in 1867 
removed to Perkiomen township, where land was pur- 
chased ; the business greatly increased in proportion. 
For five years he continued at this point, and in 1872 
sought a wider field of operation in Norristown. 
Here he purchased land and erected a factory, but 
soon finding his limited quarters inadequate to the 
increase of business, the factory was enlarged. In 
1883 he removed to his present spacious quarters, 
which have also been enlarged to meet the demands 
of an increasing trade. Mr. Gresh was, at the age of 
twenty-one, married to Jlrs. Leah Detwiler, daughter 
of Peter Hendricks, of Worcester township. Their 
children are Edwin Pierce, Hervey Clinton, Eramiuda 
(deceased), William Perry, Kate A. (Mrs. John S. 
Geller) and Unett Earley. His sons Edwin P. and 
Hervey C, after being thoroughly educated in all 
departments of the business, were, in 1883, admitted 
to the firm. The members of the Gresh family are all 
musical, understanding the theory of music and exe- 
cuting on one or more instruments. They have grati- 
fied this taste in the organization of an orchestra, 
which is rendered serviceable for religious worship as 
on other occasions. Mr. Gresh is a Democrat in his 
political convictions, but was in a strong Republican 
district elected a member of the Borough Council. He 
is identified with Trinity Reformed Church of Nor- 
ristown, in which he has for many years been an 
elder and representative in the various church bodies. 
All the members of Mr. Gresh's family are actively 
interested in religious work, and exemplify in their 
daily walk and conversation the Christian virtues of 
which the head of the family is the worthy exponent. 

BRIDGEPORT. 

JAME.S Lees & Sonh. — The history of this firm is 
j well worthy of note, demonstrating i^ractically what 
skill, backed up by industry and energy, has accom- 
plished in Montgomery County. 

In the year 1852, James Lees and Joseph Schofield 



590 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTF. 



entered iuto ji!iitiierslii|> lor the manufacture of car- 
pet-yarn at Robinson's mill, on Mill Creek. They 
had one mule spinning-frame, three condenser cards 
and twelve hands. For two years they struggled on, 
and then rented the Nii)])es Mill, on Mill Creek. 
Two years later the partnership was dissolved, Mr. 
Scholield drawing out of the firm. The next firm's title 
was that of James Lees & Co., when they went to Mana- 
yunk, and engaged in the manufacture of carpet- 
yarn. 

In 1856, Joseph Lees, son of James, was admitted 
as a member of the firm, the same title being retained. 
They then returned to Mill Creek, to Deringer's mill. 
In October, 1860, Mr. Schofield's interest was bought 
out, and the firm l)ecame James Lees & Son. 

Two years later Dr. John Lees was admitted into 
partnership, aUd the firm took the title whicli it now 
holds, — James Lees & Sons. 

In February, lSlj4, they were burned out of Dering- 
■er's mill, and in the next month, March, 1864, bought 
the old mill building which was the first occupied by 
them at Bridgeport. There was nothing but the 
building standing ; they put in the machinery them- 
selves, and in August of the same year they com- 
menced the manufacture of carpet-yarn. 

From that date to the present it has been an un- 
interrupted march of progress, as the following 
figures will show : 

The small mill, witli ten hands, has develoi)ed into 
five mills, with one thousand hands. No. 1 Mill is 
forty-six by one hundred and forty feet, four 
stories high; No. 2 Mill is forty-eight by one hundred 
and forty-eight feet, five stories high; No. 3 is fifty by 
one hundred feet, five stories high ; No. 4 isseventy-two 
by one hundred and thirty-seven feet, four stories ; and 
No. 5 is fifty by seventy-five feet, four stories in 
height. In addition to these are dry-rooms, store- 
rooms and a number of other minor liuildings. 

The machinery consists of two hundred and ninety 
narrow looms, twenty-six broad looms, eighteen sets of 
woolen machinery and ninety-five worsted-spinning 
frames. The worsted yarn for ingrain and Brussels car- 
pet produced per week is forty thousand pounds, the 
woolen carpet-yarn per week is thirty-two thousand 
two hundred pounds, and the jeans produced by the 
looms amount to thirty thousand yards a week. One 
thousand hands are employed, the wages per month 
amount to seventeen thousand dollars, and the value 
of the entire plant is estimated at six hundred thou- 
sand dollars. 

WOEEALL & Ratcliffe'.s Mill. — Better known in 
local parlance as the Brick Mill. It was founded 
by Saville Schofield, now a wealthy manufacturer of 
Manayunk, during war-times, and was purchased by 
the firm of Worrall, Ratcliffe & Smith in 1869. Of 
the original members of the firm but one is now liv- 
ing, but he drew out of the business years before the 
death of the other two. The firm now consists of 
Thomas W. Worrall and Isaac Taylor, but the old 



title of Worrall & liatitlitie is still retained. The 
mill is located on Front Street, having a frontage of 
one hundred and sixty feet, two stories in height, 
witli a depth of forty-four feet, close to the Schuylkill 
Canal. If commenced with thirty-two hands, work- 
ing upon low-class jeans, but now emiiloys seventy- 
two hands, the capacity for production being more 
than doubled. The machinery in operation consists 
of three sets of sixty-inch cards, three self-acting 
mules, eighty-eight looms, one sixty horse-power 
engine, one one hundred and twenty horse-power 
boiler, with the full proportion of dyeing, warping 
and finishing machinery. The productive capacity 
of the mill is five hundred thousand yards per annum 
of jeans and doeskins. 

Thomas Ratcliffe.— James Ratcliffe, the father of 
the subject of this biography, was united in marriage 
to Grace Hoyle, whose home was in the vicinity of 
Halifax, England. Their children were Thomas, 
Mary and James. By a second marriage, to a Miss 
Roberts, were born sons, David and John. The 
birth of Thomas occurred near Halifax on the 3d 
of September, 1820, and his early life was spent in 
Manchester. He emigrated, when a youth, to Amer- 
ica, and immediately found employment in a cotton- 
mill, and became thoroughly versed in the various 
departments of manufacturing. After being engaged 
for some years with his father-in-law, John Maxson, 
of Manayunk, he, in 1868, made Bridgeport his home, 
and, in connection with George Worrall, established a 
woolen-mill. Here he continued actively engaged 
until Ills death, which occurred in September, 1883. 
Mr. Ratcliffe was married to Miss Deborah Maxson, 
of Wissahickon. Their surviving daughter is Mary, 
married to Isaac Taylor, an enterprising manufac- 
turer of Bridgeport. Another daughter, IMargaret, 
is deceased. Mr. Ratcliffe was a strong Rej)ublican 
in his political sentiments, and wa.s tin' several terms 
a member of the Borough Council of Bridgeport. He 
was educated in and always adhered to the faith of 
the Church of England. He was a man of modest de- 
meanor, possessing integrity of character and a repu- 
tation for probity antl honor which won universal 
regard. 

RiDGEWAY & Care, Manufactueees of Wool- 
en Yarn. — These gentlemen occupy the building on 
Front Street the property of William Potts, of 
Swedeland. In 1874 it was fitted up as a manufactory 
of stone-cars for the limestone quarries of Upper and 
Lower Merion. The business failing, the building 
was occupied by Messrs Ridgeway & Carr, who man- 
ufacture woolen yarn, and it is also adapted for 
the manufacture of hosiery and woolen jackets. The 
machinery consists of two sets of cards, one self- 
acting mule and one hand-mule, with a thirty horse- 
power engine and boiler. Seventeen hands are em- 
ployed in the mill, producing about two thousand 
pounds of yarn per week. 

Cox & Dagee's Papee-Mill. — Messrs. Cox & 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



591 



Dager, both of Norristown, fitted up the old saw-mill 
formerly occupied b}- John C. Richardson as a paper- 
mill in 1881. It wa.s a large frame building, and was 
destroyed by fire on the 23d of May, 1SS4. They 
immediately erected the present building of stone, 
and it is now one of the best-fitted and most substan- 
tial mills in the State. 

The machinery-room is one hundred and eighteen 
by forty-two feet; beater-roora, eighty-five by thirty- 
five feet ; cutter-room, fifty by thirty feet ; rag-boiling 
liouse, thirty by forty-five feet. There are two en- 
gines, one of one hundred and twenty horse-power 
and one of forty. The capacity of production is 



is fifty-eight I'eet front, one hundred and forty-five 
feet long and two stories in height. The machinery 
consists of two sets of cards, two self-actors, one one 
hundred and twenty horse-power engine, and eighty 
horse-power boiler. The business consists of the 
manufacture of doeskins, jeans, diagonals and flannels, 
of which about forty-five thousand yards per month 
are produced. There are sixty hands employed, and 
the aggregate of wages per annum will amount to 
about twenty-two thousand dollars. The mill is 
located in a beautiful spot near the Philadeljihia and 
Reading Railroad track, on Third Street, above 
De Kalb, and cost thirty-four thousand dollars. 





about fifteen tons a week of Manilla paper. Twenty 
Lands are employed, and about eight hundred dollars 
a month are distrilnited in wages. The value of the 
property, plant included, is about fifty thousand 
dollars. 

Smith's Woolex-Mills. — This fine establish- 
ment is the newest acquisition to the industries of 
Bridgeport, and probably of the county, for it has 
only been built and put into operation during the last ' 
few months. It was opened on December 1, 188.3. 
Isaac W. Smith, Esq., the proprietor, is an exper- 
ienced manufacturer, who, for a long term of years, 
operated the woolen-mill at Valley Forge. This mill I 



Isaac W. Smith.— Mr. Smith is of Welsh descent, 
his father, Aaron Smith, having been a resident of 
Lower Merion township, where he cultivated a farm 
and also followed his trade as a shoemaker. He 
married Sarah Free, whose children were William 
F. (of Ogden, Utah), John Alvin (of Lower Merion), 
Sarah A. (wife of Joseph Shaw, deceased), and one 
who died in youth. By a second marriage, to Mary 
Watkin, of Delaware County, were born children,— 
George (deceased), Isaac W., Aaron and Mary Emily. 
The birth of Isaac W. occurred July 29, 1839, in 
Lower Merion, where he received in youth such 
education as the public schools aftbrded. At the age 



592 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERi' COUNTY. 



of twelve years he entered the carpet-yarn fac- 
tory of his brother-in-law, Joseph Shaw, and served 
an apprenticeship to the business, subsequently remov- 
ing with him to Valley Forge, and acting in the ca- 
pacity of manager until the death of Mr. Shaw, in 
1863. Mr. Smith continued, in behalf of the widow, 
the superintendence of the interests of the estate 
until 1872, when he became lessee of the mill and 
machinery for three years. He later purchased the 
machinery and continued to operate the mill until 
1882, when, having disposed of his property at public 
sale, he made Norristown his home. In the spring of 



Rebecca Paper-Mills, Hugh McInnes, Pro- 
prietor. — The Rebecca Paper-Mills are located oa 
Front Street, with a frontage of two hundred and 
sixty-seven feet, and reaching back to the river. The 
buildings were erected as an oil refinery, in 1868, by 
Dr. H. T. Slemmer, and were afterwards leased to 
George Zinne as ice-houses. The present proprietor 
purchased the property from the Standard Oil Com- 
pany, and, in ixirtuership with Mr. Robert Dager, 
commenced the manufacture of Manilla paper. In a. 
short time Mr. Dager left the firm, and since then Mr. 
Mclnnes has run the mill himself. Twenty-three 




1883, Mr. Smith purchased ground and erected a mill 
in Bridgeport, where he began the manufacture of 
cloths, flannels and ladies' dress goods, in which he is 
now actively engaged. Isaac W. Smith was married, 
in June, 1867, to Miss Mary Ella, daughter of the 
late George Grow, a farmer of Lower Merion town- 
ship. Their children are Joseph S., Isaac A., Mary 
K., Emma L., Louis Y., J. Futhey and one who is 
deceased. Mr. Smith is in politics a Republican, 
and though not active in the political field has held 
various oflices in the county and townshiji. His reli- 
gious affiliations are with the Presbyterian Church, 
of which he is a member. 



hands are employed steadily, with a pay-sheet of one 
thousand dollars a month. Two engines furnish the 
motive-power, one of one hundred and twenty and 
one of thirty horse-power. Three boilers, of one hun- 
dred horse-power each, furnish the steam. The mill 
is furnished with the best machinery known to the 
trade, and produces thirty thousand pounds of Manilla 
paper per week. The mill and plant is estimated in 
value at seventy-five thousand dollars. 

DeKalbStreet Roller Floiiring-Mills. — This- 
substantial old stone building stands near the south 
end of the De Kalb Street bridge, close to the edge of 
the canal, and has a history of its own. It was built 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



593 



in 1824 as a saw-mill by Jacob Pastorius, and was 
superintended by Mr. Cadwalader Evans. In 1826 it 
was changed to a grist-mill, Mr. Evans assisting in 
arranging the machinery, dressing the burrs, and for 
two years more suiierintended it as a tlouring-mill 
for country trade. It was put up at sheriff's sale and 
bought in by the Schuylkill Navigation Company, 
whose property it still remains. For two years it 
was run by John Gorgas, who erected a drying-mill 
and ground corn for shipping. 

The late Christopher Heebner run the mill for 
some years, and was followed by John Tyson and 
others, who worked it occasionally. Henry and 
Israel Newbury leased the mill for a time, and added 
new and improved machinery. They failed, and in 
March, 1880, it was taken by the present lessees, 
Messrs. Hilibert & Brook, under whose management 
it has been a complete success. It has a capacity of 
one hundred and twenty-five barrels of flour a day, 
and two hundred bushels of choppings. 

The machinery consists of nine pairs of steel rol- 
lers. The first pair of rollers merely crushes the 
grain, which, in its broken condition, is carried by 
elevators to a bolting roll, where the flour is shaken 
out. The crushed grains then pa^^s through the sec- 
ond pair of rolls and again to the bolting roll, and so 
on continuously until it has been broken and ground 
between each pair of the nine rollers, the particles 
becoming finer with each break. The middlings re- 
maining after this process has been gone through 
with passes to the only remaining run of stones, and 
more flour is extracted. 

Pork-Packixg. — Several years ago Charles Whit- 
man established a large butchering and pork-packing 
business on Front Street. Since his death it has 
passed through several hands, and ha-s been most suc- 
cessfully operated since the year 1882 by the present 
proprietor, John B. Horn. Since taking possession 
Mr. Horn expended about four thousand dollars in 
improvements, and it is now one of the most complete 
pork-packing and butchering establishments in the 
State, having all the newest and most approved ma- 
chinery for slaughtering and curing pork and beef. 
The proprietor has increased the business to an enor- 
mous extent since he took hold. From the 1st of 
January up to the last day of July during the year 
1884 he shipped of hams and shoulders alone, by 
rail, four hundred and thirt3'-two thousand pounds, 
and this was exclusive of home trade or his large 
shipments of beef. Seven hands are employed at the 
works, which extend one hundred and sixty-five feet 
in front and ninety-five feet deep, with an ice-house 
one hundred feet square. 

W. S. Richards, Elevator.s, Automatic Doors, 
Etc.— In the year 1880, W. S. Richards, Esq., a 
skilled mechanic in wood and iron, leased the build- 
ing on Fourth Street the property of Joel Andrews, 
Esq., of Norristown, and established a manufactory 
of dumb-waiters, automatic doors, elevators and 
38 



other labor-saving mechanical appliances for hotels, 
public buildings and private residences. The build- 
ing is twenty-five by seventy feet, three stories in 
height. There are thirteen hands employed on 
the premises. The jiroperty, with the machinery, 
stock, etc., is valued at about seven thousand dollars. 

Jacob Andrews, Brick Manufacturer. — Mr. 
Andrews is a well-known citizen of Norristown, 
residing on De Kalb Street, near Spruce. He engaged 
in the manufacture of bricks on his property at 
Fourth Street, Bridgeport, in 1844, and has conducted 
the business successfully since that period. The 
capacity of his kilns and yards is two million bricks 
annually. 

Schuylkill Valley Creamery. — This estab- 
lishment was erected and adapted as a creamery on 
Fifth Street, in 1880, by Mr. Jacob Tripler, of Nor- 
ristown. It is now operated by Mr. John Kinze, and 
has a capacity of making one hundred and sixty 
pounds of butter and thirty cheeses daily, provided 
they could obtain a sufficient quantity of milk. The 
machinery and ajipliances are kept in beautiful order, 
and the whole is evidently under skillful manage- 
ment. 

CONSHOHOCKEN. 

Alan Wood & Co. — ^These well-known iron- 
works and rolling-mills were established in 1856, and 
front on Washington Street about one thousand feet, 
from Poplar to Ash Street, the buildings and lots 
covering fifteen acres of ground. The firm employ 
five hundred hands, with a monthly pay-roll of 
twenty thousand dollars. The monthly product is 
one thousand tons of finished iron. There are twelve 
engines, thirty-four boilers and seven trains of rolls. 
The value of the plant is a million and a half of 
dollais. 

JoHX Wood & Brothers' Sheet and Plate-Iron 
Mills. — The business of this firm was first established 
by James Wood, father of the present proprietors, 
in 1832. 

The firm now runs three mills. Two of them are 
situated on Washington Street ; the other is near 
Matson's Ford bridge, on a strip of land between the 
canal and the river. This latter is driven by two 
fifty- four-inch turbine wheels, the water from the 
canal being used for that jjurpose. Three hundred 
hands are employed, producing about seven thou- 
sand tons a year of finished work, with a pay-roll 
of twelve thousand dollare a month. The Washing- 
ton Street mills were burned down in 1882, but were 
soon rebuilt in a more substantial and convenient 
form than before. The frontage on Washington 
Street is six hundred feet ; depth, two hundred and 
fifty feet. There are ten engines, eighteen boilers and 
seven roll-trains. The property is valued at seven 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 

John Wood, Jr. — The titles of these works are 
the Conshohocken Car- Works and the Schuylkill 
Foundrv and Machine- Works. Engine-boilers and 



594 



HISTORY OF .MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



rolling-mill machinery are a specialty. Tlie proprie- 
tor is a son of Hon. John Wood, and commenced 
operations in 1867, with ten hands, doing business the 
first year to the amount of about ten thousand dollars. 
In 1873 he built the foundry, machine and pattern- 
shops, and in 1880 erected the car-works. There are 









TlPifpy 





JAMES wool). 

now eiglity-five hands employed. The mill has a 
front on Washington Street of four hundred feet, with 
a depth of five hundred and forty feet. There is a 
full plant of most valuable machinery, and the whole 
is in splendid working order. 

Montgomery Boiler and Machine -Works, 
William T. Bate & .Son, are located on Washing- 
ton Street. The firm commenced business in 18(35, but 
built the shops they now occupy in 1868. The works 
consist of three buildings, divided into boiler, black- 
smith and foundry, and machine and pattern depart- 
ments. From very small beginnings in 1865 they 
have increased their business in the manufacture of 
boilers and steam generators, tlieir own patents, to an 
enormous extent, their boilers being sent to almost 
every State in the Union, while their home trade has 
been firmly established. They employ thirty skilled 
workmen. In 1879 the finished work ])roduced was 
158,974 pounds in boilers, while 400,000 pounds of 
pig iron were used in other castings. The patents 
belonging to this firm have been most favorably men- 
tioned in every scientific journal of America. 

In 1882 the weight of the castings ])roduced was 
646,617 j)ounds, and of plate-iron used 264,672 pounds, — 
total, 911,289 pounds. In 1883 the jilate-iron used 
was 106,783 pounds, and of bar-iron 350,025 pounds, — 
total, 456,808 jjounds, a decrease of 454,481 2>ounds, 



owing to the obstruction of their business by the 
building of the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Kail- 
road, wliich deprives them of proper means of receiv- 
ing and delivering goods. The firm paid in wages 
last year $13,962.05. The property is valued at $100,- 
000. 

William T. Bate, grandson of William and Mary 
Bate and son of William and Mary Bennett Bate, 
was born October 25, 1818, at Tywardreth, Corn- 
wall, England, where he remained until six years 
of age. He then removed with his parents to Liver- 
pool, and subsequently to Manchester and other points 
in Lancashire. His father having been a blacksmith 
and boiler-maker, after a j)eriod spent at school he 
entered the shops under his supervision and acquired 
a general knowledge of the business. In 1835 he 
began at Parconsoles, Cornwall, England, an appren- 
ticeship under Richard Terrell and William West, the 
latter a mechanical engineer. He followed for twelve 
years his trade of blacksmith and boiler-maker in 
various portions of tlie country, and having concluded 
to seek a more attractive field in America, embarked 
for New York July 13, 1847, arriving after a long and 
tedious passage of eight weeks. He found employ- 
ment soon after in Belleville, N. J., and from that 
point worked in various localities in New Jersey, and 
subsequently in Connecticut, from whence he removed 
to Baltimore. 

In 1 856 he was solicited to assume charge of the boiler 
and blacksmith-shops of the Norris Works, located at 
Norristown ; he accepted the offer, and remained 
until these works were closed. After a brief interval 
at Easton, Pa., Mr. Bate returned to Norristown, 
where he resided until 1866, when Conshohocken be- 
came his home. Here the firm of William T. Bate 
& Co. was established for the building of boilers and 
general machinery, the partners being the subject of 
the sketch, John Wood, Jr., and Richard H. Bate. 
This partnership was dissolved in 1868, when Mr. 
Bate, in connection with his son, erected their pres- 
ent extensive works, in which they manufacture 
boilers, castings, all kinds of machine-work and 
steam-fitting. In 1883 the completion of the Penn- 
sylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad rendered the 
removal of the shops necessary, and Mr. Bate pur- 
chased six acres of land in Bridgei)ort, Montgomery 
Co., where he, in October, 1884, began the erection 
of suitable buildings, which they expect soon to 
occupy. 

Mr. Bate was married, January 18, 1839, to Miss 
Elizabeth, daughter of William George, of Corn- 
wall, England. They have had fourteen children, of 
whom the surviving ones are William, Edward (who 
served during the late war, in which he was wounded), 
Mary (wife of Charles Fairburn), Richard, Elizabeth 
Jane (wife of Cadwallader Brook), Ellen (wife of 
William Johnson), John S. and Clara. In politics 
Mr. Bate is an earnest and enthusiastic Republican, 
as are all his sons, but he has neither sought nor ac- 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



595 



cepted office. He was educated in the faith of the 
Church of England, as was also his wife, and their 
allegiance is still to that taith. 

Plymouth Rolling-Mill Company.— These 
well-known mills are located near the upper end of 
the borough, close to the lines of the Philadelphia 
and Reading and the Plymouth Railroads. They 
were built in 1842 by Steidien Galwell. For many 
years they were operated by Samuel Fulton, and he 
is now the general manager. This company also owns 
a mill in Norristown, which we include in this sketch. 
The works, when in full operation, employ three hun- 
dred hands, and pay out in wages fifteen thousand 



are seventy hands employed, the pay-roll being three 
thousand tive hundred dollars a month. The produc- 
tion is about six thousand five hundred tons of muck- 
bar per annum. The building is in the lower part 
of the borough, fronting on Washington Street four 
hundred feet, with a depth of six hundred feet. There 
are three engines and three boilers; the latter are 
Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers, with a full 
plant of first-class modern machinery. 

Lewis A. LuKENS.^Jan Lukens, the progenitor of 
the family in America, sailed from Holland during 
the year 1683, and located in Philadelphia. Among 
his sons was Abraham Lukens, who became a farmer 




"i^d^u^ 



dollars a month, producing fifty thousand tons a year 
of pig-iron, muck-bar, plate and sheet-iron. The 
works front on Washington Street eighteen hundred 
feet, with a depth of five hundred feet. There are 
three blast furnaces — No, 1, No. 2 and the Lucinda — 
and four trains of rolls. There are fifteen engines, 
six of them averaging over five hundred horse-power, 
and twenty-five boilers. These figures include the 
engines and boilers at the works in Norristown, the 
property of the company. 

Jawood Ltjkens' Iron- Works. — These works are 
quite modern, having been erected in 1S82 by the 
proprietor, Jawood Lukens, Esq., formerly connected 
with the establishment of Alan Wood & Co. There 



in Towamencin township, Montgomery Co/Hia son 
John, the grandfather of Lewis A. Lukens, though by 
occupation a farmer, was a man of scientific attain- 
ments, and won some rejiutation as a skillful surveyor. 
He married Jliss Rachel Robinson, and became the 
father of children, — David, George, Joel and Edith 
(Mrs. Mordecai Davis). David Lukens was born on the 
18th of October, 1761, in Towamencin township, where 
he continued the healthful pursuits of his ancestors, 
and married Jliss Mary, daughter of William and 
Elizabeth Shepherd, whose birth occurred November 
16, 1760. Their children are Charles, born in 1790 ; 
William, in 1793 ; Elizabeth, in 1795 (who became 
Mrs. George Shoemaker) ; Aaron, in 1798 ; Maria, in 



596 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



1801 (who became the wife of Robert Fowler) ; Rachel, 
in 1804 (who became the wife of Dr. Samuel Tysou); 
Lewis A. ; Mark, born in 1810 ; and Edward, in 1812. 
The death of David Lukens occurred in 1828, and that 
of his wife in 1818. Their son, Lewis A., was born on 
the 8th of April, 1807, in Plymouth township, now a 
portion of Conshohocken, the half of the borough 
having been built upon land owned by his father. 
His youth, until eighteen, was spent in the pursuits 
peculiar to a farmer's son, with such educational oppor- 
tunities as the neighboring school afforded, alter which 
he removed to Philadelphia and became proficient in 
the trade of a cabinet-maker. This field of action was. 



leaving his interest in the hands of his sons, Charles 
and Jawood. Mr. Lukens was, on the IGth of Sep- 
tember, 1834, married to Miss Mary T., daughter of 
James Wood, of Conshohocken. Their children are 
Alan W., Charles, Jawood, Clara (^Mrs. Charles Heber 
Clark), Frank and Mary, the last two being deceased. 
Mr. Lukens is a stanch Republican in politics, having 
been member of the board of school directors and of 
the Borough Council of Conshohocken, as also for 
several years its chief burgess. He is a director of 
the First National Bank of Conshohocken and one of 
the corporators of the Conshohocken Gas and Water 
Company, of which he was for ten years president. 




^u^^^ t^^^^Ai 



^^.^^^ 



however, too circumscribed for the progressive mind 
of Mr. Lukens, who, in 183G, made Lebanon County 
his residence, and there leased the Newmarket Forge 
for a period of ten years. At the expiration of this 
lease, and after a brief interval, he removed to Bridge- 
port, and was, during the succeeding four years, en- 
gaged with his brother in the lumber business. In 
1851 he purchased a farm on the Wissahickon, in 
Whitemarsh township, and in 1858 removed to Con- 
shohocken, having the j)revious year, in connection 
with his brother-in-law, Alan Wood, built the rolling- 
mills at that point. After a lengthened period of 
great business activity he retired from business. 



He is also a director of the Plymouth and White- 
marsh Turnpike Company. He is in his religious 
predilection.s a Friend, and worships with the Plym- 
outh Meeting. Mr. and Mrs. Lukens in 1884 cele- 
brated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, 
the occasion being replete with interest to the mem- 
bers of the family who assembled to do them honor. 

Conshohocken Tube Company was incorporated 
in 1882. The works are located in the lower part of 
the borough of Conshohocken, adjoining the iron-mills 
of Jawood Lukens, who is president of the comjiany. 
James W. Harry is secretary and treasurer and Albert 
L. Murphy is the manager. The capital stock of the 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



597 



company, which is fully paid up, is one hundred and 
fifty thousiinil dollars. The business of the company 
is the manufacture of wrought-iron tubing by the new 
and improved method invented by Stephen P. M. 
Tasker, Esq., of the firm of IMorris, Tasker & Co. At 
present the business is conducted in a large frame 
building, one hundred and twenty-five feet front to- 
wards Washington Street and six hundred and twelve 
feet deep towards the river Schuylkill. This building 
was erected for temporary purposes, and will be re- 
placed in the near future by more extensive and sub- 
stantial works. This enterprise has been a complete 
success and has contributed largely to the growing 
jirosperity of the Isorough. They are now ])roducing 
twenty-five tons a day of finished work, which, with 
the receipt of raw material, coal and all the other 
accessories necessary to the production of so large an 
amount of finished work, gives a great impetus to local 
and other industries. The company has one of the 
largest pipe-welding and lieating furnaces in the coun- 
try, which is a very great advantage to their business. 
They are steadily increasing tlieir capacity for 
production, and when busy will employ one hundred 
hands, with a pay-roll of one thousand dollars a week. 

CONSHOHOCKEN COTT0N-MlLL.Si, STANLEY LeES, 

Proprietor. — These mills were established in 1856 
by the brothers, J. & S. Lees, who formerly operated 
ii mill at Mill Creek. The extent and capacity of the 
works have been quadrupled during their occupancy 
by the Messrs. Lees, and the only change in the 
firm has been made by the deatlr of J. Lees, when the 
junior member assumed the whole management. The 
mill building is the largest single building used for 
this purpose in the Schuylkill Valley, being two 
hundred feet long by fifty feet deep, with separate 
buildings for engine, machine-shop, picker-house, dye 
and sizing-houses. About two hundred hands are 
employed upon the looms and other machinery. Four 
tliousand dollars are ])aid montlily in wages, the pro- 
duction of cotton goods being about thirty thousand 
yards per week. The mill was almost totally destroyed 
by fire in 1S80, but was quickly rebuilt and fitted up 
with new and improved macliinery. 

Albion Print- Works. — The extensive range of 
buildings known as the Albion Print-Works stands 
on the low grounds between the canal and the river, 
at the east end of Matson's Ford bridge. Tradition 
says tliat in and subsequent to the Revolutionary 
times a grist-mill stood on the spot, and still later it 
is reported that a saw manufactory was conducted 
here. These, however, have disappeared, and in 
18()5 a Philadelphia firm, Joseph Lea & Co., Ijuilt a 
silk-mill and dye-house here, with Mr. Jonas Eber- 
hardtas manager, seven natives of F' ranee having been 
brought over to assist in the work. The mill was 
destroyed by fire August 21, 1875 ; was rebuilt and 
started again January 1, 1876, with Richard H. 
Brehn, Esq., as manager, the firm being then Lea, 
McCarter & Co. When in full operation the works 



(now a print-cloth establishment) employ two hun- 
dred hands, paying seven thousand dollars a month 
in wages, and putting through the machinery about 
fifty thousand pieces of goods per month. 

The two main buildings are of the following dimen- 
sions: the main print-works, ninety-four by three 
hundred and thirty-four feet, and the bleach, dye and 
boiler-house, ninety-eight by two hundred and sixty 
feet. The property is valued at five hundred tliousand 
dollars. 

Conshohocken Waep-Mills, Hamilton Max- 
well, Proprietor. — These mills were built by 
George Bullock in 1865, and were occupied by Ham- 
ilton Maxwell since 1S66 in the making of cotton 
warps, of which about six thousand [)ounds a week 
are made, and about fifty hands are steadily employed. 
The building is located between the canal and the 
river Schuylkill, with dimensions one hundred and 
fourteen by forty-seven feet. It was originally run by 
a sixty-horse turbine wheel, but the supplj' of water 
was found to be unreliable, owing to floods and the 
drawing off tlie canal, and the mill has for many 
years been run by steam. 

Horace C. Junes, Cotton Manufacturer. — 
The mill is located on Washington Street, and was 
formerly operated by John Whitton. The present 
proprietor, Horace C. Jones, took possession in ISSO. 
Sixty-five hands are employed, amongst whom fifteen 
lumdred dollars a month are distributed as wages. 
There are sixty-four looms weaving cottonades, four 
sets of cards and fifteen hundred woolen spindles. 
Tlie production is about fifty thousaud yards a month. 
The works consist of two buildings, — one one hun- 
dred and fifty by two hundred feet, the other fifty by 
one hundred and twenty feet, three stories in height. 

George S. Yerkes' Lumber -Yard. — The origin 
of this yard dates back over forty years, when Jona- 
than Jones & Sons establLshed it in connection with 
a saw-mill. In 1855 they were succeeded by E. D. & 
E. Jones, who remained proiirietors until 1875, when 
the firm was changed to Evan D. Jones & Co. In 
1881, Mr. George S. Yerkes, the present proprietor, 
was admitted into partnership, and is now sole pro- 
prietor. There are two buildings, one one hundred 
feet by ninety-two feet, the other one hundred feet 
by eighteen feet, both two stories in height. They 
are located on Elm and Cherry Streets, and produce 
a large amount of sashes, doors, frames, desks, book- 
cases, etc. Twenty-five hands are employed, and the 
firm is in a flourishing condition. 

East Conshohocken Quarries. — These quarries 
are in Plymouth township, and are famous for the 
building-stones they produce. They belong to Boyd 
Stinson, Samuel F. Prince and Michael O'Brien, and 
were bought from George W. Jacoby in 1868. The 
stone produced at tliese quarries is famous for its 
enduring qualities. It has been tested at Washington 
by the best experts of the profession, and has been 
pronounced perfect. The Wissahickon liridge and 



598 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



many others along the lines of the different railroads 
are built of this stone. In full blast the quarries 
employ one hundred and hfty men, at a monthly 
wage of four thousand dollars, and produce fifteen 
hundred tons of stone per day. 

Michael O'Brien. — Michael O'Brien, the grand- 
father of the subject of this biographical sketch, born 
in Dublin, Ireland, in 1776, was an extensive lessee 
of land. He married Eose Fitzsimmons, of County 
Meath, whose only son, Christopher O'Brien, was 
born about the year 1800 near Dublin, where he was 



laterremoved to Conshohocken, where forsixteen years 
he was employed in various capacities and finally as 
general agent for the Philadelphia, Oermantown and 
Norristown Railroad in the transportation of coal, 
lime and iron. He had, during this time, become the 
landlord of the Conshohocken Hotel, of which he 
remained for twenty years the popular proprietor. 
Seeking a broader field of operation, he, in connec- 
tion with his partners, under the title of the Plymouth 
Quarry Company, purchased the Plymouth Quarry, 
located on the Jacoby farm, in Plymouth township. 




educated, and followed a mercantile career. He was, 
in 1830, nuirried to Catherine, daughter (jf .John and 
Elizabeth Gugarty, of County Meath. Among the 
ten children of Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien is Michael, 
whose birth occurred on the 18th of February, 1832, 
in the above county, near the line of County Dublin, 
He received a thorough English education in the 
schools of his own county and in Dublin, and at the 
age of twenty, discovering no advantageous career 
open to him in his own country, emigrated to the 
United States. He first settled in Philadelphia, but 



and at once obtained from the iiirnaces at Norristown 
and Conshohocken and various glass-works in New 
Jersey large orders for fluxing-stone. The company, 
in course of time, erected works, laid railroad tracks 
and made other improvements incident to the needs 
of an increasing business. In 1880, Mr. O'Brien ac- 
quired an interest in and became sujierintendent of 
the Conshohocken Stone Quarry Company, the prod- 
uct of this quarry being the Conshohocken granite, 
now in general use for bridge-building and the lay- 
ing of large foundations. This (juarry has supplied 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



599 



the stone for the bridge built by the Philadelphia, 
Germantown and Norristown Railroad crossing the 
Wissahickon, for that crossing the Schuylkill at 
Manayunk and the bridge across the Perkioinen 
Creek built by the Pennsylvania Railroad. It sup- 
plies all the stone used for purposes of construction 
by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. The 
companj- employ one hundred men, two hoisting- 
engines, one double hoisting-engine and work five 
massive derricks, three sets of boilers, six steam- 
drills, one hundred railroad cars, and have two miles 
of track connecting with both the Pennsylvania and 
the Philadelphia and Reading Railroads. The exten- 
sive liusiness connections of this quarry and its ex- 
ceptional mechanical equipment make it the most 
successftilly worked quarry in the State. Mr. O'Brien 
is a pronounced Democrat in his political sympathies, 
and has served for two terms as burgess of the borough 
of Coushohocken and for six years as .school director. 
He was one of the earliest directors of the Fir.st 
National Bank of Conshohocken, as also of the Plym- 
outh Turnpike Company, and treasurer of the 
Franklin Building Society. He is in his religious 
faith a Roman Catholic and member of St. Matthew's 
Church of that denomination in Conshohocken. Mr. 
O'Brien was married, in 1856, to Mary Ann, daughter 
daughter of Thomas and Ann Fox, of Philadelphia. 
Their children are Annie (Mrs. Horace Hallowell), 
Kate, Thomas C. (a student of medicine in the Medi- 
cal Department of the University of Pennsylvania), 
Minnie, Madaline, Lizzie, Michael and Louis H. 

WEST CONSHOHOCKEN. 

The Meriox Iron Company, West Consho- 
HOCKEX. — The charter of the company authorizes 
the manufacture of pig-iron, rolled-iron of all sizes 
and shapes and iron castings of every description. 
The cajiital stock consists of four thousand shares of 
fifty dollars each, — two hundred thousand dollars. 
Tlie board of directors are J. B. Monrhead (presi- 
dent), George C. Thomas, Jay Cooke, Jr., Joseph E. 
Thropp, Edwin P. Bruce. 

The Merion Furnace was built in 1848 by Stephen 
Caldwell & Co., and purchased by J. B. Moorhead in 
18.57. The capacity of the furnace in the last-named 
year was about one hundred tons of pig-iron per 
week, — say five thousand tons per annum, — since 
which date a new blowing-engine has been put in use. 
Three of Player's hot-blast ovens have been erected, 
the furnace-stack raised from forty to fifty feet in 
height, a new hoist and other improvements added, 
increasing the capacity of the furnace from five 
thousand tons up to twelve thousand tons per annum. 

The Elizabeth Furnace was built by J. B. Moorhead 
in 1873 at a cost of about one hundred and fourteen 
thousand dollars, and further improvements have 
raised the cost to one hundred and twenty thousand 
dollars. The cai^acity of the Elizabeth Furnace is 
about two hundred and sixty to two hundred and 



seventy-five tons per week, — say thirteen thousand 
five hundred tons per annum. In addition to the two 
blast furnaces, as above described, there is a fine 
mansion-house and about eleven acras of laud, situ- 
ated in the borough of West Conshohocken, belong- 
ing to the corporation, together with all the tools, 
implements, railroad-cars, horses, carts and necessary 
working fixtures, all of which were included in the 
purchase of the property, at a cost of two hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars, paid for as follows : 

Three thousand shares of capital stock at par, S50 

per share 8150,000 

Bonds secured by mortgage on the premises, bear- 
ing iive per cent, interest per annum .... 100,000 

Total 8250,000 

From 1857 to 188.3, a period of twenty-five years, 
the average annual net earnings applicable to the 
payment of interest or dividends were, under the 
management and ownership of J. B. Moorhead & Co., 
equal to more than fifteen per cent, per annum on 
the present capital stock, and when it is considered 
that the average producing capacity of the works 
during the same time was less than three-fourths of 
the present eai>acity, it may be considered reasonable 
to estimate the future annual earnings as being equal 
to the payment of the interest on the mortgage bonds, 
and at least twelve per cent, per annum on the capi- 
tal stock. This estimate is based on the present 
depressed condition of the iron market ; the results 
may, and probably will, prove much more remunera- 
tive to the stockholders, taking a period of seven to 
ten years in the future. 

Joel B. Moorhead was born on the 13th of April, 
1813, on the banks of the Susquehanna River, at 
Moorhead's Ferry, Dauphin Co., Pa., at which point 
his father, William Moorhead, owned a large farm 
and established a ferry. There being no bridge 
across this river at that early day, Moorhead's Ferry, 
twenty-two miles above Harrisburg, was widely 
known in that portion of the State. In 1815, William 
Moorhead was appointed by the President of the 
United States collector of internal revenue for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which necessitated 
his removal to Harrisburg with his family, where his 
death occurred in 1817. The family soon after re- 
turned to the ferry property, the eldest son, James 
Kennedy, being, at the age of twelve years, his 
mother's main reliance in conducting the ferry and 
managing the farm. When the State began, in 1828, 
the construction of the canal on the river-bank, 
.Tames K. obtained a contract in connection with this 
improvement, his younger brothers finding employ- 
ment with him during the progress of the contract 
work. The subject of this sketch being ambitious for 
a more successful business career than had yet been 
opened to him, when eighteen years of age, demanded 
an interest with his brother in one or more of these 
contracts. Meeting with an unfavorable response to 



600 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



his demand on the plea of his youth, he determined 
to operate independently. A letting of contracts 
was made soon after by the State Railroad, covering a 
stretch of territory between Paoli and Lancaster, at 
which Joel B. was present, and made a successful bid 
for a large contract covering one and one-half miles 
west of Paoli, in Chester County. He associated 
with him an older partner with influence, but no 
practical experience, and at the expiration of the 
second year the contract was completed. He subse- 
quently became engaged with his brother in the fill- 
ing of important contracts on the Portage Railroad, 
the Monongahela slack-water navigation, in bridge- 



was, in 1842, appointed by the canal commissioners 
superintendent of motive-power on the Philadelphia 
and Columbia Railroad, which position he held until 
1844, after which he continued for several years to 
execute contracts, residing meanwhile on his farm. 
In 1850 he made Philadeljihia his residence, and two 
years later was awarded the contract to build the 
Sunbury and Erie Railroad, extending from Sunbury 
to Lock Haven, a distance of nearly sixty miles. 
Owing to financial embarrassments of the company 
the work was greatly delayed, and was not until 1856 
brought to a successful conclusion. In 1857 he pur- 
chased the Merion Furnace, located at West Cousho- 




JI^J/a^^L^crtir^ jf^^TjpyfU 



building in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, and in va- 
rious important railroad enterprises. Mr. Moorhead, 
in 1837, prior to entering upon his Kentucky con- 
tracts, married Miss Elizabeth Hirons, of Wilming- 
ton, Del., whose children are Charles N. (married to 
a daughter of John Hickman), Ada E. (wife of G. C. 
Thomas), Clara A. (married to Jay Cooke, Jr.) and 
Caroline F. (married to Joseph E. Thropp). Mr. Moor- 
head, on the completion of his Kentucky contracts, in 
1840, returned to the site of his first venture in Chester 
C!ounty and purchased a fine farm that he had, during 
his migratory life, determined eventually to make his 
permanent home. One year's experience, however, 
convinced him that farming was not his vocation. He 



hocken, and commenced as a novice in the iron Inisi- 
ness. The plant has been greatly enlarged, and the 
capacity increased from one hundred tons per week 
in 1854 to six hundred and fifty tons per week in 
1884. He is also largely interested in the Sterling 
Iron and Railway Company, in the State of New 
York. Mr. Moorhead was formerly allied in politics 
with the Democracy, but a careful consideration of 
the important public issues of the day caused him to 
give his allegiance and support to the Republican 
party. His religious associations are with the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church. From 1841 until 1850 lie 
was a vestryman of St. Paul's Church of that denom- 
ination, in Chester Valley, and has since 1864 held 



J.-il'"*??^^'''" 




/-^^ ^^^ e .cy^ 




MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



601 



the same relation to the Holy Trinity Church, iu 
Philadelphia. 

James Kennedy Moorhead, of whom mention has 
been made in this sketch, died March, 18S4, at his 
home, in Pittsburg. He was not less identified with 
the leading business enterprises of Pittsburgh than 
with various interests which were inseparable from 
the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The leading 
industries of city and State stand as a great monu- 
ment to his name and fame. In his business, as in 
his social relations, he never deviated from the high 
line of an irreproachable life. Having filled well the 
measure of a well-rounded career, he went down to 
an honored grave revered and beloved by all. 

CONSHOHOCKEJf WORSTED-MlLLS, GeORGE BUL- 

IjOCK & Co. — This grand establishment for the man- 
ufacture of textile fabrics is one of the oldest in the 
State, and has a national reputation. Our limited 
space forbids us to do as we would wish, and give a 
detailed record of the family and of the enterprise. 
But history is inexorable, and demands that we give 
nothing but facts and figures. 

The new worsted-mills in West Conshohocken 
were built in 1881, and produce three hundred thou- 
sand pounds of the finest worsted yarns per annum. 
The building is ninety feet wide by four hundred feet 
long, costing, with the machinery, two hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars. The number of hands is two 
hundred and seventy-five. 

The Balligo Mills were established in 1858 and 
1859, and then ]iroduced from eighty thousand to one 
hundred thousand yards per annum of three-quarters- 
yard and yard-and-a-half-wide goods, at a monthly 
pay of two thousand five hundred dollars. Now they 
produce three hundred and twenty-five thousand 
yards of yard-and-a-half-wide cloth per annum, and 
jjay one hundred thousand dollars a year in wages. 

The mill is seventy-five by fi)ur hundred and fifty 
feet, one and two stories high, with sixty-five tenement- 
houses. Two hundred and seventy-five hands are 
employed, and the full value of the plant, real estate, 
machinery, etc.. is estimated at two hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars. 

The whole mills are established under the firm-title 
and name of the Conshohocken Worsted-ilills. 
George Bullock, treasurer; James Moir, superintend- 
ent ; capital, six hundred thousand dollars. There 
are eight sets of cards, sixty-eight broad looms and 
eight thousand two hundred and sixty-tour spindles 
on worsted yarns and French worsted suitings. 

On woolen suitings, two sets of cards, twenty-five 
broad looms and nine hundred and sixty spindles, 
and in Mill No. 2, thirteen sets cards, eighty broad 
looms and five thousand one hundred and eighty 
spindles. 

The mill on JIain Street, Norristown, belonging to 
tliis firm is tour stories in height, built of stone, 
mnrtar-coated, and is fitly by ninety feet in size, 
with a rear building, used as dye and picker-house. 



of fifty by fifty feet. Within, the mill is neat and 
cleanly, and has the reputation of being one of the 
best-kept in the country. It is divided into four 
departments, and gives employment to seventy hands, 
to whom are paid about two thousand two hundred 
dollars monthly. An engine of sixty horse-power, 
with boilers of one hundred horse-power, supply the 
necessary power and steam for the dyeing and drying 
of goods. The mill is furnished throughout with 
all the modern machinery for the manufacture of 
black broadcloths and woolen goods. 

GeoegeBullock is of both English and Scotch line- 
age. Samuel Bullock and his wife, Hannah, emigrated 
from Yeadon, Yorkshire, England, to America, and 
settled in Germantown, Pa. Their children were 
Benjamin, John and Sarah, who became Mrs. Charles 
Cummings. Benjamin Bullock, who was born in 
Bradford, England, in 1796, at the age of nineteen came 
to the United States and began an active business 
career. He became associated in 1822 with Anthony 
Davis in the wool-pulling business. In 1837 he em- 
barked in wool manufacturing, and continued for a 
period of thirty-seven years actively engaged in this 
and other enterprises in Philadelphia and vicinity. 
He married Martha, daughter of George Maxwell, 
whose children were eight in number, of whom George, 
the subject of this biographical sketch, was born 
March 9, 1830, in Philadelphia, where his youth was 
spent as a pupil of the public schools. At the age of 
fourteen he entered his fathers wool-store and became 
thoroughly versed in the various details of the busi- 
liess. His fidelity and service were rewarded by an 
interest in 1851, which continued until the death of his 
father, in 1859, when the enterprise was continued by 
him both as a wool dealer and a woolen manufacturer. 
In 1862, Mr. Bullock removed to West Conshohocken, 
having acquired a valuable mill with water-power at 
that point, and conducted an extensive manufacturing 
interest under the firm-name of Benjamin Bullock & 
Sons, the style of which was in 1865 changed to Ben- 
jamin Bullock's Sons. This extensive enterprise 
eventually became a corporation under the corporate 
title of the Conshohocken Worsted-Mills, with George 
Bullock as president, treasurer and owner of the 
controlling interest. In 1862, Mr. Bullock, finding it 
desirable to make his permanent abode among the 
scenes of his business activity, purchased a picturesque 
site, embracing three hundred acres of valuable land, 
and erected a spacious residence, surrounded by all that 
is beautiful in nature and art, and embracing views 
from various points which are unsurpassed. The 
subject of this sketch is a man of great administra- 
tive ability coupled with rare energy and force. He 
is, as a citizen, public-spirited and liberal, manifesting a 
keen interest in the material welfare of those who are 
identified with his various interests. He is a Repub- 
lican in politics, but frequent!)' votes independent of 
his party when men or measures are obnoxious to him. 
He has served for two vears on the Board of State 



602 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Prison Inspectors and for ten years has been a mem- 
ber of the State Board of Charities. He has been 
burgess of the borough of West Conshohoeken since 
its organization. He is also president of the First 
National Bank of Conshohoeken. He is a liberal 
supporter of the Baptist Church of AVest Consho- 
hoeken, and a stanch advocate of the cause of tem- 
perance, both bj' precept and example. Mr. Bullock 
was married, in 1851, to Miss Josephine, daughter of 
Samuel Wright, of Philadelphia. 

The following summary of the character of Mr. 
Bullock has been prepared by a friend : " Mr. Bullock 
possesses in the line of business what was attributed 
to the great mind of John C. Calhoun, of South Caro- 
lina, in the line of political measures, — the ability to 
judge of the future of any public measure. He reads 
the future from the experiences of the past and from 
principles evolved from the same. He inherits great 
business qualifications from his father, Benjamin 
Bullock, who in his day was a most reliable man on 
the wool question, a committee of Congress having 
honored him by summoning him before them to be 
enlightened upon this interest of the nation. 

" George Bullock believes in having everything done 
in the best way ; hence he has the best of workmen, 
pays well and turns out the best quality of goods. As 
the president of a bank, he has a thorough knowledge 
of commercial paper and acts from a fixed principle, 
not asking how much a man may be worth nor how 
large his bank account may be, but what kind of man 
is he that made the note, and how does he do business, 
believing that certain principles of business mean 
succes-s, while the reverse insures, some time in the 
near future, failure. 

"In the successful managementof hislargemills he 
acts with decision and promptness, and at times 
seemingly with prospective loss, but the end is found 
tojustify the means. As an illustration, if times are 
dull and goods have accumulated largely on his hands, 
he takes steps to dispose of them. First, his goods are 
exactly as represented, always up to the standard. 
The severest test of the market may be applied, the 
closest scrutiny of warp an<l woof may be made. The 
material, the work and the finish are all of the highest 
grade for that class of goods. The large stock will be 
placed in the market, cash realized, the wareroom 
cleared and his hands kept at work. If goods are low, 
so must the raw material be ; hence the firm and the 
mills are ready for new goods, new patterns and the 
raw material low, ready for advanced prices when the 
rise takes place. We at times attribute success to 
luck, but Mr. Bullock takes small stock in ' luck.' 
During the seven years of the panic, from 1873 to 
1880, he kept his mills running and his hands to- 
gether. He uses good material, t!ie newest and most 
approved machinery, employs skilled workmen and 
workwomen and keeps everything in excellent order 
and under the most careful management. His hands 
are well paid, and hence feel an interest in the success 



of the employers. His well-known kind and liberal 
disposition to all with whom he comes in contact, his 
especial interest in those who are in need and the 
great love he has for children, ail combine to make 
the 'Conshohoeken Worsted-Mills' a name and a 
success in all that is valuable in that word, both in 
profits and reputation. Mr. Bullock maintains largely 
the church on liis grounds, while hundreds of dollars 
a year are spent upon the Sabbath-school connected 
with this Baptist congregation. In his works of kind- 
ness and benevolence he has the aid and assistance of 
his excellent lady, the acts of Christian kindness of 
Mrs. Bullock, like the falling rain, blessing many 
around her in very many ways." 

James Moir. — Mr. Moir, who is of Scotch descent 
and the son of Adam and Dorothy Moir, was born on 
the 18th of July, 1820, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 
where he remained until twenty-one years of age. He 
enjoyed at home opportunities for an excellent rudi- 
mentary education, and on its completion entered 
the mills of Hadden & Co., of Aberdeen, with a 
view to acquiring a thorough knowledge of manufac- 
turing. His term of service was completed with 
Messrs. Popplewell & Co., in the same city, after which, 
in 1841, he sailed for America, and located in Water- 
town, Jefferson Co., N. Y., remaining two years at 
that point. His next location was in Cazenovia, 
Madison Co., N. Y., where he became superintendent 
of a mill, filling the position until his later removal 
to Eaton, in the same county. 

Mr. Moir next found employment in Jones & 
Kershaw's mills, located in West Philadelphia, and in 
1859 responded to a demand for his services as super- 
intendent for Thomas Kershaw, at West Consho- 
hoeken. The mill owned by the latter gentleman 
eventually passed into the hands of Benjamin Bullock 
& Sons, and in 1871 the firm of George Bullock & Co. 
was formed, with Mr. Moir as an active partner, who 
went to England in 1881 for the purpose of prop- 
erly equipping the mill with what is known as the 
French worsted machinery. In 1881 the building 
known as Mill No. 1 was erected. It is exclusively 
devoted to the production of worsted yarn and worsted 
fabrics, the various mills being m.inaged under the 
corporate title of the " Conshohoeken Worsted-Mills," 
with James Moir as general superintendent. The 
subject of this sketch was, in 1852, married to Maria 
Theresa, daughter of Peleg H. Kent, of Clark's Mills, 
Oneida Co., N. Y., whose children are Emma (Mrs. 
G. R. Kite), Roscoe K. and Rnsa B. Mr. Moir 
is a Republican in his jiolitical affiliations, but not 
actively interested in the public measures of the day. 
His sympathy with the cause of education has, how- 
ever, influenced him to accept the presidency of the 
board of school directors of West Conshohoeken. He 
is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he has 
attained high rank. 

William Davis, Jr., & Co.'s Lumber- Yard. — 
This establishment is located on the corner of Front 




J CO -u vx xY / 2? rL /' 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



603 



and Ford Streets, in West Conshohocken, and does 
I a thriving business, employing quite a number of 
f hands. The firm have usually stocked in their 
large buildings over two million feet of lumber. The 
business was established in ISGo, and has increased 
to about one hundred thousand dollars per annum. 

Hall's Carpet-Factory. — In a nook on the 
River road, through which trickles a small stream, 
almost unknown and unnoticed, bearing the Indian 
name of Areuike Creek, stands the small carpet- 
factory of Mr. James Hall. The building is of frame, 
and unpretending in its appearance and dimensions, 
yet here Mr. James Hall, a skilled weaver from the 
north of England, has for three years conducted a 
successful business in the manufacture of ingrain and 
other carpets. He emijloys forty-five hands, and runs 
thirty-nine looms. The looms are operated in the 
old primitive fashion of throwing the shuttles from 
hand to hand. Five thousand yards a week are pro- 
duced, and he pays two hundred dollars a week in 
wages. 

POTTSTOWN. 

The Glasgow Iron Company. — These works 
were established in 1876 in Pottsgrove township. 
One hundred and thirty hands are employed, with a 
pay-roll of five thousand dollars a month. Their 
specialty is plate-iron for boilers, tanks, etc., and 
muck- bar. The capacity is six hundred and fifty tons 
a month. The motive-power is derived from one one 
hundred and seventy-five horse-power engine and an 
eighty horse-power water-wheel, taking water from 
the Manatawny. Joseph L. Bailey is the president ; 
treasurer, Comly Shoemaker; secretary, S. W. 
Nicholls ; general manager, Edward Bailey. 

Ellis Keystone AfiEiciLTrRAL Works. — These 
works are located in Pottsgrove township, fronting on 
a public road leading from Madison Bridge road to 
Klein road, with a frontage of three hundred feet 
and a depth of two hundred and fifty feet. The 
works were established in 1876, with a capital of 
twenty thousand dollars, raised to forty-two thousand 
dollars in 1881. Up to this date (1884) the specialty 
was the Ellis threshing-machine, of which they 
manufactured about two hundred i)er annum. They 
are now preparing to make fodder-cutters (Queed's 
patent). The main building is forty feet square, four 
stories in height. There is a brick building one hun- 
dred and ten by twenty-six feet, three stories in height, 
and a frame building one hundred liy thirty feet for 
storing finished work. The lumljer-shed is twenty by 
sixty feet, and the engine-house twenty-eight by 
. twelve feet. In 1883 the value of the finished 
work produced was thirty-five thousand dollars, 
wholesale prices. The machines made here are 
chiefly for the home trade, but they also ship to 
Canada and i)arts of Europe. Twenty-five hands 
are employed, with a pay-roll of twelve hundred 
dollars a month. 

Pottstowx Iron Company. — The Pottstowu 



Iron Company, whose works have added so much to 
the industrial wealth of the place, was organized in 
1866. The erection of the plate-mill was commenced 
in 1863 by the late William Jlintzer and J. E. 
Wootten, Esq., now general superintendent of the 
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. Afterwards Mr. 
Wootten sold out to Edward Bailey and Joseph Potts, 
Jr., and the mill was operated for some time by 
Edward Bailey & Co. Mr. Bailey interested several 
Philaileljihia parties in the manufacture of iron here, 
among them the old and well-known house of Morris, 
Wheeler & Co., and the Pottstowu Iron Company was 
organized and incorporated by act of the Legislature 
dated March 27, 1866, and was granted an increase 
of capital to the sum of five hundred thousand 
dollars by an act passed in 1867. X nail-works was 
built and put in operation in October, 1866. The 
large Anvil Furnace of the company was completed 
and blown in in 1867, and extensive mines and 
ore rights were purchased. When busy, twelve 
hundred hands are employed here, and the 
amount of finished work is three hundred and fifty 
thousand kegs of nails and tw'elve thousand five hun- 
dred tons of j)late and other iron per annum. The 
buildings, yards, and store-houses cover an area of 
twenty-two acres. For several years Edward Bailey 
was treasurer and general manager of the Pottstown 
Iron Company, and to him Pottstown is under great 
obligations for the location of these works here and 
for their successful maiuigeinent for some time. The 
improvements made by the Pottstown Iron Company, 
and the investment of so large an amount of capital 
here, increased the value of property, in the town, 
built up other interests and has been of incalculable 
advantage to the place. 

WARWiriv Iron Company. — The furnace of the 
Warwick Iron Company at Pottstown, another of the 
important works located at this place, was com- 
menced in 187o, completed in 1876 and blown in on 
the 20th of April of that year. The capital of the 
company is two hundred and twenty thousand dol- 
lars. The company owns valuable ore mines at 
Siesholtzville and Boyerstown, Berks Co., and at other 
places. ^Magnetic ore is supplied from the above- 
named mines and hematite from Flourtown. There 
is but one stack, fifty-five by sixteen feet. There are 
seventy hands employed at the works and seventy in 
the Boyerstcswn mines. Their specialty is pig-iron, of 
which twenty-one thousand tons are produced an- 
nually. The president is Isaac Fegely; treasurer, 
Jacob Fegely; V. J. McCulIy, secretary; Edgar S. 
Cook, manager. 

Isaac Fegely. — Conrad Fegely, who was of Ger- 
man descent, resided in Douglas township, Mont- 
gomery Co., where he combined the trade of a black- 
smith with the occupations of a farmer. He was 
united in marriage to a Miss Fox, and had sons — 
Jacol) and John — and daughters, — Mrs. Daniel Miller, 
Mrs. Jacob Fillman, Mrs. George D. Heiser and Mrs. 



€04 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Jacob Binder. Jacob Fegely was born on the 5th 
of January, 1794, in Douglas township, but early re- 
moved to Berks County, where his life was chiefly 
spent in the pursuit of the blacksmith's craft com- 
bined with the cultivation of a farm. He married 
Susan Miller, daughter of Peter Miller, the latter 
having been for several terms a member of the State 
Legislature. Their children are Solomon, Wil- 
liam, Isaac, Jacob, JIaria (Mrs. Reuben Fryer), 
Catherine (Mrs. William Sweinhart), Susan and 
Lucinda (Mrs. M. Y. Slonacker). The death of 



territory adjacent to it for five years. On the 5th of 
May, 1853, he was married to Miss Lavina Romich, 
of Douglas township, Berks Co. Their children are 
Ida, Ann Mary, Newton Henry and Morris Jacob, 
all deceased. 

In 1853, in connection with a partner, Mr. Fegely 
embarked in the coal business, his brother Jacob be- 
coming, in 1854, a member of the firm, lumber 
being added to the stock. In 1862, in connection 
with William D. Evans, he engaged in car-building. 
Having purchased the interest of his partner, he con- 




Mr. Fegely occurred on the 23d of January, 
187S. His son Isaac was born December 25, 1825, 
in Berks County, Pa., where he remained until eigh- 
teen years of age, meanwhile, until his fifteenth year, 
receiving at the country school a rudimentary educa- 
tion and later assisting in the varied employments of 
the farm. In 1843, desiring to acquire a trade, he 
removed to Pottstown and became an apprentice to 
that of a coach-maker, serving his allotted time, two 
and a half years. Circumstances soon after made 
him thoroughly familiar with the vocation of a mill- 
wright, which engaged his attention in the county and 



trolled the business until 1867, when it wa.s sold, and 
Jlr. Fegely emljarked in various profitable under- 
takings until 1874. During the latter year the 
Warwick Iron Company was organized, with the 
subject of this biography as president, which office he 
still fills, his time and ability being devoted to this 
company. He was also one of the projectors and is 
the ]n-esidcnt of the Pottstown Gas and Water 
Companies, president of the Pottstown Cemetery 
Company, director of the Pottstown JIarket Com- 
pany, of the Ellis Keystone Agricultural Company 
and of the Union Mutual Fire and Storm Insurance 





ir^ 



, /}r/ri^ 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



605 



Company of Norristown. Mr. Fegely is in politics a 
Democrat, but not interested as a politician in the 
public issues of the day. He is a member of the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Pottstown, and 
largely identified with its growth and influence. 

PoTTSGROVE Iron-Woeks. — The Pottsgrove Iron- 
Works, the rolling-mill of which is located on Water 
Street, between Charlotte and Peun Streets, were 
erected in 1846 by Henry Potts, of Pottstown, and 
Hon. David Potts, Jr., of Warwick, Chester Co. The 
works were enlarged in 1878. In 1862 the firm-name 
was changed from Potts & Baily to Potts Brothers, and 
is now Potts Brothers' Iron Company (Limited). The 
buildings front on Water Street four hundred and 
twenty feet, with a depth of five hundred and eighty- 
seven feet. The entire works cover an area of five 
acres. One hiyidred and seventy-five hands are em- 
ployed, with a pay-roll of seven thousand five hun- 
dred dollars a month. The capacity is eight thousand 
tons of plate-iron and eight thousand tons of muck- 
bar per annum. 

Joseph D. Potts. — The man of whose active life 
we here give an outline, though for a number of years 
past a citizen of Philadelphia, and a native of Ches- 
ter County, is a member of the family whose name 
is the oldest and most prominent in the history of the 
mechanical industry of Montgomery County, and is 
himself identified with one of the largest of its manu- 
facturing establishments. 

He is a descendant in the sixth generation of 
Thomas Potts, the pioneer iron-master of the region, 
and his great-great-grandfather, John Potts, was the 
founder of Pottstown. His grantlfather, .Joseph Potts, 
was the owner of Glasgow Forge and Valley Forge. His 
father, David Potts, was born at the family house, 
near the first-named ancient iron establishment, on 
August 11, 1799, and died November 1.5, 1870. His 
mother, Rebecca S. (Speakman) Potts, was born in 
Delaware County. 

Joseph D. was born at Springton Forge, Chester 
County, December 4, 1829, and his early life was passed 
at Pottstown and at Isabella Furnace, Chester Co. He 
entered upon the profession of civil engineering in May, 
18.52, on the Sunbury and Erie Railroad, and was after- 
wards engaged on various roads in Western Pennsyl- 
vania, and was made vice-president of theSteubenville 
(Ohio) and Indiana Railroad, superintendent of the 
Western Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad and 
president of the Western Transportation Company. In 
May, 1861, Governor Curtin appointed him on his ac- 
tive staff as lieutenant-colonel and chief of the trans- 
portation and telegraph department of the State, which 
post he held until December, 1861, at which time the 
State transferred this labor to the national govern- 
ment. 

In 1862, while serving with the militia called out in 
consequence of Lee's Antietam expedition, he was 
detailed by General Reynolds as military superintend- 
ent of the Franklin Railroad. 



From 1862 to 1865 he was general manager of the 
Philadelphia and Erie Railroad for its lessee, the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company. From 1865 to 1872 
he was president of the Empire Transportation Com- 
pany, and also of the Erie and Western Transporta- 
tion Company, the latter being the owner of a large 
fleet of propellers upon the chain of great lakes. In 
1877 the Empire Transportation Company sold its 
entire plant, e(iui|)ment and good-will, and closed its 
existence. Mr. Potts continued its President until 
its final dissolution and the complete division of its 
large assets among its share-holders. He remained 
president of the Erie and Western Transportation 
Company until June 7, 1881, when he retired to ob- 
tain relief from the responsibility and care involved, 
which, in addition to various other duties in relation 
to numerous enterprises, made a heavier burden than 
he chose to carry. The estimation in which he was 
held by the company is evinced by an extract from the 
proceedings of the directors, show'ing the report of 
a special committee to whom was referred his letter 
of resignation. It reads as follows : 

"Mr. Potts' propospfl retirement will sever relations which have 
existed between him and this company since the beginning of its opera- 
tions. Under his fostering care the company has so grown that it is to- 
day prosperous, substantial, strong and healthy, financially and other- 
wise. 

"So highly appreciated are his services that the committee feel they 
are speaking, not only for the board of directors, but for the whole body 
of stockholders, in saying that to him is due, in the largest meiisnre, this 
excellent condition of alTaii-s; that without his foresight, his unfailing 
powers of resorce and his untiring energy no such results could have 
been attained. 

" It is with the most profound regret that his retirement is reluctantly 
a&sented to, and the fact that he has consented to remain in the board 
but in a measure modifies tliis feeling. 

" He will leave his official position accompanied by the warmest good 
wishes of the directoi-s, officers and all others connected with the service 
of the company. 

********* 

" W. Thaw. 

'* H. H. HorsTON. 

"W. H. B.4RNES. 

"Geo. B. Bonnell." 

The stockholders at their meeting passed resolu- 
tions of an import similar to the foregoing expression 
from the directors. Mr. Potts is still a member of 
the directory of the company. 

He became managing director of the National 
Storage Company in 1874 and president of the Na- 
timial Docks Railroad Company in 1879. These are 
both New Jersey corporations, the first owning exten- 
sive wharves, warehouses, etc., in Jersey City, and the 
latter an important railway through the same city. He 
resigned both of these positions in 1884, though 
still a director in each company. He became pre- 
sident of the Enterprise Transit Company in 1871, 
and still holds that position. 

He purchased an interest, in 1879, in the Potts 
Brothers' Iron Company (Limited), of Pottstown, Pa., 
which owns the Chester Tube-Works, and has since 
been one of its managers. In 1880 he purchased the 



606 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Isabella Furnace property, in Chester County, former- 
ly owned by his father and now managed by his sons. 
He was for some years and until January 1, 1885, presi- 
dent, and is still a director of the Girard Point Storage 
Company of Philadelphia, which is the owner of the ex- 
tensive elevators, wharves, warehouses, railroad, tanks, 
etc., near the mouth of the Schuylkill River. From its 
establishment he has been a largeownerand a director 
in the International Navigation Company (Red Star 
Line). 

During the last few years Mr. Potts has, although 
strongly urged to the contrary, withdrawn, as far as 



J. DuTTON Steele & Sons' Manufacturing 
C'OMPAXY, PoTTSTOWN. — The works are located on 
High Street, and were established in 1880. The 
frontage is seventy-five feet, depth three hundred 
feet, one story high. Fifty hands are employed, with 
a pay-roll of fifteen hundred dollars a month. 
The power is supplied by an eighty horse- 
power engine. 

J. DuTTON Steele is the eldest son of John D. 
Steele, of Chester County, Pa., who migrated with his 
family from England in 1795, and first settled in 
Whitemarsh township, Montgomery Co., where 





^c-^^i^^-c^^S^^ 



^ 



possible, from active business duties, and has refused 
several very tempting offers of highly lucrative and 
honorable positions. The comparative ease and 
quiet which he has secured by partial retirement 
from business has been well earned by years of re- 
markable activity and the untiring exercise of great 
financial and organizing ability. 

Mr. Potts, on June 1, 1854, married Mary, daughter 
of Dr. William and Margaret (Pollock) McCleery, at 
Milton, Northumberland Co., Pa. Their children 
are Arthur (who died in infancy), William M., and 
Francis Lanier. 



he resided for seven years, after which he married 
Ann, daughter of Hugh Exton, of Hunterdon 
County, N. J., and purchased a tract of land in central 
Chester County, upon which he resided during the 
remainder of his life; there J. Dutton Steele was born 
in 1810, and at the age of eighteen, after being edu- 
cated in the mathematical schools of Chester Co., lie 
joined a corps of engineers engaged in the surveys for 
the internal improvements of Pennsylvania, and con- 
tinued in the service of the State for two years. In 
1830 he entered the service of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad Company, the construction of which work 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



6or 



was at that time being commenced, and continued in 
that service for ten years, liaving Ijeeii connected chiefly 
with the construction department until their rails had 
readied Harper's Ferry, and liad been extended to 
Baltimore, Md., and during an interval in that 
service he located the road between Troy and Ballston 
-Springs, in the State of New York. 

His last appointment with the Baltimore and Ohio 
■Company was in connection with the location and con- 
struction of the Western Division of the road, extend- 
ing from Cumberland, Md., to the Ohio River. 

In 1837 he was married to Elizabeth, daughter 
of Judge Tlionias Capner, of Hunterdon County, 
N. J., and settled in Wheeling, Va., from which 
point he conducted an extensive system of surveys 
necessary for the location of the work in charge. 
The great financial break-down of that period, 
however, caused the railroad company to suspend the 
construction of their road west of Cumberland, and 
consequently his engagements with them terminated 
in 1840. He then purchased a fiirm near Downing- 
town. Pa., and followed the pursuits of agriculture for 
six years. 

During this period, the financial condition of the 
country having recovered from its depression and the 
charter of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company 
through Southwestern Pennsylvania having lapsed, 
they applied to the Legislature for a renewal of their 
chartered privileges; but at the same time the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad Company were applying for a 
charter through the middle of the State ; heuce the 
memorable "rights of way contest," in whicli his 
familiarity with the topographical features of the 
regions to be traversed enabled him to take an active 
part, and in which the Baltimore and Ohio failed to 
obtain the renewal of their charter asked for, and were 
I forced to occupy a circuitous route round the south- 
western corner of Pennsylvania. In 1846 he made asur- 
vey of Pittsburgh and its environs for the purpose of 
indicating the jiracticable routes for entering that 
city with i-aihvay improvements, and entered the 
service of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad 
Company on the 1st of January, 1847, in charge of the 
roadway department of that road, and continued in 
the service of that company, in the several capacities 
of chief assistant engineer, chief engineer and vice- 
president, until 18<;7, — a period of nearly twenty years. 
During this time the Ijridges on the road were nearly 
all replaced with permanent structures and the super- 
Structure was renewed, an accurate survey was 
made of the Schuylkill coal-fields, the shipi)ing 
facilities at Port Richmond were enlarged and im- 
proved, and the rails were extended into Mahanoy 
Valley and to Harrisburg. He introduced into 
railway practice the ribbed stone arches for skew 
bridges, and availing himself of the experiments made 
by a commission appointed by the Queen of England 
in 1847 to investigate the "ajiplicability of iron to 
railway structures," thereportof which was published 



in 1849, he introduced wrought-iron girders for 
bridges of short spans, and was the first to use elec- 
tricity as an auxiliary to rock-blasting to any consid- 
erable extent, with no light to guide him but some 
experiments which had been made in English stone- 
quarries, and without the aid of which the tunnels on 
the Reading Railroad could not have been widened, 
in the brief space of four months allotted for the com- 
pletion of the work, with safety to the passingtrains. 

In 1808 he wa.s elected president of the Sterling 
Iron and Railway Company, and removed to Brooklyn, 
and assumed the duty of developing an extensive iron- 
ore property in Orange County N. Y., in which 
position he continued for three years. During this 
period he made explorations for railroad extensions 
in the States of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota ; 
took an active part in organizing the American 
Society of Civil Engineers and contributed to their 
journal, and was appointed one of a commission of 
civil engineers to examine and approve the plans of 
John A. Roebling for the East Riversuspcnsion bridge. 
It may not be out of place to refer here to some in- 
teresting geological features of the Sterling estate 
confirmatory of the glacial theory of Agassiz. 
Bowlders of fossil limestone were found on the tops 
of hills, two hundred feet above the level of the 
valleys, which had been carried hundreds of miles by 
the ice, and they had existed at an earlier day to such 
an extent as to furnish the necessary flux for a char- 
coal furnace, which had been upon the property 
for a period of half a century. A mountain in its ex- 
ternal appearance was one great mass of iron-ore ; but 
on penetrating it, it proved to be only a vein of iron- 
ore, corresponding in pitch with the slo])e of the hill, 
which had been worn smooth by glacial action, and 
immediately below it, and under a superincumbent 
mass of eight feet of gravel, was found a deposit of 
shot ore, which had evidently been rasped off the vein 
by the rock-toothed glacier when the world was yet 
enveloped in ice. 

In 1870 he returned to his residence in Pottstown, 
Pa., and was in charge of the construction of the 
Nesquehoning Valley Railroad and the Nesquehoning 
tunnel, in Carbon County, Pa., and in the latter work, 
availing himself of the experiments then in progress at 
the Hoosac tuiniel, made use of compressed air as a 
motive-power for the rock-drills. 

He was next appointed to select the location, amid 
several conflicting interests, for the extension of the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from Central Ohio to 
Chicago.and after the necessary surveys, recommended 
the route upon which that road is now built, and was 
also engaged on the Wilmington and Northern and 
Berks County Railroads and other works of lesser 
importance. 

He afterwards organized and established the J. D. 
Steele & Sons' Manufacturing Company at Potts- 
town, Pa., and thus ended an active but inconspicuous 
professional career. 



608 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEllY COUNTY. 



POTTSTOWN Iron and Brass Foundry. — The 
Pottstowii Iron and Brass Foundry is located on 
Beech Street, and was erected in 1868 by William 
Auchenbach. It was operated for several years by 
W. P. Buckley and William Auchenbach, under the 
firm-name of W. P. Buckley & Co., but was subse- 
quently changed to the firm of William S. Ellis & 
Co. The firm is engaged in the general foundry 
business, and also manufacture sad-irons, having a 
branch establishment for the finishing of sad-irons on 
Queen Street. The firm is in a flourishing condition 
and employs a number of men. 

BoYEK & Brother. — The foundry is located at the 
corner of York and Walnut Streets. All kinds of 
castings are made here in iron and brass, and orna- 
mental wrought-iron fencing is made to order. 
Twenty-six hands are employed, with a pay-roll of 
seven hundred dollars a month. The building is 
forty-six by one hundred and fifty feet aud the fin- 
ished work averages one ton per day. 

Mechanics' Boiler- Works, Sotter & Brothers. 
— The firm consists of Jacob, Ferdinand, Henry and 
Philip Sotter, four brothers who are skilled mechan- 
ics. They manufacture boilers, smoke-stacks, blast 
and steam-pijies, iron stock-cars, furnace-barrows, 
water and oil-tanks, gas-holders, etc. The works 
were establi-shed in 1ST.), and were formerly occupied 
by Messrs. Buckley & Auchenbach as a foundry. 

The main building is forty-five by one hundred 
feet. Forty bauds are employed, with a pay-roll of 
fifteen hundred dollars a month. During the 
year 1883 the amount of finished work was estimated 
at sixty thousand dollars' value. 

POTTSTOWX KoLLER-MlLLS, BeRTOLET &MiLLER. 

— This firm does a very extensive business, and the 
water-power has no superior in the Slate. Here was 
erected the first mill in the region, about the year 
1726. It was owned by Jesse Ives for a long period, 
but in 185.5 the property was purchased by Henry and 
Jacob H. Gabel, who rebuilt it in 1856, and furnished 
it with the best machinery. The mill is forty-five by 
fifty feet, four stories high, and has a capacity of one 
hundred barrels a day. 

Pottstown Marble-Works, Messrs. E. Reif- 
SNYDER AND J. W. SxoRB, No. 149 High Street. — The 
business conducted by these gentlemen was founded 
forty years ago by Albert Storb. In 1859 the firm 
became Wagner & Reifsnyder. Five years after- 
wards Mr. Wagner died, and the present firm was 
founded. Marble and granite work of all description 
is done in the highest style of the art, and the large 
sixteen by one hundred feet building always contains 
a very large stock of finished monuments and head- 
stones, so that orders may be filled successfully. 
Five hands are employed in the busy season and a 
regular trade has been secured in Berks, Chester and 
Montgomery Counties. Both gentlemen are practical 
workmen, and all work is erected under their personal 
supervision. 



Marble and Granite-Works. — The manufac- 
ture of monuments, head-stones, etc., was com- 
menced in Pottstown in 1865 by Seazholtz & Yohu. 
This firm was in turn succeeded by Seazholtz & 
Shenton, and in 1873, Mr. Shenton became sole pro- 
prietor. Mr. Shenton is a gentleman of twenty-one 
years' experience in this particular trade, and as an ar- 
tisan of skill has no superior, as is abundantly attested 
by the soldiers' monuments of Phcenixville and St. 
Clair and many other beautiful aud large monuments 
erected by him in this county and in Berks and 
Chester Counties. The building occupied by him on 
Hanover Street, near the railroad, is twenty-four by 
ninety-six feet in extent. During the busy season 
five hands are employed. 

Pottstown Steam Planing-Mill, J. F. Alt- 
hou.se, Proprietor. — These works are located on 
Apple Street, and were established in 1879, the 
firm at that time being Fisher i*i: Althouse. A large 
amount of sashes, doors, window-frames, etc., is 
manufactured by the firm. Twenty-one hands are 
employed, and the pay-roll amounts to one thousand 
dollars a month. The main building, is one hundred 
and fifty by one hundred and fifty-five feet, the lum- 
ber-yard is one hundred and fifty-five by one hundred 
and seventy feet. The machinery is driven by a 
thirty-five horse-power engine. 

Richard H. Krause's Planing-Mill. — This 
mill is situated at Water and Charlotte Streets, and 
manufactures sashes, doors, window-frames and scroll- 
work. Fourteen hands are emijloyed, with a pay-roll 
of five thousand dollars a month. 

The Philadelphia Bridge- Works, Cofrode & 
Saylor, Civil Engineers and Bridge-Builders. 
— These extensive works are located at Pottstown, on 
the line of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. 
The buildings and improvements cover an area of 
about thirteen acres of ground. Tlie establishment 
has been in operation since 1877-78, and is justly 
noted for its capacity to produce the best and most 
skillfully constructed bridge- work of the age. The 
most improved machinery is used in the execution of 
their work, and their patrons are found in all parts of 
the Union. Their Philadelphia office is located at 
No. 257 South Fourth Street. They employ from 
five hundred to one thousand men, and are an impor- 
tant liranch of the capitalized industry of the 

county. 

limerick township. 

National Stove-Works, Limerick Station, 
March, Bkownback &Co. — These extensive and val- 
uable works were established at Lawrenceville, Chester 
Co., in 1848, by Michael March, Isaac Buckwalter and 
Ezekial Thomas, trading as March & Buckwalter. 
Before the works were in full operation Thomas and 
Buckwalter sold out their half-interest to Michael 
March. In 1849, John Church and Thomas Churcli 
purchased one-half interest, when the firm became 
March & Church. In 1850, James L. Ellis bought 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



609 



the interest of John and Thomasi Church, when the 
firm-n;\ine was March & Ellis. In 1851, George 
Frick purchased the interest of James L. Ellis, and 
the firm became March & Frick. In 1852, Daniel 
Allen bought the interest of George Frick, when the 
firm-name became March & Allen. In 1853, Wash- 
ington Savidge bought a part of Allen's interest, and 
iMr. March remained a silent partner in the firm. 
The firm-name then w'as Allen & Savidge. In 1854, 
Bavidge died, and the business was continued by 
Daniel Allen. In 1855, Henry C. March and Joseph 
Johnson bought Allen and Savidge's interest. The 



upon their manufacturing capacity. In 1868, James 
Brownback bought the interest of H. C. March, the 
firm-name continuing. In 1871, T. J. March pur- 
chased the interest of Franklin March, firm-name 
continuing. In 1874, James Rogers bought the 
interest of D. JI. March, and in the fall of the same 
year Michael Towers bought the interest of Edward 
Sisler, when the firm became March, Brownback & 
Co. In 1877, M. Towers sold to his partners, T. J. 
March, James Brownback and James Rodgers, his 
interest, and since that date the firm-name has been 
March, Brownback & Co. 





■ ty^ 



firm-name was March & Johnson, and so continued 
until 1860, when Edmund Sisler bought Joseph John- 
son's interest. The firm then became March & 
Sisler, and continued so until 1865, when J. W. 
March entered as an equal partner; firm-name, 
March, Sisler & Co. In 1866, Franklin March 
entered the firm, the firm-name continuing. In 1866 
the works were transferred to Limerick Station, 
Montgomery Co., where more extensive and sub- 
stantial buildings were erected, and the most im- 
proved machinery put into operation, so as to enable 
the firm to meet the constantly increasing pressure 
39 



When the firm started the number of hands em- 
ployed was twenty-five, with a monthly production 
for the first year of twenty-five net "tons, stoves and 
plate; wages per month, approximately, thirteen hun- 
dred dollars. At present when working full the 
number of hands is one hundred and twenty-five, 
with a monthly pay-roll of six thousand two hundred 
dollars. The goods manufactured are stoves, heaters 
and ranges, of which the product for the year 1884 
was eleven hundred net tons. 

The works cover one and one-half acres, on which 
stand the following buildings : Moulding-room, one 



610 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



hundred and fifty by seventy-five feet ; moulding- 
room No. 2, seventy-five by fifty feet ; with ware- 
house, sliipiHug and finishing department in one 
building, one hundred by sixty feet, four stories high; 
carpenter-shop and fitting department, thirty by 
twenty feet, four stories liigh ; and sand-liouse, forty 
by eigliteen feet, four stories liigli, office, etc. Value 
of the plant, one hundred and ninety thousand dollars. 
Thomas J. March. — The earliest representative of 
the March family in Pennsylvania was Frederick 
March, of German descent, who settled in Limerick 
township, Montgomery Co., Pa. He had several 
sons, one of whom, Frederick J., removed to the ad- 
joining county of Chester, and resided at his death in 
East Vincent township. Among his children was 
Michael, whose birtli occurred on the 24th of July, 
1803, in the above township, where he was subsequently 
married to Miss Susanna, daughter of Henry Chrisman, 
also of East Vincent township. To this union were 
born children, — B. Franklin, Henry C. (deceased), 
Ellen (who became the wife of James Brownback), 
Webster (deceased), Thomas J. and Emma C. (married 
to Rev. J. P. Miller). Thom:is J., of this number, 
was born on the 16th of February, 18-14, at Lawrence- 
ville. Chaster Co., Pa., where he remained during the 
years of early youth, meanwhile availing himself of 
such advantages of education as the public schools 
afforded. At the age of eighteen he became a pupil 
of the State Normal School, at Millersville, engaged 
for a brief period in teaching, and, on the completion 
of his studies, received, as the representative of the 
Seventh Congressional District of the State, the ap- 
pointment to the United States Military Academy, at 
West Point, N. Y. He graduated in the class of 
1868, and was at once assigned as second lieutenant 
in the Seventh Regiment Cavalry, then on duty on 
the plains, his command being at the time engaged, 
under General G. A. Custer, in active fi-ontier service. 
Mr. March remained four years in the army, having 
been from October 11, 1868, to November 20, 1870, in 
Kansas and the Indian Territory, where he partici 
pated in the engagement on Washita River with the 
Cheyenne Indians on the 27th of November, 1868, in 
which he was wounded. He was, on the 21st of 
November, 1870, appointed to the Military Tactics 
Board, convened at St. Louis, and again assigned, on 
the 11th of February, 1871, to frontier duty at Fort 
Lyon, Colorado. He later received leave of absence 
and tendered his resignation March 10, 1872. Mr. 
March, on returning again to civil life, after his varied 
and eventful military experience, entered the firm of 
March, Sisler & Co., stove-founders, at Limerick Sta- 
tion, Montgomery Co., and has since devoted his 
attention to business pursuits. He was, on the 29th 
of January, 1880, married to Emma, daughter of the 
late Jacob and Maria Kulp, of Pottstown. Their 
only child is a son, Michael Henry. Mr. March is 
in his political views a stanch Republican and an 
earnest advocate of the doctrine of a protective tar- 



iff. He is in no sense a politician and is indiffer- 
ent to the honors attached to party service. The 
religious associations of his family are with the 
Reformed Church in Pottstown, of which he is a sup- 
porter. 

UPPER MERION TOWNSHIP. 

Swedes' Fuknace. — This well-known furnace 
was built by Griffith Jones for the firm of Potts & 
George in 1853, and Mr. Jones became the manager. 
They run the furnace until 1869, when it was pur- 
chased by James Lanigan, the firm, which was known 
as Lanigan & Repellier, paying one hundred and 
twenty-five thousand dollars for the property. The 
production in good times of trade was aliout six hun- 
dred tons a month. It was run by Lanigan & Co. 
up to 1877, when it was stopped, and has remained 
idle up to this date. The furnace is now the property 
of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Com- 
pany. 

Montgomery Furnace, Montgomery Iron 
Company. — The furnace is locatedat Port Kennedy; 
the stack was built in 1854 and was first blown in 
1856. It is closed at the top. The ores used are 
three-fifths magnetic and two-fifths hematite. The 
specialty is forged pig-iron, with a capacity of twelve 
thousand five hundred net tons. Two roasters for 
magnetic ores were added in 1880, A. S. Patterson 
is the president of the company, John W. Eckman 
manager. 

Wm. B. Rambo's Quarries. — This valuable in- 
dustry covers one hundred and forty-three acres. 
The ipiarries were opened in 1830 by Geo. W. Roberts 
on a very small scale, producing about fifty thousand 
bushels of stone and lime per annum ; but the business 
increased until 1843, when it was sold at sheriff's 
sale and bought by Nathan Rarabo and John T. Potts. 
Before the deeds were signed Nathan Rambo pur- 
chased the interest of Mr. Potts for five hundred 
dollars, when the latter retired. Nathan Rambo run 
the quarries alone until January 1, 1857, when his 
son, William B. Rambo, and Matthias P. Walker were 
admitted into partnershiji. 

Nathan Rambo died March 1, 1858, when the firm 
became Rambo & Walker, and remained so until 
January, 1859, when Mr. Walker retired .and 
William B. Rambo became sole proprietor and re- 
mained such to the present day. 

There are twenty-six kilns, operated by one hundred 
men, producing eight hundred thousand bushels of 
quick-lime per annum for building and fertilizing 
purposes, with a pay-roll of nearly tour hundred 
dollars per month. The quarries and kilns have a 
capacity of one million bushels of lime a year. 
Thirty-two horses and a fifteen horse-power pumping- 
engine assist in the work. The building lime is sent 
principally to Philadelphia, and the fertilizing lime 
is sent by the different railroads to New Jersey, 
Delaware and many other States adjacent to Penn- 
sylvania. 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



611 



Adjoining the William B. Rambo quarries are those 
of Nathan Rambo, ninety acres in extent, (jroducing 
about one hundred and fifty tons of stone per day, 
most of which is used in the manufacture of asphalt 
blocks. These quarries are leased by Mr. ^\'illiam B. 
Rambo. 

The Asphalt Block Compaxy. — These works 
-are located on the opposite side of the railroad from 
the (piarries of W. B. Rambo. They belong to a 
chartered company of Philadelphia, incorporated in 
1876, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars ; 
stock issued, eighty-two thousand dollars. Tlie pro- 



one fifty by one hundred feet, and one fifty by one hun- 
dred and twenty feet. One hundred and thirty hands 
are employed, and the pay-roll is about tliree thou- 
sand dollars a month. The mill is engaged in the 
manufacture of jeans, producing one million eight 
hundred thousand yards per annum. The property 
is valued at one hundred thousand dollars. 

Elbridge Mc'Farland. — Dr. James McFarland, 
of Montgomery County, the grandfather of Elbridge 
McFarland, graduated from the Medical Department 
of the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently 
pursued his profession at Morgantown, Berks Oo. 





duction is about five thousand blocks a day, each 
measuring twelve by five by four inches. Twenty 
hands are employed, at a cost of about five hundred 
dollars a month. The works cover about two acres of 
ground, fronting on the railroad fifty feet, with a 
depth of three hundred and twenty-five feet towards 
the river, the main building being two stories high. 
Jacob C. Daubman, of Camden, N. J., is the presi- 
dent of the company, William B. Rambo treasurer. 

Gdlf Mills, George McFarland & Co. — This 
handsome mill is situated in a picturesque spot on Gulf 
Creek, in Upper Merion township, and consists of three 
buildings, one seventy by one hundred and sixty feet, 



His four sons were John, Arthur, James B. and George. 
The last named and youngest of the number was born 
at Morgantown on the 20th of March, 1811, and 
spent his youth in Norriton township. On arriving 
at a suitable age he entered the woolen-mills of 
Bethel Moore, on the Gulf Creek, near Conshohocken, 
with a view to perfecting himself in the business of a 
manufacturer. After a limited time spent at Easton, 
Pa., he returned to the Gulf, and began the manufac- 
ture of woolen goods in a small way at the place now 
owned by Samuel Tinkler. Here, by industry, energy 
and uprightness, he laid the foundation of his success 
as a mauufiicturer. In 1847 he purchased the mill 



612 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



property at Gulf Mills, which was rebuilt and refitted 
as a cotton and woolen-mill. About 1858 a serious 
conflagration destroyed this factory, which was re- 
placed by another on the same site, and conducted by 
Mr. McFarland until 1875, when he admitted his son, 
Elbridge, and Franlf L. Jones, of Norristown, as 
partners. George McFarland was married to Mary 
Cornog, of Gulf Mills, in 1849. Their children are 
George Clinton (deceased), Elbridge, James Arthur 
and John. 

There being no portrait of Mr. George McFarland 
extant, it ia deemed advisable to represent the manu- 
facturing interest he founded through his eldest living 
son, Elbridge, leading partner ofthe present firm, who 
was born May 4, 1853, at King of Prussia, and re- 
moved when a cliild with his parents to Gulf Mills. 
He pursued his studies at Norristown, and later en- 
tered the Polytechnic College, at Philadelphia, from 
which he graduated in 1872 as a civil engineer. He 
followed this profession for a brief period in Pitts- 
burgh, and returning to the Gulf, entered the office and 
mill of his father. In 1875 he was made a partner, 
and, on the death of the latter, in January, 1879, with 
Mr. Jones, before mentioned, assumed the active man- 
agement ofthe mill, his brothers, J. Arthur and John, 
being made partners soon afterwards. While under 
his successful management the works have been ex- 
tended, new machinery added and the capacity 
nearly doubled. The mill, with these improvements, 
ranks as third in size among the woolen-mills ofthe 
county. 

Valley Forge Woolen-Mills. — These famous 
old mills have a history, and have passed through 
many hands. They were built in 1810 by Mr. James 
Rogers and were operated by the firm of Rogers & 
Watters in the manufacture of cotton goods, bed- 
ticking, etc. They were next occupied by James C. 
Ogden, lint he failed in 1857. The mills remained 
idle until 1861, when Mr. Joseph Shaw commenced 
the manufacture of government kerseys. Mr. Shaw 
died in the fall of 1863, when Isaac W. Smith, Esq., 
managed the business a few years for the widow, 
Mrs. Shaw. Mr. Smith then rented the mill for five 
years, wlien he purchased the machinery. He run 
the mill up to the year 1882, when he sold out. The 
machinery consisted of four sets of cards, four hand- 
mules and eighty-two looms, producing forty-two 
thousand yards of doeskin jeans per month. It was 
run entirely by water-power. The mill has been idle 
since 1882. Grass and weeds grow rank in the yards, 
the machinery is rusting and the floors rotting, pre- 
senting a sad picture of inertness and neglect. 

Matsunk Cotton-Mills. — This ancient factory 
was built by, and has been in the possession of, the 
Supplee family, of Upper Merion, for over five gener- 
ations, and has passed througli many clianges and 
vicissitudes of fortune. In 1860, Mr. Thomas Liver- 
sidge leased it and manufactured jeans for sixteen 
years. He had sixty looms, forty-eight hands and 



paid about fifteen hundred dollars a month in wages. 
When he removed to Norristown the building was 
leased by Mr. Mark Stead, who uses it for making 
extracts for separating cotton from woolen rags. The 
building is about forty by sixty feet, and is now the 
property of Miss Annie Novioc. 

LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP. 

The Old Dave Mills. — Tliis once famous old 
mill is now in ruins. Its origin dates back nearly to 
Revolutionary times ; it has passed througli many 
hands and seen many changes. It was run as a paper- 
mill for many years, then as a cotton-mill by C. Mc- 
Naniara, who failed. It was run by Mr. Patrick 
Scanlon, on jeans, from 1850 to 1870, and was also 
operated by Mr. Charles Shaw. It was finally de- 
stroyed by fire and never rebuilt. While on this 
subject it may be recorded that the Buggy Mill, on 
Gulf Creek, formerly opei-ated by Denning & Ander- 
son on cassimeres and balmoral skirts, was burned 
about eight years since, and Seth Humphrys' mill, 
on the Hagey property, was burned down in the month 
of June, 1884. 

Ashland's Paper-Mills.— These well-known 
mills are situated on Rockhill Creek, close to the 
River road, and are better known by the name of 
Rudolph's Mills. In old times they were used for the 
making of dye-woods, and were known as Ashland 
Dye-Wood Mills. In 1860 they came into the hands 
ofthe present proprietor, A. S. Rudolph, who gradu- 
ally increased the capacity of the mills until they 
have assumed their present jjroportions. Their 
specialty is newspaper material, of which they manu- 
facture one hundred and eighty-five tons a month. 
Seventy-five hands are employed, and the pay-roll is 
two thousand seven hundred dollars a month. The 
store-rooms and pulp-mill front on the Rockhill Creek 
road tw'O hundred and fifty feet, forty-five feet wide 
and three stories in height. Along the Schuylkill 
the building extends one hundred and fifty feet by 
sixty feet wide, three stories in height. The motive- 
power is obtained from one one hundred and fifty 
horse-power engine, one eighty horse-power, one fifty 
horse-power, one twenty-five horse-power and six 
boilers. The machinery used is all ofthe best quality 
and most modern improvements known to the trade. 

Rockhill Mills, John Dobson, Proprietor. — 
This is the oldest mill on Rockhill Creek, dating 
from about the year 1798. It was known for many 
years as the Old Sheet/, Paper-Mill, and its antiquity 
in that branch of manufacture may be judged from 
the fact that for many years the paper was manufac- 
tured "by hand." The building remained empty for 
a series of years, but is now a scene of active industry. 
Mr. Dobson has occupied it since 1869, and is making 
an excellent quality of woolen cassimeres, of which 
eight thousand yards (yard and a half wide) are made 
per month. The monthly pay-roll is two thousand 
five hundred dollars. Seventy hands are employed, 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



613 



and when in ftill operation there are twenty-two broad 
looms and eighty-four narrow looms at work. There 
are two thousand two hundred spindles, four self- 
actors, a seventy-five horse-power engine and a one 
hundred horse-power boiler. The main building is 
ninety by fifty feet, four stories in height ; the 
pieker-house is fifty by thirty feet ; engine-house, fifty 
by thirty feet, two stories in height; boiler-house 
fifty by forty feet, two stories in height ; stock-house, 
sixty by forty-five feet, one story in height. The 
property is worth fifty-three thousand dollars. 

Robin^son'.s Mill. — This mill is located on Mill 
Creek, in Lower Merion, and was rebuilt in 1882 by 
Joseph M. and George R. Baltz. Their sjiecialty is 
carpet-yarn, of which they make about seven thou- 
sand five hundred pounds a week. Fifteen hands are 
employed, with a jiay-roll of four hundred and fifty 
dollars a month. There are three sets of cards, self- 
acting mules, with corresponding machinery. The 
building is one hundred and five feet front by forty 
two feet in depth, two stories high ; one picker-house, 
thirty-two by twenty-eight feet, one story high. The 
motive-power is one thirty horse-power engine and 
one sixty-eight horse-power overshot water-wheel. 

The Henry Mills.— They are located on Rock- 
hill Creek, but are now a pile of blackened ruins. 
They were first built as a machine-shops, early in the 
present century by the Henry family, of Philadelphia, 
and since then have passed tlirougli many hands, 
has seen many changes, and experienced many 
vicissitudes. They were used as machine-sliops by 
the firmof Schofield & Howgate, were used as a yarn- 
spinning factory by Reift" Woolfenden, Leach & Lee, 
and Thomas Barker. They were finally improved and 
enlarged in 1860, but were burned down February 4, 
1868. They were rebuilt, but again burned down on 
August 1!, 1872. They were tlien, as now, owned by 
Thomas Schofield, but liave lieen a complete ruin 
since the date of their destruction. The last time the 
mills were in operation the proprietor employed about 
forty hands in tire manufacture of woolen yarns. 

Rockhill Chemical- Works. — Mr. Benjamin 
Lees, of Yorkshire, England, during the month of 
May, 1884, fitted up the old dye-house of the Henry 
Mills (burned twelve years ago) as chemical- works, and 
is now doing a thriving business in the manufacture 
of ammonia, oil of vitriol, muriatic acid, nitric acid, 
nitrate ot iron, muriate of tin, pyrolignate of iron and 
other chemicals used by manufacturers. Mr. Thomas 
Schofield, proprietor of the Henry Mills, made the 
necessary alterations in the buildings, and as Mr. 
Lees is a skilled chemist, his enterprise is likely to be 
a, success. 

New Union Mills, John Dobson, Proprietor. 
— This establishment is on the River road at West 
Manayuuk, and was [lurchased by Mr. Dobson in 
1870. It has a frontage on the River road of one 
hundred feet, with a depth of forty feet, and is five 
stories in height. The motive-power is steam. 



There is a two-story boiler-house, fifty by thirty feet ; 
dye and stock-house, sixty by forty feet; and a one- 
story picker- house, fifty -five by thirty feet. The mill 
has been idle for two years, but when in operation it 
was used for spinning woolen yarn, of which about 
forty thousand pounds a month were produced. Sixty 
hands were employed wlieu the mill was running full 
time. 

West SIanayunk Woolen-Mills, B. Schofield 
& Co. — These mills are close to the River road in 
West Manayuuk. The main building is two liundred 
and fifty by sixty feet, four stories in height. About 
ninety-two hands are employed upon worsted and 
woolen yarns when in full operation, producing two 
thousand four hundred pounds of filling per day and 
sixteen thousand pounds of worsted yarn per month. 
There is an eighty horse-power engine and three boilers 
in the mill. Tlie pay-roll is two thousand four Imn- 
dred dollars a month, and the plant is valued at forty 
thousand dollars. 

The Pencoyd Iron- Works. — These extensive 
works are located in Lower Merion township, Mont- 
gomery Co., on the western shore of the Schuyl- 
kill River, opposite to Manayuuk. Tlie line of the 
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad passes through 
the premises, over which all supplies and products 
have hitherto been shipped. The Pennsylvania 
Schuylkill Valley Railroad passes near the works, 
and will soon be connected with its system of tracks. 
The name "Pencoyd" is of Welsh origin, and signifies 
"Tree-tops," the Roberts homestead, founded 1G83 
by grant from William Penn, being so called. 

The erection of these iron-works was commenced in 
the year 1852, by Algernon Roberts and Percival 
Roberts, with a view to entering into the manufacture 
of heavy liardware ; but this intention was never 
thoroughly carried out, being limited to the forging 
of a few solid wrought-iron anvils, in moulds, under 
a trip-hammer. During the progress of their exami- 
nation of machinery necessary for the business it 
oi-curred to them to add to their line of manufacture 
hanmiered car and locomotive axles, as the railroad 
interest at that time was increasing very rapidly. 
Their first order (for twelve axles) was received from 
the well-known car-wheel manufacturers, Messrs. A. 
Whitney & Sons. The growth of this branch of 
business was rapid, and in the year 1855 they added 
to it the manufacture of rolled-scrap axles. The prod- 
uct increased annually until the year 1872, in which 
forty-five thousand three hundred and ninety rolled 
and hammered axles were made. At the close of the 
year 1880 a total number of four hundred and sixty- 
seven thousand and twenty-six axles of both kinds 
had been reached. 

In the year 1859, under the title of the " Bridge 
Company," they commenced the manufacture and 
erection of wrought and cast-iron bridges, having 
secured the services of Mr. John W. Murphy as engi- 
neer. It was tlie only firm at that time engaged in 



614 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the manufacture of iron bridges. 'Squire Whipple, 
of New York, who preceded them in designing and 
erecting a number of patent bridges, known as the 
" Whipple Truss," subsequently sold the exclusive 
right to use his patent to the above association. A 
large number of bridges were erected on Deal's wagon- 
road for the United States government; also, in 
1859, an iron span was built across the Delaware 
River at Easton ibr the Lehigh Valley Railroad 
Company, one for the Illinois Central Railroad Com- 
pany and a number for the city of Philadelphia. 
This pioneer "Bridge Company" demonstrated new 
utilities for iron, and successfully filled the demand 
resulting from the novel departure. 

The finishing-mills contain at present the following : 
One twenty-three inch three-high roll-train, driven by 
a forty by sixty inch vertical engine, with a twenty-five 
foot fly-wheel weighing seventy thousand pounds. 
Upon this train rounds up to seven inches diameter 
and large shapes are rolled. Among the latter, 
fifteen-inch channels, fifteen-inch beams and six by 
six-inch angles may be mentioned as worthy of note. 
These mills are supplied by three heating furnaces of 
ordinary type. One eighteen-inch two-high roll- 
train, for bar-iron, axles and shapes of medium size, 
driven by a nineteen by forty-eight inch horizontal 
engine. Three heating furnaces are attached to this 
roll-train. One twelve-inch three-high roll-train, for 
guide-iron, small bars and shapes, driven by an 
eighteen by twenty-two inch horizontal engine and 
supplied by two heating furnaces. 

The forge, designed especially for the manufacture 
of car and locomotive axles, contains : One steam- 
hammer, built by Jlerrick & Sons, of the following 
dimensions: weight of ram, three thousand pounds; 
diameter of cylinder, sixteen inches; length of stroke, 
thirty-six inches. One steam-hammer, built by Be- 
ment & Dougherty : weight of ram, three thousand 
pounds ; diameter of cylinder, fourteen and a half 
inches; length of stroke, thirty inches. Also one two 
thousand five hundred pound steam-hammer and one 
one thousand pound hammer. One twenty-inch 
three-high roll-train, for shapes and bars, driven by a 
thirty- two by forty-eight inch vertical engine and 
supplied by two Siemens gas furnaces ; and there is a 
blacksmith-shop, thirty by sixty feet, containing 
seventeen fires. 

The puddle-mill contains sixteen double fur- 
naces, two sets of twenty and a half inch three-high 
rolls, driven by a twenty-four by thirty-six inch ver- 
tical Corliss engine, and one rotary squeezer, driven 
by a sixteen by twenty-four inch vertical engine. 

The scrap-house contains one shears, driven by 
a twenty by twenty inch engine (capable of shearing, 
at one stroke, a plate ten feet six inches long by two 
inches thick), two ramblers for cleaning scrap, and 
two shears for cutting scrap. • 

The machine-shop is equi|)i)ed for handling axles 
and the general repairs of the works. Besides the 



special axle tools, it contains three roll-lathes, one- 
thirty-six inch screw-cutting lathe, several engine- 
lathes, one fifty by fifty inch planer, one twenty- 
five by twenty-five inch planer, a shaping-machine, 
drill-presses, etc., and one seventy -two inch horizontal 
boring-mill. 

The pump-house contains two Worthington du- 
plex pumjis; also one duplex pump, built by Phila- 
delphia Hydraulic Works. The total pumping ca- 
pacity is fifteen hundred gallons per minute. 

Steam is furnished by twenty-six boilers, placed 
over heating and puddling furnaces, and also by two 
eighty horse-power Babcock & Wilcox boilers. 

The works are lighted by electric lamps of the 
Thomson-Houston patent. 

The products of the works are hammered and 
rolled axles, shaftings from a half-inch to seven inches 
diameter, squares from a half-inch to four inches, 
flats from one inch to twelve inches, channels from 
two inches to fifteen inches, angles from one inch to 
six inches, tees from one inch to four inches, beams- 
from three inches to fifteen inches. The total annual 
capacity is about thirty-three thousand gross tons of 
finished iron. 

Particular attention is given to the manufacture of 
iron of high (piality, for special purposes; such aa 
bridge, tension members, boiler-stays and all other 
work for which guaranteed material is required. 

The first mill erected was about seventy-five by sev- 
enty-five feet, and contained one heating furnace and a 
trip-hammer. The fuel consumed daily was about two 
tons, and the product eight car-axles. The number of 
hands employed was twelve. The demand for thi& 
pnxluct increased, making additions necessary, until 
the available space for building was all occupied. la 
1865 six acres were purchased of A. L. Anderson's es- 
tate, being a part of the original tract first purchased. 
Upon this was erected, in 1872, a stone structure, 
two-hundred and twenty-five by one hundred and 
thirty feet, containing two trains of rolls, two steam- 
hammers, which enabled the firm to turn out alto- 
gether about twenty thousand tons of finished iron 
per year. The demand for their line of product soon 
exceeded their means of supply, and in order to ex- 
tend the works, and control a pure water supply, 
additional purchases of land were made from time to 
time. The firm now own about fifty acres. The ca- 
pacity of the entire works is about thirty-five thousand 
tons of various kinds of manufacture, such as car 
axles, beams, channel and angle iron, etc., consuming- 
about one hundred and thirty tons per day. The last 
addition, erected in 1883, is two hundred by one 
hundred feet in size, and contains two furnaces heated 
by gas, one train of rolls, and is capable of turning out 
about fifteen thousand tons per year. It requires 
about two miles of different kinds of railroad tracks 
in order to have material handled to advantage. The 
works give employment to seven hundred hands 
when in full blast. The employes are paid every two 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



615 



weeks, and the pay-roll amounts to about thirty 
thousand dollars per month. 

The firm own between fifty and sixty dwellings, 
occupied by their employes, all of which are substan- 
tial and comfortable. They have also provided their 
workmen with a free reading-room and a library, 
conveniently situated and open to all well-disposed 
persons. 

Stillw agon's Mills. — These mills have been re- 
built on the site of an old mill on Mill Creek, 
which was erected in the last century, and belonged 
to the firm of C. H. Gordon, of New York. It 
has passed through many hands, and was burnt down 



with a pay-roll of four hundred dollars a month. 
The building is fifty-six by thirty-two feet, three 
stories high, with annex forty by thirty-two feet, 
The motive-power is obtained by means of a twenty- 
five horse-power turbine water-wheel and a twenty- 
five horse-power engine. There are five cards, four 
hundred and ninety-six spindles, two drawing-frames, 
with all the necessary machinery required for the 
work. The property is valued at forty thousand 
dollars. 

Robert Chadwick, owner and operator of the 
Merlon Cotton-Mill, at Roseglen, on Mill Creek, is a 
native of Delaware County, Pa., but of English 



I 




r rdnr^^h oc^oU'v-L iJ^ 



in 1882. It has been idle for nearly a year, and the 
grass is growing in the court-yards and by-ways of the 
mill. When in operation the motive-power was 
obtained from a forty horse-power overshot water- 
wheel, one twenty horse-power and one sixty 
horse-power engine. About twenty hands were 
employed in the manufacture of Manilla paper. 

Mkkion Mills, Robert Chadwick, Proprietor. 
— ^Thftse mills, located in Roseglen, were built in 1836 
by William Chadwick, father of the present proprie- 
tor. The manufacture is that of cotton yarns, yarn 
and w-arp-bleaching, miners' lamp-wick, chandlers' 
wick, etc., of wbich about two thousand five hundred 
pounds are produced weekly, by twenty-three hands, 



descent. His father, William Chadwick, was born at 
Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England, in 1796. 
In his youth he conceived the projectof emigrating to 
America, an undertaking which he found difficult to 
execute, as he was by trade a cotton-spinner, and the 
British government had at that time prohibited the 
emigration of any skilled workman from the kingdom. 
But he was resolved on the attempt, and in the year 
1817, having associated himself with another young 
man of about the same age (twenty -two), they con- 
cealed themselves in the hold of a ship which soon 
after sailed from Liverpool, and after a four months' 
voyage landed them at Long Wharf, Boston. For 
two or three years after his arrival Mr. Chadwick 



616 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



worked in the cotton-mills of Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island, and during that time was married to 
Lucy Thompson, daughter of a Revolutionary soldii-r 
of Lancaster, Mass. Soon after his marriage he 
removed to Pennsylvania and settled in Delaware 
County. He worked in the Bancroft mill, at Ban- 
croft's Banks ; also at Kelly's mill, and later (about 
1820) at the Laurel Mill, of which he was the man- 
ager. Afterwards he was the manager of the Valley 
Forge Cotton-Mill. In 1829 he leased from Samuel 
Gorgas a cotton-mill on the Wissahickon, which he 
operated for one year. In 1830 he leased the Mc- 
Clenegan mill, on Mill Creek, about two miles above 
the mouth of that stream. He purchased the machin- 
ery of this mill, and continued to run it until the ex- 
piration of his lease, April 1, 1837. 

In the mean time (in 1835), while operating the Mc- 
Clenegan mill, William Chadwick purchased fnmi 
Jacob Hagy the water privilege and land on which 
the Roseglen Mill now stands. The property then 
consisted of thirty acres of timbered land and a log 
house. In 1836 he commenced the erection of the 
present stone mill and two or three dwellings, which 
are still standing. At the expiration of his lease of 
the McClenegan mill (April 1, 1837) he moved into 
the new mill, that is now called Roseglen, and con- 
tinued there more than twenty-five years, engaged in 
the manufacture of chandlers' wicking. He died 
there in 1862, and was buried in Laurel Hill Ceme- 
tery. His wife, with whom he bad lived nearly forty 
years, and who was born in Massachusetts in 1800, 
survived him about twenty years, and died in 1882. 
Her mother, who was of the old New England stock, 
died in Massachusetts at the great age of one hundred 
and two years. 

The only education which William Chadwick 
received was obtained by him in the Unitarian Sun- 
day-school (at which were taught the branches usual 
in secular schools) at Duckinfield Chapel, in Lan- 
cashire, England. In religion he was a Unitarian of 
the most liberal kind, being a believer in the doctrines 
of the celebrated Thomas Paine. He was never 
known to be engaged in a lawsuit or quarrel of any 
kind, and through all his life he enjoyed the entire 
confidence and universal respect of the community 
in which he lived. He was always free-handed and 
generous in giving aid to the poor, and the exercise of 
his well-known charity gave him more pleasure and 
content than he could have gained from the mere 
acquisition of wealth. He bad accumulated a prop- 
erty valued at a little more than thirty-five thousand 
dollars, free and clear of all debt and incumbrance, 
and with this, and the independence which it gave 
him, he was abundantly satisfied. 

Robert Chadwick, son of William and Lucy 
(Thompson) Chadwick, was born at Bancroft's 
Banks, near Media, Delaware Co., Pa., May 20, 1823, 
he being the eldest of a family of eleven children, of 
whom four besides himself are now living, viz. : Ed- 



ward, residing at Roseglen ; Sarah (who married 
Christian Sharpe, inventor of the famed Sharpe's 
rifle), now living at Vineland, N. J. ; Mary Ann, wife 
of William Ring, manufacturer, of Philadelphia; and 
George, who is now a merchant at Roseglen. 

The early education of Robert Chadwick was ob- 
tained in the common schools of his time, after which 
he attended for one year (1833) the school of Amos 
Gilbert, of Lancaster, Pa., and several years later 
(after reaching manhood) he took a course of one year 
in the somewhat famous school of Joshua Hoopes, at 
West Chester, Pa., paying the tuition and other 
charges out of his own earnings. In 1834 he com- 
menced work in his father's mill ; in 1836 he took 
charge of it as manager. In May, 1845, in company 
with his sister Sarah, whose health was much im- 
paired, he made a trip to England, and returned in 
October of the same year, his sister's health being 
fully restored. Being then young and inexperienced, 
they did not travel much in England, but remained 
at Ashton-under-Lyne, the home of their relatives. 
Since that time he has traveled over a considerable 
portion of the United States, the last trip being to 
the Rocky Mountains, in 1879. 

Mr. Chadwick remained as manager of his father's 
mill (except for the time spent in his European 
trip and the one year at Hoopes' school at West 
Chester) until 1851, when he went to Wheeling, Va., 
to take charge of a cotton-mill there, but disliking 
the mill and the business outlook, remained only six 
weeks. He then went to Hartford, Conn., to talie 
charge of the cartridge-factory of Sharpe's rifle- 
works. At the end of two years he bought out the 
cartridge-works and continued to operate them for 
ten years. During the last year and a half of his 
proprietorship of those works be turned out eighty 
thousand cartridges per day, employing twenty-five 
men and one hundred girls. In the month of No- 
vember, 1858, the Virginia State Fair was held in 
Richmond, Henry A. Wise being then Governor of 
the State. The Sharpe Rifle Company, of Hartford, 
desiring to have an exhiljit at the fair, sent Mr. Chad- 
wick to manage the matter. An incident occurred in 
connection that is worth mention. After the fair 
closed Mr. Chadwick had an interview with the Gov- 
ernor for the purpose of showing the rifles. After 
looking at them the Governor said, if he was going 
into battle he would rather have the old musket, and, 
furthermore, would have his men pour out part of 
their powder, and not fire until they were within 
winkingdistance. Mr. Chadwick's reply was, "Well, 
Governor, if you were to meet a regiment armed in a 
like manner perhaps you would be right, but I would 
take a regiment armed with Sharpe's rifles and have 
all of your men killed before they reached winking dis- 
tance." The answer startled the Governor, and must 
have made a favorable impression, for several days 
before John Brown was hanged there came a telegram 
to the rifle company to express at once to Richmond 



MANUFACTUKING INDUSTRIES. 



617 



one hundred Sharpe's rifles and ten thousand car- 
tridges. 

In 1863, Mr. Chadvvick sold the cartridge-works to 
the rifle company, and returned to Lower Merion 
township, Montgomery Co., where he purchased the 
IMill C'reek property of his father's, who was then 
recently deceased. He enlarged and improved the 
mill buildings, put in new machinery throughout and 
added several new dwellings for the workmen. In 
taking possession of the Merion Mills property he as- 
sumed his father's place with the family, and kept the 
homestead in the old way of his father's hospitality, — 
" the latch-string out to all comers." He has con- 



glen. In May, 1884, Mr. Chadwick was appointed 

postmaster of Eoseglen, and now holds the office. He 
was always a Democratuutil the Presidential election 
of 186-1, when he voted for Abraham Lincoln, and has 
since been a strong Kepublican. He has never been 
a member of any church, but holds the most liberal 
religious views. At Hartford, Conn., in 1852, he com- 
menced investigating the philosojihy of spiritualism, 
and soon became a convert to that belief, of which 
he is still a steadfast adherent. 

At the time of this writing (1885) the subject of 
this biography, at the age of sixty-two years, has en- 
joyed above the average good health, notwithstanding 




tinued to operate the mill from that time to the pres- 
ent. During that period, in consequence of some 
unfortunate investments by Mr. Chadwick, the mill 
property was sold at sherift''s sale to H. P. Sloan & 
Sons, but continued to be operated by Mr. Chadwick, 
who, at the death of Mr. Sloan, again became its 
purchaser. 

Robert Chadwick was married, in 1855, to Ellen M. 
Watson, of Hartford, Conn., who is still living. Their 
children have been William Jefferson, now married 
and living in Philadelphia ; Robert Whitaker, who 
died in infancy ; a daughter not named, who died in 
infancy; and Carrie O., unmarried and living at Rose- 



the many vicissitudes of life, he being of a regular and 
temperate habit of living and of a cheerful and hope- 
ful disposition, disposed to look on the bright side of 
the circumstances of life and trust for a better future. 
Fairview Mills, Seth Humphrys, Proprietor. 
— The old mill on Mill Creek was built in 1825 ; it was 
for years used as a gun-factory, and was burned down 
three times. It was rebuilt in 1877 by Mr. Seth 
Huni]ihrys, but was totally destroyed by fire on the 
2oth of July, 1884, from a spark in the picker-room 
igniting the inflammable material. When in full oper- 
ation there were eighteen broad looms making blan- 
kets, and about fifty-five hands employed. There 



618 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



were nine hundred spindles, thirteen rough pickers, 
two finishing pickers, one patent burr-machine, a 
duster, a wringiug-machine, two gig-machines and a 
weaving-frame. The product was about eighteen 
hundred and Hfty pounds a day of blanket clotli and 
nine liundred pounds a day of woolen yarn. The 
pay-roll was about seventeen hundred dollars a month. 
The motive-power was one thirty-five horse-power 
overshot wheel and a forty-five horse-power engine, 
with three boilers. The whole is now but a mass of 
blackened ruins. 

Seth Humphrys, who has been long and success- 
fully engaged in woolen manufacture in Lower Merion 
township, was a son of Enos and Charlotte Humph rys ; 
born in Somersetshire, England, December 25, 1827. 
In 1834 he came with his mother to America, and on 
his seventh birthday landed at New York, whence 
they proceeded to join his father, who had emigrated 
about one year earlier, and who, being by trade a wool- 
dyer, liad found employment as the head of that de- 
partment in the Wetheredsville Woolen-Mills, in Bal- 
timore County, Md. In 1849 he left that place and 
went to Staunton, Va., where he died soon afterwards, 
his family still remaining in Maryland. In 1851 
the son, Seth Humphrys, left Wetheredsville, and ob- 
tained a situation in the employ of Alfred Jenks, of 
Bridesburg, Pa., a manufacturer of all kinds of ma- 
chinery used in woolen manufacture. Under this en- 
gagement he continued a little more than two year.^, 
traveling through various parts of the Southern 
States, setting up and putting in operation the ma- 
chinery made in Jenks' shops. During this time (in 
1853) his mother died, in Mai-yland. After leaving 
Mr. Jenks he worked at carding and spinniag, first 
in the establishment of .loseph Hughes & Co., Phila- 
delphia, then in the Wyomensing Woolen-Factory, 
at Reading, Pa., and afterwards in the mills of Thomas 
Kent, on Darby Creek, in Delaware County, where he 
remained five years, and saved a sum of money suffi- 
cient to enable him, in 1862, to put in operation a 
woolen-mill on a tract of thirty acres of land, which 
he then bought and to which he has added fifteen 
acres by a later purchase. Tlie factory site is on Mill 
Creek, within a few rods of his residence, in Lower 
Merion township. 

Tlie business being commenced in the early part 
of the war of the Rebellion, it immediately became 
prosperous, and continued so through the protracted 
depression that succeeded the financial panic of 1873. 
During that period of stagnation, which wrought ruin 
to hundreds of manufacturers throughout the country, 
the mill of Mr. Humphrys was running constantly and 
profitably. In 1882 he enlarged and improved the es- 
tablishment, adding the manufacture of blankets to 
thatof carpet-yarns (which had previously been its 
only product), and giving work to seventy hands, 
where only thirty-five had been employed before. 
The main building was one hundred and two feet m 
length, three stories high, with an addition forty by 



sixty feet in size. The mills then continued in full 
operation until July, 1884, when they were totally de- 
stroyed by fire, thus closing the business which its 
proprietor had prosecuted wich uninterrupted success 
for twenty-two years. 

Mr. Humphrys was married, September 11, 1853, to 
Martha, daughter of David Wagonsellers, of Chester 
County, Pa., whose mother was a sister of John 
Schrack. The children of Seth and Martha Hum- 
phrys have been seven in number, — Seth, born October 
17, 1854, deceased; Mary Ellen, died at the age of 
thirteen years ; Annie, married Alfred Heft, of Rox- 
borough ; Clara M., married Dr. A. H. Mellersh, of 
Roxborough ; Enos, now twenty-one years of age, 
living with his parents; Seth, second of that name, 
died when seven years old ; and Mary B.,born in 1872. 
Mr. and Mrs. Humphrys are members of the Lower 
Merion Ba])tist Church, atBryn Mawr, of which he is 
also a deacon. 

Righter's Mill. — Hardly a vestige of the mill 
remains ; a ragged pinnacle of ancient rude masonry 
])rotrudes from the rank weeds of Mill Creek, low 
down, and Hooded by every slight freshet. It is a 
desolate-looking spot, the haunt of the rat and the 
water-snake. We would not mention the place only 
that tradition tells a dark story of a most atrocious 
deed located here. It is said that in this mill the 
Tory murderers ground the glass to be mixed with 
the flour furnished to the patriotic army at Valley 
Forge. We do not vouch for the truth of the story, 
but if tliere be a spot in this region which seems 
to have had the hand of desolation laid upon it, it is 
just there, among these old ruins, built in Revolu- 
tionary times. 

Todd's Mill. — Such is the name by which this 
mill is popularly known, but the title is the Glen- 
cairn Factory, and is owned by C R. Fox, of Norris- 
town. It is situated on Mill Creek, Lower Merion, 
adjoining Booth & Brothers on the north and Seth 
Humphrys on the south. The factory is built on 
thesiteof the ancientworks at which Henry Derringer 
for a long series of years manufactured arms for the 
United States. It is situated in a beautiful valley, 
abounding in springs of the purest water in the 
county. The factory building, of stone, is three 
stories and attic, one hundred and ten by fifty-five 
feet, with picker-house adjoining, forty-five by 
twenty feet, and boiler-house, thirty by fifteen feet. 
The water-power is thirty-five horse ; steam-power, 
eighty to one hundred horse. There are two first- 
class boilers and engine, and best modern machinery 
for making cotton yarns, running tiiree thousand 
spindles. One hundred acres are in the tract, 
on whicli are a large nuinsion-house, a farmer's house, 
nine other dwellings, etc. The State road from 
Conshohocken to Philadelphia, three miles distant, 
passes througli it, also the Mill Creek road, leading to 
Rose Glen Station, on the Reading Railroad, about 
three quarters of a mile distant. 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



619 



Rose Glen Mill. — This mill is also popularly 
known as the Nippes Mill, and is situated on Mill 
Creek, in Lower Merion township. It is operated by 
William Booth and Thomas H. Barker, under the firm- 
name of Booth & Brother, for the manufacture of 
carpet-yarn. The building was erected about the 
year 1814, and was for a considerable time used as a 
manufactory for guns for the United States govern- 
ment, by Samuel Nippes. Tt was used as a carpet- 
yarn factory by James Ledward in 1861, and was 
operated for the same purpose bj' Thomas Schofield. 
In 1872 it came into the possession of the present 
iirm. At that time they employed but ten hands, 
and made about three thousand pounds of yarn a 
week. To-day they employ forty hands, and make 
twenty thousand four hundred pounds a week, paying 
one thousand dollars a month in wages. There are 
three sets of machines, nine hundred spindles, which 
are driven by water-power and steam. The building 
is fifty by sixty-five feet, three and a half stories high, 
and the property is valued at fifty thousand dollars. 

Merion Flour-Mills, Evan G. Jones, Pro- 
prietor. — This famous old mill, located on Mill 
Creek, lays claim to remote antiquity, having been 
one of the first paper-mills in the State of Penn- 
sylvania, being used as such about the year 1798. 
Peter Walever operated it for several years, but 
the property was seized by Sheriff Scheetz, of Mont- 
gomery County, and sold to Evan Jones, father 
of the present pro])rictor. It was a paper-mill up to 
the year 1848, when it was changed to a cotton and 
woolen-mill, and was run by John Shaw, and subse- 
quently by his son, Joseph Shaw, for some years. 
The present proprietor changed it again, and fitted it 
up as a grist-mill, which it has remained up to the 
present date. It is beautifully located in the midst 
of a farm of seventy acres of fertile soil, belonging to 
the proprietor of the mill. The building is in excel- 
lent condition, notwithstanding its great age. It is 
sixty-five by forty-five feet, three stories in height ; 
has an engine of forty-five horse-power and a capacity 
of fifty barrels a day. 

Morris Mill. — This mill is located on the Gulf 
road, and is now occupied by Mr. Pylc. The property 
belongs to Mrs. Levi Morris. The building is about 
forty-five by sixty feet, three stories in height, is oper- 
ated by water-power and has a capacity of about fifty 
barrels of flour per day. 

LANSDALE BOROUGH. 

Heebxer & Sons, Manufacturers of Level- 
Tread Horse-Powers, Little Giant Threshing 
Machines, Etc. — Such is the title of this industrial 
establishment, now famous in every civilized country 
on both sides of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 
David S. Heebnor, the senior member of the firm, 
now in his seventy-fifth year, commenced the manu- 
facture of agricultural machines in the year 1840, 
opening his works on the 1st of April that year, and 



sold his first machine to Joseph Allebach, of Worces- 
ter township. In 1841, Mr. Heebner nuide new im- 
provements on his machines, and some of those made 
at that date are still in use amongst the farmers of 
Bucks and Montgomery Counties. In those days Mr. 
Heebner had no help, but in his second year employed 
Mr. Daniel Shuler, now (1884) holding the office of 
director of the poor. At that time it took about six 
weeks to build amachine; now two complete machines 
are made in one day. In 1862, Isaac and Josiali, sons 
of the pro]irietor, were admitted to partnership. In 
1868 the firm dissolved partnership, David S. Heebner 
and Josiah purchasing the interest of Isaac, who re- 
moved to Lansdale, and started a small repair-shop on 
the site of the present splendid range of buildings. 
Here Isaac Heebner opened an agency for the sale of 
agricultural implements. In 1870, William D. Heeb- 
ner, now the junior member of the firm, came over 
from Worcester township to Lansdale, and entered 
into partnership with Isaac, and the name of the firm 
was Heebner & Brother. In January, 1872, David 
S. and Josiah Heebner dissolved partnership in Wor- 
cester, and the father moved to Lansdale, uniting with 
his sons, Isaac and William, under the firm-name of 
Heebner Sons &Co. In 1873 the firm resolved itself 
into the name which it at present bears, and from 
that day a new impetus wa-s given to the work. In 
1874 the brick warehouse at the southern end was 
built, the front one hundred and fifty-six feet on 
Broad Street, with one wing of one hundred feet and 
one of eighty feet, three stories in height, and sur- 
mounted by a beautiful dome. 

The first year the firm sold fifteen horse-powers 
and threshers, ten mowers and reapers, and a few 
fodder-cutters. In 1883 they sold four hundred and 
fifty horse-powers, over one hundred mowers and 
reapers, and two hundred feed-cutters. The first year 
the business amounted to five thousand dollars ; in 
1883 it reached two hundred thousand dollars. Then 
the trade was only for local farmers ; to day these 
machines are found from Maine to Georgia, in Canada, 
Russia, Australia and New Zealand. In fact, Heebner 
& Sons, of Lansdale, manufacture more tread railway 
horse-powers than any establishment in the world, and 
are constantly extending their business to all quarters 
of the globe. The value of the plant is at least seven 
hundred and fifty thou-sand dollars. 

I.SAAC D. Heebner is the great-great-grandson of 
David (Huebner) Heebner, who, with his wife, Maria, 
immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1734. David died 
December 27, 1784, and his wife, Maria, died June 
11, 1793. 

Their children were Christoph, Susanna, Rosaona 
(born May 9, 1738), George (born June 21, 1744)/ 

George, son of David, married Miss Si'jsanna, 
daughter of Baltliasar Heydrick, April 26, 1769.( His 
wife, Susanna, died June 19, 1770. The issufj from 
this union was one son,Balthasar, born June 12 ,1770. 
George was married a second time, Novembtij- 12, 



V 



620 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, 



1771, to Anna, daughter of David Shubert, and died 
August 18, 1783, aged thirty-nine years and two 
months. His wife, Anna, died August 23, 1784, aged 
thirty-five years. Their cliildren were Maria (born 
April 28, 1773), Salome (born October 18, 1774, died 
March 31, 1776), Regina (born January 13, 1777), 
Henry (born December 1, 1778), Barbara (born March 
13, 1780, died May 16, 1786), Catharine (born July 17, 
1782, died May 14,1786). 

Balthasar, eldest son of George Heebner, married. 
May 20, 1794, Susanna, daughter of Christopher 
Schultz. Susanna died March 22, 1848, aged seventy- 
two years, four months and eigliteen da^'s. Balthasar 
lived in Worcester township, this county, and owned 
the farm subsequently purchased by Abraham An- 
ders, Sr. He was a mini.ster of the Schwenkfelder 
Society, for whom he preached many years, and up to 
the time of his death, which occurred April 29, 1848, 
at the age of seventy-seven years, ten months 
and twenty-one days. The children of Balthasar and 
Susanna Heebner were George (born July 22, 1795, 
died April 10, 1796), infant daughter (born January 
7, 1796, died two days after), Anthony S. (born No- 
vember 23, 1798), Anna (born August 9, 1800), Maria 
(born October 26, 1803, died September 10, 1815), 
Catharine (born October 12, 1806), David S. (father 
of Isaac D., was born June 25, 1810), Lydia (born 
September 8, 1812). 

David S., youngest son of Rev. Balthasar Heebner, 
married. May 3, 1832, for his first wife, Anna, daugh- 
ter of Derstein. She died June 8, 1853. 

The children resulting from the union are Josepli 
<born June 11, 1833, died April 3, 1838), James (born 
August 6, 1836, died April 8, 1838), Mary Ann (born 
April 2, 1839), Isaac D. (the subject of this sketch, 
born January 18, 1841), Addison (born June 18,1843, 
died August 23, 1843), Jonah (born July 5, 1844), 
Jacob (born August 10, 1846), William D. (horn Sep- 
tember 27, 1848). Uavid S. Heebner married, in 1852, 
for his second wife, Regina, daughter of Rev. Christo- 
pher Schultz. The issue from this union was one 
son, Abrani S., born May 22, 1857, died October 6, 
1862. Mr. Heebner is a resident of Lansdale, and 
senior member of the firm of Heebner & Sons. 

Isaac D. Heebner, son of David S., married, Octo- 
ber 26, 1865, Catharine, daughter of Jacob Grater. 
Their children are Mary Jane (born March 7, 1870), 
Charles G. (born October 18, 1874), Wilmer (born 
February 6, 1882), D.avid S., Jr. (born January 26, 
1884). 

Aside from the care of the large and growing man- 
ufacturing establishment of Heebner & Sons, of 
which he is the business manager, he finds time to 
take an active part in the progressive enterprises of 
the beautiful town of Lansdale, in which Heebner & 
Sons' shops are located. He was one of the origina- 
tors of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Lansdale, 
and aissisted in building the church edifice, the first 
in the town. He is a trustee and organist of the 



Methodist Episcopal Church, and for the last eight 
years superintendent of the Methodist Sunday-school, 
and an active worker in the cause of temperance. He 
also assisted in building the pioneer school-house of 
Lansdale, and has been president of the school board 
since that town has been a separate school district. 
He was one of tlie originators of, and is vice-president 
and superintendent of, the Lansdale Water- Works. 

He has also been an active member of the Town 
Council, and in whatever capacity he is engaged his 
enthusiasm and sound judgment are imparted to those 
with whom he is associated. The following sketch 
will fairly exhibit not only the manufacturing indus- 
try, but the business tact of the Heebner family: 

In 1868, Isaac D. Heebner, the elder of the sons, 
located in Lansdale and started business in a little 
shop still standing, the size of which was twelve by 
twenty-six feet, and upon the old shop now used as a 
carriage-house stands the spire that was first placed 
upon the pioneer building in what is now Lansdale. 
In this shop Isaac worked by hand at such employ- 
ment as was afforded by the repairing and jobbing of 
the neighborhood, and by industrious labor the in- 
come amounted to less than one thousand dollars the 
first year. 

In 1840, David S. Heebner, father of Isaac D., had 
opened a shop in Worcester township, this county, 
for the manufacture of the old-fashioned sweep 
horse-power threshers, and the first machine built 
was sold to Joseph Allebach, of that township, and 
the second was sold to a Mr. Swartzlander, of Bucks 
County. The first year Mr. Heebner employed no 
help, and the second year only one person was em- 
ployed, viz., Daniel Shuler, now one of the directors 
of the poor of Montgomery County. About 1850 the 
tread-power thresher made its ai)pearance, but was 
slow in gaining favor with the farmers of the county. 
In 1862, Isaac D. and Josiah, two sons of David S., 
were admitted as partners in the business, and en- 
gaged extensively in the manufacture of mowing- 
machines, as well as threshers and other harvesting- 
machines, which they continued till 1870, when a 
patent was obtained for, and the first level-tread 
power-thresher manufactured by David S. Heebner, 
in Worcester township, which jjroved a partial suc- 
cess, and the business continued till 1872. 

In 1868, as above stated, Isaac D., having sold his 
interest, moved to Lansdale and purchased of Joel 
Wertz the lots upon which is now located the manu- 
facturing establishment of Heebner & Sons, and, in 
1870, William D. Heebner, nowamember of theState 
Legislature, brother of Isaac D., was taken into the 
business as a partner, when the business began to in- 
crease rapidly, Isaac, however, having made arrange- 
ments with the railroad company, and laid the founda- 
tion for the present successful business. At that time 
Isaac's house and little shop were the only buildings 
in the town east of the railro.ad, except the old Jenkins 
farm-house, which stands near the borough line. 



J 





%7aa(L, 




MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



621 



January 1, 1872, David S. Heebner, the father, 
was admitted as a partner with his sons, Isaac D. and 
William D., when the constant increase in business 
made it necessary to have more room for the manu- 
facture of their machines, aiid in 1874 the firm, which 
had become Heebner & Sons, built the balance of 
their extensive shops and warehouses, into which a 
side-track of the North Pennsylvania Branch of the 
Reading Railroad is laid to accommodate the firm in 
the large shipments of manufactures they are con- 
stantly making. 

Thus from an obscure and insignificant beginning 
lias grown an important and prosperous business, ex- 
tending beyond the borders of our own country to the 
opposite sides of the world. The Heebuers are unas- 
suming, gentlemanly men, who have built up their 
extensive interests by industry and attention to busi- 
ness, all being natural mechanics, neither one having 
served an apprenticeship, yet both are masters of the 
mechanic's art. 

A. D. Ruth, Agent. — Tlie manufacture of agri- 
cultural implements has taken deep root in Lans- 
dale. A. D. Ruth commenced operations about five 
years ago, and does a large business in tlie making of 
Champion liorse-powers, threshers, cleaners and sepa- 
rators. Union feed-cutters, etc. The business also in- 
cludes iron and brass castings made to order 
and all kinds of repairing done. Mr. Ruth gener- 
ally employs from twelve to fourteen hands, and 
is a well-skilled mechanic. He also has an agency 
for the sale of implements manufactured by otlier 
parties. 

S. Effrig & Co., Pokk-Packees. — Messrs. Effrig 
& Co. have been about nine years in the business 
of pork-packing, and have, by strict honesty, per- 
sistent energy and untiring industry, increased it to 
its present condition. Situated on Broad Street, 
Lansdale, within a short distance from the railroad, 
it has a frontage of two hundred and thirty feet, 
with all its departments in the most perfect work- 
ing order, — ice-liouses for cooling, smoke-houses for 
curing, killing-room, cutting-up room, kettle-houses, 
boilers, engine, sausage-cutters and stuffers, and 
everything in the cleanest and very best order and 
condition. Indeed, cleanliness and order reign su- 
preme, and all are under intelligent supervision. 

This establishment has, too, the very great advan- 
tage of being situated in a healthy location, — plenty 
of pure air and water. Near the railroad, it has all 
the advantages of ready and rapid transit. The hogs 
killed here are mostly from the far West, corn-fed 
and of good breeds. The facilities for work at the 
establishment of Messrs. Effrig & Co. are such that 
they can kill and dress completely about tliirty hogs 
an hour. In the season they generally slaughter 
about two hundred a week, and twelve hands do the 
work with ease. 

Centennial Steam FLOUR-MiLLts. — The firm 
owning and operating these fine mills is that of A. C. 



Godshall & Brother, merchant millers and dealers in 
flour, feed, grain, coal, hay, etc. 

The mill was built in 1870, and at that time it \va.s 
forty by sixty-two feet, with six run of stones, 
seventy horse-power engine, and a capacity of 
ninety barrels of flour a day, with choppings. 

In 1881 an addition of twenty-two by sixty-two 
feet was erected, which made the building sixty-two 
feet square and five stories in height. In the same 
year tlie mill was refitted by E. P. Allis & Co., of 
Milwaukee, Wis., and changed to a full roller- 
process mill, with a capacity of two hundred barrels 
of fiour a day, and choppings. There are twenty 
hands employed at tlie mill, and last year the 
business done amounted to four hundred thousand 
dollars. The warehouse rooms are twenty-eight 
by sixty feet and twenty-six by ninety feet. 
This establisliment is one of the neatest and most 
complete grist-mills in the State of Pennsylvania, 
and is known far and wide for the superior quality of 
its produce. 

A. C. Godshall was born in 1839 in Franconia, 
Montgomery Co., Pa. His early life was spent upon 
his father's farm, where he remained until eighteen 
years of age, when he left home and was engaged 
as clerk in a store for three years. He then (18G1) 
located in the young and growing village of Lans- 
dale, where he engaged in the flour and feed business 
with Henry Derstine, which they carried on for two 
years, w'lien the firm was dissolved, after which, for a 
short time, Mr. Godshall conducted the business alone, 
building, in tlie mean time, a large warehouse. He 
then admitted as a partner in the business Mr. An- 
drew B. Hackinan. Their partnership continued until 
1867, when this firm was also dissolved, Jlr. Godshall 
then continuing the business (lumber, coal, etc.) 
alone until 1872, when he admitted his brother, .John 
C. Godshall, as a partner in the business, which part- 
nership still continues. In 1876 they built their pres- 
ent large and extensive flouring and custom mill at 
Lan.sdale, located opjjosite the railroad station. The 
mill built in 1876 had a daily capacity of one hundred 
barrels. An addition was built in 1881, making it 
sixty-three feet square and five stories in height, with 
an engine-house thirty by forty feet attached. The 
mill was changed to a full roller process, gradual re- 
duction, the machinery of which was furnished and 
put up by Messrs. Edward P. Allis & Co., of Milwau- 
kee, AVis. The mill is operated by a one hundred 
and five horse-power engine, and has a capacity of 
one thousand bushels of grain per day, making two 
hundred barrels of flour, while his extensive business 
gives employment to eighteen or twenty men. 

Mr. Godshall is one of those quiet, unassuming 
gentlemen who attend strictly to their business, yet 
finds time to lend a helping hand in every enterprise 
tending to the development and improvement of the 
borough of Lansdale and its business interests. He 
has been a member of the Town Council since the 



<!22 



HISTORY OF MOxNTGOMERY COUNTY. 



incorporation of the borough, except one or two short 
intervals. He was one of the originators of the 
J^ansdale Water-Works, and has since then held the 
honorable and responsible position of director and 
treasurer of the company. He was one of the build- 
ing committee of St. John's Reformed Church of 
Lansdalc. He is also a member of the board of 
directors of the Schuylkill Valley Fire Insurance Com- 
pany, a director in the Lansdale Turnpike Company, 
also one of the directors and vice-president of the 
First National Bank of Lansdale. 

He was married, first in 1861, to Miss Anna O., 
<Jaughter of Henry Derstine, of Lansdale. She died 



UWYNEDD TOWNSHIP. 

^^'J•;sT Point Engine and Machine Company. — 
The works of this company are located in the village 
of West Point, a thriving village along the line of 
the Stony Creek Railroad, eight miles north of Norris- 
town, Montgomery Co., Pa. 

At a meeting of the citizens on .January (i, 1880, 
called for the purpose, the project to organize a com- 
pany and establish works to manufacture the Kriebel 
engines was favorably considered. On January 26, 
ISSO, the subscribers to the capital stock of the com- 
pany convened and elected Joseph Anders, Jr., John 
S. Heebner, Frederick Light, Sr., I. R. Cassel, Charles 





in 1866, leaving two children, — William Henry 1)., 
born in 1863, and Lincoln D., born in 1SC5. 

His second wife, whom he married in 1867, wasMiss 
Lydia K., daughter of Philip Hartcell, of Tylersport, 
Pa. The children from this union now living are 
Martha H., born in 1868; Harvey H., born in 1872; and 
Elisabeth H., born in 1878. 

Jacob, the father of A. C. Godshall, now in his 
eighty-sixth year, is one of the prominent and suc- 
cessful farmers of Franconia township, Montgomery 
Co., Pa. His wife was a Mias Clemens, of Lower 
Salford township. They are the parents of eight 
children, five sons and three daughters all living 
except the first-born. 



K. Kriebel, Aaron Kriebel and William L. Heebner 
to constitute a board of directors. Of the above- 
named stockholders, Charles K. Kriebel resigned in 
1883, and William S. Schultz was elected to fill the 
vacancy in the board. 

H. K. Kriebel was selected as general agent, and 
Frederick Light, .Ir., as general superintendent. 

Api)lication through the jiroper channel was made 
for a charter, and the same granted by Governor Henry 
M. Hoyt on March 13, 1880, with an authorized 
capital of eight thousand dollars. A building twenty- 
five by fifty feet was erected, containing office, draw- 
ing-room and pattern-shop. 

Increasing business demanded increased facilities. 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



623 



ami the management erected, in March, 1881, a two- 
story building, tlie first floor used for an office and 
the second floor for dranghtiug-rooms. In Septem- 
ber of the same year, finding tlie room inadequate, a 
two-story brick shop, thirty by seventy feet, with 
boiler-house attached, fourteen by fourteen feet, was 
built, and all machinery transferred, and new and 
imjiroved machinery purchased to facilitate the work- 
ings of the company. The first shop was remodeled 
for a boiler-shop, and an addition, twenty-five by 
twenty-five feet, added thereto, making the building 
twenty-five by seventy-five feet ; also a blacksmith- 
shop, twelve by fifteen feet. 

In March, 1883, an addition was put to the machine- 
shop, thirty by twenty-five feet, adjoining the office, 
making a total frontage of one hundred and forty-five 
feet. 

The capital stock of the company was increased in 
December, 1882, to twenty-five thousand dollars, and 
again, by a vote of the stockholders, to an authorized 
capital of one hundred tliousand dollars in February, 
1883. 

The working force of the shop in its infancy was 
two men, and when the boiler-shop was completed 
the pay-roll called for two additional names, and by 
the energies of laudable ambition the force was 
increased to thirty-four men, — twenty in the machine 
department and fourteen in the l)oilcr-shop. 

The company added the manufacture of |)ortable 
engines in .July, 1881, and to-day the Kriebcl en- 
gines are known far and near as the most durable, 
most simple in construction, as well as the must eco- 
nomical engines in the market. 

The prospects are unusually bright, and the de- 
mand for these justly-celebrated engines is so steadily 
on the increase that, if so continued, the company will 
be necessitated to add additional buildings and aug- 
ment the working force to meet their increasing 
trade. 

The success of the company is mainly due to the 
determination to do naught else but first-class work. 

Tlie company is likewise manufacturing mounted 
engines of two and a half, four, six, eight and ten 
horse-power, and for beauty of design, combined 
■with strength and simplicity, are destined to stand in 
the foremost rank of that class of engines. 

To the boiler department the manufacture of sub- 
merge boilers has been added ; the superheating steam 
chamber, lately invented by Mr. H. K. Kricbel, and 
used in the vertical boilers, adds greatly to the safety 
and durability of the same. By the peculiar construc- 
tion of these boilers steam is superheated, which pro- 
duces dry steam, the benefit of which is well-known 
to all practical engineers. The company has been 
awarded a bronze medal at the Pennsylvania State Fair, 
a gold medal at the Alabama State Fair, first pre- 
mium at the Louisville Exposition, at North Carolina 
State Fair, International Cotton Exposition, Atlanta, 
Ga., and Media Agricultural Society. 



The buildings now occupy an area of nine thou- 
sand nine hundred and ninety-five square feet. 
The floor space originally was twelve hundred and 
fifty square feet. A yard-track luis been constructed, 
large scales jiut in and all goods are moved around 
the works on the company's own trucks. A large 
derrick to facilitate the loading and unloading of 
goods has also been erected, and the railroad com- 
pany lately constructed a side-track along the works, 
thus aiding materially their shipi)ing facilities. 

West Point Steam Saw-Mill. — On the turn- 
pike road from West Point to North Wales, in Upper 
Gwynedd, stands West Point Steam Saw-Mill, Alan 
Thomas, proprietor. Everything about this old i)lace 
supports its claim to antiquity, for tradition gives the 
date as 1717. It has been frequently repaired and 
partially rebuilt, and still bears all the marks of great, 
but sound and healthy, old age. The mill property 
formerly belonged to the Dannehower estate, and was 
operated for several years by Jonathan Lukens pre- 
vious to becoming the property of the present pro- 
jirietor. The power is furnished by a fifteen-horse 
engine, and with two saws the old mill .still 
jiroduces ten thousand feet a week of sawn timber, 
oak and hickory, principally grown in Gwynedd town- 
ship. 

Brick-Yard. — Within a mile of North Wales, on 
the West Point turnpike, are the brick-kilns and yard 
of William Constantine, who has operated them for 
fourteen years. Seven hands are employed, and about 
five hundred thousand bricks a year are manufac- 
tured. 

NORTH WALES BOROUGH. 

The North Wales Steam Mills, Elias K. 
Freed & Co. — The original mill was built by ,T. H. 
Egner, of Philadelphia, in 1S(J0, and was then operated 
as a grist-mill and distillery. It was forty by sixty 
feet, three stories in height, with an attic. The size 
of the lot was two hundred by one hundred and 
twenty-five feet, and fronts on the Spring House and 
Sumneytown turnpike. About the time the mill was 
finished the proprietor had to sell out, when it was 
purchased by Jonas D. Moyer, David Moyer and 
Elias K. Freed. The new firm removed the machinery 
' connected with the distillery and changed that part 
of the building into a planing-mill, the other part as 
a custom mill. In March, 1862, the building was 
destroyed by fire, but it was quickly rebuilt for a 
merchant and grist-mill, with five run of stones and 
a forty horse-power engine. In 1866, Jonas D. Moyer 
withdrew from the firm. In 1868, Mr. David Moyer 
withdrew also, having sold his interest to Henry W. 
Moyer. A copartnership was formed under the title 
of Elias K. Freed & Co., who operated the mill upon 
the old plan until 1876, when they changed the ma- 
chinery, and now work upon what is known as the 
new process. In 1881, Mr. Moyer sold his interest to 
Mr. Freed, who gave a third inter&st in the business 
to Frank S. Kriebel. Mr. Freed took down the old 



624 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



mill and rebuilt it for manufacturing flour by the 
roller ])rocess, increasing the capacity of the mill to 
one hundred and fifty barrels a day. The mill is now 
one hundred by forty feet, three stories and an attic 
in height, with a two-story warehouse. The entire 
works have a frontage of one hundred and twenty 
feet. The storage capacity is twenty thousand bushels 
of wheat and one thousand barrels of flour. When 
the roller jirocess came into operation the firm em- 
ployed double their former number of hands, and 
worked day and night. This was the first roller-mill in 
Montgomery County and the third in the State. Mr. 
Freed has given his son, E. Russel Freed, a third 
interest in the business. There are eight pairs of 
iron rolls and eight pairs of porcelain rolls, and this 
roller process has doubled their productive capacity. 

Messrs. Luke^ns & Shearer's Planixg-Mill. — 
This mill was built in 1865 by Elwood Shearer. The 
firms have been Shearer & Hendricks, Baker & Har- 
din, and is now Lukens & Shearer. The building is 
seventy-six by forty feet and two stories in height. 
From four to ten hands are employed, with a pay-roll 
of upwards of ninety dollars a month. The amount 
of finished work per year is about twelve thousand 
dollars. The value of the property is about six thou- 
sand dollars, stock included. 

The North Wales Marble- Works were estab- 
lished in 1878 by the present proprietor, James Bil- 
liard. He conducts a successful business in dealing 
in and manufacturing monuments, headstones, man- 
tels, bracket-shelves, terra-cotta chimneys, flues, sewer- 
pipes and building work in all its branches of marble, 
granite or brown stone. Mr. Billiard has also abranch 
marble-yard at Lansdale. 

Bell-Foundry. — The bell-foundry of Thomas 
Dunn & Son is located on Fourth Street, and is in- 
creasing every year in importance. They cast bells 
from the size of a small office signal bell to the church 
bell of four thousand pounds. Some of the best-toned 
bells in this section of the State have been cast at 
this foundry. 

Tin-Ware Factory. — On Main Street, North 
Wales, Jacob H. Leister has for twenty years con- 
ducted the manufacture of tin-ware in all its branches. 
He employs five hands, and produces about thirty-five 
thousand pounds of finished work a year. 

North Wales Knitting Company'. — This small 
industry was established in 1883, and employs nine 
hands, producing one hundred and fifty dozen pairs of 
stockings per week. The superintendent is Isaac G. 
Freas, Esq. The company propose to extend their 
operations in the near future. 

John Weingarten & Sons have conducted the 
manufacture of cigars and tobacco at Second and 
Church Streets since 1869. His establishment is 
twenty-eight by thirty feet. He produces annually, 
with the assistance of his sou and three journeymen, 
about one hundred and fifty thousand cigars, mostly 
manufactured from imporied tobacco. 



Sylvester Bright has very successfully conducted 
the business of carriage-making for thirteen years 
on Washington Street. The building is ninety feet 
front by one hundred and fifty deep, two and a half 
stories in height. Mr. Bright employs about ten 
hands, and transacts business to the amount of twenty- 
five thousand dollars a year. 

WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP. 

Spring Mill Flouring-Mill. — This ancient 
building has an especial interest for the lovers of an- 
tiquarian relics, dating back among the misty records 
of the Revolutionary times, and is said to be the oldest 
grist-mill in the State. Tradition gives its age as one 
hundred and sixty years, although documentary evi- 
dence of the fact is wanting. During the encamp- 
ment of the American troops in the township in 1777 
this mill supplied them with flour and corn-meal, and 
it is alleged that the illustrious commander-in-chief, 
Washington, frequently purchased flour for his mili- 
tary family and corn for his horses at this mill. It 
has passed through many hands in its long career of 
usefulness, and .still, notwithstanding its time-worn 
walls and venerable appearance, is capable of doing 
good service, producing thirty barrels of flour a 
day, and prides itself upon the superior quality of its 
flour. It is now run by A. F. Jarrett, who has held it 
for two years. Forsixteen years previous the mill was 
operated by James Burnett. Going back further, Dut- 
ton & Delaney ran it for someyears. Still earlier,Simeon 
Matlack, Casper Robb, Enos Tolan, Reuben Williams, 
Aaron Bowker, Joseph D. Corson, a brother of Dr. 
Hiram Corson, Joseph Potts, and in 1830 we find it 
in the possession of Thomas Livezey, who had held it 
from the year 1780 up to that time. For nearly half 
a century it was the the only mill in this section. It 
is solidly built of stone, and was put up in sections, 
in accordance with the rough customs and scanty 
means of the men of those days. The machinery is 
driven by an overshot wheel of forty horse-power, and 
the old stone fabric looks as if it would stand the 
storms of another hundred years. There is another 
peculiar advantage belonging to this ancient mill, 
which no other we have ever heard of can claim, and 
to which may be attributed the superior grade of flour 
it produces, — in floods or droughts the same uniform 
flow of water runs the mill, reaching it from the 
grand sources which gives to the locality its name of 
Spring Mill. 

The Riverside Paper-Mill, owned and oper- 
ated by W. C. Hamilton & Sons, is situated at La- 
fayette Station, on the Norristown Branch of the 
Philadelphia and Beading Railroad, and also at about 
the same distance from the station of the same name 
on the Schuylkill Division of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road. The mill was built in 1856-57, and first put in 
operation in the latter year by E. R. Cope, previously 
of the firm of Magarge & Cope, paper manufacturers. 
When the Riverside Mill was first put in operation 





^2::? 'J^cc-Pt'i,<.Z^t 



<;»-z---t_ 



MANUFACTUMNG INDUSTRIES. 



625 



Mr. W. C. Hamilton (the present owner) had a small 
interest in it with Mr. Cope, and also employed in the 
mill as manager, a position in which he continued for 
about six years, when the connection was severed. 

On the 1st of October, 18(;o, Mr. Hamilton, who, 
in the mean time, had been employed in the paper 
business elsewhere, purchased the entire Riverside 
Mill property and stock. The farm attached was 
afterwards purchased by him. At the time of his pur- 
chase the mill was equipped with one sixty-two inch 
Fourdrinier machine, one washer and two beater- 
engines, one set of sujjer-calenders and the other 
machinery necessary for manufacturing book and 
envelope-papers. The capacity was then one and 
one-fourth tons in twelve hours. Its motive-power 
was furnished by a Corliss steam-engine of one hun- 
dred and fifty horse-power, and another engine of 
twenty horse-power for driving the paper-machine. 
The mill building was of stone, two stories high, with 
basement, as it stands at present, surrounded by the 
several buildings, all of stone, which have since been 
added to the establishment at different times. 

In 1872 an additional building was erected on the 
north side, about seventy by eighty feet in size, the 
lower part for use as a calendering and finishing-room 
and the upper part for storage. At the same time, 
another building of about the same dimensions was 
added on the south side for a bleaching-room, and a 
third building, three stories high, and about thirty by 
fifty feet, for the storage of stock. Besides these addi- 
tions to the mill establishment, twelve dwelling-houses 
werebuiltibroccupationbyt lie workmen. To the equip- 
ment of the mill Mr. Hamilton then added a second 
Fourdrinier (sixty -five inch) machine, with a corre- 
sponding addition to the other machinery of the mill, 
bringing its capacity up to ten thousand pounds in 
twenty-four hours. The motive-power was also in- 
creased by the addition of another engine and boilers. 

For ten years succeeding that time the mill was in 
operation to its full capacity, a great part of the time 
running night and day. In 1882 further extensive 
additions were made to the power and equipment of the 
mill. An eight hundred and fifty horse-power Porter 
& Allen engine was put in, also an eighty horse-power 
Corliss engine and eight Babcock & Wilcox boilers. 
A third Fourdrinier machine (eighty-six inches) was 
added, and the mill was furnished with new shafting 
throughout. By these improvements and additions 
the capacity of the mill was increased, and brought to 
its present figure, — fifteen thousand pounds in twelve 
hours. The product is fine book, card and envelope- 
papers. The oflSces of the firm of W. C. Hamilton & 
Sons are at the mill and at 1001 Chestnut Street, 
Philadelphia. 

William C. Hamilton owner of the Riverside Mill 
is a native of Chester Co., Pa., born near West Grove, 
September 1, 1819. His only means of education were 
such as he found in the common schools, which he 
attended until he reached the age of eleven years, 
4U 



and a subsequent term of three months. When he 
left school, at the age mentioned, he commenced work- 
ing in a small carding and fulling-mill, and remained 
there until sixteeen years of age, when he entered as 
an apprentice in a one-vat hand paper-mill about three 
miles from West Grove, on a branch of White Clay 
Creek. It was owned by Robert Lisle, and operated 
by McCall & Wardell. He remained there two years 
and then entered the Wagontown hand-mill of Stead- 
man & Markle, where he also remained two years, 
including the commencement of the great panic of 
1837, when the mill was temporarily shut down. In 
the spring of 1838 he went to work in a small machine- 
mill, called the Beaver Dam Mill, on Buck Run, in 
Chester County. There he remained less than one 
year. In the winter of 1838-39 he worked for Jessup 
& Brothers in their two-vat hand-mill, located in 
Westfield, Mass., which was then running on fine 
writing-papers. Ip 1839, Mr. Hamilton left Mass- 
achusetts and went to Newark, Del., where he worked 
a short time in a small machine-mill. Thence he 
went to the two-vat hand-mill of John Eckstein, on 
Darby Creek, where he w-as employed on very fine 
work (bank-note and heavy ledger-paper), under the 
then widely-known manager, Joseph Robinson. He 
remained there during 1S39— 10. In the spring of 1841 
he commenced work in the Glen Mills of James M. 
Wilcox & Co., on Chester Creek, Delaware Co. This 
mill, then running on fine book-papers, was somewhat 
famed because using a Fourdrinier machine, one of 
the first used in the State. Mr. Hamilton worked in 
the mill of the Messrs. Wilcox & Co., until the fall of 
18-14, when he went to start a machine in the new Wis- 
sahickon Paper-Mill of Charles Magarge & Co., where, 
at the end of a few months, he was promoted to the posi- 
tion of manager. He remained in that capacity at the 
Wissahickon Mill twelve years, until 18.56, when he 
took an interest in the new Riverside Mill, and re- 
mained six years, as has already been mentioned. 
After leaving the Riverside he was again engaged at 
Charles Magarge's Wissahickon Mill, where he re- 
mained in exceedingly remunerative employmentuntil 
the fall of 1865. His purchase, at that time, of the 
mill property at Lafayette Station, as also his subse- 
quent business history, is embraced in the preceding 
account of the Riverside Mill. 

Mr. Hamilton was married. May 16, 184.5, to Eliza- 
beth W. Gregg, daughter of Herman Gregg, of Del- 
aware County. Their children are Rebecca J. (now the 
wife of Frank W. Lockwood, of Philadelphia), Charles 
L., Wilbur F. and Edwin E. Hamilton. The three 
sons are associated with their father in the firm of 
W. C. Hamilton & Sons. 

Hitner's Furnaces. — These old and well-known 
furnaces were established in 1835 by Farr & Kunzie, 
of Philadelphia, then the only practical chemists in 
the State. D. 0. and Henry S. Hitner bought the 
property from these gentlemen, and in 1837 the Fur- 
naces No. 1 and 2, William Penn, were in full opera- 



626 



HISTORY OF MOxVTGOMERY COUNTY. 



tioii. William Penn, No. 1, was partially destroyed 
I)y fire some years ago. No. 2 is torn down, and the 
Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad now runs 
through the property. The old Louisa Furnace, 
located in the centre of the village of Spring Mill, 
had its name changed to William Penn No. 3, and all 
three have been idle since the year 1873. In the old 
times when the iron trade was brisk these furnaces 
gave employment to a hundred men around the 
furnaces and to fully fifteen hundred in all 
their connections. Si.x thousand dollars a month 
were paid to the furnace-men and their helpers. 
No. 1 Furnace produced one hundred and twenty-five 
tons of iron per week ; No. 2, one hundred and 
seventy-five tons a week ; and the Louisa, or No. 3, 
one hundred and thirty tons a week. 

ScHARFF Terra-Ootta Works. — Louis Schartf 
and William Gilinger commenced the business of 
making terra-cotta here in 1856, in a small building 
thirty by seventy-five feet. Their modes of manufac- 
ture were of the most rude and primitive kind. For a 
considerable time the clay was ground and manipulated 
by hand, and it was considered a great advance when 
horse-power was sul)stituted. About 1861, Mr. Gilin- 
ger withdrew and the firm liecame Scharfl" & Mclntyre. 
In 1863 the firm changed to Scharfl' & Poyntzell, and 
gome years later toLouis Scharflf alone. At his death 
the firm-name became what it is at present, A. Scharff 
& Brother. Very great improvements have recently 
been made in this establishment. The main building 
is fifty-two by one hundred feet, two stories high, and 
all the old machinery has been discarded, being re- 
placed with the newest and most improved appliances. 
Au eighteen horse-power engine has supplanted the 
old five horse-power upon which they had to depend 
for so many years. Aliout seven men are employed 
steadily at the works, and the value of the whole plant, 
buildings and stock included, is estimated at $50,000. 
Moorhead's Terra-Cotta Works. — These 
works were established in 1866 by Messrs. W. L. 
Wilson and Alexander Moorhead on a small scale, 
and after they were partially destroyed by fire were 
rebuilt. The frontage on the railway is, for one 
building, fifty feet, with a depth of one hundred feet ; 
No. 2 is sixteen by one hundred feet, all two stories in 
height; the kiln-house is fifty by one hundred and 
seventy-five feet. When in full operation sixty hands 
are employed, and the pay-roll amounts to one thou- 
sand dollars a month. The engine is seventy horse- 
power, and the value of the property is about one 
hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. 

royer's ford borough. 

The Continentai. Stove- Works, Rover's Ford, 
— ^The Continental Stove- Works were established .Jan- 
uary 1, 186(1, by the firm of Francis, Buckwalter & 
Co., consisting ofthe following members: C. S. Francis, 
Henry Francis, John Sheeler, H. L. Buckwalter and 
J. A. Buckwalter. The firm had only a small capital, 



but, full of perseverance and good business and me- 
chanical ability, they soon began to build up a trade 
which in a short time taxed the works to their full 
capacity. At this time they employed fifty men. 
Along with stoves, they manufactured agricultural 
implements; also the celebrated Buckwalter cherry- 
seeder, so universally known in the Eastern States. 
In 1871, C. S. Francis withdrew from the firm. The 
business, however, continued as before under the same 
firm-name. In 1872, finding their capacity too lim- 
ited for their growing trade, they built an ad<lition to 
the works, thereby increasing their capacity about 
fifty per cent. In 1874, Mr. Henry Francis retired 
from the firm, the remaining partners being the pur- 
chasers of his interest. The firm-name was now 
changed to Sheeler, Buckwalter & Co. The business 
continued to grow, and the works again becoming too 
small, the firm concluded to build new works, and 
acting on that conclusion, in 1876 they erected their 
present extensive establishment. About this time 
John Sheeler's health began to fail, and in the year 
1880 he died. The remaining members, H. L. and J. 
A. Buckwalter, purchased his interest in the business, 
and the firm-name changed to Buckwalter & Co., 
which is the title at the present time. The business 
at this time had increased very fast, and in the course 
of two years they were employing one hundred and 
twenty-five men. In 1882, H. L. Buckwalter died, 
leaving J. A. Buckwalter the only surviving partner 
ofthe original company. H. L. Buckwalter's interest 
was disposed of, part to William M. Stauffer and I . 
N. Buckwalter, the family retaining the balance. 
The present output is about twenty-five thousand 
stoves per year, requiring the employment of two 
hundred men. They now have a capital employed 
of two hundred thousand dollars. 

Grander, Rogers & Co., Rover's Ford. — The 
firm of Grander, Rogers & Co. was established in 1870 
for the manufacture of stoves, heaters, ranges and 
general job-work. The buildings front the railroad 
one hundred and fifty feet, with a depth of one hun- 
dred feet, three and one-half stories in height. Sixty- 
five hands are employed, with a monthly pay-roll of 
two thousand eight hundred dollars. The production 
is seven hundred tons a month. 

Penn Glass-Works. — Messrs. Harbison, Bartlett 
& Co. commenced the manufacture of glass in Octo- 
ber of the present year (1884). The buildings are one 
of fifty-eight by fifty-six feet and one forty by twenty- 
four feet, one story high. The capacity is sixty thou- 
sand pounds a day of bottles and vials of all kinds. 
Forty-five hands are employed, with a pay roll of 
two thousand dollars a month. 

Rover's Ford Clay-Works. — Messrs. Rogers & 
Benjamin conduct the manufacture of stove-tiles, 
flower-pots, fire-bricks, chimney-tops, etc. The build- 
ing is sixty feet front by five hundred in depth, two 
stories high. Six hands are employed, with a pay- 
roll of one hundred and fifty dollars a month. 




w'W- 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



627 



Floyd, Wells & Co. — This firm are the successors 
of O. B. Keeley & Co., and are engaged in the manu- 
facture of stoves, heaters and ranges, commencing 
February, 1884. The buildings have a frontage of 
three hundred feet; depth, six hundred feet. Fifty 
hands are employed ; monthly wages, two thousand 
five hundred dollars; and about ten thousand stoves 
are manufactured annually. 

PLYMOaTH TOWNSHIP. 

Mogee's Lime-Qtjaeeies. — Just over the eastern 
boundary of the borough of Norristown stands Mo- 
geetown, a neat and clean little village of about 
sixty tenement houses, clustered around the mansion- 
house of William Mogee, Esq., and the quarries and 
lime-kilns of which he is the proprietor. lu the 
middle of the village is a neat little memorial church, 
thirty-two by fifty feet, erected to the memory of a 
favorite daughter, deceased some years ago. The 
quarries and the sixteen kilns which burn the lime 
are close to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad 
track, with its station, so well known to the traveler 
on that branch of the road. The new Schuylkill 
Valley Railroad runs right through the property. 
Thirty-two years ago Mr. Mogee purchased this 
property, of twenty-two acres, from William A. Craw- 
ford, at a cost of twenty-two thousand dollars. He 
has run the kilns for about half that period, having 
leased the works for sixteen years to his brother, Mr. 
Daniel Mogee, who lives close at hand. 

During the year 1880 the production of these quar- 
ries and kilns was 140,000 bushels of unslaked lime ; 
in 1881, 185,000 bushels; in 1882, 200,000 bushels; 
in 1883, 23(5,000 bushels; and during the present year 
(1884), up to August 20th, the production was 150,000 
bushels. But these figures by no means represent 
the capacity of these works. 

In years past, when a rush of business pressed upon 
him, Mr. Mogee employed so large a number of men 
that his pay-list amounted to four hundred dollars a 
week. He had forty horses, sixteen boats and used 
thirty-six tons of coal per day, producing one 
million bushels of lime a year. The out-ofiices, 
stabling, etc., are on a grand scale. There is a coal- 
shed, thirty-six by one hundred and thirty-six feet, 
with a capacity of one thousand tons. The wharf 
and siding for the shipping of lime and receipt of coal 
cost five thousand dollars. The property is estimated 
to be worth one hundred and ten thousand dollars. 

ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 

Edge Hill Iron Company. — The stack is sixty- 
three by seventeen feet, and was built from 1809 to 
1872. The furnace was first blown in January, 1872, 
and has a closed top and closed front. The ores used 
are hematite from Montgomery County, and magnetic 
ore from Berks County and New Jersey. The annual 
capacity is fifteen thousand net tons ; the specialty is 
gray forge pig-iron. Joseph E. Thropp is the 
mauager. 



Joseph Eaelston Thropp. — Joseph Earlston 
Thropp was born at Valley Forge, in Chester County. 
His father, Isaiah Thropp, the son of an English mer- 
chant and Sarah, sister of Sir William Wood, came to 
America at an early age, where he married Anna Vir- 
ginia, daughter of John Workizer, of Howellville, and 
granddaughter of Colonel Christian Workizer, an ac- 
complished German officer, who served with distinc- 
tion on the statl'of General Wolfe during the French 
and Indian war, which ended in 1763. 

Mr. Thropp is the youngest member of the family. 
He was educated at the public schools. Friends' Cen- 
tral High School and the Pennsylvania Polytechnic 
College, and graduated from the latter institution in 
June, 1868, a civil engineer. 

One of ihe papers reporting the college commence- 
ment said ; " Mr. Thropp spoke more like an old phil- 
osopher than a young man." In July following he went 
to Minnesota and was there offered the choice of two 
positions on the railroad connecting St. Paul and Du- 
luth. The work on the St. Paul end was considered 
easy, that terminating at Duluth very difficult ; but he 
chose the latter, though the president and chief engi- 
neer looked upon his boyish appearance with some 
misgiving. The latter, however, soou wrote of Mr. 
Thropp : " I find him fitted for much more advanced 
positions than are usually occupied by those of his 
age." He superseded a man fifteen years his senior, 
and was transferred from one post to another, wherever 
the most complicated and important work was to be 
done. The death of his mother brought him East, 
and at the urgent request of his father he declined ad- 
vanced positions offered him to return, and accepted, 
in 1870, that of assistant manager at the Merion Fur- 
nace, West Conshohocken. Eighteen months later he 
was admitted to partnership. In 1873 he married 
Caroline F., daughter of his partner, Joel B. Moor- 
head, and twin sister of Mrs. Jay Cooke, Jr. The issue 
of this marriage is five children, — three sons and two 
daughters. In 1874, Mr. Thropp visited some of the 
extensive iron-works of Great Britain, and afterwards 
extended his tour through France, Switzerland, Ger- 
many and Belgium. 

He remained a member of the firm of J. B. Moor- 
head & Co. until 1883. During this time he took an 
active part in church and Sunday-school work, and 
other matters of public interest. He was repeatedly 
elected a vestryman of the Calvary Protestant Epis- 
copal Church, and was superintendent of its Sunday- 
school and of that of the Mt. Pleasant Mission Sun- 
day-school. When but twenty-eight years of age a 
committee of his neighbors waited upon him and re- 
quested him to permit the use of his name as a candi- 
date for Congress. He thanked them, but declined, 
expressing the opinion that his time had not yet come. 
He represented his district in county and State con- 
ventions, always taking a prominent part. His lead- 
ership in the judiciary convention of 1881, where he 
espoused the cause of A. S. Swartz, Esq., who was not 



628 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



a candidate, stamped him as an orator, his brief but 
eloquent speech carrying the convention and nominat- 
ing Mr. Swartz. 

lu 1882 he was tendered the independent nomina- 
tion for Congress in the district, but declined, saying: 
" I believe our party large enough and its principles 
comprehensive enough to contain and satisfy us all ; 
where evil exists, eradicate it ; where there is good, 
preserve and strengthen it." 

Urged by many warm friends, and actively sup- 
ported by the manufacturers, he was a candidate be- 
fore the regular Republican convention, and so great 
was his popularity that the convention, after voting 
all day and night, had to adjourn for a week. Upon 
reassembling it required all the power of such men, 
and the use of many of the disreputable methods of 
unscrupulous politicians, to prevent his nomination. 
One of the leading papers represented there said of 
Mr. Thropp, — 

" Mr. J. E. Thropp proved himself an able leader, 
and is possessed with that true manliness which com- 
mands respect from both friend and foe in political 
contests." 

The Philadelphia Record, August, 1882, said,- — 

" Montgomery County is rich in sound Congres- 
sional timber .... Sober common sense would seem 
to dictate that for so pronounced a producing district 
a manufacturer, who is also acquainted with the needs 
and just demands of labor, should be selected as a 
candidate for Congress. There are many such men in 
Montgomery County ; indeed, the name of one, Joseph 
E. Thropp, is before the convention. A district which 
sends such men to represent it at Washington does 
credit to itself in honoring one of its representative 
citizens." 

The Eoening Telegraph, Philadelphia, August 31, 
1882, said,— 

"The convention might go outside the present list 
and possibly secure a better candidate than Mr. Joseph 
E. Thropp ; it can very easily make a much worse 
nomination. Mr. Thropp is a young man of energy, 
force and business experience. He is a member of the 
great Conshohocken iron firm of J. B. Moorhead & 
Co., and has therefore substantial personal interest in 
wise and honest legislation. He is a man who deals 
fairly with his employes, and for that reason com- 
mands the respect and confidence of the laboring 
classes of the district. He is not a politician, and 
there is good and substantial reason to believe that, if 
nominated and elected, he would prove an earnest, 
honest and independent member of the House." 

A prominent Chester Countain, himself a Congress- 
man, writes of Mr. Thropp, — 

" He is a gentleman of education and ability, of ir- 
reproachable life and familiar with political aflairs. 
For many years in an important business, always free 
from rings, energetic and careful in whatever he un- 
dertakes, with a high sense of honor, true to Republi- 
can principles, agreeable in manners and excellent in 



speech, he would do the county and the Congress 
credit." 

Associated with Mr. Charles Richardson, the firm 
of Joseph B. Thropp & Co. was organized early in 
1883, and the Edge Hill Furnace, on the line of the 
North Pennsylvania Railroad, secured. This valuable 
establishment had been unprofitable to its original 
owners, and was never a success. Mr. Thropp moved 
into the adjacent farm-house; the furnace was im- 
mediately put in repair, and started in one of the 
dullest periods known in the history of the iron trade. 
While thus engaged, and having had no vacations or re- 
laxation for years, the strain upon his overtaxed body 
broke him down, and for weeks bis life was despaired 
of under an attack of typhoid fever. As soon as he 
was able to be about, and in opposition to the w^ishes 
of his physician, he resumed charge of the business, 
and has brought the establishment up to the point 
where it is an assured financial success, the product 
being about double that under the former manage- 
ment. 

In 1884 a letter, signed by about one hundred and 
fifty manufacturers, bankers, farmers and other citi- 
zens, requested him to be again a candidate for Con- 
gress. His friends in all parts of the district were 
acitve, and he had written a letter accepting their in- 
vitation CO enter the contest, when he was again 
laid upon a bed of sickness, and, in accordance with 
the advice of his physician, who feared serious re- 
sults, Mr. Thropp published a card declining the use 
of his name. Recovering, he was elected a member 
of the Union League of Philadelphia, of the Eastern 
Pig-iron Association, and by President Eckert ap- 
pointed, with Mr. Comly, president of the North Penn- 
sylvania Railroad, Mr. Ingham, president of the 
Rockhill Iron Company, and others, a member of the 
important committee to perfect a plan for an American 
Protective Tariff League, to combat the free trade in- 
fluence of the English Cobden Club. 

Devoted to his friends, he ignores the thrusts of his 
enemies, believing life too short to waste in conflict or 
in seeking revenge for real or imaginary wrong. 

Frank, sincere and straightforward himself, if he 
errs, it is in being too bold in espousing the right and 
opposing the wrong, his sense of justice being remark- 
ably keen and his judgment rarely at fault. Cheer- 
ful, unassuming in demeanor, and slight in physical 
proportions, he nevertheless has shown that he pos- 
sesses an unflinching spirit equal to all emergencies. 
Affable, amiable and genial, he makes many friends 
among those with whom he comes in contact. Living 
and acting upon the principle that " worth makes the 
man," he realizes in its fullest conception the fact 
that every honest calling is honorable, providing man 
dignifies it by doing his best. Montgomery County will ■ 
yet have reason to be proud of Joseph E. Thropp. I , 

William Newport & Co. — The phosphate-works 
of William Newport & Co. are situated on the east 
line of Abington township, at Willow Grove, and on 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



629 



the line of the North East Pennsylvania Railroad. 

The manufacture of phosphates was established at 
this place by Shaw & Newport in the spring of 187.5, 
who continued it for two years, when William New- 
port became sole proprietor. In 1880, David Newport 
became a partner, and the firm-name was changed to 
William Newport & Co. Fifteen men arc employed 
on an average. The production of 1884 was about 
eighteen hunilred tons. The sales are mostly local. 

Harper's Hoe, Rake, Pump and Water-Exgine 
Works are situated on Spring Valley Creek, a branch 
of Pennypack Creek. William Harper, the father of 
Smith Harper, the j'resent proprietor, began the 



new works. A few years later a forty-feet water- 
wheel and other improvements were added. In 1858, 
Smith Harper, the present proprietor, purchased the 
jjroperty, and soon after enlarged the works. In 186.5 
the finishing-room (stone), forty-five by sixty feet and 
two and a half stories in height, was erected. In 
January, 1874, the old mill and forge building was 
destroyed by fire and rebuilt sixty by one hundred 
feet in that year. Water-power was used until about 
1864, when steam was introduced. About twenty 
men are constantly employed. The sale of hoes is 
largely in the Southern States. 

Smith Harper is of the fifth generation of a fam- 




Z^ 



I^ii^^^Tt^m^ ^&^^^^^/u^ 



manufacture of gimlets about 1835 on the old York 
road, a short distance below Jenkintown. In 1848 he 
purchased twenty -seven acres of land where the pres- 
ent works now are. This land embraced the site of 
the old Roberts' grist-mill, which was operated by 
Lewis Roberts before 1780. The site of the mill is 
now occupied by a spring-house. Another and larger 
mill was erected on the site of the present forge build- 
ing; this was occupied in later years by Nathan Bunker. 
Upon the purchase by William Harper a portion of the 
mill l)uilding was fitted up for forge-work, and the mill 
part was used for several years for grinding feed. 
The manufacture of hoes and rakes was begun in the 



ily of Harpers who evidently came to this country in 
1682 and located in Lower Dublin township. They had 
a family of children, one of whom was named Samuel, 
and Samuel had a wife whose given name was Mary. 
Samuel and Mary also had sons and daughters, and 
one of the sons was named George, who married 
Mary Collins. From these three, or rather from the 
first Harper that settled in Lower Dublin, whose 
name is now unknown, have descended all the families 
of that name in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jer- 
sey, Ohio and Indiana and many of the other States 
of the Union, many of whom have become noted 
in some of the professions, others in the publish- 



630 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ing business, like the well and widely-known Harper 
Brothers, of New York, while yet others are as 
widely known in the mechanical and manufactur- 
ing branches of trade; and we might truthfully say 
that the pioneer Harper or Harpers arc now repre- 
sented in nearly or quite all of the honorable callingsi 
trades or professions in the United States, and many 
of them have lived to extreme old age. 

The widow of the late Robert Harper now resides 
on what is known as Second Street pike, and has 
reached the advanced age of nearly or quite one hun- 
dred years. 

George Harper, above named, was born the Eighth 
Month 24, 1772, and died the Seventh Month 7, 1867. 
The children of George and Mary Collins Harper 
were as follows : 

I. William, born Second Slonth .5, 1795, married 
Esther, daughter of Christopher Smith, of Phwnix- 
ville, Pa., and died Fourth Month 9, 1SG7. Esther 
Smith was a granddaughter of Henry Rhodes, who at 
one time owned all the land upon which the village 
of Pha?nixville now stands. She was born Third 
Month 1'4, 1801, and died Eighth Month 25, 1838. 

II. Ann, married Charles Holt. Both deceased. 

III. Su.san, married Samuel Davis, and lived near 
Woodbury, N. J. Both deceased. 

IV. Maria, married John Wilkinson. Both de- 
ceased. 

V. Daniel, married . 

VI. Martha, married Charles Walton, and lived in 
(!heltenham. Both deceased. 

VII. Elizabeth, niariied, first, Ephraim Logan, who 
subsequently died, and for her second husband mar- 
ried Thomas Logan, a brother of her first husband. 

VIII. Samuel, married his wife in New Jersey and 
moved to West Milton, Ohio, where he died. 

IX. Margaret, married Isaac Livezey and moved 
to near New Castle, Henry ('o., Ind., in 1837 or 1838. 
He died Second Month 25, 1885, aged eighty-one years. 

X. Nathan, married Ellen Bosler, sister of the late 
Charles Bosler, of Cheltenham. Margaret and Na- 
than were twins. Nathan since his marriage has 
lived in Germautown. 

William and Esther Smith Harper were the par- 
ents of children, as follows : 

I. Adaline, born Seventh Month 0, 1819, married 
Humphrey Humphreys, and both now living in By- 
berry, Philadeljihia Co., Pa. 

II. Reuben, b(n'n Second Month 15, 1821, married 
Sarah, daughter of Philip Kul]), of Brauchtown, Pa. 
Sarah died Sixth Month 19, 1884. 

III. Henry, born Twelfth Month 20, 1822, nuirried 
Rebecca, daughter of John Rose, of Frankford, Pa. 
They are both living and reside near Beasley's Point, 
N.J. 

IV. William, Jr., born First Month (i, 1825, mar- 
ried Elizabeth, daughter of Abel and Tacy liallowell. 
They now reside on what is known as Pine road, 
Philadelphia Co., Pa., Twenty-third Ward. 



V. Smith, born Fourth Month 26, 1827, married 
for his first wife Fanny, daughter of George and Eme- 
line Snyder, of Lower Dublin township, Philadelphia 
Co. She was born Second Month 8, 1841, and was 
accidentally killed on the 13th of Fourth Month, 1863. 
Mrs. Harper, with a visiting friend. Miss Morgan, was 
on that day in the hoe and fork-factory of Mr. Har- 
per witnessing the manufacture of those articles and 
viewing the machinery, when the dress of one of the 
ladies caught in the perpendicular shafting, when the 
other went to the assistance of her friend, and both 
were killed before assistance could reach them. 

VI. Charles, born Second Month 15, 1829, married 
Mary, daughter of Thomas and Ann Buckman. 
Charles is now a merchant at Jenkintown. 

VII. Mary, born First Month 24, 1831, married 
William Steele, of Philadelphia. 

VIII. Edwin, born Ninth Month 28,1833, married, 
and died Fifth Month 18, 1861. 

IX. Catharine, born Eighth Mouth 11, 1836, mar- 
ried William Buckman, of Philadelphia. 

X. Esther Ann, born Sixth Month 1, 1837, married 
Joseph Shoemaker, of Jenkintown. Both living. 

The children of Smith and Fanny Harper were 
Harrison, born Fifth Month 20, 1860, died Ninth 
Month 13,1863; Newlin, born Ninth Month 15,1861, 
died Twelfth Month 5, 1861 ; Esther, born Eighth 
Month 19, 1862. 

The second wife of Smith Harper w:is Martha L., 
daughter of Thomas and Priscilla Roberts, of Abing- 
ton township. The children Irom this union have 
been Jennie W., born Twelfth Month 22, 1871, died 
Seventh Month 12, 1872; Fanny, born Tenth Month 
21, 1873; Charles S., born Sixth Month 26, 1875; 
Anna M., born Ninth Month 18, 1876, died Third 
Month 10, 1881 ; John K., born Fifth Month 29, 1878; 
Mary P., born Eighth Month 8, 1879; Frank W., 
born Sixth Month 15, 1882. 

Mr. Harper is well anil favorably known as one of 
the substantial and reliable manufacturers of Mont- 
gomery County, he having commenced when a mere 
boy in the shop of his father, who was a gimlet- 
maker, and by tact, industry, honesty and persever- 
ance has worked his way to the front rank of the 
many large hoe and rake manufacturers in the United 
States. In 1848 he established himself firmly at his 
present location, at what is now Harper's Station, on 
the Philadelphia and Newtown Railroad, where he 
makes a specialty, with all the improved machinery 
known to that branch of business, of the finest (juality 
of hoes and all kinds of implements used in garden- 
ing. So well and favorably known is his make of 
goods that orders are received long in advance of the 
manufacture of articles desired, not only for domestic 
use, but large shipments arc often made to foreign 
countries ; even the Russians are not behind in their 
orders for garden implements of Mr. Harper's make, 
although that is not a country of gardens. 

Mr. Harper has added to his extensive hoe and 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



631 



rake business that of the manufacture and sale of 

"Tubbs' water-engine," a new invention for convey- 
ing water long distances, up inclined planes, and in 
large quantities. He also manufactures various kinds 
of submerged, suction and force-pumps for wells, 
springs, cisterns, etc. 

UPPER DUBLIN TOWNSHIP. 

The Wissahicken Chemical-Works at Ambler 
were established in that village by Messrs. Keasbey 
and Mattison in the year 1882. Their specialty is 
the manufacture of quinine and magnesia, of which 
they ship very large quantities, both for home and 
foreign consumption. They employ one hundred 
and fifty hands, with a pay-roll of four thousand 
dollars a month. The buildings have a frontage of 
one thou.sand feet on the North Pennsylvania Rail- 
road, with a depth of three hundred and fifty feet, and 
their various buildings cover over thirty thousand 
square feet o( area. The plant is worth about two 
hundred thousand dollars. 

Sldtler's Co.vch-Factory. — Henry Slutler, an 
experienced carriage-builder, established business in 
the village in the year 1879. The building has a 
frontage on what is known as the Plymouth turn- 
pike of fifty feet, with a depth of two hundred feet, 
and is three stories in height. Eight hands find 
steady employment here, and besides doing a large 
amount of repairing, twenty-five new carriages are 
made annually. 

jenkintown borough. 

Wharton Switch Company, Jenkintown. — 
These extensive works were established at Jenkintown 
in the year 1870. President, Abraham Barker ; 
Treasurer and Secretary, Wharton Barker ; JIanagcr, 
William Wharton, Jr. The averagenumbcr of hands 
employed is three hundred and seventy-five, and over 
two hundred thou.sand dollars a year are paid out in 
wages. The buildings cover several acres of ground, 
and are as follows: No. 1, machine-shop; No. 2, 
blacksmith-shop; No. S, pattern-shop and electric 
signal room ; No. 4, foundry. The motive-power is 
one one liundred horse-power engine and one sixty 
horse-power engine, both horizontal, and two luindred 
horse boiler power. 

CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP. 

C. Hammond & Son, Machinlsts, Shoemaker- 
town. — This firm was established at Shocmakertown 
in the year 1842 for the numufacture of hammers, 
edge-tools, railroad, machinists' and l)lacksmiths' tools, 
with their office at No. 13 North Fifth Street, Phila- 
delphia. The firm commenced with fifteen hands, 
and a pay-roll of five hundred dollars a month. They 
now employ seventy hands, with a pay-roll of two 
thousand five hundred dollars a month. The works 
are situated in Cheltenham township, on Tacony 



Creek. The motive-power is supplied by a seventy 
horse-power steam-engine and a water-wheel of 
twenty horse-i)ower. The buildings cover one and a 
half acres, and arc as follows: No. 1, otfice; No. 2, 
store-room; No. 3, packing-room; No. 4, grinding 
and polishing-room ; No. 5, engine-room ; Noa. 6 and 
7, forges ; No. 8, tempering-room ; No. 9, turning- 
room ; No. 10, polishing-room ; No. 11, machine- 
shop. The jdant and stock are valued at two hun- 
dred thousand dollars. 

Cheltenham Coach-Works, Shoemakertown, 
(York Road Station). — The business of carriage- 
building was established here by William Moore iu 
the year 1870, and is now conducted by George W. 
Moore and Horace Ervien. The building fronts York 
road one hundred and five feet, with a depth of one 
hundred and seventy-seven feet, four stories in height. 
Thirty-five hands are employed here, with a pay-roll 
of fifteen hundred dollars per month. The work made 
consists of phaetons, wagons, carriages, buggies, etc. ; 
the whole process, rom the rough wood-work to 
the most artistic painting and upholstering, is per- 
formed on the premises. 

George W. Moore.— Mr. Moore is of English 
descent. His father was James J. Moore, who re- 
sided in Moreland township, in Montgomery County, 
and was among the most industrious citizens. He 
married Mary, daughter of John Sentman, of the 
same ccninty, whose wife was Rebecca .Tobs. To this 
union were born children, — .lohn S. (who lost his life 
in the battle of the Wilderness during the late war), 
Rebecca (Mrs. George McVaugh), Jane (Mrs. George 
S. Yerkes), George W. and J. Lehman (a resident oi 
Philadelphia). George W. was born on the 13th of 
January, 1838, in Moreland township, where his 
youth was devoted to farm labor, after which he be- 
came an apprentice to the trade of a wheelwright, 
entering for the purpose the shop of Isaac Brooks, of 
Willow Grove. On completing his apprenticeship he 
spent a year in the same shop as a journeyman, and in 
18(J0 began business elsewhere in the township, where 
he renuiined lour years, and in 18G5 removed to Hunt- 
ingdon Valley, engaging more extensively in the 
various branches of the trade. Mr. Moore, in 1870, 
sought a wider field of operation in Shoemakertown, 
where he established a carriage manufactory, begin- 
ning with but two journeyman and advancing, as the 
excellence of his work caused a demand for his skill, 
until thirty-six workmen are employed in the various 
departments of the establishment. In 1880 he suf- 
fered a severe loss by fire, but immediately rebuilt, and 
in 1882 associated as a partner Horace Ervien, the 
firm being now Moore & Ervien. Mr. Moore was, in 
1862, married to Miss Sallie E., daughter of Hiram 
and Annie Yerkes, whose children are Ella (deceased), 
Annie L. and J. Newton. Mr. Moore has declined 
all protfers of political preferment and devotes his 
time and ability exclusively to the furtherance of hi« 
business interests. He is an influential member of 



632 



HISTORY OF MOiNTUOMERY COUNTY. 



the Milestown Methodist Episcopal Church, ia which 
he is steward, trustee, treasurer and 8uuday-school 
superintendent. 

BiRCHALi> & Bray's Saw and Planing-Mills, 
Shoemakertown. — These extensive mills front on 
the York road nine hundred feet, one story high, 
and cover two acres of ground. They have been in 
operation for over forty years under the firm-name of 
W. B. Birchall & Sons. They generally employ twelve 
men all the year round and pay in wages one hun- 
dred and twenty dollars a week. The firm deals in 
all kinds of lumber, hickory, oak and jioplar wood. 



The mills were opened and operations commenced 
by Jacob Myers in 1848, when but six workmen 
were employed. In 1850, John A. Ervien became 
a partner and there was an improvement made, 
and in 1855, Mr. Benjamin R. Myers entered 
the firm ; J. Howard Ervien joined in 1875. The 
works are on Tacony Creek, in Cheltenham town- 
ship. The motive-power is from a sixty-four horse- 
power steam-engine and a twenty horse-power tur- 
bine wheel. There is a full plant of machinery, and 
housing covering two acres of ground. The build- 
ings are No. 1, astore-house ; No. 2, forge and engine- 




terra-cotta work, cement, plaster and phosjjhates of 
all the best-known qualities. 

The firm consists of Henry C. Birchall and DanielM, 
Bray, M.D. The power for the various machines is 
obtained from a forty horse-power engine, with boiler 
power in proportion. 

Myers & Ekvii:n, Shoemakertown. — The firm 
consists of B. R. Myers, J. A. Ervien and J. H. 
Ervien, their manufacture being that of forks. Their 
business card states that they make hay, manure, 
spading, sluice, tanner, coke, charcoal and spall- 
forks, and also potato and manure-hooks. Their 
office is at No. 13 North Fifth Street, Philadelphia. 



room ; No. 3, polishing and finishing-room ; No. 4 
and 5, warcrooms, all three stories in height. 

There are now fifty hands employed, with a pay- 
roll of two thousand five hundred dollars a month. 
During the year 1884 the hands manufactured and 
sliipi>ed to the ditferent States, to Egypt, Italy, 
France, Australia, New Zealand, etc., one hundred 
and tnenty-five dozen forks per day. The plant, 
property and stock are valued at one hundred thou- 
sand dollars. 

Jacob Myers. — The Myers family are of German 
extraction, Jacob Myers, the grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this brief sketch, having emigrated and settled 



MANUFACTUEING INDUSTRIES. 



633 



in Pennsylvania. Among his children was Jacob, a 
native of Cheltenham township, where he was an 
industrious farmer, and enjoyed the distinction of 
having participated in the war of the Revolution, 
under General Washington. He married Margaret 
Castor, and was the father of six children, among 
whom was Jacob Myers, who married Anetta Row- 
land. He took part in the war of 1812, and later 
engaged in farming employments, which were con- 
tinued until 1848, when he established the fork-fac- 
tory near Shoemakertown, which has since grown to 
large proportions, and is now represented by the firm 
of Myers & Ervien. Mr. Myers had eight children, 
seven of whom survive him. Benjamin R., one of 



when he became a resident of Abington township, 
Montgomery Co. He acquired a plain English edu- 
cation, and at seventeen was apprenticed to the mill- 
wright's trade, working industriously with his father 
until his majority was attained. His trade was con- 
tinued until 1850, when the tide of business was di- 
verted from its course by his purchase of a half- 
interest, in connection with Jacob Myers, in an es- 
tablishment for the manufacture of forks. Under the 
impetus given by the presence of Mr. Ervien the 
business greatly increased, their productions finding a 
market in all parts of the world, and on the death of 
the senior partner Mr. Benjamin E. Myers became a 
member of the firm, Mr. Ervien retaining a two-thirds 




JACOB MYERS. 



the members of the firm above mentioned, was a 
soldier of the war of the Rebellion, and participated 
in some of the most important battles of the Army of 
the Potomac. 

John A. Ervien. — The father of John A. Ervien 
was Cadwallader Ervien, a millwright by trade, who 
early resided in Bucks County, in his native State, 
and later removed to Montgomery County, where his 
death occurred. He married Jane, daughter of Ben- 
jamin James, of Bucks County, and had children, — 
Benjamin, William, Mary, Elizabeth, Robert and 
John A. The last named and youngest of the number 
was born August 18, 1823, near Hartsville, Bucks Co., 
and when a lad removed with his parents to Philadel- 
phia County, remaining until eighteen years of age. 



interest. In 1875 his son, J. Howard, was admitted 
to a partnership, controlling a one-third interest iu the 
factory. Mr. Ervien was, in January, 1849, married 
to Margaret, daughter of Jacob R. Myers, his subse- 
quent partner, and bad children, — Annie (deceased), 
Albert R., J. Howard, Anna (Mrs. John T. Green- 
wood), Horace, Jay (deceased) and Robert P. Mr. 
Ervien was for years a special partner with Christopher 
Lugar in a flouring-mill at Camden. He has been 
for thirty years president of the Cheltenham Building 
Association and is otherwi.se identified with the in- 
terests of the township. As a Whig he cast his first 
vote for Henry Clay, and since the formation of the 
Republican party has sympathized with its ideas 
and principles. He is in religion an Episcopalian, 



634 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and member of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church 
of Cheltenham. 

Cheltexham Roller-Mills, Shoemakertown. 
— These mills are the property of Charles Bosler & 
Son, and have a history dating back to the old Revo- 
lutionary times. The location of the mill is in the cen- 
tre of one of the best agricultural sections of the State 
and of the county. The main building is forty-two by 
sixty feet, with an engine and boiler-house. In the base- 
ment is the cleaning machioery. On the first floor 
are seven Dawson nine by eighteen inch granulating- 
rollers, two Silver Creek packers and two run of burrs 



The 



had been held from the time of William Penn. 
deed bears date 1746. 

Charles Bosler^ was of German origin, his father, 
Joseph Bosler, emigrating from Germany about the 
middleof the last century and locating in Philadelphia, 
When yet a young man Joseph moved to what is now 
Shoemakertown, and engaged in hauling grain and 
flour to and from Shoemakertown and Philadelphia. 
He married Hannah McBride, of Paoli, Chester Coun- 
ty, Pa., June 23, 1828. They were buried in Friends' 
burial-ground, Cheltenham. They were the parents 
of five children, viz. : Joseph, Charles, Ann, married 




^'■"# 



jU,^ ^^. 






grinding rye and feed. The second floor contains 
the flour and other bins. The third floor contains 
two five-reel bolting-chests. The fourth floor con- 
tains the elevator-heads, six scalping-reels and one 
Silver Creek centrifugal reel. 

The power is obtained from a seventy horse-power 
engine and a twenty-one inch turbine wheel. The 
capacity of the mill is one hundred and fifty barrels 
of f.our in twenty-four hours. 

The mill was built jointly by Dorothy Shoemaker, 
Richard Mathers and John Tyson, on the property of 
Dorothv Shoemaker, in whose family the grounds 



Frederick A. Brouse ; Emma, married Joseph Fisher ; 
and Ellen, who married Nathan Harper. 

Charles, the second son of Joseph and Hannah 
Bosler, was born Eig-hth Month 27, 1810. His 
early education was such only as could be obtained 
at the pay schools of the period covered by his 
school age. He being one of those upon whom na- 
ture showered her gifts, soon became possessed 
of what was then termed a good common-school edu- 
cation, which served him in future years as a basis 

I Compiled from Alice's "Men of Montgomery TonnU'." and othfr 
sourceo 




t?Aa^ ^ f(^^^ 



v^— 



10* 





'-^Z-^^L^ 



d2,<h^ 



% 



MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. 



635 



for business transactions. Like other children of 
that period, who assisted their parents in whatever 
labor was assigned them, so he assisted iiis father 
in hauling grain, flour and other products from the 
mill to the city, and among the neighbors, and par- 
ticularly to Charles Shoemaker, the owner of the 
mills, was he known for his truthfulness and industry 
as a lad of promise. Having thus assisted his father, 
he familiarized himself with the business, and at his 
father's death, in 1828, was encouraged by Mr. Shoe- 
maker to purchase the teams, wagons and fixtures and 
continue the business his father had established, offer- 
ing at the same time to furnish him the money 
or become security for the payment of it, which 
Mr. Bosler gladly accepted, thus beginning a life of 
much usefulness with no capital beyond good health 
an honest heart and a determination to make life a 
success. By persvering industry he was soon enabled 
to liquidate his obligations, and when his father's 
real estate was offered for sale, he purchased that also, 
and still continued hauling flour purchased from 
Mr. Shoemaker till March, 1847, when his employer 
encouraged him to purchase the flouring-mills at 
Shoemakertown, thus relieving Mr. Shoemaker of all 
responsibility of the mills, other than receiving the 
money on payments as they became due. 

From that time to the date of his death, covering 
a period of twenty-six years, he carried on the mill- 
ing business with a tact and energy possessed by but 
few men in the country, and made of it a grand financial 
success, paying off all incumbrances and amassing 
what many would consider a large fortune, notwith- 
standing a kind and generous spirit subjected him to 
many losses in trusting the honest but unfortunate poor, 
whom he never pressed beyond their ability to pay, 
and often not up to that point. This kindly, benevo- 
lent trait of character, which made him sympathize 
with worthy persons struggling against the adversitie.s 
of life and never allowed him to forget his early 
friends, is one of the golden memories that clings to the 
name of Charles Bosler. He always felt in his later 
life a warm regard for the Shoemiker family, and 
when he had become possessed of a sufficiency of 
this world's goods, reciprocated many times their 
former favors. 

Mr. Bosler was one of those men who always looked 
upon the bright side of everything, and whose dispo- 
sition was ever a ray of sunshine, attracting to him- 
self the love and good-will of all with whom he came 
in contact, especially in business matters. He was 
justly spoken of by his neighbors as an honest, up- 
right, successful business man, starting out in life 
with nothing but good health, industrious habits, an 
honest purpose and a determination to win whatever 
jiroperty he might possess in an honorable way, which 
he did, and left at his death a large estate, and, above 
all, an untarnished name and an example that every 
young man in the land should be proud to emulate. 

His philanthropy was of that broad kind that shone 



I the brightest where least expected, and usually beue- 
' fifed those who had the least reason to expect charity 
I from his ever-open hand. An incident will liiUy 
I show the character of the man. His wife had been 
sorely afflicted, and by some new or experimental 
treatment of the physician she was cured. One of 
his customers living in Philadelphia was similarly 
afflicted with disease, and the facts coming to the ears 
of Mr. Bosler, he ordered the physician to call upon 
his customer, take charge of and treat the case, and 
to say to the afflicted man that " Charles Bosler would 
pay the bill." The physician obeyed orders, cured 
the patient, and Mr. Bosler paid the fee, although 
the man owed Mr. Bosler a large sum, which, in con- 
sequence of large losses by fire, he was unable to pay. 
Mr. Bosler, although not a member of the Society 
of Friends, was, with his wife (who was a member of 
the Abington Friends' Meeting), a regular attendant 
upon that meeting down to the day of his death, 
which occurred suddenly, of apoplexy. Eighth Month 
11, 1873. Politically he was a Republican, and at a 
time when his party was largely in the minority 
accepted the nomination for the office of county treas- 
urer, and although defeated, he ran far ahead of his 
associates on the ticket. 

Mr. Bosler married. First Month 26, 1837, Mary 
Watson, daughter of William and Hannah Gilling- 
ham, of Buckingham, Bucks Co., Pa. Mrs. Ciilling- 
ham was born in Buckingham, Eleventh Month 14, 
1785; married. Tenth Month 18, 1809, to William 
Gillingham, and died Eighth Month 12, 1822. Mr. 
Gillingham was born in Buckingham, Bucks Co., 
Pa., Ninth Month 20, 1786, and died Seventh Month 
27, 1850. Mrs. Bosler was born First Month 5, 1811, 
and is still living. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bosler were the parents of four chil- 
dren, as follows : William Gillingham Bosler, born 
Twelfth Month 2, 1840. He was well educated, and 
became a man of patriotism and of enlarged public 
spirit, and when the Southern spirit of disloyalty and 
disunion culminated in the volcanic eruptions of open 
treason against the constituted laws of the land he 
at once offered his services in defense of his country, 
and early in 1852 became a private soldier in Com- 
pany C, One Hundred and Thirtieth Regiment 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served the full term 
of his enlistment, and was appointed sergeant-raajor 
of the regiment and afterwards commissioned a lieu- 
tenant of his company. He was wounded at the bat- 
tle of Fredericksburg, Va. 

In 1863, when the Governor of the State called for 
"emergency men" to repel Lee's invasion of the 
State, he again enlisted, this time in Captain Samuel 
W. Comly's company of cavalry, serving about two 
months, or until the emergency period was ended. 
From the time he left the army to the time of his 
death he was an enthusiastic and influential Repub- 
lican, and assisted in planting the seed that has 
brought forth Republican vict/)ry in Montgomery 



636 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUiNTY. 



County. For his eminent fitness for the position he 
was chosen, in 1868, as transcribing clerk of the State 
Senate, serving till January, 1871, when he returned 
home, anil died March 19th of that year. At the time 
of his death, and for several years previous, he had 
been in partnership with his father in the milling 
business, a trade he had learned in his youth. 

Charles and Joseph (twins) were born February 
24, 1846. Charles died in infancy, and Joseph is still 
living. The earlier years of Joseph were spent in 
school, and the later years in assisting in the mill 
and learning the trade of miller, and soon after the 
death of his brother, in 1871, became a partner with 
his father, continuing the firm-name of Charles Bos- 
ler & Son, and at the death of his fether, in 1873, as- 
sumed full control of the milling business, but still 
under the firm-name of (Carles Bosler & Son, which 
is continued to the present time. Jose|)h married, 
October 8, 1869, Cynthia ft., daughter of Watson and 
Mary L. Comly, of Byberry, Philadelphia. They oc- 
cupy the old homestead, and are the parents of four 
children, as follows: Mary W., born Second Month 
21, 1871; Carrie C, born Ninth Month II, 1873; 
Charles W., born Third Month 31, 1879; and Lester 
C., born Fourth Month 29, 1884. 

Hannah, the fourth child and only daughter of 
Charles and Mary Bosler, was born First Month 22, 
1848 ; married. Fourth Month, 20, 1882, to William 
H. Birchall. They have one child, Catherine H., 
born Eleventh Month 27, 1884. 

Thomas Rowland's Sons.— One of the most ex- 
tensive manufacturing establishments in the lower por- 
tion of Montgomery County is the shovel-works of T. 
Rowland's Sons. The family bearing this name 
has been identified with the interests of the connty, 
both as residents and manufacturers, for more than a 
century. John Rowland, the progenitor of the 
American branch of the family, was a farmer of Sus- 
sex, England, and came to this country in the ship 
"Welcome," with William Penn, in 1682. In the 
direct line of descent was Benjamin, born Sejitember 
29, 1777, who, after receiving very limited educa- 
tion advantages, entered upon a career of mechanical 
industry, and in 1795 laid the foundation of the 
present shovel business at Cheltenham. At his death, 
which occurred 8e])tember 9, 1824, Thomas Row- 
land, his eldest son, born January 20, 1801, suc- 
ceeded to the business, associating with him a few 
years later his brother Benjamin. Having superior 
water-power and being desirous of enlarging the 
works, Thomas suggested the making of saws. This 
was consummated in 1830. In 1835, William and Har- 
vey, his brothers, were admitted to the firm. In 1842 
the manufacture of coach-springs was introduced, 
and three years later that of steel-making. Owing to 
the magnitude of the interests involved, the firm was 
dissolved in 18fi0, Thomas taking the works at Chel- 
tenham and continuing the production of shovels 
only. In the same year he associated with him as 



partners two of his sons. After having passed 
the proverbial age of threescore years and ten, 
blessed with prosperity, he withdrew from active 
participation in mercantile pursuits, leaving the busi- 
ness to his sons, three of whom, Lynford, Howard 
and Rush, constitute the present firm, which is 
known as T. Rowland's Sons. When shovels 
were first made at Cheltenham it was diflicult 
to find a market for them, owing to the prejudice 
then existing against American-made goods as 
compared with those of English manufacture. At 
the present time, however, their goods have a world- 
wide reputation, being exported to South America, 
Australia and the continent of Europe. This has 
largely beeu due to the subject of this sketch, and 
especially to his enterprise in introducing improved 
methods of manufacture. Apart from this, Mr. Row- 
land po.ssessed many sterling qualities of mind and 
heart. As a citizen his record is worthy of imitation. 
He held the subject of instruction ever before him, 
was elected to the school board of Cheltenham in 
1836, and made the first successful attempt to educate 
the children at public expense. The ground upon 
which the Jlethodist Episcopal Church stands in the 
village at Cheltenham was deeded to them for that 
purpose by him in 1845, and during the whole of its 
history he was a large contributor to its funds. With 
a wise forethought, he provided for its maintenance by 
a liberal legacy. The beautiful home where he lived 
was purchased in 1833 from Josei)h Cresson, of Phil- 
adelphia. It contained one hundred and eleven acres. 
From time to time this acreage was reduced by sales 
made to parties who built summer residences thereon, 
some of it being disposed of to his children, whose at- 
tractive homes adorn the i)roperty. A large number 
of comfortable houses, forming the village of Chelten- 
ham, were built by Thomas Rowland and also by his 
employes. To him more than to any man the growth 
and enterprise of the place is due. At the time of his 
death, which occurred February 24, 1881, the home- 
stead contained sixty-three acres, and was purchased 
the following vear bv one of his children. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION— PIONEER PRACTI- 
TIONERS—EMINENT PHYSICIANS AND SUR- 
GEONS—MEDICAL SOCIETY. 

To obtain an abstract of what may be known con- 
cerning the medical profession of Montgomery County 
we must allow imagination to carry us back to a period 
when medicine, though advanced in years, was com- 
paratively young in scientific attainments. 

What was known of the healing art among the early 
settlers was, for the most part, traditional. The vari- 
ous diseases incident to human-kind were promptly 
met by the virtues, supposed and otherwise, of the 
.herbs found within the borders of every settlement. 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



637 



But these simple remedies, prepared, of necessity, after 
the most primitive methods, were administered with 
that contideuce in their reputed virtues that tlie medi- 
cal man of recent times would desire hestowed upon 
his most potent, active principle. 

With these early settlers the custom prevailed to 
repair periodically to the physician to be "blooded." 
This practice, performed in the spring and autumn, 
was believed to establii-h immunity from the attacks 
of diseases to which they might be subject at these 
intervals, by reason either of natural predisposition or 
climatic conditions. By way of parenthesis, it may 
be observed that the physician did not enjoy the ex- 
clusive privilege of performing this practice then in 
vogue. The barber was a competitor of no mean 
reputation; the red and white striped pole, which 
marks his shop even to the present day, is but the 
preserved relic 8f his olden-time advertisement, fash- 
ioned to represent the blood trickling down the arm 
of his willing and grateful customer. 

In these days also the midwife flourished. She 
dared to assume the responsibilities of her calling 
without entertaining the remotest idea that she was 
trespassing in a field of labor rightfully belonging to 
the physician. The time had not yet come when this 
branch of practice was considered of sufficient import- 
ance to enlist the attention of the general practitioner. 

Under these circumstances, therefore, when the 
housewife, midwife and barber possessed the (jualifi- 
cations necessary to act as adjunct doctors, the ser- 
vices of the educated physician were seldom brought 
into requisition. It was only when life was thought to 
be in imminent danger that he was summoned to tlie 
bedside. When we consider that these rare visits often 
consumed many hours of travel through the den.se 
wilderness, we can, in some measure, ajipreciatc the 
sympathy and devotion of the early physicians for 
suffering humanity. 

The first regularly-educated physician who set foot 
within our limits we infer to have been Dr. Griffith 
Owen. Drs. Thomas Wynne and Griffith Owen ac- 
companied William Penn to these shores when he 
settled at Philadelphia, and they are, therefore, re- 
garded as the pioneers of the medical profession in 
Pennsylvania, as well as of the county of which we 
were, prior to 1784, a part. 

The bodily infirmities of the settlers fiiiled to ab- 
sorb the whole time of these gentlemen, since we are 
informed that Dr. Owen spent much of his time in 
following the rounds of meetings in the neighboring 
provinces. 

It will be observed that the territory soon to become 
incorporated as Montgomery County was not destined 
to remain long without a resident physician. About 
this time Dr. Thomas Grjeme established his home 
upon the site long known as Groeme Park. 

The Grremes claim descent from William de 
Graeme, who went to Scotland on invitation of David 
I., in 1128, and whose descendant in the tenth gener- 



ation was one of the Scotch commissioners to treat 
with England in 1406 and 1411, from whom came, in 
undoubted succession, the Gr;emes of Montrose. 
Dr. Thomas Graeme was born in 1688 at Balgowan, 
the hereditary estate in Perthshire. He came to 
Pennsylvania in 1717, along with and under the 
auspices of Colonel William Keith, who had been 
apiwinted Deputy Governor of the province. He was 
by profession a physician, and is sup])0sed to have 
received his education at the University of Leyden. 
His practice was small in a society where, as we have 
seen, men who had been regularly educated in medi- 
cine, as well as law, were regarded with less favor 
than those who consulted other dictates than those to 
be found in books. To compensate this insufficient 
progress of his proterj!-. Governor Keith put him at 
the head of the naval office, much to the disgust of 
Logan, whose friend Assheton had been removed for 
this purpose, and who went so far as to intimate that 
Keith, without considering the (luestion of the merits 
of Assheton and Gneme, had appointed the latter 
from gratitude to his family for the security which he 
had enjoyed while hiding at Balgowan after the battle 
of Sherift' Muir. He was married to Miss Diggs, who 
was stepdaughter to the Governor, and this relation 
also enhanced his influence at the .seat of power in 
the province. 

The Court of Chancery was established through the 
influence of Governor Keith in 1720. In 1725, Dr. 




hi;. i.i:.i;.\ii;. 

Gramme was raised to the Council and became a 
master in Chancery. Hostile as the Assembly became 
to the Governor, the latter's subordinates came in for 
their share of odium and distrust. They complained 
of the exorbitant fees charged by the master, and even 
went so far as to accuse him of partiality. Notwith- 
standing these discouraging things, he was appointed 
in 1731 justice of the Supreme Court. The St. An- 
drew's Society, intended originally for the assistance 
of Scotchmen, was founded in 1740, and Dr. Graeme 
became its first president. He died in 1772. 

In the order of settlement within the county limit.s, 
the next physican of whom tradition furnishes an ac- 
count is Dr. Christian Frederick Martin. 



638 



HISTOliy OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



"Patriarch" Christian Frederick Martiu, a gradu- 
ate of tlie University of Berlin, emigrated to America 
in company with the patriarch of tlie Evangelical 
Lutheran Church, Rev. H. M. Muhlenberg, D.D., and 
others in 1742. It could be .said of Dr. Martin that 
he was the progenitor of " a family of doctors." Dr. 
Martin practiced at the Trappe upwards of thirty 
years, removing thence to Macungie, Lehigh Co. He 
left four sons, all physicians. Of the descendants of 
these four sons, twenty-five have been physicians, 
nineteen bearing the name of Martin. The majority 
of the descendants still living reside in Lehigh County. 
As evidence of the success attained in the practice of 
his profession, and the fame which was, in conse- 
<]uence, stamped upon the name of Martin, the fol- 
lowing brief sketch of the son and the grandsons may 
be of interest: 

Dr. George Martin, third son of Christian Fred- 
erick Martin, was born May 4, 1779, in Macungie 
township, Lehigh Co., Pa. In 1805 he removed 
to Whitpain township (a short distance below the 
village of Blue Bell), and commenced the practice of 
medicine. He removed to Whitemarsh in 1814, 
where he resided and continued the practice until 
183(1, having been one of the most successful practi- 
tioners of the county for thirty-one years. He then 
removed to Phihidelphia, where he continued the 
practice of his profession until within three or four 
years of the time of his death, which occurred on De- 
cember 8, 1862. He was buried in the cemetery of 
the Union Church of Whitemarsh on December 16, 
1862. 

There were born to Dr. George Martin three sons, 
— Frederick A., Charles and John Adam. Dr. Freder- 
ick A. Martin graduated at the University of Penn- 
sylvania in 1830. He practiced for a short time ii> 
Whitemarsh, and then removed to Coopersburg, Le- 
high Co., where he resided for some time. He 
removed from that place to Philadelphia, then to, 
Bethlehem and again to Philadelphia, where he now 
resides. 

Dr. Charles Martin graduated at the University of 
Pennsylvania in 1833. He also practiced for some 
time in Whitemarsh. In after-years he studied di- 
vinity, and is now a worthy and respected minister in 
the Lutheran Church. He resides in St. Joseph, Mo. 

Dr. John Adam Martin graduated at the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania in 1836. He at once commenced 
the practice of his profession in Whitemarsh, succeed- 
ing his father, who at that time removed to Philadel- 
phia. He continued in active practice until 1849, 
when he was smitten with the epidemic which raged 
at that time, viz., the gold fever, which was cured 
only by a visit to California by way of the " Horn." 
Returning to Whitemarsh, he resumed his practice, 
and continued in it until the fall of 1858. Dr. John 
A. Martin was a very successful practitioner, enjoying 
the confidence of his patrons in a very remarkable 
degree. After relinquishing practice in Whitemarsh 



he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Phila- 
delphia and Montgomery Counties. In the latter years 
of his life he resided and practiced medicine near 
Dover, in the State of Delaware. He died March 13, 
1872. He was buried in the cemetery of the Union 
Church, Whitemarsh, with full Masonic honors. 

In chronological order, our attention is next directed 
to Dr. Joiuithan Potts, a son of John Potts, of Potts- 
grove. In June, 1771, Dr. Jonathan Potts, with three 
other young men, was presented with the degree of 
Doctor, having received the degree of Bachelor of 
Physics from the university three years before. 

At the outbreak of the Revolution he was practicing 
medicine and also owned a drug-store in Reading, 
which he disposed of to enter the medical department 
of Washington's army. He afterwards rose to a high 
position, becoming director-general of the Northern 
Department of the army. He rendered eminent ser- 
vices, and was much esteemed by Washington. Many 
interesting papers written by Dr. Potts, now in 
possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania 
bear testimony of his eminence as a physician and his 
loyalty to the cause of American independence. 

Dr. Potts' life stood in strange contrast with that of 
his brother, John Potts, Jr., who was a Tory. His 
estate was confiscated in 1779, and he fled to Nova 
Scotia. It was sold under the Attainder Act of the 
Continental Congress, and the "Stowe" house and 
the farm, one-half mile above Pottstown, now owned 
by Lewis Richards, were purchased by Dr. Jonathan 
Potts for twenty thousand pounds. Continental money. 

A name destined to become fiimous among those of 
medical men was Dr. William Potts Dewees, born at 
Pottsgrove, Pa., May 15, 1768. He graduated at the 
University in 1789, and entered upon the practice of 
medicine at Abington. Seeking a wider field for his 
labors during the prevalence of yellow fever, he re- 
moved to Philadelphia, where he remained per- 
manently. He devoted himself especially to the 
subject of obstetrics, at that time a novel branch of 
medicine in the United States. It may be said of him 
that, with Shippen and James, he succeeded by perse- 
verance in overcoming the prejudice against the right 
of physicians to practice midwifery, and secured a 
place for this branch of science in the college curric- 
ulum. It is claimed that he was the first physician 
who had ever delivered a full course of lectures upon 
this subject. By the year 1812 he had amassed a 
fortune by these lectures. He applied for the pro- 
fessorship in the university when it was firit created, 
but was defeated by Dr. Shippen. He, however, be- 
came adjunct professor with Dr. James in 1825, and 
upon the retirement of the latter, in 1834, was chosen 
full professor of obstetrics. After holding the chair 
one year he resigned, in 1835. It is said that the im- 
portance gained for obstetrics under Dr. .Tames was 
further enhanced under Dr. Dewees. He died in 
Philadelphia May 20, 1841, aged seventy-three years. 

A name still fresh in the memory of our oldest 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSIOX. 



639 



citizens is Dr. Isaac Huddleson. His father, Henry 
Huddleson, was the son of William Huddleson, one of 
the Quakers from Yorkshire, England, who arrived 
here shortly after Penn's settlement. Dr. Isaac 
Huddleson studied medicine with Dr. Samuel Tor- 
but, of Newtown, Bucks Co., who gave him a very 
flattering certificate of qualification. 

He attended the Pennsylvania Hospital during the 
year 179:2, for which service he received the follow- 
ing certificate : 

"We, the attending m.inagers and iilij'sicians of the rennsjlvaiiid 
Hospital, do certify that Isaac Huddleson, student of medicine, of the 
County of Bucks, in the State of Pennsylvania, hath studied the prac- 
tice of the pliysicians of the said hospital for the season. .Signed : Mao- 
agere, William McMurtrie, Samuel Coates ; Physicians, Benjamin Uusli, 
M.D., James Hutchinson, M.D." 

Early in 1793, Dr. Huddleson settled in Norristown, 
and soon acquired an extensive practice, being con- 
sidered a good physician and very successful in minor 
surgical and obstetrical operations. 

His name appears in 1796 as one of the original 
corporators of the Norristown Library Company. He 
was married, in 1799, to Martha Gray Thomson. 
Shortly after his marriage he purchased a lot and 
erected a dwelling and office upon it, on the south 
side of Main Street, above Green, where they lived a 
number of years. Some years later he sold his prop- 
erty, and built or purchased another at the southwest 
corner of Main and Cherry Streets, where he resided 
till his death, March 5, 1852. As the doctor advanced 
in years he sought relief from the labors of out-door 
practice by opening an apothecary shop, which he 
kept till age admonished him to retire from business. 

Dr. Huddleson was a careful, successful surgeon, 
and so placid and kindly in disposition that he prob- 
ably never hatl an enemy in his life. Dr. Huddleson 
left one son. Dr. John T. Huddleson, who, after 
practicing a few years in Norristown, removed to 
Thornbury, Delaware Co., where he has attained 
considerable eminence in the practice of his profes- 
sion. 

Contemporaneous with Dr. Huddleson may be 
mentioned the names of two prominent physicians, 
— Dr. George W. Thomas and Dr. George Thomas. 

Dr. George W. Thomas had quite an extensive prac- 
tice in 1828, and was frequently called on as con- 
sultant. In disposition he was unusually mild and 
gentle. He and Dr. Huddleson were the only prac- 
titioners in Norristown in 1831. These two, being ad- 
vanced in years, felt the need of a younger physician 
to relieve them of some of the hard and unprofitable 
work. About this time Dr. William Corson located 
in Norristown, and being then young, vigorous and 
ambitious, he became a valuable co-laborer iu this 
work. They thus mutually served each other, aud 
during the lives of Drs. Huddleson and Thomas there 
was the fullest confidence and harmony among the 
three physicians of the town. One of Dr. Thomas' 
daughters married Dr. Washington G. Nugent; the 
other was married to Dr. Gilbert Rodman McCoy, of 



Doylestown, Pa., where he practiced many years. He 
died about six years ago, leaving a wife and some 
children. One of his daughters is married to Judge 
Watson, of Bucks Count)'. Both the daughters of 
Dr. Thomas are living. He died of malignant 
erysipelas during the time when it prevailed as an 
epidemic, about thirty years ago. 

Dr. George Thomas, of Upper Dublin township, 
practiced in this vicinity from 1800 to 1830. He was 
of Quaker origin, and though eminently successful 
as a practitioner, yet tradition credits him with many 
peculiarities. He generally walked when practicing, 
though good horses stood in his stable. He wore his 
hair long and a beard when beards were rarely seen. 
He died about 1840. 

The beginning of the present century marks the 
arrival of several physicians, who became more or less 
prominent. Among these may be mentioned Dr. 
John Jones, who, in 1802, located iu Horsham, about 
one mile from the Three Tons tavern. He continued 
in practice through Gwynedd, Montgomery, Horsham, 
Abington, Whitpain and Whitemarsh townships for 
forty-three years. He left a son, Joshua Y. Jones, 
who graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 
1830, aud who assumed the practice of his father 
through the same region. Iu 1845 he was appointed 
by Governor Shunk, Lazaretto physician. In 1852 
he was elected to the Senate for three years. In 1876 
Congress appointed him one of the Centennial com- 
missioners for the State of Pennsylvania. It may be 
related in this connection that a daughter of Dr. 
Joshua Jones is the wife of Dr. F. S. Wilson, who 
practiced in the same locality until honored with the 
appointment under Governor Pattison that his father- 
in-law bad received under Governor Shunk. 

In May, 1802, Dr. Gove Mitchell began the practice 
of medicine in the lower part of the village of" Crooked 
Billet," now Hatboro'. In 1804 he bought the pro- 
perty of Dr. Hart, where he passed the remainder of 
his life in the labors of his profession. He was an 
honorary member of the Montgomery County Medical 
Society at the time of his death. 

Dr. Joseph Meredith, who studied medicine with 
his uncle. Dr. Hugh Meredith, a celebrated physician 
of the upper part of Bucks County, began the practice 
of medicine at or near North Wales village about 1802. 
His practice included the whole district of Gwynedd, 
Montgomery, Hatfield, Franconia,Towamcncin, Wor- 
cester and Whitpain townships. There is no record 
of a practitioner of any kind in all that territory, with 
the exception, perhaps, of Dr. Silas Hough, who, about 
the same time, practiced for a few years in the upper 
part of Montgomery or New Britain township. He 
afterwards abandoned the profession and became a 
minister, being pastor for many years of the Mont- 
gomery Baptist Church. 

With passing notice of Dr. McLean, who practiced 
through Horsham, Upper Dublin and Whitemarsh 
townships at the time of the Revolution, and lost his 



640 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



life while crossing the Wissahickon ; Dr. Charles 
Moore, who practiced at an uncertain period at Mont- 
gomery Square; Dr. Bacheldor, who practiced at Hat- 
boro' on foot and in the vicinity when the patient 
furnished the conveyance ; Dr. Amos Griffiith, who, 
during ten or twelve years, established a practice at 
North Wales, which he afterwards abandoned for 
agriculture; and Dr. Philip Haliii, who administered 
to the relief of the sick from Trappe to the northern 
section of the county, we pass to the consideration of 
men who practiced at a more recent period. 

Samuel Garti.ey, M.D., was born in the city of 
Philadelphia in the year 1779. His father, John 
Gartley, was a classical scholar, having been a grad- 
uate of the University of Edinburgh. He graduated 
from the University of Pennsylvania in 1801. Soon 
after receiving his dijiloma he was appointed surgeon 
on the ship "Ganges," an East Indiaman, which at 
that time, in consequence of the constant war in 
Europe, shipped what was called "a fighting crew." 
Dr. Gartley returned from China in 1S03 and located 
in Norristown. In 1807 he married Sarah Potts, who 
was the daughter of Thomas and Abigail' Potts, he 
holding at that time the office of register and recorder 
at Norristown, under the appointment of Governor 
McKean. 

In 1809, two years after her marriage, Sarah Gart- 
ley, the wife of Dr. Gartley, died. Some time after- 
wards he married Catharine M. Potts, a sister of his 
first wife, and he continued to reside here, having a 
widely-extended practice for many miles around Nor- 
ristown. 

Having had two years' experience on shipboard 
and abroad. Dr. Gartley was esteemed a very skillful 
physician, and was often called into consultation by 
other practitioners in Jlontgomery, Bucks and Chester 
Counties. He was, besides, during the war of 1812, 
appointed a local examiner of soldiers as to their 
fitness for service in the army. He died in his forty- 
fifth year, in 1824. Dr. Gartley was a member of the 
Episcopal Church, and is buried in Swedes' Ford 
Cemetery. 

Samuel Freedley, M.D. — Henry Freedley, the 
father of Dr. Freedley, who was of German extraction, 
resided in his natis-e State of Pennsylvania during his 
lifetime. He early removed to Springtown, Mont- 
gomery Co., having married Catherine Isett, who was 
descended from Pennsylvania German stock. He 
subsequently purchased the farm now owned by his 
son Samuel, and three years later removed to Norris- 
town, where he remained until his death, which 
occurred in Pottstown in October, 1823. Thechildren 
of Mr. and Jlrs. Freedley are Mary (Mrs. Richard 
Davis), Elizabeth (Mrs. George Printz), Henry (mar- 
ried to Sophia Kline), Susan (Mrs. Sanjuel Jacoby), 
Jacob' (married to Susan Jacoby), John, Catherine 
(Mrs. Matthew Neeley ) and Samuel. The last-ntaied, 

1 Tht iliiughtLT of Colonel 8.1111110! Miles, of the Continental army. 



and subject of this biographical sketch, was born 
February 2, 1799, on the farm which is his present 
home, and at the age of three years removed to Nor- 
ristown. He received a classical education, and in 
1819 entered the office of Dr. Samuel Gartley as a 
student of medicine, graduating from the Medical De- 
partment of the University of Pennsylvania in 1821. 
Dr. Freedley, preferring a large city as a field of 
operations, at once located in Philadelphia, which has 
been the scene of a protracted professional career. 
The doctor, after a large experience, found that the 
many cases coming under his observation required 
more specific remedies than were adopted by the old 
school of i)ractice, and in 18813 embraced homoeop- 
athy, which he has since made a specialty. He has 
been actively engaged since that date in professional 
labors, and at the present time responds to all demands 
upon his skill as the oldest practitioner in the city. 
He has never joined the medical societies of the 
State or county, but has contributed to the medical 
journals and written comprehensively upon the treat- 
ment of diphtheria, in which he has met with signal 
success. He still enjoys a lucrative office practice, and 
is able to bring to his aid an experience of sixty-four 
years as a physician. Dr. Freedley was first married 
in 180(5, to Mrs. Anna Elizabeth Hoeckly, daughter 
of Armand Davis, of Philadelphia. He was a second 
time married, in 1880, to Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Blodget. 
He has been either a Whig or Republican in his 
political convictions, but never active in the field of 
politics. He is a Lutheran in his religious belief, and 
a member of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 
on Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia. Dr. Freedley 
having, by purchase, about 1849, secured possession of 
the homestead farm in Plymouth, has made it his 
residence, though continuing his practice in Phila- 
delphia. 

RoBEliT J. DoDi), M.D. .late of Lower Merion town- 
ship, was born in Philadelphia April .5, 1809. At a 
very early age he commenced the study of medicine 
and surgery in his native city, under Dr. George 
McClellan (father of Major-General McClellan), and 
so rapidly did he acquire proficiency in the science 
that when he was but a little more than seventeen years 
of age he passed the requisite examination to become 
an assistant surgeon in the United States navy, and 
received the appointment, dating from May 29, 1826. 
His first service at sea was on board the armed 
schooner " Shark," on a cruise in the Caribbean Sea 
and along the Spani.sh Main in search of pirates. In 
March, 1S31, he was graduated at Jefl'erson Medical 
College, Philadelphia, and, after a successful ex- 
amination before the naval board of surgeons, was 
promoted to the full grade of surgeon in the United 
States navy, his commission dating from April 4, 
1831, and being signed by President Andrew Jackson. 

From that time, for more than sixteen years, he 
continued on active duty, the greater part of the time 
afloat, his last cruise being completed in July, 1847, 




y//^yyU^^/.i^ y'/^^^L£^__ 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



641 



he having then been in the navy more than twenty- 
one years, of which (as shown by the navy register) 
twelve years and nine months had been spent in sea- 
service. During that time he had circumnavigated 
the globe three or four times; had been present in 
China when certain ports of that country were opened 
and made free by the power of the British navy: had 
been several times prostrated by attacks of yellow 
fever, and once by the peculiarly malignant disease 
known as African fever, from the effects of which he 
never fully recovered. In the Mexican war he was on 
duty in the Gulf Squadron, and on the occasion of 
General Taylor's advance into the interior, from Cor- 



ment, and contributed most liberally of his means in 
aid of the Union cause. He gave with a free hand 
to the support of the families of volunteers who en- 
tered the military service, furnishing almost the en- 
tire means of subsistence to many women and 
children whose husbands and fathers were in the field 
or prisoners of war in the South. And it was not 
:iIone in the dark time of the great civil war that his 
charity and benevolence were exhibited ; they were his 
life-long characteristics, and the poor who were within 
his knowledge always found in him a friend and a 
liberal benefactor. 
On the 3d of March, 1871, Dr. Dodd was promoted 



I 







pus Christi, he was one of a force of live hundred vol- 
unteers — officers and men of the naval and marine 
services — who held the army's rear communications 
and base of supplies. 

Immediately after the expiration of his last cruise, 
in 1847, Dr. Dodd was placed in charge of the Naval 
Asylum at Philadelphia, where he remained on duty 
several years. Afterwards he became a permanent 
resident in Lower Merion township, living on the fine 
estate which he had previously purchased, and on 
which, in 1850, he built the commodious mansion-house 
which is now occupied by his son. In the war of the 
Rebellion, though not employed in active service, he 
was an ardent and steadfast supporter of the govcrn- 
41 



to the grade of medical director in the navy on the 
retired list, his commission being signed by President 
Grant and Secretary Robeson. He died at his home 
in Lower Merion township on the 4th of February, 
1876, having been nearly a half-century in the 
active and retired naval service, and having risen 
through the different grades to the relative rank of 
commodore. 

Dr. Dodd was married, in 1825, to Ann Sweeney, of 
Philadelphia, who died in the early part of 1827, leas 
than two years after their marriage. In 1848 he mar- 
ried Hannah Matilda, daughter of Josiah Bradlee, of 
Boston, Mass. She had no children, and died in 1871. 
The only child of Dr. Dodd was by his first marriage, 



642 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



— a son, Robert J. Dodd, Jr., who is now living on the ! 
homestead estate in Lower Merion, where his father 
spent the years of his retirement until the close of I 
his life. 

Dr. Robert J. Dodd, .Jr., son of Dr. Robert J. aud 
Ann Dodd, was born in Philadelphia; studied medi- 
cine in that city with Dr. John McClcllan (son of Dr. 
George andj brother of the general), and was grad- 
uated at Jefferson Medical College in 1848. In the 
same year he was married to Mary Markley Ghriskey, i 
a descendant of Jacob Markley, one of the early ! 
(1722) settlers of Montgomery County. Dr. Dodd ' 
commenced practice in western Virginia, where he 



homestead, and adjacent property, amounting to 
about one hundred and forty-four acres, all situated 
in and contiguous to, the valley of Mill Creek. 

Jacob Knipe, M.D. — Dr. Knipe is of German ex- 
traction, his father, David Knipe, having been a resi- 
dent of Gwynedd township, where he was actively 
engaged in farming. He married Mary Raker, whose 
children were John, David, Hannah (Mrs. William 
Burney), Conrad, Catherine (Mrs. John B. Johnson), 
Daniel, Eliza (Mrs. Chester Clark), Jacob and Wil- 
liam. Jacob Knipe was born on the 12th of Septem- 
ber, 1804, in Gwynedd township, and spent his youth 
at the homestead, having been left fatherless when 




^a^-iC^i^Y^ 



remained but a short time, then removed to Kentucky, 
and practiced there more than nine years. In 1858 
he removed thence to Rock Island County, III., where 
he practiced until 1861, when he returned to his native 
city, but did not locate in practice there. From Phila- 
delphia he removed to the State of Delaware, where 
he practiced twelve years. In 1876, after the death 
of his father (of whose will he had been appointed sole 
executor), it became necessary for him to remove to 
the homestead in Lower Merion, in order to give his 
personal attention to the settlement of the estate. He 
still continues to reside there, intending to remain 
until he is able, in pursuance of the terms of the will, 
to dispose of the real estate, which embraces the 



but two years of age. His education was received at 
the common schools near his home and in Philadel- 
phia, after which he entered the office of his brother- 
in-law, Dr. Chester Clark, of Schultzville, Berks Co., 
with a view to the study of medicine, and subsequently 
became a student in the Medical Department of the 
University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated 
in 1828. He was for a brief period settled at Siegers- 
ville, Lehigh Co., and later at Schultzville, from 
which point, after a residence of two years, he re- 
moved to Swamp, New Hanover township, and estab- 
lished a successful practice, which was continued 
uninterruptedly for forty years. This long term of 
professional labor, much of it covering an extended 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



643 



field and recjuiring long rides, induced Dr. Knipe, in 
1867, to seek a period of rest, and retiring from the 
active work of the profession, his practice was trans- 
ferred to his younger son. The doctor was married, . 
on the 30th of October, 1828, to Miss Rachel, daughter 
of David Evans, of Hatfield township, JMontgomerj' 
<J!o. Their children are David E., deceased ; Mary A. ; 
Francis M., who graduated from the Jefferson Medical 
College and is practicing in Frederick township, 
Montgomery Co. ; Sallie J., deceased (Mrs. A. K. 
Whitner) ; Jacob O., a practicing physician in Norris- 
town ; Hannah E., deceased ; Septimus A., a graduate 



30th of October, 1878, the fiftieth anniversary of their 
marriage, on which occasion many relatives and 
friends from adjacent portions of the county and 
State assembled to offer their congratulations. The 
death of Dr. Jacob Knipe occurred in August, 1883, 
in his seventy-ninth year. 

Hiram Coesox, M.D.,' the fifth son of Joseph and 
Hannah Corson, was born in Plymouth township, 
Montgomery Co., October 8, 1804. His mother's 
death, at the age of forty, left him, a small boy, to the 
care of a father immersed in business, but mainly to 
two elder sisters, Mary and Sarah, the former of whom 




of Jefferson Medical College, who is engaged in prac- 
tice at Swamp ; Rachel A. ; and Conrad M., deceased. 
Dr. Knipe was in politics always a Democrat, but 
rarely participated actively in matters of a political 
character. His son, Dr. Francis M., represented his 
district for four years in the State Legislature. The 
subject of this sketch was actively identified with 
public enterprises in the township and county, and until 
his resignation of the office was president of the Lim- 
erick and Colebrookdale Turnpike Company. He was 
identified by membership with the Lutheran Church 
at Swamp. Dr. and Mrs. Knipe celebrated on the 



afterwards married Thomas Adamson, and the latter 
Thomas Read. Having a much older brother (Alan) 
who soon after engaged in teaching, these younger 
ones had the best opportunity, short of a collegiate 
course, of receiving a good academic education. Dr. 
Corson is one, however, whom phrenologists charac- 
terize as a natural scholar, — a person measurably inde- 
pendent of schools. Such men do not so much reason 
after the manner of mathematicians as grasp by per- 
ceptive analysis or intuition whatever comes within 

1 For a sketch of the Corson family, see " Plymouth Township." 



G44 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the purview of their minds. This is, perhaps, the 
happiest of all faculties for the physician to possess, 
inasmuch as he must often act on the .spur of the 
niomeut, with little time for reflection. With the 
quick critical gifts described it was natural that Hiram 
Corson's attention should have been drawn to medicine 
as a profession. Accordingly, when twenty-two years 
of age, he entered the oflice of Dr. Richard D. Corson, of 
New Hope, Bucks Co., in 1826, and in March, 1828, 
graduated at the University of Pennsylvania. Soon 
after he erected a residence near Plymouth Friends' 
Meeting, where he has since resided, and for more 
than half a century enjoyed an e.xceptionally large 
practice. The life of Dr. Corson has been so busy, and 
his contributions to medical science and social prog- 
ress so varied, that it is difficult to characterize his 
career. No sooner had he begun his professional 
routine than he perceived the terrible devastation 
produced by alcoholic liquors, so universally used as a 
beverage, and so greatly aggravated by the then com- 
mon prescription of them by physicians in their 
practice. With the decision of a quick mind and 
the cool intrepidity of a hero, he threw himself against 
the whole system. He soon discovered also in his 
own experience that in most cases patients recover 
more rapidly without their use, and he thenceforth 
almost banished them from his materia medica. Not 
only did he boldly take this ground in the face 
of the pecuniary gains to the fraternity by their use, 
but entered into the moral discussion which arose 
a few years later, and on all proper occasions made 
vehement speeches against the practice of drinking 
those liquors. He was among the first to detect and 
denounce the insidious nature and dangerous use of 
root-beer and other weak fermented drinks to reformed 
inebriates during the Washingtonian movement. He 
was not only the champion of temperance at home, 
but frequently introduced the subject at the meetings 
of the State and national medical societies. It is 
proper to add, however, that without changing his 
views on this question, he has given the work into 
younger hands. Dr. Corson's observation soon con- 
vinced him that the custom, then widely prevalent, of 
employing hot drinks alone in eruptive diseases, and 
denying patients the cooling draughts of water, so 
much craved, was not justified by experience. Ac- 
cordingly, he conformed his practice to these views, 
and, without pretending to found a new school, has, 
nevertheless, effected a widely-e.xtended reform in such 
cases, his brethren generally yielding to the correct- 
ness of his observations and theory. In the mean time 
there have been few, if any, additions to medical sci- 
ence or discussions growing out of its theory in which 
he has not participated. 

There are no medical men in the country better 
known by their occasional writings than Dr. Corson, 
all his papers being characterized by keen, intuitive 
perception of truth. Close observation and common- 
sense, enlightened by professional experience added 



to science, have been his striking characteristics in all 
his labors. He was active in the organization of the 
Montgomery County Medical Society, and has read 
before it a number of valuable papers. He, with his 
brother William, was active in forming the State 
Medical Society, of which he was president in 1852. 
But zeal in the pursuit of his profession, together with 
an extensive practice and the care of a large family, 
did not so far absorb his mind as to prevent his ;dso 
having great interest in State and national affairs. 
Though not an active politician, he has been all his 
life a Whig and Republican, taking especial interest 
in the cause of the down-trodden slave. As in the 
case of temperance, he was outspoken from the first 
against the iniquity and unwise policy of maintaining- 
the slave-holding system. In matters of humanity, 
public charities or social abuses his keen, critical and 
trenchant pen is frequently employed, nearly always 
enlightening the public mind upon some matter un- 
observed by others. Dr. Corson, notwithstanding his 
radical views on most reform subjects, has been fre- 
quently honored by medical societies and the profes- 
sion at large. He was among the first physicians to 
open the profession to the female sex, putting forward 
his niece, Miss Anderson, and giving her the benefit 
of his name and reputation to secure an education. 
He has been for many years a member of the American 
Medical Association. A list of the various societies 
and associations of which he has been elected associate 
member, together with the titles of some of his many 
valuable papers read and published, will be found 
elsewhere in this volume. He is the author of various 
papers on scarlet fever and diphtheria, and the origin- 
ator of the ice-treatment, which has proved so efficient 
in those diseases, and which is now in general use 
throughout the United States. His writings, though 
numerous and even voluminous, have often been ac- 
complished in hours snatched from rest, in order that 
his brethren might have the benefit of his large expe- 
rience. Some years ago Governor Hartranft, knowing 
Dr. Corson's familiarity with the advanced knowledge 
of the profession in the treatment of lunatics, appointed 
him a trustee of the State Hospital for the Insane, at 
Harrisburg. The State Board of Charities also ap- 
pointed him one of the visitors to the Montgomery 
County prison and almshouse. Without any official 
connection with the Eastern Asylum for the Insane, 
recently built, he was, nevertheless, influential, by his 
writings and oral advice, in securing the wise arrange- 
ments for the humane safe-keeping of its inmates. 
Dr. Corson has kept abreast with the most enlightened 
views prevailing in England and on the Continent, 
and for a long time has deprecated the prison feature 
in treating the insane. Some years ago he uncovered 
to the public eye the gross neglect of the demented 
poor in our almshouses, securing thereby a reform of 
the same. 

Soon after commencing practice Dr. Corson married 
Ann Jones, daughter of Edward and Taey Foulke. 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



645 



Their eldest son, Edward Foulke, born October 14) 
1834, studied medicine with his father, graduated at 
the university, and began practice at Conshohocken. 
He afterward obtained the post of assistant surgeon 
on board the United States ship " Hartford," and spent 
three years on a cruise in Asiatic waters. He was, 
(luring the Rebellion, made full surgeon, and stationed 
at the Marine Hospital, Philadelphia. On applica- 
tion, he was later assigned to the ship " Mohican," which 
for eighteen months scoured the seas for the rebel 
vessel " Alabama," and returned without the loss of a 
single man by illness. He returned broken in health, 
and died, after an illness of a few weeks, June 22, 181)4, 
in his thirtieth year, greatly mourned as a young man 
of much promise. The second son, Joseph K. Corson, 
born November 22, 1836, entered upon the business of 
a druggist, and on graduating in the College of Phar- 
macy, Philadelphia, returned home. He enlisted in 
■Captain Walter H. Cooke's company, Colonel Hart- 
ran ft's regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, as a private, 
and served until the company was ordered to the 
rear to be mustered out on the eve of the battle of 
Bull Run, being one of the few who offered to remain 
in service and participate in the disastrous conflict. 
On his return home he began the study of medicine 
with his father, attended medical lectures and at the 
same time entered the Military Hospital, corner of 
Broad and Cherry Streets, Philadelphia, as assistant 
to the surgeons. On graduation he was sent to the 
seatof warassurgeon'sassistantin oneof the regiments 
oftiie Pennsylvania Reserves. He participated in the 
battle of Gettysburg and most of the battles of the 
Wilderness, ending at Cold Harbor, where he was re- 
lieved. He for a brief time assisted his father, but 
eventually applied for a position in the army, and was 
assigned to duty on the lines between Omaha and 
PortBridger, Wyoming Territory, and other posts in 
the far West. While on the plains he made long 
journeys in search of fossils, and was fortunate in dis- 
covering the remains of many extinct animals. He is 
still pursuing the scientific explorations. He is married 
to Ada, daughter of Judge William Carter, of that 
territory. The third child of Dr. Corson, was Caroline, 
born April 2, 1839, who died of consumption after 
receivijig a superior education. The fourth is Tacy 
Foulke, married to William L. Cresson of Xorristown. 
Charles Follen, the fifth child, was entered and 
graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, after 
which he studied law under William Henry Rawle, of 
Philadelphia, and has since been actively engaged in 
his profession in that city. For some years he has 
been a member of the law-firm of Goforth & Corson. 
He was married, in 187G, to Mary, daughter of Lewis 
A Lukens, of Conshohockeu. The sixth child is 
Susan F., married to .Tawood Lukens, of the firm of 
Alan Wood & Co., iron manufacturers of (!onsho- 
hocken. The seventh is Bertha, wife of James Yocum, 
■of Philadelphia. The eighth child, Frances Stockton, 
married Richard Dav, of the firm of Dav Brothers, 



Philadelphia. The youngest child, Mary, resideswith 
her parents at Maple Hill, their home. 

De. William Corsox.' — The youngest of the 
children of Joseph and Hannah Corson was born 
August 8, 1806. Though losing, his mother at the 
early age of four years, he, under the guidance of his 
sisters, became impressed in early boyhood with tbose 
humane feelings and with those literary cravings 
which so distinguished them, so that when he grew 
to adult age he shared with the whole family the 
hostility to slavery which they have ever since so 
strongly manifested. He studied medicine with his 
brother Hiram, and graduated at the University of 
Pennsylvania in the spring of 1831, in the same class 
with Dr. Henry D. W. Pawling. It was a singular 
circumstance that the latter, whose family was one of 
the most influential of those long resident in Norris- 
town, immediately on graduation moved away from 
Norristown to the Chester Valley, at the King of 
Prussia, to practice, and Dr. Corson moved to Nor- 
ristown to embark in his profession. 

At that time the town and region for miles 
around was supplied by Drs. Isaac Huddleson, an aged 
man. and George W. Thomas, then past the prime of 
life. These two physicians were pleased to have 
yiiung Corson (with whose father they were well ac- 
quainted) to aid them in attend.ance and in some of 
the work at night, when it was necessary to go miles 
away. 

To him this opportunity for practice was a welcome 
one, and led him directly into a business which soon 
employed his whole time During the lives of these 
two physicians the most cordial friendship existed 
among the three friends and fellow-laborers. Upon 
the death of Dr. Thomas, who survived Dr. Huddle- 
son several years. Dr. Corson, who had already been 
for years engaged in a most extensive practice, was 
the acknowledged head of the profession there, and 
has so continued ever since. During fifty-three years 
he has bestowed his skill and labor on all classes of 
society, never once refusing aid to the poorest or most 
depraved when it was in his power to help them. Fee 
or reward was the last consideration with him. His 
conscientiousness was great, his humanity and be- 
nevolence boundless. No other man in Montgomery 
Ciuinty has ever had so large a practice during so 
long a period of time. His great experience caused 
his neighboring physicians all through the county to 
seek his advice and skill in their difficult cases, and 
they continue to do so even to the present time. Sen- 
sitive almost to a fault, he has, except rarely, avoided 
communicating his e.xperience in the treatment of 
iliseases and his skill in surgery to the profession 
through medical journals, but has taken an active 
part in all discussions of medical subjects in our 
medical society. 



1 S«e sketch of Ci»i-s<jii fiiiiiily at liciae of chapter on Plymouth town- 



646 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



A great many young men have received instruction 
from him as students in his office, and liave grad- 
uated honorably at the University of Pennsylvaniii. 
To tlie young men of the profession who care- 
fiiDy observed the code of ethics he has been the 
ever-ready friend and helper with heart, hand and 
purse. 

Botany was a favorite pursuit with him, and in 
the intervals snatched from the labor of practice and 
the study needed for it made much progress in that 
branch of study, so congenial to the male as well as 
female members of the family. 



in front of his office, in the dusk of a coming night, he 
felt a tap on the shoulder, and, looking around, was 
confronted by the face of old Dan Ross. In a whisper 
he said : " We want a little money ; the Gorsuch men 
and women are in my house ; we want teams to send 
them on to Canada. 'Doc' Corson, .lake Beding, 
Isaac Roberts and Larry have given some." Ai» 
hour later, on the commons where now stands what 
was the Bush Institute,'^the fugitives departed, on the 
brightest of moonlight nights, for Bucks County, and 
in a few days were in Canada. How vividly are re- 
called the scenes and incidents of those cruel times 




There was no more decided, outspoken anti-slavery 
person in the family than he was. In times when fugi- 
tives were fleeing, as best they could, he was ever ready 
to aid, and when Abolitionists were cursed, threatened 
and slandered, he openly avowed himself When the 
houseofold Dan Ross was filled with "runaway '' men, 
women and children (as many as sixteen sometimes 
lying on the floor of a night), himself, Isaac Roberts, 
Larry Corson and some others were always ready to 
furnish food and clothing and hold the secrets of the 
fugitives; not one having been taken back by the 
master. As Dr. Hiram Corson stood on the pavement 



The case of poor Charles Brice, with his family of 
seven or eight little children, frightened from their 
home at Sandy Hill (Guinea Town) by the passage 
of the Fugitive Slave Bill, and compelled to give up 
the home which they had paid for to flee to Canada 
for safety. Other cases, too, there were of which much 
might be written, but want of space forbids. This 
would all be quite irrelevant were it not that he of whom 
this is written was so intimately .issociated with all 
these scenes and trials, "all of which he knew and 
part of which he was," that they seem inseparable 
from his history. Through all the long anti-slavery 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



G47 



crusade, in the face of friend and foe, he boldly advo- 
cated the right of all men to freedom alike. 

Mr. Aiige, in his biography, says of him : " During 
the late war Dr. Corson was appointed by Dr. Henry 
11. Smith, surgeon-general of the State of Pennsyl- 
vania, in connection with Professor Traill Green, M.D., 
(if Easton, and Dr. Wilmer Worthington, of West 
Chester, a member of his board, to examine those 
physicians who desired to accompany our regiment 
to the field as surgeons and assistant surgeons." It 
has been well said that no State in the Union had a 
more competent board of examiners, — all men of long 
and successful experience in surgery and the practice 
of medicine. The board convened at Harrisburg, and 
performed its work under a deep sense of the great 
responsibilities involved in selecting persons to attend 
to the medical and surgical needs of our sick and 
wounded soldiers. " Subsequently he was appointed to 
fill the position of examining surgeon, or medical offi- 
cer, of the Sixth District during the drafts. This was a 
pdstof great responsibility, demanding good judgment, 
medical experience and high moral courage. Since the 
conclusion of the war he was appointed examining 
surgeon under the pension laws of the United States, 
a position which he still holds. 

"A few years since he was appointed, in connection 
with General James A. Beaver and Dr. John Curwen, 
one of the commissioners to superintend the build- 
ing of a large hospital for the insane at Warren, Pa.'' 
This involved a sacrifice of much time and attention, 
but the completeness of that great structure and its 
adaptedness to the needs of the inmates testify to the 
ability and honesty of the commission. 

Dr. C(>r.son is still engaged in his profession, — a stal- 
wart and active man, fuU of mental and moral energy, 
and as prompt as ever to succor the poor and suffering. 

Dit. Benjamin Johnson was born May 30, 1787, 
in Quakertown, Bucks Co., Pa. He graduated from 
the Medical Department of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania in 1809. He located at Pottstown, and was a|i- 
pointed regimental surgeon towards the close of the 
war of 1812, and served three months while the regi- 
ment was stationed at Marcus Hook. After peace was 
declared he returned to Pottstown and practiced till 
1818. _ ,\bout this time he married Sarah Jones, of 
this place. He then practiced successively two years 
in Long Swamp, Berks Co. ; ten years at Sumney- 
town; five years at Philadelphia, and finally returned 
to Norristown in 1836, where he continued in active 
practice until his eyesight failed, in 1861. During a 
portion of this time he filled the office of clerk of 
courts, continuing also in practice. He was a man of 
great energy and noted as possessing a remarkable 
memory. He died January 17, 1870, in his eighty- 
third year. 

Dr. Joseph Leedom was born in Northampton, 
Bucks Co., August, 1769. He was the son of Richard 
and Sarah Leedom, members of the Society of Friends. 
He received a classical education at Rhode Ishuul 



College (now Brown University). After leaving the 
university he entered as a law-student with Mr. 
Ingersoll, at that time a prominent lawyer of Phila- 
delphia. The profession of law not being to his taste, 
he abandoned it for that of medicine. At first he 
studied with Dr. Fenton, of Bucks County, and subse- 
quently with Dr. Benjamin Rush, attending lectures 
at the University of Pennsylvania. He commenced 
the practice of medicine in Sussex County, N. J., but 
on account of the country being wild and sparsely 
settled, he moved to Pennsylvania, settling at Plym- 
outh Meeting in 1803. While a resident of New 
Jersey he married Eleanor Conover, an estimable and 
accomplished lady. After settling at Plymouth he 
continued the practice of his profession until his 
death, a period of forty years. He was considered a 
skillful physician, and had an extensive practice 
throughout the county. At that time Conshohockeii 
was a village of about half a dozen houses. As many 
of his patients lived on the other side of the river, 
throughout Lower Merion, he found it necessary to 
ford the river at all times and seasons. His skill in 
the treatment of fevers, so prevalent at that time, was 
well known and highly appreciated. 

Edwin Conover Leedom, M.D., son of Dr. Joseph 
Leedom, is descended from a family of Quakers on 
tlie paternal, and of Hollanders on the maternal side. 
Dr. Joseph Leedom was the son of Richard Leedom, 
of Bucks County, Pa., and his mother, Eleanor, the 
daughter of Peter Conover (Covenhoven in the lan- 
guage of Holland), of Monnioutli County, N. J. The 
doctor was born on the 20th of December, 1805, in 
Plymouth township, Jlontgomcry Co., Pa. After a 
thorough primary training he received a classical 
education, and on its completion entered upon his 
career as a student of medicine, and graduated from 
the Medical Department of the University of Penn- 
sylvania. He at once located in Plymouth, and has 
for a period of nearly half a century pursued his pro- 
fession successfully in the field made familiar by the 
footsteps of his father, who preceded him in practice. 

Dr. Leedom has for many years been a valued 
contributor to various journals, having written on 
mechanics, natural philosophy and medicine. He 
published two papers in SiUiman's American Journal 
of Science and Art, entitled "An Astronomical Ma- 
chine: the Tellurium," and "Experiments and Ob- 
servations on the Solar Rays." In the American 
Journal of the Medical Sciences were likewise two 
papers on "The Structure of the Eye Examined in 
Connection with the Undulatory Theory of Light," 
and "Night Blindness Successfully Treated." He has 
also now- in readiness for the press a work entitled 
"Enquiries concerning the Origin and Destiny of 
Man." In early life he manifested a great fondness 
for astronomy, and constructed several machines which 
elucidated the movements of the heavenly bodies, the 
"Tellurium," among them, having already been re- 
ferred to. Dr. Leedom is a member of the Montgomery 



648 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



County Medical Society, of which organization he has 
been president. He was, in 1848, married to Susan, 
daughter of Peter Lukens, of the same neighborhood, 
and a member of the Society of Friends. They have 
five sons, of whom Oscar, viho graduated from tlie 
Medical Department of the University of Pennsylva- 
nia, has succeeded his father in practice. Joseph, 
who graduated from the Law Department of the same 
university, is pursuing his profession in Philadelphia. 
Daniel M. graduated !is a mining engineer from the 
Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania, and Howard 
and Franklin are engaged in other pursuits. 



and Wistar were professors therein. He graduated 
and commenced practice in the spring of 1812, at 
Skippackville, and followed it continuously there 
until 1844, when his son James had finished his 
medical education and entered into partnership with 
him. James, the elder, however, practiced at times as 
long as he lived. In all those thirty-two years or 
more he had a very laborious practice, extending 
largely over the townships of Perkiomen, parts of 
Upper and Lower Providence, Lower Salford, Lim- 
erick, Frederick, Franconia, Towamencin, Hatfield, 
Worcester and Norriton, covering an area, perhaps, of 




>i 







IHr»P 



<y cZn^^e-eCe-^y 



Dr. Antrim Foulke studied medicine with Dr. 
Green, of Quakertown, Bucks Co. In 181(5 he began 
practice at Gwynedd, in partnership with Dr. Joseph 
Meredith. After practicing for some time in this 
pl.acehe removed to Philadel]ihia, leaving his practice 
at G-wynedd to his son. Dr. John Lancaster Foulke, 
one of the five originators of the County Medical : 
Society in 1847. A few years later he also removed to 
Philadelphia. 

Dr. James H.vmer v/as born on the old homestead, 
in Lower Providence townshi]i, on March 3, 1781. 
After receiving a good education he engaged for a 
time in teaching. He next commenced the study of 
medicine with Dr. Griffith, of Bucks County, attend- 
ing lectures at the medical university when Drs. Rual 



a hundred square miles. He was largely engaged in 
midwifery practice, recording the births as they oc- 
curred, which aggregated near two thousand cases. 
Some years as high as eighty-nine were registered, 
and occasionally as many as two or three a day. Dr. 
Hamer never till late in life abandoned the more 
robust habit of making his professional visits on 
l)orseback, instead of the light carriage, which prevails 
now. He managed to train his horses so that they 
would keep the path and avoid accidents even on the 
darkest nights, when he could not see the w.ay him- 
self. During the prevalence of the ague, or malarial 
epoch, from 1820 to 1830, he also suffered at times 
from the " shakes," and has been known to dismount 
for a short time while the chill lasted, lie down a 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



649 



while, and then start on his round again. His habit ! 
was to leave a memorandum at home of the route he 
meant to take, and as subsequent callers often pursued 
him with professional summons it frequently hap- 
pened that he would not return to his family for days. 
James Hamek, M.D., is a great-great-grandson 
of James Hamer, who purchased from the agents 
of William Penn, in 1717, a tract embracing three 
hundred acres of land in Upper Providence town- 
ship, upon which he settled. His son James married, 
and had among his children a son James, who located < 



of the boarding-school at Trappe and afterwards of 
the Germantown Academy, meanwhile engaging for 
a time in teaching. He then entered his father's 
office as a student of medicine, and attended lectures 
of the Medical Department of the University of Xew 
York, from which he graduated in 1844, having pre- 
viously been a private student in the office of Dr. 
Pattison, professor of anatomy, and also of Dr. Whit- 
taker, demonstrator of anatomy in the medical school 
above mentioned. Dr. Hamer, after serving as dis- 
trict physician in the New York Lying-in Asylum, 




J4^2>^"Z>tu^^ 



^^2^<^'>£..^^2_ 



upon the ancestral land, having married Sarah Bates, 
whose children were James, Humphrey, Jesse, Charles, 
John, Martha, Sarah and David. James, of this num- 
ber, chose medicine as a profession, and graduating from 
the Medical Department of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, subsequently practiced in East Perkiomen. 
He married Frances Gotwals, and had children, — 
James and a daughter Mary (Mrs. Seth Lukens, of 
Gwynedd township). The former was l)orn on the 28th 
of November, 1819, in Skippackville, East Perkiomen 
township, and pursued his early studies in the com- 
mon schools near his home. He later became a pupil 



returned to his home and became associated with his 
father in his profession, remaining for several years 
thus engaged. He then removed to Oneida, Madison 
Co., N. Y., and for three years enjoyed a successful 
])ractice. Kulpsville, Montgomery Co. was next the 
scene of his professional experiences, from which point 
he removed to his present home, at Collegeville, in 
the same county, having purchased the property in 
1864. Here for a while he pursued his profession, but 
finally abandoned it for the healthful and congenial 
employments of a farmer. Dr. Hamer was, on the 
9th of July, 1844, married to Miss Caroline, a daughter 



650 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of William M. and Caroline Downing, of New York. 
Their children are James H., Caroline, Cecilia (wife 
of John M. Vanderslice, attorney-at-law and member 
of Common t'ounci! of the Twenty-eighth Ward of 
Philadelphia), Fannie, Liz/.ie and Emily. James 
H., after traveling on the Continent and residing for 
three years in London, returned and began the study 
of medicine. He graduated from the Hahnemann, 
Homceopathic Medical College, Philadelphia, taking 
the first prize for skill in anatomy and surgery, and is 
now in active practice at Collegevillle. 

Dr. James Hamer was formerly in politics a Repub- 
lican, but has recently affiliated with the Prohibition 



William A. Van Buskirk. — The subject of 
the previous sketch left a son who proved him- 
self well qualified to assume the mantle of his 
father, — William Alexander Van Buskirk, who was 
born April 16, 1827, at Pottstown. He commenced his 
professional studies early in life, and entered, as a stu- 
dent, the office of the late Professor Joseph Pancoaat, 
of Philadelphia, and in the year 1847, when in his 
twenty-first year, graduated at the Jefferson Medical 
College at Philadelphia. He then returned to his 
home at Pottstown and commenced practice at that 
place. About the year 1850 his father, having prac- 
ticed about forty-three years, retired, and he then 




^e^^s/^y^. 



party. He is of Quaker stock, though a worshiper 
with the congregation of Trinity Christian Church, of 
which Mrs. Hamer is a member. 

George W. Vaist Buskirk, M.D., was born in 
1786, located at Pottstown in 1819, and there pursued 
the practice of medicine. He was a man of fine 
natural powers and endowed with more than ordinary 
ability; was fond of reading and possessed of much 
general information. As a physician he was widely 
known, enjoyed an extensive practice and in his day 
stood in that section among the foremost in his pro- 
fession. He resided in Pottstown up to the time of 
his death, which took place in his eighty-fourth yesr. 



succeeded him. During the time he was in practice 
he acquired considerable skill and eminence both in 
medicine and surgery. In the latter branch he was 
especially celebrated, being consulted in most difficult 
operations, and called at times to a great distance- 
In the discharge of his professional duties he was 
conscientious, faithful and careful. He continued in 
active practice in Pottstown until the time of his 
death, which occurred suddenly on December, 5, 1874. 
Dr. John R. (iRlco, whose father was a celebrated 
English clergyman, was born in North Carolina. He 
received an academic education at Petersburg and 
Richmond, Va. He studied medicine in the office of 




t^c./, c^^w^/^^-^ 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



651 



Dr. Shoemaker, on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, and 
graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in the 
class of 1820. Dr. (!rigg located at Barren Hill in 
1821, and after removing to several places in the 
county, finally settled at Evansburg in 1829. His 
kindly bearing and skill as a j)hysician soon won for 
him an extensive practice, which he followed ardu- 
ously for a period of fifty years. During forty-three 
years of this time he was physician to the Montgom- 
ery County almshouse. He is still living with his 
son at Pemberton, X. J., enjoying the distinction 
of being the oldest living physician who has ever 
practiced in the county. 

Charles Shoemaker, M.D., is a native of Gwyn- 
edd township, Montgomery Co., Pa., where he wiis 
born of Joseph and Martha Shoemaker, April 18, 
1801. As soou as Charles was of school age he was 
placed in charge of competent tutors, and his advance- 
ment in the difterent rudimentary branches was quite 
rapid until he was fully prepared to enter upon the 
studies of the pnjfession he had chosen for a life-work> 
viz., that of medicine, and entered the University 
of Pennsylvania under the care of Dr. Joseph Parrish 
as his preceptor, and graduated from that institution 
in 1827. He then entered upon his future career as 
a practitioner, and through his skill as a physician 
and surgeon soou became one of the most prominent 
of his profession in the many years that he practiced. 
He was well and prominently known throughout 
Montgomery and adjoining counties for his skillful 
treatment of critical cases of the various diseases to 
which the human flesh is heir, as well as for the me- 
chanical skill he always displayed in the treatment 
of surgical cases of the most dangerous and critical 
character. His counsel was sought by the most emi- 
nent physicians of the times when he practiced, and 
throughout the section of country over which he 
traveled his name for many years was a household 
word, and many remember Dr. Charles Shoemaker 
for his kindness and fatherly care of the sick and 
disabled, and especially the poorer portion of his 
medical parish revere his name. 

After leaving the university his first field of oper- 
ations was his native township, where he practiced 
for two years. He then removed to Moreland town- 
ship, this county, where he was in practice eight 
years; then removed to Jenkintown, where for thirty 
years he remained in practice; and from Jenkintown 
he moved to Norristown, where he remained but a 
year or two, and then moved to Philadelphia, where 
he remained four years, when he again changed his 
residence, this time to Chelton Hills, where, in 1870, 
after haviug served well his day and generation, he re- 
tired from practice, followed to his retirement with 
the love and esteem of all who knew him or who had 
felt the influence of his love and kindness. He now 
resides near Ashbourne. 

Dr. Shoemaker's ancestors were all members of the 
Society of Friends, and adhered to the doctrines of 



the Bible as expounded by George Fox, and Charles,, 
having early in life imbibed the same spirit, has been 
nearly all his life a devoted member of the Society 
of Friends. 

In September, 1827, he married Miss INIaria, daugh- 
ter of Euos and Ann Lukens, ofTowamencin town- 
ship, Montgomery Co., Pa. Mrs. Shoemaker was 
born March 29, 1803, and died July 27, 1870. They 
were the parents of Ann, born Twelfth Month 29,. 
1828. She is now (1885) principal of the girls' depart- 
ment of the Friends' Central School, in Philadelphia,, 
with which she has been connected for the last thirty 
years. Martha, born Twelfth Month 29, 1829, died 
Ninth Month 22, 1881. Joseph Parrish, born Janu- 
ary 15, 1832; killed at battle of Fredericksburg, Va.,. 
December 13, 1862. Sarah P., born Eleventh Month 
13, 1833 ; died Ninth Month 25, 1835. William Gaul, 
born Fifth Month 13, 1837; killed at battle of Antie- 
tam, Md., Ninth Month 17, 18fi2. 

Dr. Charees Fronefieli) was born June 14,. 
1809, in Evansburg. When young he enjoyed only 
the benefit of a common-school education, but being 
of a studious turn of mind, ambitious and persevering, 
he was suflSciently advanced at an early age to enter 
upon the study of medicine, which was his chosen 
profession, and graduated with high honors from the 
University of Pennsylvania in March, 1829, being^ 
then in his twenty-first year. Having worthily ob- 
tained a diploma, he settled at Harleysville, Lower 
Salford township. He had in this neighborhood 
several able competitors of long standing, but his 
abilities were soon recognized, which, together with 
his energy and public spirit, quickly brought him into 
prominence, and for many years he enjoyed a lucni- 
tive practice. Dr. Fronefield was preceptor to a large 
number of students of medicine, among whom may be 
mentioned Drs. Heist, Sloanaker, Smith, Spare, Koyer, 
Heckel, Hough, Foley, Lambert, Moyer. Isett, Geiger,. 
Scholl and others. 

In 1837 he married Rosa Linda Riker, who died in 
184G, nine years after their marriage. In 1848, Dr. 
Fronefield moved to Philadelphia and formed a co- 
partnership with Dr. Breinig to carry on the drug 
business, still devoting a portion of his time to th& 
practice of medicine. He sought this change as a 
relief from the labors of a country practice, and as- 
necessary on account of a bronchial aft'ection. In 
1850, four years after the death of his wife, he wa* 
married to Wilhelmina C. Scholl. 

Dr. Fronefield was a man of great firmness and 
decision of character, fixed and decided in his convic- 
tions on all matters of duty, though at the same time 
always liberal and progressive in his views. His dis- 
position was social and genial towards all with whom 
he came in contact. He was a kind husband and 
father, a devoted friend and a benefactor to the unfor- 
tunate. Many instances could be related of his kind- 
ness of heart and attention to the suffering poor, where- 
duty had called him, giving freely of his time and 



652 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



means to relieve their sickness and destitution. His 
life was a busy and active one, constantly employed 
in what seemed present duties. He had a highly- 
cultivated mind, and was a writer of no inean order. 
He was a frequent contributor of both poetic and prose 
■compositions to the Norristown Herald and Free Press 
and other periodicals, all his writings having that 
peculiar freshness, vigor and love of freedom which 
characterize "live men." He was a prominent Odd- 
Fellow and Freemason, and greatly respected in both 
those orders. His death, which resulted from typhoid 
fever, occurred August 6, ISG.'j, when he was fifty-six 
years old. "He was not ashamed, if it should be 
■God's will, to live; and he was not afraid, if God 
should so order, to die." There were many flattering 
tributes paid to his memory at the time of his death. 
" E. \V. H.,'' in an obituary notice of him in the 
Philadelphia Ledger of August 10, 1865, says: 

"He was a man cast in Nature's finest ninuld, tiis very cuuntenance 
beaming; with kindness. He was a good neighbor, an upright citizeni 
«n ardent p.atriot, a sincere friend, a lover of the Bible and a believer in 
the doctrines of Jesus. In his honorable profession, the thousands whom 
his skill and proficiency have benefited hear testimony that by diligent 
study and investigation, and from the ample store-house of his own 
■•xtensive field of observation, he had made himself deservedly eminent. 
He was withal modest and unobtrusive, always deeming others better 
than himself. He led a 'quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and 
honesty,' was generous to a fault, sorrowed with the sorrowing, rejoiced 
■with the rejoicing. He was, in the word's best and truest sense, a gen- 
tleman, not a courtier with artificial mien, hut gentle and manly, the 
■enemy of nothing on earth save of wrong and wrong-doing, and the 
friend always of all that was noble and right and just and true. Other 
forms and faces and words and deeds may fade from our memory, hut the 
recollection of the virtues and excellencies of Dr. Charles Fronefield, the 
•beloved physician,' will remain fresh and green whilst life endures." 

Dr. Henry De Witt Pawling, ,'<on of Levi 
Pawling, at one time a lawyer of considerable dis- 
tinction in Norristown, was born in the year 1810. 
He studied medicine, graduated in 1831 at the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, and soon after entered upon 
the frigate " Potomac," as assistant surgeon in the 
United States navy, .serving three or four years 
■on a cruise in the waters of South America. Upon 
retiring from the United States service, in 1834, he 
was the recipient of a very appropriate testimonial,— 
a set of surgical instruments. The report of the 
■event, as found in the Norrisfoivn Register of August 
13, 1834, says,— 

" There are seven cases, besides several attached instruments, and 
judging from the number of and various forms of the articles, we should 
■suppose that the set included everything of the kind a surgeon could 
wish. The cases are made of rose-wood, beautifully finished, each bear- 
ing a silver plate with tlie follo« ing inscription : 

" ' Presented to 

Dr. Hknrv De Witt Pawlino, 

Assistant Surgeon I'. S. Nav.v, 

by the crew of the r. S. Frigate " Potomac," 

as a testimonial of 

tiieir esteem.' " 

The Pennst/hanian, in noticing Dr. Pawling"s retire- 
ment from the public service says, — 

" We learn that Dr. Pawling has settled in Upper nierion, a few miles 
from this city, with a view to the practice of his profession. If he holds 
■on as he hai- begun, and if his riper years do not belie the promise of his 



spring, he ma.v expect to reap a rich harvest, not only of pecuniary 
profit, but of those sentiments of love and gratitude and entire confidence 
so peculiarly the reward of the ' good physician.' " 

Returning home. Dr. Pawling located at King of 
Prussia, where he has been engaged in a very exten- 
sive practice over parts of three or four counties since 
1835 or 1836. He married Anna B., daughter of 
Levi Bull, of Chester County. His two sons, Nathan 
and Harry, studied medicine with their father, and 
for a time assisted him in his profession. In 1871, 
Harry opened an office in Norristown, and by the 
time of his death, which occurred in 1882, he had 
secured a large practice. His brother Nathan, -who 
remained to assist his father, was accidentally killed 
in 1872. 

Dr. Pawling, though now in his seventy-fifth year, 
is still actively engaged in practice, and during the 
fifty years of his professional career many hundreds 
of patients have and still continue to bear testimony 
to his skill and ability as a physician. 

Among other prominent physicians who practiced 
cotemporaneously with those whose lives have been 
briefly noticed in the foregoing sketches may be men- 
tioned Drs. William Harris, Charles Bolton, Jonathan 
Clarke, Henry Geiger, Morris McClennaghan, William 
McEwen, Washington G. Nugent, Mark G. Kerr, 
Henry Tyson, Andrew Wills, and George Wimley.' 

John Si'hrack, M.D., is doubtless a descendant 
of Jacob Schraek, who arrived in this country from 
Germany in 1717, settled upon two hundred and fifty 
acres of land at the Trappe, in Montgomery County, 
and died in 1742, aged sixty-three years. He left a 
son, David, who resided during his life in the above 
vicinity, with the e.xception of a brief interval spent 
in Virginia. The latter married Sarah Hanicr, whose 
children were John, David, Jlartha, Elizabeth, Hannah 
and Mary. John Schraek, born in Montgomery County 
in 1781, married Mary Elizabeth Norris, granddaugh- 
ter of Isaac Norris and daughter of Charles Norris, of 
the family who settled Norristown. Their children 
were, respectively, Eunice (wife of Col. Augustus W. 
Shearer), David, Charles Norris and .John. The last- 
named son was born December 8, 1821, and passed 
his boyhood at "Norris Hall," in Norriton.^ The 
subject of this sketch received meanwhile a substan- 
tial English education, after which, in 1839, he began 
the study of medicine under Dr. Benjamin John.son, 
of Norristown. He entered the Jefferson Medical 
College and graduated from that institution in 1842, 
his thesis, which won high commendation from the 



1 The writer here tenders his thanks to Dr. Hiram Corson for useful 
information furnished by him ; also makes acknowledgments to Mr. 
Moses Auge for the use of his work, "Biographies of 31en of Montgom- 
ery County. " 

2 The old mansion, long known as "Norris Hall," occupies the beau- 
tiful site on the west side of the Schu.vlkill Kiver, above Norristown, and 
is a part of a large tract of land originally called the NoiTis manor, which 
once comprised the whole of Norriton township, and came by direct 
conveyance from William Penn to his son, William Penn, .Ir., in October, 
1704. In 171 "2 Isa.ac Norris purchased the entire property. 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



653 



faculty, being on "Vaccination." Dr. Schrackat once 
began practice in Norriton township, malting Norris 
Hall his residence until 1875, when he removed to 
his present home, at Melrose, in Lower Providence 
township, which he purchased in 1852. His practice, 
which has extended over a lengthy period, was both 
large and successful, having been in later years di- 
vided with his nephew, David Schrack, since deceased. 
Dr. Schrack was, in 1847, commissioned by Governor 
Shunk surgeon of the Second Pennsylvania Militia, 
which position he filled for several years. He is a 
member of the State Medical Society, as also of the 
National Medical Society, and was among the first to 



the Royer family very little is positively known. It 
is reputed, however, to be of German origin, though 
tradition warrants the belief that its ancestors were 
French, driven into Germany as Protestants fleeing 
from persecutions which existed in their own country 
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and especially 
during the reign of Charles IX. and the vicious and 
demoralizing policy of his queen-mother, Catharine 
de Medici. 

Sebastian Royer (originally spelled Reyer) emigrated 
about 1718 with four sons, as it would appear, to the 
then province of Pennsylvania. The two elder settled 
on the Schuylkill, at or near Royer's Ford. 





suggest and organize a county society, before which 
he has read valuable papers, notably one on " Puer- 
peral Fever." He was active in filling the quota as- 
signed to Norriton during the late war, and president 
of the club organized for that purpose. His services 
were freely given to the sick and wounded after the 
battle of Gettysburg, where his attentions at that 
time were, together with those of others of his 
professional brethren, invaluable. Dr. Schrack is 
a Presbyterian in his religious faith and a wor- 
shiper with the church of that denomination at 
Port Kennedy. 
J. Wakren Royek, M.D.^Of the genealogy of 



The next in descent was John Royer, grandfather of 
the subject of this biographical sketch, who married 
Anna Catharine Apfel, to whom were born nine chil- 
dren. Among them was Judge Joseph Royer, whose 
birth occurred in February, 178-1, two miles west of 
Trappe, in Providence township, in the then county of 
Philadelphia. He married, in 1818, Elizabeth, daughter 
of David and Mary Catharine Dewees. Their children 
are, Francis, J. Warren, Lewis, J. Dewees, C. John, 
Horace, Henry and Josephine (wife of M. L. Kohler, 
Esq., of Philadelphia). 

Judge Royer was a man of broad intellect, earnest 
purpose and of superior social endowments. Though 



654 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



emphatically a self-made man, with limited scholastic 
attainments, he was an intelligent reader, possessed a 
retentive memory and conversed fluently on various 
subjects. His ability and high character caused- him 
to be the recipient of many important offices of public 
trust. He was, as a Democrat, in 1821 and 1822, 
elected to represent Montgomery County in the lower 
branch of the State Legislature, and declined a third 
term. He was, in 1837, appointed by Governor Ritner 
associate judge of the county, a position unsolicited 
ty him, which was filled with honor to himself and 
to the entire satisfaction of his associates and the bar. 



j came widely extended, and was to a remarkable degree 

successful. He has been for several years physician 
to the Montgomery County almshouse. He is a 
I member of the Montgomery County Medical Society, 
I though the onerous demands of his profession leave 
I little time for frequent attendance or participation 
at its various discussions. He wields a ready pen, 
and has written more or less extensively on profes- 
sional and other topics. The doctor's political prin- 
; ciples are those of the Republican party. While 
interested in the public issues of the day, he does 
I not participate actively in the work of the party. 





^^MUi ^u^ti^M^o^ 



His sop, .1. Warren Royer, M.D., was born July 21, 
1820, in Trappe, where his early youth was spent in 
preparation for college, part of the time under a 
private tutor. He then entered Lafayette College, at 
Easton, Pa., from which, after a four years' course, 
he became a member of the senior class .at Princeton 
College, Princeton, N. .T., and graduated in 1842. He 
soon after began the study of medicine, and entering 
the Medical Department of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, received his diploma from that institution in 
1845. Dr. Royer at once made Trappe the scene of 
his professional labors, where he has since remained. 
His practice, necessarily of a general character, be- 



Hc is identified with the Reformed Church at Trappe, 
with which congregation he worships. Dr. Royer was, 
in 18G3, married to Anna, daughter of Henry Herbert, 
of Frankford, Philadelphia Co., and has children, — 
May, Ralph, Carl, Joseph Warren, Jessie and Henry 
Herbert. 

JoHjf G. HiLLEGASs, M.D. — The Hillegass family 
are undoubtedly of French origin, and early emigrated 
to the Palatinate, from whence two brothers, John 
Frederick and Michael, came to America in 1726. 
From these brothers are descended all who bear the 
name in the United States. Michael attained dis- 
tinction as treasurer for the government during the 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



655 



colonial period, and held other positions of influence. 
He was largely identified with business interests, 
having been one of the original founders of the Lehigh 
Coal-Mine Company, which company was the owner 
of six thousand acres of valuable land now the prop- 
erty of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. 
John Frederick is buried in the cemetery of the Ke- 
forraed Church of New Goschenhoppen, and Michael 
in the First Reformed Church burial-ground at Frank- 
lin Square, Pa. From John Frederick in the direct 
line of descent is .John Hillegass, grandfather of Dr. 
John G. Hillegass, who resided upon the property 
now owned by the latter on the Perkioraen stream, in 



Trappe. Deciding upon medicine as a profession, he 
entered the office of Dr. Joel Y. Schelly, of Hereford, 
Berks Co., Pa., and remained three years under his 
preceptorship, graduating from the Medical Depart- 
ment of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadel- 
phia, in lS-19. The doctor at once returned to the 
homestead in Upper Hanover, and began his profes- 
sional labors, which have been unceasing from that 
day until the present. His practice grew rapidly in 
extent, his skill as a diagnostician and surgeon, the 
result of careful study and wide experience, making 
his services in demand in his own and adjacent town- 
ships. Desiring, after a lengthened period of labor, 




^Ct^^^^y Vi^VJUlj^Ct^ 



Upper Hanover township, which was doubtless in 
earlier days an Indian camping-ground. He married 
Catherine Hillegass, whose children were Jacob, Peter, 
John and two daughters. Peter, whose birth occurred 
on the homestead, married Mary, daughter of Jacob 
Gery a Revolutionary soldier, and had children, — 
John G., Jacob (who died in youth) E. Matilda (wife 
of [Dr. James G. Mensch) and Maria C, (married to 
Dr. Henry Bobb). John G. Hillegass was born on the 
26th of October, 1828, at the family home, situated in 
an elbow of the Perkiomen stream, and received his 
earliest advantages of education at the common schools 
after which he became a pupil of Washington Hall, at 



to withdraw from all but a consultation practice, he, 
in 1870 established at Pennsburg a hardware store, 
and in 1876 embarked still further in mercantile pur- 
suits by erecting a warehouse for the sale of coal, 
lumber and feed. These enterprises engage at present 
much of his time and attention. Dr. Hillegass mar- 
ried, in 18.52, Catherine, daughter of Jesse Ziegler, 
of Salford Station, Upper Salford township. Their 
children are Eugene (of Philadelphia) John P. (a 
student in the Medical Department of the University 
of Pennsylvania), Jesse Z., Charles Q., Howard C, 
Calvin M., Ida (wife of Dr. .1. G. Hersh, of Hereford, 
Berks Co.), Kate O. (Mrs. Oliver J. Moll, of Philadel- 



656 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



phia), Ellie M. and Mary O. Dr. Hillegass is a 
member of the board of directors of the Perkiomen 
National Bank, of East Greenville. His political con- I 
victions are in harmony with the principles of the 
Democracy, and though formerly active in the work 
of the party, he has held no office other than that of | 
school director. He is a member of the New Gos- 
chenhoppen Reformed Church, near East Greenville, ' 
as is also his wife. i 

John K. Reid, M.D., is of Scotch extraction, his 
father, Andrew Reid, who was a native of Aberdeen, j 
Scotland, having emigrated to the province of New 
Brunswick, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits 



Alison Academy, at Sackville, and subsequently en- 
gaging in teaching and in other active pursuits. 
During the year 184(j he became a resident of Glas- 
gow, Scotland, and choosing medicine as a congenial 
profession entered the Andersonian University of 
Medicine were his studies were continued until 1849, 
the year of his return to New Brunswick and em- 
barkation soon after for the United States. On his 
arrival in Philadelphia Dr. Reid at once attended the 
course of lectures at the Pennsylvania Medical Col- 
lege, from which he graduated in 1850. The following^ 
year he returned to Dorchester, New Brunswick, and 
established himself as a practitioner. His steps were. 





and resided until his death. He married Margaret 
Keillor, daughter of John Keillor and Elizabeth 
Weldon, who were the parents of eight children. 
John Keillor, who was of English descent, emigrated 
to the province of New Brunswick during the latter 
part of the eighteenth century and prior to the war 
of the American Revolution. The children of Mr. 
and Mrs. Reid were a daughter, Elizabeth, who be- 
came the wife of William K. Chapman of Dorchester, 
New Brunswick, and John K., the subject of this 
biographical sketch. The latter was born on the 8th 
of June, 1824, in Dorchester, above mentioned, where 
he resided until 1846, meanwhile attending the Mount 



however, speedily again turned to the United States, 
Conshohocken, in November, 1851, becoming his 
residence and the scene of an extensive and success- 
ful practice. His labors were so arduous as to require 
an assistant in 1870, when Dr. D. R. Beaver became 
associated with him and later was made a partner. 
Dr. Reid's health, requiring, in 187G, a cessation from 
the severe exertion incident to so wide a field, he 
temporarily retired from practice. In 1877 profes- 
sional labor was resumed, though with the purpose of 
rendering it subordinate to the more important con- 
sideration of health. The doctor is a member of 
the Montgomery County Medical Society, of the 




'O ^^^k^ 





THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



65V 



Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and of the 
American Medical Association, to which he was 
a delegate from Montgomery County in 1884. He 
is a Republican in politics, but has invariably de- 
clined all proffers of offices from his party. He 
was educated in the faith of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church and for twenty years officiated as warden of 
Calvary Church, in Conshohocken. Dr. Reid was 
married, in 1856, to Narina, daughter of Samuel and 
Margaret Milnor, of Burlington, N. J. Their sur- 
viving childreu are Charles, Margaret and William. 

Louis W. Rkad, M.D., is a grandson of William 
and Susan Read, who resided in Delaware County, as 
did their ancestors before them. His parents were 
Thomas Read and Sarah, daughter of Joseph Corson 
ofMontgomery County. The children of the latter 
were three daughters — Sarah, Hannah and Mary — and 
three sons— Louis W., Joseph C. and Alan W., — the 
eldest of whom, Louis W., was born in Plymouth, 
Montgomery Co., on the 5th of July, 1828. His 
early years were chiefly spent at Read's Mill, in 
Upper Merion township, Montgomery Co., his rudi- 
mentary education having been obtained at the com- 
mon schools of the locality, after which he pursued 
a course of study under the Rev. Samuel Aaron, at 
Treemount Seminary. At an early age he began the 
study of medicine with his uncle, Dr. William Corson 
of Norristown, and graduated from the Medical De- 
partment of the University of Pennsylvania in 1849. 
Dr. Read during the Crimean war entered the Rus- 
sian service in 1855 as surgeon, and remained dur- 
ing the war, participating in the terrible siege of 
Sebastopol. At the conclusion of the conflict he 
spent six months in the hospitals of Paris with a 
view to completing his medical education. In the 
autumn of 1857 he began practice in Norristown, 
his large experience and skill in critical cases of 
surgery, speedily winning a leading rank in the pro- 
fession. During the beginning of the war of the Re- 
bellion Dr. Read, although in possession of a lucrative 
field of labor, in 1861 offered his services and expe- 
rience to the government, and in May of that year 
was appointed surgeon of the First Pennsylvania Re- 
serves. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of 
surgeon of United States Volunteers, and assigned to 
the medical directorship of the Peunsylvana Reserve 
Corps, Third Division, Fifth Army Corps, Army of 
the Potomac, which position he tilled until November, 
1864, when he was relieved of duty in the field and 
placed in charge of McKinim United States General 
Hospital, at Baltimore. He continued thus engaged 
until after the return of peace, in March, 1866, when the 
institution was closed, and the officials mustered out 
of service. It may be related that during this period 
he was doubtless instrumental in saving the life of 
General Hancock, who, after receiving a severe 
wound, returned for a brief visit to his father's home 
in Norristown. The wound had been repeatedly 
probed for the ball, to no purpose, when Dr. Read, who 
42 



was enjoying a short leave of absence, called upon the 
general, and volunteered a search for the bullet, which 
had thus far not been found. By considering the 
attitude of General Hancock when wounded, and 
probing in the proper direction, the ball was at once 
removed, and the general rapidly recovered. In 
April, 1866, after an absence of nearly five years. Dr. 
Read returned to Norristown and resumed his pro- 
fessional labors, with experience still more enlarged 
by his extended tour in the field and hospitals of the 
nation. He has since that date been devoted to a 
large and laborious practice, which leaves little leisure 
for other pursuits. Dr. Read has been the incumbent 
of various honorable positions in connection with the 
commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was commis- 
sioned major and aid-de-camp of the Second Division 
on the 2nd of September, 187(1, and surgeon-in-chief of 
the same division October 4, 1870. He was made brig- 
adier-general and surgeon-general May 15, 1874, and 
reappointed April 26, 1876. He was again com- 
missioned to the office March 12, 1879, and at present 
holds the same rank on the staff of Governor Pattison, 
his commission bearing date February 28, 1883. Dr. 
Read was, in 1858, married to Georgine, daughter of 
Alford Hurst, of Norristown. Their children are, — 
a daughter, Nina Borreiche, and a son, Alfred Hurst. 
Margaret Phillip.s Richardson, M.D., is de- 
scended from Welsh stock, her paternal grandfather, 
David Phillips, having resided in Radnor township, 
Delaware Co., where he was engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. He married Margaret Thomas, of the same 
township, whose children were four sons- — George, 
John, David and Thomas — and two daughters, — 
Ann (Mrs. Samuel Caley i and Margaret (Mrs. Griffith 
Weatherby). .lohn, a native of Radnor, began his 
career as a farmer in that township, and, later, pur- 
chased a valuable property in .Tuniata County, where 
he remained until his decease. He married Barbara 
Colflesh, whose children were David, Ann (Mrs. 
William Webster), Margaret, Eliza (Mrs. Joseph 
Thompson), Clementine (Mrs. Mathias Benner), Cu- 
riah (Jlrs. Leonard T. Riley), and Hannah (Mrs. L. 
J. Riley). Margaret was born in Radnor township, 
Delaware Co., where her youth was devoted to ac- 
quiring an education such as the paid schools of the 
day afforded. She was, on the 12th of September, 
18.39, married to Abraham, a son of Abraham and 
Mary Richardson, of Radnor. Their only son, John 
Phillips, studied medicine under her direction, and 
graduated from the Medical Department of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, after which he began the 
practice of his profession in Norristown. He entered 
the army as surgeon and served with credit until the 
close of the conflict, when Philadelphia became his 
residence. Dr. Richardson, on the death of her hus- 
band, August 6, 1841, remained in Juniata County, 
and soon after, for two years, engaged in travel, which 
aided materially in restoring her impaired health. 
At this time, many fatal cases of illness coming under 



658 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



her observation, impressed her with a desire to employ 
her intelligence and skill in the relief of human suffer- 
ing. She at once began the ^tudy of medicine, and 
in 1851 entered the Penn.<iylvania Female College, at 
Philadelphia, from which, after a thorough course, she 
graduated in 1853 as a member of the second class, 
receiving her diploma from tliat institution. On de- 
clining an advantageous and highly complimentary 
offer to enter hospital service, she again became a 
resident of Juniata County, and at once secured, by 
her skill and unwearied devotion to her patients, a 
leading position in the profession. The arduous labor 
involved in a country practice influenced Dr. Richard- 



Edward Reading, M.D., was born in what is now 
Somerton, Philadelphia Co., Pa., January 3, 1829. His 
parents were Thomas and Maria Reading, the former 
boru in Paper-Mill village, near Hatboro', Mont- 
gomery Co., Pa., and the latter in Bucks County, this 
State. His paternal grandjiarents were William and 
Ruth Reading, both natives of New Jersey. His 
maternal grandparents were descendants of the old 
and well-known Vandyke family, formerly of Bucks 
County, Pa. 

Edward's early years were spent at home and at the 
old Bustleton Academy, then one of the popular 
institutions of learning of the old county of Philadel- 




(ZyMcc^t^ ii>7^^^ (yi^-dX^ 



son, four years later, to remove to Norristown, where, 
in a brief space of time, the demand for her services 
was equally great, not only in the county, but in ad- 
jacent portions of the State. She has been especially 
successful in cases of fever, and is frequently called 
into consultation at critical periods in the progress of 
the disease. Dr. Richardson was instructed in her 
youth in the doctrines of the Baptist Church, of which 
she is a member, as were also her parents, and her 
brother is a representative divine. The doctor was 
the first female physician in the counties of Juniata 
and Montgomery, as also the first to be called as an 
expert in the courts of the county. Dr. Richardson 
has been a constant practitioner for the last thirty-two 
years. 



phia. At the age of eighteen he learned the trade of 
turning fancy articles in wood, at which business he 
remained until failing health compelled him to 
relinquish his chosen occupation. He then decided 
upon one of the professions, and chose that of medi- 
cine, conuiiencing the study of that science in 185(i, 
anil in I\larch of 1853 was graduated from the 
Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa., and 
in the early part of the year 1853 located at wliat is 
now the borough of Hatboro', Montgomery Co., and 
commenced the practice of medicine, and by his 
skill and perseverance placed himself at once in the 
front r;ink of his profession, gaining a large and lucra- 
tive practice, which for thirty-one years he has hehl, 
and still retains the esteem and confidence of the 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



659 



community in which he resides, and has at various 
times occupied tlie different official positions pertain- 
ing to tlie borougli of Hatboro'. 

In his religious views he is a Methodist, and has for 
many years been an otiice-bearer in the church of his 
choice. He was one of the charter members of W. K. 
Bray Lodge, No. 410, Ancient York Masons, located at 
Hatboro', and was its first ^^'()rshipful Master. He was 
married, February 14, 185G, to Miss Jennie B., daughter 
of Lewis R. Willard, of Moreland township, Mont- 
gomery Co., Pa. Their children are Estella, born 
March 19, 1857, married, Xoveniber 5, 1879, to Thomas 
E. Paxson, of Hatboro' ; Lewis Willard, born January 



Ann Bull, to whom were born children, Israel, Henry, 
Thomas, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Jemima, Ann, Mary and 
John. The youngest of these sons, John Newberry, 
married Miss Sarah Gordon, whose three children were 
Eliza (Mrs, Samuel Martin), George and Hannah 
(Mrs. George Shriver), but one of whom, Mrs. Shriver, 
survives. George Newberry was born in Cheltenham 
township, and early in life removed to Ohio, where 
ho resided until his death. He married Catharine 
Shriver, of Springfield township, Montgomery Co., 
and had three children, — John (deceased), Milton and 
Anna M. Milton, of this number, was born in Chel- 
tenham township on the 4th of October, 1829, and 




5, 18.59, and in September, 1881, married to Miss 
Sarah McCamant, of Lancaster County, Pa. Lewis 
studied medicine with his father, entered Hahnemann 
Medical College in 1877, and graduated in March, 
1880. He is now a practicing physician at Hatboro', 
where he is highly esteemed for his medical skill and 
genial qualities. Thomas, the youngest child, was born 
November 3, 1864, and was in 1885 preparing himself 
for the medical profession. 

Milton Newberry, M.D. — Henry Newberry, the 
great-grandfather of Dr. Newberry, who was of Eng- 
lish descent, resided in Skippaekville, Montgomery 
Co., prior to the Revolutionary war, and married Miss 



removed, when an infant, with his parents, to Ohio, 
where he remained until his ninth year, when Mont- 
gomery County again became his home. After the 
ordinary advantages of education at the public school 
near his home, he pursued his academic studies at 
a private school at Hartsville, Bucks Co., and later at 
the Treemount Seminary, in Norristown. 

Having chosen medicine as a profession, he entered 
the office of Dr. John A. Martin, of Whitemarsh, 
and graduated at the LTniversity of Pennsylvania 
(Medical Department) in 1855. Dr. Newberry at 
once became associated with his former preceptor at 
Whitemarsh, and continued this professional relation 



660 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



until the fall of 1858, when the latter retired from 
active practice. The doctor at once entered upon 
a successful career as a practitioner, his field of opera- 
tion having widened until the demands of an arduous 
profession leave little leisure for other pursuits. He 
was married, on the 29th of April, 1858, to Lucinda 
C, daughter of Frederick A. Martin, M.D., of Bethle- 
hem, Pa. Their children are two sons, Frederick M. 
and George (deceased). In his political affiliations Dr. 
Newberry is a stanch Democrat, and while manifesting 
a personal interest in all public measures which atfect 



township, Montgomery Co., where he was a consider- 
able land-owner and a man of superior mechanical 
attainments. He was in his religious convictions a 
stanch Presbyterian and member of the Old Provi- 
dence Presbyterian Church. He was one of the first 
justices of the peace appointed by Governor McKean 
and held the office until his death. Mr. Todd married 
Miss Hannah Boyer and had children, John, William 
T., Hannah and Isabella. John Todd was born on 
the homestead in 1776 and devoted his life to the 
pursuits of a farmer. He filled several important 




the county and State, has declined political prefer- 
ment. He is a member of the Montgomery County 
Medical Society, which he represented as delegate at 
the meeting of the State society in 1858, likewise serv- 
ing as delegate from the Pennsylvania State Medical 
Society at the meeting of the American Medical 
Association, which was convened at Washington the 
same year. Dr. Newberry, though of Qnaker descent, 
is a member of the Reformed congregation of the 
Union Church of Whitemarsh. 

John Todd, M.D., was the grandson of Andrew 
Todd, who resided in Freeland, Upper Providence 



county offices and held appointments under Governor 
Porter. By his marriage to a Miss Campbell were 
born children, — Robert, Andrew, Hannah, Mary and 
Eliza. By a second marriage, to Christianna Bough- 
man, were children, — John, William T., Samuel M., 
Charles W. B., Christianna and Emily. 

John, of this number, was born April 25,1830, on 
the homestead farm, and received his education at the 
Freeland Seminary, after which he entered upon the 
study of medicine with Drs. Keeler and Groff, of 
Harleysville, Montgomery Co., graduating in 1857 
from the Pennsylvania Medical College. He at 




(2Mi^ay^^, 




/ / 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSIOxN. 



661 



once made Boyertown, Pa., his residence, and there 
began the practice of his profession, his sliill 
and attainments meeting at once with a prompt 
recognition. In the spring of 1868, Dr. Todd sought 
a more extended field of labor in Pottstown. Here 
he has been especially successful, and while not pur- 
suing any branch of the profession as a specialty, has 
established a large and increasing obstetrical practice. 
He was married, in 1857, to Amanda, daughter of 
J. K. Smith, of Philadelphia, whose only daughter, 
Amanda, is Mrs. George Kramer, of Philadelphia. He 
was again married, in 1861, to Sarah M., daughter of 
Daniel Heller, of Boyertown, and has children 
Blanche, (Mrs. Irvin G. Kulp, of Pottstown), Bertha C, 
Sallie H., Mary and John. Dr. Todd was formerly a 
member of the Berks County Medical Society, and is 
now a member of the Pottstown Medical Society, as 
also a trustee of the Bringhurst Trust, established for 
the benefit of the poor of Pottstown. He is a Free 
and Accepted Mason, and identified with Stichter 
Lodge, No. 25-t, of Pottstown. In politics he is a 
Democrat and has for nine years served as a member 
of the Borough Council, though the attractions of 
official life have not been sufficiently powerful to 
draw him from the work of his profession. He is a 
Lutheran in his religious faith and a member of the 
Church of the Transfiguration, of Pottstown. 

Arthur D. Markley, M.D., was born in Colum- 
bia, Lancaster Co., Pa., April 28, 1832. His father, 
Jacob F. Markley, was born in the borough of 
Strasburg, Lancaster Co., Pa., and in due time be- 
came a physician, he having in the mean time married 
a daughter of the late John Hamilton, Esq., of Lea- 
cock township, Lancaster Co. 

Arthurs early school-days were spent in the schools 
of Columbia, and subsequently in the Lancasterian 
School, at Harrisburg, and still later was a member of 
Captain Partridge's Military Academy, in the capital 
city of Pennsylvania, until the close of that institu- 
tion. 

Having acquired a fair education in the above- 
named schools, he was then engaged as a clerk in a 
wholesale drug-store in Philadelphia, Pa., where he 
remained three years. From this wholesale house he 
went to Phoeni.xville, Pa., where for five years he had 
entire charge of a drug-store. At the expiration of 
his term of service at Ph(i?nixville he commenced 
the study of medicine with the late Dr. Samuel Solli- 
day, and subsequently with Dr. Joseph B. Dunlap, of 
Norristown. During this time he took a three years' 
course of study at the LTniversity of Pennsylvania, 
from which institution he graduated in the class of 
18.57. He then located at Montgomery Square, Pa., 
where he commenced the practice of medicine, re- 
maining there till the summer of 1861, when he 
volunteered in the United States navy in defense of 
his country. He remained in the service till the 
autumn of 1862, when he returned to his home and 
family. 



After his return from the navy he located at Wor- 
cester, Pa., where he again commenced the practice 
of medicine, and remained there until the autumn of 
1864, when he was elected by the Democratic party 
a member of the House of Representatives of the 
State of Pennsylvania, and served in the sessions of 
1865,1866 and 1867, and while there was a member of 
the standing committee on education, and on rail- 
roads; also on the special committee of the historical 
painting of the battle of Gettysburg. He was also 
honored with the Democratic nomination for Speaker 
of the House. 

After the expiration of his term of service in the 
Legislature he became engaged in railroad enterprises, 
and was made the first president of the Perkiomen 
Railroad, which position he held until about a year 
after the consolidation of that road with the Philadel- 
phia and Reading road. He was also one of the 
originators of and a director in the Stony Creek Rail- 
road Company, which position he held until after the 
consolidation of that road with the Philadelphia and 
Reading road. 

From Worcester he removed to Norristown, Pa., 
where he was engaged in the manufacture of paper, in 
what was known as the Stony Creek Paper-Mill, 
for about three years, when he leased the mill to 
other parties. It was subsequently destroyed by 
fire. While in Norristown he served his constituents 
in the Board of Councilmen of that borough. From 
Norristown he removed to New York, where he 
opened an office for the temporary practice of 
medicine, and for one year took advantage of and at- 
tended the Clinic Department of the Bellevue Hospi- 
tal. From New York he moved to Lansdale, Pa., 
where he remained for two and a half years in the 
practice of his profession, and in 1876 located in the 
town of Hatboro', Pa., where he soon acquired a large 
and lucrative practice, which, through his skill in the 
science of medicine, he retained until 1884, when he 
transferred a large portion of his practice to his son, 
and now (1885) occupies his time in the conduct of 
his well-appointed pharmacy in Hatboro', and in con- 
sultation with other physicians in critical cases. 

Dr. Markley is a member of William K. Bray 
Lodge, No. 410, A. Y. M., and one of its Past Masters, 
and was in 1885 its representative to the Grand Lodge 
of Pennsylvania. He is also a member of Hutchin- 
son Coniraaadery, K. T., stationed at Norristown, Pa., 
and has also been advanced to the thirty-second 
degree A. A. S. R., Orient of Philadelphia. He is 
also a member of Quaker City Lodge, No. 116, A. O. 
L^. \V., of Philadelphia. He was also one of the 
charter members of Lieut. John H. Fisher Post, 
G. A. R., and afterwards its surgeon. 

Dr. Markley married, November 10, 1859, Miss 
Juliet, daughter of Abraham P. Eyre, Esq., of Phila- 
delphia, the marriage ceremony being performed by 
Rev. Robert H. Patti.son, father of the present Gover- 
nor of Pennsylvania. She died October 9, 1880, and 



602 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



wM buried in the Hatboro' Cemetery. His second 
wife was Mi.ss Hannali Jarrett, eldest daughter of 
Abel Penrose, Esq., proprietor of Graeme Park 
Farm, Horsham township, Montgomery Co., Pa. 
This marriage occurred November 1(5, 1882, in pres- 
ence of ex-Mayor King, of Philadelphia, and was per- 
formed by Friends' ceremony. 

He had by his first wife two sons, — Paul H., who 
graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1882, 
aad located in Hatboro', where he has a large practice; 
Edwin, his youngest son, is in 1885 in the employ 
of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. The issue 



ultimately a farmer in New Hanover township. He 
married Anna Catherine, daughter of Samuel Sands, of 
Berks County, and had children, — Kate (Mrs. Robert 
Buchanan),(Teorge, John, Anne (Mrs. .John M.Edson), 
William B., James, Samuel S., Jacob H. and three 
who died in infancy. Jacob H. was born on the 15th 
of August, 1836, in Pottstown, Montgomery Co., and 
early removed with his parents to a farm owned by 
his father in Berks County, from whence he returned 
again to his native couuty and settled in New 
Hanover township. He spent in his youth two terms 
at Freeland Seminary (now Ursinus ^College), at the 




IZ^ 



from the second marriage is one son and one 
daughter. 

Jacob H. Scheetz, M.D., is of German antece- 
dents. His great-grandfather, Philip Scheetz, who re- 
sided in Berks, had among his children a son George, 
who first settled in Montgomery County, Pa., and at 
a later date made Chester County his home. He 
married Hannah Brooke, whose children were a son 
John and a daughter Martha, the wife of Solomon 
Engle. John, who was a native of Montgomery 
County, where he followed his trade of cooper, later 
became the landlord of the Red Lion Hotel and 



Trappe, and at the age of nineteen began the study of 
medicine with Dr. William A. Van Buskirk, of Potts- 
town. He, in 1856, became a student of the Pennsyl- 
vania IMedical College, in Philadelphia, from which 
he graduated in 1858. The doctor established him- 
self in practice at Emmaus, Lehigh Co., Pa., and re- 
mained two years, when his removal to Hereford 
township, Berks Co., occurred- Here he remained 
until his patriotic instincts moved him to enlist dur- 
ing the war of the Rebellion in the Forty-seventh 
Regiment of Pennsylvania "Volunteers. He was at. 
tached to the Nineteenth Army Corps and partici- 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



663 



pated in various engagements in connection with the 
Red River expedition. He remained three and a 
half years in the service, fourteen months of which 
time were spent as post surgeon at Fort Jefferson, in 
the Dry Tortugas. On returning to his native State 
he chose Pottstown, an advantageous field, and has 
since that date been actively engaged in professional 
labor. His ability as a diagnostician found speedy 
recognition, and brought a practice which is both suc- 
cessful and profitable. Dr. Scheetz was, as a Demo- 
crat, formerly active in the political arena and served 
three years as a member of the Borough Council, one 



upon the homestead until his death, at the age of 
thirty-one years. He was united in marriage to Eliza- 
beth Kolb, of the same township, whose children were 
two sons, Benjamin K. and William K., the latter a 
resident of North Wales, where he is engaged in the 
business of a hardware merchant. Benjamin K. was 
born on the 19th of August, 1838, at the home of his 
paternal grandfather, in Perkiomen township, and in 
youth became a resident of Lower Salford township, 
where he received a common-school education, and, 
later, entered the Freeland Seminary (now Ursinus 
College), at Collegeville. He early discovered a predi- 





year of which he filled the office of chief burgess. He 
is a member of the Pottstown Medical Association 
and usually participates in its deliberations. The 
doctor was married, on the 1st of December, 1864, to 
Miss Sarah Jane Robinson, of Mercer County, Ky. 
Their children are Ella ( Mrs. George Hartman), Alma, 
Barclay B. and Claude Melnotte. 

Benjamin K. .Tohnsun, M.D. — The ancestors of 
Dr. Johnson emigrated from Holland about lG2.'i and 
settled in Perkiomen township, Jlontgomery Co., where 
Joseph Johnson, his grandfather, resided. He married 
Magdalena Brochdtheiser, and had, among his five 
sons and four dauirhters, .\braham, who remained 



lection for the profession of medicine, and in 1859 
entered the office of Drs. Kcelor and Groff, of Harleys- 
ville, Jlontgomery Co., continuing his studies in the 
Medical Department of the Pennsylvania College, in 
Philadelphia, from which he worthily obtained a 
diploma March 2, 1861. His first location was at 
Applcbachsville, Bucks Co., where he remained five 
years, and, though still a resident of the county, re- 
moved at the expiration of this period to Dublin, 
where his professional career embraced a period of 
two and a half years. Dr. Johnson, in 1868, made 
North Wales his residence, and remained actively 
engaged in his profession until his removal, in 1884, 



664 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



to Norristown, his present field of labor. He has from 
the beginning been successful as a practitioner, and, 
while not making a specialty of any branch of medical 
science, has given much thought and study to diseases 
of children and the treatment of fevers. The doctor 
was married, on the 7th of November, 1861, to Miss 
Rosa Linda, daughter of the late Jonas C. Godshalk, 
of Lower Salford township, Montgomery Co. Their 
only son, Elmer E., now a student of Muhlenberg 
College, Allentown, will, on the completion of his 
classical studies, adopt his father's profession. Dr. 



as a thrifty farmer. His children were three daugh- 
ters — Hannah, Eliza and Catharine — and six sons, — 
John, Conrad, David, Daniel, Jacob and William. 
Jacob was born in Gwynedd township, Montgomery 
Co., Pa., in 1804, and died in 1883. He studied 
medicine with Dr. Clarke, of Montgomery County, 
and later attended the Medical Department of the 
University of Pennsylvania, after which he settled as 
a practitioner in New Hanover township. He was 
united in marriage to Rachel, daughter of David 
Evans, of Hatfield township, in the same county, and 





Johnson is in politics a Republican and a descendant 
of stanch Whig ancestors, though he has never par- 
ticipated in the active work of the party. He is a 
member of the Nortii Wales Lodge, No. 16, Indepen- 
dent Order of Odd-Fellows, in which he has taken 
high rank. The family of Dr. Johnson early espoused 
the faith of the Mennonite Church, though his asso- 
ciations are with Trinity Lutheran Church, of Nor- 
ristown, as are also those of his wife and sou. 

Jacob O. Knipe, M.D., a grandson of David Knipe, 
was of German ancestry and resided in Gwynedd 
township, Montgomery Co., where he was known 



had children, — David, Mary, Francis M., 8arah (Mrs. 
H. K. Whitner), Jacob 0., Hannah E., Septimus A. 
and Rachel A. Francis M. and Septimus are both 
practicing physicians in Frederick and New Hanover 
townships, respectively, in the same county. Jacob 
O. was born September 3, 1837, in New Hanover 
township, and received more than ordinary advan- 
tages of education, first in the neighborhood and later 
at the Freeland Seminary, after which he was a pupil 
of the Mount Pleasant Seminary, at Boyertown, and 
concluded his studies at the Franklin and Marshall 
College, Lancaster, Ta..\ [He pursued the study of 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



(565 



medicine with his father and brother, and graduated 
from the Jetferson Medical College of Philadelphia 
in \8&2. He at once established himself at Norris- 
town, and early acquired a reputation for skill as a 
general practitioner. His success in this extended 
field of labor has precluded any subsequent change of 
location. Dr. Knipe was married, in 1865, to Clara, 
daughter of Jeremiah Poley, of Norristown. Their 
children are Irvin P., Reinoehl, Jay C, Francis 
Warren (deceased), George L. and Norman L. Dr. 
Knipe isa memberof the Montgomery County Medical 
Society, in which he has filled the respective offices of 
secretary, treasurer and president. He is also a mem- 
ber of both the State and national medical associa- 
tions. He fills the appointment of member of the 
board of visitors for the county in connection with 
the public charities of the State. The doctor supports 
the principles' of the Democracy in politics, though 
rarely a participant in the exciting scenes incident to 
a political campaign. He is in religion a supporter 
of the Lutheran Evangelical Church. 

Mahlon PrivSTOx, M.D., a grandson of Mahlon 
Preston, who resided in West Grove township, Ches- 
ter Co., where he was a farmer. By his marriage to 
Amy Coates were born children, — William, Isaac C, 
Coates, Seymour, Hannah (Mrs. William W.Thomas), 
and Beulah (Mrs. W. W. Thomas). The birth of 
Isaac C. occurred in West Grove, from whence he 
removed to Cain, in the same county, where he was 
both a farmer and a commission merchant. He mar- 
ried Mary, daughter of Issachar Price, of the same 
county, and had children, — Frederick L. and Mahlon. 
The latter was born in Cain in January, IXV.), his 
boyhood being spent with his parents and at the 
home of his paternal grandfather. He was later 
placed under the guidance of Jonathan Gause, a cel- 
ebrated instructor of the day and at the head of the 
Greenwood Dell Academy, in Chester County, after 
which he taught at the same school and also in Dela- 
ware County. In 185.') he began the study of medicine 
with Dr. J. B. Wood, of West Chester, and graduated 
in 18()1 from the Homeopathic Medical College of 
Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia. Dr. Preston 
engaged iu practice at Meadville, Pa., and later at 
Rome, N. Y. After a temporary residence in Chester 
he, in 1862, made Norristown his home, and soon 
acquired a lucrative and steadily increasing practice. 
He was married, in 1867, to Mary, daughter of Hon. 
David Krause, of Norristown, and has children, — 
Frederick H. Catharine K. and Emily K. The doc- 
tor is a member of the State Homoeopathic Medical 
Society, of the American Institute of Homreopathy 
and of the International Hahnemann Association. 
He has at various times read papers of interest before 
these societies. Dr. Preston was educated in the 
religious faith of the Society of Friends. 

Dr. Ellwood M. Coe.sox,' the only surviving son of 



' For history of the Corson family, see Plymouth township. 



George and Martha Corson, was born June 15, 1842. 
Being endowed with great mental qualifications, and 
having received an excellent preliminary education, he 
entered the office of his uncle. Dr. Hiram Corson, but 
after the first year entered the military hospital at Broad 
and Cherry Streets, Philadelphia, as assistant, and, 
like his cousin Joseph K., and with him, attended lec- 
tures in the university and the sick in the hospital 
until he graduated, in the spring of 186.3. They thus, 
in the language of Mr. Auge, " heard lectures during 
the day and attended sick soldiers at night, stealing 
hours from sleep for study and the practical duties 
devolving on them as a.ssistants to the surgeons." 

After graduation he was at once commissioned assist- 
ant surgeon and attached to the Sixty-ninth Regiment 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, from which time he was with 
the army until within a week or two of the date of the 
battle of Gettysburg. He was prostrated with typhoid 
fever and was sent from Antietam to Baltimore to be 
treated, where he was lying very ill when the battle re- 
ferred to was in progress. After recovering from a most 
severe illness he was transferred to New York and from 
thence sent on board a monitor to Charleston Harbor. 
Of the trials, privations and dangers which our soldiers 
passed through in these months of daily cannonading 
none can speak truly save those who endured them. 
There he remained until the rebels abandoned the 
city. After the war he continued in the navy and 
served for a time in the Marine Hospital in Philadel- 
phia as assistant surgeon to his uncle. Surgeon George 
Maulsby, U.S.N. Life in the navy was distasteful 
to him ; he therefore resigned and at once began 
practice in Norristown with his uncle, Dr. William 
Corson, and at the present writing has skill and repu- 
tation as surgeon and physician, which the most 
fortunate may well envy. He married Miss Margaret 
Wilkinson, daughter of Samuel Wilkinson, of New 
York City, and niece of Mrs. E. Cady Stanton, the 
eloquent champion of "Woman's Rights." They 
have three children. 

GoRHAii Par.soxs Sargent, M.I)., of BrynMawr, 
a physician of long and extensive practice in Mont- 
gomery and Delaware Counties, was born December 
10, 1834, in Philadelphia, where his father, Winthrop 
Sargent, was for many years treasurer of the Presby- 
terian Board of Publication. His mother was Emily 
(Haskell) Sargent, of the old and highly respectable 
Haskell fiimily, of Gloucester, Mass., At the age 
of eight years he removed with his parents from 
Philadelphia to Essex County, Mass. He received 
his preparatory education at Dumraer Academy, 
in the township of Newbury, in that county, near the 
city of Newburyport, and at the close of his academic 
course entered Dartmouth College, at Hanover, N. H., 
where several of his brothers were graduated. In 
ISo'J he was elected a member of the Massachusetts 
Legislature for the town of Newbury. In the term 
which he then served in the House of Representatives 
he was the youngest member of that body, of which 



6t)6 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMP]RY COUNTY. 



the Hon. Charles Hale was the Speaker. During the 
time of his service in the Legislature he was also a 
student of medicine. He afterwards attended lectures 
at the Harvard Medical School and at the Long 
Island College Hospital (Brooklyn, N. Y.), where he 
was graduated in 18(i3. 

Prior to that time, at the opening of the war of the 
Rebellion, he entered the Union army as a medical 
cadet, and was assigned to hospital duty, in which he 
was chiefly employed during his continuance in the 
service, being stationed a large part of the time as 
acting assistant surgeon at the Satterlee Hospital, 



Shepherd (for children), at Radnor, Delaware Co. 
He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Bryn 
Mawr. 

Dr. Sargent was married, in 1865, to Caroline, 
daughter of Frederick Montmollin, of Lexington, 
Ky. They had one child, a daughter, who died 
in infancy, in 1866. Fitzwilliam Sargent, M. D., 
brother of Dr. G. P. Sargent, was formerly demon- 
strator of anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania, 
and is now (as he has been for many years) living in 
Europe. Another brother, Winthrop Sargent, M.D., 
who was also for several years in practice in Mont- 




Philadelphia, and also, for a shorter period, at Camp 
Copeland, Braddock's Field, near Pittsburgh. From 
the close of the war until the (iresent time he has been 
continuously engaged in the practice of his profession, 
first in Philadelphia and later in the counties of Del- 
aware and Montgomery. He has been president of the 
Montgomery County Medical Society, several times a 
delegate from that society to the Slate Medical Society 
and to the American Medical Association. He is now 
an associate member of the Obstetrical Society of 
Philadelphia, and, in addition to his large private 
practice, is in charge of the Hospital of the Good 



gomery County, and a member of its Medical Society, 
is now residing at Newton, Mass. 

Daviii R. Beaver, M.D. — David Beaver, the 
grandfather of Dr. David R. Beaver, of Consho- 
hocken, was the great-grandson of George Beaver, 
who came from Alsace, Germany, to Philadelphia, 
in the ship " Friendship," November 2, 1744. He 
resided in Chester County, Pa., where he was the 
owner of the Great Valley Flour-Mill and also of 
a productive farm. Mr. Beaver died while build- 
ing a furnace at Danville, Pa. He was united 
in marriage to Miss Catharine Heister, and had 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



667 



children, — Heister, Samuel and David. Samuel 
succeeded his father in the milling and farming busi- 
ness, and later removed to Xorristown, where he 
embarked in the milling and lumber business. He 
was married to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John 
and Rachel Brown, of Chester County, their children 
being David R., John B., Mary Ella (Mrs. William 
Craig) and Rachel Anna (Mrs. Aaron Baker). 

David R. Beaver was born on the 18th of April, 
1842, in Tredyffrin township, Chester Co. and at 
the age of thirteen removed to Norristown with his 
parents. He pursued his studies under the direction 



Early in the spring of 1865 he was relieved from this 
duty and appointed assistant medical purveyor of the 
Army of the Potomac, retaining the position until 
the close of the war. Returning again to civil life, he 
located in Reading for a brief period, from whence 
he removed to Norristown, but ultimately chose Con- 
shohocken as a desirable field of labor, where he has 
since been actively engaged in his profession and 
enjoys a large and lucrative practice. The doctor is 
a member of the Montgomery County Medical Society> 
the Pennsylvania State Medical Society and also of the 
American Medical Societv. He was married, on the 





of Rev. Samuel Aaron, Rev. Joseph Nesbitt and Pro- 
fessor John W. Loch, finally becoming a student of 
medicine in the office of Dr. William Corson, of Nor- 
ristown. He graduated from the University of Penn- 
sylvania in March, 18G4, and at once entered the 
service of the United States government as assistant 
surgeon of the Twelfth Regiment Pennsylvania Re- 
serves. On the mustering out of this regiment Dr. 
Beaver was reappointed assistant surgeon of the One 
Hundred and Ninety-first Regiment Pennsylvania Vol- 
unteers, from which he was later detached and placed 
as surgeon in charge of the Fifth Corps Artillery. 



17th of November, 186ii, to Miss Mary E., daughter 
of George Patterson, of Norristown. Their children 
are John Douglas (deceased), Reid (deceased), Eu- 
gene, Burd P., Mary and Margaret S. 

David Schrack, M.D., is the grandson of John 
and Mary Elizabeth Norris Schrack and the son of 
Charles Norris Schrack. The latter was married, in 
1841, to Harriet, youngest daughter of Rev. Sylvanus 
Haight, and became the father of children, — David, 
John and Charles, Jr. The eldest of these sons and 
the subject of this biographical sketch, after a 
thorough preliminary English course, determined to 



668 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



adopt medicine as a profession, and began his studies 
with his uncle, Dr. John Schrack. He continued 
them at a later date at the Jefferson Medical College, 
Philadelphia, and graduated with credit in the class 
of 1865. He at once began practice in his native 
township, continuing his residence at Norris Hall, 
but becoming associated with his uncle in his profes- 
sion. The thorough training of Dr. Schrack, com- 
bined with more than ordinary natural gifts, enabled 
him to attain a leading position in the county as a 
successful practitioner. He possessed much skill as a 
diagnostician and a correct judgment, conil)ined with 
great gentleness and delicacy, in the treatment of his 



1883, at his father's home.' His superior profes- 
sional gifts, his genial nature and consistent Christian 
life, all combined to inspire attachment, and caused 
his death to be regarded as a great personal bereave- 
ment. 

George M. Stiles, M.D. — The paternal ancestors 
of Dr. Stiles were from Kent County, England, and 
his grandfather, Levi Stiles, was a native of Prince- 
ton, N. J. Among his children was Joseph H., born 
in Burlington, N. J., who later removed to Philadel- 
phia, where his death occurred in August, 1881. He 
was united in marriage to Elizabeth Hankins, whose 
ancestors were from Virginia, and had children, — 




patients. He was a conspicuous member of the 
County Medical Society, as also actively identified 
with the Montgomery County Historical Society. 
He manifested a true patriotism during the trying 
events of the late civil war, and at one period at- 
tached himself to the camp on special duty. 

Dr. Schrack was a member of the Centennial Pres- 
byterian Church of Jeffersonville, in which he filled 
the office of trustee, and was in 1871 elected a ruling 
elder. In the prosperity of this church he felt a 
lively interest, and did much by his efforts to ad- 
vance its material and spiritual growth. The death 
of Dr. David Schrack occurred on the 27th of March, 



William H., Elmira H. {wife of Benjamin H. Wiley) 
and George M., besides four who are deceased. George 
M. was born in Burlington, N. J., on the 14th of Feb- 
ruary, 184:i, and educated at the Burlington public 
schools, the Pennington Seminary and Princeton 
College. He began the study of medicine in 1863 
with Dr. J. Franklin Gauntt, of Burlington, N. J., 
and continued with Dr. D. Hayes Agnew, of Phila- 
delphia, during this time serving in the Beverly 
Hospital and also in the Catharine Street Hospital, 



inis remains were interred in the family Imrial-place at " Noirii 
Hall," on the 31st of March, 1883. 



THE MEDICAL FKOFESSION. 



6G9 



of the latter city. He then became a student in the 
Medical Department of the University of Pennsylva- 
nia, from which he graduated in 1866. Dr. Stiles 
settled first at Flourtown. Pa., but finding the field 
somewhat circumscribed, at the expiration of the 
year removed to Conshohocken, where he has since 
resided. Here his aljility met with speedy recogni- 
tion, and secured for him a leading place among the 
physicians of the borough, with a correspondingly ex- 
tensive practice. Dr. Stiles is a member of the Mont- 
gomery County Medical Society (of which he was 
president in 1872) and of the Phila<lelphia Academy 
of Natural Sciences. He is a permanent member of 



a case ot "Tuberculous Kidney." The doctor was 
married, in 1872, to Amanda, youngest daughter of 
Alexander Huston, one of the oldest families of 
Chestnut Hill, Pa. A daughter, Elsie, is their only 
surviving child. Dr. Stiles has been president of the 
board of school directors of the borough, but aside 
from this appointment has not been identified with 
either county or borough in an oflicial capacity. He 
is descended from Quaker stock, and liberal toward 
all religious denominations. 

Horace Martin Bellows, M.D., son of Martin 
and Maria Keim Bellows, of Philadelphia, Pa., was 
born in that city June 30, 1839. His early education 




^. (^% 



-Z--^LJt^ 



the State Medical Society, as also of the American 
Medical Association. He is a member of the Phila- 
delphia Pathological Society and of the London 
Shakespearian Society. A close student of natural 
history, he derives both instruction and pleasure from 
its study. In 1877 he was appointed physician to 
the Hospital of the Good Shepherd, at Radnor, Dela- 
ware Co., Pa., and served some years in that capacity. 
Dr. Stiles has contributed at various times valuable 
papers to the medical literature of the day, notably 
one in the Philadelphia Medical Times of April 4, 
1874, on a case of " Extra- Uterine Pregnancy," and 
in the same journal of .January .5, 1876, an article on 



was obtained at the Hancock Grammar School and at 
the Philadelphia Central High School, with the idea 
of eventually becoming a physician, but fearing he 
would be too long dependent upon his father in car- 
rying out that intention, he graduated from the latter 
institution among the distinguished, with an average 
of 91.9, on February 12, 1857, having had several 
distinguished and meritorious certificates awarded him 
during his attendance there. He then, with a view to 
mercantile pursuits, passed through a course of stud- 
ies at Crittenden's Commercial College, Philadelphia, 
receiving his diploma from that college May 8, 18.57. 
Having thus thoroughly fitted himself for an account- 



670 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ant, he entered his father's store in Philadelphia as 
book-keeper. Mercantile pursuits and the counting 
room, were not suited to his tastes, however, and still 
having a de.sire to pursue the more congenial and 
useful occupation of a physician, he retired from the 
dull routine of accounts and balance-sheets, and dur- 
ing the summer of 1858 he again turned his attention 
to the medical profession as his future field of opera- 
tion by entering with Professor Joseph Leidy as his 
preceptor and matriculating in the Medical Depart- 
ment of the University of Pennsylvania, .September 
28, 1858, where he pursued his studies till March 14, 
1861, when he graduated from that institution. Soon 



Broad and Cherry Streets, Philadelphia, and June 28, 
1863, his skill as a physician and surgeon was recog- 
nized by the medical director of the department. Sur- 
geon John Neill, who placed him in charge of the 
Broad and Cherry Streets United States Army Gen- 
eral Hospital during his absence with the troops at 
Gettysburg. From that time till the close of the war 
his services were availed of by those in authority at 
places where they were considered to be most useful. 
On March 15, 1864, he was placed in charge of the 
United States Army Post Hospital, at the barracks 
for recruits, drafted men and substitutes, at Twenty- 
second and Wood Streets, Philadelphia, and which 





after his graduation his services as a physician were 
.secured for the hospital at the Philadelphia Alms- 
house, to which institution he was appointed resident 
physician, and where he remained one year. 

During this time the dark clouds of secession had 
burst forth in thunder tones, necessitating the calling 
forth of troops in the defense of the nation's life. Hos- 
pitals for the treatment of the sick and wounded sol- 
diers were erected, and skillful surgeons appointed in 
charge of them. Among the large number of surgeons 
selected by the government was Dr. H. M. Bellows, who, 
on January 31, 1862, was placed in chargeof oneof the 
wards in the United States Army General Hospital, 



*.^^^^-^,.r=^ 



was soon afterwards transferred to Twenty -third and 
Filbert Streets, still under his charge. 

May 2, 1864, he was transferred, by order of the 
medical director, to the United States Army General 
Hospital, South Street, Philadelphia. 

May 14, 1864, he was ordered to report to the surgeon 
general at Washington, D.C., and on May 16th he was 
assigned to Harewood United States Army General 
Hospital, on W.W. Corcoran's place, near Washington. 
July 12, 1864, he was detailed by the medical director 
of the Department of the Susquehanna to examine 
recruits for the " hundred days" Pennsylvania Vol- 
unteers at Camp Cadwalader, near Philadelphia. 




-^J? ^'fy-AJTRUch^e 







THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



671 



August 16, 1864, he was detailed to examine re- 
cruits for the Sixth Union League Regiment at Na- 
tional Guards' Hall, Philadelphia, recruited by General 
H. G. Sickle for the Reserve Corps, and known as the 
One Hundred and Ninety-eighth Regiment of Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers. 

March 21, 186.'i, he was ordered to perform the 
duties of the surgeon commanding at the Citizens' 
Volunteer Hospital, at Broad and Prime Streets, Phil- 
adelphia, during the temporary absence of that offi- 
cer. 

May 9, 1865, he was ordered by the medical direc- 
tor to the Citizens' Volunteer Hospital for duty. 

July 16, 1865, he wa.s ordered to conduct a number 
of sick and wounded soldiers from Philadelphia to 
the United States Army General Hospital at Prairie 
du Chien, Wis. 

August 9, f865, he was transferred to Mower United 
States Army General Hospital, and where he was as- 
signed to the charge of Christian Street United States 
Army General Hospital, then considered a ward of 
Mower Hospital. 

October 8, 1865, his connection with the army 
ceased at his request, he then having charge still of 
Christian Street Ward of Mower United States Army 
Oeneral Hospital, the last of the army hospitals re- 
maining in Philadelphia, and it was closed soon after 
that date. 

During the war Dr. Bellows tilled many important 
and responsible po.sitions in the medical department, 
aside from those above enumerated, and with the 
large amount of medical stores distributed through or 
by means of his requisitions, none were unaccounted 
for, and upon his final settlement with the goveru- 
ment his accounts were found correct in every par- 
ticular. 

After the close of the war Dr. Bellows commenced 
the practice of medicine in Philadelphia, where he 
remained until March, 1870, when he removed to 
Huntingdon Valley, having purchased the place upon 
which he resides, ami by many alterations and addi- 
tions to the buildings, as comfort and taste required, 
made it one of the fine residences of the valley. 

Since his location here he has been employed with 
a large and increasing practice, which he still pursues, 
besides entering heartily into such undertakings as 
promised to advance the interests of his locality. He 
is a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 
Philadelphia, to which he was elected February 26, 
1867, and whilst he lived in the city was a member of 
the Philadelphia County Medical Society. 

He was married. May 21, 1863, to Catherine, daugh- 
ter of George and Susan C. Schober, of Philadelphia. 
They have one child, a daughter, Susan S. 

Joseph Kerr We.wer, A.M., M.D., was born in 
Westmoreland County, Pa., October 31, 1838, being 
one of a family of ten children. His grandparents 
were among the early settlers of the county, and 
his father, John Weaver, one of six brothers, two 



of whom served in the war of 1812. When a 
young man, John Weaver located near Greens- 
burg, Westmoreland Co., Pa., and became a large 
land-owner, an extensive dealer in stock and also a 
merchant, his place of business, known then and 
now as Weaver's Stand, being a prominent point on 
the principal road between Pittsburgh and Philadel- 
phia. In 1842 the doctor's parents moved to Indiana 
County, Pa., where he received common-school and 
academic education. In 1858 he entered the sopho- 
more class in the university at Lewisburg, Union 
Co., Pa., from which institution he graduated in June, 

1861, receiving the degree of A.B. In 1863 the degree 
of A.M. was conferred upon him. He entered at once 
upon the study of medicine in the office of S. T. Red- 
dick, M.D., of Saltsburg, Indiana Co., Pa. In August, 

1862, a call for troops being made, he entered the 
army as first lieutenant Company D, One Hundred 
and Thirty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, a nine 
months' regiment, his four brothers being already 
in the service. The regiment was ordered to Wash- 
ington, D. C, for provost and guard duty, and he 
was detailed for official duty at the old Capital 
Prison, where he served for six months. The regiment 
was then ordered to the front, and became a part of 
the First Corps, Army of the Potomac, commanded by 
General Reynolds. After taking part in the Chan- 
cellorsville campaign, under General Hooker, he was 
mustered out of service, the time of the regiment 
having expired. 

Dr. Weaver again resumed his medical studies, but 
in a few months re-entered the service as captain 
of a company called out for State defense. In July, 
1864, he commanded a company in First Battalion 
(one hundred days") Infantry, and upon the expira- 
tion of that time accepted the command of a company 
of mounted infantry re-enlisted from the above- 
named battalion, and remained in the service until 
the close of the war. 

Soon after, he resumed his studies at Jefferson 
Medical College, Philadelphia, from which institu- 
tion he graduated in the spring of 1867, performing 
during his lastyearin college thedutiesof resident phy- 
sician in the Charity Hospital. After taking a special 
course of study in diseases of the throat, lungs, eye 
and ear, he settled in Norristown, Montgomery Co., 
Pa., April 30, 1S67, and rapidly established himself 
in the confidence of the people. He is now one of 
the leading physicians of the county, with a corre- 
spondingly large practice. For several years he was 
lecturer upon the subject of physiology and hygiene 
in the Norristown High School. While engaged in, 
general practice, he gives special attention to the 
treatment of diseases of the eye and ear. 

On November 27, 1872, Dr. Weaver was married 
to Amelia R., eldest daughter of Henry Lehman, Esq., 
one of Norristown's most prominent and respected 
citizens. The doctor is a member of the County, State 
and American Medical Associations and a Fellow of 



672 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the American Academy of Medicine, the latter being 
composed of those only who hold the degree of A.M., 
and having for its object the promotion of higher 
medical education. 

He is now, and has been since its organization, 
surgeon of the Sixth Regiment National Guards of 
Pennsylvania, and is a member and also surgeon of 
Zook Post, No. 11, Grand Army of the Republic. 
Politically he is a Republican. He is a member of 
the Norristown Baptist Church, in which he holds the 
office of trustee, and is also superintendent of the 
Sabbath-school of the same church. 



Christopher, and the latter a son by the same name, 
who was the father of George and the grandfather of 
George K. 

The man of whose life we are to give a brief out- 
line worked as boy and youth upon his father's farm, 
and had very limited schooling, but what he did learn 
was supplemented by study at Kulpsville Academy 
for several quarters after he had grown up. Then he 
taught school for two years in his native township, 
and thus prepared the way for two years' attendance 
at the Treemount Seminary, in Norristown, then, as 
now, under the principalship of Professor John W. 




-^^ ^^.U/^ 



George K. Meschter, M.D. — Dr. Meschter, of 
Worcestertownship, residing near Centre Point, one of 
the most successful medical practitioners of the county, 
was a son of Rev. George Meschter, of Towamencin 
township, and was born May 2, 1840. His ancestors 
were among the brave followers of Caspar Schwenk- 
feld, who, unwilling to abandon the faith for which 
they were persecuted in Silesia, their native land, 
immigrated to America. About forty families settled 
in the southeastern counties of Pennsylvania, of 
whom three individuals bore the name of Meschter. 
It is known that the great-grandfather of the subject 
of this biography arrived in this country September 
22, 1734. His name was Melchoir. He had a son. 



Loch. He studied there Latin, Greek, philosophy 
and chemistry, and secured a good preparation for the 
study of medicine, which he began in 1864 at Wor- 
cester, under the preceptorship of Dr. Joel H. Krause. 
In 1865 he entered the Medical Department of the 
University of Pennsylvania, from which he gradu- 
ated in the spring of 1867. He continued the study 
for another year and gained practical knowledge of 
his chosen profession in Blockley Hospital and the 
Pennsylvania Hospital and University, and then be- 
gan practice, March 1, 1868, at his present location. 
Centre Point, succeeding Dr. J. H. Krause. He soon 
became a member of the Montgomery County Medical 
Society, and has ever since continued to be identified 



THE MEDICAL PKOFESSION. 



673 



with it, at one time being its president. He was also 
a delegate to the State Medical Society in 187(i. Two 
years ago he took in [lartnership Josiah K. Gerhard, 
M.D., who had been his student, and, like himself, a 
graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Meschter married, in the fall of 1867, Miss 
Mary Ann, ilaughter of Charles Y. Krieble, of Frank- 
linville. They have had six children, of whom 
three — Cyrus K., Charles K. and Nora — are living. 

BEN.TAifix F. DisMAXT, M.D.— The Dismant family 
is traced through a long line of ancestors, the first rep- 
resentative, named Daniel, having emigrated from 
Ireland in 1698. Benjamin F. Dismant was the son 



delphia. On the completion of his course of lectures 
he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania 
(Medical Department) in March, 1867. Removing at 
once to Limerick Centre, he began the practice of his 
profession, and has never since changed his field of 
labor. Dr. Dismant soon entered upon a successful 
career as a practitioner, his thorough knowledge of the 
science of medicine having aflbrded the groundwork 
of this success. From the nature of his field of oper- 
ation, however, his practice is necessarily general 
rather than special. The doctor was married, on the 
10th of February, 187o, to Mary M., daughter of 
Henry S. Walt, of Limerick township, and has chil- 





of John and Deborah Dismant, and was born on the 
27th of February, 1845, in Upper Providence town- 
ship, Montgomery Co., where his boyhood was spent 
upon a farm owned by his father. He early displayed 
a predilection for study, and enjoyed more than the 
ordinary advantages of education, attending first pub- 
lie and private schools near his home, and later the 
Washington Hall Collegiate Institute, at theTrappe, 
and a similar school in Philadelphia, under the direc- 
tion of L. Fairchild, Esq. For a brief period he 
engaged in teaching, and then began the study of 
medicine with Dr. John A. Jacks, of Berks County, 
and later with Dr. Hugh Lennox Hodge, of Phila- 
43 



dren, — Lizzie, Nellie, Georgie and John. Dr. Dismant 
is a member of the Pottstown Medical Society, fre- 
quently participating in the discussions and reading 
interesting papers before that body. In politics he 
is a Democrat, but while earnest in his zeal for the 
advancement of the party interests, he has no ambition 
for office. 

Mary Henderson Stinson was born November 
14, 1819, in Norriton township, Montgomery Co., Pa., 
eldest daughter and fourth child of Robert and Eliza- 
beth Porter Stinson, of the fourth generation of the 
progenitors in this country, of whom both paternal 
and maternal emigrated from Scotland or the north 



C74 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of Ireland before or about the first third of the eigh- 
teenth century, whose graves are well marked in the 
burial-grounds attached to the Presbyterian Churches 
of Ne^haminy, Bucks Co., and of Norriton and Lower 
Providence, Montgomery Co. Their identity is well 
established by title-deeds recorded in Philadelphia 
County and by the registration of wills in these three 
counties. 

Robert Stinson was the second son of Elijah and 
Mary Henderson Slinsou, of Warwick township, Bucks 
Co. " 

Elijah was the only son of John Stevenson, from 
Ireland, and Henderson, of Upper Merion, Mont- 
gomery Co. 

Mary Henderson, wife of Elijah Stinson, w^as one of 
the eight daughters of Robert and Margaret Archabald 
Henderson, of Bucks County, whose parents came 
from Scotland. 

Elizabeth Porter, wife of Robert Stinsnn, was the 
oldest daughter of Stephen and Margaret JIcFarland 
Porter, of Norriton township, Montgomery Co. 

Stephen Porter was the youngest of the nine sons 
of Robert and Lilleous Christy Porter, of Worcester 
township, Montgomery Co. 

Robert Porter'sbirth, November 25, 170-5, is recorded 
in the parish of Burt, on an island near Londonderry. 
His direct ancestor earliest known was a Scotch chief 
of the clan McGregor, who emigrated from Scotland 
to Ireland about 1630. 

Margaret, wife of Stephen Porter, was the oldest 
daughter of Arthur and Elizabeth Parker, nee Todd 
McFarland, of Norriton township, Montgomery Co. 

Elizabeth, wife of Arthur McFarland, was a daughter 
of Robert and Isabella Todd, who came, with five 
children, from Ireland about 1737, and settled in 
Upper Providence township, Montgomery Co., Pa. 

The school education of Mary H. Stinson began in 
the township school-house in Jefterson ville ; continued 
in Mr. Ashton's private school in Philadelphia, and 
closed at the Female Seminary in Charlestown, Mass., 
then a suburb, now a part of the city of Boston. 

Having been an invalid many years, she studied 
medicine as a hygienic measure, and graduated in the 
class of 18G9 of the Woman's Medical College of 
Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Merrick Bemis, superintendent of the State 
Lunatic Hospital in Worcester, Mass., having com- 
prehended the difficulties insuperable by men physi- 
cians in the care and treatment of insane women 
patients, with a portion of the board of trustees of that 
institution, concluded to seek a woman graduate in 
medicine as a candidate for election as assistant phy- 
sician in the dei)artment for women, scarcely believing 
she could be elected. 

The members of the faculty of the Woman's Medical 
College of Pennsylvania recommended Dr. Mary H. 
Stinson for the candidacy. At the regular monthly 
meeting of the board of trustees, in July, 18G9, by a 
unanimous vote, she was elected asssistant physician 



for the department for women. This was the first 
appointment on record of a woman to such a position. 
/^ At the meeting of the board of trustees in Septem- 
ber, 1869, she presented herself and went on duty. 
She remained through Dr. Bemis' administration as 
superintendent, and more than three years with his 
successor, Dr. B. D. Eastman, having in the mean time 
sent in two resignations, which she was induced to 
withdraw. After a third resignation, she left Worces- 
ter in January, 1875. 

On February 4, 1875, she commenced a tour of the 
United States vui the Atlantic States and their prin- 
cipal cities to Florida, across the Gulf States to New 
Orleans, up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and via Union 
Pacific Railroad reached San Francisco, Cal., May 
25th. Visited intermediate Territories and States re- 
turning, and arrived home in Norristown about the 
close of December, 1875. 

The summer of 1876 was given to the Centennial 
Exposition, the social interests it created, and to at- 
tending some of the sections of the World's Medical 
Conference, then in session in Philadelphia. 

.On September 23, 1876, she left Philadelphia on the 
steamship " Vaderland," with the threefold purpose 
of travel or sight-seeing, visiting and studying of 
hospitals for the insane and the sick, and for study 
in the medical department, of the universities of 
Europe. 

She landed at Antwerp, on the Scheldt, Belgium, 
where she commenced by visiting the famous colony 
of insane persons of both sexes at Gheel. The win- 
ter of 1876-77 was spent in Vienna, Austria, attending 
clinics and lectures in the hospitals and Medical De- 
partment of the University. 

The winter of 1877-78 was spent in Paris in similar 
pursuits. The spring following, the absorbing interest 
was the World's Exposition in Paris. The summer 
was given to London and the British Isles. Having 
embarked for the return voyage at Glasgow, Scotland, 
she arrived in New York August 27, 1878. 

Upon the organization of the hospital for the insane 
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, located at 
Norristown, Dr. Stinson was tendered the position of 
resident physician of the women's department, but 
declined the honorable preferment. 

Dr. Stinson was elected a member of the Mont- 
gomery County Medical Society November 10, 1880. 
She was sent by this society as delegate to the State 
Medical Society's meeting in Lancaster, Pa., in 1881, 
and in 1882, as delegate from that same society, she 
attended the session of the American Medical Associ- 
ation held at St. Paul, Minn. 

Dr. Stinson has been one of the pioneers of her sex 
in determining a standard, of practical usefulness for 
educated and trained women, and her recognition by 
the medical society of the county, by the management 
of one of the largest corporate institutions in New 
England, and by one in her native State furnishes 
the gratifying evidence of her successful career. She 




.^^^;^;^5l^^^$:to-^:.:..^^ 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. 



675 



is now living in useful retirement at her liome in 

Norristown. 

HiKAM K. Loux, M.D., of Souderton, although a 
young physician, has obtained considerable popularity 
and prominence as a practitioner. He was born in 
Rockhill township, Bucks Co., Pa., July 16, 1859, and 
is a sou of .Jacob and Hannah (Rittenhouse) Loux, 
the former of whom, now residing near Lansdale, is a 
Mennonite minister. The latter was of the family 
which the name of David Rittenhouse has made 
famous, and of which much information is given else- 
where in this volume. 



his own industry prepared the way, he entered the 
Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, in the fall 
of 1879. In the spring of 1882 he graduated therefrom 
with honors, receiving favorable mention as a con- 
testant for the Henry C. Lea's Sons' prize for the 
best thesis founded upon original experiments and 
upon clinical observation and superior excellence in 
scholarship. On April 1, 1882, he located in Sou- 
derton, where he has since remained. Meeting with 
excellent success in practice at the very start, he has 
constantly advanced in his profession until, at the 
present, he enjoys a very enviable position. He has, 





"fJUCL-^^i^Zy^ 








The early youth of our subject was spent u])on his 
father's farm, but at the age of fourteen he entered the 
excellent school at the Trappe, known as Washington 
Hall, and there took a three years' course of instruc- 
tion, which formed the basis of his literary education. 
The intervals in his occupation of teaching during the 
following three years were also occupied in study. 
During the latter year of his teaching (which he fol- 
lowed in Hatfield township) his attention was directed 
to medicine, upon the thorough study of which he 
had resolved, and he had as preceptor Dr. William 
H. Hartzell, then of Harleysville, now of Allentown. 
Making the best of his opportunities, and having by 



in addition to a fair reputation gained in the common 
practice of medicine, quite a reputation as a surgeon, 
and is frequently called to consult with other physicians 
in the region about his home. 

EDvnN B. RossiTER, M.D., comes from a family 
of Welsh extraction. Thomas Rossiter, the grand- 
father of the doctor, was an early settler in Chester 
County, where he followed the blacksmith's trade and 
also cultivated a farm. By his marriage to Rachel 
VanDerslice, of Chester County, were born children, — 
Lewis, Thomas, Morris, Joseph, Ellis, Edwin, Sarah 
v. and Juliann. Thomas, of this number, was born 
on the 22d of October, 1822, at the homestead, near 



676 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Perkiomen Junction, Chester Co., and early acquired 
the trade of blacksmith, which he followed for years 
successfully. He married Catharine, daughter of 
Jonathan and Catharine Bowen, whose children are 
Edwin B. and Rachel E. (Mrs. George W. Reifsnyder). 
Mr. Rossiter still resides in Chester County, though 
not actively employed at his trade. His son, Edwin 
B., was born in Schuylkill township, Chester Co., on 
the 23d of February, 1851, in the immediate vicinity 
of which his youth was passed. After instruction at 
the common schools near his home, he entered a 
printiug-officeatPhcfnixville, and thoroughly acquired 
the printer's art in all its departments. He removed 
to West Chester and was 
engaged as a journeyman, 
finding later, employment 
in the same capacity in 
the State Printing-Office, 
at Harrisburg, where he 
remained for several years. 
Having an early fond- 
ness for the science of 
medicine, he determined 
to make it his life-work, 
and with that end in view, 
he entered the office of 
Dr. A. Williams, of Phoe- 
nixville, continuing his 
studies at the Hahne- 
mann Homa?opathic Med- 
ical College, in Philadel- 
phia, from which he 
graduated in 1875. The 
doctor began practice at 
Spring City, Chester Co., 
where he remained three 
years, and at the expira- 
tion of this time removed 
to Sunbury, Northumber- 
land Co., Pa. A larger 
field of operation, how- 
ever, awaited him in Potts- 
town, to which borough he 
removed in 1878, and has 
since been actively en- 
gaged in a practice, ex- 
tended and successful, his attainments enabling him 
to take a leading place as a representative of his school 
of medicine. He is a member of the Chester, Delaware 
and Montgomery Medical Society. Dr. Rossiter was, 
on the 9th of March, 1877, married to Miss Mary W., 
daughter of William Ellis, of Pottstown, who is a 
graduate of the Cleveland Homoeopathic Medical 
Society, of Cleveland, Ohio. Their children are Lizzie 
P., Anna C. and Edna M. The doctor gives his 
support and vote to the Republican cause in politics, 
though not active in the political field. He was 
reared in the faith of the Baptist Church, of which 
Mrs. Rossiter is a member. 




William H. Randle, M.D.— Henry Randle, the 
father of Dr. William H. Randle, was a native of 
Mississippi, and an extensive planter at Artesia, 
Lowndes Co., in that State. He married Eliza Law- 
rence, also of Mississippi, to whom were born nine 
children, the survivors of this number being Dr. 
Charles C. Randle, of Mississippi ; Mary F., wife of 
Dr. O. C. Brothers, of the latter State ; Arthur E. 
Randle, of Virginia ; and the subject of this sketch. 
Dr. William H. Randle was born on the 30th of No- 
vember, 1850, in Artesia, Miss., and educated at 
private schools until he became a student of Spring 
Hall College, Mississippi, where his classical course 
was completed. Two years 
later he entered the office 
of his brother. Dr. John S. 
Randle, as a student of 
medicine, and graduated 
from the Jeft'crson Medical 
College, Philadelphia, in 
the class of 1878. He re- 
ceived the appointment 
and served one year as 
assistant resident physi- 
cian in the Jewish Hospi- 
tal of the latter city, and 
in 1878 was made a mem- 
ber of the board of experts 
authorized by Congress to 
investigate the yellow 
fever epidemic, fifty thou- 
sand dollars having been 
appropriated to liquidate 
the expenses of the board, 
which convened at Mem- 
phis, Tenn. On the assign- 
ment of the field of oper- 
ation. Dr. Randle was 
appointed to the city of 
Memphis and surround- 
ing country and the State 
of Mississippi. After a 
thorough and laborious 
investigation, involving a 
period of two months, the 
board convened in Wash- 
ington, and held a session of three weeks preparatory 
to rendering an exhaustive report to Congress, em- 
bracing a review of the field of operation and replete 
with valuable statistical information. Dr. Randle, on 
hisreturn in 1879, chose Jenkintown, Montgomery Co., 
as a favorable point for the practice of his profession, 
where he has since resided. Here his thorough medi- 
cal training at once. secured for him a leading place 
among the physicians of the county. 

Dr. Randle, on the 3d of January, 1882, married 
Miss Mellie L., daughter of Hon. A. C. Harmer, mem- 
ber of Congress from Germantown, Pa. Their only 
child is a daughter, Lizzie H. 



THE MEDICAL PROFESSIOxN. 



677 



Medical Society. — About the year 1847 prepara- 
tions were made to organize a medical society in 
Montgomery County, and, according to a previous 
nnderstandingbetween Drs. George W, Thomas, Hiram 
Corson, William Corson and W. G. Nugent, a notice 
was inserted in the Norristown papers inviting the 
physicians of the county to meet in Norristown tor 
tluit purpose. The meeting was composed of Drs. 
George W. Thomas, Hiram Corson, William Corson, 
Washington G. Nugent and John L. Foulke. Dr. 
George Thomas was ajjpointed president and Dr. 
Hiram Corson secretary. Drs. W. Corson, John L. 
Foullce and Washington Nugent constituted the com- 
mittee appointed to prepare a constitution and by- 
laws. The objects of the society are " to cultivate 
and extend the science of medicine, to sustain and 
elevate the character of the profession, to protect the 
interests of and promote harmony amongst the mem- 
bers." 

The officers consist of a president, two vice-presi- 
dents, one corresponding and one recording secretary, 
a treasurer, three censors and a board of examiners, 
who are elected annually and serve one year, or until 
ii successor is elected. 

Any physician of respectable standing in the pro- 
fession, of good moral character, who is a graduate of 
some respectable medical school, or who holds a 
license to practice from some medical board recog- 
nized by the State Society, or who has been in prac- 
tice fifteen years, and has a good moral and profes- 
sional character, and is a regular practitioner, is 
considered eligible, and may be elected a member of 
the society by a vote of two-thirds of the members 
present, provided his name has been proposed at a 
previous regular" meeting of the society ; and pro- 
vided, also, that such applicant is in no way inter- 
ested or connected with the manufacture, sale or 
proceeds of any secret or patent remedy or instru- 
ment, or in giving a certificate in favor of any patent 
remedy or instrument, or in giving support to a 
system of practice calculated to destroy public confi- 
dence in the science of medicine, or by advertisement 
or any other undue and improper means or claims to 
superi()r (jualifications in the treatment of any dis- 
ease. 

The society at present consists of fifty-four mem- 
bers, holds its meetings bi-monthly at Norristown, 
and sends delegates to the annual sessions of the 
State Medical Society and to the American Medical 
Ass()ciation. 

MEMIJEIIS OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY MEDICAL SlM.'IETY. 
Jiiseph Anderson. P. Y. Eiscnberg. 

.1. 0. Knipc. 
, E. C. Lfedoin. 



R. II. Aiiiirews, 
Herbert Arnold. 
Chiirk's Bradley. 
1). It. Bpuver. 
Hiram Corson. 
William Corson. 
Kllwooii M. Corson. 
31. H. Dra\i.'. 
J W Evana. 



Oscar Leedoni. 
C. n. Mann. 
J. Morey. 
G. K. Mescliter. 
L. W. Read. 
J K. Reid. 
.John Schi'ac'k. 



G. P. Sargent. 
S. C. Seiple. 
George M. Stiles. 
Samuel Smith. 
William Savory. 
J. K. Weaver, 
Samuel Wolfe, 
S. N. Wiley. 
.1. R. Umstead. 
H. Y. Neiman. 
H. H. Whitcomb. 
John Davis. 
Mary H. Stinsou. 
William Hall, 
J. K, Gerhard. 
Alice Bennett. 
K. n. Chase. 



George N. Highley. 
¥. v. Vanartsdalen. 
Charles Z. Weber. 
S. B, Swaveley. 
V. Z. Kerler. 
.T, C. Spear. 
John Paxson, 
Robert Coltnian. 
Ilirani R. I-uux. 
Mary HalloweH. 
J. B, Carrell. 
W. H. Doughty. 
Robert Coltman, Jr. 
R. L. Cooper. 
C. B. Hough. 
F. S. Wilson. 
M. Y. Weber. 



The following list of names includes all the physi- 
cians of all schools known to be practicing within the 
county at the present date: 



Jus, W. Anderson, Lower Meriou. 

Milton F, Acker, Tylersport. 

Reuln-n High Andrews, Lansdale. 

Win, J. Asbenfelter, Pottstown. 

Herbert A, Arnold, Merionville. 

Harry M. Bunting, Norristown. 

Henricum Bobb, East Greenville. 

Horace M. Bellows, Huntingdon 
Valley. 

(Vtrnelius Bartholomew, New Han- 
over township. 

(!eo. A. Blanch, Green Lane. 

Abraham B, Banner, Norristown. 

Epliraim K, Blanck, Hatfield. 

,)n.s. Y, Beclitel, Schwenksvillp. 

Mary Alice Bennett, Norristown. 

Jesse E, Bauman, Telford. 

David R. Beaver, Conshohocken. 

David K, Bechtel, Kulpsville. 

Cliai'Ies Bradlej', Norristown. 

John K. Blank, Upper Hanover. 

David H. Bergey, Perkiomen. 

V. (i. Bigo]iy, Line Lexington. 

Robert Coltman, Sr., Jenkintown. 

Elwood Corson, Norristown. 

Hiram Corson, Plymouth. 

William Corson, Norristowu. 

R. Cooper, Shoemakertown. 

R. H. Chase, Norristown, State 
Hospital. 

John B. Carrell, Hatboro', 

Amos G. Culenuin, Limerick. 

Edwani JL Clifford, Valk^y For;;e. 

William A. Cross, Jenkintown. 

II. H. Drake, Norristown. 

John Davis, Pottstown, 

Helena Davis, Pottstown. 

Thoimis Davis, Lower Providence- 
Benjamin F. Dismant, Upper Prov- 
idence, 

JaniL's Dotterer, Pennsburg. 

Pliillii* Y, Eisenburg, Norristown, 

William H. Eck, Pottstown. 

I. N. Evans, Hatboro'. 

Jonathan N. Faust, Frederick. 

Oliver H. Fisher, Grater's Ford. 

Milton B. Fretz, Souderton. [ 

Oliver H, Fretz, Salfordville. 

Edward M. Furj', Norristown. I 

Mauricio W, Gillmer, North Wales, i 

William A Gerhart, Lansdale, I 

Charles W. Gumbes, Oaks Station. I 

Henry G. GroflT, Lower Salford. 

George S. Gerhard, Ardmoro. 

Thomas Walter Gardiner, Potts- 
town. 

(saiali K, Gerhard, Worcester. 

Email F. Gerhard, Norristown. 

Janii's U. Hamer, Collegeville. 

William B. Hill, Abington. 

Geurgf N. llighley, Consbuhocken. 



John G. Hillegass, Pennsburg. 
John Y. Hunman, (Jilbertsville. 
! Charles H. Hough, Three Tuna. 
i Joseph S. Hill, .\rdmore, 

William M. Hall, Conshohocken. 
i Mary P. HalloweH, Horsham. 
' Rus^eil S. Hill, AVeldou. 

Benj. K. Johnson, North Wales. 
I Henry S. Jacoby, Sinnneytown. 
Ewing Jordan, Norristown, State 

Hospital. 
Francis M, Knipc, Frederick, 
Franklin B. Keller, Pottstown. 
Reinhard K.Keclor, Lower Salford. 
\. '/.. Keelor, HarleysviUe. 
.). O. Knipit, Norristown. 
Septimus A. Knipe, New Hanover. 
Moses R. Knapp, Gwynedd. 
George Stewart Kirby, Pottstown. 
,\rinette Kenitz, Lansdale. 
i N. H. Longabaugh, Norristown. 
Edwin C. Leedom, Plymouth. 
Oscar Leedom, Plymouth. 
! Matthew .\. Long, Pottstown. 

Hiram R. Loux, Souderton. 
I John W. Lodge, Lower Merion. 
, A. D. Markley, Hatboro'. 
, G. K. Jlesrhtei, Centre Point, 

Samuel C, Jloyer, Lansdale, 
I James G. Mensch, Pennsburg, 
I Charles H. Ahinn, Bridgeport. 
Johns. Mort-y, Upper Providence, 
A. H. Mellersb, Lower Merion. 
]'. H. MarUley, Hatboro". 
.\. L. Miller, Tylersport. 
William McKenzie, West Consho- 
hocken. 
Milton Newbeiry, Frnt W;ishing- 

ton. 
Henjsiniin H. Nice, Norristown. 
Joaiincm Paxson, Jenkintown. 
Heni'y De Witt Pawling, King of 

Prussia. 
William C. Powell, Jr., Bryn 

Mawr. 
Mahlon Preston, Norristown, 
.fohn E. Petei-s, Jenkintown. 
W. C. Roney, Pottstown. 
Margaret Richardson, Norristown. 
William H. Randle, Jenkintown. 
Lewis W. Reed, Norristown. 
Edward B, Rossiter, Pottstown, 
J. K, Reid, (,'onshohucken. 
Orlando C. Robinson, Huntingdon 

Valley. 
Samuel 51. Rambo, Oaks Station. 
J. Warren Royer, Trai)pe. 
Henry D. Roseiiberger, Hatfield. 
Edward Reading, Hatboro. 
Willard L. Reading, Hatboro. 
Joseph IC. Ritter, Pottstown. 



678 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



George Roney, Pottetown. 

Charles M. Robinson, Ambler. 

N. G. Reiff, Pottstown. 

Horace Still, Norristown. 

J. S. Schrawiler, Upper Dublin. 

Henry T. Slemmer, Norristown. 

S. C. Seiple, Centre Square. 

Jacob H. Schcetz, Pottstown. 

Henry F. Slifer, North Wales. 

George M. Stiles, CoiiHliohoclten. 

G. P. Sargent, Bryn Mjiwr. 

B. H. Shelley, Palm. 

John Schrack, Jeffersonville. 

William Savory, Bryn IMawr. 

Albanus Styer, Ambk-r. 

S. B. Swavely, Pottstown. 

Richard W. Saylor, Puttsgrove. 

D. W. Shelly, Ambler. 

"William L. Shoemaker, Fitzwater- 

town. 
A. R. Tyson, Norribtuwn. 



James L. Tyson, Gwynedd. 

John Todd, Pottstown. 

John A. Tenny, Collegeville. 

Henry U. Umstead, Upper Provi- 
dence. 

J. R. Umstead, Lower Providence. 

G. B. R. Umstead, Upper Provi- 
dence. 

C. Van Artsdalen, Chelton Hills. 

H. H. Whitcumb, Norristown. 

M. Augustus Withers, Pottstown. 

Joseph K. Weaver, Norristown. 

Joseph W. Winter, Lower Merion. 

S. N. WiU-y, Norristown. 

P. S. Wilson, Jarrettown. 

P. 0. Wickert, Salfordville. 

Charles T. Waage, Pennsburg. 

Samuel Wolf, Jr., Skippackville. 

M. Y. Weber, Evansburg. 

Charles Z. W'eber, Norristown. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

ABINGTON TOWNSHIP.' 

The township of Abington is situated in the ex- 
treme southeastern section of the county, and is 
bounded on the northwest by Upper Dublin, north- 
east by Moreland, southeast by Philadelphia, and 
southwest by Springfield, Cheltenham and the bor- 
ough of Jenkintown. It is five miles long and 
three and a quarter wide, and contains ten thousand 
one hundred and sixty acres. By the erection 
of Jenkintown, in 1874, its area and population 
have been reduced. The surface is generally rolling, 
and in the northwestern section the limestone and 
iron-ore belt commences, about half a mile in 
width, and continues in a southeast course to the 
Schuylkill. Edge Hill is the most considerable eleva- 
tion and confines the limestone valley entirely to its 
northern side. The soil is a fertile loam, and where 
the limestone abounds, among the best in the county. 
Lime is extensively manufactured, and considerable ore 
is obtained for the neighboring furnaces and shipped 
by railroad. The Pennypack Creek flows through 
interesting scenery for a mile and a half across the 
eastern angle, in which distance it receives several 
tributary streams. Sandy Run has its source within 
a few yards of the Moreland line and flows for a 
distance of nearly three miles across the northern 
part of the township, but furnishes no water-power. 

The Cheltenham, the Willow Grove and German- 
town, and the Middle Road turnpikes cross the 
township in several directions. The former was fin- 
ished in 1804, the second in 1857, each costing eight 
thousand dollars per mile. The North Pennsylvania 
Railroad was completed in 1856, and passes through 
Abington nearly a mile. The North East Branch, 
completed in 1872, has two stations, Hillsid* and 



' liv Will. .1. BiRk. 



Rubicam, and a course of three and a half miles. 
The Jenkintown Branch to Y'ardley passes nearly 
four miles, and has Noble, Benezet and Meadow Brook 
Stations. This line was opened through to New York 
May 1, 1876. The Philadelphia and Newtown Rail- 
road, completed in 1877, extends across the eastern 
angle of the township upwards of two miles, with 
Harper Station. The villages with post-offices are 
Abington and Weldon. The population in 1790 was 
881 ; in 1840, 1704 ; and in 1880 2,185. For 1882 
613 taxables were returned, rated for $2,655,380. Next 
to Springfield, it is the highest rated township in the 
county, averaging $4331 per taxable. For 1S83, li- 
censes were issued to two hotels, four general stores, one 
dealer in flour and feed and two coal-yards. Abington 
contains nearly sixteen square miles, with one hundred 
and thirty-eight inhabitants to the square mile. For 
the school year ending June 1, 1882, seven schools 
were open ten mouths, with an average attendance of 
one hundred and eighty-four pupils. In 1850 the 
census returned three hundred and fifteen houses, 
three hundred and sixteen families and one hundred 
and forty farms. In 1785 two grist-mills, two saw- 
mills and a fulling-mill are mentioned; the former 
only now remain. 

The name of Abington has been applied from sev- 
eral parishes so called and formed more than nine 
hundred years ago, in Northampton and Cambridge- 
shire, England. In records of 1696 to 1702 we als» 
find this called Hill township, probably after Philip 
Hill, who was at the time an extensive landholder 
here. From Thomas Holme's map of original sur- 
veys, probably filled up before 1691}, we secure some 
additional information as to the first taking up of the 
lauds. Beginning at the present Philadelphia line, 
on the south side of the Susquehanna Street road : 
Thomas Livezey, Robert Fairman, Walter King, Rich- 
ard Dungworth, William Chamberlain, Joseph Phipps, 
Sarah Fuller, John Barnes, Samuel Cart, Widow 
Shorter, John Rush, Israel Hobbs and William 
Powell. On the north side of Susquehanna Street 
road from the Philadelphia line: Silas Crispin, Wil- 
liam Stanley, Daniel Heap, Thomas Holme, Samuel 
Allen, Elizaljeth Martin, Philip T. Lehman, Silas 
Crispin and Samuel Clarridge. All these several 
tracts extended half-way across the township, Susque- 
hanna Street road being the centre or dividing line 
from which the surveys were made, and was reserved 
as an original road, and we know from early deeds 
actually bore this name before 1695. It seems remark- 
able that it should have been so called. 

From a return nuule l)y the constable at the order 
of Thomas Penn, Abington was reported in 1734 to 
contain forty-two resident landholders and taxables, 
as follows : Morris Morris, 400 acres ; Thomas 
Fletcher, 200 ; Stephen Jenkins, 250 ; Nicholas 
Austin, 1.50; Thomas Parry, 100 ; John Bond, 200 ; 
Daniel Thomas, 300; Isaac Knight, 100; Malachi 
Jones, 80; John Harris, 100; John Thompson, 



ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 



679 



James Paul, 500 ; Thomas Kenderdine, 200; Lewis 
Roberts, 20(1; Widow Roberts, 80; Jolm Roberts, 
shoemaker, 100; John Roberts, on the hill, 100; 
John Roberts, Jr., Widow Hufty, John Webster, 50; 
Thomas Mariiole, 50 ; Phineas Jenkins, 100 ; Lam- 
bert Dorland, 50 ;' Joshua Williams, 50 ; John Kirke, 
250; Abraham Stevenson, 100; Jeremiah McVaugh, 
100; John Wcems, 100; Isaac Tyson, 100; John 
Tyson, 60; Rynear Tyson, 100,' Peter Tyson, 200; 
Abraham Tyson, Isaac Waterman, 100 ; William 
Johnson, 100 ; William HallowcU, 100 ; George 
Bewly, 100 ; Renjamin Hallowell, 100 ; Isaac Knight, 
Jr., 100; William Watkins, SO; Humphrey Water- 
man, 100 ; Richard Trott, 100. Descendants of the 
Fletcher, Thompson, Paul, Roberts, Webster, Kirk, 
McVaugh, Tyson and Hallowell families still exist 
in this section. 

Sarah Fuller's patent for six hundred acres from 
Penn is dated ISthof Fifth Month, 1684, and extended 
from Jenkintown eastward beyond the meeting- 
house. John Barnes purchased two hundred and 
fitty acres adjoining on the westward of the aforesaid 
tract, tor which he received a patent 1st of Sixth 
Month of the said year. The latter not long after 
this purchased Sarah Fuller's tract, which gave him 
eight hundred and fifty acres. By deed the 5th of 
Second Month, 1607, he vested in the trustees for the 
use of a Friends' meeting and school-house one hun- 
dred and twenty acres, which adjoins the eastern 
portion of the present borough of Jenkintown. It 
was thus that the meeting-house came to be built 
there as a substitute for the one that had been used 
at Oxford, three miles distant. To the Abington 
Friends' Minutes we are indebted for some ad- 
ditional information respecting several of the early 
settlers, — Sarah Fuller, in Seventh Month, 1687, was 
married to William Dillwyn ; John Barnes, tailor, in 
Eighth Month, 1688, to Mary Arnold, probably of 
Germantown ; John Worrell, in Fourth Month, 1680, 
married .Tudith Dungworth, probably a daughter of 
Richard Dungworth ; Samuel Cart, in Twelfth 
Month, 1690, married Sarah Goodson. 

William Jenkins, the founderof the family bearing 
the name in this section, is stated to have come from 
Wales, and must have resided in the township at 
least as late as 27th of Tenth Month, 1607, when he 
was ajipointed with Joseph Phipps to solicit subscrip- 
tions in PhihuU-lphia towards the erection of the new 
meeting-house. He purchased of John Barnes, June 
16, 1698, four hundred and thirty-seven acres of the 
northwesterly portion of his tract. It is probable 
that he erected thereon the first improvements, for in 
his will, dated 11th of Twelfth Month, 1711, he be- 
queathed his dwelling-house and plantation, called 
" Spring Head," to his wife, Elizabeth. The 
fact that the will was proven August 16, 1712, will de- 
note that he may have died but a short time before. 
He had two children, Stephen and Margaret, the 
latter married to a Paschall. The former married 



Abigail, eldest daughter of Phineas Pemberton, of 
Falls township, Bucks Co., 14th of Second Month, 1704. 
He resided on the present property of Samuel W. Noble, 
on the York road, about half a mile north of Jenkin- 
town, and it appears in the summer of 1717 his 
buildings were burned ; in consequence the meeting 
ordered that they " raise something by way of sub- 
scription to help to supply his family with corn this 
year." His wife, who died 22d of Ninth Month, 1750, 
aged seventy years, was a minister in Abington 
Meeting. Phineas Jenkins, owner of one hundred acres 
in the list of 1734, was no doubt his son, called after 
his grandfather, and who is mentioned in the asses- 
sor's list of 1780, at that time evidently well in years. 
On this list we also find the names of Jesse, Lydia, a 
widow, and William Jenkins, the latter rated a 
gentleman and holding one hundred and seventy- 
three acres of land. 

Ryner Tyson came from Germany, near the bound- 
ary of Holland, and settled at CTermantown, where he 
was a lot-holder in October, 1685, and was naturalized, 
with a number of other Germans, May 7, 1691. In 
1709 one of this name was overseer of Abington 
Meeting, whether the aforesaid or his son we are un- 
able to state. In the list of 1734 five Tysons are men- 
tioned as being land-holders in the township, showing 
that they were already numerous. In the assessment^ 
of 1780 we find the names of Joseph, Abraham, Sr., ', 
Thomas, Ryner, Sr., Abraham, Peter, Ryner, Isaac, 
Matthew, Samuel and Joseph Tyson, Jr. They have 
been a land-holding family, still retaining in their 
possession consideralile real estate. The lime used in 
building the State-House, from 1729 to 1735, was 
hauled from the kilns of Ryner Tyson, in this town- 
ship, fourteen miles from the city. Those kilns and 
quarries have ever since been in the family, and the 
business of lime-burning is still carried on by his 
descendants. Theoriginal seedling of the well-known 
Tyson pear was dug up from Friends' school proi^erty 
by Jonathan T^son, and planted in the rear of Charles 
Harper's store, in Jenkintown, and by its quality the 
fruit attracted attention, and has been since widely 
disseminated by grafting. Its origin dates between 
the years 1790 and 1800. 

Among the early settlers of Abington may be men- 
tioned John Hallowell, who came from Huckwell, 
Nottingliamshire, about the close of 1682, and first 
settled near Darby. In 1696, having purchased six 
hundred acres adjoining the line of Moreland and 
Upper Dublin, he came to settle there, and left 
numerous descendants. John Fletcher is mentioned 
in the Abington Jlinutes as a member of the 
meeting as early as 1688. Thomas Fletcher, on 
the list of 1734, probably his son, was commis- 
sioned a justice of the County Courts in 1738, and 
continued until 1749. In the assessment of 1780 the 
names of Thomas and Robert Fletcher are mentioned 
as considerable landholders. James Paul came from 
Yorkshire, Endand ; the tract on which he settled 



680 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



lay near the present village of Fox Chase. Morris 
Morris, who, on the list of 1734, is represented as 
holding 400 acres of land, was probably the son of 
Evan Morris, who is stated to have settled at an early 
date about a mile west of the meeting-house, and from 
whom the Morrises of Whitemarsh are descended, long 
known as an influential family there, holding official 
positions and being owners of valuable real estate. John 
Kirk, mentioned on thelist of 1734 as holding two hun- 
dred and fifty acres, was very probably the same that 
made a contract with Governor Keith, December 12, 
1721, to do the mason-work of his mansion in Horsham 
which was completed the following year. In the assess- 
ment of 1780 we find the name of Jacob Kirk, holding 
two hundred acres and the owner of a " stage-wagon." 
Also on this list is mentioned the name of Isaac 
Knight, of a family that appears to have owned consid- 
■erable land here in 1780. lu 1779, for acts of disloy- 
alty the estates of Joshua and John Knight, Jr., con- 
taining two hundred and forty-one acres, were con- 
fiscated and applied to the support of the University 
of Pennsylvania. On what the charges were based 
we have not been able to ascertain. Jacob Taylor, 
who was surveyor-general of the province from 170(i 
to 1733, taught school for some time in Abington. 

Benjamin Lay, the eccentric philanthropist, was 
long a resident in Abington. He was a native 
of Colchester, England, and on reaching man- 
hood followed for some time the life of a sailor. 
About 1710 he resided in Barbadoes, and thus came to 
witness the cruelties practiced on the slaves in the 
West Indies, which made a profound impression on 
Lira. He is stated to have been a member of the 
Society of Friends, and after the death of liis wife 
sought out a retired spot about a quarter of a mile 
east of Abington Meeting-house, belonging to John 
Phipps, now the estate of the late Joshua Francis 
Fisher. He improved a natural excavation on the 
hillside, so as to afford him a commodious apartment. 
Here he kept his library of books, which amounted to 
nearly two hundred volumes, and in this seclusion he 
devoted his time chiefly to meditation, reading and 
writing. It was here he wrote his treatise against 
negro slavery, entitled, "All Slave-Keeper.s that keep 
the Innocent in Bondage, Apostates." This he had 
printed by Franklin, in 1737, in a duodecimo of two 
hundred and eighty pages, which he circulated at his 
own expense. In the preface he states that it was 
written at Abington, and in the work he is pretty 
severe against slave-holding Friends, making therein 
numerous personal charges. The style is coarse, and 
corroborates his eccentricity. Traditions respecting 
him are still current in the old families of the neigh- 
borhood. He was opposed to the introduction and 
use of tea and coffee as a beverage, and on this account 
broke to ])ieces, in the streets of Philadelphia, a set of 
Cbina cups and saucers. He threw himself flat on 
the ground before the door of Abington Meeting, 
before its dismissal, that they might have to step 



over him in coming out, as an example of humility. 
A small girl, the daughter of a slave-holder in the 
neighborhood, was ditaiiied several days at his house, 
that they might realize the feelings of jjarents when 
their children were stolen from them and sold into 
slavery. On one occasion he was addressed as "your 
humble 'servant," when he replied to the person, 
"If you are my servant, I command you to tie my shoe- 
strings." Near the close of his life he attempted to 
fast forty days and nights, which brought on a sick- 
ness and probably hastened his death. He died in 
February, 1759, aged eighty -two years, at the residence 
of Joshua Morris, a well-to-do farmer in the vicinity, 
the place being now occupied by Rudolph J. Mitchell. 
He was interred in the Friends' burial-ground at 
Abington, and by a verbal will left the members of 
that ^Monthly Meeting the sum of forty jiounds, to be 
appropriated to the education of i)oor children. An 
engraving was ijublished many yeai-s ago from a 
painting of him, in which he is represented unshaven 
and holding in one hand a cane and his work against 
slavery. The expression of the countenance denotes 
him as a person of a sensitive nature and of a melan- 
choly temperament. The writer visited lately the 
spot where his cabin stood, the excavation yet remain- 
ing, being in a retired spot suri-ounded bj' woods. 
An interesting biographical sketch has been written 
of him by Dr. Benjamin Rush, which was first 
published in the Columbia Magazine of March, 1790. 
Accounts of his life have also been prepared and 
published by Robert Vaux and Thomas 1. AVharton. 

The York road, which extends through this town- 
ship upwards of three miles, was laid out from Phila- 
delphia in the fall of 1711, and was an important 
improvement Abington Meeting-house was made 
an early terminus for several roads. The road there- 
from to Byberry Meeting-house was laid out in 1712; 
to the present Fitzwatertown in 172."), in the report 
of which, remarkable to say, mention is made " of the 
mines at the Gap of Edge Hill," where iron-ore is 
now extensively procured ; from the said meeting- 
house to Germantown in 1730, and now called 
Washington Lane; also to Jacob Leech's dwelling- 
house and mill on Tacony Creek, now Myers & 
Ervien's fork-factory, in 1751. The road from the 
Susquehanna Street road, at the northern part of 
Edge Hill, to Paul's Tavern, (now Willow Grove) 
was confirmed in 1768. 

Mills no doubt were erected quite early in the 
township. Mention is made in the AViington Minutes, 
under date of 25th of Twelfth Month, 1711, of relief 
being fnrnislied to Joseph Satterthwaite for " having 
had his mill burnt." We cannot locate it, but it was 
evidently in this vicinity. The mill, now the property 
of Daniel R. Rice, on the Tacony Creek, below Abing- 
ton Station, was built before 1725 by Isaac Knight, and 
carried on by Andrew Keyscr in 1780. Lewis Roberts 
in 1780owned a grist-mill where is now Smith Harper's 
hoo-factory. Robert Paul at said date owned a mill 



ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 



681 



near Huntingdon Valley. The saw-mills have some 
time since disappeared, two being mentioned in 
the township in 1785. Mention is made of wool-card- 
ing being carried on in 1808 at Israel Hallowell's 
mills, on the Pennypack. 

Five houses of worship are in the township, two be- 
longing to Friends, two to Presbyterians and one to 
the Episcopalians. The early Friends' Meeting- 
liouse and Presbyterian Church will form articles by 
themselves. The Orthodox Friends' Meetinghouse 
is a small, one-story stone building, erected in 1832. 
It stands about half a mile south of the old meeting- 
house on the Cheltenham road. Carmel Presbyterian 
Church is a neat, one-story stone building, erected in 
1 S7(i, located on a lot beside the Limekiln pike and Chel- 
tenham line, at Edge Hill village. St. Peter's Episco- 
pal church, at Weldon, was consecrated June 17, 1883. 
Through a gift of the late Thomas Smith it was rebuilt 
of stone in the summer of 1884, and enlarged from a 
frame structure. A spire has since been added ; there 
is alsii in contemplation a rectory and a parish school- 
liouse. It possesses several handsDme memorial 
windows and a pipe-organ. Its present rector is Ilev. 
"William S. Heaton. 

The village of Abington is an old settlement ; the 
intersection of the old York and Suscpiehanna Street 
roads here dates back to 1712. It contains one hotel, 
two stores, a post-office, several mechanic shops and 
about forty houses. Gordon, in his "Gazetteer," saj'sit 
contained in 1832 " ten or twelve dwellings, a tannery, 
a boarding-school for boys, a tavern, two stores and a 
Presljyterian Church." The post-office was estab- 
lished in 1882' and the elections have been held con- 
tinuously here at least since 1824. On Reading 
Howell's map of 1792 it is called " Shepherd's, " and 
" Abington" in Ssott's " Gazetteer " of 1795. Mary 
Moore kept the tavern here with the sign of the 
" Si|uare and Compass," at least from 178" to 1808, and 
the village for this reason is still jiopularly known as 
!Mooretown. It was probably where Thomas Dungan 
kejjt a public-house in 1779. The present black- 
smith-shoi) .standing at the corner of York road and 
Susquehanna Street is an old stand, the business 
having been carried on here by John Brugh in 1807. 
The congregation of the Presbyterian Church was 
originally formed by the Rev. Malachi .lones in 1714, 
toml)Stones in the graveyard dating back to 1728. 
John McXair, who was principal of the Loller 
Academy from October, 1825, to December, 1828, 
subsequently kept a boarding and day school here for 
boys, with considerable success. He was afterwards 
elected county auditor, clerk of the courts and a 
member of Congress for two terms from this district. 
He afterwards moved to Prince William Cdunty, 
Va., where he died August 12, 1861. 

Weldon, a thriving village on the (xerniantown 



' By gubfieqiient research ascertained that there wad a post-office here in 

1810, Joliu Nulter post-nrister, but was discontinued in 1818, 



and Willow Grove turnpike, half a mile from 

Abington Station, dates its origin since the comple- 
tion of the North Pennsylvania Railroad. It con- 
tains a store, hotel, twenty-eight houses, a hall, St. 
Peter's Episcopal Church, a post-office and several 
mechanic shops. The hall was built in 1864, and the 
post-office established since 1877. A severe skirmish 
took place December 8, 1777, in this vicinity between 
the British army, under the command of General 
Howe, from Philadelphia, and several regiments of 
the American army at Whitemarsh, which resulted 
in more than one hundred being killed and wounded. 
The former in the night ingloriously hastened to the 
city, having come out with the evident intention of 
attacking Washington in his camp. Abington Station, 
at the intersection of the North Pennsylvania Rail- 
road and Germantown and Willow Grove turnpike, is 
situated on the Cheltenham line, contains six or 
seven houses, a jiublic-house and a lumber and coal- 
yard. In this vicinity are several handsome country- 
seats. Harper Station is on the Xcwtown Railroad, 
in the eastern part of the township. The manufac- 
ture of hoes, garden-rakes, pump and water-engines 
is carried on here extensively by Smith Harper. In 
this vicinity the name of Harper is an early one, 
John Harper and his sons John and Charles being 
mentioned on the Oxford township tax-list for 1693. 
At Benezet, on the New York Railroad, a handsome 
new station-house was built in the summer of 1883. 
Several handsome country-seats have been lately built 
in this vicinity. 

An organization called the Abington and Chelten- 
ham Anti-Tramp Association was formed July 18, 
1877. The object is stated to be " an association for 
the purpose of i)rotecting their families and property 
against tramps and professional thieves." The first 
year it was supported by sixty-five subscribers, for 
which they secured the services of five constables, who 
were duly equipped to carry into effect their orders^ 
They have been the means of arresting several thieves 
and burglars, who are now serving out lofig sentences, 
and who otherwise might have gone without punish- 
ment. At their meeting in the beginning of 1884 it 
was resolved, " That the Executive Committee be 
authorized to employ some suitable person whose duty 
it shall be to see that no one imprisoned by the 
action of this association be pardoned without its 
knowledge. Also to advise the association of the 
discharge of any such person by reason of the expira- 
tion of his term of sentence." 

The Wharton Railroad Switch Company was 
originally established in 1868, and removed in 
1873 to Washington Avenue, between Twenty- 
third and Twenty-fourth Streets, Philadelphia. In 
March, 1882, they ]iurchased forty acres of land 
from the North Penn.sylvania Railroad Company, 
formerly a portion of Edward Mather's farm, situ- 
ated at the junction of the North Pennsylvania 
and New York Railroads and approaching within 



682 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



one-eighth of a mile of Jenkintown Station. Here 
they soon after commenced the erection of extensive 
buildings, with a view of ultimately transferring the 
whole business from Philadelphia. In the summer 
of 1884 a foundry and additional buildings were 
erected, and it is proposed, besides the manufacture 
of the patent switches, railroad cros-sings and frogs, 
to enter on the production of Wooten locomotives, of 
which they have secured the patent. They have 
given employment here to a considerable number of 
hands, and propose before long to greatly increase the 
force. The officers of the company are Abraham 
Barker, president ; William Wharton, Jr., superin- 
tendent ; and Wharton Barker, treasurer. 

Nearly a mile east of Jenkintown is situated the 
extensive nursery, fruit-growing and stock-raising 
farm of Edwin Satterthwaite, who has been in this 
business for a considerable time. As a success- 
i'ul fruit-grower he has probably not been sur- 
l)assed by any one in the State, having repeatedly 
secured therefor the highest jiremiums at State Fairs. 

The Long-lost Oxford Meeting. — It has been 
known for a long time to those familiar with early 
Friends' records that there is mention made of a meet- 
ing-house in Oxford, in which for some time worship 
was held as well as Monthly Meetings. But the ques- 
tion would arise again and again. Where was this 
meeting-house? and, above all, what became of it, and 
why no further mention of it in the records ? In 
confirmation the writer has received various letters 
on this matter from members of the Society of 
Friends within the past thirty years as to this 
mystery that remained unexplained. It is proper 
first to show authority that for some time such a 
meeting and house of worship had an actual exist- 
ance. 

In the records of Abington Monthly Meeting we 
find that "at a (puirterly meeting of Friends in ye 
City of Philadelphia ye Sixth Month, 1088, it was 
then and there agreed and concluded that there be 
established a first-day meeting of ftriends at Tookany 
and Poetquesink, and that these two make one 
Monthly Meeting, and that there be at least six men 
and six women ftriends chosen out of ye said Monthly 
Meeting to have recourse to every Quarterly Meeting 
of friends in Philadelphia." At the Monthly Meet- 
ing held 3d of Seventh Month of said year " of 
Friends in Truth about Tookany and Poetquesink 
Creeks being met together for ye better ordering and 
governing ye aflairs of ye church, It was agreed yt 
Thomas Fairman provide a book for this meeting, 
that ye next Monthly Meeting l)e at John Hart's, at 
Poetquesink, and a log house be built for a meeting- 
house upon a certain piece of land given for yt ser- 
vice by Thomas Fairman, in ye township of Oxford." 

" At a Monthly Meeting held 5th of Third Month, 
1684, at ye new meeting-house at Oxford, John 
Goodin and Sarah Kitchen, both belonging to this 
meeting, declare their intentions of marriage." We 



tind again a " Monthly Meeting at ye new meeting- 
house near Tackeny, 8th of Eighth Month, 1(384." 
On the 5th of Sixth Month, 1C85, a " Monthly Meet- 
ing at Oxford" is mentioned again. "At Chelten- 
ham ye 30th of First Month, 1686," when it is agreed 
that meetings be held " at Byberry on ye 1st Fourth 
day in ye month, at Oxford ye 1st Third day of ye 
month, at Cheltenham ye 1st Fifth day of ye month, 
because it is ye weekly meeting at each respective 
place." At the Monthly Meeting 24th of Seventh 
Month, 1688, " Thomas Fairman desired to make a 
deed of gift for ye land belonging to ye meeting-house 
against next Monthly Meeting, and to make it to 
Robert Addams, William Preston, John Fletcher and 
John Worral in behalf of ye meeting." With the 
aforesaid terminates all information to be found in 
the Minutes of Abington Monthly Meeting concern- 
ing the Oxford Meeting-house, but there is a suffi- 
ciency to offer in connection with other information 
to unfold what has hitherto remained so obscure. 

It may be necessary to explain that Tookany or 
Tackeny and Oxford, as respects locality at this early 
date, mean all the same. The meeting-house, as is 
stated, was built in Oxford township, and the Tacony 
Creek approaching it within half a mile's distance 
will account for these several names. It is probable 
that Thomas Fairman gave the deed for the lot of 
ground for the meeting-house at the time specified. 
In consequence of letting William Penn have the 
use of his house at Shackamaxon soon after his arri- 
val, he removed, according to Friends' records, " near 
Frankford," where his son William was born the 3d 
of Seventh Month, 1683. 

Isaac Comly, in his "History of Byberry," published 
in the "Memoirs of the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania," in speaking of the early Friends, states 
that "harmony prevailed among them and religious 
unity was maintained in general till 16S)1, when the 
disturbances raised by George Keith reached them. 
The controversy was carried on so shar|dy amongst 
the members of the meeting of Poetquesink that a 
division took place. John Hart, Nathaniel Walton 
and divers others in the southern part of the neigh- 
borhood adopted the Keithian profession and creed 
and kept possession of the meeting. Some of them 
turned Episcopalians, and are said to have been con- 
cerned in founding All Saints' Church, in Lower 
Dubliu. Others attached themselves to a Keithian 
meeting in Southampton. Most of them turned 
Baptists. John Hart was one of them." Mr. Comly 
is in error respecting All Saints' ; he doubtless meant 
Trinity Church, in Oxford, as no other early place of 
worship existed in that section belonging to the 
Episcopalians. 

George Keith was disowned on the 20th of Fourth 
Month, 1692, and on the 27th of that month the 
Abington Minutes state "a paper of condemnation 
given forth by a meeting of Public Friends at Phila- 
delphia against George Keith and his separate com- 



ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 



68S 



pany was this day read in our Monthly Meeting." 
Respecting this movement, Samuel Smith, a leading 
Friend, states, in his early account of the Society in 
Pennsylvania, published in the sixth volume of 
Hazards' Reyhter, that " George Keith and the party 
that had joined him now set Up a separate meeting, but 
still called themselves Quakers, yet with this distinc- 
tion : that they were Christian Quakers and Friends. 
We are next to consider him in the light of an open and 
acknowledged sect-master, for three months had not 
elapsed after being disowned before the party he 
had made were grown to a considerable people as to 
number. Several among tliem had been Friends of the 
ministry and well approved, which contril)Uted not a 
little to strengthen the hands of their less important 
followers. They had meetings ibr worship at stated 
times at Philadelphia, Burlington and other places ; 
built a meeting-house in Burlington ; set up a 
Monthly Meeting for business in Philadelphia ; and 
George Keith, George Hutchinson, Thomas Budd 
and others used to preach among them, but the 
weight of the whole seemed to lay chiefly upon these 
three, who all of them had been men of good esteem." 

The causes that led to this dispute and the subse- 
<)ent troubles attending it we have no desire to enter 
on, but will confine ourselves as closely as possil)le to 
the sul)ject under consideration. However, at that 
time it made a great commotion, that led to the issue 
of numerous controversial pamphlets filled with bitter 
animosity. A letter was sent from London, dated 21st 
of Fourth Month, 1693, signed by ^yilliam Penn and 
nine others, directed to George Hutchinson, Robert 
Turner, P^rancis Rawle, John Hart and Charles Reed, 
in which says Samuel Smith, " they gave them and 
the others who had gone over much brotherly advice, 
calculated to reconcile the widening difference." As 
to the results in this connection, the Rev. D. C. Mil- 
let mentions, in his "History of St. Thomas' Church, 
Whitenuirsh," that " it was about 1695 that a clergy- 
man of tlie Church of England, Rev. Mr. Clayton, 
first established the services of the church in Phila- 
delphia. He died, however, in 1698. He was fol- 
lowed by the Rev. Evan Evans, for many years 
rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia, who came to 
this country in 1700, and within two years after his 
arrival more than live hundred of the followers of 
George Fox joined themselves to the Church of 
England." 

George Keith remained in this country about two 
years after the separation, when he went to England, 
where he joined the Episcopal Church. In 1702 he 
was sent to America as a missionary by the society 
for propagating the gospel among the heatlien. Ebe- 
lung, in his " History of Pennsylvania," states that 
" he was not sent thither, however, to convert the 
heathen Indians, but to make proselytes to the high 
school, principally from among the Quakers. He 
remained there two years, which he employed in 
traveling through the different colonies; but he re- 



mained longest in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 
where he preached with indefatigable zeal. In the 
account which he has published of his travels, he 
relates, evidently with malicious pleasure, his vic- 
tories over the Quakers, of whom he brought over 
many, a part of whom, however, returned to their 
profession." On his return to England in 1706, as a 
reward for his services, he was ajjpointed rector of Ed- 
monton, Sussex, where he died about niT). 

The results of his travels as a missionary were pub- 
lished in a small quarto volume, a copy of which has 
been preserved in the Philadelphia Library, and is 
entitled "A Journal of travels from New Hampshire 
to Caratuck, on the Continent of America, by George 
Keith, A.M., London, 1706." This work gives us some 
desirable information as regards the Oxford Meeting. 
He calls said meeting " Franckfort alias Oxford," 
thus proving that they are the same, and mention* 
also two other churches that had come over, one 
at Philadelphia and another at Upland, or Chester. 
He thus speaks therein of the former : " The place 
at Franckfort, in Pennsylvania, where the congrega- 
tion assembles on the Lord's day, is called Trinity 
Chapel; it was formerly a Quaker Meeting-house, 
built or fitted by Quakers, but some time ago haa 
been given to the Church by such who had the right 
to it. Some land adjoining was given by a per-son 
well affected by the church, for the use of the minis- 
ter, wdio should reside there, for a house, garden and 
small orchard." 

From what is stated it is evident that a majority 
of the congregation constituting Oxford Meeting must 
have become Keithian and retained possession of the 
premises until the organization went down, when they 
attached themselves to the Chureli of England, which 
was probably about 1702; judging by Mr. Millet's 
statement, certainly not earlier than 1700. In this 
connection we shall give a list of taxables residing in 
Oxford township in 1693, which may hereafter be the 
means of giving still more information as to these 
original Keithians who had been Friends : John Tis- 
siek, Jacob Hall, Erick Mullicker, Wm. Taylor, Ann 
Salter, Richard Whitefield, Widow Kean, Herman 
Enock, Wm. Busby, John Fletcher, Atwell Willmer- 
ton, Joseph Paul, John Harper and sons .John and 
Charles, George Burson, John Wells, Daniel Street, 
John Bunce, Henry Waddy, Daniel Hall, Yeaman 
(iillingham, Thomas Graves, Robert Addams, Richard 
Scary and John Worrell. The latter was at this time 
the assessor. 

As this had been the first and only house of 
worship erected for the Friends within the bounds 
of the present Abington Meeting, their other 
places being private houses, the people must at 
first have been put to some inconvenience. But 
in this dilemma they found a friend in John 
Barnes, a resident and principal land-holder in 
and around the present borough of Jenkintown, 
who, by a deed dated 5th of Second Month, 1697, 



684 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



vested in trustees for the use of the meeting-house 
and school-house one hundred and twenty acres of 
land, which thus accounts for the location of the 
present house of worsliip. At the Monthly Meeting 
held the following 27th of Tenth Month, "William 
Jenkins gave Friends a relation of Friends' proceed- 
ings at Philadelphia, concerning the assistance to- 
wards building a new meeting-house at Abington," 
which owing to the difficulty of ]>rocuring the requi- 
site means, was not, however, linishcd until the year 
1700. 

The questions. Why have Friends to this day 
remained in such ignorance as to what became of the 
Oxford Meeting-house? and Why has no explanation 
been found in tlieir records'? are thus readily accounted 
for. The earliest existing book of Minutes known 
has the following on its title-page : " Abington 
Monthly Meeting-Book — Containing a Chronologic 
of the most Material Occurrences and Transactions 
that have been acted and done in the said Jleeting, 
&c., since ye first settlement thereof: Transcribed 
From Sundry Manuscripts by George Boone, 1718." 
It may be that when the "Sundry Manuscripts" 
were " Transcribed," whatever was related therein 
concerning the Keithian members and the troubles 
arising through the separation of Oxford Meeting 
was omitted; hence the silence on the matter. 
But no doubt, should it jirove i)ossible that hereafter 
these " Sundry Manuscripts " be turned uj), some 
additional revelations will be made. The history of 
the long-lost Oxford Meeting possesses now a two- 
fold interest, — because it led to the early founding 
of two considerable congregations, namely : the 
Abington Monthly Meeting and Trinity Episcopal 
Church, with which it has become associated, and in 
justice and truth cannot now be separated. The other 
important matter is in throwing more light on the 
origin and rise of the Keithian troubles, which in its 
day ajipears to have been a much more serious mat- 
ter to Friends than has been generally admitted. 

Since the aforesaid has been written some addi- 
tional information has been secured on the subject, 
chiefly from the " Collections on the Episcopal 
Church in Pennsylvania," edited by the Rev. W. T. 
Perry. In a petition mentioned therein to the bishop 
of London, dated Philadelphia, March 7, 171-1— l.*) 
signed by the names of Peter Worrall, William Pres- 
ton, John Williams, .John Williams, Jr., John Leech 
and Robert Kanady as church members, establish- 
ing the fact that William Preston, one of the origi- 
nal trustees, had gone over to the Keithians, and also 
very [jrobably Robert Addams and John Worrall. 
Peter Worrall jirobably was a son of the last named. 
I'eter Taylor and James Morgan, on behalf of the 
Oxford Church wardens, state, since the decease of 
Rev. John Club, "having no minister, we meet every 
Sunday where one Nathaniel Walton, our sobool- 
master, every Lord's day reads unto us the Holy 
Scriptures, and also catechises the children, twenty in 



number." The Rev. Evan Evans, in his report of 

October 5, 1704 (page 504), speaks of the Oxford 
Church as having "been long since built, and the 
people reduced from Quakerism are not so able or 
willing as could be wished to support a minister." 
The Harper family mentioned in the tax-list of 1693, 
it is ascertained, also united themselves to this con- 
gregation. 

Abington Meetinsf-House. — This is one of the 
earliest congregations belonging to Friends established 
in Pennsylvania, and dates back its establishment at 
the house of Thomas Fairman, at Shackamaxon, before 
the arrival of Penu. In the preceding article we 
have mentioned its first meetings in 1G83 and the 
three following years in Oxford and Byberry, and 
that a meeting-house had been built at the former 
place in 1683. It was agreed on the 31st of First 
Month, 1687, that it should be continued there, and at 
the house of Richard Wall, Jr., in Cheltenham. 

About 1691, the members of Oxford Meeting- 
house having joined the Keithians, the Friends 
continued their worship at private houses until 
John Barnes, by deed dated 5th of Second Month, 
1697, vested one hundred and twenty acres in Abing- 
ton township, near the present borough of Jenkin- 
town, in trustees for the benefit of a meeting-house 
and the maintenance of a school, which was willingly 
accepted, and thus led to its ])rescnt location. On 
the 27th of Tenth Month following William Jenkins 
gave a relation about Friends in Philadelphia giving 
" assistance towards building a new meeting-house at 
Abington," when the aforesaid and Joseph Phipps 
were a])pointed to proceed there the following month 
for securing additional aid. On the 25th of Twelfth 
Month, 1699, the collections of the meeting, amount- 
ing to £5 10«. 6rf., were paid to the treasurer, 
Everard Bolton, and Joseph Phipps, Thomas Canby 
and William Jenkins were appointed by the Monthly 
Meeting to inspect the accounts of the aforesaid and 
of Samuel Cart, "concerning ye building of ye meet- 
ing-house," for which they had been employed. The 
committee reported to the Monthly Meeting 24th of 
Fourth Month, 1700, that they had examined the 
accounts and find that there is due Everard Bolton 
18s. 6d., which was ordeied to be paid. This meet- 
ing-house was the second built in the present limits 
of the county, being preceded by the one in Lower 
Merion by only two years. 

On the 26th of Twelfth Month, 1704, the Friends of 
Germantown stated their intention to build a new 
meeting-house, and desired the assistance of the sev- 
eral Preparative Meetings, which was granted. In 
1709, Thomas Canby and Ryner Tyson are ajipointed 
overseers of the meeting. George Boone, who had 
arrived from Bradninch, in Devonshire, in the spring 
of 1713, was married the following summer to Deborah, 



the daughter of Wm. Howell, of Cheltenham. Being 
a skillful penman, he was employed in 1718 to trans- 
cribe " from sundry manuscripts the most material 



ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 



685 



occurrences and transactions that liave been acted 
and done in the said Meeting since the first settle- 
ment." Richard Martin was appointed 2Gth of First 
Month, 1722, in place of Thomas C'anby, who had re- 
moved to Solebury, one of the trustees of the legacy 
that John Barnes, deceased, had given to the meeting 
for maintaining a school. Friends residing in Bristol 
having lost considerable from fire, it was ordered that 
each meeting raise for their relief five pounds. 

At this date Abington Monthly Meeting C(niiprised 
four meeting-houses, built as follows : Abington, in 
1G97; Germautown, 1704; Byberry, 1714; and Hors- 
ham, in 1724. Although the latter meeting-house is 
mentioned in a road report in Ai)ril, 1722, yet appli- 
cation was made 28th of Seventh Month, 1724, for 
assistance from the Monthly Meeting "towards ye 
finishing of their new meeting-house," when it was 
directed that tl^e several meetings should extend their 
aid. This shows that the early meeting-houses, as 
small as they were, required some time to build, and 
that the means therefor required no small effort to 
raise. John Griffith, in his journal, under date of 
1734, mentions Abington Meeting, of which he was a 
member, as a " large and valuable weighty body of 
Friends therein." 

Although Benjamin Lay, an attendant of this meet- 
ing, had written a work against the evils of slavery, 
and had it published in 1737 and circulated it at his 
expense, yet the German Friends had long preceded 
him in a protest, dated at Germantown, 18th of Second 
Month, 1G88, and addressed to their Monthly Meeting. 
The majority, however, were so conservative on the 
subject that little or no attention was given to the 
matter until the dawn of the Revolution, brought 
about by the excitement of the Stamp Act, when the 
rights of mankind began to be inquired into. In cor- 
roboration, John and Isaac Comly, in an account of 
this meeting in vol. ix. of Friends' Miscellany (for 
1831-32, pp. 25-35), make the following remarks : 

"Committees were appointed to visit sucli members as held slaves, or 
were concerned iu buying or selling them. In 17G9 report was made 
that all such had been visited, and there appeared a disposition prevail- 
ing in divers to set their slaves free at a suitable time. In 1776 it 
is noted that the labors of Friends on this occasion were generally well 
received, and those slaves under care of Friends appeared to be well 
treated in most instances. The next year two slaves are reported to 
have been manumitted by Jonathan Clayton. Several other cases of 
manumission are aft«-'rwards noted. Selling slaves at this time w.is con- 
sidered a disownable offense, and against holding them Friends earn- 
estly remonstrated with great patience and perseverance ; and at length 
those members who continued obstinate in refusing to set their slaves 
free were disowned. It is much to the credit of Abington Monthly 
Meeting that but few cases of this character had occurred within its 
limits." 

In consequence of the several meetings becoming 
too large, it was agreed, with the apjirobafion of the 
Quarterly Meeting in 1782, that Abington Monthly 
Meeting comprise the meetings of Abington, Ger- 
mantown and Frankford, the meeting-house at the 
latter place having been built in 1776, Byberry and 
Horsham constituting a new Monthly Meeting, known 
by the latter name. Abington Friends had hitherto 



belonged to tlie Quarterly Meeting held in Philadel- 
phia, but in 1785 a proposition was forwarded for the 
establishment of another Quarterly Meeting, to be 
held at Abington, and composed of said Monthly 
Meeting, with those of Horsham, Gwynedd and Rich- 
land, which was approved of, and the first Quarterly 
Meeting was held at Abington iu Fifth Month, 175(i. 
For the suitable accommodation of, the aforesaid the 
east end of the meeting-house was enlarged with 
galleries, at the cost of about three hundred pounds. 
Eleven years later, for the same reason, the western 
end was similarly enlarged, at an expense of five 
hundred and fifty pounds. Between the years 1780 
and 1800 the meetings here were often attended by 
such eminent ministers as James Thornton, Peter 
Yaruell, James Simpson, John J^orman, John Lloyd, 
Ezra Comfort and others. 

Robert SutcliflT, a prominent English Friend, in his 
"Travels in America," under date of 8th of Eighth 
Month, 180(>, thus mentions a visit here: "I accom- 
panied a jiarty of Friends to Abington Quarterly 
Meeting, whicli was very large. The meeting-house 
is a regular, well-built, stone building, and capable of 
holding a great number of people. It is situated oa 
a piece of ground containing several acres, and which 
is covered with a great number of large forest-trees." 

The meeting in 1813 contributed two hundred dol- 
lars towards the erection of Friends' Asylum, near 
Frankford. A new Monthly Meeting was founded in 
1815, composed of the meetings at Frankford and Ger- 
mantown, when Abington became a particular Monthly 
Meeting to which have since been attached Horsham 
and Upper Dublin Meetings. The graveyard to the 
northwest of the meeting-house was considerably en- 
larged between the years 1842 and 1844, and now com- 
prises an area of several acres. Here repose beneath 
common stones some of the earliest settlers in this vi- 
cinity with several generations of decendants. Inscrip- 
tions can be found only on the latter stones, by which 
we can recognize that numbers of the names of Wal- 
ton, Williams, Palmer, Jenkins, Fletcher, Jones, Ty- 
son, Shoemaker, Mather, Lukens and Satterthwaite 
have been interred here. There is a commodious two- 
story stone school-house in the west corner of 
the meeting-house yard, under the control of the 
meeting, its support being derived from the proceeds 
of the bequest of one hundred and twenty acres 
given it by John Barnes, in 1697, since improved and 
divided into two farms. During the troubles attend- 
ing the separation in 1826-27, Halliday Jackson stated 
that in Abington Quarterly Meeting up to 1829 there 
was, inclusive, a total of three thousand one hun- 
dred and fifty-three men, women and minors. Of this 
number the Orthodox possessed three hundred and 
twenty-one and three remained undecided as to their 
views. The two hundredth aniversary of this 
Monthly Meeting was celebrated at the meeting-house 
on the afternoon of the 3d of Twelfth Month, 1882, at 
which about five hundred persons were present. On 



686 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



this occasion Charles Linton, clerk of the meeting, 
read a compilation from its early records ; David 
Newport an original poem entitled " William Penn's 
Holy Experiment," followed by an address from 
Hon. John M. Broomall, of Media. 

Abington Presbyterian Church. — The Rev. Mal- 
achi Jones, a native of Wales, where he had received 
his education and ordination in September, 1714, made 
application to the Presbytery of Philadelphia, which 
then numbered only eleven ministers, and by whom 
he was received in fellowship. In the aforesaid year 
the organization here of the congregation was accom- 
plished, Benjamin Jones, Abednego Thomas, Stoftel 
Van Sand and Joseph Breden being chosen elders, 
besides sixty-five additional members. At this early 
date the Presbytery had been only formed about eight 
years. Half an acre of ground having been secured, 
for which a deed was given August 15, 1719, a log 
church was very probably soon after erected, the 
first house of worship possessed by the denomina- 
tion within the present limits of Montgomery County. 
It stood within the graveyard at the intersection of 
the Old York and Susquehanna Street roads until 
1793. 

The elders of the church in 1728 were Abednego 
Thomas, Joseph Breden and Benjamin Jones, and 
Oarret Wynkoop, Charles Hasse and Joseph Charles- 
worth, deacons. Mr. Jones continued his labors here 
■with apparent success for fifteen years, or until his 
death, which took place March 26, 1729, he being 
seventy-eight years old. With only one exception, his 
tombstone is the oldest here containing an inscription, 
and it is mentioned thereon that " He was the first 
Minister in This Place." 

From tlie death of Mr. Jones the charge remained 
vacant until December, 1731, when Rev.Richard Treat 
was ordained a minister and duly installed. During 
his ministry the Rev. George Whitefield came hither 
Thursday, April 17, 1740, and in his journal states that 
he " Rode last night after a sermon about eight miles. 
Lay at a Friend's house, and preached this morning 
to near three thousand people at Abington, a district 
under the care of Mr. Treat, a Presbyterian minister, 
to whom God has been pleased lately to shew mercy. 
When I had done I took a little refreshment, baptized 
a child and hastened to Philadelphia." Concerning 
Mr. Whitefield here the late Rev. Robert Steel relates 
the following reminiscence : " An old Revolutionary 
soldier, Mr. Martin, has told me in my youthful days 
that he was accustomed to take an early breakfast and 
walk from Southwark to Abington, full twelve miles, 
to hear Mr. Whitefield preach. He said the house 
would be full and the graveyard would be filled." The 
Rev. David Brainerd, the missionary among the In- 
dians at the forks of the Delaware, occasionally 
preached here and assisted at communions, and also 
Rev. Charles Beatty, of Nesharainy, one of the found- 
ers of the Hatboro' Library in 1755. Mr. Treat con- 
tinued in the charge the long period of forty-seven 



years, and also died and was buried here in Novem- 
ber, 1778, in his seventy-first year. 

The pulpit was now supplied by various ministers, 
among these Dr. McWhorter and Rev. William 
Mackey Tennent, who was chosen pastor in 1781. He 
was the son of Rev. Charles Tennent, the youngest of 
four brothers, all ministers in the church, and grand- 
son of Rev. William Tennent, the founder of the famous 
" log college" in Bucks County. In this connection 
Dr. Tennent gave a portion of his time to the small 
congregations at Norriton and Providence, preach- 
ing there about every third Sabbath. The Abington 
congregation was incorporated by what is termed a 
private act of Assembly passed February 22, 1785. The 
original church having now become too small for the 
wants of the congregation, and needing repairs, anew 
stone structure was commenced in the spring of 1793, 
nearly opposite, on the west side of the York road. 
This was sufficiently completed to be occupied for 
worship in the following October. In 1798, Isaac Boi- 
leau, as the only remaining trustee, conveyed to the 
use of the church the adjoining farm, given by Simon 
Thomas and wife, containing one hundred acres. Dr. 
Tennent died in December, 1810, and his remains also 
repose in the old graveyard. He was a distinguished 
member of the church ; in 1797 moderator of the Gen- 
eral Assembly and one of the trustees of Princeton 
College. 

A vacanc)' now remained in the church for nearly 
two years, when the Rev. William Dunlap was chosen 
pastor, who assumed the charge July 2, 1812. He was 
the son of Rev. James Dunlap, president of Jefferson 
College, Pennsylvania, and had been ordained to the 
ministry in 1809, when he was sent on a missionary tour 
to Canada. He there contracted a severe cold, which 
terminated in consumption, from which he died in De- 
cember, 1818, at the early age of thirty-six years. The 
Rev. Robert Steel received the charge November 9, 
1819, to continue in this pastorate for the long period 
of nearly forty-three years. As the church was again 
becoming too small, the congregation resolved, at a 
meeting held March 12, 1833, to enlarge the same, 
which was done in the following summer, at a cost of 
nearly nineteen hundred dollars. While this improve- 
ment was proceeding worship was held in a neighbor- 
ing grove. 

Dr. Steel, on Thanksgiving day, 1855, pi'eached a 
sermon before his congregation from the text " Hith- 
erto hath the Lord helped us" (1 Sam. 7-12), wherein 
he stated that " since I have commenced my labors 
here there have been added to the membership of this 
church 359 persons. I have baptized 280, from infancy 
to hoary hairs, united in wedlock 256 couples and de- 
tained from the sanctuary by sickness but two Sab- 
baths in all that time." This was subsequently pub- 
lished in the Presbyterian Magazine (for February, 1856, | 
vol. vi. pp. 80-87), with a historical account of the i 
church, its author at the time presented the writer j 
with a copy, and which appears since to have been 



ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 



687 



made extensive use of without aclvnowledgment. 
With the exception of two acres still retained, the 
farm given by Mr.Thomas was sold in 1856,and brought 
$18,872.50. A tract of thirteen acres to the rear of the 
church and fronting on the Susquehanna Street road 
■was subsequently purchased. Dr. Steel, like a faithful 
.sentinel, remained at his post to the last, where he 
died September 2, 1862, in his sixty-ninth year. One 
interesting fact remains now to be noticed in connec- 
tion with the history of this church: that from its first 
organization for the long period of one hundred and 
forty-eight yeai's only five ministers had served it, and 
who in all of that time lived and died here in their 
several charges and lie buried in its ancient graveyard^ 
indicating a degree of faithfulness on the part of the 
pastors and harmony in the congregation that is cred- 
itable to both as a noteworthy example. 

The Rev. John Linn Withrow was installed pastor 
in May, 1863, and remained until November, 1868, 
when he received the charge of the Arch Street Church, 
Philadelphia. He was succeeded by Rev. Samuel 
T. Lowrie in May, 1869, who left in July, 1874, to ac- 
cept a professorship in the Theological Seminary at 
Allegheny. In his farewell sermon to the congrega- 
tion he stated that in liberality this church ranked 
the fourth or fifth in the Presbytery ; that in this year 
twelve hundred and twenty dollars had been given to 
benevolent purposes outside of its own operations ; an*^' 
that its three Sabbath-schools and two hundred and 
fifty scholars in 1869 had increased to four, with four 
hundred and fifty pupils and thirty-nine teachers. 
The Rev. L. W. Eckard, the present pastor, was in- 
stalled May 25, 1875. Abington has been the parent 
of Huntingdon "Valley Presbyterian Church, built in 
1860; of Grace Church, at Jenkintown; andofCarniel 
-Chapel, at Edge Hill village. The membership of this 
^-congregation in September, 1884, was two hundred and 
fifteen, with two hundred and fifty pupils in theSab- 
liath-school. The present handsome brown sandstone 
structure was erected in the place of the former church 
in 1863. It is of one story, with stained-glass windows, 
the main part being about forty by sixty-six and one- 
lialf feet, with a rear addition, making the total length 
one hundred and eighteen feet. The tower and spire 
is also Iniilt of dressed stone and is one hundred and 
eighty feet in height, and from its elevated position 
forms a conspicuous landmark for miles around. 

The graveyard has been enlarged again and again, 
and now contains about one and a half acres, the 
whole inclosed with a substantial stone wall. As it 
has been undoubtedly used now as a place of inter- 
ment for more than one hundred and sixty years, it may 
be well supposed tliat being in such a populous section, 
there must be many buried here. The earliest stone 
containing an inscription bears the date of 1728. 
Among the numerous names we find those of Barnes, 
Hill, Ramsey, Adams, Murray ,Vancourt, Beatty, Nash, 
Boutcher, McNeal, Shelmore, Dixon, Yerkes, Collom, 
Boileau, Briton, Wood, Ottinger, Kline, Huston, 



Folwell, Walker, Fulton, Wynkoop, Wells, Henry, 
Fetters, Can-, McDowell, Major, Brown, Elliott, Du- 
bree, Roberts, Nicholas, McVaugh, Kesler, Wilson, 
Foster, Hart, McAdams, Krier, Larzelere, Gillingham, 
Lukens, Rogers, Stevens, Dananhower, Mann, Paxson, 
Wigfall, Allen, Thornton, Solliday, Nicholson, Ritchie, 
Keightley, Kennedy, Torrance, Dubois, livans, Chil- 
cott, Bockius, Streaper, Tomlinson, Morrow, Bennett, 
Rex, Shaw, Lambaert, Morgan, McCalla, Ervien, 
Homiller, Morrison, Scott, Booskirk, Vansant, Blake, 
Ayres, Shipps, Dean, Harvey, Holmes, Willard, Ben- 
ezet, Tennent and Stewart. Among the distinguished 
dead that repose here may be mentioned Gilbert Ten- 
nent, Samuel Finley (presidentof Princeton College), 
Robert LoUer, William Dean, Hiram McNeal and N. 
B. Boileau. 

'Edge Hill. — The appellation Edge Hill we know is 
neither peculiar nor new, for there is an elevation in 
Warwickshire, England, that has long borne it, and 
which is noted for the first battle ibught on it between 
Charles I. and the Parliamentary forces. Our impres- 
sion, however, is that it has been applied either from 
the structure of its rock standing upright or in perpen- 
dicular strata, hence the common phrase "standing on 
edge," or for forming the southern boundary of the 
great limestone basin commencing in Abington town- 
ship, within less than a mile of Moreland, and extend- 
ing southeastwards into Maryland. It is also remark- 
able as being the first elevation crossing tide-water 
on the Delaware, forming what has so long been 
known as the " falls " at Trenton. 

In several deeds of purchase from the Indians to 
William Penn, two being dated July 14, 1683, and 
another July 30, 1685, it is distinctly mentioned as 
■' the hill called Conshohocken," and as forming at 
the time the upper or northern boundary between the 
Schuylkill and Pennypack Creek. On the western 
side of the Schuylkill to this day it is called Consho- 
hocken. The two flourishing boroughs bearing this 
name have helped to perpetuate it, being situated just 
above where it crosses the river, the former having 
been so called about 1832, when it was first laid out 
as a town. In the report of the road survey made in 
June, 1725, from the present Fitzwatertown to Abing- 
ton Meeting-House, mention is made of its " begin- 
ning at a run at Thomas Fitzwater's lime-kilns, in 
Upper Dublin township, thence 23 degrees east, 240 
perches south, 42 degrees east, 140 perches to the 
mines at Edge Hill." This is the earliest mention of 
the popular name of this elevation known to the 
writer. The aforesaid also mentions it as passing 
through the gap here, which has become now an 
important thoroughfare. The North East Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad crosses the hill at this place, and here 
a quarry is extensively worked and the stone sent off 
by railroad; it is excellently adapted for lining fur- 
naces in resisting the action of fire. Near by iron- 
ore has also been for the last ten years extensively 
obtained. These are probably the mines above re- 



088 



HISTORi' OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ferred to. A tradition exists in the neighborhood 
that a silver-mine had once been worked in this 
vicinity, but it needs further corroboration. 

On Lewis Evans' map of the Middle Colonies, pub- 
lished in 1749, this hill is denoted as commencing in 
the township, on the west side of the York road, and 
extending southwestwards to theSusquchanna, ashort 
distance below the mouth of the C'onestoga. On 
Nicholas Scull's map of Pennsylvania, published in 
1759, it is represented as crossing just above the falls 
at Trenton, and at the Schuylkill a few miles below 
Swedes' Ford, and thence into Chester County. 
Reading Howell, in his large township map of the 
State, represents it in 1792 as commencing in Abing- 
ton and extending through Springfield and White- 
marsh. No name, however, is mentioned on any 
of those maps. The engineer of the North Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad, in his report, stated the track of the 
road on this hill was two hundred and eighty-four 
feet above tide-water level at Philadelphia and one 
hundred and eight feet higher than that at York 
Road Station and one hundred and twenty-three feet 
higher than at Fort Washington. From tliis it may be 
inferred that its highest elevation in Abington is 
about five hundred feet above tide-water and three 
hundred feet above the adjoining valleys. 

This hill possesses several peculiar features : Its 
whole surface abounds in valuable chestnut tim- 
ber, excellently adapted for fencing materials, and 
which grows so rapidly as to bear cutting off every 
twenty-five or thirty years, being a great benefit to all 
the adjacent country in which this timber is not 
common. This young growth of wood has tended 
to preserve through this well-settled section that 
beautiful game-bird, the ru fled grouse, more familiarly 
known as the pheasant, which, however, is becoming 
rare. The stone prevailing in this hill has been for 
a long time extensively quarried, being chiefly used 
for flagging. It forms the southern boundary of lime- 
stone, iron-ore, marble and of the secondary red sand- 
stone formation, none of the aforesaid extending 
nearer towards the Atlantic coast ; hence it possesses 
a geological importance that has heretofore in our 
State surveys been almost overlooked. 

In the attempt of the British army irom Philadel- 
phia, under command of (ieneral Howe, to surprise 
Washington at Whitemai'sh on the morning of De- 
cember 6, 1777, they came within a mile of the Amer- 
ican camp, near the present Edge Hill village, where 
they remained quietly and advantageously posted 
until the next day. On Sunday, the 8th, they in- 
clined still i'urther towards the northeast, and from 
every appearance there was reason to ajijirehend tliat 
they were determined to bring on a general engage- 
ment. In this movement their advance and flanking 
parties were warmly attacked by Colonel Morgan and 
his corps, and also by the IMaryland militia, under 
Colonel Mordecai Gist, who were also supported 
by General Potter's brigade and Colonel Webb's reg- 



iment. Near where the Susquehanna Street road 
crosses Edge Hill, Morgan met the British, and a short 
but severe conflict ensued and four oflicers and thirty 
men fell before the unerring rifles of his men. The 
British concentrating their forces, Morgan and the 
militia withdrew on account of superior numbers. 
The enemy now filed oft' still farther towards the east, 
and in the evening built a long row of fires on the summit 
of the hill. As soon as it was dark they withdrew 
with great rapidity and silence by way of the old York 
road to the city, burning several houses on the way. 

The American troops were not allowed to jiursue 
the fugitive army nor to withdraw from their post on 
the hills of Ujiper Dublin and Whitemarsh. General 
Howe was thus permitted to make his solitary way to 
the exjjressed dissatisfaction of his oflicers, and 
reached the city at nine o'clock that evening. In 
this engagement twenty-seven of Morgan's regiment 
were either killed or wounded and some sixteen or 
eighteen in Colonel Gist's command. It is stated 
that in this excursion the British lost in killed and 
wounded three hundred and fifty men, and showed 
that they did not dare attack Washington within hia 
position, thus making of the expedition a discreditable 
failure. Some of Morgan's wounded men after the 
action were hauled to Joseph Butler's tavern, at the 
present Willow Grove, to be cared and provided for. 
Where the Americans buried their dead on this occa- 
sion is deserving of in(iuiry. 

The HaUowell Family.— John Hallowell, the 
progenitor of this family, came with a number 
of other Friends, from Nottinghamshire, England, 
and arrived in Pennsylvania in 1682, and settled near 
Darby, where he was one of the original members of 
the meeting established there. Silas Crispin, as ex- 
ecutor of the estate of Thomas Holme, sold to the 
aforesaid John Hallowell, on the loth of Sixth Mouthy 
1696, for £58 16s., a tract containing six hundred and 
thirty acres, in Abington townshi]i, which lay ad- 
joining Upper Dul)lin and on the line of the Manor 
of Moreland three hundred and forty perches, or for 
upwards of a mile's distance. The aforesaid, soon 
after his purchase, moved hither, living first with 
his lamily in a rude cabin, which he constructed 
partly in the ground, on the sunnj' side of a hill, which 
was called a cave, after the manner of some of the 
early settlers of Philadelphia. This was at or near 
the present summer residence of Philip R. Theobald, 
of Philadelpliia, about a mile and a half southwest of 
the Willow Grove, whose farm formed a portion of 
the original tract. It was not till his purchase, about 
1850, from Benjamin Hallowell, the son of Isaac and 
Sarah, that the proi)erty pa.ssed I'rom the family ; but the 
adjoining tract of B. T. Hallowell, Esq., has ever 
since been retained, the title covering almost two 
centuries. From the old homestead mentioned came> 
probably, all the Hallowells in Montgomery and 
Bucks Counties, at least those of Abington, Moreland 
and neighboring districts. 



ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 



689 



John Hallowell conveyed to his eldest son, Thomas, 
on the 1st of Eighth Month, 1702, two hundred and 
twenty acres of liis tract, witli the imiirovenients 
thereon. The balance of four hundred and eight 
acres he divided equally, on the 11th of Fourth 
Month, 1706, between his younger sons, Samuel and 
Benjamin, as they became of age. The aforesaid 
Thomas Hallowell, on the 25th of Twelfth Month, 
1730, conveyed his farm of two hundred and twenty 
acres to his eldest son, William, who was a carpenter 
by occupation. The latter purchased of William 
Dunn, in Morelaud, one hundred acres, in 1730, 
which he conveyed, on June 3, 1736, to his son, 
Thomas Hallowell, weaver, who had previously occu- 
pied it. This tract was situated a short mile north- 
west of Willow Grove, and is still owned by a descend- 
ant, Dr. William Halluwell, the son of Joseph (now 
of Norristovvn), who was born thereon ui)wards of 
eighty-three years ago. The said Thomas was his 
grandfather, and consequently this farm has been 
owned by these three the long period now of one 
hundred and forty-eight years, showing a remarkable 
instance of longevity. Thomas died in 1788, and his 
son Joseph near the close of 1843, at ui)wards of 
eighty-five years of age. 

Thomas Hallowell, the son of John, died near the 
end of 1734, and his wife, Eosamond, in 1745, both 
buried in Abington Meeting-house graveyard. Their 
children were John, born iu 1703; Mary, 1705; 
Thomas, 1706; William, 1707; Rosamond, 1709; 
Elizabeth, 1711 ; Sarah, 1714; Thomas, 1715 ; Samuel, 
1717; and Joseph, 1719. William, who was born in 
1707, resided on his farm in Abington until 23rd of 
Eighth Month, 1794, when he died at the age of 
eighty-seven. The children of Samuel and Jlary 
Hallowell were Joseph, born in 1739 ; Benjamin, 
1741; Elizabeth, 1743; Rachel, 1744; Mary, 1747; 
Martha, 1751 ; John, 1753 ; and Samuel, in 1756. 

Thomas Hallowell, Jr., the son of Thomas, the 
weaver, of Moreland, was married,on the 16th of Elev- 
enth Month, 1762, to Margaret, the daughter of Peter 
Tyson, of Abington. We find another marriage of 
Thomas Hallowell, yeoman, of Moreland, the 30th of 
Tenth Month, 1746, to Margaret, the daughter of 
John Tyson, of Abington. It may possibly be that 
in these two marriages the aforesaid Thomas Hallowell 
may have been the same person. We also find a 
Thomas Hallowell married to Mary Craft in 1735. 
Owing to a similarity of names, these are some of the 
puzzles that frequently attend the researches of gen- 
ealogists into extensive families. Thomas Hallowell, 
having purchased the share of John Johnson, de- 
ceased, became a member of the Hatboro' Library in 
1758, served as a director in 1761, and in 1767 sold it 
to Isaac Cadwallader. Among the original members 
of the Abington Library in 1803 we find the names of 
Isaac, William and Charles Hallowell. AVilliam and 
Jonathan Hallowell were owners of real estate in 
Willow Grove between the years 1784 and 1803. In 
44 



this connection we should mention Charles Hallowell, 
one of the most respected men of Moreland, so long 
residing on the adjoining property of Dr. Hallowell 
mentioned, who died 13th of Tenth Month, 1855, 
aged seventy years. He has also descendants residing 
in this section and in the West. 

Thomas Hallowell, the weaver, son of William, who 
resided in Moreland on a farm of one hundred acres 
given him by his father in 1786, also carried on farm- 
ing. He died the 4th of Eleventh Month, 1788, 
aged nearly seventy-four years, and was a noted hunter 
and marksman. He related that, in the spring of the 
year, when the early-budding forest-trees would be 
cut down, the deer would come and browse upon 
them, even, at times, close to the house. About 
1744 he happened to bring down at one shot 
two deer that were together iu a thicket. This 
remarkable feat was done on the farm recently 
owned by Tabitha Kirk, but little over a mile from 
his home, and still lingers in tradition among some of 
the old families of that vicinity, as, for instance, the 
Tysons, Kirks and Homers. A deer was also shot by 
him on the farm lately owned by Washington Kimball. 
He shot, one spring, on a tall hickory-tree, an eagle 
of an unusual size that had carried off two of his 
small lambs. 

Joseph Hallowell, son of the aforesaid, who was 
born on said farm in 1758 and became its subsequent 
owner, also became a distinguished marksman. He 
survived iill the 18th of Eleventh Month, 1843, when 
he died at the age of eighty-five. He related, that 
when a school-boy, he heard several of the larger boys 
boasting of having killed bears with clubs. As he was 
returning one evening from school, on the farm of 
the late George Spencer he observed in the bushes a 
fiock of eleven wild turkeys. Previous to 1779 he 
had shot four of those birds on or near the vicinity of 
his farm. He stated that James Dubree had shot a wild 
turkey by moonlight in 17C2, on a tall hickory tree, 
that weighed thirty-two pounds. This tree was pointed 
out to the writer in 18.50, and it stood about half a mile 
northw'est of Willow Grove. It was fully nine feet 
in circumference, and owed its preservation to being 
on a boundary line, but a storm several years after- 
wards blew it down. 

On the morning of May 1, 1778, Joseph Hallowell 
happened to be up early, and hearing the noise of 
wild turkeys, hastened in pursuit. About the break 
of day he came into the woods near the Welsh road, 
a short mile's distance from the west of his house, 
when his attention was soon arrested by most 
peculiar sounds coming from down the road. He 
stooped among the bushes, and as he peeped there- 
from, to his surprise, beheld a detachment of the 
British army from Philadelphia hastening north- 
wards, piloted by several he knew, who had resided in 
Horsham. He estimated the number at about six 
hundred men, one-half of whom were mounted on 
I horses, being now on their way, by Horsham Meeting- 



690 



HISTOllY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



house to attack General Lacey on the rear of his lamp 
near Hatboro'. Fortunately they were too late, for 
the division that had proceeded uj) the Middle road 
made the attack too soon, and Lacey, by moving 
northeastward with his forces, escaped the danger. 
The detachment he saw was under the command of 
Major Simcoe. 

Joseph Hallowell stated that, wlien a boy of fifteen, 
he could, in some directions, jtnirney through the 
open woods to the Schuylkill River, and that he had 
several times done so on horseback in j)ursuit of his 
father's cattle when they had gone astray, the one 
that carried the bell being called the " king-cow." 
John Tomlinson, a neighbor of his, having gone with 
produce to Philadelphia while it was in possession of 
the British, on his return was cai»tured by a party of 
Lacey's men, who sheared off closely the hair on one 
side of his head, deprived him of his clothing, and, 
instead, gave him an old shirt and a pair of breeches 
which he found filled with vermin. The neighbors 
afterwards jested on the matter by saying that he was 
a fortunate man to have safely returned to his home 
with so much more than what he had taken with him. 
Mr. Hallowell stated that after 1785 he had no knowl- 
edge of any wild turkeys having been seen anywhere 
through all that section. He verified the great abund- 
ance of wild pigeons seen at times near the close of 
the last century, and of their still breeding in the 
woods of that vicinity as late as 1810. 

ASSESSMENT OF ABINGTON FOU 17sn. • 
John CoUum, assessor, and Alexuiukr Moans, colleetnr. 
Patricfe jVIegargle, 99 acres, 3 horses, 3 cows; Goorge Shrivcr, GO a., 
4 b., 3 c. ; Esther Berrell, widow ; John Nash, laborer; William Shri- 
vcr, lab.. 1 h. ; Arnold Michener, cordwainer, l"ia., 1 h., 1 c. ; Andrew 
Keyser, miller, 6 a., grist-mill, 1 h., 1 c. ; Ot-orge W«!bster, 130 a., 2 h., 
2 c.; Charles Alexander, lab. ,1 li., Ic; William Cabo, woul-comber, 
1 c; Isaac Knight, Sr., 2m) a., 4 b., 4 r., 250 a. in Weriou, 300 in 
Ilaverford; Hugh Tolan, lab., 1 r. ; Matthew Tyson, 150 a., 2 h., yc, 
200 a. in Springfield, 150 a. in Bucks County ; Jacob Lukens, 1 h., 1 c. ; 
Connvd Kemp, 12 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; George Morris, lab., 1 h, ; Isaac Knight, 
Jr., 200a., Oh., 2 c. (confiscated) ; Abraham Bunnell, lab., 1 c. ; Isaac 
Tyson, 150 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Joseph Fisher, cordwainer, 12 a., 2 c. ; Baltus 
Neal, lab., 1 h., 1 c. ; Ryuear Tyson, son of Peter, farmer juid lime- 
burner, 200 a., 4 h., 3 c. ; Peter Tyson, Jr., 5 h., 2 c. ; James Middleton, 
carpenter, 1 h. ; Jacob Lippiucutt, 100 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Kynear Tyson, son 
of John, 107 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Abraham Tyson, Sr., 130 a., 4 h., 5 c. ; John 
Collum, 100 a., 4 h., 4 c. ; David Coombs, tailor, 27 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; Jacob 
Craft, lab., I c. ; Alexander Means, 2 h., 1 c. ; Daniel Logan, lab., 1 c. ; 
Robert Wil^son, 9 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; Christian Smith, 1 b., 1 c. ; Jacob 
Ilutrty, 94 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Bernard Craft, wheelwright, 4 h., 2 c. ; George 
Fisher, cordwainer ; Joseph Austin, 105 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; Joseph Tysun, 
155 a., 4 h., 5 c. ; Jacob Kirk, 200 a., 5 b., (i c, 30 a. in Upper Dublin, 
107 a. in Biiatol, 1 stage-wagon ; William Hallowell, 80 a., 2 h., 4 c, 

1 chair, 50 a. in Upper Dublin ; Thomas Leech, 100 a., 3 b., 2 c. ; Sarah 
Francis, widow, 130 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Abraham Tyson, Jr., 14G a., 3 h., 
4 c. ; Rynear Hallowell, 144 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Thomas Tyson, 113 a., 4 h., 
,3 c. ; Jeremiah Boileau, 2 h., 4 c. ; William Shepherd, 78 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; 
Jesse Colluni, 1 h., 1 c. ; Elijah Tomlinson, inn-keeper, 2 h., 1 c. ; M'il- 
liam Webster, 10 a., 1 h., 1 i-., S2 a. in Cheltenham; David Lockbart, 
iab., 1 h., 1 c. ; John (liild, lab., 1 h., 1 r. ; Nathan Thomas, 100 a., 

2 h., 2 c. ; John Waterman, .Ir.. 17 a., 1 h., 1 c, ; John Waterman, Sr., 
115 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; John Pembertun, of Philadelphia, 15 a. of woodland ; 

f^TLydia Jenkins, widow, 05 a. ; George Stirk, aged, 50 a., 1 c. ; Ebene/.er 
Jones, 1 h., 1 c. ; Peter Phipps, 199 a.*, 2 h., 1 c. ; Joshua Ilallowoll, 
70 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Grace McGargle, widow, 30 a., 2 c. ; Caleb Hallowell, 
65 a., 2 h. ; John teeters, Gi) a., 1 li., 2 c. ; Henry Clino, lab. ; Isaac 
Waterman, 12+ a., 3 h., 4 c. ; William Johnson, miller, 2 h., I c. ; Daniel 



Vancouit, 62 a., 2 h., 2c. ; Abraham Cadwallader, 58 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; 
Joshua Morris, 400 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Isaac Fisher, cordwainer, 1 c. ; Abra- 
ham Castor, 3 h., 1 c. ; William Hendricks, 122 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Benjamin 
Simpson, Samuel Simpson, 188 a., 4 h., 4 c. ; Lewis Robeits, 197 a., 3 h., 

3 c, grist-mill ; Robert Henry, weaver, 34 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; John Knight, 
1 h., 1 c. ; Joseph Phipps, Jr., lab., 1 c. ; Jacob Fisher, cordwainer, 1 c. ; 
Joseph Phipps, Sr,, 70 a,, 2 h. ; John Kiuman,^ h., 2 c. ; Charles Rob- 
erts, carpenter, 2 c. ; John Hoogle, weaver; Henry Krier, 100 a., 3 h., 

4 c, 100 a. in Moreland ; John Shaw, Sr., 7o a., 1 h., 3 c. ; John Nor- 
man, 120 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Phin eas Jenkin s, Sr., 00 a., 1 c. ; Jesse Jenkins, 
14 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; John Fry," 59 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; David Krier, 2 h. ; Jacob 
Paul, 28S a., 7 li., 7 c, 2 negroes, 1 chair ; Julin Ycrkes, 09 a., 3 h., 1 c. ; 
Daniel Hone, treas., 59 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Robert Paul, miller, 101»^ a., 
grist-mill, 3 h., 4 c. ; Richard Wliitton, 95 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Benjamin Al- 
bertson, 55 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Thomas Fletcher, 175 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; Elizabeth 
Aslibridge, 103 a., 1 c. ; Joseph Gold, 1 h., 1 c. ; John McMasters, 
weaver, 2 c. ; Jolin Bmnt, lab., 1 c. ; Thomas Beans, 145 a., 4 h., 4 c, 2 
negroes; William Roberts, 100 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Susanna Fletcher, 70a., 
1 h., 1 c, 1 chair ; Jacob Holcombe, tailor, 4'^ a., 1 h., 1 c. ; John 
Wharti;nby, blacksmith, 2 c. ; Thomas Dungan, inn-keeper, 44 a., 1 h., 

1 c, 1 chair ; Peter Merkle, 1 c. ; Duncan McDermot, lab.; Joseph Web- 
ster, 00 a., 1 h., 3 c. ; Thomas Randall, 1 h., 4 c. ; Amos Harmer, car- 
penter ; Jacob Cotfin, lab., 24 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; John Nice, of Northern 
Liberties, 09 a. in Abingtori LJuIiS. Jenlsins,^2Ji., 2 c.^ Demas Worrall, 
cordwainer, 1 h., 1 c. ; Robert Fletcher, "297 a., h., 7 c. ; Naylor Web- 
ster, 30^ a., 2 h., 1 c. ; Martin Ague, weaver; Jesse Roberts, 100 a,, 

2 h., 1 c. ; John Yerkes, Sr., 1 h., 1 c. ; Thomas Webster, Sr., 112 a., 

3 h., 3 c. ; Thomas AVebster, Jr., I h., 3 c. ; William Parker, lab. ; Ed- 
ward Jeffreys, lab. ; Thoniiis Hallowell, 15 a. woodland and meadow, re- 
sides in Lower Dublin ; John Megargle, 10 a. ; Abner Bradfield, of Chel- 
tenham, 50 a. ; Benjamin Hallowell, 200 a., 4 h., 3 c. ; Moses Shepherd, 
137 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; William Jenkins, ^ent^ 173 a., 1 h., 5 c. ; George 
Bewly, Samuel Tyson, Jonathan Morns, Jonathan Leech, John jCraft, 



James Megargle, Jonathan Petere, Jesse Clark, jlaco b Ful mor e (wCT ^er), 
William Connel (weaver), Jacob Albertson (tailor), Clement Remington, 
Jacob Baughman, John Roberts, Joseph Tyson, William Bremnn'r, 
Charles Shaw, Jarob Shaw, Abraham Hanner, Stephen Reese, Jacob 
Hanner, Aaron Lockbart, Stephen Beans, William Petere, Isaac Knight. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



BENJAMIN T. HALLOWELL. 

John Hallowell, the progenitor of the family, came 
from Nottinghamshire, England, with William Penn, 
in 1682, and settled in Abiugton township, Mont- 
gomery Co., Pa., where, in 1696, he purchased six 
hundred and thirty acres of land, a portion of which 
is still in possession of the family of the subject 
of this biographical sketch. In the direct line of 
descent was Peter Hallowell, who also resided in 
the same township, having married Rachel Taylor. 
Their children were Julianna, born September 2, 
1782, who died March 1, 1785; Joel, born May 26, 
1784; Sarah, born February 25, 1786, whose death 
occurred in 1856; Eleanor, born October 11, 1789; 
Martha, born May 21, 1792; Benjamin, born Feb- 
ruary 23, 1795, who died the same year; and Ben-- 
jamin T., born July 11, 1797. The last named, andB 
youngest of the number, whose birth-place was Ab- 
iugton township, enjoyed such advantages of instruc- 
tion as were obtainable at the public schools and at 
the boarding-school of Joseph Foulke, in Gwynedd 
township. He early acquired a habit of intelligent 
reading, and possessed a retentive memory, which 




Inf^ijAHmtOae 



'JhfS.^€t£icaJ^£^ 



ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 



691 



proved more serviceable iu later years than the disci- 
pline derived from study under teachers. Being with- 
out means, he engaged in farm labor, subsequently 
assuming the direction of a school, and, later, the 
position of clerk in a country store. In 1832 he pur- 
chased a portion of the original tract in Abington 
township, now occupied by his family, and began his 
career as a farmer, wliich was continued without in- 
terruption for the remainder of his life. Mr. Hallo- 
well was, on the 26th of January, 1837, married to 
Eliza, daughter of Phineas Buckman, and left chil- 
dren, — Buckman, Reuben, Edwin, Joshua I., Frank- 
lin, Lydia (who died in 1852), Sallie and Mary B. Mr. 



native county. He served in 184.5 on the committee 
on local appropriations; was, in 1846, chairman of 
the committee on lands and member of that on ways 
and means. In 1848 he was a member of the com- 
mittee on banks, and chairman of the committee on 
elections. Mr. Hallowell also filled for years the offite 
of justice of the peace and served as school director 
of the township. He was active in the organization 
of the first grange in the county and first Master of 
Pennypack Grange, No. 8. He was educated in the 
faith of the Society of Friends, of which Mrs. Hallo- 
well was a birthright member, and worshiped with 
the Abington Meeting. The death of Mr. Hallowell 




J!'^, ^^^Z^^rz-c^^ 



Hallowell was foremost in all enterpri.ses affecting the 
development of the township, having been the first to 
agitate the matter of the construction of the German- 
town and Willow Grove plank-road, of which com- 
pany he was one of the incorporators, and for many 
years its president. He was also largely engaged in 
real estate operations. His influence was widely felt 
in the arena of politics, in which he manifested a keen 
interest, and particijjated actively in the various po- 
litical contests of the day. He was elected to the State 
Legislature in 1844, re-elected in 1845, defeated in 1846 
and re-elected in 1847, his defeat being the result of a 
loyal opposition to an effort to effect a division of his 



occurred on the 29th of September 1884, in his eighty- 
eighth year, and that of his wife September 10, 1877, 
in her sixty-third year. 

JOHN ,T. HALLOWELI,. 

John Hallowell, the grandfather of John J. Hallo- 
well, resided in the township of Cheltenham, Mont- 
gomery Co., from whence he removed to Abington 
township, where he died, in 1793, of yellow fever. 
He married Martha Roberts, whose children were 
Isaac, Israel, John R. and Ann, the wife of Joseph 
Williams. Israel was born in 1776, in Montgomery 
County, where his life was spent, his business hav- 



692 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERi' COUNTY. 



ing been that of a miller; he was also the owner 
of valuable farms in Abington township. He mar- 
ried Mary, daughter of William Jarrett, of Horsham 
township, and had children, — Ann J. (Mr.s. Isaac 
Mather), Martha(Mrs. Samuel Parry), John J., Jarrett, 
Tacy (Mrs. David Eastburn), Israel, Jonas W. and 
Mary (Mrs. George Ely). The death of Mr. Hallowell 
occurred in 1853. His son, John J., was born on 
the 25th of June, 1811, at his lather's house, in 
Abington, and received his education at the West- 
town Boarding-School, and later under the careful 
training of Joseph Foulke, apopularinstruetor of that 
day, who resided in Gwynedd township. He, on the 



farming, which was continued until his son, Franklin 
W., assumed control of the land, when he retired from 
labor other than that involved in the management of 
his private business. Though a decided Whig and 
Republican in politics, lie has never accepted office, 
and has filled no official position other than that of 
treasurer of the Fox Chase and Huntington Turn- 
pike Company. He is a birthright member of the 
Society of Friends, and worships with the Abington 
Meeting. Mr. and Mrs. Hallowell celebrated in 1884 
the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, when a 
most interesting reunion of relatives and friends oc- 
curred at their lios]iitabk' home. 





completion of his studies, entered the flouring-mill 
owned by his father, and became proficient in all 
branches of milling, which engaged his attention for 
several years in connection with farming. In 1834 he 
married Rachel, daughter of Anthony Williams, of 
Cheltenham, whose children are Williams, who mar- 
ried Sallie, daughter of Edwin Tyson, and died leav- 
ing one child, also deceased ; Elizabeth; and Franklin 
W., who cultivates the farm, and is married to Sallie, 
daughter of William and Caroline Fenton, of Abing- 
ton. The children of the latter are Carrie F. and 
Helen R. Mr. Hallowell, aliter conducting the mill 
for a period of years, devoted his time exclusively to 



JOSEPH W. HALLOWELL. 

John Hallowell, the grandfather of Joseph W., 
was descended from English stock. He resided in 
Abington township, where he owned and operated 
a grist-mill, located upon the Pennypack stream, 
prior to the war of the Revolution. His death oc- 
curred in 1793, of yellow fever, contracted while 
prosecuting his business in Philadelphia. He mar- 
ried Martha Roberts, of Quakertown, Bucks Co., 
Pa., and had three sons — Isaac, Israel and John R., — 
and one daughter, Ann, who married Joseph Williams, 
of Plymouth township. John R. Hallowell was born 
at the homestead in Abington township, and spent the 



ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 



693 



earlier years of his life in the miil owned by his 
father, after which he became the own^r, by purchase, 
of the farm now the residence of his son, the subject 
of this sketch. He married Ann, dauj^hter of Wil- 
liaua Jarrett, of Horsham township, ;>I<ii tgomery Co., 
and had children, — William J., Lydia (Mrs. Morris 
Paul), Martha (Mrs. Edwin Satterthvait), Joseph 
W. and Penrose. Joseph W., of this number, who 
was born February 18, 1823, on the homestead, re- 
ceived his education at the schools immediately near 
his home and later at Alexandria, 1). C. On his re- 
turn he at once became familiar with tlie labor of the 
farm and assisted his father until his marriage, in 1851, 



tional Bank, as also of the York Road Turnpike Com- 
pany and member of the Huntington Valley Building 
and Loan Association. Mr. Hallowell is descended 
from Quaker stock, and is by birthright a Friend, his 
association beiug with the Abington Friends' Meeting. 



WILLIAM T. MORISOX. 

John Morison, the father of William T. Morison, 
was born in Keith, Scotland, in 1760, came as 
supercargo from a Scottish port to America, and 
settled in Petersburg, Va. In 1801 he removed to 
Philadelphia, and soon after purchased the property 




/IM^^ ^ /yiA^cn-^^ ^^'^^ 



to Hannah S., daughter of John Lloyd, of Moreland 
township. The children of this marriage are E^dwin 
S., Emma, Faunie and Anna. Mr. Hallowell, on his 
marriage, rented the farm, and on the death of his 
father, in 1856, became, by inheritance and purchase, 
possessor of the property. He has since that date 
been devoted to the pursuits of an agriculturist, 
though the cultivation of the land has recently been 
given up to his son. Mr. Hallowell votes the Repub- 
lican ticket and adheres to the principles of that party, 
but has never been actively engaged in the work of 
the party and has filled no office other than that of 
school director. He was one of the incorporators 
and is at present director of the Jcnkintown Na- 



on which his son now resides. He was, in 1790, 
united in marriage to Ann Coke, a native of Virginia, 
and had children, — John P., a physician, who died in 
1849 ; Jane (Mrs. Robert Montgomery), who died in 
1875 ; Mary Ann (wife of Rev. Nathan Harned, a 
native of Rockingham County, Va., and a clergyman of 
the Presbyterian Church), whose death occurred in 
New York, October 9, 185-i; Robert (deceased), a 
druggist in Philadelphia ; William T. ; Agnes, de- 
ceased ; George N., a merchant and wholesale drug- 
gist, formerly of New Orleans and now of Philadel- 
phia ; Robert, deceased ; James, cashier of Adams 
Express Company ; and Charles S., deceased. Mr. 
Morison continued farming employments until his 



(;94 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



death, which occurred at his home on the 28th of 
December, 1838. His son, William T., was born at 
the homestead October 7, 1809, and has made it his 
lifetime residence. After a preliminary courseof study 
at the public school near his home, he became a 
pupil of a classical school under the direction of Dr. 
liobert Steel, of Abington township. Immediately 
on the completion of his studies he returned to the 
farm, and soon became interested in its routine of 
labor and responsibility. On the death of his father 
a portion of the property became his by inheritance 
and the remainder by purchase, since which date he 
has been actively employed as a farmer. Mr. Morison 
is in politics a Democrat, as a representative of which 
[larty he was elected justice of the peace and served 
for several years. He was, in 1849, elected to the 
State Legislature and re-elected in 1850, serving on 
various important committees. In 1851 he was made 
a member of tlie board of canal commissioners, and on 
tlie completion of his three years of public service 
retired from the field of politics. He has since that 
date been devoted to the more tranquil and congenial 
employments attending the life of an agriculturist. 
Mr. Morison is a Presbyterian in his religious faith, 
and a pew-holder in the church of that denomination 
in Abington village. 



DAVID NEWPORT. 

David Newport, son of Jesse W. and Elizabeth New- 
port, was born Dec. 18, 1822, in the city of Philadel- 
phia, Pa. He is a descendant in the sixtli generation 
from Thos. Newport, of London, England, who settled 
in New Jersey about 1698. It is stated of him 
(Thomas) that the people of his neigliborhood were 
in the habit of meeting at his house on the Sabbath 
day for the purpose of social worship, and that he 
liaving a remarliably fine voice, was in the habit of 
singing with them. On one occasion he felt it his 
duty to speak to those assembled, and thus became 
their minister. Afterwards, on becoming acquainted 
with the Society of Friends, he connected himself 
with that people. 

Thomas Newport married Elizabeth Lockwood, 
and had two children, — Jesse and Mary. The New- 
port family at an early date removed and lived near 
Duck Creek, Del. Mary Newport went to Philadel- 
phia and engaged in profitable business in that city, 
but never married. The fund now in possession of 
the Philadelphia Meeting was left to that meeting by 
her. 

Jesse Newport was the father of ten children, 
most of whom lived to old age. Their names were 
Thomas, Aaron, David, Jesse, Benjamin, Richard, 
Elizabeth, Lydia, Mary and Sarah. Jesse's son Da- 
vid often spoke of the difticulties to which they were 
subjected during the Revolutionary war, and that his 
father purchased, outside of the productions of the 
farm, nothing but iron and salt he being opposed to war. 



In 1780, .lesse Newport purchased the Overington 
farm inO.xford township, and, with his family, became 
members of the Abington Monthly Meeting. In 
1794, Jesse, with seven of his children, removed to 
Westmoreland County, Pa., and it is related of these 
seven children that they became the parents of 
seventy children, or an average of ten each, all ot 
whom arriveil at adult age. 

Elizabeth S'ewport, the mother of David Newport, 
was the daughter of James and Margaret Ellison, ot 
Burlington, N. J. James Ellison was a descendant 
from John Ellison, who settled on the coast of East 
Jersey, at Tom's River, Monmouth Co., near the close 
of the seventeenth century. His son, John Ellison, 
second, married a granddaughter of Gryftyth ap Gryf- 
fyth, and in accordance with the annals of that family 
he was a lineal descendant of Lewellyn ap Gryffyth, 
who was the last Welsh Prince of Wales. 

On the maternal side of the Newport family, Da- 
vid, the subject of this sketch, is the eighth in de- 
scent from John Rodman, an Englishman, who 
settled on Barbadoes Island about 1(550, and whose 
sons, Thomas and John, attcrwards emigrated to New 
England. All tlie different ancestral branches of the 
family were members of the Society of Friends, and 
six of them were ministers of that denomination. 
The great-great-grandfather of David Newport, 
Thomas Wood, was, however, disowned by the 
society for taking part in the Revolutionary war. 

David, besides learning the practical duties of a 
farmer, while yet in his teens attended a Philadelphia 
School, and later was sent to the Friends' school, at 
Alexandria, Ya. When at the age of twenty -one 
years he was fully initiated into the duties and re- 
sponsibilities of a farmer, near the beautiful farm upon 
which he now resides, near Wilhiw (trove, Montgom- 
ery Co. Early in life, betook a deep interest in the 
moral and political subjects of the day, and was es- 
pecially interested in the slavery question that was 
being forced upon the country about the time of his 
majority. Being born a Friend, he naturally inherited 
all the peculiar hatred of oppression possessed by one 
of that religious faith, and enthusiastically espoused 
the cause of freedom with fervor and zeal, and lifted 
up his voice and wielded his pen against "the sum of all 
villainies," as slavery was termed by liberty-loving 
old John Wesley. In tlie Presidential contest of 1848, 
Mr. Newjiort was one of the seven fearless advocates of 
freedom in Moreland township, who dared to stand 
up and vote for the Free-soil candidate, Martin Van 
Buren. Previous to the election of Abraham Lincoln, 
there was none more so, and few as active citizens 
concerning public affairs as Mr. Newport. With his 
natural taste for agricultural pursuits, he alsoacquired 
a taste for the literary field, and often contributed in- 
teresting articles for both the Herald and Free Press 
and the Bepublican, both published in Norristown. 

Accordingly, after the war began, and the new 
system of internal revenue was framed by Congress, 




) 



^:3iu^yt^^ 



^ —y/ < 



ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 



695 



President Lincoln appointed him collector for the 
Congressional district composed of Ihe counties of 
Montgomery and Lehigh, with his cffice in the court- 
house at Norristown. He chose Samuel Homer and 
Howard M. Jenkins as his deputies, and during the 
four years from 1862 to 18tj6. about 12,500,000 of di- 
rect tax was received and paid over I y him. He held 
the position till the tragic death of Jlr. Lincoln placed 
Andrew Johnson in the Presidential cliair. 

" Mr. Newport's courtesy, fidelity md uprightness," 
says Mr. Auge in his history, "were conspicuous while 
he held the place, and no man ever retired from a fiduci- 
ary trust <vith a cleaner reputation. Some time after 
his retirement from office hi; was busy with his pen, 
l)cing an almost constant contributor to political, re- 
ligious and scientific publications of the country. He 
also frequently courted the muse, and the following 
lines were written on hearing of the re-election of 
President Lincoln in 1864: 

* From where the placid Delaware winds onward in it» course, 
To where Niagara's waters flow with their resistless force ; 
Fr«m where New England's stalwart sons amiilst the woods of Maine, 
The axe rings forth the anthem— ring forth thegl;«l refrain. 

•' The miner in the land of Penn, the hoatman at the uar, 
The farmer in the teeming West among his garnered store. 
The sailor on the ocean amidst the surging sea, 
All, all have canght the glad acclaim — ' Lincoln and Mherty ! " 

"And o'er Pacific's gentle wave iiir toward the setting sun. 
From where the s;inds with gold are mixed, and silvery waters run ; 
From where Nevada rears his head and winter's chaplct crowns. 
Where nature hoth in mount and tree in giant growth abounds. 

*' There in that land where Broderick lived, there where he fought and 
fell. 
In freedom's ranks his friends have ranged, and freedo m's cohorts swell. 
The tide from out the Golden Gate is ebbing towards the sea ; 
.\midst the shrouds the sailor sings — ' Lincoln and Liberty.' " 

Mr. NewjHii't is also the author of a small volume 
of poems, containing manygemsof poetic thought, that 
have become very popular where known. He is also 
the authorofanothersmall volume entitled, " Indices, 
national and Historical," written about 1869. 

Having been born a member of the Society ot 
Friends, and as the weight of years bore down u|)ou 
him, he became more and more impressed with the 
things pertaining to religion than in his younger 
days, and in 1S71 he felt a call to the ministry, and 
thus became a minister of the Society of Friends, 
which position he continues to fill to the satisfaction 
of his friends. 

His utterances at meetings are those of plainness 
and earnestness, and he feels it his duty as a Christian 
to call men to the Spirit of Truth in themselves, in- 
stead of directing them to mere declarations of truth 
as authority. Divine Truth he believes is to be real- 
ized by the inspiration of the Spirit as " the Gift of 
God" to His children, who are "heirs of God and 
joint-heirs with Christ." He is a member of Abing- 
ton Monthly Meeting, where, as well as by all who 
know him, he is held in the highest esteem for his 



many good qualities as a Christian gentleman and a 
kind neighbor. 

Since about 1841—12 he has been engaged in farm- 
ing as his princi|)al business, until within the last few 
years he has added the cares and responsibilities in- 
cumbent upon him as a member of the firm of Wil- 
liam C. Newport & Co., manufacturers of phosphates, 
at Willow Grove, Montgomery Co., Pa. 

David Newport was married, April 8, 1847, to Susan 
Satterthwaite. They have two children, — William C. 
Newport, now a manufacturer of phosphates at 
Willow Grove, and Emma N. Tyson, the wife of 
Canby S. Tyson. 

Susan S., wife of David Newport, is the fourth in 
descent from William Satterthwaite, of Hawkshead, 
England, who emigrated to this country and settled 
in Bucks County, Pa., in 173:1. He married Miss 
Pleasant Meade, who was a relative of the family of 
the late Major-General George G. Meade. 

William Satterthwaite was the grandson of Clem- 
ent Satterthwaite, who was born at Hawkshead in 
1600. 

On the maternal side, Susan S. Newport is a de- 
scendant of James Claypoole, who ciime to Pennsyl- 
vania in 1683. He was a particular friend of William 
Penn, and purchased from him five thousand acres of 
land in the new province. James Claypoole's brother, 
John, married Oliver Cromwell's daughter Eliza- 
beth. James and John Claypoole's father, John, 
was an intimate friend of the Protector, and was 
knighted by him 16th of July, 1657. He was the 
grandson of James Claypoole, who was knighted, as 
Mark Noble, in his history, says, by James I., June, 
1604. He also says that his father's name was James, 
and that he was buried at Narborough October 10, 
1599. 

The family have also a letter of Benjamin Clay- 
poole to his nephew, George Claypoole, dated Lon- 
don, 22d March, 1706-7, giving the family history 
much as above. 

Susan S. Newport's grandmother, Elizabeth Clay- 
poole, was a woman of much mark in her day. She 
had the honor of making the first American flag ; as 
for details see Harper's Magazine, June, 1873. 



.lACOB p. TYSON. 

Jcibn Tyson, the father of Jacob P., was born 
August 27, 1772, and married Sarah Paxson, whose 
birth occurred November 30, 1782. Their children 
were Mary Ann, born in 1811; Joseph C, in 1813; 
Jacob P.; Elwood, in 1817; Agnes and Sarah, in 
1818 ; Rebecca, in 1820 ; Ruth Anna, in 1822 ; and 
John S., in 1824; all the sons being now deceased. 
John Tyson resided in Abington township, where 
he was a successful lime-burner and also cultivated a 
farm. His death occurred August 9, 1848, and that 



696 



HISTORT OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY 



of his wife September 30, 1854. Their son, Jacob P., 
was born July 8, 1814, on the homestead farm in 
Abington township, as were all the chiklren, the 
property having been for generations owned by the 
family. He attended the neighboring school and 
later, became a pu])il of Joseph Foulkc's celebrated 
boarding-school in Gwynedd township, after which, 
for a brief period, he engaged in teaching. His time 
was, however, chictiy employed on the farm until his 
marriage, to Mary B., daughter of William Michener, 
of the same county, when he removed to a tract of 
land, belonging to his father, in the same township. 
Mr. Tyson eventually inherited this farm, Imt was 



judgment in all matters of business. He was iden- 
tified with most public, enterprises in the towushiji 
— notably the Independent Mutual Fire Insurance 
Company and the Union Mutual Fire Insurance 
Company as director, and as treasurer of the Willow 
Grove and (Jermantown plank-road, of which he was 
one of the i)rojectors. He was, from its organization, 
a director of tlu Jenkintown National Bank, which 
passed a series ('f resolutions on the occasion of his 
death, Decembe.' 19, 1876, commemorative of his 
character and sei vices. Jacob P. Tyson was by birth- 
right a Friend and wor.sliiped with the Abington 
Friends' Meeting. 




obliged to relinquish active employment, his health, 
at no time robust, precluding the hard labor incident 
to the life of a farmer. Having acquired a knowledge 
of mathematics and surveying, he entered at once 
upon a pursuit where these attainments could be 
made available. His ability and scrupulous integrity 
speedily rendered his services much in demand in the 
settlement of estates and the survey nf lands in the 
county. He was frequently aiijjointed guardian and 
executor, these important trusts engaging his atten- 
tion until the date of his death. Jacob P. Tyson 
enjoyed the most absolute confidence of the community 
as a citizen of high moral character and excellent 



GEORGE HAM EL. 

John C. Hamel, the father of George Hamel, 
was a native of Amsterdam, Holland, and when 
a youth was drafted into the French army under 
Napoleon. Preferring freedom to this arduous 
service, he deserted and fled to America, landing in 
New York, from whence he came to Philadelphia, 
and entered a packing-house, when, after some years 
experience as assistant, he embarked in the business. 
He remained until 1834 engaged in mercantile pur- 
suits, at which date a farm was purchased in the 
suburbs of the city, and later one in Abington town- 
ship. His death occurred in Philadelphia in 1854, in 



ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 



69"! 



his sixty-fifth year. Mr. Hamel married Mrs. Catherine 
Zink, daughter of Henry Zink, whose children were 
Margaret (Mrs. Daniel Williamsj, Henry W., George, 
Amanda L. (Mrs. Robert Zaoe), Emciine (whodiedin 
youth) and John C. whose death also occurred at an 
early age. Mrs. John Hamel's death occurred at 
Jenkintown in her ninety-si stb-'year, and that of her 
sister, Mrs. Hildebrandt, in her ninety-fourth year. 
George Hamel was born June G, ]821, in the city of 
Philadelphia, where his boyhood, until his sixteenth 
year, was spent. He then removed to Montgomery 
County and resided upon his father's farm, meanwhile 



Montgomery Co., and in 1854 made agriculture the 
business of his life. On his farm is a product known 
as gannister-stone, chiefly used in lining cupolas and 
converters in Bessemer Steel- Works. Those quarries 
are worked by him, and produce the only stone which 
it is possible to utilize for the purpose above men- 
tioned, in the country. Mr. Hamel's political con- 
victions led to his affiliation with the Democratic 
party, which he represented during the years 1856-57 
and 1858 in the State Legislature, serving on the com- 
mittees on banks and banking, agriculture and others 
of equal importance. He is largely identified with the 





'^^^>'^f^ 




'^^^^^Z-2:-^t 



-^ 



educating himself with what books and papers he 
could obtain from different sources. He became in- 
terested in the various branches of labor incident to a 
farmer's life, and on the 26th of August, 1841, married 
Miss Hannah, daughter of John and Rachel Tyson. 
The children of this marriage are John C, Mary C, 
Margaret, George, Rachel T. (Mrs. Joseph Drucken- 
miller), Ida Amanda, Harry I. and four who are de- 
ceased. On his marriage Mr. Hamel removed to his 
present home, then the property of Mrs. Hamel's 
grandfather, Benjamin Tyson, and later to another 
farm located in the same township. He embarked for 
a brief period in mercantile ventures at Willow Grove, 



interests of Abington, having been for thirty years 
auditor of the township, and filled the office of school 
director. He was for many years a director of the 
Willow Grove and Germantown Plank Road Com- 
pany, and is actively identified with Tacony Grange, 
Xo. 59, of Montgomery County. 3Ir. Hamel is a 
member and an elder in the Carmel Presbyterian 
Church, at Edge Hill, having formerly filled the 
same office in connection with the Abington Pres- 
byterian Church, and been superintendent of the 
Sabbath-schools at Edge Hill, from which grew the 
present church organization since its commencement, 
in 1872. 



698 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY. 



SAMUEL N. KULP. 

Mr. Kulp is of German descent, his grandfather, 
Isaac Kulp, having been a weaver at Milestown, 
now tlie Twenty-second Ward of Phihulelpliia. He 
married Elizabetli Moore, whose children were 
Joseph, Philip, Jacob, Mary Ann (Mrs. George 
Wentz), Hannah (Mrs. Jacob Wentz) and Eliza 
(Mrs. John Piergon). Philip, of this number, was 
born at Milestown, and followed the trade of his 
father until his later purchase of a farm, which he 
cultivated. He married Ann, daughter of Jolin and 



married to Mary Aun, daughter of John and Kitty 
Ann Blake, of Abington. Their children are Mar- 
garet B. (Mrs. Samuel R. Livezey), Joseph (who re- 
sides at home, and is married to Viola S. Tomlinson ), 
Ida A. (Mi-:^. John R. Reading), John B., Emma L. 
and William. Mr. Kulp, three years after his mar- 
riage, purchased a farm within the limits of the city 
of Philadelphia (Twenty- third Ward), and for eigh- 
teen years resided upon it. He then removed to his 
present home, in tne township of Abington, where he 
has since 1873 been employed in farming of a gen- 




e^.^n^.j^,J€4i 



Sully Nice, of Milestown, and bad I'liildren, — Isaac 
(deceased), John (deceased), Samuel N., Sarah N. 
(Mrs. Reuben Harper, deceased), Margaret H. (Mrs. 
Alfred Buckman), Maria L. (Mrs. John Hawkins), 
Eliza A. (Mrs. Franklin B. Thompson). Samuel N. 
was born November 29, 1826, at Milestown, now a 
part of Philadelphia, and in youth became familiar 
with farm labor. At the age of seventeen, after a 
period of attendance at the neighboring public school, 
he learned the trade of millwright in Abington 
township, and continued to follow it until twenty -six 
years of age. He was, on the Kith of December, ]8.')2, 



[ eral character, as also to a limited extent in real 
estate operations. 

His political associations are with the Repub- 
lican party, though his various business interests 
have left no leisure for participation in political 
movement.* either of a local or general char- 
acter. He is a supporter of the Lower Dublin 
Baptist Church, of which Mrs. Kulp is a member. 
Mr. Kulp began life with no aids other than were 
supjilied by his own industry and ambition, and is 
consecjuently indebted to no other agencies for his 
success in life. 



I 



ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 



699 



WILLIAM BLAKE. 

John Blake, the grandfather of William Blake, 
emigrated to America prior to the war of 1S12, in 
which he served as a soldier. He, on the completion 
of his term of service, made the present Twenty-third 
Ward of Philadelphia his residence, and there followed 
his trade of carpenter. He married Catherine Stev- 
ens, of Bucks County, whose death occurred in her 
eighty-ninth year. Their children were Abram,,Tohn, 
Henry and Jacob, all of whom followed the trade of 
their father. Mr. Blake's death occurred on the (ith 



having purchased the property now owned by his son 
William. He was identified with the interests of the 
township, having for twelve years been supervisor of 
roads. He died July 3, 1860, in his eightieth year. 
His wife died in her ninety-second year. 

William Blake was born in September, 1814, on the 
farm he now occupies, and spent his youth in labor, 
varied by attendance at the district school of the 
neighborhood. He then rented a farm in Cheltenham, 
from which he removed to Bucks County, but finally 
returned to the homestead, a portion of which came 





^^ 




of November, 1829, in his eighty-sixth year. His son, 
Henry Blake, was born in 1780 in Philadelphia 
County, and early removed to Montgomery County, 
where most of his life was spent. He married Rachel, 
daughter of Jesse Hawkins, who was an e-xtensive 
farmer. He was of Welsh extraction and a prominent 
representative of the Society of Friends. The chil- 
dren of this marriage are Mary, Kesiah, William and 
Elizabeth. Mr. Blake for many years pursued his 
trade of carpenter, but ultimately became a farmer. 



to him by inheritance and the remainder by purchase 
Here he has since continued the pursuits of a farmer. 
Mr. Blake was, in the fall of 1830, married to Elmina, 
daughter of William H. and Martha Ball. Their 
only child was Martha Jane, who died in her 
third year. He was a second time married, in 1854, 
to Hannah, daughter of Samuel Deaves, of Philadel- 
phia. Mr. Blake has been for three years a director 
of the Union Mutual Fire Insurance Company of 
Montgomery County. He is a Republican in politics. 



*I00 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



but not active beyond the casting of his ballot. He 
is in religion a Friend, and worships with the Abing- 
ton Meeting. 



JOSEPH KIRK. 



John Kirk, the progenitor of the family in 
America, came from Alfre*4town, Derbyshire, Eng- 
land, in 1687, and settled in Darby (now Upper 



township. He married Sarah, daughter of Rynear 
Tyson, to whom were born eight children. John 
Kirk was by trade a mason, and in 1722 did the 
mason-work for Sir William Keith, then Governor of 
Pennsylvania, on what was later known as the 
Graeme Park mansion, now in possession of Abel 
Penrose, of Horsham township, in Montgomery 
County. Jacob Kirk, the son of John and Sarah 
Kirk, who was born in 1735, survived until his ninety- 
third year, and died in the same house in which he 





Darby), Delaware Co., Pa. He was married in 
Darby Meeting, the following year, to Joan, daughter 
of Peter Elliot, to whom were born wu. children. 
John, their second son, whose birth occurred January 
29, 1692, purchased, in 1712, of John and Sarah 
Ironmonger, two hundred acres in Abington town- 
ship, adjoining the Upper Dublin line, for which he 
paid one hundred and sixty pounds, and subsequently 
added to this tract by a second purchase of five hun- 
dred acres adjoining, but situated in Upper Dublin 



was born. He was married, in 1760, to Elizabeth, 
daughter of John Cleaver, of Bristol township, Phil- 
adelphia Co. Their son Jacob, born the 23d of Sep- 
tember, 1769, married Rebecca, daughter of Charles 
and Phebe Iredell, in 1792, and located on part of the 
original purchase of two hundred acres. Of their 
eleven children, the survivore are Charles Kirk, of 
Warminster township, Bucks Co., still active and ■ I 
enterprising in his eighty-fourth year; Phebe Paxson, ' i 
widow of Joseph Paxson, of the vicinity of Stanton, 



i 



ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 



701 



Del., in her ninety-second year ; and Abram Kirk, of 
Upper Dublin, in his seventy-fifth year. The latter, 
born March .5, 1810, married Caroline, daughter of 
Levi and Mary Jarrett, on the 27th of December, 
1838. Of their five children, Joseph, the eldest son, 
was born on the 13th of December, 1839, in Upper 
Dublin township, where he resided until thirty years 
of age, becoming a pupil first of the public school 
and later of schools in Hatboro' and Norristown. 
On the completion of his studies he returned to 
the farm and assisted in its cultivation until his 
marriage, on the 10th of March, 1870, to Miss 



and worship with the Abington Meeting. D. Jarrett 
Kirk, brother of Joseph Kirk, married Cornelia, 
daughter of Benjamin and Sarah Kenderdine. Their 
children are two aons, Benjamin K. and Joseph. 



.JOHN SMITH. 

William Smith, the progenitor of the branch 
of the Smith family represented by the subject 
of this biography, came, in 1684, from Yorkshire, 
England, and settled in Wrightstown, Bucks Co. 
He married, on the 20th of the Ninth Month, 
1690, Mary Croasdale, and had among his children a 





Lydia, daughter of the late Reuben and Elizabeth 
Williams, of Abington township. Mr. Kirk soon 
after rented a farm near Weldon, Abington township, 
and for thirteen years engaged in the employments of 
a farmer. At the expiration of this time he removed 
to Weldon, having purchased a residence, and made 
the latter place his home. A Republican in politics, 
he is not active in the political field nor ambitious 
for office. He is a member of the Weldon Building 
and Loan Association. Mr. Kirk and his wife are 
both members by birthright of the Society of Friends, 



son, William Smith, who was united in marriage to 
Rebecca Wilson. Their son Thomas married Sarah 
Townsend, whose son William, representing the 
fourth generation, married Sarah Buckman. Among 
the sons of the latter was John Smith, born in 1803, 
who, after spending his early years upon the farm, 
learned the trade of blacksmith, which he prosecuted 
in Abington, to which township he removed for the 
purpose. Here he met and married Agnes Hallowell, 
daughter of Caleb Hallowell, their children being 
Caleb H., married to Susan V. Hallowell ; Franklin, 



702 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



whose wife was Caroline E. Kinsey ; Hutchinson, 
married to M. Elizabeth Comly ; Mary ; and Anna- 
Mr. Smith, on his marriage, settled at Huntington 
Valley, Moreland township, where he for years carried 
on his trade. He wa.s for an extended period justice 
of the peace of his township, and elected county com- 
missioner for the unexpired term of Samuel Shoe- 
maker. On retiring from this office he embarked in 
the real estate business. His excellent judgment and 
thorough familiarity with property and its value in 
Montgomery and Bucks Counties, and also in the 
city of Philadelphia, enabled him to establish a lucra- 



liam Penn from England to America in 1682, and 
I settled in Bucks County, Pa., where he conducted a 
successlul business as a blacksmith. Among his 
children was Thomas, who succeeded to his father's 
trade, and located in Newtown, Bucks Co. His 
' children were Thomas, Jesse, Phebe (Mrs. Kelly), 
and Hannah (Jlrs. Leedom). Thomas and Jesse both 
followed the blacksmith's trade, the former having 
married Mary, daughter of Abram and Rachel Hard- 
ing, of Bucks County, whose children were Abram, 
Priscilla (Mrs. Jacob Twining), Rachel (Mrs. Chillian 
Cooper), Hannah (deceased), Harding (deceased). 




^ly^tyyv 



tive business, which he managed with great success 
until his death. He was president of the Indepen- 
dent Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Phihidel- 
phia, and identified with the leading projects in his 
township and county. Mr. Smith was a Friend by 
birthright, and worshiped with the Abington Meet- 
ing. His death occurred in July, 1867, in his sixty- 
fifth year. 



THOMAS BUCKMAN. 

Thomas Buckman, the great-grandfather of the 
subject of this biographical sketch, accompanied Wil- 



Mary (Mrs. William Bailey), Phebe (Mrs. John 
Jones), Thomas, Sarah Ann (Mrs. John Jones), Wil- 
liam and Benjamin. Thomas was born on the 11th 
of December, 1802, in Falls township, Bucks Co., 
and after a period of early youth spent at home, be- 
came a member of the family of his brother Harding. 
Moreland township, in the same county, next became 
his home, where, for three years, he rented and culti- 
vated a farm, moving, at the expiration of that time 
to Abington, upon a farm situated in the vicinity of 
Jenkintown. Mr. Buckman continued his vocation 
as a farmer in various portions of the county until an 



li 



ABINGTON TOWNSHIP. 



703 



ailvantageotis opportunity occurred to engage in 
lime-burning, to whicli lie gave hia attention for six 
years, after which he purchased a farm in Delaware. 
Three years later he became a resident of Cheltenham 
township, and the owner of land on which he resided 
for eight years. In 1851 his present home was pur- 
chased, to which he removed the following year, 
having since been assiduous in his labors as a farmer. 
Mr. Buckman was married in 1828 to Anne, daughter 
of Clement and Rebecca Comly, and has children, — 



reference to the offices dispensed by the party. He 
is a Friend by birthright, and worships with the 
Abington Meeting. 



ANDREW J. RICE. 



Mr. Rice is of German descent, his great-grand- 
father, Daniel, having been a resident of Frankford, 
Pa., where he was a miller prior to the Revolution- 





Amos, Alfred, Mary (Mrs Charles Harper), Jacob, 
William, Thomas and Joseph. Mrs. Buckman died 
in ISGl, and he was again married, in 18(54, to Mary 
Ann, daughter of Thomas Brooke, who served in the 
war of 1812, and granddaughter of Ma,jor William 
Brooke, a soldier of the war of the Revolution. 
Their children are Linford and Jesse. Mrs. Buck- 
man's mother died in November, 1883, in her ninety- 
first year. Mr. Buckman has no political aspirations, 
and is content to vote the Republican ticket without 



ary war. His sons were Daniel, Peter and another not 
mentioned. Daniel resided near Philadelphia, and fol- 
lowed his trade as a journeyman miller, having 
married a Mi.ss Dungen, to whom were born children, 
— Daniel, George, Isaac, Phebe and Elizabeth. Daniel 
of this number, whose birth occurred in 1816, at 
German town, early removed to Montgomery County 
where he purchased the mill property now operated 
by his son, the subject of this biographical sketch. 
He married Sarah Weiss, of Holmesburg, Pa., and 



704 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



had children, — Phebe, Cornelia, Caroline, deceased ; 
Sarah, deceased; Mary, deceased; Susannah, de- 
ceased ; and Andrew J. 

The latter was born on the 28th of April, 1851, at 
Fentonville, now a part of Philadelphia, and accom- 
panied his father on his removal to Abington town- 
ship. Here his youth was spent, his education having 
been received first at the public school of the neigh- 
borhood and later at Jenkintowu, after which he 
entered the mill as an apprentice to the miller's trade. 
He finally resumed its management and conducted 
the business until his father's death, on the 30th of 
October, 1880, when the property came by inheritance 
to the surving children, Andrew J. still continuing 
to act in the capacity of manager of the mill. This 
mill is one of the oldest in the State, and a dis- 
tinguished landmark in the county, having been 
operated long prior to the Revolutionary war. Mr. 
Rice, in 1883, remodeled it, introducing the roller 
process and otherwise adding to its advantages. An- 
drew J. Rice, was, in 1874, married to Mary, daughter 
of John Brooks, of Chester County, Pa. Their chil- 
dren are a son Charles Harvey, and a daughter Loretta 
Washburn. Mr. Rice is in politics a Democrat, as 
were also his ancestors, but does not participate in 
the active campaign work of the party. He is a 
member of Friendship Lodge, No. 400, of Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons, of Jenkintown, and of Peace and Love 
Lodge, No. 337, of 1. O. O. F., also of Jenkintown. In 
religion he inclines to the New Church doctrines, 
though not identified by membership with any church. 



ABNER BEADFIELl).' 

The ancestrjMjf Abner Bradfiebl sprang from an old 
English family, and came from England to this coun- 
try early in the eighteenth century, and, from best 
information that can be gathered, at this time, settled 
in Bucks County, Pa., but who the pioneer was in 
engrafting the stock in the New World is not known 
to the writer. The records of Buckingham Friends' 
Meeting, Bucks County, furnish thebeststarting-point. 
The meeting was established as a meeting of worship 
in the year 1700, and as a meeting of business in 1720. 
By the records of this meeting it appears that one 
William Bradfield married Hannah Pennington, and 
that they had eleven children, whose births are 
registered, being the birth of Abner, the eldest, 
registered as on the 21st of the Ninth Month, 1748. 
There is a further registry of the mari'iages of five of 
the children, that of Abner not being among them. 
Abner violated the rules of the meeting in that respect, 
for which offense he was disowned, this being the 
penalty at that time among Friends for so grave an 
otTense. He married Phoebe Cadwalader, the date of 
which marriage is not now known. Some time after 
his marriage he built the old log house still standing 



I Hy Thomas Bradfield, Attorney-at-Law, Philadelphia. 



in Edge Hill village, Cheltenham township, into 
which he moved. He only lived there a short time. 
He moved into another house in the village, after- 
wards used as a store, and which was for a long time 
the only store in the village. He afterwards pur- 
chased the Dotts property, on the south side of Edge 
Hill, fronting on the Susquehanna Street road, in 
Abington township, and removed thereto and con- 
tinued to reside there up to the time of his death, 
in about the year 1810. He had several children, of 
whom William was next in line. William was mar- 
ried to Martha Minor, August 15, 1799, and moved 
into a house then owned by his father, on the Jenkin- 
town road, near Weldon, in the township of Abington. 
It was in this house that Abner, the subject of our 
history, was l)orn,on the 18th day of May, 1802. The 
house was afterwards Ijurned down, and the one now 
standing there was built upon the same site. The 
property has lately passed into the possession of 
Xanthus Smith, artist, he having purchased it 
from the heirs of John JIartin, deceased. Besides 
Abner, William had two other children, William and 
Esther. The latter died in her infancy. William, 
the father, moved to Bucks County while Abner was 
yet but an infant. He did not reside there long, 
for his father (Abner the elder) having willed him the 
homestead in Abington township, before mentioned, 
he moved thereto after his father's death, in 1810, 
when Abner was eight years of age ; and from this 
time, and from this early age, the active life of the 
present Abner may be dated and considered to have 
been entered upon. William, his father, was a man 
of a social and kindly disj)osition, lacking, however, 
that force and energy which is said to have charac- 
terized his father. Aimer the elder, and of whom it is 
said by those who knew him that his grandson, Abner, 
was a true scion. William could easily be influenced 
to make bargains he would afterwards regret, and the 
difficulties entailed would sometimes strain his 
energies ; l)ut fortunately the wife and mother, with 
the aid of her sou at this time, was equal to the 
occasion. At this tender age of eight years Abner 
commenced to accompany his mother to the Philadel- 
phia markets, which he afterwards attended regularly, 
at the age of twelve years commencing to go alone. 
Many incidents are related of his courage and deter- 
mination, as also of his discretion wdiile yet a youth. 
Abner, shortly after becoming of age, on the 26th 
day of August, 1823, married Sarah Ann, daughter 
of Enoch and Elizabeth Thomas; he took charge 
of the homestead, his parents making their home 
with him, and resided there some eight or nine years, 
during which time his father and mother both died. 
After the parents' deaths, Abner and his brother Wil- 
liam, who were the only heirs, agreed upon an amica- 
ble division of the property, consisting of the home- 
stead, containing fifty-four acres, and a small place, 
containing about seventeen acres, fronting on the 
northwesterly side of the Willow Grove and German- 




». N> 



^^^^^^ ^a9^^ 



ABINUTON TOWNSHIP. 



705 



town phiiik mail, north of Weldon, now owned by 
Russel Smith, the artist, and Xanthus, his son. They 
agreed upon three thousand doilars as the value of 
tlie farm, and eleven hundred and fifty dollars as the 
value of the lot. Abnergave William the first choice, 
and he took the homestead, which left the lot to Abner. 
There was no administration (their father having died 
intestate) or law proceedings whatever, excepting the 
necessary deeds ; Abner deeding his interest in the 
homestead to William, and William his interest in 
the lot to Abner, and paying him such sum as they 
had agreed ui)on in equalizing values. Abner re- 
moved to the lot in the spring of 1832, and in the fall 
of the same year bought the farm on the north side 
of Edge Hill, fronting on the Susquehanna Street road, 
and shortly moved in and took possession, though he 
did not get his deed until April, 1833. He continued to 
reside there uaitil the time of his death, June 14, 1875. 
The farm passed to his three surviving sons, — Jon- 
athan, Thomas and Joseph, — under provisions con- 
tained in his will. He and his wife lived together 
nearly fifty-two years, she, the wife, being still living. 
Whatever knowledge he possessed may be said to 
have been self-acquired. In hisyouthfnl days the ad- 
vantages for ol)taining an education in the country 
among persons of moilerate means, who were strug- 
gling to raise a family, were very limited, and, as has 
already been shown, he had very few opportunities of 
enjoying what there were, he, at the early age of eight 
years, having been forced to the front as a bread- 
winner and supporter of the home. The amount of 
his schooling, as he has often related, was seventeen 
days one winter and nineteen another, the last being 
when he was about sixteen years of age. Yet he 
could, in a short time, by natural and correct mathe- 
matical deductions, find the area of almost any-shaped 
piece of laud from the line with his head alone. He 
was ready and quick at matters of interest and figures 
generally. He was a reading man and kept himself 
informed in what was going on. He took a great inter- 
est in matters attecting his neighborhood, was a close 
observer and would retain thoroughly in his mind or 
memory whatever came under his observation, or in 
which he took a part or had an interest, ever after- 
wards. ■ His memory was wonderful in all money 
transactions. They seemed to be photographed upon 
his mind as they would be written upon a day-l)ook and 
ledger. All matters as to the measurement of lands and 
land-marks had an attraction for him, and he could 
locate the place of land-marks many years after they 
wei'e made, and long after their immediate evidence 
had been obliterated. 

He took a great interest in education, and after the 
adoption of the free-school law was a school director 
for many years. The office was often pressed upon 
him ; when, however, he accepted the trust, he per- 
formed his duties with all his ability. No business 
matters of merely personal interest would keep him 
from meeting the board of directors and visiting com- 
45 



mittees on which he was appointed. It was so with 
him in every position he was called to fill. He was 
many years one of the directors of the Willow Grove 
and Germantown Plank-Road Company, of which he 
was one of the original charter members and took a 
very great interest in trying to make it a success. 

He was frequently called upon ;is an arbitrator in 
disputes between individuals and very generally the 
finding would be satisfactory to both parties ; they 
would have so much confidence in his ability to find 
the truth and see the justice of the matter that they 
would accept the result without further question. 

He was a man of a social turn, and liked to chat 
with his friends and neighbors. It made no difference 
to him as to the financial or family standing of a man, 
it was enough for him if a man properly conducted 
himself It mattered not whether he was a common 
laborer or the landed proprietor, he could always 
spend a few minutes to chat with them. Strangers 
happening in at meal-time, black or white, if they 
were sufficiently decent in appearance to admit 
of it, were invited to partake of the meal, always seat- 
ing them beside himself. 

Wliatever he undertook he first made uj) his mind 
as to its utility and feasibility ; he would then under- 
take it and accomplish it. Wliatever he did, he did 
thoroughly and in season. 

He was a farmer by occupation ; early in life he 
burned lime to a limited extent, and furnished and 
personally hauled the lime to build the stone posts, 
many ofwhich are still standing, on tlie farm known 
as the "Stone Post Farm," on the Holmesburg turnpike 
below Holmesburg, in the Twenty-third Ward of the 
city of Philadelphia ; he burned the last kiln of lime 
he ever burnt in the spring of 1840, and that for the 
purpose of fiirnishing lime to build a barn on his 
farm, which he did. 

He had no faith in making money hastily, his 
motto being that a dollar earned by honest indu.stry 
was worth ten made by si>eculation ; small gains hon- 
estly made would leave the surest results in time. He 
could never be induced to touch any of the specula- 
tions that sprung up in his day, such as morua mutti- 
caulus, coal, oil, etc; none of the exciting reports of 
fortunes made in them had any weight with him nor 
turned him for one moment from his steady business 
pursuits, as he would say great gains to the few meant 
much loss to the many. 

His idea of honesty and truth was not to be honest 
and truthful because it was the best policy, but be- 
cause it was the right thing to do and to be. He could 
not have two faces ; he was the same at all times and 
to all men ; he would not profess what he could not or 
would not carry out. 

He was a man that took little pride in dress ; in fact 
he was almost indiflerent in that particular ; but he 
took considerable pride in horses, and enjoyed driving 
a horse that could move without whip or spur and 
that could move the dust. 



706 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



He seemed to have no desire for travel or seeing 
other countries or places ; the real, living world to him 
was in his own immediate family. He loved his home, 
and when away on business, when the business was 
done, hastened to return. He had eleven children, all 
of whom could not exhaust his boundless love ; he 
always assisted in the care and nursing of the ycrung 
children; in sickness he never seemed to tire in watch- 
ing and caring for them ; in health they were his so- 
cial companions ; he counseled w ith them on almost 
every matter. Even when yet of tender years he could 
handle and care for a child or for the sick as tenderly 
as a mother. 

He had a great veneration for his mother. He would 
often speak of her counsels to him in youth and all 
the way up to manhood ; they were all good, they were 
all wise, they were all tempered by love, they became 
more plain, more vivid to him as he advanced in life ; 
in a word, her advice was the living counsel and guide 
of his whole life. She has been spoken of by others, 
who remember her as a woman, though of delicate 
constitution, possessed of great kindness, always 
ready to lend a helping hand ; yet, with all, having 
great firmness and decision of character. 

In politics, he was a Whig until the rise of the Ee- 
publican party, which he always afterwards warmly 
supported. Early in his life he became impressed with 
the enormity of American slavery, and boldly asserted 
and maintained his views on this subject ; yet he would 
not intentionally give ortense to any, though they dif- 
fered radically, and he always retained their respect. 
Early in life he saw the evils of the use of intoxica- 
ting drinks, and quite early in life quit furnishing 
liquor to his laboring men, which it was the general 
custom of the neighborhood to do at the time. Dur- 
ing the last few days of his last illness his physician 
tried to urge him to take liquor as a stimulant, but he 
most positively refused, saying his intellect might be 
clouded thereby, and he wanted to die in the full pos- 
session of his faculties, which he did. 

In religion, he was a firm believer in the views 
maintained by F'riends ; he subscribed to the views 
preached by Ellas and Edward Hicks. Though so firm 
a believer in the religious views held by Friends, and 
as much as he felt interested in the progress and wel- 
fare of the society, he never felt that he had got to 
that condition which would warrant him in seeking a 
closer fellowship by becoming a member, though he 
often expressed a desire to be allowed to contribute to 
the support and maintenance of the meeting. 

His remains were followed to the grave by a very 
large concourse of sincere friends, among whom were 
several colored people. Some two or three friends 
made remarks at the grave, and one of the colored 
men present, who had occasionally exhorted among 
his own people, feeling that more might be said, and 
should be said, more directly as to the religious views 
of his deceased friend, was incited to speak. 

We will hastily refer to the children of our subject 



and close. Of the eleven children six, are now de- 
ceased; three died in early infancy. Julianna, the 
second child, died from burns caused by her clothing 
taking fire when near thirteen years of age. She was 
a girl of very active intellect and gave great promise 
of noble womanhood. The sadness caused by this 
event seemed never to leave the parent. Elizabeth, 
his fourth child, died when thirty-one years of age. 
She had married and had a son, who died before her. 
She inherited largely her father's ways and disposi- 
tion, particularly the gentler and kindlier ])arts. Al- 
bert, the sixth son and eighth child, died at the age 
of thirty years. He, in early childhood, was almost 
as staid and earnest in the real work of life as is 
usual with persons of mature age. He never had to 
be corrected at school or at home. He cheerfully 
took hold of the work set for hiin to do, and with the 
same earnestness that his father had done before him. 
At the age of fourteen he met with an accident on the 
playground at school, receiving a severe bruise on the 
hip, which caused him great suffering for two years, 
and which left him badly lamed for life. After his 
recovery he attended Rev. Samuel Aaron's school, 
and so much impressed was Mr. Aaron with his schol- 
arship and energy that he gave him an assistant tutor- 
ship in his second year. He afterwards studied law 
with G. R. Fox, and was admitted to the bar, and two 
years afterwards received the nomination for district 
attorney. During the canvass he took a severe cold, 
the result of exposure, and this, with the injury re- 
ceived in youth, caused his death about two years 
afterward. 

Jonathan, the first-born still lives. He moved on 
the old homestead a few years ago, and continued 
there until quite recently, when he j)urchased a farm 
near North Wales, and moved thereto, and Joseph 
the seventh son and ninth child, who had been living 
in Philadelphia, removed to the homestead. 

The two youngest children, daughters, are still liv- 
ing, are married and have families of children. 

Thomas, the third son and child, and from whom 
the above memorial was gathered, was acciden- 
tally hurt at thirteen years of age by a wound in 
the knee with a pitchfork while working at hay-mak- 
ing, and from which he was confined to the house 
pretty much for seven years, when he got so that he 
could go to school, and after a couple of years went 
to teaching school in the country, which he followed 
for seven years, then went to Philadeli)hia in 1859 
and entered upon the study of the law with John S. 
Shoemaker, Esq., and after a couple of years was ad- 
mitted to practice at that bar where he still continues 
to practice. 

For a corroboration of some of the above statei 
facts we are indebted to George W. Bradfield, ol 
Philadelphia, who is the oldest living member of the 
family now know-n in this county. He remembers 
seeing Abner Bradfield, the elder, who was his grand- 
father. 



J 



BOROUGH OF BRIDGEPOilT. 



707 



CHAPTER XL. 
BOROUGH OF BRIDGEPORT.' 

The borough of Bridgeport is of recent origin, 
having been incorporated by an act of Assembly passed 
February 27, 1851. Its area is four hundred and sixty 
acres, and was wholly taken from the township of 
Upper Merion, in which it had been previously situ- 
ated. In its form it is irregular, having somewhat 
the shape of a scalene triangle. It is bounded on the 
north and northeast by the Schuylkill, and on the 
south and we.st by Upper Merion. Few towns have 
a more beautiful and advantageous situation. It is 
opposite Norristown, and the land rises gradually from 
the river. The borough e.xtends on the Schuylkill 
from the dam down to' the outlet lock, a distance of a 
mile. De Kalb Street, which was laid out in 1830 as 
the State road, extends across the bridge from Norris- 
town, and is turnpiked. Front Street extends from 
De Kalb Street to the Swedes' Ford bridge. The 
nearest street running parallel with the river is called 
Front Street, the next is Second, and so on to Tenth 
Street, which forms the southwestern boundary of the 
borough. De Kalb, Front, Second and Third are the 
principal streets, and contain handsome brick houses, 
several of which are occupied by persons who have 
retired from business. According to the census of 
1850, Bridgeport contained 572 inhaliitants; in 18(50, 
1011 ; in 1870, 1578; and in 1880, 1802. 

That Bridgeport is no inconsiderable business place 
is sufficiently proven from the number of its stores, 
manufactories and other establishments located within 
its limits. In May, 1883, it contained seventeen stores, 
four hotels, two dealers in flour and feed, two restau- 
rants and one lumber and three coal-yards. The 
Minerva Mill ranks among the extensive manu- 
factories in the State. It is now conducted by James 
Lees & Sons in the manufacture of blankets, Ken- 
tucky jeans and worsted carpet-yarns, giving employ- 
ment to near one thousand hands. In consequence 
of the space required for such extensive operations 
this firm has greatly enlarged the buildings. The 
factory was originally erected in 1854 by Bodey & 
Jacobs, and afterwards owned by Needles & Brothers. 
Next in extent is the woolen-mill of Worrall & Rad- 
cliflf, manufacturers of Kentucky jeans, employing 
one hundred and seventy hands. Isaac W. Smith, 
formerly of Valley Forge, has erected an extensive 
building on Swede Street (in 1883) for the manufacture 
of cotton and woolen goods, calculated to give em- 
ployment to about one hundred hands. Hugh Mc- 
Innes carries on the manufacture of Manilla paper at 
the Rebecca Mill, employing some thirty-five hands. 
This building, was formerly known as the Norris Oil- 
Works, established by Dr. H. T. Slemmer in 1866. 
Dager & Cox employ twenty hands at the Eureka 

' By Wm. J. Buck. 



Mill in the manufacture of Manilla paper. They 
occupy the building, formerly used as a saw-mill, near 
the canal basin, which they have enlarged and im- 
proved. Isaac Richards occupies the building for- 
merly used by Joel W. Andrews as an agricultural 
warehouse, employing ten hands in the manufacture 
of elevators and patent dundj-waiters. Allen Ridg- 
way occupies a portion of W. W. Potts' car-works 
building, employing fifteen hands in the manufacture 
of woolen yarns. Benjamin Gardner occupies the 
other part in the manufacture of Turkish toweling, 
giving employment to ten hands. In the spring of 
1883 a creamery was put in operation by Kersey & 
Brothers, from Chester County. Besides the aforesaid 
there are two extensive flouring-mills and several 
smaller manufacturing establishments and mechanic 
shops. In 1882 the real estate was valued at $695,- 
525, and for 1883, 455 taxables were returned, holding 
a total property of §755,550, the aggregate per capita 
being $1656. 

The public schools are five in number, all held in 
one commodious brick building, erected in 1856 on a 
lot of gnmnd one hundred and fifty feet square, situ- 
ated at the south corner of De Kalb and Sixth Streets. 
They are divided into three departments, — grammar, 
secondary and primary. The schools are open ten 
months, with an average attendance of one hun- 
dred and fifty-five pupils for the year ending 
June 1, 1882. In 1857 the schools were three in 
number, open only five months. The school-house 
previously used was built for this purpose in 1842, 
and stood at the corner of Mill and Second Streets. 
It was a stone structure, twenty-five by fifty-eight 
feet in dimensions, and the schools were kept in it 
until the erection of the present large building, when 
it wiis used for several years for the meetings of the 
Borough Council. After remaining awhile unoccu- 
pied it was torn down in the spring of 1883. 

The Baptist Church of Bridgeport was consti- 
tuted JIarch I'J, 1850, with fifteen members, by a 
council composed of delegates from the Baptist 
Churches of Norristown, Roxborough, Chestnut Hill 
and Balligomingo. A preliminary meeting had been 
held February 20, 1850, at the house of Samuel Yo- 
cum, and eleven persons, mostly members of the 
Baptist Church of Norristown, signed an agreement 
to endeavor to organize a church. A lot, eighty by 
one hundred feet, had been purchased on" Fourth 
Street, and a church edifice, forty-five by sixty feet, 
was then being built, and was completed at a cost ot 
two thousand four hundred dollars. It was dedicated' 
June 16, 1850, the Rev. A. S. Patton, of West Chester, 
and the Rev. J. A. McKeau, of Philadelphia, officiat- 
ing. On the 9th of April, 1850, the Rev. William Smith 
was called to the pastorate, and accepted and served 
until September 19, 1851. The church was admitted 
to the Philadelphia Baptist Association October 10, 
1850. The pastors who have served the church from 
the resignation of the Rev. William Smith are as fol- 



708 



HISTORY OF MONTUOMEEY COUNTY. 



lows: David T. Canuihan, May 15, 1852, to April 30, 
185G; Charles Thompson, January, 1857, to February 
27, 1861; Miller Jones, December 14, 18(51, to March 
30,1864; Henry Bray, January 13, 18(!5, to March, 
18(37; Samuel C. Meade, June 26, 1867, to February 

26, 1868; E. E. Jones, December 3, 1868, to March 

27, 1872; Miller Jones, May 1, 1872, to December 7, 
1879; Charles F. Williams, March 31, 1882, to Sep- 
tember 3, 1884 ; C. C. Earle, September 29, 1884. The 
last is the present pastor. The church has a member- 
ship oi' about two hundred and fifty. 

The parsonage on the church lot was built in 1868^ 
at a cost of about three thousand five hundred dollars. 
The church edifice was remodeled and refurnished in 
1880 at a cost of about fifteen hundred dollars. 

The Second Presbyterian (Old School) Church of 
Uorristown, located at Bridgeport, was constituted in 
1850 and its charter was obtained the same year. A 
meeting was held in 1849 at the house of Samuel Stew- 
art, at which a number were present. A committee was 
appointed to visit Samuel Paul, who was sent out 
from New York as a missionary to near Phoenixville. 
He visited this jilace, and services were held for a 
time in the CTernuui RefDrmed Church of Norristown. 
In 1852 the small frame building that had been used 
by the Protestant Methodists, and which stood on the 
corner of Green and Airy Streets, was rented and, 
later, purchased. Jlr. Paul preached to the jieople 
until 1852, when the Rev. Joseph Nesbitt assumed 
charge of this church with the church at Consho- 
Locken, and continued as i>astor until about 1859 
when he was succeeded by the Kev. Samuel Harrison 
Upon the breaking out of the war, in 1861, the entire 
male members of the church, except three, joined the 
army; this left the congregation so small that the 
Rev. Mr. Harrison resigned. From that time until 
the close of the war the pulpit was supjilicd, without 
charge, by the Rev. Charles (^'ollins, a clergyman oi 
the German Reformed Church who resided near here- 
At the close of the war the Rev. James Mosten was 
chosen as a stated supply, and remained until about 
1870. About this time the church and lot were sold^ 
with privilege of use for church purposes for one year. 
In 1872 the congregation began to hold service in 
Mogee's Chapel and continued to do so for two years. 
In the spring of 1874 a lot, seventy-seven by one 
liuiulred and fifty feet, on Sixth, De Kalb and Green 
Streets, ih Bridgeport, was purchased of Benjamin F. 
Hancock's estate, and the jn-esent church edifice was 
•erected, at a cost of twenty-two thousand eight hun- 
dred dollars. 

About 1872 the Rev. Belleville Roberts was chosen 
as supply and, later, as pastor. He served four years 
and was succeeded by the Rev. Henry F. Jlason, who 
served until 1882, since which time the church has 
been served with supplies, mostly frcmi Princeton 
College. 

The various public improvements that either pass 
through or begin here contribute much to the pros- 



perity and business advantages of the place. Among 
the first constructed was the Schuylkill Navigation 
and Canal. This great work is one hundred and eight 
miles in length, beginning at the F'airniount dam and 
extending to Port Carbon, above Pottsville. It was 
commenced in 1816 and finished in 1824 for the pas- 
sage of boats of sixty tons' burthen. It was sufficiently 
completed to this place in 1818 to admit the descent 
of a few boats. The whole line in 1846 was enlarged, 
and boats of one hundred and ninety tons now pass 
and repass. When the navigation company con- 
structed the dam here it was their intention to make 
the canal on the east side of the river, but the people 
of Norristown were so much opposed to the measure 
that, through the liberal offers of Elisha Evans, the 
Iirincij)al owner of the land on the Bridgeport side, 
they were induced to locate it there. No doubt at this 
early day, when there were but two houses here, Mr. 
Evans foresaw the advantages that would arise in the 
future from such an arrangement. The result, how- 
ever, occasioned some alarm, for a public meeting was 
held in Norristown June 27, 1820, reconunending the 
appointment of a committee to purchase from John 
Marklcy the right of way aci'oss the lower end of 
Barljadoes Island that readier access be afforded to 
the canal in the shipment or transportation of goods. 
This, it should be remembered, was ten years before 
the completion of any bridge over the Schuylkill for 
miles within this vicinity. The entire works of the 
navigation and canal were leased by the Reading 
Railroad Company July 12, 1870, and have since been 
under their control. 

The bridge over the Schuylkill, at De Kalb Street, 
is eight hundred feet long, resting on three stone 
jiiers, and with the abutments ten hundred and fifty 
feet. The original cost was thirty-one thousand two 
hundred dollars; of this amount the county subscribed 
ten thousand dollars and the State six thousand dol- 
lars. It was erected by a joint-stock company, char- 
tered April 6, 1830. It was commenced in the spring 
of 1829, and by September was so far completed that 
foot-passengers were enabled to cross. It was finished 
in 1830, but the largest portion has since been rebuilt. 
In October, 1884, it was made a free bridge and now 
belongs to the county. A company had been char- 
tered as early as 1815 to erect a bridge here, but failed 
for the want of sufficient capital. The Swedes' Ford 
Bridge Company was incorporated March 30, 1848, 
but the bridge was not finished until the close of 1851, 
at a cost of about forty thousand dollars. On the 
evening of March 15, 1883, it was destroyed by fire, 
but has since been rebuilt by the Reading Railroad 
Company, whose tracks are laid over it, and who have 
leased it since 1872. 

No sooner had the De Kalb Street bridge been 
built than eftbrts were made to have a State road laid 
out from New Hope, on the Delaware, though Doyles- 
town, by way of this place and West Chester, to the 
Maryland line. To authorize this the Assembly passed 



BOROUGH OF BRIDGEPORT. 



709 



an act at the same time the bridge was chartered. 
The road was accordingl)' laid out December 29, 1830> 
passing through Montgomery County a distance of 
sixteen miles. The court, August 17, 1831, directed 
it to be opened and cleared to the breadth of forty 
feet. It has since been generally known as the State 
road. This road w.os turnpiked from Bridgeport to 
the King of Prussia in 185.3. 

The Reading Railroad Company was chartered 
April 4, 1833, and the next year the larger portion of 
the road was put under contract. On December 9, 
1839, the first locomotive and train of cars passed over 
it to Reading. It was not opened to Pottsville till 
early in 1842, when the event was celebrated with 
a military display and an immense procession of 
seventy-Hve passenger cars, twelve hundred and fifty- 
five feet in length, containing two thousand one hun- 
dred and fifty.persons, three bands of music, one hun- 
dred and eighty tons of coal, part of which was mined 
the same morning four hundred and twelve feet below 
water-level. In August, 1858, the writer, while stand- 
ing in De Kalb Street, counted a train of ninety-five cars 
passing loaded with coal, drawn by a single locomotive. 
The depot here was built in 1838, eighty feet long by 
thirty feet wide. Near by the company have also a 
l)uilding or reservoir to supply locomotives with water 
while sto])ping, which is elevated by means of water- 
power furnished at the spring. The Chester Valley 
Railroad Comijany was incorporated by act of April 
22, 1850, and extends from Bridgeport to Downing- 
town, twenty-two miles. The first train of cars passed 
over it September 12, 1853. It is also operated by 
the Reading Comj)any, and is connected with their 
road here and in Xorristown. 

In the desire to have a po;;t-office here in 1836 a 
contest arose as to what it should be called; some 
were in fiivor of Evansville, others of Keigersville, but 
the majority settled on Bridgeport, which name has 
been retained. The post-office was established in 1837 
and Jonathan Morris appointed postmaster. He kept 
at this time a store in De Kalb Street, near the bridge. 
Strange to say, from the want of support it was a1;)ol- 
ished about 1843. After the borough had been incor- 
porated over two years, or in 1853, the application 
was renewed and it was re-established, with Francis 
Lyle postmaster. He was succeeded the following 
year by John H. Rowan, next Abraham Schoflher for 
two years, E. M. Bickel in 1858, Jacob M. Hurst until 
May, 18(51, when Dr. George W. Holstein was ap- 
pointed, who still retains the position. The mails 
have increased from one daily arrival and departure 
to seven, thus showing that the office is no sinecure. 

Although Bridgeport is of recent origin, as has been 
already stated, yet its history extends back to an early 
period. Swedes' Ford is within its limits, around 
which cluster both colonial and Revolutionary remi- 
niscences. In the year 1712, Mats Holstein, 
with his wife, Brita Gostenberg, moved into this 
neighborhood from the country below, accompanied 



by Gunner Rambo, Peter Rambo, Peter Yocum and 
John Matson. His tract lay farthest up the river, 
along which it had a frontage of nearly a mile, 
and extended back into the country twice that dis- 
tance, embracing all the territory upon which the 
borough of Bridgeport is now laid out, the Shaiuline 
farms and the land from Red Hill to the river. The 
house into which he moved his family was built of 
logs, on the site of what was afterwards known as the 
Swedes' Ford Hotel. In 1714 he built a stone house, 
upwards of a mile from the river, the walls of which 
are still standing, having been built upon and added 
to several times since. He died in 1738, aged sixty-one 
years. His eldest son, Andrew, inherited the land in 
the vicinity of Swedes' Ford, where he settled and re- 
mained until his death, in 1769. He had an only son, 
Peter, who inherited the property, who married Abi- 
gail Jones. He kept the Swedes' Ford public-house 
in 1779, if not earlier, and the following year was 
appointed collector of taxes for Ujiper Merion. In 
1780 he was assessed for holding here one hundred 
and ninety-seven acres of land. 

Mats Holstein, the first settler, at the time of his 
death had a second son, Mathias, who was just then 
aged twenty-one years. He soon after married Mag- 
dalena, daughter of Marcus Hulings, an early Swedish 
settler at Morlatton, on the Schuylkill, four miles 
above the present borough of Pottstown. From this 
union has descended all of the name now in this 
locality. They liad one son and seven daughters. 
Samuel, the son, married Rachel, the daughter of 
Philip Moore, of Haverford. The oflfepring of this 
marriage were four sons, — Mathias, Charles, George 
W. and William. Samuel Holstein is rated in the 
assessment of 1780 as holding in Upper Merion two 
hundred and seventy-eight acres, one negro, five 
horses and nine cattle. Respecting his son. Major 
Mathias Holstein, who became a prominent citizen of 
Bridgeport and Xorristown, we shall have more to 
say. 

Swedes' Ford must have borne this name sometime 
before 1723, for in November of this year applica- 
tion was made to the Governor and Council to have a 
road laid out from Whiteland, in Chester County, to 
this ford, which, in the spring of the following year, 
was confirmed, and ordered to " be with all convenient 
speed opened, cleared and made good." A portion of 
the old Swedes' Ford tavern was supposed by the late 
Matthias Holstein to have been built before 1730. 
How early a public-house was kept here is not known, 
but certainly before 1760. It is a tradition that be- 
fore the Revolution the inn had on its sign a repre- 
sentation of a ferry. A road was opened in 1730 from 
Wells' ferry now New Hope, on the river Delaware, 
through the present Doylestown, to this place, and in 
an advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 1780, 
is called " the great road to the Swedes' Ford." That 
this was an early noted and important crossing-place 
is also confirmed by other authorities. Lewis Evans, 



710 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



on his maps of 1749 and 1755 mentions it, also Nicholas 
and William Scull in 1759 and 1770, Thomas Powual 
in 1776, and Reading Howell in 1792. 

The battle of Braudywine was fought September 
11, 1777; at twelve o'clock that night Washington 
wrote a dispatch to Congress from Chester, in which 
he says, "This day's engagement resulted in our 
defeat." On the 13th he formed his headquarters at 
Germantown, with the determination of having another 
engagement before the fate of Philadelphia should be 
decided. General Armstrong, with a portion of the 
militia, was posted along the Schuylkill to throw up 
redoubts at the different fords where the enemy would 
be most likely to cross, and which were to be occasion- 
ally occupied while Washington moved with the main 
body of the army to the other side to make another 
attack. Apprehending that it would be very likely 
that the British would attempt to cross at Swedes' 
Ford, Chevalier Du Portail, a French engineer, con- 
structed a number of redoubts on the east side of the 
river, upwards of half a mile in length, with the as- 
sistance of Armstrong's connnand. It is said that they 
had scarcely completed these works before the British 
Made their appearance on the opposite side of the 
river, and on beholding the defenses, changed their 
purpose and crossed at Fatland Ford. 

When Washington broke up his encampment at 
Wliiteraarsh with the intention of going into winter- 
quarters at Valley Forge, it was his intention to cross 
the Schuylkill at Matson's Ford now Conshohocken, 
for which purpose a temporary bridge was formed, but 
on reaching there they iound that Lord Cornwallis 
was in possession of the Gulf Hills, when the troops 
were recalled, and he proceeded up the east side of 
the river. It was ascertained afterwards that the 
British trooi)S on this occasion had only been out 
here on a foraging expedition. At Swedes' Ford the 
army crossed December 13th, which was witnessed liy 
Major Holstein, then a boy accompanied by his father, 
who related that it was effected by making a bridge 
of wagons all Ijacked to each other. The aforesaid 
date is confirmed by an eye-witness in a letter, 
Colonel John Laurens, Washington's private sec- 
retary, to his fatlier, i'rom which we take an ex- 
tract,— 

" Tlie army was onlered to inarcli to SweJes' Furd and encainp with tlie 
right to the Sclmylkill. Tlio next raoiniug the want of provisions— I 
could weep tears of blood when I say it— rendered it impossible to march- 
We did not march till the evening of that day. Our ancient bridge, an 
infamous construction which in many parts obliged the men to march in 
Indian file, was restored, and a bridge of waggons made over Swedes' 
Ford, but fence-rails from necessity being substituted to plank, and fur- 
nishing a very unstable footing, the last served to cross a trilliug num. 
ber of troops. On the lOtli instant we marched from the Gulph to this 
camp." 

The aforesaid is interesting, showing conclusively 
that Washington crossed here at the aforesaid date 
and that they remained encamped in the vicinity until 
the 19th, when they reached Valley Forge. Historians 
have been heretofore somewhat puzzled as to the 



exact date of the army arriving at their winter quar- 
ters, which this now clearly establishes. 

Mary, the only child of Peter Holstein, on the 
death of her father in 1785, inherited the whole ot 
his property. Within four months of that occur- 
rence she married Levi Bartleson, stated to have 
been of reckless habits and to whom her parents had 
been opposed. Records show that he kept the Swedes' 
Ford tavern in 1786. In one year she was compelled 
to sell one hundred acres of the tract to pay off his 
most pressing debts. Thus the property became 
divided and before long passed entirely out of her 
hands. 

The Chevalier Louis L. Du Portail, mentioned as 
an engineer, arrived in this country in 1777, having 
previously served in that capacity in the French 
army. On the following November 17th he was 
commissioned a brigadier-general, and in the begin- 
ning of 1778 a colonel of engineers. He was at York- 
town, and for his services in November, 1781, ap- 
pointed a major-general. He soon after this sailed 
for France, but returned before 1789, and purchased 
a farm here from James Philip Delacour, assessed 
in 1804 as containing one hundred and seventy-one 
acres. He built a dwelling where the present Evans 
House stands, where he resided with his ftiniily. He 
advertised to sell at public sale, June 16, 1801, all his 
farming stock and utensils, including "two planta- 
tions adjoining each other." He soon after this 
sailed for France, but it is stated died on 
the i)assage out. The property going to decay 
and the taxes unjiaid, it was sold by the sheriff 
some time after 1804, and purchased by Elisha 
Evans, and from him came into the possession 
of his son, Cadwallader Evans, who laid out the up- 
per part of Bridgeport, and also largely contributed to 
its improvement. 

The remaining portion of the tract around Swedes' 
Ford, which Mary Holstein was obliged to part with 
after her marriage with Bartleson, was purchased by 
Jesse Roberts, who sold it in 1800 to Samuel Holstein, 
from whom it descended to his son, the late Major 
Mathias Holstein, of Norristown. We find in the asses- 
sor's list of 1 S( 14 that he then kept the old Swedes' Ford 
tavern and was the owner of two farms in Upper 
Merion, one of fifty-one acres, which we presume 
was here ; the other crmtained one hundred and four- 
teen acres. He was also taxed for keeping the ferry, 
which was rated at one hundred and twenty dollars 
per annum. While he resided here he built an addi- 
tion to the house. In 1806 his property here was 
pur,chased Ijy Samuel Henderson, and he removed to 
Norristown. In this connection a further account of 
Major Holstein may not be amiss. He was born 
October 10, 1772, on the old homestead that had been 
so long in the family. He related that about 1790 he 
was the means of killing, on his father's farm, a bear, 
by shooting it while on a tree where it had sought 
refuge. In the spring of 1802 he was elected major 



BOROUGH OF BRIDGEPORT. 



711 



of the Thirty-sixth Regiment of Pennsylvania 
Militia, and in October, 1805, General Francis Swaine 
appointed him quartermaster of the First Brigade in 
the Second Division. In 1808 he went into partner- 
ship with David Thomas, and continued for several 
years storekeeping at the corner of Main and Swede 
Streets, where they also kept a lumber-yard. In 
1812 he was elected a member of the Borough Coun- 
cil, a Presidential elector of the Clinton ticket, 
director of the Ridge Turnpike Company and one of 
the building committee of the new Episcopal Church. 
From 1800 to 1829 he was the proprietor of the 
princi])al mill for manufacturing flour, in which 
he did an extensive business. Eliza, his first wife, 
died February 22, 1815. In the summer of this year 
the Bank of Montgomery County was chartered, and he 
was made the first cashier, which 
position he held for some time. 
When the bridge over the 
Schuylkill was built he was one 
of the directors. In 18.37 he be- 
came the ticket agent of the 
Philadelphia and Norristown 
Railroad. He died Augu.st 10, 
1849, aged upwards of seventy- 
seven years, and his remains 
were deposited in the graveyani 
attached to Christ Church, l)elo\N 
Bridgeport. He was a man en- 
dowed with more than ordinary 
powers of observation, and withal 
enjoyed a strong, retentive mem- 
ory, and before his death few 
minds could be found better 
stored with the reminiscences 
of the past. 

A view of Swedes' Ford was 
taken from an eminence on the 
east side of the river, by Mrs. 

Mary Ann Potts, in 1812. In this sketch a rope is repre- 
sented stretcl'ed across the Schuylkill, fastened to the 
trunks of tw'o trees, and a boat on the western shore. 
The only buildings seen are the stone tavern and its 
barn to the northwest. A short distance south of the 
house is the sign, suspended beneath a stout and ele- 
vated frame; standing near it is a tall white-pine 
and in the front a row of five fair-sized Lombardy 
po]ilars. It has been sujiposed that the said Mrs. 
Potts was a resident of Valley Forge, and a daughter- 
in-law of Isaac Potts, who was known to sketch land- 
scapes. Another drawing was made in 1828 or a 
short time previous l)y William L. Breton, which is 
sui>erior to the former, engraved by fJilbert. The 
house is very well-done ; the road in front of it lead- 
ing to the Schuylkill is represented as passing over 
the canal on a bridge. Only one pine and one Lom- 
bardy poplar are given, but of a large size. Imme- 
diately on the river's bank by the road-side the same 
trunk is represented with its ferry-rope to aid the flat 



or lioat in transporting passengers, horses, wagons, 
cattle and sheep to the other side. The ford or main 
crossing-place was about one hundred yards above 
the present bridge, and is not now readily recognized 
from the great changes madeherebytheimprovements 
of more than sixty years. The white-pine spoken of 
was a remnant of the forest, and stood till 1847, 
when, through decay, it was deemed prudent to cut it 
down. It had been a twin-tree ; its companion had 
been blown down in a violent storm in 1822. From 
their great height they had long served as conspic- 
uous marks to the surrounding country, and thus 
became an object 
of interest to trav- 
elers. 

Samuel Hender- 




SWEDES FORD IN ls2s. 
View of rlmrcU at Swcles Ford. 

son, as has been mentioned, in 1806 purcha.sed 
the Swedes' Ford property, which he afterwards 
sold to Jacob Ramsey, who kept the public-house 
and carried on the farm until his death, in 1827. 
Lewis Ramsey, his son, and Daniel Schupert, as 
administrators, advertised the property at public 
sale August 15, 1829, wherein they state it to 
be a " valuable and desirable Tavern-stand and 
Ferry, " containing one hundred and sixteen acres 
and one hundred and one perches, situated half a 
mile below Norristown, adjoining lands of Elisha 
Evans, Samuel Coates and the river Schuylkill. 
"The improvements are a large two-story stone 
Tavern-house, large stone barn and other out-build- 
ings. A fountain of spring water at the door, from a 
large and never-failing spring, which is suflicient to 
turn a wheel for grinding scythes, axes, etc., and is 
now used for that purpose. The canal passes through 
the premises, and affordsoneofthemost eligiblesitua- 
tions for factories on the Schuylkill. " From this we 



712 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



learn thatthewater-powerof tliestreamhadbeen used 
some time previous to its present application by the 
Eeading Railroad Company. The aforesaid property 
was purchased by Davis Henderson, who, in 1846, sold 
it to Colonel .James Bush and John Freedly, who 
divided it into building lots and made many improve- 
ments in the lower portion of the borough. Mr. 
Bush converted the old house into a private residence, 
which is now occupied by his widow. It is still in 
good condition and its former appearance has been 
preserved. 

After the incorijoration of Bridgeport into a borough, 
in the winter of 1851, Perry M. Hunter, L. E. Corson, 
M. McGlathery and Alexander H. Supplee were ap- 



thence uorth OG degrees east 73 perches to a point in a line between lands 
of Jolin and Lindsay Coates ; tbence by lands of Saiiinel Coates, south 83 
degrees, east 145 perches and four-tenths of a perch to a point ; thence 
by lands of said Samuel Coates, north 63 degrees C^O minutes, east 253 
perches to low water-mark of the river .Schuylkill aforesaid, and along 
and up said river the several courses thereof to the place of beginning." 

The following is a list of the burgesses of the bor- 
ough of Bridgeport since its incorporation : 1851- 
52, Washington Richards ; 1853-56, Francis Mul- 
vauey ; 1857, George W. Holstein ; 1858-59, Francis 
Mulvaney; 1860, George Pechin; 1861-62, Philip 
Bowman ; 1S63-G4, F. Mulvaney ; 1865-George S. 
Patterson; 1S66-A. D. Delp ; 1807-68, Benjamin 
B. Hughes ; 1869-70, F. Mulvaney ; 1871, C. D. 
Hess; 1872-73, Thomas Thomas; 1874, Charles L. 









pointed commissioners to lay out its territory from the j 
townshi[) of Upper Morion. The following boundaries 
were then agreed upon : 

"Beginning at low ^ater-niark of the river Schuylkill, in said t(»wn- j 
ship ; thence on a line dividing lands of K. C. Kvans and the Schuylkill i 
Navigation Company, south 20 degrees and 20 minutes, west 34 perches 
and two-tentlis of a perch to a point in a public road in the great valley ; 
thence along the middle of said road, south 65 degrees and 40 minutes, 
west 165 perches and five-tenths of a perch to a point in the middle of a 
road lejiding to Swedes' Ford road ; tlience along the same south 26 de- 
grees 30 minutes, west 156 perches to a point in lands of Henry Novioch ; 



Corman; 1875-78, Benjamin B. Hughes; 1879, .Tdhn 
A. Keigcr; 1S80-S2, C. D. Hess; 1883, Isaac Ram- 
sey; 1884, William Rennyson ; 1885, William Kenny- 
son. 

In 1830 Bridgeport contained but three dwelling- 
houses, a tavern, and a large three-story stone mill, 
still standing near De Kalb Street and the canal, 
built in 1826. The erection of the Norristown bridge 
in 1829, and the opening of the State road the year 
after, began to give the first impulse to improvement. 



BOROUGH OF CONSHOHOCKEN. 



713 



which has not since been materially checked. In 
1832, besides a store, the houses had increased to 
eight ; in 1840, to fifty-three, and in 1849, to ninety- 
six. Elisha Evans, who did much through his enter- 
l)riso to promote the growth of Bridgeport, kept in the 
beginning of this century the Rising Sun Hotel, in 
Norristown. He died in 1830, his wife having some 
time preceded him. His son, Cadwallader Evans, 
still resides here, the owner of considerable real estate. 
Gas was introduced in 1876, from Norristown, by 
means of a large pipe over the De Kalb Street bridge. 
Water is still procured from wells, being readily ob- 
tained at a depth of twenty feet of excellent quality.' 



BIOGBAPHICAL SKETCH. 



BENJAMIN B. HUGHES. 

Mr. Hughes is of Welsh descent, his great-great- 
grandfather, John Hughes, having emigrated from 
Wales about the year 1750, and purchased a tract of 
nine hundred acres in Upper Merion township, Mont- 
gomery Co. He had two sons, Isaac and Hugh, the 
latter of whom had a son Isaac, the grandfather of 
Benjamin B., who married Hannah Holstein, and had 
children, — four daughters and one son, John, who 
married Hannah Bartholomew, of Chester County. 
Their children were Rachel (Mrs. Jacob Dewees), 
Isaac, Benjamin B., Slator C, Francis W., Theodore 
J., Collin and J. Curtis. Benj.amin B., of this num- 
ber, was born June 27, 1808, on the Walnut Gr.ive 
farm, in Upper IMerion township, which is a portion of 
the ancestral estate. After such educational oppor- 
tunities as the nearest school afforded, he determined 
to render himself independent by the acquirement of 
a trade, and chose that of tanner and currier, serv- 
ing his apprenticeship at Frankford, Pa. Very little 
time was spent, however, at this trade, Mr. Hughes 
having soon after returned to the farm, which he pur- 
chased of his father. Upon this land were extensive 
deposits of iron-ore and a limestone quarry of much 
value, to which his attention was mainly devoted un- 
til 1851, when he removed to Bridgeport, since that 
date his residence. Though released from the re- 
sponsibilities of active business, much of his time is 
absorbed in the management of his varied interests. 
Mr. Hughes was, in 1829, married to Miss Mary, 
daughter of Jonas Rambo, of Upper Merion township. 
Their chiUIren are John, Isaac W., Nathan R. (de- 
ceased), Collin, Mary (Mrs. H. O. Blackfan), Henry 
C, Hannah (deceased), Kate (Mrs. E. M. Evans), 
William C. and Francis (deceased). He was a second 



1 Acknowledgments are due to Dr. George "W. Holstein, of this bor- 
ough, for information, he having also kindly furnished the writer with 
some materials on the same subject for two previous works on the county, 
—namely, in 1868 and 1870. 



time married, in 1858, to his present wife, who was 
Miss Mary J., daughter of David Brooke, of Upper 
Merion. Mr. Hughes was formerly a Whig in 
politics, and has more recently affiliated with 
the Republican party. Though not ambitious 
for the distinctions of office, he has served as county 
auditor and been repeatedly chosen burgess of the 
borough of Bridgeport. He is a director of the First 
National Bank of Norristown, and has filled the same 
position in the Montgomery National Bank. His in- 
tegrity and excellent judgment have caused his ser- 
vices to be much in demand in the capacity of 
guardian and as the custodian of important trusts. 
He is a member of Christ (Okl Swedes) Protestant 
Episcopal Church, of Bridgeport, in which he has 
served for forty years as senior warden. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

BOROUGH OF CONSHOHOCKEN.' 

The borough of Conshohocken was incorporated by 
an act of Assembly May 15, 1850, and in population 
is now the third in the county. It is situated on the 
east bank of the Schuylkill, four miles below Norris- 
town and thirteen from Philadelphia, and is bounded 
on the north and northwest l)y Plymouth, east and 
southeast by Whitcniursh, and south and southwest 
by the Schuylkill. In its territorial extent it is one 
mile square, and therefore contains six hundred and 
forty acres, one-half of which was taken from Plym- 
outh and the remainder from Whitemarsh. The 
land on which it is situated slopes gradually from the 
river for the distance of a quarter of a mile, when it 
attains, by a moderately steep elevation, the height of 
upwards of one hundred feet, after which it becomes 
level. Just below the borough and along the Schuyl- 
kill is an extensive flat reaching nearly to Spring 
Mill. 

Though of recent origin, Conshohocken has become 
an important place, particularly in the variety and 
extent of its manufactures. According to the census of 
1850, it contained 727 inhabitants; in 1860, 1741 ; in 
1870, 3071 ; and in 1880, 4561. In the assessment for 
1882, 1110 taxables are returned, holding real estate and 
personal property valued at $2,085,555,being an average 
of $1869. Licenses were issued in 1883 to 18 hotels, 7 
restaurants, 3 dry-goods, 15 grocery, 3 tobacco, 3 
drug, 2 meat, 4 confectionery, 1 carpet, 3 boot and 
shoe, and 2 clothing-stores, besides 1 lumber and 5 
coal-yards. The First Ward in 1880 contained 1726 
inhabitants, and the Second 28.35. The place in 1832 
contained only 1 store, 1 tavern, a rolling-mill, grist- 
mill and 6 houses ; in 1858, 4 taverns and 22 stores; 
the census of 1860, 323 fiimilies and 324 houses. The 



1 By Wm. J. Buck. 



714 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



manufacturing establishments in 1870 were 4 rolling- 
mills, 3 furnaces, 1 cotton-mill, 1 print-works and a 
woolen-mill. 

The first improvement which laid the foundation 
for its prosperity was the Schuylkill Canal and Naviga- 
tion, which was commenced in 1816, and sufiiciently 
completed in 1818 for the descent of a few boats of 
sixty tons burthen, but was not finished till 1824. It was 
the water-power of the dam here that gave the impetus 
to this manufacturing town. The bridge over the 
•Schuylkill was built in 1833. In August, 1835, the 
railroad was finished through here to Norristown- 
The railroad to Plymouth was completed in 1836, and 
extended in 1870 to Oreland, where a junction is 
formed with the North Pennsylvania Railroad. A 
turnpike was made in 1849 to Plymouth Meeting^ 
which was extended in 1855 to the Three Tons where 
it strikes the Limekiln pike. The Schuylkill Valley 
Railroad was opened through here in 1884, affording 
additional facilities for transportation to Philadelphia 
and the coal regions. These several improvements 
have all tended to j)romote the prosperity of the place- 
In addition to these, the abundance of excellent iron- 
oi'e, marble and limestone found in the neigiiborhood, 
aftbrd unusual facilities for the borough to become a 
large manufacturing town. 

The first rolling-mill in Conshohocken, and among 
the first in the State, was l)uilt by James Wood in 
1832. It was erected for the manufacture of sheet- 
iron, saws, shovels and spades. The saw and shovel- 
works were built in 1835, and after running a few 
years were removed to Philadeli)bia. The rolling- 
mill was propelled by water-power furnished by the 
canal, and at the time was regarded as a great curi- 
osity, people coming many miles to witness it in 
operation. It was rebuilt and enlarged in 1845, again 
in 1867, and also in 1883, when its capacity was more 
than doubled. When first started three hundred ton.s 
of sheet-iron were thought a good production for one 
year, but now, under the management of John Wood 
& Brother, sons of the former projirietor, it has been in- 
creased to fifteen hundred tons. This firm, in 1852, 
built a new steam-mill on the opposite side of the 
canal, which has also been rebuilt and greatly im- 
proved. They also erected a second steam-mill in 
1864, which was destroyed by fire in 1882, but since 
rebuilt and enlarged. The production of their mills 
is now about six thousand tons of sheet and plate-iron 
per year, giving employment to two hundred and fifty 
men, who receive one hifndred and twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars for wages. The Schuylkill Iron-Works 
of Alan Wood & Co. have a capacity of fifteen 
thousand tons of sheet and plate-iron per annum, 
ten acres of ground being inclosed for their opera- 
tions and buildings. They employ between five 
hundred and six hundred hands, and pay out 
thirty-five thousand dollars monthly for wages. Be- 
fore 1858 they employed twenty hands, but in that 
vear thev built their large steam rolling-mill, to which 



they have since several times made additions. John 
Wood, Jr., has an establishment for making boilers and 
machinery, with a foundry and car-shops, giving em- 
ployment to twenty-five skilled hands. W. T. Bate & 
Son also carry on the manufacture of patent boilers 
and machinery, employing from thirty to forty men. 
The Longmead Iron- Works, Jawood Lukens, pro. 
prietor, employ about sixty hands in the manufacture 
of muck-bars. The)' possess a capacity of five thou- 
sand tons annually. 

The Plymouth Furnaces and Rolling-Mill, be- 
longing to a company, are in charge of Samuel 
Fulton, as general superintendent. They have a 
ca])acity of twenty-two thousand tons of iron per 
annum, and give employment to three hundred 
men. They also carry on the Lueinda Furnace, at 
Norristown. These works were originally started by 
Stephen Colwell, an enterprising citizen of Phila- 
delphia, in 1844, and in the following year he had the 
furnace in operation. He also erected here, at the 
same time, a large foundry for the making of various 
kinds of water and gas-pipes. So extensive had this 
latter manufacture become that it is reported on re- 
liable authority that for several years previous to 1849 
three thousand tons of iron were used for this purpose 
alone. Mr. Fulton is a nephew of the late Mr. Col- 
well. The second furnace was built here in 1864. A 
company has been recently incorporated with one 
hundred thousand dollars capital, called the Consho- 
hocken Tube Works, A. L. Murphy, manager. 

The Conshohocken Cotton and Woolen-Mill, Stanly 
Lees, proprietor, employs one hundred and eighty 
hands. It contains one hundred and forty looms and 
produces twenty-five thousand yards of cottonades 
weekly. This mill was built in 1856, one hundred and 
forty by sixty feet in extent, and the present pro- 
prietor has been a manufacturer here since. The 
Conshohocken Woolen-Mill of H. C. Jones & Co. 
employs seventy-five hands and has capacity for 
making three thousand yards of cloth per week. This 
establishment in 1858 was conducted by James and 
Lawrence Ogden. The Albion Print-Works, Lea 
& Cresson, proprietors, is an important industry, 
employing two hundred and fifty hands. This estab- 
lishment is on the site of Walter Cresson's mill, who 
was an early manufacturer here. The Conshohocken 
Warp-Mill, Hamilton Maxwell, late proprietor, is not 
now in operation. Jones & Yerkes have a steam 
planing-mill giving labor to twenty-five hands. 
Evan D. Jones & Co. carry on an extensive lumber- 
yard. The East Conshohocken Stone Quarry Com- 
pany carries on a large business. They have supplied 
the heavy foundation-stones for the railroad bridges 
lately Iniilt over the Wissahickou and Schuylkill at 
Manayunk. The North Conshohocken quarry also 
gives considerable employment. 

The public schools are twelve in number, open ten 
months, with an average attendance of four hundred 
and tliirty-fjurinipils for the school year ending June 



BOKOUGH OF CONSHOHOCKEN. 



715 



1, 18S2. These are all heltl in two buildings, Professor 
J. Warren Schlicliter, principal the primary depart- 
ment occupying four rooms, with four teachers ; the 
higher, eight rooms in four division with eight teachers. 
The buildings are of stone, rough-cast and two-stories 
in height. The grammar department possesses a col- 
lection of chemical and i)hilosoi>hical apparatus and a 
library of upwards of nine hundred volumes of stand- 
ard works for reference. The public schools in 1857 
were only three in number, attended by two hundred 
and thirty-two pupils, kept in one building, erected 
for this purpose in 185'), at the cornerof Fayette Street 
and Second Avenue, in whi<h the elections were also 
held. 

The churches of Conshohocken are six in number, — 
Presbyterian, St. Matthew's Catholic, Methodist 
Episcopal, Calvary Episcopal, Baptist and African 
Methodist Episcopal. 

Presbyterian Church. — The first organized con- 
gregation was the Presbyterian. In 1846 the Rev. 
Thomas Murphy, then pastor of a Presbyterian 
Church at Frankford, visited this place and inter- 
ested the membei's to organize a church and erect a 
hou.se of worship. Service was held at various times, 
and early in the year 1847 a church was constituted. 
A lot was donated for church purposes at the corner 
of Maple and Elm Streets, and the present church 
was erected in 1848. It was used until 18(J8, when 
repairs and additions were made to the extent of five I 
thousand dollars. The jiastors who have served from 
the organization to the present time are as follows: 

Revs. Paull, Martin, Joseph Xesbitt, James 

Laverty, Henry B. Townsend. John Symmes and the 
]>resent pastor, the Rev, William H. Fulton. 

St. Matthew's Catholic Chtirch was organized in 
1850 by the Rev. Patrick Xugent, pastor of the church 
at Xorristowu. A lot was purchased at the corner of 
Hector and Harry Streets, and a house of worship 
erected and used without material change until I860, 
when an addition was made to the rear, and in 1881 
the present front was erected. It is now the largest 
church edifice in Conshohocken. In 1870 a lot was 
purchased on Hector Street, and a building, seventy- 
six by fifty feet, two stories in height, was erected, at 
a cost of fifteen thousand dollars, which is known as 
St. Matthew's Parochial School. It contains five 
hundred pupils, and is under the charge of Edward 
McDonald and nine assistants. The parish has a 
membership of two thousand five hundred souls. A 
cemetery containing two acres of ground, adjoining 
the borough limits, in Whitemarsh township is 
the property of the church. Soon after the organiza- 
tion, in 1850, the Rev. James Maginuis was called to 
the charge, and remained pastor until 1863. He was 
succeeded by the present pastor, the Rev. R. Kin- 
ahan. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized 
at this place in 1856 through the exertions of the 
Rev. Lewis C. Pettit, then pastor of ^lerion Sipiare 



Methodist Episcopal Church, and Jo.seph Lees, a resi- 
dent of Mill Creek and a member of that church. 
They visited this place and held service in the old 
Temperance Hall. Among the first Methodists in 
this place were John Major and Caleb Collins. 
Services were held by the Rev. Mr. Pettit until the 
Conference of March, 1857, when the congregation 
was organized and was made a charge, and the Rev. 
Rufus Owen, D.D., now of Philadelphia, was appointed 
pastor. The church was erected in that year, and has 
since been remodeled. Among the pastors who have 
served since the organization are the Revs. Jerome 
Lindemuth, W. W. Wythe, C4eorge Haycock, John 
O'Xeal, Samuel G. Hare, Rufus Owens, Daniel Patter- 
son, W. C. Johns(m, Samuel Pancoast and the present 
pastor, the Rev. J. T. Miller. The church has a mem- 
bership of one hundred. 

The Calvary Episcopal Church is situated on the 
(■(jrncr of Fayette Street and Fourth Avenue. The 
first service of this denomination was held in Consho- 
hocken on the 25tli of July, 1858, in the old school- 
house (Temperance Hall). The rectors present were 
the Rev. William H. Reese, Rev. Marmaduke Hurst 
and the Rev. J. AV. Claxton. Service was begun by 
the Rev. E. L. Lycett, August loth, in that year, who 
continued preacher until September 1, 1863. On the 
17tli of December, 1858, resolutions were passed to 
organize a jiarish to be called Calvary Episcopal Church 
Parish. The first communion service was adminis- 
tered February 27, 1859, to eight communicants. The 
present church lot was selected ; plans for a church 
were adopted July 19, 1859, and the corner-stone of 
the edifice was laid ou the 25th of August in that 
year. The church was first used for worship Febru- 
ary 19, 1860. It is a one-story stone Gothic structure, 
and with its parish building, which is now a part of 
it, presents a picturesque appearance. In 1873 a 
rectory was erected on the church lot at a cost of four 
thousand nine hundred dollars, and in 1880 the parish 
building adjoining the church was built at a cost of 
nine thousand dollars. In this building is the free 
library and reading-room. The library now contains 
about two thousand volumes, including the private 
library of George Bullock, which was under charge of 
the parish in December, 1882. The library is circu- 
lating and is open two evenings and an afternoon in 
each week. The reading-room is supplied with the 
leading periodicals of this country and England and 
three daily newspapers. It is open three evenings in 
the week and is well patronized. A chancel was 
added to the church in 1884, at a cost of six thousand 
five hundred dollars. The Rev. E. L. Lycett resigned 
September 1, 1863, and the following are the names 
of pastors and terms of service from that time : John 
Tetlow, March 22, 1864, to March, 1866; Thomas S. 
Yokum, April 1, 1866, to May 31, 1870; T. William 
Davidson, October 1, 1870, to June 23, 1872; A. E. 
Tortat, December 1, 1872, to November 14, 1876; 
James J. Creigh, April 1, 1877, to January 1, 1881 ; 



716 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



A. B. Atkins, March 15, 1881. The last is the present 
rector. Tlie jiarish has aliout two hundred and thirty 
communicants. 

The First Baptist Church of Conshohocken was 
constituted June 10, 187U, with forty-two members. 
The Rev. J. G. Walker, who was active in the organ- 
ization, had preached to the people in this place 
about three years. In 1868, George Nugent, of Norris- 
town, deeded to three trustees a lot in the village for 
the use of the first Baptist Church when organized. 
This lot was deeded to trustees of the church soon after 
they were properly constituted, and the present 
chapel was erected at a cost of four thousand dollars. 
A parsonage was erected upon the lot in 1884 at a 
cost of three thousand five hundred dollars. The 
pastors who have served the church areas follows: 
Revs. J. G. Walker, Ebeuezer Packwood, H. H. 
Lemy, T. J. Siegfried and the present i)astor, Thomas 
A. Lloyd. 

The African Methodist Episcopal Church has 
an organization in the place, and the society erected 
a churcli edifice in 1881. 

The First National Bank was incorporated Febru- 
ary 15, 1873 ; capital, one hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars. (Jeorge Bullock, president ; Evan D. Jones, 
vicepresident; and William McDermott, cashier. The 
Tradesmen's National Bank was organized February 
15, 1882, incorporated the following Jlay 1st and 
commenced business on the 23(1. Its capital is one 
hundred thousand dollars ; John Wood, president and 
William Henry Cr&sson, vice-president and cashier. 
They occupied their new building, northeast corner of 
Fayette and Hector Street, July 5, 1883. The Weekly 
Recorder, William L. Prizer, editor and jiroprietor, 
was commenced in February, 1869, and re-established 
in 1877, theiireseut proprietor having greatly enlarged 
it. The post-office was established here before 1851. 

The Washington Steam Fire-Engine and Hose 
Company was incorporated February 23, 1874. They 
now possess two engines and three hose-carriages. 
One of the latter ranks among the finest in the State, 
having recently been awarded a premium at the 
Reading Fair. The engine-house is a creditable 
building. The association now numbers eighty-one 
active members. The Washita Hall Association was 
incori^orated May 19, 1868, with a capital of fifteen 
thousand dollars. Their building is intended for 
concerts, exhibitions and lectures. It was enlarged 
in the summer of 1883 at an expense of three thousand 
dollars. The Matson Ford Bridge Company was incor- 
porated in 1832 and the bridge was completed the fol- 
lowing year. On the night of September 2, 1850, it was 
swept away by a higli freshet, but was shortly after 
rebuilt. In this bridge the county holds stock to the 
amount of ten thousand eight hundred dollars. It 
was reconstructed and built of iron in 1872. To the 
traveler in going across, it aftbrds a fine and interest- 
ing view of the scenery up and down the Schuylkill. 
There are, besides, in Conshohocken several secret 



and beneficial associations. Among these can be men- 
tioned the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, Ancient 
York Masons, American Protestant Association, Wash- 
ington Camp of Patriotic Order of the Sons of Ameri- 
ca, Imjiroved Order of Red Men, Druids, Good Temp- 
lars, Sons of St. George, Ladies' Philopathion, Knights 
of Birmingham and a German society. There is also 
a General Smith Post, Grand Army of the Republic, 
No. 79, Schuylkill Iron-Workers' Beneficial Associa- 
tion and the Corliss Iron- Workers' Association. The 
last two are composed of employees in the Messrs. 
Wood's establishments. Gratitude Lodge, of Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd-Fellows, have purchased a lot 
of ground for thirteen hundred dollars, on which 
they propose before long to build a hall. The AVash- 
ita Tribe of Red Men, No. 53, possess a controlling 
interest in the hall wherein they hold their meet- 
ings. There is also a band and a flute and drum corps. 

Water is supplied from the river by a Worthing- 
ton steam-pump to a reservoir or basin on an elevated 
situation in the rear of the town, on Fayette Street. 
The first permits for this use were granted Novem- 
ber 3, 1873. The offices of the Water and Gas Com- 
pany are Jawood Lukens, president ; Alfred Craft, 
treasurer ; and A. D. Saylor, Alan Wood, Sr., Lewis 
A. Lukens, Evan D. Jones and William Summers, 
managers. 

As has been stated, Conshohocken is a mile square, 
and in consequence the streets are laid out (juite 
regular, crossing each other at right angles. Fayette 
is the main business street, extending from the 
Schuylkill bridge northeasterly, dividing the borough 
into two eqiu\l parts from which the ground descends 
in opjiosite directions. On the up]ier part of this 
street are some of the handsomest private residences 
in the place. It is l)road, turnpiked and shady. 
Washington is the chief manufacturing street, along 
which the railroad to Norristown passes. Next an d 
parallel comes Elm, Front, after which the avenues 
are called Second, Third, Fourth and so on in regu- 
lar order to the northeastern bounds of the borough. 
The main streets running northeast from the river, 
beginning on tlie upper or northwestern side, are 
Freedly, Wood, Maple, Forest, Fayette, Harry, Hal- 
lowell. Wells and Jones. In the southern portion, in 
addition, are Si)ring Mill .\venue and Hector, Poplar, 
Cherry and Apple Streets. The borough was divided 
into two wards June 12, 1876, the second or lower 
ward being decidedly the most populous. 

The following is a list of those who have served as 
burgesses since the incorporation. May 15, 1850 : 



1850, '53. Jolin Wood. 
1801-^2. Jolin R. Roberts. 
1854-05. Charles .\. Ulrick. 
185C, '02, 'Ki, '64, '70, '71, '72, '73. 

William Hallowell, 
1857. A. D. Saylor. 
1868, '67. Frederick Light. 
1859, '60, '61, Lewis .\. Lukens. 
18G5. Henry Beaver. 
1806. Evan D. Jones. 



1868. E. S. Tomlinson. 

1869, '74. James Tracy. 
1875-76. William Summers. 
1877-78. H. C. Jlessinger. 
1879. William F. Smith. 
1880-81. William Henry Creescn. 
188-2-8;i. Michael O'Brien. 

1884. John Field. 

1885. Joseph Chrislett. 



BOROUGH OF CONSHOHOCKEN. 



717 



Conshohocken is the name by which the Indians 
called Edge Hill. We have the evidence of this in 
the deeds of purchase from them by William Penn, of 
July 14, 1683, and of July 30, 1685, wherein it is so 
mentioned as forming one of the boundaries. This 
range still retains the name on the west side of the 
Schuylkill, and from thence became applied to this 
place. Some time before the Eevolution Peter Mat- 
son was a land-holder on the opposite side of the 
river, and on the laying outof roads here the crossing- 
place, in consequence, became called Matson's Ford, 
which name was not changed till about 1832, when 
the town was laid out as "Conshohocken." 

During the Revolution the American army crossed 
the Schuylkill at this place several times. On the 
19th of May, 1778, while Lafayette was stationed 
with a detachment of two thousand one hundred 
men at Barren Hill, three and a half miles from 
here, the British attempted to surprise him with a 
greatly superior force, divided into three divisions. 
One was led by General Grant and the others by Sir 
Henry Clinton and General Grey. When the divi- 
sion under Grant had approached within a mile of 
his rear, Lafayette received the first intelligence of 
their presence through an officer who had been sent 
early in the morning to reconnoitre. Thinking 
his situation critical, he withdrew in haste to this 
ford, and as the last division of his command was 
crossing with the artillery, the enemy's advanced 
parties made their appearance on the bank and fired 
a volley after them, when a skirmish ensued, in which 
the Americans lost nine men killed and taken pris- 
oners. The British loss was two light-horsemen 
killed and several wounded. Lafayette proceeded 
to the high ground opposite and formed in order of 
battle, when the divisions under Grant and Clinton 
made their appearance. These, not deeming it 
prudent to cross, though they had more than four 
times the number of men, wheeled round and marched 
disappointed to the city. In consequence of this 
affair the old road which led to the ford, and on 
which this retreat was efiected, has been called Fay- 
ette Street. 

The ground upon which the town was laid out be- 
longed at the time tothe Schuylkill Navigation Com- 
pany, who sold it in square lots, James Wells and 
John Freedly, of Norristown, being the principal 
purchasers. David Harry, in 1830, built a grist-mill, 
which was the first improvement here. For a num- 
ber of years this mill had a large run of custom, 
always having a sufficient supply of water from the 
canal. Trains of farmers' wagons could be seen 
around it in times of drought waiting for their grists, 
some of the farmers living ten and fifteen miles distant. 
At this time there were two farm-houses here, one 
occupied by Mr. Harry and the other by Cadwallader 
Foulke. About a year or so afterwards Messrs. Wells 
and Freedly built a mill for sawing marble, which 
was obtained from the neighboring quarries; they 



did a flourishing business for a number of years. 
They were followed in 1832 by James Wood, who 
built and put in operation a rolling-mill, the first in 
the place. The building of a furnace and foundry 
here, in 1844, by Stephen Colwell, also materially 
aided to help on the early progress of the place. 
In 1832, where is now the large store of William 
Sommers, corner of Fayette and Hector Streets, 
stood a cabin in which had lived for some time 
a colored man called Ned Hector, who had been 
a team-driver for the army in the Revolution. On 
laying out the town it thus came that a street was 
named after him. He died January 3, 1834, aged 
ninety years, and his wife, Jude, two days thereafter. 
Conshohocken had so advanced by 1849 that 
its inhabitants petitioned the Legislature for an act 
of incorporation, which was granted the following 
15th of May. The commissioners appointed for 
laying out the borough agreeably to the charter were 
Isaac Roberts, Joseph Crawford, John M. Jones and 
L. E. Corson. The bounds were fixed as follows : 

"Beginning in the township of Plymouth at low-water mark of the 
river Schuylkill, at the distjtnce of half a mile, mf^asured on a direct line 
at right angles from the middle of the Whitemarsh and Plymouth turn- 
pike road, which is on the township line between said townships ; thence 
north forty degrees forty-tiye minutes east parallel to said turnpike road, 
over lands of Cadwallader Foulke, John Stemple, Evan Davis and others 
to a point where the continuation of a certain public road line which now 
leads into said turnpike at the eastern corner of the farm of James Cres- 
Bon, and which road is nearly at right angles with said turnpike, if con- 
tinued northwesterly, would intersect said parallel line first mentioned 
as running north forty-three degrees ea£t ; then from said point south- 
easterly the course of said road and crossing said turnpike and continuing 
its course in Whitemarsh, up over lands late of Daniel Harry, deceased, 
and Is.aac Jones' land, one mile to a point on the land of said Isaac Jones ; 
thence on his said land south forty degrees forty-five minutes west to the 
river Schuylkill aforesaid, and along up said river the several courses 
thereof tothe place of beginning." ^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



BENJAMIN HARRY. 

DaWd Harry, who was probably of Welsh descent, 
early settled in Montgomery County, where he pur- 
chased a tract of twelve hundred and fifty acres of 
land, a portion of which is now embraced in the 
borough of Conshohocken, the remainder being in 
Whitemarsh township. Part of this land is still in 
possession of the family. Reece Harry, a son of 
David, born about 1701, who died in 1778, inherited a 
section of this tract, upon which he resided, subse- 
quently deeding a portion to his son John, grandfiither 
of the subject of this sketch, the former having married 
Alice Meredith, and had children, — Sarah, whose 
birth occurred in 1763 ; Mary, born in 1769 ; and 
David, who was born on the 17th of November, 1771, 
on the paternal estate, and who married Ann, daughter 

1 Acknowledgments are due to William Henry Cresson, Esq., of this 
borough, for information relative to the improvements in the place. 



718 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of Thomas Davis and his wife, Lydia White. Their 
children are Samuel, Benjamin, Reece, Mary (Mrs. 
Joseph Yerkcs) and David, all of whom, with the 
exception of Benjamin, are deceased. The last men- 
ticmed, and subject of this biographical sketch, was 
born May 16, 1809, on the homestead, which has been 
the scene of the experiences and incidents of a life- 
time. He was educated at the boarding-school of 
Joseph Foulke, of Gwynedd township, and on the 
completion of his studies entered the mill of his father, 
located on the banks of the Schuylkill, for the purpose 
of acquainting himself with the details of the business. 
This mill he afterwards successfully managed until 



burgess of the borough. He is by birthright a Friend, 
and worships with the Plymouth Meeting. 



JOHN JONES. 

Mr. Jones is of Welsh descent. His grandfather, 
Jonathan Jones, resided upon the land now owned 
by the subject of this sketch, as did his father 
before him, both having been enterprising farmers. 
His children were Isaac, Jonathan, John, Susan, 
Mary and Ann, of whom only the last-named sur- 
vives. Isaac Jones was born in 1772, and followed 
farming pursuits in Conshohocken, having married 




^J^ 



<Z7 



the s;ae of the property. Mr. Harry from this date 
never engaged in any business undertakings apart 
from the management of his private interests. He 
was, in 1836, married to Lydia F. Wood, of Consho- 
hocken, and has children,— David, Anna, James, 
Mary, Winfield, John. Mrs. Harry is the daughter 
of James Wood, who established the rolling-mills at 
Conshohocken, and granddaughter of John Wood, of 
Plymouth, who was the son of James Wood, one of 
the earliest settlers of that township. Mr. Harry's 
political principles have been those of the Whig and 
Republican parties. He has frequently been solicited 
to accept office, but has invariably declined, though on 
one occasion elected to the honorable position of 



Elizabeth Yerkes, daughter of John and Nancy 
Coffin Yerkes. Their children are John, William, 
Jonathan, Isaac, Charles, Susan, Elizabeth and Ann. 
Mr. Jones was married, a second time, to Rachel 
Foster, and, a third time, to Martha Lukens. His 
death occurred June 13, 1868, in his ninety-seventh 
year. John Jones was born December 18, 1795, on 
the homestead where his youth, until his twenty-first 
year, was spent. He received his education, in those 
early days necessarily limited, in the immediate neigh- 
borhood and at Plymouth, afterwards engaging in labor 
on the farm of his father, which then embraced a very 
large portion of the present borough of Conshohocken. 
He subsequently removed to a farm purchased by his 



BOROUGH OF EAST GREENVILLE. 



719 



father in Upper Merion township, whicli he culti- 
vated for a period of six years. In 1819, Jlr. .Tones 
married Martha, daufrhter of Josepli and Ann Lulvens, 
of King of Prussia, whose death occurred January 18, 
1883. Their children are Joseph L., of Philadelphia; 
Isaac, of Illinois; William H., of Philadelphia; 
Rachel (Mrs. John Webster), of Chester County, 
Pa.; Elizabeth (Mrs. James T. Lukens, of Philadel- 
phia; Mary, of Conshohocken ; Edwin, also of Con- 
shohocken ; George W., of Minneapolis, Minn. ; Sallie 
(Mrs. Ephraiin Fenton), of Abington ; and Charlotte, 
(Mrs. Daniel Lukens), of Chester County. 



regarded as the pioneer in the business of milk ship- 
ping in the State, having shipped the first can of 
milk to Philadelphia by rail in 1847. 



CH APT ER X[LII. 

BOROUGH OF EAST GREENVILLE. 

The borough of East Greenville was incorporated 
September 6, 1875. Its area, about one hundred and 




Mr. Jones, after a residence of some years in other 
parts of Montgomery County and elsewhere, returned 
to Conshohocken in 1852 and took possession of the 
homestead, since that date his home. In 1861, he 
retired, after a long life of industry, his son Edward 
assuming the management of the farm, which he cul- 
tivated until 1868, when the land was divided 
into town lots and sold for building purposes. Mr. 
Jones has always been either a Whig or a Republican 
in politics, but has never sought nor accepted office. 
He has since his youth worshiped with the Society of 
Friends, having been admitted to membership when 
fourteen years of age. Mr. Jones may justly be 



eighty acres was wholly taken from Upper Hanover 
township. The assessed value of real estate at the 
time of its creation was eighty-two thousand and 
thirty dollars. It contained at that date ninety-four 
taxables, and upwards of fifty residences, all of them 
recently built. The land formerly belonged to George 
Urfter ; upon his death it descended to Daniel Y. 
Urffer, who in April, 1849, sold forty-three acres of 
the tract to Captain Henry H. Dotts ; it was timber 
land at the time of this sale. The wood-leaf was sold, 
the land cleared and that portion fronting on the 
highway divided into building-lots. During the years 
of 1851-52, Mr. Dotts sold a number of the lots at an 



r20 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUJMTY. 



advance. On a four-acre lot, at the corner of Churcli 
road, he erected a two-story brick dwelling, and sub- 
squently sold it for twelve hundred dollars, 
Mr. Dotts continued building and selling, and later 
erected the large three-story hotel now occupied by 
Charles P. Keely. Stores and mechanical industries 
followed the line of improvements, and the viUage 
became a new creation, rivaling the older claims of 
Pennsburg, a mile or more eastward. The project of 
building up a village at this point was partly due to 
the construction of the Green Lane and Goshenhop- 
pen turnpike road, which was opened to travel in 1851. 
The village received a further impetus in 1S()4, when 
some forty additional acres of land belonging to the 
original Urffer estate came into the market by the 
death of Mrs. Frey, a daughter of George Urffer, de- 
ceased. The tract was cut up into lots and sold to 
persons who built upon them. Philip Super, Esq., in 
his account of the Perkiomen Valley, writing of this 
village says : " To show the gradual rise in the price 
of land from the original price of seventy-five dollars 
per acre in 1851-52, we give the prices at which lots 
were sold during subsequent years up to the present 
time. The first of the original half-acre lots were 
sold in January, 1853, for fifty dollars, and resold in 
May of the same year for seventy-five dollars ; in June' 
of the same year, Mr. Dotts repurchased a half-acre 
lot for ninety-five dollars ; in March, 1855, he again 
purchased half an acre for one hundred and twenty- 
five dollars ; in March, 1856, an acre lot was sold for 
one hundred and sixty-five dollars ; in September, 
1857, a quarter-acre lot was sold for one hundred and 
thirty-five dollars; and in 1859 a half-acre lot was 
sold for two hundred dollars. 

"The original lots, of from two to four acres each, 
■with which the place started in 1851, have been 
divided and sold in smaller ones ; at the present time 
there are but few lots in the place having more than 
fifty feet front. The village received its name in 1852, 
which appears to have been suggest(id by a tall pine- 
tree, with an evergreen top, and which is observable 
from all parts of the surrounding country. This 'old 
pine tree, with an evergreen top,' has become his- 
torical, if not immortal; from it a village takes its 
name, and a Greenville post-office is announced 
upon the jjost-office directory of Christendon — a fortu- 
nate tree, differing in no essential, save in its location, 
from hundreds of its kind that fell before tlie sturdy 
axemen of the Honovers." 

This very pretty village is beautifully located, the 
elevation commanding an extended view of the 
valley and distant hills. The landscai)e is in every 
sense pastoral ; cultivated farms, browsing cattle, 
green meadows, crystal streams, shaded homes, huge 
barns, ancient mills and steepled churches, with 
whitened graveyards, complete the rural and at- 
tractive picture. Only the screaming whistle of en- 
gines, and racing trains of cars, as they spin along a 
back street of tlie town, breaks the prevailing country 



quiet of the place. The main street or highway is 
well-kei)t, the sidewalks are curbed and paved, .sliade- 
trees, flowers and trailing vines ornament the neat 
and substantial residences that front upon the main 
thoroughfare. The borough has the characteristic 
thrift and commercial enterprise common to all rail- 
road towns in the country. Among the merchants 
may be named Henry Bobb, drugs ; Fluck & Bern- 
hard, live slock; Nichohis Kase, boots and shoes; 
William Kehl, merchandise ; A. E. Kurtz, stoves ; 
Keeley & Brother, coal, lumber, ttour and feed ; 
Levi Meschler, merchandise; Edwin E. Steltz, ftirni- 
ture; E. M. StauflFer, jeweler. The mechanical in- 
dustries are represented by the village blacksmith, 
and carriage-l)uilder. The manufacture of cigars is 
largely carried on here, the first to introduce the 
business being Amos K. Stauffer, who began in 1860, 
William K. Staufler in 1865, and Daniel Dimmig and 
Thomas K. (Jerhard about 1870. There are now 
carrying on the business in this place Amos K. 
Stauffer, Thomas K. Gerhard, William M. Jacobs, H. 
A. Dimmig and several others who have smaller es- 
tablishments. These firms employ about one hun- 
dred and twenty persons, and manufacture about nine 
million cigars annually. 

The Evangelical Association of East Greenville was 
organized about sixty years ago. A lot was pur- 
chased for a house of worship and burial-place on the 
road leading from East Greenville to Krousdale. A 
house of worship was built and used until 1873, when 
the present brick edifice was erected on Main Street, 
in East Greenville. Prior to the erection of these 
church buildings the congregation existed, worship- 
ing in the spacious houses of the farmers whfi made 
up its numliers. The pastors who served at the old 
church from 1838 to 1873 areas follows : Revs. Isaac 
Hess, Daniel Wieand, A. Ziegenfuss, Edmund Butz, 
R. M. Lichtenwollner, A. F. Leopold, C. K. Fehr, 
John Schell, Franklin Scchert and Reuben Deisher. 
Those who served from 1873 to the present time are 
Revs. G. Sharf, David Lentz, Henry Klick, Solomon 
Ely and Jeremiah Fehr, the ])resent pastor. The 
church has a present membership of twenty-three. 

The public schools of the borough are in advance 
of fliose of the township, out of which it has been 
carved. They are taught during the term of seven 
months in the year; male and female teachers are 
employed at salaries of from thirt)'-two to thirty-eight 
dollars per month. There are one hundred and four 
pupils enrolled for the year 1884. Population in 
1880,331 ; number of taxables 1884, 128; value of im- 
proved land, $166,321 ; unimproved, $3850 ; forty- 
three horses valued at .$8655 ; thirty-five cattle valued 
at $955 ; total value of property taxable for county 
purposes, $192,476. 

Burgesses: 1875, Charles K. Lorentz; 1876, C. W. 
Wieand; 1877, William H. Kehl; 1878, Daniel Roeder; 
1879, N. B. Keely ; 1881, John Hirsh ; 1882-83, F. L. 
Fluck; 1884, Jacob M. Knetz ; 1885, Jacob M. Knetz. 



BOROUGH OF HATBORC. 



721 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

UOKOUGII OF UKEKN LANE. 

Greex Laxe Borough was incorporated by decree 
of the Court of Quarter Sessions December 10, 1875, 
and was carved outof Mai-lborongh township. It con- 
tains an area of about one hundred and fift_v-four ac4'es. 
The boundaries are irreguhir, and were made to con- 
form to the wishes of the owners of adjoining farms, 
who were hostile to being included in the proposed 
borough limits. 

Tlie Perkiomen Railroad passes through the village, 
which is located at the convergence of three turn- 
pike roads, — the Spring House, constructed in 1848 ; the 
Perkiomen, open to public travel in 1849; and the 
Green Lane and Goshenhoppen turnpike, completed 
in 1851. The nlace contains a hotel, store, railroad 
station, school-house and upwards of fifty dwellings. 
There is also a grist-mill, smith-shop and a large ice 
house, located on the Perkiomen. In 1875 there 
were ttfty-six taxable persons assessed, and the real 
estate was valued at forty-one thousand three hundred 
and fourteen dollars. It is distant from Philadelphia 
forty-three miles and eighteen miles from the Perki- 
omen Junction, on the Reading Railroad. The entire 
area of this borough rests upon the old Mayberry 
title, taken about 1730, being the same referred to in 
the account of Marlborough township. The derivation 
of the name of the village is from the Old Forge, 
or " Green Lane Iron-Works," noted on the oldes'' 
maps of the county, and it is believed to have been 
given to the works named from the prevailing foliage 
covering the rocky hills to the north and west of the 
stream, it being largely of evergreen, with occasional 
pine, and from the narrow and tortuous road or lane 
that led from the main highway around the base of 
the hills to the forge. The locality was noted thirty 
or forty years ago for wild game, and sportsmen 
resorting there found pheasants, partridges and rab- 
bits in abundance, and the ancient villagers gave 
generous welcome to the liberal "spendthrift gun- 
ners," whose annual pilgrimage thither was im- 
patiently waited for by the expectant guides, who 
earned handsome fees for easy service in piloting 
these hunters and their dogs over and around the 
hills. The place was early and widely known as the 
location of the iron forge referred to. The fine water. 
power and abundance of wood, its easy conversion 
into charcoal, afforded unusual facilities for the 
manufacture of iron and for many years the best 
blooms in the market were produced at this place. 
Hammered iron long preceded rolled iron for general 
smithing purposes, and the produce of the forge 
found a ready market. In those days the country 
blacksmith purchased his bar-iron at the forge, and 
converted it into the hardware used in the building of 
houses, from the wrought nails in the floors to the 
hinges and latches of the doors. Iron was a com- 
46 



modify that fifty years ago was fashioned into a 
thousand useful forms by the village smith which are 
now produced by the foundry and with the aid of im- 
proved machinery, and sold by the village store- 
keeper. The transition has changed the face of 
affairs at this old village. The forge has long since 
gone into decay; the old water-wheel, the huge 
bellows, the ore-crushers, the cone-like charcoal 
kilns, the famous teams and teamsters who made 
their weekly trips "to town" and back, the stage 
exchange stables, the huntsman and his hounds, the 
system of barter and exchange that prevailed at the 
country store, — these have all been displaced by the 
changes wrought in the last quarter of a century, and 
Green Lane has become a railroad village differing in 
no essential from a dozen others which make the 
Perkiomen Valley so charming from Treichlersville to 
the Schuylkill River. 

The public or common school in this borough is 
open for seven months in the year, and the wages paid 
the teacher is thirty-three dollars }>er month. The post- 
office is located here, and the railroad depot for passen- 
gers and freight brings to the village the general trade 
of an industrious and providential community. 

Mercantile appraiser's return for 1884 : Merchan- 
dise, J. R. Allebach ; live stock, Frank Frederick ; 
lumber, H. N. Scholl; flour and feed, H. N. Scholl ; 
Number of taxables, 1884, 54; value of improved land 
$74,400 ; value of unimproved land, $5685 ; value of 
horses, $2015; value of cattle, $670; total value of 
taxable property for county purposes, $91,210. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 
BOROUiJH OF IIATBORO'.' 

This liorough was incorporated .\ugust J2(^ 1871, 
and contains an area of about six hundred acres, taken 
wholly from Moreland township. Its extreme length 
from north to south is one and a half miles ; greatest 
breadth, three-fourths of a mile; and extends on the 
Bucks County line nearly half said distance. The 
main part of the town is situated along the old York 
road, which is now called York Avenue, opened 
through from Philadelphia to the present Centre 
Bridge in the fall of 1711. The Hatboro' and AVar- 
minster turnpike was completed in 1850, and extends 
from the AVillow Grove to the Street road, a distance 
of four and a half miles. This improvement is laid 
on the bed of the old York road, wliich extends 
through the whole length of the borough, dividing it 
very nearly into two equal ])ortions. The Northeast 
Pennsylvania Railroad is a branch of the North 
Pennsylvania road, and commences at Abington 
Station and extends to Hartsville, a distance of nearly 



1 By Wm. J. Buck. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ten miles. It was commenced in 1872 and opened 
for travel December 18th of that year to the county 
line, and in 1875 extended to Hartsville, its present 
terminus. The Hatboro' Station is six and four-fifths 
miles I'rom Abington, three from Hartsville and six- 
teen from Philadel]ihia. Fulmnr Station, near its 
southern extremity, is also within the borough limits. 
Five passenger-trains pass through here daily to Phil- 
adelphia. 

The place is progressing, and now contains two 
hotels, two drug, one boot and shoe, one hardware 
one jewelry and clothing, two confectionery, one fur' 
citure and three general stores. There arc, besides 
two carriage manufactories, two blacksmith-shops' 
one wheelwright, two tin-shops, two bakers, one 
nuichine-shop, two merchant flour-mills, one livery- 
stable, one lumber and two coal-yards. According to 
the census of 1880 it contained five hundred and eighty- 
six inhabitants. The assessment for 18S3 returned 
two huiulred and twenty-four taxables and four hun- 
dred and sixteen thousand eight hundred and ninety- 
five dollars as the amount of taxable property. The 
means for education have not been neglected, and in 
this respect it has enjoyed unusual advantiiges for a 
longtime. The library was founiled in ]7o5, and now 
contains over ten thousand volumes and has one hun- 
dred and forty-six members. The academy was built 
in 1811-12 from the proceeds of a bequest from Judge 
Loller. The public schools are held in this building, 
and for the year ending June 1, 1882, had an average 
attendance of seventy-nine pujiils for ten months. 
The post-office now possesses two daily communica- 
tions with Philadelphia. The uational bank was es- 
tablished here shortly after the incorporation of the 
borough, with a capital of sixty thousand dollars. Its 
present officers are Hon. I. N. Evans, president; Jus- 
tice Mitchell, vice-president; and James Vanhorn, 
cashier. Three public halls are in the place. Loller 
Lodge of Independent Order of Odd-Fellows own a 
three-story stone building, in which they hold their 
meetings, which was erected in 1851 and dedicated 
October 9th of said year. The W. K. Bray Lodge of 
Mas'ins meet in Jones' Hall. The Patriotic Sons of 
America also posse.5s an organization. 

The name of the place is said to be derived from 
one of the fir.st stone houses built here, which was 
about 1705, and in which, shortly after, John Dawson 
followed for many years his occupation of making 
hats. This building likewise became a tavern, and 
had for its sign a crooked billet, suggested by a popu- 
lar inn then kept in Water Street, Philadelphia. It 
stood near the centre of the present town, on the old 
York road, where is now the dwelling-house of Oliver 
Watson, and into which, on being modernized, a por- 
tion was incorporated. We know from records that 
.(ohii Dawson was still residing here in 1734 on a lot 
of three acres, and that a Daniel Dawson at that time 
owned four acres. The earliest mention of the namewe 
have found is on Lewis Evans' map of Pennsylvania 



and the adjoining provinces, published in 1749, where 
it is called "Hatboro'," precisely as it is now written. 
In an advertisement in Franklin's Pennsylvania 
Gazette of October 12, 1752, it is mentioned as the 
"Crooked Billet." The library records in 1755 call 
it "Hatborough," and the meetings arc mentioned 
as being held at the house of "David Ileesc, at ye 
Crooked Billet." Our next authority in the order of 
time is Nicholas Scull's map of Pennsylvania, pub- 
lished in 1759, on which it is "Billet;" the same also 
on William Scull's map of 1770. Washington, in his 
letter to Congress from this vicinity, dated August 10, 
1777, mentions therein the "Billet tavern." General 
Lacy, in his correspondence of 1778, calls the place 
"Crooked Billet," as also Majors Simcoe and Sted- 
man, who were British officers in the skirmish here. 
Reading Howell, in his township map of 1792, calls it 
"Hatborough," and also Joseph Scott, in his Gazetteer 
of 1795. Now, carefully considering these several 
authorities, we come to the conclusion that the proper 
name of the place or village from the beginning was 
Hatboro', and by the Billet or Crooked Billet was 
more particularly meant the tavern that had here this 
sign, which conclusion is sustained liy the library 
records and Washington's correspondence. 

A road was laid out from Byberry to Horsham in 
1720 and passes through the central part of Hatboro'. 
That portion east of York Avenue has been called 
Byberry Avenue, and that extending westward More- 
land Avenue. The county line road, leading from 
the present toll-gate to Gra>me Park, was laid out in 
1722, As the York road was opened through here 
still earlier, it would denote that some settlement in 
and around here must then have been made. David 
Reese, whom we know kept the tavern here in 1759, 
had a daughter, Rebecca, married to John Hart, 
of Warminster. Jacob Tomkins kept a store in 
171)1; the following year the library was removed to 
his house, and for some time he performed the 
duties of librarian, secretary and treasurer. In 1776 
he was taxed for fifty-six acres, which would indicate 
that he also carried on farming. In the fall of 1786, 
William Todd purchased Tomkins' share in the library, 
when it is probable he removed from the neighbor- 
hood. Abraham Duffield, in 1784, kept a public-house 
in the lower part of the village, to which the library 
was soon after removed, and where it remained for 
some time. John J. Marple became the proprietor of 
this inn and kept it at least from 1814 to 1825. He 
was i)Ostniaster in 1816. This office is stated to have 
been established here about 1809, chiefly through the 
exertions of the Hon. N. B. Boileau. In an adver- 
tisement of Mr. Marple's property, in 1825, it is 
described as containing "a large two-story house, 
sixty by forty feet," two barns and sixty-one acres ol 
land. In 1813 the polling places of Moreland and 
Horsham were removed here from Abington, and 
continued until after 1828. These were at the stand 
now known as Jones' Hotel. 



k 



BUROUUU OF HATBORO'. 



(23 



Colonel John Lacy, of Bucks County, was commis- 
sioned a brigadier-general January 8, 1778, and to 
him was given the command of the militia between 
the rivers Schuylkill and Delaware. His orders were 
to watch the enemy, to protect the inhabitants and pre- 
vent further intercourse between the British and the 
country and cut oft" all supplies designed for their use_ 
To carry out these measures he was stationed at War- 
wick about the middle of January, on the 23d at 
Gramme Park and next at the Cross-Roads (now Harts. 
ville). Frimi the latter place he proceeded to Hatboro' 
where he formed his camp on the Byberry road, about 
half a mile east of the village. He received here four 
huiulred men from York and Cumberland Counties 
which made his forces amount to about four hundred 
and fifty men, who were poorly supplied with arms 
and ammunition, suft'ering at times severely for pro- 
visions, and often only two days' allowance in camp. 
As he had been pretty active in cutting off supjilies 
going to the city, as well as arresting tlie parties con- 
cerned therein, it was determined by the British to 
efl'ect his capture in the night through information 
received from sjiies resident in the vicinity. Early 
on tire morning of May 1, 1778, a detachment of the 
British army from Philadelphia, composed chiefly of 
American loyalists, under command of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Abercrombie and Major Simcoe, made a 
sudden attack on the camp, in which about thirty 
Americans were killed and seventeen wounded. The 
British loss was trifling,^some six or seven men were 
wounded, five horses found dead and three cai)tured. 
During the skirmish some of the wounded were cither 
conveyed to, or sought shelter in, a heap of buckwheat 
straw, to which the enemy set fire, and perished in the 
greatest agony. They soon after hastily retreated to 
the city, when the dead were collected and placed in 
one grave on the north side of the County Line road 
near what has been long known as Wood's Corner. 
A handsome white marble monument, twenty feet 
high, was erected on the east side of York Avenue, 
on an elevated site, by the citizens of the neighbor- 
hood in 1861, in commemoration of those who lo.st 
their lives in this attack. 

Mills must have been early established here on the 
Pennypack. Nicholas Scull mentions on his map 
Dungworth's mill beside the York road in 1759. This 
property in 1787 was owned by Mordecai Thomas, 
who was taxed for one hundred and ninety-four acres 
of land, four dwellings and a grist-mill. In 1808 he 
had erected here a mill for carding wool, which was 
for some time extensively carried on. For a long pe- 
riod Hatboro' has been noted for its wagon and carriage- 
making establishments. John Paxson advertised in 
1807 that he had a two-story stone coach-shop, thirty 
by twenty feet, a blacksmith-shop, thirty by eighteen 
feet, and a harness making shop, thirty-six by sixteen 
feet, with other buildings essential to the business. 
At a meeting in September, 1814, a company of fifty- 
two was raised here for the war with England, of which 



Alexander McClean was elected captain and Thomas 
L. Boileau first lieutenant. During the Revolu- 
tion Hatboro' is stated to have contained about eigh- 
teen houses, one-half of which were built of logs, a 
tavern, store, a mill and blacksmith-shop. Scott, in his 
"Gazetteer" of 1795, mentions it as containing about 
twenty houses and a library of a thousand volumes. 
In 1850 it contained three hundred and four inhabit- 
ants, about fifty-six houses, three stores, two taverns, 
two merchant flour-mills, two churches, academy, li- 
brary and several mechanic shops. 

About a quarter of a mile east of the town, on the 
north side of the Byberry road, stood a small one- 
story stone school-house, supposed to have been built 
about 1730. Here, in 1768, N. B. Boileau first went 
to school. After the erection of the academy, in 1812, 
this was ordered to be sold, with the lot of ground 
belonging thereto. One-half the proceeds were given 
to the academy, and the balance towards the erection 
of a new school-house on the land of Isaac Pickering, 
about a mile distant on the county line, and near its 
intersection with the Newtown road. The venerable 
building alluded to, after being sold, was converted 
into a dwelling-house, and stood till about 1862, when 
it was torn down, and the spot is now under cultiva- 
tion, with nothing to denote its former existence. 

From the report of the grand jury in 1773 we learn 
that the York road passed over the Pennypack Creek 
by a bridge, which they state " is now very much out 
of repair and should be repaired at the expense of 
the county, in consequence of its being so public a 
road." It may have been at this time temporarily 
im|iroved, but we doubt that much more was done to 
it. However, in 1789 the whole structure was torn 
away and a new one of stone erected in its place by 
the county, about twenty-four yards above the jiresent 
bridge. The late George Kenderdine informed ua 
that he remembered it well, and that it consisted of 
one arch of an exact semicircular form of twenty-four 
feet span, and that when built it was considered a 
marvel of workmanship. It possessed short abut- 
ments, or wing-walls, making it high in the centre, 
and which made the travel over it difficult. When 
the stream became high the water would flow around 
it, thus rendering it at times extremely unpleasant to 
cross, especially for those afoot. It was only half the 
length of the present bridge and not of sufficient 
width to let wagons pass each other. The master- 
mason and probable architect was Stephen Love, who 
fancied its only arch the perfection of skill. An act 
was passed April 6, 1830, for James M. Porter, Samuel 
Hart and .lohn H. Hill to view and lay out the York 
road down to the \Villow Grove. When they came 
to the Pennypack they directed the road to be laid 
further down so as to materially straighten it in a 
distance of two hundred yards. It was on this route 
that the present substantial bridge was built in 1824, 
which possesses three arches, each of eighteen feet 
span. The date-stone of the former bridge having 



724 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



been inserted in this one, lias led persons to believe 
that the present structure was built in 1789. A tra- 
dition exists that just before the arch of the previous 
bridge was completed, a person residing in the 
vicinity ran his horse over it safely at one prodigious 
leap, for the honor, as lie said, of being the first to 
pass over it. 

There is reason to believe that the first newspaper 
published anywhere in the lower portion of Mont- 
gomery County, outside of Norristown, was The Lit- 
erary Chronicle, issued weekly by Oliver I. Search, at 
Hatboro', in the beginning of June, 1840. The size 
of its sheet was twenty-two by thirty-two inches, with 
six columns to a page. It was published on Tuesdays, 
at two dollars per annum, in a building adjoining the 
upper hotel. About April, 1842, or after it had ex- 
isted one year and ten months, Mr. Search removed 
the establishment to Newtown, where it was continued 
under several names until 1848. The second attempt 
at newspaper publishing in Hatboro' was by Dr. Wm. 
T. Robinson, September 7, 1873, when the Public 
Spirit commenced its career on a sheet twenty-four 
by twenty-eight inches in size, and a few years there- 
after it was enlarged to its present dimensions. It is 
published every Saturday, and has now attained its 
eleventh year with a good circulation. From a few 
numbers of The Literary Chronicle we ascertain that 
in 1841 the following persons were in business in 
Hatboro' : Lukens Wakefield and David Titus, coach 
and house-painters ; Abraham Haslett, smith ; Hiram 
Reading, store; Charles Wakefield, tailor ; G. W. Gil- 
bert, wheelwright ; H. N. Smith, boot and shoemaker; 
and 0. I. Search, job printing. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church was the first 
erected in the place. The corner-stone was laid Sep- 
tember 8, 1836, on which occasion Rev. David Bar- 
tine preached ; it was dedicated May 22, 1837. It was 
a plain stone edifice, forty by fifty feet in dimensions, 
and the parsonage was built at the expense of Joseph 
and Deborah Lehman, and by them presented to the 
congregation. The church cost two thousand seven 
hundred dollars and the parsonage two thousand one 
hundred dollars. Mr. Lehman diedNoveml)er 11, 1845, 
aged eighty-one years and Deborah, his wife, April 4, 
1841, aged seventy-four, both being interred under one 
large flat stone beside the church. In 1879 the congre- 
gation determined on rebuilding it after a Gothic de- 
sign, to which a steeple is attached. The lot of ground 
contains about one and a half acres, is neatly inclosed 
and well-shaded. The building and grounds are kept 
in neat order and are an ornament to the town. It 
is called Lehman Chapel, and is situated on the west 
side of York Avenue, but a short distance above 
the Pennypack bridge. Rev. M. A. Day was ap- 
]>oiiited to this charge in March, 1883, as successor to 
Rev. Peter Cox. On the tombstones in the grave- 
yard are found the names of Wood, Murray, Wil- 
son, Bisbing, Eisenbrey, Meyers, Moore, Kenderdine, 
Sutch, Wakefield, Cline, Mottershead, Stewart, Ben- 



ninghoff, Arnold, Fislier, Coar, Chilcott, Tudor, Em- 
erson, Perry, King, Bower, Fesmire, Torpin, Bush, 
Sisty, Beans, Goentner, Maxwell, Christopher and 
McDowell. 

The Baptist Church is located on the east side of 
York Avenue, near the upper part of the town. It is 
of stone, forty by sixty feet in dimensions, and sur- 
mounted by a spire ninety feet high. The congre- 
gation was (U'ganized in September, 1835, and held 
worship in Loller Academy until the erection of the 
building. The corner-stone was laid September 5, 
1839, and the church was dedicated January 16, 1840, 
and cost eleven hundred dollars. In 1855 it wasdeemcd 
insufticient for the accommodation of the worshipers 
and the present more commodious edifice was erected 
at an expense of upwards of four thousand dollars. 
At the laying of the corner-stone. May 22nd of that 
year, the Rev. Daniel Dodd preached. The pastors 
in charge from the beginning have been Rev. William 
Maule, J. P. Walton, Mathew Semple, J. J. Baker, 
Samuel J. Creswell, Lewis Smith, Theophilus Jones, 
George Hand from May, 1852, to January 1, 1862 ; 
Thomas R.Taylor, July, 1862, until his death, in April, 
1863; William S. Wood, from the autumn of 1863 to 
about the close of 1867; Isaac C. Wynn, Fetiruary 8, 
1868, to June, 1870; George Bowman, September, 1870, 
to April, 1879; I. Blanchard Hutchinson, September 
1879 to the present time. About one hundred and eighty 
members belong to the congregation, to which are 
also attached four Sunday-schools, with thirty teachers 
and two hundred and twenty scholars. The church 
premises comprise upwards of two acres of ground, on 
which is a two-story stone parsonage and a sexton's 
house. The entrance to the church is approached 
through a fine, shady avenue of maples. The grave- 
yard is to the rear and is of ample size. On the 
numerous stones around are found the names of 
Fretz, Bitting, Martin, Scott, Lester, Sutch, Yerkes, 
Craven, Lukens, Search, Johnson, Meredith, Snyder, 
Haslet, Kimbell, Vanartsdalen, Booskirk, Rover, 
Margerum, Stockdale, Robbins, Lower, Dean, Taylor, 
Hill, Beans, Ashton, Swartz, McNair, Baine, JIarple, 
James, Hay, Ilobensack, Evans, Morgan, Humphreys, 
Davis, McDowell, Mathew and Eisenbrey. 

The cemetery is located on the north liank of the 
Pennypack, to the east of York Avenue. The grounds 
comprise about twenty-one acres. In 1882 a two- 
story house was built for the residence of the super- 
intendent, and a chapel and gateway erected of stone. 
The interments up to October 1, 1883, have numbered 
ninety. The cemetery association was organized in 
1876 and incorporated March 17, 1877. A street ha.s 
since been opened along its whole northern boundary 
rendering it convenient of approach from several 
directions. The ground is elevated and ascends with 
sufficient slope from the stream to lie of easy drainage. 
The whole has been inclosed and hands')mely divided 
into sections and plots fronting on its several avenues 
and walks that extend in various directions. Thousrh 



BUKOUGH OF HATBOliO'. 



725 



but a comparatively few years have elapsed since 
this cemetery was laid out, yet numbers have 
availed themselves of its privileges in purchasing lots, 
as may be seen by the graves of those since buried 
here, ornamented with flowers and neat tombstones 
and railings around. A stroll here atlbrds a 
view of a rich productive and improving country, 
diversified with beautiful scenery, adorned with com- 
fortable homes and inhabited by an intelligent 
people. In sight is Hucklebei-ry Hill, Edge Hill, 
Sampson's Hill, Horseheaven, the place of Lacey's 
defeat and the Pennypack which need only be men- 
tioned to revive legendary and historical associations. 

Robert Loller resided in the house now occupied 
l)y the jirincipal of the academy. In early life he 
was a school-teacher, and followed subsequently the 
business of surveying and conveyancing. He was mar- 
ried to Marj;, the daughter of Archibald McClean, of 
Horsham. In 1776 he was chosen one of the deputies 
of the county to frame and adopt a new State Con- 
stitution. He soon afterjoined the army of Washington, 
and was in the battles of Trenton, Princeton and (fer- 
mantown. He became a colonel in the army, a 
member of the library in 1787, member of Assembly 
and iissociate judge of the county for many years. 
He died October 21, 1808, aged sixty-eight years. 
Through his bequest the academy wa.s liuilt in 1811-12 
on his estate, and handsomely endowed. 

In the lower part of the present borough, adjoining 
Loller Academy, long resided Nathaniel B. Boileau, 
a native of the vicinity, and a son of Isaac Boileau. 
He was a graduate of Princeton College, a member of 
Assembly, in 1808 chosen Speaker of that body, and 
for nine years Secretary of State to Governor Simon 
Snyder. In 1830 he was appointed register of wills 
for the county. He was personally aujuainted with 
John Fitch, the steamboat inventor, who was a fre- 
quent visitor to his father's house. He was also the 
executor of .Judge Loller's estate, and superintended 
the erection of the academy. Hedied March 10, 1850, 
in his eighty-eighth-year. 

By a popular vote, in the spring of 1884, authorized 
by an act of Assembly passed the previous year, it was 
decided that a pavement seven feet wide be laid along 
each side of York Avenue. The borough paid the 
damages occasioned in carrying out this measure, in 
the removal of buildings, etc. AV^e cannot leave this 
subject without expressing a regard for the memory of 
George Kenderdine, the first burgtss of the town and 
a resident the third of a century. He was a native of 
Horsham, a millwright by profession and an ingenuous 
man, modest, unassuming and friendly in his inter- 
course and ever disposed for the advancement of the 
general good. Hedied February 8, 1883, at the close 
of an useful life. 

The Union Library. — An institution that was 
established one hundred and thirty years ago for the 
dissemination of useful knowledge in this county and 
has flourished ever since cjrtainly merits some notice 



in a historical work of this nature. At the date of 
its origin there could not have been above eight or 
nine public libraries in the thirteen colonies, of which 
two had been established in Philadelphia. To show the 
enterprise of its projectors at this time and the sparse- 
ness of population, Hatboro' could not have then 
contained above a dozen houses, and it is probable 
that in this respect it was not surpassed by any village 
within a distance of ten miles. In a country so new 
and unsettled, and at a time when book publishing 
was almost unknown here and the people compelled 
to import most of the books they did get, and at high 
prices, it certainly required some effort and pecuniary 
sacrifice, to establish such a library. We should 
remember, too, that it was at a gloomy period in 
the history of Pennsj'lvania ; war existed with the 
French and the Indians, and the latter were mas- 
sacring hundreds of the inhabitants within a distance 
of sixty miles. Indeed, so intent were they on its 
establishment that the first meeting called for the 
purjiose was only ten days after Braddock's defeat, 
which, with all the apjialling results, did not deter or 
prevent them from prosecuting the matter so vigor- 
ously that it soon became a success. 

The circumstances under which the library was 
founded are thus set forth in its proceedings: "Where- 
as dark ignorance, with all the concomitants that flow 
from it, did about this time prevail in these parts, and 
no general scheme on foot for the promotion of knowl- 
edge and virtue, this, by some of the thinking part of 
the people, was looked upon with concern, and some 
proposals were made for executing a public library of 
select books as the most likely way to expel those 
gloomy clouds of ignorance and o))en profaneness so 
much abounding, and give the gentle reader an agree- 
able taste for learning. However, nothing was done 
towards the formation thereof until the beginning of 
the summer of 1755, when the same came to be seri- 
ously considered on the 19th of July, when a meeting 
of conference was held on the premises by the Rev. 
Charles Beatty, Rev. Joshua Potts, John Lukens and 
Joseph Hart, when a plan for establishing the same 
was unanimously agreed upon. Public notice was 
then given to all jiersons willing or desirous to pro- 
mote said library that they should meet at David 
Rees', at ye Crooked Billet, the second day of August, 
for establishing the same," on which occasion the 
plan was read and approved and signed l)y the several 
members, who were required to meet the first Satur- 
day in November to choose officers and make their 
first j)ayment. 

The "Instrument of Partnership," as it was called, 
was signed by Charles Beatty, Joshua Potts, Jonathan 
Du Bois, Joseph Hart, John Lukens, Isaac Hough, 
David Rees, David Davis, William Loufburrow, 
John Thomas, John Watts, Josejih Dilworth, Abel 
Dungan, Peter Lukens, Thomas Potts, Samuel Swift, 
Joseph Dungan, Silas Yerkes, John Jarret, Daniel 
Thomas, John Shoemaker, Samuel Irwin, Isaac 



720 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Shoemaker, Jacob Cadwallader, Benjaniiu Powers, 
James Vansant, Peter Graven, Job Lancaster, Nathan 
Bewly, Clement Dungan, Samuel Shoemaker, John 
Bartolet, Alexander Edwards, John Jones and Josejih 
Gilbert, who may therefore be considered the original 
members and founders of the same. The number is 
thirty-five, — certainly quite a favorable beginning, — 
and the residence of each was probably within a dis- 
tance of four miles of Hatboro'. There is no doubt 
that the aforesaid list composed the most intelligent 
and respectable persons of the neighborhood and, as 
far as we know, they were all holders of real estate. 

The Instrument of Partnership states the title to be 
" the Union Library Company of Hatbourrough, in 
the Manner of Moorland, in the county of Philadelphia, 
in the Province of Pennsylvania;" that it was agreed 
upon " The Second day of August, in the Twenty- 
ninth year of the Reign of our Sovereign, Lord George 
the Second, by the Grace of God, of Groat Britain, 
France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, 
etc." It was thereby ordered that theyearly meetings 
should be held on the first Saturday in November, 
the first payment for each member to be twenty shil- 
lings, and from thence forward at every annual meet- 
ing ten shillings, "and no less, it being for the pur- 
chasing a collection of books and defraying all other 
necessary charges of said library, and for no other use 
whatever," the directors to have the charge of all 
the company's eft'ects, affairs and the buying of books 
and general management of the library, for which 
purpose they were to meet every three months. The 
library was to be ojien on every other Saturday after- 
noon, commencing with the yearly meeting, and no 
book was permitted to be taken out if under a quarto 
in size longer than four weeks, if larger from eight to 
twelve weeks. Section 16th contains this provision : 
" Provided always that no supidement, addition or 
article whatsoever shall be made or become in force 
which may divide or alienate the books and effects of 
said library company aforesaid, but forever, and from 
time to time to be and remain the undistinguishable 
property of the members of the Union Library Com- 
pany from time to time being, according to the true 
intent of this our present Instrument of Partnership." 

At the aiinual meeting held November 1, 175.'), ,Iohn 
Jarret, Samuel Erwin and Joseph Hart were elected 
directors, William Loofbourrow, secretary, and Daniel 
Thomas, treasurer. At the directors' meeting held on 
December 19th the sum of £44 7s. was given in 
charge to the Rev. Charles Beatty, who was directed to 
send the catalogue of books ordered to the stationer 
in London, who was to secure the same. At this 
meeting a gift of four pounds was received from Hon. 
Lawrence Growdon, £1 7«. from John Lukens, and 
one pound from John Ross, Esq. At tlic meeting of 
the directors, held August 14, ITotJ, announcement 
was made that the books sent for had safely come to 
hand, and were placed in a room in Mr. Potts' house, 
where they would be delivered for the use of the 



members. In August, 1757, John Lukens was author- 
ized to make a jiurchase of books to the extent of ten 
pounds, which were bought on the following Novem- 
ber 5th. On this occasion £19 19.<. 6d. were given to 
Mr. Beatty for an additional purchase in London, 
" which he was ordered to get insured." These were 
received October 24, 1758, and were found to be " much 
damaged on shipboard from water." At the meeting 
held February 10, 1759, the secretary was permitted 
to hire out books, the charge for large folios being 
eighteen pence, quartos one shilling, and all smaller 
volumes sixpence. This year theyearly payments, 
loans and fines amounted to £13 lO.s. The secretary, 
Joshua Potts, was allowed one pound for the use of 
the room and attendance. May 10, 1700, books were 
purchased of Charles Beatty to the amountof £6 7s., 
and as he was going to England, he was requested to 
make an additional purchase there. Labels were 
ordered to be printed and placed in the books. 

Joseph (ialloway hiving presented four volumes 
through the hands of Joseph Hart, the directors, in 
return, sent him their thanks, wherein they say " you 
may depend not only on our endeavour to perpetuate 
the utility of this institution, but the memory of all 
its benefactors also." .lanies Young, of Philadelphia, 
desired to know through his friend, John Erwin, the 
full value of a share in the library. This was rated at 
£3 Wk. The payments, loans and fines November 7, 
17(>1, amounted to £14 10s. 9d. David Rees made 
the generous ofler that for ten shillings he would give 
a year's attendance as librarian and do the advertising, 
on condition that the directors speedily secure a book- 
case for the books, which they consented to do. In 
the fall of 1762 a catalogue was prepared, from which 
we learn that the library contained one hundred and 
twenty-five works, comprised in two hundred and 
thirty-nine volumes, and had cost £124 13-s. 2d., of 
which amount £3 S.f. Id. had been paid for freight 
and insurance from England. David Rees having 
died May 31st of this year, aged forty-nine years, the 
books were removed in November to the house of 
Jacob Tomkins, the secretary. A handsome dona- 
tion of books having been made in November, 1763, 
by Dr. Thomas Gra-me and Elizabeth, his daughter, 
ofCxrieme Park, thanks were returned therefor. 

The newly-printed catalogue was brought in by the 
directors August 4, 1768, from which we learn that the 
library now contained two hundred works, in four 
hundred and sixty-one volumes. Du Hamel's " Hus- 
bandry," the gift of Hon. Thomas Penn, was de[)osited 
in the library May 5,1770. February 22, 1771, the 
forfeited share of John Watts was sold at puldic sale, 
and purchased by Arthur Watts, of Southampton, for 
three pounds, being equivalent to eight dollars of our 
present currency. David Hall, of Philadelphia, was 
paid £22 6s. Sit. for books purchased from him. 
November 2, 1776, the company met and chose for di- 
rectors Isaac Cadwallader, Daniel Longstreth and 
Abraham Lukens; Daniel Thomas, secretary and 



BOROUGH OF HATBOliO'. 



7J7 



Jacob Tdinkins, treasurer. It was agreed to omit the 
anuual payment, and as David Kennedy liad frener- 
ously offered the company the use of a room in his house 
for one year, the offer wasthanlifully accepted. May 3, 

1777, a locl^ was secured to the room and given in cliarge 
of Isaac Longstretli. It ajipears from November, 

1778, for one year the directors held no quarterly 
meetings. In November of this year John Fitch be- 
came a member. November 6, 1779, the company 
taking into consideration the depreciation of the cur- 
rency, think that the fines on delinquent members are 
too small and therefore appoint a committee to regu- 
late and fix the same according to tlie currency. In 
the spring of 1780 the librarj' was moved to the house 
of William Wilson and placed under his charge. The 
committee having neglected to regulate and fix the 
fines, it was ordered 'that they be paid in specie or in 
other money equivalent to the depreciation. June 14, 
1783, lluiuphrey Waterman was employed to alter the 
shelves on purpose to accommodate the books. Mrs. 
Ferguson made a donation of fifty volumes to the 
company, valued at £18 18s., for which the secretary 
was directed to return thanks. 

In 1787 the library was incorporated by an act of 
Assendjly, and a second catalogue prepared, in which 
are mentioned two hundred and ninety-five works in 
si.x hundred and twenty volumes. The annual pay- 
ments November 1, 1788, amounted to £3G 8s. lid. 
Up to February 3, 1787, eighty-five had been received 
as members, who had signed the Instrument of Part- 
nership, and we herewith present a list of their names 
in the order they were received, omitting those men- 
tioned as its founders, — Benjamin Lukens, James 
Spcnc'r, John Bond, Moses Cherry, William Van- 
sant, Titus Yerkes, John Johnson, William Folwell, 
Evan Lukens, Thomas Hallowell, Abraham Lukens, 
James Scout, Peter Lukens, Abel Morgan, Daniel 
DuDgan, Jonathan Jarret, James Young, Daniel 
Longstreth, Josiah Hart, John Limgstreth, Isaac 
Longstreth, Jacob Tomkins, Jesse Lukens, Daniel 
Thomas, Amos Watson, John Hart, Evan Lloyd, 
Isaac Cadwallader, Joseph Longstreth, Arthur Watts, 
John Folwell, Mordecai Thomas, Robert Anderson, 
H. Hugh Fergus'in, Joseph Lukens, Clement Dungan, 
James Ogilbee, Seneca Lukens, Stephen Yerkes, Jolin 
Hough, John Jarret, John Fitch, Isaac Hough, Jr., 
Joseph Folwell, William Vanhorne, Archibald Mc- 
Clean, Nathaniel Irwin, Abraham Duffield, John 
Shoemaker, Abel Marple, Isaac Leech, John Hough, 
William Todd, Thomas Hough, William Crawford 
and Robert Loller. 

Nathan Holt, a native and resident of Horsham, 
who died in 1848, in his eighty-fourth year, donated 
most of bis property for the benefit of the library com- 
pany. He had been a member since 1791, and 
stated, not long before his death, that for most of his 
knowledge he was indebted to this institution. The 
amount realized was five thousand eight hundred 
dollars, whereof three thousand eight hundred dollars 



was applied to the erection of a new and more com- 
modious building, completed in 1849, and the balance 
invested and the income- applied to the purchase of 
books. It is a neat and classic stone structure of the 
Doric order, designed liy John Sloan, of Philadelphice, 
and its erection was superintended by the late Joseph 
B. Yerkes, who was appointed fiir the purpose. The 
lot of one acre on which it stands was purchased from 
Robert Radclitt' in November, 1848, for the sum of 
four hundred dollars, and the books removed to the 
new building in March, 1850, when the former one was 
directed to be sold. In commemoration of its centen- 
nial, in 1855, a committee was appointed, consisting 
of Charles H. Hill, William J. Buck and David New- 
port, for its due observance, but, fnmi the conditions 
imposed on them, their plan could not be carried into 
effect, and in consequence only a brief mention was 
made thereof in the minutes. 

The library contains at present upwards often thous- 
and volumes and the association numbers one hundred 
and forty-six members. The directors are A.L. Philips, 
Edward Reading and John B. Carrell, with Mrs. Jane 
E. Carr, librarian. Theseventh and last catalogue was 
printed in 1874, a duodecimo of one hundred and 
eighty-eight pages. The annual income now amounts 
to about four hundred dollars. The membership in 
1857 was ninety-eight; in 1861, one hundred and 
five; and in 1876, one hundred and thirty -six. By 
an act of Assembly, passed in 1852, the house and lot 
are exempt from taxation, except for State purposes. 
Among the rare and valuable works on its shelves 
may be mentioned forty-one volumes printed between 
the years 1593 and 1730, and one hundred and thir- 
teen volumes relating to the history of America 
printed before 1800. The formation of a cabinet of 
curiosities was commenced in 1857, and it now num- 
bers upwards of four hundred objects in the several 
departments of antiquities, mineralogy, botany, ento- 
mology and ichthyology, and which it is hoped will 
steadily keep increasing. It is considerably the old- 
est library in the county, and, with only one recent 
exception, is still the largest. That it has been the 
means for upwards of a century and a quarter of 
diffusing considerable information to those who have 
availed themselves of its advantages there can be no 
question. An institution of this nature flourishing 
so long through voluntary efforts speaks well for the 
intelligence of the neighborhood. 

Loller Academy. — Robert Loller resided in the 
house that has so long been occupied by the principal 
of the academy. He was the son of Robert and 
Grace Loller, and was probably born in Horsham. 
In early life he was a school-teacher, and followed 
the business of surveying and conveyancing, which 
must have impressed him with the importance of 
education. During the Revolution he became a colo- 
nel in the army, a member of the library in 1787, a 
member of Assembly and an associate judge of Mont- 
gomerv Countv for manv vears. In 1805 we find him 



r28 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



assessed for fourteen acres of land, a horse and a cow. 
Being afflicted with a painful malady, he was taken to 
Philadelphia, where he died under treatment October 
^1, 1808, aged sixty-eight years, his wife surviving 
him only a short time, leaving no children. He had 
made a will, dated June 4th of that year, in which 
after leaving small legacies to his brothers, sister and 
several nieces and nephews, twenty pounds were 
directed to be paid for the use of a room for the Hatboro' 
I>ibrary, fifty pounds to the Norristown Academy; 
the remainder of his estate he bequeathed "untoN. B. 
Boileau, his heirs, assigns, etc., forever in trust for 
tlie only use, intent and purpose o erect a suitable 
building for an academy or seminary of learning. 




I.OLLEK ACADfZ.MY. 

wliich shall be called by my name, either on my own 
land or elsewhere, provided the same be within one 
mile of the centre of Hatboro', and on such place as 
he may think most suitable, and after defraying the 
expenses of erecting the said building, direct the 
residue of the incomes and profits of my estate, real 
and personal, for the purpose of keejiing up said 
building in repair and j'aying the salaries of such 
teacher or teachers as the trustees of .said institution 
may from time to time employ, and for no other use, 
intent or purpose whatsoever, and in order tliat the 
said beiiuest herein before made for the purpose of 
establishing the said academy or seminary of learn- 
ing may be secured and peri)ctuated, and for that 
])urpose forever, I will ortler it to be incorporated as 
soon as convenient, and hereby nominate, constitute 
and ai)point N. H. Boileau executor of this, my last 
will and testament, hereby giving and granting unto 
him full power and authority to execute the same." 



We see by the aforesaid extract that his near 
neighbor, the Hon. Nathaniel B. Boileau, was in- 
vested with full authority in carrying out the re- 
quirements of the will. After this lapse of time there 
is not a doubt that he faithfully and honestly per- 
formed all the important duties assigned him ;is 
executor by his deceased friend, and who, in addi- 
tion, was serving as Secretary of State under Governor 
Snyder. The building for the academy was com- 
menced in 1811 and finished the following year. Nine 
trustees were assigned to the charge of it, to be elected 
annually in December by the patrons of the schools 
held therein. On March 14, 1812, they held their 
first meeting, appointing George Murray principal of 
the educational department. The academy was built, 
at a cost of upwards of eleven thousand dollars, on 
a portion of Judge Loller's estate, and within a hun- 
dred yards of his residence. It was incorporated by 
an act of Legislature February 12, 1812, and was at 
that time the thirty-fifth academy chartered since the 
settlement of Pennsylvania. It is a substantial two- 
story stone edifice, sixty -one by forty-two feet, stand- 
ing on a commanding site, and from a distance its 
cupola attracts the attention of the traveler. The clock 
was made by Isaiah Lukens, an ingenious mechanic, 
of Horsham, but has been out of rejiair now for 
some time. On a final settlement of the estate, after 
the cost for building, there remained an annual in- 
come from the endowment for its .support, amounting 
to two hundred and eighty-three dollars, — certainly 
a handsome sum for this period, calculated, if judi- 
ciou.sly exiiended in tlie extension of knowledge, to 
greatly benefit the neighborhood. 

< )n the erection of the academy there may have 
l)een five school-houses in Moreland township, one 
near Hatboro' and another near the present Mor- 
gan's mill, also, within three miles, one at Horsham, 
one in Warminster and another on the Welch road, 
by the Upper Dublin line. The one near Hatboro' 
stood on the north side of Byberry road, nearly half 
a mile east of the village. It was a small stone 
structure, supposed to have been built about 1730, 
where N. B. Boileau informed us he had first been to 
school in 1768. On account of the academy, it was 
now deemed unnecessary, and by an act of March 12, 
1812, N. B. Boileau, Thomas Montanye and Gove 
Mitchell were authorized to sell it, with the lot of 
ground pertaining thereto. The proceeds were appro- 
priated, one-half to the academy and the other to the 
erection of a new school-house on the land of Isaac 
Pickering, a mile east of Hatboro', on the county line, 
near the intersection of the Newtown road. George 
Murray remained principal of the academy until 
March 27, 1814, when Jared Schofield was elected 
his successor, who was succeeded, August 15, 1815, by 
(iiles McDowell, who retained the i)osition into 1818, 
when the Rev. Robert Belville became his successor 
until July 12, 1819, when Nathaniel Furman received 
it, followed, April 4, 1825, by Culeb Frazicr, then 




^^^i^uis^^ 



BOROUGH OF HATBORO'. 



729 



ill October, by John McNair, who served until Decem- 
ber 15, 1828, then Benjamin Shoemalier to May 5, 
1833, thence by Walter Hibbs to December 13, 1834, 
then by William M. Hough to December 21, 1834, 
who was succeeded by Hugh Morrow. In addition to 
the ordinary branches, all the aforesaid taught the 
Greek and Latin languages and the higher mathema- 
tics. Instructions were also sometimes given in 
French and drawing. 

Of the aforesaid principals, but three were person- 
ally known to the writer. George Murray was a 
Scotchman by birth, and, we presume, not long after 
leaving here settled in Doylestown, where he kept a 
boarding and day-school for boys in 1833 and, likely, 
on down to about 18(50. He was regarded as a g<iod 
teacher, partly deaf, and spoke with a decided Scottish 
accent. He saved sufficient money to buy himself a 
farm in the v^jcinity of Doylestown, on which he 
removed and continued until his death, but a few 
years ago, having attained nearly a century in years. 
John McNair, who was married to a sister of the late 
Captain John W. Yerkes, of Hatboro', afterwards 
removed to the present village of Abington, where he 
successfully established a boarding and day-school for 
boys, which, we believe, he continued there for some 
ten or fifteen years. He was afterwards elected clerk 
of the courts of Montgomery County, and twice a 
nicndjer of Congress. About 18.56 he removed to 
Virginia and settled upon a farm in the immediate 
vicinity of the Bull Run battle-ground, where he 
died somewhere about 1862, or in the midst of the 
war. 

An act was jiasscd by the Assenildy .hine 30, 1836, 
establishing public schools throughout the State, by 
which every township was made a school district. 
The provisions of this act left it to the voters of the 
township whether or not they would accejtt the com- 
mon school system, by which the schools should receive 
an annual apjiropriation from the State, with power 
to raise by ta.xation a sum sufficient to make them, 
free to all, and to be kept open as long as the direc- 
tors thought proper. Moreland township, under its 
provisions, became a non-accepting district, and the 
old system was continued, by which the trustees .of 
every school selected their own teachers and the 
])arents paid the teachers so much per day or quarter 
for the schooling of their children, and a small sum 
was annually raised by taxation to pay for the educa- 
tion of those whose parents could not defray the 
expense. On the Uth of April, 1848, an act was 
passed extending the school system over the entire 
State, and on the 3d of July following the school direc- 
tors, acting under the said law, put the same into 
operation by ths opening of five schools for six 
uKjuths and ending by the close of the school year, 
June 1, 1849. From arrangements thus made 
Mr. Morrow combined the public school with his 
own, which he taught for about six years, having on 
his list from eighty to one hundred and ten pupils, 



when the former was separated and taught in another 
part of the academy, under the superintendence of 
Edwin S. Ritchie. He continued to conduct the 
private and classical department successfully down 
to his resignation, in 1865. 

As a teacher, few can be found who have had more 
experience than Hugh Morrow. At the early age of 
sixteen he became an assistant in the Milton 
Academy, under the charge of the Rev. David 
Kirkpatiick. He has also taught at Alton, 111., 
and other places. Of LoUer Academy he was the 
principal teacher in charge for almost a quarter of a 
century, iu which period alone he probably here 
gave instruction to some two thousand pui)ils, the 
survivors of whom are now widely scattered, and no 
doubt will long hold in regard their now venerable 
preceptor. He has had the satisfaction of seeing some 
of those that he summoned to their studies with 
the old Academy bell advanced to honor in the army 
and navy, as well as in the legal, clerical and medical 
professions and in other pursuits of life. His fellow- 
citizens have not been unmindful of his services, for 
on the incorporation of Hatboro', in 1871, he was 
elected a justice of the peace, and twice since made 
burgess. Although now in his seventy-seventh year, 
we are gratified to say age appears to have touched 
him lightly. 

The jjublic schools for this borough continue to be 
held in the academy, and in 1875 were reported to 
have one hundred and sixty-seven pupils. For the 
school year ending June 1, 1882, the average daily 
attendance for ten months was stated to be seventy- 
nine. The present principal of the grammar depart- 
ment is A. R. Place, who is assisted in the secondary 
by Sue H. Fulmor and in the primary by Emma 
Mcintosh, William H. Walker having been the 
previous principal. Few places of similar size, for 
nearly a century, have had such advantages of receiv- 
ing and diffusing knowledge as Hatboro' — we mean 
through its LoUer Academy and Library, and thus 
raising a higher intellectual standard of culture among 
its population than would have otherwise been ex- 
pected. Reflecting, too, upon the numerous debating 
societies, lyceums, lectures and instructive exhibitions 
that have been so long held within its building, one 
can not calculate the extent of their influence upon the 
intelligence and morality of the people. Then let the 
source thereof, Judge Loller's bequest, be kept in 
grateful remembrance as a noble benefaction. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



WILLIAM KRIDER liOEXTXER. 

William Krider Goentner, the oMest son of John L. 
and Maria Goentner, was born in Philadelphia Octo- 
ber 24, 1814. His father was a native of Brcslau 



;iO 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Prussia, and his mother the daughter of Wm. Krider, 
who owned a farm on the north side of Market Street, 
the farm-house in wliich they resided being directly 
opposite to wliere Jolin Wanamalcer's store now 
stands. 

Soon after liis birth his father removed to South 
Carolina. The boy early evinced a fondness for 
study, and while quite small began his education in a 
log school-house. He made such progress that he 
was sent to a school in Charleston, where he was 
greatly praised by his teacher for his aptitude in ac- 
tjuiring a knowledge of language. 

After his father'.s death, from yellow fever, his 
mother returned to Philadelphia, where, at the age of 
fourteen, he became a member of St. John's Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church. At the age of eighteen he 
was licensed to exhort ; during his boyhood his most 
intimate friend was Abel Stevens, who has since 
gained a world-wide reputation as ))reacher, writer 
and historian. Together they used to visit constantly 
and exhort at the House of Refuge, the Almshouse 
and the jails. 

On the day he was twenty-one he went to Norris- 
town, where a little band were struggling to organ- 
ize De Kalb Street Methodist Episcopal Church. Here 
he founded a Sunday-school, added to the small 
society nearly a hundred members and had the church 
built and dedicated. From there he went to Fair- 
mount, where he spent a very successful year; the re- 
vival that repaid his efforts is still remembered and 
talked of by the older members of the church. He 
was then sent to Lehman's Chajiel, Hatboro', where 
at that time there were five members. Mr. Lehman, 
a wealthy old gentleman, had built the church; Mr. 
Goentner dedicated it, and during his pastorate added 
fifty members. 

His next appointment was an old-fashioned Jletho- 
dist circuit centring at Stroudsburg, but with twenty- 
four different preaching-points each month. During 
the year he traveled five thousand miles over the 
mountains on horseback, and his rather delicate 
health became wonderfully improved. He acquired 
the habit of reading while his horse was in motion, 
and during clear weather almost always rode with his 
open book in hand. He had now completed the four 
years' course of study required by the Conference. 

Just before going to Bristol Circuit, his next field of 
labor, he was married to Miss Sarah T. Beans, the 
daughter of John and Martha Beans. Wm. Penn 
found her father's ancestors settled in this region 
when he came to Pennsylvania, and on her mother's 
side she was directly descended from Governor John 
Carver, one of Massachusetts' " Pilgrim Fathers." 
Bristol Circuit at that time included Doylestown and 
all the territ(ny between and around. 

A number of years of arduous toil (bllowcd; after 
fifteen years' labor as a Methodist minister, he found, 
because of his rapidly-growing family, some more 
lucrative employment to be a necessity. He accord- 



ingly left the ministry, and, although repeatedly urged 
in after years to do so, has never returned to the work. 
He then settled upon the farm near Hatboro', where he 
now resides, it being a part of the original " Beans 
tract." 

Of his family of twelve children, one son and one 
daughter died in infancy, and two daughters, one a 
remarkably precocious child, in early youth. His old- 
est son, after teaching a few years, became a farmer ; 
the other two are professional men, and his daughters 
are engaged in teaching. 

Mr. Goentner was one of the earliest movers in the 
temperance cause in the county, and has always been 
identified with it, having represented it for years in 
State and county conventions. He was one of the origi- 
nal founders of the Republican party in the county, 
and for many years a delegate to its conventions. 
For thirty-four years he has never missed an election, 
though never a candidate for any office. 

On first coming into the neighborhood he purch; sed 
a share in the Hatboro' Library, of which he has al- 
ways remained an active member, and despite his 
cares and each day's labor, is an indefatigable reader. 
Owing to his efforts the Revolutionary monument was 
erected on the "Crooked Billet" battle-field. He 
first proposed it, donated the lot for it and was elected 
president of the association, which office he has ever 
since held. 

Prior to 1800, during a numlier of years, an excel- 
lent lyceum tlnurished at Hatboro'; the debates were 
not^d thriiuglmut the neighboring counties. Many 
of the men whose names are recorded in these pages 
crossed swords with him in wordy combat in LoUer 
Hall, Hatboro'. 

Mr. Goentner adds another to the long list of 
names of men who have conquered their way through 
life by persevering efforts, having risen almost unaided 
from an orphan boy to be an honored, useful and be- 
loved citizen. 



JOHN B. JONES. 

John B. Jones is a native of Worcester County, 
Md., where he was born August 12, lS2r>. His 
parents, John and Nancy Bishop Jones, were both 
natives of Worcester County, Md., where they died 
when their son, John B., was about twelve years of 
age. At that tender age John B. was thrown upon 
the charity of a cold and heartless world, and appren- 
ticed to learn the trade of a shoemaker, a trade 
not exactly in accordance with his taste, and after 
serving three years and having learned the rudi- 
ments of the art, he resolved (in his own mind) 
that shoemaking was not, to him at least, the road 
to future greatness; therefore, without the usual 
formalities, Ibrever dissolved his connection with 
shoemaking and between nuister and servant, at least 
as far as he was concerned, and nuide his way up 
into the little State of Delaware. There he found 
emidoymcnt at various kinds of work until he was 



t 



BOllULUll UF HATBUllO'. 



731 



nineteen years of age, when he took another step 
northward and hinded in Phihidelphia, Pa. At tliat 
place he soon found employment, and from 1845 to 
1858 his occupation was that of a stage-driver. At 
first he drove on the route from Phihidelphia to 
Easton, Pa., by way of Doylestown, and all along this 
route, o'er hill and dale, could be heard his " wind- 
ing-horn " as he approached the wayaiile inns and 
post-offices. During this time he was employed by 
Jacob Peters, Sr., the old and, at that date, well- 
known mail contractor on many of the Pennsylvania 
routes. 

In due time he was transferred from the Philadel- 



first contract for a mail route was from Georgetown, 
Del., to Northampton, Va., a distance of one hundred 
and thirty miles. In 1858 he located in Hatboro', 
then Morelaud township, and purchased what is 
now the " Jones House," where he has for twenty- 
seven years acted well the part of " mine host " in 
one of the best-appointed hotels in Montgomery 
County. 

Upon his settlement in Hatboro' Mr. Jones became 
one of the substantial men of the town, and for his ur- 
bane and genial qualities, his honesty of purpose and 
uprightness of character and solid worth, is not sur- 
passed by any in the community. He has been hon- 




^^^-^><^^ to 




phia and Easton route to the old Swiftsure Line, run- 
ning between Philadelphia, Pa., and Flemington, 
N. J., where he remained the Jehu of the route till 
the palace-ear superseded the old stage-coach and 
monopolized the passenger traffic. During his career 
in the staging business he owned the Swiftsure 
Line, which he purchased in 1852, or soon after 
the death of Mr. Peters, and in June, 1860, sold 
the route, stock and fixtures. He has also been 
quite prominent amoug the mail contractors of the 
United States, owning several routes and parts of 
routes at the same time, and sub-letting them at a 
profit both to himself and the sub-contractor. His 



ored by his townsmen with the office of schodl direc- 
tor for five years ; trustee of the LoUer Academy for 
twenty years; member of the Town Council of the 
town of Hatboro', and treasurer of the same ; also 
one of the originators of the Hatboro' Cemetery Asso- 
ciation, and its treasurer since its organization. He 
was also one of the charter members of the W. K. 
Bray Lodge, No. 410, A. Y. M., of Hatboro', and its 
treasurer since its institution. 

He was married, in 1848, to Miss Harriet Shugard, 
of Philadelphia, Pa. They are the parents of nine 
children, eight of whom are living, viz.: John W., 
born February 6, 1850; Mary E., born October 3, 



732 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



1852 ; Ella D., born March 21, 1855 ; Leonora, born 
March 17, 1857; Harriet, born January 30, 1859; 
Paul, born February 28, 1860 ; Emma L., born De- 
cember 14, 1862 ; Angle B., born July 4, 1869. The 
four elder were born in Pliiladelpliia, and the four 
younger in Hatlwro', Montgomery Co., Pa. 



JOHN VAN PELT. 

John Van Pelt is a descendant of the pioneer of 
that name who came from Holland as early a.s 1750, 
and settled in Midwont, or Fiatbush, Long Island, 
and either himself or immediate descendants migrated 



land, and carried on the carpenter, cabinet, pump- 
making and undertaking business in connection with 
his little farm. 

The children of Thomas H. and Alice Van Pelt 
were as follows : 

Jose)>h C, born in 1820; married Elizabeth Ray, of 
Bucks County. 

Samuel P., born in 1830 ; married Adelaide Lukens, 
and died in 1882. 

Sarah Jane, born in 1833; married Charles Willard, 
of Bucks County. 

Thomas H. Van Pelt, Jr., born in 1835; married 
Wilbelmina Selna, of Bucks County. 




ikii^ ^o-uM> ukr" 



to Bucks County, Pa., from whence sprang the numer- 
ous Van Pelt families in this part of Pennsylvania, 
and even throughout the United States. 

Isaac, the grandfather of John Van Pelt, was born 
in Holland, and soon after bis arrival in this country 
located on a farm about half-way between Wiights- 
town and Penn's Park, Bucks Co., Pa. His children 
were Isaac, John, Thomas H , .lane, Nellie and Eliza. 

Of these children, Thomas H. was born in 1800 and 
married Alice, daughter of Jo.seph C. Campbell, of 
Bucks County, Pa. Alice Campbell was born in Snle- 
bury, Bucks Co., Pa., in 1804, and is still living. 
Thomas owned a small farm of twenty-ii.x acres of 



Mary Ann, born in June, 1836 ; married .lohn 
Everitt, of Bucks County. 

John, born December 18, 1837. 

William Henry, born in 1842 and died when four- 
teen years of age. 

Eliza Ellen, born June 14, 1845; married Miijoi*, 
Joseph B. Roberts, of Newtown, Bucks Co. T I 

Louisa, born in 1848; unmarried. 

John Van Pelt, son of Thomas H. and Alice Vaiu . 
Pelt, was born in Buckingham township, Bucks CoJI 
Pa., December, 1837, and at the age of seventeen years 
was apprenticed to learn the trade of a carriage-maker 
with Israel B. Matthews, of Centreville, Bucks Co., 



BOROUGH OF JENKINTOWN. 



733 



aDd served five years. He then worked as a journey- 
man for three years, then rented the shop in which 
he had learned his trade, and carried on the carriage- 
making business for two years, when he sold out and 
went to Philadelphia, where he worked as a journey- 
man for five years. He then went to Pineville, Bucks 
Co., Pa., where he built a large carriage-factory, and 
for five years conducted a large and successful busi- 
ness, ai the end of which time he sold out and assumed 
the management of a carriage-factory at Centreville, 
which he subsequently purchased, and continued the 
business on his own account for two years, and again 
sold out. In the autumn of 1874 he, with his brother, 
Samuel P., came to Hatboro' and built the hardware- 
store and dwelling where he has since resided. After 
a copartnership of fifteen months he purchased his 
brother's interest in the property, and associated with 
himself his brcrther-in-law, Joseph B. Roberts, who, 
after fifteen months' partnership, purchased Mr. Van 
Pelt's interest in the property. Mr. Van Pelt was 
then in the dry-goods and notion trade for nearly two 
years, when he purchased of Mr. Roberts liis interest 
in the hardware business, which he has since eon- 
ducted with signal success. In the autumn of 1884, 
Mr. Van Pelt added a large stock of groceries to his 
hardware trade, which he has thus far found a profit- 
able investment. Mr. Van Pelt has been honored by 
the voters of Hatboro' with the oftice of burgess of the 
borough for two terms, and in the sjiring of 1883 was 
elected a member of the Borough Council, which posi- 
tion he still hokls. He is a member of Bristol Lodge, 
No. 25, Free Masons, and of Girard Mark Chapter 
214. Mr. Van Pelt has in his possession a gold watch 
formerly owned by the Marquis de J^afayette, which 
is highly prized by its possessor, and connected witb 
which is (juite an interesting history. 

Mr. Van Pelt was married, in the autumn of 1882, 
to Mrs. Martha H. Sprogell, of Hatboro'. Mrs. Van 
Pelt was born in Virginia in 1842, and when but a 
few months old her ]«irents moved to Delaware and 
subsequently to Maryland. She is of English-French 
parentage and a highly-educated and accomplished 
lady, endowed with a literary ability second to no 
lady in Montgomery County. Her maternal grand- 
father, Ralph Melbourne, descended directly from 
Lord Melbourne, of England. Her paternal grand- 
father was Benona de Hoziea, a noted Frenchman 
and bosom friend of the Marquis de Lafayette. Her 
father's name was also Benona de Hoziea, an uncle 
of George Alfred Townsend (Gath). At the age of 
fifteen years she, with her cousin, George Alfred 
Townsend, edited a small paper, and since her resi- 
dence in Hatboro' she has been the editress and life 
of the Public Spirit, a large weekly published at that 
place. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

BOROUGH OF JENKINTOWN.i 

Thls borough was incorporated December 8, 1874, 
and all its territory, comprising an area of two hun- 
dred and forty-eight acres, taken from Abington 
township. Its extreme length from north to south is 
about three-fourths of a mile, and bounds Cheltenham 
township for over half of that distance. The main or 
business portion of the town is situated along York 
Avenue, opened through here as a highway from 
Philadelphia to the river Delaware in the fall of 1711, 
and turnpiked from the Rising Sun to Willow Grove 
in 1804. The station of the North Pennsylvania 
Railroad here, situated in tiie southwestern corner 
of the borough, ch)se to the Cheltenham line, is eight 
and one-tenth miles from Philadelphia, twenty-three 
and four-fifths from Doylestown, forty-six from Beth- 
lehem and eighty and three-tenlhs miles from New 
York. The road was opened for travel in ISoG and 
the branch to New York in May, 1876. A considerable 
amount of business is done here, as may be well sup- 
posed, it being the stopping-place for forty-four daily 
passenger-trains each way, and on Sundays nineteen. 
The scenery around this station is justly admired, the 
hills, woods and waters of the Tacony Creek giving it 
quite a romantic appearance. Upon arriving at tlie 
station the wonder of a stranger is justly excited as to 
the whereabouts of Jenkintown, as no such place is 
perceptible, it lying off nearly half a mile in an eas- 
terly direction. 

From its nearness to the city and unusual business 
facilities, as well as from its being surrounded by a fine 
and fertile section of country, abounding with fine 
springs of water, the place is rapidly improving and its 
real estate enhancing in value. The census of 1880 gave 
it eight hundred and ten inhabitants and the assess- 
ment of 1883 returned three hundred and five tax- 
ables, possessing property valued at six hundred and 
four thousand one hundred and thirty dollars. It 
contains five churches, a bank, two flour and feed, 
two stove, three drug, six merchandise, one notion, 
one tobacco, one confectionery and one shoe store. 
The public-school building is a one-story stone struc- 
ture, standing in the centre of a commodious lot at 
the corner of West and Cedar Avenues. Three 
schools are kept in it, and for the school year ending 
June 3, 1883, they were open ten months, with an aver- 
age daily attendance of one hundred and two scholars. 
Gordon, in his "Gazetteer of 1832," mentions Jenkin- 
town as containing thirty dwellings, two hotels and 
two stores. According to Lake's map, published in 
1860, it contained at that date fifty houses, two hotels, 
two stores and an Ei)iscopal Church. 

For its size, Jenkintown may be regarded as a place 
of churches, there being within a distance of two 

I By Wm. J. Buck. 



734 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



miles around it, seven additional houses of wor- 
ship, making in all twelve, belonging to seven differ- 
ent religious denominations. The first built in the 
place was the Epiacoi)al Church of Our Saviour, 
handsomely situated within a shady lawn on the east 
side of York Avenue. The congregation was organ- 
ized by the Rev. E. Y. Buchanan, of Oxford Church, 
who held services in Lyceum Hall in 1857. The 
church was opened for worship ,Iune 20, 1858, when 
the Rev. Orme B. Keith took charge as its first 
rector. The rectory was built in 1861, and the parish 
building in 186(i, both of stone. Mr. Keith resigned 
in March, 1870, and in April of the same year Rev. 
R. Francis Colton became rector. He died suddenly 
in July, 1880, and in the following December the 
Rev. Frederick Palmer, the present incumbent, re- 
ceived the charge. The i)resent number of communi- 
cants is one hundred and twenty. The church is a 
neat and substantial one-story brown sandstone 
structure, in the Gothic style, surmounted by a stone 
belfry. The property is valued at thirty thousaiid 
dollars and is free from all debts. 

The Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate 
conception, of which the Rev. J. J. Mellon is present 
pastor, is built of stone in the Italian style, two- 
stories high, and is located at the corner of \\'cst 
Avenue and Pleasant Street. It was erected in 1 860 ; 
dimensions, fifty-three by ninety-eight feet ; Christo- 
pher Lugar, builder. The congregation was formed 
and worship held for several years previously in 
Lyceum Hall. Services are held on Sunday at seven, 
eight and half-past ten a.m., and vespers at eight p.m. 
The Sunday-school meets at nine a.m. A two story 
stone parochial residence is attached to the church. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church property on West 
Avenue was originally the first public school-house 
built under the school law in Abington township. It 
was purchased by the congregation April 20, 1867, 
and after worshiping therein for several years was 
enlarged, in 1879, to thirty-six by thirty feet in dimen- 
sions. It is a plain one-.story stone structure standing 
within a fair-sized lot. The pastors who have served 
the church are as follows : Revs. A. J. Collom, J. A. 
Cooper, J. R. Bailey, M. Barnhill, Robert McKay, E. 
C. Yerkes, A. J. Collom, E. I. Townsend, W. H. 
Pickop and Rev. J. Bickley Burns, the present pastor. 
The Sunday-school has an average attendance of 
seventy-five scholars. 

Grace Presbyterian Church is situated on tlie east 
side of Y'ork Avenue, and is a handsome one-story 
stone structure in the Gothic style. The lot of ground 
was purchased in the spring of 1871 for two thousand 
three hundred dollars, having a front of one hundred 
and twenty-six feet and a depth of upwards of three 
hundred feet. The church was erected thereon at the 
expense of Mr. John Wanamaker, and was dedicated 
in September, 1872. Its membership in July, 1874, 
was stated to be ninety-three, comprising thirty-four 
families. The Sabbath-school was revived in August, 



1869, in Lyceum Hall, and the congregation was soon 
after formed by the Rev. S. T. Lowrie, of the Abington 
Church, who continued in the charge until August, 
1874. The Rev. L. W. Eckhard succeeded January 
1, 1875, followed by the Rev. J. H. Dulles as " mis- 
sionary assistant," April 17, 1877. Rev. Archibald 
Murphy was appointed in the spring of 1878 and 
remained for nearly two years, when he took charge 
of the Roxborough Church. The Sabbath-school con- 
tains at present about one hundred and sixty-five 
scholars. The Rev. Henry McKubbin has present 
charge. 

The Baptist Church is situated on a knoll at the 
corner of Walnut Avenue and Beechwood Street, 
commanding a magnificent view of the surrounding 
country. The lot of ground was presented for the 
purpose by William Pettit. It is a one-story stone 
building, in the Gothic style, thirty by sixty feet in 
dimensions. The congregation was organized in 1880 
by the Rev. Josiah Williams, with twenty-five mem- 
bers, and in the summer of 1883, had increased to 
forty-five, with eighty children in the Sunday-school. 
The corner-stone was laid June 23d, 188.3, and dedi- 
cated the 8th of November following, when the Rev. 
A. J. Shoemaker was ordained as pastor. The con- 
gregations of the five churches were all originally 
formed and held their worship in Lyceum Hall, on 
Y'ork Avenue, prior to the erection of their respect- 
ive houses of worship. It is a plain one-story stone 
building of modern size, erected in 1839, and designed 
cliieily for the promotion of useful knowledge. There 
is not a place of interment in the borough. 

TlieJenkintown National Bank was authorized to 
commence business by the comptroller of the currency, 
April 17, 1875, the subscriptions therefore having 
commenced on the 25th of January previous. Its 
original capital was ifiSOjOOO, increased July 6, 1876, to 
$70,000, and in January, 1884, to §100,000. The bank 
was opened for business in Masonic Hall, May 3, 1875, 
where it remained until the completion of the present 
building, March 14, 1880, which occupied a lot fifty- 
seven by two hundred and seven feet on York Avenue, 
the whole costing, with furniture, safes, etc., $10,700. 
The charter number of the bank is 2249. Samuel W. 
Noble is president and Andrew H. Baker cashier. 
The average individual deposits for 1883 exceeded 
$97,000. ■ I 

Masonic Hall is a large three-story stone building, ' 
the first story of which is designed for business pur- 
poses. The second story possesses a commodious 
concert and exhibition-room, to which is attached a 
stage, with drop-curtains, etc. Friendship Lodge 
of Free and Accepted Masons, No. 400, meet in the 
upper story. Peace and Love Lodge, of I. 0. O. F., 
No. 337 ; Jenkintown Lodge of Knights of Pythias, 
No. -176 and a division of the Sons of Temperance, 
No. 127, also hold meetings in the place. 

Besides possessing five churches and several public 
ludls, the promotion of literary facilities and useful 



BOROUGH OF JENKINTOWN. 



r35 



knowledge have not been neglected Ijy the residents 
iu and around Jenkintown. Abingtoii Library was 
founded here in 1803, and is now located in INIasonic' 
Hall, of which a history has been prepared to follow 
this article. In January, 1881. a lady of the neigh- 
hood .asked five gentlemen to serve as a board of 
directors lor a reading-room in the place, in behalf of 
which she offered to pay the rent of a suitable room 
for three years and supply the following periodicals : 
Scribner's Magazine, Nineteenth Century, Harper's 
Weekli), The Spectator, The Contemporary Review, 
Punch, The Scientific American, The Nation and the 
Fortnightly Review. Contributions in addition having 
been received from other persons, in February a room 
in Masonic Hall was rented, formerly occupied by the 
Jenkintown Bank, which was handsomely fitted up 
and opened to the public on the evening of February 
24, 1881. To tHie original list a considerable num- 
ber of magazines and newspapers have been added. 
Soon after its opeuing arrangements were made with 
the directors of Abington Library by which access 
was allowed to their books in the adjoining room. In 
connection with the same, and to extend its usefulness, 
several gentlemen and ladies residing in tlie vicinity 
gave a series of lectures on literary and scientific sub- 
jects. The directors of this laudable etlbrt are Fred- 
erick Palmer, president; A. H. Baker, treasurer; 
Joseph W. Hunter, secretary ; J. W. Ridpath and 
Charles Mather. 

The borough, as has been stated, was organized 
December 8, 1874. Marion Chalfan, the first burgess, 
served until March, 1876 ; Thomas P. Manypenny, 
second, served until March, 1879; John J. C. Harvey, 
third, served until March, 1884; M. L. Koliler, served 
until March, 188.5 ; J. H. Wheeler is the present in- 
cumbent. 

The earliest mention yet found of the name of this 
borough is on Nicholas Scull's map of the province, 
pn blished in 1759, wheveon it is called "Jenkens' Town," 
William Scull, on his map of 1770, denoting it as "Jen- 
kins." William Jenkins, the founderof the family, came 
from Wales, and we know that he at least resided in 
this vicinity in 1697, and took at that time an active 
part in promoting the erection of the Friends' Meet- 
ing-house. He purchased, June 17, 1698, from John 
Barnes a tract containing four hundred and thirty- 
seven acres, located on the present York road about 
half a mile north of the borough boundary. This 
property in 1712 was inhabited by his son Stephen, 
whom we know continued to reside thereon in 17.34, 
and had a son Phineas Jenkins, at this date residing 
near by. In the assessment of Abington for 1780 we 
find mentioned Phineas Jenkins, Sr., undoubtedly the 
former person, William, Lydia, a widow, and John and 
Jesse Jenkins, the latter probably brothers. We know 
that in 1779, Sarah Jenkins was licensed by the 
Court of Quarter Sessions to keep here a public-house, 
and herein we undoubtedly see how the name got to 
be applied, as this public-liouse may have been in 



the family and kept even several years before 1759. 
On inquiry it has been ascertained that this inn stood 
a few yards below the present Cottman House. 

All the laud comprised within the present limits of 
the borough, and surrgunding it in Abington town- 
ship, was originally taken up in 1684 by Sarah Fuller 
and John Barnes. The former's purchase contained 
two hundred and fifty and the latter's six hundred 
acres. It is probable that Sarah Fuller never resided 
in this vicinity. John Barnes and Joseph Phipps 
were among the earliest settlers. The fir.'-t highway 
up into this section from Philadelphia was the York 
road in 1711, beside which we know at said date 
Stephen Jenkins resided, wlio was one of the jurors 
that assisted in laying it out. The road from the 
present Fitzwatertown, by Weldon and through the 
borough to Abington Meeting-house, was laid out in 
1725. Thomas Fitzwater at this date carried on lime- 
burning at the former place. The aforesaid road now 
forms East and West Avenues. The road known as 
Washington Lane was confirmed from Gerniantown 
to the meeting-house in 1735, and now forms the 
eastern boundary of the borough. From the laying 
out of these early roads, we can perceive that at 
this period this section must have been taken 
up and pretty well settled. The great centre, bow- 
ever, appears to have been the Friends' Meeting-house, 
originally completed in 1700 and situated nearly half 
a mile east of the borough limits. 

The inn kept here in 1779 by Sarah Jenkins 
may have been the stand licensed to Stephen 
Meshon in 1787-88. By an act of Assembly passed 
March 31, 1797, the Third Election District was com- 
posed of the townships of Abington, Cheltenham and 
Moreland, which were required to vote at the public- 
house of William McCalla, which then stood on the 
present Cottman House property. Mr. McCalla, in 
connection with John Brock, .Joseph Hillman, James 
Burson, Charles Meredith, Charles Stewart, Alexander 
McCalla and Elijah Tyson, established a .semi-weekly 
line of stages from Philadelphia to Bethlehem, by way 
of Doylestown, in 1800, exchanging horses here, the 
fare through being $2.75. In January, 1807, Mr. 
McCalla advertised his property, from which we have 
obtained the following description : 

•' For stile, that well-known tavern-stand, sign of the • Barley Sheaf,' a 
large two-story stone house, four rooms on the front and seven on the 
second story, stabling sufficient for ninety-five horses, ice-house, new 
and convenient. The lot contains three acres, fronts on Ycu-lc road three 
hundred and sixty-six feet. A post-offi.:o is kept here, and two lines of 
stages stop at said inn." 

It appears that he rented out the stand from 1807 until 
1813, in the mean time keeping a store here. He now 
returned again to the inn, which he kept at least as 
late as 1818. Thomas Coughlin purchased the stand 
about this time. In the summer of 1825 he died, and 
it was offered at public sale the following October 25th, 
at which time mention is made of its sign being "the 
American Eagle," and that there was on the premises 
extensive sheds, stabling for sixty horses, a brick ten- 



t36 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ement and a blacksmith-shop. As it was not sold, we 
know that the widow, Edith Ooughlin, still kept it in 
the beginning of 1829. This stand was long owned 
and kept by the late William Cottnian, under the 
aforesaid name, until a recent time. 

Mr. McCalla, we know, was postnuister here 
in 1806, and was succeeded, in 18US, by Charles T. 
Hallowell, store-keeper, who retired in the spring of 
1812, when the former resumed the office and kept 
it to 1819, if not later, and was succeeded therein by 
Thomas Coughlin, and next by his widow. Mr. 
McCalla appears to have been an enterprising 
man. He was a member of Abington Presbyterian 
Church, where he lies buried, having died Decem- 
ber 19, 1850, in his seventy-eighth year. His wife, 
Jane, had preceded him December 15, 1836, in 
her sixty-fifth year. A horse company, for the 
recovery of stolen horses and bringing thieves to jus- 
tice, was organized at McCalla's house ]March 1, 1810, 
and is still in existence among the neighboring 
farmers, and holds its annual meetings at the same 
place. A public meeting was also held at that place, 
September 6, 1814, to aid the people of Philadelphia 
in the defense of their city. Joshua Tyson was 
chairman and Je.sse Dillon secretary. Another 
public-house was kept in Jenkintown in 1813 by 
Joseph Thomas, sign of the " Cross Keys." 'I'his stand 
was subsequently kept for some time by Jacob Buck 
as the "Green Tree," which was discontinued about 
1842. 

Joseph Iredell, in December, 1810, advertises a two- 
story house for sale, with a shoj) attached, in which 
he carried on saddle-making, a business that has now 
nearly disappeared in the county. Owing to the de- 
mand for houses in Philadelphia, in the spring of 1824 
a number of weavers removed out here. A passing 
traveler at this time writes that ■' the pleasant little 
village is crowded with manufacturers from the 
city, who, with their noisy looms, have established 
themselves in every corner where a little elbow-room 
could be found. Through this sudden irruption on 
the quiet habits of the villagers twenty houses more 
could readily find tenants in Jenkintown." The 
extensive works of the Wharton Switch Company are 
located near the railroad station, a short distance 
from the borough line. A further account is given 
in the article on Abington township. 

The Abington Library. — So little was actually 
done in bonk publishing before the Kevolutiou that 
not even a copy of the Knglish Bible was i)roduced 
in any of the colonies, it having been alone printed by 
John Eliot, of Massachusetts, in the Indian language^ 
and by Christopher Sour, of Germantown, in three 
editions in the German, the first in 1743. Books con- 
sequently had to be imported by order either for public 
or private use, as we find was done by the records of 
the Union Library of Hatboro' till the Revolution 
checked intercourse abroad. It is stated as one reason 
that no English Bible was [)rinted here in a population 



of nearly three millions, was that the British govern- 
ment would not have permitted it, this sole privilege 
having been vested in the University of Oxford. 

The principal inhabitants in and around the village 
of Jenkintown as early as February 19, 1803, assem- 
bled for the purpose of establishing a library there, 
and appointed John Morrison, Ebenezer Hickliug and 
William Johnson a committee for the purpose of pre- 
paring a code of by-laws and reporting the same at a 
meeting to be held at the public-house of William 
McCalla on the 3d of March following at three p.m. 
As adopted the board of officers was to consist of five 
directors, a treasurer and librarian, to be chosen an- 
nually. Payments of seventy-five cents were to be 
made by each member every six months. According 
to Article 2d, "Itshall be an unalterable rule in this 
constitution that no books of an atheistical, immoral 
or deistical tendency shall ever be admitted into this 
library, on any pretense whatever, and should at any 
time (notwithstanding this resolution) such books be 
introduced, it shall in that case be the duty of the 
librarian to stop their circulation, and give timely 
notice of the same to the society." 

The names of the orio;inal members were Ebenezer 
Hickling, Morris iMorris, Thomas Fletcher, Lewis 
Roberts, .Joseph Taylor, John Michener, Clement R. 
Shepherd, Richard Martin, Joseph Iredell, William 
•lohnson, William McCalla, Richard T. Leech, John 
Morrison, Isaac Hallowell, William Lukens, Margaret 
Morris, Baker Barnes, John Blake, Jr., Thomas 
Mather, Peter Johnson, Charles T. Hallowell, Ryner 
Tyson, Isaac Mather, Thomas Shoemaker, John 
Moore, Edward Potts and Samuel Potts, — being 
thirty-three in number, certainly sufficient for a 
promising beginning. Although more than three- 
fourths of a century have elapsed, we entertain no 
doubt that above half the number liave descendants 
still living in this section, numbering among them 
.some of our most respectaljle and prominent citizens. 

In the first book of " Minutes of the Directors of 
the Abington Library Company," under the date of 
March 21, 1803, we find mention that " This being the 
day appointed for the first meeting of the directors, 
they met accordingly at the library-room in the house 
of William Johnson. Present, John Michener, 
Thomas Shoemaker and Richard T. Leech. On ex- 
amining the state of the funds, found them not yew i 
sufficient to warrant a purchase of books. A member"^ 
produced and oflfered for sale Goldsmith's ' Animated 
Nature,' in four volumes, which on consideration the 
directors agreed to purchase at $(5.50. The treasurer 
was authorized to collect, if possible, the subscriptions 
that remain due by next meeting, and the librarian to 
receive and keep a list of all books that may come 
into the library, either by gift or pur^^hase, and to 
consider them as under his care for the present." 

" On examining the report of the treasurer," the fol- 
lowing 4th of April, "it appeared that they had made 
a purchase of books to the amount of $143.70, which 



BOROUGH OF JENKINTOWN. 



737 



were proiliu'cd and arranged on the shelves. Ordered 
that the librarian number them immediately, when 
they may be given out to tlie memliers agreeably to 
the direction of the by-laws, and that he |irepares lists 
of books for said use. Allowed the committee who 
attended in Philadelphia for the purchase of books 
$3.17 as a compensation in lieu of their expenses, 
January 2, 1804. The society, in conformity to the 
laws proceeded to the election of officers for the ensu- 
ingyear, when John Morrison, ,Tohn Michener, Thomas 
Shoemaker, John Moore and Richard T. liCech were 
elected directors, William Johnson treasurer, and 
Jesse Johnson librarian. One hundred copies of the 
constitution, by-laws and subscribers' names were 
ordered to be printed and delivered to the members at 
the expense of the society, and the librarian is re- 
quested to make out a copy for publication. The 
librarian to expedite as much as possible the collection 
of lines and dues in order to make an additional pur- 
chase of books, etc. Resolved unanimously, that the 
directors be and are hereby requested to apply with 
all convenient speed to the Legislature of the State, or 
any comjietent authority, for the purpose of obtaining 
a charter in order to incorporate this society." 

The original charter, granted September 5, 1805, is 
now in possession of the secretary, Charles Mather, 
and is on parchment over two and a half feet square, 
and is very well written. The heading particularly is 
admirably done, the title thereon being "The Abing- 
ton Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge." 
It contains the autograjjlisof the incorporators, whose 
names are John Morrison, William Johnson, John 
Michen-er, Eyner Tyson, Richard T. Leech, Clement 
R. Shepherd, David Thomas, Ebenezer Hickling, 
James Oram, William McCalla, Isaac Clayton, Peter 
Johnson, Daniel Fletcher, Charles T. Hallowell, John 
Moore, Joseph Phijips, Thomas Fletclier, Isaac 
Hallowell, Joseph Iredell and Thomas Shoemaker. 
The clause against immoral works was sustained. 
" This society shall never be dissolved unless by the 
unanimous consent of its members. No alteration or 
amendment shall be made to this constitution except 
by the consent of two-thirds of its members." It bears 
the signature of Thomas McKean as Governor, who 
was also one of the signers of the Declaration of In- 
dependence. The charter having fallen behind some 
of the books, eventually became lost and forgotten, 
when an attack was made on it by the mice, but for- 
tunately tlioy did not injure any of its writing. It 
was found on renovating the library, and is now kept 
within a tin case made on juirpose for its better se- 
curity. 

Mr. Mather, the etiicient secretary, has kindly fur- 
nished the writer with interesting reminiscences of 
several of the original incorporators, to which are added 
a few additional facts. John Morrison was a justice of 
the peace of Abington township for many years. 
Richard T. Leech, of Cheltenham, was a member of 
Assembly for several years, and afterwards surveyor- 
47 



general of Pennsylvania. William Johnson kept the 
store now occupied by Charles Harper, at the corner 
of York and West Avenues. Clement R. Shepherd 
conducted the tannery on the York road, opposite 
the farm of Samuel W. Noble. David Thomas kept 
at this time the only store in the village of Abington. 
Ebenezer Hickling was a physician. William McCalla 
kept the public-house on the site of the late Eagle 
Hotel, and was for some time postmaster. Charles T. 
Hallowell erected the first buildings and kept store 
therein. This is now Smith & Reeder's Hotel. John 
Moore was a prominent physician, and resided in the 
house recently occupied and owned by John Wanna- 
maker. Joseph Phipps, a descendant of one of the 
original land-holders of Abington, resided opposite 
the Friends' Meeting-house, on the place owned by 
the late J. Francis Fisher. Thomas Fletcher was a 
farmer, and resided on the place now belonging to the 
estate of Capt. Robinson. Isaac Hallowell resided on 
the farm now occupied by Thomas Buckman. Josejjh 
Iredell was a saddler in Jenkintown. Thomas Shoe- 
maker was a man of business habits, extensively given 
to settling estates, etc. 

We shall now resume the history of the library 
since its incorporation. It was determined, January 
G, 1806, " that a compensation of ten dollars be allowed 
the librarian, with a commission of five per cent, on all 
moneys collected since the Uth of March last." The 
price of shares was fixed at six dollars each, which 
was increased January 2, 1809, to eight dollars, and 
in 1815 to ten dollars. Mention is made of several 
works missing between the years 1816 and 1821. At 
the meeting of the latter year David Thomas, John 
Michener, Isaac Hallowell, Joshua Taylorand William 
Grant were elected directors and Josej)!) Shaw treas- 
urer and librarian. The librarian's fees were re- 
duced to twelve dollars and the shares to six dollars, 
and the following year to five dollars. The annual 
dues at the meeting in 1823 were reduced to one 
dollar. Robert Steel was admitted a member in 1826. 
January 5, 1835, Isaac Mather, Oliver Paxson, 
Bartholomew Mather, AVilliam Grant and John 
R. Hallowell were elected directors, Isaac Jlather 
treasurer, and D. J. Bent librarian. This year 
Jacob Dananhower was admitted a member, and is 
still residing in the vicinity. Isaac Mather was treas- 
urer from 1835 to 1848, and president from 1850 to 
the present time, having been a member since 1827, 
S. W. Noble has been treasurer since 1848. Charles 
F. Wilson became a member in 1848, and continued 
librarian till 1878, when the library was removed from 
over his store to its present location in Masonic Hall. 
The first minute book conies down to 1836. 

In the "History of Montgomery County," published 
in " Scott's Atlas," in 1877, under the head of Jenkin- 
town, the writer made the following remarks respecting 
this library: "In the catalogue published in 1855 we 
learn that it then contained twenty-nine members and 
ten hundred and twenty-two volumes. A resident of the 



738 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



borough lately informed us that it now numbered but 
sixteen members and fourteen hundred volumes. It 
would be a pity, afterso long a life, that it should meet 
the same fate as the libraries at Gwynedd, Horsham 
and Attleboro'. Knowing that there is considerable in- 
telligence, enterprise and wealth in the place, we would 
here respectfully call attention to the subject before it 
is too late, and the collections of nearly three-fourths of 
a century become dispersed." We are gratified to state 
that since then there has been a renewed and greater 
interest taken in promoting its increase and usefulness. 
The library now contains about two thousand volumes, 



BIOCxRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



JOSEPH W. HUNTER. 

Mr. Hunter is of Scotch-Irish parentage. Adam 
Hunter, his grandfather, resided near Londonderry, 
Ireland, where he cultivated a farm. His wife, a Miss 
Wray, of Glasgow, Scotland, was the mother of one 
son, Thomas, anda daughter, Martha, who became Mrs. 
Andrew Scanlan. Thomas, a native of Ireland, emi- 
grated to the United States in 1842, settling first in 




-yoa^Jf io-d^pe^' 



the price of a share is only three dollars and the yearly 
payment one dollar. The annual meeting for the 
election of oflicers, etc., is held the first Monday in 
January, 

Mr. John W. Ridpath is the present librarian, 
of whom the privilege of using the books can be 
rented at the rate of fifty cents for three months. 
Persons using the reading-room are permitted access 
to the library without charge. Among the recent 
purchases was the latest edition of the " Encyclopaedia 
Britannica," " Webster's and Worcester's Unabridged 
Dictionaries," and other valuable works for refer- 
ence. 



Philadelphia and later in Delaware County, Pa., where 
he followed farming pursuits. He married Henri- 
etta, daughter of Joseph Schwend, a military engi- 
neer and staff officer in the French army under 
Napoleon, who afterwards emigrated to America and 
was employed on the Raritan Canal. The surviving 
children of this marriage are Joseph W., Sarah W. 
(Mrs. Robert T. Love), Martha, Mary A., Rebecca and 
Henrietta. Joseph W. was born on the 23d of July, 
1853,on the Pont Reading farm, in Haverford township, 
Delaware County, Pa., his youth having been spent at 
this point and in other portions of the same county. 
He later removed to Lower Merion township, Mont- 



BOROUGH OF JENKINTOWN. 



739 



goraery Co., meanwhile receiving his education at 
both private and public schools, and finally entering 
the Mantua Academy, in West Philadelphia, from 
which he graduated in 1870 as second in his class. 
Immediately after he joined Samuel L. Smedley, sur- 
veyor of the Eleventh Survey District of Philadel- 
phia, and studied surveying under him and under his 
successor, George W. Hancock. He was employed 
by Mr. Smedley to make topographical surveys in the 
city and also to engage in map surveying. In 1875 he 
made Jenkintown his home, and while continuing his 
Philadelphia pursuits also engaged in farm surveying. 
Mr. Hunter was, in 1878, elected justice of the peace. 



Pythias, and of Peace and Love Lodge, No. 337, of 
I. O. O. F. His religious associations are with the 
Presbyterian Church, of Jenkintown, of which he is a 
member. 



JOHN J. DAVI.S. 

John J. Davis (originally written Davies) is a son 
of Evan (Davies) Davis, who wa-s born April 22, 1803, 
and was baptized in the pariah of Llanarth, in the 
county of Cardigan, South Wales. 

As was customary in South Wales, Evan Davis, be- 
ing the oldest son, inherited the estate, Cil-1-l-leoch, 
in the parish of Dihewid, county of Cardigan, South 




and re-elected in 1883 for a second term of five years. 
In 1882 he was made county surveyor and is still the 
incumbent of the oflSce. He is to some extent active 
in the ranks of the Republican party, but not to so 
great an extent as to be regarded a politician. Mr. 
Hunter was, in 1878, married to Miss Kate, daughter 
of Thomas Gentry, of Philadelphia. He is a director 
of the Cheltenham and Willow Grove Turnpike Com- 
pany, and member of both the Abington and Chelten- 
ham Building and Loan Associations, of which he is 
secretary. He is active in the Masonic ranks as mem- 
ber of Friendship Lodge, No. 400, of Jenkintown; is a 
member of Jenkintown Lodge, No. 476, Knights of 



Wales. Evan's early years were spent in school, and 
later his time was occupied in the study of the cause 
and cure of all diseases of domestic animals, and 
more especially the horse, and in his mature years he 
became widely known as one of the most skillful vet- 
erinary surgeons on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. 
In the early part of the summer of 1832, Mr. Davis 
chartered of Lewis Jones, a cousin of Mrs. Davis, the 
sailing-vessel " Wyoming," Captain Watkins, and set 
sail for America. Another family accompanied Mr. 
Davis, making in all twenty-one souls on board, be- 
sides the crew. The voyage was a long, rough and 
tedious one, consuming about three months' time, and 



740 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



they finally landed at Halifax, N. S., in September 
of the same year. The party of emigrants remained 
at Halifax about two weeks, when they went by 
steamer to Alexandria, Va., where the family re- 
mained four weeks. Mr. Davis in the mean time 
visited Philadelphia, and secured a place for his 
family, where they remained till the spring of 1833, 
when Mr. Davis and family moved to Horsham town- 
ship, Montgomery Co., Pa., and located on a place 
along the turnpike, a short distance above Horsham- 
ville, where he remained till the spring of 1842, when 
he moved to Hatboro', this county. 

Mr. Davis married Mary Jones, who was born 
January 5, 1801, and baptized in the church of the 
parish Dihewid, in the county of Cardigan, South 
Wales. They united with the Baptist Church of 
Hatboro' in 1840, and Mr. Davis was senior deacon 
of that church for many years prior to his death, 
which occurred December 28, 1881. Mrs. Davis still 
survives, in the eighty-fifth year of her age. They 
were the parents of eleven children, seven of whom 
were born in Wales, as will be seen from the follow- 
ing extract irom the family records : 

I. Eleanor, born July 16, 1821, and on the 17th 
day of this moon was baptized at Dihewid parish 
church, County Cardigan. 

II. David, born February 27, 1823, and baptized 
the 16th day of the moon at Dihewid parish church. 

III. Mary, born October 26, 1824, and baptized the 
4th day of the moon at Dihewid parish church. 

IV. John J., born August 29, 1826, at five minutes 
after two o'clock in the morning, and baptized on the 
26th day of the moon in the parish church at Dihewid, 

V. Griffith, born February 4, 1828, baptized on the 
18th day of the moon at Dihewid parish church. 

VI. Margaret, born August 19, 1829, baptized on 
the 20th day of the moon at the parish church, 
Dihewid. 

VII. George, born June 3, 1831, baptized on the 
22d day of the moon at Dihewid parish church. 

VIII. Pryce Pugh, born February 8, 1833, and was 
baptized by Evan Williams in Philadelphia, Pa. 

IX. Benjamin, born May 27, 1837. 

X. Victoria Rachel Amelia, born November 30, 
1838. 

XI. Richard Lewis, born April 17, 1840. 

John J. Davis, the subject of this sketch, as has 
been stated, was born in Wales, and came to this 
country with his parents when he was but six years 
of age. His early years were spent during the sum- 
mer seasons in working on the farm, and in winter 
seasons at the Friends' school at Horshamville, and 
lastly two terms at the Loller Academy, Hatboro'. 

When eighteen years of age he was apprenticed to 
Absalom Kearns, of Hatboro', to learn the trade of a 
blacksmith, and served three years and three months. 
After learning his trade he worked as a journeyman 
till the spring of 1853, when he commenced business 
for himself at a place called Babylon, in Horsham 



township, where he remained two years. He then 
worked in Hatboro' one year, and in Prospectville 
five years, then in Hartsville one year, and in Jen- 
kintown two years, and in the spring of 1863 removed 
to his present place of business, and in 1867 pur- 
chased the property of the heirs of Jesse Jenkins. 

When Mr. Davis located here, in 1863, he was 
without capita], except good health, a thorough 
knowledge of the business and a determination to 
make life a success, which latter object has thus far 
been accomplished to the fullest degree. Since he 
has owned the property where he now lives he has 
remodeled and enlarged his residence, built the large 
and commodious blacksmith and wlieelwright-shops, 
and gives employment to several first-class mechanics, 
one of whom has been in his employ for over eleven 
years. 

He united with the Hatboro' Baptist Church when 
eighteen years of age, and was for many years one of 
its deacons, and when the Baptist Church at Jenkin- 
town was constituted he was one of the constituent 
members, and has since then been its senior deacon. 

He was married, January 1, 1853, to Martha B., 
daughter of James B. and Mary Biddle Cadwallader 
Langdale, of Upper Dublin township. Mrs. Davis 
was born July 16, 1831. They are the parents of 
children as follows: Blary L., born November 27, 
1853, died June 21, 1856; Mary A., born January 7, 
1862, died October 21, 1864; Charles L., born Novem- 
ber 10, 1864, died March 4, 1865; Alonzo C, born 
September 25, 1866, died July 22, 1868; Alonzo G., 
born May 17, 1870, died September 23, 1872; William 
Henry, born June 26, 1873. 

The father of Mrs. Davis, James B. Langdale, was 
born in Chillicothe, Ohio, April 1, 1793, and died in 
August, 1861. He was in the war of 1812, under 
General Harrison, and participated in the battles of 
Tippecanoe, Thomas and Fort Meigs, and was wound- 
ed in the latter battle. A musket-ball that he carried 
in his leg from the battle of Fort Meigs to the date 
of his death is now in possession of Mr. Davis. 

Mrs. Langdale was born November 24, 1800, and is 
still living. They were the parents of Elizabeth B., 
born June 25, 1820; Lewis L., born July 12, 1822; 
Cynthia S., born October 5, 1824; Samuel, born Oc- 
tober 22, 1826; Martha B., born July 16, 1831; 
Charles Ramsay, born November 1, 1833 ; Lydia W., 
born July 10, 1836. 

The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Davis were of 
English-Irish descent, Samuel Langdale having been 
born in Engla,nd, and his wife, Elizabeth Biddle, was 
born in Ireland. Elizabeth was a daughter of Thomas 
and Martha Biddle, and Martha was the daughter of 
Heaton. 

Samuel Langdale was in the Revolutionary war, 
and at the battle of Paoli under General Anthony 
Wayne, and was one of the number selected by Gen- 
eral Wayne as a "forlorn hope" in the attack on the 
enemy's works. 



i 



BOROUGH OF JENKINTOWN. 



741 



Mrs. Davis has in iier possession several letters 
written by Margaret Langdale between 1710 and 
172:), while in the Boston Prison, London, England, 
during the persecution of the Quakers merely for 
opinion's sake. The letters are neatly and correctly 
written, and are held as valuable relics of British 
cruelty and hatred of a people who would think for 
themselves. 



JOSEPH A. SHOEMAKER. 

Mr. Shoemaker's paternal ancestors, who were of 
German descent, came with William Penn to Pennsyl- 
vania in 1682, and settled in what is now Horsham 



beth, daughter of Joseph and Mary Logan, of Abing- 
ton township, whose children are Hannah (Mrs. John 
Jones), Maria (Mrs. William Steel deceased), Tacy 
(Mrs. George Logan deceased), Jane (Mrs. George 
Logan deceased), Martha, Joseph A., Elizabeth and 
John (deceased). Mr. Shoemaker died in Horsham 
township, where he had latterly resided, in 1863. His 
son, Jcseph A., was born on the 1.3th of May, 1826, 
in Gwynedd township, and received early instruction 
at a Friends' school. At the age of thirteen he re- 
moved to Philadelphia County, and at sixteen became 
an apprentice to the trade of a blacksmith, remaining 
for the purpose in Upper Dublin township. One year 




/^^^Is^.M. 




township, in Montgomery County. In the direct line 
of descent was Joseph Shoemaker, grandfather of the 
subject of this biographical sketch, who purchased 
land and become a farmer in Gwynedd. He was 
united in marriage to Miss Tacy Ambler, a lady of 
Welsh parentage and a resident of the same county. 
Their children were Ezekiel, John, Joseph, Jessie, 
Ann, Ellen and Hannah. John of this number, whose 
birth occurred in 1790, in Gwynedd township, on the 
completion of his apprenticeship to the trade of a 
harness-maker, removed to Jenkintown and subse- 
quently to other portions of the county, where he pur- 
sued his vocation during his life. He married Eliza- 



was spent as a journeyman in Montgomery County, 
after which he removed to the West. The East, how- 
ever, ofl'ering superior advantages, herelurned again to 
his native State and engaged in the purchase and sale 
of horses, meanwhile becoming for one year the tenant 
of a farm in Horsham township. Mr. Shoemaker, 
during the next three years, found employment 
in a saw-mill in the same township, and in 185.3 
made Jenkintown his residence. In connection with 
his brother-in-law, George Logan, he embarked in 
butchering, which business he has since continued 
with marked success, as the result of strict prin- 
ciples of honor carried into every transaction, com- 



742 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



bined with promptness and punctuality. Mr. Shoe- 
maker was married, on the 1st of January, 1857, 
to Miss Esther Ann, daughter of William Harper 
and Esther Smith Harper, of Abington. Their chil- 
dren are Clara F. (wife of Dr. Henry Waas), William 
H. (who is associated with his father), Harry (de- 
ceased), Lizzie and Jennie. Mr. Shoemaker is a 
director in the Jenkintown National Bank, president 
of the North Cedar Hill Cemetery Company, and vice- 
president of the Philadelphia Drove-Yard. He is 
also president of the Borough Council of Jenkintown, 
and has filled various minor offices as a Republican. 
He isa birthright member of the Friends' Society and 
worships with the Abington Meeting. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 



BOROUGH OF LANSDALE. 



The borough of Lansdale was incorporated August 
24, 1872, and is situated on the line of the townships 
of Gwynedd and Hatfield, and close to the angles of 
Montgomery and Towamencin. It has an area of 
two hundred and sixty-nine acres, of which one hun- 
dred and forty-five were taken from Gwynedd and 
one hundred and twenty-four from Hatfield. Its form 
is regular and its principal streets are Broad, Main, 
Chestnut, Walnut, Second and Courtland. Nature 
and art have combined in beautifying this fiivored 
spot in Montgomery County. It is situated on a 
ridge and has every advantage of pure air, easy 
surface drainage and a widely-extended view of 
the fertile valleys, rolling uplands and distant woods 
of the surrounding country. Tlie residents of the 
borough are progressive and industrious, and take a 
laudable local pride in the construction and beautify- 
ing of their homes, many being built in the cottage 
style, which, when surrounded with flowers, trailing- 
vines, shrubbery and ornamental plants, present a 
picture of real beauty and comfort. 

The town is supplied by water pumped from a 
three-hundred-foot artesian well. The water com- 
pany is in a flourishing condition. 

The North Pennsylvanni Railroad passes through 
the centre of the place and the station here is twenty- 
one and seven-tenths miles from Philadelphia. The 
Doylestown Branch of said railroad (opened October 
9, 1856), ten and two-thirds miles long, commences 
here, and the Stony Creek Railroad, starting at Main 
Street, Norristown, ten and three-tenths miles distant, 
forms a junction at this place with both of said roads. 
These lines meeting here make it an important rail- 
road centre, and contribute to its business prosperity. 

Several industries of considerable importance are 
located here," the extensive agricultural wftrks of 



^ See Chapter " Dlanufacturen." 



Heebner & Sons towering above all the rest, and 
owing to their enterprise and superior workmanship, 
they have carried the name of Lansdale almost to 
the remotest ends of the earth. 

The present number of inhabitants of this borough 
is about twelve hundred and the number of taxables 
three hundred and five, with a real estate valuation of 
$478,76-5. 

There are two drug-stores, two confectioneries, two 
stove-stores, one jeweler, one dealer in live stock, two 
in lumber, two in boots and shoes, two in coal, two in 
flour and feed, four in merchandise, three in meat, 
two in furniture, one in cigars and tobacco, one in 
hardware and two in agricultural implements. 

The first church edifice erected in Lansdale was 
the Methodist Episcopal. It was built of stone, 
thirty-six by fifty-five feet, in 1871, completed in the 
following year and dedicated July 14tb, in that year. 
It at present has ninety members. The jiastors who 
have served the church are as follows : Revs. H. U. 
Sebring, Amos Johnson, Robert Mcllwaine, S. O. Gar- 
retson, William H. Smith, H. S. Isett, Eli E. Bur- 
rowes, William H. Shafer and the present pastor. Rev. 
J. G. Bickerton. 

The Evangelical Church at Lansdale is located 
adjoining the borough limits, and was built of brick, 
forty-six by sixty feet, in 1875. The church was 
organized in that year, and is united in charge with 
the Hatfield Evangelical Church. The pastors have 
been Revs. Shoemaker, John Ziegenfuss, William 
Heil, F. Kracker and the Rev. Leonard Noble, the 
present pastor. The church has a membership of 
about forty. 

The Reformed Church was organized in 1877, 
and in that year erected a brick church edifice, 
forty by sixty feet. The pulpit was filled for two 
years by the Rev. Jacob Kehm and Rev. A .B. Koplin . 
In 1879 the Rev. H.F. Seipel was called to the pastoi- 
ate, and served until April, 1884. The present pastor 
is Rev. J. J. Rothrock. The church has about eighty 
members. 

The St. Stanislaus Catholic Church, located about 
half a mile from Lansdale, is of brick and was built 
in 1878. It has a seating capacity of about two hun- 
dred. The pastors have been the Rev. Henry Stom- 
mel and the present pastor, the Rev. Joseph A. 
Winter. The church was supplied for two or three 
years from Bethlehem. 

The Baptist Church at the place was built in the 
fall of 1884, from plans and specifications furnished 
by Palissier, Palissier & Co., of Bridgeport, Conn. 
The society is under tlie care of the North Wales 
Baptist Church, of which the Rev. J. A. Aldred is 
pastor. The first service held in the church was on 
Sunday, February 8, 1885. The church edifice is 
built of brick, thirty-five by forty-six feet, and cost 
three thousand five hundred dollars. The chapel was 
dedicated March 11, 1885. The introductory sermon 
was delivered by the Rev. Dr. William Cathcart, and 



BOROUGH OP LANSDALE. 



743 



the dedicatory sermon by the Rev. Dr. John Peddie, 
of Phihidelphia. 

The Church of the Messiah, of Gwynedd, organ- 
ized a mission in Lansdale February 8, 1885, with 
twenty-six communicants. A lot of ground has been 
pledged and it is the intention to build as soon as 
possible. 

There are four public schools in the borough, with 
a term of nine months, and two hundred and twenty- 
three pupils in attendance. Four teachers are em- 
ployed, one at a salary of fifty dollars per month, one 
at thirty-eight dollars and two at thirty dollars a 
month. 



youug, and locating at Skippackville, Pa., where 
he died in the spring of 1874, aged sixty-one years. 
His wife was Mary Stoll, born in Trumbaursville, 
Bucks Co., Pa., and is still living. Mr. Geller was a 
farmer and dealer in wood and woodlands. 

Jacob 8. Geller, the subject of this sketch, was born 
in Perkiomen township, Montgomery Co., July 3, 
1846. Until young Geller was sixteen years of age 
he lived at home, except two summers, when he lived 
with Anthony S. Heebner, assisting his father on the 
farm and in the wood business, attending school occa- 
sionally, and not caring as much for books as he did 
for a fine Pennsylvania Dutch team of four or six horses. 





The first election for borough officers occurred in 
September, 1872. The following is a list of the 
burgesses from that time to the present: 1872, A. B. 
Hickman ; 1873, David S. Heebner ; 1875, John 
Kiudig; 1876-79, David S. Heebner ; 1880-81, Oliver 
M. Evans; 1882-83-84, William D. Heebner; 1885, 
William H. Fuhr. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



JACOB S. GELLER. 

Jacob S. Geller is of German descent, his father, 
Henry Geller, immigrating to this country when quite 



^^^-^^le^nJ 



October 27, 1862, he engaged with D. H. Anders 
to take charge of what is popularly known in this 
section of country as a " commission wagon," where 
he remained about two years. This was really his 
first schooling, for in that business it became neces- 
sary for him to read and write and keep accounts. 
After serving two years he engaged with N. H. Anders 
of Palm Station, in the same business, and remained 
two years, when Anders sold his business, and Geller 
then engaged with A. K. Frick, a grocer of Philadel- 
phia, where he remained but a short time, aud re- 
turned to the parental roof. 

January 1, 1866, without any capital, young Geller 
purchased of D. H. Anders his commission route. 



744 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



team and fixtures, and commenced business for him- 
self, and on February 18, 18(57, sold out, and on March 
2r), 18G7, he engaged with John Herst, of Peunsberry, 
to work on a commission wagon at a good salary, 
but not satisfied with that, preferring a business of his 
own, on July 9, 1867, purchased of Franklin Eoden- 
berger, of Hoppinsville, this county, his commission 
route, team and fixtures, which he operated for two 
years, or until November 14, 18G8, when he sold out 
to Charles Iloth, and established a route at Skippack- 
ville, which he kept for about one year, when he met 
with an accident, having his arm broken liy a run- 
away horse, after which he sold out and engaged with 
Jonathan Wonsitler, of Doylestown, where he re- 
mained but a short time, when he repurchased of 
Charles Roth January 15, 1870, the old Hojjpinsville 
commission route, which, by the advice of a friend, 
who said, " If you do good, let better alone," he 
kept till the spring of 1873, when he purchased the 
Hoppinsville store property, together with eighteen 
acres of land, of Mrs. David Cristman, taking posses- 
sion July 9, 1873. Here he commenced the mercan- 
tile business in a small way, in an old store building, 
twenty by thirty feet, purchasing the stock and fix- 
tures of B. H. Roth. 

March 17, 1875, he sold the stock and fixtures 
to B. H. Roth, and purchased, April 1, 1875, the 
stock and fixtures of Lyman Rosenberger, at Kulps- 
ville, and here established another commission route. 
In the spring of 1876 he purchased the Hoppins- 
ville store property at sherifl"s sale, and in April 
of that year stocked the store, and run that and 
the Kulpsville store till January, 1877, when he sold 
the Kulpsville store, stock and fixtures to Messrs. 
Krupp & Cassel, and in July, 1877, sold the Hoppins- 
ville stock and fixtures to M. H. Massey, of Philadel- 
phia. 

In July, 1878, he purchased of John Kindig his 
Lansdale property, consisting of building lots, store 
and fixtures, and removed the old one-atory building 
and erected the present large and commodious three- 
story store and dwelling, and in the fall of 1878 com- 
menced the mercantile business, with two clerks, and 
has continued to increase his business until he now 
(1885) employs ten clerks in his store, and carries the 
largest stock of goods found in any store in Mont- 
gomery County. 

In the spring of 1884, findiug his mammoth store 
too small for the increased business, he rented three 
floors and basement of the Godshall block, adjoining 
his own store, and stocked the same with furniture, 
carpets and undertaker's ware, which he still occu- 
pies. 

Mr. Geller is one of the progressive men of the age, 
giving his time and mean.s for the advancement of 
every enterprise or interest that has for its object 
the growth and improvement of the borough of Lans- 
dale or the bettering of the condition of his fellow- 
men. 



He is an active member of the Wentz German Re- 
formed Church, and has been a member of the Borough 
Council for two terms, and postmaster of Lansdale 
since November 6, 1878, when he was appointed by 
Postmaster-General David M. Key. He was also 
postmaster at Hoppinsville and at Kulpsville while 
he had a store at each of these places. He was one of 
the original members of the Lansdale Water- Works 
Company, and has been one of its director.s since its 
organization. He was married, February 6, 18G8, to 
Miss Isabella H., daughter of Washington and Mar- 
garet Crater, of Skippackville, Montgomery Co., Pa. 
They have one daughter, Mary Maggie, born March 
31, 1870. 



SETH L. SOHOLL. 

In the year 1778, George and John Scholl emigrated 
from Germany and came to America, John locating 
in Virginia, while George, who was a saddler and 
harness-maker by occupation, enlisted in the Con- 
tinental army as a saddler, and served to the close of 
the war ; his little fiimily in the mean time resided in 
the vicinity of Philadelj)hia. At the close of the 
war he went up into what was then called the wilder- 
ness, 0(1 Branch Creek, near where Trumbaursville is 
now located, and took up a tract of three hundred 
acres of land, and there raised a family of children, 
one of whom was Michael Scholl, born December 1, 
1784, and was the grandfather of Seth L. Scholl, of 
Lansdale. 

Michael married, July 12, 1807, Mary, daughter of 
Conrad Hoot, of what is now North Wales, then 
Gwynedd township, and died Februarj' 25, 1858. 
j\lary Hoot was born October 7, 1789, and died March 
25, 1870. Michael Scholl and wife were both buried 
in Wentz Reformed Church Cemetery, on the Skip- 
pack road, above Centre Point. They had children, — 
Jacob, ^Margaret, Catharine, Henry (born July 25, 
1816, in Germantown, Pa.), Matilda, George, Amanda, 
Elizabeth. Of the above children, Henry married, 
December 1, 1839, Mary Ann, daughter of Andrew 
and Eustina Lake, of the city of Philadelphia. Mary 
Ann Lake was born October 5, 1820. Their children 
were, — Maria, born Tenth Month 5, 1840, married 
.John F. Ambler, and now a resident of Lansdale, 
Seth L., born Tenth Mouth 8, 1842, married, June 
7, 1866, to Miss Ann Catharine Amblei', daughter of 
Benjamin and Mary Ambler, of Blue Bell, Whitpain 
township. Frederick, born April 23, 1844, married 
Louessa, daughter of Seth Good, December 5, 1872 ; 
Louessa Good, born October 13, 1849. Franklin, born 
February 9, 1846, married. May 16, 1874, Miss Sarah 
Beck, who was born June 18, 1856. Sarah, born in 

1848, died unmarried, 1870. Elizabeth, born 

January, 31, 1851, married, October 6, 1870, to Henry 
L. Beck ; Henry L. Beck was born September, 1850. 
Henry L. Scholl was liorn INIay 1, 1854, married 
December 25, 1879, to Miss Letitia R. Pownall. 



I 



BOROUGH OF LANSDALE. 



745 



Seth L. and Ann Catharine Scholl are the parents 
of children, as follows: Benjamin A., born April 7, 
1867; Henry O., born February 16, 1869; Horace 
Linwood, born January 12, 1871, died September 17, 
1872; Ida May, born November 5, 1872; Mary Ella, 
born June 11, 1878. 

John Ambler, paternal grandfather of Mrs. Seth L. 
Scholl, was born Fifth Month 8, 1783, died Fourth 
Month 9, 1859. He married Ann Morgan, who was 
born Fifth Month 8, 1784, and died Fourth Month 4, 
1863. Their children were Thomas, Benjamin, 
Chalkley, Joseph, John and David (twins), Septimus, 
Letitia and Sarah. 



Seth L. Scholl, was born Seventh Month 4, 1791 , died 

Twelfth Month 4, 1872. His wife, Catharine, was 
born Ninth Month 9, 1790, and died Seventh Month 
14, 1872. 

Seth L. Scholl is what is commonly termed a self- 
made man. He was born on the farm then owned 
by James White, and occupied in 1885 by his grand- 
son, James Winfield White. His educational advan- 
tages were quite limited, although belonging to one 
of the oldest families of the vicinity of what is now 
Lansdale. At the age of eleven yeai's he commenced 
his labors in a brick-yard, and assisted in making the 
lirst brick made at Lansdale, now one of the large 




(tXlM^i/,,rtt' 



Benjamin Ambler, father of Mrs. Scholl, was born 
in Montgomery township, Montgomery Co., Pa., 
Ninth Month 3, 1810, married, Third Month 1, 1838, 
Mary, daughter of John and Catharine Fitzgerald. 
Their children are John F., born Seventh Month 12, 
1840, married. First Month 28, 1864, Maria Scholl. 
Ann Catharine, wife of Seth L. Scholl, born Fifth 
Month .30, 1842. Thomas Elwood, born Eleventh 
Month 30, 1843, married. Sixth Month 20, 1867, to 
Harriet E. Makens. Benjamin Morgan, born Sixth 
Month 13, 1846, married. Third Month 5, 1868, to 
Elizabeth Street. 

John Fitzgerald, maternal grandfather of Mrs. 



industries of the town, and ot which he is the moat 
extensive manufacturer in Lansdale. By industry 
and perseverance he grew up with the business, 
became master of the art and in due time became 
the owner of a large landed estate in and adjoining 
the town of Lansdale, and has thus far been promi- 
nently identified with all the progressive movements 
of the young and thriving town. 

He was a member of the first Town Council of the 
borough of Lansdale, and has been a member of its 
school board. He is one of the original members of 
St. John's Reformed Church of Lansdale, and for 
several years one of its deacons. He has been a 



746 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



member of the order of I. O. of O. F. since 1864, 
passed through the chairs and is also a member of the 
Grand Lodge of the State of Pennsylvania; also a 
member of the I. O. of Red Men. He has resided 
in Lansdale for forty-one years, a much longer period 
than any other present resident of the town. 

He is the patentee and only manufacturer in the 
United States of the " Locomotive Snow Broom," 
made of hickory wood, and his sales extend to all 
countries where railroads are in operation. He is 
also quite an extensive manufacturer of cigar-boxes 
of all sizes and grades. 



After serving his time, or at the age of twenty-one 
years, he was engaged as a journeyman carpenter for 
three years. He then established business for him- 
self, which he conducted nearly or quite tliree years, 
then one year at journeyman's work, when he again 
established business for himself, which he continued 
till 1859, when he moved to Montgomery township, 
Montgomery Co., Pa., where he purchased a farm. 
Here he carried on both farming and the carpenter 
and builder's trade for thirteen years, when his health 
failed, on account of which he was compelled to re- 
linquish the airricuUural branch (il' his business, sold 




WILLIAM EICHAEDSON. 

William Richardson, son of William and Mary 
Richardson, is a native of Philadelphia, Pa., and was 
born in that city January 1, 1822. Prior to and in- 
cluding his sixteenth year his life was spent at 
home, and for a short time in what was known at 
that time as a "pay school" in Gaskill Street, and 
subsequently at a public school in Front Street. At 
the age of sixteen years he was apprenticed to learn 
the trade of a carpenter and joiner, and faithfully 
served his time with his master in the oldSouthwark 
district. While serving his time as an apj)rentice 
he attended Mr. Benjamin Lewis' school, at his own 
expense, where he learned, among other things, the 
art or profession of drafting. 



his farm and removed to his present place of resi- 1 
dence, adjacent to the borough of Lansdale. 

Mr. Richardson has, since in active .service tor 
himself, been one of the jirogressive men of the age ; 
first and foremost in any and all improvements tend- 
ing to advance the interests of the community in 
which he has dwelt. He was one of the originators 
and one of the board of directors of the Lansdale 
Water-Works, which is a lasting monument to its 
projectors. When there was a prospect for building 
I up the town of Lansdale he became one of the pro- 
I jectors of and president of two building associations. 
i Another worthy enterprise found in him a strong 
1 supporter, viz. : " The Lansdale Cemetery Associa- 
i tion," of which he is president. In 1875 he was 



BOROUGH OF NORRISTOWN. 



747 



elected a justice of the peace for the towuship of 
Montgomery, a position he has adorned and still oc- 
cupies. 

He was married, January 23, 1849, to Miss Margaret 
(born October 24, 1831), daughter of Jacob and Mary 
Shields, of the old district of Southwark. Their 
children are William E., born September 23, 1840, 
married, June 30, 1877, to Miss Mary B. Thompson ; 
Jacob Shields, born March 12, 1851, died Novemberl, 
1851 ; George, born June 12, 1852, died December 4, 
1852 ; Mary Jane, born July 17, 1854, married, Janu- 
ary 21, 1879, to Daniel Koch, of Lansdale; Anna 
Loage, born February 10, 1857, married, December 7, 
1881, to Charles J. Wheeler, of Lansdale; Maggie 
Shields, born June 9, 1859, married, December 8, 1883, 
to Samuel Kyner, of Line Lexington, Montgomery 
Co., Pa.; Clara Virginia, born December 18, 1862 ; 
Harry, born April 24, 1866 ; Edmund, born f^eptembei- 
23, 1869'; Lilly May, born April 26, 1875, died Janu- 
ary 18, 1876. 



CHAPTER XLVII. 
BOROUGH OF NORRISTOWN.i 

The borough of Norristown is situated on the east 
side of the Sch uylkill River, about sixteen miles north- 
west of Philadelphia, and is the seat of justice for Jlont- 
gomery County. Sincetheextensionofits limits inl853 
it is nearly two miles square, and contains an area ol' 
about two thousand three hundred acres, divided into 
seven wards. Its front on the river is fully two miles, 
and extends back from the same a distance of from 
one and a half to two miles, and is bounded on the 
north, northeast and nortliwest by Norriton township 
southeast by Plymouth, and on the south and south- 
west by the Schuylkill. It was erected into a borougb 
by an act of Assembly, passed March 31, 1812, with 
an area of five hundred and twenty acres, and all it* 
territory has been taken from Norriton, with the ex- 
ception of about one hundred and fifty-eight acres 
from Plymouth township in 1853. 

Its surface is rolling, and that part on which the 
town is principally situated enjoys an elevated site, 
from the rear of which an extensive view is obtained 
of the fine scenery of the Schuylkill Valley. Both 
adjacent to and in the vicinity of the town the soil is ex- 
cellent. Norristown combines from its situation great 
advantages, and in this respect few towns are so 
favored. It is remarkably healthy, its location beau- 
tiful, its water excellent and its neighborhood unsur- 
passed in the quality and abundance of its marble, 
iron and limestone. Within its limits two streams 
enter the Schuylkill. The larger is Stony Creek, 
which has its source in Whitpain town.ship, and is 

1 By Win. J. Buck. 



seven miles in length, two of which are in the borough. 
This stream, with its branches, propels six grist-mills, 
two saw-mills, besides several manufactories. Saw- 
Jlill Run rises also in Whitpain, and is four miles in 
length, and in its course propels a clover-mill, grist 
and saw-mill, besides several manufacturing establish- 
ments. 

As may be expected from a town so advantage- 
ously situated, and, above all, having an enterprising 
[lopulation, it has rapidly advanced. According to the 
census of 1820, it contained 827 inhabitants; in 1830, 
1089; in 1840, 2937 ; in 1850,6024 ; in 1860, 8848; in 1870, 
10,753 ; and in 1880, 13,163. The real estate for taxable 
jHirposesin 1882 was valued at$6, 310,263. For that year 
3934 taxables were returned, possessing property as- 
sessed at $6,774,473, the average per taxable being 
?'1722, while in Norriton township it is $2834; Ply- 
mouth, $2804; Whitpain, $3443; and in Lower 
Providence, $3553. In May, 1883, the borough con- 
tained 281 licensed retailers and dealers, besides 29 
hotels, 13 restaurants, 8 liquor-stores and two breweries. 
The .stores in 1840 numbered only 14 ; in 1858, 108 
and in 1876, 193. In 1790 it contained 18 houses ; in 
1832, 151 ; in 1850, 1006 ; and in 1860, 1662 dwellings 
occupied by 1673 families. It has also attained con- 
.siderable importance as a manufacturing town, having 
10 cotton and woolen-factories, 2 furnaces, 2 rolling- 
mills, 3 foundries and iron-works, 2 tack-works, 2 
shirt and 2 hosiery-factories, 3 lumber and planing- 
iiiills, 2 merchant flour-mills, oil-works, glass-works 
gleaner and binder-works, besides numerous minor 
establishments. 

Owing to the increase of population an act of 
Assembly was passed February 8, 1847, authorizing 
ihe authorities of the borough lo divide it into what 
was called the Upper and Lower Wards. It thus re- 
mained until the passage of the act of 1852, when it 
\v:is divided into the Upper, ^Middleand Lower Wards. 
.\ccording to the act of Assembly, passed May 12, 
1871, it was further divided into First, Second, Third, 
Fourth and Fifth Wards. This power having now 
been vested in the Court of Quarter Sessions for the 
county, the latter confirmed December 22, 1881, and 
an additional ward was formed from the first three, to 
be called the Sixth Ward. Three commissioners were 
appointed by the authority of the Court, who on 
May 20, 1884, divided the First Ward and formed 
from it the Seventh, which is to comprise all the 
territory within the borough limits westward of Chain 
Street, as it extends from the Schuylkill northwards 
to Elm. 

Public Improvements. — The various improve- 
ments leading to or through this borough have con- 
tributed much to its prosperity. In the order of time, 
the first that may be mentioned is the Ridge turnpike, 
leading from Philadelphia to Perkiomen bridge, 
twenty-four miles in length, and passing through the 
borough on Main or Egypt Street for two miles. The 
Schuylkill Canal and Navigation was commenced in 



t48 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



1816, and was sufficiently completed in 1818 to admit 
the descent of a few boats; but it was not until about 
1826 that the whole line went into operation. The com- 
pany constructed a dam here of nine hundred feet width 
between the abutments, which in 1830 was raised to 
its present height, and is the means of fiirnishing 
valuable water-power to sevei'al manufacturing estab- 
lishments. In consequence of the enlargement in 
1846, boats of two hundred tons burden pass through 
it and can unload coal, grain and lumber in the place. 

The bridge over the Schuylkill at De Kalb Street 
was commenced in the spring of 1829, and by Septem- 
ber was so far completed as to admit persons on foot 
to pass over. It was built by an incorporated com- 
pany in 1830, at a cost of thirty-one thousand two 
hundred dollars, and commenced taking toll January 
9th of said year. It is eight hundred feet in length, 
and, with the abutments, ten hundred and fifty feet. 
The first president was Mathias Roberts; Joseph 
Thomas, treasurer; Thomas M. Jolly, secretary ; and 
William Le Barrow, builder and contractor. It has 
since been rebuilt, the County holding stock in it to the 
amount of twenty-three thousand dollars. Owingtothe 
extensive travel over it and the great amount of re- 
ceipts derived from toll, the subject of making it free 
or building a new bridge commenced to be agitated 
more than thirteen years ago by numerous citizens 
residing on both sides the river, particularly those in 
Bridgeport and Upper Merion, who were from the 
force of their circumstances the more interested. 
Strange to say, through clever ingenuity, an act of 
Assembly was passed in 1872, of general application, 
prohibiting the building of any bridge across the same 
stream v/ithin the distance of three thousand feet of a 
toll-bridge already erected. When a new bridge had 
been proposed this act was brought to public attention, 
and, as may be well expected, such legislation created 
no little astonishment. A Free Bridge Association 
was now organized, and after a long an<i severe strug- 
gle triumphed, and the bridge declared free October 
13, 1884, the county taking it in charge. 

The State road in the borough, called De Kalb 
Street, was laid out in 1830, forty feet wide, from New 
Hope, on the Delaware, to the Maryland line. 

The Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown 
Railroad Company was incorporated by an act of 
Assembly passed February 17, 1831. It was com- 
menced that year, and was opened from the city to 
Germantown June 6, 1832, in what would now be 
eonsidered a novel manner: namely, by nine cars, or 
rather carriages, e.ach drawn by one horse in shafts, 
and containing twenty passengers inside and sixteen 
outside, making in all three hundred and twenty-four 
guests. This was in reality a passenger railway up- 
wards of fifty-two years ago. What is equally singu- 
lar, the road was opened in a similar manner to 
Manayunk October 18, 1834. Saturday, August 15, 
1835, was a great day in Norristown. The road was 
now completed, and the opening was to be duly 



celebrated. Two trains of cars, each drawn by a loco- 
motive, started from the depot, corner of Ninth and 
Green Streets, Philadelphia, at twelve o'clock, well- 
laden with invited guests. The locomotives were 
gayly dressed with flags and a band of music enlivened 
the way, and the only stoppage was made at Mana- 
yunk. The approach to Norristown, as well as the 
ride along the entire way, was one continued triumph. 
Cheers and shouts of welcome were heard in all 
directions, while the waving of handkerchiefs expressed 
the congratulations of the fair. Thousands collected 
together to behold for the first time the iron horses, 
and gazed on them with wonder. For this occasion 
the company erected a large tent in the borough, near 
the river's bank, where three hundred and fifty guests 
sat down to a sumptuous banquet. This road, with its 
branch to Germantown, is twenty-one miles in length, 
:ind cost one million eight hundred and eleven thou- 
sand dollars. About 18.56 the company built a large 
depot in the borough, on the corner of Mill and Wash- 
ington streets, and laid the entire road with a double 
track, and later built the Main Street Station. This 
improvement extends through Montgomery County 
somewhat over seven miles. The Philadelphia and 
Reading Railroad Company leased the road December 
1, 1870, and also the works of the Navigation Com- 
pany, July 12th previously, since which time they 
liave operated both. 

The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, which 
is on the opposite side of the river and extends 
to Pottsville, was opened the whole distance in 
1872. The Swedes' Ford Bridge Company was incor- 
[lorated March 30, 1848, and the bridge completed in 
1851, at a cost of forty thousand dollars. It is com- 
posed of four spans of two hundred and twenty feet in 
length. The Chester Valley Railroad crosses it, and 
forms a connection with the Norristown road, and 
also with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Downing- 
town. Where Main Street and the turnpike cross 
Stony Creek a broad and substantial stone bridge was 
built in 1854, by contributions from the borough, 
turnpike company and several citizens. A bridge 
must have been here before the organization of the 
30unty, for in 1786 the grand jury reported that they 
■' found the foundation of the main abutment under- 
mined dangerously, and that the first stone of the 
irch had given away." The Stony Creek Railroad ■ ] 
has a depot near Main Street, on the west side of the ■ 
stream, and passes through the borough nearly two miles 
and forms a junction with the North Pennsylvania 
Railroad at Lansdale. It was commenced in 1871, 
and opened for travel January 1, 1874, and is nearly 
ten and one-half miles in length. This has also been 
leased and operated by the Reading Company. The 
.Schuylkill Valley Railroad, leading from Philadelphia 
to Pottsville, was commenced in 1883 and completed 
the following year, and enters the borough on Lafay- 
ette Street. The depot is at the intersection of the 
aforesaid street with De Kalb. This improvement fol- 



BOROUGH OF NORRISTOWN. 



749 



lows the Schuylkill and extends over halt' the length 
of the county. A new depot was erected in 1884 on 
Franklin Avenue. This railroad is now under lease 
to the Pennsylvania Railroad, and is known as the 
Schuylkill Division. 

The Norristown Junction Railroad Company was 
chartered for the purpose of building a road to connect 
the Philadelphia, Germantowu and Norristown Rail- 
road and the Stony Creek Railroad, and thereby save 
the transfer of freight, by wagons, from one depot to 
the other. The road was built in 1880, and extends 
from Marshall to Washington Street, along and near 
to JIarkley Street. After completion it was leased 
to the Philadelphia and Reading and Stony Creek 
Railroads, by whom it is operated. 

The water-works were incorporated in 1847, under 
the title of "The Norristown Insurance and Water 
Company." They were erected that year, at a cost of 
sixty-two thousand dollars. After using the insurance 
privilege a few years it was abandoned. In 1875 the 
company erected a new engine-house, with large pumps, 
to which they had the water conveyed from beyond 
Barbadoes Island in 187(5, at a considerable expense. 
In 1879, the old basin being found too small, another, 
also on De Kalb Street, was constructed on higher 
ground, with a new ascending main, the whole costing 
eighty-five thousand dollars more. It is supposed 
that the company have now in use about forty miles 
of iron pipe. The water was first introduced in De- 
cember, 1847, and is forced from the Schuylkill to the 
basin, a distance of three-fourths of a mile. 

The Fire Department consists of three steam fire- 
engines and one hose company. The Norristown 
Hose and Steam Fire-Engine Company, No. 1, was 
instituted in 1847. After outgrowing two previous 
engine-houses, it is now located in a large three-story 
lirick edifice, at the corner of DeKalb and Chestnut 
Streets. The building was erected in 1883, at a cost 
of nearly sixteen thousand dollars. It has an Amoskeag 
steamer. The company consists of two hundred and 
fourteen active and one hundred and twelve honorary 
and contributing members. The Montgomery Fire 
Engine Company, No. 1, also instituted in 1847. The 
engine-house is a three-story brick building, erected 
in 1870, at a cost of nearly fifteen thousand dollars, 
and is located on Penn Street, below Swede. They 
possess a Silsby steamer, of great power, that co.st four 
thousand five hundred dollars ; they have also two hose- 
carriages with eighteen hundred feet of hose. They 
have in charge the old " Pat Lyon " hand-engine, built 
by Patrick Lyon, of Philadelphia, in 1797. This com- 
pany comprises two hundred active members. The Hu- 
mane Fire Engine Company, instituted in 1852, own a 
Button steam fire-engine, with a full supply of hose. 
They possess a large four-story brick building, erected 
in 1854, with a cupola, bell and look-out, located on 
Airy Street above De Kalb. The horses are kept 
stabled on the premises. They own real estate and per- 
sonal property valued at fifteen thousand dollars. They 



have about two hundred active members. The Fair- 
mount Hook-and-Ladder and Hose Company was 
instituted in February, 1852. Soon after organization 
the coni])any purchased a hand fire-engine, built by 
.Vgnew, of Philadelphia, which they used until 18G8, 
when they sold it to the Keystone Fire Company, of 
Boyertown. In 1869 the company purchased the 
large hook-and-ladder truck they are still using. 
They have also a hose-carriage and fourteen hundred 
feet of hose. In 1854 the company erected an engine- 
house on De Kalb Street, above Lafayette, which was 
used until 1860, when a larger one was erected, on 
Lafayette Street, above Cherry, and used until the com- 
pletion of the present three-story brick building, in 
1880, on the corner of Main and Astor Streets. The 
real estate and apparatus is valued at fifteen thousand 
dollars. It numbers one hundred and twenty-five 
active and fifty honorary members. 

Two engines, with stone houses, are mentioned in 
1830, and in 1858 two engines and two hose companies. 

The gas-works are located on Washington Street, 
below Arch, and were erected in 1852, at a cost of forty 
thousand dollars. Most of the streets of the borough 
are underlaid with their distributing pipes. Three 
market-houses are in the place. The De Kalb Street 
Market-house is owned by the borough and extends 
from Airy to Marshall Streets, contains one hundred 
and fourteen stalls and was erected in 1850-51. The 
Farmers' Market belongs to a company and is located 
at the corner of De Kalb and Marshall Streets, is one 
story high, with a basement of brick, built in 1859 ; 
contains one hundred and twenty-seven stalls. The 
Western Market is located at Marshall and Chain 
.Streets, built in 1875, of brick, two stories high ; 
contains fifty-one stalls. A company has been formed 
to build a street railway, and in July, 1884, the route 
was located to commence at the depot of the Phila- 
delphia and Reading Railroad Company, on Mill 
Street, thence to Main, to De Kalb, to Brown, to 
Powell, to Main, to De Kalb, to Lafayette, at the 
depot of the Schuylkill Valley Railroad. 

Manufactories.' — Norristown has attained consid- 
erable importance as a manufacturing town, and we 
shall only attempt now to give but brief notices of its 
principal establishments. The extensive iron-works 
of James Hooven & Sons are located at the foot of 
Barbadoes Street. A portion was erected in 1846, at 
which time Mr. Hooven had entered into partnership 
with Mr. Moore, whom the former bought out in 
1853, and in 1862 associated with him his two sons, 
Joseph Henry and Alexander. In 1869 they erected 
here one of the most complete blast furnaces in the 
county, the ore used being from their own mines in 
Montgomery and Chester Counties. The annual 
capacity is ten thousand net tons. The chief nmnu- 
facture is skelp-iron and gas-pipes. 

The Lucinda Furnace and Rolling-Mill was erected 

■See chapter "Blanufactiires." 



750 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



in 1853, at the mouth of the Stony Creek, by William 
Shall & Sons. The former is now conducted by 
Samuel Fulton for the production of pig-iron. The 
latter is in charge of J. H. Boone, for .sheared, skelp 
and plate-iron, and was originally erected in 1849, 
but rebuilt in 1879. The rolling-mill of the Standard 
Iron Company (Limited) i.s located on Washington 
Street, below Ford, and manufactures heavy plate-iron. 
Its annual capacity is fourteen thousand net tons ; this 
was also originally erected by William Shall in 1857. 
The Eagle Foundry and JIachine-Work.s are con- 
ducted by R. S. Newbold & Son, who manufacture 
all descriptions of lieavy machinery. Christopher 
Rittenhouse & Sons, at Main and Arch Streets, pursue 
a general foundry business, and are extensively en- 
gaged in the manufacture of agricultural machinery, 
such as hor-se-povvers, threshers and winnowing-mills. 
About 1850 the proprietor entered into the business, 
and the works were enlarged in 18(i8. 

The Norristown Iron Company (Limited) have 
erected new machine-works at the corner of Wash- 
ington and Market Streets. The Lowe Manufactur- 
ing Company produce machinery for '' water gas- 
works, '' of which Professor T. S. C. Lowe is the 
patentee. The works were erected in 1878, and are 
located between Main and Lafayette Streets, on the 
line of Saw-Mill Run. The Pennsylvania Tack- 
Wnrks, founded in 1870 by C. P. Weaver & Co., is an 
extensive establishment, located at the corner of Penn 
and Markley Streets, for the ]iroduction of tacks and 
fancy braids. The Globe Tack-Works, near Oak and 
Arch Streets, owned by Thonuis & Kenworthy. i 
manufacture the same articles. J. & G. Ciibbons are ' 
extensively engaged in the production of steam- 
boilers. 

Among the extensive manufactories in textile fab- 
rics is the large cotton-spinning and weaving 
mill of William Simp.son & Sons, originally founded 
by Bernard McCredy, at the foot of Swede Street, in 
1826, the motive-power being derived from the 
Schuylkill. Mr. Simpson purchased this property 
June 20, 1865, to which belong seventy dwelling- 
houses, occupying two squares of ground. Samuel 
.Tami.son's extensive spinning and weaving-mill is 
situated at the foot of De Kalb Street, a portion of 
which was erected in 1837. In 1858 it was conducted 
by William & Samuel Jamison, and has been in the 
family for a considerable time. 

The woolen-mill on the river-fmnt in the First 
Ward, fonndeil by William Hamill in 1840, was con- 
siderably enlarged in 1861 by P. M. Hunter. Since 
1868, William Watt has been proprietor; the princi- 
pal product has been Kentucky jeans. George Bullock 
carries on the manufacture of fine broad and Union 
cloths at" his factory, located on Main Street and Saw- 
Mill Run. The Blue Mill, on the same stream, was 
erected about 1850 by Joseph H. Bodey, and has re- 
cently been carried on by Shaw & Kenworthy. J. 
Y. Cresson luis a woolen-mill at Ford and Lafayette 



Streets. The Good-Intent Mill, erected in 1863 on 
Barbadoes Street, is now carried on by Brown & 
Haines. 

There are several manufactories of hosiery in Nor- 
ristown. Probably the most extensive is the Keystone 
Hosiery Company's establishment, conducted by Mor- 
gan Wright & Son, on Penn Street, above Barbadoes, 
in a new three-story brick building. The next is 
that of the Norristown Hosiery Company, in charge 
of Yost, Hengie & Roop, who have a large factory in 
the rear of the county prison. Both of these are 
propelled by steam-power. The Quaker City Shirt- 
Factory is owned and carried on by Chester L. Smith, 
and is located on CorsonStreet, near Marshall, erected 
in 1879. John C. Hathaway, on George Street, near 
Airy, also carries on the aforesaid manufacture ex- 
tensively by steam-power. 

The Star Glass- Works, owned and carried on by J. 
Morton Albertson & Sons, are located on Washington 
Street, below Ford. This enterprise was started in 
1865, but did not prove successful. The present pro- 
prietor purchased the works in March, 1871. The build- 
ings are about two hundred and fifty bythree hundred 
feet in dimensions; the capacity is one hundred boxes 
of window-glass per day. Glass is produced here as 
large as forty by sixty inches. Articles from this 
material are produced in great variety and its manu- 
facture is carried on extensively. The oil-works 
of William Slemmer & Co., are located at Main and 
Ford Streets, extending to Lafayette Street. An exten- 
sive busine-ss is done here in distilling and refining 
petroleum for illuminating, but more especially for 
lubricating purposes. Buildings were commenced 
here in the fall of 1861 by Jacob C, William and Dr. 
Henry T. Slemmer, sons of Adam Slemmer. A pat- 
ent was secured in 18G6 for the lubricator. 

The manufacture of Hubbard's gleaner and binder 
is carried on by George A. Singerly in extensive 
buildings located at Oak and Astor Streets, erected in 
1878. There are two large flouring-mills. The first 
is known as the Egypt Mill (late Heebner's), situated 
at the foot of Mill Street, and is propelled jointly by 
the waters of Saw-Mill Run and the Schuylkill. It 
has Gonveniencies for doing a large business. The 
other is owned by George Morgan, occupying a new 
stone building at Marshall and Barbadoes Streets, and 
is propelled by Stony Creek and steam-power. Three 
lumber and planing-mills are in the place. Two are 
located near Main Street and Stony Creek. The first, 
on the right bank, is conducted by Botton's Sons, and 
the other,on the opposite side, by Bodey & Livingston, 
formerly Wentz & Co. Guest & I^ongaker carry on 
the business at the corner of Main and Arch Streets, 
in which they have been engaged since 1858, if not 
before. 

Churches. — The borough at the present time con- 
tains .seventeen churches, belonging to the following 
denominations: One Episcopal, two Presbyterian, one 
Baptist, three Methodist Episcopal, one Catholic, two 



I 




CHURCHES IN NORRISTOWN. 



BOROUGH OF NORRISTOWN. 



^51 



German Reformed, two Lutheran, one Friends, one 
Evangelical Association, one German Baptist or Dun- 
kard, and two Colored Methodist. In 1X30 the only 
two churches were the Episcopal and Presbyterian, 
which at this date maintained Sunday-schools. In 184:; 
the churches had increased to five, in 1849 to eight, 
and in 1858 to thirteen. According to the census of 
1860, the church property in Xorrislown was valued 
at one hundred and sixty-eight thousand nine luindred 
dollars. 

St. John's Eplscopal Church was the first erected 
in the place, and was commenced in 1813 and dedi- 
cated for worship April 6, 1815. The building com- 
mittee consisted of Henry Freedley, Mathias Holstein 
and Levi Pawling. It was located on Airy Street, and 
built of stone in the Gothic style, fifty feet front by 
eiglity feet deep. The congregatiou had been or- 
ganized December 17, 1812. Its first rector was Rev. 
John Curtis Clay, succeeded by Revs. Thomas P. May, 
Bird Wilson, John Reynolds, Nathan Stem, D.D., 
John ■\\'oart, Eaton W. Maxey, George W. Brown, 
Charles E. Mcllvaine and Isaac Gibson, the present 
incumbent, who became rector in 1872. Rev. Thomas 
Potts May died in 1819, and was interred near the 
vestry-room door. Dr. Stem had the charge from 1839 
until his death, in the fall of 1859, in which period 
several important improvements were made. A hand- 
some rectory was built about 1845. In 1856 and the 
following year the church was enlarged to the ex- 
tremes of fifty-six by one hundred and nine feet, 
buttresses and a belfry were added, besides extensive 
interior improvements, costingeight thousand dollars. 
A new organ was placed in the church in March, 
1858. During Mr. Maxey's rectorship, in 1861, a 
spacious and ornamental chapel and other extensive 
improvements were added, at an expense of nine 
thousand doHars. Adjoining is a laige cemetery, still 
used for burial purposes. In 1869 a bequest of about 
twenty-two thousand dollars was left to the church by 
John Boyer, three thousand dollars of which was 
specially to the poor fund of the church. The present 
membership is three hundred and twenty, with two 
hundred and eighty pUpils attending the Sabbath- 
school. 

The First Pre.sbyteeiax Church was built in 
1819, of stone, thirty by sixty feet in dimensions, at the 
northwest corner of Airy and De Kalb Streets. Its 
first pastor was the Rev. Joseph Barr, who also had at 
this time the charge of the Norristown and Providence 
Churches and also taught a school in the academy. 
The Rev. Charles E. Nassau was next succeeded by 
Rev. Robert Adair, to whom, in 1834, was given this 
church alone. The next was Rev. Samuel M. Gould, 
from 1838 to 1850 ; Rev. Randolph A. Smith, until 
1856, when Job Halsey, D.D., became minister until 
1881. The present incumbent is Rev. William B. 
Noble, D. D. In 1839 the front was demolished, the 
side-walls underpinned and twenty-five feet added to 
thedepth of the building, thus providing a basement. 



The whole structure was torn down in 1854, when the 
present handsome edifice was erected and completed 
the following year on its site, at an expense of thirty 
thousand dollars. Its steeple attains an elevation of 
two hundred feet, being the highest in Norristown. 
Attached in the rear is a cemetery and a cottage par- 
sonage fronting on Airy Street. Its membership is 
three hundred and seventy, and Sunday-school attend- 
ance three hundred. 

The Baptist Chuech, corner of Swede and Airy 
Streets, was originally built in 1833, at a cost, includ- 
ing the ground, of seven thousand dollars, the con- 
gregation having been organized December 12, 1832. 
It was a plain stone structure, of medium size, the first 
pastor of which was Rev. William Jordan, who re- 
tired from the charge in 1834, succeeded by Revs. 
Hiram Hutchins, William E.Cornwell,Roswell Cheney, 
Alfred Pinney, Hardin Wheat and George Frear,D.D. 
Rev. Samuel Aaron was pastor from March, 1841, 
to 1844. A gallery was added in 1841, and in 1850, a 
legacy having been left for the purpose, a new front 
was added, with a cu]5ola, in all about one hundred 
feet high ; at the same time the whole exterior and in- 
terior was improved, at a cost of about four thousand 
dollars. During the pastorate of Dr. Frear, from 1S71 
to 1875, the edifice was torn down and a new brown- 
stone Gothic structure erected, with buttressess of cut- 
stone and surmounted with a belfry, the whole costing 
twenty-five thousand dollars. Rev. Simeon Siegfried, 
who was chosen in 1875, died in 1879, and was suc- 
ceeded in 1880 by the present incumbent. Rev. Nelson 
B. Randall. Its present membership is five hundred 
and sixty-seven, and five hundred and eighty teachers 
and pupils in the Sabbath-school. A capacious and 
eh^vated cemetery belonging to the church is situated 
in the eastern suburb of the borough. Before the 
erection of the church, in 1833, the congregation 
worshiped in the academy and court-house. 

The First Methodist Episcopal Church ' was 
originally built of stone, on Main Street, below Arch, 
in 1834, of which the Rev. John Findley had charge 
as preacher on the circuit, who was succeeded by 
Revs. John Woolson and William K. Goentner. In 
the summer of 1857 this property was sold, and the j^res- 
ent large two-story brick edifice erected in its place, 
on De Kalb Street, below Marshall, and dedicated in 
November, 1858, to which a parsonage has since been 
added, the ground having been originally part of 
a lot belonging to the First Presbyterian Church. 
The present pastor is Rev. S. H. C. Smith. Member- 
ship, three hundred and twelve, and three hundred 
and seventy-two pupils on the Sunday-school roll. 

The Oak Street Methodist Episcopal Church 
congregation wasorganized July 11,1854, and the build- 
ingcompleted thefollowingyear. It is a brick edifice, to 
which belongs a neat parsonage. Its first pastors were 
Revs. J. F. Meredith and J. Y. Ashton. The Rev. G. 

1 See chapter, " Religious DenominatioDH, Metbodiam." 



75^ 



HISTORY OF xMONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



W. F. Graff has present charge. Membership, one 
hundred and eighty-four; teachers and pupiW in 
Sabbath-school, two hundred and seventy-five. 

Haws Avenue Methodi.st EpisfOPAL Church 
is a stone building, erected in 1875, .standing at the ; 
corner of Marshall Street. Membership, eighty ; 
teachers and pupils in Sabbath-school, one huudreil 
and fifty. 

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, situ- 
ated on Washington Street, below Barbadoes, was 
originally built in 1837, of stone, three-stories high,tlie 
congregation having been organized tlie previous 
yesir. The pastors have been Revs. Michael O'Con- 
nor, Patrick Nugent, Jeremiah O'Donohue, Dennis 
O'Hara, Pierce Maher and John Monahan, the present 
incumbent, assisted by Rev. James Monahan. The 
church becoming too small, another was erected, of I 
stone, in 1859, sixty-five by one hundred and forty-five 
feet in dimensions, of which the corner-stone was laid 
by Bishop Neuman in .\ugust of that year. It is in 
modern style, with a belfry and large basement- 
rooms. Adjoining is a large brick rectory and three 
dwellings, in which schools are taught by the Sisters. 
The congregation is estimated at three thousand and 
the Sunday-school attendance seven hundred. The 
parochial school was started in 1S75 and the pupils | 
now number about five hundred. Two cemeteries 
belong to the church, one of which is on the south [ 
side of Main Street, beyond Stony Creek, the other on 
L)e Kalb Street road, a quarter of a mile from the 
borough line. 

The Reformed Church of the Ascen.sios 
was built in 1847, and its congregation organized 
the previous year. It is a stone edifice located on 
Airy Street, below Swede. In 1859 it was enlarged 
and adorned with two handsome towers, surmounted 
with spires. The first pastor was Rev. J. R. Kookeu, 
succeeded by Revs. George D. Wolfe, J. T. Ermentrout, 
P. S. Davis, D. Gans, E. O. Forney, Henry M. Keifl'er , 
and Rev. J. O. Johnson, the present incumbent. \ 
Membership, two hundred and forty-five, and attend- 
ance at Sabbath-school, about two hundred and 
seventy-two. 

Trinity Reformed Church is a stone edifice 
erected in 1876 at the corner of Marshall and 
Cherry Streets. Its first pastor was Rev. Daniel 
Feete, succeeded by Revs. A. B. Stoner and W. H. 
Hendricksou, the present incumbent. In 1883 the 
church was greatly improved. The membership is 
eighty, with about one hundred and fifty teachers and 
pupils in the Sabbath-school. 

Trinity Lutheran Church was erected on 
De Kalb Street, above Penn, in 1849. Rev. F. G. 
Miller was its first pastor, succeeded by Revs. McCrow, 
Schultz and Charles A. Baer. During the charge of 
the last the church was rebuilt, of stone, and enlarged 
in 1863, with the addition to its front of a portico 
with four Ionic columns. The pastors since have 
been Revs. L. H. Bork and A. J. Weddell. The 



membership is about four hundred, and attendance at 
Sunday-school four hundred and forty. A parsonage 
was built in the summer of 1884 in tiie place of the 
one removed. 

St. Paul's German Lutheran Church was 
built of brick on Oak Street, below De Kalb, in 1872. 
The fu'st pastor was Rev. Henry ReifT, succeeded by 
Revs. Frantz Badenfeldt, Engel, Pracht, Pohle and 
Gerlach. Its membership is eighty, and teachers and 
pupils in Sabbath-school onehundred and fifty. 

Central or Second Presbyterian Church 
is located on the north side of Main Street, above 
Swede. The congregation was organized November 
28, 1855, the corner-stone laid August 9, 18.56, and the 
i^hurch dedicated in February, 1858. It is a large brick 
edifice, with a portico in front containing six Corin- 
thian columns, has circular pews and ample rooms in 
the basement; itcostthirty-five thousand dollars. Its 
|)astors have been Revs. Daniel G. Mallery, Robert 
.\dair, J. T. Ford and William .lenks. Rev. Joseph 
McAskie has present charge. Membership is two 
hundred and twenty-five, and teachers and pupils in 
Sunday-school three hundred. 

Friends' Meeting-House is a plain brick build- 
ing located within a large shady lawn, at the corner 
of Swede and Jacoby Streets. It was erected in 1852 
as an indulged meeting, under care of Gwynedd 
Monthly Meeting. 

The Evangelical Association, or German 
JIethodists, erected a brick house of worship in 
1859 on Cherry Street, above Airy. Its first pastor 
was Rev. Seneca Breifogle, succeeded by Revs. E. 
Batz, Thomas Harper, James O. Leihr, S. G. Rhoades, 
R. M. Lichtenwalter, B. F. Bouher, W. T. Black and 
Francis Leihr. Membership, one hundred and si.K- 
t<'en; teachers and pupils in Sunday-school, one 
hundred. 

The Dunkards, or German Baptists, possess a 
small brick meeting-house on Barbadoes Street, above 
Airy, erected in 1869. No stated or regular worship 
is held therein. 

The Colored Zion Methodist Episcopal 
Church, on Chain Street near Lafayette, was erected 
in 1845. A larger one having been built on Powell 
Street in 1853, the former one was vacated. Its first 
pastor was Rev. Thomas Gibbs ; the present one in 
charge is Rev. Amos Wilson. Membership, about one 
hundred, with an attendance of seventy-five in the 
Sunday-school. 

The Colored Ebenezer Protestant Metho- 
dist Church was organized in June, 1849, and a 
stone building erected in the autumn of 1853, at a 
cost of eight hundred and seventy-five dollars, at 
Arch and Basin Streets. In 1872 it was rebuilt of 
brick and enlarged. Its pastors have been Rev. Sam- 
uel N. Amos, Isaiah Taylor and Charles Williams. 
Membership, fifty-six, and Sunday-School attendance 
about forty. 

Public Schools. —The schools of Norristown, both 



BOROUGH OF NORRISTOWN. 



^53 



public and private, liave a high reimtation, and are 
probably not excelled by those of any other borough 
in the State. Its inhabitants from an early period 
have bestowed considerable attention npon the matter, 
and the result has been a continual progress in their 
condition. Schools, particularly in towns, perform a 
more important part in the affairs and duties of life 
than is generally accredited them. By this we mean, 
more especially, their influence on order and morals. 
What would be the condition of any town of this size 
if its schools were closed for one year? In this 
borough about one-fifth of the whole population at- 
tends school ; if this number, instead of being there 



the number in the borough had increased to twenty 
public schools, in which were enijiloyed two male 
and eighteen female teachers, attended by two thou- 
sand and ninety-one scholars. The schools were kept 
in three buildings erected expressly for the purpose, 
and a one-story frame building for colored children. 
The public schools in 1872 had increased to thirty- 
one, and in 1875 to thirty-eight, taught by this num- 
ber of teachers and attended by two thousand four 
hundred and one scholars. The High School was 
established in 1870, when A. D. Eisenhower became 
principal. In 1878, Anne Y. Gilbert (Mrs. Dr. C. Z. 
Weber) was chosen assistant; upon her resignation, 



I 




HKiH SC'HUDL, XOKRISTOWX. 



and preparing for future usefulness, should be let loose 
in the streets, its character would soon change. 

The public schools are forty-four and are taught by 
this number of teachers. For the year ending June 

1, 1884, the whole number of pupils enrolled was 
two thousand three hundred and thirty and the aver- 
age daily attendance one tliousand six hundred and 
eighteen. Joseph K. Gotwals is superintendent of 
the borough schools. Those outside of these limits, 
but within the county, are in charge of the county 
superintendent, the positions being independent of 
each other. The public-school system was accepted 
July 27, 1835, but did not go in operation until March 

2, 1836. The first directors' meeting had been held 
September 24, 1834. In 1832, strange to say, there 
were but two primary schools in the place. In 1857 

48 



in 1884, Miss Ella Detwiler and Miss Bertha Lime- 
bach became assistants. 

The public school buildings are now six in number, 
and can all be considered as comparatively new and of 
modern construction. The High School building is 
on De Kalb Street, fronting on Oak, the lot of ground 
containing several acres. It was erected in 1880, is 
built of brick, three stories high, with handsome stone 
facings to all the windows, doors and basement. The 
furniture and apparatusis of modern and approved con- 
struction. It contains accommodations for five hun- 
dred and twelve pupils. All the higher branches are 
taught, including Latin, Greek and German. The 
principal is A. D. Eisenhower, with ten additional 
teachers; the grammar department being in three 
divisions. 



754 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Oak Street Public School building was originally 
erected in 1849, on a large lot fronting on said street. 
It i,s built of brick, three stories high, and was en- 
larged in 1859, and again in 18G8, and contains accom- 
modations for one thousand pupils. It is divided into 
numerous class and recitation-rooms. William J. 
Wells is principal, assisted by fourteen teachers in 
five divisions. Chain Street School is located at the 
corner of Airy and Chain street, in the south-west- 
ern part of the borough. It is a two-story stone 
building erected in 1870, with eight school-rooms, 
and has capacity for four hundred pupils. The lot 
embraces half a square of ground. Joseph V. Bean 
is principal, assisted by five teachers in six divisions. 

Sandy Street School is located at Walnut and Sandy 
Streets. It is a two-story brick edifice, originally 
built in 1851 and enlarged in 1874, and contains ac- 
commodations for four hundred and fifty pupils. 
George H. Coe is principal, assisted by seven teach- 
ers in three divisions. Cherry Street School is lo- 
cated at the corner of Penn, is built of brick, three 
stories high, erected in 1851. It has capacity for one 
hundred and fifty pupils, and is used as a second- 
ary school, with two teachers. Powell Street School, 
at the corner of Willow, is a stone building, erected in 
1&74 for colored pupils, with capacity for accommo- 
dating one hundred and twenty scholars, and is now 
unused. 

Cemeteries. — The Montgomery Cemetery Comjiany 
was organized in September, 1847, and was incorpo- 
rated April 4, 1848. It contains thirty acres of land, 
and is located on the Schuylkill, adjoining Norritou 
township. The first interment made therein was 
March 16, 1849, and up to April 1, 1859, the number 
had reached six hundred and fifty-two, but since has 
greatly increased. Here the dead repose amidst 
shady lawns, shrubbery and flowers. It possesses a 
diversified surface, and the ground descends towards 
the river. Norris City Cemetery is situated outside 
the borough limits, beside its northern boundary, and 
is approached by Swede Street. The company was 
incorporated in November, 1857, and the first inter- 
ment made the following spring. This tract was pre- 
viously known as the Rossiter Farm. St. Patrick's 
Burial-Ground is situated on the south side of Main 
Street, beyond Stony Creek. A tract was purchased 
of Levi and Elizabeth Pawling May 14, 1809, as a 
public burying-ground, at the corner of Swede and 
Violet Streets. It is known as Potter's Field, con- 
tains thirty-three perches, and is under the control of 
the Borough Council. Respecting its condition, a 
public meeting was called in June, 1809, probably 
with a view of having it inclosed. 

Public HaUs.^The earliest hall in the place of any 
pretension was that in the Odd Fellows' building, 
which was erected by a company in 1850, and was 
three stories high, built of brick. The first story was 
occupied by stores, the second by the hall, and the third 
for the purposes of the lodge-rooms. In 1877 it was 



sold to Philip Quillman, who placed a mansard roof 
on its fourth story and vacated the hall. In 1872 a 
company was formed who erected IMusic Hall, on 
the north side of Main Street, above De Kalb. It 
is a handsome three-story brick structure, faced with 
marble, fifty feet front and one hundred and forty feet 
deep, and cost sixty thousand dollars. The first story 
in front is occupied by the post-oflice and stores. The 
second story contains the hall, fitted up for concerts, 
lectures and exhibition purposes, and has a capacity 
for seating one thousand persons. It possesses in addi- 
tion a stage, scene-fixtures and a dressing-room. The 
third story is finished up and used as a Masonic 
lodge-room. There are several other halls fitted up 
for such purposes in the place, as Acker's, Fisher's, 
Albertson's and Meeh's, and others of less note. 

The Norristown Library is kept in the second story 
of a brick building erected by the association, com- 
menced in October, 1859, into which it was removed in 
the following April. The building was thirty by forty 
feet in dimensions, situated on De Kalb Street, above 
Airy. It is open every week-day, and contains at ])re- 
sent about six thousand volumes. It was founded in 
1794, and incorporated April 30, 1796, and its charter 
signed by Thomas Mifilin, Governor. The original 
members were Henry Pawling, Andrew Porter, John 
Pugh, Seth Chapman, Dr. Isaac Huddleson, Dr. Wil- 
liam Smith, Joseph Potts, Ezekiel Rhoades, Robert 
Brooke, John E. Allen, James Adams, John Davis 
and Samuel Maulsby, having been its earliest friends 
and incorporators. In January, 1801, Andrew Por- 
ter, Levi Pawling, John Davis, Robert Kennedy, 
David Lukens, Isaiah Wells and six others were 
elected trustees. At this time it contained about 
seventy members, with an annual payment of one 
dollar from each. The treasurer reported that there 
were due one hundred and forty-four dollars, besides a 
considerable sum for fines, and requested the same to 
be paid so as to enable the purchase of additional 
books. 

For many years the library was kept in a building 
upon a site belonging to the Bank of Montgomery 
County, on Main Street, which was afterwards re- 
moved to the corner of De Kalb and Penn Streets. 
A one-story frame building, fifteen and a half feet 
square, was erected for it in 1835, where it re- 
mained until the completion of the present building. 
In January, 1825, it contained six hundred and 
eleven volumes, for which a building that cost .^15.3.43 
had been erected by private subscription on the 
leased lot. The members at this time were twenty- 
four. In 1836 the annual meeting was changed from 
the first Saturday in January to the first Tuesday of the 
same month. The first catalogue was printed in 1836, 
containing forty pages. In 1832 the library had in- 
creased to eleven hundred volumes, and in 1858 to about 
two thousand eight hundred. The last catalogue was 
printed in 1883, containing one hundred pages. The 
annual payment is [now two dollars, the price of 



BOROUGH OF NORRISTOWN. 



r55 



a 



shares five dollars and of life memberships twenty dol- 
lars. Miss Irene Hallman is the present librarian. ] 

The Historical Society of Jlontgomery County was 
founded February 22, 1881, by a call from fourteen 
prominent citizens. They have held several meetings 
and have had papers read before them on historical 
subjects of local interest and commenced the forma- 
tion of a library and a collection of manuscripts. It 
was incorporated in Jlay, 1883. 

The officers of the society from the first have been, — 
President: 1881-85, Theodore W. Bean. Vice-Presi- 
dents: 1881-82, Reuben Kriebel, Professor R. T. Hof- 
fecker ; 1883, Professor R. T. Hofl'ecker, Dr. Hiram 
Corson; 1881—85, Dr. Hiram Corson, Hon. Hiram C. 
Hoover Recording Secretary : 1881, J. S. Shrawder, 
M.D. ; 1882-85, F. G. Hobson. Corresponding Sec- 
retary : 1881-84, S. M. Corson ; 1885, Isaac Chisra, 
Esq. Treasufer : 1881-85, Major William H. Hol- 
stein. Librarian : 1881-85, Nathaniel Jacoby. Sten- 
ographer: 1881-85, William N. Clift. Trustees: 
1884-85, Benjamin P. Wertsner, William McDermott, 
Hon. AVilliam Henry Sutton, Charles F. Corson, Hon. 
William A. Yeakle, I'rofessor Joseph K. Gotwaltz, 
Hon. James Detwiler, Mrs. Jacob L. Rex and Mrs. 
Caleb R. Howell. 

The post-office is kept in the first-story front of 
Music Hall building, on Main Street. It has been 
fitted up under government authority, the office being 
now of that rank that the appointment is nuide by the 
President of the United States. Robert Iredell, the 
present incumbent, except a short interval from 186G 
to 1868, has held the office continuously since 1861, 
while his deputy, William Acker, has officiated therein 
:i still longer time. The post-office was established in 
Norristown before 1799, when John Davis was post- 
master. It was the second in the county, the Potts- 
lown office having preceded it near the close of 1793. 

The first postmaster of Norristown was John Davis, 
in 1799; since 1820 the following have served: 
James Wells, Isaiah W. Davis, Philip Hahn, John 
Sutlee, Henry G. Hart, Dr. E. L. Acker, Robert Ire- 
dell, 1861 to 1866 ; Henry Quilman, Samuel Brown 
and Robert Iredell. 

An advertisement of the several letters remaining in 
this office uncalled for in October, 1799, is a curiosity. 
Several of the names mentioned are stated from their 
address to reside in Nockamixon, Chester County, Great 
Valley, Montgomery township, Lower Merion, Trappe, 
Horsham and Upper Hanover. This, of course, was 
then owing to the comparatively few post-offices in 
the country. Indeed, in Pennsylvania, in 1796, there 
was but thirty-three, and even in the county, as late as 
1827, only twenty. John Coates was postmaster in 
1816. 

Early History. — By reference to the history of 
Norriton township it will be seen that the land on 
whicb Norristown is situated was part of the tract 
owned by Isaac Norris. The greater part within the 
present borough came in possession of his son, Charles 



Norris, who erected a mill ' by the side of the Schuyl- 
kill,a few yards above the present dam, and made 
other valuable improvements. After his death, Mary, 
his wife, sold, September 17, 1771, the mill and five 
hundred and forty-three acres on the river-side to 
John Bull, of Limerick township, for the sum of four 
thousand six hundred pounds, whicb, in our 
present currency, would be twelve thousand two hun- 
dred and sixty-five dollars. Included in said purchase 
was Barbadoes Island, which is stated in the con- 
veyance to contain eighty-eight acres. Nicholas Scull, 
in his map of the province, published in 1759, men- 
tions an inn called the "Norrington House," situated 
on the southeast side of where the Ridge I'oad or 
Main Street now crosses Stony Creek. This, no doubt, 
was the first site of the earliest settlement anywhere 
within the present limits of the borough, and which 
subsequent researches seem to confirm. 

As both the township of Norriton and Norristown 
received their names from Isaac Norris, of Philadel- 
phia, some account of him in this connection may not be 
amiss. He was a native of England, where he was 
born about the year 1671. With his father he went 
to Jamaica in 1678, where he established himself as 
a merchant, and after a residence there of fourteen 
years arrived in Philadelphia, where he commenced a 
successful business career. During his life he was a 
leading member of the Society of Friends. With 
William Trent, in 1704, he purchased all of what was 
called Norriton township, and in 1712 became its sole 
owner. He was elected to the Assembly in 1700, and 
was continued in the same for many years. He re- 
sided chiefly at Fair Hill, his country-seat, which was 
in the present vicinity of Broad Street, below Monu- 
ment Cemetery. He was married, March 7, 1694, to 
Mary, the youngest daughter of Governor Thomas 
Lloyd. He was very active and influential in civil 
and religious matters. In 1715 he became one of the 
justices of the Philadelphia County Courts, a member 
of the Governor's Council and was, at the time of his 
death, chief justice of the province. He died suddenly 
in the beginning of June, 1735, of an apoplectic fit, 
while attending Germantown Meeting. At the time of 
his decease, he was about sixty-four years of age. His 
will is dated January 17, 1731, and appointed Mary, his 
wife, and his sons Isaac, Charles and Samuel, jointly, 
his executors. His eldest son, Isaac, one of the afore- 
said executors, was also distinguished as a merchant 
and for his services in public life. He was long an 
alderman of the city, and for twenty years Speaker of 
the Assembly. He died July 13, 1766, aged sixty-five 
years. William Trent, alluded to, was also an early 
merchant of Philadelphia, speaker of the Assembly 
and one of the judges of the Supreme Court from 

1 Since the aforesaid was written, wo have learned from the report of the 
road survey from Swedes' Ford to Gwynedd Meeting-house, in March, 1738, 
of a mention made in this vicinity of "Norris' Mills." The question 
arises, — were those mills beside the Schuylkill or on Stony Creelt ? Moat 
likely on thu"Iatter stream. 



T56 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



1705 to 17111. lie sliortly alter removed to where 
Trenton, N. .1., now is, where he commenced the first 
seltleiiicnt, hy the erection of several mills, in 1719. 
He died there in 1724, chief justice of the province, 
and after him Trenton was called. 

.\n act having been jjasaed by the Assembly, Feb- 
ruary 26, 1773, for "clearing, scouring and making 
the river Schuylkill navigable, and for putting in 
execution all and every other tiie purpo.ses in the said 
act mentioned," the commissioners appointed to 
carry out the aforesaid state tliat they 

"Didaproo with Clmrles Norris, Esq., late deceagi'd, tliat be eliould 
bo pormittcd and HiilTored from time to time, as nccaaiou eliall require, 
to repair, keep up and maintain a rertaiu mill-dam running acroBS the 
eoHtern clumnol of tlie said river, from ttie main eastern sliore thereof to 
Barbadoes Island, wtiich, before tlie date of tlie said agreement, liad been 
made and erected l>y tlie said Charles Norris, for the use of Itis mill, on 
condition that he should and would build, ereet and carry out, from the 
U]tper end of tin- said island, a dam, or wall, of at least twenty perches in 
length, and inclining in some degree to thcciistern side of the said river, 
and of such height Jis should be above the waters at all times, other than 
in freshes, so as to direct the waters into the western channel, and also 
should and would, in the building of the said wall or dam, make use of 
the stones lying in the said western channel. And wlierean, since the 
agreement aforesaid, the adminiHtratore of the said Charles Norris did 
convey and make over the said mill, with the appurtenances, to John Bull, 
Kbi). tie it tlierc/ore enactcil, that the said John Hull, his heirs or (Uisigns, 
shall, and he or they are hereby enjoined and reijiiired within the space 
of eight months from and after piissing this act, to build the Siiid uam or 
wall as mentioned, and in case he shall refuse or neglect it, then the com 
missionei'M to prostrate or remove the said mill-dam, which, should they 
be compelled to do, then the said .lohn Bull to have a reasonable com* 
]>ensatioii therefore and foiever thereafter to keep open the said eastern 
channel of the said river, free and clear from all manner of impediment 
and obstructions to the navigation thei'eof." 

This important statement goes to show under 
wliat circumstances the first mill was erected here 
and in what way its motive-power was secured from 
the river. It may have been jio-isiblc that on the 
breast of this dam at certain times the island may 
have been reached by persons crossing on foot; a 
matter that occasioned som'e speculation when it 
became somewhat of a resort for racing, bathing and 
military trainings. 

Only two days after the defeat of Washington at 
lirandywine he dispatched (icneral Armstrong, with 
a portion of the militia, ttlong the Schuylkill to throw 
up redoubts at the dili'erent fords whicii were to be 
occasionally occupied, that in case the British should 
attempt to cross they might be opposed. At that time 
tlie |)riiicipal cros»ing-])lace was at Swedes' Ford, and 
on this account it wiis expected that they might pass 
there, and for this reason, under the direction of Uhcv- 
alier Du I'ortail, an engineer, formerly in the French 
army, Armstrong's men threw up entrenchments and 
breast-works oppo.site that jilace, and now in the bor- 
ough, and it is said that they were scarcely completed 
before the British made their ai)pearance on the other 
side, but in con.sc(iuence changed their line of march 
towards Valley Forge, llemaiiis of these works were 
still visible forty years ago. While Washington was 
near Pottsgrove the enemy crossed the Schuylkill at 
Fatland Ford, five and a half miles above Norristown, 
on the night of September 22, 1777, and proceeded 



leisurely on their march to the city. On the 23d a 
portion of their army was overnight in or near the 
present borough, on which oci'asion they set fire and 
burned down nearly all the buildings in the place. 
So great was the damage done that on a valuation 
being made, the State allowed to Colonel Bull for his 
loss £2080, to the University £1000, to Hannah 
Thompson £807 and William Dewees £329,— the 
whole equivalent to .$11,240 of our present currency. 
The aforesaid may be dejicnded on as accurate, being 
derived from official manuscripts on the subject. The 
result may be arrived at from an advertisement in 
the Pennsylvania Packet of October 27, 1778, and 
bearing the Kev. Dr. Smith's name,— 

" To be let for a term of years, that valuable ])lantation at Norriton, 
on Schuylkill, lately occupied by Colonel Bull. Such persons as desire 
to lease the same are rei|uet:ted to make their propositions to the sut>- 
seriber, at the f'ollegc, as soon as possible, as the farm and meadows now 
suffer for the want of a tenant." 

Colonel Bull continued to reside here from 1771, 
making extensive improvements, and most probably 
until the destruction of his property. He was assessed 
in the spring of 177G for holding in Norriton five 
hundred acres, two negroes, two bound servants, five 
horses and seven cows. In 1768 he had been ap- 
pointed one of the justices of the Court of Quarter 
Sessions for Philadelphia County, which office he con- 
tinued to hold until the Revolution. He had been in 
the service as a captain in the French and Indian 
war, and was commissioned, November 25, 1775, a 
colonel of the First Pennsylvania Battalion of eight 
companies, afterwards DeHaas' regiment, which posi- 
tion he resigned January 20, 1776. He was appointed 
adjutant-general of Pennsylvania June 17, 1777, and 
when General .James Irvine was taken prisoner, near 
Chestnut Hill, was appointed, in December of that 
year, to the command of the Second Brigade of Penn- 
.sylvania Militia. In 1780 he was appointed to pur- 
chase horses in the county for the use of the army. 
In January, 1775, he was one of the county members 
that met in provincial convention to prohibit the im- 
portation of slaves. He, with three others represented , 
the county in the convention that framed the Consti- ' 
tution of the State, which was adopted September 
28, 1776. We see by these several positions that he 
had become an active partisan in the war, and it was 
for this reason and his carrying on the manufacture 
of powder that the I5rilish were induced to burn his 
property hero September 23, 1777, while on their 
march to take possession of the city. He was contin- 
ued by the Assembly, August 31, 1778, as one of the 
justices of the County Courts. Colonel Bull sold all 
his real estate here, excepting about fifty-five acres, to 
Rev. Dr. William Smith, of the city of Philadelphia, 
October 30, 1776, for tiie use of the University of 
Pennsylvania, of which he was provost, for six thou- 
sand pounds. The tract is mentioned as containing a 
grist-mill, saw-mill, powder-mill and other buildings. 
The deed for the same was not given until the 
following November 2d. These were the buildings 



BOROUGH OF NORWSTOWN. 



757 



I 



that the liritisli in tlie following year destroyed- 
Beiijaiiiiii liittenhousc, brother of the celebrated 
philosopher, who was commissioned by Governor 
Mifflin, in 171*1, one of the associate judges of the 
Court of Common Pleas for Montgomery County, was 
married to a daughter of Colonel Hull. William 
Bull, who was assessed in Norriton in 177G for hold- 
ing three hundred acres and two negroes, was proba- 
bly a brother of the aforesaid. He had purchased a 
farm here of Henry Conardin 1770. 

While the British army was destroying property in 
this neighborhood, we learn from the Rev. H. M. 
Muhlenberg's journal that the American light cavalry 
captured five English soldiers, who at this lime, we pre- 
sume, were out marauding, and brought them through 
the Trappe on their way to the American army. 
When Washington broke up liis camp at VVHiite- 
marsh, and i#oceeded with the army to Valley Forge, 
for winter-quarters, it was on the banks of the river at 
this borough that they encam[)ed for about two days, 
suffering severely at this time. Colonel John Laurens 
states, for the want of provisions. On the alt('rnoon 
of December 13th they crossed at the Swedes' Ford by 
making a bridge of wagons backed to eacli other, on 
wliich were laid fence-rails as a substitute for plank, 
and whieli formed very unstable footing. This novel 
mode of crossing was witnessed by the late Mathias 
Holstein, then a boy, accompanied by his father, 
which fact has since heen corroborated by the letters 
and journals of several who were then present. 

From a County-Seat to a Borough. — At that time, 
where is now the lar;;e and pojHiIous borougli of 
Norristown, the land idiielly belonged to the trustees 
of the University of Pennsylvania, to whom it had 
been transferred by the Rev. Dr. Smith, who had 
been the provost of the same. His son, William 
Moore Smith, became agent for the trustees of this 
institution, and under certain reservations, final 
owner, and thus had it laid out as the town of 
"Norris'' into streets and lots. The latter were 
divided into a width of fifty feet front, but of 
different depths. Those most advantageously situ- 
ated brought as high as four dollars per foot, while 
others less desirable were sold as low as $1.40. There 
were in all at this time (178-5) sixty-four lots, bounded 
on the north by Airy Street, east by Green Alley, 
south by Lafayette and west by Cherry Street. This 
may be considered the original size of the town. In 
the deeds to the several lot-holders mention is made 
that they are conveyed by the " trustees of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania," and are situated " in the 
town of Norris." A lot on Egypt Street was sold to 
Henry Roo-ien, February 28, 1785, for seventy-seven 
pounds and the singular feudal reservatifui of "an 
acorn annually to be paid to them and their suc- 
cessors." Abraham Landis purchased a lot in that 
year for eight pounds, on De Kalb Street, and David 
Lloyd one for twenty-five pounds, fronting on De Kalb 
and Swede Streets, in which this tribute is als ) a 



condition. A copy of the original town draft may be 
seen in Deed Book No. 2, page 40-5, at the recorder's 
ofiice, in which the " Mansion House" is described as 
being on the north side of Main or Egypt Street, near 
the present Bar'oadoes. Egypt Street is mentionedl 
therein as eighty feet wide, De Kalb sixty-si.x, Swede 
sixty-six. and Pcnn Street extending eastwards from 
the court-house lot. The latter is mentioned as being 
three hundred and forty-four by one hundred and 
forty feet in extent, and that " the Public Square to 
remain open for ever" towards Egypt or Main Street. 

As the court-house and jail were not built for 
several years after the formation of the county, the 
courts had to be held wherever they could get the 
most suitable accommodations. The first court wa.s 
held at the public-house of .John Shannon, December 
28, 1784. Frederick A. Muhlenberg, James Morris, 
Ilenry Scheetz and William Dean were the justices, 
the first being president. To show the spirit of the 
times, we learn from the records of the court that one 
person, for committing two larcenies, was sentenced, 
Se]Jtember 28, 178-3, to receive on his bare back fifteen 
lashes, well laid on, and on the following October 8th 
the same number to be repeated for the secotid offense. 
"Negro William" was sentenced, at the same time, to 
receive nineteen laslies. 

The ground upon which the court-houi-e stands, 
with much the greater portion of the i)resent public 
square, was virtually presented to the county by the 
trustees of the University, expressly for the 
public buildings. It was conveyed througli the com- 
missioners in accordance with the provisions men- 
tioned in the act of Assembly. The consideration 
therefor, was five sliillings, and the transfer was made 
in 1785. The deed thus describes the boundaries : 

" I^eginning iit tin- iiortliwest coriK-ior Airy ami Swede I?lrcct8, ttieiice 
along tlio west side uf Sweile, suiitli 28 degreett, west 3-14 feet to a eoriier, 
thence along the (ipeu 8i(UHi'e, Botitli 02 degrees, east 140 feet to a corner 
lot marked No. 1 ; llience by a -10 feet court and lot No. 30, north 28 
degrees, ea«t 344 feet to .\iry Street, thence along said street north 62 de- 
grees west to the place of beginning." 

It will be observed no mention is made of the 
present Penn Street ; i)robably l he court referred to 
was a portion of the same tiiat may at this time have 
been only partly opened. 

The court-house an i jail were both commenced in 
1787, and were built of stone. The dimensions of the 
former were seventy by forty feet, two stories high, 
and surmounted by a cupola and bell. It stood upon 
the south side of Penn Street, near the corner of 
Swede, with its front towards Main Street. Tiie 
stairs were placed on the outside to reach the second 
story, similar to those of the old court-house in Phila- 
delphia, which was eonuiion at this period, even 
with churches and private houses when two stories 
high. The prison stood upon the site of the oresent 
court-house and was a two-.story rough-cast building. 
In 1801 four hundred and twenty-one dollars were paid 
for fuel used in it, which the auditors said would have 
to be in the future considerablv reduced or the amount 



758 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUiNTY. 



would not be allowed, while the expenses for board- 
ing the prisoners was one hundred and ninety-seven 
dollars. The following year the fuel charge was one 
hundred and sixty-four dollars. The cost to the 
county for erecting these buildings was i!4774 lis. 9d. 
Of this amount, £1828 19s. was received from Phila- 
delphia County, as the share coming to Montgomery 
from the proceeds of the sale of the old prison there, 
according to the act of Assembly in establishing the 
county. The building containing the county otfices 
was not erected till 1791. Several years after it wa.s 
enlarged to fifty by thirty-six feet. Colonel Thomas 
Craig, an officer of the Revolution, was appointed in 
1784 associate judge, prothonotary, clerk of the courts, 
and the following year recorder, all of which offices 
he actually held until 1799. 

Genenil Francis Swayne, a resident of the Trappe 
and son-in-law of the Rev. H. M. Muhlenberg, while 
sheriff of the county, on the 12th of April, 1788, exe- 
cuted John Brown, who had been sentenced to death 
for burglary, and who, it appears, was an old offender. 
He was hanged in the rear of the jail on Airy Street. 
This affair for some time after was the occasion of 
considerable controversy, if not excitement, between 
the sheritf and several citizens of the town. It origin- 
ated chiefly through the execution having been per- 
formed on the liighway, and in the most public 
manner. The sheriff, on the other hand, defended 
himself on the ground that he could not get the per- 
mission of any land-owners in or near the place to 
permit him, as an officer, to fulfil the due performance 
of that which was required of him by law. 

Norristown, in 1790, contained a court-house, jail, 
three or four inns, eight or nine houses, a mill and a 
school-house, — in all about eighteen building-;. An in- 
telligent lady of nearly eighty years,sometime sincede- 
ceased, who was raised in the place, furnished the writer 
wilh the following reminiscences in 1858: That the 
town in 1793 contained three or four taverns, — one was 
the"General Washington," keptby Alexander Moore; 
the "Rising Sun," keptby Jesse Roberts; the " Eagle," 
by a person by the name of Rudolph ; that there were 
two stores, one kept by John Young, and not a house 
within the present borough limits south and south- 
east of Main and De Kalb Streets. She remembered 
when shad, herring and rockfish were caught here in 
abundance and canoes and flats navigated the river. 
On one occasion she went with her father to Phila- 
delphia in a canoe and was considerably frightened 
in going through the falls above Manayunk. Scott, 
in his " United States Gazetteer of 1795," speaks of 
Norristown as then containing about twenty houses, 
besides the county buildings. An aged gentleman, 
now for some time deceased, furnished the writer in 
1854 with his recollections of the place in 1803. He 
says it then contained about fifty houses and that most 
of them were but one story high and built of frame or 
logs. Besides these were a court-house, jail, three 
taverns, one store and and a small school-house, two 



or three lawyers and one doctor. Back of Airy Sireet, 
in the vicinity of the present prison, was the old Jail 
Lane, which was a favorite place for horse-racing and 
playing long bullets. In the spring and fall, when, 
the condition of the roads became impassable, the 
people hauled tan from the old tan-yard carried on by 
Philip Markley before 1790, and made walks of it 
before their doors. Swede Street at this time was the 
only road that extended to the river, and there was 
then a fine road along its banks from the mouth of 
Stony Creek to Swedes' Ford, well shaded by button- 
wood and beech-trees. 

John Markley, an enterprising citizen of the place, 
in the fall of 1798, was elected sherift" of the county, to 
which position he was elected for three consecutive 
years. Having purchased all the real estate here that 
had formerly belonged to the university, he was in- 
duced to offer it for sale in an advertisement of 
December, 1801 : 

*'.\11 the ostate called Xorrisfowu Mill and Farm, lately tlie property 
of Wm. Hoore Smith, Esq., adjoiuing the town of Xorris, and bounding 
on the river Schuylkill, containing 540 acres, including Barbadoes 
Island. It is the intention of the subscriber to divide this estate into lota 
and small farms. To the farm-lots will be added a sufficiency of wood- 
lands and cunnnodiuus dwelling-houseg. Also the merchant mill, saw- 
mill, with tcnacree of land. The mills are pleasantly situated on and 
workeii by the river Schuylkill, within a few poles of the road leading 
from Philadelphja to Reading, and are in complete repair. There are 
on the premises two other mill-seats on streams of water sufficiently 
strong for any kind of power, which will be sold separate, with a suffi- 
cient seciu'ity of the water-right. The richness of the soil, the pleasant- 
ness of the situation and the present ilourishiug prospects of the village 
renders the purchase of this property an object worthy the attention of 
the farmer, the niecbanic or the gentleman of leisure." 

All attack on a nation.al ve.ssel, in our own waters 
in time of peace, made an unusual excitement through- 
out the country which even extended to Norristown, 
where a call was issued against " British tyranny and 
oppression," and a public meeting held at the court- 
house, July 22, 1807, "for the purpose of expressing 
their sense of the late unwarrantable and dastardly 
outrage committed by one of the British ships of war 
on the American frigate, " Chesapeake." General 
Francis Swaine was appointed president and Samuel 
Patterson secretary. Levi Pawling, William Hender- 
son, Israel Bringhurst, George Weaver, Mathias Hol- 
stein, John Markley and James Winnard reported 
seven resolutions, wherein they state 

" That the outrage committed by the British ehiivof-war ' Leopard * 
on the American frigate 'Chesapeake,' and the murder of our seamen, 
whether it be considered as an .act of the Britisli government, or of indi- 
viduals who conunitted it, requires rigid retribution or honorable repara- 
tion. That we will, at the hazard of our lives and properties, support the 
proclamation of the President of the United States, and any other mea- 
sures that may be adopted by the constituted authorities to obtain redress 
from the British government for the reparation of our national honor 
and insulted sovereignty. At this crisis it is flie duty of eveiy citizen 
who is not conscientiously scrupulous against Iiearingarms to anu in 
defense of his injured country, and to prepare for the event of a war." 

As a result, notice was given by John Richards, bri- 
gade inspector of New Hanover township, to the en- 
rolled persons between the ages of eighteen and forty- 
five years, and not exempted from military duty, that 



ll 



BOROUGH OF NORllISTOWN. 



759 



an election of the First Brigade, Second Division of 
Peunsylvania Militia, would be held, July 31, 1807, for 
one brigadier-general, one brigade inspector, one lieu- 
tenant-colonel for each regiment and one major for 
each battalion in the county; for the Thirty-sixth 
Regiment, commauded by Colonel Samuel Henderson, 
at the house of Frederick Dull, Hickorytown ; for 
the Fifty-first Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant- 
Colonel John Wentz, at Frederick Conrad's, Esq., in 
Worcester; for the Fifty-sixth Regiment, commanded 
by Lieutenant-Colonel Christian Snyder, at Jesse 
Kirk's, in Horsham ; for the Eighty-sixth Regiment, 
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac Davis, at ! 
Henry Krebs', in New Hanover ; the commanding 
officers to appoint suitable persons to conduct the 
election and make returns thereof according to law; 
the company officers to appoint the day and place of 
meeting for rtie eleciion of the officers of companies. 

A draft of upwards of six hundred men having 
been ordered a-s Montgomery County's quota, who 
were required to report atXorristowa and to there en- 
ter the service, at eleven o'clock on December Kith, 
of that year, the line was formed in a field adjacent to 
the town to carry out the aforesaid object. The right 
was flanked by Captain Pawling's dragoons. Captain 
Shives' artillery, Captain Bucher's rifle company 
and Captain Gross' infantry ; the left by Captain 
M'eber's. dragoons, and Captains Holgate's, Weist's 
Mintzner's and Barn's infantry ; the sixteen com- 
panies of drafted militia being placed in the centre. 
The whole was placed under the command of Colonel 
Reed, to whom was allotted the command of the de- 
tachment. The cavalry who were all uniformed and 
mounted, had considerably exceeded the quota, and 
all the volunteer corps were neatly equipped, and 
the militia generally armed. Major-General Swaine 
and Brigadier-General Scheetz, attended by their aids, 
and Major Norny, the brigade inspector, reviewed 
the line and received a general salute. The whole 
marched in regular order through the town, and then 
returned to the former ground, where the volunteers 
were dismissed. On this occasion several of the com- 
panies had come a distance of twenty-five miles. 

Among the early and enterprising improvers of 
Norristown, can be mentioned Michael Broadt, a name 
we believe, that has since been changed to Broades. 
Concerning his history at this writing we possess little 
beyond what is fragmentary. He constructed a dry- 
ing-house and powder-mill inXorristown about 1799, 
and while conducting a series of experiments with his 
newly-made powder, nine hundred pounds of it be- 
came ignited and blew up one of the buildings, injur- 
ing one of his employes, while he fortunately escaped 
injury. He was a well-educated German and took 
an interest in educational matters, being one of the 
founders of the academy, and was elected in 1803 one of 
its first trustees. This same year he secured the ser- 
vices of Charles Fortman, a graduate of one of the 
German universities, to give instruction in the Eng- 



lish, German, French and Latin languages, and also 
on the piano-forte, on the latter, no doubt, the first 
teacher in the county. At this date he also advertises 
building lots for sale. It is probable, that in addition 
to carrying on several manufactories he also kept a 
public-house, for on December 6, 1806, he advertises 
" all that noted old Tavern Stand, known by the sign 
of the ' New Moon' and thirty acres of land, with 
stabling for twenty-horses, oil-mill, plaster-of-Paris- 
mill, powder-mill and carding-machine." On Septem- 
ber 20th of this year his daughter Sarah was married 
to William Chain, also of Norristown. In June, 1807, 
he informs the public " that his machinery for picking 
and rolling wool is in complete order. Persons living 
at a distance are required to bring in their own wool 
soon in order that they may have it done while they 
wait for it to take back with them." Whether he 
died about this time we are unable to state, but 
know that he was succeeded in the spring of 1810 
by his son, Daniel Broadt, who, in the summer of 
1811, advertises that after .several years' experience 
and instruction under his father, he was pre- 
pared to pick and card either cotton or wool in 
quantities of from twenty or thirty jiounds in two or 
three hours. 

Application was made oy a number of the citizens of 
Norristown to have it incorporated with the rights and 
privileges of a borough. The act was passed March 
31, 1812, and its bounds set forth: — 

Beginning at the river Schuylttitl, at the corner of Levi Pawling and 
>Iathew Ciiain's land ; thence along the line of Mathew Ch.xin and Miles 
Abbet's land, on the one side, and the land of Levi Pawling, Philip 
Hahn, Jr., Rohert Haniel, George Righter and John Miller, on the other 
side, to a corner of said Miller and Joseph Crawford's lands ; thence on 
the line of the said Crawford and "William Deal's land, and on the one 
side, and John Miller, TUoniils Ross, John Markley, Thomas Stroud, 
William Boyd and Simon Kesey's on the other side, to the Plymouth 
township line ; thence along the said line to the river Schuylkill ; 
thence up the several courses thereof to the place of beginning." 

The act of incorporation required that the burgess, 
Town Council and high constable be elected annually. 
Section Fourth stated "That if any persons duly 
elected as burgess or a member of the Town Council or 
constable, and having received notice thereof as afore- 
said, shall refuse or neglect to take upon himself the 
execution of the office to which he shall have heen 
elected, every person so refusing or neglecting shall 
forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding twenty dollars." 

As laid out at this time, the borough was wholly 
taken from Norriton township, and contained an area 
of about five hundred and twenty acres, being nearly 
a mile square. It extended on the river from the 
mouth of Stony Creek to the Plymouth line, some- 
what over a mile. The population probably did not 
exceed five hundred, as by the census of 1820 we 
know it only contained eight hundred and twenty- 
seven inhabitants, showing an unusually slow growthj 
after having been laid out as a town and a county -seat 
twenty-seven years, and withal possessingsuch unusual 
advantages to help to promote its prosperity. It was 
the first borough incorporated in the county, and at 



•760 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMPJRY COUNTY. 



this time 8iuv-Mill Run divided it into nearly two 
equal portions. The first election under its charter 
was held on Friday, May 1, 1812, when Francis Swaiue 
was elected burgess; Mathias Holstein, John Coate.s, 
David Thomas, Robert Haniill, James Winnard, 
Lewis Shrack, Philip Hahn, Jr., Town Council ; and 
Wendle Fisher, hi}i;h constable. 

Early Roads and Streets. —The road from North 
Wales or Gwynedd Meeting-house to Swedes' Ford 
was confirmed in March, 1738, and at September 
Sessions, 1756, was ordered to be opened thirty-two 
feet wide, most probably the earliest highway within 
the present limits of the borough. We know by 
William Scull's map of 1770 that the Egypt or Ridge 
road had then been laid out for several years, for it is 
denoted thereon as leading to Friends' Meeting-house 
in Providence. A petition was sent to the Court of 
(Quarter Sessions " for a public road from the New 
Reading or Egypt road to John Bull's mi!!, and from 
thence across the river Schuylkill at or near the 
lower end of Barbadoes Island, and from thence to the 
most convenient public road to the Swedes' Ford." 
This road was laid out April 25, 1774, by Benjamin 
Jacobs, Thomas Rees, John Howell, John Murray, 
Benjamin Rittenhouse and Henry Pawling. The 
court confirmed the same in June, 1774, and it was 
ordered to be thirty-three feet wide. We ascertain from 
the aforesaid that the "new Reading or Egypt road" 
could not have been so long opened, or it would not 
have borne that name, and that " Crawford's Meadows " 
were then within the present limits of the borough, 
most probably a short distance above the mouth of 
the present Saw-Mill Run. 

Egypt road is said to have received this singular 
name from its going to the " Fatlands," a fertile sec- 
tion of country lying on the Schuylkill, below orsouth 
of the Perkionien. Of the eleven commissioners 
appointed to sell stock for making this road a turn- 
pike in May, 1811, Francis Swaine, John Markley 
and Levi Pawling resided in the borough; the former 
was elected president of the company January 6, 1812. 
The bed of the road was to be laid with stone, twenty- 
four feet wide, twelve inclies deep, and to have good 
summer roads wherever practicable. It was finished 
in 1816 and cost .seven thousand dollars per mile. 
This was a great improvement in its day, and afforded 
a good road to the city the whole year round. In the 
laying-outof the town, in 1785, the Egypt road formed 
the basis by which all the other streets were to be reg- 
ulated, — namely, by being either parallel with or at 
right angles to the same. Mention is made in 1S30 
that " the streets of the town have lately been leveled 
and graded and some of them paved with bricks and 
flags." 

An act of Assembly was passed March 8, 1834, ap- 
pointing Alan W. Corson, Evan Jones, Henry 
Scheetz and George Richards commissioners, "with 
full power to alter, vacate, widen and extend the 
streets, and lav out such additionial streets as niav be 



necessary." They met on the 20th of May and ap- 
pointed Mr. Gill as their surveyor and engineer. 
Owing to the ungraded condition of the streets and 
their irregular widths, this was a delicate duty to per- 
form with the several holders of the lands and tene- 
ments, but when properly carried out must have 
greatly tended to beautify and improve the place, of 
which the benefit conferred thereby has since become 
so apparent. In 1808 Swede Street was the only high- 
way, excepting the Swedes' Ford road, over half 
a mile below, that also led to the Schuylkill. 
Thomas B. Hahn. in recollections of Norristown in 
1816, mentions "the big teams and great wagons that 
made the fire fly coming down Chain's Hill," west of 
Stony Creek. In 1867 Swede Street was turnpiked 
beyond the borough limits on to Centre Square. 

Early Inns. — It is very probable that among the 
first houses erected within the present limits of the 
borough may have been public-houses for the accommo- 
dation of travelers. In 1758, Nicholas Scull mentions 
the Norrington House on his map as being on the east 
side of Stony Creek, where Main Street now crossea 
that stream. Archibald 'J'hompson, Matthew Hender- 
son and John Elliot, in 17G6, were recommended to the 
court as i)roper persons for license, in Norriton town- 
ship. In 1776 we find the formercalled an inn-holder 
and assessed for eighty acres of land. It is probable 
that he was the husband of Hannah Thompson, who kept 
the inn herein 1784, which wasatornearthesite of the 
Norrington House. Mr. Thompson was a colonel in 
the Revolutionary army, and died November 1, 1779, 
at the early age of thirty-nine years, and was buried 
in Norriton churchyard. For his patriotism his 
property here also was destroyed in the general con- 
flagration by the British in September, 1777, for which 
Hannah Thompson was allowed by the State eight 
hundred and seven pounds damages. 

Six inns licensed in the township in 1786, were 
kept by Hannah Thompson, John Shannon, John 
Wentz, George Gilbert, Josiah Wood and Abraham 
Woolford. In 1790 three inns were kept here, whose 
signs were "General Washington," "Eagle 'and" Ris- 
ing Sun.'' In 1801, Greorge Pflieger kept the "Golden 
Swan'' then owned by Andrew Swenk, and the 
"Plough," lately kept by Jeremiah Wills deceased, 
that had stabling for forty horses. Lewis Shrack kept 
an inn nearest to the court-house, in 1803, which was 
owned by Seth Chapman. Michael Broadt kept the 
" New Moon " in 1804, to which stabling was attached 
sufficient for fifty horses, the house being built of 
stone, forty-five by thirty-two feet, with four niomson 
each floor. This was the present " Pennsylvania 
Farmer " stand, on Main Street, below Stony Creek. 
Elisha Evans kept a public-house in 1802, where a 
traveling showman the following year announced to 
exhibit " a male bison from Louisiana, that resembles 
the ox, the bear and the jackass." Benjamin Rambo 
advertised, in 1810, that, 'noted tavern-stand, sign of 
the 'Buck,' the nearest inn to the court-house, on the 



BOROUGH OF XORRISTOWN. 



761 



road to Correll's Ferry, a large two-story stone 
Louse," which was then kept by him. This stand 
may have been the present Rambo House. 

The " Rising Sun'-' tavern in 1812 is mentioned as 
containing stabling and sheds one hundred feet in 
length. Jlorris Jones gives notice, in July, 1813, that 
he kept the " Norristown Hotel, corner of Egypt or 
Main and De Kalb Streets,'' and that " a constant 
supply of newspapers will be kept for the use of the 
house." This is interesting for giving an early men- 
tion of "hotel," which it would ajjpear was now 
about being introduced as more pretentious than inn 
or tavern. It was a two-story stone house, forty by 
thirty-seven feet, with an adjoining kitchen. The 
stable was also of stone, fifty by twenty -seven feet, 
with sheds and outbuildings. This property was 
built by General Isaiah Wells about 1800, and kept 
by him untilhis election as sheriff, when he moved to 
the jail. It was long known as the most noted stage- 
house in Norristown. Mrs. Webb advertised, in the 
summer of 1816, that she had taken the Washington 
House. At this date, according to David Sower, Jr's. 
enumeration,' the place contained five public-houses. 
Mrs. E. Rudd announced in 1834 keeping the White 
Horse Hotel, with a livery stable attached, where are 
" constantly on hand for hire, horses, sulkeys, dearborn 
waggons and close body carriages." Isaac I'ritner at 
at that date kept " the Rising Sun Tavern, on Egypt 
Street, opposite the Court-House." The Norristown 
Hotel was then kept by Levi Roberts, and was offered 
at public sale by the assignees of Isaiah Wells, 

The tavern property of John Branch in 1829 was 
advertised as being a three-story stone building, with 
five rooms on a floor, with ice-house, stabling and 
twenty acres of land attached. In 1831 the place was 
mentioned as containing eight public-houses ; the most 
noted as stage-houses were kept by Jesse Roberts, 
Mr. Paxson and Mrs. Ann Webb. Tiie latter we 
know was in the business in 1824. What is now 
known as the Farmers' and Mechanics' Hotel, on the 
north side of Main Street, east of Stony Creek, was 
formerly long kept by Abraham Eschbach. About 
1828, Richard Richison kept it, when a number of 
cannon-balls were discovered in the back yard, that 
no doubt had been left there in the Revolution. It 
was at this place that the mansion-house of Colonel 
Bull stood, which he occupied from 1772 until near 
the close of 1776. There is a tradition that the 
Washington House kept by David Heebiier in 1858 
received its name in consequence of Washington 
having stayed over night there in October, 1794, 
while on bis journey to Carlisle during the Whiskey 
Insurrection, and that it was then also used as the 
headquarters of Governor Mifflin. 

In 1837 the public-houses had increased to nine. ■ 
The " Washington '' was kept by Abraham Markley, 
the " Rising Sun " by Samuel Sharpless, the "Eagle " 
by Henry Kerr, the Norristown J [otel by Jacob Spang, 
and the " Pennsylvania Farmer" by Daniel Emery. 



As indicative of the changes going on, we may men- 
tion that as public-houses the Washington House, the 
Rising Sun and Norristown Hotel have for some time 
ceased to exist. The " Eagle " is the pre.sent 
Rambo House, since greatly enlarged. 

Early Stage Lines. — In close connection with the 
history of inns comes the subject of travel in public 
stage lines. No doubt the first passing through the 
place was established by William Coleman in 1788, 
and on which he drove for twenty-seven consecutive 
years. It started from the " White Swan," in Race 
Street, every Wednesday morning at seven o'clock, 
and passed through Pottsgrove to Reading, making 
weekly trips. In 1804, having received the contract 
for carrying the mail, he made two trips weekly. A 
stagealso passed through Norristown in 1802 for Potts- 
grove, starting from " Hay's Inn," Philadelphia, every 
Wednesday at sunrise, and must have been an addi- 
tional line. We j)ossess no earlier knowledge of a 
stage terminating its journey at Norristown until in 
August, 1808, when Hezekiah Jeflries established one, 
starting from .lesse Roberts' inn, sign of the "Rising 
Sun," every Monday, AVednesday and Friday morn- 
ings at six o'clock, returning on the intervening days 
at two o'clock P.M., from the " White Horse," kept by 
John Haines, on Fourth Street, below Race. The 
fare through was one dollar. 

In the beginning of 1812, Daniel Woodruff became 
the proprietor of the " Norristown Coachee," and 
changed it the following year into a daily line. Lewis 
Shrack became the owner in 1824, starting from John 
Branch's tavern, and returning from Robert Evans' 
inn. Race Street. Henry Styer and Levi Roberts, in 
the fall of 1827, established a daily line to the city, 
making the distance through in three and a half 
hours. This in 1829 became the daily mail line, and 
was then owned by John Crawford & Co., with the 
fare reduced to seventy-five cents. The packet-boat, 
" Comet, of Norristown," in the spring of 1829, com- 
menced five trips weekly to the city with passengers, 
but was originally started from Reading on the com- 
pletion of the canal and navigation in 1825. In 1830 
the travel had increased so that there was thirteen 
stages passing through the place, carrying daily from 
fifty to one hundred passengers. From the 1st to the 
30th of April, inclusive, the number of stage passen- 
gers who stopped at Mr. Robert's hotel was 1194, at 
Mrs. Webb's, 946, and at Mr. Paxson's, 636, making a 
total of 2776 for the month. This travel must have 
added considerably to the business of the inns. 

Thomas B. Habn, in his " Reminiscences of Norris- 
town about 1816," tluK hum irously describes one of 
its stages, — 

"Tliere were few siiL-h ijtilrlir cnnveynnces, Imt iiTiiung the I'e-w Wii8 a 
line of sUiges between Norristown and Philadelpliin, anil I remember 
well how they looked. On the side of the vehicle, which resembled a 
Mississippi Hat-boat, was inscribed in large letters the name of the pro- 
prietor. It left every morning for the city at 7 o'clock, and its departure 
and arrival were great events. It was open in front and drawn by four 
horses, and that important character, tiie driver, was furnished with a 



762 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY. 



long tia 'born, and also sometimeB with another kind of a horn, that 
would occasion him to blow an extra and sufficient blast tliat it might be 
known that tlie great mail stage was about to leave ' for town.' " 

Of course, witli the introductiou of railroads the 
business eoinmcnced to decline, and, in consequence, 
uo longer assume the importance of the past ; yet, as 
itn adjunct to travel, it deserves honorable notice from 
what was thus accomplished when uo readier or better 
facilities for more expeditious conveyance existed. 

Early Manufactories.— From its very beginning, 
through the favorable circumstances of its situation, 
Norristown became a manufacturing place, which has 
developed and kept pace with its growth. Charles 
Norris had built a grist-mill here, several years before 
1771, propelled by the Schuylkill, by means of a dam 
erected from the northern shore to Barbadoes Island. 
In the latter year it came into the possession of 
Colonel Bull, who made additional improvements, so 
that, on the sale thereof to Rev. William Smith, in 
October, 177G, it was stated to embrace a grist-mill, pow- 
der-mill and other buildings, which were all burned by 
the Britisli. This property came in possession of 
John Markley, in 1801, who mentions it as possess- 
ing a merchant flour-mill and saw-mill, besides two 
excellent mill-seats. James Shannon was assessed 
in 1776 on a saw-mill in Norriton township ; and 
in 1785, two grist-mills, four saw-mills and a tan- 
nery are mentioned. The latter stood on the river's 
bank, opposite Swedes Ford, and in 1804 was owned 
by John Jlarkley, who had inherited it, with forty- 
seven acres of land, from his father in 1800. 

Jlichael Broadt had a jjowder-mill in operation in 
ISOO, and in 1805 an oil-mill twenty-live by thirty feet, 
])laster-mill and a cardiug-machine. The latter came 
into the possession of his son, Daniel Broadt, in 1810, 
who had additional machinery erected to pick and 
roll wool and cotton. A writer of the Herald stated in 
185:5 " that fifty years previously almost every house 
in Norrist<jwn contained a large and small spinning- 
wheel, and that the ladies dressed in linsey-woolsey 
and the boys ran about barefooted." At that time, 
Henry Freedly carried on quite successfully, in the rear 
of the ]iresent Slontgomery House, a pottery and the 
manufacture of earthenware, in which he was suc- 
ceeded by Enos Jacoby. Jonathan Taylor advertised- 
in March, 1807, at private .sale his mills on Stony 
Creek, the grist-mill being four stories high, twen- 
ty-one by thirty-five feet in dimensions, a saw-mill 
and a plaster-mill built in 1801. This property, in the 
fall of that year, was purchased by David Shoemaker, 
of Whilemarsh. 

Mathias Kopliu, from Providence township, carried 
on the grist and saw-mill on the Schuylkill that had 
ornierly belonged to John Markley, afterwards con- 
ducted Ijy James Bolton and Levi Pawling. Mathias 
Holstcin became the proprietor of the merchant Hour- 
mill at the foot of Mill Street about 1812, and had 
here in operation in 1814 a machine to grind corn on 
the coll. Ill 1829 he stated his mill able to manu- 



facture three hundred barrels of flour per week. 
David Sower, Jr., in his enumeration of Norristown 
in 1816, stated that there was then in operation two 
merchant mills, one woolen-factory, one pottery, one 
tannery and two hat-factories. Philip Hahn, Sr., in 
the siu-ing of 1818, had in operation a fulling-mill on 
Stony Creek. In 1826, Samuel R. Wood carried on 
the manufacture of white lead, making from five to 
six tons per week. In that year he also erected an 
extensive mill for sawing marble. 

The manufacturing establishments of Norristown 
for 1830 were reported to comprise two saw-mills, four 
merchant grist-mills, one oil-mill, one brick -yard, one 
lime-kiln, one hatter and one tanner. A marble saw- 
mill with one hundred and seventy-four saws, had the 
capacity of sawing one thousand superficial feet per 
week. The cotton-mill of Bernard McCredy, the 
building of which was commenced in the spring of 
1826, at the foot of Swede Street, one hundred and 
fifty by forty-eight feet, and five stories high, contain- 
ing near seven thousand spindles. Mr. Freedley 's cot- 
ton-mill also of stone, forty-seven by thirty-eight feet, 
two stories high, having one hundred and forty- 
three looms in operation, making thirty thousand 
yards of cotton goods weekly. According to the cen- 
sus of 1840, Norristown then possessed three cotton 
manufactories, with nineteen thousand one hundred 
and sixty-four spindles, and one dye and print-works ; 
value of products, $454,958, and giving employment 
to five hundred hands. This brief sketch of early 
manufacturing industries is here ofl'ered as introduc- 
tory to the greatly increased business of this day, for 
which it laid the foundation and ojjened the way for 
what may still lead to greater success. 

Early Schools. — Although Norristown in 1790 
did not contain over eighteen houses, yet mention is 
made of a school-house. It is jirobable that in the 
laying out of the town in 1785 for a county-seat, 
a lot of ground had either been reserved or some time 
previously granted for this purpose. A writer, in giv- 
ing reminiscences of the place in 1853, mentions in 
the beginning of the century here "a small school- 
house." This statement does not appear correct, for 
on the completion of the academy a committee sold 
the school-building at public sale, January 11, 
1805, and in the advertisement thereof it is de- 
scribed as standing on lot No. 3, " being on the main 
street, near the centre of the town, built of stone, two 
stories high, one room and entry on the lower floor 
and two on the second." We certainly perceive here 
a fair-sized building, particularly for a village that 
then did not contain over fifty-five houses, and proba- 
bly when first built did not comprise one-third this 
number; but it is possible that it may have been en- 
larged. 

The earliest teacher whose name we have been en- 
abled to ascertain was tlie Rev. John Jones, a Presby- 
terian clergyman, who taught in the albresaid school- 
house in September, 1803, if not somewhat earlier. 



BOROUGH OP NORRISTOWN. 



763 



He kept an assistant teacher and gave instructions 
in Englisli grammar and the Latin and Greek lan- 
guages. It was about this time or a little later 
that John J. Audubon, of Lower Providence, aiter- 
■wards the celebrated naturalist, was engaged to give 
pupils instruction in drawing, partlj' in exchange for 
lessons in English, and who, it appears, was then re- 
tained at intervals for several years thereafter. He 
was at this time about thirty-two or thirty-three years 
of age and unmarried. In the spring of 1803, Charles 
Fortman, a graduate of one of the (Tcrman universi- 
ties, came to Norristown, boarding with Michael 
Broadt, of the " New Moon " tavern, and advertised to 
give instructions in the English, German and French 
languages and vocal and instrumental music, espe- 
cially on the piano-forte and organ. Among his pupils 
was the wife of General Francis Swaine, who was, prob- 
ably, one of ^le first owners of a piano in Norristown, 
The instruction books of Mr. Fortman were all in 
manuscript, written by him in three languages, and 
are models of penmanship. The writer's father was 
one of his pupils and possesses several of these, which 
are now highly valued. 

Besides the academy was the opening of a boarding- 
school for young ladies and day scholars b)' Amelia 
Stokes, in September, 1811. She announced to teach 
among the branches "English grammar, elements 
of geography and history, together with plain sewing, 
marking and embroidery." This year the teachers in 
and around Norristown organized a " Franklinian 
Society, for the purpose of disseminating knowledge 
in the most simple, ex[icditious and rational method, 
and for the better maintaining of brotherly affection 
among teachers of every denomination." The first 
quarterly meeting was held at the house of Samuel 
Patterson, in Norristown, the first Saturday in 
November, 1811, at three o'clock p.m. Francis 
]\Iurphy, a noted teacher at this time, was the secre- 
tary. Nathan Smith, from the Gulf, in Upper Merion 
announces the opening of a boarding-school "for 
young gentlemen and ladies," January 20, 1814, in 
which he jiroposed to teach besides, the ordinary 
branches, book keeping, elocution, English grammar, 
composition, geography, mathematics, astronomy and 
the Latin and (Jreck languages. Charge for tuition 
and boarding i)er annum, one hundred and sixty dol- 
lars; for day scholars per quarter, seven dollars; 
pupils limited to fifty. What success attended this 
eftbrt we are unable to state. 

A meeting of the teachers of the county was called 
at Norristow-n May 21, 1814, when Hugh Dickson 
was called to the chair and Joseph Foulke appointed 
secretary. It was agreed by the meeting that pupils 
be chargeable from the time of entry until notice be 
given to leave the school ; the charge to pupils ad- 
vanced no farther than .spelling and reading to be two 
dollars per quarter; from commencing in writing and 
arithmetic, two dollars and fifty cents; snd in geome- 
try, three d-illars. In the summer of 1816, David 



Sower, Jr., stated that at this time there were four 
schools taught in the borough. " Two daily primary 
schools " were mentioned in 1830. William M. Hough, 
who was principal of Loller Academy in 183.5, subse- 
quently removed to Norristown, where he opened a 
select school for boys on the present site of Oakland 
Seminary, in which he was succeeded by Rev. 
Samuel Aaron in April, 1841. This was the only pri- 
vate school in the place.' In December, 1844, he 
opened Treemouut Seminary, for young men and boys 
which he continued to conduct with considerable suc- 
cess until his financial embarra.ssmeut, when, in 
September, 18.59, he removed to Blount Holly, where 
he died in 1865. 

The Rev. James Grier Ralston opened a seminary 
for young ladies in October, 184-5, with only four 
pupils, but it was attended with such success that before 
1858 he had in use the most extensive school build- 
ings that had heretofore been erected in the county, 
being four stories high and two hundred and twenty- 
five by forty-two feet in dimensions, known as the 
Oakland Female Institute. Mr. Ralston stated in 
1876 that up to that date two thousand five hundred 
young ladies, had received instruction w'ithin its walls. . 
He died November 10, 1880, and a short time before 
this relinquished the business, since which it has not 
been used for educational purposes. In 1857 the 
Misses Bush established the Adelphian Institute for 
young ladies, which was continued for several years. 
At the present time the only private seminary in the 
|ilace is Treemount, for young men and boj's, of which 
John W. Loch became principal in 1861, and has 
since successfully conducted the school. 

The Academy. — In taking a glimpse of the educa- 
tional establishments of the past, the old academy 
should not be forgotten, for within its time-honored 
walls many now on the stage of action received their 
education. The school-house previously used in Nor- 
ristown being deemed inadequate for the size of the 
place, and with a view of having higher branches 
taught therein, a meeting was held at the house 
of Elisha Evans, January 29, 1803, at four o'clock 
P.M., " for the purpose of establishing an Acad- 
emy at Norristown." On this occasion General 
Andrew Porter was chosen chairman, and it was 
agreed to hold an adjourned meeting at the same 
I)lace on the following Saturday. General Francis 
Swaine, Seth Chapman and Levi Pawling were ap- 
pointed a committee to prepare a plan to be laid 
before the next meeting. Their report was ajiproved, 
which suggested " that it is practicable to build an 
Academy in Norristown sufficiently large to accom- 
modate those who may select it for the education of 
youth, and that the establishment of a seminary of 
learning will be advantageous to the citizens of Mont- 
gomery County generally, and that this meeting will 
use every reasonable endeavor to obtain so desirable 
an object." 

Thirty-five persons were authorized to prepare 



764 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMP]RY COUNTY. 



subscription papers and distribute them for the pur- 
pose of sofuring the requisite aid. The persons 
seleetcd for tliis purpose were William Teunant, Jolin 
Richards, Francis Nichols, Philip Boyer, Archibald 
Darrah, Francis Swaine, Setli Chapman, Robert 
Hammill, Isaiah Wells, John .Jones, Hcibert Loller, 
Samuel Malsby, Samuel Henderson, Thonnis Potts, 
Frederick Conrad, Ezekiel Ilhoads, Joseph Potts, 
Miehael liroadt, Slater Clay, Peter Richards, JJenja- 
min JIarkley, Israel Bringhurst, Andrew Porter, 
John Markley, Morris Jones, Levi Pawling, William 
Henderson, Samuel Miles, Henry Seheetz, Cadwal- 
lader Evans, .Jr., David I>ukens, .lolin Elliott, Joseph 
Tyson, John Went/, and Benjamin Brooks. They 
were certainly a judicious selection, there being in- 
cluded in this list some of the most intelligent, pub- 
lic-spirited and influential citizens residing in the 
county. They were also instructed to prepare a plan 
for the building and to make an estimate of its cost for 
the consideration of the next meeting, in February of 
said year. An act was passed March 2SI, 1804, investing 
its thirteen trustees with the usual corporate powers, 
and authorizing them to sell the lot of ground 
and school-house thereon for the benefit of the acad- 
emy. It is probable that the building of the acad- 
emy was commenced in the spring of IXO.S, but not 
wholly linished until the summer of the following 
year. The Rev. John Jones was selected its first 
principal, and must have taught school therein at least 
in the beginning of 1804, for he held " a public 
examination of the students of Norristown Academy" 
in the court-house, April 14th of that year, " in 
reading and pronunciation, English grammar and 
Latin and ((reck classics." 

As a committee on behalf of the trustees, Francis 
Swaine, Levi Pawding and Isaac Huddleson sold the 
forraerschool-building at publicsale, January 11, 1805, 
and the proceeds were a|)plied to the academy. An 
additional act was passed February 11, 1805, by 
which the State appropriated five thousanil dollars 
for its completion. In the order of time it was the 
tenth institution of the kind incorporated in Pennsyl- 
vania. It was built of brick, two stories high and 
forty by thirty feet in dimensions. The first floor 
contained one large room that could seat one hundred 
and twenty-five pupils, desks being provided for 
about half that number. The second story was 
divided into two rooms, reached by separate stair- 
ways at either end of the building. It was surmounted 
by a cupola which contained a bell of fine tone 
and considerable power. Its location was at the 
lower end of the |)resent market-house and on the 
north side of the intersection of Airy and De Kalb, 
partly extending into the latter street, which did not 
extend any farther, its front facing the Schuylkill. 

How long Mr. Jones was principal we are unable 
to state, but it must have been for several yearg. He 
is said to have formed the congregation of the First 
Presbyterian Chui-ch lien' in 1S14, which licld woisliiii 



in the academy until the erection, of the church 
building in 1817, when the Rev. Jose])h Barr suc- 
ceeded him as principal of the school and pastor of 
the church. The Episcopalians also held their first 
meetings for worship in it in 1811, and continued 
there until the com]detion of their church, in 1814. 
The Baptists, Methodists and Catholics also wor- 
shiped there until the erection of their churches. 
Thomas B. Hahn, in his "Reminiscences of Norris- 
town about 181(5-17," states: " I remember the Aca- 
demy on the hill, — pretty good reason to remember 
it, for old Joseph Barr, and another Barr, a son of 
his, used to lay on the 'sprouts' in a manner that 
would be a caution to scho(d-boys nowadays. Judge 
Loller, of Hatboro', who was one of its first trustees, 
had the kindness to remember it in his will, dated 
June 4, 1808, by donating to its use the sum of 
fifty pounds. It is possible, that through this posi- 
tion, he had his mind first directed to the subject 
wliieh led, fije years later, to the foundation of 
Loller Academy." 

Mr. Barr, in the fall of 181o, was installed pastor 
of the Providence and Norriton Churches, and as his 
salary was inadefpiate to his support, was induced to 
assume the charge of the academy. The Rev. Rob- 
ert H. McClenachan, also pastor of the Norristown 
Presbyterian (.'hurch, became principal of the acad- 
emy, and likely succeeded Mr. Barr. In 1825, and 
for several years afterwards, Eliphalet Roberts was 
principal and had charge of tlie English, and Mr. 
Howe of the classical department. About 1842, Rev. 
Samuel Aaron became principal, and retained the 
position until about the close of 1S44, when he started 
the Treemount Seminary. .Vbout 1845 De Kalb Street 
was graded and extended northwards, leaving the 
academy standing some ten or twelve feet above the 
present grade. In order to carry out the contemplated 
improvements it was deemed necessary that it should 
be removed, and so in 1849 its walls were finally 
razed to the ground, and thus passed away forever 
this institution after an e.Kistence of nearly half a 
century, the nursery of tuition to many youths and 
young men under able instructors. Not a trace now 
remains of either the old academy or its famous play- 
ground of an acre in extent, for even the surface of 
the latter, too, has been removed, a sacrifice to modern 
improvements. But the reminiscences associated with 
both will long linger in tradition among the descen- 
dants of its pupils. 

Within this building the Montgomery County 
Bible Society, of winch the Rev. Bird Wilson was 
president, held its first meetings in 181i). Wlieii the 
Cabinet of Natural Science was started, about 18;50, 
it was here that they held their meetings and 
kept their collections, which such- men as Peter A. 
Browne and Alan W. Corson felt an interest to pro- 
mote, and whose proceedings were maintained for 
some twelve years. As the property was held in trust 
for the 1 enclit of the public, it became necessary to 



BOROUGH OF NORRISTOWN. 



765 



have an act of the Legislature passed to have it sold, 
and the proceeds of the sale were placed to the credit 
of the borough school-fund. A small drawing of the 
academy was made in 1S42, and is, perhaps, the only 
remaining menidrial to convey some idea of its ap- 
pearance. 

Lumber and Coal. — About the beginning of the 
century Jcjhn Markley had established a lumber-yard 
in Norristown, where he advertised sixty thousand 
feet of one and one-half inch pine boards for sale in 
June, 1804. Thomas & Holstein, in connection with 
their store, announced, in May, 1808, having on hand 
and for sale one hundred thousand feet of boards. 
George & J. Righter established this year a lumber- 
yard, " having a lot of well-seasoned boards of almost 
every description." At this period the principal car- 
penters and builders were Samuel Crawford and 
Thomas Stro\id. The former erected the court- 
house and Presbyterian Church, the latter the Epis- 
copal Church and McCredy's cotton-factory. David 
Sowers, Jr., in his enumeration in 1816, states that 
the borough then contained one lumber-yard, one 
brick-yard and four master-carpenters. 

Benjamin Davies,in his" Account of Philadelphia," 
pul)lishcd in 1794, makes the following remarks 
respecting the increasing scarcity of fuel : 

"The price of firewood, which advances year after year with the in- 
creased demand for it, would be an alarming circumstance to those who 
wish well the prosperity of the city were it not well known that there 
are many rich bodies of pit-coal near the banks of the Susquehanna, 
Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, tlie most distant not above one hundred 
and fifty miles from the city, which will, when opened, alTord an inex- 
haustible source of fuel. In the interim, to lessen the expense of this 
item in house-keeping, many of the inhabitants. liave introduced the use 
of stoves, a custom borrowed from the Germans, a frugal and industrious 
jieople, who cumpoHo a numerous class of citizens of J'hiladelphia." 

Joseph Pastorius announced having received in the 
fall of 1824, at his lumber-yard, in the borough of 
Norristown, "several arks of Schuylkill coal. Fami- 
lies and smitbs can be sujiplicd with any quantity on 
reasonable terms." The Herald of October 26, 1S2.5, 
states that " we are j)leascd to find that a number of 
our enterprising citizens have commenced the burn- 
ing of stone-coal. Grates and stoves are now fixed 
uj) in several of the offices, bar-rooms and private 
dwellings in this borough. It is generally admitted 
that coal at seven dollars j)er ton is cheaper than 
hickory wood at five dollars per cord." In October 
of this year Joseph Pastorius advertised having on 
hand "a regular supply of Schuylkill coal of the first 
quality at seven dollars per ton." 

The aforesaid items, collected from several sources, 
possess at this time considerable interest, and go to 
show the remarkable changes that time has brought 
about. For that early date the remarks of Mr. 
Davies exhibit a remarkable knowledge of the extent, 
quality and uses of coal, which William Scull had 
■denoted on his map of the province, published in 
1770, which exposes considerable error respecting 
later discoveries on the subject. The information 
clearly demonstrates that coal was known con- 



siderably earlier than what has been generally sup- 
posed ; the difficulty of bringing it to market alone 
prevented its earlier introduction for all the pur- 
poses of a fuel. 

Events Following the Borough Incorpora- 
tion. — Tlircc months had not passed away after the 
incorporation of Norristown before war had been 
declared by the United States against Great Britain 
for the many injuries done to our commerce and 
the repeated insults offered us as a nation. 
Thomas Mahon, of the Sixteenth Regiment United 
States Infantry, was stationed as commanding officer 
here in the fall of 1812, to enlist men for the service. 
Captain Horatio Davis, in the spring of 1813, was 
sent in the place of the former, and at his rendezvous 
posted up the following notice : 

" All patriotic young men are invited to come forward who are able 
and willing to servo their country and engage only for twelve months. 
Each recruit shall receive S16 bounty and S8 per month. .\ corporal wiU 
be entitled to S9, and a sergeant to $11 per month. Plenty of good rations 
will be provided and excellent clothing furnished." 

On hearing of the news of the capture of Maiden 
by General Harrison, Norristown was illuminated on 
the evening of October 1st of this year. Lieutenant 
Samuel Ladd was made the recruiting officer here at 
the latter date, and in the following March offered 
"$124 bounty and 160 acres of land to those joining 
the service at $8 per month. For procuring the 
enlistment of a recruit, $8 will be paid." While the 
office was established here five of the recruits ran 
away, for whom a reward of ten dollars each was 
oft'ered, and "all reasonable charges when committed 
to any officer in the service of the United States." 
Peace was concluded December 24, 1814, when en- 
listments ceased. 

Charles Norris, a great-grandson of Isaac Norris, 
the original proprietor of the Manor of Norriton, died 
at his country-seat, near the borough, December 14, 
1813, his wife, Eunice, having preceded him but 
little over a year. They were both respected mem- 
bers of the Society of Friends. His will, from 
which we glean the following family history, was 
dated but little over four months before his death. 
To his daughter Mary he leaves the farm of 170 acres 
in the tenure of David Shrack, to be struck off' on the 
easterly side of land in the tenure of John Miller. 
To his daughter Deborah he leaves 229 acres in the 
tenure of Robert Getty, likewise 80 acres to be struck 
off" of the plantation in the tenure of John Bartleswa, 
to run in a straight line from the Schuylkill to the town- 
ship line-road. To his daughter Hepzibah, 30 acres 
where he now dwells, with all the out-buildings, and 
30 acres now in the tenure of John Bartleswa, after 
80 acres are taken off to his daughter Deborah, and 
100 to his daughter Mary. To his daughter Hepzibah 
fifty dollars per annum as long as she lives. To his 
sister-in-law Keziah Gardner two hundred and forty 
dollars per annum arising from the Library Company 
as a ground rent as long as she remains single. 



766 



HISTORY UF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Albanus Logan and John Jacobs were ajijiointed 
his executors. Will proved January 15, 1814. It 
appears he had no male descendants and that the 
family had still retained considerable laud in the 
■vicinity of the present borough. 

A lot of ground containing one acre and ninety-six 
perches was purchased by the borough authorities 
from John Markley, May 13, 1814, " in trust for the 
use of the inhabitants of Norristown, for a public 
landing, under and subject to such rules and regula- 
tions as the Town Council or their successors in 
office may, from time to time, ordain and enact." 
This public wharf is situated on Stony Creek, below 
Main Street. 

John Markley, whom we have mentioned as sheriff 
from 1798 to 1801, became the owner here of five hun- 
dred and forty acres, with valuable improvements, 
purchased from William Moore Smith, who had 
obtained it from the university ; it had previously 
belonged to Colonel John Bull. On account of his 
prominency, ho deserves a further notice in this con- 
nection. In 1803 he was appointed one of the trustees 
of the academy, and in the following year he was 
engaged in the lumber business. In 180.5 he erected the 
present buildings on Barbadoes Island, probably the 
first erected there. In 1809 he advertised the island 
for sale, but subsequently exchanged it for a heavily- 
timbered farm to the rear of the borough. In the 
spring of 1811 he was appointed one of the commis- 
sioners for the sale of stock for the construction of 
the Ridge Road Turnpike Company. He was ap- 
pointed recorder of deeds and register of wills for 
Montgomery County January 8, 1824, which he 
retained until 18.30. He resided in the old Smith 
mansion, on the north side of Slain Street, above 
Swede, where he died July 28, 1834, in his seventieth 
year. His ancestor, Jacob Merkle, resided in Per- 
kiomen township in 1734, where he was the owner of 
a farm rated for two hundred acres. Besides the 
offices mentioned, he was also a collector of the Uniteil 
States taxes and a county commissioner. 

David Sower, Jr., in his enumeration of the 
borough in the summer of 1816, states that it then 
contained one church, an academy, a fire-engine, four 
schools, about one hundred houses, three physicians, 
five lawyers, one clergyman, two magistrates, two 
printers of weekly newspapers, one apothecary, two 
cabiuet-makers, three tailors, one cedar-cooper, one 
coach-maker, three butchers, five stores, five taverns, 
two plasterers, one watch-maker, one mason, one 
chair-maker, three blacksmiths, two hatters, one sad- 
dler, two oak-coopers, one milliner, one tanner, one 
barber, four carpenters and four shoemakers. Be- 
fore the year 1818 Norristown was a dull, quiet, 
dreamy place. No important public improvements 
had yet been completed, except the turnpike to 
Philadelphia, in 1816. Outside of politics, the, great 
event was the holding of the courts four times in the 
year. The boatman's horn was not yet heard ; no 



noise or smoke from furnaces, forges and factories to 
disturb its tran(iuillity ; the rumbling sounds from long 
trains of cars and the shrill whistle of the locomotive 
had not then even been dreamed of The ark, the 
raft and the Reading boat, with the catching of shad, 
herring, rockfish, and the leaping into air of the 
sturgeon, gave some animation every spring to the 
waters of the Schuylkill, as well as to the fish-hawk, as 
he rapidly descended to strike his finny prey and 
convey it to his nest near some tall tree-top, — sighta 
that have passed away, and will not soon be witnessed 
here again. 

General Andrew Porter, " of West Cain township, 
Chester Co.," purchased, May 10, 1786, of Alexander 
McCaman and Mary, his wife, of Norritou township, 
their plantation of one hundred and fifty-five acres, 
in two tracts, which they had obtained of Mary, 
widow of Charles Norris, deceased, September 3, 1770. 
On the death of General Porter, November 16, 1813, 
this property was advertised at public sale the follow- 
ing December 24th, and is described as being " on 
the Ridge turnpike road, eighteen miles from Phila- 
delphia and one from Norristown, containing one 
hundred and twenty acres ; a large stone dwelling- 
house, fifty feet front by thirty -six deep; stone barn, 
sixty b)' forty-five feet ; a stone tenant-house ; contain- 
ing forty acres of woodland and twelve of meadow." 
We perceive here, that the buildings were quite com- 
modious for that time, the house having Ijeen built 
by its then late proprietor, in 1794. Owing to the 
insufficiency of the bids oflered, the place was not 
sold. The property was purchased from the heirs by 
Andrew Knox, Jr., in 1821, who made it his residence 
and died there in 1844, his widow surviving until 1858. 
His son, the late Colonel Thomas P. Knox, who be- 
came the proprietor in 1851, died there May 29, 1879, 
in his seventieth year, and it still remains in posses- 
sion of his family. On this place David R. Porter, 
Governor of Pennsylvania from 1838 to 1844; James 
M. Porter, Secretary of War under President Tyler; 
and George B. Porter, Governor of Michigan, sous of 
the first named, were born and reared. By the en- 
largement of Norristown in 1853 the Porter property 
was included in the borough limits. 

The visit of Lafayette in 1824 created an unusual 
excitement throughout the country. A meeting on 
this account was called by the officers of the Sec- 
ond Brigade of the Second Division of the Pennsyl- 
vania Militia at the public-house of Mrs. Ann Webb, 
in Norristown, August 25, in that year. General 
Philip Boyer was appointed chairman, and Col- 
onel George W. Holstein and Colonel John E. Gross 
secretaries. Colonel William Powell, Colonel J. E. 
Gross and Lieutenant Richard B. Jones were ap])ointed 
a committee to draft resolutions, which were adoi)ted. 
Colonel G. W. Holstein, Colonel William Burk, Col- 
onel William Powell, Major \\'illiam Matheys, Captain 
Philip S. Markley and Lieutenant R. B. Jones were 
appointed " a committee of arrangements to wait on 



BOROUGH OF NORRISTOWN. 



767 



General Lafayette on his arrival in Philadelphia, and 
respectfully invite him to visit the county of Mont- 
gomery, particularly Whitemarsh, Barren Hill and 
also Valley Forge, — scenes that must be endeared to his 
recollection by events that tried men's souls." Among 
the military present at the reception in Philadelphia, 
September 30th, from Montgomery County, were two 
companies of cavalry, under the command of Captains 
William JIatheys and (teorge W. Holstein and the 
Norristown Guards, Captain P. S. Markley. Two 
canal-boats, called the "Lafayette" and "John G. 
Cosier," each twelve by sixty-five feet, and capable 
of carrying nearly one hundred tons, joined the three 
boats from Reading filled with military. The papers 
of the day stated that on this "joyful occasion would 
be identified three most interesting and important 
subjects for congratulation and triumph ever witnessed 
in PhilatlelpUia, — namely, the visit of Lafayette, the 
opening of the Schuyllsill Canal and the arrival of the 
boats laden with coal from Monnt Carbon." The 
deputation from ]Montgomery County waited on La- 
fayette at the State House September 29th. In reply, 
he stated that owing to his several engagements, more 
particularly at Yorktown, October I'Jth, it was, there- 
fore, not in his power to comply at present, but on his 
return it was his intention to visit those places. 

For a few years after the completion of the Schuyl- 
kill Navigation, the stagnation of the water in the 
dams caused considerable alarm, on account of the 
increase of fever and agne. Twenty-four i)ersons died 
in the borough during the year 1824, being equivalent 
to one in every thirty-seven of the population. 
Samuel Jamison, Sr., came to the borough in 182S to 
superintend the starting of the first cotton-factory in 
the place, which had been erected by Bernard Mc- 
Credy, in 1826, at the foot of Swede Street. After 
getting it in operation, owing to the prevalence of the 
disease, he was induced to leave, and removed to 
Holmesburg. It appears that after 1830 the fever 
gradually abated along the valley, until it has for 
years almost entirely disappeared throughout this 
section. 

By the act of September 13, 178o, the county was 
divided into three districts. The townships of Norri- 
ton, Plymouth, Whitpain, Upper Merion, Providence, 
WorcesterandPerkiomen comprised the First District 
whose elections were ordered to be held in the court- 
house at Norristown. The act of 1797 increased the 
number, and Perkiomen was attached to another dis- 
trict, whose elections were ordered to be held 
in the court-house at Norristown. The First Dis- 
trict, in October, 1802, polled 859 votes. In 
1824 the district was composed of the borough of 
Norristown and the townships of Upper Merion, Plym- 
outh, Norriton, Whitpain, Worcester and that part 
of Lower Providence east of Skippack Creek. In 
1838 the district was reduced to Norristown, Upper 
Merion, Norriton, Plymouth and that part of Lower 
Providence mentioned. 



As to the manner of voting where several town- 
ships thus met together, it is explained that to each 
was assigned a window, with its own oflicers, instead 
of the whole district being confined to one ballot-box. 
It is probable that before 1850 this method was entirely 
done away with, and every township had its desig- 
nated election-place within its own limits. Thus, in- 
.stead of seven townships voting at one place in 
Norristown, as they did a centurj' ago, we find now 
the borough itself divided into seven districts, each 
having its own polls. 

Owing to the increase of its population, an act was 
passed March 26, 1853, to enlarge the borough to its 
present dimensions. Philip Super, Charles T. Jen- 
kins and John Thompson, residents of the county, 
were appointed commissioners to carry into effect the 
provisions of the act of Assembly. 

The prison erected in 1787 stood upon the site of 
the present court-house, while the one in its place 
was built on a lot of ground two hundred and twenty- 
four by one hundred feet in extent, fronting on Airy 
Street, west of De Kalb. It is of red sandstone, in the 
castellated Norman style. The front building is one 
hundred by forty-four feet ; the rear addition, contain- 
ing the cells, is one hundred and thirty by sixty feet, the 
whole being two stories high. The cells are nine by 
thirteen feet each, in which the prisoners work at vari- 
ous employments, chiefly weaving and shoemaking. 
The criminals were removed from the old prison to the 
present structure on its completion, in the latter part 
of 1851. Its cost was about eighty-six thousand 
dollars. N. Le Brun was the architect. Its builders 
were Raysor & Templeton, the county commissioners 
at the time being Messrs. Dotts, Quillman and Major. 

The court-house is one of the finest buildings of 
the kind in the State. It is built of native white 
marble, procured within a few miles of its site, as was 
also the lime used in its construction. It was 
erected during the years 1853 to 1856. N. Le Brun 
was the architect. The front on Swede Street is one 
hundred and ninety-six feet, with a central width 
of sixty-four feet, the wings being sixty-six by forty- 
seven feet. The massive portico in front is supported 
by six Ionic columns. The steeple was originally 
two hundred feet high, and was placed to rest partly 
on the portico. Being deemed unsafe, it was re- 
duced, prior to 1876, to its present height, which 
somewhat mars the general harmony of the parts. 
It contains a clock and a bell wejghing three thous- 
and two hundred and thirty-two pounds, cast at Troy, 
N. Y. The various county offices, the Law Library, 
and other rooms for the use of court proceedings, ar- 
bitrations, etc., are in the building. The cost was 
one hundred and fifty thousand dollare, of which 
nineteen hundred and seventy dollars was allowed 
the architect for his services. The old court-house 
built in 1787 was torn down in 1855, and the grass of 
the public square grows over the spot where justice 
was administered for sixty-seven years, and where the 



768 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



elections i'or all the ueighboring towiisliijis were held 
for more than halt' a centin\v. 

In the public s)nare adjoining the eonrt-house a 
soldiers' monument has been erected, composed of 
white and blue marble, nineteen feet high, dedicated 
September 17, 1869. It contains the names of five 
hundred and forty-seven soldiers who enlisted in the 




SOLDIERS MONUMENT, NOKKISTOWN. 

county and died in the service during the l;ite 
great Eebellion ; the total number furnished for the 
same in Montgomery being nearly eight thousand 
men. 

Among the most notable events that have occurred 
in Norristown was the late celebration of the centen- 
nial of the county. The association that brought it 
about originated at a meeting of the Montgomery 
County Historical Society held February 22, 1883, when 
a joint committee of the Society and of the county 
officers appointed one person from each election dis- 
trict to prepare and arrange the necessary plans. The 
association held a meeting the following September 
10th, when several gentlemen were called upon to 
offer remarks and suggestions for its success, which 
was responded to by Colonel T. W. Bean, Rev, C. Z. 
Weiser, William J. Buck, J. J. Morrison, Dr. C. N. 
Mann, George N. Corson and Dr. S. Wolf. A com- 



mittee of eight was appointed on permanent organi- 
zation. A president and other oiBcers, with a chair- 
man of the executive committee and of finance, 
antiquities, jirogramme, literary exercises, parade 
and the Rittenhouse memorial were also duly chosen. 
The four principal rooms in the court-house and a 
portion of the yard were secured, in which the anti- 
(luarian exhibition was held the following year from 
September 9th to 12th, inclusive, and which was vis- 
ited by probably twenty thousand persons, exhibits 
having been sent in by almost every district, embrac- 
ing all matters bearing on the history and progress 
of the county since its first settlement. In the 
departments of early and rare books, manuscripts, 
family Bibles, coins, paper money, minerals, wearing 
apparel, Indian and Revolutionary relics and agricul- 
tural implements the exhibit was particularly excel- 
lent. On the first day the opening address was made 
by Joseph Fornance, the president of the association, 
after which the Rittenhouse meridian-stone was dedi- 
cated in the court-house yard, with an address by Hon. 
B. M. Boyer. On the second day the memorial exercises 
were held in Music Hall, which was crowded to its 
utmost capacity. Music was furnished by a chorus 
of more than one hundred voices accompanied by an 
iirchestra. The historical address was delivered by 
William .J. Buck, the poem by George N. Corson and 
the general address by Rev. C. Z. Weiser. On 
Thursday, or the third day, the parade in honor of 
the occasion came off. Colonel John W. Schall being 
chief marshal, about five thousand being in the 
line, embracing military, firemen, fraternal and be- 
nevolent organizations, trades, manufactures and 
industrial pursuits. It is supposed that it was wit- 
nessed by not le-s than forty thousand persons not 
residents of Norristown. The expense under the 
circumstances was considerable, but was all met from 
what was realized from the admission fees to the four 
(lays' antiquarian exhibition. 

Barbadoes Island.— The island in the Schuylkill 
at Norristown is mentioned in a warrant from William 
Penn to Ralph Fretwell, a merchant from Barbadoes, 
as early as August 16, 1684, as "the long island called 
Barbadoes." They were both at this time in the 
country, the latter having arrived in Philadelphia, 
according to his certificate from Friends' Meeting 
there, in the beginning of that year. But the grant, 
it appears, was subsequently withheld, and another 
tract assigned him, — a matter common in those days, 
and showing that the country, at least along the great 
water-courses, was quite early and closely examined. 
It is represented with toleraljle correctness on Thomas 
Holme's map of original surveys, having probably 
been entered upon it before 1695. It became attached 
to the Manor of Williarastadt, granted to William 
Penn, Jr., October 2, 1704, and a few days after- 
wards sold by the latter to Isaac Norris and Wil- 
liam Trent. The former, in 1720, purchased the 
right of his partner, and thus it was retained in the 



BOROUGH OF xVORRISTOWN. 



769 



Norris family." Shortly after the decease of Charles 

Norris it was sold by Mary, his widow, September 17, 
1771, with five hundred and forty-three acres, to John 
Bull, of Limericlc township. The deed describes 
"Barbadoes Island" at this date to be four hundred 
perches in length and at the broadest part sixty 
perches wide, containing eighty-eight acres. 

During the life-time of Charles Norris, which was 
previous to 1770, he erected a dam from the nortliern 
shore across to Barbadoes Island to propel his grist- 
mill, which has led to the origin of the water-power 
secured here from the Schuylkill. The commissioners 
that had been appointed under an act of Assembly 
passed March 14, 1761, to impi'ove the river naviga- 
tion, in consequence of the decease of Mr. Norris, ap- 
plied to John Bull, in 1773, recjuiring from him, as the 
owner of said mill, water-power and island, to "erect 
from the upper end of the aforesaid a dam, or wall, of 
at least twenty perches in length, and inclining in 
some degree to the eastern side of the said river, and 
of such height as should be above the water at all 
times, other than in freshes, so as to direct the 
waters into the western channel, and also in its build- 
ing would make use of the stones lying in the western 
channel." If this was not done the said commissioners 
would prostrate or remove said dam altogether, so that 
the channel should "forever thereafter be free and 
unobstructed to navigation." 

Colonel Bull sold his proi)erty here, October 30, 1770, 
to Rev. William Smith, for the use of the University. 
After 1784, William Moore Smith, son of the afore- 
said, became the owner, who sold it, with the remain- 
der of his real estate, to John Markley, of Norristown, 
about 1800 or not long before. In the summer of 1804 
the latter erected upon it the two-story stone house 
now standing, and which was very probably the first 
one built there. At that time the greater portion of 
the island was covered with forest, and in October of 
that year Markley advertised for hands to cut thereon 
one hundred and fifty cords of wood. In December, 
1805, it was advertised for sale, and was described as 
containing forty acres of standing timber. With the 
prosperity of Norristown and vicinity, Barbadoes was 
becoming more and more a place of resort. The 
Federal Republican Troop of Horse, commanded by 
Captain Joseph Price, was ordered to meet at the 
public-house of Elisha Evans, in Norristown, May 
2, 1803, and from thence precisely at three o'clock, 
proceed to parade on Barbadoes Island. In the 



• Since the above baa been written, additional researcli has diaoloBed 
the following interesting document, that now obliges the writer to make 
ht-re ii slight correction : 

" In pureuance of a "Warrant from the Proprietaries, to me directed, 
December 17, 1733, I certify I have surveyed unto Isaac Norris, of Fair 
Hill, Esq., all that Great Island lying in the River Schuylkill, opposite 
the Manor of Williamstiidt, situate in the County of Philadelphia, the 
said Island being in length about 400 perches, and in breadth in the 
broadest place about 60 perches, containing 88 acres. Returned iuto the 
Secretary's office, 8th of 12th month, 1733-34. 

"Benjamin Eastiu'rn, Siir.-GenerrV' 
49 



spring of 1804 hand-bills and advertisements were 
issued over the county and in Philadelphia announ- 
cing that the "Barbadoes Island Races will com- 
mence on the 8th of May, when a purse of four hun- 
dred dollars will be run for four-mile heats ; the 
day following for three-mile heats, for a purse of two 
hundred dollars, and the third day, one hundred dol- 
lars for two-mile heats." According to tradition, races 
were continued there more or less at intervals for 
several years. Mr. Markley advertised the island 
again in November, 1809, and stated it as then 
"containing about one hundred acres, the soil equal to 
any in the county, consisting of a black loam of un- 
questionable quality," thirty acres of woodland, two- 
story stone dwelling-house and other improvements. 
We know that he still owned it June 27, 1820, when 
a public meeting was held, of which Captain P. S. 
Markley, son of the proprietor, was chairman, theob- 
jectheiug to have a committee purchase from John Mark- 
ley the right of way across the lower end of Barbadoes 
Island, that the communication from Norristown with 
the canal on the opposite side of the river be not im- 
peded. It was no doubt owing chiefly to the opposi- 
tion of the latter that this improvement was not located 
along the borough, and which induced Elisha Evans 
by his liberal offers to exercise his influence to have 
it where it now is. 

The Schuylkill Canal and Navigation Company 
began its ini]irovements in ISlti, and two years later 
began building a dam across the river at the lower 
part of the island, which, by raising the water, was the 
means of considerably reducing its area. To avoid 
the expense of litigation, the company purchased, and 
still own it. Its length, in consequence, is now about 
three quarters of a mile, or only about one-half of 
what it was at the time of Colonel Bull's jaurchase. 
Just below its lowermost extremity was the famous 
Swedes' Ford crossing place, known by this name 
at least as early as 1723. The dam was not, how- 
ever, raised to its present height until 1830, (the 
year that the De Kalb Street bridge was completed) 
which has since washed away the remaining portion 
of the island that had been left below it. On the 
4th of July, 1825, the Norristown Guards, com- 
manded by Captain Philip S. Markley, paraded 
through the streets of Norristown, after which, at 
twelve o'clock, they proceeded with a band of music, 
accompanied by a number of citizens, to Barbadoes 
Island, where the day was duly celebrated. This 
military company we know had also spent July 4, 
1820, here in a similar manner. 

Lewis Shrack, a noted stage proprietor of Norris- 
town, in 1824, announced to the public the "Barbadoes 
Island Floating Baths" in the summer of 1828, as 
being moored in the river Schuylkill, safely an- 
chored in eight feet of water, and divided into five 
compartments, varying from six to sixteen feet, and a 
depth of from two to five feet, with a floor at the bottom. 
"The centre apartment is handsomely fitted up where 



770 



HISTORy OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



visitors can be accommodated with refreshments. 
Pleasure-boats and fishing-tackle may be had by those 
who wish to amuse themselves with sailing or fishing. 
Within a lew yards, in a bcautiliiUy retired spot, is a 
fountain of pure, sweet water, shaded by a thick cluster 
or grove of trees. Between the spring and the river 
there is a fine green lawn, which adds much to the 
beauty of the landscape. In fine, the subscriber in- 
vites his friends and fellow-citizens to come, see and 
be convinced." 

The only improvements on the island are its farm 
buildings, and it is not used for any other purposes. Its 
probable area is now about fifty acres, with very little 



llobert Haiiiill ; 1824, Charles Jones ; 1825, Levi Pawling ; 1826, Frede- 
rick Culirad ; 1827-28, George Govett ; 1829, Alexander Moore, Jr.; 1830, 
John Freedley ; 1831, Samuel D. Pattei-son ; 1832, Philip Keudell ; 1833- 
34, William Powell ; 1835-36, James M. Pawling; 1837, John H. Hobart; 
1838, William Powell and Enoch C. Frjs, tie vote ; 1839, Wiliiam Powell ; 
1840-41, Benjamin F. Hancock; 1842, Henry Freedley ; 1843-^4, James 
Boyd ; 1845, John Potts ; 1846, William Kossiter ; 1847, John K. Breiten- 
bacb ; 1848, John H. Ilobart ; 184!), Israel Thomas ; 1850, Benjamin E. 
Chain; 1831, Thomas W. Putts; 1852, Joseph W. Hunsicker; 1863-66, 
Zadok T. Gait; 1856, E. T. Stewart; 1867, Charles T.Miller; 1868, 
Enoch A. Banks ; 1859, Charles H. Garber ; 1860-Gl, Edward Schall ; 1862, 
Franklin March ; 1863, William H. GrifBth ; 1864-65, Edward Schall ; 
1866, William AUabaugh ; 1867, Daniel Jacoby ; 1868-69, William Alia 
baugh ; 1870-72, Ileni'y S. Smith; 1873-74, Jonas A. Reiff; 1876-76, 
George Schall ; 1877, William J. Bolton ; 1878, Irwin P. Wanger ; 1879, 
Wallace J. Boyd ; 1880-82, George W. Grady; 1883, F. J. Baker ; 1884- 
85, John II. White. 




remaining woodland. A fine view of it is presented 
from the western abutment of the De Kalb Street 
bridge. It has been suggested that the borough of 
Norristown should purchase it and have it made into 
a public promenade and park, for which purpose it 
would be most excellently adapted. The advantages 
of a park would be to help maintain the jiurity of the 
water, and from its insular position the breezes would 
always prove inviting during the sultry heatof summer. 
The following is a list of the burgesses of the borough 
of Norristown from its organization to the present time. 

1812, Gen. Francis Swaine ; 1813-16, Levi Pawling ; 1817-18, Matthias 
Ilolstein ; 1819, William Henderson ; 1820-21, Thomiis Eoss ; 1822-23, 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



SELDEN T. MAY. 

The progenitor of the May family in America was 
•John Slay, who emigrated from Mayfield, County 
of Sussex, England, and settled about 1640 in Eox- 
bury, Mass. His two sons, John and Samuel, came 
with him, from one of whom, in the direct line of 
descent, was born, the 11th of March, 1733, Eleazar 
May, the grandfather of the subject of this biographi- 
cal sketch. He married Sibyl Huntington, and had 
children,— John, Sibyl, Cynthia, Anna, Elizabeth, 



BOROUGH OF NORRISTOWN. 



in 



Eleazar, Prudence, Clarissa, Huntington and Heze- 
kiah. Of this number, Hezekiah, born December 26, 
1773, married Margaret White, a descendant of the 
first white child born in New England, whose children 
were Clara, Hannah W., Benjamin, Hezekiah H., 
Selden T., William VV., Mary Ann and Helen S. The 
birth of Selden T., occurred in Brownville, Me., from 
whence, in early youth, he removed to the western 
part of Pennsylvania, and received very modest ad- 
vantages of education. In 1821 he accompanied his 
parents to Venango County, in the same State, and 



Xorristown. He died on the 4th of June, 1884, in his 
seventieth year. 



DAVID Y. MOWDAY. 

Mr. Mowday is of English descent, and the grand- 
son of Christian Mowday. The latter was born at 
tlie Pine Iron-Works, Douglas township, Berks Co., 
Pa., and having at an early age been left an orphan, 
was bound out until twenty-one years of age. He 
then began the business of teaming, which was 
continued during his active life. His children were 








there engaged in the lumber business, continuing 
thus occupied until 1866, when, having retired from 
active commercial life, he made Norristown his place 
of residence. Mr. May was in politics a Republican, 
and while manifesting an intelligent interest in all the 
public questions of the day, never participated in the 
annual political contests of the county or State nor as- 
pired to office. He, however, held the position of school 
director of the borough of Norristown. Mr. May 
married Miss Cynthia Elizabeth Selden, of Chester, 
Conn., whose death occurred August 11, 1880. In 
his religious belief Selden T. May was a Presbyterian, 
and a member of the First Presbyterian Church of 



David, William and Elizabeth. David was born at 
the Pine Iron-Works in ISC'), and followed milling 
for a limited time, after which he worked at the 
forge. He was, in 1826, married to Miss Sarah, 
daughter of Christian Yergey, of Berks County, and 
had children, — Mary Ann (Mrs. John Rynard), 
Wilhelmina (Mrs. Israel Jones). George W. (who 
died in youth), John R., David Y., William Y., 
Sarah Ann (Mrs. Nathan Swabeley), and Susan (Mrs. 
Daniel Eagle). David Y., of this number, was born 
May 13, 1834, at the Pine Iron-Works, Berks Co., 
where his youth, until fourteen years of age, was 
spent. He was then, after having received very lim- 



772 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ited advantages of education, placed at work upon a 
farm, and remained until his seventeenth year. He 
early manifested a desire to render himself indepen- 
dent by becoming master of a trade, and with that 
end in view, started with a very meagre supply of 
worldly goods for Norristown. His frank and manly 
bearing soon secured for him a friend and employer 
in Reuben C. Titlow, of Norristown, with whom he 
learned the trade of a cabinet-maker and undertaker, 
serving four years as an apprentice, and afterwards as 
journeyman. In 1858, with small capital, but good 
credit and strict intcgritj' as a business man, he began 
his mercantile career. He was obliged, in 1861, ow- 



W., Howard J., George W., Walter S., Orella E. now 
living, and Mary Ella, Franklin E., .Joseph A. and 
William H., deceased. Mr. Mowday has devoted 
his time and attention exclusively to his busi- 
ness, and had no leisure for matters of a political or 
public nature. He is president of an influential or- 
ganization known as the Liveryman's Association of 
Norristown. He is a member of Curtis Lodge, No. 
239, I. O. O. F., and also connected with the Knights 
of Pythias. He has been for thirty j'ears connected 
by membership with the Central Presbyterian Church 
of Norristown, Mrs. Mowday being also a member of 
this church. 




_^ 



'/r^/:^ r*^ 



^ 



ing to the increase of business, to enlarge his shops 
and warerooms, and still again to extend their dimen- 
sions until his growing trade rendered necessary the 
erection of a block of buildings embracing twelve 
thousand eight hundred square feet, known as 
Nos. 240, 242, 244 and 246 Main Street, Norristown. 
Here he still continues the business, employing eleven 
men, eight horses, eight business wagons, one clerk 
and two salesmen, and giving his personal attention 
to every detail of this large and successful establish- 
ment. Mr. Mowday was, on the 8th of August, 1858, 
married to Miss Eliza S., daughter of Jacob Hummel, 
of Norristown, their children being David T., Daniel 



DAXIEL LONGAKER. 

Daniel Longaker is the son of Isaac and Catherine 
Longaker, of Lower Providence, and was born August 
6, 1813. After such opportunities as were obtainable 
at the school nearest his home, he engaged in active 
labor as a mechanic, and in 1842 removed from 
Plymouth township to Norristown, having two years 
before jiurchased an interest in a grocery-store in con- 
nection with Jacob T. Moore, under the style of 
Moore & Longaker. He, the same year, secured a lot 
and erected a dwelling, which was occupied as a 
family residence. The capital and energy which Mr. 
Longaker brought into the business soon made itself 



BOROUGH OP xXORRISTOWN. 



773 



felt in a marked increase in trade, and the firm were 
rewarded by signal prosperity. In 1847, Mr. Moore 
retired, having sold his interest to Jacob Childs, the 
firm becoming Longaker & Childs. The senior part- 
ner at this time turned his attention to real estate 
operations and erected several buildings, which have 
since been intimately associated with the business in- 
terests of the borough. Still another change was 
efiected by the retirement of Mr. Childs, when the 
firm was known as Daniel Longaker & Co., his son 
George being admitted as a partner in 1860. After a 
career of uninterrupted prosperity, covering a period 
of thirty-three years, Mr. Longaker retired from active 
business, devoting his attention to his various invest- 



may be regarded as a remarkable example of what in- 
dustry, energy, frugality and sagacity may accomplish 
when employed in a single direction. Daniel Long- 
aker was, in 1834, married to Elizabeth, daughter of 
George Boyer, of Norriton. Their children are 
George W., Kate (deceased), Anne E., Bertha (Mrs. 
D. W. Moore), Ella (Mrs. L. K. Evans), Sally, Lizzie 
(Mrs. Howard), Harry, Clara Bell, Mary (deceased) 
and Daniel (deceased). 



WILLIAM STAHLER. 



Elias Stabler, the fatlier of William Stabler, was 
born in Lower Milford township, Lehigh Co., 
where he resided during his lifetime, and was actively 




DANIEL LONGAEEK. 



ments. He was largely interested, and a director, in 
the Norristown Gas Company, the Norristown Water 
Company, the Montgomery Cemetery, the Philadel- 
phia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad Com- 
pany, the Montgomery National Bank, the Norristown 
Bridge Company', etc. He was never actively identi- 
fied with the politics of the county, and did not con- 
fine his vote strictly within party lines, voting inde- 
pendently and with sjiecial reference to the fitness of 
candidates. He was in his religious views a Luth- 
eran and a member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
Church of Norristown, filling the office of trustee at 
the time of his death, which occurred August 7, 1880. 
Mr. Longaker possessed no advantages at the begin- 
ning of his career either of capital or education, and 



interested in the cultivation of his farm. He married 
Catharine Broug, and had one son, William, and a 
daughter, Sarah, who became Mrs. Jonas Huber. 
William was born February 5, 1826, in Lower Milford, 
and at the age of thirteen, having been deprived of a 
father's care, became a member of the family of an 
uncle in Philadelphia. He received a plain English 
education in the latter city and became a clerk in the 
drug-store of Jenks & Ogden in 1845, and remained 
until 1854, meanwhile becoming proficient in chem- 
istry and the various branches of the business. He 
then removed to Norristown and embarked in the drug 
business in connection with Amos W. Bertolet, with 
wliom he continued for a period of eighteen months, 
when Philadelphia again became his home. Circum- 



774 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



stances influenced his return to Norristown in 1856, 
when he became sole owner of the store in which he 
was formerly interested, and has since that date been 
its proprietor. Mr. Stabler was, on the 3d of June, 
1856, married to Miss Savilla Esbbach, daughter of 
Abram Eshback. Their children are Eugene A., a 
druggist in Bridgeport ; William E., a Lutheran cler- 
gyman at Mount Jackson, Shenandoah Co., Va. ; 
and Harry L., associated with his father in business. 
Mr. Stabler is one of the rejiresentative business men 
of Norristown and foremost in promoting its prosper- 



SAMUEL YEAKLE. 

The subject of this biographical sketch is the grand- 
sou of Christopher Yeakle, the pioneer and progenitor 
of the family in America, and his wife, Maria, daughter 
of Balthasar and Susanna Schultz. The children (six 
in number) of this worthy couple were Susanna 
(Mrs. Abram Heydrick), Maria (Mrs. George Dresher), 
Regina (Mrs. Abram Schultz), Abraham, Anna and 
Christopher. The last-named and youngest was born 
October 7, 1757, and married Susannah Kriebel, 
daughter of Rev. George Kriebel, on the 4th of June, 





ity. He is a director of the Montgomery National 
Bank, as also of the Norristown Iiisuruncc Trust and 
Safe Deposit Company. In politics he is a Democrat, 
and has been for many years a member of the Council 
of the borough of Norristown. He was also made a 
Presidential elector in 1884. He is an active member 
of the Masonic order and connected with Charity 
Lodge, No. 90, and with Norristown Chapter, No. 190, 
and with Hutchinson Commandery, No. 32, all of 
Norristown. He is a member of Trinity Evangelical 
Lutheran Church, in which he has been for twenty 
years a deacon and for ten years treasurer. 



1782. Their children were Lydia, born in 1783 
Agnes, in 1785; Daniel, in 1786; Anna, in 1789 
Sarah, in 1791; George, in 1793; Rebecca, in 1795 
and Samuel in 1798. Mr. Yeakle resided on the place 
inherited from his father, which is the present site of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad depot at Chestnut Hill, 
where his death occurred July 10, 1843, and that of 
his wife April 24, 1830. Theirson Samuel was born 
August 25, 1798, at Chestnut Hill, in Philadelphia 
County, where his youth, until twenty-four yearsofage, 
was spent. He was early taught the value of indus- 
try, and with the exception of the winter months de- 



BOKOUGH OF NORRISTOWN. 



776 



voted his youth to the various pursuits of a farmer. 
In November, 1823, he married Lydia, daughter of 
Abraham Anders, and had cliildren, — William A., 
born in 1824; Charles A., in 1826 ; and Abraham A.^ 
in 1830. His wife having died on the 26th of Decem- 
ber, 1846, he married a second time, on the 19th of 
November, 1850, Susanna, daughter of Samuel Dresher. 
In the spring of 1824, Mr. Yeakle removed to White- 
marsh township, and engaged in fanning employ, 
ments, which were continued until 1853, when Nor- 
ristown became his residence. Mr. Yeakle was first 



ancestry are briefly recorded as follows: His father 
was the son of Daniel Auge, a wine and shipping 
merchant of Bordeaux, west of France, but of Dutch 
or Belgian extraction. When a boy of twelve years 
Bennett, with an elder brother, Nicholas (1790), came 
to Cape Francois, Hayti, the former to serve as a clerk 
on a sugar plantation, and while so employed (in 1791),. 
at the age of thirteen, he barely escaped assassination 
during the famous insurrection of the slaves. After 
lying hid, however, two days and nights among the 
sugar-cane*, he was rescued, taken into the city and 




^ nAXJiAjv2j2_.^ 



a Whig and afterwards a Republican in politics. He 
has been school-director of Whitemarsh, and was 
twice elected to the Borough Council of Norristown. 
He is in religion a member of the society of Schwenk- 
felders, and worships with them when not prevented 
hv the infirmities of age. 



MOSES AUGE. 

Moses Auge is the second son and fifth child of 
Bennett and Ann Auge. He was born at Cenlreville, 
New Castle Co., Del., November 11, 1811, and removed 
soon after to Pennsburg, Chester Co., near by. His 



placed in the white and mulatto army of defense, and 
after a time transferred to the city of Port au Prince, 
where, after serving two or three years longer in the 
army, he, with other white inhabitants, fled the island, 
and with his brother came to Philadelphia about 1797 
or 1798, and soon after the former was placed at school 
in Wilmington, Del. After leaving school he engaged 
a short time in business in that town, and soon after 
(1801) was married to Ann, eldest daughter of Moses 
and Mary (James) Mendcnhall, of Pennsburg, Chester 
Co., who lived a mile west of the battle-ground of 
" Brandy wine." The Mendenhall family were Friends, 



116 



HISTORY OF MOiNTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and came to Pennsylvania about 1685 from Wiltshire, 
England, the progenitor settling at Concord, Chester 
(now Delaware) Co., Pa. The subject of this sketch 
is of the seventh generation from the original settler, 
Benjamin Meudenhall. He received a very limited 
education in primary branches, such as country schools 
imparted seventy years ago, only supplemented by a 
few months' instruction at West Chester Academy, 
under Jonathan Gause and Barbara Fuller. In 1827, 
when sixteen, he apprenticed himself to his brother, 
then in the hatting business at West Chester, to learn 
that trade, and. after working for him, boy and jour- 
neyman, ten years, came to Norrislown (1837) to con- 



the first and one of the latter deceased. The public 
service of Mr. Aiige consists of the following: In 1857, 
in addition to his other business, he assumed the edi- 
torial management of the Olive Branch, a newspaper 
formerly conducted by Franklin P. Sellers, Dr. Joseph 
Mover and Lewis H. Gause, wliicli changed its name 
to the Norristown Sepiiblicati, advocating temperance 
and "Republicanism,'' the latter then a very unpop- 
ular party name, and this publication continued until 
August, 1862. Mr. Auge served his country with the 
emergency men of 1863, carrying the musket as a 
private soldier. In 1871 he started a small weekly 
sheet to advocate temperance and other moral reforms. 




4^-"^. .^^^i*^.^>^ 



duct a hat-store for his brother. The ne.xt year he 
entered a partnership, under (he firm-name of M. 
& S. Auge, which existed five years, after which he 
continued it alone, and afterwards, for some time, in 
connection with Florence Sullivan, and, finally, alone 
until 1877, when he retired from mercantile busines? 
altogether, having managed one concern and lived in 
the same adjoining dwelling about fifty years. 

In March, 1839, he connected himself with the First 
Presbyterian Church, Norristown, and in the spring 
of 1842 married Mary, second daughter of Thomas 
and Hannah Cowden, of Plymouth township. They 
have had four cliildren, one .son and three d;iughters. 



publishing it also wliile continuing his hat and clothing 
business until November, 1874. In 1877-78 he col- 
lected materials and prepared his volume, — "Lives 
of the Eminent Dead and Biographical Notices of 
Prominent Living Citizens of Montgomery County." 
He also published a pamplilet of essays on reform 
subjects, covering sixty-four octavo pages. His moral 
and mental make-up, consisting of positive and un- 
yielding qualities, place him out of the range of 
"available" men for public place. He has never 
sought or obtained any political preferment or the 
emoluments of jmblic office. Mr. Auge is an apt 
writer, aggressive and critical in all reformatory 



BOROUGH OP NORTH WALES. 



777 



measures. \ plain, truthful and eccentric man, he 
lives in the enjoyment of his own convictions, sound 
in mind and body at the age of three-score years and 
ten, and in the expectancy oi post-mortem fame and 
rewards. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 
BOROUGH OF NORTH WALES. 

This thriving borough was inccirporated August 
20, 1869, and is situated about a mile northwest of the 
centre of Gwynedd township, from which all its ter- 
ritory, comprising about one hundred acres, was taken. 
In its form it is nearly square, and was laid out in 
1867 by David Moy er. The streets in general run at 
right angles, the principal names of which are Wales, 
Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Church, Montgomery, 
and Walnut. The Sumneytown and Spriug-House 
turnpike, completed in 1848, forms Wales Street, 
which passes through the borough nearly half a mile. 
TheNorthPennsylvaniaRailroad divides it into nearly 
two equal portions, and the station here is about twenty 
miles from Philadeli)hia and about thirty-five from 
Bethlehem. North Wales is a translation of the 
Welsh name Gwineth, of which Gwynedd is a cor- 
ruption. The settlement at the Friends' Meeting- 
house about a mile below this borough was called 
Gwineth by Lewis Evans on his map of 1749. The 
road through this place to the Spring-House was laid 
out before 173.5. So recent is this borough tliat in 
looking over the county map of 1S49 there is mention 
made only of tlie farms of Philip Hurst, D. Miller and 
J. Booz, on the Sumneytown turnpike, and, at a cor- 
ner of the cross-roads, St. Peter's Church. The com- 
pletion of the North Pennsylvania Railroad in 1856 
laid tlie foundation for its prosperity. In 1884 the 
value of improved lands was S299,94.5 ; value of unim- 
proved lands, S918-5; value of all property taxable for 
county purposes, $33-5,875. According to the census 
of 1880, the borough numbered six hundred and 
seventy-tliree inhabitants. Since then there has been 
a considerable increase in the population. North 
Wales contains one carriage manufacturer, two black- 
smiths, one foundry, two general merchants, tliree 
green-grocers, one cigar manufacturer, two cigar- 
dealers, one jeweler, two feed merchants, one artist, 
three hotels, one bell-foundry, one restaurant, two 
physicians, one dentist, two undertakers, oneplaning- 
mill, one lumber-yard, one shutter-bolt manufactory, 
three florists, one coal-yard, one carpet-weaver, one 
hardw-arc merchant, several house-painters, one mar- 
ble-yard, one depot, two harness-makers, two barbers 
and one printing-office, in which is printed X\ie Xorth 
Wales Record. 

The houses of worship include German Reformed, 
Baptist, Lutheran and Methodist Episcopal Churches, 

There are three public schools in the borough, at 



which one hundred and seventy-one pupils are in at- 
tendance. The school term is nine months and three 
teachers are employed, one at a salary of forty-three 
dollars and two at thirty-dollars per month. 

There is also an academy and school of business 
conducted by Professor H. U. Brunner, a full descrip- 
tion ofwhicli can be found in the chapter on "Edu- 
cation." 

St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church. — 
One of the most interesting church organizations of 
Montgomery County is wdiat was formerly known as 
" the old yellow church." Not a stone is left to mark 
the foundation of the endeared temple, but the spot 
is still sacred as the sleeping-place of those who wor- 
shiped within its walls. It is very difficult to furnish 
a complete history of this church. No minute-book 
of meetings held by the congregation or church 
council can be found except those of recent date. 
The pastors' record, beginning with 1787 and con- 
tinuing until tire present, though sometimes irregular 
and illegible, contains only the pastors' official acts. 

Three church buildings in succession have been 
erected and used by the congregation. The exact 
date when the first church building was erected, or 
when the congregation was organized, cannot be deter- 
mined from the books and papers in the possession 
of the church. An old deed, however, shows that the 
"old yellow church " must have been built about the 
same time that independence was declared in the 
United States. In 1772, Philip Heist became owner 
of fifty-one acres of land in Gwynedd, and it appears 
he gave a piece of ground and assisted in building a 
church upon it. He died some time after, without hav- 
ing given a deed to the cliurch authorities. In his will 
he empowered his executors to make good and suffi- 
cient deeds to buyers of his lands. These executors 
granted a deed dated June 10, 1780, for half an acre 
of ground, declaring, "The same is intended and is 
hereby granted to remain for religious purposes, — that 
is to say, for a church of worship already erected 
thereon for the use of the High Dutch Lutheran 
and the High Dutch Reformed or Presbyterian con- 
gregations in said township of Gwynedd," etc. The 
first church was built between 1772 and 1780. Who 
the pastors were about this time the records do not 
sliow. The first pastor of whom the church has 
definite knowledge was Rev. Anthony Hecht, who 
was in charge from 1787 to 1792. His first baptism 
was tliat of an adult, Abraham Hoft'man, March 4, 
1787; his first infant baptism, Henry and John, sons 
of Christian and Anna Knipe, June 1, 1787; his first 
confirmation of a class of catechumens (five in num- 
ber) December 25, 1788; his first administration of 
holy communion July 13, 1788, and eleven names are 
recorded as communicants. This day, July 13, 1788, 
is called in the records "the Day of Consecration." 
Tlie first marriage record is dated October 29, 1786. 
First election of officers recorded is September 23, 
1787. 



778 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The next pastor was Eev. Jacob Van Buskirk, 
beginning in 1783 and, perhaps, leaving this charge 
in 1797. He was born at Hackensack, N. J., February 
11, 1739. It is said that Van Buskirk's work of useful- 
ness among men closed very suddenly. One day he 
was about to go to his church, and while in the act of 
mounting his horse fell back to the ground lifeless. 
He died August 5, 1800, and lies buried very near 
where stood the altar of the church in which he 
officiated. 

Next in the list of pastors is the name of Rev. 
Henry Geisenhainner. The records show that while 
pastor here he was married to Anna Maria Shearer 
by the Rev. F. W. Geisenhainner, pastor at New 
Goshenhoppen. 

The following names come next in the list, but the 
length of their pastorates cannot be determined : 
Eev. S. P. F. Kramer and Rev. Chas. F. Wildbahn ; 
the latter is buried at St. John's Church, Whitpain. 

The next pastor was Rev. J. H. Rebenach, who 
commenced about 1805 and continued in charge until 
1811. During his pastorate occurred the murder of 
Henry Weaver, which created great excitement. His 
entry of the burial merely states that October 5, 
1805, the man was shot while behind his wagon in the 
vicinity of his father's house. 

Next in the list are the names of Revs. David 
and Solomon Shaffer, but the books give no further 
information concerning them. 

The next pastor was the Rev. John K. Weiand, 
whose first entry is dated June 14, 1812, and who was 
pastor until 1826, — fourteen years. He was the last 
pastor to officiate in the first church building, and 
during his pastorate the second church edifice was 
erected. The original book of subscriptions is still in 
existence, and is a large book ofaboutsixty pages, kept 
very systematically. It is dated November 8, 1S15. 
The managers agreed to build as soon as three thou- 
sand dollars were subscribed. The collectors were 
George Neavil, Jacob Knecdler, Conrad Shimniel, 
Joseph Knipe and Philip Lewis. We cannot tell 
exactly when the building was commenced or finished, 
but a receipt for money collected the day the corner- 
stone was laid bears date of " May 27, 1817." The 
church was large and built of stone, plastered over 
and stained with a yellow wash, so that in due time 
it came to be called the "old yellow church," like its 
predecessor. The interior was high and roomy, had 
galleries on three sides, and a high goblet pulpit with 
a sounding-board. 

The next pastor was the Rev. George Heilig, who 
commenced October 22, 182G, and after the longest 
pastorate in the history of the church, resigned in 
1843. He introduced an organ into the church. He 
also introduced the English language. During his 
time the Sunday-school was organized. He went from 
here to Monroe County, this State, and died September, 
1869. 

The next pastor was Jacob Medtart, who came in 



1843 and remained until 1855. He was unable to 
preach German, and during his time it was dropped, 
and from that time to the present the services have 
been in the English language. 

The next pastor was Rev. John W. Hassler, who 
came in 1856 and remained until 1862. At the out- 
break of the Rebellion he received an appointment 
as chaplain in the army, and resigned here to accept 
it. 

The next pastor was Rev. P. M. Rigbtmeyer, who 
commenced 1863 and continued until 1867. During 
his p.astorate the organ now used by the Sunday- 
school was purchased by moneys he collected. 

The next pastor was Rev. Ezra L. Reed. He was 
the last pastor who preached in the old church. 
Various circumstances suggested the building of a 
new church, — the old building was in a very bad state ; 
the Reformed congregation, which had worshiped in 
the same building, was about erecting a building for 
their separate use ; and the borough of North Wales 
had sprung up along the railroad, and many thought 
it an advantage to have the church in' the town. 
It was resolved to erect a new building in the new 
borough of North Wales, half a mile distant, and a 
fine piece of ground was bought. The subscription- 
book bears date of March 1, 1867 ; corner-stone laid 
June 6, 1868 ; church was dedicated January 1, 
1870, when the pastor was assisted by Revs. J. B. 
Riemensnyder, H. M. Bickel, G. M. Lazarus and J. 
A. Hassler, the last preaching the sermon. From 
1786 to 1868 St. Peter's Church was connected in the 
same pastorate with St. John'.s, Centre Square. 
About the year 1870 this arrangement ceased, and 
St. Peter's selected its own pastor. 

The next pastor was Rev. L. G. Miller, from June 
21, 1874, to June 28, 1875. The next pastor was 
Rev. William H. Myers, from June 25, 1876, to 
February 11. 1878. The next pastor was Rev. 
Theodore Heilig, from May 1, 1878, to June 30, 1880. 

The present pastor is Rev. George D. Foust, who 
took this charge July 1, 1880. During the present 
pastorate an oppressive debt has been paid off, and at 
the Easter service, 1881, the church was publicly de- 
clared free of incumbrance. 

The Sunday-School of St. Peter's Lutheran 
Church. — The exact date of the organization of the 
Sunday-school cannot be determined. It was, how- 
ever, established early in the pastorate of Rev. George 
Heilig. Class-books are still preserved showing that 
the school was in full operation in 1834. The school 
was organized as an English school. Its first super- 
intendent was Noah Snyder. In those days blue and 
red tickets were distributed as rewards among the 
scholars. In 1837 a library was purchased, and the 
names of the subscribers are carefully preserved. At 
this time the school numbered ten teachers and sixty 
scholars. The library was enlarged in 1842. About 
1840, John B. Johnson became superintendent, and 
served in that capacity thirty years. The first public 



BOROUGH OF xNORTH WALES. 



779 



celebration took place about 1841, which was a union 

festival of St. Peter's and St. John's schools, and took 
place in a woods near Franklinville. About 1875, 
Mr. A. K. Shearer was elected superintendent, and is 
still faithfully filling that office. I. W. Wampole, 
Esq., was elected secretary in 1868, and has served 
continuously since that date. It may be mentioned 
that the secretary has been absent from his post per- 
hai)S less than a dozen times, and then only on ac- 
count of sickness or some other unavoidable cause. 
A good record this is for a term of nearly seventeen 
years. 

The Parish Union or St. Peter's Lutheran 
Church. — In February, 18G9, a Lutheran Fund So- 
ciety was organized to raise moneys for church pur- 
poses. In January, 1875, it was reorganized as a 
Ladies' Aid Society, with the same object. In 1881 
the society was changed into a "Parish Union," the 
object being both to gather funds for the church and 
to encourage sociability among the members of the 
congregation. Meetings are held monthly. 

The ofticers of the church arc: Pastor, Rev. George 

D. Foust ; Elders, Jacob H. Leister, Francis Ander- 
man, Samuel U. Brunner, Charles W. Hallman, W. 
W.Pope; Deacons, Francis C. Johnson, Samuel J. 
Fleck, Jacob Dannehower, Harry W. Moyer, John 

E. Ashford, A. R. Kuhns ; Trustees, Abel K. Shearer, 
I. W. Wampole, Henry Keller. 

The officers of the Sunday-school are: Superinten- 
dent (ex-qfficio), the pastor; Acting Superintendent, 
A. K. Shearer; Secretary, I. W. Wampole; Libra- 
rian, William Pope: Principal of Infant Department, 
S. U. Brunner. 

The officers of the " Parish Union " are : Presi- 
dent, the pastor; Secretary, Irwin Weber ; Treasurer, 
Charles Weikel. 

The congregation owns a fine church property in 
North Wales. The lot has a frontage of one hundred 
and sixty feet, beautifully terraced. In the centre of 
this lot stands a neat, commodious church edifice, 
whose lofty steeple can be seen from great distances 
in the surrounding country. In addition, the church 
owns two burial-grounds a short distance south of the 
borough, one the site of the " old yellow church," 
and the other directly opposite. 

The North Wales Baptist Church was consti- 
tuted in the winter of ]8G2-(J3 with twenty-five mem- 
bers, mostly from the Jlontgomery Baptist Church. 
In the summer of 186.3 a brick church was erected in 
Gwynedd township, a short distance from Ivueedler 
Station, which was used until the completion of the 
stone church edifice in the borough of Nortli Wales, 
in the fall of 1884. It is forty by fifty feet, and cost 
five thousand dollars. The new cliurch was dedi- 
cated in November of that year, and is still in use by 
the society. The pulpit was supplied by neighlioring 
preachers until 1868, when the Rev. Maris Gibson 
was called to the pastorate, and served two years. 
Rev. Dr. William Scott succeeded, and served three 



year.-*. His successors have been the Revs. N. B. 
Baldwin, A. J. Adams, .losiah Phillips, L. C. Davis 
and the present pastor, the Rev. A. J. Aldred. The 
church has a membership of about one hundred and 
fifty. 

The Reformed Church of North Wales was a 
part of St. Peter's Church (referred to above) until 
1866, at which time the Reformed congregation 
erected the church edifice they now occupy in 
North Wales. The pastors who have served them 

from that time are as follows: Revs. Aller, 

George Wolfe, Jonas T. Hetsell and Josiah D. 
Detrich, the present pastor. The membership of the 
church is aliout one hundred and fifty. 

The Sanctuary Methodist Episcopal Church was 
organized in 1870, and a church edifice was erected 
on East Montgomery Avenue at a cost of five thou- 
sand seven hundred dollars in 1871. The pastors who 
have served the church are as follows : H. U. Se- 
bring, Amos Johnson, J. D. McClintock, H. B. Mau- 
ger, F. A. Gilbert, William Smith, John Martin, 
Harry Bodinc and the Rev. Henry Hess, the present 
pastor. The church has a membership of about 
seventy. 

The following is a list of burgesses of the borough 
of North Wales since its organization : 1869, George 
Schlotterer; 1S70, Isaac Wampole, Jr.; 1871-72, 
Isaac G. Freed; 1873, Henry F. Moyer; 1874, 
Samuel H. Shearer ; 1875, Charles G. Eaton ; 1876, 
Hiram C. Potter; 1877, Matthias Stover; 1878-81, 
Daniel Kohl; 1882, Oliver M. Weber; 1883-84, 
Hiram C. Potter; 1885, Charles N. Weikel. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



ABEI. K. SHEARER. 

The Shearer family are of German descent, the or- 
thography ofthenanie havingoriginally been Schearer. 
John Sliearer, the grandfiither of Abel K., was a suc- 
cessful farmer in Whitpain township, Montgomery 
Co. He married a Miss Weber, whose children were 
Jacob, John, Joseph, Benjamin, Jesse, Margaret (wife 
of Joseph Knipe), and Elizabeth, (married to Joel 
Sellers.) Jacob, the eldest son, was born in 1794 in 
Whitpain township, and followed the occupation of 
his father, a portion of his farm being now embraced 
in the borough of North Wales. He married Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Joseph Knipe, of Gwynedd town- 
ship, and had children, — Catharine (Mrs. Ephraim 
Neavill), Sophia (Mi-s. Edward L. Jones), Euphemia, 
Franklin, Isabella (Mrs. George L. Brooks), Amanda 
(who died in youth), Eliza (Mrs. Jacob L. Weber), 
John, Abel K. and Mary (Mrs. H. F. Moyer). 

Abel K. was born on the farm of his father, then in 
Gwynedd township, November 6, 1838, and received 
his education at the schools in the vicinity, after which 



780 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



his attention, until his twenty-third year, was directed 
to the labor of the farm, in the cultivation uf which he 
rendered valuable aid. He then determined to em- 
bark in commercial ventures, and established at North 
Wales an extensive lumber business, which he still 
conducts. This enterprise speedily grew to such pro- 
portions as to make the addition of a steam planing- 
mill, in 1870, a necessity. Mr. Shearer soon created a 
demand for the products of the mill, and so increased 
the business as to secure patronage from portions of 
the county far beyond the confines of the borough. 
He was married, November 6, 1867, to Annie C. 



ton Lodge, No. 308, of Fort Washington, Pa. In re- 
ligion he is a Lutheran and member of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church of North Wales, as also of the 
church council. 



ABEL LUKENS. 

Abel Lukens, son of George and Esther Lukens, 
was born in what is now Kulpsville, Montgomery Co., 
Pa., August 9, 1807. His early life was spent on his 
father's farm and at the old school-house near by, 
where he obtained his education. Prior to 1830 he 





daughter of Rev. P. M. Rightmeyer. Their children 
are Carrie, Norman (deceased,) Estelle and Luther. 
Mrs. Shearer died on the 17th of June, 1877, and he 
was again married, on the 10th of March, 1881, to 
Emma J., daughter of Samuel Fleck, of Spring House, 
Montgomery County, Pa., whose children are Grace and 
Abby. WhilechieHyoccupiedin the management of his 
growingbusiness, Mr. Shearer has found time to devote 
to local political issues. He has, as a Democrat, served 
in the Borough Council, as school director and in 
minor capacities. He is a director of the North Wales 
Building and Loan Association. He was identified 
with the Masonic fraternity as member of Washing- 



with his brothers, remained at home, doing such 
work as is usual on a large farm. From about 1830 
to 1840 he followed the business of a drover, or cattle 
speculator, and at the same time carried on the 
butchering business. 

In 1840 he rented the old "Golden Lamb Hotel," 
on Second, above Callowhill Street, Philadelidiia, Pa., 
where he remained the popular " mine host" for fifteen 
years. He then retired from the hotel business, and 
for about one year was janitor of the National Club- 
house, Philadelphia ; but not finding the position of 
janitor just suited to his taste, he rented the North 
Pennsylvania Hotel, then on the corner of Third and 



BOROUGH OF xNORTH WALES. 



781 



Willow Streets, Philadelphia, and for eight years was 
the popular landlord of that hotel. 

He then went on his farm at Kulpsville, where he 
remained for one and a half years, when he took 
charge of the North Wale.s Hotel, where for eight 
years he served the traveling public with satisfaction 
to his patrons and to the people of the town gen- 
erally. 

At the expiration of that time he retired from 
active duty, feeling that he had served well his 
time in the service of the public. He owns the farm 
of one hundred and twenty-eight acres upon which 
he was born, making that his home during the sum- 



September 29, 1831, married, July 17, 1856, to Robert 
E. Taylor, who died May 8, 1871 ; their son, George 
H., was born- December 28, 1870. Infant, born No- 
vember 18, 1832, died. Sarah J., born March 28, 
1834, married, October 31, 1854, to David Jones ; they 
have one daughter, Mary A., born September 9, 1864. 
Rachel, born July 12, 1835, married H. C. Stout in 
April, 1857 ; they have one son, Abel L. Stout, born 
in October, 1859.' Charles J., born July 8, 1837, died 
young. Esther Ann, born October 5, 1839, died 
young. William Henry, born January 18, 1841, mar- 
ried, in January, 1862, to Miss Anna Little, of Phila- 
delphia ; they have two children, — Elizabeth L., 




<jyu-c/i <:^Ji4/^eyy\f^ 



mer months, and in winter his genial presence brings 
sunshine and happiness to the household of his son 
and daughter, in North Wales, where he is happy in 
the midst of a group of children and grandchildren, 
whose pleasant greetings smooth his pathway and 
lighten his burdens down the declivity of time 
towards the golden sunset. 

He was married, in October, 1830, to Miss Naomi, 
daughter of John and Ann Jenkins. Mrs. Lukens 
died October 7, 1877, aged sixty-eight years. Mr. 
Jenkins, father of Mrs. Lukens, was the owner of a 
large portion of the land upon which the borough of 
Lansdale now stands. 

The children of Abel and Naomi are Jane T., born 



born May 22, 1863 ; Robert B., born July 8, 1870. 
George W., boru February 24, 1843, married Catha- 
rine Harley in December, 1869 ; she was a daughter 
of Samuel Harley, of Kulpsville ; their children are 
Laura H., born December 20, 1870 ; Jennie H., born 
June — , 1872 ; Ann H., born in September, 1877. 
Edward, born November 27, 1846, married, June 10, 
1874, to Miss Lucy A., daughter of Alexander and 
Josephine Riddle; she died August 16, 1881, leaving 
one child, Carroll T., born May 21, 1880. 

The progenitor of the Lukens family in this country 
was Jan (John) Lucken, a native of Holland, who 
came to America and landed at Chester, Pa., on Octo- 
ber 3, 1688, and subsequently settled at Germantown. 



■782 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



This Jan or Johu Lucken was, no doubt, a man of 
means and of some social standing, and brouglit to 
this country an old Dutch Bible, printed by Peter 
Sebastian in 1598, which is now one of the ancient 
relics owned by the Lukens family. This Jan Lucken 
had children,— Elizabeth, born July 28, 1684; Elias, 
born in 1685 ; William, born in 1687 ; Sarah, born in 
1689; John, born in 1691; Mary, born in 1693; Peter, 
born in 1696; Hannah, born in 1698; Matthias, born 
in 1700; Abraham, born in 1703; Joseph, born in 
1705. 

Abraham, the great-grandfather of Abel, purchased, 
in 1729, one thousand acres of land in what is now 
Towamencin township, where he lived till .Tune, 1776, 
when he died. The name had by this time become 
modernized into Lukens, and John Lukens, the sec- 
ond of Abraham's children, who was born Tenth 
Month 17, 1729, purchased from his father one hun- 
dred out of his one thousand acres, and upon this he 
lived until 1814. He had sold it, however, in 1805, to 
his son George, who occupied it until 1849. George 
married Esther Jeoms, of Whitemarsh township, on 
the Twelfth Month 12, 1805. Their children were 
Abel, born in 1807 ; Edith, born in 1809; and Wil- 
liam Lukens; Mary, born in 1811, married Samuel 
Ehoads; Seth, born Third Month 20, 1814; Sarah^ 
married C. Todd Jenkins ; Hannah, married Aram 
Drake ; Eliam, now living in Iowa ; Comly, living in 
Illinois. 

Of these children, Seth married Mary, daughter of 
the late James Hamer, M.D., of Skippaekville, and 
they have children, — Fannie, married Edmund P. 
Zimmerman; Esther, married George W. Bockius; 
Anna M.; David H.; and Carrie A. 

The Lukens I'amily have been a people of more than 
the standard of moral and intellectual excellence, and 
some of them quite noted in local history. John, of 
Horsham township, was a government surveyor in 
colonial times, and also selected by the Philosophical 
Society to assist David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, 
in observing the transit of Venus in 1769 and that of 
Mercury in 1776. 

Most of the Lukens family have in their genera- 
tion been Friends or in sympathy with that society. 



JONAS M. HARLEY. 

Among the pious Germans who left the Father- 
land with the faithful and devoted Pastorius, and 
came to Amei'ica and settled at "ye Germantown," 
■was Rudolph Harley, who has a son, also named Ru- 
dolph. 

This Rudolph was born in Germany in 1719, as 
was also a daughter, who married a man by the name 
of Graef, and moved West. 

Rudolph, Jr., married Mary, daughter of Peter 
Becker, of Germantown, and became the father of 
thirteen children, as follows: Johannes (or John), 
born in 1741 ; Johanna, born in 1743 ; Lena, born in 



1745; Maria, born in 1747; Rudolph, born in 1749; 
Elizabeth, born in 1750; Jacob, born in 1752 ; Henn^ 
born in 1754 ; Sarah, born in 1756 ; Samuel, born in 
1758; Joseph, born in 1760; Maria Margretta, born 
in 1762 ; and Abraham, born in 1765. These num- 
erous sons and daughters were thus intermarried: 
Maria, with Frederick Delhi ; Rudolph, with Bar- 
bara Bach ; Elizabeth, with Christian Dettra ; 
Henry, with Elizabeth Groff; Sarah, with George 
Price; Samuel, with Catharine, only daughter of 
Christopher Sower, the old Bible printer of German- 
town ; Joseph, with Catharine Reiff; Maria Margretta, 
with Jacob Detweiler ; and Abraham, with Christiana 
Geisz. 

The Christopher Sower just mentioned was, by 
marriage the great-grandfather of Jonas M. Harley, 
and at one time owned most of the land upon which 
the old part of the town of Germantown is now built. 

Samuel, the fifth son of Rudolph the second, and 
in the direct line to Jonas M., had ten children, viz. : 
Daniel, born in 1787; Samuel, born in 1788; Mary 
(mother of Abram H. Cassel, the antiquarian), born 
in 1789; Sarah, born in 1791; John, born in 1792; 
Catharine, born in 1793 ; Joseph, born in 1795 ; Eliza- 
beth, born in 1797; Jacob ; and Abraham. 

Joseph Harley, the fourth son of Samuel, was born 
February 1, 1795 ; married Miss Sarah Markley, who 
was born .January 10, 1800. Joseph died December 
20, 1837, aged forty-two years, ten months and nine- 
teen days. Sarah died May 1, 1862, aged fifty-two 
years, three months and twenty-two days. They were 
the parents of ten children, who grew to man's and 
woman's estate, viz.: Samuel, born May 4, 1820; Philip, 
born January 6, 1822 ; Ann, born August 8, 1823 ; 
Joseph, born June 27, 1826, died in the army; Edwin, 
born December 8, 1827 ; Deborah, born December 3, 
1829; Jonas M., born September 18, 1831; John, 
born July 31, 1833; Sarah, born August 19, 1836; 
and Daniel, born April 4, 1838. 

Jonas M. Harley is a native of Gwynedd town- 
ship, Montgomery Co. Pa., where he received a 
good common-school education, partly under the in- 
struction of his cousin, Abraham H. Cassel. At the 
age of fifteen years he was apprenticed to his uncle 
to learn the trade of a cabinet-maker, which service 
he successfully performed, and for ten years subse- 
quently carried on for himself a large and prosperous 
business in Juniata County, Pa., where he spent 
thirteen years of his life. In or about the year 1859 
he removed to Line Lexington, Bucks Co., Pa., 
where he, in partnership with his brother, John 
Harley, engaged in the mercantile business, in which 
they continued for eleven years, when they removed 
to North Wales, Montgomery Co., Pa., where they were 
also engaged in the mercantile business until March, 
1884, when, with a sufficiency of earthly goods, he 
retired from the active duties of business life. 

In whatever walk in society it has been the lot of 
Mr. Harley to travel he has borne well his part in 



BOROUGH OF NORTH WALES. 



783 



the great drama of life, having performed every 
known duty to the best of his ability. He has been 
honored by his fellow-townsmen, since a resident of 
North Wales, with several official positions of minor 
importance, and with that of school director for seven 
years in succession. He was, in 1858, an officer in 
the lower branch of the Pennsylvania Legislature. 

Religiously he is a Baptist, having united with the 
North Wales Baptist Churcli, January 2, 1874, and 
baptized by the Rev. A. J. Adams, since which time 
he has been one of its office-bearers, and for the last 
two vears one of its deacons. 



Norman, born February 14, 1838; Emeline, born 
September 17, 1840 ; Amanda, born November 30, 1842. 

Mr. Harley's second wife was Miss Susan C, daugh- 
ter of Joseph B. and Rebecca Cassel, of Germantown. 
From this union there has been born one child, 
Florence C, born December 17, 1881. 

Mrs. Harley is a descendant of the old Rittenhouse 
family, of astronomical fame, and closely connected 
with other highly-respected families of this and ad- 
joining counties. She was born April 4, 1839, united 
with the Fiftieth Baptist Church of Philadelphia, 
Pa., December 17, 1873. 




He was married, January 2, 1866, to Miss Emeline, 
daughter of Robert and Lydia Stoneback, of Bucks ' 
County. She was a member of the First Reformed 
Church, Dr. Willets, Philadelphia. The children ! 
from this union are Walter S., born December 10, 
1867, and now a student .at the Lewisburg University, 
Lewisburg, Pa. ; Laura A., born February 27, 1870. 
Mrs. Harley died October 11, 1872. Her father, Mr. j 
Stoneback, was one of the prominent men of Bucks 
County, and held several official positions, one of 
which was recorder of the county. He was also i 
well and favorably known a.s one of the prominent 
business men of Philadelphia. His children are I 



Mrs. Harley was born in Norritonville, Worcester 
township, Montgomery Co., Pa., where her parents 
resided on a farm for thirty years, and in 1861 they 
removed to the northern part of the township, where 
she remained with them for seven years, at the end of 
which time they retired from the farming business. 
She then prepared herself for a teacher of music, 
after which she went to Philadelphia, where she was 
engaged in teaching music at the time of her mar- 
riage. Her father and mother are both living, the 
former at the advanced age of eighty years and the 
latter seventy-nine years of age. They are the par- 
ents of children, — Mary, Amos, Sarah, Harry, Edith, 



784 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Susan, Mahlon, Hannah, Christian and Leah. 

Amos died at the age of twenty-seven years, shortly 
after graduating from Dartmouth College, and Mary 
died at the age of fifty-four years. 

She is now one of the active members of the North 
Wales Baptist Church, and the leader in its musical 
department, being possessed of musical talents far 
superior to most persons. She was early educated 
in music, and was but twelve years of age when 
she first sang before a public audience. Since that 
time she has been before the public as a teacher 
of instrumental music, and when living in Philadel- 
phia was organist of the Fiftieth Baptist Church. 
She was baptized by Rev. E. C. Romine, who also 
performed the marriage ceremony when she married 
Mr. Harley. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 
BOROUGH OF POTTSTOWN.' 

The borough of Pottstown is situated on the north 
side of the Schuylkill river, below the mouth of the 
Manatawny Creek, twenty miles from Norristown and 
thirty-seven from Philadelphia. It contains an area 
of only two hundred aud sixty-eight acres, wholly 
taken from Pottsgrove township on its erection to a 
borough in 1815, and, after Norristown, the first in- 
corporated in the couuty. It is bounded north and 
east by Pottsgrove, south by the Schuylkill and west 
by Pottsgrove and the Manatawny Creek. It has a 
front of three-fourths of a mile on the river, and ex- 
teuds back from the same about half a mile. Few 
towns have a finer location ; the land lies high 
and gently rolling, with plenty of room in theadjoining 
territory for its future growth. In its vicinity is a fertile 
country containing a number of fine farms, greatly im- 
proved within the last thirty years. The streets are 
laid out regular and wide, and cross each other at right 
angles. Beginning at the river and running parallel 
with it are the following: Laurel, Cherry, South, 
Queen, High, King, Chestnut, Walnut and Beech. At 
right angles with these, beginning near the Manatawny 
Creek, are York, Hanover, Penn, Charlotte, Evans^ 
Franklin, Washington, Warren and Adams. Besides 
the aforesaid are several smaller streets running in 
various directions. High or Main Street is one hun. 
dred feet wide between the building limits, Hanover 
eighty feet, aud the others from forty to sixty feet. The 
Reading turnpike is located on High or Main Street, 
the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad on Queen, 
and the bridge over the Schuylkill at the foot of Han- 
over Street. 

Pottstown, in late years, has grown rapidly. Accord- 
ing to the census of 1830, it contained 676 inhabit- 
ants; in 1840, 721; in 1850, 1664; in 1860,2380; in 

1 By Wm. J. Bucli. 



1870, 4125 and in 1880, 5305. At the latter date the 
East Ward contained 1856 inhabitants; Middle Ward, 
2270; and Western Ward, 1179. The assessment for 
1882 returned 1845 taxables, holding $2,744,741 of tax- 
able property, averaging per capita $1487. In May, 
1883, licenses were issued to ten hotels, four restau- 
rants, one brewer, two auctioneers, four real estate 
brokers, one banker and one hundred and twenty- 
six stores of various kinds. The latter is the exact 
number of stores licensed for the entire county 
in 1827. Before the Revolution the place contained 
two grist-mills and fifteen or twenty houses. In 1880, 
three taverns, a weaving establishment, a wool-hat 
manufiictory, several mechanic .shops and forty houses. 
In 1832, four taverns, four stores and nearly one 
hundred dwellings. In 1850, three hundred and 
twenty-eight houses, three hundred and eighty-eight 
families and three farms. In 1858, thirty-seven 
stores, seven churches, five hotels, two rolling-mills 
and the gas-works. The stores in 1876 had increased 
to ninety-four, besides three coal and two lumber- 
yards. In consequence of the increase of population, 
the borough, in 1842, was divided into East and West 
Wards. By an act of Assembly passed May 12, 1871, 
it was further divided into West, Middle and East 
Wards. Near the close of 1883 Middle Ward had 
been subdivided into Second aud Third Wards, mak- 
ing now four wards or election districts within the 
incorporated limits. 

The earliest material public improvement built 
here was the stone bridge over the Manatawny 
Creek, at the western end of the borough, over which 
the Perkiomen and Reading turnpike passes, com- 
menced iu the spring of 1804 and completed in 1806. 
It was built by the county while Philip Boyer, Chris- 
tian Weber, Richard T. Leech, Philip Hahn, Jr., 
Thomas Humphrey and John Markley were commis- 
sioners. John Lewis was engineer and John Pugh 
and Samuel Baird did the mason-work. It has four 
arches, which measure one hundred and seventy-two 
feet. An act of Assembly permitted the county 
commissioners to collect toll to help defray the ex- 
pense. The amount thus received in 1807 amounted 
to $550.51 and the following year to $1411.05. The 
lime used in this bridge was hauled, by contract, 
from Plymouth, twenty-two miles distant. The bridge 
over the Schuylkill at Hanover Street was built by a 
company incorporated March 5, 1819. It was com- 
menced in 1820, and was made pass.able in 1821. It 
measures between the abutments three hundred and 
forty feet, is twenty-eight feet wide and eighteen feet 
above ordinary water-level. The total cost was 
nearly fourteen thousand dollars, of which sum the 
State subscribed three thousand dollars. It was 
swept away by the great freshet of September 2, 1850, 
and rebuilt five feet higher in 1852, at a cost of twelve 
thousand dollars. The Reading Railroad crosses the 
Manatawny a short distance below the turnpike by a 
I substantial stone bridge of five arches, ten hundred 



BOROUGH OF POTTSTOWN. 



r85 



and seventy-one feet in length. The Madison bridge 
over the Schuylkill, in the lower part of Pottstown, 
was built by a company chartered April 5, 1867, and 
completed the following year. Its cost was about 
thirty-two thousand dollars. 

The Perkiomen and Reading Turnpike Company was 
chartered under the acts of March 20, 1810, and Feb- 
uary 13, 1811. The turnpike was commenced in 1811 
and finished in 1815, and exteuds from Perkiomen 
bridge (now C'ollegeville) to Reading, a distance of 
twenty-nine miles. Its cost was seven thousand dol- 
lars per mile, the State subscribing to the stock fifty- 
three thousand dollars. The canal of the Schuylkill 
Navigation Company, completed in 1824, is located 
on the opposite side of the river. 

Of the various improvements at Pottstown, none 
singly, has contributed so much to the prosperity 
of the town as the Philadelphia and Reading Rail- 
road. The company by whom this grand work waS 
constructed was chartered April 4, 1838. Survey* 
were shortly after made, and before the lapse of anothe 
year it was placed under contract as far as this boroug h 
On December 9, 1839, the road was opened between 
Philadelphia and Reading, a distance of fifty-nine 
miles. On this occasion the train consisted of eighty 
cars. It was not completed to Pottsville till Jan- 
uary, 1842. The company have erected here several 
extensive machine-shops, chiefly for repairs to loco- 
motives, cars, bridges and tracks, giving employ- 
ment to some four hundred hands. On this road, from 
its down grade, it is no unusual thing for one locomo- 
tive to draw from one hundred to one hundred and 
forty cars, each containing five tons of coal. Ac- 
cording to the engineer's report, the track here is 
elevated ime Iiundrcd and forty -seven feet above tide- 
water at Philadelphia. The first ticket agent for 
Pottstown was James Jack, who had previously been 
the first toll-collector at the Manatawny bridge. 
The Colebrookdale Railroad is a branch of the Read- 
ing road, and extends from Pottstown, through Boyers- 
towu, to Barto, formerly called Mount Pleasant, a 
distance of thirteen miles, opened to travel in the 
fall of 1869. The Schuylkill Valley Railroad was 
commenced in 1883 and was completed to Pottstown 
in Septcralier, 18S4. It extends from Philadel- 
phia, through Pottstown, into the coal regions, and 
will, no doubt, also materially contribute to the pros- 
perity of the place in attbrdiug additional facilitiejs for 
transportation. 

Pottstown has become an important manufactur- 
ing place. The Pottsgrove Iron-Works beloug to Potts 
Brothers, and went into operation in December, 1846. 
The rolling-mill is located on Water Street, between 
Penn and Charlotte ; its founders were Henry and 
David Potts, Jr. In April, 1857, the works changed 
owners, and the business continued under the firm of 
Potts & Bailey. In October, 1862, Edward Bailey 
sold his interest ; and the works have been operated 
since by the present firm. The production is plate, 
50 



boiler, tank and flue-iron. The annual capacity is 
sixteen thousand net tons, and they employ about 
one hundred and eighty hands. 

The Pottstown Iron Company was incorporated 
March 27, 1866, and the following year permitted to 
increase their capital to five hundred thousand dol- 
lars. The plate-mill had originally been erected in 
1863 by William Mintzer and J. E. Wooten. A nail- 
mill was built and put in operation in October, 1866. 
The Anvil Furnace was built in 1867, and in December 
of said year was blown in. It has a capacity to pro- 
duce twenty thousand tons of mill pig-iron. The 
establishment has a capacity to [produce twenty-four 
thousand tons of plate-iron and sixteen thousand 
tons of nails. Employment is given to from twelve 
hundred to thirteen hundred hands. The inclosed 
grounds cover twenty-five acres and are situated 
outside the borough limits. Theodore H. Morris, of 
Philadelphia, is president ; Andrew Wheeler, vice- 
president ; Joseph K. Wheeler, secretary ; and Wil- 
liam N. Morris, treasurer and general manager. Its 
office is in Philadelphia, 1608 Market Street. 

The Warwick Iron Company, with a capital of 
two hundred and twenty thousand dollars, com- 
menced their furnace in 1875, and on April 20th of 
the following year it was blown in. They employ sixty 
hands at the furnace and eighty at the mines at Boy- 
erstown and Siesholtzville. The annual capacity is 
twenty-one thousand tons, having turned out as high 
as four hundred and sixteen tons of mill pig-iron in 
one week. The officers are Isaac Fegely, president; 
V. P. McCully, secretary; Jacob Fegely, Jr., treas- 
urer; Edgar S. Cook, manager. This furnace is out- 
side the borough limits, near tlie Manatawny bridge. 
The Philadelphia Bridge- Works, Joseph H. Cofrode 
and Francis H. Taylor, proprietors, were started in 
1877, and employ about four hundred hands, and are 
located on South Street, outside the borough. They 
manufacture about seven thousand tons of bridge-iron 
annually. They have shipped materials to South 
America, Mexico, Canada and California. 

Softer & Brothers, in the northern part of the 
borough, carry on the manufacture of steam-boilers, 
stacks, tanks, etc., and do a business amounting to 
one hundred thousand dollars; established in 1878, 
and employ thirty-five men. The Keystone Agricul- 
tural Works, situated to the east of the borough, Ellia, 
Hoffman & Co., proprietors, mainifacture agricul- 
tural implements, especially threshers and horse- 
powers, and employ twenty-flve men. The large 
merchant mill of Gabel, Bartolet & Co. has a ca- 
pacity to manufacture above one hundred barrels of 
flour per day, propelled by the Manatawny and sup- 
posed originally erected before 17.30. There are, be- 
sides, three steam planing-nnlls in the place and 
several other mechanical establishments. 

The Gas Company was incorporated March 7, 1856 ; 
the cost of the works up to 1858 was twenty-one thou- 
sand dollars. In 1869 the works were found to be 



r86 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



inadequate, and were rebuilt with tinir times their 
former capacity. They are situated in tlie western 
jnirt (if the borough, near the Schuyllcil). The Market 
Company was incorporated April 11, 18ti6, and in 
April, 1868, their capital was increased to twenty 
thousand dollars. The market-house was com- 
menced in 1S67, and completed the following year at 
a cost of about twenty-six thousand dollars. It con- 
tains an oiBce, upwards of fifty stalls, a large public 
hall and two lodge-rooms. The Water Company was 
chartered April 2, 18li!», with an authorized capital 
of seventy-live thousand dollars. The works were 
commenced in that year and went into operation in 
1870. The quantity of water consumed in 1875 was 
fifty -three million, nine hundred and thirty-five thou- 
sand gallons; of course, since greatly increased with 
the growth of the town. 

The borough contains twenty-two pul)lic schools, 
held in nine two-story school-houses, two of which are 
sufficiently large for each to hold fourschools. William 
W. Ru])ort and Mary Sampson are the principals of the 
High School. To this department is attached a fine 
and well-selected collection of minerals and a valua- 
ble collection of philosophi(;al, physiological and geo- 
grajihical apparatus, to which additions are constant- 
ly being made. The library was established by the 
school board in 1875, and now contains upwards of 
eleven hundred volumes necessary for reference. For 
the school year ending with June 1, 1882, twenty-one 
schools were opened ten months, with an average 
attendance of six hundred and fifty-three pupils. For 
the year ending June 1, 1857, eight public schools 
were open only six months, and attended by three 
hundred and ninety-two scholars. In 1875 the num- 
ber had increased to sixteen schools, with nine hun- 
dred and seventy-five scholars. 

The first school-house, probalily, in the place was 
erected by the Lutheran congregation, and continued 
as a subscription school until about 1841 . The ground 
on which it stands was conveyed by a deed dated 
August 24, 1784, to the trustees of the church by 
George Gilbert and Salome, his wife. This building 
is still standing and used as a dwelling. An old log 
school-house stood on Chestnut Street, west of Han- 
over, and was torn down about 1856. Schools were 
also held at various times in private residences. In 
Hanover Street, near Queen, a school, designated the 
academy, was conducted for several years in which 
the higher branches were taught. In the spring of 
1802, S. Chandler, A.M., was the principal, and 
taught English grammar, geography, elocution, Latin 
and French. The Rev. William Christie, of North- 
umberland, had charge in the spring of 1806, and, in 
addition to tlie aforesaid branches, advertised to teach 
Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, Italian and German, besides, 
history, moral philosophy and mathematics. 

What was termed the Pottstown Academy stood on 
Chestnut Street, between Hanover and Penn, the site 
of which is now occupied by the Jefferson Public 



School. It was liuilt in 18.'i4, of stone, one story high, 
and was a remarkably quaint-looking edifice. Public 
meetings, lectures, etc., were frequently held in it. It 
was torn down by the school board, in 1873, to make 
room for the present commodious structure. In con- 
sequence of the public-school system having been 
adopted in 1838 (by a small majority), two additional 
brick school-houses were built and used for this pur- 
pose, besides the academy. In 1854 the large two- 
story brick Streepcr building was erected. Two pri- 
vate seminaries, in 1858, were successfully conducted 
here. One, the Cottage Fenuile Seminary, commenced 
in 1850, of which the Eev. Robert Cruikshank was 
principal, and a boarding-school for boys, established 
in 1852 by Professor M. Meigs. The latter is now 
conducted by John Meigs, son of the former 
principal. The Pottstown Library Company, incor- 
porated August 29, 1810, formed a library which 
was continued until about 1850, when it died 
out. The charter members of the Library Company 
were Samuel Baird, George Leaf, Thomas R. Brooke, 
Francis 11. Potts, William Mintzcr, .Tohn Boyer, .lesse 
Ives, Daniel Price, William Thompson, Thomas Baird, 
James Rces, Daniel Reinhart, Josejih Potts, Matthew 
Pearce, Israel Ortlip, James B. Harris, William Ives, 
Jr., and Robert IMcClintock. The directors for 1824 
were Joseph Potts, Jesse Ives, Christian Beary, Thomas 
R. Brooke, Thomas Baird, John Rees and William 
Mintzer. Secretary, treasurer and librarian, William 
Baird. About 1845 another was started of which, in 
1858, D. H. Keim was librarian ; it then contained 
ten hundred and fifty volumes. This also went down 
about 1860. The books of the original association 
now form a part of the pul)lic school library. 

Several secret and beneficial societies are in the 
l)orough, but none as yet occupy their own buildings. 
There are tw'o lodges of Odd-Fellows, one lodge of 
Ancient York Miisons, two tribes of the Improved 
Order of Red Men, two councils of United American 
Mechanics, one lodge of Good Templars, one camp of 
the Patriotic Order of Sons of America, one lodge of 
the Knights of Pythias, one ])0st of the Grand Army 
of the Republic, one castle of the Knights of the Mystic 
Chain and one branch of the Irish Catholic Benevolent 
Union. A cornet band was formed about 1854 and 
continues to iiourish. The opera-house, in King Street, 
is the only hall in which concerts, etc., are given. The 
building was erected in 1869, seventy-five by fifty -seven 
feet in dimensions, and jiossesses stage scenery. A 
Young Men's Christian Association has also been re- 
cently organized. 

The first house of worship supposed to have been 
built in Pottstown was the Friends' Meeting-house. 
Soon after the laying out of the jilace, in 1753, John 
Potts donated a lot of ground for this purpose, on which, 
no doubt, it was shortly thereafter erected. Jesse Ives, 
long a member, and owner of the extensive grist-mill 
on the Manatawny, stated in 1850 that when Washing- 
ton's army was here in September 1777, the meeting- 



BOROUGH OF POTTSTOWN. 



787 



house was ased by some of the soldiers as quarters. 
When first seen by the writer, iu 1858, it was a small 
one-story brick building that had been recently re- 
paired. It was torn down in 1875 and replaced by the 
present building. It is in charge of the Orthodox 
branch of Friends, and is located on King Street, 
between Hano\er and Penn. 

We shall here i)ass over the Reformed and Lutheran 
Churches, tor which there is sufficient material to 
form articles by themselves, which will subsequently 
appear. The next in order of time is Christ Episco- 
pal Church, the congregation of which was formed 
in 1828 or the following year, services being con- 
ducted by the Rev. Levi Bull, Rev. George JMintzer 
and occasionally by others. A brick church was built 
on Hanover Street and dedicated January 18, 1833. In 
1845 another church was erected, besides a chapel in 
1867. The present beautiful red sandstone Gothic 
edifice was built in 1872, at a cost of fifteen thousand 
dollars. The Rev. Edmund Leaf was rector for some 
time, succeeded by the Rev. Aaron Christman, Rev. 
Samuel Edwards and Rev. B; McGann. Rev. Samuel 
F. Warren is now in charge. 

The Methodist Episcopal congregation was formed 
in 1838, and a church erected on Main Street the 
following year. This was torn down, and the corner- 
stone of the new edifice laid in June, 1869, but was 
not fully finished until the close of 1871. It is a fine 
Gothic structure of red sandstone, two stories high, 
and cost twenty thousand dollars. A house and lot 
adjoining has been recently purchased for a parsonage. 
The membership i.s stated to be upwards of four hun- 
dred. The Rev. J. S. Hughes was appointed to this 
charge in the spring of 1883. 

The congregation of the First Presbyterian Church 
was organized in May, 1848. The church was com- 
menced in 1851 and completed in May, 1853. It is 
situated on the north corner of Main and Evans 
Streets. The first ptistor was Rev. William R. Work, 
succeeded by Rev. Robert Cruikshank, Rev. J. C. 
Thompson and Rev. Henry F. Lee. The Rev. H. B. 
Stevenson is the present pastor. The congregation 
owns a parsonage in the eastern part of the town, a 
short distance from the borough line. 

St. Aloysius' Catholic Church is situated at the 
northeast corner of Hanover and Beech Streets, and 
was built in 185(5. The congregation was formed and 
monthly services held some time previously by Rev. 
A. Bailey, of Churchville, Berks Co. The Rev. 
Philip O. Farrell, of Phcenixville, was chiefly instru- 
mental in securing the erection of the church. On 
the laying of the corner-stone the Rev. Edward Sourin 
preached, and at the dedication the Rev. Daniel Sheri- 
dan oflSciated. The Rev. John Davis succeeded as 
priest until September, 1858, followed by Rev. W. F. 
Cooke and Rev. William A. McLaughlin. The Rev. 
John A. Wagner has now the charge. The church 
lot contains an acre of ground, a part of which is 
appropriated to the purposes of a cemetery. 



Near the beginning of 1858 a series of protracted 
meetings were held in Keystone Hall, under charge of 
the Rev. David Jeffries, of the Lower Providence 
Baptist Church, assisted by Rev. Hugh Barclay, of 
Vincent, Chester Co. The result was that fifteen 
males and thirty-five females were baptized in the 
Schuylkill in the following spring. Of that num- 
ber, nineteen were heads of families, which led to 
an organization May 26th of that year. The church 
was erected in the following summer and fall, and 
completed iu 1859. It is a handsome two-story build- 
ing, forty-four by sixty feet in dimensi(jus, and cost 
about four thousand dollars. Mr. Jeffries continued 
its i)a.stor until his death, November 30, 1860. The 
Rev. N. C. Nay lor has had the charge now for some time. 

The Salem Evaugelical Church, situated at the 
northwest corner of Franklin and Beech Streets, was 
built in 1870, the congregation having been formed the 
previous year. The Rev. Tliomas Harper was lately 
past(jr. The African Methodist Episccjpal Church of 
which Rev. C. W. Boardly has charge, is located op- 
posite the Salem Churcli, and wa-s also erected in 
1870. They possess a burial-ground on Beech Street, 
near Hanover. Pottstown in 1832, contained only two 
houses of worship ; in 1860, eight ; and in 1876 had in- 
crea.sed to twelve, two of which behjiig to the Reformed 
and two to the Lutherans. 

Several cemeteries are located iu or near the bor- 
ough. The most ancient is the Sprogell burial-ground, 
where several members of that family have been in- 
terred. It is east of the borough line and on the west 
side of the Reading Railroad. One stone bears the 
date of 1716 and another of 1718, showing that 
John Henry Sprogell and his family were settled here 
quite early. The buriahgrouud of the Potts family is 
to the rear of the Friends' Meeting-house, fronting on 
Chestnut Street. John Potts, the donor of the ground, 
was buried here, having died June 6, 1768. Some of the 
early residents of the place are interred here, among 
whom can be mentioned members of the Potts, Rutter 
and Hobart families. The graveyard attached to Zion's 
Reformed and Emanuel Lutheran Churches is next in 
the order of time. The earliest date here legible on a 
tombstone is 1770. Many of the early settlers were also 
interred here. The Pottstown Cemetery, to the north 
of the borough limits, fronts both on Hanover and 
Charlotte Streets, and was incorporated November 13, 
1854. Through five purcha.sc.s, down to the spring of 
1822, the ground has been increased to twenty-six 
aci es, and is jointly owned by the members of the 
Reformed and Lutheran Churches. The grounds 
are beautifully laid out and upwards of two thousand 
have already been buried here. The Edgewood 
Cemetery is situated to the east of the borough, 
and contains five acres. The company was incor- 
porated August 21, 1866. Mount Ziou Cemetery 
incorporated November 10, 1873, is located on the op- 
posite side of the river, and comprises a tract of forty 
acres. 



788 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The post-office at Pottstown was the first established 
in the county, and was named Pottsgrove, wliieli name 
it held until January 29, 1829, when it was changed to 
Pottstown. It became a Presidential office March 11, 
1865. The following is a list of postmasters, as far as 
ascertainable, from its establishment, in 1793 : Jacob 
Barr, December, 1793; Edward Godwin, July 1, 1795; 
George Pfeyer, January 1, 1808; Jacob Drinkhouse, 
July 1, ISo's; Thomas Child, Ai>ril 1, 1818; William 
Boyer, February 13, 1838; William Von Gezer, Decem- 
ber 25, 1843; Tobias Sellers, January 9, 1844; Aaron 
L. Curtis, April 7, 1849; Thomas I. Rutter, April 22, 
1853 ; John S. Weiler, October 1, 1860 ; Henry Mint- 
zer, March 16, 1861 ; Davis H. Missimcr, September 21, 
1866 ; William Savage, July 1, 1868 ; William JI. Mint- 
zer, May 14, 1869 ; Alexander Malsberger, July 1, 1877. 
The post-iiffice was established here near the close of 
1793, and Jacob Barr apiiointed first jjostmaster, 
which position we know, from an advertisement of 
uncalled letters, he still held in the beginning of 
1803. Jacob Drinkhouse was postmaster in 1816. The 
Bank of Pottstown was incorporated May 15, 1857, and 
went into operation Sc]iteml)er 14th of that year, with 
a capital of $100,000. Henry Potts was elected presi- 
dent, William Mintzer cashier and Daniel Price teller. 
It was approved by the comptroller of currency as a 
national bank December 6, 1864. The capital was 
increased to .S200,000, and so remained untir January 
14, 1808, wlien it was made §300,000. The jiresent 
officers arc D. R. Price, president, and Horace Evans^ 
cashier. 

The Fire Department of Pottstown comprises two 
steam fire-engine companies. The Good- Will No. 1, 
was instituted January 3, 1871, and chartered the 29th 
of May following. They possess a steamer, hose- 
carriage and all the necessary apparatus. The Phila- 
del]ihia Fire-Engine Company was incorporated August 
21, 1871. They have a Silsby rotary steam fire-engine, 
which cost four thousand five hundred dollars, a hose- 
carriage, etc. In addition there is also the Empire 
Hook-and-Ladder Company, No. 1, of which Henry 
Whartenby is president. 

Two daily and two weekly newsjxipers are published 
in the place. The Pottstown Ledger is jjublished daily 
and weekly by L. H. Davis and W. J. Binder. Its 
daily publication was commenced October 1, 1873. 
The Morning Chronicle is also published daily and 
weekly by A. R. Saylor & Brother. It connnenced its 
career as a daily in the fall of 1879. These are well- 
conducted papers and a credit to the place. To L. H. 
Davis we are partly indebted for an account of the 
papers published here in the past. The first, it appears, 
was the Pottstown Times, issued July 1, 1819, by John 
Iloyer. Its size may be judged, as it had but four 
columns to a page. The Lafayette Aurora, with five 
coUnnns to a page, was published by Daniel Glackens 
and Joshua Keely in the spring of 1824. In 1828 jMr. 
Royer started a German paper called Der Advocat, 
Mention is made in "Gordon's Gazetteer" of the Amer- 



ican Star being published here about 1831. After 
being issued several years, the Times was changed to 
the Pottstown Journal, of which J. C. Slemmer became 
proprietor; it was merged into the Montgoinern Ledger 
in 1843. Mr. Davis became one of the i)roi)riet<;)rs in 
1855, associating with him as partner, in 1866, Mr. 
Binder. Within the la.st half-century several other 
papers have been published here Robert D. Powell 
started the Anti-Abolitionist ; S. D. Patterson, the Rural 
Visitor ; J. S. Wheeler and P. Keen, the Pottstown 
Democrat, in 1855 ; Ct. W. Vernon and Hiram Brower, 
the Pottstown Tariffite, fi-om 1842 to 1845. In October, 
1874, the Pottstown Advertiser was started by D. Q. 
Geiger. 

No doubt public-houses existed here some time be- 
fore the Revolution. The " Rising Sun " tavern, whose 
history goes back at least to 1776, stood at the south- 
east corner of Main and York Streets. Jacob Witz 
was licensed to keep it as a public-hou.se in 1779. 
Jacob Barr, the first postmaster of Pottstown, kept it 
for a number of years. In the fall of 1806 he adver- 
tised the property at private sale, and then stated 
that it hail Ijeen kept for thirty years as a tavern, and 
that the Reading mail-stage for Philadelphia stopped 
there four times every week. This subsequently be- 
came one of the most noted stage-stands in the upper 
part of the county. Respecting Jacob Barr in this 
connection, we may state that he was ap[>ointed the 
first steward of the ]\Iontgomery County poor-house, 
and is known to have held this position until 
1816, and one account states until his death, in 1819. 
The Rising Sun was (jwned and kept by John Boyer 
until 1844 or the following year, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Barnet Weand. It was a frame building 
and was torn down 1865. There is a tradition that 
Washington stopped at this house inSeptember, 1777, 
and in 1794, while on his way to suppress the Whiskey 
Insurrection. Opposite this stand, near the beginning 
of this century, was also a public-house, whose sign 
was the "Swan," afterwards changed to "Washing- 
ton," and later the " Farmers' Hotel." 

Before the intniduction of railroads for traveling 
purposes, stage lines did an important business, more 
than can now be well realized. In 1794 the Reading 
stage started i'rom the " White Swan," in Race Street, 
Philadelphia, on Wednesdays and Fridays, the fare 
being two dollars. Tradition states that this line in 
its upward trip remained overnight in Pottstown. A 
stage left Hayes' Inn for Pottsgrove every Wednesday 
at sunrise, in 1802. William Coleman, in 1804, 
became the proprietoranddriver of the Reading mail- 
stage, starting from the " White Swan" every Tuesday 
and Friday, passing through Norristown, Trappe and 
Pottsgrove. Mr. Coleman put on an e.xtra line in 
the summer of 1811, leaving John Boyer's "Rising 
Sun" tavern every Tuesday morning at six o'clock, 
and arriving in Philadelphia in the evening, re- 
turning from the " White Swan" on Thursday morn- 
ings at the same hour, and reaching Pottsgrove or 



BOROUGH OF POTTSTOWN. 



789 



Pottstown in the evening ; fare, $2.25. In 1830 the 
Reading and Pottsville stages arrived daily, leaving 
the city at four o'clock a.m. A tri-weekly stage line 
was established in 1828, starting from the Union 
Hotel, in this place, to Kimberton, by which route 
passengers could also proceed to Philadelphia or to 
Lancaster, Pittsburgh and the West. 

The earliest information we possess respecting this 
section of the country is derived from a map in Gabriel 
Thomas' " Account of Pennsylvania," published at 
London in 1(598. The Manatawny Creek in its whole 
course, with its several branches, is represented with 
tolerable accuracy to where it empties into the Schuyl- 
kill, thus proving at this early date that this vicinity 
musthavebeenalready pretty well explored. William 
Penn conveyed, October 25, 1701, to his son, John Penn. 
a tract of twelve thousand acres of land, which the latter 
sold, June 20, 1735, to George McCall, a merchant o' 
Philadelphia, for the sum of two thousand guineas' 
On a resurvey it was found to contain fourteen thou- 
sand and si.xty acres. This purchase comprised all 
Douglas township, nearly the upper half of Pottsgrove 
and about one-third of the northwestern portion of 
the present territory of Pottstown. 

Adjoining the aforesaid purchase on the eitst was 
that of the Frankfort Land Company, containing 
twenty-two thousand three hundred and seventy- 
seven acres, surveyed October 13, 1701, which was 
afterwards claimed by John Henry Sprogell, who 
came over from Holland by invitation of William 
Penn, and settled here with his tamily on a tract of 
land containing si.x hundred and thirty acres, upon 
which most of the borough is now located. From a 
road petition we know that he must have resided here 
before 1709, and, therefore, is entitled to the claim of 
having been the pioneer settler. Thomas Rutter, Sr., of 
Germantown, the ancestor of the family of this name, 
established iron-works and a forge on the Manatawny 
Creek, it is supposed, as early as 1717, about two miles 
and a half from the Schuylkill. This improvement 
invited further settlement. Thomas Potts, Jr., came 
hither from Germantown several years later, and also 
entered into the manufacture of iron. After the death 
of Mr. Rutter, in March, 1729, his sons and Mr. Potts 
became the principal proprietors of the business in 
this section. 

John Potts, the eldest son of Thomas, on the death 
of his father, purchased, September 8, 1752, of Samuel 
McCall, son of the former proprietor, a tract of nine 
hundred and ninety acres, which, with his previous 
purchases, made him the owner, probably, of all the 
land in and around the borough. He now removed 
from Colebrookdale, and commenced, in 1753, the build- 
ing of a large, substantial two-story stone mansion, still 
.standing on the we.st side of the Manatawny Creek, 
which at the time was regarded with wonder by the 
people residing throughout this part of the country. 
It is ncjw owned l)y Henry and .lacob Gabel, and about 
ten years ago was converted into Mill Park Hotel. Mr. 



Potts, the following year, proceeded tf) lay out the town on 
the east side of the Manatawny, in the townships of New 
Hanover and Douglas. The fortiier had been erected 
in 1724 and the latter in 173(3. The boundary between 
the two can be pretty nearly established by continuing 
a direct southwest line from the intersection of Char- 
lotte and Beech Streets to the Schuylkill. To the an- 
tiquary this line possesses considerable interest in de- 
termining early localities in the townships mentioned 
previous to the formation of Pottsgrove, in 1806. 

To John Potts the credit is due of having laid out 
the streets of the town so regularly and at right anglas, 
after the plan of Philadeli)hia. He took all jiossible 
means to promote the growth of the place, in the sale of 
building lots on favorable terms, giving employment 
and donating grounds, for two houses of worship and 
for burial [jurposes. Yet, with all his remarkable ex- 
ertions, and enterprise, the place at his death, in 1768, did 
not probably exceed twelve or fifteen houses. In the 
i laying out here of a road in November, 1766, mention 
is made of its beginning at " Pottstown Ferry " and 
passing " through John Potts' land by the division 
line of New Hanover and Douglass," on through lands 
of William Mayberry, deceased, to the Bucks Countj' 
line. If this road was afterwards opened, it must have 
commenced here at the foot of Hanover and |)assed out 
of the present borough on Charlotte Street. This con- 
firms the fact of a ferry having then been established here 
over the Schuylkill. In the Gentkman's Pocket Al- 
manac iov 1769 the distances of several places are de- 
noted on the road to Reading, among which is mentioned 
" to Potts', thirty-eight miles." On William Scull's 
map of the jirovince of Pennsylvania, published in 
1770, the i)lace is also denoted thereon as " Potts T.," 
thus showing that even at this early date it was known 
by its present name. 

In the Revolution the place contained a public- 
house, one or two mills, at least one house of worship 
and probably twenty dwellings. The battle of Brandy- 
wine was fought September 11, 1777, and resulted dis- 
astrously to the Americans. The next day Washing- 
ton and his army jtroceeded to Germantown, and after 
resting and refreshing the men one day, returned over 
the Schuylkill with the intention of giving another 
battle to General Howe. Near the Warren tavern 
they met, and owing to a severe storm and a heavy fall 
of rain a general engagement was prevented. The 
British then moved to Swedes' Ford, but beholding the 
entrenchments thrown up there on the opjjosite side to 
dispute the pa.ssage, proceeded up the Schuylkill to 
the vicinity of Valley Forge, which led Washington to 
believe that their object was to capture the military' 
and other stores tliat had been collected at Reading. 
This now induced him to cross on the 19th to this side 
the Schuylkill at Parker's Ford, five miles below Potts- 
grove, and proceed down to the Trappe. At the latter 
place, Timothy Pickering states in his journal, "we 
halteil a day or two, when hearing the enemy were 
tending upwards on the western side of the river, we 



790 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



moved ou the otlier, till we arrived at our camp near 
Pottsgrove. Here we lay till the 26th, on which day 
we marched downwards as far as Peunypacker's Mills. 
While wc lay near Pottsgrove the enemy crossed over 
the Schuylkill, but it was two or three days before they 
entered the city, which wa.s fortunate for us, as it gave 
time to our people at Philadelphia to complete the re- 
moval of stores." 

From General Muhlenberg's orderly-book it is as- 
certained that the army did not arrive near Pottsgrove 
until the evening of September 22d. On this day 
orders were given to " the clothier-general immedi- 
ately to distribute all the clothing and shoes in his 
possession." The result of this was that Washington, 
in a letter to Congress, dated " Camp near Pottsgrove; 
September 23d," states that he had " early this morn- 
ing received intelligence that they had crossed the 
fords below. Why I did not follow immediately I 
have mentioned in the former part of my letter ; but 
the strongest reason against being able to make a forced 
march is the want of shoes. Messrs. Carroll, Chase 
and Penn, who were some days with the army, can in- 
form Congress in how depkirable a situation the troops 
are for the want of that necessary article. At least one 
thousand men are barefooted, and have jierformed the 
marches iu that condition." On this day general 
orders were issued that " each regiment is to proceed 
in making cartridges for its own use, that may be held 
in store. General Kno.x will furnish them with mate- 
rials. It is expected, a.s the weather is now growing 
cool, that the troops will never have less than two 
days' provisions by them." On the 2r>th a general 
court-martial was held for the immediate trial "of all 
persons who may be brought bet()re them." The 
orders were on the morning of the 26th to march at 
nine o'clock, and that afternoon found them encamped 
on the hills of the Perkiomen, near the [iresent village 
of Schwenksville. 

From what has now been stated, it will be observed 
that Washington and his army were encamped in this 
vicinity from the evening of September 22d until the 
morning of the 26th, making all of three days and four 
nights. From Jesse Ives' relation in 1850, some of the 
.soldiers while here had been quartered in the Friends' 
Meeting-house. Rev. H. M. Muhlenberg, who resided 
at the Trappe, states, in his journal, under date of Sep- 
tember 23d, that " the main body of the American 
army is up in New Hanover, thirty-six miles distant 
from the city, as it was sujijiosed the British troops 
would go up the Schuylkill to Reading." The infer- 
ence of this is that the main body of Washington's 
army while here was encamped below Pottsgrove, 
very probably where Sprogell's Run crosses the Phila- 
delphia road, which would be about the distance men- 
tioned from the city, and then in the township. 

About the close of the Revolution, General Arthur 
St. Clair having purchased one of the confiscated 
I)roperties of John Potts, Jr., one of the justices of 
the courts, he removed hither and made it his residence 



about 1783, when he held the office of member of the 
State council ofcen.sors. While here he was elected to 
Congress, November 2, 1785, and made president of 
that body February 2, 17S7, which pfisition he held 
until the expiration of his term, the followiijg 28th of 
November. In 1786 he became a member of the 
American Philosophical Society, in Philadelphia. He 
was appointed Governor of the Northwestern Territory 
February 1, 1788, to which he shortly after removed. 
His stone mansion and lot, sixty by three hundred 
feet, was sold by Isaiah Wells, sheriff, January 1, 1803. 
The advertisement states it to be situated in " Potts- 
town, Douglass township." He was fortunate enough 
to be nearly a life-long holder of offices, frequently 
filling several at one time, but he had few business 
qualifications. 

In accordance with the recommendation of the Presi- 
dent of the United States, the citizens of Pottstown and 
vicinity assembled January 13, 1800, to pay their trib- 
ute of respect to the memory of General Washington, 
who had died in the previous month. A bier, with a 
coffin, was carried in the procession, followed by Cap- 
tain McClintock's company of infantry and several 
other military and civil organizations, who proceeded 
to the old Brick Church, where a funeral sermon was 
preached in English by the Rev. John Armstrong, of 
the Episcopal Church, and in German by Rev. L. F. 
Herman, (jf the Reformed congregation. The pall- 
bearers on this occasion were David Potts, William 
Maybcrry, William Potts, Robert E. Hobart and 
Robi'rt May. 

The elections of Limerick and parts of Douglas and 
New Hanover, by an act of Assembly passed April 8, 
1799, were ordered to be held at the public-house of 
(ieorge Pflieger, of this town, and were so continued 
until 1807. In October, 1802, the district polled 271 
votes. In 1824 the elections for Pottsgrove township 
and Pottstown were held at the house of Augustus C. 
Rutze, in the latter place. In 1838 they were held at 
the house of Samuel Smith, and this continued until 
changed by the Constitution of 1839. 

In 1810 Pottsgrove is represented to have contained 
about forty dwellings, three taverns, a brewery, a 
weaving establishment, a wool-hat manufactory, two 
shoemaker-shops, two houses of worship, a grist-mill 
and several stores and shops. In June, 1803, Christian ' 
Willauer advertised that he had "lately moved here, 
and keeps a general assortment of drugs and medi- 
cines, wholesale and retail. Is well acquainted in the 
practice of ph)sic, rheumatism, bleeding and drawing 
teeth." Peter Richards, in September, 1807, adver- 
tised at private sale " a valuable tan-yard and five lots 
of ground in Pottstown, each three hundred feet deep, 
or any quantity up to fifty acres, whereof one-third is 
watered meadow." Israel Bringhurst, John Jacobs 
and Joseph Tyson were appointed ccmimissioners to 
erect the township of Pottsgrove from parts of Doug- 
las and New Hanover. They made in their report in 
August, 1806, to the Court of Quarter Sessions, who 



EUKOUGH OF POTTSTOWN. 



791 



confirmed it the 20th of that month, and thus was 
added one more township to the county. 

Pottstown was incorporated a borough by an act of 
Assembly passed February G, 1815. Its boundaries 
were then fixed as follows : 

" Beginning at a stake on the northern bank of the river Schujlkill ; 
thence through Jacob Leaher's laud, north 25 degrees east 100 perches, 
to a post on the east side of the road leading to the Manatawny ford on 
the Schuylkill to Glasgow; thence by the east side of the said road, north 
15 degrees west i1 perches, to Beech Street ; thence by Beech Street and 
on the line dividing the lands of the estate of the late Mary Jones, de, 
ceased, from the land of Mary Graham, David Rutter, the estate of Clif- 
ford Smith, deceased, and Joanna Potts, south 80 degrees east 225 
perches, to a stake in a line of Peter Kichard's land ; thence through 
Peter Richard's land south 58 degrees east 03 perches, to a post, and 
south 24 degrees west 111 perches, to a post corner of Jacob Hubly's 
land from Peter Richard's land, south 41 degrees 30 minutes, west 83 
perches to the river Schuylkill ; thence up the said river, the several 
courses thereof, 2G8 perches to the place of beginning." 

The charter required the borough elections to be 
held on the second Tuesday in April of every year. 
Any person elected to the office of burgess, member of 
('ouncil or high constable, and who, having received 
notice thereof, should refuse or neglect to take upon 
himself the due performance of the office to which he 
has been elected, was required to forfeit and pay the 
sum of ten dollars. No person, however, to be com- 
pelled to serve more than one year in any term 
of four years. Under authority of an act of Assem- 
bly passed March 19, 1828, commissioners were ap- 
jiointed by the court, under whose directions Thomas 
Baird was employed in the following September 
to make a complete survey of the borough, and to 
prepare a draft therefrom on a scale of two hundred 
feet to the inch, a copy of which has been placed on ' 
file in the clerk of the court's office. 

The first borough election was held at Pottstown 
the first Tuesday in April, 1815, when Eobert McClin- 
tock was elected burgess, and John Heister, Jacob 
Lesher, William Lesher, Jesse Ives, Henry Boyer, 
William ilintzer and Thomas P. May were elected 
Councilmen. The minutes of the Council from 1815 
to July, 1819, are mi,ssing, tliough careful search has 
been made for them. From 1819 to 1823 no mention is 
made as to who was elected burgess. From warrants 
to collectors and other sources it is ascertained that 
Jacob Huliley was burgess in 1820-21. The record of 
burgesses, as ascertained from official sources, is as 
follows: 

1815, Robert McClintock ; 1810-19, not known ; 1820-21, Jacob Hub- 
ley ; 1822, not known; 1823, Jacob Lesher ; 1824-25, William Mintzer; 
1826, .\ugustu8 C. Rutze ; 1827, Joseph McKean Potts ; 1828, William 
Mintzer; 1820, John Thompson; 1830, Andrew Eckerd ; 1831, Jesse 
Ives; 1832-34, Jesse Kline; 1835-30, William Mintzer; 18.37, George 
Richards ; ls:i8, Henry Potts ; 1830, .Jonas Smith ; 1840-43, John Thomp- 
son ; 1844-40, John S. Weiler; 1847^8, Aaron L. Custer ; 1849, John 
Thompson ; 1850-52, John C. Smith ; 1853, Lesher Van Buskirk ; 1854, 
D. M. Root ; 1855, Hiram C. Feger ; 1856, William Ellis ; 1S57, Lewis H. 
Davis ; 1858, Ephraim Hartranft ; 1859, Joseph E. Yeager ; 1860, Hiram 
C. Feger ; 1801-62, Samuel S. Daub ; 1803, David P. Crosby : 1864-68, 
John A. Andre ; 1809-71, Joseph E. Yeager ; 1872, Alexander Malsber- 
ger ; 1873, Louis B. Byar ; 1874, Isaac Hoyer ; 1875-76, M. S. Longaker ; 
1877-79, Henry G. Kulp ; 188(1, Dr. .lacob H. Scheetz ; 1881-S'2, George 
B. Lessig ; 1883-85, William B. Bach. 



Among the aged and remarkable men now living 
in Pottstown may be mentioned John Thompson, of 
whom the writer has secured several interesting rem- 
iniscences. He was born here February 11, 1799, 
his parents being William and Mary Thompson. 
In 1823 he was elected a member of the Borough 
Council; burgess in 1829, 1840-43 and 1849; appointed 
a justice of the peace in 1833; elected to the Assembly 
in 1857 and the following year to the State Senate. 
He was for several years a director of the Pottstown 
Bank and late president of the Mutual Fire Insurance 
Company. He is still vigorous for his age, and pos- 
sesses a retentive memory. Before the construction 
of the canal and navigation he made a voyage in one 
of the " Reading " or river boats to Philadelphia, 
concerning which we have received from him the 
following particulars : These were long, open boats, 
generally used for carrying flour and sometimes iron 
and other products. He was taken a passenger as a 
matter of accommodation. When the river was high, 
a trip from Reading to Philadelphia could be made 
between sunrise and sunset. The boatmen made no 
use of sails, but in calm water plied their oars. In 
returning, the boats, at many places, to stem the cur- 
rent, had to be moved by poles shod with iron points. 
Their usual cargoes consisted of from one hundred and 
fifty to two hundred barrels of flour. Mr. Thompson 
has resided nearly tht." whole of his life in Pottstown, 
and is now one of the very few men living that have 
made such a voyage, on which occasion, as more expe- 
ditious, he returned by stage. This was probably 
about 1817. He read tlie Declaration of Indepen- 
dence at celebrations in Pottstown in 182fi and in 
isTd. 

The Reformed Congregations in Pottstown. — In 
looking over material that has been brought to- 
gether on this subject, it is found no ea.sy matter 
to know where and how to begin, the account.s 
being somewhat conjectural and contradictory, and 
the long association of the Reformed Church with the 
Lutherans, renders the task more difficult when one 
is disposed to treat them separately. These remarks 
are offered in apology for our liability to be led 
thereby into error. The Reformed denomination was 
no doubt an early one in this vicinity. Rev. John 
Philip Leydich, who had charge of a congregation at 
the Swamp between the years 1747 and 1760, also 
attended to one here, as it was but five miles distant. 
We know by Nicholas Scull's map published in 1759, 
that they had a church at the former place before 
that date, as it is denoted thereon. 

John Potts, on the laying out of the town in 1753, 
donated to the Germans a lot of ground expressly for 
a church and for burial purposes. When the log 
church was erected here is not known ; the earliest 
legible date found on a tombstone is 1770. It may 
have been possible that it was erected as a small log 
building before the Revolutionary war, for in 1796 it 
had gone so far to decay that a book was opened 



792 



HISTOEY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



February 23, 179(3, and £1554 lO.s. 5d. ($4420) 
subscribed for a new church. This determined the 
two congregations (for the Lutherans had been asso- 
ciated with tliem from the beginning) to erect a 
new, commodious and sulsstantial brick building, 
which had been so advanced that it was consecrated 
before the end of said year. It is still standing and has 
long been known as the Union or Zion's Church. The 
estimate for building was consideralily exceeded, for 
the cost amounted to about six thousand dollars, and 
it was not until 1807 that it was all paid ofi'. 

The ministers of the Swamp or New Hanover con- 
gregation being the nearest, it formed for a consider- 
able time a part of their charge. After Leydich, 
Rev. Nicholas Pomp attended from 1765 to 1783, 
Rev. Frederick Dillccker (De la Cour) from 1784 to 
179',), whose earnest and laborious eftbrts materially 
contributed to the erection of the new church. The 
Rev. Frederick Herman succeeded in 1800 and con- 
tinued until his death, in 1848; however, a short time 
before he was assisted and followed by his son. Rev. 
L. C. Herman. The preaching was exclusively con- 
fined to the German language until 1848, when 
Rev. N. S. Strassburger formed an English congrega- 
tion. This led, for the use of the latter, to the build- 
ing of Trinity Retbrmed Church, which was com- 
menced in the spring of 1866, under the pastoral 
charge of Rev. J. H. Dubbs. It is a fine Gothic edi- 
fice, built of red sandstone, located at the corner of 
Hanover and King streets. Tlie Rev. L. K. Evans is 
pastor. 

In July, 1871, the Lutheran congregation now 
composing Emanuel Church sold out their interest 
in Zion's Cliurch, and so from that date the 
Reformed have retained the ownership. This is now 
the oldest house of worshij) in Pottstown. The ser- 
vices are still exclusively confined to the German. 
The Rev. C. T. Herbst was succeeded in July, 1884, by 
Rev. C. S. Wieand. In 1872 the church was remodeled 
and put in good repair. Respecting this church, 
George Missimer, who was born in 1792, related that 
in his boyhood he came here to worship barefoot and 
that most of the men were without their coats. What 
is remarkable, no fire for heating .purposes was 
used in this church in winter until 1812, when Mrs. 
Joanna H. Potts, widow of Samuel Potts, presented 
the ccnigregation with stoves for this |)urpose. 

The Lutheran Congregations in Pottstown.— 
The German Lutheran congregation at New Hanover 
is regarded as the oldest in America, its first pastor, 
Justus Falkner, having come there in 1703. He was 
ordained for this purpose by Andries Rudman, the 
Swedish provost at Philadelphia In 1717 the Rev. 
Gerhard Henkel settled there. From March, 1720, 
to October, 1723, they were frequently visited by 
Rev. Samuel Hesselius, from Morlatton. In 1732 Rev. 
John Christian Schultze became pastor, and in the 
following year was sent to Europe by the congrega- 
tions to secure aid in the erection of churches and 



additional pastors. It has been supposed that Rev. 
John Nicholas Kurtz, Rev. Frederick Schaum and 
Rev. Jacob Van Buskirk may have first preached 
at stated times in Pottstown. This will go to show 
that the Lutherans at this early date were already 
possessed of some strength throughout this section. 

After the laying out of the town, in 1753, John 
Potts donated lot No. 89, located on Hanover Street 
and extending from Chestnut to Walnut, to be 
used as a burial-place and for the erection of a 
hou.se of worship. The first log church, it is sup- 
posed, was erected here before October, 1772, but the 
ground had been used some years previously for 
burial purposes. Not long after that date the Rev. 
John Ludwig Voigt held stated services in Pottsto.wn. 
It is probable that his visits were not very frequent 
until 1776, as he had, until then, no relief from 
the cares of his other congregations. Owing to the 
war, the Rev. Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg left 
New York and took charge of New Hanover, in the 
place of Mr. Voigt, who removed to Zion's Church, 
in Chester County. Tiie former devoted more time 
to the congregation, to whom he preached once a 
month. Both Mr. Voigt and Muhlenberg speak of a 
church here. 

From the earliest records existing we learn that in 
1777 the elders and deacons were George Gilbert, 
Sebastian Keck, John Fritz, Henry Eckel, John 
Schoener and John Balde. In 1779, Chri.stopher 
Schoener and Christian Lessig ; 1782, Jacob Yocum, 
Andrus Schoener ; 1785, Bartholomew Wamback, 
Andreas Missimer; 1788, Cassimer Missimer. The 
congregation in 1782 took measures for the erection 
of a school-house on lot No. 95, for which they 
received a deed dated August 24, 1784, from George 
Gilbert and Salome, his wife, and John Fritz and 
John Schoener, in trust for the use of the "Evan- 
gelical Lutheran congregation of Pottstown." In that 
house subscription schools were taught until 1841, 
since when it has been used as a dwelling, and is 
still standing at the southeast corner of Peun and 
Walnut Streets. In 1796 the early log church had 
gone so far to decay that it was proposed, in con- 
nection with the Reformed congregation, who had also 
held worship therein, to build a more substantial and 
commodious brick edifice, for which the sum of four 
thousand four hundred and twenty dollars was sub- 
scribed, and which was consecrated and finished within 
said year. At its completion the cost amounted to 
six thousand dollars, and it required nearly eleven 
years' eftbrts before it was all paid off'. The Lutherans 
being decidedly the strongest, defrayed three-fourths 
of the expense. The new church at the time was 
considered a fine structure, very few in the county at 
that time surpassing it, as may be judged from its 
cost. 

At the building of the new church Jlr. Voigt had 
again become pastor, a position he retained until June, 
1799, when Rev. John F. Weinland became his sue- 




^nffbyAHMUd'^ 




BOKOUQH OF POTTSTOWN. 



7S»3 



cesser to the close of 180(i. In May, 1807, Rev. F. W. 
Geissenhainer became pastor, and remained until 1808. 
Rev. Peter Heclit had charge from 1809 to 1813, fol- 
lowed by Rev. J. E. L. Brouns, who remained until 
the close of 1815. After Rev. F. W. Geissenhainer, 
in May, 1823, Rev. Conrad Miller succeeded. In 
1833 the Synod held its first meeting in Pottstown, 
thirty-five pastors and twenty-three lay delegates be- 
ing present; services in English were also held, which 
produced a desire to have that language introduced- 
At this time the pastor had seven congregations in 
charge and conducted worship here once in four 
weeks. Rev. Conrad Jliller proposed to the congre- 
gation, in April, 1834, to take measures to secure ser- 
vices in English at stated times. In accordance with 




MOW IIAXOVER lA'THEKAN CHUUCH. 

this reiiuest. Rev. John W. Richards accepted the 
call, and preached his introductory sermon May 18, 
1834. He held the jiastorate until the sjiring of 
1836, when Rev. Jacob Wampole, of the Trappe, suc- 
ceeded, and continued until his death, in the be- 
ginning of 1838. Rev. Henry S. Miller had charge 
from April, 1838, until August 20, 1848. In 1844 a 
second Synod was held here, fifty-three pastors being 
present. 

In the sumtner of 1848, Rev. Conrad Miller trans- 
ferred the care of the German congregation to his 
nephew, Rev. George F. Miller, who also became pas- 
tor of the English portion on the resignation of 
Rev. H. S. Miller. In 1859 the members of the latter 
resolved on the erection of a new church, the cor- 
ner-stone of which was laid August 5, 1859, and 
it was consecrated February Itj, 1861, on which 
occasion the Rev. J. A. Seiss delivered the sermon. 
In the act of incorporation it is styled " The English 
Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Transfigura- 
tion," situated at the southwest corner of Hanover 
and Chestnut Streets. It is a handsome, large, two- 
story brick edifice, and cost twelve thousand and fifty 



dollars. The Rev. George F. Miller remained pas- 
tor until the spring of 1868, succeeded by Rev. G. 
W. Schmucker until the fall of 1870. In June, 1871, 
Rev. Charles Koerner became pastor, who was suc- 
ceeded in the spring of 1881 by the Rev. B. M. 
Schmucker, D.D., who is still in charge. 

Owing to the increase of membership and a desire 
to have more frequent services, the congregation sold 
out their interest in the Old Brick or Union Church 
to the Reformed members in May, 1871. An 
act of incorporation was obtained under the name 
and title of the "(Jerman and English Evangelical 
lAitheran Emanuel Church." They had reserved for 
their use one-half of the ground, one hundred and 
fifty by one hundred and eighty feet in extent at the 
corner of Hanover and Walnut Streets. The church 
was commenced thereon May 30, 1871, and was dedi- 
cated September 28 and 29, 1872. Its dimensions 
are ninety-nine and a half feet long by sixty-three 
feet wide and it cost thirty-three thousand dollars, pos- 
sessing the largest membership of any church in the 
place. The Synod met in Pottstown in 1864, when 
ninety-two ministers were present; again in 1878, 
with one hundred and forty-four ministers ; and in 
1881, with one hundred and seventy-six ministers 
present. The officers and teachers of the Sabbath-school 
l)elonging to the church in 1882 numbered fifty and 
the scholars six hundred and seventy-six. While the 
rhurili was building the Rev. Wm. G. Laitzle had 
charge ; Rev. D. K. Kepner is the present pastor. In 
the preparation of this article acknowledgments are 
due to Dr. Schmucker for information derived from 
his interesting pamphlet, entitled "The Lutheran 
Church in Pottstown," published in 1882, and also to 
Mark H. Richards, Esq., relative to the borough. 

Rev. D. K. Kepner is a descendant of one of the 
first settlers by this name in the upper end of Mont- 
gomery County. Andreas Kepner paid quit-rent to 
the proprietary of Pennsylvania for one hundred acres 
of laud prior to 1734 (see Rupp's collection of names, 
etc., page 473). His farm was situated on the road 
leading from Pottstown to Falkner Swamp, near the 
latter place. He died in 1766, aged sixty-five years, 
William Kepner, his son, having lived and died on an 
adjoining farm. Henry, the son of William, resided 
on another farm, where his son William, father of 
Rev. D. K. Kepner, was born, and died on a farm 
near by Fegleysville, so that Andreas ', William '\ 
Henry ' and William ' lived and died in Montgomery 
County. All were members of the Lutheran Church 
at New Hanover, and are buried in the graveyard of 
the church. All of them followed agricultural pursuits. 
The subject of this sketch is a son of William Kepner 
and Sarah Koch, his wife. He was born October 
15, 1836, baptized and confirmed by Rev. Conrad 
Miller in the same church, and, subsequently, also 
married in the same to Lydia A. Brendlinger, daugh- 
ter of Frederick Brendlinger, of Swamp. He was 
reared on the farm and accustomed to hard work, his 



794 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



school advantages having been very limited in his 
younger days. When he arrived at the age of eigh- 
teen years his father gave him the choice of a trade or 
attendance at an advanced school for two winters. 
He chose the latter, and became a inijiil for two ses- 
sions of the Washington Hall Boarding-School. He 
entered Frederick Institute the succeeding winter, 
and remained during three sessions. The next four 
winters he taught a public school, in the mean time 
preparing for college, and entered the sophomore 
class of Pennsylvania College, ("xettysburg, Pa., in the 
fall of 1861, having the ministry in view. In the fall 
of 1862 he enlisted in the service of the United States 
as regimental quartermaster of the One Hundred and 
Seventy-ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, subsequently 
re-enlisting in the One Hundred and Ninety-fifth Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers. He was mustered out at the 
end of the war as first lieutenant in charge of Com- 
pany A, and returned to college in the fall of 1865, 
graduating August 8, 1867. Mr. Kepner entered the 
" Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran 
Church," at Philadelphia, September, 1867, and 
graduated from this institution June S, 1870, being 
ordained a minister of the gospel, June li>, 1870, by 
the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, thus having gained 
the object of his aspirations for the previous ten years. 
He supplied the Orwigsburgh charge, in Schuylkill 
County, during the winter of 1870-71, and accepting a 
call to Slatington, Lehigh Co., Pa., entered upon the 
work May 12, 1871. He organized a new congregation 
at Lehighton, Carbon Co., Pa., and built a church, 
serving the same in connection with Slatington and 
Pennsville. Mr. Kepner accepted a call to Emman- 
uel Evangelical Lutheran Church of P<jttstown, 
Montgomery Co., and began his labors January 1, 
1875, having just completed his tenth year as i)astor 
of this church. The congregation is one of the oldest 
and the largest in membership, worshiping in the most 
spacious church edifice in Montgomery County. The 
summary of Mr. Kepner's pastoral work during the 
ten years is as follows: Baptized, infants, 1005, adults, 
58; confirmed, 544; added by transfer from other 
congregations, 488 ; total added, 1037 ; funerals, 671 ; 
married, 311 ; communicated, 16,945. The largest 
number of members communed in one year (1884) was 
1054. He has ])reached 1.3(50 regular and funeral 
sermons, made 1371 addresses, and was unable to 
preach by reason of indisposition, only five Sundays 
during the ten years. In the last four years he has 
not missed a Sunday in the church nor Sunday-school. 
During a ministry of fifteen years Mr. Kepner al- 
ways trained the choir of the church and the Sunday- 
school in the service of song and led the same in 
addition to his work as pastor. The statistics already 
given may indicate to some extent the work accom- 
jilished by Mr. Kepner while in the ministry. He is 
firmly intrenched in the hearts of his people and holds 
an infiuential position in the denomination which he 
represents. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



RUFUS B. LONGAKER. 

Peter Longaker, the father of Rufus B., was a native 
of Lawrenceville, Chester Co., Pa., where he was born 
on his father's farm March 14, 1786, and died Novem- 
ber 1, 1866, in Limerick township. He married Han- 
nah, daughter of George and Mary Boyer, who was 
born in Churchville, Hereford township, Berks Co., 
Pa., September 1, 1795, and survived until her nine- 
tieth year. There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Long- 
aker six children, — Rufus B., Mary (Mrs. Abram 
Kohl, deceased), Louisa (Mrs. Sebastian Kohl), Eme- 
lijie, John B. and Francis Elmira (deceased). Rufus 
B., the eldest of this number, whose birth occurred 
in Limerick township (where his father then resided) 
on the 6th of April, 1816, at the age of sixteen became 
a pupil of the Trappe Boarding-School. On com- 
pleting his course of study he removed to Berks 
County and engaged in teaching, which pursuit was 
continued for two winters. He was for one year clerk 
in a country store at the Trappe, and soon after em- 
barked in mercantile pursuits at Crooked Hill, Potts- 
grove township, Montgomery Co., remaining at this 
point from 1840 until 1851. Having been in that 
year elected recorder of deeds, he removed soon after 
to Norristown, and remained for three years the in- 
cumbent of the office. Returning to Pottstown in 
1855, he engaged in the purchase and sale of cat- 
tle and horses, continuing the business for several 
years. He was, in 1863, the successful candidate for 
county treasurer, having received the Democratic 
nomination for the office, and served in that capacity 
for two terms, meanwhile retaining his home in Potts- 
town. In 1862, under the firm-name of Longaker & 
Van Buskirk, he embarked in the wholesale wine and 
liquor business, in which he was succeeded by his son, 
Montgomery S. Longaker. Mr. Longaker was an in- 
fluential member of his party, and at various times 
delegate to Democratic State conventions. For three 
years he served as member of the Borough Council 
of Pottstown. He was for many years in the board of 
management of the Union Mutual Fire and Storm 
Insurance C'ompany of Montgomery County, as also 
manager of the Reading and Perkiomen Turnpike 
Company. He was a devout member of Trinity Re- 
formed Church of Pottstown. Mr. Longaker was 
married, in 1842, to Elizabeth, daughter of the late 
Abram Smith, of Pottstown. Their children are 
Montgomery S., Hannah E. (Mrs. Matthias Geist), 
Horace S., Mary (Mrs. William H. Thomas), Lewis 
C. (of Bradford, Pa.) and two who are deceased. 
Mr. Longaker enjoyed a reputation for integrity and 
promptness in all his business dealings. Possessing 
sound judgment and a mind that grasped quickly the 
details of business, he was frequently consulted upon 
matters involving important issues. He was exten- 



BOROUGH OF POTTSTOWN. 



795 



sively acquainted with public men tlirouirliout the 
State, and enjoyed the confidence and friendship of 
many persons in high official position. The death of 
Mr. Longaker occurred after a life of great activity 
and usefulness on the 2()th of September, 1882. 



JONAS SMITH. 

Jonas Smith, the eldest son of Henry and Mary 
Smith, was born in New Hanover township, Montgom- 
ery Co., Pa., March 15, 1806. After the usual period 
at school he learned the trade of a carpet- weaver, but 



Smith retired therefrom. Mr. Smith manifested in 
his earlier life a lively interest in military affairs, and 
for some years served as captain of a volunteer cavalry 
company, known as the Third Troop of Montgomery 
County, which participated in the State Military en- 
campment in 1841, held at Pottstown. He was at 
various times a member of the Borough Council and 
board of school directors of Pottstown, and was 
elected chief burgess of the borough in 1839. In the 
fall of 1841 he was made treasurer of Montgomery 
County, being the first county treasurer elected to that 
office. He was re-elected in 1842, and filled the term 






't:d-r' 



soon abandoned it for the more congenial pursuit of a 
merchant. Entering a store at the Swamp as clerk, 
he later purchased and for several years conducted 
this enterprise. During the fall of 1837 he made 
Pottstown his residence, and there engaged in busi- 
ness in various localities in the borough. In 1840 he 
removed to a farm in Pottsgrove township, but re- 
mained for a brief time only, resuming again his mer- 
cantile ventures in connection with his brother, Wil- 
liam H. Smith, under the firm-name of J. & W. H. 
Smith. The firm subsequently became Smith & 
Hartranft, and was continued until 1855, when Jonas 



with great acceptance. He was for nearly forty years 
treasurer of the Pottstown Mutual Fire Insurance 
Company, was a manager of the Schuylkill Bridge 
Company for more than thirty-five years and for sev- 
eral years director of the Bank of Pottstown. He was 
also treasurer of the Pottstown Cemetery from the 
beginning until a short time prior to his death, and 
for some time superintendent of the company. All 
these positions were filled with credit to himself and 
to the interest of the various corporations he served. 
To his first wife were born children, — Franklin C, 
George W. and Esther (wife of Jacob Hartranft, de- 



796 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ceased), as also one wlio died in yonth. By his mar- 
riage to a second wife were cliildreii, — Theoiibilus H. 
and Mahlon V., besides one who died in childhood. 
Mr. Smith was for nearly his whole life a consistent 
member of the Lutheran Church, and connected as an 
officer with the Church of the Transfiguration, con- 
tributing generously to the various organizations 
connected with the work of its members. His life 
was one of great usefulness. He was public-spirited, 
philanthroi)ic and true to the best imjiulses of a noble 
nature. His death, which occurred March 12, 1884, 
occasioned universal sorrow. 



were also the remaining brothers and sisters. After 
very limited advantages of instruction he learned the 
trade of a cabinet-maker, becoming an apprentice in 
1808, and walking a distance of one hundred and 
twenty miles to avail himself of opportunities not 
aftbrded him near his home. He pursued this trade 
in Pottstown and vicinity for seven years, when the 
war of 1812 found him among its volunteer recruits. 
Later be assisteil in the construction of the Schuyl- 
kill Canal, and on the 20th of January, 1820, was 
united in marriage to Susannah Christman, whose 
birth occurred November 26, 1798. Their children 





GEORGE MISSIMER. 

Mr. Missimer is of French descent, his grandfather, 
Cassimir Missimer, having emigrated from Alsace. 
He married Margaret Brandt, whose children were 
eleven in number, — John, Henry, Jacob, Renjamin, 
Frederick, George and five daughters. Frederick, 
whose birth occurreil in Virginia, married Elizabeth 
Kreidcr, of Montgomery County, whose children were 
Catharine, Mary, John, George, Samuel, Kcliecca, 
Anna, Elizabeth, and three who died in childhood. 
George Missimer was born on the 1st of December, 
1702, in Pottsgrove townshij), Montgomery Co., as 



are Henry, born in 1825; Elizabeth, in 1827; George, 
in 1830; Susan, in 1832; Mary, in 1834; Rebecca, in 
1836; Emeline, in 1839. After his marriage Mr. 
Missimer for eight years rented a farm in Pottsgrove, 
which was afterwards purchased by him. For six- 
teen years he resided upon this property, and on his 
practical retiiement from active labor, in 1848, Potts- 
town became his home. He at this time controlled 
interests in various barges and engaged in other busi- 
ness enterprises. Mr. Missimer is an Andrew Jack- 
son Democrat of the most pronounced type, having 
cast bis first vote in behalf of that distinguished 



BOROUGH OF POTTSTOVVN. 



197 



Presidential candidate. He has represented his 
borough in the Council for many years, and also filled 
the office of street commissioner. He has been an 
important factor in the growth and development of 
Pottstown. Mr. Missimer is a director of Mt. Zion 
Cemetery and menibcr of the Lutlieran Church of 
the Transfiguration, in which he has Ijeen a vestry- 
man since the erection of the churcli. 



which most of the residences are built the scenery and 
general landscape is of a pleasing and picturesque 
character. The name is derived from an ancient ford 
over the Schuylkill River at this point, which took its 
name from a family of the name of Royer, who are 
believed to have owned the land many year.s ago and 
prior to the use of the stream for navigation purposes. 
Subsequent to the erection of dams and the consequent 




(iKORGE MISSIMEK. 



CHAPTER L. 

BOROUGH OF ROVER'S FORD. 

The borough of Royer's Ford was incorporated by 
decree of the Court of Quarter .Sessions dated June 14, 
1870. The petition upon which this decree was 
made was signed by ninety-eight persons, who consti- 
tuted a majority of the land-owners residing within 
the limits of the proposed borough. 

The first local election for borough officers was held 
July 17, 1879, under the following officer.^ appointed 
by the court : Adam Grander, judge ; Allen S. Keeley 
and Silas S. Swartly, inspectors. A. S. Keeley made 
the original survey of the borough, as shown by the 
draft on file in the office of the clerk of the Court of 
Quarter Sessions. 

This borough is located on the eastern shore of the 
Schuylkill River, and on the line of the Philadelphia 
and Reading Railroad, distant from the former city 
thirty-two miles and from Norristown sixteen miles. 
The location is healthful, and from theelevation upon 



destruction of the fords in common use, a bridge was 
constructed here, but the name of Royer'a Ford was 
still retained by the villagers, and when the forms and 
advantages of municipal government became neces- 
sary, the ancient name possessed a popular charm 
that rendered its retention advisable in the judgment 
of the projectors of the borough enterprise. 

The borough contains over two hundred residents 
and an estimated jwpulation of about one thousand 
persons. There are two hotels, three dry-goods stores, 
one dry-goods and grocery, three grocery and provis- 
ion, one drug-store, tin-smith and marble-yard, besides 
other mercantile and mechanical enterprises. There 
are large manufacturing industries carried on here 
as mentioned in detail elsewhere,^ to the influence 
of which the rapid and substantial growth of the bor- 
ough is in a large measure attributable. There is a 
graded public school in the borough, taught by one 
male and two female teachers, having an attendance 
of one hundred and twenty-live pupils. Schools are 

' See chapter "Manufactures," ante. 



798 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



open for nine months in the year, and the salaries 
paid are forty, thirty and twenty-five dollars per 
month. 

Places of Religious Worship.— The Royer's Ford 
Baptist Church was organized January 30, 1879, with 
fifteen members from the Baptist Churches of Law- 
renceville,PottstownandPh(i'nixville. Acommitteeof 
three was appointed to call a council for February Sth 
which was done. Delegates from the churclies of Potts, 
town, Pughtown, Vincent, Windsor and Lawrenceville 
convened at the appointed time, and after examination^ 
the church was recognized. On March 1, 1879, the 
church resolved to erect a house of worship fifty-five 
by thirty-five feet, of brick, on Church Street, which 
was soon after begun, and was completed and dedica- 
ted in the summer of 1880. In April, 1880, this 
church, in connection with Lawrenceville Church, 
called as pastor the Rev. C. W. O. Nyce, who remained 
till January, 1881. On the 14th of October, 1882_ 
the Rev. William Edwards was called, and served 
the church until April 1, 1884. The Rev. J. M. 
Lyon, the present pastor, was called May 2.3th fol- 
lowing. The church now has thirty-one members. 
The Methodist Episcopal Chapel is located on the 
corner of Church and Airy Streets, the land 
being donated by Daniel Latshaw.' The edifice 
is a plain, substantial briclc building, with a seating 
capacity of upwards of two hundred jiersons. There 
is a Sabbath-school connected with the chapel, having 
an attendance of from one hundred to one hundred 
and fifty scholars. 

The enterprising people of the borough have organ 
ized the Royer's Ford Hook-and-Ladder Company' 
and are prepared to battle with fire should it occur 
Not possessing water-works, such as are in genera' 
use in larger towns, they have sunk a well to the leve] 
of the water in the Schuylkill River, from which 
water is led, furnishing a supply deemed adequate for 
any exigency likely to arise. The main thoroughfare 
known as Main Street, has been graded and macadanu 
ized, and presents a neat appearance; public ini|)rove- 
ments are in progress on High Street and the borough is 
rapidly approaching a condition and appearance that 
will give it a ])lace among the substantial and flourish- 
ing towns in the Schuylkill Valley. 

Commercial Return of Mercantile Appraiser for 
1884.— Lewis Buckwalter, confectioner; A. D. Bech- 
tel, flour and feed; A. C. Freed, provisions ; Wm. 
Lsett, meat and provisions ; H. E. Kline, jeweler ; 
J. M. Lewin, boots and shoes ; Mowry & Latshaw, 
hardware; Place, Mahlou, tobacco ; Royer's Ford Co- 
operative Association, groceries and provisions; Wm. 
Rice, provisions ; Jones Rogers, mercliandise ; Dan- 
iel Springer, lumber; A. K. Saylor, drugs; Fred, 
Shaner, tobacco ; Simon Snyder, notions ; B. F. Saylor, 
tobacco ; D. M. Ziegler, boots and shoes. 

Number of taxables, 1884, 257; value of improved 



lands, $321,120 ; value of unimproved lands, $9065; 
value of horses, $3790 ; value of cattle, $810 ; value of 
taxable property for county purposes, $371,805. 

Addison Buckwalter was burgess of Royer's Ford 
from 1879-83. B. F. Saylor was elected to this office 
in 1884. 

David Gow was appointed postmaster in 1842 ; 
Daniel Schwenk, January 1, 1800; and the present 
postmaster, Reuben ^\'inter, January 1, 18(50. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



1 Soo " lliatiM-y of >[etln>'li3in, " aide. 



EPHEAIM P. KEELY. 

Henry Keely, the grandfather of Ephraira P. Keely, 
who was of German descent, resided in Perkiomen 
township, where he was actively emjiloyed as a black- 
smith. His children were Henry, John, Jonas, Eliza- 
beth (Mrs. Schantz) and Ann (Mrs. Kline), all of 
whom are deceased. Henry was a resident of Perkio- 
men township, the scene of his birth, where he fol- 
lowed the trade of a i)lasterer. He was al.so actively 
identified with the county militia, in which he held 
the rank of captain. Henry Keely married Hannah, 
daughter of John Peltz, of Upper Providence town- 
ship, whose children were Abeltis, of Phronixville ; 
Ephraim P. and Jacob, of Upper Providence ; Mary 
Ann, deceased (Mrs. John Wright, of Chester Co., 
Pa.) ; Manasseh, deceased; Salome (Mrs. William B. 
Wrightmeyer, of Pottstown) ; Susannah (Mrs. William 
Boyer,of Phrenixville); Hannah, deceased ; and Henry, 
deceased. Ephraim P. was born January 21, 1827, in 
Perkiomen township, where he remained until his 
seventeenth year, meanwhile receiving such instruc- 
tion as the neighboring school afforded. He then 
removed to Upper Providence and served an appren- 
ticeship of two years as a carpenter and builder. On 
becoming proficient at this trade he readily found his 
skill in demand in the immediate vicinity, and later 
filled the position of foreman for the Reading Rail- 
road Company. 

In 1857, Mr. Keely removed to that portion 
of Limerick now known as Royer's Ford, and 
erected a residence, which is still his home. Since 
186G he has been engaged as a contract builder, hav- 
ing recently erected the glass-works at Royer's Ford, 
the First Reformed Church of Spring City, and the ex- 
tensive stove-works of Grander, Rodgers & Co. He 
was, in 1851, married to Margaret Ann, daughter of 
Jacob Tyson, of Upper Providence, whose only son, 
Allen T., is now principal of the Royer's Ford Public 
School and justice of the peace, as also a skillful sur- 
veyor. Mr. Keely, in connection with his other en- 
terprises, is engaged in the manufacture of brick for 
building purposes. He is a Democrat in his political 
convictions, but, aside from the oflice of Town Council- 



BOROUGH OF WEST CONSHOHOCKEN. 



799 



man of the borough, has heldnoofficial position. He 
is a member of the .Spring City Lodge, No. 553, of 
Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was the first 
and is the present treasurer. He is also a member of 
Phcenix H. R. A. Chapter, No. 198, of .lenisalem 
Commandery, No. 15, and of Palestine Council, No. 8. 
Mr. Keely is member of the Reformed Church of 
Spring City, Chester Co., Pa. 



curbing has been done. Gulf Creek, a rapid stream 
that rises in Delaware County, after a course of nearly 
four miles, empties here into the Schuy Iki 11, propelling 
in this distance several grist-mills, besides cotton and 
woolen manufactories. Near its mouth the highway 
and railroad cross it by substantial stone bridges. 
A small stream rises beyond the borough line on the 
south side of the Township Line road, and after a 




^X-^^^.-*-^ ,y /fel^ 



CHAPTER LI. 

WEST CONSHOHOCKEN." 

This borough is situated on the west side of the 
Schuylkill, directly opposite Cousliohocken, and was 
incorporated October 6, 1874, its territory having 
been taken nearly equally from the townships of 
Upper and Lower Merion. Three railroads and 
a canal pass either through or by it and an iron 
bridge connects it with the opposite side of the 
river. The front on the Schuylkill is a mile and 
a quarter, and at its southern extremity extends 
westward nearly the same distance. Its area is 
about five hundred and forty acres. The ground is 
somewhat broken, and in the central portion rises to 
some elevation. As to the streets, comparatively little 

> By Wm. J. Buck. 



course of nearly two miles empties into the river a 
short distance below the bridge. The station of the 
Reading Railroad is thirteen miles from Philadelphia, 
forty-five from Reading and eighty from Pottsville. 

The i)opulation of West Conshohocken, according 
to the census of 1880, was 1462. Licenses were issued 
in May, 1883, to 5 hotels, 3 general stores, 1 stove and 
tin-ware, 1 boot and shoe, 1 drug and 1 provision-store, 
besides 1 dealer in flour and feed and 1 in coal. For 
1882, 231 taxables were returned, holding real estate 
valued at $640,850, and including the personal prop- 
erty, .f679,035. The average jier taxable is $2939, 
decidedly the highest of all the boroughs in the 
county, Conshohocken being $1869; Norristown, 
$1721 ; and Bridgeport, $1656. Within the past ten 
years Mingo post-office Wiis established here, which 
was changed January 1, 1884, to West Conshohocken, 
the present postmaster being Dr. McKinzie. The 



800 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



public schools are four in number, and for the school 
year ending June 1, 1882, averaged one hundred and 
forty-four j>upils in attendance. H. A. Markley is 
principal, assisted by three female teachers. The 
public-school building is a large stone structure situ- 
ated on Church Avenue, to the rear of the built-up 
portion of the town. Gas is' brought hither from 
Conshohocken in pipes laid over the bridge. The 
Balligomingo Baptist Church was constituted in 1855i 
and a stone church soon after erected. The pastors 
who have served the church have been the Revs. 

Young, Sagebeer, Perry, W. W- 

Dalby, J. G. Walker, Thomas R. Evans and the Rev' 
E. I. McKeever, the present pastor, who began his 
labors in April, 1884. 

The Merion and Elizabeth Furnaces, belonging to 
J. B. Moorhead & Co., are situated beside the 
Reading Railroad, near the bridge. The former was 
built in 1847 by Stephen Colwell and was enlarged 
in 1876. The latter was built in 1872 and put in 
operation in October of said year. They have a com- 
bined capacity to produce about five hundred tons 
per week. Mr. Moorhead has been the senior partner 
of the firm since 1857, and resides in Philadelphia. 
The iron produced here is chiefly known as gray 
forge, calculated for l)oiler-plates and sheet-iron. The 
woolen-mills of George Bullock, on Gulf Creek, in 
the northwest part of the borough, are quite extensive, 
and give employment to two hundred and seventy- 
five hands, producing above three hundred thousand 
yards of cloth per annum. Beside the railroad and 
near the bridge are extensive worsted-mills belong- 
ing to a company, which employ seven hundred hands. 
James Hall carries on the manufacture of carpets, 
giving labor to some twenty men. There are in the 
place, besides, several minor manufacturing establish- 
ments and mechanic shops. 

The Township Line road, at quite an early period, 
was laid out from Chester County to this place ; hence, 
originated a necessity i'or a crossing-place over the 
Schuylkill. Some time before the Revolution, Peter 
Matson resided here, who, in 1780, was assessed for 
holding one hundred and seventy-nine acres and 
three horses ; Isaac Matson for two horses. It was 
from this family that the place was called Matson's 
Ford. In the Revolution it api)ears the British did 
some damage here, for which Peter Matson was al- 
lowed twenty-six pounds and Isaac Matson sixty- 
four pounds. It is probable that this was done at 
the time of the retreat of Lafayette, May 20, 1778, 
from Barren Hill, closely pursued by the enemy. 
He had scarcely got the last of his artillery across, 
before they were fired on by an advance i)arty, which 
caused the loss of nine men, either killed or taken 
prisoners. Of the British, two horsemen were killed 
and several wounded. It is likely that this injury 
was done to the buildings in firing across the river. 
On the death of Peter Matson his land was divided 
among his four sons. The aforesaid Isaac Matson 



was one of the number. The former, it is said, in 
his early life was greatly given to fox-hunting, keep- 
ing a pack of hounds for this purpose. 

Where are now Mr. Bullock's woolen-mills, on Gulf 
Creek, George English erected before the Revolution, 
a fulling-mill which afterwards was conducted for 
many years by William Custer. On his death, about 
1821, his son-in-law, Bethel Moore, became the owner, 
who made valuable improvements and entered exten- 
sively into the manufacture of woolen goods, especially 
satinets. A short distance above this, in 1856, George 
Townsend carried on a factory changed from a grist- 
mill that had formerly belonged to David Brooke. At 
Bethel Moore's establishment in 1858 were about 
thirty houses, a Baptist Church, store, school-house 
and several mechanic shops, which bore the name of 
Balligomingo. When the Merion Furnace and a few 
houses were built at the west end of the bridge, in 
1847, the name of West Conshohocken was given to it. 
In 1858 it contained twenty-three houses, a store and 
a blacksmith-shop. The furnace then gave employ- 
ment to thirty hands. A block-printing establish- 
ment and a bleaching-works had been formerly car- 
ried on there, but were then closed. 

This place owes much of its prosperity to the early 
enterprise of William Davis, who owned at the time 
a considerable portion of the ground on which it is 
situated. The bridge here was incorporated in 1832 
as the Matson's Ford bridge, and is still called by 
that name. On the night of September 2, 1850, it was 
swept away by a high freshet, but was soon after re- 
built. In the year 1872 it was rebuilt of iron. 
In going over it a very fine view of interesting 
scenery is presented therefrom by looking either up or 
down the Schuylkill. About half a mile below the 
borough a steep conical hill rises from the river prob- 
ably to a height of three hundred feet and is supposed 
to be the highest eminence in Lower Merion. This 
elevation, which is a continuation of Edge Hill, is 
mentioned in the deeds of 1683 and 1685 to William 
Penn, called by the Indians Conshohocken, whence 
the name. 

From what has been stated, West Conshohocken has 
had its origin from two distinct settlements, namely, 
Matson's Ford and Balligomingo, which will even- 
tually, through its growth, be combined into one. For 
the purposes of a town its site is certainly the most g 
rugged or uneven of any in the county. In the petition . 
of its citizens to the court for incorporation, in the 
fall of 1874, they state that the place contained two 
general stores, a railroad depot, lumber-yard, three 
coal-yards, feed-store, two blacksmith and two wheel- 
wright-shojJS, two furnaces, a cloth manufactory and 
other places of business, besides a population of three 
hundred inhabitants. Fr(mi this statement we can 
perceive that the place has rapidly increased. 

The bounds of the borough, according to its incor- 
poration, are thus given, — 

"BeginluDg at low water-murk on the soutbeueterly Bide of the 



BOROUGH OF WEST CONSHOHOCKEN. 



801 



Schuylkill River, at a point dividing the lands of George Bullock, Joseph 
W.Conrad and .Jonathan Conrad, in I'pper Merion township ; thence, ' 
by said line south 62 degrees, 35 minutes west, crossing the Philadelphia 
and Beading Railroad and the Schuylkill River road, by the middle of 
an old private road 93 perches ^Yg to a corner-stone ; thence by the same ; 
wiuth 57 degrees, 50 minutes west 79 pen-he.s ,"„, to a corner-stone in the 
miiidle of a public road, in a line of land belonging to the lat« Philip 
Rees, decL-ased ; thence, by hind of George Bullock, south 20 rlegrees, 55 
minutes east 72 perches ^^^^ to a corner-stone and partly by said road, 
south fil degrees, t< minutes west 24 perches ^^j^ to a stake (oruer of 
Sanuiel Tinkle's land; thence, by land of George Bullock, south 28 
tleprees, 9 minutes east, crossing the Gulf Creek at the head of George 
Bullock's dam, ami cmssing the Balligomingo road 65 perches ^ to a 
Hickory tree, south 57 degrees, 51 minutes west 50 perches to a stone, 
a comer of land of the Isaac DeHavcti, decea^ed ; thence south 23 de- 
grees, 56 minutos east 21 perches {\^„ to a comer-stone ; thence south 
29 degrees, 39 minutes east 73 perches j^fo to a stone iu the middle of a ; 



George Bullock was elected burgess upon the incor- 
poration in 1874, and has held the position continu- 
ously to the present time. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



WILLIAM DAVIS. 

Mr. Davis is of Welsh descent, his grandtather 
being Reese Davis, who resided in Roxborough, 
Philadelphia Co., Pa. He was the father of two 




^. 



'^iC-- 



township line road, dividing Upper and Lower Merion ; thence along 
the same, north GO degrees, 20 mi niites ea*it 1 1 perches ^g to the north- 
easterly side of a public road through Lower Merion township ; theuce 
30 degrees, 39 minutes ea^t, 45 perches -^^jf to the southeast side of 
KenzieV Avenue ; thence 5<i perches -j^^j to a point in a line of MortJ 
riiillips' and Herring's line, north 63 degrees, east 21 perches -j^^^ to the 
middle of Jloro Street; thence 79 perches ,-(,"5 to a corner, north ("■! de- 
grees, 25 minutes east, crossing a small stream of water 44 perches jJg^g 
to a ci»rner-stone, north 82 degrees, 57 minutes cast 6fi |»erches f'^ to a 
stake at a comer of Jlichael Murray's land ; thence south 18 degrees, 
32 minutes eaat 30 perches f^^f to a corner-stone of lands of Moro Phillips 
ancl John Y. Crawford, north 60 degrees, east 09 perches pg to a marble 
stone on the northeast side of a public road crossing Arrowmink Creek, 
north 17 degrees, east 12 perches fg to a marble corner-stone on land of 
.lohn Warden ; thence north 5 Ut'grees, 22 minutes east, crossing the 
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad 04 perches f^^ to a stake at low-water 
mark of Schuylkill River; thence up along the same by low-water mark 
407 perches to the place of beginning." 

51 



sous, William and Thomas, the former of whom was 
born in Plymouth township, Montgoiuery Co., and 
later became a resident of Upper Merion, in the same 
county, where he engaged in farming, lime-burning 
and various other business ventures. He married 
Phebe Sujiplee, of the latter town.shi]), and had chil- 
dren,— Rachel, Rebecca (Mrs.Godfrcy M.Young), Mary 
(Mrs. David T. Horton), William, Charles, George 
and .several who are deceased. William Davis was 
born September 13, 1826, in that portion of Upper 
Merion now embraced in West Consholiocken, which 
has been the scene of all his business operations. 
After very limited educational advantages he was 
employed in various undertakings in which his father 



802 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



was interested, and at nineteen entered a country store 
in Edgemont townsliip, Delaware Co., Pa., where 
he remained one year as clerk, returning at the expi- 
ration of that period to West Consholiocken, where for 
two years he was employed in the same capacity hy 
his father. He then embarked in the coal business, 
and having soon after, in connection with his brother, 
purchased the business of his fjvther, they continued 
the two branches of trade. Mr. Davis, some years later, 
became associated with a partner in the purchase and 
sale of coal and lumber and the nninagement of a saw- 
mill at Bridgeport, Montgomery Co., which business 
was finally sold, when he concentrated his capital and 
energies on his extensive interests at West Consho- 
hocken, erecting a new store and in various ways in- 
creasing the scope of his enterprises at this point. In 
January, 18S3, his two sons, W. Egbert and Reese P., 
were admitted to a partnership, the firm-nameremain- 
ing as before, — William Davis, Jr., & Co. Mr. Davis 
was, in June, 1S53, married to Emily Y., daughter of 
David N. Egbert, of Merion Square, in Lower Merion 
township. Their children are W. Egliert, Reese P., 
Emily Y. and three who are deceased. Mr. Davis- 
has been, since its organization, a director of the First 
National Bank of Conshohocken and is also treasurer 
of the Matson's Ford Bridge Company. His political 
afhliations are Democratic. He has been treasurer of 
the borough and school district, and for many years 
iilled the otiice of school director. He is identified 
with both the Masonic and Odd-Fellows' fraternities, 
having attained to high rank in the former. He was 
imbued in youth with strong Quaker predilections, but 
now worships at Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church 
of West Con.shohocken; of which he has been vestry- 
man. 



CHAPTER LII. 



CHELTENHAM.! 



Cheltenham is the extreme southeastern town- 
ship in the county, and is bounded northeast by 
Abington, southeast and southwest by Philadelphia, 
and northwest by Springfield. It is of regular form, 
five and a half miles long, and above one and a half 
wide, with an area of five thousand four hundred 
acres, and after Springfield, Plymouth and Norriton, 
the smallest in extent. Its surface is quite rolling, 
with a soil composed of loam and gravel, which is well 
cultivated and productive. The Edge Hill range is 
the most elevated, and crosses its southwestern corner, 
by the village of that name. Cheltenham is well 
watered by numerous small lasting streams. The 
Tacony Creek is much the largest, flowing through 
the township about eight miles, and emptying into the 

' By Wm. .T. Buck. 



Delaware at Bridesburg. In its course it propels sev- 
eral mills and manufactories, to which purjioses it has 
been applied from an early jieriod. The name is of 
Indian origin, and in records of 1(575 is called " Ta- 
wocawomink." On Thomas Holme's map of original 
surveys it is mentioned as " Frankford Creek." 

The cutting.? through the hills on the line of the 
North Pennsylvania Railroad, going north from Shoe- 
makertown, afford to the geologist a fine study of the 
various strata of rocks that compose the interior of the 
elevations of this section, being at four or five places 
fr«m twenty to forty feet deep. Few neighborhoods 
within so small an area afford so great a variety, among 
which can be enumerated gneiss, quartz, talc, schorl 
and mica. These, again, afford specimens of micaceous 
gneiss, micaceous schist, talcose and chlorite slates, 
serpentine, felspar, etc. Ijumps of pure mica may be 
obtained here of the size of a fist. On the east side 
of the Willow Grove and Germantown turnpike, and 
about quarter of a mile south of the Limekiln pike, is 
an elevation that is remarkable for being composed 
of white flint pebbles, generally of half an inch in 
diameter, denoting that they were once formed and 
deposited here by the long-continued action of water, 
and that afterwards an upheaval must have taken 
place and thus left them dry. Building stone is ex- 
tensively quarried in the vicinity of Jenkintown 
Station and sent off by railroad. 

The York road turnjiike passes through the central 
part of the township two miles, and the Ijimekiln 
pike about the same distance near its northwestern 
limits. The former was completed in 1804, and the 
latter in 18.51. The Willow Grove and (xermantown 
pike extends about one mile and a half, finished in 1857. 
The North Pennsylvania Railroad passes through it 
three and a half miles, with stations at Ashbourne, 
York Road, Chelten Hills and Abington. This 
improvement has greatly contributed to the pros- 
perity of this section. The railroad from Philadel- 
phia to Newtown passes nearly a mile across the 
southeast corner of the township. The villages are 
Shoemakertown, Edge Hill, Cheltenham, Ashbourne, 
Camptown and Harmer Hill. PoSt-offices are es- 
tablished at the first four places. Cheltenham, in 
1790, contained 620 inhabitants; in 1820, !I5(>; in 1850, 
1292 ; and in 1S80, 3236. It contains 390 inhabitants 
to the square mile, which is almost double the county 
average. The assessment for 1882 returned 690 tax- 
ables, real estate valued at $2,531,060, including per- 
sonal property, $2,721,970, the average per taxable 
being $3945, surpassed only by Springfield and 
Abington. The common-school system was accepted 
in the spring of 1838 by 16 majority, William Gil- 
lingham and Thomas Rowland being elected direc- 
tors. For the school year ending June 1, 1882, 
thirteen public schools were open 10 months, 
averaging an attendance of 250 pupils. There 
are four houses of worship : St. Paul's, near Shoe- 
makertown ; Presbyterian, at Ashbourne ; and two 



CHELTENHAM TOWiNSHIP. 



803 



Methodist Ejiiscopal Churches. In May, 1883, 8 gen- 
eral stores, 4 hotels, 1 restaurant, 1 coufectionery, 3 
lumber and coal-yards, and 3 dealers in flour and feed 
were returned. In 1785, G grist-mills, 3 saw-mill.s, 1 
tannery, and 1 t'ulling-mill were assessed. The census 
of 1850 mentions 181 houses and 192 families. Along 
the valley of the Tacony, and within this township in 
1870 were 5 grist-mills, 1 fork, 1 edge-tool, and 2 
shovel and spade manufactories. 

Ashbourne, now the largest village in Cheltenham, 
is situated on the c:ist side of the \nrth Pennsvl- 



fiicilities with the city, abounds in elegant resi- 
dences. 

The Presbytery of Philadelphia North, within 
whose bounds the Ashbourne Church' is located, had 
their attention called, several years ago, to the neces- 
sity of planting one or more churches along the line 
of the Xortli Pennsylvania Railroad, to accommodate 
the raj)idly increasing number of families from 
Philadelphia. An etibrt was made by a member of 
the Presbytery to hold services in Shoemakertown, a 
mile north of Ashbourne, but the attempt was soon 




I'lMCsllV IKUIAN IHI K(ll, ASHBoritNIC. 



vania Railroad, aii<l but little over half a mile from the 
Philadelphia line. It contains about sixt>'-tive houses, 
a store, post-ofhce and church. The census of 1880 
gives it three hundred and forty-two inhabitants. This 
jdace has entirely sprung into being since the construc- 
tion of the railroad in 1856. The post-offlce has been 
established since 1876. The station is a handsome 
two-story building, with nice and neatly-kept grounds. 
The place was formerly a grist-mill, that dated back 
some time before 1750. This village is surrounded by 
a beautiful country, and from its nearness to and 



given up. About this time a number of Presbyterian 
families from Philadelphia moved into the neighbor- 
hood of Ashbourne, and the necessity of providing a 
place of worship was impressed upon them. Accord- 
ingly, on June 5, 1878, a meeting was held, at 
which it was determined to open a Sabbath-school in 
a small building, the use of which was kindly ofi'ered 
by Mr. R. J. Dobbins. The school was opened on June 
16th with about one hundred scholars. On the 8th of 



' Sketch written by Rev. Richard Montgomery. 



804 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



October following a petition was presented to Presby- 
tery asking for chiirfb organization at Ashbourne. 
The petition was granted, and on October 25, 1878, 
the committee of Presbytery formally organized the 
Ashbourne Presbyterian Church, with fourteen mem- 
bers. Mr. Charles S. Luther, formerly an elder in 
the Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, 
and Mr. 'Diomas C. Van Horn were elected elders. 
After the ordination of Mr. Van Horn, these were in- 
stalled. On March 12, 1880, Rev. J. VV. Kirk, who 
had been in charge of the Somerville Mission, Ger- 
mantown, was elected the pastor of tlie church, and 
installed May 13. During Mr. Kirk's pastorate the 
church increased in membership and the general 
work was systematized. October 3, 1882, Mr. Kirk, 
having received a call to another church, resigned 
this charge. On November 30th of this year the 
Rev. Richard Montgomery, a graduate of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania and of Princeton Seminary, was 
called to be pastor, and on December 19 was ordained 
and installed. 

In April, 1883, a contract was entered into with 
Messrs. Bird and Given, of Philadclpliia, to erect the 
new church building, according to plans furnished by 
Isaac Pursell, and in January, 1884, it was finished 
at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars. The church is 
now in a flourishing-condition, with a membershi]) of 
about one hundred. The present elders are T. C. 
Van Horn, 1). H. Yerkes, H. .T. Laird and J. L. 
Ervin. 

About half a mile from Ashbourne, on the 
Tacony Creek, is Myera & Ervien's fork-factory, which 
gives employment to fifty hands. Tlie business was 
first established by Jacob INIyers about 1848. The 
old stone grist-mill here of Jacob Leech was built 
some time before 1751, and is now used by the firm 
for other purposes. Just below this is the extensive 
edge-tool manufactory of C. Hammond & Son, who 
employ between sixty and seventy hands. The build- 
ings are all of stone, and have been recently enlarged. 
The father of the present proprietor commenced the 
manufacture liere in 1840, with a few hands. The 
eliief jiroducts are hatchets, sledges and hammers. 
The Philadelphia office is at 13 North Fifth Street. 
The adjacent country is rolling and abounding in fine 
sjprings of water. 

The village of Cheltenham, which wa-s long known 
as MillUiiNn, is situated <m the Tacony Creek, near the 
ea.st corner of the township and within a quarter of a 
mile of the Philadelphia line. It contains near sixty 
houses, two stores and a two-story Methodist Episcopal 
Church. It is surrounded by a rolling country. Here 
is the extensive shovel and spade manufactory of 
Thomas Rowland's Sons, the firm being now com- 
posed of Howard, Rush and Lynford Rowland. Tlie 
works are propelled by steam and water-power, and 
give employment to ninety-five hands. In the census 
report of Montgomery for 1810, mention is made that 
the onlv two tilt-hammers in the countv were 



owned here by Benjamin Rowland, by means of 
which he manufactured twelve hundred dozen of 
spades and shovels annually. Gordon, in his " Gaz- 
etteer of 1832," mentions the manufacture of fourteen 
thousand five hundred dozens, consuming for this pur- 
po.s6 one hundred tons of iron. Benjamin Rowland 
and his brother William died within a few days of 
each other in December, 1872. Members of this 
family are also extensively engaged in iron and steel 
manufactures at Kensington and Frankford. Chelten- 
ham post-office was established at this village before 
1855, when Thomas Rowland, Jr., was postmaster. 
Within a quarter of a mile, on the city line, the Phila- 
delphia and Newtown Railroad has a two-story station 
for passengers. The Methodist Episcopal Church at 
Cheltenham is recognized in the minutes of the Con- 
ference for the first time in 18134-65 by the appoint- 
ment of the Rev. G. W. Lybrand a-s pastor. His suc- 
cessors liave been M. A. Day, J. B. Maddox, D. L. 
Patterson, H. E. Gilroy, M. D. Kurtz, T. W. Simpers, 
William Mullin and T. C. Pearson. 

Shoeniakertown is situated near the centre o*' the 
townsliip, on the York turnpike road. It contains 
thirty houses, a merchant mill, carriage-factory, hotel, 
store, Episcopal tJhureh, two halls for concerts and 
lectures, several mechanic shops and a passenger 
station at the North Pennsylvania Railroad. The 
country around is quite rolling, and abounds in hand- 
some country-seats. This is an old settlement, and 
was known by its present name at least in the begin- 
ning of this century. Gordon, in his " Gazetteer of 
1832," mentions that it then contained "a grist-mill, 
store and four or five good dwellings." The hotel was 
licensed here soon after the opening of the North 
Pennsylvania Railroad, and was the first public-house 
in the township. The post-office was established in 
the fall of 1857, and J. Q. Rand appointed postmaster. 
The York road was laid out through here in 1711, and 
whei'e it crosses the Tacony Creek no bridge had been 
erected in 174G. The venerable stone bridge here was 
built by the county in 1798. A short distant'e to the 
southeast of this bridge Richard Martin had a tannery 
in operation in 1776, and no doubt established .some 
time before. The railroad here is stated to be one 
hundred and seventy-si.x feet above Delaware tide- 
water. 

The first grist-mill- at Shoemakertown was built on 
shai'es by agreement made November 6, 1746, with 
Dorothy, widow of Isaac Shoemaker, by Richard Mather 
and John Tyson, the ground belonging to the estate. 
This contract reveals several interesting facts, — that at 
that time there was a "sheep washing-place" in the 
creek to the rear of said Dorothy's garden, and a " ford- 
ing-place" for the York road. It is called in the 
agreement a "corn-grist water-mill." John Tyson, who 
resided in Abington, June 14, 1752, sold his quarter- 
interest in it to John Shoemaker, most probably one 
of the heirs. It remained in the Shoemaker family 
here until April 1, 1847, when it was purchased 



CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP. 



805 



at public sale by Charles Bosler, tenant of the premises. 
This was considered a fine property in its day, and is 
denoted on Nicholas Scull's map of 1759 as "Shoe- 
maker's Mill;" also on William Scull's map of 1770 
and Readinff Howell's of 1792. Charles Bosler having 
died August 11, 1873, at the age of sixty-three years, 
the property came into the possession of Joseph Bosler, 
his son, the present proprietor. The latter, in the 
summer of 188.S, greatly improved the capacity of the 
mill, adding a seventy-two horse-power engine. The 
main building is now forty-two by sixty feet, four 
stories high, with a capacity to manufacture from <me 
hundred and twenty-five to one liuiidred and fifty 
barrels of flour daily. 

Edge Hill village is situated in the northwest corner 
of the township, near the Abington and Springfield 
line, where the Limekiln turnpike and North Penn- 
sylvania Railroad intersect. Its location is high, being 
on the s'.iitiif^ast side of the eminence from which it 
has derived its name. The engineer's report states 
that the track of the railroad here in the deep cut is 
two hundrefl and eighty-four feet above Delaware 
tide-water at Philadelphia, one hundred and eight feet 
higher than York Roa ! Station and one hundred and 
twenty-three feet liigln r than Fort Wa.shington. This 
place has grown rapidly. The census of 1880 re- 
turns two hundred and ninety-five inhabitants, but 
the total surrrounding population is higher than there 
stated. Chelteuhani contains about fi(ty houses, a 
hotel, post-olfice and several stores and mechanic-shops. 
The e.vtensive Edge Hill Iron-Works are just over 
the line, in Springfield tnwnship. 'I'lie post-office was 
established here before IS^'il .'itid was the first ill 
Cheltenham. The Carmel Pret,:jyteriau Chfirch is in 
Abington, but near to the line. It is a neat one-story 
stone building, located at the north corner of the 
Limekiln pike and Edge Hill road, built in 1876. 
The present pastor is the Rev. R. H. Bent, installed 
January 1, 1882. Regular services are now held here 
Rev. J. H. Dulles had charge here and at Jenkintown 
from April 17, 1877, one year. 

Harmer Hill, or Greenwood Summit, is situated at 
the intersection of the Limekiln pike, Willow Grove 
and Germantown pike and the Church road. It con- 
tains a store and fourteen houses. The Audenried 
Public School-house is a fine two-story brick building, 
erected in 1878. It contains three schools, of which 
Mary Thompson is principal. The Methodist Epis- 
copal Church at Harmer Hill, a one-story stone 
edifice, thirty-two by forty-four feet, was built in 1851. 
Services were held by preachers on the circuit until 
1868-69, when the Rev. J. W. Hoskins was placed 
in charge of this church and Jarrettown. He wa.s 
succeeded in 1870 by Abel Howard ; 1871, W. L. Mc- 
Dowell; 1872-73, R. Turner; 1874-75, J. H. Brittan; 
1883,T. C.Pearson; 1884, G. S. Schafter. The ground 
attached contains about half an acre. On the tomb- 
stones are found the names of Coar, Sines, Harvey, 
Liggett, Bickley, Mitchell, Harmer, Gourley, Guilliau, 



Wentz, Heist, Sands, Mennicli, Mercer, Burns, Megaw, 
Harper and Bolton. Camptowu is a village of recent 
origin, on the Philadelphia line, about a quarter of a 
mile northwest of the York road. Here, in the late 
Rebellion, wa.s Camp Wagner, established for colored 
recruits, from whence the present name. The census 
of 1880 gives it two hundred and six inliabitants. It 
contains above thirty houses and a school-house. 

There is no doubt but what this township received 
its name through Toby Leech, one of the earliest 
land-holders and settlers here, and a man of consider- 
able influence. On his tombstone at Oxford Church 
is found the statement that he "came from Chel- 
tenham, in (Gloucestershire, England, in the year 1682," 
which is a matter for confirmation. There is reason 
to believe that there is no district in the county which 
was named as early as this or had earlier surveys 
made to purchasers. We know from records tliat 
Thomas Fairman, on the 1st of Seventh Month, 1683, 
surveyed for Patrick Robinson two hundred acres ot 
land adjoining Richard Wall, by Tacony Creek ; they 
state that " this tract of land is in the parish of Chel- 
tenham." The name is also mentioned the 3d of 
Eleventh Monthofsaid year in the records of Abington 
Meeting. From these references we learn that Riciiard 
Wall's purchase had been made still earlier, and was 
located in the vicinity of the present Shoemaker- 
town. He also came from Gloucestershire, and arrived 
here the 26th of Fourth Month, 1682, and probably in 
the same vessel with Toby Leech ; they may have 
known each other in England. It was at his house 
that the Society of Friends worshijied as early as De- 
ceml)er, 1683, and from which, -several yeai's after, grew 
Abington Monthly Meeting. He died in the spring 
of 1689 and was buried in Philadelphia. In early 
records he is variously called Wall, Wain and even 
Worrell, but the latter api)ears to be a distinct name. 
Richard Worrell was an early settler in Oxford, and 
besides, we have Richard Wall, Sr.,and Richard Wall, 
Jr., and the result is that these names are often con- 
founded. We are inclined to believe in this case 
that the name should be Wall. The Wains were an 
early family in Bucks County, but never numerous. 

According to Holme's maj) of original surveys, the 
first land-holders, beginning at the southeast end, ad- 
joining the Philadelphia line, were John West, Nehe- 
miah Mitchell, John Day, William Brown, Everard 
Bolton, John Ashmead, Toby Leech, RichaiJ Wall, 
Patrick Robinson, John Russel, William Frampton, 
Mary Jefl'erson and Thomas Philips. All these tracts 
are denoted thereon as extending across the full 
breadth of the township, five hundred and twenty-six 
perches. Patrick Robinson's tract lay a short dis- 
tance west of Shoemakertown. John Russel's purchase 
of three hundred acres came next, which was surveyed 
by the surveyoi'-general's order 30th of Sixth Month, 

1683, and the patent given 16th of Fifth Month, 

1684, signed by William Penn. He married Mary 
Woodward 5th of Twelfth Mouth, 1683, and died in 



806 



HISTOKY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



1698. Joseph Phipps, as assessor of Cheltenham, 
returned the following list of taxables in 1693: 
Humphrey Waterman, Edmund McVaujih, Samuel 
Voss, Thomas Terwood, Philip Hill, .Tohn Iramonger, 
Humphrey Morrow, Samuel Carl, John Koberts, 
John Barnes, Thomas Canby, William Routledge, 
Joseph Phipps, Sr., Joseph Phipps, Jr., Richard Wall, 
Tobias Leech, George Shoemaker, Thomas Wiiitton, 
Jonas Potts, Edward Eaton and John Russel. 

Joseph Mather came from Bolton, Lancashire, as 
one of the servants of I'hiiieas Pemberton, who set- 
tled in Eleventh Month, 1682, in Falls township, 
Bucks Co. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John 
Russel, of Cheltenham, 8th of Sixth Month, 1697. 
The marriage took place at the house of Richard 
Wall. Among those present who signed as witnesses 
V^ were John Russel, Samuel Richardson, Henry Baker, 
Phineas Pemberton, Richard Wall, William (labitas, 
Evan Morris, John Goodson, John Jones, Isaac Xorris. 
Samuel Carte, Everard Bolton and others. By the 
death of John Russel in the following year, his tract 
thus came into this family, Richard Mather, son of 
Joseph, in 1734 still holding the .said three hundred 
acres. In 1720, Joseph Mather proceeded on a visit to 
England to attend to some business matters, on 
which occasion the meeting furnished him with a 
very favorable certificate. He died in Cheltenham 
in 1724, his widow administering to the estate. She 
was a minister in Abiugton Particular Meeting, and 
died in Ninth Month, 1730. A portion of the original 
tract, containing ninety-four acres, is still in the 
family, now the estate of Thomas T. Mather, adjoin- 
ing the Philadelphia line, while Isaac Mather holds 
the upper portion at Jenkintown. Portions of this 
tract are also now owned by Thomas Miller, Town- 
send Sharpless, Edward Starr, Henry Lii)pincott, 
Joshua W. Lippincott, John Wanamaker and several 
others. The Ogontz Seminary for young ladies, the 
Cheltenham Academy for boys, conducted by Rev. S. 
Clement, and Chelten Hills Station are also located on 
the tract. In the township assessment for 1776, 
Richard Mather is mentioned as holding one hundred 
and twenty acres; Bartholemew Mather, ninety-three 
acres; and Benjamin Mather, as a single man. Rich- 
ard Mather was one of the parties in building the fir»t 
grist mill at Shoemakertown in 1747. Isaac Mather 
erected the mill at the present Chelten Hills Station in 
1769. Richard and Bartholomew Mather built about 
said time a grist and saw-mill on the stream crossing 
Washington Lane, now the Ogontz property. The 
latter have been removed for some time. 

Toby Leech was probably one of the eai-liest settlers of 
the township, having come from Cheltenham, in Glou- 
cestershire, in 1682, and .-loon after this date nuule a pur- 
chase of six hundred and _lour acres, making his resi- 
dence on the Tacony Creek, a short distance abo\e 
where is now Myers & Ervien's fork-factory, where 
he erected a grist-mill and conducted a tannery. He 
was a prominent man in his day, of whom heretofore 



very little has been published. A road was laid out 
from his place to Germantown before the spring of 
1704, thus showing already some travel in that direc- 
tion. In November, 1711, he wiis one of the twelve 
jurors in laying out the old York roa<l from the present 
Centre Bridge, on the river Delaware, through the pres- 
ent Shoemakertown, to the intei'section of Fourth and 
Vine Streets, Philadelphia. He was one of the county 
commissioners in 1718, which office he held for several 
years. He died November 13, 1726, aged seventy-four 
years, and his wife,Hester, tlie 11th of August previous, 
aged sixty-six years. Both were buried beneath one 
stone in Trinity Churchyard, Oxford. At their arri\ al 
they must have been aged, respectively, thirty iind 
twenty-two yeare. His old mansion is .still standing, 
and is now the property of John Thompson. As may 
be expected, at this period it presents a unique and 
venerable appearance. It is of stone, two stories high, 
forty-two feet long and from twenty-four to thiity-six 
feet in width. The heavy oak balustrades of the .stair- 
way and the singular architecture of the arched en- 
trance leading from the hall into the parlor impress 
one with their appearance of antiquity. Tradition 
says that Mr. Leech carried on here, from the Hour of 
his mill, the manufacture of sea biseidts, which were 
hauled to the city ami sold to shi|)pers. Traces of the 
old oven are still pointed out. 

In the li.stof 1734 we find, among those holding lands 
in Cheltenham, Isaac Leech, three hundred and fifty, 
Jacob Leech, two hundred and thirty, and Widow 
Leech, one hundred acres. The first two were sons of 
Toby Leech, and the latter probably a son's wife. The 
first-named was assessor of the township in 1724, and 
county commissioner in 1727. John Leech was as- 
sessor in 1720. Jacob Leech was a township collector 
in 1727, a vestryman of Trinity Church and the owner 
of a mill on the Tacony Creek, and died January 28, 
1750-71, aged fifty-seven years. Eleanor, his widow, 
who had a son Jacob Leech, administered to his estate. 
There was a Thomas Leech clerk of the Assembly 
tr(mi 1723 to 1727, and a trustee of the loan office, 
in 1743. Isaac Leech was appointed one of the 
justices of the County Courts Ajiril 4, 1741, and was 
Speaker of the Assembly in the years 1756, 1758 an<l 
1759. In the Cheltenham assessment for 1776 we find 
the names of Jacob Leech holding one hundred and 
sixty-eight acres; Samuel Leech, one hundred ami 
seventy iicres ; and of Isaac Leech, who became a mem- 
ber of Hatboro' Library Company in 1768. Thomas 
Leech, wiio wsis assessed in Abington for one hundred 
acres in 1780, was the father-in-law of Hon. N. B. Boileau 
of Hatboro', whose only son was called Thomas Leech 
Boileau. On Hill's map of the " Environs of Philadel- 
phia," published in 1809, " S. Leech" is represented 
as holding, on the east side of the York road, in this 
township, one hundred and ninety-three acres, and 
" J. Leech " a smaller tract on the west side. The 
lands of the former have become divided ; portions 
are now owned by R. J. Dobbins, E. M. Davis, J. 



^3 



b 



CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP. 



807 



Cooke, Jr., .John Thoni|ison, William Birchell's estate, 
and the greater portion of Ashbourne is located on 
them. Descendants of the family are still found in 
the township and its vicinity. 

George Shoemaker, the ancestor of the family, came 
from Creisheim, in the Palatinate, where he had era- 
braced the religious views of the Quakers. Meeting 
with persecution there, at the invitation of William 
Penn he resolved to come to Pennsylvania. He em- 
barked in England on the ship " Jeffries," Thomas 
Arnold, master, with Sarah, his wife, and children, 
George, aged 23 years; Abraham, 19; Bariiara, 20; 
Isaac, 17; Susanna, 13 ; Elizabeth, 11, and Benjamin, 
10. To the great misfortune of the family, he died on 
the voyage, and was buried at sea. The vessel arrived 
here with the rest of the family the 20th of First 
Month, KiSti. It appears that they first settled in or 
near (icrmantown. George Shoemaker, the eldest 
son aforesaid, married Sarah Wall, the 14th of Twelfth 
Month, 1694, at the house of Richard Wall, who was 
probably her brother, which may account for his set- 
tling in Cheltenham, and how he came in possession 
of his land. He is, however, mentioned here as a tax- 
iiliU in 1(393. We know that in November, 1711, he 
.IS one of the jurors in the laying out of the York 
■:id, in the report of which it is stated as passing di- 
•tly by his house. He had six children, — Abraham, 
^ lac, Jacob, Elizabeth, George and Richard. Jacob 
hoemaker is mentioned in 1714 as having three 
tldldren, — Thomas, .lacob and Susanna. In 1734 we 
find, in Chelienham, George Slmemaker mentioned as 
holding one hundred acres, and Isaac twenty acres. 
The latter wa.s'a lilacksmith by occupation, and hus- 
band of Dorothy, who died before 1747. In the as- 
sessment for 177i>, (ieorge Shoemaker, mason, is rated 
for ninety acres; Benjamin Shoemaker, ninety-three; 
.lohn Shoemaker, sixty ; William Shoemaker, fifty-five 
acres; and Thomas Shoemaker, a single man. William 
Shoemaker, died in Shoemakertown June 8, 1804, 
aged eighty -two years. Robert Shoemaker, the 
well-known druggist of Philadelphia, who resides in 
the vicinity, is the sixth in descent from George Shoe- 
maker, the original settler at Shoemakertown. 

The population of Cheltenham had so increased by 
1734 that it contained at that time twenty-three resi- 
lient landlords and tenants, whose names were as 
follows : Isaac Leech, 350 acres ; Jacob Leech, 230 ; 
Richard Mather, 300 ; George Shoemaker, 100 ; Isaac 
Shoenuiker, 20 ; George Herman, TiO; Baltus Acron, 
60; John Williams, 200; John Williams, Jr., 200; 
John Duel, 100; William Si)encer, 100 ; Rees Potts, 
70 ; Richard Murray, 25tl ; David Fulton, 100 ; Thomas 
Carval, 100 ; John Thomas, 100; Thomas Jones, 100; 
Philip Gregg, MO ; David Perry, 100 ; Widow Leech, 
100; Richard Martin, Edward Collins, loO; and Josiah 
Wood, 30 acres. Descendants of the name of Shoema- 
ker, Mather, Williams, Herman, Spencer, Thomas and 
Jones still hold land in the township. William Howell 
by patent in 1707, took up 779 acres which lay on the 



Church road, east of the Limekiln pike. In 1709 he 
left by will his plantation of 400 acres to his wife, 
Mary. A portion of this estate afterwards came into 
the possession of Hon. ,Toel K. Mann, who resided on 
it till his death in 1857. 

A short distance northwest of the present village of 
Harmer Hill, on the Church road, was located what 
was long known as " Twickenham Farm," the country- 
seat of Thomas Wharton, .Jr., of Philadelphia. He 
had purchased it some time before the ReMilutiim, and 
had so imjiroved it that it was considered at the time 
one of the finest properties in the township. Mr. 
Wharton was born in the city in 1735. His first wife 
was Susan, daughter of Thomas Lloyd. After her 
death hemarried Elizabeth, daughterof William Fish- 
bourne. He was a warm supporter of the Revolution, 
was elected president of the Supreme Executive 
Council March 5, 1777, which position he retained 
until his death, May 23, 1778. He was buried al 
Lancaster with military honors. In November follow 
ing, Twickenham was advertised at public sale, con 
taining two hundred and twenty-five acres, of which 
one hundred were woodland and twelve meadow 
bounded by lands of Jacob Funk, Christopher Ottin 
ger and others. The greater portion of the lands wan 
purchased by Isaac Potts, who made it his permenent 
home. In 1803, while preaching in Germantown 
Meeting, he died suddenly. His executors, Samuel 
Potts, his .son, who resided thereon, and Jacob Raul, 
in the fall of said year, advertised it at private .sale, de- 
scribed as containing two hundred acres, fifty-five of 
woodland and fourteen of meadow. "The barn with 
.stabling for thirty head of stock, and the house of 
stone with four rooms on each story." We can per- 
ceive that even at this date large barns were some- 
times built. 

Colonel Samuel Miles, of the Kevolutinuary army 
resided near Sjiring j\Iill, in WHiitemarsh, for several 
years. He was elected a member of the First City 
Troop in 1783, and became its captain in 1786, which 
positiim he held until 1791, when he resigned. In 
1792 he ipurchased a farm in this township, aliout half 
a mile southwest of the present village of Cheltenliam, 
where he continued his residence until his death. On 
this property he had a slitting-niill, which has now 
entirely disappeared. Colonel Jliles was an enter- 
prising man, and jnirchased a tract of several thousand 
acres near Bellefonte, on which he erected a furnace 
carried on by two of his sons. He laid out on his 
land the town of Milesboro', which thus received its 
name. In February, 1.S05, he was aiipointed one of 
the trustees of Norristown Academy, and in October, 
1805, elected one of the members of Assembly from 
this county. During the session at Lancaster he was 
taken with illness, which induced him to hasten 
home, where he died December 29, 1805, aged nearly 
sixty-six years. His farm is now occupied by John 
Emery, and contains one hundred and seventy-six 
acres, the Tacony Creek flowing through it nearly 



808 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



three-fourths of a mile. His will was made in 1805, 

apiKiiiitiiifr his son, .loseph Miles, and son-in-law, 




SAMUEL MILES. 

Joseph B. McKean, e.xci-utors, devising his Chelt- 
enham property to his daughter, Mary Miles. 

Captain Robert Coltman, of the Revolutionary arrayi 
owned and resided on a farm of forty-five acres, now 
comprised in the ( )gontz property, where he died in 
181(). Reentered the Fourth Battalion of Artillery, 
commanded by C'olonel Thomas Procter, February 5, 
1777, and was appointed to a lieutenancy the follow- 
ing March 14th. For meritorious services he was pro- 
moted to the rank of captain March 3, 1779. His 
great-grandson. Dr. Robert Coltman, of .Tenkintown, 
possesses his portrait in oil, and his badge and certifi- 
cate of the Society of Cincinnati. 

.Vmong the noted men of Cheltenham should be 
mentioned Richard T. Leech, adescendant of an early 
family here. The names of his parents we cannot 
give, nor very little else outside of his public life. He 
was ime of the founders of Abington Library, at .len- 
kintown, February 19, 18(»3, and one of its incorpora- 
tors in 1805. He subsecpiently became one of its 
directors, in which office he was continued for several 
years. About this time he was also elected one of the 
county comraLssioners. In October, 1809, he was 
elected to the Assembly, and was returned for several 
years. General Andrew Porter, of this county, having 
been appointed surveyor-general May 10, 1809, re- 
tained the i)osition until his death, November 16, 
1813, when Governor Snyder appointed Mr. Leech his 
successor the following December 7th. Mr. Leech con- 
tinued in this office until February 13, 1818, when he 
was succeeded by Jacob Spangler. He afterwards re- 
moved to Pittsburgh, where he died August 26, 1850, 
aged seventy-five years. 



Among those who attained longevity in Chelten- 
ham may be mentioned Catharine Gill, who died 
February 24, 1808, at the advanced age of one hun- 
dred and one years. Benjamin Hallowell, the dis- 
tinguished teacher of Alexandria, Va., was born 
in this township in 1799. His parents were Anthony 
W. and Jane Hallowell. His mother was a daughter of 
Benjamin Shoemaker, of Shoemakertown, near which 
they resided. Mr. Hallowell died September 7, 1877, 
aged seventy-eight years, after a life of great usefulness. 
He was induced by his descendants to write an auto- 
biography within a few years of his death, which was 
published in 1883. Lucretia Mott, widely known as 
a moral reformer and minister among Friends, resided 
on the York road, near the city line, where she died 
November 11, 1880, aged eighty-eight years. Ogontz, 
the country-seat of Jay Cooke has, since (October, 1883, 
been converted into a young ladies' seminary, in 
charge of the Mi-sses Bonney, Dillaye, Bennett and 
Eastman, of Philadelphia. John Wanamaker resides 
on the York road, adjoining the .\bington line. Nu- 
merous country-seats are to be found through Chelten- 
ham, for which its rolling surface, fine thrifty wood- 
lands and lasting springs of water cause it to be 
excellently adapted, favored as it is with unusual rail- 
road facilities to the city. 

Before 1704 a road had been laid out from Toby 
Leech's residence to Germantown, which was com- 
plained of by Thomas Godfrey because it divided his 
land inconveniently. The Limekiln road is men- 
tioned, and bore this name before 1716. A road was 
opened from the York road by way of Abington Meet- 
ing-house to Jacob Leech's mill, now Myers & Er- 
vien's fork-factory, on the Tacony Creek, in 1751. 

The Church road is an important highway in this 
township, extending through the central part in its 
whole length. It was laid out in September, 1734, 
from Oxford Church to St. Thomas' Church, White- 
marsh ; hence the name. The township book com- 
mences in 1767, the road expenses for said year being 
£23 19«. M. 

It may appear strange to state now that for many 
years, down to 1850, the electiims of this township 
were held at the village of Abington, in an adjoin- 
ing township. In that year an act of Assembly was 
passe<l making it a sejiarate district and ordering the 
elections to be held at Shoemakertown. By an order 
of court, confirmed June 5, 1882, tlie township was 
divided into two election districts, to be called East 
and West Cheltenham ; the elections of the former 
to be held at the public school-house in .Vshbonrne, 
and of the latter at Audenried Public School-house, 
Harmer Hill. In November, 1884, both were held in 
Shoemakertown . 

St. Panl's Episcopal Church.— Services having 
been held for several years at private residences and 
a Sunday-school organized, it became ajiparent that 
efforts should now be made for the erection of a 
church. The first meeting for this purpose was held 



CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP. 



809 



Tune 23, 1860, at which were present residents of 
Chelten Hills and vicinity, and on which occasion a 
fair amount was subscriboil. A resolution was adopted 
that the church should be built at the intersection of 
the old York road and Cheltenham Avenue. A ves- 
try was elected, consisting of John AV. Thomas, Jay 
Cookg, J. F. Penistan, Wm. C. Houston, John Biard, 
Robert Shoemaker, Wm. G. Moorhead, Frederick 
Fraley, H. P. Birchall, Isaac Starr, Jr., George C. 
Thmiias and Wm. Elliott. 

Such was the success attending the enterprise that at 
the second meeting, convened August 27, 1860, the 
bishop of the diocese. Right Rev. Alonzo Potter, was 
requested to lay the corner-stone, September 3, 1860. 
Addresses were delivered on the occasion by Rev. 
William Bacon Stevens and the Rev. Richard New- 
ton. The Rev. Robert J. Parvin was elected the first 
rector April 19, 1861. The church was consecrated 
the following May 16th by the bishop, rector and the 
Revs. Charles D. Cooper, Benjamin AVatson, D. C. 
Millitt, J. W. Cracraft and O. B. Keith. The sermon 
was preached by the Rev. Dr. Newton, rector of St. 
Paul's Church, Philadelphia. The church was now 
opened for regular services. On March 28, 1864, 
plans for a new building for the Sunday-school and 
library were submitted to the vestry, and its erection 
was decided upon. A new organ was placed in the 
church in 1866. 

Mr. Parvin having been elected general secretary 
of the Evangelical Educational Society, December 
26th of this year, resigned the rectorship after a min- 
istry of more than five and a half years, to take effect 
January 1, 1867. About two years later he perished 
in a terrible steamboat disaster on the Ohio River. 
The present incumbent, Rev. Edward W. Appleton, 
was elected to the rectorship June 19, 1867, and en- 
tered on its duties the 30th of said month. The con- 
gregation worshiped in their enlarged church the 
first time February 23, 1868, Bishop Lee, of Iowa, 
preaching the sermon. The improvements to the 
church cost more than seven thousand dollars. In 
the same year the rectory was completed, also a large 
and commodious hall, intended for the use of the 
Young Men's Bible Class, and a sexton's house adjoin- 
ing being the gift of two of the vestry. 

The tower of the church was commenced in 1869 
and finished the following year. A portion of the 
grounds in the rear of the edifice were now set apart 
for burial purposes. In the autumn of 1879 a large 
and admirable organ, built by Roosevelt, of New York, 
was placed in the church. For this improvement, as 
well as the tower and chjck, the parish is indebted to 
the younger members of the congregation. During Dr. 
Appleton's rectorate to November, 1881, exclusive 
of pew-rents, the handsome sum of one hundred and 
thirty-six thousand seven hundred and fifteen dollars 
has been contributed by the members for religious 
and benevolent purposes. During that period two 
hundred and forty -three infants and seventy adults 



were baptized, one hundred and ninety-seven con- 
firmed, sixty-three married, and there were one hun- 
dred and twenty-one interments in the burial-ground. 
The church is a handsome, commodious and sul)- 
stantial one-story Gothic edifice, of stone, with stained- 
glass windows and slate roof. The tower is square, 
above seventy feet in height, with a clock and chime 
of ten bells; the latter presented by Mrs. John W. 
Thomas, December 9, 1882. A transept on the south 
side of the church was completed in February, 1883, 
built at the expense of Charles B. Wright, Esq. Other 
substantial improvements have also been lately made, 
costing two thousand five hundred dollars. The rec- 
tory adjoining is a fair-sized two-story building. The 
grounds comprise about five acres; they are neatly laid 
out, and thebuildings modeled after the moist approved 
architectural designs. 

ASSESSMENT OF CHELTENHAM FOK 177C. 
Bartholomew Mather, assessor, and Peter Ruph, collectin-, 
George Shoemaker, 93 acres, 4 horses and 5 cows ; Benjamin Shoema- 
ker, 93 a., 2h., 5 c, 22 acres in Horsham ; George Abercost, 1 c, 10 chil- 
dren ; Hngh Hugh, % a. ; William Shoemaker, 55 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; David 
Harmer, 1 h. ; Richard Mather, 120 a., 1 servant, 4 h., 8 c, J.'2 saw-mill, 
' I grist-mill ; Bartholomew Mather, 93 a., 3 h., 4 c, J4 saw-mill, J^ grist- 
mill ; Isaac Cleaver, 95 a., 3 h,, 3 c. ; George Carr, 7 a., 1 c. ; John 
Stump; John Goodwin, cordwainer, 1 c. ; Samuel Leech, 170 a., 3 h., 5 
c. ; Stephen Hall, 1 h., 4 c; John McLaughlin, 60 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; 
Anthony Williams, Jr., 200 a., 1 servant, 3 h., 6 c. ; Jeremiah Lap ; 
.lacob I'iper ; John Miller, cordwainer, 40 a,, 2 h., 1 c. ; Jacob Miller, 
200 a., 3 servants, 4 h., 5 c. ; Jacob Nase, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Baltus Ernst, 
40 a., 2 h,, 3 c. ; John Hany, 57 a,, 2 h., 4 c. ; Henry Fetter, 2 h., 3 c. ; 
Christian Cress, 65 a., 2 h., 3 c. : Jacob Funk, 160 a., 5 h., 8 c. ; Jacob 
Strunk ; John Slingluff, 10 a., 1 li., 1 c, aged ; Henry Slinglnff, 100a., 2 h., 
3 c, aged ; Henry Slinglnff, Jr. ; Charles Long ; Valentine Puff, 2 h., 2 
c. ; AVilliam Stevens, 1 h. ; CVi-spar Martin, mason, so a., 2 h., 1 c. ; Atnos 
Thomas, 64 a., 3 h., 2 c.; William Leedom, IIG a., 3 h., 4 c. ; John Lap, 
1 c. ; John Webster, 120 a., 2 h., 1 c. ; James Gold, 16 a., 1 c. ; Richard 
Kob, 1 c. ; Nathan Williams ; Thomas Martin ; JacobMcA'angh ; Enoch 
Thomas, 94 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Matthew Hague, 1 h., 1 c. ; Edward Kennedy ; 
Jacob Leech, 168 a., 2 servants, 3 h., 4 c. ; Fred. Emerich, 2 h., 5 c. ; 
John Emerich ; Isaac Leech ; .John Updyke, 1 c. ; William Burk ; J^eter 
Rush , 86 a., 1 servant, fulling-mill, 3 h., 4 c. ; John Thompson, GO a., 2 
h. , 3 c. ; Mary Hopple, widow, 100 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; I'lrich Roum-r, 20 a., 
1 h., 2 c. ; Isaac Bowdeman, 1 c. ; John Hallowell, miller, 1 h., 2 c. ; 
William Thompson, .53 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Joseph Linn, 84 a., 1 negro, 1 h., 4 
c. ; Patrick McGargoy, 1 h., 2 c. ; Jacob Mier, 70 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Matthew 
Ray, 3h., 5 c. ; Peter Taylor, carpenter, 60 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; William Mc- 
Gargey, 60 a., 1 h., 3 c. ; John Smith ; Frederick Altemus, 72 a., 2 h., 3 
c. ; Henry Child, 3 h., 4 c. ; Isaac Jones, 116 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Jacob Gier, 2 
c. ; John Vandyke, 1 c. ; George Dilker, weaver,2 h., 2 c. ; Samuel Jones. 
50 a.; Jonathan Jones, 2 h. ; John Young, 3 h., 4 c. ; Henry Young; 
William Hallowell, 100 a., 2h., 5 c, grist and saw-mill ; Richard Martin, 
(anner, 46 a., and lanyard, 1 servant, 1 negro, 3 h., 3 c. ; Samuel Mc- 
Elhoes, 1 c. ; Henry Love ; John Shoemaker, 60 a., 1 servant, h., 6 c, 
grist-mill, % of a grist-mill, 50 a., and house; Daniel Foy ; Solomon 
Williams, 1 c. Single Men. — Benjamin Mather, William Gilman, Sam- 
uel Grimes, Thomas Kennedy, Lawrence Relf, John Rob, Abraham , 
Kennard, William Hawkins, Sanrael Crosby, Jesse Thompson, John 
Hase, John McGargey, John -Child, Thomas Jones, William Jeans, ■ 
Thomas Shoemaker, Samuel Butler. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



JOHN J. WILLIAMS. 

John "W^illiams, the great-grandfather of the subject 
of this biographical sketch, born in 1670, was a resi- 



/ 



810 



HISTOEY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



(lent of Mcriiieth, in Wiiles. While yet in his mi- 
nority he associated himself with a land company, 
where, by warrant dated 13th of Tenth Month, 1690, 
William Markham, Robert Turner and John Good- 
son surveyed five thousand acres of " Welsh Tract," 
part of Merion, of liberty lands, to John Thomas, 
John Williams and others. He also invested at later 
periods largely in lands in Cheltenham and Bristol 
townships, as well as in other sections of the new 
country. The same John Williams married Ellen 
Klincken on the 3d of Sixth Month, 1696, at the 
place of religious meetings of Friends in Germantown. 
Elleu was the daughter of Arents Klincken, who 
came from Dalem, near Creyfelt, in Holland, to this 
country in 1683, having known William Penn in 
Holland. He built the first two-story house ever 
raised in Germantown, Pcnn having been present 
and partaken of the raising-dinner. It stood near the 
southwest corner of Main and Tulpehocken Streets. 
Arents Klincken served several years as bixrgess of 
Germantown, but finally, in 1691, declined longer 
service for conscience' sake. He died at the age of 
eighty, leaving a son, Anthony, a noted hunter, who 
.spent a long life in such exercises in the vicinity, 
and from whom the traditional name of Anthony has 
since been ])erpetuated in the Williams family. 

John Williams and Ellen, his wife, had six chil- 
dren, — Mary, born 7th of Fourth Month, 1697, mar- 
ried to Anthony Dennis; Hannah, born 29th Ninth 
Month, 1702, married to Lewis Roberts ; John, born 
the 4th of Second Month, 1705, married to Katherinc 
Marl in 1732, who left a son, Joseph, and died the 
14th of Tenth Month, 1737 ; Arrett, born 13th of 
Twelfth Month, 1707-8, died young ; Ann, married 
Joseph Amliler ; Anthony, the youngest and only 
son surviving his ])arents, was born the 13th of Sixtli 
Month, 1711, and to him was bequeathed all his 
father's lands and messuages. He married Sarah 
Shoemaker, daughter of George Shoemaker and 
granddaughter of Richard ^Vall, who bought land 
and settled in Cheltenham previous to Seventh 
Month 1, 1683. Richard came from Cheltenham, 
Gloucestershire, England. 

Anthony and Sarah were married at Abington 
Friends' Meeting-house the 17th of First Month, 
1736. They settled in Bristol township, adjoining 
the homestead farm in Cheltenham ; had a family of 
eighteen children, many of whom died in youth. 
Sarah, the mother, died Twelfth Month 13," 1758, 
aged forty-one years, six months, leaving the father 
with a very responsible charge. Among their chil- 
dren wlio grew to man's estate and married was 
George Williams, who lived opposite Abington 
Meeting and served as clerk of that meeting for 
many years ; Isaac, who settled in Whitemarsh on a 
large farm, and died in his eighty-ninth year; and 
Anthony Williams, Jr., who was born the 30th day of 
Ninth Month, 1743, and married Rachel Jarrett. 
It will here be necessary to review two genei'ations 



to obtain the correct genealogy of the Jarrett family, 
the ancestors of the mother of John J. Williani.s, — 
.John .Jarrett, the grandfather of said Rachel Jarrett, 
came from Scotland in the early days of the province 
and settled in Horsham township. His name appears 
in 1714 as a land-holder in Germantown. He mar- 
ried Mary Lucken, born 18th of Eleventh Mouth, 
1693, daughter of Jan Lucken, who came fnjm Hol- 
land, in company with many other Friends, and 
landed at Chester the 3d of Ninth Month, 1683. 
They later settled in CJermantown, and were closely 
associated with Francis Daniel Pastorious in their 
allegiance to the principles of William Penn. John 
and Mary Jarrett had a son, .John, born to them the 
3d of Third Month, 1718. He married Alee Conrad, 
born 9th of Eighth Month, 1718, at Abington Meet- 
ing, Third Month, 1740. Their twelve children were 
John, Mary, Elizabeth, Hannah, Rachel, William, 
Alice, Jonathan, David, Jesse, Tacy and Joseph, 
many of whom lived to be very aged people, and 
were remarkalde for their healthful and vigorous 
constitutions and industrious habits. Anthony Wil- 
liams and Rachel Jarrett were married at Abington 
.Meeting the 25th of Eleventh Month, 1772. 

They settled and lived on the old homestead farm, 
on the Limekiln road, in Cheltenham, where was 
raised a family of three brothers, — Joseph, John J. 
and Anthony — and one sister, Alice, who died a 
young woman, unmarried. Joseph, the oldest, was 
l)orn the 2d of Seventh Month, 1777 ; married Ann 
Jlallowell, daughter of John and Martha Hallowell, 
the 15th of Fifth Month, 1800, at Abington. About 
this time they removed to a farm in Whitemarsh 
township, where six children were born to them 
Charles (first), died young, Alice, Anthony, Martha, 
Charles (second), and Ann. Martha and Ann lived to 
be young women, but died unmarried and the parents 
resided here until the other children had grown to 
mature years, when they removed to Philadelphia. 

Joseph Williams, an exemplary Friend, was in 
many respects a remarkable man, being gifted with 
great force of will and nerve-power, which qualified 
him for an active, energetic and successful business 
life. Kind and generous, he was ever ready to assist 
a worthy neighbor or friend in a substantial way, and 
many families now living in Montgomery County 
owe their present prosperous condition, in a great 
measure, to the propitious heli^ given their ancestors 
at a critical time, when overshadowed with a cloud of 
adversity. As he in time became aged and infirm, it 
was considered expedient that he should I'eturn to 
the farm, that his son Charles could minister to his 
personal comforts, where he died 19th of Third 
Month, 18(53, in his eighty-seventh year. He was 
interred at Friends' burying-ground in Plymouth. 

Anthony Williams, the youngest son of Anthony 
and Rachel Williams, was born in 1785, and married 
Elizabeth, daughter of George Craft, 10th of Tentli 
Mouth, 1811. She was a consistent and devoted wife. 




^V\ -■ 



J^ ^ /c^^A^^^-n^J 







'1^:1-7-7-1^ 



CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP. 



811 



an affectionate and Christian mother and a useful and 
obliging neighbor and friend. May her good example 
be emulated by the present and future generations ! 
Anthony and his wife resided on a farm adjoining 
the old homestead, east of Limekiln road, and liveil 
to the ripe old age of fourscore years and upward. 

John J. Williams, the second son of Anthony 
Williams, Jr., and Rachel, his wife, was born the 7th 
of First Month, 178.3, and married Lydia Knight, 
born 13th of Twelfth Month, 1799, daughter of 
Jonathan and Mary Cleaver Knight, in the autumn 
of 1823. 

John .T. Williams, as a consequence of his mar- 
riage to Lydia Knight, who was not in membership 
with the Society of Friends, and therefore not in 
accordance with the exacting discipline of the society 
in use in those times, was formally dealt with, as was 
the custom, by the meeting. He was urged by many 
Friends to make the required acknowledgment, 
whii'h he considered unreasonable. Seeing the 
dissensions already operating in the society at 
that time, which, if not corrected, must inevitably 
lead to a dissolution of the entire membership, 
he concluded to relinquish his rights as a mem- 
ber, whereby he was released from the grave re- 
sjionsibility of the church, and by .so doing not be 
compelled to compromise the feelings of his wife. 
He still, however, entertained a strong affection for 
the society, which had endeared itself to him by long- 
association, hi.s ancestry from the time of William 
Penn having affiliated with the Friends, and he, with 
his entire family, continued to attend the meetings 
on the First-day of the week. 

They resided on the old farm from the date of their 
marriage until the spring of 1850, when, as their sou 
Tliomas was about to marry, and as some of the family 
had a desire to remove to the city, the father reluc- 
tantly gave up the management of the projierty to 
his son and moved his family to Philadelphia. He 
still manifested a lively interest in the affairs o! 
the old neighborhood, to which he was much at- 
tached, and among other duties served as director ol 
(Jheltenham school district one year after he and his 
family had removed to the city, a position he held 
from the time of its adoption, in 1838. 

Although not a politician, he was a great admirer 
of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, and was always 
identified with the old Whig party. 

He took great delight in encouraging enterprising 
persons venturing into business without sufficient cap- 
ital, and would aid them in many ways, lending them 
money even to stinting himself and indorsing their 
paper to such an extent as to alarm his family and 
friends. When remonstrated with by some of his 
best and most conservative friends, he would reply 
that he was " trying to make a man of such and such 
a person." 

In his efforts to assist others he, in several instances, 
lost very heavily, and on one occasion was so reduced 



financially by indorsing paper as to be in imminent 
peril. His friends advised him to make an assign- 
ment, but his manly and indomitable spirit scorned 
the suggestion, and he replied that if he had any 
friends to stand by him so that he could retain the 
old farm, he would eventually pay all his obligations 
and recuperate his fortune. He found in this crisis a 
true friend in his brother Joseph, who, having, like 
himself, a large heart and ample means, together 
with the aid he received from his father-in-law, 
.lonathan Knight, President of the old Northern 
Liberty Bank at that time, he was able to bridge 
over the financial chasm which threatened to engulf 
him. The old homestead, which had been in the 
family since 1716, was thus saved from the hands of 
the sheriff. This period of tribulation was about 
1833 and 1835, and John J. Williams, blessed with an 
excellent wife, through economical management and 
persevering iiulustry, was able to acquire a compe- 
tency in his latter years, at the same time maintain- 
ing the social duties of a good citizen and performing 
many acts of neighborly kindness. He trained up 
his children to habits of industry and instilled in 
their minds correct views of their moral responsibility, 
which he and his wife considered more important 
than any material iidieritance which they could be- 
queath to their fjimily. He died in Philadelphia 23d 
of Eleventh Month, 1851, and was buried at Abing- 
ton. His wife's death occurred 20th of Fifth Month, 

1864. She was buried beside him. 

John J. and Lydia Williams had four children, — 
one daughter and three sons, all born and reared on 
the old homestead. Jlary K., whose birth occurred 
I7th Sixth Month, 1824, is now living in Germantown, 
unmarried ; Thomas, born 20th of Eleventh Month, 
1826, resides at the old place ; Jonathan K., born 
25th Fifth Month, 1828, removed to Delaware, on a 
farm near Middletown, a short time previous to his 
father's death, and still resides in that State, owning 
one thousand acres of good land, which he cultivates 
(he married Fannie, daughter of Jacob and Margaret 
Shallcross) ; John Jay was born 17th of Second Month, 
1838, being a young man at the time of the late 
Rebellion. He enlisted in the One Hundred and 
Nineteenth Penn.sylvania Volunteers ; was very se- 
riously wounded in the battle of the Wilderness, 
Fifth Mouth, 1864, which disabled him for several 
weeks. He was afterwards dangerously wounded at 
Appomattox Court-House, 8th of Fourth Month, 

1865, the evening previous to General Lee's surrender, 
by a minie-ball passing entirely through his loins. 
It seemed impossible at the time that he could survive 
the terrible hurt ; but with skillful surgery, careful 
and incessant nursing for weeks, with a vigorous con- 
stitution, he was able to rally and finally recovered 
sufficiently to engage in business. He later purchased 
a farm in Cecil County, Md., where he still resides 
as a successful farmer. He married Laura Peach, 
daughter of John and Eliza Peach, 



812 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



THOMAS WILLIAMS. 

The paternal genealogy' of Thomas Williams' 
family having been already given in the preceding 
biography of John J. Williams, it is fitting that 
something should be said of the ancestry of his 
mother, whose maiden-name was Lydia Knight, 
daughter of Jonathan Knight, born Eighth Month 6, 
1764, who married Mary Cleaver, daughter of Isaac 
and Ann Cleaver, born Sixth Month 12, 1771. This 
Mary Knight was one of those women destined to 
make the right kind of husband entirely contented 
with his condition. Though the family circle be in- 
creased by the addition of many children, still there 
is peace, plenty and prosperity abounding where 
such a wife and mother dwells. Such was the wife 
of Jonathan Knight, and such was their happy lot. 

It is said mothers mould the nation and wield an 
influence for many generations. May it be the pleas- 
ure of a kind and merciful Creator that the good seed 
sown by this Christian mother may fructify and bring 
forth its good fruits in future generations! It is 
reasonable that Lydia, the mother of Thomas, was 
endowed with many of the gifted qualities which her 
mother developed. 

Jonathan Knight, the grandfather of Thomas Wil- 
liams, was descended from two very worthy English 
families, — (liles and Mary Knight and John and Mary 
Carver. Both families came to this country with 
Penn, on the ship " Welcome," in 1G82. Jonathan 
was the son of Joshua and Sarah Knight. Joshua 
and John Knight, his brother, sons of Isaac and 
grandsons of Joseph Knight, were residents of 
Abington townshiji during the Revolutionary war. 
They had strong affiliations with the mother-country 
and sympathized with the English, for which acts ol 
disloyalty to the colonial government their property, 
embracing two hundred and forty-one acres in Abing- 
ton, was confiscated in 1779 and applied to the sup- 
port of the University of Pennsylvania. Their lives 
were threatened, which necessitated their leaving the 
country, taking their families to Nova Scotia with 
the exception of Jonathan, who was then a boy about 
fourteen years of age. His father desired to take him 
also, but his grandfather, with whom he lived, was 
unwilling to part with him. He therefore remained 
under the protection of his grandfather and a bachelor 
uncle then living in the same township, to whom the 
boy became very much attached. He requested his 
friends when dying "to bury him as near his Uncle 
Isaac as possible," at Abington burying-ground, 
which was accordingly done. 

The birth of Thomas Williams occurred in Chel- 
tenham township, Montgomery Co., Pa. It was his 
fortune to be born in moderate circumstances. Al- 
though it seemed to impose on him a burden of 
hardships and trials, it aroused a spirit of persevering 
industry which built up the physical condition of the 
man, while it tended to establish correct views of his 
general moral responsibility in all business and social 



intercourse. Thomas Williams, Fifth Month 1, 1850, 
married Elizabeth A. Comly, daughter of A. Lukens 
and Margaret Comly, and granddaughter on the pa- 
ternal side of Nathan and Elizabeth Comly. Her 

maternal grandfather was Hallowell, both old 

and well-known families of Montgomery County. 
Thomas Williams and his wife had five children, 
two sons and three daughters, as follows: Comly, Sr., 
born Seventh Month 10, 1852, who died in youth; 
Mary K., born First Month 4, 1854, who died young; 
Comly, Jr., born Eighth Month 28, 1856, married, 
Second Month 2, 1882, to Ellen M. Walker, daughter 
of Thomas M. Walker; Mary K., born Eleventh 
Month 23, 1857, and married to Dr. William C. 
Powell;" and Maggie, born 1860, who died when 
three years of age. Elizabeth, the mother, died 
Twelfth Mouth 10, 1865. She and all the deceased 
children are interred at Abington. 
• Thomas Williams married a second time. First 
Month 26, 1871, Susanna D. Nice, born Twelfth 
Month 2, 1838, daughter of William and Mary Nice. 
William Nice is a descendant of Anthony Nice, who 
came to this country from Wales about 1700 and 
settled in Nicetown, then called Dc Neustown. John 
Nice, the father of William, married Sarah Harper, 
the great-great-granddaughter of Thomas Roberts, 
who came to this country with Penn on the "Canter- 
berry," arriving December 24, 1699, and took up 
about six hundred acres of land at York road and 
Fisher's Lane. Mary, the wife of William Nice, was 
the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Haslam, who 
came with their family from Bolton, Lancashire, 
England, in 1824, the former having been a manuiac- 
turer in Philadelphia. Susanna had six Ijrothers, — 
George, Robert, Edward, Theodore, Thomas and Wil- 
liam. George lost his life by an accident when a 
child. Edward enlisted in the One Hundred and 
Nineteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and died from 
a wound received in the memorable battle of the 
Wilderness, May, 1864. Susanna has also a half- 
sister living, now the wife of Joel Price. 

Thomas Williams and wife and their five children, 
— John Thomas, Edith, Robert N., Elizabeth and 
Lydia — are now living on the paternal "homestead 
farm," on Limekiln pike, in Cheltenham township. 
This property has been in the possession of the 
family for several generations, one deed from Conrad 
Conrad to John ^Villiams for one hundred and thirty- 
three acres being dated 16th of Twelfth Month, ? I 
(called February) 1716-17; consideration, one hun- 
dred and fifty pounds, lawful silver money of America. 
This deed is written and witnessed by Francis Daniel 
Pastorious. Another deed is from William Howell's 
heirs to John Williams for ninety-three acres, and 
dated 16th day of June, 1724; consideration money, 
eighty-five pounds, showing that land was low in 
price at that time in Cheltenham. This was at the 
period when John Williams, with his family, came 
from Meriou Township to reside in Cheltenham. 




'^^^^-^.^^^^^s 



\ 




'■■'ng^byAH.llicchu^ 



^^. ^/ 



^/lOyTU^^ 



CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP. 



813 



Thomas Williams' education was limited. The 
schools in the neighborhood, through the force of 
circumstances, did not maintain a very high standard, 
and much of his time was occupied with duties on 
the farm, the winter only being devoted to study. 
Later, however, for about two years, he became a 
pupil of a boarding-school and made satisfactory 
progress, especially at Hallowell's, in Alexandria, 
D. C. He has served as school director for twelve 
consecutive years in his district, and held many posi- 
tions of public and private trust, all of which have 
been filled with fidelity to the interests of all con- 
cerned. 



DAVID HELST. 

Henry Heist, the great-grandfather of the subject 
of this sketcB, with his wife, Catharine, came from 
Germany to the United States about the year 1753. 
Three children accompanied them, one of whom dietl 
on the passage and was buried on landing. Mr. Heist, 
soon after his arrival, settled in Goshenhoppen, Mont- 
gomery County. His son George was born August 
3, 1754, at Goshenhoppen, Upper Hanover township, 
and died September 11, 1809, in his fifty-sixth year. 
Among his thirteen children was George Heist, father 
of David Heist, whose birth occurred December 20, 
1781, in Upper Hanover, on the homestead farm, 
from whence he removed to Salsburg, in Korthamp- 
ton County, and later to Flourtown, in Montgomery 
County. He was united in marriage to Catharine 
Cope, of Hilltown township, on the 25th of March, 
ISOG, and had sons, — -Charles, Josepli and David, and 
(laughters, — Mary Ann, Catharine, Elizabeth, Lavinia 
an<l Julia Ann. Mary Ann became Mrs. Henry Stout ; 
Catharine, Mrs. Benjamin Fisher; Elizabeth, Mrs. 
Arnold Green ; Lavinia, Mrs. William Coffman ; and 
.Tulia Ann, Mrs. William Conover. The death of 
George Heist occurred May 20, 1855. David Heist, 
his son, was born January 17, 1810, in Salsburg, 
Xorthhampton Co., and at the age of eighteen 
liecame a resident of Cheltenham township, where he 
at once engaged in the employment of a farmer, his 
opportunies for acquiring a thorough or even a rudi- 
mentary education having been exceedingly limited. 
He was married to Dorothea L. Ottinger, of Spring- 
field township, and had children, — George D., married 
to Eleanor, daughter of Jesse and Ann Gilbert, who 
has five children ; Henrietta (Mrs. Daniel H. Wentz), 
and Anna Cecilia (Mrs. Albert D. Wentz). Mr. Heist 
was a second time marnied to Margaret Lenhart, of 
Cheltenham, whose only child was Lizzie F. (deceased), 
wife of H. P. Appleman, of Bethlehem. Mr. Heist 
for twelve years after his first marriage leased a farm 
in Cheltenham township, and subsequently purchased 
property near Abington Station, to which he removed 
in the spring of 1847 and continued to reside upon 
until his death, when it became by inheritance the 



estate of his son, George D. He received little aid in 
his early efforts, and by his own force and strength of 
character achieved a position of independence and 
marked influence in the community where he resided. 
He was for many years a director of the Limekiln 
Turnpike Company and active in promoting the busi- 
ness industries of the township. In politics he was a 
Democrat, but rarely participated in the active 
strifes of party or sought the honors of office. 

Mr. Heist was a man of strong religious Impulses 
and an active member, first, of the Lutheran Church 
of Germantown, and, later, of the church at White- 
marsh. His benevolent instincts led him to remember 
the latter church by a bequest, as also the Lutheran 
Church at Chestnut Hill. The death of Mr. Heist 
occurred on the 13th of June, 1881, in his seventy- 
second vear. 



GEORGE BRASIX. 

Among the representative farmers of Montgomery 
County who have made agriculture a study and a 
success we find the name of George Branin. Tlie 
first of his ancestors of whom anything definite is 
known was Francis Branin, who was born in Ireland 
about the year 1683, and emigrated to America some 
time previous to the birth of his son Michael, wlio 
was born September 9, 1708. On the 24th day of No- 
vember, 1730, Michael Branin was joined in marriage 
to Elizabeth Xoreross, daughter of John and Mary 
(Antrim) Norcross. Their son, William, was born 
December 15, 1749, and married, in 1778, Abigail, 
daughter of Abner Kodgers. William Branin died 
February 14, 1813. His son, Abijah, was born in the 
State of New Jersey May 9, 1783. On the 18th day 
of October, 1804, he married Mary Houston, daughter 
of John Houston, of Burlington County, State above- 
named. Their children were John, Elizabeth, Mark, 
William, Almira and Richard. He learned the trade 
of a blacksmith, which occupation he pursued until 
about the year 1821, when he removed with his 
family to Pliiladelidiia County, and engaged in 
agricultural pursuits. Afterwards he purchased a 
farm in the township of Abington, Montgomery Co., 
Pa., upon which he resided up to the time of his 
death, which occurred August 18, 1855. John, the 
first of the family, was born in New Jersey on the 
16th day of December, 1806, and with his parents 
came to Philadelphia County, and ultimately became 
a farmer. He married Ann, daughter of Samuel 
Jones, of Hatfield township, Montgomery Co., who 
married Hannah Clayton, a daughter of Richard 
and Margaret Clayton, whose maiden-name was Mar- 
garet Kenderdine, of Horsham township, in the last- 
named county. Their surviving children were Ann 
and Ruth. After his marriage John Branin lived on 
the farm of his father-in-law, Samuel Jones, which 
had been in his possession since 1797. On this farm 
John Branin died October 4, 1866. His wife died 



814 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



December 13, 1884. Their only thild, George, was 
born on the above-named farm Decemlier 30, 1833. 
After a period spent at the neigliborinji; scliool he 
completed liis studies at Treerauont Seminary, in Nor- 
ristown, then under the charge of the late Rev. 
Samuel Aaron. On his return from school, Mr. 
Branin gave his entire attention to the cultivation of 
the farm, and on the death of his father assumed the 
management of the property, and still continues in 
that relation. On the 26th day of February, 1863, he 
was joined in marriage to Jliss Ann Elizabeth, daugh- 
ter of John Branin (who married Abigail Ann Jones), 
of Burlington County, N. J. Here a very singular 
circumstance occurred. Their fathers being of the 
same name and somewhat distantly related but un- 
known to each other, were both married the same 
day, month and year to women of almost identical 
names, each of whose father's name was Samuel 
Jones, but of no relationship or knowledge of each 
other. The surviving children of Mr. and Mrs. 
Branin are a son, John W., and a daughter, Ruth 
Ann. Another daughter. Marietta, died in infancy. 
Mr. I'raiiin's political sympathies are with the Repub- 
lican party, of which he is a stanch adherent, though 
he has never entered the arena of politics nor been 
diverted from the routine of duties incident to the 
life of a farmer. He was educated in the foitli of the 
Society of Friends, and attends the Abingtdn Friends' 
Meeting. 



the offices in Cheltenham township, being in official 
position continuously for forty years, ten years of 
which he was a justice of the peace. In politics he 
has ahvays voted with the Democrats. He has been 
for many years a member of Abington Presbyterian 
Church ; for thirty-six years a trustee and for seven- 
teen years its treasurer. He has been president of 
the Limekiln Turnpike Company for twelve years, 
and is at present a director of the Jenkintown 
National Bank. Mr. Fenton has also acted as execu- 
tor, administrator, trustee and assignee in the settle- 
ment of estates, beside being appointed guardian and 
having charge of several large trust fiinds. 



JOHN M. FENTON. 

Eleazar Fenton emigrated from England to 
America in or prior to the year 1680, and settled in 
Burlington County, West Jersey. Of his family, Eph- 
raim Fenton, his son, moved into Buckingham 
townshiji, Bucks Co., Pa., and took up five hun- 
dred and forty acres of land previous to or in the 
year 1710. He died in 1748, leaving three sons, — El- 
eazar, Josiah and Samuel, — of whom Samuel, whose 
death occurred in 1796, was the great-grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch. His son Eiihraim married, 
in 1782, Mary Thomas, of Milestown, Philadelphia 
Co. (a relative of the painter, Benjamin West), and 
settled in Cheltenham township, Montgomery Co., 
where he died in 1826. The eldest of his eight chil- 
dren was Samuel, who married Mary Mann, of Upper 
Dublin township, Montgomery Co., and had one 
daughter, Harriet, married to Andrew Long, of Harts- 
ville, Bucks Co., and a son, John M. Fenton. Sam- 
uel Fenton was actively engaged in farming pursuits 
until his death, in 1862, at his home in Cheltenham. 
His son, John M. Fenton, was born (ui the 18th of 
May, 1810, on the homestead, which is now his resi- 
dence. In 1843 he married Elizabeth W. Kennedy, 
of Abington township, whose three children are Sam- 
uel M. (deceased), Franklin K., and Hattie L. Mr. 
Fenton was elected treasurer of Montgomery County 
for the years 1856 and IS.*)". He has tilled nearly all I 



ALBERT .T. ENGLE. 

Albert J. Engl'e, one of the most prominent 
business men of Shoemakertown, Cheltenham town- 
ship, Montgomery Co., Pa., was born on his father's 
farm in what was then Bristol township, Philadelphia 
Co. (now merged in the city), January 2, 1826, where 
he made his home until he was twenty-four years of 
age, learning, in the meantime the honorable trade ot 
stone-mason. 

He was married, in 1849, to Miss .Vnnetta, daughter 
of Joseph and Mary Megargee, of Cheltenham town- 
shijj, and in 1850 moved to Shoemakertown and en- 
gaged in the mercantile business in the old store 
that had for many years been occupied as a store- 
house by Richard Shoemaker. After doing business 
in the limited quarters of the old Shoemaker store for 
a few years he purchased the old Tyson property, 
on which he built his present large and commodious 
store, which he has well-stocked with a large and 
well-selected variety of goods suited to the wants 
of the community around him. 

He also remodeled the old Tyson mansion, making 
the comfortable, convenient and sightly j'esidence he 
now occupies. 

He has been prominently identified with all the 
progressive movements in and around the village of 
Shoemakertown. Although having held several elec- 
tive political offices, he enjoyed the higher privilege 
of a seat in the council of the leaders of the party 
with which he affiliates and whose candidates he 
supports. His townsmen have honored him with a 
seat in the board of scliool directors of the township, 
which he still occupies with honor to himself and 
profit to the educational interests of Cheltenham. In 
1858he was appointed postmaster at Shoemakertown, 
which office he has held continuously to the present 
time (1885). Twenty-seven years continuous service 
in one official position is the lot of but few, and is 
the best evidence of Mr. Engle's fitness for the respon- 
sible position he now holds, 

Mr. Engle is the father of children as follows : 
Anna M., born April 24, 1850 ^married to William 
H. Parker, of Philadelphia, and is the mother of two 
son and two daughters) ; Marv E., born June 20, 





^ 



-/C^ z^- 



T^ J'^^^;^^ 



CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP. 



815 



1852 ; Albert J., Jr., born January 4, 1854; William 
Megargee, born December 17, 1857, and ditid when 
about two years of age; Annetta R., born May 2, 
1860 ; Frank, born December 15, 1861 ; Irwin J., 
born January 11,1864; Olive May, born June 27, 
1866, and died when two and a half years of age. 

Mr. Engle's parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Engle, 
were aged and prominent residents of Bristol town- 
ship, and lived near Cheltenham township line, on 
the farm that had been in the Engle family for three 
generations. 

The parents of Mrs. Engle, Joseph and Mary Me- 



north side of what is known as the Church road, 
and on the southeast side of what is now known as 
the Cedar road. The Church road was so named 
from the fact of its being traveled for a number of 
years by the late George Keith, then a celebrated 
minister of the Society of Friends, who preached at 
Oxford and at Whitemarsh. His oft-repeated journeys 
over this then crooked path gave it the name of 
Church road, which it has since retained. Cedar 
road was so named from the fact of there being a row 
of cedar trees on either side of the road for a long dis- 
tance. It was in the angle of these two roads, and 




gargee, were residents of Cheltenham township lor 
over half a century, and owned the property on the 
North Penn Branch of the Reading Railroad, at what 
is known as Citv Line Station. 



MRS. SARAH T. BETTS. 

Mrs. Sarah T. Betts was a lineal descendantof William 
Thompson, who came to Cheltenham township in the 
early part of the last century and purchased one 
hundred acres of land out of the old Ashmead tract of 
two hundred acres. This one hundred acres lay on the 



nearly a mile from what is now Shoemakertown, 
that Mr. Thompson located his one hundred acres, 
then considered a wilderness, but now one of the most 
pleasantly located and valuable farms in the town- 
ship. William Thompson had also another lot of land 
lying along Tacony Creek, upon which he resided 
for many years, and upon which he died. Catharine, 
wife of William Thompson, died the 15th of the Sixth 
Month, 1786, aged about seventy-four years. Their 
children were Jessie, boru the 26th of the Eighth 
Month, 1745, and died, unmarried, the 22d of the 
Seventh Month, 1778. 



816 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



John Thomson (for so his name was written, he 
having dropped the letter " p"') was born the 22d of 
the Twelfth Month, 1750; married Abigail, daughter 
of Thomas and Letitia Roberts, of Trumbauerville, 
Bucks Co., Pa., and died the 28th of the Ninth 
Month, 1838. His wile, Abigail, was born on the 
28th of the Seventh Month, 1751, and died the 12th of 
the Tenth Month, 1802. 

John, having outlived his father and brother, in- 
herited the one hundred and the forty-acre tract of 
land. 

Thomas, son of John and Abigail Roberts Thomson, 
was born the IBOtli of the Ninth Month, 1775, and died 



Sarah, the subject of this sketch. 

John, born the 1st of Tenth Month, 1810, and is 
still living. He inherited the one hundred and forty 
acres, owned by his great grand-father William Thomp- 
son, and is still the owner of the one hundred acre 
tract, having sold the forty acre lot. 

Abigail, born 28th of Fifth Month, 1813; married 
.lohn Wileman, of Langhorne, Bucks Co., Pa., and 
died the 2.3d of Second Month, 18G8. 

Elizabeth, born 20th of Sixth Month, 1816, and 
died the 21st of Second Month, 1S17. 

John, above mentioned, married 8th of Third Month, 
1828, Caroline, daughter of Amos Jones, who was the 




the 26th of the Twelfth Month, 1825. Thomas in- 
herited the one hundred and forty acres owned by his 
father, John. 

The children of Thomas Thomson were as follows : 

Ann, born the 19th of Third Month, 1800 ; married 
Jacob E. Jarrett, of Horsham township. Mrs. Jarrett 
is still living. 

Hannah, born the 27th of Eight Month, 1802 ; mar- 
ried John Eoberts, of Byberry, and died the 14th of 
Sixth Month, 1872. 

Kitty, born 16th of Eleventh Month, 1804; married 
Richard Roberts, and died 21st of Ninth Month, 
1880. 



son of Amos Jones, of Cheltenham townshij). Caroline 
was born the 24th of Tenth Month, 1814, and died the 
14th of First Month, 1877. Their children are as 
follows : 

Charles, born 23d of Fifth Month, 1839; died 22d 
of Sixth Month, 1848. 

Alice J., born 31st of Tenth Month, 1840; married 
Benjamin F. Penrose, of Quakertowu, and now re- 
sides in Cheltenham township, on the farm adjoining 
the old William Thompson and the Ashmead tracts. 

Thomas Thomson, born 28th of Second Month, 1842; 
married Miss Eyre, of Bucks County, and now occu- 
pies the old Thompson one hundred acre farm, and is 



CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP. 



817 



the fittli generation of the Thomson tamily that has 
continuously occupied tlie old farm. 

Samuel J., born 30th of First Month, 1844, died 
13th of Twelfth Month, 1882. 

Jane, born 1st of Ninth Month, 1845. 

Margaret T., born 6th of First Month, 1848; mar- 
ried Henry W. Hallowell, of Moreland township. 

John, born 1st of Tenth Month, 1849, died 19th of 
Third Month, 1851. 

William and George, (twins), died in infancy. 

John, Jr., born 16th of Seventh Month, 1858, died 
17th of Fifth Month, 1874. 



sides on the Williams-Shoemaker-Betts homestead, 
Cheltenham township. Mr. Shoemaker died, and 
Sarali Thomson, his widow, married Cyrus Betts, of 
Solebury, Pa. Mr. Betts died, leaving only Mrs. Betts, 
whose portrait is herewith presented. 

Mrs. Betts has been well and favorably known for 
the last forty years as a faithful and devoted min- 
ister of the Society of Friends. She was all her 
life, with the exception of a few years' residence 
in Bucks County, a member of Abington Monthly 
Meeting, and for the last forty years her residence was 
in Cheltenham township, where she was highly 





r? 



ct/^'I-' ■^ 'S^^'f'/i^i^-^^^^~^ 



William P., born 24th of Second Month, 18.55. 

J. Dawson, born 1st of Second Month, 1858. 

Sarah Thomson, the fourth daughter and fourth 
child of Thomas Thomson, was born the 8th of the 
Eighth Month, 1807, and married for her first hus- 
band Anthony Williams. The result of this union 
was four sons, viz. : Charles Williams, Edward H. 
Williams, Joseph Williams and Anthony Wil- 
liams. 

After the death of Mr. Williams she married Jesse 
Shoemaker, by whom she had one daughter, Sarah 
Shoemaker, who married Alvin Plaiues, and now re- 
52 



respected for her kindness and love towards all with 
whom she associated. 

She died Third Month 3, 1885, in the seventy-eighth 
year of her age, leaving behind her a host of friends 
who revered her, and who had been the better for her 
life and precepts. 



JOHN F. LENHART. 

George Lenhardt, who was born on the 8th of 
March, 1754, emigrated from Germany to America, 
when seventeen years of age, in company with his 
brother Peter, their parents, with whom they sailed, 



818 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



having died and been buried at sea. The boys were 
sold for their passage, George serving three years and 
nine months with Jonathan Tyson. At the expira- 
tion of this period of service he settled in Upper 
Dublin township, Montgomery Co., and engaged in 
lime-burning, as also in the purcliase and sale of real 
estate. He was connected by membershij) with the 
Reformed Church of Gerinantown, in which he 
was an exemplary and active worker. Mr. Len- 
hart married Catherine lioti'man, who died on the 31st 
of January, 1783. Their children were John, George, 
Jonathan and one who died in early life. He was 
a second time married to Christiana Kdhler, whose 



of the farm. On the death of his father, in 1845, he 
inherited a portion and purchased the remainder of 
the estate, the land of which he has since cultivated 
and greatly imi)roved. He has paid much attention 
to horticulture, and won a reputation as a propagator 
of fine varieties of fruit, though also successful in other 
departments of agriculture. Mr. Lenhart was married, 
November 13, 1851, to Ruth, daughter of Joseph Ad- 
dis, of Morelalid township. Their children are Amy 
(deceased), Margaret (Mrs. John I). Stout), Joseph 
(deceased), Eliza (Mrs. Franklin P. Bryan), John and 
an infant (deceased). Mr. Lenhart is a director of the 
Limekiln Turnpike Company, fills the same office in 




children are Mary, Henry, Josejih, Sarah, Christiana 
and Margaret. Joseiih was born on t!ie 30tli of Jan- 
uary, 1788, in Ui)per Dublin township, and in the 
year 1801 removed to the farm in Cheltenham town- 
ship now owned by the subject of this sketch. He 
married Elizabeth, daughter of John Funk, whose 
children are .John F., Margaret (Mrs. David Heist) 
and Cathrine (Mrs. Isaiah Cami)l3ell, deceased). The 
death of Mr. Lenhart occurred 07i the 7th of January, 
1845. His son, John F. Lenhart, was born November 
25, 1821, on the homestead, where he has been in- 
dustriously employed as a farmer during his lifetime, 
liaving in youth been made familiar with the labor 



connection with the Willow Grove and Germantown 
Turnpike Company, and is one of the directors of the 
Keystone Stone Quarry Company, of which he is a 
charter member. He is a Democrat in politics, though 
not especially interested in questions of a political 
character. In religion he is a Presbyterian, his mem- 
bership being with the Market Square Presbyterian 
Church, of Germantown. 



THOMAS C. YEAKI.E. 

Mr. Yeakle is a lineal descendant of Christopher 
Yeakle (Jaeckel), whose widow, Regina, came to 
America and settled in Pennsylvania in 1734, his an- 



CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP. 



819 



cestry having l)een elsewhere mentioned. He is the 
grandson of Jacob and Gertrude Urffer Yeakle, and 
tlie son of Joseph and Mary Huston Yeakle. The 
children of the latter marriage are John H., born 
August 12, 1853, whodied March 7, 18.54; and Thomas 
C, whose birth occurred January 19, 1855, in Spring- 
field township, where the years of liis youth were 
spent. He became a pupil of the public school near 
his home, and afterwards enjoyed superior advantages 
at Treemouut Seminary, Norristown. On completing 
his studies he returned to the farm and became in- 
terested in its varied occupations, but hater removed 
to Flourtown and engaged in mercantile |nirsuits. In 



duties in connection with his own business leave little 
leisure for participation in enterprises of a public 
character. 



SAMUEL M. WILSON. 

Frederick L.Wilson, the grandfather of Samuel L., 
was by birth a Norwegian, and captain of a vessel 
wrecked off the coast of Ireland. By his marriage to 
a lady of Irish lineage he had one son, William, whose 
residence was in the immediate vicinity of London- 
derry, in the north of Ireland, where he filled the 
office of land steward, and w'as also an industrious 





1877, preferring the healthful employment of the 
agriculturist to a sedentary life, he purchased the 
valuable property in Cheltenham township now owned 
by him, and has since been numbered among the suc- 
cessful farmers of the township. Mr. Yeakle was 
married, on the 7tb of February, 1878, to Emma C, 
daughter of Joseph Stahlnecker, of Flourtown, whose 
children are Lizzie and Mary Emma. He was again 
married, in November, 1882, to Emma, daughter of 
Jessie McCoombs, of Montgomery County. Their 
only child is a son, Thomas C, Jr. Mr. Yeakle is in 
politics a Republican, though not ambitious for the 
honors of office. He is a supporter of the Presby- 
terian Church of Flourtown. His daily routine of 



farmer. He mariied Elizabeth, daughter of William 
Mackey, of Londonderry, whose children were Robert^ 
Samuel M., William, Elizabeth, James, Joanna Mary 
and John. The death of Jlr. Wilson occured in 1854, 
in County Donegal, Ireland. His son, Samuel M., 
was born on the 12th of January, 1840, near London- 
derry, in the latter county where the first eighteen 
years of his life were spent, a portion of this time be- 
ing devoted to acquiring a modest education and as- 
sisting in the labor of the farm. Being impressed 
with the superior advantages oifered the workingman 
in America, he decided to emigrate, and in 1858 
sailed alone for rhila<lelphia. He readily found em- 
ployment on a farm in Bucks County, and served for 



820 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



eighteen months in that capacity, when Montgomery 
County became his home. For six years his industry 
brouglit a comfortable support, principally as a farm 
laborer, after which, in 181)6, he rented a farm, and for 
six years cultivated it successfully. During the four 
succeeding years Mr. Wilson was engaged in the gro- 
cery business in Philadelphia, after which he removed 
to Edge Hill and became proprietor of a country 
store, holding also the commission as postmaster of 
the place. Having previously invested capital in 
mining enterprises, he determined to devote his ex- 
clusive attention to the mining of hematite ore. In 



GEORGE K. HELLER. 

Mr. Heller is of German descent, his grandfather, 
Christopher Heller, having emigrated from Germany 
to America, and settled in Northampton County, 
where he founded the hamlet of Hellertowii. Here 
he engaged in farming. Among his children was 
Daniel, born in or near Hellertown, who afterwards 
became a farmer in Bucks County. He married Mar- 
garet, daughter of Henry Scheetz, Esq., of Whitemarsh 
township, Montgomery Co., whose children were 
Catharine (Mrs. Jacob Wentz), Elizabeth, Sarah 
(Mrs. Samuel Nice), Ann (Mrs. George McCleland), 




<^_^^_//a^M^ 



this industry he is still engaged, his energy and busi- 
ness tact making him one of the important factors in 
the development of the ore-lieds of the county. Mr. 
Wilson was, on the 28th of November, 1862, married 
to Margaret, daughter of Robert Bustard, of the same 
county. Their children are Anna Mary, Ellen D., 
Margaret, Samuel M., George, Jane, Maria, William 
and Lizzie. Mr. Wilson's political sympathies are 
with the Eepublican party, although he is rarely 
active in the field of politics. He accepts the creed 
of the Baptist faith, and is a member of the church 
of that denomination in Jenkintown. 



George K., Mary (Mrs. John M. Jones), Margaret 
(Mrs. Robert H. Hinckley) and Hannah (Mrs. Samuel 
Nice). 

George K. Heller was born March 14, 1803, in 
Springfield township, Montgomery Co ; to which 
township his father removed from Bucks County. 
The common school afforded at this early date the 
only opportunities for education. These, however, 
were improved by him, after which, for eleven years, 
he engaged in teaching in Montgomery and Philadel- 
phia Counties, respectivel.y. Desiring a less seden- 
tary life than that of a teacher, lie purchased a farm 



CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP. 



821 



in Cheltenham township, wliich for twenty -two years 
he cultivated, and at the expiration of that time, 
having abandoned active labor, he sold his farm and 
retired to his present residence, in the village of 
Cheltenham, in the same township. Mr. Heller was 
married on the 10th of March, 1829, to Sarah, daughter 
of John Nice, of Philadelphia County. Their chil- 
dren are Charles, of Philadelphia ; Margaret H. 
(Mrs. Dilworth Wentz), of Cheltenham ; Elizabeth 
(Mrs. Dr. H. B. Buck), of 8|)ringfield, 111.; and George 
N., of Philadelphia. Mr. Heller formerly affiliated 
witli the Democratic party, but later became a Repub- 
lican. He has been identified in various relations 
with the township, having for a period of thirty-three 
years filled the office of school director of Chelten- 
ham and been one of the first agitators of the public- 
school system in the township. He was also director 
of the Independent Mutual Fire Insurance Comjiany. 
Mr. Heller's known al)ility and integrity have caused 
his services to be much in demand as guardian and 
trustee, more than forty estates having been settled 
by him or through his aid. For forty-six j'ears he 
has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church and for more than forty years recording 
steward of the same church. 



THOMA.S T. MATHER. 

The subject of this biographical sketch, Thomas T." 
Mather, traces his lineage through a line of worthy 
ancestors, who espoused the belief of the Society of 
Friends. His father wa.s Jonathan Mather, who mar- 
ried Elizabeth Tyson, of Edge Hill, Montgomery 
Co., and had children, — Sarah (Mrs. Newlin Scho- 
field), Mary Ann, Thomas T., Hannah M. (Mrs. Wil- 
liam Stapler) and Eleanor. Thcnnas T. was born on 
the homestead, in Cheltenham, where his father was 
a successful farmer) on the 7th of February, 1814. 
This property, which is now occupied by his widow, 
subsequently became his by inheritance and pur- 
chase, and was the scene of his lifetime labors. His 
education was superior to that obtained by most of 
the youth of the vicinity, schools in Montgomery 
County and also in Wilmington, Del., aftbrding him 
the advantages of a thorough scholastic training. 
His mathematical mind here found an ample field for 
development, and enabled him to take high rank in 
the science in which he was proficient. Not desiring 
to follow a professional career, he returned to the 
home of his parents, and devoted his attention to the 
employments of a farmer. He was well versed in the 
science of horticulture and skillful in the propagation 
of choice varieties of fruit, the nature and growth of 
which he thoroughly understood. Mr. Mather, while 
gratifying his taste in this direction, was also a suc- 
cessful farmer, and thoroughly practical in all his 
business undertakings. He was married, on the 3d of 
December, 1856, to Rachel G., daughter of William 
and Susan G. Nichol.son, of Philadeli)hia. Their 
children are Jonathan, Elizabeth (Mrs. I. W. Lin- 



ton), Susan N., Sarah, Eleanor, William N., Rachel, 
Jr., Thomas T., Jf., and William N., (second). Mr. 
Mather, though diligent in matters pertaining to his 
private business interests, exhibited much public 
spirit and a laudable zeal in all measures tending to 
the welfare of the county of his residence. He was a 
director of the Jenkintown National Bank, a director 
in the Germantown National Bank, and held the 
same official connection with the Limekiln Turnpike 
Company. His acknowledged ability and probity led 
him frequently to be suggested for positions of trust, 
notable among which was that of treasurer of the 
Chelton Hills Mutual Improvement Association. 
Mr. Mather was in politics, a Republican, and cour- 
ageous in the defense of any principle of the party, 
while indifferent to the official positions which are 
the rewards of party service. He was an earnest ad- 
vocate of the Free-Soil doctrine, and cast the earliest 
vote in the township in its favor when that question 
was first agitated. He was educated in the belief of 
the Society of Friends, and never departed from the 
faith, having been a member of the Abington Monthly 
Meeting at the time of his death, which occurred on 
the 21st of June, 1877. Mr. Mather was a man of 
marked influence in the community, not less for his 
judgment and executive ability than for the elevated 
sentiments which actuated his whole life. 



CHARLES B. WRIGHT. 
Charles B. Wright, who has been for the past twenty 
years a resident of Cheltenham township, was born 
January 8, 1822, in Wyso.x Valley, Bradford Co., Pa., 
to which place his parents had emigrated from New 
London, Conn., in 1814. His father, Rufus Wright, 
who was a currier by trade, had (with a number of 
other Connecticut people) intended to settle in the 
Wyoming Valley, but was afterwards induced to 
locate at Wysox, where he established the first tan- 
nery that was put in operation in the valley of the 
Upper Susquehanna. In that business he continued 
with success until the year 1830, when he removed to 
Tioga Point, or (as better known in later years) 
Athens, Pa., where he was connected with the busi- 
ness of the toll-bridge across the North Branch of the 
Susquehanna River. Five years later, when Charles 
was thirteen years of age, his father removed to a 
farm located about five miles from the river, on the 
uplands in Smithfield, Bradford Co. Until that time 
Charles had been kept, at the Athens Academy, but 
after his removal with the family to the farm he only 
enjoyed the advantages of the winter terms of the 
common school for the completion of his education. 
Ht had sisters older and younger than himself and 
an elder brother, who was engaged in business in the 
West. On him, therefore, his father principally 
relied for assistance on the farm, and he was con- 
stantly employed in the work required upon it, except 
during the winter season. The farm was well adapted 
for the purjjose of stock-raising, and this business his 



822 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



father made a specialty, having a large number of 
cattle, sheep and horses. Charles became an expert 
rider, and made frequent trips on horseback to the 
village, two miles from the farm, to market the butter, 
eggs and other produce, and to purchase the store- 
goods necessary for the use of the family, — sometimes 
including ammunition for his shot-gun. On these 
trips the young farmer usually rode a fleet horse, of 
which there were always several in his father's pas- 
ture, and he seldom returned liome without having 
had a race with some of the boys or men of the sur- 
rounding county, who could always depend on his 
l)eing ready to engage in that kind of amusement. 

In the spring of 1837, on one occasion, when young 
Wright was engaged in trading his butter and eggs at 
the village store, he was particularly noticed by a 
gentleman who was visiting there from the eastern 
part of the county, and who, after the lad's departure, 
made inquiries of the merchant concerning him, re- 
ceiving very favorable replies. On the following day 
he visited the Wright homestead, and, in the absence 
of the boy and his father, informed Mrs. Wright that 
he was the proprietor of a trading-post, or store of 
general merchandise, at Le Raysville, on the border 
of Susquehanna County; that he had seen her son, 
and being very favorably impressed by his appearance, 
had come to offer him a position as clerk in his store. 
This information Mrs. Wright imparted to her 
husband and son on their return, and by the boy it 
was received with delight. During the second year 
of their residence on the farm he had 'oegun to grow 
restless. The growth of the crops was too slow a pro- 
cess for him ; it was taking too long a time for the 
steers (which his father liad given him) to become 
oxen ; in short, the quiet farm-life had begun to be 
distasteful to him, and he therefore eagerly urged the 
acceptance of the merchant's proposal. 

Mr. Wright, however, opposed it, telling his son 
that he wished him to remain on the farm, and in a 
few years to assume its management. The mother 
also opposed the plan, but Charles reasoned with her, 
l)egging so earnestly that she finally gave her assent, 
which also secured that of her husband, though both 
yielded in the full belief that homesickness would 
very soon bring their boy back to them, to settle down 
and be contented with the farmer's life. The next 
day Charles met the mercliant at the village, where 
the arrangement was made for him to go to Le Rays- 
ville in about thirty days. At the end of that time 
he took the stage (then the only means of conveyance), 
and after a long day's ride reached the place of his 
destination, tired, sad and already feeling the pang of 
liomesickness, which, however, was .soon dispelled on 
meeting his employer's wife, a kind and i)leasant lady, 
who had no children, and who received him cordially, 
iLssuringhim that he was to be one of their family trio. 
Afterwards, for a little time, symptoms of homesick- 
ness returned at intervals, but he resolutely repressed 
them. He had read the "Life of Benjamin Franklin," 



and from it he had learned the lesson that only by 
perseverance in his undertakings could he hope to 
win success in the world. He kept steadily on, win- 
ning the contidenceofhis employer, who, in 1841, gave 
him an interest in the business, he being then only 
nineteen years of age. He continued in the business 
two years longer, but at the age of twenty-one years, 
having become restless and desirous of entering a 
wider field of enterprise, he decided to leave Le Kays- 
ville and travel in the Western States, a part of his 
plan being to visit his sister, Mrs. William Spaulding, 
who was then residing in the new town of Janesville, 
Eock Co., Wis. 

His purpose having become known to Christopher 
L. Ward, president of the Bank(jf Towanda, the latter 
invited him to visit him before his departure. He 
did so, and while at Towanda Mr. Ward and the other 
directors of the bank intrusted him with the charge 
of important landed interests in various parts of Illi- 
nois and Wisconsin, and in Chicago, which at that 
time was a town of only five thousand inhabitants. 
With this trust, and the most sanguine hopes, the 
young man started for the West early in May, 1843. 
At that time such a journey as he proposed to make, 
was regarded as so serious a matter that on his de- 
parture he was bidden good-by by many of his friends, 
who believed that the farewell was to be a final one. 
Traveling by stage and canal for eight days, he reached 
Bufl'alo, N. v., whence he proceeded by way of the 
Lakes, and was lauded at Milwaukee in sixteen days 
from the time of his leaving Towanda. From Mil- 
waukee to Janesville, sixty miles over mud roads, 
the conveyance was a mail-wagon which ran three 
times a week. Alter a stay of about two weeks, he 
traveled on horseback to Chicago, a distance of one 
hundred and thirty miles, nmch of the route being 
through a region where there were neither settlements 
nor roads, and where his only guide was his pocket 
compass. 

Attending to the business with which he had been 
entrusted, he remained in Chicago two years. At the 
end of about that time he received intelligence of the 
deatli of his father, and returned to his old home in 
the Susquehanna Valley. The estate was soon settled, 
and he again set out for the West, having, while in 
Pennsylvania, purchased (on time) the lands of which 
he had had charge in Chicago and vicinity, and 
wliich, in consequence of the great western emigra- 
tion in the years 184.'j-4(i, appreciated so rapidly in 
value that he was enabled to dispose of them during 
those years at a price which, after paying all his in- 
debtedness, left him a profit of about ten thousand 
dollars, which was then a considerable fortune for a 
young man of twenty-four years. 

In his travels, backward and forward, between the 
East and the West, Mr. Wright had repeatedly visited 
his mother's brother, Dr. Beebe, at Erie, Pa. There 
he formed the acquaintance of Miss Cordelia Wil- 
liams, daughter of an old merchant- of that place. 



J 




C d^- 




CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP. 



823 



In August, 1847, they were married, and, in accord- 
ance witli a condition exacted by the bride's mother, 
took up their residence in Erie ; but in a few months 
the young wife was prostrated by a violent hemor- 
rhage of tlie lungs, resulting in a lingering but fatal 
consumption. At Erie Mr. Wright was associated 
in i^artncrship in mercantile business with his father- 
in-law, under the firm name of M'illiams & Wright. 
This was continued for about three years, after which 
they opened, at Erie, the first banking-house ever 
established in Pennsylvania northwest of Pittsburg. 
It proved successful, and Mr. Wright retained his in- 
terest in it for about eight years, though in the mean- ' 
time engaged in other business enterprises. In 1855 
he opened a branch of the Erie bank in Third Street, 
Philadelphia, and the business was continued under 
the firm-name of C. B. Wright & Co., Mr. Williams 
retiring from the concern. 

In the year 1855, Charles B. Wright was made a 
director of the Smihury and Erie (now Phihideliihia 
and Erie) Railroad, representing the entire interest of 
the road west of the Alleghenies. In February, 1857, 
he sailed for Europe as bearer of dispatches from the 
United States government to its ministers at London, 
Paris, Rome, Naples and the Hague, and while eugaged 
in the duties of this mis:<ion, and after they were com- 
pleted, he made an extended tour of six months' dura- 
tion on the Continent. While at Nai)les, Italy, he met 
I Miss Sue Townsend, daughter of the late William 
Townsend, of Sandusky, Ohio. After his return to the 
United States he was married (in August, 1858), to Miss 
Townsend, at Sandusky. He then retired from the 
Erie banking firm, (which had been very successful in 
its business), and devoted most of his time and energies 
to the construction of the Philadelphia and Erie Rail- 
road, which was completed in 1863, and leased to the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company. 

During this period the discovery of oil had been 
made in Venango County, and Mr. Wright, with a 
lew associates, commenced the construction of the 
Warren and Franklin Railroad, to run from a point 
on the Philadelphia and Erie line, near Warren, down 
the Allegheny River, to Oil City. This enterprise was 
i|uickly carried through, and the road was consolidated 
with the Oil Creek road, under the name of 
the Oil Creek and Allegheny River Railroad. 
Mr. Wright took sole charge of the finances of the 
company, as also of the auditing department, and he 
had supervision of the other departments. This road 
yielded an immense revenue for seven years, covering 
the period of the oil excitement in that region. In 
February, 1870, Jlr. Wright sold the control of the 
road to the -Allegheny Valley Railroad Company, and 
on the 2d of JIarch following, entered the direction of 
the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, representing 
the five million syndicate raised by Jay Cooke & 
Co. This fund was the first money that went into the 
construction of the road, the amount being subse- 
quently increased to more than twenty millions. 



Since the autumn of 1873 perhaps no one connected 
with the Northern Pacific Railroad has given its affairs 
closer attention than the subject of this narrative. 
When the financial crash of that year fell upon the 
whole country Jlr. Wright was acting in the capacity 
of vice-president. The financial agents had disposed 
of nearly or quite thirty millions of first mortgage 
bonds ; the company had a floating debt of five mil- 
lion six hundred thousand dollars; there were about 
six hundred miles of completed road, including one 
hundred miles on the Pacific coast ; some two hun- 
dred miles could not pay its running expenses, and, 
with hungry contractors, the situation was critical. 
To prevent the creditors from seizing the road by 
foreclosure, through the United States Courts at St. 
Paul, Mr. Wright, with his counsel, took prompt action 
before the United States Court at New York, threw 
the company into bankruptcy, and immediately asked 
for a receiver. The president of the road. General 
George W. Cass, was made receiver, and Mr. Wright 
was elected president. The fortunes of the enterprise 
were at their lowest ebb at that time; the company 
had no credit, and was pressed with debts it could 
not pay. 

By skillful and conciliatory management Mr. Wright 
managed to retire the floating debt, trading the assets 
of the company, of various sorts, with the creditors 
for its obligations. He operated the road with great 
economy, so that it began to earn a steadily increasing 
surplus over its expenses. In 1876, to satisfy the 
people of Washington Territory that the company had 
not abandoned its original purpose of building a 
transcontinental line, he ordered work to be begun at 
Tacoma, on Puget Sound, and the portion of the Cascade 
Branch reaching from that town to the Puyallup coal- 
fields was constructed. It was important to promptly 
disarm the opposition to the company in Congress and 
on the Pacific coast, and Mr. Wright purchased the first 
cargo of iron for the new work on his own credit, the 
company having none at the time. 

In 1877, Mr. Wright secured for the Northern Pacific 
a terminus in St. Paul, an important point which had 
been overlooked in the charter, by purchasing the 
franchise of a local Jlinnesota road, reorganizing the 
corporation under the name of the Western Railroad 
Company, securing for the Northern Pacific Company 
a majority of its capital stock and building a line 
from Brainerd southward to Sauk Rapids, a dis- 
tance of sixty miles. He let this work, purchased 
the rails on his own responsibility, and in less than 
five months opened the connection between the main 
line at Brainerd, and St. Paul, a distance of one hun- 
dred and thirty-seven miles. 

In 1878 the credit of the Northern Pacific Company 
had been restored to such an extent that a plan for 
resuming construction on the main line west of the 
Missouri River was adopted, and ways and means 
provided to build two hundred and ten miles to the 
Yellowstone River. A similar plan was also adopted 



824 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



to construct two hundred miles from the head of navi- 
gation on the Columbia River, on the Pacific slope, to 
Spokane Falls. The whole four hundred and ten 
miles were at once placed under contract and pushed 
to completion. 

In the spring of 1879 the long-continued strain for 
six continuous years had made such an inroad upon 
his physical condition that it became necessary for 
him to retire from his active duties, and, contrary 
to the wishes of the entire board of directors, Mr. 
Wright decided to be relieved from the responsibility 
as president, and on the 24th of May, 1871^ addressed 
the following letter to the board of directors: 

"Gentlemen,— Duty to myself and family compels me to resign my 
position a8 President of the Company. A long-continued strain upon me, 
mentally and physically, makes withdrawal for a time from active labor 
necessary to establish a condition favorable to the success of a critical 
operation which I am advised to have performed for the restoration of 
my sight. 

'* In retiring from the Presidency of the Northern Pacific Railroad 
Company I beg to express my gratitude for the confidence you have be- 
stowed upon me during the entire period since the reorganization, and 
for the kind, considerate and efficient support you have atall times given 
to my efforts. 

"My constant desire has been to si-e the affairs of the Company estab- 
lished upon such a basis as would, with due regard to prudence and 
safety, enable the work of coustiuction to be resumed. And now it is 
highly gratifying to be able to say that the time has arrived when this 
great enterprise may be vigorously pushed, with every prospect of speedy 
completion. 

" The finances of the Company are in a healthy condition. No cash 
liabilities exist, except those recently incurred for materials for construc- 
tion, and to meet these ample means are provided. 

" On the 19th of September, 1873, the Company's bills payable and 
other floating indebtedness amounted to five and a half millions of dollai-s. 
Many of these debts were of a peculiarly sacred charactei', such as wages 
due for labor, the cost of materials purchjised on credit and fur construc- 
tion, moneys borrowed under circumstances that liciuandi-d payment on 
every principle of good faith. There was also a largi' amount due on the 
Pacific coast for wages and materials, which was aftei'wards increased by 
reason of the extraordinary efforts made tu reach Piigct Sound within 
the time limited by law. 

"The larger part of these debts and liabiliiii^^ uf the old organization 
were secured by collaterals, which were of more value than the paiticular 
debts they severally secured ; and so it was for the interest and advantiige 
of the reorganized Company to pay these in order to i>rotect and save 
the collaterals. I am happy to say that all these di-bts and liabilities 
have been settled and wiped out of existence, except that about $40,000 
(the payment of which has been postponed one or two years) has been 
carried to the account of Hills Payable in the new organization. TIk- 
last matter in litigation growing out of that old indebtedness has been 
settled by the payment of $;V)0. Thr present financial condition of the 
Company is a subject on which you well may be congratulated. 

"It is also a pleasure to me to say that my official and personal 
relations with the officers of the Company have been, without exception, 
uninterruptedly harmonious; and to each of them 1 extend my thanks 
and best wishes. Although I resign the olfice of President of the 
Company, my interest in its affairs will never be abated, and its future 
prosperity and final succes.s will remain objects of my most cherished 
hopes. 

"With great respect, I am, 

" Youi-s faithfully, 

"CiiAiiLKS It. WituJHT, Preddent."" 

In June, 1879, Mr. Wright sailed for Europe, 
where he made a somewhat extended tour for the 
restoration of his health. On his return home, in the 
autumn of that year, a committee of the directors of 
the Northern Pacific Kailroad Comi)any presented 
him with a haiidsomely-bouud book, containing the 
following words, beautifully engrossed : 



" The Directors of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company have 
listened with great regret to the announcement by their President, 
Charles B. Wright, of his resignation of that office. While the Board 
have not been unprepared for this decision on his part, they had hoped 
that it might not have been found imperatively necessary, but that Mr. 
\\'right might have been able by temporary absence to have obtained the 
repose needed. 

" It cannot but be a source of special sorrow to us all that the skillful 
and prudent pilot who took the holm in the darkest moments of the storm 
in which our company bid fair at one time to be engidfed, should now, 
spent by his labors for onr enterprise, be compelled to quit the control 
and guidance of the company at the time when he has, by his caution, 
watchfulness and unceasing care, brought us into smooth and clear 
waters, and when every breeze seems to waft prosperity. 

" This Board is deeply sensible of the obligations which both this com- 
pany and ourselves owe to Mr. Wright. From the moment of reorganiza- 
tion he has labored unce;isiugly,and with absolute unselfishness, for the 
common good. lie hivs ne\ er spared himself, nor has he sought for him- 
self either profit or glory. He has even been satisfied not to receive 
honor well-merited for his services. If the company has obtained the 
benefit, he has not cared who reaped the pi-aise. 

" To have successfully brought the company to its present position has 
been a task which required talent of no common order. To rebuild the 
fallen edifice of credit, which, when once shaken, is the most difficult of 
all things to restore ; to combine, as ho has done, a thorough and searching 
economy, with the fidl maintenance of efficiency ; to have preserved 
friendship where it existed, and to have conciliated almost every hostile 
element to be encountered, — these are indeed laurels to any administrator, 

"But the directors are perhaps excusable for dwelling most at this 
time upon those qualities and characteristics of 'Mr. Wright which have 
most strongly come home to themselves. His uniform courtesy, urbanity 
and kindness; his readiness to listen fully and patiently to every one's 
view; his total lack of pride of opinion; hisjustand equal balance of 
mind, have so especially endeared him to tliose over whom he has pre- 
sided fi)r the past years that onr personal regrets are as strong as those 
we feel for the great enterprise we have been laboring for together, and 
which now, for a season at least, loses the guidance of his firm and gentle 
control. 

" Frederick Billings, President 
" Sam'l Wilkeson, Secretary.''^ 

Mr. Wright still (.'ontinuos an active director in the 
Northern Pacific enterprise. He is, perhaps, the 
largest individual owner, and devotes much of his 
valuable time to its interests. He is also president of 
the Tacoma Land Company, which owns the Pacific 
coast terminus of the Northern Pacific road. He 
takes a warm interest in the growth of Tacoma, and 
has recently erected in that city a beautiful memorial 
church as a monument to his deceased wife and 
daughter, and he has also endowed a school for girls, 
bearing the name of the Annie Wright Seminary. 

For the past twenty years Mr. Wright has resided 
during about seven months of each year on one of the 
Chelton Hills, in Cheltenham township, his railroad 
station being that of the old York Road, on the North 
Pennsylvania line. He has at that place fifteen acres 
of land, Avorked and cultivated as a miniature model 
farm. There he has a fine country house and com- 
modious stables, all built of stone and surrounded by 
spacious grounds, beautifully embellished. His Phil- 
adelphia residence is the mansion formerly occupied 
by William G. Moorhead, on the southeast corner of 
Chestnut and Thirty-ninth Streets. 



ANTHONY WILLIAMS. 

The direct line of descent from the progenitors of 
the Williams family in America to Anthony Willijams 




-^^5^ -2 /%-^V ''^^-^ ^/^'wS«^.,2afc-»-z-?-^'^ 



DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP. 



825 



is John (first). Anthony (second), Anthony (third) 
and Anthony (tburtli). 

John Williams was horn in Wales, in ]671. and 
came to America about the time of William Peun's 
advent here. His wife, Eleanor, was born in 1670, 
and died Second Month 21, 1736. John Williams 
died Sixth Month 13, 174U. 

His son Anthony was born Sixth Month 11, 1711, 
and died 1793. His wife, Sarah, was born 1717, and 
died 1758. 

Anthony Williams, sun of Anthony and Sarah 
Williams, was born Ninth Month 30, 1743, and died 
Fourth Month 29, 180.5. He married Rachel Jarrett, 
daughter of John and .Vlice Jarrett, of Horsham 
township. Eleventh Month 2o, 1772. She died First 
Month 12, 1818. They were the parents of seven 
cliildren, all of whom died young excepting Joseph, 
John and Anthony. 

Anthony, son of Anthony and Rachel Jarrett 
Williams, was born Third Month 2, 1785, in Chelten- 
liam township, and resided during his youth upon 
the homestead. After very limited advantages of 
education derived from the country schools near his 
home, he assisted his father on the farm until about 
twenty-one years of age, when he removed to a tract 
of land adjoining the homestead, purchased by the 
latter. On this he erected a dwelling which he 
occupied, and during the remainder of his life fol- 
lowed the pursuits of a farmer. He married Eliza- 
beth, daughter of George Craft and Rebecca, his wife, 
Tenth Month 10, 1811. They were residents of Up- 
per Dublin townshi]!. Elizabeth (Craft) Williams 
was born First Month 19, 1793. The children of 
this marriage are Rachel, born in 1812, who married 
John Hallowell (their children were Williams, Eliza- 
beth and Frank) ; Reuben born in 1814, who died in 
1843, having married Elizabeth Tyson, whose child- 
ren are Lydia, George, Rebecca and Anna; George 
C, born in 1817, who died in 1884, his wife being 
Susan Stokfts, to whom were born children, — Eliza- 
beth, Israel, Frank and Harriet; Daniel, born in 
1820, who died in 1821 ; Rebecca, born in 1822, who 
married Israel Hallowell, and has children, — Mary 
Anna and Henry ; Jane, born in 1827, wife of Hal- 
lowel Twining, whose children are Fanny, Harriet, 
A. Williams and Watson (deceased, the last two be- 
ing twins), Laura, Watson (second), Russell and 
Silas H. ; Daniel, the youngest child, was born in 
1830, and married Priscilla J., daughter of John and 
Tabitha Kirk, of Abington they have children 
Alfred K., Mary K., Edwanl C, Hl)ward H., Walter 
and John K. | 

Anthony Williams was from the date of marriage ! 
until his death, actively interested in the cultivation of i 
his farm, though its management during the later years 
of his life was transferred to his son, Geo. C. Williams. 
He was on all occasions public-spirited and earnest 
in the promotion of the best interests of society and 
diligent in the prosecution of his business, with 



little inclination for speculative enterprises. He was 
in politics a stanch Whig and later a Republican, 
but did not aspire to official position in either town- 
ship or county. As a man of undoubted integrity and 
business capacity, he wieldeda commanding influence 
in the community. Anthony Williams was a birth- 
right member of the Society of Friends and worshiped 
with the Abington Monthly Meeting. His death oc- 
curred Second Month 15, 1868, in his eighty-third 
year, and that of his wife Third Month 31, 1875. 

The parents of Elizabeth Craft, wife of the third 
Anthony Williams, were George Craft, son of Bernard 
Craft, who was born in 1764 and died Second Month 
4, 1798, and Rebecca Tyson, daughter of Joseph 
Tyson . 

Rebecca Tyson was born Second Month 14, 1767, 
and died Fourth Month 10, 1851. 

George and Rebecca (Tyson) Craft, were married 
Sixth Month 10, 1790. 



CHAPTER LIII. 

DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP. 

This township is situated in the northwestern part 
of the county, adjoining l'ii])er Hanover, New Hanover 
andPottsgrovetownshi])s. It also adjoins Douglas, Cole- 
brookdale and Washington townships of Berks County. 
The area is fifteen square miles, or nine thousand six 
hundred acres. The population, as shown by the 
census of 1880, was sixteen hundred and seventy -six. 
The surface is rolling, the soil red shale. The natural 
or surface drainage is good, and perpetual springs 
rise in many jjlaces, forming the head-waters of streams 
known as the Swamp, West Branch of Perkiomen and 
Middle Creeks. There is considerable fall in these 
streams in their passage through the township, affording 
water-power and mill-sites, which are utilized for the 
convenience and advantage of the farmers, many of 
whom are remote from railroad stations. 

In the year 1701, William Penn conveyed to his son, 
John Penn, a tract of twelve thousand acres of land, 
bounded and described as follows, viz. : 

" Beginiiiiig at corner of the Germnn's tract of land on the bank 
of the Schuylkill ami on the east side thereof, and extending north forty 
degrees east :i42j perches to a hickory tree, near the west branch of Per- 
kiomen creek ; thence, crossing said branch, north fifty degrees west 620 
perciies; thence out ; south forty degrees west 3840 perches to the aforesaid 
river, and thence down by the same on the several courses 840 perches to 
the place of beginning." 

Thirty-four years later (1735) John Penn sold and 
conveyed his interest in this tract to George McCall, a 
merchant then residing in Philadelphia. Upon a 
new survey, JlcCall found the tract to contain two 
thou.sand and sixty acres more land than the grant 
was supposed to describe. The price paid was two 
thousand guinea-s. For several years thereafter this 
purchase was known as " McCall's Manor," and 



826 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



subsequently as Douglas township. It appears to 
liave been decreed a township as early as 1741, when 
fifty-eight [taxables were returned to the commis- 
sioners' office, at Philadelphia, as permanently located 
on improved lands therein. In 177() the township 
appears to have been generally settled, as Colonel Burd's 
battalion of infantry troops was credited to it, and 
are referred to incidentally by the Rev. Henry M. 
Muhlenberg, whose journal contains the following: 
" August 16, 1776, — Colonel Burd's battalion, from 
Douglas township, marched past, among which there 
are many members of our congregation from Potts- 
grove and New Hanover, who took leave of me with 
emotion." The |)opulation in 1810 was 687; in 1830, 
941 ; in 1850, 126a; in 1870, 1604; in 1880, 1676. 

In 178-5, the year following the creation of the 
county and before the township of Pottsgrove was in 
part cut off from it, this township returned, among 
other taxable property, four hotels, four grist-mills, five 
saw-mills, one pai)cr-niill, one tannery and one forge. 
Its boundaries then, however, extended to the 
Schuylkill River, and one of the mills and the tbrge 
referred to were located u])on the portion cut oft" and 
known as Pottsgrove township ami Pottstown borough. 
There are three villages in the township, Gilberts- 
ville, Douglas, and Engleville. Post-offices are located 
at the two former, and recently a third post-office has 
been established in the northern part of tlie townshi]i, 
close to the Berks County line, known as Niantic 
post-office. Gilbertsville is a large and flourishing 
village, containing sixty-six dwellings, including the 
hotels and stores. 

Among other industries usually carried on in an 
inland village such as wheelwrighting, smithing, 
plow-making, carpet-weaving, tinsmithing and car- 
pentering, there are also a great many segars manu- 
factured at this place. It is noted as a place where 
frequent public sales of horses and live stock are held 
for the accommodation of the agriculturists of that 
vicinity. 

The following places of public business were re- 
turned by the mercantile appraiser for the year 1884: 
A. L. Bausman, dry goods; • Bechtel, merchan- 
dise; Matthias Custer, live stock; V. B. Emery, live 

stock ; Eschbach, tobacco ; Eshbach & Weand, 

livestock; J. Fegley, merchandise; Charles Kegley, 
live stock ; A. Gresch, coal and lumber ; F. B. (Jeyer, 
live stock ; Jonathan Geyer, live stock ; J. Himmel- 
wright, flour and feed ; Hillegas & Hoffman, dry 
goods; ,T. ,T. Leinl)ach, boots and shoes ; Leidy & Rit- 
ter, live stock; J. Matthias, butcher; H. Renningcr, 
live stock ; F. A. Streiclier, merchandise ; Robert 
Taggart, feed ; Amandus Weand, live stock; Yerger 
& Ritter, butchers. 

The farm land of this region is in a high state of 
cultivation and very productive. Modern machinery 
is generally used by skillful laborers, and crops are 
harvested in a husluindman-likc manner. Among the 
improvements that distinguish this and other town- 



ships in the northern part of the county are the 
substantial residences and commodious barns that are 
the pride of the characteristic German farmer ; most 
of the barns are built of stone or brick, and conspicu- 
ously ornamented, having noticed some located on 
the prominent highways so neatly painted as to 
leave the impression in passing of actual brick-work. 
Public roads traverse the township in all directions, 
one of the main thoroughfares being the Colebrook 
and Limerick turnpike. Other highways of equal 
importance run ])arallel to and at right angles with 
it, all of which are kept in good order and repair, 
with bridges and plank and stone culverts placed over 
all the creeks and streams of any importance to pub- 
lic travel. In recent travels over this township we 
observed that the supervisors fulfill their duties with 
fidelity in keeping in place index boards at the many 
and important cross-roads, — a matter of great import- 
ance to the traveler from a distance. 

Educational. — The common-school system is in 
operation, and increasing in popularity. There are 
ten schools, having an enrolled attendance for the 
year 1884 of four hundred and thirty-two pupils. 
The term taught is five months. The teachers receive 
a salary of thirty dollars per month. The school- 
houses are sul)stantially built, easily ventilated, and all 
have ample grounds for the recreation of the pupils. 
Although the German language is generally s])oken in 
the daily intercourse of the people of this region, 
and the religious worship of the two churches in the 
township is partly conducted in the same language, 
yet all the instruction in the common schools is in 
English. All the teachers employed in this township 
are males. 

Religious Worship. — There are two established 
places of ]iu,lilic w<irship in the township. The one 
known as Huber's Church, Lutheran, is located at or 
near Niantic; there is a large congregation in regu- 
lar attendance upon this church, which is a substan- 
tially-built edifice, with a seating capacity of from 
three to four hundred persons. The present pastor 
is the Rev. L. Groh, who resides in the borough of 
Boyerstown, Berks Co. The burial-grounds are ani- 
jjle, well inclosed, and evince commendable care for 
the many dead who are buried within the inclosed 
grounds. The other church referred to is located at 
Douglas. This church unites the Lutheran and 
Reformed congregations of that neighborhood. 
The i)astor is Rev. William B. Fox. It is eligibly 
located in the midst of an agricultural people and is 
largely attended. The burial-grounds are well in- 
closed, and exhibit that care and solicitude for the 
dust and memory of the dead that everywhere pre- 
vails among the kindly-hearted German people of 
this region. 

Elections. — This township was first created an 
electio:i district by act of Assembly approved April 
16, 1827. The first election was held at the public- 
house of Abraham Stetler. Tiie township was di- 



FRANCONIA TOWNSHIP. 



827 



vided into two election districts by decree of the 
Court of Quarter Sessions dated March 5, 1873; these 
districts are designated East and West Douglas. 

Taxables and Taxable Values. — Number of tax- 
ables, 4(j4; value of iiuprdved lands, $792,335 ; value 
of unimproved binds, $47,r)()0; number of horses and 
mules, 3(il ; nundier of horned cattle, 773; assessed 
value of all cattle, $50,245 ; total value of taxable 
[iroperty for county purposes, $890,140. 



CHAPTER LIV. 



FRANCONIA TOWNSHIP. 



FRANOONiAis situated in the northeastern part of 
the county, joining Bucks County on the northeast, 
and joining Upper and Lower Salford and Hatfield 
townships on the west, south and east. Its area is 
14,875 square miles, or 0520 acres. The surface is 
generally level, but sufficiently undulating to be sus- 
ceptible of surface drainage into the headwaters of 
the Skippack and Indian Creeks, both of which flow 
through the township, atlbrding light but useful water- 
powers and mill-sites. The East Rranch of the Perkio- 
men Creek flows along the northwestern boundary of 
the township. 

The name Franconia is derived from an old duchy 
which afterwards formed a circle of the Germanic 
Empire, and signifies " Land of the Franks," whence 
also France. On Holme's map of 1G82 it is called 
"The Dutch township," from which we infer that the 
Germans were its earliest settlers. 

In 1734 the township contained thirty-four taxables 
and land-holders, neatly all German. Amongst these 
may be mentioned John Fry, 150 acres : Henry Rosen- 
berger, 125 ; .Jacob Oberholtzer, 150; Christian Meyor, 
150; Ulrich Hunsberger, 150; Jacob Hunsberger, .50 ; 
Frederick Gott-^chalk, 100; Michael Ring, 75; Michael 
Hentz, 100 ; George Hartzel, 50 ; Andrew Rarndt, 
75 ; Henry Barndt, 100 ; Frederick Sholl, 100 ; Jacob 
Bayard, 100; and John Wilhelm, 50. Most of these 
have descendants residing in the township. 

Christian Meyor arrived in 1727 ; Frederick Sholl in 
1728 ; Hans Jacob Oberholtz, George Hartzel and 
Ludwig Hartzel, Hans Michael Wilhelm and Johan- 
nes Fry in 1730; aud Jacob Oberholtzer in August, 
1732. These, perhaps, all came from the Palatinate or 
Pfaltz. 

One of the first settlers of the township is said to 
have been Christian Funk, who settled on Indian 
Creek, below the mill of George !S. Reiff. The Bond- 
ers of the township are descended from his family, 
and some of the name arc still in the township. 

Leidy's tannery, one mile south of Souderton, was 
founded in 1780 by Jacob Leidy, grandfather of the 
present proprietor. 



In 1785, there was one tavern licensed, two grist- 
mills, one tannery and two slaves assessed. 

In 1794, George Bilger, a tax collector for that year, 
returned ninety-six owners and occupiers of improved 
lands in the township. Seventy-three of the number 
are assessed for taxable valuables over two hundred 
pounds, and twenty-three for sums less than two 
hundred pounds. 

The tax assessed was for the purpose of " defraying 
the public expenses of the county." The total sum 
of duplicate was seventy-four pounds, five shillings 
and two pence. In addition to this tax laid uiion 
real and jiersonal property, the sum of three pounds 
and ten shillings was laid upon eleven single men. 
This latter subject of taxation seems so remarkable in 
these days that we give place to their names : George 
Hertole, Jacob Landes, John Hunsberger, George 
Cope, Christian Hunsberger, Abraham Rosenlicrger, 
Abraham Mover, Samuel Moyer, Christian Haltcmau 
and Joseph Smith. The law under which these 
young bachelors were taxed was general throughout 
the State at the date of this assessment. Among 
the assessed land-holders of 1794, were John 
Althouse, George Bilger, Henry Berndt, Isaac Bergey. 
Christian Benner, Sanuiel Erode, Cajitain John Cope, 
Peter Conver, George Cressman, Henry Deitz, Peter 
Doub, Abraham Dulp, John Detwiler, Henry Fuhr- 
man, John Fried, Jacob Gerhard, Andrew Hentz, 
George Hertzell, Christian Hunsberger, John Hack- 
man, Jacob Ilagey, John Kiudig, Abraham Klemmer, 
George Kriebel, John Leister, Yelles Landes, Henry, 
Isaac, John and Benjamin Landes, John Leidey, Su- 
sana Moyer, John, Isaac and Christian Moyer, Abra- 
ham Neiss, .Tacob Oberholtzer, Philip Oberdier, Jacolj 
Oberdorf, Isaac, Henry, Christian and Jacob Souder 
George Shoemaker, George Sholl, John Schwertly, 
George Schnieder, Andrew Schwartz, Jacob Wambold, 
Daniel Wambold, Michael Weirman, .John Wilson, 
George Wunderlick and James Yocum. It will be ob- 
served, by reference to the tax duplicate of 1884, 
that many of these family names are to be found, 
doubtless descendants of those named ; possibly some 
may be the progeny of the "Single men," who were 
made the invidious .subjects of taxation, and thus 
hastened in their steps towards married life. The 
number of taxable persons has increased in a just 
ratio with values in this township. In 1734 there 
were 34; in 1741, 59; in 1828, 190; in 1858, 380; in 
1884, 678. The estimated value of all real aud per- 
sonal property assessed in 1794 was $127,470 ; the 
value as returned by the assessor for the year 1884 is 
$1,450,330. The per capita taxable value to each 
person assessed i:i 1794 was $1327, and in 1884 it 
was $2148. The increase in [lopulation has been in 
like ratio,— in 1800 it was 029 ; in 1830, 998 ; in 1850, 
1270 ; in 1870, 1950 ; and in 1880, 2556. 

The last two decades seem to have been the most 
favorable of any in the history of this township; an 
increase of thirteen hundred and eighty souls, in a 



828 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



total population of two thousand five hundred and 
fifty-six persons within a period of twenty years, 
argues well for an inland township. It is doubt- 
less due, in some measure, to the opening of the North 
Pennsylvania Railroad, and the local commercial en- 
terprise and village life brought with it. The fol- 
lowing exhibit, as taken from the return of the mer- 
cantile appraiser for 1884, sliows the capitalized 
energy and thrift of the Fraucouia people. 

H. G. Barnes, live stock ; A. H. Barndt, live stock ; 
C. G. Barndt & Son, hay ; C. G. Barndt & Son, flour 
and feed ; B. C. Barndt, hardware ; Clemmers & Al- 
derfer, flour and feed ; Clemmers & Alderfer, coal ; 
Joseph Derstein, agricultural implements ; Freed & 
Hackman, live stock ; W. H. Freed, butcher ; J. Fred- 
erick, boots and shoes; John A. Freed, butcher ; A. 
H. Gehman,. merchandise ; John Gerhab, lumber ; 
Enos Hagey, boots and shoes; H. F. Hackman, mer- 
chandise ; G. Z. Hunsicker, flour and feed ; S. D. 
Huusberger & Brother, hay ; S. D. Hunsberger & 
Brother, flour and feed; C. S. Hunsberger, jeweler; 
J. \V. Hoft' merchandise; M. S. Kulp, live stock; 
S. D. KotBe, flour and feed ; M. S. Kulp & Brother, 
lumber ; M. S. Kulp & Brother, feed and corn ; M. S. 
Kulp & Brother, hay; J. M. Landis & Co., merchan- 
dise ; J. M. Landis & Co., furuiture; W. Landis, 
butcher ; Abm Landis, butcher ; J. G. Leidy, mer- 
chandise, Moyer& Brother, flour and feed; Moyer & 
Brother, hay ; George S. Reiflf, flour and feed ; A. G. 
Reiff, merchandise ; Samuel Steiner, confectioner ; L. 
L. Sholl, flour and feed; W. M. Souders, lumber; H. 
H. Souders, coal and lime ; A. G. Stover, tobacco 
and cigars; William Wach, butcher; M. D. Zeudt, 
merchandise. 

The villages of this townsliij) are Fnmcoiiia Square, 
near the centre ; Franconiaville, in the soutbern end 
of the township ; and Souderton and Telford, situ- 
ated on the line of the railroad, in the eastern portion 
of the townshi]). The post-offices are Franeonia, Geh- 
man's, Souderton and Telford. 

The ground on which Telford village stands was 
bought, in 1737, by Conrad Detterer from Humphrey 
Murray. It embraces about one hundred and twenty 
acres, the greater part lying on the Montgomery 
County side, and quite early it became an important 
junction of public roads, what is known as the County 
Line road being opened in 1752. Since the location 
and construction of tlie North Pennsylvania Railroad 
it has become an important place of business, sup- 
porting the usual industries of a village, — wheel- 
wrighting and carriage-making, smithing, tinsmith- 
ing, stone-cutting, harness-making, carpentering and 
cabinet-making. Mention may also be made of a 
steam planing-mill, a steam cheese-bo.x factory and a 
steam agricultural repair-shop. 

The County Line Hotel, in this village, was erected 
in 1857, The wash and bake-house still attached to 
the hotel was the first building erected in the village, 
and Jonathan Barnet, still Jiving near the place, hauled 



the first load of stone for its erection. There are 
stores and dealers in lumber, coal, feed, flour, hay and 
live stock, all of which attract to it the patronage of 
a fine agricultural neighborhood. There is also 
located here a large, brick Union Chapel, built in 
1876, used principally for Sunday-school purposes. 
The railroad facilities have made the place desirable 
for residences, and the population now numbers about 
six hundred. 

The village of Souderton is situated on the line of 
the North Pennsylvania Railroad and about twenty- 
seven miles distant from Philadelphia. It contains 
over one hundred residences, with all the industries 
and commercial thrift that mark the enterprising 
towns along this line of railroad from Philadelphia to 
Bethlehem. The Union National Bank of Souder- 
ton is located here. It was established in 1876 with 
a capital of ninety thousand dollars. It has been well 
managed, and is an indispensable institution to the 
community. 

Franeonia Square and Franconiaville are old-time 
land-marks, founded by the opening of hotels, stores, 
mechanical industries and post-offices, the origin of 
which is now scarcely known to the oldest inhabitant 
of the vicinity. The buildings of these old villages 
are plain and substantial, but have about them the 
evidence of the solid comforts and necessities of life 
characteristic of the unassuming and self-denying 
people who po.ssess and inliabit tbem. 

Educational. — There are twelve jiublic schools in 
this township. There were five hundred and thirty- 
six scholars enrolled for the school year ending June, 
188-1; the length of time taught for the year named 
was five months. The salary paid to the teachers was 
thirty-five dollars a month. One of the number re- 
ceived thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents, one thirty- 
two dollars and fifty cents, and one thirty dollars per 
month. Male and female teachers are employed in 
these .schools. The school buildings are plain but 
substantial, with ample grounds surrounding them 
and conveniently located with reference to ])opulation. 

Taxables and Taxable Values. — Number of tax- 
ables, G7S ; value of improved lands, §1,262,290 ; value 
of unimproved lands, 4^27,515 ; number of horses, 518 ; 
assessed value of horses, $39,620 ; number of cattle, 
1051 ; assessed value of cattle, S31,135; total value of 
taxable property for county purposes, $1,456,330. 

Religious. — The Indian Field or Zion's Lutheran 
Church is among the oldest Lutheran congregations 
in Pennsylvania, and was from the beginning entirely 
Lutheran. A log church was built about 1730, en- 
larged in 1766, and gave place to the present stone 
church in 1792, which, in 1868, received for the third 
time a new roof of slate. An organ was procured in 
1820. A fire in 1834 unfortunately destroyed many 
of the old documents of the church. The creation 
of a congregation at Sellersville took away many 
members, but there were still, in 1878, two hundred 
communicants. As a part of the Goshenhoppen 



FRANCONIA TOWNSHIP. 



829 



charge, it has since 1753 been connected with the 
Ministerium of Pennsylvania. Some of the names of 
theearly founders are still represented in thechurcli, — 
Wambold (Wampole), Cressman and Rees. 

The present constitution of the congregation was 
adopted in 18.S6. The existing church record was 
begun in 1753 by Pa.stor Frederick Schultz. The 
earliest pastor known was John Conrad Andraea, who 
came to this country from Zweibruecken in 1742, 
landed in Philadelphia, and soon settled at Goshen- 
hoppen. He assumed charge of Goshenhoppen, 
New Goshenhoppen and Indian Field Churches, 
where he remained until 1751. In that year Lucas 
Raus began service as catechet under Pastor H. M. 
Muhlenberg's direction. He closed his services in 
1752, when the Rev. Frederick Schultz became pastor 
and served until 1763, when Rev. John Joseph Roth 
succeeded himf From 1768 to 1770, Rev. John Mi- 
chael Enterlein was pastor. From that time to the 
present it has been served in connection with the Old 
Goshenhoppen Church, and since 1865 served by the 
Rev. Frederick Wolz, who also has charge of the 
church at Sellersville. 

The Reformed Church on Indian Creek was 
founded in 1753 by the Rev. Jacob Rees, who 
was its first pastor, and began his labors June 3d, in 
that year. Among the founders of the church were 
John Nice, Jacob Arndt, Peter Gerhart, Jacob I^eidy, 
John Schellenberger, John Henry Sellers, William 
Althouse and Abrani Arndt. With the exception of 
Arndt, these families are all represented in the con- 
gregation at present. In 1754 the present church lot 
was purchased of Michael Bergey, and in that year a 
log church was erected. This was replaced, in 1775, 
by a rough-stone churcli, with a hip-roof, which was 
used till 1826, when the third church, forty-two by 
forty-eight feet, also of stone, was erected. The pres- 
ent church, forty-two by sixty-five feet, was built of 
brick in 1879, and is still used. The Rev. Jacob 
Rees remained as pastor from 1753 to 1766, and was 
succeeded as follows : Revs. Christopher Gobrecht, 
1766 to 1772; Caspar Wack, 1772 to 1780; John Theo- 
bold Faber, 1780 to 1787 ; John Michael Kern, 1787 to 
1788, and died; Nicholas Pomp, 1788 to 1796 ; Jacob 
Lenn, 1796 to 1818, and died ; John Andrew Stras- 
burger, 1818 to 1S54; Joshua Derr, 1S.')4 to 1858, P. S. 
Fisher, 1858 to 1871 ; Jacob Kehm, 1871 to the present 
time. The church has a membership of four hun- 
dred. 

What is known as the Leidy Reformed Church, 
is located below Soiiderton, and was built in 
1858. A school house was there and a graveyard 
over one hundred years ago. The school-house was 
also used for public worship. Its members were from 
Indian Creek Church, of which it was for a time a 
part. Its pastors have been Revs. P. S. Fisher, and 
J. G. Dengler, the latter of whom is still in charge. 

The first Menonnite meeting-house in Frauconia 
township was of stone, and built between the years 



1730 and 1750. The second, also a stone house, forty- 
five by seventy-five feet, was built in 1833, and has a 
seating capacity of over seven hundred. The pres- 
ent membership is between four hundred and five 
hundred. Bishop Josiah Clemmer was elected in 
1861. 

The Souderton meeting-house, was built, in 1879, 
of brick, forty-three by fifty-three feet. The Leidy's 
Church was built in 1858. A school-house and 
graveyard were there over one hundred years be- 
fore, the school-house being used for public wor- 
ship. 

Elections. — By act of the General Assembly, ap- 
proved March 16, 1847, the township of Franconia 
was first formed into a separate election district, 
and by the terms of the act the elections were 
ordered to be held at the store-house of Daniel L. 
Moyer. By a subsequent act approved April 26, 
1850, the elections were ordered to be held at the 
public-house of Tobias Gerhart. 

The postmasters of Souderton have been William 
Souder, W. B. Sleifer and M. D. Zendt, the present 
one ; of Telford, T. S. Weird. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



J. TUEMPER. 

The paternal grandfather of the subject of this 
biographical sketch was a native of the north of 
Europe, whence he emigrated to America before the 
war of the Revolution, and settled on the banks of the 
Hudson River, in the province of New York. After 
the close of the war he removed to Philadelphia, where 
he made his home until his death, which occurred 
some years afterwards. His youngest son, Henry, 
engaged in commercial pursuits in Philadelphia, and 
became one of the prominent merchants of the city 
during the latter part of the last, and beginning ofthe 
present century, amassing a large fortune, and retiring 
from business in 1811. He was a large owner of real 
estate in the city, and he also, in company with his 
brother-in-law, Mr. Maley, purchased and owned 
large tracts of valuable land in the Mohawk Valley 
and more western parts ofthe State of New York, one 
of which was a tract of about twelve hundred acres, 
which had been embraced in the Royal Grant of 
"Kingsland"' to Sir William Johnson, and including 
the "Johnson Hall" mansion, which had been the 
home of Sir William and, after him, of his son. Sir 
John Johnson, and which, at the time here referred 
to, was the residence of Mr. Tremper's brother-in-law 
and partner, Jlr. Maley. Within the walls of that 
manorial mansion Mr. Tremper and Mr. Maley de- 
bated their projects, and from it they set out to explore 
the Seneca country and view the rich lands of which 
they became the purchasers. Mr. Tremper, however. 



830 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



did not live to carry out the plans which he had formed 
for the development of his land projects in New i'ork. 
He died in Philadelphia in 182(3. The family resi- 
dence at that time was in the west part of the city, to 
which they had not long hefore removed from the 
house which Mr. Tremper had occupied during the 
years of his active career as a merchant. It was located 
on Front Street, north of Market, Front l^treet being 
at that time the most important street of the city. 

J. Tremper was born in the Front Street mansion 
in the year 1805. He obtained his preparatory educa- 
tion in the principal schools of the city, and after- 
wards studied law in the office of the learned Peter S. 



Seneca Lake, which place was reached in the even^ 
ing of the filth day from Philadelphia. 

Prior to the commencement of the present century 
Philadelphia was the monetary centre of the country 
and the home of the leading capitalists, the principal 
of whom was Robert Morris. A number of Philadel- 
phians, among whom was Henry Tremper, were 
members of what was called the Lessee Company 
(under the old Genesee Land Company), who had 
obtained from the State of New York a great tract of 
nine hundred thousand acres of land, lying west of 
Seneca Lake, and which, with what was known as the 
Robert Jlorris Purchase, extended westward to within 




•3.0 "% 



t^Wv4\AA^ 



Duponceau. Upon the death of his father (he being 
then twenty-one years of age) it was thought neces- 
sary for him to go to the State of New York to 
take charge of the large landed interests there, which 
formed a large part of the estate of Henry Tremper, 
as has already been mentioned. He set out on the 
journey (which at that time was considered a long 
and difficult one) in the fall of 182(5, starting from 
the " Swan " stage-house, in Race Street, above 
Third. The route was by the way of Bethlehem and 
Wilkesbarre (passing the scene of the Wyoming 
massacre of 1778) to Montiose, Pa. ; thence to Ithaca, 
N. Y., and from there to Geneva, at the foot of 



ittle^ 
es of y 



about twenty miles of the Niagara River. The settle- 
ment at Geneva had been made under the auspices 
the Lessee Company. When Mr. Tremper went there 
in 1826 it was still a new town, but many of the settlers 
were people of education, and all were kind and hos- 
pitable. From Mr. Bogert, the resident professional 
agent, and from Captain Remer, the lay agent of the 
owners, Mr. Tremjier received much kindness and 
consideration. Upon his arrival he was pleasantly 
domiciled in the family of Dr. Hazzard, whose man- 
sion was surrounded by a noble farm of twelve hundred 
acres. The adjacent forests, the beautiful lake, the brisk 
young town,* with its genial and hospitable people, 



FREDERICK TOWNSHIP. 



831 



offered attractions which rendered the prospect of a 

protracted stay at that place far from disagreeable to 
the young Pliihideljjhiau. Afterwards he purchased 
a tine farm, having a frontage of one mile on Seneca 
I-alce, with a mansion situated within fifty yards of 
the water's edge. There he made his home during 
the years of his nsidence in Western New York. 

A short time after his removal to (reneva, Mr. 
Tremper was admitted to the bar and subsequently as 
counselor in the Supreme Court of New York, as also 
in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. lu 1838 he 
was appointed by Governor William L. Marcy judge 
of the courts of Ontario County, and at the expira- 
tion of his term was reappointed, but befjre the close 
of his second term, on receiving intelligence of the 
death of his mother, he resigned the office and re- 
turned to Philadelphia to attend to the settlement Of 
the estate. FrOm that time he resided in the city until 
1873, when, to be free from its turmoil and to realize 
his life-long desire for country life, he purchased and 
removed to the property on which he now resides, in 
Franconia township. Now, when just entering on 
his ninth decade, he can review the events of the past 
with much of satisfiictiou in the belief that his long 
life has been well spent. 



CHAPTER LV. 



FREDERICK TOWNSHIP.' 



Frederick towxshii' is bounded on the north- 
west by New Hanover and Upper Hanover townships; 
on the east by Perkiomen Creek, flowing from north 
to south, separating it from Marlborough and Upper 
Salford townships ; on the southeast by Perkiomen 
township ; and on the southwest by Limerick and 
New Hanover townships. It contains an area of 
thirteen thousand four hundred and forty acres, is 
about five miles wide on the northwest border, four 
and threc-ijuarters miles long on the southwest, and 
one and one-half miles wide on the southeast. Its 
centre is fifteen miles distant northwest from Norris- 
town, the county-seat, and thirty-two miles from 
Philadelphia. 

Throughout the townslii]i strong springs issue from 
the slopes and in the valleys, and are the sources of a 
number of streams which flow through and enrich the 
land. Deep Creek falls into the Perkiomen in the 
north, and Swamp Creek from the northwest and Mine 
Run from the south enter it in the south. The tribu- 
taries of Swamp Creek are ( )ld Goshenho]>pen Run 
and Society Run. The surface of the township is de- 
cidedly rolling, verging to a hilly character ; but it is 
well adapted to farming in all parts except in the 
north, where the Deep Creek hills attain considerable 



I By Henry S. Dutterer. 



eminence, and in the southwest, between Swamp 
Creek and Mine Run, where rise the bold and rocky 
Stone Hills. The soil in the western portion, embrac- 
ing the broad and fertile valley between Swamp 
Creek and Society Run, is red shale, easy of cultivation 
and free from stones ; on the plateau between Society 
Run and Old (Toshenho]ipen Run, including the ca.stern 
slope of the last-named stream, being the central part 
of the township, it is a white clay ; and the eastern 
section, inclining towards Perkiomen Creek, is a yel- 
low, sandy soil, somewhat encumbered with bowlders. 
All the tillable sections have been brought by the un- 
tiring industry and thorough husbandry of the inhab- 
itants to a high state of cultivation and productiveness. 
Perkiomen, Swamp, and Deep Creeks possess remark- 
ably interesting and picturesque features. At their 
junctions the sceneiy is notably striking and rugged. 
The sw ift-flowiug waters of these streams, dashing over 
and between smooth-worn stones or falling (jver the 
numerous dams which check their free course, furnish 
beautiful views, worthy of the arti.st's pencil. In the 
past they abounded in fish, and they are yet frequented 
by lovers of fishing from near and far. The primitive 
forest has almost entirely disappeared. On the high 
grounds of the township grow oak, hickory, ash, wal- 
nut, chestnut, butternut, maple, gum, tulip-po|)lar, 
hemlock, pine and spruce, besides the smaller growths, 
sassafras, dogwood, wild cherry, persimmon, spice- 
woods, juniper, sumac, elder and hazel, and the 
blackberry, whortleberry, raspberry, sheepberry and 
strawberry. In wet jdaces the mottled-rinded button- 
wood or water beach may be found, towering to a 
great height. Along Swamj) Creek grows a species of 
hickory bearing nuts of extraordinary size and of 
hard, thick shell. On Deep Creek and its affluents 
spruce and other evergreens grow to the exclusion 
almost of other trees. The land here is inclosed and 
devoted to grazing young cattle, which are driven 
into the pasture — called in the Pennsylvania German, 
Baschtert — in the spring-time and left without fiirther 
attention until fall. 

The villages in the township, none of which are in- 
corporated, are Zieglerville, Frederick, part of Perk- 
iomenville, Klein's or Frederick Station, Obelisk and 
Delphi or Zieglerville Station. 

Zieglerville, in the southern portion, is located on 
the Perkiomen and Sumneytown turnpike, at the 
point where the Great road diverges from it to the 
west, while the turnpike continues towards the north. 
It was, before the building of the railroad, an import- 
ant meeting-point for stage lines. Here the passen- 
gers from Pennsburg and Boycrtown met three times 
each week, and were transferred from small, anti- 
quated coaches to the commodious and stylish omni- 
buses drawn by four or five horses ; and here on the 
alternate days the returning passengers were again 
separated and sent their different ways. The inn, 
located on high ground in the forks of the road, and 
facing to the south, was an old-time house of genuine 



832 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



entertainment to the traveler and drover ; it was of 

breadth disproportioned to its two-story lieight, and a 
welcoming piazza extended before its entire front. A 
modern building of brick has taken the old tavern's 
place. At present the village contains one general 
store, a post-office, two blacksmith-shops, one wheel- 
wright-shop, one tinsmithery, one tannery, one school- 
house, two clothing-factories, one shoemaker-shop, 
one tavern, one saw-mill, one tlour-mill, forty-four 
dwelling-houses and about two hundred inhabitants. 
A lodge of the Knights of Pythias meets here. A 
German weekly newsjjaper, the Wahrheits Freund, 
was published here in 1858. 

Frederick village, on the Great road, near the 
northwestern line of the township, is about half a mile 
long. It contains a post-office, one general store, one 
creamery, one blacksmith-shop, one tannery, thirteen 
dwelling-houses and about sixty inhabitants. The 
Green Tree tavern is located at its lower end. 

The village of Perkiomenville is located in the 
northeast, on both sides of Perkionien Creek, which is 
here spanned by a fine stone bridge. The larger part 
of the population is in Marlborough township. It 
consists, in Frederick, of a post-office, one general 
store, one tavern, an Odd-Fellows' Hall, a creamery, 
wheelwright-shop, eight houses and about sixty in- 
habitants. A lodge of the order of Odd-Fellows meets 
here. This vicinity is a favorite resort for camping, 
fishing and hunting-parties, and during the heat of 
summer the hotel here, kept by Isaac Rahn, is patron- 
ized by city residents, who come out to enjoy the bath- 
ing in Perkiomen Creek and the natural attractions of 
the locality. 

Frederick Station, on the Perkiomen Railroad, is a 
compactly built village of about one hundred and fifty 
inhabitants. It contains a post-office (Klein's), a hotel, 
a general store, a lumber and coal yard, one feed store, 
a clothing manufactory, planing mill, blacksmith 
shop, one segar factory, two grist mills, one saw mill, 
and twenty-one dwelling-houses. Christian Allehach 
has lately fitted up a large hall for the purpose of 
holding religious services in this ])lace. 

Obelisk, in the central jjortion, on the Great road, 
derives its name from the post-office established here. 
In it are contained Keeler's church, one general store, 
one tinsmithery, one school-house, one clothing-fac- 
tory, twelvedwelling-houses and sixty-five inhabitants. 

Delphi is the name of the post-office at Zieglerville 
Station, on the Perkiomen Railroad. The village is 
on the Perkiomen and Sumneytown turnpike. It is 
located at the romantic point where Swamp Creek 
flows into the Perkiomen, at the foot of the rugged 
Stone Hills. The natural attractions here have made 
this a place of summer resort. A fine four-story 
hotel — the Weldon House — has been built for the ac- 
commodation of visitors. The village has one feed- 
store, coal and lime-yard, hay-press, a saw, gri^t and 
oil-mill, one tannery, one brick-yard, seven dwellings 
and about fifty inhabitanf.s. 



The Perkiomen Railroad skirts the southeastern 
border of the township, following the course of Per- 
kiomen Creek, a distance of about one and a halt 
miles. Two of its stations — Zieglerville Station and 
Frederick Station — are in the limits of the township. 

The Perkiomen and Sumneytown turnpike road was 
completed in the year 1847, and extends through the 
township from Schwenksville via Zieglerville to Per- 
kiomenville, a distance of somewhat more than four 
miles. The company was incorporated February 14, 
1845, by act of the State Legislature. At the first 
election of officers, held at Perkiomen Bridge, March 
14, 1846, the following were elected : President, Henry 
Longaker ; Managers, William Schall, Jacob Snyder, 
George Poley, Jacob Johnson, Jr., Abel Kerr, Henry 
Ziegler, Aaron Schweuk, William Worral, Abraham 
Hunsicker, David Beard, Joseph Hunsicker and 
Abraham Steiner; Secretary and Treasurer, John 
Steiner. John H. Steiner was secretary and treasurer 
from 1852 to 1862 ; Daniel D. Hunsicker, from 1862 to 
1866; Abraham G. Schwenk, in 1867; George W. 
Steiner, 1867 to the present date. 

The capital stock is eighteen thousand and fifty 
dollars. This sum was not sufficient to build the 
road, and a debt burdened the company until about 
1875, when the last of it was paid. The company de- 
clared its first dividend in 1876, and has paid divi- 
dends annually since that time. 

The road extends from Perkiomen Bridge to Green 
Lane, a distance of twelve miles. 

The present officers are: President, Abraham G. 
Schwenk ; Secretary and Treasurer, George W. Steiner ; 
Managers, Michael Alderfer, Henry Snyder, Gideon 
Fetterolf, Thomas B. Hillegass, John B. Landis, Jesse 
Cressman, Mark Hiltebeitel, A. H. Seipt, Jacob G. 
Schwenk, William A. Welker, Evans P. Koons and 
J. A. Strassburger. 

The headquarters of the company are at Ziegler- 
ville, where the elections are held. 

Erection of the Township.— Up to 1731 the terri- 
tory now comi)rised in Frederick was without an of- 
ficial name and without a local government. It was 
known as Falkner Swamp, in common with the re- 
mainder of the extensive region drained by Swamp 
Creek and its tributaries. With the influx of settlers 
the necessity of civil authority became manifest. The 
following petition was made as a remedy for this 
want : 

" To tho Wui-shipfull the Justici'S at the Quarter SessioDS held at Phil- 
adelphia for the Ooiiuty of Philad«, the first day of March, IT-W-'il. 

"The I'otition of tlie lohaliitantK liviTig lletween I.irark-k township 
and Perkioniy. 

" Ilniiibly sheweth. 

" That there are Settled a great many families on the North East side of 
LiniriL-k township, between the same & lieblter's township & Salford, 
A are bounded on the northwesterly side with New Hanover township. 
The Tract of Land on which your Petitionert. & many more are settled 
is Suposed to he about Seven miles long & live miles broad. 

"Now forasmuch as your Petitioners' case is such that they think it is 
too great a Circuit for a Constable out of any of the aforcs^ townships & 
Ulso nnconvenient in making and Repairing of highways. And your Pe- 
titionei's living on the s'' Tract of Land are humbly of opinion that it 



FREDERICK TOWNSHIP. 



833 



would be more Convenient for them that the same tract of Land was 
laid out for a Township. 

" Therefore your Petitionei-s, both for the publick good & their own 
Conveuiency, Earnestly Desire that you will be ple;ised to take the prem- 
ises into your jjcrious Consideration, and order a Township to be laid out 
& Established Between the fores'! Townsliips according as you shall 
think fit, And your petitioners shall thankfully acknowledge your favour 
in the premises, and be obliged Ever to pray, as in the duty bound. 



"Georg Pliilib Dodderer. 
William Frey. 
Andrew Frey. 
Han Ludwig Engelhart. 
Baltlias Fauth. 
Jacob Fauth, 
Friederich Reimmer. 
Michael Horricher. 



Gotlieb Herger. 

Johann Ludwich Dederer. 

Thom.is Addis. 

Hauns Michell Doderer. 

Henrich Steller. 

Joseph Groff. 

Hans Crauss." 



Appended to the petition was a draft of the town- 
ship. The court granted the prayer, and made the ! 
following indorsement thereon : "The Petition here- 
unto annexed being taken into Consideration by the 
Court, the Praj»r of the sd Petition is Granted, and I 
the Township is now named Frederick Township." ] 
This simple record does not answer the question 
sometimes asked : After whom was the township 
named ? The name was probably selected because it 
had been borne by the German emperors in the Mid- j 
die Ages, and because the petitioners were, with per- ^ 
haps one exception, of Teutonic stock. j 

Early Purcliasers. — The circumstances connected 
with the taking up of the large tract of twenty-two 
thousand three hundred and seventy-seven acres by 
the Frankfort Land Company, a large portion of 
which lies along the northwestern border of Fred- 
erick township, naturally brought that territory into 
special prominence. The powerful influences put to 
work by the German company, seconded most heartily 
by the proprietary, drew settlers, immigrants from 
Germany, speedily to that vast property ; at first, to 
the banks of Schuylkill, at and about the mouth of 
Manatawuy Creek, and soon after, in much 
larger measure, to the broad valley of Swamp 
Creek. The lower or southwestern part of this 
alluvial plain lies in Frederick township. As 
soon as the impetus given by the organized effort 
in Germany had somewhat spent its force, the immi- 
grant now and then chose for himself land along the 
banks of the lower Swamp Creek and of Society and 
Old Goshenhoppen Runs. Here, beside the clear 
springs and sparkling stream, close to the green 
meadows, he dug a cave in the sloping banks or built 
a rude hut for a dwelling-place. 

Before the arrival of the actual settler, however, the 
choicest portions of land had passed from the pro- 
prietary into the hands of purchasers and speculators 
of England and Philadelphia, from whom the 
pioneers made purchases. 

By patent dated the Sth of Fourth Month, 1703, 
there was granted to Nathanial Puckle a tract of fotir 
hundred and fifty acres, extending from the north- 
eastern line of Limerick into the Stone Hills. 

By virtue of a warrant dated the 21st of Tenth 
Month (December), 171(5, there was laid out to James 
53 



Shattick five hundred acres, part of a great tract 
which William Penn granted to Richard Pearce on 
May 4, 1682. 

David Powell, who, on the Sth of Eighth Month 
(October), 1683, was appointed deputy surveyor by 
Thomas Holme, the surveyor-general, had surveyed 
to him, as " part of three thousand acres of land back 
in the said province (Pennsylvania), near or on the 
Branches of Perkeaw-ming," under warrant dated 
September 10, 1717, two tracts of two hundred acrcg 
each, and on December 7, 1717, a ti'act of one hun- 
dred and fifty acres. 

Before March 25, 1720, John Henry Hagerman 
purchiised of David Powell two hundred acres of the 
four hundred acres surveyed to the latter September 
10,1717 ; this was confirmed to him by the proprietors 
May 23, 1728. Henry Antes purchased one hundred 
and twenty-five acres of this tract in 1735, at which 
date Hagerman was a resident of Lancaster County. 

March 25,1720, James Steel, of the city of Phila- 
delphia, purchased five hundred acres, near a " Branch 
of Parkeawning," from William Clayton, of Chichester, 
to whom it had been surveyed under a warrant dated 
April 14, 1 718, " in full satisfaction of a demand by ye 
said William Clayton against the Proprietary in or 
about the year one thousand seven hundred, for part 
of the land granted by ye said Proprietary to the 
Swansons in lieu of the ground whereon the city of 
Philadelphia is built." On the 17th <•; December, 1728, 
the commissioners of property confirmed this sale. 

October 26, 1720, Hans Neues bought of John Budd 
and Humphrey Morrey seven hundred and twenty- 
five acres (part of the five thousand acres granted by 
William Penn, on the 12th of October, 1681, to Wil- 
liam Bacon), of which five hundred acres were surveyed 
and located on the 1st day of November, 1720, in 
Frederick township, on both sidesof Society Run, and 
facing the Frankfort Land Company's tract. 

Septemljer 1, 1727, the proprietaries granted by 
patent to Henry Pannebacker, of Bebber's township, 
six hundred and twenty-two acres, located at and 
about the junction of Swamp Creek and Society 
Rim. 

Pioneer Settlers. — John Michael Herger, weaver, 
on the 7th of February, 1717, purchased of James 
Shattick five hundred acres. On the 1st of March, 
1726, he sold to his son, Gottlieb Herger, eighty acres ; 
and on the same date, to John George Sprogell, one 
hundred and twentj' acres. Previous to this date he 
had made sales to Martin Funk and Joseph GrotT. 
Michael Herger was naturalized by act of Assembly 
May 19, 1739. He moved to Conewago, where he 
died in 1740. His wife's name was Anna Margaret. 
Gottlieb Herger was a resident of Frederick township 
as late as 1755, or later. John Herger, a resident of 
Frederick townsliip, was born in America on the 6th 
of May, 1721 ; married Maria Salome, daughter of 
Frederick Reimer; died December 5, 1795, and is 
buried, as is also his wife, in Leidig's private cemetery. 



834 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Andrew Frey, mason, on August 5, 171.S, purchased 
two hundred acres of David Powell. 

Henry Grul)h, on the 27th of September, 1718, 
bought one liuudred and fifty acres of David Powell. 
This land was located on the banks of Society Run, 
below the five hundred acres bought by Hans Neues 
in 1720. He died in February, 1726, leaving his real 
and personal estate to his wife, Catharine. On the 
22d of Jlarch, 1737-38, the widow, who had in the 
meantime married Jacob Frick, conveyed to her eldest 
son, Henry Grubb, the plantation formerly of the de- 
ceased, which, by a re-survey, was found to contain 
but one hundred and forty-nine acres. On November 
11, 1734, there was surveyed to Henry Grubb, Jr., a 
tract of sixty-two and one-half acres adjoining the 
I)lantation lately owned by his father. On the 26th 
of April, 1743, Henry Grubb, Jr., and Anna Maria, 
his wife, conveyed to Conrad Grubb one-half of each 
of the above-mentioned two tracts. Conrad Grubb 
and Henry Grubb were naturalized at the April term 
of court in 1743. Susanna, born November 30, 1752 ; 
Henry, born Mai'ch 26, 1755 ; and Jacob, born July 
16, 1757, were children of Henry Grubb, Jr., and 
Anna Maria, his wife. In the private burying-ground 
of the family, beside Society Run, are the stones mark- 
ing the graves of Conrad Grob, who was born Febru- 
ary V, 1715, and who died March 20, 1798; and of his 
wife, Anna Maria Grob, who was born in 1714, and 
who died in 17 78. 

John George Sciiietz was one of the appraisers of 
the estate of Henry Grubb (deceased) early in 1726. 
He owned laud on the banks of Society Run previous 
to this date. 

George Philip Dodderer, of Falkner's Swamp, car- 
penter, bought of Huns Neues, of the Northern Liber- 
ties, on December 22, 1722, one hundred acres, and on 
February 2, 1725, fifty acres, the two tracts adjoining 
and being located on the banks of Society Run. On 
the 29th of May, 1734, he bought from the proprieta- 
ries one hundred acres additional and adjoining his 
previous ownings. He made a will on the 19th of 
October, 1741, and he died on the 6th day of the fol- 
lowing month. His wife, Veronica, survived him until 
1752. Their children were Michael ; Bernhard, who 
settled in New Hanover township ; Anna Elizabeth, 
who married (first) Michael Zimmerman and (second) 
Jacob Korr ; Hieronimus ; Barbara, who married Jacolj 
Markley, of Ski])pack ; and Conrad. Hieronimus, 
son of George Philip Dodderer, died in November, 
1727. He left a widow, Catharine, who shortly after- 
wards married Michael Krause, and two daughters, — 
first, Veronica, born January 7, 1725, married Philip 
Yost, died December 7, 1798 ; second, Agnes, born 
February 14, 1727, married Jost Bitting, died Novem- 
ber 2, 1785. Conrad, youngest son of George Philip 
Dodderer, was born in 1712, and died in January, 1801. 
He succeeded to his father's estate and lived upon it 
all his life. His wife, Magdalena, to whom he was 
married in January, 1732, died August 21, 1797. 



Their children were Christian, Jacob, Conrad (who, 
it appears from the best information at hand, married 
Margaret Pannebacker, daughter of Peter Panne- 
Ijacker, of Skippack, and migrated to Frederick 
County, Md., and there founded an influential 
family), John (a citizen of Frederick tcnvnship for 
many years, who was born November 26, 1751, and 
who died February 1, 1835), Abraham, Catharine, 
Christina, Susanna, Elizabeth and Magdalena (who 
married, February 23, 1786, Peter Qisterlein, of New 
Hanover township). George Philip Dodderer and his 
sons were naturalized by act of Assem blj' passed May 
18, 1739. 

John Nyce, on the 21st of September, 1724, bought 
of his father, Hans Neues, of the Northern Liberties, 
two hundred acres on the west bank of Society Run, 
and fronting on the German tract. He made a will on 
the 5th of February, 1738-39, which was probated on 
the 22d of June, 1743, in which he appointed as his 
executors his wife, Mary, and Henry Antes. His 
plantation consisted of two hundred and ninety acres, 
and liis entire estate, real and personal, was appraised 
at £913 6.s\, Pennsylvania currency. The children 
of John and Mary Nyce were John ; Joel ; Zacharias, 
born December 25, 1735; William; George; Susanna, 
who married Peter Fedelee; Mary, who married, 
March 29, 1748, John Ringer. John Nyce, Jr., about 
the year 1747, married Catharina Halm, and settled at 
Indian Creek ; their children were Elizabeth, Philip, 
John and Abraham ; he died about the year 1756. 
Zacharias Nyce married, in 1756, Margaret Hahn ; 
their children were Maria, born December 13, 1758 ; 
Catharinc.born April 20, 1760 ; Susanna, born March 9, 
1762; Elizabeth, born February 15, 1764; Johannes, 
born June 3, 1767 ; Jlargaret, born November 30, 
1777. They lived in Frederick township ; he died at 
the age of fifty -six years and four days ; his wife was 
buried September 7, 1798. George Nyce, who sue- _ 
ceeded to his father's estate, was a tanner in Frederick ■ | 
township. He married (first) Anna Dotterer, daughter 
of Bernhard and Gertrude Dodderer, of New Hanover 
township ; their children were John, Maria and 

Joseph. He married (second) Fuhrman ; their 

children were George (born February 15, 1760), Jacob, 
Nancy, Mary, Elizabeth, Catharine. He died Decem- 
ber 5, 1789, aged sixty-four years. The name of this 
family is variously spelled, Nice, Nyce and De Nice. 
George S. Nyce resides upon a jiortiou of the original 
homestead. 

Michael Dotterer, of Falkner Swamp, son of George 
Philip Dodderer, on the 24th of January, 1726, bought I I 
of Hans Neues, of the Northern Liberties, one hundred ■ 
and fifty acres on the east bank of Society Run, and 
facing the German tract, and on the 8th of November, 
1734, the proprietaries granted him, by patent, fifty 
acres adjoining the foregoing. His wife was Anna 
Maria Fisher, daughter of Jacob and Sophia Fisher, 
an early settler of New Goshenhoppen, in Hanover 
township. Their children were Anna Sophia, born, 



FREDERICK TOWNSHIP. 



835 



March 5, 1726 ; Anna Veronica, born September 5, 
1727; George Philip, born August 30,1729; John 
Conrad, born Slay lU, 1731 ; Maria Margaret, born 
June 27, 1733; Michael, born October 31, 1735 ; Jacob, 
born July 4,1737; a son, born January 22, 1739; 
twins, born November 18, 1741, wlio died in infancy ; 
Anna Maria, born January 4, 1745. 

George Michael Kuntz arrived at Philadelphia on 
the 24th of September, 1727. He made an entry of 
the circumstance in his Bible (which is still in the 
possession of his descendants in Frederick township), 
in these words : " Den 24sten September im Jahr 
1727 bin ich Georg Michael Kuntz gesund in America 
in der Stadt Philadelphia ankommen." He settled 
on lands along Swamp Creek, and married Eve 
Engelhart, sister to Ludwig Engelhart, on the 1st 
day of April, 1732. Their children were Mary, born 
November 12, 1734, who married John Stetler; Maria 
Catharine, born May 14, 1738, who married John 
Keimer; Susan, born October 24, 1740, who married 
Eudwig Reimer; George Michael, born July 7, 1742; 
Frederick, born July (i, 1744; John, born June 26, 
1747 ; Catharine, born February 9, 1750, who married, 
first, Michael Krebs, and, second, John Richards; 
Elizabeth, born January 12, 1754, who married Jacob 
Zieber. George Michael Kuntz died August 10, 1759 ; 
Eve, his widow, died June 27, 1772. 

John Ludwig Dederer arrived in the ship " Molly," 
from Rotterdam, and signed the declaration on Sep- 
tember 30, 1727. He settled in Frederick township. 
In the book of New Hanover Lutheran Church is 
recorded the confirmation of three of his children on 
the 8th of April 1750, viz. : Zacharias, aged eighteen ; 
Maria Barbara, fifteen ; Anna Maria, fourteen. 

Balthas Fauth was an early comer. In January, 
1728, he was one of the bondsmen on the bond given 
by Catherine Krauss, administratrix and widow of 
Hieronimus Doderer, deceased. 

Jacob Fauth, on the 25th of February, 1728, bought 
fifty acres of Henry Pannebacker, part of his ti'act of 
six hundred and twenty-t\vo acres, and on October 9 
1728, fifty acres of Humphrey Morrey and John Budd. 

Joseph Gro9', " of Parkeyoming, weaver," on the 
25th of February, 1728, purchased one hundred and 
twenty-five acres of Henry Pannebacker, part of the 
latter's tract of six hundred and twenty-two acres. 
Previous to March 1, 1726, Joseph Groff had acquired 
a portion of the five hundred acres purchased by 
Michael Herger on February 7, 1717. April 20, 1734, 
Joseph Grott' obtained by patent two hunched acres 
on the west side of Perkiomen Creek, upon which he 
erected a grist-mill, for a petition was made on July 
7, 1737, for a road from " a grist-mill lately erected by 
one Joseph Groff', at y" upper end of y" s'' township of 
fl'rederick." 

May 1, 1728, Ludwig Engelhart obtained from 
Andrew Frey one moiety or half part of two hundred 
acres. On May 25, the same year, the commissioners 
of property confirmed the title. At the Supreme 



[ Court held in April, 1743, Engelhart was naturalized. 
He moved afterwards to Germantown, where he died 
in 1783. 

Michael Krauss, on the 9th of October, 1728, bought 
of Humphrey Morrey and John Budd one hundred 
and seventy acres on the banks of Swamp Creek. His 
wife was Cathariua, widow of Hieronimus Doderer. 
Their children were George; Mary, married Peter 
Smith ; Elizabeth ; Salome, married Michael Renn ; 
Catharine, married Jacob Beltz ; Daniel ; Michael. 

Henry Stetler was granted, on December 20, 1728, 
l)y patent of the proprietaries, fifty acres of land. 
On June 7, 1729, he purchased of James Steel one 
hundred and nine acres, and on July 30, 1735, from 
the same party, one hundred and thirty-two acres. 
He was naturalized at the September court, 1740. 
Henry Stetler was twice married. The name of his 
second wife was Anna Mary Mayer, widow. His 
children were Anna Maria, married Joseph Kolb ; 
MagJalena, married George Kolb ; Barbara, married 
Peter Binkes ; John, died December 30, 1812 ; Jacob; 
Henry, born in 1732, died May 9, 1780; Christian, 
born February 3, 1741, and died December 5,1813; 
Abraham, Samuel, Susanna, Sophia. Henry Stetler 
died on the 16th of September, 1763, aged fifty-seven. 
He owned a plantation in New Hanover township, 
which, in his will, he ordered to be sold, and his plan- 
tation in Frederick township, upon which he lived in 
his lifetime, he gave to his sons, Jacob and Christian 
subject to the payment of certain legacies. Henry 
Stetler, the son, was a potter, as the following codicil 
to his father's w-ill .shows : 

'* I give to my son, Henry, Stetler one-quarter of an acre of land, that 
is to siiy it is the place where he fetches his potter's clay ever since he 
followed the potter's tl-ade for his own ; he is to have two perches broad 
and ten perches long, to begin at the clay-jtit, or corner-posts, which I 
do set, and so forwards ten perches along the clay ground ; and that he ia 
to have during his life, not longer ; after his death it is and shall fall 
back to the other land which I give to my sons Jacob and Christian, or 
to any one that dwells upon the land lawfully and agreeable to my tes- 
tament; and my son Henry is to lill up the clay holes after he digged the 
clay, fit for the meadow, to mow or to be mowed." 

Henry Stetler, .Jr., left no male children. Christian 
Stetler, sou of the elder Henry, was born February 3, 
1741; married, March 4, 1765, Catharine Kurtz; died 
December 5, 1813. He was the progenitor of the 
Stetlers now residing in Frederick township. His 
wife died November 3, 1826. Their children were 
Hannah, born in January, 1769; Henry, born AugiLst 
9, 1771; Philip, born November 22, 1773; Abraham, 
born June 11, 1780 ; Adam, born October 9, 1787. 

May 22, 1729, "William Frey, of Parkeawming, 
yeoman," bought of James Steel two hundred acres, 
part of the latter's purchase of December 17, 1728, 
located in the western jwrtion of the township. Ber- 
tolet's Mennouite meeting-house stands upon this 
tract. He was the son of Henry Frey and Anna 
Catharine Levering, who were married on the 26th 
of April, 1692, at Germantown, before Francis Daniel 
Pastorius, justice of the peace. It is stated that 



836 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Henry Frey came to Pennsylvania before the arrival 
of Peiin. William Frey married Veronica Markley. 
Their children were Henry, married, January 25, 
1756, Anna Maria Buerstler ; William ; Catharine, 
married John Gesel ; Magdalena, married, October 
16, 1745, Christopher Bans; Veronica, married Joseph 
Miller ; Jacob, born January 1, 1726 ; Christina, 
married, February 16, 1748, Johann Heinrich Seeg- 
ner; Matthias; Salome, married Christopher Hensel ; 
Elizabeth. April 5, 1768, William Frey conveyed to 
his son, Jacob Frey, one hundred and fifty-seven and 
one-quarter acres, and about the same time, to Zacha- 
rias Nyce, the remainder of about forty-three acres. 
He died in the summer of 1768. He took part in the 
religious movement which grew into the Moravian 
Church, and his sons and daughters took positions of 
usefulness in the educational and mission work of 
that society. He is buried beside his wife, at 
Bertolet's Mennonite meeting-house. Many years 
after his death, when the correct date of that occurrence 
had been forgotten, the plain dwellers of the country 
side, void of sentiment, yet sensible of the respect 
due an even, upright walk, placed a stone to mark his 
grave, bearing the epitaph, couched in the dialect 
spoken there, — 

" Zuni 

.\ndeDken .in 

WiLHELM Frey 

Der erste ansitler vun diesein 

landgnd er starb 1770 Beyn 

alter ist uos uubekand doch 

war er hoch beyahrt." 

Veronica Frey, who afterwards was the wife of 
Josepli Miller, sailed from New York, on the 9th of 
January, 1743, for England, in theship " Jacob,'' which 
carried a Moravian company, and she afterwards, 
with her husband, was stationed at the Brethren's 
institution in Germany. Jacob, son of William Frey, 
was a carpenter. On December 17, 1749, Jacob Frey 
was one of twenty-two single brethren, who left 
Bethlehem for Christian's Spring, in Northampton 
County. He married Susanna Sojihia Bertolet, 
daughter of Jean Bertolet, a Huguenot refugee, who 
came to Pennsylvania in 1726, and settled in Oley. 
Their children were : Esther, first wife of Samuel Ber- 
tolet; Elizabeth, married, January 26, 1790, Samuel 
Bertolet (his second wife) ; Magdalena, married, No- 
vember 5, 1792, Johannes Schlichter. 

Henry Antes, an influential settler, came to the 
township early in 1730. His career is sketched else- 
where. 

Frederick Keimer came from the Palatinate. He 
arrived in the ship " Thistle," and signed the decla- 
ration at Philadelphia on the 29th of August, 1730. 
On the 22d of January, 1731, he purchased of Henry 
Pannebacker one hundred acres, and on the 6th of 
August, 1736, of Joseph Groff', forty-one acres, one 
hundred and six and a half perches, both tracts on 
Society Run. On the 29th of March, 1735, be was 
naturalized by act of Assembly. He died early in 



1758. His wife's name was Elizabeth. Their chil- 
dren were Elizabeth ; Salome, born April 15, 1719, 
in the Palatinate, married John Herger, and died 
November 24, 1800; Susanna; Barbara; John Peter, 
married, November 28, 1752, Rachel Zieber ; Johan- 
nes, married, January 23, 1760, Maria Catharina 
Kuntz ; Ludwig, married, September 11, 1763, Susanna 
Kuntz; Anna Margaret ; Catharina; Elizabeth, mar- 
ried Solomon Grimley. 

Andrew Bayer arrived in the ship " Philadelphia 
Merchant," and signed the declaration September 11, 

1731. He came from Griinstadt, in the Palatinate. 
He was naturalized on the 11th of April, 1749. He 
lived on the Perkiomen, near the present Ziegler- 
ville. 

Thomas Addis, farmer, of Frederick township, died 
early in 1732. By his wdll, made January 2, 1731-32, 
and probated on the 14th of March of the same year, 
he bequeathed five pounds to " Saint James' Church, 
between Scheepack and Perchooman, on Manathana 
road side." He left a widow, Catharine, six married 
daughters, the eldest of whom, Catharine, was the 
wife of Henry Grubb, and one daughter, Elizabeth, 
under eighteen and unmarried. 

John Miller, husbandman, on the 10th of August, 

1732, bought of Humphrey Morrey and John Budd 
one hundred and twenty-five acres between Swamp 
Creek and Society Run, at the confluence of these 
streams. He was a practitioner of medicine. He 
was married, in 1732, to Elizabeth Frey, born in 1717, 
and a daughter of Henry and Anna Catharine Frey, 
maiden-name. Levering. Their children were Catha- 
rine, born November 8, 1733, married Henry Happel; 
Salome, born September 7, 1735, married Daniel 
Knauss; Elizabeth, born January 24, 1737, married 
Jacob Eckel ; John, born February 7, 1738 ; Anna, 
born November 2, 1739, married John Marburger; 
Joseph, born November 2, 1740 ; Henry, born May 8, 

1743; Anna Maria, born in November, 1744; , 

died in infancy ; Magdalena, born November 12, 1747; 
Jacob, born November 17, 1749; John Philip, born 
November 17, 1751 ; Christian. Dr. Miller died Sep- 
tember 16, 1755; his widow died in 1758. 

George Trumbauer, by virtue of a warrant dated 
16th October, 1734, had surveyed to him, on the 6th 
of November, 1734, a tract of one hundred acres, 
bounded by lands of George Philip Dodderer, George 
Haan and Gottlieb Herger. Old Cowissioppin Creek 
(Old Gnshenhoppen) ran through it I'roni the north- 
west to the southeast. 

Balthasar Heydrick came in 1734; he was one of 
the colony of Schwenkfelder refugees who came in 
the ship "St. Andrew," and arrived at Philadelphia 
on the nth of September, 1734, O. S., and signed the 
declaration on the next day. On the 26th of June, 
1735, he bought of John Jacob Fauth two tracts of 
land of fifty acres each, which were located between 
Swamp Creek and Society Bun, extending from their 
junction along the former about one hundred and 



I 



FREDERICK TOWNSHIP. 



837 



seventy perches, and along the latter about two hun- 
dred and sixty perches. He was naturalized at the 
April sessions of Supreme Court, 17-13. Balthasar 
and Rosina, his wife, had two children, — Christopher, 
died December 28, 1756 ; George, born September 22, 
1737. Rosina Heydrick died October 23, 1738. Bal- 
thasar Heydrick married (second) Maria, daughter 
of Christopher Hoffrichter, May 15, 1741. Their chil- 
dren were Abraham, born November 5,1742; Su- 
sanna, born October 5, 1745 ; Melchior, born October 
23, 1747 ; Balthasar, born December 29, 1750 (was a 
captain in the Revolutionary war). Balthasar Hey- 
drick died January 12, 1753. 

George Heebner, also a member of the Schwenk- 
felder colony of 1734, settled immediately in Fred- 
erick. On January 28, 17SG, jointly with Henry 
Antes, he purchased twenty-eight acres of land in 
New Hanove^township, for the better accommoda- 
tion of a grist-mill which had been erected upon the 
adjoining land, in Frederick township, of Henry 
Antes. November 5, 1736, he bought seventy-five 
and three-quarters acres in New Hanover township, 
on the Frederick township line. February 24, 1741, 
he i)urchased one hundred acres in Frederick town 
ship previously held by George Haan. He was 
naturalized May 19, 1739. January 14 and 15, 1742, 
a religious conference, led by Count Zinzendorf, was 
held at his house. He died November 3, 1773. He 
left a legacy of forty pounds lawful money of Penn- 
sylvania to the son of his sister Mary, in Germany, 
" for a remembrance of his uncle." His sister was 
married to one J. Christopher Nicolai, at Gorlitz, in 
Lusatia, gardener. One-tenth of the remainder of 
his estate he gave "to the school erected among the 
Religious Society called Schwenkfeldians, to be paid 
to the trustees of the school, to be applied by them to 
such purposes as the plan and articles of the school 
direct." One-tenth of his estate was also " to be paid 
into the alms-box of the people called Schwenkfeld- 
ians towards the relief of the poor among said j>eople." 
Creorge Heebner and Rosina Kriebel were married 
November 22, 1738, and had Melchior, born July 2, 
1742, died December 21, 1744. Rosina Heebner died 
July 25, 1745. He married. May 16, 1749, Susanna 
Schultz, who died November 2, 1772, without issue. 

John Heebner, a brother of George Heebner, also 
came with the Schwenkfelder colony. Before March 
22, 1738, he acquired land in Frederick township, 
near Society Run. His wife's name was Maria. Their 
children were Hans, Melchior (who married Febru- 
ary 11, 1752, and settled in Worcester township), 
Anna. John Heebner, while assisting his son, Mel- 
chier, in taking in the second crop of hay, fell from 
the wagon, and of the injuries received he died Sep- 
tember 17, 1754. 

Daniel Christman, who arrived in Penn.sylvania 
September 5, 1730, bought of Martin Funk and Mag- 
dalena, his wife, on March 27, 1735, one hundred acres, 
and the following day sixty acres. These tracts were 



located in Frederick township and had been pur- 
chased by Martin Funk previous to March 1, 1726 ; 
they were part of the five hundred acres bought by 
Michael Herger, February 7, 1717. Daniel Christman 
belonged to the Lutheran Church; he contributed 
five shillings towards paying for a bell for New 
Hanover Lutheran Church in 1748. His chil- 
dren were Anna Ella, married in December, 1749, 
JohannesGrob, who lived in Coven tr\' township, Ches- 
ter Co. ; Felix, born in 1733, who moved to Vincent 
township, Chester Co. ; Elizabeth, born in 1734; Jacob, 
born in 1737, died in Frederick township February 27, 
1804; George, born 1739, a joiner, lived in Frederick 
township; Henry, born 1744, a saddler, lived in Vin- 
cent township. 

The early settlers were mostly Germans. Their 
descendants and the present inhabitants retain the 
German language in the modified form known as the 
Pennsylvania-German dialect. 

Statistics. — The first official list of taxables of 
Frederick township is furnished in the return made 
by the i>roprietaries' agent, in 1734, as follows: 

Adam Bai'steller, 25 acres ; Michael Bastian, Ludwig Detterer, Joliaa- 
iies Dilbeck, George Philip Dotterer, Ion acres ; Michael Dotterer, 100 
aires ; Ludwig Englehart, 100 acres ; Baltus Fauth, 100 acres ; Jacob 
Fautb, 100 acres ; Daniel Frantz, Wilhelm Frey, 150 acres ; Jacob Fuchs, 
Marliii Fu nk. IW iicres ; Job. Geo. Ganser, Christian Getzendonner, Joseph 
Gi-aaf, 100 acres; Job. Heiu. Ilagetiian, ILK) acres ; Michael Hen dicrks. 
Juliaunes Herb, Gotlieb Herger, 80 acres ; Michael jtlerger, nOiJ acres ; 
Adam Hill, Michael Hill, Paul Hippel, Martin Husiicker, Johannes 
Kraus, 150 acres; Joh. Georg Kraus, 22 acres ; Michael Kraus, 150 acres ; 
Jacob Mecklin, Christian Mijllcr, JohanuesNeus (Nice), 200 acres ; Abra- 
ham Pfenning, Frederick Reyiner, 100 acres ; Henrich Schmidt, 80 acres ; 
Christian Schneider, Joh. Geo. Schwenhart, 100 acres ; Joh. George 
Sprogell, 120 acres ; Henrich Stettlcr, 140 acres ; Christian Stettler, 50 
acres ; Henrich Stover, 100 acres ; George Trumbauer. 

In 1741, Frederick township had seventy-six tax- 
ables. 

In 1785 the taxables were: 

Francis Bard, .Jacob Beniger, Samuel Bertolet, Conrad Bickhard, 
.\nthony Bitting, George Boyer, Henry Boyer, Jacob Boyer, Leonard 
Buyer, Philip Boyer, William Boyer, David Broog, Pliilip Brown, 
Valentine Bull", Joseph Butterweck, Jacob Christman, John De Haven,_^ 
Jacob Detweiler, Conrad Dutterer, John Dotterer, Michael Dotterer, 
Philip Dotterer, John Faust, Peter Faust, John Ferer, Jacob Fingen- 
biuer, Charles Fox, Peter Gable, Mathew Geist, Godshall Godshall, Isaac 
Goschin, Michael Gougler, Connui Grobb, Henry Grobb, Abraham Groff, 
Henry Groff, John Groff, Jacob Groner, Jacob Grnbb, Conrad Haffen- 
ger, Elias Hartenstein, Henry Hartenstein, John Hartenstein, 
.lacob Hartman, Jacob Hauck, John Heebner, Philip Heebner, 
.\nton,v Herb, John Herger, John Hiltebidle, Peter Hofstat, Adam 
IloUenbush, Henry Hollenbusb, Joseph Hollenbush, Balthaser 
Reiser, Michael Koons, Nicholas Koons, Christian Krause, Daniel 
Krause, Henry Krause, Michael Krause, Jr., Michael Krause, 
Sr., Adam Kngler, Jacob Kugler, Francis Leidig, Philip Leidig, John 
Ley, Slartin Lightly, Thomas Mayberry, George Michael, Ueuiy Miller, 
George Moore, George Xyce, Jr., George Nyce, Sr., Zacbarias Nyce, 
Michael (Esterlein, Jacob Pennybacker, John Keimer, Ludwig Reinier, — 
Heni-y Roschon, Peter Roschon, John Rotenbacher, Henrj' Sassaman, 
George Scheffey, Slichael Schillig, William Schlotterer. Ludwig Scbiitt- . 
ler, Frsderick Schwartz, Abraham Schwenck, Daniel Sdiwenck, George 
Schwenck, Henry Smith, Jacob Smith, Benjamin Snyder, Valentine 
Snyder, Abraham Solomon, Christian Stettler, Jacob Stettler, Jolin Sut- 
ton, David Underkofller, Jacob Underkoffler, Jr., Jacob Underkoffler, 
Sr., Adam Wartman, Gottfried AVisler, Nicholas Wolfinger, George 
Woodley, Daniel Yost. John Yost, Jr., John Y'ost, Sr., Peter Yost , John 
Zieber. Jlartiu Zieler, Gottlieb Zink, Tobias Zink.— 114. ^ 



838 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



In 1800 the population was 629, which included 1 
slave ; the number of taxables was 132. 

In 1810 the jiopulation was 828 ; taxes assessed, 
$450. 

The taxes assessed in 181(3 were S475.29. 

In 1820 the population was 927, including 17 free 
colored persons. 

In 1830 the jjopulation was 1017. 

In 1832, the township contained 215 horses, 478 
cattle 10,989 acres under cultivation, valued at an 
average of S20 per acre. 

In 1840 the census showed a 'population of 1217. 
Of these, 229 were employed in agriculture, 8 in com- 
merce, 106 in manufactures and trades, 3 in naviga- 
tion of the ocean, 5 in the learned professions ; 2 
persons were blind and 4 of unsound mind. 

In 1850 the census returned 1431 inhabitants, of 
whom 17 were free colored; number of families, 268; 
number of dwellings, 232 ; taxes assessed, 1862.54. 

In 1860 the population was 1783 ; taxes assessed, 
$915.82 ; farms, 220 ; dwellings, 220. 

In 1870 the population was 1818. 

In 1880 the population was returned as 1944. 

The persons who were appointed to offices in Fred- 
erick township prior to the beginning of the present 
century are given below, — 

CONSTABLES. 
17o4, Henry Kraus anil Henry Hartweck were appointed ; IVrif*, Henry 

Kraus ; 1756, John Unistadt ; 1757, Scbnlidt ; 1758, Jolin Herger ; 

1759, Juhn Hevener, Michael Renn ; 1767, John Jost ; 17G8, George 
Nyce ; 176!), Peter Hauck ; 177(1, Conrnd Giiibb ; 1772, Anthony Houser ; 
1773, George Jlichael ; 1775, John Rymer and George Watenian ; 1776, 
Henry Stetler ; 1777, Adam Ilollobush. Jr. ; 1780, John Heebuer, Henry 
HoUobush ; 1781, Henry Kranss, Charles Zellner ; 1782, Ludwig Reimer ; 
1783, Henry Sassaman ; 1784, John Zieber ; 178.5, Philip Boyer; 1786, 
Christian SteUer ; 1787, Matthias Geist ; 1788, David UnderkofHer ; 1780, 
Philip Leidig; 1790, Peter Roshon ; 17111, John Gougler ; 17!I2, John 

Yost ; 1793, John Nyce ; 1794, Bartolet ; 1796, Fraiicis Leidig ; 1798, 

Jacob I'nderkoffler ; 1799, Michael Dotterer. 

OVEKSEEltS OF HIGHWAYS. 

September 1754, Andrew Boyer and Jacob Whitenian were appointed; 

1755, Felix Lea, Peter Ettlenian ; 1757, John Jost, George Slicliael; 1758, 

George Nyce, JacobUnderkoffler ; 1759, Caspar Achenbacll, Peter Werner ; 

176U, Henry .Smith, Wondel Hoch ; 1767, Henry Boyer, >Iichael Dotterer ; 

1768, Barnet Tytele, Peler HoUobush ; 1769, Ludwig Scdmttler, George 
Boyer; 1770, Philip Boyer, .lohn Yost ; 1773, Christian Stetler, George 
Weickert ; 1775, Jacob Cbristman, William Boyer, Henry Boyer, George 
Schwenk ; 1776, Michael Koons, John Heebner; 1779, Henry S;issanian, 
Philip Boyer ; 1780, Jacob Detwiler, John Zieber ; 1790, Abraham Graff, 
Michael Gougler. 

OVERSEERS OF THE POOR. 
March, 1768, Zacliariah Nyce and Jacob Underkoffler were appointed; 

1769, George Deal, Christian HoUobush ; 1770, Jacob Christman, 
Christian Stetler; 1772, Ludwig Reimer, Ludwig Schiittler ; 1773, 
Michael Dotterer, Jacob Stetler, John Fried, Andrew Trumbauer; 1775, 
Adam Hollobusli, William Boyer ; 1776i, .John Hildebeidel, Henry Kraus, 
Jr. ; 1779, Matliiiis Goist, George Zellner ; 17.S0, Jacob Zieber, Jacob 
Underkoiller ; 1795 Martin Detweiler, Henry Seipel. 

The township officials at the beginning of 1885 
are: Justices of the Peace, George W. Steincr, John 
H. Gottshalk ; Constable, Ambrose S. Kccler ; Super- 
visors of Roads, Henry Bolten, Jacob Welfly ; Asses- 
sor, Isaac G. Grimley ; Judge of Elections, N. W. 
UnderkofHer; Inspectors of Elections, James Bern- 
hard, Jacob D. Daub. 



In politics the views of the citizens of Frederick ac- 
cord with the princijiles enunciated by Jefferson and 
Jackson, and held Ity the Democratic party. For 
many years after the establishment of our present 
form of government and the erection of the county the 
voters of a group of a townships held their election* 
at one polling-place. Frederick township was at- 
tached to that district which voted at Krebs' tavern, 
in New Hanover township. The vote for candidate* 
for President of the United States since Frederick 
votes by itself, from 1832 to the present time, was, — 
1832: Jackson, 113; Clay, 22. 1836: VanBuren, 109; 
Harrison, 34. 1840 : Van Buren, 156 ; Harrison, 69. 
1844: Polk, 207; Clay, 73. 1848: Cass, 216 ; Taylor, 
69. 1852: Pcirce, 216; Scott, 47. 1856: Buchananx 
274; Fremont and Fillmore combined, 34. 1860: 
Breckinridge, Douglas, and Bell, (Fusion), 258 ; Lin- 
coln,65. 1864: McClellan, 289 ; Lincoln, 55. 1868 = 
Seymour, 290; Grant, 96. 1872: Greeley, 219; 
Grant, 95. 1876: Tilden, 310; Hayes, 118. 1880 r 
Hancock, 321 ; Garfield, 151. 1884: Cleveland, 307 ; 
Blaine, 100. 

Churches and Burying'-Grounds. — The early 
settlers were, with few exceptions, Germans, who were 
in most cases driven hither by the scourging wars, 
and religious persecutions then raging in Europe. 
Being pious men and women, they soon formed them- 
selves into religous societies. 

John Philip Btthni, a schoolmaster, as early as 1720, 
" maintained the ministry of the Word, to the best of 
his ability and to the great satisfaction of the people," 
among the Reformed inhabitants of Falkner Swamp. 
From his efforts grew the Falkner Swamp Reformed 
congregation, which still exists in New Hanover town- 
ship. In 1729, Brehm was ordained to file ministry, and 
he continued until 1748 to exercise spiritual care over 
this congregation. In 1728, George Philip Dodderer, 
residing in the territory afterwards erected into Fred- 
erick townshi]), was a member of the consistory of the 
Falkner Swamp Church. In 1742, Frederick Reimer 
and John Jacob Kraus, of Frederick township, were 
elders. In 1747 an event important in the history ot 
this church, occurred at the hou.se of John Miller» 
who resided near the mouth of Society Run. On the 
17th of March of that year Rev. Michael Schlatter, 
superintendent of the Reformed Churches in Pennsyl- 
vania and adjoining colonies, came, by invitation, 
from Philadcliihia, and administered the sacrament 
of baptism to the wife and eight children of Dr. Miller, 
in the presence of several hundred persons assembled 
to witness the solemn service. Dr. ^Miller was at this 
time an elder in the church, and continued to hold 
office until his death, in 1755. In 1748, Rev. John 
Philip Leydich came from Europe, and began to 
labor here, and continued to do so until 1765 The 
Reformed peo]ile residing in the eastern 2)ortion of 
the township connected themselves with the Old 
Goshenhoppen congregation, in Salford township, 
near Perkiomen Creek, which was formed as early 



FREDERICK TOWNSHIP. 



839 



as 1732. Christian Hollobush and Peter Hollobush 

■were among the earliest wlio did so. 

Tlie Lutlieran peoi)le of P'rederici;: township wor- 
sliiped at tlie New Hanover Lutheran Cliurch, located 
in the heart of Falkner Swamp. This congregation 
was organized about the year 1720. It is stated the 
liev. Justus Falkner, a Lutheran minister, preached 
here in 1703; but this occurred probably at Morlatton 
(Douglasville), where the Swedes organized a Lutheran 
Church in 1700, and not at New Hanover, where the 
earliest settlers, according to the records, arrived later. 
About 1734 John Casper Stcever was pastor. In 1742 
Rev. Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg came, and he con- 
tinued in charge of the congregation until 1702- 
Daniel Christman and Michael Herger were of the 
Lutheran faith. 

The means of religious instruction in the primitive 
times, althougk they differed from those of the pres- 
ent day, were by no means wanting. In the year 
1740, Whitefield, the revival preacher, came to the 
house of Henry Antes, in Frederick township, and 
preached to the people, the number assemlded on this 
occasion being two thousand. Seward's journal de- 
scribes this event as follows : 

".\pri! 24, 1740. . . . Came to Christopber Wigners Plautation, in 
Skippack, where many Dutch People are settled, and where the famous 
BIr, Spangenberg resided lately. It was surprizing to see such a Mul- 
titude of People gathered together in such a wilderness Country, Thirty 
Miles distant from Philadelphia. . . . Our dear friend, Peter Bohler, 
preached in Dutch to those who could not undei"stand our Brother (White- 
field) in English. Came to Henry Anti's Plantation, in Frederick Township, 
Ten Miles farther in the Country, where was also a Slultitude equally 
surprizing with that we had in the Morning. . . . There was much 
melting under both Sermons. ... At Kight I was drawn to sing and 
pray with our Brethren in the Fields. Brother Whitefield was very 
weak in Body, but the Lord Jehovah was his Strength, . . . for I never 
heard him speak more clear and powerful. They were Germans where 
we dined and supp'd, and they pray'd and sang in Butch, as we did in 
English, before and after Eating. 

A religious movement of importance, in which 
a number of the inhabitants of Frederick township 
were interested, took rise in 1742 in Pennsylvania. 
Count Zinzendorf came to America in 1741 upon a 
religious mission. Henry Antes, of Frederick, soon 
made his aciiuaiutance. They conferred with reference 
to uniting "such souls out of the ditferent religious 
denominations who sought their salvation through 
Jesus Christ, through the bonds of love," — a subject 
in which they both felt a deep interest. On the 15th 
of December, 1741, a call was issued, over the signa- 
ture of Henry Antes, for a meeting of Christians at 
Germantown on New Year's day. Another meeting 
was held at the house of George Heebner, in Fred- 
erick township, on the 14th and 15th of January, at 
which John George Stiefl'el, William Frey, Andrew 
Frey, Henry Antes and Adam Schaus, all of Freder- 
ick township, were in attendance. On the 7th of 
December, 1742, Count Zinzendorf preached at Falk- 
ner Swamp (doubtless at the house of Henry Antes), 
from Psalms cxxx, 3: " If thou. Lord, shouldest mark 
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" The unity 
movement meeting with opposition from many of the 



Lutherans, Reformed, Mennonites, Dunkers and 

Schwenkfelders, now became a Moravian interest. 
The second week in March, 1745, the Moravian Synod 
met at the house of Henry Antes, in Frederick town- 
ship. A Moravian congregation was formed in Fred- 
erick township wdiich, in 1747, numbered twenty- 
three persons. Of those who were permanently settled 
in Frederick township, the following were connected 
with this Jloraviaii _congrg£ation : William Frey 
and family, Andrew Frey and Henry Antes and fam- 
ily. Of those who were temporarily in Frederick 
township, coming wfth the several Moravian immi- 
grant colonies who passed through here, or working 
for Antes for a time, or engaged at the Moravian 
school, were Abraham Andreas, who learned wheel- 
wrighting with Antes ; Gottlieb Demuth, who resided 
here in 1739; Mary Catharine Gemehle, daughter of 
David Gemehle; John Henry Knauss, weaver and 
farmer, from Gorlitz; Sebastian Knauss, brother of 
the pi'eceding, born in Tittelsheim, near Frankfort-on- 
the-Main, and learned the trade of wheelwright with 
Henry Antes ; John H. MoUer, miller at Antes' mill, 
and Rosina, his wife ; John Michael Miicke, cooper, 
a native of Upper Silesia ; Daniel ffisterlein, born in 
Ulm ; Christopher Pans, shoemaker, a native of Hun- 
gary ; David Reichard, born in Silesia; John Adam 
Schneider, farmer, from Schaumburg-Lippe ; Fred- 
erick Pfeiffer, born in Frederick township; Fred- 
erick Weber, weaver, born in Nassau-Siegen ; Adam 
Kremser and Rosina, his wife ; Adolph Meyer and 
Justina, his wife; Frederick Boeekel, farmer, born in 
Diirrheim, Rhenish Bavaria; J. George Hautsch, Jr., 
from Altendorf, Saxony ; John Turner and Elizabeth, 
his wife; Anthony, a negro, bequeathed to Bishop 
Spangenberg by Thomas Noble, of New York ; John 
George Stieffel, born in Reinheim, Hesse-Darmstadt, 
who immigrated in 1720, and Adam Schaus. At 
present there is no Moravian congregation in Fred- 
erick township. 

The Mennonites have a house of worship on Mine 
road, west of Schwenksville. The congregation was 
founded about the year 1815. Rev. Moses H. Gott- 
schall has been pastor for thirty-nine years. In the 
adjoining place of burial are stones bearing the family 
names: Allebaugh, Gottschall, Grubb, Longanecker, 
Moyer, Pannepacker, Tyson, Upright, Urweiler, Was- 
ser. 

Keeler's church, on the Great road, near the cen- 
tre of the township, was built jointly by the Lu- 
theran and the Reformed congregations. Lewis 
Schittler, Jacob Hauck, George Moore and Philip 
Krause, representing the two congregations, under 
date of June 20, 1833, purchased three acres and eight 
perches of land from the following parties : First, of 
Ludwig Schittler, one acre and eight perches; second, 
of Joseph Keeler and Mary, his wife, one acre ; third, 
of Jesse K. Reifsnyder, Richard K. Reifsnyder, Rein- 
hard March and Esther, his wife, Abraham Mattis and 
Sarah, his wife, Lydia Reifsnyder and Mary Matilda 



840 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Reifsnyder, heirs and devisees of Salome Koons, de- 
ceased, one acre. Tlie consideration named in the 
deed is fifty cents in each case. The building, wliicli 
is of brick, was erected on tlie spot previously occu- 
pied l)y a school-house. The building committee 
were Ludwig Schittler and Philip Krause, of the Lu- 
theran congregation, and George Moore and Jacob 
Hauck, of the Reformed congregation. The corner- 
stone was laid on September 28, 1833, and the church 
was dedicated May 10 and 11, 1834. The Reformed 
deacons at that time were John Dreisbach, Daniel 
Hauck, Samuel Leidig and Jonathan Nyce. The 
Reformed pastors have been Rev. H. S. Bassler, 1834 to 
1844; Rev. Samuel Seibert, to 1851 ; Rev. A. L. Dech- 
ant, to the present time. The Lutheran pastors have 
been Rev. Conrad Miller, 1834 to 1852 ; Rev. Nathan 
Yeager, to 1857; Rev. Henry Wendt, to 1864; Rev. 
Messrs. Struntz, (}roh, Francis T. Hoover and Lait- 
zle, each for a short term, from 1864 to 1869; Rev. 
William B. Fox, to the present time. About the 
year 1848 an organ was purchased. In 1855 a Sunday- 
school building of brick was erected on a lot on the 
hill on the west bank of Society Run, a short distance 
from the church. Within a few years the interior of 
the church has been altered and improved, the gal- 
leries on the three sides having been removed and the 
high pulpit on the southwest side taken down, a 
modern pulpit and chancel placed in the southeast 
side, and modern pews introduced; a neat steeple 
was at the same time placed upon the edifice. The 
cemetery adjoining the church is large, and has been 
several times enlarged. The following families have 
made interments here : Albright, Anderson, Apjjle, 
Bardman, Berks, Bolton, Bowman, Boyer, Christman, 
Daub, Dorn, Dyson, Erb, Faust, Fisher, Franken- 
berger. Fryer, FuUmer, Gaugler, Geyer, Godshalk, 
Greigg, Gresh, Grobb, Grode, Haucli, Hollowbush, Im- 
body, Jolmson, Kalb, Keeler, Keeley, Knerr, Koons, 
Krause, Leidy, Maberry, Meddinger, Messinger, Mil- 
ler, Mock, Moor, Moyer, Neidig, Neifter, Nelson, 
Pannepacker, Rahn, Reed, Reichard, Reifsnyder, 
Roeller, Royer, Samsel, Sassaman, Saylor, Schenkel, 
Schittler, Schmoll, Schwenk, Seasholtz,Setzler,Shaner, 
Smith, Steiner, Stetler, Stoneback, Styer, Sweisfort, 
Thomjison, Tyson, Umstead, Underkoffler, Wagener, 
Weand, Weiant, Wick, YoaJ. 

In 1846 the brick meeting-house known as Ber- 
tolet's was erected on a lot of ground in the western 
portion of the township. It was dedicated on Whit- 
suntide, 1847. It adjoins a private burying-ground in 
use since 1766. A Mennonite congregation, formed 
about the year 1847, worships in this building. Rev. 
Abraham Hunsicker, who was bishop of Skippack, 
preached the first year ; Rev. Moses H. Gottschall 
followed from 1848 to 1872 ; Rev. N. B. Grubb, except 
a short interval, from 1872 to 1882; Rev, William S. 
Gottschall is the present pastor. In the summer of 
1848 the first Sabbath-school in this section of the 
country was opened in this house. Tlie ancient 



graveyard adjacent to the meeting-house lot is in- 
closed with a substantial stone wall, and the grounds 
are planted with evergreens and carefully kept. Of 
those who sleep here, the stones give us the family 
names of Bertolet, Bertolette, Bliem, De Nice, Dot- 
terer, Frcy, Gottschalk, Grobb, Hummel, Hunsberger, 
Nyce, Shoemaker, Smoll, Weidnum, Zoller. Many 
are buried here whose graves are not marked; among 
these are Esterline, Hahn, Grode and Cresar, a colored 
resident of former times. 

The River Brethren, an offshoot from the Mennon- 
ites, have a society which meets at intervals of 
thirteen weeks at the house of its pastor. Rev. Henry 
A. Landis, on Swamp Creek, west of Zieglerville. 
Their name originated in this wise : They called 
themselves Brethren in Christ, and their membership 
was composed of persons residing on the banks of the 
Susquehanna River. In the same neighborhood, not 
so near the river, were the Dunkers, who also called 
themselves Brethren. The common people, to dis- 
tinguish them from the Dunkers, called the Brethren 
in Christ the River Brethren. 

In the early times it was custonmry among the 
leading families to bury their dead on the farm, on a 
spot set aside for this purpose. In the course of time 
the neighbors brought their dead for burial to these 
])rivate grounds. A number of these family grave- 
yards are maintained in this township, others are ne- 
glected and overgrown with brambles and bushes, 
and still others have relapsed into their former uses as 
fields for farming, and traces of them are lost. 

The Leidig private burying-ground is the largest of 
its kind in the township. It contains one-quarter of 
an acre of ground, square in shape, taken from fourad- 
joiningfarms ; is inclosed with a stone wall. It is loca- 
ted in the southwestern part of the township, east of 
Swamp Creek. On the the 17th of January, 1764, 
David Shultze made a survey of the lands of 
Christian Stetler and a draft which shows that was 
the space set apart for the burial-place was taken 
from the farms then belonging to Christian Stetler, Rev. 
John Philip Leydich, Henry Smith and George Michael 
Kuntz. Another quarter of an acre has been given 
for like use by the will of the late Christian Stetler; 
this adjoins the original plot and is not inclosed. 
The wall was built in 1783, at a cost of £36 4s. Sd. It 
was covered with tiles until 1797, when a board cover- 
ing was put on, and the tiles were sold for £2 4s. 5(Z. 
The improvements made in 1795, cost £3415s. 6rf. The 
same year Henry Krauss left a legacy of five pounds 
lor the benefit of the graveyard. The contrilmtors in 
1783 were, — 

£. s. rf. 

Ludwig Eiigolhiirt . :i cl 

Philip Le.ydicli, Sr :! 

Heiiu'ich Schmidt 2 

Casper Achenbach I 10 

Fredorick Kuntz 1 10 

Michael Kuntz . 1 10 

Christian Stetler .... 1 10 

Jacob Stetler 1 10 



FREDERICK TOWNSHIP. 



841 



f ». d. 

.loliaiines Stetler 1 10 il 

Joseph Bittins I 'Z 6 

Frederick Weiss 1 .'i 

Heiurich Sassaniau 1 ."i 4 

Lenhart Leydicli 1,') 

JohanDes Herger II) (I 

Michael Krebs 10 (I 

Jacob Cliristman 7 i; 

George Michael 7 i; 

Catharine Stetler 7 ti 

Benjamin Sclineider 7 

Andreas Will 7 

Philip Leydich 7 

Heinrich Grolj 7 

Daniel Krauss r, a 

David Brncb 4 :s 

Total Vir, i; 7 

The liimily iiaiMos of those l)Liriel lierc, iiicIiKliuo; 
both the graves marked by stones and those without 
stones, are Achenbaeh, Aeker, Bender, Bitting, 
Boycr, Christman, Emerich, Fuchs, Grob, Herb, Her- 
man, Herrigcr, Hoftman, Koons, Krausz, Langbein, 
Leydich, Litecaj), Mattis, May, Mebry, Moor, Neunze- 
henlioltzer, Pannepacker, Puhl, Reifsnyder, Reinier, 
Roth, Sassaman, Scheid, Sehloneeker, Schmidt, 
Schneider, Schwartz, Sehwenk, Seylor, Stetler, Sweis- 
fort, Weisz, Wiilling, Zieber. ' 

The Antes burial-place, in the western corner of the 
township is invested with historical interest, owing to 
the fact that Henry Antes, a man known and re- 
spected all over Pennsylvania in the colonial times, 
once owned this property, and is buried here. It is 
inclosed with a post and rail fence, and it is over- 
grown with young trees and wild flowers. Frederick 
Antes, the tather of Henry Antes, was buried here in 
17413, and Henry Antes himself in July, 1755. Other 
members of the family also rest here. The only 
stones remaining are those of Henry Antes and of a 
member of the Schoelkop tiimily. 

In the middle of a field, in an unenclosed space, a 
short distance north of Zieglerville, on the farm 
owned by Willoughby Smith, members of the Beyer 
family, who settled here early, are buried. 

On the ftirm of Hon. Samuel Faust, in the meadow 
beside Society Run, is a |)rivate burial-place, unen- 
closed, in which are grave-stones bearing the names 
Faust, Grob, Hunsberger, Miller, Reimer, Sehwenk, 
Smith, Walt, Yost, Zieber. 

In Zieglerville, a few steps from the turnpike, is 
the burying-place of the Underkoffler family, who 
were the first settlers here. It is inclosed with a wall. 
The names of those resting here are Cressman, Dreis- 
bach. Long, Scholl, Slotterer, UnderkofHer. 

On the farm of Charles Koch, a mile north of 
Zieglerville, the Bickhard, Hollobush and Millhofi' 
families are buried. 

On the farm of David Wood, west of Zieglerville, 
some burials are made. One is Michael Krause, born 
August 29, 1750, died June 9, 1807. 

Tradition states that the space between Keeler's 
church and the school-house, through which a puhlic 
road runs, was formerly occupied with graves. 



Schools. — The importance of maintaining schools 
for the education of the young has always been kept 
in view in this township. The Lutheran and Re- 
formed Church jieople organized schools contempo- 
raneously with their congregations. As was the custom 
in Germany, schools and churches were inseparable. 
The schools of these two denominations were located in 
New Hanover township and the youth of Frederick, 
in the earliest times, of necessity went there to be 
taught. 

The Moravian brethren, in 1745, established a 
school of some importance. At the meeting of their 
Synod the second week in March, at his home in Fred- 
erick township, Henry Antes offered the use of his 
plantation, the buildings and the mill, for use as a 
boarding-school for boys, and on the 3d of June the 
same year a school was opened with the following 
organization and twenty-three pupils, whose names, as 
recorded in the Moravian archives, are: 

Superiulcrideut^. — Christopher and Christiana Francko of Betlilehem. 

'Putar. — John C. Heyne. 

Managers itf the Farm. — Christopher and Ann JI. Demutli. 

Manaijcrs of the Milf. — John II. and llosina Jloller. 

PiipiU. — Eiias Albreclit, son of Anthony and Catlierine Albreclit, born 
in Philadeljihia County ; Jonathan Beck, son of H. F. and Barbara 
Beck, born in Georgia ; Stephen Blum, Jacob Blum and Francis Blum, 
sous of Fmncis and Catharine Blum, born in Saucon, Bucks Co. ; 
Daniel, a Mohegan, of Shecomeco ; Christopher Dcmuth and Christian 
Deniuth, sons of Gotthard and Kef^ina Demuth, born in Germantown ; 
Tobias Denintll, son of Gottlieb and Eve Demnth, born in 1741 in Sau- 
con ; Emanuel, a negro, from St. Thomas ; Benjamin Garrison, born on 
Staten Island ; Lawrence Hartmauu and Thomas Hartmann, sons of 
Frederick and Margaret Hartmauu, born in Frankford, Philadelphia 
t'o. ; Frederick Klemm, son of Frederick and Susan C, Klcmm, born 
in Philadelphia ; Andrew Klutz and John Nicliolas Klotz, sons of 
Albreclit and Ann M. Klotz, born in Tulpehocken ; Abraham I^Iillerand 
JIary M Miller, born in Milford township, Bucks Co. ; D.aniel Neu- 
bert, son of Daniel and Regina Neubert, born in Holstein ; Conrad 
Schaus, son of J. Adam and Barbara Schaus, born in January, 1738, in 
Henry .Vntes' mill ; Daniel Vetter, .lolin Vetter and Peter Vetter, sons 
of Jacob and JIagdalena Vetter, born in Oley. During the year the 
following also entered the school as pupils: Henry Antes and John 
Antes, sons of Henry and Christina Antes ; Mathias Frey, son of William 
and Verona Frey, born in Falkner Swamp ; Jesse Jones and Levi Jones, 
sons of John Jones, of New Providence township, Philadilpbia Co.; 
Henry Knauss, from Macungie ; .\braham Montanye, son of .lames and 
Mary Montanye, of New York ; Christian Newman, sou of John W. and 
Eliz,abeth Newman; Isaac Noble and Thomas Noble, sons of Thomas 
and Mary Noble, of New York ; 4*eter Schuttelhelm, from Philadelphia. 

In 1750 this boarding-school was discontinued. 

In 1754 a movement was started by wealthy and 
pious persons in London, having for its object the 
opening of schools in the more populous German 
communities in Pennsylvania, for the purpose of 
teaching the English language and spreading the Prot- 
estant religion. The congregations of Rev. Mr. Muhl- 
enberg and Rev. Mr. Leydich favored the project. 
The Lutheran vestrymen and wardens at New Han- 
over sent a petition on the 1st of August to the Penn- 
sylvania trustees of the London Society, and offered 
the use of the new-built large school-house, very con- 
veniently situated in the middle of said township. 
The "ministers, elders and chief men of the German 
Calvinist (Reformed) congregation, and of some other 
Protestant denominations in the township of New 



842 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Hanover," also, on the 2<Sth of October, 1754, sent a 
petition urging the opening of the school. This was 
signed by the following residents of Frederick town- 
ship : Conrad Dodderer, John Philip Leidig, V.D.M., 
John Midler, and Frederick Reimer. The Luth- 
eran, Reformed and other denominations acted in 
entire accord in this matter. The following per- 
sons were suggested as suitable to act as assis- 
tant or deputy trustees for the school for New 
Hanover and F'rederick townships : Andrew Kep- 
ner, Henry Krebs, Lutheran ; Henry Antes, Esq., 
Mr. John Reifsnyder, Calvinist ; John Potts, Esq., 
William Maugeredge, Esq., English. It is not certain 
that this school was actually put in operation ; if so, 
it existed but a short time. 

Parochial schools were maintained by the Luther- 
ans and the Reformed at New Hanover continuously 
during the colonial times. Schools were also estab- 
lished in the communities irrespective of the churches. 
A number of the citizens of New Hanover and Fred- 
erick townships, at a public meeting held on the 28th of 
P'ebruary, 1807, determined to build a school-house 
and dwelling-house for the teacher on the (freat 
road, aliove the township line, in New Hanover 
township. Among the subscribers from Frederick 
township to the cost of the undertaking were George 
Nyce, Ludwig Schittler, Elizabeth Nyce, Peter Daub, 
John Reller, John Dotterer, Francis Leidig, Christian 
Stetler, Michael Kuntz, Elizabeth Bertolet, Jacob 
Gruljb, Michael Albrecht, Michael Dotterer, Jacob 
Leidig, Henry Daub, Elizabeth Snyder, Philip Heeb- 
ner, Adam Stetler, Jacob Nyce, Philip Zieber Daniel 
Sehwenk, John Zieber and George Nyce, Jr. In this 
building was su])ported for forty years a school for 
the education of the youth of Frederick and New 
Hanover townships, under the care of a succession of 
excellent teachers, among whom were the late Adam 
Slemmer, Esq., Benjamin Schneider, John H. Steiner, 
Samuel Hartranft, Jeremiah Grimley and Ephraim 
A. Sehwenk. 

In 1808 a school-house was built upon the site now 
occupied by Keeler's church. It was named the 
Ciharitable School of Frederick township. The deed 
for the ground, containing forty perches, was dated 
December 10, 1808. Michael Kuntz and Salome, his 
wife, were the grantors, and Philip Kuntz, Henry 
Stetler, George Jloore and Conrad Geyer, the gran- 
tees. The consideration money was five shillings- 
A log school-house was built and stood here until 1833, 
when it was rolled some yards to the westward to 
make room for the church. It has since been re- 
placed by a brick building. 

In 1840 the township had four schools and two hun- 
dred and sixty-nine pupils. 

The first board of directors of public schools in 
Frederick township was organized on the 18th of 
June, 1853. Schools were kept open three months in 
the year ; the salary of the teachers, $18.89 per month. 
In 1860 there were 9 schools and 482 pupils ; expendi- 



tures, $1615.39; teachers' salaries $22. In 1870, 9 
schools and 483 pupils ; expenditures, $2089; salaries, 
$33. In 1880, 10 schools and 462 pupils ; expendi- 
tures, $1921.40; salaries, $27.50. 

In 1884 the number of schools had increased to 
eleven, that at Zieglerville being graded. 

The school directors at the beginning of 1885 are 
Jacob G. Grimley (president), George W. Steiner 
(secretary), Samuel S. Smith (treasurer), H. H. Faust, 
George F. Moore, Henry H. Johnson. 

Fredeeii'k Institute. — In 1855 Frederick Insti- 
tute, a classical and day-school, was established by 
the friends of education in the community. It was 
opened in the fall of 18.55 in the brick building on the 
hill west of Societj' Run, near Keeler's church. Cyrus 
F. Guldin, A.B., a graduate of Dickinson College, 
was the first principal. The following academic year 
Rev. A. S. Vaughn took charge. In 1857 it was chart- 
ered by the court of Montgomery County, and a large 
brick edifice, costing five thousand dollars, and adapted 
to the wants of a boarding-school, was erected on high 
ground along the Great road. The institution en- 
joyed prosperity for a number of years, during which 
nuuiy young men were prepared for college and for 
useful occupations. Young women were also taught. 
The following were the conductors from its organiza- 
tion to its close, in 1867 : C. F. Guldin, A.M., Rev. A. 
S. Vaughn, Rev. Charles Radford, Rev. Professor IM- 
A. Richards, Rev. L. C. Sheij), Rev. T. F. Hotfmeier, 
Professor A. P. Supplee and Rev. F. T. Hoover. 

Mills and Manufacturing Industries.— The valu- 
able water-power furnished by the two large streams 
— Perkiomen Creek and Swamp Creek — induced the 
erection of mills almost at the beginning of the arrival 
of settlers, and has been a stimulant to enterprise and 
a source of profit to mill operators ever since. 

Before .lanuary 28, 1736, Henry Antes and George 
Heebner had erected a grist mill on Swamp Creek. 
The site of this mill is still traced by remnants of 
masonry and evidences of the excavation of the 
race, visiljle at the point where the road Irom Berto- 
let's meeting-house crosses Swamp Creek. The 
partnership between Antes and Heebner terminated 
September 14, 1747. It was a "grist mill with two pair 
of stones under one roof." 

Previous to July 7, 1737, Joseph Grolf had erected 
a grist-mill at the upper end of Frederick township, 
on Perkiomen Creek. On the 19th of July, 1753, 
Joseph Grort having died, the executors of his estate 
sold this "water grist-null, and Messuage or Tene- 
ment and Three Pieces orTracts of Land, lyingcontigu- 
ous to each other," to John Groft", miller, of Frederick 
township. A portion of the three tracts, which con- 
tained three hundred and twelve and one-half acres 
in the aggregate, was on the east side of the Perkio- 
men Creek ; the mill was on the west bank. 

Previous to 1759, George Nyce established a tan- 
nery on the Great Road, at the New Hanover and 
Frederick township line, which is still carried on, the 



frp:derick township. 



843 



property being in the possession of John Jacobs, who 
is interinarried wilh a descendant of the original 
owner. 

In 1785 the township had live grist-mills, four saw 
mills, two tanneries, and two hemp-mills. 

Ill ISOU, Andrew Schwartz built an oil-mill, which 
was propelled by Perkiomeu Creek. He carried on 
the oil business man}' years. The mill is not now in 
existence. 

Peter Smith owned two powder-mills, one on Per- 
kiomen Creek, the other on Deep Creek. After carry- 
ing on the powder business many years, he turned 
them into oil-mills. They are now in ruins. 

Jeremiah Roshong owned an oil-mill propelled by 
a small .stream in the northern part of the township. 

Jacob Schwenk had a powder-mill on Perkiomen 
Creek, near Frederick Station ; it is torn down. 

Bertolet's mill, which succeeded Henry Antes', 
but farther down the stream, has been in operation 
and widely known for at least a hundred years. It is 
at this time owned by Henry Grubb. 

In 1832 the township contained three grist-mills, 
si.x saw-mills, six oil-mills, one clover-mill, one powder- 
mill, one tilt-mill, one fulling-mill and one tannery. 

On the map of the township of 1849 the following 
are marked : On Perkiomen Creek, beginning at the 
upper end and coming down the stream, Schwartz's 
oil-mill, Snyder's grist-mill, Johnson's powder-mill, 
J. Schwenk's oil-mill ; on Deep Creek, Sniitli's pow- 
der-mill ; on Mine Creek, Steiner's grist-mill, Weber's 
grist and saw-mill ; on Swamp Creek, going up the 
the stream, Schwenk's oil-mill, Abraham Ziegler's 
grist, saw and oil-mill, Stoneback's mill, Conrad 
Keeler's auger and gimlet-factory, Saylor's grist and 
sawmill, Bertolet's grist and .saw-mill ; Schwenk's 
tannery, on the pike above Schwenksville ; on a 
branch of Swamp Creek, Moore's clover and chop- 
mill ; Nyce's tannery, on Great road, near township 
line between Frederick and New Hanover ; Cope's 
pottery, Neiffer's pottery and Bolton's pottery, all a 
mile west of Perkiomenville ; Jacob Sassaman's tap- 
auger shop, two miles west of Perkiomenville ; Wei- 
and's blacksmith-shop and Shaner's blacksmith-shop, 
near Keeler's ciiurch. 

Green Tree Creamery, located in Frederick village, 
was incorporated October 16, 1880, with a capital of 
two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. The 
present directors are H. H. Faust (president). Dr. F. 
M. Knipe (trea.surer), I. W. Stetler (secretary), Henry 
Wagener, C. W. Markley, J. A. Sweisfort, W. R. 
Moyer, Samuel Richards. 

Coppsr-Mine. — The proprietary government from 
the first kept in view the possibility that valuable 
ores might be found in the new province. The Stone 
Hills, in Frederick, were believed for years to contain 
copper-ore, and the hope is cherished to this day, 
more or less openly, that mineral wealth may be 
found underlying these rocky fiistnesses. The depu- 
ties of William Penn, by patent dated the 8th of 



Fourth Month (June), 1703, granted to Nathaniel 
Puekle a tract of four hundred and fifty acres of land,^ 
fronting on the present northeast line of Limerick 
township a distance of one hundred and fifty-five 
perches and extending to the northeast four hundred 
and sixty seven perches, in the southwestern portion 
of the limits of the present township of Frederick. 
This land was described as rough and unimjiroved. 
Hannah Penn, widow and executri.x of the late pro- 
prietary, brought suit, on the JIth of December, 1723,. 
against the estate of Puckle, who had in the mean 
time died. The sheriff seized this proj)erty to satisfy 
her " certain debt and damages," and sold it on the 
24th of February, 1724, to Andrew Hamilton, Esq., 
of the city of Philadelphia. It was at this time sup- 
posed to contain a valuable copper-mine, and it was 
intended that the tract, " with all its Mines, Mineral* 
and Ore, should be held in sixteen parts or shares by 
the said Andrew Hamilton and other partners." The 
pur(-haser made deeds to Christopher Clymer, Samuel 
Preston, James Logan, Elizabeth Paris and perhaps 
others for their shares, " as tenants in common and 
not in joint tenantcy," on condition that they should 
join in the expense of digging, searching for and get- 
ting of copper-ore, if any could be found upon or 
within the tract. Andrew Hamilton owning one or 
more shares, by his will, dated August 2, 1741, devised 
his interest to his eldest son, James Hamilton, Esq. 
On the 13th of March, 1770, the sheritt'of the county,. 
" to vest the legal title in the premises in the .said 
James Hamilton, devisee," by deed poll conveyed to 
him the entire tract of four hundred and fifty acres. 
By an act of General Assembly passed the 21st of 
March, 1772, entitled " An Act for Vesting a Certain 
Tract of Four Hundred and Fifty Acres of Land 
situate in Frederick Townshi]), in the County of 
Philadelphia, commonly called the Perkioming Cop- 
per-Mine Tract ill Trustees to be sold, and for other 
purposes," all the estate, right, title, interest, claim 
and demand whatsoever of the said James Hamilton 
and other partners of and in the said Land and Mine 
Company was vested in John (xibson, Jacob Lewis, 
Jacob Shoemaker and Henry Drinker in trust to sell 
the premises at public auction. The trustees sold the 
tract in parts to several persons, subject to "a reserva- 
tion of one-tenth part of all ore which shall at any 
time or times hereafter be dug, raised or extracted 
from the premises, and that clear of all expenses, to 
be delivered at the pit's mouth " to the owners of the 
shares. On the 9th of June, 1773, they conveyed one 
hundred and seventy-nine acres and sixty-five perches 
to George Wickard and George Michael ; on the 13th 
of April, 1773, Valentine Sheely purchased one hun- 
dred and eight acres and fifteen perches, for which he 
obtained a deed on the 12th of November, 1773 ; and 
the same year a tract was sold to Matthias Geist. 
The tract of one hundred and seventy-nine acres, on 
the 14th of October, 1784, passed into the ownership 
of Abraham Schwenk. Actual efforts to find ore 



844 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



evidently were made, fur the mouth of the old mine 
is pointed out to the present day. 

"Tlie company," says an authority of more than 
fifty years ago, " opened a tunnel or drift from the 
Perkiomen Creek, extending six hundred and sixty 
feet to a shaft sunk eighty feet deep from the top of 
the hill, and it is said that they took out a large 
quantity of rich copper, but being unfortunate in the 
loss of one or two cargoes which they sent to England, 
they were obliged to abandon the mine after several 
years' hard labor and expending several thousand 
dollars. Previous, however, to leaving it they filled 
up the shaft again and shut up the mine, that the 
treasures of the earth might be hidden from the 
world." 

In 1830 new attempts were made to find the veins 
of copper. A second excavation was discovered 
about ninety feet southwest of the tunnel. A silver- 
plated spur, which was lost in the tunnel by a gentle- 
man from South Carolina, who was in company with 
the late Judge Benjamin Markley, in the mine, about 
the year 1800, was found by the workmen at this time. 

On Scull's maj) of 1750 the Caledonia Copper-Mine 
is marked on the north side of Swamp Creek, in the 
vicinity of its junction with Perkiomen Creek, and 
the Perkiomen IMine is indicated on the south side of 
the Stone Hills ; thus it appears that at that date two 
localities in the township were regarded as containing 
the metal. 

Roads. — The first roads, from one new settlement 
to another, were simply paths through the forest. No 
notice was taken by the owner of the unenclosed land 
of the use made by the few neighbors of his premises 
as a roadway. After a time, as the number of settlers 
increa.sed, it became necessary to place restrictions 
upon the privilege of passing and repassing over pri- 
vate property. Petitions were accordingly addressed 
to the Court of Quarter Sessions, at Philadelphia, 
praying that roads be laid out for public use. The 
petition for the principal road of the township, run- 
ning from the southeast to the northwest, formerly 
called the Skippack road, and now known as the 
Oreat road, was as follows: 

*T<< the Worshipftil the Justices at the County Court of Quarter iSessioin 

held at Philad" the dai/ of March, 1724-5. 

"The Petitions of the Westernmost Inhabitants of the s* County. 
"Humbly showeth. 

"That a road from Farmer'? Mill to & thro Bebber's Township hav- 
ing been lately laid out, Your Petitioners humbly pray that the same for 
the Conveniency of a multitude of Inhabitants, may be Extended to the 
Northern End of Sprogells Tract, where George W'arner's Mill stands on 
Swamp Creek, Issuing from Oley and falling into Parkyemeny, Which 
said road so to be Extended cannot (it's with Submission to be presumed) 
be injurious or detrimental to any, but on the Contrary Extraordinary 
beneficial and Cummodioiis to all the adjacent Inhabitants. In hopes 
and Expectation of the obtaining of which reasonable request, your hum- 
ble petitionei-s sliall gratefully ^ as in duty bound, Ever pray, &c. 
" John Senseman. W'illiam Frey. 

John Kenbein-y. Christian Stetler. 

Anton Henckel. Hironinins Doderer. 

George Wanner. Michael Hiirricher. 

Valentine Geyger. Gottlieb Horricher. 

Michael Krebs. .loseb Graff. 



George filib Dodderer 
Michell Doderer. 
Samuel Mayer. 
Ileinrich Grob. 
Hans Jerg Schietz. 



Yerg Biderhard, 
Baltlnis Fauth. 
Johnickel Adam Engelhart. 
Ilanss Jorg Sprugel. 
Martin Funk." 



A petition was made to the court held on the first 
Monday of September, 1763, for a road from George 
Weickei't's tavern, in Frederick township, to John 
Bargen's mill, " on Perkjomen Creek (late Henry 
Von der Shlise, his mill)," and thence to Goslien- 
hoppeu Church. The signers were : 



' George Weickert. 
Henrich Beyer. 
Johannes Niss. 
Jost Holbusch. 
Weudel Horst. 
Johann Peter Holbusch. 



Killian Gaugler. 
Daniel Hister. 
Vallentine Kungesser, 
Slichael M K Kraus ^his mark) 
Henrich Krauss. 
John Miller. 



Fillip F. K. Crepeller (his mark). George Michel. 
Christian Hepler. Michael Renn. 

John Unistad. Georg Schwenk." 

The petition was granted and a road was laid out, 
but not to the satisfaction of Jacob Underhofller, who 
petitioned for a review and change of course of the 
road, on the ground that " the road as now laid out 
and returned to this court jiasses through your jietrs. 
iuiproved land and meadows, to his very great 
Injury and damage." The return of the reviewers 
being defective, re-reviewers were appointed, and on 
the 26th of Slay, 1764, a final return was made. The 
road began " at Wickart's tavern, on a Great Road, 
commonly called Skijipack road," — without doubt the 
road laid out in compliance with the petition of March, 
1725. 

At the term of court held September 1, 1766, was 
presented the return of jurors or viewers who had laid 
out a road from the Bucks County line to Turkey Point, 
in Chester County, which passed througli the entire 
width of Frederick township from ea.st to west, through 
lands of Stephen Moyer, Peter Honk, John Hevener, 
Henry Grubb, Conrad Grubb, Henry Statler, Jacob 
Statler, Christian Statler, Frederick Antes, Henry 
Antes, William Antes and Falkner Swamp Reformed 
Church lands. This is the road li-om Perkiomenville, 
[ (v'a Green Tree Tavern, to Fagleysville. This highway 
was of great importance at that date and for a long 
time afterwards. Over it passed the heavy teams 
which carried iron from the forges on the Perkiomen 
to Warwick Furnace and other iron-works in the 
vicinity of Pottstown. 

Bridges. — The Perkiomen and the streams flowing 
through the townshiji are spanned by bridges at the 
crossings of the principal roads. At Perkiomenville a 
stone bridge of three arches was built across the Per- 
kiomen in 1839, by the county, at a cost of upwards of 
eleven thousand dollars. An iron bridge over the same 
stream was built at Hendricks' Station, about theyear 
1874, and a stone bridge at Frederick Station about 
twenty-five years ago. A stone bridge over Swamp 
Creek, at Grobb's mill, was, in 1854, erected by the 
county commissioners, Michael Hartzell, Archibald 
Ranes and John Cowden. 



FREDERICK TOWNSHIP. 



845 



The handsome stone bridge over Society Hun, above 
Zieglerville, was built by the county commissioners 
in 1853. A stone bridge over the same stream at tlie 
point where it is crossed by the road from Perkiomeii- 
ville to Keeler's churcli was built about forty years 
ago. 

Taverns. — As early as 1760, George Wickert kept a 
tavern in the lower part of the township. A hundred 
years ago a tavern was kept by a man named Hevener 
on the road from Perkiomenville to Keeler's church 
near where Old Goshenhoppen Run crosses. In 1797, 
Benjamin Schneider was recommended to the court 
for license. The Green Tree Tavern was owned by 
Schneider; it has been the place for holding elec- 
tions from time immemorial ; and has been kept by 
many persons, the most widely-known of whom was 
Joseph Keeler, who conducted it more than forty years 
ago. George Weidman was recommended for license 
in 1772, and from 1777 to 1782; Valentine Boyer, in 
1779; Jacob Kugler, in 1783 and 1785. 

Post-OiSces. — Frederick township has within its 
borders six i)ost-offices, and enjoys daily mail com- 
munication with all points. 

Frederick post-office, the first, was established in 
1837, with Joseph Keeler as postmaster, whose com- 
pensation for that year was 14.61. In 1839, Jonathan 
Nyce became postmaster, holding the position until 
1855, when Abraham Freyer succeeded him. In 
1863, C S. Stetler was appointed postmaster, and he 
retains the office at this date. For the year ending 
June 30, 1883, the compensation of the postmaster, 
was $77.76. 

Perkiomenville post-office was established August 
25, 1854, with Isaac Rahn as postmaster. William 
Ziegler is the present incumbent. For 1883 the 
compensation was S110.53. 

Zieglerville post-office was established October 11, 
1858, with Joseph Ganser as postmaster. V. G. 
Prizer now holds the office ; compensation in 1883, 
$114.88. 

Klein's post-office, at Frederick Station, on the 
Perkiomen Railroad, is in charge of Jacob W. Klein 
as postmaster ; compensation in 1883, $78.74. 

Obelisk jiost-office, on the Great road, in the cen- 
tral portion of the township, was established about 
1881. A. Moyer is postmaster ; compensation in 
1883, $23.21. 

Delphi post-office, at Zieglerville Station, on the 
Perkiomen Railroad, was established in 1884. Its 
postmaster is Daniel W. Stetler. 

Revolutionary War. — The record of the part 
taken in the Revolutionary struggle by Frederick 
township is imperfectly preserved. We know that 
after the defeat of our armies at the battles of 
Brandywine and Germantown, and during the time 
that Washington had his headquarters at Valley 
Forge, this region was largely drawn upon for needed 
supplies, and its people were called upon to contrib- 
ute assistance and render important services. The 



larger farmers, if not regularly connected with the 
army, were impressed, with their teams, into the ser- 
vice when occasion demanded, to transport ammuni- 
tion, stores and wounded ; of the last named, so the 
story goes, a Frederick farmer hauled a load all the 
way from the field at Brandywine to the hospital at 
Bethlehem. During the winter of 1777-78, Washing- 
ton spent several days under the friendly roof of Col- 
onel Frederick Antes, in Frederick township, and 
every morning the Father of his Country walked 
over to neighbor Samuel Bertolet's house to drink 
the water of a noted mineral spring. 

The names of a portion of the persons enrolled in 
Captain Michael Dotterer's company, — unfortunately 
the list is incomplete, — attached to the Sixth Battalion 
of Philadelphia County militia, in 1777 and 1778, are 
given below, some of the members of this company 
performed duty entitling them to pay. Colonel 
William Antes, Esq., a sub-lieutenant for the county 
of Philadelphia, paid Captain Michael Dotterer £321 
10«., amount of his pay-roll, February 28, 1778, No. 3: 

Peter Acker, Francis Bart, Jacob Belts, Samuel Berto let, Conrad Bick 
hart, Henry Boyer, Jacob Boyer, Philip Boyer, Valentine Boyer, William 
Boyer, Jacob Christraan, Jacob Detweiler, Conrad Ilieffenbather, John 
Dotterer, John Geist, Mathias Geist, John Ililtebiilel, Henry HoUobush 
Jost Hollobnsh, Daniel Krause, Henry Kranse, Michael Kranse, Michael 
Kuntz, Francis Leidig, Leonard Leidig, John Ley, George Michael 
Zacharias Nyce, John Keinier, Lndwig Reinier, Henry Siiss;iman, Gott- 
fried .Saylor, Peter Saylor, Georg e Schweuk, Jacob Sclnvenk» George 
Smith, Oharles Solner, Christian Stetler, Henry Stetler, Jacob SteHer 
Jacob Underkofflor, Henry Werner, Jeremiah Wiser, Jacob Zieber, John 
Zieber. 

The War of 1812.— In the month of July, 1814, 
Governor Snyder called out the Pennsylvania militia 
to oppose the advance of the British upon Philadel- 
phia. Captain George Sensenderfer, of the Mont- 
gomery Greens, and Captain Jacob Freyer, of the 
Moutgomery Blues, both of Falkner Swamp, with 
all possible haste marched their men to Fiourtovvn. 
Here they were incorporated into Colonel Humph- 
rey's regiment of riflemen, of which Philip Boyer 
was major, after which they pushed on to Philadel- 
phia, and thence to Camp Dupont, on the Delaware. 
On the 24th of December, 1814, they were mustered, 
inspected and dismissed. There was much suffering 
from cold experienced by the soldiers, who had left 
their homes in warm weather and had not been sup- 
plied with winter clothing. Among those from 
Frederick township were the following in Captain 
Freyer's company: 

Jacob Bartman, Samuel Detwiler, Conrad Dotterer, John Dotterer, 
Sanuiel Esterline (bugler), John Gougler, George Hanck, Jacob Huns- 
berger, Lewis Jones, Leonard Schuler, Henry Yost, John Yost, Peter 
Yost. 

War of the Rebellion.— During the late civil 
war, 1861-65, the following Frederick township men 
volunteered their services to the United States gov- 
ernment. 

Henry S. Acker, John C. Anderson, Daniel Bardman, Jacob Batzel, 
Abraham Bergey, John Berry, Jones Boyer, Peter S. Boyer, Jacob W. 
Dechant, Henry Edelnian, Aaron Faust, John E. Faust, Mahlon Faust 
laajic Freese, Leopold Gastinger, Jacob S. Gross, John W. Hauck, Nathan 



«46 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



B. Hauck, Abraham Herman, Mahlou llerpel, Henry G. Hunter, Joha 
Huzzard, Jacob Johnson, Edward Kepp, Adam N. Keyser, Jesse N. Key- 
ser, Milton Krause, Samuel Ijeidig, Albert S. Leidig, George Maek, 
Jacob W. Markley, George 3Ieng, Adam Moyer, Augustus G, Nelffer, 
John G. Neiffer, John Neiman, Samuel E. Nyce, John I'oh, Daniell^ool, 
John Pool, John Reiter, Dr. K. B. Rhoades (surgeon), Oliver Roshong, 
Henry Sassaman, Jacob Sassaman, Samuel Schlottercr, David Scholl, 
J. J. Scholl, Franklin Schuler, John K. Schwenk, Jolin Sloop, Jacob 
Smitli, William Stuckey, Henry Styer, Harrison Weand, Jacob Weise' 
Adam AA'ensel, Leopold Wetzel, Aaron Wick, Christian Wick, Jesse Wil- 
lauer. 

Henry Antes. — -One of the pioneer settlers of 
Peonsylvania, who wielded an inHuence — and wielded 
it for good — in the att'airs of the colony during the 
thirty years between 1725 and 1755, the story of whose 
life is little known, was Henry Antes. 

He was the sou of Frederick and Anna Catherine 
Antes, and was born in Europe in 1701. The earliest 
record found concerning the Anteses in this country 
is a deed, dated the 20th of February, 1723, for one 
hundred and fifty-four acres of land in Philadelphia 
County, purchased by Frederick Anttos, of German- 
town, from Henerick Van Bebber, described as jiart 
of the " tract of twenty-two thousand three hundred 
and seventy-seven acres in Mahanitania," in the 
present township of New Hanover. Frederick Antes 
died in the latter part of the year 1746, leaving a wife 
and two children — the son, Henry, and a daughter 
named Ann Elizabeth, who was the wife of John 
Eschbach. It is believed that Henry Antes was born 
in Freinsheini, a town of two thousand inhabitants, 
in Rhenish Bavaria. On the 2d of February, 1726, 
after three regular notices given, Henry Antes and 
Christiana Elizabetha, daughter of William Dewees 
were married at Whitemarsh by John Philip Boehm, 
pastor of the German Reformed Church in Pennsyl- 
vania. The precise date at which Antes took up his 
residence in Frederick is not known. On the 2d of 
February, 1730, he is described as a resident of Han- 
over township, the name at that time sometimes 
applied to the territory afterwards erected into Fred- 
erick, a.s well as to the Frankfort Land Company's 
tract. Previous to this he, with his father-in-law, 
had built a grist-mill and paper-mill at Crefeld, Ger- 
mantown. In 1730 he was naturalized. On the 2d 
day of September, 1735, Henry Antes, of Frederick 
township, millwright, bought of John Hagerman, of 
Lancaster County, weaver, one hundred and seventy- 
five acres of land " near the branches of the Perkeaw- 
ming," in Frederick township, paying therefor two 
hundred pounds, lawful money of the province; 
bounded by lands of William Frey and Henry 
Stadler, land late of Andrew Frey and vacant lands. 
Upon this tract Mr. Antes resided during the remain- 
der of his life, except when temporarily called away. 
Upon this property, the same year, he built, in part- 
nership with George Heebner, a grist-mill. This 
grist-mill, located on Swamp Creek, was the first in 
this neighborhood. Prior to its erection the primitive 
settlers were obliged to send their grain to the Wissa- 
hickon to be ground. A tradition, handed down from 



one of the first settlers here, avers that it was custom- 
ary to send the Indians of the locality to Wissahickon, 
distant twenty-five miles, to mill. They would start 
on the journey in the evening and return the next 
day, bringing the flour in exchange for the grain. For 
this service a small quantity of tobacco or some other 
slight compensation was given. By virtue of a war- 
rant dated March 25, 1741, a tract of ninety-six and 
three-quarters acres of land in that portion of Lim- 
erick township, now included in New Hanover, was 
surveyed to Henry Antes. 

These transactions show the activity of Mr. Antes 
during the early years of his manhood. He was a 
man of tall stature and strong physique. " He was 
remarkable," says one of his descendants, "for being 
in appearance and dress an enormous Dutch farmer, 
and in language and manners a courtier of the 
ancien rigime." He was a pioneer in the true sense 
of the word. He explored the wilderness, and ac- 
quainted himself with the streams and the character 
of the country. He knew the paths and Indian trails 
of interior Pennsylvania. The Indians themselves 
were his neighbors, and he learned their habits and 
peculiarities. He was adept in woodcraft, under- 
stood the varieties of soil, knew the value of water- 
courses and how to utilize them, instructed the new- 
comers from Europe how to " clear " their lands, and 
pointed out to them the springs beside which to 
build their rude habitations, on a site sheltered by 
a knoll from the bitter blasts of winter. His services 
were called into requisition in the selection of lands, 
the negotiation of purchases, the drawing of wills 
and the .settling of estates. His prudence and in- 
tegrity in the performance of duties requiring ac- 
quaintance with legal formalities and knowledge of 
financial matters were recognized throughout the 
length and breadth of the then limited bounds of the 
inhabited parts of the province. 

In matters of religion he displayed the same ac- 
tivity and earnestness that marked his business habits. 
He was a man of decided convictions and sincere 
piety, and he was an earnest supporter of the move- 
ments of his time for the advancement of the Chris- 
tian religion. He had received careful training in 
youtli in Europe. Mr. Badim, in 1742 wrote : " Un- 
der the clear light of the Gospel was he born, holy 
baptism did he receive, through which he entered the 
covenant which He has made for the faithful ; this 
covenant, I doubt not, was explained according to 
the word of God (for I knew his zealous and faithful 
instructor well) at his first participation in the Holy 
Communion." In the spring of 1736 he became 
acquainted with Spangenberg, founder of the Mora- 
vian Church in America, who was sojourning among 
the Schwenkfelders in Skippack. The friendship be- 
tween him and the mild and godly Spangenberg en- 
dured to the end of their lives. Antes, John Bechtel, 
Adam Gruber, Stiefiel and others were in the habit of 
going, once in four weeks, on a visit to Spangenberg, 



FKKDERICK TOWNSHIP. 



847 



who made his home with Christopher Wiegner, and 
there they " enjoyed many blessed hours together." 
" Although but a layman," says another writer con- 
•cerning Antes, " he undertook to instruct his fellow- 
countrymen in the province in the way of life, calling 
them together in their houses for singing, for prayer, 
for reading the Scriptures and for exhortation. Thus 
we find him employed in the populous district of 
Oley as early as 1736." His home was made a centre 
for religious eftbrts. On the 24th of April, 1740, 
Whitefield preached here in England. Rev. Dr. 
Dubbs places Antes before us in this connection 
thus : 

" He stood by the side of AVhitefield, 

And prayed in the German tongue 

When the clarion voice of the preacher 

O'er the hills of Frederick rung. 

They knew not each other's language, 

Nor did they need it then ; 

For the one cried, Hallelujah ! 

And the other said. Amen ! " 

On the following day, April 25th, Bohler and Seyf- 
fert, of the Moravians, with Henry Antes as guide, 
started from Antes' house to view a tract of five thou- 
sand acres of land in the Forks of the Delaware, which 
AVhitefield had purchased some time before, and which 
the Moravians afterwards bought and settled upon. 
On Saturday, April 2Gth, the three explorers found 
themselves at an extensive Indian village, upon the 
spot where Nazareth now stands, and spent the night 
there in the woods. From this time forward Antes 
was closely identified with the Moravians in their 
spiritual and temporal affairs. Up to 1740 he con- 
tinued a member of the Falkner Swamp Reformed 
Church, in the charge of Rev. ^Mr. Boehra. At this time 
a difierenee arose between pastor and parishioner 
which resulted in alienation. In 1741, Antes became 
acquainted with Count Zinzendorf, whose labors are 
referred to in another portion of this article. In 1742, 
Antes assisted the Moravians in building the first 
large house, called the " Gemein-Haus," in Bethle- 
hem. It was built of logs. " Not only," says one of 
the brethren, "did he aid them with his own hands 
upon this house, but also with money and advice." 
He also assisted in buildingthe grist-mills in and about 
Bethlehem, the grist-mill at Friedensthal and the grist 
and saw-mill at GnadenhUtten. The colony of Mora- 
vian immigrants w'ho came in the " Catherine " ar- 
rived at the house of Henry Antes, in Frederick, 
towards evening on the 19th of July, 1742, and lodged 
there that night. This company numbered fifty-six souls. 
In November, 1744, Henry Antes presided at a Synod 
of the Moravian brethren, held in what is now North 
Heidelberg township. On the 21st of March, 1745, 
he attended a large church council at Muddy Creek. 
The second week in March, 1745, the Moravian Synod 
was in session at his house in Frederick. At this 
meeting the arrangements were made for establishing 
a boarding-school for boys (described elsewhere) on 
the plantation of Antes. He now moved to Bethle- 



hem with his family, excepting two sons, who remained 
at the school. December 15, 1746, he was appointed 
a justice of the peace for Bucks County, and under 
date of June 30, 1749, he was reappointed to the same 
office in the same county. He was sent, in 1746, as a 
deputy from Bethlehem, at the demand of the govern- 
ment, to be publicly examined in regard to an accu- 
sation made against the Brethren to the effect that 
they had three thousand stand of arms for the use of 
the Indians who should join the French in making 
inroads into Pennsylvania. The examination resulted 
in proving the entire innocence of the accused. On 
the 18th of February, 1748, the proprietaries granted 
to Henry Antes, Esq., for the use of the Brethren, 
license to construct a ferry, for a period of seven years, 
over the West Brauch of the river Delaware, on the 
high road leading from Philadelphia to the Minisinks, 
and from thence to the northwest part of the province 
New York. On the 27th of October, 1748, he was 
appointed business manager of the Moravian brethren 
at Bethlehem, taking the legal care of the community's 
property and outward temporal affairs. 

In Ai)ril, 1750, the Moravians at Bethlehem intro- 
duced the wearing of the white surplice by the 
minister at the celebration of the Eucharist. Antes 
disapproved of this, and inconsequence withdrew from 
their communion. "This unhappy circumstance," 
say Henry Harbaugh, " grieved the Brethren, because 
they esteemed him highly for his practical Christianity 
and many offices of love in their behalf And he 
himself was not slow to lament the estrangement, while 
both parties adhered to their respective views." 

Prompted by this occurrence, Mr. Antes, in 1750 
upon the removal of the school from his property, re- 
turned to Frederick township. He permitted those of 
his children that preferred to do so to remain with 
the Brethren, while the others of his family returned 
to the Reformed Church. Whether Mr. Antes him- 
self renewed his connection with the church of his 
youth is uncertain. 

On the 25th of May, 1752, Henry Antes was ap- 
pointed a justice of the peace in Philadelphia County, 
of which Frederick township was then a part. 

Towards the close of the year 1752 the Moravians 
desired Antes to accompany Spangenberg and others 
to make a journey to North Carolina to select and 
have surveyed a large tract which they had bought 
for the purpose of settling a colony there. A mes- 
senger was sent to Antes to extend an invitation 
to him to accompany the party. This incident, as 
described by John Antes, shows the resolute character 
of his father : 

" \Vlien the messenger arrived at my father's, and learned that he was 
sick, and that doubts were entertained of his recovery, he did not think 
it proper to extend this invitation to him and accordingly returned. My 
father, however, who had been apprised of the arrival of a stranger, 
inquired particularly about him, and as soon as he learned his business 
he dispatched my eldest brother after him with a request to come back. 
No sooner had he learned of the invitation than he resolved, without 
hesitation to comply with it, and from that moment his health im- 



848 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, 



proved so riit-iill.v thiit he was soun enabled to cany into etfect his reso- 
lution." 

lu the wilds of North Carolina Antes suffered a great 
deal Irom a wound in the hand, which he received in 
cutting tent-poles. The hardships and dangers en- 
counlered by the party in the undertaking are de- 
scribed in the " Liteof Spaugenberg." In the spring of 
1753 Antes was enabled to return home, but from that 
time he was often attacked with disease. 

In 1751, when the movement by the London Society 
to introduce English schools among the Germans was 
set on foot, the philauthopic heart of Antes was at 
once enlisted in its favor. Eev. Henry Melchior 
Muhlenberg, in a letter addressed to Kev. William 
Smith, giving an account of the meeting held at New 
Hanover respecting the proposed schools, says, — 

*' I delivered ... all your other papei-s into the hands of Henry 
Antes, Esq., who, being a man of great reputation and inllueuce was 
attentively heard while be explained the same to the people. ,\fter con- 
ferring a little together they (the Reformed) all melted at once into 
tears of joy, uttered many thankful e.'cpressions, and agreed iu Christian 
harmony iu the choice of our Lutheran school-house, and oSered also 
their own school-house, which is only about sixty poles distant." 

In 1754 the German settlers of Pennsylvania were 
accused of disloyalty to the King of Great Britain and 
of sympathy with the French. On the 20th of No- 
vember, 1754, the principal German Protestants of the 
province addressed a letter to the Hon. Robert Hunter 
Morris, Esq., Lieutenant-Governer, affirming their 
fidelity to the British sovereign. The signers from 
Frederick township were Henry Antes, George Hiib- 
ner and Philip Leydich. Antes, who knew the Ger- 
mans of Penn.sylvania better than any other living 
man, felt keenly the injustice of the accusation and 
the cowardice of the attack upon the honor of this 
faithful people, who, by reason of their alien language 
and social disadvantages, were almost defenseless. To 
vindicate more thoroughly his countrymen, he wrote 
a letter to Richard Peters, secretary of the province, 
making suggestions, viz. : 

" To Mr. Richard i^eters. Secretary. 
*' Sir — We have considered further concerning our address to his Hon . 
Robert Hunter Morris. That its there is a great number of Germans all 
over ye province of Pensilvania, which might perhaps not have heard 
nor indeutet any thing, neither of the late accusation against the Silid 
Nation iu general, and may be less of our late address to his Honor ye 
Governor concerning ye same, and for ye more satisfaction to them all 
which is ignorant iu it, we thought it proper to put it in public print, 
both in English and Dutch ; if liis Honor ye Governor has not already 
put the copy to the presse, and therefore hope his Honor will not take it 
amiss : because it only to that Intent that our Prote.stant Country people 
might see all our reason and motive to our actions ; Especially in ye 
Dutch Copy we Intent to make a short introduction to shew them both 
our concern aa also to remind tliem of their Loyal duty to the Orowu of 
Great LJritain, as likewise his Honor's answer to ye s'd address, of which 
I send you by this ye Copy to correct ; prjiy do not take it amiss as ; you 
have been present you are most able to add where I have omitted, and 
alter where I might not iiave used the very same expressions his Honor 
made to the said Address. I should have nothing against it if his Honor 
ye Governour should see his owu ans' as much as I could remember 
thereof, before it is put to print and correct himself what he pleases 
thereof, and so send it back to Mr. Kepely, in Philadelphia, who is de- 
eired to forward ye same to priut. And with this I remain with many 
salutations, 

"Sir, your Humble Servant, "Henry Antes. 

"Frederick Township, December ye 24th, 1754." 



We come now to the close of this great-hearted 
man's busy life. The hardships endured in the over- 
laud journey to North Carolina and the explorations 
there, as also an injury received whilst superintending 
the building of the mill at Friedenthal, near Nazareth, 
contributed to his decline. He was in an enfeebled 
state of health until Sunday, the 20th day of July, 
1755, when death happily relieved him of his suffer- 
ings. The death of a man so generally known and so 
highly esteemed throughout Pennsylvania produced a 
deep impressson. The news of his death was conveyed 
the same day to Bethlehem, and after dinner Bishop 
Spangenberg and wife. Rev. Abraham Reinecke, Rev. 
John Bechtel, Rev. Matthew Schropp and eight others 
set out for Frederick township, with three children of 
the deceased, who were attending school there. On 
the following day, at the funeral services. Bishop 
Spaugenberg delivered an address, Rev. Mr. Reinecke 
read the Moravian burial service, and ten pall-bearers 
from Bethlehem carried the remains of "the pious 
layman of Frederick township" to their resting-place 
in the family graveyard on the farm, close by those 
of his father. Over six hundred persons attended the 
solemn services. His grave is marked by a stone of 
blue marble, bearing these words: 

"Hier ruhet 

Heineich Antes : 

Ein Kleiuod dieses Landes 

Eiu redUch kiihner 

Uandhaber der Gerechtigkeit 

und treuer Diener 
Vor Welt- und Gottes Lent. 

Eutschlief 

In Friedrichs-Town den 20 Julii, 

1755 

Seines Altel-s 54 Jahre. 

In his will, written by his own hand on the 20th of 
July, 1754, precisely one year before his death, is this 
provision: 

" I give fiffty Pounds, Pennsylvania money, unto Abraham Bemper 
Timothy Ilorsefield, or their Succeeding Conunittees for the Furtherance 
of the Gospel of Jesiis Christ, to y" use ot the Indian Brethren at Guaden- 
hiitteu or Elsewhere under the Care of the Uuitas fratrvnu, now iu Bethle- 
hem, in Pennsylvania." 

Spaugenberg speaks of Antes as "a man well ac- 
tjuainted with all the circumstances of the country, 
being widely and favorably known, and enjoying the 
confidence and love of many souls.'' Boehm, in the 
heat of controversy, said: "He knows full well how 
our hearts were formerly bound together in a cordial 
love for the divine truth of our Reformed teachings." 
John Antes, his son, after his return from Africa, 
wrote of his father: "He was beloved and esteemed 
iu the whole neighborhood on account of his upright- 
ness and impartiality, by which, both as a citizen and 
a justice of the peace, he was characterized." Chris- 
topher Saur, the editor of the widely-read Germantown 
newspaper, in the issue of the IGth of May, 175C, said 
of Antes: "He died in a state of impartiality {Uiipar- 
theylichkeit) towards all men and parties. Were such 
magistrates more numerous, the poor would not have 



FREDERICK TOWNSHIP. 



849 



reason to complain and weep over grievous injustice, 

which they have to sufler because persons are favored." 
Rev. J. H. Dubbs, D.D., writes: 

" He IfiTt-'i the Church of his father?, 

.\nd over the stormy gea 
He had Imroe as h precious treasure 

Their faith to tlie land of the free ; 
But file tlock was without a shepherd. 

And many had gone asleep, 
So he lifted his voice like a trumpet 

To gather the scattered sheep.'' 

He was a man peculiarly useful in his day and gen- 
eration. He was a skillful mechanic, a capable builder 
and an intelligent projector of enterprises and im- 
provements such as were adapted to the wants of the 
times in which he lived. The trusts confided to his 
care were faithfully executed. As a magistrate he 
commanded universal respect. He was earne.st and 
diliseiit in the things that engaged his attention ; un- 
assuming, yet boldly outspoken when occasion de- 
manded ; straightforward and sincere in every act. 
His ojiponents never questioned his integrity and 
purity of motive. His character comes down to us 
without a stain. He was a just man and "walked 
with God " all his days. 

At the time of his death Mr. Antes owned the farm 
and mill property of one hundred and seventy-five 
acres upon which he lived, a tract of about ninety-six 
acres of woodland in Limerick (now in New Hanover) 
township, a plantation of one hundred and fifty-six 
acres in New Hanover town.ship inherited from his 
father, a tract in North Carolina and a large personal 
estate. 

The children of Henry Antes and Christiana, his 
wife, were Anna Catharina, born November 20, 1726; 
Anna JIargaretta, born October 6, 1728; Philip Fred- 
erick, born July 5, 1730 ; William, born November 21, 
1731 ; Elizabeth, born February 10,1734; .John Henry, 
born October 5, 1736; .Jacob, horn September 19,1738, 
aud died .tune 6, 1739; John, born March 13, 1740; 
Mary Magdalene, born October 28, 1742; .Joseph, 
born .January 8. 1745, and died August 16, 1746, at 
Bethlehem ; Benigna, born September 16, 1748, and 
died, in Bethlehem, December 24, 1760. His widow, 
Christiana Antes, in 1757, was united in marriage to 
Bernhard Dodderer, of New Hanover township, who 
died the year following. She died on the 5th of Octo- 
ber, 1782, in Northumberland County, at the age of 
about eighty. 

Anna Catharina Antes was married four times. 
Her first husband was Job. Martin Kalberlahn, to 
whom she was united .July 29, 1758 ; second, Gottlieb 
Renter; third, Rev. John Caspar Heiazman ; fourth. 
Rev. John Jacob J>nst. In 1809 she resided in 
Bethabara, N. C. 

Anna Margaretta Antes was partly educated at 
Bethlehem. On January 9, 1743, she was one of the 
company of Moravians who sailed in the ship 
" Jacob " from New York for England, having been 
sent to complete her education at a school of the 
54 



United Brethren in London. Here she met and 
married, in 1766, Rev. Benjamin La Trobe. Their 
children were Christian Ignatius, author of a " Jour- 
nal of a Visit to South Africa in 1815 and 1816," a 
work of four hundred pages, published in London in 
1818 ; Benjamin Henry, who came, in 1795, to the 
LTnited States, achieved a brilliant career as an archi- 
tect and civil engineer, and was the father of Hon. 
John H. B. Latrobe and Benjamin H. B. Latrobe, 
eminent citizens of Baltimore ; John Frederick, who 
took the degree of Doctor of Medicine at Jena, and 
established himself at Dorpat, in Livonia, Russia; 

and a daughter who married Fo.ster. 

William Antes married Chri-stiana, daughter of 
Jacob and Barbara Markley, of Skippack and Perk- 
iomen township. Their children were John ; Chris- 
tina, married Jacob Markley and lived in Northum- 
berland County; Elizabeth, born February 17, 1757, 
and married, April 4, 1775, .lohn Shuler ; Sarah, born 
October 12, 1762, and married Samuel Gardner; 
Mary, born August 17, 1768 ; William, born March 
15, 1776, and died at Cauandaigua, December 21, 
1841. William Antes was a sub-lieutenant of Phila- 
delphia County during the Revolutionary war. After 
the war he settled in Northumberland County, and 
held otfices of responsibility there. 

Elizabeth Antes was married (first) to George Philip 
Dotterer, of Frederick township. Their children were 
Benigna, born February 17, 17.53, marrieil John Yost; 
Anna, born December 21, 1756, married .John Bern- 
hardt, and died August 21, 1837; Elizabeth, born 
May 7, 1759, married Henry Dukehart, and died Sep- 
tember 24, 1840, at Baltimore; Henry, born July 25, 
1762, married Anna Davis, of Limerick township, 
and died April 28, 1836, in Camden County, N. J. ; 
Mary, born December 24, 1764, married Geoige 
Freyer, and died August 25, 1856 ; Frederick, born 
September 13, 1769, and died in Limerick township 
December 23, 1829. George Philip Dotterer carried 
on the business of inn-keeper in Limerick townshij). 
He died August 23, 1771. His widow was married, 
on the 28d of April, 1772, to Rev. Nicholas Pomp, a 
minister of the German Reformed Church. They 
had one child, — Thomas, born February 5, 1773 a 
prominent divine of the same denomination as his 
father. Elizabeth Pomp ( maiden-name .\nte.s) died 
May 20, 1812, at Easton, Pa. 

John Henry Antes was married, May 11, 1756, to 
Anna Maria Pawling. Their children were John 
Henry, born April 17, 1757 ; Maria, born July, 1758; 
Philip, born August 26,1759; Elizabeth, born Decem- 
ber 7, 1761; Frederick, born July 19, 1764; Anna 
Maria, wife of John Henry Antes, died in March, 1767. 
He married, December 8, 1767, Sophia Snyder. Their 
children were John, born January 7, 1769 ; Mary 
Catharine, born September 30, 1772; Anna Maria, 
born March 6, 1775 ; William, born January 18, 1777; 
Jacob, born December 3, 1778; a daughter born 
Augu.st 21, 1781; Joseph, born March 16, 1785; 



850 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ninth child of Henry 
She died at Heirohut, 



Sophia, born March 20, 1790. John Henry Antes 
lived in Frederick until about the beginning of 1775, 
when he removed to Northumberland County. He 
was an Indian scout, captain of militia, Indian fighter, 
sheriff and mill-builder. He died at Ante.s' Fort on 
the 18lliof July, 1S20. 

Maria Magdalena Antes, 

Antes, married Ebbing. 

Germany, April 17, 1811. 

The Antes name we find, in the .successive gener- 
ations, ever in the van of enterprise. They are a 
race of builders; mechanism is their birthright. As 
we look upon the long line of honorable names we 
find many of them to excel as engineers, architects, 
inventors and manufacturers; and when they turn 
from these pursuits to bear arms, to engage in the 
legal profession, orto iissume the sacred office, they still 
hold a foremost position. When we contemplate the 
great number of the descendants of" the pious layman 
of Frederick township,'' scattered broadcast over the 
globe, the mind turns instinctively to the promise 
made to the patriarch of old : " I will make thee ex- 
ceeding fruitful, and I will make uations of thee, and 
kings shall come out of thee." 

Andrew Frfa' in his day enacted a part in the early 
history of Pennsylvania which will preserve his name 
to the end. His conscientious nature and his devout 
piety— qualities which deserve and receive the esteem 
of all good men— were the occasion to him of great 
crosses and severe self-examination. With him, to 
do what was right was everything. His ingenuous 
heart could neither compromise nor temporize with 
wrong, if to his understanding it was wrong. And so 
his life, which might have been a smooth and unevent- 
ful one had he been more world-wise and less sincere, 
was marked by fierce controversies, long journeys and 
broken friendships " for conscience' sake." 

Andrew Frey was originally of the Dunker faith. 
He was never married, and he was not related to 
William Frey, who owned the property adjoining his 
in Frederick town.5hip. 

August 5, 1718, he bought from David Powell two 
hundred acres of land located in Frederick townsliip. 
On May I, 172S, he sold this to the following per- 
sons : Ludwig Engelhart, one hundred acres ; Henry 
Stadler, fifty acres ; George Grouse, seventy-two acres ; 
Christopher Sheagle, twenty-eight acres. 

In 1742, when the movement for church unity was 
inaugurated by Henry Antes, with the powerful sup- 
port of Count Zinzendorf, Andrew Frey entered it 
with all the enthusiasm of his nature. In the second 
conference, held at the house of George Hiibner, in 
Frederick township, on the 14th and loth of January, 
1742, he was a participant. He was also at the third 
conference, held at Oley on the 10th, 11th and 12th 
of February the same year, and was chosen (by lot) 
one of three presidents and directors of conferences. 
After this he was chosen, in the same way, to be elder 
over the unmarried brethren. This required his re- 



moval to Bethlehem. He had some variance with the 
brethren in this position. He was next selected to go 
to Germany, which, being a man well advanced in 
years, he felt disinclined to do ; but his objections 
were overruled, and on the 9th of January, 1743, he 
sailed in the ship "Jacob" from New York for Eng- 
land, in a company compo.sed of Count Zinzendorf 
himself, a daughter of Henry Antes, a daughter of 
William Frey and others of the society, which had 
now come to be regarded as a Moravian or Herrnhuter 
organization. In five weeks the ship reached London, 
a fortnight after the party came to Amsterdam, and 
three weeks afterwards to Herrndeik. They next 
went to Marienborn, whence, after a stay of four weeks, 
they proceeded into .Saxony to Hirschberg, where they 
held conferences during nine days; and then to 
Herrnhut. The mannerof life there did not commend 
itself to .\ndrew Frey's approval. What he saw and 
heard seemed to him irreligious and sinful. He says : 
"The other brethren and sisters which were come 
from Pennsylvania having once a love-feast, the count 
(Zinzendorf) told everyone of them his thoughts of 
them, and when he came to me he said, ' Brother An- 
drew has, indeed, an open countenance ; but, mark 
me, there is something amiss in his mind which hin- 
ders him having any settled quiet.'" At the end of 
three years he desired to return to Pennsylvania; 
twelve months later he came back. 

Of course he withdrew from the Moravian Society. 
This act caused widespread comment in Pennsylvania 
and elsewhere. Much warm discussion ensued between 
the society and Andrew P'rey and their respective 
friends. This resulted in the publication written by 
him in 1748, entitled, "Andreas Freyen (Pred. in 
Falkners Schwamm) seine Deklaration oder Erklii- 
rung, auf welche Weise iind wie er unter die sogen- 
annte Herrenhutergemeinde gekommen ist." This 
was issued from the i)ress of Christopher Saner, of 
Germantown, in a volume of eighty-eight pages 12mo. 
This book was translated into English and issued, in 
1753, at London. 

As late as April 20, 1750, Andrew Frey published 
a lengthy communication in Salter's Germantown 
j paper contradicting a report, which had spread through 
i the rural sections of Pennsylvania, that he had re- 
united with the Moravians and had recalled his book; 
and he took occasion in this article to reiterate the 
j accusations as contained in the book. As giving us 
i an insight into the manners of those times, the first 
! paragraph of this communication is given herewith: 

! "William Krey recently lind business; in (Jreat Swtmip, at .ievenil 
houses, with trustworthy people, who a^ked him seriously to tell them 
truly whether .Vudrew Frey had again united with the Mtuuvians, and 
whether he had retailed his little book, the Declaration ; for they had, 
in a roundabout way, heard this to be the fact ; indeed, by the Jloravians 
themselves it had been said, Andrew Frey was their clear brother ; they 
bore him great love. .\ teacher of the Menncniites tohl him, 'he had 
read my litUe book, ami that, juoved by their life and eomluct, what I 
wrote was true ; and if I recalled all this, he would regard me aa a 
tickle, unworthy n\an ; ' thus one does not know whom one may be- 
lieve." 



PKEDERICK TOWNSHIP. 



851 



It is not desirable that the positions taken by the 
opposing parties in this controversy should be re- 
peated here. The disputants have long since gone to 
their reward, and the subjects at issue are forgotten. 

Of the after-life of Andrew Frey nothing further is 
known. It is presumed that he was a preacher among 
the Dunkers, or German Baptists, the remainder of 
his days. lie was far advanced in years and already 
weak in body when the events above narrated occurred 
and he probably died soon after. 

Rev. John Philip Leyduh came to America in 
1748. He was accompanied by his wife, Maria Cath- 
arina (maiden-name Hammichhaus), his two chil- 
dren, Franz Leydich and Elizabeth Leydich, and by 
two sisters of his wife, one of whom afterwards mar- 
ried Caspar Achenbach, and the other Andreas Sassa- 
man. 

Having been settled as pastor of the Falkner Swamp 
and affiliated Reformed congregations, Pastor Leydich 
at once looked about him for a suitable property for a 
home. On the lOth of Octol)er, 1749, he bought of 
Uonrad Frick, of Germantown, a tract of one hundred 
and five acres in Frederick township. This was the 
tract bought, on May 1, 1728, by Ludwig Engelhart, 
of Andrew Frey, and sold by him, on November 2, 
1748, to Conrad Frick. It was a suitable spot for the 
young minister's home, in the midst of his largest 
congregation, upon the banks of Swamp Creek. 

Mr. Leydich labored as pastor of this congregation 
until 17(55, when he was succeeded by Rev. Nicholas 
Pomp; but he lived here until the close of his life. 
A number of his descendants are residents of the town- 
ship at this time. 

Rev. John Philip Leydich and Maria Catharine, 
his wife, had born to them the following children : 
Franz, born in Holland, March 2(), 1745; lOlizabeth, 
born in Holland, October 10,1746, married Ale.xander 
Diert'enderffcr; Leonhard, married Catharine Nyce, 
daughter of Zacharias Nyce ; Philip, married Rosina 
Bucher, daughter of George Diedrich Bucher ; Maria 
Magdalena, married John Nyce ; Catharine, born 
April, 175.S, married Phili|) Miller, died August, 
182;;!; Sophin. married Gabriel Schuler. 

Rev. Mr. Leydich and his wife are buried at Lei- 
dig's graveyard, in Frederick township. The stone 
erected to mark his resting-place bears these words : 

" JoH-VNN Philip Leyiiich. 

Reformierter Brndiger 

war goliolireii, 171S, 

den 28 April, 

ist gestorbeu 14 .fanuary, 

1784, 

ist alt G'.t yalir 

den 2 Tim. am 2 ten Cap. vers 3. 

Leide dich ais ein guter 

Streiter .Tesii t'lirieti." 

Colonel Philip Frederick Antes, son of Henry 
and Christiana Antes, was born in Frederick township 
on the 5th of July, 1730. He was united in marriage. 
May 1, 1755, to Barbara Tyson. Their children were 



Christina Elizabetha, born January 22, 1757, and died 
October 13, 1763; Anna Maria, born February 14, 
1760, married Christopher Bering, and died November 
22, 1822, in Northumberlar.d County, Pa.; a son, born 
October 25, 1762; John Henry, born February 13, 
1 766. Barbara, wife of Frederick Antes, died February 
6, 1775. He married, on the 17th of August, 1775, 
Catharine Schuler, and they had one child, Catharine, 
born July 3, 1777, who became, on July 12, 17%, the 
second wife of Simon Snyder, afterwards Governor of 
Pennsylvania. 

November 19, 1764, Frederick Antes was appointed 
a justice of the peace for Philadelphia County, and 
May 23, 1770, and April 27, 1772, he was reappointed 
to the office. 

Upon the approach of the Revolutionary struggle 
Frederick Antes, and his brothers William and John 
Henry, promptly took a firm and positive stand on 
the side of the colonies. Frederick Antes boldly pro- 
claimed his devotion to the effort for the independence 
of his native country, and actively entered upon the 
performance of responsible and hazardous duties in 
connection w-ith the inauguration an<l jirosecution of 
the war. This required no small degree of courage 
and sacrifice on his behalf. He was a man of con- 
siderable property, and, moreover, he held the com- 
niission of an officer of the crown, — justice of the peace. 
These considerations, however, did not daunt him in 
his burning zeal for the cause of American liberty. 
The British commander, at an early stage of the war, 
laid a reward on his head, but though sometimes 
dangerously near to the emissaries of the King, Antes 
eluded them to the end. His conspicuous and out- 
spoken position must have e.xercised a great influence 
upon the community in which he lived and held office, 
and history shows that that section of country was 
notably faithful to the cause of freedom during the 
long years of strife which ensued. 

Frederick Antes brought to this task rare qualifica- 
tions, — ability and intelligence; the mechanical skill 
inherent in all of his name; high standing in the 
community and inflexible strength of character; un- 
flinching courage and enthusiastic, heroic patriotism. 
All these qualities at once had full play, but not alone 
in the limited field artbrded by the neighborhood of 
his home. He was called into the counsels of the 
State and the country at large. Much that he did — 
and that the most daring and effective — is doubtless 
unrecorded and buried in oblivion. As may be sur- 
mised, many delicate and dangerous services were 
rendered by him that required the utmost caution, 
sound judgment and profound secrecy. Of these we 
may never know. But of those of his public acts, 
notice of which is scattered through the pages of 
the records of our commonwealth, a brief summary is 
presented. On the 3d of February, 1776, upon appli- 
cation of Mr. Antes, an order was granted to Mr. 
Towers to deliver to him six pounds of powder, to 
repay that ipiantity borrowed by him to jirove a can- 



852 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



non made.by himself and Mr. Potts at the Warwick 
Furnace. Under date of 14th of August, 1776, there 
was paid Frederick Antes, Esq., twenty-five pounds 
for an experiment made on an eighteen-pounder can- 
non, by agreement of the late Committee of Safety. 
He was appointed a member of the provincial confer- 
ence of committees of the province of Pennsylvania, 
held at Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, June 18-25, 
1776. He attended the sessions. On Sunday, June 
23, 177t), he was appointed a judge of election in 
Philadelphia County, to be held on Monday, July 8, 
1776, to elect representatives to the convention to form 
a new government for the province. He was returned 
by the judges of election as one of the members elected 
to the convention of tlie State of Pennsylvania, on 
July 15, 1776, the opening day of said convention. 
On Monday, August 15, 1770, he was appointed by 
the convention one of the committee to bring in an 
ordinance for regulating the militia of the State, so as 
to render the burdens and expenses of the associators 
and non-associators as nearly equal as possible. On 
Tuesday, September 3, 1776, in the forenoon, by ordi- 
nance of the convention of the State, he was appointed 
a justice of the peace for the county of Philadelphia. 
October 28, 1776, accounts were passed for blankets, 
attested by Frederick Antes, lieutenant-colonel of 
Colonel Potts' battalion, Philadelphia County militia, 
to be charged to the Flying Camp, — £21 7s. 0(/. 

Frederick Antes was a member of the General 
Assembly of the commonwealth for the county of 
Philadelphia. This body met on Thursday, Novem- 
ber 28, 1776. He was chairman of the committee on 
grievances. r)eceml)er 5, 1776, he was appointed 
chairman of a committee to bring in a draft of a 
militia law. ( »n Tuesday, December 10, 1776, the 
House was requested to appoint a committee out of 
their body to join General MitHin in a tour through 
the several counties in the State, in order to stir up 
the freemeu thereof to the immediate defense of the 
city and country. On the next day Frederick Antes 
and Colonel Curry were appointed to accompany 
General Mittlin through the county of Philadelphia 
for the purpose stated. January IS, 1777, an order 
was made on Mr. Nesbitt to pay Lieutenant-Colonel 
Frederick Antes, Third Battalion Philadelphia County 
militia, forty-three pounds ten shillings for drum- 
major's and fife major's wages. On Monday, March 3, 
1777, in General Assembly, Colonel Antes voted nay 
on the proposition " That the members of Assembly 
be exempted froou military duty as militia." On 
Tuesday, March 4, 1777, he voted in favor of in- 
serting the following words in the militia bill : " And 
no militia officer shall be required to take and sub- 
scribe an oath or affirmation at this time to qualify 
him to receive a commission to act in the character to 
which he shall he-elected." On Thursday, May 29, 
1777, in the afternoon, was read in the Assembly a 
petition from the officers and privates of Captain 
Eeed's company of Colonel Antes' battalion of Phil- 



adelphia County militia setting forth their opinions of 
the resolves of Congress of the 14th of April and of 
the 9th of May. At Philadelphia, on the 1 1th of Sep- 
tember, 1777, it was ordered that Colonel Hiester, 
Colonel Corsey, Colonel Antes and Colonel Dewees' 
respective battalions rendezvous at Swedes' Ford. 
On January 13, 1778, Colonel Budd attended, and 
hinted to the Council that about five hundred arms 
for the service were .sent to Colonel Antes ; that arms 
generally suffer in removing for want of boxes. At 
Lancaster, April 1, 1778, an order was authorized in 
favor of Frederick Antes for fifteen hundred pounds to 
buy horses, at request of Congress committee. 




KKSinEN'CE llF (■(1I.<1NKI. FREIlEUICK ,\XTES. 
^I'sed by Wasliiiigtoii as JltjatUiuarters.t 

A reward of two hundred pounds, set by Lord Howe 
for Colonel Antes, dead or alive, induced a party of 
royalists to attempt his capture on one occasion, while 
he was visiting his home in P'rederick township. It 
is related that he barely escaped by making good his 
retreat from the back-door as his pursuers entered at 
the front. 

On the 20th of March, 1777, Frederick Antes waa 
one of the persons designated to sign the issue of 
two hundred thou.sand pounds of paper money, dated 
April 10, 1777. The authority to sign the notes 
issued by the colonies was esteemed a high honor, 
and was sought by the best citizens. 

One of the biographers of Colonel Antes says, " He 
was an iron-founder, and cast the first four-pounder 
pieces made on this side of the Atlantic for the Revo- 
lutionary array." 

During the year 1779, Colonel Frederick Antes re- 
moved to Northumberland County. Although im- 
poverished by the war, he took at once a leading 
position in civil and militan,' life in his new home. 
He was justice, county commissioner, a Judge of the 



GWYNEDB TOWNSHIP. 



855 



Court of Common Pleas, a member of the State As- 
sembly and county treasurer. 

In ISOl, while actingas commissioner in exploration 
of the Susquehanna, Colonel Antes took cold at 
Columbia. He repaired to Lancaster, where he died 
September 20, 1801, and was buried in the church- 
yard of the German Reformed congregation. 

John Antes, Traveler, Missioxarv asd 
Author.— On the 13th of JIarch, 1740, O. 8., was 
born to Henry and Christiana Antes, of Frederick 
township, a son, whom they named John. At the age 
of six he became a pupil at the Moravian school 
established on his father's plantation. At twelve he 
wenttolive with the Moravian Brethren at Bethlehem. 
At seventeen he became a communicant member of 
their society. On the 6th of May, 1764, he set out from 
Bethlehem for Europe, and on the oth of July he 
arrived at Masienborn, where a synodical convention 
was then in session. He proceeded to Herrnhut, 
where he arrived on the 5th of September. A year 
later he went to Neuwitd to learn the jewelry business 
under a celebrated master of the art, and having a 
great aptitude for mechanical pursuits, made satisfac- 
tory progress. On the 16tli of January, 176ii, he 
received a call to Grand Cairo, Egypt, to the Moravian 
mission established there. After receiving ordination 
as a deacon, at Marienborn, on the 23d of May, he 
proceeded on thejuurney, going first to London. He 
took passage here on the 3d of October, for the Isle of 
Cyprus, and reached Larnica on the 24th of Novem- 
ber. On the 1st of January, 1770, he left Larnica for 
Limasol, sixty miles distant, making ihejoiirney on a 
mule, with a (Jreek guide, and encountered a series of 
misfortunes on the way. On the Sth of January he 
reached Alexandria. On the loth of February he 
reached Boulac, the harbor of Grand Cairo, where he 
was received by the Moravian missionaries in the most 
friendly manner. His duties here were to make him- 
self " useful to the brethren in whatever might be 
deemed necessary for the furtherance of their holy 
enterprise, and to contribute towards their support 
through the means of his mechanical labor." In 
the beginning of 1773 thedisorders which prevailed in 
Cairo were so great that Europeans dared not venture 
into the streets without running risk of insult. Antes 
was doomed to the outrage of flagellation in the streets. 
On the 23d of August he visited Behneshe, where a 
friendship had previously been established with 
the Copts. Six weeks later he returned to Cairo. On 
the 15th of November, 1779, he fell into the hands of one 
of the Beys, and suffered the tortures of the bastinado. 
In August, 1781, he was recalled from Egypt, and on 
the 20th of May following he reached Herrnhut, and 
duringthesummer he attended the Synod at Berthels- 
dorf, in Saxony. In 1785 he received a call as warden 
of the congregation at Fulnec, iu England. In Juue, 
17S6, he entered into holy matrimony with Susanna 
Crabtree. In liSOl he visited Herrnhut. A diminution 
of strength induced him, in 1808, to ask for a dismissal 



from his post, which was granted, and heVfamily, 
Bristol for his future abode. He departed this lii>i, 
after a short illness, without any symptom of pain or 
death struggle, on the 11th of December, 1811. 

In ISOO, was issued at London a work by Mr. Antes 
entitled " Observations on the Manners and Customs 
of the Egyptians, the Overflowing of the Nile and its 
Effects ; with Remarks on the Plague and other Sub- 
jects." It was a quarto, and attracted great attention 
at the time. 

He al.so wrote his "Autobiography," which was first 
published in German by the society of which he was 
a member, and wa.s afterwards translated into Eng- 
lish. 

Mr. Bruce, the celebrated traveler, in his great 
work, speaks of the services rendered him by Mr. 
Antes, at Cairo, in these words : '• This very worthy and 
sagacious young man was often my unwearied and 
useful partner in many inquiries and trials as to the 
manner of executing some instruments, in the most 
compendious form, for experiments proposed to be 
made in my travels." 

It is stated that on the appearance of Lord Va- 
lentia's ''Travels" in which the veracity of Bruce was 
questioned. Antes wrote a vindication of the latter's 
character and statements. 



CHAPTER LVI. 

GWYNKDD TOWN.SHIP.' 

(tWVN'EPI) is one of the central townships of the 
county, and is bounded on the north by the borough 
of Lansdale, Hatfield and Montgomery, east by Hors- 
ham, south by Whitpain, southeast by Upper Dublin, 
west by Worcester and northeast Ijy Towamencin. It 
is six and one-half miles long, three miles wide and 
contains an area of about twelve thousand one hun- 
dred and fifty acres, having been reduced, in 1869, 
ninety-two acres by the incorporation of North Wales, 
whose boundaries were further enlarged in October, 
1884, taking in the academy. Baptist Church, shirt- 
factory and upwards fif twenty-one houses. It was 
further reduced in 1872, one hundred and forty-five 
acres by the erection of the borough of Lansdale. 
The surface is rolling and the soil generally clay, with 
some loam. The Wissahickon Creek rises but little 
over a mile from the line, in Montgomery township, 
its general course being southerly, and it propels three 
grist-mills and a saw-mill within the township. The 
I Treweryn is the next considerable stream, about three 
miles in length, with several branches. Willow Run 
flows by the Spring House and empties into the Wis- 
sahickon at the Whitpain line, but neither of the afore- 
said fiirnish water-power. 

1 By VTm. J. Buck. 



852 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



non ma/iiestnut Hill and Spring House turnpike was 
Eartered March 5, 1804, and was finished tlie follow- 
ing year. Its total length is eight miles, of which one 
and a half are in Gwyuedd. In 1813, and the follow- 
ing year this turnpike was extended from the Spring 
House into Bucks County, and is commonly called the 
Bethlehem road. The Sumneytown and Spring 
House turnpike was incorporated March 17, 184.5, and 
finished in 1848, and has a course through the town- 
ship of nearly five and one-half miles, or about one- 
third its total length. The pike from Blue Bell, 
through Penllyn to the Spring House was constructed 
in 1872, and is three and one-half miles long. A 
turnpike was made in 1884 from the Sumneytown 
pike, near Kneedler Station, to the Morris road, pass- 
ing througli the village of West Point, a mile and a 
quarter in length. The stone bridge where the Sum- 
neytown pike crosses the Wissahickon was built in 
1819 ; where the State road crosses it in 1833, and the 
Plymouth road bridge in 1839. The most important 
improvement, and the one that has done the most 
for the prosperity of this section, is the North Penn- 
sylvania Railroad, which was opened for travel to 
Gwynedd Station June 19, 18.'i6. Nearly a mile 
above this is the Gwynedd tunnel, five hundred feet 
in length, and, including the cut, three thousand six 
hundred feet, its greatest depth being sixty feet. It 
was made through the hardest rock, involving con- 
siderable labor and expense, and it retarded for a 
while the progress of the road, which was opened 
through to the Lehigh River January 1, 1857. It 
has a course through the township of about six miles, 
with stations at Penllyn and Gwynedd. The Stony 
Creek Railroad has a course ofthiee and one-half miles 
in the township, and forms a junction with the North 
Pennsylvania Railroad at Lansdale. This road was 
finished in 1874, and its stations in the township are 
called Acorn, Lukens or West Point, and Kneedler. 

According to the census of 1800, Gwynedd contained 
906 inhabitants ; in 1840,1589; and in 1880, 2041. 
The real estate in 1882 was valued at $1,017,212, and 
including the personal property, $1,728,547, the ag- 
gregate per taxable being $3000, an average very 
nearly equal to that of Lower Merion. Three hotels 
and three general stores, were licensed for 1883. In 
May, 1876, it contained seven stores, three dealers in 
flour and feed, three coal-yards and one lumber-yard. 
The census of 1850 returned 202 dwelling-houses, 278 
families and 193 farms. In 1785 it contained within 
its limits five taverns, three grist-mill.s, two saw-mills 
and one tannery. There are post-offices at the vil- 
lages of Gwynedd, Spring House, Penllyn, West 
Point and Uwyuedd Station. At the latter place it is 
called Hoyt, and not long established. The public 
schools in 1876 numbered five ; for the school year end- 
ing June 1, 1883, six, open nine months, containing 
three hundred and thirty-four pupils. Gwynedd, in 
1838, formed the Tenth Election District in the county, 
voting for many years at the village of the aforesaid 



name. By order of the Court of Quarter Sessions, 
March 25, 1876, the township was divided into two 
districts, the elections for the lower district being 
held at the Spring House. The Friends and the 
Episcopalians have each a house of worship, and the 
Baptists and the Colored Methodists occasional ser- 
vices, the latter in a small building below the Spring 
House. 

The Church of the Messiah, located at Gwynedd, 
was organized in 1870 as a mission under the care of 
the Board of Domestic Missions of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, and of the diocese of Pennsylva- 
nia. 

Services were first held in the school-house. Soon 
after the organization, the present lot was purchased 
of Jacob Acuff, and the corner-stone of the present 
church edifice was laid by Bishop William B. Stevens. 
A bell was placed in the chapel in 1876 by Mrs. John 
Gilbert, of Philadelphia. The mission was placed 
under the charge of the Rev. Samuel Edwards. The 
pulpit was later supplied for a time by students from 
the Theological School, in Philadelphia. 

The rectors who have since served the church have 
been the Revs. Henry C. Pastorius, Johu J. Fury, 
Henry K. Boyer and the present rector, the Rev. R. T. 
B.Winskill. The church has thirty-five communicants, 
and a large .summer attendance from visitors in the 
neighborhood. 

West Point is now the largest village in Gwynedd ; 
it contains a store, hotel, mill, lumber and brick-yards, 
several machine-shops and about thirty houses. Here 
are also the West Point Engine-Works and Machine- 
Shops, erected within the last seven years. Thepost- 
otfice has been only recently established. On the 
completion of the Stony Creek Railroad, in 1874, this 
place liecame known as Lukens Station. Its present 
name was given it about 1876, when it contained 
seven or eight houses. During the summer and fall 
of 1884 a turnpike was constructed through the vil- 
lage, connecting it with the Sumneytown road and 
making now a continuous pike from here to the bor- 
ough of North Wales. 

Gwynedd, situated at the intersection of the Sum- 
neytown turnpike and State road, contains a store, 
hotel, two places of worship, school-house and about 
ten houses. Here the early Welsh immigrants made 
the first settlement in the townshi]), known as North 
Wales, and is so nientioned on Lewis Evans' map of 
1749. Gordon, in his " Gazetteer " of 1832, also calls it 
by said name, and states " where there is a Quaker 
Meeting-house, a tavern, three dwellings and a post- 
oflice." The latter we know was established here be- 
fore 1830. The place has been long and jiopularly 
known throughout that section as " Acufi-s Tavern," 
where the elections were held for seme time |)revious 
to the division of the township, in 1876. A public- 
house must have been established before 1769. A 
store was kept here by Owen Evans bifore 1765. The 
Episcopal Church of the Messiah was built in 1872, 



GWYNEDD TOWNSHIP. 



855 



at present without a pastor. The venerable Friends' 
Meeting-house will form the subject of an article. 

Penllyii is a station on the North Pennsylvania 
Railroad, sixteen miles from the city, and is situated 
on the turnpike leading from the Blue Bell to the 
Spring House; it contains a store, fourteen dwellings 
and several mechanic shops. It is in the midst of an 
improving country. The post-office was located here 
in July, 1861. The name signifies in Welsh the head 
of a dam or the beginning of a stream of water. The 
first grist-mill in the township, it is supposed, was 
built near this by William Fouike, and was probably 
the same owned liy Jesse Fouike in 1770. The Spring 
House is an old settlement, the intersection of the roads 
here dating back to 17tSo. It contains a store, hotel, 
several mechanic shops and about twelve houses. The 
post-office was established here in March, 1829, John 
W. Murray being appointed postmaster. Gwynedd 
Station contains a store, seven hou.ses and Hoyt post- 
office. Kneedler is a station on the Stony Creek Rail- 
road, with an inn and a house or two. Near this is a 
small Baptist Church belonging to the societj' in 
North Wales, but no stated services are held. 

Gwynedd is a corruption of the Welsh word " Gwin- 
eth,'' signifying North Wales, and also the name of a 
river there. It is also called in early records here 
" Gwiuedith." According to Holme's map of original 
surveys, the upper half of the township, adjoining 
Hatfield, Montgomery and Horsham, was purchased 
by John Gee & Co., and the other half by 
James Peters and Robert Turner, the latter being a 
well-known merchant in Philadel]diia. Owing to the 
good reports received from the settlers of the Welsh 
tract on the west side of the Schuylkill, more and 
more the attention of those they had left behind 
was excited. The return of Hugh Roberts from 
Jlerion to his native section, in 1697, tended largely 
to promote further emigration. Among these may 
lie mentioned William, .John and Thomas ap Evan, 
who, near the close of that year, had arrived in Phila- 
delphia with a view of taking up some large tract 
upon which, those who were to follow, might thus the 
better be enabled to dwell together. After some in- 
ipiiry and a brief examination, they [lurchased, March 
10, 169S, from Robert Turner, who had now become the 
sole owner, a tract containing seven thousand eight 
hundred and twenty acres, which was further con- 
firmed to them by Edward Shippen, Thomas Story, 
Griffith Owen and James Logan, Penn's commissioners 
of property, March 8, 1702. The tract was stated at the 
latter date to be "situate in the township of Gwinned, 
in the county of Pliiladelidiia." This is most probably 
the earliest mention yet found of the name. There 
is every reason to believe that at the date of this pur- 
chase not a single European had yet dwelt on the 
tract, the earliest settlements having not yet quite 
extended this far northwards from the city. 

Some of the immigrants from Wales left Liverpool 
in the ship " Robert and Elizabeth," Ralph Williams, 



master, having on board Edward Fouike and family, 
Hugh Roberts, Robert Owen and Cadwallader Evan, 
brothers of Thomas ap Evan the purchaser, Hugh 
Griffith, John Hugh, John Humphrey and probably 
Robert John. The name of Edward David has also 
been mentioned by .some writers. They arrived in 
Philadelphia July 17, 1698, fifteen weeks after leav- 
ing their homes in Wales. They were kindly treated 
by their kindred and former acquaintances in 
the city and Merion, leaving their women and chil- 
dren among them until some accommodatioris would 
be i)repared for their reception on the new purchase. 
Edward Fouike, in his narrative, states that it was 
"at the beginning of November " that he settled in 
his new home in the wilderness, and that " divers 
others of our company, who came over sea with us, 
settled near us at the same time." Supplies of food, 
it is very likely, were procured from their nearest 
neighbors, in Whitemarsh, whom they would have to 
pass in their several journeys to and from the city, 
where, however, many of the most necessary articles 
were alone procurable. 

To the recently-published work of Howard M. 
.Jenkins ' we are indebted for an account and estimate 
of the number of early settlers in Gwynedd previous 
to the close of 1698: Edward Fouike and family, 11 
persons; Thomas Evan, 10; Robert Evan, 10; Rob- 
ert Evan, 9; Cadwallader Evan, 4; Owen Evan, 
8; William John, 8; John Humphreys, 6; John 
Hughs, 5, and Hugh Griffith, 5, making a total of 66 
inhabitants, the last two being partly conjectural. 
Respecting the families of Evan Roberts and Ellis 
David nothing positive is ascertained. It is most 
probable that there were also a few others, besides 
some servants, who generally, more or less, accom- 
panied the immigrants to iujsist in making their first 
improvements. In a petition for a road from here to 
Philadelphia, in .Tune, 1704, they state that they num- 
ber "in said township above thirty families already 
settled." The taxables in 1741 had reached ninety- 
three, showing a considerable degree of prosperity 
within forty-three years of its first settlement. 

Although the Gwynedd tract had been conveyed to 
William, John and Thomas Evan as containing 7820 
acres through Thomas Fairman's measurement, made 
2d of Twelfth M(mth, 1694, a re-.survey was ordered 
by Penn's commissioners of property, September 29, 
1701, which, on being completed, in December, 1702, 
was found to comprise 11,449 acres. The commis- 
sioners issued patents to the holders of the 
several tracts in the township based on this last sur- 
vey and confirming the title acquired through Turner. 
Such proceedings were only too commom in those 
days, and show a wrong somewhere. According to 
this, Thomas Evan received 1049 acres; William 
John, 2866; Evan ap Hugh, 1068; Robert John, 720; 



1 " Historical Collections relating to (jwynedd," chiefly confined to 
the earl)' AVelsli Frieude and their descendante. We are also under obli- 
gat'ons to the reeearclieB of Edward Mathewe, of the North Wales Becord. 



856 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Robert ap Hugh, 232 ; Robert Evan, 1034 ; Cadvval- 
lader EvHii, r)09; Owen Evan, 538; Edward Foulke, 
712; Evan a)i Hugh (lower tract), 110; John Humph- 
rey, 574 ; William John (lower tract), 322 ; Robert 
Evan (lower tract), 250 ; Hugh and Evan (Irirtith, 
376; Ellis David, 231 ; Evan Robert, 110, and John 
Hugh, <i4.S. 

Edward Foulke, mentioned among the early set- 
tlers, came from Coedyfoel, in Merionethshire, North 
Wales. He embarked at Liverpool with his wife, 
Eleanor, and children, — Thomas, Hugh, t'adwallader, 
Evan, Gwen, Grace, Jane, Catharine and Margaret, — 
and arrived in Philadelphia as aforesaid, where he 
was kindly received by his former acquaintances who 
had preceded him. Having purchased a tract o( 
over seven hundred acres in (iwynedd he erected a 
house thereon near the present Penllyn Station, into 
which he removed the following autumn. In 1702 he 
wrote in Welsh an account and genealogy of his fam- 
ily, which was afterwards translated by his grandson, 
f^amuel Foulke, of Richland, a member of the Pro- 
vincial Assembly from 17(51 to 17t>8. He also wrote 
an exhortation late in life addressed to his children, 
which was published in The Friends' Muscellaiiy for 
1832. He was a man of literary taste, which seems to 
have been transmitted to several of his descendants. 
He died in 1741, aged ninety years. 

William John, whose surname has been since 
changed to Jones, and a joint purchaser with Thomas 
FIvan of the (Jwynedd tract, still retained, in 1699, 
two thousand eight hundred and sixty-six acres, 
and at his death he was much the largest land- 
holder in the township. He had children, — (iwen, 
Margaret, Gainor, (Catharine, Ellen and John. He 
settled near the present Kneedler Station, and a tw(j- 
story stone house standing near by, bearing the date 
of 1 7 1 2, is supposed to have been erected by him. He 
died in that year, leaving to his only son, John, who 
was one of the executors, fourteen hundred acres, in- 
cluding the plantation and ilwelliiig. 

John Humphrey's tract of five hundred and seventy- 
fonr acres lay just north of the present Spring House. 
At his i)lace the early Friends occasionally held 
meetings for worship, of which he subsequently be- 
came an elder. A bridge is mentioned at or near his 
house in 1709, no doubt being one of the earliest in 
that .section. He died the 14th of Ninth iMonth, 1738, 
aged seventy years. It appears he accumulated con- 
siderable property and was regarded as the banker of 
the neighborhood, his personal property amounting 
to above one thousand i)ounds, his bonds and notes 
being eighty-two in number, Mr. Jenkins, in his re- 
cent work, relates that " a Friend from Richland at- 
tended the Monthly Meeting at Gwynedd, and in the 
afternoon rode to his home, twenty miles distant, un- 
der great exercise of mind concerning John Hum- 
phrey. He passed a restless night at home and rode 
back to John Evans' in the morning. Arriving there, 
he would not eat or drink until he had delivered his 



message ; so, taking John Evans with him, they went 
to John Humphrey and told him he had better burn 
all his bonds and mortgages than preserve them ; that 
it would be much better for himself and his posterity, 
and this was the word of the Lord to him." He had 
a son, who was called Humphrey Jones, after the 
Welsh custom, which mode, however, was not long 
retained in this section, much to the relief of our 
recent genealogists. 

At the re(pLest of Thomas Penn, in 1734 a list cd" 
resident freeholders of Gwynedd was returned by the 
constable, being forty-eight in number, whose names 
were as follows: Evan Griffith, John Jones (penman) 
John Griffith, Robert Hugh, John Harris, Theodorus 
Ellis, John David, Eliza Roberts, Rees Harry, Evan 
Evans, Owen f^vans, Thomas Evans, Jr., Thomas 
Wyat, Leonard Hartling, Peter Wells, John Jones 
(Robert's son), John Parker, Hugh Evans, Morris 
Roberts, William Roberts, Robert Evans, Catharine 
Williams, Thomas Evans, Cadwallader Evans, Robert 
Parry, John Jones (weaver), Cadwallader Jones, 
Hugh Griffith, Hugh Jones (tanner), Robert Evan, 
Edward Foulke, Robert Roberts, Rol)ert Humjihrey, 
(laiuor Jones, John Humphrey, Rowland Hugh, Jen- 
kin Morris, Evan Foulke, Edward Roberts, Rees 
Nanna, Evan Roberts, Thomas David, Hugh Jones, 
.Tohn Chilcott, John Wood, William Williams, Lewis 
Williams and Thomas Foulke. Mention is m ide in 
the same that " the township of (xwinedeth have hith- 
erto refused to give the constables the account of 
their lands, for which reason it is not known what 
they hold." AVe do not wonder at this, evidently 
lirought about by the resurveys, in which they 
had some experience, as has been stated. After a set- 
tlement now of more than a third of a century, through 
the aforesaid we are enabled to make an interesting 
estimate respecting the nationality of its several set- 
tlers. Of the forty-eight names given all at said date 
were Welsh, probably excepting six, Leonard Hart- 
ling being the only German. 

Cadwallader Evans died 30th of Third Mouth. 1745, 
aged eighty-one years. .Tohn Evans was born in Den- 
bighshire, Wales, in 1689 ; arrived in Pennsylvania 
with his parents, in 1698 ; was a minister forty-nine 
years ; died in 1756. Evan Evans was born in Meri- 
onethshire in 1684, and in 1698 emigrated with his 
parents to (iwynedd. He died in 1747, having trav- 
eled extensively through the several colonies in the 
ministry. Robert Evans, one oftheearly settlers, died 
in 1731, aged upwards of eighty. A malignant disease 
prevailed thoughout this section from July 1st to 
August 24, 1745, of which sixty-three died within the 
bounds of the Monthly Meeting, the majority being 
young persons This was certainly a great number 
w hen we come to consider the population at that time. 
Robert Humphreys was collector of taxes in 1722, 
Cadwallader Roberts in 1723, Thomas Evans in 1742, 
Henry Bergy in 1776, and John Hoot in 1781; 
Robert Jones was commissioned a justice of the peace 



aWYNEDD TOWNSHIP. 



857 



iu 1718; Owen Evans, of " North Wales," one of the 
justices of the County Courts in 1720, and Cadwal- 
hider Foulke, in 1738. Jacob Albright was constable 
in 1767 and Nicholas Selser in 1774; John Jenkins 
assessor for 1776. Among the surnames mentioned 
in the list of 1734 who are still land-holders in the 
township, may be mentioned the Foulke, Jones, Jen- 
kins, Roberts, Evans and Davis families ; the rest 
probably no longer exist here. 

As has been mentioned, for the third of a century 
Gwynedd was almost exclusively settled by the 
Welsh, as we can infer from the list of 1734, wherein 
but one German name is found. Leonard Hartling 
or Harthein, therefore, can beregarded as the pioneer 
settler of the latter. This element has since become 
a very important one, probably now constituting three- 
fourths of its total population. In the assessment of 
1776, out of a total of one hundred and fourteen names, 
the Germans numbered already fifty-five, or almost 
one-half, while the Welsh had barely made an in- 
crease, either in taxables or land-holders, within the 
preceding thirty-two years. Many of these early 
Germans, it appears, had removed from the upper 
townships, j'articularly Towamencin, Lower Sallbrd 
and Perkiomen, and consequently located themselves 
at first chiefly in the upper or northwestern section 
of the township. 

Melchior Kreible came about 1735 ; Christopher 
Neuman or Neiman purchased, iu 1751, two hundred 
and twenty-five acres in its western corner from the 
executors of Edward Williams' estate. Henry Snyder 
was married to a daughter of Neuman, and was returned 
in 1776 as holding one hundred and seventy-five acres, 
and having ten children in his family, whose names 
were Kosina, George, Christopher, Henry, Christian, 
Abraham, Isaac, Susanna, John and llegina. George 
Snyder at the same date possessed a farm of one hun- 
dred and fifty acres, and was taxed for a servant. This 
place wa.s situated on the Upper Dublin line, he having 
purchased it from Francis Peters, in 1762. He 
died in 1792, leaving three sons, Adam, Jacob and 
John. 

Abraham Danehower, the ancestor of an extensive 
land-holding family, came from Germany before 1755, 
and purchased one hundred and thirty-six acres iu 
1 762, of David and Sarah Gumming. He died in 
1 789, aged sixty-seven years, and his wife, Catharine, 
in 1798, aged seventy-four years. His children were 
George, Abraham, Henry, John, Catharine, Elizabeth 
and Sarah. George died in 1793, aged forty-five 
years. Abraham resided on a farm he purchased 
from Samuel Evans, on the west side of the Bethlehem 
road, above the Spring House. Catharine married 
Jacob Snyde): ; Elizabeth, Philip Hurst ; and Sarah, 
Philip Fetterman. 

Isaac Kolb (now Kulp) purchased a farm before 
1769 to the east of North Wales. He was rated in 1776 
as holding one hundred and forty-three acres, and his 
sou Isaac, Jr., for the same amount. The latter was 



boru in 1750, married Rachel Johnson iu 1778, and 
died in 1828. He had seven children, — Benjamin, 
Elizabeth, Catharine, Mary, Jacob, Sophia and John. 
Benjamin Kulp married Ellen, daughter of Edward 
and Mary Hoxworth, of Hatfield. She was a sister of 
General W. S. Hancock's mother. He died May 16, 
1862, aged eighty-three years. He had eight children ; 
among these were Isaac, Enos, Simon, Oliver and 
Ann. The latter was married to Asa Thomas. Till- 
man Kulp, mentioned in 1776 as a .single man, was 
no doubt a son of Isaac, Sr. 

Philip Hoot came from New Hanover in 1768 and 
purchased a farm of two hundred and twenty-five acres 
from David Neuman in the western corner of Gwy- 
nedd; in 1776 he was assessed for three hundred acres. 
He died in 1798, aged sixty-eight years, and left his 
homestead to his son Peter. The latter, in 1792, mar- 
ried Barbara Kriger. John Hoot, who was collector 
of Gwynedd in 1781, was probably his son. Philip 
Heist, is rated in 1776 as holder of one hundred 
and twenty acres of land, fifty-one acres of which 
were purchased in 1772 of Abraham Lukens, Sr., 
which was situated just below the present borough of 
North Wales. He died before 1780, and his execu- 
tors conveyed half an acre to the trustees for the 
erection thereon of St. Peter's Church, now the ceme- 
tery ground. 

Garret Clements, or Clemens, resided in the east 
corner of the township, on the Welsh road, and was 
rated for one hundred and thirty-six acres. He was 
a Mennonite, and on account of his conscientious 
scruples for not bearing arms was fined by the au- 
thorities several times. His wife's name was Ke- 
turah, and his daughter Mary married Charles Hubbs. 
His large two-story stone house is still standing close 
beside the road, and as it has been for some time 
abandoned, attracts the attention of passing travelers. 
John Frey, or Fry, of Towamencin, in 1735, purchased 
a tract of one hundred acres from Jane Jones, situated 
about a mile southeast of Lausdale. In 1742 he sold 
it to Paul Brunner, of Salford, whose widow, about 
1757, married George Gossinger, a " redemptioner," 
who had followed the occupation of a tanner, and 
it thus passed into his control. 

John Troxal, in 1776, was the owner of two tracts, 
containing one hundred and five acres, and a grist 
and saw-mill. This property was situated at the in- 
tersection of the Swedes' Ford road and the Wissa- 
liickon Creek, near the Whitpain line. It was sold 
in 1777 to Samuel Wheeler, and the mill is now 
owned by H. Mumbowcr. Peter Troxal was rated at 
that time for one hundred and seventy acres. John 
Everhart, who was rated for one hundred and fifty 
acres, purchased in 1762 from George Klippengerand 
1 sold it to David Lukens in 1793. This property is 
now owned by Charles Lower, and adjoins the Upper 
Dublin line. Martin Raker, who was rated in 1776 for 
fifty-seven acres, resided near the present borough of 
I Lansdale, the place being now owned by Charles S. 



858 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Jenkins. He was one of the first four trustees of St. 
Peter's Church. 

Jacob Heisler's farm of one hundred and forty- 
seven acres was located on the Allentowu road, near 
the present Kneedler Station. It is known that he 
kept a licensed inn here in 1779, if not some time ear- 
lier, and it has been continued as such unto this day. 
Martin Schwenk's farm of one hundred and sixty 
acres was located on the present Sumneytown pike, 
below the borough of North Wales. This was the 
residence of Thomas Evans, the first settler. George 
Heist set up a public-house on this place in 1784. 
Thomas Shoemaker, who was rated for one hundred 
and ten acres in 1776, was the son of George, and 
was married to Mary, daughter of Joseph Ambler. 
This farm lay to the northeast of North Wales, 
and remained many years in the family. Adam 
Fleck, who was rated for one hundred and forty acres, 
was one of the building committee, with George Gos- 
singer and Peter Young, of Gwynedd, in the erection 
of St. John's Church, Whitpain, iu 1773. 

Nicholas Selser's farm was assessed as one hundred 
acres. He was constable of Gwynedd in 1774. It is 
probable that Henry and John, mentioned as single 
men, were his sons. Henry Bergy (fifty acres) was 
collector in 1776; Michael Hoflman, two hundred 
acres ; John Conrad, sixty ; Conrad Gerhart, one hun- 
dred ; John Shelmire, fourteen ; George Shelmire, 
ninety-six acres (the latter had a son George, who was 
a taxable) ; Matthew Lukens, one hundred and thirty 
acres and a saw-mill. Jacob Albright, constable in 
1767, appears as a renter, taxed for two horses and 
two cows. Ezekiel Cleaver (one hundred and forty 
acres) was the son of Peter and Mary, of Upper Dub- 
lin, and a descendant of Peter Cleaver, of German- 
town, who was naturalized in 1691. 

The descendants of the early German settlers of 
Germantown and vicinity are also now quite nu- 
merous in Gwynedd, namely, — the Shoemakers, 
Cleavers, Lukens, Tysons, Custers, Snyders and Eit- 
tenhouses, concerning whom the want of space pre- 
vents us here from entering into details. A glance 
at the map of Gwynedd, as published in Scott's Atlas 
in 1877, will convince any one that the German 
element are extensive holders of real estate here at 
the present time. 

Soon after the settlement of Gwynedd, efforts were 
made to have public highways laid out and opened 
for their general advantage and intercourse, especially 
to Philadelphia. In June, 1704, a petition was pre- 
sented to the Court of Quarter Sessions wherein it was 
stated that there were "in said township above thirty fa- 
milies already settled, and probably many more to settle 
in and about the same, especially to the northward 
thereof, and as yet there is no road laid out to accom- 
modate your petitioners, but what Roads and Paths 
have formerly been marked are removed by some and 
stopped by others." They therefore ask an order 
from the court for " a Road or Cartway from Phila- 



delphia, through Germantown, to the utmost portion 
of their above-mentioned Township of North Wales" 
The court appointed six persons to lay out the road, 
but it appears not to have been fully opened until 
June, 1714. This is the present road leading by way 
of the Spring House and Chestnut Hill to tlie city. 
At March Sessions, 1711, a petition was presented to 
the court stating that a road had been laid out nine 
years before from a bridge between the lands of John 
Humphreys and Edward Foulke, in Gwynedd, to the 
mills on Pennypack, and that it be now confirmed as 
a public highway. Viewers were appointed, who, on 
March 28, 1712, went over the ground, and their re- 
port was adopted. This is the present Welsh road, 
forming the line between Upper Dublin and Horsham ; 
it terminated in Moreland, where is now Hunting- 
don Valley. In June, 1714, a petition was presented 
for a road from Kichland to .Tohn Humphreys', near 
the present Spring House, which was confirmed in 
1717. In March, 1715, a road was desired by the "in- 
habitants of Gwynedd, Montgomery and Skippach," 
leading to the mill of David Williams, at the present 
Spring Mill, in Whitemarsh. Portions of the dis- 
tance, they stated, had been in use as roads for ten or 
twelve years previous. This was confirmed and soon 
after opened. The road from the present Spring 
House to Horsham Meeting-house was laid out and 
confirmed in 1723. The road from the present Mont- 
gomery Square to Gwynedd Meeting-house was con- 
firmed in 1728. The Goshenhojipeu or Sumneytown 
road was surveyed and confirmed iu .lune, 1735, com- 
mencing at the i^resent Spring House. This old and 
important highway has milestones on its course bear- 
ing the date of 1767. What is now known as the 
Swedes' Ford road, leading to said place from Gwyn- 
edd Meeting-house, was ordered to be opened in 1738. 
In a survey of 1751 the distance from the Gwynedd 
meeting-house to Plymouth Meetinghouse is stated 
to be seven miles and twenty-four perches. The 
State road crosses the centre of the township in a 
southwest course ; it was laid out in 1830, forty feet 
wide. 

The people of Gwynedd were fortunate in es- 
ca2)ing many of the disasters of the Revolution, 
which befel some of their not very distant neigh- 
bors. The sympathies of the Welsh element, like 
the German, was generally inclined to the patriotic 
side. This may be more particularly observed in the 
residents of Lower Merion, who successfully main- 
tained their neutrality though so near the city and 
between the contending armies. At this period the 
Society of Friends, with the Mennonites, Schwenkfel- 
ders and Dunkards, who were opposed to bearing 
arms through conscientious scruples, constituted a 
decided majority of the population. To their credit, 
however, not one was arrested here for treason or any 
property confiscated. No battle took place within its 
limits, nor was any marauding done by the contending 
parties. Small divisions of the American army several 



r 




r 


w 


> 


d: 


s 


m 




m 


2 


t: 


rn 


■ti 


M 


> 


Z 


:xi 


o 


2 


w 




33 




r 




>< 






GWYNEDD TOWNSHIP. 



859 



times passed over its territory, but this was all, with 
the exception of the breaking up of the camp at Val- 
ley Forge, June 19 and 20, 1778, when Washington 
and his whole command moved over the Swedes' Ford 
road, by way of Doylestown, to Wells' Ferry, now New 
Hope, where they crossed into New Jersey in pursuit 
of the retreating British, whom they encountered at 
Monmouth on the 28th. Miss Sally Wister, of Phila- 
delphia, who was at that time staying with her rela- 
tives near the present Penllyn, states in her journal 
that on this march " Washington was escorted by 
lifty of the life-guard with drawn swords." 

All men residing in the township liable to military 
duty, were enrolled into two companies. Captain 
Christian Dull had the lower command and Captain 
Stephen Bloom the upper, and both were attached to 
the Fourth Battalion of Philadelphia County militia, 
of whom William Dean, of Moreland, was colonel. 
For rel'iising to attend the musters of the aforesaid 
companies, sixty-eight persons were fined in one 
year two thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight 
pounds Continental currency, equivalent to seven 
thousand eight hundred and eighty dollars of our 
persent money. As the total number of taxables 
in 1776 was one hundred and fourteen, we thus 
[ireceive that those fined must have considerably 
exceeded half the enrolled population liable to 
the service. The making out and collecting 
of those fines, as may be well imagined, imposed 
an unpleasant duty on the oflicers, the prejudices 
against whom have not yet died out or been forgotten 
in some of the old neutral families. It is a tradition 
that the old Friends' Meeting-house was used as a 
hospital immediately after the battle of Germantown, 
and that several solders who had died there were in- 
terred in the grave-yard beside the road. 

A school-house was mentioned, in a road petition for 
1721, as being situated near the dwellings of Rowland 
Hughes, Robert Humphreys and not far from the old 
road to Philadelphia, which, probably, was about half- 
way between the present Spring House and the Up- 
per Dublin line. Mr. Jenkins, in his "Historical 
Collections of Gwynedd,"mentions Marmaduke Pardo, 
a native of Wales, a teacher here in 1729, who may 
have taught in the aforesaid school- house. The 
Friends had charge of a school at the meeting-house 
in 1793, which it is supposed was there for some time 
before. Joseph Foulke, a respected minister among 
Friends, who for some time kept a boarding-school 
for boys on his farm, on the Bethlehem road, about 
a mile above the Spring House, states that when he 
went here to school, prior to 1795, the principal books 
used were the Bible and Testament, Dilworth's spell- 
ing-book and arithmetic. On and after that date he 
went to school to Hannah Lukens and Joshua Foulke, 
his uncle. They taught in a log school-house about 
half a mile above the Spring House. They were suc- 
ceeded by William Coggins, Hannah Foulke, Benja- 
min Albertson, Hugh Foulke, John Chamberlain, I 



Christian Dull, Jr., Daniel Price and Samuel Jones, 
all of whom taught at that place prior to 1859. 
Joseph Foulke died February 16, 1863, in his seventy- 
seventh year. Hugh Foulke, mentioned, was a brother 
of the latter, and at his house, in October, 1855, he ex- 
hibited to the writer the family Bible of his great- 
grandfather, Hugh Griffith, one of the early settlers 
of Gwynedd, and which he had brought over with 
him, in the Welsh language, printed at London in 
1654. Hugh Foulke died in 1864, aged seventy- 
six years. 

The common-school system in Pennsylvania dates 
its origin to an act of the Legislature passed in 1834. 
The six school directors of Gwynedd for that year 
declined its acceptance, and opposition to it was main- 
tained until 1840, when, through the influence of State 
apprcipriations, it was carried by a vote of eighty-six to 
eighty. In 1844 there were four schools, taught by 
four male teachers, with four hundred and fifty-two 
enrolled pupils. The average compensation to the 
teachers was twenty dollars per month, nine months 
open in the year. Two of the school-houses were 
" eight-square " or octagonal, a form of building then 
common. In 1856 the public schools in the township 
numbered six, eight months open, taught by six male 
teachers, with four hundred and thirty pupils enrolled 
and an average attendance of one hundred and fifty- 
five. The amount of tax levied for the support of the 
schools was $1444.48. With the loss of North Wales 
and half of Lansdale, six schools are still maintained, 
however, nine months open, with only three hundred 
and thirty-four pupils enrolled, teachers' wages now 
being forty dollars. 

Friends' Meeting House at Gwynedd, owing to its 
antiquity and long-extended infiuence, is deemed well 
worthy a separate article. From its being almost in the 
exact centre of the township or original purchase it was 
the third house of worship erected in the county, being 
preceded a few years only by those erected in Lower 
Merion and Abington. Nearly two centuries have 
now passed away since these occurrences, produ- 
cing great changes in almost everything, and from 
which even their ancient meetings have not been by 
any means exempt. Hallowed and venerable asso- 
ciations cluster around them, the impress of which 
should by no means be entirely lost on their numer- 
ous and respected descendants. Posterity owes much 
to the past, and as long as gratitude exists it will re- 
main a serious question as to the best or most proper 
method to meet such obligations. The labors of the 
historian are certainly not calculated to weaken such 
ties, but to ennoble or exalt them. 

The minute-book of Gwynedd Monthly Meeting 
commences in 1714, but it is stated therein that this 
place was settled " and called by the name of Gwyn- 
edd township in the latter end of the year 1698 and 
the beginning of the year 1699. The principal settlers 
and purchasers, among others, were William Jones, 
Thomas Evans, Robert Evans, Owen Evans, Cadwalla- 



860 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



der Evans, Hugh Griffith, John Hugh, Edward Foulke, 
John Humphrey and Robert Jones. Of this number 
those who were Friends met together " at the houses of 
John Hugh and John Humjihrey, until more were 
added to their numbers." With the exception of 
the latter two and most jirobably Hugh Griffith, 
the remainder were attached to the Estublislied 
Church of England. An identity of interests in this 
new settlement was calculated to draw them closer 
together. It is evident that the meetings held at 
the aforesaid houses led to the organization of this 
congregation. The churchmen for a brief term did 
assemble for worship at the house of Robert Evans, 
where his brother Cadwallader supplied in part the 
place of a minister, by reading to them portions of 
the services and passages from his Welsh Bible. 
This may not have been maintained much beyond a 
year, for on building the first small log meeting- 
house in 1700, on the site of the present edifice, they 
all united, assisted by later immigrants, who, must 
have also increasedthebody of Friends. The relation 
is that Robert and Cadwallader Evans first sought 
them by attending at their place of worship, and 
finally through their influence the rest were brought 
over, on which the meeting-house was agreed upon. 

It is a well-settled tradition that William Penn 
and his daughter Letitia and a servant came out on 
horseback to visit the settlement shortly after its 
erection and that he preached in it, staying on this 
occasion overnight at the house of his friend, Thomas 
Evans, the first settler, who resided near by. As he 
returned in November, 1701, to England, we may 
determine nearly the time that this transient visit 
was made. 

In consequence of this change in their religious 
principles, it would seem that the Rev. Evan Evans, 
a Welsh Episcopalian minister, was sent over here, in 
1700, to make efforts to reclaim them. In a letter to 
the bishop of London, in 1707, he mentioned this 
settlement as "twenty miles distant from the city, 
where are considerable numbers of Welsh people, 
formerly, in their native country, of the communion of 
the Church of England ; but about the year 1698-^two 
years after my arrival in that country — most of them 
joined with the Quakers; but by God's blessing some 
of them were induced to return, and I have baptized 
their children and preached often to them." In the 
"Collections of the Episcopal Church in Pennsyl- 
vania," edited by Rev. W. S. Perry and published in 
1861, considerable may be seen on this subject, which 
appears to have attracted some attention at the time. 
There is a tinge of exaggeration running through 
Mr. Evans' correspondence, (prompted, no dcmbt by 
his zeal,) that cannot now be substantiated by records. 
Partly in corroboration, Mr. Millett, in his "History 
of St. Thomas' Church, Whiteraarsh," states that the 
"Rev. Evan Evans, who came to this country in 
1700, for many years rector of Christ Church, Phila- 
delphia, within two years after his arrival more than 



five hundred followers of George Fox joined them- 
selves to the Church of England." 

The log meeting-house proving inadequate for the 
accommodation of the society, which was no doubt in 
part brought about by the influx of immigration and the 
continuous prosperity of the settlement, a subscription 
paperwas drawnnip in the Welsh language, in 1710-11, 
to which were signed sixty-six names headed by Wil- 
liam, John and Thomas Evans. The sums ranged 
from one to eleven pounds each, the total reaching to 
about two hundred pounds. Hugh Griffith assisted 
in its building, and it was completed in 1712. It was 
considerably larger than the former, and was built of 
stone, with two galleries and a hip-roof. It occupied 
the former site, and the ground was a portion of 
Robert Evans' purchase, still covered with the original 
forest. The subscription paper mentioned is an in- 
teresting relic and has long been preserved and 
retained in the Foulke fiimily. 

Rowland Ellis, in behalf of Haverford, represented, 
on the 10th of Fourth Month, 1G90, to the Phila- 
delphia Jlonthly Meeting, about this Welsh settle- 
ment, twenty miles distant, who had for some time 
held a First-day Meeting by their advice and consent, 
and, as they do not understand the English language, 
desired to be joined to Haverford Monthly Meeting, 
to which consent was given. At the Monthly Meet- 
ing held at Radnor Meeting-house on the 9th of 
Tenth Month, 1714, it was left for consideration as to 
what time the Monthly Meeting of Gwynedd and 
Plymouth be left to the appointment of this meeting 
by the Quarterly Meeting held in Philadelphia. The 
Third-day of ever}- month was pi-oposed and agreed 
upon. 

Being now constituted a Monthly Meeting, they 
were allowed the privilege of recording all their 
births, marriages, deaths and removals, which had 
heretofore been entered in the records of Haverford. 
Plymouth Friends being few in numbers and the 
meetings being chiefly held here, it was called 
Gwynedd Monthly Meeting, which name has been 
ever since retained. John Evans was appointed the 
first clerk, and Edward Foulke and Robert Jones 
overseers. On the 26th of Second Month, 1715, 
Friends in Providence were allowed to hold a meet- 
ing on the first First-day of every month, and a few 
months thereafter liberty was given to have aburying- 
place. But the meeting-house again proving too 
small, it was decided, the 28th of Tenth Month, 1725, 
to have it enlarged, John Cadwallader, John Jones 
and John Evans being appointed a committee to have 
charge of the same. 

The first ministers were Robert and Cadwallader 
Evans, of whom it is stated by Samuel Smith, in 
his "Historyof the Province of Pennsylvania," that 
"they could neither read nor write in any but the 
Welsh language." The former died in First Month, 
1 738, and was aged upwards of eighty years. Thomas 
Chalkley, in his journal, mentions being present at 



GWYNEDD TOWNSHIP. 



861 



his burial. Among other early niini.sters belonging 
here may be mentioned Evan Evans, Alice Griffith, 
Ann Roberts, John Evans, Hugh Foulke, Ellis, Hugh 
and Mary Evans. Evan Evans died in 1747, aged 
si.Kty-three years, and John Evans died in September 
1756, having been in the ministry forty-nine years. 
John Fothergill, of England, visited this meeting 
several times in 1721, and again, on his return to 
America, in 1736. Alice Griffith was the wife of 
Hugh Griffith, and died in Second Month, 1749. 

Gwynedd Monthly Meeting remained in Philadel- 
])hia Quarter until 1786, when it comprised, with 
Abington, Horsham, Richland and Byberry, Abing- 
ton Quarter, whose meetings are now held at Abing- 
ton in Second Month, Horsham in the Fifth, Gwyn- 
edd in the Eighth and Byberry in the Eleventh. The 
present meeting-house was built in 1823. It is a 
plain, substantial, two-story stone structure, forty by 
seventy-five feet in dimensions. When first built 
here, in 1700, the spot must have been very secluded. 
In the ample yard and burial-ground attached 
several original forest-trees are still preserved, one 
of these, a chestnut, nearly four feet in diameter. 
Near the southern corner of the yard is a stone 
bearing the name of Mary Bate, daughter of Hum- 
phrey and Ann Bate, who died in 1714. 

The many associations of the past that cluster 
around this spot, where for three-quarters of a cen- 
tury was the only house of worship in the township, 
make it an object of much interest to the anti- 
quary. That it is no longer flourishing is to be re- 
gretted, even by those not in membership. Res|iect- 
ing this subject, Mr. Jenkins, in his recent work, thus 
expresses himself: 

" At the timo of its erection tlie niiiulier of nieinliers iiiiil others who 
habituuUy attended warranted so large a bouse ; but the time is long 
since post when its benches are filled, except upon very cvtraordinary 
t'Ccjisions. For a number of j'eara it has been the custom to open only 
lialf the house — the southern end — on First-days, and even this is more 
Ihan sufficient fur the couiiregations that usually iissemble." 

St. Peter's Church. — On the upper side of the 
Sumneytown turnpike, and but a short distance 
southeast of the incorporated limits of North Wales, 
may be observed a cemetery, which was the site of a 
church wherein worship was maintained jointly by 
the Lutherans and German Reformed for nearly a 
century. Though the spot may be now only poinlcil 
out within the inclosure, yet the result has been two 
flourishing and distinct congregations, each possess- 
ing a lot and church situated within less than half a 
mile's distance. Here was erected the second house 
of worship in the township, out of which they respec- 
tively originated. 

Before the building of this church the members of 
the German Reformed denomination attended at 
Wentz's or Boehm's, and the Lutherans at St. John's, 
the former being in Worcester and the latter two in 
Whitpain. Among the prominent members of St. 
John's can be mentioned Michael Haenge, George 
Gossinger, Adam Fleck, Peter Young and Abraham 



Danehower. These all resided in Gwynedd, and, of 
course, from its convenience, would take an active 
part in the erection of a house of worship in their 
vicinity. Philip Heist, having purchased of Abra- 
ham Lukens, Sr., fifty-one acres in 1772, on the 
upper side of the Old Goshenhoppen road, immediately 
below the present borough of North Wales, proffered 
half an acre from it for the use of a church, which 
was very probably erected thereon before 1775. Hav- 
ing died, his executors made a deed to the trustees of 
the church dated June 10, 1780, which states that said 
lot of ground is hereby granted for a house of wor- 
ship, erected thereon for the use of the German Luth- 
eran and Reformed denominations. 

Tradition states that this church was a small frame 
building, and answered the purposes of these denom- 
inations until about 1817. It becoming too small for 
their numbers, a committee was appointed in the fall 
of 1815, consisting of George Neuvil, Jacob Kneedler, 
Conrad Shimmel, Joseph Knipe and Philip Lewis, to 
procure subscriptions and make collections for the 
erection of a larger and more commodious stone edi- 
fice. The corner-stone was probably not laid till 
near the beginning of May, 1817, and the church not 
finished until the following fall or winter. Among the 
iither members who did much to aid the enterprise can 
be mentioned Philip Hurst, John Hurst, Abraham 
Danehower, Jacob Schwenk, John Martin, Adam 
Fleck, Christian Rex, Henry Hallman, and George, 
Joseph, Adam, Samuel and Daniel Kneedler. In 
'onsequence of its walls having been plastered with an 
ochre color, it received the name of the "Yellow 
Church." Its ceiling was lofty and galleries were 
placed on three of its sides. The pulpit was elevated 
and set directly against the wall, after the manner of 
that day. 

For the want of records considerable obscurity is 
involved in the early history of this church. It is 
'.ery probable that the first Lutheran pastor was Rev. 
.lacob Van Buskirk, of Germantovvn, who had charge 
of the Upper Dublin or Puft's Church, not five miles 
distant, from 1709 to 1785, and may have thus 
preached here, as we know he subsequently did. The 
earliest officiating pastor known was Anthony Hecht, 
the Lutheran portion of this congregation with that 
at Tohickon, having applied to the Ministerium for 
bis ordination in 1785. He had been a schoolmaster 
in the neighborhood, and thus became known. The 
request was refused for several successive years. He, 
however, succeeded in being ordained by an independ- 
ent preacher, and through this the congregation gave 
him the charge about 1787 until the close of 1792. 
This will account for his name not appearing on the 
regular records. The Rev. Jacob Van Buskirk became 
pastor in 1793, and of St. John's, in Whitpain, till 
1795. The next was the Rev. Henry A. Geissen- 
hainer, who was licensed at the request of the Upper 
Dublin and North Wales congregations, and contin- 
ued in the charge until 1801. He soon after removed, 



862 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and was probably succeeded by Rev. Frederick David 
Schaefler, assisted by his sous, David aud Solomon, 
from Germantown, which arrangement was main- 
tained to about 1810 or a little later. The Rev. John 
K. Weiaut continued in the pastorate from 1812 to 
1828, and also at Wliitpain. Rev. George Heilig, 
received the charge of the two congregations near the 
close of 1826 until 1843. He was succeeded by Rev. 
Jacob IMedtart, who was unable to preach in German ; 
thus the English language became introduced, and 
has since been maintained. Rev. John W. Hassler 
followed Mr. Medtart in 1856, and continued until 
1862, when he resigned for a chaplaincy in the 
army. Rev. P. M. Rightraeyer officiated from 1863 
to 1867. The following year Rev. Ezra L. Reed suc- 
ceeded, and was the last minister here. For some of 
the preceding facts we are indebted to the researches 
of Rev. B. M. Schmucker, of Pottstown. 

Concerning the German Reformed congregation 
who worshiped here little is known. Rev. George 
Wack was ordained to the ministry in October, 1801, 
and on the 2.5th of April following, received the 
charge of Boehm's and Wentz's Reformed Churches, 
and St. Peter's from 1834 to 1845. This last congre- 
gation he resumed after resigning his connection with 
Boehm's church. He later preached occasionally to 
the North Wales members. He died in Whitpain, 
February 17, 1856, aged eighty years, and was buried 
in Boehm's churchyard. The Rev. Samuel Helfen- 
stein had charge of the Boehm and Weutz congrega- 
tions in 1797. The following year he went to Phila- 
delphia, where he officiated in the Race Street Church. 
In 1832 he removed near North Wales, where he con- 
tinued to reside until his death, October 17, 1866, aged 
ninety-one years, and where he was buried. He 
officiated occasionally in this church, but we have not 
ascertained to what extent. 

During Mr. Reed's incumbency the old church 
needed repairs, and in consequence the German Re- 
formed congregation decided to remove and erect a 
house of worship for themselves in the adjacent vil- 
lage of North Wales. This agitated the Lutheran 
congregation, who finally determined on the same 
course. The latter, in the spring of 1867, commenced 
Subscriptions with such success that a lot was also se- 
cured within the limits of the present borough, and 
the new church completed by the close of 1869. As 
has been stated, for many years one pastor served St. 
Peter's and St. John's. In 1870 this arrangement was 
terminated, and since then each church has maintained 
itsown pastor. Rev. L. G. Miller received the charge in 
1874, Rev. Wm. H. Meyers in 1876, Rev. Theophilus 
Heilig in 1878, who was succeeded by the present 
incumbent. Rev. George D. Foust, in the summer of 
1880. A Sunday-school was organized about 1831, to 
which, a few years later, a library was added, and 
both have since continued to flourish. The German 
Reformed Church was Imilt about the same time, and 
thus old St. Peter's, after a use of upwards of half a 



century, became abandoned, its walls razed and the 
recollection thereof left to soon pass away, except 
what may be preserved in history. 

The Spring House Tavern. — In the history of 
Gwynedd from its earliest period this has been a noted 
vicinity, around which cluster many memorable 
occurrences. In 1698 John Humphrey settled here, 
and the Friends held their first meeting, for worship. 
Mention is made of a road being in use from here to 
the Pennypack Mills in 1702. Soon after 1704 the 
road was extended from the city, by this place, to the 
North Wales Meeting-house, a mile and a half dis- 
tant. A bridge near Viy is mentioned as having been 
constructed before 1711. The road leading from here 
to Richland was confirmed in 1717, and was the com- 
mencement of the present Bethlehem road. From 
this point to Horsham Jleeting-house the road was 
confirmed in 1723, and the Goshenhoppen or Sumney- 
town road in 1735. We see liy this date that through 
the construction of these several highways and the 
extension of settlements farther into the interior this 
spot was calculated before long to become, in conse- 
quence, an important traveling centre. 

The town of Bethlehem, on the Lehigh River, 
thirty-eight miles distant, was founded in 1741, and 
all travel from there and the surrounding country 
as well as from Allentown to Philadelphia was con- 
fined to the road passing by this place. It is probable 
that it was not long after the latter date that the first 
inn was located here, but at what exact time and by 
whom we are unable to say. Benjamin Davis kept a 
public-house at tliis point from 1758 to 1772. In 
April, 1758, Daniel Kunckler, on his journey from 
Bethlehem to Philadelphia, with six Indians in his 
charge, mentions stopping here. In a table of dis- 
tances on the Bethlehem road, published in 1769, 
" Benjamin Davis's " is mentioned as being sixteen 
miles from the city. The first stage line passing 
through the present county was started in September, 
1763, from Bethlehem to Philadelphia, making one 
weekly trip and stopping at this inn. 

The road from this place, by the present Penllyn to 
Boehm's church was laid out in the spring of 1769, 
and mention is made in the report of its " beginning 
near a stone spring-house in Gwynedd road." Here 
we can perceive what has led to the origin of the 
name. This fact is further confirmed in ^a descrip- 
tion of the tavern in 1827, wherein mention is made 
of a "durable spring of water a short distance from 
the door, over which is a stone milk-house." General 
Lacey mentions the "Spring House Tavern" in his 
dispatches of 1777, and the name is also mentioned 
in a report of a raid made in this direction by the 
British in February, 1778. That it is a striking and 
peculiar name there is no question, and it must there- 
fore have originated here from just some such local 
cause. 

Christian Dull, or rather Doll, in the German, of 
whom we shall give a few additional particulars, sue- 



GWYNEDD TOWNSHIP. 



863 



ceeded Davis as inn-keeper. He was a native of Per- 
kioraen, and his father, bearing the same name, is 
mentioned in the census of that township taken in 
1766, as liaving seven cliildren and renting from 
Solomon Dubois one thousand acres of land, whereof 
two hundred are cleared. John Dull, who was proba- 
bly a brother, is mentioned as a taxable and residing 
there in 1776. It is likely that Catharine Doll was also 
one of those seven children. She was married, in this 
county, to Charles J. Krauth. Their son, Charles 
Porterfield Krauth, D.D., LL.D., who died in 1883, 
aged sixty years, was one of the most eminent divines 
and scholars in the Lutlieran Church. Christian 
Dull removed to the Spring House in 1772, where he 
was rated in 1776 as holding a tavern, eight acres of 
laud, a horse and cow. The Revolution breaking 
out, he actively espoused the cause of his country. 
Owing to the connivance of some well-to-do people in 
this vicinity concerned in furnishing supplies of .pro- 
visions and information to the British in Philadelphia, 
General Lacey stationed a portion of his men here for 
a short time to make arrests and intercept and check 
such pi-actices. 

The American army suffering greatly, in December^ 
1777, for clothing at Valley Forge, he was appointed 
to collect such sujjplies in his vicinity and forward 
them at once for their use. For the part he had taken 
in the war, on the organization of the Fourth Battalion 
of Philadelphia County militia, commanded bj' Col- 
onel William Dean, he was chosen and commissioned 
a captain of one of the companies to be raised in his 
township. By accepting these several charges he 
was placed in a delicate position, much more so 
through a considerable majority of the surrounding 
population being bent on remaining neutral during the 
contest. Among his other duties was to report the 
fines of delinquents for not attending the musterings- 
No sooner did the war close than slander was busy to 
ruin his character and business. In the Philadelphia 
Gazette of Februarj' 17, 1783, he was induced in con- 
sequence to have inserted an advertisement ottering a 
reward of one hundred guineas for the author of a 
rejxirt that he was " ]jrivy in robbing a collector.'' 
Some of the neutrals, or, rather, disafi'ected, in attend- 
ing the Philadelphia market, reported there that 
himself and wife had been guilty of murdering one or 
more travelers, who had stopped at his house, for 
their property. To this he also replied in the spring 
of 1789, and again offered a similar reward. He 
states as to the latter that he had seven children, 
" several of them young and helpless." That such 
reports were damaging to the keeper of a public-house 
we do not wonder, even if they have never been 
proven. With it all. Christian Dull outlived many of 
his enemies, throve in business and attained to a good 
old age, closing his career as the landlord of the Spring 
House tavern about the beginning of 1822. 

He made a will appointing John Roberts one of his 
executors, but Roberts died in 1823, aged seventy -three 



years, and therefore did not survive long enough to 
assist in carrying out the trust. John Roberts 
had been for many years a store-keeper here, 
and on the most friendly terms with Mr. Dull. 
The property was advertised at public sale No- 
vember 8, 1827. It was described as " that 
well-known stand, commonly called the Spring 
House tavern, situate at the junction of the 
Bethlehem pike and the Allentown road, eighteen 
miles from Philadelphia, containing nineteen acres of 
land, a commodious stone tavern and stone house, in 
wliich store has been kept for more than thirty years 
past and stabling for more than one hundred horses." 
Mention is made, besides, of two other dwellings, 
a blacksmith and wheelwright-shop, and an adjoining 
farm of one hundred and twenty-six acres, with good 
buildings. This all denotes that Christian Dull, in 
his residence here of half a century, certainly did 
much for the improvement of the place. The exten- 
sive stabling will show what an amount of travel and 
hauling must have then been exclusively confined to 
the highways, since so much reduced by railroads. 
An additional stage line was placed on the road from 
Bethlehem in 1797, which also stoi)ped here. What 
greatly added to the business of this stand 
was its suitable distance from the city for all travelers 
or market men stopping in coming or going that way. 
In October, 1804, Alexander Wilson, the distinguished 
ornithologist, with his two companions, on their pe- 
destrian journey from Philadelphia to the Falls of 
Niagara, remained overnight here, and in his poem 
of " The Foresters " gives the following amusing 
account: 

" The road was gouij, the passing 9(^enery ga,v, 
Mile after mile passed unperceived away, 
Till in the west the day began to close, 
And Spring House tavern furnished us repose. 
Here two long rows of market folks were seen, 
Ranged front to front, the table placed between, 
Where bags of meat, and bones, and crusts of bread, 
And hunks of bacon all around were spread ; 
One pint of beer from lip to lip went round, 
And scarce a crumb the hungry house-dog found ; 
Torrents of Dutch from every quarter came, 
Pigs, calves and sour-croiit the important theme ; 
While we, on future plans resolving deep, 
Discharged our bill and straight retired to sleep." 

From " the two long rows of market folks " described, 
we can judge of the extent of Christian Dull's busi- 
ness at that time. This description of the economical 
arrangement of farmers taking their provisions along 
in going to market is no doul)t true, and was even 
carried still further, by their sleeping on the bar- 
room floors at night. (Gordon, in his "Gazetteer of 
Pennsylvania," published in 1832, has well said that 
the Spring House is "a noted tavern." Four incor- 
porated turnpikes meet here, the first constructed 
from Chestnut Hill in 1804, and the last to Penllyn 
and the Blue Bell in 1872. John W. Murray had the 
post-oflice established in 1829. The completion of 
the North Pennsylvania Railroad to Bethlehem, in 



864 



HISTORY OF MOxVTGOMERY COUNTY. 



1857, was the first great blow to the travel on the 
roads, which has since more and more diminished 
through the construction of other railroads. The old 
stand here was kept by David Blyler for some time. 
On the opposite corner another public-house was es- 
tablished by Thomas Scarlett, and kept as such for 
many years, now occupied as a store and for the post- 
ofiice. On the division ot'Gwynedd into two districts, 
iu 1876, the voters of the lower section were author- 
ized to hold their elections at the present public 
house on the site of the famous old hostelry, whosj 
name it perpetuates. 

ASSESSMENT OF GWYXEDD FOR 177G. 
John Jenkins, assessor and Henry Bergy, collector. 
Jesse FonlUe, 210 acres, 6 horses, 6 cowa and a grist and saw-mill : 
Thomas Kvans, 2:J0 a., 1 servant, 2 h., 6 c. ; George Snyder, 150 a., 1 
servant, 3h., G c. ; Michael Hawke, loO a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Jephtha Lewis, -lOO 
a., 2 h., 6 c. ; Eneas Lewis, 160 a., 2 h., ;i c, ; Isaac Lewis, 2 h., 3 c. ; 
Reese, 200 a., 2 h., 6 c. ; Hnniplirey Jouee, 180 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; George 
Gossinger, 100 a., 2 Ii., 5 c. ; Meloliior Kreable. 119 a., 3 h., 5c. ; Philip 
Hood, 3110 a., 4 h., G c. ; Isaac K olb. 143 a., 3 h., fi c. ; I saac Kolb, Jiv, 
143.1., 2 Ik, 5 c. ; Philip Heist, 120a., 2 h., 4 c."T JoEh Thomson,*123 a., 
3 h., 4 c. ; Thomas Shoemaker, 110 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Margaret Johnson, in ) 
a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Stephen Bloom, 3n a.. 2 h., 2 c. ; Daniel Williams, 130 a., 
3 h., 4 c. ; Amos Huberts, 189 a., 3 h., 8 c, has 9 children ; John Davis, 
170 ii., 3 h., G c. ; Enoch Morgan, loO a., 2 h., 5 c. ; Nicholas Selser, lOii 
a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Blurris Morris, 30 a., 1 h., 2c. ; Henry Rapp, 1 h., 1 c. ; 
George Miller; .Tacob .\lbright, 2 h., 2 c. ; Samuel Gamble, 29 a., 1 h., 

1 c. ; Martin Schw cnk^ IG!) a., 2 h.,^ p. ; Abraham Donenhaner, 135 a., 

2 h.,'Sl5:T Jacob Heisr5r7~l47 a., 4 h., 4 c. ; Henry Snyder, 175 a., 3 h., 
fi c, h;is 9 children ; Peter Troxal, 80 a., 2 li., 2 c, and grist and saw- 
mill ; Thomas Evans, Jr., 140 a. , 2 h., 4 c, supports his mother ; Baltzer 
Spitzniigel, 1 c. ; William Williams, 120 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; George Maris. 
450 a., 4 h., fi c. ; Conrad Dimond, 40 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Walter Howell, loo 
a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Thomas Leaman, 1 c. ; Jlichael Hoffman. 200 a., 2 c. ; 
Jacob Sigfried, 1 h., 2 c. ; Barnabas Be iver 50 a., and grist-mill ; Mat- 

Ibew Lukens, 130 a., 2 h., G c, saw mill ; JIartin Hoffman, 1 c. ; John 
Jenkins, 252 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; Sarah Griffith, 300 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Joseph Grif- 
fith, 100 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Benjamin Rosenberger, 50 a., 1 li., 2 c. ; John 
Knipe, 150 a., 1 h., 3 c. ; William Dixey, 10 a., 1 h., 1 c, a cripple; 
Garret Clemmens, 136 a., 3 h., 6 c. ; John Conrad, GO a., 2 h., 3 c. : 
Christian Dull, 8 a. and tiiveru, 1 h., 1 c. ; John Shelmire, 14 a., 1 h., 

1 0. ; Peter Buck, 50 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; George Shelmire, 9G a., 1 h., 1 c. ; 
George Shelmire, Jr., 3 h., 2 c. ; William Erwin, 100 a., 2 h., 2 c, aged : 
Alexander Major, 15i) a., 2 h., G c, 8 children ; .Joshua Foulke, 200 a. 

3 h., 6 c. ; John Sparey, 100 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; George Fleck, 2 h., 3 c. ; 
Ann Week, 100 a. ; George Week, 7 a., 1 )i., 1 c. ; Samuel Castner, 50 a., 

2 h., 4 c. ; John Everhart, 150 a., 2h., 4 c. ; Nicholas Rice, 50 a., 2 h., 
6 c. ; Adam Fleck, IH) a., 3 h., 6 c. ; John Davis. Jr., 75 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; 
David Davis, 75 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Robert Davis, 75 a. ; William Roberts, 100 
a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Ezekiel Cleaver, 140 a., 4 h., S c. ; John Evans, 250 a., 3 
h., 8 c. ; Michael Consler, 40 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Peter Young, 50 a., 1 h., 4 
c. ; Samuel Kastner, 80 a., 2 c. ; Daniel Leblance, 75 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; 
Jacob Smith, 100 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Jacob Smith, Jr., 1 h., 2 c. ; Jacob Wiant. 
130 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Peter Hoffman, 1 h., 2 c. ; Levi Foulke, 100 a., 3 h., G 
c. ; Martin Raker, 57 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; William Johnson, 123 a., 2 h., 2 c; 
Hugh Foulke, 3 h., 2 c. ; Conrad Gerhart, 120 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; John Sid. 
dons, 1 c. ; Conrad Smith, 2 h., 2 c. ; William Moore, 2 h., 2 c. ; Job 
Lukens, £0 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; Heury Bergj-, 50 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Adam Smith, 1 
h., 1 c. ; Matbias Booz, 1 c. ; Wendle Fetter, 15 a., 1 c. ; William 
Springer, 2 h., 4 c. ; John Singer, 50 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Philip Hurst, 80 a., 
2h., 5 c. ; John Troxal, 25 a., 2 h., 1 c. ; William Hoffman, 2 li., 4 c. ; 
Evan Davis, 15 a., 1 c. ; Christian Delacourt, Nicholas Shubert, 7 a., 1, 
c. ; Michael Itzel, 1 a., 1 c. ; Jacob Brown, 2 c. ; Jacob Walton, 1 h., 1 
c. ; Jacob Preston, John Delacourt, 2 c. ; Benjamin Williams, Philip 
Berkhoimer. Single-men. — Hugh Evans, John Jenkins Jr., John Kidnev, 
John Evans. Robert Roberts, David Harry, Jr., Rces HaiTy, Benjamin 
Harry, Joseph Lewis, John Johnson, Enoch 5Iorgan, Joseph Long, John 
M'illiams, Evan Roberts, Eleazer Williams, Tillma n Ivplb, Griffith Ed- 
wards, Jacob Booz, William Smith, Rees Roberts, Robert Roberts, Henry 
Selser, John Selser. Christian Knipe, George Sperry, M'illiam Oman, 
Samuel Singer, Conrad Bouz, George Ganger, Joseph Yost, Benjamin 
Gregory, Abraham Docnenhauer. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



JACOB Ii. RHOADS. 

Jacob B. Rhoads, one of the thrifty and enterprising 
farmers of Gwynedd township, and one who has made 
agriculture a study and a success, was born on the 
farm he now owns, July 20, 1820. His early life was 
spent upon the old homestead farm, half a mile from 
the town of North Wales, and his educational advan- 
tages were such as the common schools of that period 
afforded. 

He commenced business for himself in 1846, when 
he rented his father's farm, and attended strictly to 
that branch of business for several years, or until 
1856, laying well the foundation for the future success 
that has attended his every enterprise. In the latter 
year he added to the duties and responsibilities of a 
large farmer that of butchering for the Philadelphia 
markets, which he has successfully carried on to the 
present time. 

At the death of his father, in 1866, he inherited 
one-half of the old homestead farm, containing one 
hundred and forty acres, and jiurchased from the 
heirs the other half. The farm was formerly owned 
by Joseph Evans, and purchased by Abraham, father 
of Jacob B. Rhoads, in 1806. The North Pennsylva- 
nia Branch of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad 
passes through the farm of Mr. Rhoads, and the long, 
deep cut and tunnel south of North Wales is on or 
through his farm. Since Mr. Rhoads has owned the 
old homestead he has remodeled the dwelliTig and 
built the large and commodious barns and out-build- 
ings, that are not only a convenience for the farm, 
but an ornament to that part of the township where 
they are located. He has also owned two other farms 
of one hundred acres each, which he sold to George 
Castner and G. B. Kittlehaus. 

Mr. Rhoad.s has by his industry, economy and fair 
dealing with his fellow-men not only merited but has 
received their confidence and esteem in business 
transactions, and has been honored for six years with 
a seat in the board of school directors of his town- 
ship. 

Mr. Rhoads married, March 13, 1845, Ann Jenkins, 
who was born November 22, 1818. The result of this 
union has been as follows : Sarah Amanda, born De- 
cember 10, 1846, married, October 29, 1868, to George 
W. Castner ; Mary, born March 18, 1851, married, 
January 20, 1885, to Charles Jacobs ; Anna, born 
June 24, 1857, died December 23, 1857; Abraham J., 
born September 7, 1859, married, October 23, 1883, to 
Elizabeth Hood. 

Abraham, the father of Jacob B. Rhoads, was born 
December 4, 1782, and died November 22, 1866. His 
wife, Sarah Baker Rhoads, died April 3, 1840. Their 
children were as follows: Charles, born February 3, 
1816, died October 6, 1820 ; Jacob B., born July 20, 
1820 ; Elizabeth, born November 5, 1828, married. 



GWYNEDD TOWNSHIP. 



865 



February 20, 1849, to Jacob Acuff; Annie, born 
March 7, 1827, married, May 1, 1856, to George Col- 
yer (she died January 17, 1857) ; Samuel ; Joseph ; 
Morris; Issachar; Catharine; Ellen; and Ezekiel. 
Ann, mother of Abraham and grandmother of Jacob 
B. Rhoads, died March 16, 1839. 



JAMES W. BISSON. 

Mr. Bisson is of Huguenot ancestry, his great- 
grandfather, Charles, who was born in France in 1756, 
having come to the United States in his youth, where 
he followed his trade of tailor. He married Miss 



children, — Evau, who served with distinction in the 
war of the Rebellion, and subsequently removed to 
Nebraska ; and Phebe. By a second marriage, to 
Hannah Skeen, were children, — James W. and Eliza- 
beth Virginia (Mrs. Ohalkley Jarrett). The death of 
Mr. Bisson occurred at his house on the 5th of Au- 
gust, 1876. His son, James W., was born September 
17, 1842, in Gwynedd township, his present re.sidence. 
The schools near by afforded opportunities for a com- 
mon English education, after which he devoted a 
season to study at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial 
College, in Philadelphia, and became thoroughly 




of. S '^-^rc^ 



Elizabeth, daughter of Evan Roberts. On his death, 
in 1825, his remains were interred in Bethel Church 
burial-ground. 

His son, Evan Bisson, was born in 1779, and died in 
1851. He made the township of Gwynedd his resi- 
dence, and there plied industriously the trade of a 
stone-mason, in addition to which he cultivated a 
farm. He married Ann Beiff, of the same county, 
whose children were Charles, Samuel, John, Richard, 
Hilary, Elizabeth, Mary Ann and Malinda. Hilary 
was born in Montgomery County and acquired the 
trade of his father, which he conducted on an exten- 
sive scale both in his native town and in the adjacent 
counties. He married Rebecca Eaton, and had 
55 



familiar with the principles of business. Returning 
to his father' farm, he remained a valued assistant 
until twenty-five years of age, and then by purchase 
became the owner of the homestead farm, formerly 
the property of his grandfather. He has since that 
date devoted his energies to farm employments, 
meanwhile gratifying his taste for horticulture by 
propagating rare fruit, and also engaging largely 
in the breeding of fine fowls, in which he has estab- 
lished an extended reputation and derived much 
profit. Mr. Bisson was married, February 20, 1868, 
to Miss Kate, daughter of John S. Danehower, of 
the same township. They have one child, a daughter, 
Lilly May, born on the 15th of September, 1884. Blr. 



866 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Bisson is in politics a Republican, but not actively in- 
terested in public measures. He is a member of Othello 
Lodge, No. 50, of Knights of Pythias, and of Mont- 
gomery Council, No. 18, of the order of United 
American Mechanics. 



ALLEN HEKKHIMEK. 

Mr. Berkhimer represents one of the oldest families 
in Montgomery County. His grandfather, who was 
Jacob Berkhimer, married Maria Rubican, of Dela- 
ware County, Pa., and had children, — George, Charles, 



possible in the country at that date. He became fa- 
miliar with the labor of the farm, and lent a willing 
hand to the cultivation of his father's land until the 
occasion of his marriage, when, desiring to be more 
independent, he for two years worked it on shares, 
and subsequently spent a brief period at Penllyn. 
On his return he became the lessee of the property, 
and the owner on the death of his parent. He was 
married, on the 4th of March, 1875, to Miss Lizzie P., 
daughter of Samuel A. and Maria Posey Willetts, of 
Gwynedd township. Their children are Charles W., 




William, Julia Ann, Susan. He purchased, in 1824, 
the property now occupied by his grandson, and re- 
.sided upon it until his death, when it came by in- 
heritance to Charles, his eldest son. The latter mar- 
ried Mary Ann, daughter of Jacob Fleck, of Gwynedd 
township, and had children, -Mary Ann (Mrs. David 
Dunnett), Allen and Anna (Mrs. Milton Ruch). Al- 
len was born on the 6th of July, 1842, in Upper Dub- 
lin township, Montgomery Co., and at an early age 
removed with his parents to Gwynedd township, 
where his youth was devoted to acquiring a modest 
education under such favorable circumstances as were 



i born in 1867; Samuel W., born in 1877 ; Bessie W., in 
I 1878; and Allen W. in 1880. Mr. Berkhimer is a Demo- 
crat in politics, but too much engaged in the absorbing 
I duties connected with the farm to devote special atten- 
i tion to the political issues of the day. He was, never- 
theless, the incumbent of the office of postmaster while 
a resident of Penllyn. He is a member of Spring 
House Lodge, No. 329, of Independent Order of Odd- 
Fellows ; of Fort Washington Lodge, No. 308, of Free 
and Accepted Masons ; of Fort Washington Ch.ipter, 
No. 220 ; of Fort Washington Lodge, of Knights of 
Pythias, No. 148 ; of the Benevolent Society of Fort 



GWYNEDD TOWNSHIP. 



867 



Washington, of which he is a trustee ; and of the Am- 
bler Beneficial Society, of which he is treasurer. He 
is also a director of the First National Bank of Am- 
bler, and has been for ten years a director of the Am- 
bler Building Association. Mr. Berkheimer was edu- 
cated in the faith of the German Lutheran Church, and 
■worships at the church of that deuomination in Upper 
Dublin, to the support of which he contributes, as to 
that of many other worthy causes. 



ALLEN THOMAS. 

William Thomas, who was the great-great-grand- 
father of the subject of this biographical sketch, in 



gomery County, where he acquired the trade of a 
blacksmith, and followed it in connection with the 
occupations of a farmer. He married Mary, daughter 
of James Craig, of New Britain, Bucks Co., Pa., and 
had children, — Albert, Allen, Charles B., Ashbel C, 
Ann E. (Mrs. John Lampen) and Abel. The death 
of Mr. Thomas occurred on the 2d of July, 1882. His 
son Allen was born January 20, 1827, in Gwynedd 
township. After a period of youth devoted to study 
he removed to Bucks County, Pa., and embarked in the 
lumber business, wdiere the advantages of trade were 
sufficiently great to make him a resident for fifteen 
vears. Mr. Thomas then returned to his native 






'!n<f^>->T.4» ^ 



the last century emigrated from Wales to America and 
settled in Hilltown, Bucks Co., Pa., where he ac- 
c[uired twelve hundred and fifty acres of land and 
filled the double role of a farmer and a Baptist 
preacher. Among his family of seven children was 
Thomas, born in Wales and an infant at the time of 
his father's emigration. 

Thomas resided on thehomestead in Hilltown, where 
his life was spent in the cultivation of its productive 
acres. His son Asa succeeded his father on the 
estate. Abel, the second son of the latter, was born 
in 1799, and removed when a voung man to Mont- 



county and engaged in the same pursuit in Frederick 
township. In 1879 he became again a resident of 
Gwynedd township, where he conducts an extensive 
and successful business in hardwood lumber. Mr, 
Thomas was, in December, 1848, married to Anna R., 
daughter of John Goucher, and has children, — Emma 
G. (Mrs. M. K. Gilbert), born in 1849; William B., 
in 1851 ; Franklin P., in 1853, deceased ; Martha K., 
in 1854, deceased ; Arthur K., in 18.57; Lukens, in 
1859; Mary, in 1861; Lizzie L., in 1862; Alfred, in 
1865 ; and Edward K. in 1866. Mr. Thomas is in his 
political preferences a Democrat, though not ambi- 



86S 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



tious for the distinctions of office. He is president of 
the West Point Turnpike Company, and actively con- 
nected as a Mason with Shiloh Lodge, No. 558, of 
Lansdale, as also with Zicglerville Lodge of Knights 
of Pythias. Both Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are members 
of the North Wales Baptist Church. 



the tributaries of that stream. The surface is rolling, 
and has an easy drainage into the creeks named; the 
prevailing soil is red clay, with surface loam, the pro- 
ductive character of which has been greatly improved 
by the enterprising farmers within the last quarter of 
a century. 




-yVtAjL/t^ ^J^'^'Z-*^ 




CHAPTER LVII. 

HATFIELD TOWNSHIP. 

This township is located on the line of Bucks 
County, and adjoins Montgomery on the east, Towa- 
mencin on the southwest, Franconia on the northwest 
and the borough of Lansdale on the south. It is three 
and three-quarters miles long and three miles wide, with 
an area of eleven square miles, or seven thousand and 
forty acres. The area was reduced by the incorpora- 
tion of Lansdale as a borough, in 1872, a considerable 
portion of the borough being taken from this town- 
ship. The township is located on what is sometimes 
called the "divide," or highcstpoint between the Del- 
aware and Schuylkill Rivers. Streams of water ris- 
ing and flowing in and through this township empty 
into both rivers. The head-waters of the Neshaminy 
rise in this township, also of the Skippack, or rather 



The name of this township is thought by Wm. J. 
Buck to have been derived from a town and parish in 
Hertfordshire. He also says tliat a John Hatfield 
resided in Norriton township as early as 1734; there 
are circumstances that point to the possible deriva- 
tion of the name from a family long known to have 
been residents of the county. The following places 
of business were among the assessed property for 
1785: two grist-mills, one saw-mill, one tannery; 
there was one liotel licensed in the township for the 
same year. The population in 1800 was 520 ; in 1830, 
835 ; in 1850, 1135; in 1870, 1.512 ; in 1880, 1694. 

The taxables in 1828, were 211 ; in 1858, 346 ; and 
in 1884, 465. We are unable to state the date 
when the township was decreed by the Court of Quar- 
ter Sessions of Philadelphia County. It did not exist 
prior to 1741, and was known to exist at tlie close of 
the Revolution, as it appears that damages were 



HATFIELD TOWNSHIP. 



869 



assessed to Jaenb Reed, forty-five pounds, and Isaac 
Wisler, twenty-five pounds, both of Hatfield, resulting 
from incursions of the enemy ; this country was open 
to the foraging-parties of Lord Howe while wintering 
his army in Philadelphia, in 1777-78, and the scat- 
tered farmers doubtless suti'ered more or less loss in 
consequence. John Fries, of "Fries' Rebellion " no- 
toriety, was born in this township about 1750. Fries 
removed to Bucks County and entered the military 
service with the patriots. He resisted the " House 
and Window Tax Law," and subsequently, by his 
contempt for the authorities authorized to collect it, 
made himself so obnoxious th.at he was arrested, tried, 
convicted and sentenced to be hung, April, 1793. The 
event was of great local interest at the time, and by 
the interposition of kind and influential fri*nds, he 
was pardoned by President John Adams. Mr. Fries 
died about 1820. 

The villages in the townships are Line Lexing- 
ton, situated on the county line, and partly in Bucks 
County ; Hatfield, Colmar, Hockertown. 

The North Pennsylvania Railroad passes in an 
almost direct line through the centre of this town- 
ship, in a northwestern direction. The Doylestown 
Branch of the same railroad, leaving Lansdale, passes 
through the northeast portion of the township, with 
a station at Colmar. These public improvements 
have been of great advantage to the inhabitants and 
land-owners, aflbrding improved facilities for the 
transportation of farm products, and also convenient 
depots for the shipment of hay, feed, lime, manure* 
lumber and all those commodities dealt in by an 
enterprising agricultural community. The township 
is well provided with public highways intersecting 
every part of it, all of which are kept in good order, 
with substantial bridges over the streams crossing 
them. The main line of railroad, leaving Lansdale, 
passes through and near lands now or late of A. 
Swepenhiser, J. Reed, J. Krupp, T. House, H. Heck- 
man, P. Boyer, J. Steiner, W. Steiner, D. Rosenber- 
ger, the Evangelical Church grounds, J. Rosenberger, 
reaching Lower Hatfield village, thence, a short dis- 
tance, Upper Hatfield village, and beyond, through 
lands of J. H. Rosenberger, E. Kriebler, John Frick, 
A. H. Rosenberger, S. Shellenberger, C. Gehman and 
H. Clemmer. The Doylestown Branch passes through 
lands now or late of P. S. Jenkins, H. Hoppel, J. 
Troyard, M. Kramer, J. M. Gilmer, A. Manuel, J. 
Kile, P. Hondel, J. AUebach, G. Garmer, M. Beehtel, 
N. Harrar, J. M. Jenkins, A. H. Fretz and others, 
reaching Colmar, a station and railroad village. 
Everything here indicates a place of recent growth. 
The railroad at this point crosses an old turnpike 
road, first opened as a common or dirt road in 1735, 
then called the Bethlehem road. Along this highway 
are seen many fine old-time farm-houses, large and 
substantially built, and in striking contrast with the 
more modern and ornamental residences comjirising 
the village of Colmar. Thjre is a large and commo- 



dious hotel, a country store, a large warehouse, under 
the management of I. R. Rosenberger, who deals 
extensively in feed, flour, hay and those commodities 
necessarily connected with such establishments, there 
being extensive railroad sidings for the shipment of 
coal, lime, manure, lumber, live stock, etc. 

Treewigtown, or Hatfield Square, as it is called in 
Scott's Atlas, is situated on the old Bethlehem road, 
about a mile northwest of Colmar. The village is 
(ormed of residences scattered along the road, and 
indicates its ancient origin by the old-time Farmers' 
and Drovers' Hotel, a place of local importance 
when market men drove to and from Philadelphia 
with their produce, when stages ran through from 
Bethlehem to Philadelphia, and dairy and stock 
cattle were driven through the country and nightly 
herded at these old-time taverns, like this one, having 
farm-lands connected with it for pasturage. The 
old-time industries are here represented by black- 
smiths, shoemakers, wood-workers and the toll-gath- 
erer. A half-mile or more northwest of this village 
is the Line Lexington, a portion of which is situated 
in this township. This is an old settlement, spoken 
of by the historian Gordon as early as 1832, who 
sMVs it contained at that time eight or ten dwellings 
and a post-oflice. The place has grown very consid- 
erably since then, having upwards of fifty residences, 
a hotel, two stores and the usual mechanical indus- 
tries. 

Villages have grown up with rapidity at Upper and 
Lower Hatfield Stations, on the North Pennsylvania 
Railroad. Lower Hatfield takes precedence in age. 
Located at the junction of the "Old Cowpath" and 
" Forty-Foot" roads, it was many years ago known as 
a village, and since the location and opening of the 
railroad it has become a centre of local trade and 
traffic for the township, finding a sharp rival in its 
sister village, a short distance from it. Among its 
idaces of business are found a hotel, a store for the 
s de of general merchandise, two hay-presses, coal- 
y.ird, drug-store and a number of mechanical indus- 
tries, all of which appear to be in a prosperous condi- 
tion at the time we write. 

Upper Hatfield, though of more recent origin, pre- 
sents the appearance of a young and promising vil- 
Itige. It owes its existence, in some measure, to the 
enterprising character of Joseph Proctor, Esq., a citizen 
of Hatfield township, who purchased a considerable 
tract of land where the town and railroad station is 
located, and divided it into building lots, encouraged 
improvements and the building of residences. There 
is here a convenient station for passengers and 
freight, a hotel, store for the sale of general mer- 
chandise, with the post-office, coal and lumber-yard, 
tinsmith and other industries. H. M. Ziegler is the 
postmaster at the place. Both Upper and Lower 
Hatfield villages are of local importance to the town- 
ship, situated so near its centre, the former atfording 
a convenient point of shipment for milk and general 



870 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



farm produce, and for the distribution of freiarlit and 
the general supplies consumed and used by an agricul- 
tural community. The following exhibit of the mer- 
cantile appraiser for the year 1884 illustrates the 
commercial enterprise of the people of this township : 
Jeremiah Alderfer, produce ; George Brecht, mer- 
chandise ; E. K. Blanck, drugs ; William Bear, 
butcher; James Clark, Jr., stoves; Frank Cassel, 
agricultural implements; William B. Fretz, stoves, 
etc. ; Isaac R. Hunsberger, organs ; Earl Jenkins, 
butcher; Jacob Kindig, butcher ; I. R. Kulp, hay; 
I. R. Kulp, coal, lumber; I. R. Kulp, flour and feed; 
Henry Kile, butcher; Joseph i^nndis, lumber; Wil- 
liam B. Moyer, butcher; B. M. Moyer, merchandise ; 
Joseph Proctor, live stock ; I. R. Rosenberger, flour, 
feed; I. R. Rosenberger, hay; J. M. Romich, live 
stock; H. Robinson, merchandise; F. H. Souders, 
flour, feed ; F. H. Souders, coal ; F. H. Souders, lum- 
ber, hay ; A. Sorver, lumber; D. Smith, sewing-ma- 
chines ; Philip Svvartly, butcher; George Snyder, 
hay; George Snyder, coal; George Snyder, flour, 
feed ; Isaac Tyson, live stock ; John Treflinger. 
butcher; Ziegler & Meyers, merchandise; H. M. 
Ziegler, merchandise. 

Educational. — The common-school system is said 
to have gone into operation about the year 1840. The 
leading citizens of the township have always taken 
a lively interest in the education of the young, but it 
is due to say that a conservative element has always 
opposed "long terras" and advanced salaries for 
teachers. This conservatism has recently found ex- 
pression in the township in opposing the creation ol' 
an independent school district for the better accom- 
modation of the progressive inhabitants of Upper and 
Lower Hatfield villages. The district has been 
created, and the advantages will doubtless be enjoyed 
by those seeking the benefit of longer terms and super- 
ior teachers, although residing beyond its limits. 

At present (18S4) there are six schools in the town- 
ship, with three hundred and fifty-nine pupils en 
rolled. The length of term for the present year is 
seven months, and the salary paid to teachers is forty 
dollars per month. Male and female teachers are em- 
ployed, and equal salaries are paid them. There is 
an independent school district at Line Lexington, the 
advantages of which are shared by a portion of the 
inhabitants of this township. The cost of maintain- 
ing it is distributed as follows among the townships out 
of which it was created ; one-fourth from Hatfield town- 
ship, one-fourth from Hilltown township, and one- 
half from New Britain township, the two latter town 
ships being in Bucks County. The average attend- 
ance is fifty pupils. 

Elections. — By act of the General Assembly, ap- 
proved March 24, 1818, the township of Hatfield was 
formed into a separate election district, and the elec- 
tions ordered to be held at the house of John Bucha- 
nan. By a similar act, approved April 11, 1825, the 
place, of holding the elections was changed to the 



house of Peter Conver, and again, by a similar act of 
April 23, 1829, the elections were ordered to be held 
at the house of Jacob C. Bachnian. The elections 
are now held at the public-house of Oliver Althouse, 
in Lower Hatfield village. 

Religious Worship. — There is a Men nonite meet- 
ing-house located on what is locally known as the 
"Plains," or township line road, between Hatfield and 
Towaraencin, and in the latter township ; another of 
the same denomination, known as the New Mennon- 
ite Church, near Hatfield village ; both of these 
places of religious worship are plain, unpretentious 
structures, such as are in use by this denomination 
throughout this part of the country ; comforts, and 
necessary conveniences are provided for, but all ornate 
embellishments of exterior and interior are studiously 
avoided. 

The Evangelical or German Baptists' Church i» 
situated on the Cow Path road, a short distance 
south of Hatfield village ; this is a plain but substan- 
tial structure, corresponding with the habits and tastes 
of the humble people who worship there. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



HON. OLIVER G. MORRIS. 

Cadwallader, the lineal ancestor of Oliver G. Mor- 
ris, immigrated from Wales, located in Pennsylvania 
and intermarried with the Thomas family, who also 
came from Wales to this country in the early part of 
the last century. 

Morris Morris, son of Cadwallader Morris, married 
Gwently Thomas, and had seven children, — Cadwal- 
lader (second), Abraham, William, Benjamin, Enoch, 
Joseph and Morris, Jr. 

Morris Morris, Sr., husband of Gwently Thomas, 
inherited two hundred and sixty-seven acres of land 
lying at Hilltown, which he possessed and bequeathed 
to his son, Cadwallader (second), the latter paying 
his brothers difterent sums of money. A cane which 
belonged to Morris Morris, was, in 188.5, owned by 
Oliver G. Morris, of Line Lexington, and has been 
in the family as an heir-loom over one hundred and 
fifty years. 

Cadwallader, the eldest son of Morris and Gwently 
Morris, was born in 1737. He was a man of considera- 
ble education for those days. He became a school 
teacher and surveyor, and was widely known at that 
early period, and was sought after for his skill and know- 
ledge concerning many things. He married Elizabeth 
Kastner, of Hilltown, and died August 23, 1812, at the 
age of seventy-five years. His wife survived him a 
few years. Their children were Alice, Abel, William, 
Rebecca and Hannah. 

William, son of Morris and Gwently Morris, the 
great-grandfather of Oliver G. Morris, was born 



HATFIELD TOWNSHIP. 



871 



March 5, 1739. William was married, in 17(53, to Ann, 
daughter of Nathaniel Griffith, of Hilltown, where 
now (1885) stands the Leidytown Hotel, which pro- 
perty William Morris subsequently purchased. Wil- 
liam and Ann both died at the house of their son 
Isaac, in the village of Line Lexington, the former 
on April 22, 1821, aged eighty-two years, and the 
latter on July 17, 1821, at the age of seventy-seven 
years. Their children were Isaac, Benjamin, Morris, 
Eliam, William, Jr., GriflSth, Ann, Elizabeth and 
Huldah. 

Isaac Morris, grandfather of the subject of this 



6, 1806. She was a person of much intelligence and 
vivacity of mind, as well as business tact and ability ; 
a good and estimable woman in all the relations of life. 
She died August 1, 1856, aged eighty-five years. Isaac 
died Sept. 13, 1843. By his first wife Isaac was the 
father of three children, — Mathias, Justus and Wil- 
liam. The two latter died young. 

Mathias Morris was born Sept. 12, 1787. He pos- 
sessed unusual abilities, and was proficient in classical 
literature. He studied law with his cousin, Enoch 
Morris, and was admitted to the bar at New- 
town in 1809, where he lived some time. He mar- 




sketch, was born May 5, 1764, and was twice married. 
He purchased, in 1789, the ancestral homestead of 
Gwently Morris, his grandmother, adjoining the Lower 
Hilltown Baptist Church, which he held till about 
ISO"), when he removed to Line Lexington, where he 
was for many years justice of the peace. Isaac mar- 
ried, October 12, 1786, for his first wife, Elizabeth, 
daughter of Thomas Mathias. She was born Sept. 12, 
1765, and died Aug. 28, 1803. The second wife of 
Isaac was Rachel, daughter of Benjamin jNIathews, 
Esq. She was born Feb. 21, 1771, and married April 



ried Wilhelmina, daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth 
Chapman, and sister of Hon. Henry Chapman. In 
1828 he was elected to the State Senate, and re-elected 
for a second term, and was elected two terms to Con- 
gress, 1834 and 1836. He died Nov. 9, 1839, aged 
fifty-two years. His widow lives in Doylestown, with 
her daughter, Mary Ann, who married John C. Ly- 
man, of Vermont. The children of Isaac Slorris, by 
his second wife, were Oliver Goldsmith and Burgess 
Allison (twins), and John D. The first-named died 
in 1826, aged nineteen years. 



872 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



John D. Moi'i'is was born April 9, 1811, became a 
lawyer and practiced bis profession for many years 
in Stroudsburg. lie represented Monroe County in 
the State Legislature in 1851 and 1852, and subse- 
quently held responsible jjositions in the Philadel- 
phia Mint and Custom House, under the administra- 
tions of Pierce and Buchanan. He was an excellent 
man, affable and agreeable in manner, and popular 
among his acquaintances. His wife was Sally, daugh- 
ter of Stroud and Jeannette Hollinshead of Strouds- 
burg. He died in Line Lexington, at the house of 
his nephew, Oliver G. Morris, Jan. 5, 1868. 

Burgess Allison Morris was born Dec. 23, 1806, and 
on Jan. 28, 1836, married Mary G., daughter of John 
Riale, Es(i. She died June 27, 1837, leaving one son, 
Oliver Goldsmith Morris. 

John Riale, the father of Mary G. Morris, was for 
many years a prominent man of New Britain, and 
long a justice of the peace of that township, and held 
in just esteem by all who knew him. He was the son 
of Richard Riale and grandson of John Riale, who 
emigrated from England about 1725. He was twice 
married, the second time to Elizabeth Griffith, the 
mother of Mary G. Morris. The second wife of Bur- 
gess A. Morris was Matilda Hoxworth. 

Oliver Goldsmith Morris was born March 26, 1837, 
at Line Lexington, on the old homestead. His early 
life was spent upon the farm, until the death of his 
father, which occurred December 20, 1847. He was 
then sent to a boarding-school at New Britain, kept by 
Rev. John C. Hyde, for a term of three years, then to 
the Treemount Seminary, at Norristown, Rev. Samuel 
Aaron, principal, for two years ; then returned to the 
farm, where he has since continued to reside, engaged in 
farming and such other occupations as are usually con- 
nected with that branch of business. He needs no 
laudations in this connection to jirove the character 
of the man, nor to show the estimation in which he 
is held by the citizens of that part of the county in 
which he lives. His business connections and the 
suffrages of the peojile are the best tests of the high 
esteem in which he is held by his fellow-townsmen. 
When at the age of twenty-one years he was elected 
a school director, and in April, 1884, was re-elected 
for the ninth term, of three years each, to the same 
office, and has been secretary of the board and district 
superintendent from his first election to the present 
time. 

He has been for several years one of the board of 
managers of the Spring House and Hilltown Turn- 
pike Company, also one of the managers of the Line 
Lexington Fire Insurance Company. He has been 
one of the directors of the Stony Ci-eek Railroad Com- 
pany for fifteen years, secretary of the Self-Defense 
Horse Company " of Line Lexington for twenty-three 
years, a trustee of the Hilltown Baptist Church for 
twenty-five years, and was a member of the State 
Legislature for the sessions of 1871, 1872 and i873, 
and also held the office of assistant assessor of inter- 



nal revenue under the administration of Presidenit 
Johnson. He was married, October 11, 1858, to Miss 
Susannah, daughter of Michael and Mary Snyder. 
She was born Jan. 12, 1840. They arc the parents of 
the following children, — John D., born April 17, 
1861, died June 23, 1864; Charles E., born Sept. 14, 
1863 ; Allison M., born March 29, 1866, died July 28, 
1860 ; W. Norman, born Sept. 28, 1807 ; Mary, born 
May 17, 1870 ; Arthur S., born Jan. 4, 1877. 

The father of Mrs. Morris was a son of Jacob and 
Elizabeth Snyder, who were born in Bucks County, 
Pa. The mother of Mrs. Morris, Mary Snyder, was a 
daughter of Isaac and Susanna Rosenberger, of Hat- 
field townshiji, Montgomery Co. 



ISAAC R. EOSENBERGER. 

Isaac, the grandfather of Isaac R., was a well- 
to-do and highly respected farmer, living in Mont- 
gomery County, Pa., near the village of Line Lex- 
ington, on the farm now owned by Milton Jenkins. 
Mr. Rosenl)erger was of German descent, his parents, 
Isaac and Christiana, emigrating to this country 
about the middle of the last century, and located 
where Isaac lived nearly or quite all his lifetime. 
He died leaving children as follows : Martin, now 
living at or near Broad Street, Bucks Co., Pa.; 
Isaac D., now living at North Wales, this county; 
.loseph, father of Isaac R., the subject of this sketch; 
William, who died in Philadelphia; John; Eliza- 
beth, married, first, a Mr. Eckert, and for her second 
husband, she married Michael Snyder, also deceased ; 
she is still living, and resides in Bucks County ; 
S.irah, deceased, left her husband, Jacob Ruth ; 

Mary, married Snj'der, and became the mother of 

Jlrs. Oliver G. Morris. 

Joseph Rosenberger, father of Isaac R. Rosenberger, 
was born September 15, 1811, and died March 30, 
1877, at the age of sixty-five years, six months and 
fifteen days. He married Mary, daughter of Henry 
Ruth, of Bucks County. She was born February 4, 
1815, and died July 1, 1881, aged sixty-six years, five 
months and seven days. They were the parents 
of children as follows: Susannah, married Reuben 
Alderfer, of Hilltown, Bucks Co., Pa; Emcline, de- 
ceased, married, first, Abram Hursberger, and for 
her second husband, William Sender ; Anna Mary, 
married Mahlon Myers, who resides at Perkasie, 
Bucks Co., Pa.; Isaac R., born July 15, 1846; Joel, 
married Sally, daughter of the late Dr. Joseph Moyer, 
deceased ; Lizzie, married Edwin Jones, and now 
resides at Doylestown ; Charlea R., married Amanda 
Fluck, of Hilltown, Bucks Co., and is now a 
I)artner with his brother, Isaac R., in the coal, flour, 
feed and hay business, atColmar and at Doylestown, 
Pa. 

Joseph Rosenberger, the father of these children, 
was a farmer, merchant and lumber dealer at Mount 
Pleasant, Bucks Co., Pa., where he located after mar- 
riage and where he died. He was one of those well 



HATFIELD TOWNSHIP. 



873 



and fivorably known popular men who always looked 
upon the bright side of life, beloved and respected by 
all w'lo knew him. and especially by the poor and 
needy, who well remember his acts of kindness, many 
of whom he had, from time to time, in his employ. 
He was prominently identified with township and 
county affairs, yet in no sense of the word a poli- 
tician. He was for many years prior to his death 
one of the directors of the Doylestown Bank. His 
demise left a void in the community still unfilled. 

Isaac R. Rosenberger spent his early life upon the 
farm of his father during the summer months, and at 



business, having all the facilities of a large and com- 
modious warehouse, with all the necessary railroad 
facilities. In the early part of 1885 the Rosenberger 
Brothers extended their business by building a large 
warehouse, with railroad accommodations, at Doyles- 
town, where they are also engaged in the same kind 
of trade as at Colmar Station. 

Isaac R. was married December 4, 1866, to Miss Har- 
riet, daughter of William aud Sarah Bruner, of Chal- 
font, Bucks Co. His wife was born February 16, 1848. 
They are the parents of children, — Mary Alice, born 
April 12, 1868, died September 29, 1881 ; Harrington, 




the district school in the winter season, until lu^ was 
fifteen years of age. From that time until he arrived 
at the age of twenty-one years he performed such 
work as was necessary for him to do upon his father's 
farm, in the store and in the lumber-yard. After 
that he worked a farm on his own account for six years, 
and in 1872 he located at Colmar Station, on theNorth 
Pennsylvania Railroad, and engaged in the whole- 
sale and retail flour, feed, coal, hay and phosphate 
business. Here he conducted the business alone until 
1881, when he admitted his brother, Charles R., as a 
partner. They are doing a large and prosperous 



born October 27, 1869 ; Flora Estella, born June 4, 
1861, died June 20, 1876 ; Ella Blanche, born March 
4, 1873; Charles Grant, born December 4, 1874; 
William, born September 20, 1878. 

William Bruner, father of Mrs. Rosenberger, was a 
son of Henry Bruner, who for many years lived in 
Bucks County, near the county line, and was well and 
favorably known as one of the substantial, honest old 
farmers of Bucks County. Her maternal grandparents 
were of the well-known and highly respected Clymer 
families of Bucks and Berks Counties. 



874 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



CHAPTER LVIII. 

HORSHAM. 1 

Horsham is one of the eastern tier of townships, 
and is bounded on the northeast by Bucks County, 
northwest by Montgomery, south by Upper Dublin, 
southeast by Moreland and west by Gwynedd. It is 
of regular form, five and a half miles in length and 
three in width, with an area of nine thousand nine 
hundred and sixty six acres. Its surface is moderately 
rolling, and the soil in the central and lower sections 
is a fertile loam, but as it approaches the Montgomery 
line becomes more of a red shale. It is watered by 
several branches of the Neshaminy, one of which pro- 
pels within its limits two grist-mills and a saw-mill. 
The Pennypack has its source in this township, about ( 
two miles west of Horshamville, and propels a grist 
and saw-mill. 

The chief public improvements of Horsham are 
the Doylestown and Willow Grove turnpike, which 
passes through its eastern angle nearly three miles; 
the Whitehall turnpike, ibur miks; and the Bethlehem 
turnpike, for a few perches across its extreme western 
corner. The population in 1800 was 781; in 1840, 
1182; and in 1880, 1315, showing a decrease of sixty- 
seven inhabitants since the census of 1870. The real 
estate for taxable purposes in 1882 was valued at 
11,348,390, and including the personal, $1,447,020. 
The number of taxables is 482, possessing an average 
of $3380, and thus in point of wealth ranks the sixth 
in the county, being surpassed by Springfield, Abing- 
ton, Cheltenham, Moreland and Whitpain. It con- 
tains three public schools, open ten months, with an 
average attendance of one hundred and five scholars 
for the school year ending June 1, 1882; in 1856 the 
average was one hundred and three. For 1883 we 
find one hotel, three general stores and two dealers in 
flour and feed licensed. Friends' Meeting-house is 
the only place of worship. There is a hall for lectures 
and literary purposes at Horshamville and another at 
Prospectville. The villages are Horshamville, Pros- 
pectville and Davis Grove, each possessing .a post- 
oflice. 

According to Holme's map of original surveys, the 
first purchasers of land in Horsham were the follow- 
ing, beginning at the Moreland line: Samuel Carpen- 
ter, Mary Blunston, Richard Ingels, Thomas Potter, 
Sarah Fuller and .John Barnes. These tracts embraced 
half the township and extended from the Bucks County 
line to the Horsham road. The next, following in the 
same order, whose tracts extended from the southwest 
side of said road to the Upper Dublin and Gwynedd 
line, were George Palmer, Joseph Fisher and John 
Mason. There is no doubt that the whole of the 



1 B.v Will. .r. niuk. 



aforesaid tracts were located here before 1710. As 
respects dates the map is calculated to deceive, for 
though it may have been commenced near the'close 
of 1681, yet there is positive evidence from the sale of 
the tracts that it was filled up even after 1730. The 
following are given as land-holders and taxables here ' 
in 1734: Lady Ann Keith, 800 acres; Thomas .lohn- 
son, 200; James Coddy, 100; Richard Shoenuiker, 
100; Ellis Davis, 200; William Dunbar, 100; John 
Cadwallader, 150; JohnCadwallader, Jr., 150; Richard 
Thomas, 100; Alexander McQuee, 150; Thomas 
Palmer, 300; Widow Iredell, 2110; Peter Lukens, 75; 
Evan Lloyd, 250; John Barnes, 229; Jolin (iarret, 
200; and Widow Parry. 

Samuel Carpenter's purchase of five thousand and 
eighty-eight acres was made from Penn's commis- 
sioners of property May 26, 1706, and although a 
portion extended into Bucks County, yet it may have 
comprised over one-third of the area of the present 
township. It had a front on the Horsham road of 
four miles, or almost to Prospectville. Horshamville, 
Davis Grove and Grseme Park are located on it. The 
executors of Samuel Carpenter, a distinguished mer- 
chant of Philadelphia, sold twelve hundred acres of 
the same, February 3, 1718, to Andrew Hamilton for 
five hundred pounds. The latter, March 5, 1718, 
conveyed the same to William Keith, Lieutenant- 
Governor of Pennsylvania, and this became the origi- 
nal Grseme Park tract. George Palmer's purchase of 
three hundred acres, through his early death, came 
in possession of his son, Thomas Palmer, and lay in 
the corner of the township adjoining Moreland and 
Upper Dublin and extended up to the present Hors- 
hamville. He arrived from England in September, 
1682, and, according to tradition, soon thereafter set- 
tled on his tract, and it is supposed that he was the 
first Eurojiean who made his residence in the town- 
ship. He here dug a saw-pit, and with a whip-saw 
cut the lumber with which to build a two-story 
house, which stood for nearly a century. His de- 
scendants state that on his first arrival here he caught 
shad and herring in the Pennypack Creek, near the 
present turnpike bridge. In the list of 1776 for Hors- 
ham wc find the names of John Palmer, two hundred 
and eighty acres, and Thomas Palmer. Several de- 
scendants of the family have here been conveyancers 
and justices of the peace. 

Thomas Iredell came from Horsham, in Sussex, 
and settled in the present township perhaps as early 
as 1709, where he purchased two hundred acres, on 
which he built a house about half a mile north of the 
meeting-house, and beside the present turnpike. Ac- 
cording to the records of Philadelphia Monthly 
Meeting he was married in that city, in 1705, to 
Sarah Williams. In 1717 he was one of the overseers 
of the meeting, and in 1722 one of the jurors in laying 
out the (Governor's road, which passed Ijy his liouse. 
He died before 1734, when the property came in pos- 
session of his widow. There was preserved an iron 



HORSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



875 



door-knocker, from the doDr of his house, that had 
drilled on it " T. I. 172(1," probably the date of its 
erection. Tradition states that the township received 
its name througli him, being applied from the place 
of his nativity. Wo find that it is both the name of 
a borough and parish, and where William Penn 
preached in 1672. The earliest mention yet found of 
Horsham here is in the meeting records of 30th of 
Fifth Month, 1717, and it is probable that about this 
time or a little sooner it was formed into a township, 
though its population must have been quite sparse, 
judging by the list of 1734. Robert Iredell, son of 
Thomas, was born here in 1720, and in the list of 1776 
owned here one hundred and fifty-five acres, four 
horses and four cattle, and had a son, Robert. We find 
near this date also Charles, Thomas and Abraham 
Iredell, surveyor, who were probably brothers and 
sons of the aforesaid Robert Iredell, Sr. Robert 
Iredell, so long proprietor of the Norristown Herald 
and at present postmaster there, is a descendant, born 
here October 15, 1809. 

The Kenderdine family was also an early one in 
Horsham. Thomas Kenderdine came from Wales, 
and we know, if not a resident, owned land here be- 
fore 1718. His son, Richard Kenderdine, settled in 
Chester in 1703, and died in Horsham in April, 1733, 
aged fifty years, which will account for the name not 
being on the list of 1734. He is stated to have been 
a diligent attender of the meetings here from the 
beginning. In the list of 1776 we find here Joseph 
Kenderdine, three hundred and ninety acres and a 
grist-mill ; Thomas Kenderdine, one hundred and fifty 
acres ; Benjamin Kenderdine, one hundred and fifty 
acres; and Joseph Kenderdine. John E. Kenderdine, 
the noted improver of the Cuttelossa Valley, Bucks 
Co., was born near Prospectville in 1799, and 
was the son of Joseyih and Ann Kenderdine. After 
following millwrighting here for several years, he 
purchased the old mill property, near Lumberton, in 
1833, to which he removed, and continued to reside 
there until his death, in January 1868. He was de- 
feated by only two votes as a candidate for the State 
Senate in 1843. 

The Lukens family of this township, as in Towa- 
mencin, has been a noted one. Peter, one of the sons 
of Jan Luken, the German immigrant, was born at 
Germantown in 1696, and how soon he settled in 
Horsham is not exactly known, but it was before 
1734, when he is mentioned as residing on a tract here 
of seventy-five acres. The following year the Hors- 
ham road is mentioned as having been laid out from 
his house up into the centre of Montgomery township. 
He had a son, Abraham, who is represented as " a 
gentleman of a philosophic turn of mind," who left 
here a numerous posterity. In the list of Horsham 
for 1776 we find rated Williaju Lukens for 293 acres, 
a saw-mill, and nine children in family; Joseph 
Lukens, 178 acres; John Lukens, 1.50 acres; Abraham 
Lukens, 120 acres ; and as single men, Jonathan, 



David, Peter and Seneca Lukens. Few families have 
done mcire to encourage literature and promote a love 
for knowledge among the people during the colonial 
period of Pennsylvania. Peter and John Lukens 
were among the founders of the Union Library, at 
Hatboro', in 1755, and furnished to the same no less 
then eight members prior to 1776. Jonathan, Levi 
and Samuel L. Lukens were the active promoters and 
incorporators of Horsham Library in 1808. The saw- 
mill of William Lukens was erected in 1740, was 
rebuilt in 1844, and is now owned by James Iredell. 
John Lukens was a collector of taxes in Horsham 
in 1742. 

John Lukens, the mathematician and philosopher, 
was the son of Peter, and when a young man served 
his time with Nicholas Scull as a chain-carrier and 
practical surveyor. In 1774 he sold his farm a short 
distance southwest of Horshamville, to William 
Lukens, at the gate of which, by the road-side, he 
planted two white-pine trees when a young man, 
which grew upwards of three feet in diameter and 
to an extraordinary height. One blew down in a 
storm about 1850, and the other survived thirty years 
later. They are yet well remembered by the writer, 
who could not pass that way without gazing in ad- 
miration at their tall and noble trunks, associated as 
they were with the memories of over a century. We 
learn from the records that John Lukens was one of 
the active founders of the Hatl)oro' Library, July 19, 
1755, and November 6, 1756, was elected one of its 
directors and continued for several years; was author- 
ized by them in 1757 to purchase books to the extent 
of ten pounds. He was appointed by the American 
Philosophical Society to assist David Rittenhouse to 
observe the transit of Venus, in June, 1769, and of 
Mercury, in November, 1776. On the death of Nicholas 
Scull, the surveyor-general, he was commissioned, 
December 8, 1761, to fill the place, and continued in 
the position until his death, in the fall of 1789, — the 
long period of almost twenty-eight years, from 
the colonial period to the establishment of the State 
government. He was appointed one of the four com- 
missioners to run the boundary line between Penn- 
sylvania and Virginia in 1784-85. Barton, in his 
"Life of Rittenhouse," calls him "the ingenious 
astronomical observer, Mr. Lukens." His farm is 
now owned by Charles Dager, Jr. 

Seneca Lukens, who was the grandson of Peter, was 
a prominent man in the township, and an ingenious 
clockmaker by profession, who was taxed in 1805 (or 
two hundred and thirty-one acres. It was at his 
house that the celebrated Mrs. Ferguson made her 
last home, from near the close of the last century 
until her death, in February, 1801. His farm was 
located about hi.lf a mile .above Horshamville, on 
the west side of the turn])ike, and is now the estate of 
Chalkley Kenderdine. His will is dated February 8, 
1829, and he died in the following fall, appointing his 
wife, Sarah, and 'lis son Joseph executors. His surviv- 



876 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ing children were Isaiah, Muses, Josejsh, Rachel, Tabi- 
tha and Martha. Isaiah died in 1846, aged sixty-seven 
years ; Moses, 1852, aged seventy-one ; Joseph, 1875, 
aged ninety ; Tabitha (widow of John Kirk), 1882, 
ninety -two, and Martha B. (widow of Sanuiel Shoe- 
maker), the last of the family, December 2, 1883, in 
her ninety-second year. All except the first were 
well-known to the writer, and in talents decidedly 
above mediocrity, possessing force of character and 
excellent business qualifications. 

Isaiah Lukens, the son of Seneca, was born 
August 24, 1779, in Horsham, where he received but a 
common English education, but by subsequent dili- 
gent study he acquired a profound knowledge of the 
sciences. He learned clock-making from his father 
and the excellency of the workmanship of his 
high-standing clocks, spreading far beyond the 
circle of his neighborhood, formed the basis of his 
future reputation. He made the clock of Loller 
Academy, Hatboro', in 1812, and the large clock in 
the State-House steeple in 1839, for which he received 
five thousand dollars. In early youth his mechanical 
skill exhibited itself in constructing wind-mills for 
pumping water, and air-guns of improved construc- 
tion, besides other ingenious applicances. While a 
young man he made a voyage to Europe, spending 
some time in England, P'rance and Germany, in visit- 
ing the greatest objects of interest, particularly those 
involving a high degree of mechanical knowledge. 
He finally settled in Philadelphia, and became a 
member of its several literary and scientific institu- 
tions, and was one of the founders and a vice-president 
of the Franklin Institute. He died in the city No- 
vember 12, 1864, in age the youngest of the family. 

Alexander McQuee, on the list of 1734 for one 
hundred and fifty acres, we find is represented in 1776 
by Seth McQuec, who had now become the owner of 
the tract. Richard Shoemaker, with one hundred 
acres in 1734, was still living in 1776, and is mentioned 
as " aged ;" John C'adwallader, one hundred and fifty 
acres, and John Cadwallader, Jr., one hundred and 
fifty ; in 1776 two of the names are again mentioned, 
one with one hundred and seventy-five acres and the 
other sixty, and Benjamin C'adwallader, filty acres. 
John Barnes, two hundred and twenty-nine acres in 
1734; in 1776 the name is still here, with one hundred 
and fifty acres, one negro, four horses and five cattle ; 
besides, as single men, John and Earl Barnes. John 
Barnes was one of the jurors in laying out the Gover- 
nor's road in 1722, and advertised in 1750 his farm of 
one hundred and forty acres, in Horsham, with 
buildings, sixty acres cleared and two orchards. He 
was probably a son or relation of John Barnes, the 
early settler near Abington Meeting-house, who was a 
man of note. Of the Jarrett family we do not remem- 
ber having seen any account whatever. In the Ger- 
mantown Court records mention is. made in 1703 
of Jacob Gerrets, which is reason for believing this 
family to be of German origin. Johp Garret is thus 



called in the list of 1734 as owning two hundred 
acres. He was one of the founders of the Hat- 
boro' Library in 1755 and a director from 1761 to 1764. 
In 1776, William Jarrett was rated in Horsham for one 
hundred and seventy-six acres ; Jonathan Jarrett, 
one hundred; and William Jarrett, in 1805, two hun- 
dred and thirty-seven acres. William Penrose, of 
Grteme Park, married Hannah, daughter of the latter, 
in 1810. William Dunbar is in the list of 1734 for 
one hundred acres, and in 1776, Andrew Dunbar ninety 
acres. We have thought probably that this may be 
the present Dunn family, who have been land-holders 
in the township for some time ; yet this name is not 
so found in early records. 

Evan Lloyd came from Wales and purchased, in 
1719, two hundred and fifty acres half a mile north- 
east of the meeting-liouse. He was a minister 
among Friends, and we find that he was still living 
here alter 1734. He had a son John, who settled 
on an adjoining farm, and who, in 1776, was rated for 
one hundred and fourteen acres, and his brother, 
Hugh Lloyd, sixty acres. The latter, in 1777, married 
Christianna, daughter of Enoch Morgan. He had 
three children, — David, Enoch and Miriam. Of Da- 
vid Lloyd, who was born in 1778, the writer prepared 
a biographical sketch published in the Bucks County 
Intelligencer February 3, 1862, and also in the Norris- 
rislown Register. Like his father and grandfather, he 
was brought up a farmer and received in his youth 
but an ordinary education. Possessing a studious 
disposition, he became, in the course of time, a man 
of intellectual ability. Though brought up a Friend, 
he dift'ered from some of their principles. In the 
late war with England he joined the rifle company of 
Captain McClean, and drew for his services several 
bounties in public lands. As respects the Sabbath, he 
maintained the doctrines of the Seventh-day Baptists. 
In whatever related to education or the dissemination 
of knowledge in his neighborhood he took an 
active part. Our earliest personal knowledge com- 
menced in 1848, while attending the Hatboro' Lyceum, 
at Loller Academy, and the Horsham Debating 
Society. His first literary attempts were probably 
published in the Narristown Register in ]827. For 
the Germanloivn Telegraph he wrote a series of articles, 
chiefly on agriculture. These were collected in 1832 
in a small volume of one hundred and twenty pages, 
entitled " Economy of Agriculture." In 1845 he had 
published " The Gentleman's Pocket-Piece: being a 
Repository of Choice Selections and Golden Precepts 
taken from the best of Authors," contained within 
the compass of one hundred and fifty-six pages. He 
still continued to contribute, during his times of 
leisure, to the periodical publications of the day, 
among which may be mentioned the Norristown Her- 
ald and Free Press. He collected these various efl^u- 
sions and had them published, in 1848, in an octavo 
volume of two hundred and sixteen l)ages, under the 
title of "The Modern Miscellany," which contains the 



HOKSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



877 



greater portion as well as the best of his writings. 
In his eightieth year his mind became impaired, 
which no doubt helped to bring on his financial em- 
barrassments, when his personal property was sold by 
the sheritr in the beginning of 1860, and in the 
montli of Ajiril his real estate. On the following 
29th of July lie died, aged eighty-three years, lacking 
one day, completely enfeebled in body and mind, the 
last survivor of his father's family. 

Tunis Conderts arrived in October, 1683, with the 
German Friends who .shortly afterwards founded 
Gcrmantown, where he died in 1729. At his house 
William Penn preached before the meeting-house 
was built. His family consisted of his wife, Ellen, 
and four sons and three daughters. Three of the sons 
— Conrad, Mathias and John, — were born in Germany 
and, with their father, were naturalized in 1709. John 
Conard, as it is now called, settled in Horsham, but 
at what time we have not ascertained. In the list of 
1776 we find John Conard rated for one hundred and 
twenty acres; Dennis Conard, ninety acres; and Den- 
nis Conard, Jr., a single man. The two preceding, 
no doubt, are the sons of John Conard, who first set- 
tled here. Descendants still exist in this section, and 
the family is now numerous in Montgomery County. 

Archibald McClean was for sixteen years a justice 
of the peace in Horsham, and in 1772 was elected to 
the Assembly. He died December 1, 1773, in his 
seventy-fifth year, having resided in the same place 
for forty years. He was buried in the graveyard 
attached to Abington Presbyterian Church. On 
the list of 1776 we find his estate rated at 220 acres ; 
William McClean, 220 acres; Mary McClean, 45 
acres ; and Robert Loller, 15 acres. The latter was 
his son-in-law and also a colonel in the Revolutionary 
army, of whom a sketch will be given in the account 
of Hatboro'. Dr. Archibald McClean, a distinguished 
physician, was a son of the aforesaid, educated at 
Princeton College, surgeon in the Revolutionary 
army, and in January, 1783, was appointed surgeon of 
the Firet Battalion of Philadelphia County militia. 
This year he also became a member of the Hatboro' 
Library. He was a noted wit, a poet and a man of 
extensive acquirements, and possessed a very large 
medical practice. It is said he was six feet six inches 
in height, a lover of strong drink and a free thinker. 
For these reasons Mrs. Ferguson wrote a poem, enti- 
tled his " Epitaph," which she sent him, signed 
" Anonymous," for which he retaliated, as is noticed 
elsewhere. In attempting to cross the Wissahickon 
in a high freshet at the present town of Ambler 
on horseback, he was drowned. May 13, 1791, leaving 
a widow and four children. He resided near the 
centre of the township, adjoining his father's place. 
His writings and family record were accidentally 
destroyed by a fire about eighteen years ago. De- 
scendants of the family still reside in the vicinity. 

In the list of 1776 we find rated Benjamin Holt, 
one hundred and two acres and eight children, and 



Mordecai Holt, one hundred and ten acres. The 
latter was collector of taxes in 1781, and became the 
owner of the old Iredell homestead, situated on the 
east side of the turnpike, above the meeting-house. 
He had an only child, Nathan Holt, who inherited 
the estate and retained it during his lifetime. He 
died in 1848, in his eighty-tburth year, and donated by 
his will nearly all his property to the Hatboro' Library 
Company. He was a member of that library fifty- 
seven years, and stated, not long before his death, 
that tor most of his knowledge he was indebted to this 
institution. The amount realized was five thousand 
eight hundred dollars, whereof three thousand eight 
hundred dollars was applied to the erection of a new 
building, completed in 1849, and the balance invested 
and the income used in the purchase of books. 

The earliest public highway that extended into 
Horsham, most probably, was the Welsh road, which 
was laid out in 1712 from the "Ford" over Penny- 
pack, at the present Huntingdon Valley, along the 
whole southwest line of the township, and separating 
it from Upper Dublin and Gwynedd. In 1731 com- 
plaint was made to the court by the inhabitants of 
Upper Dublin that the Horsham overseers did not 
keep their part of said road in proper order, when a 
division of the same was made, and the respective 
townships required to attend to it in the future. The 
road from Groeme Park by way of Horsham Meeting- 
house to the York road, at Willow Grove, was opened 
in 1722, and also the same year from the former place 
down the county line, to Hatboro'. As these were 
laid out from Governor Keith's settlement, the former 
was long known as the " Governor's road." The 
road from the present Spring House to Horsham 
Meeting-house was laid out and confirmed in 1723. 
The Horsham road extends through the centre of the 
township; was laid out from near the meeting-house 
up into Montgomery township in the spring of 1735. 
The Butler road, which extends in a northern direc- 
tion across Horsham, must have been opened near the 
aforesaid date, having received this name from 
leading to Simon Butler's mill, on the northwest 
branch of the Neshaminy, in New Britain township, 
near the present Whitehallville. Butler was quite a 
prominent man ; appointed justice of the peace in 
1738, and continued therein for over twenty years. 
The County Line road, from Graeme Park to the pres- 
ent Line Lexington, was opened in 1752. The super- 
visors of roads in 1767 were Daniel Jones and Abra- 
ham Lukens ; in 1773, Robert Iredell and Samuel 
Conan ; in 1785, Abraham Lukens and William 
Miller ; in 1810, Joseph Kendcrdineand Joseph Parry. 
James Craven, was constable in 1774. 

Horsham, or better known as Horshamville, on the 
Doylestown and Willow Grove turnpike, is in the 
midst of a fine agricultural district, contains about 
twenty houses, a Friends' Meeting-house, two school- 
houses, a store and several mechanic shops. The post- 
office was established here before 1816, when Charles 



878 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Palmer was postmaster. lu January, 1826, Charles 
Jarrett was appointed, and its name changed from 
Horsham Meeting-house to Horsham. This is an 
old settlement, the meeting house having been com- 
menced in 1722, if not earlier. The Pennypack fiows 
near by into which empty several streams of water that 
have their sources near by. A hall was built in 1855 
in which literary exercises and lectures are held. A 
library was founded here in 1799 and incorporated in 
1808, having in 1853 thirty-two members. Owing to 
a lack of interest, in 1874 its remaining nine hundred 
volumes were sold, and thus became scattered in a 
day the accumulation of three-quarters of a century. 

Prospectville, situated at the intersection of the 
Whitehall turnpike and Horsham road, contains 
eight houses, a store, hall and several mechanics. 
The post-office was established before 1858. Here, in 
1779, Thomas Eoney kept an inn, succeeded by 
David Caldwell in 1785. This place formerly bore 
the name of Cashtown. Davis Grove is within half a 
mile of the Bucks County line, and about that dis- 
tance from Gr<eme Park. It contains four or five 
houses, a store and blacksmith-shop. Mary Ball kept 
an inn here in 1790, sign of the " Yellow Ball," suc- 
ceeded afterwards by Wm. Yerkes, about 1800, followed 
by Jesse Kirk before 1807, and, on the death of the lat- 
ter, by his son, Jacob Kirk, who discontinued it about 
1850. The elections in 1S24 were required to be held 
at Hatboro', but several years after were removed 
to this place. A hamlet of four or five houses, school- 
house aud a smith-shop, in the centre of the town- 
ship, on the Horsham road, has for a long time borne 
the dignified name of Babylon. 

The people of this agricultural township have long 
been noted for their intelligence and generous social 
qualities, and hence we do not wonder at the number 
of noted persons who have either been born or resided 
within its limits, particularly when we come to re- 
gard its small population, barely exceeding thirteen 
hundred. Here have been the homes of such literary 
or distinguished characters as Sir William Keith, Dr. 
Thomas Grseme, Mrs. Elizabeth Ferguson, John 
and Anna Young, Dr. Archibald McClean, Robert 
Loller, David and Joseph Lloyd, Samuel and John 
Gummere, John, Abraham and Isaiah Lukens, Hiram 
McNeal aud others that could be mentioned. Here, 
too, lived for several generations the Simpson family, 
a daughter of whom became the mother of General 
Ulysses S. Grant. Graeme Park, so rich in memories 
of the colonial period, will form a subject of sufficient 
interest to be treated by itself. 

The Simpson Family. — We are not at present pre- 
pared to give the earliest history of this family, but 
it is known from records that before the Revolution 
Samuel Simpson resided in Abington township, the 
owner of a larm of one hundred and eighty-eight acres, 
and a few years later there was Benjamin Simpson, 
who probably was his son. John Simpson, the great- 
grandfather of General Grant, was a collector of taxes 



in Horsham in 1776, and we find him rated for this 
year as holding one hundred antl fifty acres, four 
horses, four cattle and fourteen sheep, taxed £14. 14«. 
For several reasons we are inclined to believe that 
the latter was the son of Samuel Simpson, of Abing- 
ton, and probably the first ancestor of the family in 
this country. It has been stated that* this family is 
of Scotch-Irish origin, about which we have doubts. 
The name is found in Friends' records, and there was 
a minister of Abington Meeting in the last century 
of the name of James Simpson. A close examina- 
tion has been made of the numerous tombstones in 
the graveyard of Abington Presbyterian Church, and 
none have been discovered there bearing the name. 

The aforesaid John Simpson, as we learn, pur- 
chased his property in Horsham at sheritt's sale No- 
vember 30, 1763, which really contained one hundred 
and sixty-four acres, situated in the extreme northern 
corner of the township, adjoining Montgomery and 
extending to the Bucks County line. It is presumed 
that he must have moved ou it soon after the pur- 
chase. He is stated to have had at least three chil- 
dren, — a son John and two daughters. Respecting the 
latter, we possess no information. He must have 
been a man of some note to possess this property, and 
likewise of responsibility to be invested with the 
powers aud duties of a collector of the revenue, and 
that, too, in the most memorable year of the Revolu- 
tion. It is stated he died near the beginning of 
this century, when his son became the owner of the 
homestead, whereon he was born in 1767. He is said 
to have married Rebecca Wier, a daughter of a sub- 
stantial farmer in Warrington, or New Britain. He 
was probably married in 1793, for his eldest daughter, 
Mary was born in 1795, and Hannah, the mother of Gen- 
eral Grant, in November, 1797. His son Samuel was still 
living, at a very advanced age, in the spring of 1883, 
near Bantam, Ohio. John Simpson, Jr., continued to 
reside in Horsham until his children were grown up, 
when, with the idea of going westward, he sold his 
farm, in the fall of 1817, to John Meyers, and in the 
following year moved with his family on a farm he had 
previously purchased near Bethel, Clermont Co., Ohio. 
All the school education that he or his children had 
received was obtained near by, at the stone school- 
house on the county line. He died August 20, 1837, 
in his seventieth year. His daughter Mary had mar- 
ried James Grittith in 1818. Hannah was married, 
June 24, 1820, to Jesse Root Grant, who was a son of 
Noah Grant, and also a Pennsylvanian, born in West- 
moreland County January 23, 1794. 

To Dr. Jackson, of Pittsburgh, we are indebted for 
an interesting relation made to him by Jesse R. 
Grant, in 1867, on the subject of his marriage into the 
Simpson family, which refutes several errors that 
have been current on the subject, — 

"In 1820" (he states) *' I settletl temporarily at a small place called 
Point Pleasant, situated on the Ohio river, twenty-five miles above Cin- 
cinnati, and in June, 1820, I viae married to Miss Hannah Simpson, and 



HORSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



879 



coluiiieDced house-keeping at that place. Jlrs. Grant was an uupietend- 
iug country-girl— 'landsonie but not vain. She liad previously joined 
the Jlethodist Church, and I can truthfully say that it has never had a 
more devoted and consistent member. Uer steadiness, firmness and 
strength of character have been the stay of the family through life. She 
was always careful and most watchful over her children, but not austere, 
and nut opposed to their free participation in innocent amusement. At 
Point Pleasant, on the 27th of .\pril, 1822, our first child, Ulysses S.Grant, 
was born. The house in which this event occurred, is still standing. 
Five other children, three daughters and two sons, were subsequently 
added to our family. Mi-s. Grant was the second daughter of 5Ir. John 
Simpson, of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. She was born and 
brought up in that county, about twenty miles from Philadelphia. When 
in her nineteenth year, she moved with her father to Clermont County, 
Ohio. The family were highly respectable— people of veracity and 
integrity, but not of any particular ambition beyond that of independent 
farmere. Mrs. Grant's father was worth some property, but it wasall in 
land, and which he kept until he died. It was nearly three years after 
their removal to Clermont that we were married. A few of the neigh- 
bors expressed their surprise that one of Mr. Simpson's daughters should 
marry a young man hardly yet established in business. But this did me 
no harm, and as soon as it was seen how I was getting along I heard no 
more of it." 

The childrefi of Jesse R. Grant were Ulysses Simp- 
son, Samuel Simpson, Orville L., Rachel, Virginia 
Payne and Mary Frances. The father died June 27, 
1873, and Mrs. Grant at New York, May 11, 1882, aged 
eighty-four years and six months. Mary, the eldest 
sister, was still living in the spring of 1883, in her 
eighty-seventh year, which shows remarkable longev- 
ity in the family. It is stated that Samuel Medary, 
late Governor of Ohio, was brought up in the vicinity 
of Horsham and w;is a schoolmate of John Simp- 
son's children, and an intimacy was thus early formed 
that had much to do with his rise to future eminence. 
As a young man he went West in 1825, and through 
their former acquaintance in Montgomery County, 
•was induced to make his home with Mr. Simpson, 
who, through his influence, secured him a school in the 
neighborhood, where he taught all of three years, 
which enabled him, with economy, to start a newspaper 
called the Ckrmont Sun, which advanced him onwards 
until he was elected, in 18.56, chief executive of his 
adopted State. 

Nearly forty years ago the writer was acquainted with 
several Simpsons residing in Moreland township and 
vicinity. They bore a close resemblance to General 
Grant, and were of the same physical organization, 
and therefore, without doubt, were members of the 
same family. The old homestead in Horsham has 
long since become divided into several farms. John 
Duddy owns the portion on the east of the turnpike, 
on which the buildings stood. From what has been 
ascertained, John Simpson, Jr., was highly respected 
by his neighbors in Ohio and regarded as a man of In- 
telligence. Here are materials in a brief family sketch 
that seem to border on romance. 

Friends' Meeting-House in Horsham.— Respect- 
ing this early meeting we have seen no account beyond 
that given in the "History of Montgomery County," 
as published in Scott's Atlas in 1877. Having 
secured additional matter, it was made the subject 
of an article in "The Local Historian," published in the 
spring of 1882. With a few more facts we now en- 



ter on a third concise attempt. The earliest mention 
whatever that we could find of Horsham is in a 
minute of Abington Monthly Meeting under the date 
of 30th of Fifth Month, 1717, which states that " It is 
agreed that there be two overseers chosen for Hors- 
ham Meeting, viz. : John Michener and Thomas 
Iredell." Samuel Smithstates, in his " History of the 
Province," that it was established the 24th of Seventh 
Month, 1716, "at first only in the winter season." 
Respecting these overseers, the former settled in More- 
land, nearly four miles distant, in the spring of 1715, 
and the latter about half a mile north of the meeting- 
house. 

Hannah Carpenter, the widow of Samuel Carpenter, 
by a deed of trust, conveyed to John Cadwallader, 
Thomas Iredell, Evan Lloyd and Richard Kender- 
dine, the 27th of Third Month, 1719, for the use of 
Friends, fifty acres of laud from his great tract, on 
which the meeting-house was built, most probably 
in 1721, for we know from the jurors' report on the 
laying out of the Governor's road along here, April 
23, 1722, that it was located by the Meeting-House. 
John Fothergill, of England, mentions in his journal 
attending this meeting, 17th of Eleventh Month, 1721- 
22, in company with Lawrence King. We next find 
in the monthly records that the members had 
made application the 2Sth of Seventh Month, 1724, 
" for some assistance towards ye finishingof their new 
Meeting-House ; ye meeting, having taken it into con- 
sideration, order that the four meetings shall assist 
those friends in Horsham." By this is meant the 
members composing the Monthly Meeting, compris- 
ing Abington, established 1697 ; Germantown, 1704; 
Byberry, 1715 ; and of Horsham. We thus perceive 
that as small or humble as this structure may have 
been, some three or four years must have elapsed 
before it was fully completed. We believe it was of 
stone and stood until 1803, when it was demolished, 
and the present substantial and commodious two- 
story structure occupies its place. 

For her donation Hannah Carpenter deserves some 
mention. She was born in Haverford West, in South 
Wales, her family-name being Hardiman, and was 
married to Samuel Carpenter, in Philadelphia, the 
12th of Tenth Month, 1684. Like her husband, she 
was highly esteemed for her well-directed eflbrts in 
benevolence. She died on the 24th of Fifth Month, 
1728, in her eighty-third year. Samuel Carpenter, 
had, in 1711, executed a deed of trust for a lot of 
ground for a meeting-house, burying-ground and 
pasture to Friends in Bristol, Bucks Co., on which 
was erected a house for worship in 1713, only a year 
previous to his death. Toward the close of his life 
we regret to state this worthy, enterprising man expe- 
rienced financial embarrassment, thus rendering the 
gift the more noble or self-sacrificing on the part of 
his widow. 

Evan Lloyd wa.'s one of the first ministers of this 
congregation, of which also John Cadwallader was 



880 



HISTOEY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY. 



-IT- ' 

an ekler. In 1782 it had become so strong that 
the Quarterly Meeting formed it into a Montlily 
Meeting, to be called Horsham, to which Byberry was 
attached. How long this organization continued we 
are unable to say, but probably into the beginning of 
this century or until the formation of the latter into a 
Monthly Meeting, when Horsham was again attached 
to Abington. From an advertisement in the Penn- 
sylva7iia Gazette in the beginning of 1753 we learn 
that the Friends' school-house was then built, for 
which, as the committee, John Lukens, surveyor, 
Abraham Lukens and Benjamin Cadwallader, " living 
near the Meeting-House in Horsham township," de- 
sired the services of a teacher, — very probably, the 
present stone school-house, in which Isaac Comly, of 
Byberry, the author and editor, also taught in 1799. 

The ancient graveyard here is an object of interest, 
and since 1719, no doubt, fully two thousand have been 
interred here. To meet the increasing demand for 
space, it has been enlarged again and again. It now 
comprises several acres, and on the roadside is in- 
closed by a substantial stone wall, recently repaired. 
In examining this ground at leisure, we find here 
many tombstones bearing the time-honored names 
of Spencer, Walton, Hallowell, Palmer, Jarrett, 
Lukens, Longstreth, Kirk, Paul, Cadwallader, Thomas, 
Iredell, Comly, Lloyd, Wood, Parry, Jones, Kender- 
dine, Michener, Shoemaker and others. We propose to 
give a short list of names, copied therefrom, which may 
prove of interest to some of their surviving kindred 
or friends residing beyond the neighborhood. For 
brevity the months and days are omitted: William 
Penrose, 1863, aged 81 years; Jane S. Homer, 1864, 
33; Nicholas Kohl, 1866, 76, and wife, Martha, 1873, 
76; Moses Lukens, 18.52, 71 ; Martha Paul, of Willow 
Grove, 1857, 90; John Walker, 1872, 81; Jesse 
Homer, 1850, 20 ; Jacob Leidy, 1850, 28 ; Charles 
Hallowell, 1858, 78 ; T. Ehvood Comly, 1863, 38 ; John 
Iredell, 1869, 69; Jacob Walton, 1875, 76; Samuel 
Shoemaker, 1845,52; Thomas Iredell, 1865, 63; Isaac 
Warner, 1877, 89, and his wife, Elizabeth, 1877, 94 ; 
Daniel Lloyd, 1875, 64; Daniel Longstreth, 1846,45; 
Joseph S. Lukens, 1875, 90; Gove Mitchell, no date, 
74; and Robert Roberts, no date, 79. With all of 
these we had a personal acquaintance, which alone 
induced us at the time to transcribe them. 

One grand object here cannot fail to arrest atten- 
tion, — we mean its noble sassafras-tree, that, out of 
curiosity, was measured in 1852, and was found to be, at 
sixteen inches from the surftice of the ground, thirteen 
feet in circumference and carrying, with little diminu- 
tion, the same width on the trunk for ten or twelve 
feet. Though thirty-two years have since elapsed, it 
has probably grown but little. It appears now to be 
on the decline. At a distance it presents the ap- 
pearance of a majestic and venerable chestnut-tree. 
It may, perhaps, be the largest of its kind in the 
country. 

This meeting-house, as is usual with Friends, is 



surrounded by noble shade-trees, particularly button- 
wood and oak, some of the latter undoubtedly rem- 
nants of the ancient forest. Here, too, on nearly all 
sides, are extensive sheds for the protection of horses 
from the inclemency of the weather in all seasons. 
It is calculated to do one good at the close of the quiet 
Friends' worship, as we have more than once experi- 
enced here, to enter into a general hand-shaking, as 
is the custom, tlius renewing friendship and reviving 
recollection. 

IIOESIIAM TOWNSHIP ASSESSMENT FOR tY76. 
Robert Iredell, lussessor, and John Siniptjon, collector. 
Andrew Dunbar, 90 acres, 2 horees and i cattle ; Isaac Pan*y, 64 a., 2 
li., 2 c. ; Charles Iredell, 1 h., 1 c. ; Edward Walker, 1 h., 1 c. ; Benja- 
min Kenderdine, 150 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Jabez White, 100 a., 3 h., 4c. ; John 
AVoolnian, 50 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; William Dean, 50 a., 3 h., 1 c. ; Jacob 
Brown, 2 h., 1 c. ; Thomas Roney ; Jacob Needier; William Jarrett, 176 
a., 1 servant, 4 h., 7 c. ; Mary McClean, 45 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; Hercules Ro- 
ney, 5 a., 1 li., 1 c. ; Samuel Murray, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Hugh Lloyd, 60 
a., 2 h., 3 c. ; John Lloyd, 114 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Henry Stewart, 35 a., 2 h., 
3 c. ; Jonathan Jarrett, 100 a. ; Dennis Conard, yo a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Joseph 
Miller, 2 h., 4 c. ; Benjamin Holt, 102 a., 2 h., 2 c, 8 children ; Morde- 
cai Holt, 100 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Benjamin Cadwallader, 50 a., 2 h., 1 c. ; 
John Cadwallader, 175 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; John Cadwallader, aged, 60 a., 1 b., 

1 c. ; William Lukens, 293 a., 5 h., 9 c, saw-mill, 9 children ; Job Lan- 
caster, 18 a., mill, 1 c. ; Thomas Barnes, 50 a., 2 h., 4 c, 5 children ; 
John Palmer, 280 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; Tliomas Palmer, 1 c. ; Leonard Stemple, 

2 h., 2 c. ; John Hallowell, 80 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; John Lukens, 150 a., 3 h., 

3 c. ; Samuel WcNair, 20O a., 4 h., 4 c. ; James Craven, 100 a., 3 h.,5c. ; 
John Mann, 150 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; John Conard, 140 a., 1 servant, 2h., 4c. ; 
David Marple, 55 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; .tuhn Shoub, 73 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; John 
Marple, 45 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Thomas Hallowell, 109 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Seth 
Quee, 150 a., 4 h., 4 c. ; John Barnes, 150 a., 1 negro, 4 h., 5 c. ; Atken- 
Bon Hughs, 150 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Jacob Needier, 50 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Enoch 
Armitage, 30 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; George Snap, 36 a., 1 h. ; Edward Bright, 
100 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Samu el Dehaven, 150 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Charles Revecouib, 
50 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Robert Edwards, 76 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; John Adams, 125 a., 
3 h., 5 c. ; John Kastner, 2 h., 1 c. ; John Nailor, 2 h., 3 c. ; Joseph 
Ships, 2 h.,4 c. ; Charles Mullen, 100 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; John Willi.ams, 190 
a., 4 h., 7 c. ; Benjamin White 1 c. ; John Wilson, 74 a., 2 h,, 3 c. ; Ben- 
jamin Sutch, GO a. ; William Davison, 50 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Samuel Conard, 
150 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; John Carver, 1 c. ; George Sutch, 1 h., 1 c. ; Thomas 
Davis. 140 a., 1 negro, 3 h., 8 c. ; Ro bert Lo Uer, 1 h., 2 c. ; William 

JlcCIean, 220 a., 4 h., 3 c. ; A rchibald McCleaii^ 220 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; 
Thomas Kenderdine, 150 a., 5 h., 6 c, }.^a. grist-mill; Joseph Kender- 
dine, 390 a., 4 h., 6 c, V^ a grist-mill ; William Alullen, 2 h., 5 c. ; Cad- 
wallader Ervin ; John Nash, loO a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Paul Dowling, 20J a., 3 
h.,G c. ; Jacob Wright. 100 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Joseph Slaughter, 8 children, 
2 h., 2 c. ; John Simpson, 150 a., 4 h., 4 c. ; Philip Summers, 150 a., 3 
h., 4 c. ; Daniel Jones, 200 a., estate; Samuel Jones, 150 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; 
Hugh Ferguson, 800 a., 6 h., 6 c, 1 negro ; Jesse Murray, 75 a., 2 h., 2 
c. ; Abraham Lukens, 120 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Joseph Lulcens, 178 a,, 3 h., 6 
c. ; Joseph Gilbert ; Robert Iredell, 155 a., 4 h., 4 c. ; Richard Shoe- 
maker, aged. Single Jlfeii.— Robert Armstrong, Lewis Woolraan, Michael 
Denison, Peter Lukens, Dennis Conard, Jr., Jonathan Lukens, David 
Lukens, Thomas Barnes, W'illiam Stemple, John Stemple, Earl Barnes, 
John Barnes, Israel Slullen, Matliias Heise, David Davis, Joseph Ken- 
denliiu*, Dominic Shallada, William Jamison, John Andrews, Samuel 
Collet, Malcolm Mosler, Seneca Lukens, James Stephens, Robert Ire- 
dell. 

Graeme Park. — Few places in Pennsylvania sur- 
pass Grxme Park in interesting historical associ- 
ations. The old mansion-house of Sir William Keith 
is still standing there, a relic of early colonial days, 
around which chister the events of considerably 
more than a century and a half. It is situated near 
the Bucks County line, nearly a mile northwest of the 
Doylestown and Willow Grove turnpike, and nine- 
teen miles from Philadelphia. 



HORSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



881 



By a patent from Penn's commissioners of prop- 
erty, dated May 2l), 1706, a tract of land containing 
five thousand and eighty-eight acres was conveyed to 
Samuel Carpenter, a distinguished merchant of Phila- 
delphia, which hiy chiefly iu the present township 
of Horsham, a small portion only extending over the 
Bucks County line into Warrington. After Mr. 
Carpenter's death his executors sold from off this 
tract to Andrew Hamilton, February 3, 1718, twelve 
hundred acres. The latter sold it to William Keith, 
Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania, the follow- 
ing oth of March, for the same sum of five hundred 
pouuds. Its bounds are thus set forth : 

" Beginning at corner Black oak marked 'S. C.,' in Joseph FiBher's 
line ; from thence by tlie said Fisher's land southeast AOS perches to a 
corneipost of ThouKts Kenderdine's land ; from thence cxtfudiug north- 
eiist by the said Kenderdine's land and other land of Samuel Carpenter, 
deceased, 474 perches to another corner post standing in William Fish- 
bourne's line ; thence northwest in the line dividing the counties of Phila- 
delphia and Buclts by the said Fishbourne's laud and other laud late of 
the said Samuel t'arpenter, 408 perches to a corner White oak, marked 
' S. C. ; " from thence southwest 474 perches to the place of beginning, 
containing 120.1 acres, to the only proper use and liehoof of the said 
William Keith, his heirs and assigns for ever under the proportionate 
part of the yearly Quit-Rent hereafter accruing for the hereby granted 
premises." 

It is evident that this early purchase must have 
been an entire forest, without any improvements what- 
ever, and with no public highway nearer than the old 
York Road, which had been laid out from Philadel- 
jihia to the river Delaware in the fall of 1711. At 
the latest, the Governor must have commenced his 
improvements here in the summer of 1721, for we 
know that on the following December 12th he en- 
tered into a contract with John Kirk, mason, for the 
mansion, which is still standing. The next we know 
is that the "Hon. Sir William Keith, Bart., Gov- 
nor," acquainted his Council, consisting of Richard 
Hill, Isaac Norris, Samuel Preston, Anthony Palmer, 
Thomas Masters, Henry Brook, Andrew Hamilton, 
attorney -general, and James Logan, secretary, on 
March 25, 1722. 

" That he has made a considerable advancement in the erecting of a 
building at Horsham, in the County of Philadelphia, in order to carry on 
the manufacture of grain, etc., and that it is necessary some convenient 
roads and highways through the woods, to and from the said settlement, 
be laid out by order of this board. 

" It is thel-efore, at the Governor's request, ordered that Kobert Fletch- 
er, Richaixl Carver, Thomas Iredell, John Barnes and Kllis Davis, or any 
four of them, do run out and make return of a convenient public road and 
highway from the Governor's settlement at Horeham to the Meeting- 
House there, and from thence to a small Bridge, commonly called Round 
Meadow llun, where it meets again with the .\bington or New York 
road. And also, that the same persons do run out afid make return of a 
road and highway, to begin at the intersection of the Kiid New York 
road at the Division Line between the counties of Philadelphia and 
Bucks, to be continued upon tlie said Line upwards as far as they shall 
judge convenient or necessary for accommodating that neighborhood ; 
and it is ordered that the returns of the said Roads be made i n thirty days 
after this date." 

On April 28d following the r.iad was laid out by 

the aforesaid jurors by way of the meeting-house 

to its termination, at the present Willow Grove. 

From Nicholas Scull's report, as surveyor, we learn 

56 



that from " the Governor's new Building" to the 
meeting-house was eight hundred and seventy-five 
perches, and from thence eight hundred and five 
perches to " Round Meadow Run," — making the total 
distance five and a quarter miles. The next day the 
road was laid out on the county line from the York 
Road northwest twelve hundred and seventy-four 
perches, or four miles, " to a Black Oak tree standing 
by a path leading from Richard Sanders' Ferry, on 
NeshaminyCreek, to Edward Farmer's mill." From 
the distance, it must have passed a little beyond the 
Governor's place. The drawing of a direct line from 
the mill by this termination establishes the interesting 
fact that Richard Sanders' ferry on Neshaminy Creek 
wa.s at the present Bridge Point, nearly six miles dis- 
tant. The road from here was extended northwards 
April 23, 1723, to the south corner of John Dyer's land, 
about a mile above Doylestown, and thus from there, 
by the Governor's place, was now a continuous road 
from Philadelphia in this direction for twenty-six 
miles, showing that settlements were rapidly extend- 
ing northwards. 

A question arises as to what did the Governor mean 
by carrying on here "the manufacture of Graiu." At 
first we supposed a grist-mill for making flour was 
meant, of which the branch of the Neshaminy flow- 
ing near by would have been large enough to furnish 
the power, but no evidence exists of anything 
of the kind being erected here for the purpose. 
Among the Governor's effects enumerated here in 
May, 1726, we find mention made of a large copper 
still, two smaller stills and " a large quantity of 
wooden vessels for distilling and brewing." It is 
known that he had a brew-house here, which was a 
common thing at this period with those whose cir- 
cumstances could afford it, when but little tea or cof- 
fee was consumed. William Penn had his brew- 
house at Pennsbury, and James Logan at Stenton, 
beer as well as cider serving as a substitute for our 
present table drinks. 

The Governor no doubt at first made this his sum- 
mer residence, but when he was deprived of the oflice 
he made it his home altogether until his final de- 
parture for England. It had become apparent to the 
Assembly in the fall of 1725, chiefly through the in- 
stigation of James Logan, that the Governor had in- 
curred the displeasure of the proprietary family, and 
was likely to be removed for passing the act emitting a 
paper currency. As a result, that body seut an ad- 
dress to the latter in England, dated December 7, 
1725, vindicating the policy of his government. In 
June, 1726, his successor, Patrick Gordon, arrived, 
and on the 22d of said month entered upon the 
duties of the oflice. Thus closed his administration 
of the chief executive powers, after holding the oflice 
for nine years. No doubt, in anticipation of this re- 
sult and the payment of his debts, he sold, in the 
previous spring, all his personal effects here to Dr. 
Thomas Grseme and Thomas Sober, merchant, both 



882 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of Philadelphia, for the sum of five hundred pounds. 
Having become a member of the Assembly April 25, 
' 1728, he sent in his resignation to that body, who ex- 
cused his absence, " being called to Great Britain on 
affaii'S of importance." 

Before Sir William's departure he left his wife. 
Lady Ann Keith, in possession of the Horsham estate 
by virtue of a power of attorney, enabling her to re- 
ceive and apply all the rents and emoluments arising 
therefrom to her sole use and support. Finding it, 
however, inadequate for one of her condition, she ap- 
plied to her husband to have the whole vested in her 
right, that she might thus sell it for the payment of 
her debts and the overplus to remain for her future 
support. In consequence he executed a deed of trust 
at Westminster, London, dated April 20, 1731, to his 
eldest son, Alexander Henry Keith, and three other 
gentlemen, in conjunction with his wife, in which he 
conferred his whole right and title to the said planta- 
tion for the sole use and benefit of the latter, her heirs 
and assigns forever; which was accepted before the 
mayor of Philadelphia, on the part of Lady Keith, 
July 20, 1731, and duly recorded. 

After several unsuccessful efforts to sell the place, it 
was put up at public sale at the " CoSee-House," in 
Philadelphia, August 12, 1737, and purchased by 
Joseph Turner, a merchant there, for the sum of seven 
hundred and fifty pounds, it comprising eight hun- 
dred and forty-eight acres. A draft had been pre- 
viously prepared by Jacob Parsons, afterwards sur- 
veyor-general, of which a copy from the original was 
made in 1857. The bounds of this tract wei-e thus set 
forth,— 

" Begiiming lit a marked Black Oak on tbe line dividing the Counties 
of Philadelphia and Bucks, at a corner of John Jarrctt's land ; thence 
extending, by the same, southwest 192 perches to a etouo ; thence by a 
line of marked trees northwest 220 perches to a jx)st, southwest 36 perclies 
to a largo White Oak, northwest 72 porches to a post, southwest 90 
perches to a stone, northwest 01 perches to a post or stone ; tbence by 
land lately owned by liichard Shoeinakor north 58 dcgreeaeast 55 pei"chea 
to a post, northwest 129 perches to a stone and southwest 195 perches to 
ft stone; thence aloug lines of marked trees northwest CO perches to a 
stone and northeast 4G0 perches to a marked hickory in the county line 
aforesaid ; thence along the same line southeast 528 perches to the place 
of begiuning." 

In the American Weekly Mercury of September 15, 
1787, is found an interesting advertisement giving a 
very good description of the place, with the improve- 
ments thereon as made by the Governor. The amount 
of cleared land does not appear great when we come 
.to consider that it had been occupied some fifteen 
years, but the labor necessarily involved to effect 
even this must have been something. 

"To be let to farm in Philadelphia County, twenty miles from town, 
a Plantation called Horsham, consisting of 500 acres of land, 75 of which 
are cleared and improved ready and lit for fall grain ; besides 12 acres 
of well-improved meadow. Together with a large stone House, three 
stories high, CO feet in length, and :i5 wide, each story well floored and 
lighted, originally designed for a JIalt-House, but at present seems better 
calculated for a Company of Linen-Weavers, having a largo stream of 
water passing by the end of said House, and a fine spring running by the 
back part thereof, whereon is a very good bleaching green, wlftch ren- 
ders the wliole extremely commodious for a Linen-Factory. For further 



infomiation, inquire of the Printer hereof, or of Thomas Darroch, tenant 
on another part of the said Plantation." 

The whole of the tract, with all its improvements, 
was conveyed by Mr. Turner to Dr. Thomas Graeme, 
forthe sum of seven hundred and sixty pounds, Decem 
ber 22, 1739. This gentleman, then a distinguished 
physician of Philadelphia, was a son-in-law of Lady 
Ann Keith, and had been appointed one of her attor- 
neys before her husband's departure. On account of 
his having purchased the Governor's personal prop- 
erty in 1726, and to escape from the heat of the city, 
he was induced to spend his summers here with his 
family and Lady Keith. Thus his attachments be- 
came formed to the place, of which he had now be- 
come the sole owner, and which he was to retain for 
one-third of a century, or to the entl of the life he was 
to close here at an advanced age. He commenced 
greatly improving this extensive estate, with a view of 
rendering it much more attractive as a place of retire- 
ment to himself and family inhis summer sojournings, 
and to be in consequence known thenceforth as 
" Gra?me Park." 

In a letter to Thomas Penn, one of the proprietaries 
in England, and son of William Penn, dated July 1, 
1755, he thus speaks of the place, — 

*' You are pleased to compliment me about Horsham, which, as you 
observe, T have endeavored to make a fine plantation in regard to fields 
and meadows and enclosures, not much yet regarding the house and 
gardens. I have a park which encloses three hundred acres of land, 
which is managed in a manner quite different from any I have seen here 
or elsewhere. It is very good soil and one-half lies with an easy descent 
to tbe south, besides avenues and vistas through it ; there is now jnst 
done about one hundred and fifty acres of it quite clear of shrubs and 
bushes, only the tall trees and good young sappling timber standing. 
This I harrow, sow it in grass seed, then brush and roll it. I expect it 
soon capable of maintaining a large stock of sheep and black cattle ; it 
would be one of the finest Parks for Deer that could well be imagined. 
I have douV)le-ditched and double-hedged it in, and as a piece of beauty 
and ornament to a dwelling, I dare venture to say that no nobleman in 
England but would be proud to have it on his seat. It is true it has 
atforded me a good deal of pleasure. The charges have been considertible 
and the returns but small, though I think cannot fail answering the pur- 
pose. I am greatly pleased to find my brother Peter interested with your 
correspondence and sends his greatest personal regard and best good 
wishes." 

Miss Eliza Stedman, on her coming out here with 
the family to spend the summer, appears to have been 
highly delighted with this retreat, judging from the 
following extract of a letter to Elizabeth Grseme (af- 
terwards Mrs. Ferguson), then in England, dated 

" Graeme Park, May 17, 17C5. 3Iy beloved friend will see by the above 
that I am now in a most agreeable retirement, my mind disengaged from 
the trifling gaieties which claim the attention in the city. Here I am 
surrounded with tranquility, nothing to disturb that happy composure 
with which the infancy of Spring is attended. All is gay and blooming, 
Nature seems to rejoice, each field and grove is dressed in rich attire to 
delight the eye. The little feathered tribes praise their Creator for re- 
turning good in harmonious anthems, the bleating flocks, emblem of 
innocence, wait tbe band of covetous man to depri^ e them of their warm 
robes. Reading and walking, by turns, employ my time, and when iu 
one of my solitary rambles through the Park or the little grove by the 
milk-house, I recollect the many channiug binirs we have passed together 
therein innocent chat, 1 ara 9o lost as lo still fancy you are with nn*, 
till I go to address my compaiiiou, whom I cannot find." 

Dr. Graeme died in the fall of 1772, having out- 
lived nearlv all his numerous descendants. Bv his 




^ ;^^ y^^//9-^ 



J 



y/-^n %^/d w \L 




VLC{,^iv-^€. rrp^^^-c^-y^ 



c^ 








/ 




^clhc^.i)^i 






i^cv Ci/rY^mo / 




J 




'^-<^: 




7 





//; 



e^tSiAt 









'L^ "l^^^ JU^oo^f^fc^/j^P^- 



u^ 




^?rt,>z- 



7 



/Lal^. 'U>zz^h<f, 




yc/i 



/micn^^ 




C<:^~ 



\ 



HORSHAM TOWx\SHIP. 



883 



will made June 14, 1769, he devised the whole of the 
Grseme Park estate to his only surviving child, Eliza- 
beth, on condition that she pay the sum of eight hun- 
dred pounds, unto John and Anna Y<jung, and two 
hundred pounds, to their father, James Young, the 
husband of her sister, Jane, who had died in 17o9. 
Unknown to her father. Miss Gra!me was married to 
Hugh Henry Ferguson, aScotchman by birth, in Phila- 
delphia, only a few months before his decease. The 
couple now took possession of the estate with the view 
of leading there a farmer's life. In the Pennsylvania 
Packet of October 27, 1773, seven hundred acres are 
advertised for sale in several tracts, no doubt to meet 
the aforesaid payments. In the same paper of May 
6, 1776, we find the following advertisement giving a 
more complete description of the aforesaid tracts : 

" Valuable Farms to be Bold. — The gre.iter part of that highly-improved 
estate commonly flailed Gricme Park, late the property of Dr. Thomas 
Graeme, deceased, is to be sold in farms of any quantity, from ItXt to 300 
acres, as may best suit the purchaser. A proportionate quantity of ara- 
ble meadow and timber lands will be allotted to each farm, the Proprie- 
tor intending only to reserve the mansion, house, oftices, etc., with a 
small portion of lands adjacent. The arable lands have been greatly im- 
proved by manurings and the best culture. The meadows produce the 
best liind of hay in great quantities, and they m.ay always be kept in a 
flourishing state by being watered in the drye*t seasons. The timber 
lands are of the best quality. A considerable quantity of excellent 
orchard can be allotted to one or two of the farms. Each of these farms, 
from its situation and quality, is calculated both for the amusement of 
the man of fortune and the profit of the inilustrious farmer — 
They will be sold for a reasonable price and an indisputable title given. 
For terms and further information, apply Elizabeth Fergu8(»n on the 
premises, Charles Stedman at Philadelphia or Hichard Stockton near 
Princeton, New Jersey." 

In September, 177o, Mr. Ferguson sailed for Eng- 
land, and did not return until September, 1777, 
about the time the British took posse-ssion of Phila- 
delphia. Tbey appointed him commissary of prisoners, 
which no doubt greatly tended to induce him to 
espouse their cause. Mrs. Ferguson used her utmost 
endeavors to have him remain at the park, but her 
cflbrts all proved unavailing, and the result was that 
they never subsequently lived together. She, however, 
continued on the place until a very short time before 
her death. For his joining the British he was attainted 
of treason against the commonwealth, and the Legis- 
lature, by an act passed April 2, 1781, vested the en- 
tire premises in Mrs. Ferguson's right. The latter 
sold the estate, then reduced to five hundred and fifty- 
five acres, April 30, 1791, to Dr. William Smith, of 
Philadelphia, the husband of her ward and niece, 
Anna Young, for £3500, equivalent to $9333 of our 
present currency. The latter, with his family, was now 
in the practice of spending his summers here with 
Mrs. Ferguson, who remained at the park. During 
the ownership of Dr. Smith he sold off several tracts, 
which reduced it, by 1801, to two hundred and four 
acres, which, with the mansion, he disposed to Samuel 
Penrose, of Richland township, Bucks Co. 

In a letter from Mrs. Ferguson to Samuel W. Stock- 
ton, of Trenton, N. .1., dated Graeme Park, JIarcli 16, 
1788, she says, — 



" I am desirous of selling the farm. I am conscious of moral rectitude 
in the whole of my transactions. I have contracted debts within these 
few years on a supposition of specnLation. I am in debt to those who 
want their money. Mr. Ferguson's dislike to writing and to all accurate 
explanations is a peculiarity in his temper that has ruined our domestic 
peace and will eventually separate us." 

It will be seen by the aforesaid date that Mrs. Fer- 
guson still continued on the place, and no doubt re- 
mained there until either just before or after Dr. 
Smith's sale. 

There is not a doubt that on the removal of Samuel 
Penrose here the farm had become greatly exhausted 
from long and continuous tillage by tenants. He, 
as a practical farmer, at once set to work to have the 
lands made more productive and the buildings and 
fences improved. On his death it descended to his 
son, William Penrose, who had married, in 1810, the 
daughter of William Jarrett, a wealthy neighboring 
farmer, and a descendant of one of the old landed 
families of Horsham. Mr. Penrose died on his estate 
in 1863, aged eighty-one years, and while in possess- 
ion of the property made extensive improvements 
upon it. It is now owned by his son, Abel Penrose, 
who has taken due pains to preserve the old mansion, 
though unoccupied, having had a new roof and re- 
pairs made to it about five years ago, costing nearly 
one thousand dollars. Several eftbrls have been made 
to purchase it, but in vain. From a long acquaint- 
ance we are inclined to believe that they intend cele- 
brating there ere long a centennial of possession, and 
that is a credit for any family to take pride in. The 
Indian chief Gachradodow, in a speech made at Lan- 
caster, this State, in 1755, said, " What little we have 
received for our land goes soon away, but the land 
lasts forever." 

We have now briefly noticed the ownership of 
Grseme Park from its first purchase and settlement to 
the present time. It yet remains for us to give short 
biographical sketches of the princi|>al characters con- 
nected therewith, including some of it.s interesting 
associations. As a collector on the subject for over a 
third of a century, with the amount of material at 
command, we feel it no easy task to extract therefrom 
a well-condensed history, limited to but a few pages. 
It is its literary treasures that we now more particu- 
larly regret in thus withholding from those readers 
who may take a delight in this general subject, for it 
is doubtful whether, in this respect, any other spot 
in the country can approach it within the last cen- 
tury. 

Sir William Keith. — This gentleman was de- 
scended from the Keiths of Ludquahairn, in the 
north of Scotland, baroneted in 1629. He was the 
son of Sir William Keith, and w;is appointed by 
Queen Anne surveyor-general of the customs in Amer- 
ica atasalarj'Offivehundred pounds. While holding 
this office it is known that for a part of the time he 
resided in Virginia. Shortly after the accession of 
George I. he was displaced, and, while making a.brief 
stay in Philadelphia, .soon became intimately ac- 



884 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



quainted with its most influential people, on whom 
he made so profound an impression from his general 
knowledge and condescending manners, that they 
exercised their influence with the proprietary family 
to appoint him Deputy-Governor of Pennsylvania. 
When their minds had been made up they learned 
that he had left the city for Virginia, when two 
members of the Council at once dispatched a letter 
which reached him at New Castle, inviting him to 
return and hear their proposals. Mr. Keith came 
back, and matters were satisfactorily arranged be- 
tween the parties. 




SIR WILLIAM KEITH. 

A letter of recommendation, in consequence, was 
prepared the 25th of Second Month, 171(5, by the Coun- 
cil, and addressed to Hannah Penn, from which we 
make a brief extract : 

'* It has been hinted to him that, seeing a change is necessary here, 
whether under you or the Crown, could he obtain this government it 
migllt in some measure countervail his disappointment. To be under 
an easy administration of Government in America contributes liighly to 
the subject's happiness ; that we may be excused we hope, if, from our 
acquaintance with this gentleman, we should wish to be particular of 
that eiise under him which we believe all men might promise themselves 
from his administration if happily entrusted with it. As we have already 
acquainted you with the necessity we think there is for a change, what 
we intend by this principally is to give you our sentiments of this 
gentleman. If the proposal be approved, the further prosecution of it 
will naturally fall under his own management, in which we cannot but 
wish him success, as we are the Proprietor's and thy faithful friends." 

It is in the handwriting of James Logan and signed 
by him, Robert Assheton, William Evans, Jasper 
Yeates, Richard Hill, Isaac Norris, Samuel Preston 
and Jonathan Dickinson. William Penn gave his 
consent, October 25th, for his appointment, subject, of 
course, to the royal approbation. 



In a letter dated the following 12th of Twelfth 
Month, Hannah Penn communicated to James Logan 
the result of the application, as follows: 

" Overlooking all other difficulties, have at your requests, got William 
Keith commissioned by my husband, and approved by the Crown ; and 
with a general con.sent, he now goes deputy-governor over that province 
and territories. Though he was pretty much a stranger to me, yet his 
prudent conduct and obliging behavior, joined with your oliservations 
thereon, give me and those concerned good hopes to believe that he will 
prove satisfactory. He is certainly an understanding man, and seems to 
have himself master of the affairs of your province, even beyond what one 
might expect in so short a time. Colonel Keith has obtained his appro- 
bation by 80 general a consent that, whatever becomesof the Proprietary 
governments, we think he will be continued over you, if his conduct 
answers his character." 

On his appointment Governor Keith was forty- 
seven years of age, and his family at this time, as far 
as has been ascertained, consisted of his second wife, 
Ann Newberry (widow of Robert Diggs), who was aged 
forty-two; her only daughter, Ann Diggs, aged seven- 
teen ; and his sons, — Alexander Henry, Robert and 
William Keith. They embarked with Captain Annis 
in the beginning of May, 1717, and arrived in Phila- 
delphia at noon on the 31st of said month. On June 
3d the Governor wrote to Henry Gouldney, wherein 
he .stated that he had arrived "after a tolerable but 
fatiguing passage," and his family increased by a boy, 
born May 10th at sea. It is stated that the party was 
also accompanied by Dr. Thomas Graeme, a native of 
Perthshire, now in his twenty-ninth year and unmar- 
ried. Colonel Keith wasreceived at his landingby Gov- 
ernor Gookin and his Council, attended by the alder- 
man and ofRicrs of the city government. Having 
]iroduced his commission and approval, it was ordered 
that it should be forthwith proclaimed and published 
in due form at the court-house, the mayor and cor- 
poration and inhabitants attending. Colonel Keith 
]iroposed to the Council that, for preventing any fail- 
ure in the administration of justice, a proclamation 
should be forthwith ifssued for continuing all oflicers 
of the government till such time as new commissions 
may be issued, and the secretary was ordered to pro- 
pose the same by ten o'clock, at which time a Council 
would be appointed. 

From the minutes of Christ Church we learn that 
on February 3, 1718, 

" Colonel Keith has been pleased, at a considerable charge, not only to 
erect a spacious pew right before the altar, to be appropriated in all time 
to come for the conveniency and use of the Governor and his family for 
the time being, but also to promise and voluntarily agree to pay the 
yearly rent of £5 per annum for the same, to the use of the church." 

It is supposed that at this time the floor was of 
brick, for mention is made that they "were taken up 
to lay the foundations of the Governor's pew." 

To show the indifference of the Penn family to 
matters of government whenever their interests were 
not concerned, we give here an extract of the Gover- 
nor's letter, addressed to Hannah Penn, dated Phila- 
delphia, May 1, 1718,— 

" I can't but sjiy it givi-s iiu* sunu- conrern that I have never jet had 
the honour of a line from your family since I eame hither. The Pntprie- 
tor's rleath has been frenuently surmised here of late, bnt T doubt not 



HOKSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



885 



we sliall be able to baffle tbe doings of those who industriously set about 
to luise such reports." 

It will be observed that on writing this he had been 
in the government here eleven months. William 
Penn died the following 30th of July, having been 
rendered, through jjaralysis, for some time previously 
incapable of attending to affairs of state. Hannah 
Penn, in a letter to Governor Keith, dated London, 
8th of Eighth Month, 1720, thus expresses herself 
respecting his administration of affairs, — 

" I am glad, however, to hear that in general thy administration of the 
government has been eaay and satisfactory to the people, and that there 
is so good a harmony and unanimity among you which I desire may be 
kept up." 

Governor Keith's transactions with the Indians 
during his administration are unusually interesting, and 
we regret that the want of space will only permit a 
brief mention. On the 5th of .July, 1721, he pro- 
ceeded to Couestoga, and on the following day held a 
council, in which he delivered to them a beautiful 
address, commending peaceable relations, as hereto- 
fore, and that they refrain from going to Virginia to 
hunt or in any way meddle with the Indian affairs 
there. This was replied to next day by Ghesaont, 
" in behalf of all the Five Nations," in ehMjuent re- 
marks. He repeated liis visit in June, 1722, and on 
the loth of said month he gave them another address 
respecting the intrusion of the Marylanders on their 
lands, wliich lie would endeavor in the future to pre- 
vent. Res]5ecting tliis trip, he sent a letter to the 
Governor of Maryland, dated from Newberry, on the 
(Susquehanna, Juue 23, 1722, in which he says, — 

" My fatigue in the woods has brought a small fever upon me, which 
an ounce of bark has pretty much abated, so that to-morrow I shall return 
home by slow journeys directly to Philadelphia, where I shall rejoice to 
see you once more." 

A petition was presented from "sundry freeholders 
and inhabitants of the City and County of Philadel- 
phia," January 1, 1723, "setting forth that they are 
sensibly aggrieved in their estates and dealings, to tlie 
great loss and growing ruin of themselves and the 
evident dectvy of this province, for want of a medium 
to buy and sell with, and praying for a paper currency, 
was presented to the House, and read and ordered to 
lie on the table." This bill passed the Assembly, and 
was signed by the Governor, contrary to tlie wishes of 
the Penn family, which afterwards led to his being 
set aside by the appointment of a successor in the 
government. Respecting this subject, Dr. Franklin 
remarks, — 

" I was on the side of the new emission of paper currency, convinced 
that the first small sum fabricated in 1723 had done much good in the 
province by favoring commerce, industry and popidation, since all 
the houses wore now inhabited, and many others building ; whereas, I 
remembered to have seen, when I first paraded the streetii of Philadelphia 
eating my roll, the majority of those in Walnut street, Second street, 
Fourth street, as well as a great number in Chestnut and other streets, 
with ]iaper8 on them signifying that they were to let. which made me 
think at the time that the inhabitants of the town were deserting it one 
after another." 

Governor Keith, in liis message to tlie Assembly on 
this occasion, tlius referred to the subject, — 



*' When I reflect that this is the Seventh Assembly which in less than 
six ywirs I have h.id the honour to meet ,18 Governor of this Colony, and 
that no difference or uneasy disputes have yet Iiappened in the Legisla- 
tive Body, it is but natuRil to think that so happy an unanimity, with 
the blessing of God, has been chiefly owing to tin- conmiendable and 
hearty disposition which hitherto has prevailed in both parts of the 
Legislature to establish the true interest of the Government upon the 
happiness and prosperity of the governed. We all know it is neither the 
great or the rich, nor the learned, that compose the body of any people ; 
and that civil government ought carefully to protect the poor, laborious 
and industrious piirt of mankind in the enjrjyment of their just righta, 
and equal liberties and privileges, with the rest of their fellow-creatures." 

Under date of London, Jlay 20, 1724, Hannah Penn 
wrote to the Governor respecting the affairs of the 
province and of the late meeting he had attended at 
Albany with the Indians, respecting which she re- 
marked that, — 

" We hope and desire the same care of those poor people, the Indians, 
ni.ay still be continued ; that the same measures my husband first estab- 
lished with them may be constantly pursued ; and that on all occafiions 
of moment, the Council, especially those members of it who are intrusted 
with the Affairs of Property, may be consulted ; and that all Treaties 
with them may be man.aged with their concurrence and approbation. 
To these I shall only add, that ;w thou wert chosen in the time of my 
husband's weakness, by means of his friends only, to th.at important 
trust, it would be with some regret, should we be obliged to make a change 
before our final settlement with the Crown, though the means are ready 
at hanrl. We therefore earnestly desire that thy skill and abilities may 
be employed to render thy continuance yet gniteful to us, which can lie 
no other way effected than by a strict observation of thy former and 
these present instructions." 

There can be no question that the latter remarks 
are insulting, and can reflect no credit to the one who 
wrote them. The emission of paper money did not 
conctrn the proprietors, yet we see here the most 
overbearing insolence aimed not only at the Governor, 
but against the chartered rights of the people. 

At the celebration of the King's birthday at New 
Castle, May 28, 1724, the Governor was present, on 
which occasion they proceeded to the court-house, 
attended by the principal inhabitants of the place. 
The King's charter, establishing the city of New Castle 
with valuable privileges, was read, after which he 
made them an address, which was replied to by the 
mayor, recorder and aldermen. The Governor and 
Lady Keith were handsomely entertained at a dinner 
by the magistrates, when the King's health. His Royal 
Highness the Prince of Wales, and all the royal family 
and numerous other loyal healths were drank with the 
discharge of cannon. The proceedings at the time 
were publislied by Samuel Keimer, of IMiiladelphia, 
and sold and distributed in New Castle by William 
Read, to which source we are indebted for this in- 
formation. 

In reply to Mrs. Penu's private instructions, Sep- 
tember 24, 1724, the Governor further exposes the 
attempts to deprive him of his due authority, as fol- 
lows : 

"WTiatelse could have put it in Mr. Logan's head to advise you. 
Madam, to order the seal, which everywhere is looked upon as the en- 
sign of government, out of my hands into his possession. That it was so 
before my time, or, which is the same thing, that Mr.Logan exercised an 
absolute and despotic authority over my predecessor, which is well known, 
rendered the Governor at that time despicable in the eyes of the people, 
is a very poor argument to support such an extravagant demand as this. 



886 



HlSTOllY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



which must extinguish all autliority in the person of the governor when- 
soever it iscomplied witli." 

Respecting tlie compensation allowed liim for liis I 
services, Governor Keith remarks, — 

** You will please to consider that the revenue here is the free gift of tlie 
people'srepresentutives to the acting Governor, which they juiliciously 
uugmeut, lessen or wittidr.iw annually, according to the expense which 
they observe he has been at in tlieir senice, anil to the ease and satisfac- 
tion they receive hum tliejnstice of his administration. Moreover, al- 
thuugh the revenue granted in my time has been larger than formerly, 
yet the expense and figure which the colony has made, both ut home and 
abroad, has been more than pruixjrtionably advanced, whereby the saving 
profits, which may Iw supjjosed to liave been applied to my use, have not 
arisen to so much as even those of former Governors, and this matter of 
fact is sounivt'i-sally known amung the people that it will be altogether 
ill vain to endeavor to contradict so notorious a truth." 

In the " Votes of Assembly " (vol. ii. pp. Ill 1 47) 
may be seen an able vindication of the Governor and 
legislative power, with a remonstrance sent to Han- 
nah Penn's private instructions, drawn up by Chief 
Justice David Lloyd, and ordered by the Assembly to 
be sent to j\Irs. Penn, from which we take this ex- 
tract, — 

'* I cuiitmt leave this subject without observing that the tii-st Purchas- 
ers bimglit Ilu'ir lands dear, and came under perpetual quit-rents, which 
far exceeded what the Proprietaries of the a4,iacent Provinces required of 
their Tenants, but when they come to be handled in Secretary Logan's 
office, they were told they must pay hnjf a croumy or a crown, English 
money, for every City lot forever, which the Proprietary had freely given 
to his purchasei-8, expecting, as was thought, but twelve pence Sterling 
per annum for every one hundred acj-es of their lands ; and when they 
came for their patents there was a reservation of three full and clear fifth 
parlsof all royal mines, free of all deductions and reprisals for digging 
and refining the same, wheieas the Royal Charterhad reserved but one- 
fifth part of sui:h mines, clear of charges. You may find by your journal 
divers other instances of the Secretai-y's abuses andilltreatment of the 
people." 

The Assembly, December 7th, prepared an address 
" To the Descendants of our late Honourable Proprie- 
tary, William Penn, Esq.," in which they nobly de- 
feud the Governor from the calumnies of a few 
enemies, and vindicate the beneficial results of his 
administration, and that they hope he may be con- 
tinued in the oltice. In conclusion they state,— 

'"Much more might hi' said in favor of the Governor's administration 
which we omit, lest we should trespass too much upon your patience, 
hoping these short hints may be sufficient to obviate objections and re- 
move the impression that some persons have endeavored to make on the 
minds of such as may t>e atrangei-s to the circumstances of our af- 
f.iire." 

Major Patrick Gordon was commissioned Deputy- 
Governor of Pennsylvania by Springett Penn, with 
the assent of his stepmother, Hannah Penn, sanc- 
tioned by the royal approbation. He arrived in 
Philadelphia, June 22, I72t>, and at once entered 
upon the duties of the office. On his retirement, 
Governor Keith's Council consisted of Richard Hill, 
Anthony Palmer, Henry Brooke, Thomas Graeme, 
Isaac Norris, Robert Assheton, William Fishbourne 
and Evan Owen. He had now held the office above 
nine years, a much longer period than any other had 
previously from the beginning of the proprietary 
sway, — a period of forty-four years. No sooner had 
he been deprived of his position than he was 



spoken of as a most probable candidate for the As- 
sembly, to which be was elected the following October 
as one of the representatives of Philadelphia ("bounty. 
As may be well supposed, the long-continued popu- 
larity of Governor Keith and his election to the As- 
sembly gave considerable alarm to his few enemies, 
and their expressions on the subject are amusing and 
worth inserting. James Logan wrote, October 8, 1725, 
to John Penn that — 

"For my own part I am quite tired with standing the public butt to 
all your enemies, and as I have been represented to those who woul(j 
dissemble with you as if I had by my conduct contributed to those 
troubles, I take it to be of importance, to you, as I find it absolutely 
necessiirj- for my own ease that I should retire, for which having laid 
some foundation when last at Bristol. It is fit you should know in time 
that next fall I fully design (God willing) to take over my family to said 
city, and i)lace tbem there, if not for life, at least till aflaii's take such a 
turn as to make it more eligible for an honest man to reeide here than it 
can be at present, or ever will be while I am concerned in your Proprie- 
tai-y afiairs, and your disputes among youreelves continue." 

Governor Gordon wrote to the same, October 18, 
1726, that his "predecessor" had been elected to the 
Assembly, and when this body met on the 14th — 

''Sir William made his public entry into the city with about eighty 
horse, composed of butchers, tailors, blacksmiths, journeymen, appren- 
tices and carters, marching two and two. Sir William being at the head 
of them, some ships firing their guns." 

The Governor wrote again on the following 8th of 
May that— 

"Everything that has been proposed by the moderate and well-niean- 
iuj; People of the House has been opposed by Sir William and his crea- 
tures, whicli consist of the Members of tlie City and County of Philadel- 
phia. I am sorry to tell you that the influence of that Party has ap- 
peared in their late proceedings, much greater than we had been aware 
of, so that if there is not some course taken to make this man quiet we 
shall never be in peace here ; doubtless you will think it lulvisiible to 
bring about this good work for the ease of the country." 

To a gentleman entertaining honorable motives and 
self-respect the position of a colonial Governor was a 
degrading one to hold, having no less than three 
masters to serve, — first, the proprietary family, with 
their feudal prerogatives, to whom he owed his com- 
mission and hampered him with selfish instructions ; 
second, to the King, whose approbation he must se- 
cure, fettered by loyalty ; and thirdly, the colony and 
Assembly, who voted him his annual salary, lessened 
or increased, as suited their pleasure for the services 
rendered. Franklin wrote as follows concerning 
Keith : 

"Differing from the great body of tile people whom he goverued, in 
religion and manners, he acquired their esteem and confidence. If be 
sought popularity, he promoted the public happiness, and his courage in 
resisting the demands of the Proprietaries may be ascribed to a higher 
motive than private interest." 

As stated, Governor Keith came in possession of 
his land at Horsham in 1718, and may not have com- 
menced making improvements thereon earlier than 
in 1721 ; for in the spring of the following year we 
know he had his mansion there and other buildings 
pretty well under way. To his bill of sale, made May 
21, 1726, to Dr. Thomas Grteme and Thomas Sober 
for the snm of five hundred pounds sterling, was ap- 



HORSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



887 



pended, "A schedule of the slaves, plate, household 
furniture, horses, cattle, goods, chattels upon Sir Wil- 
liam Keith's plantation at Horsham, in the county of 
Philadelphia." The slaves mentioned are fourteen in 
number, called William, Jane, Mercury, Diana, An- 
r drew, Caesar, Mary, Ann, Maria, Sarah, Robert, Har- 
rington, Oronoca and William, five or sis of whom 
are represented as children. Among the numerous 
items, mention is made of a silver punch-bowl, ladle and 
strainer, 4 salvers, 3 castors and 33 spoons, 70 large 
pewter plates, 14 dozen smaller plates, 6 basins, 6 
brass pots with covers. Chinaware : 13 different sizes 
of bowls, 6 complete tea-sets, 2 dozen chocolate cups 
and saucers, 3 dozen small bowls and custard cups, 20 
dishes of various sizes, 4 dozen plates, 6 mugs, 1 dozen 
fine coffee cups "and also many odd pieces of china." 
Of Delft stone and glassware : 18 jars, 12 venison 
. pots, 6 white stone tea-sets, 12 mugs, 6 dozen plates 
' and 12 fine wine decanters. Linen : 24 Holland 
.sheets, 20 common sheets, 50 table-cloths, 12 dozen 
napkins, 16 bedsteads, 144 chairs of various kinds, 
32 tables of various sizes, 3 clocks, 15 looking-glasses, 
10 dozen knives and forks. Horses and stock : 4 coach 
horses, 7 saddle horses, 6 working horees, 2 mares and 
L 1 colt, 4 oxen, 15 cows, 4 bulls, 6 calves, 31 sheep and 
' 20 hogs ; a large gla.ss coach, 2 chaises, 2 wagons, 1 
wain, 1 pair of timber wheels, 4 carts, 4 plows and 4 
harrows. Much is omitted in the list of plate, ta- 
bleware, parlor, bedroom and kitchen furniture, be- 
sides utensils of various kinds. 

From what has just been given, we are enabled to 
judge that the Governor must have lived pretty 
sumptuously here, and that he entertained company, 
at times in considerable numbers. There is no doubt 
that at this date deer still abounded in the vicinity, 
and it is possible that he may have kept a herd on 
the place, as the "12 venison pots" are suggestive. 
What greatly surprises us is to find that after only a 
four or five years' possession for making improve- 
ments, he should be enabled to have his place so well 
stocked in horses, cattle and other animals, and which, 
no doubt, the place could support. The accomplish- 
ment of this, where all was so recently a wilderness, 
places Sir William Keith among the early improvers 
of the country. We here realize what James Logan 
mentioned concerning him in a letter to the Penn 
family, dated Philadelphia, October 8, 1724, in which 
he said that Colonel Spottswood, Governor of Vir- 
ginia, had stated "That he was of an honorable 
family, a baronet, good-natured and obliging, and 
spends with a reputation to the place all he gets of 
the country." It has been published in a "Vindica- 
tion," at London, that he had laid out six thousand 
pounds in lands and improvements, two thousand 
pounds on the Horsham estate and four thousand 
pounds on the erection of an iron-works in New 
Castle County. The former he settled on his wife, 
and the latter was retained for the security of his 
debts, having conferred, July 23, 1725, for the pur- 



pose, a power of attorney on Samuel Preston, provin- 
cial treasurer of Pennsylvania, to collect all sums due 
him and pay the same over to his creditors, — Micajah 
Perry, John Gray, Edward Jeffries, Henry Gouldney 
and Thomas Pierce, all of London, — until they should 
be fully satisfied, they having furnished him with 
means to secure the office and outfit to Pennsylvania. 

There is a tradition based on pretty good authority 
in the neighborhood that the baronet had a prison 
built on his estate for offenders. Descended as he 
was from an old feudal family, we have thought in 
consequence that he may have here held at times a 
manorial court for the trial of his servants and slaves, 
who thus had punishment meted out to them, as was 
then the case in England and Scotland; hence the 
foundation of this lingering and oft-told circumstance. 
In the Minutes of Council for June 3, 1721, he is for 
the first time styled "The Honourable Sir William 
Keith," which would denote that his father had died 
in the spring, and that the son had inherited the 
title. In October, 1727, he was again elected to the 
Assembly, and we find, in looking over their proceed- 
ings, that he was placed on some of their most import- 
ant committees. In the following April he sent in 
his resignation to that body, stating that affairs of 
importance had now called him to Great Britain, for 
which they excused him, so that new writs be issued 
for electing some other person in his place. On the 
question being put, the House allowed his absence. 
So, in the spring of 1728, he went on board Captain 
Colvell's ship at New Castle and sailed for Great 
Britain. We learn from the Gentleman's Magazine 
that in June, 1732, he was elected a member of Par- 
liament for Aberdeen, to supply the place of Sir 
Archibald Grant, who had been expelled from the 
House of Commons. 

He gave himself subsequently to authorship, and 
wrote a " History of Virginia, with remarks on the 
Trade and Commerce of that Colony: Printed at the 
expense of the Society for the Encouragement of 
Learning," at London, in 1738. It is a handsome 
quarto of one hundred and eighty -seven pages, elegantly 
printed, with two maps. This work he dedicated " To 
His Royal Highness, Frederick, Prince of Wales.'' 
At page three of the introduction he states his object, — 
" To trace out, from the first English Expedition into 
America, the particular History of each Colony in 
its natural order of Time, observing the changes 
which have happened to their respective Soils, Trade 
and Government." Respecting this work, Jefferson, 
in his " Notes on Virginia," speaks very favorably. 
Sir William Keith died in London, November 17, 
1740, aged nearly eighty years, one account says in 
the Old Bailey, and that his title would descend to 
his son Robert, then a lieutenant-colonel under Mar- 
shal Keith, in the Prussian service. In the deed of 
conveyance to Lad}' Keith of the Horsham estate, 
April 23, 1731, mention is made of "Alexander Henry 
Keith, Esquire, eldest surviving son and heir-ap- 



888 



HISTORY Of MONTGOMEllY COUNTY. 



parent of the said Sir William." The aforesaid was 
collector at New Castle and one of the three eonmiis- 
sioners for holding a Court of Admiralty at Philadel- 
phia, October 15, 1731. From the " Votes of Assem- 
bly," (vol. ii. ) it is ascertained that he had 
also a son William, who was his private secretary 
while Governor. Respecting his last son we can gain 
no additional particulars. 

Lady Ann Keith was born in 1(375, near London, 
and on the death of her husband, Robert Diggs, sub- 
sequently married Sir William Keith. With the 
former she had a daughter, Ann Diggs, who became 
the wife of Dr. Thomas Grajme. On her voyage 
hither with Governor Keith, in May, 1717, she had a 
son born at sea. In 1737 !-he parted with all her 
claims to the Horsham estate, of which her son-in-law 
became sole owner in 1739. About this time she 
made her home altogether in the city, where she died, 
July 31, 17-W, aged sixty-five years. Her remains re- 
pose in the south side of Christ churchyard, beside 
the Gr:eme family, where a large stone has been 
placed to her memory. She did not die in poverty, 
having wealthy descendants and relatives ; neither 
did she survive her husband many years, as is stated 
by Watson in his "Annals," and .since circulated by 
others. 

Dk. Thomas Graeme. — The subject of this sketch 
was born at the ancestral seat of Balgowan, in Perth- 
shire, Scotland, October 20, 1688. The family being 
an ancient one, intermarried with the principal no- 
bility of that country, their coat-of-arms indicating a 
royal descent from a daughter of Robert IH. It is 
very probable that he graduated in medicine at the 
University of Leyden, for in his evidence respecting 
the Maryland boundary dispute in 1740 he stated 
that he had been there in 1712. The next we know 
he embarked with Governor Keith's family, in the be- 
ginning of May, 1717, for America, and arrived in 
thiladeljihia at the close of said month. He was mar- 
ried in Christ Church, Nov. 12, 17U>, to Ann Diggs, 
the Governor's step-daughter, who was then in her 
nineteenth year, and a native of St. Albans, England. 
From the family record it appears that Dr. Graeme at 
first resided with the tJovernor, for mention is made 
that his first child, Thomas, was " born in the house 
of Governor Keith, in Philadelphia, September 5, 
1721." In 1719 he was first appointed to the naval 
ofiice, and February 24, 1726, became a member of 
the Council, in which he served until the close of the 
Governor's administration. He was appointed by 
Governor Gordon, April 8, 1731, one of the three jus- 
tices of the Su])rerae Court, which position he retained 
until September, 1750, — nearly twenty years, — and in 
addition, was made, April 28, 1732, a " Justice of Oyer 
and Terminer and General Goal Delivery for Philadel- 
phia, Bucks and Chester." 

Dr. Gramme succeeded in obtaining an extensive 
medical practice in the city and its neighborhood, and 
became acknowledged as one of its most skillful and 



successful physicians. In connection with this sub- 
ject he sent a letter to Thomas Penn, dated Philadel- 
phia, November 7, 1746, wherein he says, — 

"Tours of the 20th of Ulay I received with the greatest acknowledg- 
ment of your goodness in regard to my care of Nanny Hockley, and, as it 
gave you satisfaction, very much added to mine. This leads me to say 
something in regard to myself, which is, that I can assure you I begin to 
feel very sensibly the impression of years upon my constitution. I have 
this fall been under a lingering intermittent fever, of which I am pretty 
well recovered ; but the complaint stick s in me, and of which I never ex- 
pect to be freed from, is an insuppoi table fatiguing cough, which I should 
take to be truly consumption, were it not I keep pretty free from 
hectic fever. Yet it is such as will oblige me to retire into the connti-y 
for some time next spring for a change of air, and to live on whey and 
buttei-milk, and whether I shall be ever able after to follow my practice 
I cannot sjiy, but duubt it much. I have tlie satisfaction to let you know 
that your little negro family got well from the small-pox tin's summer. 
Early in the spring I had much to do to keep your maid, Hagar, from 
a consumption. Your Dutchman, Jacob, has been very ill, but is now 
recovered." 

These persons were employed on Thomas Penn's 
estate at Springettsbury, Mrs. Hockley being steward- 
ess, the negroes slaves, and the doctor attending phy- 
sician. 

In 1739 Dr. Graeme was appointed physician of the 
port, and in 1751 physician and surgeon to the Penn- 
sylvania Hospital. The latter position he resigned in 
1753. With his brother, Patrick Gneme, a merchant 
of Philadelphia, he purchased, in the present North- 
ampton County, in 1739, three thousand acres of land. 
In December, 1749, the St. Andrew's Society was 
founded, with a view of rendering aid to unfortunate 
Scotchmen, of which he was elected president, and 
continued therein until his death. Thomas Penn, in 
a letter to Governor Hamilton, of September 8, 1751, 
stated that "some time since I wrote to Dr. Graeme 
and Mr. Peters to lay out some ground in the forks of 
Delaware for a town, which I suppose they have 
done. I desire that it be called Easton, and when 
there is a new county that it shall be called North- 
ampton." In the doctor's correspondence to his 
daughter, at Gra-me Park, July 6, 1754, he spoke of 
his coach, and in another letter, of his wagon pro- 
ceeding there from the city. James Young, his 
future son-in-law, in a letter of May 13, 1755, to the 
family at the park, announce a visit there from Mr. 
Roberdeau. He also spoke of the splendid tulips then 
out in bloom in the doctor's garden in the city. In a 
letter of the following 18th of September mention was 
made of Mrs. Gramme's being ill and suffering from 
chills and fever at her Horsham home. 

Mrs. Graeme wrote, May 1, 1753, to her daughter in 
Burlington, that "we will be in a delightful place, for 
your papa has taken Mr. Shippen's house, which we 
will go into on June 1st, and Messrs. Franklin and Gal- 
loway have taken ours." Respecting this change, John 
Penn wrote from the city, the following November 
7th, to his uncle, Thomas Penn, that "Dr. Graeme 
lives in Mr. Shippen's house, and has taken it for five 
years; there are, I believe, four rooms on a floor. I 
believe the front is forty-five feet and about the same 
in depth. The inside is not quite finished. They 



HORSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



8sy 



have made the kitchen under the housCj which i*j 
disagreeable in warm weather." 

From a letter written by Dr. Gr?eme, June 6, 1760, 
to Thomas Penn, we derive some additional informa- 
tion respecting the family. He wrote : 

"I now come to return you my most humble thanks for your condo- 
lence on the loss of my brother, whom you know I most affectionately re- 
gariled, as also for what befel Captain Gia^me. These distresees happen- 
ing at the same time I lost my daughter (Jane, wife of James Young) 
made it a scone of atfiiction in my family, such as I never felt before. As 
to my nephew, his disorder was a mehincholy, yet, in most respects, 
seemed to retain his understanding. In respect to the tar-water, I labor 
under a cough, and it has done me great service. I am now going in my 
seventy-first year, at which time of life li cannot be expected b>it what I 
Hhall feel my growing infirmities, so I have reason to be thankful that it 
16 not worse with me." 

His nephew, Charles Graeme, here alluded to, was 
a captain in the British army, who had been in the 
siege of Louisburg, and but recently deceased. 

Mr.s. Gramme wrote from Grsme Park, August 20, 
17G2, to her daughter Elizabeth, in the city, to ''tell 
Barbara I can't think of her coming here now, because 
your sister is so crowded with people that any addition 
would be quite an intrusion, as there are masons and 
carpenters at work in her kitchen." The sister here 
meant was Ann, wife of Charles Stedman, merchant 
of the city, who were then in the practice of sj)ending 
their summers here. It is evident that they had at 
that time numerous visitors and that repairs were then 
being made on the place. During the summer of 
lt63, through the hands of his neighbor, John Jarrett, 
of Horsham, Dr. Grserae made a donation of books 
to the Hatboro' Library, which were valued by the 
directors at fifteen pounds. At the annual meeting, 
the following November oth, he received a letter of 
thanks for so kind a gift. 

Dr. Graeme wrote from the city, September 10, 1763, 
to his daughter Elizabeth, at the park, — 

" I am glad your Mama stayed till Monday, by which she should have 
a proof of her distemper abating, and the fine weather since, with so 
much change of pure air. will no doubt contribute to her recovery. It 
gives me likewise pleasure to hear that your own health seems so thor- 
oughly established, yet I desire you not to trust to the change of weather, 
but when damp comes to take a glass twice a day of the bark and bitterg 
I sent for your use. I hear your cider-mill is brought Into good order, 
notwithstanding which it will be time enough to begin cider-making the 
week after next. We have next our second crop of hay to get made, I 
have pressed Henry White to see that Roberts gets the shed ready to put 
the apples in, which will be a great convenience in carrying on your 
manufacture. It is still uncertain whether I shall come the latter end 
of next week or not ; it would suit me better one week longer. Pay my 
compliments to your bashful companion, which is all I choose to offer." 

In June, 17(34, Elizabeth Granue, in company with 
the Rev. Richard Peters, of Philadelphia, sailed for 
Europe, the former with a view of receiving some 
medical treatment and of visiting her relatives in 
Scotland. Her mother, who was now in declining 
health, sent her a letter, dated the 17th of the follow- 
ing month, in which she said, — 

"This day, and just at this time, it is a niuutli since you left these 



Capes ; many tell me you are now on shore, but I think it is too soon to 
indulge in this pleasing huiie. A tedious time it will be till I can hear 
from you, but I will hope the account will be good when it comes. When 
you receive this, think you see me in the dining-room writing; Anna 
sitting by me at her work, desiring me to give her duty ; John driving a 
little cart tlirough the entry, enjoying himself with high glee, and no 
anxiety fur the future ; your Papa reading the newspaper in the oflBce." 

James Young wrote to Miss Graeme from Philadel- 
phia, April 3, 1765, in reference to her parents, — 

" I should think it the duty of my friendship to you to let you know, 
without hesitation, as you are as good a judge of their time of life as I 
can be : Your Papa continues as hearty as usual ; your Mania's delicate 
and tender constitution often makes me uneasy, neither is it to be ex- 
pected that at her time of life she can be free from all the disordeis that 
aflaict the human form. These are the reasons, my dear Betsy, I earn- 
estly wish to see you home in the fall of the year, and I hope you will 
bring good health with you." 

Mrs. Grseme died in the city May 29, 1765, aged 
nearly sixty-five years. In the last letter to her 
daughter, written fourteen days before her death, she 
said, — 

"These considerations have made me quite resigned as to seeing you, 
and indeed, my dear, as you went out of the Courtyard into the chaise, 
something whispered to me, * you have taken your last look of her.' Two 
similar impressions I had in my life before, both of which proved true." 

The following letter (copied from the original) to 
the absent daughter is so admirable in its style that 
we give it entire : 

'■ Philadelphia, May :iOth, 1765, 

" My much-loved Friend I hope will arm herself with resolution and 
fortitude on this trying occasion, and call to her aid resignation. My 
heart is too full to say much, but you have much consolation in the cer- 
tainty of your dear Mama being happy. I sat with her from six last 
evening till four in the morning, close to her head and observed each 
movement. Oh, my dear Betsy, you were never one moment out of my 
thoughts. To tell what I felt would bnt affect you too much, when the 
last breath was gone and that dear body cold and insensible. I closed 
her eyes, for my friend I know would be pleased that strangers might 
not perform this last sad office. 

"This is Wednesday, and on Sunday I saw she was going very fast 
and I kissed her, as I thought, for the last time. She begged a blessing 
for me. I cannot dwell longer on this subject, but be assured I am your 
truly afflicted Friend, 

*' EnzA Stedman." 

From a letter sent by Mrs. Ann Stedman to her 
sister, Miss Grseme, dated June 4th, we receive ad- 
ditional information, — 

" I must now inform you that she has not been quite well since yon 
left. She was quite sensible till about two hours before she died, and 
spoke to comfort me and left her blessing with me for you. By the last 
letters she wrote you she was so weak that she could not write above four 
lines at a time; yet she wrote as cheerful as though nothing had been the 
matter. You was one of the last peraons that she thought of in this life. 
Be assured that I shall use every method in my power to make our dear 
remaining parent easy till your return, which you may imagine we all are 
very anxious for ; but your dear father intends writing himself, so I shall 
say nothing for him only that he is very much to be pitied at his time, 
of life to meet with such a loss, though la- bears it with great composure. 
He says everything shall be done that our dear mother directed. She 
made known all her bequests in a letter that she wrote our dear father, 
and she has also left a letter for every one of her family, to be opened a 
month after her decease. I am preparing to go to Gramme Park, where 
our father has promised to stay the best part of the summer, and when I 
am there I will write more fully." 



890 



HISTOKY OF xMONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Francis Hopkinson, while on a visit to Graeme 
Park in July, 17G5, composed " An Elegy sacred to 
the Memory of Mrs. Ann Grseme," which may be 
seen in the third volume of his published works, 
comprising four pages. The following are the con- 
cluding lines: 

" Oh ! may I strive her footsteps to pursue, 
.\ud keep the Christian's gluriuus prize in view ; 
Like lier defy the stormy waves of life. 
And with lieroic zeal maintiiinthe strife ; 
Like her find comfort in the arms of death, 
And iu a peaceful calm resign my breath." 

Mrs. Grienie wa.s an excellent and remarkable 
woman, who took great pains in the rearing and proper 
training of her children, taking their instruction un- 
der her immediate charge. She had herself received 
a good education, was fond of books and delighted in 
literary society. Her " Farewell Advice " to her daugh- 
ter Elizabeth, in England, is a fine composition, about 
four or five ordinary foolscap pages in length. Dr. 
Rush speak.s of Mrs. Graeme as possessing "a mascu- 
line mind, with all the female charms and accom- 
plishments which render a woman agreeable to both 
sexes." 

After the death of his wife, at the earnest solicita- 
tion of his family, Dr. Graeme retired to his country 
home to spend there the remainder of his long life. 
Here in a walk he suddenly dropped down dead on 
Friday, September 4, 1772, lacking only forty-six 
days of being aged eighty-four years. His funeral was 
held on Sunday afternoon following, on which occa- 
sion the Rev. William Smith, D.D., provost of the 
college, preached the sermon, his interment taking 
place in Christ Churchyard, beside his wife and fam- 
ily, who had preceded him. On his tomb are the 
following lines, no doubt the composition of his 
daughter, Mrs. Ferguson : 

'* The soul that lived within the crumbling dust 
In every act was eminently just ; 
Peaceful through life, as peaceful, too, in death, 
Without one pang he rendered back his breath." 

Dr. Graeme appears to have been unusually re- 
spected, and in all our researches we have not been able 
to find any reflections whatever against his character. 
He was a prudent and successful business man, avoid- 
ing debt and a stranger to pecuniary embarrassments. 
Dr. Rush states that, " For nearly half a century he 
maintained the first rank in his profession in the city 
of Philadelphia." Thatcher, iu his " Medical Biogra- 
j)hy," published in 1828, mentions him as possessing 
" an excellent education and agreeable manners, and 
was, therefore, much employed as a practitioner, and 
s:reatly confided in by his fellow-citizens." In his 
long possession of Graeme Park estate he did much 
to improve it, and its area of near one thousand acres 
was not diminished in his lifetime. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Ferguson. — This lady was the 
youngest child of Dr. Thomas GrKine, and born at 



the family residence, in 'Second Street, Philadelphia, 
February 3, 1739. 

Dr. Rush in his account in the Portfolio of 1809 
(vol. i. p. 520) said, — 

"She discovered in early life signs of uncommon talents and virtues, 
both of which were cultivated with great care, and chiefly by her uiother. 
Iler person was sleuder and her health delicate. The latter was partly 
the effect of native weakness, being a seven-months child, and partly 
acquired by too great an application to books. She passed her youth in 
the lap of parental affection. A pleasant and highly-improved retreat 
known by the name of Gneme Park, where her parents spent their sum- 
mers, afforded her the most delightful opportunities for study, meditation, 
rural walks and pleasures, and, above all, for cultivating a talent for 
poetry. This retreat was, moreover, consecrated to society and friend- 
ship. A plentiful table was spread daily for visitors, aud two or three 
ladies from Philadelphia generally partook with Miss Gramme of the en- 
joyments which her situation in the couuti-y afforded." 

In a letter to Miss Graeme at Burlington, dated 
Philadelphia, September 24, 1755, in which her 
mother said, — 

' ' I steal time to write, notwithstanding my hurry, which you may be- 
lieve is not a little, as Sir John goes to-day at twelve, and we must have 
dinner ready before that, besides other company dines here. We shall 
now return to our usual quiet. Your room is ready for yon, and I hope 
by the very first opportunity you will let me know when I shall send for 
you, for I shall have no peace till you come home. I am so afraid of 
your being sick, which you cannot escape there at this season. This 
conies by a servant of Sir John's ; he probably will make you a call, if he 
goes to Bristol, for he inquired twice if he should not see you at home 
before he went, and when we told him you w;js at Burlington, he Kiid 
that ho would ha\ e an opportunity of seeing you there. lie is an ex- 
tremely calm, polite, reasonable gentleman, the very reverse of what we 
were told. I send you the ticket to the Ball; it was a sumptuous one. 
The supper dressed by the General's French cook, and his plate set 
out on the sideboard, besides a great deal of plate borrowed from the 
Governor, Mr. Allen and others. Notwithstanding all these preparations 
I understand the officers did not gain much favor from the ladies. There 
was a great number not at the Ball, including our family. I hope you 
will have an opportunity of seeing the army march through Bristol ; they 
go from here on Monday." 

We infer the gentleman meant in this communica- 
tion was Sir John St. Clair. 

In August, 1762, a small party was made up, 
consisting of Alexander Stedman and wife, Charles 
Stedman and wife, Mr. Bremer, Francis Hopkinson, 
Miss Shoman and Miss Graeme, for a traveling jaunt 
into the country. From Graeme Park they proceeded 
to Bethlehem, Reading, Lancaster, Duncannon and 
the Elizabeth Furnace, at Manheim. At the latter 
place the Messrs. Stedman had purchased, in the pre- 
vious February, of Isaac Norris, nine hundred acres, 
on which said town had been laid out, now con- 
taining some seventy or eighty dwellings. Charles 
Stedman was married to Ann, Dr. Graeme's eldest 
daughter, who was born in 172G. Respecting this 
excursion, Miss Graeme subsequently wrote, " It seems 
a fairy dream, like some of Susquehanna's islands, 
when the magic wand of memory wakes up those 
days. We tasted the feast of reason and the flow of 
soul." 

Said Dr. Rush,— 

" About her seventeenth year Miss Grseme was addressed by a citizen 
of Philadelphia, of respcctatde connections and character. She gave 
him hei- heart, with the promise of her hand upon his return from Lon- 
don, whither he went to complete his education in the law. From 




MKS. ELIZABETH FERGTJSSON. 



HORSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



891 



causes wliich it is not necessary to detail tlie conti-act of marriage, at 
a future day, was brolien, but not without niucli suffering on tlie part 
of Mi!« Grajme. To relieve and divert her mind from the effects of this 
event she translated the whole of Teleuiaclms into English verse ; but 
this, instead of saving, perhaps aided the distress of her disappointment 
in impairing her health, .and that to such a di-gree as to induce her 
father, in conjunction with two other physicians, to advise a voyage to 
England for its recovery, her mother concurring in this opinion." 

Respecting this " afiair of the heart," several alhi- 
sions are found at this time iu her correspondence. 
Margaret Abercombie, in a letter dated May 11, 1763i 
thus referred to the matter, — 

'■It would have afforded me no small degree of satisfaction to have 
had the pleasure of seeing you before I left the city. I understood you 
are now at Gnieme Park, and I think that charming retreat cannot fail 
of afTording you some pleasure and amusement, and I hope will con- 
tribute to your health." 

The same wrote again on the 20tli of said month, 
saying,— 

"In regard to Ay friend, as you are pleased to style him, I have little 
to offer either in vindication of his actions or his arguments, and wish, 
if it was possible, you could erase from your mind a person who has 
been the cause of giving you and the rest of your worthy family so 
much uneasiness, for I have no doubt but the ovemiling hand of 
I*rovidence has ordered this as well as every other event for some wise 
end and design, which at present our narrow minds cannot comprehend 
or see into." 

From a letter by her father, dated Philadelphia, 
the following 1.3th of June, we ascertain that Miss 
Grseme was still at the park, dangerously ill, and suf- 
fering much from excessive pains in her head. 

At the time that Miss Grsme made her translation 
of Bishop Fenelon's celebrated work of Telemachus 
she must have been aged about twenty-one or twenty- 
two years. The original manuscript, comprised in 
two manuscript volumes, was presented by the late 
Samuel F. Smith, a great-grandson of Dr. Graeme, to 
the Philadelphia Library, in whose possession it re- 
mains. There is no question but she was a fine 
French scholar, which this production sufficiently 
attests, and it is now remarkable for being one of the 
few translations from a foreign modern language in 
America during the colonial period. In scanning 
over its numerous pages, we cannot help but be im- 
pressed at the industry of this remark.able lady, who, 
it is said, accomplished most of her labors at night. 

On the ITtli of June, 1764, in company with the 
Rev. Richaril Peters, rector of Christ and St. Peter's 
Churches, embarked at Philadelphia for Europe. 
Respecting this, Governor John Penn wrote, on the 
19th, to his uncle, Thomas Penn, that "Mr. Peters is 
in a bad state of health, and I believe could not have 
got through here this summer. Miss Gra;me has gone 
with him for the recovery of her health and to see her 
relations iu Scotland." From her correspondence we 
learn that they visited Liverpool, York, Scarborough, 
Bath, Bristol and London. " As to shells," she wrote, 
"I thought I saw more beautiful ones in Dr. Fother- 
gill's cabinet than in the British Museum." Mrs. 
Cfraime wrote, April 11, 176.5, to her daughter, — 

" Your journal gave great delight to all, but exquisite pleasure to me, 
for I think, when I read it, I see you telling me what you have seen and 



know ; I am delighted with your having seen so many things and places. 
I suppose yon will close the second part upon going to Scotland, and send 
it as soon as you can, for we all long to see it. These, my dear, will be 
an entertainment for you and for your friends through life." 

She visited Thomas Penn and his lady, Juliana, at 
their country residence and also in London. In the 
following September she went to Scotland, to the 
family seat of Balgowan, then in possession of Thomas 
Graeme, her father's nephew, and consequently her 
first cousin, who received her very kindly, and on her 
departure presented her with several works from his 
library, containing his book-plate and the Grteme 
coat-of-arms. Hi.s son afterwards became Lord Lyn- 



j1 S^ 




ELIZABETH GR.EME'S BOOK-PLATE, 1766- 

dock. It appears that the design was that Miss 
Graeme should also visit the Continent, more particu- 
larly a brother of Charles and Alexander Stedman, in 
Holstein, Denmark, but owing to the death of her 
mother she was induced to return home, taking pas- 
sage with Mr. Peters and the Rev. Nathaniel Evans, 
on board of Captain Spark's ship, at London, and 
arrived in Philadelphia December 2(5, 1765. In 
reference to Miss Griieme's trip, Dr. Rush states, — 

"She was accompanied by the Rev, Dr. Richard Peters, of Philadel- 
phia, a gentleman of highly-polished manners, and wliose rank enabled 
him to introduce her to the most respectable circles of company. She 
sought and was sought for by the most celebrated literary gentleman 
who flourished in England at the time of the accession of George the 
Third to the throne. She was introduced to this monarch, and particu- 
larly noticed by him. The celebrated Dr. Fothergill, whom she con- 
sulted as a physician, became her friend, and corresponded as long as she 
lived. Upon her return to Philadelphia she was visited, by a numerous 
circle of friends, as well to condole with her upon the death of her 
mother, as to welcome her arrival to her native shores. They soon dis- 
covered, by the stream of information she jioured upon her friends, 
that she had been 'all eye, all ear, and all grasp,' during her visit to 
Great Biitain. The journal she kept of her travels was a feast to all who 
read it. Manners and characters in an old and highly civilized country, 
contrasted with those to which she had been accustomed in our own, 
accompanied with many curious facts and anecdotes, were the compo- 
nent parts of this interesting manuscript. Her modesty alone prevented 
its being made public, and thereby aflFording a specimen to the world, 
and to posterity, of her happy talents for observation, reflection and 
composition. 

"In her father's family she now occupied the place of her mother. 
Slie kept his houseand presided at his table and fireside in entertaining all 
his company. Such was the character of Dr. Gramme's family for hospi- 
tality and refinement of manners that all the strangers of note who 
visited Philadelphia were introduced to it. Saturday evenings were ap- 



892 



IIISTORI OF MONTGOMEllV COUNTY. 



propriated, for many years during Miss Gramme's winter residence in the 
city, lur tile entertainment, not only of strangers, but of such of her 
friends of both sexes as were considered the most suitable company for 
them. These evenings were, properly speaking, of the attic kind. The 
genius of Jliss tlrajnie evolved the heat and light that animated them. 
It was at one of these evening parties she first saw Mr. Henry Hugh Fer- 
guson, a haudsome and accomplished young gentleman, who had lately 
arrived in this country from Scotland. They were suddenly pleased with 
each other. Private interviews auon took place between them, and in 
the course of a few months they were married. The inequality uf their 
ages (for he was ten years younger) was opposed, in a calculation of their 
conjugal happiness, by the sameness of their attachment to books, retire- 
ment and literary society." 

Mrs. Ferguson stated in her manuscripts that she 
first saw Henry Hugli Ferguson, at her fatlier's house 
in the city, December 7, 1771, and was married to him 
at Swede's Churcli, April 21, 1772, at eight o'clock in the 
evening, nearly four and a half months previous to 
her fatlier's death, who was then at Grseme Park, 
and upwards of eighty-three years of age. On this 
occasion, as they were about returning, a family tra- 
dition states, she stumbled in the churchyard and 
fell on a grave, when some one present remarked that 
this accident betokened to her an ill omeu for the 
future. As Mrs. Ferguson was now aged thirty-three 
vears, if Dr. Rush is correct, her husband was only 




COAT OF ARMS, GRAEME, OF BALGOWAN. 

twenty-three, — certainly a great and odd inequality. 
Dr. Gneme was strongly opp'osed to the match, and 
died ignorant of the marriage. Tradition states that 
Mr. Ferguson urged her to inform him, but she de- 
ferred, when he stated that if she delayed much longer 
he would go up to Graeme Park and disclose the mat- 
ter to him. One morning, as the doctor went out to 
take his usual walk before breakfast, Mrs. Ferguson 
had decided to tell her father. " I sat," she states, 
" on the bench at the window, and watched him com- 
ing up the avenue. It was a terrible task to perform. 
I was in agony; at every step he was approaching 
nearer. As he reached the tenant-house, near the 
gate, he fell and died. Had I told him the day be- 
fore, as I thought of doing, I should have reproached 
myself for his death and gone crazy." The remarka- 
ble circumstances attending this marriage have been 



rendered in exquisite lines by Dr. John Watson, a 
native and resident of Buckingham, Bucks Co., grand- 
father of Judge Richard Watson, of Doylestown. 
Laura was Mrs. Ferguson's 7iom de plume to her vari- 
ous poetical contributions, — 

LINES ON MRS. FERGUSON'S MARRIAGE. 
BY JOHN WATSON. 

"Can the muse that laments the misfortunes of love 
Draw a shade o'er the sorrowful tale. 
That Laura was cheated and fully could prove 
That Scotchmen have honor that sometimes may fail "i 

" She says that the lady took not the advice 

Of a tender, kind parent in what she should do ; 
To suit his gouil will in a matter so nice. 

And the visions of fancy would not bear her through ; 

" For pastoral changed to the tragedy style. 
And taught a hard lesson too late; 
Thougli the rashness of youth in its folly may smile. 
Yet in tears must submit to its fate. 

'* Young Ferguson ran from whence he had came. 
And a slice of her fortune he pillaged away ; 
Then Love, the sly rogue, must bear all the blame, 
And in bis defence bad nothing to say ; 

"But laughed at the mischief, and to a romance 
Reduced the whole life of a lady so gay ; 
Fine fanc.v refined still led up the dance. 
Politeness and learning the music did play. 

" But religion has hopes for the heart that's sincere, 
And feels for the sorrows of human distress. 
That tenderly wipes away poverty's tear 

In a way that may make its impression the less. 

" Kind charity pleads in her advocate's cause 

That the frailties of natm-e may all be forgiven. 
That kindness of heart should meet with applause. 
And virtue on earth a reward in heaven." 

Immediately on the death of her father, Mrs. Fer- 
guson and her husband removed on the Grseme Park 
estate, which had already been bequeathed to her. 
Their object now was to settle down here and lead a 
farmer's happy and independent life. We find Henry 
Hugh Ferguson at a quarterly meeting of the Hat- 
boro' Library Company, held February 6, 1773, 
admitted a member in the place of John Hart, whose 
share he had purchased. At the annual meeting of 
November 5, 1774, he was elected one of its three 
directors, and again the following year, which is the 
last mention of his name in their minutes. He was 
commissioned a justice of the peace for Philadelphia 
County February 13, 1775, his being the last appoint- 
ment to this office under the colonial government. 
He must have have already expressed himself quite 
ojjcnly on the approaching troubles of the Revolution, 
for Anna Young, in a letter to her aunt, from Phila- 
delphia, June 14th, thus expressed herself, — 

"Please remember me to Mr. Ferguson. I cannot help regretting 
that a gentleman so formed by nature and education to take a part in 
the present contest with honor to himself and advantage to the commu- 
nity, should unfortunately possess sentiments which must in my humble 
opinion condemn his tuleuts to rest in obscurity." 

In September following, in company with Samuel 
W. Stockton, of New Jersey, he sailed for England, 



HORSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



893 



for the purpose, it is said, of settling up some family 
aTairs in Scotland. He remained abroad until March, 
1777, when he took passage to Jamaica, and from 
thence to New York. From the latter place he went 
with the army to Philadelphia with a view to return 
to Granne Park, when a pass was refused him, and 
having learned that such an attempt must be 
attended with a great deal of hazard, he remained 
and they appointed him a commissary of prisoners 
while they held the city. Mr. Ferguson was assessed 
in Horsham, in 1776, as holding eight hundred acres 
of land, one negro, six horses, six cattle and eight 
sheep, £58 8«. 

Just before his departure for Europe, Margaret 
Stedman wrote to Mrs. Ferguson from the city, Sep- 
tcndier 2, 1775,— 

" I am roally sorry I am necessitated to teU you all ray eodeavore to 
jiccnminodate you with a girl and household-servaut liave as yet proved 
i iietTectnal. If I ditf" not Iiiiow from frequent experience that you set 
no bounds or limitations to your kindness in regard to your friends, I 
should be led to congrattUate you on a little cessation from company 
now, as of late I cannot help thinking you have indeed had a repetition 
of visitors. Mr. Ferguson and your polite easy manner, joined to the 
pleiising reception you never fail of giving your friends, deprives them, 
I l)elicve, of the power of readily quitting your hospitable mansion. ,\8 
for Mr. Ferguson, the natural sweetness of his temper renders him so 
very engaging that it is impossible not to be pleased where he is. In 
short, you are both so calculated to give pleasure, as well as improvement, 
that I look on your distance {)f situation as a general loss of society." 

The position of Mrs. Ferguson through the Rev- 
olutionary period was a pitiable one. That her young 
husband was indifferent to her and desired to make 
use of her property for his selfish interests there is not 
a doubt ; to this we will hereafter refer. She was 
then, indeed, a lonely woman, nearly forty years 
of age, and no near relation or friend to render either 
advice or protection in so trying a time. It would 
have been much better for her had she given up all 
ideas as to the return of her husband, and been 
contented to remain on her estate, and attend 
only to its interests. But her fondness for so- 
ciety and desire to be conspicuous, though it gave 
her notoriety, only so much the more increased her 
troubles. Naturtilly kind-hearted and benevolent, 
through the selfish purposes of those she thought her 
friends, she was only too often made use of as an in- 
strument to carry out their designs, in which shccould 
possibly receive neither interest or benefit. This will 
become the more apparent as we progress in this 
brief biography. 

The Rev. Jacob Duche, an eloquent Episcopal 
clergyman of the t;ity, who had been a favorite of 
Mrs. Grseme from his boyhootl, and the first chaplain 
to Congress, on hearing of the American defeat at 
Germantown, set himself to work in the city to pre- 
[)are a letter to Washington, to induce him to 
save the further effusion of blood in so hopeless a 
cause, and, if necessary, at the hetid of his army, to 
compel Congress to sue for ]ieace and thus serve his 
country and the cause of Immanity to the utmost. 
This communication wiis dated October S, 1777, and 



its author prevailed on Mrs. Ferguson to carry it 
to the American camp. She accordingly delivered 
it to Washington on the 15th of the month, at his 

headquarters in Towamencin. In re-spect to this 
matter, the general thus wrote to the Congress : 

"I, yesterday, through the hands of Mi-s. Ferguson, of Graham Park, 
received a letter of a very curious and extraordinary nature from Mr. 
Duch6, which I have thought proper to transmit to Congress. To this 
ridiculous, illiberal performance, I made a short reply, by desiring the 
hearer of it, if she would hereafter by any accidentmeet with Mr. Duch<^, 
to tell him I should have returned it unopened if I had had any idea of 
the contents ; observing at the same time, that I highly disapproved 
the intercourse she seemed to have been carrying on, and expected it 
would be discontinued. Notwithstanding the author's assertion, I can- 
not but suspect that the measure did not originate with him, and that 
he wjis induced to it by the hope of establishing his interest and peace 
more efTectually with the enemy." 

That he should have selected a woman to deliver it 
personally, a task which no man would have know- 
ingly assumed, was certainly ingenious. The bearer 
might have been ignorant of its contents. The writer 
regrets that the information that jiassed on this occa- 
sion between Mrs. Ferguson and Washington, cannot 
be given here. 

Mrs. Ferguson having secured a pass from Wash- 
ington with a view of seeing her husband in the city, 
relative to his being charged with treason, made her 
stay at the house of her brother-in-law, Charles Sted- 
man, in June, 1778. GovernorGeorge Johnstone, one 
of the three British commissioners sent to arrange 
proposals of peace with the colonies, on learning of 
Mrs. Ferguson being there, sought her out, that she 
might be made the instrument for further negotia- 
tions with those in power on the American side. He 
at once expressed himself fully on the subject to the 
lady, to he.r great surprise and astonishment, and at 
the same time holding out a bribe to General Reed 
for his influence, stating that he had actually sent a 
letter to him on this matter April 11th previous. On 
next seeing General Reed, .Tune 21st, he related the 
circumstances to him, and he, it appears, at once and 
justly took alarm that such information should now get 
out and place him in a very equivocal situation. The 
result was'that in self-defense he laid the letter before 
Congress, which body, August 11th following, passed 
a resolution that all such offers as icere made therein 
wcmhl be looked upon as corruption and bribery, and 
that no further correspondence or intercourse can be 
held with the said George Johnstone, Esq., " especially 
to negotiate with hira upon affairs in which the cause 
of liberty is interested." There is no doubt that in 
this transaction, to guard himself from any suspicion, 
General Reed tried to implicate Mrs. Ferguson as 
much as possible, as the correspondence of her friends 
at that time disclosed. 

We now come to treat in these troublous times 
of her title to the estate that had been bequeathed 
to her by her father. Her husband, H. Hugh Fer- 
guson, was charged with treason to the commonwealth 
bv going over to the British and aidine their causi . 



894 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUxNTY. 



Mr. Ferguson had no title whatever to said estate, 
except what riglit he may have acquired by marriage, 
and further, as a foreigner, but a few years here, how 
could he be charged as a loyalist with treason to this 
government, unless he owed it allegiance ? To have 
made this good would have been an utter impossi- 
bility. A portion of Mrs. Ferguson's personal prop- 
erty had been sold on these grounds, and it was now 
meant to sell the estate on her husband's account in 
1779. To counteract the influence of General Reed, 
her friends began to set themselves actively to work 
in her behalf; among these were George Meade, Elias 
Boudinot, Rev. Nathaniel Irvine, Rev. James Aber- 
crombie. Rev. William White, Rev. William Smith, 
Daniel Roberdeau, Thomas Franklin, General Mifflin, 
Benjamin Rush and others. A petition was drawn up 
by Andrew Robeson, and numerously signed and sent 
to the Assembly, March 1, 1781, who passed an act, 
April 2d, vesting the right of said estate altogether in 
Mrs. Ferguson. The House had. May 26, 1780, rec- 
ommended the Supreme Executive Council to defer 
the sale of Groeme Park, and that she be permitted to 
live rent-free thereon under the indulgence of the 
commonwealth by paying the taxes. 

There is n(j question that the patriotism of Mrs. 
Ferguson, througli her peculiarsituatiou, was severely 
tried. Her relations were divided on the subject. 
The Stedmans and her nephew, John Young, were 
loyalists, while her brother-in-law, James Young, and 
his daughter, Anna, and her husband. Dr. William 
Smith, were strongly on the side of America. Tlien 
again, a large majority of her nearest and dearest 
friends were also on the same side (as may be observed 
by the names on her petition to the Assembly), and 
they never doubted her sincerity to the cause. It is 
said that while the army lay encamped at Whitemarsh, 
and badly off for clothing from the increasing cold 
weather, she conveyed to them at several times 
linen and other materials of her own raising and 
manufacture to be distributed among the most needy, 
and that Washington, in consequence, had sent her 
letters of thanks which her friends stated that they had 
seen. It is a current tradition that at that time the 
commander-in-chief came to the Park and remained 
there overnight, the camp being about six miles 
distant, where the army lay from October 21st to 
December 11, 1777, a period of about seven weeks. 

On the evacuation of Philadelphia, her husband, 
H. Hugii Ferguson, followed the retreating army 
to New York, and while there Mrs. Ferguson made 
a pathetic application to the Supreme Executive 
Council of Pennsylvania, November 28, 1778, for per- 
mission to go there, take leave of him and return, 
which that body refused to grant. On this subject, 
her niece, Anna Y''oung Smith, wrote to her from 
Allentown, while the British had possession of Phila- 
delphia, — 

" I heanl of the pathotie leUer you wrote him in order to draw him 
oft from British connections. I can truly say my Iieart bleeds for you 



to have Mr. Ferguson, after an absence of two years, not able to get to 
his own house, and both of you, I would suppose, conscientiously 
attached to opposite sides. Oh, my dear Auut, I see you are completely 
wretched, who had but a few months ago an independent fortune, and 
blest with superior talents and uncommon virtues." 

In the summer of 1784 she received a letter from 
Mr. Ferguson, in London, imploring a remittance to 
relieve his distressed condition, to which it appears 
she responded. Her nephew, John Y''oung, wrote to 
her from London, July 9, 1789, that " it would afibrd 
me a signal gratification to know that you were 
either unconditionally reconciled to your husband, or 
that you h.ad reconciled your mind to the loss of him, 
for I much fear that it must at last be reduced to this 
dilemma." It is supposed the last information re- 
ceived concerning him was in October, 1793, when 
she learned that he had entered the army and gone to 
Flanders. The subject of his absence, it appears, 
preyed greatly on her mind. Even in her writings a 
memorandum is found, dated February 26, 1800, only 
a year before her death, in which she states that 
"every event of my marriage and all that relates to 
my husband is as recent in my memory as though it 
had occurrred but yesterday. Though strange, out 
of twenty-eight years I lived but two and a half with 
him, and the period of separation exceeds that of the 
celebrated Ulysses and Penelope. I know not now 
whether he is among the dead or the living." The 
celebrated philosopher, Adam Ferguson, who was a 
native of Perthshire, and secretary to the British 
Commission spoken of, it is stated was a relative. Dr. 
Rush is in error in regard to his name; it is signed 
" H. Hugh Fergusson" in the records of the Hatboro' 
Library and also in the Bradford Papers of the His- 
torical Society, where several communications may 
be seen written and signed by him as commissary of 
prisoners. Mrs. Ferguson also invariably used two 
s's in her name, but it has become now so established 
that we have concluded to follow the custom. 

Says Dr. Rush, — 

" Mrs. Ferguson passed the interval between the year 177.5 and the 
time of her death chiefly in the country, upon her farm, in reading and 
in the different branches of domestic industry. A female friend who had 
been the companion of her youth, and whose mind was congenial to her 
own, united her destiny with hers, and soothed her various distresses by 
all the kind and affectionate offices which friendship and sympathy could 
dictate. In her retirement she was eminently useful. The doors of the 
cottages that were in her neighljorhood bore the marlis of her footsteps, 
which were always accompanied or followed with clotliing, provisions 
and medicines to relieve the nakedness, hunger or sickness of their in- 
habitants. During the time General Howe had possession of Philadelphia 
she sent a quantity of linen into the city, spun with her own hands, and 
diivcted it to be made into shirts for the benefit of the .\merican prison- 
ers that were tixken at the battle of Germantown. Upon hearing, in one 
of her visits to Philadelphia, that a merchant once affluent in his circum- 
stances was suddenly thrown into jail by his creditors, and was Buffer- 
ing from the want of many of the usual comforts of his life, shesent him 
a bed. and afterwards procured admission into his apartment, and put 
twenty dollars into his hands. He asked for the name of his benefactress. 
She refused to make herself known to him, and suddenly left him. This 
humane and charitable act would not have been made known had not the 
gentleman'sdescription of her person and dress discovered it. Many 
such secret acts of charity, exercised at the expense of her personal and 
habitual comforts, might be mentioned." 

The Hon. Elias Boudinot, president of Congress, 



HORSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



895 



on signing the preliminary treaty of peace with Great 
Britain, forwarded a letter on the subject of Mrs. Fer- 
guson, in which he mentioned that General Washing- 
ton was highly pleased on the result. A reply was 
returned from Graeme Park, April 17, 1783, in which 
she said, — 

" Is it not hard, my dear frieud, that with a heart formed for urbanity 
and convivial cheerfulness, on this occasion particularly, I should from 
all extraordinary combinations of perplexed circumstances remain in 
total obscurity, but I am a poor, selfish creature, and if I adhere to the 
truth, must declare that amidst all these important events my own 
prospects and situation haunt my view, and at present nothing can draw 
me from this retreat, formy peace is so wounded, for I feel as though I 
could never come out of the shade. Dear Betsy Stednian joins in warm 
felicitations on this great event." 

Margaret Stedman wrote to Mrs. Ferguson from 
Philadelphia, September 9, 1785, in which she de- 
.sircd her to " accept a heart replete with gratitude 
for the invitation contained in your last favor, and 
doubt not my* sincerity when I assure you I ever 
esteemed and honored your society as one of the most 
pleasurable circumstances of my life, and much am I 
indebted to the balmy air of Grseme Park, never being 
blessed with a greater sense of health than during my 
three years' residence there." 

The Union Library of Hatboro' was founded in 
1755, to which Dr. Graeme, as has been stated, pre- 
sented an early donation of books. To this institu- 
tion we find from its minutes that his daughter, Mrs. 
Ferguson, was also a liberal contributor. In May, 
1763, she presented her first gift of books, for which 
she received the thanks of the directors, followed by 
farther gifts in 1773, 1783, 1794 and 1798, making in 
all at least seventy-three volumes, some of which were 
quartos. It is also known that she presented, at vari- 
«us times, works to the Montgomery Library, in Gwyn- 
edd, and to the one in Philadelphia. 

Respecting Mrs. Ferguson's literary pursuits, her 
•nephew, John Young, wrote from the city, March 22, 
1775,— 

"You have all the advantages that any poet can wish ; for the season 
of Poetry is fast approaching, and everything about you contributes to 
inspire it, so that you have nothing to do but to invoke the Muses and 
begin losing. .\8 for the scene, I am sure Graeme Park may vio with 
Arcadia ; for poetry may easily convert Neshaminy into Helicon, the 
meadows into Tempe, and the new park into Parnassus, so that I shall 
certainly expect to see something of the Pastoral kind in tlie next maga- 
zine." 

Little did the youthful and sanguine writer then 
imagine what was so very near at hand, the dawn of 
a revolution to dispel this glorious illusion, and send 
him and Mr. Ferguson soon and forever in exile, and 
that on the ruins of the colonial system of govern- 
ment should be founded here a great and independ- 
ent republic. 

As to her literary qualifications. Dr. Rush thus 
expressed himself, — • 

"I have said that Mrs. Ferguson possessed a talent for poetry. Some 
of those verses have been published, and many of them arc in the hands 
of her friends. They discover a vigorous poetical imagination. Her 
prose writings indicate strong marks of genius, taste and knowledge. 
Nothing that came from her pen was common. Even her hasty notes 



to her friends placed the most trivial subjects in svich a new and agree- 
able light as not only secured them from destruction, but gave them a 
durable place among the most precious fragments of fancy and senti- 
ment." 

The Rev. Nathaniel Evans, who returned from 
England with Mrs. Ferguson, was a native of Phila- 
delphia and a poet of some merit. In the spring of 
1766 he spent several weeks at Grjeme Park, with the 
view of benefiting his declining health, on which 
occasion he produced a beautiful "Ode" relative to 
the place, which is given elsewhere in this work. He 
was admitted into orders by Dr. Terrick, bishop of 
London, who expressed great satisfaction on his ex- 
amination. He received the charge of the churches 
at Gloucester and Colestown, N. J., where he died 
October 29, 1767, in the twenty-sixth year of bis age, 
and at his particular request was interred at Christ 
Church. Rev. Dr. Smith collected his poetical effu- 
sions and had them published in Pliiladelphia in 
1772, in an octavo volume of one hundred and sixty 
pages, entitled "Poems on Several Occasions, with 
some other Compositions." In this collection are 
included several parodies and witty poems by Miss 
Graeme, under the nom de plume of Laura. It also 
contains, by the same, a poem of forty-six lines on his 
death, in which she calls him "a dutiful and only 
son of aged and affectionate parents." 

In his contribution on the " Early Poets and Poetry 
of Pennsylvania," by Joshua Francis Fisher ("Mem- 
oirs of Historical Society," vol. ii., 1827), he pays 
a compliment to the poems of Mr. Evans, and intro- 
duces a notice of Mrs. Ferguson, from which we take 
this extract, — 

" At her father's house she was surrounded by the most refined and 
literary society in .\merica, and both here and in England she enjoyed 
the intimacy and gained the admiration of some of the most accomplished 
scholars and wits of the age. Her journal of travels, her letters and 
many other of her prose compositions were admired for their vivacity 
and elegance ; and her poems, among which is to he found a translation 
of Telemachus into English verse. Never did a poet iwsscss a, readier 
pen than Mrs. Ferguson. She wrote on every occasion, and on almost 
every subject, and if the publication of her manuscripts were called for, I 
have no doubt that a volume might be easily collected. Mrs. Ferguson 
is said to have been a lady of fine talents, of refined delicacy, exquisite 
sensibility and romantic generosity ; several of her friends are still living 
who remember with delight her noble disposition, her agreeable conver- 
sation and her amusing eccentricities." 

Dr. Rush is in error in regard to Mrs. Ferguson's 
annual income, which he states to have been one 
hundred and sixty dollars. In an examination of 
her personal papers we find that, after the sale of her 
estate to Dr. Smith, she made arrangements with John 
Nicholson, who, in July, 1793, agreed to pay her an- 
nually on her investments, which, at her request, was 
transferred to George Meade, who obligated himself 
during her lifetime to pay unto her the annual sum 
of two hundred dollars. It appears, also, that she 
drew some income from Elias Boudinot, but whether 
from another amount or from a transfer we are unable 
to state. However, we wonder with others how she 
could have been enabled to spend as much in charity, 
which Dr. Rush suggests was "exercised at the ex- 



896 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEEY COUNTY. 



pense of her personal and habitual comforts." But 
she posses-ed the prudence to limit her expenses 
according to her resources. 

At what e.'cact time Mrs. Ferguson left the park we 
have not been enabled to learn, but it was probably 
about 1797, when, with her companion. Miss Stedman, 
she removed to the comfortable home of Seneca Lu- 
kens, a well-to-do farmer, who resided about two miles 
distant on the main road leading to Philadelphi'i. 
From her correspondence we infer that she sutTered 
from an internal ailment for many years, which, to- 
wards the last, was accompanied with great and pro- 
tracted pain. She died February 23, 1801, aged sixty 
years and twenty days. Agreeably to her request, she 
was interred liy the side of her parents in the inclosure 
of Christ Church, Philadelphia. The epitaph on her 
reads : 

"Elizabeth Ferguson, the true fiympathizer with the afflicted ; daugh- 
ter of Thomas and Ann Gr.i?me, wife of Hugh Henry Ferguson. — 1801. 
Eliza caused this stone to be laid, waits with resignation and humble 
hope for reunion witli her friend in a more perfect state of existence." 

We observe here that Mr. Ferguson's given name 
has been reversed; in all his autographs it is invari- 
ably written as has been stated. 

Joseph Lukens, son of Seneca, informed us, in 
1855, that he very well remembered Mrs. Ferguson; 
that she was a woman of extraordinary conversational 
powers and a great pedestrian, even down nearly to 
the close of her life, frequently walking on foot to 
Philadelphia, a distance of eighteen miles; that she 
was unusually kind-hearted and charitable. Mrs. 
Martha Paul stated, in 1850, that she had frequently 
seen Mrs. Ferguson going through the Willow Grove 
on foot to Philadelphia, and also thus returning to 
her Horsham home ; that in the latter part of her life 
she was much given to attending funerals throughout 
her neighborhood. David Lloyd, the author, men- 
tions having several times seen Mrs. Ferguson, while 
at Seneca Lukens', sitting beneath the trees reading a 
book ; that she was of medium size, but slender and 
delicate in form; thinks she posses.sed the most intel- 
ligent and expressive eyes he ever beheld in a female; 
that she was generally known throughout that section 
as "Lady Ferguson." On asking him the reason for 
being so called he said it was owing to her having 
been called so by George III., and also as the grand- 
daughter of Lady Keith. 

Eliza Stedman, so long the devoted friend and com- 
panion of Mrs. Ferguson, was a niece of Charles 
Stedman, who had married Ann, daughter of Dr. 
Grreme, in 1749. She wa-s a native of Holstein, Den- 
mark, and her uncle, Stedman, who was a captain of 
a vessel sailing to Philadelphia, on his settling there 
after his marriage, came thus to bring thither the 
young lady, who was an orphan. Her letters denote 
that she had received an excellent education, and the 
penmanship was such as few can surpass it at this daj'. 
She was jjrobably about ten years younger than, Mrs. 
Ferguson, and much more robust. From her corre- 



spondence we learn that she was an occasional visitor 
at Gnenie Park in 1764, if not some time earlier. 
Her uncle, Charles Stedman, died in Philadelphia 
September 28, 1874, aged seventy -one years. On the 
death of Mrs. Ferguson, near Graeme Park, in 1801, 
she removed to Philadelphia, and died at the house of 
Samuel F. Smith, about the year 1825, at an advanced 
age. Mrs. Ferguson, in one of her poems written in 
1789, thus refers to her companion, — • 

" One female friend alone was left, — 
Then dare sad Laura still repine 
If one bright jewel still is mine ; 
My Stella, partner of my houre 
Whom no misanthropy devours."' 

Mrs. Anna Young Smith. — James Young, the 
father of Anna, we have presumed, was a native of 
Scotland, but he must have arrived here early in life. 
He was a merchant of Philadelphia, and was married, 
about 1754 or the following year, to Jane, the 
eldest daughter of Dr. Grtsme, born April 27, 1727. 
The correspondence of this gentleman denotes that 
he must have received an excellent education. Dur- 
ing the French and Indian war he held several posi- 
tions under the colonial government ; among these 
was captain, commissary of musters and paymas- 
ter; for the faithful performance of these duties he 
received the thanks of the proprietary, Thomas Penn, 
in 1758. On the breaking out of the Revolution he 
became an early and ardent patriot. Near the close of 
1776 he was appointed one of the justices of the peace 
for the cit}', and the following June 11th one of the 
judges of the court. 

With Colonel John Bayard, he was appointed by 
the Supreme Executive Council, November 28, 1777, 
to visit the Pennsylvania troops encamped at Valley 
Forge, and report on the condition of their clothing. 
This interesting document may be seen in the Penn- 
sylvania Archives (vol. vi. p. 74), wherein they state 
that they had conferred with General Washington on 
the subject, and that General Wayne had the soldiers 
paraded for their inspection, " but could not discover 
that they were in a worse condition than the army 
in general." There is no doubt that Mr. Young 
would have risen to a conspicuous position in 
these trying times if it would not have been for 
his declining health, which became so impaired that 
he died January 28, 1779, at the age of fifty years. 
His remains were interred in Christ Churchyard be- 
side those of his wife, who had [ireceded him in 1759, 
at> the early age of thirty years. Owing to his re- 
gard for his motherless children, Sir. Young was in 
the practice for many years of spending a portion of 
his time at Groeme Parke, and was thus induced to 
become a member of the Hatboro' Library, November 
1, 1760, which he retained for the benefit of him- 
self and children for thirteen years. 

Mr. Young had four children, of whom two died 
in infancy. Of these, Anna, the subject of this notice, 
was the oldest, and was born in Dr. Graeme's house, in 



HORSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



897 



Fourth Street, Philadelphia, November 5, 175G, and 
in less than two years and three months thereafter 
lost her mother. It was owing to this circumstance that 
her early training was chiefly confided to her aunt, 
and thus she became a long and intimate resident of 
Grajme Park. On this matter Dr. Rush stated that 
Mrs. Ferguson " had no children, but she now 
faithfully performed all the duties of that relation 
to the son and daughter of one of her sisters, who 
committed them to her care on her death-bed. The 
mind of her niece was an elegant impression of her 
own." Mr. Young wrote in 1765 that " Anna," then 
aged eight and a half years, "grows more and more 
like her dear mamma in every respect, and that is 
saying as much as I could wish." 

A few months after the death of her grandfather 
Miss Young, then in her sixteenth year, left Graeme 
Park to reside with her father in the city, on which 
occasion, under date of November 24, 1772, she sent 
an affecting letter to her aunt, fnmi which we take an 
extract, — 

" I would wish to tell you tho grateful sense I have received of your 
kindness to me ; when I look back on the last six years of my life, I fee] 
oppressed with your goodness to me. You took me at an age totally in- 
capable of giving you pleasure, too old to divert you with innocent 
anuisement in the prattling way, and too young to be company to you. 
Over my growing reason you watched with patient care, and instructed 
me both by your precepts and example in the practice of every virtue 
and now that I am of an age to know and return your tenderness I must 
leave you without any other recompense for your goodness hut the testi- 
mony of your own heart; however, it shall be my study in my future 
conduct in life to show that your goodness has not been thrown away 
upon me. I feel the deepest regret at leaving a place where I have 
spent the most careless, and I fear, the most hai)py part of my life. I was 
always fond of the country, but to Grjeme Park 1 was more particularly 
attached, and I must now take my leave of it, and though 1 may some- 
times visit it. it will never again be my delightful home. May you, my 
dear aunt, possess health and every blessing in this world, and may Mr. 
Ferguson, when be crosses the .\tlantic, more than return all the love 
you have for him ; may he unite in one all the endearing characters of 
father, husband and friend. May this be your portion here and eternal 
happiness hereafter is the sincere wish of your grateful and affectionate 
niece." 

liefiirc the early aL'e of fourteen Miss Young had 
written an " Ode to Gratitude," wherein she exhibits 
her regards to her aunt for her long devoted tender- 
ness and care. 

A strong attachment having been formed between 
Miss Young and Dr. William Smith, a native of the 
city, the parties were married at Grceme Park No- 
vember 30, 1775, the ceremony being performed by 
the Rev. Dr. Richard Peters, rector of Christ Church. 
Mr. Smith had graduated in the Medical Department 
of the University of Pennsylvania in 1771, and sub- 
.sequently became an extensive druggist under the 
firm of Lehman & Smith. Being an ardent patriot, 
just before the entry of the British army into Phila- 
delphia he conveyed, for their greater security, his 
wife and children to Bethlehem, where they remained 
until their departure. On his return he found con- 
siderable damajie had been done to his property, par- 
ticularly to his furniture and medicines, which they 
had either used or wantonly destroyed. 
57 



On the birth of her first child Mrs. Smith wrote 
from the city in September, 1776, — • 

"Now I have got my dear little girl, I want her to pay her respects to 
her grand aunt, but 1 do not hope for that pleasure till the 30th of Ho- 
vember, the anniversary of my marriage, when I hope to be at the spot 
that made me happy, to claim my flitch of bacon, unless I should have 
the happiness of seeing you in town before." 

In regard to the flitch of bacon, reference is here 
meant to an old custom respecting happy marriages, 
described in Nos. 607 and 608 of Addison's Spectator. 

Anna Young Smith, who was of a naturally delicate 
constitution, died March 22, 1780, at the early age of 
twenty-three years and nearly five months, which was 
a sad bereavement to her aflectionate husband. Dr. 
Smith, on the following 23d of June, thus wrote to 
Mrs. Ferguson, — 

"I am at present engaged in collecting the few little performances in 
the poetical way my dear Anna has left behind her, and many a stray 
sigh does it cost me. I think I see and hear in every line that heavenly 
look and voice that so lately charmed me. Alas I Madam, when I reflect 
on the extraordinary worth of that most amiable of women, and that 
she once constituted my soul's happiness, my heart dies within me at the 
thought of having lost her, and I am often amazed how 1 can possibly 
sustain the dreadful shock ; but we know not what we can hear till we 
are put to the test. But why do I dwell on this mournful theme V Your 
own good heart, which can so keenly feel another's woe, will, I know, 
excuse me. I must at last bring myself to submit in humble silence to 
the severe blow, and heaven alone can witness my feelings and mournful 
recollections." 

For her only daughter, then aged about three and a 
half years, Mrs. Ferguson, in June, 1789, prepared an 
interesting selection of her poems in a manuscript 
volume of four hundred and seventy-six pages, in 
the preface of which she says, — ■ 

" My dear Anna Smith, as this will fall into your hands when, perhaps, 
I shall be in my silent giuve. do not think that I transcribe this from 
mere vanity. No, it is by no means an essential part of a female char- 
acter to write verses ; though I do not think it, on the other, that it ia 
to ho ridiculed. Writing and love of books, I can speak from experi- 
ence, is a happy resource for the evening of life, when the more active 
scenes either slide from us or we from them. Virtuous sentiments, 
however brought into action, whether we fill a wide or narrow circle, is 
worth them all. I write in solitude and with my spectacles on." 

As has been mentioned. Dr. Smith, in the spring of 
1791, purchased of Mrs. Ferguson the Grseme Park 
estate, which he retained until the year 1801. 
The loss of his wife and family alone induced 
him to part with it, to the great reluctance, no 
doubt, of both himself and Mrs. Ferguson, with whom 
a warm friendship had so long existed. He was a 
highly-respected and successful business man, and sur- 
vived until May 20, 1822, aged seventy-six years. He 
had three children, — Ann, Thomas Gramme and Sam- 
uel F. Smith. The latter was born March 16, 1780, 
only six days before the death of liis mother. He also 
became a successfiil merchant of Philadelphia, and 
married Ellen, daughter of John Mark, of Fredericks- 
burg, Va., October 27, 1806. He was long a director 
of the Philadelphia Bank, and for some time its presi- 
dent, retiring from it in 1852. Mr. Smith resided at 
No. 1411 Walnut Street, and the writer, in 1856, was 
kindly permitted access to the many family papers in 
his possession, from which copious extracts were made. 



898 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



As will be observed, he was a great-grandson of Dr. 
Graeme, of whom there are now (1884) numerous de- 
scendants in the country. The daughter, Anna Smith, 
according to Dr. Rush, died in 1808, aged thirty-two 
years, of whom lie mentions " exhibiting to a numer- 
ous and aflectionate circle of acquaintances, a rare 
instance of splendid talents and virtues, descending 
unimpaired through four successive generations." 

Respecting the j)()etical performances of Mrs. Anna 
Young Smith, we must say tliat they will compare 
favorably with any other writer of that period. A 
portion was published, after her death, in the Colum- 
bian Magazine. Several of the pieces were reprinted 
and became deservedly popular, as the "Ode to Lib- 
erty," " Elegy to the Volunteers who fell at Lexing- 
ton," " Lines to the Memory of Warren," " Walk in 
the Churchyard at Wicaco " and "Lines in Praise of 
Wedlock." Besides the aforesaid, she left other pieces 
in manuscript, among which we would name " Ode to 
Gratitude," "True Wit," "Lines on Dr. Swift," 
" Epistle to Damon," " Sylvia's Song to Damon," and 
"Lines on the Death of Dr. Gramme." In the article 
on "Early Poetry," in this work, we have given sev- 
eral of her contributions. 

JoHiy Y^ODNG, tlie son of James and Jane Y'oung 
and grandson of Dr. Gramme, was born in Philadelphia 
November 6, 1757. His mother having died when 
he was but little over two years old, he was, not long 
afterwards, consigned, with his sister, to the care of 
his aunt at Gramme Park, where he received most of 
his education. Dr. Rush thus speaks of Mrs. Fergu- 
son and his early training: "Her nephew, John 
Young, became, under her direction, an accomplished 
scholar and gentleman." When Mrs. Ferguson was 
in England his father wrote from the city, April 3, 
1765 : " John is really a good and fine boy, — learns 
fast and loves the Academy." He was at that time 
only about seven and a lialf years old, but this would 
indicate that he had already made some progress in 
his studies. 

From a letter he wrote to his aunt near the begin- 
ning of 1774, he states that the reason he did not 
come to see her when last in the city was because she 

'* lodged at Mr. Stediiiau's, a house my father has laid his commands 
on me never to enter ; his reason I know not. I received the presents 
from yon through the hands of my sister with pleasure and gratitude, 
particularly the pocket-hook as a menu-nto of my good grandfather, and 
ehall rank them among the innumerahle obligations I have received from 
your hands. My situation is very different to what it was with you ; I 
am ajiprentice to Mr. Carmack, who treats me very kindly, but has very 
little husinefis. Nevertheless I am seldom idle, but divert my leisure 
hours with books. Since I have been with liini I have read the histories 
of Knglaud, Charles the Fifth and Buchanan and Robeiison's Scotland." 

(^n July 15th he wrote, — 

Ton were right, for I was affected at the death of Jlr. Carmack, who 
jras seized about six in the morning with an apoplectic fit and expired at 
.leven in the night." 

It appears lie was engaged with him to learn the 
dry-goods business. 

He wrote to his aunt, August 10th, — j 

•' I think myself very lucky in getting a place. I am with Mesara. Johu 



and Peter Chevalier, who are in the shipping business, and shall here get 
an insight into both branches of business. I like it much better than 
the other ; tliere is nnich more variety and exercise.'' 

On December 1st, — 

" I sincerely thank you for your good advice and your groundlesa 
fears for my falling into vice. I call them groundless, because yon must 
certainly know that I have it not in my power to enjoy the plea«nres of 
this world, be my inclinations ever so great, for I have not tlie Philoeo- 
pher's stone to procure them, and as for company, I keep very little 
till I can afford to maintain the appearance of a gentleman." 

Washington had been appointed, in Philadelphia, 
by Congress, June 14, 1775, commander-in-chief of 
the American tirmy, resjiecting whom Air. Y'oung 
made an interesting and comi)limentary allusion, 
dated the following July 1st, — 

" I heg you will return my compliments to Mr. Ferguson, and tell him 
I am extremely obliged to him for his present of the book, which 1 
accept with pleasure. I sincerely wish the autumn was arrived, that 
we may gather in the fiuits of our glorious toils : but as the laurel is an 
evergreen we may obtain it at all seasons. 1 dare engage our noble 
General will soon nod under a whole grove of it. I think it is happy for 
America that the person promoted to that high dignity has always borne 
the character of a man of honor, and is remarkable for his honesty and 
integrity ; for he certainly has it as much in his power to raise himself 
on the ruins of his country as old Oliver." 

Little (lid this young man fancy the troubles that 
were now so rapidly approaching, and of whose dire 
effects he should also receive his share. We have 
mentioned how his father, James Young, from the 
very beginning of the contest, had ardently espoused 
the patriot cause ; but not so his son, then aged but 
little over eighteen. It appears that on the 24th of 
January, 1776, he fled from his home in the city, with 
a Mr. Baynton, to New Y'ork, where Governor Tryon 
recommended him to Sir William Howe for a com- 
mission in the army. The result was that he was 
placed on board the " Pha^iix " ship-of-war and 
shortly after taken a prisoner by the Americans. His 
father, on learning this, petitioned to Congress, March 
2.3d, that he be permitted, on his parole, to reside on 
the estate of his late grandfather, at Graeme Park, on 
condition that he remain there and confine him.self 
within a distance of six miles of the same, which was 
granted him. AVe know that he was still there in the 
following September, but it is probable that he fled a 
second time to the British while they held the city or 
shortly afterwards, for he was charged, with a number 
of others, with high treason April 10, 1779. 

What services Mr. Young engaged in to aid the Bri- ■ 
tish cause we are unable to state, but he was reported 
as having purchased a lieutenancy, in 1780, in the 
Forty-second Foot, and that he was in the Sixtieth in 
1787. It would ajipear from the information derived 
from him in the fiiU of 1785, he had made application 
as a loyalist to the government for losses incurred in 
the American war, but without success. From a letter 
he sent to his aunt, dated London, October 4, 1787, it 
appears that he had suffered from remorse. He stated 
therein, — 

"I went to bed with these meditations, and in the midnight hour the 
spectre of Poverty drew my curtains, and stared at me with such an 
aspect as frightened away my philosophy. In tliis temper I arose in the 
morning and carried in my name to the War-Office as one who wai 



HORSHAM TUWiNSHIP. 



899 



dHijruni of serving again, and was yesterday informed that I was 
appointed to uiy old regiment in one of tbe additional companies to be 
raised. As euon, then, as war is determined on I shall be sent to the 
most remote and dreary corner on the Island, in the most dreary season 
of tbe year, among people with whom 1 had been lung enough associated 
to dislike to commence again an employment which I had practiced 
long enough to be sated with, by raising men in the service of a country 
for which I have no particular affection. 1 have been the instrument of 
injustice without compunction, but now I have not even a prejudice to 
keep me in favor with myself. With such sentiments, to become a 
joiirnej'man, with penurious wages, in the trade of blood, is to become 
a character that a galley slave would not contemplate with envy, for I 
have his reluctance without having his consolation." 

In July, 1789, Lieutenant Young again wrote to 
Mrs. Ferguson, mentioning that he had only recently 
recovered from a paralytic stroke; that his physician 
had advised him to seek a warmer climate, and he 
was therefore going to Provence or Langucdoc. As 
the revolution in France was then showing symptoms 
of approaching troubles, he says, in relation to his 
journey, that he meant to return in a ship in the 
spring from Marseilles, unless " I should be detained 
by the commotions of the country. If there should 
be a civil war, I shall join the people, that I may 
atone in some measure for the offences against the 
rights of mankind in my former conduct." He 
mentioned having written an article on "Aristotle's 
Poetics " in the late European Magazine, and meant on 
his return to apply himself to translation as the most 
])rofitable department in letters. 

At what exact time Lieutenant Young returned to 
London we are unable to state, but he forwarded an 
interesting letter from thence to his aunt, July 7, 
1790, wherein he remarked, — 

" During my residence in France, I had an opportunity of witnessing 
the regeneration of a great empire. An awful and edifying spectacle, 
iinleed ! and in the history of mankind unexampled in the nature and 
efficacy of its means. Twenty-four millions rising with one accord, to 
tramp on regal, aristocratic and ecclesiastical tyranny, under which they 
had been crushed fur fifteen ages ! However, I hope the peojde of France 
will follow the example of the .\niericans yet further, and reform the 
constitution made on the spur of the occasion. Paris and London 
strike me as being no less dissimilar in their external appearance than 
In the deportment of their respective inhabitants. Paris abounds In 
more noble edifices ; many in such a chaste correct taste as would have 
done honor to the city of Minerva in the purest ages of the ails. Its 
public libraries and cabinets are splendid beyond comparison. Its 
charitable institutions are upon a grand scale, but appear tu me to have 
a tendency to increase the evils they were intended to alleviate. Its 
quays have an aspect noble and pleasing, without being polluted with a 
ca.sk or a bale, while its streets are narrow and ill-jiaved and no foot- 
walk for foot-pas.'iengers, as in London. Add to this an accumulation of 
filth, removed only once a week. 

" The furniture of their houses is correspondent in a like degree of 
contradiction. Damask curtains and chairs, in most splendid apartments, 
without a carjict or taljle of better materials than oak or deal. In all 
manufactures which have usefulness for their object, their specimens 
put beside English work ajipear like rude essays of barbarians. They 
excel us, however, in some of the mechanic arts, and these have a 
tendency to mark the diflerent geniuses of the two nations. The manu- 
factures in which they have no competitors are paper-hangings, tapestry, 
plate-glass, embroidery and the richest silks ; nor does it require sagacity 
to discover an analogy between the arts and genius, habits and manners 
of thinking, of the people. Now that the aristocracy is abolished, and 
the exertion of every individual may be directed to the public good, we 
shall see whether or not they be capable of that degree of industry or 
application which have produced such wonderful effects among their 
neighbors. I had almost forgot to tell you that when I was at Ver- 
sailles I saw the queen and royal family. The queen was a fine woman. 



but with a countenance so clouded with disappointed pride and humbled 
ambition that I thought Milton himself must have had some such idea 
for the prototype of Satan, before he had lost all hi.s original brightness. 
I was much gratified by having an opportunity of inspecting the 
remains of Roman greatness, which still exist in Tours, Vienna, 
Orange, Carpentras, Nismes, etc., some of which are built without 
cement, and are as perfect at tliis day as when first erected." 

These extracts are calculated to imjiresa one with 
the literary abilities of the author. 

As mentioned, Lieutenant Young did enter into the 
work of translation, which was the "Compendium of 
Ancient Geography by Monsieur D'Anville," from 
the French, which was published in London in 1792, 
in two octavo volumes, together containing eight 
hundred and forty-eight pages. The translator's pre- 
face contains fourteen pages, and ia an able and pro- 
found production. It contains several finely-exe- 
cuted maps. This translation at that time, by a 
young American, was certainly no ordinary undertak- 
ing, and appears to have been satisfactorily accom- 
plished. Mrs. Ferguson presented a copy, March 22, 
1798, to the Hatboro' Library, "as a mark of her 
regard to that institution," and also one to the Phila- 
delphia Library. 

John Young died in Loudon, April 25, 1794, aged 
but little over thirty-six years and six months, and 
was interred at " St. Martin's-iu-the-Fields," where 
Mrs. Ferguson had a tombstone erected with the fol- 
lowing lines : 

'* Far distant from the soil where thy last breath 
Seal'd the sad measure of their various woes. 
One female friend laments thy mournful death, 
Yet why lament what only gave repose?" 

In the P/iiludelphia Daily Advertiser of July 29, 
1794, appeared the following from the friendly pen 
of Dr. Rush: 

" By letters from London we learn that John Young, Esq., died in 
that city on the 25th of April last. Philadeljihia gave birth to that 
extraordinai-y young man. lie was grandson to the late worthy Dr. 
Thomas Gramme and educated under his immediate direction. In 
literary attainments he had few equals; his translation of 'Ancient 
Geography,' published originally in French, will long continue a monu- 
ment of his singular taste and classical erudition." 

Additional Respecting Gk^me Park. — Before 
we leave this interesting subject a few more facts 
may be given. Having ascertained from our neigh- 
bor, Joseph Lukens, the son of Seneca, where Mrs. 
Ferguson died, that the old vane that Sir William 
Keith had placed on one of his buildings was still 
in existence, we sought it up and made a draw- 
ing thereof in October, 1855. It was then in posses- 
sion of Hugh Foulke, of Gwynedd, who informed us 
that he had purchased it, with a lot of old iron, at the 
sale of Seneca Lukens, deceased, in 1829. It was 
made of wrought-iron, thirty-eight inches in length. 
The part bearing " W. K., 1722," which was seventeen 
inches in length, was cut out in it after the manner of 
a stencil. At the lower part was a screw, with which 
it might be secured to its place. Governor Keith's 
coat-of-arms was found on several documents, to 
which his seal was affixed, one of which was relative 



900 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



to the contract with John Kirk for building his man- 
sion-house at the park, dated December 12, 1721, the 
original having been presented to us, in 1860, by an 
antiquarian friend a short time before his decease. 




ANCIENT VANE OF GRAEME PARK. 

At Samuel F. Smith's, the grand-nephew of Mrs. 
Ferguson, was shown the Gr;eme coat-of-arms worked 
in various-colored silk about two feet square, which 
the latter had made shortly after her return from 
Great Britain, designed from a family book-plate in 
the presentation volumes given by her cousin, Thomas 
Graeme, Esq., of Balgowan. Mrs. Ferguson's family 




SIR WILLIAM KEITH'S SEAL AND COAT OF ARMS, 1721. 

Bible came in posse.ssion of JMrs. H. C. Turnbull, near 
Baltimore, daughter of Samuel F. Smith, which was 
shown at her house in 18.56. It is a quarto, elegantly 
bound in red morocco, gilt edges, printed at Oxford 
in 1733. From it was obtained the Grseme family 
record of births, marriages and deaths, and also 
copies of the original portraits in oil, life-size, that 
had once been at Grxme Park. Mrs. S. F. Smith 
showed divers articles of interest that had been in the 
possession of the Grtcme family and Mrs. Ferguson, 
as miniatures, lockets, hair-work, bracelets, fans, silver- 
ware and silk dresses. The latter were very fine, 
the material having been brought by Captain Sted- 
man from China before 1760. An interesting object 
was a family tree composed of hair within a glass, 
surrounded with rubies, all set in a case of gold, which 
was worn by Mrs. Ferguson as a breastpin. Its form 
was oval, one by one and a half inches in size. On 
its back was engraved: "The hair of Lady Ann 



Keith, Ann Graeme, Ann Stedman and Jane Young. 
For E. Grseme, 1766." 

After Dr. Grseme became the sole owner of the es- 
tate, in 1739, he formed here a gallery of paintings 
after the manner of the nobility in Europe. Among 
these were life-size portraits of Dr. Gneme, Mrs. 
Graeme, Jane Young, Ann Stedman, two of Mrs. 
Ferguson in early life and four of Grseme Park and 
its surroundings, representing the four seasons; the 
names of the others we have been unable to ascertain. 
Mr. H. C. Turnbull's mansion was destroyed by fire 
in 1847, but fortunately nearly all the aforesaid por- 
traits were saved. A copy of the summer view ot 
Grseme Park has been secured, which now possesses 
considerable interest. From Mrs. Ferguson's por- 
traits we are enabled to judge about the time when 
these paintings were made, as in the latest one she is 
not quite full-grown, and it was therefore probably 
done before 1754. Professor Samuel Jackson and 
Mrs. Susan Eckhart, of Philadelphia, informed us in 
1853 that in early life they remembered seeing those 
paintings in the main hall at Cirseme Park, which 
was about 1782, during the ownership and residence 
there of Mrs. Ferguson. 

To the great credit of the Penrose family, they have 
taken good care of the venerable mansion, now one of 
the very few baronial halls existing in this country. 
It is a substantial stone building, in good preservation, 
and not occupied, with walls two feet thick and in 
dimensions sixty by twenty-five feet. The main or 
drawing-room, at the north end, is twenty-one feet 
square, and its walls are handsomely wainscotted and 
paneled from the floor to the ceiling, a height of 
fourteen feet. The fire-place is adorned with marble 
lirought from England, and tho.se of the other rooms 
with Dutcli tile-i)lates, after the fashion of that day. 
Above the mantel cf the drawing-room is sai<l to have 
been a panel bearing the Keith coat-of-arms, which, 
of course, has been long removed for a iilainer substi- 
tute. In the fire-place of one of the second-story 
rooms is a cast-iron plate bearing the date of 1728. 
The stairs and balusters are extremely substantial and 
built of solid white-oak, as are also the joists, ratters 
and window frames. Each of its three stories are re- 
spectively divided into three rooms, finished with 
mouldings on the ceilings. In front of the house, on 
the wall, near the roof, forty years ago could be seen 
the remains of ivy that had evidently been dead for 
many years. On the wall of the south end is a vigor- 
ously-growing trumpet-flower, which is said to be the 
shoot of the original that grew there in Mrs. Fergu- 
son's infancy. As we gazed on it, we thought of that 
beautiful couplet in her " Spinning Song," — 

" When etornis rage the forest, and mighty treeefall, 
The low Bhrub is shelter'd that clings to the wall." 

In the rear of the house is a fish-pond fed from 
a fine spring of water; just beyond it still stands a 
"little grove by the milk-house," as mentioned by 



HORSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



901 



Miss Stedman in May, 17G5, From the existing view 
of Gramme Park before 1750 and the draft of the estate 
made for Lady Keith by William Parsons about 1736, 
the tenant-houses and stabling are denoted standing 
west of the mansion, pretty well towards the branch 
of the Neshaminy, which flows here in a northerly 
course. Tavo vigorous sycamore trees stand directly 
in front of the house at the distance of about forty 
yards, which, at two feet from the ground, now meas- 
ure resj)ectively eleven and twelve feet in circumfer- 
ence, and denote the principal place of a]>proach to 



"A WOMAN'S MEDITATIONS ON HER OLD FAMILY CLOCK.i 

"by MRS. ELIZABETH FEHGUSON. 

" It is midtiight ! the inhabitants where I now reside are all locked in 
sleep, I am all alone with pen, ink and paper before me, and all things' 
around conspire to aid my musing mehincholy. The clock in the parlor 
where I am has just struck twelve. That identical clock has been in the 
family of my parents and myself above seventy years, and has been a 
true announcer of fleeting time. I am myself this present year (1797) on 
the verge of sixty. What various sensations have the Bounds of that 
clock's stroke raised in the bosoms of my parents, brothers, sisters and 
my own in a course of years ! Three-fourths of a century since it first 
moved in our hoiiae I 

"Let me in this silent pause try to retrace some of the effects the 
sound of this clock has produced on my spirits almost commenBurate with 




CopieJ fruru the orijiinai in 1NJ4 by \Vm J. Buck. 



GR^ME PARK. 

From an old painting, supposed date about 1755, 



the court-yard, where no doubt was once a gateway. 
While so long in the possession of the Keith and 
Graeme family, especially during the colonial i)eriod, 
many distinguislied visitors were entertained here, 
among whom can be mentioned Andrew Hamilton, 
Thomas and .John Penn, Jeremiah Langhorne, Fran- 
cis Hopkinson, Richard ^^tockton, Rev. Nathaniel 
Evans, Rev. William Smith, Benjamin Rush, Rev. 
Richard Peters, George Meade, Elias Boudinot and 
Bishop White. There is no doubt that many a gay 
party set out from those venerable walls in the days 
of the baronet in pursuit of deer, bear and turkeys 
that roamed yet wild in the forests, for the ''twelve 
venison pots" mentioned here in 172(5 are suggestive 
of such incidents. 



any dear recollections of the past. How has my little heartbeat when it 
announced eight, the hour destined to go to bed ! How oft with my child- 
ish playmates, when keen fur the protracting romp, has the dreaded knell 
stopped us short in full career, or, if permitted by an act of grace to en- 
croach ou a quarter of an hour beyond the limits, no entreaties could pre- 
vail to obtain a respite to liear the interdicted stroke of nine ! When a 
year or two had advanced me in the juvenile stage, still eight was the 
well-known hour. 

"I see in idea this moment the little round walnut table placed close 
by a clean hearth and clear hickory tire, my mother and sisters in rota- 
tion readingsome mural story or dnimatic piece, while my good father 
sat on the other side with his own small mahogany stand reading the 
paper of the day or some treatise on his own profession. Ah ! how I 

1 This piece was copied from Mrs. Ferguson's manuscript over twenty- 
five years ago, and it is I)elieved, has never been heretofore published. It 
isan interesting scrap of family history, nearly all confined to the colo- 
nial period. It bears the date of April 21, 17'J7, only four years previuns 
to her death, and while she resided at the house of Seneca Lukens. 



902 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



feared the stroke of eight lest it might break the thread of the unfinished 
journal of the artless Pamela. Perhaps the clock struck in the middle of 
that excellent comedy, the ' Journey of London,' where humor and 
sentiment are so happily blended. ' Oh, mamma, do let me stay and hear 
whether Lady Tuwnly repents and makes a good wife.' ' No, my child, 
you shall hear to-morrow ; mamma says Betey mu8t go to bed.' Shut was 
ilie book and shut was the scene unless carried over in youthful dreams. 
Oh, if any culd-hearted critic should glance over this page and sneer at 
these digressions, let them hear and know that these are the recollections 
that make me for a moment forget my age till I reflect lam left alone to 
make these observations. 

" Alas ! at those sounds my seiisatioDB of pain or pleasure did not termi- 
nate with childhood. No, v en,' far from it. How often have I longed 
to hear announced the hour fur the family party, after my sisters had left 
my father's home for houHes of their own ! Nor was my heart bound up 
alone to connections ; nearly equal was the pleasure when expecting to 
meet some kind, social friend, thy hand pointed when she must be near- 
How frequently has thy stroke summoned me to preside at the female sta' 
tion, the tea-table, where the conversation has changed in rotation, ' from 
t^ave to gay from gay to grave severe ! ' Ah ! full well I remember when 
four strokes preluded the India regale ; then we young people, becoming 
ft little tonish, pleaded for the patrician hour of five ; we were indulged, 
but five soon became a plebeian hour. Then my clock and its mistress 
rhanged our city for a rural abode, where seven and eight took the lead, 
until six remains to direct the coffee at the worthy gentlewoman's where 
1 now live. 

" Ah ! since my clock and I have passed our days in retirement, how 
frequently, un the evening of a market-day, when expecting a letter from 
the metropolis filled with wit, sentiment or affection, or all united in 
one, have I with impatience nunilieredyourstrokes, or still more ardently 
longed for the epistle that had crossed the Atlantic, whose value was ap- 
preciated as danger and distance had endeared it to the longing receiver ! 
The evening walk was directed by thee, the wholesome breakfast also, 
and, to be more serious, how frequently have you warned me to repair to 
tlie temple of divine worship ! And, now retracing the various effects thy 
sounds have produced in my too susceptible heart through a long life* 
would it not be a species of prudery to omit declaring what I well rccol' 
Ifct that thy sounds to my ears acquired the softest tones when anuounc 
ing the hours I was to meet my dear Henry before I met him at the altar 
which is this day twenty-five years, — the fourth part of a century, a large 
portion of human existence. Yes, thy sounds seemed to change to pen- 
sive ones when they preluded to Itritain his departure. 

" Ah ! when I reflect that I am the sole surviving child of ten brothers 
and sisters, how does the idea fill my mind ! to think what a series of 
tetlious, weary nights nuist these paients and children have waked and 
watched through the long gallery of pain to death ! Hoping and wait- 
ing with I'xhauBted spirits these strokes that announced the pleasing har- 
binger of day. How many times the dear departed, venerable authors of 
my being have heard that clock which now strikes two give the sound 
that was to be no more repeated, while breath diew trembling in bodies 
dearer to you than your own ; your children apart of yourselves ! Since 
first your motion began, what volcanoes have flamed, what battles fought, 
what famines, pestilences and revolutions gone forth 1 You move, though 
your maker is uo more ; then be it known, he lived in London, in 1722, 
and named AV, Tomlinetm." 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



CHARLES .S. BORER. 

Charles S. Rorer is a son of the late Joseph Rorer, 
who was born in Philadeljjhia County, Pa., November 
14, 1758, and died in the same county December 15, 
1854. He was the son of a farmer, and was himself a 
farmer all his adult life. Having been born some 
eighteen years previous to the date of the declaration 
of Independence, he naturally felt quite an interest 
in the celebration of the formal declaration of such 
an undertaking as that then seemed to be, and took 



an active part in the celebrating of that instrument 
on the 4th of July, 1776. Later, he was an eye- 
witness of the battle of Germantown, on the old York 
road, at a place known as Branchtown, and after the 
battle, assisted in the interment of several of the 
militia of the Maryland Line that had been killed in 
the battle, and previous to the close of that eventful 
struggle he was enrolled as a soldier in Washington's 
army, but it being so near the close of the struggle, 
was not permitted to aid in gaining the freedom of 
the young and struggling colonies. 

In after-years, when the colonies had become States, 
and compacted into one strong bond of Union, never 
to be severed, it seemed to be a pleasure to him to 
relate to his listening auditors the many incidents 
and hairbreadth adventures that had come to his 
notice during those eventful years. He died at the 
ripe old age of ninety-six, honored and respected by all 
who knew him. 

His son, Charles S. Rorer, who takes his middle name 
from his mother's maiden name, Smith, was born in 
Philadelphia County, Pa., April 14, 1811, and made 
that his home until 1851, when he removed to Hors- 
ham, Montgomery Co., Pa., where he now resides. 
He was also born prior to the occurrence of several 
important events that transpired in the early part of 
the present century, in some of which he was an ac- 
tive participant. The first was upon the occasion ot 
the visit of the Marquis De Lafayette to the city of 
Philadelphia, in 1824, when that hero was honored 
with a public reception. He also took i)art in the 
funeral ceremonies held in Germantown, in 1826, in 
commemoration of the death of two of our late Presi- 
dents, Thomas Jetferson and John Quincy Adams. 
He w-as also honored with a commission in the infan- 
try in the jiarade that took place in Philadelphia in 
honor of George Washington's one hundredth birth- 
day ; also on the occasion of President Andrew Jack- 
son's visit to Philadelphia, he participated in the 
parade as one of the escort and in the evening, at the 
reception given at the residence of General Robert 
Patterson, was an invited guest, and was personally 
introduced to the " Hero of New Orleans." 

He witnessed the breaking of ground, not far from 
what is known as Turner's Lane, for the building of 
the Germantown and Norristown Railroad, which 
was built in 1832-33. 

In 1837 he assisted in planting an elm-tree to 
commemorate the memory of the old treaty tree, at 
the Commissioners' Hall, Kensington. 

In 1840 he led the forlorn hope of the Whig party 
as candidate for the State Legislature against a Dem- 
ocratic majority of three thousand in his district, 
and, as a result not unexpected, was defeated. 

In 1849 he was elected one of the directors of the 
old Germantown Bank, and served as such until his 
removal to Montgomery Couuty. 

In 1864 he was the standard-bearer of the Repub- 
lican party in his legislative district against the 



HOKSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



903 



usual fifteen hundeed Democratic uiajority, and again 
suffered defeat. 

In 1874 he was elected one of the directors of the 
Hatboro' National Bant, which position he still 
holds. 

He has for the last tvventy-tive years been honored 
by his townsmen with a seat in the public school 
board, over which he presided more than fifteen years, 
and to his energy and perseverance in behalf of the 
educational interest of Horsham township is due 
probably more than to any other, tlic clliciency and 



being represented in their Grand Lodges of the State 
by Mr. Eorer. 

During the four eventful years of the slave-holders 
rebellion Mr. Rorer was engaged in aiding the 
government in the suppression of the natural re- 
sults of such a strife, and was active in forming 
a Union League for the township of Horsham, 
the object of which was to assist in filling the quotas 
as called for, and to encourage enlistments for the 
same, and in appointing and sustaining public meet- 
ings which had that <ibject fully in view. 




high character of the schools with wliicli he has to do. 

In 187."> he was elected a justice of the peace for 
Horsham tow^nshii), a position he still holds. 

Since he was twenty years of age he has been an 
active and energetic worker in the cause of temper- 
ance. Drinking liquor at that early period being the 
rule, it required organized effort to break up the habit. 
Societies and organizations multiplied under various 
names, first openly by lectures and the old Washing- 
tonian Society, followed by the Sons of Temperance 
and Good Templars, the two latter organizations 



He has, by much labor, brought his farm under a 
high state of cultivation, and made his home pleasant 
and attractive, and has thus far been unselfish in all 
the relations of his life where he could be useful to 
his fellow-creatures. 

For the past forty-eight years he has been an active 
member of the Baptist Church, and since 1851 a 
member of the Hatboro' Baptist Church. 

Mr. Rorer was married, in 1835, to Miss Caroline, 
daughter of the late Hugh Roberts, of Philadelphia. 
Their children are Clementine, married Albert 



904 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



French; Bartlett T., married Emeline Williams; and 
Adelaide, married William Hill. Mrs. Rorer, motlier 
of these children, died February 24, 1872. 

Mr. Rorer's second wife was Miss Hannah, daughter 
of Thomas and Jerusha Taylor, of Philadelphia, 
whom he married June 17, 187o. 



^ JOSHUA PAUL LUKENS. 

The Lukens family in Horsham, Montgomery 
Co., descended from Jan (or John) Lucken, who came 
from Holland in the latter part of 1688. In 1709, 
January 10th, John Lucken purchased from Samuel 



for many years resided at what is now known aa 
Davis Grove, Montgomery Co., formerly known aa 
the old " Kirk Tavern," on the old Philadelphia and 
Easton roacL/ 

At that place Seneca Lukens reared a family oi 
children, one of whom was Joseph S. Lukens, born 
First Month 21, 178(3, fatherof Joshua P. Lukens. This 
Joseph S. Lukens married Susan, daughter of Joshua 
Paul, of Bucks County, Pa., and had children as follows : 
Isaiah, born in 1816 ; Hannah, born Third Month 
14, 1819 (now the wife of Lukens Paul); Joshua P., 
born May 30, 1822 ; Sidnea Ann, born in 1825 ; Jervis 




/c^^LA^ 



Carpenter five hundred and five acres of land, a part 
of which is now owned by William J. Hallowell, near 
Davis Grove, Montgomery Co., and in 1720, John and 
wife, Mary Lucken, sold to Peter Lucken one hun- 
dred and fifty acres of said five hundred and five 
acres. 

Whether this Peter Lukens is a son of Jolin or not 
is unknown. However, Peter and his wife, Gainor, 
deeded to John Lucken, Jr., a parcel of land out of 
the one hundred and fifty acres. The John Lucken 
first named (anglicised into Lukens) was, in all prob- 
ability, the great-great-grandfather of Joshua P. 
Lukens, who is a grandson of Seneca Lukens, who 



S., born in 182S, died First Mouth 21, 1861; Sarah, 
born in 1833, died Eighth Month 7, 1872. 

Of these children, Joshua P. remained on the old 
homestead at Davis Grove until twenty-four years 
of age, performing such work as is usual for young 
men upon their father's farm. His educational ad- 
vantages were such as were afforded in the old pay- 
schools of half a century ago, though, with his incli- 
nation to study, he obtained a good common-school 
education. 

He has always been one of those quiet, unobtru- 
sive, honest, industrious men, seeking not the honors 
of this world, but seeking, rather, the comforts of 



HORSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



905 



home and the pleasant associations of his family. 
The many and devious ways of the politician he 
never sought, and has never held a political office. 
The Iteautiful farm upon which he resides came to 
him by inheritance through or from his father-in-law, 
Mr. Root. The large, comfortable and convenient 
buildings have been erected and the beautiful grounds 
laid out and shrubbery planted since he came in 
possession of the property, in November, 1851, mak- 
ing it one of the very desirable farm properties in 
Horsham township. The farm, containing eighty-five 
acres, is under a high state of cultivation, and is one 
of the most productive in the township. 



record of the date of his birth or death). He married 
Sarah, daughter of Abel Roberts, of the same place. 
They had ten children, as follows : Abel, born in 
1778; Gainor, 1780; William, 1782; Everard, 1784; 
Mary, 1787 ; Benjamin, 1791 ; Susanna, 1793 ; Samuel, 
1796; Margaret, 1798; Morris, 1801. He purchased 
Grame Park property, and removed thereto in the 
year 1801. Some time afterwards he purchased a farm 
in Warminster, Bucks Co. (which is now owned by 
Joshua 15ennett), to which his son Benjamin moved. 
On the marriage of his son William (father of Jarrett) 
he sold him the fJncme Park property and moved to 
the Warminster farm. 




lAKUETT I'liNKOSE. 



Mr. Lukens married, March 25, 1847, Elizabeth, 
daugliter of Conard and Sarah Root, of Philadelphia, 
Pa. ; she was born December 16, 1823. The result of 
this union has been three children, as follows : First, 
Joseph C. Lukens, born December 5, 1847, married, 
November 2, 1881, Miss Louisa Stanhope, of Phil- 
adelphia ; second, Emma N., born February 4, 1851, 
married, March 2.3, 1882, to Edwin Moore, of Upper 
Merion township, Montgomery Co., Pa.; third, 
Missouri Florence, born March 12, 18.55, died Sep- 
tember 6, 1883. 



JARIIETT PENROSE. 

Sf muel Penrose, grandfather of Jarrett Penrose, 
was jorn at Quakertown, Bucks Co., Pa., (we have no 



William Penrose, son o" Samuel and Sarah, was 
born at Quakertown, Pa., March 14, 1782, and came 
to Horsham with his father in 1801. He married 
Hannah, daughterofWilliamandAnn Jarrett, of Hor- 
sham, and having bought of his father the Gritme 
Park property, he resided thereon until a few years 
before his death, when he purchased an adjoining 
property, and resided there until his death, which oc- 
curred on the 20th day of November, 1863, in his 
eighty -second year, his wife, Hannah, having died in 
1850. They had seven children, four boys and three 
girls, as follows : Ann J., born September 25, 1811 ; 
Samuel, April 18, 1813 ; Jarrett, April 1, 1815; Abel, 
May .3, 1817; Hannah February 28, 1820; William, 
March 26, 1822 ; Tacy •■^., October 14, 1823. Ann J. 



906 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



married Abraham Iredell, of Horsham. Samuel died 
unmarried, aged thirty-five years. Jarrett married 
Tacy A. Kirk, of Abingtou. Abel married Sarah 
Beissel, of Allcntown, Pa. llaiiiiab married Isaac W. 
Hicks, of Newtown, Pa. William died in infancy. 
Tacy S. married Morris Davis, of Warminster, Pa. 
.Jarrett Penrose, the subject of the present sketch, 
was born at Gr*me Park April 1, 1815, and resided 
thereat until his marriage with Tacy S. Kirk, daughter 
of John and Tabitha Kirk, of Abingtou, Montgomery 
Co., Pa., January 20, 1842. Hethenboughtof Abraham 
Iredell's estate the farm in Horsham on which he 
now resides. His children are five in number, four 



1 



Howard, Morris P., William, Jr., and Lydia. Samuel 
married Mary C. Farren, of Doylestown, Pa., and 
resides there. They have one child, Cyril Farren. 



ABEL PENROSE. 

Abel Penrose, owner of Graeme Park farm, is 
the grandson of Samuel Penrose, who came from 
Richland township, Bucks Co., Pa., in 1801, and set- 
tled on the farm now owned by Abel Penrose. The 
Penrose family was probably among the early set- 
tlers of that part of Bucks County from which Sam- 
uel emigrated. Samuel married Sarah Roberts, and^ 
had children, as follows : William, married Hannah 




:y^ot/' jZ^^^U-Cry^ 



now living, as follows: Pollen S., born .January 14, 
lS4;i; Elizabeth H.,- January 4, 1845; William. July 
;n, 1847; Alfred, May 14, 1849 (who died in infancy); 
Samuel, May 5, 1852. They married as follows: Ellen 
S. married Edward T. Betts, of Warminster, Pa., now 
residing at Buflahi, N. Y. Their children are C. 
Walter, William P., Edward T., Jr., and Lizzie P. 
C. Walter married Lidie P. Haslani, of Philadelphia, 
Pa., and now residing in Bufiiilo. Elizabeth H. mar- 
ried Alfred Moore, of Horsham, Pa., and resides on the 
homestead farm. Their children are Ellie B. and 
Bertha A. William married Hannah Paul, of War- 
rington, Pa., and resides there. Their children are J. 



daughter of William and Ann Jarrett (she was born 
Tenth Month, 1783; died in 1850); Abel (died 
Twelfth ]\Ioath 7, 1824, aged forty-six years and 
four months) ; Benjamin, married Rachael Fratt ; 
Morris, married Rebecca, daughter of Dr. Mitch- 
ell Everard(died Eighth Month 30, 1823, aged thirty- 
eight years, ten months and twenty-three days) ; Mar- 
garet ; Gainor ; Mary (died Ninth Month 19, 1795, 
aged eight years, four months and eight days) ; Su- 
sanna (died Eighth Month 8, 1799, aged six years 
and thirteen days) ; Samuel (died Sixth Month, 1797, 
aged nine months and twenty-six days). li. 

Of these children, William, the eldest, was bi'^i 



HORSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



;t(»7 



Third Month 14, 1782, married as above stated, and 
died in 18G3, aged eighty-one years, eight months and 
six days. William and Hanniili Jarrett Penrose were 
the parents of children, as follows : Ann J:irrett (born 
Ninth Month 25, 1811), married Abraham Iredell; 
Samuel (born Fourth Month 18, 1813, died Second 
Month 24, 1848, aged thirty-four years, ten months 
and six days) ; Jarrett (born Fourth Month 1, 1815), 
married Tacy Ann Kirk, and is one of the substan- 
tial farmers of Horsham township ; Abel (born Fifth 
Month 3, 1817) ; Hannah L. (born Second Month 20, 
1820), married Isaac W. Hicks; William (born Third 
Month 20, 1822, died Seventh Month 12, 1822) ; Tacy S. 
(born Tenth Montli 14, 1823), married Morris Davis. 

About the time William Penrose, the father of these 
children, was married he purchased from his father 
(Samuel) the old homestead, where he was born, lived 
and died. He was one of the sturdy yeomanry of 
Horsham, and a man of solid worth, steady habits, 
honored and respected by all who knew him. 

Abel Penrose, the fourth child of William, was 
married, December 25, 1850, to Sarah C, daughter of 
Daniel and Mary M. Beisel, of Allentown, Lehigh 
Co., Pa. She was born April 3, 1830. The children 
of Abel and Sarah C. Penrose have been as follows: 
Hannah J. (born 1858), married, November 10, 1882, 
A. D. Markley, M.D., of Hatboro,' Pa., she is the 
mother of two children, — Penrose and Anna Markley ; 
Morris B., 1800, unmarried; William, 1870; Mary 
M., 1877. 

The parents of Mrs. Penrose were natives of Cata- 
sauqua, Northuniberbind Co., Pa. 

Abel Penrose has thus far through life borne well 
his part in the business afTairs of a farmer's life, to 
which all his energies have been devoted. His every 
act in his long and busy career has been devoid of 
offense to any one with whom he had occasion to 
transact the ordinary business affairs of life, and he is 
honored and respected by all who know him. He 
has been one of the progressive farmers of the period, 
attending strictly to his own business, leaving the po- 
litical affairs of the township to be looked after by 
those who have a taste in that direction, being con- 
tent himself with the right of suffrage. 

Mr. Penrose, unlike many farmers in our country, 
attended not only to the routine duties of the farm, 
but has found time to devote to seeking a knowledge 
of public men of all nations, and a personal inspec- 
tion of not only his own country, but portions of 
Europe as well. He has visited Europe, twice, and 
in 1844 he spent eight months in England, Wales, 
Ireland and Scotland, and is familiar with the every- 
day affairs of his own country to a degree beyond 
that of most men. 

With the large and beautiful farm he owns is con- 
nected a bit of history worth noting in connection with 
thissketch. For this historical sketch of the farm we 
are indebted to Mrs. Penrose, whose diligentresearches 
brought the matter to I'ght : 



" Keith House, ifi Horsham, was commenced in 
1721 ; the coat-of-arms of the family, with the excep- 
tion of the motto, ' Remember thy End,' was placed 
on the contract by Sir William, wliich proves the 
exact date of tlie house (1722). 

"The plate in the chimney was placed thereby Dr. 
Gra!me in 1728. Sir William Keith received the 
appointment through William Penn, and was, through 
his elegant manner of living, unpopular with the 
Quakers. He returned in 1728 and published in 
England an account of the colonies, and urged their 
taxation for the defense against the French and In- 
dians. This is supposed to be the first suggestion ot 
taxation which brought on the war of the Revolution. 

"Keith never returned to Pennsylvania, and died 
in the Old Bailey Prison, London, November 18, 
1749. When Governor Keith came to Pennsylvania 
he brought with him his wife, who had been the 
widow of Robert Jiggs, of England, and his step- 
daughter, Ann Jiggs, and also Dr. Thomas Grieme, who 
lived in the city, north side of Chestnut Street, above 
Sixth. Dr. Thomas Grseme married Ann, step-daughter 
of Sir William Keith, November 12, 1719. After Sir 
William left for England, Dr. Grajme moved to what 
is now Horsham, and then named the place Gra^ne 
Park, which comprised a tract from Keith of twelve 
hundred acres. Keith had it as a hunting park, and 
grand /^to of hunting-parties of lords and gentlemen 
assembled at the house, and from there started out 
for deer, pheasants and other game. 

" As in the old country. Lady Keith lived in seclu- 
sion at Horsham and in Philadelphia, and died July 
31, 1740, aged sixty-five years. 

" Dr. Grteme was in the courseof his life a member of 
the Council, port physician and many years collector 
of the port of Philadel|)hia. Dr. and Ann Gneme, 
his wife, had a daughter who married a Ferguson. 

"Mrs. Elizabeth Ferguson lived at Gra;me Park, 
and became noted through her alleged complicity in 
attempting to bribe Joseph Reed during the Revolu- 
tionary war. 

" Jane Gneme, sister of Dr. Grseme, lived also at 
the park, and married James Young and had three 
children ; one of them married William Smith, M.D., 
a graduate of Pennsylvania University, in 1771, and 
father of Samuel F. Smith, for many years president 
of the Philadelphia Bank. 

" During the Revolution Grseme Park was the head- 
quarters of General Lacey, commanding the Penn- 
sylvania militia, in operations against the British. 
The drawing-room of the mansion was occupied as 
the guard-room and the lawn occupied by the head- 
quarters camp. Grseme Park remained in the family 
of Dr. Grseme for a short time after the Revolutionary 
war, when it passed into other hands, and in 1801 
came into possession of the Penrose family, where it 
still remains." 

The old stone mansion built by Keith is still stand- 
ing, and in as good a state of preservation as when 



908 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



first built. It stands but a few rods from the residence 
of Mr. Penrose, and occupied by some of his tenants. 
Mrs. Penrose has in her possession an oil painting 
of Mrs. Ferguson, painted when she was a little girl 
of probably three or four summers. The work was 
evidently done by one of the old masters of the art, 
and is still perfect in every detail, and, to one of artistic 
taste is a painting of rare excellence, and is highly 
prized by its owner. 



WILLIAM LUKENS .lARRETT. 

William Lukens Jarrett is a lineal descendant of 
the pioneer fiiraily of that name who located in what 



of Horsham township; John was a farmer, and 
owned a farm near Babylon, — the farm now owned 
by Charles M. Jarrett. John Jarrett became the 
father of the following children : Jonathan, born in 
1805, married Agnes Roberts, of Horsham township, 
and died in 1884. Agnes is also deceased. Ann, 
born in 1807, married Chalkley Kenderdine, and 
(lied in ISTl ; he died Second Month 2.3, 1885. James 
died in infancy. Mary, born in 1811, married Charles 
L. Dager, and now lives in Gwynedd township; Han- 
nah, born in 1814, died in 1860 ; Tacy, born in 1816, 
married Richard S. Moore, of Horsham township. 
William L., the subject of this notice, was born Sixth 




J^ c^^u/tAel€ 



is now Montgomery County, then Bristol township, 
PhiladelphiaCo. William J. Buck, in his "History 
of Montgomery County " speaks of Thomas and Levi 
Jarrett as living in what is now Upper Dublin town- 
ship. John Jarrett, the great-grandfather of William 
L., was born in 1702, and Mr. Buck speaks of him as 
one of the first or original officers of the Hatboro' 
Library Company, in 1775. 

This John was married and had a son, Jonathan, 
who became the father of children, as follows : 
John, born in 1779 ; Richard ; Isaac and Jonathan. 
John, who was born in 1779, was married. Fifth Month 
20, 180.3, to Elizabeth, daughter of Jonathan Lukens, 



Month 28, 1819. He remained at home assisting in 
the duties and labors pertaining to farm-life, and at 
the death of his father, in 1849, purchased the old 
homestead, and continued the occupation of a farmer, 
adding to his landed estate as it seemed to him de- 
sirable, and in 1870 sold the old homestead to 
Charles M. Jarrett, retaining for himself the farm 
occuijied by Charles Dager and the store property 
at Davis Grove, where he resides with his nei)hew, 
John H. Jarrett. 

Mr. Jarrett has thus far passed through life in single 
blessedness, and without the annoyances in many in- 
stances pertaining to the marriage relation. His journey 



HOKSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



909 



thus far has been one of honest industry and uprightness 
of character, and he is highly esteemed by his fellow- 
citizens as one of the progressive men of the age, who 
could be trusted in whatever capacity he was placed. 
He has honored the position of school director of 
Horsham for six years, and the office of town auditor, 
for several terms. Mr. Jarrett adheres strictly to the 
religion of his ancestors, and is a member of Horsham 
Monthly Meeting. 



WILLIAM J. HALLOWELL AND THE " JARRETT 
HOMESTEAD FARM." 

William J. Hallowell was the son of John R. and 
Ann J. Hallowell, and was born October 12, 1818. 



so numerous and widely scattered, and of which the 
following history and genealogical sketch has been 
gathered. Samuel Carpenter, in 1702, obtained from 
William Penn five thousand and eight acres of land, 
for one English silver shilling for every one hundred 
acres, which he disposed of to difterent parties of the 
early settlers, and in 1709 that now known as the 
" Jarrett homestead farm," with a part of the land 
owned by George W. Jarrett, was conveyed to John 
Lukens, supposed to be the father of Mary Lukens, 
who married John Jarrett, into whose possession the 
farm came in 1726, who was the first of the Jarrett 
family to settle in the then new county. 
From an old English Bible in possession of the 




He assumed farming as an occupation on the com- 
pletion of his education, which was in his twenty- 
first year, and in 1844 removed to the farm belonging 
to his mother, situated in Horsham township, known 
as the " Jarrett homestead farm," which is one of 
the tracts of land of Montgomery County that has 
remained in the same family since its settlement by 
William Penn, particularly interesting as being the 
homestead of the Jarrett family, which has become 



family, printed in 1715, which John Jarrett, in 1751, 
presented to his son John " and the heirs of his body 
forever and ever," it is learned that the name was in 
those days spelled Jerrett, and that he and his wife, 
Mary, emigrated from Scotland and were members of 
the Society of Friends. 

No account is given of their having but one child, 
known as John Jarrett, Jr., born 3d, Third Month, 
1719, to whom all their land was deeded in 1741. 



910 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



John Jarrett, Jr., married Alice Conard, and from 
their twelve children are descended numerous Jar- 
retts, scattered in various parts of the country. 

These twelve, with their births and deaths, are as 
follows : John Jarrett, born Eighth Month 12, 1741, 
died Seventh Month 19, 1819 ; Mary (unmarried), 
born Seventh Month 25, 1742 ; Elizabeth, born Fifth 
Month 19, 1744 (married Mordecai Thomas), died, 
aged ninety years ; Hannah, born Eighth Month 2, 
1745 (married John Heston) ; Rachel, born First 
Month 14, 1747 (married Anthony Williams), died 
First Month 12, 1818 ; William, born Ninth Month 

23, 1748, died Ninth Month 13, 1827; Alice, born 
Eleventh Month 13, 1750 (married Jonathan Thomas), 
died Ninth Month 8, 1824 ; Jonathan, born First 
Month 31, 1753 (married Hannah Mather), died 
Third Month 8, 1835 ; David, born First Month 15, 
1755 (married Rebecca Cadwallader), died Fifth 
Month 16, 1815 ; Jesse, born Third Month 26, 1757 
(married Eliz. Palmer) ; Tacy (died young), born 
Seventh Month 24, 1758 ; Joseph, born Ninth Month 
7, 1761 (married Rachel Edge), died Eleventh Month 

24, 1861. 

William Jarrett, the sixth child of John and Alice 
Jarrett, married Ann, daughter of John Lukens, of 
Philadelphia, and came into the possession of the 
" homestead farm " in 1774. 

The children of William and Ann Jarrett were as 
follows : Jane Jarrett, born Twelfth Month 18. 1775 
(married Thomas Thompson) ; Mary, born Second 
Month 2, 1777; William, born Fourth Month 19, 
1779 (unmarried), died Eighth Month 10, 1860; 
Mary, born Sixth Month 15, 1781 (married Israel 
Hallowell, of Abington township), and died Sixth 
Month 26, 1867 ; Hannah Jarrett, born Tenth Month 1, 
1783 (married William Penrose) ; Tacy, born Ninth 
Month 16, 1785 (married Charles Stokes, of Burling- 
ton County, N. J.), died Ninth Month 15, 1877 ; Ann, 
born Eleventh Month 26, 1787 (married John R. 
Hallowell, of Abington township), died Seventh Month 
26, 1867; Alice, born Seventh Month 15, 1791 (mar- 
ried Caleb Lippincott, of Burlington County, N. J.), 
and died Ninth Month 15, 1831. 

On the death of William Jarrett, in 1827, one 
hundred and forty-six acres were deeded to his 
daughter Ann, married to John R. Hallowell, and 
the remaining seventy-eight acres were bought by 
her husband from the heirs for seventy dollars per 
acre, so that they became possessors of all the original 
tract. 

For a period of fifteen years the same tract was 
rented to John Scott for the sum of three hundred 
dollars a year, which was finally increased to six 
hundred dollars. In 1844, Ann Jarrett Hallowell's 
sou, William J. Hallowell (the present owner), took 
possession, and in 1863, for the average sum of one 
hundred and five dollars per acre, a deed for the 
same was transferred to him. 

On the 28th of Third Month, 1845, he was married 



to Tacy Ann Paul, daughter of Joshua Paul, of Bucks 
County, who was the possessor of a large tract of 
land joining the Jarrett homestead farm, a portion 
of the same five thousand and eight acres which 
Samuel Carpenter obtained of William Penn, trans- 
ferred in 1727 to James Paul, a son of Joseph Paul, 
of Oxford township, who is supposed to have emi- 
grated from Wales about 1700. 

This farm has also ever since remained in the same 
family, at present in that of the fifth generation. 

Of the five children of William J. and Tacy Ann 
Hallowell, the third, William J. Hallowell, Jr., is the 
only son. He married Anna E. Thomas, daughter of 
the late Abner and Sarah Ann Thomas, of Montgom- 
ery County, and in 1873 took possession of the 
" Jarrett homestead farm," which he still occupies. 

The Doylestown and Willow Grove turnpike, made 
in 1839, cut the farm, which was square in shapei 
diagonally in two, and supplanted the old Easton road, 
which was the route by which all the merchandise 
was conveyed from Philadelphia to Easton, that now 
passing by Davis Grove, then known as Jarrett's 
Corner, and forming the western boundary line of 
the farm, being a part of the same. 

On the western side of the same pike, buildings 
were erected in 1872, which have ever since been 
occupied by the i^rcsent owner ; thus the original tract, 
comprising two hundred and twenty acres, is divided 
into two farms of about one hundred and ten acres 
each, although as yet they are virtually one and the 
same, in that they continue, as heretofore, to be man- 
aged and cultivated. 

The "Jarrett homestead farm," one of the most 
productive and valuable in the county, is possessed 
of considerable historic interest, in that there are 
centered the numerous traditions connected with the 
large family of Jarretts. 

At present there reside on it three generations, 
and the ninth to-day is as loyal to the religious So- 
ciety of Friends as were its ancestors of over acentury 
and a half ago. The homestead farm well attests to 
the energy and capacity of its present owner and the 
ability which characterizes him in all undertakings ot 
a public nature. 

A man of education and culture, and so eminently 
successful as a farmer, he is prominent in Montgomery 
County as one who has done much in a practical 
way to lift hand-work from the contempt into which 
it has fallen, and to prove the entire compatibility of 
manual labor and mental culture. 

The following are the children of William J. and 
Tacy Ann Paul Hallowell : Annie J., born Eighth 
Month 10, 1846, married Elwood Lukens, and died 
Tenth Month 27, 1873 (they were the parents of one 
child,— Annie H., born Ninth Month 21, 1873, died 
Eleventh Month 29, 1873) ; Hannah P., born Eleventh 
Month 29, 1848; William J., Jr., born Tenth Month 
9, 1851 ; Lizzie W., born Fifth Month 10, 1854; Mary 
P., born Fifth Month 17, 1858. 



HOKSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



911 



The following record is taken from same source as 
above. 

Children of Joseph Paul, son of James Paul and 
Mary, his wife, and Hannah Paul, daughter of James 
Paul and Sarah, his wife, — Sarah Paul, born Fifth 
Month 7, 1771 ; Sidney Paul, born Second Month 
4, 1773; John Paul, born Sixth Month 23, 1774; 
Howard Paul, born Sixth Month 25, 1781 ; Yeamans 
Paul, born Twelfth Month 21, 1783. 

Children of Joshua Paul, son of Joseph Paul and 
Hannah, his wife, and Hannah Stokes, daughter of 
John and Susanna Stokes, — Susanna Paul, born Ninth 
Month 13,1797; Joseph Paul, born Eleventh Month 



native of Ireland, both emigrating to this country 
during the latter part of the last century, and locating 
in Bucks County, Pa., where they became the par- 
ents of a family, one of whom was William. 

Gilbert W. Ely, son of William and Rebecca Ely, 
was born Eleventh Month 17, 1804, in Newtown, 
Bucks Co., Pa., where he lived until 1828, when he 
married and moved to Montgomery County, Pa., 
where he, in 1854, purchased a farm, upon which he 
resided till 1877, when he purchased the property he 
now occupies in Horsham township and retired from 
the active duties of a farmer. 

Mr. ?21y has lived upon a farm all liis life, or antiy 




11,1799; Sidnea Paul, born Third Month 7, 1802; 
John Paul, born Seventh Month 29, 1804; Morris 
Paul, born Eleventh Month 30, 1807 ; Hannah and 
Commings Paul (twins), born Fifth Month 3, 1809; 
Rachel S. Paul, born Third Month 14, 1812 ; Yea- 
mans Paul, born Ninth Month 5, 1814; Tacy Ann 
Paul, born Third Month 28, 1817. 



GILBERT W. ELY. 

Gilbert W. Ely is of English-Irish descent, as his 
grandfather, George Ely, was a native of England, 
and his grandmother, Sarah (McGill) Ely, was a 



1877, always attending strictly to the duties pertain. 
ing to that branch of business, honored and respected 
by his fellow-townsmen and acquaintances, seeking 
neither honor nor profit from any but the hard-earned 
source of an honest farmer's life. He has diligently 
shunned the path leading to political honors, never 
having occupied but two official positions, — a school 
director and a township collector, each for a term of 
three years. He was born and reared in the Society 
of Friends, and is a member of Horsham Monthly 
Meeting. 

He was married. Tenth Month 4, 1828, to Sarah D., 



912 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



daughter of Joshua and Hannah Corson, who was 
born Eighth Month 26, 1808, in Upper Makefield, 
Bucks Co., Pa. Her father and motlier were both 
natives of Bucks County, where her father was born 
in 1780 and died in 1870, and where also his wife died 
in July, 1856, aged seventy-five years. 

Benjamin Corson, grandfather of Mrs. Ely, was 
born in Bucks County, where he died at the age of 
sixty-six years. Sarah Dungan, wife of Benjamin 
Corson, was also a native of Bucks County, where she 
also died at the age of sixty-six years. 

The following are the names of the children and 
grandchildren of George W. and Sarah D. Ely. 

I. Hannah C, born Second Month 1, 1830, married 
George, .son of Naylor Webster, of Horsham town- 
ship. Their children are Joshua C, born First 
Month 20, 1856; and Ella, born Eighth Month 27, 
1857. 

II. Joshua C, born Ninth Month 28, 1833, died 
Sixth Month 1, 1853. 

III. Kebecca Smith, born First Month 29, 1837 
married George S., son of Charles Teas, of Horsham 
township. They have one child, Ellen, born Tenth 
Month 15, 1857. 

IV. William Elwood, born Ninth Month 13, 1842 
married Hannah, daughter of Samuel and Hannah 
Cunard, of Fitzwater township, Bucks Co., Pa. They 
have children, — Francis Edward C, born Third Month 
26, 1867; Bertha Estelle, born Eighth Month 22, 
1868. 

In 1862, William Elwood Ely commenced the study 
of medicine, and graduated in 1864 from the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, and during that year was com- 
missioned as surgeon in the United States army and 
assigned to duty at Fraley Hospital, Washington, 
I). C, and subsequently jdaced in charge of the Sixth 
Veteran Reserves, at Sherburn Barracks. He was 
subsequently transferred to Philadelphia, Pa., and 
assigned to duty in McClellan United States Army 
General Hosjjital, and subsequently ap]iointed exam- 
ining surgeon for General Hancock's corps. Army of 
the Potomac. At the close of the war he returned to 
Fox Chase, where he commenced the practice of 
medicine, practicing in that place and Frankford 
until 1877, when he relinquished the practice of med- 
icine and engaged in the real estate business at North 
Wales, Montgomery Co., Pa., where he now resides. 

V. Anna Louisa, born Third Month 31, 1847, mar- 
ried Israel, son of Robert and Mary Mullins, of Hors- 
ham township. Anna Louisa died Third Month 16, 
1883, leaving three sons, — Howard E., born Tentli 
Month 6, 1874; Clarence, born Eighth Month 3, 1877; 
Wesley, born Seventh Month 8, 1882. 

VI. Adele C, born Second Month 25, 1853, married 
Samuel C, son of Amos and Ascenath Lukens, of 
Pliiladelphia. They have children, — Elsie, born Sec- 
ond Month 24, 1876, died Seventh Month 16, 1876; 
Gilbert E., born Eleventh Month 17, 1877, died Sixth 
Month 1, 1880; Jessie May, born Fifth Month 2, 



1880; Marion, born Twelfth Month 27, 1882; Edward 
S., born Twelfth Month 27, 1883. 



JACOB KIRK. 

I. John Kirk, progenitor of this branch of the 
family of that name in Montgomery County, emigrated 
from Freedtown, Derbyshire, England, in 1687, and 
located in Darby (now Upper Darby), in Dela- 
ware County, Pa., where he purchased five hundred 
acres of land. He was a member of the Friends' 
Society, and was married in the Darby Meeting, the 
same year he located, to Joan, daughter of Peter 
Elliott, and died in 1705. John and Joan Kirk were 
the parents of ten children. 

II. John, the second son of John and Joan Kirk, 
was born the 29th of First Month, 1692. In 1712, 
this John, Jr., purchased from John and Sarah Iron- 
monger two hundred acres of land in Abington town- 
ship, adjoining Upper Dublin township, on which he 
lived the remainder of his life. The price paid tor 
this two hundred acre tract was two hundred and 
sixty pounds. He sulisequently made another pur- 
chase of five hundred acres of land in Up])er Dublin 
township. It appears that he was a stone-mason by 
occupation, and in 1722 built the stone mansion for 
Sir William Keith on the farm now owned by Abel 
Penrose, in Horsham township, and known as Grieme 
Park Mansion. In that year he married, in Abington 
Meeting, Sarah, daughter of Bynear Tyson, the emi- 
grant. John and Sarah Kirk were the jiarents of 
eight children. 

III. Jacob, the fourtli son of John and Sarah Kirk, 
was born 20th of Seventh Month, 1 735. He married, 
in Abington Meeting, in 1760, Elizabeth, daughter of 
John Cleaver, of Bristol townshij), Philadelphia 
Co., Pa. He inherited the homestead, lived to be 
ninety-three years of age, and died in the same house 
where he was born. They were the parents of eight 
children. 

IV. Jacob, the third son of Jacob and Elizabeth 
Kirk, was born the 23d of Ninth Month, 1769, and in 
1792 he married, in Horsham Meeting, Kebecca, 
daughter of Charles and Phebe Iredell, and they be- 
came the parents of eleven chikh-en. His fatlier, 
Jacob Kirk, Sr., divided his farm of two hundred 
acres, and erected new buildings on that part adjoin- 
ing the Welsh road, where the father, mother and 
three of their children ended their days. 

V. Aaron, second son of Jacob and Rebecca Kirk, 
was born in Abington township, Montgomery Co., 
Second Month 2, 1802, and lived on his father's 
farm until he was between fifteen and sixteen years 
of age, when he was apprenticed to Stevenson Croes- 
dale, of Mcchanicsville, then in Byberry townshii?, 
now in the Twenty-third Ward of Philadelphia, to 
learn the trade of a wheelwright. After serving his 
time he worked as a journeyman wheelwright for 
about two years, when by an accident he lost a portion 
of his right arm. He was then engaged for a few years 



HORSHAM TOWNSHIP. 



913 



in the manufacture of lime at Sandy Run, Pa., and 
in 1836 he purchased the farm now occupied by his 
son Jacob, where he lived until the date of his 
death, which occurred March 29, 1877. He married, in 
Byberry Monthly Meeting, Third Month 14, 1833, 
Ann, daughter of Samuel and Rachel Paul, of By- 
berry township, now Twenty-third Ward, Philadel- 
phia; she was born Fifth Month 10, 1807, and died 
Fourth Month 9,1881. 

Their children were as follows: Rachel, born 
Eleventh Month 2, 1835, died Third Month 2, 1837 : 



I Amanda, daughter of Martin and Mar\' K. Bowen, of 
Schuylkill Haven, Schuylkill Co., Pa." The result of 
this union has been, — 
j Ida Genevieve, born First Month, 31, 1866, married 
I Oliver Hazard S. Mourer, of Watsontown, 'Northum- 
berland Co., Pa. They have one child, Cleveland 
: Kirk, born July 13, 1884. 

Mary Ann, born August (i, lS(i7. 
Aaron, born November 6, 1869. 
Carrie Burnham and Emma Elizabeth (twins), born 
; First Month 24, 1876. The first-named died Third 




£te:^ JnjiAyA-^ 



Jacob, born Fourth Month 1, 1838; Edwin, born 
September, 1840 ; Stephen Treadwell, born in Feb- 
ruary, 1842, died Twelfth Jlonth Hi, 1877, aged 
thirty-five years. 

Of the Paul family, Samuel died Fourth Month 8, 
184.5, aged seventy-five years ; Phebe K. Stackhouse 
died Fifth Month 6, 184.5, aged forty-five years and 
three months ; Rachel Paul died Eleventh Month 
27, 1859, aged eighty-four years and four months; 
Hannah A. Martindale died Fourth Month 18, 1874, 
aged forty years. 

VI. Jacob Kirk, eldest son of Aaron and Rachel, 
was married. Eleventh Month 26, 1864, to Mary Ann 
58 



Month 12, 1876, and the last-named died Fifth Month 
10, 1883. 

Mr. Kirk inherited the homestead, containing 
eighty-four acres of lantl, where he still conducts the 
affairs of the farm with that skill and shrewdne.ss that 
places him in the front rank of the progressive farmers 
of Horsham township, if not in the county. 

Unlike many others similarly situated, he yields 
not to the tempting bait of political honors, and re- 
fuses to place himself in a position where his honor 
might be called in question. Religiously he is by 
birthright a Friend, and adheres strictly to the re- 
ligious doctrines expounded by George Fox. 



914 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



THOMAS B. GEATRELL. 

The parents of Mr. Geatrell, George and Ann Geat- 
rell, were both bor;i on the Isle of Wight, England, 
and came to America in July, 1821, in the employ of 
a farmer named Hearn, who then owned the farm 
now owned by the Clayton estate, on the Welsh road, 
Gwynedd township, and about two ye&rs after their ar- 
rival in this country were married, and soon com- 
menced farming on their own account in Gwynedd 
township, where Thomas B. Geatrell, the subject of 
this sketch, was born March 19, 182iJ. His early life 
was spent upon the farm with his parents, and at the 
common or " paid schools " of that period. His father, 



satisfaction of a well-earned reputation for honesty, 
sobriety and fair dealing with his fellow-men. 

Mr. Geatrell has never sought political preferment, 
and is free from the suspicions usually attaching to 
those whose lives are guided by such influences. He 
is a member of the Boehm Reformed Church, at Blue 
Bell, Whitpain township, and 'for many years one of 
its trustees, and since 1878 one of its elders. He was 
one of the original stockholders of the First National 
Bank of Ambler, and has been one of its directors 
from its organization to the present time. 

Mr. Geatrell was married, December 25, 1848, to 
Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Ann Jackson Ash- 




^.^^^-^^ 



in the mean time, had purchased a small farm near 
what is known as the " Broad Axe," in Whitpain 
township, and now owned by the estate of Clement 
Comly. In 1850, Thomas commenced business for 
himself on his father's farm, where he remained but 
one year, when he purchased and moved on to the 
old and well known Iredell farm, in Horsham town- 
ship, where he remained at farming, butchering and 
marketing for the Philadelphia markets until 1870, 
when he retired from the active duties of a large farmer 
and moved to the small place where he now lives, 
in the enjoyment of the fruits of his labors, and the 



ton. Mrs. Geatrell was born May 17, 1828, and was 
the youngest of four children. Her mother died in 
1842, and her father in 1849. The children ofThomas 
B. and Elizabeth Geatrell are George, born Decem- 
ber 8, 1849. He married Carrie Kulp, and now re- 
sides atPenllyn, Gwynedd township. 

Mary, born September H, 1852, and died when nine- 
teen years of age. She vvas the wife of R. Comly Wil- 
son, who now lives near Newtown, Pa. 

Horace A., born August 23, 1860, married Mary 
Smith, and now lives on the old homestead. 

Anna B., born December 13, 1867, married February 



LIMERICK TOWNSHIP. 



915 



26, 1885, to Robert Comly, of Horsham township. 
(reorge Geatrell. the father of Thomas B., died in 
1878. His motlier, Ann Geatrell, is still living, at 
the advanced age of eighty-four years, and to a re- 
markable degree retains all her faculties. They were 
the parents of three children, — Thomas B., Elizabeth 
and Mary. Elizabeth is the mother of George Hoover, 
a prominent lawyer of Norristown, Montgomery Co., 
Pa. 

LUKENS PAUL. 

Lukens Paul is a grandson of Joseph Paul, who was 
born Seventh Month 27, 1739, and died Third Month 
13, 1799. His wife, Hannah Paul, was born Eighth 
Month 3, 1744, and died Twelfth Month 14, 1802. 
They lived for many years on the farm now owned by 
Joseph Paul, in Bucks County, about half a mile from 
what is now known as Davis Grove Post-Office, in 
Horsham township, Montgomery Co. Of their 
early life, or the influence they exerted in moulding 
and fashioning the course pursued by the gener- 
ations that have followed them, we can only judge 
by the fruit grosvn from the original stock, which is 
honest, industrious and law-abiding in every sense of 
the word. 

The children of Joseph and Hannah Paul were 
Sarah, born Fifth Month 7, 1771, and died Eighth 
Month 4, 1812; Sidnea, born Second Month 4, 1773; 
Joshua, born Sixth Month 3, 1774; Hannah, born 
Sixth Month 21, 1781 ; and Yeamans Paul, born 
Fourth Month 5, 1783, and died Ninth Mouth 10, 
1837. 

Yeamans Paul, the youngest child of Jo.seph and 
Hannah, was born on the farm adjoining the one 
above alluded to, now owned by .loseph Paul, where 
he spent his days, and where his children were 
born. His wife was Susan Lukens, who was born 
Seventh Month 18, 1791, and died Fourth Month 27, 
1869. Their children were Lukens Paul, the subject 
of this sketch, who was born Third ]\Ionth 27, 1813, 
and Joseph Paul, born Second Jlonth 1, 1817, and 
died when in his thirty-fourth year. 

The farm on which Lukens Paul was born, adjoin- 
ing Joseph Paul's, is a part of an original tract , 
which contained four hundred and fifty or five hun- 
dred acres; the farm, however, is now held by Eliza- 
beth Ivins. I 

It wa-s on that farm that Mr. Lukens Paul spent ' 
his early life, or until he was twenty-six years of age, 
when he married Hannah S., daughter of Joseph S. 
and Susanna P. Lukens, First Month 31, 1839. He j 
then purchased the farm of one hundred and three 
acres formerly owned by his maternal grandfather, 
Azor Lukens, and at once settled down to the busi- 
ness of a farmer, and thus continued for a period of 
twenty-eight years to be a faithful, honest, industrious 
tiller of the soil, which yielded abundantly under his 
skillful management, and in due time brought him 
a sufficiency of this world's goods that enabled him, in 



1867, to retire from the active duties of an agricultur- 
ist, and now resides upon his fifteen-acre lot, where, 
with his wife, he enjoys the comforts and blessings 
with which they are surrounded and encouraged 
in their journey to the golden gates of the great 
future. Mr. Paul has never held or sought any office 
of a political character, yet is honored with a seat in 
the board of directors of Farmers' Hay-Market Asso- 
ciation, Seventh and Oxford Streets, Philadelphia. 

The children of Lukens and Hannah S. Paul are 
ElwoodPaul, born Seventh Month 30, 1840, married 
Tenth Month 24, 1867, Martha Ellen Shoemaker. 
The result of this union has been two children, 
Harry Elwood and Bertha H. 

Isabella Paul, born Tenth Month 14, 1845, married. 
Fourth Month 8, 1869, to Oliver P. Knight. Their 
children are L. Paul Knight, born Seventh Month 
16, 1870; Joseph Elwood Knight, born Ninth Month 
IS, 1876. 

Joseph S. Lukens, father of Mr. Lukens Paul, was 
born First Month 21, 1786, and died Fifth Month 25, 
1875. His wife, Susanna P. Lukens, died Tenth 
Month 4, 1872, aged seventy-five years and twenty- 
one days. 

Their children are Isaiah ; Hannah S., wife of 
Lukens Paul, born Third Month 14, 1819 ; Joshua P. ; 
Sidnea A. ; Jervis S., died First Month 21, 1861. aged 
thirty-two years, three months, eight days. His wife, 
Ann P. Lukens, died Second Month 18, 1858, aged 
thirty-four years. Sarah Lukens died Eighth Month 
7, 1872, aged thirty-nine years, ten months and ten 
days, unmarried. 



CHAPTER LIX. 
LIMERICK TOWNSHIP.' 

This township is bounded on the northeast by 
Frederick, southeast by Perkiomen and Upper Prov-- 
idence, south by the borough of Royer's Ford, south- 
west by the river Schuylkill, west by Pottsgruve and 
northwest by New Hanover. It is of regular form, its 
greatest length being nearly five miles and its breadth 
four and a half, with an area of about fourteen thou- 
sand acres, and, excepting New Hanover and Lower 
Mcrion, it is the largest township in the county. The 
borough of Royer's Ford, incorporated June 14, 1879, 
was wholly taken from this township, and has in con- 
sequence reduced its territory and population. The 
surface is rolling and in its northern part hilly, where 
the highest elevation is called Stone Hill. For about 
the distance of a mile and a half along the Schuyl- 
kill, betweeen Royer's Ford and Limerick Station, 
there are quite steep hills rising immediately from 

1 By Wni. J. Buck. 



916 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the water's edge to a height of from sixty to one hun- 
dred feet, which are covered principally with small 
pines and bushes. Within this distance are extensive 
quarries of hard I'ed sandstone, the stratification of 
which will admit of being taken out in huge square 
blocks. From Limerick Station up the river for more 
than a mile the land recedes quite gradually. The 
soil along the Schuylkill is fertile and productive, but 
the remainder is a stift' clay. Although among the 
largest townships in extent, its streams are so weak 
that they only furnish power to propel a saw-mill. 
Mingo Creek has its rise near Limerick Square, and 
aftera course of four miles turns into Upper Providence. 
Lodle and Mine Creeks have also their sources in this 
township. Swamp Creek passes for nearly a mile 
through the north corner. There are several smaller 
streams, which, in consequence of being easily affected 
by drought, are of little account. 

Limerick in 1741 contained 58 taxables ; in 1828 
315; and in 1882, 64G. According to the census of 
1800, it contained 999 inhabitants ; in 1840, 178(5 ; and 
in 1880, 2365. In 1882 the real estate and personal 
property was rated at $1,461,545, making the average 
per taxable $2262. The Reading Railroad traverses 
the township its entire breadth on the Schuylkill, a 
distance of about five miles, on which is Royer's Ford 
and Limerick Station. The Reading turnpike crosses 
for five miles through its centre, and the Limerick and 
Colebrookdale pike about three miles. The former 
improvement was completed in 1815 and the latter in 
1855. The villages are Limerick Station, Limerick 
Square, Fruitville and Stone Hill, the first two pos- 
sessing post-otfices. The census of 1850 returned 'il'i 
houses, 403 families and 248 farms. No mention 
whatever is made in the assessments of 1776 and 1785 
of grist or saw-mills, but two tanneries at the last- 
named date. The township elections have been held 
continuously, at least since 1838, at Limerick Square. 
The public schools are twelve, open six months, and 
five hundred and fifty-one scliolars enrolled. 

Limerick Station, the largest village, is situated on 
the Schuylkill, thirty-four miles from Philadelphia. 
It contains about fifiy liouses, a post-oiiiee, several 
stores, a hotel, steam flour-mill, stove and hollow-ware 
works, lumber and coal-yards, steam planing-mill^ 
sasli and door-factory, besides other manufacturing 
establishments and mechanic shops. The post-ottice 
was located here before 1851 as Limerick Bridge; 
changed in 1866 to its present name. This place in 1858 
contained twelve houses. A short distance above the 
village is what is generally called Lawrenceville 
bridge, built in 1849, the name being ap|ilied from 
a place of this name on the opposite side of the river, 
in Chester County. In this vicinity are several fine, 
productive farms. While it possesses the advantages 
of the railroad, the canal passes by on the opposite side 
of theSchuylkill. Application was made by several of 
its residents at June Sessions, 1884, to have the village 
incorporated into a borough, to be called " Linfield." 



Limerick Square is situated nearly in the centre of 
the township, at the junction of the Reading and Cole- 
brookdale turnpikes, twenty-eight miles from Phila- 
delphia.. It contains a post-office, hotel, several stores, 
manufacturing establishments and machine-sliops, and 
about twenty-eight houses. The post-ofliee is called 
Limerick, and was located here before 1830, Dieter Bu- 
cher being at that time postma.ster. The road through 
here was laid out quite early, showing that it was an 
old settlement. Widow Lloyd kept an inn here at the 
forks of the road at least as early as 1758 and down to 
1769. This stand was kept by John Stetler in 1776, 
who was then rated for one hundred acres and keeping 
a servant. It remained still in the name as late as 1792, 
and according to Reading Howell's map, the place in 
consequence was known as "Stetler's." The elections 
have been held here continuously for about half a 
century. In 1858 the villlage contained a store, brick- 
yard, two smith-shops, large steam grist and saw-mill 
and sixteen houses, several being commodious three- 
story brick dwellings. At the lower end of the place 
the Evangelical denomination have a one-story brick 
church, built in 1851. The Colebrookdale turnpike 
was laid on the bed of the Swamp road, opened some 
time before 1758. 

Fruitville is located on the Colebrookdale pike, one 
and a half miles north of Limerick Square, and con- 
taining above fifteen houses, hotel, store, school-house 
and several mechanic shops. Stone Hill is in the 
northern part of the township, near the line of Fred- 
erick, and contains a store, pottery, school-house and 
more than a dozen houses. 

Limerick — so called after a city and county in Ire- 
land — was formed into a township at least as early as 
1722. Matthew Brooke, who evidently then resided 
here, was appointed by the county commissioners, in 
February, 1718, collector of taxes for " Manatawny," 
then embracing a considerable extent of thinly-settled 
territory, thus clearly showing that this township 
could not have been then formed or known by its 
present name. Application was made at June Sessions 
of court, 1726, to have the same recorded on account 
of its having been duly formed several years before as 
"the tow-nship of Limerick." At March Sessions, 
1709, a petition was sent from John Henry Sprogell, 
who then resided below the present Pottstown, and 
also signed by Moume Jones and others, for the lay- 
ing out of a road from Edward Lane's to Manatawny. 
The court accordingly ordered it to be speedily opened, 
and it is the same now known as the Reading road, 
commencing at the Perkiomen Creek. About this 
lime the first settlements were commenced, which by 
1734 had increased to twenty-one residents and land- 
holders, whose names were as follows: Edward Nichols, 
600 acres; John Davy, 300; Enoch Davis, 300; John 
Kendall, 300; Owen Evans, 400; William Evans, 
300; Joseph Barlow, 400 ; Peter Umstead, 250 ; Cliff 
(or Adolph) Pennypacker, 250; Henry Reyner, 100; 
William Woodly, 150; Jonathan Woodly, 300; Wil- 



LIMERICK TOWNSHIP. 



917 



Ham Malsby, 200; Henry Peterson, 200; Peter Peter- 
son, 100; Xicholas Custer, 7; Hironemus Haas, 250 ; 
Lawrence Rinker, 50 ; Stephen Miller, 170 ; Barnaby 
Coiilsou, 50; Martin Koll), 150. 

Among the present land-holders in the township 
are still found some of the descendants of the afore- 
said, bearing the names of Evans, Pennypacker, Bar- 
low, Umstead and Custer. Li the assessment of 1776, 
Henry Yost and John Davis are mentioned as weavers ; 
Peter Gerhart and John Sheet', blacksmiths ; James 
Evans, joiner ; Henry Ford, Conrad Ecklenian and 
Michael Deemer, tailors; Yost Filman, cordwainer; 
and John Stetler and Peter Aichner, inn-keepers. 

(Jlirt'(or Adolph) Pennypacker was the son of Henrv, 
the ancestor of the family, whose wife was Eve, a 
daughter of Peter Umstead. The former was born 
about 1708 and died in May, 1789. As Henry Penny- 
packer resided in this township for some time, it is 
very probable, according to the Penn Papers, that he 
made his purchase here the 3d of First Month, 1719, 
for five hundred acres of land. Li the assessment of 
1770 are found the names of Adolph and John Penny- 
packer. 

John Brooke, with Frances, his wife, and two sons 
(James and Matthew), arrived from Yorkshire, Eng- 
land, in 1699. He had purchased seven hundred and 
fifty acres of William Penn, and on his death his sons 
took up the aforesaid tract in Limerick, on which 
they settled. It occupied the central part of the town- 
ship, to the northwest of Limerick Square, and in- 
cluded the lot and burial-ground on which the old 
church is located, near which the brothers erected 
their buildings. A portion of the stone house built 
by James Brooke in 1714 has been incorporated into 
the modern dwelling-house now owned by Henry W. 
Johnson. Matthew Brooke lived on the place now 
owned by Henry H. Borneman, whose widow built a 
stone house in 1721, which stood till 1835, when it 
was taken down by the father of the present proprie- 
tor. In 1776, M-.tthew Brooke was rated for 350 acres, 
3 negroes, 4 hor.ses and 8 cattle; James Brooke, 160 
acres, 1 negro, 2 horses, 3 cattle, and had sustained a 
loss by fire; Rachel Brooke, 190 acres, 1 horse and 2 
cattle. George Brooke was mentioned as a tenant and 
Benjamin and Thomas Brooke as single men. 

Owen Evans was an early settler, and took up here 
four hundred acres of land. He was appointed a 
justice of the peace in 1732, and continued to hold 
the office until his death. He appears to have been 
a prominent man, and died in 1754, aged fifty-five 
years. In 1776, David Evans was rated as holding 450 
acres and 1 negro ; George Evans, 200 acres ; George 
Evans, Jr., 230 acres, 1 negro, and " maintains his 
mother"; Mordecai Evans, 100 acres; and Samuel 
Evans, a single man. The Evans family has long 
been an influential one in Limerick. Gunner Rambo, 
who was rated for 170 acres, no doubt moved up here 
from near Swedes' Ford. Moses Rambo, mentioned 
as a single man, was probably his son. 



Francis Hobson removed in 1743 from New Garden 
township, Chester Co., into Limerick, on a purchase 
of two hundred and sixty-eight acres of land. 
This tract, in 1748, descended to his son Francis, in 
whose name it is rated, in 1776, as containing two 
hundred and fifty acres. Moses Hob.son, his son, 
inherited the place in 1791 ; thence descended to his 
son Francis in 1831. Frank M. Hobson, of College- 
ville, is a son of the latter. 

Among the early township oflicers here we find 
Matthew Brooke a collector in 1718, and Barnabas 
Coulson in 1742; Jacob Nenteenheltzer, constable in 
1767 ; George Evans, assessor in 1776 ; Peter Eichner, 
collector ; and .Tacob Krous, the same position in 1781. 

Parker's Ford is about a mile above the present 
village of Limerick Station and five miles below the 
borough of Pottstown. The road from here to the 
Trappe is five miles and a half in distance, and was 
laid out at an early period. The laud rises gradually 
from the river, but on the Chester County side is more 
elevated. It was at this place, on the 19th of Sep- 
tember, 1777, where the following incident occurred, 
as mentioned in the journal of the Rev. Henry M. 
Muhlenberg, residing at the Trappe: 

" In the aftarnoob we liad news that the British troops on the other 
side of theSi-huylkill had marched down towards Providence, and with 
a telescope we could see their camp. In consequence of this the Ameri- 
can Army, four miles from ns, forded the Schuylkill breast-high, and 
came upon the Philadelphia road at .-Vugustus Church, His excellency, 
General Washington, was with the troops in person, who marched past 
here to the Perkiomen. The procession lasted the whole-night, and we 
had numerous visits from officers, wet breast-high, who had to march in 
this condition during the whole night, cold and damp as it was, and to 
bear hunger and thirst at the same time." 

The writer visited this place August 19, 1858, on 
purpose to behold the scene of this occurrence. What 
a subject, we thought, for a painting, — the crossing 
of the American army here breast-deep across the 
Schuylkill ! 

Limerick Union Church.— John Brooke obtained 
from William Penn, in 1699, a grant of seven hundred 
acres, which was to be located in one tract beyond the 
Perkiomen Creek. In that year he came to America 
with his sons, James and Mathew, leaving one son, 
Jonathan, in England. He was detained in quaran- 
tine at Gloucester, below Philadelphia, and there died. 
His will bears the date of 25th of Eighth Month, 1699, 
directing that his property should be divided between 
his three sons. James and Mathew Brooke settled 
upon the tract when located, and were among the 
very earliest settlers beyond the Perkiomen. About 
this time the Swedes had made a settlement at Douglas- 
ville and several Germans in New Hanover. A road 
was laid out through the wilds from Germantown to 
the Swedish settlement, and at an early date another 
called Lewis' road, from where the church now stands 
to the Schuylkill at Royer's Ford. 

The settlers soon felt the need of a burial-place, 
and James and Mathew Brooke set apart a piece of 
ground for that purpose at the northwest corner of 
the junction of the two roads. It was measured 



918 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



eighteen rods square, containing two acres and four 
perches of land. The use of this burial-ground was 
allowed to all who would unite in bearing the costs of 
maintaining- its proper inclosure. No deed was given 
at first, but after the death of the grantors, their sons, 
William and George Brooke, made a title in trust to 
the following persons, who were entitled to the right 
of burial there. It is dated July 12, 1738, and is 
to Jonathan Woodley, John Kendall, Robert May, 
William Evans, John David, Peter Peters, Jerome 
\/ Hause, William Maulsby, John Jordon, Henry Couls- 
ton.Jolin Umstadt, Barnabas Coulston, Henry Hoven, 
Nicholas Custer, Peter Umstadt, Claus Brown, David 
Jones, Owen Evans, George Evans, David Evans, 
Henry Coulston, Enoch Davis and Michael Hitter, 
for the consideration of five shillings, to them and 
their heirs forever, subject to a yearly rent of one 
peppercorn, if demanded. 

No house of worship was at that time erected, but 
at an early day a log school-house was built on the 
premises, which was also used for funeral services. 
In 179.3, Christian Borneman purchased of Mathew 
Brooke the farm from which the bnrial-place had 
been taken. The contributors selected one of their 
number to have charge of the location and making 
graves. Jonathan Brooke had this position for 
several years, or until his death, at Philadelphia, of 
yellow fever, in 1798, after which it was devolved on 
Henry Borneman. At what precise date the ground 
was originally set apart for this purpose, is not now 
readily ascertained, but it was near the beginning of 
the last century ; the earliest date on the grave-stones 
is 1732. 

Religious services were occasionally held in the 
school-house by the neighboring pastors, the residents 
of the neighborhood of German descent belonging 
either to the congregations at the Trappe, Pottstown 
or New Hanover. About the year 1807 steps were 
taken to secure the erection of a church. A petition 
was presented to the Legislature for a lottery to raise 
the sum of two thousand dollars for the purpose of 
building a Union Church for the use of the Lutherans, 
German Reformed and the Episcopalians. A charter 
for the lottery was granted February IH, 1808, and 
eight commissioners appointed, but as the enrollment 
tax was not paid, it remained unauthorized. It was not 
until the winter of 1812-13 that active measures were 
taken to carry out the movement. The commissioners 
were Owen Evans, Mathew Brooke, James B. Harris, 
James Evans and John Bailow. Agents were ap- 
pointed and tickets ottered, but after a year's exertions 
not more than one-fourth were disposed of The 
highest prize was five hundred dollars. But the im- 
patience of the holders of tickets led to a partial 
drawing. This was renewed from time to time, until 
at last the lottery was completed, but the repeated 
drawings and delays so increased expenses that only 
about fifteen hundred dollars was realized fo^r the 
church. 



The corner-stone was laid April 17, 1817. The 
ceremony was conducted and the sermon preached by 
Rev. Jacob Miller, of the New Hanover Church, and 
Rev. Levi Bull also took part in the services. John 
Devvalt was master-mason and Frederick Setzler car- 
penter. The walls were erected and roofed in 1817, 
completed during the winter and dedicated on Whit- 
sunday, 1818. At the same time the graveyard was 
enlarged, and on the day of dedication Peter Schaffer, 
8r., was buried in the addition. The cost of the 
church was about two thousand dollars,and there was 
a debt of five hundred dollars. Two congregations 
were organized, the Lutheran and Reformed ; no 
Episcopal, nor was any other use made of their right 
than perhaps to hold an occasional service. 

Of the German Lutheran congregation the first 
pastor was Rev. Henry A. Geissenhainer, from 1818 
to 1821 ; his successors were Rev. Dr. F. W. Geissen- 
hainer, Sr., 1821-23; Dr. Jacob Miller, 182.3-29; 
Conrad Miller, 1829-37; Henry S. Miller, 1837-52; 
George F. Miller, 18.')2-69, except frotn March, 1861, 
to the following April 6th; John Kohler, 1869-74; 
and Rev. Oliver P. Smith, from 1874 to the present 
time. How soon English services were begun by the 
Lutherans is not easy to decide ; it is very probable 
that Rev. Dr. Geissenhainer and his son both preached 
in Engli.sh, at least occa.sionally, as they were capable 
of so doing. Dr. Jacob Miller and his brother Con- 
rad did not preach in English. In 1827, Rev. Jacob 
Wampole became regular pastor of the English por- 
tion of the congregation, which then, or soon after- 
ward, was separately organized. The pastors of the 
English Lutheran congregation were Revs. Jacob 
Wampole, 1827-34; J. W. Richards, 1834-36; Ja- 
cob Wampole, again in 1836-38; Henry S. Miller, 
1838 to May 20, 1852; George F. Miller, 1862 to 
March 31, 1861 ; George Sill, 1862-64 ; John Kohler, 
1864-74 ; succeeded by Oliver P. Smith. At first the 
Lutherans occupied the church one Sunday in four, 
and after the formation of the English organization 
two Sundays in four, usually in the afternoon. The 
pastors of the German Reformed congregation were 
Revs. Jacob William Dechant, 1818-33; H. S. Bassler, 
1833-44 ; Samuel Seibert, 1844-52; N. S. Strassburger, 
1853-62 ; Joseph H. Dubs, 1862-69 ; L. D. Leberman, 
1869-81 ; and C. H. Herbst, from 1882 to ihe present 
time. 

A Union Sunday-school was organized in 1840, and 
soon numbered one hundred and twenty-five scholars. 
No stoves were used in the church for several years, 
and the first was presented by Reuben Trexler, of 
Long Swamp. In the time of the prevalence of bil- 
ious fevers along the Schuylkill, in 1821-24, a hundred 
burials took place. In 1831 the old log school-house 
was torn down and a new one erected on a strip of 
land four by eighteen rods, which was conveyed at 
that time to trustees by Mathew Brooke for school 
purposes for twenty dollars, situated between the 
burial-ground and the Lewis road. In 1834 the debt 



LIMERICK TOWNSHIP. 



919 



on the church was paid off, and the following year it 
was repaired and painted and the yard inclosed. The 
burial-ground was enlarged in 1818, again in 1824, 
and in 1854 a piece ninety-five feet in width and 
twenty-two perches long was added and divided into 
lots, which wereall sold.when another lot was included, 
which now constitutes the present cemeterj'-grounds. 
An organ was built in 1860, for the congregation, by 
Samuel Bohler, of Reading, and dedicated December 
1st. The church erected in 1817 was taken down, and 
a new church, also of stone and rough-cast, was 
erected in 1875, the congregations for the time holding 
services in the school-house. It was completed and 
dedicated the following year. 

The church is situated about half a mile above 
Limerick Square, on the west side of the Reading 
turnpike, and from its elevated position affords from 
the churchyard a fine view of the surrounding . 
country. The oldest stone observed in the grave- 
yard bears the date of 1732, one of 1754 and several 
of 1787. A great many have been buried here, par- 
ticularly of the name of Evans. The most common 
names noticed on the tombstones are those of Evans, 
Shaner, Kraus, Smith, Snell, Missimer, Nettle, Kohl, 
Groff, Klein, Miller, Wagner, Ohristman, Schaffer, 
Barlow, Hallman, Beyer, Boyer, Fox, Geiger, Rover, 
Walt, Mench, Brant, Hunsberger, Grubb, Linderman, 
Johnson, Schwenck, Kendall, Worley and Stetler. 

ASSES.SMENT OF LIMERICK TOWNSHIP FOR 1TT6. 
George Evans, assessor, and Peter Eichner, collector. 
John Kraus, 3.30 acres, 2 horsfs and 3 rows ; Jolin Cunning, 1 c. ; 
Daniel March. 3 h., 5 c. : Edward Nichols' estate, 3i)n a. ; Conrad Yust't. 
estate ; Henry Yast, weaver, I h., 1 c. ; John Davis, weaver, lit5 a., 3 h., 
4 c. ; George Evans, 20n a , 4 h., 4 c. ; Jlordecai Evans, KlOa., 2 h., 4 c. ; 
Congtantine O. Xeal : AVilliani Davis, 190 a., 3 h., 6 c. ; Elijah Davis' 
estate, 100 a. ; David Evans, 450 a., 1 negro, 4 h., 7 c. ; Edward Miller, 

1 h.. 1 c. ; Henry Rorenian, 1 c. ; David Davis, HKI a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Jacob 
Filman, 1 c. ; William St.-vll, 'M a., 2 h.. 2 c. ; James Stall, 120 a., 2 h., 

2 c. ; Jacob Lever, UiO a., 1 h., 1 c. ; Gunner Rambo, 17ri a., 2 h., -t c, ; 
Edward Bolton, '200 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Henry Ford, Taylor, 70 a., 1 h., 2 c. : 
Michael Hinderliter, 1!J0 a., 2 h., 1 c. ; Michael Deemer, tailor. 1 h. 2c. : 
Jacob Longaker's estate : Catherine Hoover. 40 a., 1 c. ; Conrad Baker; 
Jacoti Kraus, 150 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; John Henry, UK) a., 2 li., 2c. : George 
Brant, W a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Jost Felnian, cordwainer, 1 e. ; Michael Jckes, 
150 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Xichulas Kriontz, 150 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; .Vbrahani Kern, 
Michael Coghlei, 1 c. ; Jacob Miller ; Harman Neiman, 170 a., 2 h., 4 c, 
9 children ; Conrad Eckleraan, tailor, 1 c. ; Jacob Brandt, 7S a., 1 h., 

3 c. ; Rachel Brooke, 190 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; George Brooke, 1 h., 1 c. : Jacob 
Layman ; James Brooke, IIKI a., 1 negro, 2 h., 3 c, loss by lire ; Abraham 
I'pdegrave, 1 b., 3 c. ; George Reigner, 200 a., 2 h., 5 c., a cripple ; jVIar- 
garet Reiner, 114 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Benjamin (_'asselberry, 1 c. ; George 
Moyer, 170 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Henry Kough ; Philip Federolf, 127 a., 2 h,, 
3 c. : Mathias Coghler, 1 c. ; -Vdolph Pennebacker, 2.50 a., 2 c. ; Nicholas 
Snider, 200 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; John Pennebacker. 3 h., 3 c. ; Harman I'mstat, 
200 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; John .Schrack, Uto a., 2 h., 2 c. ; John Stetler, inn- 
keeper, 100 a.. 1 servant, I h., 3 c. ; Jonathan Bolton, weaver, 57 a,. 1 h., 
1 c. ; Henry Saler ; Michael Raiwr, 90 a., 2 h., 2 c. : Francis Hooven, 
100 a., 1 h., 2 c.; Daniel Baker, .50a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Christian Shunk, fiO a., 

1 h., 2 c. ; Erasmus Lever, 1"2.5 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Frederick Sower, US a., 

2 h., 3 Qk ; Thomas "Wilburham, cordwainer ; Francis Hobson, 250 a., 
2 h., 4 c. ; Nicholas Cresman, 2tM.»a., 2 h.,4c. ; George Gute, llXla.,1 b., 
2 c. ; John Pinchbeck, 170 a., 1 servant, 2 h., 3 c. ; .\dam Pretzman, 
300 a.. 4 h., 5 c. ; Conrad Boyer,2fH-» a., 2 h., 4 c. ; .lohn I'mstead's estate ; 
John Fry, 178 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; John Miller, tailor, 1 c. ; Jonathan Koster, 
100 a.. 3 b., 4 c. : Henry Kendal ; .\ntbony Harp, 3 h.. 2 c. ; Jlichael 
Bastian's estate, 15i» a. ; John Nagel, 150 a., 1 b., 4 c. ; Charles Holf, 25 
a., 1 c. ; Peter Gerbart, smith, 50 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; John Keeler, 100 a,, 1 h., 



3 c. ; Martin Keeler, 200 a., 1 h., 3 c. ; Frederick Bingerman, 1 c. ; Peter 
Acker, 200 a., 2 h.. 3 c. ; Jacob Winey, 40 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; Samuel Stetler, 
66 a,, 1 h., 1 c. ; Mathew Brooke, 3o0 a., 3 negroes, 4 h., 8 c . an idiot 
son; Peter .\ichner, inn-keeper, 150 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; John Sheef, smith ; 
Valentine Kuntz, KXl a., 2 h.. 3 c. ; John Kecley, 1 h., 1 c. ; Sebastian 
Keeleys estate, 100 a. : .\nthony Bitting, 60 a., 1 h., I c. ; Jacob Bern- 
hart, 100 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Baltzer JIaurer, 1 c. ; Michael Xenteenheltzer, 
78 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Peter Saler, .50 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Godfrey Longbane, 100 a., 
1 h., 2 c. ; Ann Mary Miller, 100 a. ; John Kulb, 1 c. ; Godfrey Saler, 

1 c. ; John Yawn. 100 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Conrad Teesenbacber, 1(X» a., 1 h., 

2 c. ; Jacob Peltz, 118 a., I h., 2 c. ; Daniel Kraus; Conrad Acker, I c. ; 
Adam Kulb, l.V) a., I h., I c. ; James Evans, joioar, 170 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; 
Matthias Koplin, I c. ; George Evans, Jr., 230 a., 1 negro, 2 h., S c, 
maintains his mother ; Hartman Haas, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c, 9 children ; 
David Paul, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. : Abraham Paul, 80 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Michael 
Moyer. KKl a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Jeremiah "Weiser, 100 a., 1 h.. 1 c. ; John 
Heffelfinger, 117 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Frederick Koons, 100 a.. 1 h., 2 c. ; John 
Diteer ; .lohn Cole. 20 a., 1 c. Shujle Men.— Barnabas Hedinger, Chris- 
topher Rimby, Miises Rambo. William Coulston, John Coulston. .\l raham 
Poley, Henry Hooven, Benjamin Brooke, Moses Hobson. .\dam Henry, 
Thomas Brooke, Henry Longbane, Peter Smith, Samuel Evans, Garret 
Ringaman, Henry Neiman,. \dam Harris, Conrad Sheetz, AVilliam Jones. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



THOMAS B. EVANS. 

The Evans family settled in Limerick township 
about the year 1716. William Evans, who emigrated 
from Wales in 1698 and located in Gwynedd town- 
ship, according to family tradition, removed to Limer- 
ick about 1715, though the deed for the lands of his 
family was made to his widow, .\nn Evans, (or Evan), 
is dated January 16, 1716, and was executed by Tobias 
Collett, Daniel Quaro and Henry Gouldney, of Lon- 
don, conveying four hundred acres of land in Limer- 
ick township. A large part of this land has been 
continuously in the possession of the Evans family 
since that date. 

William Evans had three sons, — Owen, George and 
William. Owen Evans, of this number, had three 
sons, — David, Thomas and Benjamin, of whom David 
Evans had one son, Owen, and daughters, — Sarah, 
wife of James Garrett, of Robison township, Berks 
Co., and JIary, wife of Amos Evans, of Limerick. 
By his will, probated in ISnO, he devised the above 
tract of land to his son Owen, who married Rachel, 
daughter of John Brooke, and had five sons, — .lohn, 
David, Matthew, Robert and Thomas. He divided 
his farm into four parts, and gave one part each to 
David, Matthew and Thomas, and the children of 
Robert, then deceased. 

Thomas Brooke Evans was born on the old Evans 
homestead, in Limerick township, in the house now- 
owned by Charles W. Reid, April 21, 1809. He re- 
; ceived ordinary advantages of education, and after- 
■ wards taught school for a brief period. He then 
learned the trade of a tanner, with William Snyder, 
at Falconer's Swamp, and soon after concluding his 
apprenticeship, engaged in the tanning business on 
, his own account in Limerick township, removing to 
I Knauertown, Chester Co., April 1, 1834, where he 



920 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



embarked in the same business. He married Mary 
Ann, daughter of Daniel and Mary (nee Kendall) 
Schwenk, on the 9th of November, 1834, and April 1, 
1838, returned to Limerick township, and the next 
year erected the farm buildings on land allotted to 
him by his father, and now owned by R. Brooke 
Evans. In the fall of that year he removed to the 
farm,remaininguntilMarch28, 18.")H, when he removed 
to a house built by him near Davis's school-hou.se, 
and there remained until his death, December 13, 1863, 
after an illness of more than two years. Mr. Evans 
was a public-spirited citizen. He held the office of 
school director for many years, was jastice of the ! 



justice of the peace, living on the farm in Limerick ; 
Mary Elizabeth, who married Frank Saylor, and re- 
sides in St. Louis, Mo.; Charlotte Evans, who lives 
with her mother in Limerick ; Emma, who married 
Garret E. Brownback, and resides near Limerick 
Station ; Montgomery Evans, lawyer at Norristown ; 
and Zella, whose death occurred a few weeks after 
her father's. Two other children, Frank and Mont- 
gomery, died in youth. 



DAVID EVAN.S. 

The grandfather of the subject of this biographical 
sketch was David Evans, his parents being Owen and 




,^^l^^K2,yr^- ^\r< 



CRyif^ 




peace from 1S41 to 1.S61, clerk for the county com- 
missioners for twenty years, and for tlie directors 
of the poor for about the same period. He was a 
skillful accountant, a careful business man, and held 
many positions of pecuniary trust. 

He was a man of excellent judgment, very tirm in 
his conclusions and accurate and concise in speech. 
Influential in his neighborhood, his opinions were 
regarded with deference Imtb in business and politics. 

The surviving members of Mr. Evans' family ar^ his 
widow, and children, — R. Brooke Evans, a farmer and 



Rachel Evans, all of whom were born and spent their 
lives in Limerick township on the farm part of which 
is occupied by .John Evans. David Evans was born 
in 1802 in Limerick townshi]), where, with the excep- 
tion of a brief period, his whole life was spent* He 
received in youth such advantages of education as 
the primitive schools of the day aflbrded, after which 
his services were required upon the farm, where he 
became proficient in all departments of labor. His 
father having become the owner of a tract of produc- 
tive land in Limerick township embracing four bun- 



LIMERICK TOWNSHIP. 



921 



dred acres, divided it equally among his sons. David 
received his portion and at once began a successful 
career as a farmer. He added to the dimensions of 
this property by purchase, and continued during hi.s 
lifetime to reside upon it. He was married to Phebe, 
daughter of Abner Barlow, of Limerick township, 
and their children were Amos (who died in youth) 
and Rebecca (who married Samuel Kulp and is still 
living in Iowa). He married, a second time, Mrs. 
Susanna Barlow, daughter of John Hollowbush, of 
Limerick township, whose children are Owen, John, 
Emily (deceased) and Anne (who married John Frey 



HENKY S. WALT. 

Mr. Walt is of German descent, his grandfather, 
Henry Walt, having emigrated with his wife, Cath- 
arine, from the Fatherland. Among their children 
was Andrew, who resided in Upper Salford township, 
Montgomery Co., where the major portion of his life 
was spent as a farmer. He married Elizabeth, daughter 
of Abram Schwenk, whose children were Catharine 
(Mrs. Jacob Smith), Elizabeth (Mrs. D. Reifsuyder), 
Abram, Mary (Mrs. George Brandt), Henry S., Sam- 
uel, Fanny (Mrs. Abram Anderson) and Jacob. Henry 
S. Walt was born on the 6th of December. 1806, in 




and is now deceased). Mr. Evans, while assiduous 
in his attention to private interests, found time to 
devote to aftairs involving the public good. He 
was, as a Democrat, chosen to represent his con- 
stituents in the State Legislature, serving during 
the sessions of 1848, 1849 and 1850, and being ap- 
pointed on various important committees. He was 
also a member of the board of directors of the Read- 
ing Turnpike Company. Mr. Evans, during his 
active life, bore a reputation for honor and purity of 
character, which inspired confidence and caused him 
frequently to be appointed to positions of trust, which 
were filled not less with fidelity than with signal 
ability. 

His death, which occurred in December, 1872, was 
sincerely deplored. 



a 



C^OL-^f-lj^ 



Upper Salford township, where he remained until his 
removal to Limerick, at the age of fourteen years. 
His father's death when the l;id was a school-boy 
rendered his educational opportunities very limited, 
and made his presence upon the farm invaluable, 
as the chief dependence of his widowed mother. 
After renting the homestead farm for two years he 
removed to another belonging to his grandfather 
Schwenk in Skippack, Montgomery Co., the land of 
which he cultivated for ten yeai-s. In 1842, desiring 
to be more independent than was possible as a 
renter, he purchased his present home in Limerick 
township. This he cultivated and improved, de- 
voting a period of thirty years to the employments of 
a farmer. 

In the year 1872, having retired from the labor 



922 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and responsibility i ivolved, his son became the 
owner, by purchase, of the property. 

Mr. Walt was, on the 2Gth of March, 1829, married 
to Elizabeth, daughter of Abram Stauffer, of Lim- 
erick tow ship, and has children, — Esther Ann (Mrs. 
Josiah Lvans), Elizabeth {Mrs. Augustus Kehl) 
Matthew, Ann Jemima (Mrs. Jeremiah Krause), 
Henry, Andrew, Sarah Ann, Abram, Mary M. (Mrs. 
B. F. Dismant) and J. Warren. Mr. Walt is a 
Republican in politics, and has served as school 
director of his township. He has for half a century, 



he purchased the farm still held by his family. In 
1834-35 he built the mansion to which, for a number 
of years, his family came out in the summer season, 
and now occupied by his grandson, T. Richard Hood, 
the only living descendant of his name. He called 
this place "Bessie Bell," the name of a small emi- 
nence near his native home. 

He was married, in 1805, to Eliza Forebaugh, who 
was of German descent ; they had twelve children. 

Mr. Hood's health was broken, in 1840, by the 
death of his son, Washington Hood, captain of topo- 




-=7^^^ J f^^^^ 




been identified with St. James' Lutheran Church of 
Limerick, as elder, deacon and treasurer. 



JOHN M'CLELLAN hood. 

John McClellan Hood was born at Newton Stewart, 
County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1778. 

He came to this country in 1799, settled in Phila- 
delphia and was engaged in the wholesale grocery 
business, — the firm of Hood & Hamilton, and after- 
wards Hood & Wilson, 

Leaving the city when the yellow fever prevailed, 
he was so pleased with the beauties of Limerick that 



graphical engineers, who, in the prime of life, con- 
tracted his last illness in the service of the govern- 
ment while laying out the boundaries of the far 
Western States. * 

Mr. Hood died in 1848, an ardent Presbyterian in 
his religious belief He was always strongly attached 
to and proud of his native land. 



DANIEL KENDALL. 

Joseph Kendall, the great-grandfather of Daniel 
Kendall, resided in Philadelphia County. His chil- 
dren were six in number, — John, Joseph, William, 




't •?■ 



JOHN M CLELLAX HOOD. 



LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP. 



923 



aienry, Mrs. Bingaman and Mrs. Koons, of whom | 
j'iseph and Henry settled in Limerick township. 
Heury, who was born in 1751, followed the occupa- 
tions of a farmer in the latter township, and was 
united in marriage to Mrs. Mary Lane Stahl, to whom 
was born one son, Joseph, on the 24th of April, 1789, ; 
at the homestead in Limerick township. The latter 
remained a resident of this township, where he en- 
gaged in farming pursuits during his active life. He 
married, in 180S, Miss Anna March, of the same I 



healthful pursuits of a farmer until 1873, when, after 
a short interval, he made Norristown his residence. 
Mr. Kendall was married, on the 10th of April, 1884, 
to Priscilla J. Heustis, a lady of English parentage. 
In politics Mr. Kendall was formerly a Republican, 
but has recently supported the Prohibition party. 
He has never been an active worker in the political 
field, though frequently a delegate to coimty conven- 
tions. Mr. Kendall's sympathies are with the Pres- 
byterian Church, of which Mrs. Kendall is a member. 




Jjol/1/uJ^ C^^^&tcx£^ 



township, whose children are Mary, deceased, Catha- 
rine (Mrs. A. Hunsberger), Elizabeth (Mrs. David 
Miller), Henry, Joseph, Daniel and Anna. The 
married life of Joseph Kendall and his wife extended 
over a period of nearly sixty years, and all their chil- 
dren, with the exception of the eldest, still stirvive. 
Daniel was born in Limerick on the 8d of January, 
1820, and during his boyhood became a pupil of the 
neighboring school, after which he engaged with his 
father in the labor of the farm, remaining thus oc- 
cupied until the death of the latter, in February, 
1868. Having for some years worked the estate on 
shares, he ultimately became the owner of the home- 
stead by inheritance, and continued to follow the 



CHAPT'ER LX. 



LOWER MERION.i 



This township is bounded on the north and east by 
the Scbuylkill, on the northwest by Upper Merion 
and the borough of West Conshohocken, southeast by 
Philadelphia, and south and southwest by Delaware 
County. Its greatest length is six and a half miles, with 
a width of four miles, embracing an area of fourteen 
thousand five hundred acres. In its situation it is the 
most southerly in the county, and the greatest in ex- 

1 By Wm. J. Buck. 



924 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



tent and population. By the erection of West Con- i 
shohocken into a borough, in 1874, its territory was 
reduced about two hundred and fifty acres. The sur- 
face is generally rolling, the highest elevation being 
near West Conshohocken, rising probably three 
hundred and fifty feet above the Schuylkill, and at the 
cemetery to the rear of Pencoyd two hundred and 
twenty-five feet, the most level portion being in the 
vicinity of Ardmore. The soil is generally a produc- 
tive loam, approaching a stiff clay only in the vicinity 
of Bryn Mawr. Extending through its breadth is a 
belt of serpentine, accompanied by steatite or soap- 
stone, which is quarried on the Schuylkill, a mile 
above Mill Creek. In connection with the aforesaid 
formation, talc, dolomite and some other kinds of stone 
abound. 

The surface of this township is agreeably diversified 
by a number of beautiful streams, thirteen of which 
empty, within its borders, into the Schuylkill. 
Though none are large, yet several furnish valuable 
water-power. So well is Lower Merion watered that 
scarcely a large farm can be found which does not 
contain one or more excellent springs of living water. 
Mill Creek is the largest stream, and lies wholly 
within the limits of the township. It has its source 
near the Green Tree Tavern, on the Gulf road, and is 
a winding, rapid stream, about six miles in length. In 
this distance it receives fourteen small streams, and a 
line of steep hills marks most of its course, but none 
are over one hundred feet above its surface. It was 
noted for its paper-mills before the Revolution. 
Nicholas Scull mentions on it, in 1758, "Roberts' grist 
and paper-mills." In 1858 it propelled the machinery 
of one plaster, two grist and two saw-mills, besides 
eleven manufactories. The Merion Colton-Mill, with 
nine hundred and forty spindles, was propelled by it 
before 1822. Trout Run, a branch of Mill Creek, has 
a course of about two miles, and has received this name 
from the fish found in it from an early period. In the 
south part of the township the east and west branches 
of Indian Creek have their origin ; also a branch of 
Cobb's Creek. Rock Hill Creek and Frog Hollow 
Run are rapid streams, from one to two miles long, 
that empty into the Schuylkill opposite Manayunk. 

As may be well supposed, from its extent and loca- 
tion near a great city, it must possess a considerable 
population and valuable improvements. The census 
of 1800 mentions 1422 inhabitants ; in 1840, 2827 ; 
in 1860, 4423 ; and in 1880, 6287, denoting a rapid in- 
crease. As the township contains about 23 square 
miles, its present population is 270 to the square mile. 
In the asses.sment of 1882, 1508 taxables were returned, 
and 863 horses and 1536 cattle. The real estate is 
valued at $4,566,499, and including the personal $4,- 
848,969, being equivalent to S3212 per taxable, being 
in point of average wealth the ninth in the county. 
In 1883 nine hotels, two restaurants, two confection- 
ery, two dry-goods, three drug, one stove, one grocery, 
one provision, three flour and feed, and fourteen 



general stores were licensed, besides two luiH c 
and two coal-yards. The villages are Ardm\ire, 
IJryn Mawr, Pencoyd, Wynnewood, Academy, Merion, 
Rose Glen, Libertyville and West Manayunk, the 
first seven containing post-offices. Previous to 1880 
there was not a post-ofiice in the township. In 1851 
the number was only two, — General Wayne and Lower 
Merion. The public schools are fourteen in number, 
open ten months, and for the school year ending June 
1, 1882, had an average daily attendance of 538 
pupils. The churches are ten, belonging to seven re- 
ligious denominations, of which the Presbyterians, 
Episcopalians and Methodist Episcopal have each 
two. The census of 1850 returned 613 families, re- 
siding in 588 dwelling-houses, and 195 farms. Ac- 
cording to the census of 1870, this was the only town- 
ship in Pennsylvania where the farm value rated 
above four million dollars. 

The turnpike road leading from Philadelphia to 
Lancaster passes through Lower Merion a distance 
of four and a half miles. It is said to have been the 
first road of the kind constructed in America, and was 
commenced in 1792 and completed within two years 
after that date. It is kept in admirable repair, and 
passes through Ardmore and Bryn Mawr. ThePenn- 
■iylvania Railroad has a course of six miles and four 
tracks, with stations at Overbrook, on the city line, 
Merion, Elm, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford Col- 
lege and Bryn Mawr. This road was opened for travel 
to Columbia in March, 1834, and to Pittsburgh in 1854, 
a distance then of three hundred and ninety-three 
miles. The Reading Railroad follows the Schuylkill 
the entire length of the township, a distance of seven 
and a half miles. It was incorporated in 1833, placed 
under contract the following year and finished in 
1839. Nearly a mile above West Manyunk is Flat 
Rock tunnel, nine hundred and sixty feet in length, 
made through solid rock, at a depth of ninety-five 
feet below the surface. The stations of this road are 
Pencoyd, West Manayunk, Mill Creek (lately changed 
to Rose Glen) and Spring Mill Heights. The Schuyl- 
kill Valley Railroad was opened for travel from the 
city to Manayunk May 12, 1884, a distance of eight 
miles from Broad Street Station. The stations are 
Bala, on the cily line, and West Laurel Hill. It 
crosses the river below West Manayunk on a bridge 
about one-third of a mile long and ninety feet above 
the water. The view afforded to passengers in look- 
ing up or down the valley is grand. The first tele- 
graph line between Philadelphia and Lancaster was 
established through this township in 1850. 

Bryn Mawr is regarded as the most populous place 
in Lower Merion, and is supposed to contain about 
three hundred houses within a radius of a mile of its 
station. Except the older portion on the Lancaster 
pike, it presents to the stranger the appearance 
of a scattered collection of country-seats. That it has 
considerably increased in population may be judged 
from its containing in 1858 only twenty-one houses, 



LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP. 



925 



and being then known as Huraphreysville. It has an 

elevated situation, is nine miles from Philadelphia, 
and adjoins Delaware County. Lancaster and Mont- 
gomery Avenues and the Pennsylvania Railroad pass 
parallel to each other through its whole length, the 
former containing the larger proportion of its build- 
ings. There are, besides, several other streets crossing 
in various directions. For years this vicinity has 
been a noted resort during the summer months for 
boarders from the city, at times estimated as high as 
two thousand. The hotel here is a spacious three- 
story stone building, belonging to a company, standing 
within handsome, inclosed grounds, and stated to 
possess accommodations for five hundred guests. Be- 
tween the hours of six a.m. and midnight twenty- 
seven passenger trains stop daily at the station going 
east and twenty-three west. The mail arrives daily 
three times from the east and departs for the city four 
times. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church of St. Luke 
is a fine one-story Gothic building, with a steeple and 
stained-glass windows, situated at the corner of Mont- 
gomery Avenue and Penu Street, of which the Rev- 
J. D. Martin is pastor. The Presbyterian Church was 
organized in 1873, and a chapel erected of green-stone 
on Montgomery Avenue was dedicated April IG, 1874. 
A parsonage, built of brick, was erected on the church 
lot, and on the 18th of December, 1884, the corner- 
stone of a church edifice was laid. The building is 
to be of stone, sixty-five by sixty-five feet. The Rev. 
William H. Miller was chosen pastor in 1874, and is 
still in charge. The church has a membership of 
about one hundred. Both churches have worship 
twice every Sunday and Sabbath-schools that meet at 
three o'clock p.m. 

Temperance Hall is, a two-story stone building, 
the upper portion of which is used for society pur- 
poses. Here meet the American Star Council, No. 
53, of O. U. A. M., Bryn Mawr Division, No. 10, of 
S. of T., Bryn Mawr Loan and Building Association, 
and Bryn Mawr Cornet Band. Two weekly news- 
papers are issued here, — The News, by Frank A. Hower, 
established July 1, 1881, and the Home News by L. 
A. Black, originally founded by G. Frank Young, 
June 6, 1876. Bryn Mawr in the Welsh signifies the 
great hill, and was the home of Rowland Ellis, a noted 
scholar and minister among Friends, as well as of 
several other early settlers, situated near Dolgelly, the 
chief town of Merioneth. 

Ardmore is on the Lancaster turnpike and Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad, seven miles from Philadelphia, sur- 
rounded by a level country. It contains nearly one 
hundred houses, two hotels, one grocery, two drug 
and three general stores, a Lutheran church, a steam 
planing-mill and shutter and door manufactory, car- 
ried on by Goodman & Brother, and one lumber and 
coal-yard. In Masonic Hall, Cassia Lodge, No. 273, 
F. and A. M., meets ; also Montgomery Chapter, No. 
262, R. A. M. At Odd-Fellows' Hall, Banyan Tree 



Lodge, No. 378, of I. O. O. F. The Lower Merion 
Building and Loan Association meets alternately here 
and at Merion Square. Haverford College, belonging 
to the Orthodox Friends, is only half a mile distant, 
in Delaware County. This village in 1858 contained 
only tw'enty-eight houses ; the census of 1880 gives it 
five hundred and nineteen inhabitants. The " Red 
Lion'' tavern was established here before the Revolu- 
tion, and was kept by John Taylor over a quarter of 
a century, who disposed of it before 1840. Before the 
completion of the railroad it was a noted stopping- 
place for the large teams to the West, as many as fifty 
of them staying at one time overnight. This stand is 
still conducted as a public-house. This village was 
formerly called Athensville, and Cabinet post-office 
was established about 1852, but since changed to 
Ardmore. The Athens Institute and Library Associ- 
ation was incorporated here in 1855, but have lately 
sold their building and dissolved. 

Pencoyd is situated a short distance above the city 
line, on the Reading Railroad and Schuylkill River. 
The village comprises about seventy houses and con- 
tains a post-ofiice, two stores and a hotel. Adjoining, 
to the rear, is West Laurel Hill Cemetery, comprising 
one hundred and ten acres, tastefully laid out into 
winding walks and planted with shrubbery. The 
railroad has a .station here, and steamboats from Fair- 
mount ascend this far up the Schuylkill. The name 
was applied from the extensive rolling-mills here, 
belonging to A. & P. Roberts & Co., established in 
1852, and contains fifteen double puddling furnaces, 
eleven heating furnaces, three forge-hammers, one 
rotary squeezer and four trains of rolls of from twelve 
to twenty-three inches in diameter. The products are 
channel-bars, beams, ties, angle-iron, hammered and 
rolled axles, bar and bridge-iron. The annual capacity 
is twenty thousand net tons, and gives employment to 
upwards of five hundred hands. The tract of land on 
which these works are situated is denoted on Hill's 
"Map of the Environs of Philadelphia," published in 
1809, as belonging to "A. Roberts, Pencoed, 298 acres, 
settled 1684." A member of the firm stated to the 
writer, in September, 1883, that a portion of this land 
has never been out of the family since first taken up 
and settled upon by John Roberts, their ancestor, who 
arrived from Wales two centuries ago. The original 
place of settlement was near by, and a part of the tract 
extended over the line into Philadelphia. Applica- 
tion was made in 1706 for a road from Merion Meet- 
ing-house to the present village, a distance of two and 
a half miles, " where a ferry was to be established.'' 
This, subsequently, was called Rightei's ferry, author- 
ized in 1741. 

West Manayunk is at the mouth of Rock Hill 
or Gully Creek, opposite Manayunk, with which it is 
connected by a bridge over the Schuylkill, built in 
1833. There are here about twenty houses, several 
manufacturing establishments, a railroad-station and 
two stores. The Ashland Paper-Mills, S. A. Rudolph 



926 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



& Son, proprietors, employ about ninety hands in the 
manufacture of printing-paper from rags, wood and 
straw. These works were founded in 1864, and have 
produced as high as three million pounds of paper 
per annum. It is driven by three steam-engines, 
whose aggregate is two hundred and fifty horse-power, 
propelling Dixon's patent straw and wood digester, 
two pulp-dressers and seven paper-machines. Near 
by, up the creek, arc the woolen-mills of Mason Scho- 
field and of John & James Dobson. The latter 
were not in operation in the fall of 1883. Here, in 
1858, Samuel Grant, Jr., & Co., carried on the Ash- 
land Dye-Mills, and not far otf, at that date, were Isaac 
Wetherill's cotton-factory and Grimrod's grist-mill. 
A "Directory of 1850 " mentions in the township at 
that time S. Croft's brass-rolling mill, W. Chadwick's, 
S. L. Robeson's, J. Shaw's and J. Elliott's cotton manu- 
factories, W. H. Todd's woolen-mill and A.S. Nippes' 
rifle manufactory. 

Merion Square is located nearly in the centre of the 
township, at the intersection of several roads, and 
contains about thirty-five houses, two stores, two 
churches, school-house, several mechanic shops, and 
according to the census of 1880, two hundred and 
seven inhabitants. The post-office is called Lower 
Merion. The Methodist Episcopal Church was built 
before 1858, of which the Rev. A. W. Prettyman is 
the present pastor. The Presbyterian Church was 
built in 1877 ; is in charge of Rev. A. W. Long. Both 
have services twice every Sabbath and Sunday- 
schools attached. The Odd-Fellows' Hall is occupied 
by Merion Lodge, No. 210, of I. O. O. F., and Mont- 
gomery Encampment, No. 115. Merion Square Di- 
vision, No. 128, S. of T., also meet in the latter build- 
ing. This village in 1858 contained tweuly-six 
dwellings. 

Libertyville is a mile northeast of Ardmore on the 
old Lancaster road ; contains nine houses, two stores 
and a wheelright aud blacksmith-shop. 

Wyunewood, where a post-office has been estab- 
lished, is about three-fourths of a mile below Ardmore. 
The station and grounds are neatly kept. Fine 
country-seats abound in this vicinity. The name has 
been applied from the residence of the late Hon. Owen 
Jones, which is so denoted on Hill'.s map of 1800, as 
handed down from the first settlement. 

Academyville is a mile southwest of West Mana- 
yunk ; contains about ten houses. Lower Merion 
Academy, which had its origin in motives of benev- 
olence, is located here. In 1810, Jacob Jones de- 
vised a tract of land in charge of trustees, with a 
sum of money, to which was added other bequests 
" to be applied to the hiring or employing a tutor or 
tutors for as many poor and orphan children of both 
sexes living in the township as the issue and profits 
of said sum would allow." The trustees, therefore, 
erected a large building in 1812, which was opened as 
a boarding and day-school the following year. Keep- 
ing boarders was soon abandoned and the day-school 



alone continued, which was then styled the Lower 
Merion Benevolent Institution. In 18.3G the school 
was merged into and called a free school, and as such 
has ever since been continued. It is still controlled 
by trustees, in accordance with the requirements of 
the bequest, and has thus received its present name. 

The General Wayne is the name of an inn on the 
old Lancaster road, said to have been so called in 
consequence of that officer having encamped here 
with his command, probably in 1792, on his western 
expedition against the Indians. This inn was kept 
in 1S0() by Titus Yerkes, and is noted on Hill's map 
of 18(19. It was kept by Major William Matheys in 
1824, and by David Young in 1838, in whose family 
it has remained until the fall of 1883. The elections 
of the whole township were continuously held here 
from 1806 until 1867, — a period of sixty-one years. 
The elections of the Lower District are still retained 
here. Before 1851 a post-office was established with 
this name, perhaps the first in Lower Merion, but it 
has recently been removed and its name changed to 
Academy. A plank-road for two tracks was made 
from here to West Philadelphia in 1855, but has been 
for some time worn out. The old Friends' Meeting- 
house here denotes a very old settlement, prob- 
ably the village of Merioneth, mentioned by Gabriel 
Thomas, in his "Account of Pennsylvania," published 
in 1696. Most probably from its being on the old Lan- 
caster road, the same is called Merion by Lewis 
Evans on his map of 1749. It contains, besides the 
hotel and meeting-house, some five or six houses and 
a smith-shop. Near this is Belmont Driving and 
Race-Course, containing a one-mile track, eighty feet 
wide between the railing, begun in 1876. 

Flat Rock is about a mile above West Manayunk, 
and is a place abounding in interesting scenery and 
liistorical associations. Owing to the contracted and 
rocky channel of the river for half a mile, it is wonder- 
ful that persons in canoes and boats could venture to 
pass in safety, as we know they did before the con- 
struction of the canal, in 1818. The name is de- 
rived from a bed of huge rocks extending across the 
river. At this spot a bridge was built in 1810, which 
was the first that spanned the Schuylkill within the 
limits of Montgomery County. In 1824, while several 
teams were crossing, loaded with marble, it gave 
way. On being repaired by the contractor, Lewis 
Wernwag, and requiring but two days for its comple- 
tion, the river, rose thirteen feet during July 29th of 
that year, bringing down a great quantity of logs, 
trees, boats and drift-wood, which swept nearly the 
whole of the structure away, occasioning a serious 
and heavy loss to the builder. However, by Sep- 
tember 10th he finished it to the satisfaction of 
the managers. In consequence of a great fresliet, 
September 2, 1850, the Conshohocken bridge, four 
miles above, was swept away, and came down with 
such force as to take this bridge entirely away, and 
it has not since been rebuilt. What helped to 



LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP. 



927 



heighten the catastrophe was the holding of the Con- 
shohocken bridge firmly together by the railroad 
track that had been laid across it. From the western 
abutment of the bridge, which still remains by the 
road-side, a splendid view is obtained in a northwest- 
erly direction of the falls of Flat Rock dam and of the 
Schuylkill for the distance of three miles. Near by is 
Duck Island, covered with numerous willows, and it is a 
favorite resort of wild fowl. This is supposed to be 
the " Beaver Island," mentioned in the Upland court 
records of 1677 as being in the Schuylkill ; if so, it 
must have been formerly the abode of this animal. 
Flat Rock dam was constructed about half a mile 
above the site of the bridge by the Navigation Com- 
pany, and was the means of furnishing much valuable 
water-power to the manufactories in Manayunk. By 
its raising the water above and thus by reducing his 
water-power from sixteen feet to about twenty inches, a 
heavy loss was caused to John Shoburu, who was una- 
ble, in consequence, to continue the running of his cot- 
ton-mill, near the mouth of Mill Creek. A copper-plate 
engraving of this dam and adjacent scenery was pub- 
lished in Philadelphia in 1828, showing its attractive 
features, a reduced copy of which may be seen in the 
chapter on the Schuylkill. A writer of the time in 
speakingof Flat Rock, refers to it as "a spot, a few years 
ago, where the rambler was invited only by its singu- 
larly wild and romantic beauties." James Mease in 
his" Picture of'Philadelphia," published in 1811, recom- 
mends it as well worth a visit. Just half-way between 
the site of the old bridge and the dam is the Flat 
Rock tunnel of the Reading Railroad, nearly cue 
hundred feet below the surface of the hill. 

The mouth of Mill Creek is also an interesting 
place for visitors, being only half a mile above the 
falls of Flat Rock dam. The highway and the rail- 
road pass over the stream by two bridges nearly ad- 
joining, and twenty feet above the water. Near by is 
a beautiful small island in the Schuylkill, which is 
quite a feature in the scenery, containing about half 
an acre, covered with buttonwood aud willow-trees. 
From here up and by the side of the creek for a 
quarter of a mile to the paper mill is a good, level 
road, beautifully shaded, which with the surrounding 
scenery, makes a very attractive walk. The station 
here, so long called Mill Creek, has recently been 
changed to Rose Glen, and a post-oilice established in 
July, 1884, with Robert Chadwick, postmaster. A 
boat-ferry for the conveyance of passengers to Shaw- 
mont, on the opposite side of the river, has existed 
above twenty-five years. 

West Laurel Hill Cemetery is situated half a mile 
northwest of the city line, and immediately to the rear 
of Pencoyd, which is opposite Manayunk. The com- 
pany was incorporated in 1869, when for the purpose 
two adjoining estates and part of another were 
secured, containing in all one hundred and ten acres 
The choice is stated to have been the result of a care- 
ful examination of the entire vicinity of Philadelphia. 



Its surface is rolling and variegated, the highest point 
being two hundred and twenty-five feet above the 
waters of the Schuylkill. From it a fine view is 
afforded, particularly in a north and west direction. 
Since in their possession extensive improvements 
have been made to adapt it to the purposes for which 
it is intended. Numerous winding walks have been 
tastefully laid out and planted with shrubbery, neat 
buildings erected, as dwellings, lodge, receiving vault, 
stabling and sheds. Numerous monuments have been 
reared to the memory of the dead, the interments 
having reached in September, 1883, nineteen hundred. 
Two stations adjoin the grounds, one at Pencoyd be- 
longing to the Reading Railroad, the other on the 
.Schuylkill Valley road. The latter road has been in 
operation since May, 1884, and the station is called 
West Laurel Hill. The cemetery is only four miles 
distantfrom Market Street bridge, and Belmont Avenue 
leads directly to the place. The office of the company 
is at No. 115 South Fifth Street. 

In the northern part of Bryn Mawr, beside the New 
Gulf road, buildings have been erected for a female 
collese, to be in charge of the Orthodox Friends. For 
this purpose Dr. Joseph W. Taylor, of Burlington, 
N. J., who died January 18, 1880, aged seventy years, 
left a handsome bequest. He had purchased here 
thirty-seven acres and had commenced the improve- 
ments a short time before his death, under the super- 
intendence of George W. Ott, who is still retained in 
charge. In June, 1884, Taylor Hall was nearly com- 
pleted, it being built of granite from Port Deposit, Md. 
It is one hundred and thirty feet long and about sixty 
feet in average width, with a square tower one hundred 
and thirly feet in height. Tlie other will be called 
Merion Hall, aud is one hundred and seventy-five feet 
long by forty-six in width. Taylor Hall is designed 
for instruction while Merion Hall will be used for 
dormitories and household purposes. Both are sub- 
stantially built of dressed stone and threestorieshigh, 
after designs by Addison Hutton, the architect. It is 
intended to have the buildings finished by March 
1, 1885, and that the in.stitution shall be ready for 
students in the following September. The amount 
left by Dr. Taylor was about eight hundred thousand 
dollars, of which a considerable portion is invested 
and the income only applied to its use. Dr. .lames 
E. Rhodes, of Philadelphia, who was named in the 
will as one of the trustees, was elected president of 
the board in March, 1884. He has been a physician in 
Germantowu for some time, and is no w a minister among 
Friends and senior editor of the Friends' Review. 
Mathew Carey Thomas, of Baltimore, has been se- 
lected dean of the faculty and professor of English. 
It is intended to adopt and maintain a standard of 
admission and in.struction equal to the best male 
colleges in the country. Dr. Taylor had been con- 
nected with the Haverford College, for boys, which is 
only a mile distant, and thus, no doubt, was induced to 
erect here also a somewhat similar institution for girls. 



930 



IIISTOIiY OV MONTGOMEKY COUiNTY. 



liiiiiHi'ir ii, " |]riic.Lil,ii)iii'f 1)1' pliybii'k," inul M|p]puiiil,s 
Thoiiiiii Lloyd anil (irillilli Owen his cxuciiLors. lie 
<liiMl KJlli of l''ir.st MdmIIi, 1(11)2, iuid wiiM inlerrcd in 
Friends' bury inj; -ground, ill riiiliidclidiia. His re»i- 
deiicc was on tlio site now occupied by the mansion 
of llm lati! (Jolonel Owon Jonea, which lias lluis led 
to the origin and perpetuation ol'tlu' name of Wynne- 
wood. 

'i'hi; liohcrls lainily is also an early one, and has 
done much to advance the |(ros])erity of the township, 
and iirobably has not been surpassed in energy by 
any other of Welsh origin in the county. .John 
Itoherisi'ame J'rom reunychlawd, Denbighshire, North 
Wales, and settled on a tract of two hundred and fifty 
acres, in l(i8.'{, that he had purchased from .lolin aj) 
John and 'I'liomas Wynne. lie was married to 
tJainor, the daughter of Robert I'ugh, of Merioneth- 
shire, by occupation u niill-wright, and is supposed to 
huvi^ enH'.led the third mill in the province. This was 
near the i)rescnt village of I'encoyd, which has re- 
ceived ils name from the i)laceof his nativity. A portion 
of tliis tract has never been out of the family. 
.loliM Roberts, who carried on a grist-mill and twopa- 
per-mills on Mill Creek, before 1758, was his descend- 
ant; also the late Jonathan Roberts, of Upper Merion, 
United States Senator, Algernon S. and Percival 
lloberls, the founders and proprietors of the extensive 
Pencoyd Iron-Works, and (icorge H. Roberts, jiresi- 
dent of the I'cmisylvauia Railroad Company, who 
resides on his ancestral acres in lliis township. On 
the list of 17IW six of the nami^ are mentioned as re- 
siding in Lower Merion. Hugh Roberts came from 
Llanvrawr, in Merionethshire, where he had sud'ercd 
much for his religious principles previous to his re- 
moval to Pennsylvania. He was a minister anu)ng 
Friends, and visited their meetings in Maryland and 
New lilnglund, and made two journeys on this account 
to (^<reat Rritain. On his return from the latter country 
in .Inly, l)!i)8, he was aeiompanied by a number of 
immigrants from North Wales, whom he had encour- 
aged to couu'. HeforethebuildingoI'Merion Meeting- 
house meetings were frequently held at his house, 
as shown by the records of Radnor Monthly Meet- 
ing as early, at least, as in Fourth Month, 1684. 
He died 18(h of Sixth Month, 1702, and was interred 
in Merion burying-ground. On the assessor's list for 
1780 we find the names of Algernon Roberts, rated for 
22-1 acres; Joseph Rolierts, I'lO; II ngli Roberts, l.'iO ; 
and John Roberta, r>() acres. 

Rowland Kills was a native of Hryn Mawr, near 
Dolgelly, Merionethshire. He arrived in 168G, bring- 
ing with him his eldest son, Rowland, then a boy. The 
sliip brought besides about one humlretl passengers 
iVom North Wales. After remaining here about 
nine months he returned, leaving his son with his 
uncle, John Humphrey. In l(>i)7 he came back, bring- 
ing his family, besides a considerable number of his 
countrymen. He was a distinguished scholar, and 
for the Welsh he performed the imjiortant duties of a 



translator and irUerpreter. He was commissioned a 
justice of the ])eace for Merion in 1707, continued 
one for many years, and also holding the oflice of 
county commi.ssioner. He was the original settler 
on Charles Thomson's property, now belonging to 
Naomi Morris. In 1720 he removed to Plymouth 
township, where he soon after translated from the 
Welsh Kills Pugh's "Salutation to the liri tains," which 
was [irinled by S. Keimer, (d' Philadelphia, in 1727, in 
a duodecimo of two hundred and twenty-two pages. 
While on a visit to his son-in-law, .John Kvans, in 
tiwyncdd, in 1729, he was taken suddenly ill, and thus 
happened to die there in his eightieth year. A memo- 
rial concerning him was ])ublislied by the Kriends 
in 1787. 

Benjamin Humphrey came over in 1(18;', wasa use- 
ful man in the settlement, and was widely known for 
his hospitality, particularly to the newly-arrived immi- 
grants. He died November 4, 1737, aged seventy-six 
years. David Humphrey was commissioned one of 
the judges of the County Courts Novcnd)er 22, 1738. 
lii the list of 1734 are found the names of Benjamin 
and .lohu Humphrey, and of 1780, Thomas Hum- 
phrey. It was from members of this family that 
Humphreysville received its name. Edward Edwards 
purchased of William Penn, in England, two hundred 
and fifty acres, which he located here and settled 
upon, and he was still living in 1734. Robert 
Owen came from Wales in 1090. He was a minister, 
and traveled much on this account, both in his native 
country and in America. He died in July, 1697, and 
was interred at Merion Meeting-house. Benjamin East- 
burn, who is mentioned in the list of 1734 as a resi- 
dent here, in 1722 married .Vnn Thomas, of Abington. 
Ho was apjiointeil to succeed Jacob Taylor as sur- 
veyor-general October 29, 1733, and continued in 
that office till or near his death, his successor 
being William Parsons, who was commissioned 
August 2'2, 1741. The part that he performed in the 
"Indian Walk" was not creditable. In his map 
thereof he has done his utmost to conceal and 
cover the transaction. With all his subserviency to 
the interests of Thomas Penn, the latter reflects 
severely on his character as may be seen in the Penn 
nuinuscri|)ts. Griffith Llcwcllen w.is commissioned a 
justice of the County Courts in April, 1744, and con- 
tinued in the olfice for a number of years. 

Wo herewith present a list of the land-holders and 
tenants residing in Lower Merion in 1734, copied 
from the original manu.script prepared by the consta- 
ble for Thomas Penn. It contains iifty-two names, 
and to their descendants cannot fail to prove inter- 
esting. Excepting about four or five names, the 
balance are probably all Welsh, which will show how 
extensively they were the origiiuU settlers here: John 
(son of Mathias) Roberts, Hugh Evans, Robert Jones, 
Robert Roberts, Robert Evan, Rces Price, Edward 
.Jones, Abel Thomas, Benjamin Eastburn, Jonathan 
Jones, William llaward, Richard Hughs, Morris 



z 

z 

, o 
• c 

D 




LOWER MEllION TOWNSHIP. 



931 



Lewelleu, Benjamin Humphrey, John Humphrey, 

Joseph Williams, Rees Thomas, William Thomas, 
Peter Jones, Humphrey Jones, John Grifiith, Catha- 
rine Pugh, Rees Phillij), Joseph Tucker, James John, 
Thomas John, John Lloyd, Giutfith Lewellen, Robert 
Roberts, David Jones, William Walton, David Davis, 
Joseph Roberts, John Roberts, David Price, Issachar 
Price, David Price, Jr., Lewis Lloyd, John David, 
Robert (son of Peter) Jones, Thomas David, John 
Evans, Eleanor Bevan, Owen Jones' plantation, Evan 
Harry, Nicholas Rapy, John Roberts (carpenter), 
Evan Rees, Samuel Jordan, James Dodmead, Edward 
Edwards and Garret Jones. The list of 1780 shows a 
reduction to about thirty-five Welsh surnames out of 
a total of one hundred and eighty-five, at that date 
but little surpassing the German element. A study of 
Hopkins' farm map of the township, published in 
1877, shows a great falling off here of the nationality 
that for the first half-century of settlement were 
so largely dominant. John Oldmixon, in a visit here 
in 1708, mentions the Welsh and their tract as " very 
populous, and the people are very industrious; by 
which means it is better cleared than any other part 
of the county. The inhabitants have many fine 
plantations of corn and breed abundance of cattle, 
insomuch that they are looked upon to be as thriving 
and wealthy as any in the province." 

During the Revolution, particularly while the 
British held possession of Philadelphia, from Septem- 
ber, 1777, to June, 1778, the inhabitants of Lower 
Merion, in consequence of their nearness, suffered 
severely from the raids of the enemy. Though no 
striking events of interest occurred here during the 
exciting struggle, yet it was compelled to bear some 
of the trials. Shortly after their departure an assessor 
was appointed to value the damages, which amounted 
to £3212, or $8565 of our present currency. Michael 
Smith was the heaviest loser, to the extent of £451. 
During this period twenty-nine persons stood attainted 
with treason within the present limits of the county, 
yet only one of the number was a resident of Lower 
Merion, thus showing that the mass of the people 
here must have been generally disposed to independ- 
ence. 

From the township assessment of 1780, as returned 
by Israel Jones, the assessor, we derive some interest- 
ing information. John Righter is mentioned as hold- 
ing a grist-mill and one hundred acres; Catharine 
Zolly, grist-mill and fiity-two acres ; Anthony Lever- 
ing, grist and saw-mill and one hundred and fourteen 
acres; John Jones, saw-mill ; Catharine Scheetz, two 
paper-mills and one hundred acres; Frederick Bick- 
ing, paper-mill and two hundred acres ; Jacob New- 
house, paper-mill and filty-two acres; Benjamin 
Scheetz, Daniel Clans, Simon Claus, George Handbolt 
and Jacob Nagle, paper-makers; Daniel Burrell, oil- 
mill; William Stadleman, Abraham Streeper and 
David Briggs, inn-keepers ; Samuel Horten, Jonathan 
Robeson, Thomas Humphrey and Jesse Thomas, 



smiths ; Lewis Thomas and John Whiteman, wheel- 
wrights; John White, millwright; Robert Elliott, John 
Young, Thomas Robeson, Michael Kline and Henry 
Shulster, weavers; Robert Holland, tanner; John 
Robeson, clergyman; John Evans and Isaac Lewis, 
tailors ; John Smith, mason ; Joseph Smith, Jacob 
Coleman, Rudolph Latch, James Nussel, shoemakers ; 
Daniel Briggs, Philip Pritner, Robert Elliott, Hugh 
Jones, Isaac Taylor, Frederick Bicking, Benjamin 
Scheetz, John Price, holding negroes, the first two 
having two each. The assessment of 1785 mentions 
5 grist-mills, 4 saw-mills, 5 paper-mills, 2 tan- yards, 4 
taverns, 245 horses, 298 cattle and 7 negroes, the 
latter number showing a decrease of three slaves in 
five years. 

Charles Thomson, secretary of Congress, was long a 
resident of Lower Merion, where he died August 16, 
1824, at the advanced age of ninety-four. He was a 
native of Ireland, and came to America in 1741, in com- 
pany with his three elder brothers. He first taught 
school and early formed the acquaintance of Dr. Frank- 
lin. At the first meeting of Congress, in 1774, he was 
called to keep the minutes of their proceedings, and 
was continued secretary till 1789, when he resigned. 
He married Hannah, the only child of Richard Har- 
rison, who had died in 1747. Her mother was the 
daughter of Isaac Norris and a granddaughter of 
Governor Thomas Lloyd. Mrs. Thomson was an 
heiress, by whom he acquired a considerable estate, 
taxed in 1780 for seven hundred and fifty acres, and 
extending southward nearly to the present Bryn Mawr. 
His wjfe having died September 6, 1806, in his will, 
made a short time before his death, he bequeathed the 
whole estate to his nephew and executor, John Thom- 
son, of New Castle, subject to the maintenance of his 
aged sister, Mary Thomson, " during the term of her 
natural life." The greater part of the estate in 1858 
was owned by Levi Morris, who was then rated for 
five hundred and ninety-six acres. The estate is now 
held by Mrs. Naomi Morris, and is decidedly the most 
extensive tract owned by any one person in the town- 
ship. The mansion occupied by Charles Thomson 
has been carefully preserved, being a substantial, 
plain, two-story stone house in the prevailing style of 
the period in which it was erected. 

On the Harrison estate, and about half a mile north 
of Bryn Mawr, is the cemetery of the Harrison family. 
It is in a secluded situation, being surrounded by 
woods, and not readily found by a stranger. It is in- 
closed by a substantial wall, whose dimensions are 
about ninety by forty-five feet. A stone in the inclo- 
sure states that " it is opposite the division between 
two rows of family graves, wherein are interred Rich- 
ard Harrison, died March 2, 1747, and a number of 
his descendants; also Charles Thomson, Secretary of 
Continental Congress," and Hannah, his wife. 
"Wherein are interred" the remains of Charles 
Thomson, looks very much like an intentional mis- 
take. He is buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery, his 



932 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



remains having been removed from here several years 
after his deatli, contrary to the expressed injunction 
of his will, dated January 29, 1822, on file at Norris- 
town, which states, near its beginning, " and first I 
desire to be buried in the old Burying-ground at Har- 
rington,'' meaning, it is natural to suppose, where his 
wife had been buried more than fifteen years pre- 
viously. Hence we do not wonder that it made some 
excitement, and was the occasion of several pamphlets. 
Henry Woodman,^ of Buckingham, a respected 
minister of Friends, visited this cemetery in 1858 and 
wrote an account thereof, published at the time, 
wherein he states that there was a stoue here at that 
date, in the wall, with this inscription, — 

" In memory uf Ricli.ir<l Harrison, the founder of this cemetery, wlio 
departed this life the second day of the First month, 1747, in the 78th 
year of his age. lie, with his wife and children, are buried here, some 
of whom had died previously, and some subsequently to his death. Be- 
ing members of the Society of Friends, no monuments were placed to 
mark their final resting-place. This stone is erected near the centre of 
them, to pel-petuate their memory, in 1844." 

It is apparent that the latter stone must have been 
since removed and the former one inserted. In the 
enlarged part are more recent stones, with inscriptions 
denoting the surnames of some six or seven families. 

Few townships in the county possess better roads 
than Lower Merion. Of late years great quantities of 
cinder have been hauled and placed on them from the 
WestConshohocken furnaces, which, when worn down, 
make excellent and smooth roads, as maybe witnessed 
on the Township Line road, extending southwestward 
from the latter place to Merion Square. Pains have 
also been taken to have them well grtided and of good 
width, which tends greatly to improve the appearance 
of the country through which they pass. The Haver- 
ford road is probably the oldest in the township, hav- 
ing been laid out in 1703 as a public highway from 
near Haverford Meeting-house to Philadelphia. It 
enters Lower Merion a trifle over half a mile south of 
Ardmore, and proceeds directly on about a mile and 
a half across the southern corner of the township. 
The road from the meeting-house to Powell's ferry 
was confirmed in June, 1704. Report of a survey for 
a road from Merion to Radnor was confirmed in March, 
1713. The road from Lancaster to the Schuylkill, at 
High Street ferry, was laid out November 23, 1741, 
and is now known as the old Lancaster road, passing 
through the township a distance of about six miles, 
and the villages of Merionville, General Wayne, Lib- 
ertyville, Ardmore and Bryn Mawr. This road is 
noted on Scull & Heap's map of 1750. Below the 
meeting-house is mentioned " GriflSth's " and " Tunis," 
on opposite sides, and " Evans' " about a mile in an 
easterly direction. On the making of the turnpike, in 
1792, this road was considerably straightened, and in 
consequence but a very small portion of the original 



1 Author of a " History of Valley Forge" and other papera of local 
interest ; died in December, 24, 1879, aged eighty-four years. Personally 
well known to the writer. 



road through this township was used fur the purpose. 
The Gulf road was another early and important high- 
way, noted on Lewis Evans' map of 1749 as extend- 
ing from Valley Forge to the Lancaster road, a short 
distance above Ardmore. This road is noted for hav- 
ing on the east side of its course the " Penn mile- 
stones," called so from having on the rear side the 
three balls or platters of the Penn coat-of-arms. 
They appear to be soapstone, and are generally above 
the ground about three and a half feet, bearing on 
the front merely the figures denoting the distance in 
miles from Philadelphia, — as, for instance, between 
Bryn Mawr and the Upper Merion line are two, bear- 
ing respectively "12" and "13." It is remarkable 
that these should have been only placed along this 
road. When and by whom placed and who bore the 
expense are matters for conjecture. In 1766 a petition 
was sent to the Court of Quarter Sessions praying for 
a road from John Roberts' mill " to Rees Ap Edward's 
Ford, on the river Schuylkill, for the transportation 
of lime and other necessaries across said ford, for the 
convenience of the public." This probably is the 
present Mill Creek road, and consequently this ford 
must have been in the vicinity of the mouth of the 
stream, thus indicating the necessity of bringing lime 
from Whitemarsh and Plymouth. At March Sessions, 
1785, Anthony Levering made application for a road 
from Levering's Ford, on the Schuylkill, by his mill, to 
the Lancaster road, on the north side of Merion Meet- 
ing-house. The court appointed commissioners to 
lay out the road, which was ordered to be opened. 
This is evidently the highway commencing at the 
mouth of the stream at the lower part of West Man- 
ayunk, and thence proceeding through Academyville, 
by Belmont Race-Course to the meeting-house. It waa 
one of the first applications granted for a new road 
after the organization of the present county. The 
overseers of the highways in 1767 were Robert Jones 
and Stephen Goodman ; in 1785, William Stadleman 
and John Jones ; and in 1810, Louis Knox and Peter 
Pechan. 

Prior to the Revolution those persons in the town- 
ship that were entitled to vote were obliged to go 
to the State-House, in Philadelphia. In 1778 the 
elections for this district were ordered to be .held in 
Germantown, and from thence, in 1785, removed to 
the court-house in Norristown. By an act of Assembly 
passed on March 31, 1806, Lower Merion became the 
Ninth District in the county, and elections were required 
to be held at the General Wayne, and remained there 
until 1867, when a division was made into the Upper 
and Lower Districts. Through the increase of popula- 
tion, the court confirmed, June 3, 1878, the division 
of the LowerDistrict into East Lower and Lower Dis- 
tricts, the elections for the former to be held at West 
Manayunk, and for the latter to continue at the General 
Wayne. The division of the Upper District was con- 
firmed by the court June 10, 1880, to be called West and 
Upper Districts, the elections for the former to be held 



LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP 



933 



at Bryn Mawr Station, and for the latter to continue 
at Merion Square. We thus perceive that in a large 
and populous township like this, with its two centu- 
ries of history, even the subject of its elections, if 
inquired into and the materials brought together, 
could, through the changes connected therewith, be 
iniide the matter of an interesting sketch since the 
days of slavery, servitude and property quaiitications. 
In connection with this subject, and deserving men- 
tion, a map of Lower Merion was published in 1858 
by John Levering, from surveys made by himself, 
showing all its buildings and various improveme;its, 
names of property-holders and the boundaries of lots 
and farms. This, we believe, was the first effort of 
the kind for the whole township ; a part of the lower 
portion had been thus given in Hill's map of 1809. 

.^»r;tSSESSMENT OF LOWER MKillON FOK 1780. 
Peter Evans, 280 acres, 1 horee and 3 cattle ; Pliilip Pritner, gent., 100 
a.., 1 b., 2 c, 2 slaves ; Alexander Oliver, 4 h., 9 c. ; Leonard Nidley, 2 
h., 3 c. ; David Thomas, 2 h., 2 e. ; Lawrence Trexler, 2 h., 3 c. ; Jona- 
than Brooks, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Charles Blassey, 2 h., 3 c, 1 chair ; Jesse 
Jones, 100 a., 2 h. ; Francis Jones, 50 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Catharine Zolley, 
52 a., griet-niill, 1 h., 2 c. ; David Briggs, inn-keeper, 42 a., 2 shives, L*, 
h., 3 c. ; John Jones, 50 a., saw-niill, 2 h., 5 c. ; Sanuiel Ilorton, emitli- 
1 c. ; Abraham Nanna, 120 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; John Tate, 2 h., 2 c. ; Abra- 
ham Tnley, 2 h., 3 c. ; Jonathan Sturgis, 200 a., 2h., 2 c. ; Joseph Smith, 
cordwainer, 1 c. ; John Davis, iiiason, 1 c, 2 c. ; Elizabeth Crickbauin, 
100 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Kobert Lisle, laborer ; Robert Elliott, weaver, 100 a., 
3h., 4 c, 1 slave ; Israel Jones, 2 h., 3 c. ; Llewellyn Young, 2h., 5 c. : 
John Smith, mason, 2 h., 2 c. ; Peter Trexler, rents of Charles Thomson, 
750 a., 6 h., 10 c. ; Henry Pugh, 50 a., 1 c. ; Thomas Cochran, 150 a., 2 
h., 4 c. ; George Horn, 77 a., 2 h. ; Andrew Horn, 77 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; 
William Bruades, 25 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Hngh Jones, 334 a., 4 h., 12 c, 

1 stave ; John Grover, 3 h., 4 c. ; Wendel Kingtield, 2 h., 2 c. ; Hannah 
Bridaon, widow, 93 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; William Tolbert, 03 a., 4 h., 2 c. ; 
Joseph Taylor, 1 c. ; Isaac Taylor, aged, 139 a., 3 h., 2 c, 1 slave ; John 
Young, weaver, 1 h., 1 c. ; John Llewellyn, 350 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; IMathias 
Foltz, 50 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Mathias Fultz, 50 a.. 2 1)., 2 c. ; Abraham Wul 
ter, single, 89a. ; Joseph Roberts, 150 a., 1 h., 3 c. ; John Rowland, 
laborer, 1 h., 1 c. ; Eleanor Lloyd, 50 a. ; Isaac Comly, 2 h., 4 c. ; Mera. 
oah AUoway, 2 h., 3 c; Enoch Davis, 40 a., 1 c. ; Christ. Homiller, 3 c. ; 
John Fimple, 1 h., 2 c. ; John AVhite, millwright ; William M'ard, 2 h., 

2 c. ; Daniel Bunell, oil-maker, oil-mill, 3 h., 3 c, 1 chair ; Hugh Kub- 
■erts, single, 130 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; Jacob Amos, 1 c, 2 h. ; Isiiac M arner, 2 
h., 2 c. ; Anthony Righter, laborer, 1 c. ; John Righter, miller, 100 a., 
grist-mill, 4 h., 4 c. ; Jacob Hansbniy, laborer, 1 c. ; .Foseph Sill, 2 h.i 
2 c. ; Frederick Bicking, 200 a., paper-mill, 1 slave, 2 h., 5 c. ; Jacob 
Kewhouse, 52 a., paper-mill, 2 h., 2 c. ; Tbonuis Wilday, 51 a., 1 h., 1 
«. ; Thomas Robeson, weaver, 1 c. ; John Robeson, <"Iergyman, 1 h., 2 
c. ; John Robeson, laborer, 1 c. ; James Winter, 80 a., 2 h,, 2 c. ; Jona- 
than Robeson, smith, 151 a,, 2 h., 2 c- ; Daniel Claus, paper-maker ; 
Benjamin Scheetz, paper-maker, 1 c, 1 slave ; Catherine Scheetz, 100 
a., 2 paper-mills, 1 h., 3 c. ; George Handbolt, paper-maker, Ic. ; James 
Underwood, 2 h., 6 c. ; Ambrose Emery, 2 h., 4 c. ; Samuel Pawling, 
laborer, 1 c. ; John Grover, 70 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Thomas Morgan, 100 a., 3 
h,, 3 c. ; Michael Cliue, 30 a., 1 h., 1 C, weaver ; Thomas Waters, 2 h., 
2 c. ; Rudolph Exbright, 2 h., 2 c. ; Henry Miller, 50 a. ; Thomas 
Humphreys, smith, 30 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; George Fimple, 2 h., 3 c. ; Philip 
iiing, 45 a., 2 h., 2 c, 1 chair ; Algernon Roberts, 224 a., 5 h., 7 c. ; 
John Evans, tailor ; Jacob Coleman, cordwainer, 40 a. ; Blathias Crea- 
mer, 2 h., 1 c. ; Jacob Everman, laborer, 30 a., 2 c. ; Jacob Keighler, 
-3 h., 3 c. ; Casper Space, 1 h., 2 c. ; Rudolph Latch, cordwainer, 75 a., 
2 h., 2 c. ; James Calahan, laborer, 1 h., 1 c. ; Wm. Stadleman, inn- 
keeper, 80 a., 4 h., 2 c. ; Jesse Thomas, smith, 40 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Abel 
Thomas, 40 a., 2 h., 3 c. : Lewis Thomas, wheelwright, 1 h., 1 c. ; John 
Zell, 160 a., 4 h., 2 c. ; Nehemiah Evans, 50 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; John Durnal, 
■5 h., 5 c. ; Isaac Hughs, 70 a., :i h. ; David Shannon, 100 a., 3 b., 5 c. ; 
Henry Bare, 4 h., 5 c. ; James Nussel, cordwainer, 2 a. ; John Roberts, 
■50 a., 2 h., 3 c, ; Jacob Lobb, 4 h., 3 c. ; John Price, 194 a., 1 slave. 5 
h., 8 c. ; Walter Walter, 80 a., 2 h., 3 c; Daniel Lobb, 1 c. ; Hugh 
Knox, 120 a., 3 h,, 2 c. ; John Cook, 2 h., 1 e. ; Margaret Goodman, lfi8 



a., 2 h., 3 c; Michael Bower, 100 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; Martin Miller, 35 a., 2, 
h.. 2 c. ; Jacob Matson, 1 h., 3 c. ; Peter May, 150 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Henry 
Shoolater, weaver, 2 h., 2 c. ; Abraham Streeper, inn-keeper, 10 a., Ih., 

1 c. ; Robert Holland, tanner, 40 a., tan-yard, 1 h., 2 c. ; MichaelSmith 

2 h., 2 c. ; William Smitli, 2 h., 1 c. ; Michael Smith, 2 h., 1 c. ; Simon 
Claus, paper-maker, 2 c. ; Anthony Tunis, 100 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Jeremiah 
Trexler, 2 h., 2 c. ; David Zell, 100 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Jacob Conrad, 4 h., 2 
c. ; Isaac Lewis, tailor, 2 h., 2 c. ; Jacob Jones, 230 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; John 
Amos, cordwainer, 1 c. ; Jolin Whiteman, wheelwright, 1 c. ; Jacob 
Sloan, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Anthony Levering, 114 a., grist and saw-mill, 3 
h., 2 c. ; Paul Jones, 130 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Silas Jones, 140 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; 
Margaret Heller, 180 a., 1 h., 3 c. ; Frederick Crow, 100 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; 
Israel Davis, cordwainer ; Nicholas Stoltz, 2 b., 4 c. : Barlle Righter. 40 
a., 1 h., 3 c. ; Jacob Neagle, paper-maker, 1 c. ; Michat'l McMullen, 190 
a., 3 h., 4 c. ; William Roberts, 1 c. ; Rudolf Sibley, 180 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; 
Michael Hersh, 1 h., 1 c. ; Edward Price, .iufiim, 200 a. ; Rees Price, 
15 a., 2 h., 8 c. ; Thomas David's estate, 2S0 a. ; John Vanderin, 13 a. ; 
Peter Righter, 5 a. 

St. Paul's Lutheran Church— The list of 1734 
contains the names of fifty-two residents of Lower 
Merion, and among them there is not recogniz- 
able a single German name, yet they had sufficiently 
increased by 1765 to have ministers occasionally 
preach to them in their language and baptize their 
children. In 1767 the first communion service 
was held, in which forty-three persons participated. 
Through the exertions of William Stadleman, Fred- 
erick Grow, Stephen Goodm.an, Christopher Getzman, 
George Bassler and Simon Litzenberg an organization 
was effected and a lot of ground purchased, with a view 
to erect thereon an J^vangelical Lutheran Church, 
with a cemetery attached. A small log house for 
worship was built thereon in 1769, but no communion 
service held until May 1, 1774. The Revolution now 
approaching, the excitement connected therewith 
impaired tlie congregation to such an extent that it 
had but little more than a lingering existence through- 
out the whole of this period, and even its pulpit was 
occasionally supplied by ministers of other denomina- 
tions. 
s Near the close of the century matters began to 
wear a brighter aspect, and it was determined, as the 
building was getting dilapidated, to erect a new one of 
stone in its place. This was accordingly accomplished 
in 1800, but without securing stated religious services 
or a regular pastor. Through the efforts of several 
of its most efficient members, the Rev. B. Keller, of 
the Germantown congregation, was induced, in 1828, 
to divide his nnnistrations with this church. The at- 
tendance began now to increase, and through renewed 
efforts on the part of the pastor and the chief mem- 
bers prosperity became more manifest. A substantial 
wall was erected along the roadside on the southern 
part of the lot, and a Sunday-school started under 
flourishing auspices. The Rev. Jeremiah Harpel 
succeeded in the charge in 1831, and at the first com- 
munion he held eleven persons participated. His 
energetic labors materially added to the membership. 
In 1833 the building was enlarged, and in November 
of that year dedicated to St. Paul. 

Mr. Harpel having resigned in 1834, the Rev. 
Charles Barnitz assumed the charge in the following 
year, making his residence in the neighborhood, and 



934 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



\ 



remained its pastor until 1839, during which period he 

added to its membership fifty persons. His successor 
was Rev. Edward Town, who retained the pastorate 
about two and a half years, or until 1842. A va- 
cancy now occurred, which was filled by Rev. Nathan 
Cornell in the autumn of 1844, who, within three 
years, added some twenty-four members. The Rev. 
William D. Roedel having settled here, the congrega- 
tion built for his accommodation a parsonage in 1851, 
on the upper or western end of the church ground. 
He remained in charge until 1855, during which 
time he received seventeen into membership. Rev. 
Timothy Tilghman Titus succeeded, and remained 
pastor for several years. Henry Woodman, in a visit 
to this section in the latter part of 1858, thus speaks 
of this congregation and its previous church build- 
ing,— 

" I was informed by some persons residing neur tbo pluce, tliiit it has 
at this time the largest congregation of any otlier place of worship in the 
township. Thirty ycare ago, there was only a small house upon the 
premises used in the double capacity of a meeting and Bchuol-house, and 
the congregation had become very small. All restraints against service 
being peiformed in the English language being removed, they have now 
become a large and highly respectable congregation. The officiating 
clergyman informed me that if service was now performed in the Ger- 
man language, they would have to get another congregation to under- 
stand it." 

As these Germans were surrounded by the descend- 
ants of the early Welsh settlers and an English-speak- 
ing population, chiefly belonging to the Society of 
Friends, in consequence it was long known through 
this section as "the Dutch Church." It stood at 
the intersection of cross-roads, about a quarter of a 
mile southeast of Ardmore, and was a one-story stone 
building, surrounded by the graveyard with shade- 
trees. In 1873 it was torn down, and the new church 
erected on a one-acre lot donated by Mr. Kugler, in 
the lower part of the village, fronting on Lancaster 
Avenue. It is a handsome edifice, built of dressed stone, 
two stories high, fifty-two by seventy feet in dimen- 
sion, surmounted with a steeple and was dedicated in 
December, 1875. The present pastor is Rev. W. H. 
Steck. Services are held twice every Sabbath, the 
Sunday-school being in the afternoon. 

The graveyard, which has now been in use nearly 
one hundred and twenty years, in 1858 comprised 
about one and a half acres, and has since been enlarged 
to twice that size. It is neatly kept, and is now partly 
inclosed by iron railing. As may be expected, a 
considerable number are buried here. From the nu- 
merous tombstones we have transcribed the following 
surnames, of which fully three-fourths denote a Ger- 
man origin: StuU, Keoch, Cassidy, Hoegne, Dolby, 
Brooks, Bailey, Kenzie, Knox, Martin, Thomas, Weest, 
McMinn, Smith, Lainhoff, Kugler, Miller, Sheas', 
Goodman, Grover, Coldflesh, Sibley, Kensel, Olt, Uries, 
Freas, Zell, Stelwagon, Trexler, Horn, Jone.-*, Hagy, 
Raser, Schrieble, Kriekbaum, Knoll, Walkin, Prentz, 
McElroy, Her,-e. Snyder, Righter, Wagner, Lilzenberg, 
Hill, Wilfong, Wright, Helmbold, Black, Stadleman, 



Leedom, Fullerton, Griffith, Heater, Fimple, McClel- 
lan, Amos, Latch, Wallower, Fiss, Richter, Hoffman, 
Hay worth, Barr, Tibben, Grow, Wood, Mowrer, Rhodes, 
Schofield, Garrett, Wise, Williams, Super, Warner, 
Hansell, Bettle, Knoll, Gravel, Bloom, Epright, Pouge, 
Lentz, Schafer, Fryer, Vaughan, Bowden, Hoftinan, 
Burns, Abraham, Seabold, Bevan, Rodenboh, Xagle, 
Pope, Pitman, Lowbey, Hilt, Whiteman, Grave, While, 
Noblet, Yetter, Clevenger, Magee, Holland, Mile.s, 
Wilcox, Fry, Lyons and Young. A neat stone has 
been erected here to the memory of the late Charles 
Kugler, which informs us that he was born February 
5, 1805, and died October 28, 1879. He was long 
identified with this church, above fifty years superin- 
tendent of the Sabbath-school, a school director of the 
township thirty-six years, and sixteen years president 
of the Lutheran Publication Society, besides holding 
other positions. 

Theological Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo. 
— This institution of the Catholic diocese is situated 
in the southeastern portion of Lower Merion, and 
within half a mile of Overbrook Station, on the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad. The dome, surmounted with an 
elevated gilt cross, forms an object that can be seen 
for miles around the country, and its extensive grounds 
and magnificent buildings attract attention and are 
a subject for comment among visitors on business or 
pleasure who have occasion to pass through this sec- 
tion. Its origin dates back to 1832, when a house was 
used for this purpose near St. Mary's Church, on South 
Fourth Street, Philadelphia. In the year 1838 it was 
incorporated by an act of Assembly as the "Seminary 
of St. Charles Borromeo." The incorporators were 
John Keating, John Diamond, Joseph Dugan, Michael 
McGrath and Marc Antoine Frenaye. These gentle- 
men constituted the first lay trustees and formed five 
of the nine required by law. The other four consisted 
of Bishop Francis P. Kendrick, the president of the 
seminary, the professor of theology and the professor 
of Sacred Scriptures. 

In January, 1839, the building at Eighteenth and 
Race Streets was completed, when Rev. M. O'Connor, 
D.D., opened the seminary with eighteen students. 
The object intended was that those thus educated 
should serve the missions within the diocese of Phila- 
delphia alone. At this date this diocese included the 
whole of Pennsylvania and Delaware, with the western 
part of New Jersey ; but such has been the increase of 
churches that since 1 869 its territory has been reduced to 
the city of Philadelphia and nine counties, namely, — 
Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, 
Montgomery, Northampton and Schuylkill. In 1848, 
Rev. Thaddeus Amat became president, with twenty- 
five students, and $4043.26 raised by subscription for 
their support. The seminary having been enlarged, 
the number of students in 1851 had now reached to 
forty-one. Owing to a further increase and the want 
of sufficient accommodations, Bishop Ncuinan, in 1859, 
opened a preparatory seminary at Glen Riddle, Dela- 



LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP. 



935 



ware Co., under the direction of Kev. James F. Shana- 
han, now bishop of Harrisljurg. 

Seeing a necessity for further accommodations, Bishop 
Wood, at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, in 186l3, 
secured the site known as the Remington Farm, near 
Overbrook, about four and a half miles from Philadel- 
phia, containing one hundred and twenty-seven acres, 
and now bounded by City, Lancaster and Wynnewood 
Avenues and the Hunter estate, the land being diver- 
sified, a branch of Lidian Creek passing through it 
and possessing fine meadows, shady woods and stone 
adapted for building purposes. The corner-stone 
of the new building for the seminary was laid April 
4th, 186G, on which occasion the president, Rev- 
Michael O'Connor, preached the sermon, when he 
reviewed its early history and struggle." to arrive at 
what they were now prepared to accomplish. Owing to 
the extent of the improvements to be made, the semi- 
nary building was not ready for use until January 
1871. In 1872, Rev. James A. Corcoran, D.D., assumed 
the rectorship of the seminary, succeeded in the fol- 
lowing year by Rev. Charles O'Connor, D.D. The 
Rev. William Kieran, D.D., who was appointed in 
1879, is its present rector. The seminary contains on 
an average one hundred students, and .since its first 
foundation has supplied the diocese with upwards of 
three hundred and fifty priests. There are eight pro- 
fessorships, besides several assistant professors. The 
languages taught are English, German, Latin, Greek, 
Hebrew and Syriac. The French aud Italian languages 
are cultivated in private by a number of students. Rev. 
James A. Corcoran, D.D., is the professor of Hebrew, 
Syriac and honuletics. Every branch of sacred and 
profane science receives its due attention in the ten 
years' course required here in preparing the students 
for their future labors. 

As this seminary-building ranks among the finest 
in the country, a brief description will be given. Its 
architecture is of the Italian style and the general 
ground-plan somewhat in the form of the letter E. 
The east, or main front, is three hundred and eighty- 
four feet in length, three stories high and the central 
portion surmounted by a dome, the summit of which 
is one hundred and eighty feet above the ground. In 
the rear of the central building is the chapel, forty-five 
and a half by one hundred and three feet in dimen- 
sions and admirably fitted up, the decorations and 
paintings therein being excellent. Besides the main 
altar, four side altars are built in alcoves, sixteen 
feet wide and twenty-four feet high. The organ and 
choir-loft are situated at the east end of the chapel, 
and the students, when in choir, .sit in stalls facing 
one another, according to the mode adopted in Rome. 
The central building is devoted to the library, choir- 
halls, sacristies, reception-room, and parlors. The pa- 
vilions contain study and recreation halls. The north- 
west pavilion and a liuilding adjoining it are the quar- 
ters of the matron and her attaches, the kitchen, laundry, 
engine-room. store-rooms, etc. The southwest pavilion 



is occupied as students' rooms and a laboratory. The 
house is built of gray stone, heated by steam, and 
everything used in its construction is of the most sub- 
stantial and durable character. The architects were 
Samuel F. Sloan and Addison Hutton. There are, 
besides, located on the grounds gas and water-works, 
two private dwellings for employes, carpenter-shop, 
barns and large and commodious stables. 

The library contains nearly eighteen tbou.'iand 
volumes, many of which are valuable and some rare. 
Among these we shall give space to mention the fol- 
lowing works, all folios excepting two: The BoUan- 
dist " Lives of the Saints," commenced in 1643 at 
Antwerp, and still being published, 67 vols. ; De Lyra's 
Bible, printed at Rome 1472, the capitals painted by 
hand; a German Bible, printed in 1534, translated by 
D. Johan Dieten ; a Bible in 10 vols., printed in 1645 
at Paris, in Syriac, Samaritan, Chaldee, Arabic, Latin, 
Greek and Hebrew; "Councils of the Church," 11 
vols. ; "Cornelius a Lapide," 10 vols., Antwerp, 1645; 
Martin's " Corruptions of the Scriptures," 1582 ; " Bulla 
Roma Pontiflcum," 29 vols. ; " St. Augustine," 14 
vols. ; "Venerable Bede," 5 vols., 1563 ; " Bellarmine," 
11 vols., quarto ; " St. Thomas Aquinas," 26 vols. ; 
Montfauyon's " Antiquities," 10 vols. ; Kingsborough's 
"Mexican Antiquities," 9 vols.; "Scriptorum Grse- 
coruni Bibliotheca," 70 vols.; Lemaire's " Bibliotheca 
Chissica," 150 vols., quarto. Such a library is calcu- 
lated to impress one with the anticjuity and extent of 
the church. Many of the volumes have been donated 
by distinguished persons residing in Europe and in 
this country. It contains also a fine collection of 
medals struck by the various popes, commencing in 
1417 and down to the present time. The walls of the 
seminary are also adorned with numerous valuable 
engravings and paintings. To bring this seminary to 
its present condition has cost not less than one million 
of dollars, and requires for its continuation an annual 
outlay of nearly forty thousand. The result, however, 
has been that some of the most gifted minds in the 
church are happy to call it their Alma Plater, and its 
welfare concerns many thousands of Catholics residing 
within the diocese. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



CHARLE.S WHEELER. 

Charles Wheeler, who, during the later years of his 
life, was the owner of the beautiful country-seat and 
suburban property known as the Wheeler Estate, in 
Lower Merion township, near Bryn Mawr, was born 
August 22, 1827, in the city of Philadelphia, which 
was his place of residence through all the years of his 
life. 

In 1847, Mr. Wheeler entered the employment of 
Morris, Tasker & Co. as a clerk, and continued in that 
position six years. At the end of that time Wistar 



936 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



^ 



Morris, senior partner and founder of the house, re- 
tired from the business, and, much to the surprise of 
every one, sold out his interest to Mr. Wlieeler, who 
was then less than twenty years of age and without 
capital. The preference was the more remarkable as 
there were clerks in the otfice senior to Mr. Wheeler 
and of family relationshii) to his benefactor. The 
confidence, however, was not misplaced. He paid 
for Mr. Morris' interest the sum of five hundred 
thousand dollars out of his share of the profits of the 
concern within two years after he entered it. In 
1864, Mr. AVheeler sold out his quickly-acquired 
share in the business for eight hundred thousand 
dollars, and turned his attention to the Fairmount 
Iron-Works, of which he was the owner, and to the 
establishment of the Central National Bank, of . 
which, at its organization, in 1865, he was the largest 
share-hohler. He was one of its original directors, 
and, in 1873, was elected its vice-president. He con- 
tinued in the direction of the Fairmount Iron-Works 
until the land on which they stood was taken by the 
city for park purposes. 

In 1876, Mr. Wheeler re-entered and held a con- 
trolling interest in the firm from which he had re- 
tired twelve )'ears previously, — that of Morris, Tasker 
& Co. Not content, as yet, with the vast business cares 
which he had taken upon himself, Mr. Wheeler, in 
1878, entered, as senior partner, the firm of John 
Farnum & Co., of 233 Chestnut Street, one of the 
heaviest dry-goods firms in the city. This step was 
taken in order to carry out the wishes of ]\Ir. Farnum 
(then deceased), whose daughter, Susan, Mr. WheeUr 
had married in 1866. 

Mr. Wheeler was a man of strictest integrity and of 
thorough business education and character, possess- [ 
ing, in a remarkable degree, the faculties of quick 
perception, keen discrimination and ready judgment. 
He was a kindly, genial man, of a warm and gener- 
ous nature. In person, he was tall and erect, of com- 
manding presence and distinguished appearance. 
His health was excellent, and continued apparently 
unimpaired until his death, which occurred, sud- 
denly, in New York, on the 16th of August, 1883. 

At the time of his death Mr. Wheeler was the 
directing head of two of the largest business-houses of 
Philadelphia, and of one of its leading financial in- 
stitutions. Besides these, he held positions in the 
boards of direction of the North America and Girard 
Insurance Companies, the Lehigh Coal and Naviga- 
tion Company, the Cambria Iron Company, the 
Pottstown Iron Company, the Seaboard Bank of New 
York, and the First National Bank of Bradford, Pa. 
The remarkable executive ability of Mr. Wheeler was 
attested by the impetus which his labors gave to the 
several mercantile, manufacturing and financial con- 
cerns with which he was associated, and especially 
by the success which followed his efforts to create, in- 
corporate and establish the Central National Bank. 

In his politics Mr. Wheeler belonged to the party 



of good government, — a conviction he evinced by his 
activity and prominence in the Committee of One 
Hundred from the time of its organization. He took 
an active interest in city charities, heing connected 
with the Charity Organization Society, the Bed- 
ford Mission and the Soup Society. He was a mem- 
ber of the Protestant Ejiiscopal denomination, and 
was for many years connected with St. Luke's 
Church at Thirteenth and Spruce Streets, Philadel- 
phia. Especially was his care and liberality extended 
to the Church of the Redeemer, at Bryn Mawr, near his 
country-seat. His city home was at 1217 Walnut 
Street. 



JOHN YOCUM CRAWFORD. 

John Yocum Crawford, one of the most prominent 
and influential among the leading men of Lower 
Merion township in his time, was descended from a 
Scotch family of that name, who came to America 
before the war of the Revolution and settled on lands 
purchased from the Swedes, at Swedes' Ford. A short 
distance below that place, on the west side of the 
Schuylkill, was the homestead farm of Andrew Craw- 
Ibrd, a son or grandson of this first Crawford family, 
who was living there j)rior to the beginning of the 
jiresent century. He had one daughter, Elizabeth, 
who became the wife of Hugh Long, and four sons, — 
Samuel, Andrew, William and Joseph, who was the 
father of him to whom this biographical sketch has 
especial reference. The wife of Joseph and mother 
of John Y. Crawford was Hannah Yocum (originally 
.locum), a descendant of a Swedish family of that 
name, who came to Pennsylvania before the time of 
William Penn, and were among those of their coun- 
trymen who formed the settlement at Wicaco. After- 
wards the Yocums were settled at Swedes' Ford, and 
thence the different branches of the family became 
spread out and extended through various localities in 
the country between the Delaware and Susquehanna 
Rivers. 

John Y. Crawford, one of the family of six children 
of Joseph and Hannah Crawford, was born at his 
parents' home, Prospect Hill, in the northwest part of 
Lower Merion township, May 14, 1822. His educa- 
tion, commenced in the common schools of the town- 
ship, was continued at the somewhat celebrated school 
of Joshua Hoops, at West Chester, and finished by a 
full course of study at the Treemount Seminary, Nor- 
ristown, under the Rev. Samuel Aaron. On leaving 
school he decided to engage in the business in which 
he had been reared, and which best suited his tastes 
and inclinations, that of farming. He entered upon 
it with energy, and at the death of his father pur- 
chased from the estate the homestead farm, where he 
continued to live until his death. In his chosen 
vocation he was progressive, conducting his business 
in accordance with intelligent and advanced ideas, 
and ever ready to adopt well-tested improvements in 
methods of agriculture. With these characteristica, 




^^//^^ ^-/^^^^^ 



LOWKll MERION TOWNSHIP. 



937 



it was almost a matter of course that his extensive 

farming should result, as it did, iu success. 

Besides his agricultural operations, he was also 
engaged in other business enterprises, which proved 
profitable. Duriug the prosperous times which pre- 
ceded the financial panic of 187-3 he made quite 
heavy investments in various company stoi ks, which 
afterwards j^appreciated in value to an extent that 
added largely to his wealth. He was one of the 
original stockholders of the First National Bank of 
Conshohocken, and a member of its board of directors 
from its organization until his death. With reference 
to his promptness and executive ability in matters of . 



Orphans' Court. To settle so large an estate in so 
short a time, dividing it amicably among so many 
heirs, was justly regarded as a remarkable business 
achievement. 

In matters relating to public improvements and the 
welfare of the community in which he lived, Mr. 
Crawford was as progressive in his ideas, and as 
energetic in action, as he was in the prosecution of his 
private business. Perhaps the most forcible illustra- 
tion of this was presented in the attitude which he as- 
sumed ^\-ith regard to the improvement of the highways 
in bis part of the township. When he became pro- 
jirietor of the property which had been his father's, 




business, the following facts are related : His bach- 
elor uncle, Andrew Crawford, in his old age, wishing 
to be relieved of the care of his large property, placed 
it in the hands of his nephew, John Y. Crawford, 
constituting him his attorney in fact for its manage- 
ment, and afterwards making a will and appointing 
him executor. In 1870 the uncle died at his nephew's 
house, at the age of ninety-four years, and within 
three months from the day of his death the executor, 
Mr. Crawford, had settled the estate (amounting to 
about two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars), 
dividing it among the nine heirs to the entire satis- 
faction of all, and had filed hi-; final ac .ount in the 



on Prospect highlands, scarcely a mile from the 
Schuylkill, there was no way by which the river could 
be reached with a wheeled vehicle of any kind with- 
out great diificulty. The road (if road it could be 
called) leading to West Conshohocken was little more 
than a rude cart-path, passing, for a great part of its 
length, through a rugged ravine, along the course of a 
small, rapid stream and over rocks and other obstruc- 
tions, which made it almost impassable at all times 
and it became entirely so when the stream was swol- 
len by freshets. Under these circumstances Mr. 
Crawford determined to procure the construction of a 
new and serviceable road to the river ; but he soon 



938 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



found that in this he was to meet a general and stub- 
born opposition, even fromthose who would be greatly 
benefited by the improvement. He caused the mat- 
ter to be brought before a jury, where he himselfmade 
a strong and convincing argument against able coun- 
sel who had been employed by the opposition. The 
jury reported favorably, but the opposition continued, 
and it was not until after nine successive juries had 
made favorable reports that the road was finally laid 
out and built. Very few, if any, who are acquainted 
with the history of tliat broad, smooth and solid high- 
way will now deny that for its construction, and for 
the advantages wliich have resulted from it, the public 
are chiefly indebted to thegood judgment, energy and 
perseverance of John Y. Crawford. 

Mr. Crawford was married, September 19, 1867, to V. 
Virginia Wright, daughter of Archibald and Jane 
Wright, of Philadelphia. Their children are Mary 
Virginia, Annie Elizabeth, John Yoeum and Andrew 
Wright Crawford. Mr. and Mrs. Crawford were pro- 
moters and liberal patrons of the Mount Pleasant Sun 
day-school whose meeting-place was in the commodi- 
ous stone school-house, standing within a few rods of 
their dwelling, and which was built chiefly by his 
generous donations. Annually, for several years, the 
teachers and pupils of the Sunday-school (as also many 
who were not members of it) were invited to Mr. Craw- 
ford's house and grounds for the enjoyment of the 
"strawberry festival," at which they were always pro- 
fusely entertained at his expense. At one of these 
festivals at Mr. Crawford's grounds (in June, 1873) 
fully three hundred persons were in attendance. In a 
report of it, furnished for publication by one wlio was 
present, the writer said : " Here we found a happy 
group, the scholars and friends of the Mount Pleas- 
ant Sunday-school, with a host of other friends. Here 
was music and flags, singing by the school and 
strains of music by thg Independent Band, of ]\Iana- 
yunk. ... As we wandered around among the 
large assemblage we could scarcely decide who were 
the happier, the friends invited by the generous giver 
of the festival, the children laughing and romping in 
the very exuberance of joy or Mr. Crawford, the au- 
thor of the occasion. Here was a literal fulfillment of 
the text 'It is more blessed to give than to receive ;' 
for if the guests enjoyed the occasion, he who planned 
and executed this most successful festival had a double 
joy. . . It was a gala-day long to be remembered 
by all present." 

In 1874, Mr. Crawford's health became impaired so 
seriously as to induce him to journey South for its re- 
covery. He visited the White Sulphur Springs, in 
Virginia, where he remained some time with appar- 
ently good results, but some time after his return it 
was found that the improvement had been but tempor- 
ary ; his malady came back upon him, and he died at his 
home on the 15th of April, 1875, in the fifty -third year 
of his age. His remains were interred ii\ the Mont- 
gomery Cemetery, at Norristown. He left mi will, and 



the estate was administered on by his widow, Mrs. V. 
V. Crawford, who is now residing in the family man- 
sion. The landed estate of Mr. Crawford consisted of 
the htanestead farm property, and two other farms in 
Lower^Ierion township (aggregating four hundred and 
nineteen acres), and a farm of one hundred acres in 
Chester County. Included in the Lower Merion lands 
was the Brookfield property ot two hundred and thir- 
teen acres, which has since been sold to the Hon. 
Wayne McVeagli. 

DAVID MORGAN. 

The father of David Morgan, of Lower Merion 
township, was William H. Morgan, who was a son of 
Welsh parents, born in London, England, on the 
27th of February, 1780. At about the age of fifteen 
years (his mother being then dead) he came to 
America with his fother, who made his home in 
Philadelphia, and died there a few years after his 
arrival. The son, William H., learned the trade of 
gold-beater, and after a time commenced business for 
himself as a manufacturerof gold-leaf and ofgiltframes 
for pictures and looking-glasses. To this business he also 
added that of publisher of children's books, printed illus- 
trations of patriotic subjects, land and naval battles 
of the Revolution and war of 1812, and portraits of 
Presidents, generals and other distinguished men of 
the United States. His location was on the south side 
of ChestnutStreet, between Third and Fourth Streets,— 
the same site now occupied by the building of the 
Guarantee Trust and Deposit Company. It was then 
numbered 114 Chestnut street, and was the first busi- 
ness stand opened on that .street between Third and 
Fourth, the square having previously been entirely 
taken up by dwelling-houses. The building was Mr. 
Morgan's residence as well as his place of business, and 
the property remained in his possession until his 
death. 

About 1827, Mr. Morgan removed from Chestnut 
Street to the north side of Market Street, just above 
Seventh, the number being then 709, which he also 
purchased and continued to own until his death. At 
that place he lived and carried on his business for 
about fourteen years. His wife was Sarah Colflesh, 
daughter of Henry Colflesh, one of the oldest resi- 
dents of Montgomery County, whose residence was at 
Flat Rock Heights, in Lower Merion township. 
About 1838, Mr. Morgan closed his business .and 
removed from Philadelphia to the farm which had 
been occupied by his father-in-law, at Flat Rock 
Heights. That farm continued Ln the ownership 
of Mr. Morgan until a few years before his death, 
when he sold it to William W. Hubbell. Within 
the past two years it has been purchased by Percival 
Roberts, Esq. 

Mr. Morgan continued to live at the Lower Merion 
farm until about 1848, when he returned to the city 
and recommenced business on a property which he 
had purchased on Arch Street, above Fifth. There 



LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP. 



939 



he resided, and continued the business until his death, 
which occurred on the 25th of January, 1863, in his 
eighty-fourth year. His wife had died more than six 
years before him, November 10, 1856. Both were 
buried in the family vault, near the Fifth and Arch 
Streets corner of the ground of Christ Church, of which 
both had been members, Mr. Morgan having joined 
its membership soon after his arrival in Philadelphia. 

David Morgan, son of William H. and Sarah (Col- 
flesh) Morgan, was born May 1, 1817, in Philadelphia, 
at his father's house, located (as before mentioned) on 
Cliestnut Street, where now stands the building of the 
Guarantee Trust and Deposit Company. Until about 
the age of eighteen years he attended the schools of 
the city and learned his father's trade of gold-leaf 
manufacturer. At about the age mentioned he re- 
moved to Lower Merion township and commenced the 
gold-leaf business on his father's farm at Flat Rock 
Heights. He remained there until the latter part of 
1844, when he purchased about eight acres of land 
adjoining the property on which he lives, on the 
Blockley and Merion turnpike, about half a mile from 
Merion Station and the same distance from Elm Sta- 
tion of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 

Mr. Morgan was married, May 31, 1846, by the Rev. 
H. G. Jones, of the Lower Merion Baptist Church, to 
Catharine H., daughter of Abraham Levering, of 
Lower Merion township. They have had three chil- 
dren, — Emma C, married, December 31, 1868, to Wil- 
liam Simpson. Jr., of Philadelphia; Fannie, died May 
30, 1875; and David, who died in infancy. For about 
four years after his marriage Mr. Morgan lived on the 
small property which he purchased as mentioned. He 
then purchased and removed to the homestead farm, 
which he has occupied from that time to the present, 
though doing business in Philadelphia. He was one 
of the corporators of the Blockley and Merion Turn- 
pike Company, one of its original and principal 
stockholders, was secretary and treasurer of the com- 
pany for about twelve years, and has been one of its 
board of directors from the time of its first organiz- 
ation. 

He was one of tlie original members of the Church 
of the Redeeiuer, at Bryn Mawr; was present at the 
first meeting held for the purpose of organization in 
Temperance Hall (on which occasion Bishop Potter 
preached the first sermon to the congregation) ; was a 
member of the building committee having charge of 
the erection of the church edifice, and a liberal con- 
tributor to the building fund, and he held the office of 
rector's warden in that church-. Mr. Morgan was also 
largely instrumental in the organization of St. John's 
Church, in Lower Merion. He has been a vestryman 
and warden in that church from its formation, and 
was (with Isaac Hazlehurst and others) a principal 
contributor towards the erection of the church build- 
ing in 1862. Since that time it has been enlarged, 
mere ground has been purchased, and a Sunday-school 
building and a parsonage built, bringing the value of 



the chui'ch property up to the amount of twenty-five 
thousand dollars. 



HAMILTON EGBERT. 

Hamilton Egbert, a well-known citizen of Lower 
Merion township, in which, as a school-boy, mer- 
chant, farmer and conveyancer, he has lived for more 
than sixty years, is a descendant of the first Egbert 
who came to America in 1664 with the expedition 
under command of Admiral Carre and Governor 
Richard Nicolls to expel the Dutch from New Neth- 
erlands and establish the authority of the Duke of 
York. That ancestor made a settlement on Staten 
Island, where the family remained and increased 
during several generations, and where many of the 
name are still living. 

Lawrence Egbert, grandfather of the subject of this 
memoir, moved to Montgomery County, Pa., before 
the Revolution and settled in Plymouth township, 
where his son, David N. Egbert, was born in 1788, 
and where Hamilton Egbert, son of David N. and 
Maria Egbert, was born September 18, 1821, he being 
the fourth in a family of twelve children, of whom 
only three are now living, namely, — Hamilton, Nor- 
man and Emily, wife of William Davis, of Consho- 
hocken. 

The mother of the family was Maria Yocuin, who 
was married to David N. Egbert in 1815. She died 
in August, 1834. She was a daughter of John Yocum, 
of Lower Merion, and a granddaughter of John Yo- 
cum, Sr., who was a descendant of a Swedish family 
of that name, who came to America about 1655, and 
were among those who formed the settlement at 
Wicaco. Some of them were soon afterwards living 
at Swedes' Ford. More than a century later, in the 
time of the Revolution, the Yocums were numbered 
among the most prominent and patriotic families in 
the vicinity of Philadelphia. 

In April, 1823, David N. Egbert removed from 
Plymouth to Merion Square, where for some years he 
held the ofiice of justice of the peace, and where he 
continued the business of merchant and lumber-dealer 
until the year 1846. His son, Hamilton, worked in 
the store in the summer season, attending the common 
schools in winter, and for a term of about six months 
was under the tuition of Joshua Hoops, at his school 
in West Chester, where he gained an excellent knowl- 
edge of mathematics. In his nineteenth year he be- 
came a partner with his father, and in 1846, at the 
age of twenty-five, he, with his brother Norman, suc- 
ceeded to the entire business, his father then retiring 
from it. Their business was that of a general store, 
and they made it a point to be always able to furnish 
any article whatever that might be called for. 

The labor of such a business (to which was added 
that of the postmastership of the place for a term of 
twenty years) was so severe and incessant that at the 
end of nineteen years from the time when he first be- 
came a partner with his father in the store Hamilton 



940 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Egbert found his health so completely prostrated as 
to compel him to relinquish the business. He did so 
in 1859, and removed to a tract of seventeen acres of 
land whieii he then purchased, and which is the same 
that he now occupies as his homestead. There he 
began a new mode of life as a farmer and conveyancer. 
The change entirely restored his health, and he has 
continued in those vocations to the present time. He 
has always declined to accept any public office, but 
he holds the position of president of the Bryn Mawr 
Loan and Building Association, and is also a director 
in the First National Bank of Conshohocken. 



iistown, at which he continued until 1841, when he 
went to Pottsville, Schuylkill Co., and engaged in the 
coal business, and in 1843 came to Lower Merion, 
Montgomery Co., where he commenced farming and 
continued in that business until 1859, when he retired 
to private life. 

In 1848 he married Rebecca E. Pechin, daughter of 
Peter Pechin, of Radnor township, Delaware Co. 
They had four children — one son, who died when 
quite young, and three daughters, who are still 
living. 

Joshua Ashbridge has always been a stanch Re- 





JOSHUA ASHBRIDGE. 

Joshua Ashbridge, son of Thomas and Pho-be Gar- 
rett Ashbridge, was born in Willistown township, 
Chester Co., Pa., Seventh Month, 10th, 180(3. 

Joshua Ashbridge was the fourth in descent from 
George Ashbridge, who belonged to the Society of 
Friends, and arrived in Philadelphia Fifth Month, 5th, 
1698, from England, and settled at Edgemont. He mar- 
ried. Eighth Month, 23d, 1701, at Providence Meet- 
ing, Mary Malin, of Upper Providence. He died in 
1748. Joshua Ashbridge received a common-school 
education, then went into the wool manufacturing 
business with his father, Thomas Ashbridge, in Wil- 



publican, adhering firmly to his party, and for thirteen 
years represented his district as committeeman. 



THOMAS G. LODGE. 

Thomas G. Lodge is a substantial land-owner, and 
now one of the oldest citizens of Lower Merion town- 
ship, where he has lived for more than fifty years on 
the homestead farm, which he owns and occupies. 
His father was John Lodge, a farmer of Kingsessing 
township, Philadelphia Co., and his grandfather 
on the parental side was Abel Lodge, a descendant 
from ancestors of the same family name, who came 



LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP. 



941 



from England to Pennsylvania with the earliest 
settlers about the year 1682. 

Thomas G. Lodge, son of John and Elizabeth 
(Reid) Lodge, was born at Kingsessing, March 23, 
1811, he being the youngest, and now the only sur- 
vivor of a large family of children, of whom only two 
besides himself lived to maturity, viz. : Abel, the 
eldest, born in 1794 and died in 1809, and Mary, who 
was born in 1790, married John S. Davidson, of New 
Jersey, and died in 1882. 

In his youth, like most other farmers' sons of his 
time, Mr. Lodge enjoyed only such means of educa- 



ing-place and his home. Mr. Lodge still owns the 
Kingsessing homestead. 



WILLIAM MILES. 

William Miles, of Ardmore, Lower Merion town- 
ship, is a descendant of a Welsh ancestor of the same 
family name, who came with the earliest emigrants 
from Wales to America, and settled in Chester County, 
Pa., and from whom sprang the many Miles families 
who are now scattered through all the eastern part of 
the State, and less numerously through the states of 
the South and West. Among the descendants of this 




(!M^.^^=£r^ 



tion as were afforded by the common schools of his 
vicinity. Soon after reaching his majority he com- 
menced the business which he had determined upon 
and which he has followed through all the succeeding 
years of his life, — the pursuit of agriculture. On the 
20th of December, 1832, he was married to Susan 
Evans, daughter of Joseph and Mary Evans, of Lower 
Merion township, Montgomery Co., and a little 
more than a year later, in the spring of 1834, he re- 
moved from Kingsessing to the farm of his wife's 
parents (occupying a part of their house), which, hav- 
ing since been enlarged and improved by him, is now, 
as it has been for more than half a century, his dwell- 



Welsh emigrant were three or four Miles brothers, 
who, eighty years ago, were living on farms in the 
vicinity of Radnor Church, in Delaware County, and 
one of whom was the father of the elder William 
Miles, to whose son William this biographical notice 
has especial reference. On the maternal side, the 
grandfather of the present William Miles was Christo- 
pher Taumiller (subsequently changed to Miller), who, 
with his brother Tobias, came from Germany to Penn- 
sylvania more than one hundred years ago, and settled 
in what is now Lower Merion township, where they 
became well known as "substantial farmers and good 
citizens. Both were original members in the organiza- 



942 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



tion of the Lutheran Church, now of Ardmore, and 
were among the most liberal of its early supporters. 
Christopher Taumiller's place of settlement was on 
lands now of the estate of Charles Wheeler, deceased, 
north of Bryn Mawr. About 1810 his daughter Mary 
was married to William Miles the elder, and they be- 
came the parents of a large family of children, of 
whom only four lived to mature age, — John, who died 
ill the summer of 1884; William, now living at Ard- 
more ; Charles, who resides at Manchester, N. J. ; and 
Catharine, wife of John Austin, of Norwood, Delaware 
Co., Pa. 



lor about seventeen years. In 1861 he gave up the 
work of his trade, and commenced at White Hall as a 
dealer in coal, lumber, lime and such other com- 
modities as are usually kept in a business of that kind. 
He remained at White Hall until the Pennsylvania 
Kailroad Company began building their straightened 
line by way of Bryn Mawr and Rosemont. Having 
purchased land at the latter place, he donated a part 
of it to the company, thus securing the location of the 
Rosemont Station, to which be then removed his coal 
and lumber business, and there continued to prosecute 
it steadily and profitably until the spring of 1884, 




William, son of William and Mary Miles, was born 
October 15, 1818, in Lower Merion township, on the 
farm a part of which his mother inherited from her 
father, Christopher Miller. He received only a com- 
mon-school education, and at the proper age was ap- 
prenticed to learn the trade of carpenter. His appren- 
ticeship was finished about six months before he be- 
came of age, and from that time till he was about 
twenty-six years old he worked as a journeyman at 
Manayunk, at Roxborough and in Lower Merion 
township. He then commenced business for himself 
at Athensville (now Ardmore), in which he continued 



when he retired permanently from active business to 
live in ease and independence on his property at Ard- 
more, which he purchased for a homestead many 
years ago, and which was the first real estate he ever 
owned. 

Mr. Miles was in his youth, for a number of years, 
a teacher of vocal music in the counties of Mont- 
gomery and Delaware, and in that vocation he real- 
ized profits amounting to a very considerable sum, 
which aided him materially in his later business. 
Energy, industry and perseverance have always been 
among his leading traits, and by the exercise of them. 



LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP. 



943 



together with his excellent judgment, he has amassed 
an estate more than ample for all his needs and re- 
quirements. From the time of reaching his majority 
he was a member of the old Whig party until it ceased 
to exist, and from that time to the present he has 
been a no less steadfast supporter of its Republican 
successor on all national questions and measures. He 
is, however, no partisan politician, and has never held 
or sought office. He is an attendant of the services 
of the Lower Merion Baptist Church, at Bryn Mawr, 
and is one of its trustees, though not a member of the i 



townshi]), at the place now known as Ardmore, where 
he has lived from his birth until the present time. 
He was the eldest of a family of seven children, — 
four sons and three daughters. All the latter are still 
living, and two of the sons survive, — viz., William 
and his brother Charles, who resides in the State of 
Kentucky. 

Like other boys of his age and time, William Sib- 
ley attended the common schools of the neighbor- 
hood, which furnished all his means of education, 
except such as he found in a three years' course of 





religious organization. He has been also one of the 
vestrymen of the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 
at Bryn Mawr. 

In November, 1851, Mr. Miles was married to 
Anna Broades, daughter of Richard and Mary 
Broades, of Lower Merion township. They have had 
two children, — Mary, who died September 12, 1879, at 
the age of twenty-six years, and Meta, who died of 
diphtheria in childhood. 



WILLIAM SIBLEY. 

William Sibley, son of Jacob and Catharine (Good- 
man) Sibley, was born July 16, 1810, in Lower Merion i 



study under the Hon. Joseph Fornance, afterwards a 
noted lawyer of Norristown, in which he acquired a 
thorough knowledge of mathematics, land-surveying 
and such matters of law as are necessary to the suc- 
cessful prosecution of the business of a conveyancer. 
After the close of this study under Mr. Fornance he 
commenced the business of teacTiing, and continued 
in that calling about six years, his school being 
taught during the last half of that period in a stone 
house which he built for the purpose in 1833. At the 
close of his school-teaching this house was changed 
into a dwelling, and has been occupied by him as his 
residence for nearly fifty years. 



944 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



About 1836, Mr. Sibley commenced business as a 
land-surveyor and conveyancer, in which he has con- 
tinued from that time to the present, — a period of 
nearly half a century, — during which he has surveyed 
the greater part of the lands in Lower Merion, as also 
a large proportion of those in the other lower town- 
ships of Montgomery and Chester Counties and many 
in the city of Phihidelphia, and has drawn more than 
three thousand conveyances, giving general satisfac- 
tion and gaining the entire confidence of the commu- 
nity by constant adherence to the principle which he 
determined on in his youth, — to do exact justice to 
every one according to the best of his ability, without 
fear or favor. 



ley, born August 18, 1847, and Anna Catharine Sibley, 
born May 25, 1849, and now the wife of James B. 
Ijaw, who served as a member of the Pennsylvania 
Assembly for the term succeeding his election to that 
office in 1876. 



SAMUEL LEVIS EOBESON. 

Samuel Levis Robeson, the youngest of the five 
children of Samuel Levis Robeson, Sr., and his wile, 
Margaret Wunder, was born June 28, 1829, in Lower 
Merion township, on his father's farm, which, a half 
century earlier, had been the property of his great-grand- 
father, John Robeson, who, on the 1st of December, 1863 
purchased the tract (one hundred and fifty-two acres) of 




<b^a^yi^^(^Lt£ t^<^>%^ 



j*0 



Mr. Sibley held the office of justice of the peace for 
five years (1855-60) and served as school director 
twenty-six years, being treasurer of the board during 
the last sixteen years, — viz., from 1853 to 1869. At 
the end of that long term of service he declined to 
hold the position longer, though solicited to do so. 
For several years he was one of the trustees of St. 
Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, and also secre- 
tary of the board ; and he has been a supporter of the 
church, though not a member of the religious organi- 
zation. 

William Sibley was married, in 1839, to Catharine, 
daughter of Baltus Whiteman, of Athensville (now 
Ardmore). Their children are Thomas Jefierson Sib- 



Edward and John Roberts, executors of the estate of 
Robert Roberts. John Robeson conveyed it by deed, 
dated October 1, 1791, to his son, Jonathan Robeson, by 
whom it was occupied during all his lifetime. At 
his death the property passed by inheritance to his son, 
Samuel L. Robeson, Sr., who owned it nearly half a 
century, and on the 14th of June, 1872, sold it to 
James Sawyer, of Vineland, N. J., who, in turn, sold 
to James and Joseph Butler, the first-named of whom 
is its present occupant and owner. 

Of John Robeson, the ancestor, no record has been 
found. Jonathan, son of John and Ann Robeson, 
" was born 4th day of Ninth Month, 1745, O. S.," and 
died February 22, 1825, in the eightieth year of his 



LOWER SALFORD TOWNSHIP. 



945 



age. Samuel L. Uobeson, the elder son of Jonathan 
and Hannah Robeson, was born on the 18th day of 
the Seventh Month, a.d. 17S9, and died April 16, 
1875. His wile, Margaret Wunder, was born October 
24, 1796, and died February 16, 1881, in the eighty- 
sixth year of her age. The five children of these 
parents were : First, Jonathan Robeson, born Febru- 
ary o, 1817; studied medicine and surgery in Phila- 
delphia, under Dr. McClellan, father of Major- 
General George B. McClellan; was graduated at Jef- 
ferson Medical College, March 8, 1838 ; died in his 
twenty-fifth year, in Hyde County, N. C, October 20, 
1841. Second, Mary W. Robeson, born June 3, 1819, 
died, unmarried, October 2, 1882. Third, Amanda 
Robeson, born December 25, 1821. Fourth, George 
Riter Robeson, born November 8, 1824. Fifth, 
Samuel Levis Robeson, born in 1829, as before stated, 
and now (as for many years 2>ast) living on a prop- 
erty of twenty-six acres of land, located near the 
centre of Lower Merion township, on Mill Creek, and 
adjoining the farm of his brother, George R. Robeson, 
the two tracts having been originally embraced in 
one of about fifty-five acres, which was purchased by 
their father from Mary McCienachan, in April, 1844, 
it being part of a tract belonging to the estate of John 
Roberts, which was forfeited under the confiscation 
act of March 6, 1778. 

Samuel L. Robeson is not a member of any church 
or meeting, but his affiliations are with the Society of 
Friends. He has never been a politician, and instead 
of seeking, he has avoided the holdingof public office. 
He has always been engaged more or less extensively 
in the business of farming, to which, for nearly thirty 
years (1853-1882), he added that of dealer in lumber, 
being the owner of a good saw-mill on Mill Creek 
near his residence. On the 24th of June, 1858, he 
married Louisa E., daughter of Jesse and Esther 
Thomas, of Lower Merion. Her father, Jesse Thomas, 
died March 21, 1882; his wife, Esther, died fourteen 
years earlier, February 14, 1868. 



CHAPTER LXI. 

LOWER SALFORD.i 

This may be regarded as one of the central town- 
ships of the county, and is bounded on the north and 
northwest by Franconia ; south, by Perkiomen ; 
northwest, by Upper Salford ; and southeast, by 
Towamencin. In form it is nearly square, the great- 
est length and width being about four and a 
half miles, with an area of eight thousand nine 
hundred and thirty-six acres. The surface is 
rolling, and the soil red shale and loam. It is a 
fertile and productive township, under good cultiva- 
tion and abounds in excellent farm buildings. The 



iBy Wm. J. Buck. 



Northeast Branch flows near its western boundary 
nearly four miles, receiving Indian Creek as a tribu- 
tary. The Skippack has a course of two miles across 
its eastern corner. Into that stream Little Branch 
empties just outside the township, but near its south- 
ern boundary. These streams all furnish mill-power, 
which, in seasons of drought, through the want of 
unfailing springs, become seriously impaired. It is 
no unusual circumstance for the Skippack, although 
it has its origin in Bucks County, over five miles dis- 
tant, to become entirely dried up a short distance 
above Mainland. 

The principal public improvement in Lower Sal- 
ford is the Sumneytown and Spring House turnpike, 
finished in 1848, which passes across the entire 
breadth of the township for a distance of nearly five 
miles. The turnpike i'rom Lederachsville to Harleys- 
ville, one and a half miles in length, was completed 
in 1868, and from the latter place to Souderton, on 
the North Pennsylvania Railroad, in 1865. The vil- 
lages are Harleysville, Lederachsville and Mainland, 
each possessing a post-office. The population of 
Lower Salford, in ISOO, was 524; in 1840, 1141; and 
in 1880, 1828. The real estate for taxable purposes, 
in 1882, was valued at .fl,059,225, and including the 
personal property, $1,220,218, the aggregate per tax- 
able being $2711. In 1883 three hotels, four general 
stores, three jewelers, one boot and shoe, one hard- 
ware and one stove-store, one confectioner, one dealer 
in sewing-machines and three in flour and feed, were 
licensed. In 1858 the township contained only three 
stores. The public schools are ten in number, five 
months open, with an average attendance of three 
hundred and sixty pupils for the school year end- 
ing June 1, 1882. The census of 18.50 returned 234 
families, 234 houses and 136 farms. There are three 
houses of worship, belonging, respectively, to the 
Mennonites, Dunkards and Schwenkfelders. Three 
creameries have been recently established, — at Har- 
leysville, Skippack Creek and Willow Dale. 

Salford was formed into a township in 1727, if not 
earlier, and then comprised thirty thousand acres of 
laud. The name was given to it from a town and 
several parishes of this name in England. By order of 
the Court of Quarter Sessions, in March, 1741, its terri- 
tory was divided into the townships of Lower Salford, 
Upper Salford and Marlborough. The bounds of the 
former are thus described, — 

*' Beginuing at a post in a line of Perkiomen and Skippack town- 
sliips ; thence by the same N. W. 685 perches tu a Black Oak ; thence by 
the same S. W. 86 perches to a Thorn Tree ; thence by the same N. "W. 
204 perches to a post at a corner of Upper Salford township ; thence by 
the same N. E. 126 perches to a post ; thence by the same S. E. 2 perches 
to a post ; thence by the same N. E. 78 perches to a stone ; thence by the 
same N. W. 18 perches to a post ; thence by the same N. E. 772 perches 
to a post ; thence by the same N. W. 89 perches to a W'hite Oak ; thence 
by the same North East 165 perches to a post in a line of Franconia 
township ; thence by the same S. E. 886 perches to a post ; thence by the 
same N. E. 145 perches to a White Oak ; thence by the same S. E. 384 
perches to a post at a corner of Towamencing township ; thence by the 
same S. VV. 1233 perches to the place of beginning, containing 8165 
acres." 



60 



946 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



These boundaries do not quite agree witli the pres- 
ent representations of the township on maps. The 
angle given about a mile north ofHarleysville, on the 
Franconia line, in the aforesaid bounds has no exist- 
ence, and then again we find several on the Perkio- 
men and Upper Salford line that have not been no- 
ticed. The fact becomes more and more apparent that 
there should be resurveys made of the townships and 
draughts thereof recorded, as well as monuments, 
planted at all boundary angles to save future dis- 
putes, particularly in the duties of township officials. 

There is no doubt that some settlement was made in 
the township jirior to any actual surveys or purchase. 
The earliest known was a warrant granted September 
10, 1717, to David Powel, of Philadelphia, for three 
thousand acres of land, to be located between the 
" Skepeck " and a branch of the " Parkyooman." This 
whole tract was very irregular in shape, and from 
it six hundred and ninety acres, located on the 
Northeast Branch, were sold to Garret Clemens, 
February 14, 1717-18. It has been supposed that 
Gabriel Shuler was one of the earliest settlers; 
his purchase from the Powel tract was five hun- 
dred acres, which has now become divided into no 
less than eleven portions. Henry Ruth came from 
New Britain, Bucks Co., and ])urcha.sed, August 15, 
1719, two hundred acres, and John Isaac Klein's 
purchase comprised two hundred and fifty acres. 
Claus Johnson, of Bebber's township, obtained two 
hundred and seven acres, and Conrad Custer about 
the same number; Hans ReifF, tv.'o hundred and forty, 
three acres; Andrew Lederach, about one hundred 
and twenty; John Lederach, one hundred and fifty; 
and Dillman Kulp about three hundred acres, which 
may have comprised the whole of Mr. Powel's 
original purchase. Claus Johnson and his wife 
Catharine, "for the good will they bore to their son," 
John Johnson, granted unto him their aforesaid pur" 
chase. 

On the .'ith of Third Month, 1719, a warrant was 
granted to Humphrey Morrow and John Budd direct- 
ing Jacob Taylor, surveyor-general, to survey for 
them nineteen hundred and twenty acres, as a 
part of a five thousand acre purchase. They con- 
veyed, A])ril 4 and o, 1720, to Derrick Johnson 
or Janson, five hundred acres of the tract, and the 
latter sold to Dillman Kulp, of Salford, January 4 
1721, two hundred and twenty-five acres. Nicholas 
Scull conveyed to Andrew Lederach, April 2, 1728, 
one hundred and seven acres, adjoining his other 
land, and extending up to the northwest side of the 
pre.sent Ledcrachsville. Derrick Johnson's tract was 
located at or near Indian Creek, and at a subsequent 
date five hundred and fifty acres more were granted 
him, being in all ten hundred and fifty acres. The 
southern corner of this tract was very near the Salford 
Mennonite Meeting-house, extending up along both 
sides of that stream to the Franconia line. Uf this 
tract three hundred acres were still in his possession 



at his death, about 1755. These lands he bequeathed 
to his son, Richard Johnson, and the latter devised 
them to his sister, Catharine Wister, probably Caspar 
Wister's wife, whose name was Catharine. The latter 
afterwards bequeathed it to her two daughters, Cath- 
arine Greenleaf and Rebecca, wife of Samuel Morris, 
who sold off" portions of it as late as 1790. 

In 1730, Caspar Wister and John Johnson purchased 
a tract of one thousand acres of Charles Reid, sheriff 
of Philadelphia, which was situated in the east corner 
of the township, extending from the Towamenciu line 
towards Franconia, but on the north side of the 
present pike, it being watered by the Skippack Creek. 
One of the purchasers from the aforesaid was Hans 
George Delp, whose tract has also since become 
pretty well divided into smaller portions. Samuel 
Powel secured a grant, in 1721, in the south corner of 
the township. From him Jacob Reitl' purchased five 
hundred and forty-six acres, and his brother, George 
ReiflT, one hundred and sixty acres from the latter, on 
which they respectively settled and made the first im- 
provements. Hans or John Reifi' made his purchase 
from David Powel in 1718, and it is supposed that 
they, Gabriel Schuler and Henry Ruth, were among the 
earliest settlers in this section. Jacob Price or Preus 
was a purchaser, in 1720, of two hundred acres from 
Derrick Johnson, on Indian Creek, where he settled 
in 1721. The aforesaid list, though it may not be quite 
complete, will comprise the earliest purchases and set- 
tlers in the township. 

To the diligent investigations of James Y. Heck- 
ler, near Harleysville, the writer is under great obli- 
gations for matters connected with this township's 
history, especially for locating the purchases and 
residences of its early settlers. Thus, from the list of 
1734, the following have been assigned to Lower Sal- 
ford, though the township was not divided until 
seven years later, the whole containing sixty-three 
names: Garret Clemmens, 150 acres; Jacob Clem- 
mens, 100; John Clemmens, 50; Christian AUebach, 
150 ; Henry Ruth, 100 ; Gabriel Schuler, 150 ; Hans 
Reiff; 100; Jacob Reifi; 150; George Reifi; 100; An- 
drew Lederach, 150 ; John Lederach, 150 ; Jacob 
HoflTman, 100 ; Nicholas Haldeman, 100 ; Christian 
Croll, 50; Christian Moyer, Jacob Price, 150; John 
Henry Snyder, 100; John Johnson, 150; Dillman 
Kulp, 150; John Isaac Klein, 130; Henry Slingluff, 
50; Hans George Boochard, 100; Andrew Swartz, 
150; Christian Stauffer, 120; Jacob Landis, 150; 
Galy Hettlyfinger, 1.50; Hans Clenimer, 100; John 
Vincent Meyer, 100 ; Hans Meyer, 150; John Scholl, 
100 acres. The descendants of the Price, Clemmens, 
Johnson, Clemmer, Lederach, Kulp, Reitl', Croll, 
Allebacb, Moyer and Landis families still hold lands 
in the township. 

Gabriel Schuler settled on his tract, nearly a mile 
south of Harleysville, beside the Little Branch, now 
the property of G. D. Alderfer. His original pur- 
chase is stated to have been five hundred acres. In 



LOWER SALFORD TOWNSHIP. 



947 



1734 his land was represented to be one hundred and 
fifty acres. He appears to have been a mechanic, and 
made the pulpit of the old (xosheuhoppen Church, 
which about 1747. he presented to the congregation 
of which he was a member. The road through the 
present Harleysville which was opened in 1735 to 
Gwynedd, passed by his house, which induced him, 
some time before 1758, to open a public-house which 
was kept by him for some time. The property de- 
scended to his son, Gabriel Schuler, Jr., who was 
rated in 1770 as holding one hundred and ninety 
acres, and keeping three horses and five head of cattle. 

Jacob Price, or Preus, was a preacher among the 
Dunkards or German Baptists in Germany, and came 
from Witgeiistein, in 1719, in company, it is stated, 
with Henry Slingluft'. After a brief stay at German- 
town with those of their denomination, he removed, 
in 1721, to his purchase by Indian Creek, in this 
township, which, in 1734, is represented to be one 
hundred and fifty acres. He soon erected a saw- 
mill on that stream, and did an extensive business. 
There has since been added a chopping-mill and 
later a grist-mill, owned now by .1. K. Shutt. His 
son John married and settled down here, and had 
two sons, — Daniel and John. The latter moved to 
Franklin County, Pa., in early life. Daniel had 
thirteen children, of whom five sons and two daughters 
left descendants; their names being John, George, 
Henry, William, Daniel, Elizabeth and Hannah. 
Elizabeth was married to Jacob Weidner, and Han- 
nah to John Clemmens. The aforesaid Daniel Price 
was rated in 1776 as holding three hundred and forty- 
five acres. The Price family has produced no less 
than seventeen ministers in the Dunkard Church. 
John Price, son of Jacob, was a poet as well as a 
minister, Christopher Saur, of Germantown, having 
published, in 1753, a small collection of his hymns. 
Elder William W. Price, who was born in 1789 on 
a part of the old homestead, in 1814 became a minis- 
ter, which position he retained until his death, in 
1849. He was the author of a number of German 
hymns, besides translating from the English some of 
the most popular, which were collected and published 
by J. E. Pfautz, at Ephrata, in 1838. 

Jacob Reifl'. who was one of the founders of the 
Reformed Church of Lower Salford in 1727, was 
born November 15, 1(598, and was, most probably, 
the son of Hans George Reift', who purchased two 
hundred acres of Henry Pennepacker, in 1724, and 
died in 1727. His widow died January 8, 1753, aged 
nearly ninety-one years. The aforesaid tract was 
situated in the southern corner of the township, and 
since been divided into four or five portions, the home- 
stead being now owned by J. R. Tyson, a descendant 
of the family. 

The .Tacob Reift'mentionedwas an enterprising man, 
and did much to improve this section of the country. 
His purchase, made in 1727, it is supposed, comprised 
about three hundred and eighty-six acres, and lay 



adjoining the Towamencin line. He erected, about 
1743, a grist-mill, thirty by sixty feet in size, near 
the mouth of the Little Branch, the race-way being 
nearly a mile in length. Jacob Reitl' died February 
It), 1782, aged upwards of eighty-three years; Anna, 
his wife, died October 28, 1788, aged seventy-nine. 
They were interred with the rest of the family in the 
burying-ground of the old Skippack Mennonite Meet- 
ing-house. He had sons, .Jacob and George, and a 
daughter Catharine. Jacob Reifl', .Jr., was born June 
18, 1734, and married Catharine Schneider in August, 
1756. They had seven children, — Jacob, .John, Cath- 
arine, George, Elizabeth, Anna and Benjamin. John 
married Elizabeth, daughter of Christian Funk, and 
built what was known as the Funk Meeting-house, in 
1814. They had three children, — .lohn, Elizabeth 
and Mai-y. The latter .John married a Miss Price, 
who was a member of the Indian Creek Dunkard 
Meeting. Both the aforesaid John ReifFs owned and 
resided at the mill. The latter bequeathed the meet- 
ing-house near his residence, but over the Towamencin 
line, to the Dunkards, who still retain it as a place of 
worship. He died about 1836-37, and the mill and 
farm descended to his son, Henry Reifl', who, through 
mismanagement, was compelled to part with it after so 
long a possession in the family, and it was purchased 
by Jacob Allebach, about 1839. In 1860 the mill was 
rebuilt and greatly improved, and in 1877 .Joseph K. 
Nyce, the present owner, added a steam-engine, 
which is, however, only used in the dryest sea- 
sons. In the assessment of 1776 we find Jacob Reiff, 
Jr., rated on two hundred and seventy-five acres, 
having eight children, two negroes, five horses and 
nine cattle, and thirty acres in Towamencin. George 
Reift', brother of the aforesaid, was rated on two hun- 
dred acres, one servant, four horses and six cattle. 
The aforesaid Jacob Reiff, .Jr., was the assessor of 
Lower Salford in 1776, and died February 25, 1816, 
aged eighty-one years, eight months and seven days ; 
his wife, Catharine, died September 18, 1811, aged up- 
wards of seventy-four years. George Reiff' died Jan- 
uary 24, 1808, and his wife, Elizabeth, June 25, 1817 
aged seventy-seven years. Benjamin, son of Jacob 
Reift', Jr., represented the county in the Assembly for 
seven years. The Reifl^'s have been an energetic family* 
in Montgomery County, of whom a number have been 
millers. 

Among the Germans who settled in Germantown 
may be mentioned Rudolph Harley, who had a son 
Rudolph, born in 1719, who married Mary, daugh- 
ter of Peter Becker, of Germantown. They had 
thirteen children, — John, born 1741 ; Joanna, 1743 ; 
Lena, 1745 ; Maria, 1747 ; Rudolph, 1749 ; Elizabeth, 
17.50 ; Jacob, 1752 ; Henry, 1754 ; Sarah, 17.56 ; Samuel, 
1758; Joseph, 1760; Margaretta, 1762; and Abraham 
in 1765. Rudolph married Barbara Buch ; Samuel 
married Catharine, daughter of Christopher Saur, of 
Germantown; Joseph married Catharine ReiiT, and 
Abraham, Christiana Geisz. Samuel, the fifth son of 



948 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Rudolph, had ten children, — Daniel, born in 1787 ; 
Samuel, 1788; Mary, mother of Abraham H. Cassel, 
1789; Sarah, 1791; John, 1792; Catharine, 1793; 
Joseph, 1795; Elizabeth, 1797; besides Jacob and 
Abraham. In the assessment of 1776, Rudolph Har- ' 
ley is rated as holding two hundred and sixty acres of 
land, four hor-ses and eight cattle ; Rudolph Harley, 
Jr., three horses and six cattle ; and Jacob as a single 
man. Samuel Harley, the son of Rudolph of the 
second generation, was born in 1758, and was the 
founder of Harleysville, to which place he moved 
about 1790. The property here came into possession of 
his son, Abraham Harley, who kept the hotel, at 
which the township elections were held, and had the 
post-office established. 

Christopher Kriebel and his wife, Maria, arrived in 
Pennsylvania in 1734, with their children, — George, 
Susanna, Christopher, Anna, Maria and Rosina. He 
died May 14, 1741. George Kriebel married Susanna, 
daughter of Balthasar and Regina Yeakel, Novem- 
ber 25, 1740. Their children were George and Andrew. 
He died September 2, 1778, aged sixty- three years. 
Christopher Kriebel married Maria, daughterof George 
Dresher, August 10, 1748. Their children were Abra- 
ham, Rosina, Jeremiah, Anna and Susanna. He died 
December 3, 1800, aged eighty years. In the assess- 
ment of Lower Salford for 1776, Christopher Kriebel 
was rated for 120 acres; George Kriebel, 125; and 
Andrew Kriebel, 106 acres. 

Balthasar Heydrick and wife, Rosina, came to Penn- 
sylvania in 1734. They had two sons, Christopher 
and George. The latter was born September 22, 1737, 
and married Rosina, daughter of Balthasar Krause, 
June 17, 1760. Their children were Susanna, Bal- 
thasar, Eve, Rosina and George. He was rated in 
the assessment of 1776, as holding one hundred 
acres. George died January 29, 1824, aged eighty-six 
years, and his wife, Rosina, October 29, 1828, aged 
ninety-one years and six months. He owned the 
place now occupied by Samuel Heydrick, near the 
eastern corner of the township. 

Balthasar Hoffman arrived September 12, 1734, 
with his children, — Anna, Rosina and Christopher. He 
was born in Harpersdorf, Silesia. He early embraced 
the religious principles of Caspar Schwenkfeld. By 
close application he gained a knowledge of the Latin, 
Greek and Hebrew languages, to enable him the 
better to understand the Scriptures. On the death 
of the Rev. George Weiss, the first minister of the 
Schwenkfelders in America, Mr. Hoffman was chosen 
to officiate in his place, which was acceptably filled. 
He died from increasing debility July 11, 1775, in his 
eighty-ninth year. His wife, Ursula, died May 15, 
1767, aged eighty years. He resided on the east 
side of the Skippack Creek, adjoining Towamencin 
and the present meeting-house, the property being 
now owned by Henry Derstine. Christopher Hoff- 
man, son of Balthasar, married Rosina, daughter of 
George Dresher, May 17, 1753. He died January 29, 



1804, aged seventy-six years. He was an acceptable 
minister in the church. In the assessment of 1776 he 
was rated for a farm of eighty-three acres. 

George Weiss, the first ministerof theSchwenkfelder 
denomination in America, was a son of Caspar 
Weiss, and was born in Harpersdorf, Lower Silesia, 
Austria, in 1687. He married, in 1715, Anna Mesch- 
ter, of Langenneudorf Owing to religious persecu- 
tion, he, with his wife and friends, fled in the night, 
leaving their property behind, and went to Herrnhut, 
in Saxony, on the 5th of May, 1726. During his 
eight years' stay at that place he followed weaving 
and teaching. He arrived in Pennsylvania in Sep- 
tember, 1734, with the colony of Schwenkfelders, and 
settled on a farm by the Skippack Creek, in Lower 
Salford. After a residence here of about a year and a 
quarter, Mr. Weiss was formally appointed the first 
minister and catechist of the denomination in this 
country. He continued in the office, giving general 
satisfaction until his death, which occurred March 11, 
1740, in his fifty-third year. He was interred in the 
graveyard of the Lower Salford Meeting-house, where 
a stone has been erected to his memory as its first 
pastor. Some of the information here given, as also 
several other facts in relation to the Schwenkfelders 
in this section, has been obtained from the genealog- 
ical record of that denomination, published in 1879. 

On the loth of April, 1734, a tract of land contain- 
ing six hundred and ninety acres was granted by 
patent to Garret Clements. Parts of this large tract 
were sold by him to his sons, — Jacob, Abraham and 
John. To the latter he sold, September 6, 1738, "a 
certain grist-mill messuage, plantation and tract of 
land, on a branch of Perkiomen Creek." The tract 
contained one hundred and forty-one acres. It is 
ascertained from old manuscripts that the grist-mill 
was built by Garret Clements in 1726, and that Jacob 
Souder was the millwright and received for his labor 
thirty-three pounds. John Clements owned and oper- 
ated the mill property to May 25, 1764, when he sold 
it to Frederick Alderfer, who conveyed it to his son, 
John, July 1, 1776. 

Although it does not appear that the Alderfers were 
an early family in the township, they have now become 
numerous and influential, holding here a considerable 
amount of real estate. The voters' list for 1883 fur- 
nishes twenty-six names. In the assessment of 1776 
we find the names of Frederick Alderfer, miller, hold- 
ing four hundred and ninety acres, and John and 
Jacob Alderfer, his sons. The mill property is situ- 
ated on the Northeast Branch, a mile north of Leder- 
achsville. It is now owned by J. S. Uroff, a son-in- 
law of the family. The wooden bridge over the stream 
here was built by the county about 1835. 

George Heckler, the ancestor of that family, was a 
son of Michael, and was born in 1736 at Retchweiler, 
in Lower Alsace, then belonging to France. He was 
apprenticed to the tailor trade, at fifteen years of age 
and he became free at eighteen. To perfect him- 



LOWER SALFORD TOWNSHIP. 



949 



self in the occupation, he was then required to travel 
three years as a journeyman. This opportunity deter- 
mined him to flee to America, if possible. He fortu- 
nately succeeded, and arrived in Philadelphia in the 
ship " Neptune," from Rotterdam, September 30, 
1754. Such was his poverty that he was unable to 
pay his fare, and was sold by the captain for three 
years' service as a redempcioner. He was purchased 
by John Steiner, of Coventry township, Chester Co., 
opposite Pottstown, who paid for his time forty-eight 
dollars of our present currency. After his freedom 
he came to Lower Salford. where he in 1764, married 
Christiana, daughter of Peter Freid. Through his 
industry and judicious management he succeeded so 
well that in 1785 he purchased his father-in-law's 
farm, of two hundred and forty-three acres, for two 
thousand pounds, or about twenty-two dollars per 
acre. He was in the general practice of carrying his 
surplus produce to the city on horseback. He dipd 

L August 28, 1816, having attained upwards of eighty 
years, and left to his descendants a handsome estate. 

The Freid family were early settlers in Snlford. In 
the list of 1734 is found the name of Hans Freid, 
owning one hundred acres. In the assessment of 
Lower Salford for 1776, John Freid is mentioned as 
holding one hundred acres, and Peter Freid, two hun- 
dred and ninety acres, one servant, three horses and 
seven cattle. The latter, besides two daughters, had 
a son, John, to whom he granted a water-right, 
dated May 4, 1775, on a part of the CTabriel Schuler 
property, for a dam to irrigate the meadow, which is 
kept in good repair to this day. There was at least 
one other son, whose name has been forgotten. Pe- 
ter Freid had purchased the farm from Hans 
Rciif in ^March, 1746. He had re.sided on the 
place thirty-nine years, and in the erection of the 
Salford Mennonite Meeting-house was a liberal con- 
tributor. His death occurred in 1791, aged about 
seventy-six years. The Freids are still land-holders in 
the township, residing near the Franconia line. 

Christopher Dock, the noted teacher and poet, lived 
and died in Lower Salford. At what time he arrived 
from Germany has not been ascertained, but the ear- 
liest known of him is as a teacher at Germantown, 
where he taught school at intervals for at least four 
years. He purchased in the township, the 28th of 
Ninth Month, 1735, a tract of one hundred acres for 

' fifteen and one-half pounds, adjoining or near the 
Perkionien line. Upon that tract he settled and 
made the first improvements. In 1738 he gave up 
farming and resumed teaching, which he continued 
with great success to the close of his life. At the 
request of Christopher Saur, the printer at German- 
town, he was induced to prepare a work, in German, 
on school-teaching, which he was finally prevailed 
upon to have published in 1769, making a pamphlet 
of fifty-four octavo pages, containing practical sugges- 
tions on the subject. After the death of his wife he 
made his home with Henry Cassel, who was mentioned 



in the census of 1756 as a weaver and farmer. His 
daughter Margaret was married to Peter .Tanson, a 
well-to-do farmer in Skippack, and Catharine married 
Henry Strycker, of Salford. He was a zealous mem- 
ber of the Mennonite denomination, the religious ele- 
ment of which entered largely into his mode of educa- 
tion and for whom he alone labored. He died suddenly, 
in the fall of 1771, being found lifeless in his school- 
room, after the pupils had been dismissed. He wa-s 
buried in the graveyard belonging to the old Skippack 
Mennonite Meeting, where probably no stone bears an 
inscription to denote the spot. Specimens of his 
"Fractur"and *' Vorschriften " have been preserved 
in the Cassel family, and display splendid penmanship. 
Several of his hymns were collected and printed by 
Michael Billmyer, of Gerniantown, in 1790. and ex- 
hibit considerable merit. Some of these were ex- 
pressly composed to be sung liy his pupils, whom he 
instructed in vocal music. 

Inns were established in Lower Salford at an early 
period, owing to the opening of the main road leading 
from the present Sumneytown, through this township, 
down toGwynedd in 1735. This, with the increase of 
settlement above, led to a considerable amount 
of travel to Philadelphia with produce or for mer- 
chandise. John Isaac Klein, kept an inn in the 
lower part of the present Harleysville, and also 
Gabriel Schuler, half a mile farther down the road, 
no doubt some time before 1750. Both of those 
places possessed unfailing springs of water, which 
was a desideratum to travelers in dry seasons. Some 
time before 1766, Frederick Dickensheit kept an inn, 
known as the sign of the ''Stag," which was kept by 
George Schwenk in 1802, by Balthasar Heydrick in 
1822, and afterwards by Wm. Reiff, who removed the 
sign about 1836. It has since been a private house, 
and is now owned by John Binder. Two inns were 
located at Mainland in the beginning of this cen- 
tury, if not earlier. One had for its sign the " White 
Horse,'' subsequently changed to " The Half- Way 
house," because situated midway between Maxatawny, 
(from whence there was considerable travel,) and the 
city. 

During the second schism of the Mennonite Church 
which originated near ihe beginning of this century, 
the portion who withdrew erected for themselves a 
small one-story stone meeting-house, a mile northeast 
of Harleysville, near the present turnpike leading to 
Souderton. Those who built it were known as the 
Herrites, who held to extreme views, — among the 
rest, that members should not attend nor hear the 
preachiug or teaching of any other denomination 
whatever, and that they should rigidly adhere to their 
doctrines. By 1850 they had diminished so that the 
building was used only as a school-house, and five 
years later was torn down. It is supposed now that 
they have become extinct here, but a few scattered mem- 
bers are said to remain in the townships of Worces- 
ter and Whitpain, also in Lancaster County and some 



950 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



parts of the West. The late Professor I. D. Eupp, 
has written and had published a pamphlet on extinct 
denominations in Pennsylvania ; whether they have 
been included by him among the number has not 
been ascertained. 

Harleysville is situated on the 8umneyto\vn and 
.Spring House turnpike, in the northern portion of 
the township. It contains one hardware, one tinware, 
one shoe, one feed and one general store, two clothing 
manufacturing establishments, one jeweler and watch- 
maker, one undertaker, one baker, one hotel, four 
physicians, several mechanic shops, a creamery and 
forty-two houses. It is an improving place and the 
buildings are large, neat and built of stone, frame and 
brick. In 1858 it contained a store, hotel, several 
mechanic shops and eleven houses, and in 1870 had 
increased to twenty dwellings. The turnpike to Rum- 
neytown and the Spring House was built in 1848, the 
pike to Lederachsville in 1868 and to Souderton in 1865. 
The first and only house in the place during the Rev- 
olution was that of Nicholas Schwenk, a blacksmith, 
who owned here, in 1776, one hundred and fifty acres 
of land. Samuel Harley built a tavern-house here 
about 1790, and, in connection with the same, kept a 
store, for many years doing an extensive business. He 
is regarded as the founder of the place, and after him 
it has been called. Abraham Harley, son of Samuel, 
afterwards became the owner of the property and 
at his house the township elections were held for 
some time. In 1840 he succeeded in having the 
post-office established there, none previously being 
nearer than Sumneytown, five miles distant. The 
mail is now brought daily from North Wales over 
the turnpike. The oldest house in the township is 
supposed to be over one half a mile below this, 
and now owned by Adam Fisher. It was built 
by Nicholas Rary in 1748, one story high, but in 1812 
was raised to two stories and repaired. The creamery 
at Harleysville was built in 18X1, and its business has 
been increased to above twelve thousand pounds of 
milk, making daily four hundred and fifty pounds of 
butter, besides a considerable quantity of chee.se. 

Lederachsville is situated near the central part of 
Lower Salford, and at the intersection of six roads. It 
has become an improving place, containing now two 
stores, a hotel, telegraph-office, smith-shop and twenty- 
three houses. It occupies an elevated situation, aflford- 
ing a fine prospect of the surrounding country, which 
is well cultivated and productive. The place, for its 
size, has been very little given to manufacturing. The 
post-office was established here in 18.')7. and Septimus 
Kriebel was ajipointed postmaster. The road passing 
through here from Sumneytown to Skippack is an an- 
cient highway, having been opened in 1728, and being 
the first from this. section leading to the city. The village 
owes its origin to Henry Lederach, who built the first 
house here in 1 825. He next put up a blacksmith-shop 
and carried on smithing for several years, after which 
he opened a store. Another store was opened by 



Jacob Zeigler, about 1833, when Mr. Lederach ob- 
tained a license for a hotel, and thus the foundations for 
the village were laid. By the list of 1734, Andrew 
and John Lederach were the owners of three hun 
dred acres of land. In 1776, Henry Lederach owned 
one hundred and thirty-two acres, Andrew Lederach 
one hundred and fifty, and .John Lederach one hun- 
dred and fifty, denoting in the family an attachment 
to real estate. About one-quarter of a mile to the 
southeast of the village is the old Lederach graveyard, 
on the farm now owned by Abraham K. Freid. A 
stone has on it "C. L., 1776," another, " H. L., De. 
24, 1799." An opinion isentertained that this ground 
has become reduced by cultivation and that some of 
the stones have disappeared. Several Indian squaws 
were also buried here, being the last survivors of those 
who lingered about in the village. This ground passed 
out of tlie Lederach family about twenty years ago, 
and it remains U'linclosed and neglected. 

Mainland is situated on the turnpike to Gwynedd, 
adjoining the Towamencin line and the Skippack 
Creek. It contains a store, hotel, post-office and thir- 
teen houses, besides several mechanic shops. The 
bridge over the Skippack Creek was built by the 
county in 1.H43, at which time the tavern and store were 
kept by Jonas Boor.se, and the place was then known 
only as Boorse's Tavern. The post-office w is not lo- 
cated here until 1877. The inn, in the beginning of 
the century, had for its sign "The White Horse,'" subse- 
(juently changed to the " Half- Way House. ' Another 
public-house existed about half a mile farther up the 
road towards Harleysville, which ceased business in 
1834. During the Revolution, Washington and the 
army were encamped in this immediate vicinity 
for eight days, chiefly on the Towamencin side. 
.\bout half a mile west of the village was the Stouffer 
property, now owned by J. D. Alderfer, which had 
been in their possession a long time. In October, 1777, 
it was occupied by Mathiiis Stouffer, at whose house 
several of the American officers connected with the 
camp took lodgings. The road through the village did 
not exist at that time, but crossed the Skippack half 
a mile below, passing Stouffer's and entering the 
present road at the Mennonite meeting-house. This 
change w.as brought about in straightening the old 
road. 

Among the extensive industries of this section de- 
serving notice is the manufacture of clothing for the 
city trade, which had its rise under singular circum- 
stances. John Binder, a German tiulor, residing on a 
small farm near Harleysville, in August, 1849, pro- 
ceeded to I'hiladelphia with a small load of produce 
to help meet his expenses. Near Third and Market 
Streets was a clothing-store kept by a Cierman, with 
whom he was acquainted. From him he secured some 
work to take home and make up in his family. On 
returning it he secured mure, and so from the honest 
and faithful manner that he attended to it the busi- 
ness kept increasing, so he was offered more than he 



LOWER SALFORD TOWNSHIP. 



951 



and his family could make. He then gave some of it 
out to other poor families of the neighborhood, until 
it became a remunerative business. He received the 
goods in a trunk and returned the clothing therein 
until sewing-machines became introduced, which 
enabled him to further enlarge the business. In the 
Rebellion he thus became enabled to take large con- 
tracts of making clothing for the army, so that his 
business from 1860 to 1863 amounted to .$5.5,000 
annually. His success had been such that he with- 
drew, and the business was taken up by others. His 
son, S. B. Binder, entered into it in April, 1874, haul- 
ing the goods every week in a wagon with one horsei 
but he soon after used a two-horse team and next 
three horses, until he has attained to four loads every 
week, making eight thousand four hundred garments 
or four hundred and thirty-six thousand eight hun- ] 
dred in a year, weighing over two hundred and 
ninety-one tons. Besides the aforesaid, the business 
is also followed by John Egolf, in Harleysville, and 
by John Lutz, who resides about a mile distant. There 
are also others engaged in the clothing manufacture 
in Perkiomeu and other townships, which, it will be 
seen gives considerable employment to families at 
their own homes, and thus greatly adds to the pros- 
perity of the neighborhood, Mr. Binder alone now 
paying out annually for this labor nearly seventy 
thousand dollars. From the number of sewing-ma- 
chines now used, a repairer of them resides in Harleys- 
ville, who has thus been kept busy for several years 
past. 

The Schwenkfelder Meeting-House. — The meet- 
ing-house of this denomination is situated in the 
eastern corner of the township, near Skippack Creek, 
and within a few yards of Towamencin line. The 
present edifice is a one-story stone building, erected 
in 1860, thirty-five by forty-six feet in dimensions, 
and stands about one hundred yards from the road, 
beside a wood. The graveyard is small in size, not 
covering a quarter of an acre of ground, but is kept in 
neat condition. The names on the tombstones are 
Heydrick or Heidrick, Fischer, Flin, Schreider, Hoft- 
man, Meschter, Kreibel, Weandand Faull. No stone 
was observed bearing an earlier date than 1801. Con- 
sidering the time of its establishment, the number of 
graves appear small. The Rev. George Weiss, the 
first minister, was buried here in March, 1740. The 
present pastor is the Rev. George Meschter, sou of 
Christopher and Catherine Meschter, born March 28, 
1808. He resides on a small farm adjoining, in Towa- 
mencin. The services here are still confined to the 
German language. 

The congregation dates back to an early period, the 
members having settled around here probably in 1734, 
or soon after, for Jlr. Weiss was formally made their 
minister in 1735 or the following year, in which 
capacity he served them until his death. He was 
succeeded by the Rev. BaUhasar Hoffman, who re- 
mained in charge till near his death, which took place 



in 1775, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, and 
he is also buried here. Through the exertions of the 
Rev. Christopher Schultz a more complete organization 
of the church was effected which went into oper- 
ation in August, 1782. No edifice was expressly used 
by them for worship in the county until 1789; pre- 
viously for this purpose the society assembled at 
private houses, and in the absence of a pastor the 
services were conducted by one of the members. 
There was a school-house at this place, erected in 1764, 
which was also used by the members for worship down 
to the erection of the present meeting-house, in 1869. 
The school was kept in operation through a fund of 
seven hundred and fifty pounds, Pennsylvania cur- 
rency, raised by subscription, the interest of which 
was early applied for the purpose. 

During the French and Indian war the members 
settled around here raised by subscription the hand- 
somesum oftwo hundred and sixty poundsin aid of the 
Friendly Association, to gain and preserve peace with 
the exasperated Indians on the frontiers. This paper 
was signed by forty-two persons, and is dated Lower 
Salford, November 13, 1756. They state therein "that 
they are a few families of a dispersed people from 
Silesia, who have always, under God's blessing, main- 
tained themselves by the labor of their hands, having 
been forced to leave their estates behind." The names of 
these subscribers are George Andrews, George Kriebel, 
Byer's Estate, George Heydrick, Balthasar Heydrick, 
Hans Heebner, George Hoffman, Christopher Heeb- 
ner, David Heebner, George Heebner, Caspar Hey- 
drick, Melchior Hartranft, Christopher Hoffman, 
Balthasar Hoffman, Christopher Yeakle, Abraham 
Yeakle, Balthasar Yeakle, Caspar Kriebel, Balthasar 
Krauss, Christopher Kiiebel, Melchior Kriebel, Chris- 
topher Krauss, George Dresher, Christopher Dresher, 
Melchior Meister, Christopher Meister, David Meister, 
Christopher Neuman, Cbristopher Reinwalt, Melchior 
Scholtz, George Scholtz, Gregorius Scholtz, David 
Scholtz, George Scholtz, .Jr., Christopher Scholtz, 
Caspar Seipt, Johannes Yeakle, Christopher Yeakle, 
Maria Yeakle, Christopher Wagner, Hans Weigner 
and Melchior Weigner. These, no doubt, constituted 
the larger number of the denomination then residing 
within the present limits of the county to which it 
has in the past been almost confined. They are said 
to have become extinct now for some time in Europe. 
Hence the greater interest has been attached to their 
history here. They have always been a well-disposed 
and industrious people, remarkable, according to their 
lately published '' (ienealogical Record,'' for longevity. 

The Salford Mennonite-Meeting House.— This 
place of worship is situated about one mile west of 
Harleysville, and was built in 1850 of stone, one story 
high, forty-five by fifty-five feet in dimensions. It 
stands on elevated ground, with ample shedding at- 
tached and an open, unfenced woods adjoining. Jo- 
siah Clemmer, the bishop, resides in Franconia and 
his diocese extends also over Lower Salford and 



952 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Towamencin. The ministers are Isaac C. Clemmer 
and Jacob C. Moyer ; Deacon, Jacob Kulp. The mem- 
bership is upwards of two hundred and fifty. The 
services are still exclusively confined to the German. 
The grounds attached to the meeting-house comprise 
ten acres, upon which is also erected a dwelling for 
the sexton. 

Tlie graveyard is large, and many have been buried 
here. The oldest tombstone observed bears the date 
of 1741 and another of ITlJO. The surnames which 
appear upon the stones are Alderfer, Kolb, Ober- 
holtzer, Frederick, Lederach, Freid, Detweiler, 
Gottschall, Hijring, Clemer, Benner, Ritter, Kratz, 
Saylor, Zeigler, Neisz, Shelly, Schlafer, Krupp, 
Scholl, Metzger, Bean, Moyer, Clemense, Lukens, 
Heckler, Greisz, Sleiber, Merkle, Musselman, Stoll, 
Kensey, Schultz, Sauder, Groff, Snyder, Cassel, Berge, 
Springer, Schott, Halteman, Weber, Custer, Panne- 
backer. Weil, Metz, Deterey, Hunsberger, Hendricks, 
Rosenberger, Wampole, Richards, Hose, Nyce, Delp, 
Bealer, Lower, Wierman, Strunck, Butterweck, Trum- 
bauer and Tyson. The tombstones are of various 
sizes and designs, some being four and a half feet high, 
and the inscriptions are about as numerous now in 
English as in German. The Mennonites, though a 
plain people in dress, unlike the Society of Friends, 
permit individuals to exercise their own judgment 
respecting the size, inscription and pattern of their 
monuments, as may be observed in any of their 
cemeteries. 

The congregation possesses no early records ; hence 
the time of the erection of the first house of worship 
here is uncertain. Some have made it as early as 1730, 
and it is probable that it goes back at least to 1741. 
Henry Ruth, whose residence was here from 1718 to 
1747, mentions, in a deed to Christian Stouffer, that 
one acre had been taken out for the use of a Mennon- 
ite meeting-house ground, without giving any date. 
Some have supposed the present meeting-house the 
third erected here. The one torn down in 1850 is 
represented as a very ancient-looking structure. 

Among the ministers here in the past have been 

Oberholtzer, Christian Haldeman, Isaac Alderfer 
John Bergey and Jacob Kulp. The Mennonites are 
a numerous body in Lower Salford and the adjoin- 
ing townships of F'ranconia, Hatfield, Towamencin 
and Perkiomen. As a people, they show a strong 
attachment to an agricultural life, being prudent man- 
agers, excellent farmers and supporting their own poor. 

The Salford Dunkard Meeting-House.— This 
meeting-house is situated near the extreme northern 
corner of the township, on the turnpike leading to 
Sumneytown, and on the west side of Indian Creek 
which name lias also been applied to this congrega- 
tion. The present substantial house of worship was 
built in 1851, of stone, thirty-eight by fifty-six feet 
in dimensions, with a basement kitchen and fire- 
place for the purpose of holding love-feasts and 
communions. The present ministers are William P. 



Nice, Jonas Harley, Henry A. Price and Jacob Booz, 
with a membership at present reaching nearly two 
hundred. Baptisms are performed in the neighboring 
stream, usually in the meadow of Abraliam H. Cassel. 
There is no graveyard here, the rock being so near 
the surface as to render it impracticable for the pur- 
pose. To accommodate this need, the Harley and 
Stoufi'er burial-grounds, near by, have been enlarged, 
to four times their former size for the use of the con- 
gregation. The former is located just over the Fran- 
conia line, and was commenced by Rudolph Harley 
in 1745; one tombstone has the date of 1758. On this 
lot a frame meeting-house, thirty by forty-two feet, was 
built in 1843, in which worship is held on alternate 
Sundays. 

Members of this denonunation were among the 
early settlers in the neighborhood, Indians being still 
in the vicinity and residing by the stream, from which 
circumstance it received the name. Jacob Price, a 
minister in Germany, settled here in 1721, and with 
several others is stated to have organized a society 
for holding worship at private houses in 1723. At 
what time the first meeting-house was erected here is 
not exactly known, but it was, no doubt, before the 
close of the last century. It was a frame structure, of 
about thirty feet square, to which, in 1830, was made 
an addition of twenty feet and the whole placed in 
good repair. But the congregation increasing, and 
again becoming too small, it was resolved in 1851 to 
tear the whole down, when the present meeting-liouse 
was erected in its place. For this purpose the ground 
was given gratis by Abraham Harley and John Price. 
The deed therefor was executed May 1, 1806, and was 
conveyed in trust to Rudolph Harley, Samuel Harley, 
Ulrich Stouffer, Abraham Kampfer, George Reift", 
George Price and Henry Price, in behalf of the mem- 
bers, The aforesaid surnames are still those of the 
leading families, except that of Kampfer, which has 
become extinct. The Price family here has furnished 
no less than seventeen ministers to the church, Henry 
A. Price being now of the sixth generation. In 1870 
the Dunkards, or German Baptists, as they are some- 
times called, had nine houses of worship in the county. 

The Story of Reiff s Early Church.— It issupposed 
that one of the earliest organized Reformed con- 
gregations possessing a house of worship in charge 
of a regularly ordained minister in Pennsylvania was 
located in Lower Salford, about two miles .south of 
Harleysville, and nearly three-fourths of a mile west 
of the Skippack Creek. In this immediate vicinity 
resided Jacob Reifl", who made a purchase, in 1727, of 
several tracts of land, supposed to be in all three 
hundred and eighty-six acres, upon which he made 
extensive improvements ; among the rest, a grist- 
mill, in 1743, thirty by sixty feet in dimensions, near 
the mouth of the Little Branch and Towamencin line. 
His parents and several brothers also settled in the 
vicinity on extensive purchases that they had made 
somewhat earlier. 



LOWER SALFORD TOWNSHIP. 



953 



The Rev. George Michael Weiss, a Reformed 
minister, who had graduated at Heidelberg, and 
a native of Stebbach, on the Neckar, arrived in 
Philadelphia in the ship " William and Sarah," Sep- 
tember 21, 1727, accompanied by a considerable 
number of his countrymen. He is represented as 
speaking the Latin fluently, and in the spring of 1730 
advertised in the American Weekly Mercury to teach 
logic, natural philosophy and metaphysics. Report 
has it that he came immediately after his arrival into 
Salford with some of his followers, and here he at 
once organized a congregation, with the assistance of 
those that had preceded him in the neighborhood, 
who that fall erected a log church, the first belonging 
exclusively to this denomination in Pennsylvania. 
The Rev. John Henry Goetschy attended here during 
1731. Mr. Weiss reported in that year that the 
Reformed members numbered fifteen thousand in 
America, which appears a high estimate. The 
trustees of the church are stated to have been Jacob 
Deemer, Michael Hillyas, Peter Hillyas, Jost Schmidt, 
Henrich Weller, .Jacob Siegel and William Rohrich. 
In 1729, or the following year, Mr. Weiss, in com- 
pany with Jacob ReifT, who had now become an 
elder, proceeded to Holland to make collections in 
behalf of the denomination and for the purchase of 
Bibles and other religious works. The Rev. Michael 
Schlatter, on his arrival in America, was instructed by 
the Synods of North and South Holland to visit Mr. 
Reiff and Mr. Weiss for an account of the moneys 
they had collected and had disbursed for the benefit 
of the Pennsylvania churches. After considerable 
trouble and delay, in October, 1746, the matter was 
settled by arbitration, though it appears from the 
correspondence on the subject not very satisfactorily, 
by Mr. Reiff refunding one hundred and thirty-five 
pounds after deducting his expenses. The result was 
that the matter made considerable talk, so much so 
that Mr. Schlatter came out in a brief advertisement 
in Mr. Saur's Germantown paper to calm the public 
mind by exonerating Mr. Reiff 's conduct, without any 
allusion, however, to Mr. Weiss' participation, which 
did not mend matters, and may have led to his 
abandonment of the Skippack congregation from that 
date. Unfortunately, in this connection, the church 
had been built on a portion of Mr. Reiff's land, and 
he is charged with having refused to give a title or 
deed to the members for the ground ; hence they be- 
came so disgusted as to be unwilling even to keep it 
in repair, and thus it went to decay. 

But the most unfortunate affair in connection with 
it was the fate of the graveyard, in which, no doubt, 
interments were made as early as the erection of the 
church, and which was actually used for this purpose 
until about the year 1800. Some have estimated that 
within that period from one hundred to one hundred 
and sixty may have been buried here. Besides the com- 
mon stones, there were here between thirty and forty 
white marble tombstones with inscriptions. Among 



those remembered were stones to the memory of 
Gabriel Schuler and wife, Catharine, besides others of 
the name and several of the Stong family. The prop- 
erty, by purchase, came in possession of Jesse 
Anderson, who built the house here about 1841 or 
1842. He was a mason, with a family of boys, who 
are charged with having commenced taking up the 
tombstones while he was following his trade. It was 
eventually sold by John W. Stouffer, the sherift", De- 
cember 10, 1859, to John George Nuss as containing 
seventeen acres of land. He was a native of Germany, 
and moved on the place and now commenced removing 
the remainder of the stones, until they all disappeared, 
when the ground was put under cultivation. It is 
said that .several neighbors remonstrated with him on 
the subject, to which iie replied that be had bought 
all, and would cultivate all. The tradition of the 
neighborhood is that the tombstones were put in 
wash-gullies and covered over, likely to be revealed 
some day. Mr. Nuss and Anna Maria, his wife, sold 
the place, April 6, 1804, to Elizabeth Berndt, as is 
mentioned in the deed, for eighteen acres ; thus it will 
be seen that through the demolition of the graveyard 
the place had not been reduced in area. 

We shall now return to the old church, that, through 
neglect, was hastening to decay. The Old Goshen- 
hoppen Church, five miles distant, was erected 
jointly by the Lutherans and Reformed in 1744, 
but was not fully finished until 1748. It was suffi- 
ciently near to .somewhat affect the membership. 
Hence it was the policy of the congregation to locate 
at some advantageous spot more remote from the 
former, and thus it came that they finally fixed, in 1760, 
upon the present site of Weutz's Church, in Worcester 
township, but little over two miles distant, on the old 
Skippack road. The deed of conveyance for the 
ground is dated .January 2, 1762, from John Lefevre 
and Christina, his wife, and Jacob Wentz, and Eliza- 
beth, his wife, to Philip Wentz, Peter Wentz, Jacob 
Weber, Philip Spare, Henry Conrad and Jacob Reiff, 
Jr., in trust for the congregation. The church was 
commenced in 1762, but was not fully completed un- 
til 1771. 

The Rev. George Michael Weiss received the 
charge of the New Goshenhoppen and Swamp con- 
gregations in 1746, and continued there until his 
death, in 1761. He was buried in the New Goshen- 
hoppen Churchyard, where a neat marble stone has 
been erected to his memory. Jacob Reiff died Feb- 
ruary 16, 1782, aged eighty-three years, and was bur- 
ied in the graveyard of the old Skippack Mennonite 
meeting-house, a greater distance from his residence 
than to Wentz's Church. There is reason to believe 
that through the investigations of his financial affairs 
with the church, and the scandal it led to, he severed 
hisconnections therewith asa member,and noevidence 
has yet been produced to the contrary. Jacob Reiff, Jr., 
mentioned in 1762 as one of the trustees of Wentz's 
Church, was his son. 



954 



HtSTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



In connection with the ReJff Church, as it has been 
commonly called, considerable error has been dis- 
seminated — Mr, Weiss having been made its paator 
several years before he had actually arrived in Amer- 
ica. The church has been represented as having 
been torn down at dates many years apart, and its 
materials applied to various contradictory uses, with- 
out any plausibility as to the facts. The fate of this 
church and its graveyard certainly teaches a humilia- 
ting lesson on human avarice ; for through this cause 
the site of either can now scarcely be pointed out, 
though the traditions concerning them will long linger 
with no credit to the parties that have hastened the 
result. 

ASSESSMENT OF LO'tt'ER SALFORI), 1776. 
Jacob Reiff, .Tr. , iissesaor, and William Gergae, collector. 
Kudolpli Ilarley, 2G0 acres, 4 horses and 8 cows ; Jacob Gnibb, 130 a, 3 
h.,5c. ; Haniian Acke, 45a.,2h., 2c. ; Gabriel Kline, 150 a., 1 servant, 3 
h., 5 c. ; John Alderfer, 1 h., 5 c. ; Jacob Alderfer, 1 h., 3 c. ; Isaac 
Kratz, 2 h., 2 c. ; Valentine Kratz, 150 a., 2 h., 4 c.; William Gergns 
150 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; Abraham Clements, 250 a., 4 h., 7 c. ; Christian Ser- 
gey, 1.50 a., 5 h., 7 c. ; Chrietian Haltcman, 130 a., 3 h., 3 c; Isiiac 
Markley, 125 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; IleTir.v Heftlelinger, 180 a., 2 h„ 2 c. ; Jacob 
Hefllefinger, 1 h., 2 c. ; Godslialk Oodshalk, 150 a., 3 h. 5 c. ; Andrew 
Zeigler, 320 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Dilman Zeigler, 220 a., 4 h., 6 c ; Henry Led 
erach, 132 a., 2 h., 6 c. ; Jacob Clements, 150 a., 2 h., 6 c. ; Christopher 
Dickenshcit, 100 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Frederick Dickenshoit, 32 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; 
Nicholas Schwenk, smith, 150 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Daniel Price, 345 a., 4 h., 
8 c.; John Johnson, Jr., 2 h., 5 c. ; Nicholas .lohnson, deceased, estnte 
150 acres ; Gabriel Schnler, Jr., 190 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; Rudolph Harley, Jr., 
3 h., 6 c. ; Andrew Zeigler, Jr., 3 h., 6 c. ; John Smith, miller, 1 h., 3 c. ; 
George Schwenk ; Frederick Alderfer, miller, 490 a., 3 h., 3 c, and a 
grist-mill ; Peter Freed, 290 a., 1 servant, 3 h., 7 c. ; John Freed, 100 a., 

1 b., 1 c. ; Garret StoufTer, 193 a., 2 h., 6 c. ; Jacob Shoemaker, 141 a., 

2 h., 1 c, a cripple ; .lacob Shoemaker, Jr., 2 c. ; Henry Cassel, 100 a., 2 
h., 3 c. ; Jacob Reiff; George Reiff,' 200 a., 1 servant, 4 h., G c. ; Jacob 
Reiff, Jr., 275 a., 2 ncp-oes, 5 h., 9 c, 30 acres in Towamencin, 8 
children ; Philip Stong, 178 a., 3 li., 6 c, 11 children ; Mathi,i.s Stonffer, 
80 a., 1 h., 4 c.; Joseph Evans, 2 c. ;' Christian Moyer, 232 a., 5 h., 7 c. ; 
Christian Stonffer, .38 a., 1 c. ; Barnhart Getz, 120 a., 3 li., 4 c. ; Jacob 
Bozart, 120 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Valentine Ilaake, 1 c. ; Samnel Delp, 140 a., 

3 h., 4 c. ; Christopher Hoffman, 83 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; William Yokum, 50 a., 
lb., 1 c. ; Christopher Krieble, 125 a., 3 h,, 5 c. ; Andrew Krieble, 106 
a., 2 h., 6 c. ; G«orge Krieble, 125 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; George Heydrick, 100 
a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Michael Zeigler, 3 h., 4 c. ; Garret Clements, 135 a.. 3 h., 
6 c. ; Abraham Alderfer, 1 h., 2 c. ; Panl Knaper, 50 a., 1 h.. 3 c. ; Jtthn 
Conrad, 1 c. ; Henry Hopple, 2 c. ; Henry Reary, Christian Dull, John 
Schneider. Singh Men. — Villus Kassel, Henry Wierman, Abraham Ger- 
gas, Abraham Bergy, William Gergas, Gerhart Clements, John Price, 
Jacob Harley, Frederick Lichtner, Abraham Kreible, Abraham Grubb 
and Joseph Alderfer. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



.SAMUEL B. BINDER. 

In the northern part of Montgomery County there 
is no one who is at this time doing as much to ad- 
vance the prosperity and business interests of the 
people as Samuel B. Binder, the subject of this 
sketch. Born and reared in Harleysville, in said 
county, he is in every sense one of the county's most 
enterprising young business man. He is never con- 
tent unless he sees men and women busy in his 
employ, and without him Harleysville would be dull 
indeed. His father, John W. Binder, was horn in 



Wiirtemberg, Germany, April 18, 1819. Arrived at 
a suitable age, he was placed at the hatter's trade, 
in which he became an efficient workman. He also 
learned the tailor's trade. His trade in all its details 
mastered, he commenced the manufacture of hats and 
traveled over a great deal of Europe in selling his 
goods. For his first wife he married Miss Magdelena 
Meier, who bore him one son, Frederick M. B. Binder. 
She died in Wiirtemberg. His second wife was Miss 
Christina Bond, who was also born in Wiirtemberg. 
To them have been born ten children, four only 
reaching man's and woman's estate, viz. : Jacob B., 
John B. (now deceased), Samuel B., and Sallie B. 
.Jacob B. married Lizzie Frederick, who has born him 
three children. He is a carriage-builder and carries 
on business in Harleysville. Sallie B. married Jacob 
Moyer, a carriage-painter, now in the employ of his 
brother-in-law, Jacob B. Binder. In 1846, John W. 
and his family emigrated to America and settled down 
at the corner of Sixth and Brown Streets, in Phila- 
delphia. He had but little of this world's goods, but 
he possessed what was of more account, viz. : honesty, 
energy and industnious habits. He found employ- 
ment with Solomon Gans, one of the oldest ready- 
made clothing merchants in the city ; also with the 
Schloss Brothers. He moved with his family to 
Towamencin township, in Montgomery County, 
where he rented a small farm and in a small way 
commenced truck-farming. He had but small means, 
and his start was with one cow, one horse and other 
things in like proportions. His marketing was done 
under grave difficulties, as he could neither under- 
stand nor talk English. He learned the name and 
jirice of what he had to sell by standing around the 
market and hearing what others said. He would bring 
a basket, and in it take back to his home unmade 
garments, part of which,he would make, the rest put 
out among his neighbors, and' in this humble way 
was started a business which has grown in magnitude 
until it gives employment to hundreds of people and 
requires the use of many thousands of dollars annu- 
ally. His start was made in the days of State banks, 
and to avoid getting bad money he marked each bill 
so that he knew of whom it was obtained. He kept 
increasing his business and gave out the goods all 
through the northern part of Montgomery and part 
of Bucks Counties. 

During the war he had large contracts for making 
soldiers' clothing, and he also dealt largely in sew- 
ing-machines, which he sold by the car-load. His 
first purchase of real estate was a brick house and 
small piece of land near Harleysville, where he car- 
ried on the manufacture of clothing. He next 
bought a farm, on which he built a dwelling-house and 
a large store, and then carried on farming as well as 
manufacturing. Mr. Binder's first book-keeper and 
manager was Albert Bromer, now an extensive manu- 
facturer of clothing at Swenksville, Pa. Soon 
after the war he bought of Mr. Freed a farm of 



LOWEE SALFORD TOWNSHIP. 



955 



nearly one hundred acres, on which he built the large 
establishment in Harleysville, in which he carried on, 
in a still more extended way, his business. He soon 
after took in as partner Frederick Beck and John G. 
Egolf, the firm becoming known as Binder, Beck & 
Egolf. After this he moved to Philadelphia, but still 
continued in the firm. After a time he dissalved part- 
nership with Messrs. Beck and Egolf, and carried on the 
business with the assistance of Wm. Olaboch, of Sum- 
neytown. Becoming weary of work, he turned the busi- 
ness over to his son, F. M. B. Binder, who carried it 



city in wagons. But his work becoming too great and 
too much extended for teaming to be practicable, he 
ships to different points on the line of the railroad, 
from whence they are taken by his teams and distrib- 
uted among the hundreds of people who find em- 
ployment through his energy and splendid business 
tact. The unmade garments are taken from the 
wholesale clothiers in the city by Mr. Binder, and 
made up under his instructions by the country people, 
who from far and near are glad of this means of mak- 
ing an honest dollar. He also has sub-agents, who 





on for several years, then failed, after which for a 
year or more the establishment ,in Harleysville re- 
mained idle. In 1873, Mr. Binder, having returned 
to Harleysville, commenced business on a small scale, 
but soon became disgusted with it and sold out to 
his youngest son, Samuel B. Binder, who was born in 
Harleysville on the 18th day of April, a.d. 1853. 
Thus Samuel B., in the twentieth year of his age, in 
the midst of the hard times caused by the panic of 
1873, commenced in a small way the manufacture of 
ready-made clothing and dealing in sewing-machines. 
In the start the goods were hauled to and from the 



have work done in Coopersburg, .East Greenville 
and other places. Mr. Binder has an office at 
Philadelphia, where he manages and directs his 
increasing and now large business. He will, in the 
spring of 1885, move his family to North Wales, 
which will make his connection with his city office 
easier to keep up and still be in the midst of his 
work. In politics Mr. Binder is, as are his fiither and 
brothers, an ardent Republican, and while he is not 
and has never been an aspirant for office, he still 
takes an active interest in and is an efficient worker 
of his party. He was married, September 14, 1878, 



956 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



to Miss Carrie Hartzell, daughter of Josiah and 
Barbara (Benner) Hartzell. She was born in Telford, 
Bucks Co., Pa., on the 7th day of October, 1860. 
Thev have two children, — Ella H. and an infant son. 



CHAPTER LXII. 
MARLBOROUGH TOWNSHIP. 

The township of Marlborough is bounded on the 
northeast by Bucks County, south and east by Upjier 
Salford, southwest by Frederick and the borough of 
Green Lane and northwest by Upper Hanover. Its 
greatest length is five miles, and greatest width three 
miles, with an area of one hundred and fifty square 
miles, or eight thousand five hundred acres, having 
been reduced, in 1875, about one hundred and fifty- 
four acres by the incorporation of Green Lane. The 
surface is rolling and the soil red shale. A rocky eleva- 
tion commences near Sumneytown, between the East 
Swamp and Ridge Valley Creeks, and extends north- 
eastwards into Bucks County. The Perkiomen flows 
along its southwest boundary, and East Swamp Creek 
through its eastern portion. The latter stream empties 
into Ridge Valley Creek at Sumneytown, and has been 
celebrated for its powder and oil-mills, which, in 1849, 
were twelve in number, one-half being powder-mills. 

The township is drained by the Perkiomen, East 
Swamp, Ridge Valley and Macoby Creeks. 

Its name is suj)posed to have been in honor of the 
Duke of Marlborough, whose military exploits gave 
him a wide celebrity about the year 1706, and who 
died 1722. The formation of the township ai)i)ears to 
have taken place about 174.0. The earliest settlement 
known within its limits was that of Thomas May- 
berry, who purchased a tract of land, in 1730, contain- 
ing twelve hundred and forty acres, on which he sub- 
sequently erected a forge near where the present 
borough of Green Lane is situated. This forge was 
in operation for some years ]u-ior to 1747. 

In the year 1785, Andrew Reed was appointed 
assessor, with Henry Snyder and Mathias Scheifly as 
assistants, to levy a tax under the following directions : 

" MoNTijiJMERY Coi'NTY, August 15, 1785. 
"The quota requinni of Marlborough township is Ninety-five pounds, 
Fourteen shillings uni] tivepenre, which quota is to be raised l>y an equal 
assessment on the e^Uites, real and peraonal, and on f^imjle Freemen , 
according to an act of General .\ssembly, passed in Philadelphia, the 
16th day of IHarch, 18S.i, for furnishing the quota of this State loiranU 
paying the ttnnval inttrent on the <^ 6/ of the United Sinlex, and for funding 
and paying the interest on the public debts of this State for said year." 

Taxahles. — Nicholas Koons, 100 acres ; .Tose|)li 
Himmelright, 2 horses and 2 cows ; Jacob >Stahl, ISO 
acres ; Andrew Werner, 20 acres ; Jacob Young, 40 
acres ; Thomas Mayberry, 400 acres, 55 acres of rock 
land, 14 horses, 6 cows (this was doubtless the old 
forge property and the first purchaser above referred 
to) ; Andrew Reed, 150 acres, 414 acres of rock land, 
10 horses and 7 cows, 1 tan-yard, 1 saw-mill ; Henry 



Kneip, 100 acres and dwelling ; Ludwig Harsh, 102 

acres; Sebastian Gates, 115 acres, 1 grist-mill, 1 oil- 
mill, 1 servant; Antony Sell, 125 acres ; Jacob Long, 
196 acres ; Adam Bosert, 150 acres ; Matthias Walters, 
170 acres ; Andrew Young, 150 acres; John Shelly, 
182 acres ; John Bachman, 70 acres ; George McReiter; 
70 acres; Adam Mangole, 87 acres; John Swiseforte, 50 
acres; John Barnet, 81 acres; Balser Reed, 105 acres; 
Philip Koons, 11.3 acres; Adam Henry, 132i acres; 
George Rote, 281 acres ; Nicholas Miller, 214 acres, 
126 acres of rock land ; Daniel Kryder, 62 acres, 1 
small hammer, 1 hemp-mill; Jacob Dost, 110 acres; 
Christian Schair, 100 acres; Matthias Scheifeley, 131 
acres, 100 acres of rock land, 3 horses, 5 cows, 1 negro 
girl, 1 servant ; Nicholas Eidemiller, 28 acres and 
dwelling; John Schuler, 1.50 acres; Conrad Zimmer- 
man, 231 acres; Martin Kawler, 105 acres. 

The following single men were assessed : Charles 
Zolly, Samuel Cooper, Gabriel Schuler, Abraham 
Zimmerman, Peter Zimmerman, Abraham Kaufman, 
George Yost, Martin Wedkneicht, Martin Stroin, 
Henry Ewald, Peter Zeller, Frederick Heist, John 
Bishop, Peter Long, John Kryder, Jacob Shaffer, 
Joseph Nice. These seventeen single men were 
assessed to pay in the aggregate £11 13s. 6rf. There 
were 123 taxables returned by the assessors for 1785 ; 
for 1828, 197 ; for 1858, 329 ; and for 1884, 336. The 
population in 1800 was 645 ; in 1830, 952 ; in 1850, 
1174 ; in 1870, 1,303 ; 1880, 1,212. Value of taxable 
property, 1884, was $391,820. 

The Sumneytown and Spring House Turnpike 
Company was incorporated 1845, and opened their 
road for pulilic travel in 1848, through this township. 
The Perkiomen turnpike passes through the south- 
western portion from Perkiomenville to Green Lane. 
The Green Lane and Goshenhoppen, and the Sumney- 
town and Gerysville turnpikes also pass through a por- 
tion of the township. The early forges, powder-mills 
and oil-mills erected on the Perkiomen and tribu- 
taries, and the great amount of hauling necessary in 
conducting them, induced the people to construct 
hard roads, and the several turnpike companies were 
encouraged to locate and build their highways through 
Marlborough by liberal subscriptions of stock among 
the business men within its limits. 

There are three villages in the township, — Sumney- 
town, Hoppenville and Marlboroughville. The 
largest is Sumneytown, long known as the largest vil- 
lage in the northwestern part of the county, situated 
on the north side of East Swamp Creek, a mile and a 
a half above its junction with the Perkiomen, and 
about half a mile southeast of the borough of (treen 
Lane. This is an early settlement, and Nicholas 
Scull, in 1758, mentions Dorn's inn as located here at 
the forks of the road. The place received its name 
from Isaac Sumney,' who, in August, 1763, purchased 



' ".Sumneytown was named after Isaac Sumney, who. on August 24, 
17f>:i, purchased one hundred and thirty acres of land in Marlborough 
township, which included part of the present site of the village. Mr, 



MARLBOROUGH TOWNSHIP. 



957 



one hundred and thirty acres of land, and shortly 
after kept for some time a tavern, and probably suc- 
ceeded Dorn in the business. The building he occu- 
pied is supposed to be still standing, and forms a part 
of the present hotel. It is said that he also erected 
several other buildings. The earliest mention we have 
found of " Sumneytown," is on Howell's large map of 
1792, on which it is thus called. An act was passed 
January 19, 1802, that the townships of Upper Han- 
over, Marlborough, Upper Salford and Franconia, 
constituting the Eighth District, shall hold their gen- 
eral elections at the house of John Scheid, at this 
place. We cannot say at what exact time the 
post-office was established here, but it was previous to 
1827. Gordon, in his " Gazetteer of 1832," mentions 
that it contains one tavern, two stores and twelve 
dwellings; and Day, in his "Historical Collections 
of Pennsylvania," speaks of it as being fifteen miles 
north of Norrfstown, with from thirty to forty houses. 
If the latter statement is correct, it must have grown 
very little, for in 1870 it is stated to have contained 
thirty-five houses, one grist-mill, one segar- factory and 
several stores and mechanic shops. In April, 1827, 
Samuel Royer published here Der Advooat, the first 
German weekly paper in the county ; this was suc- 
ceeded, August 6, 1828, by the Bmiern Freund, which 
was successfully continued till July, 1858, when the 
proprietor, Enos Benner, sold out, and it was removed 
to Pennsburg. 

Sumneytown was for a long period a centre of 
powder and linseed oil manufacture. The first pow- 
der-mill in this section was erected by Jacob Dast, on 
East Swamp Creek about 1780, who continued the 
business till his death, in 1790. About two years after 
it was sold to Lorentz Jacoby, who erected additional 
mills. This business flourished, so that in 1858 eleven 
mills were in full operation in this township alone, 
making twenty tons of powder daily. At the same 
time seven oil-mills were carried on, by which it may 
be judged that considerable flax must have been raised 
in this vicinity. The manufacture of powder and lin- 
seed oil has since greatly declined, and of course af- 
fecting the capital and labor employed therein. 

During the period referred to. when the industries 
of Marlborough were in full blast, some of the finest 
horse and mule-teams of the State were in use in 
transporting their commodities to market. Philip 
Super, ]']sq., in his "Pen Pictures of the Perkiomen 
Valley," says, — 

* ' Sumneytown was for a long time the centre of the powder and linseed 
oil business of the Perkiomen and its tributaries, the Macoby and Swamp 
Creeks, — and its name became known all over that part of the State, where 

Sumney had been a land-owner in the township for twenty-four years 
previous to that time, and had most likely been a resident of the village 
before the time of this purchase. Mr. Sumney opened the tirst tavern in 
the village some time before the Revolution in the old frame building in 
the forks of the Maxatawny and Blacungie roads, which is still standing 
and forms jart of the present Sumneytown Hotel. He also erected a 
brewery near the tavern, where he is said to have made most excellent 
beer." — Sttper^s ^^ Perkiomen I'aWfy." 



public improveraentB were made. At that time splendid teams of four 
and six horses drawing tons of powder were employed to distribute it 
for use along the various lines of public works.*' 

Teaming from Marlborough and the head-waters of 
the Perkiomen Creek came to an end upon the com- 
pletion of the railroad to Green Lane. Although time 
has wrought changes in and near this ancient place, 
in the transfer of its leading features of trade and in- 
dustry to other centres, its appearance still denotes 
the usual activities of country life. There are up- 
wards of fifty dwellings, a post office, two stores, two 
hotels, blacksmith-shop, tinsmith and saddler-shops, 
job printer, two cigar manufactories, a powder manu- 
facturer and a number of other tradesmen usually 
found in a country village. 

Hoppenville is located partly in Marlborough and 
partly in Upper Hanover township. The village is 
built along the main highway, and consists of fiirm 
buildings, with the hotel, store and post-office. This 
is an old village, and before given its present name, 
some twenty years ago, was known as " Die Gasse," 
or "DieSchmaiz Ga.sse," a free translation of which 
would be "the Road," or "the Lard Road," the last 
name having been given it, tradition says, by a person 
who, carrying a pot of lard on his way home, stopped 
at the village tavern, and was so overcome by the 
business-like hospitality of the jolly landlord that he 
and his lard-pot tarried on the road for the night. 
The good people of the village have long outlived 
the questionable habits of the former citizen, who de- 
risively named the place " Lard Road," and concluded 
to call it Hoppenville, compounded from Goshenhop- 
pen, an old name by which this part of the Perkiomen 
Valley has long been known. The village contains 
between twenty and thirty dwellings, a hotel, store and 
post-office, cigar manufactory, and the usual country 
tradesmen. 

Marlboroughville is situated in the north-east- 
ern part of the township, near the head-waters of 
the Macoby Creek, on a main road leading from Sum- 
neytown to the Bucks County line, distant about three 
miles ea.st from the former place. There are upwards 
of a dozen dwelling-houses, with a hotel, school-house 
and local industries. 

Educational. — The people of this township were 
among the first to encourage the adoption of the com- 
mon-school system, provided for by the acts of As- 
sembly of 1834^3(i. The township, in 1835, accepted 
the provisions of the law, received the appropriation, 
levied the school tax, built new school-houses and 
sought to popularize the movement by all just means. 
This effiart continued until 1842, when the opposition 
became so marked that the "free schools" so called, 
were discontinued for 1842, and subscription schools 
substituted. Great dissatisfaction resulted. The 
teachers that had been employed in the school build- 
ings erected and opened under the new system had 
not sufficient scholars to support them for the term 
of four and five months, and it was soon found neces- 



958 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUiNTY. 



sary to return to the system of the common schools, 
which they did in the following year, 1843, and 
have enjoyed its advantages ever since. There are 
iive schools in the township, having one hundred 
and seventy-five pupils enrolled. The length of term 
is five months. Wages paid to teachers are thirty 
dollars per month. Male and female teachers are 
employed, and equal salaries are paid them. 

E.elig'ious Worship. —The Lutheran and Re- 
formed denominations of the locality are united in 
their place of worship, and have a large and beauti- 
fully situated church, located quite near the village 
of Sumneytown. The church is built on a high piece 
of ground, overlooking the surrounding country, and 
is a prominent landmark in the township. The 
edifice was built in 1858, and dedicated in the month 
of June, 1859, having seating capacity for seven 
hundred persons. It has a steeple and beltry, with 
a seven hundred pound bell to call together its wor- 
shipers and toll for the sorrowing, who there bury 
their dead, and whose tombstones are fast whiten- 
ing the conspicuous ground upon which they are 
planted. 

The jjastors who have officiated here are Revs. H- 
Wendts, A. G. Struntz, E. F. Fleckenstein, A. L" 
Dechant and Wm. B. Fox. The land, consisting of 
three acres, upon which the church buildings stand, 
and that inclosed for burial purposes, was donated 
by Daniel Jacoby, of Sumneytown, in 1857. There 
is a large Sabbath-school connected with the united 
congregations worshiping in the church. 

Mills and Water-Powers. — The Perkiomen Creek 
marks the western boundary line of this township, 
and has long afforded excellent water-power for mills 
of various characters. It is said that the first mills 
built on the Perkiomen were located within the limits 
of what is now JIarlborough township. " For some 
years after the first settlements were made in this part 
of the valley the inhabitants had to take their grain 
to Edward Farmer's mill, on the Wissahickon Creek 
in Whiten) arsh township, at that time in Philadel- 
phia County, distant 25 to .30 miles ; this journey 
had to be made with the bag of grain thrown 
across the horse's back, and as the roads were mere 
bridle-paths, going to mill could not have been the 
most pleasant undertaking." The first grist-mill 
erected by Samuel Shuler in the year 1742, was on 
the East Swamp Creek, about a mile above Sumney- 
town. The ne.xt mill built was the large stone grist- 
mill, still standing about half-way between Green 
Lane and Perkiomenvillc, which was built by one of 
the Mayberrys, and now or late of the estate of 
Jacob Snyder, deceased, This establishment was 
founded over a hundred years ago. 

Prior to 1784, Jacob Nice owned a tract of land 
on the east side of Perkiomen Creek, on which he 
had erected a grist and saw-mill. He sold the prop- 
erty, March 30, 1798, to Daniel Smith, who soon after 
changed the grist and saw-mill into an oil-mill and 



powder-mill. On January 23, 1810, he sold to 
Matthew Campbell, who ran the mills as oil-mills 
until April 1, 1825, when he sold to George Foley, 
who, in that year, changed the mills into a fulling and 
carding-mill, and began the manufacture of satinets, 
linseys and stocking-yarn. In 1842 he built at the 
place a large brick fulling-mill, which was operated 
by him until 1860, when he sold to Henry Bergey, 
who continued there until the building was destroyed 
by fire, in 1871. The walls were used in rebuild- 
ing, and the building was fitted up as a grist and 
planing-mill, and is so used at present. The follow- 
ing advertisement, found in the NorrMown Register of 
June 18, 1828, shows the nature of the business car- 
ried on by this mill at that time : 

"George Foley informs the public and his friends that he intends car- 
rying on the woolen manufacturing business in all its branches in Marl- 
boro' township, one mile from Sumneytown, on Perkiomen Creek, next 
licliiw Brower's mill. Those who will favor him with their custom can 
]mv(' tlieir wool carded into rolls, spun into yarn, made into cloth, 
flannel, blanketing or sattinetts. All kinds of fulling and coloring 
done." 

Near Green Lane William Schall built a two-story 
stone grist-mill. It was erected during the time Mr. 
Schall operated the iron forges, near the village of 
Green Lane, it being an important adjunct to his 
manufacturing works at that place. There is a large 
flour and grist-mill at Perkiomenvillc; built by Jacob 
Graff, subsequently purchased by Jacob Johnson, who 
displaced the old building and erected a large three- 
story brick building in its stead. This mill is now oper- 
ated by Mr. John H. Nice. Within a distance of one 
mile and a half, from Green Lane to Perkiomenvillc, 
the Perkiomen Creek turns three grist-mills, two 
chopping-mills, one planing-mill and one saw-mill. 
At an earlier period, says Mr. Super, there were in this 
distance fifteen wheels in operation, turned by the 
water of the Perkiomen, — viz., forge and furnace 
three wheels ; grist-mills, three wheels ; oil-mills, 
four wheels ; plaster-mill, one wheel ; powder-mills, 
two wheels ; wool-mill, one wheel ; and saw-mill, one 
wheel. This stream has served a good purpose in the 
early settlement of the Perkiomen Valley, and the 
industries which it has supported and still encour- 
ages have been a source of considerable trade and 
freight traffic to the Perkiomen Railroad, which 
passes up the stream in close proximity to these es- 
tablishments, having two stations, besides that of 
Green Lane, — Rahn's and McLean's, — in passing 
through this township. 

Mercantile Appraiser's Return for 1884. — Jesse 
Artnian, butcher; E. S. Brey, flour and feed; D. R. 
Bowman, flour and feed; Barndt & Cressman, mer- 
chandise; Oliver Hendricks, produce; Henry J. 
Hevener, flour and feed ; H. & A. McLean, coal and 
lime; John H. Nice, flour and feed; John H. Nice, 
coal; J. S. Rahn, coal and lumber; J. S. Rahn, flour 
and feed; E. I). Rciter, merchandise; John Weaver, 
live stock ; Jesse Zepp, live stock. 

Number of taxables, 336 ; value of improved lands. 




En^ flyA.H.Rieohi^ 



MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP. 



959 



$312,335; value of unimproved lands, $28,505 ; value 
of 205 horses, $13,625; value of 470 cattle, $14,275; 
total value of property taxable for county purposes, 
$391,780. 

Elections. — By act of Assembly, April 9, 1833, 
the township of Marlborough was created a separate 
election district, and the general elections were order- 
ed to be held at the public-house of Jacob Dimmig. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



JOHN D. APPLE. 

John D. Apple was born in the city of New York, 
in 1808. His father and mother came from England, 
and both died soon after their arrival in America. 
The son, John D. was apprenticed to learn the black- 
smith trade, which apprenticeship he served out, but 
never followed that occupation. By his own energy 
he educated himself until he was competent to teach 
school, after which he located in the upjier portion of 
Montgomery County, where he soon became a promi- 
nent citizen. He was elected a justice of the peace 
in Marlborough township, which office he held for 
many years. He also followed surveying and convey- 
ancing, and the drafts and title deeds of a great deal 
of real estate in that portion of the county are his 
work, and their fine execution and accuracy attest his 
proficiency in that business. He was decidedly a self- 
made man. His reading of standard works and maga- 
zines was extensive. He was one of the few Ameri- 
can subscribers of Blackwood's Magazine, The Penny 
Magazine and other noted British publications. 

In 1834 he married Sarah Bitting, a daughter of 
John Bitting, of New Hanover township, with whom 
he had five childi'en, — J. Wright, Lewis C, Mary A., 
Hannah M., and Sallie J. He was for many years the 
most prominent Democratic politician in the upper 
end of Montgomery County, and for a long time the 
intimate and ]iersonal friend of the Hon. John B. 
Sterigere, whose active adherent he was until the hit- 
ter's death, in 1852. 

He took an active interest in the military organiza- 
tions in his younger days, and was the captain of and 
commanded the Sumneytown Artillerists, in the 
Philadelphia riots in 1844. 

He was always a student, and although a self-made 
man, he was at the time of his death, which occurred 
in 1862, a good Greek, Latin and French scholar, as 
well as a fine mathematician. He was a large-hearted, 
popular and useful man. 



CHAPTER LXIII. 



MONTGOMERy.' 



This township is regular in form, being nearly 
square, and is bounded on the northeast by Bucks 
County, southwest by Gwynedd, southeast by Hors- 
ham, northwest by Hatfield and west by the borough 
of Lansdale. Its length is about three and a half 
miles and width three, with an area of seven thousand 
one hundred and seventy acres. Its surface is ele- 
vated and slightly rolling. The soil is composed of 
loam and red shale, with the rock near the surface, 
and it consequently is not well adapted to the growth ' 
of wheat and corn. It is drained by the Wissahickon, 
which has its source near Montgomeryville and the 
west branch of Neshaminy creek. The former stream 
flows south to the Schuylkill and the latter towards 
the east, and near the Horsham line propels a grist 
and saw-mill. 

The villages are Montgomeryville and Montgomery 
Square. There is a post-office at the latter place and 
another, called Eureka, in the east corner, on the 
county line, but better known as Pleasantville. The 
population of the township in 1800 was 546 ; in 1840 it 
attained to 1009, and has since gradually decreased to 
876 in 1880. What is remarkably strange in connec- 
tion with this subject, is that its boundaries have not 
been lessened since its organization, like its neighbors, 
through borough incorporations,vvhile several railroads 
are almost contiguous for a distance of nearly four 
miles, with no less than three stations thereon in this 
distance. The real estate, for taxable purposes in 1883 
was valued at $713,280, including the personal prop- 
erty $768,705, with 247 taxables, of whom 137 are 
reported subject to military duty. The average per 
head taxable is $3150, making it the ninth in order 
of wealth, and thus all but the equal per capita of 
Lower Merion, in which it is $3212. It contains three 
public schools, open eight months, with an average 
attendance of eighty-four scholars for the year ending 
June 1, 1882, one hundred being the reported number 
in 1856 in four schools for five months. One hotel and 
three stores are returned for 1883. The census of 1850 
exhibits 163 houses, 179 families and 112 farms. In 
1785, it had one inn, one saw-mill and two tanneries. 
Three churches are within its limits, — the old Mont- 
gomery Baptist Church, organized in 1719, a Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church and a Catholic Church, built 
in 1876 on half an acre of ground, near the Lansdale 
borough line, mention of which is made in the bor- 
ough. Montgomery has now decidedly the smallest 
population of any township in the county, the next 
approaching it being Marlborough, with twelve hun- 
dred and twelve inhabitants in 1880. 

As a name, Montgomery has been taken from a 
county in North Wales. It originated from Roger de 

' By Wm. .T. Buck. 



960 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Montgomery, a Norman knight who, in 1067, was 
made Earl of Arundel, Sussex and Shrewsbury, and 
built a castle which was destroyed by the Welsh in 
1095, but afterwards rebuilt by Henry III., who 
granted it the privileges of a borough. From this 
came the name of this township through its early 
Welsh settlers, and fully three-quarters of a century 
later it was applied to our present county. The 
earliest mention we have found of the name here 
is in a letter from the Kev. Evan Evans to the Bishop 
of London, in 1707, wherein he mentions a " Welsh 
settlement called Montgomery, in the county of Phil- 
adelphia, twenty miles distant from the city, where 
there are considerable numbers of Welsh people." 
From what has been stated we may justly conclude 
that it was called by its present name quite early 
and we know from the records the township was 
so-called in March, 1717, and may have been thus 
organized several years before, though the population 
must have been sparse. 

The earliest survey made in the present township 
was September 3, 168-1, by Thomas Fairman, for 
William Stanley, of two thousand five hundred acres 
purchased of William Penn. This was conveyed 
February 25, 1688, to Isaac Jacobs, who sold eleven 
hundred acres of the same which lay in the vicinity 
of Montgomery ville, to Alexander Edwards, of Wales. 
In this neighborhood Thomas Fairman, the surveyor- 
general, had also taken up a large tract, as well as 
Job Bates and Thomas Evans, before 1702. Alexan- 
der Edwards, Jr., in 1707, became owner of a consid- 
erable part of his father's land. David Hugh Griffith, 
at this date, made a purchase of one hundred acres. 
John Bartholomew purchased one hundred and fifty 
acres at the present Montgomery Square in 1716, 
where he established the first inn and resided until 
his death in 1756. John Evans and wife settled iu or 
near this township in 1710, and iu the following year 
John James and wife, the ancestors of a numerous 
family of this name in Bucks County. James Davis 
arrived from Wales in 1719, and was a useful man in 
the settlement. 

There is extant a listof land-holders and tenants of 
this township prepared in 1734 by order of John and 
Thomas Penn, being twenty-eight in number, copied 
from the original, and now, for the first time, pub- 
lished in full, — Robert Thomas, 200 acres ; John 
Starkey, 200; Joseph Nay lor, 189; Joseph Ambler, 
90 ; John Bartholomew, 300 ; Joseph Eaton, 150 ; 
William Williams, 200; William Morgan, 100; 
Samuel Thomas, 100 ; John Williams, 100 ; Joseph 
Bate, Thomas Bartholomew, 30 ; Griffith Hugh, 100 ; 
John Jones (carpenter), 300; John Roberts, 90; Gar- 
ret Peters, 150 ; Rowland Roberts, 100 ; Francis Daws, 
Thomas Williams, 100; William Storey, 100; Richard 
Lewis, 150; Isaac Jones, 100; John Roberts, 200; 
James Davis, 100 ; David Evans, 100 ; Isaac James, 
200 ; Jenkin Evans, 50 ; and Jenkin Jones. 

The Bartholomew family represent themselves of 



Hugenot origin, and descended from the celebrated 
Barthelemi family of France, and that they came 
hither from England. John Bartholomew, the settler 
here, who died October 30, 1756, aged seventy-one 
years, had eleven children. The sons were Joseph, 
Thomas, John, Andrew, Benjamin, Augustine and 
Edward. Annie married Thomas Walters; Eliza- 
beth, Isaac Davis ; Rachel, Benjamin Davis ; and 
Mary, Thomas. The widow, Mary Bartholo- 
mew, died about 1762. John Bartholomew, Jr., died 
January 17, 1758, aged thirty-nine years. Edward is 
assessed here in 1776 for one hundred acres, two 
negroes, four horses and three cattle. George Bar- 
tholomew and wife, Jane, who owned and kept the Blue 
Anchor inn, in Philadelphia, 1683, it is supposed was 
related to this Montgomery family. 

Joseph Bate or Bates may have been a .son of Job 
Bates, and he was probably a tenant, who died Sep- 
tember 24, 1741, aged sixty-nine years. His tract 
lay to the west of the Baptist Church, adjoining the 
Hatfield line, and was purchased from the executors by 
Humphrey Bates in 1749, from whom it descended to 
his daughter Sarah, the wife of John Pugh, who 
sold it, in 1792 to John Harraan, who had been also a 
resident and land-holder of the township for sometime 
previous. We find here also in 1776, Thomas Bates 
with one hundred and fifty acres. Isaac James was 
the son of John, the early settler, and survived until 
July 14, 1791, having attained the great age of ninety- 
one years. His brothers, Thomas and William, moved 
into New Britain, where they became extensive land- 
holders. In 1776, as may be noticed, he still retained 
his two hundred acres. 

Joseph Ambler was a Friend, and in 1776 we find 
him still living and taxed here for two hundred acres, 
Joseph Ambler, Jr., one hundred and ninety, and 
John Ambler one hundred and seventy-five acres. In 
1794 there were five taxables here of this surname. 
Descendants of the family still hold land here. David 
Evans died September 18, 1763, aged seventy-three 
years, and Mathusela Evans in 1779, aged eighty-three 
years. Dr. Peter Evans iu 1776 is taxed for two hun- 
dred acres, two negroes, four horses and eight cattle ; 
Jenkin Evans, one hundred acres; and Walter Evans 
is mentioned as a single man. John Roberts, Jr., in 
1776, is taxed for one hundred and fifty acres ; he was 
subsequently long a justice of the peace. John Morris, 
while engaged in clearing land in this townshiji in the 
spring of 1731, was approached unexpectedly by his 
wife who was struck by a branch of a falling tree, 
which caused her death in a few hours. Among those 
who held township offices here may be mentioned 
Humphrey Bate, supervisor, and Henry McGowen, 
constable in 1767; Samuel Hines, supervisor, 1773; 
Henry Johnson, constable, 1774; Evan Jones, assessor, 
and Ezekiel Shoemaker, collector, 1776 ; and Jacob 
Kneedler and John Gordon, supervisors, 1810. 

Respecting the nationality of the eai-ly settlers, the 
documents before us, give much information of an 



MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP. 



961 



interesting character. Of the twenty-eight names 
in the list of 1734, three-fourths denote a Welsh 
origin and probably not one a German. In the 
assessment of 1776 we find the following names 
which we take to be German : John Weber or Weaver' 
Mary Weber, George Doraker, John Drake, Benjamin 
Drake, John Hartle, Ezekiel Shoemaker, Andrew 
Cramer, John Ramberger, William Fry, John Har- 
man, David Bruner, Felix Worsinger and George 
Geary, — nearly one-fourth of the entire number. Ac- 
cording to a late township map, they now comprise 
about half the land-holders. According to a well- 
known tradition, the early Welsh settlors, sought out 
the lands in Gwynedd and Montgomery in preference 
to those in the townships below, because they were 
not so densely timbered, and would therefore in clear- 
ing require much less labor, not imagining its lesser 
productiveness. 

The earliest road laid out in this section was no 
doubt that beginning at Theophilus Williams' 
plantation, on the banks of theNeshaminy Creek, near 
the present Line Lexington, and passing through 
the ftiU length of the township down to John Hum- 
phrey's bridge, above the Spring House, in 1717, be- 
ing the present Bethlehem road. To this same 
bridge a road had been laid out six years previously, 
down to the Pennypack Creek, at the present Hun- 
tingdon Valley, forming the line between Gwynedd 
and Horsham, and almost touching the southern 
corner of the township. From the people of this 
section going so much to mill there for flour at this 
early time it received the name of Welsh road, whicli it 
still retains. A road was laid out in 1731 Irom David's 
Corner, on the Bucks County Hue, to the present 
Montgomery Square, commencing at Buckingham 
Meeting-house. This was the old Swedes' Ford or 
present State road, widened in 1830 to forty feet. 
David's Corner very likely received its name from 
James David or Davis, who is mentioned in the list 
of 1734. The Horsham road was laid out from John 
Bartholomew's to Peter Lukens', near Horsham Meet- 
ing-house, in 1735. The same year the Bethlehem 
road was resurveyed from the Spring House, and ex- 
tended up to Peter Trexler's, in the present Lehigh 
County. The County Line road was extended up 
from Horsham to Line Lexington in 1752. The 
Spring House and Hilltown turnpike was constructed 
on the Bethlehem road in 1814, terminating three 
miles above Line Lexington. In its day this was an 
important work, and drew to the road an immense 
amount of travel down to the general introduction of 
railroads. 

The Revolution did not pass away without some 
excitement attending it, even in this small township. 
General McDougal was encamped with his command, 
for a brief period, near the present Montgomeryville 
a short time before the battle of Germantown. A 
raid was made by some British mercenaries on the 
property of Jacob Reed and Isaac Wisler, in the 
61 



neighboring township of Hatfield, for which they 
were afterwards allowed seventy pounds for damages. 
But the capture at or near Montgomery Square of a 
drove of one hundred and thirty cattle, collected in 
New York and the Eastern States, and then on the 
way to our starving soldiers at Valley Forge, by a 
detachment of British troops from Philadelphia, on 
the morning of February 24, 1778, was a pretty serious 
matter at the time, one which Washington, in his 
' correspondence, greatly deplored, though kept very 
ipiiet. It is presumed that as soon as the cattle had 
crossed the Delaware River and their destination was 
ascertained, spies informed the British; hence their 
I sudden dash out here and return in safety with their 
prize and several prisoners to the city. From an 
I advertisement of December 10, 1778, we ascertain that 
Hugh Evans, of this township, ofiered a reward of 
thirty dollars for the arrest of an English deserter 
calling himself William Newton, who had been in his 
employ, as a journeyman shoemaker, four days, and 
leaving had stolen a watch and a lot of clothing from 
the premises. 
Montgomeryville is the largest village in the town- 
j ship, containing one store, one hotel and twenty-seven 
houses. It has a high location, and from the upper 
) portion on the turnpike a fine view is off'ered, looking 
in a northern direction. Gordon, in his "Gazetteer," 
mentions this place in 1832 as containing ten houses, 
two taverns and two stores. A post-ofiice was estab- 
lished here in 1851, which was removed, in the fall of 
1S69, to Montgomery Square. Nicholas Scull, on his 
map of 1759, denotes the road leading from here to 
liutler's mill, now Whitehallville. The hotel was 
opened here, soon after the completion of the turnpike, 
by Charles Humphreys, who was succeeded by Thimias 
Lunn and John Hough. Henry Slight, a noted stage- 
driver over the turnpike, purchased it in 1822 and kept 
it for some time. Fi'ancis Kile, who was elected sheriff 
of the county in the fall of 1860, afterwards became 
its proprietor. 

Montgomery Square contains seven or eight houses, 
two stores, post-office, and a wheelwright and black- 
smith-shop. The post-office has been a movable one, 
having been originally established here before 1827 and 
after an interval was removed about three-fourths of 
a mile to Montgomeryville, and in 1869 again brought 
back to its present place. The Methodist Episcopal 
Church at the place was built of stone, in 1842, on a 
lot of ground containing two acres, which is also used 
for burial purposes. It is situated on the west side of 
the turnpike. The first mention of regular pastors 
is found in 1856. The appointee in that year was 
the Rev. J. Carlisle. The pastors from that time 
are as follows : Levi B. Hughes, J. N. King, George 
D. Miles, Samuel T. Kemble, J. Brandeth, N. B. 
Durell, J. C. Gregg, D. W. Gordon, J. S. Taft, L. 
Dobson, H. F. Isett, Philip P. Reese, H. U. Sebring, 
J. W. Bradley, J. Bawdin, O. E. Stogden and G. E. 
Kleinhenn. Gordon mentions here, in 1832, a " post- 



962 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



office, four dwellings, one store, two taverns and a 
boarding-school for boys, in which the classics are 
taught." This place in the long past has been famous 
for its inns, but with the great diminution of travel 
they, several years since, ceased business; yet a few 
facts concerning their history survive. At this point 
there was an intersection of two important roads in 1735 
and, no doubt, uot a great while after this date an inn 
was established here. John Bartholomew kept one 
here before his death, in 1756, which his widow, Mary 
Bartholomew, sold, with one hundred and fifty acres 
in 17G0, to Blaize Weaver, who we know in 1774 had 
a license for the same. About this time he died, and 
■was succeeded by his widow, Mary Weaver, who kept 
it through the Revolutionary war, and in 1785, 
sold it to her son, George Weaver, who continued 
the stand lor perhaps half a century. At this house 
books were opened, in 1805-6, to receive subscrip- 
tions for stock for making the turnpike. The post- 
office here was called Montgomery. John Weaver 
was postmaster in 1819 and Henry Slight in 1830. 
Theophilus Shannon was licensed to keep an inn here 
on the opposite corner in 1774, and we find him 
taxed in 1776 for two negroes. William Collum, an 
accomjjlished scholar, who resided at this place and 
taught school from 1805 to 1819, if not longer, calcu- 
lated the almanacs printed by Asher Miner, at Doyles- 
town. John Selser, residing in the vicinity, aged up- 
wards of ninety, was one of his pupils. A flourishing 
debating society was maintained here during this 
period. 

There is in the lower part of Montgomery Square, 
on the east side of the pike, a two-story stone school- 
house, with a dwelling attached, (which was enlarged 
in 1876), that possesses an interest. The late Benja- 
min F. Hancock, Esq., of Norristown, kept school 
in it during his married life with Elizabeth, daugh- 
ter of Edward and Mary Hos worth, of Hatfield 
township, and while residing in the dwelling part his 
twin-sons, Winfield Scott and Hilary, were born 
February 14, 1824, the former being now Major- 
General Hancock, of the United States army, and 
late Democratic candidate for the Presidency. In the 
spring of the following year the father removed from 
here to Norristown, where he soon after entered on 
the study of the law, to which he was admitted to 
practice in September, 1828. In the list of 1734, Ar- 
nold Hancock is taxed for one hundred acres in Per- 
kiomen township, and William Hancock, in More- 
land, for a house and lot of one acre. Among the 
pupils attending here were Samuel Medary, a native 
of the vicinity, afterwards Governor of Ohio, and 
Samuel Aaron, subsequently of Norristown. 

The Montgomery Baptist Church.— This church 
is situated on the west side of the Bethlehem turn- 
pike, but little over half a mile above Mout- 
gomeryville, and nearly the same distance south of 
Colmar Station, on the Doylestown Branch of the 
North Pennsylvania Railroad. In order of time, it 



was the fourth church built by the Baptists in Penn- 
sylvania, and the first in the county. For its origin 
we have to go back to 1710, when John Evans and 
wife, and the next year John James and wife, all 
members of Baptist Churches in Wales, arrived and 
settled in the township. Abel Morgan, the minister 
of Pennypack Church, near the present Holmesburg, 
in 1712, began to visit them, and in 1718 baptized Wil- 
liam James, Thomas James, Josiah James, James 
Lewis and David Williams. James David, or Davis, 
arrived in 1719, which increased their number to ten, 
who, on the 20th of June of this year, constituted 
themselves into an organization. Several more emi- 
grants having arrived in 1720 from Wales, and join- 
ing them, induced them now to build a log meeting- 
house on a lot of one acre, donated for this purpose 
by John Evans. This rude structure was torn down 
in 1731 and a stone edifice erected, twenty-four by 
forty-two feet, with a gallery. 

The first pastor of the church was Benjamin Grif- 
fith, who was born, October 16, 1688, in Cardigan, 
Wales ; came to this country in 1710 ; settled at Mont- 
gomery in 1720; called to the ministry in 1722, and 
was ordained October 23, 1725, continued faithfully in 
his charge till his death, which took place October 4, 
1768, in his eightieth year, and forty-sixth in the 
ministry. He was buried here in the graveyard, 
where a stone, duly inscribed, has been erected to his 
memory. He was tendered the office of justice of the 
peace, which he declined to accept. He had a lit- 
erary turn, and is the author of several pamphlets on 
the doctrines of his faith. The successor of Mr. Grif- 
fith was the Rev. John Tliomas, who had been for 
several years his assistant, a son of Rev. William 
Thomas, founder of the Hilltown Church. He was a 
native of Radnor, Chester Co. ; was called to the min- 
istry here in 1749 ; and ordained in 1751. He married 
Sarah James, by whom he had four daughters. Both 
Mr. Griffith and Thomas preached here in English 
and AVelsh, as best suited their hearers. The latter 
having resigned, the church was supplied for some 
time by Abel Griffith, David Loofliorough and Joshua 
.lones. The latter had come from Wales, and was 
stationed at the New Britain Church. 

The Rev. Abel Morgan, in his history, describes 
the Montgomery Church in 1770 as possessing " a 
stove and two fire-places," and on the lot of ground 
" convenient stables " had been erected " and a 
school-house." Two branches had now sprung from 
it, — first, the " Perquesey " or Hilltown Church, 
erected in 1737, and the New Britain Church, erected 
in 1754, and only four miles distant. Through a re- 
ligious dispute, the New Britain congregation seceded 
and formed a separate organization, followed by the 
Hilltown Church, November 10, 1781, the latter 
brought about in part by political feelings engendered 
by the war. The result was that the membership of 
the Montgomery Church from ninety, in 1762, di- 
minished to twenty-eight, in 1788 but by 1800 had 



MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP. 



963 



increased to fifty-seven, and now it is over two hun- 
dred, thas requiring some time before it fully recov- 
ered from so severe a shock. 

This church was incorporated by an act of tlie Leg- 
islature passed September 26, 1783, the trustees being 
the pastor, Rev. David Loofborough, Isaac James, 
Peter Evans, Jenlcen Evans and George Smith. The 
Rev. Joshua Jones, after serving the church eight 
years, died December 26, 1802, aged eighty-two years. 
Silas Hough, M.D., was the fifth minister, and at- 
tended to the duties of his position, as well as those of 
a physician, for about eighteen years. During a 
period of Mr. Hough's illness the church was par- 
tially supplied by the Rev. Joseph Mathias, of Hill- 
town, Samuel Smith and Henry Nightingale. Thomas 
P. Robinson, after a six years' pastorate, died May 27, 
1838. Rev. William M. Mathews, of England, filled 
the station for about nine years, and was succeeded, 
May 1, 1850, by Rev. George Higgins, who main- 
tained this relation until his death, March 9, 1869. 
During his ministry of nineteen years here he did 
much to recover and strengthen the congregation, 
baptizing one hundred and ninety-two persons. His 
successor was the present pastor. Rev. N. B. Bald- 
win, formerly of Philadelphia, who resides near by on 
a farm. 

Besides the lot of ground mentioned, the church 
has also in possession about thirty acres, with a 
(hvelling-house erected thereon and some other build 
ings. Dr. John N. Thomas left by will for the benefit 
of the society the sum of fifteen hundred dollars. In 
1816 the second church was taken down, and in its 
place another erected of stone, ftlty by fifty-five feet, 
also with a gallery. In the summer of 1883 the edi- 
fice was remodeled and somewhat enlarged, its ex- 
terior neatly plastered, pointed arched windows, and 
a slate roof being introduced, and the interior im- 
proved, at a cost of four thousand dollars. Its sur- 
rouudings are shady and attractive, with ample .shed- 
ding for horses and wagons. The graveyard extends 
over several acres, is neatly kept, and, as may be well 
expected after being used over one hundred and sixty 
years for this purpose, contains numerous interments. 
It is not likely that they will soon be restricted here 
in space, for the entire tract contains eight or ten 
acres. 

In Seiitcmlier, 1883, the writer spent several hours 
in this graveyard examining the various inscriptions. 
The earliest stone found has on it"M. P., 1719," 
the next that of "Walter Evans, who died Jan. 17, 
1729, aged 6 years," then " I. D., 1739, 14," followed by 
one of 1740 and another of 1741. Four pastors of the 
church are buried here, — namely, Benjamin Griffith, 
Joshua Jones, Silas Hough and George Higgins. Mr. 
Hough died May 14, 1822, aged fifty-eight years. Two 
deacons have attained to a goodly age, — Joseph Lunn, 
who died May 31, 1847, in his ninety-first year, and 
Amos Grirtiths, November 17, 1863, aged nearly 
ninety-three years. The following family names are 



copied from the tombstones, and are inserted here for 
the benefit of genealogists who may desire to secure 
additional iuformation in this direction: King, Reiner, 
Pennington, Trewig, Vansant, Cadwallader, Collum, 
Griffith, Jenkins, Stratton, Cozens, Walker, Sutch, 
Hough, Lunn, Drake, Vanneman, Heaton, Otter, 
Evans, Morgan, Broug, Detweiler, Harrar, Rhoades, 
Harris, Hood, Gulick,Stagner, Halderman, Hoxworth, 
Mallet, Leech, Kile, Mathias, Streper, Rockafellow, 
Stewart, Bates, Whitcom, Lowry, Stuckert, Gordon, 
Slight, Barthe, Sellers, Haas, Davis, Swallow, Ken- 
derdine, Bartlett, Evans, Huggett, Higgins, Hartman, 
Pearson, Ewing, Knight, Swank, Hartel, Rentz, Da- 
vison, Young, Wright, Sims, Roberts, Solliday, Fry, 
Yothers, Todd, Hoti'man, Bush, Boyd, Hughs, Wank- 
lin, Reaver, Banes, Lukens, Milligan, Yocum, Stag- 
ner, Medary, Bartleson, Beam, Guy, Brady, Howell, 
Rosenberger, Dunn, Chvan, Humphrey, Bryan and 
Rees. Over one-third of these can now be safely 
set down as of German origin. Among the notable 
occurrences, we learn from the journal of the Rev. 
George Whitefield that he came here from the Ne- 
shaminy Church April 24, 1740, and " was hospita- 
bly entertained." 

Note.— Tho Rev. Joseph Mathias, of Hilltown, who died March 11, 
ISol, aged nearly seventy-three, and in the ministry over forty-four 
years, was long an assiduous collector of materials for a bistoi-y of the 
Baptist Churches of the surrounding section. Tlirough the kindness 
of his son, the late John N. JIathias, of Carversville, his manuscripts 
were loaned us in 1S5T, and from them we made copious extracts, a 
portion of which are incoriwrated in the above sketch. We must also 
acknowledge some aid from Edward Mathews' article on this church 
].ublished in the North Walefs Record of April 6, 1868. 

MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP ASSESSMENT, 1776, 
Evans Jones, assessor, and Ezekiel Shoemaker, collector. 

Peter Evans, doctor, 2lXi acres, 2 negroes, 4 horses, 8 cattle ; George 
-jmitli, 175 a., 2 negroes, 3 h., 4 c. ; Mathias Ilines, 1 servant, 4 h., C c. ; 
John Ambler, 8 children, 175 a., 4 h., 6 c. ; Samuel Thomas, 100 a., 2 h., 
4 c. ; George Borland, 60 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Mai7 Weber, 150 a., 1 h., 2 c. : 
John Weber, 2 h., 3 c. ; Theophilus Shannon, 2 negroes, 1 h., 1 c. ; 
George Donaker, 1 h. ; Joseph Butler, 3h., 6 c. ; Eldad Roberts, bed- 
ridden ; John Drake, 6U a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Philip March ; Bcnjamm Drake, 

1 h., 2 c. ; Isaac James, 200 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Charles Humphreys, 90 a., 
3 h., 5 c. ; John Gill, 2 h., 4 c. ; Jacob Humphreys, 30 a. ; Edward 
Bartholomew, 100 a., 2 negroes, 4 h., 3 c. ; Jenkcn Evans, 100 a., 4 c, ; 
John Hartle, potter, 50 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Edward Morgan, 1 h., 2 c. ; 
Joseph Ambler, Sr., 200 a., 1 h, ; Ezekiel Shoemaker, 3 h., 5 c. ; Jacob 
Stoneburner, 1 h., 1 c. ; Peter Martin, 130 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Joseph Ambler, 
Jr., 100 a., 3 h., Cc. ; Joseph Roberts, 50 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; John Thomas, 
150 a., 4 h., 5 c. ; George Gordon, 50 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Joshua Jones, 189 a., 
3 h., 6 c. ; Cadwallader Roberts, 60 a., 2 h., 3 c, saw-mill ; Henry Stil- 
field, 100 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Samuel Hines, 3 h., 4 c. ; John Hickman, 8 
cliildren, lOO a., 3 h., 3 c. ; John Harry, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Andrew Cra- 
mer, 1 h., 3 c. ; John Roberts, Jr., 150 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Daniel Jones, G 
children, 288 a., 2 h., 7 c. ; Isaac Jones, 200 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Henry 
Johnson, 100 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; Henry Bartle, 2 h., 3 c. ; Christopher Wells, 
7 children, 2 h., 3 c. ; John Ramberger, 50 a., 2 h., 1 c. ; Humphrey 
Bates, 110 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Thomas Bates, 150 a., 3 h., 6 c. ; William Fry, 
.')0a., 1 h., 2 c. ; John Harman, 100 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; David Bruner, 7 
children, 100 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; John Jones, weaver, 100 a., 2 h., 4 c.; Fe- 
lix Worsinger, 3h., 5 c. ; George Geai-y, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Nicholas 
Charles, 1 c. ; Mordccai Moore, 170 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Mary Dickinson, sin- 
gle, 40 a., 1 h,, 1 c. ; Jacob Johnson, 1 c. ; Richard Davis, 40 a., 1 h., 

2 c. ; Robert Gordon, 70 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Samuel Dunlap, 100 a., 1 h., 
2 c. ; William Rea, 40 a,, 1 h,, 2 c. Single Men.— Richard Moore, Isaac 
Jones, Walter Evans, Joseph Davis, Enoch Beam, Robert Parker, Ed- 
ward I'enington, Mordecai Roberts, James Shields, .\lexander Scott, 
Theophilus Williams, John Kidney, 



964 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



CHARLES TODD JENKINS. 

John Jenkins, the great-grandfather of Charles 
Todd, was a native of Wales, came to America and 
settled on the ])lantation now covered by the borough 
of Lansdale, Montgomery Co., Pa. He had a sou, 
John, who inherited the landed estate, and reared 
.sons, — Edward, Levi and John, the father of Charles 
Todd Jenkins, who was born April 13, 1812, on the 
lot now owned by Heebner & Sons, in the town of 



Philadelphia market, which he continued for thirty- 
nine years. In the mean time the North Pennsylvania 
Railroad was built and astation located at Colmar, near 
his farm, where he established a depot for coal, flour 
and feed, which he carried on for fourteen years, when 
lie retired from the produce, coal and feed business, 
and now devotes his time to the tilling of his beauti- 
fully-located and very productive farm of one hun- 
dred and eighty-nine acres, half a mile from Colmar 
Station, on the North Pennsylvania Railroad. 

Mr. Jenkins has always been one of the wide-awake, 
progressive men of the age, assi-sting with his time 




Lansdale. The early years of Charles Todd were 
spent upon the farm of his father, performing such 
work upon the farm as was usual for boys during the 
summer seasons and attending school in winter. 
His father being possessed of a good common-school 
education, assisted Charles in his studies, thereby 
keeping him in advance of his class, and at the age of '. 
eighteen years he commenced teaching school, and 
taught three winter terras, and afterwards for three 
full years in succession. 

In the spring of 1840 he engaged in farming, 
butchering and dealing in country produce for the ! 



.and means every progressive movement, and espe- 
cially in educational matters, knowing full well the 
value of knowledge derived from books. He has 
served as school director and auditor of the township 
in which he lives, and has been president of the Line 
Lexington Mutual Fire InsuranceCompany for twelve 
years, and one of the managers of the company for a 
much longer period. He has also been one of the 
managers of the Spring House and Hilltown Turn- 
pike Company for twenty-five years, and its treasurer 
for eighteen years. 
He was married, March 2G, 1840, to Miss Sarah, 



MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP. 



965 



daughter of George and Esther Lukens, of Towamen- 
cin township. 
They are the parents of children as follows: 

I. George L., born May 11, 1841, married Josephine 
Stout, of Philadelphia. He now resides in German- 
town, and is chief clerk in Bergen & Sons' glass- 
works, Philadelphia. They have four children, — Earl 
Wheeler, Laura, Maude Marian and G. Chapin. 

II. Anna, born April 1, 1843, died when sixteen 
months of age. 

III. Ella, born January 19, 1845, married Oliver M. 
Evans, of Lansdale, where Mr. Evans is the teller in 



VIII. Valeria, born April 7, 1853, married George 
Ch.ipin, of Philadelphia. They have one child, 
Edith. 



REV. NOEMAX BRISTOL BALDWIN. 

In the ancestral line between Rev. Norman B. 
Baldwin and the progenitor of that name in this 
country, was Rev. Thomas Baldwin, D.D., who was 
born December 23, 1753, in Bozrah, Conn. The 
early life of Thomas developed a desire for books, and, 
as an indication of the regard in which he was held 



% 




the Lansdale National Bank. Their children are 
Jane, Eveline and Oliver Morris. 

IV. Comly L., born March 13, 1846, now engaged 
in the freight department of the Lake Shore Rail- 
road. 

V. Parker, born June 15, 1847, married Miss Cath- 
arine Dungan, of Colmar Station. 

VI. Naomi, born January 1, 1849, died at the age 
of sixteen months and twenty-eight days. 

VII. John P. Hale, born January 13, 1851, married 
Miss Ella Sleight, of Montgomeryville, and is now one 
of the prominent lawyers of Norristown. Their chil- 
dren are Leila and Helen. 



by his fellow-townsmen, it may be stated that when a 
young man he was chosen to represent the village of 
Canaan, N. H., to which he had removed, in the Leg- 
islature of the State. But the Master had another 
work for him to do, and in 1780 he was brought to see 
his condition as a sinner, and to accept Christ as his 
personal Lord and Redeemer. He then decided to 
s|)end his life in the work of winning souls to Christ, 
i\nd in due time he was set apart to the work of the 
nunistrj', and for seven years performed the duties of 
pastor of the Baptist Church in Canaan. His next 
field was the Baldwin Place Church, now the Warren 
Avenue Church, Boston, Ma.ss. During his life he 



966 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



filled many highly important positions, and on the 
night of August 29, 1826, entered into rest. 

Rev. N. B. Baldwin, a lineal descendant of Tho- 
mas Baldwin through the paternal branch of the 
family, was born in New Milford, Litchfield Co., 
Conn., August 23, 1824. His father, Rev. Daniel 
Baldwin, was an esteemed and highly useful Baptist 
minister. Norman was educated at Hamilton Liter- 
ary and Theological Institute, now Madison University, 
from which he graduated in 1846. It is proper to 
state in this connection that he was a cla.ssmate with 
Rev. George C. Baldwin, D.D., who graduated in 
1844, and in the same year accepted the call of the 
First Baptist Clmrch in Troy, N. Y., where he has, 
from that time to the present, been a successful and 
highly-honored pastor. 

In October, 1846, Norman B. Baldwin became pas- 
tor of the Baptist Church at Monticello, Sullivan Co., 
N. Y. After a most prosperous service he ac- 
cepted the unanimous call of the Bethesda Baptist 
Church, New Y'ork City, June 1, 1849, in which God 
greatly blessed him ; but disease compelled him to 
leave New York, and he accepted the call of the Second 
Southwark (now Calvary) Baptist Church, Philadel- 
phia, and entered on his labors February 1, 1854. 
From this body he went out with a colony of two 
hundred and twenty members, and oiganized the 
Olivet Baptist Church, October 7, 1856. They built the 
fineedifice at the southeast corner of Sixth and Federal 
Streets. Extensive revivals, in which hundreds were 
converted and immersed, together with the other 
labors of his office, so impaired his health that in Sep- 
tember, 1864, he closed his eleven years' pastorate in 
Philadelphia, and retired to his farm near Col- 
mar, Montgomery Co. As his health soon began to 
improve he gave short periods of service to New 
Britain Baptist Church, Bucks Count}', Bristol Church, 
and the Gwynedd Ba|)tist Church. In November; 
1869, he entered upon his labors as pastor of the Monf 
goraery Baptist Church, near Colmar Station, and 
since that time God has also blessed his ministry 
among that people. He has baptized over five 
hundred persons during his ministry. He is now 
(1885) the oldest pastor, both in age and time of ser- 
vice, in this part of the State, in the Baptist or any 
other denomination. 

His sister, Caroline, marrietl Rev. E. N. Jenks, and 
went as a missionary to Burmah in 1846, and died on 
her return voyage in 1848. 

Mr. Baldwin was married, September 16, 1846, to 
Miss Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Edward C. 
Ambler, ofDanbury, Conn. She was born October 
14, 1826. The children from this union have been as 
follows : 

Edward Furman, born October 22, 1847, in Monti- 
cello, Sullivan Co., N. Y., married Ella Amelia, 
daughter of Rev. Abijah Collins \Vheat and Priscilla 
Pettengill Wheat, June 4, 1865, at Gwynedd Baptist 
Church, the ceremony being performed by Rev. 



Morris Gibson, pastor of the church. Ella Amelia 
was born October 24, 1843, in Clinton, Conn. 

The children of Edward Furman and Ella Amelia 
Baldwin are Carrie Wheat, born September 4, 1866 ; 
Edward, born January 8, 1868, lived but twelve 
hours; Rebecca Leslie, born April 12, 1869; Priscilla 
Fdna, born January 23, 1871; Gertrude Josephine, 
lorn July 13, 1873; Frank Ambler, born March 15, 
1 875. 

Edward Furman Baldwin graduated I'roni college, 
md October 8, 1884, sailed from Philadelphia as a 
missionary to the Berbers, Tangiers, Morocco, Africa, 
where he is now very pleasantly located. 

Oscar Erasmus, born November 24, 1848, died in 
New York, April 12, 1852. 

William Flandrau, born April 30, 1851, now a 
farmer in Michigan. 

Norman Bristol, Jr., born June 3, 1853. 

Eva Caroline, born August 30, 1854, now the wife 
of B. F. Moyer, of Norristown, 

Spencer Cone, born July 7, 1856. 

Charles Jacot, born November 5, 1858. 

Frank Remington, born January 17, 1860, died 
January 28, 1863. 

L. Hornberger, born April 30, 1865. 

Almira Amelia, born June 1, 1866. 

Leander Wilbur, born May 19, 1870. 



RICHARD KENDEEDINE ROBERTS. 

The progenitor of the Roberts family in Mont- 
gomery County was John Roberts, a native of Penny- 
vhlawd, Denbighshire, North Wales, who emigrated 
to America in or near the year 1682, and settled in 
tliat part of the county now known as Lower Merion 
township. His occupation was that of a millwright, 
and he purchased from Thomas Wynne and John Ap 
John two hundred and fifty acr&s of land, upon which 
he built a mill, the third one in the province of Penn- 
sylvania. He was unmarried until nearly or quite 
sixty years of age, when he married Elizabeth Owen, 
aged eighteen years. She died early, leaving her hus- 
band two sons and a daughter. From this small 
beginning has grown the numerous Roberts family in 
this part of the State. We have been unable to trace 
the ancestral line direct down to Richard K. Roberts. 
However, his grandfather, Joseph, owned at one time 
the property known as "Stever's Mills." Where he was 
born, or which is the direct line back to John, is not 
known at this time. His children were Agnes, Charles, 
Mary and Richard. 

Charles Roberts, the second son of Joseph, was born 
.lanuary 21, 1807, and died August 11, 1867. His wife 
was Sarah Ann, daughter of Richard Kenderdine, of 
Horsham township. He owned the farm now occu- 
pied by Jesse Ambler, and better known as the Jona- 
than Jarrett place. Sarah Ann Roberts died Septem- 
ber 12, 1871. The children of Charles and Sarah Ann 
Roberts were : I. — Elizabeth, born Eleventh Month 



MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP. 



967 



10, 1832, died Second :Mouth 9, 18G2. II.— Gulia 
Elma, born Tenth Month 3, 1834, married, Eleventh 
Month 8, 1864, to Edwin Thomas, and died Third 
Month 31, 1865. At tlie age of sixteen she com- 
menced teaching school, and taught for nearly sixteen 
years. III. — Jesse, born Second Month 13, 1837, 
married Sarah Emma Skirving, of Germantown. Her 
father was John Skirving, Esq. Jesse owned the old 
homestead in Upper Dublin town.ship. IV. — George 
K., born Fifth Month o, 1841, married Elizabeth 
Shay, of Horsham township. George is a banker and 
merchant in Phienixville, Pa. He served three years 
a.s a sergeant in Company A, First New Jersey Cav- 



lersville Normal School, Lancaster Co., Pa. ; also a 
graduate from Bryant & Stratton's Business College, 
Philadelphia, and for several years was a successful 
teacher. 

Richard K. Roberts was reared upon the farm of 
his father in Upper Dublin township, and during 
the summer months he performed such duties as were 
incumbent upon a youth of his age, and during the 
winter seasons attended the neighboring schools, and 
attended the Normal Institute at Carversville, Bucks 
Co., Pa., during the winter terms of 1861 and 1863, 
and by strict attention to his studies obtained a good 
academic education, and subsequently taught school 




airy, during the late slave-holders' rebellion. V. — 
Richard Kenderdine Roberts, born Second Month .5, 
1843, in Upper Dublin townshij), this county. He 
married, Third Month 12, 1879, Ruth Anna, daughter 
of Hugh B. and Sarah B. jMichener, of Plumstead 
township, Bucks Co., Pa. She was born Third Month 
7, 1851. They are parents of children as follows: 
David Foulke, born Second Month 26, 1880, died 
Seventh Month 8, 1884; "William Ely, born Fifth 
Month 10, 1881. VI.— Anna Jane, born Tenth Month 
7, 1845, died First Month 31, 1866, unmarried. VII.— 
.loseph, born Ninth ilonth 11, 1848, married Mary 
W., daughter of William R. Evans, of Carverville, 
Bucks Co., Pa. Joseph was a graduate from Mil- 



two winters in Schuylkill County, this State. During 
the war his patriotism led him to join the Union army 
in defense of his home and fireside, and he became a 
member of Company D, One Hundred and Ninety- 
seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel Hazlett, 
and performed well the duties of a soldier, returning 
to his home when the war was ended. 

In 1869 he purchased the David Jones farm of one 
hundred acres, upon which he now resides, surrounded 
liy his little family, and happy in the enjoyment of 
one of the most honorable and independent vocations 
of life. He is a member of Gwynedd Monthly Meet- 
ing, Society of Friends, and is a minister of that 
society. 



968 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



JOHN SELSER. 

John Selser, the oldest living native of Montgomery 
township, was born on the farm and in the house 
where he now lives December 28, 1793. Mr. Selser 
has for thr^e-quarters of a century and more been one 
of the sturdy, hard-working, honest, industrious yeo- 
men of the township. 

As the name indicates, he is of German ancestry, 
his grandfather, Nicholas Selser, having been born in 
the Fatherland, and emigrated to this country about 
the middle of the last century, and purchased the 
farm where his grandson has thus far spent ninety-one 
years of his life. The property was inherited by John, 



Mary Ellen Field, daughter of Thomas T. and Eliza- 
beth Field, of Northampton township, Bucks Co., Pa. 
She was born December 15, 1831 Her father, Thomas 
T. Field, was born July 30, 1803, and her mother, 
Elizabeth (Larue) Field, was born December 12, 1807. 

David G. Selser, the great-grandson of Nicholas, is 
now (1885) with his parents and sister, Lydia A., in 
occupation of the old homestead where three gener- 
ations have been born, and where he has lived for 
sixty-three years. Lydia A., the second child of John 
and Hannah Selser, was born October 7, 1824, is un- 
married, and the comfort of her aged parents. 

Elizabeth Selser, born September 27, 1S27, married 




son of Nicholas, who married Catharine Schlater, 
daughter of Casper Schlater. Their children were 
Isaac, Mary, John (the subject of this sketch), Eliza- 
beth, Jesse and Rachael. The father of these children 
died April 3, 1S15, leaving the homestead to his son 
John. 

He married, December 14, 1820, Miss Hannah 
Grove, who was born June 14, 1705. The parents of 
Mrs. Selser were David and Hannah (Keeley) Grove, 
who were also the parents of Elizabeth, Susan, Catha- 
rine, Henry and David. Mrs. Selser is still living, 
the solace and comfort of her aged husband. 

Their children are six in number, as follows : David 
G., born June 28, 1822, married, June 13, 1867, Miss 



Emanuel Jacoby, of New Britain township, Bucks 
Co., Pa., where she spent her married life. She died 
March 7, 1861, leaving two sons, Frank P., now living 
in Philadelphia, and Charles S., who died October 30, 
1884, at the residence of his grandfather, John Selser, 
in Montgomery township. Frank P. married Miss 
Kate Shugard. 

William Selser, born October 28, 1830, married 
Margaretta, daughter of John D. Wentz, of Chelten- 
ham township, and died August 4, 1872, leaving three 
children, — John W., William A. and Hannah Louisa. 
John W,, eldest son of William, married. May 8, 
1878, Ella Maria, daughter of Charles and Ruth Ann 
Heller. 



xMONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP. 



969 



John A. Selser, born June 14, 1832; is unmarried. 

Charles N. Selser, born August 28, 1835 ; married 
Sarah, only child of Jacob and Mary Sthase. She 
died March 10, 1884. 



ROBERT SHAW. 

John Shaw, the fiithcr of Robert, was a native of 
Bucks County, where he successfully cultivated a 
farm. He was married to Miss Martha Brown, whose 
children were Elias, Robert, Sarah (Mrs. Moses Gib- 
son) and Rachel (Mrs. James Sands). Robert, the 
second son in order of birth, is a native of Buckingham 
township, in Bucks County, where he was boru on the 



engaged until 1881. He meanwhile erected a spacious 
residence and otherwise greatly improved the prop- 
erty, but in 1884, having retired from active labor, re- 
moved to Norristown and became a member of the 
family of his son, Mr. Shaw has been in politics 
either a Whig or a Republican, but found little time 
to devote to matters apart from his legitimate voca- 
tion. He is by birtJi a Friend, and worshiped for 
years with the Gwynedd Friends' Meeting. His re- 
cent change of residence renders the Norristown 
Friends' Meeting more convenient, and with this he 
has latterly been associated. The death of Mrs. Cath- 
erine Shaw occurred February 19, 1876. 




{^ J^y^h-^c^^^ 



14th of April, 1801. Here his youth was passed amid 
scenes peculiar to the life of a farmer, and with such 
meagre advantages of education as the neighborhood 
afi'orded. He assisted his father for years in his daily 
routine of labor, and on the 15th of October, 1826, 
was married to Miss Catherine Shamel, daughter of 
Conrad and Mollie Shamel, of Montgomery township 
and county, whose birth occurred August 28, 1797. 
Their children are Anna Maria (Mrs. Nathan Allen), 
Sarah Wilhelmina (deceased), and John (married to 
Anna M., daughter of Adam Moore, of Gwynedd, who 
has one son, Walter M., a student in the University 
of Pennsylvania). Soon after his marriage Robert 
Shaw removed to a farm in Montgomery township, 
which his wife inherited, where he continued activelv 



d.-o-c^' 



JOSEPH MITCHELL, JR. 

Abel Mitchell, the grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch, was born in England, and, with a brother 
came to America, as nearly as can be ascertained, 
in 1774, and located in Philadelphia. The brother 
who came with Abel subsequently returned to Eng- 
land, while Abel remained in his adopted country, 
married, reared a family and died at tlie advanced age 
of eighty-four years, six uiontlis and four days. His 
wife, Sarah, died at the age of seventy -six years, three 
months and nine days. Their children were Joseph, 
Abel and William. 

Of these sons, Joseph, father of Joseph, Jr., was 
born in Philadelphia, November 19, 1798, and is 
still living, an honored and respected citizen of 



970 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Montgomery township. At an early age he was ap- 
prenticed to Jacob Coons, of Philadelphia, to learn 
the trade of a gunsmith. After serving his time he 
went to Valley Forge, where he worked as a journey- 
man gunsmith for a time with Brooks Ivins, and sub- 
sequently returned to Philadelphia, where he estab- 
lished, and for several years carried on, an extensive 
business in the manufacture of small fire-arms. In 
1841 he removed to Montgomery township, where he 
commenced farming on one hundred and thirty acres 
of land adjoining the farm now owned and occupied 
by his son Joseph. 

His wife, Dorothy Mitchell, was born September 



Annie, born in Philadelphia August 6, 1833. She 
married, for her first husband, Samuel Barr, and for 
her second husband, Joseph Hughes, also deceased. 
She now lives in Germantown, Pa. 

Emily, born in Philadelphia August 26, 1839, mar- 
ried Thomas Moore, and now lives in Gei'mantown. 

Elizabeth, born January 15, 1843, in Montgomery 
township, Montgomery Co., Pa., unmarried, and lives 
at home. 

Joseph Mitchell, Jr., married, March 8, 1852, Miss 
Emeline, daughter of William and Hannah Moore, 
of Montgomery township. She was b(ini January 3, 
1829. 







14, 1801, and died September 10, 1879, and was buried 
on her seventy-eighth birthday. They were the par- 
ents of the following-named children : 

George, born in Philadelphia August 19, 1823, mar- 
ried Miss Catharine Ann Phipps, who was born Sep- 
tember 30, 1831, 

Sarah, born in Philadelphia July 30, 1825, married 
John Hotiman, who died February 19, 1884, and was 
buried on the 23d of same month. 

Mary, born in Pliiladelphia May 27, 1828, married 
John Schutt. 

Joseph, Jr., born in Pliiladelphia September 6, 
1830. 



The Moores were a Chester County family. How- 
ever, William lived subseciuently to his marriage in 
^Montgomery County. The children of Joseph and 
Eimeline have been as follows: 

I. Samuel, born January 29, 1853, married Miss 
Willimina Clymer, who was born in Bucks County, 
Pa., May 17, 1858. They have two children,— Julia 
Elizabeth, born June 20, 1877, and Arthur Ivin, born 
May 29, 1883. 

II. Joseph M., born September 15, 1856, married 
Miss Laura G., daughter of John and Catharine 
White, of Montgomery County. Laura G. was born 
March 18, 1860. Their children are Bessie May, 



MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP. 



971 



horn February 16, 1879; Howard Leon, born JulySO, 
I8S1 ; :iii(l Owen, horn September 28, 1883. 

III. William Henry, born October 29, 1858, died 
.ruly 25, 1859. 

IV. Charles Edward, born July 25, 1860. 

V. Francis, born .July 16, 1862. 

VI. Elia.s, horn December l.S, 1864. 

VII. Hannah Ellen, born December 4, 1866. 

VIII. .Mary Elizabeth, born .January 6, 1869. 

IX. Howard, born .Tune 17, 1871. 

The children of William and Hannah Moore, 
parents of Mrs. Mitchell, were Emeline, Mary Ann, 
Oliver and Elias (born October 30, 1836). The last- 
named lives at Sellersville, Buck.s Co., Pa., is a black- 
smith by occupation, and is now engaged in the 
butchering business for the Philadelphia market. 
His wife was Margaret Fry, of Montgomery township. 

.losejih Mitchell, .Ir., at the age of sixteen years, 
was a|)prcntioed to Thomas Warnup, of Montgom- 
ery Square, to learn the trade of a wheelwright, 
and served four years, after which he worked as a 
journeyman for one year, then carried on business for 
himself for a short time, when he abandoned the .slow 
and tedious method of earning a livelihood by repair- 
ing old sleds and wagons, and engaged heartily in the 
butchering and farming business for the Philadelphia 
market, which he still continues. 

April 2, 1866, he purchased the farm where he now 
resides, containing twenty-two acres, and erectedi 
thereon the large and commodious buildings and the 
beautiful residence he now occupies. He has also 
added to his possessions the old and well-known Shaw 
farm, adjoining his lirst purcha.se, containing seventy- 
six acres. 

Upon this farm stands a natural curiositv in the 
form of a huge poplar-tree, the admiration of ;dl who 
have seen it. Its height is one hundred and sixty 
feet, as nearly as can be ascertained, one hundred feet 
to the first limbs, and three feet from the ground it 
measures eighteen feet in circumference. 

He also owns a farm of forty-two acres in New 
Britain township, Bucks Co., Pa. Mr. Mitchell is 
well and favorably known throughout the county, and 
his thorough business habits, his honesty and up- 
rightness of character and fair dealing with his fellow- 
men place him high in the estimation of his neigh- 
bors, who have honored him with several official 
positions. He was elected constable and collector of 
the township in 1861 and served for seven years, 
when he resigned his official position. He is a liberal 
contributor to the various religious organizations in 
Jlontgomery townshi)i. • 



THOMAS WILSOX. 

The great-grandfather of Thomas Wilson, f>f Mont- 
gomery township, whose name was also Thomas, came 
from Ireland near the middle of the last century, and 
located at what was known as Milestown, then in Phil- 
adelphia, now Montgomery County. From there he 



moved to the farm now owned by Elliott Thomas, ad- 
joining the farm now owned by his great-grandson, 
Thomas Wilson, whose farm was also a part of the or- 
iginal Wilson plantation. He purchased this farm, 
then containing one hundred and ten acres of land, in 
1781 or '82, and paid for it in Continental money. 

He was a captain in a militia regiment in the Con- 
tinental army, and often related incidents of his ex- 
perience, many of which are still remembered by the 
older people of the community, who knew him in his 
old age. The sword and belt worn by him during 
that struggle are nfiw in possession of Charles S. Rorer, 
of Horsham township, and are highly valued as relics 
<if the Revolutionary war. 

He had a son Thomas, born in Jlilestown, who 
came with his father to Mf)ntgomery, married and be- 
came the father of children as follows, and died in 
1816: Margaret, who married Gabriel Boyer, and 
livcfl near Germantown ; Elizabeth, married Joseph 
Wright, of Horsham township; William, died unmar- 
ried ; Hannah, died unmarried ; Thomas, father of the 
present Thomas, born where Elliott Thomas now lives, 
married Sarah, daughter of Peter Wentz, of Montgom- 
ery township, and died in December, 1856. His wife, 
Sarah, died in December, 1870. They had children, — 
i I. Mary Ann, born January 6, 1815, married Ben- 
jamin Davis, of Montgcmiery Square. He died in 
1840. Their children are Sarah, born in 1836, de- 
ceased, and John, born in 1839, now living in Am- 
bler. 

II. Margaret, born in 1817, married Henry Det- 
wiler, of Horsham township. He died in 1870. They 
had children, — Abraham, Araliclla, Clara, William 

1 and John. 

III. Euphemia, born in 1810, married .John Denen- 
hower, of Hilltown, Bucks Co., Pa. They have two 

i children, Harrison and Clara. 

I IV. Thomas, born Sejitember 23, 1821, on the old 

i plantation, married, October 23, 1847, Ann Delp, 
born .Tune 8, 1829, daughter of Isaac and Ann Delp, 
of Franconia township. They are the parents of chil- 
dren as follows: 

1. Harrison, born October 8, 1848, married Emma 
Berrell, of Willow Grove. They have three children, 
— Carrie, Warren and Maggie. 

I 2. Abner, born November 26, 1849, married Mary 
Buckley, of Philadelphia. Abner was killed Septem- 
ber 18, 1880, by an accident in a stone-quarry on the 
Horsham road. Their children are Abner and Joseph. 

3. Thomas, Jr., born August 22, 1851, married Miss 
Kate, daughter of Charles Bennett, of Horsham town- 
ship, and now resides near Lansdale. Their children 
are Beatrice and Thomas. 

4. John, born January 4, 1855, died AjJril 5, 1855. 

5. William, born September 25, 1857 ; unmarried. 

6. Lincoln, born August 2, 1860 ; unmarried. 

7. Ella, born April 12, 1862, married Andrew Fry, 
of Lumberville, Bucks Co., Pa. Their children are 
Anna and Mabel. 



972 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, 



8. Anna, born May 31, 1865, died April 22, 1866. 

9. Katie, born March 19, 1868. 

10. Emma, born September 28, 1871. 

Mr. Wilson is one of the conservati\ e, honest and 
industrious farmers of the township, and has always 
lived upon the original jilautatidu purchased liy his 
jjrcat-graudfather, it having passed by inheritance 
from tiither to son down to tlie present Thouiiw Wilson, 
who erected substantial and convenient farm build- 
ings in 1856, the year jirevious to his taking full pos- 
session of the property. 



CHAPTER LXIV. 



xMORELAND TOWNSHIP. 



This is the most eastern township in the county, 
and is bounded on the north l)y Hatboro', northeast 
by Bucks County, southeast liy Philadelphia, south- 
west by Abington, and northwest by Horsham and 
Upper Dublin. Its length is six miles, and its 
breadth three, with an area of ten thousand nine 
hundred and sixty acres, having been reduced uji- 





^^^ 



Although Mr. Wilson's life has been spent upon his 
beautiful farm, he has lieen somewhat active in muni- 
cipal atfairs, and his townsmen have upon several oc- 
casions honored him with official positions of trust. 
He has lieen supervisor of roads for six years, also 
one of the clectiim board for several years, and for the 
past few years a member of the board of school 
directors of the township. Mr. Wilson is also one of 
the most extensive contractors and builders in the 
northern part of Montgomery County, and has built a 
larger number of farm-barns and tirst-class farm- 
houses than any one man in the county. 



wards of five hundred acres in 1871, by the incor- 
poration of Hatboro'. The surface is rolling, particu- 
larly in the vicinity of Willow (.trove, Huntingdon 
Valley and the central portion. The soil is a fertile 
loai% composed of some gravel, with but little clay. 
The Penny pack is the most considerable stream, and 
in a course of over six miles through the township 
turns four grist-mills and receives eleven tributary 
streams, the most considerable of which are Hunting- 
don Valley, Round Meadow and Terwood Runs, 

1 B}' Wni. J. Buck. 



MORELAND TOWNSHIP. 



973 



which also furnish water-power. On Lindstrom's map 
of 1654 it is called Penichpacka, which Heckewelder 
says in the Delaware language signifies " deep, dead 
water, or having liut little current." This stream is 
noted for forming a boundary to uo less tlian lour dis- 
tinct purchases for lands made with the Indians by 
William Penn or his agents. In its general aspect 
Moreland is beautifully diversified with hill and dale, 
and watered with numerovis small, unfailing streams. 
Edge Hill crosses through its centre, and continues in 
a western direction to the Schuylkill. Near Shel- 
mire's Mills the Pennypack flows through it, impart- 
ing considerable wildness to the scenery. The highest 
eminence is near Willow Grove and affords fine dis- 
tant prospects. 

The geology of this township possesses considerable 
interest and deserves further investigation. The pre- 
vailing rocks consist of syenite, granite, sandstone 
and micas^ist. At Willow Grove, iron-ore, fire- 
clay, kaolin, quartz and feldspar abound. In this 
vicinity, in the primal white sandstone is found 
the scolithm linearis, supposed to be the oldest fossil 
yet found in Pennsylvania. These consist of straight, 
cylindrical, stem-like impressions, whose length 
varies from several inches to above two feet, with a 
diameter of from one-tighth to half an inch, the 
position being generally perpendicular to the strati- 
fication. Some have supposed it to be the remains of 
alga;, others that it was the boring of a marine worm 
of the aforesaid name. "The Rocks," about half a 
mile to the east of Willow Grove, on the steep side of 
a wooded hill, are composed of a very hard conglom- 
erate of small pebbles of blue quartz-. This has been 
supposed to be the earliest known beach of the Cam- 
brian formation. But what the evidences are of a 
beach, have not been advanced by the speculators- 
In the vicinity of Benjamin Morgan's grist- 
mill, on Round Meadow Run, a short mile to the 
northeast of the village, are to be found rocks com- 
posed of very coarse conglomerate, the jiebbles being 
chiefly composed of white quartz, some of the size of 
eggs. The banks of the stream a few yards above the 
mill appear to be almost entirely composed of coarse 
white pebbles. In this vicinity marine remains have 
been found for eighty years past, consisting of shells 
of various kinds, some of which, secured from the bed 
of the stream, are in the writer's possession. In 
digging a well, some twenty-five years ago, about one- 
third of a mile southeast of Morgan's mill, a fine body 
of white kaolin was reached, which some day might 
be turneil to profitable account. On the Welsh road, 
a few yards west of the Pennypack Creek, graphite or 
black-lead has been known for nearly a century. In 
the beginning of May, 1850, a mine was opened and 
a quantity excellent in quality secured, which was 
worked for a while when the attempt was abandoned. 
In the vicinity of Hatboro' are fine quarries of sand- 
stone and a coarse sand adapted to building pur- 
poses. 



There are several turnpikes in the township ; among 
these may be mentioned the Cheltenham and Willow 
Grove, finished in 1.S04; the Doylestown, in 1840; the 
iliddle road, to the "iSorrel Horse," in 1848; and the 
Warminster in 1850. The North East Pennsylvania 
Railroad has two miles of road in this township, and 
has stations at Willow Grove, Heaton, Fulmor and 
Bonair. The branch extending from Jenkintown to 
New York, has a course of two miles and a half, and 
a station called Bethayres. The Newtown Railroad 
has three miles of track in the township witli sta- 
tions at Huntingdon Valley and Byberry road. The 
principal villages are Willow (irove, Huntingdon 
Valley and Yerkesville. The population in 1790 was, 
1284, in 1830, 2044; and in 1880, 1746. For 1882, 510 
taxables were returned, holding real estate valued at 
$1,897,415. As regards the average pertaxable it is the 
fifth in rank. In May, 1883, the township contained 
five hotels, five general stores, three dealers in flour 
and feed, one in fertilizers, one in agricultural imple- 
ments and one coal and one lumber-yard. There are 
three houses of worship, belonging, respectively, to the 
Orthodox Friends, Methodist Episcopalians and 
Presbyterians. According to the census of 1850, 410 
houses, 410 families and 218 farms were returned. 

Jloreland forms one school district, and lor the year 
ending with June 1, 1882, its seven public schools 
were open ten months, with an average attendance 
of one hundred and eighty-two pupils. These were 
held in five school-houses, located at Willow Grove, 
Huntingdon Valley, Paper-Mill Hill, Wood's Hill 
and Walnut Valley. Education is encouraged, for 
the schools have been kept continuously open ten 
months every year since June 1, 1850. An act 
was passed June 30, 1836, establishing public schools 
throughout the State, which this district, by a vote, 
did not accept. By the act of April 11, 1848, the 
common school system was enforced on the unac- 
cepting districts, when the towiLship opened five 
schools for six months, ending with the close of the 
school year, June 1, 1849. In 1850 two additional 
school-houses were built, one at the Paper-Mill and 
the other at Walnut Valley, on the Byberry road. 

Willow Grove is situated at the confluence of the 
Doylestown with the York Road, thirteen miles north 
of Philadelphia, and near the Abington township 
line. It contains two hotels, two stores, post-oflice, 
several manufacturing establishments and mechanic 
shops, a railroad-station and about twenty houses. 
The country in the vicinity is rolling, and the highest 
eminence for some distance around rises to the east 
of the village. In 1711 the York Road was laid out 
through here to the city. The stream flow'ing through 
here in 1722 was known as Round Meadow Run, over 
which at that time a bridge was constructed. In 
1719, James Dubree purchased here two hundred acres 
and Jacob Dubree one hundred acres, upon which 
they settled and probably made the first improve- 
ments. The latter devised his property, in 1742, to his 



974 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



son, whom we know advertiser], in 1746, his two hun- 
dred acres for sale, stating it to contain "20 acres of 
meadow, a double house, good barn and a fine young 
orchard." John Paul advertised, in 1768, his tavern, 
" sign of the Wagon," here for sale, with one hundred 
and two acres of land. He states that the "stables 
will contain near 100 horses. The house is allowed 
to be the best between the Rising Sun and Coryell's 
Ferry, with three roads passing by." This long 
known as the "Red Lion," was kept by Joseph 
Butler during the Revolution, by William Heaton in 
1786, by Israel Jlichener from 1804 to 1822 and by 
Jacob E.Buck from 1842 to 1868, since which time it has 
been no longer a public-house. The stabling for "near 
100 horses" would indicate considerable travel, even 
several years before the Revolution. The name of 
the place was given it by Reading Howell, as may be 
seen on his large township map of Penn.sylvania, 
jmhlished in 1702. In James Mease's "Picture of 
Philadelphia," published in 1811, is this allusion to 
Willow Grove: " At Rex's tavern you can be well 
entertained ; here is also a fine spring, highly impreg- 
nated with iron, and a spacious bath-house, supplied 
with mineral water, for the accommodation of 
visitors." About this time it commenced to be a 
noted summer resort to Philadclphians, which it has 
continued to be to this day. (ieorge Rex, Sr., had moved 
hither from Germantown before 1792, and after 1803 
established the Mineral Spring Hotel, afterwards so 
long kept by George Rex, his nephew, to whom he 
had bequeathed the property. Israel Michener kept 
the post-office here in 1816, which must have been 
established several years previously. The first school- 
house was built in 1880, on a half acre lot, presented 
for this purpose by George Rex, Sr. A fine two-story 
stone building now occupies the site of the public 
school. In 1851 five daily lines of stages passed 
through here to Philadelphia, from Easton, Doyles- 
town, Lanibertville and Hartsville. After the opening 
of the railroad, in December, 1872, a creamery was 
built here by an association of farmers, and jihos- 
phate-works erected, which are now conducted on an 
extensive scale by William C. Newport & Co. 

Huntingdon Valley is situated on the Middle road, 
near the Pennypack Creek, and but a short distance 
from the Abington line. It contains two hotels, two 
stores, a hall, merchant mill, church, post-office, coal 
and lumber-yard, railroad-station and about forty 
houses. Eagle Hall, belonging to the I. O. O. F., 
was originally built in 1850, is a large two-story stone 
liuilding. recently imjiroved. The Presbyterian 
Church is a one-story stone building, surmounted 
with a steeple, erected in 1861. The pastors who 
have served the church from its organization are as 
follows : Revs. George J. Mingins, James B. Ken- 
nedy, Thomas Gray, T. C. Anderson, J. J. Cowles 
and the Rev. W. 8. Barnes, the present jiastor. The 
church has a membership of eighty-four. Adjoining 
the latter is a hall for concerts and lectures, contain- 



ing a reading-room and library. The public school- 
house is two stories high, built in 1857. A factory 
has recently been erected here by a company for the 
manufacture of metallic caps for blasting purposes, 
employing about a dozen hands and capable of turning 
out forty thon.sand caps daily. Near the lower part of 
the village the Jenkintowu Branch of the New York 
Railroad and the Newtown Railroad intersect each 
other, tending to add considerable to its prosperity. In 
1852 the place contained only twelve or fourteen houses. 
In 1711 the Welsh road is mentioned as crossing at 
a ford here over the Pennypack, showing that there 
was then some travel and a settlement made. John 
Boutcher, of Moreland, by his will, dated June 25, 
1707, bequeathed to his son Samuel three hundred 
and fifty acres of land, with all its improvements, 
and mentioned it as being "at Huntingdon." A 
part of this tract came in possession of Thomas 
.Austin, whom we know had a grist-mill erected 
thereon before 1747, a public road to which is men- 
tioned. This is the mill projjcrty now belonging to 
John Walton, from whose deeds we have received 
these facts. AVhen application was made here for a 
post-office, which was previous to 1850, to retain the 
name of Huntingdon, Vatleij was added on account 
of the former name existing elsewhere in the State. 
.\bout the beginning of this century the name of 
Goosetown was given it, derived, it is said, from the 
great numbers of geese raised in this vicinity along 
the Pennypack. On the completion of the railroad 
to New York, in 1876, the st.'ition here was called 
Bethayres, a contraction of Elizalieth Ayres, who was 
born here and mother of one of the directors of this 
improvement. Near where the Welsh road crosses 
the Pennypack are still to be seen the ruins of the 
old stone school-house, built about 1790, where the 
ancestors of numbers in the vicinity formerly received 
their education. The turnpike through here to the 
Fox Chase was finished in 1848, crossing the Penny- 
pack by a sidistantial stone bridge, built by the 
county in 1811. Although the merchant mill of Mr. 
Walton here is situated nine miles from the source of 
the creek, which receives in this distance numerous 
tributaries, the diminution of water in dry seasons 
became so great that in the summer of 1881 he had 
placed within it a steam-engine to afford additional 
power. Along the stream in this vicinity the ground 
lies low, and in time of freshets is subject to over- 
flows. The surrounding country, however, is quite 
rolling and attains to some elevation. The Penny- 
pack here aflbrds boating and fishing, and a short 
distance below the turnpike bridge the scenery as- 
sumes a more romantic character. The census of 
1880 exhibits one hundred and fifty-four inhabitants. 
Yerkesville is situated not far from the centre of 
the township, near Terwood Run, and has also been 
long known as Blaker's Corner. It contains about eight 
houses, a store and blncksniith-shop. Richard E. 
Yerkes carried on here a cotton-factorv in 1850. On 



MORELAND TOWNSHIP. 



975 



its site, in 1776, John Nesniith carried on a grist and 
saw-mill. Shelmire's ilills, on the Pennypack, was 
formerly a noted business place. Near the beginning 
of this century Jacob Shelmire carried on here ex- 
tensively the manufacture of tlour. The Sorrel Horse 
tavern is situated on the Middle road pike, about two 
miles above Huntingdon Valley. The township elec- 
tions have been held here for about half a century 
the Lower District voting here since 1S78. The turn- 
pike was extended from this place to Riihboroiigh in 
1850. Morgan's Mill is near Heaton Station, and 
contains a grist-mill and ten houses. 

This township was called by William Penn after 
Nicholas More, a physician of London, president of 
the Free Society of Tradei's and the lirst chief jus- 
tice of Pennsylvania, who arrived here in Novem- 
ber, 11)8:^. More is a word of Celtic origin, signifying 
great. The warrant was granted 5th of Eleventh 
Month, 168j|^for nine thousand eight hundred and 
tifteen acres, and it was located and the deed 
given the 7th of Sixth Month. 1<;84. In an ex- 
amination of Holme's map of original .surveys it 
will be observed that a long, narrow strip be- 
tween More's grant and the Bucks County line is 
mentioned thereon as belonging to Joel Jelson, 
Thomas Lloyd and Thomas Fairman, containing 
about fourteen hundred acres. With tliis exception, 
the original purchase comprised all of what was 
known by the name of Moreland, in Philadelphia 
County, down to the organization of Montgomery. 
in 1 784, when much the larger portion was taken into 
the latter county. By the conditions of his patent. 
Nicholas More and his heirs and successors were re- 
quired to pay forever unto the proprietary and his 
heirs and successors annually a silver English shill- 
ing for every hundred acres as quit-rent. This 
payment was about equivalent to the interest of three 
hundred and seventy-five dollars at six per cent. The 
commissioners of property issued a warrant, dated 
July 10, 1689, to Thomas Fairman, the deputy sur- 
veyor-general, to resurvey this grant, when an over- 
plus of five hundred acres was found and was laid off 
in one piece on the upper part, adjoining the present 
township of Horsham. 

About 1685, Nicholas More commenced the erection 
of buildings on the eastern part of his tract, near the 
present village of Sonierton, now in Philadelphia, 
and where he also built a mansion-house, which 
formed the first settlement in Moreland, and called it 
Green Spring. In April, 1685, the Council ordered 
that the boundary between Philadelphia and Bucks 
should be determined. In making this survey we 
learn that where the County Line road extends along 
the entire length of the township there was then a 
dense forest, and that they were compelled to mark 
the course on the trees. 

After his death, in 1688, the heirs of Nicholas 
More continued selling oft' portions of his exten- 
sive estate to actnnl settlers and othere, so that the 



greater part was sold before 1720. In 1703 twelve 
hundred acres were purchased by Nicholas Wain 
and Thomas Shute; this embraced all the land in and 
around the Willow Grove and the western corner of 
the township. In 1719, Jacob and James Dubree 
purchased three hundred acres from the heirs and 
settled upon the same. In the vicinity of Hunt- 
ingdon Valley, in 1702, three hundred and fifty acres 
were sold to John Boutcher. Richard Hill of Phila- 
delphia, in 1711, purchased four hundred and five 
acres, and, in 1713, fourteen hundred and four acres 
additional, which lay along the Abington line and 
extended to the present Yerkesville. All this tract 
was still in the possession of the family in the year 
1730. 

William Allen, of Philadelphia, sold to William 
Walton, in 1712, five hundred and fifty-two acres 
situated to the southeast of Hathoro'. James Cooper 
purchased three hundred acres, in 171 1, in the vicinity 
of Morgan's Mill, on which he settled and made the 
fii-st im|irovements. On a part of this tract Thomas 
Parry built a grist-mill before 1736. The York Road, 
in 1711, was extended across the full breadth of the 
northwest part of the township up to the river Dela- 
ware, at the present Centre Bridge. The Welsh road 
was laid out the same year from Gwynedd to the 
present Huntingdon Valley, to enable the people 
settled there to reach the Pennypack Mills. The 
Byberry road was extended to Horsham Meeting- 
house in 1720. In 1722 roads were laid out from the 
York Road at the present Willow Grove, and on the 
Bucks. County line to Governor Keith's settlenierit, in 
Horsham. All these improvements invited settlement 
and denoted that a rapid extension of population was 
taking place northwards from the city. 

In 1734 Moreland had already seventy-one taxa- 
bles settled within its limits. Of this number, forty- 
three were land-holders and the balance tenants. Of 
the former, John Van Buskirk is mentioned as own- 
ing 180 acres; Benjamin Cooper, lOO; Walter Comly, 
100; John Comly, 100; John Dorlaud, 200; Thomas 
Pennington, 150; Sampson David, 50; John Led- 
yard, 100; James Dubree, 150; Joseph Condy, 100; 
John Simcock, 10; David Marple, Thomas Murrell, 
15; John Daw.son, 3; William Hancock, 1; Daniel 
Dawson, 4; William Murray, 29; William Mojis, 19; 
Standish Ford, 4 ; Isaac Tustin, 100 ; Richard Marple, 
170 ; Garret Wynkoop, 200 ; Henry Comly, 300; Isaac 
Walton, 100; Peter Luken, 100; Nicholas Gilbert, 
200 ; Thomas Lloyd, 120 ; Thomas Wood, 200 ; Jere- 
miah Walton, 100 ; James Hawkins, 50 ; Thomas 
Walton, 50; Thomas Whitton, 100; John Boutcher, 
100 ; Widow Dungworth, 9; Cornelius Wynkoop, 100; 
Thomas Kirke, 40 ; Patrick Kelly, 100 ; Joseph Duf- 
field, 200; Joseph Van Buskirk, 150; Joseph Mc- 
Vaugh, 100; Harman Yerkes, 150; Theodorus Hall, 
15(1; and Samuel Boutcher, 50 acres. From the list 
of tenants we extract the following names : James 
Watson, Peter Jones, John Michener, Jacob Bennet, 



976 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Caleb Walton, Samuel Worthington, George Newell, 
James Erwin, Tunis Titus and Joseph Lewis. 

Of the descendants of tho.'se in the aforesaid list, we 
still find here those bearing the names of Van Bus- 
kirk, Comly, Marple, Murray, Wynkoop, Walton, 
Gilbert, Lloyd, Wood, Boutcher, Duffield, McVaugli, 
Yerkes, Michener, Worthington, Erwin and Titus. 
Of the aforesaid, the Yerkes' have become the most 
numerous. David and Anthony Yerkes, ancestors of 
the family, came from Germany and settled in Ger- 
mantowu before the year 1693. Harman Yerkes, in 
the above list, resided in the central part of the 
township, near the present Shelmire's Mills. Henry 
Comly, of Bucks County, in 1G95, purchased of John 
Holme, Nicholas More's mansion and six hundred 
acres near Somerton, which remained in the family 
until 1860, when, on the death of Franklin Comly, Esq., 
then came into possession of Moses Knight. Jeremiah 
Walton, Sr., came from Byberry, and was married to 
Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Walmsley. They had 
children,— Willian, born 1719; Thomas, 1721; Rachel, 
1724; Jeremiah, 1726; Jacob, 1728; James, 1730; Mary, 
1732; Sarah, 1734; Elizabeth, 1737 ; and Phebe, 1740. 
He died in 1740 and was buried at Horsham. John and 
Sarah Michener settled about a mile east of Willow 
Grove in 171ii. They had six children, and their 
■descendants are now numerous. In the assessment 
of Moreland for 1776 we find the names of Thomas 
Michener, holding one hundred and sixty acres, and 
William Michener, one hundred acres. Arnold 
Michener, cordwainer, is mentioned as residing in 
Abington in 1780. The aforesaid John Michener 
was one of the founders and overseers of Horsham 
Meeting, and was settled in Philadelphia before 
1696. 

Concerning the disappearance of certain animals 
and birds in this section, the following facts have 
been ascertained: Thomas Hallowell shot two deer, 
in 1744, near the Upper Dublin line. A bear was 
seen in that vicinity as late as 1772. James Dubree, 
in 1762, shot a wild turkey that weighed thirty-two 
pounds, on a tall hickory-tree, half a mile west of 
Willow Grove. This tree was three feet in dia- 
meter and stood until about 1866, when it was 
blown down in a storm. Joseph Hallowell shot, in 
the same vicinity, between the years 1774 and 1776, 
four wild turkeys. Previous to 1810 wild pigeons 
bred in the woods, and as many as twenty nests were 
sometimes counted on one tree. Raccoon-hunting by 
moonlight was a favorite diversion as late as 1820. 
Such are the changes brought about by an increasing 
population since tlie first settlement I 

From the assessment of 1776 we obtain the follow- 
ing information : Samuel Shoemaker, a tan-yard and 
75 acres ; Isaac Cadwallader and Mordecai Thomas, 
smiths ; Isaac Stoltz, Stephen Love and Samuel 
Shoemaker, masons ; Isaac Longstreth, tan-yard and 9 
acres ; Samuel Swift, doctor ; John Blaker, joiner ; 
Philip Crips, cooper; Robert Field, turner; Joseph 



Hart, grist-mill and 40 acres ; Silas Yerkes, grist-mill 
and 100 acres; Daniel Regen, grist-mill and 47 acres; 
John Parry, grist-mill and 106 acres ; John Nesmith, 
grist and saw-mill and 60 acres ; Isaac Warner, grist 
and saw-mill and 19 acres ; Thomas Austin, grist-mill 
and 140 acres. Joseph Hart's mill is now owned by 
Dr. William Hallowell, and was built in 1762 by 
Samuel Lloyd. John Parry's mill is now owned by 
Benjamin Morgan. John Xesmith's mill was on the 
site of the cotton-factory at Yerkesville. Thomas 
Austin's mill at Huntingdon Valley, is now owned 
by John Walton. Silas Yerkes' grist-mill is the 
property so long known as Shelmire's Mills. John 
Tomkins kept store in Hatboro', and probably then 
the only one in the township. In the Revolution 
the British did some damage in Moreland, — most 
likely in some of their incursions while in pos- 
session of Philadelphia. For this cause Samuel 
Boutcher, residing near Huntingdon Valley, was al- 
lowed £402; William Tillyer, £2-50; James Dyer, 
£176; and John Wynkoop, £119. 

In' the assessment of Moreland for 178o mention is 
made of 343 horses, 373 cattle, 4 bound servants, 19 
negro .slaves, 14 riding-chairs, 3 family wagons, 1 
phaeton, 1(» grist-mills, 3 sawmills, one fulling-mill, 
1 oil-mill, 2 tanneries and 1 distillery. The largest 
land-holders were: Jonathan Clayton, 370 acres ; Isaac 
Boileau, 220 ; Samuel Boutcher, 202 ; Mordecai Thomas, 
194; Joseph Folwell, 186 ; Abraham Duffield, 157; 
and Andrew Van Buskirk, 153 acres. According to 
the census of 1790, Isaac Boileau had 3 slaves ; Garret 
Wynkoop, 2 ; Andrew Van Buskirk, 2 ; Joseph Fol- 
well, 1 ; and Enoch Green, 1. In the assessment of 
1787 mention is made of Peter Tyson having an oil 
aud fulling-mill ; David Cumming, store-keeper, 2 
bought servants. 134 acres, 4 dwellings, 3 horses and 
a riding-chair; Mordecai Thomas, 194 acres, 4 dwell- 
ings, grist-mill and 3 horses; William Dean, Esq., 
108 acres, 3 horses and a riding-chair. Mr. Cum- 
ming kept store at the Willow Grove, Mordecai 
Thomas resided at Hatboro', and Mr. Dean was a 
magistrate at Huntingdon Valley and colonel of the 
Fourth Battalion of the Philadelphia militia from 
1777 to 1780.' 

Among the township officers Henry Comly was 
collector in 1718; Joseph Hall, 1719; Marcus Huling, 
1720; Thomas Parry, 1723; William Britain, 1724; 
and Walter Comly in 1742. Joseph Kelly was ap- 
pointed to said office in 1741, and on his refusal to 
serve was fined ten shillings. Joseph Butler was 
constable in 1767 and John Wynkoop in 1774 ; 
Philip Wynkoop and ,Tohn Hancock supervisors 
in 1767; Is.aac Cadwallader and John Sommer 
in 1773; Garret Van Buskirk and John Rhoads in 
1785 ; and Amos Addis and Charles Johnson in 1810. 
The elections for Moreland and twelve other town- 



1 Cell. Dean was one of the first four Justices of the Montgonierj' County 
Courts. Died September 4, 1807, aged sixty-seven years. 



MORELAND TOWNSHIP. 



977 



ships were held at Whitemarsh for twelve years, when, 
in 1797, they were removed to Abington ; next, in 
1813, to Hatboro', and before 1838 to the "Sorrel 
Horse." Moreland was divided March 4, 1878, by 
order of court, into what is called the Upper and 
Lower Election Districts, the former voting at Willow 
Grove and the latter at the " Sorrel Horse," 

Montgomery was formed into a county from Phila- 
delphia by an act pa.ssed September 10, 1784. The 
twenty-tirst section of the act states that "it is rep- 
resented by petition to the General Assembly that by 
the lines hereinbefore mentioned a long, narrow neck 
or point of land, being part of the Manor of Moreland, 
and lying between the townships of Byberry and 
Lower Dublin, in the county of Philadelphia, would 
be included in the county of Montgomery, to the 
great inconvenience and injury of the inhabitants o' 
the said neck of land, who have prayed that they may 
remain with4he county of Philadelphia.'' In conse- 
quence it was determined " That the boundary lines 
of the said county of Montgomery shall be as follows : 
that is to say, beginning in the line of Bucks County, 
where the same is intersected by the line which di- 
vides the township of Byberry and the Manor of 
Moreland, thence southwesterly along the last-men. 
tioned line to the first corner or turning thereof, and 
thence on the same southeasterly course to the line of 
Lower Dublin." The part of Moreland thus cut off 
' and left to Philadelphia, by the census of 1800, con- 
tained three hundred and sixty-two inhabitants and 
three thousand seven hundred acres, reducing the 
population and area about one-fourth. Although the 
original survey of the manor was not quite ten thou- 
sand acres, through the addition made along the 
Bucks County line afterwards the portion that went 
to Montgomery County was estimated to contain in 
all eleven thousand four hundred and sixty-four 
acres, showing that a liberal allowance had been 
given. 

About 1794, Thomas Langstroth built a paper-mill on 
the Pennypack, near the central part of the township. 
Here, in 1795, Sanuiel D. Ingham, of Solebury, in his 
sixteenth year, went to serve as an apprentice to learn 
the business. In the school-house nearby Mr. Adrian 
taught a night-school during the winter, which Mr. 
Ingham dilige ntly attended, and, as he afterwards stated 
greatly to his benefit. He worked here until he was 
twenty years old, when Mr. Langstroth releasing him 
from further service, he went to New Jersey and 
became a foreman in a paper-mill near Bloomfield. In 
1812 he was elected to Congress from Bucks, which po- 
.sition he held the greater portion of the time until 1829. 
General Jackson, in that year, entering on his du- 
ties a.s President, apjiointed Mr. Ingham Secretary 
of the Treasury, which office he filled for two years. 
Thomas Langstroth afterwards formed a partnership 
with his brother John in the business here for several 
years, when, unfortunately, on the night of March 19 
1809, the mill was burned down. At the time the loss 
62 



created considerable sympathy for the owners, and a 
public meeting was called and a considerable amount 
subscrilied for their assistance. John Langstroth re- 
ftised any relief and it was awarded to his brother. 
This property afterwards came in possession of Joseph 
McDowell, of Philadelphia, who carried the mill on 
many years. During his ownership it was greatly 
enlarged and the most improved machinery used. This 
mill too, on the night of July 1, 1868, was burned down, 
causing a loss of thirty thousand dollars, with an in- 
surance, however, of twenty thousand dollars, and 
eighty hands were thrown out of employment. The 
mill since has not been rebuilt, its loss being quite a 
blow to the business interests of the neighborhood. 

The Rev. Joshua Potts lived in the house of the late 
Joseph B. Yerkes, near the York Road, below Hatboro', 
which he built in 1759, and which is still standing, 
containing a stone with his name and the date. He 
owned here at the time several hundred acres. He was 
the first pastor of the Southampton Baptist Church, 
built in 1746, an<l in which he officiated till the time of 
his <leatb, which happened June 18, 1761, at the age of 
forty -six years. He was one of the founders of the 
Hatboro' Library, in 1755. 

John Gummere, son of Samuel, was born at Willow 
Grove in 1783. He commenced his career as school- 
teacher at Hoisham, and taught successively at Rancocas 
and Burlington, N. J., Westtown, and Haverford, Pa. 
With his son, Samuel J. Gummere, he resumed the 
boarding-school at Burlington, N. J. His work on sur- 
veying was first published in 1814, and went through 
fourteen editions before being stereotyped. His " Ele- 
mentary Treatise on Astronomy " was first published 
in 1822, and the sixth edition in 1854. He died in 1845. 
Samuel R. Gummere, brother of the aforesaid, wa.s also 
born at WillowGrovein 1789. He was the principal, for 
a number of years, of a popular boarding-school for 
girls at Burlington, author of the " Progressive Spelling 
Book," " Compendium of Elocution," and a " Treatise 
on Geography." 

The "Montgomery County Society for the recovery 
of stolen horses and bringing thieves to justice," origi- 
nated in this township and the adjoining parts of 
Horsham and Upper Dublin in 1799. From an early 
period they have held their annual meetings chiefly at 
the Willow Grove. The officers in 1856 were, Joshua 
Y. Jones, president ; T. Elwood Comly, secretary ; and 
William Hallowell, treasurer ; the society consisting of 
forty-five members. A comijany was chartered to con- 
struct a turnpike road from Doylestown to Willow 
Grove in 1828, and tliough every exertion was made at 
the time, failed in raising the necessary amount to con- 
struct the same. The result was an application for a 
second charter in 1838, and the road was finally com- 
pleted in 1840. John Warner, one of the sujjervisors, 
stated in 1859, that there was in that year in Moreland 
95 township bridges; a greater number than perhaps 
any one would have supposed. The rolling character 
of its surface and its being watered by so many small 



978 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



streams will account for it. Scarcely a stream can be 
found in the townahij) where crossed by a public road 
but is now bridged. 

Nicholas More. — Among the early and distin- 
gui.shed settlers of Pennsylvania we may mention the 
subject of the jircsent sketch, after whom, as its first 
proprietor, William Peun named the manor of More- 
land. It is probable that he was a native of Loudon ; 
for the earliest we know about him is that he was a 
practicing physician there, styled in the documents 
of that period a "medical doctor." He embarked 
about October l.st in the new shi]) " Geotfrey," of near 
five hundred tons burthen, Thomas Arnold, master, 




SEAL OF NICHOLAS MORE, NOV. 28, 1082. 

which made the voyage in the remarkably .short time 
of twenty-nine days, lauding only a couj)le of days 
after the arrival of Penn. 

On the 22d and 23d of the previous March the pro- 
prietary conveyed to Dr. More and eight others 
twenty thousand acres of laud, called the " Manor of 
Frank," which was afterward located in Bucks County. 
These parties constituted a company called "The 
Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania," the object 
being the purchase of lands, with a view to ag- 
ricultural settlement and for the establishment of 
manufactories and for carrying on tlie lumber trade 
and whale fisheries. At the first meeting Dr. More was 
elected president for seven years at a salary of one 
hundred and fifty pounds per annum. The charter 
■was granted by Penn April 4, 1682, and may now be 
seen in the county records at Doylestown. The presi- 
dent and treasurer were required to hold in their own 
right not less than one hundred pounds of the stock, 
besides five thousand acres of land in the province. 

A warrant, in consequence, was given to him the 
5th day of January, 1682, for nine thousand eight 
hundred and fifteen acres, located, and a deed given 
August 7, 1684. This tract then comprised very 
nearly all of what was known as the " Manor of Jlore- 
land," in Philadelphia County down to the organiza- 
tion of Montgomery in 1784, when much the larger 
portion was taken into the limits of the latter. The 
survey had been made only five days previously by 
the surveyor-general's order, and from the boundaries 
mentioned in the i)atcnt lay entirely in the wilder- 
ness, for not even a single land-owner is mentioned as 
adjoining it. It is stated therein as " called by the 
name of Moreland," and granted from " William Penn 
by tlie Providence of God and the King's authority, 



Proprietary and Governor of the Province of Penn- 
sylvania and the territories thereunto belonging." 

By the conditions of his patent Dr. More, his heirs 
and successors, were required to pay forever a silver 
English shilling for every one hundred acres annually 
as <iuit-rent. About 1685 he commenced the erection 
of buildings on the eastern part of this tract near the 
present vilhige of Somerton, and also a mansion- 
house, which it is likely formed the first settlement in 
Moreland, and called it Green Spring, where he con- 
tinued to reside till his death. Judging by his pur- 
chase and the improvements he made, he must have 
been a person of some means, having more wealth 
than was generally possessed by the other early 
emigrants. We find that he was chosen chairman or 
speaker at the meeting of the first Provincial Assembly 
held at Chester, December 4, 1682 ; which, though in 
session only three days, passed important laws. At a 
cinmcil licld at Lewes the 2d of May, 1683, we ascer- 
tain that Penn made him secretar.v of the same, and 
in the following September deputy for settling the 
boundary line with George Talbot, of Maryland. 

In the beginning of 1684 lie was again chosen a 
member of Assembly for the county of Philadelphia, 
and much to the op[)osition of several in that body 
re-elected speaker at their next session held at New 
Castle, December 3d following. The previous 4th of 
August, Penn commissioned him, with four others, 
provincial judges for two years from that date. On 
the 12th of the following month the Council duly 
qualified him to act as chief-judge of this body, which 
laid the foundation of our present Supreme Court. 
Penn, having departed for England, the assembly im- 
peached Dr. More for several misdemeanors. This 
it appears, did not please the Governor, for, on the 1st 
of February, 1686, he changed the executive govern- 
ment to aboard of five commissioners, among whom 
was Judge More and two of his associates. A letter 
was written and sent to Penn dated " Green Spring, 
18th of December, 1686," which the governor had 
published in England with a preface, the following 
year, to prevent " Divers false reports going about 
Town and Country to the Injury of the Province of 
Pennsylvania." 

As mention is made in the minutes of Assembly, 
under date of September 16, 1685, of his suffering 
from sickness and being "in a languishing condition," 
it is presumed that he must have died about the be- 
ginning of 1687; at least we have not been able to 
find any evidence of his being alive at a later date. 
His surviving family consisted of Mary his wife, 
and children, — Samuel, Nicholas, Rebecca, Mary and 
Sarah. Samuel, the oldest son, and Rebecca, died 
before 1695. Mary married Elias Keach, a distin- 
guished Baptist preacher, and Sarah William Sluby, 
who resided in Philadelphia. John Holme having 
married, .January 3, 1687-88, the widow of Nicholas 
More, presented a petition as one of the creditors 
April 23, 1695, to the executive council, who ap- 



MOREIiAND TOWNSHIP. 



979 



pointed a committee to examine the accounts and 
who reported the estate indebted to several indivi- 
duals to the amount of two hundred and seventy 
j)Ounds. He was, therefore, empowered to sell the 
plantation of (ireen Spi'ingwith the improvements, for 
a sufficiiMit sum to pay the just debts and the education 
of his surviving children and the better improvement 
of the remainder of the estate. For this purpose the 
homestead of six hundred acres was sold at public 
sale in that year and purchased by Henry Comly, of 
Middletown, Bucks Co., who, in 1704, rebuilt the 
mansion house. The remainder of the estate was 
divided among the several heirs, who kept selling 
ott' tract after tract therefrom, so that in 1720 the 
greater portion had gone out of the family. 

Sampson's Hill. — Though an inconsiderable emi- 
nence, its name for more than a century and a-half 
has become a familiar household word in the vi- 
cinity. It isnabout half a nule north of the Willow 
Grove, and the old York Road passes directly in a 
straight line over its highest part. As a ridge it ex- 
tends probably a mile east and west, and about half 
that distance is required in crossing it by the turn- 
pike. The forest has long ago disappeared with a 
trifling exception, and its surface has now become 
pretty well cultivated and productive. Tn making the 
survey for the turn])ike its summit was ascertained to 
be one hundred and twenty feet above the stream at 
its northern base, and one hundred and four feet 
above the bridge at the same place. The view from 
ita top by the road is grand ; looking northwards we see 
the whole of Hatboro,' also Lacey's battleground and 
the hills of Neshaminy ; eastward we have close at 
hand the valley of Pennypaek and the jiicturesque 
scenery of Huckleberry Hill. Looking southwards, 
we have the Willow Grove, Horseheaven and Edge 
Hill. There is no doubt that from this spot at 
least a hundred farm-houses are readily discernible. 
These in summer, with their numerous out-buildings, 
orchards and fields, variously checkered by the grow- 
ing crojjs, afl'ord to the citizen agreeable glimpses of 
country-life. 

The old York Road was laid out over this hill to 
Philadelphia in 1711, and thus became one of our 
earliest highways to the city. A writer in Miner's 
Correspondent of .June 4, 1805, says, — 

"It is presumefi that a beneficial improvement might be made at 
Sampson's Hill, in the county of Montgomery, by reducing the ascent to 
the common standard of turnpike roads. The natural increase of travel, 
especially from New Jersey, and the running of stages from Philadelphia 
to New York, and to Easton on that road, fully require that such an im- 
provement be made." 

Forty-six years elapsed, we believe, before this 
design was fully carried out. From ancient deeds 
it appears that some time before 1720 Sarajison Davis 
became the owner of all the land on the northeastern 
side of the hill up to the present road and briilge. He 
was a Welshman by birth, and on the site of the 
present Water Cure establishment he first built him- 
self a cabin, which stood not far from the fine spring 



of water which is mentioned further on. From the 
"Votes of Assembly for 1728" we learn that Sir 
William Keith, who then resided in Horsham, was 
an occasional visitor at his house. From the minutes 
of Abington Monthly Meeting we learn that he had 
procured for himself and wife a certificate of removal 
to Pliiladelphia, dated 281 li of Twelfth Jlonth, 17o6-37. 
It was from him as the principal owner that this hill 
derived its name, which was thus early applied by the 
original settlers. 

The Hatboro' and Warminster Turnpike Road Com- 
pany was incorporated May 8, 1850, and this high- 
way extends from Willow Grove to tlie Street 
road, a distance of four and a-half miles. It was 
made that year, on the bed of the old Y'^ork Road with 
stone, twenty feet wide and twelve inches in depth. 
To bring this turnpike to the grade required by law 
it was necessary to cut into this hill a considerable 
depth. Stone enough was thus procured here to make 
the road for several miles. Great l)lasts were made 
in the solid rock near the northern summit, one of 
which sent a rock of nearly a ton weight thirty yards 
into an adjoining field, and another fragment of about 
four hundred pounds was lodged in the branches of a 
large cherry-tree, where it hung suspended for five or 
six years some twenty-feet above the road surface, 
much to the astonishment of travelers. The rock ap- 
pears to be exceedingly hard and of a bluish cast, 
streaked with white quartz interspersed with particles 
of glittering mica, being a granite of a trappean na- 
ture. Halfway up the southern slope ofthehilla 
vein of steatite or soapstone crosses the road, which 
on a more thorough investigation might prove 
valuable. 

The bridge, at tlie northern base of the hill, and to 
which we have already made reference, was originally 
of wood, but in 1830 the county erected a substantial 
stone structure of one arch of fifteen feet span, which 
was completed the following year. The Turnpike 
Company in consequence of reducing the grade of the 
hill considerably enlarged the southern wing-walls, 
making it now about two hundred feet long. The fill- 
ing here being some eighteen or twenty feet above 
the water has materially lessened the ascent. The 
day may not be far distant when this bridge will be 
further raised and tilled up to the greater convenience 
of pedestrians and horses toiling under heavy loads. 
A number of fine springs of purest water abound. 
Several of these cross the pike on the southern 
side, but the largest, in fact the most consid- 
erable in this section of country, issues from ita 
northern slope about one hundred yards southeast of 
the bridge. It is sufiiciently strong to furnish an un- 
failing supply to a village. The stream after a mile's 
journey mingles its waters with the Pennypaek. A 
venerable-looking milestone stood as late as 1850 on 
the eastern bank of the road-side, about forty yards up 
the hill from the present bridge, having cut on it " 15 
M. to P." It came away in making the turnpike and 



980 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



it is a pity that it cannot be restored to near the same 
jjlace. Most probably it may liave don e duty here 
for all of a century. 

An interesting sight was witnessed on this hill on 
the morning of the 23d of August, 1777, being no less 
than the crossing of General Washington and his 
army, accompanied by a lengthy baggage and artillery 
train. They had just broken up their encampment at 
the Cross-Roads, near the present Hartsville, six miles 
from here, where they had been the previous two 
weeks waiting to hear of the landing of the British. 
They were now marching to Philadelphia, and from 
thence towards the enemy, whom they finally encoun- 
tered on the fields of Brandvwine. 

Round Meadow. — Should almost any other in its 
vicinity than an antiquarian be asked as to the 
locality of this place, it is very possible that it would 
cause some perplexity. This was the original name 
given by the early settlers to a small stream flowing 
through the present Willow Grove, and also to an 
adjacent swamp in which it had its origin. It rises 
from a number of springs in Abington township, and 
after a course of about two and a half miles, in a 
northeasterly direction, empties into the Pennypack. 
The only power it at present affords is in propelling 
the grist-mill of Benjamin Morgan, which is situated 
half a mile from its mouth, and which was originally 
built by Thomas Parry in 1731. As a further resus- 
citation and preservation of the name the writer had 
Mr. Scott to so place it on the map of Moreland 
township in his invaluable County Atlas published in 
1877. 

The swamp must have once contained about one 
hundred and fifty acres, but by the continued i)ro- 
gress of more than a century and a half in the settle- 
ment, improvement and cultivation of the soil, its 
area has been now reduced to les-s than twenty acres. 
This remaining portion has still growing on it huge 
bunches of tussock, calamus, several kinds of coarse 
sedge and carex grasses, besides a number of alder 
bushes and a few stunted red maples and sour gums. 
A part consists of a black peat bog of from six inches 
to four feet in depth, lying on a substratum of white 
clay. The peat is formed by a species of moss which 
grows only on the surface of the water, and as it de- 
cays beneath is slowly but constantly accumulating. 
Its rich black appearance often arrests the attention 
of observing individuals, especially farmers, in going 
to market over what was the plank road. On its 
southern edge cranberries are still found growing 
wild, and our oldest citizens have it from tradition 
that they are indigenous to the locality. 

From the abundance and variety of beautiful wild 
flowers found growing here in autumn, young ladies 
collect them for bouquets and ornaments ; and often, 
too, have they been known to grace the magnificent 
parlor vases of the city. Not only are attractions 
lavish here for the botanist, but also the zoologist; 
for to our knowledge several species of that somewhat 



rare animal, the star-nosed mole, have here been cap- 
tured. Muskrats abound, and nearly forty years ago 
built themselves neat and highly ingenious cabins. 
The sportsman shoots occasionally snipe and wood- 
cock. And, alas! blackbirds still abound from spring 
to autumn, no doubt the veritable descendants of 
those whose ancestors lured several of the young men 
of this vicinity in the phantom pursuit of pleasure 
and gain, till they suddenly found themselves im- 
mersed in "a sea of troubles." From these casual 
glimpses it will be seen that Round Meadow is not 
devoid of interest to the naturalist, but that is not our 
particular object; for it is also invested with the 
charms of historical and traditionary associations that 
must be here only briefly touched upon. 

William Penn, first proprietary and Governor of 
Pennsylvania, purchased June 7, 1684, of the Indian 
chief, Metamicout, all his title to the lands lying on 
both sides of the Pennypack, and which also com- 
prised within its limits this section of country. With 
this conveyance probably hereabouts passed away 
all aboriginal claims, Nicholas More, a physician of 
London, having in 1682 purchased an extensive grant 
which was by the surveyor-general's order laid out 
August 1, 1684, as the "Manor of Moreland." The 
southwestern boundary line of this tract runs directly 
across Round Meadow, and divides it nearly in two 
equal portions, the most southern part of which is 
situated in Abington township. The title to this 
latter section was purchased in 1696 of Captain 
Thomas Holme, by John Hallowell, from Darby, be- 
low Philadelphia, who built a house or cave thereon 
about that time a mile to the southwest of the present 
Willow Grove. This purchase comprised six hundred 
acres, and there are now numerous descendants of the 
original owner living in the neighborhood. 

As the country became more and more settled 
northward of the city, on application, the old York 
Road was laid out in November, 1711, from John 
Reading's landing, now Centre Bridge, on the Del- 
aware, by way of this swamp and the present Jenkin- 
town to Fourth and Vine Streets, Philadelphia. 
About this time a small wooden bridge was built over 
the stream here so as to permit an easier transit for 
wagons. Often, no doubt, as strangers have traveled 
u]) or down this ancient highway, they have wondered 
how it came to pass that it should be laid out through 
the Willow Grove as winding almost as the letter S. 
This was caused by the original miry nature of the 
ground and to secure the most solid surface for 
traveling purposes. Hence from going round the 
meadow to avoid the most treacherous places origi- 
nated so approjiriate a name. 

In the Colonial Records of 1722, we read that at 
the recommendation of the governor, Sir William 
Keith, who had made a settlement and built himself 
a mansion in Horsham, a road was laid out from 
there that year by Nicholas Scull, by way of "the 
Meeting-House, and from thence to a small bridge, 



MORELAND TOWNSHIP. 



981 



commonly called Round Meadow Run, where it meeta 
again the Abington or New York road." The bridge 
here we find thus mentioned several times, and it 
must have been so called between the years 1711 and 
1720. The last mentioned road forms the lower por- 
tion of the present Doylestown and Willow Grove 
turnpike. We know that in 1734, if not some time 
earlier, James Dubree became the owner of one hun- 
dred and fifty acres of land in and around the Willow 
Grove, on the Moreland side, and which comprised 
all that portion of the swamp. One of his sons 
shortly after the Revolution erected a dam across 
the stream about eighty yards above the Round 
Meadow bridge, and had a race from the same to 
propel the machinery of a scythe factory. Though 
no traces of this establishment are now visible, the 
race still remains. 

In 1803 the Cheltenham and Willow Grove turn- 
pike company was chartered and made the following 
year at an average cost of eight thousand dollars per 
mile, on the bed of the old York Road. It is stated 
that at the Round Meadow bridge and for about the 
distance of three hundred yards towards the city it 
took an immense quantity of stones before it acquired 
its present staljility. Aged men of the vicinity stated 
more than thirty years ago that they believed that 
the stones brought here had penetrated down from 
their weight and from the repeated irruptions of the 
water and the action of frost to a depth of from six 
to ten feet, to which since a considerable quantity 
has been added. This bed of stones is now from 
twenty-two to forty feet wide, and even within the 
last few years water has forced itself through, espe- 
cially towards the latter end of winter and the 
beginning of spring. From tradition we learn that 
before the turnpike had ^been made the most miry 
and dangerous places were indicated by the ends of 
rails standing out, which had thus purposely been 
thrust in as a matter of precaution. 

The Germantown and Willow Grove Plank Road 
and Turnpike was laid out and made in 1856-57, and 
commenced on the old York Road, a few yards above 
the Round Meadow bridge, crossing the Moreland 
and Abington line nearly at right angles. This road 
passes nearly through half its length, or about the 
distance of a full half mile in a southerly direction. 
Along this road there is much to interest a student of 
the natural sciences. In 1872 the North East Penn- 
sylvania Railroad was laid out and completed through 
its eastern edge, and within a few years a public road 
opened on the township line. Newport's phosphate 
factory has also encroached somewhat on this do- 
main .so long assigned to the possession of muskrats, 
frog-, and its spring and summer sojourners, the 
black-birds, who have so long fed, fattened, feasted 
and rioted on the products of the neighboring fields. 

Horseheaven. — This is the name given to one of 
the highest elevations in the vicinity of the Willow 
Grove, and it is situated on the east side of the York 



Road turnpike, with Round Meadow Run washing its 
northern boundary. Approach the village from what- 
ever course you may, it looms up boldly before you in all 
its majestic grandeur. Its northern and eastern sides 
are still covered with forest, and a portion of its sum- 
mit is crowned with the perpetual verdure of red cedar. 
A strip of cultivated land extends over its centre from 
south to northeast, giving itthe appearance of two parts. 
We can therefore say that it is of tolerably steep as- 
cent, with a somewhat level summit, elevated probably 
about three hundred feet above the waters of the 
Pennypack, a mile distant. As might be expected, it 
aftbrds a magnificent view of the surrounding country. 
The eminences of Valley Forge, Germantown, Trenton 
and Whitemarsh revive patriotic recollections. The 
blue hills of New Jersey can be traced towards the 
northeast, east and southeast for thirty or forty miles. 
Buckingham Mountain, though twelve miles off, ap- 
pears quite near. The hills of the Delaware, the 
Schuylkill and Neshaminy can be traced for a con- 
siderable distance, while nearer at hand are the lesser 
eminences of Edge Hill, Camp Hill, Church Hill and 
Huckleberry Hill. Among the towns and villages 
readily disi'crnibleare Frankford, Germantown, Chest- 
nut Hill, Barren Hill, Flourtowu, Jenkintown and 
Hatboro'. The river Delaware, for several miles above 
Philadelphia, with its steamboats and sailing-vessels, 
can be seen with the naked eye on any clear day. 

This hill has received its somewhat singular name 
from peculiar circumstances. Near the close of the 
la.st century several lines of stages were established be- 
tween Philadelphia, Bethlehem and Ea.stun ; also to 
New York, byway of Lumbertville. Willow Grove, 
being thirteen miles north of Philadelphia, was readily 
adopted, from its convenient position, as the first suit- 
able place for changing the horses of the several line.s, 
and was generally retained for nearly half a cen- 
tury, or, in fact, till railroads caused their discontinu- 
ance. These being nearly all four-horse coaches, and 
there being liut few or no turnpikes, caused, particularly 
from the condition of the roads, considerable dam- 
age to the horses. When these died, or were dis- 
patched on account of age or other infirmities, their 
bodies were universally consigned to the northern 
declivity of the hill. Thus it became the stage- 
horse's final rest, from whence originated the name 
of Horseheaven. Several fine springs of water gush 
from out the hill-side, and in the Willow Grove 
furnish an unfailing supply to several fountains. On 
the north, northeast and west sides these flow into 
Round Jleadow Run, which in less than two miles 
distance empties into the Pennypack. On the south- 
east side they give rise to Tearwood Run, another 
branch of the latter stream. Sandy Run has its origin 
from several springs on the south side. This is a trout 
stream and a branch of the Wissahickon. It will be 
observed that this hill forms a kind of di\-iding 
ridge, and that its waters flow into both the Delaware 
and Schuvlkill. 



a82 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



On the bold summit of Horseheaven, iu the sum- 
mers of 1840 and 1841, Ferdinand Hassler, superin- 
tendent of the United States Coast Survey, and his 
assistants were encamped. They liad liere a superior 
collection of instruments and a signal station, commu- 
nicating with similar ones at Mount Holly and Wood, 
bury, N. J., Langhorne, Girard College and one or two 
in Delaware County. To facilitate these communica- 
tions several openings had to be cut here through the 
woods in several directions. These remained visible 
for a number of years afterwards. The following an- 
ecdote was related concerning the cutting down of 
this timber: Mr. Hassler directed his assistants to cut 
away these trees wherever they were found to inter- 
fere with the progress of the work, and for damages 
the land-holders must look to him. There then re- 
sided in the neighborhood two farmers, whose lands 
and wealth were chiefly acquired by inheritance. 
They were both regarded as among our most respect- 
able, upright and virtuous citizens. When Mr. Hassler 
had made every arrangement for his final departure; 
he waited on those men and asked the amount of dam- 
ages they claimed; each one, strange to say, said he 
would leave it to his judgment. As he thought their 
damages were about the same, he awarded each a 
similar sum. When one of them received it, he de- 
clined taking more than one-half, saying that amount 
amply remunerated him. The other complained of 
his award, desiring double the amount, wliich was 
paid him. 

Henry D. Rogers, afterwards jnofessor of natural 
history in the University of Glasgow, but now for 
some time deceased, while engaged on the geological 
survey of the State in the summer of ISol, made 
his investigations of this hill and the neighboring 
country. In the first volume of his work may be 
seen a sectional view of its structure and stratifica- 
tion, and he mentions therein that the primeval rocks 
lean at a moderate angle upon the gneiss. " Here," 
he says, " upon the northern slope and end of this 
hill the fragments of the sandstone contain numerous 
vestiges of scolit/nix linearis, the fossil characteristic 
of the white primeval sandstone." He stated that the 
stone here was identical with that in Edge Hill, and 
of course belonged to the same formation. Frag- 
ments of quartz are found scattered more or less over 
its surface. Near Round Meadow Run, on its north- 
ern declivity, are several mineral springs, indicating 
the presence of iron-ore, which is now being obtained 
in abundance at about a mile's distance towards the 
west. 

To the student of nature this hill oft'ers a number 
of attractions. Gray squirrels, ground squirrels, 
flying sijuirrels, weasels, rabl)its and opossums 
abound. The wood robin, the brown thrasher, the 
chewink, the catbird, the scarlet tanager, the golden- 
crowned thrush, the jay, and, above all, the crow, are 
partial to its woods. In the spring of 1852 it»-was 
supposed a pair of eagles had a nest somewhere in 



the vicinity of the rocks. They were seen hovering 
iu the air and about here for several months. Wild 
pigeons formerly resorted to this hill and bred here 
in great numbers. This was particularly the case 
previous to the year 1810. In the spring and fall 
sometimes so many would be caught in nets as to re- 
quire horses and wagons to haul them away. The last 
probably thus caught in this section of country was 
about 1844, and but few were taken. To a lover 
of botany this hill invites attention. Here grow indig- 
enous the white, red, black, chestnut, Spanish, pin 
and post oaks, black and white walnuts, several kinds 
of hickory, maple, elm, gum, poplar and dogwood, be- 
sides beech, sassafras, mulberry, wild cherry, June- 
berry, red cedar and witch-hazel, whortleberries of 
different kinds and bearing red, black and blue fruit. 
The laurel in June is seen whitened over with its nnig- 
nificent flowers. Dittany, or mountain mint, flourishes 
abundantly, from which, in the olden times, the peo- 
ple made tea. Spicy wintergreen or teaberry also 
grows here, — a somewhat rare plant in this section of 
Pennsylvania. The mountain spikenard luxuriates 
amidst the crevices of the rocks. As respects its veg- 
etable treasures, they would take up too much space 
to name in detail. 

Our first ac<iuaiutance with this hill and its neigh- 
borhood began in 1842, and since that time it has be- 
come sufficiently endeared by its memories to thus re- 
cord a few oljservations. Heretolbre our writers have 
been too much led to believe thnjugh the influence of 
European authors, that our local scenery is too barren 
in historical and traditi(mary associations to be in- 
vested with the additional charms that literature could 
bestow. By standing on the summit of Horseheaven 
and gazing over the beautiful prospect there will some- 
thing arise that denies such a charge. Near may be 
seen Round Meadow, Huckleberry Hill and the valley 
of Southampton Run, where John Fitch first tried his 
model steamboat. Then around here dwelt the In- 
dians, by yonder stream w.andered the Swedes, on the 
hills and valleys of North and Southamjiton settled 
the Dutch, at Warwick the Irish, at Gwynedd the 
Welsh, at Ciermantown the (iermans, at Horsham Sir 
William Keith and his Scotch associates, and in Ab- 
ington and Moreland the English Quakers. Many 
spots and eminences that have witnessed the valiant 
struggles and sufferings of a people in the sacred cause 
of freedimi, — of a Washington and his brave copatriots, 
are in view. Are all tliese, with the associations that 
linger around each, devoid of interest? 

Although this subject has been lengthened beyond 
what was contemplated, there is much unsaid respect- 
ing Horseheaven. Many a ramble during the heats of 
summer has been taken over its summit while the 
cool and invigorating breezes were playing around. 
Often, too, in early spring have the swelling buds and 
blossoms been impatiently watched while meditating 
on the resumption of their foliage. Again in autumn 
would be observed their various hues and the depar- 



MORELAND TOWNSHIP. 



983 



ture of their foliage as they stood at last divested of 
their summer robes. But, like ourselves, Horseheaven 
is getting older and changed; his top, though it was 
once well covered, is getting bald, the furrows on his 
brow are becoming numerous and deeper, and his for- 
mer life is inii)erceptibly leaving him. Across his 
northern slope, since 1882, the iron horse prances, 
and his shrill snortings betoken the changes of time. 

ASSESSMENT OK MORELAND FOR 177ti. 
Juhii Swift, asaessor, and John Wynkoop, collector. 
Jacob Rush, 25 acres, 2 Iiorsus, 3 cows ; Samuel Shoemaker, tanner, 75 
a., and tan-yard, 4 h., 2 v. ; John Gilbert, 77 a., 1 negro, 2 h., :j c, a 
cripple ; IrsaJic Bond, 3 a. ; Peter Bowman, 1 h., I c. ; John Tompkins, 
inn-keeper, 1 h., 2 c. ; Jacob Tompkins, sliop-keeper, 5(i a., 2 h., 3 c. ; 
David fllarpole, 98 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Enoch Marpole, 1 h. ; Clement Duugan, 
doctor, 1 servant, .1 h., 3 c. ; Sanmel Irwin, Ksij., 20;ta., 1 negro, 4 li,, 5 
c. ; Andrew Van Buskirk, 140 a., I negro, 2 h., 4 r. ; William Scout, 9 
»., I h., 2 c, inlirm ; Joseph Bond, 3 Ii,, 4 o. ; George Shillets. John Dor- 
land, 1 c. ; Isaac Boileau, 200 a., I negro, 4 h., 8 c. ; John Fisher, 1 c. ; 
Michael Riderpok^, 15 a., I servant, 3 h., 4 r. ; John Rhode, 1 servant, 

2 h,, 3 c. ; Peter Souerman ; George Foster, 2 h., 3 c. ; Lawrence Sent- 
mao, 100 a., I servant, 4 h., 5 c. ; Mary Kirk, widow, 80 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; 
Nathaniel Sands, 3 h., 3 c. ; John Wynkoop, 212 a., 1 negro, 5 b., 5 c. ; 
Garret Van Buskirk, lyii a., 4 h., 5 c. ; John Ilogeland, 1 negro, 260 a,, 4 
h., 5 c. ; Thomas Walton, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c, oldand decrepid ; Nathanie' 
Walton, 30 a., 2 h., 1 c. ; John Heet, 3 h., 4 c. ; John Blacklye, 140 a., 1 
servant, 3 h., 3 c. ; John Lewis, 1 c. ; Jonathan Clayton, 150 a., 5 h., 5 
c. ; Richard Corson, 20 a., 1 negro, 2 h., 4 c. ; James Dyer, 253 a., :S h., 
4 c. ; Joseph Lewis, 1 h. ; John Lloyd, !5ii a., 1 h., !> c. ; Benjamin 
Lloyd, 1 h. ; Sanmel Lloyd, 4 h., 4 c. ; Thomas Lloyd, Sr., 1 h, ; Esther 
Perry, widow, 00 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; David IVrry, 3(j a., 2 h., 2 c, 1 negro; 
Samuel Shoemaker, mason, 100 a., 4 h., 4 r. ; .leremiah Walton, 48 a., 2 
h., 2 c. ; John More, 1 h., I c. ; Edward Katon, 44 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Wil- 
liam Folweli, 10(1 a., 1 negro, 3 h., 5 c. ; Joseph Folweli, 2 h., 3 c. ; Mor- 
decai Thomas, smith, 110 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Isaac Tjongstreth, tanner,!! a., 2 h., 
1 c. ; John Engie, 2 h., 2 c. ; John Soiiimers, OS a., 2 servants, 3 h., 5^, ; 
Abel Walton, 33 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Henry Walton, 07 a., 2 h., 1 c. : John 
Vanhorn, 1 c. ; Nicholas Randal, .'» h., 5c. ; Comly Randal, 1 h. ; Peter 
Vanhorn, 1 h., 1 c. ; Jacob Comly, inn-keoper, 18 a., 2h., 2 c. ; Joseph 
Cotnly, 100 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; John Swift, 205 a., 1 servant, 1 negro, 1 h., 7 
0. ; Samuel Swift, doctor, 150 a., 2 negroes, 4 h., 7 c. ; Samuel Swift, Jr., 
loo a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Daniel Street, 1 c. ; John Blake.joiner, 20 a., I h., 2 
c. ; John Biirk, 1 servant; Albertson Wjilton, 70 a.. 4 h., 4 c. ; Philip 
Crips, cooper, 4a., 1 c. ; James WjlUud, 4 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; Derrick Krew- 
Bon, 4 h., 4 c. ; William Tillyer, 200 a., I negro, 5 h., 5 c. ; Peter Stick- 
ler, 52 a., in Lower Dublin ; Isaiic Stoltz, mason, I c. ; Rsicliel Robert- 
son, 70 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Abraham Lewis ; John Boucher, 20o a., 5 h., 4 c. ; 
.Joseph Boucher, 2 h., 2 c. ; Samuel Boucher, 200 a., 2 negroes, 3 li.. 8 c. ; 
William Roberts, 200 a., 1 h., I c. ; William Roberts, Ji-., 11 a., 1 negro, 

3 h., 3 c. ; Thomas King, 47 a., 2 h., I c. has eight children ; Timothy 
Roberts, 1 negro, 3 h., 3 c. ; Jacob Johnson, 1 c. ; James Me (Jill. 4 a., 1 
c. ; Elias Yerkes, 1 h., 2 c. ; Bernard Iiieman, 2 h., 3 c. ; James ILirker, 
1 c. ; Casper Taylor ; Thomas .Austin, 140a.. 3 h., 4 c, grist-mill ; Isaac 
Cadwallader, smith, 70 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Moses Vanconrt, inn-keeper, 120 a., 

4 h,, 5 c. ; Daniel Vancourt ; Samuel Ayers, 4 a., I h., 2 c. ; Isaac Rob- 
erts, 30 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Elisha Thomas ; Abel Marpole, 1 h., 1 c. ; Casper 
Fettei-s, 250 a., 1 negro, 5 h., 8 c. ; Anthony Yerkes, 230 a., 3 h., 7 c. 
son a cripple ; Jacob Yerkes, I h., 1 c. ; Anthony Yerkes, Jr., 2 Ii.. 2 c. ; 
Anthony McNeal, 50 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Jacob Spencer, 147 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Caleb 
Davis, 55 a., 1 h., 2 i: , 7 children ; John Morgan, 1 h., 1 c. ; Jarret 
Spencer, 70 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Thomas Hallowell, 125 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; Jacob 
Dubree, 39 a., 2 b.,2 c. ; William Dubree, 2 c.; Luke Boileau, 2 c. ; 
Daniel Ragen, 47 a., 2 h., 2 c, a grist-mill ; Alexander Maris, 4 h. ; 
Benj.triun Tomlinson, 1 c. ; IU>bert Barnes, 75 a., 1 negro, 1 h. ; Jere- 
miah Walton, 188 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Rachel Dubree, widow, 1 c. ; Abraham 
Bonnet, 2 h., 2 c. ; William Shoemaker, 119 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Colin McSwine, 
100 a., 1 servant, 1 h., 2 c. ; Joseph Hart, Esq., 40 a., 2 c, grist-mili ; 
Josiah Yerkes, a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Silas Yerkes, 100 a., 3 h., 5 c, grist-mill, 
9 children and 1 idiot ; Joliu Nesmith, GO a., 2 h., 2 c, grist and saw- 
mill ; William Patterson : Robert Little, 25 a., 1 c. ; John Kennedy ; 
William Littleton, 200 a., 1 negro, 4 h., 7 c. ; Elias Yerkes, 150 a., 4 h., 
.% c, ; Joseph Butler, 2 h., 2 c. ; Thomas Michenor, IGO a., 2 h.,4 c. ; 
Thomas Walton, 220 a., 3 h., 5 c; Jnhn Wood, 90a., 1 h.. 2i-. ; Thomas 



Wood, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Stephen Yerkes, 15(ia., 4h., 4c. ; David Fulton, 

20 a., 2 h., 2 c, grist-mill ; Sarah Janes, widow, 88 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; John 
Ramsey, 40 a., 2 h., I c. ; John Ledyard, fiO a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Thomas Led- 
yard, 40a., 1 h., 2c.; John Cook, enlisted ; John Foster ; James Fulton, 
24a., 1 h., Ic. ; Daniel Boileau, o" s., 2 h., 5c. ; Jacob Janes, 148 a,, 3 
h., 4 c. ; Garret Wyidioop, 340 a., 1 negro, 4 h., 5 c. ; Joseph Keen, 
Joshua Comly, 125 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; Jonathan Comly, 105 a., 3 h.,3 c. ; John 
Lufboro, 13(1 a., 1 negro, 3 h., 4 c. ; Joseph Foster ; Daniel Thomaa, 73 
a., 1 negro, 2 h., 2 c. ; Jesse Edwards ; Thomsis Lloyd, Jr., joiner, 20 a., 
2 h., 3 c. ; David Hallowell ; Matthew Hallowell ; Henry Brous,' I h., 1 
c. ; James Vansant, 21 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Hexekieh Vansant, 2 a., 1 c. ; George 
George ; Charles Hoteriidi, 1 h., 3 c. ; William Collins, 28 a. ; Jacob Tim- 
brel, 1 li., 1 c. ; Thoniiis Doughty, 1 h. ; Lambert Dorland, 2 a. ; Thomas 
Pennington, 130 a., 4 li., 7c. ; Jonathan Martin ; Cornelius Daily, 3 h., 
2 c. ; Lawrence Loudenberger, 1 h., 2 c. ; Joseph Comely, 1 c. ; Robert 
Field, turner, 1 h., 1 c. ; Abtd Fitzwatcr, 1 h., 1 c. ; William Lukene, 
John Jones, 2 h., 1 c. ; Charles McVaugh, 1 c. ; Thomas Boor ; John 
HiUings ; George Trunk, 1 h., 1 c. ; Joseph Duffield, 46 a., 2 h., 1 c. ; 
Isaac Dorland, William Walton, 5 h,, 3 c. ; Henry Murfits, 1 h., 1 c. ; 
William Walton ; Anthony Ships; Jacob Wariier ; Jjicob Vanpelt ; Isaac 
Warner, 19 a., 2 h., 2 r., grist and saw-mill ; Joseph Mitchell, 80 a., 2 h., 
2 c. ; Thomas Mitchell ; Jonathan Richardson, 1 h., 1 c. ; James Craven, 
70a., 1 h.,2c. ; Richard Wiiitton, 163 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Paul Rust, 2 h., 2 
c, ; John McCuUough ; ^^tephen Love, mason; Edward Barnes ; William 
Williamson ; Andrew Bartle ; Joseph Brooks, 1 c. ; James Watkins, Ed- 
ward Duffield, 500 a., 1 si;rvant, 1 negro, 2 h.,4 c. ; AVilliam Purdy, 
ILiury Deshong, 1 servant, 2 h., 3 c. ; Michael Warner; George Ncvil, 
1 h. ; Hugh McCliire, William McNerl. Single ilfe».— John Ervrin, 
George Patrick, William (Gilbert. Jonathan Gilbert, John Gilbert, 
Thomas Nixon, Jacob Marpole, Isjuu: Marpole, Yost Van Buskirk, John 
Van Buskirk, Joseph l>yei-, Thomas Perry, Peter Shoemaker, Edward 
Farmer, William Adams, Periden Ernst Peterson, James Street, Benja- 
min Heaton, Alexander Burk, Deriit k Krewson, John Boucher, Jr. 
John Murray, John Mc Ginnes, Robert Austin, George Stoneback, Josiah 
Hart, Harman Yerkes, .John l)avis, Nicholas Austin. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



.lOHN WALTON. 

.Icihu Walton was l)oru September 10, 17%, and 
at a very early period in life was left an orphan, and 
went to live with an uncle, Samuel Walton, one of 
the pioneers of what is now Montgomery County. Of 
his early life but little, if anything, of interest is 
known beyond the fact that he was industrious, and 
his moral and upright bearing a model for other young 
men. Dependent entirely upon his own resources, he 
started out to fight the battles of life, and by his indom- 
itable energy overcame obstacles that to a less courage- 
ous nature would have been insurmountable. 

In IS.'il he purchased of .James Comly the farm and 
merchant mill owned by him at his death. The mill 
was known throughout this vicinity as " Walton's 
Mill," and the farm, for the beauty and picturesqueness 
of the location of the old mansion, was, and is still 
known by the name of " Hill's Highlands." This 
farmand mill lot was formerly a partof agrant of land 
from William Penn, to Nicolas More, and by him 
named the " Manor of Moreland," from which the 
present township of Moreland derived its name. This 
grant was made October 17, 1681. June 7, 1684, 
William Penn, for reasons not known, made a 
second grant to Nicolas More, of nine thousand 
eight hundred and fifteen acres of land, as a part of 



984 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the ten thousand acre tract. Probably a shortage was 
found when the survey was made. 

The next owner of the tract was Samuel, .son of 
Nicolas More, and one of six heirs. November (>, 
1694, Samuel More empowered his father-in-law, 
John Holmes, to sell so much of the estate as would 
pay his debts, and in the same year (1694) bequeathed 
to his brother Nicolas and sister Sarah the balance 
of his property. Sarah married Richard Hill, Sr., 
and in 1713, Nicolas More transferred all his right in 
the estate to Richard Hill, Sr. 

In 1729, Richard Hill, Sr., bequeathed the ])roperty 
to Richard Hill, Jr., and in 1749, Richard Hill, Jr., 



ages, having stood for nearly or quite a century, when, 
in 1849, Mr. Walton removed the old house, and in 
1849-50 erected the present stately mansion, where he 
so pleasantly spent the remainder of his days. In 
1851 he rebuilt the grist-mill. 

Of Mr. Walton's career a friend who knew him 
well thus writes : " Every year of his long life wai 
spent in our midst, — an open book which all might 
read ; no obscure passages nor sealed pages to kindle 
doubt or arouse distrust ; and it has been the priv- 
ilege of few men to win true afl'ection and esteem 
from their immediate associates. 

" Square-dealing and sincere, genial and generous, his 




^^^.-^^ ^^^^<^^^ 



transferred sixty-one acres to Thomas Austin. V>\m\\ 
this sixty-one acres was the old manor-house, known 
as " Hili's Highlands." 

November 13, 1747, Samuel Butcher and wife sold 
to this same Thomas Austin a part of their three 
hundred and fifty acre tract, and Thomas Austin 
(who was Mrs. Walton's great-uncle) sold to Joshua 
Comly, who bequeathed the same to his son, James 
Comly, and he subsequently sold the same to John 
Walton, the subject of this sketch. 

The old mansion or farm-house stood just on the 
brow of the hill, partly in front of the present dwell- 
ing. It was one of those quaint old relii-s of past 



personal integrity and warm social qualities awakened 
and held the respect and friendshij) of two generations. 

" Public-spirited and progressive, he was closely 
identified with the development and improvement 
of his neighborhood. 

" Often the projector and always the earnest advocate 
of every worthy enterprise tending to jiromote its 
growth and advancement, he never failed to con- 
tribute material assistance, not only of his time and 
means, but no less by the inspiration of his euthusi- 
a.sm and the confidence infused by his clear discern- 
ment and firm faith in the future possibilities of his 
native vale. 



MOKELAND TOWNSHIP. 



985 



" Notwithstanding the engrossing nature of his 
business, liis mind and Iiands were neverso fully occu- 
pied with seltish interests but he found time to 
remember his neiglibor ; to respond to every appeal, 
to visit him in sickness and distress ; to honor 
his inanimate form with the last tribute of respect. 
Positive in his oi)inions, true in jiurpose, unfaltering 
and steadfast in right, he has gone to receive the re- 
ward of those faithful servants who have been true to 
their tru.st of life." 

In religious affairs Mr. Walton was a Friend, and in 
polities a Henry Clay Whig. In business habits he 
was ever zealous in the performance of every con- 



The first record we have of any of that name is of 
Anthony Woodward (2nd), who, in some deeds dated 
as early as 1725, is styled " Yeonuin," and in others 
" Gentleman." He located near Bordentown, N. 
J., and died in October, 1784, leaving five sons, — 
Israel, Anthony, Thomas, Joseph, George, and a 
daughter, Margaret. Of these sons, Anthony was the 
great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and 
married Deborah Williams, of Shrewsbury, N. J. 
George, a son of the last-named Anthony, was born 
in 1744, and died December 25, 1817, aged seventy- 
three years. He married Margaret Mount in 1777. 
She was born near Middletown, Monmouth Co., 




^4;.a^/f7, /^£rTreU^^^~~^ 



tract, whether verbal or written, and until within a 
year of his death was actively engaged in the trans- 
action of his every-day affairs. He was married, Third 
Month 8, 1832, to Miss Sarah, daughter of Elisha 
Thomas and grand-daughter of Joshua Comly. She 
was connected also with the pioneer Austin family, of 
what is now Huntingdon Valley. Mr. Walton died 
Fifth Jlonth 26, 1884, the result of an accident. Mrs. 
Walton died Ninth Month 29, 1872. They were the 
parents of six children, — Mary (died in .lanuary, 1835,) 
Eliza C, Charles, Susan O., Anna F. and Henry Clay. 



MAJOR EVAX M. WOODWAKI). 

Major Evan M. Woodward is a descendant of the 

Woodward family, who first settled in New Jersey. 



N. J., in 1750, and died at White Hill, on the 
Delaware, May 4, 1830, aged seventy-four years. Of 
this marriage we find the following minute in the 
Friends' record : Fourth Month 5, 1781, " The friends 
appointed report they informed George Woodward 
of the charges against him, he having married con- 
trary to Discipline to a woman not in membership 
with us ; the said friends informed he was married 
by a priest, therefore this meeting disowns him, the 
said George Woodward, from being a member of our 
religious society, until he comes to a sense of his 
errors and condemns the same as Discipline directs." 
This Margaret Mount was of a patriotic family, not 
less than fifteen of her relations serving in the Revo- 
lutionary war. Her brother, Colonel Timothy Mount, 



986 



HISTORY OF MOiMTGOMEKY COUNTY. 



was one of Washington's most trusted confidential 
agents, he receiving from him a letter stating he had 
■' rendered most important services in the cause," in 
recognition of which Congress granted liim a large 
tract of hind in Ohio. 

It is traditional of Colonel Mount that he formed a 
daring plot to seize (Jeneral Arnold in New York and 
carry him into our lines. For this purpose he en- 
tered the city in disguise, and obtained a situation as 
bar-tender at the tavern frequented by the general 
and other British officers. Two nights were fixed 
u[)on to carry the scheme into execution, his confede- 
rates, shoremen from Monmouth County, N. J., 
coming over in a large and swift barge to assist and 
carry the jirisoner across the bay. A dinner-party 
upon one occasion and a severe storm upon another 
frustrated tlieir designs. 

The country around Middletown and Shrewsbury 
was filled with partisans, with Tories and Whigs, 
active and bitter in their hostilities. The patriots 
were continually receiving information of the British, 
and suspicion was created that Margaret Mount was 
one of the mediums through wliich it was conveyed. 
One night a party of British and Tory horsemen went 
to her father's house, searched lier bed and discovered 
a letter she was to deliver to the patriots the next 
morning. She and the young lady friend who 
brought the letter were fallen prisoners and carried 
away. The next night they escaped from the house 
in whicli they were confined, and concealing them- 
selves in a corn-field, eluded the pursuit of the Brit- 
ish cavalry. Margaret, fearing to return home, was 
concealed by her friends till the enemy left the 
country. It was during this period that she met her 
future husband, (Jeorgc Woodward, 

They had children, — Lydia, who married William 
Woodhouse, a merchant of Philadel[)hia; Margaret, 
who married Jacob Sebohm, also a merchant of that 
city ; and George. 

Of these children, George moved to Moreland 
township, Montgomery Co., where he married Marga- 
ret Wynkooj), and in 18o4 went to Kansas, where he 
was killed. The sons of (icorge and Margaret were 
Timothy M., who lives in Pluladclphia ; Charles, a 
resident of Philadelphia ; James, resides in Camden, 
N. J.; Wynkoop, deceased; Martha; Mary; 
Rebecca Anna; Anna, who married William Schall- 
cross, of Maryland ; and Evan M., who was born 
March 15, 181.'!, on the old homestead, which he now 
owns, adjoining the one upon which he lives. 

The whole life of ICvan M., except a few short in- 
tervals, has thus far been spent upon these two farms, 
pleasantly located on the table-land, about two miles 
west from Somerton Station, on the Bound Brook 
Branch of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. 

Besides attending to the duties pertaining to a 
large plantation. Major Woodward (as he is jjopularly 
known) has visited several of the States of the Union 
and thus become conversant with the prominent men 



of the country, and familiar with all the prominent 
points of interest. He is also the owner of two tracts 
of land, of twelve hundred acres each, in Mecklenburg 
County, Va. Since Major Woodward attained his 
majority he has been prominently identified with all 
the progressive movements of his township. Politi- 
cally he was a Henry Clay Whig, then a Dougla.i 
Democrat, and both during and since the war of 1861 
-65, has been a stanch and unyielding Republican, 
several times leading a forlorn hope as its standard- 
bearer in legislative contests. He has been honoreil 
by his townsmen with official positions, and for 
twenty years with that of justice of the peace. 

He wiis married, March 7, 1838, to Miss Margaret 
Snyder, who was born May 6, 1814, in Montgomery 
County. They are the parents of two children, — 
Sarah S., born November 18, 1839, died March 5, 
1841; Harrison, born January 20,1842. Harrison's 
life thus fiir has been spent upon the old homestead, 
except that portion spent at Eastman's Business Col- 
lege, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., from which institution he 
graduated April 9, 1864. He has also taken a promi- 
nent part in the politics of the township, and was 
elected by the Republicans, in the spring of 1882, to 
the office of justice of the peace for a term of five 
years. He was married, January 5, 1870, tf) Miss 
Rebecca A. Clayton, of Montgomery County. The 
result of this union has been four children, — Clara, 
born July 18, 1871, died April 10, 1879; Mary Eliza- 
beth, born August 4, 1873 ; Justus C, born August 26, 
1876, died March 10, 1879 ; Frank H., born April 2, 
1880. 



.IKUEMIAH BERRELL LAEZELEEE. 

.Jeremiah Berrell Larzelere, of Moreland township, 
Jlontgomery Co., comes of Huguenot stock. The 
famous P>dict of Nantes, signed by Henry IV., of 
France, April, 1598, gave religious freedom to all 
parties. Eighty-seven years later Louis XIV., for 
political reasons, revoked it, October 22, 1685, and by 
the persecutions which followed France lost a half- 
million of her best and sturdiest citizens. They fled 
to Gernu\ny, England, Scotland and North Ireland. 
Many families came to the colony of South Carolina, 
and from these Huguenots the South Carolinians in- 
herited largely their intelligence, wealth, dauntless 
courage and political power. Both Calhoun and 
Hayne were of Huguenot blood. 

Among the Huguenot pilgrims who fled the perse- 
cutions of France in the latter part of the seventeenth 
century were Nicholas and John Larzelere, who set- 
tled on Long Island. Nicholas subsequently moved 
to Staten Island, where he married and raised a family 
of four children ; two sons, Nicholas and John, and 
two daughters. In 1741, Nicholas, the young- 
er, moved witli his family to Bucks County, Pa., 
and settled in Lower Makefield township. He 
raised eight children, died at the age of eighty-four, 



MORELAND TOWNSHIP. 



987 



and was buried in the Episcopal graveyard at Bristol. 
The eldest son of the second Nicholas was also named 
Nicholas, and was born on Staten Island in 1734. He 
married Hannah Britton, of Bristol township, and 
moved into Bensalem, where he owned a large estate, 
and raised a tamily of ten children ; he fought in the 
Revolution and died at the age of eighty-four. Ben- 
jamin, the eldest son, married Sarah Brown, of Bris- 
tol, moved into that township, hud eight children and 
died at eighty-four. Part of Bristol is built on his 
farm. 

The eldest son of Benjamin was Niclmlas, wIki was 



dence in Ohio, has always lived in Montgomery 
County. In 1858 he married Elmina, daughter of 
James Lovett, of Doylestown, Bucks Co., who died 
in 1874, and in 1876 he was again married, to Carrie 
E., daughter of Dihvorth Went/., late of Philadelphia, 
deceased. He had a family of seven children, all of 
whom are living save one. 

Inheriting the strength and health of his ancestors, 
he is now in the prime of life and in the midst of a 
busy and active career. At the age of eighteen he 
taught school in Horsham. United with his large 
agricultural interests, he has for many years been ex- 





the father of the subject of the present sketch. Nicho- 
las married Esther, daughter of Col. Jeremiah Berrell, 
of Abington, and moved into that township about the 
year 1825, and lived in that township and Moreland 
the balance of his life. He reared a family of twelve 
children, all of whom are living excepting one. 
Nicholas died in the year 1858, at the age ol 
sixty-seven, and was buried at the Presbyterian 
graveyard at Abington. His widow still survives him 
at the advanced age of eighty-two. 

Jeremiah was the third son of Nicholas, and was 
born in 1828, and, with the exception of a short resi- 



tensively engaged in the shipment and sale of live- 
stock from the Western States. Among the (>rojectors 
of the North East Pennsylvania Railroad, which was 
opened in 1870, he became a director, and remained 
such until it passed by lease into the possession of the 
Reading Railroad. The position of school and bank 
director lie has held for years. 

Notwithstanding the taxation of his energies in 
business, he has always found time to take an active 
part in politics, and is naturally fond of a contest for 
honors. A pupil of the old Jetfersonian school of 
]iolitics, he has, nevertheless, kept abreast with the 



988 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



advanced and progressive ideas of the better element 
of his party. In 1871, selected as the candidate of his 
party for sherift', he was elected by upwards of a thou- 
sand majority, and received the highest number of 
votes on tlie ticket. This office he held from January , 
1872, until .January, 187-3, and administered its ardu- 
ous and responsible duties to the eminent satisfaction 
of all. It may be said that in disposition, generous 
and benevolent, he has endeared himself to many, 
who, in darkest hours, have found in him the friend 
they needed. No higher test of character is re- 
quired than the esteem in which one is held by his 
neighbors. 



his son, John J., where he died December 22, 1856. 
His wife, born May 5, 1781, and died June 26, 1867, 
was Mary, daughter of the late William Jarrett, of 
Horsham township. Mr. Hallowell was, for over half 
a century, proprietor of thePennypack Mills, and was 
well and favorably known for his ujn-ightness of 
character and fair dealing with his fellow-men. His 
heart and hand were always open to the demands of 
charity. He died as he had lived, a purely Christian 
gentleman, loved while he lived, and by all who knew 
him mourned in death. He was the father of a highly- 
respected family, who are following closely in the path 
of Christian duty marked out by their honored sire. 





^^ J(. <M^yU<m2^(^ 



THE H.^r.LOWELL FAMILY. 

The Hallowell family was among the pi<nicer set- 
tlers along the Pennypack Valley, locating at what 
is now known as the Pennypack Mills, .Vbington town- 
ship, in the early part of the last century. At that 
place was born, in 1777, Israel Hallowell, lather of 
Jonas W., of Huntingdon Valley; John J. and W. 
Jarrett, of Pennypack Mills, also of the late Israel 
Hallowell, Jr. Mr. Hallowell, Sr., grew to manhood 
on the old homestead, became the owner of the mills. 
and lived, until within a few years of his death, in the 
hfmse where he was born. A few years ])rior to his 
death he removed to the dwelling now occupied by 



He was all his life a member of Abington Friends' 
Meeting, and during the latter part of his life an 
elder in that society. 

JOS.\S W. HALLOWELL. 

Jonas W. Hallowell, son of Israel and Mary Hal- 
lowell, was born at Pennypack Mills, Abington town- 
ship, April 10, 1824. His early life was sjient at the 
old log school-house, on his father's farm, and assisting 
in the merchant mill owned by his father. In 1838 
or 18:59 he was employed one year in the dry-goods 
store of Lippincott & Parry, then one of the old 
business-houses of Philadelphia. In the latter part 





rjOu^ 




2f 



MORELAND TOWNSHIP. 



989 



of 1840 and early part of 1841 he attended the 
academy of Benjamin Hallowell, of Alexandria, Va., 
in all about six mouths. Upon his return from 
school he entered into copartnership with his brother, 
W. Jarrett, in the milling business, in the old 
Pennypack Mill, where he remained till 1860, when 
he located on the farm now owned and occupied by 
him, it being a part of bis father's landed estate. The 
farm is pleasantly located along the creek, in Hunt- 
ingdon Valley, on either side of the Philadelphia, 
Newtown and New York Railroad, the station being 
on the farm, and Bethayres Station, on the North 
Pennsylvania and Bound Brook, being but a half-mile 
distant. 

Positions of honor or trust Mr. Hallowell has never 
sought, yet his neighbors have cnlrustetl him with the 
honors of school director continuously since 1871, 
and the directors and stockholders of the Fox Chase 
and Huntingdon Turnpike Company have imposed 
upon him the burdens of treasurer of that corj)Oration 
since 1871. Religiously, Mr. Hallowell is a Friend, 
not only in name, Ijut in deed, always practicing the 
golden rule in all his business transactions. 

He was married, April 7, 18.59, to Esther L., daughter 
of James and Ann L. Fenton, of Abington township. 
Their children are Israel, born March 31, 1863 ; 
James F., born January 24, 1865 ; John J., Jr., born 
March 2, 1868. 

James Fenton, father of Mrs. Hallowell, was one of 
eight brothers, all of whom lived to old age, none of 
them less than seventy-four years, and none over 
eighty years of age, and James at the age of seventy- 
eight years. He was for a number of years one of 
the directors of the Fox Chase Turnpike Company, 
and was prominently identified witb other enterprises 
of the vicinity in which he lived, and highly respected 
and loved by all who came in contact with him in a 
business capacity, and was a member of Abington 
Monthly Meeting, Society of Friends. He owned the 
two farms now occupied by his two sons, Ephraim 
and William, at what is known as Fenton Station, on 
the Philadelphia and Newtown Railroad. 

'Sirs. Hallowell's grandfather, Anthony Livsey, was 
a resident of the locality known as Fox Chase, and 
owned the fiirm now owned and occupied by George 
Rhawn. Her grandmother's maiden-name was Esther 
Bailey. 

ISRAEL HALLOWELL. 

Israel Hallowell was a native of Abington township 
and the son of Israel and Mary Hallowell, and was 
born Second Month 18, 1819, on the old Hallowell 
homestead, at Pennypack Mills. His earlier years 
were spent at home on his father's farm and as an 
assistant in his fiither's merchant mill, now owned by 
W. Jarrett Hallowell. His education was derived 
from the common schools, or, rather, what was known 
at that time as " pay-school." After arriving at a 
suitable age he was sent to Benjamin Hallowell's 
academy at Alexandria, Va. He then entered into 



partnership with his brother, W. Jarrett, in the mill- 
ing business, at the old Pennypack Mills, where 
he remained till about 1848, when he sold his 
interest in the mill to his brother, and devoted his 
entire time to the management and cultivation of the 
I farm in Moreland township (now occupied by his 
widow, Rebecca, and son, Henry W.) until 185.5, when 
he became afflicted with the loss of his eyesight, which 
incapacitated him for the labors of the farm. He 
died I^ourth Month 16, 1862, in the forty-third year 
of his age. While in active life Mr. Hallowell was, 
in all his dealings with his fellow-men, strictly honor- 
able, and was highly respected by all who knew him. 
In him the poor of the community lost a friend on 
whom they could .always rely in their sorest times of 
need. He was truly a good man, and suffered his 
affliction with Christian fortitude and patience, with- 
out a murmur of complaint. He was a birthright 
member of the Society of Friends. He was married, 
Fifth Month 19, 1842, to Rebecca, daughter of An- 
thony and Elizabeth Williams, of Cheltenham town- 
ship. Rebecca Hallowell was born Third Month 6, 
1822, and is still living on the old homestead. They 
were the parents of two children, Mary Anna and 
Henry W. Henry W. married, October 11, 1871, 
Margaret T., daughter of John and Caroline Thomson. 
He still resides on and manages the homestead farm, 
upon which he was born. 



.SIMOX V. LEFFERT.S. 

Simon V. LefTerts, one of the prominent agricultu- 
ralists of Moreland township, is a descendant of one 
of the pioneer families who located on what is now 
Long Island, N. Y., over two centuries ago, as will be 
seen by the following brief genealogical sketch : 

I. Lefl'erts Pieterson, a native of the village of 
Haughwort, located one and a half hours north of 
Hoorne, in the province of North Holland, emigrated 
to this country in 1660. With him, came a congrega- 
tion of about two hundred souls, of whom forty were 
members of the church of the Reformed religion. 
LefTerts settled in Jlidwout, or what is now Flatbush, 
Long Island, N. Y., where he died December 8, 1704. 
His wife was Abigail, daughter of Auk Jans Van 
Nuyse. She bore him thirteen children, and .died at 
the advanced age of ninety-five years. Of the chil- 
dren, six were sons, and seven daughters. The aggre- 
gate age of five of the sons was four hundred and 
ninety-six years. One of the brothers married at the 
good old age of one hundred years, and lived six 
years after, in perfect health. 

II. The third child of LefTerts and Abigail was 
Pieter LefTerts, from whence sprang the LefTerts family 
of Moreland township. Pieter was born May 18, 
1680, in Flatbush, L. I., and died March 13. 1774. 
His wife was Ida, daughter of Hendrick Suydam, of 
Flatbush. She died September 25, 1777. Her six 
sisters were aged, respectively, seventy-nine, seventy- 
five, seventy -three, sixty-eight, sixty-four and sixty- 



990 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



three. Pieter was an elder in the Reformed Church 
in 1752, and jirobably to the day of his death. 

III. The next in direct line to Simon V. wa.s Lef- 
fert Lefferts, the date of whose birth ia not on record, 
but who died jirobably soon after October 6, 1778, the 
date of hit* will. His wife was Antic, daughter of 
Art Vanderbilt, of Flatbush, a farmer by occu|)ation. 
In 1738, Lert'ert Lefferts, in company with others, 
visited Bucks County, Pa., on a prospecting tour, and 
in 17-39, Leffert purchased a tract of four hundred 
acres of land in Northampton township, Bucks Co. 
This was a part of the six hundred and thirty-one acre 
tract granted by William Penn to Edmund Pen- 



V. John Leflerts (father of Simon V.) was born 
March 14, 1784, and on December 23, 1804, married 
Helena, daughter of Eev. Jonathan Du Bois. John 
purcliased forty acres of the old homestead on the 
County-Line road in Bucks County, formerly owned by 
his father, to which he subsequently added one hun- 
dred acres. In 1843, he purchased the Hoagland 
farm, in Moreland townshij), Montgomery Co., con- 
taining one hundred and forty-seven acres, the prop- 
erty now owned and occupied by his son Simon V. 

Mr. Lefferts was prominently identified with all 
progressive movements in his township, and especially 
in church matters, in which he was for many years 





^^^/^?^/^ 




nington, father of William Pennington. Leffert was 
the father of children,— Peter ; Ida; Art, Aares or 
Arthur, baptized December 11, 1742, in Bucks County, 
Pa.; Leffert, baptized December 25, 1744; Jane, bap- 
tized October 15, 1752; Abraham, baptized March 17, 
1754; Cynthia or Sytie, baptized July 18, 1756; Jaco- 
bus or James, baptized August 24, 1760. 

IV. Abraham, next in line, was born February 17, 
1754, and died January 8, 1819. About 1783, he mar- 
ried Alice Vanarsdale. He owned and occupied a 
farm of one hundred and fifteen acres, in Southamp- 
ton township, Bucks Co., Pa. His children were 
John, Alice, Simon, Abraham, James and Ann. 



one of its office-bearers. He organized, and for seve- 
ral years superintended, the pioneer Sunday-school of 
this section. The school was for some time conducted 
in his carriage-house, there being at the time no other 
convenient or suitable place for its sessions. He waa 
also interested in the political affairs of the country, 
and when the dark and threatening clouds of dis- 
loyalty and secession burst forth in all their hellish 
fury, he had full confidence in the ability of the then 
new administration to sustain the laws of the country 
and the perpetuity of the Union, and for some time 
breasted the storm of opposition around him, and was 
the first man in his immediate neighborhood to lend 



MORELAND TOWNSHIP. 



991 



a helping hand to the Union cause, by loans of 
money, and in the darkest days of the slave-holders' 
abortive attempt at the destruction of this beautiful 
national fabric, his hopes of its salvation seemed 
brightest. 

He was a man of wonderlul energy and will-power, 
fearless to all dangej^, and never seemed to realize 
that there was such a word as "failure." An instance 
or two will show more fully his character. When he 
was but four years of age, his father was building a 
new barn, and one day, when nearly completed, the 
family and workmen being at dinner, young Lefferts 
found his way to the baru, and climbed up the ladder 
to the peak of the roof, on which he was quietly sit- 
ting when discovered by one of the workmen, and 
removed from his perilous position. 

In the winter of 1S45, his barn and a portion of his 
stock was destroyed by fire. Upon the first alarm, 
without waiting to dress for such an occasion, he has- 
tened to the rescue of his horses and cattle, and de- 
spite the earnest entreaties of neighbors and friends, 
remained in a semi-nude condition in his fruitless 
effort to rescue his stock, until the frozen flesh fell 
from his feet, when for three mouths after, he was 
unable to walk. 

While yet at the age of ninety-five years, he enjoyed 
good health, labored with his men, and attended to 
his financial affairs as in years gone by. He was 
loved and revered in life and mourned in death. He 
died December 21, 1879, aged ninety-five years, nine 
months and eight days. 

VI. Simon V. Lefferts, son of .John of the fifth 
generation, was born September 28, 1818. He was 
married, February Id, 1843, to Jliss Susanna D., 
daughter of Abraham and Mary States (sometimes 
written Staats or Staates). She was born December 
23, 1823. In 1844, Mr. Lefferts moved on to the old 
Hoagland farm, in Moreland township, where he now 
(1S85) resides. He has always been actively engaged 
in church matters, esjjecially in the church of which 
he is a member. He organized the Poplar Grove 
Sunday-school, and for twenty years was its superin- 
tendent. He has taken an active part in several in- 
corporated companies, and at one time was president 
of four companies, and for twenty-five years an offi- 
cer in the Somerton and Bustlcton Turnpike Com- 
pany. Politically, he is an enthusiastic Republican, 
and when the hydra-headed serpent of secession 
vomited forth its slimy and filthy pretensions to a 
place among the nations of the earth, his voice, pen 
and purse championed the cause of the Uniou, and 
many of the lyceums throughout this section of coun- 
try resounded from 18(il to the laying down of the 
last rebel musket, with his voice for the suppression 
of one of the greatest curses of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, — secession. Although an ardent Republican, he 
is just as strong a temperance man, and has never 
tasted anything that would intoxicate. He was the 
first farmer in the township to gather large harvests 



without the n.se of intoxicants. His views on the 
tobacco question are equally as strong, he having never 
used it in any form. 

In his younger days, he was fond of the sports of 
the season, among which was that of catching wild 
pigeons with a net, and it is to his credit that he 
sprang the net on the last flock of pigeons ever caught 
in Montgomery County. 

VII. His children are John, born May 21, 1844; 
Mary Ann, born July 8, 1850. John studied law 
with John Goforth, of Philadelphia, and graduated 
Ajiril 14, 1807, and is now (1885) in practice in Phila- 
delphia. He is also an elder in the Presbyterian 
Church, corner of Seventh and Brown Streets. He 
married Miss Helen C, daughter of Dr. Samuel and 
Helen C. Rich. Their children are Walter and 
Helen Lefterts. 

Mary Ann was married, December 28, 1876, to 
Henry L. Search, who was born September 18, 1846. 
Their children are Susanna L., born February 26, 
1878; Theodore C, born October 3, 1884. 

Abraham States, the father of Mrs. Simon V. Lef- 
ferts, was born in 1791, and died in 1854. His wife 
was Mary, daughter of Joseph and Mary Franklin. 
Mrs. Lefferts' grandfather was James States, of Bucks 
County, Pa., who owned a farm of one hundred acres. 
This farm was in the States family for over one hun- 
dred years. Jacob Rhodes, her maternal great- 
grandfather, was a native of Germany, emigrated 
to America, and located near Somerton. 



.JOHN LLOYD. 

.lohn Lloyd, son of Benjamin Lloyd, was for many 
years one of the prominent citizens of Moreland town- 
ship, near what is now the borough of Hatboro'. He 
was born, and lived all his life upon the farm now occu- 
pied by John Lloyd, .Tr., and died in July, 1877, in 
the eighty-second year of his age. He was an earnest 
and persistent friend of education and all its varied 
interests, and upon the adoption of the present school 
law by the people, he was made one of the school di- 
rectors of the town.^hip, a position he held for many 
years. He was a friend of the friendless, kind to the 
poor, honorable in all his business transactions with 
his fellow-men, honored and respected while he lived, 
and his loss severely felt when gone to his eternal 
rest, to receive the reward awaiting the righteous. His 
was truly a life of jjurity and love, and he died as he 
had lived, firm in the faith of his fathers, as ex- 
pressed in the doctrines laid down by the Society 
of Friends, of which he wasa member, his name being 
enrolled on the books of the Horsham Monthly Meet- 
ing. 

His wife was Sidnea, daughter of Joshua Paul. 
Their children were Lydia Ann, deceased, whose hus- 
band was Jarrett W. Hallowell; Hannah S., married 
Joseph W. Hallowell ; Ellen, married Charles H. Lu- 



992 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



kens; Joshua P., name changed by Act of State 
Legislature to Joseph Paul ; Sarah C, deceased, whose 
husband was Israel H. Mather; Emma, deceased, 
whose husband was Jonathan P. Iredell ; John, mar- 
ried Anna Williams, and now lives on the old home- 
stead. 



the latter formerly a tilt-mill. A rugged eleva- 
tion extends across the entire width of the northeast 
portion, called Deep Creek Hill. 

The name of this township has been derived from 
Hanover, a capital and kingdom in Germany, which 
in 1(J92 was raised to an electorate and in 1814 to a 




CHAPTER LXV. 
NEW HANOVER TOWNSHIP. 

The township of New Hanover is bounded on the 
northeast by Upper Hanover, south by Limerick, 
east by Frederick, nortli and northwest by Douglas 
and southwest by Pottsgrove. It is six and three- 
fourths miles long, its greatest breadth three and one- 
half miles, with an area of twelve thousand nine hun- 
dred and sixty acres, or twenty and one-quarter square 
miles, being the fourth in size in the county. The 
surface is rolling and the soil is tolerably productive, 
being composed of loam and red shale. Swamp Creek 
flows nearly through its central part, having several 
branches, and Deep Creek through its eastern comer. 
The former propels four grist and three saw-mills, and 



kingdom. Many of the early Lutheran settlers were 
natives of this kingdom, which largely accounts for 
the name given. Another name also applied to this 
locality is " Falkner's Swamp," it is supposed after 
Daniel Falkner, one of the agents or attorneys of the 
Frankfort Land Company. In the purchase made by 
George McCall, in 1735, of the present Douglas town- 
ship and nearly one half of Pottsgrove, mention is 
made that it was bounded on the south by " The Ger- 
mans' Tract of Land," meaning at least all of the 
present territory of New Hanover. In 1734 we know 
that Hanover township comprised all of the pres- 
ent townships of New Hanover, Upper Hanover, 
Douglas and Pottsgrove and borough of Pottstown. 
In 1741 it was divided into the first three townships, 
which then contained together two hundred and forty- 



NEW HANOVER TOWNSHIP. 



993 



two taxables and one hundred and thirteen land- 
holders. 

The following is a list of the earliest land-holders : 
John Benner, 100 acres ; Daniel Shaner, 100 ; 
Mathias Bender, 100 ; Frederick Richard, 150 ; An- 
drew Kepler, 100 ; John Eshbaugh, 100 ; Nicholas 
Brown, 100 ; Jacob High, 100 ; Malachi High, 100; 
Samuel Musselman, 50 ; Jacob Bechtal, 200 ; Mathias 
Ohristmau, 100; John Linderman, 100 ; Garret De- 
wees, 100 ; Cornelius Dewees, 24; John Lewis, 95 ; 
Henry Coulston, 100 ; John Henry 8progle, 556 ; 
George Custer, 100 ; Peter Lower, 100 ; Ludwich Bit- 
ting, 150; Balsar Hutt, 100; Jacob Wisler, 150; 
_Henry Reader, 150 ; Robert Thomas, 300 ; George 
Roudeblisli, 150; Frederick Hillegas, 150; Daniel 
Borleman, 100 ; Michael Shell, 150 ; Conrad Gulp, 
150; Jacob Myer, Jr., 100; Jacob Heistand, 150; 
Rudolph Mourer, 100 ; Jacob Fisher, 100 ; Jacob 
Mourer, 150 ; George Geiger, 50 ; Valentine Geiger, 
100 ; Philip Knecht, 50 ; AdamHarmau, 100 ; Mathias 
Harman, 100; Adam Spangler, 50; Peter Conrad, 
100 ; Michael Smith, .50 ; Jacob Switzer, 10 ; Philip 
Brant, 100 ; Henry Antes, 150 ; Adam Ox, 110 ; Henry 
Bitting, 100 ; Jacob Myor, 100 ; Simon KreiSi, 100 ; 
Henry Kreps, 100 ; Yost Fryer, 100 ; Barnabas Fut- 
tero, 100 ; Jacob Fry, 100 ; Sebastian Reifsnyder, 100 ; 
John Snyder, 150 ; John George, 100 ; Anthony 
Hinkle, 100 ; Henry Acker, 50. Jacob and John 
Heistand arrived in 1727, and Henry, Philip and Jacob 
Acker in 1732. Jacob Heistand purchased here, some 
time before 1733, one hundred and fifty acres, and 
Henry Acker, fifty acres. 

Henry Antes came from Germany to this country 
prior to 1726, and first settled in Philadelphia, and a 
few years after removed to New Hanover. He was a 
very useful and ingenious man, and built the first 
grist-mill at Bethlehem in 1743, and between 1745 and 
1750 had the direction of the public improvements 
there. He died in this township in 1755. Frederick 
Antes, his son, was born in 1730. He was an iron- 
founder, and cast the first four-pound guns for the 
Revolutionary army. He was one of the memljers 
elected in the county to frame the new Constitution 
of Pennsylvania, which was adopted September 28, 
1776. It is said a sense of danger from the British 
induced him to leave New Hanover and to remove to 
Northumberland. In 1781 he became the presiding 
judge of that county, and in 1784 a member of As- 
sembly. He followed the business of gunsmithing, 
and Dr. Priestly, in his "Memoirs," speaksof the great 
aid he received from him in making his philosophical 
instruments. He died at Lancaster September 20, 
1801. His daughter Catharine was the second wife 
of Governor Simon Snyder. 

The taxables in 1741 were 87 ; in 1828, 323 ; in 1858, 

442; in 1875, 446 ; in 1884, 471. The population in 

1800 was 1595 ; in 1830, 1344; iu 1850, 1635 ; in 1870, 

1900 ; and in 1880, 1905. 

The villages in New Hanover are Swamp (the town- 

63 



ship seat), Fagleysville, New Hanover Square and 
Pleasant Run. The village of New Hanover, better 
known as the Swamp or Swamp Churches, is situated 
sixteen miles from Norristown, and in 1832, Gordon, 
in his " Gazetteer," says it contained two churches, a 
post-office, tannery, two taverns, two stores and eight 
dwellings. The post-office was established before 
1827, under the title of " Swamp Churches," which 
was changed a few- years after to its present name of 
New Hanover. This is quite an old settlement. Nich- 
olas Scull mentions here, in 1758, " The Lutheran 
Dutch" and the "Dutch Church," and "Yelyer's 
Mill," where is now Christman's grist and saw-mill, 
a mile northeast of the village. 

Fagleysville, on the turnpike, two miles south of 
New Hanover, appears also to be an ancient settle- 
ment, Scull mentioning an inn here, in 1758, called 
"The Rose." 

The importance attached by the early German set- 
tlers of attending to the education of their children is 
shown by the fact that schools, under the support and 
control of the various religious denominations, were 
established shortly after this portion of country was 
settled. As early as 1755 schools at Falkner Schwezny 
in New Hanover, received by charity from the Fath- 
ers and Overseers of the Reformed Church in Hol- 
land, Germany and Switzerland the sum of £35 15s., 
which was followed by other contributions till 1770. 
In 1760 there were forty-five boys in the school at 
New Hanover. The fact that no mention is made of 
girls being in attendance upon these schools strongly 
suggests that the custom of educating the boys and 
not the girls prevailed at this early time. The custom 
wa-s incident to the laws of primogeniture, which were 
abrogated in this country in 1682, but the eflects were 
still felt in these old communities. 

The present public-school system was accepted by 
the township about the year 1750. There are eleven 
schools in the township, including the independent 
districts of Swamp and Fagleysville. The former has 
a term of eight months, giving a salary of forty dollars 
per month, and the latter a term of seven months, 
with the same salary. The regular school term is five 
months, nine teachers being employed, at a salary of 
thirty dollars per month. The entire absence of fe- 
male teachers in the township, with but one excep- 
tion, would appear that the prejudice formerly so 
marked against the employment of ladies as teachers 
is not entirely removed. 

The New Hanover Lutheran is the oldest German 
Lutheran congregation in America. Its first pastor 
was Justus Falkner, who came here in 1703, having 
been ordained and sent by Andreas Rudman, the 
Swedish jMOvost at Philadelphia. In 1717, Rev. Ger- 
hard Henkel settled here and many of his descendants 
are still in this neighborhood. From 1720 to 1723 
this church was frequently visited by Rev. Samuel 
Hesselius, Swedish pastor at Morlatton. In 1732 Rev. 
John Christian Schulze took this charge, and he in 



994 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



turn was succeeded by Rev- John Caspar Stoever. The 
Rev. Henry M. Muhlenberg arrived in Philadelpliia 
from Germany November 25, 1742, and only three days 
afterward preached here his first sermon in Pennsyl- 
vania, from 2 Corinthians v. 20. He then found about 
one hundred communicants, who worshiped in a log 
church. At his first arrival in New Hanover, there 
was considerable opposition to his reception in conse- 
quence of self-constituted preachers, but the power of 
his eloquence overcame all and unity prevailed. In 
1767 the congregation built a new and spacious stone 
church, which is still standing. In October, 1761, 
Mr. Muhlenberg left the congregations of New Han- 
over and the Trappe, and moved to Philadelphia, but 
returned in 1776. In his journal of October 7, 1777, 
he says, — 

*' I was iuformed that a unmber of Americans wounded in tlie battle 
last Saturday (October 4, at Germantown) were put in our Lutheran 
Church, at New Hanover, to be treated by the surgeons. October 9, Mr. 
Steril came to-day in the rain from New Hanover, and informs me that 
the surgeons are cutting off shattered arms and legs of the wounded 
soldiers there, and that three had died last night of their wounds. Those 
that could bear transportation were to be taken up to Reading, and the 
balance of the sick and wounded to be distributed among the neiglibor- 
ing houses." 

The present pastor is Rev. L. Groh who lives at 
Boyertown, Berks County, and ofiiciates at St. John's 
Church, Boyertown, in connection with the New 
Hanover Lutheran or "Swamp." 

From the best information at hand, the first Re- 
formed Church in New Hanover was built in 1720. 
Its first pastor was John Philip Boehni, succeeded by 
Michael Schlatter, in 1746. From 1784 to 1799, John 
>'^hilip Leydich, Nicholas Pomp and Frederick Del- 
lecker officiated, and they, in 1800, were succeeded by 
Dr. L. Frederick Herman, who died in 1848. This 
congregation also worshiped at first in a log building 
which stood till 1790, when they erected a fine brick 
church, which was remodeled in 1869 and is now one 
of the finest churches in the vicinity. Its present 
pastor is the Rev. L. J. Mayer, who came here in 
1866. There is connected with both this and the 
German Lutheran Church large burial-grounds, which 
are attended to with evident care and kept in excel- 
lent condition. 

The following report will show that the early in- 
habitants of New Hanover were not unmindful of 
their duty to the poor: 

" March 3U, 1741, Bornhart Dotterer and Jacob Freyer settled the ac- 
counts of Dilmun Zeiglcr and Samuel Yerger, overseers of the poor : 

£ •. d. 

'* Money by them collected 12 1 2 

£ «. d. 

Disbui-sed 7 12 

By loss 14 n 

s r, 

£3 15 2 
For collecting 15 2 

Balance due £S 

"To be delivered to the ovelijeers, tieorge George and Simon OBps, for 
the year 1740." 



This praiseworthy act was continued, as the books 
show, until the year 1807. 

The following may interest the reader: 

"The overseers of the poor are ordered, by a number of the inhabitants 
of New Hanover, to furnish Frantz Epple with a linsey jacket, a pair of 
tow trousers, a new shirt, a pair of new stockings, a pair of new shoes 
and a linsey underjacket. 

"Signed by order of the inhabitants, 

".ToHN RiCHARns. 

"John Brooke. 
" Be.vj. Markley. 

" Cassimer Missimer. 
"Anurew Smith. 
"March 20, 1784." 

By an act of the Legislature, passed September 1.", 
1785, the freemen of the townships of Limerick, New 
Hanover, Douglas, Upper Hanover, Marlborough 
and Upper Salford were to hold their elections at the 
tavern of Michael Creps, in New Hanover. This 
remained in force till 1807, after which the elections 
only of Douglas and this township were continued at 
the same place, now known as New Hanover Square. 
This township became a sepaiate election district by 
making Douglas township a separate election dis- 
trict by act of Assembly, approved April 16, 1827. 

By the assessment of 1785, the first made under the 
officials of Montgomery County, there were in the 
township four taverns, five grist-mills, two saw-mills, 
three tanneries and one slave. 

"Montgomery County, SS. 

"A tax of three shillings and sixpence in every hundred pouTids (and • 
from ^ to ten sliillings per head on all single freemen), laid on the 
Estates, real and pereoual, of the Freeholders and Inhabitants within 
New Hanover Township, for defraying the expenses of the public Build- 
ings and other Expenses of said County. Given under our Hands this 
20th day of March, 1792. 

" Nathan Potts, -, 

"John Mann, >Co>mnissi'mers.^' 

"CoNEAn BOYER, i 

Under the assessment of 1792, two hundred and 
sixty-one laud-holders were assessed to the aggregate 
amount of £75 18s. 7rf. 

The following is a list of the single men taxed ac- 
cording to this order in the said township: Philip 
Yerger, Henry Smith, Tobias Yerger, Jacob Dachen- 
bach, John Liebengood, John Erney, Henry Gilbert, 
Frederick Hartman, Jacob Malsberger, Joseph Walk- 
er, John Ruth, Isaac Bingeman, Michael Feadly, 
Henry Egolf, Adam Egolf, John Reifsnyder, Abra- 
ham Dotterer, John Lick, George Gousenger, John 
Loch, Christian Fryer, Adam Bartman, Andrew 
Hank, Philip Haun, Lewis Linsebegler, Michael 
Hoph, John Rusher, Johanas Reifsnyder, John 
Looch, Jacob Stalpt and Jacob Achey. 

The following exhibit from the mercantile apprai- 
ser's list of 1884 shows the business advancement of 
this township: F. Brendlinger, dry-goods; I. Christ- 
man, flour and feed; N. G. Drace, merchandise; 
Jonathan Erb, butcher; Elias Fagley, merchandise; 
Charles Fox, merchandise; Good-Will Grangers, Pa- 
trons of Husbandry, merchandise; W. B. Groft", mer- 
chandise; Solomon Hoflhian, butcher; John Hoti- 
man, butcher; John Kehl, feed; and live stock; 



NEW HANOVER TOWNSHIP. 



095 



Washington Leidy, livestoek; J. Lenhart, flour and 
feed; Aug. Schafter, flour, feed; Henry Schneider, 
leather; C. Weyant, merchandise; J. 31. H. Walter, 
Hour, feed; Weyant & Co., live stock; George Weand, 
live stock; Henry Zern, butcher. 

The present number of tasables is 471 ; value of 
improved lands, S848,051 ; value of unimproved lands, 
.'f35,.'?00; value of 461 horses, $36,263; value of 1200 
cattle, $36,284; total value of all property taxable for 
county purposes, $988,228. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



JOHN FREDERICK HARTRANFT.l 

.John Frederick Hartranft, who was one of the 
most prominQBt generals in the Union army in the 
great war of the Rebellion, afterwards Governor of 
Pennsylvania, and is now collector of the port of ! 
Philadelphia and major general commanding the 
National Guard of the State, is a native of Mont- 
gomery County, born on the 16th of December, 1830, 
in New Hanover township, which was then the home 
of his parents, Samuel E. and Lydia (Bucher) Hart- 
ranft. In 1844 they removed from New Hanover, and 
took up their permanent residence in Norristown, 
where, for several years following that time,their son, 
.Tohn F., attended the Treemount Seminary, then 
under charge of the Rev. Samuel Aaron. Afterwards 
he passed freshman year at Marshall College, Mer- 1 
cersburg. Pa., and iu the twentieth year of his age ^ 
entered Union College (Schenectady, N. Y.), where he 
was graduated iu 1863. 

After leaving college his first employment was as 
an assistant engineer on a preliminary survey of the 
line of a proposed railroad from Chestnut Hill, via 
Doylestown, to New Hope, and also of the route be- 
tween Mauch Chunk and White Haven. In the 
following year Michael C. Boyer, sheriff of Mont- 
gomery County, appointed him a deputy, which of- 
fice he continued to fill under Mr. Boyer and his 
successor. Sheriff Rudy, until 1859. During his last 
term as deputy sheriff he commenced the study of the 
law, and was admitted to practice October 4, 1860. 

Prior to the commencement of his law studies he 
had joined the military company called the Norris 
City Rifles, of which lie was afterwards successively 
elected lieutenant and captain, from which latter 
grade he was promoted, by election, to the colonelcy 
of the Fourth Regiment of Pennsylvania militia in 
the spring of 1859. Two years later, when the war of 
the Rebellion had been opened by the attack on Fort 
Sumter, and President Lincoln called for seventy-five 
thousand troops to sujiport the government, Colonel 
Hartranft promptly offered the services of his regi- 



1 For portrait of General Hartranft, aee page 196. 



ment, which were as promptly accepted by Governor 
Curtin. The President's call had been made on the 
15th of April, 1861 ; on the 16th, Colonel Hartranft 
reported to the Governor at Harrisburg ; on the 20th 
the seven Montgomery County companies forming the 
Fourth Regiment left for the rendezvous at Harris- 
burg, and two days later the regiment was on its way, 
via Perryville and Annapolis, to Washington, D. C, 
where it arrived May 8th, and remained until the 24th 
of June, when it crossed the Potomac into Virginia. 

The Fourth had been mustered into the service for 
three months, and during that time no collision with 
the enemy had occurred ; but on the day of the expi- 
ration of the term an order was issued for a general 
advance of the army, which resulted in the battle of 
Bull Run. On the day of the advance to that field 
of disaster the regiment was ordered to the rear for 
muster out, but there were a few of its members who 
preferred to go to the front, though not compelled to 
do so. Among these wasColonel Hartranft, who offered 
his services, and was accepted as a volunteer aid on the 
staff of Colonel W. B. Franklin. He passed safely 
through the battle, though he performed services for 
which he was afterwards mentioned in complimentary 
terms in Colonel Franklin's report of the action. 

Atthe close of the Bull Run campaign Colonel Hart- 
ranft returned home, and, under authority which he 
had asked while the Fourth was yet in the field, com- 
menced the raising of a regiment for the three years' 
service. The story of his gallantry at Bull Run had 
given him great popularity, which rendered the rais- 
ing of the new regiment a comparatively easy task. 
On its completion it was designated as the Fifty-first 
of the Pennsylvania line, and was assigned to the 
command of General A. E. Burnside at Annapolis, 
JId., to form part of an expedition to be led by that 
general against the enemy's forces and strongholds 
in North Carolina. 

The expedition sailed from Annapolis on the 9th 
of January, 1862, and after a long and stormy pas- 
sage passed Hatteras Inlet, and entered Pamlico 
Sound. On the 7th of February occurred the battle 
and victory of Roauoke Island, in which Colonel 
Hartranft and his regiment participated with con- 
spicuous gallantry. Again, on the 14th of March, it 
formed a part of the column that assaulted and car- 
ried the strong works at Newbern. In August fol- 
lowing, the regiment, with the other commands of 
Burnside's army, moved, by water transportation, from 
North Carolina to the Potomac River, and, disembark- 
ing, marched into Virginia to the relief of General 
Pope, who was then hard pressed by the enemy. In 
that campaign Colonel Hartranft and his regiment 
took part in the engagements of Second Bull Run 
and Chantilly. 

Crossing the Potomac with the army, they were 
engaged in the battle of South Mountain, where 
General'Reno was killed, and again, on the 17th of 
September, fought in the great battle of Antietam 



996 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



where, in the heat of the conflict, the Fifty-first was 
ordered to cross the stone bridge on the extreme left 
of the Union line, which was held hy the enemy and 
commanded by his guns. The order was promptly 
obeyed and the bridge was carried, Colonel Hartranft 
leading his command across in the face of a terrific 
fire from the enfilading batteries. In General Burn- 
side's report of that battle he paid a high compli- 
ment to the gallantry and other soldierly qualities of 
Colonel Hartranft, and recommended him for promo- 
tion to the grade of brigadier General. 

A more minute account of the services of the Fifty- 
first and its commanding officer, Colonel Hartranft, 
from their first gallant fight at Roanoke Island to 
their crossing of the historic stone bridge at Antietam, 
as also of the part they took in the bloody storming 
of the Heights of Fredericksburg, on the 13th of 
December, 18(32, will be found on pages 20-1 to 208 
of this history. 

In April, 1863, Colonel Hartranft and his regiment, 
with others forming the Ninth Corps, moved from New- 
portNews, Va., by river and rail to Kentucky, whence, 
after a few weeks of active service, they were trans- 
ported to Mississippi, taking part in the fight at 
Jackson, on the 12th of July, and in the occupation 
of that city, on the 18th. From Mississippi the com- 
mand then moved back to Kentucky, where Colonel 
Hartranft was prostrated by illness, and remained for 
some time unable to do duty. On his recovery he 
rejoined the regiment at Lenoir, East Tennessee, 
where he was placed in command of the Second Divi- 
sion of the Ninth Corps, and immediately afterwards 
fought the battle of Campbell's Station, from which 
he retired to Knoxville, where, largely on account of 
the engineering skill which he displayed in the forti- 
fying of the place, it was successfully held until the 
siege was raised by the approach of General Sher- 
man's troop.s from Chattanooga. 

Early in January, 1864, the regiment re-enlisited, 
and, receiving the veteran ftirlough, returned home to 
recruit. On their arrival, Benjamin E. Chain, Esq., 
in an address of welcome delivered on behalf of the 
citizens of Norristown, said : " It is to you, Colonel 
Hartranft, that the regiment owes the character it 
bears. Your discipline in the camp, your foresight on 
the march, your coolness, bravery and judgment on 
the battle-field have won the confidence and love 
of your men, and made them heroes in the fight. 
They knew you never ordered when you did not 
lead." 

At the expiration of the veteran furlough the regi- 
ment (having received a large number of recruits) 
proceeded to Annapolis, Md., where, in the absence of 
General Burnside, the entire corps, numbering twenty 
thousand men, was for the time placed under the com- 
mand of Colonel Hartranft, to whom all new regi- 
ments were ordered to report, and to whom was com- 
mitted the supervision of the work of organization 
and equipment. In the Wilderness campaign, which 



followed (the Ninth Corps having in the mean time 
joined the Army of the Potomac on the Kapidan), he 
commanded a brigade, with the proper rank of brig- 
adier-general, to which he had long been entitled, he 
having received that promotion nearly two years after 
it had been urged by General Burnside in recognition 
for his gallant service at Antietam. 

In the engagements at Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, 
Poplar Springs, Hatcher's Run, Weldon Railroad, 
Ream's Station and the mine explosion. General 
Hartranft and his brigade fought gallantly and well. 
But the action in which he won his highest renown 
was the recapture of Fort Steadman, before Peters- 
burg. On the morning of March 25, 1865, in the 
darkness just preceding the dawn, the Confederates 
assaulted the fort suddenly, and with such impetuosity 
that in a few minutes they had carried the work, tak- 
ing a large number of prisoners. About a mile away 
was the headquarters of General Hartranft, who was 
then in command of the Third Division of the Ninth 
Corps, composed largely of raw troops. At a little before 
four o'clock the general was awakened by the noise 
of the Confederate assault, and, immediately learning 
that the fort had been taken, he formed his division 
to resist a further advance of the enemy. Having 
done this, he soon received orders from General Parke 
(then temporarily in command of the army) to sus- 
pend the attack until the arrival of the Fifth Corps. 
Notwithstanding this countermand of his orders, feel- 
ing confident of his ability to retake the work without 
reinforcement by the Fifth Corps, he determined to 
make the attempt, and moved quickly on, with only 
his own and the First Division, himself leading the 
assault. The Confederates, though surprised, made a 
most obstinate resistance, but were driven back with 
heavy loss, and the work was retaken, with about three 
thousand prisoners. 

It was a complete victory, and acknowledged to be 
one of the most brilliant achievements of the Peters- 
burg siege. General Hartranft's services on this oc- 
casion were promptly recognized by his jjromotion to 
the brevet rank of major general, as nominated by 
Lieutenant-General Grant, on recommendation by 
Generals Meads and Parke. The following official 
communications show the action taken in the mat- 
ter. 

" Headquarters Army of the I'otomac. 

" March 27, 1S65. 
"To IVIajor-Generiil J, G. Parke, coniniamling Ninth ,\nii.v ('oll)s: 

"Generai. — Tlie commanding general directs me to acknowledge the 
leceipt of your letter of this date, recommending lirigadier-General 
Hartranft, United States Volunteers, for the hrevet of major-general 
of volunteers for his conspicuous gallantry in re-ca|ituring Fort 
Steadman during the action of the 2oth instant, a* well as for 
his industry and efficiency in organizing and discijilining his division, 
composed of new regiments. In reply, I am directed to inform 
you that before the receipt of your letter a communication to the same 
effect had been made by the commanding general to liieutenant-General 
Grant, to which a response was received that his nominatiim had been 
made to the Sccretiry of War, and a telegraphic answer returned that 
the appointment should be made. Since then the commanding general 
is informed by telegraph that Brigadier-General Hartranft is breveted 



NEW HANOVER TOWNSHIP. 



99t 



major general, and the appointment has been forwarded by mail. Your 

communication, however, has been forwarded to complete the record. 
" I am, general, verj- respectfully, your obedient servant. 

" George D. Ruugles, A. A. G." 

"Headqu.^rters Ninth Army Corps. 

March 28th, 180.5. 
" Brevet Major-General J. F. Hartranft, commanding Third Division : 

"Gener.vl — The commanding general instructs me to transmit here- 
with a copy of communication from the commanding general of the 
Army of the Potomac, of yesterday's date, which will ex])lain itself. 

He bids me say, however, in connection therewith, that such prompt 
recognition of your services on the 25tli instant by the President, the 
lieutenant general, and major general conmianding the army, affords 
liim the greatest pleasure, and he begs you will accept his hearty con- 
gratulations on your well-deserved promotion. 

"1 am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"P. M. Lyuig Brevet Lieutenant, Colonel and A. A. G." 

On the 2d of April, one week after the recapture of 
Fort Steadman, a general assault was made on the 
inner defenses of Petersburg. In the fighting of that 
day a prominent part was taken by the division of 
General Hartranft, who, at dawn on the 3d, entered 
the city, and passing through it, pursued the retreat- 
ing enemy to Nottoway Court-House. Six days later 
came the closing scene of the war, at Appomattox, and 
soon afterwards General Hartranft was mustered out 
of the volunteer service. The government, wishing 
to retain the services of so able and gallant an officer, 
proffered him the appointment of colonel of the Thirty- 
fourth Infantry of the regular army, but declining 
this, he returned to civil life. 

In 1865 the Republicans of Montgomery County 
urged the claims of General Hartranft for the office of 
auditor-general of Pennsylvania. In the convention 
that assembled at Harrisburg on the 17th of Septem- 
ber in that year, he was unanimously nominated on 
the second ballot, and in the en.suing election he 
received a majority of twenty-two thousand six hun- 
dred and sixty votes. " His long tour of duty in the 
army, and the frequently manifested hostility of hi.s 
original party friends (the Democrats) to the adminis- 
tration charged with the prosecution of the war had 
detached him from them, and yet his prudent reserve 
had not incurred the rancor that often arises when a 
man shifts his political ground. Still the Democracy 
watched his administration of the finances with Argus 
eyes. But the simple honesty of purpose that had 
carried him through the war without reproach en- 
abled him to close his first term with the report that, 
in connection with Governor Geary and the Legisla- 
ture, the State debt had already been reduced several 
millions. . . In 1871 he had filled the post of auditor-gen- 
eral so fiilly to the acceptance of his party that he was 
re-nominated almost by acclamation. It was admitted 
that during his second term he had drawn before the 
light of day some parties who had been evading 
State taxes, and were about to realize large sums 
which belonged to the commonwealth. . . . Although 
there was a relentless clamor raised against him by 
the opposite party, alleging corruption and nearly 
every possible oflense, he was so fully vindicated in 
the judgment of his party as to obtain, on the 9th of 



April, 1872, the gubernatorial nomination on the first 
ballot." 

In the election of 1872, General Hartranft was elected 
Governor of Pennsylvania by an absolute majority 
of thirty-four thousand four hundred and forty-seven, 
and a plurality over his Democratic opponent, Buck- 
alew, of thirty-five thousand six hundred and twenty- 
seven. He was inaugurated January 21, 1873. 
" True to his ancestry, who were pious German refu- 
gees to America for the sake of conscience, the Gov- 
ernor opened and closed his first inaugural, as, in 
fact, all his subsequent papers of the kind, with a rec- 
ognition of the Divine power that rules the world, and 
confessing his dejiendence upon Him for direction and 
success. True also to his generous sympathy with the 
humble, while the pageant to his honor was in prog- 
ress, he stole aside to take by the hand a large num- 
ber of soldiers' orphans, who had gathered at Harris- 
burg on the occasion." 

In 1875, Governor Hartranft was re-elected, and 
was inaugurated on the 18th of January, 1876. Dur- 
ing his second term as Governor (in 1877) the quell- 
ing of the terrible railroad riots in the State (princi- 
pally at Pittsburgh) subjected his executive ability, 
firmness and judgment to the severest test to which 
they had ever been brought in all his military and 
civil career. "This popular commotion found the 
Governor on the way to the Pacific in company with 
some friends. Having, however, eflicient subordi- 
nates in Secretary Quay and Adjutant-General Latta, 
he was able to direct movements immediately on 
being apprised of the outbreak. In ordering out the 
whole military power of the State at once and appeal- 
ing to the Federal Government also for help (the lat- 
ter probably unnecessary), he met the trouble as 
Washington did the Whiskey Insurrection, — fright- 
ened the rioters at the out-start. The result proved 
the wisdom of the measures adopted, and it is worthy 
of remark that after the (xovernor arrived on the 
scene of the disorder scarcely a life was sacrificed 
either on the part of the military or of the people." 

With reference to these outbreaks, and their sup- 
pression, Governor Hartranft, in his next succeeding 
message, said : "Thus ended the great railway strike 
of 1877 in Penn.sylvania, which resulted in violence, 
murder and arson, which caused the death of over 
fifty civilians and five soldiers and the wounding and 
maiming of a hundred or more, and the destruction 
of millions of dollars' worth of property. While it i.s 
true that the workingmen who began it contemplated 
no such terrible results, it cannot be denied that 
the manner in which they proceeded to enforce their 
demand, by stopping inland commerce and seizing 
the property of corporations and individuals, and 
driving citizens from their occupations in defiance of 
law, made the breach through which the lawless ele- 
ments of society poured to plunder and destroy. By 
thus inconsiderately inviting the co-operation of the 
criminal classes, labor did itself a great and grievous 



998 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



injury, and it will be long before it can remove the 
suspicion and distrust with which the people will 
view its strikes and organizations." 

The last term of Governor Hartranft expired on the 
21st of January, 1879. On the 23d of the same month, 
his successor. Governor Henry M. Hoyt, appointed 
him Major-General commanding the Division of the 
National Guard of Pennsylvania. His friends urged on 
President Hayes his appointment to the Berlin Mis- 
sion, as the successor of Bayard Taylor, an office which 
he was eminently qualified to fill, though it was not 
known that he wished it. Political considerations pre- 
vented the selection as desired by his friends, and be 
was tendered the appointment of Postmaster of Phila- 



ISAAC F. YOST 

Philip Yost (or Jost), the great-grandfather of 
Isaac F. Yost, emigrated from Nassau, West Ger- 
many, about the year 1740. He was born in 1718, 
and married Veronica Dotterer, of Limerick town- 
ship, where he afterwards settled. His children were 
three sons — John, Harman and Philip — and several 
daughters. The death of Philip Yost occurred in his 
eighty-seventh year. His son Philip was born Au- 
gust 24, 1757, in Limerick township, and on attaining 
a suitable age learned the trade of a wheelwright. 
He removed in the year 1768, with his father, to the 
farm in Pottsgrove (then New Hanover) township, 
still in possession of the family, and soon after en- 





^^^^ 



delphia, which was promptly confirmed by the Senate, 
and which, after .some hesitation, he accepted. He 
continued in the office until July 1.5, 1880, when he; 
entered upon his duties as Collector of the Port of 
Philadelphia. He was confirmed by the Senate, and 
commissioned for four years, in the following Febru- 
ary. In February, 1885, he was re-appointed, con- 
firmed, and re-commissioned for a second term of four 
years. On the 30th of November, 18S3, he was re- 
appointed by Governor Pattison, Major-General of the 
National Guard, for a term of four years, from the 
expiration of his previous commission, Januarv 23, i 
1884. " I 



^r^^^-^t:^ 



tered the Revolutionary army. On his discharge 
from service and return to his home he married, in 
1783, Rosina Berminger, and had children, — Mary 
Magdalene, wife of Henry Shefley; Tobias; Jacob; 
Benjamin; Salome, wife of Frederick Linderman; 
Elizabeth, wife of Isaac Linderman ; Rosina, -who 
married Jacob Schlichter; Herman; Jonas; Sarah, 
wife of Samuel Gilham; and Philip. After his mar- 
riage Sir. Yost removed to a farm in the present 
Pottsgrove township, where his death occurred on 
the 28th of August, 1832. His son Benjamin was 
born in 1787, in Pottsgrove (formerly New Hanover) 
township, where his death occurred September 30, 



NORRITON TOWNSHIP. 



999 



1858, in his seventy-first year, his life having been 
spent in the occupations of a farmer. He was a man 
of influence in the county, having held the offices of 
county commissioner, county treasurer and register 
of wills. He married Sarah, daughter of Isaac 
Feather, of New Hanover township, and had children, 
— Isaac F., Sarah, Benjamin, Herman, who died in 
youth, and Elizabeth, wife of Frederick Knoll. 
Isaac F. was born on the homestead farm, in Potts- 
grove township, on the 2d of March, 1815, and after 
a conmion-school education engaged in teaching, 
the winter being devoted to this pursuit and the 
summer to farm labor. In 1844 he purchased a farm 
in Pottsgrove township, which he continued to culti- 
vate until 18G9, when Swamp, in New Hanover town- 
ship, became and is now his place of residence. 
Judge Yost is still engaged in farming, though not as 
extensively as in his younger days. He was, on the 
1st of November, 1838, married to Rosina, daughter 
of Daniel Miller, of Pottsgrove, whose children are 
Daniel M., Louisa M. (deceased), Benjamin M., Ro- 
sina (deceased), Amelia (Mrs. Tobias Shelley), Salome 
M. (Mrs. AVilliam S. Bliem), Isaac M., Mary Ann 
(Mrs. James B. Staufl'er), Josiah M., Philip M., 
Emma, Rebecca (Mrs. Franklin Binder), Hannah 
E. (deceased) and John R. Judge Yost, always an 
ardent Democrat in politics, has been frequently hon- 
ored by his constituents with positions of importance. 
He filled the office of county auditor, was in 1854 
made county commi.ssioner and in 1871 elected asso- 
ciate judge of the county, being the last incumbent of 
that office. He also served for twelve years as school 
director and held minor township positions. Judge 
Yost's religious faith is in accord with the doctrines 
of the Reformed Church, his membership being with 
the Falconer's Swamp Church of that denomination, 
in which he has officiated as elder. The death of 
Mrs. Yost occurred .January 7, 1885, in her sixty- 
eighth year. 



CHAPTER LXVI. 
NORRITON TOWNSHIP. 

William Penn, by a special order, dated Eleventh 
Month, 1689, directed Captain Thomas Holme, the 
surveyor-general of the province, "to lay out a tract 
of land on the canoable part of Schuylkill." In pur- 
suance of this order a survey was made, — 

"Beginning at a hickory-tree by the said Skoolkill, being the corner of 
Plymouth Township ; thence noi-thwest by the same township nine 
hundred and fifty jierches to another hickory-tree ; thence northwest in 
the line of a tract of land called Whitpain's Township, eleven hundred and 
sixty-nine perches, to corner oak in the line of said Proprietary's Manor of 
Gilberts (now Lower Providence) ; thence southwest, along said Manor 
line 1848 perches to a dog-tree, by the said Skoolkill ; thenco down the 
said River to the place of beginning." 

The tract was said to contain seven thousand four 
hundred and eighty-two acres, and was designated 



the "Manor of Williamstadt." It was intended as a 
princely gift for the son of the great proprietor, and 
lay directly opposite to a similar manor surveyed and 
laid out on the south side of the river for his daughter, 
Letitia Penn. A patent was granted October 2, 1704, 
conveying to William Penn, Jr., the manor or tract 
above described. The record disclosed the fact that on 
the 7th day of October of the same year, or five days 
after coming into the possession of this great estate, he 
parted with it to Isaac Norris and William Trent, 
merchants of Philadelphia. Eight years later, on Jan- 
uary 11, 1712, Mr. Norris acquired all the interest of 
Mr. Trent. The cost of the manor to Messrs. Norris 
and Trent was £850, a sum that has always been 
thought grossly inadequate, and by some writers 
believed to have resulted from the reckless and im- 
provident character of the vendor. The ancient manor 
of Williamstadt remained intact until 1730, when, by 
the usual proceedings upon the petition of resident 
property -owners, the township of Norriton was created 
and duly decreed bj' the Court of Quarter Sessions of 
Philadelphia County. The original area of this town- 
ship was lessened by the creation of the borough of 
Noiristown in 1812, which contained five hundred and 
twenty acres, and subsequently (1853) extended its 
limits, embracing about fifteen hundred additional 
acres, thus reducing the area to about five thousand 
five hundred acres. At the time the manor was 
changed into a township there were twenty land- 
owners and tenants and five additional taxable in- 
liabitants. It is manifest that the early settlers at- 
tached importance to the advantages of municipal 
government in the opening of public roads and the 
construction of bridges over streams that had to be 
crossed in reaching saw and grist-mills, which at that 
day were of great importance to land-owners. The 
condition of the people from 1730 to 1784, fifty-four 
years, when the county was established, is greatly 
obscured. Being remote from Philadelphia, then the 
seat of municipal government, to which all assessments 
of property, justices' dockets and returns of all public 
officers were made, and the most valuable of these 
records being lost, we search in vain for authenticated 
facts to show the h.abits, manners and customs of the 
comparatively few people or families who lived and 
died in the early days of Norriton. The name of the 
township is in honor of the Norris family, the head of 
which, Isaac Norris, was prominent not only as a large 
land-owner, but also in public affairs. He was chosen 
eighteen times Speaker of the General Assembly, being 
first elected in 1713. He was finally appointed to 
the office of chief justice of the jirovince, and was 
in the enjoyment of that position the year he died, 
1735. 

It was about this period that the people built a 
place of public worship, known as the Norriton Pres- 
byterian Meeting-House. The stone structure now 
standing is the same in all its material parts as when 
built, though substantial repairs have undoubtedly 



1000 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



been made.' Tradition says the building was used 
and greatly abused by the soldiers of both armies 
during the Revolution, and we are inclined to credit the 
story for tlie reason that it lay on the line of march of 
Washington when he moved to the battle of German- 
town, and on his line of retreat it was doubtless used 
by the stragglers and perhaps by wounded and worn- 
out soldiers for shelter and protection from the cold 
and frosty nights of that period of the year. The 
place was on the line of patrol between Valley Forge 
and Trenton, as traversed by the mounted men of 
Colonel Lacey, in keeping open communication be- 
tween the places named. This portion of the county 
was between the established lines and scouted by the 
horsemen of both parties. The main picket, east ol 
the river, was stationed at the junction of roads now 
known as Jeffersonville, and where the old hotel was 
partially burned by the British in the winter of 1778. 
The danger to which the patriots was exposed at that 
time in this locality is referred to by David Ritten- 
house, who was then perfornang his duty as treasurer 
of the commonwealth at Lancaster City, and who 
wrote to his wife, then living with her children on 
the old Rittenhouse homestead, now occupied by 
Emanuel Gouldy. Mr. Rittenhouse wrote, January 
2(5, 1778, as follows: 

"I shall perhaps, before I seal this, Appoint a time to meet you. In 
my laat I partly promised to come to stay a fortnight with you ; but / do 
not now think U eo safe as I did then. In our present situation, I should 
not think it prudent to sttiy above one night with you, iis parties of 
horse are employed to pick up i)articular persons. For this reason I 
would rather meet you at one of your Brothers', or at Sister's, but I 
apprehend the Schuylkill is at present difficult, if not diingerous, to 
cross, on account of the ice." 

Mr. Rittenhouse seems oblivious of the fact that 
Washington had constructed a long bridge over the 
river at Valley Forge, and that he could have crossed 
at that point without hazard. The brothers he refers 
to were John and Israel Jacobs. The sister referred 
to was Mrs. Colonel Caleb Parry, whose husband was 
killed at the battle of Long Island, in July, 1776. 
Mr. Rittenhouse adds the following postscript to the 
above-mentioned letter : 

" Tuesday Morning. I am now nearly determined to appoint next Sat 
urday week, in tlie eveiiitig, to meet yon at Brother John's ; and I fear it- 
may e.vpose one or both to a very uncomfortable ride. I wiU^ however, be 
there, if the weather be tolerable and health permits ; but do not come 
my dear H., if the weather be bad, because if I do not tind you there, I 
shall proceed to Brother Israel's, where I shall be glad to find you on Sun- 
day in order to accompany you home. If you can lind any opportunity 
to write before then, I shall be glad to receive a line." 

We are not advised whether the visit was made or 
not, but if it was, the distinguished citizen of Nor- 
riton certainly eluded the vigilance of the British 
scouts, who would have esteemed the treasurer of the 
commonwealth a prize of the first class. 

iWUliam J. Buck, in his "History of Montgomery County," pub- 
lished in 1859, cites an act of Assembly, approved September, 1785, 
authorizing money to be raised by means of a lottery to make repairs 
to this meeting-house. This fact would indicate that repairs were 
needed at the date hostilities ceased, while lotteries were used in those 
days for all manner of public improvementa. 



The personal property assessed in the name of the 
twenty land-holders at the time the township was 
created is reported to be one hundred and eighty- 
one horses, two hundred and sixty-nine horned cattle, 
fourteen negro slaves, two riding-chairs. The follow- 
ing places of business are noted : two grist-mills, 
four saw-mills, one tannery, six taverns, licensed to 
the following persons : Hannah Thompson, John 
Shannon, John Wentz, George Gilbert, Josiah Wood 
and Abraham Wolford. The land-holders assessed 
in 1734 were John Coulson, Samuel Evans, Henry 
Johnson, Evan Hughs, John Eastburn, Nicholas 
Robinson, William Hayes, Joseph Armstrong, Thomas 
Warner, Bartle Bartleson, John Hatfield, Aaron 
Roberts, Job Pugh, Jesse Pugh and Ellis Roberts. 
Persons named as tenants were Francis Mahony, 
Robert Roger, Robert Shannon, Charles Morris and 
William Robinson. 

The population of Norriton in 1810 was 1336 ; in 
1820,1098; 1830, 1139; 1840, 1411 ; 1850,1594. It 
appears remarkable that this township, composed of 
agricultural people, and without a transient popu- 
lation, should decrease so largely and lose two 
hundred and thirty-eight of its numbers between the 
years 1810 and 1820. The public highways of this 
township were opened early in its history. The 
Schuylkill River being of great importance to the 
people, and being fordable at ordinarj' stages of 
water, public roads led to and over it at many points 
long before the county was created. The Ridge and 
Germantown turnpike roads pass through the entire 
length of the township, while these are intersected by 
cross-roads at convenient distances, making it possible 
to reach almost every household from one or more 
of these public highways. There are about fifty miles of 
public roadway in this township. Two supervisors 
have care of them, and they are kept in good repair, 
with substantial bridges built at all points where they 
cross Stony Creek, Indian Creek, Five-Mile Run, 
Saw-Mill Run and tributaries flowing into them. As 
the manners and habits of our ancestors changed in 
the matter of travel and transportation, public high- 
ways were improved and new ones were laid out and 
opened. So long as the farmers conveyed all their 
dairy products to Philadelphia on horseback, at- 
tended places of public worship, weddings, funerals, 
elections, militia trainings, and social gatherings in 
the same manner, indifferent highways answered their 
purposes, creeks and rivers were forded, and the slight 
dangers experienced in times of high-water or in sea- 
sons of sledding only added zest to the courage and 
horsemanship of the period. The supervisors would have 
been thought reckless in the expenditure of road tax 
if they would have cut down hills, filled trifling de- 
pressions, and planked over small water-courses, for 
our fathers and mothers, who galloped over these hills 
and hollows, could clear a trifling stream or ford a 
creek or river without moistening a skirt or soiling 
polished boot and buckskin in their merry rides. 



NORKITON TOWNSHIP. 



1001 



When, however, the two-wheeled chair was sup- 
planted by the four-wheeled " Dearborn wagon," 
first with wooden and then with steel or elliptic 
springs, and subsequently, with still more luxurious 
means of travel, when pack-horses gave way to the 
stage-coach, and great Conestoga wagons and teams, 
and these were required to pass through Norriton, 
then it was that public highways were greatly im- 
proved and rapidly multiplied. The Egypt road^ 
opened to public travel prior to 1776, was a very 
important one to through travel, while the con- 
struction and opening to public use of the Ridge 
and Germantown turnpikes, the former completed 
about 1800, the latter 1816, were deemed a matter 
of State interest, as they afforded certain high- 
ways at all seasons of the year for the transporta- 
tion of commodities to the interior, and connected 
with a system of turnpike roads leading to the Ohio 
River and settlements on the frontier. It was in this 
connection that the taverns or inns of Norriton enjoyed 
deserved prominence as houses of public accommoda- 
tion. It is still within the memory of the oldest surviv- 
ing people of the township when the hotels at Jefferson- 
ville, Trooper, Barley Sheaf, Penn Square, Spring- 
town, the old St. Clair House, near Hartranft Station, 
were crowded with teams and market people, two 
or three nights every week. Those were days when 
landlords " poured out " whisky and brandy for their 
patrons, and gave cordial welcome to the traveler who 
carried his eatables in his wallet, enjoyed his cofl'ee 
and lunch in the " bar-room," paid a levy for his 
bed, fed his own grain and hay to his horses and 
groomed them, gave a fip to the hostler, and was good- 
naturedly smiled upon by the jolly proprietor, who 
pressed all, in genuine hospitality, to " stop again." 
Time has wrought its changes upon the face of the 
country and its business, not le.ss marked than in the 
manners and customs of the people. The wood-leaf 
or timbered lands have gradually disappeared, until 
but few groves are left ; that remaining on the old 
Norris estate, now owned by Dr. John Schrack, is 
perhaps the largest. Log houses and barns have 
nearly all given place to substantial stone and frame 
improvements, neatly painted, indic.iting that sub- 
stantial thrift and fondness for home comfort that 
everywhere characterizes the permanently-settled 
people of this region of country. 

The commerce of this township has undergone 
marked changes within the last thirty years. In 
1850 Port Indian was an important point of local 
traffic. Lumber, coal, plaster, flour and feed, groceries 
and provisions were commodities dealt in by George 
B. Rieff and his successor, Philip Harley. A short 
distance below Port Indian, " Cherry-Tree Landing " 
was constructed, and E. C. Boorse for many yeais 
carried on the lumbering business there ; between 
these two points Jonas Ashenfelter built a landing 
to transship coal for the supply of the Trooper Steam- 
Mills. All of these places of business have gone into 



disuse and the trade transferred to other points. The 
Trooper Steam-Mills, built by Jesse L. Bean in 1847- 
48, and operated for several year.s as saw and flour- 
mills, and subsequently, in 1855-56. remodeled by 
Dewalt Weber, and converted into cotton and woolen- 
mills, and as such operated by Christopher Blount 
and James Shaw, have also gone into disuse. The 
older residents will recall the store kept by William 
Hamill and Samuel Markley at the Trooper, more 
recently those at Harley's Corner and Penn Square; 
these have been closed, and of the six hotels that 
public travel doubtless supported when the township 
was created only two within the present limits of the 
township are licensed, the one at Jeffersonville and 
the other at Penn Square. 

The villages ' in the township heretolbrc noted by 
writers are Jeffersonville, Norritonvillc, Penn Square 
and Sjiringtown, to which we may now add Hoover- 
ton, or Hartranft Station, on the Stony Creek Rail- 
road, at the point where it crosses the Germantown 
turnpike. It is worthy of note that in the changes of 
time, and within a century, the place where stood two 
hotels, and (hence a village), where the first court in 
the county was held and many important conventions 
and assemblages in the history of the county occurred, 
should become obscure, and should so remain until the 
advent of railroads ; and then should become the loca- 
tion of a depot and place of business, promising to 
absorb rival villages on either side of it. Stony Creek 
flows by this new village, on which have been erected 
five saw and grist-mills, only three of which are still 
in use, — the Metz saw-mill, Wack's grist-mill and 
Sheetz's grist-mill. 

The Post-OfB.ce was first established in this town- 
ship, January 1, 1829. It was located at Jeffersonville, 
and the mails were received from the line of stage- 
coaches that ran over the Ridge pike in going from 
Philadelphia to Reading and thence to Pittsburgh. 

Subsequently post-offices were established at Penn 
Square and Norritonville. Within the last few years 
the office at Penn Square has been changed in name 
to Hartranft and located at Hartranft Station. 

General Elections were first held in the town- 
ship under the act of Assembly approved May 3, 
1S52. The first election was held at the public- 
house of Reynard March, Jeffersonville, in the fol- 
lowing October, and by the terms of the act they 
were to be held alternately at the place first held 
and at Penn Square, and all general elections have 
thus been held since that date. Previously the vole 
of Norriton was polled at the court-house, Norris- 
town. 

The mercantile appraiser for the year 1884 makes 



iTiie villages of Norriton are all Bmall in size, having the usual me- 
chanic industries. Jeffersonville was noted for many years as the place 
of manufacture of the famous Roberts and Foust plows ; the former pat- 
tern was patented by Seth Roberts, and were popular for many years 
among the farmers of Eastern Pennsylvania. The Foust plow w;is not 
patented, but acquired great favor by the .superior workmanship of the 
mechanic who made them, Henry W. Foust. 



1002 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



return of fifteen persons and places of public business 
in Norriton, viz. : 

B. W. Baker, butcher ; John E. Bean, merchan- 
dise; F. Brusch, flour and feed; Joseph Custer, but- 
cher ; A. S. Clouser, flour and feed ; D. U. Cassel, 
mercliandise ; A. S. Davis, merchandise; D. C.Getty, 
agricultural implements; H. C. Hoover, merchandise; 
Hoover & Son, lumber and feed ; Kennedy, butcher; 
T. L. Moore, butcher ; E. E. Ritter, butcher ; D. H. 
Ritter, live stock ; R. F. Wood, butcher. 

The Common School system provided for by the 
general acts of Assembly, 1834— 36, went into operation 
about 1838-39. Inquiry made of those connected 
with educational affairs of the township fails to dis- 
close the exact time, although we find Norriton noted 
among the early townships which took advantage of 
the system. Among the first directors who gave 
their aid and encouragement to the cause of popular 
education in the township were John Schrack, Daniel 
Getty, Robert Shannon, William Bean, A. W. Shearer' 
and Samuel Miller. As early as 1845 they employed a 
female teacher. The person referred to was Miss Sarah 
Carson, who taught for several years at the Indian 
Creek school-house. The innovation was severely 
criticised by many tax-payers, who thought the " big 
boys" could never be controlled by a "young lady 
teacher." Experience, however, demonstrated that 
she maintained one of the best-conducted schools in 
the district. In the period referred to some por- 
tions of the district were certainly noted for incor- 
rigible " big boys." There are some gray-headed 
men, now residents of this township, who can recall 
with the writer the conduct of the scholars, greatly 
at variance with the uniform good behavior of the 
pupils of the present day. Charles Ames, a teacher 
in the JefFersonville school, or " Yellow College," as 
it was facetiously termed in later years, being quite 
severe in his treatment of pupils, finally incurred the 
displeasure of the incorrigible boys of the old yellow 
school-house. A council of mischief was held and 
concerted action was at once agreed upon. Leaders 
remained at noon, while the teacher went to his din- 
ner at a neighboring farm-house. The little children 
were induced to leave the school-room as soon as they 
had eaten their dinners, and, in less time than we can 
describe the event, the shutters were closed and bolted 
on the inside, the iron poker was used to fasten the 
door leading to the school-room, and the last boy 
stepped out of the south-side window upon a rail 
held for his footing, and there securely nailed up the 
last shutter to the window-sill, his accomplices aiding 
him to reach the ground in safety. 

The cellar-door had been securely fastened from the 



1 The land on which the Indian Creek school-Louse and ai^uining 
play-grounds stand, was given gratuitously by the heirs of the Norris 
estate, and the same is excepted out of the deed executed by A. W. 
Shearer and wife, to the present owners, so long as the same shall be 
used for educational purposes. When no longer thus used it reverts to 
the premises from which it was originally taken. 



inside, and the work of " locking the teacher out" was 
done. Mr. Ames came at the appointed hour, and to 
his mortification found the house closed. None of the 
little pupils could tell who did it, while all the " big 
boys " were in the adjoining woodland " playing ball." 
By the aid of the small boys and a bar of iron that 
happened to be at hand the teacher pried open the 
nailed shutter and repossessed himself of the school- 
room. 

The event was the subject of neighborhood gossip 
for the time, and the question was, who was to be the 
"master?" The "lock-out" took place on Thurs- 
day, and the " big boys" who planned and executed it 
did not return for study until the following Monday 
morning. Meantime, parents and directors had been 
informed, and the " boys " were all ordered to school, 
there to account for their conduct. After the opening 
exercises had taken place the absentees were called 
from their seats and paraded in front of the teacher's 
desk. Many of them were young men in size and 
weight. All had not been participants in the work of 
" locking out the teacher." A number had accompa- 
nied the leaders at the time of the event, and were 
induced to remain out of school until compelled to 
return by their parents. This fact was known to the 
teacher, who gave them the option of confessing their 
folly before the school or take the punishment to be 
inflicted ; or, if unwilling to do either, then to suffer 
expulsion. Not one of the line wavered, not one 
made any acknowledgment of error or pleaded any 
excuse. Then came the final alternative, " Will you 
leave the school or suffer punishment? " The moment 
was of supreme interest to all present. There were 
little boys and gentle sisters who had big brothers in 
the line of insubordinates. Some heads were bowed 
in conscious shame ; some mischievous eyes gazed 
steadily at the teacher ; still others appeared stolid, 
having made up their minds to suffer the infliction, 
but none were willing to leave the school. 

Opening his desk, the teacher took out a heavy oak 
ruler, and, taking number one by the hand, pressing 
the palm open, he inflicted a number of blows upon 
it, the severity of which was keenly felt and silently 
suffered. To all the others he meted out the same 
measure of punishment, and then all were dismissed 
and ordered to their seats. Tlicnceforth, Mr. Ames 
was " master " of the situation; but he was not a suc- 
cessfiil teacher, and never returned to the school after 
his term expired. We instance this episode in a Nor- 
riton school as an illustration of what our schools 
were forty and fifty years ago, as contrasted with those 
conducted under a different system of discipline now. 
Had the good-will of these pupils been sought after, 
had their confidence been obtained by kindly offices, 
instead of seeking to control them by arousing their 
fears, results would have been widely different, and 
the relations between pupil and teacher would have 
been respectful and affe.ctionate. 

The boys and girls of this period, not less than their 



NORRITON TOWNSHIP. 



1003 



parents, are to be congratulated upon the disuse of 
punishments that made the school-room a terror to 
timid and innocent children, and upon the prevail- 
ing kindness, yet firmness, of teachers who have been 
able to preserve order and discipline among boys 
and young men in attendance upon the common 
schools throughout the county. 

There are five public schools in Norriton town- 
ship. They have one hundred and ninety-nine pupils 
enrolled, and are open eight months in the year. 
Teachers are paid thirty-eight dollars per month. 
Male and female teachers are employed, and receive 
equal salary. 

Places of Religious Worship.— The Norkiton 
Presbyteeian Church, located at the north corner 



date as early as 1679. This, however, is traditionary, 
and must be taken with some allowance for the na- 
tural zeal of the antiquarian. While circumstances 
point to greater antiquity than is generally conceded 
this place of worship, we have but little definite in- 
formation of the congregation until about 17-tO. It 
is said that large accessions were made to the church, 
resulting from a general religious revival, which be- 
gan in New Jersey under the ministrations of Kev. 
John Tennent, and found its way to this community 
in 1832. It is certain that a division occurred in 
this congregation in 1741, which resulted in building 
a new meeting-house, called New Providence, being 
the same congregation that is now, and has been for 
many years past, presided over by the Rev. H. S. 




THE XORRITON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 



of the township, where the line crosses the German- 
town turnpike, was the first built by that denomination 
in the county. It has been designated " the mother 
of all the Presbyterian Churches in this vicinity, and 
is among the oldest in the State.'" 

Historians of this religious persuasion. Rev. 
Messrs. Ralston and Collins, claim that it was known 
as a place of burial as early as the year 1700. It is 
said that a date stone, which had fallen from the 
gable wall many years ago, was observed to bear 



1 The old Btone Ijuilding still stands, and in the graveyard adjoining 
it there were discovered, several years since, some tombstones dated 
between 1689 and 1700. It is said also that at the same time and place 
a sandstone tablet was found bearing the date of I67;>. — Historical 
Sli-ftch of First Preshytfrian Ontrch, Norrietotvn, Pa., 1876, by J. Orier 
IliMoii, D. D. 



Rodenbaugh, in Lower Providence township. Occa- 
sional services 'are still held in this church and the 
burial-ground used for interments. 

Among the families who have buried at this place 
are the familiar names of Armstrong, Hooven, Mc- 
Crea, Porter, Darrah, Richards, Thompson, Patter- 
son, McGlathery and Fitzwater. Colonel Archibald 
Thompson, of Revolutionary fame, who died No- 
vember 1, 1779, in his thirty-ninth year, is buried 
at this place, as is also Colonel Christopher Stuart. 

The Centennial Presbyterian Church. — 
This modern and beautiful church was built in 1876, 
and is located at Jeffersonville. It takes the place of 
the former Presbyterian Church, founded about 1841, 
and located on the Ridge turnpike, near the Trooper 
village. The congregation were originally of the 



1004 



HISTOllY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ProviJence Church, and represented the " new school" 
element of that deiioiuination in a division which 
occurred in 1840-41. Among its founders were 
Henry Loucks, Christian Weber, James Smith, 
Joseph Smith, Daniel Croll and others. The corner- 
stone of the new edifice was laid July 4, 1875. The 
chapel was opened for public worship January 2, 
1876, and the church building was dedicated Sunday, 
October 1, 187G. The building committee was ap- 
pointed May 5, 1875, viz. : James Shaw, Dr. David 
Schrack, Joseph D. Smith, Michael Eeed, Francis 
Whiting and the Rev. Chas. Collins, pastor. Although 
the edifice cost over twenty thousand dollars, the 
public announcement was made at the time of dedi- 
cation that " all claims against the church property 
have been liquidated, and it is declared free of debt.'" 
The officers of the church at the time of its dedica- 
tion were Eev. Chap. Collins, pastor; Elders, 
James Smith, John C. Weber, Francis Whiting, 
Michael Reed and Dr. David Schrack ; Trustees, 
Dr. David Schrack, A. L. Davis, G. W. Brown, 
Michael Reed, Francis Whiting, H. S. Parmalee and 
Samuel Scheetz. 

A Sabbath-school has been maintained in connec- 
tion with this church since its organization in 1841-42. 

Auxiliari/ Branch of the Women's Foreign Mission- 
ary Society. — President, Mrs. M. AVallace; Secretarv, 
Mrs. H. W. Whiting ; Treasurer, Miss M. W. Snyder. 

The following pastors have ofliciated at this 
church : Rev. Chas. F. Diver, 1842 to 1844 ; Rev. N. 
S. Aller, 1844 to 1848 ; Rev. Charles Wack, 1848 to 
1849; Rev. George Foot, 1849 to 1851 ; Rev. William 
Fulton, 1851 to 1853; Rev. Saml. Helff'enstein, 1853 
to 1854; Rev. A. J. Snyder, 1854 to 1865 ; Rev. Chas. 
Collins, 1865 to present time. The Revs. Messrs. 
Diver, Wack, Foot and Helff'enstein are deceased. 

Burr'.s Meeting-House, located at Norritonville, 
is a one-story stone building, and has always been 
free to the use of all evangelical denominations. It 
was built by Marmaduke Burr, who still survives at 
an advanced age, and resides in Philadelphia. The 
place is kept in rejiair, and used for all the purposes 
originally contemplated, under the direction of a local 
board of trustees. A Sabbath-school has been main- 
tained in connection with this place of worship for 
many years. 

Religious worshiji at stated times was for many 
years held in the second story of the old Jeft'ersouville 
school-house. These services were conducted by the 
Rev. Messrs. Rodenbaugh and Trites, the latter at the 
time pastor of the Lower Providence Baptist con- 
gregation. Rev. John Rees, of Norriton, also offici- 
ated from time to time at the evening meetings held 
at this place.^ There are two public halls in this 

1 A Sabbatb-scbool was organized and regularly taught for many 
years in tliis building prior to tbe founding of the "New Srhool Church," 
near the Trooper, in 1841-42. Among its earliest superintendents was 
the Hon. Thomas P. Knox. Among its lady teachers were the Misses 
Shannon, Weher, Hamil, Bean and .Stinson. Stephen P. Hamil was foi- 



township; the first was built at Penn Square in the 
year 1847 ; the same building is used fur public-school 
purposes. The other is known as Jefferson Hall, 
located at Jeffersonville, built 1872. The audience- 
room will seat three hundred people. Both these 
halls are used for public entertainments, public meet- 
ings, festivals, etc. 

A public library was founded in connection with 
Jefferson Hall, 1873-74, and several hundred volumes 
of well-selected books were purchased and placed in 
substantial cases for circulation in the neighborhood. 
It was organized upon a stock subscription basis, and 
for a time was usefully emploj'ed in furnishing en- 
tertaining and jirofitable reading- matter to the people 
of that vicinity. The collection of books and property 
of the company still remain in the library-room, but 
have not been used for the last few years, nor has the 
number of volumes been increased by purchases or 
contributions since it was organized. 

Among the ancient organizations of the township 
we must note the Jefferson Express Horse Company, 
organized prior to 1840, and among the most efficient in 
the county in the detection of thieves and recovery 
of stolen horses. In its early history its members did 
most excellent service, and prided themselves in 
horsemanship and in the ownership of fleet-foooted 
riding-horses. The company is still in existence, and 
its annual meetings are held in the month of Decem- 
ber of each year at the Jeffersonville Hotel. In these 
latter days of express-trains by rail, of telegraphs and 
telephones, horse-stealing has become a " lost vice " in 
this locality, and if, perchance, an old-fashioned thief 
should attempt his vocation, he is certain to be inter- 
cepted before he can reach the " Jersey Pines " or the 
famous " Lancaster Gap." 

The people of Norriton, from time immemorial, 
have evinced a fondness for the useful associations of 
civil life. We cannot recall the time when the town- 
ship was the headquarters of a military organization, un- 
less it was of the " Home Guards," in 1861-62. Militia 
trainings were held in the township, the last of which 
was commanded by Captain PeterG. Richards, in 1841. 
Parades of the F'irst Troop and tlic " Washington 
Greys," the first commanded by Captain John Math- 
eys and the latter by Captain Jesse B. Davis, were of 
frequent occurrence thirty ;md forty years ago, and a 
number of the public-spirited young men of the town- 
ship were members of the organizations named. But 
the history of Norriton is without a military organi- 
zation exclusively her own. It had, however, its de- 
bating and literary societies. Many of our readers 
will recall the forensic efforts made at the Indian 
Creek, Jeffersonville, Eight Square and Penn Square 
school-houses by the members of debating societies 
organized at different times at tlie places named, of 
which Colonel Thomas P. Knox, Alban Thomas, Col- 



many years lilirarian, and the late Rev. Owen Shannon was among lli» 
young men prominently connected with the school. 



NORKITON TOWNSHIP. 



1005 



onel Henry Beyer, Teachers Latimore, Walker, Mc- 
Closkey, Burnside and Bechtel were leading spirits. 
Subsequently, literary a.'isociations took the place of 
debating societies, among which was the " Calliope." 
Two annual public entertainments were given by this 
association at the Indian Creek school-house in 1856-57. 
The attendance upon the last of these " literary exhi- 
bitions " was estimated to be between one and two 
thousand persons. An elaborate stage was erected at 
the south gable of the school-house with seats for a 
large audience. The programme, of music, declama- 
tions, original essays and dramatic personations was 
executed to the satisfaction of the public, and the event 
was pronounced a success by the local press of the pe- 
riod. Literary and musical entertainments were fre- 
quent in Norritou. As early as 1836 a musical enter- 
tainment was held in the old Yellow School-house, in 
the second story. The room was crowded, and in the 
midst of the performance the floor gave way in the 
centre of the room, precipitating many to the floor be- 
low, with injuries of a mcjre or less serious character; 
none, however, were tatally hurt. In later years Hon. 
Hiram C. Hoover has taught a number of musical 
classes in the township and given numerous public 
concerts of an entertaining and instructive character. 

The Yellow Club, of Norriton. was for a time an 
a.ssociation of interest to those composing it from 
1848-51. Its chief object was to make an annual pil- 
grimage to the " Yellow Springs" of Chester County, 
a watering-place or resort of great popularity in those 
days, and an " excursion " to the place during the 
" season " was an event of more than ordinary interest 
in the social lives of the ladies and gentlemen compos- 
ing the club. There were no cheap and popular ex- 
cursions to the sea-shore, Coney Island, up the Hudson 
and elsewhere in those days, and hence the " drive to 
the springs," the glimpse of fashionable life there to 
be seen, the exhibition of dress, the music, the grand 
dinner and the extravagant price paid for it, the beautifiil 
grounds, the curative water, — these considerations were 
subject matter of rare importance, and the "club" 
made the most of them on their annual pilgrimages. 

Among the families connected with the organiza- 
tion were Matheys, Bean, Crawford, Owen, Schrack, 
Shearer, Markley, Weber, Carson and others. The 
club dissolved by mutual consent about 1852-53. The 
farmers of the township were among the first to or- 
ganize an agricultural society, the particulars of which 
are referred to elsewhere.' 

The advantages of good husbandry are everywhere 
manifest in the well-tilled and substantially im- 
proved farms and commodious residences that make 
up the taxable values of the township. 

Number of taxables, 417 ; value of improved land, 
$1,156,580 ; value of unimproved lands. $28,240 ; as- 
sessed value of 386 horses and mules, $24,650; assessed 
value of 919 horned cattle, $27,790 ; value of house- 

1 See chapter on Agriculture. 



hold goods in excess of exemptions, $900 ; value of 
all property taxable for county purposes, $1,238,160. 

The Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad, re- 
cently constructed, traverses the township, running 
parallel with the river, with a passenger depot on the 
Township Line road, opposite Port Kennedy. 

JoHU Bull was a native of Providence township, 
Montgomery Co., where the family had resided 
for several generations. In the beginning of 1771 he 
lived in Limerick, where he resided till he purchased 
the mill and plantation of Charles Norris, the follow- 
ing 17th of September, where is now the present bor- 
ough of Norristown. He was at this time a justice of 
the County Court, which office he held for several 
years. In January, 1775, he was one of the twelve 
members of Philadelphia County that met in a pro- 
vincial convention, whose object was to get the As- 
sembly to pass a law to prohibit the future impor- 
tation of slaves into the colony. This same year, in 
consequence of the Revolutionary troubles, the As- 
sembly authorized the enlistment of a battalion of 
eight companies for the Continental service, to be 
under the command of Colonel Bull, until January, 
1778. With three others, he represented Philadelphia 
County in the convention that framed the Constitu- 
tion of the State, and which was adopted the 28th of 
September, 1776. In November of this year he dis- 
posed of all his property in Norritou township to 
Dr. William Smith, of Philadelphia, for the sum of 
six thousand pounds. He was confirmed a justice of 
the courts by the Assembly, August 31, 1778. Not 
long after this date he moved to Berkeley County, 
Va., where he erected a mill on the Opequan 
Creek. He was still living there in 1795, which is 
the last we know of him. Benjamin Bittenhouse, 
a brother of the celebrated philosopher, and who 
was commissioned by Governor Mifflin, in 1791, 
as one of the associate judges of the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas of this county, was married to a daughter 
of General Bull. Wm. Bull, who was probably a 
brother, resided in Norritou township in 1770, where 
he had purchased a farm of Henry Connard. 

Andrew Porter. — Robert Porter was a native ot 
Ireland and emigrated in early lifeto this country, and 
settled in Worcester township, Jlontgomery Co., 
where his son, Andrew Porter, was born September 24, 
1743. His father furnished him with a good education, 
and in the spring of 1767 he removed to Philadelphia 
and took charge of an English and mathematical school 
until the spring of 1776. On the 19th of .Tune he was 
commissioned by Congress a captain of marines, and 
ordered on board the frigate " Effingham." He after- 
wards left the navy and joined the army as a captain, 
and served with great gallantry at Trenton, Princeton 
and Brandy wine. At Valley Forge he was major of a 
regiment of artillery, and during the war was in con- 
siderable service. With David Rittenhouse, in the 
spring of 1785, he was appointed a commissioner on 
the part of Pennsylvania to ascertain the boundary be- 



1006 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



tween this State and Virginia. In the spring of 1787, 
with Andrew Ellicott, he commenced the survey of the 
northern boundary of the State, which was completed 
by the middle of the following November. While en- 
gaged on this work, he says, "The Indians appear 
friendly and have expressed no dissatisfaction to our 
running the line." For his services Governor Snyder, 
the 4th of April, 1809, appointed him surveyor-general 
of Pennsylvania, which office he held till his death, 
which occurred November 16, 1813, at the age of 
seventy years. He died at Harrisburg, where he was 
buried with military honors in the Presbyterian bury- 
ing-ground, and a neat white marble monument desig- 
nates the spot. At the close of the Revolution Mr. 
Porter was colonel of the Fourth Pennsylvania Regi- 
ment of Artillery and subsequently brigadier and ma- 
jor-general of the Second Division of the militia. It is 
said that President Madison oft'ered him the commis- 
sion of brigadier-general of the American army, and 
also the office of Secretary of War, both of which he 
declined. Mr. Porter resided in the upjier part of the 
borough of Norristown, near the Ridge turnpike, in 
the mansion recently occupied by the late Colonel 
Thomas P. Knox. Robert Porter, the general's father, 
died in 1770, at the age of seventy-two years, and is 
buried in the Norriton Presbyterian graveyard, where 
a large stone is erected to his memory. The sons of 
Andrew Porter have been quite distinguished. Gen- 
eral David R. Porter was Governor of Pennsylvania 
from 1838 to 1844. General James M. Porter was a 
member of Assembly, president judge of the Twenty- 
second Judicial District, and Secretary of War under 
President Tyler. George B. Porter was judge, United 
States marshal of the Eastern District of Pennsylva- 
nia and subsequently Governor of Michigan, in which 
office he died in 1834, in his forty-fourth year. All 
these sons were natives of Montgomery County. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



HIRAM C. HOOVER. 

Judge Hoover is a descendant of Levis Henry 
Hoover, whose father, the first member of the family 
to emigrate, resided in Bucks County until 1800, 
when he made Gwynedd township, Montgomery Co., 
his home, and followed his trade of a tailor in 
connection with the cultivation of a farm of two hun- 
dred acres, purchased by him. ■ He married Miss 
Margaret Kern and had children, — Christian, .Jacob, 
Philip, Elizabeth (Mrs. John Rile) and Mary (Mrs. 
William Kneedler). Philip succeeded to his father's 
occupations in Gwynedd township, and married Miss 
Mary, daughter of Frederick W. Conrad, of Worces- 
ter township, whose children were Frederick W., 
Susanna (deceased), Julia Ann (deceased), Maria (Mrs. 



Samuel Linton), Harry (deceased), Hiram C, Albert 
C, Elizabeth (Mrs. Daniel B. Kieffer), Andrew T. 
and four who died in ini'ancy. Hiram C. Hoover was 
born on the 23d of October, 1822, on the homestead 
in Gwynedd, and until the age of twenty-four inter- 
ested himself in the various pursuits peculiar to the 
farm, having during the mean time received a rudi- 
mentary education at the neighboring public and 
select schools. Judge Hoover was gifted with rare 
musical taste, which was early cultivated and properly 
directed. At the age of eighteen he became an 
instructor, and for twenty-five years continued this 
favorite vocation, including both vocal and instru- 
mental music in which he was equally proficient. He 
executed with skill upon several instruments, devot- 
ing his abilities especially to music of a sacred charac- 
ter and the formation and direction of church-choirs. 
He was, on the 4th of March, 1847, married to Miss 
Margaret, youngest daughter of Frederick and Sarah 
Dull, of Whitemarsh. Their children are William A., 
Irvin W. (deceased), Sarah D. (Mrs. James W. Hercus, 
of Richmond, Va.), and Mary M. (Mrs. Albertus 
Hallman, of Norriton). After his marriage Judge 
Hoover leased the farm for a period of two years, and 
in 1849 purchased his present home. Here his efforts 
were directed to the cultivation and improvement of 
a productive estate until 1870, when his son succeeded 
to the farming interest. He erected an attractive 
residence in the immediate vicinity and retired for 
the time being from active employment. 

Judge Hoover's energetic nature found little to 
satisfy it in a life of inactivity, and on the comple- 
tion of the Stony Creek Railroad he established a 
coal, feed and lumber business at the station known 
as Hooverton, opening, two years later, in connection 
with it a general store. 

In politics the judge is a Democrat. He was elected 
justice of the peace in 1851, and served for eleven 
years as school director of the township, having presid- 
ed atone of the conventions for the election of acounty 
superintendent of schools. He was also, for three suc- 
cessive years, chairman of the County Democratic Com- 
mittee. Judge Hoover was elected to the State Legis- 
lature in 1861 and re-elected in 1862 and 1863, having 
served as chairman of the committee on agriculture 
and done other imjjortant committee work. He wa.s, 
in 1865, elected associate judge of the Montgomery 
County courts, and at the expiration of his first term 
re-elected for an additional five years. He was for 
five years a trustee of Franklin and Marshall College, 
Lancaster, Pa., and now fills the same office in connec- 
tion with Ursinus College, at Collegevilie. He has 
been, since its organization, the president of the Nor- 
ristown and Central Square Turnpike Company. He 
is a prominent Mason, and member of Charity Lodge, 
No. 190, of Norristown, as also of the Royal Arch 
Chapter of the borough. He was, in 1841, made a 
member of the First Troop of Montgomery County, and 
served during the riots that occurred in Philadelphia 



NORRITON TOWNSHIP. 



ion? 



in 1844. He was for six years one of its musieians 
and later served as first lieutenant until the disband- 
ing of the company. Judge Hoover, in 1838, became 
a member of Boehm's Reformed Church, of Blue Bell, 
in which he has been an elder since 1856, and was also 
president of the consistory for the whole period, with 
the exception of one year. He has frequently served as 
delegate to various church bodies and been, since 1875, 
treasurer of the Philadelphia classis. Hia zealous 
efforts in behalf of the good work of the Sunday-school 
have resulted in his repeated election as superintend- 
ent and instructor of the Bible-classes, in which labor 
of love he has few superiors. 



deceased, of Norris Hall, the estate of the maternal 
parent having descended Irom the Norris family, who 
purchased it from the son of William Penn, the founder 
of the colony. In the spring of 1835, Mr. Shearer 
settled in Norriton township, on a part of the Norris 
estate known as the " Buttonwood Farm,'' comprising 
one hundred and fifty-six acres. This property he 
purchased in 1861 and substantially improved. In 
the management of this estate he pursued the life of a 
successful farmer, and after the marriage and settle- 
ment of all his children he sold the premises, in 1876, 
and retired to his present residence, at the Trooper 
village, three miles northwest of Xorristown. Mr. 




^;^eyia^n^ ^ ^^' 



-?T-2>-C^'7^ 



AUGUSTTJS W. SHEARER. 

Augustus W. Shearer was born July 12, 1812. He 
is the eldest son of the late John Shearer, Esq., de- 
ceased, a citizen of Lower Providence township, who 
was prominently identified with public affairs, repre- 
senting Montgomery County in the General Assembly 
during the years 1830-33, and was subsequently 
elected Register of Wills, 1839, and held the office of 
justice of the peace in Lower Providence township for 
a period of twenty-five years. 

His son, the subject of this sketch, was married, 
December 9, 1834, to Miss Eunice Norris Schrack, the 
only daughterotthe late John and Mary Norris Schrack, 



Shearer has lived an unostentatious life, but fulfilling 
the public duties of citizenship with fidelity and 
exactness. He took an active part in securing the 
adoption of the common-school system in Norriton 
township, and was one of the early school directors 
elected by the people, an office which he held for 
nineteen years. During a part of this period he was 
secretary of the board. The Indian Creek school was 
under his immediate direction ; he was among the 
first to employ female teachers, the trial being made 
in the school under his management about 1844. He 
was one of the six citizens of Norriton township who 
originated the Montgomery County Agricultural 



1008 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Society, in 1847, and drafted the first constitution for 
its government, and the rules and regulations of the 
first annual exhibition of the society, held at Jeflerson- 
ville. He was a member of the First Troop of Mont- 
gomery County, a cavalry organization whose origin 
antedates the war of 1812, and whose membership for 
more than half of a century comprised the most in- 
telligent and energetic young men residing near the 
center of the county. In 1846 he was commissioned 
colonel of the Sixty-third Kegiment of the Pennsyl- 
vania militia, at the time this regimentwas connected 
with the Second Brigade, Second Division, of the State 
service. Mr. Shearer was clerk of the board of county 



the enjoyment of well-earned repose, he takes an 
active interest in all public matters that pertain to 
the progress and welfare of the community in which 
he resides. Mr. and Mrs. Shearer celebrated their 
golden wedding on the day and evening of December 
9, 1884. 



SAMUEL RITTENHOtrSE. 

William Riitenhouse resided in Montgomery 
County, where he was an industrious farmer. His 
children were David, William, Henry, Catherine and 
Jesse. Henry was a native of Montgomery County, 




V^^ >^(2^^C<S^^i^'L.,S-^ 



commissioners for five years, 1856-61, and while in 
this position he performed the duties of the office with 
entire satisfaction to the public. Colonel Shearer was 
early in life identified with the Democratic party, but 
with many others took issue with its leaders upon the 
subject of slavery. He supported Stephen A. Douglas 
for President in 1860, and subsequently gave a friendly 
and active support to the administration of Abraham 
Lincoln and to all measures for the suppression of the 
great Rebellion. Mr. Shearer and family have long 
been connected with the Presbyterian Church at 
Lower Providence, under the pastorate of the Rev. H. 
S. Rodenbaugh. Although living in retirement and 



where he learned the trade of a weaver, but after- 
wards became a farmer. By his marriage to Catherine 
Carl were born children, — William, Lydia Ann, Eliza 
and Catherine. By a second union, with Mary Shoup, 
of Upper Providence township, his children were 
John, Mary A., Sarah A., Samuel, John (2d), Henry, 
Ellen, Harriet, Lavinia, Elmira and Joseph. Samuel 
was born on the 1st of January, 1830, in Upper Provi- 
dence township, Montgomery Co., and in his youth 
attended the schools most convenient to his home. He 
then engaged in labor on the farm until his eighteenth 
year, when he left home and sought an independent 
career. On the death of his father he returned home 



NORRITON TOWNSHIP. 



1009 



and rendered valuable service to his mother iu the 
management of the farm. Mr. Eittenhouse was on 
the 2d of January, 1862. married to Elizabeth, 
daugliter of Benjamin Baker, of Norriton township, 
and lias cliildren, — Mary Auu, Josephine and Bessie. 
After his marriage Mr. Rittenhouse for five years 
rented a farm, at the expiration of which time he 
purchased his present home, embracing one hundred 
and fourteen acres of productive land, which is devoted 
to dairying and butter-making. Mr. Rittenhouse, 
though not active in politics, has, as a Democrat, held 
such township offices as school director, assessor, etc., 
and been inspector of the Montgomen.- County prison. 



whose children were Charlotte, Susan, William, 
Christopher, Sophia, Henry and David. William, 
whose life is here briefly reviewed, was born August 
.3, 1803, on the homestead farm, with which he has 
been actively identified during his whole life. He 
was early taught the value of habits of industry, and 
when a lad assisted his father in his daily pursuits. 
Receiving but a limited education, he chose a farmer's 
life as that most congenial to his tastes, and on the 
death of his father received, as his;,portion, one-sixth 
of the estate, the remaining shares being secured by 
purchase. He married, in 1831, Miss Susanna, 
daughter of John Highley of Lower Providence, 




0(20^^-1^^ ^/uJt^^ 



He was also one of the committee to carry out the 
plans for the erection of a memorial stone to the 
memory of David Rittenhouse, the philosopher, in 
1884. He is a member and treasurer of the Lower 
Providence Presbyterian Church. 



"WILLIAM RITTENHOUSE. 

The subject of this biography resides upon the an- 
cestral land, once occupied by his grandfather, Henry 
Rittenhouse, who married Sophia Ernhart, and had 
children, — Christopher, William, Wilhelmina, David, 
Joseph and Henry. David, who settled on the home- 
stead in Norriton, married Rachel Zimmerman, 
64 



whose children are George W., Rachel, Mary, Char- 
lotte (deceased), David (deceased), William and Su- 
san, (deceased). 

The death of Mrs. Rittenhouse occurred in 1848. 
Mr. Rittenhouse, the first year subsequent to his mar- 
riage, resided with his m.aterual grandmother, and on 
his return to the homestead worked the farm for six- 
teen years on shares, when it became his property. 
Though always active and industrious, he has ffor 
many years abandoned hard labor, leaving the burden 
and toil to younger and more vigorous hands. . Mr. 
Rittenhouse cast his first vote for Andrew Jackson, 
and afterward became a Whig. He now votes the 



1010 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Rejmblican ticket, but he has never sought office, 
either local or otherwise. He worships with the St. 
John's Protestant Episcopal congregation of Norris- 
town, in which church he is a pew-holder. 



MICHAEL REED. 

Michael Reed, the great-grandfather of Michael 
Reed, emigrated from Manheim Palatinate, on the 
Rhine, Germany, about 1728, and settled in Hatfield 
township, Montgomery Co., Pa. His wife's family 
fled from Switzerland on account of persecution, and 
he for the same cau.se from Germany. He had three 
sons and five daughters, named, respectively, Jacob, 



John, Andrew, Margaret, Magdalene, Catharine, 
Elizabeth and Eve ; John was killed by lightning 
in his twenty-third year. The others all lived to 
an advanced age. 

In 1793, Jacob Reed sold his farm in Hatfield and 
purchased one in New Britain township, Bucks Co., 
on the County Line road, dividing Montgomery and 
Bucks Counties. On this farm he resided, and here 
his wife died August 5, 1804, aged sixty-five years, 
six months and twelve days. The remaining days of 
his life were spent with his son Andrew on his farm, 
where he died November 2, 1820, aged ninety years, 
four months and four days. His remains lie buried 




^J^ Mt^^^^-u^^ 



Michael, Andrew, Catharine, Frances, , Elizabeth 

and Eve. 

Jacob, the eldest, and the grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was born in Hatfield township on 
the 28th day of June, 1730, and purchased a farm 
near the present Hatfield Station, on the North Penn- 
sylvania Railroad, the title for which he received 
from Thomas and Richard Penn, who were proprie- 
tors and Governors-in-chief in and over the province 
of Pennsylvania, by their patent dated the 23d of 
February, 1770. 

.Jacob Reed married Magdalene Leidy, to whom 
nine children were born, named Jacob, Philip, 



in the Leidy burying-ground beside his wife and 
others of his family. 

Jacob Reed was a man of much prominence in his 
day. He was active and influential as a citizen, fill- 
ing several positions of public trust in the vicinity. 
In the church he also took a deep interest, worshiping 
at the Indian Field Reformed Church, not far distant, 
in which he served as an elder for a number of years. 
He was also prominent and active as a defender of 
his country during the Revolutionary war, serving 
under General Washington as colonel of the Penn- 
sylvania militia, and participating' in the battles of 
Trenton, German town, Brandy wine, etc. He escaped 



NORRITON TOWNSHIP. 



1011 



unhurt on the field of battle, but on one occasion, 
when at home visiting his family, he was waylaid by 
Tories, who first shot him through the leg, then tied 
him to a tree, tarred and feathered him and com- 
menced digging the grave in which they purposed 
burying him. Before completing this last act they 
were discovered, and fled, when he was released from 
his perilous situation. The parties engaged in this 
transaction escaped from the country, and their prop- 
erty was subsequently confiscated. On another occa- 
sion, while passing along the highwaj', he was shot at 
by a Hessian, who lay concealed ,in a fence-corner, 
the bullet grazing his head. Again, on another occa- 
sion, while the British were lying in Philadelphia, 



Reed removed to his farm in Hilltown township, 
which adjoined New Britain, which he cultivated 
until his children grew to mature years and left 
him. About the year 1846 he sold the farm and 
purchased a home near the Hilltown Church, where, 
on Junel; 1856, his daughter Abigail died, in the forty- 
sixth year of her age, and on June 3, 1861, his wife 
died, aged seventy-four years. The remaining days 
of his life were spent with his youngest daughter, 
Sarah. The last eight years were spent in total blind- 
ness. His death occurred June 10, 1869, aged eighty- 
eight years and seventeen days. During his life he 
was strictly honest in all his dealings, devoted to hia 
family and beloved by his neighbors. 




y/{cjJaM4 ^.^-e^^ 



they engaged in a marauding'expedition to his home 
while he was on a furlough, and took him prisoner. 
They were about firing the gun already jiointed 
at him, when the British officer's wife interfered and 
saved his life. They, however, took his best horse 
and despoiled him of much other valuable property. 
Andrew Reed, being the youngest of his children, 
remained with him and aided in the cultivation of the 
farm. About 1807 he married Mary Hartman, to 
whom five children were born, named Jacob, Michael, 
Julian, Abigail and Sarah, all natives of New Brit- 
ain township. Jacob and Abigail are deceased ; the 
others still survive. 

The year following the death of his father, Andrew 



Both Mr. Reed and his wife were consistent Chris 
tians and worshiped at the church of the Evangelical 
Association in Hilltown, where their remains lie 
buried beside those of their daughter Abigail. 

Michael Reed was born October 24, 1809, and left 
his home at the age of seventeen years to learn the 
hatting business, which occupation he followed during 
his first two years at Skippackville, and in 1834 re- 
moved to Philadelphia, where he continued the same 
occupation until about 1848. He then retired from 
business and removed to Bucks County, where, on 
February 1.5, 1852, he married Mary A. Bockafellow, 
to whom three children were born, — Franklin, Wil- 
loughby and Mary. 



1012 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Franklin is engaged in the hardware business at 
National City, Southern California, where he mar. 
ried and is now living. Willoughby is by profession 
a graduate of pharmacy and also a graduate of Jeffer- 
son Medical College, Philadelphia. He is married 
and practicing medicine in Jeffersonville, Montgom- 
ery Co., Pa. Mary is engaged in teaching. 

Michael Reed has resided for the last twenty-eight 
years in Jeffersonville. He is in religion a Pres- 
byterian, and elder in the Centennial Presbyterian 
Church of Jeffersonville, which office he has held 
for many years. 



NorritOD, where, with the exception of a brief period 
his life was spent. He was united in marriage to 
Mary, daughter of George Freas, of Whitemarsh town- 
ship, and had children, — Hiram, Mary, Jesse, Georo-e 
Ann, Myra, Hannah, Samuel, Samuel (second), Isaac 
Leah and Rachel. Jesse was born on the 12th of 
September, 1823, in Whitemarsh township, where he 
remained until eleven years of age. In 1834 he re- 
moved with the family to Norriton township, on the 
farm now occupied by him, where his father was a 
successful farmer and also followed his trade of black- 
smith. After very modest educational opportunities 




/C^^-^.-^uar- 



JESSE ROBERTS. 

Ellis Roberts, who was of Welsh descent, and the 
probable pioneer of the family in Montgomery County, 
was the first to pursue the blacksmith's craft in that 
county. He died in 1775, and his wife, Mary, in 1781. 
Their son Levi, the great-grandfather of Jesse Roberts, 
resided in Norriton township, and was by trade a shoe- 
maker, having made shoes for the Revolutionary army 
while encamped at Valley Forge. 

His children were Mary, Ruth and Jesse, the last- 
named having married Elizabeth Davis, who was also 
of Welsh extraction, and had children, — Margaret, 
Levi, Samuel, Jesse, Isaac, Charles, Job and Mary. 
Samuel was born on the 1st of September, 1795, in 



he learned the trade of a carpenter, and finding a de- 
mand for his skill, continued it until 1849, when his 
presence was rendered necessary on the farm, which 
he superintended for his father. The homestead was 
sold in 1868, and a portion purchased by him embrac- 
ing sufficient land to pursue the healthful occupations 
of a farmer. Mr. Roberts, in 1851, obtained a patent 
on a grain and seed fan he invented, and for several 
years engaged in their manufacture. They were in 
large demand, received premiums from various organ- 
izations and were conceded to be at the time the best 
machines of their character in the market. Mr. 
Roberts, having abandoned manufacturing, has of late 
devoted himself exclusively to farming. He has been 



NORRITON TOWNSHIP. 



1013 



since 1867 secretary of the Norristown and Centre 
Square Turnpike and Road Company. Jn politics he 
was formerly a Whig, and found it easy in the organ- 
ization of the Republican party to espouse its principles, 
though he has never sought nor accepted office. He 
was reared in the faith of the Society of Friends. 



REV. JOHX L. REESE. 

Evan Reese, the grandfather of the subject of this 
biographical sketch, was descended from Welsh par- 
ents, and resided in Upper Providence township. He 
was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Bell, and had 
children, — Daniel, Samuel, Benjamin, .John, Evan 



he purchased the farm in Norriton township which is 
now the residence of his widow and son, where much 
of the time not given to ministerial work was devoted 
to farming. He was married, in 1831, to Miss Mary, 
daughter of William Johnson, of Worcester township, 
Montgomery Co. Their only son, William J., pursues 
the life of an agriculturalist. Mr. Reese later in life 
studied theology, and believing that the gospel should 
be free to all men, gave his services to the churches to 
which lie ministered without compensation, at Valley 
Forge, Goshen, Chester Co., at Lower Providence 
and elsewhere at Baptist Churches of the county. His 
Abolition sentiments led to affiliation with the Re- 
publican party in politics, though never serving 




REV. .lOHX L. REESE. 



and Sarah. Of tliese, Benjamin was a native of 
Upper Providence, and married Jane Lloyd, whose 
children were Thomas, David, John L., Samuel, Eliza 
(Mrs. Benjamin Johnson), Hannah (Mrs. Jacob John- 
son), and Margaret, the last-named being the only 
survivor. John L. was born on the 18th of 
June, 1804, in Upper Providence township, and 
received in his youth but limited advantages of 
education. He, however, cultivated habits of observa- j 
tion and thought which were of more service than the 
knowledge derived from books. He early engaged in 
teaching, the summer months being devoted to labor 
on the farm of his father and the winter to the various 
schools at different times under his charge. At the 
age of twenty-five, desiring to become independent 



actively in its ranks. His death occurred May 2, 1861' 
in his fifty-seventh year. 



WILLIAM .T. REESE. 

William J. Reese, the grandson of Benjamin and 
Jane Lloyd Reese and the son of Rev. .John L. and 
Mary Johnson Reese, was born on the 15th of Novem- 
ber, 1834, in Norriton township, where he has been a 
life-long resident. His youth was devoted to the 
improvement of sucli opportunities as were offered at 
the neighboring schools of his township, after which 
he became a pupil of the Treemount Seminary, Norris- 
town. He for a while pursued the avocation of a 
teacher, but ultimately returned to the paternal roof 



1014 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, 



and engaged in the labor incident to a farmer's life. 
On the death of his father the property became his by 
inheritance, and is now, as before, his home. Mr. 
Reese was married, on the 10th of February, 1870, to 
Miss Anna, daughter of John Hardy, of Lower Provi- 
dence township, whose children are John W., Ella 
May and William J., Jr. Mr. Reese's known ability 
and integrity have caused his services to be frequently 
in demand in the capacity of guardian and as the 
custodian of momentous trusts. Though a Repub- 
lican in politics, his interest in mnttors of public 



John Sanders, of West Philadelphia, and had chil- 
dren, — Emily, Hester, Susannah, Anna, Zoe, Mary, 
Sarah, Jane, Elmira, Joseph and John S. The last- 
named son was born on the 21st of November, 1828, 
in Germantown, though a part of his youth was spentin 
Delaware County, Pa. He became while a lad a 
pupil of the common school, and when sufficiently 
advanced in years, engaged in farming, with his 
father. He was in 1854 married to Rachel Haws, 
daughter of Samuel Haws, of Norristown. Their 
children are Ada B., Hamilton, J. Wilmer, Lilius M. 





concern is evinced simply by the casting of his ballot, 
neither the honors of office nor its rewards having for 
him attractions. Mr. Reese and his family are wor- 
shipers at the Baptist Church of Lower Providence. 



JOHN S. HARDING. 

Mr. Harding is descended from English stock. 
John Harding, his father, resided during his early life 
in Germantown, Pa., and later purchased a farm at 
Eagleville, in Lower Providence township, to which 
he removed. He married Elizabeth, step-daughter of 



I (Mrs. Edwin K. Kneule, of Norristown) and Alice G. 

I Mr. Harding, soon after his marriage, rented the farm 
of his father-in-law, which for several years he culti- 
vated, purchasing, in 1872, the valuable property in 
Norriton township which is his present home. 
Though engaged in general farming, he has devoted 
much attention to the products of the dairy, in which 
he has beeti remarkably successful. Mr. Harding is a 
Republican in his political associations, and though 
active in politics, has aspired to no local office other 
than tliat of school director of his township. In his 



NORIUTON TOWJNSHIP. 



1015 



religious belief he is a Presbyterian and a supporter of 
the church of thatdenomination at Jeffersonville, where 
the family worship. 

WILLIAM KNIGHT, SR. 

William Knight, the grandfather of the subject of 
this biographical sl^etch, emigrated from England and 
settled in Cecil County, Md., where he became the 
owner of a tract of land embracing one thousand 
acres, and ranked as one of the leading agricullunil- 
ists of the county. Among his sons was Thomas, who 
married Ann Kirk, of the same county, to whom were 
born children, — William, Emily. Lydia Ann, Levi 



period of eighteen years in the latter place. He was 
married, on the 9th of September, 1841, to Jane, daugh- 
ter of Colonel Samuel H. Coats, of Upper Merion. 
Their children are Margaret A. (Mrs. Joseph Frantz), 
Emily (Mrs. John R. Pugh), Samuel C, William T., 
Gertrude (Mrs. Harry T. Walter), Grace I. (wife of 
Dr. T. L. Adams), Blanche E. (Mrs. T. R. Vernon), 
Paul G. and two who are deceased. Mr. Knight 
eventually left Germantown and became a resident of 
Chester County, where for eighteen years he cultivated 
a farm. In 1881 he purchased a farm and residence 
in Norriton township, near Norristown, and continued 
actively employed uatil his death, on the 8th of July, 





^ 




a(yiC/-7>0^ 



^ 



and Thomas, of whom Lydia Ann (Mrs. .John Sum- 
mers) and Emily (Mrs. Henry Sheaff) are the only 
survivors. William was born March 29, 1812, in Cecil 
County, Md. After a plain English education he be- 
came an apprentice to the trade of a carpenter, which, 
however, engaged his attention for a brief period only. 
He gratified his taste for travel by an extended tour 
in the West, which was made a source, not only of 
diversion, but profit, and on returning became a con- 
tractor and builder, constructing various bridges for 
the Pennsylvania Railroad when under the auspices 
of the State, in 1832. Removing to Germantown, he 
continued his business as a builder, residing for a 



1884. Mr. Knight bore a reputation for great ability 
in business transactions, as also for the most scrupulous 
integrity, his influence being always on the side of 
morality and religion. The principles of justice'and 
mercy were exemplified in his daily walk and conver- 
sation. His religious training was that of the Society 
of Friends, though since his residence in Norriton a 
worshiper with the congregation of the Old Swedes 
Church (Protestant Episcopal), of Bridgeport. 



WILLIAM K. KENNEDY. 

The Kennedy family trace their lineage from 
Ireland. William Kennedy, the father of the sub- 



1016 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ject of this biography, resided in Easttown town- 
ship, Chester Co., Pa., where he was the owner 
of a productive farm. He married Esther daugh- 
ter of David Robinson, of the same county, whose 
children were Margaret (deceased), Hetty Ann (Mrs. 
John Dampman), Rachel, Alexander (deceased), 
William R., Robert (deceased), and Elizabeth (Mrs. 
Peter Supplee, deceased). William R. was born 
March 23, 1816, in Easttown township, Chester Co., 
and devoted his early youth to acquiring such edu- 
cation as the schools near his home afforded. His 
time was then occupied in labor upon the land owned 



Co., but in 1848 found superior advantages offered in 
the purchase of a farm of about one hundred acres 
from the estate of Jesse Bean (deceased), located one 
quarter of a mile southwest of Jeffersonville, in 
Norriton township, where he remained pursuing the 
avocation of a farmer until 1870, when his present 
home, at Jeffersonville, in the same township, was 
purchased. Having been from his youth accustomed 
to habits of industry, his willing hands now find 
occupation in the improvement of the land about his 
home. Mr. Kennedy has, as a Democrat, served the 
township in various capacities, though not active in 




e^^^-z^^^e.^^ 



by his father until 1845, when, on the 20th of Feb- 
ruary of that year, he was married to Miss Abigail E., 
daughter of Peter Supplee, of Schuylkill township, 
Chester Co., Pa. The children of this marriage are 
William (deceased) ; B. Franklin, married to Eliza, 
daughter of James Smith, of Montgomery County; 
John S., who is united to Susan, daujrhter of Thomas 
P. Potts, of Norristown; Emma S. (Mrs. Abner Cor- 
iiog) ; and Robinson, whose wife was Maggie, daugh- 
ter 'of Benson Schrader, of Armstrong County, Pa. 
Mr. Kennedy, in 1847, two years after his marriage, 
removed to a farm in Tredyffrin township, Chester 



public matters. He is a member of the Jefferson- 
ville Presbyterian Church, and among its foremost 
supporters. 



FRANCIS NACE. 

Mr. Nace is of German descent, his grandfather 
having been De Walt Nace, who resided in Upper 
Salford township, where he was a representative far- 
mer. His wife was a Miss Barndt, whose children 
were five sons and four daughters, among whom was 
Christian, born on the homestead October 18, 1785, 



NORRITON TOWNSHIP. 



1017 



where he was both a distiller and a farmer on the 
land formerly the projierty of his great-grandfather. 
He was united in marriage to Susanna, daughter of 
Philip Singmaster, their children being Francis, 
Samuel S. and Mary Ann. Francis, whose birth oc- 
curred at the paternal home on the 3d of June, 1820, 
at the age of eleven years, removed to the farm which 
is his present home, in Norriton towushiii, his father 
having purchased the property. He was educated at 
the common schools, and early instructed in the 
various departments of farm labor, tirst assisting his 
father, and later superintending his business. On 
the death of the latter he inherited a portion of the 



Providence township, whose two children. Bertha 
Nace and Frank John, reside with their parents and 
grandparents on the homestead. Mr. Nace is a Dem- 
ocrat in politics, but has invariably declined official 
position either in the township or county. He has 
been on frequent occasions appointed guardian, and 
held various positions of responsibility and trust. 
His religious convictions are in harmony with the 
creed of the Eeformed Church, his membership being 
in connection with the church in Francouia township. 

SAMUEL F. JARRETT. 

The progenitor of the Jarrett family emigrated from 





/^^ 



rt^ei^ne^ 



cy\'aAl^ 



property, and purchased the remainder, continuing 
his usual avocations and making a specialty of blooded 
stock, for which he has an extended reputation. Mr. 
Nace is a progressive farmer, and keeps well informed 
on matters pertaining to his branch of industry. All 
modern machinery adapted to the wants of the agri- 
culturalist may be found in use upon his land, and 
new improvements of whatever character are eagerly 
sought and applied by him. Francis Nace was mar- 
ried, on the 19th of March, 1846, to Miss Levina, 
daughter of Samuel Leidy, of Franconia township, 
Montgomery Co. Their only daughter, Susanna, is 
married to William B. Gross, of the Trappe, Upper 



the Highlands of Scotland to America at a very early 
date. Among his descendants was .John Jarrett, the 
great-grandfather of Samuel F., who was born in 1719, 
and married Alice Conard, also born the same year. 
Their children were John, whose birth occurred in 
1740; May, born in 1742; Elizabeth, in 1744; Han- 
nah, in 1745; Rachel, in 1747; William, in 1748; 
Alice, in 1750 ; Jonathan, in 1753 ; David, in 1755 ; 
Jesse, in 1757 ; Tacy, in 1759 ; and Joseph, in 1761. 
Jesse married Elizabeth Palmer, whose children were 
Mary (Mrs. Isaac Shoemaker), David, Alice, Tacy 
(Mrs. James Kirk), Joseph and John. 

David, of this number, was born October 24, 



1018 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



1797, in Wliitemarsh township, and subsequently 
made Upper Providence township his home, 
where lie engaged in farming pursuits until 183(i, 
when his removal to Plymouth occurred. He mar- 
ried Rebecca, daughter of Atkinson Farra, of Norris- 
town whose children were Jesse, Samuel F., Charles 
P., Atkinson F., Elizabeth, John, Lucretia (Mrs. 
Joseph Umstead) and C'halkley. Samuel F. was 
born in Upper Providence township on the 19th of 
November, 1825, and at the age of ten years removed 
to Plymouth, where his youth was devoted to the ac- 



his attention largely to farming, making dairying a 
specialty, in which branch of agricultural industry he 
is much interested, and has been chosen president of 
the Crawford Creamery, of Lower Providence. Mr. 
Jarrett is in his political convictions a stanch Re- 
publican. He was, elected in 1872, county treasurer in 
a strong Democratic locality. His popularity led to 
his renomination in 1873 by acclamation and conse- 
quent election. In 1874, he was again chosen for the 
third term of three years, and closed his official career 
in 1878. He was among the first to enlist, in 1863, in 




quirenient of a rudimentary education. Returning 
again to Upper Providence, he remained until 1845, 
when Norriton township became his residence and 
his occupation that of a farmer. Mr. Jarrett was, on 
the 3d of June, 1849, married to Amanda Crawford 
daughter of Joseph and Rebecca Crawford, of Lower 
Providence. Their children are two daughters, — 
Emma (deceased) and Anna R., wife of Dr. W. H. 
Reed, of JefTersonville. Mr. Jarrett on his marriage 
removed to a farm in Lower Providence owned by 
him, and three years later, in 1853, purchased his 
present home in Norriton township. He has given 



response to the call for men for the "emergency," and 
became a member of the Norris Cavalry, which did 
valuable service in Maryland, remaining in the field 
for a period of two months. Mr. Jarrett was educated 
in the faith of the Society of Friends, but at present 
worships at the Lower Providence Presbyterian 
Church. 



.lOHN HOFFMAN. 



Sfjuire Hoffman's grandfather was Jacob Hoffman, 
who resided in Norriton township, where he culti- 



PERKIOMEN TOWNSHIP. 



1019 



■fated a farm. He was united in marriage to a Miss 
Slough, whose children were John, Jacob, Samuel, 
Peter, .loseph, Jesse and three daughters. Jacob 
was born in Norriton township on the 17th day of 
September, 1793, and varied the pursuits of a farmer 
with the trade of a carpenter. He married Barbara 
Heebner, daughter of John and Elizabeth Hoffman 
Heebner, of Xorriton township, their only child being 
John Hofl'man, whose life is here briefly sketched. 
He was born December 2.5, 1813, in Xorriton, and 
educated at the schools immediately near his home. 
For several years after he engaged in teaching, in 



residence. He has also, for fifty years, been engaged 
in the practice of surveying and conveyancing. He 
is in politics a Democrat, and interested in all that 
pertains to the welfare of the county. Squire Hoff- 
man was for eight years assessor, for three years 
county commissioner, and, in 1848, was elected justice 
of the peace, which office he still holds. His services 
are frequently souglit as guardian and trustee, and 
his opinion in matters of public import received 
with deference in the township. He has recently 
been admitted to membership in the Lower Provi- 
dence Presbvterian Church. 




which he was successful. He married Rosanna, 
daughter of David and Mary Gouldey, of the same 
township, and has children — Franklin, Joanna, 
James and two who are deceased. Squire Hoffman, 
after his marriage, cultivated the homestead farm, 
which he eventually inherited. Here his tranquil 
life has been spent,- no excitements or attractions of 
the world about him having been sufficient to lure 
him from this peaceful home. 

For many years he participated actively in the 
labor of the farm, but has more recently given it to 
other hands, though retaining the homestead as his 



CHAPTER LXVII. 



PERKIOMEN TOWNSHIP.' 



One of the central townships of the county, and 
bounded north by Upper and Lower Salford, east by 
Towamencin, south by Lower Providence, southeast 
by Worcester, west by Upper Providence and north- 
west by Frederick and Limerick. Its greatest length 
is six miles, greatest breadth three and a quarter 
miles, with an area of eleven thousand four hundred 



I Bj Wm. J. Buck. 



1020 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and forty acres, it being the seventh in territorial 
extent. The general surface is rolling, and in some 
portions might be denominated hilly, witli a red shale 
soil, well cultivated and productive in wheat and 
gra.«s, but containing few springs of unfailing water ; 
consequently the spring-house, so common in some of 
the lower districts, is not often seen. The Perkiomen 
Creek flows in a southerly course through the town- 
ship upwards of four miles, and propels two grist- 
mills and a saw-mill. Skippack Creek crosses the 
full breadth of the southeastern section, and furnishes 
power to two grist-mills and a saw-mill. The North- 
east Branch, Landis and Lodle Runs empty into the 
Perkiomen in this township. 

The name Perkiomen is of Indian origin, and the 
earliest mention yet found of it is in a deed of June 
3, 1684, for the purchase of lands on this stream, 
wherein it is called Pahkehoma. The next mention 
is on the Holme's map of about 1704 as Perquamink; 
in 1734, Parkiomen ; and on Lewis Evans' map of 
1749, Perkiomy, by which latter name it is called to 
this day by the Germans. Oldmixon, in the second 
edition of his " British Empire in America," pub- 
lished in 1741, says that the Perkiomen Creek is also 
called Perkasie, thus proving that the latter is a deri- 
vation or corruption of the former. So the township 
and Thomas Penn's manor, in Bucks County, owe 
their names to this large and interesting stream. The 
Rev. David Zeisberger, the Indian missionary, says thaj 
in the Delaware or Lenape language the name signifies 
the place " where the cranberries grow." Skippack is 
also an Indian name, and, according to Heckewelder 
signifies a stagnant stream or pool of water. In a 
map published at London in 1608 the Perkiomen and 
its several branches are represented thereon with toler- 
able correctness, thus showing that this section of 
country was explored earlier than has generally been 
supposed. It is much the largest stream in the 
county, being nearly thirty miles in length and, with 
its tributaries, watering half its area. 

The Perkiomen and Sumneytown turnpike, com- 
pleted in 1849, follows the west side of the stream 
through the township for four miles. Parallel and 
close to the same for this distance is also the Perkio- 
men Railroad, with stations at Iron Bridge, Grater's 
Ford and Schwenksville, the latter place being thirty- 
six miles by railroad from Philadelphia. The villages 
are Skippack, Schwenksville, Grater's Ford, Iron 
Bridge, Amityville and Harmony Square, the first 
four having post-offices. According to the census of 
1800, the population of the township was 781 ; in 
1840, 1485 ; and in 1880, 2515. The real estate for 
taxable purposes was valued in 1882 at $1,716,195, 
and including the personal, .$1,890, .300, making the 
average per taxable $2851, as high as the townsbii)S 
of Norriton, Plymouth, Whitemarsh- and Upper 
Providence. In May, 1883, twenty-three stores re- 
ceived licenses, including one hardware, one furnitme, 
one confectioner, one clothing, two boot and shoes 



two stove, two tobacco and segar, besides six hotels, 
one lumber and two coal-yards and four dealers in 
flour and feed. In 1858 the township contained only 
three stores, and in 1876, seventeen. The public 
schools are twelve in number, open .six months and 
averaging four hundred and ninety-one pupils for the 
school year ending June 1, 1882. In 1856 the schools 
were open five months. The houses of worship now \ 
number eight, — two Mennonite, two Dunkard, one 
each Lutheran and Reformed, one Evangelical, one 
Union and one Trinity Christian. The assessment j 
for 1883 mentions 669 taxables. The census of 1850 \ 
returned 263 houses, 298 families and 189 farms in 
the township. 

There is every reason to believe that at this distance 
from Philadelphia no township within the limits of 
the present county was settled so early. This was 
owing to the remarkable enterprise exhibited by Ma- 
thias Van Bebber, formerly a merchant, who arrived 
in this country and settled for a brief period at Ger- 
mantown, but afterwards removed to Cecil County, 
Md. A patent was granted him from William Penn, 
dated February 22, 1702, for a tract of six thousand 
one hundred and sixty-six acres, recorded in book A, 
vol. ii. p. 463, and which comprised the entire south- 
eastern half of the township. He soon after invited 
settlement here by selling it off at small profit in reason- 
ably-sized lots. His purchasers were generally Menno- 
nites. Among the first who settled here may be men- 
tioned John Umstat, Claus Janson, John Kuster and 
John Jacobs, who, it is supposed, came before the close 
of 1704 ; Edward Beer, Gerhard Indehoflen, Herman In- 
dehoffen, Derick Rosenberg, William Rosenberg, John 
Newberry and Thomas Wiseman before 1 707; and with- 
in two years, Herman Kuster, Henry Pannebecker,Cor- 
nelius Dewees, William Dewees, John Scholl, Daniel 
Dismant and Christopher Zimmerman. In 1709 came 
John, Jacob and Martin Kolb, followed by Solomon 
Dubois in 1716, Valentine Hunsicker in 1720, Paul 
Fried in 1727 and Valentine Keely in 1728. John 
Kolb's purchase was made December 15, 1709, and 
contained one hundred and fifty acres. Peter Beller 
made a purchase in 1712, and Peter Cleaver, of Bristol 
township, in 1717. In a petition for a road from here 
to Farmar's Mill, in 1713, we find among the names 
Derick Rosenberg, Henry Frey, Gerhard Indehoffen, 
Claus Janson, Gerhard Clements, Henry Pennypacker, 
John Umstat, John Kolb, Jacob Gotschalk, Mathias 
Tyson, Jacob Kolb, William Rosenberg, Herman 
Kuster, Martin Kolb, John Scholl, Henry Kolb, Jacob/ 
Opdegrart', Peter Sellen, Herman Indehoffen, John 
Newberry and Daniel Dismant, probably all residents 
in the township before said date. 

In the list of 1734 this township is called " Parki- 
omen and Skippake," and by which it is generally 
called to this day, from its location on both sides of 
those streams. The land-holders were forty-two in 
number, who then respectively held the following 
number of acres : John Umstead, 150; Herman Um- 



PERKIOMEN TOWNSHIP. 



1021 



V 

V 



1/ 



stead, 100 ; Henry Pennebaker, 150 ; Henry Umstead, 
100; Peter Bunn, 100; Herman Kuster, 150 ; Claus 
Johnson, 150 ; Mathias Tyson, 200 ; Anthony Hall- 
man, 100 ; John Newberry, 500 ; Hupert Cassel, 60 ; 
Yillus Cassel, 90; George Merkle, 150; Garret Inde- 
hoffen, 200 ; Abraham Swartz, 100 ; Jacob Updegraff, 
100; Jacob Shimer, 100; Paul Fried, 100; Peter 
Janson, 150; Michael Ziegler, 100; Jacob Kolb, 150; 
Peter Kolb, 100 ; Martin Kolb, 200; John Fried, 100; 
Henry Dentlinger, 100 ; Jacob Merkle, 200 ; Benja- 
min Fry, 100; Henry Pawling, Jr., 1200; Paul Fried, 
Jr., 100 ; Hans Detwiler, 100 ; Mathias Janson, 50 ; 
Dubois estate, 400 ; Richard Jacobs, 400 ; Nicholas 
Hicks, 100 ; Valentine Hunsicker, 100 ; William Wier- 
man, 125; Johannes Vanfussen, 50; Leonard Van- 
fussen, 25 ; Peter Pennebaker, 100 ; Arnold Vanfussen, 
50; Hans Hyzer, 100; John Zibbers, 150. 

Henry Pennypacker is stated to have made a pur- 
chase on Skippack Creek, December 25, 1702, upon 
which he settled, and iu 1708 purchased two hundred 
and four acres more in the vicinity. About 1705 
he married Eve, the sister of his neighbor, John 
Umstead, and the daughter of John Peter Um- 
stead, of Germantown. He was naturalized in 1731, 
and prior to 1746 resided for a while in Limerick, 
where his wife died. He shortly afterward returned 
to this township, when he divided the greater portion 
of his estate among his children. He died April 4 
1754, aged upwards of eighty years. He had eight 
children, among whom were Martha, born about 
1706 ; Adolph, 1708, and died in May, 1789 ; Peter, 
1710, died 1770; John, 1713, died 1784; Jacob, 1715, 
died 1752; Henry, 1717, died 1792. Peter married 
Elizabeth Keyser, and Martha became the wife of 
Anthony Vanderslice. The Pennypackers have now 
become a numerous family in Montgomery and Ches- 
ter Counties, and, as will be observed in the lists of 
Perkiomen for 1734, 1756 and 1776, became substan- 
tial land-holders. 

Herman Kuster settled as a farmer at Germantown 
before 1703, and removed to this township probably 
in 1708. He was made one of the first trustees of the 
Mennonite meeting-house in 1725. He was naturalized 
in 1731 and died about February, 1760. His wife, 
Isabella, and children — Peter, Paul, Gertrude, Mar- 
garet, Magdalena and Rebecca — survived him. Ma- 
thias Tyson was naturalized in 1709, and was married 
to Barbara Sellen ; and died about July, 1766. He had 
eight children, — Cornelius, Henry, Margaret, Peter, 
William, John, Benjamin and Joseph. John New- 
berry, who settled here on a purchase of five hundred 
acres, in 1706, died August 80, 1759, aged eighty- 
two years, and was buried at the Episcopal Church 
at Evansburg. Conrad Janson, Peter Janson and 
Claus Janson, and his sons, John and William, were 
naturalized in 1709. Peter, John and William Jan- 
son had settled at Germantown prior to 1700. Claus 
Janson probably settled here in 1703, was tax col- 
lector of the township in 1718, an. 1 in 1725 was one 



of the first trustees of the Mennonite Meeting. De- 
scendants of the family still reside in the township, 
and the name has become changed to Johnson. 
Martin, Jacob and John Kolb came from Wolfsheim 
in the Palatinate, iu rf07. Valentine Hunsicker, 
Michael Zeigler, Anthony Hallman and George 
Markle were naturalized in 1731. Valentine Hun- 
sicker came from Switzerland in 1717, and about 
1720 settled in this township as a farmer and weaver. 
He is probably the ancestor of this family, now nu- 
merous in the county. In 1776 we find here Henry 
and Isaac Hunsicker, both extensive land-holders and 
probably sons of Valentine. Solomon Dubois came 
from Ulster County, N. Y., in 1716, and died some 
time before 1734, leaving an estate here of four 
hundred acres. The Markleys are another influential 
family in the county that originated from George and 
Jacob Merkle, or Merckley, who settled here some- 
time prior to 1734. In 1756 there resided as taxables 
in Perkiomen, Jacob, George, Isaac, Philip and Abra- 
ham Markley. The Kolbs, Jansons, Sellens, Zeiglers 
and Kusters were early and prominent members of 
the old Mennonite Meeting, founded in 1725. 

In the records of the Court of Quarter Sessions, in 
Philadelphia, in 1712, we find it variously called Per- 
kiomen, Skippack and Bebber's township. In the 
petition of June 2, 1713, mention is made of its 
being from " the inhabitants of Skippack and several 
adjacent plantations in said county. That in 
the aforesaid township and neighborhood thereof 
many families are already settled, and probably 
not a few more to settle in and about the same. 
And as yet no road being laid out and established 
to accommodate your petitioners, both for the public 
good and their convenience, humbly desire an order 
for the laying out and establishing a road or cartway 
from the upper end of the said township down to the 
wide marsh, or Farmer's Mill, which will greatly tend 
to the satisfaction of your petitioners, who shall 
thankfully acknowledge the favor." Although in this 
petition it is also called a township, no evidence exists 
that it had been thus legally organized. From the 
sparseness of its population the time had probably 
not arrived for township organization. It was not 
until September Sessions, 1725, that "Skippack and 
Perkioming" was erected, and Jacob Taylor ordered 
to make a return of the boundaries of the township, 
which was entered on record and thus given, — 

" Beginning at a Hickory, being on a corner of the tract of land 
commonly called Bebber's township ; thence northwest 1672 perches to 
Limerick township ; thence by that and other lands northeast 1000 
perches ; thence southeast by divers tracts of land 7.V2 perches to a post in 
a line of the said Bebber's Tract, thence by the same northeast 40 
perches ; thence by the same 1000 perclies to a White Oak, a corner of said 
Bebber's Tract ; thence by the same southwest 1040 perches to the place 
of beginning." 

Mr. Taylor states that he has compared said return 
with a draft of the upper part of Philadelphia County, 
and that it is agreeable to the same. It would be in- 
teresting if the draft here mentioned could be found 



1022 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and examined, which has certainly heretofore escaped 
antiquarian research. A(;cording to present maps of 
Pcrlviomen, a part of the northwest boundary, adjacent 
to Frederick and Upper Salford has Ijecome changed, 
the line proceeding northwest from the corner of 
Limerick and Upper Providence, in a direct or straight 
course, the whole distance according to Taylor's sur- 
vey. This would deprive the township of nearly the 
whole of ychwenk.sville. The change may have pos- 
sibly been made through the erection of Frederick 
township in 1730. 

'■■' Henry Pawling, the ancestor of the family, came 
from Padsbury, Buckinghamshire, and settled in 
Lower Providence township on a tract of five hundred 
acres, which lay on the Schuylkill, below the mouth 
of the Perkiomen. Henry Pawling, Jr., son of the 
above, purchased twelve hundred acres in Perkio- 
men township some time before 1734, on which he 
settled He was elected a captain of a company of 
Associators in 1747 and a member of the Assembly in 
1754. In the census of Perkiomen, taken in 175t), we 
find the names of Josej)h Pawling, having 4 children, 
owning 400 acres of land and 1 negro; John Pawling, 
5 children, 400 acres and 2 negroes. In the assess- 
ment of 1776, John Pawling is returned for 475 acres, 
4 negroes, 4 horses and 4 cows ; Joseph Pawling, 300 
acres, 2 negroes, 4 hor.ses and 6 cows; Benjamin Pawl- 
ing, 100 acres, 2 horses and 2 cows. The latter died 
in 1800, aged forty-nine years. John Pawling resided 
on the Skippack road, near the present Amityville, 
and died in the beginning of this century. There is 
a family burying-ground situated in quite a retired 
place adjoining the farm of Enos Schwcnk, about a 
mile and a quarter northeast of Grater's Ford, only a 
few stones of which contain inscriptions. A portion of 
the same was also used as a place of interment for their 
negroes. On the consecration of the Trappe Church 
October 6, 1745, the Rev. H. M. Muhlenberg baptized 
three negroes belonging to a Mr. Pawling which it 
is probable, belonged here, as the distance does not 
exceed four miles, about half as far as Pawling's Ford, 
on the Schuylkill. 

On the northeast side of Skippack road, and about 
half a mile northwest of Amityville, is a private grave- 
yard, inclosed by a stone wall ; its dimensions are 
twenty-two by thirty feet. It appears to be filled with 
graves, but only a few stones bear inscriptions. The 
earliest date observed is that of 1776, liut no doubt it 
existed much earlier. This was the burying-ground 
of the Kemper family and their re latives, the Mark- 
leys. The wall has now become greatly dilapidated^ 
and long neglect is apjjarent. John Kemper, who 
's mentioned as holding one hundred acres in Salford, 
in 1734, was a deacon in the Dunkard Church. John 
and Jacob Kemper are mentioned in 1756 as residing 
in Perkiomen, the former owning eighty and the 
latter fifty acres and having one child. The name of 
the former is mentioned in the assessment of 1776 as 
holding eighty-five acres, two horses and three cows- 



The child mentioned was | robably Gertrude Kemper, 
who died at a very advanced age al)out 1830, and who 
was said to have been the last of the family. Through 
the existence of this graveyard attention was directed 
to this brief mention of the Kempers. 

The earliest highway opened up into this section 
was undoubtedly what has been so long known aa 
the Skippack road, on which Washington and his 
army had occasion to march several times upon very 
important occasions. This road was petitioned for 
by the inhabitants June 2, 1713, surveyed in Au- 
gust, confirmed the following March by the court, and 
the supervisors directed to have it speedily opened. 
It commenced at a stake on the upper line of Van 
Bebber's purchase, about half a mile above the present 
Amityville, and meeting the road from Gwynedd at 
Edward Farmar's mill on, the Wissahickon, at White- 
marsh, from whence there was a continuous road 
through Chestnut Hill and Germantown to the 
city. This road was extended an din use through New 
Hanover into the jiresent Berks County before 1742, 
and has, therefore, since been known as the Swamp 
road. The road from Skippack, through Lederachs- 
ville and Salfordville, to Sumneytown was opened in 
June, 1728. Along the northeastern side of the Skip- 
pack road in this township may still be seen the 
ancient milestones, with the distances thereon to the 
city. In 1845 a company was incorjiorated by an act 
of Assembly to construct a turnpike from Whiteniarsh 
to Skippack, but, after several fruitless eflbrts, the 
project was abandoned. In March, 1853, a second 
charter w'as granted and the turnpike completed to 
near the Worcester line, which was finished in Sep- 
tember, 1855, approaching the townshij) within a dis- 
tance of four and a half miles. 

What was known as Penny packer's Mill during the 
Revolution, in the vicinity of which Washington's 
army encamped, is now owned by John Z. Hunsber- 
srer, and situated on the east bank of the Perkiomen 
Creek, opposite the lower end of Schwenksville. In 
1717 six hundred acres were conveyed to Hans Yost 
Heijt, who sold it, January 9, 1730, to John Pawling y/ 
for five hundred and forty pounds, at which time the 
grist-mill is mentioned. His heirs sold it in 1747 to 
Peter Pennypacker, who built to it a fulling-mill in 
1755. He was lor several years assessor of the town- 
ship, and died in 1770, devising the property to his 
son Samuel, in whose possession it remained for some 
time. The latter was rated as holding here, in 1776, 
one hundred and eighty-five acres, three horses and 
seven cows. This was a noted business-stand, being 
situated on a main road leading from the upper coun- 
try to Philadelphia, from which it was distant twenty- 
nine miles. It has passed out of the Pennypacker 
family for some time, as has also much the greater 
portion of their other real estate in Perkiomen. 

The Revolutionary history of this vicinity is very 
interesting, and to it a brief reference will be 
made. The battle of Brandywine was fought Septem- 



FEKKIOMEN TOWNSHIP. 



1023 



ber 11, 1777, and resulted disastrously to the Ameri- 
cans. On the 23d, Washington arrived near the j^resent 
Pottstown, while the day before the British crossed 
below Valley Forge to this side of the Schuylkill, 
proceeding leisurely on their march to Philadelphia. 
The American army came from near Pottsgrove into 
this township on the afternoon of September 26th, 
and encamped on the hills of both sides of the Per- 
kiomen. Washington made his headquarters at the 
house of Henry Keely, about three-quarters of a mile 
southwest of Pennypaeker's Mill, using, how'ever, 
" Camp Perkioming," as well as the latter name, in his 
orders to designate the vicinity. On the 28th he con- 
gratulates the army on the news of the defeat of 
General Burgoyne at Stillwater, on the 19th, and, in 
honor of the event, at four o'clock in the afternoon 
had all the troops j^araded and a salute fired from 
thirteen pieces of artillery, which the Rev. H. M. 
Muhlenberg^ in his journal, says he heard distinctly 
at the Trappe. The next day, in a letter from here 
to Congress, Washington thus expresses himself in 
sanguine spirits — 

" I shall move the army four or five miles lower down to-day, from 
whence we may reconnoitre and fix upon a proper situation, at such a 
distance from the enemy as will enahle us to make an attiick, should we 
see a proper opening, or stand upon the defensive till we obtain further 
reinforcements. This was the opinion of a majority of a council of the 
general officers, which I called yesterday. I congratulate you upon the 
success of our arms to the northward, and if some accident does not 
put them out of their present train, I think we may count upon tiie total 
ruin of Burgoyne." 

The army at this time was in a wretched condition, 
particularly as respects clothing, and over one thou- 
sand men were actually barefooted, and performed 
their marches in this condition. After receiving rein- 
forcements, on the morning of October 4th, Washing- 
ton made an attack on the British at Gerinantown, 
and the result was disastrous. On the next day he 
again brought the entire army, according to the jour- 
nal of Adjutant-General Timothy Pickering, on the 
west side of the Perkiomen, crossing at Pennypaeker's 
Mill, and here they remained encamped till the 
8th. Thomas Paine, who was in the retreat, also 
states, in his letter to Dr. Franklin, dated May 16, 
1778, that the orders were given at Germantown that 
all connected with the army should " assemble that 
night on the back of Perkiomen Creek, about seven 
miles above camp, which had orders to move. The 
army had marched the preceding night fourteen 
miles, and having full twenty to march back, were 
exceedingly fatigued." The object being then to rest, 
refresh and recruit the men after the severe and ex- 
hausting campaign of the past four weeks. It will 
thus be seen that the first encampment here lasted 
from September 26th to the 29th, and the second from 
October 5th to the 8th, making in all six days, a 
shorter time than has been generally allowed. It is 
a popular tradition in the vicinity that the property 
of suspected persons only was taken by the soldiers. 

Valentine Keely, the founder of the family, arrived 



from Germany August 24, 1728, and was accompanied 
in the voyage by John Baer, one of the early settlers 
of Upper Salford. On his death his son, Henry Keely, 
became the owner of the property, containing one 
hundred and fifty acres. The house thereon, used by 
Washington for his headquarters, had been built 
some time previously by his fathei'. It was a sub- 
stantial two-story stone house, torn down in 1834. 
The site is still discernible, and is surrounded by ven- 
erable pear and walnut trees. It is on an elevated 
situation and presents a fine view of many miles of 
the surrounding country and of the valley of the Per- 
kiomen. The place is still in the possession of the 
family, the present owner being John S. Keely, 
whose residence is about fifty yards from the former 
site. Keely's church is distant about a quarter of 
a mile in a northeasterly direction, and derives its 
name from having been built on a portion of the 
original tract, which had been used for a burying- 
ground before 1760. 

Not a mile in a direct line from Schwenksville, on 
the North East Branch is a secluded valley, bounded 
on the southeast side of the stream by a bluff of high 
and steep rocks rising directly from the stream, on 
which the hemlock spruce is still found growing. 
Near the upper part of this hill, and about eighty feet 
iibove the stream, a hole was discovered in the rock, 
nearly four feet square, by Solomon (irinily, Sr., and 
his sou, about 1795, which, on examination, was found 
to be filled with a coiisideral)le number of deer-horns, 
that had evidently been i)laced there for security by 
the Indians. Solomon K. Grimly, Esq., the present 
owner of the land, has lately recovered one of those 
horns, which possesses now the unusual interest of 
having belonged to one of our native deer; the rest 
have disappeared long ago, either being sold or con- 
verted into knife handles. At this place, in 1815 and 
the following year, Isaac Grimly, now in his eighty- 
seventh year, caught eight foxes in a trap, and his 
father succeeded in shooting several more. They still 
abound here, as well as minks, raccoons and opossums. 
Probably the last otter captured in Montgomery 
County was in the stream at this place about the 
year 1858, by William, Henry and Jacob Ellinger, 
aided by two dogs. It was a large animal for its 
kind, and made a desperate resistance, but was finally 
dispatched with clubs. Isaac Grimly, who is still 
vigorous and possesses a good memory for one of 
his age, relates seeing numbers of shad in the stream 
here in 1806, the property being then owned by his 
father. 

At the intersection of a cross-roads in the southern 
part of the township is a meeting-house belonging to 
the Dunkards or German Baptists. It is built of "^ 
stone, thirty-three by fifty-two feet, with a kitchen 
basement containing a fire-place. The congregation 
had existed some time previously, worshiping in 
the commodious dwelling near by, owned by John 
Detweiler. The present preachers are Abraham 



1024 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Cassel and Isaac Kulp. It was long a brancli of Ihe 
Indian Creek congregation, but since the erection of 
the present meeting-house they have been placed on 
an equality with the rest in the denomination. Al- 
though it is a little over a mile northwest of the 
Skippack Creek, yet their baptisms are performed 
there. They have also a house of worship at Grater's 
Ford, two miles distant. 

The ancient village of Skippack, though better 
known asSkippackville, is situated near the northeast 
part of the township, within half a mile of the Lower 
Salford line. It contains two hotels, three stores, 
post-office, printing-office, school, shirt-factory, four 
or five mechanic shops and about fifty-four houses, 
standing principally along Skippack road for the dis- 
tance of nearly a mile. A map in 18G0 contains but 
twenty-nine houses, showing that the place has since 
improved. The road through here towards the city, 
was opeued in 1714, at which time there must have 
been some settlement. In 1742, Garrett Indehaven 
' kept the only licensed inn, there being then none 
above it nearer than the present Hanover Square. In 
1756, Dietrich Welker kei)t an inn here, which may 
have been the same stand, Nicholas Nichum in 1779 
and Gabriel Kline in 1785, the sign being a weep- 
ing willow, which was retained into the beginning of 
this century. The post-office was established here 
before 1827, of which Abraham Everhart, in 1830, was 
postmaster. In 1828 the mail was carried weekly 
through here to the city by the Kutztown stage. 
Der Neutralist und Allgemeine Neuigkeiis-Bote is a 
weekly paper in German, started here in August, 1844, 
of which Mr. A. E. Dambly is editor and proprietor. 
The Trinity Christians have a two-story stone church 
in charge ofthe Rev. Joseph H. Hendricks, to which 
a graveyard is attached. The Enterprise Shirt-Factory 
is a large three-story brick building erected in 1881, 
giving considerable employment to the neighborhood. 
The elections for the eastern partof the township have 
been held in this village for many year.s. 

Iron Bridge is the name bestowed on Rahn's Sta- 
tion about three years ago at the establishment of 
the post-office. The village is situated on the west 
side of the Perkiomen, about a mile below Grater's 
Ford, the railroad having a station here and the turn- 
pike passing through the place. It contains a store, 
hotel, foundry, brick, coal and lumber-yard, two hat- 
factories and some thirty houses. The Union Chapel 
is a one-story brick edifice erected in 1851, chiefly 
by the Trinity Christians, and is also used by other 
denominations. The iron bridge here over the 
Perkiomen was built by the county in 1873, and is 
six hundred and forty-four feet in length with the 
abutments, resting on eight piers. Its cost was nearly 
forty thousand dollars. The census of 1880 gives one 
hundred and ninety-one inhabitants. 

The village of Grater's Ford is situated on the west 
side of the Perkiomen, on the turnpike and railroad, 
two miles below Schwenksville, the latter having a 



station here. It contains a store, hotel, post-office, 
planing-mill, several mechanic shops and about twenty- 
five houses. According to the census of 1880, it has one 
hundred and forty-eight inhabitants. The Dunkards ■ 
have a small chapel or meeting-house. An iron bridge 
also crosses the Perkiomen here, built in 1881 by the 
county. In 1847 there were but one or two houses 
here and a saw-niill, but the construction ofthe turn- 
pike and railroad since has contributed to its pros- 
perity. On its completion H. J. Ashenfelter erected 
a grain, coal and lime depot and a dry -goods, grocery 
and feed-store that helped to give the village a 
start. The post-office was established in the spring of 
1869, and Isaac Kulp appointed postmaster. Jacob 
Kreater owned here, in 1756, two hundred and twenty 
acres of land, from whence originated the name of the 
old crossing-place. 

Harmony Square is near the centre of the township 
and in the midst of a fine, productive country. Here 
is a creamery, post-office, store, a merchant tailor 
and thirteen houses. The creamery was built about 
1878, and belongs to an association of farmers in the 
vicinity. 

Amityville is but little over half a mile above 
Skippack, contains a store, several mechanic shops 
and above a dozen of houses. 

A long-established and well-conducted agricul- 
tural township like Perkiomen, as might be expected, 
contains a number of descendants ofthe early settlers. 
Among the land-holders mentioned in 1734 we find 
still here the names of Kolb, Hunsicker, Markley, 
Tyson, Hallman, Johnson, Kuster, Detweiler, Cas- 
sel, Ziegler, Pennypacker and Wierman. 

Schwenksville. — Thisflourishing village is situated 
on the west side of the Perkiomen Creek, and in the 
northwest portion ofthe township. It contains two 
hotels, four stores, a bank, printing-office, bakery, 
clothing manufactory, railroad-station, lumber, coal 
and marble-yards, church, school, creamery and 
sixty-three houses. The census of 1880 gives three 
hundred and three inhabitants, of which about one- 
seventh reside in Frederick township. Isaac Grimly, 
living in the vicinity at the advanced age of eighty- 
seven, remembers when there was not a house in the 
place, which was a little prior to 1815. The greater 
portion of the land here was left, in 1770, by Peter 
Pennypacker to his son, William, who was rated in 
1776 as jiossessing two hundred and twenty-five 
acres. In the census of Perkiomen, taken in 1756, 
mention is made of George Schwenk, blacksmith, 
having two children and owning one hundred acres 
of land, which was probably in this vicinity. 

So small was this place in 1849 that on William 
E. Morris' county map there was then only denoted 
here Schwenck's inn and store, the house of J. Steiner 
and a blacksmith-shop. About this date the post- 
office was established, through the eflbrts of Jacob G. 
Schwenk, as "Schwenk's Store," and so remained 
until about 1872, when, through the growth of the 



PBRKIOMEN TOWNSHIP. 



1025 



place, it was changed to its present name. The 
lower bridge over the Perkiomen was built by the 
county in 1832, the contractors being Samuel Penny- 
packer and Solomon Bustard. The next material im- 
provement was the comjiletion of the turnpike through 
here, from Collegeville to Sumneytown, in 18-16. In 
1868 the Perkiomen Railroad was completed from the 
Schuylkill to Skippack Station, as it was then called, 
about three-fourths of a mile below the present 
Schwenksville depot; the following year to Mine 
Run, at the upper end of the village, and not until 
September, 1874, to the Lehigh Valley. Of all the 
several improvements, this, of course, promoted its 
greatest prosperity. The railroad depot was built here 
in 1869, being ninety-six feet long by twenty-four 
wide, coutainiug a ticket and telegrajih-office, waiting- 
rooms and storage for freight. 

The first school-house was built in 18-19, but prov- 
ing too smaH, a larger one, of stone, was built in 1869, 
on the hill beside the road to Keely's church. The 
meeting-house here belongs to the Evangelical de- 
nomination, is a one-story building, erected in 1861, 
and is now in chai'ge of Rev. .1. G. Sands. Tliere is 
a graveyard attached, in which as yet but lew have 
been buried. The National Bank was established in 
1875, and moved into their new building in the fall 
of 1878, Jacob G. Schwenk being president and John 
G. Prizer cashier. The Weekly Item which commenced 
publication here September 7, 1877, by N. B. Grubb, 
has since been enlarged, and is now conducted by 
Irwin H. Bardman. Albert Bromcr, an enterprising 
citizen of the place, and extensively engaged in the 
manufacture of clothing, erected here, in 1874, Indus- 
trial Hall, the first story of which he occupies in his 
business ; the second contains a commodious hall for 
entertainments and public worship. The third is 
used by the Improved Order of Red Meu and Bro- 
therhood of the Union. The Penny packer reunion was 
held here October 4, 1877, and brought together a 
considerable number of the family from widely-scat- 
tered portions of the country. 

By the banks of the Perkiomen are several large ice- 
houses for the storage of ice, taken from the stream. 
One of these was erected by Mr. Bromer in 1874, and 
is one hundred feet long by forty-five feet wide, to 
which was added, in 1876, an inclined plane and a 
steam-engine for elevating the ice, and which can also 
be used for loading it into the cars. A creamery 
was built here in 1881, and is conducted by an asso- 
ciation of dairymen residing in the surrounding sec- 
tion. It will be observed from this brief mention 
that there is considerable enterprise here, and that it 
bids fair ere long to increase the number of boroughs 
within the county. To a stranger from the city this 
section presents attractions, particularly to lovers of 
the natural sciences and diversified scenery. 
^ The Old Mennonite Meeting-House.— Mathias 
Van Bebber, who did so much among his countrymen 
to promote settlement here, conveyed, by deed of trust, 



June 8, 1717, one hundred acres of land to Henry 
Sellen, Glaus Janson, Henry Kolb, Martin Kolb, 
Jacob Kolb, Michael Zeigler and Herman Kuster, as 
trustees, for the use of a Mennonite congregation. 
The meeting-house built on this tract about 1725, 
is supposed to be the' second erected by this de- 
nomination in Pennsylvania, a previous one having 
been built in Germantown in 1708. The old building 
stood in the northwest part of tlie graveyard. The 
present edifice is of stone, one story high, fifty by 
sixty-five feet in dimensions, and was erected in 1844. 
The building committee consisted of Garrett Hun- 
sicker, Abraham Tyson and Abraham Hallman. 
Whether this was the second or third house of wor- 
ship built has not been satisfactorily determined. 
The Bible used was printed by Christopher Saur at 
Germantown in 1743, a quarto of twelve hundred and 
seventy-two pages, and is in excellent preservation. 
Amos Bean is present bishop, Henry Johnson, Jr., 
minister, and Elias Greater, deacon of the congrega- 
tion. Worship is held every two weeks. 

The graveyard is opposite the present meeting- 
house, and contains about four acres of ground, and, as 
may be well supposed, contains a large number of in- 
terments. The inscriptions on some of the oldest stones 
have become illegible. The earliest observed was to 
the memory of Paul Engle, aged seven years, who 
died in 1723. The Indehavens have also some early ^ 
tombstones here. It is evident from the dates that 
this ground must have been used for burial purposes 
soon after the grant in 1717. It also appears from 
what exists here that the Mennonites bad not 
interdicted the use of memorial inscriptions to 
their members on tombstones, like several other 
sects, until some time after the colonial period. 
The surnames transcribed here are Hilman, Boyer, 
Roller, Hallman, Godshalk, Lindermau, Fry, Scholl, - 
Christman, Vanfossen, Oberholtzer, Custer, Cassel, 
Sorver, Johnson, Kolb, Zollers, P'ackler, Rosenberger, 
Underkoffler, Bean, Keyser, Keeler, Jones, Panne- 
becker. Smith, Merckley, Hendricks, Bilger, Kooker, 
Tyson, Reifl:', Allabach, Umstead, Grater, Kratz, 
Swartley, Hunsicker, Wanner, Hyser, Croll, Spare, 
''Updegravc, Fretz, Hamer, Gotwals, Horning, Seis- ' 
holtz, Zeigler, Crater, Bergy, Freyer, Wonsitler, Mat- 
tis, Harley, Shoemaker, Clemens, Steiner, Heckler, 
Rase, Leatherach, Young, Ritter, Dise, Dotterer, 
Kelsch, Gehringer, AVurtz, Steigner, Ruth, Drake, 
Fuss, Wasser, Wierman, Bergstresser, Indehaven and / 
Freed. 

Like all old congregations, this, too, has had its 
trials and burdens to bear in an existence of over a 
century and a half. Schisms, though not of modern 
origin, still exist to help weaken and to scatter de- 
nominations. First came the Funkites, as they have ' 
been termed, about 1780, who were not opposed to 
paying a war tax; second, the Herrites, about 1820; 
then the much more serious and extensive division of 
1846 ; and several years later, again, that of the Trinity 



1026 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Christians. All of these schisms have at the time led 
to the erection of additional houses of worship either 
iu this or the adjoining townships. The sect hold- 
ing possession of the present premises is denominated 
the new school of Mennonites, who do not so rigidly 
enforce the wearing of plain apparel, and are less dis- 
posed towards innovation. 

The New Mennonite Meeting-House. — This 
house of worship is located near Harmony Square, 
and about a mile and a quarter northwest of the old 
meeting-house. It originated in a schism and was 
built about 1848-49. It is a one-story edifice, thirty- 
six by forty-five feet in size, John Hunsberger being 
bishop, John Mench minister and Henry Wismer 
and Christian Hunsberger deacons. Worship is held 
every two weeks, and the services are confined to the 
German. The graveyard occupies about half an acre 
of ground, and we find on the tombstones the names 
of Detweiler, Kulp, Croll, Lechtel, Godshalk, Reitt', 
Markley, Zeigler, Tyson, Landis, Benner, Williams, 
Moyer, Kriebel, Meyer, Goshow, Wismer, Hallman, 
Gouldy, Fitzgerald, Keer, Bean, Gander, Staufter, 
Smith, Cassel, Brecht and Sparr. This belongs to the 
old school of Mennonites, who, on the dispute that 
arose respecting minor points of doctrines, rather than 
have litigation or retain forcible possession of the old 
meeting-house and grounds, voluntarily withdrew^ 
(though it is said they numbered over half the entire 
congregation) to worship here in a building erected 
at their own charge. For so commendable an act 
they certainly deserve praise, for it could not be done 
without considerable self-sacrifice, to thus sever all 
connection with a place where their ancestors had 
worshiped and been buried for several preceding 
generations. 

As the bishops hold considerable power in the 
Mennonite Church, the inquiry was instituted as to 
the mode of their appointment or election. When- 
ever a bishop is desired in a diocese or district, which 
may arise through death, inability or infirmity, the 
ministers unite in a petition to the Conference, which 
meets semi-annually, to whom they also apply for 
ministers and deacons. If granted, all the ministers 
within the diocese convene to hold an election, but 
permit no candidates. A record is kept of all the 
ministers who received votes for the ofiice, which 
occasion must be presided over by several bishops. 
The latter now appoint a public meeting, which is 
o-enerally held within a month, at which they are 
required to be present. All who had received votes 
are then considered candidates. The bishops on this 
occasion take as many hymn-books as there were can- 
didates named, in a single one of which is placed a 
slip of paper having written on it legibly " Bishop," 
when they are all clasped and well intermixed. A 
prayer is now invoked that the man the Lord has de- 
signed for the ofiice may become the bishop. The 
books are now all placed in a row on the pulpit before 
the bishops, and every candidate advances and takes 



a book. A bishop now arises to receive back the books 
which are respectively examined, and the minister who 
hands in the book that contains said slip is declared 
the bishop, whom they ordain by laying on of hands 
in prayer. Their ministers and deacons are made 
nearly in the same manner, ordination being omitted. 
The bishops alone receive membership, administer 
communion and perform the marriage rite. Marriages 
are not permitted outside of the denomination. 

New Jerusalem Churcli. — What is known as Keely's 
church, belonging jointly to the Lutherans and Ger- 
man Reformed, is situated iu the extreme western 
part of the township, within a few yards of the Limer- 
ick line and but a short distance from Frederick town- 
ship. A deed was prepared and dated February 14, 
1756, for one acre of ground to be used here for a 
German school and burying-place. It was made by 
Valentine Keely and his wife, Susanna, to Heronius 
Haas and John Kepler, miller. Shortly after this Mr. 
Keely died, followed by his wife within a few years, 
and the deed was not executed. In November, 1761, 
a purchase was effected on the part of the Lutherans 
by George Jlichael Bastian, John Kepler and Valen- 
tine Krause, and for the German Reformed by Martin 
Keeler, Henry Keely and Valentine Sheelich as trus- 
tees. In addition, mention was made that if a house 
of worship was erected thereon, it was to be held equally 
by the two denominations. 

A building, it was known, was in use here in 
1763 for a school, in which worship was occasionally 
held. When the army came here immediately after 
the battle of Germantown it was used for a brief time 
as a hospital for the sick and wounded soldiers. After 
the war the building was enlarged and provided 
with folding doors, a portion thereof being held ex- 
clusively for worship. Isaac Grimly went to school 
here in 1810, and was a teacher in 1818. He also at 
that period attended religious worship here. It was a 
log structure, and in 1834 was torn down, and from a 
portion of the materials another school-house was 
erected in the neighborhood the following year. 

The present church was built in 1835. It is a 
two-story stone edifice, with an interior gallery on 
three of its sides. It was consecrated in the fall of 
1836 ; the Rev. Jacob Wampole was then the Lutheran 
pastor and Rev. J. A. Strassberger the Reformed. 
Mr. Wampole continued in the charge until his 
death, .January 3, 1838, succeeded by the Rev. Henry 
S. Miller, from April, 1888, to May, 1852; Rev. G. A. 
Wenzel to October, 1854; Rev. A. S. Link, from De- 
cember, 1856, to February, 1859 ; Rev. G. Sells, from 
March, 1859, to 1864 ; Rev. John Kohler to 1874; and 
Rev. O. P. Smith, from that date until the present 
time. The Reformed pastors have been Rev. Henry 
S. Bassler, Rev. Gulden, Rev. Andrew Hoffman, Rev. 
Robert Vancourt and the Rev. S. M. K. Huber. 

The name given it by the denominations in charge 
is New Jerusalem Church. It is four miles distant 
from the Trappe, one mile from Schwenksville and 



PERKIOMEN TOWNSHIP. 



1027 



three miles from Keeler's church, atRoseville, Freder- 
ick township, which was huilt two years before for a 
union congregation, and with which it is often con- 
founded from the similarity of names. The graveyard 
opposite the church contains aboutfive acres of ground, 
and from its elevated situation affords a fine view of 
the surrounding country. On the tombstones we find 
the names of Keely, Grimly, Schwenk, Pennypacker, 
Willauer, Kieler, Schillich, Fox, Druckeu miller, 
Bromer, Anderson, Miller, Markley, Bechtel, Grater, 
Hunsicker, Batz, Cooke, Puhl, Hallman, Wiuterstein, i 
GrofiT, Souder and Paul. Valentine Keely, ancestor ! 
of the family and an early settler in the vicinity, was 
buried here, a vigorous-growing apple tree above a 
foot in diameter, denoting the spot. 

Census of Perkiomen, 1756, — The following cen- 
sus was taken of this township in June, 1756, by 
Walter Johnson, resident constable and collector, by 
order of the provincial government. Forty-one bound 
servants and five negroes are omitted. Of the latter 
John Pawling owned two, aged seventeen and twenty 
years ; Joseph Pawling one, aged fourteen ; and Abra- 
ham Sealer two, aged forty and fifty years. No occupa- 
tion has been assigned to farmers. This list was copied 
from the original document, and has not been hereto- 
fore published. 

Peter Panabacker, miller, 8 children, 500 acres, 100 cleareil ; Henry 
Baringer, 1 cb., rents of Peter Panabacker ; Abraham Sealer, miller, 5 
ch., 450 a., 100 cl. ; Richard Jacobs, 7 ch., 500 a., 100 cl. ; Michael 
Zeigler, Jr., tanner, 3 ch., 77 a., 40 cl. ; William Zeigler, weaver, 2 ch., 
120 a., 50 ch; Jacob Kreater, weaver, 7 ch., 220 a., 80 cl. ; Elizabeth 
fvolb G ch., 100 a., 30 cl. ; Dilman Kolb, 3 ch., 100 a., 40 cl. ; Henry 
Kulb, 5 ch., 100 a., 50 cl. ; Isaac Kolb, weaver, 5 ch., 220 a., 80 cl. ; 
John Fried, 3 ch., 120 a., 50 cl. ; George Clauser, mason, 1 ch., rents of 
Isaac Kolb; Adam Gotwala, 6 ch., 100 a., 40 cl.; Joseph Detweiler, 4 
ch., 180 a., 70 cl. ; John Barrens, mason, 3 ch. ; Henry Detweiler, 1 
ch., 100 a., 60 ch ; Abraham Opdegrave, 6 ch., 125 a., 60 ci. ; Edward 
Opdegrave, 2 ch. ; John Butterwack, tailor, 2 ch., 200 a., 100 cl. ; Bar- 
bara Smith, 3 ch.; Jacob Jlessenheimer, carpenter, 5 ch. , John CugJi, 

2 ch. ; Nicholas Selzer, 4 ch. ; John Kyter, 5 ch., 170 a., SO cl. ; Philip 
Gans, shoemaker, rents of John Kyter; Adant Sower, carpenter, 2 ch. ; 
Dietrich Walker, innkeeper, 1 ch., 170 a., 80 cl. ; Henry Schlichter, 
shoemaker, 5 ch. ; William Johnson, carpenter ; Jacob Markley, 4 ch., 
150 E., 50 cl. ; Isaac Markley, 2 ch., rents of Jacob Markley ; John 
Kemper, 80 a., 40 cl.; Jacob Kemper, 1 ch., 50 a., 25 cl. ; Joseph 
Pawling, 4 ch., 400 a., 60 cl. ; George Walker, carpenter, 3 ch., rents 
of Joseph Pawling ; Michael Zeigler, weaver ; Jones Rudrofo, weaver, 
1 ch. ; John Detweiler, weaver, 8 ch. ; Bastian Houpt, 3 ch., 125 a., 60 
cl. ; John Wierman, 5 ch., 80 a., 40 cl. ; Solomon Grimly, 150 a., 10 cl. ; 
Philip Sheelicb, 3 ch., 150 a., 80 cl. ; George Schwenck, blacksmith, 

^ 2 ch., 100 a., 40 cl. ;, John Pawling, 5 ch., 4o0 a., 100 cl. ; Henry Miller, 

3 ch., rents of John Pawling ; Philip Markley, shoemaker, 3 ch., 70 a., 
30 cl. ; Cliristian Doll, 7 ch., rents of Solomon Dubois, 1000 a., 200 cl. ; 
Michael Bauer, 2 ch.; Arnt Rosen, locksmith.'rents of Abraham Sealer; 
Valentine Ilunsecker, weaver, 5 ch., 225 a., 100 cl. ; Ludwig Horning, 
7 ch., 130 a., 70 cl. ; Leonard Vanfossen, tanner, 80 a., 40 cl. ; John 
Vanfosaen ; Christian Moser, 7 ch., 100 a., 55 cl. ; William Bnrk, 1 
ch., 260 a., 60 cl. ; Andrew Heiser, 150 a., GO cl. ; Walter Johnson, 
shoemaker, 4 ch., 50 a., 30 cl.; George Markley, 18 a., 6 cl. ; Jacob 
Umstead, 7 ch., 100 a., 50 cl. ; Henry Umstead, 5 ch., 200 a,, 60 cl. ; 
Margaret Panabacker, Gch., 180 a., 70 cl. ; Abraham Markley, black- 
smith, 5 ch., 100 a., 70 cl. ; Henry Panabacker, miller, 3 ch., 100 a., 
70 cl. ; Joseph Smith, tailor, 3 ch., 125 a., GO cl. ; Henry Kassel, wea- 
ver, 2 ch., 90 a., 60 cl. ; Henry Kassel, weaver, 60 a.. 40 cl. ; Richard 
Xewberry, 2 ch., 250 a., 150 cl. ; Henry Newberrj', farmer, 1 ch., 150 
a., 40 cl. ; Benjamin Tyson, 100 a., 40 cl. ; Peter Johnson, 125 a., 70 cl. ; 
Mathias Tyson, 280 a., 100 cl. ; Herman Custer, 150 a., 50 cl. ; Paul 
Custer, 2 ch., rents of Herman Custer; Derick Rinker, mason, 3 ch., 
50 a., 20 cl. ; John Custer, fuller, 1 ch., rents of Herman Custer; Her- 



man Umstead, 5 ch., 150 a., 60 cl. ; Henry Hallman, 7 ch., 150 a., 70 
cl. ; Henry Keely, 1 ch., 120 a., 50 cl. ; Peter Honckenius, schoolmas- 
ter, 1 ch. ; John Bamer. 

ASSESSMENT OF PERKIOMEN FOR 1766. ^ 

Henry Pennebacker, assessor, and John Detweiler, collector. 
William Bull, eadler, 50 acres, 2 horses and 3 cows ; Samuel Buckman, 
2 h., 2 c. ; George Buch, 2 c. ; Mathew Blockley, 1 c. ; John Benner, 

1 c. ; Isaac Cassel, weaver, 100 a., 2 h., 5 c.; Henry Cassel, 60 a., 2h., 

2 c. ; John Crater, 120 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Jacob Clemens; Patrick Camp- 
bell ; John Dull, 1 c. ; John Detweiler, weaver, 200 a., 4 h., 6 c. ; 
Henry Detweiler, 270 a., 4 h., 9 c. ; John Detweiler, Jr., 320 a., 3 h., 
5c. ; John Treat, 123 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; John Fronefiehi, 174 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; 
Jacob Godshalk, 22 a., 2 c. ; Solomon Grimly, 150 a., 1 servant, 2h., 
5 c. ; Henry Hallman, 170 a. ; Henry Haas, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Andrew 
Heiser, 300 a., 1 servant, 3 h., 5 c. ; Ludwig Horning, 160 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; 
flenry Hunsecker, 115 a., 2h., 5 c.; Isaac Hunsecker, 8 children, 21f 
a., 3 h., 5 c. ; Peter Johnson, 150 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; John Jacobs, 1 ser- 
vant, 150 a., 2 h., 7 c. ; Samuel Jacobs, 2 servants, 150 a., 2 h., 6 c. ; 
Walter Johnson, 50 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; John Kuster, joiner, 2 c. ; Peter 
Keiter, 8 children, 170 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; John Kuster, fuller, 200 a., 2 h., 
7 c, and a fulling mill; William Kuster, 1 c. ; Paul Kuster, 100 a., 2 
b., 4 c. ; Henry Kolp, weaver, 113 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Dilman Kolp, 113 a., 

2 h., 3 c. ; Henry Kolp, Jr., 100 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Martin Kolp, 223 a., 3 
h., 7 c. ; John Kemper, 85 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Henry Keeler, 1 servant, 
150 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Bernard Kepler, 80 a., 3 h., 6 c. ; Villus Kolp, 160 
a., 2 h., 5 c. ; George Lehman, 1 c. ; Jacob Markley, 150 a., 2 c. ; Jacob 
Markley, shoemaker, 75 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Abraham Markley, 100 a., 3 h., 

1 c. ; Henry Newberry, 226 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; Israel Newbeiry, 215 a., 2 h., 
4 c. ; Nicholas Nikom, 2 h., 3 c. ; Henry Pennebacker, miller, 104 a., 

3 h., 7 c, and a grist and saw-mill ; Henry Pennebacker, smith, 71 a., 

2 h., 5 c. ; William Pennebacker, 225 a., 4 h., 4 c. ; Samuel Penne- 
backer, 185 a., 3 h., 7 c. ; Joseph Pawling, 2 negroes, 300 a., 4 h., 6 c. ; 
Benjamin Pawling, 100 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; John Pawling, 4 negroes, 475 a., '' 

1 h., 4 c. ; Herman Pennebacker, 165 a., 3 h., 6 c. ; Peter Reimer, 80 
a., 3 h., 5 c. ; Ludwig Reinbolt, 1 c. ; John Smith, 8 children, 100 a., 

2 h., 4 c. ; Joet Smith, tailor, 125 a., 1 c. ; Jacob Smith, 2 h. 4 c. ; 
George Snell, shoemaker, 1 h., 1 c. ; Valentine Shelich, 6 children, 
125 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Isaac Saler, 2 h., 4 c. ; Abraham Saler, 1 servant, 2 
negroes, 929 a., 4 h., 8 c.; Adam Sower, tailor, 70 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; 
George Shut, 2 h., 2 c. ; Casper Steinmetz, 1 c. ; David Stripe, 27 a., 
I h., 1 c. ; Joseph Tyson, Sr., has a blind son, 130 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; 
Mathias Tyson, 110 a., 2 h,, 3 c. ; William Tyson, 100 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; 
Joseph Tyson, Jr., 50 a., 2 h., 1 c. ; Lewis True ken mi Her, tiiilor ; 
Jacob TJnistead, 166 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Henry Umstead, 300 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; 
Harman Umstead ; Jacob Urwiler, 1 h., 1 c. ; Edward Updegrave, 124 
a., 3 h., 3 c., Abraham Updegrave, 98 a., 1 h., 4 c. ; John Wierman, 
230 a., 6 h., 9 c. ; Michael Zeigler, 160 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; William Zeigler, 
130 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; David AUibach, 1 c. ; Jacob Prutzman, 1 h., 2 c. ; 
Casper Meyer. Single Men — Bernard Haines, Benjamin Johnson, Wil- 
liam Johnson, Isaac Kolp, Henry Showitzer, Jacob Zeigler, Christian 
Allebach. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



PHILIP M. HUNSICKER. 

The progenitor of the family in America was Valen- 
tine Hunsicker, a native of Switzerland, who came to 
the United States in 1717, and about three years later 
settled in the present Perkiomen township. His son, 
Heniy Hunsicker, married Mary, daughter of John 
Detwiler, whose children were Henry C, John D., 
Daniel D., William D., Elizabeth, Mary, Catharine, 
Susanne. Henry C. Hunsicker was born in Perkio- 
men township, where his early life was spent. He 
married, in 1833, Lydia, daughter of Philip Markley, 
of the same township, and had children, — Philip M., 
Charles M., Daniel M., Henry M., Henry M. (2d), 
Mary M. (Mrs. Henry Yelles), Ann M. (Mrs. James 



1028 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Koons), Deborah (Mrs. H. T. Johnson), Lydia (Mrs. 
Benjamin Saylor) and Kate M. On the occa.sion of 
his marriage Mr. Hunsieker removed to Franconia 
townsliip, and carried on farming until his retnrn, in 
1850, to liis native townsliip, where he combined mill- 
ing with the j)ursuits of a farmer until a few years 
prior to his death, when he retired from business. His 
son Philip M. was born November 18, 1836, in Fran- 
conia township, where his yiaith was spent, meanwhile 
becoming a pupil of a day-school and afterwards 
attending the Freehand Academy, at Collegeville. He 
removed, with his father, in 1850, to Perkiomen town- 



1859 ; Henry T., in 1861 ; Clayton, in 1863 ; Norwood 
Penrose, in 1869 (deceased) ; Elmer Ellsworth, in 
1873; and Addle T., in 1875 (deceased). Mrs. Hun- 
sicker died May 4, 1881, and he again married, 
October 26, 1882, Mrs. Ella C. Kulp, daughter of 
John H. Custer, of Worcester township. Mr. Hun- 
sicker is in politics a stanch Republican, and though 
much interested in local political issues, has never 
sought nor accepted office. He is identified with the 
Iron Bridge Hat Association as a director. In his 
religious views he is a Christian, and member of 
Trinity Christian Church, of Collegeville. 





^~&-y^/rZ^A'^i'^<^ 



K ^ 



ship, and on the completion of his studies entered his 
father's mill, situated on the Perkiomen stream, oppo- 
site Rahn's Station, for the purpose of learning the 
trade of a miller. For a while he assisted his father, 
and later rented the mill, which he operated until 
1875, when he embarked in the lumber, coal and feed 
business at Rahn's Station, continuing thus engaged 
until 1884, when his sons succeeded him. Mr. Hun- 
sicker was married, on the 18th of September, 1858, to 
Lizzie R., daughter of John Z. Tyson, of Perkiomen 
township. Their children are Melvin T., born in 



CHAPTER LXVIII. 



PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP.' 



Thls township is bounded on the north by Whit- 
pain, east by Whitemarsh, south by the Schuylkill 
and the borough of Conshohocken, and west by the 
borough of Norristown and Norriton. Its greatest 
length is three and a half miles ; its width two and a 
half, with an area of five thousand one hundred and fifty- 

1 By Wm. J. Buck. 



PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP. 



1029 



three acres. It formerly contained five thousand six 
hundred and thirty-one acres but by the erection of Con- 
shohocken into a borough in 1850, three hundred and 
twenty acres were taken off; also in 1853 a long, wedge- 
shaped strip of one hundred and twenty-eight perches 
wide on the Schuylkill, containing about one hundred 
and fifty-eight acres, by the enlargement of the borough 
of Norristown, thus leaving its area a.s mentioned. 
It is next to Springfield, the smallest township in the 
county. In the long interval from 1686 to 1850, it 
had not undergone any change in territorial extent. 

Tlie surface is gently undulating, and there are no 
elevations deserving the name of hills. Along the 
Schuylkill at several places the limestone assumes a 
rocky appearance, but nowhere rises above fifty feet 
perpendicularly. In proportion to its size, we have 
no hesitation in saying that no township in the county 
surpasses it in the natural fertility of its soil. On the 
other hand it is not well watered, for it contains no 
streams that aftbrd valuable water-power. The larg- 
est is Plymouth Creek, which rises in two small 
branches in the east corner of the township, and after 
a course of four miles empties into the Schuylkill at 
Conshohocken. Saw-Mill Run rises in Whitpain,and 
after a course of over a mile through Plymouth, turns 
into Norriton. A small stream empties into the 
Schuylkill a short distance below Mogeetown. 

About two-thirds of Plymouth is underlaid with 
limestone, which, at some places, is on or near the 
surface, and again at other places lies at some depth. 
Nearly its whole front on the Schuylkill is a blufi' of 
limestone, and few places are more favored for burn- 
ing it, both from the convenience of the material and 
the advantages of sending it to market either by rail- 
road or navigation. The census of 1840 gave the 
value of lime manufactured in Plymouth at forty-five 
thousand two hundred and eighteen dollars. In 1858 
seventy-five kilns were personally visited that on an 
average would produce fifteen hundred bushels of 
the article, and thus this number, at one burning, 
could yield considerably over one hundred thousand 
bushels. The number of kilns luis since been in- 
creased and the extent of the business enlarged. 
Hence we may well judge the extent of this produc- 
tion, giving investment to capital and employment to 
a number of hands. Iron-ore which seventy years 
ago was almost unknown, is obtained now in abund- 
ance. In that part of the township which lies be- 
tween the Plymouth Railroad and the Whitemarsh 
line there appears to be one vast bed of ore from the 
borough of Conshohocken. 

The Ridge turnpike traverses the township two and 
a half miles, and the Germantown and Perkiomen 
pike about three miles. The turnpike leading from 
Conshohocken to the Broad Axe forms the entire 
southeast boundary of Plymouth, a distance of three 
and one-fourth miles, and separates it from White- 
marsh. The Norristown Railroad passes along the 
outhwest side by the Schuylkill over two miles. 



and on it are Potts' Lauding and Mogee Stations. 
The Plymouth Railroad has a course of over three 
and a lialf miles, and extends from Conshohocken to 
Oreland, on the North Pennsylvania Railroad. This 
company was incorporated in 1836, and the road com- 
|)leted shortly afterwards to the Whitemarsh line ; in 
1870 it was extended to its junction at Oreland. The 
stations in the township are Ridge, Plymouth and Cor- 
son. The villages are Plymouth Meeting, Hickory- 
town, Mogeetown and Harmanville. According to the 
census of 1800, the population was 572; in 1810, 1417; 
and in 1880, 1916, showing a decrease of 109 since 
1870. The taxable real estate in 1882 was valued at 
$1,146,089, and the total amount of property at $1,- 
225,884, making the average per taxable $2804. In 
May, 1883, licenses were granted to four hotels, five 
stores, and five coal-yards. The public schools are 
five in number, open ten months, with an average of 
one hundred and fifty-seven pupils. In the census 
of 18.50, 220 houses, 234 families and 91 farms were 
returned for said year. The townshi)) contains about 
eight square miles, and, according to the census of 1880, 
237 inhabitants to the square mile. In the assess- 
ment for 1883 the aggregate number of taxables is 498. 
Plymouth was surveyed, laid out and settled at 
((uite an early period, — 

" By virtue of a Warrant from the Coinmissionei-a of Prt>perty dated 
7th of 4th month, 1090, a tract of land ill Philadelphia County was 
granted unto the Plymouth Purcluisprs, and also together with 600 acres 
adjoining the southeast part thereof, which was intended by the Pro- 
prietary for a town, containing in the whole 6000 acres, was sui-veyed 
and laid out 14th of 5th month, 1686, beginning .at a corner beech-tree 
standing by the Slcoolkill, being also a corner of Major Jasper Farmer's 
land ; thence northeast by a line of trees 1342 perches to a corner-post ; 
thence northwest by a line of trees 696 perches to a corner-post of Ben- 
jamin Chambers and Company's land ; thence southwest by the same 956 
perches to a corner-tree standing by the aforesiiid Skoolkill ; thence down 
the several coni-ses thereof to the place of beginning, containing in both 
the aforesaid tracts, as above said 5000 acres. Returned to the Proprie- 
tary Secretary's office 20th of 4th month, 1690." 1 

From the preceding interesting pieces of history, now 
for the first time published, the important question 
arises as to who were the Plymouth purchasers. One 
account mentions that they were James Fox, Richard 
Gove, Francis Rawle, John Chelson and some other 
Friends who came from Plymouth, in Devonshire, 

t In connection mth the subject the foUoviring has been recently 
secured : 

"L. S. By the Commissioners empowered to grant lota and land in 
the Province of Pennsylvania and Territories thereunto belonging. At 
the request of .Jonas Fox, Francis Rawle, Nicholas Pearce and Richard 
Grove, in behalf of themselves and other Friends of Plymouth, joynt 
purchasers with them of five thousand acres of land, that we would 
grant the said five thousand acres of land together for a township in the 
most convenient place for water for the encouragement of the woolen 
manufacture, intended to be set up by them ; these we therefore, in the 
Proprietary's name, do will and require thee forthwith to survey, or 
cause to be surveyed, unto them the said number of acres in the afore- 
said County, where not already taken up, according to the method of 
Townships appointed by the Governor, the seating and improving the 
same within six months after the date of survey, and make return hereof 
to the Secretary's oflice, at Philadelphia, the 6th of 5th month, 1686. 

" James Claypoole, 
*' Robert Turner. 

"To Capt. Tho. Holme, Siirueyor-O'etierah^^ 



1030 



HISTOKY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



England. From an early record of arrivals at Philadel- 
phia, it is ascertained that in the ship "Desire," James 
Cock, commander, which arrived June 2.3, 1686, were 
Francis Kawle, Sen., Francis Rawle, Jr., and servants, 
Thomas Janvers, Francis Jervis, John Marshall, Sam- 
uel Rennell, Isaac Garnier and Elizabeth Saries, James 
Fox and Elizabeth, his wife, children George, James, 
Elizabeth and Sarah, servants Richard Fox, Stephen 
Nowell, Christopher Lobb, Richard Davis, Nathaniel 
Christopher, Abraham Rowe, Mary Rowe,Mary Lucas 
and Sarah Jeffries. These were all from Plymouth 
and hence the origin of the name of their settlement 
here and of the township. 

It will be seen from the preceding list that Francis 
Rawle and .Tames Fox must have been persons of some 
note and means to be at least the principal purchasers 
of the Plymouth tract and undertake its improvement 
accompanied, as they were, by so many servants. The 
survey was made only three weeks after their arrival. 
There is no doubt they settled here immediately after. 
purchase, though published accounts have heretofore 
made it a year earlier, which the registry of arrivals 
proves to be an error. After remaining here several 
years and making considerable improvements, they 
became tired of their isolated life in the woods, and 
removed to Philadelphia, abandoning the settlement. 
In 1701 a resurvey was made of the tract, which was 
somewhat different from the former one. It was then 
mentioned as " Plymouth township " and as containing 
five thousand three hundred and twenty-seven acres. 

" Beginning .at a beech-tree, mai'ked, standing by the river Schuylkill, 
being near a corner dividing it from the land firat laid out to Jasper Farmer; 
thence by an old line of marked trees northeast 1290 perches to a marked 
white-oak, standing in the Wliitpain township ; thence by an old line of 
marked trees northwest fi43 perches ; thence by marked trees dividing this 
from reputed lands of Benjamin Chambers ; thence by an old line of 
marked trees southwest 840 perches thereof to the place of beginning." 

It would be interesting to know on which of those 
surveys the existing boundaries of the township have 
been formed or the most closely followed. It is most 
probably the first, because the latter width is too 
narrow to conform with its present dimensions. 

After the latter survey, Francis Rawle and Eliza- 
beth Fox, the widow of James, commenced selling 
off tract after tract to purchasers, who became 
actual settlers. Among these were David Meredith, 
Thomas Owen, Isaac Price, Ellis Pugh, Hugh Jones, 
and Edmund Cartlege, all from Wales. David 
Meredith purchased his tract of nine hundred and 
eighty acres in 1701, adjoining the Whitpain line, 
and lying on both sides of the present Reading turn- 
pike. He settled on his purchase we know before 
1703, and consequently must have made the first im- 
provements thereon. He died in Januar}', 1727, aged 
eighty-nine years. He left a widow, Eleanor, and 
several children, whose surviving descendants of the 
name are land-holders in the township, and still 
retain a portion of the original tract. John Maulsby 
made a purchase, in 1690, in the vicinity of Cold 
Point. Isaac Schaffer purchased, in 1702, of Rawle 



and Fox, four hundred and seventy-two acres. The 
latter sold off nearly half of his tract soon after to 
Lumly Williams. Benjamin and Joshua Dickinson, 
sons-in-law of the aforesaid, came in possession of part 
of said purchase which lay in the immediate vicinity 
of the Friends' Meeting-house. 

In the list of 1734 the following are given as the 
names of residents and land-holders in Plymouth : 
Eleanor Meredith, widow, 500 acres ; Rees Williams, 
2.50; Benjamin Dickinson, 100; John Hamer, 200; 
John Davis ; Joshua Dickinson, 100 ; John Redwit- 
zer, 200; Peter Croll, 100; Thomas Davis, 150; 
Isaac Price, 328 ; Joseph Jones, 200 ; Mary Davis' 
estate, 400; Jonathan Rumford, 200; Henry Bell, 
100; Philip John, 200; John Holton, 100. In this 
list of sixteen names about half are Welsh. John 
Redwitzer and Peter Croll came from Germany, the 
former having settled at Germantown before 1700. 
In 1709 he was naturalized, with the privilege to hold 
or enjoy lands. The names of Jones and Davis still 
exist in the township as land-holders. 

Among the early settlers of Plymouth may be 
mentioned Ellis Pugh, a native ofDolgelle, in Wales, 
where he was born in 1656. In his eighteenth year 
he became a member of the Society of Friends, and 
at the age of twenty-four, came forth in the min- 
istry. He arrived in Pennsylvania in 1687, and not 
long after settled in Plymouth. He died in the year 
1718, at the age of sixty-two years. In the year 1707 
he went on a religious visit to the inhabitants of his 
native country and shortly after returned. About 
this time he wrote a religious work in the Welsh lan- 
guage, with the following curious title : " A Salutation 
to the Britains, to call them from many things to the 
one thing needful, for the saving of their souls ; es- 
pecially to the poor unarmed Traveler, Plowmen 
Shepherds and those that are of low degree like my- 
self. This is in order to direct you to know God and 
Christ, the only wise God, which is life eternal, and 
to learn of Him, that you may become wiser than 
their teachers." This work w;is translated by his 
friend, Rowland Ellis, and revised by David Lloyd, of 
Philadelphia, where it was printed by S. Keimer, in 
1727. It is a small octave volume of two hundred 
and twenty-two pages, and, of course, rare. It is 
particularly interesting as an early specimen of 
Pennsylvania typography. Rowland Ellis the trans- 
lator mentioned was an early settler in Merion, 
where he was for some time a justice of the peace. 
In 1720 he removed either into this township or near 
by in Whitemarsh, where he resided until 1729, in 
which year he died, while on a visit to his son-in-law, 
John Evans, of Gwynedd. 

Among the notable men of Plymouth was Zebulon 
Potts, who was appointed a constable of the township 
in 1774. During the Revolution, and while the British 
held possesson of Philadelphia, he resided about half 
a mile from Conshohocken. He was an ardent Whig, 
and through spies the British became informed of his 



PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP. 



1031 



opposition to their cause. They several times sent 
parties out to his house to capture him, and once they 
prosecuted their search so close as to almost find him. 
In 1777 he was appointed one of the justices of the 
Court of Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas. In 
the assessor's list of 1780 he is represented as having 
one hundred acres of land, five horses, three cows and 
an " aged mother to maintain." In October, 1784, he 
was elected (the first) sheriff' of the county, and con- 
tinued in the office until 1787. He died in March, 1801. 
From his will, made the previous 27th of February, we 
learn that he appointed his wife, Martha, son Joseph, 
and son-in-law, Joseph Thomas, executors. His chil- 
dren were Robert T., Joseph, William, Daniel, Ann, 
Alice, Esther and Martha. Robert T., died at Swedes- 
burg in 1873, in his eighty-third year. William was 
the last survivor of the family, and died at the resi- 
dence of his son-in-law, Evan D. Jones, at Consho- 
hocken, January 31, 1881, in his ninety-fourth year. 
Zebulon Potts died while a member of the State Senate, 
and the sheriff, JohnMarkley, in the fall of 1801, 
ordered an election to supply the vacancy. In March, 
1803, his personal effects and farm of eighty-two acres, 
including a tan-yard, was ordered to be sold for the 
benefit of his creditors. 

Jacob Ritter, a noted minister of Plymouth Meeting, 
was born in Springfield township, Bucks Co., in 
1757. His father and mother had come from Ger- 
many, and to pay their passage hither had bound 
themselves to serve respectively, three and four years. 
The Revolution bi'eaking out, he joined as a soldier, 
and at the battle of the Brandywiue was made a pris- 
oner by a body of Hessians, and confined, with nine 
hundred others, in the prison at Philadelphia 
Througli the influence of his cousin and Joseph Gal- 
loway, the superintendent of police, he was discharged 
from confinment. In the spring of 1778 he married 
Dorothy Smith, and moved to the city. After a resi- 
dence there of several years he lost his wife, and, in 
the spring of 1794, he moved with his children to 
Springfield. In 1802 he married Ann Williams, of 
Buckingham. Having sold his farm and purchased 
one in Plymouth, he moved on it in 1812, and con- 
tinued to reside there for the remainder of his life. 
He was a minister among Friends for fifty years, and 
of Plymouth Meeting nearly twenty-nine. He died 
December 15, 1841, aged eighty-five years, and was in- 
terred in the Friends' burying-ground. Though he 
never received more than a very ordinary education, 
yet he wrote a journal and a memoir of his life, which 
was published in 1844, with a preface, additions and 
notes, by Joseph Foulke, of Gwynedd, in a small du- 
odecimo of one hundred and eleven pages, from which 
chiefly this sketch has been prepared. 

Through the petition of James Fox and other early 
settlers, the Provincial Council gave a permit, the 5th 
of Second Month, 1687, to lay out a "cart-road," from 
Philadelphia here, which was not long after accom- 
plished. This is the road leading from Plymouth 



Meeting to the city, and now better known as the 
Germantown and Perkiomen turnpike, which was laid 
on its bed and finished in 1804, at a cost of eleven 
thousand two hundred and eighty-seven dollars per 
mile. A road was granted from Plymouth Meeting- 
house to Gwynedd in December, 1705, but, it appears 
from the records was not open until 1751. Philip 
Thomas petitioned, in December, 1759, that he had 
built a new grist-mill on Plymouth Creek, and desired 
a road opened from the same. This is very probably 
the road following the stream to the present Plymouth 
Station. 

The "Seven Stars "inn ranks among the oldest 
stands in the county. In 1754, Benjamin Davis re- 
ceived a license to keep it, and Nicholas Scull on 
his map of the province, published in 1750, mentioned 
it by this name and which it has ever since borne. 
[ Soldiers gazed on its sign in the French and In- 
dian war, and also, later again, the British army as 
they passed by it on their march to take possession of 
Philadelphia, and yet the sign of the " Seven Stars " has 
been perpetuated and still exists amidst the numerous 
changes of so long a period. The Davis family were 
early settlers in this immediate vicinity, of whom 
Samuel Davis was a captain in the American army 
during the Revolution. William Lawrence kept an 
inn in Plymouth in 1767 ; John Hamilton, in 1773 ; 
Mathew Henderson, in 1774 ; James Hamilton, 
Hannah Koller and Daniel Neill, in 1778 ; Samuel 
Caughlin, Elizabeth Bartleson and Daniel Deal, in 
1785. Some of these must have kept the present 
" Black Horse," for this is also an old stand. 

Of early township officers, we find Rees Mana a 
constable and David Morris supervisor in 1767; 
Frederick Dull and Joseph Levering, supervisors in 
1785 ; and John Shoemaker and Henry Clare, super- 
visors in 1810. In the assessment of 1780 mention is 
made of Martin Whiteman, possessing a grist and 
saw-mill and 64 acres ; John Pringle's estate, a grist- 
mill and 130 acres ; John Bayard, merchant, 50 acres 
and 4 slaves ; Joseph Fitzwater, wheelwright, 44 
acres ; Jacob Peterman and Nathan Potts, smiths ; 
Peter Arnold, John Dickinson and John Davis, shoe- 
makers; Nathaniel Van Winkle, turner; and Samuel 
Cowdon, weaver. One of the aforesaid mills must 
have been near the mouth of Plymouth Creek, and 
within the present limits of Conshohocken. 

The village of Plymouth Meeting is situated at the 
intersection of the Perkiomen and Plymouth turn- 
pikes, on the township line. On this side are the 
Friends and Orthodox Meeting-houses, a school- 
house, some eight or ten dwellings and a station of 
the railroad, much the larger portion of the place 
being situated in Whitemarsh. It was here that 
the original settlement of Plymouth was made, and 
where William Penn. according to the survey of 1686 
had previously ordered six hundred acres to be laid 
out for a town. It was thus that the first house of 
worship throughout all this section came to be located 



1032 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



here. In the map acompanying Gabriel Thomas' 
"Account of Peuusylvauia," published in London in 
1(>98, the settlement here is denoted, being the only 
one so mentioned within the present limits of the 
county. Lewis Evans also noted it on his map of 
1749. The post-office was located here before 1827. 
Considerable lime is burned in this vicinity and 
sent off by railroad. It was from the kilns here that 
the county commissioners requested proposals, in 
the spring of 1804, for hauling a quantity of lime 
by the bushel to complete the bridge then building 
over the Manatawuy, at Pottstown, twenty-three miles 
distant. 

Hickorytown is situated on the Germantown and 
Perkiomeu turnpike, three miles southeast of Norris- 
town and fourteen from Philadeli>hia. It contains 
an inn, store, school-house, a blacksmith and wheel- 
wright-shop and about thirty houses. The post-office 
^vas established here in May, 1857. The electicms of 
tlie township are held here. In 1832 Gordon's "Ga- 
zetteer" mentions it as containing ten houses. Captain 
Robert Kennedy, an officer of the Revolution, kept 
the inn here in 1801 ; Frederick Dull, in ISOIJ ; and 
.Jacob Hart, in 182.5. In the beginning of the century 
this was a noted training-place for the Thirty-sixth 
Regiment of Pennsylvania militia and the Second 
Battalion of Montgomery County. The Friendship 
Company, for protection against horse-stealing, was 
organized here in the fall of 1807, and in the follow- 
ing year numbered sixty-four members. Near by is 
the Plymouth Valley Creamery, belonging to an 
association of farmers, which went into operation in 
August, 1882. 

Harmanville is situated on the line of Whitemarsh 
township, at the intersection of the Ridge and Plym- 
outh turnpikes, one and a half miles from Consho- 
hocken. It contains a store, sevei'al mechanic shops 
and about thirty houses in the two townships. It has 
chiefly grown since 1850. The ore and marble pro- 
duction in the vicinity has given an impulse to its 
prosperity. Where the Ridge turnpike crosses Ply- 
mouth Creek and Railroad is Ridge Station. Here are 
four or five houses, the Seven Stars Hotel and a coal- 
yard. The venerable stone bridge over which the turn- 
pike passes was built in 1796. About a quarter of a 
mile below this on the turnpike a considerable quan- 
tity of clay has been dug in the past seven years, which 
Is manufactured into fire-brick for the linings of 
furnaces, especially th ose used in the manufacture of 
glass. 

Plymouth. Meeting. —The Friends were undoubt- 
edly the earliest settlers of Plymouth and of the 
contiguous portion of Whitemarsh. It appears that 
William Penn had conceived the plan for a town to 
be laid out of about one mile square where is now the 
site of the present meeting-house. In the summer of 
1686 the township was purchased and settled by James 
Fox, Francis Rawle, Richard Gove, John Chelson and 
some other Friends, who lived here for a time and 



held meetings for worship at the house of James Fox. 
Being tradesmen, and not accustomed to a country 
life, they afterwards removed to Philadelphia. Not 
long afterwards, however, the land was repurchased 
and settled. Among a number of others were David 
Meredith, Edmund Cartlege, Thomas Owen, Isaac 
Price, Ellis Pugh and Hugh Jones, all Friends. It 
seems they had become sufficiently numerous here to 
receive the consideration of William Penn, who, in a 
letter to Thomas Lloyd, from England dated the 14th 
of Fourth Month, 1691, among other things, said : 
''Salute me to the Welsh Friends and the Plimouth 
Friends^ — indeed to all of them." 

The members, with the consent of Haverford Monthly 
Meeting in 1703, continued their worship at the same 
house that had then come in possession of Hugh Jones, 
and remained there for several years, after which it 
was held at the house of John Cartlege for some time. 
Through the increase of population, it was agreed to 
build a meeting-house for their better accommodation, 
which was accordingly done at the present site, which 
for some time previous had been used as a burying- 
ground. With the consent of Haverford Monthly 
Meeting and the Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting, the 
Friends of Plymouth and Gwynedd were permitted to 
hold the first Monthly Meeting for themselves the 22d 
of Twelfth Month, 1714-15. It cannot be ascertained 
from the records at what exact time this meeting- 
house was built, but there is reason to believe that it 
could not have been long previous to that date. John 
Rees was appointed, the 25th of Twelfth Jlonth, 1723, 
to keep the records of the births and burials which 
had been commenced in 1690. A school was kept 
from the beginning in connection ^cith the meeting, 
and was the only one in the township down to the 
Revolution. Pupils came to it from miles around on 
horseback, in consequence of which a log stable was 
built on the premises. 

In his visit to America, the celebrated John Fother- 
gill, an English Friend, preached on two difl'erent 
occasions at this place, — the first time on the 15th of 
Twelfth Month, 1721, and again the 27th of Tenth 
Month, 1736. Thomas Chalkley, in a visit here in 
Fourth Month, 1726, mentions David Meredith as one 
of the elders, who was then nearly eighty-nine years 
old, but who died in the following Eleventh Month. 
Ashorttime before the Revolution the Yearly Meeting 
at Philadelphia adopted a minute that the " members 
do not hold negroes in bondage," and "that they shall 
not buy or sell any slaves." Eight incurred the cen- 
sure, when a committee was appointed, in 1775, to 
ascertain the exact number held by the members of 
the meeting, which was ascertained to be sixteen 
negroes and one mulatto. Thomas Lancaster, Sr., 
was among those prevailed on, who emancipated his 
man, Cato, aged forty-six years, 6th of Sixth Month, 
1774. 

The Revolution was also a trial to its members, 
several being disowned for entering the army or 



PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP. 



1033 



/' 



bearing arms, contrary to their precepts. The meeting- 
house was also used as a hospital for the sick or 
wounded from the battle of Germantown. In 1827 
and the following year a division took place among 
the members on points of doctrine, and the result was 
that a portion separated and built not long afterwards a 
two-story stone meeting-house near by, which is known 
as the Orthodox congregation, who have retained for 
their use a portion of the ancient graveyard. The 
present meeting-house is an ancient stone structure 
one story high, situated in the west angle of the 
intersection of the Germantown and Plymouth turn- 
pikes. Having been injured by fire, it was repaired in 
the summer of 1858 and a gallery placed in the e;tst 
end. The graveyard has but one stone that bears 
an early inscription, and that is to the memory of 
Mathew Colly, who died March .3, 1722, aged fifty-five 
years. As he was not a Friend, that portion of the 
ground has since been incorporated with the rest, the 
meeting-house standing on its eastern portion. 

ASSESSMENT OF PLYMOUTH, 1780. 
Fretlericlc Dull, assessor, and James Stiepliei-d, collector. 
ZebuloD Potts, 100 acres, 5 horses, 3 cows, and aged mother to main- 
tain ; James Robinson, 106 a. ; IleniT Gnibb, 3 b., 4 c. ; Slartin Wtiite- 
man, grist and saw-mill, 64 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Widow Leake's estate, lo.*) a, ; 
John Davis, shoemaker, 2 h., 4 c. : Jacob Wager, 95 a., 2 h., 2 c; 
Wigard Levering, 200 a., 4 h., 8 c, aged ; Michael Wills, 225 a., 6 h„ 4 
c, aged ; Barnabas Coulston, 100 a., 1 h., 2 c, aged ; Andrew Lisinger, 
2 h., 2 c. ; James Stroud, 111 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Frederick Dull, 120 a., 4 h., 
4 c. ; Jacob Peterman, smith, 92 a., 3 h., 3 c. : Christian Steer's estate, 
40 a. ; Andrew De Haven, 2 h., 2 c. ; John Ettridge, Sr.'s, estate, 60 a. ; 
James Shepherd, 100 a., 4 h., 2 c. ; Henry Hence, 2 h., 3 c. ; John Woods, 
62 a., 2h., 3 c. ; James Wood, 96 a., 2h., 4 c., maintains an aged mother; 
Moses Meredith's estate, 150 a. ; Charles Linensheat, 2 h., 2 c. ; Moses 
Meredith's estate. 250 a. ; John Timberman, 2 h., 1 c. ; David David, 'J6 
a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Nathan Potts, smith, 36 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Michael Trump's 
estate, 11 a. ; Jacob Brown, 1 c. ; Elizabeth Meredith, 198 a., 2 h., 2 c, 
William Ellis, 1 h., 1 c. ; Jo hn (Campbel l. 148 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; John Sisler, 
126 a., 2 h., I c, ; Simon Armstrong, 137 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Ludvvig Sharer, 
.50 a., 2 b., 2 c. ; John Halman, 126 a., 4 c, an aged mother to main- 
tain ; William Ryan, \W) a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Samuel Brooke's estate, 186 a., 
2 h., 3 c. ; Peter Arnold, shoemaker, 1 h., 1 c. ; John Davis, 166 a., 3 h., 
2 c. ; Thomas ^Vhorloo, 1 c. ; William Gregory, 60 a., 1 c, 2 h. ; Alexan- 
der Loyal, 50 a., 2 h., 2 c, aged ; Samuel Caughlin, inn-keeper, 18 a. ; 

2 h., I c. ; Sarah Wagstaff's estate, 10 a. ; John Dickinson, shoemaker. 

1 h., 1 c. ; Rebecca Lloyd, 21 a., 1 c, aged ; Philip Lloyd, 2 h., 1 c. ; 
John Coulston, inn-keeper, 130 a., 3 II., 2 c. ; Rudolph Bartle, 2 h.. 3 c., 
.Vathaniel Van Winkle, turner, 5 a., 2 c. ; Levi Trump, 3 a. ; Joseph 
Buttler, innkeeper, 2 h., 2 c. ; Israel Dickinson's estate, 47 a. ; Jesse 
Hex, 1 h., 2 c. ; Nicholas Knight, 6 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Joseph Jones, 25(1 a,, 

3 h., 3 c. ; Reese BfiU, 2 c. : Thomas Davis, 130 a., 4 h., 2 c. ; Mercy 
Davis, lOfi a-, 2 h., 2 c. ; Archibald BlcCall's estate, 75 a.; Daniel O. 
Neal, inn-keeper 2 b., 1 c. ; Joseph Levering, 70 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; John 
Priugle's estate, 130 a., and grist-mill ; John Wliiteman, 5 h., 3 c. ; 
Alexander Colley, 2.50 a., 4 h., 6 c. ; Philip Sidney, 1 c. ; Joseph Kitz- 
water, wheelwright, 44 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Daniel Deal, inn-keeper, 52 a., 

2 h., 1 c. ; Andrew Crawford, 180 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Samuel Ckiwdoii, weaver, 
2 c. ; John Bayard, merchant, 50a., 3 b., 4 c, 4slave8, 1 chariot, 1 chair, 
plate 130 oz, ; Stephen Potts, 70 a. ; John Yetter, 1 c. ; Jonathan Tom- 
kins, 1 b., 1 c. StinfjU 3fe». — Patrick McCk)unel, Hugh McKiiowles, 
William Samuel, George Wolf, William Tippeu, Amos Pharoah, Joseph 
Levering, Benjamin Levering, John Colton, Michael Wills, Jacob 
Whiteman, John Whiteman, Jesse Wager, John Loyal, Andrew Norney, 
David Jones and Jonathan Colley. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



THE CORSON FAMILY.' 

The Corson family trace their descent from the 
Huguenots who fled from France in 1675 on the 
revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which drove nearly 
all Protestants from that kingdom. The historical 
fact is that two French ships sailed with families 
for Charleston, S. C, one of them landing its exiles 
at the place of destination and the other being 
either cast away on the shores of Staten Island or 
making a harbor in distress and discharging its 
passengers there. On this vessel, as we are informed 
by Weiss, in the appendix to his "History of the 
Persecution of the French Huguenots, by Louis 
XIV.," came the Corsons, Kreusons, Lefferts, Larza- 
leres, Du Bois' and other French families, who, about 
1726, pressed their way westward and settled in 
Northampton township, Bucks Co., Pa., where, to the 
present day, their descendants are ((uite numerous. 
There is documentary proof that Benjamin Corson, 
of Staten Island, on the 19th of May, 1726, bought 
two hundred and fifty acres of land half a mile 
below the present Addesville, Bucks Co., for three 
hundred and fifty pounds. This was the original 
home of the family in Bucks County, and remained 
in its hands until 1823. This Benjamin Corson was 
the great-grandfather of Joseph Corson, a merchant 
and farmer, who in 1786 came from Bucks County 
and located near Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery 
Co. The latter married Hannah, daughter of 
William Dickinson, whose ancestor, Walter Dickin- 
son, of the Church of England, received a patent for 
four hundred and twenty acres of land on the 
Patapsco Eiver, in Maryland, in 1658. From this 
ancestor descended William Dickinson, who became 
a Friend, moved to Pennsylvania and settled at 
Plymouth Meeting shortly after Penn founded his 
colony, in 1683. He was the great-grandfather of 
Hannah Dickinson, who married Joseph Corson, and 
became the mother of the children mentioned in this 
sketch. The mother of Joseph Corson was a Dungan, 
a lineal descendant of Rev. Thomas Dungan, a Bap- 
tist preacher, who came from Rhode Island and 
settled at Cold Spring, near Bristol, Bucks Co., in 
1684. This minister was the founder of the Baptist 
Church in Pennsylvania. He had left England to 
escape the persecutions against his sect, but finding 
New England no better, came to Peuusylvania to 
share the religious liberty of the Quakers. In the 
graveyard of the church to which he ministered he 
buried the remains of Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Revo- 
lutionary fame. The zeal of the Corson family for 
liberty of conscience, therefore, is derived from 
Huguenot, Baptist and Quaker sources, certainly 
forming a strong pedigree in that direction. 

' For sketches of Drs. Hiram. William and Elwood Corson, see chapter 
on the Medical Profession. , 



1034 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ALAN W. CORSON. 
" Let the mind be great and glorious, and all other things are despic. 
able in comparison." — Seneca, 

Without doubt, the best-known and most justly 
celebrated scholar and scientist in Montgomery 
County was Alan W. Corson (son of Joseph and Han- 
nah Corson), of Whitemarsh township. We have 
others whose general scholastic attainments are 
more classical, but in the higher mathematics — 
botany, geology, mineralogy, conchology, entomol- 
ogy and astronomy — he was distinguished in ouj. 
county. 

Born in Whitemarsh township, Second Month 21, 
1788, he continued on the farm of his father and at- 
tended Friends' school until twelve years of age, 
when his father having entered the store business and 
needing his services he entered on his duties there, 
at which he continued until grown to adult age. That 
business in the country ofttimes aflbrds much oppor 
tunity for study ; and, with an ambition to learn, a 
good memory and great mental capacity, he soon made 
rapid progress in knowledge. The libraries were visited 
for volumes of history, science and general literature, 
and he rapidly took place among the brightest young 
men of the time. " He possessed such decided math- 
ematical capacity," says Mr. Auge, " that he was able 
to master these studies nearly unaided by teachers. By 
the time he was grown, therefore, he was capable of 
teaching all the common mathematical branches, as 
well as the other studies usual in high schools. He was 
thus early a self-taught scholar and teacher also, a 
profession to which he devoted himself For many 
years, in addition to carrying on a farm of about 
fifty acres, he taught Friends' school at Plymouth 
Meeting, and afterwards for many years a boarding- 
school in his own home, in Whitemarsh, his reputa- 
tion as a teacher being so high that he drew many 
pupils from Norristown and other places. 

"About middle life, however, he abandoned teach- 
ing as a profession, and having a large farm and a 
nursery of trees and shrubs, he divided his time be- 
tween these and land-surveying, an art in which 
he was regarded as the most accomplished in the 
county. His reputation in that department was 
so eminent that he was often called to distant places 
and employed wherever there were difficult lines to 
run that required extra skill and accuracy to de- 
termine true boundaries. 

" In this calling he was not relieved from service 
until he was nearly, if not quite, eighty years of age, 
when he deemed it prudent to decline further labor. 

•' He was also, during nearly all his adult life, be- 
cause of accuracy in accounts, excellence of judg- 
ment and high character for integrity, employed by 
neighbors and acquaintances to write wills, deeds and 
agreements for them ; he was frequently, also, ap- 
pointed executor by testators or chosen adminis- 
trator by those dying intestate. 

Quite early in life Alan W. Corson was married to 



Mary, daughter of Lawrence Egbert, of Plymouth, 
and they had born to them the following children : 

I. Hannah, who married James Richie, and lives in 
Philadelphia. 

II. Sarah, married to Isaac Garretson, of White- 
marsh. 

III. Martha, wife of Isaac Styer, of Plymouth. 

IV. Elias H. Corson, whose life and family history 
appear elsewhere in this volume. 

V. Lawrence E., who married Mary, daughter of 
Dr. Benjamin Johnson, of Norristown. 

VI. Joseph, who studied medicine with his uncle, 
Dr. Hiram, graduated at the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, and till the breaking out of the Rebellion 
practiced at Portsmouth, Ohio ; was surgeon of an 
Ohio regiment during the war, and died soon after his 
return. He was married to Martha Cutler, of that 
place, and his widow and two sons still reside there. 

VII. Luke is a farmer in Nebraska ; has two sons. 
Alan W. Corson's eldest daughter, Mrs. Richie, 

inherited her father's love of natural science, and 
more than thirty years ago furnished to the Montgom- 
ery County Cabinet of Natural Science, which her 
father had been mainly instrumental in forming, a 
valuable herbarium. She stands high as a botanist, 
and the vast collection of rare specimens which she 
has gathered and cultivated, as also her museum of 
salt and fresh-water shells, have made her justly cele- 
brated among her acquaintances. She has two daugh- 
ters living in Philadelphia, — one the wife of Dr. John 
Graham, the other married to Mr. George Perkins. 

No man could be more careful than Alan Corson to 
so deport himself as to give no offense, so sensitive 
and unobtrusive as to refuse to be put forward in 
places above his friends, or more ready to discover th(2 
appearance of neglect and quick to refuse to receive a 
favor bestowed with a shade of reluctance. 

He became a member of the Society of Friends at 
a very early age, and attended the meetings very reg- 
ularly. Once, after an attendance at Philadelphia 
Yearly Meeting, he was returning on foot (at that 
time there was not even a stage), w-hen, as he reached 
the hill at " Robin Hood " (now Laurel Hill), he saw 
a neighbor coming behind him in a two-horse carriage, 
with some of his family in it, but yet a vacant seat. 
He felt that now he could have a ride home. As they 
neared he turned and spoke to them, and instinctively 
held up his hand just as they seemed to be passing. 
They stopped and took him in. He had scarcely 
been seated before the conviction seized him that but 
for the gesture he made they would have passed with- 
out inviting him in. At once he said he desired to get 
out. They endeavored to detain him, but he sprang 
out and afterwards walked home with a very light 
step. This little incident was most characteristic of 
the man. Mr. Auge, in his biography, already alluded 
to, thus sums up his history, — 

"A notice of Alan W. Corson would not be complete 
without further reference to his brothers and sisters. 




Enah 



'y'iyAM.BUOde 




^V'^Vl. 



PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP. 



1035 



the other children of Joseph Corson, who left a large 
family, nearly all of whom were well educated and 
possessed commanding talents and marked moral 
characteristics. The author will be pardoned for say- 
ing that they exhibit marked peculiarities, reminding 
him of some of the time-honored clans of Scotland. 
The Corsons will arraign each other, sometimes, 
sharply, but to the outside world they are a unit. 
This results from the very commendable and warranted 
pride of family, or esprit de corps, as the French 
phrase it. Almost all the race possess a keen, jocular 
turn of mind, and some of them a talent for mimicry 
and critical badinage peculiarly French. The author 
may also add that he has no knowledge of any 
man of the county from whom are descended so large 
a number of cultivated and distinguished offspring, 
both in the male and female branches, as are dascended 
from Joseph Corson. 

" With few exceptions, the whole Corson race have 
been cultivated in mind and are notorious for their love 
of free thought. True to their Huguenot origin, they 
have been outspoken for freedom, — the deadly foes of 
slavery, and most of them life-long teetotalers. As the 
phrenologists say, the moral instincts have predomi- 
nated over those strictly religious, Alan W. being 
the only one of the male members of the family who 
assumed the strict garb and life of Friends, although 
most of them adhere to the society's teachings. Alan 
W. is justly noted for his doctrinal unity with those 
who hold the views of Elias Hicks, and for the con- 
scientious fulfillment of every precept of Christian 
morals. 

" Alan W. Corson's mind received a strong religious 
bent at a very early age, and his conscientiousness 
and truthfulness have been controlliug characteristics 
during his long life. Many years ago, with his cousin, 
John Evans,' he used to make annual excursions to 



1 An incident in the life of Alan W. Corson and John Evans may be 
mentioned here which, though commonplace, doubtless exerted a great 
influence on their after-movements. Alan, on returning from a visit to 
his daughter (present Mrs. Richiu), at Westtuwn School, felt that he 
ought to call on his cousin, John Evans, whose house was but little out of 
the direct roJid home. The Corson and Evans families, though so closely 
related, had lived in different counties, and these two cousins had but 
Blight acquaintance with each other. John was a millerand farmer, living 
in a most romantic place among the hills of Radnor, and kept hounds, and 
among his horses always had one famous for following the dogs as they 
sped miles and miles away after foxes in winter-time. Fox-hunting was 
a grand pastime with the Radnor boys and men, in those days when foxes 
were plenty. Alan reached his home in the evening, and early next 
morning was along the creek and on the hill-side looking for plants. He 
was delighted with the variety and luxuriance of the flora of that horn- 
blende region, and returned before breakf;ist bringing with him several 
plants. John inquired of him what be was going to do with them. Alan 
then explained to him the bot^inical systems of Jussieu and Linnaeus, and 
pulling to pieces the plants he had gathered, showed him how to analyze 
them. The quick mind of John Evans s;iw before him a new field to ex- 
plore. The flowering plants, the weeds and briars, the evergreens and 
other trees growing around him wereseen in a new light : where before 
there ofttimes seemed to he deformity and confusion, he then saw the 
order of nature. From that day the foxes were no longer molested by 
him : the hunting-horses and the hounds were forgotten, and instead of 
dashing at breakneck speed over the hills, he became, with his cousin, an 
explorer of nature. Together they often traveled over the same hills on 



the lowlands of Delaware, Maryland, the sandy pine- 
woods of New Jersey, and even to the Adirondacks, 
for specimens of botany, geolog}', mineralogy and 
entomology, and in search of other scientific matters." 
He died June 21, 1882, in his ninetj'-fifth year, and 
was buried in Friends' burying-ground at Plymouth, 
where he had been accustomed to attend meeting for 
nearly ninety years, the last seventy years, almost in- 
variably, when well, twice a week. 

Mary Corson, the second child of Joseph and Han- 
nah Corson, married Charles Adamson, of this county. 
They, soon after marriage, moved to Chester County. 
Their children now living are Hannah, who married 
the widely-known philanthropist, the faithful anti- 
slavery and temperance advocate, one of the purest 
and best of men; they have several children. Mary's 
second child was Sarah, who, either inheriting or 
being taught the woman's rights principles so ar- 
dently cherished and advocated by her mother, and 
yearning for knowledge and work beyond the narrow 
bounds at that time accorded to woman, commenced 
the study of medicine, under the instruction of her 
uncle. Dr. Hiram Corson. At that time (1851) the 
medical schools of Philadelphia, New York, Boston 
and other places refused her admission to the lec- 
tures, as they had refused Elizabeth Blackwell, who 
finally succeeded in graduating at Geneva, in the 
State of New Y'^ork — the first woman physician who 
obtained the degree of M.D. in the United States. 
Even the Geneva College had then, through fear of 
losing students, shut their doors against women ; but 
fortunately a medical college was established at Syra- 
cuse, N. Y., which expressed a willingness to re- 
ceive females. Thither she went, and in due time 
graduated. She then spent one year as an assistant 
to the physician in the Blockley Hospital, in Philadel- 
phia; subsequently married Lester C. Dolley, M.D., 
a former professor in the medical school in which she 
had graduated. They both practiced in Rochester, 
N. Y., until his death very successfully. She still 
resides there, and enjoys a high place in the profes- 
sion in that city. 

Her only child, Dr. Charles Lester Dolley, occupies in 
the great Marine Laboratory at Naples the chair of bi- 
ology accorded the University of Pennsylvania, — the 
onl}' chair occupied by an American. He is there as 
the representative of the university. He is yet 
scarcely twenty-five years of age. Nearly every nation 
in Europe is represented in this great laboratory, 
some of them filling from six to twelve chairs, with 
the most skillful biologists known to the world. It 
will be no light work to cope with these scientists. 



which he had followed the fo.xes, but it was now to study geology, 
mineralogy and botany. From that time until his death, nearly forty 
years, they made their excursions. From his "sand-garden," his 
'* \vinter-garden " and his green-house, he sent many rare and valuable 
plants to the ■' Kew Gardens " of Queen Victoria. His home was a center 
to which lovers of nature delighted to come ; his generosity to them had 
no bounds. Mrs. Elizabeth Abrams, of Norristown, and Mrs. Daniel 
Paxson, at the old home in Delaware County, are his only living children 



1036 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The third child of Mary Corson is Thomas, who 
for nearly twenty years or more has been consul at Kio 
Janeiro, Pernanibuco, Sandwich Islands, and consul- 
general in Australia, and is at present in Panama. 
He married Sarah Wright. They have two sons. 
Charles, the youngest son of Mary Corson, lives at 
Phcenixville, and is engaged in railroad business. 
Though long an invalid, suffering from bronchial 
disease, Mrs. Adanison had her sitting-room and her 
bed-chamber always crowded with flowering plants,^ — 
a measure in direct opposition to the prevailing medi- 
cal opinion of the time ; but the pleasurable enjoy- 
ment of their presence, and her long life of eighty-five 
years, and the conviction in the minds of physicians 
of the present day prove the wisdom of her course. 
Her love of flowers, and her enjoyment of poetry, that 
essence of literature, were marked characteristics of 
her quiet, beautiful life. 
Sarah Corson (third of Joseph Corson's children)^ 

born , married Thomas Read. With but a brief 

interval of two years, they always lived in the county- 
For many years he kept store at Hickorytown ; after" 
wartls owned and managed the mill in Upper Merion, 
near to Catfish dam. 
They had several children, — 

Sarah, married to Charles Jones, who resides in 
Coiishohocken. Her son Joseph served through the 
war. 

Hannah, married to George Schultz, whose two 
sons were both killed in the war of the Rebellion, 
one at Antietam, the other at Gettysburg. 

Mary (married to John Roberts, now deceased), 
who still resides in Norristown. 

Lewis W. Read, M.I)., whose history appears else- 
where. 

Joseph, who is a lumber merchant in Florida, and 
who bore an active part in the late war. 

Alan Corson Read, a dentist, who has resided for 
more than twenty years in Copenhagen, Denmark. 

Their mother died of consumption . To her 

and her sister (Mary Adamson) were entrusted the 
care of their brothers (when William was yet only 
four years old) when their mother passed from them. 
For their loving care, their wise counsel and, shall I 
say, to their daily aspirations for protection from all 
that brings sorrow, these children have ever been 
grateful. 

George Corson, the fourth of the six sons of Joseph 
and Hannah (Dickinson) Corson, was born First 
Month 4, 1803, in Plymouth township. He was an 
apt scholar, with a remarkable mathematical talent, 
a branch of learning in which his father had marked 
ability. 

In his brother Alan's school, where were congre- 
gated some of the brightest boys from different parts 
of the country, he led them all in that branch of 
study, while in some other studies some of them sur- 
passed him. In early manhood he engaged in store- 
keeping at Plymouth Meeting with Jonathan Maulsby, 



and soon after married Martha, daughter of Samuel 
Maulsby (whose grandfather had come to America 
with William Penn,) and who then resided at Ply- 
mouth. Here George Corson continued in business 
for several years, until the death of his father-in- 
law, when he purchased the homestead and farm 
and lime-kilns, and then dropped the mercantile 
business to engage in farming and manufacturing 
lime. Here he continued in active and successful 
business until his death from consumption, November 
18, 1880. 

Moses Auge, in his " Biography of Men of Mont- 
gomery County," said of him, " He was justly distin- 
guished for high moral qualities, being a most untir- 
ing anti-slavery man and temperance advocate." 
Few men have exerted a better influence in a neigh- 
borhood than the subject of this sketch. Though 
never a member of Friends' Meeting, he was a fre- 
quent attendant there, and his family were brought 
up in accord with the principles of the society. 

On engaging in the limebusiness, where themen em- 
ployed had been in the habit of whipping and abusing 
the horses, he exercised a marked influence for good. 
Not a man was allowed to strike or maltreat a horse ; 
even drivers in the employ of other people were often 
stopped in their abuse of animals by his fearless in- 
terference. No threat of injury from the driver for a 
moment checked him. Often were whips and even 
clubs raised to strike, but those who raised them 
quailed before the courage and demands of the friend 
of the noble animal. 

At this time, too, every workman in the quarries and 
at the kilns had to be supplied with whisky, as much 
as he chose to have. He at once announced that no 
liquor would be furnished ; none allowed at the 
works. The skilled workmen at once left. In pres- 
ent parlance, there was a strike. Nothing daunted, 
he called raw hands to the work, supervised the parts 
which demanded skill in management and succeeded 
in his purpose. No kiln of lime had been burned be- 
fore that time but by the aid of whisky. 

In 1830, Benjamin Sundy, the little, meek New 
Jersey Quaker, the first of American Abolitionists, 
came to Plymouth to speak about slavery, to show 
that Southern slave-holders were contriving to embroil 
us with Mexico, in order that we could then have a 
pretense to sever Texas from that country, so that 
slavery could be spread over a new and fertile coun- 
try of great extent. He had traveled through that 
then sparsely -settled region, had mingled with South- 
ern slave-holders and had become cognizant of their 
schemes. His visit North wiis to get subscribers to 
the "Genius of Universal Emancipation," which he 
was then publishing in Baltimore occasionally, and 
to awaken here an anti-slavery sentiment. He came 
to George Corson's. A meeting was called ; only a few 
persons came. Alan, George and Hiram Corson, Jon- 
athan Maulsby and two or three others. This was the 
beginning of George Corson's giving a home and en- 



PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP. 



1037 



tertainment to anti-slavery lecturers, — the beginning 
of a generous hospitality which was continued tothcra 
for thirty years. From that time George Corson and 
his wife threw open their house to all the anti-slavery 
speakers. It was there that Garrison, McKim, Lucre- 
tia Mott, Mary Grew, Abbie Foster {nee Kelly), 
Charles and Cyrus Burleigh and many others were 
welcomed and entertained. .This will seem a trifling 
thing to many to speak of now, but to those who know 
how Abolitionists weredenounced by nearly the whole 
people, even by the ministers in their pulpits, who 
called them infidels, and that even Friends treated 
their members who joined the Abolitionists with ex- 
treme coldness, how the vulgar people cursed and 
threatened them, — those who know these things, know 
that no faint-hearted, cowardly man was then an Abo- 
litionist. While every brother and sister of George 
Corson was an outspoken Abolitionist and warm in 
the cause, there was not one of them that entertained 
the despised members of the Anti-Slavery Society so 
much as his family did. But this wiis partly owing to 
the fact of its greater convenience to the lecturers to 
stay with them. And this brings me to another event 
worth naming. Even the Friends at Plymouth, after 
the anti-slavery crusade got fairly started, refused the 
meeting-house to the anti-slavery people. Every 
church and school-house, with rare exceptions, was 
shut against them ; and even when granted, the meet- 
ings were disturbed, not only by men sometimes 
drunk and noisy, but often by " persons of property 
and standing, " as was the " Boston mob." The sub- 
ject of our sketch therefore determined to build a hall, 
over which he could have control. He made quite a 
large one and furnished it well with seats, warmed and 
lighted it at his own expense. And now we can see 
how convenient it was for the lecturers to make his 
house their temporary home. As time wore on more and 
more neighbors and friends were attracted to the meet- 
ings to hear the eloquent and earnest men and women 
who pictured the atrocities of slavery. Many, too, 
were the fugitives fleeing from slavery whom his fam- 
ily entertained, by night and by day, in his home and 
in the hall. 

Time flew along. George Corson, worn down with 
consumption, died in . The war which sunk slav- 
ery forever and gave freedom to four million human 
beings, was brought on by John Brown in 1861. Be- 
fore his death George had sent his young daughter to 
the School of Design, in Philadelphia. After complet- 
ing her studies there she spent several years studying 
art in Paris, then returned and made the old hall her 
studio. A few years later she was married to Thomas 
Hovenden, an artist, whose beautiful picture entitled 
" Elaine " had attracted much attention. Mr. Ho- 
venden was sought by a gentleman in New York to 
paint him a picture of John Brown. The most liberal 
offer was made, and Mr. Hovenden undertook the work, 
on a design of his own. The old hall then became the stu- 
dio of Mr. Hovenden, and there was designed and 



completed the great painting, now on exhibition in New 
York, " John Brown coming from the Charleston 
Jail with a rope about his neck, on his way to execu- 
tion." 

It may not be deemed inappropriate to introduce 
here a brief extract from a published criticism of Mr. 
Hovenden's picture, just as it was about being sent 
from the studio, — 

"George Corson, one of the fathers of the present genemtion (of 
Corsons), was an earnest Abolitionist, ami dwelt in an ancient homestead 
immediately opposite the HicliSite Plymouth Meeting. His home was a 
centre of the active agitation which friends and foes united in regarding 
as a harbingrer of war. To furnish accommodations elsewhere denied for 
the gatherings of the faithful,he erected on his premises a good-sized hall, 
where many notable meetings, conferences and conventions were held and 
much weighty business transacted. His place, too, became an important 
Undergound Railroad station, and the entertainment of unexpected 
guests of dusky hue at breakfast is one of the memories of the family. This 
old homestead is to-day the residence of Thomas Hovenden, the historic 
painter, and his wife, also a distinguished artist, Helen Corson Hoven- 
den, the daughter of George Corson. 

"That old anti-slavery centre is now a centre of artistic interests, and 
the gatherings of fleeing slaves and their .abolition friends have been 
succeeded by weekly levees attended by painters, sculptors, literarj' folk 
and lovers of art, the traditional hospitality of the household being de- 
lightfully maintained. By one of those coincidences w hich cannot faij 
to e-xcite interest, whether regarded as significant or not, it was to this 
home that Thomas Hovenden came, two years ago, when he received a 
commission for a picture of John Brown. Amid the association and 
memories which cling about this Cnderground Railroad station the picture 
has been painted. The ' Anti-Slavery Hall ' was converted into a 
studio, and there the first sketchesanddraftswere made. Mr. Hovenden 
built a studio especially adapted to his purpose when he determined what 
conditions would be required, but the tentative work, deciding on the 
subject, composition and treatment, was done in the Abolitionists' meet- 
ing room." 

That room is still the studio of Mrs. Hovenden. 

There is another incident which shows the zeal and 
courage of him of whom we write, which we may 
mention here. As he was one day coming home from 
his brother's, Charles Corson's, on the back road east of 
Shannonville, he overtook a man riding on horseback, 
while behind him walked a black man with a rope 
around his neck, one end of it being fast to the saddle 
of the rider. Mr. Corson was also on horseback, and 
on coming alongside the stranger asked him why the 
man was thus tied. He replied that he had been his 
slave, had run away and that he had found him and 
was taking him home. After some more talk George 
hurried on to Norristown, and when the master and 
slave arrived had them arrested and taken before a 
magistrate. The slave-holder procured a lawyer ; the 
magistrate's office was filled with people indignant 
that a "Southern gentleman" (?) should be thus in- 
sulted and Norristown disgraced by such an unwar- 
rantable proceeding. The magistrate decided that 
"the master had a right to his property," and the 
prosecutor had to pay the costs. " The master has a 
right to his property," — "'You want to rob him of his 
property," — was the battle-cry of the opjjonents of the 
Abolitionists at that time. George Corson was a small 
man, and in his latter years a weak one, but a braver, 
truer man never stood by a friend in his hour of peril. 

Of the children of George and Martha Maulsby 
Cordon a few brief words. Mary died in infancy. 



1038 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Susan died in her fifteenth year. Dr. Marcus H. died 
in his twenty-tliird year, of consumption. Tliis son 
was a youth of remarkable talents, but fell a victim to 
disease soon after his graduation at the University of 
Pennsylvania. Possessed of a remarkable memory, 
and having a great craving for knowledge, he gave 
promise of eminence in his profession, but the hopes 
of his friends were soon blighted by his early death. 

Samuel M. graduated in the Literary Department of 
the University of Pennsylvania, afterwards studied law 

in , and began practice in Philadelphia. Like 

his brother, Marcus H., he was a brilliant scholar, but 
was not fitted for the law: it was distasteful to him. 



Helen Corson, the oldest living daughter, now wife 
of Thomas Hovenden, has already been sufficiently 
referred to in this history of her father and mother. 
She and her husband occupy the old homestead, and 
both are earnest and aspiring in their profession. They 
have two children. 

Miss Ida Corson is a graduate of Vassar College, 
and quite remarkable for her mathematical ability. 
She resides at Washington, D. C, with her uncle. Dr. 
George Maulsby, surgeon in the United States navy. 



THOMAS LIVEZEY. 

His father, Samuel Livezey, was of Welsh origin, a 




4HMi,i 



i^/h&'yyt-^f^^jL^ 



uj^e^ 



f> 



Literature was his delight. He was a book-worm. For 
several years he taught school in Whitemarsh town- 
ship, near to his old home, with great success, and 
while so engaged wrote many interesting articles for 
the public papers. A modest, kind gentleman and 
scholar, he died in 1883, and was buried, as were all 
his father's family then deceased, in the Friends' 
burying-ground near his birth-place. 

There are of George Corson's children still living 
only Ellwood, Helen and Ida. 

Dr. Ellwood M. Corson is the only surviving sou of 
George and Martha Corson. A sketch of his life 
appears in the chapter upon the Medical Profession. 



minister of the Society of Friends, and with his wife, 
Mary, settled in Plymouth township, Montgomery 
Co., in 1788, where he reared his family and died. The 
children of Samuel and Mary Livezey were Thomas, 
Martha (married Jacob Albertson), Rachel (married 
Jonathan Maulsby), Samuel, Mary (married Lewis 
Jones), Joseph, and Ann (who married William 
Ely). 

Thomas Livezey, born the 27th of Fourth Month, 
1803, died in his native township, Plymouth, on the 
2d of Tenth Month, 1879. A friend of Thomas 
Livezey paid him the following tribute at his death : 

" His brothers selecting other business, he became 



PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP. 



1039 



a farmer and store-keeper. The estate left him by 
hisfotherhe kept intact, having died on the farm on 
which he was born, and he leaves a good estate be- 
sides. He was a director in the Bank of Montgomery 
County during its controversy with the late David M. 
Conkey, in which the bank came off victorious, also a 
director in the First National Bank of Norristown, 
and for many years he was a school director. 

"He was a member of Friends' Meeting at Ply- 
mouth, and though he did not have a gift in the 
ministry, as hia father had, yet he wielded a large in- 
fluence in the meeting, and his opinions were always 
respected. As a business man he lacked nothing in 
ability or integrity. He lived to see the flail, the rake, 
the scythe and the pitch-fork, which he had wielded 



from England about 1784, and setted at Peale Hall, 
in Philadelphia. She survives in 1886. Their chil- 
dren are seven sons, viz. : Dr. Edward Livezey (1833- 
to 1876), studied medicine with Dr. Hiram Corson, 
was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 
the spring of 1859, served one and one-half years in 
Wills' Eye Hospital, one year in the Pennsylvania 
Hospital, afterward in the Government Hospital at 
Broad and Cherry Streets, and subsequently located 
at 507 North Sixth Street, Philadelphia, where he 
continued to enjoy a large practice until his death. 

Samuel, in the packing business, Chicago. 

Joseph R., engaged in the real estate business in 
Philadelphia. 

John R. (1842-18(?7), studied conveyancing with 




.JONATHAN .lOXES. 



on many a weary day, give place to the threshing- 
machine, the horse-rake, the mowing-machine and 
the horse-fork. He saw the dirt road substituted by 
the turnpike road, and it, in turn, give way to the rail- 
road ; his leather and wooden springs supplanted by 
the steel springs under his carriage, and they, in 
turn, by the passenger car ; the mail-bags on horse- 
back by express trains ; and the special messenger by 
the telegraph. Finally, he lived to see his country 
redeem herself from the sin of slavery, and re-enter 
upon a new career of business prosperity." 

His wife, Rachel, born at Attleboro', Bucks Co. Pa., 
on the 27th of Eighth Month, 1808, whom he married 
on the 18th day of the Tenth Month, 18.32, was the 
daughter of Joseph and Mary Richardson, who came 



Nathan R. Potts, of Philadelphia, where he had a lu- 
crative business. 

Henry (1843-1846). 

Henry, 2d. (1847-18731, read law with Judge F. 
C. Brewster, of Philadelphia, and D. H. Mulvany, of 
Norristown ; was admitted to practice at the Mont- 
gomery County bar, November 10, 1869, and at the 
time of his death he was associated with the present 
Judge Boyer. 

Thomas Ellwood, a farmer on the home-stead. 



JONATHAN JONES. 

Isaac Jones, the father of the subject of this bio- 
graphical sketch, resided at Conshohocken, where he 
cultivated a productive farm. He was three times 



1040 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERy COUNTY. 



married, his first wife, the mother of Jonathan 
Jones, being Elizabeth Yerkes, whose children were 
John, William, Jonathan, Ann, Susan (Mrs. Thomas 
Hopkins), Charles, Elizabeth (Mrs. Charles Sheppard). 
Jonathan was born on the 10th of January, 1800, in 
Whitemarsh township, and in youth received a com- 
mon school education, after which his time and skill 
were devoted to the farm which his father owned and 
cultivated. At the age of twenty-five he married Eliza, 
daughter of John and Anna Davis, of Plymouth, and 
had children, — Anne J. (Mrs. Samuel Foulke), Evan 
D., Elwood (deceased), Esther, Elizabeth J. (Mrs. Wil- 



liberal in his estimate of the character and motives of 
others. These qualities caused him frequently to be 
made arbiter in the adjustment of differences among 
his neighbors, and rendered his services invaluable as 
guardian and trustee. He was a Whig, and later a 
Republican in politics, but not active as a politician. 
He was by birthright a Friend, and one of the most 
useful representatives of that denomination at the 
time of his death, which occurred October 5, 1867. 



JESSE SHEPARD. 

The Shepard family are of English descent. Thomas 




Ham Webster), J. Davis (deceased) and Rachel (de- 
ceased). Mr. Jones, on his marriage, removed to a farm 
located in Plymouth, owned by his father-in-law, Mr. 
Davis, which for twenty-one years he cultivated, and 
on the death of the latter removed to the Davis home- 
stead, where he resided during the remainder of his life, 
his widow and two daughters being now the occupants 
of the farm. Mr. Jones possessed excellent business 
qualifications, combining much judgment and sagacity 
with the most absolute integrity. In connection with 
his farm, he conducted a successful lumber trade at 
Conshohocken. Mr. Jones was a man of benevolent 
and kindly instincts, with a keen sense of justice and 



Shepard, the father of the subject of this biographical 
sketch, resided in Whitemarsh township, where he 
followed his trade of carpenter, combined with which 
were the frequent duties of an undertaker. He mar- 
ried Miss Sarah Streaper, whose children were Debo- 
rah (Mrs. Henry Zern, of Indiana), John, Thomas, 
Charles and Jesse. The death of Mr. Shepard oc- 
curred on the 4th of October, 1821, in his fifty-fourth 
year, and Mrs. Shepard died on the 20th of the 
same month during the year following. Their young- 
est son, Jesse, was born September 30, 1814, in White- 
marsh township, and during his youth attended the 
paid schools of the neighborhood, after which he 



POTTSGROVE TOWNSHIP. 



1041 



learned the trade of a cabinet-maker, under the direc- 
tion of his brotlier .Tolin. While still pursuing his 
trade he, at the age of twenty-one, removed to the 
farm -which is his present residence, and combined 
the labor of the farmer with that of a cabinet-maker. 
In 1866 he retired from the latter occupation, and has 
since devoted his time exclusively to the superintend- 
ence of his farming interests. Mr. Shepard was mar- 
ried to Harriet Y. Schultz, granddaughter of Chris- 
topher Yeakle, of Chestnut Hill, and daughter of 
Henry W. Schultz, of Whitemarsh township. Their 
children are Sarah, Anna E. (Mrs. Abram A. Yeakle) 
Henry W. S., Charles E. and John S. Mr. Shepard 
votes the Republican ticket most frequently, but re- 
serves to himself the right to cast an independent 
ballot when jiarty measures or candidates challenge 
his approval. Though the incumbent of various 
minor township ottices in the past, he usually declines 
such distinctions. In religion he worships with the 
Friends at Plymouth Meeting. 



CHAPTER LXIX. 



POTTSGROVE TOWNSHIP. 



This township is situated in the extreme western 
corner of the county, and the uppermo.st on the river 
and is bounded northeast by Douglas and New 
Hanover, southeast by Limerick, south by the Schuyl- 
kill and the borough of Pottstovvn and west and 
northwest by Berks County. Its length is five miles, 
average breadth three and a half miles, with an area 
of eleven thousand six hundred square acres, or about 
eighteen square miles. The entire southern portion 
of the township, especially that portion which lies be- 
tween the Reading turnpike and the river, is fertile 
and well cultivated. The eastern part is more rolling 
and towards the Douglas, New Hanover and Limerick 
line is quite hilly. Among the most prominent eleva- 
tions can be named Ringing Hill, Stone Hill, Prospect 
Hill and the Fox Hills. The soil on these elevations 
is generally thin and very stony. Pottsgrove is pretty 
well watered by the Manatawny and Sprogel's Creeks, 
Sanatoga and Goo.se Runs and their various branches. 
The Manatawny is the largest stream, which rises in 
Rockland township, Berks Co., and after a general 
southeast course of about eighteen miles empties into 
the Schuylkill at the borough of Pottstown. Of its 
length, two miles are in this township, in which dis- 
tance it propels three grist-mills. The earliest mention 
we have found of this stream is from a visit of Gover- 
nor Gordon in its vicinity in 1728. He calls it the 
" Mahanatawny." It is an Indian name, and Heck- 
ewelder says in their language it signified "where we 
drank." Sprogel's Run is wholly in this town.ship, 
rising in the Fox Hills, and after a southeast course of 
four miles empties into the Schuylkill. It propels 
66 



only a clover and chopping-mill. It is called by this 
name on Scull's map of 1770. Formerly, on its banks, 
near the centre of the township, a copper-mine was 
worked. Sanatoga Run, though only about three and 
a half miles in length, furnishes valuable water-power. 
It rises by two branches in New Hanover township 
with a general southwest course, and propels in Potts- 
grove four grist and three saw-mills. This stream has 
an Indian name, and we find it variously spelled, — on 
Scull's map of 1770, Sanatoga; on Howell's map of 
1792, Sanatoga ; and the same on the county maps of 
1849 and 1857. 

Among the natural curiosities of Montgomery 
County may be mentioned the Ringing Rocks, as they 
are called, on Stone Hill, which are situated about 
three miles northeast of Pottstown. They consist of a 
bed of trap rocks; exceedingly hard and compact, 
which, on being struck with a hammer, ring like iron. 
The rocks are piled on one another and cover about 
one and a half acres of ground, within which space 
no trees or bushes are found growing. It is supposed 
that the largest rocks would weigh from five to 
twenty-five tons each, and some of the apertures are 
visible to the depth of twenty-five feet. A number of 
impressions can be seen on them, among which are 
three closely resembling the human foot, from three 
to six inches in depth, and also a number resembling 
the tracks of horses, elephants, and cannon-balls of 
from si.\ to twelve inches in diameter. The sounds 
emitted by these rocks are various, depending on their 
size and shape. Some, when struck, resemble the rmg- 
ing of anvils, others of church-bells, with all the inter- 
mediate tones. In fact, there is not a note in music 
that has not here a corresponding key. As Aristotle 
has stated that in every block of marble there is a 
statue, but it took a sculptor to find it, so it might be 
said of these rocks, in every one there is some note in 
music, but it would still require the aid of a musician 
to verify it. The German inhabitants of the neigh- 
borhood from an early period have given this hill the 
name of Klingleberg, signifying Ringing Hill. On 
the west end of Stone Hill, about two miles from 
Pottstown, a fine view is obtained of the surrounding 
country. The hills of the Schuylkill can be traced 
in Chester and Berks Counties for thirty or forty 
miles. 

Pottsgrove was erected into a township in 1807, and 
its territory was taken from the townships of Douglas 
and New Hanover. William Penn, the 25th of Octo- 
ber, 1701, conveyed to his son, John Penn, a tract of 
twelve thousand acres of land, which the latter, the 
20lh of June, 1735, sold to George McCall, a merchant 
of Philadelphia, for the sura of two thousand guineas, 
or, in our present currency, nine thousand three hun- 
dred and thirty-three dollars. On a resurvey it was 
found to contain fourteen thousand and sixty acres. 
This purchase comprised all of the pi'esent township 
of Douglas and the upper half of Pottsgrove and the 
whole of Pottstown to the Schuylkill. According to 



1042 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the records, it was commonly called "McCall's Manor" 
down to 1753. George McCall was a native of Glas- 
gow, Scotland, and after his arrival here became a 
successful merchant in Philadelphia. There isreason 
to believe that he first built the iron-works in this 
township, which he called after the place of his 
nativity, and which has been retained to this day. 
Judging by the extensive purchase he made here, he 
must have been a man of some means. In 1722 he 
was elected a member of the City Council, and died in 
1740. Among the first settlers of the township was 
John Henry Sprogel, who, with his brother Lodwick 
Christian Sprogel, by invitation of William Penn, 
came to this country from Holland. They were both 
naturalized in 1705, and John Henry purchased here 
about six hundred acres, on which he settled with his 
family. The present Sprogel's Run was called after 
him and flows through this tract. From the dates 
upon difterent stones in the ancient burial-ground, 
east of the borough line, it is inferred that he must 
have been amongst the first that resided in the town- 
ship. John Potts, in 1753, lived in Pottsgrove (now 
called Pottstown), after whom both the borough and 
this township have been named. 

By the act of April 11, 1807, it was enacted 

** Tbat the Sixth Klection District shall be composed of the township 
of PottagroTe, lately erected from a part of New Hanover and a part of 
Douglas, and shall hold their elections at the house of Wm. Lesher, 
Pottstown, and the electors of the remainder of the township of Doug- 
las and New Hanover at the house of Henry Kreps, New Hanover." 

The Court of Quarter Sessions, June 10, 1875, 
divided the present township into what is called the 
Upper and Lower Election Districts. 

Pottsgrove, according to the census of 1810, con- 
tained 1571 inhabitants ; in 1820, 1882; in 1830, 1302; 
in 1840, l.'iei ; in 1850, lG8!t; and in 1880. 3985. The 
number of taxables in 1828 was 252 ; in 1849, 351 ; in 
1858, 406; in 1875, 937 ; in 1884, 1225. By the tri- 
ennial assessment of 1858 the real estate was valued at 
$348,511, and the horses and neat cattle at $15,136. 
In 1884 the value of improved lands was §1,588,830 ; 
value of unimproved lands, 8116,535 ; value of 443 
horses, $26,125 ; value of 950 cattle, $24,000 ; value of 
■ all property taxable for county purposes, $1,884,510. 

The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad passes 
through the whole length of the township, a distance 
of five miles, with a station at Sanatoga ; the Cole- 
brookdale has a course of more than tw(i miles, with a 
station at Gla-sgow, and connects with the main line 
at Pott.stown. 

The villages are Crooked Hill, Glasgow, Grosstown 
and Half- Way. 

Glasgow is a small manufacturing village about one 
and a half miles north from Pottstown, and is the 
site of the Glasgow Iron-Works and Rolling-Mills. 
George McCall, by his will, dated September 21, 1739, 
bequeathed five hundred acres of what was known as 
McCall's Manor to his son, Alexander McCall,. and 
which subsequently became known as the Forge 



Tract. Alexander McCall sold the Forge property to 
Joseph and John Potts and James Hackley. In 1789 
it was sold at sheriff's sale to David Rutter and 
Joseph Potts, Jr. Rutter, in the same year, sold his 
share to Samuel Potts, who, by will, in 1793, author- 
ized his sons to sell his interest, and f^ebruary 13, 
1797, it was conveyed to Joseph Potts, Jr., who was 
the owner of the other half. It was continued by 
Joseph Potts, Jr., and his family until March 12, 1832, 
when it was sold to Jacob Weaver, Jr. In 1820 there 
were at the place a small sheet-iron mill, two bloom- 
eries, a grist-mill, a saw-mill,*two mansion-houses, ten 
log tenant-houses and two stone tenant-houses. After 
the purchase by Weaver ten stone tenant-houses in 
one row were erected and the other houses were aban- 
doned. Weaver assigned the property September 2, 
1846, and on April 5, 1847, the assignee conveyed it 
to .Tames Rittenhouse, David and William Schall. 
About this time a stone school-house was erected, 
which is still used. Jacob Weaver also built a fur- 
nace, which was, however, not successfiil. The Forge 
property passed, in 1864, to James Hilton, and in 1873 
to Joseph L. Bailey and Comley B. Shoemaker. 
About 1874 a brick school-house was erected, which 
is used by the Methodists, who are supplied with 
preaching mostly by the Methodist pastors of Potts- 
town. Glasgow at present contains the iron-works 
of the Glasgow Iron Company, several fine resi- 
dences of the proprietors and about eighteen other 
dwellings. 

Grosstown is a small settlement about two miles 
west of Pottstown, on the Philadelphia, Reading and 
Perkiomen turnpike. It contains at present a half- 
dozen houses, school-house and blacksmith-shop. It 
derived its name from a family by the name of Gross, 
who 1 i ved there seventy or eighty years ago, and who dis- 
appeared from that neighborhood over fifty years since. 

Crooked Hill is a hamlet containing fifteen or 
twenty houses, a post-office, hotel, store, school-house 
and grist-mill. It is situated on Crooked Hill Run, 
northerly from Sanatoga Station, on the Philadelphia 
and Reading Railroad, and three miles east from 
Pottstown on the old Philadelphia, Reading and 
Perkiomen turnpike. Sixty years ago the tavern was 
kept by Levi Winderrauth. The grist-mill, and, later 
the post-oflice, were kept by one of the family. It was 
a favorite stopping-place for teamsters on the turnpike, 
which was one of the great routes of travel. It derived 
its name from the peculiar formation of hills in the 
vicinity. 

There are eighteen public schools in the township, 
with nine hundred and twenty pupils. Twenty 
teachers (ten males and ten females) are employed, at 
a salary of thirty-two dollars per month. The school 
term is six months. For the school year ending with 
June 1, 1857, the schools were open only four months 
and attended by four hundred and eighty-five pupils. 
The sum of fourteen hundred and fifty dollars was 
levied to defray the expenses of the same. 



POTTSGROVE TOWNSHIP. 



1043 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



WILLIAM BROOKE. 

Thpmas Brooke, the father of the subject of this 
biograjihical sketch, resided on the Brooke home- 
stead, ill Pottsgrove township, still in possession of 
the family, where he was both a successful farmer and 
an iron-master. He was married to Miss Anna 
Grant, whose youngest son, William, was born at the 
homestead on the 8th of January, 1792. After secur- 
ing such rudimentary education as was obtainable at 



laurels and the rank of major-general during the 
war of the Rebellion, and subsequently entered the 
regular army and was made commandant of Fort 
Shaw, Mont. ; Caroline (Mrs. Samuel S. Campbell) ; 
and Mary (Mrs. William Hopkins). Major Brooke 
athliated with the Old-Line Whig party during its 
existence, and was subsequently a stanch supporter of 
the Republican party, its platform and principles. 
Though public-spirited and well-informed in all 
questions of the day, he was averse to the excitements 
and inditferent to the honors attending a political 
career. His sympathies during the late war were 




WILLI.^M BROOKE. 



that early day, he was attracted to the congenial life 
of the agriculturist, first as assistant to his father and 
later as general superintendent of his farming inter- 
ests. On the death of the latter he became the owner, 
by inheritance, of the estate, where the whole of his 
life was spent in the cultivation of its productive 
land. He in early life entered the service during the 
war of 1812, though his command did not participate 
in any important engagements. Major Brooke was, 
in 1837, married to Miss Martha, daughter of David 
Rutter, of Pine Forge Works, in Berks County. 
Their children are John R., who won distinguished 



manifested not only in expressions of loyalty to the 
Union cause, but in more practical form when sub- 
stantial aid was needed. He was educated in the 
faith of the Society of Friends, to which he adhered 
through life, worshiping with the Friends' Meeting 
at Pottstown. Major Brooke bore a reputation for 
scrupulous honor and the most unquestionable integ- 
rity in both his social and business relations, having 
been in his character and bearing a fine example of 
the old-school gentleman. His death occurred at 
Pottstown on the 7th of October, 1872, in his eighty- 
first year. 



1044 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



CHAPTER LXX. 

PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP.' 

When William Penn, as the true and absolute 
proprietary of the province, sold the lands of the com- 
monwealth, he reserved for himself a large tract of 
the land on the east side of the Schuylkill River. It 
embraced the whole of the present townships of Upper 
Providence and Lower Providence and parts of the 
townships of Perkionien and Worcester. The tract 
was named by him "The Manor of Gilberts," and was 
so known for many years. The name was in honor of 
Penn's mother, who was of the family of Gilberts. 
One of the early purchasers of land in this manor 
was Jacob Tellner, one of tlie founders of German- 
town, who owned a large tract along the Skippack 
Creek, svhich now constitutes the northwest corner 
of the present township of Lower Providence. For 
many years, from about the year 1700, the land lying 
along the Skippack Creek was known as Tellner town- 
ship, while that between the Skippack and Perkiomen, 
was called " Perkoming," the present township of 
Perkiomen being then known as " Van Bebber's town- 
ship.'' At the March term of court, 1725, the petition 
of divers inhabitants along the Perquomin Creek was 
presented, praying the court to establish a township of 
the territory upon which they resided. This petition 
was signed by William Lane, Samuel Lane, James 
Lane, Peter llambo, John Morris, James Shatlick, 

Richard Jones, Thomas Dienier, Casselberry, 

Thomas Loch, John Bull, Richard Adams, Thomas 
Potts, Daniel Philips and Lewis Rees. At that time 
nothing was done. At the March Sessions, 1729, a 
new petition of the same persons was presented, accom- 
panied by a draft of the proposed township, and setting 
forth the bounds and limits thereof as follows: 

* Beginning at a hickory, marked for a corner, standing in the line of 
Isaac Norris's land ; thence extending by the same southwest twelve 
hundred perches to a Gum tree standing by Schuylkill side ; thence up 
the same the several courses twenty-two hundred and ninety-one perches 
to a Hickory at a corner of Limerick Township ; thence by the same 
northeast thirteen hundred perches to a Hickory, a corner of Bebber's 
land; thence by the line uf said Bebber's land on Skippack southwest 
and New Bristol township (so called) twenty-two hundred and ninety 
perches, to the place of beginning. Cont-aining by computation, 17,S'.)2 
acres and 30 perches." 

On the 2d of March, 1729, the court decreed that 
the territory just specified be erected into a townsliip, 
and the same be called by the name of " Providence 
township." 

The origin of the name of " Providence" is not 
certainly known. Tradition says it was settled by 
some of the followers of Roger Williams, of Rhode 
Island. Ne.arly a century before this time the settle- 
ment in Rhode Island had been named " Providence." 
Hence his followers coming here called this region 
" New Providence." In most of the old documents it 

IKy V. G. Hobson. 



is called New Providence. Another more plausible 
theory is that it received its name from one of the West 
Indies Islands, viz., "New Providence." Craig, an 
early settler, came from that place, while the Lanes 
and Richardsons, two of the foremost families of 
the township, came from the neighboring Island of 
Jamaica. Afte? a time the township lost the " New " 
and retained as its name simply "' Providence." 

This township, or, as it is now, townships of Upper 
Providence and Lower Providence, face the Schuyl- 
kill River, and constitute the central townships of the 
county. They are bounded on the west by Limerick, 
on the north by Perkiomen and Worcester, on the 
east by Norriton and on the south by the Schuylkil 
River. The surface of both townships is rolling, the 
soil is mostly red shale and very productive, especially 
along the rivers Schuylkill and Perkiomen. There is 
very little waste land. The Perkiomen Creek, which 
forms the natural division line between the two town- 
ships, is the largest stream in Montgomery County. 
It is about thirty miles in length, following its niean- 
derings. The name Perkiomen is of Indian origin, 
and means " the place where grow the cranberries." 
The spelling of this name has undergone many 
changes. In Penn's deed of purchase it is called 
" Pah-he-homa." In Nicholas Scull's map it is spelled 
" Perquamink." Afterwards we find it known as 
" Perquoming," "Perkioming," "Perkoming," " Per- 
kionan," "Perquoning," " Perquonum,'' "Perquo- 
min," and later as " Perkiomen." 

The Mingo Creek rises in Limerick township and 
runs through the western part of Upper Providence, 
where it empties itself into the Schuylkill. Its stream 
is weak. Another small stream, known as Zimmer- 
man's Run, rises near Trappe and empties into the 
Perkiomen, near Yerkes. In Lower Providence there 
are two streams of water, — the Skippack and Mine 
Run. The Skippack is about seventeen miles in 
length and empties into the Perkiomen, at Areola. 
Its name, which is of Indian origin, and means "a 
stagnant stream" or "pool of water," symbolized its 
nature. Mine Run rises in the township and is about 
three miles in length, and it empties into the Perkio- 
men, at Oaks. 

It would be impossible to give the history of the 
roads of the township. The Great road from 
Philadelphia to the Perkiomen is a very ancient one. 
In 1709 this road was extended towards Reading. 
The petition therefor is signed by John Henry Spro- 
gell, Morris Jones, John Newman, Jlatthew Brooks, 
Robert Belling and Henry Paukor, and recites that 
they have "plantations lying very remote in the 
county, and on the edge or outskirts of any inhabit- 
ants of the county, and no public road ; they therefore 
pray for a road from the late house of Edward Lane 
deceased, being in the Queen's highway, unto Mauni- 
tauna, etc." 

In 1734 a jury consisting of Richard Jones, Christo- 
pher Zimmerman, John Umstat, Joseph Armstrong, 



PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. 



1045 



John Bull and Samuel Evans, laid out a road from 
Henry Pawling's plantation to the road or cartway lead- 
ing to Norriton Mills, and thence, by or near the mill 
forraly belonging to Edward Lane, to St. James' 
Church on Manatawny road in Providence. 

In 1736 a public road was laid out which now con- 
Btitutes the Eidge turnpike road. 

In public improvements Providence has its full 
share. The Perkiomen and Reading turnpike road 
was completed in 1815. It runs from the Perkiomen 
Bridge to Reading. It passes three and one-half miles 
through the township. The Perkiomen and Sumney- 
town turnpike road was incorporated in 1845. This 



Perkiomen Railroad, running from Perkiomen to 
AUentown, Lehigh Co., passes through the whole 
length of the township along the Perkiomen Creek. 
There are four stations in the township, viz. : Oaks, 
Areola, Ycrkes and Collegeville, the last being the most 
important. The road was opened to travel as far as 
Collegeville on May 8, 1868, and was gradually ex- 
tended to AUentown. The Pennsylvania Schuylkill 
Valley Railroad passes along the east side of the 
Schuylkill the entire length of both townships. It 
was completed in 1884, and has four statious, — Port 
Kennedy, Perkiomen, Port Providence and Mont Clare. 
There are four bridges spanning the Perkiomen, 




PERKIOMEN BRIDGE, BUILT 1798. 



road is eleven miles in length, one mile of which is 
in the township, where it terminates at Perkiomen 
Bridge. In Lower Providence there are two turn- 
pike roads, both beginning at the eastern end of 
Perkiomen Bridge at Collegeville. Both the German- 
town and Perkiomen road and the Ridge Turnpike 
road have been neglected for many years, and no 
tolls are collected for travel thereon. The burden of 
keeping them in repair has thus fallen on the town- 
ships. 

There are three railroads. The Philadelphia and 
Reading Railroad runs about two miles through Up- 
per Providence, with one station, " Mingo." The 



connecting Upper Providence with Lower Providence, 
viz.: at Collegeville, Yerkes, Areola, and Oaks. The 
latter three are wooden superstructures erected upon 
stone piers and abutments, while the one at College- 
ville is a fine stone structure, and known as "The 
Perkiomen Bridge." In addition, there is a county 
bridge over the Mingo, and one near the almshouse 
over a small stream. In Lower Providence there are 
two county bridges over the Skippack, one on each 
of the turnpikes. In addition, there are two pay 
bridges over the Schuylkill, one at Port Kennedy and 
the other at Pawling. In Upper Providence there 
are also two pay bridges across the Schuylkill. The 



1046 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUiNTY. 



bridge at Quincyville was incorporated in 1844, and 
built shortly thereafter. The one at Black Rock was 
built in 18G0, and cost nineteen thousand dollars. 
There are also four fine railroad bridges in the town- 
sliip,^ — an iron one over the Perkiomeu, ou the line of 
the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad ; a 
frame one over the Schuylkill, on the Perkiomen 
Railroad ; a stone bridge over the same river on the 
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad ; and an iron 
structure over the Schuylkill at Mount Clare, on the 
Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad, erected iu 
1884. The present bridge structure at College ville 
is the oldest in the township. The place where 
the bridge now stands was known before this time 
as "Philip's Ford." It was a very dangerous one, 
Henry Buckwalter having drowned there, April 14, 
1737, by reason of his horse stumbling. Many un- 
successful attempts were made to procure a bridge 
at this place. In the year 1794 the Legislature 
appropriated money to this object on condition that 
the county would furnish the balance. A petition 
was presented to the Montgomery County court, at 
May Sessions, 1795, asking for two thousand pounds 
towards building this bridge, which was allowed. This 
sum was seen to be so insutlicient that the commis- 
sioners refused to proceed. Another petition was 
therefore presented at the May term, 1796, asking for 
an additional appropriation of a sum sufficieat to war- 
rant the completion of the work. The grand jury 
unanimously recommended an additional two thou- 
sand pounds. On August 10, 1796, the court (Robert 
Loller judge) refused to concur. The people then 
again had recourse to the General Assembly of the 
State. 

On the 21st of February, 1797, the Legislature 
passed " An Act for raising, by way of lottery, the sum 
of twenty thousand dollars, to be applied to the erec- 
tion of a stone-arched bridge over the Perkioming 
Creek, in Montgomery County, on the road leading 
from Philadelphia to the borough of Reading." 

The following persons were named as commissioners 
to superintend the drawings of this lottery, viz., Peter 
Muhlenberg, John Richards, Samuel Baird, Francis 
Swaine, Moses Hobson, Frederick Conrad, Samuel 
Markley, Francis Nicholas, William Smith, Philip 
Boyer, Elisha Evans, James Bean, John Markley, 
Robert Kennedy and John Elliot, nearly all of whom 
lived in this vicinity. 

There were two drawings of ten thousand tickets 
each. The first was commenced July 17, 1797, and 
continued twenty-one days. The capital prize of ^SOOO 
was drawn by No. 8252. No. 1268 drew $1000 ; No. 
6785, $500. The second-class was drawn November 
1, 1798, and continued twenty-five days. The $1000 
prize was drawn by No. 2376. No. 9823 drew $500. 
On July 24, 1797, the county commissioners, — Freder- 
ick Conrad, Moses Hobson, Samuel Maulsby, — together 
with the judges of the court, — Messrs. Loller, Ritten- 
house and Markley, met at the public-house of Elisha 



Evans. They there decided that the bridge should 
consist of arches, — three of fifty feet, two of forty- 
five feet, two of thirty-five feet, two of thirty feet, 
and two of twenty feet. This was afterwards changed, 
and the bridge was built with but six arches. The 
contracts for the various works at the mill were given 
out March 23, 1798. At the end of the year the 
county had expended the sum of $34,683.12, and the 
bridge was only one-half completed. 

On March 28, 1799, an act was passed in the Gen- 
eral Assembly which gave the commissioners power 
to complete the bridge and charge toll for persons 
passing over the same. This was to be charged until 
the tolls so received were sufiScient to pay the whole 
cost of building the same, together with the costs for 
collecting the toll. As soon as this was accom- 
plished the court was to declare the same a free 
bridge. The bridge was finished in 1799 in the style 
it now stands. It cost the county about sixty thousand 
dollars. The formal dedication took place on the 4th 
of November. Samuel Bard was toll-gatherer. It was 
declared free by the court some five years later, and 
became a county bridge. The Legislature in char- 
tering the Perkiomen and Reading Turnpike Road 
Company, March 20, 1819, gave the custody of this 
bridge into the hands of the company, in whose hands 
it has been ever since. A toll-house was erected at 
the west end of the bridge in July, 1867. Before its 
completion the house was burned by incendiaries, and 
the gate removed and thrown into the Perkiomen 
Creek. In October, 1872, the Turnpike Company 
again erected a toll-house at the east end. This led 
to litigation, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania 
decided that the company, under their charter, could 
not maintain a gate within one mile of said bridge. 
January 30, 1873, the decision of the court of last 
resorc was announced. That same evening the old 
toll-house shared the fate of its predecessor, being 
burned down. The bridge stands to-day as it was 
built, an everlasting monument to the memory of the 
men who built the same, and a splendid model for 
bridge-builders of the present time to take pattern of. 

The bridge over the Skippack, below the village of 
Evausburg, is on the site of the first bridge built in 
the township. The predecessor of the one now stand- 
ing was built' by lottery, as was the bridge over the 
Perkiomen, but we Tiave very little data as to the 
circumstances. The Legislature, by act of September 
20, 1765, created certain commissioners, who were 
empowered to deceive such sums of money as were 
due by the managers of a lottery, and to receive vol- 
untary subscriptions and donations towards the better 
perfecting of a bridge over the Skippack Creek, in 
the county of Philadelphia. This old bridge h?8 
long since been destroyed and the present structure 
erected in its place. 

Near the village of Shannonvillc is Pawling's bridge, 
over the Schuylkill. There was a bridge here in 1778, 
as Colonel John Bull made a report to the Executive 



PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. 



1047 



Committee, on August 31, 1778, as to the condition of 
"the Bridge over Schuilkil at ye Fattliiiidford, near 
the Valey Forge;" in consequence of wliich report the 
same was then repaired. This bridge was, no doubt, 
built for military purposes, and was subsequently 
washed away. Near its site was a bridge erected about 
the year 1809, as on April 3d of that year the com- 
pany was chartered. The bridge was destroyed in 
1820 by ice, in a high freshet, but wa.s shortly after- 
wards rebuilt. 

Of the early settlers in Providence township quite a 
number are worthy of special mention. 

Edward Lane, an Englishman, came from Jamaica 
in 1684. On the 9th of Twelfth Mouth, 1698-9, he pur- 
chased two thousand five hundred acres of land from 
Thomas Fairman, which was confirmed to him by 
patent, in 1701, by William Penn. This tract wa.s situ- 
ated on both sides of the Perkiomen, upon which now 
stand the viflages of Collegeville and Evansburg. He 
erected a grist-mill on the Skippack in 1708. He 
married Ann Richardson, and left seven children, 
viz.: James, pjlizabetb, William, Samuel, Christiana, 
Ellinor and Ann. He died in March' 1710. He kept 
the first hotel, wliere now stands the Perkiomen 
Bridge Hotel. .Vt his death Samuel Lane became 
owner of that part of his plantation lying west of the 
Perkiomen, and William Lane of that to the east of 
the same stream. Samuel Lane kept the hotel, and was 
elected assessor of Philadelphia County from 1737 to 
1740. His son, Edward Lane, was constable in 1767, 
and cried sales. He was in Bradd<ick's expedition 
against Fort Duqnesne, in 1755. At his death, in 1708, 
he left seven children, — Mary Kendel, Abigail Couch, 
Jane Davis, Ami Church, Eleanor Evans, Ann Bean 
and William I>ane. Many of his descendants are still 
living in the county of Montgomery, among whom are 
the Davises, Beans, Evans, C'rawfords, Chains and 
Shannons. Among his distinguished descendants may 
be mentioned Joseph E. Lane, a candidate for Vice- 
President of the United States in 1860. 

The Lanes were Episcopalians, and were chiefly in- 
strumental in the establishment of St. James' Episeoiial 
Church, Lower Pruvidence. 

(Joseph Richardson was one of the early settlers of 
i Providence. In 1691) he maaried Elizabeth Bevan. 
In 1710 he purchased of his brother-in-law, Abraham 
Bickley, one thousand acres of land situated on the 
west side of the Perkiomen, upon the Schuylkill. 
Here he lived for many years and his children after 
him. He left eight children, — Samuel, John, Edward, 
Aubrey, Richard, Ellinor, Barbara and Elizabeth, of 
whom Samuei, John and Edward were educated at 
the Pastorius school, in Germantown. His grandson. 
Captain Joseph Richardson, was a man of fine at- 
tainments and wonderful physical strength. Just 
before the Revolution he was accused of counterfeit- 
ing, but escaped arrest. A price was put upon his 
head. For many years he eluded capture and be- 
came the terror of the country as the leader of a 



gang of outlaws. He was finally captured, tried and 
acquitted of the crime charged.} 

An early settler was John Jacob Schrack, who, 
with his wife, Eva Rosina, and four children, came 
from Germany in 1717. He purchased two hundred 
and fifty acres of land lying in the lower end of the 
present village of Trappe. He was a man of influ- 
ence and an elder of the Lutheran congregation of 
Providence, in which he took a deep interest. He 
was one of the most active in writing at different 
times to London and Halle for a preacher. It was 
in answer to these repeated requests that Muhlenberg 
was sent. But Schrack did not live to see the pa.stor 
he had been instrumental in securing. He died 1742, 
a few months before the arrival of Muhlenberg. He 
was buried in the Lutheran Churchyard, his tomb- 
stone being the oldest there bearing an inscription. 
His widow died in 1756. His sons John, and Chris- 
tian, lived on the homestead for many years, keeping 
a public-house called " The Trap." Many of the 
descendants of John Jacob Schrack still live in the 
neighborhood. 

The Pawling family was a large and influential 
one. " Pawling's Ford " was named after them. Henry 
Pawling, of Padsbury, England, purchased of Wil- 
liam Penn, in England, one thousand acres in 1681. 
On his arrival in Pennsylvania he located his land in 
Providence. One tract of five hundred acres lay 
opposite Valley Forge, on which he resided. His son 
Henry owned at the same time twelve hundred acres 
in Perkiomen township. The latter was captain of a 
company of Associates in 1747, and a member of the 
Assembly in 1754. By the act establishing the county 
in 1784, Henry Pawling, Jr., was appointed one of the 
commissioners to lay out the county-seat. He was 
appointed associate judge in 1789. Isaac Pawling 
was a warden of St. James' Church, Evansburg, and 
Levi and Lewis Pawling were the first vestrymen of 
the Episcopal Church of Norristown, and Levi Pawl- 
ing was Congressman from the district for one term 
(1817-19), and for a time was president of the 
Montgomery National Bank, of Norristown. 

Frederick Ludwig JIarsteller arrived from Darm- 
stadt, Germany, in 1729, and settled on the banks of 
the Skippack Creek, in New Providence township. 
Here he bought land of David Williams and Richard 
Jones. He was an officer of the Providence Lutheran 
Church, and was first to welcome Pastor Muhlenberg 
to his new charge. He was active in the building of 
the Lutheran Church, and is named, over its doorway, 
as one of its founders. He died in 1753, on the 14th 
of October. His remains lie near the old church he 
loved so well. 

Patrick Gordon settled in Providence, along the 
Schuylkill, at Mont Clare. Hewasamanof mark, and 
from June 22, 1726, to August 4, 1736, filled the posi- 
tion of Deputy-Governor of the province with credit 
to himself and honor to the county. 

Captain John Diemer settled along the Skippack. 



1048 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



He was a celebrated physician, and in 1746 was elected 
captain of a company of German Associates, raised in 
the neighborhood for protection against the French 
and Indians. 

Thomas Lewis, as early as 1752, advertises for sale 
a farm in Providence, and a grist-mill near the 
month of the Mingo, and says that " loaded canoes can 
come to the mill-door." 

John Bull, iu 1716, purchased a farm of four hun- 
dred acres in Providence, near the Limerick line, 
where he lived for many years. His son, Colonel 
John Bull, was famous in his day as a colonel in the 
Revolutionary army and in civil life. 

Francis Shunk, the grandfather of Governor Francis 
E. Shunk, came from the Palatinate, in Germany, in 
1715, and settled in Providence township. 

Hon. Samuel Gross, of Providence, in 1803, was 
elected to the Assembly, and re-elected in 1805 and 
1807. In 1811 he was elected State Senator, and in 
1818 to Congress. 

James and Adam Hamer were brothers, and settled 
near the present village of Port Providence in 1713, 
James purchasing three hundred acres and Adam two 
hundred and fifty acres. James Hamer, M.D.,ofthe 
fourth, and James H. Hamer, M.D., of the fifth gen- 
eration, are still living in the township. 

David Todd settled near Mont Clare. His des- 
cendants are still living in the township, whilst 
one lately occupied the position of Secretary of War 
under President Arthur, — namely, Robert Todd Lin- 
coln. 

The following persons served as Justices of the 
Peace for Providence township from the earliest times 
to the adoption of the Constitution of 1838, viz.: 
Frederick A. Muhlennerg, 1784 and January 14, 
1789; Anthony Crothers, February 7, 1789 and 1791; 
Henry Pawling, January 20, 17S9 and 1792; John 
Pugh, January 20, 1789 and April 13, 1807; Benj. 
Dism ant, 1792 ; Francis Swaine, 1793 ; Andrew Todd, 
May 22, 1800; Samuel Gross, January 2, 1802; Lsaiah 
Davis, April 2, 1804; James Harris, January 1, 1807; 
Abel Thomas, April 13, 1807 and February 29, 1820 ; 
James Evans, February 3, 1814; Samuel Bard, April 
9, 1810 ; Peter Waggonseller, December 4, 1816 ; 
Benj. Tyson, June 30, 1817 ; Isaac Linderman, De- 
cember 16, 1819; John Shearer, December 15, 1820; 
John S. Missimer, November 15, 1822; Henry Long- 
acre, July 5, 1825; Robert Evans, April 4, 1827; 
Jacob Dewees, April 20, 1829 ; Joseph Henry, No- 
vember 16, 1829; Jacob Highly, October 3,1881; 
Henry Loucks, December 10, 1831 ; John Todd, July 
15, 1833; David Baird, January 5, 1835; John Dis- 
mant, April 4, 1835; John Razor, May 28, 1835; 
Henry De Haven, December 7, 1836. 

The settlement of Pcrkiomen townshij) was begun 
in 1702 by the Mennonists of Germantown, under the 
lead of Matthias Van Bebber. This is not the place 
to trace the interesting history which belongs to the 
township of Perkiomen. Suffice it to say that this 



Mennonist settlement extended into the township of 
Providence. Jacob Tellner, Leonard Arets and Wil- 
liam Streeper, all related to each other by marriage, 
were three of the leaders in the movement that effected 
the settlement of Germantown and afterwards spread 
into Perkiomen. Each of these three selecttd and 
purchased a tract of land in Providence township. 

Tellner selected his on the Skipjiack, just east of the 
Lane tract, while Arets, in 1707, purchased five hun- 
dred acres just west of the Lane tract, bordering on 
Perkiomen, and Streeper secured the next five hun- 
dred acres, west of Arets, in 1705, these last two par- 
cels including all the land now embraced in the 
village of Trappe. 

In addition to those mentioned, George Bunson 
bought three hundred and forty-five acres in 1728 ; 
James Steel, two hundred and fifty acres in 1734. 
Philip Ashenfelter, Jonathan Cox, Benjamin Rees, 
Thomas Derringer, George Essig, Nicholas Robinson, 
George Painter, Roger North, Henry Desmon d, 
Colder Royer, Benedict Garber, John Ewalt, John 
Jacobs and Caspar Rahn were all original purchasers 
from the Penns. 

In 1734 we find John Beidler owning 100 acres of 
land; Aubrey Richardson, 460 ; Edward Richardson, 
200 ; James Hamer, 300 ; Samuel Lane, 500 ; Adam 
Hamer, 250; Arnold Hancock, 100; John Diemer, 
150; Peter Rambo, 200 ; Matthias Koplin, 148; Jacob 
Schrack, 250; Hans Chrisman, 200; Adam Vander- 
slice, 100 ; Roger North, 69 ; Daniel Desmond, 100 ; 
Thomas Morgan, 100; Henry Pawling, 500 ; Harman i/ 
Indchotlen, 200; Thomas How, 100; Richard Adams, 
148 ; William Adams, 200. 

One of the most important factors in the settling of 
Providence township was the Pennsylvania Land 
Com])any. An act of Parliament, passed thirty-third 
year of (ieorge II., No. 112, vesting certain estates in 
Pennsylvania in a partner.ship called "The Pennsyl- 
vania Land Company in London," William Peun, 
in 1699, August 11 and 12, conveyed to Thomas Collet 
and others, who constituted this company, five thou- 
sand acres in Gilbert's Manor,adjoining the Schuylkill 
and Perkiomen, including nearly all the western half 
of the present township of Lower Providence. Many 
plantations were sold prior to 1761. On the 2d of 
April, 1761, the remaining twenty-two plantations in 
New Providence township, aggregating about four 
thou&and acres, bounded by lands of Henry Pawling, 
James Morgan, Norriton township and the rivers 
Scliuylkill and Perkiomen, were sold at public vendue. 
.\t this sale 151 acres were sold to Samuel Bell, 145 
to James Skeen, 113 to Valentine Shambough, 120 to 
Thomas Grahagen, 161 to Christian Recup, 147 to 
William Thomas, 117 to Thomas Francis, 172 to 
Thomas Rossiter, 336 to Arnold Vanfossen, 156 to 
John Taney, 147 to Benjamin Chesnut, 175 to Nathan 
Davis, 125 to Barney Pawling, etc. 

The people of Providence, from the earliest times 
until 1777, were compelled to go to Philadelphia to 



LOWER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. 



1049 



cast their votes. The elections were then held at 
the inn opposite the State-House. From 1777 to 
1784 they voted at the public-house of Jacob Wentz, 
in Worcester township ; from 1784 to 1785 at the 
public-house of Hannah Thompson, Isorriton, then 
the seat of county government ; from 1785 to 1802 
at the court-house, Norristown. From 1802 until the 
division of the township, in 1810, those living east of 
the Skippack Creek voted at Norristown, whilst those 
living to the west of said creek exercised that privi- 
lege at the public-house of David Dewee.s, Trappe. 

The township of Providence in 1734 had seventy- 
four land-owners and tenants, and in 1741 the township 
contained one hundred and forty-six taxables, a con- 
siderable increase in so short a time. In 1785 the 
township contained twenty slaves and .six hotels. 



CHAPTER LXXI. 
LOWER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP.' 

The township of Lower Providence, as at present 
constituted, iis bounded on the we.st by Upper Provi- 
dence, on the northeast by Perkiomen and Worcester, 
on the southea.st by Norriton, and on the south by the 
Schuylkill River. Its area embraces nine thousand 
one hundred and forty -three acres, its greate.^t length 
being five and a half miles and greate.st width five 
miles. The only elevation in the township is Methac- 
ton Hill, which commences in the eastern portion and 
extends through Worcester township to the Wissa- 
hickon Creek. On Scull's map of 1770 it is called 
Matateken, and in 1777 Metuchen, and is still often 
known by the name of Methatchen. That it is an 
Indian name there i5 no doubt. It is about six miles 
long and mostly under cultivation, although the soil 
is not very fertile. The balance of the township is 
undulating and fertile, especially along the rivers. 

The greater portion of the township is occupied by 
the red shales and sandstones of the middle secondary 
formation, among which are found a variety of min- 
erals. Near the Perkiomen, at Oaks, lead-mines have 
been worked in the past, but never with much profit. 
These mines were opened before 1800, and worked by 
Mr. Wctherill in 1818. Through working these lead- 
mines, copjier was discovered. In January, 1848, the 
Perkiomen Mining Association was organized, which 
purcliased a considerable quantity of land between 
Shannonville and Oaks for the purpose of digging 
copper. The land cost about ten thousand dollars, 
and a great quantity of valuable machinery was 
erected. The shaft here sunk has a perpendicular 
depth of five hundred and eighty-five feet, with side- 
drills of fourteen hundred and one feet, making the 
entire length of work in the mine over one-third 



1 By F. G. Hobsim. 



of a mile. A great many thousand tons of copper- 
ore have been taken out for market. The mines are 
now abandoned, and the valuable machinery going to 
ruin. 

The elections in Lower Providence from its organi- 
zation, in 1805, to date were held at the following 
places : From 1805 to 1841 those living east of the 
Skippack were still compelled to go to Norristown and 
vote at the court-house, while those to the east of the 
Skippack went to Trappe, in Upper Providence. On 
March 5, 1841, the township of Lower Providence was 
made a separate election district, and the act provides 
for holdingthe "general electionsat theShamo'sschool- 
house." This should read Shambo or Shambough'a 
school-house, now known as the Hollow school-liouse. 
Here the elections were held until 1841*, when, by act 
of April 5th, the place was changed to the public- 
house of Christian Detwiler. This was the present 
EagleVille Hotel. To this day all the elections of 
this township are held at this hotel. 

Since the organization of the township the follow- 
ing have served as justices of the peace: 1840, 1845, 
1850 and 1855, Isaac S. Christman; 1840, Jacob 
Highly (died); 1840 and 1853, Allen Corson (ap- 
pointed); 1852, Henry Loucks; 1859 and 1864, John 
Getty; 1860, George D. Fronefield; 1863 and 1868, 
William M. De Haven ; 1869, 1874 and 1885, D. M. 
Casselberry ; 1872, 1877 and 1882, Aaron Weikel ; 
1879, Benjamin F. Whitby ; 1884, Laurence E. Corson. 
The following have served as constables, viz. : 1807, 
Andrew Jack; 1808-9, John Readheffer; 1810, An- 
drew Campbell; lSll-13,Samuel Kugler; 1814, Christ. 
Rosenberger; 1815, John Young; 1816, George Rein- 
hart; 1817-19, Stephen Rush; 1820-21, William 
Moore; 1822-24, John Roberts; 1825-26, Arnold 
Baker; 1827-29, Daniel Morgan; 1830, John Mun- 
shower; 1831-36, William Moore; 1837, William 
Shambough; 18.38^2, John Coulston ; 1843-45, John 
I Slough; 1840, Jacob Nungesser; 1847^9, John Nun- 
gesser; 1850, John Slough; 1851-52, John Getty; 
1853-58, Jeremiah Deeds; 1859-63, Abraham Car- 
roll; 1864, Samuel Hiser; 1865-67, John Williams; 
1868-69, George Casselberry; 1870-71, Joseph Wal- 
ters; 1872-85, John C. Johnson. 

Lower Providence in 1810 had a population of 904; 
in 1820, 1146; in 1850, 1961; and in 1880, 1856. 
It now contains 444 taxables. By the last assess- 
ment the real estate in the township is assessed at 
81,195,690, and the personal property at S104,505. 

The pul)lic schools are eight in number and are 
kept open for eight months, at a salary of forty-five 
dollars per month. A regular graded course of study 
is established, at the completion of which the pupil 
is given a common-school diploma. In this regard 
Lower Providence leads all her sister townships. 

There are six mills in the township, three upon 
the Perkiomen and three upon the Skippack, all of 
which do a good business. Shannonville and Evans- 
burg each possess a creamery. D. Morgan Cassel- 



1050 



HISTORY OB' MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



berry is the proprietor of a large steam tannery in 
Evansburg. In 1882, William H. Blanchford erected 
a large building for the manufacture of carriages at 
the intersection of the Ridge and the Germaiitovvn 
turnpike roads. He has built up a large trade in the 
short time he has been there. There are but two 
public-houses in the township, one at Shannonville 
and the other at Eagleville. Seven general stores for 
the sale of dry-goods, groceries, etc., are also found 
within its borders. 

The villages of Lower Providence are Evansburg, 
Shannonville, Eagleville and Providence Square, at 
each of which there exists a post-office. 

The largest of these villages is Evansburg. It has 
been so called from the beginning of the century. 
The land upon which the- village stands was part of 
the Lane tract, and was called by them " Perkoming " 
/ tor many years. In 1721 the St. James' Episcopal 
' Church of Perkoming was built. In 1825 the post- 
office was established here and called "Perkiomen," 
and Edward Evans was postmaster. This Edward 
Evans was a son of Owen Evans, born 1769, died in 
1812, who was an extensive land-owner, and was en- 
gaged in making guns for the United States army at 
what has lately been known as Pechin's Mill. He 
was married to Eleanor, daughter of Edward Lane 
(the younger). In honor of this man the village took 
its name, Evansburg. In 1827 the post-office was 
kept by Isaac Gasselberry in a sho[) that then stot)d on 
the public school-house lot. In 1829 it was moved 
to the Ridge turnpike, and William Fronfield was 
postmaster. In 1832, Edward Evans, who then kept 
store where Henry G. Schwenks i.s now his successor, 
was reappointed postmaster. 

In a short time Mr. Evans resigned and Perkiomen 
post-office was abolislied. The j)eople then had to 
depend on the Trappe office, then kept by Matthia-s 
Halderman. When the Trappe office was removed 
to the upper end of that village a post-office was 
again established, and Edward Evans, for the third 
time, appointed postmaster, and the office called 
"Perkiomen Bridge." Here it remained until 1861, 
when it was removed to Freeland. At the same time 
a new office was established in the village, with 
William B. Shupe as postmaster. As the name Evans- 
burg was already utilized as the name of a post-office 
in Crawford County, Pa., this office was named 
" Lower Providence." The office still retains this 
name, and has as its postmaster Samuel I). Shupe, 
the son of the first official. In 1832 Evansburg con- 
tained nineteen houses ; in 1858, an inn, two stores, 
church, two mechanic shops and twenty-four houses. 
At present it contains two churches, two stores, an ex- 
tensive steam tannery, operated by D. Morgan 
Gasselberry, several mechanic shops and about thirty- 
five houses. 

This village was at one time known by the nick- 
name of " Hustletown," which name clung to the 
village for many years. The origin of that name, 



tradition says was in this wise : Two young bloods, 
none thebetter for frequent libations, as theyjourneyed, 
at every village gave cheers for the name of the 
village. As they passed through Evansburg, they 
looked in vain for some clew to the name of the 
village. A short distance from the road they saw two 
persons " hustling," a method of " raffling," when one 
proposed " Three cheers for Hustletown ! " Hence the 
name. ^Vhile this is the commonly received version 
as to how this name was applied, the author accident- 
ally came across another that to his mind seems 
more i)robable. In a deed of Edward Lane to Dietrick 
^Velker for land in the present village of Evansburg, 
made May 31, 1777, the property is described as 
adjoining lands of Hussel Town, thus showing con- 
clusively that at that time a man of that name lived 
there. It is certainly a remarkable coincidence and 
seems very jirobably to have been the origin of the 
name of the town. 

Shannonville was first so called about 1823, when 
the first post-office was established here. This vil- 
lage derives its name from the Shannons, a large, 
influential and widely-known family of colonial 
days. Robert Shannon was a native of Norriton 
in 1734, and was one of the commissioners named by 
the act of 1784, establishing the county of Mont- 
gomery, to purchase ground, erect the court-house, 
etc., for the new county. James Shannon was one 
of the wardens of St. James' Episcopal Church, 
Evansburg, in 1721. Both of these persons are 
buried in the Episcopal Cemetery, Evansburg. John 
Shannon, Sr., who was one of the largest land-owners 
of the township, and owned nearly, if not all, the land 
upon which the present village stands, was a man of 
more than ordinary attainments, and it was in honor 
of his sterling worth that the village that now 
stands upon his land was named. His grand- 
son, Charles P. Shannon, still resides upon the old 
homestead. Before the village took its present name 
the place was known as "Jack's Tavern," besides 
which there were then but two other houses at that 
time. In 1858 the village contained twenty-four 
houses. 

This village, like its neighbor, was also dishonored 
by a nickname, and was known as " Hogtown." In 
his extensive farming operations, Mr. Shannon raised 
large herds of swine, from which fact the nickname 
was applied. While the reputable and intelli- 
gent portion of community recognized the post- 
name it now bears, yet outside the vicinity, either 
from ignorance or for the humor of it, the bogus 
name for a time partially obscured the real. In those 
days the establishment of a post-office was not, as in 
these, heralded to every part of the State the next 
morning. 

There seems to have been at that day quite a 
mania in Lower Providence for nicknames ; for, in 
addition to "Hustletown" and "Hogtown," they had 
other localities of the townships nicknamed with 



LOWER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. 



1051 



such choice titles as " Frog Hollow," " Shitepoke 
Level," "Hardscrabble" and kindred names; but they 
have gradually died out; the march of civilization has 
obliterated them, and there is no reason why these vul- 
gar and outlandish misnomers should ever again be 
revived. Two of Lower Providence's school-houses 
are to this day named, respectively, the Hollow 
School-house and the Level School-house, which is 
certainly a great improvement over retaining their 
rather vulgar qualifying description. 

In this connection a good story is told by Mr. R. 
R. Corson, of Norristown, concerning some of his 
army experience. It seems that Captain Corson had 
been sent on a foraging expedition by General 
Francis. While so engaged General Patrick 
met him, and as there seemed to be some 
dispute in relation to the corn. General 
Patrick asked him his name and where he 
came from* " My name is Corson ; I 
came from Pennsylvania," said the cap- 
tain. "Whereabouts in Pennsylvania?" 
asked the general. " Hogtown," said 
Richard, who always wears his humorous 
side uppermost. Next morning Mr. Cor- 
son was summoned before a court-martial 
for indecorous language to a superior 
officer. The charges were read and proved, 
and Mr. Corson was given an oi)portunity 
to defend himself. Richard said that he 
had only told the truth. He was born 
at a place that was known for miles around 
aa "Hogtown," and further enlightened 
the court that he was educated at Shite- 
poke Level. Major-General Hancock, 
late candidate for President, was present, 
and substantiated Mr. Corson's statement. 

It is ueedle.^s to say that the captain was acquitted 
amidst the laughter of the court. Some time since, at 
an army reunion, held at New York, General Han- 
cock related this incident as (ine of the most amusing 
of his army experience. 

Eagleville is a large village situate on the Ridge 
turnpike road, at the top of Skippack Hill, and nearly 
in the centre of the township. Here are held the town- 
ship elections. It contains at present a hotel, store, 
carriage-works and a large number of private resi- 
dences. Silas Rittenhouse purchased land here, and 
erected a large building for the manufacture of car- 
riages, after which other Ijuildings were put up. The 
name of the village is taken from an incident that 
happened about the time the citizens were searching 
for a name. A large eagle was shot in the vicinity 
and nailed to one of the buildings. From this inci- 
dent the village received its name. 

About 18o5, Thomas Miller erected a large shop for 
the manufacture of all kinds of vehicles on the Ger- 
mantown turnpike road, at the twenty-second mile- 
.stone from Philadelphia. A village sprung up around 
this small beginning, which now contains a store. 



post-office and several residences. It is known as 
Providence Square. 

About 1865, Dr. William Wetherill erected several 
buildings at the corner of Egypt road and another 
public road, about one half-mile south of Shannon- 
ville. The village is known as Wetherill's Corner. 

The churches of Lower Providence are four in 
number, viz. : the St. James' Episcopal, the Provi- 
dence Presbyterian, the Lower Providence Baptist, 
and the Methodist Episcopal Church ; in addition to 
which a Baptist Chapel has recently been built at 
Shannouville. 

The St. James' Episcopal Church of Perkiomen, 
that beins the chartered name, is located at Evans- 




JAMES EPLSCOrAI. CHUKI Jl. 



burg. The time of founding this congregation is un- 
certain, but it was evidently founded by the Lanes, of 
whom we have spoken among the early settlers of 
Providence. The best authorities place the date about 
1708, founded by the Rev. Evan Evans, a native of 
Wales, who came to this county in 1699. 

In 1721 the first church building was erected, of 
logs, which stood in the burial-ground opposite the 
present building. The date-stone of this building, 
1721, is still preserved. There are no records pre- 
served earlier than 1730, with the exception that we 
know that James Shannon and Isaac Pawling were 
church wardens at the building of the first church, in 
1721. 

In 1732 the congregation received a bequest from 
William Lane, which reads as follows: 

" I will and bequeath for the use of the minister that shall serve 
successively at St. James' Church, situate in Providence, forty-two acres 
of land adjoining thereunto, which land shall be laid out as comniodiouu 
a settlement as conveniently it may be without causing much damage 
to the remainder. And the saiil forty-two acr-^s of land, messuage and 
improvements, shall be and continue by virtue hereof to and for the 
use abovesaid. I will and bequeath to the present minister of said place 
of worehip (to wit ) Rev. Alexander Howey, to lawful money, three 
months after my decease." 



1052 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The land here bequeathed constitutes a great part 
of the lower end of the village of Evansburg, which 
to this day ])ays an annual ground-rent toward the 
support of the minister of the congregation. 

On the night of the 6th of May, 1738, the church 
building was broken into by thieves, who carried with 
them the pulpit-cloth and cushion of purple-colored 
plush, with black silk fringe, and some valuable 
pewter communion service. For the arrest of the 
miscreants William Moore and Henry Pawling, the 
church wardens, ottered a reward of five pounds. 

On June 9, 17(30, a resolution was passed allowing 
any member of St. James' Church to erect a pew in 
said church. 

Very early a parsonage was erected, for on the 12th 
of November, 1764, it was determined to put the par- 
sonage in proper order and rei)air. 

During the Revolutionary war the church build- 
ing was used as a hospital, and especially so after the 
battle of Germantown. Very many of the wounded 
of that battle died there, and about one hundred and 
fifty Continental soldiers are buried in the cemetery, 
with no stone to mark their resting-place. 

There is a stone which contains the ibllowing 
brief epitaph : " In memory of Captain Vachel D. 
Howard, of Maryland Light Dragoons, who departed 
this life March 1.5, 1778, aged thirty years, in defense 
of American Liberty." 

Many years after this, when Washington was Pres- 
ident, he drove up the turnpike from Philadelphia, 
and alighted at the cemetery and asked the old sex- 
ton to show him the grave of Howard. He stood 
there with uncovered head, and said, "The grave of 
a brave man, a brave man ; I knew him well." What 
a tribute from so great and good a leader as Wash- 
ington ! Captain James Bean, who served in the pa- 
triot army, is buried in this old church-yard. 

The church was incorporated under an act of As- 
sembly passed October 3, 1788. 

In 1843 the present church edifice was erected, of 
stone, upon the opposite side of the turnpike, and the 
old church, on the east side of the road, was torn 
down. 

It is impossible to give a complete list of the 
rectors of this church. The first one of whom 
we have any knowledge was the Rev. Alexander 
Howey, who preached along about 1734. After him 
came Rev. William Currie, who i)reached until the 
breaking out of the Revolutionary war. This clergy- 
man sympathized so strongly with the British that i 
he was compelled to leave the country and return 
to England. There is also a tradition that he was 
treated to a dress of tar and feathers before he took 
his departure. The following letter from him is 
pasted in the minute-book of the congregation: 

" Mnv iOth, 177G. 
"Gentlemen : 

"Age and iuflniiities liiiving remlered ]iu' unablo to offlciate iu 

publick at this time, you ui-e not to e,\pect nie at church any more ^ill 

circuiuitances are altered, and when it shall please God to a better 



state, and I can again with safety return to ye exercise of my functions. 
I will confine myself to your church if ye congregation will make ye 
Glebe House fit for rae to live in. 

" From your loving Pastor, 

"Wm. Cl-iRUlE." 

During and immediately after the Revolutionary war 
it was impossible to have a clergyman of the Episco- 
pal Church ordained ; so this church was without a 
rector for several years. In 1787, August 14th, at a 
meeting held at Norristown by two delegates each, from 
St. James', St. David's, Radnor, and St. Peter's, Great 
Valley, — it was agreed to apply to Bishop White' 
for an Episcopal minister to officiate at the above 
churches. In consequence of this invitation, the Rev. 
Slaton Clay was assigned to that field. He took up 
his residence at the parsonage of St. James', where he 
continued to live and served as rector for thirty-four 
years. He was followed by Rev. John Reynolds, who 
came in 1832. In 1839, Rev. N. Peck was elected 
pastor of the church, and in 1843 the Rev. George 
Mintzer. It was during his charge that the present 
large and commodious church building was erected 
on the west side of the Germantown turnpike road. 
From that time to the present the names of the rectors 
and the time of their election are as follows : Rev. 
Robert Paul, August 7, 1857 ; Rev. M. R. Stockton, 

1 Bishop William White, D. D. born Philadelphia March 26, 1748, died 
Pliiladelpbia ^uly 17, 1830 in the eighty-ninth year of his age, — " Father 
of the American church." 

Bishop White frequently otiiciated at the St. James' Kjiiscopal Church, 
Perkionien (EvansburgV Uliunle hook No. 2 of the vestry of the parish 




BISHOl' WILLIAM WHITE, I), ll. 

records that Slaytor Clay was colilirmcti by tliis distinguished Iliviin- in 
the year 1787. Mr. Cla.v »ulisec|uently liecame Rector of the parish. Of 
aclass confirmed by Bishop Wliite in this church 18U» there are two stir- 
vivors, Jlrs. William Bean, and JIrs rharlotte Weber both over ninety 
years of age and residing in Norristown. 



LOWER PSOVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. 



1053 



October 25, 1858; Rev. Mr. Allen, March 16, 1863; 
Kev. Mr. Tays, June 25, 1865; Rev. Mr. Ireland, 
April 2, 1868 ;"Rev. Peter Russel, April 19, 1869 ; Rev. 
Mr. Karcher, July 1, 1873; Rev. E. P. Brown, April 
27, 1874 ; Rev. J. L. Heysinger, April 1, 1876. Rev. 
Mr. Heysinger resigned the charge November 1, 1884, 
so that the church is now without a rector. 

The cemetery connected with the church contains 
many ancient tombstones; the oldest is that of a per- 
son who died November 24, 1723. Among those bur- 
ied here the principal family names are Asheton, 
Burr, Boyce, Bean, Bringhurst, Casselberry, Christ- 
man, Custer, Coates, Church, Deeds, Davis, Dill, De- 
wees, Evans, Fry, Force, Froufield, Fox, Gray, 
Gouldy, Hallman, High, Holson, Harwood, Jacobs, 
Jones, Keel, Lewis, Lane, Markloy, Munshower, 
Newberry, Morton, Pugh, Pawling, Prizer, Prevost, 
Rhoads, Rambo, Reed, Robeson, Shannon, Skeen, 
Saylor, St. Clair, Shupe, Tyson, Vanderslice, Wilson 
Wolmer and Yorke. A handsome granite monument 
marks the grave of Wright A. Bringhurst. 

The Providence Presbyterian Clmrch stands on 
the west ?ide of the Ridge turupikc road, on a high 
ridge of land, just below the village of Eagleville. The 
origin of this church is to be found in the Norriton 
Church, which still stands in Norriton township, 
where services were held as early as 1678. The deed 
for the land is dated 1704, purchased of the an- 
cestors of David Rittenhouse. The first church built 
in Providence was in 173U, although the time of its 
organization is not known. The families prominent 
in its organization were Scotch-Irish, and include 
the names of Stewart, Armstrong, McFarland, Patter- 
son, Bryan and Porter. The two churches stood sep- 
arate until 1758 when they united and took the name 
of Norriton and Lower Providence Presbyterian 
Church. Among the families at this time are found 
the names of McCrea, McGlathery, Todd, Hamill, 
White, Getty, Stinson, etc. The present church edi- 
fice was built in 1844, is a large and imposing struc- 
ture, and was greatly beautified and enlarged in 1875, 
by building a new front of dressed stone. Tlie fol- 
lowing persons have served as pastors of this congre- 
gation, viz. Malachi Jones, David Evans, Richard 
Treat, Samuel Evans, John Rowland, .Tolrn Cjimpbell, 
Benjamin Chestnut, David JlcCalla, William M. te'n- 
nent, D.D., Joseph Barr, .John Smith, Charles W. 
Nassau, D.D., William Woolcott, Joshua Moore, 
Thomas Eustis, R. W. Landis, D.D., Sylvanus Haighf 
and Henry S. Rodenbough. 

John Campbell was struck with [lalsy, in the pul- 
pit as he had just read the psalm, 

" Dear in thy sight is thy saints' death. 
Thy servant, Lord, am I." 

On his tombstone, in the cemetery adjoining the 

church, is written, 

" In yonder sacred House I spent my breath, 
Now silent mouldering here I lie in death ; 
Tliese silent lif s shall wake, and yet declare 
A dread Amen, to truths they uttered there." 



The pastorate of William M. Tennent, D.D., con- 
tinued for thirty years, while the jjresent incumbent 
enjoys the distinguished honor of being the oldest 
pastor in continuous service at his present church in 
the county. He was called to this field of labor on 
January 29, 1845, and on January 29, 1885, the for- 
tieth anniversary of his pastorate was very appropriate- 
Iv celebrated by his members and many ministers and 
friends from the surrounding community. 

The Lower Providence Baptist Church was es- 
tablished about the year 1809, and in the summer of 
that year the first church edifice was erected on the site 
of the present building. This structure was of stone, 
twenty-eight feet by thirty-five feet, and its entire 
cost was !S951. 98. The land upon which it stood was 
donated to the congregation by Benjamin Davis. The 
building was dedicated and opened for divine service 
on the 1st day of June, 1810. The formal institution 
of the church organization took place August 5, 1810, 
at which time a constituticm was adopted, and Wil- 
liam .Johnson and Daniel Morgan chosen and ordained 
to the deaconship. 

Rev. Daniel James, formerly of the Third Baptist 
Church of Philadelphia, was ordained as the first pas- 
tor of the congregation on December 20, 1812. 

As the congregation grew in numbers it was found 
that their building was too small, and on the 6th of 
June, 1835, a committee was appointed to devise a 
remedy, and upon its rei)ort a building committee 
was appointed, consisting of Daniel Morgan, David 
AUebach and I. Kurtz, to superintend the erection of 
a new house, forty by fifty feet. 

This second house was dedicated, with interesting^ 
ceremonies, on the lOtli of November, 1836, the dedi- 
catory sermon being preaclied by Rev. Simeon Seig- 
fried. Sr. This building stood for seven years, until 
on the evening of February 21, 1843, when it was 
burned down. The congregation decided to rebuild 
at once, and appointed John Sisler, Nathan Davis, 
John Reese, Isaac Johnson, David Allebach and 
Theodore Morgan a committee for that purpose. 

This building was dedicated August 6, 1843, Rev. 
Samuel Aaron, of Norristown, preaching the opening 
sermon.' In a few years this third building was 
found too small for the continually increasing mem- 
bership, whereupon, on August 5, 1876, the congrega- 
tion decided to erect a larger house of worship. A 
building committee, consisting of William J. Reese, 
I. Johnson, H. C. Harley, E. C. Keelor, J. C. Saylor, 
Jos. Miller and Samuel O. Perry, was appointed, and 
under their supervision the present edifice of pointed 
stone-work, seventy-two feet by forty-eight feet, was 
erected. The dedicatory service took place December 
13, 1877, making four church buildings in less than 
three- fourths of a century. The church has a mem- 
bership of over two hundred, sustains two Sunday- 
schools and maintains regular services in a neat 
chapel, owned by the church and located in the vil- 
lage of Shannonville. 



1054 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUxNTY. 



The Methodist Episcopal Church of Evansburg 

is a substautial stone structure, with a seating ca- 
pacity of about two hundred and fifty. It stands upon 
tlie east side of tlie Perlciopien and Germantown turn- 
pike road, and was erected in tlie year 1841. It has 
been used as a house of public worship fi-om that time 
■until the present. 

At the louver end of Evansburg is a Mennoni.st cem- 
etery. Quite a uumber of old tombstones mark the 
last resting-place of the Funks, Gutwals, Detwilers, 
Crolls and othei-s. The most distinguished of the 
dead here buried is John Funk, who was very well 
known in the times of the Revolution as the author of 
" The Mirror of All Mankind," in which the rights of 
the colonies to resist British oppression were ably ad- 
vocated. The oldest tombstone bears date 1815. 

Among the eminent men of Lower Providence may 
be mentioned the Lanes, Shannons and Pawlings, also 
Marsteller and Diemer, already spoken of among tlie 
early settlei-s of Providence. In addition are several 
deserving of mention. Perhaps the most distinguished 
citizen that ever lived within the limits of the town- 
ship was John James Audubon. 

John James Audubon, the celebrated American 
ornithologist, was a son of John Audubon and Anne 
Moynette, his wife, both natives of the commune of 
Coucron, near the city of Nantes, in France. He had 
been an officer in the naval service of his country, 
but in consequence of Louisiana being then a French 
possession, he removed there, and settled on a planta- 
tion near New Orleans, where liis son was born the 
4th of May, 1780. Under the instruction of his 
father, who was a man of education, he was early 
taught a love of natural objects, to which he after- 
wards attributed his inclinations to those pursuits. 
While quite young he was sent to Paris to pursue his 
education. While there he attended the school of 
natural history and arts, and in drawing took lessons 
from the celebrated David. He returned in his 
eighteenth year, when his father resided in Phila- 
delphia, and who had, as early as March 28, 1780, as 
we learn from the county records, purchased of 
Augustin Prevost, in Providence township, at the 
mouth of the Perkiomen Creek, a tract of two hundred 
and eighty-five acres of land, with a grist and saw- 
mill. Mr. Audubon, the younger, about the begin- 
ning of the present century, resided on this plantation, 
and in the charming preface to his " Birds of America," 
gives the following account of it : 

"In Pennsylvania, a beautiful State almost central on the line of our 
Atlantic shores, my father, in his desire of proving my frienil through 
life, gave me what Americans call a beautiful 'plantation,' refreshed 
during the summer heata by the waters of the Schuylkill River and 
traversed by a creek named Perkioming. Its fine woodlands, its exten- 
sive fields, its hills crowned witli evergreetis, offered many subjects to 
agreeable studies, with as little concern about the future as if the world 
had been made for me. My rambles invariably commenced at break of 
day ; and to return wet with dew and bearing a feathered prize was, and 
ever will be, the highest enjoyment for which I have been fitted." 

It was here where he conceived the plan of his 
great work, and, in reality, laid its first foundation ; it 



was here, too, where he married his wife and his 
eldest son was born. 

On an adjoining farm lived William Bakewell, an 
Englishman by birth, a gentleman of a highly refined 
mind and cultivated manners. He had a valuable 
library and extensive philosophical apparatus. To 
his house, as may be well supposed from congeniality 
of taste and dispositions, Mr. Audubon was a frequent 
visitor, which resulted in an intimacy with Lucy, Mr. 
Bakewell's eldest daughter by a first wife, and which 
resulted in a marriage about 1806. Some time in the 
following year Mr. Audubon and Ferdinand Rozier 
entered into partnership as merchants, in Phila- 
delphia, where he resided a portion of his time, till 
the summer of 1809, when he and his partner removed 
to Louisville, Ky., to continue in the same business. 
He sold the farm given him by his father to Joseph 
Williams in the spring of 1810. As a merchant he 
confesses that he was not successful, and that his love 
for the fields, the flowers, the forests and their winged 
inhabitants unfitted hiin for trade. We find mention 
made of his visiting his father-in-law, in Lower 
Providence, in 1810 and 1812, in pursuit of rare and 
curious birds. Indeed, he several times mentions in 
his great work the discovery of new species of birds 
in this county, which had heretofore remained unde- 
scribed. 

While at Louisville, in March, 1810, he was visited 
by the celebrated Alexander Wilson. He says he 
entered his counting-room and asked him to subscribe 
to his work on American ornithology. By his own 
statement, Mr. Audulion apjiears to have received him 
rather coolly, perhaps, at that time, having formed 
the idea of becoming his rival. Shortly after this 
period of his life, Mr. Blake, in his " Biographical 
Dictionary," thus speaks of Audubon, — 

" His life was one of bold and fearless adventure, of romantic incident , 
and constantly varying fortune. Hardly a region in the United States 
was left unvisited by him, and the most inaccessible haunts of nature 
were disturbed by this adventurous and indefatigable ornithologist, to 
wliom a new discovery or a fresh experience was only the incentive to 
greater ardor and further efforts in his favorite department of science." 

In April, 1824, he sought patronage in Philadelphia 
for the publication of his work, but he appears to have 
been unsuccessful, for he at least relinquished it. He 
says, — 

" America being my country, and the principal pleasures of my life hav- 
ing been obtained there, I prepared to leave it with deep sorrow, after in 
vain trying to publish my illustrations in the United States. In Phila- 
delphia, Wilson's principal engraver, amongst otliers, gave it aa his 
opinion to my friends that my drawings could not be engraved. In 
New York other difficulties presented themselves, which determined me 
to caiTy my collections to Europe." 

In August of this year, while fifteen hundred miles 
from home, in Upper Canada, on one occasion he 
mentions that his money was stolen from him, when 
he took to painting portraits, by which he got plenty 
to carry him home. To meet with better encourage- 
ment he at last sailed for England, where he arrived 
in 1826. He commenced the publication of his work at 



LOWER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. 



1055 



Edinburgh in 1827, but afterwards transferred it to 
London, where the first volume was completed in 
1830, containing one hundred plates. William Swain- 
son, Esq., in a review of this work, ijublished in the 
Natural Hisiory Magazine for May, 1828, says, — 

'*The size of the plates exceeds anj'tbing of the kind I liave ever seen 
or heard of ; they are no less than three feet three inches long by two 
feet two inches broad. On this vast surface evely bird is represented in 
its full dimensions. Large as is the ijaper, it is sometimes (a-s in the male 
wild turkey) barely sufficient for the purpose. In other cases, it enables 
the painter to group his figures in the most beautiful and varied attitudes' 
on the trees and plants they frequent. Some are feeding, others darting, 
pursuing or capturing their prey : all have life and animation. The 
plants, fruits and flowers which enrich the scene are alone still. These 



in the library of the American Philosophical Society, 
in Philadelphia. 

Mr. Audubon in 18311 returned to his native country 
and established himself with his family on the banks 
of the Hudson, near the city of New York. The 
following year he commenced the publication of his 
"Birds of America," in seven imperial volumes, of 
which the last was issued in 1844. The plates in this 
edition, reduced from his larger illustrations, were 
engraved and colored in a most elegant manner by 
Mr. Bowen, of Philadelphia, under the direction of 
the author. His labors as a naturalist did not cease 




^^-Ct-t^cr^ ^ -O^^C^^^eXj 



latter, from their critical accuracy, are as valuable to the botanist as the 
birds are to the ornithologist." 

The applause with which it was received was 
enthusiastic and universal. The Kings of England 
and France had placed their names at the head of his 
subscription-list ; he was made a Fellow of the Royal 
Societies of London and Edinburgh, and a member of 
the Natural History Society of Paris. With the first 
volume he obtained one hundred and eighty subscribers 
at eight hundred dollars each for the work, of which 
only six were in the United States. The second 
volume was finished in 1834. This edition contained 
in all about eight volumes, of which there is a copy 



here, for, with the assistance of the Rev. John Bach- 
man, he prepared for the press " The Quadrupeds of 
America," in three large octavo volumes, illustrated 
by fine colored drawings, which was published the 
year of his death by his son, V. G. Audubon. The 
last years of his life were spent in his country-seat, 
in a quiet and retired manner, mingling little with the 
world at large. The celebrated naturalist Cuvier, in 
speaking of his great work, said it was "the most 
splendid monument whicli art has erected in honor 
of ornithology." His death took place the 27th of 
January, 1851, at the age of seventy-one years. It is 
a singular fact that Wilson and Audubon, the two 



1066 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



greatest writers on American birds, both caught their 
first inspirations on tlic banks of the Schuylkill. On 
this stream, too. Dr. Godman, the iioologist, and Say, 
the entomologist, also [lursued their favorite studies. 

William Bakewell owned a fine farm in this town- 
ship, where he died in 1822. He was a wealthy 
English gentleman of very extensive scientific ac- 
quirements. He had a very fine library and many 
philosophical apparatus. His daughter Lucy became 
the wife of the ornithologist, Audubon. Bakewell's 
plantation was formerly in possession of a friend 
named Vaux, who kept open house during the Revo- 
lu.tion when the American army was encamped at 
Valley Forge. One day he had the honor of having 
Lord Howe to breakfast and Washington to tea. 

Samuel D. Patterson wa.s a native of this township- 
He became an eminent author, poet and journalist 
For several years he edited Graham's Magazine with 
great credit. His widow yet survives him and lives in 
Evansburg. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



JACOB G. CUSTER. 

Mr. Custer is the grandson of Jacob Kishter, who 
emigrated from Holland at an early date and pur- 
chased a tract of land in Worcester township, Mont- 
gomery Co. He had four sons and four daughters, 
among whom Jacob, the father of Jacob G., married 
Mary Gouldy, of Norriton township, and had chil- 
dren,— Jacob G., David, Samuel G., Mary (Mrs. Jesse 
Davis), Barbara (Mrs. Abram Detwiler) Rebecca 
(Mrs. Andrew Heiser), Charlotte (Mrs. Samuel 
Tyson) and Elizabeth (Mrs. William Getty). Jacob 
G. was born April 2, 1814, on the homestead in 
Worcester township, where the days of his boyhood 
were spent. His delicate health precluded a thorough 
education, and rendered it desirable to engage in active 
out-of-door employments. He was, therefore, early 
made familiar with the labor peculiar to the life of a 
farmer. He was, on the 23d of February, 1841, mar- 
ried to Miss Rebecca, daughter of Colonel John Getty, 
of Lower Providence township, their only child being 
Anne, wife of Benjamin F. Whitby, of Eagleville. 
Mrs. Custer's death occurred in September, 1867. Six 
years after his marriage Mr. Custer purchased a farm 
in Lower Providence township, which he cultivated 
for many years, dairying being made a specialty. 
His son-in-iaw, Mr. Whitby, subsequently managed it 
for twelve years, after which it was rented, Mr. Custer 
and his family having meanwhile removed to Eagle- 
ville, his present home. In politics the subject of this 
biographical sketch is a Republican, having formerly 
been allied with the Whig party. His business pur 
suits have, however, left no leisure for participation in 
matters of a political character. He is oue of the 



managers of the Montgomery Mutual Insurance Com- 
pany, of Norristown, and has frequently been solicited 
to exercise the office of guardian. He is a member 
of the Lower Providence Presbyterian Church, in 
which he has for thirty years held the office of trustee. 



CHAPTER LXXII. 
UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP.' 

The township of Ujiiicr Providence, as established 
in 1805, is bounded on the north by Perkiomen town- 
ship; on the east by the Perkiomen Creek, separating 
it from Lower Providence ; on the southwest by the 
Schuylkill River and, on the northwest by Limerick 
township. Its length is nearly six miles, and breadth 
three miles, and it contains twelve thousand and 
ninety-five acres of land. The lands are nearly all 
productive, the assessment of 1882 showing the total 
value of real estate in the township to be $2,420,405; 
number of taxables, 877. The census of 1880 shows 
the number of inhabitants to be 3592, which is only- 
surpassed Ijy two townships of the county, to wit : 
Lower Merion and Pottsgrove. 

From the formation of the township to the year 1832 
the general elections were held at the public-house of 
David Dewees Trapp ; from 1832 to 1844, at the tavern 
of Jacob Heebner, and from that date to the present at 
the " Lamb Tavern," Trapjie, excelling since Decem- 
ber 2, 1878, the township being divided into two elec- 
tion districts, the electors of the new, or Lower District, 
have been voting at the Port Providence Band Hall. 

The township elections are held at the public-house 
of Jacob Frederick, known as the " Fountain Inn." 
They have been held here since 1852 or 1853. Before 
that time they were held at the house of Catharine 
Dewees, widow of David Dewees. 

The names of the justices of the peace up to the 
year 1838 are given in Providence township. Since 
that date the following persons have been elected and 
have served in that office, with the respective dates of 
their elections; 1840, 1845 and 1850, John Dismant; 
1840, 1845 and 1853, Jlatthias Haldeman ; 18.50, Joshua 
Place; 1855, 1860 and 1865, Samuel Hunsicker; 
1857, David Beard; 1862, 1867, 1872 and 1877, Henry 
W. Kratz; 1809 and 1874, Roger D. Shunk ; 1879, 
D.avid R. Landis ; 1881, R. A. Grover ; 1882, Abraham 
D. Fetterolf. 

The following constables have served in the township : 
1807, George Urmiller; 1808, Jacob Vanderslice ; 1809, 
Peter Waggonseller; 1810, John Groves; 1811, Jacob 
Shire; 1812-14; Abraham Trechler; 1815-16, Samuel 
Smith; 1817-19, Christian Stetler ; 1820-21, IsaacHall- 
man; 1822, Joseph Goodwin; 182:;. Philip Koons; 1824, 
Abraham Showalter ; 1825-28, James Miller ; 1829-30, 

1 Bv V. M. Hobs.m. 



UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. 



1057 



Henry Shields; 1831, Jacob Shuler; 1832^1, John 
Patterson; 1842, Andrew Boyer; 1843-46, Charles 
Tyson; 1847-54, William Gristoek ; 1855, Aaron 
Fretz; 1856-58, Samuel Hendricks; 1859, Henry Fox ; 
1860-63, Israel Place; 1864, Thomas Garber; 1865, 
Joseph Walter ; 186G-6!», Davis A. Raudenlnish ; 1870, 
Abner W. Johnson ; 1871-75, David Hnnsicker; 1876- 
81, Francis R. Shupe; 1882, Samuel R, Pugh ; 1883, 
William B. Logan, Jr. ; 1884, Jonas R. Umstead. 

The villages of Upper Providence are Trappei 
Freeland, Collegeville, Oaks, Green Tree, Port Provi- 
dence and Quincyville, or "Sltrnt Clare. The post- 
offices are Collegeville, Oaks, Port Providence, Traj'pe 
and Yerkes. 

The oldest village, and the one around which 
clusters the richest historial associations, is the an- 
cient village of Trappe. Many men of considerable im- 
portance in State and nation have been born and bred 
within its limits or in its neighliorhood. The tirst name 
of this village was Landau. Samuel Seely bought one 
hundred and fifty acres of land in the village Octo- 
ber 19, 1762. This land lies on the west side of the 
turnpike road, nearly o])]iosite the Lutheran Church. 
Some time between 1762 and 1765, Mr. Seely divided 
this land into town-lots, and named the town "Lan- 
dau." An old draft shows fifty-seven lots thus laid 
out, the first nineteen fnuiting on the old Manatawny 
road, called Front Street. The lots were sixty-six by 
one hundred and sixty-five feet. The lots were all 
sold as follows : No. 1, Peter Hicks; 2, Israel Jacob; 
3, James Richardson ; 4, Thomas Bower ; 5, 34 and 
35, Thomas Buun ; 6, James Hamer; 7, Richard 
Lewis; 8, Joseph Ramsey ; 9, John Buckwalter ; 10, 
16, 23 and 29, Joseph Seely ; 11, P. Flanagan ; 12 
and 27, Adam Hallman ; 13 and 26, John Schrack! 
14, Jacob Peterman; 15, George Essig; 17, Edwin 
De Haven; 19 and 20, Abraham Brosius ; 28, John 
^OarteE^ This town, which was expected, no doubt, 
by the founder, to rival the metropolis, existed mostly 
on paper, and would, no doubt, have been entirely 
lost had it not been recently rescued and brought to 
light by Dr. James Hamer, of Collegeville. 

About the time Sir. Seely was trying to impress 
this name upon the village at the upper end another 
name wa.s being applied to it at the lower end, which 
was more successful. Before this the name of Trap or 
Trapp was given to the hotel, which then stood on the 
present site of Mr. John Longstreth's house. From 
this hotel the village derived its name Trapi)e. Con- 
cerning the origin of the name Trappe there has 
been considerable speculaticm. That the name was 
of local origin seems the most reasonable. Two 
theories of the origin of the name are worthy of 
attention, — the Muhlenberg and the Shunk theories. 
The Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the venerable 
and honorable founder of the Lutheran Church, 
made this entry in his journal kept at the time, — 

"November 13, 178(^. — Cliristi.in Selirack, who was buried yesterday, 
was a Bun of John Jacob Sclirack, who came to tliis county in 1717. . . . 

66 



They built a cabin and a cave in which they cooked. They kept a snuill 
shop in a small way and a tavern with beer .and such things. As once 
an English inhabitant, who had been drinking in the cave, fell asleep, 
and came home late, and was in coiisei|uence scolded by his wife, be 
excused himscll' by saying he had been at the Trap. From that time 
this neighborhood is called Ti-app, and is known as such in all America." 

That this is the true origin of the name seems the 
more [irobable for several reasons, — 

1. Muhlenberg lived right in the vicinity from 
1745, and no man had better facilities for knowing. 
He speaks without doubt. 

2. In the oldest deeds, advertisements and papers 
the name of the place is spelled Traj) afterwards, for 
many years, Tra|)p and Trap. Very few [lapers of 
the last centuries are spelled Trappe. 

3. In 1760, John Schrack, son of the John Jacob 
Schrack above spoken of, advertises the hotel in // 
Sower's newspaper, and calls it "Trapp" Hotel. 

4. On Howell's map, 1792, it is called "Trapp." 

5. The post-olMce, when established in 1819, was 
by the name of Traji. 

6. The first hotel licensed by the court of Mont- 
gomery County, in 1784, was this same hotel. The 
record reads "License granted to George Brook, 'The 
Tra])' hotel. Providence township," and was granted 
for many years under the same name. 

Thus the change is gradu.-tl, but marked, — T-r-a-]i, 
T-r-a-p-p, T-r-a-p-p-e. 

The "Shunk theory," so called from being advo- 
cated by Governor Shunk, was to the efiect that at 
this Schrack's tavern there were very high stei)s 
leading to the front door. As a poor fellow, the 
worse for drink, went headlong down the steps, he 
exclaimed, "Verdamt die Troppe!" and from this 
event the hotel received its name, "Treppe" being 
the German word for steps. 

This theory seems fatally defective, in that the 
history of the orthograiihy of the name has changed, 
contrary to the way it should if the theory were true. 
It was, however, stoutly maintained by Governor 
Francis R. Shunk. The author has in his possession 
a letter from the Governor, giving his views in full 
and arguing that the name of the village should be 
spelled T-r-e-p-p-e. The discussion as to the origin 
of the name of the village, and how the same should 
be spelled, at length gave rise to a jiublic meeting, 
which was held in February, 1835. Matthias Haldc- 
luan and Francis R. Shunk were the champions for 
Treppe or Trappe, while Hon. Wright A. Bringhurst 
and Hon. Jacob Fiy, Jr., championed the Trap or 
Trapp. At that meeting the majority determined 
that the proper name was Trapp. 

In 1795 Trappe contained twelve houses. In 1832 
it contained two taverns, two stores and fifteen houses. 
In 1858 there were two hotels, three stores, three 
churches and about forty houses, now increased to 
upwards of sixty. Washington Hall Collegiate Insti- 
tute was founded in 1830, and is now in charge of 
Professor Abel Rambo, for several years county super- 
intendent of public schools. 



1058 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The post-office was established here about 1819, 
with John Tixlil as |iostm;ister. He was succeeded 
by Matthias Haldouuui. Where is now the dwelling- 
house of Pliilip Willard stood, before the Revolution, 
an inn, called the "Duke of Cumberland," which was 
kept as early as IT^S. Father Muhlenberg, during the 
Revolution, complains that there was then no hotel in 
the place, wliile belbre, when there was not one-half 
as much travel, the village boasted of three public- 
houses. 

CoUegeville, or Frecland. as the same village is in- 
discriminately called, and I'erkiomen Bridge, as it was 
formerly known, is eight miles north of Norristown, 
and one of the most beautiful villages of the county. 
Perkioraen Bridge is the oldest name, dating back to 
1799, the time of the completion of the stone bridge 
across the Perkiomen at that place. The first post- 
office was established here in 1847. Edward P^vans 
was appointed postmaster, and the office named 
Perkiomen Bridge. In 1848, Henry A. Hunsicker 
built a boarding-school for young men. This he 
called Freeland Seminary of Perkiomen Bridge. 
Soon the village around the school took its name 
from its school, ami was called Freeland. 

In IStJl the post-office of Perkiomen Bridge was 
removed to the store of Frank Jl. Hobson, who was 
appointed postmaster. The following year the name 
of the post-office was changed to Freeland. 

About 185.') an effi:)rt was made to have this village 
called Townsend, in honor of Samuel Townsend, who 
had renifivcd from Philadelphia, and in the county 
map pulilished about this time the village is called 
Townsend ; but this name did not last long. 

When the Perkiomen Railroad was opened there 
was a bitter fight over the name of the station. The 
railroad company finally decided to give a new name 
to their station, and accordingly called it CoUegeville. 
In 1869 the post-office was removed to the station and 
the name changed to CoUegeville. Since that time a 
bitter fight for the name of the village has been 
waged, each person calling the village the name 
best suiting bis fancy. 

The village of Port Providence was first known as 
"Jacobs." In 1820, Thomas Jones was an extensive 
lumber dealer in West Chester ; he bought land here 
and built a landing to unload lumber coming by the 
canal. From this fact it was called Lumberville, 
which name it retained for many years. The people, 
desiring a ])ost-office, found "Lumberville" already 
appropriated, and then determined to call the post- 
office Port Providence, which name soon attached it- 
self also to the village. 

Mont Clare, or Quincyville, is situated just oppo- 
site the borough of Phceni.xville, Chester Co. Its 
residents are mostly engaged in liusiness or work in 
the adjoining borough. There is now a station of the 
Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad established 
here, called Mont ('lare Station. 

The opening of llu- Perkiomen Railroad is responsi- 



ble for establishing three new villages in the township, 
viz. : Oaks, Areola aud Yerkes. The people in the 
vicinity asked that their station be named Oakland. 
The railroad company named it simply Oaks, as there 
was another station in the State of the name suggested. 
A post-office is now here of the same name. Areola 
was first known as " Water-Tank," next as " Doe Run " 
Station, but lately named Areola, after the large mills 
of Messrs. Wetherill & Co. There is a very small village 
here. " Yerkes " is so called after Mr. Isaac Y'erkes, 
a respectable citizen, and the owner of the land on 
which the station was established, t^uite a village is 
now growing up around it, with a post-oflice of the 
same name recently established. 

John Robinson undertook, in 17G8, to locate one 
of the largest towns of Eastern Pennsylvania in the 
townshij) of Providence. Robinson had made great 
pre|)arations for the sale of lots, ottering three 
hundred and fifty lots at public sale, on February 
10, 170:1 Quite a number were sold. The following 
year another one hundred lots were ottered. This 
town was entirely upon paper. On its site are now a 
few houses and one store, called Providence Square, 
situated midway between CoUegeville an<l Pluenix- 
ville. 

The churches of Upper Providence are the f(dlow- 
ing : Augustus Lutheran, St. Luke's Reformed, Evan- 
gelical, Mennonite, Friends', Dunkard, Tiinity Chris- 
tian and Episeojialian. 

The Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe, is the 
most noteil in the township. The old church building, 
erected in 1748, is still standing in a good state of pres- 
ervation. Ten yeai's before this time the Lutheran 
congregation of Providence was organized. In 1732, 
John Christian Schultz became the first pastor, and 
remained one year, leaving as a successor .lohn Casper 
Stoever. In 1742 the Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlen- 
l)erg arrived from Germany, and became the ])astor, 
and built the church in 1743. He has since become 
widely known as the founder of the Lutheran Church 
in America, and the Trappe Church as the oldest Lu- 
theran Church in America, now standing. The corner- 
stone was laid May 2, 1743. The first service was 
lield therein on Septeinber 12th, but it was not until 
October ti, 1745, that the church was dedicated. 
Three negroes were ba))tized on that occasion. The 
General Synod of the colonies met in this church on 
June 17, 1750. On October 7, 1787, Dr. Muhlenberg 
died, and his honored ashes now repose innnediately 
in the rear of the old church. The congregation con- 
tinued to worship in this building until the 0th of 
No\ember, 1853, wdien the present large brick build- 
ing was dedicated. Since that time the old ehurcli 
was used for Sunday-school purposes until quite re- 
cently. The ])resent structure was rec^ently entirely 
remodeled, making it a two-story building. This im- 
provement was maile under the ]iastorate of the present 
incumbent, Rev. O. P. Smith. Adjoining the cliin-ch 
is the gravevard, lontaining numerous tombstones. 



UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. 



1059 



Among the distinguished dead here buried can be men- 
tioned Rev. Dr. Henry M. Muhlenberg, General Peter 
i\Iuhleiil)Crg, Hon. Frederick A. Muhlenberg, Gover- 
nor Francis R. Shunk, Hon. Jacob Fry and Jo.se|)h 




EXTERIOR OF OLD TRAPPE CHURCH. 

Royer. The principal family names are Allabaugh, 
Bean, Buyer, Beck, Buckwaltcr, Gulp, Gassclberry, 
Custer, Cressman, Dehaven, Emerich, Fry, Garber. 
Goodwin, Gross, Heehncr, Hallman, Isett, Knglei, 




Jr.; 

1S38, 
1.S,j4, a. S. 
1874, O. P. 



INTERIOR or OLD TR.iPPE CHURCH. 

Longakcr, Mausteller, Miller, Meyer, Niemau, Pen- 
nypacker, Pawling, Prizer, Rambo, Royer, Ritten- 
housc, Reitf, Rawn, Spare, Shupe, Stetler, Schrack, 
Trumbauer, Wald, Walter and Young. The jiastors 
of this church have been as follows : 17-32, John Chris- 
tian Schultz; 1733, John Casper Stoever; 1742, 



Henry M. Muhlenberg; 1765, John L. Voigt; 1793, 
Frederick G. Weinland; ISCHt, J. P. Hecht ; 1814, 
Henry A. Geissenhainer; 1821, Frederick W. Geis- 
senhainer; 1823, Frederick W. Geissenhainer, 
1827, Jacob Wampole : 1834, John \V. Richarr 
Henry S. Miller ; IS-W, G. A. Wcntzel 
Link ; 1859, G. Sill ; 1864, John Kohlcr 
Smith. 

Rev. Oliver Peter Smith, A.M., son of Frederick 
and ;\Iary Smith, was born September 4, 1848, at New 
Tripoli, Lehigh Co., Pa., and is the youngest of eight 
idiildren. His early instruction was received from 
his father, who was then teacher of the public school 
if that place, and at the age of ten years his brother, 
Theodore, became his tutor. In his fourteenth year 
liis father, not having employment for him at home 
nor means to send him away to school, gave him the 
privilege of starting in life for himself. At the age of 
fifteen he was appointed teacher of one of the public 
schools of his native township, Lynn, and after the 
close of the school term he entered the Military and 
Collegiate Institute at Allentown, Pa., with a view to 
preparation for college, teaching in winter to meet his 
expenses. In the fall of 18(57 he entered Muhlenberg 
College as a member of the fre.shman class, having 
just recovered from a severe attack of typhoid fever. 
He graduated in June, 1871, having during his 
college course embraced every available opportunity 
to earn m<mey, that the outlay of his course might be 
met. For one year, while at college, he filled an ap- 
pointment under the school board of Allentown as 
instructor of German in the public .schools. In the 
fall of 1871 the subject of this sketch entered the 
Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran 
Church at Philadelphia, and finished his three years' 
theological course in the spring of 1874, teaching dur- 
ing the .summer vacations and jirejiaring young men 
for college. He was ordained as minister of the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church at Lancaster, Ta., June 
3d. Having received a call from the Trajipe charge, 
composed of Augustus congregation (Trappe), St. 
.James' congregation (Limerick) and .Terusalem con- 
gregation (Schwenksville), he was installed as pastor 
of the charge in the Trappe Church the Sunday fol- 
lowing his ordination, of which charge he is still 
pastor. Here has been spent, thus far, the most use- 
ful part of his life laboring earnestly and zealously 
in the pulpit and out of it for the salvation of souls 
and the glory of Christ, the head of the church. The 
congregations have doubled in membership through 
his pastorate, church properties greatly improved and 
the liberality of the people advanced. The church at 
the Trappe is one of the finest houses of worship iu 
the county, and Augustus congregation is one of the 
oldest and most important Lutheran congregations in 
this country, having had for its first regular pastor H. 
^I. Muhlenberg, D.D., the father of Lutheranism in 
America. Among the li.st of the pastors of this con- 
gregation are the following names well known in the 



1060 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



church : Hartwig, Van Buskirk. Voigt, Weineland, 
Geissenhainer, Hecht, Wampole, Richards, Miller, 
Weuzel, Link, Sill and Kohler, the last-named the 
predecessor of Rev. Mr. Smith. A Young People's 
Lyceum has been organized in the Trappe congrega- 
tion under Mr. Smith's direction, which has been the 
means uf cultivating and stimulating a literary taste 
and establishing a fine congregational library. 

At the meeting of the executive committee of the 
Ministerium of Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1S84, 
Rev. Mr. Smith was a|)j)ointed to deliver, at tlie One 
Hundred and Thirty-seventh Annual Convention of 



ing the place in the faculty of professor of Dhe Ger- 
man language. 

He was married, June 23, 1874, to Miss Laura Affie 
Barnes, secf)nd daughter of Ezra R. Barnes, Esq., of 
Bridgeport, Conn. Mrs. Smith died June 30, 1884. By 
the death of this accomplislied and estimable lady, 
Mr. Smith lost a most faithful and affectionate wife, 
one who never wearied in the assistance she rendered 
him in his work. Rev. Mr. Smith was baptized in 
infancy, and confirmed as a member of the Lutheran 
Church at the age of fourteen years. Shortly after 
his confirmation he felt called upon to enter the 




the Synod, the educational sermon, whicli was 
preached at Reading, and received with gieat favor. 

The subject of this sketch uses the English and 
German languages with ecpial ease and fluency, which 
give him the qualifications for distinguished useful- 
ness in his church. His style in the pulpit is free and 
earnest, accompanied with great force. When prepar- 
ing his sermons he draws them up with great care in 
manuscript form, but never uses a note in the 
pulpit, which makes him esi)ecially popular as a 
speaker. 

Rev. Mr. Smith has also been connected with 
Washington^Hall Collegiate Institute, of Trappe, fill- 



ministry. His character illustrates the maxim "where 
there is a will there is a way." 

The St. Luke's Reformed Church, whose building 
now stands at the lower end of Trappe, was founded 
October 18, 1742, by the Rev. Michael Schlatter. For 
a few years they worsliiped in the Augustus Lutheran 
Church, but shortly thereafter, in 1755, they bought a 
small tract of land and built thereon a log church. 
This church stood in the present cemetery lot. Here, 
in this log liouse, the congregation continued to wor- 
ship until the beginning of the jiresent century. The 
first regular ))astor of the church was the Rev. Philiii 
Boehm, of wliom we learn elsewhere in this historv. 



UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. 



1061 



He continued until September 15, 1748. On October 
9, 1748, the Rev. John Philip Leydick was installed 
as pastor. Rev. Mr. Leydick was born in Germany 
in 1715, and emigrated to this country in 1748, when 
he took cliarge of the cliurclies at Providence and 
Falkner Swamp. He continued to serve here until 
about 1780. He died January 4, 1784, and is buried 
in Frederick townslii]). From March 28, 1784, to 
April y, 1787, Rev. John Herman Winkhaus served 
the c<msregation. Next appears the name of Rev. 
Frederick William Vandersloot, St., who served until 
about 1813, when he was followed by his son, Frederick 
William Vandei-sloot, Jr., Irom November 11, 1813, to 
December 29, 1818. Rev. Lebecht Frederick Herman, 
D. D., .served several years, and was followed 
by his student. Rev. John C. Guldin, D.D., 
who continued until 1840. It was during 
the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Guldin that the 
Reformed congregation left worshiping in the 
Lutheran Church and built a church upon 
the site of their first log building. This 
churcli edifice was built and dedicated in the 
year 1835. Following this pastorate was 
that of the Rev. Jacob William Hangcn, 
who served from April 27, 1S41, until the 
time of his death, February 22, 1843. From 
the fall of 1843 the Rev. Andrew .S. Young 
served the church, and was, in turn, suc- 
ceeded by Rev. John R. Kooken, whose 
piustorate extended from 1844 to 184(5. On 
August 1, 1847, Rev. A. B. .Shenkle was in- 
stalled as pastor, and served for twenty 
years, until April 1, 1867. He was followed 
by Rev. H. H. W. Hibshman, D.D., who 
served from October 15, 1867, to July, 1869. 
During this short time the congregation 
built a parsonage, which still stands. On 
April 1, 1870, Rev. J. H. A. Bomberger, 
D.D., was installed as pastor, and served the 
congregation in connection with his work as 
president of Ursinus College. In 1874 the 
old church building, erected in 1835, was torn 
down, and in its stead the congregation 
erected the present large church edifice ujion the 
opposite side of the turnpike and by the side of the 
parsonage. Dr. Bomberger resigned October 1, 1883. 
The present incumbent. Rev. H. T. Spangler, took 
charge of the church April 1, 1884, and continues as 
a successful pastor. 

The cemetery is still on the east side of the 
turnpike, where the churches formerly stood. The 
oldest tombstone therein is that marking the last 
resting-place of Lodwick Ewalt, who died March 16, 
1760. The family names found therein are Beidler, 
Buckwalter, Darringer, Dull, Everhart, Hillbourn, 
Longabough, Reed, Shenkle, Smith, Spear, Shade, 
Tyson and Wanner, 

The Friends' Meeting -House was one of the 
early houses of worship in the township. It is situate 



one and a half miles northeast of Port Providence. 
On Scull's map, in 1770, it is marked and had been 
there many years. It was built in 1730, of logs. At 
that time the portion of the township along the river 
Schuylkill was settled by Friends, and the best families 
of that neighborhood worshiped in the old log meeting- 
house. 

The land whereon the building was erected was 
donated by David Hamer, who came to Providence 
with his brothers, James and Adam, in 1717. Among 
those worshiping in this first building may be men- 
tioned Richardson, Taylor, Hopkins, Barnet, Tyson, 
Ambler, Rogers, Jacobs, Cox, Sayler, Hobson, Corson 
and Hamer. The log house was, in 1828, replaced by 




I'lLUVIDENCE FKIKXDS' MEETIN(i-II( li- 



the present one-story stone meeting-house. It is now 
very much dilapidated, and very few Friends are 
now found in its vicinity. 

The Providence Mennonite Church is a very old 
one. When Father Jluhlenberg arrived in Trappe, in 
1742, he states that there were two houses of worship 
in Providence, — the Episcopal at Evansburg and one 
built by the Mennonists. The Mennonists now have a 
church near Yerkes Station, which was built about 
1820. It is a large, plain, stone structure, and no doubt 
this was preceded by a former building,which was the 
one referred to by Dr. Muhlenberg. The land on 
which the present structure is built was given by 
Abraham Rosenberger. John Hunsixker_and Henry 
_Bean were the firstj[>reachcrs, Imtthelatterwassoon af- 
terdeposed'on account of some irregularity, and Elias 



1062 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Landes was chosen in his stead. George Detwiler 
and John Hunsberger were still later ordained as 
ministers. Services are now held every two weeks, 
most of the preaching being in German. The follow- 
ing are names found on the tombstones : Bechtel, 
Detwiler, Godshall, Hunsicker, Tyson, Buckwalter, 
Reiner, Landis, Wair, Horning, Rittenhouse, Bean, 
Alderfer, Rosenberger, Hallman, Wismer, Kratz 
Johnson, Kolb, Ashenfelter. Kindig and Kepner. 
' St. Paul's Memorial Church, Tipper Provi" 
dence, bad its incej)tiun in a Sunday-school, begun' 
in about 1828, by Mrs. Rachel Wetherill, widow o 
the late Samuel Wetherill, of Philadelphia, in the 
latter years of her life, at her summer residence, and 
which she continueil to teach herself until her death; 
about 1 844. 

To meet the wants of tliis school, and also of a place 
of jmblic worshij) in this community, she built an edi- 
fice at " Wetherill's Corner," in Lower Providence, 
on her own land, and being a consistent member of 
the Protestant E])iscopal Church herself, she immedi- 
ately established the worship of the same in this new 
building by securing, as she could obtain them, the 
services of the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church from Philadelphia and the neighboring regions, 
and maintained them at her own cost as long as she 
lived. 

Her family continued the same, and in the same 
manner, after her death, until about 1850, when Mr. 
George Mintzer, then rector of St. James' Church, 
Perkionien, at Kvansburg, undertook to supply regu- 
larly with services this nucleus of a parish by preach- 
ing on alternate Sundays. 

In 18.')2, Mrs. Rebecca Gumbes, daughter of Mrs. 
Rachel Wetherill, had re])airs made in this building, 
fitting up a chancel-rail, communion table and other 
churchly appliances, and lurther built a chapel t<i 
be used in connection with it upon the lawn of her 
son's residence, on the opposite side of the creek, in 
Upper Providence. 

This chapel, upon the lawn of the late Mr. Samuel 
W. Gumbes, is still used (by sufferance) for a Sun- 
day-.school house to the present time. 

Five years later, 1857, Rev. George Mintzer re- 
signed his charge of St. James' Church, Perkiomen, 
and acce]>ted a call to this new and yet unorganized 
parish, and Mrs. Rebecca Gumbes installed him in a 
house which has ever since been used as a pai-sonage, 
and which, in her will, she bequeathed to that per- 
petual use, with ten thousand dollars, the incimie of 
which was to be paid to the resident minister of 
Union Church. Until this time all the records of the 
ministrations here had been kept in the register of 
St. James' Church; but from this date, 1857, a regular 
record of such acts here has been kept, until they 
have merged down into, and are bound up with, the 
registry of St. Paul's Memorial Church, ITpper Provi- 
dence. 

Rev. Mr. Mintzer died in 1860, and Rev. James 



May, D.D., late professor in the Theological Semi- 
nary of Virginia, who had resigned his professorship 
in that institution at the beginning of the war trou- 
bles, and had been elected a professor in the Divinity 
School of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Phila- 
delphia, was called to fill the post made vacant by 
the death of Rev. George Mintzer. 

He entered on his duties in 1861, and continued to 
fulfill them until his death, in 18fi4. 

Rev. C. N. Chevricr was called to succec<l him, in 
18(i5, and continued minister in charge until he re- 
signed, in 18fi8, to remove to another parish. 

During the incumbency of Rev. C. N. Chevricr, a 
parish was organized, and a charter was obtained 
fi)r a church, which was to be built as a " Memorial 
to Rev. James May, deceased," — that good man who 
bad died in this ])astorate, so widely revered and so 
deeply beloved by this whole community. 

Before, however, this new church building was be- 
gun the Rev. Joel Rudderow was called to be resident 
minister of Union Church and the chapel, in 1869. 
Mrs. Rebecca Gumbes, who had already deeded a 
commodious lot immediately alongside of the par- 
sonage to this new corporation, and who had also 
headed a subscription with five thousand dollars 
towards building the same, installed him in the 
parsonage. The vestry of St. Paul's Memorial 
Church, Upper Providence, also elected him their 
rector. He is still in charge of the parish. 

This good woman, Jlrs. Rebecca (iumbes, who, by 
her large-hearted munificence, had been emphatically 
the support of this enterprise since her mother's 
death, and through whose liberality principally the 
new church was completed, died December, 1869. 

In the year 1871 the corner-stone of the new build- 
ing was laid. It was finished in 1872, and the first 
service, its consecration, was held by the bishop of the 
diocese. Right Rev. William Bacon Stevens, D.D., 
LL.D., on October 20th of that same year, it being the 
twenty-first Sunday after Trinity, 1872. 

The church, which is of the English rural order, 
is built of the light-gray sandstone from Rhodes' 
quarry, with Hummelstown trimmings, in rubble ; with 
porch, bell-gable and cross, with interior finished in 
natural woods (ash and walnut), and open roof, ceiled 
in pine and oiled, and with stained-glass windows. 
It is thirty-two by sixty feet, with arch in rear wall 
to admit of piercing without injury when enlargement 
shall be needed. It will seat comfortably about two 
hundred and ten persons. 

St. Paul's Memorial Church, Upper Providence, 
continue the services in (so called) Union Church, as 
one of their chapels, and they hold their Sunday- 
school in the chapel upon the lawn of Mrs. Frances 
S., widow of the late Samuel AV. Gumbes. 

The Trinity Christian Church, at Freeland, has 
a fine, large stone church building. This church was 
founded in 1854. Rev. Abraham Hunsicker, a liishop 
of the Mennonite Church, on account of his advanced 



UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. 



1063 



views on education, communion and other matters, 
was prevented from preaching in the Mennonite 
Churches at Skippaek, Worcester and Providence, in 
the year 1X51. He and his adlierents, therefore, con- 
stituted themselves a new body, and proceeded to 
erect a churcli building at Freeland, upon land do- 
nated by Mr. Huusioker. The building was finished and 
consecrated in 1855. It was first called "Christian 
Meeting," and the congregation was chartered as 
" The Christian Society of Freeland." There was no 
regular miiii-ster. Rev. Abraham Hunsicker, who 
preached in German, and Rev. Israel Beidle, who 
preached in English, assisted by Rev. Henry A. 
Hunsicker, made themselves responsible for the relig- 
ious services. Thus 
matters continued 
for several yeare. 
On May 24, 1801, a 
council was Organ- 
ized by electing 
deacons and elders. 
The first council 
consisted of : Minis- 
ters, Henry A.Hun- 
sicker and Joseph 
H. Hendricks; El- 
ders, Gideon Fet- 
terolf and Abraham 
Hendricks; Dea- 
cons, Henry D. 
Swartly and Daniel 
H. Reiff. At the 
same time arrange- 
ments were made 
for five ministers to 
alternate in preach- 
ing in the following 
order : Revs. Israel 
Beidler, Henry A. 
Hunsicker, Alira- 
ham Hunsicker, 
.\braham Grater 
anil.loseph H. Hen- 
dricks. 

It was not until 1862 that a regular pastor was 
elected, when the Rev. Joseph H. Hendricks was 
called to fill this position. He had been ordained to 
the ministry June 23, 1861, but entered upon his 
duties of pastor April 1, 1862. Since that time he 
has filled that position acceptably to his peojjle, hav- 
ing, in all these years, missed but one appointment, 
and that by reason of sickness. In 1862 the title of 
the congregation was changed to " Trinity Christian 
Church at Freeland." 

The church building was considerably enlarged and 
somewhat remodeled during the summer of 1874, and 
wa.s rededicated October .3 and 4, 1874. The build- 
ing is two stories high ; the basement is divided into 
two rooms : a large one in which the Sunday-school is 



held, the other a small one for prayer-meetings and 
business meetings. The second floor is the main au- 
dience-room. The church is not connected with any 
other denomination, being entirely independent. 
j There is a church at Skippackville, Perkiomen town- 
ship, which is a branch of the Freeland Church, both 
being in the same charge and served by the same 
pastor. The church is liberal in its creed, yet strictly 
orthodox, recognizing all Christian Churches a.s parts 
of the true church. It has a membership of about 
three hundred and fifty. 

The Dunkard Meeting-House, at Green Tree, 
was built in I880. In 1831 a congregation was here 
organized, with Revs* John H. Urastad and Isaac 

Price as ministers, 
and a church was 
erected, in 18.33, on 
lands donated by 
Mr. Umstad. It is 
a large one story 
stone building. At 
present there is a 
large congregation 
worshiping there, 
with the Rev. Mr. 
Myers as pa.stor. 
The cemetery was 
rnlarged in 1858. 

< )ii tondistones are 
I'lund the follow- 
ing names: Bean, 
Davis, Dettra, Got- 
\\a\s, Keyser, Mil- 
ler, Oberholzer, 
Uodda, Schranger, 
Si'lirack, Shunk, 
Inistad and Walt. 
Near the Linie- 
TicF line and the 
liiirough of Royer's 
I'lird is situate the 
l)isniants' burying- 
ground, being in- 
closed with a wall. 
This is nearly one hundred years old, being bequeathed 
by the Dismants, who were the first settlers in that 
locality. Several of the Dismants have made bequests 
to have the ground put in projier shape. There are 
here buried the Rambos, Dismants, Tysons, Stahls and 
others. Just back of the Lutheran Church, Trappe, 
there is a small brick building used as a house of wor- 
ship by the Evangelical Association. It is of recent 
founding and has a fair-sized congregation. 

Prominent personages. — A number of the resi- 
dents of this township have attained distinguished hon- 
ors in county. State and nation, among whom are the 
lowing : Rev. Henry Melchior Muldenberg, born 
at Eimbeck, Hanover, September 6, 1711. In 1738 
he graduated from the University of Gottingen. 




REV. HENRY MELCHIOR MUHLENBERG. 



1064 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



He arrived in Philadelphia November 25, 1742, and 
immediately assumed the pastorate of the three Lu- 
theran congregations at Philadelphia, Providence and 
New Hanover. On December 26th ho first preached 
at Trappe. He was married to Anna Maria, daughter 
of the celebrated Indian interpreter, Colonel 
Conrad Weiser, on April 30, 1745, and shortly after 
this moved to Providence, where they remained until 
1761. Through his exertions the old Tr.appe Church 
was built in 1743. In 1776, Muhlenberg moved back- 
to Trappe, and lived there thmugh the exciting times 




TOMB OF GUNKRAL I'ETER Mill Lli X i;EK(i. 

of the Revolutiiin, an ardent patriot. His work was 
not conlined to the churches najned, but he became 
the overseer of all the Lutheran Churches in Pennsyl- 
vania, New York and New Jersey. On May 27, 1784, 
the University of Pennsylvania conferred on Father 
Muhlenberg the title of Doctor of Sacred Theology. 
October 7, 1787, he went to his reward, and was burie<l 
near the old church he had built. 

General Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, eldest son of 
Rev. Henry Jlelchior Muhlenberg, was born at Trajipe 
October 1, 1746. He was educated at Halle, Germany, 
and was ordained a minister in 1768. He was stationed 
in Virginia in 1776, at the breaking out of the 
Revolution. It was here he delivered his ]iowerful 
sermon on the "duties to country," after which he 
threw offhis robe and ajjpeared before his peoijle a 
girded warrior. A company of volunteers was raised 
there and then. He served throughout the war, and 
rose by merit to tlie rank of brigadier-general. In 1775 
he was elected Vice-President of Pennsylvania, and 
was re-elected. He served in the First, Third ami 
other Congresses with ability. In 1797 he was a mem- 



ber of the State Assembly. In 1801 was chosen United 
States Senator from Pennsylvania, which honor he 
resigned the following year. On April 22, 1800, he was 
appointed major-general of PeniLsylvania militia for 
seven years, and from 1803 to 1807 served as collector 
of the port of Philadelphia. He died October 1, 1807, 
leaving two sons. Peter was a major in the war of 
1S12 and Francis a Representative in Congress from 
Ohio. A few years ago General Muhlenberg's statue 
was placed in the Nati(jnal Gallery, at Washington, 
D. C, as Pennsylvania's most distinguished soldier. 

Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg was born 
at Trai)pe January 2, 1750. Like his brother, he was 
educated at Halle and became pastor of a church in 
New York. In 17X4 he was appointed judge of 
Montgomery County. He was president of the State 
convention in 1787 that adopted the Federal Constitu- 
! tion. He was the first Speaker of the National 
House of Representatives, being twice elected to that 
[losition, and was twice a candidate for Governor of 
Pennsylvania. He died in 1802. 

Gottlieb Henry Pvrnst Muhlenberg was born at 
Trappe November 17, 1753. He accompanied his two 
elder brothers to Halle when nine years of age, where 
he remained until he was eighteen. Returning in 
177(1, he became pa.stor of the Lutheran Church in 
Philadelphia, and afterwards of Providence and New 
Hanover. While settled in the county he devoted 
all his spare time to botany and mineralogy, and be- 
came one of the greatest American botanists. He 
died in 1815. Many of the descendants of these old 
Muhlenberg patriots have risen to eminence in the 
ministry, the law and in politics, but want of space 
forbids their mention. 

Francis R. Shunk was born near Trappe August 7, 
1788. His grandfather, of the same name, was men- 
tioned as one of the first settlers of Providence. The 
[tarents of Francis were poor, and he was early com- 
pelled to support himself, which he did by teaching 
school and working on the farm. In 1829 he was 
a|)pointed as clerk of the can.al commissioners of 
Pennsylvania, and in 1838 Secretary of State by Gov- 
ernor Porter. In 1844 he was elected Governor of the 
commonwealth and re-elected in 1847, but almost 
immediately resigned on account of ill health. He 
died .luly 20, 1848, and was buried in the Lutheran 
Churchyard, Trappe. A handsome marble shaft was 
erected to his memory in 1851 by the citizens of the 
State. 

General Francis Swaine was a resident of the 
township, was sheriff from 17.S7 to 1790 and was the 
first president of Montgomery County Bank. 

Gottlieb Mittelberger, who lived in the township 
for several years, deserves notice. He brought with 
him from • Germany the organs in the Lutheran 
Churches at Philadelphia, New Hanover and Trappe, 
parts of which last remain to this day. He was lib- 
erally educated as a linguist .and musician. He ar- 
rived in 1750, October 10th, and for four years resided 



UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. 



1065 



in Providence, liolding the position of organist and 
schoolmaster in the Lutheran Church, and gave pri- 
vate instructions in music and the German language 
at the house of Captain John Diemer. On his return 
to Germany he wrote a very interesting account of 




SHl'XK MONUMENT. 

his sojourn in America, which was published in Ger- 
man in 1756. Parts of the book have been recently 
translated and jniblished by Mr. Henry S. Dotterer, 
of Philadelphia. 

Wright A. Briiighurst was born and lived at Trappe. 
He was a man of intelligence, and served in the Leg- 
islature of Pennsylvania. He left a large estate to 
the township of Upper Providence and the boroughs 
of Norristown and Pottstown, the income of which is 
intended for the destitute of these districts. 

Hon. Jacob Fry, Jr., born at Trappe, 1802, was a 
member of Congress from this district, 1834-38, and 
auditor-general of the State, 1857-60. 

Hon. Joseph Royer, born near Trappe February, 
1784, lived his whole life in Providence, was a mem- 
ber of the Legislature, 1821-22, associate judge of 
Montgomery County and several times a candidate 
for Congress. Two of his sons have since represented 
the county in the State Senate. Horace Royer was 
elected Senator in 1865 and Lewis Royer in 1878. 

Among others worthy of note should be mentioned 
Hon. Samuel Gross, member of State Legislature, 
1803-8, State Senator, 1811-14, of Congress, 1818-22; 
Rev. Abraham Hunsicker, bishop of the Mennonist 
Church, and founder of Trinity Christian Church, 
Frceland; Hon. Abraham Brower, State Senator, 
1840-43; Rev. John H. Umstad, a preacher of the 
Dunkards ; William W. Taylor, a noted anti-slavery 
advocate, and one in the line of the famous " Under- 



ground Railroad ; " Henry A. Hunsicker, the founder 
of Freeland Seminary (now Ursinus College) ; Rev. 
J. H. A. Bomberger, D.D., president of Ursinus Col- 
lege; Professor J. Warrene Sunderland, LL.D., 
founder of Pennsylvania Female College; and Pro- 
fessor Abel Rambo, for many years county superin- 
tendent, and now principal of Washington Hall 
BoardingSchool. 

Upper Providence lays claim to the first temperance 
organization in the county. On the 7th of June, 1817, 
a number of the farmers, Quakers and Dunkards, met 
at the Green Tree school-house, and organized a tem- 
perance society by electing Jonas Umstad chairman 
and James White secretary. Among the resolutions 
adopted was the following : 

"We will not consider it a practice or custom to give liquors to laborera, 
or make nse of any spirituous liquors in haying or harvest, or any other 
work, or knowingly suffer it to he used h^' lahorers while in our employ ; 
provided further, that such action is not intended to prohibit the medi- 
cinal use of it." 

Some time after this Jonas Umstad, John Barnett 
and Samuel Horning certify "that most of them have 
abstained without any ill, but with manifest good 
eflects." The township has since maintained its tem- 
perance proclivities, being the only township in the 
county that gave a majority "against license" in the 
local option vote in 1873, and a large majority it was 

The Lutherans at Trappe deserve the honor of 
founding the first school and building the first school- 
house. Before the first church was built, in 1743, a 
log school-house was erected, in which, for several 
years. Father Muhlenberg himself taught one week 
in three, until relieved by Mr. Mittleberger, who 
taught for several years. Francis Murphy, an Irish- 
man of learning, taught in this school-house for very 
many years, dying in 1855 at the advanced age of 
eighty-three. It is almost impossible to collect any 
definite information in regard to the schools that 
sprang up for a short time and then died out. 

About 1827 there was something of a regular system 
of pay-schools introduced into the township. The 
teachers were paid two dollars per scholar for a term 
<:)f three months, or seventy-two days. The lowest 
branches only were taught. Upper Providence ac- 
cepted the Common-School Act about 1844, paying 
at that time a salary of seventy dollars for a term of 
thirteen weeks. The villages of Trappe, Freeland 
and Collegeville were erected into an independent 
common-school district by the court of Montgomery 
County on the 23d day of February, 1880. It is called 
"The Trappe Independent District." It contains two 
school-houses and four schools. The length of term 
is seven months, and salary is forty dollars per month. 
In the township there are eleven school-houses and 
twelve schools. The term is eight months, and salary 
paid per month is forty-five dollars. 

In addition to its public schools the township boasts 
of two regularly chartered colleges — viz., Pennsyl- 
vania Female College and Ursinus College, now open 



1066 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



to both sexes, aud one academy, Washington Hall 
Boarding-School. These are treated of in lull under 
the chapter of Colleges. To speak of them here would 
be repetition. About 1834 a private academy was lo- 
cated at Port Providence. 

In February, 1809, a public meeting was called to 
meet at the school-house, near Joseph Cox's, for the 
purpose of establishing a public library. Nothing 
can now be ascertained in regard to its success. 

The county almshouse is situate in T'pper Provi- 
dence, but as this is treated of in another place in this 
historv, it is unnecessary to treat it more fullv here. 



Francis. In 1791 it again descended to the next gen- 
eration, and Moses Hobson lived there until 1831, 
when his son, Francis Hobson, came into possession. 
This Francis, who was the father of the subject of this 
sketch, was married, in 1829, to Mary Matilda Bring- 
hurst, by whom he had two children, — Frank M 
and Sarah H., now the wife of Rev. Henry W. Super, 
D.D., vice-president of Ursinus College. 

Mr. Hobson completed a common English educa- 
tion at Washington Hall, Trappe. He taught public 
school three years at Trappe, and in 1856 moved to 
Freeland, where he kept a general store, which busi- 




^rz^c/ 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



FRANK M. HOBSON. 

Frank M. Hobson, of Collegeville, Montgomery 
Co., Pa., was born January 22, 1830, in Limerick 
township, said county. The farm upon which he was 
born and spent the first years of his life had been in 
the Hobson family since 1743, and consisted of two 
hundred and sixty-eight acres of the finest land in the 
township. Francis Hobson was the first of the fiimily 
to settle in Montgomery County, having come from 
New Garden township, Chester Co. He lived on tjhe 
farm from 1743 to 1748, when it descended to his son 



ness he pursued for twenty- four years, until 1880, since 
which time he has lived a retired life. 

During these years he also engaged in surveying 
and conveyancing, besides acting in the capacity of 
administrator or executor in a large number of estates, 
conspicuous among which is the estate of his uncle, 
Wright A. iJrinKhurst. 

Mr. Bringhurst left about one hundred and ten 
thousand dollars to the boroughs of Norristown and 
Pottstown and the township of Upper Providence for 
the benefit of the worthy poor of these districts. He 
was also one of the trustees named in the will, and af- 
terwards reappointed by the Jloutgomery County 



UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. 



1067 



Court, whose duty it is to manage the trust. He has 
also frequently acted in other fiduciary capacities. 

He has also filled the following public offices and 
trusts: Postmaster at Freeland, seven years ; school 
director, six years ; township auditor, three years > 
an officer in the Trinity Christian Church, twenty-two 
years ; secretary and treasurer of Ursinus College 
ten years ; director of Iron Bank, of Phcenixville 
two years ; director in First National Bank, of Nor- 
ri.stown, seven years ; treasurer of Building and Loan 
Association, eleven years. He has recently been 
elected president of the Perkiomen and Reading 
Turnpike Road Company. 

Mr. Hobson has been independent in politics. 
Starting life a Democrat, he so remained until 1854, 
when he left that party on account of its striving to 
force slavery into the free Territories of the nation. 
Since that time he has been a Republican. During 
the reconstmction of the Southern States he opposed 
in opposition to his party, the granting of the right oi 
suffrage to the negro until he had properly qualified 
himself by nature and education to exercise this high 
prerogative. To-day he is of the opinion that the de- 
velopments of the past twenty years have shown that 
his position was the correct one. 

Mr. Hobson was married, October 8, ISoG, to Lizzie 
Gotwalts, daughter of Jacob and Esther Gotwalts, of 
Upper Providence township. They have but two 
children, — Freeland G., now in his twenty-eighth year, 
and Mary M., several years younger. Freeland G. 
graduated at Ursinus College in 1876, was admitted 
to the Montgomery County bar in 188(1, and is now 
engaged in the practice of his profession at Norris- 
town. In 1881 he was mariied to E'la M., daughter 
of Rev. Joseph H. Hendricks, by whom he has one 
child, Frank H. 



REV. ABRAHAM HUNSIf'KEI!.' 

One of the mo.st eminent and respectable German 
families in Montgomery County is that whose surname 
stands at the head of this page. The record of its em- 
igration is that Valentine Hunsicker, a native of Swit- 
zerland — a nation which has preserved its freedom and 
independence a thousand years — came to the LTnited 
States in 1717, and about 1720 settled in what was 
then called Van Bebber, since Skippack, now Perkio- 
men township. He is probably the progenitor of all 
of the name in IMontgomery County. The next gen- 
eration in the direct line was Henry Hunsicker, 
whose wife, Esther, was the daughter of John Det- 
wiler. These were the parents of Rev. Abraham 
Hunsicker, the subject of this biography, who was 
born July 31, 1793, in East Perkiomen township, 
Montgomery Co., Pa. His ancestors being followers 
of Menno Simon, a plain, unworldly sect, most of 
whom grew up to undervalue liberal education "as 
of the world," Abraham Hunsicker enjoyed but the 



^ AuKe's "Mi'ii of MtttitguitiL'i y rimiitv. 



most limited educational advantages. When grown 
up, he felt the disadvantages of the want of scholastic 
training, and being of a strong natural endowment, 
early conceived the idea of reforming his religious 
brethren in reference to that subject. 

On May 30, 1816, he was married to Elizabeth 
Alderfer, and there were born to them ten children, 
as follows: Ann, married to John B. Landis; Ben- 
jamin A., to Hannah Detwiler; Esther, first mar- 
ried to Abraham Detwiler, and afterwards to Gid- 
eon Fetterolf; Henry A., married first to Mary 
Weinberger, and afterwards to Anne C. Gotwals; 
Abraham H., married to Rachel Rittenhouse; Eliz- 
abeth, wife of Francis R. Hunsicker; Elias A., 
married to Susan F. Moyer; Mary A., widow of 
Rev. Jared T. Preston; Catharine A., wife of Rev. 
Joseph H. Hendricks, pastor of Trinit}' Church, Free- 
land ; Horace M., who married Eliza Cosgrove. All 
the children of Abraham and Elizabeth Hunsicker, 
except Benjamin, the eldest son, who died in 1865, 
are living. Two sons reside in Philadelphia, two in 
Montgomery County, a daughter in Bucks County, 
and the others near the place of their birth. 

Abraham Hunsicker was ordained a minister of 
the Mcnnonist Church January 1, 1847, and soon 
after was elected a bishop. About that time a schism 
occurred in the Menuonite body, and Rev. Mr. Hun- 
sicker was separated from the "old school" or con- 
servative class of the society. In 1851 a second 
division took place, when Mr. Hunsicker set about 
organizing anew. He issued a j)amphlet entitled "A 
Statement of Facts and Summary of Views on Morals 
and Religion, as related with Suspension from the 
Mennonite Meeting." In this he portrayed the ex- 
cellence of that Christian charity and toleration 
which should prevail among religious denominations, 
as clearly set forth in the teachings and example of 
Christ. He dephu'ed to the close of his life the undue 
tenacity evinced by most Christian sects for non- 
I essentials in Christian doctrine, thus keeping them 
apart, instead of drawing them to co-operate in the 
great .work of saving souls. 

Though brought up a Mennonite, under a rigid 
discipline which forbade marriage with any outside 
of the meeting, prohibiting members also from going 
to law to recover property, and regarding a liberal 
education as not only unnecessary, but dangerous, 
he was strongly impressed with a sense of duty to 
labor to modify and correct these traditional views. 
He believed that whatever ground might have ex- 
isted in early ages of the church for strict adherence 
to such rules, the time for a change had come. 

About the time of his ordination (1847) as bishop 
of the Mennonites of the district of Skippack, Provi- 
dence and Methachen he conceived the idea, in con- 
nection with his son. Rev. Henry A. Hunsicker, of 
founding a boarding-school to furnish his people better 
means fjf education. This was accomplished in 1848 
by the erection, upon land which belonged to him, of 



1068 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the extensive buildings now occupied as Ursinus 
College. At the head of this school his son, Henry 
A., who was shortly after ordained a minister, wa? 
placed, together with able assistants. The supervisory 
chUrge of bishop, which he now held, had been filled 
for many years previously by his father. Rev. Henry 
Hunsicker, Sr., who died in 1836, at the advanced age 
of eighty-five years, after fifty-four years' service as 
minister. Holding it to be the right and privilege of 
women, as well as men, to be liberally educated, he 
proposed, iu 1851, in conjunction with Professor J. 
W. Sunderland, to found Montgomery Female Insti- 
tute (now Pennsylvania Female College) near by, 
which was also in due time accomplished. 

These proceedings in the cause of education, and 
other liberal views held by Mr. Hunsicker, led to 
division in the Mennonitebody of the locality, and he 
proceeded at once to organize Trinity Christian 
Church of Freeland and to build a new house of wor- 
ship, he tendering the ground for the purpose. This 
enterprise was accom])lished in 1853. Unlike the | 
society in which he had been raised, he regarded 
Sunday-schools as a necessary adjunct of the church, 
and soon had a flourishing .school connected with the 
meeting. In a missionary spirit he planted a Re- 
formed Church and school at Skippackville, which, 
like the Freeland society, has flourished, and both • 
are ministered to by his son-in-law. Rev. Joseph H. 
Hendricks. These societies differ from old-school 
Mennonitcs not only in the matters before stated, but 
in holding protracted meetings, with a view of gather- 
ing in the unconverted. 

Being of a humane and practically benevolent na- 
ture, he dispensed freely what he had to give, and 
labored long and hard to establish, through the church, 
a systematic poor fund, that should supersede the ne- 
cessity of beneficial organizations outside of its pale. 
Notwithstanding his efforts in this direction, he com- 
bated the prejudice of his late brethren in the church, 
who were opposed to secret societies, though he never 
belonged to any of them himself. He thought the 
church ought to feel a concern for the material wel- 
fare of its members, as it claims to overlook their spir- 
itual well-being. Practical religion, born of love and 
good-will to all, was pre-eminently his, and that 
which he labored to establish ; hence he was ever im- 
patient of meaningless customs and traditions founded 
on the letter, but destroying the spirit of the gospel. 
Accordingly, he was an advocate of free communion 
among evangelical sects, and set the example in the 
church to which he ministered. He continued to 
wear the plain Mennonite garb while he lived, but 
was not prepossessed in its favor, rather holding at- 
tire to be a thing of religious liberty, as he also 
thought of the form of baptism. He held, however, 
that the pouring on of water was the significant form 
of the rite, but would have every one act on his or her 
conscientious convictions in the matter. 

He was of such clear judgment and so untrammeled 



in thought that he followed the Divine word as he 
understood it. He was of a mild and generous nature, 
and yet uncompromising in what he regarded as 
vital ; so that he may be set down as one of the gen- 
uine reformers of our day. In alms-giving he was 
free to a fault. Although he differed from his old Men- 
nonite brethren in many things, he had the most ex- 
uberant charity for those who differed from him in 
their attachment to forms and dogma. 

In person he was tall and stoutly built, weighing 
over two hundred pounds, with a iate expressive of 
honesty, force and resolution ; his forehead was mas- 
sive, and his temperament sanguine-bilious, indicat- 
ing power and endurance ; his complexion was dark, 
but ruddy ; he enjoyed good health, as a consequence 
of a good constitution, vivacious spirits and temperate 
living ; he was eminently social, finding enjoyment in 
the company of young or old alike, and ever giving 
appropriate advice and counsel to all. 

From the time of settlement in Upper Providence, 
in 1816, he resided on the same farm until 1851. Sub- 
sequently he moved on a smaller property purchased 
from Wm. T. Todd in 18-16, in the lower jiart of the 
village, where he continued to reside until within three 
or four years of his death, when he and his aged part- 
ner went to live with their daughter, Mrs. Rev. J. T. 
Preston. Abraham Hunsicker died January 12, 1872, 
aged seventy-nine years. His widow still (1884) sur- 
vives at an advanced age. 



HENRY «. HUNSICKER. 

The grandfather of the subject of this biography 
was Henry Hunsicker, a Mennonite preacher, whose 
children were John, Jacob, Henry, Garrett, Abram, 
Elizabeth, Annie, Kate and Sarah. Garrett Hunsicker 
was married to Catherine Detwiler, whose children 
are Elizabeth, Henry G., Esther, Christian, Kate, 
Garrett, Mary and Abram D. 

Henry G. Hunsicker was born, February 15, 1812, 
in East Perkiomen, and enjoyed only such advantages 
as were to be found at the schools adjacent to his home, 
after which he eugageil in active labor. He was, on 
the 10th of January, 1835, married to Hannah Stauffer, 
whose birth occurred September 16, 1815. The chil- 
dren of this marriage are Mary, Catherine, Garrett S., 
Hannah (married to G. W. Pennepacker), Emanuel, 
Esther, Lizzie (wife of Horace Ashenfelter), whose 
children are Hannah, Mary, Amy, Alma and Henry H. 

Mr. Hunsicker is identified with the business in- 
terests of the county, having served for twenty years 
as director of the Montgomery National Bank, and for 
ten years as director of the Montgomery Mutual Fire 
and Storm Insurance Company. In politics he is a 
Republican, but not active as a politician. In religion 
he is a Mennonite and member of the Upper Provi- 
dence Mennonite Society. 

Horace Ashenfelter, son-in-law of Air. Hunsicker, is 
descended from John Ashenfelter, who was born June 





ABRAHAM HUNSICKER. 



UPPER PROVIDENCE TOWNSHIP. 



1069 



7, 1771, and married, March 26, 1799, Mary Spare, 
whose birth occurred January 20, 1775. Their chil- 
dren were Catherine (Mrs. George Reiff), born August 
25, 1801 ; Jonas, born November 9, 1805, married to 
Margaret Davis; Samuel, whose birth occurred 
January 8, 1808, married to Rebecca Miller; and 
John S., born December 5, 1810. The latter was mar- 
ried, November 1, 1846, to Susan Johnson. Their 
children are Henry J., William J., Abram J., John 
J., Horace, Frank J. and Katie. 



HENRY W. KRATZ. 

Mr. Kratz is of German descent, Valentine, his 



born November 9, 1809. Their children are Henry 
W., Catherine (deceased), Sarah (deceased), Andora 
and Elizabetli (deceased). The eldest, and suliject of 
this' biographical sketch, was born in Pcrkiomen 
township on the 31st of July, 1834, and at the age of 
six years removed to Trappe, in Upper Providence, 
since that date his residence. After a thorough Eng- 
lish and partial classical education, received first at 
the common schools and later at the Washington 
Hall Collegiate Institute, at Trappe, he engaged in 
teaching at the latter point and in the immediate vicin- 
ity, and for eighteen consecutive years continued h's 
professional labor, one year of this time having lit en 




^^tt^n/m ^ ^Andi^/^f'^ 



great-great-grandfather, having emigrated from the 
Fatherland and settled in Pennsylvania. The birth 
of his son, Valentine, occurred in Montgomery 
County. Among the chihlren of the latter was a son 
Isaac, who resided in Perkiomeu township, Montgom- 
ery Co., where he married Catharine Hunsicker 
and had children, — Valentine, William, Isaac, Re- 
becca (Mrs. Wm. Godshall, now deceased), Catherine 
(Mrs. Jacob Rittenhouse), Mary (Mrs. John Bean), 
Elizabeth (Mrs. Wm. Young) and Ann (Mrs. Henry 
Oiissel). Valentine was born in Pcrkiomen town- 
ship October 10, 1810, and married Mary, daughter of 
Henry Weikel, of the township of Upper Providence, 



spent at the Washington Hall Collegiate Institute. 
In 1862, Jlr. Kratz was elected justice of tlie peace 
l>y his Republican constituents, and held the office 
continuously for a period of twenty years. In 
1S6G-67 he was appointed transcribing and message 
clerk of the State Senate, and in the fall of 1881 was 
elected recorder of deeds for the county of Mont- 
gomery, remaining the incumbent of that office until 
1885. These offices were filled with ability and in- 
tegrity, characteristic of the man. Mr. Kratz has 
been and is in sympathy with e\-ery movement hav- 
, ing for its purpose the moral, educational and material 
I advancement of the county. He is president of the 



1070 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



board of directors of Ursiniis College, at Collegeville, 
director of tlie National Bank of Scliwenlvsville, 
manager and secretary of tlie Perkiomen Valley Mu- 
tual Fire and Storm Insurance Company, jiresiflenl 
of the board of managers of the Black Rock Bridge 
Company, and manager of the Perkiomeu and Read- 
ing Turnpike Company. He is a prominent repre- 
sentative of the Masonic fraternity, and member of 
Warren Lodge, No. 310, of Trappe, and of Hutchin- 
son Commandery, No. 32, of Xorristown. He is, in 
his religious associations, identified with the Reformed 
Church, and is a member of the St. Luke's Reformed 



Samuel, Joseph, Peter, Anne (Mrs. Pennypacker), 
Catherine (Mrs. Slough), Mary (Mrs. Slough) and 
Mrs. Rittenhouse. Peter Custer, the father of the 
subject of this biography, was born on the homestead, 
and later made Lower Providence township his home, 
where he remained until bis removal to the property 
now owned by his son in Upper Providence township. 
He married Rebecca, daughter of Anthony Vander- 
slice, of the latter township, who resided upon the 
farm now owned by Mr. Custer. The children of 
this marriage are Jacob, Samuel, Anthony V., 
Elizabeth (Mrs. Jacob Garges) and Nancy (Mrs. 




Church of Trappe, in which he has, for nearly a 
quarter of a century, been chorister. 

Mr. Kratz was, on the 26th of May, 1857, married 
to Miss Myra, daughter of William Bean, of Trappe. 
Their children are Mary T., Kate B. (Mrs. Horace 
Royer) and Henry Elmer, now living; and Irvin B. 
and Jane, deceased. 



ANTHONY V. CUSTER. 

Jacob Kishter (as the name was originally spelled), 
the grandfather of Anthony V. Custer, emigrated 
from Holland and settled in Montgomery County, Pa., 
having purchased a tract of land in Worcester town- 
ship, of that county. His children were Jacob, 



Christian Gross). Anthony V., of this number, was 
born July 26, 1802, on the maternal homestead, his 
present residence, where his whole life has been spen'. 
The youth of that day enjoyed but limited advan- 
tages of education and were early taught habits of 
industry and economy. Anthony V. Custer wiis no ex- 
ception to this rule, and spent many more days in culti- 
vating his father's land than with his books at school. 
The lessons of diligence and thrift learned at that 
time proved of service to him in later years as he 
fought manfully the battle of life. On the 1st of 

I December, 1829, he married Mary, daughter of 
Matthias Brumbach, of Lower Providence. Their 

I children are Louisa, deceased : Catherine, deceased 



SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP. 



1071 



(Mrs. Augustus Yoder) ; Muttliias, whose children are 
Mary Ida (Mrs. Isaac Garmer), C. Flora, Louisa S., 
Anthony W., Leora, Werna L., and Olivia M. ; Ann 
(Mrs. Elijah Brunner), whose only daughter is Eliza- 
beth ; and Anthony, deceased. Mr. Custer remained 
with his father, assisting him in his labors until 1832, 
when he inherited the farm. In 1852 he rented the 
property for a number of years, after which his son 
Mathias assumed charge, and now cultivates it. Mr. 
Custer was formerly a Whig and is now a Republican, 
but is neither active in politics nor a seeker after 
office, having been during his busy life entirely ab- 
sorbed in his own business interests. He is a niem- 



centrul distance from Norristown isaboutseven miles, 
greatest length reduced now to five and a half, and 
breadth two and a half miles, with area of four thou- 
sand and thirteen acres. While it is the smallest 
township in the county, there is probably none in the 
State so remarkably irregular in form. Its outline on 
the map justly excites the wonder of a stranger, a 
portion being a narrow belt, of only one-third of a 
mile in width and three and one -fourth miles in 
length, which, until eight years ago, extended to the 
Schuylkill. By a decree of the court, confirmed No- 
vember 11, 1876, the extreme end of that narrow strip, 
containing about one hundred and sixty acres and 




^^ /3 7-zf..c^^&^^ 



ber of Augustus Lutheran Church, at Trappe, in 
which he has been for forty years an exemplary elder. 



CHAPTER LXXIII. 

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP.' 

Springfield may be regarded as one of the south- 
eastern townships of the county, and is bounded on 
the north by Upper Dublin, west by Cheltenham, 
south by Philadelphia and west by Whitemarsh. Its 

iBy Wm. J. Buck. 



nearly three-fourths of a mile in length, was annexed 
to Whitemarsh ; hence this township no longer extends 
to the Schuylkill. This change was made for the res- 
idents, with reference to the advantages of nearer 
school and road facilities. 

The surface of Springfield is agreeably diversified 
with hill and dale, and the soil is naturally fertile, 
containing excellent limestone. Edge Hill is the 
most considerable elevation, and extends nearly 
through the centre of the township for the distance of 
about two miles, in a northeast and southwest course 
crossing the Bethlehem turnpike south of Heydricks- 
dale. Where this elevation intersects the Church 
road a fine prospect is afforded in a western and nor- 
thern direction. Church Hill begins in the north 



1072 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



corner of the township, near the Upper Dublin line, 
and after a distance of about three-fourths of a mile 
extends into Whitemarsh. The Wissahickon Creek 
flows nearly through the centre of Springfield, but 
only for half a mile, in which distance it propels a 
grist-mill. The next considerable stream is Sandy 
Run, near its northern corner, which also propels a 
mill. Two small streams flow nearly through the cen- 
tre of the township, and, like Sandy Run, are tributaries 
of the Wissahickon. These are all steady, constant 
streams. Nearly every farm possesses a spring-house, 
with excellent and unfailing water. 

Springfield is a thickly-settled township, particu- 
larly in the neighborhood of Chestnut Hill and Spring 
House turnpike. In the vicinity of Chestnut Hill are 
several fine country-seats and residences, built within 
the lai5t thirty years, owned chiefly by Philadelphians, 
and occupied during the summer. The population 
in 1790 was 446; in 1840, 695; and in 1880, 153.'). 
Owing in part to its proximity to the city, its popula- 
tion has been steadily increasing. In 1882 the num- 
ber of taxables was 352, the real estate was valued at 
$1,522,605 and the aggregate ta.xable property at 
$1,600,830. It is decidedly the wealthiest district in 
the county, the average per taxable being $4547, 
almost double that of the highest rated borough in 
the county. Licenses were granted in May, 1883, to 
five hotels, five stores, one maker of agricultural imple- 
ments and a coal-yard. The public schools are four in 
number, open ten months, with an average attend- 
ance of 103 pupils. Springfield now contains 245 
inhabitants to the square mile. In 1850 the return 
was 114 houses, 124 families and 65 farms. 

There are several public improvement in Spring- 
field. The Chestnut Hill and Spring House turnpike, 
completed in 1805, traverses it nearly two miles. The 
Germantown and Perkiomen and the Ridge pikes pass 
only a short distance through the narrow belt. The 
Wissahickon turniiike begins at Flourtown and runs 
direct to the Ridge road, a distance of two and a half 
miles, and for the greater portion of this distance is 
on the Philadelphia line. It was finished in 1855, 
and crosses the Wissahickon by a covered frame 
bridge one hundred and thirty-three feet long. The 
North Pennsylvania road crosses its entire width, 
a distance of nearly two miles, in a northwest direc- 
tion, close to the Upper Dublin line. The sta- 
tions on it are Edge Hill, Oreland and Sandy Run. 
The Plymouth Railroad extends from Conshohocken 
to Oreland, where it forms a junction with the North 
Pennsylvania road, a distance of two miles, with 
stations at Flourtown and Orelaud. It was extended 
to the latter place in 1868, and cost, with the addi- 
tional equipment, about two hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars. Both these railroads are operated by 
the Reading Railroad Company, who have leased 
them. 

On Holme's map of original surveys this township 
is marked " Gulielma Maria Penn's Manner of Spring- 



field," and according to the Penn manuscripts contained 
four thousand and ten acres. At this day it has 
nearly the same singular outline as given on that map. 
It is a tradition that Maria Penn requested that 
when it was laid out a strip should be attached to 
it leading to the Schuylkill, so that forever after- 
wards she or her successors should have the privilege, 
whenever they desired, to reach the river by their own 
land. AVe also learn, from the Penn-Physick pa- 
pers, that the survey was made by Thomas Fair- 
man, who mentioned in a bill of charges that pre- 
viously he and the proprietary, William Penn, had 
made a journey " to look at some land,'' that Wiis 
" afterwards named Springfield." This must have been 
done before Penn's return to England, in August, 1684. 
Maria Penn was the daughter of Sir William Springett, 
of Darlington, in Sussex, and was married to William 
Penn when in his twenty-eighth year. Mrs. Penn 
died in 1694, and, a few years later, he married Han- 
nah Callowhill. 

Owing to the whole of Springfield having been 
early taken up and held by the Penn family, it has 
been difficult to secure the names of the earliest 
settlers within its limits. Mention is made that one 
hundred and sixty acres of land were surveyed in the 
" Manor of Springfield," in 1690, to Thomas Fitzwatc r, 
but whether he resided on said tract is not knowi'. 
The road from Philadelphia through this township to 
the lime-kilns at Sandy Run was ordered to be 
opened in 1703, and the following year extended up 
to Gwynedd. The earliest settlement under the cir- 
cumstances could not have been made much before 
that date. In 1734 there were sixteen land-holders 
residing in the township: Harman Greathouse, 260 
acres ; John Greathouse, 100 ; Samuel Adams, 50 ; 
John Harmer, 100 ; William Nice, 75 ; Thomas 
Silance; Job Howel, 75; Thomas Hicks, 100; Chrii^- 
topher Ottinger, 85 ; George Gantz, 40 ; Allen Forster, 
100; Henry Snyder, 50; Adam Read, 50; Hugh 
Boyd, 30; Michael Cline, 12; and George Donat, 80 
acres. Nearly one-half of those names indicate a 
German origin, which at this day is decidedly the 
strongest elernent in its native population. Thomas 
Penn, son of the founder, in 1738, owned sixteen 
hundred acres here, being the balance still unsold 
of the original tract. Herman Greathouse's tract in 
1705 comprised five hundred acres. 

It is ascertained from the assessor's list for 1776 
that Springfield contained at that time 72 taxables and 
37 land-holders. Of the latter, John Nice owned 200 
acres; Wm. Hicks, 100; Christopher Rex, 100; 
Christian Donat, 110; Andrew Redheft'er, 160; John 
Ottinger, 100; Christopher Ottinger, 286; Michael 
Slatter, minister, 133 ; Henry Bisbing, 200 ; and Henry 
Dewees, 120 acres. Henry Friend had a grist-mill, 
paper-mill and ninety-three acres. The following 
occupations are mentioned : Ulrich Wagoner and 
Felix Detwiler, shoemakers ; Jacob Haricher and 
Jacob Leslie, tailors ; David Mack, smith ; Jacob 



SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP. 



1073 



Miller and John Lynn, coopers ; John Server and 
Wm. Boler, weavers ; Jacob Neff, tanner ; Abraham 
Hiderich, carpenter; and Christopher Lance, mason. 
Allen Foster was collector of taxes in 1720, and Her- 
man Greathouse in 1723. In 1767, Henry Scheetz 
was constable and Jacob Miller supervisor; Henry 
Dewees assessor, and Jacob Neff collector in 1776, 
and Bernard Bisbing supervisor in 1785. The super- 
visor's book of this township commences in 1775, and 
has been used continuously for this purpose down to 
the present time. 

From the " Genealogical Record of the Sehwenk- 
felders " we learn that Abraham Heydrick, son of 
Balthasar, married Susanna, daughter of Christopher 
Yeakle, in 1767. Their children were Sarah, Chris- 
topher, Susanna, Abraham and Maria. He died in 1826, 
aged nearly eighty-four, and his wife in 1834 aged ninety 
years. Shortly after his marriage he kept a store at 
the present Wheel-Pump Hotel. Abraham Heydrick, 
the son mentioned, married Susan, daughter of Jacob 
Neff, in 1803, and had children, — Mary Ann, Caleb, 
George N., Edward, Levi, Charles and Susanna. He 
died in 1866 and was the owner of a farm, hotel and 
other property at the foot of Chestnut Hill, so long 
known as Heydrick's Hollow, since changed to Hey- 
dricksdale, but better known as the Wheel-Pump. 
Balthasar Heydrick, born in 1750, had children, — 
George, Mary, Catharine, Abraham, Isaac, Samuel, 
Elizabeth, Ann and Susan. He was a captain in the 
army of the Revolution. He died in 1831, aged eighty- 
one years. His one-story house is still standing on the 
east side of the turnpike, in the central part of Flour- 
town, and the only log building remaining anywhere 
in this section of country. Dr. Christopher Hey- 
drick was born in Springfield in 1770, and in his 
youth studied medicine in Philadelphia with the cele- 
brated Benjamin Say, and graduated at the University 
of Pennsylvania in 1792, and for some time after was a 
physician at the hospital and also a member of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences. He removed in 1819 to 
Mercer County, Pa., where he died in 1856, aged 
nearly eighty-six years. Several members of this 
family still hold real estate in the township. Balthasar 
Heydrick, and his wife, Rosina, the ancestor.s, arrived 
from Silesia in 1734. George Heydrick is the present 
proprietor of the steam saw-mill and extensive ma- 
chine-works near the Wheel-Pump. 

The Yeakle family, now numerous here and the 
holders of considerable real estate, are the descend- 
ants of Christopher Yeakle, who arrived here in 
September, 1734, with his widowed mother, and settled 
in Cresheim, below Chestnut Hill, where he success- 
fully followed the occupation of cedar cooper. Tlie 
log house he built in 1743 and resided in, is still 
standing, and now owned by Charles Streeper. He 
married Maria Schultz in 1743, and died after the 
Revolution at Chestnut Hill, at an advanced age. 
Abraham Yeakle, his son, was born in 1752, and 
married Sarah, daughter of Christopher Wagner, in 
68 



1776. Their children were Isaac, Samuel, Jacob, 
Susanna, Maria, Christopher and Sarah. He died 
in 1841 on his farm in Springfield, now owned by 
Daniel Y'eakle, his grandson, at Heydricksdale. 
What is known as the Yeakle burying-ground is 
located about a quarter of a mile from the Philadel- 
phia line, immediately on the north side of Chestnut 
Hill. It was purchased in 1802 by Christopher 
Y'eakle and his two sons, Abraham and Christopher, 
and his son-in-law, Abraham Heydrick. for one hun- 
dred dollars. It contains about one-eighth of an 
acre and has been recently inclosed with a new stone 




RESIDENCE OF CHXtl.Si lll'llEK VKAKLE, IIUILT 1743. 

wall. It originally belonged to the Mack family, of 
Germantown, and was used as a place of interment 
some time before 1753. Here are buried members of 
the Mack, Yeakle, Heydrick, Schultz, Dowers, Ober- 
holtzer, Krieble andShuman feniiliesofthe surround- 
ing section. Tradition states that several soldiers 
who had died from wounds received at Germantown 
and from the attack made on the Americans under 
General Irvine, near by, were also consigned to burial 
here. 

Christopher Ottinger, mentioned in the list of 1734 
as holding in this township eighty-five acres of land, 
can be named among its early settlers, originally pur- 
chased by him from Herman Greathouse, in 1706. 
He resided in the lower end of Flourtowu, in a sub- 
stantial two story stone house still standing on the 
east side of the, turnpike, and now owned by Samuel 
Raney. A stone on the centre of its front bears the 
inscription " C. O. M. O., 1743,'' meaning Christopher 
and Mary Ottinger. On the list of 1776 we find the 
names of Christopher, John and William Ottinger, 
evidently of the same family. The name still exists 
here, borne by persons who hold real estate in the 
vicinity of the Wheel-Pump. 

Flourtowu is the largest village in Springfield, 
situated on the Spring House turnpike, or better 
known as the Bethlehem road, twelve miles from 
Philadelphia. The Plymouth Railroad has a station 



1074 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



here, and a turnpike leads to the Ridge road. It con- 
tains about sixty houses, four hotels, three stores, a 
large Odd-Fellows' Hall, built in 187S, two stories 
high, containing a room lor lectures and concerts, and 
also a Presbyterian Church. This village is an old 
settlement, and tradition states that the early settlers 
of Salford and Franconia came hither with their 
grain to mill, from whence origin.ited the name. A 
post office was established here before 1810, when 
Nicholas Kline was postmaster, and previous to 1827 
was moved further up, to Whitemarsh, where it re- 
mained until about 1875, when it was restored to its 
former place. AVe know by the Pennsylvania 
Archives that it was called Flourtown in 1781, and 
Scott, in his"Gazetteer"of 1795, mentions it as "a vil- 
lage containing sixteen or seventeen dwellings." 
Gordon in his " Gazetteer"' of 1832, states it to contain 
twenty houses, five taverns and two stores. The elec- 
tions of the township previous to 1847 were held in 
Whitemarsh, and since in this village. 

Owing to its distance from the city, before the in- 
troduction of railroads the inns of Flourtown became 
noted stopping-places for travelers, and deserve some 
mention here. Michael Spiegel kept a licensed house 
here in 1766 ; John Kenner, 1767 ; John Streeper and 
Philip Miller in 1773 ; Joseph Campbell, John 
Kenner, Jacob Neff, Frederick KehlhofTer and 
Christopher Mason in 1779. Jacob Netf, who was a 
collector of taxes, in 1776, kept the Wheel-Pump inn, 
at least at that date; consequently this is an old-estab- 
lished stand. Tradition states that the name was 
derived from a wheel-pump in use here during the 
Revolution and for some time thereafter. John Ken- 
ner was still in business here in 1785. Ottinger's 
tavern is mentioned here in 1772, and was on the 
present Bisbing property, near the railroad. Mason's 
stand was on the property of the late George Sechler_ 
Nicholas Kline, who was postmaster here in 1810, 
kept the sign of the " Wagon and Horses" until his 
death, about 1826. This was a noted stopping place 
for farmers. He was an extensive owner of real 
estate in Springfield and Whitemarsh, and rebuilt 
the mill on the Wissahickon, now owned by Silas 
Cleaver. He was buried in the ancient Lukens 
graveyard, of which he was made one of the five trus- 
tees in 1786. 

The Presbyterian Church is situated on the east 
side of the turnpike and near the railroad, in Flour- 
town. It is a two-story stone edifice, fifty by thirty- 
six feet in dimensions, built in 1857, and the only 
house of worship in the township. The church and 
graveyard comprise about three acres of ground. On 
the tombstones are found the names of Sliver, Lower, 
Thatcher Gilbert, Lukens, Duiigan, Yeakle, Sorber, 
Bitting, Bunting, Cressman, Katz, Garner, Murphy, 
Kline, Soladay, Robeson, Freed, Thornton. Graeft' 
Gordon, Leidig, Layer, Van Winkle, De\vee.-<, Miller, 
Willis, Watson, Shaffer, White and McNeill. Therehaa 
recently been no regular pastor of this congregation. 



To show the amount of travel which formerly passed 
through Flourtown, a list i.s given of the various 
st.iges that stopped here in 1820. A line left the 
Cross Keys tavern, 18 North Fourth Street, Phila- 
delphia, daily at eight a.m. and three p.m.; one 
started from the Old Rotterdam daily at three p.m. ; 
another from the White Swan, 106 Race Street, daily 
at the hours of nine, ten and eleven a.m., and at three, 
five and six p.m. These several lines had their termi- 
nation here. The Bethlehem stage left for the White 
Swan, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, at four a.m. 
The mail-stage for Bethlehem left Yohe's Hotel, North 
Fourth Street, on the same days and at the same 
hours. It will thus be observed that to this place 
there were at that time nine daily arrivals from the 
city, besides the two tri-weekly lines for Bethlehem. 
Allowing the capacity of each coach to be twelve, 
this shows an accommodation by these several lines in 
going and returning daily of two hundred and forty 
passengers. We may well judge what a revenue was 
derived from this source by inn-keepers, toll-collectors 
and the village smith. 

The Edge Hill Furnace is located in the extreme 
east comer of Springfield, adjoining the Cheltenham 
and Abington line. It was commenced in 1868, but 
not fully completed until 1872. It went into operation 
in January of that year, conducted by the Edge Hill 
Iron Company, who also erected here for the use of 
the workmen seventeen three-story stone dwelling- 
houses. The land attached is one hundred and twenty- 
three acres, abounding in extensive deposits of iron-ore, 
and having farm buildings upon it. It is now con- 
ducted by Joseph E. Thropp and Charles Richard- 
son, and when visited, in September, 1883, had in 
employ fifty-five hands at the furnace, and about one 
luiudred and fifty engaged in procuring and preparing 
the several materials requisite to carry it on, as ore, 
coal, limestone and marble. About one-third of the 
ore used is procured on the adjoining lands, the rest 
from elsewhere, which is so combined as to produce 
the best quality of iron. The average product had 
formerly been about two hundred and twenty-five 
tons per week, but the present energetic proprietors 
have attained to as high as three hundred and forty 
tons. Iron has been produced here that showed, on 
analysis ninety-seven per cent, of pure metal. The 
engine used has a capacity of five hundred horse- 
power, and two fly-wheels, each of which weigh fifty 
tons. These works are situated beside the North 
Pennsylvania Railroad, and at the northern end of 
Edge Hill village. From its elevated situation the 
two lofty stacks serve as conspicuous landmarks to 
the surrounding country. 

In the vicinity of Sandy Run Station a considerable 
quantity of lime is annually produced and sent 
off by railroad to other sections, especially to Phila- 
delphia, for building purposes. The limestone and 
iron-ore surface of Springfield takes up about two- 
thirds of its entire are^i. As to the latter, immense 



SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP. 



1075 



quantities have been dug during the last forty years, 
particularly in the vicinity of Flourtown, Edge Hill 
village and Five Points. Near the latter place also 
a considerable quantity of fire-clay has been procured 
for the interior linings of furnaces, which is well 
adapted to resist heat. 

ASSESSMENT OF SPRINGFIELD, 1776. 

Henry Dewees, assessor, aadJacob Neff, collector. 

William Nice, 200 acres, 3 horses, 2 cattle, 1 servant ; William Ottinger, 
2 h., 5 c. ; Jacob Nice, 5 a. ; Conrad Redheffer, 75 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; William 
Hicks, 100 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Leonard Kedlion, 1 li., 1 c. ; Christopher Res, 
100 a., 4 h., 2 c. ; Christian Donet, 110 a., 6 h., 2 c. ; Christian Friend, 
93 a., paper-mill, grist-mill, 3 h.. 3 c. ; Andrew Redheffer, Jr., 160 a., 

4 h., 3 c. ; Andrew RedheflFer, 2 h., 4 c. ; Philip Miller, inn-keeper, 
30 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Henry Marcer, 1 h., 1 c. ; John Ottinger, 100 a., 3 h., 

5 c., 75 acres in Upper Dublin ; Jacob Haricher, 5 a. ; Jost .\rt, 2 a., 1 
c. ; Conrad Mason, 1 a., 1 c. : John Frj*, 1 c. ; John Hammel, 1 c. ; 
John Kenner, inn-keeper, 16 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Ulrich Wagoner, shoe- 
maker, 4 a., 1 c. ; Andrew Hiberger, 2 c. ; David Mack, smith, 3 a., 1 
servant, 1 c. ; Abraham Waggerly, 2 a., 1 c. ; Jacob Miller, cooper, 10 a., 
1 h., 1 c. ; Adam Deem, 1 h., 1 c. ; Susanna Koous, widow, 12 a., 2 
c. ; Balser Hiderich, 10 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; John Server, weaver, 4 a., 1 c; 
Jacob Leslie, tailor ; Barnabas Francis, 4 a. ; Christopher Ottinger, 
28G a., 1 servant, 4 h., 4 c. ; Jacob Xeff, inn-keeper, 35 a and tan-yard, 
1 servant, 1 h., 1 c. ; George Nice, 1 h., 1 c. ; Frederick Kelhooper, 1 c, 
George Fulkemer, 1 c. ; Jacob Kerbach, 19 a., 1 c. ; Adam Snyder, 70 
a., 2 h., 2 c. ; William Levering, 30 a., I h., 2 c. ; Henry Koons, 5 a., 
1 c. ; Felix Detwiler, shoemaker, 10 a., 2 c. ; Adam Shisler, 4 a., 2 c. : 
Jacob Norker, laborer, 2 h., 3 c. ; William Burk, 1 c. ; Henry Bisbiug, 
200 a., 4 h., 5 c. ; Andrew Fie, 11 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Rudoldh Ebright, 2 
h., 3 c. ; Philip Peterman, 1 a., 1 c. ; Abraham Hiderich, carpenter, 
1 h., 2 c; Michael Slatter, minister, 130 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; Christopher 
Lance, mason ; Jacob Fisher, 50 a., 2 c. ; William Boler, weaver ; 
Henry Overlander, 20 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Christopher Hisler, laborer, 24 a. 
1 h., 2 c. ; George Sneering, 15 a., 1 c. ; Peter Niswander, 1 li., 2 c. ; 
Jacob StJiley, 1 h., 2 c. ; John Streeper, inn-keeper, GO a., 2 h., 1 c. ; 
John Linn, cooper, 1 c. ; Henry Dewees, ll*0 a., 1 servant, 4 h., 5 c. ; 
Johu Thoniiis Morris, Jacob Hempfer, John Shisler, Baltus Wolf, Jacob 
Bister, John Haybergor, .\dam Snyder, William Dewees, Jr. 

The Bethesda Home is situated in Springfield 
township, on the public road dividing Montgomery 
County from the northwestern limits of the city of 
Philadelphia. The premises contain about eight 
acres of land and are valued in the assessment 
books of the township at twenty-two thousand 
dollars, but are not taxed. The locality is healthful, 
and the region abounds in highly-improved farms and 
elegant suburban residences. It is near Wyndmoor 
Station, on the Philadelphia and Chestnut Hill Rail- 
road, and is convenient of access by well-kept public 
highways in all directions. 

The Bethesda Home is one among the comparatively 
few Christian charities sustained by voluntary offer- 
ings, without personal solicitation from those who 
have undertaken its management, and who have, in a 
spirit of broad humanity and an unquestioning faith in 
God, devoted themselves to the relief of the poor and 
helpless unfortunates found in all crowded communi- 
ties. The citizens of the commonwealth point with a 
sense of pride to the splendid public charities sus- 
tained by appropriations made annually by legislative 
authority, but jierhaps at no point from the Delaware 
to the Ohio will be found an institution so univereal 
in its efforts to benefit those most in need, or so tender 
in its offices of mercy and philanthropy, and at no 



place have a Christian people been more appreciative 
and responsive than those living in humble homes and 
abodes of affluence within the circle of influence of 
this home. 

In the year 1851 a lady of Quaker parentage, but 
who had somewhat departed from the simplicity and 
plainness of her ancestors, united herself with the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and through the ear- 
nest endeavors of this woman the work carried on by 
the Bethesda Home has been accomplished. A few 
years after her connection with the church, Annie 
Clements was appointed to take charge of a class con- 
nected with a missionary church, on Eleventh Street, 
in the southern part of Philadelphia. 

The subject of founding an institution or home by 
which these objects could be accomplished was con- 
stantly borne in mind by Miss Clements and prayer- 
fully considered by her. The business in which she 
was engaged was of such a nature that she was unable 
to give her personal attention to the direction of an 
institution such as she had in her mind, and she 
therefore wrote to a friend in Trenton, a devoted 
Christian lady, who, being free fnmi domestic cares, 
was consecrating all her time and talents to doing 
good as she found opportunity. After much prayer 
and deliberation, this friend consented to Miss Clem- 
ent's proposition to become a co-laborer in this good 
work. About this time an acquaintance wished to 
open a store at the corner of Eleventh and Ellsworth 
Streets, and let out the upper part of the building. 
In some respects this house was well adapted for Miss 
Clement's purposes, and though not able to carry out 
both objects in view, she felt that here was an open- 
ing by which she might accomplish one. The place 
had some inconveniences. Being a corner house, 
there was a great deal of front ; the yard was small ; 
there was no bath and only one small rf>om on the 
first floor to be used by the occupants of the house. 
It was a four-storied building, with three rooms on a 
floor, well arranged and ventilated, with high ceilings 
and many windows. Thus, in 1859, the house was 
taken, trusting in God to send both inmates and sup- 
port. 

At first all the rooms were not appropriated to the 
institution ; some were let out for a time to poor, 
respectable women; but as the family increased and 
rooms were vacated they were gradually occupied. 
Just at this time another Christian friend called on 
Miss Clement who seemed to be fitted for carrying 
out a work of faith ; and being disengaged. Miss 
Clement told her of the proposed work, and asked if 
she was willing to assist the lady previously mentioned 
in conducting the house, as her own business would 
not yet permit her to engage in the work personally. 
This sister also consented, and on the 3d of November 
they took up their abode at the home. 

During the first year donations were very few. 
Publicity had notenteredinto any of their calculations 
and the Bethesda Home was not known beyond the 



1U76 



HISTOllY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



circle of the personal acquaintances of its originators. 
Much of rtie expense of the establishment was borne 
by Miss Clement herself; but there was enough re- 
ceived from other sources to assure those who were 
laboring that the work was acceptable to God, and 
that He was pleased to have them go to Him with all 
their wants, instead of soliciting donations through 
human agency. 

In the early part of May, while on a visit of a few 
days to a friend at Chestnut Hill, a large and com- 
modious house was ofiered to Miss Clement for rent. 
The rent, six hundred dollars a year, seemed very 
high ; but the location was desirable. In a situation 
celebrated for its salubrity, a garden already planted 
with vegetables for the ensuing summer, an orchard 
and several acres of ground attached, rendered it a 
very suitable place for such a family. In a few days 
arrangements were completed, and the inmates of 
Bethesda Home prepared to move on the 1st of June. 
At that time. Miss Clement, having freed herself from 
all business engagements, took up her residence at the 
house. 

During the next ten years thegood work wenton, still 
supported by voluntary subscriptions. Within this 
time the home, a peaceful retreat for the aged and a 
shelter for the destitute and friendless orphans, cared 
for twenty old women, blessing God for a quiet Chris- 
tian home in which to end their days. Also three 
liundred and fifty found here a retiigefrom poverty and 
neglect, and were brought under careful Christian 
training. 

In 1872, Mr. Henry J. Williams, of Chestnut Hill, 
besides much previous kindness, built a large and com- 
modious house for this home, at the location jireviously 
described. It is a large, comfortable-looking stone 
house, with a fine portico in front and a carriage 
drive to the door. The parlor is a beautiful room, 
neatly and appropriately furnished. The school- 
room, on the other .side of the hall, is also pleasant, 
light and cheerful in all its appointments. The whole 
second floor is so nicely heated by the furnace that 
the children are not confined to one room, but have 
the range of bedrooms, hall and play-room, which 
conduces to their health. The floors are laid in hard 
wood, and the chambers are all furnished with single 
iron bedsteads. The third floor is fiirni.shed much 
like the second. Two comnuinicating rooms are here 
set apart for sick nurseries, so that in contagious 
diseases the patient can immediately be separated 
from the rest of the family. The beautiful views of 
the surrounding landscape, which are visible from the 
large and airy windows of this lovely home, make the 
neat lodging-rooms doubly attractive- 

At the close of the year 1872 it was found that the 
donations, including all moneys received for children's 
board, amounted to $1789.35 for current expenses, be- 
sides which the sum of one thousand dollars was 
j^iven for furnishing the new house. 

In 187.3 the children were moved, into their new 



home, and many and liberal were the offerings of 
friends, which greatly added to the comfort of the lit- 
tle ones. During this year the donations for current 
expenses and money paid for children's board 
amounted to $1888.40, which covered all expenses of 
clothing, provisions, wages, etc. All bills had been 
paid monthly during this year, as was the original in- 
tention of the founder of the home. But in times of 
great need she allowed herself to be drawn into debt, 
and this is not a matter of surprise when it is re- 
membered that she had a family of thirty or forty to 
supply daily with food and clothes, and many ad- 
ditional expenses. 

Through the kindness of friends they were enabled 
to commence the year 1874 free from all debt. 

The year 1875 opened with a balance on hand of 
$13.95, and closed with forty-five children in the in- 
stitution and a balance on hand of .$4.96. The ex- 
penditures for that year were $8241.26, and the 
receipts resulting from the two fairs held at Mrs. F.'s 
and Mr. A. C.'s, children's board and other cash re- 
ceipts amounted to $3246.22. 

The number of children had increased to ninety- 
one when the year 1879 began. Sixty-eight were 
received during the year, seven were adopted, one 
was placed in Girard College, thirteen placed in good 
homes, two died, thirty-one were taken by their 
parents, three left with their mothers who were here 
at service. Fifty-seven being thus disposed of, it left 
the number one hundred and two at the close of 1879. 
The receipts this year were $5189.41, and expen- 
ditures $5169.74, leaving a balance of $19.67. 

From the report of Bethesda Home for the year 
1883 it is found that the number of children had 
increased to one hundred and forty-one. 

The receipts of the Home for 1883 were .$9695.22, 
and expenditures $9114.75, leaving a balance in hand 
of $580.47. 

The work is distinctively a "faith" work. The 
feature which distinguishes it from others of like 
object is direct dependence upon God. It is that practical 
and entire reliance upon the promises and providence 
of God in Jesus Christ which casts o^ and aims to 
continue free from all earthly dependence, and which 
while fully recognizing and heartily responding to 
the human agencies in Divine beneficence, makes its 
requests known directly and only to God, the great 
giver of every good and perfect gift, with full assur- 
ance that "the Lord will provide." 

The property belonging to this Home consists of 
eight acres of ground and the buildings thereon 
erected, which, together with the interest of an in- 
vested sum of thirty thousand dollars, was bequeathed 
to trustees for the use of the home by the late Henry 
J. Williams. His will directs the incorporation of 
the Home, indites the charter and names the corpor- 
ators ; but directs that 

" The Trustees, to whom the lot of ground and appurtenances above 
mentioned and devised intrust to procure an act of incorporation, shall 




G. 



l-/C/^^'r;?^>^ J 



SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP. 



1077 



hold the same without applying for any such act so long ae the present 
manager of the * Home,' Mies A. W, Clement, is able and willing to 
continue the manager thereof, and they shall permit her to have the 
full, free and absolute control of the internal affairs of the same so long 
as she is willing to remain ; but upon her death, resignation or departure, 
then to apply for an act of incorporation, according to the provisions of 
the foregoing codicil to my will." 

Mr. Williams, in his endowment, only perpetuates 
his customary annual contribution to the Home. 
Owing to the decrease in the rate of interest and the 
growth of the . work (continually increasing the cost 
of its maintenance), the endowment is now less than 
twenty per cent, of the actual cost of carrying on the 
institution. 

Henry J. Williams, to whose memory the Bethesda 
Homeof Chestnut Hill is only one of many monu- 
ments in this immediate region, and whose character 
is held in reverent love, not only by the people of 
this locality, but by those of a far wider circle, be- 
cause of his many benefactions and the constant ex- 
ercise of his kindly qualities throughout a long life- 
time, was a native of Philadelphia, and was born upon 
Christmas day, 1791. His descent was through a line 
of distinguished ancestors, nearly all of whom were 
possessed ofthose elements of Christian piety which 
attained so rich and perfect a fruition in the subject 
of the present biography. His paternal grandfather 
was a Puritan, a native of Boston, Ma.ss., a man of 
wealth, of integrity, of extensive influence, a member 
of the honored band of patriots who struggled success- 
fully against the tyranny of Great Britain, and 
the chairman of that memorable assemblage at 
Faneuil Hall which resolved to prohibit the 
landing of the cargo of tea sent from the mother- 
country, which was afterwards thrown into the 
waters of the harbor. He suffered a penalty for 
his patriotism, for when the British invested Bos- 
ton all of his property was either confiscated or de- 
stroyed. The wife of this Boston patriot was also of 
Puritan stock and a relative of Benjamin Franklin. 
Their son, and the father of our subject, was General 
J. Williams, a man of most excellent character and 
the first superintendent of West Point Military Acad- 
emy. Mr. Williams' mother was the daughter of 
William Alexander, Esq., of Edinburgh, Scotland, 
a near relative of Lord Stirling. Thus in his youth 
Mr. Williams enjoyed the advantages of high social 
rank. He had naturally fine qualities of mind, and 
they were developed by a careful military and col- 
legiate education. In due time he chose the profes- 
sion of law, studied under that eminent jurist, 
Horace Binney, Esq., began practice under favorable 
conditions, secured a lucrative practice and attained 
great distinction in liis profession. 

Mr. Williams, early in his professional life, was 
united in marriage with Julia, daughter of the cele- 
brated Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, who, 
abandoning, in a great measure, the gayeties and 
pleasures of fashionable society, for which her high 
position antl great personal attractions fitted her, be- 



came the efficient helpmeet of her husband in all of 
his earnest work for the improvement of those around 
him and the advancement of the Christian religion. 

The greatest works of Mr. Williams for the better- 
ment of his fellow-man, an<l those whicli most endeared 
him to the people of this community, were performed 
during the latter part of his life. Indeed, his riper 
years were almost entirely devoted to charity and the 
church. The writer of an appreciative sketch says, 
" Though in the judgment of others Mr. Williams 
had been for years an exemplary Christian, yet he did 
not unite himself to the church until the year 1850, 
when he was received into full membership in the 
First Presbyterian Churcli of Philadelphia. . . . 

" When the Calvary Presbyterian Church was organ- 
ized Mr. Williams was one of its early members, and 
continued one of its liberal supporters for several 
years." 

It was in 1S57 that Mr. Williams, having accumu- 
lated considerable wealth and retired from active pro- 
fessional life, purchased a beautiful country-seat at 
Chestnut Hill, where he spent the last years of his life. 
Soon after his removal here he identified himself with 
the local church of the Presbyterian denomination, to 
which he transferred his membership from Calvary 
Church in 18(56, beingelectcdrulingelderon August 15. 
At this time, when in his seventy-sixth year, beseemed 
to receive a new impetus of spiritual energy, and his 
activity from then until very shortly before his deatlt 
suffered little abatement. 

The first of his organized and extensive liberalities 
was the building of an attractive and commodious 
edifice for a public library, which he fitted and fur- 
nished and supplied with several thousand volumes. 
These were made free to all classes in the community, 
especially the workingmen. This institution was 
named the Christian Hall Library. All of the current 
expenses of this establishment were defrayed by Mr. 
Williams during his life, and he left a large endow- 
ment for its use. Another monument of his liberality 
is the building occupied by the Orphan Home, known 
as the Bethesda Home of Chestnut Hill, of which a 
sketch has been given. This institution was also left 
a liberal bequest. A second building was erected by 
Mr. Williams a short time prior to his death. 

Private benefactions, after all, engrossed thegreater 
part of Mr. Williams' attention. They were most 
carefully and yet most generously besto\yed, and 
there is no means of knowing their extent, for he dis- 
tributed his alms most quietly and unostentatiously. 
He was actuated by the highest Christian principles, 
and gave not merely for the pleasure which it afforded 
him. 

Labor for the advancement of the religion which he 
held sacred was the only form of activity which 
equalled or exceeded his practical charity. In this he 
was most zealous and untiring. He organized Bible- 
classes for youths and adults, and even at fourscore 
years of age was active in conducting them, giving in- 



1078 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



structions in the form of expository lectures. Of 
these lectures he left notes, some of which, after his 
death, were deemed of such value that, edited by Dr. 
R. Owen, they were published, — " Studies on the 
Epistle to the Hebrews," Philadelphia, Grant, Faires 
& Rodgers. The little work gives a fair insight into 
Mr. Williams' mind and heart. " The author was 
not a mere copyist, . . . The whole is pervaded 
with an humble, devout and reverent spirit. 

Mr. Williams' long life, crowded with good, unsel- 
fish, faithiul, pious and pure deeds, had a happy close, 



the progenitor of the family, prior to the war of the 
Revolution, and bequeathed to his son Abraham, 
above mentioned. Here the youth of the subject of 
this biographical sketch was spent in attendance at 
the neighboring school and later at schools in Chel- 
tenham and at Chestnut Hill. He returned to the 
farm and assisted his father in its cultivation until 
his marriage, which occurred in June, 1845, to 
Amanda, daughter of Adam Heilig. Her death 
occurred in August, 1849, and he was a second time 
married, in 1868, to B. Amanda, daughter of John 




w/ 




'^ 




the last scenes being in harmony with his whole career. 
"He died full of riches, full of honors, full of years." 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



DANIEL YEAKEL. 

Daniel Yeakel, the grandson of Abraham Yeakel 
and his wife, Sarah Wagner, and the son of Isaac and 
Regina Schultz Yeakel, was born March 27, 1816, on 
the ancestral land purchased by Christopher Yeakel, 



Bush, of Lansdale, Montgomery Co., Pa. The chil- 
dren of the latter union are Emma B. and Daniel 
Dawson. On the occasion of his first marriage Mr. 
Yeakel rented the homestead farm for a period of two 
years. On the death of his father he became pos- 
sessor by inheritance of a portion of the property 
and purchased the remaining interest. His pursuits 
from that time until the present have not varied 
greatly from the accustomed routine of the agricultu- 
ralist. Mr. Yeakel has manifested, during bis active 
life, a deep interest in public matters connected with 
the township, and by his sympathy and personal 



SPKINGFIELD TOWNSHIP. 



1079 



efforts aided greatly in its growth and development. 
These eflforts have not been confined to the township, 
but have extended to the count}-. His political 
affiliations are with the Republican party, though he 
has never aspired to official position, and filled minor 
oflttces in the township only when urgently solicited 
and from a public-spirited motive. Mr. Yeakel is an 
active member of the Masonic fraternity and the 
oldest representative of Hiram Lodge, No. 81, of 
Chestnut Hill. He is also a member of St. John's 
Chapter, No. 232, and of St. John's Commandery, No. 



standing at Cresheim, Germantown township, Phila- 
delphia Co., which was his dwelling until prior 
to the Revolution, when he purchased the property 
on the summit of Chestnut Hill, and died there in 
1810, in his ninety-second year, leaving a considerable 
estate. Christopher Yeakle married, August 9, 
1743, Maria, daughter of Balthaser and Susanna 
Schultz, whose children were Susanna, born 1744 ; 
Maria, in 1747; Regina, in 1749 ; Abraham, in 1752; 
Anna, in 17.55 ; and Christopher, in 1757. Abraham 
of this number, married Sarah, daughter of Christo- 





tz<^ 




4, both of Philadelphia. His religious associations 
are with St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church, at 
Lafayette Hill, of which he is a member and with 
which he has held official relations. 



JACOB YEAKLE. 

The great progenitor of the Yeakle (Jaeckel) family 
was Christopher, who died in Silesia, Germany. Hisson, 
Christopher, when eighteen years of age, came with his 
widowed mother, Regina, to America, in 1734, and 
settled in Pennsylvania. He was apprenticed to a 
cooper, and continued during his lifetime to follow 
his trade. He built, in 1748, the log house still 



pher Wagner, on the 10th of October, 1776, and had 
children, — Isaac, born in 1777; Samuel, in 1779; Jacob, 
in 1780; Susannah, in 1782; Maria, in 1784. The 
death of Abraham Yeakle occurred on the 17th of 
June, 1841, and that of his wife, Sarah, May 28th, 
1833. Their son, Jacob, the subject of this sketch, 
was born on the 29th of September, 1780, in Spring- 
field township, Montgomery Co., where his whole life 
was spent. Very few opportunities of instruction 
were offered to the youth of that early day, a sufficient 
knowledge of the mother tongue and of arithmetic 
to transact ordinary business alone being deemed im- 
portant. Mr Yeakle was employed at the work of 



1080 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the farm owned by his father until 1806, when he 
purchased the proi:)erty, in Springfield township, now 
owned by his son, William, where he resided until his 
death. May 29, 1863. He married Gertrude, daughter 
of George Urffer, on the 1st of November, 1808, and 
had children, — Susan, born in 1809; Joseph, 1811; 
Leah, 1814; Charles, in 1817; George, 1820; and 
William, in 1821. George married Amanda, 
daughter of Peter Streeper, and has three children. 
Leah married Thomas L. Bates, and has had seven 
children. Jacob Yeakle was a successful farmer, de- 
voting his attention principally to dairying and mar- 
keting in Philadelphia. He was a Whig in politics. 



JOSEPH YEAKLE, 

The oldest son of Jacob and Gertrude Yeakle, was 
born on tlie 11th of April, 1811, in Springfield town- 
ship on the homestead, where his life has been spent. 
The winter months were devoted to school, and the re- 
mainder of the year, during boyhood, to labor on the 
farm of his father, where was found an abundance of 
work for willing hands to execute. He ultimately 
rented the farm lying adjacent to the homestead, 
which belonged to his father, and in 1848 purchased 
the property. He was, in 1836, married to Miss Eliza- 
beth, daughter of John Huston, whose birth occurred 
April 1, 1813. Their children were Huston, born in 




^W^^^^^ 



and although interested in all that pertained to the 
good of the township of his residence, did not accept 
office, having always business matters of impor- 
tance to occupy his attention. He was a man of 
marked integrity, of whom it might be said with 
truth that '.' his word was as good as his bond." His 
opinion was much respected in questions of weight, 
his services often being desired in the settlement of 
estates and in the capacity of executor. In religion 
he adhered to the Schwenkfelder faith, which was 
that of his ancestors, and worshiped with the meeting 
in Towamencin township. 



1835; James, in 1837; Emily (Mrs. James Nash) 
1839 ; Elenora (deceased), 1842 ; Daniel W. (deceased), 
1844; Jacob, 1847; Elvie (Mrs. Cleaver Supplee), 
1850. Mrs. Yeakle died in 1852, and Mr. Yeakle was 
a second time married, in 1854, to Miss Mary Huston, 
whose death occurred in 1877. Their children are 
John H., born in 1853 (deceased), and Thomas C, 
whose birth occured in 1855. Mr. Yeakle continued 
farming until 1870, when, desiring to be relieved from 
the hard labor which had been his portion from 
youth, he retired and made Flourtown, Montgomery 
Co., his home. He has been a firm adherent of the 



SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP. 



1081 



Republican party since its organization, and although 
not an office-seeker, holds the appointment of post- 
master in the village. He has been since 1881, asso- 
ciated with his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Daniel W. 
Yeakle, in the management of a store at Flourtown. 
In religion he is a supporter of the Presbyterian 
Church, of the latter place, though not identified as 
one of its members. 



CHARLES YEAKLE, 

The second son of Jacob and Gertrude Yeakle, was 
born July 7, 1817, on the homestead, now owned by 
his brother, William. Here his youth, passed ivi.h 



gomery Co., whose only child, Levi, died in February, 
1861. Charles Yeakle has devoted his life to the em- 
ployments of a farmer and the extensive mining of 
iron-ore. While successful in these branches of in- 
dustry, he has found neither time nor inclination for 
other pursuits. He is a Republican in politics, having 
been formally allied to the Old Line Whig party. 
Though formerly the incumbentof oneor more minor 
offices, he is not ambitious for political honors. His 
services have been sought on frequent occasions in 
the capacity of guardian and trustee, which appoint- 
ments have been, with rare exceptions, declined. Mr. 
Yeakle now worships with the Presbyterian Church, 
though reared in the faith of the Schwenkfelders. 




lVcv^\v'^ CV>^iC^>vX\^o, 



his parents, w.os varied by the enjoyment of advan- 
tages of education, in some .slight degree superior to 
those ordinarily obtained, at Flourtowu, Whitemarsh, 
and at the Hicks school, at Springfield. After a 
period devoted to labor on the home-farm he, in con- 
nection with his brother, William, cultivated the land 
on shares, from 1843 until 1849, when he removed to 
his present home, then owned by his father. This he 
occupied as a tenant until 1868, when it became liis 
by inheritance. Mr. Yeakle was married, on the 16th 
of March, 1843, to Sarah, daughter of Michael and Bar- 
bara Urffer Neus-s, of Upper Hanover township, Mont- 



WILLIA.M YEAKLE, 

The youngest son of Jacob and Gertrude Yeakle, 
was born on the 7th of November, 1821, in Springfield 
township, where he has since remained, and is now 
one of its most influential citizens. His educational 
opportunities were not superior to those of his 
brothers, being confined to a few months of instruction, 
chiefly during the winter. He was reared from youth 
to habits of industry, and at an early age became 
useful to his father in his farm employments. He 
later rented the homestead until the death of the 
latter, when a portion came to him as his patrimonj', 



1082 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the remainder being secured l)yinircha.se. On this place 
he still resides, and is, as t'ormerly, actively engaged in 
the various avocations pertaining to a I'armer's life. 
Mr. Yeakle was married, on the 27th of December, 
1849, to Mary, daughter of Jacob Wentz, whose birth 
occurred September 24, 1826. Their children are 
Atwood, born 1850; Gertrude, 1852; Ambrose, 1854; 
and John, 1857. Mr. Yeakle is a member of the board 
of directors of the Montgomery National Bank, of 
Norristown. A Republican in his political views, he 
is not active in the field of politics, and finds little 
leisure for pursuits aside from his life as an agricul- 
turalist. Mr. Yeakle is an attendant upnutheser- 



the riots, and in four hours were marching with 
forty-seven men and their big six-pound cannon. They 
marched direct to the Girard Bank, and from thence 
to the Arsenal, where now stands John Wanamaker's 
store. In 1846 the Mexican war broke out, and George 
Lower, with his brother Henry, went to Philadelphia 
and joined Captain E. K. Scott's company of Cad- 
walader Grays, which, when the First Regiment was 
formed, became H Company, went to Mexico 
and participated in the taking of the city of Vera 
Cruz and the Castle of San Juan Del Ulioa, which 
capitulated on the 29th of March, 1847. The First 
Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, Company H 




^.00/77^ 



/^^£mA^ 



vices of the Lutheran Church, 
is a member. 



ot which Mrs. Y'eakle 



GEORGE LOWER. 
George Lower was born January 30, 1823, on a 
twenty-acre farm in Springfield township, Montgomery 
Co., Pa. His father, Joseph, died at the age of ninety, 
and his mother, Ann, at seventy-six years of age. At 
the age of nineteen, with other young men of the 
neighborhood, George Lower raised a military com- 
pany, of which he was made one of the lieutenants; 
they became so perfect in drill that they would go 
through the manual by the tap of the drum. In 1844 
they received orders to go to the city to help suppress 



being one of the companies, was commanded by Col- 
one! Francis M. Wynkoop. Mr. Lower participated in 
all the important engagements of the war, including 
Cerro Gordo. After peace had been concluded he 
returned to Philadelphia, where he arrived in July, 
1848, and was mustered out and discharged. He 
then returned to Springfield township, and in the fall 
of that year was elected county auditor, and in 1854 
was elected recorder of deeds, and whilst in office 
removed from the old buildings to the new offices in 
the new court-house, and recorded the first deed. 
After going out of office he went to Flourtown, in 
Springfield township. In the spring of 1858 he was 
elected a justice of the peace and has served almost 
continually since. 



SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP. 



1083 



ENOCH SHOEMAKER. 

Enoch Shoemaker, who for more than a half-cen- 
tury has been a resident of Springfield township, is a 
descendant of George Shoemaker, who (with one or 
two others) came from Wales to Pennsylvania on 
special invitation from William Pcnu, lauding in 
1685 at Chester, where he afterwards married Sarah, 
a daughter of Richard Waylen, who was a preacher 
of the Society of Friends. Nothing of the subsequent 
life of George Shoemaker has been ascertained. A 
son, or grandson, of his was Jacob Shoemaker, who, 
with his wife, Margaret, were residents of White- 
marsh township, and parents of the followins-named 



ary 17, 1816. His wife was Hannah Kenderdine, of 
Horsham. Their children were Agnes, born Septem- 
ber 23, 1765; Margaret, born September 8, 1767 ; Dor- 
othy, born July 25, 1769; Thomas, born August 6, 
1771; Rachet, born December 18, 1773; Mary, born 
July 19, 1775. The daughters all lived unmarried, 
three of them reaching an age exceeding eighty years. 
The only son, Thomas, became owner of his father's 
farm in Whitpain. His wife wiis Jane, daughter of 
David Supplee, who lived in Norriton township, on 
the farm now owned by Andrew F. Hiltner, of Nor- 
ristown. 
The children of Thomas and Jane (Supplee) Shoe- 




^xeofq/ ^i^^^^f^/2/z/Zeyr 



children: Matthias and Jonathan (twins), born 14th 
of Twelfth Month, 1736; Barbary, born 30th of Sixth 
Month, 1738 ; Jonathan (second of the name), born 
16th of Twelfth Month, 1789; Isaac, born 16th of 
Eleventh Month, 1741; Hannah, born 10th of Ninth 
Month, 1743 ; Elisabeth, born 30th of Eleventh Month, 
1745; Sarah, born 3d of Second Month, 1748 ; David, 
born 30th of First Month, 1753. 

The first-named of these children, Matthias Shoe- 
maker, was grandfather of Enoch, the immediate 
subject of this biographical notice. He lived in 
Whitpain township on a farm which he purchased in 
1777, and which is now owned by his grandson, 
Charles K. Shoemaker. On that farm he died Janu- 



maker, were Enoch (the subject of this mem(>ir\ 
born September 25, 1804 ; Job, born in 1805, and died 
in his twenty-second year; David, Ijorn in 1806 (father 
of John K. Shoemaker, of Philadelphia) ; Allen, born 
in 1808, and now living in Lewisburg, Pa. ; Matthias, 
born Februarv 17, 1810 (now of Philadelphia) ; Han- 
nah (died in infancy) ; Jesse (died in Canada) ; 
and Charles K., now living on the Shoemaker home- 
stead in Whitpain township. 

Enoch, eldest son of Thomas and Jane Shoemaker, 
was married, March 8, 1832, to Rachel Mitchel, daugh- 
ter of Jacob and Sarah (Hallowell) Mitchel, whose 
home was in Springfield township, on the homestead 
farm, now owned and occu])ied by Enoch Shoemaker. 



]084 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Sarah, the wife of Jacob Mitchel, was a descendant of 
Edward Farmer, the first settler in Whitemarsh. Ja- 
cob Mitchell was born in Whitemarsh, of parents 
who came there from Germany. His father was a 
leading man in that township and a prominent mem- 
ber of St. Peter's Lutheran Church, at Barren Hill. 
The children of Jacob and Sarah Mitchel were 
Elizabeth, born in 1791 , married James Pierce, of Plym- 
outh township, and died in 1873; Mary, born in 
1793, married Andrew Fisher, of Chestnut Hill, and 
died in 1873 ; Sarah, born in 1795, married Frederick 
Klair, of Gwynedd, and died in 1866 ; Abigail, born 
in 1798, married William Cowden, of Plymouth, 
and died in August, 1861 ; John, born in 18)1, lived 
in Springfield, and died in 1853 ; Ann, born in 1804, 
now widow of Valentine Keely, of Roxborough ; 
Rachel, born September 19, 1806, now wife of Enoch 
Shoemaker ; Hannah, born in 1809, married Phineas 
Michener, of Plymouth township, and died in 1867. 

Enoch and Rachel (Mitchel) Shoemaker have 
been the parents of the following-named children : 
Samuel, born August 8, 1833, died in infancy ; Charles, 
born July 8, 1836, now living in Whitpain township; 
Hannah, born May 3, 1839, now Mrs. John H. Mann, 
of Horsham; Sallie J., born July 25, 1843, attended 
a select school taught by Enoch H. Supplee, of Phila- 
delphia; Mary Amanda, born March 26, 184'J, died 
in the fiftn year of her age. 

Charles, second son of Enoch Shoemaker, attended 
the common schools, also the school of G. D. Wolfe, 
at Norristown, in the fall and winter of 1856. He was 
married to Mary S., daughter of Joseph P. Conard, of 
Whitpain township, December 24, 18C3. They have 
been the parents of children as follows : Joseph Con- 
ard, Enoch (died in infancy), Ella, Rebecca J., Rachel, 
Annie C, Mary K., Charles and Frank. 

Hannah Shoemaker, daughter of Enoch and Rachel, 
attended the Adelphia Institute, at Norristown, dur- 
ing the winter and spring of 1857. She was mar- 
ried, March 13, 1862, to John H. Mann, of Hor- 
sham. Mr. Mann is a descendent of an ancestor 
who came to America in 1733, and settled in Bucks 
County. In 1748 he moved to a farm of one hundred 
and sixty-four acres, which he had taken up in Hors- 
ham township. Samuel Mann, grandfather of John 
H., was married, in 1777, to Margaret Keith, daughter 
of William Keith, of Makefleld, Bucks Co., at whose 
house General Washington had his headquarters 
when he marched against the Hessians at Trenton, on 
the night of December 25, 1776. 

The children of John H. and Hannah (Shoemaker) 
Mann have been Charles S., now a student in the 
State Normal School, at West Chester; W. Henry; 
Albert H. ; Rachel, deceased ; Enoch, died in in- 
fancy ; Sallie L. ; Walter; and Ann Cornelia. Mrs. 
Mann is a member of Pufl's Lutheran Church, in Up- 
per Dublin. 

Mr. Shoemaker, the subject of this memoir, received 
in his youth only such education as was afforded by 



the common country schools of that time. He was 
apprenticed to Morgan Morgan, in Gwynedd township, 
to learn the blacksmith's trade, at which he afterwards 
worked about one year with Andrew P^isher, at Chest- 
nut Hill, soon after which he left the business and 
returned to his father's farm in Whitpain, where 
he remained until his marriage. He then settled in 
Springfield township on his father-in-law's farm, 
which he rented from year to year for sixteen years, 
and then purchased. He has now lived on the place 
for fifty-three years. For the fii'st thirty-two years 
after his marriage he lived in the old farm-house, then 
removed to the new house, which has now been his 
residence for twenty-one years. Mr. Shoemaker was 
by birthright a Friend. Mrs. Shoemaker is a member 
of St. Peter's Lutheran Church at Barren Hill. Their 
daughter, Sallie J., is a member of the Manatawny 
Baptist Church. 

On the 8th of March, 1882, the "golden wedding" 
festival of Enoch and Rachel Shoemaker was cele- 
brated at their house by eighty-four persons, nearly 
all of whom were members of the family. The Rev. 
William Smith, of the Cold Point Baptist Church, 
and the Rev. Charles T. Pritchard, of St. Peter's 
Lutheran Church, were present and conducted the 
religious exercises, which were preceded and followed 
by vocal and instrumental music. The presents were 
numerous and valuable. The family history was read 
by Charles S. Mann, grandson of the venerable couple. 
The ceremonies and festivities were continued during 
the entire day, and the occasion was one which will 
be long remembered by those who participated in it. 



CHAPTER LXXIV. 

TOWAMENCIN TOWNSHIP.' 

ToWAMENCiN - township is one of the central town- 
ships of the county, bounded on the northeast by 
Hatfield, south by Worcester, southeast by Gwynedd, 
southwest by Perkiomen and west by Lower Salford. 
Its greatest length is four and a half miles, breadth 
nearly three, with an area of about six thousand 
acres. The surface is slightly rolling, and the soil a 
red shale. It is watered by the Skippack and Towa- 
mencin Creeks. The former has a course of nearly 
three miles, but furnishes no valuable water-power. 
The latter is a branch of the Skippack, and lies al- 
most wholly within the township, and in a course of 
six miles propels two grist-mills. These streams also 
receive several tributaries within this territory, all of 



1 By Wm. .1. Buck. 

2Tlie name of this township is spelled both Towanienciu and Towamen- 
siug. Though there is good reason for thinking that Towaniensing waa 
the original spelling, we have adopted Towaraenciu because it is so spell- 
ed in official proceedings at Norristown, and has been for many years. 



TOWAMENCIN TOWNSHIP. 



1085 



which go to help the volume of the Skippack, a con- 
fluent of the Perkiomen. 

The only material public improvement is the Spring 
House and Sumneytown turnpike, finished in 1848, 
which crosses the township for a distance of three 
miles near its centre. According to the census of 
1800, it contained 473 inhabitants ; in 1840, 763 ; and 
in 1880, 1282. Although its progress has not been 
rapid, yet every decade has shown an increase. The 
real estate in 1882 for taxable purposes was valued at 
$847,735, and including the personal, $929,235. The 
taxables were 313, and the aggregate per head is $2968, 
making it in point of n ealth the tenth township in the 
county, and almost the equal of Gwynedd. In 1883 we 
find here two hotels, one hardware, one boot and shoe, 
one general store and three dealers in flour and feed. It 
contains six public schools, open six months, with an 
average attendance of 233 scholars ; in 1856 five 
schools werfe open four months, with an average of 
142 pupils. The census of 1830 gives 144 houses, 175 
families and 132 farms. It contains five churches, 
belonging, respectively, to the Mennonites, Dunkards, 
Lutheran, Reformed, Schwenkfelders and Methodists. 
Towamencin is a name of Indian origin, and no 
doubt was taken from the stream bearing it. In 
March, 1728, the territory was formed into a town- 
ship, and at the request of the petitioners called 
Towamencin. A draft thereof in the records states 
its area to be "about five thousand five hundred 
acres." Although its boundaries have not since 
been changed, yet, like all other early surveys, its 
area is now made somewhat more, no doubt in part 
brought about by a closer or more exact measurement 
through the increased value of lands. A list of the 
land-holders and tenants of this township was pre- 
pared in 1734, which we now propose to give here in 
lull, being thirty-two in number, which necessarily 
must contain some of its earliest settlers, of whom, to 
a limited extent, a further account will be given: 
Joseph Morgan, 200 acres; James Wall, 100; John 
Morgan, 200; Daniel Morgan, 200; Daniel Williams, 
200 ; John Edwards, 250 ; Joseph Lukens, 200 ; Jacob 
Hill, 100; Hugh Evans, 180; Cadwallader Evans, 
100 ; Christian Weber, 50 ; Nicholas Lesher, 150 ; Paul 
Hendricks, 100 ; Jacob Fry, 200 ; Peter Weber, 150 ; 
Peter Tyson, 100 ; Christian Brinaman, 150 ; Law- 
rence Hendricks, 150 ; Garret Schragcr, 100 ; Leonard 
Hendricks, 150; Henry Hendricks, 123; Herman 
Gotschalk, 100; John Gotschalk, 120; Gotschalk 
Gotschalk, 120; Abraham Lukens, 200; Francis Grif- 
fith, 100 ; William Nash, 50 ; Henry Fry, 50 ; Felty 
Consenhiser, 23 ; Peter Wentz ; William Tennis, 25 ; 
Jellis Jellis, 22 acres. 

It is apparent, in examining the above list, that 
many of the early settlers came hither after a brief 
residence in or around Germantown. As their 
children grew up and the country became more 
improved they moved to where cheaper lands 
abounded, though at the expense of greater toil. 



The first land probably taken up in Towamencin 
was a grant of one thousand acres from Penn's com- 
missioners of property to Benjamin Furley, June 8, 
1703. This was purchased nine days later from Fur- 
ley's attorneys by Abraham Tennis and Jan Lucken, 
who, in 1709, divided it, each taking five hundred 
acres. This tract embraced the northern part of the 
township and extended to the present Skippack road, 
and perhaps as far down as Kulpsville. Here they 
settled and made the first improvements, and even to 
this day the descendants of John Lucken or Lukens 
retain a portion of the ancestral tract. Henry Fry 
purchased twelve hundred and fifty acres on the 
Towamencin Creek from Benjamin Fairman, Decem- 
ber 10, 1724, on which he also was the first settler. 
The Tennis family, it appears, for awhile flourished 
here. On the list of 1734 we find only the name of 
William Tennis with 25 acres, but in 1776, Samuel 
Tennis with 192 acres, and William and Israel Tennis. 
They possessed an old burial-place in the northeast 
part of the township, though the name has now be- 
come extinct in this section. Christian Weber made 
his purchase in 1728, and very likely then made his 
residence here. Wilhelm, Heinrich, Lorentz and 
Gerhart Hendricks resided at Germantown before 
1700. William Hendricks and his sons, Henry and 
Lawrence, were naturalized in 1709, to hold and en- 
joy lands. Among the descendants of those in the 
list of 1734, the Hendricks and the Gotschalks are 
still numerous, and the names of Lukens, Wentz, 
Fry and Edwards are still here. The last is the 
only surviving one of those of English or AVelsh 
origin, who then constituted over one-third of the 
total number. William Nash, in May, 1747, was a 
collector of taxes in Towamencin. 

Jan Lucken came from Holland in the fall of 1688 
and shortly afterwards settled at Germantown. Ac- 
cording to his Bible record, he had seven sons and 
four daughters. Elias was born in 1686 ; William, 
1687; John, 1691; Peter, 1696; Mathias, 1700; 
Abraham, 1703 ; and Joseph, in 1705. Jan Lucken 
made his will October 9, 1741, leaving to his son 
Abraham three hundred acres, to be taken off the 
southeast side of his tract, and the balance he di- 
rected to be sold. Abraham made his will March 31, 
1776, by which it appears he had nine children, — 
John, Mathias, William, Abraham, Joseph, Job, 
Margaret, Jonathan and Enos. His executors were 
Elizabeth, his second wife, and sons John and 
Mathias. The homestead, of two hundred acres, 
situated near the present Union or Brick Church, 
was sold out of the family. In the assessment of 
Towamencin for 1776 we find Abraham Lukens taxed 
for 215 acres ; Joseph Lukens, 98 ; John Lukens, 
son of Abraham, 115 acres ; Peter Lukens, 87 acres ; 
and John Lukens, 109 acres. John Lukens, son of 
Abraham, continued to reside on his homestead until 
his death, and his son George became its owner in 
1805, and retained possession for about forty-four 



1086 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



years. The Lukens family here, like their kindred 
in Horsham, apjiear to have been noted for longev- 
ity, as well as for being substantial land-holders. 

Heinrich Frey or Fry, a native of Altheim, in Al- 
sace, it is stated, came to Pennsylvania before the arri- 
val of William Penn and settled near Roxborough. 
In 1692 he wa.smarried, at Germantown, to Catharine, 
daughter of Wigart Levering. They had nine chil- 
dren, of whom six were sons. He purch:ised, as has 
been mentioned, twelve hundred and fifty acres on 
Towamencin Creek in 1724. It is a family tradition 
that two of his sons walked up from the Wissahickon, 
a distance of eighteen or twenty miles, on Monday 
mornings, bringing their provisions along with them 
for the week, for the purpose of making a clearing 
and erecting a house, which they completed by the fol- 
lowing spring. A few Indians, who appeared friendly, 
were still lingering here, having a couple of wigwams 
on the banks of the stream. The chief, who visited the 
scene of their labors, observed them eating bread, when 
they gave him a piece, which he ate and pronounced 
good. On the following week they brought him an 
extra loaf, at which he was greatly delighted, and in 
return the following day brought them a saddle of 
venison. The eldest of these brothers was Jacob, 
who had two sons and two daughters, whereof Daitiel 
Fry is still living on the homestead at the good old 
age of ninety-four years, and yet very active. The 
family possess an ancient burial-ground in the town- 
ship, which is now in a dilapidated condition. In the 
assessment of 1776 we find, as in 1731, the name of 
Jacob Fry with two hundred acres. The late Jacob 
Fry, of the Trappe, member of Congress and auditor- 
general of Pennsylvania, is represented as a descend- 
ant of this family. 

Christian Weber and wife, Appolonia, arrived in 
Philadelphia in 1727, and the following year jjur- 
chased a farm on the west side of the present turn- 
pike, adjoining Gwynedd line. He built a stone house 
here in 1737, which is still standing. His death oc- 
curred in 1778, at the age of eighty-two years. He 
had sons, — Jacob, Benjamin, Nicholas and Christian. 
.Jacob Weber had three sons, — Abraham, Benjamin 
and Isaac. Christian Weber, Jr., was born in 1713 
and married Elizabeth Wiedner in 1765, and kept 
an inn half a mile below Kulpsville, on the west side 
of the turnpike, now the residence of William H. 
Anders. His wife died in 1805, after which he mar- 
ried the widow of the Rev. Jacob Van Buskirk. He 
was a captain in the Revolution, and, it is said, re- 
cruited one hundred men for the service. Governor 
Mifflin appointed him a justice of the peace, and he also 
served in the beginning of this century as one of the 
county commissioners. He had two sous, — John and 
Jesse, — who both became prominent men. The 
former was born in 1768, became a miller, and in 
1807 was elected to the Assembly, of which he 
served twice as Speaker. He married Elizabeth, 
daughter of Jacob and Catharine Reiff, and had five 



children. His death and also his father's occurred in 
1815. Jesse Weber was captain of the Montgomery 
Union Troop of Horse, to which post he was elected 
September 28, 1807, and afterwards, with his company, 
went into the service at Camp Dupont during the 
late war with England. He was also elected from 
this county to the Assembly in 1844 and the follow- 
ing year. We find rated in Towamencin for 1776, 
Christian Weber, Sr., for fifty-two acres ; Christian 
Weber, Jr., one hundred ; and Benjamin Weber, 
sixty-four acres. 

Caspar Kriebel and his wife, Susanna, arrived in 
Pennsylvania in 1734, and settled in the southern 
corner of the township, on the place now owned by 
his descendant, Abraham H. Kriebel. His chil- 
dren were George, Abraham and Susanna. He 
died February 16, 1771. His son, Abra- 
ham Kriebel, was born in 1736, and married, in 
1762, a daughter of George Shultz. He died in 1801 
and hi.s widow in 1820. The farm on which he lived 
and died, at the Schwenkfelder Meeting-house, he 
inherited. Melchior Kriebel and his wife, Anna, the 
daughter of George Dresher, also came in 1734. He 
died February 14, 1790, aged eighty years. His chil- 
dren were David, Susanna, Melchior and Rosina. In 
1776 we find Abraham Kriebel rated one hundred and 
eighty-nine acres. 

Susanna Weigner, widow, whose maiden-name was 
Seipt, arrived at the same time with her children, 
— Abraham, George and Rosina. Abraham Weigner 
married Susan, daughter of Abraham Yeakel, May 
31, 1750. Their children were Maria, Sarah, Rosina, 
Susanna, Abraham and John. He died March 13, 
1781, aged sixty-two years. 

Abraham Yeakle and wife, Maria, arrived in 1734 and 
died January 12, 1762. His children were Balthasar 
(born in 1736), Hans, Susanna, Rosina and Elizabeth. 
Balthasar Yeakle married Rosina, widow of Christo- 
pher Reinwait and daughter -of David Heebner, Oc- 
tober 7, 1760. His children were Esther, Maria, 
Catharine and Abraham. He had in 1776 one hun- 
dred and fifty acres of land. He died April 18, 1789. 
Hans or John Yeakle. who resided in Towamencin, 
was also the son of Abraham ; married Anna, daughter 
of Christopher Weigner, in 1762. Their children 
were Maria, Regina, Christopher, Joseph, Magdalena, 
Jacob, Christian, Anna, Abraham and John. He 
died in 1801, aged sixty-two years, and his widow in 
1822, nearly eighty. He was rated in 1776 with one 
hundred and fifteen acres. Balthasar Anders and his 
wife, Anna HofTrichter, came in 1734 with the others. 
He had three children, — George, Anna and Abraham. 
He was a shoemaker by occupation and died in 1754, 
aged fifty-six years. His widow survived until 1784, 
having attained nearly eighty-four years. George 
Anders was rated in 1776 for one hundred and fifty 
acres and as having a family of seven children. 

Yellis Cassel, who, in the list of 1776, is rated for 
eighty-two acres, was the great-grandfather of Abra- 



TOWAMENCIN TOWiNSHIP. 



1087 



ham H. Cassel, the noted antiquarian of Lower Sal- 
ford, who was born in this township September 21, 
1820, as was also his fatiier, Yellis, and grandfether, 
Hupert Cassel. Yellis and Hupert Cassel were land- 
holdere in Perkiomen township iu 1734. The former 
arrived about 1715, and the latter in 1727. Johannes 
Cassel, who settled in Gerraantown in 1686, it ia sup- 
posed was uncle of the first Hupert. Frederick 
Wampole came from Germany in 1744, and purchased 
from Abraham Lukens one hundred and lift)' acres, 
on which he resided, and was witness thereon to 
interesting scenes connected with the Revolution. 
Among the township ofiicers of the past, we find Jo- 
seph Smith constable, in 1767; Frederick Wampole, 
supervisor, 1773 ; John Luken, constable, 1774; and 
Garret Gotshalk, assessor, and Owen Hughes, collec- 
tor, in 1776. 

The road from the present Spring House to Marlbor- 
ough townsMp was laid out and confirmed in June, 1735, 
and, in consequence, was for a long time afterwards 
called the North Wales road, and as it became ex- 
tended further nortliwards, became known also as the 
Maxatawny road. In 1829 a charter was granted to 
turnpike this road up to Snraneytown, and though 
great ctibrts were used to secure sutficient stock along 
its route to complete it, they failed until 1848. This 
was a great improvement over the old route, not only 
in being much straighter, but in the reduction of 
grade. The Forty-Foot road, which extends through 
the whole length of the township was laid out several 
years before the Revolution. It was over this high- 
way that the army marched from Skippack to their 
encampment. 

Through the success of continued researches, the 
writer has ascertained that the occurrences that trans- 
pired in this small township during the Revolution are 
unusually interesting, and for which here Ijut a very 
brief space can be given. The battle of Germantowu 
was fought on the morning of October 4, 1777, and re- 
sulted disastrously to the American cause, when Wash- 
ington immediately returned with the main body of the 
army up the Skippack road, beyond the Perkiomen, 
in the vicinity of the present Schwenksville, where 
they remained until the afternoon of the 8th, when 
he arrived and established his camj) nearly a mile 
northwest of Kulpsville, near the Lower Salford line. 
The ofiicers wounded in the battle were brought to a 
farm-house on the Forty-Foot road, about a mile and 
a quarter southwest of the Mennonite Meeting-house, 
General Nash, who had been wounded in the thigh 
by a cannon-ball which hud killed his horse, we know 
<Tom an eye-witness, was carried up hither on a litter 
made of poles. Washington may have come here on 
purpose to attend the funeral on the following day, for 
which he issued his orders that he should be interred 
at ten o'clock, and that " all officers whose circum- 
stances will admit of it will attend and pay this respect 
to a brave man, who died in defense of his country." 

Washington made his headquarters at the house of 



Frederick Wampole, whom we have mentioned as 
being super\-isor, and who in 1773 was rated for two 
hundred and twenty acres of land, one servant and 
four horses. The house was about half a mile north 
of the meeting-house. It belonged to J. W. Wampole, 
Escj., as late as 1856 or the following year. The pres- 
ent owner is Jacob Detweiler, who took down the old 
house in 1881 and built a new one in its place. In his 
letter to Congress, dat«d at Peter Wentz's, in Wor- 
cester township, four miles distant on the Skippack 
road, Washington says : " We moved this morning 
from the encampment at which we had been for six 
or seven days past, and are just arrived at the grounds 
we occupied before the action of the 4th. Our motive 
in coming here is to direct the enemie's attention from 
the fort." The Rev. Jacob Duche, of Philadelphia, 
through the defeat at Germantown, was induced to 
write a letter, on the 8th, to Washington, desiring him 
now to abandon the cause and stop the further effusion 
of blood, and at the head of the army demand from 
Congress that they make peace. This letter was 
delivered to him here on the 15th by a female whom 
he had induced to deliver it, an undertaking which 
certainly no sane man of his own free will would have 
risked. 

While the camp was here a court of inquiry was 
ordered and held respecting the conduct of General 
Wayne at Paoli, of which Lord Stirling was president. 
John Farndon, a private of Colonel Hartley's regi- 
ment, was sentenced, September 2-5th, to suffer death for 
desertion to the enemy, and was executed here at noon 
of the 9th, immediately after the funeral, thus adding 
additional solemnity to the day, traditions respecting 
which are still extant in the old families of the neigh- 
borhood. The place of execution, it is said, was on 
the Lower Salford line, about a quarter ot a mile 
northeast of where the turnpike crosses the Skip- 
pack Creek, the premises being now owned by 
J. Wampole. Major John White, a resident of Phila- 
delphia and an aid of General Sullivan, was shot 
dead by a British soldier from a cellar-window in the 
attempt to fire Chew's house. Lieutenant Mathew 
Smith, a native of Middlesex County, Va., in the 
hazardous effort to carry a flag to demand a formal 
and immediate surrender was killed by a ball within 
musket-shot of the building. Concerning Colonel 
Boyd, we have so far failed to secure any other infor- 
mation than that he and the officers were buried 
beside each other in the Mennonite graveyard, oppo- 
site the camp, and their names even John F. Watson, 
the annalist, could not give, though on the monu- 
ment committee. The chief authority that Washing- 
ton made his headquarters at the house of Frederick 
Wampole rests in the letter of Colonel Henry Laurens 
to his father, president of Congress, dated at " Head- 
quarters, Wampole's, October 15, 1777," who was aid- 
de-camp and private secretary to the commander-in- 
chief during the whole of this period. 

Kulpsville is the only village of this agricultural 



1088 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



township, and outside of it there is little produced 
in the way of manufactures. It is situated on the 
Sumneytown and Spring House turnpike, near the 
centre of the district, ten miles from tlie former and 
seven from the latter place. Its situation is high, and 
it can be seen for several miles in coming from either 
direction on the turnpike. It contains at present 
about fifty houses, two hotels, one store, several car- 
riage manufactories, besides various mechanic shops. 
A three-story brick hall, built in 1856, and surmounted 
with a steeple and clock, is a conspicuous mark to the 
surrounding country. The first story is occupied by 
a manufacturing establishment, and several of its 
upper rooms are used as lodges by the Odd-Fellows 
and the Order of American Mechanics, and the 
hall is used for worship, lectures, exhibitions and 
literary exercises. The Methodist Episcopal Church, 
a one-story brick building, was erected in 18()2. In 
the fall of 1883 the public school-house here was en- 
larged, and the books of the Literary and Library 
Association removed to the second story. The village 
also possesses a brass band, which has been organized 
for several years. A house of worship was also erected 
here in 1879 b}' the German Evangelical denomina- 
tion. 

The name of the place is derived from the Kulp 
family, of which Jacob Kulp, in 1776, was rated for 
one hundred and six acres, which lay in the eastern 
part of the village and extended on the turnpike 
to the corner of the present Kulpsville Hotel. Oppo- 
site, at this date, to the northward, but also on the 
same sideof the pike, lay Henry Smith's (theweaver's) 
tract, containing eighty-seven acres, which will go 
to show how insignificant this place was in the 
Revolution. Jacob Kulp was the son of Peter, who 
had come from Germany and who also had two other 
sons, Henry and Dilman. Jacob died here in 1818, 
at the age of seventy -seven, leaving a scJh, David C. 
Kulp, who started the first store here in 1812, was a 
justice of the peace for forty years and died about 
184.3. His son, Charles C. Kulp, received the first 
appointment of postmaster here in 1829, and thus its 
name became established. The place at this date 
contained seven houses, a tavern (kept by Mordecai 
Davis) and a blacksmith-shop. In 1858 it contained 
two hotels, two stores and twenty-three houses, chiefly 
brick, and several mechanic shops. A licensed inn 
was kept here by Hugh Hughs in 1773, by Israel 
Tenuis in 1779 and by Jacol) Wampole and Elizabeth 
Weber in 1790. At this time these were the only 
public-houses in the township. By an act of Assembly, 
passed in 1797 the townships of the Fourth District 
comprising Gwynedd, Montgomery, Towamencin, 
Hatfield, Franconia, Lower Salford, Upper Salford 
and Perkiomen, were required to hold their elections 
at the inn of Christian Weber. This act remained in 
force until 1802, when Upper Salford and the western 
part of Perkiomen were attached to other districts. 
In 1824 the entire county was divided into fourteen 



districts, whereof several townships still continued to 
vote here. 

Early Churches in Towamencin — Mexnonite. 
— Xot hiilf a mile above Kulpsville, on the west side 
of the Sumneytown turnpike, stands the Mennonite 
meeting-house, a plain, one-story stone building, about 
twenty-four by twenty-eight feet in size, erected in 
1805. It is situated on a knoll, at the foot of which 
flows a small stream, which in a short distance loses 
itself in the Skippack Creek; near by stand several 
gnarled and venerable oaks, the whole presenting an 
olden-time appearance. Tliere is reason to believe, 
from the early dates on the tombstones, that the first 
house of worship here may have been erected before 
175'), and not likely much later. This building stood 
until near the building of the preseut meeting-house, 
having been destroyed by fire. The society having 
been remiss in keeping or preserving records, a 
difficulty exists to supply authentic data. An aged 
man of the vicinity related to a friend, in 1858, that he 
remembered well the old stone meeting-house, to 
which he had gone to worship with his father about 
the year 1788 ; that it had the appearance of being 
very old then and stood near the site of the present 
building. A log school-house was adjacent, which 
has been for some time substituted by a more sub- 
stantial one, of stone. 

To the antiquarian the graveyard attached to this 
meeting-house in several respects, is an interesting one 
to visit. In extent it may cover two acres, and it has 
undoubtedly been used for burial purposes for at least 
a century and a half. A stone was discovered here 
bearing the date 1733, and another of 1741. One 
without a date bears the inscription, " Yellis Cassel, 
a. 85 y." Many of the inscriptions are in German 
and several of the earliest have become illegible. 
In our recent visit the following surnames were 
taken down from its numerous tablets: Overholtzer, 
Eisenhart, Boorse, Delp, Stauffer, Drake, I.bert, Cas- 
sel, Ruth, Frey, Kulp, Vanfussen, Hughs, Keaton, 
Stover, Detweiler, Mitchell, Rinewalt, Hendricks, 
Blackburn, Hechler, Metz, Neisz, Rosenberger, God- 
shalk, Allebach, Frederick, Gehman, Keeler, Moyer, 
Bernt, Schlosson, Bookhamer, Boyer, Hallman, Kratz, 
Swartz, Kepler, Zeigler, Keyser, Clemmer, Nice, Klein, 
Snare, Hunsicker, Eaton, Freed, Nu.ss, Funk and 
Roop. Families bearing about one-third of those 
names are still pretty numerous in the surrounding 
.section. Mitchel, Hughs, Blackburn and Eaton ap- 
pear in curious contrast, not being German. Here 
there repose the remains of General Nash, Colo- 
nel Boyd, Major White and Lieutenant Smith, 
of the Continental army, either slain or mortally 
wounded in the attack at Germantown. Over the body 
of General Nash has been placed a white marble mon- 
ument about ten feet high, erected in 1844 by the 
citizens of Germantown and Norristown. The other 
olKcers lie adjoining the monument, with simple head 
and foot-stones of marble a foot in height. 



TOWAMENCIN TOWNSHIP. 



1089 



ScHWEXKFELDER. — The meeting-house of this de- 
nomination is located about two miles from Kulps- 
ville, near the south corner of the township. About 
the date of its origin here there is a difference of opin- 
ion. One authority states that a school-house and 
dwelling combined was erected here in 1765, and 
another that the date was 1790. A death on one of 
the tombstones is dated 1745, and inclines us to the 
former view. As the members of this denomination 
arrived first in this country in September, 173-1, and 
that some of them had settled around here at least in 
1735, is confirmed by an early marriage record. Be- 
fore the erection of their first log school and dwelling- 
house they were in the practice of worshiping at 
each other's houses. If they did not constitute them- 
selves a regular congregation earlier than 1782, then 
the date of 1790 might be correct. 

Their first elder or minister in Pennsylvania was 
George Weiss, who was ordained an elder in 1735 and 
served until his death, in 1740. He was succeeded in 
the ministry by Balthasar Hoffman, of Lower Salford, 
who died in 1775. In 1783, Christopher Kriebel was 
chosen for the district, followed, in 1802, by Melchior 
Kriebel, Melchior Schultz and Balthasar Heebner. 
The present ministers are George Meschter and Reu- 
ben Kriebel, who have officiated since May 20, 1849. 
The first marriage celebrated was that of Balthasar 
Krause to Susanna Hoffman, January 16, 173G, and 
probably the first death was that of Maria, wife of 
Christopher Kriebel, April 11, 1738. Early in April, 
Bishop Spangenberg, of the Moravian Church, came 
among them, making a brief stay at the house of 
Christopher Weigner, now the residence and farm of 
George Anders, near by. The present plain, one-story 
stone meeting-house was built in 1854, and is situated 
on the edge of a forest that extends towards the south. 
The lot on which it stands does not quite contain an 
acre, the cost of which and the house was about thir- 
teen hundred dollars. Everything here bears the ap- 
pearance of neatness and seclusion, which, it seems 
are carried out in their other places of worship. 

The oldest stone in the graveyard that bears an in- 
scription has that of "A. R. W., 1745." Another 
informs us of the death of Balzer Anders, who died in 
1754, aged fifty-six years, and one of a death in 1770. 
The most frequent name is that of Kriebel, next that 
of Anders ; than may follow : Schultz, Schneider, 
Heebner, Weigner, Seipt, Drescher, Gerhart, Rein- 
wait, Clemens, Adams and Sauter. Nearly all the 
inscriptions are in German, except a few of recent 
date. In this language the services are still exclu- 
sively conducted. Like the Society of Friends, they 
have no sacrament nor baptism. The ministers receive 
no renumeratiou, but about that the society does not 
appear to be unduly scrupulous. Like most other 
religious bodies, they are relaxing from their former 
exclusiveness, and liberal or more enlarged ideas are 
securing place. Marriages are now allowed with the 
outside world, in which they have followed the Dun- 
69 



kards, and thus the cause of human fraternization is 
spread. This denomination has five houses of wor- 
ship in the county, one of which is in the adjoining 
township of Worcester and the other in Lower Sal- 
ford. In 1845 they were estimated to comprise in 
Pennsylvania about three hundred families, or eight 
hundred members. 

DuJiKAED. — Next in the order of time is the Dunk- 
ard, or German Baptist, meeting-house, situated near 
the western corner of the township, on the east bank 
of the Skippaek Creek, and fronting on the Forty-Foot 
road, and within a distance of one hundred yards of 
the Lower Salford line. It originated in the first 
schism of the old Skippaek or Perkiomen Mennonite 
meeting. About the close of the Revolution, Chris- 
tian Funk, one of its members, came out in advo- 
cacy of the doctrine of resistance to England, and 
the justice of supporting the same. A few joined 
with him in these sentiments, among whom was 
Jacob Eeiff', Jr., who built for them a meeting-house 
on his own grounds in 1814. On his death, about 
two years after, the property came in possession of 
his son, John, who had joined the Dunkards, and to 
that denomination he willed it with a lot of half an 
acre. Thesecthas ever since maintained here regular 
worship. The first building having become consider- 
ably out of repair, it was torn down, and a new one, of 
frame erected in 1882, twenty-six by thirty-five feet 
with a slate roof. It has no settled minister, but 
is supplied as a branch by the Indian Creek and Skip- 
pack congregations. From the latter meeting-house 
it is about four miles distant. 

Lutheran and Reformed. — This is designated 
by those congregations as Christ Church, and is 
situated about a full half-mile above Kulpsville, 
on the east side of the turnpike, close to the Lower 
Salford line. It is built thirty-five by forty-five 
feet in dimensions, two stories high, and cost origi- 
nally two thousand two hundred dollars. The 
corner-stone was laid May 27, 1833, and dedicated for 
worship October 15th. On the first occasion addresses 
were delivered by the Rev. George Roeller, of the 
Lutheran Church, and Rev. Samuel Helfenstein, of 
the German Reformed. Owing to the material of 
structure, it is popularly denominated through this 
section as the "Brick Church." 

Its first Lutheran pastor was the Rev. John W. 
Richards, a grandson of the Rev. Henry M. Muhlen- 
berg. He took charge June 1, 1834, and continued 
in the same until April 3, 1836, when he resigned and 
went to Germantown. Next was the Rev. Jacob 
Wampole, until his death, January 3, 1838, aged thirty- 
five years, greatly beloved and respected. Rev. Henry 
S. Miller succeeded from April, 1838, till May 9, 1852, 
— over fourteen years. He is now residing at Phcenix- 
ville, aged upwards of eighty-two years. Rev. George 
A. Wentz was next elected, June 28th, and continued 
three years. Rev. A. S. Link remained in charge 
till March, 1859, when the Rev. George Sill was 



1090 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



elected. All the aforesaid were also pastors of the 
Trappe congregation. The Rev. Mr. Baker, of Sel- 
lersville, is the present pastor. 

For the German Reformed the Rev- 11. S. Bassler 
was the first pastor, who served until May, 1839. 
After a vacancy the charge was tilled by the Rev. 
I. W. Hanger, who remained about two years, when 
the congregation was supplied by Rev. Henry Ger- 
hart. In March, 1848, the Rev. A. Bentz was elected, 
who served nearly three years. He was succeeded, in 
the spring of 1846, by the Rev. T. W. Naille, who re- 
mained until 1857. The Rev. W.G.Hackman assumed 
the duties near the beginning of 1858, and remained 
for some time. The present pastor is the Rev. S. M. 
K. Huber. The late venerable Benjamin Reift', of this 
denomination, it is said, was one of the most active 
and successful in obtaining funds for the erection of 
the church, to which he was also a liberal con- 
tributor. 

The church is well shaded, among the trees being 
some handsome evergreens, which should be more 
common at such places. The graveyard contains 
about three-fourths of an acre, and in the half-century 
of its existence a goodly number have been in- 
terred. In the southwest portion of the ground we 
find a stone with an ijiscription, " Sacred to the 
memory of Jacob Kower, who departed this life No- 
vember 24, 1843, aged ninety years and five months. 
He was one of that patriotic band which achieved 
the independence of his country." The following 
surnames were copied from the tombstones: Smith, 
Krupp, Godshalk, Wile, Johnson, Snyder, Reiff, 
Baker, Kreamer, Wampole, Boorse, Yocum, Titus, 
Schneider, Oberholtzer, Schell, Brown, Delp, Garges, 
Macknet, Fry, Brey, HuUi, Wagener, Wilson, Rush, 
Hechler, Cassel, Weber, Emery, Zepp, Kinsey, Gaul 
Hoot, Clemmer, JIace, Hendricks, Bower, Hagey, 
Master, Henning, Drake, Feable, Will, Schmidt, 
Berger, Geiger, Reifinger, Metzger, Rudy, Sieyer 
Barnes, Shoemaker, Suit, Kulp, Detra, Delp, Fox, 
Reese, Belzer, Rosenberger, Underkoffler, Stillwagon, 
Koch, Groth, Alderfer, Hoefer, Lutz, Shupp, Hartzel, 
Miller, Moyer, Funk, Richard, Becker and Sorver. 

ASSESSMENT OF TOWAMENOIN, 177C. 
Gariet Gudsbalk, assessor, and Owen Hughes, collector. 
John Yellis, 108 acres, 2 horses, 3 cattle ; Henry Yellis, 130 a., 2 h., 2 
c. ; Samuel Tennis, 192 a., 2 h.. 3 c. ; William Hendricks, 61) a., 2 h., 3 
c. ; Humphrey Hughes, 1 h. 1 c. ; Baltzer Yeakle, 150 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; 
fliichael Moyer, 2 li., 3 c. ; Ahraham Lukens, 215 a., 2 b., 3 c. ; Freder- 
ick Wampole, 220 a., 1 servant, 4h., 4 c. ; John Lukens, son of .Vbi-aham 
1 15 a., 2 servants, 3 h., 4 c. ; Henry Smith, weaver, 87 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Evan 
Kdvvards, 91 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Nicholas Gotshalk, 1 h., 1 c, ; John Yeakle, 
115 a., 1 servant, 4 h., 5 c. ; Owen Hughes, 143 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; Christian 
Weber, Sr., 52 a. ; Christian Weber, Jr., 100 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Joseph Lu- 
dens, 9S a., 4 h., 4 c. ; Peter Lukens, 87 a., 4 h,, 6 c. ; George Anders, 
150 a., 250 a., in Gwynedd, 7 children, 3 h., 7 c. ; Abraham Kreable, 189 
a., 4 h., 10 c. ; .\braham Weigner, 2 c. ; George Meistcr, 34 a., 1 h., 2c. , 
Rosanna Seifert, 135 a., 3 b., 5 c. ; Paul Hendricks, 99 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; 
Samuel Hendricks, 100 a., 2b., 2 c. ; John Springer, 60 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; 
aaw-mill ; Leonard Hendricks, 125 a., 1 h., 2 c, aged ; Adam Gotwaltz 
270 a., 3 h., 7 c. ; Jacob Fry, 200 »., 1 h., 3 c. ; Heury Lesh, 2 h., 3 c. ; 
William Godshalk, 100 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Peter Hendricks, 88 a,, 2 h., 3 c. ; 



Benjamin Hendricks, 88 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Garret Godshalk, CO a., 2 h., 2 c; 

I ('brislopberEcinvvalt, 58 a,, 2 h., 3 c., grist-mill ; Jacob Kolh, 106 a., 2 

! b., 4 c. ; Harman Boorse, 20 a., 2 c, 1 servant ; John Lukens, 109 a., 90 

a. in Gwynedd, 4 h.,4 c, ; Baltus lieinwalt, 89 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Elizabeth 

Evans, 190 a., 3 b., 5 c. ; John Boorse, 44 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; Daniel Springer 

[ 1 h., 3 c. ; Catharine Godshalk, 13 a., 1 c. ; Peter Godshalk, 113 a., 1 

servant, i b., 3 c. ; Baltus Miller, 1 c. ; William Evans ; Arnold Boorse, 

40 a., 1 b., 3 c. ; Leonard Hendricks, Jr., 89 a., 1 b., 2 c. ; John Sbott, 

1 h., 2 c. ; Cliristopber Meister, liXI a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Jacob I'pdegrave, 200 
a., 2 b., 5 c. ; Jacob Pennebaker, 82 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; William Tennis, 2 h., 

2 c, 50 a. in Lower Salford ; Joseph Eaton, 1 h. ; Israel Tennis, 1 h., 3 
c. ; John Edwards, 48 a. ; Abraham Bresher, 129 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; William 
Hendricks, 1 c. ; Rowland Evans, 1 h., 1 c. ; Andrew Label, 2 c.; Jacob 
Grub, 113 a., 2 b., 5 c. ; Y'ellis Cassel, 82 a., 2 b., 4 c. ; Daniel Miller, 
2 c. ; Benjamin Weber, 04 a., 2 b., 1 c. ; George Lutz, 1 h., 2 c. Single 
Men. — PYederick Wani[iole, Abraham Wampole, Peter Booi-se, Garret 
Godshalk, Godshalk Godshalk, Evan Evans, JehuEvans, John Edwarda, 
David Spice, George Pluck, Frederick Fisher. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



JOHN C. BOOKSE, ESQ. 

The progenitor of the Boorse family in Montgomery 
County was Harman Boors, a native of Holland, who 
came to this country at an early period, probably 
about the middle of the last century, and settled in 
what is now Towameusing township, Montgomery 
Co., Pa., near what is now the village of Kuljisville. 
He was, no doubt, a man of considerable wealth and 
enterprise, and possessed also a liberal education. 
In his business transactions it became nec&ssary for 
him to cross the ocean several times, and on his last 
voyage to America he died at sea. He was the father 
of five sons — viz., John and Henry, died without issue; 
Peter, married, and died Jlay 1, 1797; Arnold and 
Harman, Jr. 

Harman, Jr., was the father of the following chil- 
dren: viz., John; Margaret, born September 8, 1765, 
no issue; Peter, born August 28, 1767, was married 
and left four children ; Henry, born December 25, 
1769, died November 27, 1777; Anna, born September 
22, 1772, married Abraham Hendricks October 22, 
1793; Catharine, born March 28, 1775, married Sam- 
uel Metz November 10, 1796; Sybilla, born April 2, 
1777, married Jacob Hendricks; Susanna, born Feb- 
ruary 25, 1779, married Jesse Lewis February 19, 
1799; and Elizabeth, born February 17, 1782, married 
Samuel Kriebel. 

John Boorse, grandfather of John C. Boorse, was 
born October 17, 1763, married Elizabeth Cassell June 
8, 1797, and died January 26, 1847. His wife died 
July 26, 1830. They were the parents of Abraham, 
Henry C, Magdalena, Peter, Daniel, Joseph, Harman, 
Jacob, Catharine, Mary and Hubert Boorse. Magda- 
lena married Jacob Boyer, Catharine married James 
Lloyd and Mary married Elias Cassel. Only four of 
these children are now living^viz., Jacob, Joseph, 
Mary and Hubert. 

Henry C. Boorse, father of John C. Boorse, was 
born October 14, 1799, in Towamensing township, on 



TOWAMENCIN TOWNSHIP. 



1091 



the farm now owned by Hubert Boorse. This farm 
has been in tlie Boorse family for over one humbc-d 
and thirty years. Henry C. was married, Mareli 5, 
1822, to Susanna Cassel, and died April 26, 1869. She 
died April 6, 1856. They were the parents of chil- 
dren, as follows: 

I. Barbara, born December 8, 1822, married Henry 
K. Zeigler, of Skippack, and died in March, 1866. 

II. Ephraim, born January 24, 1825, married Miss 
Elizabeth Zeigler, of Skippack. 

III. John C, born Juue 27, 1831, married, January 
21, 1855, to Miss Mary Eittenhouse, daughter of Samuel 



William Bechtel, of Collegeville, Pa. She died May 
7, 1877. 

V. Susan, born September 9, 1839, died December 
18, 1856. 

John C. Boorse, Esq., commenced his business career 
as a farmer, and in 1855 purchased of his father the old 
homestead, and conducted the business pertaining to a 
large farm until 1866, when he retired from the dull 
routine of the farm and engaged in the more active 
duties of surveyor, conveyancer and justice of the 
peace, the duties of which he still performs to the 
entire satisfaction of all parties concerned. He has 




^..-W^^^^S^fe^'^'^^^ 



and Mary Rittenhouse, of Towamensing, and a lineal 
descendant of the celebrated David Rittenhouse. Their 
children are Alinda E., born May 29, 1856, died Jan- 
uary 31, 1857; Mary Ann, born December 18, 1857, 
married Humphrey W. Edwards of Kulpsville ; Melinda, 
born January 3, 1860, died August 31, 1860; Ella, born 
March 21, 1862; Lizzie, born March 25, 1864; Henry 
R., born September 21, 1866, editor and publisher of 
the Tiywamensing Item, established January, 1SS5 ; 
Alma, born December 9, 1868; Nora, born June 7, 
1871; Edith E., born October 21, 1879. 

IV. Catharine, born December 6, 1836, married 



made five hundred and fiftj--four surveys of different 
tracts of land, and has written seventeen hundred and 
sixty-four deeds and mortgages and taken acknowledg- 
ments of the same. He entered the political field in 
the early part of 1855, when he was elected township 
assessor, which position he filled for eight years. He 
was elected a justice of the peace at the spring election 
in 1862, and has held that office continuously until the 
present time. He has been one of the school directors 
of the township for six years, judge of election for two 
terms, member of the election board for twenty-seven 
years, a member of the Eepublican County Committee 



1092 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



(of which organization he is an enthusiastic member) 
for at least twelve years, and since the organization of 
the Republican party has been honored many times 
with a seat in the councils of its leaders, in the State 
and county, and has received the most flattering testi- 
monials from the press of the county. 

In his official capacity he formulated the charter and 
made the original survey for the borough of Lansdale. 
He was one of the original directors of the Lansdale 
Water- Works Company, and is the present secretary 
of the same; a director and secretary of the Lansdale 
Cemetery Association; one of the original members 
and secretary of the Towamensing Creamery Associa- 
tion; one of the originators of the Kulpsville Literary 
and Library Association, and one of its active mem- 
bers; a director in the Perkiomen Fire and Storm In- 
surance Company of Montgomery County. He was 
the official surveyor of the borough of Lansdale from 
1872 to 1881. 

He was the originator and prime mover in getting 
the first telephone line from Norristown to Kulpsville 
via North Wales and Lansdale, with station at his 
office. 

He held the oflice of justice of the peace for twenty- 
three years, during which time only nineteen cases 
were returned to court; he always endeavored to settle 
ca.ses before going to court. As the Hon. Judge Eoss 
at one time remarked before court: "If all justices 
of the peace in the county would act like John C. 
Boorse, of Kulpsville, thousands of dollars wcmld be 
annually saved to the county in costs." 

In 1870 he received the appointment to take the 
census of Towamensing and Lower Salford townships, 
which he filled with credit to himself and to the entire 
satisfaction of the department. 

lu 18G5 he received the unanimous nomination for 
county commissioner, and ran far ahead of the regular 
ticket; the Democratic party being then in large ma- 
jority, he was defeated. 

He was also several times strongly urged by the 
leaders and many others of the party to become a 
candidate for the Legislature, which honor he pos- 
itively refused, saying "he was not competent." 

He was one of the delegates to the State convention 
held in 1875, in Lancaster, and voted for John F. 
Hartranft for Governor and William Rawle for treas- 
urer. He was an active committeeman in the county's 
centennial, and is also a member of the Montgomery 
County Historical Society. 

He has been a member of Providence Lodge, No. 
345, I. O. O. F., since 18G7, trustee, treasurer and rep- 
resentative to Grand Lodge of the same for several 
years, and one of the directors of the Odd-Fellows' 
Endowment Association of Pennsylvania. He became 
a member of Charity Lodge, No. 190, F. A. M., Nor- 
ristown, October 10, 1872 ; is also a .member of Nor- 
ristown Chapter, No. 190, E. A. M., and was knighted 
in Hutchinson Commandery, No. 32, K. T., stationed 
at Norristown, January 25, 1875. 



Mr. Boorse has always been active in all progressive 
movements of the age in which his business life has 
thus far been spent, especially anything tending to 
improve the morals and intellect of the young and 
rising generation by whom he is surrounded. 



CHAPTER LXXV. 

UPPER DUBLIN TOWMSHIP.' 

This tnwnsliip is regular in form, approaching a 
square, and is bounded northeast by Horsham, south 
by Springfield, southwest by Whitemarsh, west by 
Whitpain, east by Moreland and southeast by Abing- 
ton. It is four and one-half miles long, three and one- 
fourth wide, and contains an area of eight thousand 
eighthundred and forty acres. Its surface is rolling and 
the soil fertile, composed of limestone and loam. Camp 
Hill is an elevation of Revolutionary memory that 
commences in Whitemarsh and extends eastwardly 
across the township on the north side of Sandy Eun. 
The Wissahickon passes through the west corner over 
a mile, propelling two grist-mills, and receiving as 
tributaries Rose Valley, Pine and Sandy Runs, which 
also furnish water-power. The limestone and iron- 
ore belts extend across the southern angle, following 
the valley of Sandy Run nearly two miles. 

The township is crossed by the Spring House turn- 
pike two miles, the Lewisville and Prospectville pike 
two miles, Upper Dublin and Horsham pike one mile. 
Limekiln pike three and one-half miles and the Ply- 
ffl' uth and Upper Dublin pike over one mile. The 
latter two roads were constructed in 1851 and 1855. 
The North Pennsylvania Railroad passes nearly a 
mile and a quarter through its western angle, and has 
a station at Ambler, fourteen and one-half miles from 
Philadelphia. The villages are Ambler, Fitzwater- 
town, Jarrettown, Three Tons and Dreshertown ; with 
a post-office at each, excepting the last-mentioned 
place. . The population in 1800 was 744 ; in 1840, 
1322; and in 1880, 1856. The taxable real estate in 
the year 1882 was valued at $1,652,492, and includ- 
ing the personal, $1,758,452, the average per taxable 
being $3094. Upper Dublin contains fourteen square 
miles, and, according to the census of 1880, had then 
132 inhabitants to the square mile. In May, 1883, 
licenses were issued to four hotels, nine general stores, 
one stove-store, six dealers in flour and feed, one coal- 
yard, one lumber and fertilizers, one tobacco-store 
and one restaurant. Without Ambler, it contains five 
public schools, open ten months, with an average at- 
tendance of 148 for the school year ending June 1, 
1881. The census of 1850 returned 243 houses, 245 
families and 129 farms. Every census taken since 

> B]r Wm. J. Buck. 



UPPER DUBLIN TOWNSHIP. 



1093 



1800 shows in this township a remarkably steady in- 
crease in its population. 

According to Holme's map of original surveys, the 
first land-holders in Upper Dublin, commencing at 
the Abington line, between the Susquehanna Street 
road and Horsham, were Samuel Clarrige, Pierce & 
Co., Richard Hill and Richards & Aubrey; south 
of that road to the Gwynedd line, in the same order, 
William Salaway, Mathew Perrin, Henry Patrick, 
Mathias Seely, John Southworth, Richard Coates, 
Andrew Soule, Thomas Marie and William and George 
Harmer. If the aforesaid is correct, it is very prob- 
able, judging by the list of 1734, that not one (unless 
the Harmers be excepted) of those mentioned was a 
settler, being merely dealers in land, which they took 
up with a view to speculation. It was, in consequence, 
settled slowly, and we cannot find that it was recog- 
nized as a township much earlier than 1719. Records 
exist establishing the fact that in 1705 it was re- 
garded as a portion of Abington ; hence we may justly 
conclude that its territory was set ofl" from that town- 
ship, but at what exact date cannot now well be ascer- 
tained. 

To touch on the early settlement of Upper Dublin, 
it is, perhaps, best to refer first to the list of resident 
land-holders and tenants in the township in 1734, and 
from that date base all anterior claims. According to 
that authority, there were at the time mentioned thirty- 
five, as follows : Deriek Tyson, 100 acres ; Richard 
Witton, 200 ; Joseph Charlesworth, 200; Joseph Bri- 
tain, 100; Ephraim Heaton, 100; Ellis Lewis, 200 ; 
Trump's estate, 200; Samuel Spencer, 100; Daniel 
Roberts, 200 ; William Atkinson, 50 ; Rees David, 
100 ; Edward Burk, 200 ; Edward Burk, Jr., 20 ; Hugh 
Burk, 100 ; Thomas Parker, 'jO ; Peter Cleaver, 100 ; 
William Jfelcher, 100 ; John Harmer, 100 ; Dennis 
Cunard, 10!) ; Joseph Tucker, 200 ; Joseph Nash, 100 i 
William Lukens, 200 ; John McCathery, 100 ; Thomas 
Fitzwater, 200 ; John Conard, 200 : John Hamilton, 
50; Thomas Fitzwater, Richard Reagan, Thomas 
Davis, John Trout, Charles Hubbs, Henry Riukard, 
Ellis Lewis, John Loanan and Robert Doughty. 

Edward Burk's purchase was made fiom Nicholas 
Scull and others November 21, 1698, and extended 
from the Susquehanna Street road to the Whitemarsh 
line, and included a part of the present village of 
Ambler. It must have been soon after this date that 
he settled upon his tract, and he was probably one of 
the earliest settlers in the township. Edward Burk, Jr., 
and Hugh Burk were his sons. John Burk was a su- 
pervisor of roads from 1774 to 1777, and from this last 
date Edward Burk continuously to 1786. He was 
also a collector of taxes in the Revolution. In 1776 
we find assessed in this township Edward Burk, 
"aged," fifty acres; Edward Burk, Jr., seventy-eight 
acres; John Burk, sixty acres; John Burk, single. 
Charles Burk, now in his eightieth year, resides on 
the old homestead, which has never been out of the 
family. His father and grandfather bore the name 



of Edward Burk. The latter was born on this place 
in 1761, and died in 1832. He is the last survivor of 
eight children and the only one bearing the name 
now in the township. The family have been among 
the earliest members of the St. Thomas' Episcopal 
Church, of which he has been warden since 1833. The 
records of this church go back no further than 1742, 
when Hugh Burk was warden and John Burk a 
vestryman. 

It is known that Thomas Fitzwater owned real 
estate and carried on lime-burning at the present village 
of Fitzwatertown before June, 1705, when he had sent 
in a petition for a road from his kilns to Pennypack 
Mills ; but it was not attended to until 1725. His father, 
Thomas Fitzwater,, with sons, Thomas and George, 
came from Middlesex, England, and arrived in the 
ship " Welcome," with William Penn, in November, 
1682. His wife, Mary, and children, Josiah and Mary, 
died on the passage. He originally settled in Bucks 
County, which he represented in the Assembly in 1683. 
He afterwards removed to Philadelphia, and was again 
in the Assembly in 1690. He was a preacher among 
Friends, and died October 6, 1699. In the assessment 
of Upper Dublin in 1776, John Fitzwater is rated for 
three hundred acres of land and a grist-mill. Mathew 
and John Fitzwater, probably sons, are also mentioned 
thereon. John Fitzwater, a descendant of this family 
and an extensive lime-burner and real estate owner, 
died at Fitzwatertown, May 13, 1857, in his eighty- 
fourth year, and was buried in the family burying- 
ground near by. He was owner of a portion of the 
Emlin estate, on which is the large mansion used by 
Washington as his headquarters, while the army lay 
in the vicinity of Whitemarsh. Fitzwater as a sur- 
name has now become extinct in Upper Dublin. 

Dennis {or Tunis) Kunders (or Conard) came from 
Germany and settled at Germantown before 1700, and 
with his sons — Conrad, Mathias and John — was natura- 
lized September 29, 1707, to hold and enjoy lands. 
Peter Cleaver also settled in Germantown, and in 
1695 was married, in Abington Meeting, to Catharine 
Shoemaker, and naturalized in 1707. We find here in 
1776, Peter Cleaver owning one hundred and fifty 
acres ; John Cleaver, one hundred ; and Isaac Clea- 
ver, one hundred acres. Descendants still possess 
lands here. The Houpt family is also of German 
origin, and in Moijtgomery County has produced 
several successful Inisiness men. SamueL Hbtipt, in 
1776, is rated here as possessing a farm of ninety-five 
acres. His descendants have become numerous. 
Respecting the Lukens family, in 1776, Ryner Lukens 
is rated for 100 acres; Joseph Lukens, 100 acres; 
Isaac Tyson, 150 acres; Mathew Tyson, 50; and 
Jonathan Tyson, 123 acres and a grist-mill. Safliuel 
Spencer, who is mentioned in 1734, was stil! living in 
1776 and represented as "aged,"' and owiitg 150 acres; 
James Spencer, 150 ; and John Spencer, the same 
number of acres. They re^ed in the eastern part of 
the township and were members of Horsham Meeting. 



1094 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Joseph Nash, in the list of 1734, may possibly be the 
same on whom a raid was made by the British while 
they held possession of Philadelphia, for which he 
was allowed two hundred and twenty pounds damages 
thus sustained. 

The road from North Wales or Gwynedd to Ger- 
mantown and Philadelphia, but now better known as 
the Bethlehem road or turnpike, which was laid out in 

1704, but not opened until 1714, passes two miles across 
the west corner of the township. What is now called 
the Welsh road was opened from Gwynedd in 1712, 
forming the boundary line of Horsham, and extends to 
the present Huntingdon Valley, on the Pennypack. 
Respecting this road, there was a dispute, in 1731, be- 
tween the two townships about keeping it.in repair. 
Although Thomas Fitzwater had applied to the court 
for the grant of a road from his limekilns to the Pen- 
nypack Mills, by way of Abington Meeting-house, in 

1705, it was not laid out and opened until 1725. This 
is the road now leading trom Fitzwatertown through 
Weldon and Jenkintown. The Limekiln road was in 
useand bore this name before 1716. John Burk.in June, 
1744, sent a petition to the Court of Quarter Sessions, 
stating that he had lately erected a grist-mill in Upper 
Dublin, and that he wasin wantof a road of about half 
a mile in length from the same to the Gwynedd road, 
passing on his line, with lands of Andrew Bradford' 
deceased. It was accordingly ordered to be laid ouf 
This is now the present John Heist's mill, above Gil- 
kison's Corner. 

Thomas Fitzwater was appointed collector of taxes 
for Upper Dublin in 1719 ; the amount was £10 10«. St/., 
equivalent to $28.80 of our present currency. Thomas 
Siddon was collector in 1722 and John Trump in 
1723. Hans Caspar Schlater was supervisor of high- 
ways in 1765 I James Spencer, to 1767 ; Michael Trump, 
to 1770; George Reagan, 1771 ; Samuel Murray and 
Christian Herner, 1772; John Spencer and John 
Burk, 1774 ; John Burk and Michael McCrory, until 
1777 ; John Cleaver and Joseph Butler, 1786 ; Isaac 
Cleaver and George Dresher, 1788 ; Amos Lewis and 
George Dresher, 1792 ; Christopher Dresher and 
Jonathan vScout, 1810. Samuel Houpt was constable 
in 1767, James Spencer assessor in 1776, and Edward 
Burk collector. 

At the present Gilkison's Corner, on the Bethlehem 
turnpike, Andrew Gilkison kept an inn from 1779 to 
1786, and most probably later; hence the name of 
the place. This was on the store property now owned 
by David Dunnet. About a quarter of a mile above 
this place was a tavern formerly kept by Benjamin 
Daves. Paul Bower kept an inn in 1774, and Susanna 
Wright in 1779, which we are at present unable to 
locate, but very probably in this vicinity. In 1776, 
John Fitzwater, Jonathan Tyson, Joseph Detwiler 
and Lewis Rynear owned grist-mills, and Arthur 
Broades a fulling-mill, at the present village of Ambler. 

Upper Dublin contains at present within its limits 
five houses of worship, namely": Puff's Lutheran, 



Friends', Dunkard, Methodist Episcopal at Jarret- 
town and Baptist at Ambler. There are, besides, five 
private graveyards, belonging to the Fi tzwater, Dresher, 
Whitcomb and Bergenstock families, and one on the 
McCormick property. 

The large stone building used by Washington as 
his headquarters while the army lay in this vicinity 
is still standing in Upper Dublin, on the south side of 
Camp Hill, but a few yards from the Springfield line, 
and about half a mile from Whitemarsh. In the 
beginning of this century it was owned by Caleb 
Emlin, to which was then attached two hundred and 
thirty-six acres; after his decease, in 1810, it was sold in 
several tracts. The mansion and about one hundred 
and twenty acres were purchased by Mr. Stuckert, 
next by Mr. Frey in 1833, by John Fitzwater, and 
after his decease, in the fall of 1857, was purchased by 
the present owner, Charles T. Aimen, who has taken 
due care in its preservation. For its day it was cer- 
tainly a great aftair, and even now not many mansions 
are built larger. It is of stone, seventy-five by thirty- 
five feet, two full stories in height, and to it was 
formerly attached a wing on its western end, contain- 
ing the kitchen. In making some repairs, over thirty 
years ago, it was deprived of its hip-roof, but otherwise 
has been very little changed. The hall is fifteen feet 
wide. The steps at the main frontdoor are of fine soap- 
stone, neatly wrought, and the general appearance of the 
building denotes it to have been at the date of its 
erection a superior structure. Its walls are substan- 
tial, and with care could be made to last yet for along 
time. While Washington was here the army was 
encamped on the hill to the north of the mansion, 
which was certainly a strong position. It is even yet 
principally covered with woods. The encampment 
lasted from October 20 to December 11, 1777, when 
they proceeded on their march to Valley Forge. On 
the night of December 5th, General Howe came hither 
from Philadelphia, 'by way of Chestnut Hill, with a 
view of surprising the camp ; but on seeing the position 
and unable to draw out the Americans, returned, by 
way of Abington and Jenkintown, to the city, the 
result proving the expedition a failure. 

The Friends' Meeting-house is situated about half 
a mile northwest of Jarrettown, and was built in 1814 
on a lot of ground presented for the purpose by Phebe 
Shoemaker. It is a one-story stone building, thirty-six 
by forty feet in dimensions. From its elevated posi- 
tion a fine prospect is afibrded, towards the south of 
Edge Hill, for some distance, and the intervening 
country. The ground attached covers about two 
acres, on which are also erected several sheds for the 
accommodation of horses. About twenty yards from the 
front-door is a horse-block, of stone, consisting of five 
steps to the top, four and a half feet from the ground 
and three and a half feet wide, now so rare as to be- 
come an object of interest to the antiquary. The 
graveyard covers nearly an acre, and seldom 
among Friends is one seen having so many white 



UPPER DUBLIN TOWNSHIP. 



1095 



marble tombstoues, though rarely over a foot high and 
witli brief inscriptions. The surnames found are Lu- 
kens, Teas, RuUer, _Beans, Shoemaker, Lightfoot, 
Hawhurst, Hughs, Rich, Danenhower, Thomas, Gar- 
rigues, Cadwallader, Spencer, Fitzwater, Shaw, Wil- 
son, Reiff, Willard, Conard, Robinson, Kenderdine, 
Matlack, Dunnet, Sill, Tyson, Atkinson and Potts. 
The families originally composing the meeting were 
those of David Lukens, George Shoemaker, Naylor 
Webster, Joseph Kenderdine, Samuel Conard, Corne- 
lius Cunard, Thomas Hallowell, Jacob Kirk. Levi 
Jarrett, Charles Thomas, Jesse Lukens, Phebe Shoe- 
maker, Daniel Shoemaker, Thomas Shoemaker, Eliza- 
beth Potts, George Dunnet, Jacob Reifl', Isaac Thomas, 
Atkinson Hughs, Michael Trump and Jonah Potts, 
now all decea.sed. A First-day school was started here 
in 18~r>, and has been the means of increasing the 
general attendance of the meeting.^ 

The German Baptist, or Dunkard, meeting-house is 
nearly a mile northeast of Ambler, on the Plymouth 
and Upper Dublin turnpike. It is a one-story stone 
building, twenty-eight by thirty-six feet in dimensions, 
and was built in 1840. The ground belonging to it is 
nearly an acre, of which the graveyard oecupiesabout 
two-thirds. The tombstones contain the names of 
Reiff, Moore, Smith, Livezey, Gamble, Slingluff, Mc- 
Oool, Jones, Sperry, Fry, Wentz, Souders, Detra, Lear, 
Ford, Walton, Bisson, Henry, Kneezel, Buchanan, 
Lightcap, Haycock, Wolfe, Colluni, Fulmer and Far- 
inger. Before the erection of the meeting-house the 
congregation worshiped in a school-house in the vi- 
cinity. For some time it was a branch of the Ger- 
mantown Meeting, and was served by their ministers. 
Elder John Price was its first stated pastor. Caleb 
H. Price was elected and preached here until he went 
to the West. John Slingluff and others next su])- 
plied the pulpit for several yeai-s, or until about 1881, 
when Israel Poulson, from New Jersey, settled within 
its bounds and the charge was given him. Worship is 
held here every Sunday, the services being conducted 
in English. 

The flourishing village of Ambler is situated in the 
western corner of the township, on the east side of the 
Wissahickon Creek, and near to the Gvvynedd and 
Whitpain line. Its origin and prosperity have been 
chiefly owing to the North Pennsylvania Railroad, 
and only dating since its construction in 1856. The 
census of 1880 gives it a population of two hundred 
and fifty-one inhabitants, and it promises, from its pres- 
ent prosperity, ere long to add to the present number 
of boroughs in the county. In 1883 it contained one 
hot-el, one hardware, one drug and two general stores, 
one lumber and two coal-yards, a grist-mil! and about 
seventy houses. The Baptist Church here is a one- 
story stone building, of which the Rev. Mr. Hum- 
phreys is pastor. Upper Dublin post ottice was re- 
moved here from Gilkison's Corner several years ago, 
and has only been recently changed to Ambler. In 
December, 1880, this village, with a small portion of 



Whitemarsh, Gvvynedd and Whitpain adjoining, was 
formed into an independent school district, of which 
about one-half of the territory was included from Up- 
per Dublin. The public school building here is of 
stone, two stories in height, of which Lizzie Magee is 
teacher. For the school year ending June 1, 1882, it 
was open eight and a half months with an average at- 
tendance of forty-six pupils. There is here also a 
beneficial society, incorporated May, 1883, — Camp No. 
215, of the Patriotic Sons of America, — and several 
manufacturing establishments. A newspaper was 
published for about six months, by Dr. Rose, called 
the Ambler Times, which was succeeded, in December, 
1882, by The Ambler Gazette, which continues to flour- 
ish. In the south part of the village, beside the rail- 
road, is the extensive establishment of Keasbey & 
Mattison, manufacturing chemists, who employ about 
sixty hands, chiefly in the preparation of carbonate of 
magnesia and quinine. The business was commenced 
here in 1881, and they use several steam-engines, the 
largest of eighty horse-power. Their office in Phila- 
delphia is at 332 North Front Street. The First Na- 
tional Bank of Ambler was organized in May, 1884, 
with a capital of fifty-five thousand dollars; Benjamin 
P. Wertsner, president, and J. J. Houghton, cashier. 
A bank building was commenced in 1884, and is now 
nearly completed. To the east of the village is Ambler 
Park, at which, for several years, an agricultural exhi- 
bition has been held. The turnpike through this place 
was made in 1855, on what has been long known as the 
Butler road, and extends from the Three Tons to the 
borough of Conshohocken. The grist-mill owned in 
1776 by Joseph Detwiler is now in possession of Ed- 
ward Plumly, on the west side of the Wissahickon. 
Arthur Broades had a fulling-mill here, on Rose Val- 
ley Run, in 1776, since owned by the Ambler family, 
but no longer in operation. The track of the North 
Pennsylvania Railroad here was stated by the engi- 
neer to be one hundred and ninety feet above tide- 
water level. Should this in the future become a 
large town, it will possess, from its situation, excel- 
lent facilities for a water supply, so often found want- 
ing at growing places. 

Fitzwatertown is situated in the southern part of 
the township, on the Limekiln turnpike, in the midst 
of the fertile valley of Sandy Run, abounding in 
limestone and iron-ore. This is an old settlement, 
where Thomas Fitzpatrick followed lime-burning be- 
fore the summer of 1705 and had a grist-mill erected 
at an early period. It contains a store, hotel, wheel- 
wright and blacksmith-shop, grist-mill and about 
twelve ho uses. The post-office was established here 
before 1858. The value of lime produced in Upper Dub- 
lin for 1840 was stated to be twenty thousand two 
hundred and seventy-five dollars, which was all pro- 
duced in this vicinity, but the business has since been 
greatly increased -through railroad facilities. Edge 
Hill Station, of the North Pennsylvania Railroad, is- 
only a mile distant ; yet, with all its surpassing ad- 



1096 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEllY COUNTY. 



vantages, as may be observed, has made but very 
little progress for the last half-century. The grist- 
mill mentioned was long carried on by John Price 
and is now owned by Samuel Coiiard. Sandy Run is 
a steady stream rising at the Moreland line, about 
three miles distant. 

Jarrettown is the second largest village, and is situ- 
ated near the centre of the township, on the Limekiln 
turnpike, which was constructed in 1851. It contains 
a hotel, store, a three-story Odd-Fellows' Hall, two 
story public school-house and twenty-one houses. 
The post-office was established here in 1866. Gordon 
in his " Gazetteer," mentions this place in 18.32, as 
containing five or six dwellings. The name of the 
place' was derived from Levi Jarrett, the owner of 
several farms in this vicinity in 1815. In 1776, John 
Jarrett was assessed for two hundred and thirteen 
acres. The name of Jarrett, like those of Fitzwater and 
Dresher, has now become extinct in Upper Dublin. 
On the east side of the pike, in the lower part of the 
village, stands the Jlethodist Episcopal Church, built 
in 1866. The pastors who have .served are J. W. 
Haskins, Abel Howard, W. L. McDowell, R. Turner, 
J. R. Bailey, M. Barnhill, E. C. Yerkes, A. J. Collom, 
E. Townsend and G. L. Sehaffer. The elections of 
the township are now held at Jarrettown ; previous 
to 1840, strange to say, they had always been held 
at Whitemarsh, nearly five miles distant, since the 
origin of the county, over fifty-five years. 

Dreshertown is situated at the intersection of the 
Limekiln turnj)ike with the Susquehanna Street road, 
and equidistant from Fitzwatcrtown and .Jarrettown. 
As these two highways are ancient, they must denote 
an early settlement. It contains a store, grist-mill and 
eleven houses. A ])ost-ofBce was established here in 
1832, and the township elections held here from 1840 
until after 1856 ; both have since been removed to the 
more flourishing village of Jarrettown. George Dresher, 
the ancestor of the family, with his wife, Maria, arrived 
in Pennsylvania, in 1734, from Silesia, aud settled in 
the vicinity of Towamenciii. George Dresher, liLs 
grandson, shortly after the Revolution, moved to this 
vicinity, and Wiis one of the supervisors of Upper 
Dublin in 1788 and 1792. Christopher Dresher, son 
of (ieorge, wa.s born in 1771, and married Anna, 
daughter of Aljraham Anders, in 1799. Their children 
were Agnes, Kcbeci-a, George and Eli. Christopher 
Dresher, after whom the place was called, died Janu- 
ary 23, 1839, in this village, aged sixty-eight years. 
He was the owner of the farm now belonging to Jacob 
Barnet. Christopher Dresher was also a supervisor in 
1810. George, the brother of Eli, died .January 6, 
1851, aged thirty-five years. 

The village of Three Tons is situated in a fine, fertile 
section of country, at the intersection of the Horsham 
and Butler roads, the latter being turnpiked to 
Ambler, two and a half miles distant. It contains a 
store, hotel, school-house, several mechanic shops and 
five or six houses. The post-office was established 



here in 1858; T. G. Torbert, postmaster. The Union 
Library of Upper Dublin is kept here, over the store 
of E. T. Comly, and now contains about two thousand 
volumes. It was incorporated May 25,1840; E. T. 
Comly, treasurer, and EUie Teas, secretary and librarian. 
The Upper Dublin Horse Company, organized many 
years ago, holds its annual meetings here. Recent 
researches establish the fact that before 1722 a well- 
traveled path led from Edward Farmar's mill, in 
Whitemarsh, through this place, to Richard Saunders' 
ferry, on the Neshaminy (now the village of Bridge 
Point, three miles south of Doylestown). 

Gilkison's Corner is situated at the intersection of 
the Spring House and Butler road turnpikes. It con- 
tains a store, six or seven houses and the extensive 
steam tannery of Alvin D. Foust, established some 
thirty years ago. It was at this place where Andrew 
Gilkison kept a tavern in the Revolution and for some 
years thereafter. The Upper Dublin ])ost-office was 
located here before 1827, but has been removed half a 
mile distant, to its more flourishing rival, Ambler, to 
which its name has only been recently changed. 

Upper Dublin Lutheran Church. — In its vicinity 
this church is better known as Puff's church, and is 
located at the east corner of the intersection of the 
Susquehanna Street and Butler roads, about a mile 
northeast of Ambler. Concerning its history very little 
h.as heretofore been published; but with the assistance 
of the Rev. B. M. Schmucker, of Pottstown, one of the 
editors ofthe" Halle Reports," we are enabled to present 
an account of this early congregation. The organiza- 
tion of the church was effected in 1753 or 1754 by the 
Rev. John Frederick Handschuh, the resident jiastor 
of Germantow-n. It is supposed, from the fact that 
the burying-ground was then here, that he preached 
several years previously at this place. The first 
building was constructed of logs, of which the Rev. 
H. M. Muhlenberg, ofthe Trappe congregation, gives 
us a relation in his report to Halle, dated June 18, 
1754. He says, — 

" Many German Liitlierans reside in this neighborhood, and although 
new beginners and poor, they have erected a roomy school and mcetiug- 
Injnse and have besought aid from us. Mr. Handschuti h;i3 visited 
llieni and administered tlie word. I visited them at tlieir renuest and 
jireaelied on a wecdi-day, Lialiti/i'd several children in the presence of a 
large assemblage of German and English people, who bad gathered from 
North Wales and other adj.acent parts. .\8 there was as yet no roof on 
the building, and it was ditlicult to preach in it, I urged the poor people 
to follow my example, and add their contributions to mine, so that at 
least one-half of the building might be roofed in, which was done." 

Mr. Handschuh ministered to the congregation for 
several years, perhaps until 1757, when the charge 
devolved upon Mr. Muhlenberg, who sent his student, 
William Kurtz, to preach, and afterwards committed 
it to the care of his assistant. Rev. John Helfrich 
Schaum, who was settled at New Hanover, and took 
charge of Upper Dublin in the spring of 1758. He 
continued in the same until 1762, when he removed 
to Berks County. Mr. Muhlenberg, however, had the 
general oversight, and occasionally visited the con- 



UPl'Ell DUBLIN TOWNSHIP. 



1097 



gregatioii. In January, 1763, he administered the 
communion and stated that he was no longer able to 
minister to them. In the following June the Rev. 
Nicholas Kurtz took temporary charge of Germantown 
and Upper Dublin until June, 1764. This care of the 
two churches by the same pastor was now continued 
for many years. 

The Rev. Jacob Van Buskirk had charge from 1765 
to 1769; John Frederick Schmidt from 1769 to 1785. 
The time at which his labors ceased is uncertain, but 
in 1785 the congregation, in union with Tohickon 
and North Wales Churches, applied for the recog- 
nition and ordination of Anton Hecht, who had been 
a schoolmaster among them, whicli reciuest was re- 
fiised. Mr. Hecht, however, was ordained by some 
independent minister and served Tohickon and some 
other congregations for several years, and probably 
preached ^ Upper Dublin. In 1793, Mr. Van Buskirk 
settled at North Wales and probably again preached 
to this congregation. In 1797, Rev. Henry A. Geis- 
senhainer was licensed at the request of Upper Dub- 
lin and North Wales, and was pastor until 1801. 
Soon after this it was again connected with German- 
town, and Rev. Frederick David Schaeffer continued 
in charge at least until 1810, and possibly until his 
removal to Philadelphia, in 1812. 

At some unknown time, not earlier certainly than 
1810 and possibly several years later, services ceased 
to be held, the congregation became scattered or lost, 
the building disappeared and the burial-place re- 
mained the chief reminder of the past. Chiefly 
through the efforts of the Hon. John B. Sterigere, 
whose kindred repose here, a charter was procured 
from the Legislature in 18r)2 for a Lutheran congre- 
gation at the old burial-ground so long known as 
Puff's. By the will of Conrad Amrich, proved in 
1835, a bequest of six hundred and sixty-four dollars 
was made to keep the graveyard in repair. Services 
were held in the public school-house opposite, from 
1852, with some regularity, until the erection of the 
present church by Revs. W. N. Baum and David 
Swope, of Whitemarsh Church. The corner-stone was 
laid October 15, 1857, and the church consecrated July 
18, 1858, when Rev. John C. Baker, D.D., preached. 
Rev. Lewis Hippee was pastor until August, 1859; 
Rev. Edward J. Koons from March 3, 1860, to May 
1863 ; Rev. George Sill from the following September 
to 1869; Rev. Mathias Sheeleigh fn^n said date until 
the present time. The members now number about 
eighty. 

The church is a one-story stone edifice, forty by fifty- 
six feet, with an iron railing in front. Worship is 
held here and at the Union Church of Whitemarsh 
alternately, the services being conducted in English. 
The graveyard contains about an acre of ground, and 
several of the earliest stones containing inscriptions 
are not legible. We find here the surnames of Baugh- 
man, Leonhart, Engard, Rodemick, Stout, Brock, 
Webster, Shaffer, Rynear, Smith, McAlonan, Flnck, 



Dilthey, Rex, Baker, Cullom, Hoffman, Behlmier, 
Swink, Thomas, Bates, Berkheimer, Snyder, Pruner, 
Houpt, Taylor, Sterigere, Aimen, Shay, Gilbert, Ul- 
rich and Timanus. The Houpts appear to be the 
most numerous. One stone was observed bearing the 
date of 1762 and another of 1770. A marble column 
about ten feet high has been erected here over the re- 
mains of the brothers Wm. L. and John B. Sterigere. 
The latter died at Norristown October 13 1852, aged 
upwards of fifty-nine years. 

In connection with this subject, we may add that the 
aforesaid was the son of Peter and Elizabeth Sterigere, 
and was born in Upper Dublin in 1793. He taught 
school when a young man in the school-house opposite, 
and at the age of twenty-five received a commission as 
justice of the peace and also followed surveying and 
conveyancing. In 1821 he was elected to the Assem- 
bly and continued for three years. He was elected to 
Congress in 1826, and now left his native township to 
study law and was admitted to practice in the fall of 
1829. In 1839 he was elected to the State Senate and 
served two terms. As a member of the Borough Coun- 
cil of Norristown he contributed much towards its 
improvement. He died unmarried and left a hand- 
some estate, the result of his own almost unaided ex- 
ertions, having been born of poor parents, and in his 
youth receiving but a very limited education. He was 
a man possessed of mental ability and force of char- 
a'.-ter. 

Wm. Homer and his Reminiscences. — Wm. 
Homer was descended from a family that by an an- 
cient document dates back to 1684 in Bybcrry and per- 
haps Bensalem, adjoining. Mention is made of oneot 
this name owning a farm of fifty acres in the former 
township in 1734, and in 1782 of two hundred acres. 
It is likely the former was his grandfather, as he bore 
his name. His father was also William Homer, who 
moved from Byberry, in the spring of 1767, on the farm 
he j)urchased from James Thornton, containing one 
hundred and forty-four acres, situated in the east 
corner of Upper Dublin, a little over a mile north- 
west of the Willow Grove. Here the subject of this 
notice was born in July, 1767, and resided during his 
long life, extending nearly to a century. After he 
grew to manhood he married Hannah, the daughter 
of Morris Edwards, whom he many years survived. 
He had an only brother, Chilion, and two sisters. 
While young, in addition to working on his father's 
farm, he followed carpentering, and in the winter, in 
his work-shop, made bureaus, tables and other articles 
of furniture. As a mechanic he was self-taught, hav- 
ing a turn that way. He received a very ordinary 
education, having gone but to two places to school, 
one was near the present Dreshcrtown. His father, in 
the assessor's list for 1776, is rated for keeping two 
horses, four cows and six sheep, — a fair example of 
the amount of stock then generally kept on farms of 
similar size. 

Several traits in the character of William Homer 



1098 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



deserve mention. He bad his form divided willi 
the requisite bnildings tci eacli, whicli were rented to 
his two sons, Clyrns and Jesse, on sliares, wliile lie re- 
tained for his use a part of the old mansion. Being 
of a rather retiring and unassuming turn, he was given 
to spending a portion of his leisure with tools. He 
had a peculiar fondness for rearing bees, and an at- 
tachment to straw hives, also for pigeons, having often 
over a hundred together, which he loved to feed. The 
latter would often be shot at during autumn by dep- 
redating sportsmen hailing from Philadelphia and 
Germantown. He estimated men by their intellect 
or for holding landed estates like himself He never 
went farther from home than to Philadelphia, Bristol, 
Newtown, Norristown and Doylestown, which would 
not exceed twenty miles. The latter place he re- 
membered when it contained but three or four houses. 
He had also been to "Buckiugim" as he called it. It 
is supposed that he had never ridden in a stage-coach, 
omnibus, steamboat or railroad car. He thus passed 
a contented and unambitious life, was of good habits and 
respected by his neighbors. On the 31st of January, 
1860, he died at the advanced age of ninety-two years 
and six months, retaining good health till near the 
last. Athis funeral, Henry Woodman, of Buckingham, 
delivered an excellent sermon. In religion he was 
a Friend, and he was buried in the graveyard attached 
to Horsham Meeting-house. He left two sons and 
three daughters ; the former are now both deceased. 
Jesse Homer, the last, died on the estate March 6, 
1883, in his eighty-fifth year. Extracts will now be given 
from his reminiscences, taken down by the writer in 
casual visits to his house fully one-third of a century 
ago. 

He saw wild turkeys in his father's woods occa- 
sionally as late as the year 1785. Turkey buzzards 
were frequentlyseenaslateasthebeginning of this cen- 
tury. Wild pigeons, at times, were seen in immen.«e 
flocks, particularly in 1793, the year of the yellow 
fever in Philadelphia. He remembered well one 
flock particularly, that appeared to be about one and a 
half miles long and all of half a mile in breadth. 
Previous to 1810 they bred in great numbers in the 
woods, and he had counted as many as twenty nests on 
one tree. He had himself caught, in nets, many 
thousands in the spring and fall. Horses and 
wagons were used to convey what were thus taken. 
One of his nets, now almost a century old, is still 
preserved in the family. The last bear seen in the 
vicinity was in the woods, nearly a mile northeast of 
his house, in 1772. In his woods he also showed 
traces of three saw-pits, which had been used in his 
father's day to convert logs into boards with a whip- 
saw. 

Concerning the Willow Grove, he related the follow- 
ing particulars: Here he first went to school, in a log 
Bchool-house that stood near the forks of the old 
York and Easton roads. Joseph Butler kept the 



tavern there in the Revolution, being the stand so long 
known as the Red Lion. While the British held 
possession of Philadelphia a detachment came out 
and took him piisoner. Divisions of the American 
army encamped several times in the orchard back of 
the tavern. The soldiers appeared to be chiefly Vir- 
ginians, who practiced shooting at a mark one hundred 
yards distant with rifles, and he stated that they got 
him to cut out the balls for them with a hatchet. In 
the skirmish of December 8, 1777, on Edge Hill, near 
the present Susquehanna Street road, where Morgan's 
regiment had twenty-seven either killed or wounded, 
some of the hitter were brought in a wagon to Butler's 
tavern, where the scholars beheld them so bloody that 
it frightened them so that they hurried back to the 
school-house. Where is now the Mineral Spring Hotel 
lived Nathan Bewly, who followed scythe-making, 
and had a mill for grinding them immediately back of 
his house, in the meadow, the dam being on the west 
side of the York road, now Rittenhouse's meadow. 
He caught sunfish there with a hook and line. Near 
the present intersection of the railroad and turnpike 
there then lived a woman called Nanny McSween, 
whose husband followed hunting at the Blue Moun- 
tains. 

On the formation of Montgomery County, in 1784, 
the elections for thirteen townships were held at the 
village of Whitemarsh, nearly four miles from his 
farm. On those occasions a great many pugilistic 
encounters took place, fighting being postponed for 
those occasions. He remarked the great diminution 
taking place in streams, through clearing the land 
and drainage. He remembered in his vicinity the 
sites of three grist-mills that had long ago disap- 
peared, owing to a want of water. Apple-cuttings, 
ajqile-butter boilings, flax-pullings, flax-spinnings, 
corn-huskings and shooting-matches had become 
things of the past. About 1790 there resided about 
two miles west of him a famed " witch doctor," as he 
was called, of considerable practice. He was chiefly 
called upon to relieve children, horses and cattle thus 
afflicted. He was a witness more than once to his 
operation. He carried with him on these occasions, a 
large black-letter volume, bound with brass clasps, 
which he would open and repeat a peculiar lingo, and 
use certain powders to exorcise and ward off the evil 
influences under w'hich it was supjiosed the victim 
had been laboring. That he possessed supernatural 
powers, and that witchcraft actually existed, was really 
believed in at this time by not a few throughout the 
country. Those that practiced the "doctoring " were 
really looked up to as following a beneficial calling. 

.\SSESSMENT OF UPPEK DUBLIN, 1776. 
James Spencer, assessor, and Edward Burk, Jr., collector. 
Julin Trump, 158 acres, 1 horse and 1 cow ; John Fitzwater, 300 a., 
5 h., 5 c. and a grist-nuil ; Matliew Fitzwater, 1 h. ; John Fitzwater, 
Jr.; Ellis Lewis, 280 a., 6 h., 6 c.; John Lewis, 1 servant, H h., 2 c.; 
Jacob Howell, 1 h., I c. ; Joseph Nash, 100 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Jacob Tima- 
nus, 100 a., 2 h., 2 c, aged ; Peter Shoemaker, 14 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; An- 




V 



{a-lA 0-a^^'{^r^ 



UPPER DUBLIN TOWNSHIP. 



1099 



drew Kiistner, 140 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; George Kastner, 14U a., 2 h., 2 c ; 
Stephen Brown, 75 a., 1 servant, 2 b., 2 c. ; John Mann, 150 a., 3 h., 
4 c. ; Isjuic Tyson, 150 a., 4 h., 5 c. ; Jonathan Tyson, \2'S a., 1 servant, 
3 h., 3 c. and a grist-mill ; Abraham Charlesworth, 2U0 a., 3 h., 4 c, 
aged and helpless ; John Heston, loU a., 2 h., fi c. ; Leonard Kuorr, 1 h., 
2 c. ; Marlin Faringer, G h., G c. ; Michael llapp, 4 h., 8 c, 1 servant ; 
Rynear Lukens, 100 a., 5 h., 4 c. ; Joseph Lukens, 100 a., 5 h., 3 c. ; 
Isaac Kirk, 200 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Rynear Kirk, 200 a., 4 h., 5 c. ; Mathiae 
Smith, 100 a., I h., 1 c. ; John Color, 7 a., 1 c. ; David Coler, 3 a. ; 
Caspar Slater, 50 a., 2 h., 2 c., has 9 children ; Muthusila Evans, 100 
a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Daniel Rynear, 83 a , 1 h., 3 c. ; Saninol lloupt, ;»5 a., 2 
h,, 3 c. ; George Regan, 100 a., 3 h., 5 c, 1 servant, aged ; Ulathew 
Tyson, 50 a., 1 h., 3 c. ; Samuel McCrory, 30 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Ahraham 
Hollis, 3 h., 2 c. ; Henry Inghart, 100 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Edward 
Wells, 3 h., 3 c. ; Daniel McVaugh, 3 h., 2 c.; Edward Burk, 50 
a., aged ; Arthur Broadea, 24 a., 2 h., 3 c. and a fulling-mill ; 
John Weies, SO a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Lewis Rynear, 80 a., 2 h., 8 c. and a 
grist-mill ; William Homer, 140 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Christian Herner, 
150 a., 4 h., 7 c, has 7 children ; Michael Trnmp, 140 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; 
Abraham Trnmp ; Catharine Inghart, 90 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; B;istian Wol- 
finger, 1 c. ; James Sloane, 1 c. ; Peter Cleaver, 150 a., 1 h. ; Na- 
than Cleaver, 2 h., 4 c. ; John Cleaver, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Jacob 
Romer, 50 a., 2 h., 1 c. ; Henry Romer ; Isaac Cleaver, 100 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; 
Alexander McD6^vell, 130 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Isaac Shoemaker, 100 a., 4 h., 

2 c, has 7 children ; Edward Burk, 78 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Isaac Wood, 40 a., 

3 h., 2 c. ; John Burk, 60 a., 3 h. ; 8 c. ; Jacob Cobler, 14 a., 1 h., I c. ; 
John Chestnut, 2 h., 2 c. ; John Martin, 75 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; Mathias 
Martin, 75a., I h., 1 servant; John Trump, Jr., 100 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; 
John Jarrett, 213 a., 4 h., 8 c. ; John Potts, 150 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; John 
Spencer, 150 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Samuel Spencer, 150 a,, 2 h., 2 c, aged ; 
Jamea Spencer, 150 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Jacob Shaneline, 2 h., 1 c. ; John 
Robinson, 70 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Henry Grubb, 1 a., 1 h., 2 c, ; Benjamin 
Walton, 5 h., 3 c. ; Hannah Walton, 1 h., 1 c. ; William Brown, 2 h., 

1 c. ; John Inghart, 2a., 1 h., I c. ; John Baker, 1 h., 1 c. ; Mark Cnpp, 
25 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; James McDowell, 1 h., 1 c. ; James McCrory, 15 a. ; 
John Whitcomb, 1 c. ; Peter Budey, 2 h., 2 c. ; Jacob Woolrich, 140 a., 

2 h., 4 c. ; Jonathan Thoniiis, a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Rudolph Bartholomew, 
2 h., 3 c. ; George Snyder ; John Jamison ; Paul Brown, 10 a., 1 h., 1 c. ■ 
John Eman, Ga.,lc. ; Joseph Soifert ; Jacob Fulmore, 1 c. ; Josejih 
Cartwright ; George Hoffman, 1 c. ; Samuel Spencer, 30 a., 2 h., 2 0. 
Henry Fret. Single Men,— A.moe Lewis, John McGlathcry, James Brit- 
ton, John Faringer, George Faringer, Jacob Lukens, (.'hristian Herner, 
Jr., John Sterner, Peter Leasnr, John Dunlap, Benjamin .Stemple, Wil- 
liam Inghart, Peter Inghart, Jnhn Burk, Nicholas Rynear and Amos 
Began. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



CHARLES PAXSOJf. 

Charles Paxson was the son of Joshua and Mary 
(Willett) Paxson, of'Middletown township, near Laug- 
horne, Bucks Co., Pa, where he was born on the 19th of 
August, 1803. He was one of the younger of a family 
of nine children, all of whom lived to pass the middle 
age, and one of whom (Mrs. Anna P. Burton, widow 
of Anthony Burton, of Bucks County) is still living, 
at Germantown. It is related of these nine children 
that they were all possessors of vigorous health, stout 
and robust in person, and that at one time their ag- 
gregate weight exceeded two thousand pounds. 

In 1808, Charles Paxson removed with his parents 
from Bucks County to Cheltenham township, Mont- 
gomery Co., where he resided with them for eigh- 
teen years, on the farm which is now of the estate of 
John W. Thomas, deceased. In 1826, he removed 
from the paternal homestead in Cheltenham to Upper 
Dublin township, where he located on a fine farm 



which his father, Joshua Paxson, had purchased a 
few years earlier, it being a section of the old Spen- 
cer property, patented from William Penn. In later 
years it became known as the " Spring Farm," on 
which Mr. Paxson lived for more than half a cen- 
tury, until his death, and which is now the residence 
of his widow. 

Charles Paxson was married, January 4, 1844, to 
Agnes, daughter of John and Sarah (Paxson) Tyson, 
of Abington. The families on both sides, from their 
early ancestors down to the present time, have been 
of the Society of Friends. The children of Charles 
and Agnes Tyson Paxson have been Sarah T. (now 
living at the Paxson homestead), Joshua W., Anna 
B., Josephine (died in July, 1883) and Charles S. 
Paxson. Their father, Charles Paxson, died at his 
home, in Upper Dublin township, on the 2d of March, 
1880, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. His re- 
mains were interred in the family lot in the Friends' 
graveyard at Abington. 

At the time of his death Mr. Paxson was the owner 
of two farms, situated on the Limekiln, Horsham 
and Welsh roads, and aggregating two hundred and 
eighty-five acres of excellent and well-watered lands. 
He was a practical farmer, of advanced ideas, who 
pursued his chosen vocation with the intelligence, 
enterprise and industry which seldom, if ever, fail to 
yield the return which they gave to him, — that ot 
abundant success. He i)ossessed a firm will, a noble 
spirit and a genial nature. He ever gave his sup- 
port to the wise reforms of his day, as opposed to 
traditional wrong and depredation, and he took es- 
pecial delight in the eloquence of orators who, like 
Phillips, uttered what he termed sublime truths 
in advocacy of the righteousness which exalteth a 
nation. At the time of his death a gilted writer, 
who had known Mr. Paxson well and intimately 
through life, paid this truthful tribute to his memory: 
" The deceased was possessed of traits of character 
that, wherever found, adorn human nature. He was 
a good neighbor, a kind friend, an affectionate hus- 
band and a kind, considerate father; beyond these he 
was a just man, a liberal Christian, a patriotic citizen 
and an earnest reformer; a lover and helper of every 
good work that was going on in the world, that came 
within his cognizance. He was one of a half-dozen 
noble men in his neighborhood who uplifted the ban- 
ner of anti-slavery in the beginning, in the time that 
truly tried men's souls, and maintained it to the end, 
not aggressively, but patiently, steadfastly, and with- 
out a thought of consequences or of giving up the 
contest while the wrong existed." 

The ancestry of Charles Paxson and of his wife, 
Agnes Tyson, is traced back respectively to two 
brothers, — William and James Paxson, who came 
from Bucks County, England, to America, in the ship 
" Samuel," in lt)S2, and settled at Middletown (now 
Langhorne), in Bucks County, Pa. The first-mentioned 
William Paxson married Mary Packingham, and they 



1100 



HISTORY OP MONTaOMERY COUNTY. 



became the parents of William Paxson, the second, 
who was married, in 1711, to Mary Watson. 
Their son, William Paxson, the third, was married, in 
1740, to Anna Marriott, daughter of Thomas Marriott 
and his wife, Martha Kirkbride, who was a daughter of 
Joseph and Phebe (Blackshaw) Kirkbride and agrand- 
daughter of Eandle Blackshaw. William and Anna 
(Marriott) Paxson were the parents of Joshua Pax- 
son, who, with his wife, Mary (Willett) Paxson, were 
the parents of Charles Paxson, the subject of this 
memoir and the great-great-grandson of the William 
Paxson who came to America in 1682. On the ma- 
ternal side his ancestry is traced still further back, to 



The lineage of Agnes Tyson, wife of Charles Pax- 
son, is traced back to James, the brother of the first 
William Paxson, who, as before mentioned, came to 
America and settled in Bucks County in 1682. Wil- 
liam Paxson, son of James and Jane Paxson, was 
born October 2.5, 1675, and died in May, 1719. He 
was married, December 20, 1695, to Abigail, daughter 
of George Pownell. Their son, Thomas Paxson, was 
married, in 1731, to Jane Canby, daughter of Thomas 
and Mary (Oliver) Canby and granddaughter of 
Benjamin Canby and of Evan Oliver. Thomas Pax- 
son died in October, 1782. His son, Jacob Paxson, 
was married, November 13, 1777, to Mary Shaw, 




^5^/ 




ciyyi I 




Thomas Cornell, whose daughter, Sarah Cornell, mar- 
ried Thomas Willett; and their son, Col. Thomas 
Willett (baptized in 1645), married Helena, daughter 
of Elbert Stoothoif. Their son, John Willett, mar- 
ried Mary, daughter of John Rodman. They were 
the parents of Jonathan Willett, whose wife, Deborah 
Lawrence, was a daughter of Obadiah Lawrence, the 
granddaughter of Major William Lawrence and his 
wife, Deborah Smith, and the great-granddaughter of 
William Lawrence, and of Richard Smith. Jonathan 
and Deborah (Lawrence) Willett were the parents of 
Mary Willett, wife of Joshua Paxson and mother of 
Charles Paxson. 



daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Shaw. A daughter 
of Jacob and Mary (Shaw) Paxson was Sarah Pax- 
son, who became the wife of John Tyson and mother 
of Agnes Tyson, wife of Charles Paxson. 



WILLIAM C. POTTS. 

William C. Potts, of Upper Dublin township, and 
one of its most widely-known and prominent men, 
as he is also one of its most prosperous farmers, is of 
Welsh extraction, directly descended from the first 
emigrants of that family name, — David and Alice 
Potts, -who came from Wales to Pennsylvania, and 
settled at Germantown nearly, if not quite, two hun- 



UPPEK DUBLIN TOWNSHIP. 



1101 



dred years ago. Among their descendants of two or 
three generations later was John Potts, who, in 1760, 
was married to Hannah Davis. Their farm was one 
of about one hundred and fifty acres, in which was 
included about fifty acres of the homestead property, 
now owned and occupied by their great-grandson, 
William C. Potts, in Upper Dublin. The house in 
which he now lives was built by John Potts for 
his son Thomas at the time of his marriage. It was 
occupied by Thomas Potts, the elder, during his life, 
and after him by his son, Thomas Potts, the father of 
William C. John Potts, the great-grandfather, died 
in 1808. His son Thomas was born July 7, 1761, and 
died March 2, 1812. His son, Thomas Potts, the 
second, was born February 23, 1802, and died Feb- 
ruary 4, 1870. His wife was Caroline Cooper, daughter 
of William Cooper, of Horsham township. She died 
in 1851. 

William C. Potts, son of Thomas and Caroline 
(Cooper) Potts, was born November 10, 1827, in the 
house where he now lives, and which had been the 
home of his father and grandfather before him. The 
only other child of Thomas and Caroline C. Potts was 
Thomas Elwood Potts, who is now living on a good farm 
near his brother's, in Upper Dublin. The youth of 
William C. Potts was passed in the manner usual to 
farmers' boys of his time, — working on the farm in the 
summer season, and in winter attending the common 
schools, which furnished his only means of education. 
In 1855 he commeuced farming for himself on the 
farm of his father, who at that time retired from the 
active pursuits of agriculture, but continued to live at 
the homestead with his son until his death, in 1870. 
The farm of Thomas Potts, which was seventy-seven 
acres in area, became the property of his son, William 
C, who has been very successful, not only as a 
farmer, but in other business enterprises. By subse- 
quent purchase he has increased the farm to one 
hundred and five acres, well stocked and under ex- 
cellent cultivation, and he is also the possessor of 
ample means independent of his real estate. He was 
an original stockholder in the First National Bank 
of Ambler, and has been a member of its board of 
directors from its organization to the present time. 
He has been a Republican in politics from the time 
of the formation of that party, but has never held 
nor in any way sought for public oiiice of any kind. 

On the 4th of January, 1855, William C. Potts was 
married to Phebe K., daughter of Jacob Walton, of 
Horsham township, and they have been the parents 
of the following-named children : Thomas Elwood 
(now living with them), Dubre K. (deceased), Carrie 
(died in her tenth year), Lydia W. (youngest child 
and living at home). Mr. and Mrs. Potts are mem- 
bers of the Upper Dublin Friends' Meeting, and the 
ancestors of both, for many generations back, were of 
the people called Quakers. 



DAVID J. AMBLER. 

David J. Ambler, of the village of Ambler, in Up- 
per Dublin township, is descended from an ancestor 
named Joseph Ambler, of Montgomery township, who 
(as is shown by the Philadelphia County records) 
purchased a certain tract of ninety acres of land in 
that township of AVilliam Morgan, May 1, 1723. 
Among the children of this Joseph Ambler and Ann, 
his wife, were Edward and John Ambler. The 
ninety-acre tract in Montgomery township, above 
mentioned, was sold by Joseph Ambler, in 1768, to 
his son Edward, who, in 1770, devised it by will to his 
brother John, who was great-grandfather of the pres- 
ent David J. Ambler. In 1794, John Ambler sold 
the same tract for two hundred pounds to his son 
Edward, who was by trade a weaver. The present 
residence of Mrs. Marj' Ambler, in Montgomery 
township, is the place where Edward Ambler lived, 
and where he died on the 1st of January, 1838. His 
wife, Ann Ambler, died October 15, 1827. Their 
son Andrew, the father of David J. Ambler, was 
married. May 14, 1829, to Mary Johnson, daughter of 
Benjamin and Abigail Johnson, of Richland, Bucks 
Co. The Johnson family was of German descent. 

Andrew Ambler settled in Lower Dublin township, 
on eighty acres of land, which he purchased in 1832 
of Mary Davies, and on which he built and occupied 
a house which is still standing in Ambler village, and 
owned by Charles 0. Yocum. He was a fuller by 
trade, and soon affer his settlement he built a fulling- 
mill on his land, on the site of a small mill of the 
same kind which had stood there more than seventy 
years, having been sold, in 1759, by the executor of 
Daniel Morris, to Arthur Broades, father of the Mary 
Davies, from whom Andrew Ambler had made the pur- 
chase. The Ambler fulling-mill remained in use many 
years, and was finally destroyed by fire December 31, 
1869. 

Andrew Ambler died March 7, 1850, at the age of 
fifty -six years. His widow, Mary J. Ambler, died 
August 18, 1868, aged sixty -three years. It was for 
her that the station (and from it the village) of Am- 
bler received its name. During her widowhood (in 
1856) a very serious railroad accident occurred near 
Fort Washington by the collision of a school excur- 
sion train going north with a local passenger train 
going south. On receiving the intelligence Mrs. Am- 
bler, without a moment's delay, gathered lint, band- 
ages and other necessary materials, and went on foot 
two miles to the scene of the disaster, where she re- 
mained through the day till all the wounded were 
cared for, rendering such conspicuous service to the 
suffering victims as elicited the warmest gratitude and 
high commendation from the ofiicers of the railroad 
company, who, after her death, honored her memory 
by changing the name of the station from Wissahickon 
to Ambler. 

David J., son of Andrew and Mary (Johnson) Am- 
bler, was born March 22, 1837, at his fether's place, in 



1102 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



what is now Ambler village. His education was ob- 
tained at the common schools, sujiplemented by two 
winter terms at the Freeland Seminary, then in charge 
of Henry A. Hunsicker. After leaving school he waa 
employed for two years as a clerk in a store at Fitz- 
watertown, Montgomery Co. In 1859 he went to 
Quakertown, Bucks Co., where he established a coal 
and lumber business, in which he ccmtinued for ten 
years. In 1869 he removed to Upi^er Dublin town- 
ship, where he purchased the homestead property on 
which he was born, and upon which a part of the vil- 
lage of Ambler was laid out and sold in lots in 1870- 



rector from the time of its opening. He is now, and 
has been for four years, one of the directors of the 
Ambler Independent School District. 

Mr Ambler was married, March 6, 1802, to Caroline 
F., daughter of Aaron Penrose, of Quakertown, Bucks 
Co. They have one daughter, Ella, who is the wife 
of Daniel M. Leedom, son of Dr. Edwin C. Leedom, 
of Plymouth, Montgomery Co. Three brothers of 
Mr. Ambler — viz. : Isaac E., Joseph M. E. and Evan 
J. — are also residents of Ambler village. Another 
brother, Louis J., resides in Philadelphia. The fam- 
ily of Ambler in Montgomery and Bucks Counties for 




M 



V^^i^LCC- 




71. In 1874 he returned to Quakertown, and again 
engaged in the coal and lumber business, which he 
still retains, though now living in Ambler, to which 
place he returned in 1878, and built the stone man- 
sion which has from that time been his residence. 

In the years 1866-68, inclusive, Mr. Ambler was a 
member of the Borough Council of Quakertown. In 
1868 he was elected a director of the Doylestown Na- 
tional Bank, and resigned after two years' service. In 
1884 he, with Benjamin P. Wertsner, William 
M. Singerly and others, organized the First Na- 
tional Bank of Ambler, of which he has been a di- 



Ju'^^ 



many generations, extending back at least one hun- 
dred and sixty years, have been members of the So- 
ciety of Friends. 



JOHN L. JONES. 

John L. Jones, one of the substantial land-owners 
and farmers of Upper Dublin township, of which he 
has been a resident for more than sixty years, was 
born on the farm of his father, in Montgomery town- 
ship, of the same county, on the 25th of June, 1811. 
He was a son of Henry Jones and his wife, Jane 
Lewis, daughter of Amos Lewis, who owned and occu- 



UPPER DUBLIN TOWNSHIP. 



1103 



pied a fine farm at Three Tuns, Upper Dublin town- 
ship. The children of Henry and Jane (Lewis) Jones 
were Lewis and Clement, both deceased ; John L., 
born as above stated, and now residing at Jarrettown ; 
and Henry, now living at Ambler, in Upper Dublin. 
The father of these children, Henry Jones, died in 
1815, when his son John L. was between four and five 
years of age. He received his only education at the 
common schools, which he attended in winter, work- 
ing on the farm in the summer season. In 1821 he 
moved, with his mother and the family, from the Jones 



removed Irom the Lewis farm to a smaller property 
which he had purchased at Jarrettown, and which is 
still his place of residence. After his removal from 
the old homestead farm of his grandfather, Lewis, he 
still continued to own it about twelve years longer, 
and finally sold it in 1884. 

John L. Jones was married, February 12, 1840, to 
Margaret Garrigues, daughter of Benjamin and Anna 
Garrigues, who were the parents of three daughters 
and one son, all of whom are now living, viz. : Mar- 
garet (Mrs. John L. Jones), Lee Garrigues (now of 




YTI'vCJY^ 



place, in Montgomery township, to the Lewis farm, near 
Three Tuns, which was then owned and occupied by 
his grandfather, Amos Lewis, who died a few months 
later in the same year. Mrs. Jones then occupied the 
farm of her father for nineteen years, uutil 1840, when 
she died and the property of herself and her deceased 
husband (the homestead and two other farms) was 
divided among their sons, Lewis, the eldest, taking 
the old Jones place of one hundred and seventy acres, 
in Montgomery township, and John L. becoming the 
owner of the Lewis homestead farm, of one hundred 
and eight acres, in Upper Dublin. On that place, as 
boy and man, he lived and worked as a farmer for 
more than a half-century, leading an honest and in- 
dustrious life, and gaining a property more than 
ample for all his needs and requirements. In 1872 he 



Norristown), Sarah (wife of George Wood, of More- 
land township) and Ellen (wife of John Meredith, of 
Norristown). 

The children of John L. and Margaret Jonea have 
been Evan, born February 2, 1841, and died Novem- 
ber 5, 1864 ; Jane, born January 13, 1843, and now the 
wife of Dr. Franklin T. Haines, of Rancocas, N. J. ; 
Anna G., born February 13, 1845, and died April 1, 
1866; Blary Ellen, born April 20, 1847, and died 
January 30, 1869; Caroline, born July 12, 1849, and 
died in infancy; Clement, born November 21,1850, 
died in infancy ; Henry, born November 28, 1852, died 
in infancy ; Caroline H., born July 9, 1854, and died 
September 19, 1881 ; Louisa G., born August 6, 1857, 
died at Enterprise, Fla., March 12, 1882. 

Mr. Jones has always been a steadfast adherent of 



1104 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the Republican party from the begiiiniug of its exist- 
ence to the present time, but he has never been an 
office-seeker nor a politician, in the strict meaning of 
the term. He and his wife are descendants of Quaker 
ancestors, and both are members of the Friends' Meet- 
ing of Upper Dublin. 



BENJAMIN KENDERDINE. 

Benjamin Kenderdine, one of the wealthy farmers 



the Horsham farm immediately after the death of its 
previous owner, Richard Kenderdine. From that 
early time to the present the Kenderdine family have 
been of the Society of Friends and members of the 
Horsham Friends' Meeting. 

Benjamin Kenderdine, of Upper Dublin, was the 
youngest of Thomas Kenderdine's family of eight 
children, who were the following named: Armitage, 
who died in Illinois; Margaret, unmarried, and now 
living in Horsham township ; Mary, married David 
Todd, and both she and her husband deceased ; Han- 





-^23^<5'9T-e-^ 



and most respected citizens of Upper Dublin, was 
born in Horsham township, Montgomery Co., on the 
IGth of August, 1818, he being a son of Thomas 
Kenderdine, a grandson of Benjamin Kenderdine, and 
a great-grandson of Thomas Kenderdine (all of Hors- 
ham township), and a descendant of a more remote 
ancestor of the lamily name, who came from Wales 
and made his first settlement in Abington. The first 
of the Kenderdine family who settled in Horsham 
was Richard, a half-brother of the elder Thomas Ken- 
derdine, which last-named purchased and settled on 



nah, widow of Robert Tomlinson ; Sarah, unmarried, 
living in Horsham ; Elizabeth, married Chalkley 
Kimball, of Hilltown, Bucks Co., where she died; 
Rachel, unmarried, living in Horsham ; and Benjamin 
Kenderdine, of Upper Dublin, to whom this sketch 
especially refers. In January, 1844, he married Sa- 
rah Ann Sneden, of New York. Their children are 
Cornelia, wife of D. Jarrett Kirk, of Upper Dublin, 
and Thomas, who is unmarried, living at the Kender- 
dine homestead, in the same township, near the Hors- 
ham line. 



UPPER HANOVER TOWNSHIP. 



1105 



CHAPTE R LXXVI. 

UPPER HANOVER TOWNSHIP. 

In the extreme northwestern part of the county is 
situated the township of Upper Hanover, bounded on 
the north by Lehigh, northwest by Berks, and east by 
Bucks Counties, south by New Hanover and Frederick, 
southeast by Marlborough and west by Doughis. Its 
greatest length is five and a half miles, greatest width 
four and a half miles, with an area of twenty-three 
square miles, or fourteen tliousand seven hundred 
and sixty acres, having been reduced nearly two 
hundred acres by the erection of East (treenville 
into a borough, in 1875. 

The surface is rolling and in some parts (piite hilly. 
The soil is chiefly red shale. The Hosensack Hills, the 
highest elevation, commence near the Douglas line 
and extend across the whole northwestern part of the 
township at the distance of a mile from the Berks 
County line. They are covered witli large bowlders 
of granite, which are being split up, and furnish the 
best of material for building purposes. From the top 
of these liills splendid views of the valley on each side, 
with the hills beyond, are had, the view to the south 
being especially fine. Below, the valley expands and 
becomes a bn^ad ba.sin surrounded witli hills, extend- 
ing a distance of over six miles, nearly through the 
centre of whiclr the Perkiomen Creek flows in a 
southern direction upwards of seven miles, and propels 
in this distance five grist-mills and four saw-mills. 
Hosensack, West Branch and Macoby Creeks are 
tributaries of this stream, the last-mentioned flowing 
through the eastern part of the township. They also 
furnish some water-power. 

The Goshenhoppen and Gireeu Lane turnpike ex- 
tends to Treichlersville, Berks Co., and was com- 
pleted in 1851. It passes on the ridge between the 
Perkiomen and Macoby Creeks, its elevation being 
such that persons driving along the road have a full 
view of the valley and surrounding hills. For about 
four miles this road is nearly level, and presents one 
of the most beautiful and attractive drives, with its 
succession ofvillages, farms, churches and fine scenery, 
that can be desired. The Gerysville and Sumney- 
town turnpike, finished in 1865, crosses the eastern 
angle of the township for two and a half miles, and 
another public road passes along the ridge between 
the Perkiomen and West Branch, known as the 
" Devil's Hole road." The Perkiomen Railroad has 
a course of upwards of five miles, with stations at 
Welker's, Hanover, Pennsburg, Palm and Hosensack. 
It was opened to Pennsburg in 187-t, and in September 
of the following year to Emaus and the Lehigh Valley. 
Though so recently constructed, this improvement has 
already done much to develop this part of the county, 
formerly so remote from railroads. The post-offices 
are Pennsburg. Red Hill, Palm and Hillegass. The 
largest villages are Pennsburg, Palm, Kleinville and 
Hillegassville. 
70 



The population of Upper Hanover in 1800 was 738 ; 
in 1830, 1.300; in 1850, 1741; in 1870, 2197; in 1880, 
2408. The taxables in 1741 numbered 97; in 1828, 
258; in 1858, 504; in 1875, 64G; in 1884, 628. This 
township, which was a part of Hanover township, 
was formed before 1741, and for its early settlers the 
reader is referred to the article on New Hanover. 
Johann Frederick Hillegass, the ancestor of the nu- 
merous family of this name in this locality, arrived 
in the ship " William and Sarah " from Rotterdam in 
September, 1727. He had seven sons and three 
daughters; two of the former, Leopold and Adam, 
came over a few years later. Before 1734 we find 
that he took up a tract of one hundred and fifty acres 
of land here, on which he made the first improve- 
ment. Isaac and John Klein came from Germany 
in 1736, and the Kleins of this locality are probably 
their descendants. Tobias Hartrauft in 1742 took up 
a patent of one hundred and thirty acres of land from 
the proprietaries. 

The First Grist-Mill on the Upper Perkiomen.— 
The following data of an ancient and interesting 
character, furnished by Philip Super, Esq., would 
seem to fix with reasonable certainty the claim of 
Upper Hanover to the oldest grist-mill on the Upper 
Perkiomen. Considering the importance attached to 
improvements of this character in the days of first 
settlements, the expensiveness of machinery, the im- 
portation from Europe of mill-stones, and their trans- 
portation on wagons from Philadelphia, over roads 
that were little more than cartways or bridle-paths, 
it becomes a matter of historical interest to fix as near 
as possible the early location of those establishments 
which supplied flour to the first bread-winners of the 
valley. 

" To-day, date yo 6th February, 1738 to '.39, an agreement has been 
made between Geo. Groner and Frederick HiUegaifs, in Upper Hanover 
township ; above-named George Groner has sold his mill and the land to 
it from the white-oak tree down to where the stakes are set to Robert 
Thomas' line, and along with it the crow-bar, two hatchets, and one 
broad axe, and the half-bushel, and the toll and two hogshea-ls, and all 
things nail fast ; and George Groner promises that Frederick Hillegass 
shall have the right from Jacob Wissler's line down to the mill-privilege, 
with the mill race, one perch on this side and one perch on the other 
side, but the above-mentioned Hillegass must do him no damage ; the 
above-mentioned Hillegass shall keep said George Groner clear of ex- 
penses that might be made on the certain land that he has sold to him 
and said Groner shall still have the privilege to grind in the milt till the 
tirst day of April, 1739, and the above-named Frederick Hillegass 
promises said George Groner to give for the mill and above-mentioned 
land 150 pound and one wagon, 80 pound on the IGth of November, and 
25 pound on the 16th of November, 1740, and again 25 pound on the 
IGth of November, 1741, and further Frederick Hillegass promises to pay 
20 pound on the 16th of November, in the year 1742, and the purchaser 
and seller promise to fulfill the above sale, as witness, 

" Johannes Huls. 

" Philip Labar. 

" Frederick Hillegass. 

" GaOBGE Groner. 

"[Seal.]" 

" Articles of agreement made, indented, agreed and fully concluded 
on the twenty -third day of February, in the year of our Lord one thou- 
sand seven hundred and thirty-eight and nine, between George Groner 
of Upper Hanover township and county of Philadelphia, yeoman, of 
the one part, and George Shenk, of the same place, husbandman, of the 
other part, witnesseth that the said George Groner for the consideration 



1106 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of lift.v-flve poTimIs, ciirii>iit lawful money of Pennsylvania, the said 
George Groner hath baigained and sold, and doth bargain and sell, unto 
the said George Shenk all the improvements and work done upon a 
piece or tract of land that was bought of Lodowig Christian Sproegel 
gome yeai-s ago, in the township above mentioned, situated on Macove 
creek, an improvement which Henry Roder hath improved and pos- 
sessed some years ago, containing in one hundred and tifty acres of land, 
which has been surveyed to the said Groner and said Eoder, doth except 
for a reserve of the said plantaticjn for his heirs, exes., adnis., or assigns 
one perch or pole of land upon one side of the mill-race, and one perch 
or pole upon the other side forever, fur to mend the race, but the said 
Groner, his heire, execs., admins., and assigns shall not moe any giniss 
\ipon the said reserved land, and the said George Shenk, his heirs 
execs., and adnis,, and assigns shall not make any fence without 
license within a perch or pole distance of the said race, and it is also 
agreed that the said Geo. Shenk, his heire, execs, adms., or assigns 
shall keep the said George Groner, his heire, execs., adms., or assigns 
harmless of any costs or charges or interests which could or should bo 
deiuanded any time hereafter of the said tract or piece of land. As for 
the time performance, the both parties have interchangeably sot their 
bauds and seal in the 12th year of his Majesty's Reign, George the 
second, by the Grace of God, King of Great Brittain, Sic, in the year of 
our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Ihii1y-eight and nine. N. B. 
—The said George Groner hath accepted the half crop of winter corn 
which is now sowed in the ground, which shall be divided next harvest 
upon the field. 

" Sealed and delivered in the presence of us, 

" Ll'DWIG BlTTINQ. 

" Peter Walstein. 
" George Groner. 
" George Shenk. 

"[Seal]" 

These documents co nclusively prove that there was 
a mill on the Makove Creek, in Upper Hanover 
township, before the 6th day of February, 1739. 

Pennsburg is situated on the Green Lane and Go- 
shenhoppen turnpike, and the station of the Perkio- 
men Kailroad here is twenty-three miles from the 
Reading Junction, and forty-eight from Philadelphia. 
The greater part of the ground on which Pennsburg 
now stands was formerly owned by several brothers 
by the name of Heilig, and as each of these had built 
a house along the public road, which has since be- 
come the turnpike road, the place began to assume 
the appearance of a village, and people, in speaking 
of it, began to name it, some calling it by one name, 
and some by another, the gretitest number speaking 
of it as Heiligville. After much talking, a meeting 
was held at the store of Jacob Hillegass, Sr., on an 
evening in the beginning of the year 1843, for the 
]>urpose of deciding the question in dispute, at which 
three difterent names were proposed, viz.: Heilig- 
ville, Pennsburg and Buchananville, this last after 
James Buchanan, who was then a Senator of the 
United States, and afterwards President. At this 
meeting it was agreed that the village should com- 
mence at the line of Frederick Hillegass' (later 
Thomas B. Hillegass') land at the south, and extend 
up the road to die iqipcr line of land then owned by 
the heirs of James :\sbmead, deceased, on the north, 
a distance of a mile and a half. There was no diffi- 
culty in fixing the boundaries, as each one was agreed 
that the village was destined to become an important 
place, and that it was therefore desirable to have 
plenty of ground to spread upon, and thus prevent 
the necessity of annexing more territory for a long 



time to come. But when it came to agreeing upon a 
name, the unanimity of the meeting was at once 
broken up, the advocates of the difierent names be- 
coming very much excited, and each vehemently 
insisting upon the adoption of his favorite name. It 
becoming evident, after a long discussion, that neither 
party could command a majority of the votes of the 
meeting for the name desired by it, a compromise 
was effected, by which it was agreed to adjourn the 
meeting for a week, and to invite all either in or out 
of the village who felt an interest in the matter to 
attend. 

Notice of the adjourned meeting was accordingly 
published, and as each party had been busy in advo- 
cating its cause, the meeting proved large and en- 
thusiastic. After another heated discussion the vote 
was finally taken, when the name of Pennsburg was 
adopted by a considerable majority over its compet- 
itors. The proceedings were ordered to be published 
in the Bauern Freund, at that time published in 
Sumueytown, and from thenceforth Pennsburg was the 
name under which the village has grown and pros- 
pered. At that time the village contained twelve 
houses scattered along the road, in one of which was 
a country store. It also had a blacksmith -shop, a 
carpenter-shop, and some out-buildings. The tavern 
was wanting. There had formerly been a tavern kept 
in the large two-story store building at the crossing of 
the Pottsl;own and Quakertown roads, but for want of 
patronage this had for several years been abandoned. 
It was not till the year 1847 that a tavern was again 
opened in the place, when Mr. George Graber put up 
the large two-story frame building, which was licensed 
the same year, and which has since been kept as a 
tavern by the name of the Pennsburg Hotel. 

For many years before the village was named there 
was a post-office established and kept at a house iu 
the lower end of the place, at present owned by Mr. 
Aaron Griesemer, which was called Upper Hanover 
post-office. At that time there was a weekly mail to 
and from Philadelphia, by which a person could with 
reasonable certainty count upon getting an answer to 
a letter sent to any part of the State in from two to 
four weeks. About the year 1840 the post-office was 
moved to the house before mentioned as having been 
a tavern, where it was kejit till 1866, when it was 
moved to the store of Jacob Hillega.ss, Sr., where it is 
kept at present. The name of the post-office was 
changed to Pennsburg about the year 1850. The first 
improvement in mail service was a tri-weekly mail 
from Philadelphia to Hereford and return, established 
about twenty-five years ago, which passed through 
the village. Then came a daily mail over the same 
route, after which another daily mail was established 
from Pennsburg, by way of Quakertown, to Philadel- 
phia and return. These services were kept up till 
the opening of the Perkiomen Railroad rendered a 
change necessary. At the present time the mail ser- 
vice consists of two daily mails from Pennsburg to 



UPPER HANOVER TOWNSHIP. 



1107 



Philadelphia and return, one by the Perkiomen Rail- 
road and the other by the way of Quakertown 
and the North Pennsylvania Railroad. A daily mail 
is made up from Pennsburg to Hereford, and a tri- 
weekly mail from Pennsburg, by way of Hillegassville, 
Pleasant Run, Douglas and Frederick, to New Han- 
over and return. 

In 1851 a lodge of Independent Order of Odd- Fel- 
lows was opened in the village which now numbers 
one hundred and seventy-five members, and meets on 
Saturday evening of every week. An encampment of 
the same order has been established, which meets on 
the first and third Tuesdays of each month. Penns- 
burg contains upwards of one hundred dwelling-houses, 
two potteries, two blacksmith-shops, one wheelwright- 
shop, one butcher-shop, two carpenter-shops, two 
cooper-shops, one fine school-house, one brick church 
(occupied jointly by a Lutheran and a Reformed 
congregation), a printing-ofiice (at which the Baucrn 
Freund u/id Pennsburg Democrat is published, also 
the Perkiomen Valley Press), a steam brick-yard 
where bricks are manufactured by machinery, a steam 
felloe manufactory, a large steam planing-mill and 
sash-factory and numerous out-buildings. There are 
in the place a hotel, a restaurant, two large country 
stores, a hardware and drug-store, a shoe manufactory 
employing a number of hands, and a tinware and 
stove-store. Several trades in addition to those enu- 
merated are carried on in the place. William M, 
Staufler began the manufacture of cigars here about 
1S70, and later John Dimmig, J. M. Keller and Wil- 
liam M. Jacobs entered the business. About sixty 
persons are emploj'ed in this industry, and four mil- 
lions of cigars are made annually. The Perkiomen 
Railroad Company have erected here a large and 
convenient depot, and have also put up a large frame 
engine-house, cattle-pen and the necessary sidings. 
Messrs. Hillegass & Mensch have opened a coal, lime 
and lumber-yard near the depot. 

The railroad facilities enjuyed by this village have 
greatly increased the value of property. Streets are 
being opened, building-lots laid out, which, when 
offered for sale, command excellent prices, and the 
idea of those who named the place, " that it was to 
become the largest and most imjjortant town in the 
valley," is fast being realized. 

Palm Station or village is situated on theGoshen- 
hoppeu and Green Lane turnpike, between two and 
three miles northwest of East Greenville. The main 
highway is here intersected by a cross-road leading to 
the Schwenkfeld meeting-house, and the Perkiomen 
Railroad passes within a few hundred yards of the 
turnpike. Tlie village has its hotel, store, post-office 
and station, with mechanic industries and a number 
of dwellings, most of which appear to have been re- 
cently built. The village is pleasantly located near 
the base of the Hosensack Hills, and near where the 
Hoseusack Creek empties into the head-waters of the 
Perkiomen. The surrounding country is well 



improved, and the station is one of considerable 
importance to the community. 

Kleinville, so named from two brothers by the 
name of Klein, who owned several farms in the 
vicinity, is nicely located on a straight and level piece 
of the turnpike road. It is a rather scattered village, 
containing about fifteen houses, most of which are 
neat and comfortable farm-houses, surrounded by the 
usual farm buildings. We here find the tavern, the 
store, blacksmitli-shop, shoemaker-shop and several 
useful trades. 

Hillegassville is divided into two parts, each of 
which is a])parently about to set up for itself and to 
repudiate the old name. The upper part of the vil- 
lage consists of a hotel and several dwellings. The 
hotel was built about fifty years ago by George Hille- 
gass, who died shortly after its erection. It then, with 
a large tract of land, pa.ssed into the hands of his sons, 
who, several years back, sold the hotel, with about 
eighty acres of land, to Henry N. Hevener, This 
part of the village is but a fourth of a mile from 
Hanover Station, on the Perkiomen Railrord, and 
Mr. Thomas B. Hillegass, the owner of the land on 
the north side of the public road leading from the 
hotel to the station, has laid out his front in building- 
lots, several of which have been sold to parties who 
intend to erect buildings thereon. The upper and 
lower parts of the village are divided by a tract of 
farm-land of more than a quarter of a mile in length, 
making the two parts of the village more than a 
quarter of a mile apart. Some years ago a post-office 
was established at a place called Red Hill, a hill on 
the turnpike road about a mile below Hillegassville. 
At that time a store was kept there, the proprietor of 
which selling out, and there being no other place for 
the post-office, it was removed to the store in the 
lower part of Hillegassville, which at once adopted 
the name of Red Hill. This part of the village was 
commenced in 1836 by Jacob A. Hillegass, now 
deceased, who in that year built a large store and 
dwelling-house and a large barn and out-houses, 
which were occupied in the spring of 1837. Subse- 
quently he put up other buildings in the place. This 
part of the village contains about a dozen dwellings, 
a school-house belonging to Upper Hanover District, 
a blacksmith-shop, a tailor-shop, a cigar manufactory 
and other buildings. This is the last of the villages 
in the basin through which the Perkiomen, the 
Northwest Branch and the Macoby Creeks flow. 

There are eleven public schools in Upper Hanover, 
including the independent school district of Penns- 
burg. The regular school term is five months, nine 
teachers (all male) being employed at a salary of 
thirty-two dollars per month. When Pennsburg was 
formed into an independent school district a large 
two-story brick school-house was erected at a cost of 
four thousand dollars, which is conveniently fitted up 
and is an ornament to the place. Two schools are 
organized in this building, for which two teachers, one 



1108 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



male and one female, are employed, the former at a 
salary of fifty dollars and the latter thirty-two dollars 
per month. The school term is six months. The en- 
tire number of pupils in attendance upon the pub- 
lic schools in the township is four hundred and sixty- 
six. 

The number of taxables is 628; value of improved 
lands, ¥1,.305,970; value of unimproved lands, $74,- 
540; valueof 540 horses, 133,615; value of 1205 cat- 
tle, .$35,360 ; total value of property taxable for 
county purposes, 11,511,705. 

The following, from the mercantile appraiser's list 
of 1884, gives an accurate idea of the present business 
places in this township : Joseph B. Bechtel, live- 
stock ; Frank Bachman, butcher ; William Christ- 
man, live stock ; William Did, stoves ; B. B. Emery, 
merchandise; M. K. Gilbert, merchandise; D. K. 
Graber & Brother, stock ; S. P. Hillegas & Co., live- 
stock ; M. H. Houch, merchandise ; Hillegas & Heyner, 
flour and feed ; J. G. Hillegas, lumber and coal ; John 
G. Hillegas, flour and feed; William Hiestand, coal; 
William Hiestand, flour and feed; Charles Kentz, 
coal and feed; D. S. Kern, sewing-machines ; Krause, 
Brother & Leshcr, flour and feed ; Milton Kern, 
butcher; John Kepler, flour and feed; Kline & 
Brother, flour and feed ; S. G. Mensch, hardware ; 
John Mack, merchandise ; Wilson Hitter, live-stock ; 
Jesse Rodenberger, live-stock ; E. Senkle, butcher ; 
F. S. Schelley, merchandise; J. F. Seasholtz, live- 
stock ; M. Snyder, flour and feed ; W. H. Trump, coal 
and lumber; W. H. Trump, flour and feed; Charles 
Void, boots and shoes ; William A. Welker, merchan- 
dise ; J. Yergey, flour and feed ; C. A. Miller, 
butcher ; Peter S. Renninger, live-stock ; Henry 
Schwenk, live-stock ; Henry Stahsel, truck and fruit; 
F. K. Walt, boots and shoes. 

Reformed Church of Goshenhoppen. — About one 
mile west of East Greenville, and close to the east 
bank of the Perkiomen, stands the Reformed Church 
of New Goshenhoppen.' 

The reason of its location at this point was owing 
to the donation of six acres of land for graveyard 
purposes by John Henry Sproegel at the opening of 
the eighteenth century. It is impossible to fix the 
date of this benevolent act more definitely. It is 
known from the public entries that the Sproegel 
brothers entered the province of Pennsylvania as 
Hollanders, and that they were naturalized in 1705. 
By several purchases they acquired thirteen thousand 
acres of land, which was known for many years as 
the " Sproegel Manor." A part of the domain em- 



1 Tho region known as " Goshenhoppen " is a part of Perkiomen 
Valley, and comprises two sections, — Old and New Goshenhoppen. The 
division of the territory does not imply an earlier and later occupancy, 
since the whole was settled simnltaneously ; but that the southern por- 
tion (Old) was brought into note somewhat sooner than the northern 
part (New) in consequence of its proximity to Philadelphia. Since 
the date of the oldest record extant Goshenhoppen has been variously 
written, viz. : Quesohopen, Cossehoppa, Goshenhoppen, Coshahoplti, 
Cowissaliopen, CoscUehoppe, Goshenhoppen. 



braced Upper and New Hanover townships. Their 
homestead of six hundred acres lay in Pottsgrove. 
In the neighborhood of Pottstown, on the bank of the 
Schuylkill, the Sproegel burying-grounds are still 
to be seen. The six acres which were donated for 
burial purposes were given to the Reformed, Lutheran 
and Mennonite denominations, and were used by the 
several parties till quite a late period. Tradition 
establishes the German Reformed Church at New 
Goshenhoppen as early .as 1716, but, adhering to the 
first church records, of which there is certain knowl- 
edge, it is only safe to date its organization from the 
opening of the book. In 1731 the following preface 
was written : "A Record of the names of the Fathers 
of Families who belong to the congregation at New 
Goshenhoppen." 

Catologue of names: John Steinman, Henry Gall- 
man, John Bingeman, Joh. George Welker, Bene- 
dict Strohm, Philip Emmert, John Hut,. Abraham 
Transu, Aredreas Graber, Philip Ried, George Mesz, 
John George PfalsgratF, Jacob Fischer, Paul Staab, 
Wendel Wiandt, Herman Fischer, Conrad Colb, John 
Michael Roeder, John Michael Moll, Frederick Hil- 
legass, John Bartholemaus Kucker, Michael Lutz, 
Andreas Loehr, George Mirtz, Michael Fabian, Henry 
Jung, Philip Jacob Shellhammer, Loenhart Fnozf, 
Jacob Fnozf, Caspar Lamm, Ca.spar Holtzhauser, 
Michael Zimmerman, Baltasar Hut, Michael Lefy, 
Jacob Maurer, Frederick Maurer, Christian Fnozf, 
Frederick Pfanenbeker, Benedict Raderly, Valentine 
Griesemer, Lorentz Hartman, George Philip Dotder, 
Jacob Meyer, Daniel Lanar, Peter Walzer. Some of 
the emigrants whose names had been entered in this 
early church-roll had arrived prior to 1727. Quite a 
goodly number of this colony are still represented in 
the congregation by their posterity. Of these are 
especially to be noted the Hillegasses, Grabers, Molls, 
Reids, Griesemers, Welkers, Wiandts, Youngs, 
Maurers, Roeders, Pannebeckers, Kolbs, Fishers, 
Kuckers, Lefys, Moyers and others. The church at 
this time had a membership of about one hundred 
and thirty-five persons. The bulk of these original 
members had been to the Germanic churches what 
the Pilgrim Fathers were to the Puritans in America. 

With these Pilgrim Fathers of the Reformed Church 
in the New World, we count the primitive members of 
the German Reformed congregation at New Goshen- 
hoppen. Johann Heinrich Goetschy, who brought 
a number of Swiss to this country about the year 
1731, is accredited with being the first minister of this 
congregation. 

The pastors — Boehm, who had arrived in 1720, and 
Weiss, who piloted a colony of Palatinates in 1727 to 
Pennsylvania — doubtless installed Goetschy in his 
large field, the various points of which were Skip- 
pack, Old Goshenhoppen, Egypt, Maxatawny, Masil- 
lon, Oley, Bern, Tulpehocken, Great Swamp, Saucon, 
and here at New Goshenhoppen. Pastor Goetschy 
was a learned man, being familiar with the Holland, 



UPPER HANOVER TOWNSHIP. 



1109 



German, Latin and Greek languages, and was a most 
diligent worker. His pastorate seems to have closed 
in 1739. It is not to be unmistakably interred that 
Dominie Goetschy had really been the first pastor at 
New Goshenhoppen. All that can be declared is 
that he opened the church register in a regular way. 
Pastor Weiss may have been the pioneer and 
founder of the congregation, and he m.ay have 
placed Pastor Goetschy in the field after an organiza- 
tion had been efi'ected under his hand, for he was 
familiar with the whole Reformed field at that day, 
and subsequently became closely identified with this 
charge. Pastor Weiss was born at Stebbeck, in 
Necherthal, Germany, about 1700.- He was educated 
at Heidelberg well and thoroughly, and licensed in 
1725. He emigrated in 1727. Ministering in Phila- 
delphia and visiting outlying points for the purpose 
of organizing congregations in various localities, such 
as Skippaelt especially, he returned to Holland in 
1729, in company with Elder Reifl^, of the latter point, 
to collect funds for church-building. In 1731, Domi- 
nie Weiss returned to America, Elder Reiff remain- 
ing aljroad still longer. Instead of returning to Skip- 
pack, we find him operating in the State of New York 
from 1731-35, the reason for which being thus ac- 
counted for : The Rev. John Philip Boehm, who had 
emigrated in 1720, already had, as a schoolma.ster, per- 
formed ministerial functions at the earnest solicita- 
tions of the people and flocks scattered over the prov- 
ince. Dominie Weiss could not endure such an ir- 
regular course. A long quarrel ensued between the 
two men and the several parties siding with them. 
Opposition organizations were forming. Weiss' trip 
to Holland was directly occasioned by a desire to gain 
funds for the church edifice at Skippack. Mean- 
while Boehm was ordained, in the wake of which act a 
reconciliation was effected and the opposition ceased. 
Consequently Weiss sought another field on his return. 
In 174(3 he returned to Pennsylvania, according to 
the records extant. He commenced his labors now at 
Goshenhoppen (New and Old) and Great Swamp, in 
Montgomery and Lehigh Counties (then Bucks), re- 
ceiving an annual salary of forty pounds and con- 
tinued in this charge until the day of his death, in 
1763. His tomb is inclosed in the churchyard at 
New Goshenhoppen. 

Comparing the roll of membership which Pastor 
Goetschy entered withthatof Pastor Weiss, an addition 
of a number of emigrants is noticed, whose names 
were mingled with those of the primitive colony. 
Although they were all possessed of a religious mind 
and identified with the Christian Church in the Old 
World, it must not be forgotten that the Reformed 
colonies planting themselves over the province of 
Pennsylvania during the early period of its history 
were a chaotic body. 

Many and severe were the trials of the zealous and 
cultured Dominie Weiss in organizing the ma.s.ses into 
congregations. They were suspicious of ecclesiastical 



enslavement and imposition above all things. When 
Pastor Weiss presented his ordination certificate in Latin 
they ignored it, and obliged him to secure a German 
copy, which they could themselves read, ere they con- 
fided in him. It was during Pastor Weiss' term that 
the six acres which John Henry Sproegel had originally 
donated as a burying-ground to the Reformed Lutheran 
and Mennonite denominations were increased by fifty 
acres and twenty -six perches. The purchase was 
effected in 1749, although the deed was not secured 
until February 23, 1796. The instrument was executed 
by Abraham Sniger and his wife, Anna, and Thomas 
Tresse and wife, Mary, who succeeded to the Sproegel 
estate, to Wendel Wieandt and John Schell, of the Re- 
formed congregation, in trust. The Lutherans and 
Mennonites became joint owners with the Reformed. 

The first church was accordingly a Union Church. 
In what year it was erected no record declares. The 
primitive log building may have been planted shortly 
after the organization of the congregation, in 1731. 
Perhaps the year 1744, during which the church in 
Old Goshenhoppen was built, may be taken a-s a good 
and a correct one. The Lutheran congregation sold 
out its right, in 1796, to the Reformed for ninety pounds. 
The Mennonites had erected for themselves a meet- 
ing-house in Washington township, Berks Co., 
in 1741. They, however, held a burying right until a 
very late day. The parsonage grounds, a tract of some 
fifty acres, were likewise approjiriated to the use of the 
three Reformed congregations during Piistor Weiss' 
reign, in 1749-50. In 1834 the Old Goshenhoppen 
congregation seceded from the triune fellowship. In 
1865 the remaining two congregations sold the parson- 
age to Mr. Jonas Welker, in whose possession it still 
remains. 

The death of Pastor Weiss caused a break in the 
regular line of ministers likewise at New Goshen- 
hoppen. The congregation had not been left wholly 
without a shepherd, the following persons having tem- 
porarily officiated : Jacob Reiss, a pastor almost un- 
known, who had been minister in charge at Indian 
Field and Tohickon from 1749-53. It is probable that 
he had not been a regular j^astor after the year 1753. 
He died December 23, 1774. Another pastor was 
Philip Jacob Michael. Though a weaver by trade, he 
is said to have been a man of culture. He was the 
founder of Ziegel's church, and succeeded in gather- 
ing a series of congregations around himself near his 
home. Pastor Leydich had been the minister at 
Falconer Swampand New Providence, in Montgomery 
County, a man in good repute and loyal to the church. 
He emigrated in the year 1748, from which time dates, 
likewise, his long and settled pastorate to the end of 
his life. Besides ministering faithfully to his own 
charge, he supplied, in seasons of emergencies, Upper 
Milford, Salzburg and New Goshenhoppen. Pastor 
John Theobold Faber was born in the Palatinate in 
1739. 

His early training and later preparation for the 



1110 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



office of the mmistry had been of the highest order. 
He sailed for this country and lauded at Philadelphia 
September 2, 1766. On the 24th of Octoljer of the 
same year he opened his pastorate as minister in 
the charge composed of the three congregations at 
New and Old Goshenhoppen and Great Swamp. 
He resided near Sumneytown, Montgomery Co., hav- 
ing found a home at Mr. Hiester's house. On the 
7th of August, 1770, he was married to Miss Barbara 
Rose, of Reading, and after his marriage moved to the 
parsonage. For thirteen years his ministry in this 
field went on smoothly. In 1771 a new church was 
erected, and the inner life of the congregation near 
his home had especially revived. The Reformed 
Church at Lancaster had, at various times, extended a 
call to Pastor Weiss to that charge. His old charge 
unanimously desired to retain him as their pastor, but, 
notwithstanding, the thrice-repeated call led the 
Synod to urge him to make the change. He preached 
his farewell sermon at New Goshenhoppen October 
6, 1779. It seems that the city of Lancaster contrasted 
unfavorably as against the quiet vailey of Goshen- 
hoppen in Pastor Faber's mind. In his correspond- 
ence with his former rural friends he betrayed a 
restlessness and frequently expressed his regret over 
the change he had made. Nor did things move on so 
smoothly in his nfw field, and he assured his wife 
and intimate friends that he would return to the 
lower counties by the first opportunity. After the 
lapse of three years the Indian Field charge, in Bucks 
County, Pa., became vacant. A call having been ex- 
tended him, he promptly accepted it, and now he was 
within fifteen miles of his former home. He labored 
in Bucks County during two years, when he moved 
back into his first and favorite field. During his 
absence the Rev. Frederick Dellicker officiated at 
Goshenhoppen from 1781-84, and Rev. Frederick 
Wilhelm Vandersloot from 1784-86. 

The reunion of Pastor Faber with his flock resulted 
well to both parties, but it was not of long continu- 
ance. At the close of a funeral sermon, preached on 
the 2d day of November, 1788, he became uncon- 
scious and in a short time breathed his last. Two 
days later his grave was dug within the walls of the 
church, beneath the pulpit. The elder Weiser had a 
memorial tablet i)laced over his remains, with an 
inscription corresponding to another similar one which 
he had also placed over the remains of the younger 
Faber's dust, likewise buried within the church, at 
the opposite side of the pulpit. For nearly one year 
after the sudden demise of Pastor Faber the Goshen- 
hoppen flock was without a pastor. The neighbor- 
ing ministers did all necessary services, but in 1789 
the Rev. Nicholas Pomp commenced his ministry 
here and remained in charge till Johann Theobald 
Faber, Jr., had prepared himself to be his father's 
successor. John Theobald was in his eighteenth year 
(1789) when he entered upon his prcpar.atory course for 
the li >ly ministry. In the early part of the year 1791 



he was licensed, ordained and installed pastor of the 
charge. His return to the flock as pastor was a cir- 
cumstance of much interest to all parties. In his in- 
troductory he did not fail to call attention to the pe- 
culiarly solemn position in which he found himself 
placed. The death of his beloved father occurring, as 
it were, in the very spot on which he then was speaking ; 
his mouldering remains lying under his very feet; 
his youth and hasty preparations to become his sire's 
successor ; the questionable propriety of becoming a 
prophet in his own country, — on all these points the 
young pastor delicately touched with much trembling 
and many tears. He was married to Mary Arndt, of 
Easton, Pa., in 1796, and then established himself in the 
parsonage, becoming fully his father's successor. He 
filled the pulpits in charge acceptably, the older mem- 
bers regarding him in the light of a dear son and at 
all times addressing him in words of encouragement 
and love. He wisely cared, too, for the young of his 
flocks, and gave himself no little concern for the main- 
tenance of parochial schools. In consequence of some 
dissatisfaction arising, he resigned his charge, in 1807, 
for one in New Holland, Lancaster Co., Pa., after 
having served this people in the room of his father 
for the period of fifteen years. 

The Rev. J. Albert C. Helffenstein succeeded to the 
pastorate. His first church record in the church 
register was made April 21, 1808, and his ministry 
extended over a period of two years and ten months. 
The Goshenhoppen charge was his first field of labor, 
he having been a licentiate fresh from his studies. 
Being a youiig man and somewhat inexperienced, as 
well as wholly unused to the ways of a rural people, 
he found himself ill at ease in his work here. Be- 
sides, the English language was his vernacular, which 
he was obliged to lay aside entirely among this peo- 
ple. Believing that a more congenial field had 
opened for him, and I'ully persuaded, too, that 
another shepherd could be chosen who might prove 
more efficient in this charge, he left for Carlisle, Pa. 

When Pastor Heltt'enstein left Goshenhoppen, in 
1811, the choice.of a successor fell at once upon Pas- 
tor Frederick Wilhelm Von der Sloot, Jr. The 
remembrance of the father, no doubt, contributed 
much towards the selection of the son. His father 
and grandfather having been men of liberal education, 
Frederick Wilhelm enjoyed many advantages over 
others in his own country. He had been prepared 
with a view of entering the legal profession, and it 
seems he had actually entered upon the active prac- 
tice of his chosen calling for a t'evr years prior to his 
emigration, which was in 1801. Coming thence to 
Philadelphia and Easton in search of his father, who 
had preceded him to America, he fell in with a farmer 
from Allen township, Northampton Co., who con- 
ducted him to the parsonage which the older Von der 
Sloot occupied. The meeting of father and son 
proved, in a measure, the narrative of the parable of 
the Prodigal Son over again. The elder exclaimed, 



Uri'ER HANOVER TOWNSHIP. 



nil 



"This is my only beloved son from Germany! " The 
stepmother said, " And a fine-looking son he is." He 
remained with his father and prepared himself for 
the ministry. Later he visited the charge at Gosheu- 
hoppen, preached trial-sermons in the several pulpits, 
received and accepted a call and entered upon his 
duties in this locality in 1812-13. He served in the 
charge for a period of five years, supplying the Re- 
formed congregation at Trappe, Montgomery Co., in 
addition to his regular duties. 

By an inscrutable Providence, the younger Pastor 
Faber was led to follow still further in the foot-prints 
of the elder Faber. Both father and son had com- 
menced their pastoral life among this people, and 
both had been called to separate charges, the one to 
Lancaster City, the other to Lancaster County, and 
so, too, had it been ordained that both should again 
be recalled to and end their histories among- this 
peoi)le. Wfien Pastor Von der Bloot had vacated the 
field, the minds of a large majority of the mem- 
bership in his coijgregation tiivored the recalling 
of their former pastor. It was during this election 
of pastor that the Reformed congregation of Old 
Goshenhoppen became dissatisfied and severed 
its connection of eighty years' standing with the 
other churches of this charge. Its pulpit was supplied 
by the pastor over the charge in Falconer Swamp 
until the death of Pastor Faber, when it became 
identified as a factor in that pastoral charge. The 
congregation at Upper Milford was substituted in its 
room in Pastor Faber's field on the 22d day of October, 
1820, and remained a part of his field to the close of 
his life. He entered upon the discharge of his duties 
on the 3d day of June, 1819, and continued his second 
pastorate over thirteen years, both periods swelling it 
to twenty-nine. His field of lalwr was still the same, 
though its complexion had vastly changed. The old 
house at the parsonage had been removed and a new 
two-storied stone building erected in its stead under 
Pastor Helffenstein. The few who remained of his 
father's time at the close of his first term had ended 
tlu'ir days, and the companions of his youth and early 
ministry had become aged like himself. He was no 
longer " young " Faber, but " Father " Faber rather, 
and in his own mind he determined that, as he had 
been young and old in this field, his bones should lay 
beside the dust of his father, if it pleased God. Pas- 
tor Faber's history, like that' of his sainted father, 
came suddenly and solemnly to a close. While in the 
middle of a funeral discourse he was taken suddenly 
ill and sank away. It was just forty-five years later 
than the time his father had received his final call to 
the eternal world. He lingered a few days, his death 
occurring on the 16th day of February, 1833. The 
congregation decided to lay his remains beside the 
dust of his father within the chancel. When the 
repairing of the second church was being carried 
forward, the pastor had the unpretending mark of 
Pastor Faber's tomb supplanted by an entablature. 



Thus did the tombs of the two Fabers, under the 
right and left sides of the puljjit, seem as pillars. In 
the erection of the third church these sacred spots fell 
without the walls. The temple now standing excels 
all its predecessors, it is true, but the glory which 
these tombs conferred on the former the latter has 
not. 

The next pastor over this charge was the Rev. 
Daniel Weiser, the youngest child of eleven born to 
Conrad and Barbara Weiser. In his youthful years 
he was employed as clerk in the service of his brother 
Conrad at Beavertown, Snyder Co., Pa. In his four- 
teenth year he enlisted as a volunteer in Nerr Mid- 
dlesworth's company and served in the war of 1812 for 
four months, after which he was discharged, the war 
having ended. For this act of youthful patriotism he 
was rewarded with one hundred and sixty acres of 
land in 1861, and a pension of twelve dollars per 
month in 1871 to the day of his death. His trade was 
that of a nailsmith during his first manhood. In his 
twenty-second year he commenced the study of the- 
ology under the Rev. James R. Riley, of Hagers- 
town, Md. He subsequently continued and com- 
pleted his course under the Rev. Henry Yost Fries, of 
Mifflinsburg, Pa. He was licensed to preach the 
gospel in 1822 and ordained by the Synod in 1823. 
His first charge was composed of three congregations, 
located around Selinsgrove, Snyder Co., Pa., which 
subsequently embraced fourteen stations. Here he 
labored ten years. During this part of his ministry 
he married Lydia Ruth, of Milton, who died seven 
months later of yellow fever. Several years later he 
married Caroline Boyer, of Norristown, Pa. In 1833 
he succeeded as pastor over the New Goshenhoppen 
and Great Swamp charge, over which he ministered 
as an active pastor for thirty years, serving during the 
last twelve years as superintendant of the Infant Sun- 
day-school, occasional assistant to his son and tem- 
porary supply in vacant fields. Pastor Weiser con- 
tinued healthy and vigorous to the last. On the 22d 
day of November, 1875, after complaining of a cold 
lor several days, he was stricken with paralysis. After 
lingering for ten days, with consc'ousand unconscious 
intervals, he died December 2d, at the age of seventy- 
six years. He was buried on December 9th, at the New 
Goshenhoppen Reformed Church, amid many of his 
former members and friends. But two children sur- 
vive him, a son and a daughter. Pastor Weiser had 
served but two charges during a ministerial life of 
fifty-two years. His first field embraced the church in 
which he had been baptized by the Lutheran pastor, 
lasensky, and subsequently confirmed by the Reformed 
pastor, Isaac Gerhart He was a self-made man, and 
for a man in his circumstances, or of his opportuni- 
ties, we would pronounce him well-made. Franklin 
and Marshall College conferred the title of Doctor of 
Divinity upon him during the evening of his life. 

Pastor Daniel Weiser had often said the next evil 
to a pastorate too brief seemed to him to be a pastor- 



1112 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



ate too long. As little as lie approved of itinerating, 
BO little did he favor the outliving of one's day. Ac- 
cordingly, after laboring diligently and successfully 
through thirty years, his son was called to his side as 
assistant pastor, April, 1862. The younger Weiser 
had been serving his novitiate pastorate in and around 
Selinsgrove, Snyder Co., Pa., his native place, as it 
had likewise been the birth-place of the father, as well 
us his maiden field. On the 2d day of November, 
18(53, the Rev. C. Z. Weiser was elected pastor-in- 
chief of the Gosheuhoppen charge by a literally 
unanimous vote. Thus for the third time in the his- 
tory of this charge had father and son worn the same 
mantle in the same field, — the Von der Sloots, the 
Fabers and the Weisers. On the 21st day of August 
the installation services were held in the Great Swamp 
Church, the brethren Revs. A. J. G. Dubbs, R. A. 
Van Court and P. S. Fisher having been appointed 
the committee by Goshenhoppen Classis to attend to 
this duty. After a term of service, extending over 
twenty years, the j)resent pastor has reason to be 
thankful for having had the labor of his heart and 
hand so largely blessed. The number of the several 
flocks has constantly increased by fair accessions, the 
guests at the altar now numbering near one thousand 
souls. He attriljutes the steady and healthy growth 
of the field, under God, to the long line of properly- 
equipped and very worthy pastors before or back of 
himself. In comparing the condition of the church 
to-day with that of more than a century ago striking 
contrasts are noticed. One hundred and fifty years 
ago Pastor Goetschy served in a diocese which ex- 
tended from Skippack to Tulpehocken, from Goshen- 
hoppen as his centre. Many laborers have entered 
the field, whilst New Goshenhoppen and Great Swamp 
have sustained their own shepherd exclusively since 
the advent of Pastor Daniel Weiser, in 1833. We 
doubt whether the whole territory numbered as many 
communicants as now surround the altar at New 
Goshenhoppen. 

The church at New Goshenhoppen is a large 
brick edifice, built in the year 1857. It is one of the 
largest and most. showy churches to be found outside 
of the cities and is the third church built at this 
place. 

Rev. Clement Z. AVeiser, D. D. — Dr. Weiser, 
the only survivor of three sons, was born in Union 
(now Snyder) County, Pa., which was also the na- 
tive place of his brother, the late Dr. Daniel 
Weiser. He is the fourth removed from the re- 
nowned and historical Conrad Weiser. He gradu- 
ated from old Marshall C(dlcge in 1850, and then 
acted as German tutor, and .subsequently as co- 
principal over the preparatory department for two 
years after the removal of the college to Lancaster. 
Just twenty-five years after graduation Franklin and 
Marshall College conferred upon him the meritorious 
title of Doctor of Divinity. He was called to his 
native place as pastor, and so also was his father, it 



being the first field of labor for both. Serving in this 
field as pastor from the time of his ordination, in 1855, 
he was callel as an assistant to his father in Goshen- 
hoppen, Montgomery Co., where he has now lived 
seventeen years. A fact worthy of note is that Dr. 
Weiser began his pastoral duties where his father did, 
and closely followed in his footsteps, each serving 
but two charges. The charge he now holds has quite 
a history, and has on three different occasions been 
served by father and son, — first, by Pastors Vander- 
sloot, Sr. and Jr. ; second, by Pastors John Theobald 
Faber, Sr. and Jr. ; third, by Dr. Weiser and his son. 
The congregations at Lancaster, Philadelphia and at 
several other points placed calls in the hands of Dr. 
Weiser for his consideration, but he invariably refused 
to leave his country parish. Here his spare time is 
zealously devoted to general literature and study. 
His pen is not idle, and whatever time is allowed him 
from his pastoral duties is used in the pre2>aration of 
articles for the Messenger, Guardian, Hausfreund, 
Reformed Quarterbj Review and, other publications. 
Among his literary productions is a " Life of Conrad 
Weiser." He also devotes much time to the aiding 
of churches and Sunday-schools by the delivery of 
lectures. Dr. Weiser stands high in the councils of 
his church, is much esteemed for his good qualities of 
mind and heart by his brethren in the ministry, and 
dearly loved by the people of his congregation. As a 
man fully equipped for the work and the field of work 
of his choice, the church cannot, perhaps, show many 
as his equal and none as his superior. Dr. Weiser 
has been since 1874 a member of the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania. On the occasion of the 
celebration of the Centennial of Montgomery County 
he was honored by an invitation to deliver the Cen- 
tennial oration. He is chaplain of the Sixth Regiment 
National Guards of Pennsylvania. Dr. Weiser was, 
in 1859, married to Louisa C, daughter of Judge 
I. Gutelius, of Mifflinbmg, Union Co., Pa. Their 
children are three sons and a grown daughter, all 
deceased. 

OFFICERS OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL AT NEW GOSHEN- 
HOPPEN, 1840-80. 

Superintendents. — Rev. Daniel Weiser, 1§41— 46; 
Henry Dotts, 1846-49 ; Charles Hillegass, 1849-55 ; 
John F. Gerhard, 1855-59; Jonathan Gery, 1859-60; 
John F. Gerhard, 1860-63 ; Jesse D. Pannepacker, 
1863-71 ; George Deisher, 1871-74; Rev. C. Z. Weiser, 
D.D., 1874r-80; Professor C S. Wieand, A.M., 1880, 
etc. 

AssiMani Superintendents. — Philip Super, Esq., 1841 
^4; Lewis Masteller, 1844-46; Rev. Daniel Weiser, 
1846-49; Lewis Masteller, 1849-50; John F. Gerhard, 
1850-55; William Trippe Cramer, 1855-56; Rev. 
Daniel Weiser, 1856-57 ; Charles Hillegass, 1857--58; 
William Trippe Cramer, 1858-59; Rev. Daniel 
Wei.ser, 1859-60; Henry L. Gerhard, 1860-82; Rev. 
C. Z.Weiser, D.D., 1862-64: Reuben Masteller, 1864- 
65 ; Jonathan Gery, 1865-66 ; Abraham Welker, 




• -.IJUtchie- 



ez 




S», ^»^ ^ ^\-v. 



UPPER HANOVER TOWNSHIP. 



1113 



1866-73 ; William H. Kehl, 1873-75 ; Professor C. S. 
Wieand, A.M., 1875-80. 

7Veas»i-e)-.v.— Lewis Masteller, 1841-19; John F. 
Gerhard, ]8iy-75; Adam J. Uimmig, 1875-81. 

Secretaries. — Charles Hillegass, 1841-49; Mahlon 
Hillegass, 1849-55; Charles Hillegass, 1855-57; 
Mahlon Hillegass, 1857-81. 

Assisfaitf Secretaries. — Benjamin Gery, 1866-70 ; 
James D. Bobb, 1868-74; Mrs. Mahlon Hillegass, 
1870-74; William II. Steltz, 1874-81. 

Librarians. — Jonathan Gery, 1863-65; James D. 
Bobb, 1865-68: Nathanial R. Reed, 1868-69; Am- 
brose E. Roeder, 1869-81 ; George F. Hoot, 1876-81. 

Chorister.— MiMon J. Gerhart, 1869-81. 

Co//ec?ore.— Nathaniel Deisher, 1869-73; Charles 
Kehl, 1873-80; Charles L. Fliick, 1880-81. 

Sunday -School Paper Agent. — Tobias Fried, 1876 
-81. 

Infant Sunday-School. — 1865-70 : Superintendent, 
Rev. D. Weiser, D.D. ; Assistant Superintendents, 
Mrs. Maria Hillegass, Mrs. Elizabeth Deisher, Mr. 
Samuel Roeder, S. M. Beysher (chorister). 1870-73 : 
Superintendent, H. E. E. Roeder; Assistant Superin- 
tendent, Mrs. Maria Hillegass, Mrs. Deisher, T. K. 
Gerhart, E. H. Steltz (chorister), W. Krause, D. 
Dimmig. 1873 to date : Superintendent, Mrs. C. Z. 
Weiser; Assistant Superintendents, Mrs. M. Bobb, 
Mrs. M. Roeder, D. Dinimig, T. IC. Gerhart, M. J. 
Gerhart (chorister), F. L. Fhick (u.ssistant chorister).' 

The New Goshenhoppen Lutheran Church, 
commonly called the " Six-Cornered Church," is about 
a mile east of the village of Pennsburg. It is a large 
and handsome stone building, surmounted with a 
tall steeple, and constitutes one of the land-marks of 
the valley. 

The congregation is probably as old, or nearly so, 
as the Reformed congregation, it having had part with 
said congregation in the burial-ground and having 
buried its dead there till it sold its claim to the Re- 
formed Church, in 1796. The exact date at which the 
congregation was organized is uncertain, but that 
it was previous to the year 1739 is shown by the 
church record, which states that in that year Johann 
Jacob Birkenstock was installed as pastor of the 
conoregation. At the spot where the present church 
stands formerly stood an old log church. When it 
was built is uncertain, but it was probably in the 
be<'inning of the last century. An old member of 
the congregation states that he had often heard 
his forefathers say that at the time this log church 
was built Indians were still plenty in the valley. 

This church stood till 1803, when the congregation 
resolved to build a new one of stone. The old one 
was torn down and sold, the purchaser using the best 
logs in the erection of a house which is still stand- 
ing. Rev. F. W. Geissenheiner, who was the pastor 
of the congregation, and who was afterwards widely 



1 C. Z. Weieer, D.D., Hist, of Xew Go&benhoppeu Keforiiied Chuich, IS5I. 



known as Dr. Geissenheiner, was requested to fur- 
nish a plan for the new church. This he willingly 
did, but unfortunately for the congregation, it came 
in his mind to furnish two plans, — one with a four- 
cornered building and one with six corners, — he, in 
the goodness of his heart, supposing that the congre- 
gation would be able to decide on one or the other of 
them. In this he was mistaken, as there immediately 
arose two parties in the congregation, — one for the 
four-cornered and one for the six-cornered plan. 
After much heat and contention, the six-cornered 
plan was finally adopted. The church was built with 
six corners, and has ever since been known as the 
'•'Six Cornered Church." The six corners are caused 
by the building of an alcove, in which is placed 
the large organ of the church. In 1860-61 the large 
steeple, containing a bell weighing fifteen hundred 
pounds, was erected on the part forming the six 
corners. 

The first pastor of the congregation, as has been said, 
was Johann Jacob Birkenstock, who .served from 1739 
to 1743. The .second was Conrad Andrea, from 1743 to 
1752. The third was Frederick Shultz, who had 
charge from 1752 till 1756. He was succeeded by 
Rev. Frederick Reis, who, in turn, was followed, in 
1764, by G. Frederick Neimayer. In 1771, Conrad 
Sebastian Roeller took charge and was followed, in 
1775, by Pastor Schwabach. After him came Pastor 
Dornapfel, who served the congregation till 1790. 
In this year Christian Esprich took the charge 
and remained there three years, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Rev. Frederick Wilhelm Geissenheiner who 
took charge and served till 1807. Of the reception 
of this pastor by the congregation the following is 
told : 

" Wliou, in 1793, Pastur Esprich loft the charge the congregatiuu ap- 
plied to Revs. Smith anil Hellmuth, of Philadelphia, to procure them a 
liastor from Germany. The new pastor arrived aafely on the 8th of De- 
ceinher, 1793. He was a young man, apparently much younger than 
he really was, and wore a three-cornered hat. On Sunday moruing he 
found the congregation, many of whom were old German emigrants from 
Oherwald, gathered in the old school-house to receive him. On his en- 
trance many of them whispered together, ' What can that youth know, 
and what can he teach us.' They went from there to the old log church 
to hear his first sermon to them. The stripling was equal to tho 
emergency, and as he proceeded in his sermon with an enthusiasm and 
pathos that struck deep into the hearts of his hearers, all eyes wore 
turned upon him and he was listened to with deep attention. After the 
service the old men gathered around him and congratulated him, saying, 
'This we did not expect of you.' Another difficulty now arose; the 
young preacher must have a home. Another meeting took place in 
the school-house, and the question went round, ' Wlio \\\\\ take the 
pastor in his house?' On all sides came tho answer, 'I don't want 
him ; neither do I. ' They could not agree what to do with him, till at 
la-stone of them made the proposal, 'We will draw straws, and the ono 
who draws the longest must tiike the pastor in his house.' This was as- 
sented to, and one of the fathers of the church, named Reiter, drew tho 
longest straw, and with it not only the pastor, hut his future sou-in- 
law, as some time afterwards Mr. Geissenheiner married one of his 
daughters." 

The pastor left the congregation in 1807 and moved 
to Reading, being succeeded by the Rev. Jacob 
Miller, who had been his student. He remained till 
1829, when he also moved to Reading. After Miller, 



1114 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



on May 12, 1829, the Rev. Frederick Waage took 
charge of the cougregation, of which he was pastor 
till 1870, when he was succeeded by his son, the Rev. 
O. F. Waage, the present pastor. Rev. Frederick 
Waage served the congregation over forty years, and 
only retired when his age prevented him from per- 
forming the hard work of his large charge. 

On the evening of the 23d of August, 1884, closed 
the life of this venerable and highly-respected man. 
His long, active and devoted life rendered Pastor 
Waage's name one of the best known over Eastern 
Pennsylvania, as well as quite famous throughout the 
Lutheran Church, more especially so during the 
earlier history of his time and services. Cay Freder- 
ick Sophus Waage was born August 17, 1797, in the 
dukedom of HoLstein, Denmark. At a remarkably 
early age he commenced his school-days, and from the 
primary, through the higher and classical institutions, 
he was promoted until he entered the university at 
Kiel. For six years he attended here, laying the 
foundation to a high degree of scholarship in later 
years attained. His stay at Kiel made him a familiar 
friend of Pastor Clans Harms, who became to him his 
ideal pastor and theologian. His picture hung on the 
walls of his admirer's study, his autograph was put 
uniler glass and inclosed in a frame of gilt, and Pastor 
Waage's whole life was tinged by the spirit of this 
man. When twenty-two years old, in 1819, in the 
month of June, the young student went to Hamburg 
for the purpose of sailing for America. In the ship 
" Milo " he was tossed about on the ocean for sixty- 
eight days, and landed in Philadelphia in the month 
of September. On the shores of this new world he 
met a Reformed clergyman. Rev. Jacob Wilhelm 
Dechant, who led the young German to the house of 
Rev. Frederick William Geissenheiner, a Lutheran 
minister of note, and under the roof of this pastor 
young Mr. Waage spent two years preparing for the 
ministry of the gospel. To this happy event Father 
Waage referred with great gratitude. In Chester 
County these two years were spent both in somewhat 
Americanizing himself and in waiting, since the rules 
of the church recjuired that a certain time should 
elapse ere a foreigner could take orders. 

In 1822, on the 27th of August, Mr. Waage became 
a licentiate, by order and permission of the Pennsyl- 
vania Lutheran Ministerium, during its sessions at 
Germantown, Pa. His ordination followed on the 
10th of June, 1S28, by authority of the Synod at 
Reading, Pa. He served his first charge as a licen- 
tiate, which consisted of the congregations at Trum- 
bauerstown (Charlestown) and Flatland (Richland- 
town), Bucks Co., Pa. 

After a little more than four years he received a 
call to his second charge, spreading over parts of 
Northumberland, Columbia and I^ycoming Counties. 
The points were Milton, Fulmer's, Muncy, Williams- 
port, Paradise, St. John's, St. James' and Black Hole 
Valley. Here he remained three years, and during 



this jieriod he was naturalized as an American citizen. 
In 1829, in the month of May, he was called to his 
third and last charge in this region. The New Go- 
shenhoppen Lutheran, together with the congregation 
at Charlestown and Sheetz's church, formed a pastoral 
field. In 1836 he organized and added the church at 
Huber's, in Montgomery County ; and in 1854 he 
established and joined Ridge Valley Church. In this 
unwieldy field Pastor Waage labored and toiled dur- 
ing a period of forty years. Adding his student ser- 
vice and his voluntary labors since his retirement, his 
pastoral history covers a full half-century. 

Pastor Waage maintained independent views in re- 
ligious matters. His personal life was singularly pure 
and Christian ; he erected his own standard, and ac- 
cording to that lived and worked conscientiously. 
The large and growing family of this busy and 
thoughtful man led him to study the theory and prac- 
tice of honueopathy for the benefit of his own house, 
and his skill and success soon went abroad in the 
charge and neighborhood. But "the strong man" 
fails and falls at last. Even the physician cannot 
heal himself always. Age and its inevitable colleagues 
came to him too, who had so long been hale and 
hearty. The evening of his life was spent in medita- 
tion and quiet acts of personal devotion in near com- 
munion with his sons. Father Waage died at the close 
of the week, — on Saturday evening, — as if to show 
that a full life had been well rounded off. In his 
death a spirit left the world matured for a higher 
life, — a man scholarly, educated, well-informed, con- 
versant with men, of a poetical temperament and a 
believer in everlasting life. 

The burial of Father Waage was largely attended, 
on the 27th of August, at his favorite "Six-Cornered'' 
Church, in New Goshenhoppen. There were present 
clergymen of four denominations. Rev. Dr. A. R. 
Home, of Allentown, preached a sermon in the Ger- 
man language, on the words found in Zechariah i. 5. 
Rev. Dr. E. Huber, of Philadelphia, followed with a 
discourse, likewise in German, based on the text 
found in Rev. xxii. 14. A biographical sketch was 
read by Rev. Dr. C. Z. Wei.ser, of the Reformed 
Church. 

The hymn was announced by Rev. Dr. Wackernagel, 
of Allentown. The reading of the Scripture lesson 
(St. John's Gospel, 14th chapter) was attended to by 
Rev. Dr. Sadtler, president of Muhlenberg College, 
Allentown, Pa. Rev. Jacob Maeschter, of the 
Schwenkfeldian Society, read the burial .service. 
Rev. Moses Gottschall, of the Mennonite Church 
read the hymn, in addition to some remarks at the 
house. His remains were borne to the grave by 
six of his brethren, — Rev. A. L. Dechant, Rev. Wil- 
liam Rath, Rev. S. K. Gross, Rev. Dr. Wackernagel, 
Rev. C. Z. Weiser and Rev. William B. Fox. 

There were also present Revs. D. H. Reiter and 
Professor Mathew Richards, of the Lutheran Church, 
and Rev. Jacob Kehm, of the Reformed Church. 



UPPER HANOVER TOWNSHIP. 



1115 



In Pennsburg we find a neat brick church built in 
1856. It belongs to a congregation of Keformed and 
a congregation of Lutherans, and is occupied by 
them on alternate Sundays. The Reformed congre- 
gation was organized some five years before this 
church was built, and the Lutheran in 1855. The 
present pastor of the Reformed congregation is the 
Rev. A. L. Dechant, and of the Lutheran, the Rev. 
William B. Fox. 



(Mrs. Charles Famous), Ann and one who died in 
infancy. 

Philip was born on the 21st of February, 1815, in 
Philadelphia, where be resided until his seventeenth 
year. After a rudimentary education, he, at the age 
of fourteen, entered a hardware-store and remained 
thus employed for three years, when advantages were 
oftered which induced his removal to Lederachsville, 
Lower Salford township, as clerk in a country store. 




^^CJJ>^c^^^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



PiriLIP SUPER. 

Philip Super, the grandfather of Philip, the sub- 
ject of this biography, came from Germany to Amer- 
ica at an early date, and in 1788 purcliased four 
hundred acres of land in Columbia County, Pa. His 
children were Hannah (JIi-s. Ristine), Mary (Mrs. 
Ludwig Knoll), Sarah (Mrs. Block), Joseph, Philip 
and Jacob. The last of this number — born in 1774 — 
was probably a native of Philadelphia, where his 
death occurred. He learned the trade of a cabinet- 
maker, which he conducted in Philadelphia until his 
death, when his wife succeeded to the business. 
He married Jane Brooks, of Delaware County, 
whose children were William, .lohn, Sarah, Mary Ann 
(Mrs. Lewis W. Hampton), Hannah, Philip, Jane 



In 18.35 he removed to Pennsburg, in Upper Han- 
over township, and acted in the same capacity for 
Jacob Hillegass. His attention was next directed 
to the vocation of a teacher, which absorbed the fol- 
lowing three years, when he was, in 184I-), elected, as a 
Democrat, justice of the peace, in which office he was 
continued until 1875. His business was gradually 
merged into that of a conveyancer, while his familiar- 
ity with property in the township, together with his 
popularity and known integrity, caused him to be fre- 
quently selected as guardian and executor. To 
these responsible trusts his time and abilities have 
been mainly devoted for many years. 

Squire Super was married, on the 3d of December, 
1837, to Catlierine, daughter of Henry Dotts, of Penns- 
burg, whose only child, William Henry, died in in- 
fancy. In 1884, Squire Super was elected countv 
auditor. He is secretary of the Perkiomen Railroad 



1116 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



anil the Goshenhoppen Mutual Fire Insurance Com- 
pany, of Peiinsburg, and secretary iif the Green Lane 
and GoMohenhoi)pen Turnpike Road Company, as also 
identified with all important movements of a business 
or social charaeter in his township. His religious 
preferences are for the Lutheran Church, of which 
Mrs. Super is a member. 



CHAPTER LXXVII. 
UPPER MERION TOWNSHIP.i 

This township is situated on the south side of the 
Schuylkill, and is bounded on the northwest, north 
and northeast by the same, on the northeast by 
Bridgeport, on the southeast by West Conshohocken 
and Lower Merion, on the south by the counties of 
Chester and Delaware, and on the southwest by Ches- 
ter. Its greatest length is eight and a quarter miles, 
greatest width three and a half miles, and the area 
ten thousand two hundred acres, having been reduced, 
in IS.'il, four hundred and fifty acres by the erection 
of Bridgeport into a borough, and again, in 1874, about 
two hundred and ninety acres, by the erection of West 
Conshohocken. As will be observed on the map, its 
form is very irregular. The surface is rolling and the 
soil generally loam and limestone. 

The principal elevations in Upper Merion are called 
Mount .loy. Red Hill, Flint Hill, North Valley Hill, 
Rebel Hill, and Conshohocken or Gulf Hill. 
Mount Joy is of a conical form, and is wooded to its 
top, and forms a beautiful feature in the landscape. 
It gave name to a manor that belonged to Letitia, 
daughter of William Penn. Tradition states that he 
gave the hill this name while on a visit to the neigh- 
borhood. It is supposed to be the highest eminence 
in Upper Merion in the vicinity of Valley Forge.- In 
the time of the Revolution it was strongly fortified, 
and the remains of intrenchments are still visible on 
its top. Red Hill is an eminence somewhat over a 
mile southwest of Bridgeport. It is a well-known tra- 
dition, handed down by several families in the neigh- 
borhood, that two panthers were shot on it in the time 
of the early settlement. The Conshohocken or Gulf 
Hill is a long, narrow range that runs a great way 
into Chester County ; it is a continuation of Edge Hill, 
which crosses the Schuylkill at Spring Jlill, and ex- 
tends east and west. Nowhere in Montgomery County, 
on its south side, are iron-ore, limestone or marble 
found. Geologically speaking, it forms a narrow belt 
of the primary rocks, with gneiss and talcon slate. 
The name of Gulf Hill has only been applied in this 
vicinity from the deep, narrow passage of Gulf Creek 
through it in its course to the Schuylkill. This nat- 
ural curiosity will be subsequently described, ^he 



I By Will. .1. Buck. 



North Valley Hill is a range following the Schuylkill, 
and commences a short distance above Bridgeport. 
It is only of moderate elevation, and is the highest be- 
tween Port Kennedy and Valley Forge. Rebel Hill 
is just outside of the borough line of West Consho- 
hocken, and between the Township Line road and Gulf 
Creek. 

Probably one of the most fertile tracts of land in 
Montgomery County is that portion of the township 
lying along the Schuylkill, between Bridgeport and 
Gulf Creek, and extending west for about a mile and 
a half. Within this space limestone and iron-ore are 
obtained in abundance, and the stranger views with 
regret the disfigurations occ.isioned in obtaining these 
materials from such beautiful and productive fields. 
Indeed, in few neighborhoods has nature been so lav- 
ish of her choicest gifts. The soil is a loose loam, 
nearly level on its surface, and so free from .stones that 
no country can produce, probably, any land of easier 
cultivation. The Swedes, in taking up and settling 
this tract, showed considerable foresight as to its fu- 
ture importance. In proceeding along the Schuylkill 
Canal from Bridgeport to Port Kennedy the land is 
chiefly cultivated to the river, with an occasional mar- 
gin of trees, making it a shady and agreeable walk. 

When we come to consider its size, this is not a 
well-watered townshiji. The streams do not rise from 
many springs, and are, therefore, too weak to furnish 
much valuable water-power. Elliott's Run, by some 
called Crow Creek, rises from two branches near 
the Chester County line, is three and a half miles in 
length and propels only a saw-mill near its mouth. Frog 
Run, two andahalf mileslong,and Matsunk, a smaller 
stream, and both emptying into the Schuylkill be- 
low Swedesburg, propel no mills. Mashilmac Creek 
rises in Chester County, and, after a course of about 
two miles, empties into the Schuylkill at the Catfish 
Locks, below Port Kennedy. For its length it is a 
pretty strong .stream, and, on account of rising from 
several large springs, is not liable to be affected by 
drought or cold weather. Near its mouth it turns a 
grist-mill. The largest and most important stream is 
Gulf Creek, in the southeast part, near the Lower 
Merion line. It is a rapid stream, which rises in Del- 
aware County, and, after a course of nearly four miles, 
empties into the Schuylkill at West Conshohocken, 
about half a mile above the Matson's Ford liridge, fur- 
nishing power to sever.al cotton and woolen-mills- 
The East Valley Creek, for the distance of a mile, 
forms the western boundary of the township and pro- 
pels a paper-mill. The aforesaid furnish all the water- 
])ower and are much the largest streams. There is a 
fine spring at Port Kennedy and several near Bridge- 
port. 

The wealth that the inhabitants of Upper Merion 
derive from its mines and quarries is probably not ex- 
ceeded by that of any other townshij) in the county. 
It contains three large fiirnaces for the manufacture 
of iron, — one at Port Kennedv and the other two on 



UPPER MERION TOWNSHIP. 



1117 



the Seliuylkill, a mile below Bridgeport. The ore is 
obtained in considerable ([uantities in the vicinity of 
Valley Forge, Gulf Mills and King of Prussia. It can 
be safely estimated that one-fifth of the area of the 
township abounds more or less in this mineral, which 
has been pretty extensively worked in the past thirty- 
five years. 

This township is noted for the manufacture and 
quality of its lime. The limestone belt crosses the 
Schuylkill at and below Sw.edesburg, and has an av- 
erage breadth of a mile, running in a western direction 
into Chester County. Its length in Upper Merion is 
nearly six miles. The marble prevails on its southern 
edge, and on its northern line the softer limestone. 
It has been satisfactorily ascertained that the lime 
made from its northern side is the best. The quarries 
of William B. Rambo, near Swedesburg, and those at 
Port Kennedy have Ibis position : While approaching 
the opposite edge, it increases in hardness till it term- 
inates in white marble, which merges into the still 
harder blue marble. This limestone is placed in the 
primitive formation, and, as may be supposed from 
the aforesaid remarks, is by no means uniform in its 
(piality, some of its beds yielding lime of much greater 
purity tlian others. But, taken collectively, no lime 
in the United States surpasses it, especially for me- 
chanical purposes. Mr. Trego says, in his "Geog- 
raphy," — 

" It is scarcely poasible to fovin an estimate of the incalculable advan- 
tages derived by Pennsylvania from the limestones so extensively diflTtised 
througbout the State, They impart fertility to the soil wherever found ; 
they are used as a building-stont* for houses, barns, bridges, canal-locks, 
etc., and they constitute an indispensable article of use in our furnaces 
for smelting iron-ores. When burned into lime they yield a necessary 
ingredient in the mortjir for stone-masons, bricklayers, pljistercra, for 
whitewashing, and for several purposes in the manufactures and the art.s_ 
But it is fi-om the bonejits derived to our agriculture, from the use of 
lime as a manure for the soil, that our State is destined to be most 
enriched by this important article other productions. At several points 
on our canals and railroads vast quantities of limestone are cpuirried and 
transported to places where it is required for use, and from the mjadly 
increasing demand, it is becoming a considerable item in the tolls upon 
our public works." 

Oldmixon, in his "British Empire in America," 
published in 1708, speaks of limestone being procured 
ciuite early in America, on Letitia Penn's manor of 
Mount Joy. This probably may have been near 
the present Swedesburg. The census of 1840 values 
the lime then manufactured in Upper Merion at 
$74,772, or about one-third of that produced in the 
entire county. This business, of course, has since 
greatly increased through the additional facilities af- 
forded for its transportation. It is said that Port 
Kennedy, for the year ending with June 1, 1857, ex- 
ported livne to the value of $140,000. The whole 
county is represented in 1840 to have produced lime 
to the amount of $2.'1(),1()'2. This sum, we have no 
doubt, is now surpassed in value by Upper Merion 
alone. 

Marble is composed of crystalized carbonate of 
lime, and the two are always found combined, more 
or less, together. The marble worked in this town- 



ship runs in a long, narrow, perpendicular seam, ex- 
tending down, no doubt, to a considerable depth. It 
is said the deeper it is obtained the better is its 
quality. What was formerly and so long known as 
Henderson's quarry, is now owned and worked by 
Daniel O. Hitner. It is situated two miles southwest 
of Bridgeport and was worked before 1782. There is 
here an extensive steam mill for sawing marble. The 
greatest depth reached in obtaining it is considerably 
over one hundred feet. Thirty-five hands were em- 
ployed in the mill and quarry in 1858. Immense 
quantities have been taken out here within the last 
forty-six years. A portion of the material used in the 
construction of Girard College was from this place. 
The depth made could not have been reached without 
the aid of several pumps propelled by steam. The 
ingress of water is a serious obstacle to the successful 
working of marble quarries, entailing considerable 
expense. That there is an aliundance of this beauti- 
ful material in this township there is no doubt, and 
it is believed, as the demand tor it increases, this 
difficulty may be the easier prevented. About half a 
mile from the King of Prussia, and near the Chester 
Valley Railroad, is the quarry formerly worked by J. 
Brooke, in 1858 to 187C or later by Derr iSr Adams, 
but now by Schweyer & Leiss. There is also here 
a steam saw-mill. These two are the only marble- 
quarries that have been workeil in the township. The 
census of 1840 states that nine men were employed 
in the business, producing marble to the amount of 
six thousand seven hundred and sixty dollars. 

According to the census of 1800, its population was 
993; in 1840, 2804; and in 1880,3275. The real es- 
tate and jiersonal property tor taxable purposes was 
valued in 1882 at $1,935,840 with 745 taxables, aver- 
aging $2598. In May, 1876, licenses were issued to 
three inns, eight stores, three coal-yards and three 
dealers in flour and feed. In 1858 it contained three 
inns, nine stores, four grist-mills, three saw-mills, 
three iron furnaces, two marble-mills and seven or 
eight cotton and woolen manufactories. The census 
of 1850 returned (524 houses and 108 farms; in 
1785, three inns, four grist-mills, three saw-mills, one 
forge and a fulling-mill, three churches, — one Epis- 
copal, a Presbyterian and a Christian Baptist, — besides 
a Union Chapel. The public schools for the year 
ending June 1,1883, were twelve, open ten months, 
with four hundred and eighteen enrolled pupils. In 
1857 it contained nine schools, with ten teachers, and 
attended by five hundred and sixty-six scholars. In 
the latter year seven of the teachers were males; now 
they are all females. The post-offices are four, lo- 
cated at Port Kennedy, King of Prussia, Gulf Mills 
and Abrams. From what is stated, it will be observed 
that, independent of the production of lime, marble, 
iron and brick, this township is also extensively en- 
gaged in other manufactures. 

In the way of ptdilic improvements. Upper Merion 
has been pretty well provided, and they have tended 



1118 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



still further to develop its resources. Besides the 
caual, the railroad runs its entire length on the 
Schuylkill, a distance of nine miles, with stations at 
Swedeland, Merion, Port Kennedy and Valley Forge. 
The Chester Valley Railroad, which was finished in 
1853, extends throuf^li its entire width from east to 
west, about four miles, with stations at King of Prus- 
sia, Henderson and Shainline. It commences at 
Bridgeport, and connects with the Pennsylvania 
Railroad at Downingtowu. There are, besides, six or 
seven short branches erected by private enterprise, 
leading from mines and quarries towards the Schuyl- 
kill, two of which are over a mile in length. A turn- 
pike extends from Bridgeport to tlie King of Prussia, 
three miles, finished in 1853. 

Swedesburg is pleasantly situated on the banks of 
the Schuylkill, adjoining the eastern line of Bridge- 
port. It contains about sixty-five houses, chiefly two- 
story frame, a church, school-house, several stores and 
a blacksmith and wheelwright-shops. The census of 
1850 gives it three hundred and eighty-eight inhabit- 
ants, and that of 1870 three hundred and eighty-six. 
This place has chiefly grown up since 1840, and owes 
much of its prosperity to the manufacturing business 
carried on in its neighborhood.. About half a mile 
below this village William B. Rambo carries on the 
lime business quite extensively, employing here in his 
operations eighty hands. He uses his own boats, some 
of which are calculated for sailing on the rivers and 
bays as well as along the coast and up the Schuylkill 
to the coal regions. To facilitate its shipment he has 
a railroad from his quarries and kilns to the river, 
half a mile in length. Considerable of his lime is 
sent to New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. 

Matsunk is the name of a village that has chiefly 
grown up since 1846, and is situated on a small stream 
of the same name, near the Schuylkill, aliout a mile 
below Swedesburg. It contains about forty houses, 
several of which are handsome residences, surrounded 
with fine, shady lawns and gardens and inclosed with 
iron railing. In 1858 the place had increased to nine- 
teen dwelling-houses. The extensive works of the 
Swede Iron Company are here, comprising two large 
furnaces, a railroad leading from the mines to the 
furnaces, a mile in length, numerous out-buildings and 
a tract of land, on which there is an abundance of 
iron-ore and limestone of the best quality. The total 
cost of the improvements here is stated to have been 
considerably over two hundred thousand dollars. A 
woolen-factory has also been in operation here for 
some time. Swedeland post-ofKce was established here 
before lS7ti, but several years ago was merged with the 
one at Bridgeport. The station bears the aforesaid 
name. The land in this vicinity is of superior qnality 
and ranks with the best in the cimnty. 

King of Prussia is situated near the centre of the 
town.ship, at the intersection of the Gulf and State 
roads. This name was derived more than a century 
ago from an inn here, kept by John Elliott in 1786. It 



contains a public-house, store, post-office, library, 
blacksmith and wheelwright-shops and seven houses. 
Five roads centre here, one of which was turnpiked 
in 1852 to Bridgeport. The stone bridge over Elliott's 
Run was built in 1835. The township elections have 
been held here for some time. In 1871 two districts 
were formed, the Upper since voting here. The post- 
office, established before 1827, and originally called 
Reesville, was changed previous to 1851 to its present 
name. The public library was founded in 1852, and 
contains three thousand volumes. Miss Ella Thomas 
is librarian. Charles J. Elliott, one of its founders and 
first librarian, quite a promising young man, died here 
February 24, 1861, aged thirty-six years. 

Gulf Mills is located at the intersection of the Gulf 
road with Gulf Creek, where an inn was kept in 1786 
by John Roberts. It had for its sign the "Bird-in- 
Hand," and that is still the popular name of the place 
Including Mechanicsville, only half a mile distant, it 
may be estimated to contain about fifty houses. It is 
a business place, containing several woolen-mills, saw 
and planing-mill, besides other establishments, also 
an inn, store, post-office and a church. The Bird-in- 
Haud post-office was located here before 1827, and 
retained this name until 1830. when it was changed 
to its present one of Gulf Mills. The Christian Bap- 
tists, or Plummerites, erected in 1835 a one-story stone 
meeting-house, about one-quarter of a mile southeast 
from Gulf Jlills. Annmg the pastors who have served 
the church are the Revs. Godfrey Hawk, Charles 

Plummer, NoTjle, Jacob Rodenbaugh and 

John Conard, the present pastor, who has been in 
charge since 1870. George McFarland has for some 
time carried on here extensively the manufacture of 
woolen goods. The venerable stone bridge over Gulf 
Creek bears no date, but is supposed to have been 
erected before the Revolution. The elections for the 
Lower District of the township are held at the school- 
house at this place. 

Merion Station is on the Reading Railroad, about 
two miles above Bridgeport, where Crow Creek empties 
into the Schuylkill. It contains a saw-mill. Union 
Chapel, school-house, five or six dwellings and a post- 
office, called Abrams. Port Kennedy and Valley 
Forge will be treated of in separate articles near 
the close of this chapter. 

Gulf Hill rises immediately on the south side of 
the creek, opposite the village of Gulf Mills, is quite 
steep, and is wooded to the top. About three-quar- 
ters of a mile from this place a grist-mill is standing 
in a romantic situation, on the west side of the Gulf 
road, and to the antiquary is an object of interest. 
It was built in 1747, and is known as the " Old Gulf 
Mill." In 1858 it was owned by Rebecca Thomas, 
and now belongs to Henderson Supplee. This is 
probably the oldest mill now standing in Mcjutgomery 
County, and, excepting some of its machinery, it is 
believed to have undergone no alteration since its 
erection. It is built of stone, and may yet with care 



UPPER MERION TOWNSHIP. 



1119 



stand for centuries. It was, no doubt, in its day, 
considered a great afliiir. On William Scull's map 
of Pennsylvania published in 1770, the "Gulf Forge" 
is marked as being in this vicinity. 

As we have now spoken of the name of Gulf being 
applied to a road, a creek, a hill, a mill, a forge, and 
a post-office, it is perhaps time that we in firm the 
reader what this word implies, or rather how it origin- 
ated. What is understood to be the Gulf is where 
the Gulf Creek passes through the Gulf Hill, and 
to effect a passage has cleft it to its base. The 
stream and the road by its side wind through it some- 
what in the .shape of an S, and at the narrowest part 
there is just room enough for both, the whole width 
not being more than forty feet. The hills on either 
side are pretty steep, and are covered with rocks, 
bushes and trees to their summits. The hill on the 
east side is about one hundred and fifty feet high, 
and on the west side of less elevation. Near the 
old Gulf Mill, on the south side of the entrance, a 
rock juts out at the road to an elevation of about fif- 
teen feet, which has sheltered people from the rain. 
As this hill runs a considerable distance west of the 
Schuylkill, and as the road through it is perfectly 
level, it will at once appear obvious that, from the 
earliest period of the settlement above, this passage 
was of great advantage in passing to and from the 
city. Hence its name is mentioned from an early 
date. To be in such a place in the dreary hour of 
midnight, with the roar of the troubled waters among 
the rocks, and the gloom of the wood-covered gorge, 
is enough to arouse in the solitary traveler feelings 
of an unusual kind. 

From Bridgeport to Valley Forge is six miles, and 
few walks in Pennsylvania are more interesting than 
that along the tow-path by the river for this distance. 
The towns, villages, manufactories and scenery on 
each side, at every turn of the river, present some- 
thing new and beautiful, which, were we to describe 
it at length, would occupy too much of our space. A 
i|uarter of a mile below the Catfish Dam, and three 
miles above Bridgeport, is presented one of the most 
beautiful landscapes we remember seeing almost any- 
where. If it is worth, as Thomas Jefferson has said, 
a voyage across the Atlantic to see the scenery of the 
Potomac at Harper's Ferry, then we say, it is, at 
least, worth traveling from Norristown, on any fine 
day, to this spot to view the scenery of the Schuylkill 
Valley. In standing at a certain ixjint here and 
looking up the stream, the falls of the Catfish Dam 
are seen extending across the river, and about three- 
fourths of a mile beyond is seen nestled in the hills a 
]iortion of Port Kennedy, with its bridge ; and still 
beyond, and for the background, in the centre, and 
as if springing from the river, the picturesque and 
fine wooded hill-tops of Valley Forge, four miles oft' 
• — the whole forming such a combination of objects, 
so advantageously connected, as are seldom found in 
any one view. At the dam aforesaid are two locks, 



placed side by side, which are called the Catfish 
Locks. These, as well as the dam, were built by the 
Navigation Company. 

Upper and Lower Jlerion appear to have been or- 
iginally one township called Merion, or rather by the 
early Welsh settlers Merioneth, after a county in 
North Wales. At what exact time it was divided has 
not been ascertained, but it must have been before 
1714 ; for in this year we find the earliest mention in 
records of Upper Merion as a township. From Thomas 
Holme's map of original surveys, commenced in ll582, 
we learn that the upper half of the township was in- 
cluded in Letitia Penn's manor of Mount Joy, the 
middle portion in William Pcnn, Jr.'s, and the lower 
part, adjoining Lower Merion, in John Pennington and 
company's. The remaining portion of the manor lay 
in the adjoining township of Tredyffrin, in Chester 
County, and included in all seven thousand eight 
hundred acres. It was patented to his daughter by 
William Penn, 24th of Eighth Month, 1701, and he 
retained possession of it until 178(!. The land be- 
longing to .lohn Pennington an<l company, it is prob- 
able, formed a part of the Welsh tract, which we 
know extended through a portion of the township 
into Chester County, comprising in the whole forty 
thousand acres, and of which mention was made in 
the history of Lower Merion. It was chiefly through 
this last great purchase that the original settlers were 
Welsh, and named it after a shire from whence many 
of them had come. 

Although the Swedes had settled near the mouth 
of the Schuylkill in 1(542, and four years later erected 
a church there, yet no evidence exists of their having 
located early anywhere within the present limits of 
the county. It has been recently ascertained that 
Peter Cox had made a purchase of land within the 
present limits of Upper Merion before 1702, and that 
Gunnar Rambo in said year had endeavored to secure 
a tract beside him. The Swedes came into the town- 
ship about 1712, and settled on a large tract which 
they purchased from the Welsh, who had for 
some time preceded them. The names of these set- 
tlers were Mats Holstein, Gunnar Rambo, Peter 
Rambo, Peter Yocum and John Matson. They took up 
several hundred acres each, which lay from the pres- 
ent borough of Bridgeport down to the Lower Merion 
line, and back nearly two miles from the river. This 
tract, for fertility, is almost unequaled in Pennsyl- 
vania, and is still chiefly in the hands of their de- 
scendants, and comprises nearly one-fourth of the 
present area of the township. On this tract the 
names of Swedes' Ford, Swedes' Church, Swedesburg, 
Swedeland and Matson's Ford sufficiently indicate 
the presence of these settlers. Near the close of this 
subject some additional information will be given re- 
specting those Swedish families. 

The following possesses interest, being a list ot 
settlers residing in Upper Merion in 1734, thirty- 
two in number, and with the amount of land re- 



1120 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



turned as lielonging to each : Mats Holstein, 252 
acres; Hugh Hughs, 200; Morris Edwards, 150; 
Owen Thomas, 100; Griffith Phillips, 50; John Moor, 
150 ; Owen Jones, 100 ; Thomas Jenkens, 100 ; John 
David, 100; Alexander Henderson, 100; Moiince 
Rambo, 100; John Ranibo, 100; Gabriel Ranibo, 150; 
Elias Rambo, 15(1; Peter Yocum, 50; Andrew Sup- 
plee, 50; Hugh Williams, 10(1; Benjamin Davis, 100; 
John Sturgis, 100; Isaac Rees, 10(1 ; Richard Bevan, 
200; David James, 100; William Rees, 150; Edward 
Roberts, 100; Mathew Roberts, 100; William George, 
150 ; Thomas Rees, 100 ; Harry Griffith, 100 ; Hannah 
Jones, 100; Griffith Rees, 50 ; David Lewis, 100 ; and 
Jones Rees, 4(1 acres. Of this list, it will be observed 
that nearly two-thirds are Welsh. In the assessment 
of 1780, out of one hundred and thirty-eight names, 
but very little over one-fourth are found to be of the 
aforesaid origin. This denotes a considerable dimi- 
nution in the Welsh element during a ))eriod of forty- 
six years. Within the past fifty years the Irish popu- 
lation has increased through the encouragement 
given them as laborers in the lime, marble and iron 
industries. Descendants and land-holders of the name 
of Holstein, Hughes, Moore, David, Henderson, 
Rambo, Supplee, Jones, Roberts, Griffith, Phillips, 
Thomas and Davis are found scattered over the towu- 
shij), many of whom still occupy their ancestral 
tracts. 

Mathew Roberts was the son of John Roberts, one 
of the early settlers of Lower Merion, who removed 
to the Swamp Vrass farm, near the present King 
of Prussia, which had been bequeatlied to him 
by his father about 1727. His son Jonathan was 
in the Colonial Assembly, and elected to Congress 
in 1790, besides holding other positions. The latter 
was the father of Jonathan Roberts, of the United 
States Senate. Richard Bevan, mentioned in the 
list of 1734, advertises in the PaiMylvaiiia Gazette of 
July 24, 1751, that he has for sale, "near the Gulf 
Mill, a likely negro man thirty years of age, fit for 
town or country business. Also a negro girl about 
fifteen years of age." Evan Jones was appointed by 
the county commissioners collector of taxes in the 
township for 1710, the amount assessed being £5 12.s. 
8rf. In 1742, Thomas Jones was collector, Peter Hol- 
ston in 1780 and the following year (Jeorge George. 
John Johnson was appointed constable in 17(37, and 
Isaac Hughes assessor for 1780. 

A road was laid out from Whiteland, in Chester 
County, in 1723, to the Swedes' Ford, now the borough 
of Bridgeport, by way of the present King of Prussia, 
thus sliowing that the travel at an early period must 
have been considerable in this direction. The Gulf 
road, as it is called, leading from Valley Forge through 
the King of Prussia and the Gulf Mills towards the 
city, is denoted on Lewis Evans' map of the Bliddle 
Colonies, published in 1740, thus clearly indicating 
that this, too, was an early highway. Along this road 
may be seen the Penn mile-stones, as they are called, 



having on one side the distance to tiie city and on the 
other the Penn coat-of-arms. The uppermost one 
now standing is three miles below Valley Forge, 
known from its figures as the eighteenth milestone. 
Were the proper researches made, we entertain no 
<loubt but that this road would be found to ])ossess an 
interesting history, which, it is ho])ed, some diligent 
antiquary will take in hand. 

The first school-house built by the Welsh in the 
township was in Matthew Roberts' woods, about 1740, 
on the present State road, not half a mile east of the 
King of Prussia. It was a log structure and lasted 
some fifty years, when a stone building was erected to 
take its place on the land of William (Jleaver, about 
one hundred yards from the former, who deeded half 
an acre to trustees in 1810, when they were incorpo- 
rated. Through a bequest, these trustees erected the 
present edifice, containing a school-room, lilirary and 
hall. Another school-house stood on the Gulf road, 
near the Lower Merion line, where Jonathan Roberts 
went to school in 1785 and part of the following year 
to Edward Ferris, walking the distance of four miles 
from his father's house. This was know n as the Gulf 
School, and has been continued down to this day. His 
son, William B. Roberts, now in advanced years, re- 
tains in his possessiim some of the school-books used 
by his great-grandfather, Mathew Roberts, about 
1708-14. 

The Revolutionary history of Ujiper Merion is not 
without interest, for nearly all the leading events con- 
nected with Valley Forge happened within its limits. 
On the 11th of December, 1778, Washington, with his 
army, left Whitemarsh, and on the afternoon of the 
13th crossed at Swedes' Ford and proceeded towards 
the Gulf and the vicinity of the King of Prussia, 
where they remained until the 19th, when they arrived 
at Valley Forge, where they were to remain until the 
following 18th day of June, exactly six months. 
Owing to the lateness of the season they at once set 
about building huts to shelter them from the rigors 
of winter. General Potter, who had been stationed 
at the Gulf in November, now marched towards 
Swedes' Ford and joined Wiishington's army, when 
a court-martial was held to try such men as threw 
away their arms and e(iui[)ments for the purpose of 
facilitating their escape in the late attack made on them 
at the Gulf by the British from the ci'ty. A number 
were sentenced to be publicly whipped, which was 
carried into effect, and produced not a little excite- 
ment in the camp. Although at some distance from 
Philadelphia, the citizens suffered considerably 
I'rom the marauding expeditions of the British army. 
The assessor appointed for this purpose rated the 
damages done by them in Upper Merion at £1517. 
.\mong the claimants may be mentioned Isaac Mat- 
son, who was allowed £64 ; Peter Jlatson, £2(5; Cephas 
Bartleson, £127; Benjamin Eastburn, £110; John 
Johnson, £269; and Isaac Knight, £340. 
From the assessment of Upper Merion in 1780 we 



UPPER MEllION TOWNSHIP. 



1121 



are enabled to obtain some additional information. 
Abraham Griffith carried on the grist-mill belonging 
to Jacob Walker and Samuel Kelly, to which was 
attached one hundred and twenty-five acres of land ; 
on Isaac Potts' estate of thirty-five acres, at Valley 
Forge, was a grist and saw-mill ; George George 
had a saw-mill and four hundred and seventy acres; 
John Roberts, a mill and twenty-three acres, 
now known as the old Gulf Mill, carried on in the 
beginning of this century by Richard Roberts; Wil- 
liam Gabb, a mill which we are unable to locate ; 
Amos Willets, a fulling-mill, probably on Gulf Creek. 
Inns were kept by James Barry, George Savage and 
Cephas Bartleson. The latter had this year rented 
the "Swedes' Ford" tavern from Peter Holstein. 
John Pugh, probably at the present Gulf Mills, is the 
only store-keeper mentioned. 

Hon. Jonathan Roberts was a native and resident 
of this township, and died in July, 1854, at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-three years, and at his request 
was buried on a part of his place called " Red Hill," 
where he had appropriated two acres of land for the 
poor of the neighborhood to bury their dead free of 
charge. Mr. Roberts was elected a member of Con- 
gress in 1811, and in February, 1814, was chosen a 
member of the United States Senate, which office he 
tilled until 1821. 

Port Kennedy. — The village of Port Kennedy is 
situated on the south bank of the Schuylkill, and is 
twenty-one miles from Philadelphia and four from 
Norristown. The country in its vicinity is rolling 
and the soil fertile. It is noted for the vast quantities 
of lime burned there and exported to other places. 
Through this business it owes its chief prosperity. In 
1828 it was almost a waste, with nothing on it to 
attract attention but a fine spring of excellent water. 
In 1858 it contained one hotel, two stores, a furnace, 
church, school-house, blacksmith and wheelwright- 
shop and forty-two dwelling-houses. The census in 
1850 returned four hundred and forty-nine inhabi- 
tants, and in 1870 five hundred and sixteen. We 
doubt the correctness of said enumeration ; the num- 
ber of houses is too small to warrant such a conclu- 
sion. From the hill on the road to Valley Forge, 
a short distance from the village, there is a fine pros- 
pect of the place and surrounding country, as well as 
of the Schuylkill for several miles down its course. 

The furnace belongs to the Montgomery Iron Com- 
jiany, of which Abraham S. Patterson is president, 
Joseph J. Patterson secretary and treasurer, and 
John W. Eckman manager. It was commenced in 
1854 and went into operation in 1856. It possesses 
one stack, fifty by fourteen feet, and two roasters for 
magnetic ores, added in 1880. The annual capacity 
is twelve thousand net tons of forge pig-iron, for 
which magnetic and hematite ores are equally used. 
A considerable portion of the ore is obtained in the 
vicinity. The First Presbyterian Church of Port 
Kennedy was organized in the summer of 1845, mostly 
71 



from members of the Great Valley Presbyterian 
Church, of Chester County. The corner-stone of the 
present church edifice was laid the same year, and the 
building was dedicated January 1, 1846, since which 
time it has been used without material change. The 
church, from the time of its organization until 1873, 
was in connection with the Lower Providence Pres- 
byterian Church, and under the charge of the Rev. 
Henry S. Rodenbough. In 1873 the church called to 
the pastorate Charles Anderson, a recent graduate of 
Princeton Theological Seminary and a licentiate of 
Burlington Presbytery. He was ordained and in- 
stalled pastor in May, 1874, and served about one 
year and was succeeded by the Rev. Edward P. 
Howes, who served two years and resigned on account 
of ill health, since which time the church has had a 
stated supply, — Rev. Yates Hickey, for two years, and 
the present incumbent, the Rev. Belleville Roberts, of 
Norristown. The church has fifty-five members. 
The hotel, which is the only one in the place, is a 
large three-story stfme building, upwards of forty feet 
square. It has an elevated position on the river's 
bank, and the Reading Railroad has a station near by. 
The Port Kennedy Bridge Company was incorporated 
by an act of Assembly passed March 9, 1846. It is a 
covered frame bridge, resting on three stone piers 
and is of sufficient width to admit of two wagons pass- 
ing. It was not completed till the close of the year 
1849. The post-office was established here before 
1851. It is the lime business that has given this place 
its present importance, and probably in this respect it 
is not exceeded by any other in the valley of the 
Schuylkill. The lime manufactured is of superior 
quality, and most of it is shipped otl'by the canal to 
New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland ; a considerable 
quantity is also sent to Philadelphia and New York. 
When we were here in August, 1858, three schooners, 
one sloop and a canal-boat were loading at the 
wharves. One of these, a schooner, was a neat and 
beautiful craft, and so symmetrical in form that one 
might have supposed that it had been intended rather 
as a ]ileasure-yacht than for the more useful purposes 
of trade. As the vessels, in order to reach this place 
from the city, have to pass under bridges, it becomes 
necessary for them to have falling masts, which are 
raised while loading. 

According to the census of 1840, Upper Merion 
produced lime to the amount of seventy-four thousand 
seven hundred and seventy -two dollars. At this time 
Port Kennedy alone produces fully double that 
amount, thus showing that this business has greatly 
increased and will yet rise to much greater import- 
ance. The burning of lime is carried on here the most 
extensively by Andrew Blair & Co., by Mrs. Violetta, 
widow of Robinson Kennedy, and by Messrs. Hunter 
& Roberts. The business was carried on here very 
extensively for many years by the late John Kennedy, 
who died here September 4, 1877, aged sixty-one 
years. His kilns were the nearest to the village, and 



1122 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



in 1858 he had fourteen in operation, some of the 
largest containing as much as two thousand five hun- 
dred bushels, giving employment to sixty or seventy 
men. David R. Kennedy, brother of the aforesaid, 
and David Zook, at said date, were also extensively 
concerned in the business. Considerable limestone 
is also quarried here and sent ofl' by navigation to the 
extensive ftirnaces at Phoenixville, six miles distant. 

Alexander Kennedy, the founder of this place, and 
after whom it was called, was a native of Ireland and 
came to this country poor. He was first employed by 
a person of wealth in this vicinity. Through his 
industry and business qualifications he accumulated, 
in the course of years, a handsome fortune. The 
property on which this village is located belonged to 
Mordecai Moore, who died in 1803, at an advanced 
age. It was then purchased by Mr. Kennedy, who 
moved on it in the spring of 1805. He continued to 
reside here until in the fall of 1824, when he died at 
the age of about sixty-three years, and was interred 
at the Great Valley Presbyterian Church. He was a 
highly-respected and useful man, and his loss was 
lamented by a large circle of friends. He has four 
sons, — John and David R. Kennedy, who resided here, 
and became the principal property-holders of tlie vil- 
lage and vicinity ; William, removed to Kent County, 
Md. ; and Alexander, to East Pikeland, Chester Co. 
Before this village had attained its ])resent size it 
was called l)y the less dignified name of " Kennedy's 
Hollow ; " but time, the changer of all things, has 
transformed this uncouthness into its jiresent more 
euphonious name. 

In working in the limestone quarried here an exten- 
sive cavern was readied, which had an area equal to 
many of our largest public bnildings. It contained a 
considerable number of stalactites of calcareous mat- 
ter, some of which extended to the floor and formed 
several conical arches, with borders of variegated 
colors ; also pyramidal columns of various sizes. This 
cavern, from the singularity of its chambers, was an 
object of considerable curiosity during the brief period 
it was open to visitors. A concert was held in one of 
its largest chambers on the 4th of July, 1846, at which 
several hundred persons were present. Its existence 
has now become only a matter of the past, for its walls 
have been quarried away these several years. No 
doubt it lay here concealed for ages, even before the 
creation of man himself, and his industry has only 
lately revealed and destroyed it in the process of the 
beneficial purpose of enriching his fields. 

Valley Forge. — -The village of Valley Forge is 
situated on the south bank of the Schuylkill and at 
the mouth of East Valley Creek, which here forms 
for nearly a mile and a half the boundary between 
the counties of Montgomery and Chester. It u six 
miles above Norristownand twenty-three from Phila- 
delphia. That portion of it comprised within the 
limits of Upper Merion contains a store, grist-mill, 
paper-mill and ten houses. The Methodists have 



held services at the place since 1870. The Rev. C. I. 
Thom])son, a resident, served from that time for about 
ten years. The Rev. T. K. Peterson is now in charge. 
On the Chester County side there are a factory, store, 
jjost-otiiceand fifteen houses. Palm Paper-Mill is under 
the management of Colonel .Tiiseph Jordan, and does 
an extensive business. The Reading Railroad has a 
station here, and crosses the creek near its mouth on 
a bridge some thirty feet above the water, from which 
a beautiful view is offered looking up the stream. 
Among the interesting objects seen are the falls of 
the dams of the grist-mill and paper-mill, a short dis- 
tance above each other, and of the venerable stone 
bridge crossing it about one hundred yards above ; 
these, with the deep gorge of the stream and the high 
and rugged hills rising on either side and hemming in 
the village, form an interesting sight. Stolid, indeed, 
must be the person that has the recollections of tlie 
past stirring within him that can gaze on such a scene 
unmoved. The hills on both sides of the creek are 
generally steep, rugged and wooded to their summits, 
and present a wild ajjpearance, much more so than 
one might expect from the populousness of the sur- 
rounding country. 

In June, 1701, William Penn, in company with 
Isaac Norris, made a journey to the Susquehanna to 
treat with the Indians at Conestoga. On his return he 
came across the country to the Schuylkill and got lost 
among the woods on the hill near the i)resent Valley 
Forge, and did not know where he was till he got on the 
hill this side of East Valley Creek, when, by a glimpse 
of the Schuylkill and the ccmntry to the southward, 
he regained his way, and in consequence named the 
former hill Mount Misery and the latter Mount Joy, 
which names they respectively bear to this day. On 
this occasion there is reason to believe he selected the 
tract, constituting in consequence the manor of Mount 
Joy, containing seven tliousand eight hundred acres, 
located on the south or southwest side of the Schuyl- 
kill, adjoining thq Welsh tract, patented to his 
daughter, Letitia, 24th of the following October, only 
ten days before his last return to England. In this 
grant Penn states as included, "all the powers of 
Court Baron, Court Leet and Frankplcge." Oldraixon, 
in 1708, speaks of this manor and of limestone having 
been procured thereon some time before. From 
Holme's map of original surveys we learn that it 
composed all of the upper portion of Upper Merion 
and pait of the adjoining township of Tredyffrin, in 
Chester County. 

The name of this place was derived from a forge 
erected here by Isaac Potts, a son of John Potts, the 
founder of Pottstown. How early this forge was 
erected we cannot say, but it must have been before 
1759, for it is denoted on Nicholas Scull's map of the 
province, published in said year, as being on the 
Upper Merion side of the stream, which is confirmed 
on William Scull's map of 1770. On September 19, 
1777, a detachment of the British army encamped 



UPPER MERION TOWNSHIP. 



1123 



here and burned the mansion-house of Colonel 
Dewees and the iron-works, leaving the grist-mill un- 
injured. In the assessment of Upper Merion for 
1780 we find Isaac Potts taxed here for a grist and 
saw-mill. In 1789 he is a.ssessed here for one hundred 
and seventy-five acres of land, a forge, grist and saw- 
mill and eight horses, the forge having since been 
rebuilt. In these several authorities there is certainly 
sufficient evidence that the forge did stand on the 
Montgomery County side and not on the west of East 
Valley Creek, as a few writers have persisted. In 
addition, is is reasonable to suppose that, as the res- 
idence of Isaac Potts was in Upper Merion, as well as 
the iron-ore obtained near by, that necessarily, for 
convenience, the forge would also be on the same side. 
Both Washington and his officers were satisfied that 
Whitemarsh was not the proper place for a winter 
encampment. The former, therefore, requested his 
general officers to communicate to him, in writing, 
their sentiments respecting the most eligible site for 
that purpose. A council of war wa.s held on the 30th 
of November, at which a wide difference of opinion 
prevailed as to the locality and the best manner of 
cantoning the troops. So various and contradictory 
were the opinions and councils that unanimity could 
not be hoped for, and it was necessary for Washington 
to act according to his own judgment and upon his 
own responsibility. He decided to form an encamp- 
ment at Valley Forge, where he might be near enough 
to the British army to watch its movements, keep its 
foraging-parties in check, and protect the country 
from the depredations of the enemy. For this pur- 
pose the patriot army left Whitemarsh December 11, 
1777, but did not arrive at Valley Forge until the 
19th. Two days before Washington issued a procla- 
mation to the army, in which he gave his reasons for 
the course he was about to ]iursue. It is an interesting 
document, and breathes throughout the language of 
devoted patriotism, while at the same time it evinces 
the cool determination to conduct the war to a happy 
close. Owing to its length, we shall only give place 
to an extract, — 

" The General ardently wishes it were now in his power to condnct the 
troops into the best winter-qnarters; hut where are they to befonnd? 
Should we retire to the interior of the .State, we should find them crowded 
with virtuous citizens, who, sacriticing their all, have left Philadelphia 
and fled hither for protection ; to their distresses humanity forbids us to 
add. This is not all. We should leave a vast extent of fertile country 
to be despoiled and ravaged by the enemy, from which they would draw- 
vast supplies, and where many of our firm friends would be exposed to all 
the miseries of an insulting and wanton depredation. A train of evils 
might be enumei-ated, but these will suffice. These considerations make 
it indispensably necessary for the army to take such a position as will 
enable it most effectually to prevent distress and give the most extensive 
security ; and in that position we must make ourselves the best shelter in 
our power. With alacrity and diligence, huts may be erected that will 
be warm and dry. In these the troops will be compact, more secure 
against surprises than if in a divided state and at band to protect the 
country. These cogent reasons have determined the General to take 
post in the neighborhood of this camp, and, influenced by them, he 
persuades himself that the oflicers and soldiers, with one heart and one 
mind, will resolve to surmount every diflicuUy with a fortitude and 
patience becoming their profession and the sacred cause in which they 



are engaged. He himself will share the hardships and partake of every 
inconvenience." 

It is not our intention here to enter into the details 
of the important events that transpired at Valley 
Forge during the six months' encampment, for that 
belongs rather to the Revolutionary history of the 
county, but merely mention a few local facts outside 
of that subject. Wa.-^hington, in the latter part of the 
summer of 1796, when his second term as President of the 
United States had nearly expired, and he was about to 
return to private life, concluded once more to visit 
this place, the scene of so many tolls and struggles. 
This information was furnished the writer by the late 
Henry Woodman, a native of the vicinity, in 1858, 
then aged sixty-three years, as obtained from his 
father, who at the time was engaged in plowing on his 
farm, near the place of the encampment. In the after- 
noon he observed an elderly man, of dignified appear- 
ance, on horseback, dressed in a plain suit of black, 
accompanied by a colored servant, ride to a place in 
the road nearly opposite, where he alighted from his 
horse and came into the field. He stated he had 
called to make some inquiry concerning the owners 
and occupants of the different places about there, and 
also in regard to the system of farming practiced in 
that part of the country, and numerous other questions 
relating to agriculture. He also made inquiry after 
certain families in the neighborhood. As answers were 
given, he noted them down in a book. Mr. Woodman 
informed him that he could not give as correct answers 
as he wished, as he had only moved in the neighbor- 
hood since the war, though he had been in the army 
while it was encami)ed here. This gave a new turn 
to the conversation. The stranger informed him that 
he had also been in the army and at the camp, and as 
he ex2>ected to leave the city in a few months, with 
the prospect of never returning, he had taken this 
journey to visit the place which had been thescene of 
so much suffering and distress, and to see how far the 
inhabitants had recovered from its effects. On learn- 
ing it was Washington, he told him that his appear- 
ance had so altered that he did not recognize him, or 
else he would have paid more respect to his late com- 
mander, now the chief magistrate of the nation. 
He replied that to see the people happy and the des- 
olate fields recovering from the disasters they had 
experienced, and to meet with any of his old com- 
panions, now peaceably engaged in the most useful of 
all employments, afforded him more satisfaction than 
all the homage that could be paid to his person or 
station. He then said that pressing engagements 
rendered it necessary for him to be in the city that 
night, and taking him by the hand, bade him an 
affectionate farewell. 

Among the prisoners of General Burgoyne's army 
was Captain Thomas Anbtiry, who gives the following 
interesting account of his stay here overnight in 
December, 1778, while on the march to Virginia 
under escort, exactly six months after the Americans 



112.1 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMEKY COUNTY. 



had vacated it. Some of this information is new and 
uo doubt reliable, and also corroborates the great 
suffering and hardships of our army here, — 

"Our troopa slept in the huts at Valley Furge, which had been con- 
structed by the Americans, and we remained till late the next day for 
the delivery of provisions before we marched. I had a full opportunity 
to reconnoiter the whole camp. On the east and south sides were 
entrenchments, with a ditch six feet wide and three deep, the mound 
not four feet high, very narrow, and easily to have been beat down with a 
cannon ; two redoubts were also begun, but not completed. The Schuylkill 
was on the left, and, as I before observed, with a bridge across it ; the 
rear was mostly covered by an impassable precipice formed by Valley 
Creek, having only a narrow passage near the river. This camp was 
by no means difiicult of access, for the right was attainable, and in one 
part of the front the ascent was scarcely to be perceived. The defenses 
were exceedingly weak, and this is the only instance I ever saw of the 
Americans having such slight works, these being such that a six-pounder 
could easily have battered down. The ditches were not more than three 
feet deep, and so narrow that a drummer-boy might with ease leap 
over. 

" A Loyalist, at whose house I was quartered, at Valley Forge, and 
who resided here at the time Washington's army was encamped, told me 
that when General Washington chose that spot for his winter-quarters 
his men were obliged to build their huts with round li)gs and suffered 
exceedingly from the inclemency of the se;lson. The greater part of 
them were in a manner naked at that severe season of the year, many 
without shoes and stockings, and vei-y few, except the Virginia troops, 
with the necessiiry clothing. His army was wasting away with sickness, 
that raged with extreme mortality in all his different hospitals, which 
were no less than eleven. His army was likewise so diminished by con- 
stant desertions in companies, from ten to fifteen at a time, that at one 
period it was reduced to four thousand, and those with propriety could 
Dot be called effective. 

'*The horses, from being constantly exposed to showers of rains and 
falls of snow, both day and night, were in such a condition that many 
of them died, and the rest were so emaciated as to be imfit for labor ; 
had he been attacked or repulsed he must have left behind all his 
artillery, for wantof hoi-ses to convey it. In addition to all those distresses, 
Washington had not in camp at any one time a week's provisions for 
man and horse, and sometimes he was totally destitute. The Loyalists 
greatly censure General Howe in suffering Washington to continue in 
this weak and dangerous state from December till May, and equally 
astonished what could be the motive he did not attack, surround or 
take by siege the whole army when the severity of the weather was 
gone. They expected that in the month of March, April and JIa.v they 
should hear of the camp being stormed or besieged. But it seems that 
General Howe was exactly in the same situation as General Bnrgoyne 
respecting intelligence, obtaining none he could place a perfect 
reliance on.'* 

The house occupied by Washington as his head- 
quarters is still standing, having undergone but little 
alteration since that time. It was owned in the Rev- 
olution by Isaac Potts, the proprietor of the forge. 
It is a two-story stone building, situated near the 
Reading Railroad. The main portion of it has a 
front of about twenty-four feet and is thirty-three in 
depth. The outside is of dressed stone, pointed. 
The interior wood-work is still in a good state of 
preservation, and with care this building may be 
made to last for centuries, as its walls appear as dura- 
ble as when first built. No one familiar with our 
Revolutionary history can enter the room which 
served the great chief for nearly half a year, both as 
a reception-room and bed-chamber, and where he 
wrote many important dispatches, without feelings 
of the deepest emotions. In the sill of the east 
window of this room, and out of which can be seen a 
considerable portion of the camping-ground, is still 
pointed out a small, rough box, as having contained 



his papers and writing material. We gazed at this 
depository and other objects around with considerable 
interest, hallowed as they are by so many associations 
of the times that " tried men's souls." Adjoining is 
a wing one and a half stories high and about twenty- 
four feet in length, which has been built since the 
war, but it occupies the site of a smaller structure 
that was erected for the accommodation of Mrs. 
Washington. In a letter to a friend this lady re- 
marks: "The General's apartment is very small, — 
he has had a log-cabin built to dine in, which has 
made our quarters much more tolerable than they 
were at first." This property was long owned and 
carefully preserved by Mrs. Hannah Ogden, of whom, 
in 1878, it was purchased by the Centennial and 
Memorial Association of Valley Forge, which was 
specially organized lor this purpose, and it can there- 
fore be no longer regarded as private property. 

There are various remains of the encampment still 
visible. On the road to Port Kennedy is a portion of 
land uninclosed, where the foundations of the hut 
occupied by Baron Steuben are still visible, and the 
ground is undisturbed on which he drilled his soldiers. 
At the distance of half a mile from the headquarters 
a line of entrenchments crosses the road, beginning 
near the Schuylkill, and extending southwards fully a 
mile, terminating near the Chester County line. On 
the farm of William Stephens, a few yards north of this 
road is a redoubt, not quite a quarter of a mile from 
the Schuylkill, placed there to command Sullivan's 
bridge, which was just below Catfish Island, in case 
of an attempt being made to enter the encampment 
I'rom the north side of the river. This redoubt is 
about a mile from the headquarters. On the south 
side of the road, and in front of these entrenchments, is 
a redoubt called Fort Hamilton, and another called 
Fort Wiishington nearly a mile south and close to the 
Chester County line. These are now the most promi- 
nent remains existing and were among the most 
important. As most of the encampment-ground is 
still in a state of nature, it has therefore generally 
remained undisturbed to this day, though more than 
a century has passed away since that eventful period. 

Relics arc still occasionally found by persons living 
in that vicinity. Wm. Henry, Jr., found a number 
on his fathers farm, which were shown to the writer 
in 1858. Among these were pewter bottons, having 
on them the figures seven, eight and ten, no doubt in- 
tended to show the regiment or brigade to which they 
belonged ; also, spoons, bayonets and fragments of 
mu.sket-loeks, looking considerably time-worn, be- 
sides a variety of musket-balls, some of which were of 
a large size. Wm. R. Kennedy, in the spring of 1857, 
turned up with the plow, on his farm, several twelve 
and sixteen-pound cannon-balls and several hatchets. 
The latter were about the usual size, but shaped pre- 
cisely like a modern chopping-axe. At the Mont- 
gomery County Centennial exhibit, Norristown, in 
September, 1884, a considerable display of relics was 



UPPER MERION TOWNSHIP. 



1125 



made, many of them having been obtained in and 
around the place of this encampment. 

The Swedes in Upper Merion.— The credit is due 
to the Swedes of having made the first permanent 
settlement in Pennsylvania. Id the fall of 1637 two 
vessels arrived from Gottenburg, called the " Key of 
Calmar" and the "Bird Grip." A purchase was 
made by those colonists from the Indians the following 
year of the lands on the west side of the bay and river 
from Cape Henlopen to Santhicon, or the falls of the 
Delaware, which they called New Sweden. Tradition 
has it that the ancestors of the Rambos, Holsteins, Yo- 
cums and Matsons came in these vessels. After 
more arrivals, in February, 1643, Governor Printz, 
selected for settlement the low alluvial island in the 
Delaware, called Tinicum or Tinnekonk, situated 
below, but near the mouth of the Schuylkill. Here 
a settlement was made and a fort and a church built- 
Peter Lindstroni, the royal Swedish engineer, in 1654. 
made a map of New Sweden, on which the Schuylkill 
is denoted as far up as to contain a small part of the 
territory now comprised in Montgomery County. But 
no evidence, strange to say, exists of any early settle- 
ment or explorations up or along this river by the 
Swedes, even thirteen years after the arrival of Penn. 

In 1696, John and Gunnar Rambo had secured by 
purchase a tract of land in the present Upper Merion, 
which had also been previously granted to Lasse Cock 
and company in 1684. Subsequent to any settle- 
ment it was ascertained that William Penn had 
granted the aforesaid tract, containing in all seven 
thousand eight hundred acres, October 24, 1701, to his 
daughter, Letitia, as the manor of Mount Joy. Upon 
investigation Penn's attorneys restored two hundred 
and fifty acres to John Rambo, March 6, 1709. A 
tract was surveyed to Gunnar Rambo, April 11, 1702, 
containing six hundred and fourteen acres, which is 
stated to have been bounded on the north by Peter 
Cock's and the south by Widow Yocum's land. It ap- 
pears that afterwards a dift'erent survey was ordered, 
because "being within the bounds of Letitia Penn's 
Manor." How these matters were afterwards adjusted 
we have not definitely ascertained, but it is certain 
that what is known a^ the Swedes' Tract was located 
on the west side of the Schuylkill, between the present 
borough of Bridgeport and the Lower Merion line, 
and extending from the same a mile or more west- 
wards, and came in possession of Mats Holstein, Gun- 
nar Rambo, Peter Rambo, Peter Yocum and probably 
John Matson in 1712, and upon which they soon 
after settled and made the first improvements. It was 
a judicious selection, and their descendants to this day 
still retain a considerable portion of the same. Ac- 
cording to tradition, these settlers commenced clearing 
away the trees and underbrush along the river early 
in the spring of this year and erected rude log 
dwellings, into which they moved with their families 
in June. Further additions were made by purchase 
from Robert Llewellyn, Evan Hughes and perhaps 



other Welsh settlers in this vicinity, who had pre- 
ceded them nearly a quarter of a century. The 
Swedes called this section Ammasland, probably after 
some district or place in Sweden. 

Of these. Mats Holstein .settled the farthest to 
the northwest of Philadelphia. His wife was Brita 
Gostenberg. His family consisted of sons, Andrew, 
Mathias and Frederick, and daughters, Deborah and 
Brita. His original dwelling stood beside the Schuyl- 
kill, within the present limits of Bridgeport. He 
died in 1738, aged sixty-one, when his eldest son, 
Andrew, inherited the home place, which we know 
in 1723 if not earlier, bore the name of Swedes' Ford. 
He married Mary Jones, of Lower Merion, and at his 
death left the property to his only son, Peter, who was 
rated in 1780 as holding here one hundred and 
ninety-seven acres, and was at this time the town- 
ship collector. He died in 1785, and the property 
descended to his only child, Mary, who had married 
Levi Bartleson. On account of the French and In- 
dian troubles in 1747, a company of volunteers was 
formed, of which Mathias Holstein was lieutenant 
and Frederick Holstein ensign. 

Mats Holstein, the first settler, in 1714, built a 
stone house, about a mile from the river, to which he 
removed, with his family. Four generations of his 
descendants were born here, and its walls still stand, 
though they have been built upon and added to 
several times since. His second son, Mathias, already 
mentioned, who was born in 1717, married Mag- 
dalena, daughter of Marcus Hulings, of Morlatton, 
a Swedish settlement on the Schuylkill, four miles 
above the present borough of Pottstown. Mrs. Hol- 
stein survived her husband many years and related 
several incidents in her early life which at this day 
seem curious. She well remembered, when quite 
young, being carried some distance on a squaw's 
back. The traveling was then chiefly performed in 
canoes. When married and brought to Swedes' Ford, 
near where her husband resided, she and all her 
wedding friends came down the river in canoes. 
Mathias Holstein died December 10, 1768, aged 
fifty-one years, and was buried at the Swedes' Church. 
He is stated to have been one of the most active in 
its erection in 1760. 

Samuel Holstein, son ofthe latter, was rated in 1780 as 
holdingtwo hundred and seventy-eight acres. It is said 
that on this tract he shot deer as late as 1760. He had 
four sons, — Major Mathias, Charles, Colonel George 
W. and AVilliam. Some account of the former is 
given in the history of Bridgeport. The latter became 
the owner of the homestead, remained unmarried, 
and after his death the property was sold, and thus, 
after a long possession, it passed out of the family. 
George W. Holstein resided on Peach Farm, adjoining 
the old homestead. In 1812 he was secretary of the 
Mount Joy Horse Company, became captain of the 
Second Troop of Montgomery County and lieutenant- 
colonel of the Second Battalion. At a meeting held 



1126 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



at Norristown August 25, 1824, he was appointed one 
of a committee of six to invite Lafayette to visit 
Montgomery County, particularly Whitemarsh, Bar- 
ren Hill and Valley Forge. In November, 1827, he 
veas elected one of the first managers of the De Kalb 
Street bridge, since declared free. He died February 
10, 1841, aged sixty-three years. He left three sons, — 
Isaac, William H. and Dr. George W., the former 
being lately deceased. 

Of our early Swedish families, perhaps none are 
now so numerous as that of Rambo. The first ances- 
tor, Peter Rambo, appears to have been a conspicuous 
man in the early settlement. In 1657 he was ap- 
pointed one of the magistrates of the colony ; he was 
also a commissary, which office he resigned in 
1661. In May, 1068, was made one of the counselors 
of Robert Carr, Deputy-Governor ; appointed a justice 
of the peace, with five others, October 3, 1676, for the 
jurisdiction of the Delaware River. He was a native 
of Gottenburg and had a sister living therein 1692, and 
the following year is mentioned, with Andrew Bonde, 
as perhaps the only survivor of those that came over 
in the first expedition, which would show that he 
niust then have been pretty well advanced in years. 
He had four sons then living; these were Peter, Gun- 
nar, Andrew and John. Peter Rambo, Jr., was 
present at the landing of Penn at Upland (now Ches- 
ter) November 8, 1682. He is mentioned as having 
in 1693 six persons in his family. Charmed with the 
beauty and fertility of the Schuylkill Valley, he re- 
moved with his family from the vicinity of Upland, 
and settled on his tract in Upper Merion, with the 
others, in 1712, on which he spent the remainder of 
his days. Gunnar Rambo, in 1685, represented Phila- 
delphia County in the Assembly ; is mentioned in the 
list of 1693 as having also six in family. He arrived 
with his brother and settled on a large tract just be- 
low the present Bridgeport. A lot of land was pur- 
chased from his estate in 1768, upon which a school- 
house had been erected and subsequently the church. 

Mons or Mouiice Rambo was the son of Gunnar 
Rambo, and was born in 1693, and accompanied his 
father to Upper Merion, where he spent the remainder 
of his days. He was a famous hunter, and his exploits 
still live in the traditions of the neighborhood. He 
used to say that when he first came here there were 
numbers of friendly Indians about and among them. 
He stated that he had shot deer in the vicinity as late as 
the year 1770. Once he shot a panther which he dis- 
covered attempting to attack his dog. Another time 
he wounded a large deer, and, stepping across it to cut 
its throat with a knife, the deer made oft' with him at 
full speed ; however, he clung to its back, and in this 
position succeeded in killing the animal. In the grave- 
yard of the Swedes' Church may be seen a large stone 
which has inscribed on it, " In Memory of Mons 
Rambo, who departed this life October 23d, 1782, 
aged 89 years." In the list of settlers of Upper 
Merion, in 1734, we find the names of Mounce, Gabriel, 



John and Elias Rambo, and for the same year Peter 
Rambo, holding two hundred acres in Providence town- 
ship. On the ancient tombstones we find the names of 
Diana Rambo, who died January 30, 1744-45, aged 
thirty-six years ; Peter Rambo, June 18, 1767, aged 
forty-two years; and Mathias Rambo, October 10, 
1782, aged sixty-six years. In the assessor's list of 
Upper Merion for 1780 we find Ezekiel Rambo rated 
for 45 acres ; Sarah Rambo, 40 ; John Rambo, 
90 ; George Rambo, 200 ; Tobias Rambo, 57 ; Mounce 
Rambo, 100 ; and Abraham Rambo ; as single men, 
Gunnar Rambo, James Rambo and Benjamin Rambo. 
Gunnar Rambo was assessed in Limerick township, in 
1776, for one hundred and seventy acres, and Moses 
Rambo, a single man, probably a son. In the list of 
voters in Upper Merion in 1858, six Rambos are reg- 
istered and the same number in Upper Providence. 

Peter Yocum is mentioned in the Upland Court rec- 
ords as being on a jury held there in December, 1681. 
In March, 1682, he was appointed overseer of highways 
forone year, from Karker's Mills to the Falls of Schuyl- 
kill. The list of 1693 represents his having nine per- 
sons in his family. He also removed to Upper Merion, 
and settled immediately below the Rambo brothers. 
In the list of 1734 we still find the name of Peter 
Yocum ; whether the same person or a son we are not 
able to state. In the assessor's list of the township for 
1780, Moses Y'ocum is rated for one hundred acres and 
James Yocum twenty-five acres. Swan Yocum was 
a resident of Towamenein township in 1780. A stone 
in Swedes' Churchyard informs us that the aforesaid 
Moses Yocum died March 1, 1787, aged sixty-seven 
years. At Morlatton, Peter Yocum resided, and died 
July 13, 1794, aged seventy-six. The voter's list of 
Upper Merion for 1858 shows that the family has 
here become extinct, but is found in Upper Providence 
and several of the adjoining townships. 

Nils Matsonwas a native of Sweden, and very prob- 
ably the ancestor of John Matson, mentioned in the 
list of 1693. The latter is represented at that date as 
having eleven persons in his family. One of the same 
name, who was probably a son, is represented as hav- 
ing moved into Upper Merion on a large tract of land 
adjoining Lower Merion. As the country became 
settled a ford was established here, and thus received 
the name of Matson's Ford. During the Revolution 
the American army crossed several times at this place. 
It was then owned by Peter Matson, and on his death 
the land was divided among his sons, leaving each a 
farm. In the assessment of 1780, Peter Matson had 
here one hundred and seventy-nine acres, a portion 
being then farmed by his son, Isaac Matson. Jacob 
Matson at this date resided in Lower Merion, and was 
probably a brother of the latter. The land here has for 
some time passed out of the family. In the Upper 
Merion voters' list for 1858 one of the name is men- 
tioned. 

William Penn, it appears, was delighted with the 
kind reception he received from the gentle-hearted 



UPPER MERION TOWNSHIP. 



1127 



Swedes. After his departure from this country he 
sent a letter from London, dated the 16th of First 
Month, 168-J^8o, to Thomas Lloyd, president of the 
Council, in which he says, " Salute me to the 
Swedes, Captain Cock, old Peter Cock and Rambo 
and their sons, the Swansons, Andrew Binksou, P. 
Yoakum, and the rest of them. Their ambassador 
here dined with me the other day." Again, in his 
" Present State of America," printed in London in 
1687, at page 106, says, " I must need commend the 
Swedes' respect to authority and kind behavior to the 
English ; they do not degenerate from the old friend- 
ship between both kingdoms. As they are people 
proper and strong of body, so they have fine children, 
and almost every house full, rare to find one of them 
without three or four boys and as many girls ; some, 
six, seven, eight sons. And 1 must do them that 
right : I s^e few young men more sober and indus- 
trious." 

In connection with this subject are a few matters 
deserving mention. The Swedish language, it ap- 
pears, was still spoken by their descendants here as 
late as the Revolution. Mathias Holstein, who died 
in 1768, spoke it in bis family. Andrew Rambo, aged 
seventy years, informed the writer at Swedesburg. in 
1858, that when a young man he attended worship at 
Gloria Dei Church, at Wicaco, and heard the Rev. Dr. 
Colin preach there in Swedish, but was unable to 
understand it. He also stated that his grandfather, 
Tobias Rambo, spoke the language. It is supposed 
that no preaching in Swedish was ever done in the 
Swedes' or Christ Church here, but that Dr. Colin, 
would now and then, from habit, use a Swedish 
word in his sermon, which he would endeavor after- 
wards to explain. From the earliest period the 
Swedes and their descendants have shown a predi- 
lection to reside along the valleys of the Delaware and 
Schuylkill, and where they still hold most fertile 
tracts. As a people they have been honest and in- 
dustrious, and remarkable for pursuing the even tenor 
of their way to prosperity, rarely venturing in any 
undertaking that partook of mere speculation. In 
consequence they have been rarely afi'ected by those 
disastrous convulsions that now and then occur to 
wreck the more venturesome. 

Christ Church. — The early Swedes were undoubt- 
edly a moral and religious people, and under the most 
adverse circumstances never lost sight of their faith. 
On Tinicum Island, in 1646, they erected the first 
houseof worship in Pennsylvania. At Wicaco, now in 
the lower part of Philadelphia, they converted a block- 
house to this purpose in 1677, which was torn down 
in 1700, and a commodious brick church, called Gloria 
Dei, built in its place. A patent was granted 
to Rev. Andrew Rudman and other Swedes, October 
2, 1701, for ten thousand acres situated on the east 
bank of the Schuylkill, about four miles above the 
])resent borough of Pottstown. On this tract a set- 
tlement was made, very probably the following year, 



which was called Morlatton, but now known as Doug- 
lasville. They had worship here in private houses 
until 1735, when a church, denominated St. Gabriel's, 
was commenced and finished in 1737. The grave- 
yard, however, was used as a place of interment, ac- 
cording to the tombstones, at least as early as 1719. 

About 1730 the Rev. Samuel Hesselius, the pastor 
of Morlatton, on his return from Wicaco, made a visit 
to the Swedes of Upper Merion, and at the house of 
Gunnar Rambo held services, at which there was a 
good attendance from the surrounding neighborhood. 
On this occasion he advised the erection of a school- 
house, that their children might enjoy the advantages 
of a better education than they had heretofore re- 
ceived in their home instruction, as well as for hold- 
ing therein religious services. His suggestions were 
so well received that arrangements were soon after- 
wards made to carry out the project. A committee 
was appointed to secure the site and erect the build- 
ing. An acre of ground was obtained from Gunnar 
Rambo, which was inclosed with a post and rail 
fence, which no doubt led to the origin of the burial- 
ground. The school-house was completed in 1735, if 
not earlier, but no regular teacher was employed for 
some time. Religious worship was now held here 
several times a year and at private houses, generally 
conducted by lay members. The Rev. Olif Parlin, a 
missionary stationed at Wicaco, it is known preached 
here at least on one occasion, in 1756. Before this 
marriages and baptisms had been performed at Gloria 
Dei, with which this congregation was united, as well 
as the one at Kingsessing. 

With a view of building a church, the school-house 
lot was purchased, for eleven pounds sterling, from 
the estate of Gunnar Rambo, deceased. The deed 
therefor was dated May 7, 1758, [and was executed 
by Ezekiel Rambo and wife to Mounce Rambo, 
.\ndrew Holstein, Peter Rambo and George Rambo, 
who had been chosen trustees on behalf of the 
Swedish Lutheran congregation. It conveys the lot 
to them " in trust for the use of the said Lutheran 
congregation, their heirs and successors forever, and 
that for the u.se of a burying-ground, a church, a 
school-house and other buildings hereafter to be 
erected thereon, as the said congregation and their 
successors forever shall or will think meet or proper, 
and for no other use, intent or purpose whatsoever." 
Arrangements were now made for the erection of the 
church, and were so actively entered into that it was 
completed and dedicated as Christ Church June 24, 
1760. On this occasion the sermon was preached by 
the Rev. Charles Magnus Wrangle, who had been sent 
over the previous year to take charge of the three con- 
gregations already mentioned as constituting the 
mission. His sermon on this occasion was based on 
the text from Isaiah, "Thus saith the Lord, the 
heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool : 
where is the house that ye build unto me? and where 
is the place of my rest?'" He returned to Sweden in 



1128 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



1768 and was there made a bishop. He was a popular 
and eloquent divine, and because of the numbers that 
frequently attended to hear bis discourses, often 
preached in the open air. During his ministry in 
Pennsylvania he generally held services here once a 
month. On these occasions numbers would come 
hither in canoes, even from Morlatton, and also by 
the same means to hear him atWicaco. At this time 
the church and yard were inclosed by a stone wall, 
leaving the school-house outside the same. 

The Rev. Andrew Goeranson succeeded in the 
charge, and continued therein uutil the close of 1779. 
In 177-1, Rev. Charles Lute, of the Episcopal Church, 
was appointed his assistant. He was a warm patriot 
during the Revolution, and animated his hearers by 
introducing the subject in his sermons. It is a tradi- 
tion that when Washington was in the vicinity with 
his army he attended worship here on one occasion, if 
not afterwards. In January, 1780, Rev. Mathias 
Hultgrew succeeded Mr. Goeranson, and officiated 
until May, 1780. In July of that year Rev. Nicholas 
Colin received the charge of the mi.ssion, which he 
held until his death, in 1831, the long period of forty- 
five years, and retained the high regard of his 
congregation to the close. In this interval he was 
occasionally assisted in his ministrations by several 
pastors of the Episcopal Church. Although Dr. Colin 
resided at Wicaco, he always took an interest in his 
Upper Merlon congregation, whom he visited monthly 
on horseback. He loved his calling and the church 
flourished under his pastorate. He was buried at 
Gloria Dei, where a tablet has been placed to his 
memory, he being one of the last of a long line of mis- 
sionaries sent out from Sweden to sustain in the faith 
her colonists and descendants. 

Owing to a petition from the members of this and 
the other churches at Wicaco and Kingsessing, they 
were all three unitedly incorporated by Governor 
John Penn, September 2.5, 1765, as " Swedish Luth- 
eran Churches." At a meeting of the vestry in July, 
1786, it was resolved that whenever His Majesty, the 
King of Sweden, shall deem it proper or convenient to 
recall the Rev. Mr. Colin, " the mission to the con- 
gregations will undoubtedly cease.'' In consequence, 
application was made to the State Legislature for an 
amendment to the charter, which was passed Septem- 
ber 10, 1787, which makes a provision in the fifth sec- 
tion for the election of a rector or other ministers and 
" that such rector or other ministers shall be in the 
ministry of the Lutheran or Episcopal Churches." 
The union of the three churches prio'' to 1765 was 
continued till 1843, when it was dissolved by a petition 
from the several congregations, through an act of As- 
sembly, which severed their connection with each other 
as a corporate body, forming them into three tlistinct 
parishes, with their respective rectors. 

After the death of Dr. Colin, the Rev. Jehu C. Clay 
became the rector of the three cliurches from January, 
1832, until their separation, in 1843. Rev. Edwin N. 



Lightner succeeded in the sole charge in July, 1844, 
and continued until February, 1855. In the spring of 
said year Rev. William Henry Rees became the rector, 
which relation he sustained for six years. The Rev. 
Thomas S. Yocum, of Swedish descent, followed in 
May, 1861, and remained till the summer of 1870. 
Rev. O. Perinchief, in July of said year, held the 
charge to September 8, 1873. The Rev. E. A. War- 
riner immediately assumed the rectorship until Feb- 
ruary 21, 1875. Mr. Perinchief resumed the charge 
in the following April, which he retained until his 
death, April 29, 1877. The Rev. A. A. Marple became 
his successor September 9, 1877, and is the present 
incumbent. 




The graveyard having become too small, with a 
desire to its enlargement and making other im- 
provements, a meeting was held at the church March 
12, 1837, the vestry consisting of George W. Holstein, 
Benjamin B. Hughes, Andrew Shainline and J. 
Cleaver Rambo, to whom were added a committee con- 
sisting of William H. Holstein, Nathan Rambo, Ivins 
Rambo and Samuel H. Coates, to attend to the neces- 
sary arrangements. It was now agreed to enlarge the 
church. C. Ramsey & Sons were engaged to do the 
mason-work, and Andrew Rambo to superintend the 
carpentry. On the 1st of February, 1838, the church 
was consecrated by Bishop Onderdonk, assisted by 
Revs. J. C. Clay, William N. Delhi, William H. Rees 
and others On this occasion the rite of confirmation 
was administered for the first time within its walls 



UPPER MERION TOVA^NSHIP. 



1129 



to eleven persons. In 1845 the parsonage was erected 
at a cost of upwards of seventeen hundred dollars, 
and the Sunday-school building previous to 1870. 

The church is a handsome, plain, stone, Gothic edi- 
fice, built in the form of a cross, with a square tower 
upwards of fifty feet high, in which a bell was placed 
in 1855. Few houses of worship have a more beau- 
tiful situation, being on an elevated, sloping, shady 
bank of the Schuylkill and to the traveler on the 
eastern side of the river forming a picturesque object, 
through some resemblance reminding one of the old 
church at Stratford-on-Avon. It is surrounded by a 
large graveyard, inclosed by a wall, in which grow 
maple, po^^lar and cedar-trees. A great many, as 
may be well supposed, have been buried here, one of 
the tombstones bearing the date of 1745, showing 
that it must have been thus used some time before the 
erection of the church. Among the names found 
here may oe mentioned Broades, Brook, Holstein, 
Gartley, Supplee, Novioch, Custer, Ramsey, Thomas, 
Amies, Jones, Clay, Hughes, Munson, Learnard, 
Pastorius, Dehaven, Rambo, Engle, Coates, Roberts. 
Famous and Henderson. Though the form of wor- 
ship is Episcopal, yet this church is not attached to the 
diocese, thisright having been reserved by its members. 
Of all the Swedish Lutheran Churches in Pennsyl- 
vania, this is now the only one that has retained the 
privilege. Major Mathias Holstein related that down 
to 1780 the worshipers that came from any distance, 
and lived away from navigation, came to attend service 
here on horseback, which practice was pretty generally 
maintained down to 1830. Indeed, for this purpose, 
the side-saddle formed a portion of the young bride's 
outfit. 

ASSESSMENT OF UPPER MERIOX Vi)K ITSn. 
Iftiac Hughs, assessor ; Saumel Holstein, assistant assessor, aiiii I'eter 
Holstein, collector. 
A<lani Eve, tailor, 3*2 acres, 1 horse and 2 cows ; Leonard Shtmlinc's 
estate, 22 a.; John Famous, 1 h., 2 c. ; Evan Evans, 2 h., 2 c. ; Marga- 
ret Bell, 125 a. ; Joshua Phillips, 200 a,, 2 h., ti c. ; James Abraham, 
190 a., 3 h., 8 c. ; John Cleiiver, 80 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Benjamin Raniriey, 
2 h., 5 c. ; William Long's estate, 2' a. ; Peter Wells, farmer, 112 a., 2 
h., 2 c. ; Isaac Davis, 250 a,, 2 h., 2 c. ; John Moore, 3 h., 2 c. ; Abra- 
ham Gritfith, miller, 1 h., 1 c, for Jacob Walker and Samuel Kelly, 
125 a. and a grist-mill ; Paniel Thompson, tailor, 1 c; Jane Muore, 
275 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; James Hazelton's estate, 120 a. ; Mirhael 8her, 1 
h., 3 c. ; Henry Casselberry, 2 h. ; 2 c.; Morris Stephens, li>u a., 1 
negro ; David Stephens, 300 a., 2 h., 2 c. , Mordecai Moore, 5ii a., 2 h., 
2 c. ; Bernard Vanhorue, 1 h., 2 c. ; George Hart, 2 c. ; John Pugh, 
store-keeper, 1 h., 50 gals.mm, 2liO lbs. brown sugar, lOO lbs. coffee ; Isaac 
Potta' estate, -io a., grist and saw-niill ; James Berry, tavern-keeper, 2 
h., 2 c.; John Britton, liiO a., 2 h., 5 c., 1 riding-chair; Henry Brauna- 
man, 50 a., 2 h., 1 c. ; Lawrence Stuart, lOrt a., lb., 5 c. ; William 
Terrance, 3 h., 5 c, rents on shares ; Robert Biumlen, weaver, 1 c. ; 
Thomas Stnrges, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c, I negro weiicb ; AmosStnrges; 
John Sturges, 100 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; John Lyle, ItJO a., 3 b., 4 v. ; Thomas 
Edwards, shoemaker. G a., 2 li., 2 c. ; William FaiT, in the army, 150 
a., 2 h., 1 c. ; John Dugan, 2 h., 2 c. ; Thomas Re.*s, 300 a., 4 h., 8 
c, 1 negro ; Benjamin Jones, 15 a. ; Arthur Carapbt-ll, weaver, 2 h., 2 
c. ; George George, 470 a., 2 h., 6 c, saw-mill ; Thomas Davis, 135 a., 
2 h., 1 c. ; Peter Whiteside's estate, 00 a. ; Isaac Supplee, 80 a., 2 b., 
2 c. ; John Ingale, 115 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Griftith Powell, HH) a., 2 h., (J c. ; 
John Johnson, 'JO a., 3 h., 4 c, 1 servant ; William Crawford, 100 a., 
2 h., 4 c, 1 servant girl ; Abraham Thomas, smith, 1 c. ; Is.-uic Matson, 
2 h., 1 c. ; Anthony Sturges, 00 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; Amos Willeta, fuller, 
39 a., 1 b., 2 c, fulling-mill ; Peter Matson, 170 a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Isaac 



Knight, 2 h., 3 c, rente from Edward Shippen's estate, 230 a. ; David 
Jordan, 1 h., 2 c. ; Henry Coldflesh, 100 a., 2 h,, 2 c. ; John Bees, 100 
a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Andrew Supplee, 64 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Moses Yocum, 100 
a., 3 h., 3 c. ; Benjamin Ramsey, 1 c. ; Ezekiel Rambo, 45 a., 2 h., 2., 

1 servant girl ; Absalom Priest, tailor, I b., 1 c. ; Jonas Yocum's e^ 
tate, 25 a. ; William Gabb, miller, 2 c. ; Sarah Rambo, 40 a., 2 h., 1 
c. ; John Rambo, 90 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Dennis Collins, weaver, 2 h., 2 c. ; 
George Savage, inn-keeper, 2 h,, 1 c. ; Philip Rees' estate, 28 a., 2 h., 

2 c. ; John Roberts, miller, 23 a., grist-mill, 2 h., 2 c. ; Joseph Wil- 
liams, 200 a., 4 h., 3 c. ; Jonathan Roberts, 300 a., 3 h., 6 c. ; William 
Cleaver, 180 a., 3 h., 3 c. ; William Wilson, 1 h., 1 c. ; Samuel Phillips, 
150 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; Jacob Eagy, 2 h., 2 c. ; Jonathan Tucker, 93 
a., 3 h., 2 c. ; Moses Davis, 1 h., 1 c. ; George Rambo, 200 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; 
Jehu Jones, 250 a., 3 h., 5 c. ; Nathan Sturges, joiner, 100 a., 2 h., 2 
c. ; Thomas Martin, tailor, 1 h., 1 c. ; John Horn's estate, CO a. ; 
John Henderson, 100 a., 3 h., 1 c. ; Benjamin Eastburn, 200 a., 3 h., 
5 c, 1 servant ; Henry 0. Neal, 2 h., 2 c. ; George Woolmore, weaver, 
2 c. ; Sarah Bryan's estate, 71 a. ; Michael Wals, 1 h., 2 c. ; Isaac 
Abraham's estate, GO a. ; Tobias Rambo, 57 a., 2 h., 2 c, ; Andrew 
Shanliue, shoemaker, 100 a., 3h., 4 c.; Mounce Rambo, 100 a., 2 h,, 
2 c. ; Abraham Rambo, 1 h. ; Samuel Ramsey, smith, 1 h., 2 c. ; Wil- 
liam Dewees" estate. 120 a. ; James Jones, 17 a. ; Abijah Stevens, 60 
a. ; Jacob Ballets, 1 c. ; Andrew Hammon, 1 c. ; Henry Priest, mason, 
2 h., 3 c. ; Cephus Bartleson, inn-keeper, 4 h., 6 c, pays 200 bn. of 
wheat rent to Peter Holstein ; Peter Holstein, 197 a., 1 h. ; Samuel 
Holstein, 278 a., 5 h., 9 c, 1 negi-o ; Isaac Hughes, 489j^ a., 3 h., 6 
c, 1 negro wench ; Abraham Xanna's estate, 196 a. ; Lindsay Coats, 
13(J% a., 3 h., 6 c, negro boy and girl ; Jesse Roberts, stiller, I h., 
2 c, still holds 90 gals, ; John Jones, 29 a. ; Samuel Miles, 150 a. ; 
Rev. William Smith, 125 a. biingk Men. — Jesse Roberts, Jonas Rambo, 
\\ iliiam George, David George, Nicholas Bower, \\'illiam Stuart, 
Arthur Rice, Levi Priest, Leonard Spade, George Cool, Jonathan Phil- 
lips, Israel Davis, Enoch Enox, Morris Rowland, William McClure, 
Benjamin llambo, Henry Brinsly, Mathias Coldflesh, Psathan Cook, 
John Pugh, Henry Castleberry, Jonathan Cleaver, Richard Moore, 
Morris Stephens. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



JOHN KENNEDY. 

John Kennedy, the youngest of eight children of 
Alexander and Margaret Eobison Kennedy, was 
born on the 18th of October, 1815, in Upper 
Merion township, Montgomery Co., Pa., and spent 
his youth on the homestead farm, located in the 
above township. The common schools, and, later, a 
boarding-school, atibrdcd opportunities for more than 
a rudimentary education, after which his time and 
energies, until the attainment of his majority, were 
given to the farm. He then began the purchase and 
sale of stock, which in after-years reached such pro- 
portions as to become an important feature of business 
in the county. Mr. Kennedy was, on the 27th of No- 
vember, 1841, married to Miss Margaret S., daughter 
of Jloore Connell, of Lancaster County, Pa. Their 
children are Josephine, wife of M. M. Ellis, of Phoe- 
nixville. Pa. ; Maggie S., wife of N. D. Cortwright, Jr., 
of Mauch Chunk, Pa. ; Moore C, and five who are de- 
ceased. Mr. Kennedy, after engaging for several 
years in the purchase and sale of stock, secured, in 
1842, the lime-works at Port Kennedy, which he con- 
tinued during his lifetime to operate. He erected 
wharves on the Schuylkill River, and owned 
many schooners which were constantly plying between 
this and other ports, bearing the products of his ex- 
tensive limekilns. With his advent the neiirbor- 



1130 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



hood assumed an aspect of business life before un- 
known, dwellings being erected, as also structures for 
the prosecution of various commercial enterprises. In 
all this activity he was the leading spirit which di- 
rected and encouraged, by capital and personal effort, 
the growth and development of the place. In 1855, 
Mr. Kennedy purchased five farms in Kent and other 
counties in Maryland, and, although not a resident of 
the State, gave his supervision to their cultivation 
and improvement, and gave special attention to the 
growth of peaches. He still retained his extensive 
interests at Port Kennedy, and engaged largely in the 
sale of blooded stock, the superior quality of the 



for years officially connected. Mr. Kennedy was, in 
politics, formerly a Democrat, and later attiliated 
with the Republican party. He cared little 
for office, and although, from motives of public 
spirit, occasionally accepting minor township posi- 
tions, he declined more important honors tendered 
him. His death, which was felt by the community to 
be a public loss, occurred on the 4th of September, 
1877, in his sixty-second year. 



DANIEL KINZIE. 

Mr. Kinzie is of Scotch antecedents, Alexander Mc- 
Kinzie,hisgreat-grandfather, having emigratedjin 1775 




L^^%^2-^ J^^Zi*-^-?^ ^ ^^i^ 



horses and cattle offered at these sales making I'ort 
Kennedy an objective-point for liuycrs tbrnughnut 
the State. 

Mr. Kennedy was identilied witli most of llie im- 
portant interests in the county. He was [tresident of 
the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, of Pluenixville, 
president of the Montgomery Agricultural Society, in 
which he felt a deep interest, and largely identified 
with the Grange movement in the county. He as- 
sisted in the construction of the Reading Railroad, 
liaving been awarded a contract for grading a section 
of the road. He was one of the originators of the 
Port Kennedy Bridge Company, with which he was 



to America in com|)aiiy with hisson Donald, who was 
born May 28, 1708, in the parish of Inverness. The 
latter was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and 
was wounded while in service on board a privateer. He 
subseipiently became a farmer and died in 1843 in 
possession of much valuable land, a portion of which 
is still in possession of the famih'. His children were 
■lohn and Ann by a first marriage, and by a second 
union, Rebecca, Christiana, Peter Davies, JIary and 
Alexander. John was born in 1786 in Delaware Coun- 
ty, and first engaged in labor on the farm, after which 
he was employed in teaching. He served with the 
Norristown Rifies, under Captain Robinson, in the war 



UPPER SALFORD TOWNSHIP. 



113J 



of 1812, having been stationed at Sandy Hook. Mr. 
Kinzie married, in 1811, Mary, daughter of William 
Sheatf, of Haverford, Delaware Co., and had chiUlren, 
— Emily, Sabina, Daniel, Susan, William, Isabella, 
Rebecca, Charles, John and Horatio G. Daniel was 
born on the 7th of April, 1818, in Lower Merion town- i 
ship, and devoted his boyhood to acquiring a common- 
school education, after which he, in 1836, entered a 
store in Manayunk, Philadelphia Co., and remained 
two years as clerk. He then became a resident of 
Upper Merion, and tilled the same position atBird-in- 
Hand, in that township. In 1847 he fornieda co-part- 



CHAPTER LXXVIII. 

UPPER SALFORD TOWNSHIP.' 

This township is bounded on the north and north- 
west by Marlborough, south by Perkiomen and Lower 
Salford, west by Frederick, northeast by Bucks 
County and east by Franconia. Its greatest length is 
above eight miles, and breadth nearly four, with an 
area of twelve thousand seven hundred and fifty-five 
acres, and in extent it is the fourth in the county. The 
surface is rolling and several hills extend through it 
whose surface is stonv ; the soil consists of loam and 




nership with Perry M. Hunter, which continued until 
1859, when he retired from business. Mr. Kinzie hav- 
ing previously studied surveying with his father, he 
adopted it as a profession, and has since his retire- 
ment from commercial life found his services much 
in demand as a civil engineer and surveyor. He has 
during his whole life been a Democrat, and active in 
local political issues, having served for nine years as a 
member of the school board, and in other positions of 
trust, and since 1875 filled the office of justice of the 
peace. He was educated in the faith of the Baptist 
Church. 



red shale. The principal streams are the East Branch, 
the Ridge Valley and Perkiomen. The latter forms 
its western boundary nearly four miles, and propels 
in the township four grist-mills and several other 
manufacturing establishments. The East Branch 
rises in Bucks County and forms its eastern boundary 
for nearly four miles, and, like Ridge Valley Creek, 
furnishes water-power to several mills. 

One mile north of Schwenksville, on the east side of 
the Perkiomen Creek is Stone Hill, probably the 

1 By Wm. J. Buck. 



1132 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



liighcHt elevation in the township. On measure- 
ment it is ascertained to be two hundred and forty feet 
above the adjacent stream. Its top affords a fine 
prospect of the surrounding countrj' and is covered 
with timber, abounding in huge roclvs, which renders 
it at places unfit for tillage. Foxes, raccoons, opossums 
and pheasants are still found there. In 1852 five full- 
grown red foxes were captured here that had lived 
ujion the poultry of the neighborhood ; they have 
now become scarce. On the west side of Eidge Valley 
Creek is also a wild, rocky range, following its course, 
covered with timber and abounding in all of the 
aforesaid animals. On the farm of Abraham G. 
Kober, about half a mile north of Mechanicsville, a 
copper-minewas opened in 1879. It has been leased for 
a royalty to Tetham & Brothers, of New York, who 
made excavations to a depth of twenty-three feet 
in the fall of 1883. It was discovered in plowing by 
traces of the ore existing in the stones near the sur- 
face. It is evidently a continuation of the same vein 
discovered and worked long ago near Zeiglersville, four 
miles distant. 

The Spring House and Sumneytown turnpike 
crosses the central part for upwards of three miles. 
The Perkionien Railroad enters Up|)er Salford about 
a mile above Schwenksville, following close along the 
east bank of the stream for three miles, in which dis- 
tance it has three stations, called Salford, Hendricks 
and Kratz. The villages are Salfordville, Tylersport, 
Hendricks, Salford Station, Branchvilleand Mechan- 
icsville, the first four containing post-offices. According 
to the census of 1800 it p^issess^d 676 inhabitants ; in 
1840, 1301; and in 1880, 1866. The real estate for 
taxable purposes was valued in 1882 at $979,230, and 
including the personal property, $979,230, the 
average per taxable being $2429. In May, 1883, five 
hotels, four general stores, twelve flour and feed, one 
boot and shoe, one stove and one furniture-store, one 
coal-yard and two restaurants were licensed. The 
township contains eight public schools, open five 
months, with an average attendance of 305 pupils for 
the school year ending June 1, 1882. The census of 
1850 returned 277 houses, 277 families and 195 farms. 
A small portion of the territory of the township in 
the vicinity of Sumneytown and the adjoining part in 
Marlborough was formed into an independent scliool 
district in October, 1882. 

The township of Salford was originally formed in 
March, 1727, and then contained upwards of thirty 
thousand acres of land, including all of the present 
townships of Marlborough, Upper and Lower Salford 
and a part of Franconia. In the beginning of 1741 a 
petition was sent to the Court of Quarter Sessions, 
signed by a number of the residents, wherein they 
state "that said township is settled with many inhabi- 
tants, some of whom escape being taxed for want of 
the true bounds being ascertained, praying this court 
would be pleased to view a draught to the said peti- 
tion annexed, being part of the land of said township 



of Salford, which contains about ten thousand acres, 
and that the same may be erected into a township by 
the name of Upper Salford." The court having taken 
the said petition into consideration, and examined 
said draught and bounds, erected the same into a 
township to be called by the name of Upper Salford, 
and the bounds were as follows, viz : 

" Beginning at a Wliite Oak on the East Branch of Perkiomy Creek, at 
a corner of Marlborough township, thence by the same North East 91 
perches to a Post, tlience by the same South East 30 perclies to a W^hite 
Oak, thence by the same North East IGO perches to a btone, thence by 
the s<ime South East 9G perclies to a Black Oak sapling, thence by the 
same North East 106 perches to a Post, thence by the same South East 10 
perches to a Black Oak, thence by the same North Eiist 26 perches to the 
Swamp Creek, thence up the same 150 perches, thence by the township 
aforesaid North East 22 perches to a Post, thence by the same North 
East 1200 perches to a Post in aliueilividing the counties of Philadelphia 
and Bucks, thence down the same by Franconia township about 1300 
perches, thence by Franconia towftsliip Soutb East 184 perches to a Post 
at a corner of Salford township, thence by the same South West 166 
perches to a White Oak, thence by the same South East 89 perches to a 
Post, thence by the same South West 772 perches to a Post, thence by the 
same South East IS perches to a stone, thence by the same South West 
78 perches to a Post, thence by the same South West 126 perches to a 
Post, thence by Perkionien and Skippack townships North West 430 
perches to Perkiomy Creek aforesaid, thence up the same about 1560 
perches to the place of beginning, containing 10,000 acres. Erected at 
March Sessions, 1741." 

The townships of Lower Salford and Marlborough 
were also established at this time, and consequently 
occupied all the remaining territory of Salford since 
the formation of Franconia, in 1731. 

The records of the Old Goshenhoppen Church fur" 
nish us with a partial list of the early settlers of this 
township and vicinity, who were members of the same, 
with the i)laees, in most instances, of their nativity, 
and the year of their arrival. Elias Long and wife, 
from Wtirtemberg, in 1716 ; John George Gankler and 
wife, Anna Barbara, from near Zurich, in 1717 ; John 
Henry Boyer, from the Pfaltz or Palatinate ; John 
George Weiker and wife, Elizabeth, from Darmstadt, 
1724; .lohn Martin Derr and wife irom Rheinbaiern, 
in 1728 ; John George Wagner, wife and son, George 
Martin, fromBaiern, in 1731 ; John Michael Eeichcr, 
from Wiirtemberg ; John Philip Gabel and wife, from 
Zweibrucken ; Mathias Waltner, from the Pfaltz ; 
John Christopher Bickel, from Wiirtemberg; John 
George Underkoffler, in 1732 ; Andreas Boyer, from 
the Pfaltz; Valentine Nungcsser, in 1733; Isaac Klein ; 
John Klein; George Weigert ; John Jacob Fillman, 
wife and son Philii^, in 1736 ; John William Daubnuil 
wife from near Worms, in 1737 ; and George Michael 
Wonnkesael and wife, from Wiirtemberg, in 1718. 
Henry Wornian purchased a tract of land here in 1742, 
Henry Bomborgerono hundred and fifty acres the year 
following, and Jacob Eck one hundred and twenty-five 
acres in 1747. 

In the list of land-holders and tenants of Salford iu 
1734 the following, through the assistance of Jameii 
Y. Heckler, of Harleysville, have been located as res- 
idents of Upper Salford ; Peter Kuntz,100 acres ; Haim 
Michael Wagley, 100; Valentine Kratz, 100; Hans 
WoUyberge, 100 ; Jacob Ingress, 100 ; Ulrich Stelfe, 



UPPER SALFORD TOWNSHIP. 



1133 



50 ; Martin Hildebidle ; Dewalt Young, 100 ; Chris- 
tian Lehman, lOfJ ; Hans Adam Maurer, 100 ; Rudolph 
Drake, 50 ; Yos^ Cope, 100 ; Christopher Ankabrant, 
100; Andrew Hiiake, 120; Ludwig SchatFer, 100; 
George Cochler, 100; William Smith, 100 ; Philip 
Read, 50 ; Christian Younglin, 20 ; Hans Underkof- 
tier, 100; John Lebo ; Abraham Titloe, 50; Michael 
Moll, 50 ; Mathias Haas, KJO ; Samuel Moyer, 100 ; 
Samuel Moyer, Jr. ; Hans Moyer, Jr., 100 ; Hans 
Freed, 100 ; Jacob Cook, 100 ; Jofin Henry Snyder, 
100 ; Jacob Preuss or Price, 150 acres. ■ Descendants 
of the name of Scholl, Moyer, Freed, Kratz and Hil- 
debidle still hold lands here. 

As this section of country from an early period has 
been called Goshenhoppeu, and the first church 
erected in this township known only by this name, 
we deem the subject of sufficient importance to give 
some attention as to its origin and claims. The name 
has also been bestowed on several other places, as in 
Frederick and Upper Hanover townships and in the 
neighboring parts of Berks. It has puzzled numbers 
as to whether it is of Indian nr German origin. By 
the modern spelling it would seem to belong to the 
latter, but the test of historical investigation indi- 
cates the former. The map accompanying Gabriel 
Thomas' " Account of Pennsylvania,'' published in 
London in 1G9S, establishes the fact, from the manner 
that the Perkiomen and its several branches are delin- 
eated thereon, that even previously to that date this 
section of country must liave been pretty well explored, 
or it could not have been given with such correctness. 
A short distance north of Schwenksville, where the 
road crosses over Swamp Creek, veins of copper-ore 
are readily seen in the neighboring rocks, which is 
just below the mouth of what has been long known 
as Goshenhoppeu Run, a stream about four miles in 
length. There is strong reason to believe that cop- 
per-mining was pursued here some time before any 
actual settlement was made for other purposes. In 
17.30 or thereabouts a large tract was taken up here 
for this especial object by a company, who sunk vari- 
ous shafts and entered into extensive operations. 
This was finally relinquished as not proving profita- 
ble. Hence it is our opinion that through these 
early labors the name of the aforesaid stream, in the 
absence of any other, became applied to this section 
of country, and it has been impossible to ascribe it to 
any other source. Nicholas Scull, in his map of the 
province, published in 1759, denotes these copper- 
mines. The earliest mention yet found of the name 
in records is in a petition of the inhabitants of Cole- 
brookdale and parts adjacent, dated May 10, 1728, 
wherein it is called "Coshahapopin," and in another 
of 1735, " Quesohopin." In a petition to the court 
from this section for a road in March, 1751 it is " Cus- 
gaoppin." In an address of Rev. George Michael 
Weiss to Governor Thomas, November 2, 1754, he styles 
himself as residing in " Goschehoppe." The name of 
Goshenhoppeu Run has been found in deeds of 1732, 



but further research can no doubt reveal it earlier. 
Some have supposed the name to be derived from 
Shakhoppa, one of four chiefs of whom a considerable 
purchase of lands was made in 1685, in the present 
limits of Philadelphia, Montgomery, Chester and 
Delaware. There was a school district in this town- 
ship so called which was abolished by an act of As- 
sembly passed in 1859. 

The earliest road in Upper Salford, according to the 
records, was one laid out and confirmed in June, 1728, 
from Skippack, through the present Lederachsville and 
Salfordville, to Sumneytown, where it terminated. It 
was then called the Skippack and Salford road. The 
road from the present Spring House to Sumneytown 
was confirmed and opened in June, 1735, and turn- 
piked in 1848. What is now known as the Ridge road 
was opened in 1766, and commenced at a corner of 
Detrich Rudy's land, on the Bucks County line thence 
through the present Tylersport, by lands of William 
Mayberry, deceased, Frederick Wentz, Woolrich 
Hertzell, Philip Zeigler, John Eck, Widow Philmon, 
Bastian Heap, Valentine Boyer, Jacob Landis, John 
Gans and George Doctor ; thence through Sumney- 
town, Perkiomenville, Fagleysville, terminating near 
the present Sanitoga Station on the Schuylkill. John 
Hildebidle and Philip Wentz were township super- 
visors in 1767, Richard Klein in 1773, Valentine 
Kratz and Michael Scholl in 1776, Frederick Berndt 
and Abraham Scholl in 1810. John Eck was consta- 
ble iu 1767, Adam Hildebidle in 1774, and Philip 
Gable assessor and George Frederick collector in 
1776. 

In the assessment for 1776 mention is made of John 
Bergy owning 180 acr&s and a grist and saw-mill ; 
Jacob Graff, 200 acres and a fulling-mill; Ludwig 
Moyer, 50 acres and a grist-mill ; George Moyer, 50 
acres and a grist and saw-mill ; Henry Deetz, 125 
acres and a grist and saw-mill ; Jacob Kulp, 88 acres 
and a fulling-mill ; Daniel Heister, 130 acres and a 
tannery; Robert Coleman, ironmaster, one servant 
and ten horses ; Conrad Epler, forgeman ; Godfrey 
Kersneck and Henry Croll, saddlers; John Brown 
and Sebastian Nell, smiths; Henry Sander, weaver ; 
George Walt, tailor; William Antich, shoemaker; and 
Joseph Warner, fuller. Jacob Graff's fulling-mill is 
now the property of Jesse Zeigler, at Salford Station, 
and .lacob Kulp's fulling-mill was on the Ridge 
Valley Creek, about a mile from Sumneytown, on the 
property now owned by William Nice. A licensed 
inn was kept by Michael Croll in 1767, by Philip 
Gable from 1776 on to 1790, by Jacob Rudy in 1790, 
and by Frederick Rudy, Peter Wagoner and Jacob 
Croll in 1807. 

On the east side of the turnpike, close to Ridge 
Valley Creek, stands a fine brick house bearing the 
date of 1757, and now the property of D. Krouse. A 
new slate roof has been recentlj- put on it by the present 
proprietor, and its walls appear durable enough to 
last at least another century. Nicholas Scull, in his 



1134 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



map of Pennsylvania, published in 1759, tbouglit it 
of sufficient importance to have it denoted thereon as 
" Heister's." This was the property of Daniel 
Heister, a native of Elsoif, in Westphalia, who arrived 
in Pennsylvania in 1737 with his brother Joseph, 
having been preceded a few years by his elder 
brother, John. Daniel settled on this tract, which 
was then known iis Goshenhoppen, and raised a 
family of four sons and one daughter. He was rated 
for holding here, in 1776, one hundred and thirty 
acres of land, one negro, three horses, three cows and 
a tannery. He died in 1795, aged eighty-two years, 
and was the uncle of Governor Joseph Heister. 
Daniel Heister's sons were John, Daniel, Gabriel and 
William, who were born on this homestead. They all 
served in the arm}' of the Revolution, the first three 
being officers. John and Daniel Heister afterwards 
became members of Congress, the former from 
Chester and the latter from Berks County, where 
they had removed. 

From 1785 to 1807 Upper Salford belonged to the 
Third Election District, and the people voted at Creps' 
tavern at the present village of New Hanover Square, 
distant from the central part of this township about 
six miles, and having to cross the Perkiomen, which 
at this jieriod was bridged. In 1838 it was placed in 
the Fifth District, voting at the house of John Hart- 
ranft, Sumneytown. In July, 1878, the township, 
from its great length, was divided into two districts, 
called East Upper Salford, voting at Tylersport, and 
West Upper Salford, voting at Mechanicsville. 

Tylersport is the largest village, and is situated in 
the northern part of the township, near the Bucks 
■County line. It contains a store, hotel, post-office, 
meeting-house and about fifty houses, and, according 
to the census of 1880, two hundred and twenty-four 
inhabitants. In 1849 the place contained only a few 
houses. R. R. Cressman carries on extensively the 
manufacture of segars; his taxes on the same for 1882 
amounted to twenty-seven thousand seven hundred 
and seven dollars. There are here also several 
mechanic shops. 

Salfordville contains a store, hotel, po-.t-office and 
nineteen houses. T. W. Cressman has a cigar manu- 
factory here, besides the usual mechanic shops. A 
creamery has been recently established about a rjuarter 
of a mile to the northeast of the village. This place 
in 1858 possessed eleven houses. It was at the upper 
end of this village where Michael Croll, in 1767, kept 
an inn and owned a farm of two hundred and sixty 
acres. He was long a justice of the peace, and died 
about 1810. 

Mechanicsville contains one hotel, a restaurant, 
hall, shoe shop, wheelwright-shop, store and twelve 
houses. At the north or upper end of this village a 
splendid view is offered of the Oley Hills, Methacton, 
and of Bucks County for many miles. The elections 
for West Upper Salford are held at this place. About 
half a mile west of this is the Methodist Episcopal 



Church, built about 1858. It has no regular stationed 
minister. It was at the sign of th'; " Black Horse " 
here where Jacob and Frederick Rudy so long kept 
an inn. This village formerly bore the name of Croppa 
Stettle, or Crowtown. 

Salford Station, on the Perkiomen Railroad, con- 
tains a merchant mill, a grain and feed-store, coal- 
yard and five or six houses. Rudy post-office has 
recently been established here, called after the late 
Samuel D. Rudy, sheriff' of the county in 1856-59. 
Branchville contains a store, hotel, several mechanic 
shops and three houses. 

The Old Goshenhoppen Church. — This long- 
established place of worship is situated but little over 
half a mile northeast of Salford Station and nearly 
midway between Salfordville and Mechanicsville. It 
dates back nearly to the early settlement of this sec- 
tion, when the country for miles around was only 
known as Goshenhoppen, and hence applied to denote 
the locality of this church, and which it has ever since 
retained. The settlers of the Lutheran and German 
Reformed faith united, in 1732, to procure by warrant 
a tract of land, upon which they erected a log school- 
house in the fall of that year, which was also used as 
a place of worship. However, the tract was not sur- 
veyed until January 26, 1737, when thirty-eight and 
one-quarter acres, with allowances, were taken up for 
the express purpose mentioued, and the deed recorded 
the following 7th of February. Michael Royer, on 
the part of the Lutherans, and Jacob Keller, for the 
German Reformed, made final payment for the same 
.lanuary 12, 1738, the cost being £8 9s. Sd., equiva- 
lent to !f!23.34 of our present currency. 

As the German Reformed members were without a 
pastor, they worshiped together in the aforesaid 
building until the spring of 1744, when it was decided 
to proceed to the erection of a church. The masons 
commenced their work the 9th of May, and on the 
following 14th the corner-stone was laid. It was 
erected that year, but the interior wood-work was not 
finished until 1748. An agreement was made with a 
carpenter to complete the same for fifteen pounds, 
which included a gallery, pews, benches and painting. 
The pulpit was made by Gabriel Schuler, of Lower 
Salford, as a present to the church. The expense 
incurred in the erection of the building is not exactly 
known, the members doing considerable of the work 
without charge. At the settlement, in 1751, a debt of 
thirty pounds remained, which was subsequently paid 
offi The building committee on the part of the Luth- 
erans was composed of Michael Reyer, Balthasar 
Gerlach, John Philip Gable and Conrad Schneider; 
and for the German Reformed, Christian Schneider, 
Christian Lehman, Bernhard Arndt and John Servier. 
The first Lutheran elders were John Michael Reisser 
and John Philip Gabel ; Deacons, William Ganckler 
and John Lenhart Durkheimer. The German Re- 
formed elders were Jacob Hauck and John Getz. 
Deacons, Isaac Summers and Andreas Ohl. 



UPPER SALFORD TOWNSHIP. 



1135 



The first Lutheran ineinbersofthis congregation were 
Conrad Schneider, John JIartin Derr, Elias Long, John 
"William Daub, John Jacob Nuss, John (leorge Weikel, 
Heinrich Schmidt, Isaac Klein, John Klein, George 
Weikel, John Christopher Bickel, Ludwig Adam 
Bickel, John Jacob Fillman, Philip Fillman and John 
Oeorge Wagner. The German Reformed members were 
Jacob Hauck, John Getz, Gabriel Scbuler, Heinrich 
Bomberger, Daniel Kiister, Jacob Isett, Samuel Sohu- 
ler, Jost Keller, John Nice, Christian Hollebush, 
Peter Hollebush, John Faust, John Knouss, Nicholas 
Wolfart, Frederick Getz, Christopher Dickenscheit. 
The pastor's book commences in 1751, and the entries 
since have been made by the several clergymen. Mr. 
Raus, who commenced the record, was evidently a 
well-educated man, his writing being excellent, and 
on the title-page he made a considerable inscription 
in Hebrew characters. In 1751 there were forty-six 



Rev. John Win. Ingold, 1780-81; Rev. Frederick 
Dilleker, 1781-8-1 ; Rev. Frederick Wm. Vonder 
Schlotte, 178-1-86 ; Rev. John Thomas Faber, Jr., 
1786-88; Rev. Albert Helfenstein, 1808-11; Rev. 
Albert Zeot, six months in 1811 ; Rev. Frederick 
Wm. Vonder Schlotte, Jr., 1812-18; Rev. Jacob 
Wm. Dechant, 1818-33; Rev. Andreas Hoffman, 
1833-56; Rev. Robert Vancourt, 1856-63; Rev. Au- 
gustus L. Dechant, since 1863. 

The school-house mentioned, in which worship was 
first held, stood until 1808, when it was torn down 
and another erected in its place. The first church 
was built of stoue, two stories high, and in dimensions 
fifty by thirty-five feet. After standing above one 
hundred and thirteen years, it was resolved by the 
two congregations to tear it down in the spring of 
1858 and erect a larger and more commodious build- 
ing in its place. The writer of this account, learning 




/ 



THE OI>D GOSHENHOPPEN CHURCH. 



members composing the two denominations. The Lu- 
theran population was estimated at one hundred and 
ninety-five and the German Reformed one hundred 
and five. 

The congregation was originally formed by the 
Rev. J. Conrad Andreas, an expelled Lutheran clergy- 
man in Germany, who, without any recommendation so 
insinuated himself into their confidence as to become 
their pastor, but who was soon after discharged for im- 
moral conduct. The first regular Lutheran minister 
was the Rev. Lucas Raus, from 1751-53 ; Rev. Fred- 
erick Schultz, 1753-59; Rev. John Joseph Roth, 
1759-71 ; Rev. Frederick Neimier, 1771-72 ; Rev. 
Conrad Roeller, 1772-95 ; Rev. Frederick Geisen- 
hainer, 1795-97 ; Rev. John George Roeller, son of 
Conrad, 1797-1840 ; Rev. Engelbrecht Peixto, 1841-64 ; 
Rev. Frederick Waltz, from 1865 to the present time. 
The first German Reformed pastor was Rev. Jacob 
Reisz, 1751-66 ; Rev. John Thomas Faber, 1766-80 ; 



this, proceeded hither a few weeks previous on pur- 
pose and made a drawing of the same, which has 
since been ascertained to be the only one extant. By 
the l.st of May it was leveled to the ground, and in 
the corner-stone was found two silver coins, one 
dated 1652 and the other 1695. The former proved to 
be the pine-tree shilling of Massachusetts and the 
other an English shilling bearing the head of Wil- 
liam IIL A pint bottle contained a tasteless yellow 
fluid which it was supposed had been wine. All 
these were replaced in the corner-stone of the new 
building, which was laid, with appropriate ceremonies. 
May 15th and 16th of said year. The church was 
completed by the close of 1858, and is a fine two-story 
stone structure, sixty-two by fifty feet in size, with a 
spire one hundred feet high, the total cost of which was 
six thousand one hundred dollars. The church is 
calculated to hold about eight hundred persons. It 
possesses a fine organ, made in 1837 by A. Krauss 



1136 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



& Son, of Allentown. The bell is of five hundred and 
thirty-seven pounds weiglit, and can be heard from 
its elevated position for some distance around. There 
is an ample churchyard and sheds for horses and 
carriages, besides a shady, unfenced woods of several 
acres adjoining. 

The graveyard contains about five acres, and few in 
the county can surpass it in the number of its tomb- 
stones. The oldest graves are near the centre of 
the yard. The earliest inscription observed was that of 
" 1745, H W B H." One is said to be here bearing 
the date of 1733. It has been stated on reliable 
authority that seventy-two persons have been buried 
here, killed by powder-mill explosions in this vicinity 
previous to 1859. Three Revolutionary soldiers are 
known to be interred here, — John Andrew Artman 
who died in 1813, aged eighty-six years; John Sallide 
and Jacob Schaefier, in 1840. The ground here is 
vhard to dig, being composed of a shelly, red slate- 
st<!->ne. The following surnames were copied within 
the ample inclosure: Flieger, Schneider, Geisinger, 
Hiltt:,bidle, Groff, Wagner, Ruckstuhl, Cope, Humel, 
Langb.gin^ Schuler, Mayer, Geyer, Heebner, Lunn, 
Hertzel, Hoff"— '- - Musselman, Gabel, Gerges, Klein, 
Boyer, Grimley, Smij,,_ q^.i^^i\^ Walt, Shied, Miller, 
Bock, Hillegass, Detv,,gi|p^_ Wambold, Fried, Weishe, 
Ried, Roudenbush, fjerhab, Borneman, Kehs, Daub, 
Richards, Meyers, Tj^j^ yy.,;,^ Neidig, Eeiman, Zepp, 
Cressman, Nyce,^ Pannapacker, Kerr, Ratzel, Shade, 
Zink, Jac')1jy_ Ache, Johnson, Neitz, Wolilfard, 
Dietz,^ -iTauberger, Schwartley, Schell, Waudolich 
Reicljert, Fillman, Sallade, Zeigler, Weidemeier, Erd- 
Dian, Bibighaus, Schwartz, Kerwer, Schwenk, Wirth, 
Ro^l er, Mayberry, Ettinger, Steiner, Bout, Ro.shong, 
Henijricks, Dietz, Ochs, Liedtke, Underkoffler, Sheib, 
Wyier, Koppelberger, Souder, Kuhlman, Anderson, 
Herbst, Adrian, Seit, Rahn, Kneezel, Keyser, Faust, 
iong, Kolb, Sleifer, Schafer, Eniert, Brey, Cressman, 
Kemerer, Hartranft and Troll. 

John Eck and Reminiscences of his Family.— 
Jacob Eck, the ancestor of the family in this county, 
with his son John, arrived from Baselbede, in Alsace, 
possibly in 1746 or near the beginning of the follow- 
ing year. He was by occupation a locksmith, and 
perhaps a widower, his son being then a young man 
and single. The father took up by patent in Upper 
Salford, in two tracts, one hundred and twenty-five 
acres. The survey was made June 3, 1747, and the 
deed given April 6th of saidyear, under the great seal, 
by Governor George Thomas. The cost of the land 
was £19 Is. 6d., under a yearly quit-rent of a half- 
penny sterling for every acre, payable on the 1st 
day of March at the manor of Springettsbury, near 
the city of Philadelphia. This tract lay near the 
northern part of the township, within Ridge Valley 
and near the present Dietz's grist and saw-mill. 
Here the father and son at once commenced the first 
improvements, not only in building, but in clearing 
the land to render the same fit for tillage. 



It is likely that within the first ten years Jacob 
Eck died and the son inherited the property and 
took in marriage for his first wife Savina Ott, tlie 
daughter of a neighboring farmer. She died before 
1764, leaving him several children, when he married 
Mary Snyder, who died a short time before the Revolu- 
tion, for in the assessment of Upper Salford for 1776, 
John Eck, who it is noted had ten children and had 
" lost his wife," is rated as owning one hundred and 
twenty-five acres, with a dwelling, two horses, three 
cows and five sheep, taxed £10 7s. Sd. In 1766 the 
Ridge road was opened from the Bucks County line, 
through the present Tylersport and along the whole 
length of his farm on to Suraneytown. In 1767 he was 
appointed, greatly against his will, by the Court of 
Quarter Sessions at Philadelphia, constable of the 
township. About the close of the Revolution he mar- 
ried Dorothy Yost, who survived him. He died in 
the beginning of June, 1809, at an advanced age. 

His will was made January 30th and proven June 
20th of said year. In it he appoints his son Dorus 
and Nicholas Buck his executors. He leaves to his 
son John twenty-five acres, with all the improvements 
thereon ; to Dorothy, his wife, in addition to her other 
allowances, he leaves "£150 in lawful gold or silver 
money." Eleven children are mentioned therein, 
as follows : Conrad, Dorus, John, Anna (widow of 
Martin Miller), Catharine (wife of Simon Adams), 
Margaret (wife of Joseph Storm), Magdalena (wife 
of Nicholas Buck), Sabilla (wife of Mark Zeigler), 
Theresa, Catharine and Fanny. He had in all fifteen 
children, a son, Michael, and three daughters having 
previously died. Although the surviving descendants 
of John Eck at this day may number thousands, the 
surname has become extinct in the township within 
the past sixty years. Dorus settled on a farm in 
Maryland, some moved to Berks County, others to 
Philadelphia and out West. The witnesses to the 
will were John Keller, Jacob Biier, and Cadwallader 
Foulke, the last of whom very probably wrote it. 
Through the descendants of the first two, who still 
exist in the vicinity, the homestead of the Ecks was 
ascertained and visited in September, 1883, in com- 
pany with Solomon K. Grimley, Esq. 

The original tract has since been divided into sev- 
eral farms, now owned by Henry Richards, Andrew 
Loch, William L. Nace, Thomas Roth and Frederick 
Beltz. The latter, who is the owner of the original 
homestead portion, took pleasure, on learning our ob- 
ject, to point out the several remaining objects of in- 
terest. The site of the old house is still readily dis- 
cernible about two hundred yards northwest of Mr. 
Beltz's dwelling, within a few yards of which are still 
standing two venerable pear-trees, about two feet in 
diameter, the fruit of which was then ripe. We do 
not question that their growth must have begun very 
close to 1747, or one hundred and thirty-six yeai-s ago. 
The spring was shown, about one hundred and fifty 
yards to the north of the site of the old house. Though 



WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP. 



1137 



now long unused, except for cattle, it never has been 
known to fail. Strange to say, the original barn still 
remains in use, and must now be one of the very few 
existing in the county that antedate the Revolution. 
It is part stone and part log, thirty by forty-two feet 
and we know of no other that has soold and primitive 
an appearance. In the beginning of this century 
John Ei;k built himself a new house, to which he re- 
tired, and died in 1809, the site of which was also 
pointed out, and is still discernible on the premises of 
William L. Nace. 

Mary Magdalena was the daughter of John Eck 
and his second wife, Mary Snyder, born on the home- 
stead in June, 1767, where she remained until her 
marriage, in 1793, with Captain Nicholas Buck, a na- 
tive of Springfield township, Bucks Co., and the founder 
of Bucksville. She attained the age of nearly ninety- 
one years, and at her death left ninety-five living de- 
scendents. Her memory remained unimpaired almost 
to the last. In 1856 her remiuiscences were written 
down by one of her grandsons, and that portion relat- 
ing to her residence in Upper Salford will be briefly 
given. In the vicinity of Jacob and John Eck's 
settlement here, in 1747, deer still abounded, of which 
several were shot by the latter. Wolves were becoming 
scarce, but occasionally destroyed sheep. Wild fruit 
was abundant, as grapes, red plums, hazel-nuts, shell- 
barks, huckleberries and crab-apples. Her father 
raised considerable hemp and flax, which was manu- 
factured by the family into goods for household and 
other purposes, their clothing being all home-made. 
The women assisted considerably in out-door labors 
connected with the farm, and all grain was reaped by 
sickles, even corn and buckwheat. Her father kept a 
heavy farm-wagon, but the produce was chiefly taken 
in panuiers and wallets, on horseback, to Philadel- 
phia. Rye was chiefly grown for bread, as in Ger- 
many, with which beans were ground to increa.se the 
quantity. While Washington and his army were en- 
camped by the Skippack, in Towamencin, seven miles 
distant, her father drove down with his wagon, taking 
her and several of his children along to behold so novel 
a sight. The incidents connected therewith she 
often related, being at that time past her tenth year. 
In connection with those reminiscences one fact is re- 
markable, that though John Eck reared so large a 
family, and was entirely dependent ort his farming 
operations for a subsisteuce, yet, with all the disad- 
vantages he labored under and the aid given his chil- 
dren, the inventory of his estate, which is still pre- 
served, shows that his effects amounted to above eight 
thousand dollars, which was no inconsiderable sum 
three-quarters of a century ago, originating from such 
limited means, and may raise a query whether farming 
may not have then been more profitable than now. 

ASSESSMENT OF UPPER S.^LFORD, 1776. 

Philip Gable, assessor, and George Frederick, collector. 

Jolin Bergy, 180 acres, 3 horses, 5 cows and a grist and saw-mill ; 

George Slotterer, 200 a., 3 h., 6 c. ; Jacob Wagoner, 100 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; 

Frederick Rudy, 180 a., 2h., 3 c. ; Philip Gable, Jr., inn-keeper, 260 a., 

72 



4 h., 5 c. and 1 servant ; Christian Haldemao, 100 a., 2 b., 3 c. ; Philip 

Zeigler, 376 a., 5 h., C c; George Frederick, 105 a., 4 h., 8 c. ; Henry 
Landis. 75 a., 3 h., 7 c. ; John Ciine, 40 a., 1 h., Ic. ; Adam Hilde- 
bidle, 14.5 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Abraham Cassel, lOJ a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Frederick 
May, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Jacob Groff, iOI a., 4 h., 6 c. and a fulling- 
mill ; Philip Fisher, 120 a., 2 h., 3 o. ; Conrad Grim, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; 
Valentine Nungesser, 150 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; Leonard Snyder, 150 a., 2 h., 3 c. 
and 7 children ; Godfrey Kersneck, saddler, 55 a., 2 c. ; Henry Streaker, 
100 a., 2 h., 3 c, ; Charles Derr and Henry Kepple, 160 a., 2 h., 4 c. » 
John Brown, blacksmith, 2 c. ; Henry Hersch, 160 a., 2 h., 3 c. . 
Michael Kroll, inn-keeper, 260 a., 4 h., 3 c. ; Richard Cline, 15f) a., 2 
h., 4 c. ; John Eck, 125 a., 2 h., 3 c, 10 children, and lost his wife ; 
Ulrich Hertzell, 128 a., 2 h., 4 c. ; John Foust, 140 a. ; Christian 
Reiff, 1 c. ; Caspar Walt, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; John Hoot, 125 a., 3 h,, 
G c. ; Dorothy Weishey, widow, 50 a., I c. ; Mirgaret Wentz, widow, 
100 a., 2 h., 2 c. and 6 children : Martin Leightle, 50 a.. 1 h., 3 c. ; 
Abraham Krider, 1 c. ; Ludwig Moyer, 50 a., 2 h., 3 c. and a grist- 
mill ; George Moyer, 50 a., 2 h., 3 c. and a grist and saw-mill ; Dewalt 
Nace, 375 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Henry Walt, 250 a., 2 h., 3 c. and 9 chil . 
dren ; Philip Wentz, 185 a,, 2 h., 4 c. ; George Hertzell, 430 a., 4 h., 
10 c. ; John Fillman, 2 h. and 150 a. for his father's estate ; Sebastian 
Heap, 10 a. ; John Nice, 100 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Jost Martin, 120 a., 3 h., 
3 c. ; John Oberholtzer, 158 a., 3 h., 4 c. ; Jacob Landis, 150 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; 
Michael Young, 100 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Henry Moyer, 180 a., 4 h,, 8 c. and 
8 children; George Wyant. 50 a., 3 c, old and poor; Hans Ulrich, 
Btover, 200 a., 3 h., 8 c. and 8 children ; Henry Dietz, 125 a., 2 h., 4 c. 
and a grist and saw-mill ; Jacob Kulp , 88 a., 2 h., 4 c. and a fulling- 
mill ; Adam Smith, 40 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Daniel Heister, tanner, 130 a,, 
1 negro, 3h., 3 c. ; Frederick Koch, 2 c. ; Elizabeth Wentz, widow 
100 a., 2 h., 1 c. ; Valentine Kratz, 150 a., 2 h., 5 c. ; Jacob Daub, 
smith, 60 a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Jacob EUinger, 12 a., 1 c. ; Sebastian Nill, 
smith, 2 c. ; Henry Sander, weaver, 2 c. ; Elizabeth Wentz, widow, 62 
a., 1 c. ; William Zirkle, 2 c. ; Henry Zeigler, 1 h., 2 c. ; Robert Cole- 
man, iron-master, 10 h.,4 c, 1 servant; Conrad Epler, forgeman, 1 c. ; 
Jacob Cline, 110 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Jacob Landis, Jr., 2 h., 4 c. ; George 
Walt, tailor, 2 c. ; Martin Riddlemier, 1 c. ; William Antick, shoe- 
maker, 2 c. ; Henry Hass ; Peter Wentz, 100 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Jacob Wy- 
ant, 1 c. ; Christian May ; Peter Gerhart, 1 h., 3 c. ; Henry Strowman, 
1 c. ; Joseph Warner, fuller, 1 c. ; Henry Croll, saddler, 1 c. ; Jacob 
Young, Philip Renn. tihigle 3feii. — Killian Fisher, Jacob Filman, De- 
walt Y'oung, Adam Shearer, Henry Foust, George Landis, Michael 
Swartz, Christian Martin, Valentine Kooker_ Abraham Groff, Christo- 
pher Streaker, Wilder Bevans, John Bloyer, Andrew Zeigler, Christian 
Bergy, Henry Hartinstiue, Anthony Treale, Wendle Wentz, John Nice, 
Valentine Snyder, Daniel Murray, Peter Kepple, John Landis and 
Michael Derr. 



CHAPTER LXXIX. 

WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP.' 

Whitemaesh is bounded on the northeast by Up- 
per Dublin, southeast by Springfield, southwest by the 
Schuylkill and Conshohocken, west by Plymouth and 
northwest by Whitpain. Its length is six and one- 
fourth miles and breadth two and one-half, and it con- 
tains an area of eight thousand eight hundred and 
fifty-seven acres. In 1850, by the erection of Con- 
shohocken into a borough, its territory was reduced 
three hundred and twenty acres, but by a change of 
the boundary line, in 1876, about one hundred and 
sixty acres were added from Springfield township 
along the Schuylkill. The surface is rolling and the 
soil generally of a superior quality, being a rich loam, 
with an abundance of excellent limestone. Edge 
Hill extends through this township a distance of two 

> By William J. Buck. 



1138 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and a half miles, and crosses the Schuylkill below 
Spring Mill. It is a singular circumstance that no 
limestone, iron or marble is found anywhere on the 
south side of this hill. Barren Hill, Militia Hill and 
Camp Hill are well-known elevations that figure in 
our Revolutionary history, but do not extend to any 
length. 

Whitemarsh possesses several fine lasting streams 
of water. The Wissahickon Creek rises from two 
small branches in Montgomery township, and then 
Hows through Gwynedd, Whitpain, Upper Dublin, 
Whitemarsh and Springfield townships into the 
Schuylkill, nearly a mile below Manayunk. Its total 
length is about nineteen miles, of which thirteen are 
in this county and three and a half in this township. 
It is an excellent mill-stream, being steady, copious 
and rapid in its current. Its principal branches are 
Valley Run and Sandy Run. At a very early period 
the Wissahickon was used for mill purposes, a grist- 
mill having been erected on it by Edward Farmar 
very near the beginning of the last century. On 
Holme's map of original surveys it is called " Whit- 
paine's Creek," after Richard Whitpaine, a large 
land-holder on this stream in the present township of 
Whitpain. In the Upland Court records for 1677 it 
is called "Wiessahitkonk," which, according to Hecke- 
welder, in the Delaware Indian language, signifies 
the " catfish or yellow-water stream." Sandy Run has a 
course of upwards of a mile through the east corner 
of the township, and empties into the Wissahickon 
below Fort Washington. It is a clear, spring-water 
stream, abounding in native trout, and propels a grist- 
mill and an auger- factory. We know from records that 
it bore its present name in 1703, if not earlier. 

After Lower Merion, Pottsgrove, Upper Providence 
and Upper Merion, Whitemarsh is the most populous 
township in the county. In 1800 its population was 
1085; in 1840,2079; and in 1880, 32.39. The real 
e.state for taxable purposes, in 1882, was valued at 
$2,284,915, and including the personal, $2,4.54,050; 
the average per taxable, $2981, Montgomery, Upper 
Dublin and Towamencin being rated higher. In 
May, 1883, licenses were issued for six hotels, eleven 
general stores, two hardware-stores, four dealers in 
flour and feed, one lumber and two coal-yards. In 1858 
it contained ten hotels, fifteen stores, six grist-mills, 
three furnaces, two marble-mills, one paper-mill and 
one auger-fitctory. In 1785 five inns, five grist-mills, 
three paper-mills and two tanneries are mentioned. 
The public schools are eleven in number, open ten 
months, with an average attendance of three hundred 
and one pupils for the school year ending June 1, 
1882. In 1856 the township had eight public schools, 
open nine months. In 1880 a small portion of White- 
marsh was attached to Ambler School District. The 
census of 1850 returned 398 dwellings, 426 families and 
149 farms. The villages are Barren Hill, Plymouth 
Meeting, Fort Washington, Spring Mill, Marble Hall, 
Lafayette, Lancasterville and Whitemarsh or Val- 



ley Green. The first four places contain post-offices. 
Barren Hill has lately been changed to Lafayette 
Hill, and William Penn post-oftice is at Spring Mill. 
There are six houses of worship in Whitemarsh, 
namely, — one Episcopal, one Lutheran, one Lutheran 
and Reformed, one Friends', one Baptist and one 
Evangelical. Besides the common roads, which are 
numerous, five turnpikes traverse the township. The 
Norristown and Schuylkill Valley Railroads pass 
beside each other along its southwestern border 
upwards of two miles, with stations at Lafayette and 
Spring Mill ; also the Schuylkill navigation for the 
same distance. The North Pennsylvania Railroad 
crosses the eastern angle near the Upper Dublin line 
for about a mile, with a station at Fort Washington. 
The Plymouth Railroad passes through its central 
part upwards of three miles, with stations at Plym- 
outh Meeting, Williams and Flourtown. TheSchuyl- 
ki.l Valley Railroad was commenced in 1883 r.nd fin- 
ished in the summer of 1884, extending from Phila- 
delphia, through Norristown, to the coal regions. 

Through the researches of Hon. William A. Yeakle 
it has been ascertained that the executors of Edward 
Farmar, in a deed of a portion of his estate, dated 
April 14, 1746, to George Greenfield, mention that it 
was a " part of the lands by the Indians called Umbili- 
camense." Through this information an additional 
discovery has been made in regard to an excursion 
on horseback by William Penn to view the country. 
In a bill of charges made out by Thomas Fairman, 
commencing in 1682, he states, among other items, of 
his being debtor "To a journey with the Proprietor 
and his friends to Umbolekemensin, with 3 of my 
horses, 12 shillings." This trip was no doubt made 
in 1C83, as on August 12th of the following year 
he embarked for England. It was under these singu- 
lar circumstances that we have been enabled to 
locate Umbilicamense, and prove that it was actually 
within the rich valley of the Wissahickon and not 
more than a mile from the centre of the township. 
Another interesting circumstance in this connection 
is the discovery of the origin of the name of White- 
marsh. In the petition of the inhabitants of Skippack 
and vicinity to the Court of Quarter Sessions, dated 
June 2, 1713, for a road, they state that it may be laid 
out "from the upper end of the said township down 
to the wide marsh or Farmar's Mill." At the latter 
place, by the Wissahickon, as is well known, there is 
an extremely broad, level expanse of meadow greatly 
subject to overflows, and we do not doubt, from its 
miry, wet nature at that early day, that it was known as 
the "wide marsh," which has needed but a slight 
change to convert it as now called. The settlement 
at this mill, too, has borne the name of Whitemarsh 
from the earliest period, Lewis Evans having thus 
denoted it on his map of the province published in 
1749. 

The Farmar family were the earliest and most ex- 
tensive purchasers of land in Whitemarsh, as well as 



WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP. 



1139 



the first of its settlers. Major Jasper Farmar was an 
officer ia the British army and a resident of Cork, 
Ireland. Hearing of the advantages oBered by William 
Penn in colonizing his province induced him to pur- 
chase from Penn, by a patent dated January 31, 
1683, two tracts, containing together five thousand 
acres." When all arrangements had been made for 
the voyage Major Farmar died, when his widow, Mary 
and children, — Edward, Sarah, John, Robert, Catha- 
rine, Charles, Jasper and Robert, — accompanied by 
Thomas Farmar, Catharine Farmar (widow), Elizabeth 
Farmar, Edward Batsford and servants Joanna Daly, 
Philip Mayow and Helen his wife, John Mayow, John 
Whitlow, Nicholas Whitlow, Thomas Young and his 
wife, William Winter, George Fisher, Arthur Smithy 
Thomas Alferry, Henry Wells, Robert Wilkinson, 
Elizabeth Mayow, Mart ha Mayow, Sarah Burke, Sheele 
Oceven, Andrew Walbridge, all from Ireland, embarked 
on the ship " Bristol Merchant," John Stephens, 
master, and arrived at Philadelphia November 10, 
1685. In the same ship also arrived Nicholas Scull 
and his servants Samuel Hall, Cornelius Davye, George 
Gooding, Miles Morin, Daniel Morin, John Ward and 
Mary Cantwell. All these must have soon after their 
arrival settled on the aforesaid purchase, which it is 
likely had not been long located. It appears from the 
colonial records that John Scull, as overseer for the 
Farmar family, had settled on the tract with a number 
of servants several months before their arrival, 
probably with a view to the immediate erection of 
buildings and other improvements and preparations 
in advance of their coming. Complaint was made by 
Indians to the Governor's Council, July 21, 1685, that 
the servants on Jasper Farmar's place had made them 
drunk and abused them. A warrant was issued and 
sent out by a messenger, who, after being lost in the 
woods, returned, when it was deferred. When the 
time arrived the servants made their appearance, but 
the Indians did not apppear as accusers, and so the 
matter was probably dropped. This would show that 
in the immediate vicinity there must have then ex- 
isted an Indian settlement, and from this circumstance 
Edward Farmar acquired his knowledge of the Indian 
language which enabled him, in May, 1701 and 1712, 
to perform for the government the duties of an inter- 
preter. 



1 Since this article wa« written we have secured the following interest- 
ing liucument, which has not heretofore been published : 

" L. S. : William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of Pennsylvania and 
the Territories thereunto belonging. At the request of Jaspar Farmar, 
Junior, in the behalf of his father, Major Jaspar Farmar, bis brother 
Richard and himself, that I would grant him to take up 5000 acres of 
land, being of the lands by the Indians called Umbilicamence, fronting 
Ht one end upon the River Schuylkill. These are to will and require 
thee forthwith to survey or cause to be surveyed unto him the said 
five thousand acres in the aforementioned place where not already taken 
up, according to the method of townships appointed by me, and make 
return thereof unto my Secretary's olftce. Given at Philadelphia the 
3l8t of the loth month, 1G83. 

*' Wm. Penn. 

"Fv-r Thom.\s Holmes, Surveyor-flenernl.^^ 



As legatee of her husband's estate, Madame Far- 
mar, as she wa.s usually called, and Catharine, wife of 
Jaspar Farmar, deceased, made a partition of the estate, 
by which one-half of the five thousand acres under the 
will became in fee her property and the other one- 
half that of her two sons, Richard and Jasper Far- 
mar, Jr. Shortly after this Richard disposed of his 
share, one thousand two hundred and fifty acres, to 
Thomas Webb, who sold his interest to Madame Far- 
mar, who, by will, devised the whole to her son Edward 
Farmar, who thus became the owner of three-fourths 
of the original purchase. The mother, prior to 1690, 
married a gentleman by the name of Billop, of Phil- 
adelphia, and must have died within a few years there- 
after. Respecting this lady. Chief Justice Nicholas 
More mentioned, in a letter dated from his residence 
at Green Spring, in the manor of Moreland, September 
13, 1686, to William Penn, then in England, that 
" Madame Farmar has found out as good limestone on 
the Schuylkill as any in the world, and is building with 
it ; she offers to sell ten thousand bushels at sixpence 
the bushel upon her plantation, where are several 
considerable hills, and near to your manor of Spring- 
field." This would show that she must have been an 
energetic woman, and that probably the earliest lime 
from limestone used in Pennsylvania came from her 
kilns, at what has been so long known as the village 
of Whitemarsh. 

Edward Farmar wiis one of the early noted men 
that settled in this county, and, judging from his pen- 
manship, must have received a good education in his 




SEAL OP EDWARD FARMAR. 

youth, which eminently qualified him for the import- 
ant trusts he afterwards assumed. The family, from 
purchasing here so much land, retaining so many 
servants and making the extensive improvements 
they did, must have been in affluent circumstances, 
at least wealthier than the majority of the early 
emigrants. At his arrival Edward Farmar was 
not fourteen years of age, and consequently did not 
attain his majority until in 1693. With John 
Sotcher, of Pennsbury, he was sent, in May, 1701, 
to the Lehigh River to ascertain the intentions of 
the Indians in that vicinity. He was commissioned 
a justice of the peace for Philadelphia County Sep- 
tember 2, 1701, which office it is known he held con- 
tinuously till or near the close of his life. Andrew 



1140 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Hamilton, the Lieutenant-Governor, appointed him, 
with John Guest and Samuel Finney, justices of the 
court, February 23, 1703, for the trial of criminal 
cases. His settlement in Whitemarsh, we know in 
1708, if not earlier, was called "Farmar's Town," and 
probably several years before this he had erected a 
grist-mill on the Wissahickon, which had an extended 
reputation in 1713. In 1710 he presented the lot of 
ground on which St. Thomas' Episcopal Church was 
built, besides taking an active part in its erection, for 
which he may be almost regarded as its founder. A 
council with the Indians was held at his house May 
19, 1712, at which was present the Governor, Charles 
Gookin, and several of his friends, besides a number 
of Indians. The most prominent chiefs at this meet- 
ing were Sasoonan, Ealochelan and Scholitchy, the 
latter being the principal speaker, Mr. Farmar acting 
as interpreter. He was elected to the Assembly in 
1710, and held the office almost continuously to 1732. 
and was also for several years one of the county com- 
missioners. He died November 3, 1745, aged seventy- 
three years, and was buried in the graveyard of St. 
Thomas' Church, where a tomb is inscribed to his 
memory. From the Penn-Physick manuscripts we 
learn that he furnished lime and flour to Thomas and 
RichardPenn,atSpringettsbury,at various times from 
1735 to the period of his death. His extensive estate 
was settled by his sou, Joseph Farmar, and Peter and 
Jonathan Robeson, who had married his daughters. 
Though once so numerous, the name of Farmar has 
now become extinct, not only in "Whitemarsh, but 
probably in all the surrounding townships. Strange 
to say, in the assessment of Horsham township for 
1702, the name of Edward Farmar is mentioned as 
holding a small farm there. From the similarity of 
names, it is very probable that he belonged to this 
family. Descendants existthrough intermarriage in the 
families of Robeson, Shoemaker, Mitchell and Pierce. 
From what has been stated, it appears the Scull 
family settled early here with the Farmars, and it has 
been supposed, from their intimacy, they were related. 
Nicholas Scull, who arrived here in 1685, made a 
purchase in the vicinity, in 1688, of four hundred 
acres, hut which was not located until Deceinber 24, 
1692. John Scull, who had arrived here previously 
as overseer for the Farmar family, was a brother of 
the aforesaid, and also came from Ireland. Nicholas 
Scull died in 1703, leaving a widow, Mary, and six 
soijg, — Nicholas, Edward, Jasper, John, James and 
Joseph. Nicholas, the eldest son, and subsequently 
surveyor-general, was born in Whitemarsh, and, in 
1708, married Abigail Heap. The latter was buried 
in the family ground on the south side of Camp Hill, 
now on the estate of Gillingham Fell, where a stone 
has been erected to her memory stating that she 
died May 21, 1753, aged sixty-five years. Her 
husband, it is said, was also buried here, and 
his head-stone was removed, but from attending 
circumstances, this is regarded as doubtful. Mr. 



Scull as a land surveyor in his day had few equals, 
and could also speak the Indian language, which, in 
his youth, he had acquired here, acting on several 
occasions on behalf of the government as an interpre- 
ter. From what information we have been able to 
procure respecting him, he must have received a bet- 
ter education than was usually given at this early 
period of our colonial history. In 1722 he made the 
survey of the road leading from where is now Willow 
Grove to Governor Keith's residence, in Horsham, 
and from the latter place another road on 
the county line to York Road. He was sent, with his 
brother, John Scull, as interpreter, by Governor Gor- 
don, in May, 1728, to hold a council with the In- 
dians at Conestoga. This year, a disturbance happen- 
ing between several Indians and whites residing in 
the vicinity of New Hanover townsliip, he wassent with 
presents to pacify them, in which he wassuccesful. He 
was sent on a similar errand toShamokin in 1729. Mr. 
Scull, we know, in 1731 resided in Philadelphia, and for 
several years afterwards. In February, 1734, he was 
appointed deputy-surveyor for the counties of Phila- 
adelphia and Bucks. Governor Thomas, in May, 
1740, sent him to the Minesinks to settle a difficulty 
between a white man and an Indian, by which the 
former was wounded, for which service the Assembly 
allowed him fifteen pounds. In October, 1744, he was 
commissioned sheriff of Philadelphia County, which 
oiBce beheld for several years. The Indians from Sha- 
mokin having visited Governor Thomas, in Philadel- 
phia, in July, 1745, he again served as interpreter. 
Through ill health, William Parsons resigned the 
office of surveyor-general of Pennsylvania, when, 
June 14, 1748, Mr. Scull was appointed to fill his 
place, which he continued to hold to the close of 
his life, — a period of thirteen years. Dr. Franklin 
speaks of him, in his autobiography, as one who " loved 
books and sometimes made verses." In connection 
with George Heap he published "A Map of Philadel- 
phia and Parts Adjacent" in 1750. In 1759 he had 
published a large map of the improved jjarts of Penn- 
sylvania and Maryland, which, for correctness, far sur- 
passed all previous ones. Mr. Scull died at an ad- 
vanced age about the beginning of November, 1761, 
when his associate, John Lukens, of Horsham, was 
appointed his successor. Respecting Mr. Scull, 
Richard Peters, in a letter dated Philadelphia, May 
11, 1753, wrote to Thomas Penn, that "though he is 
industrious and enjoys a good office, yet he has a large 
family and is not beforehand in the world." All ef- 
forts at finding some notice of his death in the Phila- 
delphia newspapers at the time has proved unsuc- 
cessful. 

By order of Thomas Penn, one of the proprietaries 
of Pennsylvania, the constables of the several 
townships of Philadelphia County were required to 
make a return of the names of all the land-holders, 
with the number of acres respectively held by them, 
and also of the tenants. This list was made out in 



WHITEMAKSH TOWNSHIP. 



1141 



1734, and is called an " jincertain return," prepared 
by John Hyatt, but, in the absence of anything better 
or more reliable, possesses unusual interest at a particu- 
lar period, when the country had been sufficiently 
settled to warrant the care of the government in the 
due enforcement of the laws. From said list, as per- 
taining to the township of Whitemarsh, the following 
forty-seven names have been copied : Edward Farmar; 
Jonathan Robeson; Edith Davis; John Klinkey, loO 
acres; Henry Kartlestal, 170; Marchaiit Maulsbv 
40; Nicholas Stiglitz, ISl) ; Benjamin Charlesworth 
200; John Morris, 200; Jonathan Potts, 80; Samuel 
(Jilkey, 50 ; Josiah White, 18 ; David Davis, 60 ; 
John Petty, 500; Margaret Nichols, 200 ; Francis Cawly, 
50; David Harry, 200 ; William Williams, 200; Fred- 
erick Stone, 150 ; Joseph Williams, 200 ; Adam Kitler, 
170; Ludwig Knoos, 100 ; WalterGahone, 100; Casper 
Simons, 50 ; Jacob Coltman, 50 ; Isaac Morris, 300 ; 
William Trotter, 100; James Stroud, 200. Tenants: 
John Anderson, Joseph Woolen, Evan Jones, John 
Scull, John Parker, Henry Rinkard, John Ramsey, 

Jr., Edward Stroud, John Ramsey, Campbell, 

Henry Steward, Thomas Shepherd, William English, 
Jenkin Davis, John Patterson, Joseph F"aris, John 
Coulson, Handle Hansel l,MathiasJgnorance. It will be 
observed that no figures appear after the first three 
names, information probably being refused to evade 
a higher rate of taxation. Tlie list serves as an aid 
in arriving at a knowledge of the early settlers, 
though no doubt the number of acres in most in- 
stances is given only in round numbers, witliout 
aiming at exactness. 

The name of Robeson does not appear in White- 
marsh on the list of 1734, but the family were quite 
early settlers along the lower Wissahickon. Before 
the death of Edward Farmar, in 1745, Peter Robe- 
son had married his daughter Sarah, and his nephew- 
Jonathan Robeson, Jr., Catharine, a younger sister. 
Through this connection they came in possession of 
considerable real estate in the township. Peter 
Robeson's tract contained nine hundred and fifty-two 
acres on the Wissahickon, and was part of the tract 
which the Indians had called Umbilicamense. He 
sold a portion containing five hundred and fifty-two 
acres, March 4, 1755, to Anthony Williams, of Bristol 
township, for £1066 4«. 9d. Charles Williams, a de- 
scendant, still retains a valuable portion, that has ever 
since been in the family. Jonathan Robeson, in 
1780, was assessed for two hundred and thirty-eight 
acres, a grist-mill, and three negroes, one riding-chair, 
five horses and four cattle. He is reported as having 
eleven children, who have numerous descendants in 
the county and elsewhere. Jonathan inherited the 
mill property now owned by Silas Cleaver, and a por- 
tion of the tract is comprised in the farms of John 
Cleaver and Thomas S. Phipps, adjoining. Among 
the sons were also Peter and Andrew Robeson. Judge 
Andrew Robeson, the ancestor of the family, died 
February 19, 1719-20, aged sixty-six years. Robeson 



township, where he was a considerable land-holder, 
was called after him. 

Adam Kitler, who is mentioned in the list of 1734 as 
owning one hundred and seventy acres of land, resided 
in the vicinity of the present Marble Hall, where 
buildings erected by him in 1743 are still standing. 
In 1745 he purchased additional land, which extended 
southward to Barren Hill Church. His name is men- 
tioned in the assessment of 1780, and John Kitler, 
who may have been a sou, as holding one hundred 
and sixteen acres. The former was buried in the 
Barren Hill graveyard. This tract has proved itself 
rich in marble and iron-ore ; large quantities of both 
have been sent off to Philadelphia or to the neigh- 
boring works and furnaces. 

In the list of 1734 we find the name of John Morris 
as holding here two hundred acres, and in Abington, 
at said date, Morris Morris, four hundred acres. It is 
a tradition that the family in Whitemarsh are de- 
scended from Evan Morris, who came from Wales and 
settled a mile east of Friends' Meeting-house, in 
Abington, and it may be, in consequence, tiiat the 
aforesaid John and Morris Morris were his sons. 
Samuel Morris was a justice of tlie peace in White- 
marsh from 1745 to 1753 and an overseer of Plymouth 
Meeting. 

He died in 1772, leaving an estate of three hun- 
dred and fifty acres, which descended to his brother 
Joshua, of Abington, long a member of Assembly. He 
donated a lot of land for a school-house and five hun- 
dred and thirty jiounds in trust, the interest to be ap- 
plied to the building and keeping the same in repair, 
which went into operatioi) before 1790, and was long 
known as the Union School. In the assessment of 
1780 the only names found in Whitemarsh are Samuel 
Morris, tanner, rated for twenty-nine acres, and Owen 
Morris, a single man. 

In the northern j>artof the township, adjoining Up- 
per Dublin, a tract of six hundred acres was taken up 
by the Free Society of Traders, who sold three hun- 
dred and ten acres of the same to John Jones, which 
was located by Jacob Taylor, surveyor-general, April 
4, 1724. This descended by will to his son, John Jones, 
Jr., who, with Sarah, his wife. May 21, 1760, conveyed 
twenty and three-fourths acres, for £39 5s., to Abraham 
Houser, chair-maker. The original deed of this pur- 
chase was by the latter buried in the ground for 
greater safety while the British held possession of 
Philadelphia in 1777. When it was taken up the 
parchment was found to be almost entirely illegible 
through the efllects of moisture, when the owner 
thereof called on Mr. Jones, " gentleman, of Philadel- 
phia," who executed to him a new deed, bearing date 
November 14, 1793, wherein the aforesaid circum- 
stances are related. 

Abraham H. Carn, a descendant of Mr. Houser 
and the owner of said tract, possesses both the 
deeds, which are thus invested with singular in- 
terest, the latter having been executed a third of a 



1U2 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



century later, denoting that the parties thereto had 
been favored witli longevity. 

The Scheetz family has been for some time in 
Whitemarsh, several members of which have been 
noted business men and held office in the county. It 
has been stated that John Jacob Scheetz, a minister 
of Creyfelt, on the Rhine, was a member of the Frank- 
fort Company, organized in 1G83 to promote and en- 
courage settlement from Germany. His son Henry 
was thus induced to come to Pennsylvania and firs 
settled at Germantown, afterwards removing on a pur* 
chase in this township, where he spent the remainde" 
of his days. This property was inherited by his son 
Henry Scheetz, who, in the assessment of 1780, ig 
called a " paper-maker," and rated for owning a paper- 
mill and eighty acres of land. This mill he built in 
1769, on Sandy Run, to which he added afterwards a 
grist-mill, which is still standing. It is said he also 
erected, at a later date, the paper-mill on the same 
stream, a short distance over the Springfield linC) 
which is still in possession of the family. He was ap- 
pointed a justice of the peace before the Revolution) 
and on the formation of Montgomery County com- 
missioned, December 10, 1784, one of the justices of 
the Courts of Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas. He 
died about 1794, leaving two sons, Henry and Justice. 
The latter was elected sheriff', serving in the office 
from 1816 to 1819. 

General Henry Scheetz, son of the aforesaid Henry 
and Catharine Scheetz, was born at the homestead on 
Sandy Run, in Whitemarsh, in 1761. His education 
was received in the schools of the neighborhood. 
During the rebellion of John Fries, in 1798, the com- 
mand of a county brigade was assigned him. When 
they arrived in the vicinity the affiiir had subsided; 
he returned and the troops disbanded. In 1805 he 
was elected a member of the Assembly, followed, in 
1808, as one of the directors of the new poor-house. 
In September, 1811, was apjjointed by Governor Sny- 
der major-general of the Second Division of the Penn- 
sylvania militia. After the breaking out of the war 
with England he marched with his command to 
Marcus Hook and the protection of Dupont's 
powder-works, near Wilmington. After the unsuc- 
cessful attempt of General Ross on Baltimore the 
militia were recalled and discharged. In 1817, Gen- 
eral Scheetz was elected one of the directors of the 
Montgomery Bank, at Norristown. He was appointed, 
in 1830, one of the six viewers for laying out the State 
road from New Hope,on the Delaware,through Doyles- 
town, Norristown and West Chester, to the Maryland 
line. Though in his seventy-seventh year, he was 
elected, in 1837, one of the members from Montgomery 
County to frame a new Constitution for the State, the 
duties of which he laitlifully performed. Having a 
competency, he retired from business, making his home 
in Valley Green, where he died September 4, 1848, at 
the advanced age of eighty-seven years. The plain, 
substantial two-story house he occupied is still stand- 



ing on the east side of the turnpike, near the Springfield 
line, above Flourtown, and is now owned by Samuel 
Van Winkle, Jr. He left nine surviving children, all 
by his first wife. His descendants are numerous, bear- 
ing the names of Scheetz, Hitner, Sechler, Wentz and 
Acuff'. His daughter Catharine was married to Dan- 
iel Hitner, of Marble Hall, and was the mother of 
Daniel O. and Henry L. Hitner, long and well-known 
business men of the county. 

Among the eminent teachers of the past may be 
mentioned Patrick Meuan, a native of Ireland, who 
resided on a farm of fifty acres at the east corner of 
the cross-roads at the present Marble Hall. Here, in 
addition to school-teaching, he followed for a long 
time conveyancing and surveying. He wrote, in 1746, 
the deed for the old burying-ground near Williams' 
school-house and witnessed it, which indicates that 
he must have resided in the township some time 
previously. He was made one of its trustees in 1786. 
Among the pupils of his school can be mentioned 
General Andrew Porter and the eminent philosopher, 
David Rittenhouse ; to attend, they came daily from 
the homes of their parents, in Norriton and Worces- 
ter, six miles distant. Thrcugh his iLstiucticrs 
they made rapid progress in mathematics. In the 
assessment of 1780 he is reported as being " aged" 
and as keeping a horse. He died February 5, 1791, 
aged eighty years, and is interred in the graveyard 
mentioned, where a tombstone has been erected to 
his memory. 

The road from Plymouth, through Whitemarsh, to 
the city was laid out quite early, as also that from the 
present village of Whitemarsh. The latter, we know, 
was opened in 1703. What is now known as the 
Reading or Manatawny road was laid out, fifty feet 
wide, from Wissahickon Mill to Edward Lane's, at the 
Perkiomen. In 1714 the Skippack road was opened, 
striking the road to the city at Farmar's mill, in the 
present village of Whitemarsh. What is now termed 
the Church road, leading from St. Thomas' Church to 
Oxford, was laid out in 1811. The Germantown and 
Perkiomen turnpike was completed in 1804, twenty- 
five miles in length, at a cost of two hundred and 
eighty-five thousand dollars, and solely built by indi- 
vidual subscription. In 1874 the company forfeited 
its charter through a suit with the city of Philadel- 
phia, by which the latter was required to pay to the 
stockholders ninety-one thousand dollars, and the 
whole road made free to travel. Since said date the 
several townships in the county through which it 
passes are required to keep it in order. The Skippack 
road was turnpiked in 1855, and the Township Line 
road, from Plymouth Meeting to Upper Dublin, the 
same year. 

The mill built by Edward Farmar, on the Wissa- 
hickon, before 1713, stood where the Gwynedd and 
North Wales and Philadelphia roads cross the 
Skippack. In 1722 a well-traveled pathway is men- 
tioned leading from the present Bridge Point, on 



WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP. 



1143 



the Neshaminy, below . Doylestown, through Graeme 
Park, to this mill, thus showing a necessity of coming 
hither for flour, a distance of thirteen miles, previous 
to said date. After the death of Edward Farmar it 
came in possession of Samuel Morris, thence to his 
brother, .Tushua Morris, and next to his son-in-law, Isaac 
Mather, who erected the present mill and mansion- 
house. After his death it passed to William Miller, 
who owned it but a short time, when Samuel W. 
Comley became the possessor, who carried on milling 
for many years ; next, Wm. H. Witte, from whom it 
passed to Charles Otterson, Esq., of Philadelphia, the 
present owner. A violent tornado visited this property 
in 1837, unroofing the buildings, twisting oft' the 
tops of trees and carrying them towards Camp Hill, 
on which occasion also a huge spiral column of 
water arose from the dam to a great height, dropping 
the fishes in the neighboring fields. Its fury was 
chiefly confined to this locality. 

What was known as Joseph Lukens' grist-mill, 
near the Upper Dublin line, has been converted into 
a manufactory of woolen goods, but has not been in 
operation for some time. Before the Revolution it 
was owned by Daniel Morris. A grist-mill was 
erected on the Sandy Run, beside the Spring House 
turnpike, which has been converted into an auger 
factory, before 1850, by Albert Conard, and who still 
carries on the business. The mill now owned by Silas 
Cleaver is near the Springfield line, and has been 
greatly improved. He is now enabled, with the as- 
sistance of a steam-engine, added in 1882, to grind two 
hundred bushels of wheat per day. This mill was also 
originally built by Edward Farmar, on whose death 
it passed into the hands of his son-in-law, Peter Robe- 
son, thence descended to his son Jonathan, after which 
William Dewees, Esq., became owner. About the 
beginning of this century it came in possession of 
Nicholas Kline, of Flourtown, who erected the present 
mill and was for some time its owner. There is also 
a grist-mill on the Wissahickon, three-quarters of a 
mile above this, belonging to J. B. Comly, the history 
of which we have not ascertained. The average volume 
of the Wissahickon, like that of other streams, by the 
removal of forests and the drainage and cultivation 
of the adjacent land for nearly two centuries, has been 
materially reduced. 

On the fiirm lately owned by Lewis A. Lukens, near 
the Wissahickon, is an old burying-grouud that de- 
serves notice. It was used for this purpose in 1722 
and most probably earlier. Samuel Farmar, a son of 
Edward, conveyed, by a deed dated September 2, 
174(5, half an acre of ground to Henry Bartleson, 
Peter Knight and James Stroud, for the purpose of a 
burying-ground and place of worship, for the consider- 
ation of five pounds Pennsylvania currency. Peter 
Knight, as the last su'rviving trustee, continued the 
trust, August 2, 1786, to George Hocker, Nicholas 
Kline, Patrick Menan, Peter Bartleson and Bartle 
Bartleson, for the object contemplated. For its better 



preservation and care the whole was inclosed in a 
wall, which has now become greatly dilapidated. The 
earliest tombstone here containing an inscription is 
that of John Nicols Knight, who died December 29, 
1729, aged forty years and ten months. It is of some 
size, deeply paneled, with antique-looking letters, 
which, for that early day, nmst have cost some labor 
as well as expense. Isaac Knight and Isaac Knight, 
Jr., who were land-holders in Abington in 1734, may 
have been relatives. A stone is inscribed to the mem- 
ory of Elizabeth Bartleson, who died March 24, 1769, 
aged sixty, and another to Bartle Bartleson, deceased 
February 17, 1777, aged eighty years. The names of 
Trump, Menan, Siddon, Hench, Coleman, Mason and 
Bilger are also found here. A number of the graves 
are unmarked, which, of course, cannot now be ascer- 
tained. Among those were some of the Kline family 
and George Heydrick. That no house of wor.ship was 
built here, as originally designed, was probably owing 
to the erection of Barren Hill Church, in 1761. 

On the main roads passing through this town- 
ship from the northwestward, and leading to Philadel- 
phia, there was, before the introduction of rail- 
roads, a great amount of travel, which, of course, 
necessitated a use for inns. From the records we 
learn that Joseph Norris was licensed in 1773 and 
James Stringer in 1774; in 1778, Conrad Bean, Jacob 
Hauser, George Hitner and Isaac Lyie. Besides Bean 
and Lyle, the following year the names of Ludwig 
Dagen, Frederick Houseman and Andrew Gilkison 
are mentioned. In 1785 five public-houses were 
licensed ; four of these were kept by G^rge Daub, 
George Eckhart, Christian Steer and Ludwig Dagen. 
Conrad Bean kept at Barren Hill and George Eck- 
hart at Whitemarsh, where the elections were so long 
held. Sandy Run tavern was advertised for sale in 

1809, with stabling for one hundred horses ; it has 
recently ceased as a public-house. George Streeper 
advertises the " Rising Sun " tavern for sale, on the 
Ridge road in 1810, eleven miles from the city. The 
stand of George Eckhart, on the Spring House turn- 
pike, must have been an old and noted one. It was 
kept by a Mr. Bisbing ; next by Philip Sellers, who 
was here at least in 1811 and continued in the business 
until after 1829. He kept the post-office here in 1816, 
and was sheritT from LS19 to 1822. Jacob W. Haines 
afterwards became the owner and kept it and the 
post-office many years. On coming into the possession 
of William H. Witte, of Philadelphia, who moved 
here, he converted it into a private dwelling, which 
it still remains. 

Among those who held township offices in the past 
may be mentioned Nicholas Stiglitz, collector in 1721, 
and Peter Robeson in 1742; Samuel Morris, ap- 
pointed, in 1745, justice of the peace, as successor to 
Edward Farmar; John Kitler and Jacob Edge, super- 
visors in 1767, John Kitler and James White in 1773, 
Joseph Lukens and George Freas in 1785, and in 

1810, Jacob Gilbert and Andrew Fisher. Samuel 



1144 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Williams was constable in 1774; John Bower collector 
and Leonard Streeper assessor in 1780. From the 
assessment of 1780 we get some additional informa- 
tion. The manufacture of paper was then carried on 
by Henry Scheetz, Henry Katz, William Kagge and 
Jacob Hagge, in four paper-mills, showing that this 
was quite an industry. Jonathan Robeson, Evan 
Meredith and Joseph Paul carried on grist-mills ; the 
latter, in addition, a saw-mill. Christopher Shupart 
is mentioned as having in operation two stills, and 
Leonard Kulp one, probably for the manufacture of 
apple whiskey. We next find the names of Henry 
Kuntzman and Peter Streeper, smiths ; Samuel Mor- 
ris, tanner ; Jacob Jones and William Fitzgerald 
teachers; Richard Maers, millwright; Jacob Cook^ 
weaver; Samuel McCool, James White and Benjamin 
Krouse, tailors ; John Clinton, Robert Kane, Henry 
Seabolt and Israel Everly, shoemakers. William West 
is rated for two hundred and eighty acres, part of the 
property being now owned by Thomas Wentz. An- 
thony Williams' estate of four hundred and seventy 
acres, in tenure of Isaac Williams, is now chiefly 
owned by Charles Williams ; Joseph McClain, two 
hundred and thirty acres, now partly comprised in 
the Sheaff estate ; Evan Meredith rented three hun- 
dred acres and a grist-mill from Robert Walls. The 
latter is now Eberhart Flues' woolen manufactory, 
near Fort Washington. 

Whitemarsh is rich in Revolutionary associations 
and on its hills are still to be seen the remains of re- 
doubts and entrenchments erected in that memorable 
struggle. While the British held possession of the 
city they made several excursions out here, and the 
damages thus committed upon the people of the town- 
ship were estimated by commissioners appointed for 
the purpose at six hundred and sixty-one pounds. 
The large stone building used by Washington as his 
headquarters is still standing in Upper Dublin town- 
ship about half a mile over theline, owned by Charles 
K. Aimeu, and may be seen from the passing cars on 
the North Pennsylvania Railroad, just above Sandy 
Run Station. The army was encamped here from 
about October 20th to December 11, 1777, when they 
proceeded on their march to Valley P^orge for winter- 
quarters. From his autobiography we learn that Col. 
Samuel Miles, in 1774, removed from Philadelphia to 
a farm he purchased at Spring Mill. While here he 
took an early and active part in opposition to the ar- 
bitrary proceedings of the British government. He 
states that the second company of militia raised in 
Pennsylvania for the service was organized by him 
in Whitemarsh, and that he commanded forces raised 
in Whitemarsh, Plymouth and Germantown. At the 
battle of Long Island he was taken a prisoner and 
retained above two years before being exchanged, 
when he returned to his farm to recruit himself after 
his long and severe confinement. He shortly after- 
wards sold his place and removed to Cheltenham, 
where he died in 1805, in the history of which town- 



ship additional particulars are given concerning 
him. 

Before the Revolution the electors, not only of this 
township, but of the whole county, voted at the inn 
opposite the State-House, in Chestnut Street, Phila- 
delphia. By an act passed June 14, 1777, the elec- 
tions of this and all adjoining townships were re- 
quired to be held at the public-house of Jacob Cole- 
man, in Germantown. After the erection of Mont- 
gomery County an act of Assembly was passed, Sep- 
tember 13, 1785, which divided the same into three 
districts, and the freemen of the townships of White- 
marsh, Springfield, Cheltenham, Abington, Moreland, 
Horsham, Upper Dublin, Gwynedd, Montgomery, 
Towamencin, Hatfield, Lower Salford and Franconia 
were required to hold their elections at the tavern of 
George Eckhart, in the present village of White- 
marsh. By an increase of the number of districts, in 
1797, the townships voting here were reduced to 
Whitemarsh, Springfield, Upper Dublin and Horsham. 
This district in October, 1802, polled 476 votes. In 
1838 the townshipsof Whitemarsh, Upper Dublin and 
Springfield still voted here, the house being then 
kept by Jacob W. Haines. Springfield continued 
voting here until 1847, when the elections of that 
township were ordered to be held at Flourtown. By an 
act of Assembly passed April 18, 1853, the elections 
were ordered to be held at Barren Hill. By a decree 
of the court, July 2, 1875, Whitemarsh was divided 
into two districts, to be called the Eastern and West- 
ern, the elections of the former to be held at the 
Clifton House, at Sandy Run, below Fort Washing- 
ton, and of the latter at Barren Hill. 

Samuel Morris, of Whitemarsh, having died in 
1772, by an unsigned will donated a lot of land for 
the purpose of a school, extending the benefit to the 
neighborhood around for the distance of a mile and 
a half, and five hundred and thirty pounds in addi- 
tion for the erection of a school-house and keeping it 
in repair, for which the interest was only to be ap- 
plied. The aforesaid objects were fully carried out 
by his brother, Joshua Morris, to which was after- 
wards added the sum of $33.33 from Mr. Ulrich. A 
conveyance from the aforesaid was executed, January 
13, 1773, to John Cleaver, of Upper Dublin, Thomas 
Lancaster, Joseph McClean, Jacob Edge, Joseph 
Lukens and Henry Scheetz, of Whitemarsh, in trust. 
The school-house was built not long afterwards, with 
a building attached on the lot fronting on the Spring 
House turnpike, about half a mile below Fort Wash- 
ington. It was incorporated by an act of Assembly 
passed May 12, 1797. The first entry in the minute- 
book is dated 11th of Fourth Month, 1791, but the 
school was opened several years before this. The 
first teacher was Ezekiel Hill, who retained the posi- 
tion for several years; afterwards Thomas Livezey, 
who became a justice of the peace ; Francis Murphy, 
about 1812, followed by Robert Kerr, William Kerr, 
John M. Jones, Daniel Sellers, Samuel Davis, Thomas 



WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP. 



1145 



Bitting and others. It was known as the Union 
School and used as such until 1869, when the school 
directors of Whitemarsh built the house adjoining 
for the public school, when the former building was 
remodeled by the trustees. It is now used principally 
for lectures, concerts, etc. 

A lot of ground, containing two acres and eighty 
perches, adjoining the aforesaid school-ground was 
conveyed, 23d of Sixth Month, 1791, by Joshua Mor- 
ris to Joseph Lukens, Isaac Mather, John Wilson, 
Thomas W. Pryor, Joseph Jeanes, Thomas Lancas- 
ter, Jr., and Jesse Trump, of Whitemarsh, and Jesse 
Cleaver, of Upper Dublin, in trust to Gwynedd 
Monthly Meeting, for a meeting-house and burial- 
ground forever. Four of the surviving trustees, the 
25th of Second Month, 1815, continued the trust, 
which, in 1847, was again transferred, to William 
Longstreth, Charles Williams, Joseph Jeanes, Ellis 
Cleaver, Thomas Livezey, Daniel Foulke, John L. 
Jones and Henry Jones. The present meeting-house 
and dwelling on said lot was erected about 1860. 
Friends hold occasional meetings here, the dwelling 
part being occupied. 

The first school-house where is now the Williams 
Public School was built by a committee of Plymouth 
Preparatory Meeting in 1816. It was octagonal in form 
and hence bore the name of Eight-Square School- 
house. The first teacher was Thomas Paxson, father 
of Judge Edward M. Paxson, of the Supreme Court, 
who died in Buckingham, Bucks Co., April 19, 1881, 
in his eighty-eighth year. He was followed by his 
.sister, Grace Paxson, next David Lukens, John H. 
Callender, Hughs Bell, Jacob Paxson and others. 
When the common-school system went into operation 
the building was taken in charge by the board of 
directors, who, in 1866, had it torn down and a more 
commodious one erected in its place. 

Iron-ore has been obtained in considerable quanti- 
ties in Whitemarsh for some time. Mention is made 
in Gabriel Thomas' " Account of Pennsylvania," 
published at London in 1698, of the discovery of 
ore in the province several years previous, but the 
locality is not specified. Near the present Edge Hill 
village, in Abington township, the existence of mines 
is stated in 1725. Just a short time previous to the 
completion of the Schuylkill navigation, in 1826, 
iron-ore was discovered in abundance near Spring 
Mill, Irom whence great quantities were shipped to 
furnaces in New Jersey and elsewhere. It was pro- 
nounced to contain seventy-five per cent, of pure 
iron, for which, in 1827, a royalty of fifty cents per 
ton was paid on the ground and when delivered in the 
city, $4.50. From the (juantity of ore taken from his 
farm, at Marble Hall, Henry S. Hitner had, to 1858, 
attained to a depth of ninety-five feet perpendicular, 
a steam-pump being used to remove the water. 
Great quantities have also been dug in the 
vicinity of Harmanville, Barren Hill, Cold Point and 
Lancasterville. According to the census of 1870. 



nineteen iron-ore mines were worked in the county, 
employing two hundred and twenty-seven hands, 
producing 52,179 tons, valued at $152,736. It is prob- 
able that Whitemarsh may have produced one-third 
of this amount, the other iron-producing townships 
being Abington, Upper Dublin, Springfield and Upper 
Merion. 

Marble has also been procured for some time in 
Whitemarsh. Several quarries were worked before 
the beginning of this century. The Hitner quarry, 
at Marble Hall, in 1858 had reached a depth of two 
hundred and forty-two feet, showing that a consider- 
able amount of marble must have been taken out to 
cause such an excavation. The Fritz quarry, which 
had been opened before 1800, in 1858 had attained a 
depth of one hundred and seventy-five feet. Besides 
these may be mentioned the Lentz and Dager or 
Potts quarries, that have also produced considerable 
of this material. The marble is of various colors and 
differs in quality, — white, blue and clouded, the 
former being the most valuable. Considerable of the 
marble used in the construction of Girard College was 
obtained from Mr. Hitner's quarry and Henderson's, 
in Upper Merion. The census of 1870 returned five 
marble-quarries in the county, which are limited to 
Whitemarsh and Upper Merion, the former producing 
the most. The business appears to be a very fluctu- 
ating one, at times the mills and machinery connected 
therewith being in full operation, and at intervals 
long idle or applied to other purposes. James 
Traquar had a marble-yard established near Marble 
Hall, in 1801, if not some time earlier, in charge of 
William Bush, keeping on hand a supply of tomb- 
stones, mantel and chimney-pieces, steps, sills, etc. 

Lime was burned for building purposes in White- 
marsh, we know, in 1686, and in the vicinity of Plym- 
outh Meeting before 1698. Its excellence and white- 
ness are known over the Union. According to the 
census of 1840, Whitemarsh produced lime to the 
value of fifty-one thousand four hundred and fifty- 
eight dollars, but the business has since been greatly 
increased through the extension of the railroad to 
Orelaud. It is most extensively burned in the vicinity 
of Plymouth Meeting, Corson Station, AVilliams 
Station, Sandy Run and Whitemarsh village. 

Peter Le Gaux. a native of Lorraine, France, where 
he was born in 1743, was a counselor of law by pro- 
fession, and came to America in 1785 and settled 
the following year at Spring Mill. He resided on 
the hill to the north of the railroad station in an 
imposing, substantial two-story house, now occu- 
pied by his granddaughter, Mrs. Toland, to which 
was attached a considerable plantation. An act 
was passed by the Assembly, September 8, 1787, 
empowering him to establish and keep a ferry 
here. From 1786 to 1790 he was a contributor to 
the Columbian Magazine, published in Philadelphia, 
especially on meteorology, of which he was a close 
and practical observer and a man of scientific ac- 



1146 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



quirements. He was on intimate terms with the 
Audubons, father and son, of Lower Providence. 
While residing here he entered into vine-growing, 
with a view to the manufacture of wine. Robert 
Sutcliff, an English traveler, in a visit here, in August, 
1804, thus mentions it in his work : " We crossed the 
Schuylkill at Spring-Mill Ferry, and had a sight of a 
vineyard of about five acres, under the management 
of a Frenchman. As the vines were not suffered to 
grow more than three feet in height, it had somewhat 
the appearance of a field of raspberries." No doubt 
he endeavored to introduce the cultivation of the 
foreign grape ; hence, like many others, was unsuccess- 
ful. Mr. Le Gaux died here in 1828, aged seventy-five 
years. His will, in the register's office, is quite 
lengthy, and exhibits an eccentric mind. 

With a view to changing the boundary line between 
Whitemarsh and Springfield, William Sibley, Michael 
O'Brian and Florence Sullivan were appointed com- 
missioners, and made a report, which the court, Novem- 
ber 11, 1876, modified and confirmed as follows : 

" That instead of the Ridge turniiike road being the northeastern bound- 
ary, the dividing line shall be the line dividing the lands of J. Kratz and 
Wm. L. Rittenhouse, on the southwesterly side of said Ridgo turnpike 
oad, so that the township of Whitemarsh shall comprise that part of 
Springfield lying between the River Schuylkill, tlie line of Philadelphia 
City and county and the said line, between hinds of J. Kratz and Wni. L. 
Rittenhouse." 

By this change Springfield township no longer ex- 
tends to the Schuylkill, and Whitemarsh has gained 
about one hundred and sixty acres of additional ter- 
ritory. 

About half a mile southwest of Flourtown,on the 
Wissahickon, is the residence and farm of Norman 
W. Kittson, of St. Paul, Minnesota, containing four 
hundred acres, devoted to the rearing and improve- 
ment of blooded horses ; with this purpose in view, 
Aristides Welsh, about 1861, purchased here a farm 
of one hundred and fifty acres, which he increased 
to two hundred and fifty acres. Among the most 
noted horses owned or bred by him may be men- 
tioned Rysdick, Strathraore, Lexington, Susquehanna, 
Leamington, Lady Duke, Alarm, Reform, Iroquois (the 
winner, several years ago, of the Prince of Wales' 
stakes at the Ascot races), Harold and others. He 
likewise became the owner of Flora Temple, the 
famous trotter of thirty years ago. In May, 1882, 
Mr. Welsh sold the property known as Erdenheim to 
Mr. Kittson for one hundred and twenty-five thousand 
dollars, who has increased its area by adjoining pur- 
chases and making additional improvements, with a 
view to the enlargement of stock-raising. Three tracks 
for training and exercising the horses and colts have 
been recently laid out, of a mile, half-mile and the 
eighth of a mile in length, the latter under cover, 
so that it can be used in bad weather. For the pur- 
pose of affording readier communication between the 
grounds on the opposite sides of the Wissahickon, 
Mr. Kittson, in the summer of 1883, had a stone bridge 
erected across the stream, which, as a private enter- 



prise was, possibly, not previously surpassed in the 
county. About one hundred and twenty-five acres 
of this estate are in Springfield township. 

On the line adjoining Plymouth and Whitpain 
townships is an elevation known as Cold Point, where 
there is a scattered hamlet, containing on the White- 
marsh side more than a dozen houses. The Cold Point 
Baptist Church, located at this place, was first known 
as the Plymouth Church, and the locality became a 
preaching-place about 1842, when the Rev. Robert 
Young, then pastor of the Chestnut Hill Baptist 
Church, began service in the school-house, which then 
stood opposite the present church. The cornerstone 
of the old stone church edifice was laid in the sum- 
mer of 1845, and after completion was in use until 
1867. The corner-stone of the present stone house, 
sixty by forty feet, was laid in August of that year and 
completed and dedicated in 1868 and is still used. It 
stands a short distance west of the old church. The 
Rev. Mr. Young retired from the charge of Chestnut 

Hill Church in 1849 and the Revs. Wilson and 

Barnhurst preached at the place until 1854, when the 
present church was regularly organized and the Rev. 
Jesse B. Williams became the pastor. He was suc- 
ceeded by Alexander H. Folwell, ■ Trotter, J. B. 

Williams, H. H. Lemy, Oakley, Rolando Kocher 

and John C. Jacobs. The churches are at present 
without a pastor. The membership is about one 
hundred and fifty. The grounds occupy about two 
and a half acres and are kept in neat condition. We 
find on the tombstones the names of Freas, Rode- 
baugh, Lysinger, Fight, Phipps, Hellings, Williams, 
White, Sands, Bisbing, Hallet, Rex, Coulson, Moore, 
Robinson, Fisher, Nagle, Schlater, Yetter, Butler, 
Kirk, RadclifiF, Getman, Wood, Jones, Childs, Wim- 
mer, Roberts, Heller, Gilbert and Dewees. From 
these grounds a fine view is obtained of the surround- 
ing country, particularly towards the north and west, 
embracing the greater portion of Plymouth township. 
Near this is the residence of the late Alan W. Corson, 
well known as a teacher, surveyor, nurseryman and 
botanist, who died June 21, 1882, aged ninety-five 
years. 

The Union Church, as it is called from being 
held in common by the Lutheran and Reformed 
denominations, is situated in the lower part of the 
village of Whitemarsh, on the turnpike, and was 
originally built in 1818. In 1867 it was remodeled 
with a tower in front. It is built of stone, one story 
high, with stained-glass windows. The grounds com- 
prise about five acres and extend from the turnpike 
to the Church road. Quite a number have been 
buried here, as may be judged by the following sur- 
names transcribed from the tombstones : Van Winkle, 
Kehr, Shriver, Smith, Cox, Shaffer, Schofield, Francis, 
Aimen, Heist, Swimp, King, Bisbing, Grafly, Pierce, 
Trexler, Stout, Herrman, Hoover, Hallowell, Ruch, 
Robbins, Kiihler, Wallace, Thompson, Baum, Det- 
weiler, Fisher, Prince, Rodebaugh, Dewees, Bollaud, 



WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP. 



1147 



Keyser, Wentz, Armstrong, Steevy, Ball, Slingluff, 
Heydrick, Day, Bitting, Sorber, Wolf, Dager, Yetters, 
Quandrill, Dotts, Faringer, Everliart, Harmer, Cook, 
Carr, Eiigard, Hocker, Sclieetz, Gilbert, McClellan, 
Clemens, Nace, Jones, Graflf, Wimmer, Hess, Heister, 
Redifer, Fries, Lear, Hallman, Benner, Ott, Heany, 
Frantz, Hereh, Fultz, Bryan, Heller, Cox, Cam, 
McNeill, Sechler, Farr, Davis, Neiman, Kline, Coar, 
Peterman, Hauss, Brooke, Daub, Shugard, Irwin, Bush, 
Yeakle, Burnet, Closson, Hemp, Kerper, Bowers, 
Hogg, Cooper, Shaw, Frederick, Steer, McClay, 
Jacoby and Roberts. A handsome monument has 
been erected here to the memory of General Scheetz, 
who died in 1848. On the part of the Lutherans, the 
pastors of Barren Hill Church had charge here until 
the Rev. Mr. Sentman's time. Since the erection of 
the Upper Dublin Church, in 1857, this congregation 
has been assigned to the same pastor, the Rev. Lewis 
Hippee having charge until August, 1859; Rev. Ed- 
ward Koons, from March, 1860, to May, 1863; Rev. 
George Sill, from September, 1863 to 1869, who was 
succeeded by the Rev. Mathias Sheeleigh. The Rev. 
George Wagner was the German Reformed pastor in 
1858 ; the present is Rev. J. D. Dietrich, who re- 
ported that there were, in June, 1883, one hun- 
dred and sixty church members and one hundred and 
sixty Sunday-school scholars. 

Barren Hill has a high location on an eminence of 
this name, which appears to be a spur of Edge Hill, 
and affords a fine view of the surrounding country. 
The Chestnut Hill and Perkiomen turnpike and 
Ridge turnpike approach here within a quarter of a 
mile of each other, and between them the village is 
chiefly situated. It contains th ree stores, three hotels, 
several mechanic shops, school-house, a three-story 
hall, post-office, mill and about fifty houses, St. Pe- 
ter's Lutheran Church, a handsome cditice, founded 
in 1761, of which a further account will be given. 
The post-office was established before 1827. A steam 
grist-mill was built in 1858. The public school-house 
is a large two-story building. A passenger railway 
was completed from this place to Roxborough about ten 
years ago, over which five or six daily trains are 
drawn by two horses. The elections for the Western 
District of the township have been held here since 
1875. That this place has improved, the following 
statistics will show: In the Revolution it contained a 
church, school-house and four or five houses ; in 1858, 
thirty-three houses ; and in 1880, four hundred and 
sixteen inhabitants. A meeting of the people of this 
county was held in December, 1799, to raise by sub- 
scription a sufficient sum to have the hill here on the 
Ridge road graded, when Colonel Andrew Porter, 
Abraham Webb and Andrew Norney were appointed 
a committee to make a survey and to report thereon. 
The work was accomplished by the middle of the fol- 
lowing April and duly paid for. In the .summer of 
1883 an effort was made by some of the citizens resid- 
ing here to have the name changed to that of Lafay- 



ette Hill, which, being assented to by the post-office 
department, took effect January 1, 1884. 

Spring Mill until recently was the most populous 
village in the township, but owing to the demolition 
of its furnaces and several manufacturing establish- 
ments, its prosperity has been impaired. It is situated 
on the east side of the Schuylkill, with two rail- 
roads having double tracks passing through it from 
Philadelphia. It contains at present four stores, one 
hotel, two clay-works, a grist-mill, several mechanic 
shops and about fifty houses. The census of 1880 
gives seven hundred and eighty-eight inhabitants; if 
this is no typographical error, it is entirely too high; 
the number of houses will not admit of half this popu- 
lation. Mr. Hitner has sold his two furnaces here to 
the Schuylkill Valley Railroad Company to give 
room to their improvements. The village received 
its name from several copious springs of water near 
by, the principal ones being five or six in number. 
They are all situated within an area of half an acre, 
and flow into one stream, which, after a course of a 
quarter of a mile, empties into the Schuylkill. In 
this distance it has sufficient power to propel the 
whole year round the grist-mill mentioned, which was 
built here before 1715, and then owned by David 
Williams, next by Robert Jones. Thomas Livezey, 
in January, 1812, advertised it for rent, stating that 
it was affected by " neither frost nor drought." Mr. 
Hitner's furnaces were erected here in 1844 and 1853, 
with an estimated capacity to produce annually 
twelve thousand tons of iron. John Meconkey ad- 
vertised the tavern and ferry here for sale in Decem- 
ber, 1803, stating that the house was thirty-five by 
eighteeu feet, two stories high, with an ice-house at- 
tached, and that the ferry had the advantage of not 
being fordable at any time of the year. Edge Hill 
crosses the Schuylkill just below the village, and 
continues up the other side of the river to West Con- 
shohocken, where it turns to the southwest. The 
river is quite narrow where it flows through the hill 
and rises on both sides to an elevation of upwards of 
two hundred and fifty feet, contributing to the beauty 
of the scenery. Its flourishing neighbor, Consho- 
hocken, bids fair to absorb the entire place, it being 
no easy matter now to a stranger to tell where the 
one begins or the other ends. The post-office here is 
called William Penn, and was established before 
1876. 

Marble Hall is situated on the Germantown and 
Perkiomen turnpike and extends within half a mile 
of Barren Hill. It contains two stores, a marble-mill, 
several mechanic shops and above twenty houses. 
The census of 1880 gives it one hundred and twenty- 
two inhabitants. Daniel Hitner, the father of Daniel 
O. and Henry S. Hitner, was the founder of the place; 
he died here March 3, 1841, aged nearly seventy-six 
years. It was some time before the Revolution when 
Patrick Menan kept school here and taught the higher 
mathematics. Daniel O. and Henry S. Hitner hold 



1148 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



considerable real estate, and have long carried on the 
iron and marble business. The latter, according to 
the report of Henry D Rogers, the State geologist, 
secured from his farm of two hundred and thirty-five 
acres here, in 1852, ten thousand tons of good ore, and 
in the following year over twelve thousand tons. The 
village appears to have improved very little since 1858. 

Fort Washington is situated near the Upper Dublin 
line, at the intersection of the Spring House turnpike 
and North Pennsylvania Railroad. It contains two 
stores, hotel, post-office, railroad-station, coal and 
lumber-yard and about eighteen houses. The post- 
office was removed here from Whitemarsh village in 
1873 and A. H. Cam appointed postmaster,- who still 
retains the position . Its title was changed from White- 
marsh to its present designation January 1, 1879. A 
woolen-mill and a silk-factory are in the vicinity, but 
have not been in operation for some time. Near this 
is also Isaac & Albert Conard's anger manufactory, 
who have been in the business many years. What 
was known in 1702 as the wide marsh, on the early 
North Wales road, and gave name to the townshij), 
begins at this village and extends southwardly nearly 
a mile. The venerable stone bridge over Sandy Run 
bears the date of 1792, and gives fair promise soon to 
be a centenarian. About half a mile south of Fort 
Washington Station a terrible collision between two 
trains took place July 7, 1856, by which forty persons 
were instantly killed, twenty died subsequently and 
nearly sixty were wounded. The accident was occa- 
sioned through the up train being behind time with a 
Sunday-school excursion, and the down train not 
waiting here, as it should have done. What pleas- 
ing anticipations that party must have had but a few 
moments before, when the object of tlieir journey 
was almost in sight! 

Undoubtedly the oldest settlement in the township 
is the village of Whitemarsh, situated on the Spring 
House turnpike, thirteen miles from Philadelphia. 
It contains two merchant mills propelled by the 
Wissahickon, two churches, school-house and seven- 
teen dwellings. A considerable quantity of lime is 
burned here. An account of the Episcopal and 
Union Churches is given elsewhere. The Skippack 
road, laid out in 1713, was turnpiked from here, in 
1855, a distance of five miles. It was at this place 
where the elections were so long held and the White- 
marsh post-office established before 1816. The lower 
portion of the place has for some time been denom- 
inated Valley Green. Here resided, from 1837, 
Morris Longstreth, appointed associate judge of 
Montgomery County, in 1841, afterward elected 
canal commissioner, and in 1848 defeated by a very 
small majority for Governor by William F. Johnson. 
A few years after this he died here on his farm. The 
buildings and a portion of the land are now owned by 
Franklin P. Seltzer, the balance by Franklin A. 
Comly, president of the North Pennsylvania Bail- 
road, who resides here. This is a populous sec- 



tion of country and abounds in fine, productive 
farms. 

Lancasterville is situated near the Whitpain line, 
and formerly owed its prosperity to the manufacture 
of lime, but since the completion of the Plymouth 
Railroad to Oreland the business has been removed to 
its proximity, and the place has gone to decay. Here 
resided Thomas Lancaster, a Friend, who, in 1774, 
emancipated his negro man, Cato,aged forty-six years, 
and, in addition, gave bond that he should not fall for 
his keep on the public charge. He was assessed in 
1780 for holding a farm of two hundred acres and 
keeping four horses. He had a son of the same name, 
who inherited the property. It was from this family 
that the place received its name. The numerous ne- 
glected kilns and quarries abounding here attest the 
industry that once prevailed. 

Lafayette is the name of a station a mile below 
Spring Mill, on the Norristown Railroad. An exten- 
sive paper-mill was built here in 1856 by Mr. Cope, 
of Germantown, who carried on the business for sev- 
eral years. It is now owned and operated by W. C. 
Hamilton & Sons, who employ about one hundred 
hands. The census of 1880 gives one hundred and 
thirty-nine inhabitants. In 1858 there were but four 
or five dwellings and the ruins of agrist-mill that had 
been propelled by a stream that empties here into the 
Schuylkill. 

At Plymouth Meeting, on the Perkiomen turnpike, 
in this township, are now some twenty houses, and it 
appears to be an improving place. An Evangelical 
meeting-house was commenced here in 1876, but not 
dedicated until July 22, 1883. It is a two-story stone 
edifice, with a capacity to seat five hundred persons. 
The pastor is the Rev. H. M. Capp." 

St. Thomas' Episcopal Church. — This congrega- 
tion ranks among the earliest of the denomination in 
Pennsylvania. The Farmar family, who were its 
founders and principal patrons, arrived in Septem- 
ber, 1685, and had probably settled here the following 
year. Tradition derived from several sources states 
that between 1690 and 1700 a church was built, of 
logs, which, in 1710, was destroyed by fire, when 
a stone building was erected in the northeast 
corner of the old graveyard, on land given for the 
purpose by Edward Farmar, and which stood tl^e 
and served all the purposes of a house of worship to 
the congregation for the long period of one hundred 
and seven years. Who was its first pastor remains 
undetermined. It was not, however, till about 1695, 
that the Rev. Mr. Clayton first established the services 
of the Church of England in Philadelphia ; his 
death occurred only three years later. He was fol- 
lowed by the Rev. Evan Evans, who came to this 
country in 1700, and was for many years rector of 



1 The writer acknowledges himself under obligations to the Hon. 
William A. Yoakle for eome information relating to Whitemarsh, 
having written a series of interesting sketches on the sutijert, recently 
published in the Xon-htftirn Herald. 



2 
< 
m 

GO 
O 

ra 

> 
m 



r 




WHITEMAKSH TOWNSHIP. 



1149 



Christ Church. He was frequently invited by those 
that visited his church to make journeys of fifteen 
and twenty niilea from the city to minister to their 
spiritual wants, which opportunities he did not 
neglect, and thus an interest was maintained for wor- 
sliip. 

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 
Foreign Parts, in 1718, appointed the Rev. JVIr. Wey- 
man as their missionary at Oxford and Radnor. He 
came to this country and entered upon his ministry 
with diligence and made his residence at the former 
place. He shortly afterwards informed the society 
" that there is a congregation at Whitemarsh, about 
ten miles distant from Oxford, who are desirous of a 
minister, and have, for the decent performance of 
divine worship, erected a goodly stone building." 
This certainly implies that at that early date the con- 
gregation could not have been small, and that they 
had a creditable church. Mr. Weyman now resigned 
the Radnor charge and confined his labors chiefly to 
the Oxford and Whitemarsli congregations, which 
came thus to be associated ibr a long period. He 
was succeeded, June 24, 1733, by the Rev. Alexander 
Howie, wliose ministry lasted nine years, when he 
left for the West Indies. The Rev. William Currie 
assumed the duties in 1742, at which time the wardens 
were John Barge and Hugh Burk, and the vestry- 
men Thomas Bartholomew, William Malchior, Ed- 
ward Burk, Francis Colley, William Dewees, Jr., 
and John Burk. 

From a record of the business proceedings of the 
wardens and vestrymen for 1742 the following inter- 
esting extract is taken : 

*' It waa agreed that James 'Whiley, for officiating as Clark, cleaning 
the church and keeping things in decent order, should receive five pounds 
per annum. That the old tiles be sold for the best price, and the roof 
covered with cedar shingles. That a new pew and pulpit be made in 
the northeast corner, and new bannesters round the communion table. 
Also to fence in thQ graveyard with red cedar posts and cedar hoards, 
and make three gates, one on each side, and the other at the end of the 
graveyard." 

This establishes the fact that the original roof had 
been covered with tiles. The expense of repair was 
met by some forty contributors. The accounts show 
that Samuel Gilkey repaired the roof and Jacoby 
Whiley and George Lawrence attended to the carpen- 
ter-work. 

The Rev. Eneas Ross came over from London in 
June, 1741, and became pastor of Christ Church, 
Philadelphia, which he resigned in June, 1743, to 
take charge of the churches at Oxford and White- 
marsh, in which he continued until 1758. He was 
the first minister to make any record of baptisms and 
marriages ; unfortunately, his example was not fol- 
lowed for over half a century afterwards. Mr. Ross 
having been transferred to New Castle, Del., the 
Rev. Hugh Neill became his successor, who stated, on 
entering on his duties, that the attendance at wor- 
ship was about one hundred and fifty, of which not 
more than thirty were members, the rest being Dis- 



senters, or Germans who had received some knowledge 
of English. It is supposed that on the removal of 
Mr. Neill, in 1766, that the Rev. Dr. William Smith, 
provost of the college at Philadelphia, officiated occa- 
sonally until 1779. 

From the following entry made April 17, 1786, it 
will be observed that all early records of the church have 
been unfortunately lost, except one book from 1742 
to 1766; " Ordered, That proper books be provided 
for keeping the registers of this Parish, the old books 
and registers having been destroyed during the 
late war." At the aforesaid meeting of the con- 
gregation John B. Gilpin and Andrew Redifer were 
elected wardens, and Edward Burk, Levi Stannerd, 
William Hicks and Frederick Hitner vestrymen. 
Efforts were at once made to repair the injuries re- 
sulting from the war. It is therefore " Resolved, 
That, as the church is much gone to decay and the 
fence round the graveyard totally destroyed, the 
church be immediately put into decent repair, a 
communion table provided and a desk made for the 
clerk. Also, that a rail-fence of cedar be made round 
the graveyard." The Rev. Joseph Pilmore was, on 
this occasion, chosen minister and John Stewart ap- 
pointed clerk. For the long space of twenty years, 
extending from 1766 to 1786, they had no regular 
pastor and but irregular worship, the members being 
scattered and the building and grounds in a ruinous 
condition. 

Mr Pilmore retained the charge until 1794, when 
Rev. Dr. Wm. Smith succeeded until 1796, followed 
by the Rev. John H. Hobart to 1797, who afterwards 
became bishop of the diocese of New York, next the 
Rev. Slater Clay until 1812, then his son, Rev. J. C. 
Clay. The Rev. Bird Wilson, rector of the church in 
Norristown, officiated until 1821, followed by Rev. Mr. 
Robertson for a short period. He was followed by Rev. 
John Rodney, in connection with St. Luke's Church, 
Germantown, to 1833, the Rev. Dr. Cruse and Rev. 
John Reynolds to 1836, Rev. Wm. H. Delhi to 1852, 
Rev. George Foote to 1855, Rev. David C. Millett 
from 1856 to 1864, Rev. Charles Bonnel to 1869, Rev. 
Mr. Stryker to 1876, who was succeeded by the pres- 
ent rector, Rev. H. I. Meigs. 

On the erection of the church, in 1817, the tower 
and spire were not completed until between the years 
1847 and 1857, when the parsonage and school-house 
were built, additional ground purchased and a bell of 
eleven hundred pounds weight and a communion 
service presented. The church was forty by sixty 
feet in dimensions, built of stone, one story high, with 
a spire of one hundred and thirty feet. So weak at 
times has been the congregation that in 1817 the 
membership was only fifteen and worship was held 
only once a month. A drawing was made of this 
building in May, 1857, which may now be the only one 
extant. The distance to the Oxford Church does not 
exceed nine miles, and it was not till 1734 that the 
road was opened between them and declared a public 



1150 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



highway, which has ever since borne the name of 
Church road. The remains of Edward Farmar, who 
died in 1745, were placed in the upper part of the 
north aisle ; the original slab retains its position, 
thus denoting the site of the old church. Tradi- 
tion states that several Indian chiefs were buried 
here, but the exact place of their interment is un- 
known. 

The church in the Revolution was occupied by 
both parties. During Washington's encampment in 
the vicinity soldiers were quartered in it, who made 
hearths of the grave-stones for their cooking purposes, 
which will account for the loss of head-stones from 
the earliest graves, fragments of which may be still 
discovered with lettering on them. On the retreat of 
the Americans from Germantown, the British, in their 
pursuit, occupied it, and again on their march out here 
to attack Washington. On this last occurrence they 
made use of it for several days. The late church, be- 
lieved to be the third erected here, was torn down in 
1868, and the present large and beautiful edifice com- 
menced in the previous year, which, however, was not 
used for worship until 1877, and not fully completed 
until 1881. It is built of dressed red sandstone, pro- 
cured in the neighborhood, forty-two by one hundred 
and twenty-four feet in dimensions, with a tower at 
the east end eighty-two i'eet in height. The windows 
are of stained glass and of the most elegant designs. 
From this elevated churchyard a fine prospect is af- 
forded of the surrounding country, including Flour- 
town, Chestnut Hill, Barren Hill, Camp Hill, Fort 
Washington and the romantic valley of the Wissa- 
hickon. It is undoubtedly one of the handsomest 
church buildings in the county. 

The grounds embrace all of six acres, substantially 
inclosed and kept in a neat condition. As may be 
expected from its antiquity, many have been buried 
here, probably above two thousand. The olde-st stone 
bearing a date is that erected to the memory of James 
Allison, who died in 1727, aged forty-five years. Sev- 
eral quaint and curious epitaphs are here, bearing the 
dates of 1732, 1738, 1749, 1755 and 1763. Among the 
numerous surnames to be found here can be mentioned 
Burke, Barge, Wells, Farmar, Allison, Woolen, Brant, 
White, Shay, Houpt, Ingleman, Cleaver, Bisbing, 
Robinson, Nash, Acufl', Donatt, Taylor, Nague, Loeser, 
Bradfield, Hayes, Hinkle, Lukens, Smith, Jackson, 
Hickling, Young, Warley, Comly, Corson, Aimen, 
Stackhouse, Hersh, Summerfield, Grafly, Hart, Gibbs, 
Janney, Dodson, Kifer, Piatt, Foote and Vancourt. 
In the spring of 1883 this church was represented in 
the Episcopal Convention by William H. Drayton, 
John H. Bringhurst and Hamilton Taggart as lay 
delegates. The present communicants number nearly 
one hundred ; the children attending the Sunday and 
parish-schools number about eighty. Of the eleven 
Episcopal Churches now in the county, this was estab- 
lished the earliest, the next beingSt. James', in Lower 
Providence, in 1721. 



St. Peter's Lutheran Church. — The origin of this 
church appears to be greatly due to the early and ac- 
tive efforts of the Rev. Henry M. Muhlenberg, which 
is thus acknowledged in the minutes : "Our collectors 
having, in his name and with his letters of recommen- 
dation, raised contributions to defray the expenses of 
the school-house, and having, after these were paid, 
also, by means of his written petitions, collected money 
in Philadelphia and in the Provinces of New Jersey 
and New York for the building of St. Peter's church, 
he himself having, at the same time, as far as it was pos- 
sible for himself and his fellow-labourers, served us in 
the preaching of the gospel." From the deed of the 
school-house, dated March 15, 1758, we learn that 
Christopher Roberts, Philip Cressman, Valentine 
Miller, Philip Hersh and Adam Snider, of White- 
marsh, had commenced the building, but, through a 




ST. Peter's church, barren hill. 

majority of votes, transferred their rights to Rev. 
Richard Peters ; Charles Magnes Wrangel, D.D., pro- 
vost of the Swedish Lutheran Churches in Pennsylva- 
nia and New Jersey; Henry M. Muhlenberg, first 
minister of the United German Evangelical Congre- 
gations in Pennsylvania; Henry Keppele, Sr., of 
Philadelphia; John Koplin, of Providence; Valen- 
tine Miller, Ludwig Kolb and Mathias Sommer, mem- 
bers of the church in Whitemarsh. 

The aforesaid school-house was completed in 1758, 
and worship was held in it until the completion of the 
church. The first teacher was Michael Seely, who 
subsequently had the misfortune to become blind. 
The church, it is supposed, was commenced in 1761. 
but was not finished until a few years later. It was a 
substantial stone edifice, with galleries on three of iu 
sides, surmounted by 'a steeple, which remainedstand- 



WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP. 



1151 



ing until 1849, — a period of nearly eighty-eight years. 
The school-house was built of logs; since, three others 
have been successively erected on the same spot, the 
two last, by the directors, under the public-schoolsys- 
tem. Conrad Bischoff, in 1765, taught the school, fol- 
lowed by John George Kuhn in 1768. Mr. jMuhlenberg 
officiated at the laying of the corner-stone of the new 
church, and gave towards it, out of a certain legacy, 
twenty-four pounds, and preached in it before roofed, 
in which state it had cost five hundred pounds, and 
on its completion, upwards of five hundred pounds 
more. 

It appears that the congregation had subscribed 
but little towards its building, for they were in debt 
upwards of £1000 ($2666.66) when the church was 
finished. Hearing of the pecuniary embarrassment 
Dr. Ziehenhagen, chaplain to the King of England 
anthorized Mr. Muhlenberg to draw on him for five 
hundred pounds sterling. After the most clamorous 
of the creditors had been paid the church, school-house 
and lot of ground were conveyed to the German 
Lutheran congregation of Philadelphia. But what j 
principally enabled the securities to meet their en- 
gagements was a legacy of thirteen thousand gulden 
(five thousand two hundred dollars) from the Count 
of Roedelsheim, in Germany, which he bequeathed to 
the German Lutheran congregations of Pennsylvania, 
three thousand gulden (twelve hundred dollars) of 
which were expressly given towards the indebtedness 
of this church. Thus was the debt of the church paid 
otr to save it from being sold, and not long afterwards 
the whole was freed from incumbrances. 

At an election held at St. Peter's, April 1, 1766, 
Henry Katz, John Bauer, Andrew Koeth and Philip 
Lehr were chosen elders, and William Hiltner and 
John Fisher deacons. In June, 1769, Rev. John 
Frederick Schmidt accepted the charge of the Ger- 
mantown congregation, and preached every other Sun- 
day in the parochial churches of Frankford and Whit- 
pain, and occasionally at Barren Hill, in which church 
divine service had been prevously held every other 
Sunday by the Germantown ministers, during the time 
of Pastors John Nicholas Kurtz, John Ludwig Voight 
and James Vau Buskirk. Through the war and for 
several years after its close the Rev. H. M. Muhlen- 
berg, no doubt, occasionally officiated here, also his 
son, the Rev. H. E. Muhlenberg, of St. Michael's 
Philadelphia, followed by the Rev. Daniel Schroeder 
and John Henry Weinland, in 1786 to 1789, of the 
Germantown congregation, whose several labors helped 
to keep the congregation together. 

During the Revolution the church received con- 
siderable injury, having been by turns occupied by the 
contending armies, and used as a battery and stable. 
The Rev. H. M. Muhlenberg, in his journal, under 
date of November 4, 1777, says " that it was used as a 
stable for horses by a portion of the American army, 
encamped in the vicinity," and further mentions that 
a short time previous the British armv had been here, 



and taken from the people their horses, oxeu, cows, 
sheep and hogs. Lafayette quartered in the church, as 
a point for observation, during his brief tarry on the 
hill, in the middle of May, 1778, and came near being 
captured by General Grant, with a strong detachment 
of the British army. After the war, as may well be 
supposed, it was almost a ruin, full of rubbish and dirt, 
and its members, from being pillaged, were miserably 
impoverished and destitute of even the necessaries of 
life. 

The Rev. Frederick D. Schaeffer has left the follow- 
ing interesting account of the condition of affairs here : 

" In the year 1790 1 was caUcd to the cuugregatiou of St. Peter's Church 
as their regularly ordained minister, and found the church and school in 
Buch alanientable condition as to be commisel'ated. Only a few heads of 
families adhered to this congregation ; the greater number of the chil- 
dren had already been sent to English schools, and an English school- 
master had been appointed to teach without my knowledge. The church 
building was in a deplorable condition, like a neglected or disordered 
bouse, the rude walls, windows and frames broken and shattered, and 
the roof appeared also ready to fall in." 

Like St. Thomas' Church, at Whitemarsh, it .seems it 
required some time to get over the disasters occasioned 
by the war and relieve themselves from the difficul- 
ties under which they had labored. 

Through the exertions of Mr. Schaeffer the church 
and surrounding premises were put into better condi- 
tion, but from having been built nearly half a century 
considerable repair was needed. To carry this out, 
the congregation made application to the Assembly, 
who passed an act, April 13, 1807, authorizing them 
to hold a lottery to meet the expense. For the want 
of unanimity this was not carried out, when a com- 
mittee of seven members was appointed, in 1809, to 
rebuild the structure and restore the fence and grave- 
yard, which was accomplished within the year. It 
was dedicated January 7, 1810, in the presence of a 
numerous assemblage. The preaching in the fore- 
noon was in the German, and in the afternoon in Eng- 
lish. After a service here and with the Germantown 
congregation of over twenty-two years, Mr. Schaeffer 
resigned and went to Philadelphia, i)reaching his fare- 
well sermon August 23, 1812. The Rev. John C. Baker 
succeeded in the charge and remained its pastor until 
1828. During his ministry the German language was 
entirely dispensed with and the English substituted. 
The Rev. Benjamin Keller, D.D., commenced his 
labors in February, and remained till 1835. 

LTnder the charge of Rev. C. W. Schaeffer the par- 
sonage was built, in 1836, at a cost of nearly nine 
hundred dollars. The Rev. F. R. Anspach, D. D., 
became the pastor January 1, 1841, and remained 
until 1850. He held the last communion in the old 
church April 8, 1849, w-hen the present fine edifice was 
erected, at a cost of six thousand five hundred dollars. 
Through the industry and perseverance of Dr. Anspach 
the membership of the congregation here and at White- 
marsh was greatly increased. In connection with 
his other duties, he conducted a select school wherein 
the higher branches of English education were taught. 
Rev. Wm. H. Smith succeeded in 1850, and resigned 



1152 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



May 10, 1852. In November of said year Rev. Wm. 
Baum, D.D., accepted, and served until May, 1858, 
and was followed by Rev. S. Sentman, wlio remained 
till April, 1862. In his ministry the centennial cele- 
bration of the church was observed with appropriate 
ceremonies. Rev. C. F. Keedy was the next pastor, 
followed by Rev. J. Q. Waters, when Rev. R. Demme 
succeeded in 1867. The Rev. T. C. Pritcherd received 
the charge September 1, 1871, and remained until 
July, 1883, and was succeeded by Rev. J. Q. McAtlee. 
To the pastors of this congregation was also assigned 
the charge of the Union Church at Whitemarsh from 
1818 until 1858, when the latter was connected with 
the Upper Dublin Church. 

The present church, as has been stated, was built 
in 1849, in the Gothic style, two stories high, with 
buttresses and stained-glass windows. Its dimensions 
are forty-eight by seventy two feet, with a tower and 
spire one hundred feet high. The steeple, from its 
high situation, is seen for many miles around. From 
the churchyard a fine prospect is obtained, particu- 
larly in a northeast direction. The ground probably 
comprises in all eight acres, inclosed by an iron railing 
and wall. A considerable number have been buried 
here in the past one hundred and twenty-five years. 
On the stones are found the names of Dettere, Dager, 
Morris, Prutzman, Barnet, Crawford, Bel>, Rapine, 
Harbst, Cook, Gilinger, Gulp, Dewees, H+*ner, Robin- 
son, Righter, Bond, Pflieger, Young, Staley, Lyle, 
Johnson, Jago, Keys, Mattis, Rex, Bolton, Sassaman, 
Wolf, Thomas, Lysinger, Kline, Ellis, Garn, Becher, 
Boyer, Lightcap, Gray, Neil, Klair, Streeper, Bartle, 
Haugh, Culp, Wampole, Hiltner, Cole, Heritage, Colt- 
man, Kirk, Davis, Johnson, Goshen, Bickings, Ludy, 
Pifer, Kenzie, Mclntire, Matlack, File, Haines, Butter, 
Markley, Marple, Fisher, Shiukle,Hellings, Freas, Pe- 
ters, Heilman, Hagy, Harner, Graver, Vandike, Cress- 
man, Kirker, Ritter, Van Winkle, Moyer, Nelson, Fa- 
ringer, Deshong, Spealhoffer, Hart, Thorp, Keely, Hes- 
ser, Polta, Zern, Schlatter, Herman, Barnholt, Hallman, 
Steer, Share, Sharp, Fight, Bauer, Calender, Kutz, 
Shaw, Dennison, Snyder, Wood, Thompson, Cress, 
Jacoby, Faust, Edelman, Scheetz and Brant. A 
handsome white marble monument, about twenty-five 
feet high, was erected to the memory of the soldiers 
who died in the late civil war. The oldest stone ob- 
served, bearing a date, is to the memory of " Johan 
Heinrich Klein, gestorben 1760." During a severe 
storm in November, 1878, which passed over the centre 
of the township and did considerable damage, the 
steeple of the church was blown down and greatly in- 
jured, but was restored in the following year. 

ASSESSMENT OF WHITEMARSH, 1780. 
Leonard Steeper, assessor, and John Bower, collector. 
Andrew Gate, 100 acres, 2 horses, 3 cows; John Sheppard, 83a, 2 h., 
2 c; Christopher Shupart, 50 a., 1 h., 3 c, 2 stills ; Jacob Cate, laborer; 
Henry Katz, 17 a., 2 h., 3 c, paper-mill and 43 a. in Springfield ; Joseph 
Alie, miller, 1 c; Wm. Kagge, 3 c , paper-mill; Hagge, 100 a., 2 h.,2 
c, paper mill ; Caspar Wampole, 50 a., 1 h , 2 c; .\dam Miller, 3 h., 3 c.; 
John Shnpart, 1 c; George Kiiitle, 2 h., 2 c; George Geiger, 2h.,2c.; 



Jacob Hanser, laborer, l^ a., 1 h., 2 c. ; Wm. Jolinson, laborer, 23 a., 
1 c.; Lndwig Dagen, inn-keeper, 05 a., 1 h., 2 c.; Henry Kuntzman, 
smith, 1 c; Margaret Robins, 15 a.; Martha Shoemaker, widow, 30 a., I 
c; John Conard, aged, 1 h., 1 c; Jaeob Shoemaker, aged, 150 a., Ic; 
Bavid Shoemaker, 3 h., 3c.; Elizabeth Baker, 7 a., aged and infirm; 
Michael Lentz, 30 a., 2 c.; Christopher Carr, Ic; John Rickert, 212 a., 5 
h., 6 c, 1 still; Jacob Jones, schoolmaster. 84 a., 1 h., 1 c. ; Griffith 
Thomas, 85 a., 2 h., 2 c. ; Samnel Miles, gentleman, 2 h., 3 c, 1 four- 
wheel carriage, 1 two-wheel do.; Joseph Paul, miller, 25 a., grist and 
saw-mill; Thomas Livezey, 125 a., 1 h.; John Conard, laborer, 1 c; 
Francis Henry ; Isaac Fryer ; Philip Lehr, 1 h., 1 c, Christopher Lehr, 
I h., Ic. ; John .lones, 190 a., 2 h., Ic; John Harry, 100 a., 3 h , 4 c; 
.lames .Stroud, 1 h., 1 c; Michael Mitchell, 4 h., 2 c; John Hart, 14 a., 

1 c; John Clinton, shoemaker; Jacob Kuhn, 2 h., 1 c; John Wolf, 
Laborer, 15 a., I c; Frederick Zorn, 20 a., 2 h., 2 c; Hannah Maulsby, 
widow, 100 a., 1 c; Thomas Shepherd; Wm. Stroud, laborer; John 
Yetter, 2 li.; Jonathan Powell, 95 a., 2 h., 4 c; John Hufty, 120 a., 4 b., 
3 c. ; Davis Davis ; Christian Steer, inn-keeper, 200 a., 8 h., 7 c, 1 chair ; 
George Fries, 100 a., 3 h., 3 c; William Hiltner, 30 a., 1 h., 2 c; John 
Ketler, IIG a., 2 b., 2 c. ; Jacob Sharp, shoemaker ; Valentine Cressman, 
laborer, 1 c. ; George Fries, Jr., shoemaker, 2 c; Catharine Rapp, 
widow, 100 a.; Peter Streeper, smith, 1 h.,1 c. ; George Cressman, laborer, 
10 a., 1 c; John Bower, 48 a., 4 h., 2c.; Adam Kitoer ; John Fisher, 25 
a., 1 h., 1 c; AVilliam Hirscli, laborer ; James Griffin, 2 h., 2 c; Joseph 
Kenton, laborer ; Adam Snyder, 2 h., 1 c; Catharine Moyer, 25 a., 1 c; 
Frederick Gilbert, 1 c. ; Wm. Dewees, laborer, 6 a., 1 c. ; Benjamin 
Krouse, tailor, la., 1 c. ; Philip Sharp, % a.; Isaiah Hups, 100 a., 4 h., 

2 c. ; Leonard Culp, 50 a., 2 h., 2 c, 1 still ; Leonanl Streeper, 180 a., 2 
h., 3 c; Dennis Streeper ; .Jacob Shearer, 2 h., 2 c; Peter Dager, 4 h., 5 
c. ; .\lbrecht Houser ; Jacob Edge, 198 a., 2 h., 3 c; David Acuff, 50 a., 5 
h., 3 c ; Jacob .\cuff ; Wm. Fitzgerald, school-teacher, 6 a., 1 h., 1 c; 
Abraham Houser, 20 a., I h., 2 c. ; George Aimen, 45 a., 1., 3 c; Conrad 
Bean, 2 h., 1 c. ; John Derrick, laborer; James Ilaslett, 1 c, laborer; 
Richard Mairs, millwright, 2 h., 1 c; Isimc Mathers, 2 h., 3 c, 1 still ;' 
William West, 280 a., 6 h., 10 c, 2 negroes, one four-wheel carriage ; 
Samuel Morris, tanner, 29 a., 3 h., 2 c; Jesse Gilbert, 1 h., 1 c; Henry 
Scheetz, paper-maker, 80 a., 3 h., 4 c, paper-mill ; Joseph Lukens, 190 ; 
a., 3 h., fj c; George Ankele ; William Jones, lal»orer; Marchant 
Maulsby, 80 a., 3 c, aged ; John Kerbaugh, 18 a., 4 h., 1 c; Edward 
Hopkins, 1 h., 2 c. ; Mai'tin Faringer, 80 a., 2 h., 3 c. ; Jacob Mathews, 
smith, Ic; Samuel Cos, shoemaker, 1 c; .\ndrew Miller, 3 h., 1 c; 
Henry Enghart, 2 h., 2 c; Henry Gordon, laborer ; Edward Davis, 50a., 
2h., 2 c.; Walter McCool, 1 negro, 60 a., 2 h., 2 c.; Samuel McCool, 1 
h., 2 c, tailor ; David Evans, laborer, 1 c; Joseph McClean, 230 a., 3 
h., 5 c. ; Jacob Cook, weaver, Ic. ; David White ; James White, 47 a., 2 
h., 2 c, tailor ; Robert Kane, shoemaker, 1 c. ; John Cox, schoolraaeter ; 
Thomas Cox, 11 a., 1 h.. 1 c, laborer ; Dorothy .Tarret, widow, 200 a., 3 
h., 5 c; John Ilallowcll, 120 a., 3 b., 4 c; John Wilson, 117 a., 2 h., 3 
c; John Eldriilge, 1 servant, 150 a., 4h., 6 c; Sarah Egbert, widow, 60 
a., 4 h., 1 c.; John Egbert ; Lawrence Egbert; Thomas Lancaster, 200 a., 4 
h.; Thomas Lancaster ; Joseph James, IGO a , 2 h., 2 c ;Georgo Shatinger, 
laborer, 2 c; Evan Meredith, miller, 6 b., 4 c, 1 chair, rents of Robert 
Wells 300 a. and grist-mill ; Jossph Wood ; Samuel Williams, 2 h., 2 c; 
C'asper Freas, 3 h., 4 c.; Jacob Lesley, laborer, 1 c; Jonathan Robeson, 
238 a., grist-mill, 3 negroes, 1 chair, 5 h., 4 c; Mich.ael Knorr, 170 a., 5, 
h., 5 c; George Harker, 200 a., 4 h., Oc. ; .Melchior Kuorr, 170 a., 5 h., 
6 c; Bernard Knorr, laborer, 2 h., 2 c; Isaac Williams, 470 a., belong- 
ing to Anthony Williams' estate ; Michael Bowman, 2 h., 1 c; Henry 
Seaholt, shoemaker, I c; Michael Miller, 33 a., 1 h., 1 c; Frederick 
Miller, 11 a., 1 c; Michael Miller, 1 c; Joseph Ramsey, laborer, 1 c; 
Israel Bverly, shoemaker, 2 c; Patrick Menau, aged, 50 a., 1 h., 2 c; 
JoHiah Dickeson, 2 h., 3 c; Frederick Hitner, 4 h., 2c.; Jesse Greenfield. 
SiiiriU Mi-n— George Geiger, George Aimen, Owen Morris, Philip Keese, 
Morris Maulsby, Lawrence Egbert, Joseph Wood, Lewis Wood, Peter 
Robeson. 



^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



ELIAS HICKS CORSON. 
The subject of this biography is the son of Al.an 
W. and Mary Corson, of Whitemarsh townshi|), and 
was born on the 19th of February, 1816. His father. 



WHITEMAKSH TOWNSHIP. 



1153 



a distinguished mathematician and botanist, was able 
to give his son superior opportunities of instruction, 
to which primary store of knowledge lie added by 
reading and observation. At the time of his majority 
he engaged in lime-burning in Chester County, but 
soon returned and began the same business in Plym- 
outh, where it was continued with energy and profit 
until his death, on the otli of November, 1877. Hewas 
also engaged in the coal business, and was the owner 
of a fine farm adjacent to the quiirries, which he cul- 
tivated to its fullest capacity. Mr. Corson, on the 
13th of March, 1845, married Miss Emily R. Harris, 
daughter of Henry and Rachel Harris, of Philadel- 



It may be said of Mr. Corson that few men in his 

section of the State were better known or more uni- 
versally esteemed. He displayed a varied knowledge, 
was quick of apjirehension and possessed a rare facility 
of conversation, combined with the kindness and gen- 
tleness of a child. He possessed a strong individual- 
ity, was a marked man in stature, strength and sym- 
metry, and pos.sessed not less remarkable business 
qualifications than strong mental endowments. He 
was fond of literature, a reader of the poets, and kept 
pace with the transactions of the times. His conver- 
sation and presence were magnetic, his manner agree- 
able and his wit devoid of sting or bitterness. Good 





o-u . 



phia. Their children are Henry H., George, Emily, 
Martha, Walter H., Carroll, Percy H. and four who 
died in early youth. 

Mr. Corson, early in the anti-slavery movement, 
joined his efforts to those put forth by the friends of 
human rights, and through the long years of that 
strife was active in the cause, contributing freely 
and aiding in all proper ways to give freedom to the 
slave. To the temperance cause he also gave his 
heartiest approval, for which work he was eminently 
fitted, no amount of opposition or inconsistency of 
others being able to tempt him to unbecoming vio- 
lence or prevent his administering a deserved rebuke. 
73 



pure, strong and true, his influence will survive, while 
to his friends he remains as a bright memory, a spur 
to noble deeds in the cause of humanity. 



JOSEPH FREAS. 

Mr. Freas is of German extraction, his father hav- 
ing been George Freas, who married Barbara Wolf. 
Their children were John, George, Samuel, Jacob, 
Benjamin, Daniel, Joseph, William, Mary (Mrs. 
Samuel Roberts) and Catherine (Mrs. William Freas). 
Joseph was born on the 6th of May, 1794, on the 
homestead farm, in Whitemarsh township, and dur- 
ing his youth remained with his parents, receiving 



1154 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



meauwliile such education as the neighboring schools 
afi'orded. He then chose as his trade that of a blaclc- 
sraith, and became an apprentice to his brother Sam- 
uel, in Plymouth. This trade he followed for some 
years in Plymouth, but, concluding that the occupa- 
tion of a farmer, with which he had been made 
familiar in his youth, was more to his taste, he 
abandoned his trade and returned to Whiteraarsh. 
Here he purchased of his father the farm, which for 
many years he cultivated, and on retiring from active 
farm-labor he erected the residence on the same farm 
which is now the home of his widow and daughter. 
His political sentiments were those of the Old-Line 



universally esteemed in the township. His death 
occurred November 22, 1879, at his home, in White- 
marsh. 



JESSE W. FEEAS. 

The great-grandfather of Jesse W. Freas (or Fries, 
as originally spelled) and uncle of Jacob Frederick 
Fries, the founder of a philosophical school in Germany 
and professor at Heidelberg in 180.5, was from Sax- 
ony. His son, Simon, resided at Marble Hall, in 
Whitemarsh township, where he followed the black- 
smith's craft. He was united in marriage to Marga- 
ret Rapin, born in 1773, died in 1863, a descendant 




J:A^^&^ 



Whig party, though he did not take an active part in 
the public movements of the day, and devoted his 
time and eftbrts wholly to his own business. Mr. 
Freaa was married, on the loth of January, 1818, to 
Ann Keely, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Keely, 
of Philadelphia County, whose birth occurred No- 
vember 17, 1792. Their children are Henry, born in 
1818; Joanna, in 1820 ; Walton, in 1822; Essachar, 
in 1824; Elizabeth, in 1826; John Quincy, in 1828; 
Orlando, in 1830; Caroline, in 1834; Tacy A., in 
1836; and Barbara A., in 1839. Mr. Freas was not 
less favorably known for his industry than for his up- 
right character and integrity, which caused him to be 



of the celebrated Paul da Rapin de Thoyras, an emi- 
nent historiographer, born in Languedoc in 1661. A 
member of the family, Philip Kapin, was a com- 
missioned officer in the Revolutionary war, and Daniel 
Rapin was the first mayor of Washington City, justice 
of the peace, appointed by President Jefferson, and 
postmaster of the House of Representatives at the 
time of his death, in 1825. The children of Simon 
and Margaret Freas were William, David, Ann, 
Charles, Nicholas, Sarah, Elizabeth, Philiii, Henry, 
Elizabeth (2d) and David (2d). William, of this 
number, was born December 27, 1796, in Whitemarsh, 
where he was early a blacksmith, and later became the 



WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP. 



1155 



owner of a productive farm. He married Catherine 
Freas, daughter of George Freas, the latter of 
whom was but an infant of one year on his emigra- 
tion from Germany. Their children were a son, Jesse 
W., and a daughter, Barbara Ann, now Mrs. Philip 
Cressraan, of Philadelphia. Jesse W. was born on 
2.3d of October, 1818, in Whitemarsh township and 
devoted his boyhood to labor, varied by attendance 
at the nearest school, where he acquired a substantial 
education. He was instructed at an early age in the 
uses of the hammer and forge, as also in the various 
occupations pertaining to the life of a farmer, and 
continued thus industriously occupied until his mar- 



also engaged in a general merchandise business. The 
Freas family have been blessed with great longevity. 
Jesse W. is now sixty-seven, William died at eighty- 
four, Margaret at ninety, and nearly all her children 
at advanced ages. Mr. Freas is in politics a Republican, 
having formerly voted with the Democratic party, as 
did his father. He has served as school director, but 
declined other ofhcial positions, though holding the 
commission as postmaster at Lafayette Hill. He is a 
Lutheran in his religious faith, and member of the 
Lutheran Church at Barren Hill, as are his wife and 
most of the children, his son, William S., being a 
clergyman of that denomination, settled at Carlisle, 




S^Sa.^-^ 



riage, December 24, 1846, to Miss Ann Catherine 
Streeper, daughter of Leonard and Sarah Streeper. 
Their children are William S., born in 1848 ; Freder- 
ick R., in 1851 ; Eva, in 185.3 (died in 1854) ; Lu- 
ther, in 1855 ; Henry M., in 1859 ; L. Streeper, in 1862; 
Oliver S. Abold, in 1864; Lilly, in 1868 (died in 
1883) ; and IdaM., in 1872. Mr. Freas, on his marriage, 
removed to a farm belonging to his father, which he 
cultivated in conjunction with the mining of iron-ore. 
Though at a later period his residence was changed, 
a spacious dwelling erected by his father becoming 
his home, he continues his customary pursuits as a 
miner and farmer. For a number of years he was 



Pa. Mr. Freas was for many years superintendent 
of the Sunday-school of his church. 



SILAS CLEAVER. 

The Cleaver family are of German antecedents, 
though little is known of the advent of the first repre- 
sentative in America or of his immediate descendant?. 
Salathiel Cleaver, the father of Silas, a brief sketch of 
whose life is here given, was a resident of Montgomery 
County, where he followed farming pursuits during 
his active life. To his wife, Mary Shoemaker, were 
born five sons, — Nathan, Josiah, Daniel, Silas and 
John. The birth of Silas, of this number, occurred on 



1156 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the 7th of February, 1819, on his father's farm, in 
( rwynedd township. He was educated at the boarding- 
school of Joseph Foulke, in Gvvynedd, and at the age 
of nineteen repaired to Whitcmarsh township, where 
he entered the mill of William Ely for the purpose of 
acquiring a thorough knowledge of the miller's trade. 
On completing his apprenticeship he removed to Wal- 
nut Mill, in Lower Dublin townsliip, and became the 
lessee of a mill, which he operated for a period of 
eight years. Mr. Cleaver, at the expiration of this 
time, purchased a mill property at' Wissahickon, in 
Whitemarsh township, which, in connection with his 
brother John, he operated for thirty-six years. Hav- 



He was a member of the Corn Exchange of Philadel- 
phia for many years, and at his death a director of the 
Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He was by birthright 
a Friend, and worshiped with the Plymouth Meeting. 
Mr. Cleaver, though a man of modest and unobtru- 
sive demeanor, wielded a commanding influence in 
the township. His sterling integrity in all matters of 
business won the respect of the community, while the 
qualities of gentleness, kindness and sympathy caused 
him to be greatly beloved by those who, through 
daily intercourse, became familiar with the tender 
and loving heart and the generous and unselfish 
nature. 




ing during this time been assiduous in his devotion to 
business, it was his intention to have abandoned active 
labor in connection with the mill, and he retired to a 
home he had purchased. His life was, however, sud- 
denly ended on the 18th of February, 1884, before 
this project was consummated. Mr. Cleaver was, 
on the 9th of March, 1848, married to Miss Mary 
E., daughter of John Ruppert, of Lower Dublin, who 
survives him. In politics the subject of this sketch 
was a Republican, his affiliations having formerly been 
with the Whig party. Apart from the office of school 
director, he held no official positions in the township. 



JOHN CLEAVER. 

Salathiel Cleaver, the son of Nathan and Ruth 
Cleaver, who was of German descent, and born on the 
10th of August, 1780, was numbered among the enter- 
prising farmers of Montgomery County, his residence 
during his lifetime. He married Mary, daughter of 
Daniel Shoemaker, of Upper Dublin townshij), Mont- 
gomery Co., who was of Welsh extraction, and had 
children, — Nathan, Josiah and Daniel (deceased), 
Silas and John. The last-named and youngest of the 
number, who is the subject of this biographical 
sketch, was born November 1, 1822, on the home- 




'UJ fo l^^^L^C^^€^^ 



WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP. 



1157 



stead, in Montgomery township. Here his youth, until 
the age of nineteen, was spent, his education having 
been received at a private school on his father's prop- 
erty, and later at the boarding-school under the direc- 
tion of Joseph Foulke. He decided upon acquiring a 
trade, and chose that of a miller, entering as appren- 
tice a mill on the Pennypack stream, near Bustleton. 
Two and a half years after, having completed his ap- 
prenticeship, he repaired to Byberry, in Philadelphia 
County, and spent a year as journeyman, at the ex- 
piration of which period he formed a copartnership 
with William Buckman, and continued this business 
relation for two years. In the spring of 1848 an ad- 



ried, on the 11th of November, 1852, to Miss Sarah 
Jane, daughter of Chalklcy and Ann Jarrett Kender- 
dine, of Horsham township, Montgomery Co. 
Their children are William J.; Anna K., wife of 
George Ilex ; Ella (deceased) ; Chalkley K., married to 
A. Laura White; Mary R.; Emma; Sallie ; Tacey K.; 
and Silas, Jr. (deceased). Mr. Cleaver has for twenty- 
five years been a member of the Commercial Ex- 
change of Philadelphia. He was formerly, in poli- 
tics, an Old-Line Whig, and readily adopted the plat- 
form of the Eepublican party on its organization. 
Aside from the exercise of his privilege as a voter, he, 
however, finds little leisure for participation in mat- 




.3rt^^::^M6^ 



vantageous opportunity was offered in connection with 
his brother Silas, who owned a mill in Whitemarsh 
township. This copartnership of social and busi- 
ness relations of the most agreeable character con- 
tinued until the death of the senior partner, in the 
spring of 1884, William J. and Chalkley Cleaver 
having been admitted to the firm in 1883, under the 
name of S. & J. Cleaver & Sons. The mill has been 
greatly improved, much new machinery and many 
modern appliances having been introduced, and its 
capacity largely increased. In the fall of 1876, Mr. 
Cleaver purchased the farm adjoining the mill prop- 
•srty, known as the Peter Phipps farm. He was mar- 



ters of political import. He was in religion reared a 
Hicksite Friend, and with his family worships at 
Plvmouth Meeting. 



DAVID W. YEAKEL. 

Mr. Yeakel is the great-grandson of Christopher 
Yeakel, who emigrated to America in 1734, and mar- 
ried Susanna Sohultz. Among their sons was Abra- 
ham, who was united in marriage to Sarah, daughter 
of Christopher Wagner, whose children were Isaac, 
born in 1777; Samuel, in 1779; Jacob, in 1780; Su- 
sannah, in 1782; Maria, in 1784; and Christopher, in 
1787. Isaac, of this number, whose birth occurred 



1158 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



November 9, 1777, married Regina, daughter of An- 
drew Schultz, on the 4th of November, 1800. Their 
children were Jacob S., born in 1802 ; Sarah, iu 180.5 ; 
Samuel, in 1807 ; John, in 1809 ; Charlotte, in 1811 ; 
Emeline, in 1814 ; Daniel, in 1816 ; Mary, in 1818 ; 
and David W., the subject of this sketch. Isaac 
Yeakel died on the 23d of October, 1847, and his 
wife, Regina, on the 16th of January, 1860. The birth 
of their youngest son, David W., occurred on the 30th 
of December, 1821, in Springfield township, where the 
-early years of his life were spent. After a period of 
youth devoted to the acquirement of a plain English 



marsh township, settled near Lafayette Hill, where he 
at present resides, having some years since retired from 
active business. He was, in his early political asso- 
ciations, a Whig, and joined the ranks of the Repub- 
lican party on its formation. He has neither desired 
nor accepted office, nor been actively allied with the 
working phalanx of the party. He was a loyal sup- 
porter of the Union during the late war and actively 
interested in tilling the quota for his township. Mr. 
Yeakel is not identified by membership with any 
religiou.s denomination, though his belief is that of 
the New Church (Swedenborgian). 





^l^J. 1 -t^^J 



^^.^^^^^ 



education, he began the routine of farm labor, and 
continued thus occupied until thirty years of age, 
when, being ambitious for a larger sphere of industry 
than was opened in his native county, he removed to 
Lehigh County, Pa., and engaged in the foundry and 
machine business at Allentown. Here he remained 
nine years, having meanwhile, in September, 1852, 
married Sarah Lentz, ofWhitemarsh township. Their 
children are John L., married to Bertha Hellings, 
who had four children ; George K., of Whitemarsh; 
and M. Lula. Mr. Yeakle, on his return to White- 



.lAMES M. COULSTON. 

The Coulston family is of Welsh descent, the grand- 
father of James M. having been William Coulston, 
who resided in Whitemarsh township, where he was 
an enterprising farmer. His children were Charles, 
William, John, Thomas, Mary (Mrs. William Kettler) 
and Sarah (Mrs. Jacob Rohrer). William Coulston 
was born August 9, 1797, in Whitemarsh, where he 
devoted his active life to farming employments. He 
married Ann, daughter of Joseph and Hannah Mere- 
dith, whose birth occurred October 29, 1802. Their 



WHITEMAllSH TOWNSHIP. 



1159 



children are James M., Elizabeth and Hannah. Wil- 
liam Coulston died April 17, 1863, in his sixty-sixth 
year, and his wife, Ann, March 25, 1833, in her 
thirty-first year. Their son, James M., was born on 
the 27th of January, 1831, in Whitemarsh. His 
youth was similar to that of other lads whose parents 
were farmers. At the age of eiglit years he removed 
with the family to his present home, attended school 
for a period and lent a willing hand at the labor of 
the farm. He was married, April 7, 18.i7, to T. Am- 
anda, daughter of Joseph and Ann Freas, of the same 
township, and granddaughter of George and Barbara 
Freas. Their children are Ann Freas (Mrs. Daniel 
Maguire), Alice Hinckley (Mrs. Harvey Lentz), Wil- 
liam Carpenter, Lizzie, Sarah Roser, Francis Coudie, 
Joseph Percival and Walter. William Coulston, hav- 
ing died in 1863, his son, James M., inherited his por- 
tion of the estate and purchased the remainder of the 
paternal Tiome. Here he has since continued the 
healthful pursuits of a farmer. He has always affili- 
ated with the Republican party in politics, and served 
as a school director of his district. He is also a di- 
rector of the Montgomery Mutual Fire Insurance 
Company, and active in the promotion of the Isest in- \ 
terests of the township of which he is a representative 
citizen. He is identified as a member with Marble 
Hall Lodge, No 351, of Independent Order of Odd- 
Fellows. He adheres to the faith of the Society of 
Friends, and worships with the Plymouth Meeting. 



CHARLES WILLIAMS.' 

Charles Williams, born Fourth Month 11, 1814, 
married Fourth Month 27, 1837. 

He very decidedly prefers having a biographical 
sketch of his wife's father, Charles Stokes. 

Charles Stokes, farmer, of Rancocas, son of David 
and Ann Stokes, born in WilHngborougb (now 
Beverly), in the county of Burlington, N. J., Eighth 
Mouth 12, 1791, traces his genealogy from Thomas 
Stokes, of Loudon, England, who was born in 1640, 
married Mary Barnard, daughter of John Barnard, 
Tenth Month 30, 166S, and settled in Burlington 
County, N. J., soon after the making of " The Con- 
cessions and agreements of the proprietors, freehold- 
ers and inhabitants of the province of West Jersey, in 
America." To this instrument he was a party. Tliis 
constitution or form of government for the province was 
thus characterized, in a letter to Richard Hartshorne, 
liy William Penn, Crawen Lawrie, Nicholas Lucas and 
others, dated Sixth Month 25, 1676: "There we lay 
a foundation for after ages to understand their liberty 
as men and Christians, that they may not be brought 
into bondage but by their own consent, for we put 
the power iu the people, etc., etc. In it was established 
a representative ibrm of government, trial by jury 

^ Written by the family. 



and liberty of conscience, all conscisely, but fully set 
forth, especially the last, which commences with the 
memorable declaration that no ' men nor number of 
men upon earth hath power or authority to rule other 
men's consciences in religious matters,' etc." 

Although it formed " the common law or funda- 
mental rights and privileges of West New Jersey," 
it has been but little improved in this or any 
other county since its promulgation, though two 
centuries have elapsed. 

Thomas Stokes became the proprietor of a farm 
on the north side of the North Branch of the Rancocas 
River, about three miles west of Mount Holly, and had 
three sons, — John, Thomas and Joseph, — all of whom 
were farmers. The latter two were heads of large 
families of children, by whom the name has been 
widely extended. John, who married Elizabeth 
Green, daughter of Thomas Green, and grand- 
daughter of Arthur Green, of Bugbroke, county of 
Northton, England, became proprietor of a farm on 
the north side of the Rancociis River, less than two 
miles westwardly of his father's location. He had 
biAone son, John, who married Hannah, daughter of 
Jervis Stockdale, and succeeded his father on his 
farm on the Rancocas. He left three sons, — John, 
David and Jervis. David married Ann, thedaughterof 
John and Elizabeth Lancaster, of Bucks County, Pa., 
and succeeded his father on the farm on the Ranco- 
cas ; he had four sons, named Israel, John L., 
Charles and David Stokes, but no daughters. Charles 
Stokes married Tacy, daughter of William and Ann 
Jarrett, Montgomery County, Pa., Tenth Month 18, 
1816. He erected buildings and commenced business on 
part of the homestead farm on the Rancocas River. 
They had three sons — David (who died when an in- 
fant), Jarrett and William — and three daughters- 
Hannah, Alice and Annie — married as fiillows : 
Jarrett, married Martha, daughter of William and 
Hannah Hilyard ; William, married Annie, daughter 
of James and Rebecca Mcllvaine ; Hannah, married 
Charles, son of Joseph and Ann Williams; Alice, 
married William, son of J. R. and Letitia P. Parry; 
and Annie, married Chalkley, son of John and Ann 
Albertson, — all forming an unbroken succession of 
farmers, including a space of nearly two centuries, 
and continuing to the present time. Charles Stokes, 
the subject of this sketch, received the greater portion 
of his school education at Friends' School, at Ran- 
cocas. 

At a time when but few aspired to anything further 
than such branches as were thought necessary to qualify 
for the ordinary business of life, he, havinga taste for 
study and the acquisition of knowledge, with a few 
others of about the same time of life, availed them- 
selves of an opportunity which presented, and took 
a deep interest in advanced studies, particularly of a 
mathematical character. These tended to enlarge his 
views and stimulate in his mind a desire to obtain 
useful knowledge from every available source. Books 



1160 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of a character to gratify this desire were but few and 
hard to be obtained in the vicinity of his residence. 
No library existed nearer than Burlington, five miles 
distant, where was an ancient and good collection of 
books for that day. In addition to this, he was prof- 
fered by Joshua Wallan, a venerable citizen of 
Burlington, the free use of his extensive private 
library. He now commenced a study of history, seek- 
ing to make himself acquainted with the rise and fall 
of nations and the acts of distinguished characters 
who had signalized themselves in the different de- 
partments of life. Love of liberty and aversion to 
tyranny of every description appeared to be inwrought 
in his nature, and he felt it to be his mission to cher- 
ish and support the one and discountenance the 
other on every proper occasion, and by all suitable 
means. 

He endeavored to make himself acquainted with 
the history, constitution and laws of his State and 
country, to judge of the acts of such as were in power 
to administer them calmly and without excitement, 
and in his own judgment mete out impartial justice 
to all. 

In his early life he became impressed with the con- 
viction that Infinite Wisdom was not unmindful of 
man after his introduction into this life, but, by 
His omniscience and omnipresence, was always with 
him as a sure and unfailing rule, to rightly instruct 
him in all things in matters of duty, furnishing 
ability to perform it, providing the terms were 
accepted. 

This conviction, deeply engraven, had much in- 
fluence in moulding his character and pursuits. He 
endeavored in all things so to conduct himself that 
his mind would be at ease and avoid remorse, being- 
satisfied that this rule of life gave all the liberty neces- 
sary for its enjoymonts and would qualify for its 
duties. 

Agriculture was the pursuit chosen by him. He 
labored on his father's farm during the summer 
months, teaching the balance of the year. This wa-s 
continued for several years, keeping him in sympathy 
with the manual laborer, and also brightening what 
he had acquired of school learning, and furnishing 
opportunities for extended improvement. His time 
was occasionally employed in surveying land, writing, 
and taking acknowledgments of deeds, etc., being a 
master in the Court of Chancery, settling estates and 
performing the duties of township offices, as town- 
ship committee, clerk, chosen freeholder, etc. ' He 
was one of the originators and stockholders of the 
Mount Holly Insurance Company, an institution or- 
ganized in 1881, with which he was identified from 
its commencement, and served until his decease as a 
member of its finance committee. In the fall of 
1830, without his wish or desire, he was elected a 
member of the House of Assembly for the county of 
Burlington. After taking his seat the first duty pre- 
sented to his mind was to have repealed an enact- 



ment to pay a chaplain for services at the State Prison, 
and this was effected on the ground that the consti- 
tution as it then stood prohibited the payment of 
money for the support of a ministry, etc. In those 
days New Jersey did not have any clergyman to open 
the session of the Legislature with prayer. The old 
sentiments embodied in the " concessions and agree- 
ments " had not become entirely obliterated in the 
minds of the people, and legislative bodies left the 
important matter of approaching Infinite Mercy in 
supplication to the individual members. It was 
believed by Charles Stokes to have been quite as 
well done and with more safety to our religious liber- 
ties. 

In 1831 the constitution required the Legislature to 
be elected and meet in the fall of the year, the cus- 
tom being to meet, organize, perform a few official 
acts and adjourn to an early day in the ensuing year. 
At this adjourned session in 1831, Dr. W. B. Ewin, an 
old and influential member from Cumberland, moved 
that J. Hancock (a worthy member from Morris) 
should open the session with prayer. Charles Stokes 
objected to the right of the House, by resolutions or 
otherwise, to direct a member to perform an act of 
this kind, stating that if any member should find it 
to be a duty to engage in the solemn act of public in- 
vocation he would be among the last to object. Han- 
cock arose and stated that such was his case, but he 
did not wish to impose upon the House without con- 
sent. 

Charles Stokes then withdrew his objections, 
whereupon Hancock knelt, and the House arose, as 
by common consent, without vote. The prayer was 
im])ressive and accompanied by due solemnity. 
When the House was about to close, sine die, and the 
members separate to their several homes, Hancock 
made a short address, suited to the occasion, and said 
if there was no objection he would address the Throne 
of Grace in supplication. The House (without vote) 
manifested their approval by rising, and a fervent 
l)rayer was uttered by Hancock ; immediately the 
Speaker pronounced an adjournment without delay, 
and the members separated to their respective homes 
with much friendly feeling. At the preceding session 
of the Legislature two companies were incorporated, 
one to unite by canal the waters of the Delaware and 
Raritan Rivers, the other to construct a railroad from 
Camden to Amboy, under the names of Camden and 
Amboy Railroad Company, and Delaware and Raritan 
Canal Company. 

Stock was taken ; both companies organized and 
commenced operations. In the session of 1830- 
31 the Canal Company asked for additional powers 
to enable them to build a railroad on the bank of 
their canal. This was vigorously opposed by the Rail- 
road Comi)any, and upon this point the House of 
Assembly was nearly equally divided. The result 
was the introduction of a bill to unite the two com- 
panies under the name of the Delaware and Raritan 





-^^A <^-2^^^ ^PX^£c^^i^. 



t) 



WHITExMARSH TOWNSHIP. 



1161 



Canal and Camden and Amboy Railroad and Trans- 
portation Company. 

Tills was opposed by Charles Stolces, on the ground 
tliat the location of the works and the union of two 
such companies would concentrate a power not to be 
manauged or controlled by the State. 

The union was sanctioned by the Legislature, and 
at the ensuing session an act was passed prohibiting 
any other railroad being built to compete in business 
with the works of the joint companies, thus giving 
them the exclusive right of transportation and travel 
between New York and Philadelphia, which for many 
years greatly retarded the improvement of the State. 
During all this time Charles Stokes, always a friend 
of the companies, but steadily and unyieldingly op- 
posed to their monopoly privileges, with a few others, 
l)y availing themselves of every suitable opportunity, 
at length had the gratification of seeing the State 
enfranchised and freed from the incubus whicli had 
paralyzed every effort in the way of railroad im- 
provement. 

At tlie close of the session he retired to an active 
l>rivate life, positively refusing to be again a candi- 
date, until the public became much divided in re- 
gard to tlie policy of Andrew Jackson, President, 
concerning tlie Bank of the United States. His re- 
fusal to allow the bank further to receive the revenues 
of the government on depo.sit created mucli excite- 
ment and dissatisfaction with a large portion of the 
community; so much so that but comparatively few 
would speak in advocacy of his measures. That 
there might be no doubt as to his opinion Charles 
Stokes permitted his name to be used as a candidate 
for Council in the State Lcgishiture, in connection 
with otliers who approved of the policy of the Presi- 
dent. They were defeated then, as was expected, but 
very soon tlio public sentiment subsequently beciiine 
so much'changed upon the subject that in the fall of 
1836 he was returned a member of the Legislative 
Council. 

Having discharged this trust in such a way jia to 
meet his own approval, he declined a furtlier candi- 
dacy and again resumed his former avocation. Tlie 
Legislature of New Jersey passed an act providing 
for an election of delegates to meet in convention to 
frame a constitution for the government of the State, 
Second Month 23, 1844. Charles Stokes was elected 
a member of this body, and Fifth Month 14th of the 
same year took his seat at the organization of tlie 
convention, which was composed of men distinguished 
for talent and high moral character, selected with 
the intention that party preferences should be bal- 
anced. 

Early in the session R. S. Field offered a resolution 
" tliat the sittings of tlie convention be oi)ened every 
morning with prayer, and tliat the clergymen of the 
city of Trenton and its vicinity be invited to officiate on 
such occasions." Charles Stokes said that he ajipre- 
ciated the importance of the service for which they 



were assembled and the necessity for Divine assist- 
ance to enable them to wisely perform their duties. 
They were in their seats representing ditl'erent sec- 
tions of the State, the whole people and the interests 
of all. Different views, no doubt, were entertained 
with regard to the proper mode of offering prayer, and 
each one was entitled to his opinion; and no man, 
nor number of men, had a riglit to impose religious 
services upon another, contrary to what he believed 
to be right. The provisions of the eighteenth and 
nineteenth sections of the Constitution of 1776, wliich 
they had bound themselves, by solemn asseveration, to 
maintain, guaranteed this protection, and up to this 
time had been sacredly observed. If now, on this 
momentous occasion, tliey should sanction the princi- 
ple embraced in the resolution offered by the member 
from Mercer, they would open a door for practices, for 
legislation, leading to a subversion of liberty of con- 
science, to a union of church and state; Legisla- 
tures would have imposed upon them prayers, gra- 
tuitously for a time, but soon compensated by enforced 
taxation. 

He believed the mind sliould always be in the atti- 
tude of prayer, that men should "pray without ceas- 
ing," that they should do their own praying, and not 
by proxy. 

He was satisfied with Scripture doctrine ; that such 
tilings as are revealed belong to us, and those things 
tliat are secret and not revealed belong to the Great 
Fountain-Hcad and source of all good. It is truly won- 
derful, his disregard of popularity and determination 
to uphold what he believed to be right. His life was 
one of remarkable energy and activity throughout all 
of seventy-five years of the same, was exceedingly use- 
ful, desirous of wearing out instead of rusting out. 
He was prompt to form opinions of measures touching 
public welfare, and solicitous to discharge every duty. 
He was well inlbrmed in matters of law, and when 
consulted on those points gratuitously gave counsel 
and advice ; and where parties were at variance liis 
advice rarely failed to promote harmony. He lived to 
the advanced age of ninety-one years. His death oc- 
curred Second Month 27, 1882. He was buried in 
Friends' burial-ground, Rancocas, N. J. 

He attributed his long and liai)py career through 
life to the fact that he always endeavored to follow 
that beacon, " The Light within," which never mis- 
led or betrayed his conscience. The rule of life by 
which he had lived proved to be a perfectly safe one 
in the hour of death. He bore his illness with resig- 
nation, and remarked " that Divine Providence has 
been good to me ; I have the comforts of life and am 
surrounded and cared for by a loving and attentive 
family. The manifestations of friendship on the part 
of others is exceedingly joyful to me ; I love them all ; 
I do not entertain an unkind feeling for any one. I 
feel that life is ebbing away ; I am resigned. My mis- 
sion is nearly ended ; I am pre|)ared and ready to die." 
Thus ended a long, happy, useful and well-spent life. 



1162 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



CHAPTER LXXX. 



WHITPAIN TOWNSHIP.' 



In the years 1681, 1682 and 1683, William Penn, the 
proprietary, executed leases a6d re-leases to Samuel 
Fox for fifteen hundred acres ; Charles Marshall, two 
thousand acres; and James Claypole, one thousand 
acres. James Claypole shortly afterwards sold his 
tract to .lohn Marshall, containing iu all four thou- 
sand five hundred acres, Richard Whitpain, citizen 
and butcher of the town of London, subsequently be- 
came seized in fee of the whole four thousand five 
hundred acres. 

This tract, to distinguish it from the rest of Whit- 
pain's purchases, was called or known by the name of 
" Whitpain's Creek," situated in Philadelphia County. 

Richard Whiti)ain made his will and testament, 
dated April 27, 1689, and willed the payment of his 
debts and funeral expenses, and authorized his wife, 
Mary, his executrix, to sell so much of his lands in the 
province as she should find needful for the payment 
thereof, and shortly after the said testator died. 

Mary Whitpain, in accordance with the provision of 
the will, by her indenture dated July 30, 1689, sold 
the entire tract to Mary Davice, John Eldridge, Wil- 
liam Ingram, John Blackball and .lohn Vace, all of 
whom were creditors. Shortly afterward John Black- 
hall, the surviving trustee, sold the great tract above 
named to William Aubrey, of the town of London. 

William Aubrey, by his indenture dated April 24, 
1713, sold the tract to Anthony Morris, maltster and 
brewer of Philadelphia, and Rees Thomas, of the 
township of Jlerion. 

John Whitpain (the only surviving son and heir-at- 
law of Zachary Whitpain, and also heir-at-law to his 
uncle, John Whitpain, which John Whitpain, the 
uncle of the oldest son aud heir-at-law of Richard 
Whitpain) became dissatisfied with the sale. An 
agreement was entered into, dated May 28, 1718, by 
which the entire tract fell into the hands of Morris 
Rees and Whitpain, and they requested of the com- 
missioners a resurvey thereof. 

In pursuance of a warrant from the commissioners, 
dated Third Month 20, 1726, the property was resur- 
veyed by Nicholas Scull, May 23, 1727, and found to con- 
tain four thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight acres. 

John Whitpain made his last will, dated December 
20, 1718, and willed the property that was due him 
(real estate), according to the agreement made with 
Morris and Thomas, his portion thereof, to his two 
children. Saraband Zachariah, and left his wife, Ann, 
his executrix. Concerning the Whitpain family. 
Buck, the historian writes, — 

"Zachariah Whitpain removed on the Baine the summer of 1G85, if not 
earlier, and malting extensive improvements, he settled on the property 
a number of tenants. In 168G he married Sarah Owens, and was ap- 



1 By .Tones Uotwiler. 



pointed by the Governor'sCouncil, with Tiiomas Holmes and Lace Cox, to 
make" inquiry into the cause of the Indian disturbances at the house of 
Nicholas Seull, grandfather of the Surveyor General, near the present 
village of Wiiiteuiareh. He died near the latter end of March, 1693, and 
was buried in Pliiladeipbia. Mention is made in the Colonial Records of a 
visit paid by Thomas Jenner and Polycarpus Rose, in December of said 
year, to his plantation. His widow, in 1097, married Charles Saimders. 
He left a son of the same name, who died in March, 17()"2. It wouM 
appear that be lived a portion of the time in the city." 

This township is among the oldest in the county, 
being mentioned as " Whitpain's township " as early 
as 1701, when the township of Plymouth was first laid 
out, and is one of the central townships of the county, 
bounded on the north by Worcester, east by Upper 
Dublin and Gwynedd, south by Whitemarsh and 
west by Plymouth and Norriton. It is of regular 
form, four and a half miles in length and three ia 
breadth, and contains about eight thousand six hun- 
dred and forty acres. 

The soil is shale and loam, and near the southern 
corner a strip of sandy soil predominates. On almost 
all of the farms south of the Stony Creek good quar- 
ries of fine building-sand can be found. 

The township forms a summit-level, from which the 
water flows in different directions. The eastern and 
southern portions are drained by the Wissahickoa 
Creek,which crosses the eastern angle and propels two 
grist-mills. 

The word " Wissahickon," according to Heckewel- 
der, is an Indian name, and in their language signifies 
the "catfish stream, or the stream of yellow water." 

On Holme's map of surveys (begun in 1681) it is 
called Whitpain's Creek. 

Two branches of the Stony Creek have their rise in 
the township, and drain the western and northern 
portions, one of which furnishes water to propel one 
saw-mill and one grist-mill. 

Land-holders, Population and Taxables,— In 1734 
there were 24 land-holders, as follows : Philip Boehm, 
200 acres ; Peter Indehaven (Dehaven), 200; Cad- 
walader Morris, 200 ; John Rees, 150 ; William Couls- 
ton, 100 ; Humphrey Ellis, 50 ; William Robinson, 
150 ; Thomas Fitzwater, 150; Henry Levering, 100; 
Alexander Till, 100; Henry Conrad, 200 ; Jacob Yost, 
80 ; George Franks, 200 ; William Roberts, 100 ; Daniel 
Burn, 40; John David, 170; Isaac Williams, 100; 
George Castner, 200 ; William David, 100 ; Peter Hox- 
worth, 100 ; John Thomas, 100 ; John Mircle, 100 ; 
Jacol) Levering, 100; and Abram Daws, 350. 

John Philip Boehm, Henry Conrad, Jacob Yost, 
Jacob and Henry Levering, Peter In De Haven and 
John Mircle (Markley) were Germans, and paid nuit- 
rent. 

The lineal descendants of Dehaven, Conrad, Yost 
and Daws still own a portion, and some the original 
plantation. 

Eight or nine of the aforenamed were Welsh, six or 
eight German and the remainder English. The Eng- 
lish were the first to take up and locate, followed by 
the Welsh, and as early as 1711 we find the Germans- 
making inroads and locating farms. So numerous 



WHITPAIN TOWNSHIP. 



1163 



have their descendants become that at the last Presi- 
dential election held in 1880 nearly three-fourths of 
the voters were of that extract. 

Number of taxables in 1741, 56; 1762, 80; 1785, 
144 and 14 single men ; 1788, 119 and 19 single men ; 
1800, 140 ; 1828, 249 ; 1858, 344; 1860, 358 ; 1875, 345; 
1883, 456. 

In 1785 land was valued at £4 10«. per acre; 175 
horses at £10 per head ; 346 cattle at £3 per head ; 2 
bound servants at £20 ; one phaeton, £30 ; 2 grist-mills, 
£700; 1 saw-mill, £150; one oil-mill, £50; 2 tan-yards, 
£300 ; (now none, in 1884). In 1786 land was valued 
at £4 15s. per acre ; 1787, £5 ; 1788-89, £5 2s. 6d ; 1796, 
$8 ; 1800, $10 ; 1810, $10 ; 1820, $30 ; 1830, $30 ; 1840, 
$20 ; 1860, $50 ; 1870, ? 1880, 150. 

Population : 1790, ? 1800,771 ; 1810, 995 ; 1820, 

1126; 1830, 1137 ; 1850, 1351; 1870, 1350 : 1880, 1429. 

Ta.xes,-1777 : w^hole amountof supplytax£241 11s.- 
7rf. ; stationary tax, £251 8s. 9\d. 1785: whole 
amount of duplicate, £91 6s. 6d. 1788: £187, Is. Irf. 
1794 : £90 12s. 6d. 1800 : $.355.17. 1810 : $520.18. 
1860 : whole amount of county tax, $1549.41; State 
tax, $1291.67. 1880: county tax, $2497.50; State 
tax, $412.00. 1883: whole amount of duplicate for 
county tax, $2410.59. 

In 1811 the asses.sor returned 99 dogs liable to 
taxation according to the act of Assembly, March 23, 
1809, which amounted to $27. 

The tri-annual assessment for the year 1880 is repor- 
ted as follows: 394 taxablcs ; value of all real estate 
$1,305,580; value of all household furniture exceed- 
ing $300, including gold and silver plate, $3900 ; 
horses, mares, geldings and mules 419, valued at $26,- 
565 ; cattle 851, valued at :?24,54i ; notes and bonds, 
$5400 ; occupations, S31,050 ; ple.isure carriages 103, 
valued at .$6525 ; aggregate amount of property tax- 
able for county purposes, at the rate of two and one- 
half mills to the dollar, $1,403,565 ; mortgages and 
judgments, $83,000; number of gold watches, 12; 
common watches, 2. 

In 1788 there were 90 farms, the largest, James 
Morris, 35;) acres ; 1883, largest farm, Albanus Styer, 
150 acres ; number of farms of 100 acres and upwardsi 
13; number of farms of 80 acres and under 100, 15 • 
number of farms of 50 acres and under 80, 24 ; whole 
number of farms over 20 acres, 125 ; 1883, whole 
number of horses taxable, 389; cows, 821, William 
Singerly being the largest owner of stock, having 10 
heads of horses, and 61 cows taxable. 

The Styer family are the largest projierty-holders, 
holding in the aggregate 555 acres. Next largest, 
William Singerly, 191 acres. 

Slaves or Servants. — In the assessment of 1763 
three slaves are there mentioned. 

During the Revolution there were several families 
that held slaves. In the Peanxijlimnia Packet of Sep- 
tember 26, 1777, " David Knox offers a reward of 
twenty dollars for the return and recovery of a mu- 
latto wench, 26 yeiirs old, named Stiffany." The last 



that were held in the district were those of James 
Morris, two in number, but were freed prior to the 
year 1799. 

Industries. — The chief occupation of the inhabit- 
ants has been farming, there being no minerals (yet 
discovered) to induce them to engage in other pur- 
suits. 

The land is now generally cleared and under a 
high state of cultivation, and produces good crops. 

The first industry that we have any notice of was 
that of weaving, carried on in a small log house near 
Centre Square by Jacob Yost, in 1727 . In 1732 he 
purchased what is known"as~the " Yost Farm," and 
carried on the business more extensively. 

The Yosts were famed far and near for their sick- 
les, scythes and edge-tools, which they made and. 
carried on from 1760 to 1816 at the old homestead. 
These implements were all forged by hand. In 174(> 
the first grist-mill in the township was built, on 
Stony Creek, in the western portion, near the lines of 
Norriton and Worcester. The mill is yet standing. 

James Morris, in the latter part of 1779 or 1780, built 
the grist-mill long known as Wertncr's Mill. This was- 
considered the best flouring-mill in the neighborhood. 

About the year 1804, Charles Mathers built a mill 
along the Wissahickon. 

In the assessment of 1785 there are two tannerie* 
mentioned and one oil-mill. 

The Conrad augers were first manufactured by 
John Conrad about the year 1806, and the business was 
carried on extensively until 1857, when it was re- 
moved to Fort Wa.shington, Whitemarah, and still 
continued by his sons, Albert and Isaac Conrad. 

The ohehoise-power and threshing-machines were 
made at the Blue Bell by Samuel F. Shaeff in 1847. 

Mowing and reaiiing-machines were first introduced 
and worked by Robert Findlay, of Centre Square. 
The machine was the Hussey pattern, and when in 
order for reaping took eight hands, including the 
driver, to operate it. 

Justices of the Peace. — The first justice was 
Abram Daws, commissioned May 25, 1752. (Col. 
Rec. vol. vi). 

June 6, 1777, Andrew Knox was appointed jus- 
tice of the peace, and held that position until the 
time of his death, January, 1808. 

Job Roberts and John Wentz were commissioned 
justices of the peace May 26, 1798, and filled that 
position until 1878. 

In 1818, John Shenenberger was appointeil, and 
filled that position by appointment and election until 
about the year 1856. John Heist and .lohn Rile 
filled the position. 

Since the change in the Constitution of 1838 the 
following persons have been justices : David Roberts, 
John Styer, Jacob Fisher, Ephraim H. Shearer, .Tacob 
R. Yost, Jacob L. Rex, George G. McNeil and Victor 
Baker. 

During the Revolution the citizens of the town- 



IKU 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMBllY COUNTY. 



ship shared the trials and conflicts of that dark period 
along with the other districts of the county. 

According to the act of Assembly passed June 13, 
1777, the county of Philadelphia was divided into 
seven battalions. The township of Whitpain was in 
the Fifth, and John Rynear captain. 

During the Revolutionary struggle, Brig.-Gen. 
Weeden's regiment of Virginia troops was encamped 
from October 19th to November 2, 1777, on the 
Morris and Gregar farms. The former is now owned 
by Saunders Lewis, and the latter by William Hey- 
ward Drayton. 



about six miles from Norristown, three from White- 
marsh and one from Ambler Station, on the North 
Pennsylvania Railroad. 

The present owner, Phoebe M. Lewis (wife of 
Saunders Lewis), represents by inheritance the fifth 
generation of continuous ownership : through her 
mother, Hannah M., wife of Dr. Thomas C. James ; 
her grandmother, Elizabeth, wife of James Morris ; 
her great grandfather, Abraham Dawes (son), whose 
father, Abraham Dawes, purchased four hundred 
acres of land in the year 1726, and of which the house, 
with a tract ot one hundred and eight acres, is a part. 




Uoudiuoii iu If^t. 



WA.SHIN(iTON'.S HEAUyUAHlKKti, "jAMlvS MoKlUS' " UdXJBEK, 1777. 



During their stay here the weather was very wet, 
rain falling almost every day. The soldiers were 
compelled to seek shelter during the night in the 
barns of the neighborhood. Several of the soldiers 
died here from sickness, and are buried in the grave- 
yard at Boehm's Church. 

Gen. Washington, during the time of tlie encamp- 
ment, ha<l his headquarters in the house then owned 
by James Morris. The house was built in the year 
1731), and remains substantially in its original pro- 
portions, with the addition of a south wing (twenty- 
four feet by twenty-three feet), built in the year 1821. 
It is situated in Whitjiain township, Montgomery 
County, between tlie Skippack and Morris roads ; 



Washington having removed his headquarters from 
Worcester to Dawsfield House (now the name of the 
property), called Camp Whippin, or James Jlorris, as 
appears by letters addres.sed by Col. ^Valter Stuart to 
President Wharton, dated "Camp Whippin, October 
27, 1777," in Hazzard, and one other, by Gen. Reed to 
President Wharton, dated " Headquarters, James 
Morris', seventeen miles from Philadelpliia, on the 
Skippack road, October 30, 1777," in which he says, 
— " The long residence of the army in this (luarter has 
proven very distressing to the inhabitants, whose 
forage must be drawn from their subsistence." ' 



1 *' Life and Correspondence of President Reed, 
William B. Beed, Phila., 1847, vol. i., p. :i;i2. 



' edited by his grandson 



WIIITPAIN TOWNSHIP. 



1165 



In the Pennsylvania Packet, August 29, 1878, the fol- 
lowing appeared : 

" Thirty Dollars reward. Stolen from Camp Wliippiii, 20th of October, 
1777, a bay horse, fourteeu hands high, with a bald face, and is six years 
old. The reward will be paid by applying to Andrew Porter, Capt. of 
.\rlillery, or Stephen Porter, Worcester township." 

'• Washington, in his march from Pcnnypacker's Mills to the Battle of 
Germantown, passed through the township. His coni-so lay along the 
SkipiMirk Road. Isaac McGlathery, a well-known and respected citizen 
of the district, acted as a guide to Maxwell's Brigade on that occasion, 
ami led the way until a short distance of Chew's house." 

After the fatal battle, during the retreat of the 
American army, a slight skirmish took place at Oil 
Mill Run, on the .Skippack road, near the Broad Axe. 
A few were slightly wounded. 

" The English Cavalry pursued the Americans on the Sldppack Koad, 
li;J-2 miles from Philadelphia, into Whitpain Township, as far as the lilue 
Bell. We have heard fi-om an old friend, a witness, now at that place, 
that our militia was already there when the British cavalry arrived, and 
wheeled about to make good their retreat and return. He describes the 
confusion that existed among the Americans as past the power of de- 
scription ; sadness and consternation was expressed in every counte- 
nance. While the dead and dying (which had preceded this halt at the 
Blue Bell) were before seen moving onward for refuge, there could be 
seen many anxious women and children rushing to the scene to learn the 
fate of their friends, and to meet, if they could, the fathers, brothers, 
or other relatives who had been before sent forward for the engagement. 
Again and again the .American officers were seen riding or running to 
the front of the militia with their drawn swords, threatening or pei^snad- 
ing them to face about and meet the foe ; but all efforts seemed to fail, 
and officers and men were still seen everywhere borne along on the re- 
treat. They broke down fences and rushed away in confusion, as if de- 
termined no longer tj hazard the chances of war in another onset." 1 

"Andrew Knox, a prominent citizen of the Township, took an active 
part in the struggle for Independence. Having served as a Captain of a 
Volunteer Company, and rendered efTectual service, Wiushingtou selected 
him as one, for his coiu-age and efficiency, to prevent supplies being car- 
ried to the British army during their occupation of Philadelphia." 

Upon the news reaching Gen. Howe of his appoint- 
ment, Howe immediately otl'ered a reward of one 
thousand four hundred pouncl< sterling for Mr. Kno.x's 
head, dead or alive, and dispatched a squad of men 
to capture him. 

'* .\bont four o'clock, on the morning of the 14th of February, 1778, 
seven armed refugees approached hishouse ; two stood sentry at the back 
windows, while the other five attempted the door. Sir Knox, seizing the 
opening door with his left hand, and with a cutlass in the other, saluted 
the aggressors in a manner they did not expect, and repeating his strokes. 
The assailants meanwhile made repeated thrusts with their bayonets. 
By these Mr. Knox received two or three very slight flesh-wounds, and 
had his jacket pierced in several places, but the door standing ajar cov- 
ered his vitals and saved his life. The attiicking party presented their 
pieces and fired five balls and several buckshot through the door, one of 
the balls slightly wounding Squire Knox. Thinking the reports of the 
guns would alarm the neighborhood, the enemy retreated towards the 
city. "3 

Buck, the historian, in speaking of the affair, states 
"that the attack was made by the Tories of the 
neighborhood, the principal of which was Enoch Sup- 
plee, of Norriton, and who immediately fled, and, is 
supposed, joined De Lacey's battalion, in which he 
became an ensign, and in 1780 was sent to Georgia, 
where they got into a spirited skirmish with a detach- 
ment of Gen. Pickens' command." 
^ I 

I Watson's " Annals," vol. ii., p. 59. 

- Augo's " Lives of the Eminent Dead of Montgomery County." 



" Esquire Knox, at the approach of day, collected some friends and 
went in pursuit. They tracked the party several miles by the blood on 
the snow. One of them, who took refuge in a house, was taken, brought 
back and made an ample confession. This fellow, being found to be a 
deserter from the American .\rniy, was tried by a court-martial for de- 
sertion only, but condemned and e^tecuted near Montgomery Square. 
Another was apprehended after the British left Philadelphia, condemned 
by a civil court, and was executed." 3 

The desperation of the struggle at Knox's house is 
shown by the bullet-holes through the door and 
bayonet-marks. The door is preserved, and still kept 
in the family of his grandson, Hon. Thomas P. Knox. 

" .\t a meeting of Council, held in Philadelphia, February 24th, 1783, 
a letter was read from the Commissioners of the County, that John Shearer 
and Henry Conard, Collectors of Whitpain, had been robbed of Town- 
ship Funds." < 

This robbery was perpetrated by the notorious band 
of Doan's, of Bucks County, and occurred one dark 
night at the cross-roads, where the Sandy Hill school- 
house now stands. 

According to the Act of Assembly, passed Septem- 
ber 21, 1782, Daniel Yost was appointed assessor to 
assess the damage done to the inhabitants during the 
time that Gen. Howe held possession of Philadelphia, 
and returned the amount at six hundred and ten 
pound. The heaviest loss was appraised in favor of 
the Knox family. 

Churches. — There are at present in the township 
four places ofpublic worship, viz.: Boehm's (Reformed), 
St. John's (Lutheran), Union (Methodist) and Mount 
Pleasant (Baptist). In its early settlement there was 
little homogeneity among the emigrants to its borders ; 
a century ago we find a great mixture of people, 
difi'ering in lineage and religious faith ; and so it has 
continued until the present day, comprising Friends, 
who either attended Gwynedd or Plymouth Meetings, 
Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and Bap- 
tists. 

Boehm'.s Reformed Church, so called from its 
founder, is the oldest place of worship in the township 
and is situated at the intersection of the Blue Bell and 
Penllyn turnpike road with the old and ancient road, 
leading from North Wales to Plymouth, near the vil- 
lage of Blue Bell, and sixteen miles from Philadelphia. 

There is no certain data concerning the time of* the 
organization of the church at this place, on account of 
the early records having all been destroyed. The 
records of the founder were all kept as his private 
property, and destroyed by fire more than a half-cen- 
tury ago in an old house then standing at Second and 
Quarry Streets, Philadelphia, and those of his succes- 
sor, Schlater, by the British at Chestnut Hill, when 
the army held possession of Philadelphia. 

The earlier members of the church came from the 
Patatinate, Alsace, Svvabia, Saxony and Switzerland 
between the years 1720 and 1760, and scattered them- 
selves through the townships of Whitpain, Plymouth, 
Norriton and Upper Dublin. 



^ Norristown Register, January, 1808 ; 
<CoI. Rec, vol. xiii., p. 515. 



Auge's " Lives, etc." 



1166 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Many of them were poor, and were sold as redemp- 
tioners to pay their passage over. 

In I. D. Rupp's collection of German names, gives 
the time of their arrival, and the same names are re- 
corded in the church-book. The Yosts arrived in 1727 ; 
Engarts,1728; Clime,1731 ; .Shelve 1737; Rumer,1741 ; 
Kurr, 1743 ; Shearer, Ebcrhard (Everhart), Etris and 
Korndefi'er, 1748 ; Dull, Greger, Lotz, Klarr, Houser, 
Martin and Seltzer, 1749 ; Shaub, 1750; Schlatter, 
Ernst, Gubler, 1751 ; Singer, 1752. 

The deed for the property, containing one acre of 
ground, was given February 8, 1748, by John Lewis, 
of the township of Merion, to the Rev. John Philip 
Boehm, Michael Clime, Arnold Rettershan and An- 
drew Acker, church wardens of the said congregation, 
for the sum of four pounds and ten shillings, " for the 
use of the congregation of the High Dutch Reformed 
■Church founded by the Christian Synod, held at Dor- 
trecht, in Holland, in the years 1618 and 1610, so that 
the said congregation shall hold, follow and adhere to 
the principles of the Heidleberg catechism and in 
subordination to the Reformed Classis at Amsterdam 
(Holland), and for no other use, intent or purpose 
whatsoever." 

Tlie first church, a small stone structure witli pointed 
walls, was erected in 1740. At the building of this 
church Mr. Boehm labored with his own hands. 

In 1818 a second church was built, forty-six by 
fifty feet (the first becoming too small), at a cost of 
four thousand dollars. This stood until 1870, when it 
was remodeled to the present size, surmounted with a 
steeple and bell, at a cost of five thousand four humlred 
and thirty-eight dollars, and can seat five hundred 
people. 

A neat parsonage, sexton's house and comfortalile 
shedding for thirty-two carriages adjoins the church. 
The first sheds were erected nearly fifty years ago. 

The congregation now, 1884, numbers two hundred 
active members. 

The graveyard adjoins the church and covers nearly 
three acres of ground, with seven acres adjoining to 
be used for burial purposes when needed. 

All of the communicant members that are contrib- 
utors, rich or poor, are entitled to lots for their fami- 
lies, without distinction of race or color. 

There is a lot of free ground open to all for inter- 
ment. 

The most ancient names found on the tombstones 
are Knorr, Etris, Martin,Greenawalt, De Haven, Doll, 
Eberhard,Singer, Shelve, Greger, Yost, Rumer,Schla- 
ter. Shearer, Klair, Spitznogle, EngarS and Remig ; 
those of more recent, are Hoover, Earnest, Jones, Det- 
wiler, Dager, Rile, Sechler, Frantz, Wentz, Sholl, 
Levering, Hentz, Bodey, Wertsner and Selser. 

The pastors have been the following : Revs. John 
Philip Boehm, the founder, from 1740-49; Michael 
Schlatter, the missionary, 1749-56; 1756-60, supplies ; 
John George Alsentz, 1760-69 ; Christian Foehring, 
1769-72 ; Gabriel Gebhard, 1772-74 ; John W. Ingold, 



1774-75 ; John H. Weikel, 1775-76 ; 1776-83, vacant ; 
John Herman Winkhaus, 1784-87 ; 1787-89, vacant; 
Philip Pauli, 1789-93 ; Thomas Pomp, 1793-96 ; Sam- 
uel Helfenstein, Sr., D.D., 1796-99 ; for six months in 
1799, sup])lied (Frederick Herman); 1799-1800, 
Thomas Pomp, Jr. ; Gabriel Gobrech, 1800-2 ; George 
Wack, 1802-34 ; Samuel Helfenstein, Jr., 18.34r-44; 
William E. Cornwell, 1844-50 ; Jacob B. Keller, 1850 
-54 ; George D. Wolfe, 1854-55 ; Samuel G. Wagner, 
1855-68 ; Charles G. Fisher, 1868-73 ; .lohn H. Sech- 
ler, 1875 to the present, 1884. 

The remains of the founder slumber beneath the 
walls of the present building, being buried there in 
1749. In the yard the remains of the Rev. George 
Wack, who preached for the congregation thirty years, 




REV. MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 

Hons. Philip Hoover and Mahlon Sellers, members ot 
the Pennsylvania Legislature, Jacob Yost, Casper 
Schlater and Daniel Yost, commissioners of Mont- 
gomery County, are interred. 

During the Revolution the old church was used for 
a hospital by Brigadier-General Weeden's brigade, 
which was encamped on the farms of James Morris 
and George Greger (now owned by Saunders Lewis 
and W. Heyward Drayton), near the church. Sev- 
eral soldiers that died in the church and at the camp 
are buried in the yard, without any stone to point to 
their final resting-place. 

The old record-book still extant was commenced in 
1764 by Rev. George Alstentz, pastor ; John Marten, 
Frederick Dull, Jacob Gobler, John Etris, elders; 
Philip Rittershau and Casper Schlater, deacons. 

The first baptism is that of a child of " John and 



WHITPAIN TOWNSHIP. 



1167 



Earbiira Sehlater, baptized May 27, 1764, and received 
. the name of John." 

The descendants of Dull and Sehlater and Shearer 
are still in connection with the church as members, 
and the descendants of the Yosts, down to the sixth 
generation, are still in membership, and through that 
long line almost continuously have been officers. 

A piece of ground was purchased in 1760 for a 
school-house, adjoining the church, and a building 
erected thereon, which was kept for several years as 
a parochial school, and was almost the first school in 
the township where public instruction was given. 

This congregation was among the earliest to adopt 
and open a Sunday-school under the present system. 
On .July 17, 1834, a school was opened with one hun- 
dred and seventeen scholars, and has been kept open 
ever since, and now numbers nearly two hundred 
teachers and scholars. 

The following persons have filled the different 
offices connected with the school since its foundation : 

Superintendents: Frederick Nuss, Benjamin Hill, 
Charles Gearhart, James McCombs, John Fitzgerald, 
Sr., Anthony Bernhard, Abrm. Dull, Charles H. Rile, 
Rev. Samuel G. Wagner, Hiram C. Hoover, Rev. 
Charles G. Fisher, Jones Detwiler and Francis C. 
Hoover. 

Presidents : Rev. Samuel Helfenstein, 1837-43 ; Rev. 
William E. Cornwell, 1844-48 ; John Fitzgerald, 1848 
-5.') ; Hiram C. Hoover, 18.55-.i8 ; Rev. S. G. Wagner, 
I8.i8-I31; Hiram C. Hoover, 1861-84. 

Secretaries : Benjamin Hill, Anthony Bernhard, 
George Hoot, Samuel B. Davis, Charles H. Rile, Jones 
Detwiler, 1855-84, twenty-nine years. 

Treasurers : John Fitzgerald, Charles Gearhart, 
Samuel B. Davis, Anthony Bernhard, Samuel B. 
Davis, George Hoot, Alirm. Dull, Jacob Hoover, 
■Samuel D. Shearer, Francis C. Hoover, George Rossi- 
ter and Alexander Miller. 

Rev. John Philip BoEHM.^There is nothing at 
hand to tell us when the sulyect of this sketch was 
born. The date of his birth and circumstances of 
his early life would have probably been learned from 
certain papers, to which and their loss more i)articu- 
lar reference will be hereinafter made. Very little 
is known of the Rev. Boehm prior to his coming to 
America. Of the date of his arrival nothing definite 
is known, nor is it probable that the precise date can 
ever be known. Certain documents extant enable us 
to approximate the time. 

" Among the Protestants who were subjects to the 
Emperor of Germany, a Prince in Amity with the 
■Crown of Great Britain, transported themselves and 
estates into the province of Pennsylvania between 
the years 1701 and 1718." ' 

In the translation of the proceedings of the Classis 
of Amsterdam in regard to the case of the Rev. John 
Philip Boehm, held in the city of New York, July, 

lArch. of Penna., vol. vii., 2d seriea, p. 114. The name of John 

(Philip Boehm is mentioned. 



1728, by the Rev. T. W. Chambers, pastor of the Col- 
legiate Protestant Dutch Church, New York (1876), 
and published in the Mer cershurg Review, (vol. xxiii., 
October number, 1876), the following is found: 

"From this document it appeal's that Mr. Boehm arrived in this coun- 
try as early as the year 1Y20. He came from the Palatinate. Having 
been schoolmaster and foresinger iti Worm^, a city of Gennany, for about 
seven years, he found a demand for his services as reader (Vorlezer) upon 
his arrival here. The Reformed people around him were destitute of the 
means of grace, and he became a sort of pastor to them, without receiv- 
ing any compensation for his services. So well did he perform these ser- 
vices for the destitute Reformed people that they besought him to assume 
the functions of his ministerial oilice. This he did in 1725, receiving as 
compensation only the voluntary contributions of the people." 

It appears that he began to officiate as a minister 
before he had a regular license, to which he was no 
doubt pressed by the peculiar necessities of the times. 
That it was not a willful disregard of ecclesiastical 
order may be seen from the fact that as soon as the 
way was open he cheerfully submitted to a regular 
introduction into the holy office. 

The great influx of tlie German emigrants began 
about the year 1707, and in 1730-40 there were nearly 
twenty thousand Germans in the province, and many 
were connected with the Reformed Church ; hence 
the necessity of having some one to attend to their 
spiritual wants, — preaching, catechising and the ad- 
ministration of the ordinances. 

Mr. Boehm was the first Reformed (either Dutch 
or German) tliat taught the doctrines of the Heidelberg 
Catechism in the province of Pennsylvania. 

When the Rev. Geo. Michael Weiss, the first li- 
censed and ordained minister of the Reformed (Ger- 
man) Church, arrived here, September 21, 1727, he 
visited Sclrippach (Skippack) congregation and 
preached there. This brought him into collision with 
Mr. Boehm, who had been preaching there for some 
time without regular license and ordination. Some of 
the people then disclaimed Mr. Boelim's ministerial 
acts, because he was not ordained, and wished to re- 
tain Mr. Weiss as their regular minister. 

In July, 1728, the Consistories of the three congre- 
gations where Mr. Boehm had been preaching, — Wit 
Marshen ^ (Whitemarsh), Schippach (Skippack) and 
Falkner's Schwam (Swamp), — sent an application to 
the New York Classis to have Mr. Boehm licensed, 
ordained and his former pastoral acts approved, — 

" The appeal sets forth that Johan Philips Bcihrn has so borne himself in 
the discbarge of his Godly office, not only in the doctrine of the Reformed 
Church, but also in his life, that we have not the smallest complaint to 
make agaiust him in our hearts, 

"Our three still small and poor congregations of Falkner's Schwam, 
Schippach and Wit Mai-shen, of which the greatest is composed, of only 
twenty-four males, the second about twenty, and the least of not more 
than fourteen, are spread out more than sixty English miles from each 
other, and full one hundred and seventy distant from New York. 

" Signed by William DeWees, Isaac Dilbeck, George Philip Trotterer, 
Frederick Antes, Job. Meyer, Jac. Meyer, Gabriel Schuiler, John Berken- 
beil, Sebastian Reifsnyder, Ludwig Knauws, Laurens Bingeman, Job. 

2 Whitemarsh, where the Barren Hill Lutheran Church now stands ; 
Skippack, now Wentz's Reformed Church, Worcester ; Falkner Swamp, 
now Swamp Churches, New Hanover township, Montgomery Co., yet a 
large and tiourishing congregation. 



1168 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



BaTenstock, Georg Klauer, Leonbard Sperr, John Stephen Ulrich and 
John Le Fevro, in behalf of the three congregations, July, 1728." 

This appeal was forwarded to the Classis of Am- 
sterdam, in Holhmd, under whose jurisdiction the 
American Classis was at the time (and so remained 
until 1790), and a favorable answer was returned, de- 
claring that all the public acts and ministrations of 
Mr. Boehm were made valid, dated June 20, 1729. 

To this Mr. Weiss assented, and on the 23d of No- 
vember of that year the Rev. Mr. Boehm was ordained 
and set apart to the work of the holy ministry by 
Henricus Boel and Gualterius du Bois, under the 
oversight of the Consistory of the Low Dutch Church 
of New York. 

The labors of Mr. Boehm were exceedingly ex- 
hausting in Eastern Pennsylvania. His labors ex- 
tended, besides the congregations already named, to 
Philadelphia, Germantown, Whitpain, Forks of the 
Delaware, then Bucks County, now Northampton, 
ministering unto them and laying the foundation for 
future churches. 

The Moravians, headed by Count Zinzendorf, in- 
augurated a Pietistic movement, and called several 
Synods, and invited Christians of all denominations 
to meet with them. In the Reformed Church, Jacob 
Lischy, John Bechtel, Henry Antes and many others 
favored the movement. Against this movement Mr. 
Boehm took a firm stand, and had great concern of 
mind, and had it not been for the timely arrival of 
Muhlenberg, who sided with Boehm, the Reformed 
and Lutheran Churches would have been swallowed 
up by the movement. 

Schlater, in his journal, says, " Shortly after my ar- 
rival in Philadelphia I went to visit Mr. Boehm, one 
of the oldest ministers of the Reformed Church, and 
the old man, after he heard of my business, felt very 
glad and promised to assist me in my labors." 

At the organization of the first CJerman Reformed 
Synod, held in Philadelphia, September 29, 1747, 
the Rev. John Philip Boehm was present. He was 
secretary of that body in 1748; a copy of the minutes 
in his own hand is still extant, and shows that he 
was an excellent penman. 

The exact time when Mr. Boehm located in Whit- 
pain is not known. Among the list of land-holders 
marked in the survey of the province in 1734 his 
name is marked as having two hundred acres, and 
paid a quit-rent for the same. 

The deed for the property where he resided at the 
time of his death (near the church bearing his name), 
is dated September 9, 1736, and contains two hun- 
dred acres, and cost £165 13«. \d. 

In Whitpain, Mr. Boehm preached at his own 
house and other private houses of the neighbors. 

On the 29th of January, 1749, the Rev. Boehm, at 
the request of Mr. Schlatter, took upon himself the 
duty to attend to the wants of Macungie and Egypt 
(now Northampton County), with his congregation in 
Whitpain. 



Confining now his labors to a narrower circle, on 
account of the growing infirmities of old age, he con- 
tinued zealous for Christ and the church up to the 
day of his death, at the house of his oldest son, April 
29, 1749, having on the previous day administered 
the Holy Communion to the Egypt congregation, in 
Northampton County. 

He was interred under the altar of the church, in 
front of the pulpit, of the church bearing his name. 
The funeral sermon on the occasion was preached by 
Martin Kolb (Kulp), a Mennonite minister. 

On the 7th of May, 1749, Mr. Schlatter, who was 
absent on a missionary tour when Mr. Boehm's death 
occurred, improved the occasion and honored his 
memory with a funeral sermon, delivered in the 
church at Germantown ; and he testifies that his 
memory is cherished and blessed by many. 

Mr. Boehm was a man of ability and bore a strong 
attachment to the church which he labored so 
hard and zealously to establish and plant in the then 
new country. He held extensive correspondence with 
the church in Europe at an early day, and was care- 
ful to preserve all such letters, documents and records 
as pertained to the business of the church in those 
primitive days. These he carefully kept in a large 
iron-bound chest. After his death this chest was 
moved to Philadelphia and was there lost in the 
flames. 

Mr. Boehm became a heavy land-owner, although 
he dill not set his heart upon it, as has already been 
stated. At the time of his death he owned five hun- 
dred and fifty acres and one hundred and forty-six 
perches of land, as follows : In Whitpain, two hun- 
dred acres (homestead) ; Saucon, Bucks Co., two 
hundred acres ; Skippack, Philadelphia Co., one 
hundred and fifty acres, one hundred and forty-six 
perches. 

St. JoH>f's LuTHERAS Church is situated on the 
Skippack turnpike, about one mile above the village 
of Centre Square. It stands upon an elevated spot 
overlooking the surrounding country in every direc- 
tion, and is built of stone surmounted by a belfry. 

The deed for the property, containing one acre, 
was given on the 26th of June, 1773, by George 
Kastner and wife to Philip Bower and George Berk- 
heimer, of Whitpain ; Michael Henkey, George Gos- 
singer, Adam Fleck, and Peter Young (of Gwynedd), 
and George Heyberger (of Worcester), building com- 
mittee. After the church was finished, on the 28th of 
.Tune, 1773, the building committee conveyed the 
building and grounds to Abm. Dannehower (of 
Gwynedd), Michael Hufacre, Jacob Carr and Philip 
Shenaberger (of Whitpain), and Leonard Berkheimer, 
and Philip Hoffman (of Worcester), trustees of the 
congregation. 

The first positive evidence we have of a church here 
is in 1769, when the Rev. John Frederick Schmidt, 
having accepted a call to the charge of the church at 
Germantown, preached here every alternate Sunday. 



VVHITPAIN TOWNSHIP. 



1169 



The first edifice was erected about the year 1771 aud 
stood until 1838, when the present one was erected. 

The Rev. Mr. Schmidt served as pastor from 1709 
to 1786. When the British took possession of Phila- 
delphia the Rev. Mr. Schmidt, on account of his well- 
known republican sentiments, deemed it most prudent 
to retire to New Goshenhoppen, where he remained 
until the royal army evacuated the city. Whilst 
Washington had his headquarters in Worcester the 
building was used by the Americans for a hospital. 
Many of the soldiers of the Revolution, who died from 
wounds or sickness after the battle of Germantown 
are buried here, without any stone to mark their final 
resting-place. 

A handsome marble stone marks the grave of Chris- 
tian Moser, who died December 22, 1838, aged eighty- 
four years. He personally shared in the sanguinary 
conflicts of Paoli, and at the taking of Stony Point 
and the battle of Germantown. 

The Rev. Anthony Hecht was the second minister 
in charge, 1786 to 1792, when he was succeeded by the 
Eev. Jacob Van Buskirk until 1796, who also had 
charge of Puft''s, Upper Dublin, and the Yellow 
Church, Gwynedd. 

There was a vacancy in the pastorate for a short 
time, which was supplied by the Rev. Messrs. Shaffer, 
of Germantown. 

Rev. Henry Geiseuheimer came about 1797. The 
Rev. Charles Wildbahn was the next pastor. Shortly 
after Mr. Wildbahn took charge death removed him, 
and his remains lie in the graveyard. In 1806 the 
Rev. J. C. Rebenach assumed the charge. In 1810 
the Rev. John Wiand took his place and stayed until 
1826, when the Rev. George Heilig took charge and 
continued until 1843. He was succeeded by the Rev. 
Jacob Medart until 1855. The Rev. John W. Hassler 
was the next pastor until about 1864 ; the Rev. 
Rightmyer until 1868. The Rev. E. L. Reed preached 
his introductory sermon June 28, 1868, and resigned 
June 27, 1869. Rev. H. M. Bickel was elected pastor 
February 20, 1870, and resigned .July 11, 1875. Rev. 
Jj. D. Coleman was installed December 12, 1875, and 
resigned February 20, 1881. Rev. H. B. Strodach 
was elected pastor October 24, 1881, and preached his 
farewell sermon July 1, 1883. Rev. L. D. Coleman 
was again elected pastor January 7, 1884. 

From its first organization until 1870 the congrega- 
tion stood in connection with the Gwynedd or North 
Wales congregation and constituted a charge. 

In the graveyard in the rear of the church, upon 
the tombstones the most common are the following 
names: Osborne, Dannehower, Fetzer, Berkheimer, 
Zearfoss, Werkheiser, Hurst, Hallrnan, Gouldey, Lay- 
man, Dotts, Hott'man, Preston, Choyce, Longacre, 
Deal, Hoftecker, Kibblehouse, Lightcap, Ciistner, 
Moser, Miller, Knipe, Lutz, Bisbing, Cowden, Zeiber, 
Hunsberger, Markley, Fleck and Fulmer. 

The whole inclosure is well shaded with trees and 
is surrounded with a good and substantial fence. The 
74 



congregation owns a good and comfortable house for 
the sexton aud fine shedding for horses, and has ex- 
pended for repairs and buildings since 1880, S1583.69. 

The present officers are: Elders, Henry Moser, Vic- 
tor H. Baker; Deacons, Jacob Denner, Samuel C. 
Seiple, M.D. ; Trustees, Jacob Beidiman, Josiah M, 
Beyer and William Gray. 

About the year 1840 a Sunday school was first or- 
ganized, and is regularly kept open during the sum- 
mer season, and now, in 1883, numbers one hundred 
scholars. 

Whole number of communicant members, one hun- 
dred and twenty. 

Union Methodist Episcopal Church is situated 
near the centre of the township, on a public road lead- 
ing from the Skippack turnpike to the Jolly road. 

The deed conveying the land was given September 
4, 1813, by James Buck and Elizabeth, his wife, to 
Abm. Supplee, Samuel Supplee and Nathan Supplee 
(of the township of Worcester), John Giffin (of 
Gwynedd), David Supplee (of Norriton), Isaac Zim- 
merman and Jacob Zimmerman (of Whitpain), Samuel 
Harvey and Samuel Ashmead (of Germantown), and 
contained one hundred and twenty-one perches. 

The above-named trustees were nearly all members 
i of the Methodist Episcopal Church or in sympathy 
with the same. 

The next year a stone meeting-house was built. 
The date-stone says, "Union Meeting-House, built in 
1814." The pastors of the Bethel Methodist Episcopal 
Church preach here every two weeks. The intent of 
having a Union meeting-house here was to accommo- 
date ministers of all Christian denominations when 
not in use by the Methodists. 

During the excitement, and at the time the di- 
vision among Friends took place, Edward Hicks 
frequently preached within its walls; and to this day 
Friends frequently hold appointed meetings here. 

The names most common on the tombstones found 
in the yard are those of Zimmerman, Supplee, Brown, 
Smith, Fitzgerald, Kibblehouse, Shaeft', Rol>erts and 
Beck. 

During the summer and latter part of 1882, the 
building was entirely remodeled, and the present 
neat structure finished at a cost of one thousand dol- 
lars, which was chiefly borne by a few persons ; the 
entire membership at present does not exceed twelve 
persons. 

The church was rededicated December 10, 1882 ; 
the sermon on the occasion was preached by Rev. G. 
McLaughlin ; text, Rev. xxii. 5. 

The present trustees are George F. Shaeff', Charles 
De Prefontain and Thomas Stockdale. 

A Sunday-school is now regularly keirt open during 
the summer season, with Charles De Prefontain as 
superintendent. 

Mount Pleasant Baptlst Church is situated 
on a high and beautiful location on the Morris road 
in the eastern portion of the township. The deed for 



IIVO 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



the property was given by Thomas C. James, of the 
city of Philadelphia, Doctor of Medicine, and Hannah, 
his wife, to Philip Matthias, Benjamin Mattis and 
Jacob Conrad, all of Montgomery County, and is dated 
3d of Seventh Month 1834, and contains three-fourths 
of an acre. 

The same year a stone building was erected, not of 
large dimensions, but repaired and assuming its present 
appearance in 1865 ; surrounding is a small graveyard, 
beautifully laid out, and shedding erected for several 
horses. 

The most common names in the graveyard, are 
Coleman, Matthias, McClay, Bartleson,Eyn ear, Jones, 
Conrad, Speery, Gregar, Pontzler, Davis and Caldwell. 

The first organization of the congregation took 
place May 24, 1834, with sixteen members. The 
Church Council consisted of Revs. Joseph Kennard, 
Levi Beck, David Trite and Jacob Coleman. The 
congregation now numbers about one hundred and 
twelve. 

The Pastors have been Rev. Levi G. Beck, the 
founder ; Rev. R. F. Young of Chestnut Hill. The 
stay of Mr. Young, embraced three years, and was 
succeeded on the 20th of September, 1837, by Rev. 
Thomas S. Griffith, whose pastorate lasted nearly five 
years. Rev. John S. Eisenburg was ordained March 
17, 1842. Rev. John S. Baker succeeded him July 1, 
1843, in which year Charles Matthias and Jacob 
Conrad were elected deacons, and still fill that 
position with much credit to themselves and accep- 
tance to the church. Baker's term expired in May, 1848. 
Rev. John S. Christine became his successor. A 
vacancy of two years occurred. In 1850 the church was 
supplied by the venerable Rev. Joseph Matthias, 
of Hilltown, Bucks Co. On the 8th day of Septem- 
ber, 1852, the Rev. Uriah Cauffman became pastor ; 
his stay was short. In March, 1853, the Rev. Joseph 
Sagebeer took charge. In August, 1856, Rev. Thomas 
C. Trotter became pastor, and remained until 1860. 
In 1865, Mr. Trotter again took charge and stayed 
until 1870. In 1860 the Rev. W. B. Toland became 
pastor and remained during the war of Rebellion. 
In 1870, on the 1st day of October, the Rev. Chas. 
T. Hallowell, a student from the Crozer Theological 
Seminary, at Chester, took charge and remained until 
1875. He was succeeded by Rev. C. T. Frame, who 
remained until 1879. The Rev. Joseph Sagebeer is 
the present pastor. 

Jacob Conrad and wife, Ann, of the original found- 
ers, are still living, 1884. " In December, 1823, the 
Rev. John S. Jenkins, of the Baptist Church, Lower 
Providence, preached the first sermon ever delivered 
by a Baptist minister in that neighborhood. Nine 
years later Mr. Jenkins, in company with the Revs. T. 
Robinson and Horatio Gates Jones, held meetings for 
two days near the present locality of the church, and 
four persons were afterwards baptized." The Wissa- 
hickon Creek is the usual place for baptism. 

In 1868 the annual meeting of the North Philadel- 



phia Baptist Association was held with the church at 

this place. 

Private Burying-Grounds. — The first and probably 
the oldest is on the farm of Wm. Funk, along the 
Skippack turnpike,near the bridge over Oil Mill Run. 
At one time, tradition says, there were fifty or more 
graves visible here. 

There is one large stone (made of soapstone) yet 
standing, and containing the following inscription : 
"Here lyeth y° body of Ann, late wife of Thomas 
McCarty, who departed this life March 21, y" year of 
our Lord 1714-15, aged 57." On the back of the stone 
the following quaint inscription is contained : 

''Although my body lies in earth, 
I wish my friends both joy and mirth, 
Their interest prize 
To live with Christ, we all shall rise ; 
For as the Scripture text declares 
That we shall rise ; and if not heirs, 
Then woe be to that mortal man 
That in God's judg[iient cannot stand." 

On the farm now owned by Tyson Wentz, on the 
road leading from the Skippack turnpike to the Morris 
road, the remains of a burying-ground are yet visible. 
Two graves are marked with head-stones, with the 
following inscriptions : " Barbara Kress, died January, 
1757, aged 62 years ;" " Charles Kress, died November 
10, 1766, aged 72 years." 

Tradition says that it was orginally intended to 
erect Boehm's church on this spot. 

Villages.— Centre Square is situated at the in- 
tersection of the State of Swedes' Ford road with the 
Skippack tnrupike. 

Nicholas Scull on his map mentions an inn here 
in 1758, called the " Waggon." On the maps prepared 
by the British during the Revolution in the campaign 
of 1777, it is marked and called by that name. In 
1762, Thomas Fitzwater is marked in the number of 
taxables as inn-keeper here. 

The first post-ofiice in the township was established 
here in 1828, and James Bush appointed postmaster. 
The distance from Washington is one hundred and fifty- 
three miles ; Harrisburg one hundred and six miles. 
It is still kept here, and Mr. Rouffis postmaster. 

In the past few years the village has rapidly im- 
proved, and now contains one inn, two stores, post- 
office, wheelwright and blacksmith, tin, baker, and 
shoemaker-shops and forty private dwellings. The 
walks are laid with boards. 

A store was first started here about 1800 by Thomas 
Humphrey. 

For many years an extensive lumber-yard was 
carried on here by Thomas H. Wentz, who afterwards 
became a heavy dealer in lumber and a builder in 
Norristown. 

The general elections and the township business has 
been transacted here since 1S67. 

The Centre Square Creamery started in 1880 is here 
located, and does a flourishing business. 

Centre Square Lodge, I. O. of O. F., has a large hall 



WHITPAIN TOWNSHIP. 



1171 



with two dwellings underneath, and hold their regular 
meetings on Saturday evenings. 

At a large meeting of the citizens of the county, held 
here October 8, 1806, it was agreed to locate the 
present site for the Montgomery County Almshouse. 
The Centre Square Association of Montgomery 
County for the recovery of stolen horses and the detec- 
tion of thieves, was first organized at the public-house 
of Samuel Wentz, Centre Square December 11, 1819. 
The permanent organization took place at the public 
house of Abrm. Wentz on the 23d following, when 
twenty seven persons signed the constitution, as fol- 
lows : Joseph Butler, Daniel Wentz, Jonathan Paul, 
Samuel Wentz, Jonathan Ellis, Edward Foulke, 
Cadwalader Roberts, Abrm. Wentz, William E. Davis, 
William Ellis, Jr., Evan Jones, John Holt, Jesse 
Jenkins, Levi Foulke, John Styer, Henry Stern, 
Morgan Morgan, Jr., Nathan Evans, Thomas Humph- 
rey, Jesse Spencer, DaWd Acuff, Antrim Foulke, 
George M. Wentz, Isaac Shoemaker, Isaac Ellis, 
Jacob Styer and Daniel Kneedler. 

The first president was Abrm. Wentz, succeeded by 
Evan Jones in 1822, who held the position twenty 
years ; then John Rex, who held the position for a few 
years, and was followed by John Styer, Esq., who filled 
the position until his death. 

The annual meetings are held alternately in the 
townships of Whitpain and Gwynedd, on the second 
Thursday in November, and no person can be a 
member who does not reside within seven miles of the 
point where the Swedes Foi'd road crosses the line 
dividing the townsliips of Whitpain and Gwynedd. 

Present officers (1884): President, Algernon S. 
Jenkins, Esq. ; Secretary, William Jenkins ; Treasurer, 
Aaron Styer; Committee on Accounts, Septimus 
Roberts, Frank Zimmerman, J. W. Bisson and George 
Castner. 

Blue Bell is situated at the intersection of the 
old North Wales and Plymouth road and the Skip- 
pack turnpike. 

The place contains one inn, store, post-office, black- 
smith and wheelwright-shop, and nine dwellings ; 
population in 1880, sixty-one 

In 1758 there was an inn here called the " White 
House," and the military maps of the surrounding 
country, prepared in 1777, call the place by that name. 
In the year 1774 there was a large stone house built 
by James Bartleson on the west side of the Skippack 
road, and an inn was established here called the 
" Black Horse," a license was granted at the May 
Sessions of 1796, and the inn was kept open until 
about 1826. In this house the terrible Rader tragedy 
occurred on the morning of June 2, 1877. 

For many years the village was known by the name 
of Pigeontown. The name is supposed to have orig- 
inated from the large flocks of wild pigeons that fre- 
quented that section fifty years ago, and from an old 
resident, Morgan Morgan, who was a great trapper of 
pigeons and a famous gunsmith. The name was 



changed to that now in use in 1840, and the present 
post-ottice established, (Benjamin Hillan, ex-member 
of the Legislature, appointed postmaster), which is still 
kept by Charles De Prefontain. " On the evening of 
October 22, 1813, Pigeontown was illuminated in 
honor of General Harrison's capture of Maiden," 
{Norristown Herald of that date). In the same paper, 
dated October 15, 1812, "Samuel Ashmead advertises 
a house and lot of six acres, a noted store-stand at 
Pigeontown." 

In 1814, there was a volunteer infantry company 
rendezvoused here, by the name of Pigeontown 
Guards, commanded by Captain Kneezel. 

The Whitpain Library Company, founded December 
16, 1817, is kept here. The library contains two-thous- 
and volumes. Original price of shares, four dollars; 
present, three dollars. The collection contains many 
valuable and rare books; number of share-holders 
about fifty. 

Present managers, Benjamin P. Wertsner, William 
H. Slingluff, Jesse Streeper, Charles De Prefontain, 
Charles K. Shoemaker, George G. Rdssiter and Jones 
Detwiler. 

The Blue Bell Horse Company, for the detection 
of thieves and the recovery of stolen horses, was first 
organized here November 23, 1841, with 54 members. 
Present officers : President, George F. Shaeff; Vice- 
President, Linford S. Preston ; Secretary, Joseph P. 
Conard; Treasurer, David De Haven; Committee ot 
Accounts, Jacob Hoover, Benjamin P. Wertsner and 
George G. McNeil. The annual meetings are held 
alternately at Centre Square ; number of members 
eighty. 

The Blue Bell Live-Stock Insurance Company 
organized September 15, 1855, holds its regular meet- 
ings here. Present officers : President, George F. 
ShaeflJ"; Secretary, Jones Detwiler ; Treasurer, Linford 
8. Preston ; Managers, Jacob Hoover, Andrew Hart, 
Rynear Bradfield, George H. Tippin, George Amberg, 
Sr., and Henry C. Hoover. 

The Blue Bell Benevolent Society was first organized 
April 15, 1867 ; number of members 133. Present 
officers : President, Jacob Hoover; Vice-President, 
George Shoemaker ; Secretary, George G. Rossiter ; 
Treasurer, William H. Slingluff; Trustees, Samuel D. 
Shearer, Linford S. Preston and Henry F. Conard. 

Broad Axe is situated in the lower part of the 
township along the Whitemarsh line, at the intersec- 
tion of the Skippack turnpike and the Upper Dublin 
and Plymouth turnpike roads. 

The village contains one inn, store, post-office, 
blacksmith and wheelwright-shops and six dwellings. 
A portion of the village is in the adjoining township. 
Reading Howell, on his map of 1792, denotes a 
tavern here called "Broad Axe." The sign originally 
contained a broad axe, square and compass. 

The post-office was first established here in 1855, 
with John Cadwallader, postmaster. The office is still 
kept here, and Jacob G. Dannehower, postmaster. 



1172 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



During the days of liorse-iiiL-ing a running course 
was here, one-half mile in length, extending from the 
village to the road leading to Wertsner's Mill. Many 
an exciting race here took place and was witnessed by 
large crowds. The ground was finally abandoned for 
that purpose in 1840. 

The Washington Benevolent Society of the town- 
ship of Whitpain, organized February 12, 1841, holds its 
regular meetings on the last Saturday evening of each 
month in the hall of the hotel. Present officers, — 
President, Francis Schlater; Vice-President, Charles 
Harner; Secretary, Charles Kehr; Treasurer, George 
Lower; Trustees, Reuben Ellis, Charles Aimen and 
Sylvester Jones; Door-Keeper, Anthony Hallnian. 
For a period of thirty-eight years Francis H. Kehr 
filled the position of secretary. 

The society, from its organization until 1881, paid 
out the sum of $36,268.42 for relief and $6565 for 
funerals, making a total of i|i42,833.42. 

Franklinville is situated near the eastern portion 
of the township, at the intersection of the Morris and 
State roads, and contains one inn and seven dwell- 
ings. 

The fine country-seat, farm and summer residence 
of William M. Singerly, of the Philadelphia Record, is 
located here. Here is to be seen one of the finest 
herds of " imported Holstcin cattle " in Pennsylvania. 
In the assessment of 1882 he returned to the assessor 
sixty head, mostly of that breed, and kept on the 
form. 

Washington Square is located at the intersection of 
the township line, dividing the township from Norri- 
ton, and Centre square and Norristowu turnpike, and 
contains one inn, wheelwright, blacksmith-shop and 
five dwellings. 

Along the line of the Stony Creek Railroad,' which 
passes the entire width of the northern portion of the 
township, are the villages of Caster and Belfry. The 
former is located in the extreme western jiart, near 
the line of the townships of Norriton and Worcester, 
and contains a steam mill for grinding grain, coal- 
yard and several fine dwellings. 

Belfry is located at the Worcester line, dividing that 
township from Whitpain and the Skippack road. A 
flour, feed, coal and lumber-yard, kept by Theodore 
Harrar, blacksmith shop and several houses, consti- 
tute the village. There is a post-office here, making 
the third in the district. 

Schools and Education.— The first school-house 
in the township was located near the centre, along the 
Skippack road, where the road leading to the Union 
meetitig-house intersects, and was taught by one 
William Knox about the year 1766. 

Philip Dotterra and his wife, Januegan, by their 
deed, dated April 16, 1760, sold sixty-one and a half 
perches of land for five shillings, situated at the junc- 
tion of the North Wales road and the Pennllyn turn- 



'The Stony Creek Kailruad was built, commencing in 1871, and opened 
January 1, 1874. 



pike, to Philip Wentz, John Martin, Frederick Dull 
and Jacob Cobler for a school-house. A stone struc- 
ture was shortly afterwards erected thereon. This 
was for a parochial school, as it was the custom of the 
early Germans, as soon as the church building was 
completed, to provide a school-house and teacher. 
The school ^vas kept open to all that chose to comply 
with the regulations. The above-named persons were 
members and officers of Boehm's Church. The pro- 
perty now belongs to the congregation, and a house 
for the sexton occupies the old spot. Nicholas Korn- 
doffer taught the school in 1777. 

Centre School is now located near the original spot 
of the first school, and was erected in 1800. 

Ellis' school-house is located in the forks of the 
Swedes' Ford road and the Centre Square and Norris- 
towu turnpike road, and was first built on ground 
deeded September 10, 1787, by Isaac Ellis, Andrew 
Knox and wife, Isabella, containing six and one-half 
perches, for the sum of six shillings. The persons 
to whom the deed was given resided in the towushijis 
of Whitpain, Norriton and Plymouth, and the sum of 
forty-seven pounds was raised towards building a 
house, which was built the same season. 

Sandy Hill school is situated at the Six Points, and 
was first built on ground deeded by Joseph Lukens 
and wife, Mary, in 1796, to trustees, members of Ply- 
mouth Meeting and Society of Friends. The support- 
ers resided in the townships of Whitpain, Plymouth 
and Whitemarsh, and it was kept open to all that 
wished to send there. 

The teacher was always employed by the trustees 
In 1837 there were 40 males and 28 females from the 
district; from other districts, 29 males and 6 females, 
making a total of 106 scholars, all taught by one 
teacher, Benjamin Conrad. 

Centre Square School was first erected on grounds 
purchased from Henry GrofF and wife, Elizabeth, 
November 1, 1825, by Rev. George Wack and Henry 
Hurst, trustees ai)pointed by the district. 

There are at present six school-houses in the dis- 
trict; the last two, Franklinville and Shady Grove, 
have been located and built since the adoption of the 
school law. 

The enactment of the school law, of 1834, raised a 
storm of opposition, especially among the Germans or 
their descendants. This was, however, not because 
they were opposed to education, but because it was 
" something new." To the credit of the township, be 
it recorded, that although there was strenuous oppo- 
sition, it chose to adopt the common school system 
from the first, and never faltered in its support. 

The school law first went into operation May 26, 
1836; length of term, six months. On May 2, 1837, a 
vote was taken on the continuation of the system, and 
was continued by a vote of 70 in favor and 59 against. 

The last election on the subject was held March 19, 
1841, when eighty-nine votes were given in favor of 
its continuation and fifty-five against. 



WHITFAIN TOWNSHIP. 



1173 



This virtually ended the opposition to free schools. 
They have been regularly kept open, varying in term 
from six to ten months; and to its credit there have 
been female teachers employed since 1841 — forty- 
three years. 

Prior to the adoption of the school law, the usual 
branches taught were spelling, reading, writing and 
arithmetic. Some few scholars studied grammar, 
mensuration and surveying. The books in general 
use were Comly's Primer and Spelling-Book ; intro- 
duction, English Reader; sequel, Columbian Orator, 
Scott's Lessons and the American Speaker. The 
three last were considered high branches. Arith- 
metics : American Tutor (Ijy Zachariah Jess), Pike's 
and Rose's. Geographies : Adams', Olney's and 
Smith's. These were generally used for reading- 
books, and the questions asked by the master 
(teacher). 

The early school-houses were all built of stone. 
The desks were placed around against the walls, and 
the pupils occupying them sat facing the windows. 
Benches without backs, for the smaller scholars, oc- 
cupied the middle of the room. 

A desk for the teacher, a huge wood-stove in the 
middle of the room, a bucket, tin-cup, splint-broom, 
and what was called a "pass," a small paddle, having 
the words "In and Out " written in opposite sides, 
constituted the furniture of the room. 

During the time of wood-stoves, it was customary 
for the larger boys at noon to cut the wood and carry 
the same in the house and place it around under the 
desks for use. 

The larger girls took their turns in keeping the 
room clean. 

The law for the education of poor children was 
passed April 4, 1809. Ky that act the assessors were 
required to take the census of all children between 
the ages of five and tw'elve years whose parents were 
unable to pay for their schooling. 

In 1830 the assessor returned eighteen children 
from the district to be supported by the county. 

The first teachers and their salaries in 1836. — Centre 
School, Dr. Pile, teacher, $20 per month ; Ellis School, 
CTeorge Roney, teacher, $20 per month ; Sandy Hill 
School, Benjamin Conra_v, teacher, $20 per month ; 
Centre Square School, T. G. Bates, teacher, $20 per 
month; Franklinville School, Samuel Arnold, teacher, 
$20 per month; Mount Pleasant School, Joseph Roney, 
teacher, $20 per month. 

Teachers and their salaries in 1883. — Centre School, 
Lizzie Hallowell, teacher, $38 per mouth ; Ellis School, 
Lillian Rynick, teacher, $30 per month ; Sandy Hill 
School, Annie Whitcomb, teacher, $30 per month ; 
Centre Square School, Reuben Beyer, teacher, $38 per 
month ; Franklinville School, Kate Hallman, teacher, 
$38 per month ; Mount Pleasant School (now Shady 
Grove), Maria Taggcrt, teacher, $38 per month. 

Whole number of scholars in the district in 1836, 
294; whole number of scholars in the district in 1883, 



216. Whole amount of cost for tuition and repairs 
in 1836, $1203.09; whole amount of cost for tuition 
and repairs in 1883, $1949.41. 

Directors in 1836. — Charles Greger, Jacob Fisher, 
Peter C. Evans (secretary), John Styer, John Rile 
(president), John Heist, Abraham Wentz (treasurer, 
appointed outside of the board). 

Directors in 1883. — Henry Hobensack (president), 
Jones Detwiler (secretary), Albert Katz (treasurer), 
Joseph C. Beyer, Samuel D. Shearer, Reuben Rode- 
baugh. 

Roads. — The main roads that pass through the 
township are the Skippack, Morris, State or Swedes' 
Ford, and the road leading from North Wales Meet- 
ing-house to Plymouth. 

The Skippack road, the most important highway in 
the township, was opened at an early date, concerning 
the inception of which we happen to have document- 
ary evidence which is transferred to these pages. 
Before the year 1713, settlers had begun to occupy the 
country along the Skipiiack Creek, then known as 
Bebber's townshij) or tract; that it began to be felt 
necessary to have a central public highway leading to 
the northwest that would answer better than the 
crooked, winding paths through the woods and in 
places over almost impassable swamps. Accordingly, 
a petition was drawn up and presented to the Court 
of Quarter Sessions, held in Phihidelphia, June 2, 
1713. 

" To the Court of Qiuirler Sesshiis lidil, in Pliiladeliiliia, .htm 2, 1713 : 

"The petition of tlie inlialjituuts of the townsliips of Skii)pack auj 
several adj.icent plantations in said county, humbly bhoweth, that 
wliereas, in the aforesaid townsliip and neighbourhood thereof, pretty 
many families are already settled, and probably not a few more to settle 
in anil about the Siime, And yet no road being laid out and establisiied 
to accommodate your petitioners ; but what paths have hitherto used 
are only upon sufferance, and liable to be fenced up. Tlierefore, your 
petitioners, both for the public good and their own convenience, humbly 
desire an order for ttie laying out and establishing a road or cartway 
*rom the upper end of said township down to the wide-marsh, or 
Farmer's mill, which will greatly tend to the satisfaction of yotir peti- 
tioners, who shall thankfully acknowledge the favor, etc." 

"Signed by Dick Rosenberry, Henry Frey, Jacob Kolb, Clans .laiisen, 
Peter Bon, Henreich Pannebecker, Thomas Kentworthy, Johonas Sholl, 
Peter Bellar, John Newberry, Peter Wentz, Abraham Le Fevre, William 
Renberry, John Krey, Andrew Shrager, Johonas Umstat, HernianuB 
Kuster, Heinrich Kolb, Diiniel Dismant, Jacob Gaefshlack, Lorentz 
Sweitzer, Mathias Tyson, Gerhard In Uoven, Gerhard Clemmens, James 
Been, Johonas Kolb, Hartin Kolb, Jacob op den Graeif, Herman In 
Hoven." 

The following is the report of the jury to lay out 
said road : 

" U7(ereas, by virtue of an onler of Court obtained by the Petition of 
the Inhabitants of Skippack for the laying out of a road from the said 
Skippack to Edward Farmer's mill, and the same being laid out, dis- 
Siitisfaction to some of the Inhabitants of Farmer's township, application 
being made to the next succeeding Court for a review of the road, and 
persons being appointed, namely, Henry Sellen, James Shadeck, Robert 
Jones, John Roady, Edward Farmer, and Nicholas Scull, or any four of 
them, and they having reviewed the said Road, as Likewise a Certain 
Northeast line extending from the Siiid Farmer's Mill tip into the country, 
dividing Divers parcells of land, as by the idatfui'm hereunto annexed 
May more plainly appear, we do find the siiid line to be a more Direct 
and better Road with the variations therein laid down, and considerably 
and less injurious to the Inhabitants, greatly to the satisfaction of the 



1174 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



petitioners and the Inhabitants in general, as witness our hands tliis 
twenty-sixth day of February, Anno Domini, 1713-14." 

(Signed by) " Henurich Sellfn. 

" RoBEKT Jones. 

"John Ruadv. 

" EnwARU Farmer. 

"Nicholas Sciill." 

The following are the courses and distances : 

"Tiiiit this is a true return of the road from .Skililiack Creeli, in liebber 
township, !)y Edward Farmer's mill, unto North Wales road : bearing in 
course from the Skippack Creek :isO perches, varying from soutiieast 
seven degrees easterly ; thence due southeast 2S'2y perches, except two 
small variations." 

(Signed) "Matthew Zimmerman." 

The following reniDiistnince was presented to the 
court : 

" Whereas, this Uonorablo ( 'ourt has lately granted a lload from Skip, 
pack to Edward Farmer's Mill, and the same having been viewed and 
laid out, We find it to be very much to our Prejudices and hurt. And 
wherea.s your Petitioners have already three allowed Roads through the 
township, and your Petitioners being generally poor, and have but small 
tracts of land, the said Road last granted Cutts four of these said small 
tracts, to the great prejudices of the owners, and laid out through four 
very bad swamps, not passable without bridges ; therefore youi- Petitioners 
humbly jtiay that there may be a second review, and we doubt not but 
we can lay them out a Road far more convenient and straighter, and 
your Petitioners shall in duty bounil pray." 

(Signed) " Abraham Paws. 

"J. Nicholas Sleegleetz. 

"Casper Stahl. 

"Nicholas Scull. 

"and thirteen others." 

On the northeast side of this road, on the draft, are 
marked the lands of Edward Farmer, William Taylor, 
Joseph Knight, Abm. Daws, Richard Whit])ain and 
Basely Cox, passing through Worcester township, 
which is named "Now Bristol." On the southwest 
side, beginning in the same order, are Casper Stahl, 
Robert Ashton, John Palmer, Mary Dane, Jonas 
Smyth and Basely Cox. 

The bridge on the road over the Wissahickon Creek, 
near Farmer's Mill, was built about the year 1796. 

The bridge over Oil-Mill Run, near the Broad Axe, 
was built in 1804, and cost $1054.15. 

The Skippack Creek at the road-crossing was bridged 
in 1826. 

The Zachariah Creek at Stong's Mill, in Worcester 
township, was bridged in 1848. 

An attempt was made in the year 1844 to turnpike 
the road, and a charter was obtained March 1,1845. 
It was to commence at its junction with the Chestnut 
Hill and Spring House turnpike road, in Whitemarsh, 
and running through Skippackville to where the Skip- 
pack mad instersects the Swamp road in Perkiomen 
township. John .Tones, John Rex, Abrm. Wentz, Sr., 
Joseph M. Mather, Morris Longstreth, Jacob G. Sor- 
ber, Cornelius Tyson, Henry Bergstresser, Jesse Gable, 
Charles Hendricks and Abraham Hydreck, were 
named the commissioners in the act, and the price of 
shares was fixed at fifty dollars. 

This attemi)t failed, and the subject was again re- 
newed, and another charter obtained dated March 13, 
1853, the capital stock to consist of two hundred 
shares at twenty-five dollars. 



William Michener, Charles Stout, John Hobensack, 
Frederick B. Robeson, David De Haven, George 
Scheetz, Philip S.Gerhard, John Fitzgerald, Sr. Francis 
Kehr, John Jones, Matthias Farringer, John F.Styre, 
Lawrence Lawrence, Levi Miller, Enos Hoxworth, 
Samuel F. Shaeff, Henry Dickinson, Samuel Streeper, 
J. L. Rex, Joseph P. Conrad, Abram Wentz Sr., and 
Jacob Hoover were the commissioners named in the 
act, with power to construct a turnpike road, com- 
mencing at the Chestnut Hill and Spring House turn- 
pike in Whitemarsh, passing through the villages of 
Broad Axe, Blue Bell and Centre Square. A supple- 
ment to the charter was procured, and extended the 
distance to St. John's Lutheran Church. Work was 
soon commenced aud the entire distance was turn- 
piked. The first oflicers were the following : Presi- 
dent, Joseph P. Conard ; Secretary, Frederick Robe- 
son ; Treasurer, John Hobensack ; Managers, Charles 
Stout, William Michener, Jacob Hoover and Francis 
Kehr. The old Swedes' Ford road was laid out in 1730. 
By an act of the Legislature, passed April 6, 1830, 
William Stokes, Merrick Reeder, of Bucks County, 
Joel K. Mann, Henry Scheetz, of Montgomery County, 
Dr. William Darlington and David Dickey, of Chester 
County, were appointed commissioners to straighten 
and widen the road from a point on the Delaware 
River, in Bucks County, through the above-named 
counties, and from that time the road has been called 
the State road. A turnpike road is constructed on 
portion of the same from Centre Square to Norristown. 

The Morris road was first laid out according to the 
order of the court held in Philadelphia, September, 
1741, to commence at Morris Mill (now, 1883, Conard's 
auger works), in Whitemarsh township, to Garret 
Clemmeus' mill, in Upper Salford township. 

The old road leading from North Wales Friends' 
Meeting-house to Friends' Meeting, Plymouth, was 
laid out at a very early date, probably before 1710, as 
Friends had settled both localities, but its course in 
the township lias been considerably changed. 

The rest of the roads have all been laid out since 
the formation of the county. 

There are four turnpikes in and around the town- 
sliip, viz. : Skippack, Centre Square and Norristown, 
Blue Bell and Pennlyn, and Plymouth and Upper 
Dublin, along the southeast portion. 

By the act of March, 1762,' the townships of Whit- 
pain and Plymouth were formed into a district; each 
township was to elect one supervisor, and they were 
to act jointly in levying the taxes and mending the 
roads. With this act the inhabitants became dis.sntis- 
fied, and after the year 1763 the township became a 
separate district. 

In the year 1762' the whole amount of du|ilicate 



I " ir/icivos, John Roberts being chosen Supervisor in the township of 
Whitpain by the direction of an ,\ct of .\s,«einbly of this Province in March, 
17IJ'2, and Barnabas Coulston, in the townsliip of Plymouth, the said 
townships being made in one district by said act, and to act in conjunc- 
tion in all expenses on public roades and highways in said district^ 




^'^ •'hyj^H.PMci^ 




WHITPAIN TOWNSHIP. 



1175 



assessed for road puqjoses was £15 19s. 3rf; whole 
amount paid for labor on roads, £9 Is. 9rf. ; cash paid 
John Roberts, supervisor, for commissions, 16s. ; cash 
paid ditto for " assessing and drawing the duplicate and 
getting the same rectilied before two justices of the 
peace, &c.," 5s. The wages paid at that time were 
3s. 6rf. per day. 

Taverns and Public-Houses.— There has always 
been a good supply of public-houses in the township. 
Nicholas Scull, on his map of 1758, mentions two,— 
the " White Horse" and " Waggon." In 1749, John 
Bouton is marked as an inn-keeper. 
■ ■ In the list of taxables, of 1762, Abraham Wentz is 
marked as inn-keeper, and one hundred and fifty 
acres of land; Derrick Vanpelt, ditto, twenty -five 
acres ; Thomas Fitzwater, ditto, and forty acres. 

At the August Sessions of 1797, Barbara Eynear, 
John Wentz, Leonard Styer, James Bartleson and 
Nicholas Swoyer were licensed to keep public-houses. 

In 1808, Joseph Haws, Thomas Humphrey, Joseph 
Prichard, John Yetter, Valentine Bush, Jesse Fitz- 
gerald and Jonathan Philips kept licensed houses, 
and were as follows: Bush's or " White Horse," Cen- 
tre square, Wentz, Pigeontown (Blue Bell), "Black 
Horse," ditto, and Broad Axe. These were all lo- 
cated along the Skippack road, within the distance of 
four and a half miles. Of this number. Bush's " Big 
Brick " and Wentz 's have been abandoned. 

Wentz's, having the "Rising Sun" for a sign, was 
built in 1764. The house is still standing, and in 
good condition, being built with heavy brick walls, 
two stories in height, with heavy plaster cornice on 
all four sides. In the days of wagon travel this was the 
chief stopping-place for the heavy teams and was 
called the wheat market. The millers from the lower 
mills would meet the farmers here and purchase their 
grain. 

The general elections were held here from 1831 to 
18G7, when the house was closed to the public. For 
one hundred and three years this same building was 
known as a public-house. 

On the 4th of October, 1788, the county meeting 
for the nomination of a county ticket to be supported 
at the general election was held at the public-house 
of John Wentz. 

Francis Swaine,high-sherifl"of Montgomery County, 
advertises for sale, iu the Pennsylvania Gazette, on 



The said townships being nearly equal burthend with roades, and the in- 
habitants of each township near iiS equal in number and ability to main, 
tain the said roades, doth rather chnse to act separately, and for the better 
confirmation the said John Roberts, of Whitpain, doth hereby discharge 
and acquit the said Barnabas Coulston, of Plymouth, of all and every 
charge and expense of what kind soever of all roades in the Township 
of Whiti)ain." 

"Signed by order of the Inhabitants of Whitpain, March ye 19, 1763, 
John Roberts, Charles, Jolly, .\braham Wentz, Jacob Levering, Jacob 
Roberts, John Lewis, ,\ndrew Knox, Thuraixs .\danis, Philip Richardson, 
Philip Shenenberger, Joshu.a Dickinson, Benjamin Dickinson, William 
Davis, Jonathan Taylor, Joseph Conrod, John Dehaven, Joseph Roberts, 
Joshua Richards, Jonaa Supplee, George Robinson, W'illiam Robinson, 
Owen Thomas and William Dehaven. 



Monday, February 23, 1789 at the public-house of 
John Wentz, a tract of land containing fifty acres, the 
property of Peter Bisbing. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



WILLIAM M. SINGERLY. 

The establishment, by William M. Singerly, of a 
country home in Whitpain, at Franklinville, Gwy- 
nedd Station, on the North Punn Railroad, was an 
important event for the people of the township and 
the county, for it ultimately led to the development 
of what is probably the most extensive and elaborate 
high-grade stock-farm in the country, which, as a kind 
of informal agricultural academy, has exerted a marked 
influence upon the advancement of farming and stock 
interests in the region round about. It has, as an educa- 
tional institution, taught many practical object-lessons. 

The way in which it came to pass that a young 
business man, city-born and city-bred, became the 
owner and manager of a great farm and herds of 
cattle and sheep, and gained an intimate knowledge 
of agricultural methods and scientific systems of feed- 
ing and caring for animals, was this : In 1872, his 
health and strength having become slightly impaired 
by close and constant application to weighty business 
matters, and by the varied and unceasing demands 
always made upon the time and consideration of a 
man of affairs, he was urged by his father to seek the 
recuperation which a summer home in the country 
would aftbrd. Thus counseled, he bought a little 
farm of sixty-eight acres, to which, in the summer of 
1873, he removed. From this little beginning, made 
with no other thought or object than we have indi- 
cated, grew, by occasional additions, the " Record 
farms" of six hundred acres, which, in their improved 
condition, with the immense buildings upon them 
and the stock which they support, represent an invest- 
ment of about a quarter of a million dollars. The 
land, which had been somewhat impoverished, was, 
by careful fertilizing processes, brought into a high 
degree of richness, a careful plan of drainage was 
carried out and the utmost pains taken to produce 
the most desirable crops in greatest possible quantity 
and best quality. Mr. Siugerly's latent natural taste 
for the healthful freedom of outdoor life, and his love 
for the nobler domestic animals, were both quickened, 
and with the energy which has characterized him in 
other extensive enterprises, and the organizing ability 
which has made them successful, he entered ambi- 
tiously upon the diflicult but absorbing task of per- 
fecting the best stock-farm in the State. No effort or 
expense wa.< spared which tended toward the realiza- 
tion of his ideal in this direction. 

Some idea of the extent of Mr. Singerly's stock 



1176 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



farming enterprise may l)e conveyed by the statement 
that in February, 1885, he had about one liuiidred 
and sixty thoroughbred Holstein yearlings, constitu- 
ting undoubtedly the finest private herd in the 
country, and he does not propose selling until he has 
three hundred, which number will for exceed in size 
any high grade herd upon this side of the Atlantic, 
and, perhaps, in the world. He has two hundred 
cows, heifers and calves, all thorough or high-breds; 
about one hundred and thirty fattening steers, and 
eight hundred and fifty sheep. Of the latter he is a 
very large pen-feeder, and one year wintered over 
twelve hundred. His sheep are mostly high grade 
Cotswolds, but he has some South-downs for the 
purpose of insuring plumpness as well as large size 
in the spring lambs. In the spring of 1882 he sold 
in New York, for export, four hundred and forty- 
three, which averaged one hundred and sixty-six 
pounds each, and were probably the finest lot of sheep 
ever sold in the United States. 

Mr. Singerly is a strong advocate of the system of 
"soiling" or stall-feeding cattle, and the practice is 
followed at the " Record farms " on a large scale 
with the result of proving its great superiority over 
pasturing in economy of food and production of milk. 
In one stable, in what has come to be known through- 
out the Southern part of the county as "Singerly's 
big barn," are to be seen a hundred handsome Hol- 
stein cows, all comfortably stalled, and with pure 
running water before them. 

Always fond of a fine horse, Mr. Singerly's regard 
for the noblest of our dumb friends has increased 
considerably, as he has become from year to year more 
interested in his farm and in out-door life. The 
horses in use at the farm are fine specimens of their 
kind, but it is in Kentucky that he is interested in 
steeds of a finer strain of blood and higher spirits. 
He has ten selected mares, every one of which has 
shown him portions of a mile at a two-thirty gait. It 
may be mentioned as indicative of his success in 
breeding trotting stock, that a colt Ben Van, (foaled 
by his road mare, Rena C. and sired by Red Wilkes), 
sold recently for one of the largest pi'ices on record, 
and was pronounced the choicest yearling of Ken- 
tucky. 

The breeding of stock on such an extensive scale as 
that followed at the "Record Farms," of course, ren- 
ders necessary commodious buildings provided with 
all of the conveniences known to the most advanced 
students of farming. The main barn is two hundred 
and fourteen feet in length by forty-four in width, 
and two stories in height. The first story is built of 
brick, resting upon a substantial stone foundation, 
and the second story is frame. Other structures, ex- 
tending from either side of the barn proper, increase 
the line of buildings nearly four hundred feet, while 
from the centre of the main building a wing, thirty 
feet in width, extends one hundred and fifty feet for- 
ward, dividing the yard into equal portions. The 



great barn presents a pleasant appearance in detail 
and as a whole. A writer, in describing it in a local 
paper, says : " It is certainly about as near jierfection 
as the present state of advancement of agricultural, 
mechanical and architectural science, coupled with 
abundance of means, will admit of It is . . . the 
model barn of the counti'y, and, in point of capacity, 
stands, it is said, second to none in the United States."' 
Other buildings are clustered about the large struc- 
ture, which has been briefly described, or located else- 
where about the grounds, as Mr. Singerly and his 
superintendent, Mr. Jason Sexton, have thought best. 
The sy.stem of soiling cattle and feeding ensilage, in- 
augurated in this portion of the country by the pro- 
prietor of this farm, made requisite a very large silo, 
one sufficient to hold three hundred tons of ensilage, 
an amount which will keep the entire herd of cattle 
for six months. There is an extensive creamery, in 
which golden butter is made from the rich milk of 
the Holstein cows; an engine-house, in which lies 
the motive-power that is made to serve various pur- 
poses ; a blacksmith shop, where the horses of the 
farm are shod and tools repaired, and dwellings for 
various employees, all well adapted to the uses for 
which designed. 

The colossal farming enterprise which identifies Mr. 
Singerly with Montgomery County will not only 
prove, as years go by, a great benefit to the people of 
this region in the way of giving innumcral)le sugges- 
tions, but will produce good results throughout the 
country wherever stock-raising is carried on and im- 
proved methods of farming are appreciated. 

Concerning the other enterprises of the proprietor 
of the farm, it is scarcely within our province to speak 
in detail, for they belong more properly to the Phila- 
delphia field of his activity than to that of Mont- 
gomery County. As the son of the late Joseph 
Singerly he enjoyed the advantages of inheriting^ 
business ability and receiving a business training. 
He graduated from the City High School in 1850, 
immediately entered mercantile life, and after ten 
years passed amidst commercial surroundings he was 
called to the management of the Ctermantown Pas- 
senger Railway, in which his father was a large stock- 
holder. His ministration was sagacious and success- 
ful. Toward the close of his father's life he had 
absolute control of the road, a position involving 
great responsibility; and upon his death, in 1878, 
came into possession of its stock, valued at $750,000, 
which he afterwards disposed of for twice that amount. 
On the 1st of May, 1877, Mr. Singerly secured con- 
trol of the Philadelphia Record, and in 1881-82 erected 
the superb building on Chestnut Street, from w^hich 
that journal is now sent broadcast through town and 
country, and which is a monument to its remarkable 
success. Neither journalism nor stock-farming have, 
however, claimed all of his time or talent. One of 
the largest of his recent undertakings lias been the 
building of several hundred dwelling-houses upon a 



WHITPAIN TOWNSHIP. 



1177 



tract of land in Philadelphia, between Seventeenth 
Street and Islington Lane and Diamond and York 
Streets. This, probably the largest building operation 
ever attempted by any one person in the city, for the 
erection of more than a thousand houses is contem- 
plated, has in it a large element of practical philan- 
thropy and is one of several actions which entitle 
Mr. Singerly to be called a public benefactor. 
Another way in which his business sagacity and 
money have been determinedly and effectively de- 
voted to the benefit of the public has been in the 
breaking down of the exorbitant price of coal. He 
has succeeded in placing it in the market at seventy- 



benefit to the "Record Farms" and as worthy of their 
]irojector and the promotion of Philadelphia's welfare. 

MATHIA.S SHOEMAKER. 

Mathias Shoemaker, now of the city of Philadel- 
phia, is a native of Whitpain township, Montgomery 
County, where he was a resident for many years. His 
great-grandfather was Jacob Shoemaker, one of the 
early settlers of Philadelphia County, who was the 
father of eight children, viz. : Mathias, born Decem- 
ber 14. 1736, died January 17, 1816 ; Barbara, born 
June 30, 1738 ; Jonathan, born December 16, 1739 ; 
Isaac, born November 16,1741; Hannah, born Sep- 




^y/CJJu/SU ^^yno£,rru^i.Jj2A^ 



five cents per ton less than the rate which railroad 
discrimination has dictated, — a measure which it 
would surprise nobody should he characteristically 
so push it as to save Philadelphia a half-million 
dollars annually and thus greatly enhance its manu- 
facturing interests and at the same time aid the poor. 
As Mr. Singerly is scarcely beyond the meridian of 
life (having been born December 27, 1832), it is within 
the realm of the probable that he will not only carry 
forward to successful completion all of the various 
enterprises he has auspiciously begun in city and 
country, hut that his activity will find exercise in the 
inauguration of new ones, fully equal in scope and 



tember 10, 1743; Elizabeth, born November 30, 1746; 
Sarah, born Februarys, 1748; David, born January 
30, 1753. The eldest of these children, Mathias Shoe- 
maker, and his wife, Hannah (grandparents of the 
present Mathias), had five daughters, — Agnes, Mar- 
garet, Dorothy, Rachel and Mary, and one son, 
Thomas. In 1777 Mathias Shoemaker, the elder, 
purchased the farm in Whitpain township, which af- 
terwards became the property of his only son, Thomas, 
and is now owned and occupied by Charles K., son of 
Thomas and brother of Mathias Shoemaker, the sub- 
ject of this memoir. 

Mathias Shoemaker, one of the seven sons of 



1178 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Thomas and Jane (Supplee) Shoemaker, was born on 
the homestead farm of his father in Whitpain, Feb- 
ruary 17, 1810. Through the years of his youth his 
life was passed lilCe that of other farmers' sons of his 
time, doing the boy's worli on the farm and studying 
in the common schools during the short winter terms. 
His education was obtained in the " Cross Roads 
School-house" in Whitpain, and at the "Supplee 
School-house" on the Swedes' Ford road, in Norriton 
township. In the fall of 1826, when he was a little 
more than sixteen years of age, he was apprenticed to 
Samuel Cowden to learn the blacksmith's trade. 
Cowden's shop was at the " Broad Axe Tavern," on 
the township line of Whitpain and Whitemarsh. He 
served four years in his apjjrenticeship, which closed 
in the fall of 1830, a few months before he was twenty- 
one years of age. During those few months he again 
attended the " Cross Roads School " (then taught by 
Benjamin Conrad) until the spring of 1831, when he 
went to Philadelphia, and engaged as a journeyman 
in the shop of Franklin W. Coggins, on Queen Street 
iibove Second, where he remained more than three 
years. In the fall of 1834 he went to Chestnut Hill, 
where he worked in the employ of Andrew Fisher. 
In 1835 he returned to the family homestead in Whit- 
pain, where he commenced business for himself, and 
worked about four years in a shop which his father 
built for his use. At that place he commenced the 
business of making elliptic springs for wagons and 
other vehicles. The first pair of springs which he 
made were for John Slinglulf, of Whitpain, and they 
were also the first springs of that kind ever manufac- 
tured or used in Montgomery County. 

In 1839 (being then married) Mr. Shoemaker re- 
moved to the vicinity of the " Cross Roads School- 
house," where he had purchased a house and about 
eight acres of land, on which he built a shop. After- 
wards he added twenty-four acres by purchase from 
the estate of Christopher Mathias. At that place he 
remained engaged in the work of his trade and in 
farming for more than ten years. In 1850 he moved 
to Philadelphia, and there worked at journey work 
for about eight months, after which time, for about 
one year, he carried on business in a shop which had 
been built for him by John Conrad. He then binight 
a shop of Samuel Wooley, on Hutchinson Street 
above Master, where he recommenced the business of 
spring-making, living in a house which he had 
bought, located on Master Street. At his commence- 
ment of business on Hutchinson Street he employed 
three hands, but as his business grew he increased the 
number, so that at one time during the war of the 
Rebellion he employed twenty-five hands. After the 
war he put in machinery driven by steam-power, 
which enabled him to reduce his force of hands. He 
continued to manufacture springs at his shops on 
Hutchinson Street for about nineteen years. In 1870 
he moved from this city to Abington township, Mont- 
gomery County, but still continued to carry on the 



business in Philadelphia until 1871, when he sold it 
out to a company. From Abington he removed to 
Cheltenham township, where he purchased a residence 
and lot of ground, and lived there till 1874, when he 
moved to his present residence in Mount Vernon 
Street, Philadelphia. 

Mr. Shoemaker was married, February 23, 1837, to 
Sarah M. Fisher, daughter of Andrew Fisher, of 
Chestnut Hill. She died October 14, 1883. Their 
only surviving child, an unmarried daughter, lives 
with her father in Philadelphia. Mr. Shoemaker is 
a Republican, but has never held or sought public 
office. In his youth he, with his father and other 
members of his family, affiliated with the Friends, but 
he was never a member of the Society until 1865, 
when he joined the Green Street Meeting. He is 
now a member of the Meeting at Fifteenth and Race 
Streets, Philadelphia. 



CHARLES K. SHOEMAKER. 

Charles K. Shoemaker is the great-grandson of Jacob 
Shoemaker, one of the pioneers of Eastern Pennsyl- 
vania, who was the father of children as follows : 
Mathias, grandfather of Charles K., born December 
14, 173(>, died April 17, 1816 ; Barbara, born June 30, 
1738; Jonathan, born December 16, 1739; Isaac, 
born November 16, 1741 ; Hannah, born September 
10, 1743 ; Elizabeth, born November 80, 1745 ; Sarah, 
born February 3, 1748; and David, born January 30, 
1753. 

Of these children, Mattis (or Mathias), the eldest, 
purchased, March 28, 1777, from John Yedder, forty- 
seven acres of land, upon which his grandson, Charles 
K., now resides, in the township of Whitpain. April 
30, 1796, he added to his original tract, thirty-three 
acres, purchased from Henry Conard and wife, the 
whole forming the original Shoemaker farm in this 
township. Upon his demise, Mathias left the farm 
to be divided equally between his children. By an 
amicable arrangement between the heirs, the farm 
came into possession of Thomas, the only son. 

The children of Thomas were Enoch, born Septem- 
ber 25, 1804; Job, born October 7, 1805, died August 
14, 1828 ; David, born January 6, 1807 ; Alan, born 
September 22, 1808 ; Mathias, born February 10, 
1810; Hannah, born January 3, 1813, died April 10, 
1817; Jesse, born March 31, 1816, died June 28, 
1854; and Charles K., born June 4, 1819, on the 
farm, and in the house where he now lives, where 
also his father, Thomas Shoemaker, was born. 

In 1857, Charles K., purchased from the heirs the 
old homestead, and although involving himself in a 
large bonded debt, with little or no capital beyond 
good health and a strong determination to succeed 
in life, he has, by honest industryand frugal habits, 
relieved himself from all financial obligations, reared 
a large and highly respected family, and amassed a 
sufficiency of this world's goods, so that in his declining 
years he has been enabled to retire from the active 



WHITPAIN TOWNSHIP. 



1179 



duties ot life, having transferred the responsibility and 
care of the old homestead upon his son Jesse. Mr. 
Shoemaker was married, March 4, 1841, to Miss Sarah 
daughter of Peter and Sarali Childs, of Whitcmarsh 
township, Montgomery Co., Pa. Mrs. Shoemaker 
was born December 2, 1818, and is still in possession 
of all her faculties, and in the performance of the 
active duties of the household. 

The children of Charles K. and Sarah Shoemaker, 
are Phebe G., born March 1, 1842, married, in 186(3 
to Charles C. McCann, of Whitpain township ; Ma- 
thias, born August 9, 1843. At the first call of Pres- 
ident Lincoln for troops, in April, 18(J1, to defend the 



Lil)liy Prison, from which place he was transferred 
to that hell of the Southern chivalry, commonly dig- 
nified by the title of "Andersouville Guard House," 
or prison. There he was literally starved, and in June, 
1865, died the death of a noble martyr. George, born 
February 20, 1846, married, in June, 1864, to Harriet 
Henshall, of Norristown, Pa.; Emma Jane, born 
August 28, 1848; infant daughter, born October 16, 
1850, died same day ; Albert, born September 6, 1851, 
married in Novevember, 1875, Miss Ray R. De- 
Haven, of Whitpain township; Jesse, born Septem- 
ber 6, 1854, married, January 1, 1880, Miss Annie 
C. Smith, of Norriton Township; Sally C, born 




'•■"=rf- 



^fuitv6u ^ ^^flLc>^ rn^aJimJ 



life of the nation against the assaults of llie southern 
slaveocracy, young Shoemaker volunteered his ser- 
vices, and at the end of his term of enlistment re- 
turned to the paternal roof, where he remained until 
the dark cloud of the slaveholders' war covered the 
land, when he once more ottered himself as a living 
sacrifice upon the altar of his country, enlisting 
August, 1862, in Company H, Thirteenth Regiment, 
Pennsylvania Cavalry, where, by his strict obedience 
and soldierly-bearing, he passed through the several 
gradations, to the honorable position of second-lieu- 
tenant. While on picket duty in September, 1863, 
he was captured by the enemy, aud consigned to 



January HI, 1857, married, in October, 1877, Harry 
C. Hoover, of Whitpain township ; Charles T., born 
November, 10, 1859, died December 8, 1876; Anna 
C, born March 29, 1864. 

Phebe. G. McCanu, daughter of Charles K. Shoe- 
maker, is the mother of children as follows: Mary L., 
born April 29, 1867; William, born November 3, 
1868; Sallie S., born November 11, 1871 ; Charles S., 
born February 1, 1874; Anne, born July 18, 1876. 

George Shoemaker is the father of George M., born 
March 17, 1865, died July 6, 1865; Sarah P., born August 
20, 1866, died November 9, 1872 ; Charles H., born 
July 9,1870; Fannie M., born June 26, 1873, died 



1180 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



August 18, 1873; Ella M., born October :28, 187i), 
died October 13, 1884. 

Albert Shoemaker's children are Irene D., born 
October 13, 1876 ; Lida May, born April 23, 1880. 

Jesse Shoemaker's children are C. Harvey, born 
January 13, 1881; Katie Vaughan, born July 19, 
1882; Gertrude M., born January 5, 1884. 

Sallie C. Hoover, daughter of Charles K. Shoe- 
maker, is the mother of children, — Elsie C, born Oc- 
tober 15, 1879; Emma S., born April 11, 1881. 

The children of Mathias and Hannah Shoemaker 
(grandparents of Charles K.), were Agnes, born 23d 
Ninth Month, 1765, died June 29, 1851 ; Margaret, 



paternal great-grandfather of the present Abram, was 
the pioneer of the family of that name in Whitpain 
township, and came to be one of the prominent and 
progressive men of his time. Under the old militia 
laws of the State, John, above named, was commis- 
sioned colonel of a regiment, and was ever after known 
as " Colonel Wentz." His ancestors were either 
German or of German descent, but when they came 
to America is not known. Colonel Wentz owned the 
farm now occupied by Abram, and in the latter part 
of the last century built the house in which his grand- 
son, Abram, now lives. Colonel John Wentz was 
not only a military officer, but a civil officer as well. 




born First Month 9, 1767, died November 10, 1816; 
Dorothy, born 25th Seventh] Month, 1769, died in 
August 1777 ; Thomas (father of Charles K.), born 
Eighth Month 1, 1771, died January 2(), 1853. He 
was married, December 1, 1803, to Jane Suj^plee, who 
died July 6, 1857 ; Kachael, born Twelfth Month 13, 
1773, died January 20, 1855; Mary, born Seventh 
Month 19, 1776, died in August, 1777 ; Hannah, wife 
of Mathias Shoemaker, and mother of the above 
named children, died in October, 1777. 

ABRAM WENTZ. 

Colonel John Wentz, son of Abram Wentz, the 



He was for many years a justice of the peace, and 
was as popular in that c;ipacity as in the military. 
His justice dockets were neatly and accurately kept, 
and might properly be used as a model for like officers 
at the present day. It was customary in those days 
for justices of the peace t"o do their share in the mat- 
ter of uniting lovers in bonds of holy wedlock, and 
the colonel was as popular in that line as in the other 
two. His side-board was never empty, and no newly 
married coujde ever left his house without being 
refreshed with the best of wine, and that in abun- 
dance. It is one of the misfortunes that we sometimes 
labor under, that neither the date of the birth or 



WIIITPAIN TOWNSHIP. 



1181 



death of so good and great a man as he was cannot be 
given. 

His son, Aliraui, inherited the farm, and added to 
it the farm on the oi)i)osite side of the road, where 
his son Abram Wentz now lives. He, lilre his illus- 
trious father, was a man of sterling worth, respected 
by all who knew him. He was one of those unob- 
trusive men, always attending strictly to the affairs 
pertaining to the duties of the farm, allowing others to 
look after township and outside affairs. He died in 
September, 1870, at the ripe old age of eighty-four 
years; Charlotte, wife of Abram Wentz, died Decem- 
ber, 1881, in her ninety-third year. His children 
were Joseph Tyson (who owns forty acres of the olil 
homestead and in whose house he died), Hannah 
(died in infancy), Mary (deceased), Elizabeth, Bar- 
bara, John (deceased), Abram (who owns the fifty 
acres formerly owned by his father, Abram, and grand- 
father, John Wentz) and Henry (deceased). It is 
proper to state here that the property upon which the 
present Abram now resides lias been in possession of 
the Wentz family for about one hundred and twenty- 
five years. 

Abram Wentz was born in the house now occupied 
by his brother, J. Tyson, on the opposite side of the 
turnpike, where, and upon his own farm, his life_ 
thus far, has been spent. He has quietly and honor- 
ably followed in the footsteps of his father, seeking 
not the plaudits of men, nor places of public trust or 
political preferment ; yet his townsmen discovered in 
him the qualities best suited to fill a position where 
honesty is requisite to a just balancing of accounts, 
and for many years have kept him in the board of 
township auditors. He has also been honored with a 
seat in the board of directors of the Montgomery 
National Bank, at Norristown. 

He was married, April 30, 1868, to Miss Louisa, 
daughter of Jesse and Parthena Castner, of Gwynedd 
township. They are the parents of four children 
three of whom are deceased. The surviving son, Earj 
Oastner, was born October 27, 1883. 

Mrs. Wentz's father, Jesse Castner, died September 
9, 1883, in the seventy-second year of his age. Her 
grandfiither, Jesse Castner, was in his ninety-second 
year when he died, and her great-grandfather, Samuel 
Castner, died when in his ninety-eighth year. Her 
mother, Parthena Castner, died May 15, 1881. They 
were all residents of the township of Gwynedd. Mr. 
Wentz and wife are members of Btthm's Reformed 
Church, at Blue Bell. 

.lOSEPH p. CONAKD. 

Among the hardy pioneers who sought the shores of 
America, was one Dennis Conard (as the nanle was 
anglicized), who came in the ship " Concord," in the 
year 1683. He was from Saxony, Germany, and ui)on 
his arrival settled with the German colony, in Ger- 
mantown. From him all of the Conards of Whitpain 
township are descended. The family were P'riends, 



and when Henry, the youngest son of Dennis, moved 

to Whitpain township May 16, 1711, he brought with 
him a letter from the Germautown Friends, signed 
amongothers by Francis Daniel Pastorius. This letter ia 
now in the possession of Lewis Conard. Upon his arrival 
in Whitpain, Henry settled on a tract of two hundred 
and twenty-three acres,a part of which is now comprised 
in the property owned by the Strogdale family and by 
Christian Dufheld. The Strogdale farm is a part of 
the original tract owned by direct descendants of 
the first owners, making a period of one hundred and 
seventy-four years in which it has been in the 
])Ossession of the family. 

Upon the decease of Henry, the land comprising 
these two farms passed to Joseph, his fifth son, being 
willed to him under date of Sei)tember, 1758. Joseph 
had two sons, Joseph and John, and to them the 
property descended in equal parts. 

John Conard, son of .Joseph, was born in 1782 and 
spent the earlier part of his life upon the home farm. 
Having a taste for mechanics he served an apprentice- 
ship with James Wood, one of the pioneers in the 
iron business and the first iron-master in Consho- 
hocken. 

John intermarried with Sarah Childs, of Abington, 
who was born in 1786, and in 1805 settled 
upon the Duffield farm. Here he built the house 
and barn, which are yet standing, and 
transformed the then uncultivated tract into one 
of the most productive farms in the neighborhood. 
Here he also built a log blacksmith-shop, where he 
subsequently began the manufacture of the " Conard 
Screw Auger." This business is now greatly enlarged 
and improved by the introduction of machinery, and 
is carried on by two of his sons, Albert and Isaac, at 
Fort Washington, upon the site of Daub's old oil-mill. 
John Conard's death occurred in Seventh Month 30, 
1853, he having lived to the good old age of seventy- 
one years and filled well the position of an energetic 
but quiet and modest life of a useful citizen and a 
sincere and devout Friend. To .John and Sarah Con- 
ard were born twelve children, — James, Mary, Peter, 
Joseph P., Tacy, John E., Albert, Charles, Elizabeth, 
Lewis, Isaac and Levi R., of whom nine are still living. 

Two of the sons merit special mention, on account 
of their patriotism. James, the oldest, though hav- 
ing passed the age of those subject to military duty, 
enlisted in Company B, of the First Pennsylvania 
Cavalry (Forty-fourth Regiment Pennsylvania Vol- 
unteers), and served till sickness caused by exposure 
necessitated his discharge. Levi R., the youngest son, 
was a private in the Nineteenth Regiment Pennsylvania 
Volunteers, and died at Columbia College Hospital, 
from the effects of a bullet wound received at the 
second battle of Bull Run. He was buried in the 
Plymouth Friends' graveyard September 21, 1862. 
Most nobly was the motto of his regiment, "Non sibi 
sed Patrice " exemplified in him. 

Joseph P. Conard, fourth child, of John and Sarah 



1182 



HISTORY OF iMONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



CoDard, whose portrait accompanies this sketcli, was 
horn Twelfth Month 24, 1812, upon the original Con- 
ard tract in Whitpain township. His early life, until 
he was sixteen years of age, was spent upon the home 
farm, and he followed the pursuits incident to his 
method of life. At that age he began to acquire the 
trade of screw auger making, which he followed till 
twenty-one years of age, when he purchased the 
Wentz farm upon the Skippack Road, near Blue Bell. 
Upon this farm he has lived the period of forty-six 
years, till 1882, when he sold it to his son, Henry 
Fasset, and now resides with his daughter, Mary S., 
■wife of Charles Shoemaker, of Whitpain township. 



Alice, born 10th of Fifth Month, 1843, married 
John Walton, of Horsham township. 

Elizabeth, born 15th of Third Month, 1847, married 
Frank Stackhouse, of Ujjper Dublin township. 

Henry Fasset, born 22d of Tenth Month, 1849, 
married Sarah, daughter of Harper Nice, of White- 
marsh township. 

Ellwood, born 25th of Ninth Month, 1852, has a 
large roller grist-mill, at Kellogg, Jasper Co., la., 
and was married to Ella Burke, of Kellogg, Iowa, 
formerly of the State of Ohio. 

Israel S., born 1st day of Sixth Month, 1856, mar 
ried to Jane Cline, of Whitemarsh township. 




/r:^7.a^2yrL^ 



He has been formany years a prominent farmer and 
market gardener, supplying the Philadelphia markets. 
Though now in his seventy-second year he is hale and 
hearty, and is enjoying, in his declining years, the fruits 
of an industrious and useful life. He was married in 
Meeting, Third Month, 1834, to Rebecca A. Shaw, 
formerly of Richland township, Bucks Co. To them 
have been born the following children, — Sarah, who 
died in infancy. 

Ann, who was born 13th of Sixth Month, 1837, 
and married Jacob T. Buckman, of Abington township. 

Mary S., born 9th of Twelfth Month, 1840, married 
Charles Shoemaker, of Springfield township. 



Rebecca A. Conard, died 28th of Fourth Month, 
1874. 

The Conard family are nearly all Friends, and 
Joseph P., is a birthright member of that Society. 



CHARLES KRIEBLE. 

Charles Krieble, who resides near Centre Square, 
is a descendant and bears the name of an old family 
of Schwenkfelders. His ancestors upon both sides 
were early settlers in ibis region, and his paternal 
grandfather, Melchior Krieble, was born in America. 
His son John married Agnes Yeakle, daughter of the 
Christopher Yeakle who built the historic house still 



WHITPAIN TOWNSHIP. 



1183 



standing, at Chestnut Hill, a cut of which appears in 
this volume. 

Charles, the eldest of five children of John and 
Agnes Krieble, of whom the juniors were Samuel, 
now a resident of Norristown; Mary (Mr.s. Schultz, 
of Colebrookdale) ; Susannah (Gerhart), deceased, 
and Sarah (Anson), of Worcester township, was born 
in 1814, at Chestnut Hill. Working during his youth 
upon his father's farm he acquired a practical knowl- 
edge of agriculture, which he put to good use when 
he began for himself, in 1842, upon theftirm of eighty- 
five acres, where he now lives, and which his father 



Mr. Krieble was married the year he made his. 
home in Whitpain, February 18th, 1841, to Sarah, 
daughter of Abraham Anders, of Worcester township, 
and enjoyed her loving companionship until her death, 
November 21, 1884. They were the parents of two 
children, — Hiram A. Krieble, who is a farmer and 
lives with his father at the old homestead, married 
Susannah, daughter of Rev. Jacob Meschter, of Up- 
per Hanover. They have had four children, viz., 

Alan (deceased), May, Charles (deceased), and Edna. 
Mary Ann Krieble is the wife of Dr. Georo-e K. 
Meschter, of Worcester township. 




/. 




assisted him to procure. Ten years after he removed 
to this spot, one of the evidences of his prosperity 
appeared in the erection of the substantial house in 
which he now lives. Other improvements were made 
from time to time. His life has been a busy one, 
and the thrift which has followed industry has 
enabled him not only to enjoy comparative ease 
during his later years but to help others. He is a lib- 
eral sustainer of the Schwenkfelder Churches in 
Worcester and Towamencin. He has been a friend 
of the educational and other interests of the commu- 
nity in which he dwells, and has served a number of 
years as a school director. 



ENOS ROBERTS. 

Enos Roberts, of Whitpain, is a descendant of the 
Roberts family of Gwynedd, which figures largely in 
the history of that township, and whose progenitors 
were among the earliest Welsh settlers of Montgomery 
County, coming over the sea soon after William Penn. 
Sketches of several other representatives of this fam- 
ily, we may remark in this connection, have places in 
the present volume. The grandfather of our subject, 
Enos Roberts, was a resident of Gwynedd, and his 
remains repose with those of many others of his kin- 
dred and faith in the burying-ground at the Friends' 
Meeting in that township. The parents of the gen- 



1184 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



tleman we now have in consideration were Nathan 
and Barbara (Ruth) Roberts (the latter the offspring 
of David Ruth). He was boru in (iwvnedd, Novem- 
ber 25, 1856, and was the oldest of three children, the 
younger of whom were David and Annie (now Mrs. 
David Wismer, of West Point, Gwynedd township). 

Enos was left an orphan by the death of his father 
when about four years of age, and was brought up by 
his paternal uncles, John and Edward Roberts, both 
of whom are now deceased. He was reared to the 
vocation of a farmer, which he now follows, and on 
April 1, 1878, bought his ]iresent farm of about eighty 
acres near Blue Bell, which he has brought by.judi- 



CHAPTER LXXXI. 



WORCESTER TOWNSHIP. 



Ix its location Worcester in the most central town- 
ship in the county, and is bounded on the north by 
Towamencin, south by Norriton, east by Gwynedd, 
southeast by Whitpain, west by Perkiomen and south- 
west by Lower Providence. Its greatest length is four 
and a half miles, greatest breadth four and a quarter 
miles, with an area of 10, 180 acres or 1575 square miles. 
The surface is rolling, the soil red shale and under 
good cultivation. Methacton Hill is a considerable 




Qn/uiTL ii^(?%t-*A>b^ 



cious labor into an excellent state of cultivation, and 
upon which he has a comfortable home. The farm 
absorbs his attention, and he ranks among the most 
successful agriculturists of the neighborhood. He is 
a Republican in politics, but is not a very active 
worker in the cause of the party, and is not in any 
sense a seeker for place, being satisfied with such 
activity as his occupation calls for. 

The family, of long descent in Montgomery County, 
is still farther perpetuated through Enos Roberts, for 
he is married and the father of three children. Miss 
Clara E. Ralston, of Philadelphia, became his wife 
upon May 23, 1878. The offspriog of this union are 
Edith E., Annie V., and Kate A. 



elevation, that commences in Lower Providence and 
extends in a northeast direction across almost the 
entire southern part of the township for a distance of 
five miles. The summit of these hills, more familiarly 
known as the Fairview Hills, is equal in altitude to 
the highest point of the Chestnut and Chelten Hills, 
in the southeastern portion of the county, or those 
near Green Lane, to the northward. From points on 
them the traveler obtains beautiful and extended 
views of the Schuylkill and Perkiomen Valleys. The 
forests that once covered these highlands have, 
during recent years, been cleared away, and the land 
is well cultivated and improved by thrifty farmers. 
It was the commanding prospect afforded by these 



WORCESTER TOWNSHIP. 



1185 



hills that enabled General Washington's advance- 
guard to observe the movement of the British army in 
moving on Philadelphia in the autumn of 1777, and 
from which he subsequently moved to attack them at 
Germantown. Washington broke up his camp at 
Pennypacker's Mill October 8, 1777, and the army 
proceeded on its march down the Skippack road 
and Reading and Ridge turnpikes'. On the 16th, 
Washington established his headquarters at the house 
of Peter Wentz, near said church, from where he wrote 
an interesting letter to Congress, in which he says,— 

'■ It is with the highest satisfaction I congratulate Congress on the 
siicceasof our arms northward in the action of the seventh, an event of 
the most interesting importance at this critical juncture. From the 
happy train in which things are now, I hope we shall soon hear of 
the most decisive advantages. We moved this morning from the encamp- 
ment at which we had t>een for six or seven days i>afit, and have just 
arrived at the grounds we occupied before the action of the 4tJi. Oue 
motive for coming here is to direct the enemy's attention from the 
forts." • 

This communication establishes the fact that it wa.s 
from the encampment at Wentz's church that the 
army proceeded to make the attack at Germantown. 
Having retreated to these same hills after their defeat 
in this battle, they maintained a strong position on 
thera for several days, when they took up their march 
and proceeded to Whitemarsh township, where they 
established Camp Hill. 

Zacharia Creek is the prominent stream of Wor. 
cester township, and has a course of about four miles 
across its northern angle, in which distance it propels 
three grist-mills and a saw-mill. In 1758 mention 
is made of a saw-mill where the Zacharia Creek 
crosses the Skippack road, near the present Centre 
Point. It may be possible that the singular name 
given to this creek has been applied from Zacbariah 
Whitpain, an early resident of the adjoining town- 
ship. A branch of the Skippack crosses near the 
western extremity of this township and furnishes 
power to a grist-mill. Five-Mile Run and Stony 
Creek have their sources in its southern and eastern 
parts. 

The name of Worcester has been applied from a 
city and county in England, and is supposed to be 
derived from the Saxon word Caester, signifying, a 
station or camp. It was at the battle of Worcester, in 
1650, where Cromwell and his party defeated the 
Royalists and took eight thousand prisoners, most of 
whom were sent to America and sold as slaves. Ac- 
cording to the list of 17.54, this township contained 
twenty-five taxables and land-holders. Amongst these 
may be mentioned Robert Jones,_James_Bainej. Law- 
rence Switzer, Henry Flower, Leonard Spare, Conrad 
Conrad, JolinLefe\'re,John_Baine^Adam Vanfos-sen, 
Jacob Engle, Henry Rittenhouse, Stephen Stahr, 
John Vanderslice, Peter Keyser, Richard Osborn, 
William Robert Foulke, Conrad Vanfossen, Daniel 
Chrisman and Anthony Conrad. Derrick Keyser and 
his son, Peter, were naturalized in 1709 the better to 
hold and enjoy lands. . One bearing the latter name 



resided at Germantown before 1700; Conrad Conrad 
settled at Germantown before 1700. The population in 
1800 was 782; in 1830, 11.3.5; in 1850, 1453; in 1870, 
1587; in 1880, 1641. Taxables in 1741, 70; in 1828, 
249; in 1858, 425 ; in 1875, 426; in 1884, 478. 

For the last twenty-five or thirty years this town- 
ship has remained almost stationary in population. 
In 1785 there were within its limits two taverns, two 
grist-mills, one saw-mill and five slaves. In 1884 the 
following licenses were granted according to the mer- 
cantile appraiser's list: Beyer & Swartley, live-stock ; 
William H. & W. R. Baker, merchandise ; Daniel 
Cassel, merchandise; Daniel Cassel, hardware; S. 
L. Frank, live-stock; M. J. Harley, merchandise; 
Krebel & Son, flour and feed ; A. B. Schults, live- 
stock ; Joseph Shults, flour and feed ; Frank Swartley, 
live-stock. 

In 1884 the value of improved lands was $1,316,180; 
value of unimproved lands, S34,295; value of 378 
horses, $47,975 ; value of 526 cattle, $46,500 ; value of 
property taxable for county purposes, $1,493,398. 

The Germantown and Perkiomen turnpike road, 
commonly called the Reading, passes through the west- 
ern extremity of Worcester about two miles. TheStony 
Creek Railroad has a course of about a mile near its 
southeastern angle. The villages are quite small, and 
are Centre Point, Fairview and Cedar Hill. The post- 
office at the first-mentioned place is Worcester, and 
at the second, Fairview Village. The township was 
formed into a separate election district in 1828, and 
the township elections are held at Centre Point. 

There are eight public schools in Worcester, with 
three hundred and sixty pupils in attendance. The 
school term is seven months, and eight teachers (three 
males and five females) are employed at a salary of 
forty dollar:* per month. 

Wentz's Reformed Church is situated on the 
Skippack road, nearly a mile above Centre Point. 
The congregation existed as early as 1727, but 
was known as "Skippack Reformed Church," which 
was then located in Lower Salford township, in the 
vicinity of the Northwest Branch of the Skippack 
Creek, on the tract of land known for many years as 
the farm of Benjamin Reiff". The church was built of 
strong logs and stood on the border of an oak-grove, 
on the farm mentioned. Close by, the visitor beholds 
a small circular rise in the ground, which marks the 
place once held sacred. It was on that spot where 
the Rev. George Michael Weiss and other German 
emigrants from the Palatinate settled down, after 
they had, on the 21st of September, 1727, subscribed 
the oath of allegiance, by which they promised to be 
true to the British crown and the laws of the prov- 
ince of Pennsylvania. The organization of the 
Skippack congregation, with its consistory, was con- 
stituted of the emigrants who accompanied the pastor 
named, and followed immediately upon their settle- 
ment, and the Rev. Mr. Wei.ss became the first pastor, 
who. also, at a later period, served, in connection with 



1186 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



it, the Falkner Swamp and Old Goshenhoppen con- 
gregations. The first officers of the old Skippack Re- 
formed Church were Jacob Deimer, Michael Hillegas, 
Peter Hillegas, Yost Schmidt, Henry Weller, Jacob 
Seigel and William Rodrick. How long Mr. Weiss 
preached to this congregation cannot be definitely 
determined. It was doubtless, however, until 1746, 
when we again find him in Old Goshenhoppen after 
his return from Rheinbach, Dutchess Co., N. Y., 
from which neighborhood he had to flee on account 
of Indian troubles. The Rev. Michael Schlatter re- 
marks, in his journal, among other things, in reference 
to the Skippack Reformed Church, as follows : " This 
congregation, which was, previous to this time, one of 
the most respectable, has been so much reduced 
through the seducing influences of the many various 
sects that the number remaining are not able to 




WENTZ'S REFOR.MED CHURCH. 

collect for the support of a minister more than eight 
pounds, which is equal to fifty-three Dutch guilders," 
or twenty-one dollars of the present day. The old 
log church already named stood from 1757 until 1760, 
when it was torn down and never rebuilt. About 
this time the congregation transferred its place of 
meeting to the spot now occupied by Wentz's church, 
inasmuch as the majority of those who faithfully 
adhered to the church resided in that neighborhood. 
It is said that the logs of the old church building 
were, at a later period, used in erecting a grist-mill, 
known as AUebaugh's mill, on the Skippack Creek, 
where they still at the present day form a part of the 
walls of the old building. The graveyard of the 
congregation, located not far from the church, or, more 
correctly speaking, all traces thereof, with the grave- 



stones which were once there, have long since disap- 
peared, and the plow of the busy farmer draws its 
furrows over the resting-place of the silently-reposing 
pioneers. 

According to recollection, supported by the facts 
indicated, the assumption is fully correct that Wentz's 
church is the same organization of the former Skip- 
pack congregation, and that the only difference is to 
be found in the change of the name and place of 
meeting. It has been asserted that this was the first 
Reformed Church organized on this new continent. 

This statement, however, has been earnestly called 
into question, and as there cannot be found any direct 
evidence in regard to this point, no positive claims 
are set up for this honor. The name Wentz is de- 
rived from the well-known families of this name 
which at that period were quite numerous in this 
neighborhood ; but at the present time there is not 
one of this name, still held in honor, to be found 
among the large membership of the congregation. In 
1760 a few isolated members of the Skippack Re- 
formed Church held a conference meeting, the object 
of which was the making of preparations for building 
a new church. After long deliberation and consulta- 
tion it was resolved to build a new church on a spot 
a little in the rear of the one recently torn down, and 
that on the boundary line between the properties of 
two members, who had each given an acre of ground 
for the purpose. According to the records, these mem- 
bers were, on the one part, John Lefevre and Chris- 
tiana, his wife (the latter's family name is supposed 
to have been Wentz), and on the other part, Jacob 
Wentz and his wife, Elizabeth. The original deeds 
are dated January 2, 1762, and the land is conveyed 
to Philip Wentz, Peter Wentz, Jacob Weber, Philip 
Spare, Henry Conard and Jacob ReifF, in trust for the 
congregation, as a legacy for their descendants and 
those who may connect themselves with the Spiritual 
Reformed Zion. At a later period a small piece of 
ground was added to the original grounds, so that the 
whole then contained two acres and twenty-seven 
perches, the strip at the upper end, where the sheds 
stand, and the acre and a half on which the parsonage 
is erected not included. 

The first church building, after the removal and as- 
sumption of the new name, was commenced in 1762, 
but, on account of repeated pecuniary troubles, was 
not completed until nine years later (1771). It was 
painted inside with strong colors, and highly orna- 
mented with a number of inscriptions on the walls, as 
is still remembered by many of the older persons who 
frequented the first church on this spot in earlier 
years. The few highly-colored pieces of wood, 
found underneath the wood-work of the recently 
demolished church, and which are remains of the 
old church, still indicate the remarkable character 
of the painting. The congregation, at that time poor 
and numbering only about fifty members, was not 
able of itself to provide the means required to finish 



WORCESTER TOWNSHIP. 



1187 



the church, and hence a subscription-book was sent 
around, in which tlie names of neighboring clergymen 
appear, encouraging contributions, the recommenda- 
tions being written in German, Low Dutch and Old 
English. Owing to an extraordinary money-pressure 
which prevailed at that time, the subscriptions were 
but small, and the congregation still laboring under 
a heavy debt, they at length resolved to raise money 
by means of a lottery, a method by no means uncom- 
mon in those days. In this they were successful, for 
the proceeds furnished not only enough money to pay 
oft' the debt, but also left a small balance in the 
treasury. The first church was an exceedingly strong 
and durable building, erected of stone, with the joints 
closely cut and pointed with mortar, and the roof was 
high and steep, after the old Holland style. The build- 
ing cost two hundred and fifty pounds, and was dedi- 
cated on the 13th of November, 1763. 

This building withstood the storms for eighty-nine 
years, during which time it was served successively 
by fifteen different pastors, all of whom, except one, 
have closed their labors and rest peacefully in their 
graves. 

With the removal of the old Skippack Church, and 
the change of name which followed, all further con- 
nection of its former pastor. Rev. G. M. Weiss, with 
it ceased, and the Rev. John George Alsentz became 
the first pastor of the recently organized congregation. 
He continued in charge until his death, a period of 
seven years. His remains repose in the old cemetery 
of what was once the Reformed Church of Germ an - 
town. Pa. The successor of Alsentz was the Rev. 
Christian Fohring, who continued in this relation 
only two years. It was during his ministry that the 
interior of the church received the peculiar gaudy 
painting for which it was characteristic until it was 
torn down. He was succeeded by the Rev. John 
Gabriel Gebhard, who also remained only two years. 
During his pastorship the Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper was administered on Easter Sunday of 1772 to 
fifty-eight members. In the following year Mr. Geb- 
hard was succeeded by Rev. John W. Ingold, whose 
connection with the congregation was short. At the 
opening of the Revolutionary war, in 1776, Rev. John 
H. Weikel was pastor of the congregation. His con- 
nection with the charge, however, did not continue 
many years. Various difficulties arose, growing 
out of the war, of such a nature as to lead to his 
separation from the congregation. At the commence- 
ment of the Revolution he preached a sermon from 
Eccl. iv. 13: "Better is a poor and wise child 
than an old and foolish king who will no more be 
admonished." This sermon so excited a great por- 
tion of the congregation that the dissatisfaction led at 
last to his resignation of the charge. Mr. Weikel 
resided at the time on the parsonage farm owned by 
the two congregations (Wentz's and Boehm's). He 
was often seen, after having turned his horse into an 
inclosure in front of the house, firing pistols over his 



head from the windows for the purpose of training 
him to the fire should his services be needed in the 
war. His sympathies were warmly with the colonies 
during the struggle for freedom. The congregation 
was now vacant for several years. In 1784 the Rev. 
John Hermann Winkhaus became pastor and contin- 
ued in this relation until 1787. After a vacancy of 
three years the church received a pastor in the per- 
son of Rev. Philip Pauli. He remained four years 
and then removed to Reading, Pa. From this time 
forward the church was for a number of years with- 
out any settled pastor, but was served interchangeably 
by the Rev. Nicholas Pomp and his son, who, in ad- 
dition to the church at the Trappe, preached to the 
congregations at Falkner Swamp and Old Goshen- 
hoppen. The pastor who next served Wentz's church 
was the Rev. Dr. S. Helffenstein, who also remained 
only two years, and then accepted a call from the 
Race Street Church, Philadelphia, which he served 
during the following thirty years. His successor at 
Wentz's church was the Rev. Gabriel Gobrecht. At 
the end of eighteen months, however, his labors here 
were also brought to a close. The congregation re- 
mained vacant until 1802. A call was then extended 
to the Rev. George Wack, at that time a young man 
who had just brought his studies preparatory to the 
ministry to a close. He accepted the call, and soon 
thereafter commenced his labors amongst this people. 
They were attended with marked success, and he 
added largely to the congregation by baptism and 
confirmation. His pastorate extended through forty- 
three years, during which time he baptized seven 
hundred and five children. In consequence of grow- 
ing infirmities, he resigned the charge of the congrega- 
tion in 1845, and retired to private life. He died at 
the house of his son-in-law, Philip S. Gerhard, near 
Centre Square, Pa., on the 17th of February, 1856, at 
the age of seventy-nine years. His remains lie in- 
terred in the cemetery attached to Boehm's church. 
Rev. Abraham Berkey became successor to the Rev. 
George Wack. He did not succeed, however, in 
gathering together the members who had become 
scattered during the last years of the ministry of his 
predecessor. Hence he resigned at the close of the 
first year of his pastorate. 

On the 21st of February, 1846, the Rev. John Naille 
became pastor of the congregation. He at first served 
it only as a supply, as he belonged to the Goshenhop- 
pen Classis, and the congregation then was connected 
with the Philadelphia Classis. 

At a later period the congregation was transferred 
to the Goshenhoppen Classis, and along with Keely's 
and Towamencin congregations constitute what has 
been since then known as '' Wentz's charge of Gosh- 
enhoppen Classis." Rev. Mr. Naille found his hands 
full in contending with existing difficulties. How- 
ever, through the help of the Great Head of the 
Church, he succeeded in overcoming them in a short 
time, and as the congregation was now in a flourishing 



1188 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



condition, but were still without a parsonage, steps 
were taken for the purchase of a lot on which to 
erect one. The contract for building the house was 
given to Mr. Naille himself, who handed it over com- 
pleted to the trustees of the congregation on the 21st 
of October, 1849. The congregation continued to 
grow still stronger, so that in 1851 the pastor began 
to remind them of the necessity for a larger house of 
worship. The church was, it is true, in a good con- 
dition, but it was not by any means convenient, and 
was, besides, too small for the congregation, and as it 
also did not meet the taste of the people any longer, 
the congregation soon gave its consent to the erection 
of a new church. Within the same year a resolution 
to that end was unanimously adopted, and preparations 
being made immediately for the erection of a new 
church, the corner-stone was laid on the 21st of Au- 
gust, on which occasion the Rev. Dr. Samuel HelfTen- 
stein preached in the German and the Rev. Jacob 
Keller in the English language. The new building 
was ready for dedication on the 29th of January, 1852, 
when the same brethren officiated who had partici- 
pated in the services at the laying of the corner-stone, 
and were assisted by the Rev. Mr. Medtard, of the 
Lutheran, and Rev. Reuben Kriebel, of the Schwenk- 
feldian Church. The new church was a plain one- 
story building, with a gallery at the end, and with 
difficulty would seat only three hundi-ed persons. It 
was soon felt that the house was too small to comfort- 
ably accommodate the continually increasing congre- 
gation. After Rev. Mr. Naille had served the church 
eleven years, he resigned charge of it in February, 

1857. Notwithstanding his advanced age. Rev. John 
Naille is still laboring in the vineyard of the Lord, 
as a minister in the Reformed Church. A vacancy 
of eleven months followed, at the close of which 
a call was extended to Rev. William G. Hackman, 
which he accepted, and commenced his labors 
in January, 1858. His efforts in the interests 
of the congregation were from the very first crowned 
with success. The Sunday-school largely increased, 
and as there was not room for its accommodation in 
the old school-house, it was resolved, in the fall of 

1858, to build a school-house for its special use. This 
was erected during the following year and dedicated 
on the 4th of August. General satisfaction prevailed 
at this time, and the congregation continued to pros- 
per for some years to come. After a pastorate of eight 
years Rev. Mr. Hackman resigned and accepted a call 
in St. Joseph's Couut>', Mich., in which he has con- 
tinued to labor up to the present time. The people 
were extremely sorry to see their pastor removed from 
their midst, and hearty prayers for his welfare accom- 
panied him to his new field of labor. He had succeeded 
in getting a fast hold upon the affections of the people, 
and was highly esteemed by the community generally 
outside of the congregation. After the resignation of 
the Rev. William G. Hackman, the church succeeded 
in securing the services of the present pastor, Rev. S. 



M. K. Huber, who was at that time serving the Keely's 
congregation, now a part of the Wentz's charge. He 
was chosen on the 1st of January, 1867. At this time 
the membership numbered one hundred and ninety, 
of whom only one hundred and twenty-seven partook 
of the Lord's Supper at the first communion held by 
the new pastor. Success attended his unintermitted 
labors, and during the first year fifty-two persons were 
added to the church by confirmation, which number, 
through his activity, has been increased from year to 
year until it has reached two hundred and fifty, more 
than half of its present membership. During the first 
year of his labors, the great disadvantages resulting 
from the remoteness of the parsonage from the prin- 
cipal congregation became sensibly manifest both to 
pastor and people. After considerable deliberation 
the old parsonage property was sold on the 4th of 
September, 1869, and active eflbrts were immediately 
entered upon to erect a new parsonage upon a lot of 
ground, containing an acre and a quarter, adjoining 
the Wentz's church property, which had been pur- 
chased from Samuel Schultz. The work was carried 
forward to a successful completion, so that the pastor 
took possession of it on the 21st of March, 1870. The 
good results from the change of the location of the 
parsonage soon became manifest. The contiguity of 
the parsonage to the church enabled the pastor to 
look more carefully after the spiritual interests of his 
flock, and especially to give his personal attention 
to the Sunday-school work in his church. So great 
were the additions to the number of scholars and 
general prosperity of the school that the room in the 
school-house soon became inadequate to the wants of 
the school. 

The subject of providing better and more suitable 
accommodations for the Sunday-school was agitated, 
and as the church itself was too small for the comfort- 
able accommodation of the membership, and also 
needed extensive repairs, the Consistory resolved to 
lay the entire subject before the congregation for its 
decision. Accordingly, it was almost unanimously re- 
solved that the new church should be built during the 
summer of 1878. On the 17th of March, 1878, the last 
communion season in the old church was held. It was a 
specially interesting and solemn occasion . The demoli- 
tion of the building was commenced the following Mon- 
day, and by the close of the week the third church on this 
spot was a thing of the past. The corner-stone of the 
new building was laid on Easter Monday, the 22d of 
April, and was the same that had been u.sed in the 
1 first building erected on this spot, in 1762. The 
following articles were placed in the box : the Minutes 
for 1878 of the Synod of the United States, the Synod 
of the Potomac and of the Pittsburg Synod ; German 
and English almanacs for 1878, monthly Guardian, 
ReJ'ormirte Hausfreuiui, constitution of the Reformed 
Church, English and German hymn-books and cate- 
chisms, English Bible, large issue of The Messenger, 
Christian M'or/il, United States coin to the amount of 



WORCESTER TOWNSHIP. 



1189 



$3.14 of the coinage of 1878, a silver quarter of a 
dollar found in the old corner-stone, and a half-cent 
piece found in tearing down the old church. In a 
temporal point of view the congregation has made 
remarkable progress during the pastorate of the 
present pastor, and if the outward may serve as a 
basis for conclusions in regard to the inward, the 
necessary inference must be that a corresponding 
progress has also taken place in the spiritual condition 
of the membership. The congregation has been re- 
markably active during late years as regards its prop- 
erty. The greater part of the extensive sheds, for 
sheltering horses and vehicles, has been built, the 
dwelling for the sexton of the church has been en- 
larged and improved, the new parsonage has been 
built and the church provided with a new organ. At 
the time the erection of the new church building was 
entered upon the following were the officers of the 
congregation : Pastor, Rev. S. M. K. Huber ; Elders, 
James W. Slough, Tobias G. Hange and John Custer; 
Deacons, William G. Markley, Samuel G. Fensta- 
maker, Hillary M. Snyder, Henry Slough, Daniel 
Beyer and George F. Strong ; Trustees, Peter S. Fry, 
S. K. Kriebel and John Deckert; Building Com- 
mittee, Peter Fry, S. K. Kriebel, John Deckert, 
Reuben Scheffy, Eli Frick and Henry Slough. 

The basement of the new church was dedicated on 
the first Sunday in September the same year, and the 
pastor was assisted by the Rev. S. R. Fisher, of Phila- 
delphia, who preached a very impressive sermon on 
Sunday morning, and in the afternoon addressed the 
Sunday-school, which was for the first time assembled 
in its new home. The work on the auditorium was 
resumed immediately after the basement dedication, 
and by the 1st of November the new church was 
completed, and dedicated on the 9th and 10th of No- 
vember, 1878. The following clergymen took part in 
the dedicatory services : Rev. Moses Godshalk, of 
Schwenksville (Mennonite); Rev. Frank J. Mohr, of 
Quakertown ; Rev. C. Z. Weiser, D.D., of Penns- 
Uurg ; Rev. J. A. Schultz, of Worcester ; Rev. J. H. A. 
Bomberger, of Collegeville (these last-named Re- 
formed); Rev. S. Coleman, of Centre Square (Luth- 
eran) ; Rev. H. Rodenbough, of Eagleville ; and Rev. 
C. Collins, pastor of Centennial Church, Jefferson 
(Presbyterian). 

The burial-grounds are large and well attended to ; 
there are so many families interred here that it would 
seem invidious to mention but a few, and space forbids 
to name the many. The Hon. John Weber and wife 
are buried in these grounds. 

The Bethel Methodist Meeting-House is situated 
on the Skippack road, a little over half a mile above 
the Whitpain line. The first house of worship was 
built in 1770 by Johannes Supplee, but for no partic- 
ular denomination. In 1784 a congregation was 
regularly organized by the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, under whose control it has since remained. 
This was the first congregation organized by this de- 



nomination in the county. Joseph Pillmore, a 
minister from England, had the first charge. The 
present church was erected in 184.5, and the old one 
torn down a few years afterward. The oldest stone 
in the graveyard containing au inscription is that of 
Johannes Supplee, who died in 1770, a short time 
before the first meeting-house was finished. The most 
numerous names on tombstones are the Supplees, 
Zinimermans and Bissons. J^or further information 
in regard to this meeting, the reader is referred to the 
chapter on Methodism in Montgomery County. 

A German Baptist, or Bunker, Meeting-House is 
located at the corner of the township, where it ad- 
joins Lower Providence and Norriton. It is a small 
one-story building. The principal names on the 
tombstones are Harley, Cassel, Detweiler, Balser, 
Goshow, Rittenhouse, Damuth, Tyson, Dettra, Yost,^, 
Bauer, Baker, Garner, Stem, Coulston and Stauffer. 
The earliest stone observed liearing a date was that of 
1809. 

Worcester Schwenkfelder Meeting-Honse is sit- 
uated on the Township Line road, dividing Norriton 
from Worcester township, about two miles north of 
Norritonville. It is a plain stone building, with a 
seating capacity of from three to four hundred persons. 
Quite a large congregation worships here. The one 
hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the 
Schwenkfelders in America was celebrated in this 
church September 24, 1884. 

Among the notable persons present at the anniver- 
sary were General John F. Hartranft ; Rev. Chester 
D. Hartranft, D.D., of Hartford, Conn.; Revs. Dr. 
Rice, of the Moravian Church, Philadelphia; Moses 
Godshall, of Schwenksville ; J. H. Hendricks, of 
Collegeville ; Eli Keller, of Zionville ; Charles Wie- 
and, of Pottstown ; Charles Collins, of the Centen- 
nial Presbyterian Church; J. H. A. Bomberger, of 
Ursinus College ; and others. 

The morning services were mo.stly in German. 
Rev. William S. Anders, the pastor, opened the exer- 
cises by announcing the hymn, commencing, — 

" Great God of Nations ! now to titee 
OurhyniD ofgnititude we raise." 

Rev. Howard W. Krieble, of Clayton, Berks Co., in 
the Upper District, delivered a sermon in English, 
partly historical in its character. 

Rev. Jacob Meschter, of Palm Station, also in the 
Upper District, delivered an able sermon from the 
text: ' Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all 
his benefits." 

Rev. Joshua Schultz, of Hereford, Berks Co., also 
in the Upper District, read a " Sketch of the Devel- 
opment of the Church in this Country." 

The singing of a hymn closed the morning exer- 
cises. 

A recess was taken for dinner, which was served in 
the basement of the church, being furnished by the 
members resident in the neighborhood. Nine hund- 
red persons in all were fed. The dinner consisted of 



1190 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



bread and butter, cold meat and other substantials, 
cold water being the only beverage. 

The event of the afternoon was the able and ex- 
haustive history of the Schwenkfelders and their 
founder by Rev. Charles D. Hartranft. It was col- 
lated partly from manuscripts of Schwenkfeld. The 
paper treated of the works of Schwenkfeld, his wan- 
derings and those of his people after his death and 
also of the doctrine.s he taught. Speaking of the 
latter, he said, — 

'* Schwenkfeld tauglit Ilie need of individual reformation before you 
can have a reformation of society. The very revolution from Home had 
increased the degeneracy of the agft. The first great essential in 
Schwcnkfeld's preaching iti repentance. No wonder he loved the ancient 
prophets, and declared there could bp no Christian life which did not 
flow from repentance. A man's Christianity must be seen in his actions 
and not heard merely from his lips, according to his doctrine. And 
what a sublime life was his ! Whether for strength, courage, gentleness, 
devotion or loyalty to Chri^!t, I know not his peer. Who faced graver 
dangers without the shadow of fear ? Who disputed more courteously ? 
Where do yon find the breath of slander in him ? He was a Chiistian 
gentleman, who never forgot his manners, nor did he give signs of a too 
prostrate sensibility. Many and many a reformer acknowledged his be- 
nign piety and they could not account for it ; his doctrine, they said, was 
so bad. 

" The principles which Schwenkfeld emphasized have made themselves 
everywhere living forces. In what sphere of Christian activity are they 
not prominent factors? Hisdoctrinesare remarkjible for the conspicuous 
exaltation of the heavenly over tlie earthly, the living inward word over 
that which is written. They teach the nourishment of the soul by the 
presence of Christ himself instead of the hollow observance of eacra- 
tnents. 

"How immeasurably superior do the qualities of Caspar Schwenkfeld 
shine forth in comparison with his contemporaries ! It was but another 
indication of his possession of the new life. M'hat he preached be first 
did. He was equipped on every point, and had a masterly eloquence. 
The press was his greatest pulpit. And yet not half bis manuscripts 
have been published. 

" He found his vocation in the graces God had given him. How be 
lashed the priests in their notions that they were the successors of the 
apostles! He insisted on social worship. He could not but regard the 
ecclesiastical machinery of the church, even in the Reformation, as tyr- 
anny. His ideas are being practically carried out in the churches around 
us. 

" He believed in liberty of conscience and the right of private judg- 
ment, with theScriptures as a test. Everything was to be brought to thig 
test. H ■ taught individual liberty among believers. How rich are his 
works in practical arguments against the interference of the State with 
conscience! He never used the State to advance his own views. How 
can I represent to you the Borrows of his exile? With his zeal to ad- 
vance the cause of Christ, to be hunted from village to village ! Ah ! 
that we might recall the afllictions of those bands of wanderers ! Sons 
and daughters of those noble sires, let us rise up and call them blessed. 
Was the seed, which Schwenkfeld planted, without fruit? Behold ! to- 
day its fair fruits wave from every branch of Protestant Christianity. 
Let the children of such sires love Christ as they loved him, and we need 
not fear for the future of the American Republic." 

Christopher Heydrick, of Franklin, Venango 
Co., followed and read an account of the causes 
which led to the exodus, commencing with 1724. To 
prevent it the Schwenkfelders were forbidden to sell 
their property. They had sought the intervention of 
the States-General of Holland and of the sovereign 
of Great Britain. On July 30, 1725, the Schwenk- 
felders were handed over to the .Jesuit missionaries 
by an edict of the Emperor, after having been two 
hundred years in Silesia. 

They loved their German Fatherland, but they 
craved only to be allowed to sell their goods and leave 



the country. They addressed the Mennonites of Hol- 
land to intercede for them with their government, 
where liberty of conscience was allowed. The crisis 
had now come and they resolved upon flight. 

Mr. Heydrick explained the reason of their coming 
to Pennsylvania, which was the similarity of their 
belief to that of Friends and the unexampled liber- 
ality of the offers made by Penn. They arrived here 
September 24, 1734, and at once set up the altar of 
their religion. 

He dwelt upon the history of the sect since they 
came to this country, and closed with the words, — 

** Such were the distinctive institutions of the early American 
.Schwenkfelders — the church, according to what the church should be, 
has its charities and schools. From these institutions planted by our fathers 
in the free soil of Pennsylvania and maintained by their prayers and 
sacrifices, have, under the divine favor, flowed blessings which we can- 
not over estimate. They have reached us who are here assembled at the 
end of one hundred and fifty years, in obedience to the injunction of our 
godly ancestors, to commemorate their deliverance from their persecu- 
tors ; they have reached us whether we have remained in the ftdd, or 
from accident or choice, cast our lot with other communions ; and by 
whatever name we may be called, we can to-day unite together in thanks- 
giving and praise for them unto him from whom all blessings flow." 

General John F. Hartranft prepared a paper for 
this occasion, and in his remarks said, — 

" The Schwenkfelders have never surrendered, never compromised 
their religious liberty. They unwittingly became instruments with 
other sects, the Huguenots, the Puritans and others, in building up the 
civil goverimient and establishing the civil liberty we enjoy. They estab- 
lished the grandest republic on earth." 

Rev. Charles Collins offered the closing prayer. 

Rev. J. H. A. Bomberger, D.D., made a brief ad- 
dress, expressing the satisfaction he had experienced 
in joining on so glorious an occasion. 

The exercises then closed by singing the doxology. 

An Evangelical German Methodist Church built 
about 1850, is on the road from Fairview to Centre 
Point. It is a one-story stone building, with a seating- 
capacity of one hundred and fifty persons. 

The Methacton Mennonite Meeting-House. — 
This meeting-house is located on a public road lead- 
ing from the Germantown turnpike to the Skippack 
road, about one-half mile northwest of Fairview vil- 
lage. It is a plain, one-story stone structure, and was 
early founded by the denomination worshiping 
there. There is a large burial-ground connected with 
it, and some of the oldest settlers of the locality 
and many of their descendants are buried there. It 
was a well-attended place of worship as early as 1812, 
and many interments were there made prior to that date. 
Prominent among the names noticed on the tomb- 
stones may be mentioned the following: Drake, Kit- 
tenhouse, Wismer, Detwiler, Longacre, Gallagher, 
Landes, Funk, Baughman, Styer, Conard, Roosen, 
Freed, Fenstermucher, Beyer (1744), Beard, Wagner 
(1760), Yeakel (1768), Gearhart, Zimmerman, Clouard, 
Schrack, Casselberry, Stem, Sower, Steiger, Custer, 
Vanfossen, Heebner, Reiff, Bea% Clemmens, Cassel, 
Heyser, Wanner, Sechlar, Schwartz. 



WORCESTER TOWNSHIP. 



1191 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



DAVID CrSTEE. 

The family of David Custer, of Worcester town- 
ship, is both upon his side and his wife's, a very old 
one in the county of Montgomery. The great-grand- 
father of the citizen whose name forms the caption of 
the present brief article was Jacob Custer,— or, as 
the name was originally spelled, Kister,— a native of 
Holland, who was among the earliest settlers of that 
nationality to locate in Pennsylvania, and with the 



delphia of ye first part and Adam Van Voson . . . 
of ye second part. 

In the early part of the last century Jacob Custer 
built the old house which still stands upon this farm 
fronting a by-road leading from the Reading turn- 
pike. Here he lived and died. The stone over his 
grave in the burying-ground at the old Mennouite 
Church in Skippack shows that his death took place 
December 4, 1804, and that he was in the seventy- 
third year of his age. He and his wife Elizabeth 
Van Voson were the parents of Jacob, the father of 
our subject. He was born upon the farm in 1778 
and died December 4, 1854, aged seventy-six years. 





^eZ^^^^^-^^^ 




-^ 



Van Voson^ took up a large quantity of land in Skip- 
pack and Worcester, extending from the farm now 
owned by David Custer to Skippack Creek. 

His son, Jacob, owned the farm on which David 
now resides, which was originally a portion of 
the large property acquired at an early day by his 
father-in-law, Adam Van Voson. An old parchment 
in the pos.session of Mr. Custer, recites that the " in- 
denture was made the eighteenth day of May, in the 
sixth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, 
George, King of Great Britain," etc., a. d. 1720, 

. . . " between Thomas Shute of ye county 
of Philadelphia, and James Steel of ye city of Phila- 



His wife was Mary, daughter of David Gouldy, who 
owned the David Eittenhousefarm. Jacob's religious 
affiliation was with the Mennonites, while his wife was 
a member of the Lutheran Church, and they brout'ht 
up their children to revere those great principles of 
Christianity which are the precious property alike of 
the two sects or denominations, and of many others. 
They were the parents of three sons and five daughters, 
all of whom save one are now living. Samuel, the 
first-born, died without issue; Charlotte (Tyson), is a 
resident of the county; Rebecca (Heiser), lives in 
Skippack; Jacob, in Lower Providence; Mary (Davis), 
in Philadelphia; Elizabeth (Getty), in the oountv. 



1192 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUiYPY. 



David, upon the homestead farm and Barbara (Det- 
wiler), in Lower Providence. 

David Cu9ter was born April 21, 1820, and served 
upon the farm, gaining under his father's directions an 
accurate and practical knowledge of the vocation 
which he has successfully followed. Of school advan- 
tages he enjoyed but few, and the deficiency of his 
early education had therefore to be supplied through 
the later and slower, but perhaps better, processes 
of general reading, of observation and of mingling 
with men. After his marriage he carried on his 
father's farm on shares, and inherited it in part upon 
his death in 1854. By his skillful management of 
these one hundred and twenty-eight acres he was en- 
abled, not only to bring up his family under conditions 
far superior to those which had governed his own 
early life and to contribute liberally to the needs of 
others, and advance the interests of good institution, 
but to secure a second farm of one hundred and forty- 
six acres. Mention of this property, located in Nor- 
riton township, not far from the Schuylkill River, 
suggests an incident which is fairly illustrative of one 
of Mr. Custer's energy and activity. In the autumn 
of 1884 the barn upon the Norriton farm caught fire 
and was quickly consumed, with all of its contents, 
causing a very considerable loss. Mr. Custer went 
immediately to work to replace the burned building, 
and in less than six weeks a handsome and cunimo- 
dious structure seventy-four by fifty-two feet — a com- 
bination of stone and frame — was completed, greatly 
to the surprise of his friends and neighbors. It is 
this faculty for quiet, quick organization and execu- 
tion which has been one of the largest factors in his 
success. A substantial and hospitable appearing 
home was erected upon the Worcester farm a few 
years since. Mr. Custer holds a high place in the re- 
gard and esteem of his fellow-citizens. He is a Re- 
publican in politics, but has never been an aspirant 
for place within the gift of the party or people, and 
his interest in public affairs being entirely unselfish, 
is only such as it is the duty of every man to take in 
them. His religious predilections long since led him 
into membership with the Lower Providence Presby- 
terian Church, of which he has been a consistent ad- 
herent and supporter, for nine years subsequent to 
1860 a trustee, and since the close of his service in 
that office until the present, an elder. 

In 1872 Mr. Custer was united in marriage with 
Margaret, daughter of Christian and Catharine 
(Heebner) Detvviler, who was born January 26, 1829. 
Her father was from Perkiomen township and her 
mother from Norriton. The latter was the daughter 
of Abram and Catharine (Rittenhouse) Heebner, who 
were the descendants of very early Montgomery 
settlers of the Schwenkfelder faith. 

Mr. and Mrs. Custer are the parents of five children, 
all now living, — Christian, who married Susannah, 
daughter of Ephraim Buorse; Jacob, married Belle, 
daughter of Samuel Lewis ; and Urias, married .\nnie, 



daughter of George Hallman. He is of the fourth 
generation of the family who have lived on the home- 
stead farm. David graduated from the Medical 
Department of the University of Pennsylvania, in 
1884, and is a promising physician at Manayunk. 
The youngest of the family, Mary, resides with her 
parents. 



ANDREW MORGAN. 

Andrew Morgan, the well-known farmer and tanner 
of Worcester, is of Welsh descent and a representa- 
tive of the fourth generation of the family in Mont- 
gomery County. His great-grandfather, William 
Morgan, a native of Wales and one of the earliest 
settlers of his nationality in this country or region, 
located, on his arrival here, in Hatfield township, be- 
tween the Hatfield road and what is now the Bethel 
turnpike. His grandparents were Andrew and Re- 
becca (Levering) Morgan, and his father, Daniel 
Morgan. Their eldest son' was born February 6, 1770. 
He married Jane Wigton, daughter of Samuel and 
Elizabeth Wigton, of Bucks County. They made their 
home in Lower Providence township, and it was 
there that their seven children, five of whom grew to 
maturity, were born. Their names and dates of birth 
were as follows : Samuel, born July 10, 1803, (died in 
infancy); Rebecca, born August 2, 1805 ; Mary, born 
October 14, 1808, (died in infancy) ; Theodore, born 
November 26, 1811, (died March 20, 1870); Andrew, 
born September 28, 1814 ; Elizabeth W., born April 2, 
1817, (died October 20, 1883) ; and Mary Jane, born 
December 26, 1818. 

Rebecca was married February 24, 1824, to John 
Casselherry, one of the sons of William Casselberry, 
of Lower Providence township, Montgomery County, 
Pa., and he died September 4, 1834, leaving issue, four 
children, as follows : D. Morgan, D. Hearn, Melville L. 
and Catharine J. D. Morgan Casselberry was born 
April 3, 1825, and was married March 25, 1852, to 
Ann Eliza, daughter of John and Susanna Heebner, 
of the same township, and have eight children living, 
as follows : John H., M. Alice, Ann Rebecca, C. Wig- 
ton, Catharine J., Theodore M., Hannah Amelia, Leo- 
nora Russel, with two who died in infancy. The 
eldest, John H., married Clara, daughter of Emanuel 
and Kate Gouldy, who have two children living. 
Flora and Arthur. Ann Rebecca was married to D. 
M. Y. Weber, of the same township, and have two 
children, J. Stroud and Morgan C. D. Hearn 
Casselberry was born April 27, 1827, and was married 
in 1854 to Ann Elizabeth, daughter of Henry and 
Sebora Loucks, of the same township ; said Ann Eliza- 
beth died February 11, 1857, and left two children, 
who both died in infancy. Dr. M. L. Casselberry was 

1 The other children were William, Mary, who marriwl Septimus 
Evans, Benjamin, Andrew. The last-named marriad Elizabeth, 
daugliter nf .lysae Beans, and he has one daughter, Elizabeth, eurviv- 
ing, who I'e.sidea on her grandfather Bean's farm, in Wiirintn*t«r tnvrn- 
ehip. in Bucks Connty 



WORCESTER TOWNSHIP. 



1193 



born November 29, 1830, graduated at the Homceo- 
pathic College in 1853, removed to Morgantown W 
Va, where he married Mary, daughter of William and 
Ellen Willey, on the 10th of May, a.d. 1859. She 
died September 24, 1862, without children, and in 
October. 1866, he married Margaret, daughter of 
John Prutzman, of -Alorgantown, W. Ya and have 
three children.-Mary, Byron and John. Catharine J 
was born October 27, 1833, and was married March 6, 
1856, to Henry W. Bonsall, attorney-at-law, Norris- 
town, Pa., and had two children, Alice C. and J. Bar- 
tram. ShediedAugust2,1861,agedtwentv-sevenyears. 



able to make additions to his farm, effect many im- 
provements, and erect a good house and out-buildiugs, 
the former being built in 1852 and the latter at dif- 
ferent times as needed. 

Mr. Morgan has been a very active man, but having 
no particular taste for public affairs, has taken but 
little part in them, preferring the more modest and 
quiet walks of life. In politics he was a Whig, and 
is now a Republican. He has been for forty years a 
member of the Baptist Church. 

Although in his seventy-first year, Mr. Morgan is 
hale and sturdy and his mind unimpaired. He lost 




c^d^d^^^^/^^ 



p^ ^.i^'Z-^ 



Theodore was married to Mary, daughter of Christ- 
ian Detwiler, February 3, 1835. 

Andrew, whose name forms the caption of this 
sketch, as he grew to manhood gained a practical 
knowledge of the tanner's trade and farming. In 
1836 he married Ann Rebecca Allabough, of Perkiii- 
men township, daughter of David and Sarah Alla- 
bough. In 1841, having purchased about sixty acres 
of the farm in Worcester township, on which he at 
present resides, he removed here with his little family- 
He bought a tannery and began business in that use- 
ful department of industry, and at the same time car- 
ried on farming. He applied himself closely to his 
two avocations and prospered in both so that he was 



his wife, his faithful helpmeet through the years oi 
his mature life, on September 4, 1881. Six children, 
of whom one died in infancy, were the offspring of 
this union. 

Sarah J., oldest child of Andrew Morgan, was born 
March 11, 1839, and married Dr. John S. Shraw- 
der, October 27, 1870. They have had five children, 
the oldest of whom died in infancy ; the other four are 
living. In the order of their birth, their names are as 
follows : Clifford Beecher Shrawder, born December 
3, 1871, died October 1, 1872; Larrie E. Shrawder, 
born October 8, 1873 ; Joseph Shrawder, Jr., born 
August 27, 1875; Laura K. Shrawder, born 3Iarch 15 
1879 ; James M. Shrawder, born June 7, 1881. 



1194 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



John C, who was boru October 20, 1840, succeeded 
his father in the tanning business in 1866. He was 
married December 17, 1868, to Cornelia, daughter of 
Benjamin Balcer, of Norriton townsliip, and have two 
daugliters, Adele C. and Anna Rebecca. 

James A. was born March 9, 1844, and married 
Bella, daughter of Henry Baker, of Norriton town- 
ship. 

Theodore, who was born September 22, 1847, resides 
with his father at the old homestead and carries on 
the farm. He married Fannie, daughter of Joseph 
Brower, of Upper Providence. Their children are 
Theodore H., born November 8, 1873 ; Mary B., born 
December 16, 1875; Helen A., born December 31, 
1878; Flora R., born September 14, 1880; Andrew, 
born February 13, 1884. 

Belle was born March 4, 18.50, and was married to 
William Wood, of Whitpain township, .January 9, 
1883, and their children are as follows : Andrew Mor- 
gan, Jonathan Howard, and Rebecca Allabough 
Wood. 

Elizabeth W. Morgan married Garrett D. Hun- 
sicker, February 19, 1839. The latter died February 
19, 1879, and the former October 20, 1883. Their 
children are Theodore M., born June 14, 1841, died 
March 14, 1843 ; John Quincy, born March 23, 1844, 
an attorney in Philadelphia ; Morgan, born June 10, 
1846, died March 14, 1847; Mary M., born June 1, 
1848, died July 31, 1876; Ella M., Iwrn January 2.5, 
1851 ; Robert Melville, born April 25, 1854. Mary 
M. Hunsicker married John R. Thomas, P'ebruary 16, 
1871. John Quincy Hunsicker married Mary E. 
Stiles, June 26, 1873. She died December 21, 1879. 

Mary Jane Morgan married George Knabb, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1S42. He was at that time a resident of 
Upper Providence, but was a native of Union town- 
sliij), Berks County, and was born .January 26, 1809. 
He died at Port Indian, in Montgomery County, on 
November 7, 1865, and was buried at the I..ower Provi- 
dence Baptist Burial-Ground. The children of George 
and Mary Jane (Morgan) Knabb were Morgan, born 
February 10, 1846, died in infancy ; Ida, born October 
11, 1850, died February 27, 1879; Theodore, born 
April 28, 1854; Wigton, born June 8, 1856, died in 
infancy ; and Ella, born March 17, 1861. Mrs. Knabb 
is a resident of Norristown. 



REV. SAMUEL AARON, A.M." 

The most noted clergyman that has figured in Mont- 
gomery County annals during the past forty years was 
undoubtedly Rev. Samuel Aaron. In mere scholastic 
sermonizing or revival power we may have had his 
superiors, but in breadth of intellect, exalted imagiua- 
tion, gifts of oratory, melting pathos, abounding 
charity and liberality, both of religious sentiment and 
alms-giving, we never had a greater. He was preacher, 
politician, philanthropist and teacher, all combined in 

1 For'portniit of Samuel Aaron, see chapter on Education. 



one. There was no necessary incongruity in this 
strange conjuncture of functions, for, gays one of his 
biographers, " his religion was his politics and his 
politics his religion." He drew his political aphor- 
isms from the Bible, and his faith within the compass 
of Scripture morals had no sect in it. 

Samuel Aaron was born in New Britain township, 
Bucks Co., Pa., October 19, 1800, and was at the time 
of his death (April 11, 1865), in the sixty-fifth year of 
his age. He was of Welsh-Irish extraction, his father 
being of Welsh and his mother of Irish descent. The 
offspring of a second marriage of his father, he was 
the youngest but one of four brothers, the familj' con- 
sisting also of three sisters. His father, Moses Aaron, 
a farmer of respectable circumstances, was (also his 
wife, Hannah,) a member of the Baptist Church, and 
a man of sincere piety. Mr. Aaron always spoke of 
his father as " a good man," and cherished his memory. 
His mother died when he was but three years old, 
and at the age of six he had the misfortune to lose 
his father also. Left an orphan at this tender age, he 
was placed under the care and control of an uncle, a 
kind-hearted man by nature, but unfortunately ad- 
dicted to habits of intemperance. The little boy was 
frequently obliged to trudge bare-footed to the village 
store and back with a jug of liquor; and the sad con- 
dition of his guardian's family and business aflairs, 
and the neglectful treatment he experienced then, 
made him in after-life the terrible enemy he was of 
every form of intemperance. He worked on his 
uncle's fiirm till about sixteen years of age, receiving 
each winter a little schooling, when, obtaining a small 
patrimony inherited from his father, he entered the 
academy of Rev. Uriah Dubois, of Doylestown. At 
twenty he connected himself with the Classical and 
Mathematical School of .lohn (iummere, at Burlington, 
N. .1., as both astudentand assistant teacher. In theyear 
1824 he married Emilia, eldest daughter of his old 
friend and preceptor. Rev. Mr. Dubois, and not long 
after left Burlington and opened day-school at Bridge 
Point, about two miles from Doylestown. Remaining 
there but a short time, he next became principal 
of Doylestown Academy. In 1826 he made a pro- 
fession of religion, becajne a member of the Baptist 
Church and was ordained a minister, and in 1829 
became pastor of the church of New Britain, near 
Doylestown. In February, 18.30, his wife died, leaving 
him two children, Martha and Charles E. Aaron, two 
others having died in infancy. The death of a wife, 
with children to care for, is a terrible loss to a young 
minister; so three years after, April, 1833, he married 
Eliza G., daughter of Samuel Curry, a farmer of New 
Britain township. He immediately removed to Bur- 
lington, N.J. , where he was assigned to the principalship 
of the High School ; he also became pastor of the Bur- 
lington Baptist Church. In April, 1841, he was 
called to the Norristown Baptist Church, at the same 
time opening a select school for boys on the premises 
of the late Dr. Ralston. Mr. Aaron's popularity at 



AVOKCESTER TOWNSHIP. 



1195 



this date as a champion of temperance and anti- 
slavery, and also as a teacher of youth, was such as 
prepared the way for the establishment of " Tree- 
mount," which was operated in 1844. He taught for 
a period of forty-five years, and for seventeen yeai-s 
added the duties of an active, aggressive pastor,— three 
years at New Britain, five at Burlington, three at 
Norristown and six at Mount Holly. The degree of 
JFaster of Arts was conferred upon him in 1838, and 
later he was tendered the presidency of Central Col- 
lege, at McGrawville, which he declined. His de- 
clining years were darkened by financial reverses, but 



of its most successful farmers, — so successful, in fact, 
that he is about to retire from active labor, — was the 
son of Arnold and the grandson of Peter Say lor, and 
was born in Lower Providence, September 15, 1828, 
the fourth in a family of nine children, — seven girls 
and two boys. Those older than Andrew J. were 
Elizabeth (widow of Abram Hallman, now living 
in Philadelphia), Einmeline (Mrs. George L. Bos- 
sert, deceased), and Mary Ann (Mrs. Jesse Hallman), 
of Norristown. Those younger are John C, who 
married Mary Ann Detwiler, and is now a resident of 
Lower Providence; Susannah, [Angeline, Sarah K. 




these troubles never obscured his philosophic visions 
of life and its true source of happiness. Mr. Post, his 
biographer, says of him : " He lived to see the 
triumph of the principle he advocated, and the dawn- 
ing of a new national day. On hearing of the fall of 
Richmond, and the surrender of Lee, April 9, 186.i, 
two days before his death, he exclaimed, ' Thank God, 
I rejoice in the salvation of my country!' His last 
words were, — 'Thy grace is suflScient for me.' He 
died April 11, 1865, in the sixty-fifth yearof his age." 

ANPREW .T. SAYLOR. 

Andrew J. Saylor, of Worcester, arid known as one 



and Isabella. The wife of Arnold Saylor and mother 
of these children was Mary Casselberry, a native of 
Lower Providence, who is now living and in her 
eighty-fourth year. Her home is in Pliiladelphia, and 
she has, in her old age, a great comfort in the com- 
panionship of her daughters, who reside with her. 

Reverting to Arnold Saylor, the father of our pres- 
ent subject, it may be stated that in 1843 he pur- 
chased, and in 1844 removed to, the farm in Worces- 
ter, whicli his son now owns. He died here in 1856, 
and Andrew J. Saylor, who came to the farm a lad of 
sixteen, being then in his twenty-eighth year, possess- 
ing a practical knowledge of farming, and being full 



1196 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



of energy and ambition to make his way in the world, 
bouglit tlie homestead from the heirs. It consisted of 
seventy-two acres of good land, but the improve- 
ments upon it were not of the best order. 

Mr. Savior's industry and good management, how- 
ever, goon provided means for the erection of suitable 
building.s and a very material betterment of the con- 
dition of the farm. The dwelling — a spacious stone 
structure, plastered — is three stories in height. The 
barn and other out-buildings are in keeping with it. 

As we have already said, years of diligent and ju- 
dicious labor had placed Mr. Saylor in an independent 
position, and the remainder of his life will, if no un- 
foreseen disaster should take place, be passed in 
well-earned ease. He has always been an adherent 
of the Democratic party, but never has taken more 
than a good citizen's interest in politics and has 
never had a thought of office-holding. 

His religious affiliation is with the Lower Provi- 
dence Presbyterian Church. 

On January 1, 1857, shortly after Mr. Saylor had 
acquired ownership of the farm, he took, as his wife, 
Julia A. Johnson, of Norristown, who was born in 
Worcester township in 1830, her parents being Isaac 
and Catherine Brumback Johnson, the latter a 
daughter of Matthias and Mary Brumback. 



DAVID TRUCKSESS. 

This active, influential and well-known resident of 
Montgomery County was born in Wiirtemberg, Ger- 
many (im Maulbroner Oberamt), March 25, 1814, 
and was of noble blood, but his ancestral branch of 
the family did not enjoy any of the usual privileges of 
the titled classes because their descent was not in the 
line of the oldest son. It may be added that if they 
were of such sturdy stuff as that of which the present 
generations of the family in Worcester are made, they 
did not need the advantages of class prerogative or 
inherited wealth to insure successful careers. 

The parents of David, Jacob and Reghena Truck- 
sess brought him, with a younger brother, who died 
soon after, to America, in 1819. There were no steam- 
ships then, and the tedious trip from Amsterdam, Hol- 
■ land, to Philadelphia, occupied about four months' 
time — from balmy April in the old world to burning 
August in the new. The family settled in Worcester 
township, Montgomery County, and there the parents 
passed the remainder of their lives with the exception 
of a few years. They are buried at the Trappe Luth- 
eran Church. A daughter was born to them, but she 
died in her sixteenth year, leaving David the only 
child. The boy was hired out during the summer 
seasons and sent to school a little in the winter, but 
his early education was limited, because there were 
then no free schools for the poor and his parents could 
not affi^rd to pay his tuition for long periods at the 
private schools. At the age of seventeen he was bound 
as an indented apprentice to learn the shoemaking 



trade in Philadelphia. He served his time faithfully, 
learned the trade thoroughly, went to Norriton and 
worked six months as a journeyman, and then began 
business for himself, boarding in the house of George 
Anders. A year later, on the 19th of April, 1835, he 
married Sopliia Foster. The young couple rented two 
rooms of Mr. Anders, and a year later, upon his advice 
and assistance, Mr. Trucksess bought the little farm 
of sixteen (now twenty-eight acres), upon which 
he now resides. In April, 1836, he had a house and 
barn built, and in April, 1837, he and his wife made 
their home upon the place. Farming was carried on 
in connection with shoemaking, and Mr. Trucksess 
succeeded, finally, in bringing the land, originally 
quite poor, into good condition. Mr. Trucksess, in re- 
calling the beginning of his business career, says that 
he " had no capital, but good health, willing hands, 
and a good wife." This seemed, however, to be suffi- 
cient. There was then but one shoe-store in Norris- 
town, but he made boots and shoes for Bean & 
Schrack, Hoven & Thomas and Moore & Longaker, 
general store-keepers of that place. The first ten years 
was a period of hard work and self-denial and many 
discouragements, but better days came, as they are apt 
to, to those who do the best they can during the dark 
ones. The farm was made to maintain the family, and 
what was made by labor at the shop was either used 
in making improvements or invested from year to year 
in other property. Close application to business and 
economy have been the elements of Mr. Trucksess' 
prosperity. He has now four farms and two houses, 
all paid for, and enjoys a comfortable independence. 
He was able to care for and give a home to his par- 
ents during their old age and has brought up a large 
ftimily of his own in the enjoyment of unusual advan- 
tages. 

The subject of our sketch has been, outside of the 
strict lines of his calling, fully as untiring and indus- 
trious as within, and enjoys a wide reputation as a 
man of affairs. His activity has been almost incredi- 
ble and his reputation for carefulness and strict pro- 
bity has led his fellow-citizens of the township and 
county to place him in various positions of trust, which 
have largely added to the demands upon his time. 
Early in life he was identified with the militia, being 
chosen first lieutenant in 1838, captain in the follow- 
ing year, and major ten years later. He was first 
lieutenant of the Washington Gray Artillery, and 
served during the riots in Philadelphia in 1844. He 
was an early advocate of the free-school system, and 
us'sd his influence toward bringing about the adoption 
of the law providing for that measure, when it was 
quite an unpopular one. When the general law 
came into force, in 1851, he was made president of the 
board of directors for Worcester township, appointed 
by the court, and was once afiterwards elected to the 
same position. Having considerable natural talent for 
music, he occupied his spare hours for a period of fif- 
teen years in teaching singing and organizing choirs. 



WORCESTER TOWNSHIP. 



1197 



At one time he had nine different classes and over six 
hundred pupils to meet each week. Mr. Trucksess 
aerved, for five yeais, as a justice of the peace, and has 
held numerous olher offices since 1838, among them 
being that of assistant internal revenue assessor in 
1867-<5S. This position, like the others, was given to 
him without any solicitation upon his part, and was 
unexpected. 

A very fair idea of the estimate of the high con- 
sideration in which he is held by those who know 
him best— the people of his own community and 
those of the county— is afforded by a glance at the 
list of honorable positions to which he has been elected 
by various bodies. He was a charter member and was 



1835, a half-century of union has now been completed. 
Mrs. Trucksess' father was John Foster, and her 
mother's maiden-name was Birkenbine. She was 
born in Reading, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Trucksess are the 
parents of ten children. The oldest son, Jacob, mar- 
ried Mary Eoudenbush, of Salfordville, and is the 
father of two daughters. The second son, George A., 
married Mary W. Irwin, of Norristown. They have 
one son and two daughters. David, Jr., married Sa- 
rah Hallman, of Bridgeport, and is the father of two 
sons and three daughters. John F. married Mary 
Dettera, of Worcester, and has two daughters living. 
Andrew J., who succeeded to his father's shoemaking 
business, has been the organist at the Presbyterian 





n^iy-tcl^ 




chosen president of the Union Mutual Fire and Storm 
Insurance Company of Xorristown ; president the last 
six years ; has been president of the Xorriton ville Live 
Stock Insurance Association for the past fifteen years ; 
has been president of the Farmers' Union Horse Com- 
pany (for the protection of horses and the detection of 
thieves), during the past forty years, and is also pres- 
ident of the board of trustees of the Norriton and 
Lower Providence Presbyterian Church and of the 
Fairview Village Creamery Company, having held the 
latter office since the organization of its management. 

In politics he is a Democrat. 

Mention has been made of the marriage of Mr. 
Trucksess. As that event was solemnized on April 1 9, 



Church twenty years, and has inherited something of 
his talent for music, resides with his parents at the old 
homestead. His wife was Sarah J. Landis, of Perkio- 
men Bridge. They have four sons and one daughter. 
Margaret A. Trucksess is the wife of John Detwiler, 
of Philadelphia. Ann Rebecca is the wife of William 
H. Van Horn, of Philadelphia, and the mother of three 
children, — two sons and one daughter. Sophia F. is 
the wife of Lesher W. Mattern, of West Point, Mont- 
gomery County, and has two children, one son and one 
daughter. Elizabeth A married C. C. Keeler (now 
deceased), and has two children, twin .sons, and resides 
with her parents. The youngest of the ten children, 
Miss Ida V., resides with her parents. 



APPENDIX. 



THE 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 



OF 



MONTGOMERY COUNTY, 

AT NORRISTOWN, PA., SEPTEMBER 9, 10, 11, 12, 1884. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CERTIFICATE. 
PKEI.IMIXARY PROCEEDIXGS. 

FIRST DAY. 

OPENING EXERCISES. 

lUv. J. H. A. Eomberger, D.D 

J. P. Hale Jenkins 

Jo.seph FuriKuice 

Deiliciilioii of Kitteiilumse Jleridiim Stone. 

Re|H)rt ol" Memorial Committee. 

Address . Hon. B. ilaridey Boyer 

Benediction ... Rev. I.saae Gibson 



Prayer . 

A P DRESS 
.^^DDRESS 



SECOND DAY. 

MEMORIAL EXERCISES. 

Prayer ... Rev. H. S. Rodenljongli 

.Vddress .Io.se|ili Fin-narice 

Historical Oration . William J. Bnek 

Poem Hon. George X. ('orson 

Oration Rev. C. Z. Weiser, D.D. 



THIRD DAY. 

the parade. 

Route of Parade and General Order. 

First Division, Second Division, Third Division, Fourtli 

Division. 

The Indian Children. 
Remarks by Col. Theo. W. Bean. 



FOURTH DAY. 
THE ANTIQIAKIAN EXPOSITION. 
List of E.\hibits and E.vhibitors. 
Indian Relics and Antirniities. 

Antiquities of the First Settlers and Eai-ly Purchasers. 
Relics and Records of the Colonial Period. 
Relics of the Revolutionary War. 
Relics of the War of 1812. 
Relics of the Mexican War. 
Relic!' of the War for the Union. 
Implements of Early Husbandry. 
Implements and Articles of Household Use in Early 

Times. 
Kitchen Furniture and Pewter Ware. 
Antique Furniture and Clocks. 
Home-manufactured Articles, 
Old Silver, Silver-plated, Glass and Cliina Ware. 
Antique Wearing Ajiparel and .lewelry. 
Antique Handiwork in Siliv, Floss, or Wool and Laces. 
Antique Handiwork of Our Own Times. 
School Books, Old and New. 
Books, Papers and Manuscripts. 
Maps, Oil Paintings, Engravings, etc. 
Portraits. 

Views of Churches and School-IIou.ses. 
Rittenhouse Clocks and Scientific Instruments. 
Arms and Equipments. 
Early Surgical and Dental Instruments. 
Coins and Paper Money. 
Herbarium of Ferns and Flora of County. 
Jlinerals and Fossils. 
Miscellaneous Articles. 

ACTION OF THE COURT AND GRAND .lURY. 
FINANCIAL EXHIBIT. 

Treasurer's Re)>ort. 

Aiulitors' ReptM't. 

Disposal of Fund. 
OFFICERS OF ASSOCIATION. 
CO.MMITTEES. 

THE GENERAL COMMITTEE (A.ssistanis to Township 
Committeemen). 
VOCALI.STS. 



CERTIFICATE 



The following constitutes a correct record of the proceedings connected with 
the Centennial Celebration of Montgomery County, Pa., with a list of exhilsits and 
exhibitors, compiled from the original Entry Books, under the direction of the 
Centennial Association of Montgomery County, Penna. 



Attest : 



ll o-oJijiM^ 



a 



President. 



OV 



Recording Secretary. 



^y^^.u^cUT^ <^^, /<i^^^^:^^', 



Correspt^nding Secretary. 



At a regular iiiiietiiii; of tliu Muutt^umery Cuuuty Historical Society, 
held May 25, 1882, the project of a suitable celebration of the centennial 
of the county's organization, in 1884, was diBcuesed at some length, and 
a committee appointed to confer with a similar committee of the county 
officials to consider the proper oliservance of that occasion ; said commit- 
tee consisting of F. ft. Holistm, Esq., Hon. Jones Detwiler and A. K. 
Thomas. On the same day the ouunty officials met at the office of Irving 
P. Wanger, Enq., district attorney, to take similar action. At that meet- 
ing a committee, consisting of Henry W. Kratz, recorder of deeds, J. 
Roberts Rambo, register of wills, and Jacob R. Yost, county treasurer, 
was appointed to act in coiyunction with the ccmmitteeof the Historical 
Society. On the afternoon of the same day the two above committees 
met in the rooms of the Historical Society and effected a permanent or- 
ganization. At the same time it was determined that a general commit- 
tee be appointed, consisting of one person from each election district in 
the county, into whose hands the whole work of the celebration be 
pta<-ed. That general commitlee was gradually selected and the names 
of its members made public at the aiHiual meeting of the Historical So- 
ciety, February 2'2, 18S3. 

Here the matter was again left to rest until Monday, the 10th day of 
September, 1883, when, on the call of the chairman, the General Com- 
mittee came together in the room of the Historical Society, at the court- 
house. Here the real work began. Though few responded to the first 
call, yet those that did awenible were imbued with the idea that the 
matter was worthy of ct tnsiderable effort and could be made a pronounced 
success. The following persons were present at the firet meeting, viz. : 
Dr. J. E. Bauman, of Franconia ; the Rev. C. Z. Weiser, I>. D., of East 
Greenville ; Dr. C. H. Mann, <»f Bridgeport ; Isaac R. Rosenberger, Hat- 
field ; John Walton, Horsham; William J. Buck, Jenkintown ; J. J. 
Morrison, Bloreland ; Hon. Isaac F.Yost, New Hanover; Joseph^'For- 



nance, Esq., First Ward, Norristown; John W. Bickel, Esii., Second 
Ward, Norristown; Hon. George N. Corson, Sixth Ward, NoiTistown ; 
Dr. Samuel Wolfe, East Perkiomen ; Albert Bromer, West Perkiomen ; 
D. Morgan Casselberry, Lower Providence ; and Joseph Fitzwater, Upper 
Providence ; in addition to Col. Theodore W. Bean, F. G. Hobson, Esq., 
a!id Hon. Jones Detwiler, of the Historical Society, and J. Roberts Ram- 
bo, of the county officials. The chairman of the joint committee called 
the body to order, and stated the object of the assembling, after which 
Hon. Jones Detwiler was unanimously chosen temporary president. On 
suggestion of the conuiiittee on permanent organization the following 
officers were unanimously elected : President, Hon. B. JIarkley Boyer ; 
Vice-Presidents, Jttseph Fornance, Esq., Wharton Barker, Hon. Isaac F. 
Yost, Philip Super, Warner Roberts, Robert Iredell, Dr. Hiram Corson, 
Abraham H. Cassel, Rev. J. H. A. Bomberger, D. D., George Lower and 
Daniel Foulke ; Recording Secretary, F. G. Hobson, Esq.; Correspond- 
ing Secretary, Muscoe M. Gibson, Esq. ; Treasurer, Lewis Styer. At the 
same time the following chairmen of the various committees were ap- 
pointed and authority was given each to appoint a numbtr of members 
on each committee. Executive, F. G. Hobson, Esq. ; Finance, David H. 
Ross, Esq. ; Antiquarian, William J. Buck ; Literary Exercises, Hon. 
George N. Corson ; Music, Prof. Thomas O'Neill ; Parades, Col. John W. 
Schall ; Programme, Col. Theo. W. Bean ; Memorial, Hon. Jones Detwiler. 

The next meeting of the association was held at the same place, on 
the l."»th of November, 1883. 

Prof. Thomas O'Neill, declining to serve as chairman of the Music 
Committee, Henry W. Kratz was appointed in his stead and place. At 
this meeting the several chairmen of committees announced their associ- 
ates. As the business to be^brought before the Association accumulated, 
it was rescdved to meet each month, on the Thursdjiy next fnllnwing tlie 
2-Jd of the month. 



APPENDIX. 



At this time tiie general nature of the celebi-ation waa discussed at 
length, resulting substantially in the plan afterwardB snctpssfully carried 
uut. 

The MfDioriiil Committee was iustmcted to have prepared and erected 
a granite monolith to the memory of David Kittenhoune, the astronomer, 
tu be placed iu front of the Couit-House. marking a continuation of the 
surveyor's meridian line. 

On December 27, 1»H3, and January24, 1881, regular mei-tiiigs were 
held, at which the various committees reported and further plans were 
discussed concerning the manner of celebrating the forthcoming anni- 
versary. The next meeting of the association was held on February 22, 
1.S8J, Hon. B. Maikley Boyer presiding, when plans were discussed for 
raising money to defray the necessary expenses of the celebration and 
were referred to tlie Finance Committee. Col. Theodore W. Bean was ap- 
pointed chairman of a committee to invite the different civic and frater- 
nal organizations of the county to parade, and Mrs. Sarah S. Rex waa 
appointed chairman of a committee to prepare and issue a circular to the 
householders of the county, suggesting the kind of articles desired for 
the exposition, uid requesting their loan for the same, with the power 
to appoint committees of ladies in each township and ward who were to 
make a complete canvass of the several districts. The thoroughness with 
which these instructions were carried out it* attested by the complete list 
of ladies reporting from nearly every district in the county ; aud to tliese 
committees is due the credit of canvassing, reporting and actually col- 
lecting most of the exhibits placed in the antiquarian exposition. 

On April 10, 1884, an adjourned meeting of the association was held, at 
which the important question of finance was finally decided, and upon 
suggestion of the Fmance Committee a season-ticket, good for four ad- 
missions to the antiquarian exposition, was ordered to be issued at once, 
tu be sold at one dollar each, with whicli was to be presented a memorial 
certiticate of membership of the association. A communication from 
Hon. B. Markley Boyer was read, asking to be excused from further ser- 
vices as President of the Association, on account of the press of his Judi- 
cial duties, but still extending to the association his best wishes for suc- 
cess, and promise of hearty co-opei-ation. The vacancy was tilled at the 
following meeting, May 15, 1884, by unanimously electing George W. 
Rogers, Kaq., as President, but as he waa about to sail for Europe, to be 
absent until the close of the Centennial, he tendered his resignation at 
the meeting of May 2i), 1884, when Joseph Fornance, Esq., was unani- 
mously elected to that position. 

Oftii-st iniporhince were the tiuances. Money had tube raised in suf- 
ficient amount to assure success. The Finance Committee organizing 
with David H. R.iss Esi-, chairman, aud J. A. Sti-assburger, Esq., as its 
secretary and tieasiirer, soon had a plan matured. It pressed the sale of 
season tickets and memorial certificates vigorously, aud popularized 
this plan of raising the needful funds. Each election district was asked 
to subscribe one hundred dollars. "Within four days of sending out tlie 
supplies to the different committeemen, the upper district of Upper Pro- 
vidence, under the canvass of Professor J. Shelly Weinberger, had sub- 
scribed and paid its full quota. Other townships rapidly followed, until 
the total amount realized from advance sale of tickets and memorial cer- 
tificates amounted to the sum of three thousand five hundred and fifty 
dullara. Credit is undoubtedly due to Mr. Strassburger for his active, 
energetic and systematic work in raising the necessary funds as well as 
arousing public interest. 

The next meeting of the association was held on July 24th, aud was 
one of ita largest gatherings. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad 
Company announced their willingness to return free of charge all articles 
shipped over their line, by express, consigned to the exposition, and also 
tu give the association a liberal rebate on tickets sold to and from Norris- 
town during the centenial. The full committees on i>ar:ule, autiquarinn 
aud memorial were announced : also a committee, composed of pei-son,* 



identified with the county, but residing in Philadelphia at the preaent 

time, said committee being known as the " Anxiliary Committee in 
Philadelphia,'' ot which James B. Harvey was chairman. 

At the meeting of the 6th of August, a great amount of detail work 
was attended to, and from that time the Executive Committee met 
almost daily, to pass upon the vai-ious questions aa they arose. 

The Building Committee had a space one hundred feet square floored 
over in the Court-House lot, upon which were erected four large tents. 
The court-room waa floored over the tops of the seats, and glass cases 
arranged around the sides of the room and upon three large tables run- 
ning its entire length. The Gi-and Jury room was prepared as the Art 
Gallery, and placed iu proper shape under the special direction of Mr. J. 
W. Ridpath, of Jenkintown, who is deserving of special mention, as giv- 
ing invaluable assistance iu fitting up the room aud ananging the pic- 
tures in proper place. He was assisted in this by Miss Sophia S. Freed- 
ley, of Norristown, a teacher in the Philadelphia School of Design for 
Women. The two arbitration rooms were fitted up with tables, upon 
which were exhibited the old aud rare books of the county. When the 
exhibition opened everything was in readiness. 

The Committee on Vocal Music met soon after their appointment, and 
invited about two hundred persons to assist in singing, on September 10. 
About half of that number assendiled in response to the invitation, and 
selecting Professor J. V. Bean as their leader, soon became an eflicient 
chorus. 

An immense amount of work wa-s necessary to get everything in run- 
ning order. But so well was it managed, that when Tuesday morning, the 
9th of September, A. D. 1884, came, it found everything in its place. A 
committee of ladies and gentlemen devoted special attention to the deco- 
rations of the Court House and Music Hall, and both were greatly im- 
proved in appearance by the artistic airangemcnt of plants, flags and 
red, white and blue bunting. The work of the Conunittee on Parade, the 
Antiquarian Committee, memorial and literary exercises were most com- 
plete and satisfactory. 

The morning of Tuesday, September '.t, lS84, witnessed the opv-ning 
exercises of the centennial celebration of Montgomery County. The 
crowd early gathered at the County Court-House, and upon its porch and 
>iteps were the officers of the Centennial Aaaociatiou and invited guests. 

Shortly after nine o'clock, Joseph Fornance, Esq., president of the 
Centennial Association, came forward aud said : " Citizens of Moot- 
gomeiy County, we have met here to hold the opening exerciaea of the 
celebration of our county's centennial. I present to you the Rev. Dr. 
Bomberger, president of I'rsiuua College- 

Dr. Bomberger then spoke as follows : 

" I have been asked, my fi iends, to open these commemorative festivities 
with prayer ; with prayer to Almighty God. It is eminently fitting that 
an occasion like this should be so begun. We owe to Him the blessings 
we enjoy from the first establishment of our fathera in this country, and 
especially in this section of it. We owe to Him all that we possess to-day 
in the way of real prosperity and progress. Let us therefore endeavor, 
not with the ceremonial fonnality of a merely decorous preluile to this 
int+resting occasion, but with devout reverence for Him to whom our 
heartiest adoration belongs, to engage sincerely and heartily, in suppli- 
cation, thanksgiving and prayer. Let us pray." 

PRAYKR. 

"Almighty God, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, and our 
Creator, gathered here under Thine own Heaven, and surrounded by the 
works of Thy hands, and realizing that we are Thy creatures, we would 
come at the beginningof these interesting solemnities and festivities, and 
look to Thee with devoutly worshipful and thankful hearts, to praise 
Thy name as we ought to praise Thee for all Thou art, glorious in Holi- 
ness, fearful in praisfs, doing wonders, and for all Thou art pleased to be 
to us, and thne worthily magnify Thy Great and Excelleut Name. Help 



IV 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



U8 iu these festivities thankfully to call to mind all Thou hast done for 
116, all Thou didsl for our fathers in generations past. Althuugh we 
have proved unworthy of Thy many mercies, grant us grace most heartily 
to feel, deplore and confeas our un worth in ess, and yet penitently rely on 
Thy forgiving grace in Jesus Cliiist Thy Son. We desire heartily to 
thank Thee fur all Thou hast done fur us as a people in days gone hy ; 
that Thou didst l)ring our fiUliers to a land ricli and richly furnished in all 
Ihinga needful for their bodily comfort. We praise Thee fur the tem- 
poral prosperity that has attended their efforts, and the rich inheritance 
we have received from them and tlirough them in the earthly gifts which 
so abundantly surround us ; for a rich and fertile land ; fnr a healthful 
country, and for all the resources of it, the wealth and temporal com- 
forts which abound on every side. But above all do we praise Thy Name 
tliat Thou wast pleased to bring tu this land a people that feared God and 
loved righteousness ; that brought witli them not only desires for worldly 
prosperity, but prinnipb-s fuumled on Thy Holy Word, derived from Thy 
Gospel, and that have been fjiithfully sown and maintained in our midst, 
! help us to remember with grateful hearts hoTi' largely we are indebted 
to them, and above all to Thee through them, in these respects. JMay 
we prove worthy of the Iioly and blessed inheritance that has been 
secured and handed down to us. May we not forsake the God of our 
fathers nor the gospel of uur fathei-s, never turn our backs upon tlie 
grace which gave tliem such peace, such power, and influence for good. 
We thank Thee for the pdurational institutions wliich they founded 
along-side of the cliurches they built here years ago, and praise Thy 
name that what was thus planned has been carried forward and that we 
enjoy the improvements that have been so secured. And now, Lord, we 
invoke Thy blessing upon this occasion. Throughout these days of 
joyous festivities, helpns to fear Thy name, and amidst all our gladness 
to praise the Lord, and may our purpose to serve Thee be deepened and 
confirmed, that we may go forward into the future a people full of the 
fear of the Lord, sober, righteous, God-loving, cleaving to the great 
truths of the gospel, handing tliem down in Tliy name unaltered and 
uncorrupted to generations to come, that when another centennial shall 

9 

occur our descendants may rise up to magnify Thy name for what Thoii 
hast through us accomplished on their behalf. Hear our prayer and ac- 
cept of us in Christ, our adorable Redeemer, unto whom with Thee and 
the Holy Ghost, we vnll give immortal praise. Amen." 

After music by the baud Mr. Fornance said : 

" The Burgess of the town, John H. White, was to have been here to 
welcome you this morning. Unfortunately he is prostrated on a bed of 
sickness. In his absenre tlie Solicitor for Town Council, J. P. Hale 
Jenkins, Esq., of Norristown, will address you." 

Mr. Jenkins delivered the U llowing 

.M'UIIRSS OF WELCOME. 

" In behalf of the Burgess of the borough of Norristown, now stricken 
with disease, I speak to you, Mr. President, and to you, ladies and gen- 
tlemen, fellow-citizens, all, welcome. 

"To-day closes the first century of our existence as a county. There 
can be no hesitimcy in saying that none of those who lived within its 
borders at the time of its organization, imagined that the close of the 
first century wouhl find it the home of a hundred thousand happy souls. 
It is but proper, therefore, that we should meet to inaugurate the 
ceremonies about to take place and eminently fitting is it that these 
ceremonies should commence by dedicating a meridian stone to the 
greatest son of her soil, the father of olden science. 

"The men of one hundred years ago knew nothing of steam as a 
motive power. To day iron roads traverse our county from end to end 
and from side to side. Little did they know of the mechanical arts, but 
now, by the aid ofiuventive genius, our beautiful valleys are dotted all^uver 
with the busy mill and work-shop. The Constitution of the United 
States was uot framed when our county was organized. Now, securing 



to all political freedom and religious tolerance, 'life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness,' it is an assured fact — a union of States which 
none can sever. 

*' Let me then say iu welcoming you to our county seat on this gala 
day. that we should devoutly thank an indulgent Providence for the 
many blessings bestowed upon us in the past, and pray that the institutions 
which made tliese blessings possible be secured to us. our children, and 
our children's children forever. 

"Agaiu I bid you, in the name of the Burgess and Town Council of the 
borough of Norristown, a hearty, thrice hearty welcome." 

Atthe conclusion of Mr. Jenkins' remarks,Mr. Fornanee, President of 
the Association, delivered the following 

AUDRESS : 

'* To-day closes the first century of the existence of Montgomery 
County. We are here from all parts of the county to celebrate the 
event. Not only from our own county have you come, but also from 
adjoining counties some are here to rejoice with us. You have just been 
welcomed by the representative of the municipal authonties of Noriia- 
town. On behalf of the Centennial Association, and speaking for the 
people of Montgomery Couuty, I also give you a welcome. 

"It is proper for us to come together and celebrate the occasion in a 
manner befitting the event. We have cause to rejoice. The century 
juftt rolled by has brought us great prosperity. In forming the county, 
the chief idea was nearness to the Court-House. The act of Assembly, 
establishing the county, states that the cause for cutting off three-fourths 
of Philadelphia County and making Montgomery County of it, was its 
great distance from the courts at Philadelphia. That seems a strange 
reason now ; for railroads and telegraphs and telephones have annihilated 
distance. The easy access to this Court-House is shown by the presence 
of many of you who have left your distant homes today, and are here 
at this early hour. By railroad, the remotest station in the county is 
but two liours ride from the county seat, while Norristown itself is but 
forty minutes ride from the heart of Philadelphia. 

" Theie is a ti-adition to the etfect that it was urged that thecounty seat 
should be located where the Egypt road diverges from the great road 
from Philadelphia, at Jeffersonville : but it was finally decided to locate 
it some three miles further down, where a road branched off to Swedes' 
Ford. Here they built the county buildings ; a village sprang up around 
them, and here is to-day the great town of Norristown, 

*' Of the five men who were authorized one hundred years ago to buy a 
piece of land in Norriton township^ near Stony run, and contiguous to 
the Schuylkill River, and erect thereon the county buildings fnr the new 
county, not one would have dreamed of prophesying the growth that 
has followed their selection. The county has grown from twenty 
thou.-^nd to one hundred thousand in population. The town has grown 
from nothing to nearly fifteen thousand. Our growth has been great in 
the past ; it must be greater still in the future. Situated as we are, in 
the centre of a network of railroads, near to the great coal beds of 
Pennsylvania, with easy access to the two largest cities of the country 
in the midst of fine scenery, with fertile land, and healtliful surround- 
ings, we have everj' element for future development. 

"Montgomery County was established September TO, 1784. Franklin 
County was established September 9, 1784. There is but one day differ- 
ence between our ages. At Chand)ersburg, the county seat of Franklin 
County, they are to-day celebrating their centennial. It is proper that 
we should send them some greeting. On your behalf I will therefore 
send them this telegmm, — 

"CouuT-HovsE, Norristown, Pa., September 9, 1884. 

"To the Centennial AsBochtlion of Franklin Co.^ Chuniherslnrg, Pa: 

" ' Montgomery county congratulates her twin-sister un her one hun- 
' dnxltb birthday.' 

"Cknte.vmai, Association of Montgomery Co. 



APPENDIX. 



" As we mark this oni, we contemplate the past, and part of oiircenten- 
nial celebration ie the Antiquarian Exposition. Here are displayed the 
possessiuiis of our <rtvn ancestors for comparison with things of to-day. 
We have collected from our own people the prized treaauresof a century. 
Here are revived fashions of times so different from ours. Here are the 
works of once busy hands that have long since crumbled into dust. We 
see theirworks, we are reminded of their ways in many respects simpler 
and mure frugal than ours. We honor and respect their memories. 

"On behalf of the Centennial Association,! declare this exposition now 
ojien," 

After musichy the band, the people in large numbers sought admission 
to the Antiquarian E-xposition. 

DEDICATir.X ur RITTKNHOrSE MERIDIAN STONE. 

At eleven o'clock a.m. on Tuesday, September 9th, in the presence of a 
large concourse of people, the ceremonies of unveiling the monolith took 
place. Joseph F..rnance, Esq., president of the association, standing near 
the granite stol*, siiid, — 

"A Coniniittee was appointed by the Centennial Association to erect a 
suitable memorial to the meuiorj- of David Rittenhouse. Is that com- 
mittee ready to report ? '" 

Hon. Junes Detwiler, chairman of the committee, spoke as follows,— 

"Mr. President- In behalf of the MemoriaJ Committee, appointed by 
the Montgomery County Centennial Association, and at their request, I 
present the following report as tln'ir action." [Report luinded to Mr. 
Fur nance]. 

Mr. Foriiance, in receiving the report, said,— 

"The committee appointed present the following report.' 

The report was then read. 



"At a meeting of the Centennial Association of Jlontgomery County, 
Pa., held February •22, 1883, Junes Detwiler was appointed chairman of 
the Memorial Committee of said Association. 

"After due consideration and deliberation, on the part of the chair- 
man, the following additional members uf the committee were appointed, 
viz., — Dr. Himm Corson, of Plymouth; John Hoftinan, Esq., Hon. 
llirani C, Hoover, ex-Couuty Treasurer Samuel Jarrett and Samuel Rit- 
tenhouse, of the township of Norriton. 

"At a meeting of the committee, held July 24, 1884, all the membei-s 
J resent, it was unanimously 

"Resolved, — That a monolitli, to be styled the memorial stone, be erec- 
ted to the memory of the eminent philosopher, astronomer and mathema- 
tician, David Rittenhouse, once a resident of the township of Norriton, 
Montgomery Co. The stone to be of solid Quincy granite, seven feet 
in height, twenty-four inches at the base, and eighteen at the top, with 
four sides polished for inscriptions, and to be planted in the ground to the 
depth of four feet, imbedded in masonry of stone and cement. 

"After consultation on the part of the committee with the different 
stone-cnttei-sof Xorristown, it was agreed to award the contract to George 
W. Smith. 

"Dr. Hiram Corson was appointed a committee to prepare a suitable 
inscription for the same. 

"John Hoffman was appointed a committee to superintend the erection, 
to have tlie pnvilege to call to his aid such assistance as should be re- 
quired. 

"It was agreed to erect the stone at the north end of the present meri- 
dian line, and to extend the said line about four feet without disturbing 
the present stones already planted.and to have the cei-emonies connected 
with the unveiling, and passing it over to the proper authorities, to take 
plate on September '.», 18S4, at eleven o'clock A.M. 



"This is to certify that the foregoing is a correct copy of our proceed- 
ings. 

" JoNFs Detwilf.r, Chairman. 
"HlRAM COHSON, M.D. 

'■John Hoffmas. 
" HiRAii C. Hoover. 
"Samuel P. Jarkett. 

"SaMVKL RiTTEXnOl'SE." 

Mr. Fornance then said, — 

" Colonel Bean, to you, as President of the Historical Society of Mont- 
gomen* County. I deliver this report of the memorial committee." 

Cul. Theo. W. Bean said,— 

"Mr. Chairman, in the name and in behalf of the Historical Society 
of Montgomery County, it affords me great pleasure to receive and accept 
thereport of this Memorial Committee. It shall become part of the rec- 
ords of the society referred to, and shall ever he cherished an an interest- 
ing memorial of the event which it reports. 

" By courtesy, it is now my pleasure, ladies and gentlemen, in further- 
ance of this memorial service, to intruduca the Hun. B. Markley Boyer, 
who will make an appropriate address upon this interesting occasion." 

Being thus introduced, Judge B. Markley Buyer made the following 



" Fdlow-citizeus : It was a happy inspiration to haveengraved upon the 
meridian stone planted upon the Court House ten-ace, and dedicated this 
■I;i> to its appropnate uses, the name of David Rittenhouse. 

" Born in the county of Philadelphia, of which Montgomery was then 
a part, he resided in youth and manhood, during most of his life-lime, 
within the present limits of our county. In Norriton township, within 
about five miles of this <_'onrt House, stood his patrimonial mansion. 
There lies the farm upon which, as a fanner boy, he grew to manhood, 
and there, throughout most of his life, he afterwards resided. 

"There, in a little siiop by the wayside, without other instruction thitn 
the intuitive promptings of an extraordinary genius, he taught himself 
to make clocks and mathematical instruments. His clocks remarkable 
for their accuracy and the beauty of their workmanship, are still trea- 
sured aa heirlooms in many a household. There, in Norriton, he erected 
his observatory; there, with instruments in a great measure constructed 
with his own hands, he explored the heavens. 

" There, learned si-ientists went for consultation and to participate with 
him in hisohaervations. There it was he constructed his woudeiful 
orrery, illustrating mechanically the movements of the solar system, 
upon a scale more elaborate and exact than had ever before been at- 
tempted, and which was a marvel ()f mechanical skill, exhibiting by the 
simple turning of a winch, the relative positions of the planets and their 
satellites in their i*esi>ective orbits at any given point of time during 
thousands of years in the future and in the past. No description can 
impart any adequate conception of this marvelous achievement in me- 
chaDical art. 

" In alluding to it, Thomas Jeftei-son, who was a philosopheras well as 
a statesman, wrote : 'We have supposed Mr. Rittenhouse second to no. 
astronomer living ; that in genius he unist be the tii-st, hecause he was 
self-taught. As an artist, lie has exhibited as great a pi-oof of mechani- 
cal genius as the world has ever produced. He has not, indeed, made a 
world, but he has, by imitation, approached nearer it^ Jfaker than any 
man who has ever lived from creation to this day.' 

" In his observatory in Norriton, he observed and calculated the transit 
of Venus in 1769, which gave him a world-wide reputation for the accu- 
racy with which his observations had been made and mathematical deduc" 
tions achieved. At that time the whole scientific world had been aroused 
by the vast astronomical importance of the transit of Venus over the 
Sun's disc, in dftermiiiing the parallax of the Sun and other scientific 



VI 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



results depaudiiig thereupon, especially as this phenomenon can occur 
but twice in a century, and in some centuries not at all. 

" If, among the con temporaries of Rittenhouae, there were those in 
Europe who left behind them the record of more original discoveries, it 
was owing to their ampler means and mure favorable surroundings, 
rather than to any superiority of genius. 

"Our self-taught philuaopher unfortunately was not allowed to pass his 
life merely in philosophical contemplation and experiment. He was 
aleo a man of uflfairs, and participated largely in the active transactions 
of his countrymen. He served his country in various important and 
ueeful public capacities. He was a member of the convention which 
framed the firat Constitution of Pennsylvania, and waa elected the firet 
Treasurer of the State, and was annually elected to that position by the 
unanimous vote of the Legislature for thirteen successive yeara. 

" For the acceptjince of such nffices he was reproved by his friend and 
correspondent Jt'ffei-son, who wrote to him in 1778 as follows : 




K1TTENHUI;SK MKltll'lA.N M'uNK, M* JNlXiuMKi! Y * *»l N IV 



" Your time, for two years past, has, I believe, been principally em- 
ployed in the civil government of your countiy. Though I have been 
aware of the authority our cause would acquire from its heiug known 
that youi-self and Dr. Franklin were zealous friends of it, and I am my 
self duly impressed with a sense of the arduousness of government and 
the obligations of those who are able to conduct it, yet I am also satis- 
fied that there is an order of geniuses above that obligation, and there- 
fore ought to be exempted from it. Nobody can conceive that nature 
ever intended to throw away a Newton on the occupations of a crown. * 
* * I do not doubt there are in your country many persons equal to 
the task of conducting government, but you should consider that the 
world has but one Rittenhouse,' 

" Nevertheless, for more than ten years afterwards, he continued to 
serve in the office of State Treasurer. Recognized as the first among 
Bcientiflc surveyors, he was successfully employed as commissioner In the 



settlement of an alarming boundary dispute, between the States of Vir- 
ginia and Pennsylvania, and also in determining the dividing line be- 
tween the States of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

" When the United States Mint was established, David Rittenhouse was 
appointed by Washington its first director, and it was he who arranged 
the machinery and successfully organized that institution. 

"His was, therefore, a busy life apart from the pursuits of pure science. 
What he might further have accomplished for astronomy, if his genius 
had been afforded exclusive and unti-ammeled scope in the sphere of 
his favorite science, none can tell. But a man so admirably equipped 
for practical life, and so ready and conscientious in the discharge of 
every duty, could hardly escape his share of the extraordinary re- 
sponaiblities of citizenship in Revolutionary times, and in the organi- 
zation of a new nation, struggling through its transition state from co- 
lonial to independent government. 

"At such times the public services of the greatest and the best are in 
demand. As the result, therefore, of the public confidence 
in the exalted character of David Rittbuhouse as a man, as 
well as the fame of his attainments, official employmeuts 
lit high civil trust, although unsought, were thrust upon 
him. And so, for long yeai^s, science lost the undivided de- 
votion of his transcendent genius. 

" As an astronomer and mathematician, amid all his othef 
niultifarious employments, he retained the foremost position 
in his own country, and as such was recognized in Europe, 
lie succeeded Dr. Franklin as President of the American 
Philosophical Society, and was a fellow of the Royal 
Society in London. He died eighty-eight years ago, in the 
sixty-fifth year of his age. 

"Such is a brief sketch of tlie citizen we honor by tlie 
simple memorial inscription which marks this granite 
monolith. It is not intended as his monument. It is erec- 
ti'd, primarily, for another practical and useful purpose, but 
iif a nature kindred with his pui-suits in life. As a monu- 
ment to his meniury, merely, it would be too insignificant. 
Hut the menmrial inscription is especially significant and 
appropriate when we consider the practical uses of the 
stone. To this monolith, firmly planted in its immovable 
foundation, our county surveyors will make their anoual 
visitations, to compare and correct the variations of their 
instruments by the true meridian ; and the dedication, re- 
corded by the inscription it beai-s, will ever testify to them 
and to all, our grateful remembrance of David Rittenhouse, 
once the chief among surveyore; and the honorable pride 
we feel in counting him, the illustrious astronomer and 
artisan, among those who have distinguished and adorned 
the histoi-y of our county; and in thus honuriny him, we 
honor ourselves." 

At the conclusion Rev. Isaac Gibson pronounced the following. 

BENEDICTION. 

The grace of our Lord Jesua Christ, tlie love of God, and the fellowship 
of the Holy Ghost be with us all, evermore. Amen. 

Music by the Norristown band followed, which concluded the exer- 
cises of that day. 
The meridian stone thus unveiled contains the following inscriptions : 
On the east face : UAVin rittenhoi.se, 

EMINENT .\STR0N0MER 
AND MATHEMATICIAN. 
BORN APRIL 8, 1732. 
DIED JLNE 26, 1796. 
HE CALCULATED AND 
OBSERVED THE TRANSIT 
OF VENUS AT HIS HOME 
IN NORRTTON, 179G. 



On the north face 



APPENDIX. 



Vll 



Oil the west face ; 



On the 81. nth face : 



ERECTED BY THE 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY 

CENTENNIAL AKBOCIATION. 

17M. I 18S4. 



SECOND DAY. 

MKMOKIAL EXERCISES. 

The exercises of Wednesday, Septeinher 10, were held in Mneic Hall. 

Before ten -Vclock, the time of opening, every available seat in the 
auditorium and gallery was filh-.!, while great nuinbers crowded all the 
aisles and other spaces. 

In the rear of the stage, arranged upon elevated seats, were the vocal- 
ists, who, with the orchestra, were under the leadership of Prof. J. V. 
Bean. 

The exercises oimmenced with the rendition of an overture by the 
Philharmonic 0|Bhestra of Norristown, after which the hymn, " Before 
Jehovah's Awful Throne," to the tune of "Migilol," was eflfeclively 
rendered by the Centennial chorus and the orchestra. 

Rev. H. S. Rodenbough, pastur of the Providence Prctbytenan Church 
of Lower Providence, the iildest pastor in continuous service in the 
county, offered the following 

PKAVER. 

" Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts, the whole earth is full of Thy 
glory. Great Creator, we magnify Thine infinite wisdom. All Power- 
ful Supporter and Preserver, we rest in Thy strength. Sovereign Ruler, 
we own Thine authority. We bow before Thy throne. Omniscient 
Judge, we stand at Thy righteous bar. Kind, loving Heavenly Father, 
through Christ, Thine only begotten Son, our elder brother, we, Thy 
children, seek Tiiy tender care. According to Thy good pleasure, Thou 
settest up and Thou p\ittest down. Thou hast highly exalted this nation, 
and we wouhl exalt the glory of Thy great name. Thou hast bounti- 
fully bleGscd this Commonwealth, and we would sincerely honor Thee. 
This county, whose centennial we now celebrate, Thou hast richly 
blessed in every spiritual, moral, intellectual and material interest. For 
8u great favors we would most devoutly bless Thee, while we would 
humbly ask for grace, rightly to use, diligently to cultivate, and hand 
down in undinimed brightness to those who shall follow after We thank 
Thee for the excellent men and women raised up and emplnyed by Thee 
in the great work Thou hast done for us. Help us to honor their 
memory, by cultivating their spirit, copying their example, and faith- 
fully carrying forward the work they have left in our care. And now, 
kindly vouchsafe to favor all the exercises of this memorial occasion. 
Let nothing mar ; make everything contribute to the desired success. 
May imiuessioiis be made, healthful and lasting, a perennial fountain, 
sending forth an unfailing stream to gladden and refresh this, our heri- 
tage, not only throughout another century, but until time itself shall 
be no more. These favors, with every other needed blessing, grant for 
Jesus' sake, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all 
glory, honor, might and dominion, now and evermore. Amen." 

At the conclusion of the prayer, Joseph Fornance, Esq., President of 
the Centennial Association, said : 

"The idea of celebrating the Montgomery County centennial started in 
the Historical Society of Montgomery County. They apiwinted a com- 
mittee for that purpose, composed of citizens from the various districts of 
the county. That committee met, organized, called itself the Centennial 
Association of Montgomery County, and got to work. I am here as 
President of that committee, and it ia my duty to call this afisemblage to 
order, and to preside over its exercises. In working up tlic cause, at first 



we met with little encouragement ; but as the anniversary day ap- 
proached, interest was aroused, and the people of the county responded 
nobly. They needed but a little stirring up to show that they were full 
of patriotism. 

"Yesterday, on behalf of the Centennial Association of Mnurgomery 
County, I sent a telegram to Franklin County, congratulating it on reach- 
ing its one hundredth birthday. I have received this telegram in answer 
to it: 

'"CHAMBEBteruR-;, pA,, Sept. 9, 1881— 1.23 P.M. 
"'To the Centennial Association of Montgomery County : 

"'Franklin County returns the salutation of her twin sister, Mont- 
gomery County. Recalls with pride the triumphs of the past. Rejoices 
in the present prosperity of all, and enters upon a second century with 
gratitude and hope. 

"'Be.nj. Chambers, Chairman.'''" 

The "Centennial Hymn," written by John G. Whittier, waa sung by 
the chorus, accompanied by the orchestra, 

Mr. Wm. J. Buck delivered the following 

HISToniCAr. URATlllN. 

"It is well in the flight of time to have occasion to pause and review 
the events that have transpired arounil us ; to know whether, on the 
whole, we have advanced or retrograded as concerns the general welfare ; 
in what respect, if any, we have really progressed ; and that the changes 
going on be pointed out, that comparisons may be instituted and deduc- 
tions drawn as to the results. This is the philosophical aim of history, 
and, if justly carried out, when made known to a thinking people, cannot 
fail but exert a beneficial influence. Time will not pause a single 
moment, and no people can remain stationary. Change, greater or less, 
is a law in nature to which all that has life must submit. It behooves 
us then to guard that it be for the^better. This gathering is no ordinary 
one — a centennial, because onf hundred years ago this county was 
formed; a bi-centennial, because two hundred yeara have elapsed since 
its first settlement. In less than half an hour's time allotted, where 
shall I begin, and what shall be omitted? Hence, forbearance ie ex- 
pected on much that cannot even be alluded to, relating to the long 
period that has elapsed. 

"The first knowledge of our territory by Europeans must have been 
gained through the prosecution of the beaver trade on the Schuylkill, 
and along which they had erected several forts. The Upland Court Re- 
cords mention, in 1677, Beaver island, on this river, which may have 
been the present Barbadoes island, or one of those in Lower Merion. In 
the pursuit of this traffic, either by the Indians, Dutch and Swedes, the 
canoe must have been their chief dependence in travel and conveying 
freight. But in this project they were only actuated by a Iotc for gain, 
and but little for the progress or development of the country ; hence 
their easy conquest by the English. A map was published in London in 
1698, which has been faithfully reproduced, and will apjioar in the forth- 
coming history of the county, that represents, at that early date, the 
Schuylkill from its mouth up as far as about the present city of Reading, 
or fully one-third its entire length, with the Wissahickon, Perkiomen, 
and the Manatawny, and all their leading tributaries, with accuracv, 
clearly demonstrating that at that time the present territory of Mont- 
gomery must have been pretty well explored, 

" The date of settlement by the Welsh, English and Germans was very 
close in this county ; indeed, so close with the two former, that the mat- 
ter by further research may be contested. Hence the important question, 
Who was the first European that permanently settled ou our soil, sus- 
tained by original records? As the case now stands, that honor belongs 
to the Welsh. These people, before the arrival of Penn, had purchased 
from him forty thousand acres i)f land, which was subsequently located 
in Merion, Haverford, Goshen, and several adjoining townships. How 



Vlll 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



much of it was located in the present Upper and Lower Merion is not 
known, but no doubt it embraced considerably over half their area. 
Under this encouragement, the ship 'Lyon,' John Compton, master, 
arrived with foity paftsengers in the Schuylkill river August 13, 1082. 
almost two months preceding Penn'e arrival, on board of which was Ed- 
ward Jones, with his family, who, on the following 26th, sent a letter to 
Wales, wherein he slates : ' The Indians brought venison to our door for 
sixpence ye quarter. There are stones to be had enough at the Falls of 
Sfcoolkill — that is where we are to settle, and water power enough for 
mills; but thou must bring mill stones and the irons that belong to it, 
for eitiitlis are dear.' We have the authority uf John Hill's map of the 
environs of Philadelphia, published in 1809, that the aforesaid made 'the 
first British settlement, ISth of Sixth-month, 1682,' which is only five 
days after his arrival in the Schuylkill. The place designated thereon is 
now the estate of his descendant, the late Col. Owen Jones, near the 
present Libertyville ; and is certainly an early claim, for Philadelphia 
had not then been founded. 

"This will now direct us to the Welsh, a peojile descended from the 
ancient Britons, possessing their own language and peculiar character- 
istics. Dr. Thomas Wynne arrived with his family in the fidlowing No- 
vember on the ' Wolrump," with William Penn. He settled beside his 
Eon-in-Iaw, Edward Jone?;, whence has originated the name Wynnewood. 
John Roberts came in 1683, and settled near the present Peucoyd, which 
has received its name from the place of his nativity. In the list of 1734, 
fifty-two taxables are mentioned in Lower Merion, of which forty-four 
are Welsh and four English ; in I'pper Merion, for said date, of thirty- 
two, twenty-two aie Welsh and one English ; in Gwynedd, of forty-eight, 
thirty-nine are Welsh anil six English ; in Towamencin, eight are Welsh 
and three English ; in Horsham, tive are Welsh and four English ; in 
Plymouth, eight are AVelsh and six English ; in Montgomery, of twenty- 
nine, twenty-two are Welsh ; in Norriton, seven are Welsh and six Eng- 
lish. Thomas Evans and William Jones purchased seven thousand eight 
hundred and twenty acres in Gwynedd, in the beginning of 1698, and 
were soon joined by Cadwallader, Owen and Robert Evans, Hugh Grif- 
fith, Ellis David, Robert Jones, Edward Foulke, John Hugh, and John 
Humphrey. In 17ilO they erected a small log building for worship. 
Owing to an intiux of settlers, a large stone building was erected in 1712. 
The KuliBcription paper was written in Welsh, to which was alhxed sixty- 
six names. A petition from the residents of Gwynedd for a road to Phila- 
delphia, in June, 1704, states that they then numbered thirty families. 

"Before 1720, John Evans, William James, Thomas James, Josiab 
James, James Lewis, Edward Williams, and James Davis, had settled in 
Montgomery township, in which year (hey built there a Baptist church, 
in which preaching in the Welsh language was maintained down to the 
Revolution. According to a well-known tradition, the early Welsh set- 
tlei-s sought out in preference, the lands in Gwynedd and Montgomery, 
because they were not near so heavily timbered as in the townships below, 
and would, therefore, in its removal, require so much legs labor to bring 
the same under cultivation ; not imagining, in consequence, its much 
greater productiveness. Before 1703, David Meredith, Thomas Owen, 
Isaac Price, Ellis Pugh, and Hugh Jones, all from Wales, settled in Ply- 
mouth. The Welsh Friends built in Lower Merion, in 1605, the first 
house of worship erected in the county. The Ucv. Malachi Jones, from 
Wales, organized the first Presbyterian congregation at Abiugton, in 
1714. According to the list of 1734, the Welsh at that date exceeded the 
English decidedly in population. Out of a total of seven hundred and 
sixty names, the former numbered one hundred and eighty-one and the 
latter one hundred and sixty-three. Necessity at first compelled the 
Welsh, the English and the Germans to form settlements by themselves, 
u^ing to a general ignorance of each other's languages, which, of course 
for a long time, must have greatly inteifered in their social iuterOTurse. 



The Welsh, for the first half century, came in and settled here pretty ex- 
tensively, for in 1734 they formed nearly one-fourth of the entire popula- 
tion ; but with the cessation of religious persecution at home, ceased 
coming, which is one reason of their having since eo diminished. 

'* The next settlement most probably was made by the English in Chel- 
tenham. Tliere is no doubt but what this township received its name 
through Toby Leech, one of the earliest settlers and land-holders there. 
On his tomb-stone, at Oxford Church, is found this extract, that he 
' came fi'om Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, in 1682,' which 
is a matter of confirmation. There is reason to believe that there is 
no district in the county that was named earlier than this, or had earlier 
surveys made to purchasers. In evidence, we know from the records 
thai Thomas Fairnian, on the 1st of Seventh Month, 1683, surveyed, for 
Patiick Robinson, two hundred acres, adjoining Richard Wall, by 
Tacniiy Cri'ek, wliich states that 'this tract of laud is in the parish of 
('heltenham.' From the aforesaid we learn that Richard Wall's pur- 
rhase had been made still earlier, and was located in the vicinity of the 
I)resent Shoemakertown. The latter was also from Gloucestershire, and 
we know John Day, William Brown, Everard Bolton, .Tohn Ashmead, 
John Rupsell, and Joseph Mather, were also early settlers here from 
England. John Hallowell, John Barnes and Joseph Phip|>8 had set- 
tled in Abington before 1697. Nicholas More, a physician from l^on- 
don, arrived soon after William Penn, in 1682, and had conveyed to him 
by patent, 7th of Sixth Month, 1684, the manor of Moreland, contain- 
ing nine thousand eight hundred and fifteen acres. About 1685 he 
conmienced thereon the erection of buildings, where he lived and died, 
calling the place Green Spring. Jasper Farmar, by patent, January 31, 
1683, took up, in two tracts, five thousand acres of land. His widow, 
3Iary Fiirmar, settled thereon, with the family, in the fait of IBS."!, and 
it was the first settlement in Whitemarsh. Edward Farniai-, on the 
death of his mother, about the close of 1686, became the owner.of three- 
fourths of the original purchase. He became a noted nuiii, intor]>i"eter 
of the Indians, and before 1713 built a giist-niiH on thi- WiesaliicUon. 
About 1685 Plymouth was originally purchased and settled by James 
Fox, Richard Grove, Francis Rawle and John Chelson, all from Ply- 
mouth, in Devonshire, but who afterwards removed to Philadelphia, 
John Barnes, who had purchased in 1684, two hundred and fifty acres in 
Abington, and settled there, by will, iu 1697, vested in the trustees of 
Abington Meeting, one hundred and twenty acres, for the use of the 
same anil for a school house. This was, no doubt, the fii-st donation for 
educational purposes within the present limits of the county, if not 
among the first in Pennsylvania. Thomas Palmer and Thomas Iredell 
were among the earliest settlers in Horsham. Edward Lane and Joseph 
Richardson settled in Providence in 1701, and the former built a mill in 
the vicinity of Collegeville in 1708. Henry Pawling came from Buck- 
inghamshire, and was also an early settler in Providence. To the Eng- 
lish belongs the honor of having burnt the tirst lime from lime-stone, 
in Pennsylvania. 

"Nicholas More, in a letter to William Penn, in England, dated Seii- 
temberia, 1686, states that 'Madame Farmar has found as good lime- 
stone as any in the- world, and is building with it. She offers to sell 
ten thousand bushels at six pence the bushel, upon her plantation.' 
Thomas Fitzwater carried on the burning of lime before 17(Ki, at the 
present Fitzwatertown. OMmixon mentions lime burning in Upper 
Merion before 1708. 

"We will now take up the most English townships, as settled in 1734, 
to comimre with the Welsh. Abington had twenty-four English and 
thirteen Welsh ; Cheltenham, eleven English and six Welsh ; Sloreland, 
forty-seven English and seven Welsh ; Whitemarsh, twenty-three Eng- 
lish ami nine Welsh ; Upper Dublin, fifteen English and five Welsh ; 
Springfield, nine English and no Welsh. It will be pcireived that even 



APPENDIX. 



in tbe moat Enslish settled towoBhips, i^ith one exception, the Welsh 
possessed some strength. The English built Abington Friends' Meeting- 
house in 1697 ; at Horaham, 1721 ; at Providence, 1730, and at Potta- 
town, 1753 ; St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, in ^\llitema^8h, about 1710, 
and St. James^ in Providence, in 1721. 

" According to the list of 1734, out of a total of seven hundred and 
sixty names, three hundred and ninety-five were already Germans, and 
can be regarded as tbe original settlers of over half tbe tenitory in the 
county. In less than a year from the landing of Penn, a colony of 
Germans, chiefly from Creyfelt, arrived in October, 1683, and shortly 
afterwards founded the village of Germantown. Tbe ProprieUry had 
been among them in their native land, and encouraged them to come. 
Here, liberty of conscience had been proclaimed, and an exemption 
from tithes; though neither was tolerated in Great Britain, or, even to 
a very limited extent, along the valley of tbe Rhine, where also were 
tbe frontier lines of powerful France, and the frequent wars of Ger- 
many ; the results of which combined, were strong incentives to emigra- 
tion to those more peacefully and liberally disposed. To facilitate this, 
a company was organized at Fran kfort-on-tbe- Main, and numerous 
pamphlets circuteted throughout Germany, in the language of its peo- 
ple, setting forth the peculiar advantages of the distant colony. Hence, 
it need not be a wonder that tbe weaker of the persecuted sects were 
disposed to come first, for no matter bow strong the attachments of 
nativity, the fatherland presented, from their experience in the past, no 
bright or sanguine future. The doctrines of the Reformation bad now 
been established almost a century and a half ; yet, through tbe connec- 
tion of church and state, progress to toleration was very slow. 

'' A majority of the earliest Germans were membera of tbe Society of 
Friends, and they bad not been in Pennsylvania five years, before they 
were shocked at the system of negro slavery that prevailed, and waa 
maintained and continued by tbe English colonists. The result waa a 
protest on the subject, dated at Germantown, 18th of Second-month, 
1088. As this was the first document ever issued in English -America 
against the iniquitous system, it demands for these people some credit. 
Concerning themselves as a body, and to whom it was alone directed, the 
Friends did not approach it until the long period of three-quarters of a 
century had elapsed, through the excitement brought about at the dawn 
of the Revolution by the passage of the Stamp Act, as to the rights of 
mankind. The start, however, made by these Germans, was so powerful 
in its effects on their countrymen, the Blennonites, Dunkards, and all of 
their other sects, as to cause them to abstain almost entirely from hold- 
ing negroesor Indians in bondage ; and hence the great exemption, from 
an early period, of the present territory of Montgomery County from the 
evils arising from African slavery. 

"Mathias Van Bebber purchased a tract of six thousand one hundred 
and sixty-six acres of land, which, by patent dated Febniary 22, 1702, was 
located on the Skippack creek, constituting about one-half of the southern 
portion of what is now Perkiomen township He began thus early, for 
so remote a distance from the city, to invite settlement by selling it off in 
parcels. Among the settlers prior to the close of 1703 were Henry Penne- 
packer, John Ku&ter, John Umstat, Clans Jansen, and John Frey ; John 
Jacobs in 1704 ; Edward Beer, Gerhard and Herman Indehoffin, and 
Djrck and William Benberg before the close of 1707. In 1708 we find 
here William and Cornelius Dewees, Herman Knster, Christopher Zim- 
merman, John Scholl, and Daniel Desmond, followed, in 1709, by Jacob, 
John and Martin Koib and Jolin Strayer. The settlement so increaaed 
tliut Van Bebber gave one hundred acres towards a DIennonite meeting- 
house, which was built prior to 1726. Henry Frey, or Fry, who settled 
in this vicinity, is stated tu have arrived in the colony two yeara before 
the landing of Penn. But even prior to the Skippack settlement, it is 
known thHt somenf the German settlers located themselvps in N.-.me of the 



lower townships, as, for instance, Cheltenham, Springfield, Whitemarsh, 

Abington, Moreland, Upper Dublin, and Horsham, Forthe Shoemakers, 
Tysons, Snyders, Clines, Ottingers, Cleavers, Redwitzei-s, Rinkers, Bartle- 
stalls, Melchers, Leverings, Reiffs, Conrads, Lukenses, and Yerkeses, 
were located pretty early there, as substantial land-holders. The 
Germans were the original settlers of Perkiomen, Towamencin, Upper 
Salford, Lower Salford, Hatfield, Franconia, Frederick, Marlborough, 
New Hanover, Upper Hanover, and Douglass, and contend almost with 
the English in the settlement of Chclteuham, Springfield, and Upper 
Dublin. 

**The Frankfort Land Company purchased twenty-two thousand three 
hundred and seventy-seven acres, that chiefly lay in New Hanover and 
adjoining townships. John Henry Sprogell purchased a tract of six 
hundred and thirty acres, adjoining the present borough of Pottstown, 
upon which he settled before 1709, and consequently among the first in 
that section. Isaac Schaeffer was a settlor and a considerable landholder 
in Plymouth in 1702. Jacob Schrack settled in Providence in 1717 ; John 
Frederick Hillegass in Upper Hanover in 1727; and Elias Long, John 
George Gankler, John Henry Beer, George John W'ciker, and John 
Martin Derr, in Salford and vicinity, before 1728. Justus Falkuer had a 
Lutheran congregation organized in New Hanover in 1703. A church 
was built in Upper Providence in 174.^ in Upper Dublin in 1754, at Barren 
Hill in 1761, St. John's, Whitpain,andSt. Paul's, Lower Merion^ in 1769. 
The German Reformed had congregations at Whitemarsh, Skippack, 
Salford, and New Hanover, at which John Philip Boehra preached before 
1727. A church was bnilt at Whitpain in 1740, and in Worcester In 1770. 
The Mennonites had houses of worship erected in Perkiomen in 1726, in 
Lower Salford in 1741, and in Towamencin in 1750. The Schwenkfelders 
arrived herein 1734 and 1740, and the Dunkards still earlier, and had 
organized congregations. The census of 1870 gives the cou-nty one hun- 
dred and forty-four bouses of worship. Of this number the exclusive 
German sects had sixty-eight, only four less than half, as foHows ; Lu- 
theran, twenty-five ; German Reformed, ten ; Mennomite, ten ; Dunkards, 
nine ; Evangelical Association, nine ; and Schwenkfelders, five. Of the 
balance, it is estimated that at least one-fourth may be allowed the Ger- 
man element, which will make two-thirds of the total number, which is 
about their present proportion of the population. 

'* Although the Swedes had settled near the mouth of the Schuylkill in 
1642, and four j'cars later erected a church there, yet no evidence exists 
of their having settled early within this county. It has been recently 
ascertained that Peter Cox had made a purchase of land in Upper Merion 
before 1702, and that Gunner Kambo, in said year, bad endeavored to 
secure a tract beside him. However, there is no doubt that the latter, 
with Peter Rambo, Peter Yocum and Mats Holstein, had settled on their 
purchases here previous to 1714. John Matson, it is probable, did not 
settle here till considerably later, as his name is not on the list of 1734. 
At Morlatton, beside the Schuylkill, in tbe present Berks County, several 
had settled before 171G. We find in Upper Merion, in 1734, the names of 
Mounce Rambo, John Ranibo, Gabriel Ranibo, EUas Rambo, Mats Hol- 
stein, and Peter Tocum. Tbe Swedes bad a partiality to the Schuylkill, 
and were skilled in its navigation with the canoe, transporting them- 
selves and their produce by this means to mill, to church, and market. 
We even asceitain that to their weddings and funerals they were also 
frequently thus conveyed. It is known that some of their canoes, in 1732, 
earned from Morlatton as much as one hundred and forty bushels of 
wheat to Philadelphia. The Swedes were a pious people, who lived along 
the valley of the Delaware, in peaceable relations with tbe Indians, for 
forty years before the arrival of William Penn. One matter concerning 
the Swedes is remarkable. Although their writers have left us most ex- 
cellent books on the country, yet there are no accounts of early explora- 
tions up or along the Schuylkill. Indeed, they do not appear to have been 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



an exploring people, leaving that to the English and the Dutch, and 
among Germans, to such fearless and adventurous spirits as Conrad 
Weiser, and the deToted missionaries, Zeisberger, Pyriaeus, Scbmick, and 
Heckewelder. 

" The Scotch-Irish did not settle here early. To our surprise, in the 
list of 1734, only some sixteen or seventeen names can be aacertained, 
chiefly in the townships of Norriton, Whitpain, and vicinity. The Por- 
ters, Knoxes, Todds, and BumMdee, must have coroe in later. The in- 
flux of Irish into this county waa small previous to 1824, but since has 
greatly increay<'d, especially along the valley of the Schuylkill, where 
manufacturing interests prevail. The Scotch-Iri^ and the Irish mater- 
ially contributed to the strength of the army during the Kevolution. 
Andrew Poller's company of artillery was largely made up of the former, 
and Col. Stephen Moylan's cavalry regiment of the latter. 

*'Th6 Revolution could not pass by without the people in thiscounty 
contributing thereto, and bearing their share of its trials and sufferings. 
Concerned from the very beginmng, we had such men as Gen. Peter 
Muhlenberg, Col. Samuel Miles, Col. Robert Loller, Col. John Bull, Col. 
Andrew Porter, Col. Christopher Stuart, Col. Archibald Thompson, 
Charles Thompson, David Rittenhouse, Frederick Antes, and the patriotic 
Hiester family, of Upper Salford, as- well as many more, who did much 
to aid the cause. The events of Whiteraarsh, BarFen Hill, Valley Forge, 
and the Crooked Billet, transpired on our soil, andaU that precedes and 
follows the battle of Germantown. Within these limits, during the me- 
morable Btrnggle, Washington and his army remained nine months, 
lacking five days, verj- probably a loiter time than was spent in any 
other county during this period. The several houses used as his head- 
quarters are still standing, and the remains of entrenchments, thrown 
up on our hill sides, can be traced to this day. 

**After an arduous struggle, the Revolution at last came to a closs, and 
the country achieved its independence, and on September 3, 1783, a defi- 
nite treaty waa signed with Great Britain. Peace, happy peace, now 
reigned within our bordei-s, and industry soon brought returning pros- 
perity' to the long-neglected fields and work-shops. Above all, confidence 
was DOW restored, and the laborer was secure in bis reward. Up to this 
periody all the territory at present in the county was comprised in that of 
Philadelphia, which, from the increase in population, required many in 
attending to county affairs, to go a considerable distance, at a great incon- 
venience ; and, in consequence, petitions were gotten up and numerously 
signed, praying for the erection of a new county. These were consid- 
ered and acted upon by the Legislature, and a law passed September 10, 
1784, 'for erecting part of the County of Philadelphia into a separate 
county,' Thus did the present County of Montgomery, rich and popu- 
lous &» it now is, spring into origin one hundred years ago. 

"In this brief and hasty survey of our progress, it is well to glance at 
what Montgomery County was a century ago. It then comprised 
twenty-eight townships, with a population of about twenty thousand 
inhabitants. The first assessment, for 1785, returned four thousand 
three hundred and sixty taxables, eighty bound servants, one hundred 
and eight negro slaves, ninety-four grist mills, forty nine saw mills, five 
oil mills, nine distilleries, nine paper mills, thirty-one tanneries, ten 
fulling mills, four hemp mills, fifty-three riding chairs or gigs, and six 
phaetons. At this time, though a century had elapsed since the first 
settlement, there was not a turnpike, no post office, no newspaper, no 
poor house, no canal, and no academy, or even a secondary school, in 
the county. No bridge had been erected over the Schuylkill, or any of 
our larger streams; but, instead, they had to be crossed eitheratfordsor 
ferries. Not a town or a village within its entire area that at tliis time 
contained thirty-five houses. One public library alone, at Hatboro', 
founded in 1755, for which the books had to be imported from London, 
at this date contained five hundred and fifty volumes. Only two stage 



lines had been established ; one from Bethlehem to Philadelphia, started 
in 1763 ; the other from Reading, through Pottstown, to the city, in 1781, 
by William Coleman. Each made but one weekly trip. The churches 
numbered about thirty-five, of which the Friends had seven ; the Episco- 
palians, including Swedes' Church, three; Presbyterians, three; Bap- 
tists, one; Methodists, one ; andthe twenty remaining cliurchesbelonged 
to several German denominations, showing that the latter had now be- 
come pretty numerous in population. 

"From the above statement, we are led to consider as to what 
Montgomerj' county is to-day, though with only four hundred and fifty 
square miles of territory. In population and resources, without Phila- 
delphia, it is the sixth county in the State, being only exceeded by 
Allegheny, Luzerne, Lancaster, Schuylkill, and Berks. It now possesses 
thirty t<>wDship8, twelve boroughs, sixty-five election districts, one 
hundred and eighteen post offices, two hundred miles of turnpike, 
one hundred and sixty-six miles of railroad, with considerably over one 
hundred stations. Fourteen bridges span the Schuylkill, all built in less 
than three-fourths of a century. To strangers it should be mentioned, 
that the noble building in which the antiquarian exposition is held, was 
built from our own marble, lime and iron, procured within a few miles 
of its site. Of the numerous manufactories, educational establishments, 
charitable institutions, and various improvements that abound, only an 
allusion can be made. We have in this goodly heritage of our fore- 
fathers two hundred and four inhabitants to the square mile, while, 
according to the latest statistics, Scotland, Denmark and Portugal, average 
but very little over half this number; Austria aud Hungary have one 
hundred and forty-four; Bavaria, one hundred and seventy-four; and 
France one hundred and eighty-three. The township of Cheltenham, 
without any large villages, contains three hundred and ninety inhabi- 
tants to the square mile, approaching the most thickly settled countries. 
Such are our wouderfal resources, and the general happiness of our 
people, that we cannot reaUze that we are densely peopled, whicli, in 
other and much older countries, has so long been associated with wretch- 
edness, and, as they would have, arising from an inability to secure 
a sufficiency of food. What a subject is here for the people of Europe to 
ponder on. Taken collectively, and considering the progress we have 
made since our first settlement, how eventually, and at no great distance 
of time, we must surpass in population and resources, not only the very 
best portions of Europe, but perhaps everj' country on the face of the 
globe. 

"Within the small area of Montgomery county have lived and died 
distinguished persons. A Major General of the Revolutionary army, a 
Speaker of the first Congress of 1789, and three Governore of Pennsyl- 
vania, were born here. Among the distinguished dead may be mentioned 
Nicholas Scull, John Lukens, Robert Loller, Nathaniel B. Boileau, Isaiah 
Lukens, Samuel and John Gummere, Benjamin Hallowell, Job Roberts, 
Henry Funk, Henry Ernst Muhlenberg, Charles Philip Krauth, John 
and Daniel Hiester, Andrew Porter, John Bull, Frederick Antes, Henry 
Scheet/, William R. Smith, Jonathan Roberts, Wjlliam Potts Dewees. 
William Cullum, David R. Porter, Francis R. Shunk, Joseph Fouike, 
and Alan W. Corson. They were also born here. Among our dis- 
tinguished residents we can mention Charles Thomson, H. M. Muhlen- 
berg, Samuel Miles, Sir William Keith, Thomas Greeme, Elizabeth 
Furguson, Rowland Ellis, Christopher Dock, David Rittenhouse, John J. 
Audubon, Jacob Taylor, Benjamin Lay, Bird Wilson, Arthur St. Clair, 
and Lucretia Mott. Having no desire to be invidious, the distinguished 
living I shall pass by. But it is enough to say that in all the varied pur- 
suits of life in which we find them, whether it is in mechanical skill and 
inveution, in agriculture, in the learned professions, or in any of thejire- 
vailing arte and sciences, they have talent to do us credit. Montgomery 
county has furnished gallant officers and men, not only in the Revolution, 



APPENDIX. 



XI 



but in the war of 1812 and with Mexico. To the late rebellion it furnished 
its share again, and a monument in the neighboring square contains the 
names of five hundred and forty-seven, that gave their lives in the terri- 
ble struggle that the Union of our forefathers might utill be preserved 
and perpetuated. This goes to show a people eminently self-sacrificing 
and. patriotic. 

"In conclusion, a few words more for our honored county. In the 
long course now of two centuries, not an instance can be found that a 
white man or an Indian had here shed each other's blood. Hobs have 
never here prevailed, the most violent reformers have had their way, 
and no churches or other buildings have been destroyed under such 
temporary excitement. Though peopled by the English, Welsh, Germans, 
Swedes and Irish, speaking various languages, and holding different 
religious and political views, they resolved to live here peacefully with 
each other, while they dilig;ently labored to improve their possessions, 
till they have become as we now behold and enjoy them at this day. Let, 
then, the celebration of this centennial be regarded as a deserving 
memorial and honor due to those, who have so long preceded us, and 
whom we shoul^endeavor to follow in every good example." 
"Festive Hymn" was rendered by the chorus. 
Mr. Geo. X. Corson read the following 



" Backward through the tide of time we gaze 
This morning upon the dawning days 
Of our town and county, to thank God 
That our transatlantic fathers trod 
These bosky shores, to establish homes 
In the valley where the Schuylkill roams, 
The Perkiomen and the Skippack sweep, 
Gulf and Valley creeks their vigils keep 
In the deep gulch and the deeper gorge 
Of the sacred shades of Valley Forge I 
Where Wissahickon winding invites 
True lovers to scenes of rare delights, 
Where Mingo, Macoby and the Spack, 
Manatawny and the Pennypack, 
The Swamp creek and Tacony travel 
On sylvan beds of sand and gravel ; 
Where the Sanatoga springs do sink 
In the Schuylkill with the Arrowmink ; 
And where Stony creek comes romping down 
A life-preserver to Norristown. 

" Our fathers surely were wiser men 
Than we are, for they were nearer Penn, 
And not afraid to make a nation, 
Found a State, or excite creation 
With a creed engrossed upon a scroll 
That gave liberty to man and soul ; 
To carve a county from an old one, 
Build a borough, aye, and a bold one, 
From a village straggling up and down- 
Make a county-seat of Norristown. 
Our people, now, more is the pity. 
Afraid to make the town a city, 
Would waddle back, for fear of taxes, 
To tomahawks and battle-axes. 
We are proud of our sires, those great men 
Who made the new Republic just when 
The King was strongest and his power 
Felt in every clime, and every hour 



There was somewhere the gleam of the sun 

Ne'er setting on realms he ruled upon ! 

But are prouder far, if that can be, 

Of our fathers born this side the sea, 

Who fled not from oppression, but here 

Their own own sires' memories to revere. 

Their feme extend and their will obey, 

j!i8t one hundred years ago to-day 

Carved a county below and above 

Out of the loins of Brotherly Love ! 

And such a county, from such a race ! 

By the chance of birth mth Heaven' r grace 

We sons enjoy these vales and rivers 

So blessed by gift and by the givers ; 

A double heritage more preciijus 

Than thrones and crowns to Princes specious. 

For here is freedom, and here each man 

May contemplate the Creator's plan. 

Worship under his own vine and tree. 

Write, vote, speak and thinlc and still be free 

One hundred thousand people make this 

A county, to-day where plenty Is ! 

Where fruitful fields and exhaustless mines, 

Factories and schools and fniits and vines, 

The purest water and richest ground 

And all things we need on earth abound. 

If we have no seas, no lakes, no ocean. 

Neither have we wrecks or commotion 

Of the tornadoes ! We need no dykes 

Nor levies to bar the tide that strikes 

The rocTc-ribbed and shaded banks and shores 

Of each beautiful streamlet that pours 

Into the vast sea inviolate 

The waters from lands they irrigate ! 

Content with wheat, corn, rye and grasses, 

Good men and women, boys and lasses, 

With products for the proudest table 

And horses for the richest stable. 

With farms far-famed, well-tilled, prolific, 

Homes of plenty and more pacific. 

Wft grow and live on these hills and plains 

Well satisfied with our modest gains ; 

With our mines of iron, marble, lime. 

With fruitage and food of every clime. 

With all birds, fowls, fishes, sheep and kiue, 

And porcine mastodons just ds fine ; 

And bless the parents that gave «s birth 

On this favored spot of mother earth, 

■\Vhere schools are free, and the air serene ; 

Where summer's harve^rt and winter's sheet 

Fill the garners and bless the yeomen 

Along the Schuylkill, the Perkiomen, 

And through all the bounds of the bounty 

Bestowed by Montgomery County. 

" The changes wrought the centur>' past, 
Not all for good, or destined to last. 
Have yet been smaller, it is believed. 
In what is lost than in that achieved. 
Tho' magnified by the common mind, 
These changes have left their mark behind. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



The stage-coach has given way to cara 

Now pulled bj' engines on iron bars, 

And in the canals and on the seas 

Boats pushed by steam ply with eel-like ease. 

As moved l>j' the unseen hand that rules. 

And usurp the place of eaiU and mnles. 

It would have made our forefathers laugb 

To have seen the talking telegraph, 

And would have tranaformed their flesh to stone 

To have heard the laugh by telephone. 

And surely they would have fled the land 

And left to the Indians, contraband, 

Their plow&and yokes and scythes and sickles 

Could they have seen how the bicycles, 

Made of spinning-wheels turmid upside down. 

Are ridden fry men through Norristown ! 

Poor spinning-wheelSr pig-yokes, grain- cradles. 

Flax-brakes, drag-rakes, and wooden ladles, 

Where are you ? Oh ! dames and men of yore, 

Down the corridors of time, before, 

Could you have cast prophetic glances, 

You would have leaped at these advances I 

To have seen us spinning and weaving, 

Plowing and Imrresting and sheaving. 

Threshing, milling, printing and preaching, 

Aye, it is trne, preaching and teaching ; 

Do our washing, and churning of cream, 

And e'en hatching our chickens, by steam .' 

But our crops, our eggs, oor clothes, our fur. 

Are not better than our fathers' were. 

Their houses were just as large and fine, 

And stronger with oak than onrs with pine ; 

Their coats and jackets of sterner stuff 

Than our shoddy, with half wool enough, 

Made by modern machines for sewing 

Pretty seams, that part with our growing. 

The ancients— says St. John — had a coat 

Without seam and woven to the throat ; 

But this priceless suit has gone beneath. 

With the harrows of the wooden teeth. 

So, we lose in clothes, in iron gain. 

Make progress here with the hand and brain, 

And there in more ancient honored parts 

Pine with PhilUps over the Loet Arts. 

In the wars of ** twelve " and '* forty-eight,'* 

As in the Rebellion, horn of hate, 

In eighteen hundretl and sixty-one, 

Our men in valor were ne'er outdone ; 

But on all the fields famed in story 

Won laurels for their deeds of glory, 

Were true to man and State and nation, 

True to that cause of toleration, 

Broad based in every institution 

By our laws and the Constitution. 

Pennsylvania ! We praise thee, because 

Thou art mother of peace, equal laws, 

Justice, equality among men, 

Freedom of conscience from denizen 

Or dynasty, priest, Pope or preacher ; 

Mother of love to every creature 

To which creation has given life 



And biding-place in this world of strife ; 

Mother of pure charity, and truth, 

Of wisdom to eldest age and youth ; 

And through thee, thou gracious parent State, 

Two hundred years have enhanced the fate 

Of millions of our race and nation ; 

A century of growth and station, 

Prosperity, happiness, renown, 

To our county and our county town ; 

And on the escutcheon of the world, 

Thou hast to man everywhere xmfurled 

Those Vast Words of Hope, immortal hence, 

VIRTUE, LIBERTY, INDEPENDENCE!!" 

Tlie poem was followed by the "Hallelujah Chorus," effectively ren- 
dered by the vocalists accompanied by the orchestra. 
Dr. C. Z. Weiser delivered the following 

ORATION. 

*' Fellow- (Htizem — The life of man is measured by the flight of yearn ; 
the history of a province by the revolution of centuries ; the course of 
the world, by the cycle of the ages ; and the ages of eternity, by the 
Creator Himself. 

" Montgomery County completes its primal round of one hundred years 
to-day. Like a century plant, our proud shire opens into bloom with a 
sound and a savor loud enough to fill the domain with a bracing melody 
and a pleasant flavor ; drawing to its centre the masses from rural and 
from urban quai-ters, from thirty townships and twelve boroughs, like a 
magnet of great power. And beyond its borders, too, tlie music and the 
odor float. 

*'Our twice venerable and bi-centennial neighbors, Philadelphia, Ches- 
ter, and Bucks (1G82), like the three ancient Graces, discern the echo, 
and are with us to taste of the ' feast of reason and the flow of soul.' 

* ' The senior counties, Lancaster (1729), York (1749), Cumberland (1750) 
Berks and Northampton (1762), Bedford (1771), Northumberland (1772), 
Westmoreland (1773), Washington (1781), Fayette (1783)— all are glad to 
hail Montgomery into the mystic guild of the centenarians. 

" Our twin sister, Franklin (1784,) crosses the line with the province of 
Montgomery, arm-in-arm. 

" The junior counties are happy as well as their elder sister's majority, 
and speed heron with cheering words, that their own period of adole- 
scence may grow speedily and beautifully less, when they, too, may 
wear the manly toga. Peers and compeers, you are welcome. 

"So live and so general an e^rit du coi-pSy pervading the Common- 
wealth, renders it all the better to be here, and helps to swell Mont- 
gomery's jubilee to real grand proportions. Our proud shire is of age ; 
has one hundred thousand inhabitants, five hundred thousand acres, 
and five hundred square miles of territory — old enough, and large 
enough, and rich enough, to rejoice alone. But it is ' not good to be 
alone,' especially on a festive occasion. Mankind is mankinned. Not 
only misery loves company, but joy a« well. It is written on the big 
heart of humanity : 'Whether one member Bufl"ers, all the members 
suffers with it ; if one member be honored, all the members rejoice with 
it.' That is St. Paul's commentary on the legend inscribed on our 
national escutcheon— E PLURIBUS UNUM. 

"Inasmuch, however, as it is meet and right to inquire into the 
reason of things, as far as mortals may, let us here now ask, What 
means this gala day ? 

"A sweet American singer tells us inflowing rhyme to 'bury the dead 
past.' But surely this is not Montgomery's funeral ! It were a lively 
corpse, indeed. It is an Eastertide. Some unseen power has touched 
tlie dry bones of its hills and dales, breathed upon them, and wrought 



APPENDIX. 



the miracles of a resurrection. AVhat an aroma collects around and 
diffuses from the shades and handiwork of our ancestors ! Norristown 
is filled with shrines, as Athens once stood filled with altar«and with gods. 
Our goodly-disposed citizens are down on their knees, worshiping relica. 
Who does not pass by the new, the fresh, and the green, to tarry by the 
ancient, the gray -haired, and confess that ' the old is better ' ? 

" But why is this great post-mortem ? Why this graud review of the 
dead ? Why this mania for the vanished century ? 

"Is it not a phenomenon, worth our study, that we should be bo 
anxious to place our eyes in the back of our heads, just now 7 That we 
should, so simultaneously and unanimously, turn from the rising to the 
setting sun? That we should, one and all, slight the glorious future and 
the prolific present, to revere alone the ' dead past ' ? 

"This is the Sphinx that sits by the roadside, mutely challenging each 
one : ' Solve me or die ' I 

'* The answers vary even as the souls of men. ' Many men of many 
minds.' A conventional holiday will it prove to some. ' Only this and 
nothing more.' As the falls of Niagara suggest a goodly site to plant a 
mill, or the leaning tower at Pisa, to build a derrick, so, too, can these 
men see but an occasion to *eataud drink and die* in a centennial 
jubilee. Let us preser\'e a ' boisterous silence ' in the presence of souls 
so radically utilitarian or epicurean ! 

"But is it not an event celebrated in honor of a departed ancestry ? 
That were a healthy motive, indeed. No son or society is on a wrong 
road so long as a sentiment so filial animates the bosom. Age is honor- 
able. 

" Nevertheless, Montgomery's jubilee must be rested on a firmer base 
than a mere sentiment aifords, be that never so noble. Otherwise, cer- 
tain perplexing queries might be propounded. 

" The thoughtful do not believe that *a little sparkmay kindle a great 
fire ' unless a vast heap of combustibles is at hand. The occasion is not 
the cause of a great conflagration. And he that argues our jubilee on 
the basis of a sheer sentimentalitj*, would place the stream far above its 
source. We make bold to declare that the centennial jubilee of Mont- 
gomery County does not rest as the 'baseless fabric of an airy vision.' 
Young America, least of all, will content itself with a ground so narrow. 
A class so progressive will cry out: 'In honor of a departed ancestry ! 
^^^ly must the fathers and mothers be so loudly lauded ? What is it that 
entitles them to such a glorification ? An unsophisticated race I ' 

"Our ancestry's record does seem verj' meagre aside of the prolific cata- 
logue of to-day, and ahuost justifies such a disparagement. They never 
built an engine ; they never launched a steamboat ; they never surveyed a 
railroad; they never saw a telegraph, they never whispered in a tele- 
phone ; they never rode a reaper ; they never ran a sewing machine ; 
they never walked in electric light. 

"They never uttered the term 'protoplasm' or 'evolution.' They 
never heard of the ' survival of the fittest." They believed in Adam as 
the progenitor of the human race. They despised the ape. They ate 
oysters without discerning the blood of their sires within ! 

"Does not that golden-mouthed but blear-eyed orator boldly declare : 
' This world was not worth lining in fifty years ago ' ? 

"Under such a strong indictment, the less we talk of the wisdom of the 
fathers, the better ; unless we luay cast a more invulnerable coat of mail 
and build a mor« impregnable wall around them. What shall be the 
argument, then, by which the citizens of Montgomery County may 
successfully defend and maintain the propriety of their Centennial 
Jubilee ? 

" I will answer. I will tell you :— 

" The jubilee imtinct in mankind is the reasonable and eatvt/actortj b-ise on 
which every memorial act, either of an individtial or sociul nature, finds 
room enough to xtaud. 



"On this broad and lasting foundation, the countless apotheoses of the 
world may withstand the assaults of the wise and of the foolish. This 
is a chief corner-stone on which men have ever built their mem- 
orial temples ; not of ' hay, straw and stubble,' either, but of gold, silver 
and precious stones.' 

" To undertake to account for this disposition in man, is to enter the 
wide sphere of psychology, and tell why man is what he is. A theme 
too large and hea,vy to carry on a holiday ! 

" To canonize consummated facts of by-gone ages, is an instinct of the 
race which ever did and ever will continue to come to the surface of 
human society among all nations, and at all the stages of the world's 
march. To deny this proposition is to antagonize history. The memory 
of man does not know of a time, or a people, that did not grace itself 
with monumental deeds and memorial seasons. In the wiike of the pri- 
mal Sabbath of God, when the miracle of creation was first commem- 
orated, festival days and jubilee songs bloomed along and flavored the 
great highway of time. The Orient, the Middle Ages, and Modern 
Ages, all voice this race instinct. Account for it as we may, we dare not 
ignore the fact. 

" Nor are these commemorative demonstrations to be regarded as frozen 
mausoleums, erected over dead and buried dust. They, like the singing 
Memnon, utter psalms, not requiem hymns. They are the incarnation 
of mankinds' creed in an immortality. They are monuments, not 
mounds. They are both proof* and prophecies of man's sense of an 
everlasting life. It is history's way of protesting against a flnal 
nihilism. Rightly interpreted, that is what all the Bethel stones and 
Ebenezer altars declare, all along the track the race has broken. That 
is the language of pyramids, pillars and statues. With two faces, as it 
were, they look into the Past and Future, and tell us of the ' Golden 
Age' that was, and of the 'Good time coming.' 

" Tombs and epitaphs vreary mortals ever crave at the end of their 
journey, cold and frigid as they seem. Like faithful sentinels, those 
white, sepulchral stones mark the graves of men. Even ' merry Eng- 
land' grants an 'initial letter ' over the grave of her Newgate felon. 
And even through the blazing ages of cremation an urn is used. 

"And so, too, does the nation and the race erect its countless 'In 
Memoriams ' over deeds and characters illustrious ; and all the more so, 
since, like the grain of wheat, thej fell into the earth that they might 
fructify the more. 

" You search in vain through all the cemeteries of the world for the 
grave of lost hope interred. 

"The Egyptian Pharaoh commands his name to be chiseled in a solid 
rock, orders his body to be embalmed, and, lying down, exclaims— 
' Death, where is thy victory ? Lo, I live forever ! ' 

"And, as the oldest civilization set the precedent, so have all successive 
layers continued to build. The horror of annihilation pervades all souls. 
A conscious rebellion, an irrepressible instinct protests against having 
one's being measured by the brief space of an ephemeral existence. 

" On that text, history ever preaches its ' sermons in stones.' On that 
key, all those paeans of himianity are ever set. Monuments are not dumb 
sentinels ; nor are the songs of jubilee like campaign glees, which cloy 
in their sounding. They are rather rounds in the ladder of immortality, 
which the angels of our better nature have been building ever since the 
ancient patriarch saw a stairway between heaven and earth. 

" If we are silent, the ' stones will cry out,' declared Jesus of Nazareth. 

"Montgomery's centennial jubilee needs no ivords of justification, no 
defence ; not even an apology. It does not confront us as a historical 
novice, an event, solitary or peculiar. It is but another building-stone 
that we bring for the walls of the temple of immortality, which is rising 
heavenward, since the creation of man ' in the image of God.' Nur 
will it prove a Babel tower, once more. 'The maker and builder is 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



God.' The primal centenary jubilee of this province will challenge the 
regardof all thoughtful eouls now living, and yet to live, within the 
province. 

"The tower at Rhodes, it is said, stood on two shorea. And so does every 
euch memorial festival. It is rooted in the hopes of vanished ancestry 
and in the memory of a living posterity. Our fathers anticipated just 
such a memorialization at our hands. They made but a few things, but 
these they made well. Their homesteads stand like castles aside of the 
frail structures of to-day, with the moss of a full century under their 
roof-trees. Their handywork was, and is still, hand-work — the products 
of patient souls and nimble fingers, and proof against moth and rust ; 
yea, proof against dissolution, the tooth of Time. In every sur^'iving 
article which the hands of our fathers and mothers have made, we may 
read their craving after an enduring name and being. 

"Nor can their offspring fail to respond heartily to so natural a long- 
ing. We need not blush over sires so genuine and noble as ours proved. 
They were stalwart generations of men and women, of fathers and 
mothers, of sons and daughters ; a hardy race of good blood. 

" The century's relics are precious then, not merely because they are a 
hundred years old, but because ' these are they which testify of them ' 
— of the generation that went before. We admire the mountains, not 
because of their dizzy height alone, but for that these have been standing 
through all the ages that have been. We admire the stars, not because 
of their brilliancy alone, but because they have looked down on all 
generations of men. And such an unction rests upon the remains of our 
venerable pioneers. 

"They have all vanished, all vanished ! But if we may look upon their 
handiwork, are the hands themselves no more? If the husk is preserv- 
ed, has the corn perished ? If the temple still stands, has the builder of 
the temple ceased to be ? 

" Then why dance around the dried and withered effects of an ancestry 
that is to-day no more than if it never had been ? Why not follow the 
example of the red man, and bury the warrior's weapons with the 
warrior, under ground ? A funeral pyre were far more becoming than a 
jubilee, surely. The old requiem that was doubtless sung over the mor- 
tal dust of our sires, had better be intoned over all their musty relics and 
remains : ' Dust to dust ! Earth to earth ! ! Ashes to ashes ! ! ! ' 

' But all these are shrines and niches in which 
Owners and occupants of earlier dates, 
From graves forgotten, stretch their dusty hands, 
And hold in mortmain still their old estates.' 

" The century's relics are not after the order of Melchizedek, * without 
father or mother.' They are the title deeds to homes and lands our 
sires once acquired ; and we are but their heirs. Hence, do we embalm 
in memory's cabinet their clumsy tenements, their rude utensils, their 
instruments so rough, their coaches lubberly, their homespun linens, and 
all their hands have made. 

" The shades of our ancesty hover over us, unless the ancients were 
stark mad in peopling homes and scenes familiar with 'spirits of the 
dead.' 

* All houses wherein men have lived and died. 

Are haunted houses. Through the open door 
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide, 
With feet that make no noise upon the floor.' 

* There are more guests at table than the hosts 

Invited ; the illuminated ball 
Is thronged with inoffeusive ghosts 

As silent as the picture on the wall.' • 

*'The hititoric places orient theniaelveB through tbe presence of uur sires. 



wbo gave them birth and name and fame. They are their original 
sponsors. 

' 'Valley Forge, laved by the Schuylkill, rises to view, like a fresh-wafih- 
ed mermaid on the sea, rebaptized with revolutionary glory. What 
seemed a fiction to our young eyes, asserts itself as a frozen fact. General 
George Washington did indeed live, and did indeed move a bare-footed 
band of patriots about this historic centre, from the chilly month of 
December, in 1777, till the June flowers foretold the budding of freedom 
—six whole months. From this martyr scene, those Knights of Liberty 
did truly march upon the hard-fought field of Monmouth, during the 
darkest hour and gloomiest period of the American Revolution. 

" Parker's Ford — that, too, swarms with phantom troops before our 
vision, once more pursuing the enemy, after the battle of Brandywine, 
seven years and one day less than one hundred years ago (September 
11, 1777). 

"Skippack, 'the stream of sluggish waters,' liquefies just now, like 
tbe blood of St. Januarius, in the presence of the faithful. The legions 
that moved along its banks, before and alter the battle of Germantown. 
a century back, on the 4th of October, revisit it. 'Tis as 

' I've read in some old, marvelous tale, 

Some legend, strange and vague, 

That midnight hosts of epectera pale. 

Beleaguered the city of Prague.' 

^^Our worthy heroes present a fine galaxy. As is the soil, so is the fruit. 
In military lore, honorable mention is made of the brave men who lived 
on our territory. General Peter Muhlenberg, of Independence days, 
whose statue now graces the rotunda at Washington, was born within 
our borders. General Andrew Porter, who fought in the Revolutionary 
army so gallantly, at Trenton, at Princeton, at Brandywine, and 
wherever courage was needed, was a native of this county. 

"Nor dare we forget our grand citizen-soldiers, whose records shine so 
brilliantly since the late period of contention and strife — Major-Generala 
John Frederic Hartranft and Winfield Scott Hancock. These are real, 
genuine Montgomery-countians. And do not tbe names of Brooke and 
Zook stand in red letters ? 

"The civil list embnices among its brighter lights a cluster of very 
worthy men, all born here. Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, Speaker 
of the lower house of Congress, was a son of the soil. And ia there 
another province that has furnished so much good timber of which 
Governors are usually made ? David R. Porter, Francis R. Sliunk and 
John F. Hartranft form a trio rot so readily matched. 

"And still others might be noted, who would not have disgraced that 
chair, but who could not be accommodated for want of room I go, too, 
would time fail me to record all the candidates for those honorable seats, 
in the century to come. These, those who come after us, may tell. 

" Our religious pages glow most brilliantly. Rev. Dr. Henry Melchior 
Muhlenberg, the patron saint of the American Lutheran church, abode 
on this fruitful field during forty-five of his most active year*. Here he 
wrought his greatest deeds. Here he died at the ripe age of seventy- 
eight years. His ashes rest at the old Trappe church, and his name 
fills all Christendom with its goodly savor. 

"Rev. Michael Schlatter, the first Missionary Superintendent of the 
Reformed church in the United States, made his head centre in Mont- 
gomery County. From this point outward he organized the scattered 
flocks of his faith, and died within its borders, a Christian soldier both 
for Christ and Ciesar. 

"And of all the counties of the Commonwealth, none opened its doors 
wider to the oppressed for conscience' sake. Here the Friends found 
an asylum for their peaceful spirit ; not only the State received its name, 
but our county, too. The Welsh Quakers baptized it in honor of their 
native place beyond the sea. 



APPENDIX. 



" Here the persecuted Palatines pitched their early homes. Their log 
houses, their log school -houses, and their log churches, tell a most inter- 
esting tale of patience, endurance and martyrdom. 

" Here the colony of Schwenkfeldians, a persecuted flock in Silesia, lo- 
cated and continue wjth us to this day, the sole place of staying in the 
wide, wide world. 

■'And besides these scenes and spirits known, and lauded in history 
and in song, there are yet many more whom God alone knows. I mean 
the stalwart patriots of the Revolutionary hosts; the braves of 1812 ; the 
heroes in the Mexican war; the martyrs in the rebellion. All these 
toiled faithfully under their leaders, and died unhonored and unsungby 
pen and tougue. 

"And the victors in peace must not be slighted — the home guards, the 
tillers of the field, the honest traders in times when Indians and wild 
beasts prowled about, the trusty servants of daily toil ; when one hun- 
dred cents made a dollar ! 

"Let us mention, finally, the mothers, wives, sisters and daughters, 
who wove, and spun, and made the household liappy within, when all 
was dark without. 

" These are all with us to-day. if there be such a mystery as the ' com- 
munion of saints.' And we may do ourselves the best of service if we 
allow ourselves to be baptized afresh by their spirits, and draw a new 
supply of Inspiration for the century before us. Shades of our fathers 
and mothers hail ! 

"An ancient seer spoke of a child a hundred years ago. That is the 
portrait of Montgomery county, a century old. Aged one century, and 
still but an infant in the arms of Father Time. The snow whit« tresses 
that crown the head of our goodly province are but as the grains of dust 
that float in the sunbeam, to the big eye of history, or to Him in whose 
sight a thousand years are as one day. Only a little way from the bo- 
ginning, and hardly any nearer to the end I 

"As the christening of the babe follows hard on its birth, so is this fes- 
tive day but the name of the province. Let it be, as every second birth 
should be, a regeneration period, from which we ascend the higher plane 
of a yet nobler hfe. A still grander history awaits the county. Let 
no Jeremiads be sung. It is no time to say, * Vanity of vanities, all is 
van ty.' 

' Tell US not in mournful numbers. 

Life is but an empty dream ; 
For the soul is dead that slumbers, 

And things are not what they seem." 

*' Victor Uugo wisely says: 'There is an evil in our times ; I will 
almost say there is only one evil : a certain tendency to place everything 
in this life.' This serious and eloquent Frenchman declares: 'There 
would be no dignity in living if we had to die completely. What light- 
ens labor, sanctifies work, renders man brave, good, wise, patient, be- 
nevolent, just, at once humble and great, worthy of knowledge, wofthy 
of liberty, is the fact that he hns before him the perpetual vision of a 
better world shining across the shadows of life.' 'As for myself,' this 
gospel novelist affirms, 'I believe profoundly in this better world; and 
after many struggles, much study and many trials it is the supreme as- 
surance of my reason, as it is the supreme consolation of my soul.' 

"As there is no dead past, so neither is there a dead future. All time is 
God's— the past, the present, and the future, since * He was, and is, and 
is to come.' Let us not be such outrageous optimists as to look 
back upon the age of our sires as upon an age of darkness and void. Nor 
will we turn into morbid pessimists, and say, as men have kept on say- 
ing ever since the time of old Nestor : ' The former days were better 
than these.' No ! Manhood is better than infancy or childhood ! The 
best of history's crop in not under ground. Blessed are our eyes, for our 



fathers denired to see what their sons see, and did not see it ! There 
never has been an age like ours I 

" But the harvest of to-day, is but the seed of yesterday matured. 
Therefore, 'whatsoever things are tnie, whatsoever things are pure, 
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if 
there be any virtue, if there be any praise,' within our borders in the 
year of grace, 1884, all is but the fruiting of the seed embedded by ances- 
tral hands years ago. It has not been lying torpid like the grain of 
wheat in the Egyptian mummy, but has fiiictified and grown. 
There is no new thing under the sun. All things are falling upward. 
Our chief business is to be consecrated to the work of perpetuating the 
building which the sires have founded; building on and up, that our 
posterity may receive it from our hands, even as we have fallen heir to 
it * by the fathers' will and testament,' another century's length im- 
proved. 

' Let us then be up and doing. 

With a heart for any fate ; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 

Learn to labor and to wait.* 

"After our jubilee anthems have died away in total silence, and the 
waves of rejoicing are merged again in the steady stream of time, like 
the practical Roman, the still more practical Yankee, will ask the ques- 
tion, ' Cut Bono ? ' 

What shall the answer be ? 

' Te whose hearts are fresh and simple. 
Who have faith in God and Nature, 
Who believe that in all ages 
Every human heart is human, 
Listen to this simple story 
Of the hero and the hereafter.' 

"This province has made a confessional act'of gratitude to Almighty 
God for his amiable and adorable Providence, but records its acknow 1- 
edgement on its historical Ebenezer. ' Hitherto the Lord hath helped 
us.' 

" This province has performed an act of filial piety, in memory of a 
worthy ancestry, and thereby challenges the fulfillment of the first com- 
mandment with promise ; ' Honor thy father and thy mother.' 

"This province has achieved an educational act, which teaches those 
living, and yet to live, that brave men lived before Agamemnon.' 

"This province has erected a triple tower of Faith, Hope and Charity, 
for another century to come, on which we and our children may read 
' He who led the sires will lead the sons.' 

"And, surely, with such aspiritof reverence within its loins, Mont- 
gomery county may be considered good for another century, I trust. 

At the conclusion of Dr. Weiser's oration, the whole audience arose, by 
request, and united in singing the long meter doxology, 'Praise God 
from whom all blessings flow.' 

After which the Rev. Mr. Rodenbough pronounced the following 

BENEDICTION. 

The grace of 6ur Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, our Heavenly 
Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, be with 
us, and with all the people of God, now and evermore. Amen. 



THIRD DAY. 

THE PARADE. 

Thursday, September llth, was Parade day. 

The parade was formed on the streets west of Stony Creek. Every 



HISTOKY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



division had its particular street upon which to form, bo that the pro- 
cession started with very little confusion. 

Col. Juhn W. Schall was Chief Marshal, and to his efficient work, the 
success of the parade in a great measure was due. There was less delay 
than usual on such occasions. The parade was to have started at ten 
o'clock A. M. At fifteen minutes past that time, the head of the line 
moved over the route selected. 




rilK I'AKAKE. 
The parade was forinerl and marched according to the following order, 
issued by the Chief Marshal. 

NoRitisTOWN, September 1, 1884. 
General Order, No. 1. 

I. The parade in honor of the centennial of Montgomery county, on 
Thursday, September 11th, 1884, will be composed of four divisions, as 

follows : 

FIRST mvisioN. 

Col. P. C. Swank, Marshal. 

Indian childreo. Grand Army of the Republic, National Guard of 

Pcnnfiylvania. 

SECOND DIVISION. 

J. P. Ilale Jenkins, Esq., Marshal. 
Will be composed of fraternal and benevolent organizations. 

THIRD DIVISION. 

Major J). B. Hartranft, Marehal. 
Will be composed entirely of firyiiien. 

FOURTH DIVISION. 

T. J. Baker, Marshal. 
Manufacturers, Trades, and Industrial Pursuits. 
II; The respective divisiuns will form at 9.30 A. m, as foUuws : 
First Division — On Astor street, right resting on Marebail, facing 
west. 

Second Division — On Chain street, nortli and siuuh of ^larslinll street, 
right resting on Marshall street. 

Thii-d Division — On George strper. nniili and Bmub of Murpball street, 
right resting on Marshall street. 



Chief Marshal. 



Fourth Division — On Haws Avenue, right resting on Main street, and 
on Main street, right resting on Stanbridge street, and facing east. 
Sewing machine display will form on Kohn street, right resting on Airy 
street. Dairy display on Stanbridge street, north of Marshall street, 
right resting on Marshall. 

Til. The column will move promptly at 10 o'clock a. m., over the 
following route : Marshall to Stanbridge, to Main, to Walnut, to Airy, to 
Arch, to Marshal], to Church, to Airy, to De Kalb, to Penn, to Swede, to 
Chestnut, to DeKalb, to Spruce, to Willow, tfl Elm, to Swede, to Oak, to 
Cherry, to Main, and dismiss. 

IV. Division Marshals will appoint a sufficient number of Aids, and 
will issue such orders relative to the formation of their respective divi- 
sions as they may deem necessary. 

V. All organizations arriving via the Reading Railroad will disembark 
at Main street station, and those arriving via Pennsylvania Schuylkill 
Valley will disembark at Franklin avenue station. 

By order of 
Thomas J. Stewart, Chief of Staff. 

At the court-house the parade was reviewed by the oflficers of the 
Association, who left the line when it arrived at that point. 
The following constituted the order of the parade: 

Chief Marshal— Col. John W. Schall. 

Chief of Staff— Thomas J. Stewart. 

Aide — Dr. J. K. Weaver, Dr. William J. Ashenfelter, John Pugh, 

Roscoe K. Moir, and Isaac Chism, Esq. 

FIRST DIVISION. 

Marshal — Col. Daniel C. Swank. 

Aids — George G. Hoover, Esq., J. Schrack Shearer, and John A. 

Vanderelice. 

Pottstown Cornet Band. 20 pieces. 

Zook Post Drum Corps. 

Company F, Sixth Regiment, N. G. Pa., uniformed and armed, Capt. 

Henry Jacobs, commanding. 

Zook Post No. 11, G. A. R. of Norristown, in full uniform, with battle 

flags. Hiram Hansell, Commander. 

Liberal Drum Goi-ps. 

George A. Smith Post, No. 79, G. A. R., of Conshohocken. James 

Wolfong, Commander. 

Twenty Indian boys from the Indian Department of Lincoln Institute, 

uniformed. Seventy-five Indian girls from the same 

Institutiou, in carriages. Under charge of 

David Schall, Marehal'sAid. 

Carriages with OfBcei-s of the Centennial Association and invited gxiests, 

as follows : 

1. Joseph Fornance, Esq., F. G. Hobson, Esq., J. A. Strassburger, 
Esq., Muscoe M. Gibson, Esq. 

2. Hon. B. Markley Boyer, Hon. Isaac F. Yost, Gen. John H. 
Hobart. 

3. William J. Buck, Abraham H. Cassel, Henry S. Dotterer, Robert 
Iredell. 

4. 3Irs. Dr. George W. Holstein, Mrs. Sarah H. Tyson, Mrs. C. R. 
Hallowell. 

5. Hon. I. Newton Evans, Hon. W'illiam H. Sutton, Hon. Lewis 
Royer, John W. Bickel, Esq. 

6. Henry W. Kratz, Edwin S. Stahlnecker, Hiram Biirdan, William 
Rittenhouse. 

7. Prof. J. Shelly Weinberger, Dr. Milton Newberry, Prof. R. F. 
Hoffecker. 

8. Prof. S. r. Bninner, Thomas G. Kutter, James B. Hnrvey, 
George F, Wnngcr. 



APPENDIX. 



xvii 



9. B. Frank Tyson, Septimus Roberts, James B. Hollands, Majur 
William H. Holsteiu. 

Carriages containing Town Council of Norristown. 

Town Council of Bridgeport. 

Town Council of Pottatown. 

Visiting officials from other boroughs. 

SECOND DIVISION. 

Marshal — J. P. Hale Jenkins, Esq. 
Aids— Edward P. Greah, Hon. George N. Corson, and Dr. M. Y. Weber. 
Liberty Legion Pioneer Corps, in full uniform, carrying axes. Capt. 
Edward Bisbing, Commander. 
East Greenville Cornet Baud. 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Aaron Sperry, Marshal. Repre- 
sented by the following lodges: 
Montgomery, Xo. 57 ; Curtis, No. 230 ; Norris, No. 430 ; Pennsburg, 
No. 449 ; Perkiomenville, No. 367. 

Merion Cornet Band. 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, viz. : 
Economy ,^0. 397; Merion, No. 210; Gratitude, No. 214; Banyan 
Tree, No. 100 ; Spring House, No. 329. 

Ironbridge Cornet Band. 

Limerick Council, No. 278, Order United American Mechanics, in 

regalia, with man disguised as an Indian, bearing a battle axe. 

Milton T. Miller, Marshal. 

Eagleville Cornet Band. 

Neville Council, No. 25, Junior Order of American Mechanics. 

William Thompson, Marshal. 

Republican Invincible Pioneer Corps, uniformed iu red shirts and white 

helmets. Markley Murray, Commander. 

Frankenfield's West Philadelphia Band. 

Knights of Friendship. Hon. George N. Coreou, Marshal. H. C. 

Gerhart, Assistant Marshal. Represented by 

the following chambers : 

Harmony, No. 1 ; Protection, No. 8 ; George Washington, No. 16 ; 

Alpha, of Camden; Consonance, of Norristown; Fidelia, of Reading. 

In full regalia, white plumes, and appropriate banners. 

Alpha Fife and Drum Corps of Reading. 

Jenkintown Bau'l. 

Abington Lodge, Knights of Pythias. Dark clothes, fatigue caps, and 

swords. Charles Gentry, S. K., Commander. 
Knights of Pythias, No. 388, of Shoemakertown. White helmets and 
plumes. William Flowers, S. K., Commander. 
State Fencibles Drum Corps. 
Delegation from the Firet Regiment, Philadelphia. 
Knights of the Golden Eagle. R. J. Lumpkin, Marshal. Aids— Dr. 
Isaac Taylor, Olivet Castle ; J. D. Barnes, Cceur De Lioo 
Castle ; E. M. Lowery, St. John Castle. 
Cyrus Castle, No. 1, K. of G. E. 50 men. H. R. Lightcap, N. C. 
Members of Keystone, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Crusaders, St. John, 
Aurora, Ingomar, Ivanhoe, Waverly, Columbia, Welcome, Oriental, 
Quaker City, Southwark, Pilgrim, Warwick, Apollo, Constantine, 
Cyrene, Kenilworth, Lincoln, Fidelity, Shekinah, Olivet, Ca?ur 
De Lion. Knights and Grand Castle officers of Delaware, Maryland, 

and New Jersey. 

Washington Grays' Band. 

T. M. K. Lee Drum Corps of Pliiladeli)hia. 

THIRD DIVISION. 

Marshal— Major D. B. Hartranft. 

Aids— Augustus W. Lukens, Samuel Money, Jr., Esq., Col. Edw. Schall. 

S. P. Hanson, Esq. 



First Regiment Band of Wilmington, Del. 
Norristown Hose Company. Eugene D. Egbert, Esq., Marshal. 
Assistants — F. W. Hillebrecht, Levi Landis, and 
Richard Wilson. 
Franklin Baud of Philadelphia. 
Montgomery Fire Company, of Norristown, uniformed. Dark overcoat 
and helmet hats. W. H. Koplin, Marshal. 
Independent Band of 5Iauayunk. 
South Penn Hose Company, of Philadelphia. Red shirts and helmets. 
Henry Stedelman, Marshal. 
Sixth Regiment Band of Camden. 
Volunteer Firemen's Association, of Philadelphia. R. M. Stanton, 
Marehal. 
First Division, in fatigue dress. 
Northern Liberty Fife and Drum Corps. 
Second Division in full uniform. Gray overcoats and helmets. 
Weccacoe Band. 
Humane Steam Fire Engine Company, of Norristown. Engine drawn 
by four horses. Uniform — white hat, nickel front, light 
ovei'coat, red shirt, and black pants. William 
Stabler, Marshal. 
Southwark Drum Corps. 
Niagara Hose Company, of Philadelphia, with hose carriage drawn by 
hand. James J. Daly, Marshal. 
Metropolitan Band. 
Fairmount Hook and Ladder Company, of Norristown, with truck 
drawn by four horses, and hose carriage drawn by hand. 
Uniform —red shirt, red hat, and black pants. 
Marshal — John Burnett. Company Marshal — Edward Kehoe. Assist- 
ants — Howard Moore and L. R. Shaffer. 

FOURTH DIVISION. 

Marshal — T. Jefferson Baker. 
Aids — Louis Sritzinger, William D. Heebner, W. S. Stacker, M. Mack, 
Walter Keim, David Ross, Esq., 0. K. Beyer, W. A. Bunting, 
Charles Ramey, James Hunsicker, J. C. Jones, 
Adolph Dagen. 
George Bullock Band. 
Employees of Conshohocken Worsted Mills. W. M. MacKenzie, Mar- 
shal. 225 men, with blue silk banner, followed by large 
float, with engine and machinery running. 
Float, with Hon, Hiram C. Hoover whetting old-fashioned scythe. 
Float, with Samuel F. Jarrett threshing grain with flail. 
R. R. De Haven, Norristown, Agricultural machines. 
The Hubbard Gleaner and Binder. 
West Point Engine and Machine Works. Two large floats, with steani 
farm machinery running. 
Samuel Effrig & Co., Lausdale. Smoke-house on wheels curing hams. 
A. C, Godshalk & Bro., Lansdale. Wagon loaded with flour. 
Heebner & Sons, Lansdale. Agricultural machines. 

A. D. Ruth. Lansdale. Agricultural machines. 

J. S. G^Uer, Lansdale. Wagons with furniture. 

W. H. Derrickson, Gulf Mills. Bricklayers with tools on decorated 

float. 
J, K. Hendricks, Norristown. Wagon loaded with wheat and flour, 

with musicians on top. 
A. F. Jarrett, Norristown. Float loaded with flour, and placard an- 
nouncing his mill the first in the county. 
Hibberd and Brooke, Bridgeport. Wagon load of flour. 
J. G. Landis, Norristown. Wagon lo-^ul of flour. 
F, G. Stritzinger, Nomstown. Imitation of an oven on wheels, «ith 
bakere at work, and several decorated wagons. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERV COUNTY. 



Williani H. Kypliii, Nuiristown. Decorated wagons with tin ware. 

lIiMcnles Cigiir Factory. \Vut<ini with cigar iiuikei-s at wnrU. 

.1. E. Buucot, Bridgeport. Wagon with a layuniiil ten ft-d Ingh, 

covered with watches. 

George W. .S[iiith, Nonistowii. Float with nmrble cuttei-s :it wuiU. 

H. A. DeiT, Norristown. Wugon containing monuments. 

Lowe M au u fact u ring Company, Nonistuwn. Float with Bpeciniens of 

tlieir btovee and heattii-s. 

W. 8. Richards & Co., Bridgeport. Float with freight elevators. 

John Stiver, Norristown. Deconited wagon and cart, with workmen 

canning digging tools. 

S. Gillinger & Bros., Barren Hill. Wagon with terra-cotta woik. 

W. J. Graver A Son, Plymouth. Wagon surmounted by immense tin 

born, with four horses, two ridden by knights in anuor. 

P. (.'urran and P. McGrath. Ornamented liquor wagons. 

John C. Mnller. Ornamented wagon. 

D. II. Streeper, Norristown. Perkins' wind-mill on ornamented wagon. 

BlasiuB & Sons, Norristown. Ornamented wagon. 

D. y. Hlowday, Norristown. Wagons loaded with furniture. 

J. 0. Hathaway, Norristown. Ornamented wagon, decorated with 

shirts. 

Lansdale Band. 

Butcbere' Association. S. J. Long, Marshal. 

Jesse B. Davis, Norristown. M'agon containing live sheej). 

John B. Horn, Bridgeport. Wagon with large screen, decorated with 

hams, sausages, and tongues. 
Butchers in silk hats, white j*hirts, and blue Siishes. Forty men on hoi-ee- 
back. 
S. J. Long, Norristown. Wagon with hides and horns. 
R. Scheetz, Nonistown. Boys with banners, delivery wagtrnf^. and 
wagon with lai'go transparency bearing his business card. 
Also similar wagon with six horses, and men on 
top throwing soap to the crowd. 
Jerry March and A. Finley, Norristown. Grocers' wagons. 
John Kneas, Norristown. Wagon with tri-colored cover. 
A. II. March, George W. Roberts, Jo.seph Middleton, Norristown. 
Wagons. 
A. Uicliardsnii, Norristown. Large wagon tilled with little girls. 
William Rittenhouse, Norristown. Wagon. 
S. M. Moore, Nonistown. Wagon loaded with watennelons. 
Wagons from North Wales Marble Works. 
I'bilip Quillman, Norristown. Wagon with German Band Floats with 
fine china and Lucas' paints, driven by men in three-cornered 
hats. Alsi> a float with Quaker gun and soldiers in 
Continental uniforms. 
W. H. Kneas, Norristown. Coal cart, with large shield bearing his 
name. 
Ilathoro Band. 
10. Neal, Jarrettown. Six large wagons, one with a transparency iri- 
w ribed, "Our motto is unify with our sister counties in 
the udvanrement of skill in labor." Another was 
(hiven by a masked demon, iunl had 
a model of a hay wagon on top. 
Roxborongh Carriage Works. Carriages on floats. 
Mi'oi-e it Rose, Norristown. Webster wagon, on top of which wjis a car- 
riage Containing a gaily dressed colored lady. 
31. S. Fi'eeiiian, Norristown. Duniestic sewing machines, one with an 
organelle attached. 
Singer Manufacturing Co. Six teams. Drop cabinet in o|>eration. 
Wagon with three machines run by little girls. 
Milk DealeiV Association. Decorated wagfin.--. 



Coal Dealers. Carts gaily decorated, filled with workmen. 
Prof. Dill's Balm of Life wagon, with red tent and blue banners. 

THE INDIAN CHILDREN. 

A feature of great interest in the parade was the delegation of Indian 
children, frwn the Indian Department of the Lincoln Institute, of Phila- 
delphia. They occupied open conveyances in the procession. They 
were in charge of Mrs. J. Bellangee Coxe and their chaplain. Rev. J. 
L. Miller, and were received and cared for during their stay by David 
Schall. After the parade they were taken to the tents in the court bouse 
yanl, where they received their dinner, after wliich they sang several 
choruses. 

At this puint, Col. Theo. W. Bean, on behalf of the Centennial Asso- 
ciation, addressed them as follows ; 



Children of dtiff tains aitd Warriors — In the name of the good people 
of Montgomery County, we cordially welcome you and the Christian phi- 
lanthropists who have you in charge, to the memorial festivities of our 
centennial celebration. We recognize in you the descendants of the race 
who once were the proud possessors of the ground we now occupy, and 
honorably and peaceably acquired of them by William Penn, the founder 
of our great Commonwealth. Two hundred years and more have elapsed 
since Christian civilization confronted your forefathers in the Schuylkill 
valley. Your hunting grounds have been turned into wide areas of 
agricultural wealth and commercial splendor, and the rude implements 
of their simple mode of living are now here on exhibition as antique 
curiosities. Back to the Alleghenies, across the Father of Watere, over 
and beyoml the Rocky Mountains, your race has receded, and from the 
plains and forests of the Pacific slope you have been gathered as the 
children of lost tribes, in the hope of saving the remnant of a people 
whose origin is still an ethnological mysteiy, and whose honor is vouched 
for by Acrelius, Penn, Logan, Heckewelder, Gordon, and Weiser. Chil- 
dren, you are the hopeful wards of humane men and women. We first 
learned of your presence in our midst through the eflbrts of Mrs. Coxe, 
who is in attendance upon yon to-day. Our people have been deliglited 
with the thought and reality of having you as our guests, and hope you 
will improve the advantages of training in store for you. And when you 
have grown to well-informed man and womanhood, we trust you will 
carry with you to your fai- Western homes the potent agencies of a lib- 
eral Chribtian civilization ; that you will all become active factors fur 
the redemption of your tribes and race ; that you will become good hus- 
bandmen, industrious artisans, devoted teachers, peaceful men and 
women. Then will you have descendants who will some future day me- 
moralize your inscrutable past in picture and story, and worthily lead you 
in sharing the blessing of peace and prosperity, the heritage of all in our 
country. 

Rev. Joseph L. Miller, chaplain of the institution, responded to the 
address, on behalf of the visitors, in a short speech. 



FOURTH DAY. 

Tlie Antiijuarian Exposition was the only feature on the concluding 
day of the county's centennial, and was attended by about fifteen thousand 
persons, during the celebration. It was held in the Court House rooms, 
and in a tent, erected as an annex, in the Court House yard. The arti- 
cles sent for exhibition were appropriate in selection and endless in varie- 
ty Their number was far in excess of the space available and prepared 
for their display ; yet under the able management and sound judgment 
of the committees, such disposition was made of them as gave general 
satisfaction to the exhibitors and unbounded jdeasure to the visitors. 



APPENDIX. 



The diara,cter of the exhibit, was tlioronghly representative. Every 
era in our Imtory, every nationality rooted within our borders, eveiy de- 
nomination which lias here enjoyed religious freedom, contributed objects 
select and typical. Moat of the prominent families identified with the 
progress of this region, from the time of the pioneer settloi-s, down to the 
present day, sent their Bibles and books, treasured heirlooms, works of 
art and antiquity-their Lares and Penates-symbols of refinement and 
taste-evidences of reverential regard for the men and things of the 
Past. 

The Exposition was educational in its inlluence upon our people. It 
stimulated a taste for the artistic and the beautiful, for the preservation 
of antiquities, and for the prosecution of historical research. It afforded 
the first opportunity to the inhabitants of our county, to realize how 
general is the love for that which is superior to the merely practical, and 
how widely diffused is the appreciation of that which appeals to the 
higher sensibilities. It will leave a permanent impress for good. 

The following is a classified list of e.vhiUits, with an alphabetically 
ai-ranged list of exhibitors. To many of the articles are appended notes, 
furnished generally by the owners, respecting the history of the exhibiLs, 
which will be fbimd of much interest now, and of great value in the 
future. 



LIST OF EXHIBITvS. 

COMPILED BY HENRY S. DOTTERER. 

CLASS I. 

INDIAN RELICS AND ANTIQUITIES. 

Abraham, .Toseph, Abnvms. Fifty Arrow-heads, found by exlul)i- 
tor on the supposed site of a Lenni-Lenape village, near the junctiuii 
of Elliott's run and tlie Schuylkill river. 
Ambler, JosepU E., Amhler. Indian Riding Whip and Mocasins, 
presented to exhibitor by Indians on the reservation of the Iowa 
tribe and the Sacs and Foxs. 
Anders, Amos S., Norritonvillo. Indian Arrow-heads. 
Anderson, M. P., Trappe. In<lian Relics. 
Atkinson, F. C, Norristown. Indian Axe, found in Plymoutli 

township. 
Rates, Cornelius, Jenldntown. Two Stone Axes, found in Mont- 
gomery County. Twenty-eiglit Stone Hatchets. 
Blackfan, Airs. Joseph, Norristown. Indian Tomahawk, found 

on a farm in Kurmingdah% Monmouth county, New Jei-sey. 
Boorse, Ella R., Kulpsville. Indian Basket. 
Boorse, Jolin C, Kulpsville. Indian axe. 

Buck, William .!., Jenkintown. Iron Tomahawk, from an 
Indian grave in Moreland, in 1855. Supposed to be of Putcli or 
Swedish make, some time before Penn's arrival. Twenty-nine Indian 
Tarts, found in Montgomery county between 1842 and 1880. 
Chllds, S. Powell, Plymouth. Indian Relics. 

Conrow, Mrs, George E, B., Non-istown. One Mexican Indian 
Pepper Grinder, and one Mexican Indian Disli. Both made by th*^ 
DatJTes. 
Corson, Bliss Georgle, Norristown. Indian Arrow-heads, found 

on the banks of the Susquehanna. 
Cox, Mrs. Charles, Ambler. Splint Basket, made by Indians, l(ii) 

years old. 
Dalton, John, Abrams. Indian Axe, plowed from the farm in 1883. 
Detwller, Jones, Blue Bell. Arrow Points, Tomahawks, Skinning 

Stones, Hoes, Sling Stones, Rubbers, and Whetetones. 1(54 pieces. 
Elklnton, Paul P., Blue Bell. Indian Axe-head and Arrow-heads, 

found on the farm near Bliie Bell. 
Fitzgerald, Jesse O., Horsham. Collection of sixty-eight Indian 
Relics, found on tlie farm of .Tames \V. Iredell, in Horsham town- 
ship, between the years 1874 and 1884. This farm of seventy-five 
acres was formerly owned by the Lukens family. It is near the 
head-waters of the creek bearing the Indian name Pemmapeeka, 
which passes thnuigh it. On the adjoining farm, formerly of Isaac 
liukens, now of Harris Webster, is a springcallpd tin- Indian sprinc 
Tradirion asfterts (h;il the Indianp in former liineg encnniiieil in Miif. 
vicinity. 



Grlmley, Solomon K., Schwenksville. Largo Indian Axe, found 
by Daniel Pennypacker in 1870. Indian Stone Tomahawk, found by 
R. HartKell in 185(5. Large Indian Stone Bullet, found by F. S. 
Schwenk in lSg2. Indian Stone Billy, found by F. S. Schwenk in 
lfi81. Small Indian Stone Bullet, found by F. S. Schwenk in 1883. 
Twenty Indian Arrow-heads, by Ros.s Clinton, S. K. Grimley, Jr., 
and F. S. Schwenk, from 1 4fl to 1884. 
Hallman, Wilson, Shippack. Imlian Axe, found imbedded in s;ind 

un the bardis of Skippack creek. 
Ham4-1, William, Shoemakertown. Indian Relic. 
Heckler, James Y., Harleysville. Indian Arrows and Fossils. 
Ht-ebner, Mrs. C B., Collegeville. Indian Spears. 
Hendricks, John, and W^illlam McGowan, Mont Clare. 
Indian Darts, found August 18, I«S4, in a pust-hole, on the farm of 
Mrs. Gertrude Thompson. 
Hoot, Simon F., Ironbiidge. Indian Axe, found on Fry's estate, 

Bucks county. 
Jacobs, Harry^, Frederick. Indian Arrow-head. 
Jacobs, John, Frederick. Indian Battle-Axe. in excellent state of 

preservation. 
Jones, Henry, Ambler. Indian Curiosities and Relics, obtained in 

187(1 on the reservation of the Iowa tribe and Sac and Fox. 
Kettarar, Roman, Somerton. Two Indian Jugs. Indian Toma- 
hawk. 
K^rleble, Jesse S., Worcester. Arrow-heads, found in the fields. 
Kreible, Septimus A., Kulpsville. Indian Arrow-heads. 
£«owe, Mrs. T. S. C, Norristown. War Club and Hatchet of Oneida 
Indians. Indian Hatt^het. Two Indian Smoking Pipes. Indian 
Wooden Pipe Stem. 
McGowan, William, Mont Clare. See Hendricks, John. 
Mann, Charles S. and Albert, Horsham. Two hundred and 
fifty-eight Indian Relics— principally Arrow-heads and a few Knives 
and Spear-heads—neatly arranged in the shape of stare and darts, 
and placed in two frames. 
Maun, Jesse, Pittville. Indian Stone Shovel and Indian Relics. 

Indian Canue, made of birch hark. 
Markley, Freundschaft, The Tomahawk. Belongs to Augustus 

G. Markley, Collegeville. 
Mclz, Jacob B., Norritonvillel Indian Axe. i},.^ inches long by 2J^ 

inclies wide, found in Norriton some years ago. 
Xlce, Robert, Branchtown. Indian Stone Pestle, for grinding corn. 
Nyce, George S., Frederick. Indian Battle Axe. 
Petermau, Frederick, Collegeville. Indian Axe of stone, found 
on the Philadelphia and Reading railroad, above Flat Rock tunnel, 
in the cleft of a rock. A Stone Arrow-head. 
Ralsfon, Mrs. J. G,, Norristown. Five pieces Indian Pottery from 
McKico-two Pitchers and three Bowls, part of the large collection 
of the late Dr. J. G. Ralston. Two of the Bowls are the work of the 
Pueblo Indians ; one Bowl is of dark soapstone. The Pitchers are 
of a micaceous clay. 
Rambo, Frank L.., Trappe. Indian Axe. 

Reed, Dr. W. H.,.TeffersonviIle. Arrow-heads, collected at Norriton. 
Ritchie, E. S., Hatboro. Indian Axe, found on a farm in Upper 

Mnndand. 
Roberts, Septintns, Whitpain. Indian Hammer. 
Rossiter, Mrs. Anna, Blue Bell. Indian Tomahawk, stone. Flint 

and .\rrow-point. 
Schildt, Charles, Worcester. Indian Axe and Relics. 
Schultz, Amos, Niantic. Five Indian Arrow-headg. 
Shambough, Jackson, Collegeville. Indian Hatchet anti Arrow- 
heads. 
Shay, Elizabeth V., Three Tons. Indian Axe, found on exhibitor's 

farm in 18(i4. 
Shepherd, Isaac, Plymouth Meeting. Axe, made and used by 

the Indians. 
Sllfer, Dr. H. F., Nortli Wales. Lot of Indian Spears, Indian 
Arrows and Quiver, a Pipe, twy Axes, und Indian Mill, a Cap, and 
Ear-ring. 
Snyder, John H., Kulpsville. Indian Necklaci-, worn by a Pawnee 

squaw. 
Sfannard, E. J., Broad Axe. Pestle, made and used by the In- 
dians. 
Stout, Ann, Edtre Hill Village. Indian Relic. 
Supplee, Miss Kate, Conshohocken. Two Indian Ari'ow-heada. 
Trnmbauer, J. B., Jenkintown. Indian Mal/e Hammer. 
Tyson, Brnjamln F., Wonej^tor. Indian :\b.itar of stone, for 
grinding corn. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Tysoii, Samuel, King-of-Pnissia. Three Indian Pestles, foiinrt 

at Burlington, N. J. Tlm-c Indian Axes ; one found at Norristown, 

the other twn »t Burlington, N. J. 
AValktr, Howartl, Muiit Clare. Indian Hatchet. 
Wawger, Geo. F. Price, Norristo\Yn. Four Indian Axes. 
Weber, George M., Worcester. Arro\v-head8 and other Indian 

Relics, picked up in Worcester township. 
Teakle, Daulel, Chestnut Hill. Indian Missiles, found on Daniel 

Teakle'ii farm and thereabouts. 
Zlmmermaii, Mrs, J. M,, Yerkea. Collection of Indian Relics. 

CLASS II. 

ANTIQUITIES OF THE FIRST SFTTLFKS AND KAHLY PURCHASERS. 

Batclielder, Meredith, Norristown. Look in g-G lass, brought from 
Germany in 17411 by Nichuhis Kittenhouse. 

Boorse, Joliu C, Kulpsville. Nine gn~.iins of Rye, found in the 
plastering of the chimney ofahoube built by William Teunis in 1733. 
Ink Jug of the great-great-grandfather of exhibitor. 

Cope, O. W., Hatboro. Old style Window Pane, brought from Eng- 
land n2i>, the glass set in leaden frames, from a house still standing 
in Bucks County. 

Kastbnru, Aiintc, Bridgeport. Coat-of-Arms ; came over in a vessel 
with William Ponn. Property of John Eastburn, Surveyor General 
to the Proprietary. 

Et\>, MaUlon, Kulpsville. Lock and Key, brought over in 1734 by 
David Seibt, one of the Schwenkfelder immigrants, who was the great- 
grundtatber of the exhibitor's mother. David Seibt (now written 
Seipt) died in 17G5, in Towamencin township, on the farm now 
owned by Lewis Hakel. Small Sheep Shears, brought over by the 
Hcydrick family, who were uf the Schwenkfeldei-s who came in 1734. 

Pitz^vater, Mrs. Josepli, Port Providence. Seal, bearing date 
1G99, supposed to have belonged to William Penn. 

Fryer, Henry S., Skippack. Arm-Chair, brought from Germany 
by Wicliael Ziegler ; traced back two hundred yeare. Pruning Knife, 
brought from Gernuiny by Henry Fryer ; 105 years old. Bread and 
Cake Basket, brought from Cermany in 1719 by Henry Fryer. 

Grlmley, SoIoimou K.., Schwenksville. Tiles of Heinrick Pfanne- 
backer, 1730. Piece of an Antler, taken out of an Indian cave, about 
1781, by Sobuiioii Giimlcy. who settled here in 1751. 

Jones, Mrs. Kd*var*l Price, Korristown. China Bowl (mended), 
brought frt)ni Wales in 1(184 by Hugh Roberts ; now belongs to his 
descendant, the exhibitor, 

Krleble, Abraliani K., Kulpsville. Flax, raised in Silesia ; 
brought by the Schwtiikft'lders one hundred and fifty years ago. 

'Wanger, Geo. F. Price, Norristown. Scales and Wi;ightB, brought 
from Germany by Heinrich Wanger, founder of the Wanger family 
in Montgomery County. Inscription on case : Properly adjusted 
Scales and Weights, Waster-maker Jacob Freckenberge, Scale-Maker, 
Underhelm, 1742. 

Wolfe, Dr. Samuel, Skippack. Button-Hole Hatchet, brought over 
by the Schweukl'elders in 1734, and since then in possession of the 
Seipt family. 

CLASS III. 

EELUS AND RECORDS OF THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 

Boorse, Jol&u C, Kulpsville. Naturalization Papers, with names, 

1743. 

Cope,0. W,, Ilatboro. Square Tile from the Park House, erected 
and formerly occupied by Sir William Keitli, Deputy Governor of 
Pennsylvania, appointed by William Penn. ThisTile, brought from 
England in 1717, was one of several around the large open fire- 
place. 

Ralston, Mrs. J. G., Norristown. Commission from Hon. James 
Hamilton to Kithard Peters, Esq., 1746. 

Taylor, Jolm, Lower Merion. Collection of Chartersof Pennsyl- 
vania, viz : Royal Charter of William Penn, from Charles II. Firet 
Frame of Government, granted 1682. Act of settlement made at 
Chester, 1G82. Second Frame of Government, granted 1683. Charter 
of the City of Philadelphia, October 25, 1701. New Charter to the 
Providence, October 27, 17U1. Draft of Bill, dated Philadelphia, 
April 14, 1778, declaring the intentions of the Parliament of Great 
Britain concerning the imiiosing of taxes within His Majesty's Do- 
miniuuB in Nortli .^inerita. 

'Wanger, Geo. F, Price, Niirristuwn. Volume of PennsyWania 
Chioniclo for the year 1767. Contains an advertisement of sale of 



13,f 00 acres of land in Fauquier County, Virginia, estate of George 
Carter, deceased, signed Robert Burwell, George Washington and 
Fielding Lewis, Trustees. 

The following notice from John Potts, founder of Pottstown, appears 
in this volume : 

To the Freeholders and others. Electors for the CUij aud Comity of 
Philadtlphia : 
Gentlemen — I return you my sincere and hearty Thanks for the 3Iark 
of your Esteem in choosing me one of^'our Re|)resentative8 at the last 
Election ; but as my present Indisposition renders my Attendance at the 
House impossible, I beg you will choose some other Person at the com- 
ing Election, in my stead. I am respectfully yours, John Potts. 

A notice from the ladies also appears, that they "will neither wear 
Ribbons or Jewelry or drink Tea which has to be purchased from Eng- 
land." The editor, commenting on this, says : " How agreable will they 
appear in their native Beauty, stript of their Ornaments, from the prevail- 
ing motive uf Love to their Country." 

Ziegler, Klmer R., Kulpsville. Bullet, found by Rev. Samuel 
Hamil, one of the participants in the battle of Great Meadows, in 
Allegheny County, in 1754, and given to his son. Rev. Samuel Hamil, 
born on Main street, Norristown. 

CLASS IV. 

RELICS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 

Bates, Cornelius, Jenkintown. Revolutionary Pistol and Small 
Pistol. Two Cannon Balls, found on Edge and Camp Hills, supposed 
to be Itevohitionary. 

Blackfau, Mrs. «Iosepli, Norristown. Coat, worn in the battle of 
Brandywine, 1777, in the Revolutionary war. Pitcher, used by 
General Washington while in the battle of Germantown. 

Carr. Mrs. E,, Fort Washington. Cannon Ball, from near the camp 
at Fort Washington. 

Cassel, Isaac R,, North Wales. Knife, belonging to an English of- 
ficer during the Revolution. 

Cope, O. AV., Hatboro. Looking-Glass, with a diamond ring on the 
face, done by a British officer during the Revolution, in honor of the 
pretty daughters of the hostess at the house at which he was stopping, 
in Bristol, Bucks County. Cannon Ball, from the battle of German- 
town. Gold Watch, which belonged to Lafayette, and was carried 
by him during the Revolution. General Lafayette gave this watch 
to General Smith, of Maryland, who in turn sold it to the grandfather 
of its present owner, John Van Pelt, of Hatboro. 

Cravrford, Mrs. V, Virginia, Bryn Mawr. Certificate to Oath of 
Allegiance, taken by William Crawford, to the State of Pennsylvania, 
in 1777. 

Curw'en, George F., Villa Nova. Congress Chair, 1776. 

Davis, Jesse B., Norristown. Sword of the Revolutionary war, used 
by Captain James Shannon. 

Detwiler, Jones, Blue Bell. Statement of the acccunts of Col. 
George Smith, a sub-lieutenant of Philadelphia County, in which is 
exhibited, fur the information of the public, the amount of fines re- 
ceived and accounted for him, between March, 1777, and April, 1780. 
This pamphlet contains the names of the enrolled militia, and the 
amount that each individual paid for non-performance of militia duty 
in the townships of Plymouth, Whitpaiu, Providence, Norrington, 
Whitemarsh, Gwynedd, and Worcester. Oath of Allegiance, dated 
May 30, 1778, of Christian Loeser, of Whitpain township, before 
Seth Owen. Continental Certificate, to William Long, for one cow, 
sold to the government for^l.lOU ; dated June 9, 1780. Continental 
Certificate, to EliasRosenberry, for one red heifer, two yeai-s old, 
forSS*i67 ; dated June 15, 17S0. Return of Whiskey, uf-ed by Ibe 
Third Picket Guard, October 17, 1781, amounting to twenty -two gills. 
Return of Whiskey, used by the Firet Picket Guard, under the care 
of James Irvine. Captain, at Newtown, Bucks County, for twentj*- 
two gills ; dated October 7, 17S1 

Dismant, Amos, Royersford. Cannon Ball of 1777. 

Sckard, Jantes Read, Abington. A Musket and Sword, which 
crossed the Delaware with Washington's army. 

Kuiery, Peter, Norristown. Two Pewter Plates, lettered on the rim 
" Margreth Beitenmannen, 177:i.' One of these plates was used in 
camp at Valley Forge by John Emmerich, a Revolutionary soldier in 
the company of Captain Richiirds, of New Hanover. John Emmerich 



APPENDIX. 



and Slargret Bejteman were married in 1773, and were the grand- 
parents of the exhihitor. Pewter Plate, captured from a Hessian 
6cildier .it Geniiantown. 
Filz-nater, Josepli, Port Providence. Cannon Ball, found in 
Montgomeo- County, oprcsile Valley Forge. Bayonet, found on 
"Washington's campground, Valley Forge. 
Fornance, Mrs. EUeu Knox, Norristown. Commission of 
Captain ThomasRice, of the Third Company of Artillery, 1783. Oath 
of Allegiance of Captain Thomas Rice, dated July 1. 1777. A Door. 
This door is from tlie house formerly occupied by Captain Andrew 
Knox, ti\o miles from Nonistown, at which he stood alone, and with 
a broad-sword defended himself against eight armed Tories, sent by 
the British army to take him. Their determination to accompUsh 
their object, and the desperate mannerin which the Captain defended 
himself, is to be seen from the bullet holes in the door, as well as the 
impression of the butt end of the musket and marks of the bayonet. 
In 1777-'78, when General Washington with his army lay at Valley 
Forge, the General commissioned Captain Knox to cut off the sup- 
plies of the British army, which then occupied Philadelphia. So well 
did the Captain discharge his duty, that the enemy offered fourteen 
hundred pounds sterling fur his person, and thirty armed men were 
dispatched from the army to take him and two other officers. Eight 
of the number arrived at his dwelling at midnight, and commanded 
him to surfender. He refused, and meeting them at this door with 
his broad-sword, used it so freely on their heads as they attempted t<» 
enter, as to compel them to retreat, after severely wounding him. 
AH of their number were more or less wounded; two of them so 
severely cut as to be taken next day, having been tracked by their 
blood on the snow, and found concealed a short distjince from Norrie- 
town. Both were hung at Centre Square, four nules northeast of 
Norristown, General Washington and his officers, with Benjamin 
Franklin, visited Captain Knox after the contest, complimented him 
for his bravery, and examined and handled this door. The house to 
which it belonged was built about 1730, by David Knox, the fir^t of 
the Knox family in America. It remained in poreession of the de- 
scendants until a few years ago, when it was sold and torn down. 
The door was preserved by the late Colonel Thomas P. Knox. An 
old Bayonet, dug from a ditch near the house described above. 
Gllliugbuiu, E., A'illa Nova, Orderiy Book, kept at Valley Forge 
diiriug Revolutionary war. Powder Horn, used in the Revolution. 
Grimley, Solomon K..,Schwenks^ille. Three iron Bullets of the 
Rfvolutionary war, six lead Bullets, and one Flint. Found by S. K. 
Griniley, Jr., and S. Schillich, from 1S60 to 1884. 
Holstelu, AVilllam H., Bridgeport. Two Cannon Balls, piece of 

Shfll, and Snia.l Hatchet, from Valley Forge encampment. 
Kettarar, Roman, Somerton. Six Guns from the Revolution. 
Sword, Captured at the battle of Paoli. Cartridge Box, 112 years 
old. A Bomb. A Saddle and Saddle-bag. A Flask. Tin Cartridge 
Boxes, 82 years old. 
Ivopllu, Itlrs. Mary^ "W., Norristown. Bell-metal Kettle, used 

during the Revolutionary war. 

K.ulp, Ellas K., Lederachville. Cannon Ball of about eighteen 

puunds, known to have been on the farm of exhibitor's grandfather 

ninety yeai-g, and supposed to have come down from Revolution 

tiiues. 

LiCnliart George, Three Tuns. Cannon Btill, found on Camp Hill. 

Miller, Jackson AV., Jefferson vi He. Shoeing Hammer, used in 

shoeing General Washington's horse at Gemiantown. 
Nyce, George S., Frederick. Bayonet, 130 years old. Belonged to 
Col. .VntliDiiy Bitting's regiment, in the Revolutionary war. Re- 
ceipt of the Revolution : I Do Certify that Coll Rob' Robinson bought 
at public Vendue a Continental Sorral Horse With a bald face thir- 
teen & }4 hands high marke'* Co A on the left thigh and P P oh the 
near fore Shoulder for Which I have Received five hundred & five 
Dollare for the States Uses. [W McCalla, A. Q. G., 505 Dollars. 
Jany 10i»> 1780 
Pecliiu, Jolin W.f King-of-Prussia. Table upon which General 

Washington wrote and from which he ate, at General Wayne. 
Rex, Jacob L., Blue Rell. Silver button, found on the farm, and 

supposed to be a Revolutionary Relic. 
Rex, Miss M. D., Flourtown. Old Sword, used in the Revolu. 

tion. 
Rorer, Isaac, Fiaiikford. Powder Horn, found in Cheltenham dur- 
ing the Revolution; handsomely carved, bearing date 1752, 
owner's name, John Hunt, British coat-of-arms, view of New York j 
harbtir, Mawnic emblems, and maker's name, Samuel BlcCatlet. 



Rue, Ijonlsa, Norristown. Small Breakfast Table, used by Washing- 
ton and Lafayette at the Unicorn Hotel, in Delaware countj', in 
1776. 

Schnmo, Dr. Engene, Abington. Prescription Scales of Dr. .\rchi- 
bald 5IcLfan, Surgeon during the Revolutionary war, and practi- 
tioner of medicine in Montgomery county. Deposited by his great- 
grandson. 

SInkler, Dr. WliaTton, Philadelphia. English Escutcheon, from 
tlie battle-field of Eutaw Springs. 

SlIngluiT, John, Fairview Village. Spectacles and Case, used by a 
relative in the Revolutionary war, 

Snyder, John H., Kulpsville. Small Book, left on a table by Brit- 
ish soldiers, while in Towamencin, during the Revolution. The sol- 
diei-s bad ordered eggs boiled. After their departure the lady of the 
house found the book among the egg shells. 

Stannard, E. J., Broad Axe. Gun, taken from an English officer, in 
the Revolutionary war. Sword, taken from a French prisoner by ex- 
hibitor's grandfather, ^■amuel Stannard, who was a Captain in the 
Revolutionary war. Cannon Ball, found in ^^^litpain township. 
Piece of Fort Ticonderoga, taken when the British surrendered. 

Trnckess, David, St., Providence Square. Cannon Ball, used dur- 
ing the Revolution. 

Tyson, Mrs. Sarah H., King-of-Prussia. Washington's Candle- 
stick and Lantern, used by him at Valley Forge. They were brought 
from Valley Forge by John Jlowerer, General Washington's wagon 
master, and were bought at Mowerer's sale by Joseph T. Pearce,who 
cried the sale, and in whose possession they now are. 

"Welier, George M., Worcei^ter. Box, containing Musket, Rifle 
Balls, and Grape Shot, gathered on the ground on which Washing- 
ton's army was encamped before going to Valley Forge. Also, a 
Rifleman*8 Axe or Tomahawk, plowed up at a spot where at that 
time was a spring at which the soldiers drank, but which entirely 
disappeared forty years ago. Large Chest, bearing the name, Bar- 
bara Briderin, dated 1769. This was the property of the exhibitor's 
grandparents, Abraham and Elizabeth Weber, .\braham Weber 
served for a time in the Continental army, and died in 1844. This 
Chest, tradition says, was brought to this country from Germany be- 
fore the Revolutionary war. During the war certain valuable goods 
were placed in it for safe keeping, and it, with these contents, was 
put in a hay stack. Certain parties, searching for the chest, discov 
ered it by thrusting pointed sticks of hard wood into the stack, pro- 
ducing marks which it still bears. The chest was broken open and 
the contents confiscated. 

"Wentz, Daniel, Fort Washington. Camp Axe, found on the camp 
ground, near St. Thomas" Church, at Fort Washington. 

Yeakle, l>anlel, Chestnut Hill. Powder Horn, used during the 
Revolution by an ancestor of exhibitor. 

CLASS V. 

HELICS OF THE WAR OF 1812. 

Beck, Mrs. John P., Centre Square. Fife, Flute, and Manuscript 

Music, used by Henrj' Beck (near Eaaton), who was a fifer in the 

war of 1SI2. 
Cassel, Isaac R., North Wales. Sword of the War of 1812. 
Cope, O. \V., Hatboro. Sword of Commodore Isaac Hull, com- 
mander of the Constitution in the action with the Guerriere. The 

property of William Wade, Horsham. 
Cox, Mrs. Charles, Ambler. Two Flints, formerly the property of 

Charles Cnx, a vt-t.-ran of the war of 1812. 
Davis, Jesse B., Norristown. Sword, used in the War of 1812 by 

John Llewellyn, the exhibitor's grandfather. 
Dor^vorth, Joseph H., Xorritonville. Pistol, belonging to the 

First Troop of Montgomery county, in the War of 1812. 
Keech, Jacob, Lower Merion. Pistol and Knife, used in the War 

of 1812 by John Lteweilyn, the exhibitor's grandfather. 
O^Bryau, Mrs. J. Duross, Ardmore. Bayonet of 1812. Canister 

Shot, very old. 
Slifer, Dr. H. F., North Wales. Two Swords o( the War of 1812. 
Sllnglnff, Mrs. W. F., Norristown. Canteen, used in the War of 

1812. 
Smith, James B,, Jenkintown. Drum, used in the War of 1812 by 

Georgp Servis 
Sower, F. D., Norristown. Sword, used by the troops in 1812. 
Thomas, 3Ir8. AImI, Royersford. Snuff-box, used in the War of 

1812. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUxNTY. 



Wolf, Mrs. Anstlna, Plymouth. Jacket, worn in the War of 1812 

by exhibitor's father, Daniel Streeper. late of Baripn Hill. 

CLASS VI. 

RELICS OF THE MEXIC.VN \V\R. 

Keech, Jacob, Lower Merion.' Mexican Cartridge, taken at the 

battle of Hlonterey. 
JLovrer, Oeor^a^e, Flourtown. Mexican Bridle, rein of hair, peculiar 

bit, mounting of silver. This Bridle was bnmght from Slexico, at 

the cln.se of tbe war, by the exhibitor, who arrived at Philadelphiai 

on his return, on July 23, 184S. 

CLASS VII. 

RELICS OF THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 

Anders, Georg^e H., Norritonville. Buttons, from the late war^ 

Balis, picked from the battle fields of the late war. 
Bolton, Levi, Norristown. Three leaden Mortars, made from Rebei 

bullets. 
Casyel, Isaac R.., North Wales. Bowie Knife of the late war. Piece 

of the Rebel iron-clad, Morriiuac. Cartridge, found on the battle 

field of Antietam. Book, found on the battle field of Chancellorsville, 

>Iay 3, 1SG3. 
Calvary Post, No, 35, G. A. R., Philadelphia. Wooden Fignre 

of a Horse, with arms and equipments used in the cavalry service in 

the late war. 




HORyE MADE IIP OF MILITARY ARMS. 

Kvans, 'Willlant G., Norristown. .Soldier's Cap, from the batlle 

of the WiMrrness, lSfi4. Belt, Cartridge Box, and Knapsack, 18ii3. 
Hllles, liizzie, Port Kennedy. Sabre, used by Henry Clay Moore in 

tlie late war. 
Holstcin, Mrs. Dr. George W., Bridgeport. Pair of Dice 

Boxes and Knife, These articles were made in Libby Prison by 

Lieut. T. Dewees. 
Jones, Cliarles W., Cr.nsliohocken. Sabre, taken from the battle 

field of Antietam. 
Jones, Percy, Conshohocken. Sword, picked up on the battle field 

of Antietam. Minie Ball, found on Gettysburg battle field. 
Locli, Joliu W., Norristown. Sword, found on the field of Get- 
tysburg;. 
Moore, Mrs. IVathun, Centre Square. Flag, Knife, and Relics of 

the war for the Union. 
Morrison, Mrs., Conshohocken. Two Knives, taken from the Rebels 

in the Civil War. 
Peterman, Frederick, Collegeville. Block of stone from the 

blown-u|i mine at Petersburg. Va., July 30, 1864. 



Povrers, John, Norristown. Confederate Dagger, captured by 
Charles F. McKenna, Company E., Forty-Fifth Regiment, Pennsyl- 
vania Vnlunteei-s. 

Rudy, John, Norristown. Lamp made from a bomb shell found at 
Gettysburg. The brass piece on the top was made from the side of 
a Rebpl drum. 

Schall, Col. Edward, Norristown. A Shell, from the battle field 
of Fredrickeburg. A Cannon Ball, from the battle field of Antietam. 
A Whitwurth Projectile, from Sulphur Springs, Va., picked »ip im- 
mediately after it had been fired. Two large Knives, nearly the size 
of a cutlass, captured at the battle of Roanoke, N. C. A Sword, worn 
by Col. Edwin Schail, at the battle of Cold Harbor, Va., when killed. 
A Small Box, made out of wood from the bridge at Antietam. and 
containing small and large balls picked up on the day of the battle. 
A Bng;le, carried by a Captain of the Fifty-first Regiment Penn- 
sylvania Veteran Volunteers. 

Sllfer, Dr. H. F., North Wales. Two Swords from the Rebellion. 
Relics of the battle of Gettysburg. Confederate Sword. 

Stelu, 'Irs. R., Norristown. Gun, used in the battle of Antietam. 

Stevens, Henry A., Norristown. Revolving Rifle, ten-shooter, 
captured by Captain D. L. Stevens, of the six-gun battery of the 
t'nited States ship Mississippi, under Farragut, on the right of the 
river, below New Orleans, in a hand-to-hand encounter, on April 
2.^ 1862. 

"Walker, E. H., Jarrettown. Canteen, from the late war Picture, 
Frame, made in Virginia during the late war. Bayo- 
net, from Petersburg, 18G5. Head of a Standard, 
from Kichnmnd. Cane, from City Point, in the late 
war. 
Zle^ler, Elmer R., Kulpsville. United States Badge, 
found on Kulp's Hill, Gettj-sburg. 

CLASS VIII. 

mPLEMENTS OF EARLY HITSBANDRV. 

Cassel, Ahralkam H., Harlej-sville. Ancient Cross- 
cut Saw, which, with its handles, was forged out of a 
st'lid piece of steel, on a common anvil, by an ingenious 
blacksmith, in early colonial times. Its history is 
known for one hundred and fifty years. Hand-saw, 
formerly the property of Hupert Cassel, a famous car- 
penter of Worcester, and the grandfather of the ex- 
hibitor. At least one hundred years old. 
Comly, J. J,, Horsham. Plow, with wooden mould 

board. 
Cnster, Philip B., Norristonville. Sickle, over one 

hundred years old. 
Fryer, Henry S., West Point. Pruning Knife, 
brought from Germany. One hundred and sixty-five 
years old. 
Heebuer, John S., West Point. Wootien Fork. 
Homer, Morris, Willow Grove. Sickle, for cutting 

grain. " D. J. 1750," cut on the handle, 
Jones, Margaret H., Oak Lane. Seed Chest, nearly 

two hundred years old. 
Kettarar, Roman, Somerton. Old-fashioned hand- 
made Hoe. Yoke, one hundred and thirty years old. 
Old Tree Clipper. 
Krlehle, Septlmns A., Kulpsville. Sickle, one hundred years 

old. 
Loos, Mrs., Norristown. Hoe, one hundred and thirty years old. 
Roberts, Septimus, Whitpain. Scythe, Sickle, Forks, Rake, 

Hoe, Wooden Shovel and Flail; very old. 
'Williams, Thomas, PittviUe. Plow, used in Delaware, 0., up 
to the year 1812. It is marked "1776," and is supposed to have 
been made at that time. 
Young, Samuel, Sr., Norristown. Sickle, one hundred and 
twenty-five years old. 

CLASS IX. 

IMPLEMENTS AND ARTICLES OF HOUSEHOLD USE IN EARLY TIMES. 

Ambler, Aaron, Norristonville. Shovels and Tongs, Snuffer 
Tray. Dust Brush. 

Anders, Amos S,, Norritonville. Spinning-wheel and Reel. 

Beerer, Rosa, East Perkiomen. Parlor Lamp of ye olden time, for- 
merly owned by Mrs, K*»mmerer, great -grandmother of the exhbitor. 



APFExNDIX. 



Berkhelmer, Mrs. Jolui, Broad Axe. Caudle Stand, very old- 

fashioned. 



Wool WHieel and Spinning- 



Beyer, Benjamlu, N'urritonville. 

wheel, t^ausage Sluffer. 
Blckel, 'MrB. E. B., NorristoH-n. Flax Hackle, one hundred 

and six years old. Property of Thomas Dorworth. 
Blck«l, Mrs., Norristown. Candlestick. Spinning-wheel. 
Blssoii, Jane, Three Tuns. Pair Brass Candlesticks, 75 yeai-s old. 
Blackfan, Miss, Nurristuwn. Pair Tongs and Shovel, 100 yeara 

old. 
Branln, Cieorge, Jeukiutuwn. Wuol Card. 
Braulu, Mrs, George, Jenkinton. Candlestick and Candle, 

very old. I 

Brunner, Miss Mary, Worcester. Old Basket. 
Buck, 'William J., Jenkintown. Wanning Pan of Sir William 
Keith, of Horsham. Mentioned in a bill of sale, May 21, 1726, to 
Dr. Thomas Gneme, as a "Bed Pan." Bought by J. E. Buck, in 
l>*r,i), at David Lloyd's sale. 
Cassel, Abraliam H., Harleysville Iron Lamp and Rack. 
Couard, Edward B., Port Kennedy. Two Barrels, hollowed 

trom logs. 
Cope, O. AV., Hatboro. Spice Mill of the seventeenth century. 
The property of William Wade, Horaham. Coffee Mill, used in 
Gen. Geor^ Washington's family while living at MouLt Vernon. 
The property of .^lolinda Wood, Philadelphia. 
Corson, Mrs. Dr. Hiram, Conshohocken. Shovels and Tongs. 
Cresson, Mary J., Norristown. Warnung Pan, age unknown. 
Custer, Pklllp B., Xorriton^ille. Spinning Wheel, 106 years 

old. Lard Lamp, supposed to be 100 years old. 
Davis, Jesse B., Norristown. Warming Pan, 120 years old. 
Davis, «Toliu J., Jenkintown. Crimping Machine, brought from 

Wales, many years ago, by the mother of the exhibitor. 
DIsmaut, Mrs. Amos, Koyersford. Candlestick, l.'w years old. 

Spinning Wheel. 
Dotts, George, West Point. Ancient Lamp, 
Eberle, The Misses, Oak Lane. Brass Candlestick. 
Ebersole, Mrs. S. A., Hartranft. Spinning Whee'l. 
Klkington, George, Blue Bell. Bmss Warming Pan (to con- 
tain coal for warming beds), 10.3 years old. 
Emory, Jokn, Cheltenham. Bed Warmer. 

Famous, Andrew S., Norritonville. Old Snuffers. Four Hackles. 
Eeltou, Mrs. Joseph, Jenkintown. Snuffers, date 1707. 
Pelty, Samuel, Jenkintown. Tungs and Iron Lamp, brought 

from Germany before the Revolution. 
F^islier, Jacob, Worcester. Bellows. 

Frcedley, Mrs. Dr., Conshohocken. Basin and Ewer, over 100 old. 
Fryer, Henry S., Skippack. Hanging Lamp, 100 years old. 

Flax Hackle, suitposed to be 200 years old. 
Got^vafs, Abraliam, Belfry. Tongs, 100 years old. 
Got^vals, AVilliam K., Fairview Village. Spinning Mlieel, 
marked " I. R., 1760," made by I. Rosen, at Fairview, iu the year 
ITtiO. 
Grimley, Miss Olivia K.., Schweuksville. Fire Tong-s, 100 yeai*s 
old. Have been in the Benner and Bergey families, and are now 
owned by John Itatclifl'. 
Grimley, Solomon K.., Schweuksville. Old Hackle. Belonged 
to|B. Haltemau in 1714, to Solomon Grimley in 1701, and to B. 
Scholl IVom 1808 to 1800, when it was purchased by the exhibitor. 
Harvey. Mrs. J. J. C, Jenkintown. Tinder Box. 
Ileebner, Jolin S., West Point. Spinning Wheel, dated 1741. Tape 

Loom, ancient. 
Hellermau, Mrs. Joslah, Cheltenham. Foot Warmer, over 100 

years old. 
Hendricks, Mrs. Jesse, North Walra. Two Flax Hackles, made 

in 1772. 
Holland, Mrs. Eliza, Jarrettown. Pair Candlesticks, 75 years 

old. 
Huglies, Mrs. AVilliam, K!ng-of- Prussia. Candlesticks over 100 

years old. 
Hnnsicker, A. Jr., Collegeville. Bed Wai-raing Pan, formerly be- 
longing to Wright A. Bringhurst. 
Jones, Mrs. Ann C, Spring Mill. Hand Loom. 
Kemery, C. M., -■Vhrahams. Wood Stove Rake, known to be 203 

yeaii) old. 
K.et1arar, Roman, Soniorton. Five old Lamps. Self-beating 
Ilat-iron. Foot Heater and Bed Heater. Tongs and Poker. Four 
different kinds of Candlesticks. Old-fashioned Washing Machine. 



Kneas, Miss Ella, Norristown. Round and Oval Paper Boxes, of 

various colors, formerly the property of Mrs. Savilla Boot, of Wor- 
cester, a great-great-aunt of the exhibitor. 
Kobl George M., Jenlunton. Snuffem, used in the days of tal- 
low candles. 
Lowe, Mrs. T. S. C, Norristown. Old Brass Candlestick. 
Lukens, Mrs. Jawood, Conshohocken. Brass Candlestick, Snuf- 
fers and Tray. 
McCabe, Mrs. Thomas, Oalcs. Candlestick, 120 years old, 

brought from England. 
McClain, Mrs. John, Hartranft. Spinning Wheel, over 100 years 

old. 
Mann, John H., Horsham. Foot Stove, 75 years old. 
Markley, Margaret, Fairview Village. Clothes Brush. 
MatUer, C, Jenkintown. Warming Pan, very ancient. 
Mt-reditk, Mrs. Samuel, Norristown. Old-fashioned Warming 
Pan and two brass Candlesticks, brought from England many j'ears 
ago. 
Miles, Mrs. Isabella. Gulf Mills. Bed Warmer. 
Mills, Mrs. Jane., Norristown. Clothes Brush, over WO years in 
in the family. 

Morgan, Mrs. James, Ardmoi-e. Bellows, over 100 years old. 

Wyce, George S., Frederick. Old-fashioned Lard Dip (Lamp), 130 

years old. Cotton Spindle, 125 years old. 
0*Bfeil, Samuel, Norristown. Spinning AMieel. 

Oiven, Mrs, AVlUiam AV., Norristown. Brass Candlestick, 150 
\ears old; owned by Miss Shearer. 

Paiste, Robert, Norristown. Pair brass Candlesticks, 100 years old. 

Pawling, Mrs. Dr., Norristown. Spinning Wheel, Reel and Spin- 
dle. 

Peciiln, Jobin W., King-of-Prussia. Candlesticks. Lamp, from 
FniDce ; very old. 

Pomeroy, Mrs. H. S., Norristo^\Ti. Pair of Candlesticks. 

Prince, Lcm^Is, Norritonville. Scissors. 

Rambo, Mrs. Il'allace, Oaks. Candlestick, originally owned by 
Mrs. Lane; 125 years old. 

Reid, Mrs. Dr. John K., Conshohocken. Bellows, 75 years old. 
Warming Pan. 

Roberts, Lloyd, Norristown. Clothes Brush, 150 yeare old. 

Roberts, Septimus, ^^^litpai^. Warming Pan, very old. To- 
bacco Box of pumpkin, 75 years old or more, Two copper Candle- 
sticks, very old. 

Rogers, Mrs., Norristown. Two Candlesticks. Shovel and Tongs. 

Rotzell, Mrs., Noiristown. Snuffers, 100 years old. 

Schaefer, Miss, Nomstown. Snuffer and Snuffer Box. Bi-ass Can- 
dlestick. Iron Candlestick. Steel and Flint. Hearth Brush. Pair 
of Bellows. 

Scheeiz, Mrs. Frank, Flourtown. Pair of Bellows, 1791. 

Searfoss, Mrs., Jenkinton. Sweeping Brush, old. 

Shaw, C. H., Jeffersonville. Tinder Box. 

Shay, Mrs. Edward, Three Tuns. Spinning Wheel, lOU years 
old. 

Shoemaker, Robert, Shoemakertown. Warming Pan, 1780. 

Shoflfuer, Misses, Norristown. Two brass Candlesticks, 50 yeara 
old. 

Shultz, John, Norristown. Basket, SO yeare old. 

Sllcher, Mrs., Norristown. Two brass Candlesticks, 100 years old. 

Slinglutr, Mrs. William H., Norristown. Bellows and Brush, 
r.O yeai-3 old. Spinning Wheel and Reel. 

Smith, Alfred, Spring House. Spinning AVheel. 

Spencer, Mrs. Ella, Jenkintown. Brass Candlestick. 

Springer Brothers, Kulpsville. Two Candlesticlcs. 

Styer. Aaroit, Blue Bell. Two AVarming Pans. 

Summers, Aaron H., East Greenville. Flax Hackle, dated 1776. 

Teas, George S., Horsham. Warming Pan, over 100 years old. 

Traut, liouis, Jeidiintown. Flax Hatchel, bearing date of 1765. 
Brass Snuffei-s, 160 years old. 

'Walker, E. H., Jarrettown. Flax Hackle. 

AValton, Harry C, Blue Bell. Glass Candlestick. 

'W^elkel, 3Ira. Jacob, Collegeville. Old iron Lamp. 

'Williams, 3Ir8., Fitzwatertown. Two Spinning Wheels. 

Yeakle, S. Y., Norristown. Tape Machine, 125 years old. 

Young, Miss Annie, Lower Merion. Brass Candlestick, brought 
from Wales, and presented to Ariadne Young one hundred and 
twenty-tive years ago. 

Zimmerman, Esther, Norristown. Spinning W'heel, with the 
Twist of Flax. Swift and Reel, over 100 ;i-earB old, Hackle Tow 



XXIV 



HISTOUY OF MONTOOMERr COUNTY. 



and Twiatof Flax. The Hackle came OTgr in the Bhip with William 
Penn's surveyors. 

Zimniermau, Mrs. Lorenzo, Nurristuwn. Sweeping Brush, over 
50 years old. 

Ztmmerman, Sylvester, Blue Bell. Wool Hackle, brought to 
this country by Benjamin Eastburn, a surveyor in William Penn's 
party, at the time of the settlement of Philadelphia. Said Benja- 
min Eastburn was the exhibitor's great-great-grandfather. Tho 
Hackle has been passed from one generation to another, until 
it reached the exhibitor from the hands of her mother in the year 
1842. 

CLASS X. 

KITCHEN FURNITURE AND COOKING UTENSILS IN USE 100 YEARS AGO AND 
PEWTER WARE. 

Ambler, Aaron, Norritonville. Pewter Plates, 110 years old. 
Anders, Mrs. George S., Knlpsville. Pewter Sugar Bowl. 
Anders, William H., Kulpsville. Tea Pot, over 100 years old. 
Apple, Mrs. John S., Kulpsville. Copper Tea Kettle, 150 years 

old. 
Ashbrldge, Mrs. J., Bryn JIawr. Pewter Plate, over 100 years 

old. 
Baker, Mrs. "Wllllain, Centre Square. Copper Tea Kettle, said to 

be 300 years old. 
Barr, T. P., Kast Greenville. Pepper Box, 1682. 
Bartman, Mrs. Mary R., Trappe. Pewter Plate, 100 years old. 
Bean, Mrs. Margeret, NorriHtown. Earthen Dish, 100 years old. 
Beau, Mrs. Sarah, Fairview Village. Sis Pewter Plates, 80 years 

old. 
Beruhart Miss Maggie, East Greenville. Iron Kettle, 150 years 

old. 
Beyer, Benjamin, Norritonville. Bread Tray. Copper Kettle. 

Coffee Pot. 
Biekel. Mrs. E. B., Norristown. Six Pewter Plates, over lou 

years old. 
Blckel, Mrs., Norristown. Copper Kettle. 150 years old. Gird-iron, 

75 yeara old. Bread Waiter. 
Boorse, John C, Kulpsville. Earthen Dish, made of common clay, 

burnt, fifteen incbes in diameter, glazed inside, and decorated with 

brown, yellow and green flowei-s, the stems and outlines of flowers 

marked by grooves. Around the rim is the inscription, in English : 

" Be Ashamed I advice thee Most if one Learneth Thee what Thou 

not Knoweth, the Ingenious is Accounted Brave but the Clumsy 

None Desire to have 17G2." The outside of the dish is not glazed or 

decorated. 
Bosch, Knos, Norristown. Pewter Dish, over 150 years old. Property 

of Mrs Yocuin. 
Braut, Miss Bmnia, Limerick Square. Pewter Tea Pot and two 

Pewter Plates, 150 years old. Formerly the property of the Custer 

and Grubb families. 
Brooke Mrs., Norristown. Pewter Plates. 
Brownback, Mrs. Edward, Trappe. Copper Tea Kettle, nearly 

100 years old. 
Buck, James H., Norristown. Dough Tray, 150 years old. Be- 
longed tu exhibitor's great-grandfather ; then to his grandmother, 

Polly Buck ; next to his father, John Buck ; now to the exhibitor. 

Has never been outside of Montgomery County ; has been in use 

over one hundred years in Norristown. 
Bnckmau, Mrs, Thomas, .lenkintown. Two Pewter Tea Pots. 

Came over in the ship "Welcome." 
Buehler, Mrs. Elizabeth, Norristown. Waiter and Bread Tray, 

dated 1715. 
Carson, Mary Cook, Norristown. Three Pewter Dishes, used in 

the family of Samuel Burns, a Revolutionary soldier. 
Cassel, Abraliam H., Harleysville. Pewter Plate, from the Saur 

family. Grid-iron, used in olden times to broil fish and meat over 

coals. Old Tripod, used for setting a pau or kettle. Dutch Oven 

much used for baking, etc., before plate or cooking stoves were 

invented. 
Caesel, Isaac R.,, North Wales. Knife. Belonged to exhibitor's 

great-grandfather. 
Cassel, Mrs. James, Belfry. Pewter Mug, over 100 years old. 
Cope, O. AV., llutboro. Pewter Dish, brought from Germany about 

17411, by the Slyer lamily. 
Corson, Mrs. Dr. Hiram, Conshohocken. Old Copper Kettle. 

Old Knife and Spoon Boxes, formerly owned by Owen JoQes, of 

Wynnewood, and loaned by his great-granddaughter. 



Cra-ven, Mrs. Alice, Davis Grove. Coffee Pot. 

Crelghton, Mrs., Norristown. Two Dishes, very old. 

Cresson, Mary J., Norristown. Pewter Plate. Has been in the 
Leedom family 100 yeare. 

Cnlbert, Mrs. Joseph W., CoUegeville. Copper Kettle, over 100 
years old. 

Davison, Mrs. May, Shoe makert own. A slate Tea and Water Pot, 
120 years old. 

Dearolf, Sirs, Tlllle* Norristown. Spice Box, one hundred and 
fifty yeai-3 in the family. 

Dettra, Mrs, John, Norristown. Pewter Cream Pitcher, brought 
from Germany ; lUO years old. 

Dietrich, Mrs. John, CoUegeville. Pewter Plate, from Germauy. 
Copper Cake Mould, over 100 years old. 

Dlsmaut, Mrs. Amos, Royersford. Two large Pewter Plates. 

Dorworth, Joseph H., Norritonville. Tea Canister, brought to 
this country, in 1782. 

Drake, Mrs. Aram, Kulpsville, Pewter inkstand, dated 1749. 

Edwards, Mrs, Elizabeth, Kulpsville. Pewter 3Iug, bearing 
initials " S. H." ; 150 yearsold. 3Ieat Knife, from Wales ; 200 years 
old. 

Ed'tvards, Mrs. Humphrey "W., Kulpsville. Six Tea Spoons, 
Pewter Cups and Saucers ; over 100 years old. 

E\-aus, Mrs. Prank, Centre Square. Old Pewter Tea Pot. 

Felty, Samuel, Jenkintown. Small Copper Kettle and Coffee Mill, 
brought from Germany before the Revolution. 

FetterolfT, Dauiel G., Kulpsville. Pewter Plate, 1718. 

Fltzwater, Mrs. Joseph, Port Providence. Pewter Plate, 100 
years old. Originally used by Fanny Brower as a meat plate. 

Fox, Mrs. Jacob, Kaat Greenville. Tea Kettle, nearly 200 years 
old. 

Fryer, Mrs. Barney, Skippack. Part of Pewter Dinner Set, sup- 
posed to be lO(j years old, and is the property of the e.^hibitor : Two 
soup dishes, two meat plates, four dinner plates, sugar bow], and 
salt cup. 

Garrlgues, Mrs., Norristown. Pewter Plates. 

Garsed, Mrs, Robert P,, Norristown. Kettle and Pan. 

Geyer, Mrs. Charles, Worcester. Pewter Tray, dated 1748. 

Ootivals, Abraham, Belfry. Pewter Dish, Colander, and Tea 
Canister, each 100 yearsold. 

Grifieu, Mrs. Samuel, Oaks. Tea Kettle, lOfJ years old, 

Griinley, Miss Olivia K., Schwenksville. Pewter Tea Pot, large 
Plate, three small Plates, and two Dishes. Belonged to Frederick and 
Elizabeth Eeimer, from 1730 to 1761 ; to Solomon and Elizabeth Griin- 
ley from 1761 to 1806 ; to Elizabeth Grim ley, widow, from 180G to 1821; 
to Frederick Grimley, from 1821 to 1843 ; to Amos Grimley, from 
1843 to 1866 ; to Solomon K. Grimley, since 1866. Six small Pewter 
and two large Funeral Bread and Wine Plates. Belonged to Peter 
Umstead in 1734, and remained in the Umstead family until 1856, 
when they c-anie into the hands of Lydia Guttsball, who sold them in 
1883 to Solomon K, Grimley. Mr. Grimley furnishes the following 
information : " The Funeral Plates measure 14J^ inches in diameter' 
In olden times people sometimes had to drive five and ten miles to 
the church and burying place with their dead. It was customary 
to provide bread, cake and wine on such occasions for the refresh- 
ment of those in attendance. The daughter of a principal farmer 
was selected, wlio took a large pewter plate, laden with bread and 
cakes, and stationed herself on the side of the path by which the 
procession was to pass from the church to the grave. A young man, 
sun of one of the farmers of the first class, held a large plate, upon 
which was a bottle of wine or whiskey and a wine cup, and took a 
position opposite the young woman. Each person in passing took a 
piece of bread or cake from the maiden, and then turned to the other 
side and took a sip of wine from the cup, which the youth replenished 
from time to time My grandmother, Mary Keely, who died in 1848, 
aged 85 years 10 months and 25 days, told me that she was on one 
occasion chosen to hold the bread plate, and that it was deemed a 
great honor to be a Leichenwarter, or funeral waiter." Pewter 
Coffee Pot and Cream Jug. Belonged to Henry Pawling, to 1734; 
to Henry Pawling, Jr,, to 1757 ; to .Toseph Pawling, to 1787 ; to 
Rachel Pawling, the great- grand mother of the present owner, to 
1828 ; to Isaac Grimley, to 1S72 ; to Solomon K. Grimley, since 1872. 
Pewter Drinking Cup. Belonged to Henry Pawling, to 1734 ; then 
iu the hands of C. Pawling, until 1757 ; t<i Andrew Ziegler. to 1825 ; 
to Dillman Kolb and bis children, to 18S0, when it came into pos- 
session of Josiah B, Markley, from whom Solomon K. Grimley 
purchased it in 1883. Two Pewter Dishes; Belonged to H. Deetz 



APPENDIX. 



in 1725 ; to the Nace family until 1883, when Solomon K. Grimley 
purchased it. Pe^vte^ Dish. In Deetz family from 1725 to 1S83, 
when Israel Hildehrand became owner, and sold it to Solomon K. 
Grimley. Pewter Plate. Belonged to M'ilhelm Gergoa and his 
descendants from 1725 to 1883, when, upon the death of iSabina 
Gerges, the great-great-granddaughter of the original owner, Francis 
S. Schwenk purchased it, and disposed of it to Solomon K. Grimley. 
This was highly valued as an heirloom in the Gergesfamilv, and was 
never used to any extent. Pewter Sugar Bowl. Belonged in 1725 
to George Heilig, from whom it descended to his daughter, Margaret, 
and to his granddaughter. The latter gave it to Hannah Boyer 
when ten years old. seventy yeareago. In IS84 Solomon K. Grimley 
purchased it. Pewter Tea Pot. In the Kolb family from 1725 to 
1882. F. Frederick then became its owner, and sold it to Solomon 
K. Grimley in ISSIl. Earthen Sugar Bowl. Belonged to Andrew 
Young in 1725, and remained in the Young family until 1884, when, 
upon the death of Susanna Young, Soloniuu K. Grimley purchased 

it. Smalt Ladle. Owned successively by Umstead, 1725 to 

1780 ; Sophia Umstead, daughter, 1780 to 1S40 ; Daniel Miller, 1840 
to 1883; and Daniel Lewis Miller, son of the foregoing, who pur- 
chased it from his father's estite in 1883. Large Ladle. Belonged 
to Jacob Ciissel until 1790 ; then to his daughter, Mrs. Daniel Panne- 
[lacker, until 1883, when Solomon K. Grindey purchased it. Copper 
Tea Kettleip Belonged to Hieronimus Hause from 1725 to 1775 ; to 
Peter Pool, until 1810 ; to Jacob Kolb, to 1870 ; to Catharine T. 
Miller, to 1883 ; to S<donion K. Griudey, since. Two Pewter Tea 
Pots, three large Plates, two small Plates and a Wine Cup. Be- 
longed to Hieronimus Hause, 1728 to 1775; to Peter Pool, 1775 to 
1783; to Thomas Poole, 1783 to 1810; to Catharine Pool, 1810 to 
18G7; to Catharine T. Miller, now ^ridow, 18G7 to 1S83 ; since 1883 to 
Solomon K. Grimley. Six Plates. Belonged to the Gmbb family in 
1734 ; since to J. Kline and F. AValt, and now to Solomon K. Grimley. 
A lai^e and small Dish, Have been owned by Martin Kolb (1730), 
Dillman Kolb, Isaac Kulb and Josiah B. Markley ; present owner, 
Solomon K. Grimley. Two large Funeral Bread and Wine Plates. 
Belonged to Samuel Kepler, and to Maria Schwenk (1815) ; now owned 
by Solomon K. Grimley. Six Plates. Owned by Jacob Cassel (1775) 
hia daughter, and Daniel Panuepacker, to 1884 ; at present by 
Solomon K. Grindey. Five Table Spoons and a Small Plate. Owned 
by Heinrich Kolb in 1770, by the Krupp family to 1883, and now 
by Solomon K. Grimley. Eight Pewter Tea Spoons. Belonged to 
B. Haltenian in 1714, and to his descendants to lf^S3, when Solomon 
K. Grimley came in possession. Three Pewter Dishes. In the 
Rhoads family from 1780 to 1883, when Solomon K. Grimley became 
owner. 

Gmbb, Mrs. Sophia, ZieglersWlle. Heavy Pewter Plate ; cost 
J'.iO in Continental currency. 

Hallinan, Mrs. Lewis, Hartranft. Pewter Plate, age not known 
Imt ven.' oki. 

Halloweil, Mrs. C. R., Norristown. Pewter Plate, owned by 
.hiC'.b Kitter, ye;ii-s ago. 

Hallowell, Peter, Abington. Pewter Urn, 150 years old. 

Hart, Jenule, Hatboro. Wooden Bowl, 100 years old ; once be- 
longed to Edith liuckalew. 

Helliugs, Mr., liartranft. Carving Knife and Fork, over 115 years 
oil. 

HofTman, John D., Douglass. Pewter Dish, 30 years old. 

HolTinaii, Mrs. Julia, Fairview Village. £$mall Pewter Dish, 100 
vt-ars uJiL 

Hughes, Mrs, "Wmiam, King-of-Prussia. Pewter Mug, over 100 
yciu^ old. 

Hiiuslcker, Mrs. J. R., Xorristown. Pewter Plate, over 200 
VL-jirs old. 

Iredell, Pbeebe, Xorristown. Two largo Pewter Plates, 100 years 
old. 

Jarrett, Mrs. Aiiuie, Ambler. Two Pewter Plates and a Mug. 

Jones, Mrs. Ami C, Spring Mil!. Two Pewter Plates. 

Jones, Mrs. Cbarles AV., Conshohocken. Pewter Plate, brought 
troru London by Jane Lukens, 1750. 

Jones, Jobn C, Lower Merion. Pewter Plate, brought from Wales 
by the Jones family. 

Jones, Joslalk, Oak Lane. Copper Tea Kettle, about 100 years 

Mid. 

Jones, Margaret H., Oak Lane. Bread Tray, 100 years old. 
Jones, Mrs. Sarah, Gulf Mills. Pewter Plates. 
Jordan, Mrs. John Jr., Spring >liU. Coffee Mill, formerly used 
by the Moravian Sisters at Bethlehem, Pa. ; very old. 



Keecb, Mrs. J'osepb, Lower Merion. Two Pewter Plates, 160 years 

old, brought from Germany by exhibitor's maternal grandfather, 

Christopher Schubert. 

Kebr, Mrs. Elizabetb, Broad Axe. Pewter Plate, 85 years old. 

Kenderdiue, Mrs. Lavina, North Wales. Pewter Tea Pot, 

17110. 
Kerbangb, Benjamin, Three Tuns. Apple Parer Machine, 100 

years uld. 
Kettarar, Roman, Somerton. Two old Coffee Mills. Two old 
Forks. Sausage Cutter. Old-fashioned Frj'ing Pan and Wheat 
Roaster, .\pple Peeler, old. Bread Toaster. Meat Fork. Butter 
Tray. Old Tea Kettle and Tea Pot. 
KJbbleboose, Mrs. Kate, Blue Bell. Pewter Plates and Mug, 

over liK) years old. 
Klair, Hester, Nonistown. Pewter Dish, brought from Germany 

by the exhibitor's great-grandmother. 
Kueas, Miss Klla, Norristown. Brass Kettle, over 100 yeare old. 
Kuigbt, Miss C. E., Ambler. Pewter Cream Jug, 125 yeare old. 
Kuott, J. Henry, Three Tuns. Old Pewter Plate. 
K,obl, (xeor§;e M., Jenkintown. Kine Pewter Dishes. Used in the 
family ofthe late Nicholas Kohl, 1817 to 1830. Pewter Plate, 120 years 
old. Once the property of 3Iary Conard, the great-grandmother of 
the present owner's wife. Pewter Tankard, age unknown. Deep 
Basin, 1750. 
Kr^eble, Abrabam K.., Kulpsville. Tea Pot, Coffee Pot, and 
Pitcher, over 100 yeai-s old, Ironing Board, dated 1750 ; initials, 
"J. K." 
Krieble, Mrs. Andrew K., Kulpsville. Wooden Plate. 
Laudes, Mrs. J. G., Norristowu. Pewter Plates. 
Leister, Mrs. David, Douglass. Bread Dish, 1(K) years old. 
lilghtfoot, Ellen, King-of-Prussia. Knife, brought from Gennany; 

93 years old. 
ItOgan, Jane, Jenkintown. Preserving Kettle, bell metal ; in use 

since 1S(m». 
X.o^ue, George, Norristown. Colander, made of clay ; used one 

hundred years ago by the grandmother of the exhibitor. 
IfOw^e, Mrs. T. S. C, Norristown. Carving Kuife and Fork, and 
Horn Spoon, 100 years old. Pewter Platter, brought over in the 
Maytiower, 1020. Pewter Cream Jug, 1776. 
Lakens, Mrs. Javrood, Conshohocken. Old English Toasting 

Furli, tvory handle. 
Lnkens, Mrs. Lewis A., Conshohocken. Pewter Plate. 
Mancill, Frank S., Port Kennedy. Pewter Sugar Bowl and Milk 

Pitcher, uver HX) yiai-s i>ld. 
Markley, Frenndscbaft, The— Bread Dish, Tea Caddy, Pie 
Dishes, Pewter Plates, and Mug, Wedding presents to Abraham Ber- 
tolet, 1788. The pewter is in perfect state of preservation ; the large 
plate, twenty inches in diameter, is extremely fine, 
Matber, Miss Mary "W., Jenkintown. Potato Masher and Punch 

^titk, pait of Susan Pierie's outfit, 1792. 
Manck, Miss Addle, Limerick Square. Pewter Cream Jug, 100 

yt-ars old- 
Meuscb, Dr. James G., Pennsburg. Pewter Plate, made in Lon- 
don in 174S. 
Metz, Mrs. Oliver, Fairview Village. Pewter Meat Plate. 
Miles, Mrs. Isabella, Gulf Mills. Frying Pan. 
Miller, 31rs. Catharine T., Trappe. Iron Fork, with initials and 

date carved, "C. E. 17Sti.*' 
Miller, Mrs. Matilda, West Point. Pewter Dishes, and Cream 

Jug. 
Money, Mrs. Samuel, Norristown. Buckwheat Cake Shovel, 

1792. 
Moyer, 3Ir8. Daniel, Frederick. Three Pewter Plates, age un- 
known. 
Iffaille, Miss Annie 31., Royersford. Two Pewter Plates, two 

sizes, I'Hi yearsoliJ. 
Niee, Robert, Bniii-.htown. Two Pewter Plates. 
Noble, Klizabeth H., Abington. Fork, used by Benjamin Lay. 

Tea Caiidy, tortoise shell, about 75 years old. 
Owen, Mrs. William W., Norristown. Pewter Plates. Pewter 
Bowl, with initials of Simon Shunk. It is now in possession of the 
seventh generation. 
Paiste, Robert, Norristown. Large Pewter Plate, over 100 yeara 

old. 
Pannepacker, John B., Schwenksville. Copper Tea Kettle, 110 

years old. Belonged to the great-grandmother of exhibitor. 
Pannepacker, Mrs. William C, Klein's. Pewter Cream Can 



XXVI 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and Pewter Salt Cup. Owned in 1775 by the Hiestand family; now 
by Ilannuh Gcisiiiger. 
Pa^vllni:', Mrs. Dr., Nurristown. Tea Caddy. 
Phlpps, Thomas, Plyiiiuuth Meeting. Pewter Plate, 200 years 

old. 
Q,utllntan, Mrs. Fhtllp, Norristown. Pewter Plate, 60 years 

uld. Pewter IMates, 100 years old. 
Ralhtoii, Miss A. Ij., Norristown. Pewter Spoon, dug up from 

the fortifications at Valley Forge. 
Rambo, Miss Sallle A,, Swedeland. Tcu Kettle, ahont 1 50 years 
old. Belonged to the exhibitor's great-great-grandniother, Polly 
Ague. Pewter Plate, about 75 years old. Formerly owned by Mary 
Cunaway. 
Ramsey, Miss Sallle "W., Swedeland. Pewter Plate, 75 years 
old. Formerly owned by the exliibitor's grandmother, Nancy Pugh- 
Bell metal Kettle, 175 years old. Formerly belonged to the exhibi- 
tor's great-great-grandmother, Polly Rowland. Pepper Box, about 
150 years old. Fornurly belonged to Katie Kambo. 
Rapp, Mrs. Tliomas, Centre Square, Copper Kettle. 

Rex, Mrs. Josepli, Ambler. Copper Tea Pot, 120 years old. Tea 
Pot, Oil years old. 

Ricliardsou, Margaret, Norristown. Knife Sharpener, brought 
from Germany one hundred years ago. 

Rigliter, George, Abninis. Two Pewter Plates. 

Roberts, Mrs, Mary R., Norristown. Pepper Box, SOyearsold. 

Roberts, Septimus, Whitpain. Two Pewter Plates, very old. 
I'e^A ter I'rn ; family relic, at least 75 years old. Pot Hook, very old. 

Rogers, Mrs., Norristown. Brass Tray. 

Roseitberger, Mrs. Jacob, Kulpsville. Earthen Plate, with in- 
scription, "Jos. Mugel,lH04." 

ScbtffTer, Miss, Norristown. Earthen Jar, 150 yeai-s old. 

Scliildt, diaries, Worcester. Sugar Box. 

ScblicUer, Mrs., Norristown.- Pewter Plate, 100 years old. 

Seliiielder, Mrs. Mai-y, Norristown. Copper Tea Kettle, 125 years 
old. 

Schultz, Joseph,, "Worcester. Old Pewter Plates. 

Searfoss, Mrs., Jenkintown. Copper Kettle, used one hundred and 
forty yearsago exclusively for preparing coffee. 

Sbaw, C. H., Jeffersouville. Stone Jug, in the Shaw family one 
hundred and sixty years. 

Shay, Mrs, Ed^vard, Three Tuns. Large Pewter Plate, 100 
yeai-s old. Earthen Coffee Pot, 100 years old. 

Shoemaker, Hauuah T., Norristown. Pewter Plate, 100 years 
old. 

Sliugluff Mrs. Cltarles, Norristown. Brass Skimmer and iron 
Ladle, 12<i yeai-sold. 

Sltngliiif, Mrs. WUliam If., Norristown. PewterTea Pot, 1748. 
Set of Pewter Plutus, in the family befoi'e the Revolution. 

SliiigluiT, Mrs.AV. F., Norristown. Spice Box, 2iiU years old. 

Snyder, Johu H., Kulpsville. Traveling Knife and Fork, nearly 
200 years old. 

Snyder, Sophia, East Greenville. Earthen Dish, 1787. 

Solomou, Mrs. William, Norristown. Old Knife. 

Staiiffer, Mrs, J. P., Swedeland. Pewter Plates. 

Stewart, Mrs. Kliza, Abington. Pewter Dish, 200yearsold. 

Ste«'art, Mrs., Norristown. Mustard Pot, 80 yeaiB old. 

Streeper, Miss Amauda, Broad Axe. Coffee Pot, vei-y old. 

Styer, Aaron, Blue Bell. Two large Pewter Plates, very fine and 
old ; exact age not known. 

Snpplee, Myra, Bridgeport. Pewter Plates. 

Teas, George S., Horsham. Six small I'ewter Plates, large Pewter 
Plate, and Pewter Mug, all over 100 years old. Dutch Oven, over 
100 yf'ars old. 

Trlpler, Mrs. Jacob I/., Noiristown. Iron Spider, 100 years 
old. 

Tyson, Mrs. Sarah H., King-of-Prussia, Pewter Tankard. 

"Walker, E. H,, Jarrettown. Iron Bread Toaster, 100 years old. 
Four buck-horn handled Knives, and Carving Knife and Fork. 

A\'alker, Mary, Belfry, Tea Canister, 100 years old. 

Walton, Mrs. Amos, Blue Bell. Earthen Dish, dated 17fi9. It 
is tifty-fivc' and one-half inches in circumference, with two rows of 
inscriptions around the rim, and in the centre are painted three large 
tulips. It was first owned by Susanna Berkheimer, maiden name 
Hagner, to whom it was given as a bridal present by the manufac- 
turer, whose name is not known. After her death it passed intx> the 
possession of her daughter, Catherine Fetzer, whodiedin 1884, after 
that it belonged to Eliza Fitzer, daughter of the last-named, till she 



gave it to the exhibitor, in 1879. Eliza Fetzer died about a year 

ago, aged 70, being that last of the family, Pewter Plates, very 

old. 
Walton, Elizabeth Ii., Horsham. Knife and Fork, 1(0 years 

old. 
AVarner, Elizabeth, Norristown. Old Jug. 
W^eikel, Mrs. Jacob, Collegeville. Large Pewter Plate. 
'Wentn'orlh, Mrs. George B., North AVales. Five Pewter 

Plates, 22r> yL-ars t.ld ; fifth generation, present owner. 
"Wingate, Hester K., Norristown. Two Pewter Plates, brought 

from Germany by exhibitor's great -grand mother. 
Worrell, Elisha, Centre Square. Pe^vter Cups and Saucers. 
Tost, Miss JiUia, Coilegeville. Wooden Plate, made of the knot 

I'f a tree one hundred years ago. 
Zimmerman, Esther, Norristown. Pewter Plate, 120 years old. 

CLASS XI. 

ANTIQUE FURNrTURB AND CLOCKS. 

Aaron, Mrs. Phcebe P., Norristown. Money Chest brouglit over 
from Wales liy one of the first settlers ; a relic of the Pugh and Wil- 
liam families. 

Abraham, James, Abrams. Chair, with carved back. 

Abraham, Thomas D., Abrams. Chair, brought over in vessel 
with William Penn. 

Adams, Mrs. David, King-of-Prussia. Chair. Belonged to Da- 
vid Rittenhonse. 

Ambler, Aaron, Norritonville. Looking glass, 110 years old. And- 
irons. 

Ambler, David J., Ambler. Clock, 111 years old. 

Amies, Mrs. Mary H., Spring House. Desk, formerly owned by 
Charles Thomson, first Secretary of Congress. 

Anderson, Joseph, Abrams. Bureau, 100 years old. 

Bacon, Charles L., Philadelphia. Brass Clock, formerly owned 
by Commodore Decatur, 

Barrett, Adam, King-of Prussia. Chair. 

Bartmau, Mrs. Mary R,, Trappe. Toy Cradle, 100 years old. 

Bean, 9Irs. Margaret, Norristown. Chair, lOOyearsoId. 

Beldeman, Mrs. John, Hartranft. Andirons, over 100 years 
old. 

Bell, Mrs., Centre Square. Child's Chair. 

Bennett, Daniel R., Jenkintown. William Penn Chair. 

Blckel, John AV., Norristown. Mahogany Paper Case, unique ; 
planned and Imilt by the late Christopher Loeser, Esq., a member 
of the Montgomery and Schuylldll county bars. Now owned by the 
exhibitor. 

Bosch, Kuos, Norristown. Lady's Work Box and Work Table, 40 
years old, nicely inlaid with brass. 

Buckman, Mrs., Fitzwatertown. Mirror. 

Carson, Mary Cpok, Norristown. Child's Rocking Chair, nearly 
200 years old. 

Coates, Mrs. David, Norristown. Chair, said to be 125 years old. 
Looking-Glass 100 years old. 

Coates, Miss E. R., Swedeland. Looking-GIase. Cliair. 

Cope, O. W., Hatboro,' Looking-Glass, with marks. Pair of And- 
irons. 

Corson, Alan W., Norristown. Duke of Wellington's Desk. 

Corson, Walter, H., Plymouth. Andirons. 

Cresson, Jautes, Norristowu. Desk, descended twelve generations, 
was made in Ireland. 

Cresson, Mary J., Norristown. Small Chair, made before the 
RevolutiuUiiry war. 

Davis, Benjamin, Jenkintown. Money Chest, old. 

Davis, John J., Jenkintown. Large high-backed walnut Chair, 
probably 2oit years old. 

DeHaven, David, King-of-Pnissta. Secretary. 

Dlsniiant, Amos, Royersford. Arm Chair, 125 years old. 

Dorewortlt, Joseph, H., Norritonville. Mirror, lOl years 
old. 

Drake, Mrs. Aram, Kulpsville. Trunk, dated 1753 ; formerly of 
John Lnkens 

^arle, Mrs. faille, Norristown. Stool and Chair, 150yeai-s old. 

Eckard, James Read, Abington. Chair of Governor Bedford, the 
second GovcrTmr of Delaware. 

Egbert, Hamilton, Bryn Mawr. Arm Chair, over 100 years 
old. 

Egoir, Gns., Norristown. Corner Cupboard, 100 years old. Old 
Table. Old-fashioned Clock, made by Jacob D. Custer. 



APPENDIX. 



xxvu 



Klkluton, Mrs. George, Blue Bell. Iron Money Chest, over 200 
years old, with a lock of intricate construction. It was formerly 
the property uf the exhibitor's grandmother, Rebecca Courser, wee 
Sergeant, of Kingston-on-Hull, England. 

X:mery, George, Trappe. Breakfast Table, one hundred years iu 
the family. 

Kvaiis, Mrs. Ann, Xorristown. Table 150 years old. 

Kvans, Mrs. Prlscllla, North Wales, Stool mado by David 
Adams about the y^iar 1770. 

Famous, Andrew S., Norritonville. Looking-Glass. 

Flllman, Mrs,, Norristown. Small Chair, 115 years old. 

Flslier, Jacob, Worcester. Small Cupboard, over*100 years old; 
made by a lady. 

Fornance, Mrs KUen Knox, Norristown. Carved wooden 
Mantel Piece, from a house in Norriston, built by General Andrew 
Porter in 1795, and occupied by Andrew Knox and his descendants 
since 1821, which stands on the Knox or Selma farm. 
Pair of Andirons and brass Fonder, about 80 years old ; from the 
home of late Colonel Thomas P. Knox. 

Fraley* Miss Julia Ann, Weldou. Pair of Stools, formerly pro- 
perty of Governur Mifflin. 

Garsed, Mrs. Robert P., Norristown. Mirror, in use more than 
one hiuidied yeai-a. Dining Table, claw-feet, 150 years old. Dining 
Table claw-feet with ball. 

Gilbert, Mrs. S., Norristown. Looking-Glass, 125 yeara old. 

Gotwals, 'William K., Fairview Village. Table and Arm Chair. 

Greeu, Mrs. Harry, Davis Grove. Trunk. 

Griggs, Mrs. A. 1.., Norristown. Child's Chair, brought from 
Germany by George Conkle, in a vessel belonging to Myers Fisher 
111) yeaes ago. 

Griggs, Miss Clara, Norristown. Chivir, 100 years old. 

Grimley, Miss Oliva K., Schwenksville. Two Andirons. Owned 

from 1725 to 1780 by Umstead ; from 1780 to 18-l*>, by Sophia 

Umstead, daugliter of the foregoing ; from 1840 to 1878, by Daniel 
Miller; since 1878, by Solomon K. Grimley. Corner Cupboard, 
1776. 

Haas, Frederick, Sr., Jeffersonville. Chest of Drawers ; has been 
in the family nearly one hundred years. 

Halloivell, Miss E. L,, Swedeland. A Stool, made from part of 
a secretary obtained from William Penn by Thomas Lloyd, first 
Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania, an ancestor of its present owner, 
Miss Eliza Stewart, of Norristown. 

Hallowell, Mrs. R, T., Swedeland. Box, made from a portion 
of the Treaty Elm, by John Hansell, a workman in the saw-mill in 
which parts of the elm were sawed into veneering. 

Hallowell, Dr. William, Norristown. Arm Chair, 150 years 

old. 

Hamel, George Jr., Jenkintown. Child's Chair. 

Hampton, John, Abrams. Chair ; family relic for one hundred 

and thirty-five years. 
Hampton, Powell, Bridgeport. Two Chairs, 100 yeare old. 
Hauge, Mrs. M,, Worcester Looking-Glass, 100 years old. 
Harper, Charles, Jenkintown. Child's Chair, 75 years old. 
Harrj-', Miss Mary, Norristown. Stand, over 100 yeare old. 
Heebner, Mrs. C. B., Collegeville. Arm Chair, 100 years old. 
Heimbacli, Mrs. Elizabeth, Frederick. Foot Rest, 95 years 

old. 
Heller, Miss Clara, Norristown. Mirror, 180 years old. 
Hendrlckson, Rev. "W. C, Norristown. Table, made in 17G5. 
Highley, Miss M. P., Norristown. Two Dog Irons, 100 year 

old. 
Homer, J. "W. A., Norristown. Toy Chest, 100 years old. Chair, 

over 100 years old. 
Hoover, Hiram C, Hartranft. Old Chair, rocker, over 200 years 

old, Chair, over 100 years old. Andirons, over 100 years old. 
Honpt, Mrs. George, Three Tuns. Old family Work Stand. 
Hunsicker, Mrs. J. R., Norristown. Chair, over 200 years old. 
Hurst, Miss Anna, Norristown. Arm Rocking Chair, made by 

exhibitor's great-great-grandfather, upon his arrival from Germany. 

one hundred and fifty years ago. 
Jaeobs, Mamie K., Norristown. Walnut Wood Chest, 135 years 

old. Belonged to Godfrey Young, Sr., who died in 1822 ; is now in 

the possession of his great-gi'eat-great-grandchild. 
Jarrett, Mrs. Annie, Ambler. Table, 200 years old. Antique 

r'hitir, 150 years old. Andirons, 68 years old. 
Johnson, Benjamin, Norristown. Chair, made in Europe ; very 

old. 



Jones, Mrs. Ann C, Spring Mill. Small Table. 

Jones, Mrs. Evan D., Conshohockeu. Old Chair, formerly in 

the Rittenhonse family. 
Jones, John, Conshohocken. Trunk, brought from England about 

the time William Penn fii-st came over ; owned by the late Joseph 

Lukens. 
Jones, John C, Lower Merion. Three Chairs, brought from 

Wales in 174:1. 
Jones, Mrs. Raehel, Broad Axe. Chair, 125 years old. 
Keeler, Miss Edifh, Norristown. Chair, 150 years old. 
K.eller, Mrs. Henry, North Wales. Stand, G5 yeare ago. 
Keinery, C, M., Abrams. Table, owned in the George family for 

two hundred years. 
Keuderdine, Mrs. LaA-ina, North Wales. Andirons 1780. 
Kepler, Mrs, John, Trappe. Mirror, 111 years old. 
Kettarar, Roman, Sonierton. Nine different kinds of andirons. 

Small Chair and Large Chair, old. Invalid's Chair, 147 years olds 

Old safe, from the sea. Small trunk. 
Kibblehouse, Mrs. Kate, Blue Bell. Round table, onceownedby 

Catherine Berkheimer. Chair. 
Kohl, George M., Jenkintown. Table-top, 130 years old. Owned 

by four generations, back to Mrs. Pickering. Small bureau, made 

by Nicholas Kohl about 1820. 
Kooken, Miss Bertha C, Trappe. Carved walnut chair, 104 year. 

old. 
Kre^TSOn, Mrs John, Philadelphia,. Wooden toy cradle, bought 

in 1829. 
Krieble, Abraham K., Kulpsville. Child's Chair, used three 

generations. 
Krieble, Anne, Worcester. Clock, the first owner, George Krieble, 

had it made to order, and imported it about the year 1740. It bears 

the inscription, *' Jacob Molliner, Neustadt." 
Krupp, Henry H., Kulpsville. Table, belonged to the Heckler 

family. 
Kulp, Ellas K,, Ledcrachvillo. Chair, made and uphostered by 

Jacob Weaver, of Upper Salford. 
liOch, John W., Norristown. Andirons ; supposed age, 50 yeai-s. 
liOgan, Jane. Jenkintown. Toy Cradle, dated 1008 
liUkens, Mrs. Henry M., North wales. Looking-glaaa, brought 

from England, in 1730. 
liUkens Mrs, JavFOod, Conshohocken. Old Mirror, beveled glass, 

formerly owned by Joseph Corson, grandfatlier of the exhibitor^ 

Writing Desk, over 125 years old. Antiipio Work Stand, formerly 

owned by Mrs. Hanna J. Foulke. Old Card Table, mahogany, with 

brass feet. Two Franklin Chairs of the Revolutionary period. Brass 

Andirons. 
Ijynch, B. I., Norristown. Cradle, rocked four generations. 
McNeill Mrs. George G., Blue Bell. Table, 200 yeare old ; from 

Holland. 
Maden, Mrs,, Swedeland. Chair. 

Mancill, Frank S., Port Kennedy, Brass Andirons, old. 
MaucUl, Josliph, Port Kennedy. Four Chairs, 100 years old. 
Mather, Mrs. Annie M., Jenkintown. Small Andirons, nearly 100 

years old. 
Meehan, Bf rs, Jolin, Blue Bell. Walnut Table, over 100 years old. 
Michael, Frederick, Norriton. French Clock. Clock, 100 yeare 

old. 
Miles, Mrs. Isabella, Gulf Mills. Bedstead, 
Morgan, Mrs. David, Merion Station. Mahogany Card Table. 

Belonged to John Levering, one of Washington's Aid-de-Camps in 

the Revolutionary war. 
Maille, Miss Annie M., Royersford. Large Centre Table, 110 

yeai-sold. 
Nightlinger, Mrs. George, Shoemakertown. Candelabra. 
Owen, Mrs, William "W., Norristown. Chair, in Nonis family 

over one hundred yeare. 
Panuepacker, Mrs. William C, Klein's Chair. Belonged to 

David Grubb, 1736 to 181G ; to his daughter, Susan Kline, 1816 to 

1871 ; to William C. Panuepacker since 1871. 
Pechin, John "W., Kiug-of-Prussia. Looking-Glass, 120 yeare old; 

brought from France. Chair, 100 yeare old. 
Pechin, Mrs. William, Norristown. Chair, brought over with 

M'illiam Penn. 
Pechin, W^illiam R., Norristown. Plush Seat Chair. Came from 

France ; in the Pechin family one hundred and twenty five years. 
Pomeroy, Mrs. H. S., Norristown Small Dressing Case and Stool, 

75 yeare old. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Plight Mrs. A., King-of-PruB8ia. Chair. 

Rainlto, Mlas SalUe A., Swedeland. Rocking Chair 125 years old; 

foniitiiy owned by exliiblturs grandmother, Kosanna Huzzard. 
Ramsey, Ellen D., Abrams. Trunk, presented to Sarah McVeigh 

(who was burn .laiuiary 2, 1703) by her aunt, Kuth Scotten, in 1771. 
Ramsey, Miss Sallle "W., Swedeland. Ami Chair. Owned, be- 

ford the Revolution, by Jonathan Brooke, and handed down to his 

son, James Brooke. 
Ra^vlins, Mrs. M., Lower Merion. Small Chair, once the property 

of Jacob Christler, one of Washington's body-guards. 
Reld, Mrs. Dr. Jolin K., Coushohocken. Cradle, 100 years old. 
Riclkards Peter., Lansdale. Chair, 100 years old. 
Rittenliouse, AVilllam., Jefforsonville. Dining Table, over 100 

years old. 
Roberts, Septimus., Whitpain. Wooden Chair, dated 1700. The 

property of the late Peti-r Lukens. Arm Chair, 120 years old. 

Stool, about 60 years old; one of the seats of Westtown school. 

I'air of Andirons. 
Rodeubougli, Mrs. T. F., Norristown. Old-fashioned walnut 

Chair, carved back. 
Ro^i^ers, Mrs., Norristown. Andirons. 
Rue, Louisa, Norristown. Card Table, property of Robert Kennedy 

iti the revolution. 
Scbaefer, Miss., Non-istown. Andirons. 
Sclialtz, Solomon, Fairview Villag ■. Table. Used, traditions say, 

by Washington. 
Scott, Tliomas P., North Wales. Cliair, descended to exhibitor 

from Peter Lukens his great-great-grandfather ; supposed to be over 

200 years old. 
Shay, Kllzabetb Y., Three Tuns. Candle Table, over ICO years 

old. 
Shoemaker, Hannah Y., Norristown. Chair, made in 1575. 

bro\ight from Germany by the Shoemaker family when they firet 

Settled here. 
Slemnker, Mrs. M, H., Norristown Small Work Chest, 150 years 

old. 
Slemmer, Mrs. 'William, Norristown. Money Trunk, over 100 

yeai-s old. 
Sllfer, Dr. H. F., North Wales. Chair, over 100 years old. 
Sperry Mrs. Flla, North Wales. Chair, 150 years old. 
Springer, Daniel, Royersford. Piano. Belonged to Wright A. 

Bi-inghui-st. 
Stackhonse Mrs. Joseph, Jarrettown, Stand, made of Job's tears 

in 1H53, by Mr. Edmunds, of Philadelphia. 
Stannard, Mrs. E. J., Broad Axe. Brass Andirons, over 120 years 

old. They were a bridal gift to the exhibitors great -grand mother 

Mary Satterthwait, and have been handed down as bridal gifts to 

each generation since. 
Stanifer, John M., Norristown. Chair, 100 year old. 
Stenger, Hugh, Hickorytown. Chair 1790. 
Ste^vart, George, Jetfersonville, Chair, over 100 years old ; not a 

nail in it. 
Streeper, Mrs. Samuel, Broad Axe. Brass Andirons. Chest, dated 

1707. 
Supplee, Hiram, Conshohocken. Piano, verj- old. 
Supplee, Joseph, Belfry. Chest of Drawers, dated 1770 ; inlaid. 
S^vift, Samuel, Norristown. Arm Chair, 125 years old. 
Taylor, Mrs. Robert A., Jarrettown. Rush-bottomed Chair, 

made in 1805. 
Tomliuson, Amos Buckman, Shoemakertown. Chair about 

100 years old. 
Tyson, Charles, Trappe. Chair. 

"Wager, Mrs. Henry, Norristown. Mirror, over 100 years old. 
"Walton, Mrs. Amos, Blue Bell. Round Table over 100 yearsold. 
TValton, Mrs. Harry C, Blue Bell. Round Table. 
Wanner, Elizabeth, Non-istown. Chair, brought from England 

over 100 years ago. 
"Warner, William B., Norristown. Arm Rocking Chair, more 

than lOOyears old. 
"Wentz, Thomas, Fort Washington. Two Chairs. In Chew house, 

at Germantown, during the Revolution ; now property of the exhibi- 
tor. 
Williams, Mrs. Maria, Phoenixville. Cliair. 
Williams, Mrs., Fitzwatertown. Chair, Clock. 
Wood Mrs. Jesse, Swedeland. Work Box. 
AVoi-rall, Mrs. 'Wlnfield. Blue Bell. Arm Chair, over 100 years 

old. Owned first by John Morgan. 



Wright, Mrs. Comly, Norristown. Foot Rest, supposed to be 150 

years old. 
Yerkes, Hannah. Plymouth Meeting. Chair, nuule in 1575. 

Brought from Germany by the Shoemaker family, when they fii-st 

settled here. 
Yothers, Davi<l, Prospectville. Old Chair. 
Zimmerman, Mrs. Elizabeth, Providence Square. Arm Chair, 

160 yeai-s old. 
Zintmermau, Esther, Norristown. Looking-GIass, 120 years old. 

Tabk-, of Cherry, made nearly one hundred years ago, on his own 

place, by D^ivid Norman, The place is now owned by William 

Smith, on Swede Street, Norristown. Miniature straw-covered 

Trunk, dated 172C. 
Zimmerman, Mrs. Lorenzo, Norristown. Straight-back Chair, 

1750. 

CLASS xn. 

HOME MANIIFACTURED ARTICLES OF DOMESTIC USE, OLD. 

Allebach, Mrs. James H., North Wales. Quilt, between G5 and 
70 years old. 

Ambler, Aaron, Norritonville. Table Cloth and Towel. 

Aurters, Mrs. George S., Kulpsville. Fancy Table Cloth, 1829. 

Ander, W^llllam H., Kulpsville. Fancy Towel. 

Ashenfelter, Mrs A. J., Yerkes. Quilt and Coverlet. 

Barnes, Mrs. Edniiuid, Broad Axe. Sheet, home made linen. 

Bartinau, Mrs. Mary R., Trappe. Home-made Sheet, lUO years 
old. 

Beard, John, Norristown. Three Bed Spreads. One white, lS8l ; 
two white and blue, 1S07 andl816. 

Beek, Mrs. John P., Centre Square. Bed SjH-ead, made by the 
Sloraviau Sisters at Bethlehem. 

Berber, J. P., North Wales. Linen Table Cloth, 100 years old ; spun 
by Elizabeth Ackorman. 

Bertolet, Mrs. A. F. Trappe. Two Patchwork Quilts, 113 years old. 

Blair, David T., Hatboro. Table Cloth. Brought from Holland, by 
Adrian Cornell, one hundred and forty years ago. Double Coverlet, 
made in 1700. Two Pillow Cases, from Holland, 140 years old. 

Bruust, Mrs. Ida M., Yerkes. Bed Quilt. 

Buckman, Mrs. Thomas, Jenkintown. Linen Sheet, home- 
made. 

Cassel, Isaac R,, North Wales. Towel, made by Elizabeth Reiff, 
grandmother of exhibitor. 

Conard, Ella V., Port Kennedy. Woolen Bed Spread, made by 
Eliza Cowgill, fifty years ago. 

Cope, O. 'W., Hatboro. Bed Spread, of 1776, with representation of 
Liberty at the altar presenting her illustrious sous with medallions. 
Belongs to William Wade, Horsham. 

Corson, Miss Annie H., Conshohocken, Homespun Towel, of 
1707 ; spun by the great-grandmother of the exhibitor. 

Corson, Mrs. Dr. Hiram, Conshohocken. Old linen Comfortable. 

Cottnian, Mrs. Charles, Abington. Two Sheets and two Towels, 
made from flax grown near Hatboro ninetj' years ago. 

Cottman, Mrs. J. P., Jenkintown. Table Linen and Napkins. 
Outset of Mary Stoneback, 1798 ; adornments by exhibitor, who is a 
granddaughter. 

Craft, Mrs. Jacob, Norristown. Pair of ToweJs, homespun, over 
130 years old. 

Cra^vford, Mrs. 'William H., Lower Merion. Coverlet, 50 years 
old. 

Cres.'^on, Miss Anne H., Conshohocken. Homespun Towel, spun 
by the exhibitor's great -grandmother, Mary Pennell, of Concord, 
Delaware County, before her marriage, in 1767, with Frederick Fair- 
lamb, of Middletown, Delaware County. 

Custer, Philip B., Norritonville. Quilt, 75 years old, made by Mrs. 
Catherine Custer. 

Danenho^ver, Mrs. Roland, Blue Bell. Linen Towel, over 100 
years old. Bed Spread, 15u years old. 

Davidheiser, Mrs. Sallie, Douglass. Home-made Towel, made in 
1831. 

Dettra, Mrs. John, Norristown. Four Towels, spun and worked by 
Mary Zieber, on the three holidays of the year, second Christmas, 
second Easter, and second Whitsuntide ; over 100 years old. 

Drake, Mrs. Aram, Kulpsville. Bed Spread, blue and white home- 
made linen ; over lUU years old. 

Eastburn, Annie, Bridgeport. Linen Sheet, 100 years old. 

Fisher, Mrs. John, Worcester. Homespun Stand Cloth. 



APPENDIX. 



Fifzwater, Mrs. .Tosepli, Port Providence. Home-made spun 
linen Walk-t, us.-<l by farmere to carry produce to market on horse- 
back ; 75 years old. 

Fox, Mrs. Harry, Norristown. Red Quilt, old. 

Freas, Mrs. Darld AV., Norristown. Towel, spun by hand ; 150 
years old. 

Pretx, Jonas, North \Vale8. Linen Sheet, spun and marked by Ann 
Clemens, 1812. Towel, marked by Susanna Haldeman, 1801. 

Ciarsed. Mrs. Robert P., Norristown. Pair of Blankets, made 
fifty years ago. Counterpane, made in Montgomery County fifty 
years ago. Pair of Linen Sheets, made sixty years ago. 

Gerliart, Miss ClirUtlana, North Wales. Towel, made in 1818, 
by John Gerhard. Quilt, over llHt years old. 

Gcrhart, Mrs. KItza, DoiighLss. Muslin Towel, made in 1842. 

Gross, Miss Elizabeth, Collegeville. Pair of Pillow Slips, made 
of bed curtain of printed linen. Brought from Germany one hun- 
dred or one hundred and fifty years ago. 

Hallman, A. S., Norristown. Quilt. 

Hallman, Mrs. fffeury, Trappe. Quilt, 150 years old. 

Haiise, Mrs. M„ Worcester. Table Cloth, 200 yeare old. Two 
linen Towels, homespun, KiO years old. 

Harlejr, Mrs. JosepK, Belfry. Table Linen, 120 to 125 yeare old. 

Harmer, Mrs, David, Jenkintown. Homespun Towel. 

Heacock, Annie, Jenkintown. Homespun linen Towels, about 80 
years old. Homesjiun blue and white Bed Spred, 70 yeare old 

Heebuer, Mrs. Kinaikuel, Worcester. Two needle-worked 
Towels. Quilt. 

Ileebner, WUliaiu L., West Point. Table Cloth, 1758. Towel, 
1810. 

Helmbacli, Mrs. Kllzabetb, Frederick. Towel, 110 yeare old. 

Holland, Mrs. Eliza, Jarrettown. Coverlet, very old. 

Ho-»-laud, Mrs. Susan, North Wales. Linen Sheet, 1777, and 
linen Towel, 1775; exhibitor's grandmother's. 

Hunslcker, Sliss Mary A., Kulpsville. Blanket, 100 years old. 

Iredell, Plkoebe, Norristown, Table Cloth, 10<^ years old. 

Jacobs, Mrs. O., Norristown. Towel, 70 years old. 

Jarrett, Rebecca and Kllzabetlii, Horsham. Two Towels. 
Belonged to Hannah Mather, grandmother of the exhibitor. 

Jones, Mrs. Evans D., Conshohocken. Blanket and Coverlet, 
spun by exhibitor. 

Keller, Mrs. Henry, North Wales. Bed Spread, 75 years old, spun 
and woven by e.xhibitur's grandmother. 

KlbblelioMse, Mrs. Kate, Blue Bell. Homespun linen Sheets, 
made by Catherine Berkheimer one hundred years ago. 

Kirk, Kd^vln, Neshaminy. Table Cloth, 150 yeare old ; came from 
Germany in ISOG. 

KneedJer, Mrs. Jacob H., North Wales. Bed Spread, made in 
1801 ; spun and woven by exhibitor's great- grandmother. 

Koons, Mrs. Ann, Collegeville. Coverlet, 100 yeare old. 

Kratz, Ida, Worcester. Home-made Towel. 

Krewson, Mrs. John, Philadelphia. Bed Spread, spun by Nancy 
Builean, Jloreland. 1780. Huckaback Towel and Table Cover, spun 
by ]\[;iry Leech, Hatboro, 1770. 

Krieble, Abraham H., Kulpsville. Cup Towels, 150 years old. 
Fancy Towels, over 100 years old. 

Krieble, Abraham K., Kulpsville. Pillow Cases. 

Krieble, Mrs. Isaac, Mainland. Home-made Table Cloth, fine 
linen, llo years old. Bed Spread, 100 yeare old. 

Land, David C, Gwyucdd. Thread, spun by Mary Bean, wife of 
Jacob Cassel, late of Montgomery township. 

Landes, Mrs. J. G., Norristown. Figured Table Cloth, spun and 
woven one liundred years ago. Figured Towels, 100 yeare old. 

Lefevre, Mrs. Esther, Douglass. Home-made Towel, 80 yeare old. 
Home-niiide linen Throjid, -10 yeare old. 

Leister, Mrs. David, Douglass. Towel, over 100 yeare old. 

Liikens, Mrs. Jawood, Conshohocken. Old linen Table Cloth, 
formerly used by Mr*. Hannah J. Foulke. 

MeCrea, Mrs. Harrison, Norristown. Table Cloths, woven in 
Deniark one huTidredand fifty yeare ago. 

Mann, John H., Hoi>*ham. White muslin Counterpane, finished 
about 1830 ; elaborate needle-work in bas-relief. It was nine months 
in the frame, and then filled with a bodkin, on the lap, by Miss Han- 
nah Huston, of Chestnut Hill, later 5Ire. Isaac Mann, Sr., of Hor- 
sham, mother of the exhibitor. Homespun linen Table Cloth, 75 
years old. Pair of Sheets, 75 years old ; spun by Hannah Keith 
Mann. Pair of liunie^;pun Towels. 

Markley Freuudschart, The. Samples of Flax and of Braid, 



woven in 1804 by the mother of Augustus G. Markley. Table Linen, 
i;iO yeare old. Flax spun and woven by Sarah Markley ; remark- 
ably well done, and in excellent preservation. 

Matlier, Mrs. Lydia, Jenkintown. Homespun linen Table Cloth, 
153 yeare old. 

Matthias, Mrs., Norristown. Two hand-made Towels, 1816. 

Miller, Mrs. John, Jeffersonville. Linen Towel, woven by Mre. 
Peter Richards sixty-five yeare ago. Home-made Soap, made by Mre. 
Peter Richards in 1824. 

Morey, 3Ilss Amanda, Douglass. Home-made Towel, 200 years 
oil.]. Home-made Sheet, 100 yeare old. 

Moyer, Daniel, FrL-derick. Pillow Case, home-made, 110 yeare old 
Bed Valance, 110 yeare old. 

Nallle, 3Ilss Annie M., Royereford. Flax, 63 yeare old. 

Nice. Mrs. George, Worcester. Counterpane. 

Ortllp, Emily, Abrams. Linen Thread, made by Hannah Sfaainline 
fifty yean* ago. 

Ortt, Josephine, East Greenville. Home-made Towel, worked by 
Esther Ortt in 1S31. 

O^ven, Mrs. William W., Norristown. Pair of Blankets, made in 
Montgomery Countj- fifty yeare ago. 

Pannepacker, Mrs. AVllllam C, Klein's. Towel, made by 
Sophia Walt in 1S31. Towel, made by Mrs. David Gnil'b in 1803. 

Pawling, The Misses, King-of- Prussia. Comfortable. 

Prizer, E^llvrood, Abrams. Quilt, nearly 100 yeare old. 

Q,ulllnian, Mrs. Philip, Norristown. Two Towels, homespun and 
draM n work, GO years old. 

Renulnger, Mrs. Eliza, Douglass. Home-made Towel, 150 years 
old. 

Rex, Mrs. Jacob Ii., Blue Bell. Linen Sheet, spun by Mary Sling- 
luff and woven by John Slinglnff, who were the parents of the lato 
William H. Slingluff, of Norristown ; supposed to be about 100 years 
old. Linen Sheet, formerly owned by Catharine Berkhimer (after- 
wards Fetzer) ; more than 100 yeare old. Table Cloth, more than 
100 yeare old. Linen Wallet, used for carrj'ing articles on horse- 
back ; more than lOu yeara old. Ancient Table Cloth, homespun ; 
formerly owned by Maria Moore, of Gwynedd. 

Richards, Miss Malvlna, Jeflereonville. Home-made Soap, 60 
yeare old, made by exhibitor. Linen Towel, made by exhibitor's 
grandmother before her marriage. 

Sliay, Mrs. S^dn'ard, Three Tuns. Coverlet, 100 yeare old. 

Shay, Elizabeth Y., Three Tuns. Hand-spun Table cloth, over 150 
yeare old. 

Shoemaher, Hauuali Y., Norristown. Bed Spread, 150 years old. 

Shoemaker, Mrs. Thomas S., Jarrettown. Pair of linen Pillow 
Cases, spun and made by the exhibitor's great-aunt atxjut the be- 
ginning of the century. 

Shrelner, Sarah P., Gwynedd. Pillow Slips, 100 yeare old. 

Slemmer, Mrs. M. H., Ninristown. Hand-worked Quilt, SO yeara old- 

Slingliiif, Mrs. \%^illlam H,, Norristown. Tarns, of the olden 
time. 

Smith, Mrs. Hattie, Douglass. Home-made Towel, 125 years old. 

Smith, John A., Norristown. Two Towels, over 125 years old. 

Snyder, Mrs. George, Broad Axe. Pair of linen Pillow Cases, over 
100 yeare old. 

Speneer, Miss Lillian, Jenkintown. Crocheted Bed Spread, made 
by exhibitor's gnuidiuother when Stl years of age, 

Stillwell, Mrs. Clara, North Wales. Bed Spread, 70 yeare old. 

Streeijer, Mrs. Samnel, Broad Axe. Linen Towel and Apron, over 
100 years old. The flax they were made from was grown on the 
farm of the late William Lentz, of Spring Mill. ^ 

Sweed, Mrs., Nonistown. Hixnd-made Counterpane. 

Taggart, Miss Hauua, Fort Washington. Pair of Pillow Cases 
and Table Cloth, home-made linen. 

Thompson, Mary C, Shoemakertown. Linen Sheets and Pillow 
Cases, 1782. 

Tomlinson, Amos Bnckman, Shoemakertown. Pillow Cages, 
1-'21. 

Tmmbaner^ J. B., Jenkintown. Homespun Towel, made about 
isoo. 

Unrnh Misses R. and K., Weldon. Table Cloth. 

Walker, Mrs. Helen, Norristown. White Counterpane, 112 yeare 
old. 

Walker, Sarah S., Abrams. Two Linen Table Cloths, 80 and 100 
years old. 

Walt, P. K,, East Greenville. Towel, nuule by Elizabetn Keely one 
hundred and forty years ago. 



XXX 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



"Walton, Kber, Blue Bell. Pair of Blankets, over 100 years old. 

"Wanner, Mrs. Peter, Trooper. Linen Towel woven in 1819 by 
Betsy Markley. 

Weber, Mrs. Reuben, Plymouth, Bed Curtains, over 120 years 
old, under the folds of which General Harmer, of Revolutionary 
fame, was born. 

W^einberger^ Mrs, E. K.,, CoUegeville. Home-made Linen 
Sheets, Pillow Slips, Towels, Bed Cases and Spreads, from 1790 to 
1827. The oldest linen came from the exhibitor's grandmother, 
Margaret Gorges, the wife of William Fretz, of Bedniinster, Bucks 
county, through her only daughter Elizabeth, wife of Jacob S. 
Kratz. The Gorges family resided just below Doylestown, and had 
come from Salford township. Samples of home-made Flannel, 
Lindsey-Woolsey, and Flaxen Goods. Samples of home-made linen 
Thread, Stocking Yarn, Ladies' Stockings, Gents' Sucks, woolen 
Stocking Yarn and Stockings. Quilt, made of bed curtiiin style called 
Washington's Oak, IHUO. 

W^hetjstone, Mra. Abby, North Wales. Quilt, over 100 years old 

Wtlsoii, Mrs. A. H,, Ct-nshohocken. Bread Bag. 

Wilson, Mrs. F. W., Nurristown. Linen Table Cloth 85 years 
old. Linen Bed Tick, 51 years old. 

Wtlsoik Family, The .Tenkintown. Woolen and linen Bed Spread, 
spun by their mother abuut 1800. Table Cloth, spun by C. Lukens. 

Wolf, Mrs. Anstlna, I'lyniouth. Linen Table Cloth. Flax grown 
and spun in 1810, near Spring Mill, by Margaret Dewces, afterwards 
Streeper, the mother of the exhibitor. Home-made Linen, made in 
1812. 

Yeakle, Mrs. C'ltarles, Flourtown. Woolen Quilt, made by 
exliibitor's mother in 1799. 

ITeakle, Mrs. Isaac, Norristown. Pair of Pillow Cases, 100 years 
old. 

Yerk, Mrs., Trappe. Linen Towel, 150 years old. 

Young, Miss Margaret, Trappe. Bed Curtiiin, owned by Mrs. 
Bloser one hundred and thirty yeare ago. 

Zimmerman, Ksther, Nori istown. Two Tray Covers, with bunch 
of Linen Thread 120 yearsold. Pillow Case, Spun from the flax by 
Sarah Pickering one hundred and twenty years ago. 

Zlntmernian, Mrs. G. W., CoUegeville, Album Quilt and 
Coverlet. 

Zimmerman, Mrs, J. Itf., Yerkes. Coverlet. 

CLASS XIII. 

SILVER. SILVFR-PLATED, CUT GLASS AND CHINA WABR, AND ORNAMENTS. 

Arron, Mrs. Phoebe P., Norristown. Samples of old China, 
Bowl, Salt Cellar and Coffee Pot. Brought from China by Nathan 
Dunn whilst owner of the Chinese Museum in Philadelphia. Two 
large china Bowls, 140 and 150 years old. 

Acker, Mrs. Dr. E. Ij., Norristown. Sugar Bowl, 100 years old. 

Allebacli, Mary, North Wales. Cream Pitcher, over 100 years old. 

Ambler, Aaron, Norritonville. Two old Plates. Two pairs silver 
Sugar Tongs, Decanter, Wine Glasses and Goblet. Tea Pot. Tarkard, 
110 years old. 

Anders, Andre^v, Kulpeville. Fancy Tumblers, over 100 years 
old. China Cups and Saucei-s, Dishes, Mug, and Pitcher, over 100 
years old. 

Anders, George H., Norritonville. Silver Spoon, made in Phila- 
delphia over vne hundred years ago. 

Anders, Mrs. George S., Kulpsville. Cream Mug and Glass Mug, 
lour generations old. 

Anders, Mrs. Hiram, Norritonville. Old Pitcher. 

Anders, Mrs. Josepb, Jr., Worcester. Glass Cup and Saucer. 

Andeison, •losepli, Abrams. Half dozen silver Spoons, 100 years 
old. 

Appel, Abraliam, Kulpsville. Tea Pot and Cream Mug, 120 years 
old. Blue I'late, with names of the States and portrait of Wash- 
ington. 

Arniitage, Jacob, Jenkintown. Pitcher, of ye olden time, bearing 
the United States arms. 

Asbenfelter, Mrs. A. J,, Yerkes, Cup and Saucer and two blue 
Plates. 

Asbenfelter, Jonas, Jeffersonville. China Tea Set, purchased by 
the exhibitor when he was married, in 1834. Cream Mug, in the 
family fifty years. Sugar Bowl and Cream Mug, over 200 years old 
Belonged to exhibitor's great-grandfather. 

Atkinson, Robert, Bryn Mawr. China Plate, over 100 yeai-s old. 

Bartinan, Mrs., Mary. R., Trappe. Long Plate, SO years old. 

Batcbelder, Meredltli, Nuiriutown. Old Boxes. 



Bean, Mrs. Margaret, Norristown. Tea Pot, 90 years old. Sugar 

Bowl, T-'J years old. 
Becbtel, Mrs. Isaac, Schwenksville. Bohemian glass Sugar Bowl, 

originally the projierty of the Gruff family, and over 200 years old. 
Becbtel, Mrs. William, Schwenksville. Tea Pot 100 years old. 
Becbtel, Mrs. W. H., Schwenksville. Antiquated Tea Pot and 

Glass Tumbler, from the Price family 150 years old. 
Beck, Mrs. Jobn P., Centre Square. Ancient Dishes. St. John's 

Communion Service, used at St. John's Lutheran Church, Whitpain. 
Bertolet, Mrs. A P., Trappe. Bowl and china Plate, 113 years old. 
Besson, Jacob, Plymouth Meeting. Tea Pot, 150 years old. 
Bevan, Mrs. Kiully, Hartranft. Fruit Dish, over 200 years old. 
Beyer, Benjamin, Norritonville. Old Coffee Pot. 
Bickel, Mrs., Norristown. Pair of china Tea Pots, over 100 years 

old. 
Bickel, Mrs. Jobn W., Norristown. Two Plates. Have been in 

the Bickel family over one hundred and twenty-five years. 
Bledler, Mrs. Harry, North Wales. Pitcher, over 100 years old. 

Spoon Holder, I'lO years old. 
Bisson, Jane, Three Tuns. Two Tea Pots, Sugar Bowl, and Cream 

Pitcher, 75 years old, 
Blackburn, Mrs. AVilliam, Centre Square. Old Dishes. 
Blackfau^ Miss, Norristown. Pickle Dish and china Bowl, over 100 

years old. 
Blair, David T., Hatboro. China Cup and Saucer, 110 years old. 

Belonged to Peter N. Hageman. 
Blyler, Mrs., North Wales. Salt Cellar, 125 years old. Tea Pot, 70 

years old. 
Bolton, Miss Rebecca, Norristown. Bowl, over 100 years old. 
Boorse^ Mrs. Joseph, Kulpsville. Blue Saucer, over 125 yeara old. 

Tea Pot, over 100 years old, 
Bosler^ Mrs. Josepb, Shoemakertown. Cream Pitcher. 
Bowman, ■William T., Worcester. Half dozen Cups and Saucera. 

Five Cups and Saucers, conmion ware. 
Boyer, Miss Clara, Norristown. Plate, 138 years old. Pitcher, 

iri5 yeai-8 old. 
Bradtield, Mrs., Plymouth Meeting. Cream Pitcher, 125 yeai-s old. 

China Plate, liH! years old. China Bowl, 150 years old. 
Bradford, Mrs. William R., Norristown. Tea Pot, 105 years 

old. China Tea Pot and cliina Sugar Bowl, Ita yeai-s old. 
Brauln, Ann^ Jenkintown. Dolly Loller's Breakfast Plate, 75 years 

old. Six silver Tea Spoons. 
Broades, Mrs. Ross, West Conshohocken. China Cup and Saucer, 

100 years old. 
Brooke, Mrs., Kins-of-Prussia. China'Cream Pitcher and Pickle Dish. 
Bro^vii, Cliristoplier, Port Kennedy, China Cup and Saucer, 100 

years old. 
Brnnner, Mrs. Benjamin, Worcester. Two Plates one Bowl. 
Briiuner, Jolm, Worcester. China Cup and Saucer. 
Briinuer, Miss Mary, AVorcester. Spoon. 
Bucbert, Mrs. John, Schwenksville. Glass Plate, said to be lOO 

years old ; came through tlie Keeler family. 
Bnckman, Mrs. Thomas, Jenkintown. Two Tea Spoons. 
Bult, George T., Whitpain. Pocket Inkstand and Case, and 

piirtable Steel Pen. 
Butler, Mrs., Plymouth Meeting. Cream Pitcher, 1.50 years old. 
Cald-well, Mrs,, Bridgeport. Large Dinner Plate, Cream Jug, small 

Plate, and Salt Dish. These articles were brought from Scotland, 

eighty yeare ago, by Mrs. Mason, 
Cassel, Abraham H., Harlcysville. Curious old Sugar Bowl. Old 

Plate, from the Jenkins family. Old Cup and Saucer, from the 

Jenkins family. Very fine antique Sugar Bowl, supposed to be of 

black slate ; a relic of the family of the elder Christopher Saur, who 

emigrated to America in 1724 by way of Bristol, England. Family 

tradition says he brought this Bowl, besides a number of other 

articles, along from Bristol. Two curiously shaped Preserve Dishes 

from the Sanr family. Small silver Tea Spoons, from the Lukens- 

Jenkiua family ; very old. 
Cassel^ Mrs. Abraham H., Kulpsville. Plate, over 100 years old. 

Wine Glass, jiartly wood, from Christopher Master; 110 years old. 
Cassel, Mrs. Haiknah, Skippack. Brittania Sugar Bowl, part of 

the outfit of present owner's grandmother, tiie mother of ex-County 

Treasurer George C. Reiff. 
Cassel, Isaac R., North Wales. Shaving Glass. Cup and Saucer, 

used by exhibitor when young. Perfumery Bottle, brought by 

exhibitor's grandfather Cresson from Jerusalem. Perfumery Bottle. 

Belonged to gn-at-great-grandniother Cresson. 



APPENDIX. 



XXXI 



Cassel, Mrs, James, Belfi-y. GlaeB Cigar Holder, blown in Holland ; 

160 years old. Two Blue Suucere, 100 years old. Large Blue Bowl. 

100 yeai-B old. Blue Glass Salt Cellar and Cream Jug, loO years 

old. 
Case«el, Mrs. S. V.; Skippack. Suup Bowl, over 100 yeara old. Came 

froinCermauy. 
ClUlds, S.Powell, Plymouth. China Tea Pots, Sugar Bowl, Cream 

Jug. Cake Plate, and SugarTongs, owned by the late Samuel Pow- 
ell, and in the Powell family for a century. 

Ancient Gravy Bowl, 100 years old. 
Clements, Adelaide, Lower Merion. China Cup, Saucer, and Plate, 

liiitid painted. 

Coates, Mrs. David, Norristown. ■ Cream Pitcher, 100 years old, and 
very Itandwunie in its time. 

Colton, 3Irs. Ann C., Jonkintown. Glass Fruit Bowl, bought in 
17:>i». Twn Silver Table Spoons, bought aboutl702. 

Conard, Ella V., Port Kennedy. Tliree silver Tea Spoons, about 
100 years old. Cnp and Saucer, 75 years old. 

Conrow, Mrs. George E. B., Norristown. Modern Cream Jug, 
1SS4. 

Cook, Mrs.Trappe. Cliina Tea Pot andSugar Bowl. 

Corson, Mrs. George N., N orristown. Pieces of China, nearly 200 

years old, 
Corson, Mrs. Dr. Hiram, Conshohocken. Silver Table Spoons, 
in almost daily use since the Revulution. Old Silver Fruit Bas- 
ket. Old silver Sngar Bowl, Cream Jug, Coffee Pot, and Cotfeo Urn, 
Pitcher, presented to Sarah Butter by Thomas Adams, of Blassachu- 
setts, son of John Adams, President. 

Cottnian, Mrs. Charles, Abington. Cnp and Saucer, purchased 
by Charity Vou Deron in the year 1701. Six Bilver Tea Spoons, da- 
ted 1809. 

Cottinan, Mrs. J. F., Jenkintown. China Tea Cup, outset of Mrs. 
Jacob E. Buck in 1824. China Tea Cup, outset ofMre. AN'illiam Cott- 
inan in 1832. Tea Cup, Saucer, Sauce Dish, and Sugar Bowl. 

Crawford, Mrs. V. Virginia, Biyn Mawr. China Plate, 200 years 
old. 

Cra^vford, Mrs. 'W'^illiam H., Lower Merion. Four silver Table 
Spi'inis, 12o years old. China Saucer, 100 years old. 

Creigliloik, Mrs. Mary A., Norristown. Half dozen silver Spoons, 
12.") years old. 

Cresson. 3Irs. Annie, H., Consholiockcii. Silver Needle Case, of 

the sevfjitt-enth reiitury. 
Cresson, Mrs. Sarah, Conshohocken. Modern Finger Bowl 
liisbee. 

Cumndns, Ella, Port Kennedy. Toy Wash Bowl and Pitcher, 100 
years old. 

C'urwen, George F., Villa Nova. Punch Ladle. Charles 11., 
1003. 

Cnster, Mrs. Oavld, Fairview Village. China Cup and Saucer. 

Custer, Mrs, Lydia, North Wales. Half dozen Tea Spoons, unite 
old. 

Custer, Philip B., Nonitonville. Sngar Bowl, SOyears old. 

Cutler, C. D,, Three Tuns. Uiiupie Inkstand, loO years old. 
Daneulioiver, Mrs. Roland, Blue Bell. China Cups and Sau- 
cer>*, very old. 

Dannehower, Mrs Wllliant, Blue Bell. Pin, ovcra lOOyeara 
old. 

Davis, Mrs. P. J., Ironbridge. Tea Cup and Saucer, over 100 years 
old. 

Day, Mrs. Richard H., Philadelphia. Silver-plated Candlesticks. 

Deal, Mrs., 4'atharine, Biyn Mawr. Coffee Pot. 

Deul, Mrs. Hannah, Bryn Mawr. Cream Pitcher, 160 years old 
China Cup and Saucer, formerly used in the family of Charles 
Tliompson, President of the first Continental Congress. 

Dettra, Mrs. Jolkn, Norristown. China Plate, over 100 yeareold. 

Detwiler, Jones, Blue Bell. Tea Pot, property of Henry Slater ; a 
family relic of many years. 

Det\viler,MrB. Sarah, Fain-iew Village. Sugar Bowl and two Tea 
Pots, 00 years old. 

Dewees, Mrs. Louisa B., Norristown. Large Meat Dish, an- 
ti'pif. 

Dorworth, Joseph H., Norritonville. Wine Glas.s, very old. Su- 
gar Bowl, 97 years old. Two Bowls, 70 and 102 years old. Gerntan 
Tea Canister, brought to this country in 178-'. 

Drehs, Miss Marlah, Douglass. Fancy Drinking Cup, 80 yeain 
old. 

Eastburn, Annie, Bridgeport. Anlia'ie China, lOOyearsold. 



Eherle, The Mlssea, Oak Lane. Old-fashioned Salt Cellar. 

Eckard, Jane E., Abington. Twoaiitiqno Iv<iry Tablets, with tor- 
toise shell cover. Mother-uf-pearl Tatting Sluittle, antique. 

Edelman, Mrs. Mary, Collegeville. Two Phitets ; in the familyof 
exhibitor since 1800. 

Edwards, Jacob, Norristown. China Tea Pot, over IW years 
old. 

Egolf, Gus, Norristown. Dishes, lOo years old. 

Blsenhart, Miss Clara, Kulpsville. Gilt Pitcher, over 100 years 
old. 

Elkinton, Paul P., Blue Bell. Brass Flemish Coat-of-arms, and 
Hook. 

Elliott, Miss S. E., Jenkintown. Tt-a Pot and Pitcher. 

Evans, Gertrude, Hatburo.' Marble Punch Bowl, made in 1603. 

Evans, Mrs. Priscilla, North Wales. China Image of a Lass, 110 
years old. 

Famous, Andrew S., Norrituuville. Dec^uiter and Cream Jug. 

Faust, Mrs. H. H., Frederick. China (_'up and Saucer, 75 years old. 
Cliina Plato. Small Bronze Cream Pitcher, with illustrations of 
General Lafayette receiving a sword, and a portrait of that distin- 
guished Frenchman. Blue China Tea Pot. 

Feltou, Mrs, Joseph, Jenkintown. Cream Pitcher and China 
Bowl, used since 171)0. 

Felty, Mrs., North Wales. Tea Pot. Belonging to exhibitor's great- 
grandmother. 

Fisher, Jacob, Worcester. Tea Cup. 

Fisher, Mrs. John, Worcester. Wine Pitcher and Tea Pot, from 
Germany. 

Fisher, Susan, Worcester. Wine Glass. 

Fleck, Mrs., Norristown. Cream Cup, 100 years old. 

Fornance, Mrs. Ellen Knox, Norristown. Three Tea Cups and 
two Saucei-s, about 80 years old. Tureen, oval Plate, and Cream 
Jug, about SO yeare old. 

Fornance Joseph, Norristown. Punch Bowl, about 100 years old ; 
was broken and fastened with rivets. 

Fox, Mrs, Maggie, Fairview Village. Lai'ge Plate, dated 1790. 

Fraley, Miss Julia Ann, Weldori. Pitcher of the War of 1812, 
with man-of-war and Masonic emblems ; was the property of Cap- 
tain Flinn. 

Freas, Mrs. David W., Nurrietown. A Jar, from Germany in 
1756. Filled with fruit. 

Freedley, Sophia, Norristown. Five cliinn Platrs, modern. 

Freedley, Mrs. l>r., Conshohocken. Three-cornered Dish, very 
old. 

Fry, Mrs. Peter, Worcester. Plate and Glass. 

Fryer, Mrs. Barney, Skippack. Inkstand. 

Fryer, Henry S., Skippack. Half dozen silver Spoons, traced back 
200 years. 

Fulmer, Mrs., Gulf 31ills. China, antique. 

Garsed, Mrs. Robert P., Norristown. Antique Pitcher, decora- 
ted with figure of Washington. Antique Pitcher, decorated in four 
colore ; handle broken. In use more than one hundred years. An- 
tique silver Basket, used more than one hundred years ago; china 
Punch Bowl, china Cup and Saucer, and silver Spoon. All owned 
by Mrs. L. W. Read. Antique china Saucer, owuctl by Mrs. L. B. 
Dewees. Inlaid wooden Box. 

Geller, Mrs. J. S., Norristown. Cream Jug, 115 years old. 

Geyer, Mrs. Charles, Worcester. Two Platea and one Sugar Bowl. 

Geyer, Miss Sarah, Obelisk. China Plate, Cup, and Cream Jug, 
in possession of exhibitor's family one hundred and twenty-six 
years. 

Gilbert, Mrs. S., Norristown. Sngar Bowl, 110 years oM. 

Gotwals. Abraham, Belfry. Coffee Pot, three Plates, Cup, and 
Saucers. 

Graf, Mrs. Peter, Kulpsville. Flowered Plate, 120 yeai-s old. Por- 
celain Tea Kettle, 105 years old. 

Griggs, Miss Clara, Norristown. Silver Spoons, nearly 200 years 
old. Belonged to the firet white child born in Montgomei'y county ; 
said child was born in a cave. Cream Mug, over 100 yeare old ; 
from Germany. 

Grim ley.' Miss Olivia K.., Srhwenksville. Six china Cups and six 
cliina Saucers, owned liy Sarah Nunnemacher in 1800, and purchased 
by Solomon K. Grimley in 1877. Two china Plates, with land- 
ing of Lafayette in 1824. Owned by Jacob Cassel from 1824 to 1878 ; 
since 1878, by Solomon K. Grimley. Four Plates. Owned by Mary 
Keeley, 1818 to 1872 ; Solomon K. Grimley, 1872. Cream Jug. 
Owned by Hieronymus Hause, 1728 to 1790 ; Peter and Thomas Pool, 



xxxu 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



from 1790 to 1882 ; since 1882, belongs to Solomon K. Grimley. 
Earthen Sugar Bowl. Owned by Andrew Young in 1725, and re- 
mained in tliL' Young family until 1S81, when, after the death of Su- 
Bjuiuah Young, Solomon K. Grimley purchased it. China Tea Pot, Be- 
longed to Samuel and Mary Krupp, 1800. Six common A, B, C Plates. 
Belonged to Isaac Grimley in 1818 ; to Solomon K. Grimley since 
187-2. 

Guest, Miss Alice, Norriatown. Tea Pot and Cream Jug. Once the 
pn>pi*rty of Hester Reed, and over 100 years old. 

Haas, Mrs., Daniel, East Greenville. 3Iug. Was exhibitor's great- 
smndmuther's, and is said to be 150 years old. 

Hall, Miss Sallle, Ni)rristown. China Pitcher, 100 yeareold. 

Hallntan, Mrs. Lewis, Ilartrauft. Meat Dish, 150 years old. 

Halloivell, Mrs. C. R., Norristowu. China Cream Pitcher, over 1(H» 
yc-ars old. Silver (.'ream Pitcher, over loO yeai-s old. 

Hallowell, Mrs. C. R., Plymouth. Cup, Saucer, Plate, Vase, two 
Pickle PlatL's, and Card Stand. 

Hallowell, Ellzabetli, Jenkintown. China Tea Cup and Sauceri 
and Coffee Cup and Saucier ; Were the property of Tabitha Kirk, de- 
ceased. Silver Sugar Tongs, made by Seneca Lukens ; fa-c-simile of 
one owned by George Washington. 

Hallowell, Mrs. Isaac, Sjiring House. Salt Cellar. 

Hallowell, Jennie E., Norristown. Finger Bowl, over 100 years 
old 

HaniUl, Miss Clara, Norristown. Silver Sugar Bowl and Cream 
Jug. ITS'.t. 

Hamilton, Mrs. R., Lower Merlon. Cup and Saucer, over 80 years 
(.Id. 

Hange, Mrs. M., "Worcester. Glass Jlug, 100 years old. 

Harley, Mrs. Joseph, Belfry. China Pitcher, 12oyeare old. 

Harner, Mrs., Norristown. China Bread Tray, and uther pieces. 

Harper, Martlta 1.., Jenkintown. Silver Spoou, used by the first 
female white child born of English parents on the banks of the 
Delaware. By reiison of this child, Mary Killcup, being the firet 
female born on the Delawiire, AVitliam Peuu granted her land near 
Arch street. 

Harrison, James, Spring House. Ivory Box. 

Harry, Miss Annie, Conshohockeu. China Cup and Saucer, Spoon, 
Silver Scissors. Hook. 

Harry, Miss Mary, Norristown. Cup and Saucer, over 130 years 
old. 

Hart, Mrs. EllzabetH, Blue Bell. Two old-fashioned Plates. 

Hart, 3Ilss Kate, Norristown. China Sugar Bowl, Plate, and small 
Puucli Bowl, over 100 years old. China Cup and Saucer, 80 yeai-s 
old. Tumbler, 100 years old. Belonged to the great-grandfather 
of Zieber Hart. 

Heacock, Annie, Jenkintown. Six silver Tea Spoons, 100 yeai-s 
old. Inkstand, made in 1818. 

Heebuer, Mrs. C. B., Collcgeville. China Ware, 100 years old. 

Heller, Miss Clara, N'urristown. Vase, hand painted ; 100 years old. 

Helllngs, Mrs. C, Plymouth Meeting. China Cup, 125 years old. 

Hendricks, Llzxle H., Norristown. Bottle, 100 years old. Two 
small Wine Glasses, very old. 

Heudrlcksou, Rev. W. C, Norristown. Communion Service, 
five Cups and a Ewer, of the uld Dutch Kefomied Church, of Phila- 
delphia ; 80 years old. 

Henry, Mrs. Racl&el, Gcrmantown. Tavo silver Cake Biiskets, 
presented by Martlia Washington. 

HeAvett, Mrs. Charles, Jenkintown Ancient silver Spoon. 

Heysliam, Robert, Norristown. China Cup and Saucer, 100 years 
old. 

Hlgbley, Miss M. P., Norristown. Two Plates, 200 years old. 

Hod^klns, S. T., Norristown. China Cup and Saucer, and silver 
Casket, over 100 years old. 

Homer, Mrs, Saninel, Norriatown. Two Bowls, Tea Pot, Plate 
and two Clips and Saucers. 

Hoover, Mrs. Hlrank C, Hartranft. Whiskey Flask, brought 
before 17:i5 by exhibitor's grand-fiither ; over 100 years old. Cross- 
ed the ocean three times. Spoons, over 100 years old. 

Hnnsleker, Mrs. Ann, Trappe. Round white Plate, from Europe 
two h\indr(d yeai's ago. 

Hunsleker, Mrs, A. D ., Iroubridge. Tea Pot and Water Pitcher, 
V>oth over 150 years old. 

Hnnsleker Mrs. J. R., Norristown. Glass Mug, glassDish, china 
Mug. and bottle, over 2iH) years obi. 

Hunsleker, Miss Mary A., Kulpsville. Glass Cup, abottt 100 
year.s old. 



Hunsberger, Mrs. Joseph H., Worcester. Cream Jug, Sugar 

Bowl, Cup and Saucer. 

Hnusberger, Mary, Skippack. Sugar Bowl, Cream Jug, Plate, 
and Saucer, over 100 years old ; came from the Alderfer family. 

Hurst, Miss Anna, Norristowm. China Coffee Pot, Sugar Bowl, 
two Cream Pitchers, and one Cup and Saucer, ino years old. 

Hnston, Lizzie, Blue Bell. Pitcher, over lOO years old. 

Iredell, Sarah B., Norristown. Small Dish. Belonged to Hannah 
Iredell. 

Jacobs, Al., Norristown. Cream Pitcher, 150 years old. 

Jacobs, Miss B., Norristown. Sugar Bowl and Cream Pitcher, 
lS(»yeui-s uld. 

Jacobs, Mrs. M. S., Norristown. Water Pitcher, 100 years old. 

Jacobs, Mrs. Oliver K., Norristown. Cream Pitcher, over 100 
yeai-s nld. 

Jacoby, Mrs. Kate B., Norristown. China Tea Set and Punch 
Bowl, 100 yeai-s old. 

Jarrett, Mrs. Anule, Ambler. Pair of silver-plated Candlesticks, 
08 jears old. 

Jones, Mrs, C, Gulf Mills. China. 

Jones, Mrs. Evan D., Conshohocken. Plate KiO years old. Cup 
and Saucer, 00 years old. 

Jones, Mrs. Israel, Nonistown. Plate engraved " Capt. Jones of 
Macedonian " ; over 100 years old. 

Jones, Mrs. John L., JaiTettown. Tea Pot and Coffee Pot. Silver 
Ware. Old china Plate. Gravy Boat, over 100 years old. Two 
oldfa.-^hiotied Bowls. 

Jones, Mrs. Jonathan, Lower Merion. China Mug, 160 years 
old. I'rescnted to exhibitor by her grand-father, Jonathan Robinson. 

Jones, Joslah, Oak Lane. Fruit Waiter and Tea Wiiiter, about UK) 
years old. Three china Flower Pots, over 100 years old. Illustrated 
Pitcher, 75 years old. Polychromatic Plate, over UK) years uld Two 
pieces child's Tea Set, over 100 yeai-s old. China Cup, for expecto- 
ration. 

Jones, Margaret H., Oak Lane. Cup and Saucer, Bowl, and Cake 
Plate, over liiil years old. 

Jones, Mrs. Hary, Bridgeport. Silver Candlestick, 1775. 

Jones, Mrs. Rachel, Broad Axe. Tea Cup and Bowl, 150 years 
old. Tea Pot, 85 years old. 

Jones, Mrs, Sarah, Gulf Mills. Glass Tumblers, etc., very old. 

Jones, Mrs. Sarah R,, Conshohockeu. Two silver Spoons, form- 
erly uwned liy Joseph Coreon, grand-father of exhibitor. 

Kalb, Mrs. Emma, Frederick. Glass Salt Celler, 1(HJ years old. 

KeecU? Mrs. Joseph, Lower Merion. Two china Plates and Pitch- 
er, 100 years old. 

Keeler, Miss Edith, Norristown. China Cup and Saucer and 
silver Spoon, I-IO yeara old. Descended from an oldFriend's family, 
and given for a wedding present. 

Keiulerdtue, Tacy, Horsham, Tea Pot and Gravy Bowl, 150 yeara 
old. 

Ketturar, Roman, Somerton. Bread and Cake Basket, brought 
from Germany in 1719. Two old Pitehei's aud Milk Pitcher. 

Keyser, Mrs. David, Trappe. China Set, supposed to be 100 years 
old. 

Keyser, Mrs. Elizabeth, Trappe. Samples of complete China 
Set, over loo yeara old, and owned by exhibitor. 

Kirk, Ed^vln, Nesliaminy. Silver Tea Spoon, over 115 years old. 
Belonged to Pho'be Thomas, great-grandmother of the exhibitor. 

Klalr, Hester, Norristown. Cup and Saucer, brought from Ger- 
many by exhibitor's great-grandmother. 

Kneule, Miss, Norristown. Fruit Dish and five Plates, German 
silver, over 100 years old. 

Knipe, Mrs. Dr. J. O. Norristown. Two Parian Tea Pots, an- 
tiquated. Blue China Plate, illustrating the landing of Lafayette ut 
Castle Garden in 1824. 

Knox, Mrs. Bejamin, Blue Bell. Half dozen blue Plates and two 
<'ream Pitchers, about loO years old. 

Kolil, George M., Jenkintown. China Cup and Saucer, over ^C■0 
years old. Formerly owned by Rebecca Kilter, of Plymouth. Silver 
Set, in part. The set, of which this is a part, was jiresented to 
Nathaniel Boileau some time during his public career. He was a 
member of the Assembly and Speaker of the House in IS' 8, and 
afterwards Secretary of State. He died in 1850, aged 88. Britannia 
Cream Cup, age not known ; brought from England. Decanter. 
Was used by Israel Michener, who kept tavern at Willow Grove 
about 1808. Two Mugs. Presented to the deceased wife of George 
M. Kohl by her gmndmother about 60 j'ears ago. Two eilver Tea 



APPENDIX. 



Spoons, about 70 years old. Dishes. Once the property of Martha 
P. Mather. 

KLookeu, Miss Bertlia C, Tr.ippe. Tea Pot, 97 years old. 

Krause, Aaron, Worcester. Four ohi Plates. 

Krewsoii,Mrs.,sliuemakertowu. ^ixsilver TeaSpoons, 120 yearsold. 

Krieble, 3Irs. Anua, Kulpsville. Glass Stand, over 100 years old. 
Plates, Dishes, Mug and Pitcher, over 100 years old. Six silver Tea 
Spoons ; exhibitor's grandmother's. 

Krteble, Mrs. Frauklln, Nortli Wales. Two Plates and a Bowl, 
1817. Belonged to exhibitor's great-grandmother. 

Krieble, Henry S., North Wales. Bronze Pitcher, 75 years old. 

lirieblet Mrs. Isaact 3Iainland. Pitcher, 150 years old. 

Klrieble, Mrs. Joel, West Point Mug, over 100 yeare old. 

Krleble, Septimus A., Kulpsville. Tea Pot, llOyearsold. Wash 
Pitcher, liKl years old. 

Kutz, Miss Klla, Norristown. Tea Pot, 200 years old. 

Land, David C, Gwyuedd. Small Mug and Saucer. Brought 
from Germany in 1700 by the mothor of Mary Beau, wife of Jacob 
Cassel, late of Montgomery township. Cup, Saucer, and Plate. 
Marriage gift to Jacob Cassel and wife in 1806. Inkstund, said to be 
160 yeurs old; brought from Leipsic, in Germauy. Belonged to 
Jacob C^issel, late of Montgomery township, and his ancestors. 

Landes, Mrs, JT, G,, Xorristowo. China Bowl, brought over in the 
"Mayflower." China Plates, very old. 

Laue, Miss Rebecca, Bridgeport. Large Punch Bowl, small Punch 
Bowl, and Cream Jug. Three of the pieces of china with which 
Jessie and Rebecca Roberts started housekeeping one hundred and 
three yeai-s ago. 

liceclk, Mrs. Kstber, Shoemakertown. China Plate, about 200 years 
old. 

Iieverlng, P. H., Norriton. Glass Sugar Dish and Cake Dish, over 
100 years old. 

Lewis, Mrs. Mary, Norristown. Plate, over 100 years old. 

Lightfoot, Kllen, King-of-Prussia. Four Saucers, eight cups, Tea 
Caddy, Bowl, large Soup Plate, two small Plates, chioa Coffee Pot, 
porcelain t.'ream Jug, small Mug, and three china Plates, all from 
Canton, China; over 100 years old. Nine silver Tea Spoons and 
Sugar Tungs ; stylo of 1782. Decorated Pitcher, old. 

liluslubigler, Samuel, Douglass. China Cup, 100 years old. 

Loch, John W., Norristown. Maison's Ironstone Ware, made by 
Maison in England; over 50 years old. None ever made in this 
country. 

Longacre, Mrs. E., Trappe. Seven styles china Plates, two Cups 
and Saucers, two Tea Pots, and Cream Pitcher, over lUO years old. 

Lo^ve, Mrs. T. S. C, Norristown. Chinese carved ivory Basket. 
Two Chinese carved ivory Vases. Six old Dresden Plates. Lafay- 
ette Memorial Pitcher. Old hand-painted Saucer. Two antique 
Chinese porcelain Vasfts, hand- painted. Old Dresden Sevres Royal 
Blue, IGO years old. Rockingham Cup and Saucer. Carved Chinese 
Plate. Ancient Chinese Platter. Seven old Dresden flowered Fruit 
Plates. Salt Cellar, piuk and glazed. Chinese Money Sword, made 
of old coins. Antique Cloissone Plaque. Old French china Tete-a- 
Tete Set. Old Dresden China, covered-dish, shape of cantaloupe. 
Franklin Memorial Tea Set, fifteen pieces. Bowl, Cup and Saucer, 
old blue. Diamond-cut glass Tumbler, over 100 years old. Pair of 
antique Japanese Cloissone Vases. Turkish Coffee Cup Holder. Old 
Japanese Plate. Two bronzed glazed Cream Jugs Old Chinese 
Crackle Bowl. Two Canton China Bowls. Two old Preserve Plates, 
shell form. French china Water Pitcher. Rudolstadt China, 1762. 
Old China Fruit Plate and >'ut Dish. Old India Salad Bowl. Old 
India Cream Jug, with cover and stand. Indian china Cup. Old 
India Cup. Carved Chinese Card Case, 170 years old. Seven silver 
Spoons, about 100 yearsold. Set of Sevres China, 153 years old. 

Lnkens, Charles, Conshohockeu. Solid silver Pitcher, presented 
to Dr. Charles Liikens, uncle of the exhibitor, for services rendered 
during the chuhra epidemic of 1835. 

Liikens, Mrs. Charles, Conshohocken. India Cup, Saucer, and 
Plate, I'Mi years old. 

Lnkens, Mrs. Ja-wood, Conshohocken. Blue India Plate. Silver 
Pin-cushion, King, and Cushion, over 100 yeare old. 

Lnkens, Mrs. Lewis A., Conshohocken. Silver-plated Snuffers 
and Tray. China Tea Pot. 

McClennan, Mrs. "Walter, Norristown. Antique china Punch 
Bowl, over 100 years old. Silver Spoon, brought from Scotland tive 
generatii'iis ago. 

McGraugh, Miss Hettle, Blue Bell. Cups and Saucers, over 150 
years old. 



Mclunes, Miss Janet IV., Bridgeport. Six hand-painted china 

Plates. Hand-painte<i Pitcher, Bowl, and Plate. 
Mackey, Mrs. Edmund R., Norristown. Silver Coffee Urn. 
Maden, Sirs., Swedeland. Plate. 

Maun, Mrs. Hannah S., Horsham, and Sallle J . Shoema- 
ker, Springfield. Blue Queensware Tea Pot and Sugar Bowl, used 
by Jane Supplee Shoemaker, of Whitpain, eighty or ninety yeara 
ago. 
Mann, Mrs. John H., Florsham. Two large blue Meat Plates, 

used in the Mann family about a century. 
Markley Freundschaft, The. China of Samuel and JIary Mark- 
ley, 1820. Salt Cellar, 1750. Dishes of John Markley and Elizabeth 
Schwenk, his wife, 1785. One large blue decorated dish, with view 
of Niagara Falls, and dated 1774. Companion to this, same date, 
with view of Lake George. China Sugar Bowl, fancy Glasses, china 
Bowl, and fancy Box. Wedding presents to Abraham Bertolet, of 
Frederick, in 1788. 

Marshall, George, Norristown, Pitcher and Cream Jug, used by 
the grandmother of the owner when in the service of General Wash- 
ington's family, and given to her by them. 
Mather, Mrs. Annie M., Jenkintown, Baptismal Bowl and Sugar 

Bowl, over 100 years old. 
Mather, J. C, Jenkintown. Two Plates, over 100 years old. 

Mather, Mrs. C, Jenkintown. Pickle Dishes. Susan Pierie's, 1792. 
Punch Bowl. Part of Susan Pierie's outfit, 1792. Sugar Bowl, Cup, 
and Saucer, 70 years old. Belonged to exhibitor's mother. 

Mather, Miss Jane, Philadelphia. Cake Plate, over 100 yearsold. 

Mather, Miss Martha, Jenkintown. Soup Ladle (silver bowl) and 
silver Tea Strainer, about 180 yeare old. Shell and pearl Sugar 
Tongs, 180 years old. 

Mears, Mrs. Anne deB., Milestown. Blue fluted Cake Plate, 1750. 
Silver Sugar Tongs, 1814. Blue and white china Plate. Originally 
belonged to the Roberts family ; it is considerably over 100 years 
old. India China. The exact date is not known, but it can be 
traced back from its connection with the family of the exhibitor's 
gi-andfaiher, the late Dr. George deBenneville (third of the name) 
for one hundred years. Mrs. Kemble, on one of her visits to the 
exhibitor, while resident of the neighborhood of Milestown, when 
shown this set of china, expressed great admiraticm of its antiquity 
and beautiful style, as she had never, iu all her opportunities, seen 
any like it. The sets were composed of two tea pots, cream pitcher, 
two bowls (one of which was used for broken sugar as formerly used 
and handled with silver tongs), tea caddy, twelve cups, and twelve 
saucere. The plates seem to have been dispensed with in all the five 
sets used at home or in the family of the exhibitor's great-aunt, Mrs. 
Esther deB. Brunn. 

MUes, Mrs. William, Ardmore. China Saucer, 100 years old. Pre- 
sented to the exhibitor's grandmother, Margaret Holland, as a bridal 
gift. 

Miller, Miss Elmira T., Trappe. China Pitcher, 100 years old. 

Miller, Mrs. Matilda, West Point. Four old china Cups and 
Saucers. 

Miller, Mrs. Samael, Jefferson vi lie. Caster, in the family two 
hundred years. Brought from France alx^ut 1080 by the Frietle 
family. French Vase. Preserve Jar. Brougbt to Bordentown, 
N. J., by Joseph Bonaparte, when he fled from Spain. Coffee Pot, 
style used over one hundred years ago. 

Milllugton, Mrs. Elizabeth, Gulf Mills. China Coffee Pot and 
Dish, very old. 

Money, Mrs. Samnel, Norristown. China Plate, 100 years old. 

Moore, George C, Mainland. Flowered Tumbler, lOi years old. 

Moore Mrs. John, Gulf Mills. China Plate and Cream Jug. 

Moyer, Daniel, I'rederic. Half dozen solid silver Spoons, 80 years 
old. 

Mnllln, Samuel L., Prospectville. Set of China 100 years old. 

Murray, Mrs. C, King-of-Prussia. Cream Jug, over 100 years old. 

Nallle, Mrs. Annie M,, Royersford. China Pitcher, over 100 years 
old. China Mug, lOS years old. Glass Mug, 87 years old. Large 
Dinner Plnte and Tea Pot. 52 years old. Dinner Plate, 55 years old. 

IVelman, Mrs. M., Fitzwatertown. Old-fashioned Tea Set, very an- 
tique. 

Nice, Mrs. George, Worcester. Large Flask. 

Nlghtlinger, Mrs. George, Shoemakertown. Old Pitcher. 

0*]Veill, Mrs. James, Norristown. Two china Dessert Dishes ; have 
been in the family one hundred years. 

Overholtzer, Mrs. John, Bridgejwrt. Two old china Plates. 

Owen, Mrs. IVllllam \V., Norristown. Two antique china Plates 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



and a small Pitcher, 300 years old; banded down from the Norris 
family. Aiiticiue china Cup and Saucer; handed down from the 
Shnnk family. 

Painter, Mrs. William, Norristown. Sugar Tongs. Belonged 
to Elizaheth Lillywhite in 1004. Tea Pot. Belonged to Rachel 
c'rispin in 1708. Two Dishes. Belonged to Elizabeth McNeal, who 
died in 1815, aged OO. 

Palste, Robert, Norristown. China Sugar Bowl, Cream Jug, Slop 
Bowl, Plate, Sau»X'r, ami Cup, 100 years old. 

Fauuepacker, Mrs. William C, Klein's. China Mug. Be- 
longed to Jacob Cassel and Dauiel G. Pannepacker over one hundred 
years ; purchased by William C. Pannepacker in 1883. China Cup 
and Saucer. Belonged to David Grobb and Jacob KHne since 1784 ; 
now owned by William C. Pannepacker. China Cup and Saucer. 
Belonged originally to Jacob Cassel, afterwards to his daughter 
Susanna, and now to William C. Pannepacker; over 100 years old. 
Cream Jug, CO years old ; formerly owned by Jacob Kline. Plate, 
108 years old. Owned successively by Jacob Cassel, Susanna Cassel, 
his daughter, and the exhibitor's husband. Cream Jug. Owned in 
1730 by David Grobb. Dish, 80 years old. Owned formerly by the 
Kline, Walt and Pannepacker families. 

Pa-^vliug, Mrs. Dr., Norristown. Tea Pot, made in 1748. 

Pecliiu, Joliii W^., King-of-Prussia. Vases. 

Pecliiii,Mr8. W^Uliam, Norristown. Cream Pitcher, over 100 year^ 
old. 

Phillips, .Touathaii, Abrams. Old China. 

Pomeroy^ Mrs. H. S., Tureen and Plate. China Bowl and silver 
Cream Pitcher, over 100 years old. Pitcher, made of clay from Val- 
ley Forge, and presented to Mrs. Adam Slemmer forty-five years 
ago. 

Potts, Mrs. Kzekiel, Bridgeport. Three china Bowls, painted ; 200, 
175 and 140 years old. 

Potts, Mrs. T. Clialkley, Centre Square. Soup Dish, 100 years old. 

Potts, Mrs. Willam "W., Swedeland. Pitchei-s. Belonged origin- 
ally tu Mrs. Sarah Uitner, tht- grandmother of M'illiam W. Potts. 

Price, Miss Lizzie, Norristown. Five silver Tea Spoons. 

Price, Willlaiu, Norristuwii. China Coffee Pot, 200 years old. 

Prince, Lewis, Sr., Norritonville. China Cup and Saucer, 100 years 
old. 

Prlzer, Kll-»vood, Abrams. China Tea Pot, 105 years old. 

Q^iillliuan, Mrs. Phillip, Norristown. Cups and Saucers, lOOye^rs 
old. 

Ralm, Mrs. George H., Ironbridge. Cup and Mug. Belonged to 
the aunt of the exhibitor, Margaret Moser, who died November 21, 
1864, aged 104 yeai-s, 4 months, and 16 days. Margaret Moser, maiden 
name Laver, was born in West Perkiomen township, married George 
Moser, died at Trappe, and is buried at Trappe Lutheran Church. 

Ramsey, Mrs. Mary, West Conshohocken. China Tea Canister, 150 
years old. 

Rauch, Mrs., Sw^edeland. Dishes. 

Ra^vlins, Mrs. M., Lower Merion. China Cream Pitcher, over 150 
years old. Punch Bowl, Cup and Saucer. Once the property of 
Jacob Christler, one of Washington's body guard. 

Reld, Mrs. Dr. Joliii K.., Conshohocken. India china Tea Pot. 
Cream -colored Tea Pot. China Gravy Bowl. 

Rex, Mrs. Jacob L., Blue Bl-11. China Cup and Saucer, painted. 
Belonged to a set owned by Mary SlingluEf, mother of the late Wil- 
liam H. Slinghiff, of Norristown, and over 100 years old. 

Rex, Joseph, Ambler. China Tea Pot, 90 years old. 

Rex, Miss M. D., Flourtown. Two Water Pitchers, 85 and 100 yeare 
old. Two Cream Pitchers. Tea Pot, over 150 years old. Cup and 
Saucer and Bowl. Tureen, over 125 yearsold. 

Richter, Mrs. F, C, Ashbourne. Britannia Tureen, Sugar Bowl, 
and Oil Lamp, KlU years oM. 

Ritchie, E. S., Hatbnro. Coffee Urn, buried during the Revolution- 

arj- war. 
Roberts, Mrs. Clara V., Norristown. Antique china Tea Pot, 
more than 150 years old. Antique china Plate, very old. 

Roberts, Mrs. Mary R., Norristown. Punch Bowl, 100 years old. 

Dinner Plati-. 
Robluson, Mrs. Levis, Lower Merion. China Tea Canister, 150 

years old. 
Rogers, Mrs. Hannah, Oaks. 
Rotzell, Mrs., Norristown. Silver Sugar Tongs and Tea Spoon, 100 

years old. Pitrhfr, 75 years old. 
Royer, Mrs. Dr. J. W^., Trappe. Two china Plates, 80 years old. 
Rue, Louisa, Norristown. China Plate, 200 years old. Butter 



Knife, three Table and six Tea Spoons, solid silver ; made of coin- 
brought to this country by Robert Kennedy in 1776. Sugar Bowl, 

Coffee Pot, and Slop Bowl, lustre ware, over 100 years old. Two 

silver Candlesticks. Property of Robert Kennedy, during the war o. 

the Revolution. 
Saylor, Miss Sallle, Port Providence. Small Cream Pitcher, 100 

years old. 
Schultz, Matilda, Worcester. Three Cups and Saucers. 
Schultz, Solomon, Kairview Village. Two Glasses. 
Schunio, Dr. Eugene, Abington. Tea Spoon. Owned by Sirs. 

Mary Loller, wife of Robert LoUer, who endowed Ilatboro Acjide- 

my ; must be over 100 years old, 
Schivelsfort, Harry, Frederick. China Cup and Saucer, 75 years 

old. Stone ware Sugar Bowl, 100 yeare old. 
Sch'wenk, Mrs. A., Norristown. Half dozen small Spoons, from 

the Palatinate in Germany. 
Shafer, Mrs. Rebecca, Fort Washington. Part of Scotch china 

Tea Set, inchiding two plates, three cups and three saucers, one 

sugjir bowl, and one plate; 125 years old. Brought from Scotland, 
Shainliue, Jonathan, Abrams. Three pieces of lustre Tea Set. 
Shauer, Mrs. Sarah^ Frederick. China Coffee Pot. In possession of 

exhibitor's family one hundred and twenty-six years. 
Shaw, C. H., Jeffersonville. Wine Goblets, 205 years old. Beer 

Mug, with a frog in it ; ninety yeare in family. 
Shoenkaker, Mrs. Creorge, Blue Bell. Cream Pitcher and Tea 

Pot, over 100 years old ; froni England. Four china Cups and Sau- 
cers, very old. 
Shoemaker, Sallle J., Springfield. See Mann, Mrs. Hannah S. 
Shoemaker, Mrs. Thomas S., Jarrettowu. Silver Spoon, over 

100 yeai-s old. 
Shreiuer, Sarah P., Gwynedd. Cream Cup and Plate, made to 

order in China one hundred and twelve years ago. Cup and 

Saucer, 
Shupe, Miss Laura, Trappe. China Cup, 104 years old. 
Slsler, Mrs. Edmund, Pottstown. Two silver Spoons, over 100 

years old. 
Slemmer, Miss Madge, Norristown. Silver Ladle and half dozen 

Dessert Spoons, 130 yeare old. 
Slemmer, Mrs. William, Norristown. Half dozen silver Tea 

Spoons, about lOO years old. 
Sllfer, Dr. H. P., North Wales. Tea Pot, in the Davis family two 

himdred years. Two Cream Mugs, over 100 years old. Tea Cup 

and Sugar Bowl, over 100 years old. Soup Dish, 150 years old. 
Slluglnif, Joseph, Norristown. Two silver Tea Spoons, 100 years 

olJ. 
Slinglntr, Mrs. "William H., Norristown. Salt Cellar, over 200 

years old. Blue China Plate, over 200 years old. Two old blue 

china Sugar Bowls. French china Fruit Bowl, over 100 yeare old; 

relic of the Slingluflf family. Three old egg-shell French china Tea 

Cups and Saucers. Old china Cream Pitcher. Old Britannia Pitcher. 

Siver-plated Candlestick. Old Jewel Box. Twelve hand-plated 

Fi-uit TMates, painted by Miss Mary Rex in 1879. 
Smith, John A., Norristown. Two Cream Jugs and Cup and Sau- 
cer, over 100 years old. 
Snyder John H., Kulpsville. China Cups and Saucers, Pitcherand 

Tea Pot, brought from Wales. 
Snyder, Mary W., Jeffersonville. Salt Cellar, over 100 years old. 
Snyder, Mrs. 'William, Oaks. Tea Pot, 150 years old. 
Soloiiton, Mrs. William, Norristown. Pitcher, over 100 yearsold. 
Sower, Mrs. P. D., Norristown. Blue China Cup and Saucer, 

over 100 yeai-s old. Two blue Vases, 100 years old. Green china 

Plate. Small Cream Pitcher. 
Spencer, Mrs. Ella, Jenkintown. Two Japanese Vases, very old 

and viilnable. Plate and Cover. 
Springer, Broth*-rs, Kulpsville. Tea Pot, Britannia ware, formerly 

owned by Murdecai Davis. 
Stannard, E. J., Broud Axe. China Sugar Bowl and china Plate, 

over 115 years old. Bridal present to exhibitor's grandmother. 

China Saucer, 110 years old. 
StaulTer, Mrs. Mary A., Fairview Village. Coffee Pot, Cup and 

Saucers, ItHj years old. 
Stem, Mrs. Levi, Whitpain, Gilt Cup and Saucer, nearly 100 years 

old. 
Stem, Martha, Blue Bell. One dozen Spoons, made out of knre- 

bnckles UOyeai-s old. 
Ste^vart, Mrs. Eliza, Abington. Oval Plate. Property of An 

thony Benezet one hundred years ago. 



APPENDIX. 



xxsv 



Stewart, Mrs. R. T., Norristown. A few pieces of China. 
Stewart, Mrs., Norristown. Three china Plates, eacli 85 years old 

Mustard Put, 80 yeai-s old. Decanter, 95 yeai-s old ; came from Ire- 
land. Yellow china Pitcher, 100 years old; wedding present from 

tlip exhibitor's grandmother. 
Stinson, Miss Ag:nes, Norristown. Mug, with toad in it. 
Stout, S. K., Norristown. Piate, 150 yeai-s old. 
Streeper, Mrs. Samuel, Broad Axe. Cut-glass Urn, over years 

ohl. ^lilver Chain and Pin-cushion, ver>' old. Four Wine Glasses, 

c!it glass, 1<H) years old. 
Styer, Natbaulel, Douglass. China Plate, 105 years old. 
Summers, Mrs. Samuel, East Greenville. Two Salt CxjUars, made 

of cut gl'Lss, and encased in a silver frame ; more than 100 yeai-s 

old ; brought from Germany. 
Supplee, Andrew, Abrams. China Plates and Pitcher ; oldest 

plate 1.50 years old. 
Snpplee, Miss Kate, Conshobocken. Tea Pot, 100 years old. 
Supplee, Myra, Bridgeport. Part of china Set, 125 years old. 
Supplee, Mrs., Norristown. Silver Cream Pitcher, made from 

twenty silver dollai-s. Some old China. 
Swank, Mrs, D. C, Schwencksville. Wedgewood Butter Dish ; 

brought fnun England seventy-five years ago by the grandparents 

of exhibitor. 
Swift, Saxuiwl, Non-istown. Biue India Soup Tureen, 125 years 

old. 
Taggart, Miss Hauuali, Fort Washington. Plate, 75 years old. 
Taylor, Miss Mary, Lower Mer ion. Half dozen china Cups and 

Saucers, over 100 J-ears old. Two gla.s8 Salt Cellars and China Pep- 
per Box, 125 years old. 
Taylor, Mrs. Robert A., Jarrettown. Iron stone Coffee Pot, 

made in 1795. Tea Set of metal, made in 1777. Plate of blue stone 

china, used in ISfJO. 
T«'aiiy, Mrs., Nonistown. China Dish. 
Teas, George S., Horsham. Two Wine Glasses, china Plate, Fruit 

Dish, antl Piicher, over 100 years old. 
Tliomas, Mrs. Samuel, Norristown. Six A'ases, 100 years old. 
Tonilluson, Amos Buckmau, Sboemakertown. China Plate, 

75 yeare old. 
Tomliiisou, Miss R., King-of-Prussia. China Pitcher and Sugar 

H.iwl, 10(1 yeai-s old. 
Tripler, Mrs. Jacob I*., Norristown. Two small silver Spoons 

150 years old ; brought from Scotland by Charles McKenzie. 
Truinbauer, J. B., Jenklntown. Inkstand, supposed to be 180 years 

uM. 
Tyson, Mrs. Benjamin, Skippack. Cup and Saucer. 
Tyson, B. P., Belfry. Porringer and Sugar Bowl. 
Tyson, Mrs. Kmma, Providence Square. Small china Pitcher. 
Tyson, Mrs. Sarab H., King-of-Prussia. Silver Sugar Tongs, 

over 100 yeare old. 
rmsteacl, Mrs. James, Kulpsville. Gilt Pitcher; belonged to 

Grandfather Jacob Fr>-. Cream Mug, over 100 years old. 
Van Horn, Martha, Plymouth Meeting. Tea Pot, 150 years old. 
"Wager, Mrs. Henry, Norristown. Sugar Bowl and Cream Pitcher, 

each over 100 years old. 
AVagner, Mrs. William, Kulpsville. Small Pitcher, 100 years 

old. 
"Walker, E. H,, Jarrettown. Chin Cup and Saucer, 100 years old. 
W^alker, Sarab. S., Abrams. Spoon. 
"Walt, F. K., Ea^ Greenville. Cream Jug and Sugar Bowl, 100 

years old. Plate, 100 years old. Green Cup and Saucer, 100 years 

uld. China Cup and Saucer, bought one hundred and eighteen years 

ago. 
'U^'alton, Mrs. Amos, Blue Bell. Half dozen old-fashioned Din- 
ner Plates. Brass Spool Stand. Engraved Lamp. Sugar Bowl. 
W^alton, Harry C, Blue Bell. .Two bronze Pithhers. Old-fash- 
ioned Tea Pot, Two Sugar Bowls and one Gra^-y Bowl. 
Weak, Mrs. Charles, Jenkintowa. Pair of Pickle Dishes, made 

f:um kaolin from Jenkintown, 
Weak, Mrs. Joseph, Upper Merion. Ornamental Pitcher. 
Wear, Mrs. Joseph, Upper Merion. Ornamental Pitcher. 
W>ber, George M., Worcester. China Cup and Saucer, known to 

be 150 years years old. 
W elkeli Ida B., Collegeville. Blue-edged Butter Plate, 100 years 

old. 
"Welkel, John, Collegeville. Cup and Spoon. 
AVelnberger, Mrs. E. K., Collegeville. Part of a China Set, 

isoo. 



Wentz, Mrs. Thomas H,, Norristown. Cup, Saucer and Sugar 

Bowl. 4 Plates, 10(1 years old. 
W^eston, Mrs. Daniel, Pricetown. Salt Cellar, belonged to exhib- 
itor's great-grandmother, and is said to be 130 years old. 
'W^hltcomb, Catherine M., Jarrettown. Pair Silver Spoons, 125 

years old. Pair Sugar Tongs. 
IViddltield, Mrs. Le^vls, Hartsville. Marble Punch Bowl ; pi-e- 

seuted about the year 18(t0 by Daniel Hitner, Sr., of Marble Hall, to 

Col. William Hart, grandfather of exhibitor, of Hartsville, Bucks 

county ; made at the quarry of Mr. Hitner. 
W^illiams, Mrs. Elizabeth S., Ptttville. Silver Cup, 115 years 

old. 
Williams, Mrs. M. J., Jarrettown. China Cup and Saucer, made 

when only 13 States were in the Union. 2 China Cups and Saucers, 

75 and 80 years old. 2 Gravy Bowls, 50 and 80 years old. Glass 

Cream Pitcher and Glass Salt Cellar, 80 years old. Meat Plate, 85 

years old. 3 Bound Plates, 60 years old. Brown Stone Ware, Cream 

Pitcher, 100 years old. 
Williams, Susan W,, Pittville. China Punch Bowl. China Cup 

and Plate, supposed to be 200 yeare old. 
Williams, Mrs., Fitzwatertown. Pitcher and Plate. 
Ti'^ilson, Mrs. A. H., Conshobocken. Silver Chain and Ring for 

Pin Cushion. Silver Candlestick and Extinguisher. 
Wilson, Mrs. Eliza, Norristown. Tea Pot, 110 years old. 
WTilson Family, The, Jenkintown. Sugar Tongs, used since 

ISOO. 
■Wlngate, Hester K., Norristown. Tea Pot, from Germany, by 

exhibitor's great-grandmother. 
"Wolf, Mrs. tJeorge, Plymouth. China Oupe and Saucers, nsed 80 

years ago. CTiina Cups and Saucere, used 50 years ago. 
"Wright, Mrs. W^illiam, Conshobocken. Silver Ladle, 200 yeara 

old. 2 India China Plates. 
W^ynn, Mrs. F., Overbrook. Pitcher. 

Yeakle, Daniel, Chestnut Hill. Cream Pitcher, and 2 blue vege- 
table Dishes, over 100 yeara old. 
Yeakle, S. Y., Norristown. Cream Jug, 103 years old, 
Yerk, Mrs., Trappe. Blue Plate ; from Europe, 100 years old. 
Yerkes, The Misses, Norristown, Antique China. 
Young, Miss Annie, Lower Merion. Half a dozen silver Tea 

Spoons. 100 years old. 
Zearfoss, Mrs, Horace, Fairview Village. Five china Cups and 

S;iucer3, 
Zimmerman, Mrs. Elizabeth, Providence Square. China Cups 

and Saucers. Silver Spoons. 
Zlmmerniau, Esther, Norristown. Small china Punch Bowl,130 

years old. China Cup and Saucer, 120 years old. China Cake 

Plate, 120 years old. China Cup and Saucer, 95 years old. Cup of 

Lafayette's time, with his picture on it. 
Zimmerman, Mrs. G. W'., Collegeville. Six china Cups and 

Saucers, 100 years old. Five Wine Goblets and five Plates, 100 yeara 

old. 
Zimmerman, Mrs. Joshua, Collegeville. Plate, over 75 years 

old. 
Zimmerman, M rs. J. M., Terkes. Glass Cream Jug. Cup and 

Saucer. 
Zimmerman, Mrs. IJorenzo, Norristown. Large Punch Bowl 

100 yeai-s old. 
Zimmerman, Sylvester, Blue Bell. Silver Teaspoons, about 100 

years old. 

CLASS XIV. 

ANTIQUE WEARING APPAREL ANH JEWELHT, 

Allebach, Mrs. Henry V., Kulpsville. Infant's Cap, home-made, 

nearly 100 years old. 
Ambler, Aaron, Norritonville. Cigar Case. Pocket Book. 
Anders, Andreve, Kulpsville. Linen Chemise, 130 years old. 
Anders, Joseph, Fairriew. Hat, over 100 years old, belonged to 

Abraham Anders. 
Anderson, Emma, Abrams. Silk Stockings ; worn by a bride 75 

years ago. 
Armltage, Jacob, Jenkintown. Lady's Felt Hat, worn 100 years 

ago. 
Balrd, Mrs,, Norristown. Old Bead Bag. 
Bartmau, Mrs. Mary R.., Trappe. Pair Infant's Slippers, from 

Canada. 
Bechtel, Mrs. A. D., Boyereford. Grandmother's Riding Whip, 90 

years old. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Beclite 1, Mrs. filizabeth, Douglass. Old Hat or Bonnet, 85 to 90 

years old. 
Bell, Ali-s.f Centre Square. Two Shawls ; buried during the Revolu- 
tion. 
Berger, Mrs. J. F. North AVales. Skirt of White Dress, embroidered 

by JIary Ann Stover. 
Bickel, Mra. K, B., Norriatown. Apron, 120 years old. Wedding 

Dress and Shoes, worn by Mrs. Heebner, in ITUO, and loaned by Mi's. 

Nelson. Infant's Shoes, 1790. 
Bickel, Mrs., Nurristown. English Watch. 
Blair, David T., Ilatboro. Pair of Spectacles, belonging to Peter 

N. Hagernian ; VM years old. M'hite Frock which belonged to 

Adraiu Curnt^U. He was christened in it 1779. 
Boorse, Joliu C",, Kuljisville. Buttons and four Shoe Buckles, 

worn by Baltzur lleydrich, 1790. Two Shoe Buckles, worn by ex- 
hibitor in 1SG4. 
Braniii, Anii, Jenkintown. Baby's Corded Bonnet. 
Brooke, Mrs. H., Norristown. Clothing. 
Bruuuer, Miss Mary, Worcester. Shawl. 
BiUt, George T., Whitpain. Copper C uff Button, 1744. 
Cassel, Abrakant H., Harleysville. Silk Wedding Glove of Mrs. 

Yulles Cassel, IsiiS. 
Cessel, Isaac R., North Wales. Dress of exhibitor, worn when 

young. 
Colton, Mrs. Ann C, Jenkintown. Gold Watch, used since 1700. 
Conily, Kll^vood, Three Tiins. Silver Watch, made in 1G7U. 
Conard, Ella V., Port Kennedy. Pocket Book, embroidered by 

Elizabeth E. Edwards, 125 yearb ago. 
Conover, Mrs. C. L., Frederick. Badge, worn by Andrew Marker, 

when Lafayette visited America in 1824. 
Cope, O. "W., Hatboro. Pocket Book, brought over by William 

Fletcher in 1GS2. Gold Watch, made in Copenhagen in 1630 ; an 

heirloom of one of the royal family of Norway. Copper Button, 

made in 1788 to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution ; 

unique. 
Corson, Mrs. George N., Norristown. Lady's Dress, worn in the 

18th century, by the daughter of Francis Rawle, who came over to 

this country with William Penn. It is a satin hand-quilted skirt, 

and ovci-dress hand painted. 
Corson, Mrs. Dr. Hiram, Conshohocken. White Silk Shawl, 

with colored border. Linen Baby Dress, made about 1748. 
Craven, Mrs. Alice, Davis Grove. Slippere, embroidered in 1776 

by Mis B Elizabeth Cornell, who afterwards married Isaac Vansant ; 

Wilhehnus Vansant, son of this couple, was the father of the exhib- 
itor. 
Cresson, Mrs.lVilllani Jj, Norristown. Hat and Dress, brought 

from China, by Dr. E. F. Corson, U. S. N., before any Commercial 

Treaty had been made with that Power. Alpenstock. 
Cnrwen, George P., Villa Nova. Doll and Dress, 120 years old. 
Dasher, Mrs., Norristown. Wooden Comb, over 120 years oM, 
Daunekower, Mrs. Frank, Springhouse. Baby Dress, 10 years 

old. 
Ba-vidkelsf r, 3IrB. S^allle, Douglafs. Slifpers made in 1843. 
Davis, Mrs. HannaU Conshohocken. Silk Shawl, 200 years old 

Silk Shawl. 
Davis, tJesse B., Norristown. Red Sash, worn at Benjamin 

Franklin's funei-al. 
Davis, Joku J., Jenkintown. Shoe, from Wales. 
Day, Mrs. Rlckard H,, Philadelphia. Old Gold Sleeve Buttons, 

painted, in hair. 
Deal, Mrs. Hannak, Bryn Mawr. Masonic Silk Handkerchief, 

150 years old, 
Det^viler, Jones, Blue Bell. Antique Snuff Box, 80 years old. 

Curiously Carved Walking Cane, very old. 
Dor^vortli, Josepk H., Nori'itonville. Traveling Companion, 84 

yeai's old. 
Dotterer, Pkilip, Chestnut Hill. Lady's Riding Whip, with silver 

furrule, used by Katy Younkin, of Tinicum, Bucks county, before 

and after her marriage, about 1798, to Conrad Dotterer, of Frederick 

towuship. Exhibitor is a grandson of this couple. 
Drake, Mrs. Aram, Kulpsville. Wedding Glovesof John Lukens, 

1763. Pocket Book, 1776. 
Dorrin, Mrs. Tkomas, North Wales. Cane, made from the boat 

Alliance. 
Kckard, Jane E., Abington. Reticule, 110 years old. Antique 

and modern Fans, contrasted. Antique Collar, embroidered. Tortoise 

Shell Comb, over 100 years old. Infant's Cap, embroidered. Lady's 



Embroidered Cap. Embroidered Short Sleeves. Wedding Slippers, 

117 yeare old. Waist of Wedding Drees, worn 117 years ago. 
Kd^vards, Mrs. Pllzabetk, Kulpsville. Mitten. '*This is the 

mitten given by the ladies iu* a token of rejection in ye olden time." 
Ed^rards, Mrs. Himipkrey, Kulpsville. Pair Home-made 

Wedding Mitts, over 100 years old. 
Krvieu, Mrs. Ho^vard, Shoemakertown. Small Shoes, 75 years 

old. 
Erpeusklp, Jokn, Norristown. Silver watch, 100 yeare old. Silver 

Breast Pin, very oM. 
Kvans, Ckarles, Abrams. Silver Watch, 100 years old ; not running. 
Evans, Gertrnde, Hatboro. Pocket Book, dated 1702 ; worked with 

various colored worsted and lined with pink silk. 
Elvans, J. S.,Gwynedd. Felt Hat, worn in 1750 by Mrs. Evans when 

she went riiling on horseback. 
Evans, Mrs. Priscilla, North Wales. Lady's Cap, 125 yeai-s old. 
Evans, AVilliant G., Norristown. Pair of Slippers, 1721. 
Fanst, Mrs. H. H., Frederick. Large Irish Silk Handkerchief, 60 

years old. 
Felton, Mrs. Jo sepli, Jenkintown. Gold Watch, dated inside 1770. 
Patterolf, Mrs. A. D., Collegeville. Grandfather's Umbrella, 100 

years old. 
Pitz-ivater, Mrs. Josepk, Port Providence. Lady's Hat, worn 100 

years ago. 
Fox, Mrs. C, Collegeville. Wedding Shawl of exhibitor's mother, 

181G. 
Prey, Mrs, Jacob, Douglass. Home-made Stocking, 50 years old. 
Fryer, Miss Fanny S., Skippack. Pair of Linen Stockings made by 

Susanna Schmoyer, owned by Mrs. Fanny S. Fryer ; KX* years old. 

Home-made Spectacles, 200 yeareold. 
Fryer, Henry S., Skippack. Wedding Shawl of Mary Shoemaker, 

wife of Bernhart Fryer, married April 27, 1783 Home-made Shirt, 

worn by Bernhart Frj'er ; 70 years old. 
Garsed, Mrs. Rokert P., Norristown. Antique Dress, worn 

previous to ISlO, and owned by Mrs. Hannah Pennypacker, 

Scliuykill, Pa. 
Gerkart, Mrs. Eliza, Douglass. Black Shawl, 120 years old, Hair 

Cumb, 125 yeai"s I'hl. 
Godskalk, Jacob M., Kulpsville. Gingham Apron, 100 years olil. 
Green, Mrs. Harry, Davis Grove. Knee Breeches. 
Griesiiuer, Mrs. Rackel, East Greenville. Beaver Hat, 120 years 

old. 
Gritlitk, Miss Hannak, Jenkintown. Pocket Book, made in 1777. 
Griggs, Miss Clara, Norristown. Silk Dress, over 100 years old. 
Grisconi, Mrs. Josepk, Jenkintown. Lady's Dress and Calash. 
Hallnian, A. S., Norristown. Pocket Handkerchief, 17;i4, 
Hallnian, Mrs. Levris, Hartranft. Lady's wrapper, over 100 years 

old. 
Halliuan, Mrs. 'Wllllant F., Skippack. Fan, supposed to be 100 

years old ; presented to exhibitor by her grandmother. 
Hallowell, Mrs. C. R., Norristown. Silk Dress and Stockings, 

worn in 1795. 
Haniill, Miss, Norristown. Large Fan, used as a sun shade, 100 years 

old. Hand-made Lace Collar, very old. Pair Hand-made Linen 

Gloves, 100 years old. 
Hange, Mrs. M., Worcester. Lace Infant's Cap, 60 years old. 
Harley, David B., Kulpsville. Shoe Buckle, worn by Christopher 

Saur. 
Harps, Mrs. Ellzabetk, Jenkintown. Satin Cloak, worn seventy- 

tive years ago. 
Hari'y, Miss Anna, Conshohocken. Silver Watch and Key, DO 

years old. 
Harvey, Mrs. J. J. C. Jenkintown. Shoe Buckles set with etones, 

worn by Dr. Beatty. 
Heacock, Annie, Jenkintown. Pair of Kid Gloves, worn in 1824, 
Heacock, E. W., Jenkintown. Baby's Hood, 100 years old. Gloves 

made in ^Montgomery county. 
Heebner, P. D., Norristown. Pen Knife, 125 years old. 
Helm, Miss Mary, Philadelphia. Wedding Dress and Wedding 

Slippers, worn by Susan Pierce, 1794. 
Hobsou, Mrs. F. M., Collegeville. Linen Handkerchief, over 100 

years old. 
Holfinau, Mrs. H, A., Frederick. Infant's Robe worked by exhib- 
itor. 
Homer, Mrs. Anna, Norristown. Shoe Buckle, over 100 years old. 
Hoive, Mrs. Hannak K.., Nori'istown. Black Crepe Dress^ 

years old. 



APPENDIX. 



XXXVll 



Hurst, MUsAikiia, Xonistown. Short Gown, over 100 years old. 

Dress, 100 jeare old. Lace Veil, 96 years old. 
Hiitton, Mrs. Addison, Brj-n Mawr. Little Girrs Silk Dres«. 
Silk Dre.^, 00 yeai-s uld. Black Satin Slippers, 60 yeare old. Three 
Infants' Dresses, about oO yeai-a old. 
Ired*-ll, Plkoebe, Norristown. Cloak, worn over 100 years ago by 

tixhibitors great-grandmother. 
Iredell, Robert, Norristown. Lady's Riding Hat, over 100 years 

old. 
Jarretl, Mrs. Auiiie, Ambler. Spectacles, loO years old. Silk 

Mantilla, 100 years old. 
Jeiikiiis, Mrs. Eliza, North Wales. Six Silver Buttons, 150 yeare 

(dd, family relics. 
Joues, JosiaU, Oak Lane. Gold Watch, with Case. Silver Watch 

ami Uhain, loU yeaig old. 
Kawarick, Mrs. Sebastian, Jenkintowii. Shoe Buckle, set with 

cut stoncc), worn 150 years ago. 
KeiHel, Miss Annie, Ambler. Tatting Handkerchief. 
ICettarar, Roman, Somerton. Four Hats, from 70 to 100 ycare 
old. Two Caps. Two George Washington Suits; a Quaker Suit ; 
and two William Penn Suits. Three Pairs Shoos. Cane, belonged 
tv the fii-st beer-maker in this country. 
Kirk, Edwin, Neshaminy. Silver Wedding Ring, belonged to A. 

E. Bodfy, married 1TS2. 
Kite, Mrs. George R., Norristown. Pink Silk Petticoat, taken 

from a man-of-war, in 1812. Piece of Calico, over 100 years old. 
Kneed If r, Mrs. Jacob H., North Wales. Crape Shawl and 

Silk .Stockings, wedding apparel, 45 yeai-s old 
Kolil, C^eorge M., Jenkintown. Cane, cut by the late Nicholas 
Kohl on bis property near Willow Grove, Moreland township, and 
finished about 1843. The sapling from which it was made, grew in 
a stone pile. It grew with the small end at the ground, thus 
entirely reversing the laws of nature. 
Kookeu, Miss Bertlia C, Trappe. Ancient Breast Pin and two 

Rings. 
Krewson, Mrs. Jokn, Philadelphia. Two Reticules, made by 

Mary Leecl), Ilatburo, 1770. 
Krewsou, Mrs., Shoemakertown. Two paii-s Spectacles, over 100 

years uld. 
Krieble, Abraham K.., Kulpsville. Grandmother's \Vhite 

Dress. 
Krieble, Mrs. Isaac, Mainland. Gray Beaver Hat, 100 years old. 

Gray Silk Bonnet, Hhj years old. 
Krieble, Septimus A., Kulpsville. Silk Handkerchief, 100 years 

old. Shawl, liiii years old. 
Kulp, Elias K., Lederachville. Money Purse of Beadwork, the 
wurkniaii.sliipof Barbara Hunsicker, and by her presented to Isaac 
II. Kulp ; it has the phrase '*Love and Friendship*' worked on it; 
about 00 yeai's old. Necklace, made by the late Benjamin Kulp, the 
exhibitor's father. 
liand, David C, Gwynedd. Spectacles of the grandfather of the 

late Jacob Cassel, surveyor, of Montgomery township. 
Landes, Mrs. J. G., Norristown. Money Belt, worn for many 

years. 
Leister, Mrs. David, Douglass. Wedding Dress, 75 years old. 
Three-cornered Shawl, 75 yeai's old ; embroidered by the e.\hibitor's 
mother when 12 years old. Square White Shawl, embroidered in 
cuIoi"s ; 7't yeai's old. 
Liglitfoot, Ellen, King-of- Prussia. Pair of Silk Mitts, worn by 
ladies in beginning of ISOO. Wedding Hat, worn October 30, 17R2. 
Lo-we, Mrs. T. S. C, Norristown. Old Silk Chinese Fan. Carved 
Fan from China, 250 years old. Old Muslin Chinese Fan. French 
Beaded Vinaigrette. Knee and Shoe Buckles, worn in 1779. Old 
Chinese Satin-paper Fan. Two Carved Chinese Fans. French 
Suuff Box, 1780. 
Lukeus, 3Irs. Jaivood, Conshohocken. Green Silk Calash, worn 
about the beginning of the preseut century. Silver Shoe Buckles, 
set with brillianto. 
Liukeus, J. R., Horsham. Beaver Hat, 100 yeare old. 
McCarty, Samuel, Norristown. Cane, UK) years old. 
Mackey, Mrs. Edmnnd R., Norristown. Old-fashioned Dress. 
Maderia, Tbe Misses, Jenkintown. Combs, about 70 years old. 
Mann, Jesse, Pittville. Cane. 
Mann, Mrs. Jesse, Pittville. Leather Overehoes. 
Mann, Jotin H., Horsham. Pair Silver Spectacles, 50yeai-sold. 
Maun, Mrs. Jolin H., Horsham. Pair Linen Mitts, nuide and 
worn by aiiss Rachel Shoemaker, Whitpain, eighty years ago. 



Markley, JoUn, Sr., Schwenksville. Pocket Book, dated 1769 
Mad<? by Jacob Markley, grandfather of the exhibitor. 

Markley FreiLudscliaft, Tlie. Tobacco Box of Paul Markley, 
fruni Frankfurt, Geiniauy, 1745. Crossed the Atlantic nine times. 
Cane of .lolm Markley ; 100 years old. 

Matlker, Mrs. C, Jenkintown. Pearl Snuff Box. Tabitha Phtenix's ; 
about Uiii years old. 

Matlier, Miss Mai-y W., Jenkintown. Reception Slippers, worn 
by Sus;\u rierie, 1702. Dress, worn about eighty years ago. Coat 
and Breeches, worn seventy-five years ago. 

Miller, Samuel, Jeffersonville. Coat, worn by exhibitor's father, 
Joseph ^Miller, when married, in 1825. 

Mock, Mrs. Jacob Frederick. White Linen Shawl, overlOOyears 
old. 

Molony, Mrs. Dr., Norristown. Hand-embroidered Infant's Cap, 
r,0 years old. 

Morey, Miss Amanda, Dougla-^s. Paper Kerchief. 

Moyer, Daniel, Frederick. Small colored Shawl, 120 years old. 

Naille, Miss Auule M., Koyersforcl. Pair of black s;itin Slippers, 
made in isll. 

Nice, George T., Jenkintown. Spectacles, very old. 

Nyee, George S., Frederick. Infant's Cap, worn by exhibitor. 

Owen, Mrs. William W., Norristown. Silk Cloak, nearly 100 
years old ; worn by the exhibitor's great-grandmother Schrack, 
Carved Shell Comb, over 100 years old. 

Painter, Mrs. \%^illiant, Norristown. Baby Dress, made by 
Mary Cole. Masonic Apron, very old. Fan. BeWnged to Elizabeth 
Allmeyer, who died in 1771. 

Pannepacker, Miss, Klein's. Pair of Shoes, 44 yeai-s old. Black 
C;ip, HKI years old. 

Paivliug, Mrs. Dr., Norristown. Vinaigrette, of the olden time. 

Peeliiu, Jolui W., King-of-Prussia. Shawl, brought from Austra- 
lia. Cane, owned liy Mr. Sisler in 1812. 

Pennock, Mrs. Joseph, Hartranft. Shawl. 

Peterman, Frederick, Collegeville. Ancient Breast Pin, pre- 
sented by an En<;lish lady twenty-five years ago. Fan, carved from 
a block u( wood with a pocket knife. 

Phillips, Jonathan, Abrams. Antique Clothing. 

Qnlllmau, Mrs. Jacob, Norristown. Dress made in 1804 ; worn 
by ^Irs. Lorent/. Jacoby. 

Q,ulllman, Mrs. Philip, Norristown. Infant's Shirt, 80 years 
old. Two Infant's Caps, over 50 years old. Neck Handkerchief, 07 
yeare ohl. 

Rainbo, Mrs. Martha, Oaks. Fan, 125 years old; originally 
owned by Jlrs. Horning. Black velvet Slippers, brought from 
England by Mrs. Lane ; now owned by her granddaughter. Light 
s;itin Slipjier, l(J(i years old. Chinese Slipper, 115 years old ; formerly 
owned by 3Irs. Weir. Infant's Cap, made by Mrs. Weir, one hun- 
dred and twenty-five j'ears ago. 

Ramsey, EUeu D,, Abrams. Child's Cap, embroidered by Jane 
Peterson fifty yeai's ago. 

Raivlins, Mrs, M., Lower Merion. Coat and Vest, once the property 
of J.icob Christler, one of Washington's body-guard. 

Reichelderrer, Mrs. Chester F., Collegeville. Grandmother's 
Night Cap, over KiO years old. 

Reid, Mrs. Dr. John K., Conshohocken. Two Bonnets. 

Reitr, Mrs. Enos L., Ambler. Silver Snuff Box, formerly the 
pri>perty of the exliibitor's grandfather. 

Reuuard, Mrs. David, Edge Hill. China Snuff Box. Tsed in 
company in General Wasiiington's time. 

Rcnuinger, Mrs. Mary A., Douglass. Night Cap, 120 years old. 

Rex, Jacob L.., Blue Bell. Silver Button. 

Rex, Mrs. Jacob L., Blue Bell. Infant's Clothing, about 60 years 
old. Ancient Night Cap. 

Rex, Mary S., Blue Bell. Sword Cane, GO years old, silver mounted, 
with a buck-horn head. Once owned by John Rex, of Whitpain, 
who used to say laughingly that it was for protection ag-ainst dogs 
when he went courting. Velvet Reticule, with an ancient clasp; 
about 7o years old. Formerly owned by Mary Slinglnff, of White- 
marsh. Bead Purse. Formerly owned by Maria Moore, of Gwy- 
nedd. 
Richards, Mrs. M., Nunistown. Piece of linen Underwear. The 
fiax was spun and woven, and the lace was made by one of the 
Kicliards family, one hundred and fifty years ago. 
Rldpath, J, W., Jenkintown. Pocket Book, in the family nearly 
one hundred and fifty yeare ; containing deed of 179.1, and other old 
papers. 



SXXVIII 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Rleg, Joliu, Jenkintown. Silver frame and steel Spectacles, circular 

lenses. 
Rltteulioiise, Saninel, Fair\iew Village. Pocket Book. 
Roberts, Mrs. Mary R., Nomstown. Cliilii's Dress, 60 years old. 
Roberts, Septinms, Wliitpain. Knee Buckles. 
Rosenberger, Mrs. I. D., North ^'ales. Two white Skirts, over 

IW years uld. One was the property of exhibitor's grandmother, 

Mary P. Howell. 
Royer, Mrs, dllzabetlft, Traj)pe. Leghorn Bonnet, worn at a 

reception to Lafayette in Philadelphia in 1S27. 
Rue, Ijonlsa, Xorristown. Parasol, property of Ellen Kennedy 

during thi- Revolution ; now of exhibitor. 
SattertliAvait, E^d^vlu, Jenkintown. Tapestry Pocket Book, used 

by Juhn Ilallowell in the early part of this century. 
ScHaefer, Miss, Norristown. Chinese Hat, 50 years old. Small 

white Plug Ilat. 
ScliiUtz, Amos, Niantic. Hand-made Pocket Book. A wedding 

present by Mrs. Abraham Schultz to her husband in the year 1771. 
Scliiiltz, Soloxnou, Fairview Village, Beaver Hat, 1708. 
Sch^veiiiliart, Miss Emma, Douglass. Satin Handkerchief, 8ii 

yeai-s nl,l. 
Sliainbou^li, Jacksou, CoUegeville. Old silver Buttons. 
Sliauiiou, Mrs., Norristown. Pair of Slippers, liXi years old. 
Shearer, Miss Alice "W., Oaks. Antique Dress, trimmed with pea 

fowl feathei*3. The dress was worn by a Miss Ramsey at a ball in 

New York City, to which she was accompanied by Gen. George 

Washington, who danced with her. The dress is in a good state of 

prese nation. 
Sbearer, Mrs. E. Norrls, Jefferson ville. Dress, 100 years old. 
Slieppar<l, Mrs. Elizabetli, NoiTistown. Two Dresses 75 years 

old. 
Shoemalcer, Hannah. Y., NoiTistown. Silk Boots, brought from 

Japan ninety years ago. Bonnet, 100 years old. 
Shoemaker, Mrs. Thoniits S., Jarrettown. Pair of silk Mitts, 

age not known. Infant's Shawl and Hood, made by exhibitor. 

Lady's Shoulder Cape, embroidered by exhibitor, 
Shreiner, Sarah P., Gwynedd. Two worsted Pocket Books. Two 

bead Reticules, made by Sarah Taylor in 1783, Handkerchief and 

Bag. This bag was used in 1789, to caiTy the handkerchief. 
Shnltz, John, Norristown. Pair of Spectacles, very old. 
Shupe, Mrs. Frank, Trappe. Check linen Apron, spun one hun- 
dred and forty years ago, and made in the styk' of that time. Pairs 

of Mitts, 97 years old. 
Slsler, Mrs. Kdmund, Pottstown. Pocket Book, over liX) years 

ol.i. 
Slater, Mrs., Norristown. Shawl, worn by General Washington's 

nurse. 
Slemnier, Mrs. William, Norristown. Chinese Fan, brought 

from China about otie hundred years ago. 
Slifer, Dr. H. P., North Wales. Part of Mrs. Peale's Handkerchief. 

VelvRt Cap, ornamented with silver from Jemsaleni ; old. 
Slinglutr, Mrs. Charles, Norristown. Reticule, 95 years old ; very 

od.l. 

Sllnglnff, John, Fairview village. Spectacles and Case, of the Rev- 

ulutiona^ry time. 

Sllnglufr, Joseph, Norristown. Tortoise shell cased Watch, 125 
years olrl. 

SlingliLflf, Mrs. William H., Norristown. Paras<^l, owned atone 
time by H. Schlater. An old Fan. Tortoise shell Comb. Swiss In- 
fant's Cap, 150 years old. 

Sllngluif, Mrs. "W. P., Norristown. Tortoise shell Comb. 

Smith, John A., Norristown. Silk Neck Scai^", 14o years old. 

So«-er, ■■'. D., Norristown. Two Washington Badges. One of plain 
white satin, the other of tigured white silk, having printed upon 
them, in black ink, a finely engraved bust portrait of Washington 
in General's uniform, encircled with the words: "Washington, 
Father of his Country." One Washington Breast Pin, worn in 1818. 
Lafayette Funeral Badge. The design on it is an urn standing upon 
a pedestal, sun'ounded by the American and French flags ; u^xin the 
die of the pedestal is a medallion of Lafayette. It is printed in black 
ink on white silk, and bears the following words : *' State Fencibles, 
1st Co. A Grateful Nation's Mournful Tribute. Gen. Gilbert Mot- 
tier Lafayette. Born in Auvergue, Sept. Gth. 1757. Died May 20th, 
1834. Aged 7ij yeai-s, 8 months, and 1-t days. Funeral obsequies 
pei-f4)nned to his memory July 21st, 1834. Phila<lelphia." 

Spencer, Mrs. Ella, Jenkintown. Satin Dress Sleeve, worn by ttie 
mother of exhibitor seventy-five years ago. Tapestry Pocket Bt>ok. 



Stackhouse, Mrs. Joseph, Jarrettown. Fan, made of canvass 
Made in England, and brought to this country in Washington's 
ttnie. 

Staunard, E. J., Broad Axe. Pair of Spectacles, worn by Jemima 
Wilcocks, the exhibitor's great -grandmother, one hundred and twenty 
years ago. 

Stanuard, Mrs. E. J., Broad Axe. Comb, 85 years old. Collar, 
worked and worn by Eliza Shepard, the exhibitor's stepmother, 
eighty-five years ago. 

Steiner, Mrs. J. P., Norristown, Silk Dress Waist, worn one hun- 
dred years ago. Old style knit Puree. 

Stewart, Mrs, Eliza, Abington. Black satin Bonnet and Cloak, 
nearly 140 years old. Homespun linen Apron, 130 years old. Two 
large Inside Pockets, much in use among the ladies years ago. Pair 
of satin Slippers, lUO years old. Baby's Bonnet, 1820. Two Infant's 
Caps, 1815. Piece of Calico Dress worn during the Revolution, and 
a piece of Dress purchased at the same time. 

Stont, S, K.,, Non-istown. Riding Habit, 100 years old. Dress, 80 
years old. White satin Reticule, embroidered at Bethlehem boarding 
school in lS(t.5. 

Stover, C. S., Kulpsville. Parchment Pocket Book and Knife, used 
by exhibitor's great-grandfather. 

Stover, MattXUas S., North Wales. Pocket Book, of calf Skin. On 
the inside compartments are cut out the date " 1762 " and the letters 
** A. C," the initials of the name of Anna Clemens, the exhibitor's 
grandmother. The name of the exhibitor's father, Abraham Stau- 
ver, also appears. On the outside are stamped tulips and an orna- 
mental border. Size 5i^ by 3^ inches. 

Streeper, Mrs. Samnel, Broad Axe. Silk Badge, worn by a lady 
when Lafayette entered Philadelphia. 

Snpplee, Mrs., Norristown. Old-fashioned Money Purse. 

S**'artley, Emeline S., Skippack. White Vest, worn by Zenas 
Saride for his wedding, in Coventry township, one hundred years 
ago, and owned by his daughter, Mrs. Hannah Bossert. 

S'^vift, Samwel, Nomstown. Pair of white satin Slippers, 100 years 
old ; wedding slippers of Margaret McCall. 

Thomas, Mrs. Abel, Royersford. Mother's wedding Shawl and 
Collar, made by Mr. Bringhurst's sister. 

Tripler, Mrs. Jacob I*., Norristown. Infant's Dress, over 80 years 
old. 

Tnimbanr, J. B., Jenkintown. Wedding Vest, 32 years old. 

Uurnh, Mrs. Ecl^vartl, Weldon. Tapestry Pocket Book. 

Utiy, Mrs. George, Jenkintown. Lacquer SnuflfBox, used in and 
brought from England. 

Walker, E. H., JaiTettown. Silver Spectacles, 100 years old. 

"Walher, Sarah S., Abrams. Jewelry. 
j W'alton, Eber, Blue Bell. Old-fashioned Pocket. Hook and Eye, 
over 7" years old. 

Way, Mrs. GJ«orge P., Jenkintown. Two Leghorn Bonnets. 

Webster, Mrs. Sarah, Jenkintown. Figured silk Bandana, be- 
lieved to be 2f«^yeai-s old. 

"Weinberger, 3Irs. E. K., CoUegeville. Amber Beads, 1700. La- 
dy's Riding A\'hip and Fan, 1800. Grandfather's wedding Stockings, 
1703. 

W^ent^vorth, Mrs. George B., North Wales. Wild Turkey Fan, 
125 years old ; made of the tail of a wild turkey. 

Whitcomb. Catharine M., Jan'ettown. Pair of Spectacles over 
liH) years old. 

"Willard, J. Monroe, Ashbourne. Baby's Shoes, over 100 years 
old. 

AVllliams, Mrs. Elizabeth S., Pittville. Lady's Riding Whip 
110 years old. 

'Williams, Frank, Pittville. C-ane. 

W^illiams, Mrs. M. J., Jarrettown. Two Infant's dresses, over 50 
years old. White Silk Shawl, embroidered with floss, 50 years old. 
Silver Watch. 

AVilllamson, Mrs. Dr., Trappe. Large tortoise shell Comb, 75 
years old. 

"Wilson, Mrs. A. H., Conshohocken. Bead Bag, 

"Wilson, Mrs. Prank, Norrisiown. Leghorn Bonnet, 50 years 
old. 

Wilson, Mrs. Dr. P. S., Jarrettown. Lady's satin Sleeve, former, 
fashion, worn in 17S0 by Catharine Rex, great grandmother of Mrs. 
Hannah E. Wilson and Jacob L Rex. 

"Wolf, Mrs. George, Plymouth. Tortoise shell Comb, worn in 
1800. 

'^''oofl, Mrs. Ann L., Conshohocken. Old Crewel Pocket Book. 



APPENDIX. 



"Worrell, ElUha, Centre Square. Quaker Coat, 185 yeare old : made 

of .silk. 
\Vrlslit, Mrs. Comly, Norristown. Infant's Stays, 2()0 years old ; 

came frum one of the first settlers in Geruiantown. India Cashmere 

Shawl, introduced into Philadelphia in the latter part of the seven- 
teenth (.-entur}'. 
WrlgUt, Mrs. William, Conshohocken. Gold Watch, 150 years 

old. O.'lil Buckle. Silver Buckle. Silver Knee Buckle. 
AVurffleiii, Mrs, Joliii, Edge Hill. Pair of gold enameled Ear 

rinj,'S, at least 125 years old; made and worn in Germany by the 

great-grandmother of 3Ir John Wurfflein. 
Tfenlile, S. Y., Norristown. Felt Hat, UK) years old, 
Ycrkes, Martlia, Huntington Valley. Handkerchief, embroidered 

by Ann Potts. 
Terltes, The Misses, Norristown. Clothing. 
Yost, Mrs, Isaac, Centre Square. Infant'slace Cap, 48 years old. 
Yoiiug, Miss Auuie, Lower Merion. Silver Watch and Chain, 150 

jear:? old. 
Yonug, Miss Margaret, Trappe. Calico wedding Dress, 140 years 

olil. Owtic'il by Jlrs. Moser. 
Zearfoss, MaUlou, Blue Bell. Cane, 125 years old. Firat used by 

Samuel llag^y. 
Zlminerinaii, Mrs. G. W., Collegeville. Beaded Reticule. 
Ziniiueruian, Mrs. J. M., Yerkes. Slippers, 100 years old. 

CLASS XV. 
Antique Hasdiwoek in Silk, Floss, or Wool ; Needlework and 

Laces. 
Acker, Mrs. Dr. E. I*., Xorristown. Sampler, 100 years old. 
Alderfer, Miss Mary, Collegeville. Pin Cushion, over 100 years 

old. 
Allebacli, Mrs, Henry V., Kulpsville. Needlework, nearly 100 

yeai-3 old. 
Anders, Andrew, Kulpsville. Table Cloth ^nd Towel, over lOO 

ycai-s old ; fine needlework. 
Anders, Mrs. George S., Kulpsville, Needlework, 1804. 
Anders, Joseplk S., Fairview Village. Frame of old Zephyr Flow- 
ers. Vase of Lilies. Vase of Hyacinths. 
Anderson, M. P., Trappe. Album Quilt, belonging to Rebecca 

Ziinmcrmau. Sampler, worked in 1829 by R. Bean. 
Ariuitage, Hannah, Jenkintown. Sampler, 1803. 
Atkinson, Robert, Brjn Mawr. Sampler, dated 1787. 
Bean, Mrs. Peter, North Wales. Bureau Cover, 103 years old ; made 

by Sarah Haa.s. 
Berger, Mrs, J. P., North Wales. Sampler, made by Mary Ann 

Stover in 1825. 
Bevau, Mrs. Kntlly, Hartranft. Embroidery, worked in 1827, 
Bickel, Mrs. E. B., Norristown. Pieceof Curtain Calico, IfM) years 

old. 
Blackfau, Mrs. Jfosepli, Norristown. Sampler, worked in ISOl. 

Work Bux. liiO years old. 
Blackfan, Miss, Norristown. Specimen of Darning, 1814. 
Bright, Mrs. S., North Wales. Embroidered Handkerchief, done 

by Elizabeth Wanner, aged 12, in 1776. 
BroM'u, Clu-istopker, Port Kennedy. Stand Cover, needlework, 

by Sarah Brown, fifty years ago. 
Carr, Mrs. Streeper, Plymouth. Sampler, made in 1791 by Mary 

Streeper, aged 11 years, of Barren Hill. 
Colton, Mrs. Ann C, Jenkintown. Fire Screen, in form of a 

Siinipler, worked in 1788. 
Cope,0. "\V., Hatboro. Picture of Dog, worked in silk on satin; 

done in 174(^1, when 15 years old, by Elizabeth Ferguson, the only 

daughter of Sir WilVam Keith. 
Corsoit, Mrs, George N., Norristown. Specimens of Embroiderj', 

75 veal's old. 
Craft, Mrs, Jaeob, Norristown. Pen Holder, over 100 years old. 
C'resson, Mary J,, Norristown. Pin Cushion, made from a piece 

of the altar cloth presented by Queen Anne to Gloria Dei (Old 

Swedes'l Church, Southwark, Philadelphia. 
Cresson, Miss Sarah, Conshohocken. Bureau Cover, 60 yeare old. 
Oavls, John .1., Jenkintown. Sampler, 1813. Pin Cushion, old. 
Detwiler, Mrs. Milton V., Oaks. Old Sampler. 
Eckard, Jane E., Abington. Lace Veil 100 years old. White Lace 

Mitt, 100 yeare old. Square of Lace Needlework, about 120 yeare 

old. Three pieces of antique Lace. Three specimens of embroiil- 

ered Indian Muslin. Small silk embroidered Portfolio. Antique 

Window Curtains, more than 100 yeare old. 



Ed^vards, Mrs. Humphrey W.t Kulpflville. Home-made 
Laces. Frame, over 100 yeare oM. 

Elkluton, Mrs, George, Blue Bell. Sampler, dated 1G97 ; worked 
by Mary Sergeant, born at Kingston-on-Hull, and the great-great- 
grandmother of exhibitor. Sampler, ma*le by "Sarah Sergeant who 
ended this in the 12th yr of her age, 1741." It is remarkable 
for the freshness and beauty of the silks. Three Sauiplere and spe- 
cimen of Darning, ^\Tought by Mary Sergeant, great-aunt of the 
exhibitor, at Ackworth school, in 1783, 17So and 1786. The last is 
a copy of one of Cowper's hymns. Sampler, without date. Sampler, 
marked "Ellis Storr of Scarborough her Sampler, 1705," contain- 
ing good advice, copies of remarkable dogs, family names, and 
monograms. Sampler, worked by 31. Megson in 1780. Contains 
representations of animals, trees, etc. ; also two ships, The Hope 
and The Dove. 

Eshbach, Mrs. Abrahant, Norristown. Pocket Companion, 145 
yeare old. 

Fillmau, Mrs., Norristown. Ancient white satin Pin Cushion. 

Fisher, Mrs. John, Worcester. Sampler. 

Pitzwater, Mrs. Joseph, Port Providence. Pin Cushion, 100 
yeare old. Embroidery, band-made, by Sarah Brower, over sixty 
yeare ago. Fancy homespun Towel, made one hundred years ago. 

Poi-nanee, Mrs. Ellen Knox, Norristown. Two Samplers, in 
one frame ; work of Sarah Ann Leedoni, afterwards Mrs. Thomas 
P. Knox, while a school girl, in 182G and 1827. 

Foulke, Annie J., C'Oushohocken. Sample of Darning, by Han- 
nah Fouike, in ISi'S. 

Pryer, Mrs. Barney, Skippack. Sampler, made before marriage 
by the exhibilore' grandmother, Catharine Yeakel. who was born 
in Towamencin township, August 11, 17G4, and who was married 
to George Anders, in 17',t3. 

Garsed, Mrs. Robei-t P., Norristown. Sampler, worked in 1S06. 

Gotwals, Mrs. John V., (.»aks. Watch Case, 150 years old. Own- 
ed by J. Gotwals. 

Grafly, Miss Sallle, Flourtown. Quilt, over 100 years old. Every 
patch in it cost seventy-five cents per yard. 

Haines, Mrs. Robert B., Cheltenham. Pin Cushion, Go yeare 
old. Work Bag, 140 yeare old. Sample Frame, made by Margaret 
Wistar in 1738, being then in her ath year. She was the daughter 
of Caspar Wistar, of Philadelphia, who came from Hilspaih, near 
Heidelberg, Germany, at the age of 21, landing in this coun- 
try on September 16, 1717. She was a benevolent, kind-hearted 
woman, and did much to relieve suffering humanity. She was ac- 
tive in administering relief in the time of the yellow fever in 1793, 
and died of that disease on the 3d of Tenth Month, 17H3. This 
worthy woman was the great-great-grandniother of the exhibitor's 
husband, Robert B. Haines, and the great-great-aunt of the exhi- 
tor, Margaret Wistar Haines, the families being reunited by the 
marriage of her descendants in 1852. 

Hallniau, Mrs. \%''illiani P., Skippack. W'ork Box, inlaid with 
straw ; made by John Ziegler, the exhibitor's father. 

Hallowell* Mrs. C, R.,, Norristown. Sampler, 1791. 

Harley, Mrs, L., Port Providence. Homespun linen Towel, em- 
broidered seventy yeare. Beaded Purse, lOti years old. Work Box, 
brought from Wales one hundred yeare ago. 

Harps, Mrs. Elizabeth, Jenkintown. Pin Cushion, old. 

Harrison, James, Spring House. Watch Case. 

Heebner, John S., West Point. Two pieces of Needlework, from 
Europe, dated 1733 and 1749. 

Helm, Mrs. A., Philadelphia. Silk Quilt, 70 yeare old. 

Henvis, Mrs. William A., Bryn Mawr. Sampler, worked by 
Abigail Corbett in 1741. 

Hobson, Miss Marj- M., Collegeville. Samplers, 1788, made by 
Mary Lewis, the great-grandmother of exhibitor. 

Hoffecker, R. P., Norristown. Hand-painted Box, 125 yeare old. 

Holliugshead, Charlotte, Cpper Merion. Four ancient Sam- 
pi ere. 

Homer, Mrs. Anna, Norristown. Pocket Pin Cushion and Chain, 
over 109 yeare old. 

Hoover, Hiram C, Hartranft. Two Pin Cushions, from Bethlehem. 

Houpt, Mrs. George, Three Tuns. Watch Case, brought by Mr. 
Williams from Wales one hundred and fifty yeare ago. On the 
back of it is a portrait of his daughter Mary. 

Hughes, Mrs. AVllliam, King-of-Prussia. Sainpler. 

Huston. Lizzie, Blue Bell. Two Needle Books, worked in silk. 

Jarrett, Anna R., Jefferson vi lie. Hand Bag, made from the lin- 
ing of Benjamin Franklin's vest. 



xl 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Jones, Mrs. Eleanor, Jenkintown. Lady's Work Box, made 
by Miciuac Indians about 1800; covered with birch bark and or- 
uamentetl with porcupine quills. 

Jones, Frances E., Oak Lane. Picture, done in needlework, hair, 
and paint ; 100 years old. 

.Tones, Mis.s Marf^aret, Oak Lane. Two Bead Bags, 70 years old. 

Jones, Margaret H., Oak Lane. Tufted Bureau Cover, 70 years old. 
Bed Spread, worked in French knots ; 70 years old. Sampler, 178r.. 

Jones Mrs. M., Lower Merion. Sampler, '.lOyeara old. 

K.eely, Mrs, Jacob, Royersford. Picture, done with needle and 
thread, on white paper ; 90 years old. 

Knlglit, Miss C. E., Ambler. Floss Silks, brought from Canton, 
China ; 75 years old. 

Knox, Mrs. A. Jackson, Plymouth. Box, painted by Miss Isa- 
bella Crawford in 1820. Sampler, worked by Sliss Sarah Rice ; dated 
1794. Sampler, worked by Mrs. Andrew Knooc. Name on it, Re- 
becca Rice ; dated 171)0. Painting on Velvet, executed by Miss Isa- 
bella Crawford in 1820. 

Kooken, Miss BertUa C, Trappe. Sampler, 46 years old. 

K-oplin, Mrs. Mary "W., Norristown. Needle Case, 100 years 
uld. Siimple of Drawn Work, lOU years old. 

Krleble, 3Irs. Isaac, Mainland. Two pieces of Needlework, 125 
and 147 years old. 

Leister, Mrs. David, Douglass. Three-cornered Shawl, 75 years 
old. Embroidered by exliihitor's mother when 12 yeara old. 
Square white Shawls. 75 years old ; embroidered in colors. 

Ligktfoot, Ellen, King-of-Prussia. Sampler, made in 1848. Spe- 
cimen of Needlewurk, 1778. 

Lukens, Jonathan R.. Horsham. Sampler, made in 1789 by Mar- 
tha Tomkins, of Philadelphia, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth 
Tomkins. Martha Tomkins and William Lukens were married in 
1804, and were the grand-parents of tlie exhibitor. William Lu- 
kens was a farmer, and owned the farm in Horeham township 
upon which the exhibitor now resides. Frame, containing birds 
made of feathers. Done by Martha Tomkins about ninety-five 
years ago. 

liUtz, Bella, North Wales. Sewing Basket, 150 years old ; from ex- 
hibitor's great-grandmother. 

McGo-wan, Miss I. S., Norristown. Sampler, made in 1785. 

McNeil, Mrs. George G., Blue Bell. Work Basket, 100 years 
old. Formerly owned by Elizabeth Bisbing (afterwards Miller), of 
Springfield. 

Madeira, Tlie Misses, Jenkintown. PinCushion, about70 years old. 

Mauu, Mrs. Hannah S., Horsham, and Sallle J. Shoe- 
maker, Springfield. Antique Purse, Needle Case and Pin Cushion, 
used eighty to ninety years ago by Jane Supplee Shoemaker, of 
Whitpain, grandiiiuther of the exhibitor. 

3Iarkley, Frenndschaft, The, Sampler of Ann H. Markley, 
182!1. 

Mather, Mrs. C, Jenkintown. Lace, made from linen braid by 
Alice Armstrong. Lady's Companion, presented to Mrs. Susan 
Armstrong by her intended, in 1792. Sampler, worked by exhibi- 
tor's sister in 1831. Bureau Cover, 70 years old. 

Mather, Miss Martha, Jenkintown. Needle Book, 80 years old, 
(.'ushion with Chain, loO years. Pin Cushion. 

Mills, Mrs. William, Ardmure. Sampler, worked by exhibitor's 
aunt, Elizabeth Holland, in 179y, when 10 years of age. 

Miller, Mrs. Samnel, Jefferson ville. Beaded Bag, worked by 
Mary E. Gable in 1812, in Philadelphia. 

Moore, Edwin, Port Kennedy. Sampler, 1825, by Phoebe Moore. 

Moore, Mrs. S. E., Shoemakortown. Poem, on the death of 
George Washington. Printed on satin. 

Moss, Miss RetoeccB, Jenkintown. Silk Belt, embroidered in fash- 
ion of sixty years ago. Silk Apron, embroidered, from Paris, sixty- 
four years ago. Ten Commandments, worked on linen. 

Murray, Mrs. S. C, King-of-Prussia. Sampler. 

Naille, Miss Annie M., Royei-sford. Two home-made linen 
Tftwels. worked in many designs of different coloi-s; 76 and SO years 
old. Home-made Laces. 

Nyce, George S., Frederick. Large open-work Picture, executed 
by the late Adam Slemmer in 1819. 

Owen, Mrs. 'William W., Norristown. Sample of Darning on 
canvass, done in 1812 by Debby Logan Norris at Westtowu Friends' 
school. Canvas Work. Copy of Norris family Coat-of-arms, left 
unfinished at death of Eunice Norris. 

Painter, Mrs. 'Williani, Norristown. Needlework, at the age of 
80, by Mary Cole, who was born in 1621. 



Paiste, Rohert, Norristown. Two Samplers, over 80 years old. 

Fannepacker, Mrs. William C, Pin Cushion. Patch of the dress 
of Barbara Schiittler when she was a girl of 10 years, in 1777. 

Pannepacker, Miss, Klein's. Two Tidies, 70 and W) yea rs 
old. 

Pawling, The Misses, King-of-Prussia. Two pieces of silk em- 
broidery, viz. ; a Basket of Fruit, on black satin ; a Boquet of Flow 
ers, on white .satin. Both something over lon years old. 

Pecliiu, John "W^., King-of-Prusaia. Sampler. 

Ponieroy, Mrs, H. S., Norristown. Sampler. 83 years old. 

Potts, Mrs, 'William "W,, Swedeland. Infant's Basket. Belonged 
originally to the motht-r of Mrs. Counsellor Ross, and contained her 
infant clothing at her birth, July 17, 1754 ; hence it is 130 years old. 
Presented by Mi-s. Major Holstein, of Norristown, to the exhibi- 
tor. 

Ranibo, Mrs. J, R,, Norristown. Sampler, made by Debby Lo- 
gan in 1781. 

Ranibo, Mrs. Snsau, Bridgeport. Embroidered Bag. Belonged 
to S. Ram!)o in 1760. 

Raniey, Miss S,, Norristown. Sampler. 

Reid, Mrs, Dr. John K.., Conshohocltjen. Samplei-s, 1818. 

ReliT, Mrs. Enos L,, Ambler. Sampler of Point Russe, made by 
exhibitor fifty-six years ago. 

Reiif, Miss Sallie "W., Ambler. Embroidered Sampler, made by 
exhibitor's grandmother, Mary Lewis, in 17S8. 

Renninger, Miss Mary A., Douglass. Quaint Sewing Box, 
Germany, with old painting on the lid of Jonah and the whale. 

Rex, Mrs. Jacob L., Blue Bell. Knitted Card Basket. A gift to 
Mrs. Rex from John B. Sterigere, Esq., at a fair for St. John's 
Church, held in the old court house, at Norristown, forty yeare 
ago." 

Rex, Mary S., Blue Bell. Sampler, worked in 1783. Formerly 
owned by Maria Moore, of Gwynedd. 

Rex, Miss M. D., Flourtown. Sampler, over 100 years old. 

Ridpath, J. "W., Jenkintown. Herder's Companion, to hold knit- 
ting needles and ball of yarn while walking and knitting ; made of 
one piece of wood. 

Roberts, Mrs. Clara "V,, Norristown. Lace Work. Bridal veil, 
done fifty-five years ago. 

Rogers, Mrs, George "W,, Norristown. Frame Sampler. Worked 
by a little girl of 12, in the year 1791".. 

Rossiter, Mrs. George G., Blue Bell. Sampler, worked by Cath- 
erine Bernhart in 1829. 

Rudy, John, Norristown. Very old Work Box. Presented to Mre. 
John Rudy by her grandmother. 

Rne, Lonisa, Norristown. Pin Cushion and Needle Cases, 100 years 
old. 

Selilater, Mary Amanda, Norristown. Sampler. 

SclLiiltz, Josepli, Worcester. Several Samplei-s. 

Shainline, Jonathan, Abrams. Sampler; a landscape, by Jane 
Shainline. 

Shearer, Mrs. E, Norris, JefFersonville. Needlework Counter- 
panes, made in 1828 by Mrs. Shearer. Needlework Counterpane, 
executed in 1806 by Mi's. Charles Norris. Needlework on Paper, 
executed by Elizabeth Schrack ninety yeare ago. 

Shearer, Mrs, J, S., ihiks. Silk Globe, made by Ann Williams; 
150 years old. 

Shoemaker, Mrs. Hannah S., Horsham. French Embroidery, 
slipper pattern ; done by exhibitor in 186ii. 

Shoemaker, Hannali \', Norristown. Bureau Cover, 100 years 
old. 

Slioemaker, Isaac, Norristown. Sampler, pretty work, 1832. 

Slioemaker, Mrs. Richard C, Jarrettown. Pin Cushion, made 
in isoii. 

Shoemaker, Sallie J,, Springfield. Embroidered Night Dress, 
done twenty-five years ago. White Muslin Skirt, style of twenty- 
five years ago; embroidered and owned by exhibitor. See Mann, 
Mrs. Hannah S. 

Shoemaker, Mrs. Thomas S., Jarrettown. Sample of Darning 
and Sampler, done by Anna Bunsall at Westtown hoarding school 
in 1812 ; both owned by exhibitor. Pin Cushion, over lOO j'ears 
old. 

Shreluer, Sarah P., Gwynedd. Basket, 106 years old. Belonged 
to exhibitor's great-grandmother. Combination Work Bag, 109 
years old. Sampler, made in 1804 by Sarah L. Taylor, grandmother 
of the exhibitor. 

Shultz, John, Norristown. Two Bureau Covers, very old. 



APPENDIX. 



xli 



SllugliUr, Mrs. WiUiam H., Nomstowa. Knitting Basket, 
very old. 

Stouuard, Mfh. E. J., Broad Axe. Sampler, worked by tlio ex- 
bibiloi's great-grand mother, Mary Sattertbwaite, in 178;i. 

Steluer, Mrs. J. F., Norristowu. Sampler, worked in linon spun 
and woven ninety yeai-s ago. 

Stem, Mi-8. Levi, \\'bitpain. Sampler, worked by Rachel Selser 
over one hundred yeai-s ago. Silk Needle Book, worked in floss. 
Silk, 75 yours uld. Sampler, over lOU years old. Worked to repre- 
sent a pine-uppli: on canvas. 

Stewart, Mrs. Kliza, Abington. Two Pin Cushions, 1780 and 
1784. Samplers, very old. Two embroidered satin Stove Holdei-s, 
1730. 

Stewart, Mrs. R, T., Norrisfown. Sampler, 100 years old. 

StiUwell, Mrs. Clara, North Wales. Two Mats, antique. Two 
plaited Mats. 

Stiteler, Mrs. Kdwlii D., Gulf Mills. Sampler. 

Stockdale, Haiinali P., Gwyuedd. Thread Case, mside in 1768 
by the exhibitor's great-great -aunt. 

Stout, A. D,, Edge Hill. Sampler. 

Stout, S, K.., Norristowu. Easter Egg, hand-painted, in 1830. 

Streeper, Miss Amauda, Broad Axe. Sauipler, made by Grand- 
mother Sliay in ISOn, 

Snpplee, Myta, Bridgeport. Three Samplers, worked by exhibitor 
in 1821. 

Swartlcy, Eniellue S., Skippack. The first piece of Sewing Ma- 
chine Work, done in cloth fifty years ago. Owned by Hannah Buz- 
zard. 

Thomas, Auua B,, Upper Merion. Needlework, done in 1774. 

Tliomas, Auue L,, Upper Merion. Five very old Samplers. 

Tyson, B. F., Belfry. Three pieces of Embroidery, 30 years old. 

Tysou, Mrs. Sarah H., King-of-Prussia. Needlework uf Mi-s. E. 
H. Itoberts, dune from 1814 to 1825. 

Unruh, Mrs, Kd^vard, Weldon. Sampler, ancient. 

Vnrnh, Misses R. aud K., Welilon. Bureau Stand Cover. 

IValtou, Eber, Blui: Bell. Sampler, worked in 1834 by Alevia 
Walton (formerly Shaw), of Wbitpain township. It contains the 
names of her parents and words of advice to her brothera and 
sister?. 

Walton, Harry C, Blue Bell. Sampler, worked with viues and 
flowers. Done in 1818 by Alevia Shaw, of Richland township, Bucks 
county, who afterwards married Eber Walton, of Wbitpain town- 
ship, and died in 1.880. 

Weinberger, Mrs. E. K., CoUcgeville. Souvenirs of Needle- 
wiirk, to be worn un watch case, 18U0 and 1812. Wall Pocket and 
Pin Cushion, 1795. 

W^llson Mrs. Ijizzte, Plymouth Meeting. Embroidery in Silk 
done in 1700 and 1793 by Rebecca Maris. 

"Wood, Mrs, Ann Ij., Conshohockon. Sampler, 1767. 

"Wright, Mrs. Comly, Nurristown. Ancient piece of French 
Embroidery. Sampler, made by Hannah Gibbons, Fifth-month, 
1775. 

Yerkes, Martha, Huntingdon Valley. Piu Cushion, from the Potts 
family. 

Young, Miss Annie, Lower Merion. Sampler, dated 1707. 

Zlmniernian, Esther, Norristowu. Sampler, 1734. Contains the 
English alphabet in large capitals and small lettera, the Episcopal 
church creed, atid the Lord's Prayer ; was worked by Isabella Best 
in the year 1734, when she was 9 years of age, jis appears thereon. 
She was afterwards a governess in the family of Henry Pawling, 
Esq., of T>ower Providence township. One of his descendants was 
married to the exhibitor's sister, Rebecca Pawling, from whose 
hands it came to the exhibitor. Sampler, 1775. Bears the alpha- 
bet in capitals and small lettera, with marginal decorations; was 
worked by the exhibitor's aunt, Sarah Butler, of Upper Dublin 
township, in the year 1775, at which time she was but a child. Work 
Basket, over 100 years old. 

Zimmerman, Mrs. Joshua, CollegeviUe. Pin Cushion, over 100 
years old. Two Samplers, ISIS. 

Zimmerman, Mrs. J. M., Yerkes. Silk Cushion, pieced by a lady 
76 yeara old, 

CLASS XVI. 

ARTISTIC HANDIWORK, THE PRODUCT OF EITHER BRUSH, PENCIL, OR 
MODELING, KNIT, CttOTCHET, OR NEEDLEWORK, OF OUR OWN TIME. 

Aldred, Mrs. J. A., North Wales. Cloth Quilt, modern. 
Ambler, Aaron, Norritonville. Embroidered Table Cloth. 



Anders, Edn^ln, Kulpsvillo. Fancy modern Quilt. 
Anders, Joseph S., I'airview Village. Lambrequin. 
Anderson, Kate, Abrams. Silk Quilt, patty-pan pattern, 8,500 

pieces. Darned Net Tie, 1SJ>4. 
Anderson, Mrs. 31. P., Trappe. Wreath of Hair flowers, modern ; 

made of the hair of the Zinimerman family. 
Auge, Miss E. M., Norristowu. Large case, containing Hair 

Wreath, 1S84. 
Bean, A, J., Worcester. Pillow Shams. Tidy. 
Berger, Mrs. J. F., North Wales. Sofa Pillow modern. 
Beyer, Mrs, Ida, Worcester. Patchwork QuiU, niodern. 
Brooke, Mrs., King-of-Prussia. Cushion. 
Brown Christopher, Port Kennedy. Picture of a Bird ; 50 years 

old ; made of feathera. 
Cascadeu, Mrs. Robert, Norriatown. Two knit Bedspreads, 

niodern work. 
C-onard, Klla V., Port Kcnuedy. Sofa Pillow aud wilk Quilt 

by Eliza Conard, in her C5tii year. Braided Pillow Shams, by 

Eliza C. Walker, 1876. 
Conrow, Mrs. Cieorge E, B., NoiTistown, Painted slate Table 

Tup, 1«S^. 
Cottman, Mrs. J, P., Jenkintown. Embroidered Piano Cover, 

mndern needlework. 
Crawford, Mrs. V. Virginia, Bryn Mawr. Pin Cushion and 

Bureau Cover, niodern. Jug, ornauieuted, niodern. 
Cresson, Mrs. Caleb, Oalts. Towel, made by the exhibitor's 

daugliter, 10 years idii. 
Davis, Miss Mary, Jenkintown. Modern Point Collar. 
DeHaar, Mrs., Norristowu. Fancy work : hand-made lace Hand- 
kerchief, Stomacher, and CuflTs. 
Ebersole, Mrs. S. A., Kartranft. Silk Quilt, made in 1883. 
Eckard, Jane E. Abington. Three Bpecimens of India Muslin, 

embroidered. Two tatting lace Collars, modern. Brocaded Silk. 

Satin Portfolio, embroidered with silk. Painting on Kice Paper. 
Elliott, Miss S. E., Jenkintown. Modern Point, Beadwork, and 

Lace. 
Eerguson, Miss Belle P., Cheltenham. Modern Embroidery. 
Flllman. Mrs,, Norristuwn. Kuibroidered Toilet Cover. 
Ponianee, Mrs. Ellen Knox, Norristowu. Piece of Embroidery, 

worked on flannel by Mrs. Anne B. Fornance. 1882. 
Preedley, Miss S. S., Norristown. Two panel Pictures of Flowers, 

painted by Sophia S. Frcedley, of the Philadelphia School of Design 

for Women, 1S83. China Cups and Saucers, hand-painted, modern. 
Pry, 3Iiss, Plymouth. Fire Screen, modern work. 
Crarsed, Mrs. Robert P., Norristown. Specimens of Drawing and 

Painting by Montgomery county pupils at the Philadelphia School 

of Design for Women. Two china Plates, hand painted, modern. 

Two Cups and Saucers, hand-painted, modern. 
Gilbert, Miss Elizabetli, Norristown. Plush Table Cover and 

s;itin Banner. 
Grlseom, Mrs. Joseph 'W., Jenkintown. Fire Screen, embroidered 

modern. Table Cover, embroidered on linen in wash silks. Lady's 

Knit Sack. Shelf Cover, Oriental crazy work. Pui-se, in red silk 

and beads. 
Orotr, Mrs. Catharine, Worcester. Patchwork Quilt, modern. 
tjfumbes, Mrs. P. S., Oaks. Cumiterpane, nuule in the present day 

day by exhibitor. 
Harper, Mrs. Thomas B., Jenkintown. Lady's lace Sack, mad 

by a gentleman. 
Ha^vs Katie, Jcffereonville. Pillow and Sheet Shams. 
Heebner, Mrs. C. B., Collegevilie. Velvet Cushion. 
Hobson, 3Irs, P. M., Collegevilie. Two knit Counterpanes. 
Hobson, Miss Mary M., CollegeviUe. Crazy Quilt. 
Hoffecker, R.. P., Norristown. China Painting on cups and 

saucers. 
HoiFman, Mrs. H. A., Frederick. Sofii Cushion, worked by 

exliibitur. 
Holllnshead, Charlotte, Upper Merion. Pocket Book, made 

fnuii a piece of Lafayette's cuat. 
Holsteln, Charles E., Bridgeport. Inlaid Box, from the Lakes of 

Killarney, representing scenes in Ireland. 
Ilnghes, Miss Anna, Gulf Mills. Fancy work, modern. Crane 

and Sunflower. 
Jones, Blargaret H., Oak Lane. Modern work. Ancient adorning 

of Cards. 
ICeisel, Miss Annie, Ambler. Tatting Tidy, modern fancy work. 

Crochet Feather Edging. 



xlii 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Kelsel, Miss Lizzie, Ambler. Knit woolen Mittens, modern fancy 
wink. 

Kiiipe, Miss Amanda, North Wales. Hair Wreath, 900 fine 
tiiiwers, made l>y exhibitor. 

K.0I1I, George M., Jenkintown. Urn, painted by the owner. 

ICookeu, Miss Bertha C, Trappe. Crewel enibroidercil Dress. 
French enibroidereil Pillow Shams. 

Krleble, Abraliani H., Kulpsville. Sun Quilt, new. 

liaiiderliacli, Miss M,, NumBtown. KnittedSack. 1884. 

Leisler, Mrs. H, F., Pha-nixville. Set Bed Spread iind Pillow 
Shams, darned in net ; worked by exhibitor. Small Afghan. Linen 
Towel, worked in scarlet. 

Leuzi, Amie C, Norristown. Tile. Chrysanthemums, painted in oil. 
Tile. Pansies, in oil. Pottery Va-se, with roses iti relief. 

Xilglittoot, BUen, King-of-Pnissia. Pin Case, made from Penn's 
treaty elm tree, with an autograph letter of Roberts Vaus. Patch- 
work Qiiilt. 

Ltnueus, Mrs. Ja-*roo€l, Conshohocken. Modern Plaques, made in 
Antwei-p. 

Manii, Joluk H,, Horsham. Specimen of Free Hand Drawing, by 
AIlMjrt Mann, IH years of age. 

Moore, Emma, Port Kennedy. Needlework, 1883. 

Moyer, Mrs. Hari*y W., North Wales. Embroidered Towel, made 
by the exhibitor. Sofa Pillow, made by the exhibitor. 

IVaille, Miss Aunle M., Royersford. Canvas Toilet Set, worked in 
old gold floss. 

Painter, Mrs. William, NorristoAvn. Needlework, 18(11. 

Handle, Mrs. Williani, Jenkintown. Mantel Lambrequin, em- 
broidered, modern. Fire Screen, embroidered, modern. 

Rex, Mary S., Bine Bell. Vaee, hand-painted, with black-eyed 
Susans. Cup and Saucer, painted with Michaelmas daisies. Twelve 
DesEert Plates, painted by the exhibitor. Plaque, painted by the 
exhibitor. 

Rothenberger, Mrs. Klla, Knlpsville. Afghan, new. 

Royer, BIrs. Dr. J. W., Trappe. Two German Scissor Pictures, 
cut from Black paper. Group of Mexican Feather Pictures of birds; 
made of feathei-s laid on a dark background. 

Shalnllne, R. Jauie, Abrams. Work and Embroidery, from Merion 
school, 18S4. 

Slieire. Mrs. Mary, NoiTistown. Case of ancient and modern 
Needlework and Fancy Embroidery. 

Slieri-ldan, Mrs. Tlioiuas, Collegeville. Silk Quilt, 4,562 pieces., 
SUoeniaker, Mrs. Ilionias S., Jarrettown. I'ainted Plaque 
with glass. Lambreqviin, vorked by the exhibitor and Sliss Minnie 
Robertson, of Gwynedd. Whisk holder. Old Chair, with the 
worked seat, and Tidy ; ancient and modern combined. Seed Wreath, 
made by eshibitdr from two hundred and one different kinds of 
seeds. 

Slemmer, Mrs. H. "W., Norristown. Silk Quilt, modern. 

Slemmer, Mrs. AVilllam, Norristown. Silk Crazy Quilt, modern. 

Spencer, Miss Lillian, Jenkintown. Decorated Mull Window 
Curtains. Tropical birds, flowers, and grasses. The first attempt of 
the artist, when but 15 years of agQ% and without a previous lesson ; 
remarkably tnie to nature. Window Lainbre<iuin. Altheas on 
muslin. Painted from the flower. Window Lambrequin. Painted 
sea weeds, very diflicult of execution ; unique. 

Staekliouise, Mrs. JosepU, Jarrettown. Fruit work, of cloth; 
made by exhibitor in 18:iO. Stand, made of Job's tears, in 1853, by 
Mrs. Evans, of Pliiladelpbia. 
Ste'n'art, Mrs. Klizn, Abington. Bureau Cover, made by Miss P. 
Stewart, and owned l)y Emily Stewart. 

StUlwell, Mrs. Clara, North Wales. Carriage Afghan, modern. 
Fancy Box. 

Strassbnrger, Mrs. J. A., Norristown. Vase, huod-painted. 

S^vartley, Enteline S., Skippack. Rose Bud and Leaves of chenille, 
done in cloth. Made at Williams' Grove, Cumberland county, at 
the Grangei-s' picnic, August 20 to 24, lSS-1. Piece of Hair Paint- 
ing. 
Swartley, Mrs. Vienna, Fairview Village. Lap Cover, macreme 

cord, modern. 
Taggart, MartUa, King-of- Prussia. Fancy Work, 1884. 

Taylor, Miss, Blue liyll. Macreme Work, modern. 

Tlkonipson, Mary Ij., Jenkintown. Drawings, from objects and 

copies, by pupil.sof .Vudeuried public school. 
Unruli, Misses R. and K,., Weldon. Emliroidered Bureau Cover, 
modern. Embroidered Stand Cover, modern. 

"Way, Mrs. George P.j Jenkintown. Bureau Covoi', Mexican lace. 



Welier, Mrs. Jolin, Worcester. Sofa Cushion. 

WilllamS) Miss £mma C, JaiTettown. Wreath of Zephyr 
Flowers, made by the exhibitor. Decorated Thermometer, ribbon 
work. 

\%''llliamH, Miss Hannali E,, Jarrettown. Toilet Set, worked on 
Java canvas by exliibitor. Wail Pocket, made of cones, by exhibi- 
tor. Painted Plaque, in velvet frame on easel; painted, framed, and 
easel made, by exhibitor. 

"Wise, Mrs. J. S., Flourtown. Crazy Patchwork. Crochet Lace. 

CLASS XVII. 

SCHOOL nOOKS, OLn ANn NEW. 

Blackfan, Miss, Norristown. Copy Book, written in 1814. 

Boorse, John C, Kulpsville. Four Copy Books of Baltzer and 
George lleydricks. 178;J to 1794. 

Buck, William .T., Jenkintown. Two MS. Instruction Books for 
the Piano. Prepared by Chailes Fortnuin for his pupil, Jacob E. 
Buck, in 1814-16. MS. Instruction Book in Vocal Music. By 
Joseph Hess, for his pupil, Miss Catharine Aftlerback, wife of J. E. 
Buck, 1815-16. Columbian Orator, 1817. A school book, once 
popular, becoming rare. Toy Geography, with uumt;rous copper- 
plate engravings, Philadelphia, 1800. 

Cassel, AbraUam H., Harleysville. The Child's Guide to Spelling 
and Reading. Philadelphia, 1810. Fourth edition. The Parlor 
Primer, for Children. Philadelphia, 1814. The Symbolical Primer, 
with 492 cuts. Philadelphia, 1830. The Forst Buk in Fonetic 
Reading. London, 1853. Spelling Book : A Now Guide to the 
English Tongue. By Thomas Dilworth. Thirty-sixth edition. 1773. 
This book was extensively used in England and America ever since 
1740^ and for many years the only one in America, and was used yet 
in some parts of this county in the recollection of Mr. Cassel. The 
last edition was iirinted in New Haven in 1827. The old editions 
had a full-page likeness of thea\ithor, a very comprehensive preface, 
a dedication to the schools of Great Britain and Ireland, a full-page 
poetic compliment to its Reverend author, besides numerous recom- 
mendations, all over the date of 1740. The new American Spelling 
Book, improved. By John Pierce. Sixth revised edition. Pliila- 
delphia, 1808. The Sunday School Spelling Book. Compiledat the 
request of the Sunday and Adult School Union of Philadelphia. 
Third edition. Philadelphia, 1819. The Critical Pronouncing 
SpellingBook. By Hezekiah Burhans. Phihidelphia, first edition, 
1821. A New Spelling Book. By John Comly. Philadelphia, nU. 
Beading Books. The Child's Instructor, consisting of E;isy Lessons 
for Children on subjects which are familiar to them. By a Teacher 
of Little Children in Philadelphia. 1809. The Reader's Cabinet. 
In prose and verse. Baltimore, 1809. Lessons in Elocution, &c., 
for the Improvement of Youth in Reading and Speaking. By 
William Scott, 1815. The Rhetorical Reader. By Ebenezer Porter. 
1848. Introduction to the English Reader. By Lindley Murray. 

1818. The English Reader. By Lindley Murray. Pliiladelphia, 

1819. Sequel to the English Reader. By Lindley Murray. 1817. 
A Pleasing Companion for Little Boys and Girls. By Jesse Torrey, 
Jr. Twenty-fifth edition. Philadelphia, 1835. The Bloral In- 
structor and Guide to Virtue. By Jesse Torrey. Tenth edition. 
Philadelphia, 1825. The Moral Instructor and Guide to Virtue. 
By Jesse Torrey. Tenth Edition. Philadelphia, 182G. A Men- 
tal Museum for the Rising Generation, with appendix. By 
Jesse Torrey. 1829. The American Preceptor, Improved. By 
Caleb Bingham. Sixty-fourth edition (fourth improved edition). 
Boston, 1821. The Philadelphia Vocabulary, English and Latin, 
put into New Blethod. By James Greenwood. Philadelphia, 1806. 
Amitniculum I'uerile ; or. An Help for School Boys in Obtaining a 
Knowledge of the Latin. Fourth edition. Philadelphia, 1785. The 
American Practical Lunarian and Seaman's Guide, Illustrated 
with Plates, &c. By Thomas Arnold. Philadelphia, 1822. The 
Columbian Orator. By Caleb Bingham. Boston, liret edition, 
1811. The American Orator. By Joshua P. Slack, 1817. 
A Short Introduction to English Grammar, with Critical Notes. 
By Robert Lowth. Printed by U. Ailktn, I biladtlj hia, in 1775. 
English Grammar, adapted to tlie different classes of learners, with 
an appendix of rules and observations. By Lindley Murray. 
(First) American edition. Philadelphia, 1800. Key to the Exprcise, 
adapted to Murmy's English Grammar. 1825. Conversations on 
English Grammar, explaining the principles and rules of tho 
langiuiRe. By Charles M. IngersoU. 1835. The Schoolmaster's 
Assistant : Being a Compendium of Arithmetic, both Practical and 
Theoretic, in Five Parts, to which is prefixed a Preface Dedicatory 



APPEiNDIX. 



sliii 



and an Essay ou the Education of Youth, humbly offered to the 
consideration of parouts and guardians. It has also his full-page 
likeness, two full jiagcs of poetic conipliiuents to the author, besides 
numerous reconmiendutions, etc., all over the date of 1743. It passed 
through more than one hundred editions in this country and Europe, 
and was also for many years the only one used in this countiy by 
our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers. Several editions 
of it were printed here by R. Aitken, in Philadelphia, before the 
ReTolution, and the twenty-second American edition was printed by 
Hugh Gaineiti Now York already in 1784. The American Tutor's 
Assistant. Philadelphia, 1S13. The American Tutor's Assistant, 
improved. By Zachariah Joss. 1811. Intellectual Arithmetic, upon 
the inductive method of instruction. By Warren Colburu. Boston, 
1826. Arithmetic upon the Inductive Method of Instruction. Being 
a sequel to Intellectual Arithmetic. By AVanen Colburn. 1828. 
The Teacher's Assistant. By Stephen Pike. Pliiladelphia, 1852. 
Budiments of Arithmetic. By John F. Stoddard. 1807. Practical 
Arithmetic. By John F. Stoddard. 1868. The American Philos- 
ophical Arithmetic. I85G. The Crittenden Commercial Arithmetic 
and Business Manual. By John Groesbeck. Philadelphia, 187-1. 
Introduction to the National Aiithmetic. By B. Greenleaf. 1869. 
The Nutionul Arithmetic on the Inductive System ; combin- 
ing the Analytic and Synthetic Slethods. By Benj. Greenleaf. 1869. 
The NorniaWft'rilten Arithmetic. By Edward Brooks. 1863. The Nor- 
mal Higher. Arithmetic. By Edward Brooks. 1876. An Introduction 
Algebra, with Notes and Observations. By John Bonnycastle. 
Second revised edition. Philadelphia, 1811. A Treatise on the 
Elements of .\lgebiu. By B. Bridge. 183S. Intellectual Algebra; 
or, Oral Exercises in Algebra for Common Schools. By David B, 
Tower. Seventh edition, 1850. Algebi-a znui gebrauch Hoheril 
Niederer Schulen. Leipzig. 1761. 

Cass«l, Isaac R., North M'alea. Primer and Table Book, used by 
exhibitor when a boy, Greek Grammer, 163G. Note Book, bought 
by Joseph Skeen in 1788. 

Cresson, "Walter, ConshohockeD. Cocker's Arithmetic, 1G77. The 
title-page is as follows : Cocker's Arithmetick : Bring a plain and 
familiar Method, suitable to the meanest Capacity, fur the full I'nder- 
Btanding of that incomparable Art, iis it is now .taught by the Ablest 
School-Masters in City and Country, Composed by Edward Cocker, 
late Practitioner in the Arts of Writing, Arithmetick, antl Engrav- 
ing : Being that so long since promised to the World. Perused and 
Published, By John Hawkins, W'ri ting-Master near St. George', 
Church in Southwark, by the Author's correct Copy, and commen- 
ded to the World by many eminent Mathematicians and Writing. 
Masters in and near London. The Forty-Sixth Edition, carefully 
Con-ected and Amended. By George Fisher, Accompt, Licensed 
September 3, 1G77, Roger L'Estrange. London : Printed for A. 
Bettsworth and C. Hitch at the Red-Lyon, and F. Osborn at the 
Goldeu-Ball in Pater-Noster Row; S. Birt, at the Bible and Ball in 
Avemary Lane; and F. Hodges, at the Looking-Glass on London 
Bridge. Perrin's Instructive Exercises, with Rules of French Syntax. 
1793 ; and Perrin's French Conversation, 1794. Used by the exhibi- 
tor's father, John H. Cresson, of Philadelphia (born 1780), when a 
pupil under the eminent Quaker preacher, Stephen Grellet, in 179G. 
Lancaster System of Education. 

Cutler, C. D., Three Tuns. Ancient United States Histoiy. 

Detwller, Jones, Blue Bell. New England Primer, 1807. Columbian 
Orator, by Wythe, 1817. Murray's English Reader, 1821. American 
Speaker. Comly's Spelling Book. By Hunt. Lot of old Copy 
Plates, for writing. Two Ciphering Books. Belonged to Amos 
Roberts, of Whitpain township. Isaac McGlathery, the teacher, 
signs his name ou the la-st page, March 6, 1792. How to Learn Ger- 
man and English. By Christopher Saur. Germantown, 1751. De- 
scription of the Globes and the Orrei-y. By Harris. 

Det-*»^ler, Mrs. Milton V., Oaks. Physiology, 1779. Ainsworth's 
Dictiomiiy. London, 1773. 

Dotterer, Henry S., Pliiladelphia. Columbian Omtor. By Caleb 
Bingham, A. M. Boston : J. H. A. Frost. 1828, Pennsylvania 
German Manual. By Rev. A. R. Home, A. M. Kutztown, 1875. 
This work contains Pronouncing Exercises, Pennsylvania German 
Grammar, Pennsylvania German Literatui-e, and a Pennsylvania 
German Dictionary. 

Fornance, Mrs. Ellen Knox, Norristown. School Book, dated 
June 15, 1790. Contains solution of mathemaiical problems (Naviga- 

tiun). 
Frank, J. B., JeffersonviUe. Examination Questions and Answers, 
by pupils of Indian Creek school, of which exhibitor is teacher. 1884. 



Garsed, Mrs. Bobert P., Norristown. Bonnycastle's Algebra, 1818. 
Bonnycixstlo's Mensuration and Pi"actical Geometry, 1835, 

GoOsUalk, Cliarls, D., Kulpsvillo. American Instructor. By 
Benjamin Franklin ami Hall, 1748. 

Grlniley, Solomon K., Schwenksville. The American Tutor's 
Assistant. Philadelphia: Joseph Cruikshank. 1810. Owned by 
John Wircinan, 1821. 

Heaeock, Annie, Jenkintown, Gutlirie's Geography and Book of 
Maps, 1820. 

Heller, George K., Cheltenham. American Universal Geography 
and American Gazetteer. By Jedediah Morse, D. D. Boston : 
Thomas Andrews, 1816. American Tutor's Arithmetic. About 1814. 
German Reader. By Peter Leibert. Germantown, 1792. Ciphering 
Bnok. Done at Fort Wiishington school-house, 

Heydrick, Daniel, Kulpsville. Engraved Copy Book, 1766. 

Holison, P. G., Collegeville. Columbian Orator, Middlebuiy, Vtl: 
I'rinti'dby William Slade, Jr., April, 1816. First Vermont edition. 

Hollinsliead, B. M., Upper Merion. Atlas, published in 1814. 

JoUiisoii, Mrs., Norristown. Old School Books. 

Jones, (Touatlian R., Conshohocken. Two Ciphering Books, 1799 
and 1812; the work of the late Jonathan R. Jones. 

Keller, Charles M,, Douglaas. English Reader, 1R26. Three old 
Spelling Books. 

Keller, F. M., Douglass. Juvenile Reader, 1843. Maltc-Brun'a 
School Geography, 1836. 

Kriebel, Abraham, Niantic. Hebrew Grammar, 1752. German 
Grammar, 1808. English Schoolmaster's Assistant, 1790. 

MclVeiU, George G., Blue Bell. Columbian Orator, 1817. Usetl by 
exhibitor's father, Hiram McNeill, Springfield. English Reader, 1818. 

Rjimey, Miss S., Norristown, History of England, 1804. Columbian 
Orator, 1813, 

Rex, Jacob !L., Blue Bell, Ciphering Book. Used by John Rex 
(born 1800). formerly of Chestnut Hill. Harvey's Mensuration. 
I'sed by John Rex. 

Rittenlionse, Samuel, Fairview Village. Cocker's .Arithmetic. 
Glasgow, 1787. 

Roberts, Lloyd, Norristowo, Practical Arithmetic, 1809, 

Roberts, Septinins, Whitpain. Comly's Spelling Book, 1814. Child's 
Geography, very old. Arithmetic, very old. Pike's Arithmetic, 
very old. Juvenile Astronomy, 1817. Bennett's Arithmetic, 1808. 
Asti'onomical Definitions, 1821. Geography and Astronomy, 1S08. 
Algebra, 1822. Schoolmaster's Assistant, 1800. English Reader, 
1S16. Geometry, 1812. English Grammar, 1815. Surveying. By 
Rtiberts Gibson, 1811. Second Class Reader, 1830. Nugent's Diction 
ary, 1825. School Atlas. Universal Multiplier. Noy's Penman- 
ship, 1830. Atlas, 182S, American Preceptor. 

Scblicbter, J. Warren, Conshohocken. Examination Papers of 
Conshohocken High School, Spring of 1884. Diploma, framed. 

SeUoll, Albert, Conshohocken. System of Natural Philosophy, 1735. 

Sctiiiltz, Amos, Niantic. Billmeyer's German A, B, C, Book, 1792. 
Latin Lectures, 1667. 

Sliainline, Jonatban, Abrams. Manuscript Arithmetic of Isaac 
Eastburn, 1795. 

Shoemaker, Robert, Shoemakertown. English Syntax, 1785. 
Geography of the World, 1795. 

Stewart, Mrs. Kliza, Abington. Scott's Lessons, 1799. Used by the 
late Ardtrmus Stewart, and now owned by Emily Stewart. The 
Young Book-keeper's .Assistant, 1798. Used by Jesse B. Dillin. 

Snnnyside Sehool, Ambler. Schoolmaster's Assistant, 1702. Eng- 
lish Syntax, 1783. 

Taggart, Martha, King-of-Pnissia, Six School Papers, work from 
King-of-Prussiaschool, 1884. 

"Walter, E. H., Jarrettown. English Reader. By Lindley Murray 
1838. 

Walton, Eber, Blue Bell. English Reader, 1811. Sequel to the 
English Reader, 1812. 

"Weinberger, Mrs. E. K., Collegeville. Introduction to the Eng 
lish Reader. By Lindley Murray. Philadelphia, 1801. Comly's 
English Grammar. 1819. The Critical Pronouncing Speller. Pub- 
lished, in Phila. in 1834. By Hezekiah Burhaus, counsellor-at law. 

Wolfe, Dr. Samuel, Skippack. Murray's English Reader. Philadel- 
phia, 1817. Murray's English Grammar. Albany, N. Y., 1819 
Ready Calculator of Interest. Reading, 1816. 

CLASS XVIII. 

BOOKS, PAPERS, AND MANUSCRIPTS. 

"The fullness and variety of this department shows the resources of ou 



xliv 



HISTORY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



county in books, and the taste of our people for venerable volumes and 
documents. In Bibles, hymn books, catechisms, and other theological 
works, the exhibition was especially noteworthy. The descendunts of 
the early Swedish, Enj^lish, Dutch, German, and "Wcbh settlers, con- 
tributed religious books written in these sevenil languages. TheSchwenk- 
telders sent numerous manuscript sermon and other devotiuual books, as 
also the priuted writings of tlie founder of their denoniiuatiou, and works 
treating of his life and of the doctrines he promulgated. 

The display was further enriched by rare and valuable selections from 
the extensive library of Abraham H. t'assel, the well known antiquary, 
whose fame as an industrious collector of books extends far beyond the 
limits of our own county. 

A number of specimens of Fractur-Schrift were exhibited. This is pen 
and ink work done in bright culors, usually of Gerniiin text, with orna- 
mentiil designs. It was employed to decorate books and manuscripts in 
imitatit)n of the illuminations of the period before the invention of print- 
ing. The Gernum teachers in our schools during the colonial times ex- 
celled in this art. They inscribed upon the family registers in the Bibles, 
and the fly-leaves of books, records in German text, adorning them with 
ornamental flourishes, scrolls, and figures, in designs of circles, hearts, 
harps, etc., and with pictures of birds, plants, leaves, and flowers. The 
Geburts and Tauf-scbein (certificate of birth and baptism) afforded a field 
for the display of their proficiency in this direction. The Vorschrift was 
executed entirely in this species of penmanship. It was a keepsake, given 
by the teacher to his pupil. On paper, varying in size according to the 
circumstances of the case, was written a verse from the Scriptures or from 
a hymn, conveying a pious precept, the fii-st letter of which was large and 
highly ornamental, and tlie same as the initial otthe recipient's Christian 
name. This quotiition was followed Ity the capital and small letters of 
the alphabet, in Gennan and Latin characters ; then the ten numerals, 
the months of the year, the name and residence of the pupil, tlie date, and 
liust the name of the douor. This gift served at once as a copy for writing, 
as a token of regard or reward of merit, and as an injunction to a godly 
life. It was highly esteemed by the receiver, placed between the leaves 
of a book, and carefully preserved. Many of these objects of art in the 
primitive times of our country have been transmitted to tho present 
generation, and are justly regarded by their possessors aa valued memen- 
toes. 

Altorl;;lif , Joseph* Shoemakertown. Villa Architecture, 1828. 
Ambler, Aaron, Norritonville. Old Books. 
AiuieK, lUrs. Mary H., Spring House. Bible. Philadelphia : Jane 

Aitkin, 1808. 
Auder», Joseph, Jr., Worcester. Five Books. 1558, 15GG, 1570, 

15:>4, 1635. 
Armitoge, Jacob, Jenkintown. Bond of Performance, 1747. 

Three Releases. 1705, 1721, 1724. 
Arnold, B^dwiu C, Norristown. Printed Paper, entitled Strange 
Bible Facts. Copy of first issue of the Public Ledger^ Philadelphia, 
March 25, 1836. 
Arnold, Elizabetli, Neshaminy. German History of Christ. 

Samuel Zoillet, 1620. 
Asbbrldge, Mrs. J., Bryn Mawr. Milton's Poetical Works. Lon- 
don, 17114. Boi>k. London, 1605. Norristown Herald, April 13, 
1825. Virginia Gazette and Petersburg Intelligencer, Januarys, 17'J9. 
Atkinson, I. S., Norristown. AvrelH Cornelii Celsi De Re Medica. 
Patavii. 4mo. 1563. Elegantiores Pra-stantium Virorum Satyra?. 
1655. 4mo. C. Cornelii Taoti Notica- PolitictK. 4mo. 1662. Com- 
pendium Manualis Controversarium. 4mo. 1671. Last Will and 
Testament of Basil Valentine, Monk of 8t. Bennet. Small 8vo. 
London, 1671. New York Daiiy Advertiser, February 25, 1788. 
Philadelphia Gazette and Univei-sal Daily Advertiser (predecessor of 
North American and United States Gazette), November 19, 1795. 
Boston Patriot and Morning Advertiser, May 4, 1816, and September 
25, 1816. Contains proceedings of meeting to consider the separa- 
tion of Maine from Massachusetts. The Ulster County Gazette, 
January 4, ISWI. In mourning for the death of Washington, 
December 14, 1799, news of which had been received on the 3d. 
The Post Boy, Chester, Delaware County, Pa., July 27, 1824. The 
Pennsylvanian, Philadelphia, July 1, 1828 ; now Philailelphia In- 
quirer. American Sentinel, Philadelphia, November 26, 1825. 
Delaware County Republican, May 11, 1838. A brief account of 
the Bloody Deeds of General Jackson. Illustrated campaign circu- 
cular of 1824. 
Ai&ge, Miss E. M., Norristown. Dissertation on Pure Love, 1738. 

Poor Ricbiii'd'tf .\lmanac. 
Auge, M., Norristown. Biographies of Men of Montgomery' t!ounty, 
by the exhibitor. Norristown, 1879. 



Bailey, Mr., Norristown. Ulster County Gazette, January 4, 1800. 

Balcer, Andrew H., Jenkintown. Newspaper, with county state- 
ment for 1800. 

Batelielder, Mereditli, Norristown. Old Books. 

Baner, Andrew-, Niantic. Deed, made May 27, 1769. Deed, made 
July 3U, 1782. Bond, dated May 27, 1769, Draught. January 17, 
17Gi). Will,- made August 22. 1786. Bond, dated May 27, 1784. 
Agreements, June 8, 1780, and March 18, 1782. German Account 
Book, August 19, 1778. Record, made November 24, 1781. Com- 
mission, 1786. 

Bean, A. J., Worcester. Bible. 

Bean,AVilIiaiitC. West Point. Catechism 1763. 

Beans, E. C, Tulfnrd. Luther Testament, 1545. German. Contains 
a curious warning by Liither. Von dreierlei Leben der Menschen. 
By Caspar Schwenkfeld. Printed in Germany, in 1533 ; in good 
condition ; brass clasps, and cornere in brass ; pages not numbered ; 
about four hundred pages. Bericht von Caspar Schwenckfelds Lehre. 
1547. 250 pages ; not numbered. Kurtze Lebens Beschreibung des 
Caspar Schwenckfelds. 1556. First half of book is in poetry ; the 
other part in prose. About 200 pages ; not numbered. The place 
where printed is not given in this and the two foregoing books. 
Almanac for the year 1759. Title-page missing. Contains moral 
and Christian instruction ; tells Christians to keep away from the 
courts ; teaches how to write German. Poor Rate Tax of Whitpain 
township for 1803. Inventory of Abraham Wiegner's estate, 1781, 
Written in German. Certificate of Satisfaction on a mortgage, on a 
piece of unnUed paper, issued by Geo. M. Potts, Recorder, March 
31, 1804. Two Receipts, given by Edmund Physick, for the Pro- 
prietiiries, to Jacob Reedt, for payments for land in Hatfield town- 
ship, viz. : For £50 in part for 214 acres, paid at Philadelphia on 26th 
.January. 1770; and for £178 in full for 215 acres and 15 perches, 
pHidat Philadelphia on 17tli of Febiuary, 1770. 

Beck, 3Irs. Joliu P., Centre Square. German Bible. Once owned 
by the Beideman fainily. Religious Book. 

Bell, Mrs. "William A., Centre Square. Manuscript Prayer Book. 
Buried during the Revolutionary war. 

Bennett, Daniel R,, Jenkintown. Compendium of Modern Travels. 
Three volumes. 1757. Adventures of Signor Gaudeutio di Lucca, . 
1799. Naval Historj' of Great Britain, 1758. American Revolution, 
1794. Homer's Odyssey, 1771. Notes on the State of Virginia, 
1803. The Vicar of Wakefield, 1796. Philosophical Rudimeute of 
Government and Civil Society, 1650. 

Bergey, G. R., Skippack. Two German Letters. One from George 
Steignard to Caspar Seibt, an early settler of Towamencin, dated 
March 17, 1766. The other dated JIarch 5, 1774. The first letter, 
which was written from Artneriis, im Niederschlesisclien, Gemiany, 
was received May 31, 1767, being over one year on its way. Two 
German Letters, from Jeremiah Heydrick to Caspar Seibt, dated 
February 8, 177n,and March 7, 1774. Book of Sermons, 1670. Nor- 
ristown Hcnild and Free Press, 1840. 

Bevan, Mrs, Emily, Ilartranft. Deed over 200 years old. 

Beyer, Jacob, Sr,, Norritt>nviHe. Bible, 1774. Four old Books. 

Biekel, Mrs. E. B., Norristown. A Book, 150 years old. 

Bisson, Jane, Three Tuns. Receipt Book, 100 years old. Norris- 
town Herald, November 10, 1824. 

Blackfan, Mrs. Joseph, Norristown. Treatment of Horses, about 
120 yeai-s old. Treatise on the Diseases of the Army, 100 years old. 
Bapti.smal Certificate, 1810. 

Blair, David T., Hatboro. The Running Horse, 1670. Belonged 
to James Thomas. 

Blake, Mrs. Joliu, Jenkintown. Life of David Ferris. Bailey's 
Dictionary. 

Boettcber, C A., Norristown. Boston Gazette and New York Post, 
1770. Colloquies of Erasmus Roterudamus, 1725, 

Boorse, Jobn C, Kulpsville. Biblich Namen und Ciironik-Bucli, 
1584. Manuscript Hynui Book, 17:i7. Act of Pooi- Laws, Ac, 
1749. Papers of Overseers of the Poor, 1751 and upwards. Al- 
manacs, from 1752, with few exceptions to date ; twelve of them, 
from 1752 up, i)rintcd by Christopher Siiur ; some with calculations 
made by David Rittenhouse. Hymn Book. Christoph Saur, 1702. 
Low Dutch Hymn Book, 1779. Philadelphia Cori-espondence, 
(newspaper), 1798 to 1800. Postill. Kurtze Auslegung fiber die 
Evangelium. So Man pflegt zulasen an den Sontagen und der 
Heyligen Fest sampt den Summarien durches ganze Jahr : Christ- 
lich und einfaltig gepredigt unn begchriben durch Johan Worner. 
Gediuckt ini Jar nach der Geburt utiser Erlosei-s, 1558. Newspajier, 
by Christoph Saur, Germantc^wn, dated August 6, 1757, containing 



APPENDIX. 



xlv 



the numbers and amounts drawn in the Rading-tauner (Reading) 
Lottery. Scbul-Ordnimg. By Cliristopber Dock. The fnll title of 
this rare.vobune is: ''Eiue EinfiUtige und griindlich abgefasste 
Schul-Ordnung darinnen deutlicb vorgestelt wird, uuf welche 
Weisse die Kinder nicht nur in deneu in ecbulen gewobnlichen 
Lehren bestens angebracht sondern anch in der Lelire der Gott- 
scligkeit wobl unteiricbtet werden mogen aus Liebe zu dem nien- 
schlicben Goschlecht aufgesetzt durch den wohlerfahren und lang 
geiibten Schuhneister, Cbrietoph Dock. Und durch einige Freunde 
des gemeinen Besteu dem Druck iibergeben. Germautown : Ge- 
dnickt und zu finden by Christoph Saur, 1770." Brief of Title, 
from January 26, 1714, to date, for part uf 810 acrea of land, upon 
which the present village of Franconiaville is located. One of the 
deeds 6ays that this tract is situate "near the head watere of 
Mishameny river." in Philadelphia County. Deed from James 
Shattick, of Philadelphia, to Lawrence Ilendrickson, for one bun- 
dled and twenty-three acres of land in Towamensing townshipe, 
dated the " one and thirtieth day of the twelfth month called Feb- 
ruai-y, in the twelfth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lady 
Anne, Queen of Great Britain," A. D. 1713. This tnu-t was a part 
of four thouBand acres in Towanienciu township, granteil by deed 
of lease and release dated the 23d and 24th days of August, 1704, to 
James Shattick and Edward Lane, of Philadelphia county, by John 
Phelps, o%BristoI, England, and Samuel Taverner and Thomas 
Pearce, both apothecaries, of Limerick, Ireland. Etlicho merck- 
wiirdig Puukten betreffend die Verwechselung des Government, 
gericbtet an die deutsche Einwobner der Pruvinz Pennsylvania. 
Gedruckt bey Anton Armhriister, 17(i4. Paniphk-t, Getreue War- 
nung gegen die Lockvogel, sanimt einer Antuort auf die andere 
Anrede an die deutsche Freyhalter der Stadt und County von Phila- 
delphia. Durch Germanicus. Behalte was du hast. Gedruckt im 
Jahr 17G4. Pamphlet. Der Lockvogel Warnungsgosang von den 
Stossvogein ; oder nothige Beantwortung der sogenannteu getreuen 
Warnung gegen die Lockvogel, etc. Gedruckt am 29ten September, 
17C4. Eine neue Anrede an die Deutschen in Philadelphia County. 
Salbe deine Auge mit Augen-Salbe. Gedruckt zur Zeit und im 
Jahr da einer wider'n andern war. Laws of Pennsylvania, from 
1700 to 1812. Five volumes. Leather binding; in excellent con- 
dition. 

Boscli, Eiios, Norristown. Doctor's Dictionary, supposed to be at 
least 200 years old. 

Bniitner, Dr. J, D,, Jarrettown. German Book, 1779. 

Buck} "William J., Jenkintown. First Newspaper printed in Bucks 
county, Hi6 Farmer's Gazette, at Doylestown, November 11, 
ISOO. Book, containing 258 original drawings, by the exhibitor, of 
best specimens of Indian Stone Relics, exhibited at the Centennial 
Exhibition, 1876, belonging to the Government and other collections. 
A plate containing eighteen lithographic drawings of Indian Relics 
found on the Pennypack, in Moreland township, made by William 
J. Buck, and published in the "Collections" of the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania in 1853. Autograph Letters to the ex- 
hibitor ; written by Washington Irving, 1855 ; Samuel Hazard, 
1855; Benson J. Lossing, 1856; John F. Watson, 1857; S. Austin 
AUibone, 18G2 ; John Greenleaf Whittier, 1873. Almanac. Calcu- 
lations by William Collum, of Momtgotnery Square. Doylestown, 
1817. Orignal Letter, from Mi's. Stedman to Mi's. Ferguson, Gra-me 
Park, September 11, 1777, giving an account of the defeat at 
Braudywine and the excitement in Philadelphia on hearing the 
news. Family Bible. In German. Nuremberg, 1745. Belonged 
to Joseph Afflerbach, grandfather of the exhibitor. Illustrated 
with numerous woodcuts and copperplate engravings. The Local 
Historian ; a series of sketches i-elating chiefly to the southeastern 
section of Montgomery county. Written by exhibitor. Published 
in the Hatboro Public Spirit, from December 11, 1880, to June 24, 
1882 ; seventy-five numbers. History of Montgomery County, within 
the Schuylkill Valley. By William J. Buck. Norristown, 1859. 
History of Bucks County ; from its earliest settlement to the close 
of eighteenth century. By William J. Buck. Printed by John 
S. Brown, Doylestown, 1855. 118 pages, large 8vo. Rare. 
The Philadelphia Librax-y paid S8 several years ago to secure 
a copy. History of Montgomery County, Pa., from the ear- 
liest period of its settlement to the present time, including 
sketches of all its townships and boroughs. By William J. Buck. 
Occupies 84 columns, 15 inches in length. Published in Scotts 
Atlas of Montgomei-y County, which contains a printed list of 
1100 subscribei-s, chiefly in the county. Price #12. Early Accounts 
of Petroleum in the United States. By William J. Buck. Titus- 



viUe, Pa., 1876. Patent Deed for 125 acres in Upper Salford, dated 
April 6, 1747, from Governor George Thomas to Jacob Eck. This 
tract upon which they settled and made tlie first improvements, 
was retained in the Eck family for about ninety yeare. Said Jacob 
Eck, who lived and died there, was the exhibitor's great-great 
grandfather. His granddaughter, Mary Eck (daughter of John) 
was man'ied to Captain Nicholas Buck, of Bucksville, Bucks county, 
who was exhibitor's grandfather. Three numbere of The Literary 
Chronicle, dated December, 1S40, July 13, and September 7, 1841, 
published by Oliver I. Search, Hatboro. The fii-st newspaper printed 
in the lower half of Montgomery county. Very rare. History of 
Moreland Township, by William J. Buck, published by the His- 
torical Society of Pennsylvania in 1853. Economy of Agriculture, 
by David Lloyd, of Horeham. Gcrmantown, 1832. Modern Mis- 
cellany, by David Lloyd. 1848. 
Biielcninn, Tliomas, Jenkintown. Deed, 1754. 
Bult, George T., Whitpain. Public Ledger, Vol. I. No. 1. 1836. 
Caley, C'ynis, Abmms. Mackenzie's Cook Book, 18ii9. Books. 1791 

tolS24. 
Caun, Abraliam Fort Washington. Oath of Allegiance. German 

M'^riting, excuted in 1750. 
Cassel, Abraliam H., Harleysville. Very rare and curious old 
books in peculiar bindings. 

Aristotle's Politiques, or Discourses of Government, &c. Trans- 
lated out of the Greek, With Notes by Plato. In one volume. 
Folio. London, 1598. 

A New System of Modern Geography ; or, a Historical and Com- 
mercial Grammar. By William Guthrie and David Rittenhouse. 
The Montgomery County Philosopher and Astronomer. Two vol- 
umes, large quarto. 1794. 

A Tutor to Astronomy and Geography, or an easy and speedy way 
to know the use of both the Globes, Celestial and Terrestrial. By 
Joseph Moxon. 3d edition, 4to., finely illustrated with steel plates. 
London, 1674. Witli autograph of Dr. George de BenneviUe. 

Names which the Lenni Lenai>e or Delaware Indians gave to 
Rivers, Streams and Localities within the State of Pennsylvania, Ac, 
with their significations. By John Heckewelder. 

The One Line Psalmist, embracing Day and BeaPe New Musical 
Notation and Sight-singing Method, by which classes, schools, and 
choirs, in a few lessons, become better reader's of music than common 
singers do in the old way during life, etc. By II. W. Day, of the 
Boston Phonographic Musical Institution. 

The Art of Singing. In three i)arts, to wit: 1. The Musical 
Primer ; 2. The Christian Harmony ; 3. The Musical Magazine. 
By Andrew Law. Fourth edition. Boston. 1803. It contains the 
Rules of Psalmody, newly revised aiul improved, with a number of 
practical lessons and tunes, on a new plan of printing music without 
a staff. 

Memoirs of David Rittenhouse. By William Barton. 1813. 

Logick ; or, the Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after 
Truth. With a variety of rules to guard against error in the affairs 
of religion and human life, as well as in the sciences. By Isaac 
"Watts. Seventh edition, corrected. 1740. 

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of 
the British Colonies. (By John Dickinson.) 3d edition. Phila- 
delphia: Printed by William Bradford, at the London Coffee-house. 
1769. 

Stammbaum der Famihe des Dr. Martin Luthers zur dritten 
secularfeier seines Todestages, den 18th February, 184(1. Witli a 
large engraved family tree. A I'ery large folio, with the translator's 
dedication to King James, and a lengthy dissertation to the reader, 
besides other matter never seen in a Bible. 

King James English Bible. Printed at London, by Robert 
Barker, 1611. The original first edition. It was padlocked by a 
brass chain to the altar of the Parish Church of South Cowdon, 
England. 

Pre-Lutheran German Bible, the oldest known to exist, printed 
line by line, it is said, from wooden blocks, in 1470-1473. 

Proceedingsof the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati. (George 
Washington being its President.) Philadelphia. 1785. 

A Collection of rare Tracts, dating from 1652 to 1090. Quarto. 
Bound in Human SHn. 

Contemplations Moral and Divine. By the great Sir Matthew 
Hale, late Chief Justice of the King's Bench. 1685. 

Unheard of Curiosities, concerning the Talismanical Sculpture of 
the Persians ; The Horoscope of the PatriarcliM, and the Reading 
of the Stars. By James Gaffarel. 1650. 



ilvi 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Alchymie, or an Kxposition upon Sir George Ripley's Hermetico- 
Poptical Works. Containing Ibe plainest and most excellent dis- 
coveries of the most Iiidden Secrets of the Ancient Philosophers 
that were ever yet published. 1678. 

A very curious collection uf eleven separately printed Tracts or 
Treatises on Chyniistry, and on the Mechanical Origin or Produc- 
tion of Electricity, and also of Magnetism. By Hon. Robert 
Boyle, of the Royal Society, Loudon and Oxford. 1675. The above 
are now all bound together in one volume. They are very curious, 
and among the earliest known treatises on these subjects. 

An Astrological Judgment of Diseases, &c. By Nicholas Cul- 
pepper. London, lfJ71. (Was tlie property of C. DeWitt.) 

Der Frommena Lotterie, orler Geistliches Schatz-Kistlein ; printed 
by Christopher Saur, Germantown, in 17-14. Mr. Cassel furnisheg 
the following account of this peculiar and now rare pviblication : 

"It consisted of 381 tickets, printed on stitT, white pasteboard, 
2J^x4 inches in size, and numbered like lottery tickets, each con- 
taining a poetic gem composed by the celebrated Gerhard Terstee- 
gen, and accompanied by a verse or passage from the Scriptures. 
These tickets were enclosed in neat cases, some made of leather and 
others of fancy wood nicely dove-tailed. Mine is leather bound. 
The good people in olden times enjoyed themselves, generally on 
Sunday afternoons, by drawing prizes out of this sacred or spiritual 
treasury, and often when they felt gloomy or despondent they would 
resort to it in hope of drawing some promise or consohition to cheer 
their drooping spirits." 

Kurtze Lebens-Beschreibung des hoch von Gott begnajJeten und 
gelebrten Mannes Caspar Schwenckfelds. Kebst dessen Abschied, 
etc. Gedruckt im Jahr, 1697. With a beautiful steel engraved 
likeness of Schwenkfeld. Exceedingly rare ; the exhibitor knows of 
but one copy besides his, 

A Choice Selection of Hymns for the Glory of Christ. Mathetchy, 
{Norriton Square). Published by Abraham Krupi), 1814. ISmo. 
It has no imprint, but is known to have been printed by David 
Sower, Sr., Norristown. 

The Norristown New and much Improved Musical Teacher, or 
Repository of Sacred Harmony; Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 
containing many New Tunes, never before published. For the use 
of Srhools and Christian Devotion. On a New System. ' By a Pro- 
fessor of Music, (.\braliam Krupp.) Printed by David Sower, Jr., 
Norristown, Pa., 18:i'2. Very scai-ce. 

Das Kleine Davidische Psalterspiel. Chestnut Hill. S. Saur, 1791, 
Called Jiieine in contradistinction to a very large Davidische Psalter- 
spiel, which the Brethren used in England and for a while in 
America, of which the kleine is an abridgment. It passed tlirough 
at least fifteen editions, in the course of which new hymns, mostly 
composed by the Brethren, have been added. Tlie first edition was 
printed by C'hristopher Saur. Germantown, in 1744, and the last by 
G. Mentz, Philadelphia, in 1830. It is not scarce. It is exhibited 
to prove that there was a printing otfice at Chestnut Hill, many 
persons living there now being hardly willing to credit the state- 
ment. The exhibitor also shows an almanac and a newspaper 
printed there, in further proof. He has, besides, many other 
Chestnut Hill imprints in his collection. Samuel Saur, the son of 
Chrifittopher Saur, commenced printing at Chestnut Hill about 1790; 
from there he moved to Philadelphia, and from there to Baltimore, 
where he died. What may be more surprisine, is the fact that 
there was a printing establishment at Chestnut Hill long before 
Sanmel Saur's. This was conducted by N. Hasselbach, who after- 
wards moved to Philadelphia, and there followed printing many 
yeai"8. An almanac published by Hasselbach in 1763 is shown by 
the exhibitor. 

Das Kleine Davidische Psalterspiel. Germantown. C. Saur, 1777. 
Exhibited on account of its extraordinary binding, being covered, 
almost all over, with brass mountings. So well is it protected, that 
now, after being used more than a century, it is still in quite good 
condition. 

Das Neue Testament. (Psalter und Sirach,) 1740. Profusely 
protected with brass mountings, but of a construction different from 
the preceding volume. 

The Psalms of David in French Meter and Music. 1707. Curiously 
bound. 

Beicht und Communion Buch. By J. P. Freseni. Printed 1748. 
Exhibited for its odd form. 

Zionitisclier Wuyrauchs HUgel. Germantown. Christoph Saur, 
1730. 

This book contains a preface wiitten at Ephrata, Pa., 14th of 



Fourth-month, 1739, which, with the title-page, covers fourteen 

pages ; seven hundred and ninety-two pages of hymns, and fourteen 
pages of index. It is dedicated " To all solitiiry Turtle Doves, 
cooing in the wilderness as a spiritual hari^ — playing in the many 
times of divine visitation." There are a number of facts in the 
bibliographical history of the Weyrauchs Hiigel, any one of which 
woidd be enough to make it a remarkable publication. It was the 
first book printed in German type in America. It was the first book 
from the justly celebrated and prolific Colonial press of Christopher 
Saur, of Germantown. . . . The Weyrauchs Hiigel is the largest 
andmostimportantcollectionof hymnsof the Ephratacloister. . . . 
As the edition was small, and the book was in common use for devo- 
tional purposes, it has become exceedingly scarce, nearly all of the 
few known copies being imperfect. — Samuet, W. Pennyp-^cker's 
Historical and Biographical Sketche«, Philadelphia, 1883. 

ALMANACS. 

[Mr. Cassel's display, it should be understood, is merely represen- 
tative of the exceedingly large collection in his library. He selected 
for exhibition specimens of special periu<is, of noteworthy chisses, 
and of local importance. This remark applies to his contribution of 
books, periodicals, broadsides, ami almanacs, as well as of manu- 
scripts, vorechriften, rare old lettei-s, and documents. Of almanacs, 
at one time, ho had at least one thousand copies, and at present he 
retains about four hundred ; and of periodicals and newspapers ho 
had over, seven thousand specimens from nearly all parts of the 
world.] 

Haushaltungs und Haus-Artzney Kalender ftir das Jaltr. 1714. 

Three Christopher Saur's Calendars. 1740, 1746 and 1752. Sam- 
ples from an extensive collection in possession of the exhibitor of 
this noted publication. 

Calendar. Printed by N. Hasselbach, Tschesnut (i. e., tliestnut) 
Hill. 1764. 

Calendar for 1772. Ephnita. 

Calendar for 1774. Philadelphia: Henrich Miller. 

Calendar for the year 1779. Lancaster ; Francis Bailey. 

Calendar for the year 1781. Philadelphia : Jtdiann Durdap. 

Kalender fijr 1782. Lancaster: Theophilus Cossart. 

Cal.:ndar for 1783. Philadelphia: Joseph Crnkschank. 

Calendar for 1784. Philadelphia : Carl Cist. 

Calendar for 1785. By Leibert & Bilimeyer. 

Calendar for 1786. Philadelphia; Malchior Steiner. 

Calendar for 1788. Lancaster: Stiemer. Albrecht & Lahn. 

Calendar for 1791. Chestnut Hill : Samviel Saur. 

Calendar for 1798. By H. Kamnierer und Com. 

Calendar for 1798. Reading: Gottlob Jungman u Com. 

Calendar for 1799. York, Pa. : Solomon Miiyer. 

Calendar for 1800. Philadelphia: Henrich Schweitzer. 

Shanghai Almanac for lHr)2, and Commercial Guide. Printed at 
the "Herald" office, Shanghai, China. Large : bound; interesting. 

A Chinese Almanac in the Chinese characters, for 1852-53. 
Printed at Singpo, on the native bamboo paper, with folding map, 
&c. A curiosity. 

Times Telescope for 1818 ; or a Complete Guide to the Almanack. 
Very large and complete, 328 pp. ; bound ; emblematic frontispiece. 
Published annually. 

Aitken's American Register and Complete Annual Account Book 
and Calendar for the Pocket or Desk, for the year 1773. Philadel- 
phia: Joseph Crukschank. 

PERIODICALS. 

The Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1749. London. 

The Columbian Magazine, or Monthly Miscellany, September, 
1786. Philadelphia. 

The Universal Asylum and Columbian Magazine, March, 1790. 
Philadelphia. 

The American Museum, or Repository of Ancient and Modern 
Fugitive Pieces, &c., April, 1787, and June, 1788. Philadulphia. 

The Congressional Register, or the History and Proceedings, Ac, 
of the House of Representatives. Philadelphia, 1790. 

The Philadelphia Monthly Magazine, or Universal Repository of 
Knowledge and Entertainment, for January, 1798. Philadelphin : 
Thomas Condie. 

Porcupine's Political Censor for December, 1796, by Wm. Cobbett 
Philadelphia. 

The Rush-Light, by Peter Porcupine (William Cobbett), for 
Blarch, 1800. I'hiladelphia. 



APPENDIX. 



slvii 



The Philadelphia Monthly Magazine for September, 1798. Pbila^ 
delphia. 

The Weekly Magazine, *c., for June Ist, 1799. Philadelphia. 

The New York Missionary Magazine and Repository of Religious 
Intelligence, September, 1802. 

The Panoplist and Missionary Magazine United, October, 1809. 
Boston and New York. 

Something. Kdited by Nemo Nobody, Esq., February 24, 1810. 
Boston. 

The Port Folio. A Monthly Magazine conducted by Oliver Old- 
school. October, 1810. Philadelphia. 

The Friend of Peace, by Philo Pacificus (Elias Boudinot), for 1816. 
Philadelphia. 

Sunday School Repository for April, 1818. First number of second 
volume. Philadelphia. 

The Casket, or Flowere of Literature, Wit and Sentiment. No. 1, 
for January, 1820, by Atkinson. Philadelphia. 

The Quaker, being a series of sermons by members of the Society. 
August, 1827. Philadelphia. 

Watchman of the Night and Millenial Morning, &c., &c. No. 1, 
Vol. 1. 1833. 

The Lady's Magazine and Repository of Entertaining Knowledge. 
Vol. 1, for 1792. Philadelphia. (The numberefor one year, bound.) 
This establirtee the fact that ninety-four years ago a magazine for 
ladies was issued in this State. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

The New England Courant for February 11, 1723. Reproduced 
from fii-it paper printed by Franklin. 

Pennsylvania Gazette. Supplement, July 7, 1755. (Important 
war news.) Philadelphia, 

Dunlap's Pennsylvania Packet, or the General Advertiser, July 
8, 1776. Philadelphia. 

Pennsylvania Gazette, December 24, 1799. (Washington's death 
announced.) Philadelphia. 

Pennsylvania Gazette, January 8, 1800. (Washington's Eulogy.) 
Philadelphia. 

The Philadelphia Gazette and Universal Daily Advertiser, October 
14tb, 179G. 

Aurora and General Advertiser, January 30, 1797. Pbiladelpliia. 

Claypoole'8 American Daily Advertiser, July 5, 1798. Philadel- 
phia. 

Freeman's Journal and Columbian Chronicle, October 24, 1809. 
Philadelphia. 

Poulson's American Daily Advertiser, November 27, 1819. Vol. 
48. No. 13,418. 

Philadelphia Repository and Weekly Register, March 12, 1803. 
8pp., 4to. 

Harrisburg Chronicle, June 20, 1825. Harrisburg, Pa. 

Pennsylvania Intelligencer, June 17, 1825, Harrisburg, Pa. 

The Norristown Gazette. " Printed by David Sower, nearly oppo- 
site the court-house. Volume I , No. 21. Friday, November 1, 
1799." The first newspaper published in Norristown, or in the 
county. As it did not meet with sufficient patronage, on account of 
being neutral, it was suspended after the firet year. After a while 
it was started again, as an avowed Whig paper, under the title of 
the Norristown Herald, when it met with sulficieut support to make 
it quite lucrative. 

Norristown Herald and Weekly Advertiser, by David Sower, Sep- 
tember 16, 1808. 

Norristown Herald and Weekly Advertiser, enlarged, January 21, 
1829. 

Weekly Register. Printed by James Winuard. Norristown. 
1811. 

Public Ledger. Philadelphia, March 25, 1836. (Original first 
number.) 

Public Ledger. Philadelphia, March 25, 183G. Fac-simile repro- 
duction. 

The Daily Citizen, Vicksburg, Miss., July 2, 1863. Edited by its 
Confederate publishers, and issued by the Union troops. A historical 
curiosity. Mr. Cassel furnishes the following note : 

" It is well known that during the war paper became so exceed- 
ingly scarce in the South that most of the newspapers had to suspend 
for want of it, and that the few journals that were continued were 
reduced to one-fourth or even one-eighth their former size. Wrap- 
ping paper, and even wall-paper, was used until the supply was ex- 
hausted. But as it was an absolute necessity to keep up at least 



one paper to buoy up their sinking cause by false and fabricated 
reports of their * brilliant successes,' they resorted as a last extremity 
to soaking the paper loose from the walls of their houses, to keep up 
a limited edition of one page of the above-named paper, which be- 
fore had had eight large pages. When Genei-al Grant toolc Vicksburg 
he fcuud one page set up, and a small parcel of loosened wall-paper, 
ready to go to press. Removing several lines, he inserted the note 
given below, and ordered a few copies to be struck off', thiuking they 
would be valuable as a curiosity. My copy was sent uie through the 
kindness of Dr. J. N. Jacobs, who was then a siirgeon uuder Gen. 
Grant, in the hospital at Vicksburg." 

NOTE. 

July 4th, 1863. 

" Two days bring about great changes. The banner of the Union 
floats over Vicksburg. Gen. Grant has 'caught the rabbit' ; he has 
dined in Vicksburg, and he did bring his dinner with him. The 
* Citizen ' lives to see it. For the last time it appears on wall-paper. 
No more will it eulogize the luxury of mule meat and friccasseed 
kitten— urge Southern wan-iors to such diet nevermore. This is the 
last wall-paper edition, and is, excepting this note, from the types as 
we found them. It will be valuable hereafter as a curiosity." 

Cherokee Phoenix and Indians' Advocate. New Echuta, June 17, 
1829. Edited by the eminent patriot and philanthropist, Elias 
Bondinct, who was horn in Philadelphia in 1740. This was the 
fii-st paper printed in the interest of the Indians, and is partly in 
their q,wu language. 

Herald of Gospel Liberty. By Elias Smith, September 1, 1808. 
Claimed to be the first religious newspaper puhUshed in the world. 
(Reproduced.) It is still continued, and is claimed by its present 
publishers to be the firet religious newspaper in the world. Mr. 
Smith, the original proprietor, in his preface or introduction to the 
first number, says: "A religious news-paper is almost a new thing 
under the sun. I know not but this is the first ever published to 
the world." To this the reproducer adds as a note : "This was the 
first religious newspaper in the world." A bound volume of it was 
exhibited at the Centennial in Philadelphia in 1S76, in the Olden 
Time Cabin or New England Kitchen, and was there claimed to bo 
the firet in the world, and supposed to be the only copy of the first 
volume. Mr. Cassel, however, has Volumes I, II, III, and IV, 
bound complete, but contends that it is ni>t the first religious news- 
paper, as he has in his collection some much older. 

The Anglo-Sacsun, Ac. New York, NciviMuber 6, 1847. 

Komstock's Fonetic Teligraf, &c. Philadelphia, January, 1849. 

GEBM.\.N NEWSPAPERS. 

Chrietoph Saur's Pennsylvanische Geschicht Schreiber, April 16, 
1744. Fii-st German paper in America. 

Christoph Saur's Pennsylvanische Berichte, March 1, 1754. Title 
changed and enlarged. 

Christoph Saur's Die Germantowner Zeitung, &c., December 5, 
1763. Title again changed and enlarged. 

Die Germantauner Zeitung, by JMichael Billmeyer, Februarj- 5, 
1788 ; semi-monthly. 

Die Germantauner Zeitung, by IHichael Billmeyer, September 11, 
1792 ; weekly. 

Die Chesnuthiller Wochenschrift, by Samuel Saur, Januarj- 7,1794 
weekly. 

Das Philadelphier Wochenblat, by Samuel Saur, August 26, 1794 ; 
weekly. 

Der Wochentliche Philadelphischer Staatsbote, by Henry Miller, 
June 23, I76G. 

Der Wochentliche Pennsylvanische Staatsbote, by Henry Miller, 
August 23, 1768. 

Heiurich Miller's Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote, July 9, 1776 ; semi- 
weekly. 

Philadclphisches Staatsregister, October 25, 17S0, bey Steiner & 
Cist ; weekly. 

Gemeinutziger Philadelphische Correspondenz, July 16, 1782, by 
Melchior Steiner. 

Der Americanische Staatsbothe, Jtc, Lanca^er, by Jolmn Albretbt 
May 23, 18li4. 

Der Freidens Bothe, <ic., ,\lleutown, May 27, 1813, by Joseph 
Ehren fried. 

Readinger Adler, by Johann Ritter, February 3, 1818. Volume 
22d. 

Der Redliche Registi-utor, &c., Chiimbersburg, 3Iay 31, 1825. 



clviii 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Montgomery Adier, Pottetaun, Montgomery couuty, August 15, 
1827. 

Der Biiuern Freniul, Suuiiiytaun, Montgomery county, October 
22, 1828, by E. Beiiner. 

Der Evangelisclie Botschafter, &c., by lleinrich Bertolet, July 1, 
183(i, Skipi)ackviile. Heinricii Bertolet wjis a preacher among the 
Menuouites, and that this was the first attempt ever nuide by them 
to pubUsh a religious paper. It met with so little favor and so much 
opposition that it was soon abandoned. It was a three-column, 
sixteen-page large q^uarto, intended to be monthly, at one dollar per 
year. 

Freyheita Wiichter, by Arnold Puwelle, Skippackville, March 2S, 
1838. 

Wahrheits Freund, Ac, Zieglcrsville, Montgomery county, Sep- 
tember 1, 1858. 

MISCELLANEOUS LITERARY CURIOSITIES— PRINTED. 

Goshenhoppen Church Document. Reproduced from the original 
of 1737. 

Keise Pass, furnished by the Grosherzogthum Baden. A German 
emigrant's passport and protection. 

Japanese Newspaper. Title in English, " Daily Budget of Reliable 
News." Printed at Yeddo, Japan, August G, 1872. Mr. Cassel ha.s 
a very extensive collection of Chinese and Japanese newspapers in 
their native and English languages, a.s well as of nearly all other 
parts of the world, besides specimens of nearly all the languages and 
dialects of the Indians. 

Sheet Music of Contiuentiil Times. Titles, "Citizen Soldiers," 
"Rosy Hannah," and " Variety." 

Single and Double-Hand Alphabet for the Deaf and Dumb, with 
its history and instructions. 

A Poetic Medley. Inscribed to Esquire Lilliput, Professor of Scur- 
rility. A broadside, with a large engraving about 18x24 inches, 
having reference to an election held in the "Old Court," or " Great 
Tuwne House," in Philadelphia, about 1765. The main parts of the 
poetry are to the tune of "Yankee Doodle." It is extremely rare ; 
but two copies are known to exist. (See Watson's Annals of the 
OMen Time, pages 350 and 351.) 

The Old Time News. A large illustrated broadside, or chart, of sta- 
tistics and dates of important events since 1800 — accidents, fires, lives 
lost by disastei-s on sea and land, inventions, fa.stest trotters in the 
world, sporting events, army commanders from the time of Washing- 
ton to Sherman, etc. Published and copyrighted by John Wilcox, 
Chicago, 111., 1879. 

Broadside. Containing fac-simile reproduction of the Boston News 
Letter, for the week from Monday, April 17, to Monday, April 24, 
1704, the first newspaper printed in America ; also engravings of 
the tirst steam railroad passenger train in America, first steamboat 
in America, first steam locomotive in the world, portrait of Robert 
Toombs (a benefactor and eccentric character), etc., etc. 

A collection of Rjiised Letter Lesson Papei-s for the Blind. 

The band Nomascope of the Precise Letter Namei-s. 

Captain's Commission, from Governor McKean to David C. Kulp, 
1806. With the Governor's autograph. 

Tavern Keeper's License, from Governor McKean to Samuel Har- 
ley, 1808. With the Governor's autograph. 

Justice of the Peace Commission, from Governor Snyder to Abra- 
ham Gerhardt, 1813. With autograph. 

Summons to the General Assembly, from Governor Shuize to Ben- 
jamin ReiB; 1829. With autograph. 

Justice of the Peace Commission, from Governor Wolf to Benjamin 
ReiEF, 1831. With Governor's auti>giaph. 

Warrant of James Hamilton, of the Land Office, issued by author- 
ity of the Proprietors, to Nicholas Scull, Surveyor General, to survey 
to Jacob Beseker one hundred acres "adjoining John Christopher 
Keiser in Marlbro' Township," dated April 15, 1752 ; with autograph 
of Nich. Scull, appended to bis request to David Shultz, surveyor, to 
make a resurvey of the tract, the original return having been acci- 
dentally lost. 

Sheriff's Summons of Certain Pei"sons to Attend Court, 1820. 

Broadside of Important News. Size, 13x8 inches. Dated Phila- 
delphia, February 8, 1781, containing news received by express that 
morning from South Carolina, dated "Camp on the Pee Dee, Jan. 
24, 1781," from General Nathaniel Greene to the President of Con- 
gress, of the defeat of Colonel Tarleton by General Morgan. 

Die Sieben Regeln der Weisheit. A large Fractur Schrift. 1803. 
Measures 10x23^ inches. 



Certificate of Oath of Allegiance of Jacob Frey, on a printed blank 
on thick paper, 6)^x4^ inches, in the following words : 



Philada County 

I DO hereby certify, That 

Jacob Fry, of towmenshig township 
fanner 
Hath voluntarily taken and subscribed the OATH 
of Allegiance and Fidelity, as directed by an ACT 
of General Assembly of Pennsylvania, passed the 
5th day of December, A. D. 1778, Witness my 
hand and seal, the 26(/i day of March^ A. D. 1779. 

And" Kxox, Coma' 



{-} 



No 73 



Printed by J. Dunlap. 

Large Fractur-Schrift, made by Hupert Cassel for Henry Cassel. 
1764. 

Das Giildene A, B, C. A remarkable Fractur- Schrift, containing 
a hymn composed by Christopher Dock, and ornamental pen-and-ink 
work of different colors executed by him, July 18, 1768. The hymn 
is an eight-line alphabetical acrostic, the first letter of each stanza 
being a letter of the alphabet. The first two stanzas are : 

An Gottes Gnad und milden Segen 
Ist .Vlles ganz nnd gar gt-legen, 
Und oline Hummels-Hiilf und Gunst 
Ist aller menschen Thuii umsunst ; 
Drum sey der Gottesfurcht ergebon 
Und halt an ihrdein gauzes Leben. 
Weil sie Verstand und Weishiet bringt 
Und macht dasz Alles wohl gelingt. 

JBedenke wohl in alien Sachen 
Die du hast auf der Welt zu machen 
Das Gott der Alles hort und sieht ; 
Auch siehet was an dir geschieht 
Und dasz du must vom Thun und Leben 
Am jungsten Tage Rechnung geben ; 
Deswegen nimm bey Tag und Nacht 
Doch dienGewissen wohl in Acht. 

Fractur-Scbrift. By Christopher Dock. Contains a hymn, com- 
posed by him, which is included in tlie Mennonit* hymn book, pub- 
lislied in Lancaster in 1304. The first and last stanzas of the hynm, 
which is is an alphabetical acrostic, are|; 

^llein auf Gott setz deiu Vertrauen, 
Auf Menschen Hulf so'lst du uicht bau'n. 
Gott ist allein : der Glauben hiilt 
Sonst ftnd'st du Weuig in der Welt. 

^uletzt, sey redlich, fromm und treu. 
Das dich dein Thun niemals gerue ; 
Denn vor gethan und nach bedacht 
Hat manchen in grosz Lcid gebracbt. 

MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS. 

Indenture between Henry Frey and John Jannett, October2, 1692, 
about a sale of one hundred acres of land, made during the reign of 
William and Mary. Remarkable handwriting ; in good preservation, 
yet of venerable appearance. 

Contract for sale of land between Henry Frey and Gerhard Lever- 
ing, dated April 30, 1700 ; with the autographs of Johannes Kelpius 
and Clans Rittinghuis (Nicholas Rittenhouso) as witnesses. 

Marriage Certificate of Henry Frey and Catharine Levering, 
drawn in English and German by Francis Daniel Pastorius, as fol- 
lows : 



APPENDIX. 



xlix 



Whereas, Henry ffrey, of Altheim, 
in the province of Alsare in high 
Germany, now Inhabitant of Ger- 
mantown, in the County of Phila- 
delpliia, Batchelor ; and Anna 
Catharina Levering, of MQlbeim, 
in the Coiinty of Brtick, likewise 
in hifih Germany, yonng woman, 
now of the said Townsliip ; after 
the consultation with th"" respect- 
ive Parents have produced a suf- 
ficient Testification of their Clear- 
ness of all other engagements 
under the hand of several credible 
persons unto one of the Justices 
of the peace in the Bailiwick of 
Germantown as also published & 
affixed their Intention of marriage 
on the meeting house of the said 
Town the 24 day the first month 
past. 

This present Certificate witnes- 
Beth that the said Heui"y ffrey & 
Anna Catherina t,evering have 
this day solemnized sucli their 
marriage by taking an other as 
husband and wife according to the 
Law of this Country, before and 
in the presence of us, whose names 
are hereunder written at Germ" 
the 2() day of the 2"* month Anno 
Domini 1692. 



Demnach Heinrich Frey gebiir- 
tig von Altheim aus dora Elsass 
in Hoch Teutschland, anjetzoEin- 
wohner zu Germantown in der 
graffschafft Philadelphia: Jung 
gesell ; und Anna Cathrina Lever- 
ing von Miillheim aus der graff- 
schafft Bruck, ebenfalls in Iloch 
Teutschland, jungfrau, an,jetzo 
von ged*"- Germantownschip ; auff 
geschehener Berathschlaguiig u. 
Consent dero rospectiven Eltern, 
eine genungsame Attestation ihrer 
Klarigkeit von allem underseitigen 
Versprechen unter der hand ver- 
schiedener glaubwUrdiger Per- 
sonen vor einem Justice of the 
I)eace im Germantownischem Ge- 
beits vorgelegt als audi ihr Vor- 
haben Einander zu Ehelichen an 
dem Versamlungs Haus dieses Ort* 
d 24 tag juugst verwichenen er- 
sten Monats publicirten und an- 
geschlagen haben. 

Dess bezeugt gegenwartiger 
Heurats Brieff, das ged*' Hein- 
rich Frey u Anna Cathrina Lever- 
ing heut dato solch ihre Ehe Voll- 
zoge und Einander vor 3Iann u. 
Weib genommen haben vermog 
diesslandischen Gesetzes, in der 
Gegenwiirtigkeit vcn uns, deren 
Nahinen eigenhiliidig unterzeich- 
nedt sind. Actum in Germantown 
d. 26 tag des 2"» inouats (lAprilis:) 
Anno Domini IG92. 



Francis Daniel Pastobius 

Justice of the Peace 

dissisl Hein H RHH Freys marck 

diss ist Anna X Cathrina Levebings march 

Aioetzo Anna Cathrina Frevs. 

dtssX w' WioART Levebings marck 

diss isl X Gerhart Leverings marck 

HauB Peter Umstatt 

Arnold Cassell 

H Heinrich Kesselberg marck 

Heivert Papen 

Jan Doeden 

Andiis Souplis 

Willem Eittingheyiien 

Henrick Zellen 

Jacob I sacks 

Heinrich Bucholtz 

Isaac Dilbeeck 

Clas Tamsen 

diss ist U Hanes Millans march 

diss ist Johannes H Umstets marck 

diss ist H Herman Trapmaniis marck 

diss ist Magda X lena Leverinos marck 

Emenka Pastorious 

S Heudreches 

Harriet Peters 

Man-ja Moy 

Catriu Tamsen 

diss ist M Markje Sellen marck 

Maria Bucholtz 

diiis ist A Annecke Soiiplis marck 

diss int Ma X "tje Bloemerts Tnarck 

Elizabeth Cassells 

Sara Hendercka 

diss ist X I^'Iario Bones marck 

diss ist He X Hgens Gerritsmorcfc 

diss E "' Elizabeth Ruttiuhausen marck 

Articles of Agreement between Henry Frey and his family, Octo- 
ber 12 1732. Henry Frey came to America as an adventurer before 



William Penn, probably as early as 1675. He wa^ a bachelor until 
Wigiirt Levering's family arrived. Then he applied for their 
daughter Cathrina, as she was probably the only young woman then 
in the bailiwick of Germantown ; and although she was of a mar- 
riageable age, the odds of their ages «'ere so exceeding great that it 
was feared objections might be filed against it. Therefore, their in- 
tention was publicly made known ; it was also published in their 
meeting, and affixed on the meeting-house of the said town on the 
24th of the first month past. And then, as no objections were filed 
against it, it was consummated, as the certificate says, on the 26th 
day of the 2d month March 1692. Then as Frey was so old already 
before he married, they had several minors yet when he was so old 
and infirm that he was obliged to retire from all the active cares of 
life. Consequently this agreement was made to one of his older sons 
(Jacob), consigning all his real estate and personal property to him 
on very peculiar conditions concerning the support of themselvea 
and his minor children ; providing also for their outsets, etc. 

Warrant of the Surveyor General to Thomas Fairman, for 200 acres 
in the present Towamencin township. 1712. « 

Return of Survey, by David Powell, dated Philadelphia, the 26th 
of the first month, March, 1713, of 200 acres of land under warrant 
of 20th of Eighth-month, 1712, in the county of Philadelphia. This 
land was located on Towamencin creek, in Towamencin township, 
then called Bristol township, and became the homestead of the Fry 
family. 

Warrant of Richard Hill, James Logan and Robert Aesheton, 
Commissioners of Property, dated at Philadelphia the 30th day of 
the first month, A. D. 1721, directed to Jacoy Taylor, Surveyor Gen- 
eral, to survey unto Samuel Powel 546 acres of land " that has not 
been heretofore survey'd nor appropriated nor is seated by the In- 
dians." This land was located within the limits of the present 
county of Montgomery. This instrument came into the possession 
of the exhibitor through the Frey family, who owned part of the 
land. < 

Articles of Agreement, dated July 4, 1725, between Derrick Rans- 
bery and Hupert Gassel, relative to a purchase of 150 acres of land 
in Van Bebber's township. This land was located about one mile 
southeast of the present Skippackville. Hupert Cassel was great- 
great-grandfather of the exhibitor. 

Specification of the length of time in days that each taxable of 
Lower Salford township — their names being given — was required to 
maintain a pauper, about 1760. The number of days apportioned 
was governed by tiie means of the taxable. 

Curious Bond of Indemnity to the Overseers of the Poor of Lower 
Salford for the keeping of a pauper of Bucks county. 1766. 

Certificate of the appointment of John Reiff and Henry Cassel as 
Overseers of the Poor. 1770. 

Certificate of the appointment of Dielman Ziegler and William 
Yerkes as Overseers of the Poor. 1772. 

Certificate of the appointment and confirmation of Christian Stauf- 
fer and Godshall Godshalls as Overseers of the Poor. 1775. 

Auditors' Certificate to the accounts of the Overseers of the Poor 
of Lower Salfonl, March 25, 1774, as follows : 

March 25th, 1774. 
It appears by settling the Accompts, in presents of three Reputable 
Freeholders, of Lower Salford Township, who subscribed their 
Names, in the Book, that the Dispureement made for the year past 
was Two Shillings. So remain the Sum in Bank, £.iO. 7. 9. Which 
We Certify. 

FrEDERICH DlECKENSCHIBDT. 

Michel Zigleb. 

Fence Viewer's Report. The office of Fence Viewer is unknown 
to the ppesent generation. In former times officers were elected, or 
appointed by the court, to investigate disputes concerning line fences 
and to make award, their judgment being final. The report ex- 
hibited reads : 

We the Suliscribers appointed by Fence Viewers in and for the 
County of Montgomery, having this day Viewed the Partition Fence 
in dispute Between Jacob Shelleuberger and Martin Hocker, jun', 
do a^udge and order that the said Martin Hocke rjun' shall make a 
good and Lawful Fence on the Lino in Ten days from this Date, and 
to begin the same at the Lane, thence on the Line all the way to a 
stake drove in the ground for a Division, and pay Three Dollars to 
the Viewers. And we Likewise order that Jacob Shelleuberger pay 
to Martin Hocker one Dollar &. Fifty cents for three panels of Fence 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



heretofore made by said Hocker & his Predecrasors. Given from 
under Hands, this firetday of October Anno Domini 1814. 

Mf.lchior Schultz, 
MnilDECAI Davies, 
Isaac Morhis. 

(Juit Rent Keceipta of Henry Ruth and Christian Stauffer, 1748 
and 1756. 

Quit Rent Receipts of Henry Trey, for 200 acres, 1724 and 1735- 
Both written on one sheet of paper, G%x2% inches— a sample of old- 
time economy. They are as follows: 

,* Philad'^ 14t'' l-"" 1G24-5 

Recd'«f Henry Fry Two and thirty Shillin^^s money of Pensilvi in 
lien of four and Twenty Shillings sterling in full fur twelve years 
quit rent due on 200 acres of Land at Skepeck to the first Inst 

^ James Steel, llec 
Philad" 14(1' ;i«'<' 1735 

Reed of Henry ffry (by his eon Jacob) thirty Shillings money 
of PensilVin lieu of twenty Shillings sterling in full for ten years 
quit rent^ue on the above 200 acres of Land to the first day of the 
first month last past. 

'^ James Steei,, Rec Gen^i 

Quit Rent Receipt of Christian Stauffer, March 1, 1772, 

Militia Notice to Yelles Cassel, the exhibitor's father, November 
24, 1807. 

Militia Notice to Yelles Cassel for the American war, August 30 
1814. 

Receipt for Direct (or Militia) Tax of Yelles Cassel, 1815. 

Subscription Paper to Raise Funds for the Support of a Schwenk- 
felder School, 17G4. Neatly written in German, as follows : 

EinPlan zu Unterhaltung eiues Schul-Wesens bey unss 
Schwenkfeldern verfasset den 1. Mertz, 17r>4. 

Nehmlich unten genannte legen einen Fund zusamnien zu bezah. 
hing eines Schul-Meisters auf folgende Weise : Besagte genandte 
lebnen eine Summaan die zuernenende TVtislees des Schul-Hauses, 
dass die jabrliche hUreitsenyon 5 M-o cento znm Genuss der Schule sol ten 
verwandt werden, auf eJne Tennin vonlG Jiihren, in Absicht ob biss 
dahin andere, die in zwischen am zeitlichen gesegnet werden, und 
gleichfals die Wjchtigkeit der Saclie erkennen, ihren Platz ersetzen 
wiirden : SoUe aber gleichwul dieses nicht geschehen, anf dieselbige 
Zeith, so sollen ietzige Creditores das Ihre nicht hinweg ziehen, biss 
sich dergleichen "Willigkeit und Vermogenheit einfinde, weil der 
i^ojri auf keine weise aufgehoben werden soil, ohne wenn nach un- 
serm Bckiintniss eine Unrichtigkeit drauss entstunde ; Uebrigens 
aber soil so viel als moglich die Billigkeit Richter zwischen uns In 
dieser Sache bleiben, und solclie Unterstiitzer des Funds die oder 
deren Erben verarmen solten, treulich bedacbt und abgeloset werden, 
wo nicht anders dennoch durch unterschriebene. 



George Kriebel 
George Anders 
Christoph Neuman 
David Neuman 
Henrich Schneider 
Barbara Jackelin 
Andreas Warmer 
Abraham Jukkel 
Abranam Kribel 
Balthaser Krauss 
Melchior ICribel 
Gregorius Schultz 
David Shultz 
Melchior Shultz 



The undersigned unite in establishing a fund for the maintenance 
of a school-master in the following manner : The under-written con- 
tributors lend to the to be appointed Trustees of a school-house, a 
sum, of which the annual interest at five per cent, is to be applied to 
the use of a school for the term of sixteen years, in the anticipation 
that at the expiration of this time others who may in the mean- 
time be blessed in temporal affairs, and who shall discern the im- 
portance of this matter, will take the place of the present contribu- 
tors Should this, however, not prove to be the case, then the credi- 
tors shall not withdraw their loans until like sums are 'willingly 
offered ; tor tho fund shall under no circumstjuices be discontinued, 
unless to our knowledge an injustice should ensue therefrom. More- 
over, judicial fairness shall iis much as possible be observed between 



.i3(l 


George Shultz 


50 


5 


Christoph Krause 


40 


20 


George Shultz 


30 


25 


Joliannes Jiickel 


50 


20 


Christoph Jiickel 


60 


40 


Christoph Schultz 


60 


20 


Gi'org Krieliel 


30 


20 


Christoph Kriehcl 


30 


30 


Christoph Hoffman 


20 


10 


Caspar Kriebel 


50 


20 


H. Christoph Hubner 


50 


20 


Caspar Seibt 


30 


10 


George Anders 


20 


50 






TRANSI 


ATION. 





US in this matter ; and should any such supporters of the fund, or 
their heii"s, become impoverished, they shall be considerately dealt 
with and released, if not otherwise, then by the subscribei-s, to wit. 
Fac-simile of a curious letter of Benjamin Franklin, which reads 
thus : 

Philada July 5, 1775 
Mr. Strahan, 

You are a member of Parliament, and one 
of that Majority wliich has doomed my Country to 
Destniction. — You have begun to burn our Towns, 
and murder our People. — Look upon your Hands ! — 
They are stained with the Bloodof your Relations ! 
— You and I were long Friends : — You are now my 
Enemy,— and 

I am, Youra, 

B. FnANKLlN. 

Fac simile of title-page and an entire calendai- page of the fii^st 
edition of Poor Richard's Almanac for 1733. Printed and sold by 
B. Franklin, at the new printing office, near the market. 

Fac-simileof a letter of George Washington, December 10, 1706. 
Written to Richard Peters, Philadelphia. 

DEEDS AXn PARCHMENT DOCVMENTS. 

Deed, dated May 16, 1682, for 500 acres of land, subsequently lo- 
cated in Montgomery county, given by William Penn, and bearing 
his autograph. It coutaims a recital of King Charles' grant of the 
entire province to the Proprietary. It is notable for its extraordi- 
nary fine penmanship, and forbearing date prior to Penn's coming in 
Pennsylvania. 

Deed of the Penns for a tract in Old Cowissiopin (Goshenhoppen) 
under the Lesser Seal. 1734. Exhibited on account of its neat and 
very peculiar penmanship, 

Deedof William Penn to David Powell, for 800 acres, with the 
Great Seal. 1713. 

Deed or Quit Rent Lease, for 102 acres, the consideration per annum 
being "one Pepper Corn cnly upon the last day of the term if the 
same be lawfully demanded." 1734. 

Naturalization paper of Peter Keyser, Derrick Keyser, Francis 
Daniel Pastorius, and sixty-one other persons, issued under authority 
of William Peun, Proprietary, by Thomas Lloyd, Deputy Governor, 
at Philadelphia, on the Sth day of Third-month (May), Anno Domini 
1G91, and in the third year of the reign of King William and Queen 
Mary. This important document is in the handwriting of Francis 
Daniel Pastorius, and bears several endursemenff. One if, " Ex 
LibrisChristiani Lehman, to be laid by for my Children. Philada. 
August 23d, 1771." Obtained by the exhibitor from the widow of 
Benjamin Lehman, a grandson of Christian Lehman. 

An Apprentice's Certificate and Recommendation, September 29, 
ICiSO. A curious large, heavy parchment, 23x103/^ inches, in orna- 
mented German penmanship. 

Naturalization Paper nf George Andrews (Anders), of Towamen- 
sing, dated April 11, 1755. 

Germantown Friends' Protest against Slavery, 1GS8. Fac-simile 
of the original, accidentally discovered not so very long ago. 

On the 18th day of April, 1G88, Gerhard Hendricks, Dirck Op den 
Graeff", Francis Daniel Pastorius, and Abraham Op den Graeff, sent 
to the Friends' meeting the first public protest ever made on this 
continent against the holding of slaves ; a little rill there started, 
which further on became an immense torrent; and whL'never here- 
after men ti"ace analytically the causes which led to Shilob, Gettys- 
burg, and Appomattox, they will begin with the tender consciences 
of the linen weavers and husbandmen of Germantown. — The settle- 
viejit of Germantown, Fa, By S.VBiUEi. W. Pennypacker, Esq., 
J'liiladelphia. 

Printed copy of Germantown Friends" Protest Against Slavery, 
1088. 
Cassel, Isaac R., North Wales. Forty-nine cupies Forney's War 
Press. Philadelphia Inr|uirer, April 20, 1SR5, coutaining account of 
Lincoln's burial. Boston Gazette, March 12, 1770. Brother Jona- 
than (newspaper), January 1, 1844. Dante's Purgatoi-y. Dictionary 
of the Arabian Language. Four volumes. 1G32. Burnett's His- 
tory of the Reformation in England. Two volumes. 1G81. Casper 
Schwenkfeld's Wurks. 1570. Mysteries of Theology. 1684. 
Philip Melancthon's Epistles, in Latin. 1G93. Essays on the Teach- 
ings of the Spirit. 17:i5. Hoburg's Postilla. One volume. 16(i3_ 
Bible. Published by Bihle Society. Philadelphia, 1812. Testa. 
ment and Psalm Book. 177U. Hymn Book. 1G39. Young Clerk's 



APPENDIX. 



Magazine. Albany. 1763. Catechism. Philadelphia, 1763. Four 
Prayer Books. 1746.1767,17770,1794. The Little Charmer. 1767. 
Goldsmith's Animated Nature. Four volumes. 17^5. Emporium 
of Arts and .Sciences. Three volumes. 1815 

Cassel, Jacob, Kulpsville. Will of Henry Cassel. 1707. 

Cassel, Mrs. James, Belfry. German Account Book ; oldest date, 
1734. <'ontaining tile account of the exhibitor's great -great-grand- 
father, Harley, and great-grandfather, Samuel Harley. 

Casslu, Wllllaiu, Philadelphia. Poor Richard's Almanac. 1788— 
l.l'l. The True American Commercial Advertiser. 17i)9. 

Colaman, Rev. D. lievlu, Centre Square. Deed for one and one- 
half acres of land, in Mliitpain township, dated June 2{\, 1773, from 
GeurgeKaatner and Elizabeth bis wife to Paul Bauer and George 
Bergheimer, of Whitpain ; Michael Hawke, George Gossinger, Adam 
Fleck, and Peter Young of Gwyuedd ; and Adam Ilofrman and Mar- 
tin Neyberger, of Worcester. St. John'a Lutheran Church, of Cen- 
tre Square, now stands upon the ground conveyed by this deed. 
Telugu Biblo. Printed for a tribe of aborigines in Hindostan. 
German Bible. Nuremberg edition; bound in sheepskin. 1743. 
IIluHtrated with the portraits of the living Princes of that period. 

Conirort, Mrs. Johii, Norristuwn. Book, said to be 210 years old- 

Coiirow, Mrs Emnta, Norristown. Royal Magazine. 

Cope, O. "W., Hatboro. William Penn Deed, 1081. In good state of 
preservation and has the large wax seal of William Penn atUicbed. 
Tbniiias Fletcher Deed, 1787. 

Corson, Alan W., Norristown. Doctrine of Fluxions. 1743. 

Cottmau, Charles, Abington. Public Ledger, Friday, March 25, 1836. 

Cressnian, H. C, Norristown. English Bible. 1702. 

Cressou, Mary H., Noniatown. Mayuard's Josephns. Philadel- 
phia, IGOri. French book, by Charles Drelincourt. 1648. 

Cresson, Mary J., Norristown. Penn's-Select Worlis. London, 1771. 
History of Pennsylvania, by Robert Proud. Two Volumes. 1797. 
Journal of George Fox. 1865. 

Cresson, Miss Sarali, Conshohocken. Paper, published at the 
Sanitary Fair held at Philadelphia in 1864. 

CresH-ivell, Debora M., Merion. Bible, containing the following 
writing: " Edward Junes and othei-8, leaving their native land free 
of del't, arrived in the River Schuylkill 13tb of 8th mo. 10S2, in ship 
Lyon, John Campbell, Master." 

Curwen, George F., Villa Nova. JEaop's Fables, in Latin. 1691. 
Buuk, dated 1752. 1696. Nomstowu Herald. 1813. 

Davis, Jesse B., Norristown. Invitation to funeral of Ben.jamin 
Franklin, 

Davis, Joltu J., Jenkintown. Welsh Bible. 1744. 

Davis, Mrs,, Norristown. German Bible, over lUO years olil. 

Deaves, Isaae, Blue Bell. Almanac. 1799. 

DeHaven, Hugli, King-of-Pnissia. Old Paper. 

Det^viler, Jones, Blue Bell. The Votes of the Assembly of Pennwyl- 
vauia. 1744 — 17.58. Music Book, containing the gamut or scale, 
with various tunes and hymns, written with a pen by Christian 
Looser, 1775. Music Book, very old. Size 4J/^x2i/2 inches. Wythe's 
Repository of the Sacred Harp. Harrisburg : John Wise, 1827. 
Dyer's Sacred Music. Philadelphia ; D Fanshaw, 1828. 

Sermon preached at Neshamanie, Bucks County, December 14, 
1743, before the ordination or Rev. Charles Beatty, by Gilbert Tou- 
nent, A. M. Philadelphia : William Bradford, 1744. 

Columbia Magazine ; or, Monthly Miscellany. December, 1786, 
Philadelphia. 

A Mirror for all Mankind ; or, Instructive Examples from the Life 
and Conduct of Christian Funk, a Faithful Minister of the Word of 
God among the Mennonists. during and many years after the Revo- 
lution. Norristown : James Winnard, 1814. 

Father Abraham's Almanack, for the year 1777, containing the 
aatronomiciil calculations made by David Rittenhouse, of which the 
publisher says : " Therefore they can be most firmly relied on." The 
Rittenhouse Almanac, for 1806. By Baily. 

An Apprentice's Indenture, dated March 8, 1775, between Joseph 
White, of Hoi-sham, and Cadwalder Roberts, of Montgomery, the for- 
mer binding himself furfive years to learn carpentering. 

Norristown Hei-ald. Published by Samuel Ladd, in 1815 ; David 
Sower, Jr., in 1820 ; Robert Iredell, in 1851 ; Iredell & Butler, in 
1844 : Iredell & Jones, in 1857. 

Norristown Register. Published by James Winnard, in 1822 ; 
Adam Slemnier, in 1840 ; Samuel D. Patterson, in 1848 ; Patterson & 
Slemmer, in 1849 ; E. L. Acker, 1858 ; Isaiah B. Houpt, 1878. 

Montgomery Watchman. Published by Fry & Moore. National 
DiMuocrat. Published by the friends of Stephen A. Douglas fur 



President. Olive Branch. The first temperance paper published in 
the county. By Franklin Sellers. Viilage Record, West Chester, 
December 2, 1828. National Republican Advocate, West Chester, 
March 12, 1833. Public Ledger, Philadelphia, 1S39. New Testa^ 
ment, in French. Christian Ulric Wagner, Ulm, 1771. Edmund 
HeckeringilPs Worlts on the Priestcraft. London, 1716. Sermons. 
By Rev, James Pierce, of Exton, England. London 1727. New 
Testament and Ps;ilms and Church Lessons of the Lutheran Church, 
in German. Published at Amsterdam by Isaac Vander Putte, H. 
Burgei-s, Philip Losel and Garrett Boum. in 1737. 

De Imitatione Christi. By Thomas ii Kempis. Dublin, 1793. 

Life of Washington. By Ramsey. Baltimore, 1815. 

Buck's History of 3Iontgoniery County within the Schuylkill 
Valley. 

Valley Forge and Surroundings. 1770—1780. 

Advertisement, printed in English and German, for the sale of real 
estate in Upper Dublin township, March 3, 1796. 

The Pennsylvania Farmer, 1804. By Job Roberts, of Whitpain 
township. The first work on the subject of agriculture published in 
Montgomery county. 

The Original and Present State of Man, Briefly Considered. By 
Joseph Pbipps. Philadelphia, 1783. 

Bible, Hymn Book, and Record Book of Bi^^hra's Reformed Church, 
Whitpain township. Exhibited by authority of a resolution passed by 
the Consistory of the congregation, September 4, 1884. The Bible 
. was published at Basle, by John Lndwig Brandmiller, in 1747. It 
is a large folio, and contains 988 pages. In it are recorded all the 
names of the p-^stors from 1740 to 1884. The Hym Book was published 
at Marburg, iu 1771, by Henry LudwigBromner, aud contjiius the 
Psalms set to music, hymns, catechism, and the lessons according to 
the church yearthen in use in the Reformed Church, The Record 
Book was commenced by the Rev. George Alsentz, in 1764, and con- 
tains the register of the births from that time until 1832. 

Deed for450 acres of land, dated May 25, 1683, from William Penn 
to William Cares. 

Deed for 106 acres of land in Whitpain township, dated July 25, 
1725, from Anthony Morris and otbereto Everts In De Hoven. 

Bond for £150, dated October 15, 1772, by Nicholas Kneezel, of 
Whitpain, to James Stephens, of New Jersey, 
Detwiler, Mrs. Mtltoii V., Oaks. Deed, given by Penn to James 
Hamerin 1717. Deed, by Richard and Tliomas Penn, 1761, fur land 
now owned by Mrs. Detwiler. 
Diener, Mrs. Jacob M., Trappe. Gernmn Bible. 
Dorwortli, Joseph H., Norritunville. History of the Bible. 1829. 

Norristown Gazette. Vulume 1. 1709. 
Dotterer, Henry S., Philadelphia. Denkmal der Liebe undAch- 
tung welches D. Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg ist gesetzet worden. 
1788. Memorial sermon on the death of Dr. Muhlenberg, preached 
October 21, 1787, by Rev. J. H. C. Helmuth, pastor of St. Michael's 
and Zion congregations, Pbiladelphia. With copper-plate portrait 
and biographical sketch of Dr. Muhlenberg. 

Memoirs of the late Rev. John Antes. A fragment of the Port 
Folio of Oliver Oldschool, Esq. Philadelphia : April, 1813. John 
Antes was born March 24, 1740, on one of his father's estates in Fred- 
erick township, Montgomery (then Philadelphia) county. He was 
baptized in the society of the Moravian Brethren when six yeare of 
age. In January, 1764, he visited Europe, and went to Herrnhut ; 
from there he went to Neuwied to learn watchmaking. January 16, 
1760, he received a call to serve the Moravian mission then forming 
at Gi-and Cairo, in Egypt, which place he reached on the 10th of 
February following. In 1773 he made the acquaintance of Mr. 
Bnice, the celebrated traveler, at Cairo, and rendered him vahiahle 
assistance in making fine instruments. The same year he visited the 
Copts at Behnesse. In August, 1781, he left Cairo, after a twelve 
years' residence in Egypt, and the next year he attended the General 
Synod of the Brethren's church at Berthelsdorf, iu Saxony. In 1785, 
he accepted the position of warden of the Brethren's congregation at 
Fulnec, in Yorkshire, England. In June, 1786, he married, and in 
1801 he traveled witli his wife by way of Hull and Hamburg to 
Herrnhut. Having obtained dismission from his ofiice in 1808, he 
chose Bristol for his abode, where. December 17, 1811, he died, 

Hocbdeutsche Reformirte Kirchen-Ordnung. Sumneytown : Enoa 
Benner, 1830. 

Des Americanischen Seidebauers Anweisung, durch William Ken- 
rick, With an interesting appendix by Joel Schelly, M.D., late of 
Hereford township, Berks county. Philadelpliia : Edmund Y. Schelly, 
1838. 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



An Kxplanation of Incidents that took place among the Bo-called 
Mennonites. Skippack : J. M. Schueneman & Co., 1854. 

Corporal ion 9- Akte, der Evangelischen Lutherischen Gemeinde, in 
Neu-IIanover Towusbip. Pennalmrg : A. Kneiile, 1859. 

Die Ansiedlung und Begrundung derMennonitenGemeinechaft in 
Canada, von Dr. A. Eby. Milford Square; J. G. SUuffer, 1872. 

History and Memorial Report of the Rights of the Heirs of Theo- 
bald Jletzger. Allentown, 1868. 

Tauf-schein (certificate of baptism) of Conrad Dotterer, son of Mi- 
chael and Catharina (Reiff) Dotterer, born in Frederick township, 
Apri 19, 17G9, at nine o'c lock in the forenoon ; grandfather of the ex- 
hibitor. 

Goburts und Tauf-schein of Rebecca, daughter of Lewis and Eliza 
beth (Marklcy) Linsinbigler, born in New Hanover township, Apri 
20, 1799; maternal grandmother of exliibitor. 

Specimen of copy furnished to the press by Samuel D. Patterson, 
editor and litterateur, late of Evansburg. Mr. Patterson's manu- 
script was noted for its clearness and beauty, and its correct punctua- 
tion, orthography, and capitalization. 
Doubt, Henrj', Flourtown. First Journals of Congress. Two vol- 
umes. 
Drake, Mrs. Aram, Kulpsville. Marriage Certificate of JohnLu- 

kena. 175:i. 
Dreslier, Abraham, Worcester. Sermon book, entitled Johann 
Philip Fresonius Aiiserlesene heilige Reden uber die Sonn und Fest- 
tags Evangelien durch das gantze Jahr. Neue Auflage. Bound in 
leather; size, 9?^x7J^x3 inches. Frauckfurt und Leipzig : bey Hein- 
rich Ludwig Bronner, 1767. 

Von der Heilegen Schrift ; sein Inhalt, Amt, rechtem Nutz, Branch 
und Misbrauch. No date. 

Postilla, und Auslegung der Evangelien verredigt durch den Gott- 
gelehrten Mann Michael Hillern. Leather; size, 12x8x2J^ inches. 
1755. 

Kurtze Lebeng Beschreibung des hocherleuchten Caspar Schwenk- 
/eld. Aufgesetzt im Jahr 1744. Leather; size, 71^^x6x2 inches. 

Psalm Buch, mit Kurtzer erklening aus H. Schrift durch Adam 
Reiszner. Abgeschrieben Anno 1751. German manuscript. Bound 
jn leather ; size, Sx8i.^s2i^ inches. 

German Manuscript Book. Michael Hillern'swritings. Abgesch- 
rieben und zusammen getragen durch Nickolaus Tetschten im Jahr 
1571. Bound in leather; size, 12x9x33/^ inches. 
Gesang-Buch. Germantown : Christoph Saur, 1762. 
Gebet-Biichlein. Reprint of the original, dated 1705. Size, 5x3x23/i 
inches. 
Dull, Mary, Hartranft. Bible, brought from Germany by Frederick 

Dull in 177f . 
Easlbnru, Annie, Bridgeport. Deed, dated 1733, from the children 

of Peiin. 
Kberle, The Misses, Oak Lane. Music Book. 1809. 
Eekard, James Read, Abington. Bound collection ofearly news- 
papers of Pcnufiylvania. 
Egbert, Dr. Joseph C, General Wayne. German Bible, form- 
erly owned by exhibitor's great-great-great-grandfather. 
Egbert, "W. R,, Norristown. Pope's Poems, over 100 years old. 
Egolf, C«ng, Norristown. German Bible. Germantown : Christoph 
Saur, 1776. German Bible. Reading ; Gottlob Jungmann, 1805. Der 
Blutige Srhau-PIatz oder Mart;yren Spiegel der Tauffe Gesinnten, by 
T. J. V. Braght. Ephrata in Pennsylvanien, Druck und Verlags 
der Bruderschafft. 1748. Die WandlendcSeele. By Johann Philip 
Schabalie. Germantown: Christoph Saur. 1768. Caspar Schwenk- 
feld's Erlautorung. Breslau and Leipzig, 1771. Der Geschwinde 
Rechner. Baltimore: Samuel Saur, 1801. Christliche Lieder. Ger- 
mantown : Christoph Saur, 1767. German Bible. Germantown: 
Christoph Saur, 1776. On a front fly-leaf, in fractur-schrift, is the 
record of the marriage of Daniel Landes and Maria Fretz, on Novem- 
ber 25, 1790. 
Elklnton, George, Blue Bell. The Theory of the Earth. London, 

H>84. 
Elhluton, Mrs. Ocorge, Blue Bell. Life of John Richardson. 

1774. 
Kmery, John, Cheltenham. Lady's Book. Six volumes. 1831—1833. 

Columbian Magazine. Volume 1. 1786. 
Erb, Elijah, Kulpsville. German Bible. 1736. 

Erb, Malilou, Kulpsville. Von der Sprise des Ewigen Lebens. By 
Caspar Schwenkfeld. 1547. Messias. Das Jhesus sey Christus der 
ware Messias. Frauckfurt an Mayn, 1566. Ueberdie furneuibsten 
Spruech im llohen Lied Salomanis. Gedruekt und verlegt durch 



Jacob von der Heyden, Chalcograph, 1622. Hlustrated. Der Un- 
bekante Christus. Franckfurth : von Samuel Slueller zum Dnick 
befordert, 1696. Evangelia, mit den Epistele auf alle Sonn uudFest- 
Tage. Augustin Vogel, 1701. Johann Arnds Paradiess Gaitlein. 
Germantown ■ Christoph Saur, 1765. 
Evans, J, S., Gwynedd. Deed for a large tract in Gwynedd, dated 
1083, from William Penn to Thomas Evans, bearing the seal of Wil- 
liam Penn. 
Faust, Jacob, Perkiomenville. New Testament, in German. Martin 

Luther's translation, Amsterdam, 1697. 
Pelty, Samuel, Jenkintown. Sermons. Frankfort, Germany, 

1643. 
Fleck, Mrs. Henry, Norristown. German Singing Book. 1799. 
Fluck, Mrs. Amos, Perkiomenville. The Ready Reckoner. Ger- 
mantown : Christoph Saur, 1774. German Bible. 1725. 
Eornance, Mrs. Ellen Knox, Norristown, Four original Re- 
ceipts. One receipt is for subscription towards building Provi- 
dence Presbyterian church ; another receipt is for liquors furnished 
at decedent's funeral. Bond, dated 1778. The clause relating to the 
King of Great Britain erased by the obligor. 
Foruance, Joseph, Norristown. Certificate of membership of the 
(i'incinnati Soeiety. Autographs of General Washington and General 
Knox, 
Foulke, Annte J., Conshohockcn. Labors of John Churchman. 
The full title is : The Gospel Labors and Christian Experiences of a 
Faithful Minister of Christ, John Churchman, late of Nottingham, in 
Pennsylvania, deceased. To which is added ashort memorial of the 
Life and Death of a Fellow-Laborer in the Church, our Valuable 
Friend, Joseph White, late of Bucks Co. Printed by Joseph Cruk- 
shank, on the North Side uf Market street, between Second and Third , 
streets. Philadelphia, 1759. >' 

Freas, Mrs. David W., Norristown. Bible, 200 yearsold. '^ 
Frederick, John, Douglass. German Bible. 1536, 
Frederick, Mrs. 'William, Schwenksville. German Bible. Once 

owned by the great-grandfather of Jacob Johnson. 
Freed, Isaac G., North Wales. Schwenkfeld Catechism, manuscript . 

Copied 1759. 
FreecUey, Mrs. Dr., Conshohocken, The Vegetable System. 1759. 
Freeman, John, Wi>rce3ter. Old Books. 
Frey, Jacob, Douglass. Christian Duties, German. 1770. German 

Hymn Book, 1783. 
Fryer, Henry S., Skippack. Names of the family of Bemhart Fryer 

and wife. 1783. 
Gable, Percival K,, Skippack. Tavern License, issued September 
25, 1787, to .John Philip Gable, uf Upper Salford. Ledger Account, 
kept by John Philip Gable, from November 27, 1766, to June 23, 
1774. 
Garsed, Mrs. Robert P., Norristown. Pennsylvania Journal and 
Weekly Advertiser. 1784. Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser. 
1786. Federal Gazette. 1789,1790. The Independent Gazetteer. 1789, 
1794. Philadelphia Daily Advertiser. 1790. General Advertiser. Pub- 
lished by Beiyainin Franklin Bache, April, 1794, to January, 18t»3. 
Gazette of the United States. 1794, 1797, 1799, 1802. Porcupine's Ga- 
zette, 1797. The Daily Adveitiser. 1797. The Philadelphia Gazette. 
1794. Merchants' Daily Advertiser, 1798. The Dessert to the True 
American. 1798. The TrueAmerican. 1799. Poulson's American Daily 
Advertiser. 1801. The Port Folio. By Oliver Oldschool. 1801. Keifs 
Philadelphia Gazette. 1803. Works of John Woolman. 1774. Youth's 
Cabinet of Nature. 1802. Christian Advices. Publishedby the Yearly 
Meeting of Friends in Philadelphia. 1808. Poor Will's Almanac. 
1823. Foulke's Almanac. 1832. United States Mmauac. 1837. Amer- 
ican Museum, Dedicated to George Washington. 1788. Deed of part 
of Norris property, 1750. Original Deed of William Penn, 1703, 
Ganmer, Jacob, Sr., Fairview Village. German Hymn Book. 

1777. 
Geyer, Jacob K., Pottstown. Dr. John Jacob Rambach's Moral Phi- 
losophy. 1736. 
Gibson, Rev. Isaac, Non*istown. Latin Bible. 1661. 
Godshalk, Charles D., Kulpsville, Epistle Sermon Book. Initials, 

"H. C. H." 1738. 
Godshall, Mrs. R. H., Ironbridge. German Book. Came from 

Germany as the property of exhibitor's grandfather, Scholl. 
Gotwals, William K.., Fairview Village. Der Plutige Schau-platz 
Oder Martyrer Spiegel der Tauffs-gesinnton oder Wehrlosen Christen. 
Zweyte Theil, Ephrata in Pennsylvania, 1749, Hochszeit Lied, ger- 
ichtet auf dell Tag der Verehlichungdesehrbaren und vielgeliebten 
Freundes Andreas Beyer luitder viel Khr und Tugend gelobten .lung- 



APPENDIX. 



Ixxi 



Lane, 90 eta.; Hatboro', gl ; Jenkintown, $25; Lansdale, 826.10 ; North 
"Wales, S68; Royereford, Sl.-S.aO ; West Conshohocken, $41.40; Abington, 
$50; Cheltenham, §216: Douglaes, $13.50 ; Franconi; Frederick, $24 ; 
Gwynedd, $104.10; Hatfield, $5.40 ; Horsham, $53.10; Lower Meri on, 
$174 20; Lower Providence, $^.2.20; Lower Salford, $12.60 ; Limerick, 
$?;; Marlborough, $4; Moreland, $19.80; Montgomery, $27 ; Now Han- 
ver, $31.60; Norriton, $92; Perkiomeu, $185.40; Plymouth, $58.50; 
Pottsgrove, $2.80; Springfield, $94.50; Towameucin, $15.30; Upper Dub- 
lin, $64.80; Upper Hanover (included in East Greenville) ; Upper Mo- 
rion, $102.60 ; Upper Providence, $153 ; Upper Salford, $7.20 ; Wbite- 
niarsh, $152.50 : Whitpain, $78.30 ; Worcester, $75.60. Collected person- 
ally by Joseph Fornance, F. G. Hobson and J. A. Strassburger, $685. 

OTHEE SOUacES. 

Collected from railroad tickets and rebates, $442-27 ; gross receipts at 
entrance door, etc., $1509.39 ; gross receipts from public sale, $527.88; 
gross receipts from refreshment stand, $101.79 ; total, $6216.93. 

The following is a statement of the expenditures : 

By cash paid for stationery and poiitage, $178.11 ; by cash paid for 
expressage, $35.09; by cash paid for teams, $128.75; by cash paid for 
traveling expenses, $7.77; by cash paid for newspaper items. $6.75 ; by 
cash paid for mnsic, $348.50 ; by cash paid for insurance, $93 ; by cash 
piad for entertainment of Indians and dinner for employes, $54 50; by 
cash paid for Minting, $328.43; by cesh paid for wages and hauling, 
$1280-61; by cash paid for incidentals, $103.56; by cash paid for contri- 
bution to OflBcial Kecord, $100 ; by cash paid for certificates, merchan- 
dise, lumber, carpenter-work, rent of tent, etc., $1924.36; by cash paid 
for Bittenhouse monolith, 227 ; by cash paid for auditing expenses, $9. 
Total expenditures, $4825.43. Balanee in hand, 1391.60. All of which 
is respectfully submitted. 

J. A. Steassbueoer, Secretary and Treasurer of Finance Committee, 
Centennial Association of Montgomery County, Pa. 

AUDITORS' REPORT. 
To the Centennial Association of Montgomery County: 

"We, the undesigned Auditors, appointed by the President of the Cen- 
tennial Association of Montgomery County, which appointment was 
ratified by the Executive Committee of said Association, to audit and 
ailjust the accounts of Jacob A. Strnssburger, Esq., Secretary and Treas- 
rer of the Finance Committee, make the following report : 

Jacob A. Strassburger to the GenUnnial Association. 



To total ameunt received from all sources, as itemized in full in the 
Treasurer's report, $6216.93. 

CB. 

r By cash paid for various bills, as itemized in the Treasurer's report, 
$4825.43. Balance in Treasurer's hands, $1391.50. And have found the 
accounts of the Secretary and Treasurer, Jacob A. Strassburger, Esq., 
correct in charge as well as discharge. 

Philip Supee, -. 

H. W. Kbatz, V Auditors. 

Thomas Williams, ) 
Norristown, December 23, 1884. 

DISPOSAL OF FUND. 

At the final meeting of the Centennial Association, held January 8, 
1 885, the balance remaining in the hands of the Financial Secretary was 
disposed of as follows: Indebtedness of Historical Society, $157.00; 
eight copies of Official Record presented, $20.00 ; sundry bills paid, 
$11.01 ; to the Historical Society of Montgomery County, in trvst, to be 
invested in good real estate security, the principal sum to remjiin intact, 
and the interest only to be used for the purposeaof the society, $1,203.49. 
Total, $1,391.50. 

officees of association. 

President. — Joseph Fornance, Esq., Norristown. 

Vice Pi-esidetits.— Hon. Isaac F. Yost, New Hanover; "Wharton Bar- 
ker, Jenkintown ; Philip Super, Pennsburg; Warner Roberts, Lower 
Merion; Boboit Iredell, Norristown; Dr. Hiram Corson, Conshohocken; 
Abraham H.Cassel, Harleysville ; Rev. J. H. A. Eomberger, D. D., Col- 
legeville; Georga Lower, Springfield; Daniel Foulke, Gwynedd. 

Recording Secretary. — F. G. Hobson, Esq., Norristown. 

Corresponding Secretary. — MuscoeM. Gibson, Esq., Norristown. 

Financial Secretary.— 3. A. Strassburger, Esq., Norristown. 
*" Treasurer. — Lewis Styer, Norristown. 



COMMITTEBS. 

Executive.— F. G. Hobson, Esq., Norristown, Chairman; Col.Theo.W. 
Bean, Norristown ; J. Roberts Rambo, Norristown ; John W. Bickel. 
Esq., Norristown ; Joseph Lees, Esq., Bridgeport ; William J. Buck, Jen- 
kintown ; G.Dallas Bolton. Norristown; Col. John W. Scball, Norris- 
town; Henjy W. Kratz. Upper Providence; J. A. Strassburger, Esq., 
Norristown; Samuel F. Jarrett. Norriton. 

.^w/i<7uarmu.— William J. Buck, Jenkintown, Chairman; Hon. Jones 
Detwiler, Whitpain; Henry S. Dotterer, Philadelphia; Philip Super, 
Upper Hanover; Thomas G. Rutter. Pottsgrove : George F. Price W'an- 
ger, Norristown ; Abraham H. Cassel, Lower Salford; Mrs. Dr. George 
W. Holstein. Bridgeport ; Sirs. Sarah H. Tyson, Upper Merion ; Mrs. G. 
R. Fox, Norristown, Mrs. William W. Owen, Norristown; Mrs. Joseph 
Fornance, Norristown. 

fiHtiHCC— David H. Ross, Esq., Conshohocken, Chairman ; J. A. Strass- 
burger, Esq., Norristown. Secretary and Treasurer; Albert Bromer, 
West Perkiomen ; Col. Theo. AV. Bean, Norristown ; George W. Rogers, 
Ea*!., Norristown. 

Literary Exercises —Hon. George N. Corson, Norristown, Chairman ; 
JacobV.Gotwalts.Esq. Norristown; William L. Williamson, Pottstown ; 
Hon. Wdliam H. Sutton, Lower Merion ; Dr. William T. Robinson, Hat- 
boro'. 

Memorial.— Kon. Jones Dotwiler, Whitpain, Chairman ; Dr. Hiram 
Corson, Plymouth ; John Hoffman, Norriton ; Hon. Hiiam C. Hoover, 
Norriton ; Samuel F. Jarrett, Norriton ; Samuel Rittenonse, Norriton. 

Bui7d/«7.— Samuel F. Jarrett, Norriton, Chairman ; Justice P. Leaver, 
Norristown ; G. Dalla'* Bolton, Norristown ; Joseph Fitzwater, Upper 
Providence. 

Jl/a^K-.— Lafaye tte Ross, NoiTistown, Cliairman; Henry W. Kratz 
Upper Providence ; Dr. P. T. Eisenberg, Norristown. 

Parade.— Col. John W^ Schall, Norristown. Chairman ; Col. Thomas J. 
Stewart, Norristown ; George W. Rogers. Esq., Norristown ; John P ugh, 
Conshohocken: Papt H. N. Graffen, Pottstown; Hon. Montgomery S. 
Longaker, Pottstown ; William D. Heebner, Landsdalej Dr. ^^John S. 
Lees, Bridgeport ; Roscoe K. Moir, West Conshohocken. 

Auxiliary Committee of Philadelphia— -James B. Harvey, No. 4803 
Lancaster avenue. Chairman: Saunders Lewis, Ambler; Miss Eliza- 
beth Croasdale, School of Design for Women ; John Wanamakcr, Grand 
Depot; Ex-Governor John F. Hartranft, Collector of Port; William 
M. Singorly, editor of Record; Gen. William B. Thomas, ex-Collector of 
Port ; Hon. Horatio Gates Jones, Roxborough. 

Programme.— Col. Theo. W. Bean, Norristown, Chairman ; Joseph C. 
Jones, Conshohocken; J. Wright Apple, Esq., Norristown; F. L. Mur- 
phy, Norristown; Dr. H. H. Drake, Norristown; David H. Roherts, 
Norristown ; B. Percy Chain, Esq., Norristown. 

Invitations.— J . Roberts Rambo, Norristown, Chairman; David Schall, 
Norristown ; J. P. Hale Jenkins, Esq., Norristown ; Samuel B. Helf- 
fenstein, Norristown ; Perry L. Anderson, Lower Merion ; Lewis H. 
Davis, Pottstown; Andrew H. Baker, Jenkintown; William M. Clift, 
Esq., Norristown; J. H. White, Norristown; John Wright Apple, Esq., 
Norristown ; John Burnett, Norristown ; C. H. Brooke, Conshohocken ; 
Dr. J. E. Bauman, Franconia; William Young, New Hanover; Dr. 
Charles Z. Weber, Norristown ; Col. Theo. W. Bean, Norristown. 

Decoration. — Mrs. Mary L. Koplin, Norristown, Chairman ; Miss Bella 
Shaw, Norristown; Mrs. Henry II. Bruwn, Norristown; Miss Mary 
Harry, Norristown ; Irwin H. Biendlinger, Norristown; Morgan 
Wright, Norristown; John Overholtzer, Norristown. 

Reception. — J. Wright Apple, Esq., Norristown, Chairman; Aaron S. 
Swartz, Esq., Norristown ; John W. Bickel, Esq., Norristown; Irving 
P. Wauger, Esq , Norristown. 

THE general committee. 

No>-rif>tewn, First Ward, E. P. Gresh ; Second Ward, John W. Bickel ; 
Third Ward, J. P. Hale Jenkins ; Fourth Ward, Alan W. Corson; Fifth 
Ward, Walter H. Cooke; Sixth Ward, Jacob Land. Pottstown, Second 
Ward, A. K. Shaner ; West Ward, Miller D- Evans ; East Ward ; Third 
Ward, Henry G. Kulp. Bridgeport, Dr. Geo. W. Holstein. Consho- 
hocken, Fiist Ward, William McDcrmott; Second Ward, David H.Ross, 
William H. Cresson. West Conshohocken, Frank H. Conrad. North 
Wales, Prof. S. U. Brunner. Hatboro', Oliver W. Cope. East Greenville, 
Rev. C. Z. Weiser, D D. Jenkintown, William J. Buck. Abington, 
Thomas L. Noble. Cheltenham, East, Mrs. Anna L. Croasdale; West, 
Thomas Williams. Douglass, West, John F. Geyer ; East, Charles 
Keller. Frederick, George W. Steiner. Franconia, Dr. J. E. Bauman. 
Gwynedd, Upper, Algernon S. Jenkins: Lower, Thomas S. Gillen. Greea 
Lane, Jacob Allebach. Hatfield, Isaac B. Kosenberger. Horsham, John 
Walton. Limerick, R. Brooke Evans. Lower Salford. Lower Piovi- 



HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



dence, D. Morgan Casselberry. Lower Marion, Upper District, Dr. Her- 
bert A, Arnold; Lower District; Ardiaore District, Dr. Joseph Ander- 
son ; East District, Perry L. Anderson; West Dietrict, Rowland Evans. 
Lansdale, A. K. Thomas. Marlborough, William E. Corson. Moreland, 
Upper, Edwin S. Ritchie ; Lower, J. J Morrison. Montgomery, C. Todd 
Jenkins. Xorriton, Samuel F. Jarrett. New Hanover. Hon. Isaac F. 
Yost. PottPgrove, Upper, Thomas G. Rutter; Lower, William Gilbert, 
Plymouth, Mrg, Caleb R. HalloweH. Perkioraen, East, Dr. Samunl 
Wolfe; West, Albert Broraer. Springfield, Daniel Yeakle. Roye'sford 
William S. Essick. Upper HanoTer, Philip Super. Towamencin, C. J, 
Boorse. Upper Salf >rd, West, Solomon K. Grimley ; East. Upper Dub- 
lin, Lewis S. Whitcomb. Upper Providence, Upper, Prof. J. S. Wein- 
berger ; Lower, Joseph Fitzwater. Upper Merion, Upper, I. Heston 
Todd ; Lower, Mrs. Sarah Tyson. Worcester, B. Frank Tyson. Whit- 
pain, Mrs Jacob R. Rex. Whitemarah, East, Dr. Milton Newberry; 
West, Levi Streeper. 



ASSISTANTS TO TOWNSHIP COMMITTEEMEN. 

Norristown, First Ward, Mrs. Joseph Fornance, Mrs. J. A. Sti-aaa- 
biirger. Norristown, Second Ward, G. W, Eugene Hallman. Solomon 
Long, Henry H. Hallman, G. Dallas Bolton, George W. Hall, Mrs. 
George W. Rogers, Sirs. Charles H. Stinson, Mrs. Charles W. Holmes, 
Mrs. F. D. Sower, Miss Maggie S. Pomeroy, Miss Mary Thomas. Nor- 
ristown, Third Ward, Jesse B. Davis, Franklin T. Beerer, John C. 
Weber, Granville A. Bright, Silas Kingkiner, Mrs. George B. Conrow, 
Mies Annie 51. Hurst. Miss Ellen B. Bedfll, Miss Eva Lentz. Miss Mag- 
gie Tripler, Miss Annie Paiste, Miss Maggie Slemmer. Norristown, 
Fimrth Ward, Mrs. R. P. Garsed, Mrs. William W. Owen, Miss Anna 
L. Ralston, MissSallie M. Raniey, Miss Emuia E. Camni, Miss Lillian 
Childs, Miss Dora Gerhart. Norrihtown, Fifth Ward, Mrs. William L. 
Cresson, Miss Sallie Landis, Miss Flossie Loch, 3Iiss Linda Loch, Miss 
Carrie C. Cresson. Norristown, Sixth Ward, Mrs. George N. Corson, 
Mrs. R. T. Stewart, Mrs. William Acker, Miss Blackfau, Miss Emma 
Blackfan, Miss Annie Lenzi. Pottstown, Second Ward, Miss Mary 
Sampson. Pottstown, West Ward, Mrs. H. F. Manger. Bridgeport, 
Mrs. Rebecca Mclnnes, Mrs. Dr. George W. Holstein, Miss Jennie Mc- 
Innes. Conshohocken First Ward, Miss Anna Harry. Conshohocken, 
Second Ward, Mrs. Jawood Lukcns. West Conshohocken. Mrs. Brin- 
ton J. Parke. North Wales. E. M. Mathieu, Miss Lydia A. Cnster, Miss 
Tillie Beaver, Miss Emma Slotterer. Hatboro. H. Morrow, Susan C. 
Shoemaker, Gertrude Ivans. Jenkintown, Andrew J. Baker, J. W. 
Ridpath, C'liarles Mather, George M. Kohl, Dr. John Paxson, Annie 
Griscoin, Mary Thompson, Mary E. Dern. Sallie Elliott. Abington L. 
W. Eckard, H. Warner Hallowell, William Blake, Hutchinson Smith, 
Emma S. Cottman, Anna Hallowell, Anna Noble. Clieltenham, East 
and West, Robert Shoemaker, John Wauauiaker, Joseph Rosier, Lyn- 



ford Rowland, Howard Ervien, John Emory, Dr. Cooper, Anna L. Croaa, 
dale, Martha Mather, Mary L. Thompson, Letty Atkinson, Maggie 
Jones. Jane Thompson, Mary Haines, Annie Hoacock. Douglass, Eaat- 
Miss Kate Lafaver. Frederick. Mrs. Louisa M. Knipe, Mrs. H. A. Hoff- 
man. Gwynedd, Lower, Mrs. Johu R. Morris. Hattield, Miss Ella 
B/gony. Horsham, Jonathan R. Lukens, Jonathan P. Iredell, D. W. 
Sill. Charles S. Mann James A. Cozens, C. S. Rorer, Witliam Ambler, 
Joseph B. Stemple, Wrlliam L. Jarrett, Mrs. A. L. Philips, Mrs. Caro- 
line Lefevre, Hannah W. Lukens. Lower Salford John B. Bergey, 
Miss Hannah R. Cassel. Lower Providence, Aaron Weikel. Walter S. 
Jennings, Esq., Miss Martha Hallman, Lower Merion, Upper, Mrs. 
V. A'^irginia Crawford, 3Irs. J. H. Yocum, Miss Elizabeth Crawford. 
Miss Emily Ashbridge, Miss Kate Supplee, Miss Ziegler. Lower Merion, 
Lower, Mrs. Abrm. Walker. Lower Merion, East. Miss Corona Ander- 
son. Lower Merion, West, Miss M. D. Harvey. Lansddale, William D. 
Heebner, A. C. Godshall, John Hergesheimer, Mrs. A. G. Freed, Mrs. 
Isaac D. Heebner, Mrs. John S. Jenkins, Miss 3Iamie Boorse. Moreland, 
Upper, Susan C. Shoemaker. Moreland, Lower, Mary Ann Hallowell, 
New Hanover, Mrs. W. H.Young. Norriton, Hiram C. Hoover, Daniel 
C. Getty. George H. Anders, Dr. W. H. Reed, Alex. S. Davis, Mrs. D. C. 
Getty. Pottsgrove, Upper, Mrs. William H. Thomas. Plymoutli, George 
Wolf, Dr. Osear Leedom, Mrs. Austina Wolf, Emma Styer, Anna Y. 
Hallowell. Perkiomen, East. Mrs. E. C. Swartley. Perkiomen, West. 
John G. Prizer. Irwin S. Schwenk, Mrs. Maggie E. Swank, Mrs. Ella K. 
Hunsicker. Royersford. Miss Alice Latshaw. Springfield, Mrs. M. D. 
Rex. Towamencin, Mrs. Humphrey W. Edwards, Mrs. George Anders, 
Miss Ella R. Boorse, Miss Mary Ann Hunsicker. Mies Emma Krieble. 
Upper Hanover, Mrs. J. B. Hillegass, Mrs. Dr. Charles J. Waage, Mrs. 
Levi F. Kepler, Miss Katie Dotts. Upper Salford, West, M'illiam C. 
Pennypacker. Mrs. William C. Peunypacker, Mrs. Kate Cook, Miss-. 
Olivia K. Grimley. Upper Dublin, Mrs, Anna M. Shoemaker, Annie 
Keisel, Hannah E. Williams, Emma Roberts, Ida M. Hobensack. Upper 
Providence, Upper Mrs. J. Warren Royer, Mrs. E. K. Weinberger, Mrs. 
M. P. Anderson, Mrs. M. B Dull. Mrs. E. Ashenfelter, Miss Alice Hun- 
sicker, Miss Mary M. Hobson, Miss Bertha Kooken, Sliss Flora Custer, 
Miss Lena M. Shuler, Miss Annie M. Naillo. Upper Providence, Lower, 
J. Schrack Shearer, John A. VandersHce, Mrs. John A. Vanderslice, 
Miss Ada Fitzwater, Miss Alice W. Shearer. Upper Merion, Upper. 
Mrs. William Lee. Upper Merion, Lower, Mrs. Abraham Walker. Mrs. 
Edward B. Conrad, Mrs. William H. Ramsey, Miss Sophia DeHaven, 
Miss Sallie F. Tyson. Worcester Mrs. Charles Gotwalts, Mrs James 
Cassel, Miss Archianna Printz.Miss Emma Burke, Miss Alice Hendricks 
Miss Maggie Gotwals, Whitpain, Rev. D. Levin Coleman, Hon. Jones 
Detwiler, Benjamin P. Wertsner, Freaa Styer, Mrs. Amos Walton, Mrs. 
John P. Beck, Miss Elvie Detwiler, Miss Hannah Styer, Miss Mary S. 
Kex. Whitemarsh, East, Miss Anna Yeakle. Whitemarsh, West, Mrs. 
Samuel Streeper. 



INDEX. 



A. 

Aaron, Charles E., 405 (note). 

Aaron, Rev. Samuel, 403-405, 459, 1193. 

Abington township ; situation and dimensions, 
678 ; Btatistics, 678 ; name, 678 ; early land- 
holders, C7S-680 ; roads, 680 ; mills, 680 ; 
churches, 681 ; village of Abington, 681 > 
taverns in, 34G, 681 ; Weldon village, 681 ' 
Revolutionary skirmish at, 681, 088 ; Abing- 
ton and Cheltenham Anti-Tramp Associa- 
tion, 681 ; Wharton Railroad Switch Company, 
681 ; SatterthWaite stock farm, 682 ; the old 
Oxford Meeting, 682-684; Abington Meeting- 
house, 684-ti86 ; Presbyterian Church, 68i>- 
687 ; Edge HiU, 687 ; Hallowell family, 688 ; 
assessment of 1780, 690 ; biographical 
sketches, 690-706. 

Abington village, 681. 

Abolitionists, 304, 305. 

Aborigines, 33 (see Indians). 

Academyvillo, 926. 

A.jker, Hon. E. 1., 400, 402. 

.\oker, E. 0. C, 310. 

Act for erection of Montgomery County, 1. 
.•-AcufTstavorn, 854. 

Adama, B. Brooke, 4S3. 

Addis, Thomas, 836. 

AgenoriaMills, the, 584. ' 

Agriculture, 3 ; of Swedes, 73 ; early imple- 
menta of, 105 ; use of lime, 109 ; 439-447 ; 
statistics of, 440-441. 

Agricultural implement works : Keystone, 603 ; 
Heebner & Sons', 'eiQ ; A. D. Ruth, agent, 
621; Harper's, 629^ Singerly's, 750. 

Albertsou, J. M., 477. * 

Albertaon, J. M. & Sons, 577. 

Albion Print-Works, 597. 

Alderfer family, 948. 

Alderfer, AbraUam D., 486. 

Alderfer, Benjamin S., 486. 

Alderftr, George D., 486. 

Alderfer, Michael, 486. , 

Allabough, Joseph L., 547. Y j 

Allebaugh, Capt. William, 214. ' 

Almshouse, 107. 

Althouse, J. F., 60S. 

Ambler, David J., 484, 1101-1102. 

Ambler family, 1101-1102. 

Ambler, Joseph, 900. 

Ambler village, 1095. 

American Protestant Asaociation, 495-^96. 

American Legion of Honor, 497. 

Ames, Charles, liXt2. 

Amityville, 1024. 

Ancient Order of Good-Fellows, 495. 

Ancient Order of United Workmen, 497. 

Ancient Order Knights of the Mystic Chain, 
496. 

Anderson, Lieut. -Col. George C, 226. 

Anderson^ Dj:. Isaac W., 518. 

Anderson. I>r. Jones, 512. 

Anderson, Col. James Q., 268. 

Anderson, '. Joseph W., 518. 

Anderson, ^ -. J. Bush, 518. 
■rs, Andrew, 486. 



Anders, Joseph, Jr., 622. 

Anders, J. M., 35L). 

Anders, Samuel, 478. 

Antes burial-place, the, 841. 

Antes family, 84!)-850. 

Antes, Col. Philip Frederick, 851, 

Antes, John, 853. 

Antes, Henry, 836, 846-885, 993. 

Anvil Furnace, the, 568, 603. 

Apple, John I)., 513, 959. 

Apple, J. Wright, 516, 556. 

Areola village, 1058. 

Ardmore, 925. 

Areb?, Leonard, 1048. 

Armstrong, Lieut.-Col. W. H., 243. 

Army (U. S.), officers of, 313-316, 

Ashbridge, Joshua, 94'J. 

Ashbourne village, 803. 

Ashland Paper-Mills, 612. 

Asphalt Block Compauy, 611. 

Assheton, Robert, 531-532. 

Associations ; building and loan, 487 ; chari- 
table and benevolent, 4S8— 197 ; Abington and 
Cheltenham Anti-Tramp, 681. 

Assembly, Provincial, the first held at Upland, 
101; how composed, 144 ; conference of with 
Governor, 144 ; extra session, to form new 
frame of government in 1700, 145 ; urges 
taxation of proprietary estates, 148 ; in. 
creased powers of, 149. 

Atkinson, Thomas, 484. 

Atkinson, Wilmer, 350. 

Attorney's list of Montgomery County, 1885, 
560, 561. 

Auchenbach, Capt. William, 235. 

Auditors, county, 323. 

Audubon, John James, 350, 1054. 

Auge, Moses, 350, 459, 466, 775. 

Augusta, John, 305, 306. 

Authors of Montgomery County, 348, 362 (see 
Bibliography and Poetry, also individual 
names.) 



Baker, Andrew II., 483-484. 

Baker, Frank H., 559. 

Baker, Arnold, 512. 

Bakewell, Williaui, 1054, 1056. 

Balligo Mills, the GOl. 

Ball, S. Carey, 486. 

Baltz, George K., 613. 

Biilligomingo, 800. 

Baldwin, Rev. Noruiau B., 965. 

Baltz, Joseph M., 613. 

Banks, Enoch A., 547. 

Banks and Banking, 470-487 ; iirst es- 
tablished, 470; free, 471; United States, 
471^72; State, 472; National, 472; Mont- 
gomery National, 473; Slontgomery County, 
473-475; J. M. Albertaon & Sons, 477; 
First National, of Norristown, 478; People's 
National, of Norristown, 479 ; Bank of 
Pottstown, 479 ; J. W. Casselberry & Co.,481 ; 
First National, of Conshohocken, 481 ; Trade- 
men's National, of Conshohocken, 483 ; 



Jenkintown National, 483, 734; First Na- 
tional, of Ambler, 484; First National, of 
Lansdale, 486 ; National, of Schwenksvilte, 
486; Hatboro' National, 486; Perkiomen 
National, 486 ; Farmers' National, of Pynns- 
burg, 486 ; Union National, of Soiideiton, 
487. 

Barr, Jacob, 452. 

Barley Sheaf Tavern, 317, 535. 

Barbadoes, Island, 425. 

Barker, AVharton, 631. 

Barker, Abraham, 631. 

Bartholorneu family, 960. 

Barker, Thomas H., 618. 

Bar of Montgomery County : list of members 
of, 1885, 543-544, 500, 561 ; early professional 
comity among members of, 562. 

BateAVilliam T., 594-595. 

Bate, (or Bates), Joseph, 960. 

Baumgard, Edward, 470. 

Bayard, Gen., George D. 199, (note) 201. 

Bayer, Andrew, 830. 

Bean, William, 442. *" 

Bean, Benjamin F., 243, 281. 

Beans, Elijah W., 350. 

Bean, Garret, 478. 

Bean, Theodore W., 263, 350, 466. 554-.^55. 

Beaver, Dr. David R., 606. 

Beavers along the Schuylkill, 119, 120. 

Bear-hunting near Hatboro', 341. 

Boers, S. N., 359. 

Bellows, Dr. Horace Martin, 609. 

Bell boundry of Thomas Dunn k Son, 624. 

Belznickel, the, 335 

Benner, Edwin M., 480-487. 

Benson, George, 308. 

Benner, Enos, 350. 

Benner, E. M , 350. 

Bench and Bar : chapter on, 528-562 : of Phila - 
delphia County, 520-534. 

Berkhimer, Allen, 866. 

Bertolet k Miller, 608. 

Bethlehem fortified by Moravians, 148. 

Bethesdft Home, 1075, 1077. 

Betts, Mrs. Sarah T., 815. 

Beversrede, Fort, 119. 

Bevens, William, 505. 

Bibliography of Montgomery County, 348-3G2. 
(see, also, poetry and names of individual' 
authors). 

Bickel, John W., 556. 

Biddle, Judge James, 535, 537 (note). 

Binder, W. J., 464-405. 

Binder, John, 950. 

Binder, S. B., 951, 954^956. 

Bird, Dr. Robert M., 362; lines by, 366. 

Birchall, W. B. & Sons, 632. 

Biid, Mark, cannon foundry of (1776), 666 
(note). 

Bisson, James W., 865. 

BKike, WilUam, 699. 

Blast Furnaces, 568. 

Black Knights of Malta, 495, 

Blair, Col. Wm. H., 273. 

Blue Bell Village, 1171. 

Ixxiii 



Ixxiv 



INDEX. 



Blue Mill, the, 584. 

Bodey, Joseph, 582. 

Bodoy & Wentz, 582. 

Boehui, Rev. John I'hilip, 135, 350, 11C7. 

Boilei-workfl of John Wood, Jr., 593-594; The 
Montgomery, 594 ; Meehauics', of Setter & 
Brothers, 608, 785. 

Boileau, Nathaniel B., 108, IIC, 183, 188-191, 
508-510, 513, 728. 

Boiler-works, the Penn, 578. 

Bolton's Sous, 5S1. 

Bolton, Frank H., 581. 

Boltou, Col. "Wm. J., 211 ; farewell address of 
222. 

Bolton, Capt. Joseph K., 211. 

Bolton, Cieorge D., 581. 

Bulton &, Cbristinan, 5«1. 

Buinberger, Dr. J. H. A., 350, 408-413. 

Bousall, Henry W., 54tj. 

Bone Cave of Port Kennedy, 18. 

Boorse, John C, 109U. 

Boone, J. H., 569, 574. 

Boore, H. R., 470. 

Booth, William, 619. 

Books relating to Montgomery, or written by 
its citizens, 348-3G2 (see Bibliography and 
Poetry, also individual names). 

Bouquet, Col. Henry, successful military opera- 
tions of, 150. 

Bornenian, J. H., 351. 

Boroughs of Montgomery County, organiza- 
tion of 449-451 ; statistical tabular statements 
of, 450 551. 

Boyd, W. HaiTy, 351. 

Boyd, James, 499, 549 560. 

Beyer, John, 473. 

Boyer, Judge B. Markley, 542. 

Boyer, Henry C, 558. 

Bosler, Charles, 634, 635, 636, 805. 

Braddock, Gen., defeat of, 148. 

Branin, George, S13. 

Bradfield, Abner, 704. 

Biuy, Daniel, M.D., 632. 

Breitenbach, Capt. J. R., 240, 547. 

Breton, William L., 351. 

Breweries i A. B. Cox's, 588 ; C. & A. Scheldt's, 
589. 

Bringhurst, Wright, 410. 

Bringhurst, Wright A., 10C5. 

Brightly, Lieut. Col. Charles H., 315. 

Brick-wurks: Jacob Andrew^', 593; William 
Constantine's, 623. 

Bridge-works : Coffrude & Saylor's, 008. 

Bridges, 109, 114; early, 456 ; De Kalb Street, 
Norrietown, 708, 748 ; over Pennj-pack at 
Hatboro, 723 ; overManatawny at Pottstown, 
784; Matflon's Ford, 800; over the Perkio- 
men, in Frederick, 844 ; at Flat Rock, 920 ; 
in Providence, 1045. 

Bridgeport borough ; mention of, 116 ; descrip- 
tion, 707 ; statistics, 707 ; manufactures, 589- 
592, 707 ; schools, 707 ; Baptist Church, 707; 
Old School Presbyterian Cburcli, 708 ; I)e- 
Kalb Street bridge, 708 ; Reading Railroad, 

709 ; postoffice, 709 ; Swedes. Ford, 709 ; Mats 
Holstein, 709 ; tavern at Swedes' Ford, 709 ; 
incidents of Revolution at Swedes' Ford, 

710 ; incorporation of borough, 712 ; officers 
of, 712 ; biographical sketch, 713. 

Brooke, Capt. Jacob, 219. 

Brooke, Col. John R, 220. 

Brooke, Matthew, 916. 

Brooke, John, 017. 

Brooke, William, 1043. 

Broadt (Broades), TklichacI, 759. 

Brown, John, execution of, for burglHry, 758. 



Brown, Henry R., 554. 
Brown, J. fllorton & Co., 584. 
Brown, David Paul, 443 (note), 532. 
Brownback, Harry M., 559. 
Brotherhood of the Union, 495. 
Brnnner, Henry U., 554. 
Brunner, Prof. S. U., 421-422, 423. 
Bruner, William, 873. 
Bryn Mawr, 924. 
Buckwalter A: Co., G2G. 
Buckman, Thomas, 702. 
Buckart, Abraham, 5-8. 
Buck, Wm. J., 351. 
Building Stone, 20-22. 

Building and Loan Associations (see Associa- 
tions). 
Bull, Maj. S. Octavius, 226, 227. 
Hull, Col. John, 75G, 1005. 1048. 
Bullock's mill, 584. 
Bullock, George & Co., 584. 
Bullock, George, 481, Ool,G02, 801. 
Burnside, Francis C, 512. 
Burnett, Lieut. George R.. 316. 
Burk family, 1093. 
Burnside, Judge Thonia£, 539. 
Burns, John and Sue, 310. 
Bush, Miss Belle, 351. 
Bush, George W., 553. 

c. 

Cabot, John, .50 (note). 

Cabot, Sebastian, 50 (note). 

Calwell, Stephen, 595. 

Caldwell, Stephen & Co., 599. 

Camp meetings, 378, 379. 

Canals along the Schuylkill, 123-128, 333-334. 

Canoes, log, great size of, 121. 

Cannon, wrought-iron, 163 (note), 

Carriage works ; M. M. Godshalk's, 581 ; Ku- 
der & Jackson's, 581 ; Sylvester Bright's, 624. 

Carpenter, Hannah, 879. 

Carpenter, Samuel, 393, 874, 881. 

Car works, Conshohocken, 593-94. 

Casciiden, Robert, 576-57. 

Cnssell, Abraham, 352. 

Ca»sell, Yellis, 1086. 

Casselberj', John W., 481. 

Cemeteries (see names of churchps to which 
attached, or references under borough and 
township headings). 

Centre Square, village, 1170. 

Chftdwick, Robert, 615-^16. 

Charles 11., King, charter for Pennsylvania, 
88-91. 

Charter of province of Pennsylvania, 88-91, 
140, 147. 

Chase, Thomas, LL.D., 417-418. 

Chase, Pliny Earle, LL.D., 417. 

Chase, Wm. H., lieutenant of engineers, 316. 

Chambers, James S., 498. 

Chain, B. Percy, 560. 

Chain, Benjamin E., 478-550. 

Chapman, Judge Henry, 541. 

Chemical works : Wissahickon, 031 ; Rock- 
hill, 613. 

Cheltenham township, manufacturing indus- 
tries of, G31-636. 

Cheltenham Roller-Mills, 634. _^- 

Cheltenham village, 804. 

Cheltenham township : general description, 

802 ; geology, 802 ; statistics, 802 ; Ashbourne, 

803 ; Presbyterian Church, 803 ; manufac- 
tures, 804 ; Cheltenham village, 804 ; Shoe- 
makertown, 804; Edge Hill village, 805; 
name, 805 ; finst land ownei"s, 805 ; sketches 
of eariy eettlere, 80)i-808 ; residents in 1734, 



807; St. Paul's Episcopal Church, SO** ; as- 
sessment of 1776, 809 ; biographical sketches, 
809-825. 

Chew, Benjamin, 532. 

Childs, Lewis M., 557. 

Chism, Isaac, 559. 

"Christkindlein," the, 335. 

Christmas, old-time celebmtion of, 335-336. 

Christman, Daniel, 837. 

Christina, Queen of Sweden, 58. 

Churches : Swedish, succession of miniBtere of, 
77 ; in Upper Blerion, 1127 ; church buildings 
of colonial period, 104; Welsh in Gwynedd, 
140; known to have beeu built or rebuilt 
since 1830,113; Trinity Christian at Free- 
land, 1062 ; Burr's Meeting-House in Nor- 
ritonville, 1004. 

Baptist : progress of incounty, 372 ; 
at Bridgeport, 707 ; at Norrietown, 392, 
751 ; at North Wales, 392 ; first in Con- 
shohocken, 716 ; in Hatboro', 724 ; at Jen- 
kintown, 734; at Lansdale, 742; at North 
Wales, 779 ; in Pottstown, 787; at Royer's 
Ford, 798 ; in Lower Merion, 928 ; in Mont- 
gomery, 902, 963 ; in Lower Providence, 1053; 
in Whitemai^, 1146; in Whitpaiu, 1169- 
1170. 

Catholic (Roman) : characteristics of, 373 ; 
St. Matthew's, at Consluibocken, 715 ; 
at Jenkintown, 734; at Lansdale, 742; St. 
Patrick's at Norristown, 752 ; St. Aloysius in 
Pottstown, 787. 

Christian : Trinity at Collegeville, 392. 
Dunker (or German Baptist) : principlee 
of, 309 ; at Skippack (Detwiler's Meet- 
ing-House), 392 ; at Norristown, 752 ; in 
Lower Salford, 952 ; in PerUiomen, 1023 ; in 
Towamencin, 1089 ; in Upper Dublin, 1095 ; in 
Upper Providence, 1003 ; In Worcester, 11S9 ; 
Episcopal : beginning of in Montgomery 
County, 370 ; St. James', in Lower Provi- 
dence, 390 ; St. John'i, Norristown, 390, 750 ; 
Calvary Protestant, Conshohocken, 390 ; St. 
Peter's at Weldon, 681 ; Calvary at Consho- 
cken, 715; Church of our Saviour, at Jenkin- 
town, 734; at Lansdale, 74.3; in Pottstown, 787; 
St. Paul's, in Cheltenham, 8n8 ; in Gwynedd, 
854 ; in Lower Merion (Church of the Re- 
deemer), 928 ; St. Paul's Memorial, in Upper 
Providence, 1002 ; St. James', of Perkiomen, 
in Lower Providence, 1051 ; St. Thomas', iu 
Whitemarsh, 1148-1150. 

Evangelical Association, or German 
Methodist : review of, 374 ; at Norristown, 

389 ; at, Plymouth, 390 ; Trappe Circuit, 

390 ; Montgonicry Circuit, 390; Lansdale and 
Hattield, 390 ; at Pottstown, 390-392 ; at 
liansdale, 392 ; at Hatfield, 392 ; at East 
Greenville, 720 ; at Lansdale, 742 ; at Norris- 
town, 752; Salem, at Pottstown, 787; in 
Hatfield, 870. 

Evangelical German Methodists : in 
Worcester, 1190. 

Evangelical Lutheran : St. Paul's, at 
PennsbiU'g, 390; Hubcr's, New Hanover, 
390 ; of the Transfiguration, Pottstown, 
390 ; St. Peter's, North Wales, 390, 777. 
} Friends : at Abington, 392, 684 ; old Oxford 
. Meeting, 082 ; at Norristown, 752 ; in Gwy- 
/ nedd, S59-.S01 ; in Horsham, 879 ; in Lower 
Merion, V28 ; iu Upper Dublin, 1094; Ply- 
mouth, 1032 ; in Upper Providence, lOGl. 

" HerritcB : " in Lower Salford, 949; in 
Perkiomen, 1026. 

Lutheran :S<vamp, 134; planting of in I^Iont- 
gomery bounty, 370 ; Emanuel, in Potts- 



INDEX. 



Ixxv 



town, 390 ; at Whitemareh and Upper Dub- 
lin, 390; Trinity, at Norristown, 752; St. 
Piuirs in Norristown, 752 ; in Pottstown, 792- 
703 ; in Douglas, 826 ; Indian Field, or Zion, 
in Franconia, 828 ; in Frederick, 839-840 ; in 
Gwynedd, 8G1-8G2 ; in Limerick, 917-919 ; 
St. PauFe, in Lower Merion, 933; in Marl- 
borough, 958 ; iu New Hanover, 993 ; in 
Perkiomen, 1O20 ; Augustus, at the Trappe, 
1058 ; in Towaniencin, 10S9 ; in Upper Dub- 
lin, 109G ; New Goshenhoppen, 1113-1115 ; 
in Pennsburg, 1115 ; Old Goshenhoppen, in 
Upper Salfuid, 1134r-ll3G ; St. Peter's, in 
Whitenmrsh, 1150-1152 ; St. John's, iu Whit- 
pain, 1168. 

Mennonite : at Schwenksville (Gottshall's 
aieeting-House), 392 ; Lower, at East Perki- 
omen, 392 ; in Franconia, 829 ; in Frederick, 
839 ; in Hatfield, 870 ; in Lower Salford, 951 ; 
in Perkiomen, 1026; in Upper Providence, 
lOGl ; in Towaniencin, 1088 ; Methacton, in 
Worcester, 1190. 

Mennonite, New : in Hatfield, 870. 

Methodist *piscopaI : general statement 
concerning, 372 ; iu Montgomery County, 
382 ; Bethel, 382, 391 ; Union Church, 382 ; 
First, in Norristown, 382, 391, 751 ; Chelten- 
ham, 383 ; Harmer Hill, 383, 805 ; in Hatboro', 
384 ; Fair View, 384 ; in Pottstown, 384, 787 ; 
the Lower Merion, 385 ; ttie Evansburg, 385- 
1054; the Montgomery Square, 385,391; the 
Conshohocken, 38G, 715 ; Oak Street, Norris- 
town, 387, 391, 751 ; the Kulpsville, 387 ; the 
Jarrettown, 387 ; the Jenkintown, 388, 724 ; 
the Lansdale, 388, 742 ; Haws Avenue, Nor- 
ristown, 388, 752 ; St. Luke's, Bryn Wawr, 
389, 391, 925 ; the Royer'e Ford, 389, 798 ; the 
North Wales, 389, "Sgi, 779. 

Colox'ed : in Norristown, Pottstown and 
Conshuhorkon, 390, 71G, 752 ; at North 
Wales, 391; in Hatboro', 724; in WTiitpain, 
1109 ; in Whitemareh, 1188. 

Moravian : in Fre^lerick township, 839. 

Presbyterian : general remarks upon, 370 ; 
First, at Norristown, 391,751; Central, at 
Norristown, 391,752 ; Centennial at Jefferson- 
villo, 391 ; atAbington, G8G; Second (Old 
School) Church of Norristown, at Bridgeport, 
708 ; at Conshohocken, 715 ; Grace, at Jenk- 
intown, 734 ; First at Pottstown, 787 ; at Ash- 
bourne, 803 ; in Huntingdon Valley, 974 ; in 
Norriton, 104 (note) 999, 1000, 1003 ; at Flour- 
town, 1074 ; in Lower Providence, 1053. 

Reformed : "Boehni" Church, in Whitpain, 
135 ; general view of, 371 ; New Gosbenhop- 
pen, 391 ; Trinity, at Pottstown, 391 ; 
Zion's, at Pottstown, 391 ; PleasantviUe, 
391 ; St. Luke's, Trappe, 391 ; at Lansdale, 
742 ; of the Ascension, at Norristown, 752 ; 
Trinity, at Norristown, 752 ; at North Wales, 
770 ; in Pottstown, 791-792 ; in Douglas, 826 ; 
in Franconia, 829; in Frederick, 838-840 ; in 
Gwynedd, 861-862 ; in Limerick, 917-919 ; 
Reiff's, in Lower Salford, 952 ; in Marl- 
borough, 95S ; in New Hanover, 994 ; in Per- 
kiomen, 102G ; St. Luke's, at tbe Trappe, 
1060; in Towamenciu, 1089; of New Gosh- 
enhoppen, 1108 ; in Pennsburg, 1115 ; Old 
Goshenhoppen, in Upper Salford, 1134-1136; 
iu Whitpain, 11G5-1168 ; in Worcester, 1185 ; 

River Brethren, in Frederick, 840. 

Schwenkfelders: general remarks on, 369 ; 
in Lower Salford, 951 ; in Towamencin, 1089 ; 
in Worcester, 1189-1190. 

Circuit districts embracing Montgomery 
County, 537. 



Civil officials of Montgomery County, 318- 
323. 
Clay, Rev. J. C, 1128, 

Clay, Jehu Curtis, 352. 

Clay, , 24, 

Cleaver family, 1093. 

Cleaver, Silas, 1155. 

Cleaver, John, 1156. 

Clemeuta family, 948. 

Clements, Garret, 857. 

Clemens, Jacob R., 486. 

Clerks of courts, 320. 

Clift, William M., 559. 

Coach factory : Slutler'8, 631 ; Cheltenham, 631 ; 
The Norris, 581 ; the Penn, 581. 

Coal dealers, early in, 7G5. 

Coal, 17 ; indicated near Pottstown on Scull's 
map, 127. 

Coates, James, 489. 

CotTrode & Saylor, bridge-builders, 608. 

Colebrookdale Furnace, 564-566. 

Coleman, Capt. Robert, 808. 

Cohnar village, 869. 

Collins, Charles, 352. 

Colhnu, William, 352. 

Collegeville, 1058.- 

Colonies, American, taxation of by British, 
150, 151, 157. 

Columbia, borough of, 305. 

Commissioners, county, 322 ; jury, 323. 

Conshohocken borough : inception of, 115 ; 
growth, IIG; situation, 713 ; sttitistics of, 713; 
fiist rolling-mill in 714 ; general manufactur- 
ing, 593-6112, 714; schools, 714; churches, 
715-716; officials, 716; Indian origin of 
name, 717 ; Revolutionary incidents, 717 ; 
biographical, 717-719. 

Conshohocken Tube Company, 569-597. 

Conshohocken Iron-Works, 568. 

Conshohocken Warp-Mills, 597. 

Conshohocken Car- Works, 593-694. 

Conard, Dennis, 1093. 

Conard, Joseph P., 1181. 

Conrad, Frederick, 505. 

Conderts, Tunis, 877. 

Congress, members of, 318. 

Coulston, James M., 1159. 

Cooke, Jay, 808. 

Cooke, Walter H., 478. 

Copper, 9-12. 
[/Corson, Alan W., 424, 512. 

Corson, Allan, 305. 

Corsson, Arent, 119. 

Corson family, 1033. 

Corson, Elias H., 481, 1152. 

Corson, Dr. Elwood, 665. 

Corson, John J., 479. 

Corson, George N., 352, 466, 552. 

Corson, Dr. E. M., 425. 

Corson, Dr. Hiram, 352, 643. 

Corson, Dr. William, 305, 645. 

Corliss Iron Works, 5G8. 

Coroners, 323. 

Cotton manufacture, 570, 571-572. 

Cotton-mills: first in U. S., 580 (Note); Simp- 
son's, 58-1, 750 ; De Kalb Street, 582 ; Ford 
Street, 582 ; Farnum's, 686 ; Gardner and 
Harrison's, 586 ; Conshohocken, 597 ; Horace 
C. Jones, 597 ; Matsunk, 612 ; Old Dave, 023 ; 
Merion, 615 ; Glencairn, 618 ; at Conshocken, 
714. 

Carpet-factories ; Hall's, West Conshohocken, 
603-605. 

Council of Nine, 91. 

Council of Safety, 158. 

Council, Provincial. (See Provincial Council.) 



County officers, 318-323. 

Counties, provincial, 158. 

"Country Squire," the, 324. 

County (Teachers') Institutes, 400-401. 

Court-houses : old, 108; present, 112. 

Courts : first for jury trials held at Upland, 92 ; 
origin of Orphans' court, 99 ; first in Mont- 
gomery County, 317 ; minutes of, 317 (note) ; 
Quarter Sessions established, 448 ; flrstjustices 
of, in Montgomery County, 528 ; Common 
Pleas, establishment of in Pennsylvania, 529, 
535 ; appointment of judges of, 537 ; High, of 
Erroi-6 and Appeals, 52!), 633; County, orga 
nized, 529; Provincial, 529 ; Quarter Sessions 
organized, 529, 535 ; Orphans' organized, 529, 
535; Admirality organized, 529; United 
States District, 530 ; of Equity, 530 ; firat in 
Norriton township, 535 ; of Oyer and Termi- 
ner, 535 ; Swedish in, 1042, 528; "Settling 
the Docket," 561 ; rules of, 562 ; an important 
water case in, 562. 

Coxe, Judge John D., 535, 537 (note). 

Cox & Dager's paper-mill, 590, 591. 

Coventry Forge, the, 565. 

Creameries, Schuylkill Valley, 593, 

Crawford, John Yocum, 481, 936. 

Crosson, William Henry, 483. 

Cresson, James & Co., 582. 

Crooked Hill hamlet, 1042. 

Cniikshank, Rev. Robert, 402. 

Currie, Rev. William, 1052. 

Curry, Lieut.-Col., William L., 240. 

Curtin, Gov. Andrew G., 514. 

Custer, Anthony V., 1070. 

Custer, David, 1190. 

Custer, Jacob G., 1055, lOBO. 

D. 

Dallas, Alexander J., 533. 

Dames of the Knights of Pythias, 497. 

Danehower, Abraham, 857. 

Danehower, William F., 59. 

Darlington, Henry T., 498. 

Darrach, Lydia, makes Washington acquainted 

with design to surprise his army, 167 (note). 
Daughters of the Forest, 497. 
Davis, Benjamin, 1031. 
Davis, John, 452. 
Davis, Jolin J., 739. 
Davis, Lewis H., 4G5. 
Davis, L. H., 352. 
Davis, P. S., 352. 
Davis, William, 481, 800-801. 
Day, A. F., 486. 
Dean, Col. William, 970 
Dederer, John Ludwig, 835. 
Deimor, Capt. John, 1047. 
Delacour, James Philip, 710. 
Delaware, Lord, 119. 
Delphi village, 831, 832. 
DeKalb Street Mills, 582, 592-593. 
Deputy attorneys-general for Montgomery 

County, list of, 543. 
Derr, Franklin, 478, 587. 
Derr, Henry A., 587. 
De Vries, David Pietersen, 55, 56. 
Dewecs, Wm. P., 352, 638. 
Dickinson, Harrison, 581. 
Dickinson, Henry B., 553. 
Dickinson, John 532. 
Dimond, Francis, 545. 
Directors of the poor, 322. 
Dismant, Dr. Benj. F., 673. 
District attorneys of Montgomery County, list 

of, 543. 
Dobson, John, 612, 613. 



Ixxvi 



INDEX. 



Dock, Christopher, 137, 352, 361 ; lines by, 362, 
9-49. 

Dodd, Dr. Robert J., IHO-642. 

Dodderer, George Philip, t<3i. 

Dorsey brothers (slaves), 311, 313. 

Dotterer, Heory S., 3i3, 825. 

Dotterer, Michael, 834. 

Dotts, Capt. Henry H.,719. 

Douglass, Fred., 311. 

Douglas township : description, 825 ; early 
ownership of land, 825 ; Gilbertsville, 826 ; 
schools, 826 ; churches, 826 ; elections, 826 ; 
tax values, 827 ; taverns, 346. 

Douglas village, 826, 

Dreshertown, 1096. 

Dubree, James, 973. 

Dubree, Jacob, 973. 

Duche, Rev. Jacob, 893. 

Dundore, Franklin, 483. 

Dunlop, Rev. William, 386. 

Du Portail, Chevalier Louis L., 710. 

Durland, Lieut.-Col. Coe, 268. 

Dutch, the : expeditions of, to the New World, 
60 ; West India Company of, 51 ; found fort 
Nassau, 54, 57, 63 (note) ; effect settlement at 
Horekill, 55 ; under government of Stuyve- 
sant, 66 ; lose Fort Casimir and are driven 
from New Sweden, 67 ; retaliation, 67 ; under 
Stuyvesant recapture Fort Casimir, 68 ; com- 
pel submission of the Swedes, 70 ; on the 
Schuylkill, 119. 

Dyson, Charles W., 317. 

Dyer, Col. Samuel A., 271. 



. E. 

Eagleville, 1051. 
Eagle Works, 576. 

East Greenville borough : mention of, 117 ; de- 
scription of, 719 ; grov\'th of. 720 ; nauie, 720 ; 
church, 720; schools, 720; officers, 720. 

Easter, celebration of by Germans, 336. 

Eck, John, and family, 1136. 

Eckman, John W., 010. 

Ecton Consolidated Mining Company, 10. 

Edgchill Furnace, 568. 

Edgehill Iron Company, 627. 

Edgehill village, 805. 

Education, chapter on, 392. 

Egbert, Eugene D., 659. 

Egbert. Hamilton, 930. 

Egypt Plow Mills, 687. 

Eicholtz, Capt. G. C. M., 229. 

" Elbedritch," 341. 

Election, First District of Montgomery County 
in 1799, 458 (note). 

Election Districts in Montgomery County, 
523-625. 

Elevator-works, W. S. Richard's, 693. 

Eliza (slave), 310. 

Elizabeth Furnace, 568, 609. 

Ellis, Jonathan, 442. 

Ellis, Rowland, 353, 930, 1030. 

Ellis & Lossig, rolling-mill, 508, 

Ellis, William S. &Co., 608. 

Elliot, John F., 578. 

Elm Station murder, the, 517. 

Ely, Gilbert W., 911. 

Engle, Albert J,, 814. 

Engleville, .S26. 

Englehart, Luilwig, 835, 

Enteiiu-ise Foundry, the, 578. 

Enslv, Capt. William C, 252. 

Ervien, Horace, 631. 

Ervien, John A., 633-631. 

Evansburg, 10.50. 



Evans, Cadwaldor, 593, 856. 

Evans, David, 353, 920. 

Evans, Edward, 1U50. 

Evans, family (of Montgomery), 960. 

Evans, Horace, 480. 

Evans, I. Newton, 486. 

Evans, Jliller D., 554. 

Evans, Montgomery, 558. 

Evans, Rev. Nathaniel, 361 ; lines by, 362, 

895. 
Evans, Oliver, 330. 
Evans, Owen, 917. 
Evans, Rowland, 529. 
Evans, Thomas B., 919. 
Evans, Wm. D.,479. 

F. 

Faber, Rev. John T., 1109. 
Fagleysville, 993. / 
Fairview Mills, 617. 
Falkncrs Swamp, 902. 
Farmar family, 1138. 
Farnum, F. D., 586. 
Farnum's cotton mill, 586, 
"Fastnacht," observance of by Germans, 336, 
Faust, Capt. Peter, Jr., 273, 
Fauth, Balthas, 835, 
Feather, Capt. A. G,, 262, 
Fegely, Isaac, 603-6U4. - 
Fegely, Jacob, 603. 
Fenton, John M., 814. 
Ferguson, Hugh Henry, 883. 
Ferguson, Mra. Elizabeth, 35.3-361, 890; lines 
on marriage of, 892 ; lines by, 363-304 ; 
writings by, 901-902. 
Ferns of Montgomery County, 424. 
Ferries, 109, 123. 

Fetterolf, Professor Adam H., 408, 416. 
Fisher, J. Francis, 353. 
Fisher, Capt. Charles Y., 249. 
Fitzwater family, 1093. 
Fitzwater, Thomas, 1094. 
Fitzwatertown, 1095. 
Fizone Flouring Mill, 588. 
Flat Rock, 926. 
Flat Rock dam, 126. 
Fletcher family, 679. 
Flora of Montgomery County, 423, 435. 
Flourtown, 1073, 1074. 

Flower, Enoch, a school-teacher in Philadel- 
phia, 392-393. 
Floyd, Wells & Co., 627. 
Fornance, Lieut. James, 316. 
Fornance, Joseph, 512, 545, 554. 

Fortraan, Charles, 137. 

Fort Washington village, 1148. 
I Fossils, 17, 18. 

Fothergill, John, 1032. 

Foundries: Schuylkill, .593, 594; West Point 
Engine and Machine, 622-623 ; C. Hammond 
& Son, machinists, 031 ; The Enterprise, 678 ; 
Pottstown Iron and Brass, 608 ; Boyer & 
Brother, 608. 

Foulkc, Edward, 353. 

Foulke, Joseph, 353. 

Foulke, Dr. Antrim, 648. 

Foulke, Edward, 860. 

Fourth of July celebration in 1824, in "Bean's 
Woods," 511. 

Fox, Gilbert Rodman, 549, 018. 

Fox, Judge John, 539. 

Fox, James, 393, 1030. 

"Frame of Goverimient," by William Penu, 
453, 528. 

Franconiaville, 828. 



Franconia Square, 828. 

Franconia township : taverns, 346 ; sitnation, 
827 ; derivation of name, 827 ; residents in 
1734, 827 ; land-holders in 1794, 827 ; i«cent 
statistics, 827, 828 ; villages, 828 ; education- 
al, 828 ; religious, 828-829 ; elections, 829. 

'Franklin Stoves," 565-566 (note). 
Franklinville, 1172. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 147 ; he builds forts on the 
Lehigh, 148; on severity of British taxation, 
154 ; his part in repeal of the Stamp Act, 155 ; 
as President of Council of Safety, 158 ; suc- 
cess of at the French Court, 174, 175. 

Frazier, Capt. John B., 274. 

Freaa, Joseph, 1153. 

Freas, Jesse W., 1154. 

Frederick township : description, 831 ; villages, 
831, 832 ; erection of the township, 832, 833 ; 
early purchasers of land, 833 ; pioneer set- 
tlers, 83.3-837 ; statistics, 837 ; residents in 
1734 and 1785, 837 ; later statistics, 838 ; offi- 
cers, 838; vote, 838; churches and burying- 
grounds, 838-841 ; George Whitfield preach- 
ing in township, 839 ; schools, 841-842 ; mills 
and manufactures, 842 ; copper-mine, 843 ; 
roads, 844 ; bridges, 844 ; tavenis, 346, 846 ; 
the Revolution, 845 ; war of 1812, 845 ; war 
of Rebellion, 845, 846 ; sketches of members 
of the Antes family and Rev. John Philip 
Leydich, 846-853. 

lYederick village, 831-832. 

Frederick station, 831-832. 

Freed, Elias K., 486, 623. 

Freeland village, 1058. 

Freedley, Henry, Jr., 558. 

Freedley, Col. Henry W., 316. 

Freedley, Henry, 548. 

Freedley, Hon. John, 545-546. 

Freedley, Dr. Samuel, 640. 

Freedley, Edwin T., 353. 

Freid family, 940, 

French war with the English, 148, 

French, John and Jane, .369. 

Frey, William, 835. 

Frey, Teronica, 8:16. 

Frey, Andreas, 353. 

Frey, Andrew, 834, 860. 

Frey (Fry), Hoinrich, 1086. 

Frick, Col. Jacob G., 243. 

Frick, Benjamin W., 612. 

Friends : attitude of toward slavery, 300 ; mem- 
bers of the society forbidden to purchase or 
hold slaves, 301 ; advanced sentiment of, con- 
cerning slavery-, 302 ; religious principles of, 
368 ; in Gwynedd, 869 (see Churches). 

Fries, Robert C, 466. 

Fries, John, 869. 

Fries' Rebellion, 869. 

Fronefield, Dr. Charles, 051. 

Fniitville, 916. 

Fi-y, Hon. Jacob, 462. 

Fry, Jacob, Jr., 512. 

Fryer, Capt. Jacob, 189. 

Fry, Hon. Jacob, Jr., 1065. 

Fulton, Samuel, 481. 

Funerals, how conducted by Germans, 3.37 ; by 
others, 381, 382. 

Funk, Henry, 353. 

Funk, Christian, 353, 827. 



Garber. Charles Henry, 354, 647. 
Garber, Henry B., 569. 
Gardner, B^^njann'n, 580. 
Gartley, Dr. Siimuel, 640. 



INDEX. 



Ixzvii 



Gartley, William H., 317. 

Gas-Works, the Kational, 579 ; at Pottstown, 
786. 

Gates, General, success of, id northern depart- 
ment, 167 ; efforts of to cause public distrust 
of Washington, 172. 

Gause, Lewis H., 459. 

Geatrell, Thomas B., 914. 

GedachtjiessTag, 3G9. 

Geiger, Capt. Charles L., 227. 

Geissenhaiuer, F. W., 3.54, 1113. 

Geisenbainer, Kev. Henry, 778. 

Geller, Jacob S., 743. 

Geology, 8, 33. 

GennaDojMlis, 133. 

Germans, the ; colony from Creisheim and Crey. 
felt found Germantown, 133 ; protest against 
slavery, 133, 134, 300; names of earliest 
settlers, 134 ; they establish the '' Swamp '. 
Lutheran Church, 134 ; prejudices against 
them, 135 ; early endeavore of, to learn Eng. 
lish, 135 ; first newspaper published by, 136 
first Bible printed by, in .^merica, 136, 137 
account #F German inhabitants by Dr. Rush 
137 ; early schools of, 137 ; strength of Ger- 
man element in Montgomery. 138 ; influx 
of, into Mississippi Valley, 138 ; manners 
and customs of, 335-338. 

George the Third, King, insanity of, 153. 

"German's Tract," 992. 

Gerhait, Isaac G., 487. 

Germantown descriljed by Pastorius, 133. 

Gibbons, Daniel, 304. 

Gibbons, J. ,t G., 578. 

Gibson, Muscoe M., 560. 

Gill, Catharine, 808. 

Gilbertsville, 820. 

Gilkinson's Comer, 1094-1096. 

Gilkinson, Thomas, 1094. 

Girard Canal, 128. 

Girard, Stephen, efforts of to procure copper in 
Montgomery, 10. 

Glasgow Iron- Works. 508, 003. 

Glasgow village, 1042. 

Glass-works : Star, 577, 750 ; Penn, 626. 

Glencairn Factory, 618. 

Globe Tack- Works, 576. 

Gneisses, 31. 

Goetschy, Rev. Johann Heinrich, 1108. 

Goentuer, William Krider, 729. 

Godshall, A. C, 480, 621-622. 

Godshall & Brother, 621. 

Godshall, Charles, 487. 

Godshall, H. K., 487. 

Godshalk, M. M., 581. 

Godyn, Samuel, 55, 57. 

Gold, found in small quantities in Southern 
Montgomery, 8 ; in Philadelphia, 9. 

Gordon, Patrick, 1047. 
Gotwalts, Jacob V., 554. 

Governors, provincial, 157. 

Graduates of United States Military and Naval 
.Academy, 313-317. 

Graphite, 16. 

Grater, Abraham, 354. 

Granges, P. of H. : first organization of, 444 ; 
the Pennsylviuiia State report on, 444 ; first 
in .Alontgomery County, 445 ; Keystone, Ko. 
2, of Pennsylvania, 445 ; Good-Will, Ko. 7, 
445 ; Star, Ko. 562, 443 ; Pennypack, Xo. 8, 
445 ; Merion, So. 112, 445 ; Cold Point, No. 
606, 445; Wissahickon, No. 760, 446; Po- 
mona, No. 8, 447. 
Gravel, Brvn Mawr, 30. 
Grater's Ford, 10'.i4. 
Gisot, Jesse R., 878. 



Grant, Ulysses S., 879. 

Gneme Park, SiO. 

Gnemc, Thomas, 881, 882, 888. 

Grseme, Mrs. Ann, 890. 

Grame, Uliss Elizabeth (see Ferguson, Mrs. 
Elizabeth). 

Grand Army of the Republic, 285; general 
regulations of, 286 ; General Zook Post, 287- 
294 ; George Smith Post, 294 ; Graham Post, 
294 ; Colonel Edwin Schall Post, 295. 

Grander, Rogers 4 Co., 626. 

Granitic rocks, 31. 

Green Lane borough ; mention of, 117 ; de- 
scription and history, 721 ; origin of name, 
721 ; statistics, 721. 

Grenville, George, 151. 

Greenwood Summit hamlet, 805. 

Green Spring, home of Nicholas More, in More- 
land, 975. 

Gresh, Nicholas, 580. 

Gresh, William K., 589. 

Griffith, Dr. Amos, 640. — 

Grigg, Dr. John, 511, 512. 

Grigg, John R., 419,650. 

Grigg, Col. John R., 443 (note). 

Grimly, Isaac, 1026. 

Groff, Joseph, 835. 

Gross, Hon. Samuel, 1048, 1065. 

Grosstown, 1042. 

Grubb, Henry, 8.34. 

Gmbb, Rev. N. B., 466. 

Guest, Capt. Benjamin M., 235. 

Guest i Longaker, 582. 

Gulf Mills, 1118. 

Gulf Woolen-SIill, 611. 

Guldin, J. C, 354. 

Gulf Hills, Washington's camp at, 168. 

Gumbes, Mrs. Rebecca, 1062. 

Gummere, John, 354, 977. 

Gummere, Samuel R., 354. 

Giistav Adolph, King of Sweden, 57. 

Guss, Capt. George W., 250. 

Gwynedd township : manufacturing interests 
of, 622, 6-23. 

Gwynedd village, 854. 

Gwynedd township: location and description, 
853; Chestnut Hill and Spring House turnpike, 
8.i4 ; statistics, 854 ; Episcopal Church, 8,54 ; 
West Point, 854 ; North Wales, 8.54 ; Penllyn, 
signification of name, 855 ; early emigrants 
from Wales, 855 ; notes on the early Wehh 
residents, 855-856 ; the Germans settlels 857, 
858 ; road from Gwynedd to Philadelphia, 858 ; 
the Revolution, 858, 8.59, 863 ; schools, 859 ; 
Friends' Meeting-house, 8,59 ; St. Peter's 
Lutheran and Reformed Church, 801, 862; 
taverns, 346 ; Spring House tavern, 862, 863; 
taxable inhabitants in 1776, 864. 



Hagar, James, 482. 
Hahn, Dr. Philip, 540. 
Hahn, William B., 419. 
Hahn, Philip, 473. 
Hallow ell, Beiyamin, 354, 808. 
Hallowell, Joseph W., 483-484. 
Hallowell, John J., 691. 
Hallowell, Joseph W., 692. 
Hallowell, William J., 909-911. 
Hallowell family (of Moreland), 
Hallowell, Jonas W., 988. 
Hallowell, Israel, 989. 
Hallowell, John, 679. 
Hallowell family, 688-690. . 
Hallowell, Beiyiuuiii T., 090. 



Hallman, Elwood L., 559. 

Hallman, George S., 478. 

Haldemun, Mathias, 419. 

Hamilton, W. C. & Sons, 624. 

Hamilton, William C, 6-24, 0'25. 

Hamilton, Gov. James, proclamation of, con- 
cerning rights oi manufacturers to e-vport, 
148. 

Hamilton, Andrew, 530, 531. 

Hamilton, Col. Andrew, Postmaster-General, 
451. 

Hampton, Comly, 486. 

Hamer, Dr. James (first), 648. 

Hamer, Dr. James (second), t>49. 

Hamer, James, HAS. 

Hanmiond C. 4 Son, 804. 

Hamill, William, 683. , 

Uamel, George, 696. 

Hancock, Beiyamin F., 354, 513, 545, 962. 

Hancock, Maj.-Gen. Winfleld S., 313, 962. 

Hannum, W. G., 310, 

Harbison, Bartlett 4 Co., 626. 

Harper's hoe and rake-works, 629. 

Harper, Smith, 629-630. 

Harper, Wm., 629. 

Harleysville, '.I5u. 

Harley, Jonas M., 782. 

Harley, John M., 486. 

Hart, Capt. Lane S., 219. 

Hartranft, Samnel E., 443. 

Hartranft, Gov. John F., 498-499, 516, 995, 
998. 

Hartranft, John P., 197, 199 (note) 211 ; letters 
from, 207. i^i ■--- "-!-', 1^' 

Hartranft, Miy. David B., 26<l, 268. 

Hunranft Station, 1001. 

Harrison family, 931. 

Harrison, John, 586. 

Harmanville, 1032. 

Harvesting in olden times, 338. 

Hamier Hill hamlet, 806. 

Harry, Beiijamin, 717. 

Harding, Johns., 1014. 

Harmonj' Square, lt>24. 

Harley, Dr. J. K., .354. 

Hassler, Rev. John W., 778. 

Hatfield Square, 869. 

Hatfield, Upper, 869. 

Hatfield, Lower, 864. 

Hatfield township: location and description, 
868 ; name, 868 ; public improvements, 809; 
villages, 869 ; mercantile, 870 ; educational, 
870 ; elections, 87U ; religious matters, 870 ; 
taverns, early, 346. 

Hatboro' borough: general description of, 116, 
721 ; progress of, 722 ; name, 722 ; "Crooked 
Itillet," 116, 722; taverns, 722; incident of 
Revolution, 723 ; early mills, 7*23 ; old York 
Road, 723 ; bridge over Pennypack, 723 ; the 
Literary Chronicle, 724; clinten^ , 724; 
cemetery, 724 ; Union Library, 725-727; Lo "' v 
Academy, 7*27-729 ; biographical sketches, 
729-733. 

Hawkswortli, Sliy. Thomas, 234. 

Haywood, .Tosepli, 484. 

Heckler, James Y., 354, 946. * 

Heckler, George, 948. 

Heckler, George (Redemptioner),299. 

Hecht, Rev. .\nthony, 777. 

Hecbner, Isaac D., 019, 20. 

Heeblier, John, 8:17. 

Heebuer, Christopher, 47S, 587-588, 593. 

Heebner, George, 837. 

Heebner & Sons, 619. 

Heebner, Capt. J. B., ';49. 

Heebner, David S., 6l9-«2'i. 



Ixxviii 



INDEX. 



Heebner's agricultural works, 116. 
Ileister, Gen. Joseph, 506. 
Heist, Dr. D. Levering, 486. 
Heiater, Daniel, 1134. 
Heisler, Jacob, 858. 
Heist, Philip, 777. 
Heist, Daviii, 813. 

H J. S. M. K.,354. 

Heilig, Rev. George, 778. 

Heller, George K., 820. 

HelfTenstein, Samuel, 354. 

Helliuga, J. P., 486. 

Hench.J. B., 405. 

Hendricksen, Capt. Cornelia, hia exploration 

of the Delaware, 51. 
Hendricks, J. C.,486. 
Henshen, Q. C.,405. 
Henderson, Samuel, 711. 
Henry Mills, 613. 
Henderson, John, 506-544. 
Herger, John Michael, 833. 
Horcules Cigar-Factory, 580. 
Heydrick, Balthaser, 8:i6, ii48. 
Heydrick family, 1073. 
HibbertA Brook, tlour-mills of, 592-593. 
Hickorytown, 1032. 
Hick3, Elias, 375. 
Highly, Felix F., 479. 
Hillegass, Dr. John G., 486, 654. 
Hillcgasa, Jonathan?., 480^87. 
Hillegass, Johann Frederick, 1105. 
Hillegasa, George, 512. 
Hillegassville, 1107. 

Mil. ^, Mi-s. Lydia W., 354. 
;i. 1. 1. John H., 313. 

■■; Jnhn, 359. 

. .;T.'i>.-tein, Rev. J. A. C, 1110. 

' ii,..r Daniel 0., 478. 

' J t Daniel, 1147. 

['rank M., 478, 1066. 
Francis, 917. 

... M, y. G., 354, 470, 558. 

1 i-HTf. .'ohn Henry, 547-548. 
, .,bi<it, Nathaniel P., 512. 
' ' .ffbcU. -, Prof. R. F., 401-402. 

idma,!, Dalthasar, 354, 948. 
I .fftnan, John, 1018. 
ilugtown,*' 1050. 
fiolj Kxperimeut," the, 393. 

: it, it-iijamin, 877. 
ii..l.-t!iM, Mats, 709, 1125-1126. 
M:.U'A m, naj'.r Hatthisia, 710. 
Hol^^:a;. Matthiaa, 473, 545 (note), 587. 
HoNtein, Mrs. Anna M., 2!i5-2ac, 354. 
Holafoiu, Dr. George W., 79, 354. 

I '!me, John, 354, 360 ; lines by, 362. 

: 'UmaD, CJapt. Lewis, 216. 

' mtr, AViMiam, 1097. 

' .od, Join McGlellan, 022. 

i.!-ut.-Col. F. C.,271. 
rr H.,359. 
, \;;i. , 957. 
lUpkinfton, Francis, elegy by, un Mrs. Ann 

Gra-ino, tJO. 
ll(«jt, Philip, 857. 
Hoovcrlon, 1001. 
M.ovea. 1 ■mes & Son, 569, 574. 
Hooven, Jamea, 478. 
Hoover, Hiram C, 1006. 
Hoover, George G., 557. 
H..i»ver, Adam, 484. 
Hoisbiimville, 877. 
Horekill, (note) 59. 
Hum, John B., 593. 
Hui-deheavHn, 981. 
Uorsliam township: desoriptiiin, .'%74; public 



improvements, 874; early land-owners, 874. 
personal notes on the pioneers, 874-879 ; Hor- 
eham village. 877 ; Friends' Meeting-house; 
879 ; old graveyard, 880 ; assessment for 
1776; Grfeme Park, 880-883, 899; Governor 
Keith. 881, 883-888; Dr. Thomas Gramme, 
888; Elizabeth (Grffime) Ferguson, 890-896 ; 
Eliza Stedman, 896; Mrs. Anna Young 
Smith, 896; "The Old Family Clock, Medi- 
tatioua on," by Mrs. Fergusun, 901, 902; 
taverns, 346; biographical, 902-915. 

Hospitals : lady attendants at during the war 
of Rebellion, 295-296. 

Hosiery- Works : The Norristown, 586, 787, 760; 
the Keystone, 587, 750 ; the North Wales 
Knitting Company's, 024. 

Houpt family, 1093. 

Houpt, Isaiah B.,462. 

Hough, Dr. Silas, 639. 

Houghton, John J., 481. 

Hough, William M., 763. 

Hubbard, Mosea G., 581. 

Huddleson, Dr. Isaac, 639. 

Hudson, Henry, 50, 119. 

Hudson, Rev. A. J. M., 403. 

Hughe, Nimrod, 354. 

Hughes, Benjamin B., 713. 

Hughes, Thomas, 359. 

Hughes, John, 529. 

Hughes, John J,, 479. 

Hughes, Owen, 486. 

Hughes, Benjamin, 478. 

Humphrey, Thomas, 473. 

Humphrey, John, 856. 

Humphrey, Benjamin, 930. 

Humphrys, Seth, 617-618. 

HumphreysA-ille (Bryn Mawr), 925. 

Huntingdon Valley village, 974. 

Hunter's cotton mills, 582. 

Hunter, John, 5S2. 

Hunter, Joseph W., 738. 

Hunter, James, 582. 

Hunsicker, Abraham, 355. 

Hunsicker, Rev. Abraham, 407-408, 419, 1066, 

Hunsicker, J. L., 316. 

Hunsicker, Joseph W., 403. 

Hunsicker, Jacob R., 553. 

Huuaicker, Charles, 552. 

Hunsicker, Rev. Henry A., 407-408, 1068. 

Hunsicker, Henry G., 1008. 

Hunsicker, Philip M., 1027 

•'HuBtletown,'' lO.iO. 

Hovey, Rev. Alexander, 1052. 

Howard, Capt. Vachel D., 1052. 

Howe, Dr. Herbert M., 498. 

Hower, Frank A., 466-467. 

Howe, Gen. William : movements of army of, 
lfiO-166 ; headquarters of, in Philadelphia, 
167 (note). 



Indiaui^, the: estimated number of, 33; be- 
lief in the "Great Spirit," 34; religion 
further defined, 49; school at Carlisle, 35; 
speculations upon origin, 3G (note) ; the Len- 
ni Loiiape or Deluwares, 37 ; the Susque- 
hiinnocks, 38 ; method of living, 39; Penn's 
first purchase of lands in Montgomery, 40 ; 
council of 1712, 40; wampum, 41; Penn's 
descriptions of customs and character, 41, 
44; the Minquas or Mingoe8,44; Campau- 
ins remarks upon, 45 ; information from 
Cliarles Thomson, 46-47 ; superstitions of, 
48 ; cruelty of, 48 ; De Vi ies' treaty with, on 
the Delaware, .OG ; frioodly relations on the 
part of the Swedes, 05 ; purchases from, by 



the Swedes, 65 ; conference of, with Penn, 
142; councils with, at Easton, in 1756 aud 
1758, 148 ; depredations of, on the frontier, 
150 ; bounty offered by Governor John Penn 
for scalps of, 150 ; enslavement of, 301. 

Independent Order of Good Samaritans and 
Daughters of Samaria, 497. 

Independent Order of Good Templars, the, 497. 

Ingersull, Jared, 533. 

Ingham, Samuel D., 977. 

Insurance companies, 487. 

Iredell, Thomas, 874. 

Iredell, Robert, 459-lGl. 482. ~ 

Iron companies and works : Montgomery, 568 ; 
Norristown, 568-569, 574, 750 ; Plymouth 
Rolliug-Mill, 568 ; Warwick, 668, 785 ; Phila- 
delphia and Reading, 568 ; Pencoyd, 568 ; 
Conshohocken, 568 ; Pennsylvania, 568 ; Cor- 
liss, 568 ; Ellis & Lossig, 568 ; Glasgow, 568 ; 
Longmead, 569 ; Plymouth Rolling-Mill, 569 ; 
Potts Brothers, 569, 785 ; Pottstown, 569, 
785; Schuylkill, 569, 714 ; Standard, 569, 
574, 750 ; Stony Creek, 569 ; plate-iron nulls, 
574. 

Iron furnaces and forges : first in Pennsyl- 
vania, on Manatawny (1720-31), 563-565 ; 
in 1776, .564; list of, in 1793, 563 (note); 
Colebrookdale and "Pool," 564,565; Old 
Warwick, 565 ; Redding, 565 ; Coventry, 565 ; 
Muunt Pleasant, 565, 566 ; of Thomas Potta 
& Sons, 566 ; of Samuel Potts and Rutter, 566 ; 
of John Potts, 567 ; of Isaac Potta & Co., 567, 
1122; present, in Montgomery County, 568- 
509 ; Elizabeth, 599 ; Merion, 599 ; Swedes, 
610; Montgomerj', 610; Anvil, 603; War- 
wick, 603 ; Hitner's, 625, 626 ; Wm. Peno, 
626 ; Louisa, 626 ; Merion and Elizabeth, 800. 

Iron mutiufacture ; early, 562, 563 ; in 1720 
aud 1731, 564, 565 ; on Manatawny in 1776, 
564 ; in 1793, 663 (note) ; in Pennsylvania, 
1880, 563 ; in Pennsylvania (1790-1885), 
667, 568 ; by Thomas Potts & Sons, 566 ; early 
in Massachusetts, 567 ; by John Potte, 667 ; 
by Isiiac Potts, 567. 

Iron-works : of Alan Wood & Co., 593, 714 ; 
ofJawood Lukens, 595; Merion, 599,800; 
Glasgow, 603 ; Pottstown, 603 ; Warwick, 
603; Pottsgrove, 605; J. Dutton Steele & 
Sons', 600 ; Pencoyd, GI3-614 ; Edge Hill, 
627, 1074 ; Grtten Lane, 721. 

Iron-ore, 12-16. 

Iron bridge, 1024. 



Jacobs, John N., 486. 

Jacoby, George W., 597. 

Jails: old, 108, 707; new, 112; report of in- 
spectors of, for 1884, 324. 

Jamison, B. K., 499. 

James I., King, charter of, 53 ; on the Dela- 
ware, 54. 

James family, 960. 

James, Morgan, 588. 

Janney, M'illiam, 393. 

Jarrett, William Lukens, 908. 

Jarrett homestead, 909. 

Jarrett, Samuel F., 1017. 

Jarrettown, 1096. 

Jefferson, Thomas, on common schools, 396 
(note). 

Jeffersonville, 1001 (note). 

Jenkiutown borough : mention of, 116 ; descrip- 
tion, 733 ; advantages, 733 ; schools, 733 ; 
churches, 734 ; Masonic Hall, 734 ; National 
Bank, 734; Abington Library, 734-736; 
borough ollicers, 735 ; Juiikins family, 7.35.^ 



INDEX. 



Ixxix 



taverns, 735 ; early b1i op-keepers, 73G ; manu- 
factures, G31 ; biographical, 738-742. 

Jfukiiis, C. S., 48G. 

Jeukins, John S., 486. -~ - 

Jenkins. J. P. Hale, 556, ^ 

Jenkins, John Y., 486. 

Jenkins, Charles Y., 486. 

Jenkins, H. M., 350, 355, 459. 

Jenkins, Charles Todrl, 964. 

Jenkins, Williani, 679, 735. ' 

Jenkins family, 735. 

Jennings, Walter S., 559. 

Jerry (slave), 310. 

Johnson, Dr. IJenjamin, 647. 

Johnson, Benjamin K., 485, 663. 

Johnson, Is;iac H., 486. 

John (Jones*, William, 856. 

Jully, Francis M., 544. 

Jones, John, 3'J3, 473, 718. 

Jones, John L., 1102. 

Jones, Rev. Malachi, 686. 

Jones, Jonathan, 1039. 

Junes, John MtH 512. 

Jones, Rev.JJohn, 762. 

Jones, John B., 730. 

Jones, Kvan D., 481. 

Jones, Edward, 139, 929. 

Jones, Evan G., 619. 

Jones, Griffith, 610. 

Jones, Charles, 4iU, 

Jones, Dr. John, 639. 

Jones, Col. Owen, 200. 

Jones, Horace C, 597. 

Jones, Dr. Joshua Y., 639. 

Journalism, 458-470." 

Judses, first of Mont{i;omery County courts, 
317 ; list of all. 537. 

Judicial districts embracing Montgomery 
(bounty, 537 ; list of judges of, 537. 

Judiciary, th«, of Montgomery County, 535. 

Junior Order of American Mechanics, 495. 

Junior American Protestant Association, 496. 

Justicc'B of the peace, 325. 



Kaolin deposits, 24. 
Kassel, Daniel K., 355. 
Keasbf-y A Mattison, 631. 
Keith, George, .375, 392, 393, 682. 
Keith, Sir William, 530, 531 ; 355, 360 ; line^ 
to, 362 ; house of, at Gnvme Park, 880, 881 ; 
sketch of 883-888. 
Kecley, Ephraim P., 798. 
Kccly, Valentine, 1023. 
Kellogg, Col. Josiah H., 263 (note), 268. 
Kemper, John, 1022. 
Kendall, Daniel, 922. 
Kendall, Philip, 545. 
Ki'iHlerdine family, 875. 
Kendcrdine, Benjamin, 1104. 
Kenderdine, George, 725. 
Kennedy, Alexander, 1122. 
Kennedy, John, 1129. 
Kennedy, William R., 1015. 
Kenworthy, James, 585-f8G. 

Kepner, Rev. D. K., 793. 

Keystone Agricultural Works, 603. 

Killer, Adam, 1141. 

Kiuzo, John, creamery of, 593. 

Kinzie, Daniel, 1130. 

King of Prussia, (village) lllS, 

Kirkbride, Watson, 489. 

Kirk, Joseph, 700. 

Kirk, Jacob, 912. 

Klein\ille, lluT. 

Kneule, .\]l'reclit, 463, 



Kneule, Edwin, 463, 

Knight family, G80. 

Knight, George K., 484. 

Knight, William, Sr., 1015. 

Knights of the Golden Eagle, 496. 

Knights of the Revolution, 49G. 

Knights of Friendship, 495. 

Knights of Pythiae: list and statement of 

lodges, 494. 
Knipe, Dr. Jacob, G42. 
Knipe, Dr. Jacob 0., 664. 
Knox family, 7GG. 
Kolb (Kulp), Isaac, 857. 
Kratz, Henry W., 1069. 
Knitz, H.W.,48G. 
Kraues, Michael, 835. 
Krause, Richard H., 608. 
Krauth, Charles Philip, 355. 
Krause, Judge David, 640. 
Kreible, Melchior, 857. 
Kreibel, Reuben, 355. 
Kribel, Christopher, 948. 
Kriehel, H. K., 622. 
Kriebel, Charles S., 622. 
Krieble, Charles, 1182. 
Kriebel, Caspar, 1086. 
Krnpp, Abraham, 355. 
Kuder &■ Jaclcson, 581. 
Kuhn, R. K., 359. 
Kunders, Dennis, 1093. 
Kulp, Samuel N., 698. 
Kulp family, 1088. 
Kulpsville, 1087-1088. 
Kuntz, George Michael, 835. 
Kurtz, Maj. Luther B., 268. 
Kuster, Herman, 1021. 

li. 

Lacy, Col. John, 723. 

Lady Mason?, order of, 497. 

Lafayette, Marquis de, IGO, 175 ; at Barren 
Hill, 176, 177. 

Lafayette village, 1148. 

Lafayette, visit of, to Norristown in 1824, 7G6. 

Lake, D. J., 359. 

Landcs, J. C, 487. 

Lands, purchases of, by Penn, from Indians, 
40 ; value of, to savages, 41 (note) ; purchases 
by the Swedes, 68, 65 ; by Governor Priiitz, 
64 ; laws in England and America for 
registration of land transfers, 97-lCK) ; 
purchased by Penn from Swedes, 144. 

Lancasterville, 1148. 

Lancaster, Thomas, 1148. 

Lane, Edward, H47. 

Lane, William, 1051. 

Lansdale borough, manufacturing Industrie^ 
of, 619-C22. 

Lansdale borough, mention of, 116; descrip- 
tion of, 742 ; churchef*, 742 ; schools, 743 ; 
burgesses, 743. 

Laui'cntian group, 31. 

Larzelere, Jeremiah, 483-484. 

Larzalere, Jeremiah B., 986. 

Larzalere, Nicholas H., 557-658. 

Latitude, obseiTations to determine at Norri- 
ton, 5-6 ; difterence between Norriton and 
Philadelphia, 7. 

Law Library, the, of Montgomery County, 544 
(note). 

Laws : framed by William Penn, 93 ; agreed 
upon in England, 95 ; ancient, in England, 
concerning land transfers, 97; earliest, for 
registration of deeds, 97 ; contrast between 
English and American land registration sys- 
tems, 98 ; establishing Orphans' Court, 99; 



passed at the firat Assembly held at Chester, 
102 ; early, relating to servants, 207 ; early, 
relating to slavery, 3C>() ; for suppression of 
slavery, 303; for erection of Montgomery 
County, 317. 
Lay, Benjamin, 301, 355, 680. 
Learch, Oliver I., 724. 
Lederachsville, 950. 
Lee, Colonel Francis, 313. 
Leech, Toby, 805-806. 
Leech family, 8(i6. 
Leech, Richard T., 808. 
Leedom, Dr. Edwin C, 647. ^ 
Leedom, Joseph, 505. 
Leedom, Dr. Joseph, G47. _ 
Lees, Dr. John, 590. 
Lees, James & Sons, mills of, 589-590. 
Lees, Joseph, 590. 
Lees, Stanley, 597. 
Lefferts, Simon V., 989. 
Lefferts family, 989. 
Le Gaux, Peter, 355, 1145. 
Leidy's tannery, 827. 
Leidy, B. F.,487. 

Leister, Jacob H., tinware-factory, 624. 
Leidig private burying-ground, 840. 
Levering, John, 359. 
Lenhart, John F., 817. 
Lewis, Thomas, 1048. 
Lewis, AN'illiani, 534. 
Lewis, William and P erry, 310. 
Leydich, Rev., 1109. 
Leydicb, Rev. John Philip, 851. 
Libertyville, 926. 
Light, Frederick, Jr., 622. 
Lignite, 17. 
Limerick Station, 916. 
Limerick Square, 916. 

Limerick township: description of 915, 91G; 
statistics, 916 ; Limerick Station, 916; Lim- 
erick Square, 916; Fruitville, 916; name of 
township, 916; first land-holders, 916; notCg 
on the early settlers, 917; Parker's Furd, 
917 ; Limerick Union Church, 917, 919 ; tax- 
able inhabitants in 177(i, 919 ; taverns, early, 
346 ; biographical, 919-923. 
Limerick township, manufacturing industries 

of. 608-610. 
Limestone Valley, 25. 

Lime, early accounts of, 32 ; use of, on lnnd,lu9. 
Line Lexington village, 869. 
Literature (see Bibliography and Poetry, also 

individual names of writers). 
Livezey, Henrj*, 547. 
Liversidge, Thomas, 584, 612, 1038. 
Livingston, James, 582. 
Lloyd, David, 355, 3G2 ; lines by, 366, 393. 
Lloyd, Evan, 876, 879. 
Lloyd, David, 876. 
Lloyd family, 876. 
Lloyd, John, 991. 

Lloyd, Joseph, 355, 362 ; lines by, 365. 
Loch, Prof. John W., 405. 
Lodge, Thomas G., 940. 
Lollar, Col. Robert, 116. 
Loller, Robert, 725-729. 
Longaker, A. B., 473. 
Longaker, Hon. .\. Brower, 443, 
Longaker, Daniel, 772. 
Longaker, Rufus B., 794. 
Longmead Iron -Works, 569, 
Longstreth, Judge, 4H. 

Longitude, observations todeteniiine at Norris- 
town. 5, 6; ditTerenci? between Norrif^town 
and Philadelphia, 7. 
Loux, Dr. Hiram R., 1)75. 



\> 



i ^ 



Ixxx 



INDEX. 



Lovering:, Martin, 405. 

Lowe, Prof. Thatideiis S. C, 579-580- 

Lower, David Sr., 357. 

Lower, David, Jr., 36S. 

Lo%ver, George, 108'2. 

Lowrie, Rev. Sanmel T., 687. 

Lower Merion towhship, niaiiufacturing in- 
dustries of, 612-G19. 

Lower Providence township, physical features, 
1049 ; lead and copper mines ; elections, 
1049 ; justices of the th*- peace and consta- 
bles, 1049; Btatistjfs, 1049; schools, ln49 ; 
villages, 1050-1051. St. James Episcupul 
Church, 1051 ; Presbyterian Ohurdi, l"5:i ; 
Baptist Church, 1053 ; Methodist Ciuirch, 
John James Audubon, 1054. 

Loxley, Benjaraia, cannon foundry, of (177G) 
566 (note). 

Loyal League, Women's, of 3lMntgoniery Coun- 
ty, 296. 

Lubbe, Chas. C, 316. 

Lucinda, Furnace, 568. 

Lukens, Jan, 10S5. 

Ludwig, Capt. Ulnhlun S., 229. 

Lukens, Abel, 7S0. 

Lukens, Horace G., 467. 

Lukens, fjiuiily, 875. 

Lukene, John, 875. 

Lnkt'iis, Seneca, 875-1093. 

Lukens, Isaiah, 875. 

Lukens, Jawood, 483, 569, 595. 

Lukens, Joshua P., 904. 

Lukens, Joseph, 1143. 

Lukens, .John S., 4C0 (note). 

Lukens, Lewis A., 481, 5U5, 596. 

Lukens, Mrs. Susan, 3.)5. 

Lumber dealers, 7ii5 ; Guest &, Longakor, 582 ; 
Budey & Livingslun, 582 ; George S. Yerkes, 
597; William Diwis, Jr., & Co., 602, 603. 

M. 
.McAllister, Liuut.-Ool. J. B.,268. 
.McCall, George, 1041. 
McCarter, Capt. Samuel, 236. 
McCaiter, Capt. Marshall, 236. 
JlcCInre, 5Lij. IsaJic C, 271. 
McChine, Col. Allan, 177(noto). 
McClennan, Col. M. R., 249. 
McCreedy, Bernard, 582. 
HcDcnnott. Wm., 481-483. 
MeFarland, Elbridge, 6U-612. 
McFarland, George & Co., Gil. 
McFarland, George, 478. 
Mclnncs, Hugh, 592. 
■M^Kean, George Thomas, 503, 509. 
McLean, Archibald, 877. 
McMichael, Lieut. -Col. Richards, 226. 
McNair, Commander Frcdk. V., 316. 
McNair, John, 729. 
fticiiuee, Alexander, 876. 
Mt Veagh. Wayne, 416. 
Machinery, labor-saving, benefit of, 110, 111, 

US. 
Madison, James, on cummou schools, 396 

(note). 
Magee, William, 627. 
Mainland, ii50. 
Makin, Benjamin, 3i*3. 
Mauayunk, West, village, ^25. 
Manors: of Monhind, 448 ; oi IMount Joy, 448; 

of Williamstadt,448 ; owned b> George Mc- 

Call, 1736, 448, 4.'-.3. 
Manufactnriiig industrica: chapter on, 562 ; 

statistiis of, .'i74. 
Maps ptjrtaining to Montgomery Cuunty, 359, 

360. 



Martin, Dr. Christian Frederick, G38. 

Martin, Dr. George, G.38. 

Martin, Dr. Charles, 638. 

Martin, Dr. John Adam, 638. 

Marble, 21 ; early discovery of, 110. 

Marble-works : DeiT's Steam, 587 ; Moyer's, 
587 ; Isaac Landis', 587 ; Pottstown, G08 ; 
Sbenton's, 608. 

Marlborough, Duke of, 956. 

Marlborough township : description, 95G ; name, 
956; taxable inhabitants in 1785, 056; Sum- 
neytown and Spring House turnpike, 956; 
Sumneytown, 956 ; Hoppenville, 957 ; Marl- 
boroughville, 957 ; education, 057 ; religious 
worship, 958 ; mills, 958 ; mercantile appraise- 
ment, 1884, 959 ; elections, 959 ; taverns, 
347 ; biographical, 959. 

Marlborough ville, 957. 

Markley. Philip S., 473, 507, 508, 509, 544, 

Markley, Isaac, 473. 

Markley, Richard, 486, 487. 

Markley, John, liiO, 111, 587, 758, 766. 

Markley, Dr. Arthur D., 661. 

Martin, Dr. Frederick A., 638. 

Maryland, religious freedom of Calvert's char- 
ter for, 07 (note). 

March, Franklin, 553, 609. 

Marcli, Browuback & Co., G08-609. 

March, Thomas J., 600-610. 

Markhani, William, 91-92. 

Marriage, how celebrated by the Germans; 
337-381. 

Marsteller, Frederick Ludwig, 1047. 

Masonic organizations (see also Associations, 
Charitable and Benevolent) : Charity Lodge, 
No. 190, 488 ; Stichter Lodge, No. 254, 488 ; 
Cassia Lodge, No. 273, 488 ; Fort M'ashing- 
ton Lodge, No. 308, 488 ; Warren Lodge, No. 
310, 488; Friendship Lodge, No. 4O0, 488, 
734 ; W. K. Bray Lodge, No. 41U, 488 : Fritz 
Lodge, No. 420, 488 ; Shiloh Lodge, No. 5r-8, 
488 ; Norristown R. A. Cliapter, No. 190, 
489 ; Fort Washington R. A. Chapter, No. 
220, 489 ; Abingtou R. A. Chapter, No. 245, 
489 ; Montgomery Chapter, No. 262, 489 ; 
Hutchinson Commandery, No. 32, K. T., of 
Norristown, 489. 

Mathews, Edward, 355. 

Mathews, Thomas H., 316. 

Slathias, Rev. Joseph, 963 (note.) 

3Iather, Joseph, 806. 

Mather, Thomas T., 821. 

Mateun, Nils, 1126. 

Matsun's Ford, 800. 

Matsunk, 1118. 

May, Lieut.-Col. Lewis A., 249. 

May, Selden T., 770. 

Slay, Addison, 477,499. 

" Moy Craig " mill, 583. 

Mechanicsvillo, 1134. 

Medtart, Rev. Jacob, 778. 

Medtr.rt, Jacob, 355. 

Meda!7, Samuel, 870. 

Medical Profession, the, chapter on, 636. 

Meetings, protracted, 378. 

Meigs, Rev. Mathew, 420. 

Meigs, John, 420. 

MoUish, John, 359. 

Membere of Legislature, 318,319. 

Menan, Patrick, 1142. 

Merioneth, old village of, 926. 

Meriijm Furnace, 568, 599. 

Merioii Mills, 615,619. 

Merion Station, 1118. 

Merion Square, 926. ' 

Merioii, Lower, township : hitaation, 923 ; de- 



scriptive and statistical, 924 ; Philadelphia 
and Lan&ister turnpike, 024 ; Bryn Mawr, 
924 ; Ardmore, 925 ; West Manayunk, 925 ; 
Pencoyd, 925 ; Merion Square, 926 ; Liberty- 
ville, 926; Wynnewood. 926; Academy ville, 
926 ; the General Wayne Inn, 926 ; old tav- 
erns, 346 ; Flat Rock, 926 ; Scenery at Mill 
Creek, 927; Taylor Institute, 927; Friends' 
Meeting-house, 928 ; Baptist Church, 928 ; 
Episcopal Church, 928 ; name of township, 
929 ; the Welsh settlers, 929 ; personal notes 
on the pioneers, 929 ; residents in 1734, 930 ; 
sufferings of inhabitants during the Revolu- 
tion, 931 ; property -owners in 1780, 931, 933 ; 
roads, 932 ; St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 
933 ; Theological Seminary of St. Charles 
Borromeo, 934, 935 ; biographical, 935- 
945. 

Meredith, George F., 467. 

Meredith, Dr. Joseph, 039. ^ .- 

Meredith, Dr. Hugh, 630. 

Meredith, David, 1030. 

Meschianza, the, 177-178. 

Meschter, Dr. George K., 672. 

Mesozoic sandstone, 30. 

Metz, Capt. Abraham M., 276. 

Mey, Cornelis Jacobsen, 51, 53. 

Mexican War, soldiere from Montgomery in, 
104. 

Mica schists, 31. 

Michael, Rev. Philip J., 1109. 

Michener fiimily, 976. 

"Midnight Judges," the 538. 

Miles, Col. Samuel, 807. 

Miles, William, 941. 

Mills : early grist, 105 ; miscellaneous, 111 ; 
early in Abington, 680; early at Hathoro', 
723 ; in Norristown, 762 ; in Moreland, 976 ; 
first grist, on Upper Perkiomen, 1105 ; I'enn>. 
packer's, 1022 ; Old Gulf Mill, 1118; The 
Egypt, 587 ; Stony Creek, 588 ; De Kalb; 
Street Roller, 592-593 ; Pottstown;Roller, 608 ; 
Merion, 610 ; Morris, 610 ; Centennial 
Steam, 621 ; North Wales Steam, 623 ; 
Spring Mill, 624; Cheltenham Roller, 634; 
at Conshohocken, 719 ; first at Shoemaker- 
town, 804; in Frederick, 842, 843; in Marl- 
borough, 958; in Lower Providence, 1049; 
in Whitemarsh, 1142-1143. 

Mill Creek, scenery at mouth of, 927. 

Miller, John, 836. 

Miller, Christian, 442. 

Miller, Tboma8,1051. 

Miller, Charles T., 551. 

Militia (see Soldiers). 

Minuet, Peter, 54, 59. 

Minerals, 8, 19. 

Mintzer, William, 479, 480. 

Mintzer, Col. William M., 220, 227. 

Missimer, George, 790. 

Mitchell, G. J., 486. 

Mitchell, Joseph, 960. 

Mitchell, Dr. Gove, 639. 

Mittelberger, Gottlieb, 1064. 

Blogee's limestone quarries, 627. 

Moir, James, 601-602. 

Moore, Alexander, 607. 

Moore, George W., 631, 632. 

Moore, William W., 512. 

Moore, Dr. Charles, 490, 640. 

Moore, Mordecai, 1122. 

Moorhead, Joel B., 599, 600. 

Moorhead, Alexander, 626. 

Moorehead, Col. T. G., 240. 

Mi"^ -ley, Samuel, Jr., 557. 

M<. igomery County: topography of, 1 ; act 



1 •■.->^ 



f 



INDEX. 



Ixxxi 



for erection of, 1 ; area of, 2 ; streams iu, 2 ; 
ores and minerals of, 8 ; soils of, '22 ; pojm- 
lation of, in 1812, 188 ; troops from, iu war of 
1812, 1.S9-191 ; troops from, in Philatleliihia 
riots of 1844, 191 ; soldiers from, in Mexican 
war, 194 ; soldiers from, in war of the Rebel- 
lion, lOG et sequUer ; slave ownei-s iu, at time 
of Kevolutiou, 302 ; number of slaves in the 
townships of, 303 ; erection of, by act of 
Assembly, 317; application of name of, 317 
(note) ; officers of, 318-323 ; taxes in, for 1883, 
328-32U j receipt* and expenditures for 1884, 
330. 
Montgomery township : description of, 959 ; 
statistics, 959 ; name of, 959-9(30 ; eaiiiest 
eurvey, 9C0 ; residents in 1734, 960 ; proini- 
rutnt character among the pioneers, 9G0; 
nationality of early settlere, 960-961 ; early 
tflveriiK, 347, 962 ; roads, 961 ; incidents of 
the Revolution, 961 ; schools, 962 ; Baptist 
Church, 962-963 ; old bnrying-ground, 963 ; 
residents in 1776, 963; biographical, 964- 
!I72. 
Montgomery SqiBire, 959, 961-962. 
Slontgomeryvillo, 959, 961. 
Montgomery Furnace, 568, 610. 
Mont Clare, 1058. 
31orison, William T., 693. 
Morrow, Hugh, 729. 
Morris, Hon. Oliver G., 870. 
Morris, .Judge James, 535. 
Murris, Edwin, 480. 
Morris, Anthony, 393. 
Morris, William E., 3-i9. 
SItirris, Cadwallader, 870. 
Morris family, 680, 870-872, 1141. 
Hlorris Tljur-Mill, 619. 
Moravians fortify Bethlehem in 1753, 148, 
y\nre, Nicholas, 975, 978-979. 
oreland township : description of, 972 ; 
geology, 973 ; turnpikes, 973 ; schools, 973 ; 
Willow Grove, 973 ; taverns, 347, 974-975 i 
Uuntingdon Valley, 974 ; Yerkesville, 974' 
the township named by Pcnn in honor of a 
London physieian,975 ; early ownership of the 
soil, 975 ; taxable inhabitants in 1734, 975 ; 
decendants of early residents, 976 ; gan»e, 
97G ; property-owners in 1776 and 1885, 976 ; 
township otficers, 976 ; the Langstroth Paper. 
Mill, 977 ; Society for the Recovery of Stolen 
Horses, 977 ; Nicholas More. 978 ; Sampson's 
Hill, 979 ; roads, 979 ; Round Meadow, 980 ; 
Horseheaven Hill, 981, 982; residents in 
1776, 9S3 ; biographies, 983-992. 
Morgan, Andrew, 1192. 
Morgan, Wright & Son, 587. 
Morgan, David, 938. 
Morgan, George C, 588. 
Moiton, Dr. Thomas G., 498. 
Moser, Klwnod S., 466, 
Moaer, T. F., 316. 
Mott, Lucretia, 355, 808. 
Mount Joy Forge, 567. 
Mount Pleasant Furnace, 5G5-566. 
Mowday, David Y., 771. 
Moyer, I. H., 487. 
Moyer, J. B., 487. 
Moyer, John S., 487. 
Muhlenberg, Rev. Henry Melchior, 356, 994, 

lOfili. 
Sluhlenberg, Rev. Frcdk. Augustus, 792. 
Muhl'-nberg, Henry A., 513. 
Muhlenberg, Judge Frederick A., 534- 

535. 
Mvihlenberg, Gottlieb Henry p:rnst, 1064. 
Muhlenberg, Rev. Henry Ernst, 423, 355, 



Muhlenberg, Frederii;h Augustus Conrad, 

lOlU. 

Muhlenberg, Gen. Peter, 137, 1064. 
Miilvauy, Daniel H., 513, 545,546. 
Murphy, Francis, 356. 
ilun-ay, George, 729. 
Music, church, 381. 
Musselman, Samuel, 356. 
Myers & Ervien, 632, 804. 
BIyers, Jacob, 6;i2-633. 
Mystic Druids, order of, 496. 

M". 
Nace, Francis, 1016. 

Naile, Lieut. -Commander Frederick J., 316. 
National Gas Works, the, 579. 
Naval Academy, graduates of, 316-317. 
Navigation : of the Schuylkill, 3 ; early colonial 
project for improving, 106, 122, 123, 124 ; a 
company chartered for undertaking the work, 
111 ; Schuylkill Navigation Company, 125 ; 
canal completed. 111 ; during the Revolu- 
tion, 123 ; by coal-boata, 127, 128. 
Ne\yJ*old, R. S., 576. 

New Jei-sey, grant for and division of, 86 (note). 
New Year's, celebration of, in early times, 
New Union Mills, 613. 
Newberry, Dr. Milton, 659. 
"New Albion," 56. 
New Hanover Square, 993. 
New Hanover village, 993. 
Newport, David, 356, 694. 
Newport, William & Co., 628, 629. 
'I New land," 3. 

New Hanover township: description, 992; de- 
rivation of name, 992 ; Germaua' tract of 
land, 992 ; list of earliest ownei-s of the soil, 
993; villages, 993; schools, 993 ; Lutheran 
Church, 993 ; Reformed Church, 994 ; elec- 
tions, 994 ; Jissessment of 1785, 994 ; residents 
iu 1792, 994 ; taverns, 347 ; mercantile ap- 
praisement of 1884, 994 ; recent statistics, 995 ; 

336. 
ex-Governor Hartrauft, 095-998 ; Yost family, 
998-999. 
Newspaper reporter, firat in the county, 483. 
Newspapers; Hoch deutsch Peniisylcanbche Go- 
schichtschr ether, 136 ; first and second in 
county, 452. *New8papers in Jlontgomery 
County, 458 ; the first in Norristown, 458; 
the Norristown Gazette, 458 ; the Norristown 
Herald, 458-459, 467 ; the Norristown Regis- 
ter, 458, 462-463 ; the Free Press, 459 ; the 
Heiuld and Free Press, 459; the Doylestown 
Olive Branch, 459 ; the Norristow n Republi- 
can, 459 ; the Weekly Hemld, 459 ; the Her- 
ald and Semi-Weelily Republican, 459 ; the 
Norristown Daily Herald, 459 ; the Bauern 
Freund, 462 464 ; the Montgomery Dem- 
ocrat, 462 ; the Montgomery Watchman, 462; 
■ the Daily Register, 462-463 ; the Daily Watch 
man, 46:i ; the Pennsburg Democrat, 463- 
the Perkiomen Valley Press. 463-464 ; the 
Montgomery Ledger, 464-465 ; the Daily 
Pottstown Ledger, 464-465: the National De- 
fender, 465 ; the Lansdale Reporter, 465 ; 
the Hatboro' Literary Chronicle, 724 ; the 
Hatboro' Public Spirit, 465-466, 724 ; the 
North Wales Record, 465-466 ; the Bryn 
Mawr News, 465, 467 ; the Schwenksvillo 
Item, 465 ; the Providence Independent, 465; 
the Towamening Item, 465, 470; the 3Iont- 
gomery Law Reporter, 465, 470 ; the Norris- 
town Independent, 466 ; the Medical Sum- 
mary, 466 ; the Agents' Call, 466 ; the Wahr- 
heits Freund, 466 ; the True Witness, 466j; 



the Providence Independent, 466 ; the Home 
News, 466; the Weekly Item, 466 ; tho 
NcutralLst, 467 ; the Montgomery County 
Presse, 467 ; the Morning Clirouicle, 467; 
the Ambler Gazette, 467 ; the Ambler Times, 
467 ; the Daily and Weekly Times, 467 ; 
Conshohocken Telegraph, 470. 

Noble, Samuel W., 4S3-484. 

Non-resistants, 368. 

North Wales borough : mention of, 117 ; incor- 
poration, 777 ; name, 777 ; description and 
statistics, 777 ; St. Peter's Lutheran amrch, 
777 ; Sunday-school, 778 ; Parish Union, 779 ; 
Baptist, Reformtid and Methodist Churches, 
779 ; list of burgesses, 779 ; biographical 
sketches, 779-784 ; manufacturing indus- 
tries of, 623-624 ; Nortli Wales Steam Mills, 
623. 

Norristown borough : original plot of, 107 ; 
whipping-post in, 108 ; Markley's addition, 
109; incoi-poration, 109, 757, 759; material 
improvement and growth, 110-112, 747 ; sta- 
tistics, 747 ; public and corpoiution buildings, 
114, 115, 757, 758, 767; dam at, 128; Do 
Kalh Street bridge, 748; railroads, 74S ; 
water-works, 749; Fire Department, 749; 
manufactures, 749, 750, 76^!; churches, 75('- 
752 ; schools, 752-754 ; cemeteries, 754 ; pub- 
lic halls, 754 ; library, 754 ; post-oflice, 755 ; 
early history, 765 ; Isaac Norris, 755 ; inci- 
dents of the Revolution, 736-757 ; execution 
of John Brown, burglar, 758 ; the town in 
1790, 758 ; militia in 1807, 758, 759 ; early 
roads and streets, 760 ; t'lverns and inns, 760; 
stages, 761 ; Bible Society, 764 ; lumber and 
coal dealers, 765 ; rejoicing ovi-r the capturo 
of Maiden, 765 ; recruiting for war of 1812, 
765; quiet of the town prior to 1818, 766; 
visit of Lafayette, 766 ; soldiers' monument, 

768 ; Barbadoes Island, 768 ; floating baths, 

769 ; listof burgesses, 770 ; biographical, 770- 
777. ' - 

Norristown Iron- Works, 568, 569, 574. 
Norristown dam, 128. 
Norristown Binder-Works, 581. 
Norris Coach-Factory, 581. 
Norristown Woolen Mil's, 534. 
Norris, Isjiac, 755, 999. 
Norris, Charles, 765. 

Norriton township 4: Rittenhouse observatory 
in, -i-JS; the " nu^no^ of William 
Btadt" laid off by order of William Pcnn. 
999; ownership vested in Isaac Norris, and 
townsliip named in his honor, 999 ; the Nor- 
riton Presbyterian Church, 999, 100;i ; dur- 
ing the Revolution, 1000; taverns, :i47 ; 
statistics and description, lOilO ; roads, 1001; 
villages, 1001 ; post-offices, lOOl ; elections, 
1001; common-school system, 1002 ; places 
of religions worship, lno3 ; Burr's Meeting- 
house, 1004 ; militia organizations, l(Hi4 ; 
"the Yellow Club," 1005 ; (Vil. Bull, IfM).', ; 
Col. Porter, 1005; other biographical sketches, 
liM)6. 
Norriton observatory, 4. 
Norritonville, 1001. 
Nui-aes, . women, in army Iiospitals, 'I'Jo- 

296. 
Nutt, Samuel, 565 (note). 
Nyce, John, 834. 
Nyce, Sanmel E., 356. 



Oaks Station, 1058. 
Obelisk village, 831, 832. 



Ixxxii 



INDEX. 



Oberholtzer, Bishop John II., 415. 

O'Brien, Michael, 481, oii7-5ltS. 

Odd-Fflhnvs* organizations, 4SiM03 (see also 
Atwociations, Charitable and Benevolent) : 
Montgomery Lodge, No. 67, 48H ; Wissahickon 
Lodge, No. ITS, 490 ; Merion Lodge, No. 
210, 4U0 ; Centre Square LiKJge, No. 204, 
41)0 ; Manatawny Lodge, No. 214, 400 ; Grati- 
tude Ludge, No. 21(;, 490 ; Eagle Lodge, No. 
222, 490 ; Curtis Lodge, No. 239, 490 ; Spring 
Ilouse Lodge, No. 339, 49U ; Peace and Love 
Ludge, No. 337, 490, 734; Loller Lodge, No. 
338, 490; Providenee Lodge, No. 345, 49<J; 
Marble Hall Lodge, No. 351, 491 ; Douglas 
Lodge, No. 367, 491 ; Banyan-Tree Lodge, 
No. 378, 491; Economy Lodge, No. 397, 
491 ; Norris Lodge, No. 430, 491 ; Penus- 
burg Lodge, No. 449, 491 ; Upper Dub- 
lin Lodge, No. 458, 491 ; Madisou Lodge, No. 
40(1, 491 ; Gulf I<odge, No. 525, 491 ; North 
Wales Lodge, No. 010, 491 ; Lansdale Lodge, 
No. 977, 492 ; list and statement of, in Mont- 
gomery County, 192 ; Nonistown Encamp- 
ment, No. 37, 492 ; Centre Square Encamp- 
ment, No. 84, 492 ; Excelsior Encampment 
No. 85, 492 ; Elourtown Encampment, No. 
94, 492 ; Montgomery Encampment, No. 113 
492 ; Slarble Hall Emampmeut, No. 169, 
4'.i2 ; Abington Encampment, No. 189, 492 ; 
(.'oiibbohocken Encampment, No. 209, 492 ; 
Penneburg Encampment, No. 234, 492 ; 
Dangbtere of Rebekah, 492 ; Colored Odd- 
Fellows, 493. 

f)fficialP, civil, of Montgomery County, 318- 
323. 

Organs, church, introduced, 137. 

Ogden, James, 582. 

Ogontz. 808. 

Oil-works, Slemmer's, 581. 

Old Sheetz Paper-Mill, 612. 

Old Dave Mills, 612. 

ttpdyko, Capt. Joseph M., 220. 

Order of United American Mechanics, 495. 

Ottinger, Christopher, 1073. 

Owen, Dr. Griffith, 637. 

Owon, Henry, 442. 

Owen, Capt. William W., 216. 



Palmer, Capt. William J., 254-255. 
Palm Station, 1107. * 

rapor-mill, fii-st in America, 133. 
Paper-mills: Cox & Dager's, 590-591 ; Kebecca 
592 ; Old Dave, 612 ; Ashland, 612 ; Old 
Sheetz, 612 ; Stillwagon's, 615 ; Rivei-side, 
624-625 ; Rebecca, at Bridgeport. 707 ; Lang- 
Btroth'e, in Moreland, 977. 
Papi^goya, John, 67, 71. 
Parke, John, 356, 361 ; lines by, 362-363. 
Parliament, discussion of Stamp Act in, 151- 
154, 155-157 ; imposition by, of duties on 
colonial imports, 157. 
Pjuttorins, Jacob, 593. 
I'atriotic Order Sons of America, camps in 

Mniitgomery County, 494. 
Pattei>on, Josepli, 498. 
Pattei-son, Samuel D., 1056. 
Patterson, A. S., 610. 
Paul, Jamt'S, 512. 
l^^ul, Lnkens, 915. 
J':nvlirig, Henry, 1022. 
Pawling, Lieut. Joseph H., 313. 
Pawling, Levi, 473,.5li6-.'.07. 
Pawling. Dr. Henry DeWitt, 652. 
Pawling, -lames M., 513, .'>45. 



Pawling family, 1047. 

Paxson, Charles, 1099. 

Paxson, Dr. Jacob L., 30G~307. 

Pencoyd, 925. 

Pencoyd Iron Works, 615-614. 

Penllyn Station, 855. 

Penn, SirAVilHam, 82. 

Penu, William : birth, education, character, 

82, 87 ; suffering for religious convictions, 

83, 84 ; preaching Quaker doctrine and liber- 
ty of conscience, 85 ; letter of caution con- 
cerning the new country, 85 (note) ; death 
of his father, 88; his pamphlet account of 
the province, published in England, 92 ; 
efforts to facilitate trade, 93 ; framiug a gov- 
ernment, £i3 ; "conditions or conces.sion8," 
93 (note) ; prepares to leave England, IMO; 
aiTives at New Castle, lol ; at Upland (Ches- 
ter), 101 ; early allusions by to the province, 
32; purchases land west of the Schuylkill 
from the Indians, -U* ; descriptions by, of In- 
dians, 41-42 ; mention by, of great canoes on 
the Schuylkill, 121 ; peaceful and eonserva- 
tive character of his government, 142 ; iu- 
fonnal treaty by, 142 ; his fortune impaired, 
146 ; death of, 147 ; author of tirst code of 
laws of Pennsylvania, 529. 

Penn, John, 150 ; correspondence of, on Brit- 
ish taxation, 154. 
Penn, Thomais, 149. 
Penn, Hannah, 147. 
Penn Square, 1001. 
Penn Boiler- Works, the, 578. 
Pennsylvania: charter of the province, 88-91; 
second charter, 144; popuiatim of, in 1684, 
144 ; lack of harmony betw.jcn legislative 
and executive branches in government of, 
14-4 ; third frame of gnvernment, 145; char- 
ter of 1700-1776, 145-147 ; Jurisdiction of, 
given by Penn's will to Earls of Oxford, 147 ; 
influx of immigration, 147 ; various elements 
of population, 147 ; restrictive policy of home 
government toward, 148-149 ; proclamation 
of James Hamilton, Governor of, 148, (note); 
population of, prior to Revolution, 149 ; pro- 
vincial Governors of, 157 ; counties of prov- 
ince, 158. 
Pennsylvania Tack-W'orks, 574. 
Pennsylvania Iron-Wurks, 568. 
Pennsj'lvania Land Company, 1048. 
Pennsburg, 1106. 

Penuypacker, 01iff{or Adolph), 917. 
Pennypacker, Henry, 1021. 
Penrose family, owners of Grwme Park, 9CH1, 

906-91)8. 
Penrose, Jarrett, 905. 
Penrose, Abel, 906-908. 
Perkiomen Consolidated Mining Company, 

10. 
Perkiomen Bridge (village), 1058. 
Perkioraenville, 832. 

Perkiomen township : general aspect of, 1019- 
1020; name 1020 ; earlinessof settlement, 1020 ; 
brief sketches of pioneer familiey, 102n-1022 ; 
roads, 1U22 ; Revolutionaiy history, 1022- 
1023 ; cave discovered, l(t2;i ; Dunkards, 1023; 
Skippack, 1024 ; Grater's Ford, 1024 ; iron 
bridge, 1024 ; Schwenksville, 1024 ; schools, 
1025 ; taverns, 'Ml ; Mennonites' meeting- 
house and graveyard, 1025 ; New Mennon- 
ites, 1026; New Jerusalem Church, 1026; 
residents in 1756 and 1766, 1027 ; biographic- 
al, 1027-1028. ^ 
Perinchief, Rev. 0., address by, 81. 
Petere, Rev. Richard, ^1. 
Philadelphia : roads to, 2 ; as a market for 



wood, 2 ; convergence of railroads at^ 4 ; 
latitude and longitude of 7, 8; gold in soil of, 
9 ; spreading of population from, Ui4 ; mafch 
of Washington's army through, 160, IGl 
(note) ; riots of 1884 in, 191. 
Philadelphia Bridge-Workc, 608. 
Phosphate- works, Newport's, 628, 629. 
Physicians: Owen, Griffith, 637; Grteme, 
Thomas, 637 ; Martin, Christian Frederick, 
637, 638 ; Martin, George, 638 ; Martin, Fred- 
erick A., 638 ; Martin, Charles, 638 ; Martin, 
John Adam, 638 ; Potts, Jonathan, G3s ; De- 
wees, William, 638 ; Huddleson, Isaac, 639 ; 
Thomas, George, 639; Jones, John, 639; 
Jones, Joshua Y., 639; Wilson, F. S., 639; 
Mitchell, Gove, 639 ; Meredith, Joseph. 009^ 
Meredith, Hugh, 639; Hough, Silas, WJ; 
Moore, Charles, 640; Griffith, Amos, 640; 
Hahn, Philip, 040 ; Gartley, Samuel, €40 ; 
Freedley, Samuel, 040 ; Dodd, Robert J., MO ; 
Dudd, Robert J., Jr., 642 ; Knipe, Jacob, 642 ; 
Corson, Hiram, 643 ; Corson, William, C45 ; 
Johnson, Benjamin, 647 ; Leedom, Joseph, 

647 ; Leedom, Edwin C, 647 ; Foulke, Antrim, 

648 ; Hamer, James (1st), 648 ; Hamcr, James 
(2nd), 649; Van Buskirk, George AV., SS-) ; 
Van Buskirk, William A., 650 ; Grigg, Jolm 
R., 65ii; Shoemaker, Charles, 651; Fronefiuld, 
Charles, 651 ; Pawling, Henry DeWitt, tt5j ; 
Scbrack, John, 652 ; Royer, J. Warren, «63 ; 
Hillegas, John G., 654 ; Reid, John K., 656 ; 
Read, Louis W., 657; Richardson, MargBret 
Phillips, *;57 ; Reading, Edward, 658; New- 
berry, Milton, 659 ; Todd, John, 660; Mart- 
ley, Arthur D., 661 ; Scheetz, Jacob H., t'OU ; 
Johnson, Benjamin K., 663 ; Knipe, JACOb 
0., 664; Preston, Mahlon, 665; Coi-son, El- 
wood, 605 ; Sergeant, Gorham Parsons, 6G5 ; 
Beaver, David B., 666 ; Schrack, David, 667 ; 
Stiles, George M., 668 ; Bellows, Horace Mar- 
tin, 669 ; Weaver, Joseph Kerr, 671 ; IMesch- 
ter, George K., 672 ; Dismant, Benjamin F. 
673 ; Stiuson, Mary Henderson, 673 ; Loux, 
Hiram R., 675 ; Rossiter, Edwin B., 675 ; 
Handle, William H., 676 ; list of in Medical 
Society, G77 ; list of, in Montgomery County, 
677-678. 

Pickering, Lieut. -Col. T., letter from, on battle 
of Germantnwn, 165 (note). 

Plate-iron mills, 574 ; John WoodA Bros., 593 ; 
Alan W'ood & Co.'s, at Conshohocken, 714. 

Plowden, Sir Edward, 56. 

Plymouth Furnaces, 568. 

Plymouth fleeting village, 1031. 

Plymouth RoUing-Mill, 569. 

Plymouth township, situation and surface, 1028, 
1029; limestone, 1029; statistics, 1029; sur- 
vey, 1029 ; early land-holders, 1030 ; family 
sketches, 103IV1031 ; "Seven Stars" inn, 
1031 ; other taverns, 347, I()3l ; Plymouth 
Meeting (town), 1031 ; Hickorytown, 1032 ; 
Harmanville, 1032; Plymouth Meeting 
(Friends'), 1032; residents in 1780, 1033; 
manufacturing industries of, 627 ; biographi- 
cal sketches, 1033-1041. 

Poetry, early : authors of, 360-362 ; specimens 
of, 362-306. 

Politics of Montgomerj- County, past and pres- 
ent, chapter on, 502. 

Political parties: the National Republican. 
502-503, 511 ; the Federalist, 5i)2 ; the 
Democratic, 503, 508, 511-517, 527; the 
Democratic Republican, 503, 505, 510 ; the 
Federal Republican, 503,505; the Indepen- 
dent Republican, 505-506; the Jackson 
Democratic, 511-512 ; the Anti-Jackson, 512 ; 



INDEX. 



Ixxxiii 



the Whig, 512-514 ; the Anti-Masonic, 513 ; 
in the campaign of 1840, 514 ; the RepnWi" 
can, 515-51", 520-527 ; in the campaign of 
1860, 515; the Native American, 515; vote 
of in, 1S70, 515 ; the Greenback, 51U-Jn ; 
the Temperance, 51G-517 ; comparative 
Presidential vote of, in 1880 and 1884, 
528. 
Pollock, Gov. .Tames, action of, on the common- 
school system. 4'lD. 
Pool Forge, the, 504. 
Pontiac, conspiracy of, 149-150. 
Poor, the directors of, 322. 
Poor-house and poor of Montgomerty County, 

500-501 ; overseers of Jioor for 1785, 500. 
Porter, Gen. Andrew, 706, 1005. 
Porter, Gov. Daviil R., 700, 1000. 
Pork-packing, 593; S. Effrig & Co. "s establish- 
ment, 021. 
Port Kennedy, 1121. 
Port Providence, 1058. 

Post oHices, 451-452 ; in Montgomery County 
prior to 1810. 4.52 ; at Bridgeport, 709 ; at 
Norristown, 4K5 ; at Pottstown, 788 ; at 
Rover's Ford, 7'.>S ; at Cheltenham, 804 ; in 
Douglas, 820 ; in Frederick, 845 ; in Gwy- 
nedd, 854; at Horshamville, 877-878; in 
Limerick, 916 ; in Lower Salford, 950 ; in 
Jloutgimiery, 901-962 ; in Moreland, 974 ; in 
Norriton, 1001 ; in New Hanover, 903 ; in 
SpringfiBld, 1074; in I'pper Dublin, lOO.i- 
1090 ; in Upper Hanover, 1100-1107 ; in 
Lower Providence, 1050-1051; in Upper 
Providence, 1058. 
Potts Brothers' Iron Company, COS. 
Potta, Capt. Wm. S., 229. 
Potts, David, Jr., 479. 
Potts, Henry, 479. 
Potts, Henry & Co., 569. 
Potts, Isaac, 1122, 11'24. 
Potta, John, Jr., 038. 
Potts, John, iron-works of, 507. 
Potts, Joseph D., 005-606. 
Potts, John, 529, 789, 791-792. 
Potts, Dr. Jonathan, 038. 
Potts, Rev. Joshua, 977. 
Potia mansion, Wodiington's headquarters at, 

170. 
Potts, Nathan B., 477, 544. 
Putts, William C, 484, 1100. 
Potts, Zebulon, 317, 1030. 
Pottery, Keller's, .587. 
Pottsgrove Iron-Works, 509. 
Pottstown Iron Company, 509. 
Pottsjirove township; general description, 
1041 ; natural ' curiosities, the "Ringing 
Rocks" 1041 ; erection of the townsbip,1041 ; 
fil-st settlers, 1042 ; st.atistics, 1042 ; villages^ 
1012 ; schools, 1042 ; biographical, 1043. 
Providence township: early ownership, 1044 ; or. 
ganization,1044 ; spelling of name Porkiomen, 
1014; roads, 1044; public improvements, 1045 
railroad3,1045 ; bridges, 1045-1040 ; lotteries 
lLi40 ; taverns, 347 ; early settlers and descend 
ants, Hi47-1048 ; justices of the peace, 1048 
Pennsylvania Land Company, 1048 ; voting 
in Phillulelphii^ 1048 ; early statistics, 1049. 
Pottstown Iron Company's Works, 003. 
Pottstown borough : laying out of, 115 ; general 
description of, 115, 784.; growth, 784 ; bridges, 
784 ; improvements, 785 ; manufactures, 0O3- 
608, 785 ; gas compan, 785 ; schools, 786 ; 
societies, 786 ; first house of worship, 786 ; 
churches, 787 ; cemeteries, 787 ; post-office, 
. 788 ; Fire Department,788 ; newspapers, 788 ; 
taverns, 788; early land-ownership, 789; 



Frankfort Land Company, 789 ; Revolution- 
ary incidents, 78'.l-790 ; tribute to Washing- 
ton in 1800, 790 ; the town in 1810, 790 ; in- 
corporation, 791 ; burgesses, 791 ; the Re- 
formed congregations, 791 ; Lutherans, 792- 
793 ; biographical, 793-797. 
Preston, Dr. Mnhlon, 005. 
Prospectville, 878. 
Prothonotaries, 319-320. 
Proud, Robert, 393, 

Provincial Council : onler road laid out from 
Wbitemarsb to Cresheim, 32 ; who composed, 
144; .action of, relative to whipping of black 
slaves, 300. 
Providence Square, 1058. 
Price, Daniel, 480. 
Price, James, 480. 
Price, Jacob, 947. 
Price family, 947. 
Prince, Samuel F., 597. 
Print-Works, Albion, 597, 714. 
Printz, John, 60, 03, 04, 65 ; secures the 

Schuylkill trade, 60 ; " Printz Hall," l>3. 
Printing-press, Benj.amin Franklin's, 458 ; first 

in Montgomery County, 458, 
Printing, by Germans, in America, 130-137. 
Prison, officers of, 323-324 ; report of inspectors 

of, for 1884, 3-24. 
Prizer, Wm. L., 467. 
Prizer, John G,, 486, 
Piigh, Ellis, 356-1030. 
Puritans, movement of the, to the New World, 

52. 
Powel, Benjamin, 545. 
Powel, Col, Wm., 512, 545 
Pythian Temple, order of the, 497. 
Powell, John W,, 489. 



Q. 

Quarries, 21, 25-27 ; East Conshohocken, 597, 
698 ; William B. Rambo's, 010 ; Mogee's 
limestone, 627 ; North Conshohocken, 714. 

Quartz, 19, 

Quiucyville, 1058, 

Quakera (see Friends). 



Rachel, fugitive slave, 308-309. 
Radcliff, Edward N., 300. 

Railroads, 3,4 ; from Philadelphia to Columbia, 
111 ; Philadelphia, Germantown and Norris- 
town, 111, 330, 331 ; general statistics of, 113 ; 
Philadelphia and Beading. 331, 709 ; Chester 
Valley, 332; North Pennsylvania, 332; Cole- 
hrookdale, 332; North-East Pennsylvania, 
332 ; Stony Creek, 332 ; Perkiomen, 332 ; 
Plymouth, 332 ; Pennsylvania Schuylkill Val- 
ley, 333, 924. 
Ralston, Rev. J. Grier, 405-400, 703. 

Ranibo, Nathan, 010. 

Rambo, Rev, Abel, 402-403. 

Riimbo, William B., 610. 

Rambo, Mens, 1126. 

Banibo, John and Gunnar, 1125. 

Bambo, Peter, 1120. 

Randle, Dr. William H., 676. 

Randenbush, William C, 486. 

Ratcliffe, Thomas, 590, 591. 

Ranch, Rev. Dr. F. A., 410. 

Rawle, Francis, 356, 1030. 

Reading, Dr. Edward, 658. 

Read, Dr, Louis W., 657. 

Rebellion, war of the : part taken, in by Mont- 
gomery County, 195; Fourth Regiment 



Volunteers, 196; organization of First Brigade 
197 (note) ; roster of Fourth Regiment, 198 ; 
Forty-fourth Regiment, 199 ; organization of 
Cavalry Corps, A, of P,, 199 (note) ; Col. Owen 
Jones, 20O ; roster of Forty-fourth Regiment, 
201-203 ; history of Fifty-first Regiment, 203- 
210 ;ro6terof, 21I-'22I ; battles and marches 
of, 221 ; organization of Second Brigade, '204 
(note) ; Fifty-third Regiment, history of, 222; 
roster of, 226-231 , organiziition of Second 
Brig;ule, 223 ; history of Sixty-eight Regi- 
ment, 231 ; roster of, 234 ; First Brigade, 232 
(note) ; Ninety-third Regiment, 236 ; Ninety- 
Fifth Regiment, '236 ; One Hundred and Sixth 
Regiment, 236 ; roster of, 240 ; Philadelphia 
Twenty-Ninth Regiment, 241 ; roster, 243 ; 
One Hun dred and Thirty-eighth Regiment, 
244 ; roster, 249 ; One Hundred and Sixtieth 
Regiment, .\nderson Cavalry , 244; One Hun- 
dred and Sevent.v-ttfth Regt, (dratted militia), 
Brig;»de, 237 (note) ; One Hundred and 
270 ; roster, 271 ; One Hundred and Seventy- 
ninth Regiment, 272 ; Eleventh militia Regi- 
ment, 278; Seventeenth Regiment, 278; Nine- 
teenth Regiment, 279 ; independent cavall7 , 
companies, 289 ; independent cavalry bat- 
talion, 280; Twenty-sixth Militia, 281 ; Thirty- 
fourth (emergency men), 281; Forty-first 
(emergency men, 282 ; One Hundred and 
Ninety-seventh Regiment, 282; recapitulation 
of Montgomery County troops, 285 ; Sixth Regi- 
ment National Guards, 285 ; soldiers from 
Frederick township, 845, 840. 
Rebenach, Rev, J, II., 778. 
Recorders of deeds, 320. 
Record Farms, 117.5-1177. 
Redemptioners, 297-300 ; sale of, for passage- 
money, 298; purchased by speculators or 
"soul drivers" from ship Ciiptains, 399. 
Redding Furnace, 505. 

Red Men, Improved Order of, 493 ; Tribe Te- 
cumseh. No, 1, 493 : Beaver Tribe, No. 62, 493 
list and statement of tribes in Montgomery 
County, 494. 
Reed, Rev, Ezra L,, 778. 
Reed, Wm. F., 486. 
Reese, Wm. J., 1013. 
Reed, Joseph, 532. 

Reed, Michael H., 1010. f 

Rees, James, 356. 
Rees, Capt. John L,, 268, 
Reese, Rev, JohnL,, 1013, 
Registers of wills, 321. - 
Reifr, George S., 486. 
Reinhold, Maj. R. R.,268. 
Reimer, Frederick, 836. 
Reiff, Jacob, 947, 952. 
Reiff family, 917, 

Reid, Dr, John K., 656. / 

Religious denominations : classification of, 368 i 
Society of Friends, 308 ; German Baptists 
(Dnnkers), 369 ; Schwenkfelders, 369 ; Epis- 
copal Church, 369, 382 ; the Presbyterians, 
370 ; Lutherans, 370 ; Reformed Chnrch, .371 ; 
Baptist, 371 ; Methodist Episcopal, 372 ; Ro- 
man Catholics, 373 ; Evangelical Association, 
734; various schisms, 375 ; Hicksites, 375; 
divisions among Mennonists, 376 ; Presb,vte- 
rian schism, 376; other divisions, 378; Meth 
odist Episcopal, 3S5, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 
391 ; Evangelical Association or German 
Methodist, 389,390, .192: Episcopal, 390; 
Evangelical Lutheran, 390 ; Reformed, 391 ; 
Methodist, 391 ; Presbyterian, 391 ; Baptist, 
392 ; Dunkers, 392 ; Mennonites, 392 ; Chria- 
ian, 392 :_Friend8, 392 (see Churches). 



i 



^i 



Ixxxiv 



INDEX. 



Keligiun, 3CC (see Beligious Denominations, 

also Churches). 
Kt-niiyson, Wm , 4G8. 
liepublic, the 'Grand Army of, 285-29G (see 

Gmntl Army of tlie Kepublic). 
Ec-voliition, war of the : proniiiu'iice of Eastern 
Pennsylvania in annals uf, 158 ; Washington 
organizes forces for campaign of 1777, 169 ; 
critical situation in May, 1777, 159; march 
of Washini^ton'B army through Philadelphia 
tt) intercei-t Howe's forces, 100, ICl (note), 
battle of Brandywine, lOl (note 1(11-11^1) ; 
Paoli massacre, 164 ; transportation of stores 
on thf Schuylkill, Vlli ; occupation of Phila- 
delphia by Howe's troops, 105 ; battle of 
Gerniantowii, 1G5, 166 (note); Gen. Gates' 
success, 107 ; plana for sui-prising, Wash- 
ington at Whitemareh, 107 (tiutf); remon- 
etmnce against proposed cimtunnient of the 
anny, 107, 168 ; camp on ilie Gulf Hills, 108; 
Viiliey Forge, lilS, ll"2(i, WS.i ; sufTenngs of 
troops, 169 ; arrangem* nt of the line, 169 ; 
^ Potts' mansion, 17(i ; log houses built, 170 ; 
^ vjiin appeals to the government for supplies, 
17(1 ; scarcity of food and clothing, 171 ; cabal 
against Washington, 172 ; committee of 
Congress vi.-it Valley Forge, 173 ; Steuben 
appointi d inspector-general, 173 ; value of 
his sei^ir-es, 174; restoration of confidence, 
174 ; Fianklin's success ut Court of Lewis 
XVI., 174, 175 ; beginning of the campaign of 
1778. 175; Howe preparing to evacuate Phila- 
delphia, 175, 176; Layfayntte's movement>j, 
170, 177 ; vi'^ilanceof Col Alan McLane, 177 
(note) ; the Meschianzi, 177, 178 (note) ; 
march from Valley Forge to Newburgh, 179 ; 
state of affaii-s in 1777, 179 ; condition of 
country at close of war, lOG ; appraisement of 
damages during British possession, 179, 180 ; 
severe skirmish at site of Weldon village, 
1777, OSl ; affairs at Suedes' Ford, 710; sur- 
prise of patriots under Col. Lacy at Hatboro', 
723 ; occunx'nces at Norristown, 756, 757 ; 
W;ishington'8 movements in vicinity of Potts- 
town, 789, 790 ; incidents in Frederick, 845 ; 
affairs in Gwynedd, 859-^03; sufferings ol 
the inhabitants of Lower Blerion during, 
931 ; capture of cattle by British near Mont- 
gomery Square, 961 ; abuse of Presbyterian 
Church in Norritou, 1000; incidents of, in 
Perkiomen, " Camp Perkioming," 1023 ; 
fjvents in Towamencin, 1087 ; Washington 
and the army in Upper Dublin, 1094 ; in Up- 
per Merion, 1120; in Whitemarsh, 1144; 
events in Whitpain, 1163-1165; in Worces- 
ter, 1184. 

Revivals, religious, 378. 

Rex, Mrs. Sarah S., 440. 

Reynolds, Lieutenant-Colonel Anthony H. 
234. 

Rhuades, Jacob B., 864. 

Riale, John, 872. 

Ri'hardson, Joseph, 1047. 

Ricliardson, Dr. Margaret Phillip«, 657. 

Richardson, William, 740. 

Richards, W. S., 593. 

Richards, Kev. J. W., 35G. 

Rice, Andrew J., 703. 

Ridgeway & Carr's Woolen Mill, 590. 

" Riding Chairs " in 1785, 457. 

Itigbter's Mill, 618. 

Righter, Lindley V., 478. 

Righter, J;.Ln A., 483, 

RightniL-yer, Rev. P. M., 778. 

" Ringing rorkn," 1041. 

Rlot8, in Philadelphia in 1«44, lol I'.t"-. 



Rising, John Claudius, 67. 

Kittenhouse, David, 423 ; astronomical observa- 
tions of at Norriton observatory, 4-8; interested 
in improvement of Schuylkill navigatim, 106, 
123; claims for as to prominence, 137; writ- 
ings of, 356, 357. 
Rittenbouee, Silas, 1051. 
Ritteuhouse, Samuel, 1008. 
Ritteuhouse, William, 1009. 
Rittcnhouse, C. & Sons, 577. 
Kittenhouse, Christopher, 577, 578. 
Bitter, Jacob, 357, 1031. 
Ritter, Gov. Joseph, 5, 13, 14. 
Riverside Paper-Mill, 024, 625. 
Roads ; to Philadelphia, 2 ; from AVhitemarsh 
mai-sh Cresheim, ordered by Provincial Coun- 
cil, 32; Limekiln road laid out in 1693, 33 ; 
provisions for, inPenn'eplan for the govern- 
ment of the province, 03 ; first macadamized 
highway in the State, from Philadelphia to 
Lancaster, ln7 ; "Old York Road " (Chel- 
tenham and Willow Grove turnpike), 107 ; 
Gerniantown and Perkiomen, lo7 ; Ridge 
turnpike, l(t7 ; recent turnpikes, 114 ; 
"King's Path," the, 453 ; first in Montgom- 
ery County, 454; the" York," 455, 722, 723, 
973, 979 : over Skippack Creek, 455 ; the 
Limekiln, 455 ; to Swedes' Ford, 455 ; the 
Bethlehem, 455 ; the old Lancaster, 455 ; the 
"Gulf," 45a; the "State," through Norris- 
town, 451 ; from Byborry to ITorsham, 722 ; 
to and in Norristown, 7G0 ; at West Consho- 
hocken, 8iMi ; Cluirch road, in Cheltenham, 
808 ; in Frederick township, 844 ; from Gwy- 
nedd to Philadelphia, 858 ; Welsh road, 
877 ; in Lower Merion, 032 ; in Moreland, 
975 ; in Norriton, lOOO-lOOl ; in Perkiomen, 
1022 ; in Providence, 1044 ; in Springfield, 
l073, lii74 ; from Spring House to Marlbor- 
ough, 1087 ; in Upper Dublin, 1004; in Up- 
per Merion, 112ii ; in Upper Salford, 1133; 
in Wbitemni-sb, 1142 ; in Whitpain, 1174. 
Robeson, Samuel Levis, 944. 
Robeson family, 1141. 
Roberts, George r.,442. 
Robei-ts, Hon. Jonathan, 441,510,1121. 
Roberts, Enos, 1183. 
Roberts, Jesse, 1012. 
Roberts, Percival, G13. 
Roberts, James, 486. 
Roberts, Matthew, 473, 1120. 
Roberts, Richard K., 906. 
Roberts, Algernon, 613. 
Roberts, Job, 357. 
Roberts fiUJiily, 930. 
Robinson, John, 1058. 
Rubinson, Dr. William T., 4GG. 
Robinson's Yarn Mill, 01.3. 
Rockhill Woolen Mills, 012. 
Rockhill Chemical Works, 013. 
Rodenbough, Rev. Henry S., 403, 408, 

441. 
Rogei-s, Charles, 473. 
Rogers, George W., 550. 
Rogers, D. Ogden, 560. 

Rolling-mills, 508 ; Pencoyil, 568, G13, G14, 925 ; 
CouBhohocken, 508 ; Pennsylvania, 508 ; ('or- 
liss, 568; of KUis & Lossig, 568 ; Glasgow, 
508 ; Longmead, 569 ; Norristown, 509, 574 ; 
Plymouth, 569 ; Pottsgrove, 569, 605, 785 ; 
Pottstown, 569; Schuylkill, 569 ; Standard, 
560, 574 ; Stony Creek, 5G9 ; first in Consbo- 
hocken, 714 ; Plymouth, in Conshohocken 
595,714; of Alan Wood & Co., 593, 714; of 
John Wood & Brothers, 593. 
Rorer, Chftries S., 902. 



Rorer, Captain J. T., 252. 

Robs, George, 532. 

Ross, Judge Henry P., 541. 

Boss, Judge John, 538. 

Rose, David H., 500. 

Boss, James, 503, 504. 

Ross, Rev. Eneas, 1149. 

Rose, Aquila, 361 ; lines by, 362. 

Rose Glen Mill, 619. 

Rose Glen Station, 927. 

Rossiter, Thomas, 466. 

Rossiter, Dr. Edwin B., 675. 

Rosenberger, Isaac R., 872. 

Round Meadow, 980. 

Rtiwland, Thoniiis, 636. 

Rowland's Sons', Thomas, shovel works, 636. 

Royer's Ford borough : mention of, 117 ; in- 
corporated, 797 ; name, 797 ; description and 
statistics, 797-798 ; churches, 798 ; HiM.k-and- 
Ladder Company, 798 ; burgesses, 798 ; post- 
masters, 798 ; biographical, 798-799 ; manu- 
facturing industries of, 626. 

Royer, Hon. Joseph, 1005. 

Royer, Joseph, 512. 

Royer, Hon. Horace, 408. 

Royer, Dr. J. Warren, 408, 653. 

Royer, Dr. Lewis, 521. 

Royer, Joseph W., 465. 

Royer's Ford Clay Works, 626. 

Royal Arcanum, tlie, 497. 

Ruch, A. & Brother, 581. 

Runkle, William 51., 466. 

Ruth, A. D., 621. 

Ruth, Henry, 4S7. 

Ruth, James S., 487. 

S. 

Salford, Lower: location, 945 ; public improve- 
ments, 945 ; statistics, 945 ; organization and 
name, 945 ; first land-owners, 94G ; brief 
sketches bf early settlers, 946-949; ta''^rn«, 
346, 949 ; " the Herrites." 949 ; villages 950- 
Wasbington in vicinity of Harleysville, 950 ; 
c'othing manufacture, 950, 951 ; the 
Schwenkfelder Meeting-house, 951 ; »he 
Mennonites, 951 ; Dunkard Mt-viing-bousf- 
952; Reiff's Reformed Church. 952. 954; 
residents in 1776, 954 ; biographical, 954- 
!I56. 

Salfordvillc, 1134. 

Salford Station, 1134. 

Solly, William F.,.V.8. 

Sandy Run Station, 1074. 

Sandstone, 20 ; new red, 30 ; Potsdam, 30. 

Sargent. Dr. Gorham Parsons, 605. 

Sarver. Abraham, 487. 

Sattertbwaite stock farm, 682. 

Saw and plauing-mills: Bolton's Sons, 5HI ; 
Bodey and Livingston's, 582; Pottstown 
Steam-Planing, 608 ; Richard Krause's, 6),)8 ; 
West Point Steam. 623; Lukens & Shearer's, 
624 ; Birchall & Bray's, 632 ; Jones & Yerke's, 
714. 

Saylor, Andrew J., 1194. 

Saylor, Augustus D., 4S1. 

Saylor, Henry D., 560. 

Schools, public or common; first official step to 
establish, 392, 393 ; Philadelphia High, 393 ; 
parochial, 394, 395, 396 (note), 397, 423 ; of 
the Friends, 394 ; family, in Montgomery 
County, 394 (note); early German, 304, 395; 
private, prior to 1834, 396 (note); common 
acts of 1809, 1810 and 1834, in reference to, 
394,395,396,397; conditiuu and efficiency 
of,iuearly years, 395,396; Governor Wolf tlio 
advocate of, 396,397; opposition of Germane 



* 



INDEX. 



Tracy, Henry M., 559. 

Tnii) dikoB, l!7. 

Trap rock, '11. 

Trapjie, the, vit'age, lO'.T. 

Treat, Kev. Richard, 3.s6. 

Treaturers, 321. 

Trent, William, 990. 

Tremper, Jacob, 829. 

Treewjgton village, SG9. 

In-aties : first on the Delawiire made by Pe 
VrifS, 5fi ; I'eiiD'e inlormal ronference. 142 > 
between Great Britain, Fiante and Spain in 
17r.2, 14S ; treaty of Ghout in 1^14, lS8. 

Tr.'sal, John, 8n7. 

Truck?es8, David, 1195. 

Truiubaiier, George, iS36. 

Tube-Works, the Conshohotken, 596-597. 

Turubull, II. C. 900. 

Turner, Joseph. ?^s2. 

Turnpikes; the first turnpike, I'hiladelph'aand 
Lancaster, 466, 'J24 ; the Germantown and 
Perkiumen, 456; "Ibe Cheltenham and Wil- 
low Grove, 456, 9,sl; \.h-. Chelnut Hill and 
Spiing House 456,854; the Perkiomen nnd 
Kefldiug, 456, 7H5, SOO; the Ridge, 4o6; the 
Doylpstnwn and Willow Grove, 456; the 
Sumneytown and Spring House, 456, 956; 
the Fox ChHse and Huiitingdon Valley, 456; 
the Cou-hohocken and Plymouth, 456; the 
Terkiinien and Suujnpytown, 457, s3_', lU20. 
the Haiboio'aiid Warminster, 4i7. 979; the 
Liraekilu, 457; theGnshenhoppen andGr*-en 
Laue, 457, 1105; Bridgeport and King of 
Prussia, 457; the Skippack, 457; the L mer- 
ick and Colebrookdar>.457; the Willow Gtove 
and Germantown, 457, 9sl ; Gerysville, 457 ; 
Harleysville aud Le(h'r<iths\ille, 457 ; Xor- 
ristown and Ceiitie Square, 457; Blii» Bell 
and P< nllyn, 457 ; York Uoad, S02 ; in aiore- 
land, 973. 

t'wickeuham Farm," S07. 
erspoit, 1134. 
on, Jacob P., 695. 
son, Neville D., 5.j6. 

Tyeilrc, Rvner, 679. 

U. 

Underground Railroad, the, 303, 3ia, 
Union Canal Cumpuny, 124. ^v.-'^ 
United States >tilit;iry Academy, graduates of, 

313-316. 
Upland, 92. 

Upi*cr Dublin township: description, 1U92 ; 
6tatistic8. Iii92; early property-owners, 1093; 
hri«f sketches of families, 1093; roads, lu94; 
Friends' Meeting-house, 1094 ; Dunkards, 
lu95 ; Ambler. 11*95; Fitzwatertowu, lii95; 
JarrettowD, 1C9G ; Dresheitown, l(i96 ; 
" Three Tuns," 1096; taverus. 348 ; Lutheran 
Church, 1096 ; William Homer aud his 
eminiscences, 1097, 1098; residents in 1776, 
098, Ui99; biographical. 1099,1104; manu- 
acturing interests of, 631. 
r-er f^in(>vcr township; physicial features, 
'irnvements, 1105; statistics, 
I first giist-mill on Upper 
Pennsburg, 1106; Palm 
einville, 1107; Hillegass- 
'Is, 1107; mercantile ap- 
-H. 1108; Reformed (hurch 
, 1108-1112; roster of Sun- 



Upper Merion township: topographical fea- 
tures, 1116; streams, 1116 ; mines, 1116, 
111"; lime, 1117; marble, 1117 ; statistics, 
1117; villages, 1118; old Gulf Mill, lllS ; 
scenery between Bridgeport and Valley 
Forge, 1119; early settlement by Swedes, 
1119, 1125 ; residents in 1734, 1119; roads, 
11:;0; Revolutionary liistory, 1120, 1123, 
1124; Port Kennedy, 1121 ; Valley Forge, 
llJ2 ; the old Polls Forge, 1122 ; manufactu- 
ring interests of, 6111-612; sketches of pion- 
eeis, 1125-1127; Christ Church, 1127; resi. 
dents in 1780, 1129; biographical, 1129- 
1131. 

Upper Providence township: statistics of, 1056. 
justices of the peace and constables, 1050; 
the Trappe, 1057; Collegevillo, 1058; Port 
Providence, 105S; Munt Clare, in.iS ; other 
villages, IX.S; Lutheran Church at the 
Trappe, 1058; St. Luke's Reformed, 1060; 
Friends' Meeting-house, 1061 ; Mennouite 
Sleeting, lOOl ; Episcopal Church, 1062 
Trinity Christian Church, 1062; Duukard 
Meeting, lo63 ; prominent personages, lOOS- 
l066; biographical, lO(:6-i071. 

Upper Salford township: topography, 1131- 
1132; statistics, 1132; organization, 1132 . 
list of early settlers, 1132; the origin and sig- 
iiificanceof Goshenhoppen, 1133; roads, 1133; 
villages, 1134; old Goshenhoppen Church, 
1134-1136; John Eck and reminisceures of 
his family, 1136; residents in 1776, 1137. 

Urffer, George, 719. 

I'sstlincx, William, 57. 



Valley Forge, Washington's army at, 168. 

Valh-y Forge village, 1 122. 

Valley Forge Iron- Works. 5(17. 

Valley Forge M'oolen Mill, 612. 

Van Buskirk. Dr. George W., 650. 

Van Buskiik, Dr. William A., 650. 

Vanderslice, Anthony, 512. 

Von Hagcn, Rev. John, 408, 409. 

Van Horn. James, 486. 

Van Pelt, John, 732. 

A'enus, transit of 4-6. 

Voight, Rev. John Ludwig. 792. 

Van Buskirk, Rev. Jacob, 798. 

Von Bebber, Mathias. 134, 1020, 1025. 

V(.n derSloot Rev. Frederick W., 11 10. 

Voyagei-s, early, 49. 

"VT. 
Waage, Dr. Charles T., 486. 
Waage, Rev. C. F. S., 1114. 
Waase, Rev. F., 1114. 
Wack, George. S5S. 
Wagner, Jacob S., 486. 
Wttgiier, Fiederick. 465. 
Waldo, Albigeuce, 358. 
Wallo ns colonies of, 53. 
Walker, Enoch, 473. 
Wain, Nicholas, 533. 
Wallers, M. H.. 358. 
W»lton, John, 983. 
Walton family. 076. 
Walt, Henry S.. 921. 
Wampum, dts riptiun of, 41 (note). 
Wwnger, Ir»ing P., 557. 
Wanamaker, John 808. 
Watts Mills, 583. 
'y^t. V.'iJl am aaa-oSi^ 



I 



I Eail 
jit ion 




the English man-of-war "Leopard ' 
the "Chesapeake," ISii; meeting to I 
sense i f the outrag-i in Montgomery (! 
180, 181 ; the Embargo Act, 181; 
couree Act, 181 ; general orders of G . 
Snyder, 181 (note); increase in etrengl 
the army and navy, l82 ; aggressive ] 
opeiationa decided upon, 1 82 ;' fears of 1 
people in Northwestern Pennsylvania afi 
failure of Hull's catnpaign, 183 (note); me(| 
als given to Peunsylvanians in Lake ; 
squadron, 183 (note); causes of opposit 
to war by Federalists, 184, 188 ; burning of 
W ashington, 186, 187 ; defen-e of Baltimore, 
187 ; Jackson at New Orleans, 187 ; treaty of 
peace at Ghent, ls8: population of Mont- 
gomery County at war period, 188; appre- 
hension of British attack on Fhilauelphia, 
188; Governor Snyder's call for miliiia, 188 
(note); the march to Maicus Hntk, ls8; 
general and stafl officers fr. m Montgomery 
County, 189; roster of Captain Fryer's com- 
pany, 189; Captain Grosscup's company, 
189; Captain Holagate'e company, 189 ; Cap- 
tain John Hurst's company, 1n9 ; Captain 
McClalherie's company, 190; Captain Sands' 
company, 190; Captain McGilFs company, 
190; Captain McLean's company, 190, Cap- 
tain James Robinson's company, 190; Cap- 
tain George Sensenderfer's c mpany, 19u; 
Captain Jacob AVentz's comi'any, 191 ; re- 
cruiting in Norristown, 765; officersandsol- 
diera from Fredeiick. .s45. 

Wa-hington, George, commi-sionodascomman- 
der-in-chief, 159 (note); or^anii;es army for 
campaign of 1777, 159; at \alley lu.rge, 168, 
169, 1120, 1123; beadquartery *.t Potts man- 
sion, 170; cabal agrtinst, 172; story of bis 
prayer, 175 (note); orders of, coiicernng 
march from Valley Fu'-ge to Newburfch,178, 
179; at Swedes' Fo-d, 710; in vicinity of 
PottstOM n, 7S9, 790 ; celebration in h..no. of, 
at Pottstown, in ISOO, 790; at Colo, el Jj^d- 
eihk Aut«s', in Frederick township, ii»^1777, 
845 ; heiidquarters at Frederick Wampole's, 
in Towamencin, 1087; hearqtt n-teis in Up- 
per Dublin, 1094; at Henry Keely's, in Per- 
kiomen, 1023; headquarters in Whiip;iin, 
1164; camp of, in Worcester 1184; expres- 
sion on common schools, 396 'note). 

Wabhington WooUn-MilIs, 583. 

Weaver, Capt. ('harles P., 574-575. 

Weand, Henry K., 553. 

Weaver, Dr. Joseph Kerr, 671. 

Wyber, Christian, l0S6. 

Weber, Irwin S., 467. 

Weiser, Conrad, 3-1. 65. 

Weiser, Rev. Daniel. 3.^3, 416, 1110. 

Weiser, Rev. Clt-ment Z., 1112. 

Weiss, Rev, 1109 

Wei^s, George, 948. 

Weis'^, Rev. George Michael, 137, 953. 

Weiand, Rev. John K., 778. 

Weinberger. J. Shelly, 408, 114-416. 

Wcingai-ten. John A Sons, 624. 

Weiguer, Susanna, 1086. 

' Melcome," the.loO, 101. 

Weldon \illa^e, 681. 

Wells, Isaiah. 473. 

Welsh, \ristides, 1146. 

Welsh, the setllenitiif'^ nf-J. 
gomery Cou 
139^ dau^-^ 



1\\. in is 
'*ly setlleK 



Ixxxiv 



Iteligiun, 

also Chu 
Ren ny son 
RepiiMic, 

Grorni ••• 

Penns,' — 

organ 



INDEX. 




\ 



INDEX. 



cntir! 
of W 



liiilll. 
I'^iol 



of 'lio oonnty, Ul; antiquity of laiiguago, 
1 11 ; charactcristida of, 141 ; prepondorance 
..mong, of Quaker priuciples, 141, 142; prar- 
lire of reTer.-iug family names, 14:i. 
Went/,, Abrnm, IISO. 



Verl-nor, Ilenjamin P, •1S4-4S5. 
"'" ' Wert/ner, Joseph. 308. 

' .' ' Weal i^nshohocken borough : origin ami d.:- 

"' V ilopment, llfi; situation and description, 

"" 7'.i',' ; population, TOO ;■ schools, srxi ; nianu- 

'"f lacturcs, 5'J9-i;ii2, 8(10; roads, 8110; bounda- 

'■ies, 800, 801 ; bio;^raphical, 8U1, 802. 
V f^-f^t I ^11 rninrnTiy of, 51, ;V2. 

West Laurel Hill Cemetery, 92.'i. 927. 
West Point Acadiuny, graduates of, 313-31G 
West Point Engine and Machine Co., 622-623. 
West Point Steam Saw-Mill, 023. 
West Point village, x.-i4. 
, West Man.iyunk Woolen-Mills, 013. 

WethiMill, Mrs. Kachel, 1062. 
I Wetherill, Dr. Wm.,443. 
, Weymari, Kev. Mr., 1149. 

Wharton, Wni., Jr., 631. 
^ Wharton, Samuel, 529. 

„ Wharton, Thomas, Jr., 807. 
] Wharton Swicch Company, 631, 681. 
(1 Wheeler, Cnarles, 935. 
„ White, Ulsliop William, 1052. 
J, Whitman, Charles, 593. 
P, Whiten arsh village, 1148. 

J, Whit'marsh township, 1137; description of, 

„ 1137 ; streams, 1138; populati' n, 1138;prop- 

eity value. 1138; mauufacluring indus- 
stri.s of, 024-628; schools, 1138, 1144; 
churche., ll-°8; origin of name, 1138; Far- 
mar family, 1138-1139; Scull family, 1140; 
sutlers in, 1134,1141 ; Robes'U family, 1141 ; 
.\di.m Kitler, 1141; Scheety. family, 1142; 
roads, 1142; mill-, 1142-3; buryin^-grounds, 
I14;i; early hotels, 1143; town officers, 1143 
g„ Bevolutionary history, 1144;elections, 1144 

Cliurc. iron-mines, lll-'i; marble, 114.'>; lime, 1145; 
Perk' .ColdPoiot, 1146; Cold Point Daptist Church, 
ril6;ColdPoinlUnionChurch.lI46; Darren 
Hill, 1147; Spring Mill, lli7; Marble Hill, 
1147; I'.'it Washington. 114S; Whit"niar»h 
village, 1U<; Lafayette, 114.S; Lancasior- 
ville, 114S; St. Thomaa' Episcopal Cnurch, 
II 18-1150; St. Peter's Lutheran Church, 
at Harron llill, 1 15tl-llo2 ; residents in, 
I7K0, 115.:; biograpliiial, 1152-1162, 
Whitehead, William, 3oS. 
Wiiitfield, George, 3n6; at Horry Antes', in 
^ Fi-^derick township, 8.39. 

J .tWhitp'iin town-hip, 1162; first owners in, 
j 1162; land-owners in 1734, 1162-1163; or- 

ganization of, 1162; blavts or servants, 1103; 
iiiduatrics in , 1163; justices of the peace of 



1163; Revolution in, 1163-1165; I?on-Asso- 
ciators in, 1164; Virginia troops oncaniperi 
in, 1H>4; Gen. Washington's headquarters 
in, 1164; Boehm's Refoimed Church in. 
1165-1168; 8t. John's Lutheran Church io, - 
116.8, UG'.i; Union Mo hodist Episcopal 
Church in, 1169 ; Mount Pleasant Baptist 
Cnurch in, 1169-1170; Centre Square, 
1170 ; Bine Bell, 1171 ; Franklinville, 
1172 ; schools and education, 1172- 
1173; roads, 1173-1174; turnpikes and 
p 'biic houses, 1175. 

Whipping-post, the, in Nnrristown, 108. 

Wills, M. K., .158, 4.i9, 4'10. 

Wills, Mrs., Mary II., 358. 

Wilson, Alexander, 3t;-2, 1054. 

Wilson. Hon. J. Burd, 359, 405, 538. 

Wilson, Charles F., 483, 484. 

Wilson. James, 532. 

Wilson, Samuel M., 819. 

Wilson, Thomas, 971. 

Willow Grove village, 973, 1098. 

Williams, Anthony, 8-24. 

Williams, Charles, ll.TO. 

Williams, Henry J., 1077, 1078. 

Williams. John J., 109. 

Williams, John S , 498. 

Wi;liam3 family, 809, 811. 

Williams, Thoni.<Ui, 483, 484, 81'2. 

William Peun Kurnace, 568. 

Williamson, William L., 416, 443, 481. 

" Williamsladt," manor of, 9;)9. 

Winthrow, Rev. John Linn, 087. 

W'innard, James. 359. 

Winslow, Lieut.-Col. Robert U., «-•». 

Wissahickon Chemical-Works, 631. 

Wittmer, John E., 46."., 466. 

Witchcraft, trial for, 143 ; preventives of, 342. 

Wolff, Rev B. C , 411. 

Wolnier, David, 473. 

Wolf, Gov. George, champion of popular edu- 
cation, 396 ; his conimou-school education, 
396 (note). 

Women: patriotism of, in time of Rebellion. 
295 ; Loyal League of, iu Montgomery 
County, 296. 

Wood. Alan i Co , 509, 593. 

Wood, Alan, Jr., 481. 

Wood, George W., 483. 

W 1, James. 594. 

Wood, John, 483. 

Wood, John, Jr., 693. 

Wood, John A Brotbei-s, i93. 
W'oodnian, Henry, 3-19. 
Woodward, Major Evan M., 985. 
Worcester township. 1184 : description of, 
1184; Gen. Washington's camp iu, llSl; 
origiu of name of, 1184; laud-owners in 



1 



IflJt, 1181, 1180 ined Charcl. 

in, 1185-1188; i lie; .1... if. list Me.ting- 
iiouse, 118S; Dlnkard Meetinfr-huus'-. 1IK8, 
11--9; .Si'hw '^oiifelder .Meetinq-h'in^. i.^;'i 
1190; Evaiigelical' German "Metbodis 
Church, 1190; Methacton Meunonitrf Meet- 
ing-house, 11 JO. 

Woolen-mills : Ford Street, 582 ; W'ashington, 
683 ; Bnllo. k's, 584, 800 ; Norristowo, 5S4 ; 
Agenoria. ''-84 ; James Lees & Sons', 589, 690 ; 
Y.'orrall i: BatclilTc's, 60:1, 591 ; Ridgeway 
& Carr's, 590; Smith's, at Bridgeport, ."lOl; 
Gulf, 611; Valley Forge. 612 ; Old Dave, 
612; Rockbill. 612; Robinson's, 013; Henry, 
613; Xew lIi:ioii, 613; West Manayuuk, 
613; Fairview, 617, 618; Rose Qlen, 619; 
Minerva, at Bridgeport, 70"; at Consho- 
hocken, Stanly Lees', 714; U. C. Jones 
Co.'s, 714. 

Wright, Charles B., 821. 

Wright, Samuel, 304, 

Wynne, Thomas, 929. 

Wynuewood, 926. 

y. 

Yeager, May. Thomas, 226. 

Teaklc family, 1073. 

Yeakle burying groiiiid, 1073. 

Yeakel, Daniel, 1078. 

Yeakle, Jacob, 1074. 

Yeakle, Joseph, 1080. 

Yeakle Charles, 1081. 

Yeakle, William, 1081. 

Yeakle, Samuel, 774. 

Yeakel, David W., 11.57. 

Yeakle, .\braliam, 1086. 

Yeakle, Th.inias C. 818. 

Yeakle, William A., .'559, 520. 

Yeakle, A. A., 479. 

Yerkes village, 1058. 

Yerkosville, 074. 

Yerkes family, 076. 

Yerkes, Major William II., 273. 

Yerkes, George S.. 507. 

Yerkes, William. 442. 

Yerkes, Haimon 409. 

Yocum. Peter, 1126, 

Yost, Lient.-Col. Daniel M., 27.:, 277, 278. 

Yost, Isiuic F , 998. 

Yost, .lacob S., 5 1 9. 

Young, James, 89i). 

Young, John, 350, 897. 



Zieglerville. 831. 

Zieglei ville Station, 831. 

/innel, George F., 317. 

Zook, SIiijor-Gencral S. K., 287-289. 

Zoology of Montgomery County, 435-439. 



,f^ 



"-**i 



^-. 



-y 



,,; ,„|L V.,eu 111,1 ?| 



"tiilit- 



'"^'\ 

l.\\.l> _} 



>MM.lnH..ll--ln,, 'MMK:' 



\ 



